The image products in our European Medieval Galleries are scanned from prints in a large folio history published in England in the mid 18th century. We purchased all available pages from this heavily damaged book from an antiquarian book dealer many years ago. The book is oversize, and we acquired several incomplete sections. Title page and frontispiece are missing, we therefore have no identification for author(s), date, and publisher but are confident about this approximate age attribution.

The authors of this history copied from a variety of earlier manuscripts. Details of clothing, costume, weapons, armor and accoutrements reveal that several centuries of predominantly English history were documented. The earliest subject matter depicts the 12th century, the latest can be placed in the 16th century. The earlier manuscripts these authors copied showcased the work of illustrators whose line drawings are somewhat primitive by today's standards and show a poor understanding of perspective. The more recent engravings are finely done, figures are detailed and moulded, and dimensional perspective with long range views and vistas is better understood.

We believe his material be very rare and unlikely to be duplicated elsewhere. These galleries are an exclusive presentation of this material to the publishing trade.