Dean Cooke Rare Books Ltd Words & Things
EDINBURGH BOOK FAIR 2022
Friday 25 March – Saturday 26 March
1. ACTON, Eliza (1799 - 1859) The English Bread-Book for Domestic Use, adapted to Families of Every Grade. London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, 1857. First edition. Octavo. Pagination pp. xii, 204, [24, adverts] collated and complete with the additional wood-engraved title and publisher's catalogue at rear. Bound in the original publisher’s cloth, rubbed, wear to edges, inner joints cracked. (Bitting p.3; Cagle 537).
¶ “A serious and scholarly account of the history of bread and its making, with a severe attack on the malpractices of bakers and millers in adulterating the product, this also contained recipes for the home bread maker”. (ODNB). £1,000 Ref: 7939
2. ATKINSON, Maria 18th-century botanical drawing book. [Gosforth House, Newcastle. Circa 1769]. Quarto (230 mm x 185 mm x 12 mm). Original marbled wrappers, rubbed and faded, lacks spine. 30 drawings of flowering plants (4 of which are hand-coloured), plus a few loose-leaf sketches, tissue guards, a few blank leaves at end.
¶ Compiled by one Maria Atkinson, apparently while residing at Gosforth House, presumably as a guest. The house was built between 1755 and 1764 for Charles Brandling (1733–1802) to a design by architect James Paine. Brandling also laid out the park and a 50-acre (200,000 m2) lake. The illustrations are quite simplified, so it may have been a pattern design book. £650 Ref: 7919
3. CAMPBELL, Thomas (1777-1844). Autograph notes by Thomas Campbell inserted into a copy of his ‘Gertrude of Wyoming: A Pennsylvania Tale, and Other Poems.’ London: Printed by T. Bensley, Bolt Court. Published for the author by Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, Paternoster Row. 1809. First edition. Quarto. Pagination pp. [4], 134, lacks the advertisements at end. Autograph notes by Campbell (2 ¼ pages) numbered 2527, bound in (probably in the 20th century). ¶ The Scottish poet, Thomas Campbell, is best known for his didactic poem The Pleasures of Hope, (1799), and several stirring patriotic war songs, Ye Mariners of England, The Soldier's Dream, Hohenlinden, and in 1801, The Battle of Mad and Strange Turkish Princes. This copy of Campbell’s Gertrude of Wyoming has autograph notes of his hand which appear to be drafts from a larger work (they are numbered 25-27 and there are corrections and amendments throughout). It begins “In obedience to the behest he accordingly fin’d(?) with his followers on a place of the Coast call’d Aziris two sides of which were enclosed by a beautiful range of hills & a third agreeably water’d by a river there shut out from the prospect of expanding their settlement they continued for six(?) years till the some native Africans probably wishing them their removal understood to shew them a better situation”. The ending reads like the close of a chapter: “I shall return to the proper Greece & trace a sketch of its different states from Thessaly inclusively down to Laconia ~”. £500 Ref: 7967
4. CARTWRIGHT, Lt. Col. William Manuscript Standing Orders 10th Regiment P[rince of] W[ales] O [wn] Light Dragoons. [Circa 1795-1797]. Octavo (189 mm x 127 mm x 28 mm). Approximately 104 pages, blanks between section, 2-page index at end. Bound in contemporary reversed calf, morocco gilt lettering piece on upper cover, rubbed with some loss at foot of spine, some staining to outer leaves. Ownership inscription of “Col. Cartwright” to front endpaper.
¶ The 10th Light Dragoons (Hussars) had George, Prince of Wales, as its regimental colonel, and consequently was one of the army’s most fashionable regiments. William Cartwright was the commanding officer from 1793 to 1802. The introduction to this manuscript volume begins: “It having for a long time been evident [...] that the PWO Light Dragoons might derive considerable advantage from having a set of fix'd regulations [...] Lt Col Cartwright has judged it adviseable to throw together the following Orders...” What follows, is a set of regulations, divided into 33 sections, on subjects including the duties of various ranks, discipline, parade, and treatment of horses. It appears to be a working manuscript since there are scattered revisions and some later entries. Section headings include “Interior Economy of Troops”, “Guard and Black-Hole” (“A man confined to the Black -Hole is to receive no other sustenance but Bread & Water”), “Troop parades on Foot or Horseback”, “Baggage on a March”, and, covering equine matters, “Farriers”, “Hospital Stable &c”, and “Shoeing”. Towards the back of the volume are a small number of “Forms” – templates or examples for such paperwork as a “Certificate to be annexed to the Monthly Return” and the “Surgeons Morning Report”. The latter is followed on the verso by an example form for the “Veterinary Surgeons Morning Report”, handily demonstrating the roughly equal importance of men and horses to the military. £1,250 Ref: 7837
5. [CROSBY, Dixi (1810-1876); HALE, Safford Eddy (1818-1893)] Manuscript lecture notes taken by Safford Eddy Hale at Dartmouth Medical College in Hanover, New Hampshire, on venereal disease and urology, from lectures delivered by Dixi Crosby in 1840. [Circa 1840.] Half calf, marbled boards, rubbed. Small quarto (207 mm x 180 mm x 22 mm). 240 (numbered pages), [2, index].
