Lot 96: DRAYTON, Michael (1563-1631). Poly-Olbion . Part I only. London: [by Humphrey Lownes] for M. Lownes, and others [c.1622]. 2° (282x185mm). Engraved title by W. Hole, engraved portrait of Prince Henry with caption, 18 double-page engraved maps, some

DRAYTON, Michael (1563-1631). Poly-Olbion. Part I only. London: [by Humphrey Lownes] for M. Lownes, and others [c.1622]. 2° (282x185mm). Engraved title by W. Hole, engraved portrait of Prince Henry with caption, 18 double-page engraved maps, some with manuscript page numbers in the margin. (Without letterpress title and 4-leaf table found in some copies, 'Upon the frontispiece' mounted and repaired with some loss in the shoulder notes, portrait of Prince Henry mounted, a few marginal repairs, one map with repaired tears at the folds, occasional light marginal dampstain.) Finely bound in early 20th-century blue-black morocco. Provenance: George Cook (signature on blank, occasional light marginalia). FIRST EDITION, third issue, of Drayton's great patriotic poem, each song accompanied by a map of the region celebrated. It is 'a wonderful work, exhibiting at once the learning of an historian, an antiquary, a naturalist, and a geographer: and embellished by the imagination of a poet' (Lowndes, p. 671). This copy, like the 1612 first issue, does not have a letterpress title, but it has the later portrait with the caption, and the last sheet signed Dd; 'this indicates, apparently, that before the type for that sheet was distributed it was decided that some copies should be kept aside to be issued with copies of the second part which Drayton then hoped would soon be ready for the press' (Pforzheimer). Lowndes p. 671; cf. Pforzheimer 308.

DRAYTON, Michael (1563-1631). Poly-Olbion. Part I only. London: [by Humphrey Lownes] for M. Lownes, and others [c.1622]. 2° (282x185mm). Engraved title by W. Hole, engraved portrait of Prince Henry with caption, 18 double-page engraved maps, some with manuscript page numbers in the margin. (Without letterpress title and 4-leaf table found in some copies, 'Upon the frontispiece' mounted and repaired with some loss in the shoulder notes, portrait of Prince Henry mounted, a few marginal repairs, one map with repaired tears at the folds, occasional light marginal dampstain.) Finely bound in early 20th-century blue-black morocco. Provenance: George Cook (signature on blank, occasional light marginalia). FIRST EDITION, third issue, of Drayton's great patriotic poem, each song accompanied by a map of the region celebrated. It is 'a wonderful work, exhibiting at once the learning of an historian, an antiquary, a naturalist, and a geographer: and embellished by the imagination of a poet' (Lowndes, p. 671). This copy, like the 1612 first issue, does not have a letterpress title, but it has the later portrait with the caption, and the last sheet signed Dd; 'this indicates, apparently, that before the type for that sheet was distributed it was decided that some copies should be kept aside to be issued with copies of the second part which Drayton then hoped would soon be ready for the press' (Pforzheimer). Lowndes p. 671; cf. Pforzheimer 308.