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John Price Antiquarian Books

   Books from the hand-press era
London: Printed for W. Churchill..., 1719. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, 177 x 118 mms., pp. [xvi], 220, 234 [235 p- 236 adverts], contemporary panelled calf, dull red morocco label; lower margin of last 20 leaves wormed (not affecting text), with worming extending into rear paste-down end-paper, some worming also of lower margins of first three or four leaves and front paste-down end-paper, front free end-paper creased, top of spine slightly chipped, joints slightly worn (but very firm), corners worn. Richardson (1665 - 1745) was literary London's favourite portrait painter in the early 18th century. Samuel Johnson thought that his aesthetic theories would be more valued than his paintings, and Richardson's works are the starting-point for the classical school of art criticism in Britain. Samuel Holt Monk says of him in The Sublime that "he is worthy of notice chiefly as an innovator" and that his comments form the "most complete of the early discussions of painting." Richardson was working at a time when both writing and painting became ways of earning money, and he was one of the first English painters to become actually rich as an artist. This book also was not aimed at the cognoscenti or those who were already knowledgeable about art and aesthetic, but those who wanted to learn and need a sort of do-it-yourself guide. C. Gibson-Wood, Jonathan Richardson: Art Theorist of the English Enlightenment (2000). (Book ref. 8040)
London, Printed for James, John, and Paul Knapton..., 1735. 2 volumes. 8vo, 197 x 118 mms., pp. [xxxii], 285 [286 adverts]; 292 [293 - 315 Index, 316 adverts], 14 folding engraved plates at end of volume 1, 13 folding engraved plates at end of volume 2, for a total of 27 plates as called for, title-pages in red and black, contemporary calf; lacks titling labels, joints a bit strained, with ownership inscription on front paste-down end-paper of volume 1, "John Holman/ His Book/ Given Him/ By his Father/ Andrew Holman/ Anno 1762 Domini," with Holman's autograph on the title-page and that of "J. W. Taylor" as well. Or the rear paste-down end-paper of volume 1, a contemporary hand has written: "Good men as well as bad/ Have sometimes fortune sad." The French Cartesian Jacques Rohault (1618 - 1672) published his Traité de Physique in 1671; it was widely used a a textbook for the next 50 years and was reprinted more than twenty-five times between 1671 and 1739. John Ellis, a tutor at Caius College, Cambridge, asked Samuel Clarke (1675 - 1729) to translate the work into Latin, with editions published in 1697, 1702 and 1710. Clarke's brother, John Clarke (1682 - 1757), a distinguished Cambridge mathematician then translated the work into Englsh; the first edition was published in 1723, followed by a second edition in 1729. The work of the two brothers played a major part in moving Cambridge's mathematicians and physicists away from Cartesianism and towards Newtonianism. See Laura Benítez Grobet: "Jacques Rohault's system of natural philosophy," in Nudler, Oscar (ed.), Controversy Spaces: A Model of Scientific and Philosophical Change (2011), Chapter 6. (Book ref. 7931)
Florentiae I. P. Aere, & Typis Petri Caietani Viviani...., 1744. FIRST EDITION. Large 4to, 290 x 210 mms., pp. [ii], lii, 134 [135 - 136 appendix], engraved vignette of lynx on title-page, 38 superbly engraved illustrations of plants at end, contemporary vellum, blocked in gilt on spine; no blank prelims, but a fine copy. The scientist Fabio Colonna (1567-1650) recognized that the study of leaves by themselves was not sufficient to discern or to classify them properly, especially with regard to those that could be used medicinally. An epileptic, he was drawn to the study of botany as means of finding herbs and concoctions from plants that could be used to ameliorate the symptoms and effects of epilepsy. (Book ref. 7738)
