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1 SEPTEMBER 2009
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1. ALBERT THE GREAT. SAINT ALBERTUS MAGNUS. The Paradise of the Soul: Or, A Little Treatise of Vertues. Made by Albert the Great, Bishop of Ratisbon, who died in the Year 1280. Translated out of Latin into English By N. N. [London:] Printed for William Brooks, 1682.
12mo, pp. [x], 240, late 19th century half calf, marbled boards, gilt spine, morocco label; a very good copy even if the binding is a bit unsympathetic; ?lacks half-title. £350
The first English translation of Paradisus Animae by Albert the Great (?1193 - 1280) was by Thomas Everard and appeared earlier in the 17th century, in 1617, published by the English College Press in St. Omer. The translator here makes no mention of the earlier translation. The attribution of the work to Albert the Great has been questioned, however, and authorship of the work has been assigned to Albert of Padua.
Wing A 875H. ESTC 0R6662 locates copies in the BL, NLS, Downside Abbey, Bath, Franciscan House of Studies; Huntington, Clark, Folger, Newberry, and University of Illinois.
2. ALDINE PRESS. CAESAR (Julius): [Works] Hoc volvmine continentvr, Commentariorum de bello Gallico libri VIII; De Bello ciuili Pompeiano libri III; De bello Alexandrino liber I; De bello Africano liber I; De Bello Hispaniensi liber I.: Pictura totius Galliæ, & Hispaniæ, ex C. Cæsaris Commentariis, nomina locorum, urbiumq;, & populorum Galliæ, & Hispaniæ, ut olim dicebantur latine, & nunc dicantur, iuxta litterarum ordinem. Pictura pontis in Rheno, item Auarici, Alexiæ, Vxelloduni, Massiliae. Cum Correctibus Pauli Manutii. Venetiis [apud Paulum Manutium], 1559.
8vo, 168 x 112 mms., [16] + 318 + [2] leaves, 2 double-page engraved maps, 5 engraved plates, leaf 239 correctly numbered, leaf 298 numbered 290, Aldine anchor on verso of last leaf but one, contemporary limp vellum(soiled); some slight water-staining in lower margin of first 50 leaves, interior spine visible between A1 and A2, some wear to fore-margins and corners, partial ms. transcription of title-page and date on recto of blank leaf before title-page, with the autograph "Joannes Gromi" [sic], and the autograph "Polidoro Gromi" in the lower margin of about 20 leaves, with a ms. copy of the Aldine anchor on the recto of the last leaf with "gro" and "mus" on anchor sides, and some initial chapter letters expanded in ms. by, presumably, Joannes or Polidoro. £1,950
Rider's English Merlin is a separate publication of 60 pages inserted between the title-page of the Kalendar and its Index. It is separately catalogued in ESTC at T45011.
ESTC N44471 locates copies of the Kalendar in Christ's College Cambridge, National Archives, National Trust, and York Minster.
3. [ARNAULD (Antoinie) and Pierre Nicole]: La Logique, ou l’Art de Penser, Contenant, Outre les Regles communes Plusieurs Observations nouvelles, propres à former le judgement. Sixiéme Edition reveue & de nouveau augmentée. A Amsterdam, Chez Abraham Wolfgang, 1685.
12mo, pp. [viii], 472 [473 - 479 index, 480 blank], contemporary vellum, a very nice copy. £250
RLIN locates only the copy at the University of Rochester.
4. AUSONIUS. [WORKS]. D. Magni Ausonii Burdig. viri consularis opera . A Iosepho Scaligero, & Elia Vineto denuo recognita, disposita, & variorum notis illustrata: Cetera Epistola ad lectorem docebit. Adiectis variis & locupletissimis indicibus. [AND]: Iosephi Scaligeri Iul. Cæs. F. Ausonianarum lectionum libri duo. Adiectis præterea, Doctissimorum id genus authorum: utpote Adriana Turnebi, Hadriani Iunii, Guilelmi Canteri, Iusti Lypsii & Eliæ Vineti notis. [Geneva]: typis Iacobi Stoer, M.D.XIIC, 1588.
2 volumes in 1. Small 8vo, 122 x 80 mms., pp. [xxxii], 350;[2], 247 [248 blank, 249 - 262 Index], title within ornamental woodcut border, and the autograph “Johannis Pricei” on the lower margin, 17th century calf (pitted and worn), early reback; covers dried, corners a bit worn. The autograph is probably that of John Price (?1602 - 1676), the classical scholar, who had an extensive library, who published commentaries on the New Testament and who was Professor of Greek at Pisa. £500
Ausonius (c. 310 - c. 395) was born in Bordeaux, and after a career as teacher, rhetorician, and soldier, retired to his estate in the Bordeaux area; Chateau Ausone, one of the finest St. Emilion wineries, is said to take its name from him. His works are interesting to wine historians as he has a number of comments on wine-making in the Bordeaux area. His achievements as a Latin poet, however, have not attracted universal admiration: Gibbon commented in his Decline and Fall, that “the poetical fame of Ausonius condemns the taste of his age.” Sivan Hagith’s recent study, Ausonius of Bordeaux: Genesis of a Gallic Aristocracy (1993) emphasizes his role as teacher and aristocrat.
Cambridge A2285; Graesse I, 259.
5. BALZAC (Jean Louis Guez): Letters of Mounsieur de Balzac. 1. 2. 3. and 4th parts. Translated out of French into English. By Sr Richard Baker Knight, and others. Now collected into one Volume, with a methodicall table of all the letters. London, Printed for John Williams, and Francis Eaglesfield..., 1654.
FIRST EDITION. 8vo, four parts in one volume, pp. [xxii], 142, [ii], 119 [120 blank], [ii], 144, [xxii], 72 [73 - 74 contents], with separate title-page for each part and additional engraved title-page preceding letter-press title-page, contemporary calf; no blank leaves before engraved title, upper front joint cracked and worn, corners worn. With a contemporary autograph “John Ellison” on title-page and “J Ellison” on front paste-down end-paper. £250
Balzac’s letters to his sister about his niece and women in general are full of contemporary pieties and surprising assertions, e. g., “if there be some Flowers, and some Perfumes that please them not, what likelihood is there, that Brimstone and Salt peter can please them, and that their humour can have anything in common with these violent substances? It is true perhaps, that sweetnesse and mildnesse have their excesses; but yet, even those excesses are more lawfull than the justest temper of shrewishnesse and incivility; at least in a woman, they are much more commendable: and it becomes her better to dissemble that she knows, than discover verities that are odious....”
Wing B 614.
6. BARBIN (Claude): Le Boufon de la Cour, ou Remede preservatif contre le Melancolie. A Paris, Chez Claude Barbin..., [1690].
12mo, pp. [3] - 235 [236 - 239 Index, 240 blank], B1 cancelled, contemporary vellum; ?lacks half-title. £200
RLIN describes a copy with the same imprint with an engraved half-title with p. 46 incorrectly numbered 49; there is blank leaf before the title-page in the above copy, but p. 46 is correctly numbered. The copy in RLIN also does not give pages for the Index but stops at p. 235.
7. BIBLE. The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments Newly Translated out of the Original Tongues And now with the former Translations diligently Compared and Revised. London Printed by James Flesher 1657.
Small 12mo, unpaginated, collating A-2K12 2L6, with separate title-page for New Testament, engraved title-page by W. Hainsworth, autograph "W. Hosier"[rest illegible] on top margin of title-page, bound with, The Psalms of David In Meeter. Newly translated, and diligently compared with the Original Text, and former Translations. More plain, smooth, and agreeable to the Text, then any heretofore. Allowed by the Authority of the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, and appointed to be Sung in Congregations and Families. Glasgow, Printed by Robert Sanders, and are to be sold at his Shop, 1662. 12mo (in 6s), unpaginated, collating A-F6 G3 [sic: incomplete, lacking at least 3 leaves at end, text ends with Psalm 145], recently rebound in full crushed dark green morocco, gilt panels on covers, spines gilt in compartments; many fore-margins closely trimmed, with occasional loss of letters, some slight fingering and soiling of text. £1,500
Darlow & Moule (Rev. 1968), 658. ESTC R170536 locates copies of the Bible in the BL and Canterbury Cathedral; Chicago and Yale in the USA. I can find no copy in any database of Sanders' 1662 printing of the Psalms - even another defective one!
8. BINET (Estienne): Abrege des Vies des Principaux Fondateurs des Religions de l'Eglise, Representez dans le Choeur de L'Abbaie de S. Lambert de Liessies en Haynaut Avec les Maimes spirituelles de chaque Fondateur. A Anvers, Chez Marint Notius, 1634.
FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. Small 4to, 198 x 140 mms., pp. 300 [301 - 302 approbation and privilege, 303 errata 304 blank], with the pagination including engraved title-page, 38 engraved portraits, and a final engraved plate of Pope Innocent II in council, marbled end-papers, bound in early 18th century calf, gilt border on covers, sometime expertly rebacked, with old spine gilt in compartments and red morocco label laid down. With the armorial bookplate of [Major] Coningsby Disraeli (brother of Benjamin)on the front paste-down end-paper, the inscription “Collegy Soctis. Jesu Luxemburgi” in a contemporary hand on the top margin of the printed title-page, and “[?A. Mosheim]” in the top margin of the engraved title-page. A very good copy. £1,350
The engraved illustrations, designed by Theodore Galle (1570-1633) and engraved by his brother Cornelis Galle (1576-1650), illustrate for the most part lost paintings from the the Choir of the Benedictine Abbey of Liessies, northern France. The Jesuit Binet (1569 - 1639) provides a brief biography for each of the subjects. “Theodore made designs from the original paintings which were then engraved by Cornelis to produce superb portraits of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, early Church Fathers, founders of religious orders, Liessies most revered abbot, Louis de Blois (1506-1565) and recent Saints such as St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Theresa of Avila and St. Philip of Neri, all within richly detailed borders. The portraits were dispersed or burned following the French Revolution but some are still to be seen in neighbouring churches. This work, therefore, is one of the few records of a series of paintings for which the abbey was famous. The Galle brothers trained under their father Philip Galle (1537-1612) and later travelled to Rome to learn from the Italian masters. After his father's death Theodore took over his workshop and business while Cornelis became renowned for his reproductive engraving employing a traditional, dry engraving technique and style. He worked for Anthony van Dyck, Marten de Vos, Hendrick Goltzius and engraved Rubens' designs for title-pages and illustrations for the Plantin Press” (with grateful acknowledgement to Jonathan Reilly of Maggs Bros. Ltd.).
Funck p. 215 & p. 212, fig. 80.
9. BLOUNT (Charles): The Miscellaneous Works of Charles Blount. Containing I. The Oracles of Reason. II. Anima Mundi... III. Great is Diana of the Ephesians... IV. An Appeal from the Country to the City for the Preservation of his Majesties Person, Liberty, and Property.... V. A just Vindication of Learning, and of the Liberty of the Press.... VI. A Supposed Dialogue betwixt the late King James and King William ....To which is prefix'd the Life of the Author, and an Account and Vindication of his Death. With the Contents of the Whole Volumes. [?London] Printed in the Year 1695.
FIRST EDITION. 12mo, pp. [48], 228, 72, 85 - 133 [134 blank], [8], 45 [46 blank], [2], 35 [36 blank], [8], 17 [18 blank], [6], 27 [28 blank] with parts 5 and 6 paged continuously (the dialogue consisting of only 3 pages), contemporary calf, red morocco label; lower margins of front end-papers wormed, occasional staining and foxing of text, spine chipped at top and base, front joint cracked, rear joint rubbed. £650
Blount (1654 - 1693) made a notable reputation for himself in his short life. This volume was edited by Charles Gildon (1665 - 1724) and contains two of his most important works, The Oracles of Reason and Great is Diana of the Ephesians, books full of learning worn lightly, irony, and wit. Although Blount was dead (he shot himself when he was not allowed to marry his sister-in-law) when The Oracles of Reason was published, it was controversial work, and there were many replies to and attack on it, viz., that of James Lowde, who wrote that “Some are of Opinion that the Book call'd the Oracles of Reason is not worth the taking notice of by way of Answer, it being, they say, such as would soon dye of it self; I must confess I have no great opinion of the performance therein...not that I here reflect upon the abilitys of the Person, but of the weakness of the cause, that was not capable of a better defence” (Moral Essays, 1699).
The hasty assemblage of the work resulted in slight omissions, mis-paginations, and errors of the press. In the above copy, the pagination given for the 4th work is [2], 35 [36 blank]. In other copies, the pagination is 37 [1 - presumably blank]. In the present copy, there is indeed a catchword at the bottom of page 35, but page [36] is blank, so there is no text to be “caught”.
10. [BUCKINGHAM (George Villiers, Duke of; or possibly Charles Sackville, Earl of Dorset]: An Exclamation against Julian, Secretary to the Muses; With the Character of a Libeller. By a Person of Quality. [London, but no place or printer], [1679].
FIRST EDITION. Folio, pp. 4, with the two leaves separated. Drop-head title only (as issued), with the “a” after “Character” in the title inked through and replaced in ms. in a contemporary hand with “Sr Carr Scroop”; margins a little frayed, small stain at top of leaves. £500
As the contemporary annotator correctly observes, these verse are an attack on Sir Carr Scrope (1649 - 1680), the Restoration wit, man of fashion, and companion to Charles II. “Julian” is here attacked for writings too dangerous or libellous to print, viz., “Thou Common Shore of this Poetick Town,/ Where all our Excrements of Wit are thrown.../ Thou Julia.../ Dost from this Dung thy well-pick’d Guineys gather.” The invective continues much in this vein, libellous, sarcastic, and dismissive. ESTC identifies Julian as Sir Roger L’Estrange.
Wing E 3844. Macdonald, Dryden, 191; with a long note of the historical Julian, who was also much maligned by poets in his age. Macdonald notes that the poem is sometimes attributed to Dryden, but it was published in Buckingham’s Works in 1705.
11. [?BUCKINGHAM (George Villiers, Second Duke of]: An Epitaph upon Thomas Late Lord Fairfax. Written by a Person of Honour. [London, but no place or printed], [1679 or 1680].
FIRST EDITION. Folio broadside, printed on both sides of the sheet; drop-head title, with a contemporary ms. note below, “The D. of Buckingham, His Son in Law.” £450
Buckingham married Mary Fairfax, the daughter and sole heir of the wealthy Lord Fairfax. Nevertheless, this verse epitaph gracefully compliments his father-in-law. The work probably circulated in manuscript long after Fairfax’s death.
Wing B 5311, accepting the attribution to Buckingham, which seems to be further confirmed by the ms. attribution here.
12. BUGG (Francis): The Pilgrim's Progress, from Quakerism to Christianity: Containing, A farther Discovery of the Dangerous Growth of Quakerism, not only in the Points of Doctrines, but also in their Politics..., and The Cure of Quakerism. To which is added an Appendix, discovering A most Damnable Plot, contriv'd and carrying on by New-Rome, by an United Confederacy, against the Reformed Religion and Professors thereof... The Second Edition, Corrected and Enlarged. London: Printed by R. Janeway, Jun. for the Author and sold by J. Robinson..., 1700.
8vo, 173 x 116, pp. [xxxii], xxxiii - xliv, 352, [2], 155 - 168, engraved portrait frontispiece in facsimile, folding engraved plate, depicting the Quaker Synod. BOUND WITH; BUGG (Francis): A Modest Defence Of my Boo, Entituled, Quakerism Expos'd: As Also, Of my Broad Sheet; with a Scheme of the Quakers Yearly Synod; and other Books, presented Anno 1699, to the Parliament. And G. Whitehead's Inside Turn'd Outward, by Reprinted his Ancient Book Ishmael, &c. intirely; shewing thereby the Quakers Ancient Testimony of Contempt of the Holy Scriptures, and Blasphemy against the Blessed Trinity; and they tell us they are not chang'd. London: Printed by R. Janeway, Jun. for the Author..., 1700. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. xxviii, 32, 32, 48 [49 - 52 books by Bugg and Contents]. 2 volumes in 1, recently rebound in quarter calf, raised bands between gilt rules on spines, red morocco label, marbled boards. £350
Bugg (1640 - 1727) was brought up in the Church of England bur embraced Quakerism in 1657, but by 1680 he had fallen out with them, for reasons which are not clear. He returned to the Church of England and began writing tracts against the Quakers. The second work also includes a reprint of Ishamael, and his Mother Cast out into the Wilderness Amongst the wild Beasts of the same Nature, dated 1655.
Wing B 5383; B 5375.
13. BYTHNER (Victorinus): Lyra Prophetica Davidis Regis. Sive Analysis Critico-Practica Psalmorum. In qua Omnes & singulae voces Hebrae in Psalterio contentae, tam Propriae quam Appellativae, (nulla excepta) ad Regulas Artis revocantur; earumque signifcationes genuinae explicantur; Elegantiae linguae propriae evolvuntur. Insuper Harmonia Hebraie textus cum Paraphrasi Chaldaea, & version Graeca LXXII Interpretum, in locis, sententiis discrepantibus, fideliter confertur. Cui ad calcem addita est Brevis Institutio Linguae Hebraeae & Chaldae. Opus novum, necante in tali forma tentatum: in quo quid praestitum, Praefatio ad lectorem indicabit. Londini, Typis Jacobi Flesher: Prostat vero venalis apud Gul. Morden Cantabrigiae, 1664.
