BRITANNIAE UTRIUSQUE REGUM ET PRINCIPUM ORIGO. (KING ARTHUR). by GEOFFREY of Monmouth.:

Paris J. Badius Ascenius, 1517.. SECOND EDITION 1517, edited by Ivo Cavellatus. Latin text, small 4to, approximately 190 x 135 mm, 7½ x 5¼ inches, leaves: [8], 1-101, plus last blank leaf, numbered on rectos only. Woodcut printer's device on title-page: vignette of printing shop, depicting the operation of a hand-press by three printers. The block has a double-line border. On the press itself is the imprint 'Prelu[m] Asce[n]sianu[m]', and below the press are the initials and printer's mark of J. Badius. Name of printer from title statement; date of publication from colophon, Io. Badius Ascensius lectori sa. ... Ex aedibus nostris iteru[m] ad Idus Septe[m]b. anni. MDXVII. Signatures: AA8, A-M8, N6 [N6 blank]. Woodcut coat of arms held by angel on signature AA8v. Woodcut floral and foliate crible initials, side-notes, index at the front. Old calf, red title label with gilt lettering and gilt decoration to spine between raised bands, new endpapers. Binding rubbed and scuffed, hinges just beginning to crack at head and tail of spine, covers still firmly attached, head of spine scuffed with slight loss of surface leather, title page has ink stamped intials AR in 2 places plus neat old ink notes (see attached image), small repairs to top and bottom corner tips, fore-edge of title page has small old repairs to corners and outer edge on verso, not affecting text, following page has a pale ink stamp of a coat of arms in the outer margin, 22 pages have early neat ink marginal notes of varying sizes and a little underlining, some pale staining to a few pages, Folio xvii which is slightly trimmed at outer edges and is affected by pale staining to top margin. Last 13 leaves have a small brown stain to tips of top and lower corners and also slightly affecting fore-edge of last 6 leaves, 4 leaves have small repair to tip of top corners, occasional brown spot or mark, last free endpaper is dusty and has 2 small repairs, otherwise a very good copy. Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1100 c. 1155) was a cleric and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur. He is best known for his chronicle Historia Regum Britanniae ("History of the Kings of Britain"), which was widely popular in its day and well into the 16th century. See: Adams, Catalogue of Books Printed on the Continent of Europe, 1500-1600 in Cambridge Libraries, Volume 1, page 478, No. 445: Lowndes Bibliographer's Manual, Volume 2, page 1194. MORE IMAGES ATTACHED TO THIS LISTING, ALL ZOOMABLE. FURTHER IMAGES ON REQUEST. POSTAGE AT COST.