| 647C |
Malebranche, Nicolas.
(1638-1715) Father Malebranche His Treatise Concerning the Search
after Truth. The Whole Work Complete. To which is Added The Author’s
Treatise of Nature and Grace: Being A Consequence of the Principles
contained in the Search. Together with His Answer to the Animadversions
upon the First Volume: His Defence against the Accusations of Monsieur
De la Ville, &c. Relating to the same Subject. All translated
by T. Taylor, M.A. Late of Magdalen College in Oxford. The Second
Edition, Corrected with great Exactness. With the Addition, of A Short
Discourse upon Light and Colours, By the same Author. Communicated
in Manuscript to a Person of Quality in England: And never before
Printed in any Language.
London: Printed by W. Bowyer, for Thomas
Bennet at the Half-Moon, and T. Leigh and W. Midwinter at the Rose
and Crown, in St. Paul’s Church-yard, 1700
$2,500
Folio, 13.6 x 9 in. Second edition. a4, ¶2, B-Z2, Aa-Uu2, (a)-(b)2,
A-Z2, Aa-Xx2, Yy3, Aa2, A-K2. This copy is bound in handsome, blind
tooled seventeenth century English boards which have been recently
rebacked and recornered. The contents are lightly dampstained at the
fore edge, with scattered spotting.
“Malebranche, a French metaphysical philosopher of great eminence,
was born in Paris on the sixth of August, 1638. His habits in youth
were retired and studious. He became a priest of the Oratory in 1660,
and was a zealous Cartesian in philosophy, which was his favorite
study. In 1674 he produced the first volume of his admirable and original
Search for Truth, (Recherche de la Verité) which was quickly
and highly appreciated. New and enlarged editions of it rapidly followed.
The general design of this work is to demonstrate the harmony of the
Cartesian philosophy with revealed religion. His style is eminently
pure, perspicuous, and elegant, having, says Fontenelle, ‘all
the dignity which the subject requires, and all the grace or ornament
which it could properly receive.’
“He was a warm and almost enthusiastic admirer of Descartes,
but his mind was independent, searching, and fond of its own inventions;
he acknowledged no master, and in some points dissents from the Cartesian
school. […] The fame of Malebranche, and still more, the popularity
in modern times of his Search for Truth have been affected by that
peculiar hypothesis, so mystically expressed, the seeing all things
in God, which has been more remembered than any other part of that
treatise. [...]
“He bears a striking resemblance to his contemporary Pascal.
Both of ardent minds, endowed with strong imagination and lively wit,
a sarcastic, severe, fearless, disdainful of popular opinion and accredited
reputations. […] But in Malebranche there is a less overpowering
sense of religion; his eye roams unblenched in the light before which
that of Pascal had been veiled in awe. He has less energy, but more
copiousness and variety.” (Hallam)
“This ingenious philosopher and beautiful writer,” writes
Mackintosh, “is the only celebrated Cartesian who has professedly
handled the Theory of Morals. […] The manner in which he applied
his principles to the particulars of human duty is excellent. He is
perhaps the first philosopher who has precisely laid down, and rigidly
adhered to, the great principle that virtue consists in pure intentions
and dispositions of mind, without which actions, however conformable
to rules, are not truly moral.” (Thomas)
This English translation was prepared by Thomas Taylor (1669/70-1735).
Wing M-318; ESTCR 3403.
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| 693C |
Manuscript, in Low
German. (Fifteenth Century) Divine Offices of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Cologne: circa 1400
$9,500
Octavo-sized parchment leaves, 5.875 x 4 in. Eight gatherings of eight
leaves, one gathering of six leaves, four gatherings of eight leaves.
100 leaves. One singlet has been removed from the fourth gathering
at the time of the manuscript’s production, so that the text
would fit without making a blank. In the last gathering, it is most
likely that only one leaf is missing, the very last one. Fragmentary
at the beginning as well, this manuscript is probably only missing
the calendar and perhaps the first gathering. The first and last few
leaves are quite dark. The first dozen or so leaves suffer the most
from rodent damage and tears. Internally the contents are occasionally
soiled, torn, and in some places the ink letters have popped off the
parchment. Initials, capital strokes, headings, and chapters are added
in red and blue throughout. There are four large beautifully painted
initials with delicate flowers, and gold illumination in two of the
four (see our back cover for a reproduction).
