[Essex House Press] The Courtier of Count Baldessar Castilio

Mile End: Essex House Press, 1900. First Edition. First Edition. Thick quarto, 9 x 7 1/4 inches. Publisher's gilt-lettered full flexible vellum covers with gilt lettering on spine. This is copy #2 out of only 200 printed, and one of the larger format Essex House titles. Floriated woodcut initials by C. R. Ashbee. This 1900 Essex House Press edition utilized the famous 1561 English translation by Sir Thomas Hoby which was crucial in shaping the English ideal of the "gentleman" during the Elizabethan era. Covers slightly toned, ties absent.