first edition
1605 · Antwerp
by ROWLANDS, R.
Antwerp: Robert Bruney, 1605. Full Description:
[ROWLANDS, R.][i.e. VERSTEGAN, Richard]. A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence: In antiquities. Concerning the most noble and renowmed English nation. By the study and travaile of R. V. Antwerp: Robert Bruney, 1605.
First edition. Small quarto (7 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches; 185 x 141 mm). [24], 338, [13, index], [1, blank] pp. With engraved vignette of the Tower of Babel on the title page, engraved coat-of-arms of the author (Richard Verstegan), and ten textual engravings (all by the author). Title-page printed in red and black. Engraved head and tail pieces and initials. Contains the first printed reference to the ‘Pied Piper of Hamelin’ (pages 85-87).
[together with]
[CAMDEN, William]. Remaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britaine and the Inhabitants Thereof, their Languages, Names, Surnames, Empreses, Wise Speeches, Poesies and Epitaphes. London: Printed by G.E. for Simon Waterson, 1605.
First edition. Small quarto (). [2, blank], [6], 235, [1], 59, [1, blank] pp. Signature g of "Poems" bound out of order between signature d and e. With numerous engraved head-and-tail pieces and intitals.
Two works bound together in full contemporary vellum. Title in old ink manuscript on spine. Edges lightly dyed brown. Vellum with some soiling and light old ink markings. Old ink notes to inside on front and back covers. First book with some minor marginal worming, no affecting text. First title-page with some wrinkling to fore-edge and a few letters in old ink manuscript. Final two leaves of second book frayed at the fore-edges. The final leaf with some tearing and old ink notes to the blank verso. Notes have caused a few holes to leaf, not touching text. Overall two very good copies in a contemporary binding.
An excellent copy of this scarce book, most notable for containing the first printed reference to the ‘Pied Piper of Hamelin’, (pages 85-87) later immortalized by Robert Browning. “The earliest English account is that of Richard Rowland Verstegan (1548-c. 1636), an antiquary and religious controversialist of partly Dutch descent, in his 'Restitution of Decayed Intelligence' (Antwerp, 1605); unfortunately he does not give his source. He includes the reference to the rats and the idea that the lost children turned up in Transylvania. The phrase 'Pied Piper' seems to have been coined by Verstegan. He gives the date of this evert as 22 July 1376. Verstegan's account was copied in Nathaniel Wanley's 'Wonders of the Visible World' (1687), which was the immediate source of Robert Browning's well-known poem“. This book which is considered"a seminal work of Anglo-Saxon scholarship" (ODNB) also includes a collection of stories about the "origin of were-wolves, naming the days of the week, Stonehenge, etymology, and the definitions of various archaic words in the English language (HA dot com). This is also considered the best edition for the quality and number of its engravings.
“A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence in Antiquities was first published in Antwerp in 1605. Although Verstegan’s choice of sources was not always particularly original, his work was remarkable for rejecting the idea of a Trojan, or even British, origin for English customs, and for asserting the Germanic heritage of the English people. During the course of the seventeenth century, there were many other writers who, whilst differing from his conclusions, followed Verstegan in seeking the origins of the people of Britain in the line of Gomer. Verstegan’s work, strikingly illustrated with cuts engraved by the author himself, was reprinted frequently. It helped to establish the image of the Tower of Babel as the point of origin for modern nationhood, even for the inhabitants of far-flung islands off Europe’s western shore“ (Tower Catalogue).
"William Camden has some claim to be considered as the founder, not merely of antiquarian studies, but also of the study of modern history. His name was distinguished in his lifetime, and his work enjoyed a long popularity after his death. It is, however, as the founder of the chair of history at Oxford, still known as the Camden professorship, and the first at any university in the country, that his name is preserved today... If Camden was not the first English historian (in the modern sense of the word), topographer and antiquarian, he was certainly the first to relate the three studies. The long tradition of accurate and co-ordinated antiquarian study in Great Britain is almost entirely due to Camden". (PMM).
Regarding Camden: "This is, as the title indicates, but a commonplace collection of miscellaneous matter, mainly philosophical and literary, for which there was no place in the author's Britannia." (Pforzheimer 124).
ESTC S116255 & S107408. Pforzheimer 124.
HBS 69297.
