Chronicle.- Holinshed (Raphael) Historie of Scotlande [The firste volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande], vol. 1 part 2 only [Scotland part only], blackletter in double column, title within ornate woodcut border and arms to verso, numerous woodcut illustrations throughout, very occasional faint browning or minor staining, overall clean, eighteenth century calf, neatly rebacked and retaining original backstrip, some minor rubbing to corners and edges, [STC 13568], for John Harrison, [1577]; and a defective Historie of Ireland, [vol. 1 part 3], small folio (2)

⁂ First edition of Holinshed's chronicle of Scotland, forming part 2 of the first volume of his seminal narrative history of the British Isles, recognised as the single most important chronicle written in English in the 16th century. Now viewed as a secular counterpart to Foxe's Actes and Monuments (1563), the work was conceived as part of a 'deliberate movement to elevate the status of England, English letters, and English language through writing and publishing maps, histories, national epics, and theoretical works on English poetry' (ODNB). The chronicle is also known as the principal source for Shakespeare's Macbeth.