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Antiquarian Books 18th Cent

A selection from our stock. (Last updated 1 July 2104)
If you require further information or images of any title listed below, then please contact us at mailto@barrymckay.plus.com and we will do what we can to oblige.
For other subjects see to side bar and/or the ‘Subjects Lists & Catalogues’ page.

 

18554 ACT OF PARLIAMENT (Land Tax). ANNO REGNI GEORGII II... An act for granting an aid to his majesty by a land tax to be raised in Great Britain, for service of the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty three. London: printed by John Baskett, 1753. Folio, (306x192mm), [2],55-139p. black-letter. A clean copy, disbound. A lengthy act that lists the amounts levied on the counties, boroughs and towns of England and Wales, and Scotland. £20.00

 

19196 ACT OF PARLIAMENT (Lotteries). ANNO REGNI GEORGII III. REGIS. An act for granting to his majesty a certain sum of money, to be raised by a lottery. London: printed by Charles Eyre and William Strahan, 1771. Folio, (313x197mm), [2],1179-1195p. printed in black letter with a handsome engraved factotum initial letter at the start of the first page and the King's printers' device on the title. Disbound. £15.00

 

12490 ACT OF PARLIAMENT (George II). HIS MAJESTY'S MOST GRACIOUS SPEECH TO BOTH HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, on Wednesday the Seventeenth day of June, 1747. London: Printed by Thomas Baskett, printer to the king's most excellent majesty; and by the assigns of Robert Baskett, 1747. Folio, (297x192mm), 4p. lightly age-soiled, disbound, trimmed closely at the tail. A variant to both the issues listed on ESTC, where two issues with different, highly ornamental, factotum initial letters and line ending variants are noted: one calls for a factotum of a lion and a horse either side of the initial letter, while the other has a woman and a lion; the copy we offer has two angels holding an opened book. In his speech King George, is concerned about foreign warmongers, but pleased that 'tranquility' has been restored to North Britain. £10.00

 

18555 ACT OF PARLIAMENT (Land Tax). [ANNO REGNI GEORGII III] An act for granting an aid to his majesty by a land tax to be raised in Great Britain, for service of the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty four. London: 1764. Folio, (306x192mm), 43-127p. black-letter. A clean copy, lacking the part-title, disbound. A lengthy act that lists the amounts levied on the counties, boroughs and towns of England and Wales, and Scotland. £12.00

 

18557 ACT OF PARLIAMENT (Land Tax). [ANNO REGNI GEORGII III] An act for granting an aid to his majesty by a land tax to be raised in Great Britain, for service of the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven. London: printed by Charles Eyre and William Strahan, 1777. Folio, (306x192mm), 120p. black-letter. A clean copy, disbound. A lengthy act that lists the amounts levied on the counties, boroughs and towns of England and Wales, and Scotland. £20.00

 

19827 ADDISON, Joseph, & others. THE SPECTATOR. VOLUME THE SEVENTH. London: Printed for J and R. Tonson and S. Draper, 1749. 12mo, (165x102mm), [2],333,[1],[13]p. Engraved frontispiece by Müller after Hayman, and engraved vignette title, Contemporary full vellum, slightly soiled, backstrip tool in gilt in the compartments and with red and black back-labels, some fragmentary loss from a corner of both, marbled endleaves Containing articles on Mr Campbell the dumb fortune-teller; Celibacy, the great evil of the nation; [the] French, much addicted to grimace; Tobias Hobson the Cambridge carrier, the first man in England to let out Hackney-horses; &c. £30.00

 

8664 ADDISON, Mr. (Pseud.) INTERESTING ANECDOTES, MEMOIRS, ALLEGORIES, ESSAYS, AND POETICAL FRAGMENTS: tending to amuse the fancy, and inculcate morality. 4 Volumes, Second edition, London: Printed for the Author, and sold by all the booksellers in town and country. 1796. 8vo, (205x125 mm); [2],240; [2],304; [2],240; [2],296p. occasional slight spotting. A handsome collection in contemporary tree marbled calf, the corner tips and edges rubbed, lately rebacked to near-match, slight wear to the head of the backstrip on two volumes, with fragmentary loss of the leather from one. Armorial bookplate of James Crossland Fenton present in one volume. Addison (who he?) published 12 volumes of his Anecdotes between 1794 and 1797, several running to a second edition. However, ESTC does not record copies of the second edition of any of these volumes. The anecdotes on page 1 of each of these volumes are: Anecdote of Cromwell; Extraordinary Anecdote of Charles the Second; Anecdote of Lady Rachel Russell; and Honesty the Best Policy, exemplified in an Anecdote of a Country Curate £165.00

 

(Bologna printing)

16174 [ANON.] CARMINUM DELECTUS EX ILLUSTRIBUS POETIS, tum aurea aetate tum saeculo XVI Florentibus in IV. libros distributus, et eorum studiis accommodatus, qui poeticae student in scholis clericorum regularium S. Paulli. Bononiae [Bologna]: Apud Laelium a Vulpe Instituti Scientiarum Typographum, 1767. 8vo, (151x107mm), 160, 163-6p.lacking one leaf of the index, the last leaf slightly dust-soiled and some faint staining of several leaves. Modern sewn limp paper binding covered with Sue Doncaster paste paper wrappers. Rare; we are unable to locate another copy of this selection of poems from 'famous poets from the golden age,' intended to assist the study of poetry in clergy schools. £65.00

 

16577 [ANON.] THE FOLLY OF APPOINTING MEN OF PARTS TO THE GREAT OFFICES OF STATE. London: Printed for J. Coote, 1758. 8vo, (169x110mm), 24p. shaved close at the fore-edge of the dedication and 4 text pages with very minor loss of the first or last letters of each line, small tear in the half title neatly repaired, early owner's signature of Wm Brigge on the half-title. Disbound and preserved in a modern binders' cloth envelope chemise. 'This is, upon the whole, a sprightly performance, intended to ridicule that detestable ministerial policy, of appointing men of ductile nature, and contemptible talents, into the great offices of state.' (Monthly review, 1758). Uncommon, Estc locates only six copies in the British Isles. £145.00

 

18311 [ANON.] A NEW MANUAL OF DEVOTIONS. In three parts, Part I. Containing prayers for families and private persons. Part II. Containing offices... Part III. Consisting of an office for the holy communions... Fifteenth edition, corrected. London: printed for W. Ginger, J. Beecroft, [and thirteen other named London booksellers], 1771. 12mo, (153x97mm), [2],xxx,484,[10]p. perhaps wanting a half-title, some occasional spotting. Near-contemporary sheep the surafce of which is rubbed in patches, rebacked. Estc locates only three copies of this uncommon edition of a popular contemporary devotional work. A previous owner has taken exception to some of the devotions included herein by overscoring totally a few words on one page. Furthermore a large section on pages 18 and 19 have been excised with a single pen stroke removing the request for '... mercy upon all Jews, Turks, Infidels, and heretics... King George... and all the Royal Family...' one wonders if this was done by a Jacobite and/or Catholic. £180.00

 

20288 [ANON.] A WEEK'S PREPARATION. TOWARDS A WORTHY RECEIVING OF THE LORD'S SUPPER, after the warning of the church for the celebration of the Holy Communion... Fifty second edition, London: printed by assignment, from Sam Keeble for Bathurst, Beecroft, Dod, Rivington,... 1764. 12mo, (155x89mm), [2],viii,168p. engraved frontispiece and title, small piece torn from the tail margin of C3 & 4 with some loss of the catchword. Modern full calf bound by Warner & Son of Winchester with their ticket on the front free pastedown, a very small area of leather missing from the head of the backstrip, the front joint slightly rubbed and a little faded at the head of the rear cover, backstrip tooled in gilt and the sides framed with a bind roll. (ESTC 79478). ETSC locates only the British and Bodleian Library copies of this the final edition of a fundamental work of private devotion in preparation for receiving the Eucharist. First published in 1679, it rapidly became a standard work of the period then passing through fifty-two editions. The work contains a number of meditations and prayers aimed at assisting those preparing for Holy Communion to do so worthily and was superceded by the New week's preparation... which continued in use until well into the Nineteenth century. £125.00

 

11688 AUSTIN, William. A TREATISE ON THE ORIGIN AND COMPONENT PARTS OF THE STONE IN THE URINARY BLADDER. Being the substance of the Gulstonian Lectures read at the College of Physicians in the year 1790. London: printed by W. Bulmer for G. Nicol, 1791. 8vo, (236x146mm), [(3-)6],123,[1 errata leaf]. Near-contemporary half red morocco over original boards, head and tail of the backstrip and corner tips slightly rubbed. Armorial bookplate of Kinnaird. (Isaac `checklist' in William Bulmer, the fine printer in context 33) Most of the copies recorded by Estc lack the errata and notes the errata leaf, bound here at the end, as being placed at the start, so this copy is perhaps not lacking a half-title. £120.00

 

16490 BALLAD. THE GARLAND OF TRIALS. London: Printed and sold by T. Evans, 79, Long-Lane, West-Smithfield, [1800?] Folio broadside, (255x370mm), Single leaf printed in four columns on extremely fragile paper. Somewhat browned and creased and with some paper loss (but no loss of text) from the central space between columns two and three where the sheet has been a long-time folded, the edges a little frayed. An unrecorded edition of this popular ballad that appeared in both broadside ballad or chapbook form from a number printers both in London in provincial towns. A substantial ballad of 224 lines which recounts the trials, tribulations and eventual happiness of a knight's daughter who was born to be 'a whore, thief, and murderer'. £125.00

 

(Edinburgh printing)

18934 BIBLE 1716 Old & New Testaments. THE HOLY BIBLE, CONTAINING THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. Newly translated out of the original tongues: and with the former translations diligently compared and revised. One volume in two. Edinburgh: Printed by James Watson, 1716. 12mo, (120x62mm), [501 leaves, ?of 502], general title and separate title to the New Testament present, both with the printer's device; the former soiled and mounted on Japanese paper, a small piece torn from the head-fore corner of 2M8, some marginal tears repaired to several leaves. Slightly browned at the edges throughout and with the margins occasionally cut close to the text or, on a very few leaves, shaving the text. Contemporary dark blue calf, the centre of each cover decorated in gilt to a design formed from several individual tools within a frame of an ornamental roll with corner arabesques, backstrips gilt tooled in 5 compartments with raised bands; the whole slightly rubbed and a small area of wear at the head of the first volume, and with surface cracking of the leather on the backstrips; marbled paper endleaves, the front free endleaf of volume one replaced with near-contemporary marbled paper of a similar pattern and colour. Signature of Miss [Sarah] Campell dated 1770, partly obscured at the head of the general title and on the pastedown endleaf of the second volume and a gift inscription to Margaret Forbes 'from her affectionate mother' Sarah Forbes; another previous early owner's signature totally obscured to either side of the printer's device on volume one. (Herbert Historical catalogue of printed editions of the English Bible 940) The text ends on Tt10 (as accords with ESTC which locates 20 copies of this edition in the British Isles and 4 in the USA), this copy appears to lack A2 but the text begins at Genesis so presumably is wanting either a separate title to the Old Testament or a prefatory or dedicatory leaf. £450.00

 

16063 BIBLE 1785. DIE BIBEL, uber die ganze Heilige Schrift des alten und neuen testaments, nach der deutschen Uberseitzung D. Martin Luthers. Die lxxxviii, auflage. Halle: in der Gansteinischen Bibel-Anstalt, 1785. 8vo, (215x130mm), 1079;308;[4]p. separate titles to each part, ornamental headpieces to several leaves. printed in black letter. Contemporary full black calf, blind-tooled, marbled endleaves with a bookplate removed from the front paste-down, all edges gilt and gauffered, a lengthy early annotation on the front fly-leaf. The book preserved in an early or near-contemporary paste-paper covered slipcase which is rather rubbed, and being rather a tight fit is splitting. This early example of a slipcase is covered in a brown paste-and-pull patterned paste paper which extends partway into the interior, the remainder of the interior being unlined expect for the spine which is lined with red sprinkle-decorated paper. A rare survival we submit. £375.00

 

16156 BIBLE, COMMON PRAYER & PSALMS 1748-52. THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER, and administration of the Sacraments... Oxford: printed by Thomas Baskett, 1749. [Bound with] THE HOLY BIBLE, containing the Old and New Testaments... Oxford: printed by Thomas Baskett, 1752. [and] THE WHOLE BOOK OF PSALMS, collected into English metre by Thomas Sternhold, John Hopkins, and others... London: printed by A. Wilde, for the Company of Stationers, 1748. Together 3 volumes in 1. Oxford; London: 1748-52. 4to, (248x195mm), separate title to each part, including the New Testament. Contemporary reversed calf, blind tooled panel in the centre of both covers, joints, backstrip and corner tips worn. (Griffith, Bibliography of the Book of Common Prayer 1749.5; Herbert, Historical catalogue of printed editions of the English Bible variant to 1752) Estc records only the Bodleian copy of this issue of the BCP which ends on leaf H2; Blackett also printed another edition in the same year which ends at H8 and is only located in 2 copies; while 4 copies of this edition of the Bible and 4 copies of the Psalms are recorded. £275.00

 

18795 BOILEAU DESPREAUX, [Nicolas]. OEUVRES De M. BOILEAU DESPREAUX. 2 volumes, Paris: La veuve Savoye,... Durand,... Saillant,... Desaint..., 1766. 12mo, (164x96mm), xl,392; 415p. Contemporary sprinkled calf, joint worn, backstrip with raised bands gilt tooled in the compartments although somewhat discoloured and with part of the lettering piece from volume 1 lacking. £60.00

 

(Coventry printing)

17824 CALCOTT, Wellins. THOUGHTS MORAL AND DIVINE; collected and intended for the better instruction and conduct of life. Third edition with improvements, Coventry: printed for the author, by T. Luckman, 1759. 8vo, (208x128mm) [12],[40],432,[3]p. slightly soiled thought. Later - mid-19th century - half calf, pebble-grain cloth sides, marbled endleaves and edges, previous owner's name on the from fly-leaf: Mr Archers of Bickershead Hall, and a later bookplate. (Morgan, Printing and publishing in Warwickshire p7) First published in London in 1756; subsequent editions printed in Birmingham, Coventry, Manchester and Exeter during the following decade point to a widespread contemporary popularity perhaps among Freemasons; the author being a strong member of that community. The subscriber's list to the present edition occupies twenty pages showing copies were taken up throughout the country but especially in the midland counties, the various names, occupations and towns are given in the list amidst which may be noted 'Mr Baskerville, Letter-Founder, Birmingham.' £100.00

 

(Bulmer printing)

11506 [CANNING, G. J.H. FRERE, G. ELLIS & others] POETRY OF THE ANTI-JACOBIN. [First edition], London: printed for J. Wright, 1799. 8vo, (158x95mm), [viii],240p.with the half-title. A good copy in modern grey Ingres paper boards with brown paper spine and lettered back-label in imitation of a contemporary interim binding. Early signature of William Reynolds on the half-title. (Isaac 15) In his checklist of Bulmer printing, Isaac queries whether this collection of verse, described by CHEL as containing `the best political satire since the age of Dryden', was printed by Bulmer. A T.L.s loosely inserted in this copy quotes Nicolas Barker as attributing the printing to Bulmer. £110.00

 

17167 CHURCHILL, Charles. GOTHAM. Books 1-3. [London: no imprint, 1764]. 4to, (258x210mm), [2],24,[2],32,[2],31p. very lightly spotted mainly in the fore-margin. Disbound. Issued without title or imprint but with the half-titles present to all three parts. ESTC notes that this work was apparently intended to form part of a second volumes of Churchill's poems but that the half-titles (present in our copy) with excised for the collected volume. £35.00

 

16110 CHURCH, Thomas. A SERMON PREACHED IN THE PARISH-CHURCH OF WANDSWORTH, in the county of Surrey, on May 16, 1748. At the funeral of the Reverend Thomas Cawley, late vicar of that church. Published for the benefit of the widow and two small children. London: printed for J. and R. Tonson and S. Draper in the Strand, 1768. 4to, (215x165mm), 23p. +1p adverts. Disbound Is this, one wonders, one of the Cawley family of whom Ann Cawley was later to teach Jane and Cassandra Austen during their short time in Oxford. £65.00

 

16244 CLARKE, John. EUTROPII HISTORIAE ROMANAE BREVIARIUM; cum versione Anglica, in qua verbum de verbo exprimitur: notis quoque & indice: or Eutropius's compendious history of Rome; together with an English translation, as literal as possible, noted and an index. By John Clarke. Thirteenth edition, London: printed for J.F. and C. Rivington... and T. Evans, 1785. 8vo, (208x128mm), xx,[4]164,[4]p. Several attractive ornamental engraved head- and tail-pieces. Contemporary calf, joint split and the corner tips rubbed. Estc locates just 7 copies of this edition of which only 1 is in the UK (Nottingham UL). Printed double-column with the Latin text in Roman type and the English translation in italic, the final leaf carries bookseller's adverts for other works by Clarke. £75.00

 

19890 CLARK, Samuel. A SERMON PREACH'D BEFORE THE HONOURABLE HOUSE OF COMMONS, at the Church of St. Margaret Westminster, on Tuesday, Nov.22. 1809. Being the day of thanksgiving for the signal and glorious victory obtained near Mons, and for the other great successes of Her Majesties arms, this last year, under the command of the Duke of Marlborough. London: printed by W.B. for James Knapton, at the Crown in St Paul's Church-yard, 1709. Sm.4to, (203x155mm), [4],26,[2]p. some slight browning although slightly more heavily so on the half title. Disbound. (ETSC 13992) With the half-title, and the order to print on the verso, the final leaf carries advertisements for other works by the author. Clearly popular (well we'd won another away fixture against the French), as four edition appeared in the same year. Although John Nichols, Literary anecdotes of the eighteenth century identified William Bowyer as the printer of this work, Maslen and Lancaster suggest it was more likely to have been William Botham. £50.00

 

 

