Book Details

Author: Horsley, John:

Title: 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.

Publication: London: Printed for John Osborn and Thomas Longman. 1732.

Description: 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)

Bibliography: ESTC T115200; Upcott xii.

Reference Number: [55067]

Price: £750

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	Author: Horsley, John: Title: 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. Publication: London: Printed for John Osborn and Thomas Longman. 1732. Description: 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) Bibliography: ESTC T115200; Upcott xii. Reference Number: [55067] Price: £750 enquire << Back
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