The Life of the Great Statesman William Cecil, Lord Burghley

Secretary of State in the Reign of King Edward the Sixth, and 

Lord High Treasurer of England in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth

Authored and Published by Arthur Collins, London

Hardcover, Raised-Hubbed Leather Spine

Illustrated Frontispiece of “Lord Burghley”

1732 First Edition

Accented with gold gilt decorative spine, marbled page edges, antique bookplate with illustrated picture of bookshelves (perfect for bibliophiles), marbled end-pages and paste-downs. 

Near Fine Antiquarian Condition.  The book is clean, tight and secure binding, crisp inner pages with minimal page toning, unmarked, no writing, no stains, no ripped pages or tears, no edge chipping, no corner folds or creased pages, not ex-library. Light wear from use, storage and handling. Light rubbing to the outer spine and book edges. 

Free USA Shipping

>>>>

William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley  (13 September 1520  – 4 August 1598) was an English statesman, the chief adviser of  Queen Elizabeth I  for most of her reign, twice  Secretary of State  (1550–1553 and 1558–1572) and  Lord High Treasurer  from 1572. In his description in the  Encyclopedia Britannica  Eleventh Edition,  A.F. Pollard  wrote, "From 1558 for forty years the biography of Cecil is almost indistinguishable from that of Elizabeth and from the history of England." Cecil set as the main goal of English policy the creation of a united and Protestant British Isles. His methods were to complete the control of Ireland, and to forge an alliance with Scotland. Protection from invasion required a powerful Royal Navy. While he was not fully successful, his successors agreed with his goals. In 1587, Cecil persuaded the Queen to order the execution of the Roman Catholic  Mary, Queen of Scots, after she was implicated in a plot to assassinate Elizabeth. He was the father of  Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, and founder of the Cecil dynasty (marquesses of  Exeter  and of  Salisbury), which has produced many politicians including two prime ministers.

>>>>

Arthur Collins  (1682–1760) was an English  antiquarian,  genealogist, and  historian. He is most known for his work  Peerage of England. Collins was born in 1682, the son of William Collins, Esq., a  Gentleman Usher  to  Queen Catherine, and Elizabeth Blythe. His father managed to spend his way through his fortune of some £30,000, but despite this he was able to give his son a  liberal education, after which Arthur worked for at least some of his life as a  bookseller  across from  St Dunstan's Church  on  Fleet Street. He married around 1708, and died in 1760, at the age of 78. He was buried in  Battersea, then part of  Surrey. His son,  Major General  Arthur Tooker Collins, was the father of  David Collins, the first Lieutenant Governor of  Tasmania. 

The first two editions of Collins's  Peerage  were published as single volumes in 1709 and 1712. Subsequent editions included an increasing number of added volumes, such that the fifth edition, published in 1778, contained eight volumes.  Barak Longmate, publisher of the fifth edition, also published a supplement to it in 1784.  Samuel Egerton Brydges  released the nine-volume sixth edition in 1812, bringing all of the book's contents up to date and describing Collins as "a most industrious, faithful, and excellent genealogist" whose only failing was a habit of regarding rank and titles with "too indiscriminate respect and flattery." Collins published  Cases of Baronies  in 1734; a five-volume  Baronetage  in 1741;  Letters &c. of the  Sidneys  in 1746;  Letters and Memorials of State, the letters of the Sidneys' business manager  Rowland Whyte; and  the noble Families of  Cavendish, &c.  in 1752. He also published two biographies:   The Life of the Great Statesman William Cecil, Lord Burghley in 1732 and  Life of  Edward the Black Prince  in 1750.