Seller (John). The History of England, 1st edition, 1696, with 42 maps

Sold for £820

Seller (John). The History of England ... from the coming of Julius Caesar into Britain. With an Account of all the Plots, Conspiracies, Insurrections, and Rebellions. Likewise a Relation of the Wonderful Prodigies, Monstrous Births, Terrible Earth-Quakes, Dreadful Sights in the Air, Lamentable Famines, Plagues, Thunders, Lightningts, and Fires, etc. to the Year 1696 ... Together with a Particular Description of the Rarities in the several Counties of England and Wales: with Exact Maps of each County, 1st edition, London: by Job and John How, for John Gwillim, 1696, engraved portrait frontispiece, 2 double-page hand-coloured plates ('The Idols of the Ancient Saxons'), 42 engraved double-page maps mounted on stubs and hand-coloured in outline (of 44: see note), variable browning, lacking text-leaves T4-5, small hole to foot of 2I8 to loss of a few letters, first quire closely trimmed shaving frame of title-page and a few headlines, closed tear to Hertfordshire map, short splits to central fold of Kent, Nottinghamshire and Worcestershire, contemporary calf, rubbed and worn, 8vo (16.2 x 9.5 cm), and 1 other (The Elements or Principles of Geometrie, London: for J. Seller [and others], 1684, defective)

(Qty: 2)

ESTC R15220 (erroneously citing 49 plates and maps); Skelton 119; Wing S2474.

ESTC traces six copies world-wide; the work was apparently 'issued a sheet at a time' (Skelton). The maps are all from Seller's Anglia Contracta (c.1689-95). This copy lacks the general maps 'Insulae Albion et Hibernia' and 'England as it was divided in the time of the English Saxons', but retains 'A New Mapp of England and Wales', 'The Principality of Wales', and the 40 English county maps. It also contains the map of Monmouthshire, which according to Skelton is not called for in this edition.