The Divine Offices of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as a “Book
of Hours is a compendium of different devotional texts which the owner
could read in private. Manuscripts almost always open with a calendar
of the Church year, listing saints’ days for each month and headed
with an illuminated ‘KL’ at the top of the page. Ordinary
saints’ days are usually written in black ink and special feasts
are in red ink (this is the origin of the term ‘red-letter day’).
Because a Book of Hours was not an official Church service-book of
any kind but a compendium largely made by secular booksellers for
use at home by the laity, variations abound. The makers of Books added
what was required by the customer rather than by some Church authority.
To the modern social historian there can be great interest in these
peculiar prayers grafted on to the end of the essential Book of Hours
text. Families who had never owned another manuscript went out to
purchase a Book of Hours. Some of its texts (almost forgotten today)
must have been known by heart by half of Europe. We should remember
too that it was from the Book of Hours that children were taught to
read. It sometimes seems surprising, therefore, that there is still
no critical edition of the text for use by students of the Middle
Ages. Its cultural impact (if that is not too pompous a term for an
illuminated prayer-book) was wider and deeper than that of many rare
literary texts worked over and over again by modern editors. It reached
people too with no other knowledge of literacy.” (A History of
Illuminated Manuscripts, Christopher de Hamel, pp. 178-188)
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| 523B |
Milton, John. (1608-1674)
The History of Britain, That Part especially now call’d England.
From the first Traditional Beginning, Continu’d to the Norman
Conquest. Collected out of the Antientest and Best Authours thereof
by John Milton.
London: Printed by J.M. for John Martyn at the Sign of the Bell in
St. Paul’s Church-Yard, 1677
$1,500
Octavo, 7.2 x 4.4 in. Second edition.
A-Z8 (A1 blank and present; A2, the title page, is unsigned), Aa-Cc8.
The end leaves bear the ownership signature of Johannis Hilman, 1711.
There is also a note written in a fine hand which reads something
to the effect of “Benedict Hardings account begun March 4, 1719
ye fire prong. March 8—one shoe ye rag & 2 nails.” This
copy is bound in full speckled calfskin. The spine is gilt in the
compartments with a floral and double heart design. The edges of the
pages are speckled in red. The original label has long since flaked
off, and is lost.. The spine is chipped at head and tail. The interior
of the book is in exceptional condition.
“The History of Britain may be regarded a sort of commutation
of Milton’s earlier projects for a drama or an epic on a British
legendary theme. He rejected the Arthurian story in favor of the more
significant and authentic biblical theme, but his literary and patriotic
interest in the materials continued keen and demanded expression.
More directly, the History is the fruit of the long course of historical
reading recorded in the Commonplace Book. Milton reached in his program
the British historians about 1641-2 and went carefully through Holinshed,
Speed, Camden, Buchanan, together with a few of the older authorities
like Bede. His study apparently convinced him that the story of his
country had never been worthily related. The credulity and garrulousness
of men like Holinshed must have contrasted strongly in his mind with
the dignified work of the Greek and Roman historians. His resolution
to do something for the annals of his own people like what Tacitus
and Sallust had done for Rome must have taken form shortly after,
but the more pressing matters of the ecclesiastical and divorce controversies
postponed the beginning of the work till circa 1646. By March, 1649,
he had, as he himself tells us, completed the first four books, bringing
the story down to the union of England under Egbert. His secretaryship
apparently interrupted further activity until 1655, when he added
Books V and VI, containing the story of the Danish invasions and the
Norman Conquest. At this point he stopped, but the fact that the work
remained unpublished until 1670 would seem to indicate that he continued
to cherish his original idea of bringing it down to his own day. The
History and the Latin Dictionary represent perhaps Milton’s only
uncompleted projects.
“In the composition of the work Milton aims at veracity, brevity,
and readableness. His fondness for the legendary incidents leads him
to include them, but always with some critical remark to indicate
that they are not to be accepted naively. Though he is influenced
by modern writers, particularly Holinshed, Camden, and Buchanan, he
goes back to the original authorities—the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
and Laws, Bede the Medieval chroniclers, etc.—as no English historian
had done before him, and exhibits a very modern sense of the need
of weighing their respective values. His critical and scholarly point
of view has won the admiration of such a distinguished contemporary
historian as Sir Charles Firth, who finds that Masson has greatly
underestimated the originality of Milton’s work.
“[Milton] often has his eye on contemporary affairs as he analyzes
the causes of failure or success in the past; to him a chief value
of the study of history is to be found in the lessons which it holds
for the modern statesman.” (Hanford)
Wing M-2121.
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| 580C |
More, Thomas. (1478-1535)
Utopia: Written in Latin by Sir Thomas More, Chancellor of England:
Translated into English.
London: Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St.
Paul’s Church-Yard, 1684
$2,000
Octavo, 6.5 x 4 in. First edition. Translated
by Gilbert Burnet. A-O8, P4. The first and last leaves, A1 and P4,
are blank and present in this lovely copy. The contents are bright
and fresh—and the leaves, in excellent condition throughout,
have never been washed or trimmed. Inside the front board is the engraved
bookplate of Thomas Fletcher. The eighteenth century speckled sheepskin
boards have been expertly rebacked. The original label has been replaced
on the spine.
In his Utopia Sir Thomas More describes the workings of an ideal commonwealth.
More composed the work in Latin in 1515/16 and it was published in
Louvain in 1516. Utopia was first translated into English by Ralph
Robinson in 1551.
“This translation, though not so frequently reprinted as the
earlier one described in preceding numbers, is, in some respects,
much superior, and certainly presents a more readable text except
to those who enjoy the Tudor vigor of Robinson’s version.”
(Pforzheimer)
In this framed narrative, More is introduced to the character Raphael
Hythloday, whose name means, ‘teller of tall tales.’ In
Book I Hythloday discourses on the unfortunate social conditions in
England under Henry VII: extreme punishments for theft, unjust taxation,
the disparity of wealth between the classes, and so on. In Book II
he describes Utopia, a place that he was lucky to visit when he traveled
with Amerigo Vespucci. In Utopia there is no war, no religious controversy,
no crime, no poverty, no corruption, no private wealth, no money!
The level of detail in this work is engaging. The appeal of the subject
matter is as current today as ever, and at the same time the reader
is called into the past. More’s Utopia is timeless and endlessly
delightful.
Wing M-2691; Pforzheimer 742; Eyre III, 274; Hazlitt II, 404; Gibson
#30.
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| 571B |
Muretus, Marc Antonio.
(1526-1585) M. Antonii Mureti I. C. Et Civis R. Hymnorum Sacrorum
Liber. Eiusdem alia quædam Poëmatia, aucta nunc demùm
& recognita. His Accesserunt: Actii Synceri Sannazarii Neapolitani
De Partv Virginis libri tres. Una Cum Eivsdem Selectis quibusdam Poëmatibus
longè elegantissimis. Quibus omnibus clarissimorum Heroum Maximiliani
Primi & Caroli Quinti, eorundemq[ue] Belli Ducum Elogia adiuncta
sunt. Cum Gratia & Priuilegio Cæf. Maiest.
Ingolstadt: Ex Officina Davidis Sartorii, 1584
SOLD
Octavo, 8 x 3.9 in. A-Q8 (lacking Q8,
probably blank). The eighteenth century book plate of Gedeon Forster
is affixed to the inside front cover; his signature is also found
on the title page. An inscription to Monsignor Purcell from “one
of his boys” from the Christmas of 1926 is found on the inside
blank. This octavo is bound in a contemporary vellum red and black
liturgical manuscript leaf. There is evidence of the remains of four
ties.
This collection of poems by Marc Antonio Muretus and Jacopo Sannazaro,
two important sixteenth century Neo-Latin poets, includes Muretus’s
poem composed for Raphael’s tomb and Sannazaro’s “De
partu Virginis,” a which won the poet the title “The Christian
Vergil.”
“Marc Antonio Muretus, a French humanist and classical scholar,
was celebrated for the elegance of his Latin prose style. From age
eighteen Muretus taught classics at various schools; Michel de Montaigne
was among his pupils. During the 1540’s his play Julius Caesar,
written in Latin, was performed; it is the first tragedy on a secular
theme known to have been written in France. He became intimate with
the poets of La Pléiade, and in 1553 he published a commentary
on Pierre de Ronsard’s Les Amours. In 1554, after being condemned
for sodomy and heresy, Muretus fled to Italy, settling in Rome in
1563. His lectures at the University of Rome earned him a European
reputation. He entered holy orders in 1576.” (EB)
“To the Venetian period of Muretus’ life belong his editions
for Paulus Manutius, of Horace, Terence (1555), Catullus, Tibullus,
and Propertius (1558), to which must be added the three orations De
studiis litterarum (1555). [...] In 1559 Muretus’ published the
first eight books of his Variae lectiones, which occasioned Lambinus
to accuse him of plagiarism and brought their friendship to an end,
then devoted himself to private tuition. He next entered the service
of Ippolito d’Este, Cardinal of Ferrara, in whose suite he went
to Paris, and thence to Rome, where he spent the remainder of his
life (1563-85) expounding Aristotle, Cicero, Plato, Juvenal, and Tacitus,
and teaching jurisprudence.” (CE)
“Sannazaro (b. 1458, d. 1530) is impressive by the steady and
powerful flow of his verse, in which Christian and pagan elements
are mingled without scruple, by the plastic vigor of his description,
and by the perfection of his workmanship. In treating of the unseen
world, he sometimes gives proofs of a boldness worthy of Dante. [...]
At other times he does not hesitate to weave the whole of classical
mythology into his subject, yet without spoiling the harmony of the
whole. [...] To appreciate the artistic genius of that age in all
its bearings, we must not refuse to notice such works as these.
“The fame of Sannazaro, the number of his imitators, the enthusiastic
homage which was paid to him by the greatest men, all show how dear
and necessary he was to his age. On the threshold of the Reformation
he solved for the Church the problem, whether it were possible for
a poet to be a Christian as well as a classic.” (Burckhardt,
The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy).
Adams M-1973.
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| 463A |
Otway, Thomas. (1652-1685)
The Orphan: Or, The Unhappy-Marriage: A Tragedy, As it is Acted At
His Royal Highness The Duke’s Theatre. Written by Tho. Otway.
London: Printed for R. Bentley, and M. Magnes, in Russel-Street in
Covent-Garden, 1680
SOLD
Quarto, 8.6 x 6.7 in. First edition.
A-K4. The headlines in this copy have been trimmed away on some leaves.
No text is lost. The binding is a fine nineteenth century quarter
mottled calf and corners, with marbled paper boards. The title is
tooled in gilt on the spine.
“Late in 1679 Otway returned to London. His military excursion
had not improved his pecuniary position or his health, and he lost
no opportunity in later life of lamenting the hardships which soldiers
had to face. But his abstinence from literary effort matured his powers,
and in The Orphan he proved himself a master of tragic pathos. Here
he employed for the first time blank verse, and never abandoned it
in his later tragedies.” (DNB)
Wing O-552.
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| 594C |
Petrus de Palude. (1270-1342)
Sermones thesauri novi de tempore et de sanctis.
Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 18 February,
1487
$15,000
Folio, 11.25 x 8 in. The only collected edition of Palude’s two
sermon cycles. a12, b-z6, aa-zz6, 2[et]6, 2[con]6, 2[tur]6; aa8, bb-zz6;
2[et]6, Aa-Mm6, Nn8. 523 of 526 leaves; lacking the three blanks.
This copy is bound in a beautiful binding of near-contemporary alum-tawed
pigskin over beveled wooden boards. The boards are elaborately blind-tooled
in compartments and decorated with intricate, attenuated vinework.
The binding is very well preserved with only some loss to the pigskin
at the lower fore-corner of the rear board and some additional, very
minor loss at the rear upper fore-corner. The clasps and catches have
been removed without causing damage to the binding. This copy is rubricated
throughout in alternating red and blue capitals with red paragraph
marks and capital strokes. The initial leaves of the sermon cycles
(leaves b1 and aa3) are adorned with magnificent gold initials accented
with numerous colors. The first initial is painted in blue with white
accents against a background of burnished gold and framed by a pleasing
pastel border of red, yellow and blue-green hues. The decoration of
the second initial, which is almost twice the size of the first, is
its near reversal. The letter itself is executed in gold against a
blue and white ground. The frame is once again in reds, greens, and
pale golden yellow. The gold portions of both initials are accented
with impressed decorative patterns. The contents of this copy are
in good overall condition with a tiny bit of minor staining here and
there. There are numerous marginal glosses and underlinings in the
text.
“[Palude’s] sermons are probably his greatest achievement;
furthermore, they are indubitably his own. Perhaps surprisingly, he
relied little on standard ‘exempla’, and hardly at all on
standard preachers’ manuals. Shouldering the responsibility of
fishing for men’s souls, he felt obliged to do his own thinking
in order to frame lessons appropriate to each of his audiences. The
effort involved revealed his talents as a communicator. In the pulpit
his visual imagination ran riot, his stream-of-consciousness connections
clicked into place, his exploration of the byways always brought him
back to the main points. The diffuseness that can irritate in his
copious scholastic works was under tighter control. He provided his
listeners with a magic lantern of colorful images flashing past, each
one pregnant with meaning.
“But as a counterweight to their vividness, the central message
of his sermons was almost unrelievedly gloomy: there were innumerable
ways for even a well-meaning man to incur hellfire; only one in a
thousand could hope to escape the flames of purgatory; the road to
heaven was steep, stony, and very narrow, and those who thought they
were on it were very often deceived. As Palude saw it, the point of
preaching was to prick his listeners’ consciences, to remind
them ceaselessly of the need for confession and contrition, to point
out the sinfulness in actions they had never thought of confessing.
“[Palude’s] criticisms of his contemporaries are fairly
standard in content, if more specific and nearer to the bone than
the common run. He angled what he had to say very exactly to his audience:
a sermon to an assembly containing doctors enjoined them to avoid
all forms of sorcery; one to advocates implored them not to plead
unjust cases; one on St. Andrew to a largely lay audience used vivid
military metaphors in driving home his points. Sometimes he would
cite topical illustrations: equating the devil’s temptations
with poison in the human body, he referred to a treasurer of Sens
who had recently died after having been bitten by a puppy. To illustrate
the deprivations suffered by those who rebelled against God, he called
in evidence the losses now inflicted on the count of Flanders who
had revolted against the king. Elsewhere he made his point by a verbal
snapshot, for example of young men diving for gold, silver, and precious
jewels in the river, symbolizing the search after God’s wisdom.
Birds—particularly falcons, vultures, and eagles—flowers,
and trees offered material for more standard metaphors, edifying and
educational at the same time. For Palude never forgot that sermons,
as well as opening the path to heaven, provided some laymen with their
only form of secondary schooling. And though he preferred to instruct
in biology, he was quite happy to explain eclipses or the cause of
drought, to expound canon law, and to remind his audience of elementary
rules of legal procedure.” (Dunbabin, A Hound of God: Pierre
de la Palud and the Fourteenth-Century Church)
Goff P-528; BMC II 431; Polain (B) 2974
(II); Proctor 2058.
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| 703C |
Primasius of Hadrumetum,
Primate of Byzacena in Africa. (d. 560) Primasii Afri Episcopi Vticensis.
uiri suo tempore clarissimi, super Apocalypsim B. Iohannis apostoli,
libri quinq[ue], iam primum typis excusi.
Cologne: ex ædibus Eucharij, 1535
SOLD
Octavo, 6 x 4 in. A8, a-u8. The final
leaf, u8, which is blank but for the lovely printer’s device,
is present in this copy. This copy is in very good condition internally
throughout, with the leaves clean and fresh. The paper boards are
most likely the original binding. New endleaves were inserted, and
the spine was covered with some patterned reinforcing paper. This
copy still has the feel of an early sixteenth century paperback.
“Of Primasius’s early life nothing seems to be known, but
in 551, after he had become a bishop, he was called with other bishops
to Constantinople and took part in the Three Chapters Controversy
where he shared the fortunes of Vigilius, bishop of Rome; helped to
condemn Theodorus Ascidas, bishop of Caesarea, the chief promoter
of the controversy, and fled with Vigilius to Chalcedon. He declined
to attend the so called fifth ecumenical council at Constantinople
in the absence of the pope; was the sole African to sign the papal
constitutum to Justinian, and was ingloriously crushed with his leader.
