[Horace] Horatius Flaccus, Quintus: (Bentley, Richard, ed.:) [Opera] ex recensione & cum notis atque emendationibus Richardi Bentleii. Editio altera. Amstelaedami [Amsterdam]: Apud Rod. & Gerh. Wetstenios Hff. 1713. 4to., pp. [xxiv] 717, [i], 239, [i], including engraved additional title-page and divisional title for 'Pars altera' after p.442. Emendata after p.717 (i.e. 4Y1 verso). Index at rear. Title page in red and black with engraved device, woodcut initials. Gatherings 3M-3O and 3V-3X very toned, occasional light toning otherwise, a few tiny scorchmarks. Contemporary marbled calf, spine gilt with red morocco label, gilt borders, lovely blue paste-patterned edges, very good. With letterpress and manuscript school-prize (to J.J. van Hees, dated 1822) bound at the front. The second edition of Bentley's (in)famous edition of Horace, first printed at Cambridge in 1711, notable for his rash but inspired conjectures and emendations. "The Amsterdam editions of 1713 and 1728 are preferable to the Cambridge one of 1711. The notes and text are in the same page, and they are accompanied by the index of Treter, corrected by Verburgius" (Dibdin 104). Dibdin (4th edn.) II 101; Schweiger II 406; Bijker Riedel A140; Lowndes 1113: "The best edition."; Graesse III 354 (note); Brunet III 319 (note). Ref: 54397show full image..
Horsley, John: Britannia Romana: or the Roman Antiquities of Britain: In Three Books. The I. Contains... Roman Transactions... II.... the Roman Inscriptions and Sculptures... III. Contains the Roman Geography of Britain. London: Printed for John Osborn and Thomas Longman. 1732. Folio, pp. [viii], xxxii, 520, [xl] +105 plates, some folding. Half-title, engraved head-pieces. A few smudges and dust marks and generally very clean. Later diced tan calf, spine gilt and blind tooled, raised bands, gilt and blind-tooled borders, all edges gilt, gilt dentelles, drab endpapers. Joints cracked, the upper also chipped and repaired with dark cloth. Rubbed, endcaps worn some small surface losses, lower corners frayed, inner hinges repaired with tape, some pencilled bookseller's notes to ffep, externally a bit tired but still very good overall. 'Horsley had been collecting material on the history of Roman Britain when, about 1727, he began working on them with a view to publication. He was assisted in various aspects of his antiquarian research by his friend and correspondent Robert Cay, and by George Mark, who was probably Horsley's assistant at his school in Morpeth. Mark helped to prepare the plans and drawings for Horsley's history, undertook archaeological tours and explorations, and made surveys, including one of Watling Street. He was also assisted by John Ward, professor of rhetoric at Gresham College, who helped revise the manuscript 'and communicated to him many important remarks for its improvement' (Nichols, Lit. anecdotes, 5.521). Horsley's work on Hadrian's Wall utilized material from Alexander Gordon's Itinerarium septentrionale (1726), though his reliance on this book largely went unacknowledged. The Britannia Romana, or, The Roman Antiquities of Britain was divided into three 'books'. The first contained the history of the Romans in Britain, with accounts of the legions stationed there, the Roman stations, and a substantial description of the Roman walls; the second 'book' contained a complete collection of the Roman inscriptions and sculptures found in Britain, together with historical and critical notes; the third 'book' contained a 'Roman geography of Britain', including all the extant ancient Roman accounts of Britain. Horsley wrote that the first 'book' had cost him: 'much labour and time in my study, to draw out an history of transactions, through so many ages, and at such a distance from our own times ? But I need not inform the world, that the second book was the most expensive and tedious. Several thousand miles were travelled on this account, to visit antient monuments ? I omitted no care nor pains, that was necessary to copy these with the greatest exactness, which was the principal design of the work.' (Horsley, Britannia Romana, 1732, i). The book's prefatory dedication to Sir Richard Ellys was written on 2 January 1732, but Horsley did not live to see the publication in early April of this, his greatest achievement. On 12 January he was, according to his friend Ward, 'suddenly and unexpectedly taken off by an apoplexy' (Hinde, 178). His exertions on his Roman history were thought to have contributed to his early death at the age of only forty-six [...] Despite occasional inevitable errors and inaccuracies, Horsley's Britannia Romana was one of the major antiquarian achievements of his day. F. Haverfield in The Roman Occupation of Britain (1924) described it as 'till quite lately the best and most scholarly account of any Roman province that had been written anywhere in Europe' (Haverfield, 75).' (ODNB) ESTC T115200; Upcott xii. Ref: 55067show full image..
