The faerie queene / by Edmund Spenser, with an exact collation of the two original editions ... the former containing the first three books printed in 1590 and the latter the six books in 1596 ; to which are now added a new life of the author and also a glossary ; adorn'd with thirty-two copper-plates, from the original drawings of the late W. Kent ...

"A just representation of the original text ... form'd from an exact collation of the two original ones of the author, compar'd in the three last books with the first folio printed ... 1609, which has furnish'd corrections of some mistakes in the 4to of 1596"--V. 1, p. xxxvii.
Biographical information about Spenser is by the editor, T. Birch.
Illustrated by William Kent, with garden imagery; each double-page engraving is mounted on an inserted stub.
Pagination: v 1: [4], xxxvii, [1], lxiii, [3], 453, [1] p., 20 leaves of plates; v. 2: [2], 450, [2] p., [7] leaves of plates; v. 3: [2], 440 p., [5] leaves of plates.
Signatures: v. 1: pi² a-e⁴[-e4] A⁴ a-c⁴ d-l² B-3M⁴[-3M4=errata sheet?]; v. 2: pi²[-pi2?] B-3L⁴ 3M²; v. 3: pi²[-pi1?] B-3K⁴.
Conjugate of first leaf in v. 2 (t.p.) may have been used to print t.p. for v. 3.
Final leaf in v. 2 is blank.
Library's copy lacks leaf e4 in v. 1; catchword "The" on e3 indicates that e4 is needed.
Errata sheet (leaf 3M4?), included in pagination note, is tipped-in preceding p. 1 of text in v. 1.
Dedication sheet misbound after t.p. in v. 1; actually is p. [i-ii] in second roman numeration.