Large 8vo, pp. [viii], 352, 69 [70 blank], [8], 46, contemporary, blind borders on covers, old spine richly gilt in compartments with morocco label rebacked and laid down; corner torn from B1 (not affecting text), corners worn, but a good copy. £150
From the library of the Rev. William Van Mildert (1765 - 1836), Bishop of Durham, whose library was sold at auction in 1836. Victorinus Bythner (?1605 - ?1670) was born in Poland but took up residence in Oxford in the 1630s and lectured on Hebrew at Christ Church. The above work, a grammatical analysis of every word in the Hebrew psalter, was first published in 1650 and was translated into English in 1836.
Wing B 6422.
14. CAMUS (Jean Pierre): Admirable Events: Selected Out of Foure Bookes, Written in French by the Right Reverend John Peter Camus, Bishop of Belley. Together with morall Relations, written by the same Author. And translated into English by S[usan]. Du Verger. London, Printed by Thomas Harper for William Brookes..., 1639.
FIRST EDITION. Small 4to (in 8s), pp. [xx], 357 [358 blank], contemporary vellum, later morocco label; text slightly water-stained on many pages, vellum a little soiled; lacking the translator’s preface, a2 - a7, after the title-page, but without any evidence of the removal of the leaves. £300
Jean Pierre Camus (1584 - 1682) wrote about 50 novels on religious themes. Susan Du Verger translated the Admirable Events, while Certain Moral Relations, for which there is a separate title-page (p. [139]), was translated by T. B., probably Thomas Brugis The work also has some Shakespearean interest. The “Fifth Event” is “The Waking Mans dreame” (pp. 59 - 67) and bears obvious resemblances to the plot of The Taming of the Shrew. Sir Egerton Brydges in his Censura Literaria (1809, vol. 9, pp. 14-24) has a long account of Camus’ book and reprints “The Waking Man’s Dream,” which he describes as “The Induction story to Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. It is evidently taken from Heuterus [i. e., De rebus Burgundicis, 1584],” which is indeed where it comes from.
15. CARBONELL Y BRAVO (Francisco): Elemens de Pharmacie, Fondes sur Les Principes de la Chimie Moderne. Traduite de l’original Latin. Nouvelle Edition Augmentee par l’auteur, revue et corrigee. Par P. Poncet. Paris, Chez Mequignon..., An xi, - 1803.
8vo, pp. xxxv [xxxvi blank], 212, uncut, stitched as issued in original wrappers; last few leaves mis-numbered, edges a little worn. £100
16. CHARLETON (Walter): Matrona Ephesia. Sive Lusus Serius de Amore, à Gualt. Charletono, M.D. ante decennium Anglicè conscriptus, Et nunc demum Latinitate donatus à Barth. Harrisio, A.M [sic] ejusdémq[ue] impensis excusus. Londini, Anno Domini, 1665.
12mo, 133 x 80 mms., pp. [xii], 82, engraved frontispiece, later sheepskin, probably early 19th century, borders in blind on cover, compartments on spine in blind, green morocco label; small piece missing from upper corner of A3 just affecting one letter, joints slightly cracked, corners a little worn but a good copy. £250
Walter Charleton (1620–1707) possibly studied under John Wilkins (1614–1672), at Magdalen Hall, Oxford. He studied medicine and upon attaining his degree was, in 1643, appointed physician-in-ordinary to Charles I. He began publishing works on medicine and religion some time after that and in 1659 ventured into prose romance with The Ephesian Matron: Based on the Tale in the "Satyricon" of Petronius. "Charleton's version of this famous and often retold tale is an attack on the fashionable cult of Platonic love of his day, in which he insists that physical love and lust are both manifestations of ‘an appetite to procreation’. Charleton sees his lascivious heroine as an Epicurean who lives by ‘the simple dictates of mother-Nature’" (ODNB). This Latin translation is by Bartholomew Harris.
ESTC notes two different states of the title-page: as above, R15293 (BL, Cambridge, Trinity Cambridge, Bodleian, Oxford: Exeter and Queens, National Trust; Folger, Harvard, Clark, Illinois. The imprint for the other state is "Londini: Impensis Authoris, 1665," R215215 (BL, Cambridge, Cambridge: Magdalen and Trinity, Oxford Worcester, Royal College of Physicians; Huntington, Stanford, Illinois, Yale; Bibliotheque Nationale. Wing C 3683.
17. CROMWELL. [HEATH (James)]: Flagellum: Or The Life and Death Birth and Burial of O. Cromwell The late Usurper: Faithfully Described. With An Exact Account of His Polices and Successes: Not heretofore Published or Discovered. The Third Edition with Additions. London, Printed by W. G. for Randall Taylor..., 1665.
Small 8vo, 155 x 103 mms., pp. [viii], 200, engraved portrait frontispiece, title-page in red and black, 19th century continental boards. An inscription on the recto of the frontispiece is barely legible, with an inscription at the top of the page that is virtually unreadable; the lines below seem to read: "[?dnt] to from Mr. Hume/ [d--] to [?me ?mr} from David Hu[me]." Below that is a sum, either "12 - 6" or "2 - 6," the first number having been crossed out and "2" inscribed above. The inscription is very unlikely alluding to or by the philosopher David Hume, but was perhaps given to the previous owner by Hume's nephew, though the handwriting appears to be much earlier. £500
Heath's book was first published in 1663, and there were a further seven editions. As it happens, David Hume did write to Sir David Dalrymple, on 3 April 1754: "There is a Book, calld Flagellum or the Life of Oliver Cromwell, which I have commission'd for the [Advocates'} Library; but as it is a very scarce Book, & these Commissions are not soon answer'd, I may wait long before I get it. I know you have a very large Library; & if that Book be in it, I shall be very much obligd to you for a Loan of it; that being now the Period, which I have begun upon [i. e., in writing his History of England]." The present copy is unlikely to be the one formerly in Sir David's library, and the handwriting is not either. When his books were auctioned by Sotheby's in 1937, no copy of Flagellum was listed, though it might have been in a job lot. However, Dalrymple was very proud of his library and would probably not have defaced the book with the existing notations. In short, this copy is very unlikely to have any tangible connection either with David Hume or Sir David Dalrymple
18. [D’URFEY (Thomas)]: The Progress of Honesty: Or, a View of Court and City. A Pindarique Ode. London: Printed for Joseph Hindmarsh..., 1681.
FIRST EDITION. Folio, pp. [ii], 23 [24 adverts], disbound. £200
D'Urfey's “The Progress of Honesty” praises Charles II and his brother James under the names of Titus the Second and Resolution and condemns Monmouth, the king's illegitimate son, calling him Marcian. The poem was reissued in 1739 with revised diction and no indication of author. The characters of Titus and Marcian are altered to make them appropriate to George II and Prince Frederick, the king's alienated son, and Resolution is replaced by Hortensio, a statesman who represents Walpole.
Wing D 2764.
19. DESCARTES (Rene): Opera Philosophica. Editio Ultima. Nunc demum hac Editione diligenter recognita, & mendis expurgata. Amsterlodami, Apud Danielem Elsevirium, 1677.
4to, 202 x 152 mms., pp. [lxxii], 222, [36], 248, [24], 92 [93 - 96 index], engraved portait of Descartes, numerous illustrations in the three works, one engraved plate, early 18th century panelled calf, rebacked; corners worn, but a good copy. £950
The general title-page is undated and is more of a half-title. Each work has a separate title-page: Principia Philosophiae; Specimina Philosophiae: seu Disseratio de Methodo Recte regendae rationis, & veritatis in scientiis invesigande: Dioptrice, et Metora; and Passiones Animae.
20. DODWELL (Henry): A Treatise Concerning the Lawfulness of Instrumental Musick in Holy Offices. To which is prefixed, a Preface in Vindication of Mr. Newte’s Sermon, concerning the Lawfulness and Use of Organs in the Christian Church, &c. From the Exceptions of an Anonymous Letter to a Friend in the Country, concerning the Use of Instrumental Musick in the Worship of God, &c. London, Printed for William Hawes..., and Henry Clement...Oxford, and W. Burton..., Tiverton..., 1700.
8vo, pp. [xlviii], 82 [83 adverts, 84 blank]; text very severely foxed, library stamp on title-page. BOUND WITH DODWELL (Henry): Concerning Marriages in Different Communions: in A Sermon at Chester. London, Printed by W. B. for Char. Brome..., 1702. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. [xxiv], 63 [64 blank], 254. 2 volumes in 1, bound in contemporary panelled calf, early reback; lacks label, corners worn, ex-library with the bookplate of the Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, on the front paste-down end-paper. £300
Dodwell (1641 - 1711) was born in Dublin and was for a while Fellow of Trinity College. He was appointed professor of history at Oxford in 1688, but in 1691 he had to relinquish the post for refusing to swear loyalty to William and Mary. Most of his writings are on ecclesiastical polity or theology. Thomas Hearne refers to him frequently and enthusiastically in his diary, but Gibbon’s opinion was somewhat different: “The worst of this author is his method and style - the one perplexed beyond imagination, the other negligent to a degree of barbarism.” The preface is by John Newte.
21. DRYDEN (John): Fables Ancient and Modern; Translated into Verse, from Homer, Ovid, Boccace, & Chaucer: With Original Poems. London: Printed for Jacob Tonson..., 1700.