¶ These lectures were almost certainly delivered by Dixi Crosby, who was professor of surgery, obstetrics, and diseases of women and children at Dartmouth Medical College when Hale was enrolled. Crosby had been appointed chair of surgery there in 1838. “He dominated New Hampshire surgery for thirty years. His practice in Hanover was very large, many patients being attracted by the high reputation of the school, while the personal ability of the man spread far around.” (Kelly Burrage, Dictionary of American Medical Biography. pp. 268-270). Crosby was the first surgeon in the United States to be sued for malpractice, though he was found not guilty. An inscription to the front endpaper reads “S. E. Hale / Elizabeth Town / N. York”. Safford Eddy Hale was born in Chelsea, Vermont and attended Dartmouth Medical College graduating in 1841 and setting up a practice in Elizabethtown, New York the following year. He served as secretary of the Essex County Medical Society for several years and as its president for a term. The subject headings include hydrocele, diseases of the breast, irritable swellings of the breast, diseases of the testicles, fungus hematodes, chronic enlargement & abscesses of the testes, gonorrhea, stricture of the urethra, abscesses of the lacunae, spasmodic strictures, inflammatory strictures, irritable bladder, bleeding from the urethra, inflammation of the testicle, impotence, sympathetic bubo, gleet, gonorrhea in females, chancre, phymosis, chancres in females, bubo, secondary symptoms of the venereal diseases, venereal disease of the bones, venereal ophthalmia, of the effects of mercury, scrofula, and scrofulous enlarged glands, among others. £850 Ref: 7907
6. [COVENTRY] Beautifully drawn and painted agricultural surveys. [Coventry. Circa 1834-1841]. Vertical oblong (222 mm x 96 mm), containing folded sheets. Original marbled paper wrappers, small area of loss to lower margin of first leaf, neatly repaired. 7 folded leaves. ¶ This manuscript begins with details for the “Rotation of Crops” for 10 named fields (including “Ridings”, “Wheat field”, “Jackpit close”) with adjacent fields also illustrated. The rotations cover the years 1834-41 and a list of crops is noted (“Seeds”, “Oats”, “Barley”, etc). Other properties include: “Corley”, “Coundon”, and “Barkswell”. This is a meticulous and attractive manuscript in its original marbled wrappers and in very good original condition.
£900 Ref: 7830
7. DALRYMPLE, George The practice of modern cookery; adapted to families of distinction, as well as to those of the middling ranks of life. To which is added, a glossary explaining the Terms of Art. By George Dalrymple, Late Cook to Sir John Whitefoord, Bart. Edinburgh: printed for the author; sold by C. Elliot, Edinburgh; and T. Longman, London, MDCCLXXXI. [1781]. FIRST & ONLY EDITION. Octavo. Pagination pp. [2], vi, 475, [1], collated and complete with the half-title. Contemporary half calf, rebacked with the original spine laid down. [Bitting, p.114; Cagle 640; Maclean p.37; Oxford p.113; Vicaire, p.245]. ¶ The only edition of a rare Scottish cookery book with French aspirations. “It is interesting to note that he named receipts in both English and French, and that he was one of the first cookery writers to give a glossary of terms”. (Maclean). ESTC locates 7 copies (3 in the UK at BL, Birmingham, NLS; 1 copy in Poland at Maria CurieSktodowska; 3 copies in the USA at Kansas, Smith, Library of Congress). £750 Ref: 7942
8. EGMONT, John James Peceval, third earl of (1738-1822) A small collection of 8 letters to his sister. [Circa 1799-1813]. ¶ Egmont (John Perceval, third Earl of, politician, half-brother of Spencer Perceval, 1738-1822) 8 Autograph Letters to his sister, Lady Elizabeth Perceval, 1 unsigned, 15pp. & 7 address panels with some wax seals, sm. 4to, Grosvenor Place, Berkeley Square & elsewhere, 31st June 1799 - 6th June 1813, discussing local news, servants, books, religion, travelling etc., torn where opened, folds, browned. These informal and chatty letters document a loving familial relationship, kept close through “constant communication” from Beth and the replies that this engenders. The letters span many domestic topics, such as Beth’s running of her household: “You really appear to do everything by volition, otherwise it would have been impossible to have found two cooks ten hours after [...] application, I am delighted with your readiness to accommodate”, to light gossip about their mutual connections: “from your report we seem partial to Lady Cooper, nor shall we grudge whatever staff she likes to retain for herself”. One topic that appears most readily is books. Beth appears to be a keen reader (“I know from experience you love to have a book in your hand”) and Egmont clearly connects with her through this, his letters and peppered with references to literature or lending her books: “I have taken the liberty of sending you a little tract, that I wish you would not only have in your hand but never never to let it out of your sight for a moment”. Although similar in their love of books, they differ in their treatment of them; in one letter he requests a certain book back and laments “I know your throwing it about according to custom will in a very short time certainly destroy it.” £650 Ref: 7762
9. [FLOWER, Benjamin (1755 - 1829); NORMINGTON, Joshua] A small group of manuscript letters. [Circa 1809-]. 11 letters written to Joshua or Mrs Norminton of Halifax. One of the letters is addressed: “Mr Jos.h Normintons Liquor Merchant”. ¶ This small group of letters to the Normingtons contains four of particular interest: these are from the radical political writer, publisher, and printer, Benjamin Flower (1755–1829). Perhaps his best-known work on the French constitution (1792), which was actually an attack on the English political system. The first three letters are brief and include much on books and bookselling. In one he refers to his 1792 treatise and his monthly magazine: “I have been advised to publish a New Edn with an such alternations as the course of events suggest; but I have no time to attend to the matter; but if the Pol: Review does not increase in sale, I shall not long continue it”. Nonetheless, he would not “learn the fashionable and profitable lesson... of compelling the principles of conscience ^ to bend to those of interest” and continued publishing the Political Register for a further two years. The fourth letter is a long epistolary rant in which Flower declares “I shall treat you with the freedom of an old friend in pouring out my heart, without reserve”. This he certainly does, opening the letter by protesting about the “disgusting sermon of that servile priest – Coulthurst” (evangelical vicar in Halifax). He bemoans the “oppressive taxation, increased poor rates ... to support two of the most unnecessary and detestably unjust wars, that ever disgraced mankind” and speculates “were I consulted by any people who were forming a government I would say, beware of monarchy, and of hereditary monarchy more especially; take care of a pure representative body ... follow as much nearly as possible the example of America” before shifting his attention in India: “There is so much weakness, waste of money, and mismanagement shown by all the Missionary Societies, that I have little hopes of much good being done by them, and when I consider the disgraceful despotism of the whole frame of government in India & the enormous crimes which have attended the conquest of that country, I have little hope that God will honour Britain...” Flower’s letters beautiful summarise his political beliefs underpinned by moral rectitude, openly expressed in passionate terms to his trusted friend. He closes apologetically: “But you will be thankful my paper obliges to me to conclude...” adding “Shall be happy to see you if you come Essex way...” £1,000 Ref: 7363
10. (FORBES, Robert) R. F. Ajax his speech to the Grecian knabbs, from Ovid’s Metam. lib. XIII. Consedere duces, & vulgi stante corona, &c. Attempted in broad Buchans, by R. F. Gent. Edinburgh: Walter Ruddiman. [1767]. Octavo. Pagination [2], 49, [1], complete with the half-title. Later half calf, paper repairs to gutter, text browned. Ownership inscription to half-title “R Watton Dunelm (Durham?) 1797”. ¶ The first section of this unusual book has been heavily annotated, apparently by “R Watton”, whose inscription has been scribbled out, but which nonetheless remains perfectly legible. Watton concentrates his attention on the first eight pages of the book, which translates part of Ovid into the Scottish dialect, Buchan (more usually known as Doric). His copious annotations cover every available space in Latin and English, apparently providing portions of the original poem together with, what we presume are his own translations. ESTC records six editions of the poem between 1740-1767. All are rare. For this edition ESTC locates four copies in the UK and two in the USA. £400 Ref: 8019
11. HARRISON, John L. Captain 18th-century miscellany book of letters and poems. [London, England. Circa 1771-75]. Small quarto (20 mm x 165 mm x 12 mm). Approximately 80 text pages (not including blanks), 1 page cut in half, some leaves excised (stubs remaining). Bound in contemporary full vellum, some soiling and small marks. Provenance: pencilled note to pastedown states “MSS book of Capt. J. L. Harrison. London”.
