28209. BALLAD OPERA. BROME, RICHARD [AND OTHERS]. .: The Jovial Crew. A Comic Opera. As it is Performed at the Theatre-Royal In Covent-Garden. London, R Tonson, 1860. 8vo, pp [4], 41, [3, including a final blank], disbound from a collection, slightly browned but sound, a good copy, FIRST EDITION THUS, in the form of the ballad opera revival of the play original written by Richard Brome in about 1641, and often revived thereafter. In 1731 in the wake of Gay's success it was turned into a ballad opera, by Concanen, Roome and Yonge. This in turn was revived in 1760 with a number of alterations intended to remove the more risqué or suggestive lines and songs. Interestingly the first of the four 1760 Tonson printings had the publisher self censoring the text with pasted over slips, - leaving page 29 for example, with no lines at all, just direction 'The End of the Second Act. The whole would be reset for the second and subsequent printings, but this first issue is rare, recorded in ESTC 3 copies UK and 4 USA. In this copy the overslips are all in place except one partly removed by a previous owner curious to know what might be written beneath. He has not bothered to go on with the job. . £75.00
27924. BOSCAWEN -HORACE.: The Satires, Epistles and Art of Poetry of Horace, Translated into English Verse. London, for John Stockdale, 1797. 8vo, pp xix, [1], 559, [1], bound in contemporary tree calf, sides gilt panelled, spine gilt with raised bands and black label, lightly rubbed and cracked at joints but a very sound clean copy, FIRST EDITION of Boscowen's translation, his second of Horace following his earlier translation of the odes published in 1793. Although issued quite separately they were often bound together, and this copy evidently originally accompanied the earlier volume although it is quite separate in ESTC. Attractive copy of a scarce translation which was not reprinted. £60.00
28096. BROWNE, SIR THOMAS.: Religio Medici...with Notes and Annotations...The Life of the Author.... Also Sir Kenelm Digby's Observations. London, J Torbuck & C Corbett, 1736. Small 8vo, pp xxxvi, 253, [1, adverts], [6], [4, adverts], engraved frontispiece, neatly bound in contemporary polished calf, spine gilt with raised bands and red label, upper joint cracked but holding, text lightly browned, slight rounding to upper outer corners [perhaps where previously damp], else a very good sound copy, NEW EDITION, 'Corrected and Amended', with the usual annotations by Thomas Keck. £85.00
27961. CHANDLER BISHOP EDWARD.: A Defence of Christianity from the Prophecies of the Old Testament; wherein are considered All the Objections against this kind of Proof , advanced in a late discourse... London, James and John Knapton, 1725. 8vo, pp [8], vi, [2], xvii, [1], 366, [2], [2, adverts], contemporary unlettered panelled calf, a minor crack to upper joint, contemporary presentation inscription on the title page, but a fine crisp copy, SECOND EDITION; published in the same year as the first without apparent alteration apart from an index and summary view. The first and perhaps most important of Chander's anti Deist writings, here against Collins and his view of the Jewish books of the Old Testament with their supposed prophecies of the coming of Christ. Chandler was perhaps the most learned of all writers against the Deists, and his arguments, right or wrong, may be said to be brilliantly set forth in this work. £85.00
27972. CHUBB, THOMAS.: A Collection of Tracts on Various Subjects. London, 'Printed for the Author', 1730. 4to, pp [6]. 474, bound in contemporary calf, spine gilt with raised bands, red label [chipped], joints cracked but holding, spine ends worn and slightly chipped, boards rubbed, internally sound and clean, FIRST EDITION, collecting together 35 of Chubb's earliest Deist tracts - he would go on to published many more in both separate and collective form. A self taught scholar from humble background, Chubb nevertheless exerted wide popular interest as well as much derision from the religious establishment who were out to dismiss any forethought writings. His detractors included Edwards in America, but the expense of this present publication, printed on heavy high quality paper suggests Chubb had wide and wealthy patronage. £145.00
