Books

3 volumes, 4to; pp. [4], xxxvii, [1], lxv, [1], 453; [2], 450; [2], 440, [2] errata; 32 engraved plates after William Kent; woodcut head- and tailpieces; volume I bound in recent quarter tan calf antique, maroon morocco label on spine; vols. II-III bound in full contemporary calf, red and black morocco labels on gilt-decorated spines; joints barely cracked; very neat facsimile restoration in the fore-margin of b4 in vol. I with facsimile lettering touching the beginning or end of a total of 14 words; mild to moderate dampstain enters the foremargins of many pages throughout; textblock is otherwise very good and clean for the most part. One of the most splendid editions of Spenser's masterpiece, with useful bibliographical information on the collation of the 1590 and 1596 quartos. The glossary occupies 13 pages of the preliminaries if vol. I. Ebert 21601; Lowndes III, 2477.

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.