THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE MOST RENOWN'D Q. ELIZABETH, AND THE E. OF ESSEX; The Earl of Essex of the Amours of Queen Elizabethn

Cologne (but likely, London): Will with the Wisp, at the Sign of the Moon in the Eclipstick, 1740. Early edition. Leather-bound. Good. 24mo. 5 1//2 in. x 3 in. Smooth brown calf with more recent corners and spine, in lighter-coloured calf. Double-ruled in gilt. Some edgewear, cracking and scuffing, with some chipping to very top of spine. Later endpapers. First published in French in 1678 as 'Comte d'Essex histoire angloise' and (first) in English, 1680. In Two parts, with separate title pages, but pagination is continuous. The same woodcut preceding each part. [4] 114: Ill. 12mo.."...The bookseller's name is fictitious; the recto of the frontispiece and pp. 115-116 bear advertisements for James Hodges at the Looking-glass on London-bridge.. It is generally held that the (Cologne) imprint is false, as is the name of the bookseller..." ESTC T67645.

"One of a few undated editions with false "Will with the Wisp" imprint, all rare. The recto of the frontispiece and pp.115-16 bear advertisements for James Hodges at the Looking-glass on London-bridge. ESTC locates only 4 copies with the same advertisements (BL, Bodleian, Pierpont Morgan Library and University of Toronto)" (from Rare Book Hub). The book purports to reveal the historical relationship between Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex.