"Where this Tragedie was for furniture of part of the grand Chriſtmaſſe in the Inner Temple firſt written about nine yeares agoe by the right honourable Thomas now Lorde Buckherſt, and by T. Norton, and after ſhewed before her Maieſtie, and never intended by the authors therof to be publiſhed: yet one W. G. getting a copie therof at ſome youngmans hand that lacked a little money and much diſcretion, in the last great plage. an. 1565. about V. yeares paſt, while the ſaid Lord was out of England, and T. Norton farre out of London, and neither of them both made priuie, put it forth exceedingly corrupted." Then, the worthy printer goes on to say in a very allegorical vein, that being so dishonored, her parents, the authors, very much displeased, gave her into his hands to be sent forth honorably; and he hopes she will be well received, else he will wish that she had tarried at home with him "for ſhe did neuer put me to more charge, but this one poore black gowne linèd with white that I haue now geuen her to goe abroad among you withall." Quarto. The first authorized edition. Roman. COLLATION: _A-H3, in fours_. JOHN LYLY (1553?-1606) 10. Euphues. | The Anatomy | of Wit. | [10 lines] By Iohn Lylie, Maiſter of Art. | Corrected and augmented. | At London | Printed for Gabriell Cawood, | dwelling in Paules Church-yard. [Colophon] ¶Imprinted at London by | Thomas Eaſt, for Gabrill Cawood, | dwelling in Paules Church- | yard 1581. The work was licensed "under the hande of the bishopp of London" December 2, 1578, and was printed for Cawood by Thomas Eate, or East, the stationer, without a date, but probably in 1578. Many editions of the famous book have been issued; fifteen are known, dated between 1579 and 1636, but confusion exists chiefly over the first three. Mr. C. Warwick Bond in his recent edition of _The Complete Works of John Lyly_, Oxford, 1902, brings forward evidence to prove that two undated copies of _Euphues_, one belonging to the British Museum and the other to Trinity College, Cambridge, are all that remain of the first edition, whose date of issue he sets at about Christmas time, 1578. A unique Trinity College copy without a date, he thinks was issued about midsummer of the next year; the famous Malone and Morley copies of 1579, he considers belong to a third edition, issued at Christmas; the edition dated 1580 would be fourth and the copy from which our facsimile was taken would belong to a fifth edition. Mr. Bond founds his supposition as to the seasons when the volumes appeared upon the following very interesting preface: "TO THE GENTLEMEN READERS.