FIRST EDITION. Folio, 327 x 185 mms., pp. [xlii], 646 [647 - 648 “The Table”], including half-title, contemporary panelled calf, recently rebacked, black morocco label; covers repaired with new calf and corners restored, some staining to margins, but a good copy. £450
This was Dryden’s last major work. Of it, Dr. Johnson said, “Whatever subjects employed his pen he was still improving our measures and embellishing our language. In this volume are interspersed some short original poems, which, with his prologues, epilogues, and songs, may be comprised in Congreve’s remark, that event hose, if he had written nothing else, would have entitled him to the praise of excellence in his kind.” Johnson particularly singles out the great poem, “Ode on St. Cecilia’s Day,” as “exhibiting the highest flight of fancy and the exactest nicety of art. This is allowed to stand without a rival.”
Macdonald 37A. New Wing D 2278.
22. DU VAIR (Guillaume): The Morall Philosophy of the Stoicks. Written Originally in French by that Ingenuous Gentleman Monsieur du Vair, [sic] first President of the Parliament Provence. Englished by Charles Cotton. London, Printed for Henry Mortlock at the sign of the White Hart..., 1667.
Small 8vo, pp. [vi], 118, engraved frontispiece, contemporary calf, falling to bits, front cover detached. £250
Du Vair (1556-1621) published La Philosophie Morale des Stoiques (c. 1589), and Cotton’s translation first appeared in 1664; this appears to be the same sheets of that edition with a cancel title-page. Du Vair was trained as a lawyer but was fame for his oratory and his somewhat secular effort to fuse Christianity and Stoicism.
Wing D 2916.
23. FÉLIBIEN (André): Principes de l'Architecture, de la Sculpture, de la Peinture, et des autres Arts qui en Dependent. Avec un Dictionnaire des Termes propres à chacun de ces Arts. Paris: Chez Jean-Baptiste Coignard..., 1676.
FIRST EDITION. 4to, pp. [xxiv], 795 [796 blank], 65 full-page engraved plates, 3 engraved head-pieces, p. 295 mis-numbered as 695, clean tear in pp. 3M3 (pp. 461 - 462), handsomely rebound in full 17th century style panelled calf, raised bands within gilt rules across spines, title blocked in gilt, marbled end-papers; margins a little age-darkened, but generally a fine copy. £2,500
Félibien (1619 - 1695) was one of the most important French architects and aestheticians in 17th century France. He had earlier published Entretiens sur Les Vies et sur Les Ouvrages des plus excellentes Peintres Ancien et Modernes (1666 - 1668), as well as Conferences de l'Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (translated into English in 1740) and Origine de la Peinture (1660). The first part of the book, consisting of three chapters of unequal length, cover the principles of architecture, sculpture, and painting, while the second part is a dictionary of the correct terms to be used in those subjects, as well as other arts which depend on them.
24. FRENCH ROYAL BINDING. JEAN DE LOYAC. Le Triomphe de la Charite en la Vie du Bien-Hevrevx Iean de Diev. Institvtion et Progrez de son Order Religievx. Avec les Ceremonies de la Beatification, & de la Translation solemnelle de sa Relique, ennoyée a la Rene Mere par le Roy d'Espagne. A Paris, Chez Antoine Chrestien…, 1661.
FIRST EDITION. 4to, 210 x 160 mms., pp. 408, 12, [21 index, 22 blank], with engraved and printed title-pages, 4 other engraved plates, handsomely bound in full red morocco (probably contemporary) red morocco, with the gilt arms to a gilt anchor device on the covers, with inset of three fleur de lys and short stroke at 45 degree angle (denoting relationship to the king) in gilt in centre, with ornate gilt rolls on each cover surrounding the panel, and with a crown on cipher in each corner, spine ornately gilt in compartments, morocco label, all edges gilt; corners a little worn, slight abrasions to binding at lower right-hand front cover, some slight loss of gilt at margins, but generally a fine and attractive French royal binding from the late17th or early 18th century. The binding is similar to those made for Louis-Jean-Marie de Bourbon, duc de Panthievre (1725 - 1793), though this binding appears to be earlier and probably exhibits the arms of Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, Comte de Toulouse (1678 - 1737), admiral of France, the third son of Louis XIV, hence the anchor motif and the diagonal bar between the fleur-de-lys. With a presentation inscription (“Ce Livre appartient à Mariane Vier [?] Demeurant à la ferté sous gouarre [?]. Je prie Les personnes qui Le trouveront d'avoir La Bonté De Le remettre à mon aDresse. Fait à la ferté le 28 août 1819 [signed] Femme[?] Fournier”) in French dated 28 August 1819 on the recto of the blank leaf before the engraved title-page, and the autograph “J. Spencer Northcote/ Clifton/ 1857” in the top corner. Ex-libris, with the bookplate of St. Dominic’s Convent/ Stone on the front free marbled end-paper. The historian, priest, and college head James Spencer Northcote (1821 - 1907) was ordained priest of St. Dominic’s Convent in 1855. £2,500
Jean de Dieu (1495 - 1550) was the son of Portguese partns, André and Thérèse Ciudad.and devoted most of his life to caring for the poor. He was beatified by Urbain VIII in 1630 and was canonized by Alexandre VIII, in 1690.
25. GIOVIO (Paolo): Le Vite dei Dodici Visconti che Signoreggiarono Milano. Descritte da Monsignor Paolo Giovio Vescovo di Nocera tradotte da Lodovico Domenichi. Et in quest' ultima Impressione accresciute de gl' Argomenti à caiscuna d'esse Vite, con le annotationi nel margine, & Tauola copiosissima. Abbellite delle ver Effigie d'essi Principi, dedicate all'illustmo. et revermo Monsigr. Honorato Visconti Arcivescovo di Larissa. In Milano In Casa di Gio. Battista Bidelli..., 1645.
4to, 265 x 210 mms., pp. [xx], 132, with engraved title-page, engraved portrait of dedicatee, and 12 full-page engraved portraits of Milanese viscounts, engraved by Paolo Bianchi, contemporary limp vellum (a little soiled); inner margins of front and rear end-papers at little wormed with some very slight water-staining, none of which affects the text or the engravings, a very good copy, with the 19th century book ticket of Conte Gropello di Alessandria on the front paste-down end-paper. £2,250
Although Giovio (1483 - 1552) took a degree in medicine, he was primarily interested in a literary career, in which he was notably successful, so much so that Leo X gave him the rank of Cavaliere, with a pension. The present work was published first at Paris in 1549, Vita XII Vicecomitum Mediolani Principum, and Domenichi's is the first Italian translation, notable for Bianchi's exceptionally fine engraved portraits.
Brunet III, 584.
26. HARTCLIFFE (John): A Treatise of Moral and Intellectual Virtues; Wherein Their Nature is fully explained, and their Usefulness proved, as being The best Rules of Life. And The Causes of their Decay are enquired into; concluding with such Arguments as tend to revive the Practice of them. With A Preface shewing the Vanity and Deceitfulness of Vice. London: Printed for C. Harper..., 1691.
FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. [xlviii], 414 [415 - 416 adverts], including imprimatur leaf, recently rebound in quarter calf, morocco label, marbled boards; fore-margins of imprimatur leaf and title-page slightly frayed. £450
Hartcliffe had some renown as a preacher, though an attempt to address Charles II had been unsuccessful: “not being able to utter one word of his sermon, he descended from the pulpit as great an orator as he went up” (Wood, Ath. Oxon., 1.791). He found a less intimidating auditory in the corporation of London, before whom he preached at St Bride's, Fleet Street, on 11 April 1694. On 30 January 1695 (when the annual commemoration of Charles I's execution was compounded by mourning for Mary II) he preached to the House of Commons in St Margaret's, Westminster. These two and another sermon were published. He also wrote In veritate rerum (1678), A Discourse Against Purgatory (1685), publicly burnt in France. (Oxford DNB)
Wing H971.
27. HOBBES (Thomas) [FENNER (Dudley)]: The Art of Rhetoric, With a Discourse of The Laws of England. London, Printed for William Crooke..., 1681.
8vo, pp. [viii], 168, 208, with verso of A1 being a portrait of Hobbes. BOUND WITH: RYMER (Thomas): The Tragedies of The last Age Consider’d and Examin’d by the Practice of the Ancients, and by the Common sense of all Ages. In a Letter to Fleetwood Shepheard. London, Printed for Richard Tonson..., 1678. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. [xvi], 144, including imprimatur leaf before title-page. Two volumes in one, bound in recent full sheepskin, spine blocked in gilt. The two volumes were originally bound together as well, as the first of the two contemporary leaves before the portrait of Hobbes notes, “Hobbes’ Art of Rhetoric & laws of England/ Rymers Tragedies of the last Age.” £1,850
The text for Hobbes’s discourse on rhetoric began life as a digest in Latin of Aristotle’s work on rhetoric that Hobbes made for his pupil, the son of the Countess of Devonshire, which was first published in English in 1637 as A Briefe of the Art of Rhetorique. However, both William Samuel Howell and Walter J. Ong, separately in 1951, identified the work as that published in 1584 by Dudley Fenner, The Artes of Logike and Rethorike. Hobbes's executor attributed the work to Hobbes, and it remained in the Hobbes canon for almost three hundred years. Rymer sent John Dryden a copy of his book, and Dryden said of the book that it was “the best piece of Criticism in the English tongue; perhaps in any other of the modern … and think my selfe happy he has not fallen upon me, as severely and as wittily as he has upon Shakespeare and Fletcher.”
