Christopher Edwards Archives - Rare Book Insider

Christopher Edwards

  • Showing all 25 results

book (2)

A COLLECTION OF PLAYS EDITED BY WILLIAM OXBERRY.

MARLOWE, Christopher. Five works bound in one volume, 12mo, pp. 'vii' (i.e. vi), [ii], 72, '45'-'47', [1], [2] remarks; xi, i], 83; v, [i], 65; iv, 83, [1] blank, [1] dramatis personae; [iv], 40; a fine volume in contemporary half roan, spine lettered in gilt. One of two very similar sets of Marlowe's plays to be issued in 1818, preceding what is normally thought of as the true first collected edition, issued by William Pickering in three volumes in 1826. This is a different edition from the collection of Marlowe's plays, with exactly the same five pieces, and with introductions by James Broughton, published in 1818 by C. Chappell, junior, whose shop was at the Royal Exchange. In fact, the two editions appear to have been brought out in competition with each other, and there was some tension between the editors: it seems that Broughton's edition was criticised by Oxberry, who labelled it a 'spurious' edition, and implied that it was attempting to pass itself off as this one, because of the similarity of the names of the publishers. Broughton replied in the British Stage in May 1818, denying this – although the charge of passing-off is made more believable by the fact that he called his edition 'Marshall's edition', echoing the name of another of the booksellers on the title page here. It looks as though the present edition was published first, and so has the distinction of being the first collected edition of Marlowe. The five items in this collection are: The Jew of Malta, Edward II, Dr Faustus, Lust's Dominion and The Massacre at Paris. The most prominent missing piece here is, of course, Tamburlaine. See Dorothy U. Seyler, 'James Broughton, editor of Marlowe's plays', in PBSA 69 (1975), pp. 311-322.
  • $326
book (2)

AN ADIEU TO THE TURF: a poetical epistle from the E–l of A—-n to his Grace the A—p of Y–k.

[CRICKET.] 4to, pp. [iv], vii, [i], 24; a good copy, in modern quarter morocco over marbled boards. First edition, of three, all published the same year. The Earl of Abingdon was a somewhat eccentric supporter of the Tories in the Lords, opposed to the North government. He had been a pupil of William Markham when he was headmaster of Westminster School; and Markham had since risen to become first Dean of Christ Church, then Bishop of Chester and finally Archbishop of York in 1776. This satirical poem pictures Abingdon as remembering his schooldays, when he neglected his books for women, cricket and dice: Scarce fourteen years had pass'd away When first I thought of am'rous play, Of Women not afraid: For them I left more childish Cricket; I only strove to hit their Wicket, And put-out every Maid. (p. 3) He also recalls his early adulthood, touring the continent – where, in fact, he visited Voltaire at Ferney in company with John Wilkes – finally coming back to England where he took great pleasure in horseracing. He now promises to forgo the turf and concentrate on politics, tutored once more by his old schoolmaster: Under your Sword Ecclesiastic, I'll shew America a vast trick, And turn on Her the joke; I'll cut Prince Washington in two, Give Silas Deane, and Franklin too, A new Electric stroke. (p. 21) Jackson, Annals, p. 60. Five copies only of this first edition in ESTC, at the Bodleian, Cornell, Huntington, Berkeley and University of Sydney. The second edition is even rarer (BL and Durham Cathedral only) but the third is somewhat commoner.
  • $1,239
  • $1,239
book (2)

IOANNIS BARCLAII ICON ANIMORUM.

