Peerage of England Vol. IV 1755 Third Edition

🏛️ The Peerage of England, Vol. IV by Arthur Collins (1755, London) — a genealogical and historical account of all peers of England, covering their descents, marriages, military actions, monuments, and heraldic arms engraved on copper-plates. This is the Third Edition, “corrected and enlarged in every Family, with Memoirs, not hitherto printed.” The text block of this copy is complete with all content intact; the original boards have been removed and the leather spine is still present.

QUICK FACTS

• Author: Arthur Collins (1682–1760), English antiquarian and genealogist
• Publisher: London, printed for W. Innys, J. Richardson, T. Wotton, E. Withers, C. Hitch, L. Hawes, R. Manby, J. & J. Rivington, H.S. Cox, W. Johnston, P. Davy, and B. Law
• Year: 1755 (Third Edition)
• Format: Text block (original boards removed), leather spine present
• Pages: Complete text block, last three pages separated but no missing text
• Condition: See full report below

THE STORY

Arthur Collins (1682–1760) was an English antiquarian, genealogist, and historian — the son of William Collins, Gentleman Usher to Queen Catherine of Braganza. Collins worked as a bookseller on Fleet Street across from St Dunstan’s Church. His Peerage of England, first published as a single volume in 1709, grew through successive editions into an eight-volume reference work — the most comprehensive genealogical survey of the English nobility produced in the 18th century.

Volume IV covers families including Herbert (Earl of Powis), Percy (Earl of Northumberland), Thynne (Viscount Weymouth), Conway (Earl of Hertford), and North (Earl of Guilford), among others. Each entry traces lineages from medieval origins through to the mid-18th century, documenting marriages, issues, military campaigns, land grants, and deaths.

THIS EDITION

The Third Edition was printed in 1755 and described as “corrected and enlarged in every Family, with Memoirs, not hitherto printed.” Collins drew on records, old wills, authentic manuscripts, and cited historians to build his accounts. The title page prominently advertises the copperplate engravings: “Their Paternal COATS OF ARMS, CRESTS, SUPPORTERS, and MOTTO’s, curiously ingraven on COPPER-PLATES.” A formal dedication by Collins is included, addressed to a patron and dated to the year “seventeen hundred and fifty.”

COVER ART / ILLUSTRATIONS / DESIGN

The volume contains detailed copperplate engravings of heraldic coats of arms for the families documented. Visible examples include the Thynne (Viscount Weymouth) arms — a shield topped with a coronet, supported by a stag and a lion, bearing the motto “AY BONNE CAUSE” — and the Conway (Earl of Hertford) arms with classical supporters. The title page is set in a mix of red and black ink, typical of mid-18th-century London printing. Pages show aged cream paper with foxing, deckled edges, and the long ‘s’ (ſ) characteristic of the period. A previous owner has added handwritten heraldic notes discussing tinctures — “gules,” “azure,” “purpure,” “sanguine” — and family mottoes alongside matching signatures on endpapers.

WHY IT MATTERS

• Collins’ Peerage was the standard genealogical reference for the English aristocracy for over a century, reprinted through nine editions between 1709 and 1812
• The copperplate engravings are among the finest heraldic illustrations of the 18th century, copied and referenced in later heraldic works including those published by Wikimedia Commons
• The handwritten annotations by a previous owner — listing family mottos, tinctures, and heraldic terminology — add provenance value and suggest the volume was actively used for genealogical research

FREQUENTLY ASKED

What edition is this? Third Edition, printed in London, 1755. Volume IV of eight volumes.

What condition is it in? Text block is complete with all content intact. Boards removed; leather spine present. Last three pages separated. Handwritten annotations on endpapers.

Is it signed or annotated? A previous owner added signatures and detailed heraldic notes on the endpapers, including family mottoes and tincture references.

FOR COLLECTORS

Volume IV of Collins’ Peerage covers some of the most prominent families in English history — the Percys of Northumberland, the Herberts of Powis, the Thynnes of Weymouth. The copperplate heraldic engravings alone make this a worthwhile reference piece. Despite the missing boards, the complete text block with its period annotations is a genuine 18th-century artifact with research and display value.

Text block of 1755 edition of “The Peerage of England”, volume 4.
Front and back boards are gone, leather on spine still present. Includes all of the textual content, with last three pages separated, but no missing text. There is also a loose end paper – not sure if it is from front or back of the block, has some neatly quilled notes and a signature. The front of the block also has a free end paper still attached with more quilled notes and a matching signature.

See accompanying images and video for condition details and the annotations & signature mentioned.

Will ship promptly, carefully packaged.

HFB-SEO-v1: 2026-07-03

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