Hobbes: Wing H 2212. MacDonald & Hargreaves 13. Rymer: Wing R 2430.
28. HOLDER (William): A Treatise of the Natural Grounds, and Principles of Harmony. London: Printed by J. Heptinstall, and sold by J. Carr..., B. Aylmer..., W. Hensman..., and L. Meredith..., 1694.
FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. [x], 204, including errata leaf, 2 engraved plates (one folding), engraved illustrations in text, contemporary lightly mottled calf with early reback and red morocco label; corner torn from blank front free end-paper, corners worn, joints rubbed. £1,750
William Holder (1616 - 1696) distinguished himself as mathematician, phonologist, cleric, and musician. His compositions are typical of those of the later 18th century, but what sets him well above his contemporaries is the above book. His technical discussion of sound, harmony, dissonance, proportion, discord, as well as ancient Greek music, were the most able and most thoughtful published by any music theorist living in Britain and probably elsewhere in the 17th century. According to New Grove, the work was “praised by Burney and Hawkins for its clarity..,” adding that “its preoccupation with the physical basis of music is typical of the growing spirit of scientific inquiry of the period and of the Age of Reason that brought the arts as well as the sciences within the scope of such inquiry.” Holder added further lustre to his reputation with his publication in 1694 with the publication of his A Discourse concerning Time.
Wing H 2389B. There are three issues of this first edition, though no precedency has been established; the present variant adds three booksellers to the imprint.
29. JENKINS (David): The Works of that Grave and Learned Lawyer Judge Jenkins, Prisoner in Newgate. Upon Divers Statutes, Concerning, the Liberty, and Freedome of the Subject. With a perfect Table thereto annexed. London, Printed for M. Walbanck, and J. Gyles, 1648
12mo, pp. [xxvi], 203 [204 blank], including blank leaf following table of contents, engraved portrait, recently recased in unsympathetic quarter green library buckram, boards, amateurishly labelled on spine; resewn, with inner margins of frontispiece and title-page disappearing into gutter, other inner margins visible (some just), small hole it title-page affect one half of the “W” in “Works”. £200
Jenkins (1582 - 1663) was appointed judge just as the civil war started in 1642; as a royalist, he was ardent in defending the monarch and was charged with high treason in 1646. This was one of several publications that he issued while he was imprisoned.
Wing J 577.
30. [JUSTINIAN]. Corpus Juris Civilis. Editio nova. Prioribus correctior. Tomus Primus, Quo continentur Institvutionvm Libri Qvatvor, et Digestorvm sive Andectarvm Libri Qvinqvaginta. Tomus Secundus, Iustiniani Codicis, libri XII. Authenticae seu Novellae constitutiones CLXVIII. Edicta XIII. Constitutiones aliquot ejusdem imperatoris, nec non Iustini & Tiberii ex libro Iuliani antecessoris. Leonis imperatoris Novellae CXIII. Constitutiones imperatoriae juris orientalis. Canones apostolorum. Consuetudines feudorum. Consuetudines Friderici II. Extravagantes. De pace Constantiae liber. Amstelodami: [Ex Typographia P. & I. Blaeu, Prostant apud Waesergios, Boom, a Someren, & Goethals,] Sumptibus Societatis, 1700.
2 volumes in 1. 8vo, 211 x 133 mms., pp. [xxii], 1037 [1038 colophon]; [ii], 820 [821 colophon, 822 blank], engraved general title-page and separate printed title-page for each volume, tabs for separate sections on fore-margins of leaves, contemporary mottled calf, spine richly gilt; fragments of label, upper front joint slightly cracked, but a very good copy. £500
The first part of the Codex Justinianius was completed on 7 April 529 and was completed on 30 December 533.
31. LE BOSSU (René): Traité du Poëme Epique. A Paris, Chez André Pralard..., 1693.
12mo, pp. [x], 420, engraved frontispiece, title-page in red and black, spine ornately gilt in compartments, morocco label; top and base of spine chipped, some rubbing of binding, but a sound copy. £100
Le Bossu's treatise on epic poetry, which was destined to become the standard theoretical work on the epic in the 18th century, was first published in 1675.
32. MALEBRANCHE (Nicolas): Traitte [sic] de Morale. Nouvelle Edition Augmentée dans le corps de l'Ouvrage, & d'un Traitté de l'Amour de Dieu à la fin. A Lyon, Chez Leonard Plaignard..., 1697.
2 volumes. 12mo (in 8s and 4s), 163 x 95 mms., pp. [xxiv], 286; [ii], 55 [56 errata], [6], 236, including half-title in each volume, contemporary calf, gilt spines; lacks labels, spine volume 2 slightly wormed, front joint volume 1 slightly cracked (but firm), but a good set, with the fine armorial bookplate of John Orlebar of the Middle Temple on the verso of each title-page. £150
Malebranche (1638 - 1715) first published this work in 1684; here he argues that there is an immutable order in nature which one must admire in order to be virtuous.
33. MALTHUS (Francis): A Treatise of Artificial Fire-Works Both for Warres and Recreation: with divers pleasant Geometricall observations, Fortifications, and Arithmeticall Examples. In fauour of MathematIcall Students. New written in French, and English by the Authour Tho: Malthus. London, Printed [by W. Jones] for Richard Hawkins, and are to be sold at his Shop in Chancerie-lane neere to Seriants Inne, 1629.
FIRST EDITION in English. 8vo, 165 x 100 mms., pp. 1 - 40, 19, 40 - 41, 44 - 45, 42 - 43, 48 - 94, 96, 96, 97 - 149, 160 - 161, 152 - 153, 164 - 165, 156 - 157, 168 - 169, 160 - 172, 171 - 261 [262 blank, 263 - 270 Contents], collating complete despite the erratic pagination including engraved title-page (of Vulcan apparently explaining the technology of fireworks and gunpowder to Minerva) opposite printed title-page, engraved illustrations within text on pp. 7, 12, 18, 22, 26, 30, 35, 19 [sic - misnumbered], 42, 52, 57, 66, 72, 98, 116, 127, 143, 146, 160, 153, 156, 169, 162, 166, 170, 173, 177, 182, 184, 190, 193, 196, 199, 202, 205, [208], 211, and 214, for a total of 38, newly rebound, preserving old end-papers, in full antique-style calf, gilt borders on covers, raised bands between gilt rules on spine; lacks blank leaves A8 and S8, corner torn from pp. 173 - 174 (text unaffected), stain cleaned from engraved title-page, occasional spotting of text, but a very good copy of an uncommon book. With the autograph and date “Wm. Davis. 1791” on the top margin of the title-page, and on the recto of the engraved title-page the date Sept. 1855 and the note, “Compositions for my rockets of the following size. Mould No. 1. Interior diameter of case, 1/2 inch, full Powder 8 oz., Chace 1 1/2 oz.” [Bang.] Given the various mathematical calculations in the treatise, the former owner William Davis is possibly the mathematician and publisher (1771/2 - 1807). £4,000
Malthus published Traite des Feux Artificiels pour la Guerre, et pour la Recreation in 1629, and this English translation came out in the same year. He was “Commissaire des Feux Artificiels du Roy,” and this is a typical handbook of the period, dealing with cannon, gunpowder, fireworks, fortifications, sieges, etc. It was republished several times in the 17th century.
STC (2nd ed.), 17217. ESTC S109781 locates copies in the BL, Magdalene College Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Corpus Christi College, Oxford; Huntington, Folger, Harvard, Free Library of Philadelphia.
34. MILTON (John). [TOLAND (John)]: The Life of John Milton, Containing, besides the History of his Works, Several Extraordinary Characters of Men and Books, Sects, Parties, and Opinions. London, Printed by John Darby..., 1699.
FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. 165 [166 Errata], contemporary calf, rebacked rather firmly, morocco label. A very good copy. £750
Toland’s life of Milton first appeared in an edition of Milton’s prose works published in 1698, often referred to as Toland’s edition, though he had little or nothing to do with the editing of the text: “The edition is commonly known as ‘Toland’s’, but he was not the editor. He remarked elsewhere that he would have omitted several of the works” (Coleridge). Toland’s life is printed in Volume 1, which is signed and dated: I.T. Sept. 3. 1698. Toland made some use of the biographical information found in Edward Phillips’ Letters of State (1694). Toland emphasizes Milton’s political interests and beliefs, which called forth an anonymous commentary, Remarks on the Life of Mr. Milton (1699), which emphasized instead Milton’s poetry. Toland replied to this and other criticisms in Amyntor (1699).