13942 COLLINS, William. THE POETICAL WORKS ... enriched with elegant engravings. To which is prefixed a life of the author, by Dr. Johnson. Second edition, London: printed by T. Bensley,... for Vernor and Hood, Harding, Wright, Sael, and Lackington Allen, 1800. 8vo, (186x115mm), xvi,156p. 20 stipple-engraved plates dated 1797-8, some faint browning of the plates and fainter browning of the text leaves. An attractive copy in contemporary marbled calf, 4-line gilt border with sunburst corner ornaments, marbled endleaves, later rebacked, bookplates, including that of J.B. Spooner and with his gift inscription to a Miss Luard at the head of a flyleaf. £45.00

 

(York printing)

16126 COOK, Thomas. THE UNIVERSAL LETTER-WRITER: or, new art of polite correspondence. Containing a course of interesting original letters, on the most instructive, and entertaining subjects. [York printed] London: printed for A, Millar, W. Law, and R. Cater; and for Wilson, Spence, and Mawman, York, 1796. 8vo, (168x105mm), 228p. Engraved frontispiece by Darton & Harvey. Contemporary (?original) sheep, worn and with some loss of leather from the edges. A rare edition of this title (ESTC locates only two copies) of a typical false imprint from the York firm of Wilson, Spence and Mawman. In this instance they have included both of their apparently preferred methods of giving their books spurious London imprints by including in the imprint well-known or respected members of the London trade with whom they had no connection and who were either long-dead or to whom they gave false initials, in this instance Andrew Miller (arguably the bete noir of the provincial book trade) had died in 1768, and William Law in c.1779, while R. Cater is utterly fictitious and is probably aimed at William Cater who died in or about 1776. £100.00

 

17048 COVENTRY, Francis. THE HISTORY OF POMPEY THE LITTLE: or, the life and adventures of a lap-dog. London: printed for M. Cooper, at the Globe in Paternoster Row, 1751. 12mo, (166x97mm), viii,272p. engraved frontispiece by Boitard, a stain in the centre of the page from B6-D2 with some weakening of the paper resulting in fragmentary loss from C3. Contemporary marbled calf, rubbed, sometime rebacked in calf preserving the earlier lettering piece and with later endleaves. Estc notes that copies of the first edition have vertical chain lines on the first and last sections (as in the copy we offer) while notes that the second edition (published in the same year) has variant settings of page 15, this copy we offer has 18 lines on that page. The author's sole published work, this satirical romance of high and low society in London told from the point of view of a lapdog enjoyed immediate popularity and ran through several editions in the eighteenth century, inspiring a host of imitators. Several of the characters were based on ladies well known in contemporary society which may have been the reason that Lady Montagu claimed she preferred it to Peregrine Pickle. £125.00

 

16325 CULPEPER, Nicholas. A DIRECTORY FOR MIDWIVES: or, a guide for women, in their conception, bearing, and suckling their children. [bound with] THE ENGLISH PHYSICIAN. or, a treatise of practical physic, on the diseases of women. Together 2 volumes in 1. London: printed for D. Johnston, C. Ware, R. Gray, and G. Hay, 1777. 12mo, [2],134p. large folding plate, torn; [2],201p. some ink underscoring and annotation throughout, one gathering loose but holding. Contemporary half, calf, block-printed paste paper side, though the corner tips and paper sides very worn. A rare, though late, edition; ESTC records only 6 copies of the first part and 7 of the second and notes that these two works were 'possibly issued...[together].' An assumption that is supported by this copy. £350.00

 

18221 FIELDING, Henry. THE HISTORY OF TOM JONES, A FOUNDLING. In four volumes (although issued here in one as is correct). London: Harrison and Co., 1780. Roy.8vo in 4s, (208x133mm), 491p. drop-head titles to volumes 2-4 and printed double-column throughout, 12 engraved plates after Thomas Stothard (engraved by Grignion, Heath, Sharp, and Walker), some slight browning throughout. Disbound. ESTC locates only seven copies of this edition and notes that was also issued as part of 'The novelist's magazine' in 1781. £100.00

 

17868 FIELDING, Henry. TOM JONES OU L'ENFANT TROUVE. 3 Volumes, Geneve: chez Nouffer de Rodon, 1782. 12mo, (166x100mm), xii,336; 300; 332p. the text ornamented with a number of engraved head- and tail-pieces, lightly browned throughout and several leaves slightly soiled. Contemporary quarter calf, paste paper covered boards with vellum corners, joints rubbed and head and tail of the backstrips worn. Volumes 7-9 of Fielding's Oeuvres and rare, Copac locates only two sets in the UK: at the BL and Leeds. £185.00

 

(First Glasgow printing)

20261 FORDYCE, David. DIALOGUES CONCERNING EDUCATION. London: printed in the year 1745. [Volume one of two] Glasgow: reprinted in the year, 1768. 12mo, (162x100mm), 394p. The main elements of the title page laid down on early paper. Contemporary sprinkled calf, joints and edges rubbed, the front joint repaired with stained Japanese paper. (ESTC N3329) ESTC locates a total of nine copies, 2 in the UK - in Scotland to be precise, and 7 in North America. Originally published anonymously in 1745-8 with later editions published in Belfast and Cork before this first Glasgow printing. A Ms. inscription on the flyleaf of one of the copies of the second London edition records : 'These dialogues were revisd [sic] enlarged & corrected for the press by my father, who took under his protection from the time they came from Scotland to London - David Fordyce the author & his brother Revd. James Fordyce.' Signed: Edmund Calamy. Fordyce held the chair of Moral Philosophy at Marischal College, Aberdeen from 1742 until his early death by drowning in 1751. His approach to education is an archetype of enlightenment, with a strong awareness of and emphasis on civic duty and the academic values and virtues. £120.00

 

(Bristol printing)

16588 FREAME, John. SCRIPTURE - INSTRUCTION; digested into several sections, by way of question and answer: in order to promote piety and virtue, and discourage vice and immorality. With a preface relating to education. Third edition, Bristol: Printed by S. Farley, [1769.] 12mo, (165x100mm), xxii,[2],154p. Some occasional slight browning internally, but generally a nice copy in contemporary (?original) sprinkled sheep, rear joint split but holding. The first provincial edition of Freame's classic of Quaker literature and somewhat rare; Estc records only 2 copies in England and 1 in North America. First published in 1713 and originally prepared for the use of the author's children, the publication of this edition was undertaken by the Bristol Men's-Meeting and seems to have brought the work to greater prominence as it was reprinted several times thereafter, primarily for the use of the Quaker schools for the poor. £275.00

 

16605 GAUDEN, John. THE WHOLE DUTY OF A COMMUNICANT: being rules and directions for a worthy receiving the most holy sacrament of the Lord's supper. With meditations and prayers... Twelfth edition, London: Printed for N. Boddington,... and H. Rhodes, 1716. 12mo, (155x90mm), 168p. engraved frontispiece shaved close but without loss at the fore-edge, lightly browned and occasionally slightly soiled throughout, the fore-edge margins frayed and with a few small handling tears. Modern cloth, leather back label, early provenance slip preserved and laid down on the front free endleaf recording the birth of Samuel Mullins born October 29 1746. Rare, Estc records only the British library copy of this edition by the onetime Bishop of Exeter. 'The work expresses a belief in the true and real presence of Christ’s body and blood in the Eucharist. This is not seen as an immoderate presence ("the gross opinion") but according to faith. Bread and wine do not change in substance, but there are at the same time spiritual objects of faith, that is, the body and blood of Christ. The bread and wine and the body and blood of Christ are not so much linked in this passage, but spoken of in close proximity. The objects of faith, the body and blood of Christ, Jesus himself, are seen to be truly and really present in the Eucharist. Moderate realism is suggested by this passage.' (Brian Douglas Anglican eucharistic theology, 2006) £95.00

 

(Coventry printing)

17803 GAY, John. FABLES BY THE LATE Mr. GAY. In one volume complete. Coventry: printed and sold by M. Luckman: sold also by R.V. Brooke, and Champante and Whitrove, Stationers, London. [1790?] Cr.8vo. (101x64mm), viii,213p. +3p publisher's adverts, engraved frontispiece, separate part title included in the pagination, some spotting throughout. Modern quarter morocco, marbled paper sides, previous owner's signature of Ann Salt of Birmingham dated 1807. (Morgan Printing and Publishing in Warwickshire p23) An extremely rare provincial edition of Gay's Fables, Which was obviously something of a best-seller for Mary Luckman as she produced four editions in 1785?, 1790?, 1795, and 1798; of the edition we offer here only 2 copies are located on Estc and a total of only 12 copies are located for all four editions. The book was published at one shilling (as advised on the title) and the final three pages contain a priced catalogue of Luckman's books, several described as 'bound' or 'in boards.' £200.00

 

