The Compleat Ambassador 1655
Late seventeenth-century brown and mottled calf binding, with both sides and spine blind- and gold-tooled. Design identical on both sides: outer double fillet blind-tooled border; inner blind-tooled ‘panel’ border formed of one double fillet and one sprouting-flower roll; in the outer corners of the panel border, a blind-tooled triangular-shaped tool with a rounded top, filled with swirls and surmounted by a tulip-like flower (all one tool). Dark-coloured mottling used on the section of calf outside the panel border; light-coloured mottled used inside the panel. Gold-tooled in the centre, the arms of William III and William III and Mary II (England, France, Scotland and Ireland quartered on an escutcheon of pretence billetty a lion rampant [Nassau]) surrounded by the garter and surmounted by a crown. Flower-head and vine roll blind-tooled on all edges of both boards. Spine divided into six compartments by raised bands. Second compartment tooled in gold with the title: ‘DIGGS COMPLET AMBASAD’. All compartments gold-tooled with fillet and dotted roll border; first, fourth and sixth compartments gold-tooled with four outer swirled gouges and an inner diamond-shaped flower built up from several tools; third and fifth compartments tooled with diamond-shaped swirl corner tools, a central diamond built of from several small flower tools with a star tool in the centre and above and below. Flower-head and vine roll on head and tail of spine. | 32.5 x 4.5 cm (book measurement (inventory)) | RCIN 1023176
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[16], 232, 231-414, 419-434, 439-441, [7] p., [1] leaf of plates : front.
Provenance
Possibly acquired by William III; later in the personal library of George III.
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Creator(s)
(contributor)(printer) -
Medium and techniques
Late seventeenth-century brown and mottled calf binding, with both sides and spine blind- and gold-tooled. Design identical on both sides: outer double fillet blind-tooled border; inner blind-tooled ‘panel’ border formed of one double fillet and one sprouting-flower roll; in the outer corners of the panel border, a blind-tooled triangular-shaped tool with a rounded top, filled with swirls and surmounted by a tulip-like flower (all one tool). Dark-coloured mottling used on the section of calf outside the panel border; light-coloured mottled used inside the panel. Gold-tooled in the centre, the arms of William III and William III and Mary II (England, France, Scotland and Ireland quartered on an escutcheon of pretence billetty a lion rampant [Nassau]) surrounded by the garter and surmounted by a crown. Flower-head and vine roll blind-tooled on all edges of both boards. Spine divided into six compartments by raised bands. Second compartment tooled in gold with the title: ‘DIGGS COMPLET AMBASAD’. All compartments gold-tooled with fillet and dotted roll border; first, fourth and sixth compartments gold-tooled with four outer swirled gouges and an inner diamond-shaped flower built up from several tools; third and fifth compartments tooled with diamond-shaped swirl corner tools, a central diamond built of from several small flower tools with a star tool in the centre and above and below. Flower-head and vine roll on head and tail of spine.
Measurements
32.5 x 4.5 cm (book measurement (inventory))
32 x 21.4 x 4.3 cm (book measurement (conservation))
Category
Subject(s)
Other number(s)
ESTC : English Short Title Catalogue Citation Number – ESTC R22010Alternative title(s)
The Compleat ambassador, or, Two treaties of the intended marriage of Qu: Elizabeth of glorious memory : comprised in letters of negotiation of Sir Francis Walsingham, her resident in France, together with the answers of the Lord Burleigh, the Earl of Leicester, Sir Tho: Smith, and others ... / faithfully collected by the truly honourable Sir Dudly Digges ...
Place of Production
London [Greater London]
