Narrative of the Visit of the Duke de Najira, Knight of the Golden Fleece...to Pay his Court to Henry VIII, in 1543-4

London: Royal Society of Antiquaries, 1831. First edition. Near Fine. Full title: Narrative of the Visit of the Duke de Najira, Knight of the Golden Fleece, &c. to England, to Pay his Court to Henry VIII, in 1543-4: Written by his Secretary, Pedro de Gante. Translated as closely as possible from the original ms. in the British Museum, formerly in the Library of Iriarte, the Spanish Poet, with Notes.

Extracted from the journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, the article comprising pp. 344 to 357. Quarto, 240 x 300 mm. [8] ff. A Near Fine copy. Contemporary blue paper wrappers with printed label. Unopened. Some chipping to edges of wrappers, and a bit of dustsoiling, but a very clean copy overall.

Sir Frederic Madden, Keeper of Manuscripts at the British Museum, was "a giant of Victorian scholarship" whose work as an editor, translator, and conservator helped preserve and disseminate some of the most important English stories in history (ODNB). He was, crucially, responsible for the preservation of the story of Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight, having rediscovered the sole surviving manuscript of the Arthurian legend in the 1820s. Madden translated the story and secured its publication in 1839, re-introducing the legend to nineteenth-century readers and, ultimately, influencing writers like J.R.R. Tolkien. He also carried out conservation work on the Cotton MS, which contains the only known copy of Beowulf, and edited an 1847 edition of Layamon's Brut, "the most important of the English riming chronicles," which contains the first appearance of any Arthurian legends in the English language (Long, English Literature).

In the 1540s, the Spanish peer Juan Esteban Manrique de Lara y Cardona, the 3rd Duke of Nájera (1504 - 1558), visited England to meet privately with King Henry VIII. In his introductory paragraphs, Madden writes that there are few English records of the Duke's visit, and none of his meeting with the King; the record of Pedro de Gante, the Duke's secretary, then, stands as the only surviving account of the meeting, and of his introduction to Queen Catherine Parr and Princess Mary. Near Fine.