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18TH-CENTURY BOOKS
Aa-Al Am-Az Ba-Beq Ber-Bo Bibles Bp-Bz
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Ea-England English-Ez F Ga-Gp Gr-Gz Ha-Hb
Hc-Hz I-K La-Lel Lem-Log Loh-Lz Maa-Mar
Mas-Mz N-O Pa-Pi Pj-Pz Q-R Sa-Sch
Sci-Se Sf-Sol Som-Sz Ta-Th Ti-U Va-Wil Wim-Z
(English
Literary Periodical). The monthly magazine, and British register,
part I. 1798. From January to June, inclusive. Vol. V. London: R. Phillips,
1798. 8vo (22.5 cm, 9"). Frontis., [8], 552 (i.e., 554; lacking 499–504,
120 used twice in pagination, 521–28 numbered 321–28) pp.
$175.00
Collected issues of this monthly “literary journal,”
which actually served as a catchall also for general news and very various
items of interest—including articles on natural history and voyages or
travels; wedding, bankruptcy, and death notices; remarks on pictures, or on
theatrical and musical performances; and assorted free-floating anecdotes and
witticisms, as well as original poetry and reviews of contemporary publications.
The preface notes that “by means of some new literary connexions in america,
we shall possess peculiar advantages in presenting to our Readers, accounts
of the most interesting circumstances belonging to the United States”—and
it was an American reader, in fact, who owned the present example.
This volume’s oversized, folding frontispiece shows the front facade
of the “new East India House now building in Leadenhall Street”;
there is also one in-text engraving of Lethington House in East Lothian, residence
of the Maitland family.

Provenance:
Front pastedown with inked ownership inscription of Joshua Gilpin,
a Quaker from Philadelphia who established the first paper mill in Delaware,
in 1787.
Disbound with front cover, front free endpaper, and frontispiece
separated; back cover lost, and signature sewing exposed/going, with many
leaves loose. Now contained in a simple, acid-free phase box. Edges untrimmed.
Minor offsetting and a few stray marks; mostly clean.
(English Political Satire PLUS). Venus attiring the graces. London: J. Dodsley, 1777. 4to
(24.8 cm, 9.75"). 11, [1 (blank)] pp. [with]
[Mason, William?] [Ode to Mr. Pinchbeck,
upon his newly invented patent candle-snuffers. London: J. Almon, 1776]. [5]–11,
[1 (adv.)] pp.
$385.00
Satiric verse mocking fashionable English dress, accompanied by
a political satire addressed to Christopher Pinchbeck which includes the lines
“Haste then, and quash the hot Turmoil, / That flames in
Boston’s
angry Soil . . .” The first work is here in its first edition, while the
second is likely an early printing.
Venus: ESTC T73277; Ode: ESTC T41985 (first ed.).
Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper label.
Second work lacking half-title and title-page. Inner margins of two leaves
reinforced; last line of advertising page shaved. Title-page and last few
leaves with moderate foxing; one page (not the title) stamped by a now-defunct
institution, with some offsetting to opposing page.

Two Tracts on
PEACE
Erasmus, Desiderius. The complaint of peace: With a digression, on the folly of kings in unlimited monarchies. To which is added, Antipolemus: Or, the plea of reason, religion, and humanity, against war. London: [s.n.], 1795. 8vo (21.7 cm, 8.5"). [2], x, 150, v–xliii, [1], 183, [1 (blank)] pp.
$150.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Erasmus's Querela pacis and Antipolemus in English translations done by Vicesimus Knox, the first work here in its first edition thus and the latter in its second. The Querela pacis was originally published in 1517 upon the failure of the “Congress of Kings” to preserve peace throughout Europe; the other piece is a translation of the author's Bellum, extracted from his Adagia. Together, the works assert “that reasonable creatures ought always to be coerced when they err, by the force of reason, the motives of religion, the operation of law, and not by engines of destruction” (p. xliii), as the translator puts it in his preface to the second piece. Knox was an educator, minister, and author (known as the editor of Elegant Extracts) who steadfastly opposed British military involvement in the French Revolution.
ESTC N31610. On Knox, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online. Contemporary treed sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and board edges gilt; binding rubbed, irregularly darkened, and chipped, with front joint open (sewing presently holding) and back joint starting. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, inked call number on endpapers, title-page pressure-stamped. No other markings. Collation matches ESTC's description. Varying degrees of foxing/browning, with most leaves unaffected or only a little so. All edges saffron. (26377)
For HUMAN RIGHTS, click here.
For more of MILITARY/NAVAL
interest, click here.
For more RELIGION, click here.
Or for TRANSLATIONS, click here.
This appears in the GENERAL
MISCELLANY click here.

BETWIXT
the
Devil & a
Doctor
Oxford Controversy
Evans, Abel. The apparition. A poem. Or, a dialogue betwixt the devil and a doctor, concerning the rights of the Christian church. The second edition. [Oxford?], 1710. 8vo (20 cm, 7.9"). AC4; 23, [1 (blank)] pp.
$295.00
Uncut copy of this satire on Matthew Tindal's Rights of the
Christian Church Asserted, here in the standard printing with the expected
footnote on p. 21. Evans went to the trouble of printing the initials of the
obscured names backwards for most of the piece (so that Oxford, for
instance, appears as "D O," and Tindal as "L T"), but
an
early reader has left marginalia identifying many of the people and places
to whom the author refers, and in the last two pages the initials revert to
their proper order.
ESTC T22250; Foxon E519; NCBEL, II, 547. Recent marbled-paper
wrappers, front wrapper with paper label. One page stamped by a now-defunct
institution. Some early inked marginalia, one page with first few letters
of each line hand-supplied where the printer erred. First and last pages with
extremely light foxing.
For more RELIGION, click here.
For
a bit more of OXFORD interest, click
here.
With
the
Very
Striking Folding
Plate
Evelyn, John. Sculptura; Or, the history and art of chalcography, and engraving in copper: With an ample enumeration of the most renowned masters and their works. To which is annexed, a new method of engraving, or mezzotinto, communicated by his highness
Prince Rupert...the second edition. London: Pr. for J. Murray, 1769. 8vo. (chainlines running horizontally). [4], xxxvi, 140 pp.; 3 plts. (one oversized folding).
$750.00
First printed work to give instructions on producing mezzotints, and a most curious account of the development of "sculpture." Evelyn (1620–1706), whose occupation the Dictionary of National Biography cites simply as "virtuoso," published popular works on gardening, politics, and education. His roughly chronological history of illustrative arts, divided primarily by significant figures, is sprinkled with a number of languages (Greek, Hebrew, and German all in their respective typefaces, along with Latin in italics), and also contains a detail from the first mezzotint print ever created, here reproduced as an oversized (and dramatic) folding plate. A "Life" of Evelyn is also supplied.
The work first appeared in 1662, with a second edition published in 1755; the present copy is a reissue of the 1755 with a cancel title-page. A handsome engraved portrait, in which Mr. Evelyn is wearing a most dashing cape, opens the volume.
Wing E3513 (first ed.) On Evelyn, see: Dictionary of National Biography, XVIII, 79–83. Contemporary speckled sheep with red gilt-stamped morocco spine label; some little chipping to edges, with joints and spine lightly abraded and cracking (not disastrously). Early inscription reads "Evelyns Sculptura compiled originally the elder Faithorne." Pages unspotted for the most part, and plates in good condition save for slight offsetting to frontispiece. A pleasing book!
For more ART REFERENCE, click here.
For more WING BOOKS, click here.
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