London: Printed for Richard Ford..., and Richard Hett..., 1733 8vo, 193 x 115 mms., pp. xii [xiii - xvi contents], 403 [404 "Contents of This Scheme of Ontology"], contemporary calf, gilt spine, red morocco label; front end-papers water-stained, top and base of spine chipped, front joint cracked, but a good to very good copy. Watts (1674 - 1748) was equally at home with philosophy and metaphysics as he was with hymns and children's books. His collections of verse, most notably Horae lyricae (1706) and Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707) were immediately popular and influential. His best-known work in philosophy was his Logick, or the Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry after Truth, first published in 1725 and frequently reprinted. Although his Philosophical Essays seems to attract very little scholarly or philosophical attention in the 21st century, it was printed seven times in the 18th century; Mrs. Piozzi's copy contains numerous annotations in her autograph. Watts admits in his preface that some of the essays were written as long as thirty years earlier, and several of the essays testify to the tension between his basic Lockean empiricism and his ontological instincts. Samuel Johnson famously said of him "Every man...acquainted with the common principles of human action will look with veneration on the writer who is at one time combating Locke, and at another making a catechism for children in their fourth year," (Book ref. 7485)
London, Printed by E. Tyler and R. Holt, and ar to be sold Tho. Passinger..., 1672. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. Small 8vo, 164 x 104 mms., pp. [viii], 143 [144 blank], later (probably 20th century) full calf, paper label on spine, new end-papers; small pink stain on title-page but a very good copy. Thomas Philipot (d. 1782) was the elder son of John Philipot (c. 1589 - 1645), the Somerset Herald. Thomas inherited part of the large collection of heraldic material that his father had accumulated at his death, and it is possible, even likely, that this is partly if not entirely the work of his father. Thomas published under his own name in 1659 his father's treatise, Villare Cantianum, or, Kent Surveyed and Illustrated. A reviewer in volume 62 of The Gentleman's Magazine (1792) said of the work that "It seems one of those foolish books which attempts to discover the Art of Heraldry in all the symbols and hieorglyphicks of the antient nations"; later, Lowdnes described it as a "pedantic little work." (Book ref. 7441)
A Amsterdam , Aux Depens de la Compagnie, 1770. Oblong 8vo, 123 x 190 mms., pp. xvi, 760, contemporary continental sheepskin, gilt spine (starting to split); last leaf with ms. notes and ink-stained, corners worn, top and base of spine chipped, text a little browned. La Porte published his work in 1704 and it was frequently reprinted, and he is generally credited with giving accountancy the classic form we know today. He explains the techniques both of single entry and double entry accounting. For better or for worse, it was La Porte who first defined arbitrage. (Book ref. 7350)
London: Printed for T. N. Longman and O. Rees..., 1803. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. Large 8vo (in 4s), 225 x 135 mms., pp. viii [ix - x Contents, xi errata, xii blank], 163 [164 adverts], original boards, uncut, and mostly unopened; edges soiled, with spine defective, ex-library with the rubber stamp of The Royal College of Surgery in Ireland on the title-page and an additional note "Arthur Jacob Bequest/ To R. C. S. h/ 1871" at foot of title-page William Blair (1766 - 1822) was a member of various medical societies and for a time edited the London Medical Review and Magazine. The present book began life as a series of lectures on physiology with illustrations from anatomy; they were presented before an eclectic audience of scholars, artists, the nobility and the clergy. Immanuel Kant is usually credited with being the first to publish a major treatise on anthropology in 1799, and Blair and can probably take credit for being the first person to publish a work in English. (Book ref. 7297)
London, Printed by William Godbid, and are to be sold by Moses Pitt at the White Hart in Little Britain, 1672. FIRST EDITION. Small 8vo, 155 x 92 mms., pp. [xvi], 180, 182 - 185, recently rebound in quarter dark maroon morocco, olive morocco label, marbled boards; a good copy in a rather unsympathetic binding. With the inscription in a later hand (probably 18th century) "ex Bibliotheca C. M. Richard D. [?Mark]" on the title-page. Boyle (1627 - 1691) came from a well-to-do family, and his early career was devoted to literature; he wrote an almost unreadable treatise called Aretology, devoted to moral theory and tried a number of literary genres. His romance, The Martyrdom of Theodora and of Didymus, mixes moral sentiments with narrative tropes in an unconvincing manner. However, when he turned to his science, he found his true metier, impressing the scientific community with his Sceptical Chymist (1661). In this work, Boyle argues that gems were formed by crystallization from a liquid after the earth was formed. He believed that metalline corpuscles were incorporated in the gems, which gave them colour and density. Fulton 96. Wing B 3947. (Book ref. 7211)