Howard, Robert: The History of the Reigns of Edward and Richard II. With reflections, and characters of their chief ministers and favourites. As also, a comparison between those Princes Edward and Richard the Second, with Edward the First, and Edward the Third. Written in the year 1685. London: printed by F. Collins, for Thomas Fox, at the Angel in Westminster-Hall, 1690. 8vo., pp.[vi], xvi, [i], 183, [i]. Occasional light spotting but very clean within. Contemporary dark brown speckled calf, gilt spine with title and raised bands, edges sprinkled blue and red. Old paper label to foot of spine, upper joint cracked but holding firmly, a little toning to endpapers, very good indeed. Later work by Sir Robert Howard (1626-1698), politician and playwright, published during a particularly consequential period in an already notoriously turbulent life. 'Under James II, Howard helped bring about the revolution that put William of Orange on the throne. He served in William's first parliament, contending in the Commons on 22nd January 1689 that James II had in effect 'abdicated the government' (Oliver, 256). Several years later Howard was to sign the 'association' of 1696, an agreement to defend William against the Jacobites. As in the past, Howard tried to strike a balance between his royalist sympathies and his belief in the rights of parliament. In February 1689 the king appointed him to the privy council, the crowning achievement of his political career. Howard's final years were taken up with both professional and literary concerns. Late in 1694 he helped Betterton and his actors to procure a licence for the new theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields; and in 1695 he renewed his friendship with [his brother-in-law] John Dryden. Meanwhile, he had published his History of the Reigns of Edward and Richard II (1690), involving him in the ongoing controversy concerning the divine right of kings, and The History of Religion (1694), an anti-Catholic tract.' (Vander Motten, ODNB) ESTC R2296. Ref: 55085show full image..
Howell, William: An Institution of General History, from the beginning of the World to the Monarchy of Constantine the Great. Composed in such Method and manner as never yet was extant. London: Henry Herringman, 1661. First edition. Folio, pp.viii, 881, [iii]. Woodcut initials and headpieces; at rear, errata and two-page publisher's catalogue. Very lightly toned, occasional small mark or light ink blot. 2E with small piece lost at top corner, 2S closed tear to top corner, 3F3 a little short at fore-edge margin, none of which affecting text. Tiny scorch hole to 3S affecting a couple of letters. Contemporary calf neatly rebacked. Gilt spine, raised bands title label, plain blind-tooled borders, edges red. Scuffed, a few marks, corners worn, structural vellum flap visible between board and ffep, a few tiny codes and sums in various hands to endpapers, top corner of rear free endpaper lost, very good. To front pastedown, armorial bookplate of Sir Lister Holte, 5th Baronet (1720-1770). A landowner in Warwickshire and MP for Lichfield from 1741 to 1747, Holte was also High Sheriff of Cheshire. To head of title-page, ownership inscription of Robert Holt in an old hand. First edition of the major work of historian and civil lawyer William Howell (1631/2-1683), it was reissued the following year with a different title-page and a table added at the end. 'Howell was a substantial but under-appreciated historical writer of the Restoration, in the tradition of world history writing that included Sir Walter Ralegh's History of the World (1614), then the most popular work of its kind in English, but which ended before the birth of Christ. Howell's most widely read work, which clearly borrows from Ralegh, was An institution of general history ? from the beginning of the world till the monarchy of Constantine the Great. This first appeared in 1661 and then in several subsequent editions. He abridged it into Latin as Gulielmi Hoeli, LL.D. Elementa historiae for the use of Mulgrave and other young men in 1671 [...]. Howell had always intended to publish a second part of the Institution, covering western and eastern Christendom after Constantine, and refers to this second part in his Elementa. It was unpublished at Howell's death in 1683, but in 1685 his widow, Mary, had it published, complete with her own dedicatory epistle to James II. [?] Borrowing from Reformation chronological writing, Howell organized his book according to the principle of synchronism, making it easy for a reader following his account of one kingdom or empire to grasp contemporary events that occurred elsewhere. Howell'sInstitution was perhaps the most readily accessible history of the world published in the Restoration, appealing to a growing readership for comprehensive histories that provided a straightforward summary of events since the creation. [?] (Woolf, ODNB) ESTC R14308; Wing H3136. Ref: 55083show full image..
