[BOECE, Hector].

£1,750 · Offered by Sokol Books

Appealing Italian translation by Petruccio Ubaldini (c. 1524-1600) of the 1527 Historia Gentis Scotorum by the Scottish philosopher and historian, Hector Boece (1465-1536). The work by Boece was one of the first scholarly histories of Scotland and was enormously popular and influential. It is somewhat flowery and inaccurate, with significant bias toward the Scots, yet its attractive writing style led to both the church and the crown s approval. It was translated from Latin into French and into Scots by John Hellenden, and was used as the basis for many later iterations of Scottish historiography, eventually forming part of the inspiration for Shakespeare s Macbeth. It included a description of the now extinct Eurasian beaver and was heavily complimentary toward Boece s patron, James IV. The present work is a free Italian translation of Boece s Description. It is well printed in a fine Italic type , and despite the Antwerp imprint there can be no doubt that this book was printed in London by John Wolfe. He obtained a license for it 27th November 1587, and his name appears on the title of several other of Ubaldini s books published about this time. (Pforzheimer 1015). The history of Scotland is of personal importance to Ubaldini as he fought for England against the Scots at the Siege of Haddington in 1548. He dedicated this work to Sir Christopher Hatton (1540-1591), an English politician, Lord Chancellor and favourite of Elizabeth I. Sections of the work describe the habits of

• Binding: Hardcover

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