Londini: Impensis Joannis Hinton..., 1752. FIRST EDITION of volume 2. 2 volumes. 8vo, 205 x 123 mms., pp. [iv], xxx, 161 [162 blank], 38 [39 - 42 Index]; xix [xx Errata], 208, one engraved plate in first volume, contemporary calf, rebacked, red leather labels; tear in fore-margin of F4 slightly affecting text, edges browned, corners worn. John Huxham (1692 - 1768) gained his M. D. at Rheims in 1717; he returned to Devon, where he had been born, but later moved to Plymouth. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1739 but achieved medical fame in 1750 with his Essay on Fevers and their Various Kinds. Although there was some dubious scandal attached to Huxham in his early years in Plymouth, the Leipzig scholar and physician, G. D. Reidel, said of him in 1764, "who has so much as hailed our art from the threshold, who has yet never heard the great name of HUXHAM?" The Victorian biographer of English physicians, William Munk, in a modified version of earlier assessment of Huxham, concluded that Huxham "by a life of unimpeachable correctness...obtained universal respect." (Book ref. 6983)
London: Printed for J. Nourse..., n. d. [1770]. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. 8vo, 205 x 130 mms., pp. [iv], 29 [30 blank], disbound; inner margin of title-page repaired, title-page slightly soiled, and with slight staining to inner margins. Emerson (1701 - 1782) began his association with John Nourse in 1763, and he wrote a number of introductory mathematical texts for him. His topic here is permutations, later denominated factorials; Christian Kramp introduced the notation n! for factorials in 1808. (Book ref. 6877)
London: Printed for W. Johnston..., 1767. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. Tall 8vo, 210 x 125 mms., pp. [iv], xxxii, 241 [242 blank], including half-title, pages .46, 48 and 127 mis-numbered 6, 84 and 125 respectively, recently rebound by Period Binders of Bath in quarter calf, morocco label, marbled boards; ex-library, with small library stamp on verso of title-page and on last page of text, but a very good copy with a clean text, and two later autographs in pencil on title-page. Hill 1635-1722), secretary of the Royal Society, was a great friend of the the scientist and polymath Robert Hooke (1635 - 1722). He was probably one of the best administrators of his time, collecting and collating information, arranging meetings, and organizing documents. The editor of these letters was Thomas Astle. The letters are both gossipy and factual; for example, writing to John Brooke on 16 My, 1663, he notes that woman condemned to death in Essex for being a witch had been reprieved by a judge; while "a lad, disguised in woman's apparel, was, at twenty-eight years of age, married to a dying man, and has ever since kept a widow's estate from the right owner, and became a midwife of much practice among the neighbours; nay, besides this, was the father of many children, and not discovered, till some little time ago he died." Has life in Essex changed much? (Book ref. 6754)
Edinburgh, Printed by R. Fleming: And sold by A. Kincaid and A. Donaldson..., 1753. FIRST EDITION. 12mo (in 6s), 165 x 102 mms., pp. [iv], 450, 2 engraved plates, contemporary annotations and marks in text, amateurishly "bound" in sheepskin boards that are slightly larger than the text block, crude backstrip. Hutchinson (1674 - 1737) was cured of lead poisoning by Dr. John Woodward and later pursued a career as a natural philosopher. Most of his scientific inquiries, however, were heavily tinged with religion, and he seems almost to think that the Old Testament contains clues and information about natural science. His works were popular with the sort of reader who found John Wesley's views on electricity and other scientific phenomena convincing. This abstract of several of his works is attributed to Robert Spearman and/or George Horne, Bishop of Norwich. ESTC T99488 locates 10 copies in British libraries, and Essex Institute, Johns Hopkins, Clark, and Toronto in North America. (Book ref. 6502)