BARCLAY, John. 8vo, pp. [xii], 346; lacking ff. R4-5 (pp. 263-6); else a very good copy, in contemporary limp vellum (possibly English, but more likely French) covering thin pasteboard sides; sewn onto three bands, lower pastedown now lifted and free endpaper cut away. First edition. Although actually a separate and discrete work, this neo-Latin work by the Scots writer John Barclay was often considered to be the fourth part of his Satyricon, his most famous work, published in 1605. At the time that this work appeared, Barclay – who had been born in France, but identified strongly as Scottish – was living in England, as a pensioner at court. Soon afterwards, though, he left London for Rome: he was apparently accused of composing a scandalous text, but it was also true that the English court was less welcoming to Catholics by the 1610s. At any rate, whilst in Rome he wrote the book by which he is remembered, Argenis. It was only published posthumously, a few months after his death in the summer of 1621; but it established for him a Europe-wide reputation. Despite having lived in England for some years, Barclay was clearly still attached to France, as this book was dedicated to the young Louis XIII, who had ascended the throne on the assassination of his father, Henri IV, four years earlier. Provenance. This book was in France at a very early date. The lower cover has the figure of St Augustine as bishop, surrounded by the words 'Sigil. Bibliot. Conven. et Coll. S August. Paris.' – that is, the Grand Couvent des Augustins in Paris, which occupied land near the Pont Neuf. It had been founded in 1240, and was in existence until its suppression at the Revolution. The upper cover gives us the donor's name: 'Ex donis nobilissimi D.D. Leonardi Tardi' - that is, Léonard Tardi (d. 1670), auditor of the Chambre des Comptes, whose substantial donation to the house is recorded in a note on the Bibliothèque Nationale's website. At the Revolution, the library of the Augustins was seized for the state. This book, along with others, went to the Tribunat, an assembly instituted in 1800: a small oval stamp on the title page identifies the book as theirs, and is accompanied by an ink shelfmark 'B III no. 1860', which is typical of octavo books in the library. The Tribunat's collection was gathered from the many libraries that had been confiscated ten years earlier, but their own existence was to be very short: having already been weakened in 1802 because of its opposition to Napoleon, the institution was disbanded in 1807, and its library distributed. According to the Bibliothèque Nationale's website, the Bibliothèque Impériale was allowed to take any books it did not already have, and as that library now has three copies (and the Arsenal four more) it is to be presumed that this book was not claimed for this reason. STC 1398.
  • $848
book (2)

A POETICAL DESCRIPTION OF BRISTOL

GOLDWIN, William. Folio (325 x 200mm), pp. [vi], 21; title page very stained and a bit creased; and with small portion missing at head, just affecting the border rule; verso of final leaf (which is blank) likewise stained; a few other leaves with stains, generally at the corners; overall, a fine fresh copy, stitched as issued. First and only contemporary edition of a very rare topographical poem about one of the major centres of trade and industry in early-18th century Britain. The origins of William Goldwin (c. 1682-1747) are not known, but he was educated at Eton and King's College Cambridge, becoming a fellow of his college in 1703. Ordained in 1706, he was soon appointed to the headship of Bristol Grammar School, where he appears to have stayed until 1717; he then became vicar of St Nicholas, Bristol, where he remained for the rest of his life. Like many young men, he was ambitious to be a poet, and published his Musae Juveniles (neo-Latin poems, one describing a cricket match) in London in 1706. This seems to be his only other published work of poetry: it was revised and republished after his death, in a version by Isaac Smart (London and Bristol, 1751). Goldwin's poem is dedicated to the Mayor, Aldermen and Common Council ('and other Inhabitants') of Bristol. It begins by asking us to divert attention from the normal rural interests of poetry: A nobler Theme in grander Thoughts pursue, An ancient City is a glorious View, Ancient in Privilege, in Politeness new; Where Nature's Hand and Arts Improvement join, To make the Place in useful Greatness shine (p. 1). Goldwin especially praises the buildings of the city, with its churches, and their weather-vanes, naturally drawing his attention: Each lofty pile an artful Emblem wears, Whose Vanes obsequious to the shifting Airs In whiffling Turns, like crafty Statesman's Mind, High Stations hold, yet tack with every Wind (p. 5) He also praises the local schools and almshouses, in particular those of the Bristol-born Edward Colston (whose wealth was largely founded on the slave trade), whom he identifies as 'great Eusebio': Here Youth imbibe Religion's early Seeds, Before the Ground-work takes the vitious Weeds: There pious Age, with Life's declining Rays, Secures a safe Retreat for latter Days. So careful Gard'ners with unwearied Pain Young Nurs'ries plant, and bending Trees sustain (p. 7). Much of the rest of the poem, however, is concerned with the harbour, where he views the ships and trading houses on which Bristol built its wealth: Some unconcern'd in idle Motions stalk, Mere Expletives, to croud the cover'd Walk, Whilst buzzing Tongues in Traffick-language talk: Some whisper private News in Partner's Ear, And drop a secret Hint of Privateer, (An hateful Monster dreaded more by far Than Savage Mohock or a blazing Star.) (p. 11) At one point, he takes a side-swipe at 'Half-sheet Authors' at a coffee-house, whose works 'enflame |Britannia's happy Church and civil Frame' – and he urges them to copy the style of the Spectator, and 'Mix Wit with Sense, and factious Contests shun' (p. 12). More than anything, however, he celebrates the triumph of the new buildings which the city's energy has raised: What can't Inventress Art and Labour do? The handsome Square from heaps of Rubbish grew; And, tho' past Years the marshy Bottom saw Thick drizzling Fogs from steaming Nature draw, No vap'rish Humours left, but only those Which Ladies sickly Fancies discompose: Where Level-walks delightful Lanes display, There wat'ry Mud in deep Confusion lay (p. 18). A wholly remarkable poem, about one of the greatest cities of Europe in the early 18th century. Foxon G216, recording five copies, at the British Library, Bodleian (uncut, like this one) and Bristol Public Library (which he had not seen) in the UK; and Huntington and Yale in the US. ESTC has enlarged the tally of copies in the past fifty years, to include examples at the King's Inn in Dublin, and at Harvard, McMaster and Denver Public Library. (The supposed two copies at Harvard are, as usual, the same copy reported twice.) Aubin, Topographical Poetry, p. 81, calls this 'a work which demands careful examination extremely detailed and objective'.
  • $1,630
  • $1,630
book (2)