28040. COCK LANE GHOST.: The London Magazine or Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer Vol XXXI for the Year 1762. [London], R Baldwin, [Jan-Dec 1762]. 8vo, pp [4], 725, [16], with engraved general title page with vignette London panorama, title pages to the separate issues with similar panorama vignette in woodcut, bound in contemporary calf backed marbled boards, brown label, rubbed and slightly worn at corners but quite sound, free endpapers removed, text lightly browned and with minor stains and faults, but a sound copy in good state, FIRST EDITION, bound as often without the 22 plates and plans, but otherwise a satisfactory copy which includes one of the several journal accounts of the so-called Cock Lane Ghost, sensation of London in the year 1762, giving rise to no less than nine successive articles in the present publication as well as a two-part separate essay on apparitions and witches ' their supposed existence. The Cock Lane episode commences in January 'The town has been greatly alarmed in the course of the month, by a strange and yet unaccountable affair, in Cock Lane...' The story is followed throughout the year, and has gone down in history as a notorious tale of deceit and credulity. £125.00
27925. COLMAN, GEORGE, THE ELDER. [TRANSLATOR]. HORACE.: [Latin Title] The Art of Poetry; an epistle to the Pisos. Translated from Horace. With notes. By George Colman. London, T Cadell, 1783. Large 4to, pp [4], ix, 40 [repeated facing], [1], lxiiii, [1], English text with Latin facing, followed by notes, bound in contemporary full calf, spine with raised bands and olive label, upper joint cracked and weak, internally fine, FIRST EDITION, sole separate printing of this important 18th century translation of the Art of Poetry, and one of Colman's few non-theatrical literary enterprises. £125.00
28148. COOPER, JOHN GILBERT.: Letters concerning Taste. The Fourth Edition. To which are added, Essays on Similar and other Subjects. The Second Edition. By the Author of the Life of Socrates. London, J Dodsley, 1771. 8vo, pp [16], 220, with engraved frontispiece serving also as half title, bound contemporary tree calf, plainly rebacked in early calf without lettering, a serviceable job only, but internally clean and sound, a very good working or reading copy, FOURTH EDITION, reprinting the third of 1757 in which the two collections were first put together thus. All editions are scarce of this curious and original work on aesthetics which, like Burke's treatise, is oft quoted though little read. £60.00
26455. COTTON, CHARLES [TRANSLATOR]. LOUIS DE PONTIS.: Memoirs of the Sieur De Pontis; who served in the army six and fifty years, under King Henry IV. Lewis the XIII. and Lewis the XIV. Containing many remarkable passages relating to the war, the court, and the government of those princes. London : printed by F. Leach, for James Knapton, 1694. Small folio, pp [8], 287, title page in red and black, bound in near contemporary panelled calf, spine with blind decoration and raised bands, light cracks to joints and minor browning, but a very good copy, FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH, an interesting and lengthy supposed military memoir of the early 17th Century, Charles Cotton's final work, completed after his death by his son Beresford. The original French by Pierre Thomas based on the life of Benedict Louis de Pontis [1583-1670],' mousquetaire' from the period of Dumas' D'Artagnon and possibly known to the later author. Yet although the 'Memoires' were a popular 17th Century work the actual existence of De Pontis was doubted by such authorities as Voltaire who took the work to be spurious and fictional Cotton's translation may be seen as an entertaining adventure story with a military setting rather than any kind of real historical text. £250.00
