Holland, Henry

Folio (11 7/8 x 7 3/4 in.; 300 x 198 mm). Engraved title-page containing a medallion map of the British Isles and a view of London, leaf of verses signed I. Gruterus, Praefatio and Post-Prefatio, sixty-five engraved portraits and two monuments to Queen Elizabeth and to Prince Henry; list of illustrations manuscript on a blank, title probably supplied, inked with lower margin repaired, portrait of Henry VIII supplied, some page numbers hand-written, numerous pages with erroneous numeration, printed list of plates loose. [With:] Engraved portraits of Hans Holbein and  Isaac Oliver (2 copies) by H. Holland added loose.  Contemporary vellum. 

Bent Juel-Jensen (pencil notes on first blank)

STC 13582; Hind, Engraving in England, pp. 145–162

"The most trustworthy series of English portraits published up to that time" (Hind).

First publications of this collection of portraits with biographical, descriptive notes by Henry Holland. The Latin captions underneath the portraits are generally by Arnold Buchel "AB". The individuals included all lived during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth, with a special emphasis on reformers and opponents of the Papacy (except for Thomas More). It also included the first to be published portraits of English historical figures like Martin Frobisher, John Hawkins or Francis Drake, with short accounts of the voyages of each to America and elsewhere. The portraits, engraved by the talented siblings Willem and Magdalena van de Passe.