18TH-CENTURY BOOKS
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TWO OF A NUMBER OF
18TH-CENTURY PRINTINGS
OF
INDIVIDUAL
SHAKESPEARE PLAYS      

Shakespeare, William. All's well, that ends well. A comedy. As it is acted at the Theatres-Royal in Drury-Lane and Covent-Garden.... London: Pr. for J. Harrison, 1778. 8vo. 17, [1] pp. (lacks the plate).
$125.00

•  ESTC (electronic, accessed April 2000) T21272. Modern wrappers; sewing loosening in first signature. Without the plate. Back leaf chipped at fore-edge and with one tiny hole near bottom edge. Light soiling to title-page; some age-toning to margins.

The Merchant of Venice — The “Theatres-Royal” Version!

•  Printed in double columns, with a few typographical ornaments, this appeared towards the end of a long run of successful Shakespearean productions at Drury Lane, in the year after Garrick had retired as manager of the theater.

•  ESTC T39238.   Removed from a nonce volume. Lacking the plate. Pages clean, with the last leaf separated but present.  (10160)

For more such SHAKESPEARE — click here.
For THEATER/THEATRE,  click here.

English Politics — American Issues — Religious “Merits”

•  Lots going on here. For the Americanists, there is discussion of the Quebec bill and taxation of the American colonies. For historians of English politics there is review of parliamentary and newspaper “comparison . . . between the public and private virtues of their present Majesties, and those of King William and Queen Mary. The merits, also, of Roman Catholics, and of Dissenters from the Church of England, respecting allegiance and liberty, and their claims to national protection, are fairly stated, from their past and present transactions.”

First edition, with two others appearing shortly thereafter.

•  Adams, American Controversy, 74-73a. Sabin 80040. Recent boards with marbled paper covering. Paper spine label. Title-page with small 19th-century library stamp and call number in neat ink; page backed. A very nice copy.

      For more PRE-1820 AMERICANA,  click here.
For more ENGLISH POLITICS,  click here.
For more RELIGION,  click here.

THIS TimePay Attention

•  Second edition. Sheridan entered Parliament in 1780, crowning his previous career as a successful playwright and theatre manager with a long and distinguished record of public service. He originally read the main portion of this statement before the House of Commons as part of the debate, after noticing that the gentlemen discussing the two bills in question appeared not to have paid “any very minute degree of attention” (p. 6) to the details of either one.
Single-click lefthand image,
for an enlargement.

The texts of both bills are present here, along with Sheridan’s analysis of how each would address “the question of right between the public and the [East India] Company” (p. 39).

•  ESTC T30944; Goldsmiths’-Kress no. 13610. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with gilt-stamped leather title label and spine with gilt-stamped leather author label. Half-title and several other pages stamped by a now-defunct institution. Pages with edges untrimmed and a few small spots of staining; mostly, clean.

For more ENGLISH POLITICS,  click here.
Or for our INDIA gathering,  click here.

Sherlock vs. Hoadly: The Bangorian Controversy

•  Thomas Sherlock (1678–1761), master of St. Catherine's Hall, Cambridge, and bishop of London, was noted for the persuasive power of his writing and preaching. This entry in the Bangorian Controversy of 1716–17, over the question of the biblical grounds or lack thereof for the church's authority, rebuts Benjamin Hoadly's doctrinal arguments. Click the image for an enlargement.

This offers just a little very nice use of type ornament.

•  ESTC T49264. On Sherlock, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, LII, 93–95.   Removed from nonce volume. First and last pages lightly dust-soiled, some lower outer corners bumped, one leaf with upper margin nicked.  (27655)

For more RELIGION,  click here.

AModerate Defense of The Indefensible

•  Thomas Sherlock (1678-1761), master of St. Catherine’s Hall, Cambridge, and bishop of London, was noted for the persuasive power of his writing and preaching. Here he argues for the judicious use of matters now deemed in churches to be an abuse of the pastoral office, namely pluralities (holding more than one benefice at a time), and non-residence in the parish where one holds a benefice, arguing also for fair salaries for the curates who fulfill the function of the incumbent during his absence or incapacity.