¶ This lively miscellany shows the poetic ambitions of its compiler and captures a sense of friendships built through letters and the exchange of verse. Among the extracts from published works, the scribe, Captain John L. Harrison of Bishop’s Hall in Bethnal Green, has copied letters sent and received, the majority of which are in verse form. Several names occur in the manuscript, but one appears multiple times, a “Mr A-m M-t”, whom it is clear Harrison holds in high regard. In a prefatory note to a poem he sends to A. M., he writes: “I beg you’ll point out the faults it contains of which I’m conscious there are many and communicate them and your opinion of the whole to me” (ff. 25). Harrison records verse he receives in return, with both men using the medium of poetry to foster their friendship and affirm each other’s work.
In a series of letters to and from “A M—t”, he asks his friend to help settle “A controversy [which] arose between two young lady’s and myself the substance of which was as follows I held that in the marriage state the man Is the better half, they that the woman Is which we left to be undecided…” A.M. does not fully agree, so Harrison replies, “I wonder sir you should give the preference to the Lady’s for I think the man is certainly the better half for he has the care of his business the getting of money to support his family and sundry other things I might mention” and marshals quotations from Virgil, Ovid, William Shenstone, Elizabeth Rowe, and John Milton. A.M. responds with allegory which tells of a man (aptly named “John”) who fails to understand the meaning of things: On discovering a leather purse he thinks: “Leather says he can serve some end / Old shoes perhaps may patch and mend […] Regardless of the luck thus gain’d / Concerned him not what it contain’d” Harrison pens a “jocular” verse regarding women (including the line “As he the Master she should Mistress be”), then after a confused defence of his position, protests that it “was A jocular Piece of raillery and as such I apprehended it would have been taken”. He concludes his apologetic letter, “This sir I hope will Attone for the misapprehensions of my former. I conclude With saying I entertain the most sincere and unfeign’st respect for them [women] and all those that defend them And remain your sincere Friend.” (ff. 17-18). On the next page we see Harrison’s “jocular” verse in action again in a rebuke to an unresponsive servant (we are given only their initials “C. B”) whose door he has been “thumping” to no avail: “But all my labour’s been in vain / And you have laid reclin’d till eight / Beneath your drowsy sluggish weight […]” When not attempting to assert the superiority of men or berating servants, he shares an “Acrostic to Miss E.H on having the toothach”, and there are several letters and verse to his sister, which he signs “your ever loving Brother”. There are also a handful of pages detailing accounts relating to millinery (“Mrs Brown Mare Street Hackney… To cap making Ribband”, “Mrs Conner… To ¼ Trimming… To making the Hatt”), which make a strange juxtaposition to the otherwise cohesive volume, but they are contemporary (one is dated 1775), geographically close (Hackney and Bethnal Green are neighbouring areas of London) and probably also by Harrison. Throughout the manuscript there is a strong sense of Captain Harrison’s personality and passion for poetry, as well as a sense that he thinks himself quite witty. The exchanges show him to be a person who values his connections and seeks affirmation through correspondence and offerings of verse, which he memorializes in his notebook. £650 Ref: 7866
12. [GOVERNMENT] A State of the Matter with relation to the Amending of Money Bills sent from the Com[m]ons to the Lords. [England. Circa 1705]. Folio (324 mm x 210 mm 8 mm). 65 pages, 1 blank. Disbound, with front marbled endpaper only. Provenance: pencilled note to front free endpaper verso reads “Unique M.S. from the Earl of Harrowby's Collection”. ¶ This manuscript, separated at some juncture from a larger volume, considers the issue of money bills and debates and disagreements between the House of Commons and the House of Lords between 1661 and 1703. The scribe records various bills and their progress though amendment and proviso, precedent, dissent, and committee. The document begins by giving the context: “There do’s not appear in their Lordships Journals any thing Remarkable touching that Matter till after the Restoration, when the Lords from that Time to the year 1695 frequently amended Money Bills of all kinds”.