EPISTLE FROM LADY GRANGE TO EDWARD D—, ESQ. Written during her confinement in the island of St. Kilda.

[ERSKINE, William.] 4to, pp. 24; first and last pages quite badly dust-stained, and some marginal tears; with evidence of having been once folded down the middle; else a fine copy, uncut and stitched as issued First edition: there was a reprint the following year, but those seem to be the only two editions. This poem by William Erskine (1773-1852), close friend of the poet Thomas Campbell, is based on a story told by Boswell in his Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, about the mysterious abduction of Lady Grange (d. 1745), and her imprisonment on St Kilda for several years. Erskine quotes Boswell's text on pp. 5-6, and adds: 'Such is the foundation, on which the following Poem rests. The additional circumstances introduced are mere fictions of the imagination.' The poem's suggested reason for her confinement is that she loved a man other than her husband; nonetheless, she finds contentment in the reality of life on her remote island: Far from the crimes and follies that I trace, Kind Nature holds me midst her favourite race. – Escap'd the fever'd world by happy stealth, A skiff their navy, and a rock their wealth. Nor haughty Wealth, with proud contemptuous sneer, Nor Poverty, the child of Wealth, is here. (p. 16). See Hill-Powell V pp. 227 and 539-40 for the story. Not long after the publication of this poem, in 1804, Erskine went out to India, where he became a historian of the country, and a scholar of Persian. ESTC locates seven copies in the UK (three of them in Edinburgh, and all but two in Scotland), one in Germany, and four in the USA (Huntington, Lilly, Illinois and Cornell). Provenance. Contemporary inscription on title of Alex. Jaffray, dated 1798.
  • $652
book (2)

ICELANDIC POETRY, or the Edda of Saemund. Translated into English verse, by A.S. Cottle, of Magdalen College, Cambridge.

