The Memoirs of Sir James Melville of Halhill

Written in the late sixteenth century and first printed in 1683, these memoirs follow Sir James Melville as a Scottish diplomat at the courts of Mary, Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I, and the young James VI. Melville records interviews, marriage talks, and the factions around Darnley, Riccio, Bothwell, and the regents after Mary's fall. He writes as a participant who claims to set down state affairs others left out, including the king's upbringing and the rise of Arran. The book is a courtier's first-person political memoir of England and Scotland, not a later narrative history of the Reformation.

Bound in dark green buckram binding cover decorated with a design in gold. Pale green flecked endleaves. Pale green slipcase.