18919 GIBSON, Matthew. A VIEW OF THE ANCIENT AND PRESENT STATE OF THE CHURCHES OF DOOR, HOME-LACY, AND HEMPSTED; endow'd by the Right Honourable John, Lord Viscount Scudamore. With some memoirs of that ancient family; and an appendix of records and letters relating to the same subjects. London: printed by W. Bower for R. Williamson, 1727. 4to, (240x190mm), [8],238p. large folding engraved plate of Door Church and several engraved headpieces and other printers' ornaments; some slight spotting in the head margin of the first few leaves, thereafter a clean and bright copy. Contemporary blind tooled and sprinkled panelled calf, head and tail of the backstrip very slightly rubbed though some more significant wear to the corner tips. Armorial bookplate of Sir Edwyn Francis Scudamore Stanhope, of Holme Lacy. (Maslen & Lancaster Bower Ledgers 1294) The Bower ledgers record that 300 copies were printed, this copy includes the half-title and separate title to the appendix called for on ESTC although the former has been bound to follow the dedication leaves. £250.00

 

11519 GIFFORD, William. THE BAVIAD AND MAEVIAD. Sixth edition, London: printed for J. Wright, by W. Bulmer, 1800. 8vo, (151x98mm), xx,188p. some spotting. Contemporary full calf, gilt roll frame, backstrip with black leather lettering piece (part missing) and tooled in gilt in the other compartments, backstrip rubbed, monogram bookplate and early owner's signature. (Isaac 221) £50.00

 

16630 GOLDSMITH, Oliver. ESSAYS BY Dr. GOLDSMITH. Collecta revirescunt. With an account of the life and writings of the author. [Bound with] THE POETICAL WORKS OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH. With the life of the author. 2 volumes in 1, as issued. London: Printed for C. Cooke... by Wm. Calvert, 1799-1803. 12mo, (154x95mm), xvi, (17-)143,[1]; xxxix,(40-)113,[1]p. + 6p publisher's adverts. Engraved frontispiece to each volume and 1 other plate in the first named title. Untrimmed in original paper-backed boards, edges rubbed and the covers a little dust-soiled, letterpress back label. Estc records only a single location for the first named title with the same pagination as the copy we offer. Issued as volume 4 of the Literary Cabinet and priced, according to the back label, at £1 15s. £50.00

 

16658 GOLDSMITH, Oliver & others. HARRISON'S BRITISH CLASSICKS VOLUME VI. Containing The connoisseur [by George Coleman], The citizen of the world [by Oliver Goldsmith], The babler [by Hugh Kelly]. London: Printed for Harrison & Co, 1786. 4to, (208x120mm), [2],313,x,208,199p. printed double-column, engraved vignette general title &17 engraved plates, mainly by Corbould but including works by Burney and others, separate titles to volume 2 of The connoisseur and the two other named titles, some slight browning. Contemporary sprinkled calf, joints and corners rubbed, backstrip with red and black lettering pieces and the compartments gilt tooled. £75.00

 

20067 GOLDSMITH, Oliver. THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD. A tale in two volumes. London: printed for Harrison & Co, 1790. 8vo in 4s, (212x130mm), 90p. printed double column and with only a drop-title to volume 2, as is correct the pagination being continuous. Modern quarter cloth. First issued thus in Harrison's Novelists magazine in 1780 of which, and as evidence by this edition, many of the contents were later issued separately without the engraving present in the earlier edition. £30.00

 

17857 GRAVES, Richard. THE SPIRITUAL QUIXOTE: or, the summer's ramble of Mr. Geoffrey Wildgoose. A comic romance. 3 volumes, First edition, London: printed for J. Dodsley, 1773. 12mo, (158x96mm), xx,352; (iii-)viii,287; (iii-)xii,322p. vignette title in each volume; six pages supplied in photo-facsimile and a large part of the final leaf of volume 2 but without loss of any letterpress, slightly browned throughout. Near-contemporary quarter calf, marbled paper sides with vellum corner tips, pencilled signature of W.R. Brassington, and a later bookplate. Described as one of the most entertaining of the lesser-known novels of the eighteenth century, this satire on methodism offers the reader a splendid insight into the simple order of country life and pastimes in the Cotswolds and the neighbouring counties at the time. The Dover's Hill sports, Warwick races, hunting, Morris dancing, and the grand parade at Bath are just some of the topics that are delightfully recorded by the author's genial and inventive pen. £325.00

 

9021 GRAY, Thomas. & George LYTTLETON. (Glasgow printing) POEMS BY Mr. GRAY. [bound with] POEMS BY THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LATE LORD LYTTLETON. 2 Volumes in 1, Glasgow: Printed by Andrew Foulis, 1777. 12mo, (118x72mm), [4],56; [4],84p. Contemporary marbled calf, joints and backstrip a little worn, previous owner's signature: N. Sugden 1884, on the front free endleaf. (Gaskell, Foulis Press 618; 620). Gaskell notes the presence of a printers' dagger-mark on the titles of both volumes; that on the Gray is present but not on the Lyttelton, suggesting that this title is the variant issue he notes but states as 'not seen.' An uncommon pair of Foulis press items, ESTC locating 5 copies of Gray, and only 3 of Lyttelton with the dagger-mark. £125.00

 

11800 GREEN, Valentine. THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF THE CITY AND SUBURBS OF WORCESTER. 2 Volumes in 1, London: printed for the author by W. Bulmer and sold by G. Nicol; Edwards, White, Payne,... and in Worcester, by Smart, Tymbs, Holl, Andrews and Gamidge, 1796. 4to, (293x234mm), xviii,300,[4]; iv,114,clv,[5]p. engraved vignette title to each volume, a large, folding city plan and 24 engraved plates (4 carrying 2 engravings & 2 carrying 4), some slight spotting and slight offset from the plates onto the facing text, a tear in the one fold of the city plan. Contemporary marbled paper sides, later rebound in half calf, backstrip partly faded. Bookplate. (Isaac 'Checklist' in William Bulmer the fine printer in context, 233) £315.00

 

16656 GROVE, Henry. A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE NATURE AND DESIGN OF THE LORD'S-SUPPER. In which things relating to this institution are briefly consider'd; and shown to arise out of one singe notion of it, viz. As a memorial of the death of Christ. London: printed for Richard Ford..., and Richard Hett..., 1732. 12mo, (162x98mm), [2],115p. +3p publisher's adverts, some noticeable soiling from H4 onwards, early ms annotations small piece torn (without loss) from the head of the title-page and an early owner's signature thereon, with several annotations on the verso in a juvenile or ill-formed hand. Contemporary calf, worn. Rare, Estc locates only two copies of this, the first edition. £75.00

 

14275 HALL, David. SOME BRIEF MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF DAVID HALL; with an account of the life of his father John Hall. To which are added Divers of his epistles to friends, on various occasions. [Second edition], London: printed and sold by James Phillips & Son, 1799. 12mo, (169x105mm), [2],207p. some slight internal soiling. Near-contemporary half calf, marbled paper sides, slightly rubbed. A rare copy of the second edition of the memoirs and spiritual writings of David Hall, a Quaker schoolmaster who ran a boarding school in Skipton, Yorkshire from 1703 to 1756. Although not noted on the title, this edition also contains 'A mite unto the treasury;... to which is subjoined, An epistle to Friends of Knaresborough Monthly Meeting.' ESTC records only three copies of this edition in British Libraries. £35.00

 

(Coventry printing)

17805 HERVEY, James. MEDITATIONS AND CONTEMPLATIONS. Containing, meditations among the tombs: reflections on a flower-garden: and, a descant on creation. Contemplations on the night: contemplations on the starry heavens: and, a winter-piece. To which is prefixed a life of the author. A new edition. Coventry: printed and sold by M. Luckman: sold also by [11 other named booksellers in London, Bath, Bristol, Kettering, and Birmingham], 1792. 12mo, (175x107mm), xxxiv,177,[2],clxx-clxxxviii,(189-)372p. +2p publisher's adverts. 4 engraved plates including a portrait of the author. Contemporary sheep, joints restored; gift inscription to Bithia Atkins of Sharleston from Miss Scruton of York, dated April 1809, and a later bookplate. (Morgan Printing and Publishing in Warwickshire p24-5) Rare, Estc locates only four copies (3 UK, 1 USA) of this provincial edition of a popular devotional work. It was perhaps intended for issue in two volumes as two of the engraved plates are headed frontispiece to vol. 1 ...2. £200.00

 

13998 [HUDDESFORD, George.] SALMAGUNDI; A miscellaneous combination of original poetry: consisting of illusions of fancy; amatory, elegiac, lyrical, epigrammatical, and other palatable ingredients. London: printed by T. Bensley... for T. Payne,... B. White,... and J. Debrett,... 1791. 4to, (284x225mm), [6],151,[1 blank], [1 errata]p. with the added engraved vignette title by Heath after Burney, some occasional slight spotting and a short tear in the fore-margin of the penultimate leaf. Original paper covered boards, sometime rebacked preserving the original printed back-label, joints and edges worn, sealing wax ownership stamp bearing an armorial seal on the front free endleaf. A relatively early piece of work by one of England's two greatest printers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, This publication, compiled and for the most part written by George Huddesford, comprises principally odes and elegies but with a liberal representation of satirical poetry, including a somewhat scathing `Lines on the late American War.' £70.00

 

