Book Details

Author: Thoresby, Ralph:

Title: Ducatus Leodiensis, or, the Topography of the Ancient and Populous Town and Parish of Leedes [...] To which is added, at the Request of Several Learned Persons, A Catalogue of his Musaeum, with the Curiosities Natural and Artificial, and the Antiquities [...]

Publication: London: printed for Maurice Atkins, and sold by Henry Clements [...], 1715.

Description: First edition, subscriber's copy. Folio, pp. vi, [ii], v-xxi, 6, 5-114, 109-268, [iii], 276-628, [xii] + portrait frontispiece and 12 further plates, some of which folding. Text continuous, irregular pagination as usual. The separate title-page of the second section, Musaeum Thoresbyanum, is dated 1713. Woodcut headpieces and initials, further illustrations in the text. A few tiny scorches and wax spots, sporadic toning occasionally fairly heavy, the odd inky smudge, frontispiece trimmed a little smaller than other leaves. Contemporary tan calf, Cambridge panelled boards with neat modern reback, raised bands, burgundy gilt spine label, both inner hinges robustly reinforced with black cloth. Rubbed, a few scrapes, endpapers toned, a little worming to edge of ffep through to edge of frontispiece, very good. To front pastedown, engraved armorial bookplate of Thomas Anson Esq. of Shugborough. At head of title-page, inscription in an old hand of Rob. Keck, who appears in the list of subscribers as 'Robert Kecke, of the Inner Temple, Esq.'. Keck (c.1686-1719), barrister and Fellow of the Royal Society was celebrated by 'a friend' in a poem published as a pamphlet in 1720, titled: 'A poem on the death of Robert Keck, Esq; Of the Inner-Temple, Who Died at Paris, Sept. 16. 1719. By a Friend, who accompany'd him to Dover in his Way to France; and return'd thither to meet his Corpse, when brought over to be Buried in the Temple-Church in London.'

'Thoresby's great work was the Ducatus Leodiensis, or, The Topography of Leedes (1715). From the time he settled on the project in the early 1690s, Thoresby worked industriously towards its completion. This was not the first topographical publication of importance about a provincial town but it was the first work of importance by a Yorkshire antiquary. Attached to the main body of the text was a catalogue of the Musaeum Thoresbyanum and the volume included a very fine map of the area. Ducatus was published by subscription and was dedicated to Peregrine Osborne, marquess of Carmarthen and heir apparent to the duke of Leeds, and to the mayor of Leeds and aldermen of Leeds. About 2000 copies were printed and sold for ?3. A second edition appeared in 1816, with notes and additions by Thomas Dunham Whitaker.' (ODNB)

Bibliography: ESTC T139372; Upcott 1381-3

Reference Number: [55068]

Price: £850

enquire

	Author: Thoresby, Ralph: Title: Ducatus Leodiensis, or, the Topography of the Ancient and Populous Town and Parish of Leedes [...] To which is added, at the Request of Several Learned Persons, A Catalogue of his Musaeum, with the Curiosities Natural and Artificial, and the Antiquities [...] Publication: London: printed for Maurice Atkins, and sold by Henry Clements [...], 1715. Description: First edition, subscriber's copy. Folio, pp. vi, [ii], v-xxi, 6, 5-114, 109-268, [iii], 276-628, [xii] + portrait frontispiece and 12 further plates, some of which folding. Text continuous, irregular pagination as usual. The separate title-page of the second section, Musaeum Thoresbyanum, is dated 1713. Woodcut headpieces and initials, further illustrations in the text. A few tiny scorches and wax spots, sporadic toning occasionally fairly heavy, the odd inky smudge, frontispiece trimmed a little smaller than other leaves. Contemporary tan calf, Cambridge panelled boards with neat modern reback, raised bands, burgundy gilt spine label, both inner hinges robustly reinforced with black cloth. Rubbed, a few scrapes, endpapers toned, a little worming to edge of ffep through to edge of frontispiece, very good. To front pastedown, engraved armorial bookplate of Thomas Anson Esq. of Shugborough. At head of title-page, inscription in an old hand of Rob. Keck, who appears in the list of subscribers as 'Robert Kecke, of the Inner Temple, Esq.'. Keck (c.1686-1719), barrister and Fellow of the Royal Society was celebrated by 'a friend' in a poem published as a pamphlet in 1720, titled: 'A poem on the death of Robert Keck, Esq; Of the Inner-Temple, Who Died at Paris, Sept. 16. 1719. By a Friend, who accompany'd him to Dover in his Way to France; and return'd thither to meet his Corpse, when brought over to be Buried in the Temple-Church in London.' 'Thoresby's great work was the Ducatus Leodiensis, or, The Topography of Leedes (1715). From the time he settled on the project in the early 1690s, Thoresby worked industriously towards its completion. This was not the first topographical publication of importance about a provincial town but it was the first work of importance by a Yorkshire antiquary. Attached to the main body of the text was a catalogue of the Musaeum Thoresbyanum and the volume included a very fine map of the area. Ducatus was published by subscription and was dedicated to Peregrine Osborne, marquess of Carmarthen and heir apparent to the duke of Leeds, and to the mayor of Leeds and aldermen of Leeds. About 2000 copies were printed and sold for ?3. A second edition appeared in 1816, with notes and additions by Thomas Dunham Whitaker.' (ODNB) Bibliography: ESTC T139372; Upcott 1381-3 Reference Number: [55068] Price: £850 enquire << Back
	© Copyright 2026, all rights reserved Unsworth's Antiquarian Booksellers, 74 Hoe Street, Walthamstow, London E17 4PG