•  ESTC T53315; Goldsmiths' Kress 7503. On Sherlock, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, LII, 93–95. Recent wrappers. Light to moderate soiling and staining, mostly on front and last leaves. Small chip from lower outer corner of title-leaf. Inked price (6^d) on title-page.

German Universalist Pr. bySaur

Click the interior images for enlargements.

•  Uncommon American printing of this treatise on redemption by German mystic Siegvolck (a.k.a. Georg Klein-Nicolai), originally published in 1700 and credited with having inspired Winchester's doctrine of restorationism. “Siegvolck pioneered in the exegetical studies with which Universalists attempted to show that 'eternal' punishment, as the biblical writers understood it, would someday end” (Holifield, Theology in America, 221).

This is the second U.S. edition of the original German text, following Saur's printing of the previous year; Saur had previously published an English translation, The Everlasting Gospel, in 1753. Neither the present example nor the 1768 printing are widely held institutionally outside of Pennsylvania.

•  ESTC W21009; Evans 11304; Sabin 80878; Hildeburn, Pennsylvania, 2484; Arndt & Eck, German Language Printing in the U.S., 368.   Period-style mottled calf, covers framed in blind double and triple fillets, spine with raised bands ruled in blind; entirely plain without spine labels. Title-page with repaired tear; upper outer corner and portion from middle to outer part of page lost and replaced some time ago, with loss to up to half of nine lines.  (25486)

For more BOOKS IN GERMAN,  click here.
      For more PRE-1820 AMERICANA,  click here.
For more GERMAN AMERICANA,  click here.
For more RELIGION,  click here.
For Books for the BUSTED
            BIBLIOPHILE,  click here.
This book also appears in the GENERAL
            MISCELLANY — click here.

TheLovat Vassals Protest

(Simon “The Fox” Fraser).

•  The tenants of the Lovat estate petition for a delay in producing the writs and securities of their holdings, as the protracted dispute between the Lovat family and the infamous Capt. Simon Fraser of Beaufort (who attempted a forced marriage to the family’s heiress, young Amelia Fraser, before successfully kidnapping and wedding her mother, the dowager Lady Amelia Murray) has left them in a sorry state regarding the payment of creditors. Not only does this broadside touch on the common perspective of a great contemporary scandal, but it is of interest for its scarcity as well. No holdings are listed by OCLC, RLIN, ESTC, or NUC Pre-1956.

•  Not in ESTC. On Fraser, see: Dictionary of National Biography, XX, 216–22. Excellent clean condition, with two small sewing holes at inner margin, one very small spot of foxing, and ink traces from printing process to outer edge. Tipped onto a leaf of 19th-century paper; now in a Mylar folder.

For more ENGLISH LAW,  click here.
For more SCOTLAND & SCOTS,  click here.
For more BROADSIDES,  click here.

Classic History of MEXICO — FIRST Edition in ENGLISH
(A TALL FOLIO)  (A Reader's Copy)

•  Many editions of Solís's eminently readable history have come down the pike since the first appeared in Madrid in 1684. The present one is the first edition in English. Solís was an official court historian and as such had access not only to published sources but also to archival sources not previously used. Despite writing while the Baroque era flourished in Spain, his prose is remarkably unornamented or convoluted. This clarity of style when combined with the stirring and near-mythic events of the conquest of Mexico has accounted for the hundreds of editions that have come down to us.


•  Sabin 86487; Medina, Biblioteca hispano-americana, 1773n; Palau 318693; European Americana 724/165. Recent quarter calf, antique style: Round spine with raised bands accented with gilt rules and beading; gilt center devices; marbled paper sides. Ex-library copy with stamps. First few leaves crumpled in lower margins; last dozen leaves foxed, sometimes heavily. Lacks all plates and maps except one map—yet pleasing to the reader.

For Books for the BUSTED
            BIBLIOPHILE,  click here.

TO Part XXXII . . .

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