26655. COTTON, CHARLES.: Scarronides: or, Virgile travestie : A mock-poem. In imitation of the fourth book of Virgils Æneis in English, burlesque. London : Printed by E. Cotes for Henry Brome, 1665. Small 8vo, pp [2], 156, [3, advert and final leaf woodcut device of Henry Brome], title within typographical border, bound in contemporary plain calf, rubbed but very sound, a fine unsophisticated copy, FIRST EDITION, as often without the 2 leaves of Poem by W B and evidently issued without, else an excellent copy of the second of Cotton's satires on Virgil, and first published the previous year. A combined edition was issued two years later in 1667. This copy has contemporary manuscript quote on the front endpaper [unidentified] 'Consequence of Virtue to ourselves we owe/ Fame is your trumpet which your people blow.' £250.00
28171. FIELDING, SARAH [TRANSLATOR]. XENOPHON.: Xenophon's Memoirs of Socrates. With The Defence of Socrates before his Judges. Translated from the Original Greek. By Sarah Fielding. Bath, C Pope, sold by A Millar, London, 1762. 8vo, pp [2], 8 [subscribers], [2, errata], vi, [1], 339, [1], 21, well bound in contemporary full polished tree calf, sides with gilt borders, spine floral gilt within compartments, red label, marbled endpapers, slightly rubbed and with light short joint cracks at head, but a fine clean copy in original state, FIRST EDITION, the most celebrated scholarly work of this notable female novelist and intellectual who lived in the shadow of her more famous and popular brother. Henry Fielding is supposed to have taken a rather loft view of her pretension which caused some coolness between them, but judged on its merits it is a fine and distinguished translation. Once a relatively common book. it is now a little more difficult to find, especially, as here, in rather pleasing contemporary tree calf, £295.00
28063. GOODMAN, JOHN.: The Penitent Pardon'd; or, a Discourse of Nature of Sin, and the Efficacy of Repentance, Under the Parable of the Prodigal Son. London, J Leake for John Meredith [in trust], 1707. 8vo, pp [22], 395, [5, adverts], engraved emblematic frontispiece, & 5 folding engraved plates, bound in contemporary panelled calf, joints a little worn and cracked but quite sound, spine ends slightly chipped, internally tight and clean ,a very food copy, SIXTH EDITION, a hugely popular devotional text from its first appearance in 1679, illustrated with rather elaborate plates no doubt inspired by the success of Jeremy Taylor's similar devotional. This copy has an interesting provenance, with the shaky signature of Rev Martin Johnson Cottingham on the title page, and on the endpaper a long Latin inscription and signature of Robert Martin Johnson Cottingham of Great Chesterford Park, dated 1810, an interesting Essex connection, and of Chesterford Park, now demolished. £125.00
27967. HALES, JOHN.: Several Tracts By the ever-memorable Mr John Hales of Eaton-College etc. 'Printed in the Year 1677.' Small 8vo, pp 253, with portrait [offset to title page], separate titles to the five parts, bound in contemporary calf, a little worn and plainly rebacked, a good clean copy internally, FIRST EDITION; Hales, who died in 1656, was a much respected scholar and divine of Arminian persuasion. The first tract 'Sermon Against Sin' as often is here placed before the collective title where it belongs according to the collation, It carries the full imprint - of John Byth 'at Mr Playfords shop.' - and the date of 1677. This copy caries a later Hales family bookplate. £120.00
27830. HALYBURTON, THOMAS.: Memoirs of the Life of the Reverend, learned and pious Mr. Thomas Halyburton, Professor of Divinity In the University of St. Andrews Digested in four parts. Whereof the first three were written with his own Hand....and the Fourth....from his diary.. Edinburgh, Andrew Anderson, 1715. 12mo, pp [16[, 228, bound in neat early 19th century full calf, spine gilt with raised bands and maroon label, a little rubbed, light browning and soiling, trimmed a little close, but a very good sound copy, SECOND EDITION, first printed in Edinburgh the previous year, both editions with dedication signed by the late author's wife Janet [but as Janet Watson], both being editions quite rare. Another 'second edition' appeared in London in 1718, this time with a commendatory epistle by Isaac watts and subsequently the book became a classic of nonconformist autobiography, based, in part upon the author's diary and autobiographical essays. Halyburton's Memoirs "have been considered, by competent judges, for more than a century, as one of the best specimens of religious biography extant." £185.00
