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Lingard, Rev. John.
The Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church [2 volumes, complete].
Publisher: Printed by Edward Walker, Newcastle;
Date of Publication: 1806
Stock Code: 10929
FIRST EDITION, one of only 400 copies. Octavo, pp., xiv, 360; viii, 382. Hand coloured fold-out map frontispiece to Volume I; vignette to each title page, drawn by John Thurston and engraved at Thomas Bewick’s workshop. The vignette to Volume I shows Augustine with King Ethelbert from the Epistles of St Gregory, while that to Volume II depicts Coiffi the Pagan High Priest of Northumbria. Full tree calf with gilt titles and embellishments to spine. Spine scuffed with surface loss; joints cracked and fragile; wear to corners. Armorial bookplate to each front pastedown. Damp stains to Vol I early leaves, mainly affecting margin, and to Vol II upper corner up to p. 100. Scattered light foxing; a little annotation in pencil to rear pastedown. A Good set in a handsome binding. Lingard (1771-1851) fled France during the Revolution, and helped to establish the seminary at Crook Hall in Durham, where he was ordained and appointed Professor of Philosophy. This was his first work, covering the introduction and spread of Christianity through the early medieval period including monasticism, ceremonies, literature, missions and destruction of monasteries by invading forces. As a Roman Catholic priest, Lingard argues against the Protestant theory that the English church was from the start independent from the Papacy, and that it was always loyal to Rome. £350.00