2 parts in 1. [18], [24], 572 (i.e. 582); 406, [18], 407-538 pp. Title-page printed in red and black. 12 leaves of hand-colored woodcut illustrations at the front, printed on rectos only; plus numerous woodcut illustrations within text. Woodcut head- and tail-pieces, decorative initials. (Folio) 32.5x21 cm (12¾x81/4"), period full calf with later rebacking, spine gilt, red and green labels. First Edition in English.

Massive compendium of the various chivalric orders throughout Europe, translated into English, with histories of arms, emblazons, escutcheons, descriptions of the different crowns; covers military orders and religious knights, etc. Rarely encountered with the plates colored. Also of interest to the Shakespearian scholar as this volume was printed by the same printer, later in the same year, that printed the First Folio. Both books contain the same emblematic head-pieces and tail-pieces. "The most valuable treatise we have in English upon the foreign orders of knighthood" - Lowndes.