Wing T 1776. Coleridge 414.
35. MORLAND (Samuel): Tuba Stentoro-Phonica, An Instrument of Excellent Use, As well at Sea, as at Land; Invented, and variously Experimented in the Year 1670. And Humbly Presented to the Kings Most Excellent Majesty Charles II. In the Year, 1671. The Instruments (or Speaking-Trumpets) of all Sizes and Dimensions, are Made and Sold by Mr. Simon Beal, one of his Majesties Trumps: in Suffolk-Street. London, Printed by W. Godbid, and are to be Sold by M. Pitt..., 1671.
FIRST EDITION. Folio, 295 x 200 mms., pp. [ii], 14, with five illustrations of trumpets and acoustical phenomena on the verso of the title-page, and pages 2, 6, 8, and 10, title-page and page 12 printed in red and black, late 18th century calf spine, marbled boards (slightly worn); without the portrait found in some copies, small paper flaw in C2, very slight browning of margins with a few very minor abrasions. From the Macclesfield Library, with the armorial bookplate date 1860 on the front paste-down end-paper and the small Macclesfield crest in blind on the first two leaves. £2,250
Sir Samuel Morland (1625 - 1695) was interested in mathematics, natural philosophy, and languages from an early age and was a fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge. One of his students was Samuel Pepys, who recorded his presence at a dinner in 1660 when no one “did give him any respect, he being looked upon by...all men as a knave.” Later in 1668, when Pepys was invited to see the calculating machine that Morland had invented, he observed that the invention was “very pretty, but not very useful.” Of this particular invention, Alan Marshall in the Oxford DNB says “Early work on a speaking trumpet, said to be Morland's own invention, culminated in the 1670s with his experiments in St James's Park before Charles II and a number of courtiers. With the king's encouragement various types of trumpet were manufactured and used, the three largest being sent off to Deal Castle for trials there. The navy was also given orders for their use at sea. It was claimed that voices could be heard at a distance of over a mile....” His trumpets were much talked about in the late 17th century, but it was another 150 years before the modern tuba found a place in orchestras. Morland’s tuba looks more like an early trumpet or cornet, or even a trombone without the slide. As a method for gathering and projecting sound, it was in advance of anything in its day.
RISM Écrits p.597 (3 copies); Wing M 2783; Gregory & Bartlett ii, 75. ESTC R3006 locates copies of this first edition in L, CHT; CLU-C, DLC, Inu; P.
36. PECHEY (J[ohn]): A Plain Introduction to the Art of Physick. Containing The Fundamental And Necessary Practice. Whereby the Reading of Practical Authors will be render'd easie and intelligible to the Young Student. To which is added, The Materia Medica contracted. And Alphabetical Tables of the Vertues of Roots, Barks, Woods, Herbs, Flowers, Seeds, Fruits, Juices and Gums, of Animals and things taken from them, of Minerals, etc. Also a Collection of choice Medicines Chymical and Galenical. Together with a different way of making the most celebrated Compositions in the Apothecaries Shops. London: Printed for Henry Bonwicke..., 1697.
FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. 8vo, pp. [xvi], 39 [391 - 392 adverts], contemporary panelled calf, joints and head and foot of spine neatly restored, an excellent copy. £1,250
Pechey (1654 - 1718) was awarded a licentiate from the Royal College of Physicians on 22 December 1684. In 1687, he and four other licentiates had the ingenious idea of “distributing handbills and by printing the jointly authored Oracle for the Sick (1687), which contained a series of medical questions with answers: the patient could circle or fill in the appropriate answers, send in the pamphlet, and get a diagnosis and medicines in the return post” (Oxford DNB). He also published treatises on the diseases of maids and of infants and wrote a tract on midwifery. The work by which he was best known was a vigorous and idiomatic translation of the works of Sydenham to which he added his own biographical preface. Wing records a number of single sheet adverts that he put out from Basing Lane advertising his pills and medicines.
Wing P 1027.
37. PELLING (Edward): A Practical Discourse upon Charity, In it several Branches: And of the Reasonableness and Useful Nature of this Great Christian Virtue. London, Printed by E. J. for W. Crooke..., 1693.
FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. [iv], 292, recently recased in full calf, morocco label; contemporary names on title-page scored out, front cover scratched £150
Pelling (d. 1718) was a strong supporter of the Anglican church against both Catholics and dissenters. Some of his assertions in this work could be consistent with dissenting ideas, e. g., “Charity is as indispensably necessary as Faith, or as any other Act of Religion.”
Wing P 1086.
38. PHILOSTRATUS (Flavius). BLOUNT (Charles): The Two First Books of Philostratus. Concerning the Life of Apollonius Tyaneus: Written Originally in Greek, And now Published in English: Together with Philological Notes Upon each Chapter. By Charles Blount, Gent. London, Printed for Nathaniel Thompson..., 1680.
FIRST EDITION. Folio, pp. [vii], 243 [244 blank], title-page in red and black,contemporary calf, expertly rebacked with old spine laid down; some creasing of text, but a very good copy in a contemporary binding. £950
Blount (1654 - 1693) began his controversial career in 1678 or 1679 with his Anima Mundi, and the above work helped to establish him as the pre-eminent deist of his time. Most of the text consists of Blount’s notes to Philostratus, in a rough proportion of four pages of Blount to one of Philostratus. His commentary draws attention to analogies between Christ and Apollonius of Tyana, the miracle working mystic (or sham magician) Greek philosopher born just before Christ. John Leland in his View of the Principal Deistical Writers (1754), recognized Blount’s tactics and asserted that the work was “manifestly intended to strike at revealed religion.” In 1974, in The Journal of the History of Ideas, John Redwood claimed that Blount gave a “stimulus to nascent deism: the stimulus of propagating an eclectic tradition of heresy into the augustan age of contemplation. He stimulated the anti-clerical, the anti-papist, the radical and the republican, the pursuer of reason, and the man who hated miracles and revelation.”
Wing P2132.
39. PIERCE (Robert): Bath Memoirs: Or, Observations in Three and Forty Years Practice, at the Bath, What Cures Have been There Wrought, (both by Bathing and Drinking these Waters) by God's Blessing, on the Directions of Robert Peirce [sic], Dr. In Physick, and Fellow of the College of Physicians in London, a constant Inhabitant in Bath, from the year 1653. to this present Year 1697. Bristol: Printed for D. Hammond..., 1697.
FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. [xxxiv], 399 [400 adverts], including errata leaf before first page of text, contemporary calf, early reback, morocco label; portion of title (from "Robert" to "1697") cut away and replaced in identical type and similar paper (reason unknown), lower margin of Y3 torn, with loss of signature and catchword on p. 325, very narrow inner margins from rebinding, hinges cracked, later end-papers, a little rubbed. £500
Pierce (1622 - 1710), who also spelled his name "Peirce," was one of the most acute and original medical practitioners of his day. Bath Memoirs is really a case-book of various people whom he treated; a second edition, entitled The History and Memoirs of the Bath appeared in 1713.
Wing P 2163.
40. PLANTIN PRESS. BIBLE. Biblia Sacra. Vulgatae Editionis. Sixti Quinti Pont. Max. iussu recognita atq[ue] edita. Antverpiae Ex officina Plantiniana [Balthasaris Moreti], 1629.
6 volumes bound in 11. Small 8vo, 116 x 63 mms., pp. 357 [358 blank]; 359 - 719 [720 colophon, 721 emblem "constantia labore," 720 blank]; 375 [376 blank]; 375 [text partially repeated from volume 3] - 637 [638 colophon, 639 emblem 640 blank], 128; 192, 206; 207 - 479 [480 blank]; 336 with 337 in contemporary calligraphic hand, 338 blank]; 337 - 702; 703 - 861 [862 colophon, 863 emblem, 864 blank], [68 - unpaginated text for Hieronymi Prologvs Galatvs, 116 - index, 117 colophon, 118 emblem]; 336; 337 - 758 [759 colophon, 780 emblem], with page 337 in volume 8 being the printed page supplied in manuscript in volume 7, general engraved title-page in volume 1, printed title-pages in volumes 3, 4, 5, 7, and 10, with the New Testament beginning in volume 10, very attractively bound in 17th century deep olive morocco, gilt ruled panels on each cover with ornament in each corner, spines ornately gilt in compartments, all edges gilt, marbled end-papers; corners slightly worn but a fine set, and the binding is almost certainly French. £6,750
The first edition of the Vulgate text of the Bible, also known as the Clementine Bible, was published in Rome in 1529 by Aldus Manutius the Younger. It was issued with a papal bull preventing publication outside the Vatican, and any text produced after that period had to be collated with a Vatican copy. It remained the canonical text for the Catholic Church until 1907, when it was revised.
