A Short View of the Long Life and Raigne of Henry the Third, King of England. And Presented to King James.

Copy of Thomas Draycott, with his name written in black ink at the top of the title page and with some marginal notes. Original publisher's beige paper pamphlet with string binding. 6" x 7 1/2." Forty-nine pages, complete. Pages are clean and intact overall but are fragile and have some dampstaining, slight darkening, and wear to corners and edges. Small, marginal dampstain in the lower-right corner from Pages 29-49. Faint dampstaining on the body of text on Pages 31-49; text is still very clear and readable. A Good copy. Biographical account of King Henry III of England. Authored by Sir Robert Cotton (1571- 1631), a bibliophile, collector, Member of Parliament, and founder of the Cotton Library. At the time, the Cotton Library was considered among the best for its rare and original manuscripts, arguably outranking the collections at the Royal Library, Inns of the Court, and the College of Arms. Among the manuscripts in Cotton's collection were the original Codex Alexandrinus, Beowulf, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Noted luminaries such as Francis Bacon, Sir Walter Raleigh, James Ussher frequented Cotton's library to peruse and study his priceless books. In 1629, the future of the library came into question after Cotton's library was deemed anti-Royalist under the reign of King Charles I. The Cotton Library remained closed after his passing, but in 1633, ownership of the library was restored to his son, Thomas Cotton and grandson, John Cotton. Through a series of wills, the library stayed with the Cotton family until it was gifted to Britain in 1792. The Cotton Library formed the foundation of today's British Library, which still houses Cotton's entire collection. …