27988. HENRY, MATTHEW. TONG, WILLIAM.: An Account of the Life and Death of Mr Matthew Henry, Minister of the Gospel at Hackney, Who dy'd June 22 1714 in the 52d Year of his Age. Chiefly collected out of his own Papers... Berwick, Printed for W Phorson [and B Law, London], 1794. 12mo, pp 256 including a final leaf of Phorson's publications, engraved portrait frontispiece, bound in contemporary tree sheep, spine gilt ruled with red label, lightly cracked to joints and chipped to head of spine, front free endpaper removed, else a very good clean tight copy, FIRST EDITION THUS, a very rare provincial printing of this popular nonconformist biography first printed in London in 1716, compiled from letters and diaries by Tong who had given Henry's funeral sermon in 1714. Two editions appeared in 1716, the octavo having the portrait presumably as reproduced here ;from a painting in the possession of Mr Palmer; ESTC records only 3 copies of this second Bewick printing in UK institutions, BLOC not amongst them, and 3 USA. £75.00
27900. HURD, RICHARD.: Moral and Political Dialogues between Divers Eminent Persons of the Past and Present Age, with critical and explanatory notes by the editor. London, A Millar, [and Thurlbourn and Woodyer, Cambridge], 1760. 8vo, pp xvi, 384, bound in contemporary full polished calf with red label and raised bands, minor faults only, a fine clean copy, SECOND EDITION, much enlarged from the first edition published the previous year. a collection of essays in the manner of Dialogues of the Dead, the dead here often being fairly recently deceased contemporaries in the fields of literature and philosophy. The dialogue on the age of Elizabeth would lead on to his later work on chivalry and romance which would in turn prove influential. Bowyer printed this book, 1000 copies. £120.00
28180. JULIAN, EMPEROR 'THE APOSTATE'. DUNCOMBE, JOHN [TRANSLATOR].: Select works of the Emperor Julian : and some pieces of the sophist Libanius tr. from the Greek. With notes from Petau, La Bleterie, Gibbon, etc. To which is added, The history of the Emperor Jovian, from the French of the Abbé de La Bleterie. London, J Nichols for T Cadell, 1784. 2 volumes, 8vo, pp [2], xxxix, [1], 342, [2, errata]: [4], 397.[1, errata], half title, pedigree in text, trimmed and rebound in modern plain but serviceable green buckram cloth, internally fine, FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH; this was apparently Duncombe's final literary effort before his death in 1786, and marks a revival of interest towards the end of the 18th century in more continuous pagan or Platonic classical writers such as Julian, who, among subversives, has always exercised a certain fascination. This copy, though a scarce edition, cannot be called more than a reading one in its present binding, executed with scholarly frugality for the historian George C Boon in 1988, though he had acquired it, according to his note, in 1947. £75.00
28196. LAW. JACOB, GILES.: The Compleat Court-Keeper: or, Land-Steward's Assistant. Containing, First, The Nature of Courts-Leet and Courts-Baron... London, Henry Lintot, 1741. 8vo, pp viii, 522, [22], bound in contemporary polished calf, red label worn, the upper board somewhat crudely but quite effectively refixed, final leaf with a small portion of blank margin removed [?with manuscript notes], and with notes on land prices for 1749 added to another margin, a good sound clean copy, FOURTH EDITION, marking a significant expansion of Joacob's original 1713 text which in turn served to replace the seventeenth century authority of Sheppard on Courts Leet and Baron. £75.00