Johnston, Robert: Historia rerum Britannicarum: Ut et multarum Gallicarum, Belgicarum, & Germanicarum, tam Politicarum, quam Ecclesiasticarum, ab anno 1572, ad Annum 1628 [...] Adjectus est rerum ac Personarum, de quibus in hoc volumine, Index absolutissimus. Amstelaedami [Amsterdam]: sumptibus Joannis Ravesteynii [colophon:Goudae [Gouda], typis Guilielmi va 1655. First edition. Folio, fols. [ii] 737 [xi]. Text in Latin. Printer's vignette to title-page, woodcut initials and head- and end-pieces. Ink spot to bottom edge encoaching very slightly onto bottom margin. Very light toning to edges, 2P4 with paper flaw causing ragged fore-edge, a few other very minor paper flaws. 18th-century vellum, title inked to spine in an old hand and partially obscured by a recent brown and gilt title label, edges sprinkled dark blue, an old catalogue entry pasted to ffep. Vellum a little darkened with some marks and scuffs, fore-edges worn with boards partly exposed, still very good overall. First complete edition, of Johnston's history of England and Scotland; parts of which had already been published in English. The work covers the period 1572-1628, during all of which time King James VI and I was reigning in Scotland or also England. Johnston (1567?-1639) was a member of the first class to graduate from the University of Edinburgh (M.A., 1587), and spent his working life as a clerk in London. "'A work of great merit, whether we consider the judicious structure of the narrative, the sagacity of the reflections, the acute discernment of characters, or the classical structure of the style' - Lord Woodhouselee" (Lowndes). Lowndes 1223: Ref: 54524show full image..
Justinian: (Corvinus, Arnoldus:) Institutiones D. Justiniani ss. Princ.: typis variae, rubris nucleum exhibentibus : accesserunt ex Digestis tituli de verborum significatione et regul. juris. Pariis [Paris]: Apud Guillelmum de Luyne, 1676 16mo, pp. [8], 391, [103], [2], including added engraved title, text in red and black. Light water stain to first and last few leaves. Contemporary full speckled calf, raised bands, spine gilt and gilt-lettered, edges sprinkled red, corners a little bumped, extremities minimally rubbed. Contemporary autograph Ja[cques?] Maule to verso of title, 'Monsieur' to verso of last blank. A fresh copy, in an attractive contemporary binding, of this pocket-size pirated edition of Justinian's legal milestone - printed in red and black. It reprises an edition of the same text printed by Daniel Elzevier in Amsterdam in the same year (Willems 1519), including the design of the engraved title, with a revised imprint. Ref: 53556show full image..
Juvenalis, Decimus Junius: (Dryden, John, trans.:) The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. By Mr Dryden, And Several other Eminent Hands. Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus [...] London: Printed for Jacob Tonson [...] 1697. Second edition. 8vo. pp. [ii], xc, 501, [iii] + frontispiece and 17 further engraved plates. Trimmed a little close at head just touching letters of headline p.v, light dampstain to bottom edge and a little worming pp. 5-20 and pp.345-356, slightly foxed, small tear to head of pp.213-4, occasional small wax spots. Contemporary dark brown mottled calf, raised bands with gilt filets, red label, blind-tooled frame and corners to boards, edges sprinkled red. Roughly 1.5cm loss to head cap, spine creased, some scuffs and scrapes, small loss to bottom corner of upper board and top corner of lower board, good. Ownership inscriptions of Tom S. Gowland, Old Park House, Ripon dated Easter 1947 to front pastedown; Gerrard Thomas (Ferrand?) to frontispiece verso. The first edition in 8vo format, following first publication in folio in 1693. Translations by Dryden, Tate, W. Bowles, Charles Dryden, G Stepney, Stephen Harvey, Mr Congreve, Mr Power, Mr Creech, J, Dryden Jnr. The fourth, anonymous satire translated by R. Duke. ESTC R031548; Wing J1289. Ref: 54733show full image..
