One of the things we picked up recently was a wonderful copy of the 1791 engraving of William Camden’s The Funeral Procession of Queen Elizabeth. In an early leather folder/binding (remnant of a label is dated 1891), the accordion folded print is twenty-nine feet (29 FEET!) long. Kim is currently working on a detailed description, but in the meantime, here is a taste and images of the entire work:
Spectacular hand-colored panorama of the funeral procession of Queen Elizabeth I in April 1603, reproducing drawings in the British Museum ascribed to Elizabeth’s biographer William Camden, who appeared in the procession in his official role as Clarenceaux King of Arms. Other mourners of note include Robert Cecil, Thomas Egerton, and Walter Raleigh. At the time of her death, most Englishmen had known no monarch but Elizabeth, as the elaborate formal procession detailed here was swelled by thousands of Londoners.
This engraved copy of Camden’s original drawings was produced in 1791 for the Society of Antiquaries, appearing in the third volume of Vetusta Monumenta. This copy nearly entirely colored in an early hand…with an evolving use of color as ‘importance’ increased. Left uncolored, strikingly, is the effigy of the queen mounted upon her coffin, a likeness so startling that the London crowd gasped to see it. It is presumed it was left uncolored to reflect the virtue of the Virgin Queen. The was the first we’ve seen intact in a very long time. [Click and scroll through lovely big images]