28062. MIDDLETON, CONYERS [TRANSLATOR]. CICERO.: The Epistles of M T Cicero to M Brutus, and of Brutus to Cicero; with...English notes to each Epistle. Together with a Prefatory Dissertation, In which the Authority of the said Epistles is Vindicated. London, Richard Manby, 1743. 8vo, pp [4], cxxvii, [1], 195, [1, adverts], with advert leaf before title, bound in contemporary diamond dyed panelled calf, spine with raised bands and old but perhaps slightly later olive label, spine a little rubbed at joints and spine ends, but a fine clean copy, FIRST EDITION; Middleton was himself a well-established classical scholar at Cambridge, previously involved in conspicuous controversy with Bentley, when he entered into debate on authenticity of letters to Brutus, disputed by Tunstall. Middleton would later prove to be in large part right in accepting them into the Cicero canon of letters, and in this work provided for a first time a [parallel] English translation, which would remain the standard one long after. His defence of the book, however, occupies half of it, and is a model of English classical scholarship in the 18th Century.. A very pleasing copy of this significant text. £95.00
28185. MORE, HANNAH.: Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education. With a View of the Principles and Conduct Prevalent among Women of Rank and Fortune. London, T Cadell, 1799. 2 volumes, 8vo, pp xix, 292: vii, [1], 327, [1, adverts], half title in volume one, bound in contemporary calf, rebacked at an early period, the joints again cracked but holding soundly, later endpapers with numerous family notes ?relating to Hannah More, ownership of Amy Samuel from 1899, one leaf with a flower stain to inner margin, small rust stain to first title page, else clean and sound internally, SECOND EDITION, corrected. First published more or less unaltered the same year, this influential classic of education advocated moral reform through a wider system of female education. This is not the most elegant of sets -more of a working copy, in fact - but it is honest and clean in a way Miss More would approve of, and the earliest printing generally available on the market. £125.00
28183. MUSIC. MAZZINGHI, JOSEPH.: Paul and Virginia : The Favourite Grand Ballet as performed at the Kings Theatre Haymarket composed by Sig Onorati. The Music by Joseph Mazzinghi. London, G Goulding, 45 Pall Mall, [1795]. Folio, pp v, 2-27, [1, adverts], disbound, in very good state, ? FIRST EDITION, overture and 21 numbers from the opera. The libretto was by James Cobb, the opera for which Mazzinghi wrote the ballet music, a great success. . £75.00
28165. PARR, SAMUEL.: A Free Translation of the Preface to Bellendenus;containing animated strictures on the great political characters, of the present time. London, Stafford and Davenport, for T. Payne and Son, L. Davies, and J. Debrett, 1788 8vo, pp viii, [4], 159, bound in contemporary quarter calf, joints rubbed with minor cracks, but a fine clean tight copy, FIRST EDITION, a translation from the Latin of Parr published the previous in an obscure publication of Bellenden, edited by Henry Homer. Seen by Parr as an opportunity to attack Pitt in intellectual terms, it was translated without authorisation to gain a wider political currency. and with dedications to Burke and his circle. As such it forms a curious adjunct to Parr's political writings. £85.00
27816. PERCY, THOMAS.: Reliques of Ancient Poetry:Consisting of Old Heroic Ballads, Songs, and Other Pieces of Earlier Poets [chiefly of the Lyric Kind] together with some few of later date. London, J Dodsley, 1765. 3 volumes, small 8vo, with engraved frontispiece in volume one, a few engraved vignettes in text, engraved music sheet at the end of volume 2, complete with the errata leaf and advertisement/directions to binder at the end of volume three, bound in contemporary full polished calf, spines gilt ruled with raised bands and double red/black labels, spines a little rubbed and worn or chipped at heads, slightly worn at joints but very sound, a good clean tight set in original state, FIRST EDITION, the first attempt at a scholarly ballad collection of antiquarian examples, the result of a lifetime of collecting; a monument of 18th Century scholarship that has continued in use to this day. £350.00
