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HARRISON, William (1534?1593); HOLINSHED, Raphael (compiler). The Description of Britaine, in The First and Second Volumes of Chronicles. London: Henry Denham, 1587. SECOND EDITION, STC 13569. Original Elizabethan folio leaf, pp.107?108, approximately 23.2 x 35 cm, from the celebrated 1587 ?Shakespearean? edition of Holinshed?s Chronicles. Page 108 contains Harrison?s chapter 17, ?Of such ports and creekes as our sea-faring men doe note for their benefit upon the coasts of England?, followed by chapter 18, ?Of the aire, soile, and commodities of this Iland?; the former constitutes a remarkable contemporary coastal inventory, listing ports, havens and creeks county by county through Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and elsewhere, while the latter discusses the climate, soil and natural advantages of Britain, invoking Caesar and classical authority in defence of the island?s temperate and wholesome environment. The chapter sequence corresponds exactly with the revised 1587 text of Harrison?s Description. Page 107 continues Harrison?s geographical account and is particularly interesting in relation to his use of contemporary cartography; modern scholarship specifically cites this page of the 1587 edition when discussing his acknowledgement of Christopher Saxton?s maps. Although commonly subsumed under Holinshed?s name, the Description of Britaine was substantially written by William Harrison and formed the geographical and social introduction to the Chronicles. The second edition was printed in London by Henry Denham at the sign of the Star and financed by John Harrison, George Bishop, Rafe Newbery, Denham and Thomas Woodcocke. This 1587 edition is famously the edition used by Shakespeare as a principal historical source: Christie?s describes it as the ?true Shakespearean edition? and records its use for Richard II, Richard III, the Henry plays, Macbeth, Henry VIII and Cymbeline, among others. The present leaf itself is geographical rather than one of the narrative passages adapted directly for the plays, and is catalogued accordingly. Condition good to very good overall: light general toning, scattered minor spotting and surface marking, slight marginal irregularity and a few minute marks or pinholes, but printed text complete, dark and highly legible with generous margins and attractive ornamental initials. A particularly evocative original leaf from one of the foundational works of Elizabethan history, geography and Shakespearean source literature.
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