The History of the World, In Five Books. [with] The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight.
"One of the greatest books printed in England in the early 17th century... a cornerstone work in historiography": Rare 1677 printing of Sir Walter Raleigh's The History of the World In Five Books; uniformly bound with its second part by Alexander Ross
![The History of the World, In Five Books. [with] The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight.](https://i0.wp.com/www.raptisrarebooks.com/images/224178/the-history-of-the-world-in-five-books-sir-walter-raleigh.jpg?fit=1000%2C800&ssl=1 "The History of the World, In Five Books. [with] The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight.")
![The History of the World, In Five Books. [with] The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight.](https://i0.wp.com/www.raptisrarebooks.com/images/224179/the-history-of-the-world-in-five-books-sir-walter-raleigh.jpg?fit=1000%2C1499&ssl=1 "The History of the World, In Five Books. [with] The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight.")
![The History of the World, In Five Books. [with] The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight.](https://i0.wp.com/www.raptisrarebooks.com/images/224180/the-history-of-the-world-in-five-books-sir-walter-raleigh.jpg?fit=1000%2C1517&ssl=1 "The History of the World, In Five Books. [with] The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight.")
![The History of the World, In Five Books. [with] The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight.](https://i0.wp.com/www.raptisrarebooks.com/images/224181/the-history-of-the-world-in-five-books-sir-walter-raleigh.jpg?fit=1000%2C773&ssl=1 "The History of the World, In Five Books. [with] The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight.")
![The History of the World, In Five Books. [with] The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight.](https://i0.wp.com/www.raptisrarebooks.com/images/224182/the-history-of-the-world-in-five-books-sir-walter-raleigh.jpg?fit=1000%2C827&ssl=1 "The History of the World, In Five Books. [with] The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight.")
![The History of the World, In Five Books. [with] The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight.](https://i0.wp.com/www.raptisrarebooks.com/images/224183/the-history-of-the-world-in-five-books-sir-walter-raleigh.jpg?fit=1000%2C841&ssl=1 "The History of the World, In Five Books. [with] The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight.")
![The History of the World, In Five Books. [with] The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight.](https://i0.wp.com/www.raptisrarebooks.com/images/224184/the-history-of-the-world-in-five-books-sir-walter-raleigh.jpg?fit=1000%2C626&ssl=1 "The History of the World, In Five Books. [with] The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight.")
![The History of the World, In Five Books. [with] The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight.](https://i0.wp.com/www.raptisrarebooks.com/images/224185/the-history-of-the-world-in-five-books-sir-walter-raleigh.jpg?fit=1000%2C744&ssl=1 "The History of the World, In Five Books. [with] The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight.")
![The History of the World, In Five Books. [with] The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight.](https://i0.wp.com/www.raptisrarebooks.com/images/224186/the-history-of-the-world-in-five-books-sir-walter-raleigh.jpg?fit=1000%2C575&ssl=1 "The History of the World, In Five Books. [with] The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight.")
![The History of the World, In Five Books. [with] The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight.](https://i0.wp.com/www.raptisrarebooks.com/images/224187/the-history-of-the-world-in-five-books-sir-walter-raleigh.jpg?fit=1000%2C1688&ssl=1 "The History of the World, In Five Books. [with] The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight.")
The History of the World, In Five Books. [with] The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight.
RALEIGH, Sir Walter. [Alexander Ross].
$2,800.00
Item Number: 149130
London: Printed for Robert White, T. Basset, J. Wright, R. Chiswell, G. Dawes and T. Sawbridge, 1677; London: Printed for John Saywell, 1652.
Rare 1677 printing of Sir Walter Raleigh’s renowned unfinished world history, written while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London and first published in 1614; uniformly bound with a rare first edition of its second part, being a continuation by Alexander Ross. Folio, two volumes bound in full diced calf with gilt titles and elaborate gilt tooling and blind-stamping to the spine in five compartments within double raised gilt bands, rebacked retaining original spine, double gilt ruling and stamped scrolling to the front and rear panels, marbled endpapers, all edges speckled red. The History of the World, In Five Books with engraved frontispiece portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh, additional engraved allegorical title page imprint dated 1676 by Renold Elstrack, with “The Mind of the Front” leaf present (bound before frontispiece), title page printed in red and black with engraved device, 6 double-page engraved maps and 2 double-page engraved battle plans, chronological table and index at rear. Uniformly bound with a first edition of The History of the World: The Second Part, In Six Books: Being a Continuation of the famous History of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight [and] A Brief Chronology of the Principal Passages Faln out in the World. [Ross, Alexander. London: Printed for John Saywell, 1652]. Folio, two volumes bound into one, title page printed in red and black with engraved device, woodcut head-pieces and decorative initials, final dated title page with engraved vignette, title and final title mounted. Wing R167. Wing R1956. In very good condition. Armorial bookplate to each pastedown. A nice example of Raleigh’s famed history, very rare uniformly bound with its scarce second part.
"The success of Raleigh’s History can perhaps be explained by the very fact that it is not a work of history in the academic sense but a political tract of immediate applicability. Its author embodied all the glories of the reign of Elizabeth I, which at the time of publication had already begun to be transfigured into a golden age. Raleigh can be taken as the epitome of the Elizabethan idea of courtier and politician, sailor and explorer, writer and poet. He was among the first Englishmen to envisage clearly that the Americas should be the principal goal of English overseas expansion. The reversal of Elizabeth’s policy by James I encompassed Raleigh’s ruin. He finally fell a victim to James’s pro-Spanish inclinations, and the last Elizabethan died by the executioner’s axe" (PMM 117).
