Antiquarian General Literature. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
IMPORTANT!
This is the ROBERT TEMPLE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE. It contains descriptions and notes relating to almost 18,000 titles in the fields of British and American literature, being the bulk of the stock that has passed through our hands since 1984, with the addition of a few earlier items of especial interest. Books currently in stock are not included, and it is therefore necessary to supplement your search by looking at our Current Catalogues. For the most part full bibliographical descriptions are given, though for some earlier items, catalogued when computing space was more restricted the details given are quite brief. For an account of the conventions adopted, the abbreviations used, and reference sources consulted, please see our information pages.
Please note: The arrangement here is the same as that adopted in our current catalogues, and as there our larger files are presented in sections for ease of downloading. At the end of each section you are invited to browse the next. |
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File A: Antiquarian General Literature. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ROBINSON (Mrs. M[ary, ‘Perdita'].). Poems By Mrs. M. Robinson. London: Printed by J. Bell, British Library, Strand, Bookseller to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. 1791. (Price One Guinea in Boards.) Cr.8vo in half sheets; half-title not called for; mezzotint portrait frontispiece by T. Burke after Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A. [sic]; 16pp. Subscribers list precedes start of text; fifteen line Errata leaf at end, blank on verso; pp.xxiv+223+[i (blank)]+[ii]; [A], [b (so signed in pencil on last page)], [c (subscribers list, concluded)], B - [I], K - U, X - Z, Aa - Ff4, [-]1; black Victorian full crushed Levant morocco, elaborately ruled gilt on sides, edges of boards, and spine, lettered gilt on spine, gilt inner dentelles; a.e.g.; oil-marbled end-papers. Old restoration to front joint (scarcely noticeable), back joint cracked, but firm; very slight general wear to covers; plate very lightly foxed; text fine.
Mrs. Mary Robinson (1758 - 1800, née Darby), known as ‘Perdita', was a well-known actress on the London stage who published several volumes of verse between 1775 and 1800. She became mistress of Prinny, and the list of Subscribers here consequently reads like a roll-call of the British peerage, beginning with all the princes of the blood. The Subscribers list and the Errata leaf are printed on a whiter paper than the rest of the book. Gathering ‘I' bears no signature mark. CBEL, II, p.379. A continuation of the present collection, ‘Poems, Volume the Second' was to appear in 1793.
Click here to return to catalogue of books currently available
Click here to return to Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File A: Antiquarian General Literature. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ROMEI (Count Annibale). The Courtiers Academie: Comprehending seuen seuerall Dayes discourses: wherein be dis- Cussed, seuen noble and important ar- Guments, worthy by all Gentlemen To be perused. 1 Of Beautie. 2 Of Humane Loue. 3 Of Honour. 4 Of Combate and single fight. 5 Of Nobilitie. 6 Of Riches. 7 Of precedence of Letters or Armes Originally written in Italian by Count Haniball Romei, a Gentleman of Ferrara, and tran- Slated into English by I. K. L'occhio Linceo, hál intendimento cieco [device of small crowned Tudor rose] Printed by Valentine Sims, no place, N.D. [1598]. Pott 4to; nothing called for before title-page; title within border of type-ornaments; woodcut head-pieces, tail-pieces of type-ornaments, and historiated initials to the chapters throughout; pp.[viii (not paginated)]+295+[i (blank)]; A - I, K - T, V, X, Y, Aa - Ii, Kk - Qq4; late nineteenth century half dark blue crushed morocco, oil-marbled sides, spine with five raised bands, lettered in gilt; marbled end-papers. Leather a trifle rubbed at lower corners; title written on fore-margins in early hand; extreme fore- and lower- margins of title leaf, and one extreme corner expertly restored; title rather dusty; light staining to margins of some leaves; a few blank corners creased; two very small burn holes in M4, one affecting portions of two words on either side of the paper, but without loss of sense, the other touching only the blank fore-margin; small hole in blank fore-margin of F3, larger ones in blank lower fore-corners of Ll4 and Mm4, and blank lower margin of Oo3, all due to original paper flaws; otherwise an excellent large copy, with good margins. Rare.
