James, G. P. R., Esq. The History of Chivalry (The American School Library, No. 26). New-York: Harper & Brothers, 1839. [12464]
Publisher's black cloth, series title, number, and book title in gilt on spine, the binding is undamaged, but faded and worn, 6 x 4 inches. Bottom corner of ffep (front blank) torn with loss, wood engraving "Ceremony of Conferring Knighthood" as frontispiece, with tissue guard. [i]-xvi, [17]-342 pp.; pages with foxing, section in center bumped at the top corner. Good. Hardcover.
"I wished to write upon Chivalry and the Crusades, because I fancied that in the hypotheses of man other authors I had discovered various errors and misstatements, which give a false impression of both the institution and the enterprise; and I have endeavoured, in putting forth my own view of the subject, to advance no one point, however minute, which cannot be justified with indisputable authority. A favourite theory is too often, in historical writing, like the bed of the ancient Greek; and facts are either stretched or lopped away to agree with it: but to ensure as much accuracy as possible, I have taken pains to mark in the margins of the pages the different writers on whose assertions my own statements are founded, with a corresponding figure, by which each particular may be referred to its authority." - Preface.
George Payne Rainsford James (1799-1860), a prolific English historical writer and novelist, he served as British Counsel in the United States and in Europe.
