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1 of 253523 objects
The Faerie Queene : disposed into twelve books, fashioning XII morall vertues 1590
[2], 606 p. | 19.6 x 14.3 x 5.6 cm (book measurement (conservation)) | RCIN 1081217
Edmund Spenser (1552?-99)
The Faerie Queene: disposed into twelve books, fashioning XII. morall vertues 1590
Edmund Spenser (1552?-99)
The Faerie Queene: disposed into twelve books, fashioning XII. morall vertues 1590
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Edmund Spenser's allegorical poem The Faerie Queene was published a few years before Shakespeare wrote The Merry Wives of Windsor. Spenser dedicated his poem to Elizabeth I, and writes that his character of the Fairy Queen represents the monarch. This link between the Fairy Queen and Elizabeth I is echoed by Shakespeare in this passage about the Queen's residence Windsor Castle in The Merry Wives:
'Search Windsor Castle, elves, within and out.
Strew good luck, oafs, on every sacred room,
That it may stand till the perpetual doom,
In state as wholesome as in state 'tis fit,
Worthy the owner and the owner it.'
(Act 5, scene 5)
Elizabeth I and the power of her iconography can be considered to be a significant part of the context of Shakespeare's earlier writing.
This book was acquired for the Royal Library c.1887 in the belief that it had been Elizabeth I's copy. It is bound in brown calf-skin with the gold-tooled badge of Elizabeth I — a Tudor rose surmounted by a crown and with a portcullis within — on each board. Flanking the badge are the letters E.B. (the B is backwards), which are probably old press marks, since they are repeated in ink on the inside of the cover. It is now thought to be extremely unlikely to have belonged to the Tudor queen.Provenance
Belonged to Frederick Perkins (1780-1860), book collector; acquired by Queen Victoria c. 1887
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Creator(s)
(publisher)Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
[2], 606 p.
Measurements
19.6 x 14.3 x 5.6 cm (book measurement (conservation))
Other number(s)
ESTC : English Short Title Catalogue Citation Number – ESTC S121920Alternative title(s)
The Faerie Queene: disposed into twelve books, fashioning XII. morall vertues.
Place of Production
London [Greater London]