Dublin: Printed for the Editor By Boulter Grierson..., 1766. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. 8vo, 195 x 120 mms., pp. xx, 140, disbound; lacks all 51 plates. Ellen T. Harris, in The Music Lover in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century England (Tufts Digital Library) writes that, 'John Trydell published his Two Essays on the Theory and Practice of Music with the hope of rendering "the knowledge of Music easy; and Composition more practicable than it seems to me it is among us at present." Trydell's strategy for making music easier was to construct a system based on geometrical reasoning (Kassler, p. 1024), in which he took great care, as he put it, "to avoid all obsolete Words, or such as are derived from other languages: and to speak as plain English, as the nature of the Subject would admit, that I may be understood by every English reader." [Trydell's essays were used for the article on 'Music' in the Encyclopaedia Britannica in 1771, but never reprinted thereafter, since, as Kassler writes, "the opinion that music and geometry were congenial and inseparable was losing ground" (Kassler, p. 1025).]' (Book ref. 6350)
London: Printed for T. Payne and Son..., 1776. FIRST EDITION. 5 volumes bound in 10. 4to (235 x 195 mms.), pp. [x], lxxxiv, 259, 251 - 465 [466 blank]; [ii], 250, 251 - 544; [ii], 234, 235 - 535 [536 blank]; [ii], 254, 255 - 548; [ii], 258, 259 - 483 [483 - 511 Index, 512 Errata], engraved frontispiece (off-setting onto title-page), engraved portrait of Hawkins and 5 other engraved plates in volume 1, numerous musical illustrations and engravings as part of registration throughout all 5 volumes, contemporary half calf, spines richly gilt, red and black morocco labels, marbled boards (slightly rubbed); some slight wear to bindings, but generally a very good and attractive set, somewhat curiously bound and with less than generous margins (a large-paper copy is 280 x 255 mms.). From the Easton Neston Library, with library label for shelf mark and the armorial bookplate of Sir Thomas Hesketh, Bart., Rufford Hall Lancashire on the front paste-down end-paper. Sir John Hawkins (1719 - 1789) was famously dubbed, according to Fanny Burney as a "most unclubbable man"; in the same conversation Johnson said that he believed Hawkins to be "an honest man at the bottom; but to be sure he is penurious, and he is mean, and it must be owned he has a degree of brutality, and a tendency to savageness, that cannot easily be defended...." Nevertheless, he admired Hawkins' history of music, though Johnson himself seems to have had cloth ears. Much of the research for this work was done in the British Museum, and Hawkins had an extensive collection of manuscripts as well. The work attracted very favourable reviews when it was published. Charles Burney was rather less admiring and managed to get his journalist friends to carry out attacks on the work. But, as New Grove records, the two works are "complementary rather than conflicting. Hawkins's contains valuable information about early 18th-century musical society in London, largely collected from survivors of the period, and emphasizes the achievement of the 16th- and 17th-century composers, who were treated condescendingly by Burney." Hawkins' work was, however, reprinted in 1853 and 1875, while Burney's was never reprinted. (Book ref. 5396)
Printed at New York, London: Reprinted for J. Johnson..., 1805. FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. 8vo, pp. xiv [xv Contents, xvi blank], 429 [430 blank]; [iv], 420; [iv], 356 [357 - 503 Index, 504 blank], uncut, original boards; last leaf of Index in volume 3 laid down on rear end-paper, spines renewed with cloth, corners worn, boards soiled, ex-library. (Book ref. 5280)
London: Printed for T. Cadell Jun. and W. Davies..., 1797, 1798, [?1802]. 3 volumes in 2. 8vo, pp. [viii], 464; [vi], 496; iv, 191 [192 blank, 193 - 194 adverts], 6 engraved plates in volume 1, 12 engraved plates (including one folding) in volume 2, 13 engraved plates in third volume, recently recased in modern grey boards, black lettering to spine. There is no title-page as such for the third volume, which begins on a1r with the Advertisement. It is not clear that this is volume 3 until the drop-title for Essay X (On the Construction of Kitchen Fire-Places) on B1r, where the lower running volume number is "Vol. III." The volume probably wasn't issued with the first edition of volume 2 without a title-page, but it would probably have been a singleton. In any case the volumes as they are contain the first ten essays of a collection that eventually reached four volumes. The tenth essay is in two parts and comprises 191 pages. Rumford's topics are wide-ranging including g essays on the poor, on food, on chimneys and fire-places, on fuel and heat, and on kitchens. (Book ref. 4634)
London: Published by Goulding, D'Almaine, Potter and Co..., n. d. [c. 1820]. 12mo, pp. 94 [95 Contents, 96 blank], 15 engraved plates, music illustrations in text, uncut, original boards; spine defective, joints a little worn and tender. Dibdin's Music Epitomized was first published in 1803 and reached a 12th edition by 1835. (Book ref. 4213)