Holinshed’s Chronicles by Raphael Holinshed is a large, comprehensive description of history from England, Scotland and Ireland up to the mid-1600s. It was a collaborative project led by Raphael Holinshed who hired various contributing writers. First published in 1577, it was a two-volume edition, illustrated with numerous woodcut images. A significantly expanded and revised second edition in 1587 was a larger folio format, this time without illustrations. This book represents an emerging sense of national history and identity in this period. It was a means of recording and retelling the past. It might have been read aloud in the home for instruction and entertainment.<br /> <br /> The Chronicles were a primary source for many literary writers of the period such as William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Edmund Spenser. This landmark volume encouraged the production of similar Chronicles of more regional histories by middling writers into the 1600s.
Holinshed’s Chronicles (Printed book, two volumes), 1577

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Holinshed’s Chronicles

Holinshed’s Chronicles (Printed book, two volumes), 1577

Holinshed’s Chronicles by Raphael Holinshed is a large, comprehensive description of history from England, Scotland and Ireland up to the mid-1600s. It was a collaborative project led by Raphael Holinshed who hired various contributing writers. First published in 1577, it was a two-volume edition, illustrated with numerous woodcut images. A significantly expanded and revised second edition in 1587 was a larger folio format, this time without illustrations. This book represents an emerging sense of national history and identity in this period. It was a means of recording and retelling the past. It might have been read aloud in the home for instruction and entertainment.

The Chronicles were a primary source for many literary writers of the period such as William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Edmund Spenser. This landmark volume encouraged the production of similar Chronicles of more regional histories by middling writers into the 1600s.

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Object Type Printed book, two volumes
Year 1577
Material Print
Discovered London
Owned By Folger STC 13568.5 Vol.1
Keywords reading; writing; remembering; displaying; collecting; owning; memory; literacy; print; visual culture
Image Credit Raphael Holinshed, Chronicles (1577), Folger Shakespeare Library STC 13568.5 Vol. 1, Used by permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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