15405 HUGHES, John. THE POETICAL WORKS. Containing his miscellanies, epistles, masks, opera, ... cantatas, songs, odes, translations, with the life of the author. 2 volumes, Edinburgh: at the Apollo Press, by the Martins, 1779. 12mo, (140x85mm), 201;192p. engraved and printed titles to each volume, frontispiece portrait. An untrimmed copy in modern quarter buckram. John Bell's edition of the Poets of Great Britain, with the engraved titles carrying his London imprint and the printed titles carrying the Edinburgh printer's imprint. Gilbert Martin's well-deserved fame as a printer rests mainly on the series he printed for Bell, while Timperley wrote that he combined 'types of such symmetry and elegance as might vie with the painter's pencil.' £40.00

 

16798 [HUTTON, Charles.] THE LADIES' DIARY: OR WOMAN'S ALMANACK, FOR THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1777 [-88]; ... containing many improvements in arts and sciences, and many entertaining particulars: designed for the use and diversion of the fair-sex. 12 volumes in 2. [London:] Printed for the Company of Stationers, and sold by George Hawkins, [and later] John Wilkie, 1777-88. 8vo, (173x112mm), 48;48;48;48;48;48; 48;48;48;48;48;48p. printed in red and black with a woodcut on the titles and cuts and diagrams in the texts, tax stamp on the titles. The run preserved in two volumes in a contemporary binding of purple paper over limp boards with ms. back-labels. Typographic bookplate of Matthew Flinders, Donnington, Lincolnshire in each volume. A very good collection. The seventy-fourth to eighty-fifth annual appearances of this influential almanac founded in 1704 by John Tipper a Coventry schoolmaster. By this period it was edited by the mathematician Charles Hutton, Professor at Woolwich Academy and both Fellow and Secretary of the Royal Society. The Ladies' Diary was aimed primarily at the new market of educated, leisured, middle-class women and its most successful feature was an annual set of riddles or 'enigmas' in verse. Readers sent in their solutions, also in verse, and were doubtless gratified to see their names and addresses in print and to win one of the prizes as, equally doubtless, were those who are also named and who contributed worthy efforts. The Ladies' Diary was not, however, merely light entertainment and, as in these issues, also included mathematical problems described as another form of enigma. This remarkable assemblage in its contemporary binding is given an added attraction by the presence in each volume of the bookplate of Matthew Flinders, the father of one of the world's foremost navigators. £1,150.00

 

11701 JOHNSTON, Thomas. GENERAL VIEW OF THE AGRICULTURE OF THE COUNTY OF TWEEDALE, with observations on the means of its improvement, Drawn up for the consideration of the Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement. London: printed by W. Bulmer, 1794. 4to, (264x210mm), 42p. the half-title present though rather soiled, faint but noticeable stain in the fore-margin of 4 leaves, two instances of slightly scathing maginal annotation in ink. 20th century cloth, fore-edge lightly damp-spotted. (Isaac C53) £95.00

 

11833 JOHNSTON, Thomas. GENERAL VIEW OF THE AGRICULTURE OF THE COUNTY OF SELKIRK, with observations on the means of its improvement. Drawn up for the consideration of the Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement. London: printed by W. Bulmer, 1794. 4to, (245x194mm), 50p. folding map. half-title slightly soiled. Disbound. (Isaac checklist in William Bulmer, the fine printer in contextC52) £95.00

 

5040 JUNIUS. THE LETTERS OF JUNIUS. London: Printed for J. Mundell & Co. Edinburgh and for J. Mundell, College, Glasgow, 1796. 12mo, (176x100 mm), viii,316p. paper very lightly browned throughout. Recent blue paper boards (utilizing near-contemporary paper) with a off-white paper backstrip. One of the numerous reprints of the authorized edition of these famous letters which appeared in Woodfall's Public Advertiser from 1769 to 1772, containing sixty-nine letters and extensive explanatory notes and an index. Such was the attention these letters attracted that it became profitable for various booksellers to bring out editions - even before the series was concluded. At least 28 unauthorized editions were issued before Woodfall published the first authorized collection in 1772; thereafter over 70 edition appeared before 1812. £28.00

 

13581 KEATE, George. AN ACCOUNT OF THE PELEW ISLANDS, situated in the western part of the Pacific Ocean. Composed from the journals and communications of Captain Henry Wilson, and some of her officers, who, in August 1783, were there shipwrecked, in the Antelope, a packet belonging to the Honourable East India Company. Fourth edition, London: printed for Captain Wilson; and sold by G. Nicol, 1789. 8vo, (223x132mm), xxx,[2],408p. Large folding map (a small tear at the gutter) and 2 stipple engraved portraits; some slight browning throughout. Modern quarter morocco, marbled paper sides, bookplate. Early owner's signature of B. Smith on the dedication leaf and an early and ornate monogram ownership mark at the tail of the title page together with a numeral (?pressmark) elsewhere on the title. A classic account of the shipwreck of the East India Company's vessel The Antelope which also constitutes the most noteworthy first contact with the natives of the Pelew Islands (Palau in the Caroline Islands). Wilson and his crew survived the wreck and they were eventually able to build a small vessel which took them, and a native prince, to Macao from whence they returned to Europe; bringing with them a number of artifacts which generated considerable contemporary interest in the South Seas. The text concludes with a vocabulary of the Pelew Islands. £200.00

 

(Newbery imprint)

12835 KENDALL, Edward Augustus. THE CRESTED WREN. London: printed for E. Newbery, 1799. 12mo is 6s, (136x90mm), vi,152p. with the half-title. Full-page engraved frontispiece, wood-engraved title vignette ('most probably by T[homas] Bewick'), and a number of small wood-engraved tailpiece vignettes. Very slightly soiled throughout and a small tear in H3 (with a light tape stain on the verso of the leaf from an earlier attempt at repair. Original quarter green vellum, paper back-label (partly lacking and very browned), marbled paper sides, very degraded at the edges but repaired (competently) and re-coloured (badly!) (Roscoe John Newbery and his successors J205) Wanting the 4 pages of adverts called for is Roscoe, however given that this copy is in the original publisher's binding (in a style frequently used on Newbery imprints of the period) there is no evidence that these were ever present. For a discussion of Newbery's 'vellum manner' binding see Stuart Bennett's Trade bookbinding in the British Isles 1660-1800, and particularly illustration 3.45, where a similar binding to that on this copy though with a different patterned marbled paper. £75.00

 

17013 [KNOX, Vicesimus.] ELEGANT EPISTLES: BEING A COPIOUS COLLECTION OF FAMILIAR AND AMUSING LETTERS, selected for the improvement of young persons, and for general entertainment. From Cicero, Pliny... Locke, Shaftesbury, Pope, Swift... Hoadly, Chesterfield, and many others. With an appendix, containing letters from Sevigny, Blazac, Maintenon, &c. New edition, improved and enlarged. London: printed for T. Longman [and 23 other named London booksellers], 1794. 8vo, (234x144mm), xii,[12],873p +1p adverts of other work's by the same author, engraved frontispiece, occasional light spotting. Contemporary marbled calf, the outer area of the covers and backstrip acid marbled, with a central panel of tree marbling; backstrip and corner tips rubbed and a neat repair to the tail of the front joint, marbled endleaves. Knox's motivation for his series of collections of elegant extracts was the education and improvement of a youthful and middling readership: 'the man of a liberal profession,,, [and] the mercantile classes.' While not ignoring the classical writers, one of Knox's principle aims was to identify and introduce into the canon those elements of modern literature he believed of particular benefit for 'the commerce of ordinary life'. His focus also resulted in a noticeably generous coverage of eighteenth-century women writers, including Elizabeth Montague, Anna Seward, and the ladies Wortley Montagu, Luxburgh and Bradshaigh, as well as a number of letters between Doctor Johnson and Mrs Thrale. Appreciative of established talents and alert, here and in other works, to the potential of female students, Knox combined the promotion of modern women's writing with an ongoing campaign against sources of false learning. (DNB) £85.00

 

(Pat Bruno binding)

18174 [LAKE, Edward.] OFFICIUM EUCHARISTICUM. A preparatory service to a devout and worthy reception of the Lord's supper. The one and twentieth edition, to which is added a meditation for every day of the week. London: printed for A. Roper, 1706. 12mo, (155x90mm), [8],160p. An internally clean copy in a handsome modern pastiche binding in full polished calf (by Pat Bruno of Sacramento) of an English panel binding contemporary with the book. A rare edition: Etsc locating only the British Library copy. Lake was chaplain and tutor to the princesses Mary and Anne, daughters of James, duke of York, when Princess Anne was taken ill with smallpox, the duke of York forbade Lake from attending her. Lake suspected that this was not to prevent the spread of the disease, but so that Anne's Catholic nurse could exert a greater influence over her. He is best known as the author of Officium eucharisticum, a devotional manual which was designed for his royal pupils but which became very popular and went through more than thirty editions. Later versions of the work featured additions that some felt smacked of Catholicism, but these alterations do not appear to have been the work of the author. (DNB) £225.00

 

