8vo. viii, 167, [1], 16pp. With a terminal catalogue of publisher's advertisements. Original publisher's blind-stamped olive green cloth, lettered in gilt to spine. A trifle rubbed and dulled. Upper hinge exposed. Presentation copy, inked inscription to head of half-title: 'Charles Hall Esq. / With the Author's kind / regards.'

The first edition of a succinct survey of the politics, religion, and culture of pre-Anglo-Saxon Britain by poet and philologist William Barnes (1801-1886).

The recipient of the present copy was likely Mr. Charles Hall of Osmington House, Dorset, a close friend of Barnes who contributed duplicate specimens of British and Saxon antiquities from his collection to assist Barnes in establishing the Dorset County Museum.