England, Statutes, Henry VIII, London, 1513, unbound

ENGLAND. STATUTES. HENRY VIII

Whereafter Ensue certayne Statutes and Ordenaunces of Warre made ordeyned enacted & establysshed by the most noble victoryous, and moste Cristen prynce our moste drade soueraygne lorde Kynge Henry the viii. London: Richard Pynson, for Henry VIII, 1513

FIRST EDITION, 4to (187 x 137mm.), A-B⁶ C⁴, black letter, title with three woodcuts (including royal arms and crowned Tudor rose), verso with full-page woodcut of royal arms, printer's device on verso of last leaf (cf. McKerrow 9b), unbound, preserved in chemise and full brown morocco pull-off case, a few small marginal tears, some minor damp-staining

VERY RARE. A revision of Henry VII’s ordinances of war of 1491 (STC 9332), issued by Henry VIII for the governance of the English army prior to the invasion of France in 1513. It was reprinted by Berthelet in 1544. The invasion led Louis XII to call upon his alliance with James IV of Scotland, who subsequently crossed into England assisted by French arms with an army of 60,000 men, resulting ultimately in the disastrous Scottish defeat at the Battle of Flodden.

LITERATURE:

ESTC S121904; STC 9333 [3 copies only, in the Bodleian, the Huntington Library and this copy]

PROVENANCE:

purchased from William H. Robinson, 23 March 1946, £650, which makes this Lord Cottesloe's most expensive purchase

"I very much enjoyed seeing the King's Regulations of 1513 on Friday. It is a wonderful little book and full of interest in a number of ways. I think I must have it..." (letter from Lord Cottesloe to Philip Robinson, 23 March 1946)