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Christopher Edwards

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DE’ PRODIGJ avvenuti in molte sagre immagini specialmente di Maria Santissima secondo gli autentici processi compilati in Roma. Con breve ragguaglio di altri simili prodigi comprovati nelle Curie Vescovili dello Stato Pontificio. Roma 1797. Dalle stampe di Zempel presso Vincenzo Poggioli. [with:] RACCOLTA DI VARIE LETTERE che descrivono e attestano i prodigiosi segni veduti costantemente in vari luoghi della Marca, in alcune sante reliquie ed immagini. E specialmente in quella della SS. Vergine Maria, posta nella Cattedrale di S. Ciriaco di Ancona. Per opera di un sacerdote povero servo della stessa Madre di Dio. Roma 13. Luglio 1796. Dalle stempe di Zempel.

MARCHETTI, Giovanni. Two works in one volume, 8vo, pp. lxiv, 293, [1] imprimatur; xvi, 64; with an engraved frontispiece to the second work, and 26 small text engravings in the first work (all 27 being of the BVM), a very good copy in contemporary Italian vellum, spine lettered in gilt; plain endpapers, red edges. First and only editions of both works. These two compilations tell the story of multiple miraculous events, which gripped the Marche region in 1796-97, beginning at Ancona on 25 June 1796. That evening in the cathedral of S. Ciriaco, a picture of the Madonna was seen to open her eyes: the miracle was repeated before the bishop, the governor and other worthies, so that nobody could deny that it had occurred - the second work in this volume, printed a few weeks later in Rome, publishes testimonial letters by numerous witnesses. This was just the start. Following the miracle at Ancona, similar eye-rolling took place in other representations of the Virgin Mary, in Rome and elsewhere: Marchetti's book prints the testimony, and painstaking investigations, relating to twenty-six other such miracles. The ecclesiastical authorities took great care to examine the witnesses, and on p. 221, for greater authenticity, this copy carries the autograph signatures of the Cardinal Vicar of Rome (Giulio Maria della Somaglia), and of Francesco Mari, the notary at the trial. Professor J.H. Whitfield, who owned this copy, used it in his book on the poet Giacomo Leopardi, to point a historical contrast between old and new: even whilst these medieval-style miracles were being investigated and authenticated, the catastrophe of Napoleonic conquest was ripping apart the old Italy, and within two years virtually all of Italy north of the Kingdom of Naples was under the young Corsican's control. Whitfield dramatically sets the one against the other: 'To one year, 1797, belongs the volume De' Prodigi avvenuti. with its set of poor engravings of the pictures which worked the miracles: but to the next belongs instead the Costituzione della Repubblica Romana.' With regard to the subject of his book, he further illustrates the contrast by showing that one of the supporting witnesses, the Marchese Francesco Tommasini (whose letter is printed on pp. 39-41 of Raccolta di varie lettere) was a neighbour of the Leopardi family, from their home town of Recanati, not far south of Ancona. This was the atmosphere of the poet's locality, into which he was born on 29 June 1798. Provenance 1. Inscription on the endpaper facing the first title page: 'Il Presente Libro intitolata dei Prodigi etc. è del Cance. Telesforo Galli'. Telesforo Galli (1769-1845) was an Italian priest, one of the consultors of the Congregation of Indulgences, whose Raccolta di orazioni e pie opere was first published in 1807. 2. Inscription on upper pastedown, in pencil: 'Charles Weld Roma 1849'. This is very probably Charles Weld (1812-85) of Chideock Manor, Dorset: he came from an old-established Catholic family: his grandfather, Thomas Weld, gave land to the returning Jesuits to found Stonyhurst College; and an uncle, another Thomas Weld, had been made a Cardinal. Charles built an extraordinary 'mortuary chapel' at Chideock, which anticipates the arts and crafts movement style by almost half a century. 3. Professor John Humphreys Whitfield (1906-95), Italian scholar and author of Giacomo Leopardi (1954), although with no ownership inscription. Whitfield refers to it on p. 3: 'This little volume, which I have before me as I write.'
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book (2)

EUROPAE SPECULUM. Or, a view and survey of the state of religion in the westerne parts of the worlde. Wherein the Romane religion, and the pregnant policies of the Church of Rome to support the same, are notably displayed: with some other memorable discoueries and memorations, never before till now published according to the authours originall copie.

