Gower, John (1325?-1408)
De Confessione Amantis. London: Thomas Berthelette, 1554.Folio, third edition, title page printed within woodcut compartment (McKerrow & Ferguson 26); text printed in gothic letter double columns throughout; complete, including the final blank Ii6; bound in full contemporary dark brown calf with a large central tool in blind on front and back boards, worn, losses to head and tail, endbands still present, worming to boards, unsophisticated, no repairs; sewn on alum-tawed supports, front bifolium of binder's endleaves guarded with blank parchment slip, back endleaves not present, parchment guard still in place but clearly bound after the conjugate final blank; a few later marginal notes at the end, some unobtrusive minor worming, a small straight hole in the bottom margin about halfway through the text; an exceptionally clean and well-preserved survival, housed in a modern custom clamshell box; Latin inscription referring to the text in a 17th century hand on the verso of the title; 11 3/8 x 7 1/2 in.STC 12144; Pforzheimer 422; Langland to Wither 116; this copy purchased from Seven Gables in 1973.From the Ken Rapoport Collection.