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~Original dark red diced morocco boards, elaborate floral blind decor and triple gilt fillets framing boards. Gilt decor to board edges and turn-ins, worn on board edges. Rebacked in near-matching dark red morocco, with raised bands, gilt ruling, and gilt lettering to spine. Large 4to (21.2 x 26.5cm). All edges gilt. Hinges sound. Original marbled endpapers, repaired and reinforced at gutters with blue cloth. Armorial bookplate of James Broughton (1833 -1887) to inside front board. Broughton was organist of St Ann's Roman Catholic Church, Leeds, and served with distinction as chorus master of the Leeds Festival from 1874 to 1883. Pen inscription to title page, dated 1880, noting purchase from the William Salt Library, Stafford. Stamp of William Salt Library (est. 1872) to title page and final page of text. Frontis with tissue guard (creased). Engraved plan, 3 folding genealogies, 3 portraits with tissue guards. 3 genealogies slightly creased at inner fold, one with small tear (c. 1cm) at fold. A little mild scattered foxing. With Zoology of Tixall and 'Flora Tixalliana' to rear, as well as extracts from the works of Michael Drayton (all addressed to his patron Sir Walter Aston), 4pp. errata and corrigenda, and Contents. Simms, Bibliotheca Staffordiensis, 1894, p.110: 'This History was privately printed, chiefly for presents; it is now scarce; unstained copies are seldom met with; originally issued in paper covers; on account of misnomers pp. 153 and 154 were reprinted, 50 copies only being struck'. A few neat pencil annotations in old hand throughout. Pencil annotations in old hand to blank front endpages, noting that 'Tis singular that ye authors of this vol. who have filled so many pages with minute particulars of the Astons and Cliffords, should have omitted to insert copies of the many Epitaphs on those families, which may be seen in St. Mary's Church, Clifford'. The volume is indeed filled with 'minute particulars' of these two devout recusant families, of whom the Astons were the first to hold Tixall, gaining possession of Tixall Hall in 1507. The Astons were successful Elizabethan grandees, trusted by the crown: Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned at Tixall Hall for two weeks in 1586. It was Walter Aston, 1st Lord Aston of Forfar (Drayton's patron), who converted to Catholicism in 1623: under his successors, Tixall became the centre of the large Staffordshire Catholic community. Tixall became briefly notorious during the fabricated 'Popish Plot' of 1678 and 1681, when it was claimed that Tixall gatehouse (illustrated in the frontis to this volume) was the site of meetings between conspirators planning to assassinate Charles II. Walter Aston, 3rd Lord Aston of Forfar, was accused of complicity in the Plot and was sent to the Tower of London in 1679; he was released the following year when the fictitious claims of his accusers fell apart under scrutiny. Tixall passed into the Clifford family through Barbara Aston, who married Thomas Clifford (1732-1787); she was the mother of Arthur Clifford (1777-1830), one of the authors of this volume: antiquarian, family historian, and uncle of Sir Thomas Aston Clifford-Constable (1807-1870), the other author, who succeeded to the baronetcy of Tixall in 1823. Arthur Clifford was educated at the English College in Douai; in 1786, when the college was taken over by French revolutionary forces, he was imprisoned along with the other students and teachers. After his release and return to England, Clifford was instrumental in publishing numerous historical papers found in Tixall Hall, including the 1813 'Tixall Poetry', a collection of poems 'either written or transcribed by members of the Aston family, concluding with Clifford's own verses' (ODNB). Among these was his 'Midnight Meditation among the Ruins of Tixall', also published separately in this volume (pp. 100-105). Very scarce, in original boards. ~Robust packaging. All UK orders trackable, others on request. Size: ii, (2), 5-325pp. Seller Inventory # HH4437
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