WARE, Sir James. De Hibernia & Antiquitatibus ejus Disquisitiones. In quibus, Praeter ea quae de Hiberniâ antiquâ explicantur, Mores & Consuetudines Hibernorum, tàm veterum, quàm mediorum temporum, describuntur. Unà cum formâ Imperii eorum, Nummis, Academiis … tempore Henrici II, sub quo, Insula Anglici Juris facta est.

Londini : Typis J. Grismond, impensis Jo. Crook & Thomas Heath, 1654. Foolscap octavo. First edition. pp. [xiv], 253, [1 (Errata)]. Titlepage in red and black. Contemporary full panelled calf, spine professionally rebacked at the Abrams Bindery, new red morocco letterpiece. Recent and early owner’s signature, notes (Eric Mac Fionn) and initials on titlepage. A near fine copy. Rare.
ESTC R013244. WorldCat 3. Sweeney 5533. Wing 843.
Engravings signed: W Hollar fecit. Running title reads: Antiquitates Hibernica. This edition includes a Map of Ireland, Plan of St. Patrick’s Purgatory, woodcuts of early coins and a medallion portrait of a bearded Irishman.
Sir James Ware’s (1594-1666) magnum opus; the most comprehensive account of Ireland, from its legendary origins to the conquest by the Normans, that had yet appeared. Ware details the roots of the leading Irish families, the meaning of Irish names, and reports on the superstitions and the natural phenomena of the country, and gives a knowledgeable description of Irish costume and the Irish ways of fighting. Particularly valuable are his accounts of the forms of government, the codes of law, and the systems of land tenure that prevailed up to the Norman invasion.

[CAT 163]