THE RITES OF KNIGHTHOOD. The Literature and Politics of Elizabethan Chivalry.

First edition, first printing. Publisher's original black cloth with gilt titles to the spine, in dustwrapper. Illustrated throughout with seven black and white illustrations. A near fine copy, the binding square and firm, with a touch of rubbing to the spine tips. The contents, with some pencilled marginalia, are otherwise clean throughout. The text block is a little toned. Complete with the lightly rubbed and toned dustwrapper, which has been repriced with a small label pasted on the rear panel (£17.30).

From the library of (and with pencilled marginalia of] Dr Richard Rowland, editor and author on the Renaissance and classical mythology, and Senior Lecturer in the Department of English and Related Literature at the University of York. A comprehensive survey of the literary and theatrical works inspired by the Elizabethan revival of chivalric ideals and practices. The author and Professor of English at Queens College and the Graduate Centre of the City University of New York, Richard C. McCoy examines the careers and chivalric performances of three ambitious aristocrats of the period - the Earl of Leicester, Sir Philip Sidney, and the Earl of Essex, and particularly the literary works of those affiliated with them, including Samuel Daniel, Edmund Spenser, George Gascoigne, and Francis Bacon.