SANDYS, Sir Edwin. 4to, pp. [xii], 248; a very few gatherings (e.g. f1-4 and q1-4) quite browned, but generally a fine clean copy, bound in contemporary limp vellum; ties missing; lettered 'Sandys' in ink on spine. First edition of what is supposedly the original text of the book first published in 1605 by Simon Waterson, under the title A relation of the state of religion. in the severall states of these westerne parts of the world. This is the only extended work of the politician and colonial entrepreneur Sir Edwin Sandys (1561-1629). Sandys had been educated at Merchant Taylors' School, where he was a contemporary of Lancelot Andrewes and Edmund Spenser, and then at Corpus Christi Oxford, where he was taught by Richard Hooker, the publication of whose Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity he sponsored as a new MP for Plympton in 1593. Sandys's most lasting friendship, however, was with George Cranmer (great-nephew of the Archbishop), who shared his education at school, university and the Inns of Court: they spent three years together in 1596-99, travelling in Germany, Geneva, Italy and France, and this gave Sandys the material for his book. The text seems to have been finished just before the two returned to England - the last page here is dated from Paris, 9 April 1599. The book is indicative of Sandys's tolerant, reconciliatory attitude towards the different strands of Christianity. It remained unpublished, however, until June 1605, when it was printed for Simon Waterson. The book proved popular and was reprinted; but soon afterwards the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot resulted in an anti-Catholic backlash, and it was ordered to be publicly burnt, a sentence the author himself is supposed to have requested. Perhaps embarrassed by appearing to be on Rome's side, Sandys claimed that the 1605 text was 'a spurious stolen copy. throughout most shamefully falsified'. Such a statement looks like the sort of denial common among politicians then as now ('I was misquoted'), but it is given some credence by the appearance of this text nearly a quarter of a century later. The text in this edition is apparently close to that found in a presentation manuscript now at Lambeth Palace (MS 2007), given to John Whitgift (d. 1604) as Archbishop of Canterbury: he is the dedicatee of the work as printed here (pp. 1-2). In other matters, Sandys took a prominent role in Parliament, successfully opposing James VI and I's attempts to place the government of England and Scotland in union, and forming a moderate gentry party that sought to restrain the royal prerogative and establish the Commons as a significant influence on government policy. His achievement was overshadowed by the events of the 1630s and 1640s, when the Commons moved into conflict with the Crown. He also had another role to play in English public life: in 1607, two years after the original publication, he was on the council of the Virginia Company and ten years later he was involved in the negotiations with the Leiden puritans which resulted in the voyage of the Mayflower in 1620. He also invested in property in Bermuda, and was involved in the East India Company. Comparison with the work as published in 1605 shows that this is indeed a very different text, which was (as the final words of the book, on p. 248, tell us) 'Copied out by the Authors originall' in October 1618. One assumes, therefore, that the text here is the book as Sandys originally wrote it, only adjusting it to tone down his implied sympathy for the Catholics in 1605, for its first publication. The preface names the author but oddly is unable to state if is still alive: 'It may bee, I hereby shall incurre some dislike from the learned Author, (if He be yet liuing,) who haply in his modestie, and for some other causes best knowne unto him selfe. hath so long obscured and suppressed his pregnant view.'. (Sandys did in fact die the same year, in late October, but he had already retired from public life, having lost his seat in Parliament in early 1628.) The preface is roundly assertive about the quality of this text, as compared with that of the earlier edition: what was printed in 1605 was 'a spurious stolne Copie; in part epitomized, in part amplified, and throughout most shamefully falsified & false printed'. It goes on to state that Sandys supported its suppression because the text misrepresented him; and because some of those copies have remained in circulation, this new edition is necessary. Despite the author of the preface saying that he is 'liuing here in these Transmarine Batavian Belgique parts', it is generally assumed that he was the London bookseller Michael Sparke, who apparently commissioned the edition from a Dutch printer at The Hague. We know that he was somehow involved, because he inscribed a copy to 'my cousen Noell Sparke' (this is the copy now at Harvard), and indeed he published the next edition, in 1632, quite openly. Provenance. This copy has been very considerably annotated by John Loveday (1711-89), traveller, antiquary and collector. Loveday was a gentleman scholar living at Caversham, just over the river from Reading: he was fond of annotating his books, and his small, attractive hand is very recognisable. He handed on his library to his son, Dr John Loveday (1742-1809), and there are also notes in the son's hand on the page facing the title. The father has written copious notes on the rear endpapers in both pencil and ink, and numerous cross-references and corrections in the text, showing that he read the book with minute care and attention. STC 21718. See Sarah Markham, John Loveday of Caversham (1984).
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  • $1,535
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REVERENDI PATRIS FRATRIS HIERONYMI SAVONAROLÆ FERRARIE[N]SIS prædicatorum ordinis Dialogus inter spiritu[m] & A[n]i[m]am nu[n]c primu[m] in luce[m] prodiens, cuius titulus (Solatiu[m] itineris mei.). Genuae 1536. [colophon:] Antonius Bellonus Taurinen[sis]. imprimebat anno post partu[m] deiparæ virginis 1536. Die vero 22 Februarii. [Genoa, Antonio Bellone, 22 February 1536] [with:] HASSEL, Johannes. SENTENTIA VENERABILIS DOMINI JOANNIS HASSELII. super facto Nectarii, Episcopi Constantinopolitani, circa sublationem confessionis, Praesidentibus Concilii Tridentini, exhibita, ac nunquàm antehac excusa. Antwerpiæ, ex officina Christophori Plantini. M. D. LXIIII. [Antwerp, Plantin, 1564] [with:] BRENZ, Johannes. DE ADMINISTRANDA PIE REPUBLICA, ac subditorum erga Magistratus iusta obedientia libellus. Excudebat Petrus Frentius. 1551.

