[William Cecil, Lord Burghley] Magnus | Gothorum Sueonumque historia, Basel, 1558, Cecil's copy

William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley─Joannes Magnus

Gothorum Sueonumque historia, ex probatis antiquorum monumentis collecta, et in XXIIII libros redacta. Basel: widow of Michael Isengrin, 1558

8vo (179 x 112mm.), woodcut printer's device on title-page and on final leaf, woodcut initials and illustrations, full-page woodcut map of Scandinavia, with Cecil's manuscript notes in the outer margin of L16, contemporary calf, title lettered in manuscript at head of foredge, occasional light damp-staining, a few small marginal wormholes, lacking two pairs of ties, binding slightly rubbed, spine chipped

WILLIAM CECIL'S COPY WITH HIS OWNERSHIP SIGNATURE DATED 1559 ON THE TITLE-PAGE. He also drew a family tree of the Swedish royal family in the margin of the final leaf of the text, next to the passage about King Gustav Vasa (who died in 1560, just after the publication of this edition).

The Swedish legate to London at this time, Dionysius Burreus (the French Protestant scholar Denis Burrey), supposedly presented this book to Cecil as part of the Swedish Prince Erik's campaign to win the hand of Elizabeth in marriage. The prince's brother Duke Johan spent the winter of 1559-1560 in London as part of this campaign; Elizabeth then declared her unwillingness to marry, and the death of Erik's father in September 1560 prevented him from setting sail to London.

LITERATURE:

VD16 M 222

PROVENANCE:

William Cecil, Lord Burghley, his ownership inscription on title-page ("Gulielmus Cecilius 1559"), his library sold by auction on 21 November 1687 but this edition not found in the catalogue; sale, Sotheby's, London, 22 July 1988, lot 312

Other books belonging to Cecil are known to have the title lettered at the head of the foredge. Unlike other books in his library, this volume does not have his armorial stamp on the binding.