While at Constantinople, Primasius studied the exegesis of the Greeks,
and his fame is chiefly due to his commentary on the Apocalypse. This
work, divided into five books, is of importance both as containing
the pre-Gryprian Latin text of the Apocalypse of the early African
church.
“Since the middle of the sixth century, the tradition [of Latin
interpretation of John’s Apocalypse] was best represented by
an elaborate, allegorical exegesis of John’s apocalypse written
by Primasius, bishop of Justiniapolis in North Africa from 527 to
565. According to Primasius, the opening of the seven seals revealed
images that symbolized an ever-present battle between the church and
the forces of evil, a battle that Christ’s true church would
inevitably win. To the victors of this war would go the spoils, but
according to Primasius, the elect would receive everlasting spiritual
rewards for the benefit of the eternal soul, rather than transitory
material prizes for the comfort of temporal flesh. […] The commentary
of Primasius emphasizes the actions of the church as it spreads the
message of Jesus Christ throughout the world in preparation for the
end of history. But by stating that the members of the eternal elect
will receive a spiritual reward in return for physical deprivations,
Primasius set the stage for a more contemplative interpretation of
the Apocalypse of John, one that celebrates the austere life and offers
asceticism as a state of eschatological readiness.” (Douglas
W. Lumsden, Touch No Unclean Thing: Apocalyptic Expressions of Ascetic
Spirituality in the Early Middle Ages)
Adams P-2098.
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| 728B |
Procopius, of Gaza.
(fl. 550 A.D.) Procopii Gazæi In Libros Regum, Et Paralipomenon,
Scholia. Ioannes Mevrsius Nunc primus Græcè edidit, &
Latinam interpretationem adiecit.
Leiden: Apud Isaacum Elsevirium, Academiæ Typographum, 1620
SOLD
Quarto, 7.6 x 5.4 in. First edition. (:.)4, A-Z4, Aa-Zz4, Aaa-Eee4.
The text is printed in Latin and Greek throughout. A 1922 bookplate
from the Zion Research Library is affixed to the inside front cover.
A 1920’s catalogue description of this copy of this book is pasted
to the front free end leaf. This is a very fresh and clean copy, bound
in full contemporary parchment over stiff boards, with laced case
construction. An eighteenth century red morocco label with author
and editor tooled in gilt appears on the spine.
“The school of rhetoric at Gaza was widely celebrated for its
teachers, among whom were Æneas, and Procopius, ‘the Christian
sophist.’ Of the latter’s life little is known except that
he spent it in the town of his birth, refusing calls to Antioch and
Tyre. He is known to have carried on an extensive correspondence with
contemporaries, and Choricius describes him as modest, unpretentious,
and idealistic. His writings are partly rhetorical, partly exegetical.
Of his speeches only one is extant—the bombastic encomium of
the Emperor Anastasius I, probably written between 512 and 515. The
description of the Church of Saint Sophia and the lament over the
falling of its cupola during an earthquake in 558 are not genuine.
On account of the loss of so much of his work the more valuable is
the possession of 162 letters, partly recommendations to pupils and
others, partly on philosophical or rhetorical themes, which give insight
into the ecclesiastical species of sophistics of the period. Among
his exegetical works is his commentary in the form of a Catenae on
the Octateuch, in which the attempt has been made by Lindl to prove
that the complete Hexaplar text as it was in the time of Procopius
is in existence. It has been shown by Wendland, Klostermann, and Eisenhofer
that Procopius drew upon Philo, Origen, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory
of Nyssa, Apollinaris of Laodicea, and Cyril of Alexandria. The commentary
on Kings and Chronicles is practically all from Theodoret. For Isaiah
and the epitome of the Octateuch, Cyril, Eusebius of Caesarea, and
Theodore of Heraclea are the sources. The best preserved is the commentary
on the Song of Songs. The commentary on Proverbs is but an epitome
by Procopius of his catena.” (ERE)
The editor, Joannes Meursius (1579-1639), “became professor of
History and of Greek in his own university, he printed for the first
time a number of Byzantine authors. […] Gronovius describes Meursius
as ‘the true and legitimate mystagogue to the sanctuaries of
Greece.’” (Sandys HCS).
Willems #176; Rahir #149; Hoffmann III, p. 301.
