Richard of Cirencester; [Charles Bertram] — The Description of Britain

London, J. White and Co, 1809. First edition. Hardback. The first edition of this interesting historical work by Charles Bertram, a forged fourteenth century topographical work complete with folding maps. The first edition.An interesting work, being a forgery by Charles Bertram who purported to discover a manuscript by a fourteenth century monk, Richard of Cirencester.This work was only to be discovered as a forgery in 1846.Though being a forgery, 'The Description of Britain' was a source of essential knowledge on Roman Britain when first published.Illustrated with two folding maps and one plate.Collated, complete. In the original paper covered boards, neatly rebacked. Externally, generally smart, with some light marks and rubbing to the boards. Minor bumping to the extremities. Light handling marks to the spine label. A little loss of paper to the fore edge of the rear board. Internally, firmly bound, though pages iii to xiv are detached but present. Pages are bright and clean. Very Good . Ill.: Not Stated. Very Good .