Translated by John Keper: mainly prose but interspersed with verse. Originally issued stabbed and sewn through. A fine binding by Zaehnsdorf showing minimal wear. With the 1856 ownership inscription of the Earl of Westmoreland on an inset leaf together with another bearing his large woodcut device after a fine caligraphic original and the 1894 book-plate on the front paste-down of H.W. Fincham designed by John Williams. In this copy the page numbers to pp.131 and 132 are badly battered that to p.139 slightly so; pp.218 219 222 and 223 are mis-numbered respectively 226 227 230 and 231. New S.T.C. 21311 giving five locations only for Great Britain.
Click here to return to catalogue of books currently available
Click here to return to Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File A: Antiquarian General Literature. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
SHERIDAN (Richard Brinsley). [Engraved title:] The Critic Or A Tragedy Rehearsed A Dramatic Piece In three Acts As it is performed at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. By; [sic] Richard Brinsley Sheridan Esqr. London, Printed for T. Becket, Adelphi, Strand, 1781. Demy 8vo; engraved title-page; half-title and terminal advertisement leaf not present, letterpress title not called for; pp.[vi (not including engraved title, ex viii)]+98; Aw3 (ex 4, A4 being the half-title), B - G8, H1 (ex 2; later full polished calf lettered black on spine; a.e. burnished red; grey end-papers; two binder's blanks at front and back. Very slight rubbing to spine; a couple of small spots to margins; otherwise a very nice copy.
The book was reprinted several times using the same title-page over a period of more than a decade, and it is usually said that without the half-title (which in the absence of the printed title bore the edition statement) it is impossible to tell the first printing from the later ones. This is not so: not only was there some resetting (resulting in typographical differences in gathering ‘B' in the second printing, whilst it was entirely reset for the third, and also variants involving the capitalisation of the catchword ‘SNEER' on p.9) but the press figures vary between printings. The present copy appears to belong to the third impression, having the catchword ‘SNEER' printed entirely in capitals, and having press figures as follows: p.2 - ‘3', p.3 - ‘1', p.20 - ‘3', p.34 - ‘3', p.52 - ‘3', p.62 - ‘6', p.84 - ‘3', and p.94 - ‘2', and is of the variant without a press figure on p.72. V. W.B. Todd, ‘The Book Collector', 1956, Vol.5, No.2, pp.172 - 3; I.A. Williams, p.222; Nicoll, III, p.306; Rothschild, 1846. ESTCN34739. The play was first performed on the 30th October, 1779. The Prologue (pp.[iii - iv]) is by Rivhard Fitzpatrick.
Click here to return to catalogue of books currently available
Click here to return to Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File A: Antiquarian General Literature. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
SMART (Christopher). The Poems, [so volume one; volume two has no comma] Of the late Christopher Smart, M.A. Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge. Consisting of His prize poems, odes, sonnets, and fables, Latin and English translations; Together with Many original compositions, Not included in the Quarto Edition. To which is prefixed, An Account of his Life and Writings, Never before Published. In two volumes. Reading: Printed and sold by Smart and Cowslade; and Sold by F. Power and Co. No. 65, St. Paul's Church-Yard, London, 1791. 2 Vols., f'cap 8vo; half-titles not called for; mezzotint portrait frontispiece in volume one; integral blank precedes title-page in volume two; 4pp. Power advertisements at end of volume two; pp.xliii+[i (blank)]+230; [viii]+251+[i (blank)]+[iv]; a - b8, c4, d2, B - I, K - O8; [ - ]4, A - I, K - Q8; contemporary full stippled calf, plainly rebacked; sprinkled burnished edges. Calf worn at corners, and old reback very slightly chipped at head and tail of spine in volume one; binder's blanks foxed, and some marginal foxing to portrait; otherwise internally a very nice copy. Scarce.
