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18TH-CENTURY BOOKS
Aa-Al Am-Az Ba-Beq Ber-Bo Bibles Bp-Bz
Ca-Cb Cc-Coq Cor-Cz Da-Di Dj-Dz
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
“Madmen
or Epileptics”
(Anyway, NOT
Bewitched)
Farmer, Hugh. An essay on the demoniacs of the New Testament. London: G. Robinson, 1775. 8vo (21.6 cm, 8.5"). [16], 416 pp.
$300.00

First edition of this treatise on demonic possession, arguing that “the disorders imputed to supernatural possessions, proceed from natural causes, not from the agency of any evil spirits” (p. 2). Despite the heated debate that sprang up over the Rev. Farmer's conclusions, the cogency of his argument and clarity of his writing were widely acclaimed among his contemporaries.
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Provenance: Signature of Philip Harwood on half-title.
ESTC T68112; Lowndes 780; Allibone 578. Recent quarter calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and blind-tooled compartment decorations. Half-title with early inked ownership inscription. Half-title, title-page, and last page institutionally pressure-stamped, title-page with inked numeral in lower margin. Pages slightly age-toned, otherwise clean. (25088)
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Fawcett's Hymns — First Edition
Fawcett, John. Hymns: Adapted to the circumstances of public worship, and private devotion. Leeds: Pr. by G. Wright & Son for the author, 1782. 12mo. 279, [9] pp.
$900.00
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Uncommon first edition of these hymns written by a Baptist theologian, including the still-popular “Blest be the tie that binds.” Words only, without music; handsomely typeset with modest ornamentation.
Signed binding: Front free endpaper stamped “Bound by R.W. Smith.”
ESTC T92186. 19th-century half morocco with marbled paper-covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; refurbished. Title-page with old institutional pressure-stamp; rear free endpaper with paper adhesion and tear as from removal of old “due” slip. All edges gilt. A few scattered light spots, occasional pencilled marginalia, pages otherwise clean. A nice copy. (19510)
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A
Capuchin
on the Trinity, with
Some
POETRY
as Well
Feliciano de Sevilla. El sol increado dios trino y uno, y
la grande excelencia de su culto y devocion. Reimpreso en Mexico: por D. Felipe de Zúñiga y
Ontiveros, 1790. 4to (20.5 cm; 8.25"). [10] ff., 464 pp.
$775.00
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Originally published in 1702 and here in its first Mexican edition, this work on
God and the Trinity is from the pen of a Capuchin from Seville — hence his religious name. He
served as a missionary in Andalucia and, despite assertions by one university cataloguer that are
copied by several others, he never was a missionary in Mexico.The volume ends with a “Corona Florida a la Santisima Trinidad,” being a small literary
collection of coplas, canciones, and a romance “en Metafora del Sol, que discurre por los doce
signos del Zodiaco.”
Binding: Publisher's mottled sheep, gilt spine extra. Marbled endpapers; all edges red.
Medina, Mexico, 8016. Binding lightly worn. A few gatherings starting to extrude. A very good, clean copy. (26851)
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Outside! the Canon A Shoemaker's Verses
Fellows, John. Grace triumphant, a sacred poem, in nine dialogues; wherein the utmost power of nature, reason, virtue, and the liberty of the human will, to administer comfort to the awakened sinner, are impartially weighed and considered. . . . A new edition, embellished with a portrait of the author. London: Pr. for Alexander Hogg, [ca. 1770]. 12mo. Frontis. port., 120 [i.e., 96] pp.
$475.00
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A rare work by a minor English hymn-writer. Very little is known about John Fellows (d. 1785). Described as “a poor shoemaker,” in 1780, he became a Baptist while taking up residence in Birmingham. (Apparently, he had been a Calvinist Methodist for most of his life; see Hatfield.) His oeuvre consists mostly of hymns and religious poetry, this being his first published work (first edition, 1770). He was additionally the author of works entitled “The New History of the Bible in Verse,” “Popish Cruelty Displayed,”
“Hymns in a Variety of Metres,” and “Hymns on Believers' Baptism.”
Nicely printed, this is illustrated with an engraved frontispiece portrait of John Fellows, with the titles of some of his other works (see above) appearing beneath it; preliminary pages (8 pp.) consist of a dedication to the Rev. Mr. John Ryland of Northampton, and a preface. Stated at foot of title-page: “Price One Shilling and Six-Pence.”
Rare: ESTC locates only two copies in the U.S., and this is one of them, now deaccessioned; and OCLC adds only the copy at Yale.
ESTC N39616; on Fellows, see: Edwin F. Hatfield's The Poets of the Church (New York, 1884), & Josiah Miller's Singers and Songs of the Church (London, 1869). Recent quarter calf and marbled paper over boards; gilt-stamped leather spine labels, gilt-ruled raised bands, gilt rule where leather meets paper of covers. Title-page chipped at upper right corner, one leaf a little ragged at outer edge, another leaf repaired at outer margin. Pages overall clean, but with some random spotting and slight age-toning, including to title-page and frontispiece; light offsetting to title-page from facing plate. Ex-library with “no. 5" marked in blue crayon at the top of title-page; faintest traces of library call number on the verso; no other markings. Final three pages (pp. 94–96) mispaginated 118, 119, and 120. Handsome. (24459)
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Feijoo, Benito Jerónimo. Ilustracion apologetica al primero, y segundo tomo del Theatro critico.... Quarta impression. Madrid: Por los herederos de Francisco del Hierro, 1737. 4to (20.3 cm, 8"). [16] ff., 207, [1 (blank)] pp.
$250.00