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| 711C |
Ray, John. (1627-1705)
Observations {Topographical, Moral, & Physiological; Made in a
Journey Through part of the Low-Countries, Germany, Italy, and France:
With A Catalogue of Plants not Native of England, found Spontaneously
growing in those Parts, and their Virtues. By John Ray, Fellow of
the Royal Society. Whereunto is added A brief Account of Francis Willughby
Esq; his Voyage through a great part of Spain.
London: Printed for John Martyn, Printer to the Royal Society, at
the Bell in St. Paul’s Church-yard, 1673
SOLD
Octavo, 7.25 x 4.625 in. First edition.
A-Z8, Aa-Ii8, Kk2, Aaa-Hhh8. Of the two final blanks, Hhh7 is present,
and Hhh8 may be pasted down inside the back board. The text contains
two folding engravings, a full-paged portrait of the Duke of Venice,
and two text diagrams. This copy is in good condition internally,
although the front free end leaf has been somewhat defaced by an ugly
later bookplate, partially torn away, with another bookplate beneath
it. Originally, this copy belonged to Narcissus Luttrell. He signed
and dated the front free end leaf in 1678. Luttrell’s initials
have been tooled in gilt on both boards. The front board has been
reattached, and the binding is in good condition, with the original
red label on the spine.
“In 1662 Ray and Willughby agreed to attempt a systematic description
of the whole organic world, Willughby undertaking the animals and
Ray the plants. In fulfillment of this scheme, Ray, Willughby, Skippon
and another pupil, Nathaniel Bacon, left Dover in April 1663, and
spent three years abroad, visiting Holland Germany, Switzerland, Italy,
Sicily, and Malta. Although mainly interested in natural history,
Ray, on this as on all his journeys, carefully recorded antiquities,
local customs, and institutions. On the return journey Willughby parted
from them at Montpellier, and visited Spain. Their joint continental
Observations was not published until 1673.
“Gilbert White, in the Natural History of Selborne, says: ‘Our
countryman, the excellent Mr. Ray, is the only describer that conveys
some precise idea in every term or word, maintaining his superiority
over his followers and imitators, in spite of the advantage of fresh
discoveries.’ This precision, and the strong bent of his mind
towards the study of system as exhibiting the natural affinities of
plants of animals, Ray probably owed in a considerable degree to his
early association with Wilkins. It is especially in his zoological
works that he shows himself to be no mere species-monger, but a philosophical
naturalist.” (DNB)
“[Ray’s] account of his foreign travels published the same
year [1673], ‘with a catalogue of plants not native of England,’
contained also a narrative of Willughby’s journey through Spain.
Ray’s ‘varied and useful labors have justly caused him to
be regarded as the father of natural history in this country.’
(Duncan, Life of John Ray)
This amazing book recounts a fantastic and detailed journey through
part of the Low-Countries, Germany, Italy, and France. Ray describes:
“Several sorts of Meats, Fruits, Sallets, &c. used in Italy,
and other Observations about Diet, [including] Paste made into strings
like pack-thread or thongs of white leather (which if greater they
call Macaroni, if lesser Vermicelli) they cut in pieces and put in
their pots as we do oat-meal. These boil’d and oil’d with
a little cheese scraped upon them they eat as we do buttered wheat
or rice.” He also includes a list of bugs found in Italy, and
a list of the most remarkable Antiquities seen in Rome. There are
descriptions of Florence, Milan, Pisa, and Rome and other cities.
They even traveled to Malta. “We took notice of some Laws and
Customs proper to Sicily during our stay here. It is unlawful to kill
any Calves in this Island so that no Veal can be procured here. And
yet at Malta they have Veal enough, transported hence by stealth.”
Every page contains some gem. There are vivid descriptions of regional
wines, local insects, museums visited, rare antiquities, and temples.
He records that in Rome, “obelisks we took notice of nine. […]
One custom which prevails generally in foreign Countries is but little
used in England, that is to salute those that sneeze by vailing the
bonnet, and praying God to bless, assist or defend them. [...] There
is a kind of sport or game much used this day by the Italians, called
Gioco di mora, which seems to have been used by the ancients and called
micare digitis. It is for the most part between two, who put out just
at the same time each of them as many fingers as they please and also
name each of them what number he thinks fit.” Much more fascinating
information remains to be discovered within the covers of this book.
Wing R-399.
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