Portraits Of Kings. [Spine Title] Scotland

Folio, 350 x 225 mm. with 104 [of 105?] portraits in ink wash, sepia borders, mostly two to a page, a few full page. In a later 19th century half calf binding. The first portrait missing and the first page present badly soiled. Some childish scribbles to the blank pages and a couple of corners chipped. Illustrating the Kings of Scottishmen in Albion according to the Holinshed Chronicles and later accounts, the first, here lacking, would have been Fergusius who supposedly began his reign in 327 B.C.; the sequence continues unbroken up to James IV. It is possible that the volume originally included the last monarchs to reign separately over Scotland: James V, Mary, James V and James VI. An attractive, but mostly fanciful collection of portraits, since the true appearance of most of the monarchs is unknown. Little credence can be placed on the style of dress and even the dates of many should be treated with caution. It has proved difficult to date the origin of this collection, the binding is certainly mid 19th century but from the appearance of the first page extant it spent some time in an unbound state before someone valued it sufficiently to go to the expense of a decent binding. The paper is watermarked CDG.