17th and 18th Century Books and Pamphlets (Mostly British) from Jarndyce Antiquarian Booksellers
17th and 18th century works from Jarndyce Antiquarian Booksellers.
by Michael Stillman
This month we review our first catalogue from Jarndyce Antiquarian Booksellers, located opposite the British Museum in London. The firm has been selling books for 35 years, and this is the 174th catalogue they have issued. Jarndyce specializes in antiquarian English literature and history, although the works here are perhaps a bit older than most they usually offer. The catalogue is titled Books and Pamphlets of the 17th and 18th Centuries Part I. It contains 462 items, and we will undoubtedly see many more as this one only takes us through the letter "H." While there are exceptions, most are British works, in the English language, published in England, usually London. However, as noted, there are exceptions, such as a few books in French, published in Paris. Here are some of the many fascinating old books to be found in this latest Jarndyce catalogue.
Lest anyone think all British history is serious and proper, Item 49 is George Hickes' Ravillac Redivivus...To which is annexed, an account of the tryal of that most wicked Pharisee Major Thomas Weir, who was executed for adultery, incest and bestiality. Weir was an apparently deeply religious Presbyterian official, former soldier, and most respectable of men. The result is that it came as a great shock to his neighbors when at the age of 70, he suddenly confessed to all of these and other crimes. His 60-year-old sister backed him up, confessing to incest with him as well as witchcraft. What on earth compelled these two to make such terrible, and unforced confessions is hard to fathom. There was evidently some serious mental instability in the family, but it may well be that there was also truth to some of their confessions, and perhaps a consuming guilt led them to suddenly blurt out admissions they knew would have terrible consequences. While town officials at first tried to attribute Weir's statements to insanity, physicians could find no signs of illness (they must not have looked very hard). Weir was convicted and on April 11, 1670, he was strangled, his body burnt. The following day, his sister was hanged, tearing off her clothes on the gallows as she wished to die in even more shame. This 1682 account of their trial (and that of another preacher, James Mitchel, for murder) is priced at £350 (US equivalent of approximately $681).
Daniel Defoe is best remembered for his novel Robinson Crusoe, but it took him a long time to get there. Defoe was involved in a myriad of business ventures and political intrigues, almost always in debt, and on occasion in prison. Indeed, he had only recently been released from prison when perhaps the worst storm to ever hit Britain pounded the island on November 26 and 27, 1703. Thousands of people died. Defoe wrote hundreds of pamphlets and books over the course of his life, generally for the purpose of relieving his debts, and in this storm he saw an opportunity to make some money. He ran advertisements in the paper looking for eyewitness accounts, which he used to write this book: The Storm, or, a Collection of the most remarkable Casualties and Disasters, which happen'd in the late dreadful Tempest, both by Sea and Land, published in 1704. Item 318. £650 (US $1,265).
Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: HAMILTON, Sir William - Campi Phlegraei. Napoli: 1779. € 50,000 - 80,000
Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: KIRCHER, Athanasius - Turris Babel. Amsterdam: 1679. € 3,000 - 5,000
Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: EDWARDS, George.London - Gleanings of Natural History. Londra: 1758-1764. € 7,000 - 10,000
Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: HEVELIUS, Johannes - Cometographia. Danzica: 1668. € 20,000 - 30,000
Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: KUPKA, Frantisek - Quatre histoires de blanc et noir. Parigi: 1926. € 10,000 - 15,000
Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 732. Early Announcement of Continental Congress' Declaration of Independence (1776) Est. $12,000 - $15,000
Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 361. One of Ortelius' Most Decorative Maps in Full Contemporary Color (1585) Est. $9,500 - $12,000
Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 55. Early Edition of One of the Most Important 16th Century Maps of the New World (1545) Est. $6,000 - $7,500
Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 27. Fascinating Japanese Satirical Map of the World Published After WWI (1924) Est. $2,750 - $3,500
Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 637. Complete Example of De Bry's Petits Voyages, Part VIII (1606) Est. $4,750 - $5,500
Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 50. Extremely Rare Uncut Sheet from Sylvanus's 1511 Edition of Ptolemy's Geographia (1511) Est. $2,000 - $2,300
Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 399. One of the Most Desired Maps of Ireland by John Speed (1610) Est. $2,750 - $3,500
Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 689. Pictorial Map of Melbourne in the Style of MacDonald Gill (1934) Est. $900 - $1,100
Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 652. Blaeu's Carte-a-Figures Map of Africa in Full Contemporary Color (1663) Est. $3,000 - $3,750
Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 729. Hand-Colored Image of David Handing the Letter to Uriah (1518) Est. $1,000 - $1,300
Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 533. Eight-Volume Set Recounting Travels of Anacharsis in Greece (1789) Est. $800 - $950
Dominic Winter Auctioneers September 11 Printed Books, Maps & Manuscripts, The Polydore Vergil bound for Queen Mary I
Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Exquemelin (Alexandre Olivier). The History of the Bucaniers of America..., 4 parts in one, 3rd edition, 1704. £1,000-1,500
Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Greenough (George Bellos). A Physical and Geological Map of England & Wales..., Geological Society, July 1865. £5,000-8,000
Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Illuminated Psalter. Manuscript Psalter with Calendar, Flanders or North-East France, late 13th century. £7,000-10,000
Dominic Winter Auctioneers September 11 Printed Books, Maps & Manuscripts, The Polydore Vergil bound for Queen Mary I
Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Book of Hours. Illuminated manuscript on vellum, Use of Rome, in Latin, Florence, c. 1470s. £3,000-5,000
Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Henry VIII (King of England). Assertio septem sacramentorum adversus Martinum Lutherum, Antwerp: Michiel Hillen, 1522. £3,000-5,000
Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Binding for Queen Mary I of England and Ireland. Polydori Vergilii Urbinatis Anglicae..., 1555. £20,000-30,000
Dominic Winter Auctioneers September 11 Printed Books, Maps & Manuscripts, The Polydore Vergil bound for Queen Mary I
Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Llwyd (Humphrey). The Breviary of Britayne..., 1st edition in English, 1573. William Lambarde's copy. £2,000-3,000
Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Embroidered Binding. The Whole Book of Psalmes..., Imprinted for the Company of Stationers, 1634. £700-1,000
Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Astronomy Manuscript. [Shakerley, Jeremy (1626-c.1655). Tabulae Britannicae, the British tables…], late 17th c. £1,000-1,500
Dominic Winter Auctioneers September 11 Printed Books, Maps & Manuscripts, The Polydore Vergil bound for Queen Mary I
Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Vellucent Art Nouveau Binding [Book of Common Prayer] by Herbert Granville Fell, 1900. £1,000-1,500
Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Palladio (Andrea). The Architecture of A. Palladio; in Four Books, 2nd edition, 1721. £2,000-3,000
Sotheby’s 10 September 2024 The Shem Tov Bible
Koller Auctions Books & Autographs 18 September 2024
Koller, Sep. 18: Cowper, William. Anatomia corporum humanorum ab excellentissimis… Utrecht, 1750. CHF 25,000 to 40,000
Koller, Sep. 18: Bell, Thomas. A Monograph of the Testudinata. London [1836-1842]. CHF 20,000 to 30,000.
Koller, Sep. 18: Gould, John. A monograph of the Trochilidae, or family of humming-birds [and] Supplement completed after the authors death…, London [1849-]1861 and [1880-]1887. CHF 50,000 to 80,000.
Koller Auctions Books & Autographs 18 September 2024
Koller, Sep. 18: Gould, John. The birds of New Guinea and the adjacent Papuan Islands, including many new species recently discovered in Australia. CHF 50,000 to 80,000.
Koller, Sep. 18: Levaillant, François. Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de paradis et des rolliers, suivie de celle des toucans et des barbus. Paris [1801-]1806. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.
Koller, Sep. 18: Pfinzing, Melchior. Die geverlicheiten und einsteils der geschichten des loblichen streytparen…, Nürnberg, 1517. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.