COTTLE, Amos Simon. 8vo, pp. xlii, [iv], 224, 235-318, [1] errata; complete despite the error in pagination; rebound in modern boards, cloth spine, retaining old (early or mid-19th c) label. First and only edition of this translation of the Edda by Amos Simon Cottle, elder brother of the more famous Joseph Cottle, friend and publisher of Coleridge, Wordsworth and Southey. The translation was probably made from a Latin rendering, rather than the original, and was originally made in prose; on Southey's recommendation, Cottle then turned it into verse, but as poetry the work was not well received, and was harshly denigrated by William Herbert in his translation of 1804-6. Cottle died young in London, only three years later. This book is in fact probably most celebrated for the long prefatory poem, 'To A.S. Cottle, from Robert Southey', which is on pp. xxxi-xlii. Written in blank verse, it is an eloquent example of the new romantic poetry being championed by Southey's circle. More than this, it includes a notable tribute to Mary Wollstonecraft, which must have been written within a few weeks of her death: Cottle's preface is dated 1 November 1797, and Wollstonecraft had died on 10 September. Southey – fifteen years her junior – had admired Wollstonecraft from afar, and addressed her in a sonnet published in his Poems of early this same year. He certainly met her in May, when he and Edith came to dinner at Godwin's house, but they cannot have met on many other occasions, as he spent the summer of that year in the country, only returning after her death. In this poem he gives her the highest praise, as one Who among women left no equal mind When from this world she pass'd; and I could weep, To think that She is to the grave gone down!
  • $293
book (2)

ORIGINAL POEMS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS by Miss Whateley.

DARWALL, Mary, née Whateley. 8vo, pp. 9, [xxv], 11-117, [1] blank, [2] contents; rather spotted in places, and with some worming in the lower margin in the last ten leaves, not affecting the text; contemporary sheep, joints cracked and lightly rubbed; but sound. First edition. Mary Whateley (1738-1825) was the daughter of a substantial farming family at Beoley, Worcs., and had a very limited education. She began contributing poems to the Gentleman's Magazine in 1759, and before long a number of them were sent to William Shenstone for his opinion, and he recommended that Dodsley publish them. They were also seen before publication by John Langhorne, who contributes a prefatory poem on pp. 11-12. The book was issued by subscription, and among those taking copies were Erasmus Darwin, Mary Delany and Thomas Seward (father of Anna); another subscriber was the Rev. John Darwall of Walsall, who took two copies. He was already known to the poet, as he is addressed in a poem on pp. 100-101, 'Ode to Friendship'. He soon became more than a friend, because in 1766 he and Mary Whateley were married. She seems to have published nothing while they were married, but after his death she returned to Walsall, and published a two-volume collection in 1794. This collection was reprinted in Dublin the same year (just two copies are recorded in ESTC), but otherwise this is the only edition. Roger Lonsdale, who once owned this copy, prints four of her poems in Eighteenth-century Women Poets. Provenance. A deleted inscription on the title page seems to read 'M Martin September 1763' (the same name, undated but not deleted, is written in pencil on the endpaper). The date must be uncertain, as Mary's printed dedication (to Lady Wrottesley) is itself dated 3 December 1763; but there is a Rev. James Martin, 'Rector of Mitchell Troy, in Monmouthshire', listed among the subscribers, and this could be his copy. Also with a later inscription of Mary Seppings.
  • $587
book (2)

THE BUSY BEE, OR, VOCAL REPOSITORY. Being a selection of the most favourite songs, &c. containing in the English operas, that have been sung at the Public Gardens, and written for select societies; together with an extensive collection of hunting songs, and a variety of Scotch and Irish ballads, &c.

[BUSY.] Three volumes, 12mo in sixes, pp. xvi, 276, 279-350; [iii]-xii, 348; [iv], viii, 344, [1], 344-348; with engraved frontispiece in each volume; text complete despite pagination errors; tear in pp. 11-12 in volume I (no loss); and small hole in pp. 45-46 in volume III; contemporary sheep-backed marbled boards, with vellum tips to corners; rather worn, with labels fragile. Sole edition of an attractive miscellany, including songs by David Garrick, T.J. Dibdin, R.B. Sheridan, William Cowper, Peter Pindar, William Shenstone, Captain Morris and others, including (II p. 169) 'Mr Chatterton'. There is an index to the plays in which the songs appear at the front of volume I. ESTC locates copies at the following libraries: BL, National Library of Scotland, Oxford Christ Church and Bodleian; American Antiquarian Society, Harvard, Library Co of Philadelphia, and NYPL. Provenance. Early ownership inscriptions of 'T. Wallace'; and 'Henry Westropp – bought at Liston Rectory 11 April 1855'. The Rev. Thomas Wallace, educated at Cambridge in the 1780s, was for 54 years rector of Liston, Essex, until his death on 15 February 1855; this book was doubtless bought at the auction of his property immediately after his death. Henry Westropp was a local landowner, living at Place Farm, Melford.
  • $326
book (2)

THE PRESENT STATE OF MUSIC IN FRANCE AND ITALY: or, the journal of a tour through those countries, undertaken to collect materials for a General History of Music.

