Camden’s Britannia, Newly Translated into English: With Large Additions and Improvements. Publish’d by Edmund Gibson by CAMDEN, William [1551-1623] - 1695

London: Printed by F. Collins, for A. Swalle,... and A. & J. Churchil, 1695. (15" x 9½"). Pp. [xxxiv], cxcvi col. (ie. 98 pp.), [2], 1116 col. (ie. 558 pp.), [1], [xliv]. Text printed and numbered in double columns, with woodcut initials, textual woodcuts and copper engravings. Engraved frontis portrait of Camden by R. White, 9 engraved plates of coins and antiquities, and 50 double-page engraved maps (3 folding) by Robert Morden. 19th century marbled boards, corners renewed, modern calf spine with gilt ornaments and roll tooling between six raised bands, marbled endpapers. Covers rubbed on surfaces and at extremities, one folding map repaired, one folding map bound upside down, two coin plates with 2 short closed tears and 1 small open tear (paper flaw?), old armorial bookplate of John Speed Frowd, with his signature on title page, rear endpapers with extensive annotations in old hand, but on the whole, an exceptionally clean bright copy internally, in an attractively restored binding. The first edition of Camden’s "Britannia" translated and edited by Edmund Gibson [1669-1748], Bishop of London, and the first to contain the maps of Robert Morden [d. 1703], considered to be the finest county maps of the period. Camden’s great topographical and historical description of England was first published in Latin in 1586. Several editions appeared thereafter, incorporating new material as well as maps and plates. The first English translation by Philemon Holland did not appear until 1610. Gibson published the present edition "with large additions and improvements" in 1695, with a second enlarged edition appearing in two volumes in 1722. In the preparation of this work he was ably assisted by William Lloyd, John Smith, and other prominent English antiquaries. The last translation was by Richard Gough, issued in three folio volumes in 1789, with a later expanded edition in 1806. A work of prodigious labour and scholarship, Camden’s "Britannia" surveyed the topography, history, and archaeology of the British Isles, county by county , tracing the development of its inhabitants from Roman times through the Norman period. In its critical handling of literary sources, together with its vast scope and enormous wealth of detail, it provided the material and inspiration for English antiquarian studies for centuries after. Wing C359. Lowndes I 357. PMM 101.. Hard Cover. Very Good. Folio.