Provenance: Front pastedown with the bookplate of journalist, editor, and book collector Clement K. Shorter; front free endpaper and fly-leaf bearing bookplates of Geoffrey Ecroyd, Mary Priscilla Smith, Austin Smith, and Walter Hirst; title-page with inked inscription of Robert Smyth.

•  ESTC T154477; NCBEL, II, 1065; Teerink 812. Later half morocco and cloth sides, spine with raised bands and gilt-stamped title; minor wear only to edges and spine extremities, some slight discoloration to small patches of leather. Bookplates as described above. Page edges untrimmed. A scattering of light spots throughout, otherwise clean. Nice.

William Bedell (1571–1642) translated the Old Testament into the Irish language with the assistance of Murtagh King and Dennis Sheridan; it was revised by Andrew Sall (1612–82), Narcissus Marsh (1638–1713), and others. The New Testament is the translation that was first printed in 1602 and is the work of Nicholas Walsh (d. 1585), John O’Kearney (or Kearney, or Carney; d. 1600?), and William Daniell (or O’Donnell; d. 1628).

Robert Kirk (d. 1692) “minister of Aberfoyle, and author of the metrical Psalter in Gaelic published in 1684 . . . was responsible for the transliteration from the Irish character” (Darlow and Moule)—with what surely were disheartening results, as the “targeted” Highlanders were ignorant of the roman characters, and it was reported that the volume did not succeed.

A check of Millicent Sowerby’s catalogue of Thomas Jefferson’s library shows (#4877) that that president and polymath owned a copy of this edition of the Irish-language Bible.

•  Darlow & Moule 5535; Wing B2759B ; ESTC R211484. Recent full black morocco by Grace Bindings (signed in blind on the lower turn-in of the back cover), in the 17th-century Cambridge style with a nicely gilt spine, including gilt center devices. Ex–Mercantile Library of Philadelphia with stamps, mostly faint, including on the title-page. Title-page torn along top margin costing paper and part of the rule border and touching, with small loss, three letters of title; some words on the verso of the title-page affected or lost. Title-leaf repaired. First leaf of text remargined along top and fore-edge. Paper a bit brittle, but the book in at least good or good+ in overall condition.

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Illustrated with an engraved frontispiece portrait of Bligh and one other plate showing sections of the bread fruit, this isscarce. Searches of OCLC and ESTC find only 10 copies of this edition.

•  ESTC T209375; Sabin 5910; Hill, Pacific Voyages, 135 (for London edition).   Good-quality 20th-century quarter calf and marbled paper-covered sides, spine with gilt lettering and neat blind-stamped devices between gilt-accented raised bands. Title-page with upper outer corner repaired with loss of “e” and partial loss of “g” from the word “voyage”; slight paper loss at bottom edge of one other leaf. Some foxing and browning on early and later leaves, including plates and title-page, and random spotting/staining found elsewhere; light offsetting to p. [1] from facing plate. A copy that clearly saw serious use, yet one complete with the frontispiece and plate — sound.  (23927)

•  Removed from a nonce volume and now in recent marbled paper wrappers. One page very faintly stamped by now-defunct library; author’s prologue (one page) shaved at bottom, losing one line.

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TheIrish-born Burnside, then treasurer of Clearfield, Pennsylvania, was later a justice of the Pennsylvania state supreme court.

A notary’s seal is affixed to the document, which was signed by both Burnside and Patton.

•  Creased and slightly age-toned, with the folios separated and some offsetting from seal; a few small holes, touching text without notable loss.

The engraved portrait of Queen Elizabeth was done by C. van Queboren.

•  Willems 227; Copinger 759.   Period-style calf framed and panelled in gilt fillets embellished with blind rolls and gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spine with gilt-stamped title, gilt-decorated raised bands, and blind-tooled patterned bands in compartments; binding signed G.B. (Grace Bindings) in blind at inner area of rear cover, lower turn-in. Pages age-toned. Title-page with inked numeral in upper outer corner; pages with scattered instances of early inked underlining and bracketing. Approximately 50 leaves with light to faint waterstaining in outer portions, extending into text; one leaf with tear from upper margin, extending through first paragraph.  (18995)

An Englishman through and through, Carr seems sincerely to have liked Ireland and the Irish he met. His book is full of extended and very readable detail — some original, much quoted — on (e.g.) language matters and Irish poetry, Irish agriculture and industry, Irish management of charities, Irish “sights” and ruins, Irish marriage cust marriage customs — and the implications of a potato-based diet.

Provenance: Contemporary inked inscription reading “Tho.s Wynne.”

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 10096. On Carr, see: The Dictionary of National Biography. Contemporary mottled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped title-label; leather moderately rubbed, joints cracking and spine label dimmed. Title-page with owner's name as described above; title-page and one other stamped. Pages, except for central leaves, with waterstaining in lower margins; two pages with smeared spots of ink. (11960)

•  ESTC T77101; NCBEL, II, 647. Marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. Half-title spotted, title-page and two others stamped by a now-defunct institution, title-page also with traces of paper affixed to upper margin; pages otherwise clean. One ESTC listing calls for plates; most holdings, however, do not report any and OCLC listings do not note any.