BURNEY, Charles. 8vo, pp. vii, [i], 396, [10] index, [1] advertisement (for the plan of Burney's General History); bound without the errata leaf; otherwise a good copy in contemporary calf, slightly worn, but sound. First edition. Burney had been thinking about this work since 1763, when he had asked David Garrick, then about to embark on a visit to the continent, to send a report on 'the present State of Music in Italy' – although, as Roger Lonsdale, who once owned this copy, notes in his biography (p. 61), he was well aware of Garrick's inability to distinguish good music from bad. It was not until the summer of 1770 that Burney set off for France: he spent most of his time there in Paris, in the libraries, but his real object was Italy. On the way there he visited Geneva and Ferney, where he had a memorable encounter with Voltaire, 'a form. nearly composed of mere skin and bone', but whose 'eyes and whole countenance are still full of fire' (p. 59). The Italian section occupies the last 300pp of the book, which is in places virtually a transcript of the journal he kept on his travels, and was originally intended to be a 'pamphlet, or small volume', and no more than a taster for the General History. It was published on 3 May 1771, to considerable acclaim. See Lonsdale, Dr Charles Burney, pp. 86-104. Provenance. Early inscription 'J. Goodricke' on the leaf opposite the title. This could just possibly be the Yorkshire astronomer John Goodricke (1764-86), but since he was deaf from an early age, it would have been of only theoretical interest; it is more likely to be the signature of his grandfather, Sir John Goodricke (1708-89), of Ribston Hall, Yorks.
  • $587
book (2)

POEMS ON MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS, composed and selected by Charlotte Beverley.

BEVERLEY, Charlotte. 8vo, engraved frontispiece (by Holloway after Burney) and pp. 247, [1] blank, [5] contents, [1] blank, [6] list of subscribers; but lacking the last leaf of the subscribers' list (one page, with blank verso); pagination including the engraved title page, which is rather discoloured; bound with an edition of Falconer's The Shipwreck (see below) in one volume, in contemporary half calf over marbled boards, spine with red morocco label. Sole edition of this collection of poetry, edited and partly written by Charlotte Beverley, who lived at Hull. Among the several Beverleys subscribing to the book is 'Beverley, Rev. John', who must surely be the presbyterian minister of Hull's Bowl Alley Lane Chapel, where he presided 1757-99, and who seems likely to be Charlotte's father. The subscription list has the third leaf misbound before the frontispiece, and lacks the fourth leaf (carrying just one page of names). Most of the subscribers were from Hull, but some are from more exotically distant places, such as Miss Boch, from St Petersburg (not, perhaps, actually so very remote from a busy eastern seaport like Hull). About fifty of them subscribed for copies on 'coarse paper', which seems an odd distinction. The poems include the usual miscellany of elegies, biblical paraphrases and epigrams, but there are some less likely subjects, too: 'An Apology for Vagrants, from a Country Justice', 'Verses on the death of Capt. Cook, inscribed to Miss Seward' (with references to 'Omai', the South Sea Islander who came to Britain in 1774 and was painted by Reynolds), and 'The faithful negro, an elegiac fragment' – this poem is referred to in the frontispiece, attributed to 'Burney' (who must be the artist Edward Francisco Burney). This seems to be Miss Beverley's only book: it is very rare, with ESTC locating four copies in the UK (BL, Leeds, Oxford and York Minster); and five in the USA (two at UCLA, plus Colorado, Illinois and Kansas). Jackson, Romantic Poetry by Women, p. 27. Bound with an edition of Willam Falconer's The Shipwreck (London, T. Sabine and son, c. 1800), recorded by ESTC at the BL and Lincoln College Oxford only; this book is somewhat cropped at the foremargin.
  • $587