SAVONAROLA, Girolamo. Three works in one volume, small 8vo (text block 140 x 92mm); ff. 60; pp. [x], 44, [1] privilege; ff. [120]; woodcut on first title, device on second title, and fine large device on last page of third work; bound in late 16th century olive morocco for Jacques-Auguste de Thou (see below); gilt arms on both covers, and monogram initials in three compartments of spine, with the names of the authors in the other two. (Very slight rubbing on joints.) A splendid binding for the historian and bibliophile Jacques-Auguste de Thou (1553-1617), with his arms as a bachelor. De Thou married three times, and later bindings carry his arms and initials combined with those of his successive wives. The first work in this volume is a very early edition of Savonarola's dialogue between the spirit and the soul, a devotional work titled Solatium itineris mei. The edition follows that printed at Venice the previous year, and is dedicated to Marco Cataneo, auxiliary Bishop of Genoa and titular Archbishop of Rhodes, by Paolo de' Franchi (1490-1544), who surnamed himself 'Parthenopæus'. He describes the year 1536 as the seventh year of liberty, clearly referring to the expulsion of the French from the city in 1528/9, after which Andrea Doria become the de facto ruler of the city. After 1528, de' Franchi seems to have taken an active part in the city's government and intellectual life. He apparently commissioned this work from Antonio Bellone of Turin, who had recently arrived in Genoa - his first recorded book is dated 29 January 1534, and the same year he had printed a political oration by de' Franchi, on the love of one's country (CNCE 54836). The second work is an early book from the press of Christopher Plantin, a collection of pieces by Johannes Hassel on the Council of Trent and other subjects. The third is by the Lutheran theologian Johannes Brenz (1499-1570), who was pastor of Michaelskirche, Schwäbisch Hall. All in all, a very theologically mixed compilation, quite appropriate for a man of de Thou's broad sympathies and tolerant outlook. I: CNCE 32092 (locating only five copies in Italy); Adams S516; not in BMC Italian. II: Adams H84; not in BMC Netherlands. III: VD16 B7479; Adams B2752; not in BMC German.
  • $7,982
  • $7,982
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MEMOIR’S FOR A NATURAL HISTORY OF ANIMALS. Containing the anatomical descriptions of several creatures dissected by the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris. Englished by Alexander Pitfeild, Fellow of the Royal Society. To which is added an Account of the measure of a degree of a great circle of the Earth, published by the same Academy, and Englished by Richard Waller, S.R.S.