Kilburne, Richard: A Topographie or Survey of the County of Kent. With Some Chronological, Historicall, and Other Matters Touching the Same: and the Several Parishes and Places therein. London: Thomas Mabb for Henry Atkinson [...], 1659. First edition. Small 4to. (177 x 135mm), pp. [viii], 422, [xii] + portrait frontispiece. Numerous errors in pagination as usual, list of Contents incorrectly bound before the dedication rather than after. Woodcut initials and head- and tail-pieces. Occasional light smudges and spots of foxing, a little toning along head of title-page, a smudge of red pigment to tail edge of final leaf perhaps indicating the original edge colour. Late 19th- or early 20th-century brown polished sheep neatly rebacked with original spine retained, gilt title and blind tooling to spine, blind-tooled borders to boards, edges marbled, grey endpapers. A little rubbed but a very good copy overall. Recent armorial bookplate of Robert Edmund Lloyd-Roberts to front paste-down. Two MS pencil notes to the ffep verso, the first concerning the placement of the list of Contents, the second recording that this book was 'acquired at the sale at Godmersham Park, the home of Mrs Robert Tritton. 8th June 1983.' Built in 1732 by Thomas May (later Knight), Godmersham Park was inherited by Edward Austen (brother of Jane Austen) in 1794. He was a cousin of the Knight family, who had adopted him in the early 1780s; when his adoptive mother died in 1812 he changed his name to Knight. Jane was a regular visitor to Godmersham Park and is said to have used the house as a model for Mansfield Park. The house passed through several more hands before being bought in 1935 by Robert Tritton and his wife Elsie, whose death in 1983 prompted the Christie's auction mentioned above. In his 'Epistle Dedicatory', Kilburne writes of his intention to present 'the Kent of his own day', and to depict 'the county as it was before the Civil War'. Hasted, in his 1797 History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent, dismisses Kilburne's work as being 'little more than a Directory'. However, 'Kent was not well served by early topographers, and Kilburne's small survey was extensively quoted on sixteen occasions by Robert Furley and, over the years in Archaeologia Cantiana, as a first source of reference, and not without some praise. The Topographie devoted disproportionate attention to Hawkhurst: 10 pages out of 422, or, in the words of one writer, 'as much space to it as to twenty other average parishes' (Archaeologia Cantiana, 5, 1863, 59). Kilburne justified this, however: "In respect I finde not any description of this Parish ? it having been the place of my habitation for above twenty eight years last past (God's Providence having also there lent me an inheritance), I thought fit to enlarge my selfe upon this place. (Kilburne, 126)"'. (ODNB) Wing K434 Ref: 50494show full image..
[La Calpren?de, Gaultier de Coste seigneur de]; (Phillips, J., trans.:) Pharamond: or The History of France. A Fam'd Romance in Twelve Parts. The Whole Work Never Before Englished. London: T. Bassett, T. Dring and W. Caderman, 1677. Second edition. Folio, pp. [iv], 415, [i]; 758. Title page in red and black, woodcut initials. Very slightly foxed, faintly toned toward rear. Title a little grubby, some tiny scorch marks and a small scorched hole to 3O4 affecting a few letters, tiny marginal worm trails to gatherings 2Q-2V, 2I-2K and 3C-3E, small hole (paper flaw?) To 4Z4 affecting a few words to verso. Plain, modern dark brown calf, raised bands, green Morocco title label to spine, blind-tooled borders, endpapers renewed, edges faintly marbled. Spine and board edges a little rubbed, joints slightly creased, some bookseller's pencil notes to ffep. A very good, soundly rebound copy. La Calpren?de's (1610-1663) Merovingian historical romance, begun in 1661. It remained incomplete (in seven volumes) at his death two years later and was continued by Pierre d'Ortigue de Vaumori?re (1610-1693), with the 12th and final volume appearing in 1670. The first edition of the then-extant text in English was published in 1662 by Samuel Speed. ESTC R19768; Wing (2nd ed.) L126. Ref: 54593show full image..
[Le Ma?tre de Claville:] Trait? du vrai m?rite de l'homme [?]. A Paris: chez Saugrain, Grande Salle du Palais, a la Providence. 1737. Third edition. 2 vols., 12mo., pp.[viii], 359, [v]; [viii], 380, [vi]. With half-title to each vol., woodcut initials and headpieces. Vol.I leaf Q1 is errata, Q2 is blank, errata and privilege at end of vol.II. Vol.II with tiny scorch mark to pp.23-4 affecting a couple of letters, marginal closed tears neatly repaired to pp.209-12. Attractive contemporary calf, spines gilt with red morocco labels, all edges red, marbled endpapers. Spines a bit rubbed but very good. To each volume, armorial bookplate of F. Routy D.M. and modern bookplate of Peter Stewart Young of Tillingham to front paste-downs. Illegible name to vol. I, p.1, lower margin. A stylishly-written treatise on 18th-century moral philosophy, widely read in its time. Ref: 54410show full image..
