Reference note:
2 vol. Large 8vo. Page dimensions 27.5 cm x 19 cm. Both volumes unpaginated. Contemporary pebbled red Morocco with the spines in six compartments, gilt lettering and decorations on the spines, boards with gilt decorations and rules, gilt rules and tooling to the turn-ins; all edges gilt. Marbled endpapers and pastedowns. Green silk bookmarks bound in. Title pages printed in red and black. Volume one illustrated with 38 colour plates including an engraved chromolithograph title; volume two illustrated with 57 colour plates. Both volumes contain colour woodcuts and initials within the text. Kelley 1843.16. Keynes 89. McLane 66-67. A handsome publication on life in the Middle Ages. Shaw's book vividly illustrates the look of the Middle Ages, depicting the costumes and customs of noblemen, women, and the clergy during the Medieval Period. He was a lifelong antiquarian and illustrator, making a living by selling hand-illustrated facsimiles of medieval illuminated manuscripts. His publications fed a Victorian fascination with early European history and archaeology. Here his colour plates practically jump off the page, while educating the reader about golden chalices, royal genealogy, jousting and duelling, notable ladies of the period (including Catherine of Aragon), and the founding of the British Monarchy, beginning with King Alfred. One of the best made books of the nineteenth-century, by the inestimable press of William Pickering. A perfect copy.

Ref: GB/5896