This is the complete 4-volume first edition, published by Longman & Rees in 1803, of Robert SoutheyÂ’s translation of the fifteenth century spanish classic, Amadis of Gaul (288, 371, 336 & 336 pages, plus indices), a work that has various attributions as to authorship (Garcio Ordonez de Montalvo, Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo, etc.), but noted on these title pages as having been written by Vasco Lobeyra.
These were the copies of the arts patron and founder of what was to become the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, Julian Wood Glass, Jr., whose bookplate is in the first volume, and whose name and the name of his Winchester estate, Glen Burnie, is written to otherwise blank front end pages.
There are no other stamps, and only a few pencil notations. These recovered copies have full calf covers (app. 6.5" x 4"), gilt lettering and decoration. All are intact, but with surface cracks at the side of the spine, and a consequent looseness to the front cover hinge of Volume I. There is shallow wear to the ends of the spines, all of which are straight. The gilt lettering is slightly faded but legible. There are scuffs but no significant stains.
The marbled inside cover spreads have a few chipped surface areas, but they are good overall, the Glass bookplate in one being the only stamp. The marbled page edges are clean and unfaded. The page faces are very good, occasional light foxing, but with unfaded text and uniformly legible text. There are no page tears or notable creases.

Amadís of Gaul, romance of chivalry prose, was written in Spanish by Señor de Montalvo.
Robert Southey (August 12, 1774 – March 21, 1843) English romantic school poet. He was Poet Laureate for 30 years from 1813 to his death in 1843.
He and his family made their home at Greta Hall, Keswick, in the Lake District, living on his tiny income. Related to Samuel Taylor Coleridge through marriage (both were married to sisters) he supported Sara Coleridge and her three children after Coleridge abandoned them, as well as the widow of poet Robert Lovell and her son.
He was also a renowned scholar of Portuguese and Spanish literature and history. This is the first edition of SoutheyÂ’s Amadis de Gaul translation, considered one of the finest.
These four volumes came from the library of noted arts patron Julian Wood Glass, Jr.

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