Books

First folio edition. Full ruled calf rebacked in supple calf with new endpapers. First stanza of each canto printed inside four-component woodcut. Numerous woodcut headpieces, tailpieces, and initial letters. Loss to title page, not affecting text or image. Archival tape repair at title page gutter and last page. Undecipherable scribbling to title page, as well as to pages 1, 2, 252 & 253, with ink stain to the latter (see image). Some worming at upper margins; minimal impact to text at 12 pages between A-D (see image). Includes pagination error at page 8 (numbered 10). Inked name of Ralph Markland (British publisher known for the 1643 publication of the portrait of Prince Rupert) and " Garrett fitz Gerald his booke / 1666" to page 1. A handsome copy.

The Faerie Queene is a celebrated epic poem by Edmund Spenser, first published in 1590. The poem is an allegory praising Queen Elizabeth I and reflecting the values and ideologies of Elizabethan England. It is one of the longest poems in the English language and is renowned for its richly imaginative narrative and moral allegory.