The Esher copy, with the Esher library bookplate in each volume. The reference to the ‘Quarto Edition' is apparently to the volume ‘Poems by Mr. Smart' published in 1763 and containing four poems. It has little to do with the present publication and the reference back to it seems merely to have been intended to prevent potential purchasers from thinking that this was a reprint of that. CBEL, II, p.338; this title not in Rothschild. In the present copy of volume one p.204 is misnumbered ‘04', and leaf P4 is unsigned; in volume two leaf N4 is mis-signed ‘N3', whilst in each of gatherings L, M, O, and P the fourth leaf has been left unsigned.
Click here to return to catalogue of books currently available
Click here to return to Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File A: Antiquarian General Literature. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
THOMSON (Mr. [James]). The Tragedy Of Sophonisba. Acted at the Theatre-royal In Drury-lane By His Majesty's Servants. By Mr. Thomson. London: Printed for A. Millar, at Buchanan's Head, Over-against St. Clement's Church in the Strand, 1730. Post 8vo in half-sheets; half-title not called for; leaf A2 a cancel; Epilogue By a Friend, Nuptial Song, intended to have been Inserted in the Fourth Act with three line Errata at end precede final of page publisher's advertisements; pp.[viii]+[75]+[ii]+[ii]+[i]; [A] - I, K, L4; old drab wrappers. Some staining of a few leaves, but a nice copy.
Originally issued stabbed. The Prologue is by Alexander Pope. CBEL, II, p.306; Rothschild, 2424. There was an 8vo, a 4to, and a second 8vo printing of this title, more or less simultaneously, and mixed sets of sheets of the two 8vo printings are frequently found, whilst the first 8vo printing, as Rothschild remarks, appears to have been begun earlier but finished later than the 4to printing. The present copy appears to provide a variant of the first 8vo printing, the cancel leaf, A2, being characteristic of the 4to printing but apparently unrecorded in the 8vo printings, the first of which usually has the uncorrected text, and the second the corrected text, integral. The three line Errata is characteristic of the first 8vo printing.
Click here to return to catalogue of books currently available
Click here to return to Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File A: Antiquarian General Literature. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
WALLER (Sir William). Vindication Of the Character and conduct Of Sir William Waller, Knight; Commander in Chief of the Parliament forces in the west: Explanatory of his Conduct in taking up Arms against King Charles the First. (Written by himself.) And now First Published from the Original Manuscript, With an Introduction by the editor. Embellished with Portraits of Sir William Waller, And of J. Lenthall, Esq. Speaker of Cromwell's Parliament. London: Printed for J. Debrett, opposite Burlington- House, Piccadilly, 1793. Demy 8vo; copperplate portrait of Waller by T. Milton after R. Walker bound in before half-title; that of Wm. Lenthal by Thornthwaite after J. Cooper bound in to face p.191; 4pp. integral advertisements at end; pp.[iv]+xii+[13]-14+[ii (Errata and Directions to the Binder)]+326+[xiv (unpaged)]+[iv (unpaged)]; [A]2, b, B - I, K - U, X - Y, [Z]8, [-]4; contemporary quarter calf, marbled boards. Rebacked with natural glazed fine linen, ruled and neatly hand-lettered black on spine. The rebacking is neat, but not in keeping; otherwise a very nice copy.