28192. PHILLIPS, EDWARD.: Theatrum Poetarum, or a Compleat Collection of the Poets...first published in 1675 and now enlarged by additions to every article... Canterbury, Simmons & Kirkby [and J White, London], 1800. 8vo, pp lxxix, [1], 336, 6, uncut in later two tone boards, possibly recasing the original boards with a new label, and in any case an excellent 'original boards' replica if not, with paper label, an excellent clean copy, FIRST EDITION THUS, an expansion of Phillips' original text of 1675, a ground breaking study of early English poetry down to the reign of end of Elizabeth's reign in 1603. The original was written by Milton's nephew, and some of the writing is seen as 'Miltonic'. The task of editing and enlarging was performed by the bibliophile antiquary Sir Egerton Brydges, The binding of this uncut copy shows signs of age, but not the required age, and must be regarded as a rather good mock-up of early 19th century boards. £85.00
28064. PYTHAGORAS. HIEROCLES OF ALEXANDRIA.: Hierokleous Philosophou Hypomne ma eis ta to n Pythagoreion epe ta` chrysa. Hieroclis philosophi Commentarius in Aurea Pythagoreorum carmina . London, J. R. for J Williams, 1673. 2 parts in one volume [as issued, small thick 12mo, pp ([32], 433, [67], 271, complete with errata leaf 2F2 at p 433 , bound in contemporary unlettered ruled calf, a little rubbed to joints and with tiny chip and crease to spine leather, front free endpaper removed, but a very good sound tight copy of this important Neoplatonic commentary on the 'Golden Verses of Pythagoras' a spurious though curious work of Neoplatonic significance. with further commentaries added by John Pearson and Casaubon, these with separate dated title pages. This is the second printing; the order of the parts when bound together was evidently optional,. £350.00
27912. RUGGLE, GEORGE.: Ignoramus. Comoedia...in Lucem Edita cum Notis Historicis et Criticis...Preponitur Vita Auctoris et Subjicitur Glossarium. London, T Payne, 1787. . 8vo, pp viii, cxxii, 319, [1], with engraved frontispiece and 2 plates, bound in contemporary calf, surface repaired to upper inner corners, neatly rebacked in gilt with raised bands, internally with minor foxing only, generally clean and sound, FIRST EDITION, the Lincoln's Inn Library copy, with bookplate of W Coombes, doubtless a lawyer of the period who presented his copy of the famous Cambridge college farce of 1615. Being a legal satire it preserved a certain popularity amongst lawyer Latinists thereafter. The editor here, adding copious notes and life of Ruggle [both in English] as well as Latin to English glossary was John Sidney Hawkins who provides much obscure scholarship on Jacobean social life. £75.00
27839. SCHOMBERG, RALPH [TRANSLATOR AND EDITOR].: The Life of Maecenas: with critical , Historical, and Geographical Notes, corrected and enlarged... London, A Millar, 1766. Small 8vo, pp xvi, 148, engraved portrait frontispiece [waterstained at corner], near contemporary half calf, spine gilt, rubbed and slightly worn, upper board detached, last leaf a little stained, else a good clean copy, SECOND EDITION, much enlarged from Schomberg's original translation of Richter, with notes, of 1748. Both editions were printed by William Bowyer, who records 750 copies of this one. Apart from the additional notes, this edition has a fulsome dedication to William Pitt [the Elder]; whose patronage the good doctor cultivated, perhaps as physician also. He certainly cultivated Gainsborough's, who painted him in lieu of medical fees. The Annual Review was very unkind on the book, calling it 'unimportant fluff....ushered in by a dedication [to Pitt] between whom and Maecenas the editor strains hard for comparison...' The title remains a scarce one, at least in commerce. £60.00
27910. SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM.: The Life and Death of King Henry the Eighth. London, J Tonson, 1734. 12mo, pp 95, [1], engraved frontispiece, disbound, a very good sound copy, EARLY EDITION of the play, corresponding to item 120 in Ford's 'Shakespeare 1700-1740 a Collation of the Separate Plays.' [OUP, 1935]. £75.00
27909. SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM.: The Life and Death of Richard III. With the Landing of the Earl of Richmond, and the Battle of Bosworth-Field. London, J Tonson, 1734. 12mo, pp 96, engraved frontispiece by Fourdrinier, disbound, small corner tear without loss of text, a good sound copy, EARLY EDITION of the play, corresponding to item 147 in Ford's 'Shakespeare 1700-1740 a Collation of the Separate Plays.' [OUP, 1935]. The second of 2 Tonson issues of the same year, and the original Shakespeare rather than the Cibber adaptation £75.00