Bills discussed touch on matters such as the financing of roads and bridges in Westminster and other “Common Highways” (1662), money for the “reducing” of Ireland (1689), duties on tea, coffee and chocolate (1689), the financing of a “vigorous war” against France, the restraining of “the wearing of all wrought silks and Bengales imported” and the forfeiture of estates in Ireland. The Lords frequently issue amendments or reject bills outright, but their powers in this area are about to be circumscribed: the UK Parliament’s website records that “The Commons’ pre-eminence in financial matters was given an official basis in the passing of resolutions in 1671 and 1678 after attempts by the Lords to breach the convention.” £500 Ref: 7964
13. HEYLYN, Peter (1600-1662) A help to English history, containing a succession of all the Kings of England, the English, Saxons, and the Britains;... By P. Heylyn,... And since his death, continu’d to this present year, 1709.... London: printed by Benj. Motte, for J. Morphew, 1709. Octavo. [Manuscript annotations, circa 1735]. Pagination pp. [8], 54, +[2], 55-62, +[2], 63-160, +[2], 161-182, +[2], 183-633, [3], woodcut illustrations of arms. This copy has the title page in both states (i.e. with and without “and” before “the Isle of Wight”), two states of A4 (The First Table) with slightly different page settings, and divisional titles in both states (i.e. dated “1709” and “1706”), bound in together with interleaves. [ESTC: N3600 & N33309].Contemporary panelled calf, rubbed, front hinge cracked, spine splitting and lifting away from text block, label chipped with loss to about half. Ownership inscription of “J. Johnson” to paste-down, surname repeated on front endpaper, with annotations in the same hand. ¶ This unusual copy of Peter Heylyn’s popular work includes variant printing states and has annotations by one “J. Johnson”, who has added numerous blank interleaves to The First [and Second] Part of the Catalogue of Bishops in order to extend the chronology (to around 1735) with his own manuscript notes. Johnson also makes annotations to around 26 pages, many of which spill onto the interleaves, (though a good deal remain blank). Johnson has followed Heylyn’s format: each entry continues the numbering sequence and many provide brief biographical details. He has also appended details such as burial or sepulchre locations for certain entries, for instance in the final page listing the Archbishops of Canterbury (p. 70), after “William Juxon”, he adds “Buried at Oxon”, then for Juxon’s successor “Gilbert Sheldon”, “Buried at Croydon”. Johnson appears to have annotated this volume at different times, and is sometimes forced by the arrangement of the printed pages to ‘double back’ to the beginning of a set of blank interleaves in order to continue his updates (e.g. p. 73, the second and final printed page of “Bishops of Saint Asaph”, having been separated from p. 72 by four blank interleaves, has Johnson’s continuation in manuscript until the bottom of the page, where he has written “go back to p. 72”, opposite which his extended chronology continues on the first blank page). Johnson seems to have had an ecclesiastical bent, since the interleaves and their handwritten contents are entirely absent from the sections treating of the monarchy and nobility. £750 Ref: 7972
14. [HORSE FAIR] Manuscript document announcing Summer Fairs and Winter Fairs. [The Royal Borough of Sutton Coldfield. Circa 1780]. Vellum. Single sheet (365 mm x 260 mm). Folds, later pencilled annotations. Written in a neat scribal hand. Provenance: formerly in the collection of Vincent and Helen Holbeche, a prominent Sutton family in the 19th century. Vincent Holbeche was a warden of the town. ¶ This unusual document, proclaiming a fair at Sutton Coldfield is undated, but is probably late 18th century. The fair apparently was apparently “Granted by King Henry the Eighth”. The were in fact two fairs (“The Summer Fair ... And the Winter Fair”), each lasting three days, in which people could “Meet Trade Traffick Buy Sell Exchange and Barter for all manner of Goods and Chattells in such manner as the Laws of this Kingdom direct Toll Free”. Provision was made for those “who shall Buy Sell or Exchange Horse Mare Gelding Colt or Filley within this Fair” to record their transaction in the “Toll Book kept in the Mill Street or Horse Fair”. And should the be any quarrels, they had the “Court of Pie Powder at the Moot Hall in the said Town where any person or persons that shall have any dispute Quarrel or cause of Suit about any thing to be Bought or Sold within this Fair may Repair and take a Speedy Trial”. The scribe completes the document with the names of “The Rt. Honourable Henry Lord Middleton Steward and The Worshipful The Warden and Society of this Corporation”. This will be sold with another proclamation from the 19 th century with similar wording, but adds “O Yes, O Yes, O Yes” to the heading and omits any mention of a winter fair. A transcript of the earlier document will be included with the manuscript. £600 Ref: 7944
15. [HOUGHTON, John (ed). (1645–1705)] A broken run of 35 issues of ‘A Collection for improvement of husbandry and trade.’ [London]: Published by Randal Taylor near Stationers-Hall, and sold by J. Hindmarsh at the Golden Ball against the Royal Exchange, S. Smith at the Princes Arms, S. Pauls Churchyard; F. Saunders at the Blue Anchor, New Exchange; and W. Hensman in Westminster-Hall, [1692-1703]. Amateur tape repairs to foreedges of all sheets. 35 issues between 1692 and 1702. Numbers: Vol. 1: 21, 23; Vol 2: 26-32, 34; Vol 17: 495-496, 498-516, 518-521. ¶ John Houghton was pharmacist and author. He was briefly at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, before being apprenticed to Nathaniel Upton, apothecary He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and a member of the Society of Apothecaries. He kept an apothecary's shop and dealt in such exotic overseas produce as coffee, chocolate, and spices. He published the first trade and agricultural periodical in England: A Collection of Letters for the Improvement of Husbandry and Trade, which appeared at monthly intervals from September 1681 to 1683. The second series was entitled, A Collection for improvement of husbandry and trade, was published from 1692 to 1703, ceasing with volume 20, number 583 (24 Sept. 1703). Each number consisted of a brief article by Houghton, with diverse commercial information. He included selections from a round-up of current prices of grains, hay, manure, wool, livestock, and carcases, as well as coal, tallow, glass, metals and sundry manufactures, imports and exports, movements of shipping. Other notable details include prices of East India, Africa, and Hudson's Bay companies’ stock, foreign exchange rates and bullion—effectively the earliest stock exchange figures. He also included advertisements for a bewildering diversity of goods—brimstone, sago, coffee, spectacles and telescopes, even such specialities as manuscript sermons and advowsons—and extending to book reviews. (ODNB). Inscribed several times by “Thomas Royds”, with pen trials and notes including the “Little Wardle”, several times as well as “Rochdale, Lancashire.” Also, “Robert”, “Walton”, and “James Royds”. There are two dates: “1723” and “1732”. A Thomas Royds (c. 1691 - 1757) is recorded as living in Rochdale Parish. He had three brothers: James (d. 1777), John (1693 - 1731), and Robert (born circa 1697), which makes him a likely candidate (although that does leave the Walton reference unresolved). £750 Ref: 7982
16. JERMYN, Henry 1st Earl of Saint Albans (1605-1684) Two original letters signed and sealed. [Paris, March 26th and April 9th, 1660.] 2 letters. Folded, seals largely intact, some tears and dust soiling. 4 leaves, 2 ½ text pages. Provenance: H. P. Kraus with his catalogue notes enclosed. ¶ The English politician and diplomat Henry Jermyn was a leading royalist and a favourite of Queen Henrietta Maria, whom he accompanied into French exile after the execution of her husband Charles I. There he campaigned for the restoration of the English monarchy, which succeeded with the crowning of Charles II in May 1660. These two letters, written a few weeks before this triumph, show him in a less heroic light as he presses the Garter Principal King of Arms, Sir Edward Walker (1612-1677), to expedite two urgent matters bearing on recognition of loyal service to the royalist cause: the signing by the new King of the patent securing the creation of his title as Earl of St Albans; and the passing of the patent for James Butler (1610-1688), the Irish viceroy, confirming him as the Earl of Ormonde. The letters are written in English in an untidy, but legible hand. They are both addressed: “Sr: Edward Walker” and docketed by Walker (one reads “Ld Jermin to me”). £600 Ref: 7933
17. KEATE, George (d. 1680) and Sir Jonathan KEATE (1633-1700) Late 17th century manuscript accounts. [Circa 1695]. Folio (384 mm x 254 mm). Title (to cover), [8, text pages], [2, blanks], rear cover blank. Ruled throughout. Written in a neat secretary hand. Manuscript title to front cover reads “Sr. Jonathan Keates Account of Receipts and Disbursm ts. of the ^Personall Estate of his Testator George Keate Esqr. besides the stockes of his in the East India and Affrican Companyes”, and lower down the sheet “4o. Decr. 95 Left them by Mr Ball Agent for ye Def Sr. Jonathan Keate”.
