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 895D. Fuler, Thomas (1608-1661)

The Church History of Britain; From the Birth of Jesus Christ, Untill the Year M. DC. XLVIII. Endevoured by Thomas Fuller.

London: for John Williams, 1655.                           Price $2,200

Folio 32 x 21.7 cm. Signatures: a⁴, A-Y⁴, Aa-Nn⁴, Oo², P-Qq⁴, Rr²,  Rr-Zz⁴, [Aa]-[Ii]⁴, Ccc⁴, [Ddd]-[Zzz]⁴, [aaa]-[ggg]⁴, [hhh]²: ¶¶⁴, Aaa⁶, Bbb-Zz⁴, [Aaa]-[Ggg]⁴, Aaaa-Zzzz⁴,[ Aaaa]-[Gggg]⁴, [Hhhh]² , aaaaa⁴, Aaaaa-Xxxxx⁴, Yyyyy², 6A-6C⁴, ¶-¶¶⁴, ¶¶¶². First Edition Illustrated with  three full-paged engraved plates:”The Seales of the Armes of all the Mitred Abbeys of England” The other two are separate views of Litchfield Cathedral; and a folding map of Cambridge. This copy is lacking the double-paged engraved plate: the arms of “the Knights Joined with the Monkes of Ely by William the Conqueror”; This copy is bound in full light modern  calf by the Studio 4 bindery 1986.

“It is regrettable that so fine a writer as Fuller should so often be dismissed as merely ‘quaint.’ Coleridge— who, with Lamb, revived his reputation —ranked him with Shakespeare, Milton, Defoe, and Hogarth as one of the ‘uniques’ among the ‘mighty host of our great men,’ and although that ranking may be open to objection, it does suggest the stature of Pepys’ ‘great Tom Fuller.’ […] Fuller’s chief concern was the completion of two major works that had been long deferred — the promised Church History (1655) and The Worthies (1662) […]

Into these two massive undertakings he poured enough antiquarian zeal, piety, patriotism, erudition, and witty common sense to supply a dozen lesser men. As his first, anonymous biographer observed in 1661, Fuller’s later life was ‘a kind of errantry,’ with the object of his quest the history of his native land. Wherever he went, jogging through the English countryside, ‘he spent frequently most of his time in views and researches of their antiquities and church monuments, insinuating himself into the acquaintance (which frequently ended in a lasting friendship) of the learnedst and gravest persons residing in the place, thereby to inform himself fully of those things thought worthy the commendation of his labors.’ He himself records that he wrote the first three books of the Church History (from the birth of Christ to the later fourteenth century) before 1649 and the other nine (which end with Charles’ execution) after ‘monarchy was turned into a state.’ Despite ‘much difficulty’ in completing this gigantic labor, the twelve books, each provided with a lavish dedication, appeared in 1655.” (Baker)

Wing F-2416. Gibson, Thomas More #304.

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