[COMMELIN, JEROME]. Rerum Britannicarum id est Angliae, Scotiae, vicinarumque insularum ac regionum scriptores vetustiores ac praecipui. Heidelberg: [apud Hieronymum Commelinum], 1587.
FIRST EDITION. Leather-bound; hardcover; folio (33 x 21 x 3.5 cm); pp. [2], 348, 353-580, [10, index]. Signatures: pi A-G⁶ H⁴ I⁶ K⁴ L-Z⁶ a-f⁶ g⁴ h-z⁶ 2A-2C⁶ *⁵. Latin text, edited and printed by Hieronymus Commelinus. Beautifully bound in the 19th-century by Riviere in full dark brown levant morocco gilt; all page edges gilt; Hieronymus Commelinus's woodcut device on title page depicting a naked woman sitting on stool and holding the sun in her right hand and an open book in her left hand, surrounded by a wreath of fruit with Greek text; tail-pieces; woodcut decorative initials; printed marginal notes; bibliographical references and index. From the title page: Galfredi Monumetensis, cognomento Arturi de origine & gestis regum Britanniae libri XII. Pontici Virunnii Britannicae historiae libri VI quibus G. Monumentensis libros sex priores in epitomen redegit. Gildae Sapientis, De excidio & conquestu Britanniae epistola. Bedae Anglosaxonis Historiae ecclesiasticae gentis Anglorum libri V. Continuatio eiusdem historiae, incerto auctore, libris III. comprehensa, ac iam primum publicata. Gulielmus Neubricensis De rebus anglicis libri V. Ioannis Frossardi Historiarum epitome, in qua de bellis inter Anglos & Gallos gestis, praecipue agitur. Condition: VERY GOOD. Bound without the dedication and terminal blanks, but otherwise complete. Binding tight and secure, the hinges and joints intact, with a few slight scuffs to covers. Interior very well-preserved, remaining largely fresh and clean, with a circular armorial bookplate to front pastedown. Scarce.
Notes: First edition of the first book published by the great scholar Jerome Commelin (Hieronymus Commelinus). It compiles important texts of the Venerable Bede (Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum), Gildas (Liber querulus de excidio Britanniae), Jean Froissart (Chroniques), William of Newburgh (Historia rerum Anglicarum) and Geoffrey of Monmouth the Bishop of St. Asaph (Historia regum Britanniae). "The work did much to foster the interest in and study of the Middle Ages in the 17th century" - Bloomsbury. Adams C819; USTC 690695.
