Petrie, Henry, & The Rev. John Sharpe

Monumenta historica Britannica, or materials for the history of Britain, from the earliest period. Volume I [all published]: extending to the Norman Conquest.

London: published by Command of Her Majesty, 1848. First and only edition, large folio, pp. [6], 146, [2], clxxiii, [12], 1035; titles printed in red and black, lithograph dedication in red and black, 17 plates of coins, 10 plates of manuscripts, folding map hand-colored in outline, text in Latin, English and Anglo-Saxon; contemporary half tan calf, rubbed, but sound. Contains some of the earliest texts for a history of Britain, including those of Gildas, Bede, Alfred, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, etc., and with a descriptive catalogue of early English coins and manuscripts. Petrie, a close friend of Dibdin, drew up plans and solicited public support for this grand undertaking, which included all the then-known references to Britain in the Greek and Roman writers, in inscriptions, charters, bulls, synods, etc., as well as general histories and annals. The first volume was completed in 1835, and a large body of materials had been collected for a second, but the work was "suspended by an order of the record commissioners, due to a misunderstanding between them and Petrie" (see DNB) and none but the first volume was published, posthumously, by Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy, who had been trained by Petrie. Item #26444

Price: $1,250.00