A History of England: Anglo-Saxons to Stuarts, 1914–1945, 1945–2000

A History of England [Anglo-Saxon to Stuart]. London: The Folio Society, 1997. 5 vols. This issue consists of the latest impressions of the five works so far published in the series ‘A History of England’, issued together in a five-volume slip case, uniform with that used for the constituent volumes. The groups of asterisks on the spines designate the volume numbers in this set. Including:

1. Anglo-Saxon England, Peter Hunter Blair. Preface by Felipe Fernández-Armesto. Designed by Bernard Roberts. Maps by Reginald Piggott. 253 × 164 × 38–45 mm. Pp. [i–v] vi–xxxv [xxxvi–xxxviii], [1] 2–364 [365–366]: IX leaves of colour plates (facing pp. [iii], 161, 174, 251, 266, 297, 310, 327 and 342), 15 [i.e. 22 ] pages of ‘plates’. In addition to the full-page illustrations (mostly showing archaeological remains and manuscripts) there are seven smaller figures in the text, and nine maps. Some of the monochrome ‘plates’ are printed both recto and verso.

2. Early Medieval England, M.T. Clanchy. Preface by Felipe Fernández-Armesto. Designed by Bernard Roberts. Maps by Reginald Piggott. 253 × 164 × 38–45 mm. Pp. [i–v] vi–xviii [xix–xxii], [1–3] 4–452 [453–458]: IX leaves of colour plates (facing pp. [iii], 10, 27, 102, 119, 178, 195, 394 and 411), 16 pages of ‘plates’. The colour plates reproduce details of illuminated manuscripts, a stained-glass window and the ‘mappa mundi’.

3. England in the Later Middle Ages, A Political History, M.H. Keen. Preface by Felipe Fernández-Armesto. Designed by Bernard Roberts. Maps by Reginald Piggott. 253 × 164 × 38–45 mm.  . . . Pp. [i–v] vi–xxiv [xxv–xxvi], [1] 2–543: XIII leaves of colour plates, 12 leaves of ‘plates’.

4. England Under the Tudors, G.R. Elton. Introduction by Felipe Fernández-Armesto. Designed by Bernard Roberts. Maps by Reginald Piggott. 252 × 163 × 43 mm. Pp. [i–v] vi–xxiv, [1] 2–518 [519–520]: [8] leaves of colour plates, [16] leaves of ‘plates’. Type: Plantin.

5. England Under the Stuarts, George Macaulay Trevelyan O.M. Preface by Felipe Fernández-Armesto. Introduction by David Cannadine. Maps by Reginald Piggott. Designed by Bernard Roberts. 252 × 163 × 43 mm. Pp. [i–v] vi–xxiv, [1] 2–503 [504]: [25] leaves of colour and monochrome plates. Type: Plantin. Typeset by Gloucester Typesetting, printed and bound by the Bath Press. Full dark blue buckram with a design in gold by Roberts; grey endleaves with a map in dark blue.

[together with two additional volumes in the series]

6. England 1914–1945, A.J.P. Taylor. London: The Folio Society, 2000. Introduction by Chris Wrigley. Preface by Felipe Fernández-Armesto. Maps by Reginald Piggott. 251 × 162 × 47 mm. Pp. [i–v] vi–xxiv, [1] 2–638: [9] leaves of colour plates, [16] leaves of ‘plates’. Type: Plantin. The plates reproduce photographs, posters and paintings of the period.

7. England 1945–2000. London: The Folio Society, 2001. Introduction by Roy Jenkins. A collection of essays by many hands. Preface by Felipe Fernández-Armesto. Designed by Bernard Roberts. Index by Douglas Matthews. 253 × 163 × 49 mm. Pp. [i–v] vi–xxix [xxx], [1–3] 4–624 [625–626]: [8] leaves of colour plates, [16] leaves of ‘plates’. Type: Plantin. This collection of new essays with a few snippets of contemporary journalism brings the series to a fascinating and triumphant climax. The frontispiece shows a photograph of Prince Charles and the late Princess of Wales on their wedding day.

Condition

Very good, read books with bindings square and secure, and pages clean and uninscribed, with lightest creasing to spine tip of volume V and only light wear overall. Housed in slipcases that are a little shelf-worn, bumped and dented, particularly to rear.