$3,750. (Inventory #: 69297)
[ROWLANDS, R.][i.e. VERSTEGAN, Richard]. A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence: In antiquities. Concerning the most noble and renowmed English nation. By the study and travaile of R. V. Antwerp: Robert Bruney, 1605.
First edition. Small quarto (7 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches; 185 x 141 mm). [24], 338, [13, index], [1, blank] pp. With engraved vignette of the Tower of Babel on the title page, engraved coat-of-arms of the author (Richard Verstegan), and ten textual engravings (all by the author). Title-page printed in red and black. Engraved head and tail pieces and initials. Contains the first printed reference to the ‘Pied Piper of Hamelin’ (pages 85-87).
[together with]
[CAMDEN, William]. Remaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britaine and the Inhabitants Thereof, their Languages, Names, Surnames, Empreses, Wise Speeches, Poesies and Epitaphes. London: Printed by G.E. for Simon Waterson, 1605.
First edition. Small quarto (). [2, blank], [6], 235, [1], 59, [1, blank] pp. Signature g of "Poems" bound out of order between signature d and e. With numerous engraved head-and-tail pieces and intitals.
Two works bound together in full contemporary vellum. Title in old ink manuscript on spine. Edges lightly dyed brown. Vellum with some soiling and light old ink markings. Old ink notes to inside on front and back covers. First book with some minor marginal worming, no affecting text. First title-page with some wrinkling to fore-edge and a few letters in old ink manuscript. Final two leaves of second book frayed at the fore-edges. The final leaf with some tearing and old ink notes to the blank verso. Notes have caused a few holes to leaf, not touching text. Overall two very good copies in a contemporary binding.
An excellent copy of this scarce book, most notable for containing the first printed reference to the ‘Pied Piper of Hamelin’, (pages 85-87) later immortalized by Robert Browning. “The earliest English account is that of Richard Rowland Verstegan (1548-c. 1636), an antiquary and religious controversialist of partly Dutch descent, in his 'Restitution of Decayed Intelligence' (Antwerp, 1605); unfortunately he does not give his source. He includes the reference to the rats and the idea that the lost children turned up in Transylvania. The phrase 'Pied Piper' seems to have been coined by Verstegan. He gives the date of this evert as 22 July 1376. Verstegan's account was copied in Nathaniel Wanley's 'Wonders of the Visible World' (1687), which was the immediate source of Robert Browning's well-known poem“. This book which is considered"a seminal work of Anglo-Saxon scholarship" (ODNB) also includes a collection of stories about the "origin of were-wolves, naming the days of the week, Stonehenge, etymology, and the definitions of various archaic words in the English language (HA dot com). This is also considered the best edition for the quality and number of its engravings.
“A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence in Antiquities was first published in Antwerp in 1605. Although Verstegan’s choice of sources was not always particularly original, his work was remarkable for rejecting the idea of a Trojan, or even British, origin for English customs, and for asserting the Germanic heritage of the English people. During the course of the seventeenth century, there were many other writers who, whilst differing from his conclusions, followed Verstegan in seeking the origins of the people of Britain in the line of Gomer. Verstegan’s work, strikingly illustrated with cuts engraved by the author himself, was reprinted frequently. It helped to establish the image of the Tower of Babel as the point of origin for modern nationhood, even for the inhabitants of far-flung islands off Europe’s western shore“ (Tower Catalogue).
"William Camden has some claim to be considered as the founder, not merely of antiquarian studies, but also of the study of modern history. His name was distinguished in his lifetime, and his work enjoyed a long popularity after his death. It is, however, as the founder of the chair of history at Oxford, still known as the Camden professorship, and the first at any university in the country, that his name is preserved today... If Camden was not the first English historian (in the modern sense of the word), topographer and antiquarian, he was certainly the first to relate the three studies. The long tradition of accurate and co-ordinated antiquarian study in Great Britain is almost entirely due to Camden". (PMM).
Regarding Camden: "This is, as the title indicates, but a commonplace collection of miscellaneous matter, mainly philosophical and literary, for which there was no place in the author's Britannia." (Pforzheimer 124).
ESTC S116255 & S107408. Pforzheimer 124.
HBS 69297.
$3,750. (Inventory #: 69297)
(310) 659-3674