A late primary text on the English Civil War. In this copy, pp.321 - 6 are misnumbered ‘121 - 6'
Click here to return to catalogue of books currently available
Click here to return to Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File A: Antiquarian General Literature. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
WALTON (Izaak). The Lives Of Dr. John Donne, Sir Henry Wotton, Mr. Richard Hooker, Mr. George Herbert. Written by Izaak Walton. To which are added some Letters written by Mr. George Herbert, at his being in Cam- Bridge: with others to his Mother, the Lady Magdalen Herbert, written by John Donne, afterwards Dean of St. Pauls. [sic] London, Printed by Tho. Newcomb for Richard Marriott. Sold by most booksellers. 1670. Post 8vo; four engraved portraits on copper; twenty-nine entry Errata on verso of last leaf of the Epistle to the Reader; pp.[xii (unpaged)]+88+79+[i (blank)]+56+77-140+104; A6, B - F8, G4, A4, B - E8, F4, A4, B - H8, A - F8, G4; old half-calf, marbled boards; with the small circular copper-engraved ticket of ‘W. Spreat, Bookseller, Stationer, & Music Seller, 264 Fore St., Exeter' on the front paste-down. The boards detached, and worn at corners, and the spine lacking, but the sewing sound; lacking the portraits of Wotton, Hooker, and Herbert; slight staining to two or three extreme inner margins, not touching the text; three small holes, due to an original paper flaw, in E4 of the Life of Wotton with loss of three letters of text and portions of eight more; similar paper flaws in F6 of the Life of Hooker, but without loss, and in E5 of the Life of Herbert with loss of part of five letters; paper flaws affecting blank margins of B3 and F6 in the Life of Hooker, the former with an old tissued repair; in general the text very nice and clean, and with good margins. An excellent working copy.
Wing W.671; CBEL, I, p.831. The first collected edition. Includes an Epistle Dedicatory and an Epistle to the Reader by Walton, here first published, as well as new commendatory verses by Samuel Woodford. The first three lives, originally published separately in 1658, 1651, and 1665, are here expanded and revised, whilst the Life of Herbert with the Donne and Herbert letters was first published separately in the same year, and presumably makes use of the same sheets. In the initial gathering the first leaf, being the title leaf, is unsigned. The following two leaves are signed A3 and A4, but this would appear to be correct, the printer having assumed a normal eight leaf gathering. In the Life of Wotton the second leaf is signed in error ‘B2', the following leaf being correctly signed ‘A3', though as part of a four-leaf gathering it is a surprize to find it signed at all, and it appears that the printer again assumed eight leaves. The discontinuity of pagination between pp.56 and 77 in the Life of Hooker is not reflected in the signatures, and is so in all copies, there being no break in the catchwords or the sense, but p.111 in this copy is numbered ‘11', whilst p.129 is here correctly numbered, though the type is badly battered. Each of the Lives was intended to be fronted by a portrait. That of Donne alone is here present, and faces p.9: since the sewing is sound and there is no sign of loss, the others were evidently omitted by the binder.
Click here to return to catalogue of books currently available
Click here to return to Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File A: Antiquarian General Literature. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
WARTON (Thomas). Poems By Thomas Warton. The third edition, Corrected. London. Printed for T. Becket, in the Adelphi, 1779. Demy 8vo in half-sheets; half-title not called for; integral advertisement leaf at end; pp.[viii]+97+[i (blank)]+[ii (verso blank)]; limp modern marbled wrappers (apparently in imitation of the original wrappers the turnovers of which are still sewn in after the first and before the last gathering), paper label on front cover; a.e. uncut. Nice copy.
The third edition of a book published originally in 1777, newly revised, and with the addition of a further poem (author's Advertisement). Published in early March. CBEL, II, p.384, erroneously recording this edition as only ‘corrected'.
Click here to return to catalogue of books currently available
Click here to return to Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File A: Antiquarian General Literature. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
WATTS (I[saac]., D.D.). Divine Songs Attempted in Easy language For the use of Children. By I. Watts, D.D. London: Printed for J. Buckland; J.F. and C. Rivington; T. Longman; T. Field; and C. Dilly, 1785. Pott 12mo in half sheets, printed throughout on faintly green-toned paper; integral leaf of publisher's advertisements at end; pp.xii+58+[ii]; publisher's full natural canvas. Lacking the free end-papers and half-title; small chip to fore-margin of title leaf, not affecting text; first three leaves lightly washed pale green, evidently by a child wishing to deepen the stock colour; small light stain at one opening; two leaves with insignificant pen-trials; a little light dusting passim; given the age and nature of the book, however, an excellent copy.
