Monasticon Anglicanum, or the History of the Ancient Abbies, Monasteries, Hospitals, Cathedral and Collegiate Churches, [...]. [with] The History of the Antient Abbeys, Monasteries, [etc.,] Being two additional volumes to Sir William Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum: [...]

London: Printed by R. Harbin, for D. Browne and J. Smith; Printed for Tho. Taylor, [etc.] 1718; 1722; 1723. 3 vols., pp. [ii] xvi 120 *117-*120, 121-124, *121-*124, [i],126-244, [i], 242-375 [ix] + 103 plates, including engraved title-page; [ii], vii, [v], 76, ff. 77-84, pp. 85-264, cols. 265-272, 273-538 [ii] + 19 plates; [iv], 279, [i], 152, cols. 153-184, pp. 185-223, 242-388, [vi] + 31 plates. Second volume bound with 19 plates rather than the more usual 20, the absent plate being 'The Famous Church of St. Alban with a View of Verulam'. Title pages in red and black, woodcut initials and head- & tail-pieces, 153 plates in total of which 13 are folding, publisher's list to final leaf (verso) of vol.I. Vols. II & III with a little occasional foxing to bottom fore-edge corner, vol.II with a small paper repair to bottom margin of 6H. Generally very clean and bright. 19th-century brown calf, lightly diced, neatly rebacked, spines ornately gilt and each with dark and mid-brown labels, gilt borders and dentelles, edges coloured bright yellow, marbled endpapers. A little rubbed with a few light marks, joints worn with vol. I upper joint split from tail to approx. halfway up and vol. II just starting at tail, vol. II and III spine labels transposed, most corners worn but still good overall. The antiquary John Stevens' abridgement and translation of William Dugdale's monumental Monasticon Anglicanum, complete with his two supplementary volumes. Called by Lowndes 'an excellent epitome'. The additional volumes add hundreds of additional monastic charters, also translated into English. "For the first time it treated pre- and post-Reformation monastic history as a continuum" (ODNB). When the Monasticon was re-edited into six enormous volumes in the 19th century, Stevens' two supplements were incorporated. This was the second English translation/abridgement of the Monasticon, following a much shorter and less successful version in 1693 by James Wright. ESTC T149944, T147338; Lowndes I 686-7; Upcott p. xviii.