¶ While accounts and ledger books do not offer the richly textured elements and inner life experience of an autobiography, they do tell us what a person actually did, when, where, and how they chose to spend their money. These bald facts can help build a picture of a person through their financial transactions. With money comes power, and accounts and ledgers offer a tangible thread to follow how power is gained and sustained. George Keate was as a merchant of St. Bartholomew's Exchange, London. He had property in Cornwall, Kent and Cambridgeshire. Judged from these accounts, which do not take direct account of his “stockes of his in the East India and Affrican Companyes” he was a wealthy man. He died in 1680 and made Sir Jonathan Keate one of his executors. He made his friend Sir Jonathan Keate of Hoo, Hertfordshire, baronet, one of his executors. These accounts show Keates day to day expenses and returns, “Paid given Mr Shorte made for cleansing the rommes after us”, “Paid mourning to myselfe, Wife Sister and 3 Children at 10ll. a piece”, “Paid spent Tavernes & Coffeehouses from the 24 Novemr. 84 to the 28 May”. Credits are to recto; debits to verso. Totals from each page carried forward. The finals totals are: Cr. 1142|04|08; Dr. 1099|09|01½
£650 Ref: 7860
18. [MAYNWARING (or MAINWARING), Arthur (1668-1712)] Manuscript entitled ‘The History & fall of the Conformity Bill being an Excellent new Song to the Tune of the lady’s fall &c.” [Circa 1704. Undated]. Folio (313 mm x 193 mm). Two bifolium sheets, text to 5 pages. Written in a neat scribal hand. Watermark: Quartered shield (dagger in one quarter; Arms of London). Countermark: H. Which matches Folger L.f.649 which they date circa 1699. ¶ This is a scribal copy of The History & fall of the Conformity Bill, a satirical poem usually (though by no means always) attributed to Arthur Maynwaring. The poem circulated in manuscript in 1704. According to CELM, there are anonymous copies in Bodleian (MSS Rawl. D. 360, f. 62r; Rawl. poet. 169, f. 29r; Firth b. 21, f. 51r) and elsewhere. A manuscript copy, dated January 1703/4 and subscribed ‘Certainly written by Mr. Congreve’, is in the British Library (Add. MS 40060, ff. 41r-5r). It is ascribed to Robert Wisdom in Bodleian (MS Locke. c. 32, f. 44r) and British Library (Add. MS 7122, f. 6r); and ours, too, is inscribed at the end: “Sic Ceri vit Robert Wisdome”. It first appeared in print as an anonymous broadside in 1704 (Foxon, M32; N8689). ESTC records one copy, at Harvard’s Houghton Library. It was also included in A New Collection of Poems Relating to State Affairs (London, 1705), pp. 557-61, where it is set to “to the tune of Chivy Chase”. These printed versions all have the names of characters redacted and the 1705 printed version also redacted “arse” (see below). The earliest printed version with all the names included I have located occurs in the Gentleman’s Magazine (1785). Our manuscript copy includes all the original names and expletives including: Even Harley’s Self I would say would Scarce / Be made a Smithfield’s Martyr For proof clap Faggots to his Arse / You’l find You’ve caught a Tartar The poem marks the point at which Maynwaring turned fully to the Whig cause. According to Ellis in his Arthur Mainwaring as Reader of Swift’s ‘Examiner’ (1981), it is the “earliest of Mainwaring’s poems to defend the ideals of the Revolution”, especially as regards “occasional conformity”. The purpose of the Conformity Act was to prevent Nonconformists and Roman Catholics from taking “occasional” communion in the Church of England in order to become eligible for public office under the Corporation Act 1661 and the Test Act. As the poem puts it, “Dissenters they were to be pressed / To goe to Com[m]on Prayer”. Ellis neatly sums up how, in this poem, “the bill becomes a hasty pudding, cooked up by the House of Commons and served up to the Lords to sample. But Burnet stirring it with his grimy toe makes it unpalatable to the peers (who in fact rejected it upon the second reading on 14 December 1703 by seventy-one votes to fifty-nine)…”. Ellis calls it “a powerful vehicle for Mainwaring’s own feelings about the bill to prevent occasional conformity.” Our version retains the names of the characters in this unappetising parliamentary compromise. £1,000 Ref: 7884
19. OVID (43 B.C.-17 A.D. or 18 A.D.); SEWELL, George (d. 1726) Ovid’s Metamorphoses. In fifteen books. Made English by several hands. Adorn’d with cuts. The second edition, with great improvements by Mr. Sewell. London: printed by S. Palmer, for A. Bettesworth, at the Red-Lyon, and E. Taylor, at the Black-Swan, both in Pater-NosterRow; W. Mears, at the Lamb without Temple-Barr; and T. Woodward, at the Half-Moon against St. Dunstan’s Church, in Fleet-Street, MDCCXXIV. [1724]. Second edition. Duodecimo. 2 volumes. [2], x, 258, [6]; 224, [4] pp. Engraved frontispiece portrait and 15 engraved plates. Ownership inscription (“Geo: Kenyon”) and bookplate of “George Kenyon of Peel” to both volumes. First published in 1717. ESTC locates 4 copies in the UK, and 7 copies in the USA (4 of which at Harvard), and 1 copy in Australia. ¶ Sewell was an English poet, physician, and miscellaneous writer. According to the ODNB, he studied medicine under Boerhaave at the University of Leyden, and took the degree of M.D. at Edinburgh. After practising in London without success, he met with better fortune in Hampstead, until three other physicians arrived and ruined his practice. Under straitened circumstances he became a booksellers’ hack, publishing numerous poems, translations, and political and other pamphlets. Kinney and Styron (Ovid Illustrated: The Reception of Ovid's Metamorphoses in Image and Text. virginia.edu) remark that “George Sewell's little-known and lowbudget collaborative version of the Metamorphoses remains palpably closer to Sandys than Garth's version, but sometimes excels Garth's in vividness as well as in accuracy; as a token of this, the luxe Amsterdam bilingual Metamorphoses of 1732 invokes Garth but then frequently splices Garth's efforts together with Sewell's [S.]. […] the mixed text indicates how Sewell sometimes works better than Garth as a proxy and channel for Ovid in earlymodern rhetorical form.”