Reprint of a work first published in 1715. One of the most influential children's books of the 18th and 19th centuries, many times reprinted well into the present century. Eighteenth century editions are now becoming hard to find - especially so in their original state.
Click here to return to catalogue of books currently available
Click here to return to Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File A: Antiquarian General Literature. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
WHITE (Rev. Gilbert, M.A.). A Naturalist's calendar, With Observations in various branches Of Natural history; Extracted from the papers Of the late Rev. Gilbert White, M.A. Of Selborne, Hampshire, Senior fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. Never before published. London: Printed for B. and J. White, Horace's Head, Fleet Street, 1795. Post 8vo; half-title not called for; one hand-coloured engraved plate by J.F. Miller after Elmer; final page advertisements; pp.170+[v (Contents)]+[i]; contemporary tree calf, spine ruled gilt and with red lettering-piece, uplettered gilt; burnished edges. Calf cracked over joints, but sound on the cords, and slightly peeled on spine; some offsetting of the plate onto the title-page, and some adherence with loss of all or part of some sixteen scattered letters (most of them still faintly visible); otherwise internally a fine copy.
Martin, pp.98-9; CBEL, II, p.841. The plate inserted as frontispiece was intended to face p.65. Edited by J. Aiken, the work consists of notes taken by White between the completion of ‘The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne' in the middle of 1787 (it was published in 1789) down to his death in 1793, supplemented by a few earlier ones not used in the ‘Natural History' but thought of interest by the editor. The title-page has now been protected from the text by a loosely laid in leaf of tissue.
Click here to return to catalogue of books currently available
Click here to return to Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File A: Antiquarian General Literature. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
WOTTON (Sir Henry). Reliquiæ Wottonianæ: Or, a Collection Of Lives, Letters, Poems; With Characters Of Sundry Personages: And other Incomparable Pieces of Language and Art. Also Additional Letters to several Persons, not before Printed. By the Curious Pencil of the Ever Memorable Sir Henry Wotton Kt. Late Provost of Eaton [sic] Colledge [sic]. The Third Edition, with large Additions. London, Printed by T. Roycroft, for R. Marriott, F. Tyton, T. Collins, and J. Ford, 1672. F'cap 8vo; half-title not called for; integral engraved portrait frontispiece after W. Dolle; three other engraved portraits in text; final blank; pp.[lxxxviii (unpaged, including the frontispiece)]+[1] - 79+76 - 412+411 - 582+[ii (unpaged)]; A, b - e8, f4, C - I, K - T, V - Z, Aa - Ii, Kk - Qq8; old full natural calf, recently re-backed and with recent, sympathetic, end-papers, spine with four raised bands, black lettering piece ruled and lettered gilt; sprinkled burnished edges. Some spotting and peeling of old calf, now arrested; insignificant worming of some extreme inner margins, and more visible worming of lower margins towards the end, touching two or three catchwords, but not affecting text; paper flaws in blank fore-margin of Z7, others in blank lower margins of N1 and O2; corners torn from final blank; otherwise a very nice, clean copy.
From the library of John Gloag, with his bookplate on the front paste-down. A few pencilled notes on the front end-paper and a very little light marginal scoring in the text are presumably in his hand. The third edition of a book first published in 1651, and reprinted with additions and corrections in 1654. In the present edition, besides the additions to Wotton's letters, which here occupy pp.275 - 582, the volume includes an Epistle Dedicatory and an Advertisement to the Reader, by Izaac Walton, both here first printed, whilst the third edition of Walton's Life which forms the bulk of the prefatory matter has some slight additions and alterations. The portraits form pp.112, 160, and 204. In this copy, apart from the discontinuities of pagination noted above, pp.76 - 77 are paged 72 - 73; pp.80 - 81, 76 - 77; and H4 is signed A4. CBEL, I, pp.426 (not noting the additions, and 831 (Walton).