15394 [LANGHORNE, John] THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THEODOSIUS AND CONSTANTIA, from their first acquaintance to the departure of Theodosius: with the letters which passed between them after Constantia had taken the veil. New Edition, London: printed by T. Bensley, for Vernor and Hood; J. Cuthell; and H.L. Gardner, 1799. 8vo, (220x140mm), [4],xvi,290p. +2p. publisher's adverts, engraved frontispiece by Neagle after Thurston, some offset from the image onto the facing title and some slight spotting thereafter. Contemporary full tree-marbled calf, backstrip banded and tooled in gilt with green leather lettering piece, a little rubbed at the edges. Signatures of early owners' on the front free endleaf and title, the latter that of one M.M. Penny of Ambleside. For a book which ran through several editions and from a popular contemporary writer, this edition is relatively rare, ESTC recording only 6 copies in the UK of which 3 are in the BL. Langhorne was born in Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria and educated at Appleby Grammar School, his works were rather damned with faint praise by Alexander Chalmers (Works of the English poets, 1810) who wrote: 'although a scholar of high attainments, he has rarely brought learning to his aid. His mind was stored with remarks on men and manners, which he expressed in various and desultory modes, so as to give an air of novelty to every thing he wrote.' £55.00

 

15986 [LEEKEY, William?] THE YOUNG CLERKS ASSISTANT; or penmanship made easy, instructive and entertaining: being a compleat pocket-copy book, curiously engrav'd for the practice of youth in the art of writing. [Containing] A specimen of the various characters now principally us'd in printing & writing curiously engrav'd by the best hands. London: Printed for Richard Ware, at the Bible and Sun, Ludgate Hill, 1733. 8vo, (191x119mm), 15 leaves, engraved throughout and printed on the recto of the leaf only. The paper very lightly browned but overall a fine copy in modern binders' cloth. A strange compilation which was perhaps also issued as part of a larger work; but, so far as we can ascertain, is also complete in itself as here presented. Ware (in common with other book/print-sellers of the 18th century) was given to using and re-using engraved plates under a variety of titles and formats. The present example commences with an allegorical engraved frontispiece with several lines of verse, engraved by George Bickham, an engraved general title (as detailed above), Directions for young practitioners by way of introduction, Directions for learners (3 leaves), The dedication to the young clerks of Great Britain, To the young ladies of Great-Britain, Second title (dated 1733 and detailed as above), The alphabet in the old English character, The alphabet in the Roman and Italic character, The alphabet in the round-hand and Italian, [Copperplate capitals] (2 leaves), and finally Minums in round-hand and Italian. All the plates carry engraved numbers in the head-fore corner and are exquisitely engraved. £500.00

 

16128 [LOCKHART, George.] A DIALOGUE TWIXT A BURGESS OF EDINBURGH, AND A GENTLEMAN LATELY ARRIVED IN SCOTLAND, concerning the Union, and behaviour of the Presbyterian ministers in that great affair. [drop-head title], [Edinburgh, 1713?] 12mo, (146x90mm), 15,[1 blank]p. browned throughout and this some very slight loss of text on the first leaf, shaved in the tail margin with slight loss from the catchwords. Preserved in modern binders' cloth covered envelope chemise. An extremely rare Jacobite pamphlet attack on the consequences of the Union between England and Scotland. Although ESTC lists 8 copies of this book, 6 being in the National Library of Scotland. £125.00

 

18292 [LOCKMAN, John.] A NEW ROMAN HISTORY, BY QUESTION AND ANSWER. In a method much more comprehensive than any of the kind extant. Extracted from ancient authors, and the most celebrated among the modern... Designed principally for schools. Fifth edition, London: Printed for T. Astley: and sold by R. Baldwin, 1759. 12mo, (168x102mm), xii,342,[17,1]p. Lacking the plates. Contemporary sprinkled calf, joints split but holding, edges rubbed. A handsome and ornate calligraphic signature of Mar. Russell May 16th 1759, on the front free endleaf, and a modern bookplate on the front pastedown. Estc locates only 4 copies of this edition (1 GB + 3NA), and although both the ESTC record and the title page call for plates, there is no evidence of them having been present and later removed. £20.00

 

19095 MALHERBE, Francois De. POESIES DE MALHERBE, rangees par ordre chronologique. Geneve: [no imprint given], 1777. 12mo, (120x63mm), 239p. Engraved frontispiece portrait by De Launy after Du Monslier; small stain on the verso of the frontis. Contemporary marbled calf, rubbed at the joint and edges, marbled end-leaves and sprinkled edges. The front pastedown endleaf carrying the bookseller's ticket of Alfred Wheaton of Exeter (fl.1846-51 and at the address given 1848-51). £50.00

 

18445 MARMONTEL, Jean-Francois. MARMONTEL'S TALES, selected and abridged for the instruction and amusement of youth by Mrs Pilkington. London: Vernon and Hood, 1799. 12mo, (172x104mm), viii,208p. copper-engraved frontispiece by Rivers, with 26 wood-engravings in the text by Charlton Nesbitt and John Anderson, lightly browned throughout and with a small stain confined to the tail-corner of most leaves. Modern quarter linen, pastepaper boards by Victoria Hall in an Herrnhuter style. Rare, Estc locates only nine copies of this book and notes that 'the engravings are by J[ohn] or T[homas] Bewick.' Hugo (Bewick collector,136) states categorically that 'There cannot be a doubt that several of the cuts were by Thomas Bewick.' However, Nigel Tattersfield in his study of John Bewick notes that John Anderson, a one-time apprentice of Thomas Bewick, was 'Vernor and Hood's usual artist', and informs us that there is no record of this work in the Bewick day-books, we are further grateful to him for his advice that Nesbitt and Anderson were responsible for the decidedly Bewickesque wood engravings. £250.00

 

15998 MOORE, Francis. VOX STELLARUM: OR, A LOYAL ALMANACK FOR THE YEAR OF HUMAN REDEMPTION, 1741. Being the first after bissextile of leap-year. In which is contained all things fitting for such a work... London: printed by James Bettenham, for the Company of Stationers, 1741. 8vo, (158x97mm), [32],13p +3p adverts (including one for 'steel trusses for ruptures'), printed in red and black with tax stamp on the title, with one woodcut. Original title-wrapper, slightly foxed. Uncommon, ESTC record a single UK copy & 5 NA. Unflatteringly described by a contemporary as 'a paltry nocturnal guardian to a deal-yard', Moore's almanac first appeared in 1699 and continues to the present day; however, a Victorian cynic did note that 'having reached the mellow age of three hundred years, he cannot read the stars as clearly as in his younger days.' £65.00

 

16001 MOORE, Francis. VOX STELLARUM: OR, A LOYAL ALMANACK FOR THE YEAR OF HUMAN REDEMPTION 1742. Being the second after bissextile or leap-year. In which are contained all things fitting for such a work;... London: printed by Francis Bettenham for the Company of Stationers, 1742. 8vo, (158x98mm), [32],14p. +2p. adverts, printed in red and black with 1 large woodcut in the text, tax stamp on the title. Original title-wrapper, sometime disbound. Uncommon, ESTC records 5 UK & 3 NA copies of this long-running annual production. £65.00

 

16004 MOORE, Francis. VOX STELLARUM: OR, A LOYAL ALMANACK FOR THE YEAR OF HUMAN REDEMPTION, 1751. Being the third after bissextile of leap-year. In which is contained all things fitting for such a work... London: printed by James Bettenham, for the Company of Stationers, 1751. 8vo, (158x99mm), [32-,16p. printed in red and black with a full-page woodcut, tax stamp on the title. Original wrapper-title, sometime disbound. Rare, ESTC records only 2 UK & 2 NA copies. Not a good summer quarter prophesied as man's 'Mind and faculties thereof are disturbed by Cælestial Meetings, and the Emotions chiefly visible in, Melancholy, Grief Distractions, Phrensies, Lunacies, &c. when our crazed Intellects cannot endure the touch of neutral potent Agents.' £65.00

 

 

(Parallel text for the use of youth)

18169 NOLLET, Michel. ABREGE HISTORIQUE DE LA SAINTE BIBLE, depuis le commencement du monde jusques a l'etablissement de la religion Chretienne. Par demands et par reponses. En Francois et en Anglois pur l'usugae de la jeunesse. An historical compendium of the holy bible from the beginning of the world to the establishment of Christianity. By way of question and answer. In French and English for the use of youth. Londres: imprime par A. Millar, 1752. 12mo, (169x102mm), [2],iii-xvi,iii-xvi,[1],[2-]300,[2-]300p. a small tear in H8 without textual loss, O3 perhaps a cancel. Contemporary sprinkled calf, backstrip and edges rubbed and faded, lacking the front free endleaf. Rare, Etsc locating only five copies. A parallel text with English on the verso of each leaf and French on the facing recto and with the pagination duplicated. Leaf O3 is not included in the collation but the pagination and text are continuous and so presumably is either an example of compositorial error or perhaps a cancel. £165.00

 

18561 [OWEN, Josiah.] REMARKS ON TWO CHARGES: deliver'd by the Lord Bishop of L–d and C–y [Litchfield and Coventry], to the clergy of his diocese. Wherein the danger of the church, from the progress of liberty, and its independence upon civil government, are considered. London: printed for M. Steen, 1738. 8vo, (192x120mm), [2],70p. A good copy, disbound. £45.00

