?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,500 - $ 3,500
Heywood, Thomas (early 1570s-1641) The Fair Maid of the West. Or, A Girle worth gold. [First & Second Parts].
London: Printed for Richard Royston, 1631.
First edition, two parts in one quarto volume; each part lacking its preliminary blank; title of part one supplied from another copy (this from previous descriptions, without any obvious indications of the swap); part one lacking the epistle dedicatory (A3); a clean copy, in full 19th century calf, recently rebacked; ex libris Robert Hoe, W.A. White, Huntington, and Mary Hyde Eccles, with Hyde & Hoe bookplates, penciled H.E.H. Dup. inscription inside back endleaves; purchased at Christie's in 2004; 6 7/8 x 4 7/8 in.
Inspired by contemporary English exploration made on behalf of Queen Elizabeth, Heywood constructs an imaginary scenario involving the characters Spencer and Bess. Forced to flee his beloved public house after committing a murder in self-defense, Spencer leaves the capable Bess in charge of the Windmill Tavern. Equal to the task and despite the unkind attentions of Roughman, Bess's administration of the Tavern is a success. At the end of the first part, she sets out in search of her lost love, only to find him in Morocco. Action resumes in part two after the couple has celebrated their marriage.
![Heywood, Thomas (early 1570s-1641) The Fair Maid of the West. Or, A Girle worth gold. [First & Second Parts].](https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/full//234\803234.jpg)