Click here to return to catalogue of books currently available
Click here to return to Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File A: Antiquarian General Literature. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
YOUNG (E[dward]., LL.D.). A Vindication Of Providence: Or, a True estimate Of Human life. In which The Passions are considered in a New Light. Preached in St. George's Church near Hanover- Square, soon after the late King's Death. By E. Young, LL.D., Rector of Welwyn in Hertfordshire, and Chaplain In Ordinary to His Majesty. London: Printed for Henry Lintot, 1747. Lge post 8vo; half-title not called for; pp.[viii]+72; disbound. Title-page a little darkened towards foot; otherwise a nice copy.
Issued originally stabbed and sewn through, presumably into plain blue-grey paper wrappers. CBEL, II, p.292: the fifth edition recorded, following those of 1728 (two), 1729, and 1737.
Click here to return to catalogue of books currently available
Click here to return to Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File A: Antiquarian General Literature. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
[YOUNG (Edward).]. The Centaur Not Fabulous. In Five Letters to a Friend, On The Life in Vogue. London: Printed for A. Millar in the Strand; And R. and J. Dodsley in Pallmall. [sic] 1755. Extra cr.8vo; half-title not called for; text-paper frontispiece; nine entry Errata on verso of title leaf; pp.[ii (frontispiece)]+[iii (title-page] - xvi+[ii (fly-title to first letter)]+378; [- (frontispiece)]1, [A]1, B9, C - I, K - U, X - Z, Aa - Bb8, Cc4, Dd1; contemporary full calf, spine with five raised bands, contrasting lettering-piece, gilt rules to sides and spine. Calf a little worn at corners; joints cracking, but sound on the cords; lacking the frontispiece; Roman numerals on title-page translated into Arabic ones in ink; errata neatly corrected in text in the contemporary hand of Thos. Vaughan, who has also written his name on the front end-paper, notes for an index on the back end-paper, and placed a handful of neat marginal ticks against passages in the text; internally very clean and fresh otherwise, and a large copy with good margins.
A fine prose work by the author of the celebrated ‘Night Thoughts', ably reflecting his not inconsiderable skills, despite his then advancing years. Preacher, poet, dramatist, and satirist, Young was known to (and disliked by) Pope, Fielding, and Swift. The cause of their dislike was Young's constant and extravagant praise to would-be patrons, his toadying often taking the form of odes. His abilities were admitted, nonetheless, even by his critics. Dr. Johnson noted that, with all his defects, he was a man of genius and a poet. He is particularly remembered for his gift for epigram, whilst as a poet he had a very remarkable influence especially outside of England. "Klopstock wrote a poem upon his death, and he was considered by other German writers to be superior to Milton." - DNB. The present work is a diatribe against the constant pursuit of pleasure. In his dedication to an anonymous lady Young explains his title: "The Men of Pleasure, the licentious, and profligate, are the subject of these letters; and in such, as in the fabled Centaur, the Brute runs away with the Man: therefore I call them Centaurs. And farther, I call them Centaurs not fabulous, because by their scarce half-human conduct, and character, that enigmatical, and purely ideal figure of the Antients, is not unriddled only, but realized." Rothschild, 2621; Straus, pp.354-5. In this copy, B3 is a single inset leaf, B9 a cancel tipped in on a stub, and B8 (bearing press-mark ‘7') also apparently a cancel, none of this being noted in the Rothschild copy. Rothschild does note however that N1 and N2, R1 and R2, and U1 are cancels; N2 and R2 are unsigned. This appears to be the case likewise in the present copy, R2, however bearing the press-mark ‘2'. The volume was printed by Young's friend, Samuel Richardson.
Click here to return to catalogue of books currently available
Click here to return to Homepage
[ END of FILE ]
|