41. PLAYFORD (John): A Brief Introduction to the Skill of Musick: In Three Books. The First, The Grounds and Rules of Musick, according to the Gam-ut and other Principles thereof. The Second: Instructions for the Bass-Viol, and also for the Treble-Violin: With Lessons for Beginners. The Third: The Art of Descant, or Composing Musick in Parts. By Dr. Tho. Campion. With Annotations thereon, by Mr. Chr. Simpson. London, Printed by William Godbid for John Playford, and are to be Sold as his Shop in the Temple, 1670.
8vo, pp. [xviii], 151 [152 adverts], engraved portrait frontispiece, fore-margin for A4 used to provide fore-edge ms. label (unusual), contemporary sheepskin, joints neatly restored. A very good copy with the armorial bookplate of Lionel Copley on the recto of the front board (no paste-down end-paper), and the autograph of [Sir] Godrfey Copley (1653 - 1709), the politician and active member of the Royal Society as well as Lionel’s cousin, to whom Godfrey’s property was left in trust. £3,000
Playford (1623 - 1686) published this work in, probably, 1654, with the title, A Breef Introduction to the Skill of Music. As music publisher, editor of music, and expositor of music theory, Playford had an almost unrivalled reputation in his day, and the work was frequently reprinted. The last edition, styled the 19th, appeared in 1730, but by that time, Playford’s account of music theory, and his nostalgia for earlier composers and their musical styles, had lost much of their attraction and popularity. Samuel Pepys visited Playford’s shop in February, 1660, and reported, “that for two books that I had and 6s. 6d. to boot, I had my great book of songs [possibly Select Ayres and Dialogues (1659)], which he sells always for 14s.” Playford was a member of the Catch Club (the engraved portrait shows him holding two musical phrases), and Pepys made one of his many visits to the shop to buy Catch that Catch Can; or The Musical Companion (1667), only to be disappointed: “At the Temple I called at Playfords and there find that his new impression of his Ketches are not yet out, the first having hindered it, but his man tells me that it will be a very fine piece - many things new being added to it.”
ESTC R8313 (Bl, Cambridge, Royal College of Music, Bodleian; Huntington, Harvard, and ESTC R8313), gives a pagination of [20], 134, [2] p., including the portrait in the first [20] pages and with a final leaf of adverts. The pagination in the present copy is, in fact, the same as that of the 1666 edition as given by ESTC R31907 (BL, Royal College of Music; Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Clark), viz., [20], 151, [1] p with the adverts comprising the last page and the portrait included in the registration. This could be a reimpression (likely) of the 1666 edition or a re-issue with a cancel title-page. Most of the 17th century editions have 134 pages or fewer.
42. REYNOLDS (Edward): A Treatise of the Passions and Faculties of the Soule of Man. With the severall Dignities and Corruptions thereunto belonging. London, Printed by R. H. Robert Bostock..., 1640.
FIRST EDITION. Small 4to, pp. 190 x 142 mms., pp. [xx], 1 - 192 (with p. 112 misnumbered 1112 and 118, 811), 191 - 222, 221 - 285, 206 - 207 [for 286 - 287], 288 - 289, 210 - 211 [for 290 - 291], 292 - 313, 315, 314, 316 - 323, 322, 324 -325, 306 - 307, 328 - 329, 311, 310, 332 , 313, 314 - 324, 391 - 466, 483 - 484, 481 - 482, 487, 487, 485 - 486, 489 - 553 [554 blank], later 18th century calf; lacks errata leaf, spine defective and covers holding on for dear life. With the bookplate of the literary editor and bibliographer Temple Scott on the front paste-down end-paper and underneath the small book label of Payson G. Gates. Temple Scott’s autograph and date (1899) appear on the recto of the front free end-paper, just below an indecipherable autograph dated 1728. £300
Reynolds (1599 - 1676) was Bishop of Norwich, but he is described on the title-page here as “Rector of the Church of Braunston in Northamptonshire.” His interest here is in the passions and appetites as they affect personality and mental welfare.
STC 20938; Hunter & Macalpine, p. 119. Despite the curious pagination, the book is complete and has been checked against the copy in the BL. The most conspicuous difficulty occurs in gathering 3L, which is misfolded; just to make matters more interesting, there is also a singleton signed 3L. The BL copy has a singleton 3L and the gathering 3L folded in the correct order.
43. ROBERTSON (William): Sha'ar Ha Rivson 'o Petach Hechivson 'el L’Shon Hakodesh The First Gate, or The Outward Door to the Holy Tongue, Opened in English. Containing, I. The chief and necessary Grounds of the Hebrew Grammar. II. A Table for the Hebrew Roots, in which all the Roots of the Bible are set down, and a plain and ready way presently to find out the Roots of all Hebrew words which are deficient in one or two of their Radical letters, is described. III. A Praxis to the Grammar and the Table, upon the prophecy by Obadiah: the Decalogue, and the Twelfth chapter of Isaiah: Wherein the Hebrew Text it self is first set down, and then every Hebrew word of those places of Scripture is read in English letters, then expounded, and Grammatically resolved in English. and all in so plain and easie a way, as may be made use of by any ordinary Capacity of either Sexe. London, printed by Evan Tyler for Humphrey Robinson, at the three Pigeons in S. Pauls Church-yard, and for G. Sawbridge at the Bible on Ludgate hill, at whose shops the Books are to be sold, and any may know where the Authour himself stayeth, [1654].
Small 8vo, 146 x 95 mms., pp. [xiv], 131 [132 text], contemporary calf, with the later autograph inscription "Christopher Beeke of St. John's/ College Cambridge/ 1726" and his autograph repeated on the title-page. £750
Robertson (fl. 1651 - 1685) notes on he title-page that he was a "Master of Arts from Edinburgh University, now residing at London." Orme, in Bibliotheca Biblica (1824) remarks that he "seems to have been a very zealous rabbinical scholar"; the first edition of this work was published in 1653 with the title A Gate or Door to the Holy Tongue. He believed firmly that Hebrew could be learnt as easily as any foreign language, and - perhaps more interestingly - that girls and ladies would have no problem with "this kinde of learning; of which I had often before in my own thoughts perswaded my self, in consideration of that readinesse of wit, and quicknesse of understanding and apprehension, so naturall to them."
Wing R1611. ESTC R12181 notes that this is a re-issue of the 1753 work with "with title page cancelled by a bifolium"; in this instance, the bifolium has been folded incorrectly, but the text is complete.
44. SALMON (Thomas): An Essay To the Advancement of Musick, By Casting away the Perplexity of Different Cliffs. And Uniting all sorts of Music, Lute, Viol, Violin, Organ, Harpsichord, Voice, &c. In one Universal Characters. London, Printed by J. Macock..., 1672.
FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. Small 8vo, 173 x114 mms., pp. [xvi, including engraved title-page], 92 [93 adverts, 94 blank], engraved title-page in facsimile, 5 folding engraved plates of music, newly rebound in quarter calf, gilt rules, red morocco label, marbled boards; lacking the licence to print leaf, library (Macclesfield) stamp in blind on title-page and next three leaves, contemporary inscription on verso of fore-margin of a5. £1,250
"It is one of the ironies of history that perhaps the most interesting and controversial figure of seventeenth-century British music studied mathematics at university and was a musical amateur. Thomas Salmon's unique contribution to his times was primarily the Essay to the Advancement of Musick (1672), a work that advocated several innovations concerning musical notation and solmization. Salmon's revolutionary approach stands out even during a time when new ideas about music were commonplace in Britain. There can be no doubt that Salmon saw himself on a mission of sorts, to illuminate the arcane aspects of the musical art and, in so doing, to democratize and demystify practices which seemed to him intentionally obscure and illogical" (Oxford DNB). The work was famously attacked by Matthew Locke (1621/2 - 1677).
Wing S 417.
VARIOUS INTERESTING ASSOCIATIONS
45. SCHMIDT (Erasmus): Novi Testamenti Jesu Christi Græci, Hoc Est, Originalis Linguæ Tameion (aliis Concordantiæ) Hactenus Usitato Correctius, Ordinatius, Distinctius, Plenius, Jam dudum a pluribus desideratum: Ita Concinnatum, Ut Et Loca reperiendi, & Vocum veras Significationes; & Significationum diversitates per Collationem investigandi, Ducis instaresse possit. Opera Erasmi Schmidii, Graec. L. & Mathem. Prof. Cum gratia & Privilege Elect. Saxon. Wittebergae. Impensis haeredum Clementis Bergeri Bibliopol: Ex Officicina Typographica Jobi Wilhelmi Fincelii. 1638.