£375 Ref: 7997
20. [PORTER, Peter Buell (attrib.)] Manuscript speech for New York State Republican Party. [New York. Circa 1817]. 9 pages of text. ¶ Draft of a speech addressed to “Fellow Citizens” written by a political insider in the then “Republican” party of New York State, denouncing the “treachery” of DeWitt Clinton whom “we despise, oppose and denounce” and analysing the political manoeuvrings of the Livingston and Clinton families. It seems likely that this speech was written by Peter Buell Porter (or one of his speech writers). In 1817 Porter’s political friends printed ballots with his name and distributed them among their followers to vote for Porter for Governor of New York. DeWitt Clinton, the otherwise unopposed candidate, was fiercely hated by the Porter’s allies and he received about 1,300 votes although he was not really running for the office. £300 Ref: 7877
21. RIDER, Cardanus; NICHOLLS, Winifried (annotator) Rider’s British merlin: For the year of Our Lord God 1744. London: Printed by R. Nutt, for the Company of Stationers, 1744. Duodecimo. Pagination pp. 48, plus 7 blank interleaves. Manuscript notes to 11 pages. ESTC locates only 4 copies (Leeds Brotherton, V & A, and 2 copies at the British Library). Contemporary red morocco, rubbed, clasps broken, lacks front free endpaper. ¶ There are only a few sparse manuscript notes. The front endpaper is missing so the volume begins with a truncated recipe (this is also partly obscured by torn paper remains): “boil it one Quarter of an hour and then put the shugar in […] in one day or too put it in the vesel. It is attributed to “Winifried Nicholls”, but it is not clear whether she is the scribe or is simply attributing the recipe. Complete, albeit brief, recipes include: “Turmurweck A Quarter of a Pound for a Gownd let it be clean out it in cold water and let it boil some Time”; “To Make a Pound”; “To make the black plaster” (which includes such delights as “White Led Boyle it in a new Pipkin tell it be Black and the Froth be gone”). This recipe is duplicated on the following two pages in the same hand, but more neatly the second time. £300 Ref: 7928
22. [ROYAL MINT] Manuscript sheets from the Royal Mint.- Goldsmiths' Company and the Trial of the Pyx, manuscript in Secretary hand. [London. Circa 1681. Dated from text and watermark]. Folio (292 mm x 190 mm). 20 text pages n 10 sheets. Browned, edges chipped with losses to margins, but only occasionally affecting text. Occasional corrections and deletions. 1 of the documents (number 8 in the list below) has 2 lines deleted and annotated “entered on the Gold Side”, indicating that these are the original sheets rather than copies. Watermark: Horn. Similar to Haewood 2667-84, which he dates between 1664-1707. ¶ This group of documents, produced during a turbulent time at the Mint, contains details of the large quantities of gold and silver being delivered for coinage and the people involved in the processes, including an unusual record of The Trial of the Pyx. Here and there are hints of a royal institution cautiously regaining stability after an unsettled period. The “crisis which rocked the Mint” (Challis, p. 357) had begun a few years before. In 1679, the assistant weigher and teller, William Taylor, had given an address to the Lords of the Council, denouncing the Mint’s “irregularity and abuses” (Craig, p. 406). In July 1680, the Mint’s master-worker, Henry Slingsby, had been suspended for irregularities; the warden, Sir Anthony St Leger, retired in the same year. At the time of these documents, the Mint was fighting to defend the principle of free coinage against a rear-guard attack to reinstate seignoirage, by which the government took the difference between the face value of coins and their production costs.
The documents for gold and silver (recorded by weight in pounds, troy ounces, pennyweights, and grains) in these documents run concurrently in an unbroken sequence from 2nd July to 29th December 1681. They include several recordings of the Trial of the Pyx, which checked the quality of coinage in circulation. The documents include recordings of the gold and silver delivered “to the Monyers”, of the Mint and we have the distinct sense that they were still grappling with past irregularities. There are repeated entries throughout for a number of members of the Goldsmiths’ Company (usually for gold and silver “monies receiued”) who are listed in Heal, The London Goldsmiths, (1972). These include “ffrancis Kenton” (goldsmith and banker; King’s Arms, Fleet St, Angel Lombard Street), “John. Sweetaple” (Sir, goldsmith and banker; Black Moor’s Head, Lombard St), “Peter Percivall” (goldsmith and banker; Black Boy, Lombard St), “John Temple” (goldsmith; Three Tons, Lombard St, - described by Pepys as “the fat blade”), as well as three individuals who do not appear in Heal: “John Vaulaire”, Henry Griffith”, “Edward Boueree”.
