SPQV: A survay of the signorie of Venice, of her admired policy, and method of goverment, &c. : With a cohortation to all Christian princes to resent her dangerous condition at present [Survey]

James Howell; Robert Vaughan

Printed for Richard Lowndes at the VVhite Lion in S. Pauls Churchyard, neer the west end, M. DC. LI., 1651.

Folio, 28 cm. Bound in old calf.  Rubbing, wear to extremities.  Gutters weakened. Title in red and black.  Engraved frontispiece of the Lion of Saint Mark.   Allegorical engraved plate signed: Ro: Vaughan sculp.. Some browning, generally good internally.  [8], 55, [3], 57-165, 168-184, 183-198, 175-210, [8] pages.  Text is continuous despite erratic pagination.

"Howell visited Venice some thirty years before this book was published when on a mission to engage workmen for Sir Robert Mansell's glassware manufactory in London. It is dedicated to the Long Parliament which, seven years earlier, had committed him to the Fleet Prison, partly for debt and partly for his royalist sympathies." Bonhams 2000. 

Interesting provenance: Armorial bookplates of George, Earl of Macartney, Knight of the Order of White Eagle and of the Bath.  Macartney 1737-1806 was a noted British statesman, colonial administrator and diplomat. He is best remembered for his quote that the after the conclusion of the Seven Years War the British Empire was, "a vast Empire, on which the sun never sets". He served as Governor of the British West Indies, as well as Governor of Grenada, Governor of Madras, Britain's first envoy to China, served in Italy, and finally Governor of Cape Colony. For his many years of service he was raised to the peerage and eventually became an Earl. Later book plate of Theodore Chase. 

Refs: Wing H-3112; Atabey 596; Pforzheimer, 517.

Other Titles: Survay of the signorie of Venice; Of the princes, and dukes of Venice; Upon the citty and signorie of Venice. S.P.Q.V.