Benito Jerónimo Feijoo (or Feyjoo, 1676–1764), Benedictine monk, physician, and philosopher, here defends his Theatro critico against the Anti-theatro of Salvador José Mañer (1676–1751). The Theatro critico was a lengthy expostulation of his philosophical doctrine of moderation and reliance on experience, as well as an attack on various forms of superstition. Provenance: Bookseller’s ticket of the “Livraria de Braamcamp-Freire” on front pastedown.
Palau 91083. Speckled sheep; spine with double gilt rules above and below each band, second compartment with a brown leather label, gilt-lettered, and the rest with a gilt diamond-shaped floral device. Leather abraded with some loss at head and foot of spine and on edges of covers. Browning from turn-ins and some little tears or chipping to endpapers. Interior generally clean with occasional fine spotting.
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A Must for
Visitors to AMAZONIA
Figueira, Luis. Arte da grammatica da lingua do Brasil. Lisboa: Na Officina Patriarcal, 1795. Small 4to (20.5 cm; 8"). [2] ff., 103, [1 (blank)] pp.
$1875.00
Figueira (1573–1643), a Jesuit missionary in the Pará and Marañón regions of the Amazon, saw his grammar of the Tupí Guaraní language of the Brazilian natives published for the first time in 1621, with subsequent editions all being posthumous (1681, 1687, 1754, and 1795). This fifth edition (incorrectly labelled “quarta impressaõ” on the title-page) was edited by José Mariano da Conceição Velloso (1742–1811). The 1754 edition seems to have been suppressed in the wake of the 1759 expulsion of the Jesuits from Portugal and its empire.
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Sabin 24313; DeBacker-Sommervogel, III, 721; Viñaza 389; Valle Cabral 6; Rodrigues 1002; Ayrosa 202, Borba de Moraes (rev. ed.), I, 409. Publisher's “wallpaper” wrappers.
Fine, crisp copy. (26520)
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Flavel, John. A token for mourners: or, the advice of Christ to a distressed mother, bewailing the death of her dear and only son.... Exeter[, N.H.]: Pr. by Henry Ranlet, sold also by the booksellers in Boston, 1795. 12mo (14.7 cm, 6"). 168 pp.
$225.00
John Flavel (1630?–91) was a minister of Dartmouth, England,
until he was ejected as a nonconformist in 1662. He continued to preach in the
area and authored many works of practical piety. This popular work on grieving
was first published London, 1674; the first American edition was printed in
Boston in 1707 and would have found a ready audience among the Calvinists of
New England.
This edition, the first to be printed in New Hampshire, exists in two states
— this one has “sold also by the booksellers in Boston”
on the title-page. (In addition, there was another 1795 edition printed
in Newbury, Vt.) Regularly reprinted into the 19th century, the Token
saw editions in Welsh and Gaelic.
ESTC W19733; Evan 28677. On Flavel, see: Dictionary of National
Biography. Contemporary quarter sheep over brown paper covered boards,
significant loss of paper and of edges of boards. Some shallow chipping, notable
soiling, browning, and waterstaining (yet no difficulty reading text). A volume
that’s been through a good deal, but is probably stable for quite a
long while to come.

On the Loss of a
“Tender, Just, & Gracious” Queen
Forster, William. A joyous and peaceable state of mind, the happy fruit and effect of afflictions. In a sermon preach’d on the sad occasion of the death of Her late Majesty Queen Anne, of blessed memory, in the parish church of St. Clement Danes, August the 8th, 1714. London: Pr. for D. Browne & W. Mear, 1794. 8vo (21.3 cm, 8.4"). [4], 19, [1 (blank)] pp.
$90.00
First edition of this sermon on Hebrews XII:11. The author (some sources give his name as William Foster) was rector of St. Clement Danes and chaplain to John Cecil, Earl of Exeter.
The title-page here, with its black-bordered and -accented text, is is a nice example of modest “mourning typography.”
Uncommon: OCLC and ESTC locate only two U.S. institutional holdings.
ESTC T119686 . Disbound; sewing mostly perished, leaves separating. Edges slightly ragged and light soiling to margins. (26247)
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France.
Laws, statutes, etc. Compilation de l'ordonnance de Louis XIV, roy
de France et de Navarre, donnée au mois de Mai 1680. Sur le fait des Gabelles.
Rouen: Chez Jean-B. Besongne le fils, 1727. 8vo (17 cm, 6.7"). [60], 671, [27]
pp.
$450.00


