Rare Book Monthly

Articles - September - 2012 Issue

Exploring the Downtown National Library of Jamaica

The National Library of Jamaica.

The National Library of Jamaica.

PART III : Hans Sloane, Milk Chocolate & Live Animals…

Back to Jamaica, to explore a new prestigious book from the National Library ! I had already been through a copy of Thomas Gage’s account of travels to America - that played a key role in the English capturing the island in 1655 (see here) -, and through my favorite Americana book, Esquemeling’s History of the Bucaniers - telling us about the period when Jamaica had become the capital of buccaneering, and Port Royal the « wickedest city on Earth » (see here), and was now awaiting for a highly respected book : « A Voyage to the Islands of Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and JAMAICA, with the Natural History of the Herbs and Trees, Four-footed Beasts, Fishes, Birds, Insects, Reptiles, &c. Of the last of those Islands », by Hans Sloane (London, 1707). It is a legendary body of work, a cornerstone of the history of the island. The employee of the National Library heavily dropped the thick in-folio book on the table in front of me, smiling with content. This was the first volume, published in 1707 - the second one, dedicated to zoology, did not see the light before 1725. I had never come across a physical copy of this book yet, and was deeply impressed at its charisma, its size and weight, and at the sum of knowledge it contains. Thousands of pages, more than two hundred « large copper-plates as big as the life », as the title-page reads, a gorgeous and folding « new map of Jamaica » I could not take my eyes off for a while… Meet Hans Sloane’s book, finally !

THE DUKE OF ALBERMALE

In Decembre 1687 the small fleet of the new Governor of Jamaica, the second Duke of Albermale, entered the bay of Caguay (later on Kingston). «General Monck, the first Duke of Albermale, wrote the historian W. Gardner, who never liked the second one, had left a unique son who not only did dissipate his wealth but also had affected his health in a licentious lifestyle. A colonial government seemed to be the best way to save him and James [II] could not refuse this privilege to the son of the man who had put the Stuarts back on the Throne. » The Duke was never too pleased with his new duties. He came several months after being appointed by the King, only to secure his share of the gold the English were retrieving from a Spanish galleon that had sunk close to Hispanola. The Monck family, yet, was no stranger to Jamaica. The first Duke of Albermale was the strongest supporter of the Governor of the island, Thomas Modyford, during the days of buccaneering – they were relatives. After the sack of Panama in 1671, the Spaniards officially complained to the Crown of England about an act of what they considered to be piracy. For politics’ sake, Modyford was sent to the Tower and Henry Morgan (who had plundered the town under a Commission of Modyford, himself backed by General Monck in England) soon followed to London, where he was forced to remain for three years’ time, until the heat started to cool off. He spent many a night drinking and gambling with the son of the Duke, the very same Monck who came as the new Governor of the island in 1687. The two men were glad to see each other again - the former buccaneer who had fallen into disgrace was even rehabilitated by the Duke a few months before his death.

The Duke’s wife suffered from mental disorder and needed constant care – the Duke thus asked a young and promising Irish-born physician to come along with them to Jamaica : Hans Sloane. A very active mind, deep into every scientific field of his time, Sloane had acquired the certainty that botany could not be learnt nor taught behind a desk any more. Scientists had to travel, to see for themselves and to explore the world they intended to describe. He was already a Fellow of the Royal Society when he left Portsmouth aboard the Duke’s fleet in Septembre 1687. After a short stay in Barbados, he reached Jamaica four months later where he remained for 15 months, until the Duke’s sudden death, urged his widow to go back to England. He had time enough to collect more than 700 specimens of plants, some live animals and artifacts. Back to London, he eventually published his book at his own expense, that earned him great respect and also the seat of President of the Royal Society.

Rare Book Monthly

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    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
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    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.

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