Thomas More | Workes, 1557, eighteenth-century sprinkled calf gilt, the Chatsworth copy

Thomas More

The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, sometyme Lorde Chauncellour of England, wrytten by him in the englysh tonge.

London: At the costes and charges of John Cawod, John Waly, and Richarde Tottell, 1557.

FIRST EDITION, folio (274 x 191 mm), gothic type, title-page within woodcut border [McKerrow and Ferguson 81], woodcut initials, a number of early modern annotations in several hands, eighteenth-century contrasting sprinkled calf, gilt-ruled tan covers, black spine with raised bands in seven compartments, first compartment gilt-tooled with the Devonshire coat of arms, second lettered in gilt, the rest gilt-tooled with foliate motifs, red speckled edges, marbled endpapers, occasional worming, mainly in the final leaves, final leaf repaired and remargined (with minor loss of text), extremities slightly rubbed, joints starting, minor adhesive residue to lower board.

THE CHATSWORTH COPY OF THE FIRST COLLECTION EDITION OF THOMAS MORE'S WORKS, A RARE AND IMPORTANT FIRST EDITION. Edited by his nephew William Rastell, the collection presents More's works in chronological order with marginal notes from Rastell.

PROVENANCE:

Duke of Devonshire: arms on binding, armorial bookplate, and shelfmarks

LITERATURE:

STC 18076; Olivier 1296 fer 4; Pforzheimer 843