 

11694 PARK, Mungo. TRAVELS IN THE INTERIOR DISTRICTS OF AFRICA: performed under the direction and patronage of the African Association, in the years 1795, 1796, and 1797. With an appendix, containing geographical illustrations of Africa by Major Rennell. Second edition, London: printed by W. Bulmer for the author; and sold by G. and W. Nicol, 1799. 4to, (275x220mm), xxviii,[2],372,xciip. 9 engraved maps and plates together with 2 leaves of engraved music, dampstained in the tail margin of the first few leaves and plates. Untrimmed in original boards, worn, later cloth backstrip. (Isaac 'checklist' in William Bulmer the fine printer in context, 396) £375.00

 

16807 PARLIAMENT, House of Lords. THE LORD'S PROTEST, NOVEMBER 18, 1740. To which is added, considerations upon the embargo laid on the provision of victual. Also the protests of Dec.8. and 9. Jan, 28. and Feb.3. London: printed for W. Webb, 1741. 12mo, (in 4s), (170x108mm), 29,[1 blank]p. shaved at the head margin with loss of the pages numbers to many pages. Disbound. Rare, Estc notes three issues with varying pagination and imprints (or lack thereof) issued in the same year, the 'Considerations upon the embargo...' occupies pages 8-15. £65.00

 

(Glasgow printing)

17358 PARNELL, Thomas. POEMS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS. Glasgow: printed by Robert Urie, 1748. 12mo, (167x98mm), [2],247,[3]p. occasional slightly browned. Contemporary sprinkled calf, gilt tooled in the spince compartments with red leather lettering piece, joints rubbed and occasionally worn with some slight loss of leather from the rear and edges rubbed, bookplate. The first Glasgow printing of this collection of verse by the Arch-Deacon of Clogher, the half-title carries a note that the book was 'Price bound and lettered Half-a-Crown.' £80.00

 

15996 PEARSE, Salem. THE CELESTIAL DIARY: OR, AN EPHEMERIS FOR THE YEAR OF OUR BLESSED SAVIOUR'S INCARNATION, 1727. It being the third after bissextile, or leap-year. And from the creation of the world, according to the best history, 5676 years. Wherein in contained the motion, aspects, and operation of the planets... Ninth impression, London: printed by J. Dawks, for the Company of Stationers, 1727. 8vo, (158x97mm), [32]p printed in red and black. Original title-wrapper, slightly browned and sometime disbound. A second part of 12 pages, printed by another printer, should ideally accompany this uncommon early Pearse almanac. £50.00

 

11682 PERSIUS. THE SATIRES OF PERSIUS. Translated by William Drummond. [Second edition], London: printed by W. Bulmer ; For J. Wright, 1799. 8vo, (210x130mm), [6],xlviii,189p. with the half-title, title vignette, parallel text in Latin and English on facing pages. Modern boards in imitation of a contemporary interm boards binding. Bookplate of Peter Isaac. (Isaac 409) £75.00

 

13417 POLITICAL MERRIMENT. POLITICAL MERRIMENT: OR, TRUTHS TOLD TO SOME TUNE. London: printed for A. Boulter, without Temple Bar, 1715. 12mo, (158x97mm), [4],56p. some spotting. Modern binders' paper covered hardback boards, Mentmore Library stamp on the title. The first half only of part 3 with the separate title page present. ESTC records a number of copies most of which are incomplete to a greater or lesser degree. A collection of political ballads including a 'new song' on The South-Sea Trade, a satire against the joint-stock companies whose fraudulent practises led, a few years later, to the South Sea Bubble. £50.00

 

(Unrecorded on ESTC)

17888 PSALMS 1775? PSALMS HYMNS & ANTHEMS, used in the Chapel of the Hospital for the Maintenance & Education of Exposed & Deserted Young Children, [London, No imprint, 1775?] 8vo, (204x140mm), [92],150,[4]p. Engraved allegorical frontispiece-title (a faint stain in the tail-fore corner), some worm activity in 4 leaves at the end. Modern quarter cloth, Ingres paper boards, early ms inscription at the head of the frontispiece title. Extremely rare, Etsc records two other editions of this title, one with 141 pages and another (a single location: the BL copy) with 153,[5] pages in a similar and somewhat unusual scheme of pagination. This copy we offer contains engraved music on pages 1-126, pages 127-137 contain Original Anthems, printed letterpress, the verso of page 137 is blank, the following seven pages each carry two page numbers from 138 & 139 to 148 & 149, page 150 carries only the single number, the final four pages of Index have no printed numbers. Founded by Thomas Coram in 1741 and originally situated in Hatton Gardens, the Foundling Hospital moved to Lamb's Conduit Fields in Bloomsbury in 1742. 'If the oft-told story is true that Coram sat in the Foundling Hospital arcade in his last years distributing gingerbread to the children, it was a momentary rest from more active projects. His greatest achievement was to provide the template for eighteenth-century philanthropy of a secular foundation modelled on the joint-stock company, of which the Foundling Hospital was the first and finest expression.' (DNB.) £750.00

 

 

11757 RENNIE, George, Robert BROUN [sic], & John SHIRREFF. GENERAL VIEW OF THE AGRICULTURE OF THE WEST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE, with observations on the means of its improvement. Drawn up for the consideration of the Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement. London: printed by W. Bulmer, 1794. 4to, (241x191mm), viii,(9-)140p. engraved map. Modern quarter morocco, Cockerell marbled paper sides. (Isaac checklist in William Bulmer, the fine printer in contextC56) £120.00

 

 

18969 ROBESPIERRE, Maximilien. RAPPORT FAIT AU NOM DU COMITÉ DE SALUT PUBLIC, Sur les rapports des idées religieuses et morales avec les principes républicans, et les fêtes nationales. Séances du 18 Floréal. Paris, F. Dufart, L'An second de la République française. [1794.] 12mo, (126x80mm), 122p. Frontispiece portrait and 2 engraved plates by Quéverdo. Numerous instances of pencilled marginal annotation and some pencilled annotations. Contemporary marbled calf, marbled endleaves, all edges gilt, the joints and edges rubbed, a small area of the surface of the leather damaged on the rear cover. £225.00

 

14328 ROYAL KALENDAR. THE ROYAL KALENDAR or complete and correct annual register for England, Scotland, Ireland, and America, for the year 1786 London: printed for J. Debrett,... 1786. 12mo, (138x80mm), [2],6,[24],(iii-)vi,288p. Modern quarter cloth, bookplate Includes Cardanus Rider's Sheet Almanack printed on only side of the leaf only, and with the month pages in red and black. £80.00

 

(Edinburgh printing)

18559 SADLER, Ralph. LETTERS AND NEGOTIATIONS OF SIR RALPH SADLER, Ambassador of King Henry VIII. ... Containing the transactions of two memorable embassies: the first, to King James V. in the year 1540, in order to dispose him towards a reformation. The second, to the Governor and states of Scotland, in the year 1543, concerning a marriage betwixt Mary their young Queen and Edward VI. then Prince of Wales; and a perpetual friendship and union between the two nations. Edinburgh: printed for James MacEuen, James Davidson, and George Stewart, 1720. 8vo, (195x114mm), xxiv.456p. some browning of the final few leaves. Disbound. £150.00

 

15997 SEASON, Henry. SPECULUM ANNI: OR, AN ALMANACK FOR THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1740. Being bissextile or leap-year. From the world's creation according to profane history 5689. From the account of scripture 5662. Wherein you'll find all things necessary for such a treatise... London: printed by A. Parker, for the Company of Stationers. 1740. 8vo, (159x98mm), [48]p. printed in red and black, tax stamp on the title, as also a previous owner's rubber-stamp. Original title-wrapper, sometime discound. Rare, ESTC records only a single copy in the UK of this, the seventh appearance of Season's almanac. Of the several contemporary almanac compilers, Season was the most outspoken regarding the Stationers' Company's poor payments; claiming in his 1751 issue that he and his colleagues in the 'noblest branches of mathematics' should be less well-rewarded than 'a French cook, Italian songster, or even an English dapper-witted dancing-master.' The final page of this issue carries a list of books printed for the Stationers' Company. £60.00

 

16006 SEASON, Henry. SPECULUM ANNI REDIVUVUM: OR, AN ALMANACK FOR THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1751. Wherein you will find all things needful, useful, and entertaining... London: printed by T. Parker, for the Company of Stationers, 1751. 8vo, (160x99mm), [48]p. printed in red and black, tax stamp on the title. Original title-wrapper, sometime disbound. Rare, ESTC records only 2 UK and 3 NA copies. Season remonstrated with the Stationers' Company about the small fee he received for compiling his almanac, here in its fifteenth year, noting herein that 'Is it not a melancholy Subject to reflect on, that a Man should waste all the Prime and Glory of his Youth in tracing out some of the noblest Branches of the mathematicks, and so slide into his Grave, scarce ever half so much rewarded or regarded as a French Cook, Italian Songster, or even an English Dapper-witted Dancing-master, Fiddler, or Cock-feeder...' This diatribe eventually worked as the Company increased his fee in 1759. £75.00

