Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, an imperial official imprisoned and subsequently executed by the emperor Theodoric, wrote The Consolation of Philosophy, a mixed prose and verse text, in order to console himself by considering the philosophical and theological implications of his misfortunes. King Alfred the Great felt that this text was one of the "books that are most necessary for all men to know" and included it as part of his program of translation of major Latin texts. This is the second printed version of the Consolation after that of Christopher Rawlinson in 1698. Cardale based his edition on the the Renaissance transcription by Franciscus Junius in MS Oxford, Bodleian Library, Junius 12, of the Anglo-Saxon prose translation in MS Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 180; he includes the metrical translations of Boethius's poetry in MS London, British Library, Cotton Otho A.vi as an appendix. This book is part of the personal collection of Professor Lewis Nicholson and is displayed through his courtesy.