PERRAULT, Claude. Folio (298 x 197mm), pp. [xvi], 3-267, [2] table of animals, [15] index; 40; title page in red and black; with additional engraved title (by Richard Waller) and 35 plates, of which 30 are in the first part and five are in the second; a very good copy in contemporary calf (rebacked, corners a bit worn, modern labels). First edition, reissued with a redated title page in 1701, and then again in 1702, with a slightly altered title (The natural history of animals): this is the only edition. The work is a translation of Perrault's Memoires pour servir à l'histoire naturelle des animaux (1671-76), containing 35 fine plates of animals: these are not the French plates, as printed by the Imprimerie Royale, but must have been recreated by copying from the originals - they are close copies, but perhaps lacking some of the finesse of the Paris edition. Alexander Pitfeild (1659-1728) had been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1684. Richard Waller, Secretary of the Society from 1687 to 1714, was his brother-in-law, and as he apparently designed the title page, which is signed 'R. Waller fec', he may have been responsible for the plates as well - as his biographer in ODNB says, 'among the fellows he became known for his artistic skills'. Wing P1582A. Provenance. Inscription on upper pastedown of Anne Mainwaring, dated 8 May 1751.
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  • $2,456
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POEMS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS.

[PRIOR, Matthew.] Folio (455 x 280mm), engraved frontispiece and pp. [xl], 506, [6] index; dampstaining at head of the volume in the middle; finely bound in contemporary black morocco, panelled in gilt; gilt edges, marbled endpapers, with red morocco label. (Spine very slightly rubbed.) A sumptuous edition, published by subscription. This is one of the copies printed for subscribers, with the watermark of a Strasburg bend: copies of the trade issue have the London arms, and those of the largest size have a fleur-de-lys over a shield. Although some copies have a few sheets with watermarks which are 'wrong' for the issue they represent, the key is in fact in the dimension of the inner margin, which in this copy is clearly that of the subscriber's issue (see final paragraph, below). During the reign of Queen Anne, Prior had been employed at a high level in the diplomatic service, but when the Whigs came to power after the Hanoverian succession he was one of those accused of corruption and treason, particularly with regard to the negotiations leading to the Treaty of Utrecht, and he was dismissed from his posts and placed under house arrest. After his release he found himself without any immediate source of funds, and to assist him the Tory peers Lord Harley and Lord Bathurst conceived the idea of publishing his poems by subscription; also involved in this project were a number of fellow members of the Kit-Cat Club, most notably the bookseller and publisher Jacob Tonson, and, as an adviser, Alexander Pope, whose recent subscription edition of the Iliad had been extremely profitable. In the end the venture was a great success; the 20-page list of subscribers includes 1445 names, for 1786 copies. Not surprisingly, the book remains, relatively speaking, a common book among the great literary publications of the Augustan age. 'The book reprinted and reordered all the poems from the 1709 edition of Poems on Several Occasions and added a number of poems written since that time, notably 'Solomon' and 'Alma'. Though he probably did not make as much money as is commonly cited (4000 guineas), Prior undeniably made a small fortune by this publication and found himself comfortably off for the rest of his life, independently wealthy and no longer dependent on repayments from a remiss and recalcitrant government' (Oxford DNB). Illustration. With a classical frontispiece engraved by B. Baron after a design by Louis Cheron; a large engraved vignette on the title-page, and numerous engraved head-pieces and tail-pieces. Provenance. Contemporary armorial bookplate of Philip Southcote (1698-1758). Southcote, from a relatively impoverished Catholic family, was the creator of a notable - and influential - landscape garden at Woburn Farm, Surrey; he also became friendly with several artists and poets, such as Alexander Pope, William Kent and Lord Burlington. Although this sumptuous copy must originally have been subscription copy, his name is not in the list of subscribers - at the age of only twenty, he was too young and too poor to have put his name down for an expensive book like this; moreover, like so many other young Catholic men, he was educated in France, returning to England only in 1723. However, in the early 1730s he married Anne Pulteney (d. 1745), widow of the Duke of Cleveland (one of Charles II's illegitimate sons), and his financial position was transformed. Neither Anne nor her first husband had been subscribers, either, but her family had: 'The Right Honourable William Pulteney' is down for two copies. This is her nephew William Pulteney (1684-1764), already a powerful politician and a privy councillor, and future political enemy of Robert Walpole; in 1742 he became Earl of Bath. It is possible that the book was given to the Duchess of Cleveland by her brother, or indeed by Pulteney to his aunt's second husband after their marriage. In modern times the book belonged to A.N.L. Munby (1913-74), scholar, book collector and librarian of King's Cambridge. Foxon p. 641. The key to different paper sizes was established by H. Bunker Wright in an article in Modern Philology in 1952: the inner margin of the trade edition measures 1.25 inches; that of this medium (i.e. subscription) issue is 1.75 inches; and the 'superfine' luxury size is over 3 inches. The present copy is about 10cm taller than a copy of the trade issue I have in stock, and is 2cm taller than a copy of the subscriber's issue bound in green morocco which I had in stock some years ago.
  • $1,842
  • $1,842
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THE PLAYS AND POEMS OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, in ten volumes; collated verbatim with the most authentick copies, and revised, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators; to which are added, an Essay on the chronological order of his plays; and Essay relative to Shakspeare and Jonson; a Dissertation on the three parts of King Henry VI.; an Historical Account of the English stage; and notes; by Edmond Malone.

