THE OLDCASTLE CONTROVERSY. Sir John Oldcastle, Part I; The Famous Victories of Henry V.

First edition. Publisher's original black cloth with gilt titles to the spine, in dustwrapper. With three black and white illustrations throughout. A near fine copy, the binding square and firm, lightly rubbed to the extremities, with just a touch of bumping to the spine tips and a small white mark to the extreme bottom edge of the lower board. The contents with a few pen notations and underlining in blue ink by previous owner Dr Richard Rowland in the introduction and to the front endpaper. Complete with the near fine, rubbed and toned dustwrapper, which retains the residue of two previous price labels to the rear panel, and is otherwise without loss or tears.

From the library of Dr Richard Rowland, scholar of Renaissance literature and a former lecturer at the universities of Oxford and York. In this volume, editors Peter Corbin and Douglas Sedge, lecturers in English at the University of Exeter, provide modern critical editions of the 'The Famous Victories of Henry V' and the collaborative 'Sir John Oldcastle, Part I'. The former is a major Shakespearean source and a robust version of the young Henry V's misspent youth and triumph at Agincourt, while the latter was written in refutation of Shakespeare's scandalous interpretation of the puritan 'saint' figure. (1991: Blackwell's, publisher's synopsis).