Uncommon edition of these collected documents pertaining to the burdensome and highly unpopular salt tax, which was not abolished until 1790.
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for an enlargement.
Not in Goldsmiths’-Kress. Contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped title-label; leather rubbed over corners, joints, and spine extremities, with some scuffing to back cover and leather showing minor cracking over spine. Front fly-leaf with early inked annotations; title-page with owner’s name in lower margin inked out. Pages lightly spotted; one leaf with tear from outer margin, with small loss of paper not touching text.

Surprising Content — Capuchins in Tibet
Surprising Frontispiece — Uncalled for, Signed, & Au Sanguine
Francisco, de Ajofrín, fray. Carta familiar de un sacerdote, respuesta a un colegial amigo suyo, en que le dà cuenta de la admirable conquista espiritual del vasto imperio del gran Thibèt, y la mission que los padres Capuchinos tienen alli, con sus singulares progressos hasta el present. Dase tambien una noticia succinta de la fundacion de esta penitente seraphica familia; de los santos que la ilustran, cardenales, arzobispos; de su observancia, y austeridad, missiones que tiene en todo orbe, provincias, conventos, y religiosos en que se halla propagada, con orras noticias historico-eclesiasticas. Mexico: En la imprenta de la Bibliotheca Mexicana , 1765. Small 4to. Frontis., [2] ff., 48 pp.
$6500.00
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A remarkable book, demonstrating how small the world had already become in the 18th century. Mexico in 1765 seems an unlikely place for a discussion of Tibetan missions, but here is an elaborate report on the Capuchin missions in Tibet, published half way around the world in Mexico. It is possible that these reports came across the Pacific, or equally, that they came via Europe. In any case, a most exotic combination of topic and imprint.
A special issue copy: Present here is an uncalled-for frontispiece. It is of four Capuchin martyrs, is signed by the artist Navarro, is engraved on copper, and is printed au sanguine -- the color reserved for only the most special copies of 18th-century books. This frontispiece is not called for by Medina
and is not present in any of the copies reported as held in the U.S.
Medina, Mexico, 4991; Palau 45600; Sabin 11098; Maggs, Bibliotheca Asiatica, 611. Full antique calf, spine gilt, leather label. Slight worming to late leaves, repaired with tape in an inoffensive fashion. Quite a good copy. (12725)
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François de Sales, St. Verdaderos entretenimientos del glorioso señor San Francisco de Sales.... Madrid: Por Andres Ortega a costa de Bartholome Ulloa, 1768. 4to (20.8 cm, 8.125"). [14] ff., 350 pp., [1 (blank)] f.
$500.00

Here translated into Spanish by Francisco de Cubillas Donyague, the Spiritual Conferences of St. Francis de Sales (1567–1622), bishop of Geneva, were written as addresses to the Sisters of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin, an order founded by St. Jane Frances de Chantal with his assistance. They cover the virtues to be practiced in the religious life and have been valued by both laity and religious for their common sense, sensitivity, and insight. Also included in this edition are an essay on preaching well, a funeral sermon, and a few shorter works by the saint. The first Spanish edition was issued in 1667. This edition is rare, only one copy being traced via NUC Pre-1956, OCLC, and RLIN.
Palau 290780. Recent quarter red morocco over red cloth, spine gilt extra, red marbled endpapers, and top edge red. Clean, attractive interior.
Last
18th-Century American Edition of His WORKS
Franklin, Benjamin. Works of the late Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Consisting of his life, written by himself, together with essays, humourous, moral and literary; chiefly in the manner of the Spectator. Huntingdon, PA: Pr. for the proprietor by John R. Parrington, 1800. 12mo. 2 vols. in 1. Frontis., 156, 119, [1] pp.
$400.00
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Early edition of this popular collection of assorted pieces by Franklin, originally published in 1790. Vol. I begins with Franklin's autobiography, with a continuation written by Dr. Stuber, and ends with “Extracts from the last will and testament of Dr. Franklin” on pp. 146–56. Vol. II contains “The Essays.” The engraved frontispiece opposite the title-page of vol. I, a portrait of Franklin in a fur cap, was done by J. Bannerman.
Evans 37442; Sabin 25602; ESTC W17376. Contemporary speckled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; joints fully open and holding by cords, leather peeled up from board edges, gilt dimmed on spine label. Front fly-leaves with faint pencilled and inked inscriptions; back fly-leaves with inked ownership inscriptions, one dated 1801. Pages age-toned, last few waterstained; one leaf torn with loss of several words from one line. A “survivor” copy, priced accordingly. (22636)
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