These documents record the bullion deposited in the Mint for coining. There are several references to the melting of gold and silver “Deliuered to melt in gold [- allay, ij pott, scissell]” (Scissell is the remainder of gold or silver after a coin has been cut from the sheet; it is remelted for future use). Entries frequently record large quantities (100 – 300 pounds), but in December 1681 exceptionally high quantities were apparently required: “Jn. Temple & compr” record no less than 3379 pounds of silver on the 12th. At the time these documents were written, the quantities of gold imported from Africa could probably easily have met the Mint’s requirements. But this was not the case for silver, so these large amounts may reflect this need to utilise internal supplies of silver for coinage. Following the disturbances at the Mint it is perhaps reassuring that we find a record of the Trial of the Pyx. This ceremony, which probably dates from the 12th century, was designed to ensure that newly minted coins conform to required specifications. One or two coins would be taken from each production run and put into a boxwood chest, called the pyx (from the Greek, πυξίς, ‘pyxis’ meaning wooden box), which was then locked. Periodically these coins were taken out and checked to determine the average deficiency of coins in weight. At the time of these documents, it was presided over by the Lord Chancellor with a jury of assayers from the Goldsmiths’ Company. There are numerous sidenotes referring to “pix”. These record the number of coins taken for the purpose of testing the consignments. On the “5th. Augusti 1681” the “Triall of the Pix” was conducted for gold (5r) and silver (7v). The Trial of the Pyx is now an annual event, but in the 17th century it was conducted only intermittently, so its inclusion in these documents is an unusual occurrence. Given the crisis still resounding in the Mint at the time, this trial would have been of more than passing significance, and the ostensible dryness of the statements in these records only superficially masks the anxieties of a financial body straining to get its house in order.
£2,000 Ref: 7953
23. ROBINSON, Hannah Two manuscript letters concerning fever epidemics. [Killingly, Connecticut. Circa 1814]. Letters folded, one marked “Hannah Robinsons copy of a Letter” at the end. 3 ½ pages in total. ¶ In two lengthy manuscript accounts, a young woman relays first her concern at the numbers of individuals dying and subsequently her near death and recovery. The first is to her parents on 11 March 1814 expressing her sorrow and dismay at the deaths of friends and relaying the names of all of the local communities where the fever was present (apparently the first person fell ill in December 1813). She proceeds to account the numerous families with several members in a household succumbing, usually within days of one another. She expresses concern for the doctor’s health as he has seen patients day and night for a month. At length she checks herself: “---but stop. Let me not give you any uneasiness on account of my words”. The recollections of others passing fills the remainder of the letter. The second letter, written to her brother, is started on 20 April 1814 and concludes on May 4. She opens by admonishing her brother for not writing for two years, then goes on to explain that she is near death with the fever. Apparently because of the severity of her illness she can only write a few lines per sitting: on 21 April and a handful of subsequent days she manages a couple of paragraphs. On 4 May she concludes the letter, advising that she has been carried back to her home and is beginning to recover, and demanding a visit. £350 Ref: 7876
24. [SCOTTISH MISCELLANIES] Two mid-18th-century manuscript miscellany books. [Edinburgh/Aberdeen(?). Circa 1780]. Small quartos (Volume I: 197 mm x 185 mm x 20 mm; Volume II: 197mm x 160 mm x 10 mm). 128 numbered pages; 124 unnumbered pages (including several blanks). ¶ Two volumes bound in brown cloth, probably in the 20th century. The sheets of one of the volumes have been mounted on stubs and then bound into the volume. The sheets in the other volume have been stitched in such a way that this appears to be the first time the manuscripts have been bound. The writing is in the same hand throughout both volumes. It seems likely that they had remained in loose form for a couple of centuries before someone decided to bind them together. The texts appear to have been written simultaneously, and a sizeable portion of the material is from Scottish sources, usually Edinburgh or Aberdeen. One of the volumes contains poems mostly copied from periodicals including The Edinburgh Magazine, The Gentleman’s Magazine, and The Scots Magazine. Among the featured poems are “Extract from Dr Beale’s Dialogues”, “Hamlet’s soliloquoy imitated”, “A Defence of Angling”, “The Case stated. A Tale”, “The Splendid Shilling. An Imitation of Milton.”, and “On the Death of Marshall Keith”, and “On seeing a Lady paint herself”. A salient inclusion is “Nonsense. About the Ladies Bottoms &c. &c. Aberen. Janr. 1783.” – a satirical poem in The Gentleman’s Magazine (1769) ridiculing the fashion for bum-rolls. Those apparently not sourced from periodicals include “The praise of Vanity. A Satire” (untraced, but signed “G. D. Dundee Jan: 7th 1757”), “The Logicians refuted. Said to be written by the late Dr Swift”, and “Prologue to the Fashionable Lover”, from the rare New and Complete English Spouter (1781), (ESTC locates two copies in the UK and two in the USA). The other volume contains verse mostly copied from books; the poems include “Inscription for the Monument of Emma” from Pratt’s (i.e. Samuel Jackson) Emma Cobbett. (1780); “A Poem on the Earthquake at Lisbon” (1755), attributed to John Biddulph (1725?-1774?) “Cupid thrown into the South Sea” and “Familiar Epistles between Lieutenant William Hamilton & Allen Ramsay”, both by Allan Ramsay (1685-1758), and “Epistle to the Honbl. C. B.” by James Beattie (1735-1803). £600 Ref: 7924
25. [SHEFFIELD, John Duke of Buckingham] 17th century manuscript entitled 'A Short Character of Charles the Second King of England'. [Circa 1690]. Folio (323 mm x 208). Page dimensions: 293 mm x 193 mm. Text to 5 leaves, plus 1 blank. Watermark: Horn with letters AJ beneath. Similar to Haewood 2686-90 (which he dates, 1680-93) but none of these have AJ beneath. According to Haewood, AJ is probably Abraham Janssen. See Haewood: 409, 453, 2718, which he dates 1680-90. The binding is a 20th century remboitage, using early 18th-century blind-panelled calf, with gilt-blocked royal arms of King George I on each side. It has been recently rebacked, with a new spine label and endpapers added.