SHAKESPEARE, William. Ten volumes bound in eleven (the first volume being designed to be bound as two), pp. [iv], lxxxix, [ii], 414; [ii], 331, [5], 316; [ii], 539; [ii], 636; [ii], 570; [i]], 604; [ii], '624' (actually 628); [ii], 600; [ii], 702; [ii] 648; [ii], 692, [40] index; with five plates in volume I (i) and one each in volumes I (ii), V and X (making eight in all, one of them folding, with some tears, but complete); signature T bound after U in volume I (ii), mispagination in volumes II and VI but quite complete; nicely bound in early 19th century half calf, spines gilt, morocco labels (one spine noticeably repaired, but all in good condition), marbled edges and endpapers. First Malone edition: this is the first edition of the plays to include a scholarly edition of the Poems, reusing and refining the work Malone had done on the Sonnets when he issued, in 1780, his supplement to the Johnson-Steevens edition of 1778. It was also the first to include a Glossarial Index, showing the increasingly technical and sophisticated approach to the editing of Shakespeare. 'As Malone died before setting in order his chaotic notes for the 21-volumes variorum, the task Boswell's son completed, this 1790 edition was the best memorial in his lifetime' (Franklin). Franklin, Shakespeare Domesticated, pp. 44, 130 and 174; Jaggard p. 505. Provenance. Ownership inscription in volume I of J. Skynner, the gift of Eliz. Swale, April 1791.
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MISCELLANY POEMS. Vol. II. By several hands. The fifth edition.

[POPE, Alexander, editor.] 12mo, pp. [ii], 287, [7] indexes, [12] advertisements; a fine copy in contemporary panelled calf, spine gilt, labelled 'Pope's Miscell' and '2'. (Cracking at head of joints, but very sound.) Volume II only of the fifth edition of this important miscellany, which evolved out of the miscellanies first printed in 1712 and 1717, and which gradually became more and more centred on the poetry of Pope, who by this date had the contents fully under his control. This volume is of considerable interest as it is inscribed on the title page: 'Walt. Harte D.D. Alex. Pope Arm.' Walter Harte (1709-1774) was educated at St. Mary Hall, Oxford, where as an undergraduate he was introduced to Alexander Pope, possibly by Joseph Spence. His first book was Poems on Several Occasions, also printed in 1727, whilst he was still a teenager: the volume included a panegyric 'To Mr. Pope', and the older and more famous poet subscribed for four copies. Harte later said that Pope had corrected every page in the volume 'with his own hand'; the two poets remained mutual admirers for many years. It is tempting to think that this book must have been given to Harte by Pope in the first flush of their friendship. The first volume is missing, but perhaps (since Harte inscribed volume II) it was never present, and this was all that Pope gave him. The inscription records Pope as being 'Arm.' - that is being 'armigerous', or having the right to a heraldic achievement of arms - which of course he was not: Harte has later deleted that description, but one can imagine that as a young man he might well have been so overawed by Pope that he put him in a higher social class than he really was. Case, English poetical miscellanies, 260 (2) (d).
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