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First edition of both parts, printing the complete text of the Spenser's classic work, except for two cantos of Mutabilitie which did not appear until the folio edition of 1609; with the first state of the title page. Written in praise of Elizabeth I and dedicated to her, Spenser's allegorical masterpiece follows the adventures of six medieval knights, drawing on Arthurian legend, Italian romance, classical epic, and Chaucer. John Dryden notes that "Spenser more than once insinuates, that the Soul of Chaucer was transfus'd into his Body; and that he was begotten by him Two hundred years after his Decease" (Dryden, f. A1). In its mingling of genres, the poem represented a new departure in English poetry, for which Spenser invented a new stanza, "a hybrid form adopted from the Scots poetry of James I, 'rhyme royal', and Italian 'ottava rima'" (ODNB). Spenser began composing the work in the 1570s, sharing "parcels" of it among friends. Though no rough drafts, autograph copies, or foul papers for the poem have survived, the poet alludes to a manuscript copy as early as 1580, when in a letter to Gabriel Harvey he asks for one to be returned to him: "I wil in hande forthwith with my Faery Queene, whyche I praye you hartily send me with al expedition: and your frendly Letters, and long expected Iudgement wythal" (Three Proper, and wittie familiar Letters). The poem, or some part of it, was almost certainly circulating in manuscript in London in 1588, when Abraham Fraunce quotes a stanza in his Arcadian Rhetorick, correctly citing its book and canto ("Spencer in his Faerie queene.2.book.cant.4"). The first part was finally printed in 1590, possibly intended to coincide with the publication of Philip Sidney's Arcadia. READ MORE Two vols, quarto (180 x 130 mm). Early 20th-century red morocco, spines lettered and numbered in gilt, raised bands, double gilt rules around compartments, covers, and turn-ins, gilt edges. Woodcut printer's device on each title [McKerrow 242 & 222], full-page woodcut on M5v of Vol. I, typographical ornaments and initials. Provenance: early marginalia in vol. I; "Lu: Fortescue", ownership inscription to title page of vol. II; Clara & Irwin Strasburger, bookplates, sale Sotheby's New York, 25 June 1982, lot 467; Dr. K. William (Bill) Harter (1949-2022), without mark of ownership. Title page of vol. I with repairs to upper outer corner and inner margin, just touching imprint; vol. I also a little browned, trimmed close, with most headlines shaved, and a burn mark to a few leaves; overall, a good copy. Grolier, Langland to Wither, 231 & 233; Pforzheimer 969 & 970; STC S123180 & S117748.

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.