¶ Scandal and controversy were bywords for King Charles II’s reign, and this manuscript, which would have been handed around like a little morsel of gossip, does nothing to restore his reputation. Perhaps the most solemn moment comes at the beginning which “according to custom” states “his Religion, which since his death hath made so much noise in the world, I yett dare Confidently affirme it, to have beene onley that which is vulgarly tho’ unjustly counted none att all, I mean, Deism”. Here, the scribe addresses rumours of King Charles II’s Catholic sympathies. But rather than infer any strong faith, he says the King’s beliefs were arrived at languidly, through a “carelesness of his Temper then either Reading or much Consideracon”. The writer, having drawn an amusing analogy between himself as Raphael and the King as the sitter, presents a sometimes unflattering picture of the “Merry Monarch”. He was “Full of disimulacon and very adroit, at it, yet no man easier to be imposed upon”, besides being “Easy and good natured to all people in tiffles, but in great affaires sever and inflexible”. The scribe frequently alights upon the King’s dilettantism (“His understanding was quick and lively […] but u^ nable to keepe it up with any Long attention”) and lingers on his sexual proclivities (“there was as much of Laziness as of Love in all those houres he passed among his Mistresses”); but, in a bid for even-handedness, describes him “setting his whole heart on the faire sex, yet neither angrey with Rivals”. Before its publication in 1696, this text circulated in manuscript. Only with its 1725 reprinting was it revealed as “Written by John Duke of Buckingham, Lord President of Her late Majesty’s Privy-Council”. This was John Sheffield (1647–1721), a statesman, poet, essayist and patron to Dryden and Pope, and perhaps best remembered for his Essay on Poetry (1682). The ODNB says he was “probably the author of the Essay on satire which circulated in manuscript in 1679 and attacked prominent figures at court including the king and Rochester”.
Manuscript copies in library collections: National Library of Scotland: ‘A Short Character of Charles the Second &c’: I have pitch’d upon the Character of King Charles the second … tho’ he found his Error in this, but I confess, of little of the latest. Unsigned; [?late seventeenth century]. ff. 238-9. Cambridge University: A short character of Charles the Second King of England by someone who knew or served him 17th cent (Add 9322). Printed editions: First published anonymously as: The character of Charles II. King of England. London: by Richard Baldwin. 1696. [Wing, B5336]. ESTC records three reprintings under the new title, A short character of Charles II. King of England. Two reprints in 1725, recorded as the sixth and seventh editions; a 1729 without edition statement. The most notable difference in the publications is the addition of a final paragraph in the later editions. This is also in our manuscript; but rather than indicating ours was copied from the printed editions, we suggest the reverse to be the case. The 18th-century editions claim to have been “Printed from the Original Copy” – a phrase probably intended to imply that the reprint is more authoritative than its predecessor. But several “originals” existed, as the 1696 edition attests, and our manuscript appears to be one of these. The physical features also suggest this. It has been folded as if for posting; and the final sheet (partly wrapped around to “bind” the text together) contains the now partially obscured inscription “A Character his Mai of”. Unfortunately, the manuscript has been “pimped” by a modern owner. They have used two early 18th-century blindpanelled calf boards, with gilt-blocked royal arms of King George I on each side, which they have rebacked in calf. Although this creates an impressive-looking artefact, the binding does not match the size or the date of the manuscript, resulting in a misleading “remboitage” which, although it diverts our attention from the way the manuscript would originally have been circulated, is itself a fact of book ownership and the long history of books.
£1,500 Ref: 7957
26. [SPANISH COMMERCE] English manuscript entitled “A Brief Description of the Spanish Commerce in General with some few Remarks thereon”. [England(?). Circa 1720. Dated from watermark and text references]. Bifolium (paper size open 447 mm x 339 mm). 4 pages. Folded. Provenance: Townshend Heirlooms: Historical Papers (of Raynham Hall, Fakenham), lot 635. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge: London, Catalogue of valuable printed books, autograph letters, and historical documents: comprising the Townshend papers, forming part of the Townshend heirlooms (sold by order of the court), July 14-16th, 1924. Watermark: Colbert Coat of Arms. Similar to Haewood 688 and 690 which he dates 1686 and 1689 respectively. ¶ After the War of the Spanish Succession and the beginning of the Spanish Bourbon dynasty, Philip V, the first in the new line imported from France, was intent on expanding Spain’s economic activities, both domestically and in its overseas empire. This manuscript addresses exactly these concerns. The document presents an overview of the Spanish economy (“a very pleasant & delicious Country capable to produce every thing necessary for humane life not only to serve itself but other Nations”), beginning with domestic matters by listing the country’s chief produce, including: “Ext Sherry Wines, Sweet & Dry Malaga”, “Cocheneele Safron”, “Pilchards Atun and Anchovies.” It then looks outwards, with an overview of the key Spanish ports, starting with Cadiz, “from whence the Galeon’s Flottas Azoguez aduice Boates & Register Ships go and come to and from the West Indies”. The other ports are summarised (including “Sevil St Lucar Pt St Marys Bilbao & St Sebasteans Malaga Alicant & Barc:a”), with lists of the goods exchanged there (including “Jesuits Bark Jallop Lapis Contrayerva Gums and other Apothy Druggs Benelloes Caias Suguar Hydes Snuff and Tobacco”). There follow details of Spain’s European trading partners. France comes first, although it “did not Employ so many ships as the English nor any other Nation”. Goods exchanged include “Brocades Tissues Silks Ribbans Stockens Hatts”. The English, meanwhile, “carry’d on a Vast Trade thither in all manner of Woolens and Provisions ”, and buy “not only the Growth and Manufacture of the Country […] But also the Product of their Dominions”. Similarly, the Dutch “Return not only the Natural Product & Manufacture of Spain But that of yr Dominions”. Italy is praised for “the order and method which that Politick & Prudent Reypublick observed to render their Commerce Easy Secure & Profitable”. Of the clues to its date of composition, the first is an amendment: “Frutos are Chiefly Loaded for England ^G:t Bn”, so this must surely date from after the 1707 Acts of Union. The second is “2 Ships which only touched in the Bay of Cadiz about the year 14 or 15” which probably refers to the early 18th century. The strong flavours of early modern internationalism (including “Peru” and the “West Indies” although “Turks Jews & Infidels are forbid […] the Privilege and liberty of Trading”) can be detected in the language (the use of the French word “quinquaillery” for hardware) and the use of French paper. The watermark bears the Colbert Coat of Arms, a reference to the French statesman, Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619 - 1683), whose economic and political doctrine, known as Colbertism, is often considered synonymous with 17th-century mercantilism.
£950 Ref: 7962
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