FIRST EDITION. Folio, 345 x 220 mms., unpaginated but collating [ii4] A - Kkk6 (including final blank), printed title-page in red and black, fine engraved title-page, contemporary vellum (soiled); uniformly lightly foxed, but a very good copy, with various inscriptions, viz., on the front paste-down end-paper, "F. J. Reuchlin/ 1731" and "A present from Joshua Wilson, Esq./ John Frost/ [?Gurney] 1832"; and on the recto of the front free end-paper several inscriptions, including one in pencil by another bookseller, and "'The best Greek Concordance/ to the New Test. ever published.' Horne"; and "see a very excellent condensed edition/ by Greenfield, published by Bagster." Finally, it would be pleasant to think that the 1731 autograph of Reuchlin is a descendant of the great humanist scholar Johann Reuchlin (1455 - 1522), who is often remembered as the scholar who saved Jewish and Talmudic texts from destruction by an order from Emperor Maximillian. This aroused the fury of the Dominicans who had pressed for their destruction, and Reuchlin was summoned by the Inquisition, but he was exculpated on 24 April 1514. Several candidates for the presentation suggest themselves, although Joshua Wilson is almost certainly the barrister of that name (1795 - 1874), as the Oxford DNB notes that he "collected works of protestant theology and hagiography..." John Frost is a bit more problematic. The Chartist John Frost (1784 - 1877) is unlikely, given that he lived mostly in Newport and was convicted of treason in 1839. Also unlikely is John Frost (1803–1840), the medical entrepreneur, who fled the country in 1832 to escape his creditors. The radical John Frost (1750 - 1842), who was trained as a lawyer, is the most likely prospect. After various political escapades and an association with John Horne Tooke that ended unhappily after an incident between Frost and Horne Tooke's maid, returned without much success to the practice of law in 1815. £950
Erasmus Schmit (1750 - 1637) made his mark at the University of Wittenberg, where he was educated and where he became Professor of Greek in 1597, both as classical scholar and mathematician. His best-known scholarly is his history and edition of Pindar's fragments (1616). He completed this concordance to the Greek New Testament shortly before his death. Greenfield's edition was published in 1830 and the abridged version alluded to in the inscription (above) was published a few years later (undated).
46. SENAULT (Jean-Francois): The Use of Passions. Written in French By J. F. Senault. And Put into English by Henry Earl of Monmouth. London, Printed by W. G. For John Sims..., 1671.
8vo, pp. [xlvi], 432, 431 - 510 (pp. 430 - 431 repeated in pagination), engraved frontispiece, engraved portrait of Monmouth, 18th century calf, recently rebacked, red morocco label, gilt arms of Signet library on each cover. £750
Senault's De l'Usage des Passions was first published in 1641 and frequently reprinted in French. This translation was first published in 1649, and this would appear to be the same sheets with the mis-pagination uncorrected, but without the adverts found at the end of the 1641 impression. In 1772, John Almon published a work, The Philosophy of the Passions without mentioning Senault and in a translation not unlike the above. There are a number of corollaries in the work between Senault’s theory of the passions and those found in Alexander Pope’s poetry, particularly An Essay on Man.
Wing S 2505.
THE JOHN EVELYN COPY
47. SHAFTESBURY (Anthony Ashley Cooper), First Earl. Rawleigh Redivivus; Or the Life & Death of the Right Honourable Anthony Late Early of Shaftesbury. Humbly Dedicated to the Protesting Lords. By Philanax Misopappas. London, Printed for Thomas Malthus..., 1683.
FIRST EDITION. 8vo, 182 x 116 mms., pp. [xvi], 88, 136, [8], engraved portrait of Shaftesbury as frontispiece, contemporary calf; front hinge cracked, spine flaking, but a good copy, the John Evelyn copy, with manuscript press mark, 19th Century bookplate of Sir Frederick Evelyn, and later "JE" monogrammed bookplate. £650
Neither the pseudonym "Philanax Misopappas" nor the initials to the Epistle Dedicatory - S. N. - have been identified, despite the fact that the latter was addressed to the Duke of Monmouth and the other Lords who defended Shaftesbury at the end of his life. The work itself is a eulogy upon the late dead Lord, who had been largely discredited through his association with Monmouth and his plots, and who, though acquitted of high treason, was forced to flee to Holland where he died. It was described by Traill in his English Worthies as a "servile panegyric of some ultra-Protestant Whig," but served as the only source for the life of Shaftesbury for many years.
McAlpin, IV, p. 146. This was lot 1061 in the Evelyn sale of March 15/16, 1978.
48. SHERLOCK (William): A Discourse Concerning the Knowledge of Jesus Christ, And Our Union and Communion with him, &c. London: Printed by J[ohn] M[acock] for Walter Kettilby..., 1674.
FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. [xvi], 432, late 18th century tree sheepskin, rebacked with old ornately gilt spine and red morocco label laid down; base of spine a little chipped, but an attractive copy, from the Easton Neston Library, with library label for shelf mark and the armorial bookplate of Sir Thomas Hesketh, Bart. on the front paste-down end-paper. £250
This was Sherlock’s first book, “aimed at the Independent divine John Owen, who asserted that God's mercy could be known only through Christ. Sherlock's ridicule of this position brought a reply from Owen in which he was supported by several other dissenters, including Thomas Danson, Edward Polhil, and Vincent Alsop. Sherlock answered in A Defence and Continuation of the Discourse (1675). This controversy, in which Sherlock's position was attacked by some dissenters as moralist, gave expression to the theological differences between dissenters and Anglicans, although many Anglicans held Calvinist opinions and many dissenters were moralist” (Oxford DNB)
49. SHERLOCK (William): A Practical Discourse concerning a Future Judgment. The Fifth Edition. London: Printed by R. R. for W. Rogers..., 1699.
8vo, pp. [viii], 413 [414 - 416 adverts], late 18th century tree sheepskin, rebacked with old ornately gilt spine and red morocco label laid down; base of spine a little chipped, but an attractive copy, from the Easton Neston Library, with library label for shelf mark and the armorial bookplate of Sir Thomas Hesketh, Bart. on the front paste-down end-paper. £100
Sherlock (1639/40–1707) first published this work in 1689, and at least another 17 editions were published before the end of the 18th century, making it one of the most popular religious books of the long 18th century.
50. SHERLOCK (William): A Practical Discourse concerning a Future Judgment. The Third Edition. London: Printed for W. Rogers..., 1693.
8vo, pp. [viii], 413 [414 - 416 adverts], late 18th century tree sheepskin, rebacked with old ornately gilt spine and red morocco label laid down; base of spine a little chipped, but an attractive copy, from the Easton Neston Library, with library label for shelf mark and the armorial bookplate of Sir Thomas Hesketh, Bart. on the front paste-down end-paper. £100
Sherlock (1639/40–1707) first published this work in 1689, and at least another 17 editions were published before the end of the 18th century, making it one of the most popular religious books of the long 18th century.
51. [STEPHENS (William)]: An Account of the Growth of Deism in England. London: Printed for the Author..., 1696.
FIRST EDITION. 4to, pp. 32, disbound. £100
Stephens treats deism as a well-established principle and a pernicious influence on true Christian doctrine. Richard Willis wrote an immediate response to it in 1696, Reflexions upon a Pamphlet, intituled, An Account of the Growth of Deism in England. Stephen’s work was reprinted, with several other works, in 1709.
Wing S 5459.
52. WILKINS (John): Of the Principles and Duties of Natural Religion: Two Books. To which is added, A Sermon Preached at his Funerals, by William Lloyd. London, Printed by A. Maxwell, for T. Bassett..., 1675.
FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. [xviii], 410, [4], 55 [56 blank], engraved portrait as frontispiece, contemporary calf, spine richly gilt in compartments, red morocco label; short tear in lower margin of title-page, spine a little dried, upper rear joint cracked, but a good copy, with the contemporary autograph of Mary Farrington on the upper margin of the title-page, and the small rectangular armorial bookplate of Thomas Townshend, Viscount Sydney (1733 - 1800) on the front paste-down end-paper. £400
John Wilkins (1714 - 1672) articulated in this book many arguments about the existence of God that were to become familiar in the 18th century, among them that found in the “admirable Contrivance of Natural things.” Mentioning the discoveries made by the development of the microscope, he adds an aesthetic dimension to the argument from design: “Whatever is Natural doth by that appear, adorned with all imaginable Elegance and Beauty.” The book was reprinted numerous times in the remainder of the 17th century and in the 18th century; the Preface is by John Tillotson.
53. [WYNNE (John)]: An Abridgment of Mr. Locke’s Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. London, Printed for A. and J. Churchill..., 1696.
FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. [viii], 310 [311 - 319 contents, 320 adverts], contemporary mottled calf; water-staining slightly affecting lower margins and portion of text in first few leaves, front joint very slightly cracked, upper panel of spine slightly defective, base of spine chipped. £450
Wynne wrote to Locke on 31 January 1695 suggesting that it “would be very useful to publish an abridgment of the Book [i. e., Locke’s Essay],” adding that if Locke approved, “I would willingly contribute any assistance that I may be capeable [sic] of, to ease you of the Trouble.” Locke replied on 8 February, giving his blessing: “I should be very glad any thing in my book could be made usefull....”
Yolton 115. Wing L 2736. Attig. 267.