28039. SHAKESPEARE. EDWARDS, THOMAS.: The Canons of Criticism, and Glossary; The Trial of the Letter Y, alias Y, and Sonnets. London, C Bathurst, 1765. 8vo, pp ]12], 13-276, 251-278, 305-351, [14], [3, adverts], bound in contemporary smooth calf, spine with raised bands and red label, minor abrasions and scuffs to the boards, else a remarkably fine clean copy throughout,, SEVENTH EDITION, the final and definitive printing of Edwards' devastating satire and implied critique of Warburton's edition of Shakespeare of 1747. It began as a short pamphlet in 1747, but grew through successive editions into the present work, which is of some of some substance, though Johnson saw him as no more than the fly that stings the horse. Both this seventh edition and the previous sixth of 1758 are effectively collective editions of Edwards' dilettante writings, with the original title page to the 'Canons' preserved, but a new general title page and advertisement leaf added at the front. Both the 1758 and the 1765 editions have these, but apart from considerable differences and errors in pagination, the two editions are remarkably similar in content. Most important addition is the sequence of 45 sonnets [50 including the introductory ones], this issued her for a first time, a significant contribution to a then neglected poetical form [for which see Thomas's published letter to Samuel Richardson] . A very nice copy of a much underestimated book and edition. £120.00
28186. SPINKES, NATHANIEL.: The Sick Man Visited : and furnish'd with instructions, meditations, and prayers, for putting him in mind of his change, for supporting him in his distemper, and for preparing him for, and carrying him through, his last conflict with death London, C Rivington, 1731. 8vo, pp [8], xl, 408, [8], engraved portrait frontispiece, bound in contemporary panelled calf, spine with raised bands and red label, a little worn at head, but generally a fine clean copy throughout, FOURTH EDITION, with a biography of the lately deceased author added to the previous printing. Popular devotional works such as this were apt to be read to pieces in their early lives, so it is always pleasant to find one in excellent original state of preservation. Nathaniel Spinckes, though a 'nonjuror' was no Puritan, as the rotund features of his portrait suggests. Having fallen out with the established Church in 1690 over the Oath of Allegiance he retired to live off funds supplied by his fellow non-jurors. The 'Sick Man Visited' of 1712 is his most enduring devotional work, although he also compiled a collection of devotions written by others. It is now regarded as a classic in the devotional genre. A very nice copy. £145.00
27919. SWIFT, JONATHAN.: The History of the Four Last Years of the Queen...Published from the Last Manuscript Copy. London, A Millar, 1758. 8vo, pp xvi, 392, neat modern panelled cloth with red leather lable, name cut from blank portion of title page, else minor spots only, a very good copy, FIRST EDITION. £85.00
28091. TERTULLIAN.: Q. Septimii Florentis Tertulliani Apologeticus et ad Scapulam liber. Accessit M. Minucii Felicis Octavius. Cambridge, Joan. Hayes, impensis Henr. Dickinson & Rich. Green, 1686. Small 12mo, pp [8], 135, (1), (2), 11(1), (66), 74, [2, bookseller's advertisements], bound in 20th Century full plain calf with title in blind to spine, light marginal browning but a very good neat copy, FIRST EDITION THUS, the first printing in England of any Latin text by Tertullian, the first of the great Church Fathers. His Apologeticus was written in Carthage in 197 AD; the shorter Ad Scapulam was composed shortly after 212. Also included, as often, is the slightly earlier Octavius of Minucius, a dialogue in the Ciceronian manner between a pagan and a Christian, and one of the earliest of all surviving Christian apologetic text. An excellent crisp copy internally, with ownership of the historian George C Boon, and note that he purchased the volume from Arthur Page in 1981 for £15, and had it rebound the following year for £30, The bookplate is retained of its original 18th Century owner, George Kenyon of Peel Hall, an eminent Lancastire Tory politician of the period. £85.00