 

16008 SEASON, Henry. SPECULUM ANNI REDIVIVUM: OR, AN ALMANACK FOR THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1757. Being the first after the bissextile, or leap-year. Wherein you will find all things adapted for such a work... London: printed by T. Parker, for the Company of Stationers, 1757. 8vo, (159x99mm), [48]p. printed in red and black, tax stamp on the title. Original title-wrapper, previous owner's rubber-stamp on the title, sometime disbound. Rare, ETSC records only 3 UK and 5 NA copies of this the twenty-third year of issue. Compilers of almanacs were not slow in puffing the value and accuracy of their predictions, or slating the value of their competitors (despite that fact that they were all copyright of the Stationers' Company). In this issue Season take umbrage with the compiler of Poor Robin's almanack, describing him as 'like a foreign Traveller, who in England often ascends some publick Eminence, where he exposes his Back-side, and grins at the Spectators...' £75.00

 

11946 SHAKESPEARE, William. THE DRAMATIC WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE. Revised by George Steevens. No.I. Much ado about nothing.[&] Richard III. London: printed by W. Bulmer for John and Josiah Boydell, and George Nicol; from the types of W. Martin, 1791. Folio, (443x334mm), [6],98; [2 blank], 143p. lacks the plates, some browning, occasionally heavily so particularly the last few leaves. Untrimmed in original royal blue paper-covered boards, printed front label backstrip lacking and rather worn and contained in a modern cloth solander case. (Isaac 'Checklist' in William Bulmer the fine printer in context, 474 part) Sadly without the plates to this part of Boydell's monumental undertaking to produce an edition of the world's greatest playright in a manner that befitted the nation of his birth. However, let us not be too picky, here is a copy of the first part of that great undertaking in the original style of publication and as such exceedingly rare. £175.00


 

11591 SILICUS ITALICUS. PUNICA. 2 Volumes, Londini: imprensis R. Faulder. Excudebat Gul. Bulmer, 1792. 16mo in 8s, (158x100), xxiv,240; [4],270,[1]p. Contemporary sprinkled calf, backstrips with red and black leather lettering piece, gilt crossed arrow tooles in the other compartments. Armorial bookplate of E.W. Stackhouse overlaying another bookplate. (Isaac `checklist' in William Bulmer, the fine printer in context 481) £70.00

 

11490 [SLACK, Thomas] THE BANKER'S SURE GUIDE: or, monied man's assistant. In three parts, viz. containing I. Tables of interest… II. Tables of discount… III. Sundry tables… To which is prefixed, by way of introduction, a new and comprehensive treatise on decimals… Third edition. London: printed for G. Robinson, and L. Hawes and Co.; and T Slack, in Newcastle, 1772. Cr.8vo, (122x85mm), [4],xxvi,[2], 177,175-310p. this pagination agrees with ESTC which notes that the text is continuous, title page degraded at the edges and the first few leaves a little soiled, thereafter a bright copy. Modern full dark brown calf, bookplate. ESTC records only 4 copies of this edition (1 UK & 3NA) and also records another issue in the same year but with a cancel title. Thomas Slack, the Newcastle bookseller, is perhaps less well-known as a writer than his wife, the grammarian Ann Fisher, doubtless due to his pseudonymous authorship of this title (which ran to several editions) and also The British negotiator. Peter & Ruth Wallis (&c) in Mathematical Tradition in the North of England p30-31, note that his books `are important in illustrating the uses of mathematics in business studies, as different from applications to the usual physical or environmental sciences.' £115.00

 

16808 SMALBROKE, Richard. A CHARGE DELIVERED TO THE REVEREND THE CLERGY OF THE DIOCESE OF LICHFIELD AND COVENTRY, in the triennial visitation of the same in 1735 and 1736. By... Richard, Lord Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. London: printed for John and Paul Knapton, 1737. 8vo, (192x121mm), [4],62,[2p publisher's adverts [of other works by this author]. A clean and bright copy, disbound. £35.00

 

18981 SOMERVILE, William. THE CHACE. A POEM. Third edition, London: Printed for G. Hawkins, and sold by T. Cooper at the Globe in Pater-Noster-Row. 1735. 8vo, (199x118mm), [20],131,[1]p. Contemporary calf, edges rubbed, rebacked with red leather lettering piece. Armorial bookplate of John Ingilby of Ripley, Yorkshire, and a later bookplate. Somervile, of Edstone in Warwickshire, lived the life of a responsible country gentleman, devoting much of his time and energies to the pursuits of hunting and writing poetry. Samuel Johnson (Lives of the poets) writes slightly dismissively of Somervile stating that 'he writes very well for a gentleman…' The chace is described as 'his great work... which he undertook in his maturer age, when his ear was improved to the approbation of blank verse... to this poem praise cannot be totally denied.' Johnson may almost damn with faint praise Somerville's qualities as a poet but there can be no doubting his skills as a writer on those aspects of hunting that appealed to him. Peter Beckford wrote 'When I have any better authority than my own, such as Somerville, for instance (who bye the bye, is the only one that has written intelligibly on this subject…)' While DNB records that 'In four books of blank verse, he conveyed the excitement and dangers of the chase as well as its place in history.' Three editions of this work printed between May and August of 1735 point to the contemporary popularity it enjoyed. Like the preceding editions, this was printed by William Bowyer, in this case in an edition of 1,500 copies (Bowyer Ledgers 2184) , making the total print run to this date as being 2,250 copies. £50.00

 

 

21458 [SYKES, Arthur Ashley] THE CORPORATION AND TEST ACTS SHEWN TO BE OF NO IMPORTANCE TO THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. London: printed for J. Roberts, 1736. 8vo, (192x120mm), 72p. Originally stab-sewn, sometime bound and later disbound, and now resewn through the original stab holes and preserved in a modern binders' cloth envelope chemise. (ESTC 34188) Sykes was a prolific controversialist and author of about eighty pamphlets, on this occasion he writes in support of the dissenters in their attempts to have the Test and Corporation Acts repealed. £75.00

 

16029 [TOWNSEND, John or Joseph RICHARDSON] JEKYLL: A POLITICAL ECLOGUE. London: printed for J. Debrett, 1787. 4to, (257x198mm), 19p. Untrimmed in modern binders' boards, spine faded. A pretty savage example of satirical political verse directed against the Welsh politician Joseph Jekyll and his patron the Marquis of Lansdowne. Authorities differ as to the identity of the anonymous author with Lord John Townsend being the most likely candidate. £105.00

 

11778 [TURNER, Edmund, Editor]. CHARACTERS OF EMINENT MEN IN THE REIGNS OF CHARLES I. AND II. Including the rebellion, from the works of Lord Chancellor Clarendon. London: printed for R. Faulder, 1793. 4to, (263x210mm), vi,[2],(13-)201,[3]p. (as agrees with ESTC). 15 hand-coloured stipple-engraved portraits, occasional slight spotting of the letterpress leaves. Contemporary diced calf, front joint split and the cover detached at some time, now restored in situ with map canvas at the inner hinge. (Isaac 142) Rare ESTC records only a single copy in the British Isles, and only a handful in North America. ESTC also states that 'a reissue...with the same setting of type was also printed in 8o imposition' (of which ESTC records 3 copies in British libraries). This present copy collates as a quarto however, the pages have extremely generous margins to an octavo page set, Isaac suggests that this is infact a large paper issue of the octavo edition. £415.00

 

12837 VERTOT, Abbe De. THE REVOLUTIONS OF PORTUGAL. Written in French... done into English from the last French edition [by G. Roussillon]. London: printed for William Chetwood, at Cato's Head, in Russel-Street, Covent-Garden, 1721. 8vo in 4s, (190x117mm), (iii-)xvi,138,[11]p. +3p bookseller's adverts. Engraved frontispiece, some slight spotting and occasional marginal scoring and textual underscoring in pencil. Later 18th century sprinkled marbled calf, later rebacked preserving the earlier lettering pieces. £75.00

 

9851 WALKER, D. GENERAL VIEW OF THE AGRICULTURE OF THE COUNTY OF HERTFORD, with observations on the means of its improvement. Drawn up for the consideration of the Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement. London: Printed by W. Bulmer and Co. 1795. 4to, (240x190mm), 86p. lightly browned throughout. Modern grey paper-covered boards, bookplate. (Isaac checklist in William Bulmer, the fine printer in context C57) £85.00

 

18323 WELLS, Edward. THE YOUNG GENTLEMAN'S ARITHMETICK, AND GEOMETRY; containing such elements of the said arts or sciences, as are most useful and easy to be known. Second edition, London: printed for James Knapton, 1723. 8vo, (192x118mm), [24],294,[2]p. +[2]p bookseller's adverts; 13 folding engraved plates, some very slight dust-soiling but generally a nice clean copy internally. Modern paper-covered boards. General title and the separate part-titles to both parts all present; several attractive wood-engraved factotums and headpieces to the introductions of each part, with - unusually - two of the latter carrying the engraver's initials. £275.00

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