Bibliopoly

ABUL AL-FIDA,'Imad al-Din.

De Vita, et Rebus Gestis Mohammedis, Moslemicae Religionis Auctoris, et Imperii Saracenici Fundateris. 1723

Oxford, Theatro Sheldoniano 1723

Folio, fine antique style panelled calf, spine with five raised bands richly gilt in compartments, red morocco label lettered gilt, 4ff + xxiipp + 1f + 160pp, Arabic and Latin text throughout printed in parallel columns, fine engraved copperplate vignette on the title page, woodcut initial and ornament in the dedication, faint damp stain in upper margin of final leaves, some contemporary annotations in pen in some margins in Latin and Arabic.

First edition. The first printing of the life of the Prophet in Arabic with the Latin text in parallel columns. Beautifully printed in folio at the Oxford University Press in the Sheldon Theatre, the text was taken from an Arabic manuscript in the Bodleian Library and edited by John Gagnier. These manuscripts had been found by Edward Pococke (1604-1691) who had learned his oriental languages as chaplain to the Turkish merchants in Aleppo.
Schnurrer, Bibliotheca Arabica 157. British Library, Arabic Books, I, 759. See Barker, The Oxford University Press & the Spread of Learning. Folio, fine antique style panelled calf, spine with five raised bands richly gilt in compartments, red morocco label lettered gilt, 4ff + xxiipp + 1f + 160pp, Arabic and Latin text throughout printed in parallel columns, fine engraved copperplate vignette on the title page, woodcut initial and ornam ...

ANDERSON, James.

Observations on the means of exciting a spirit of National Industry; chiefly intended to promote the Agriculture, Commerce, Manufactures, and Fisheries, of Scotland. In a series of letters to a friend. 1779

Dublin, S.Price, W. and H.Whitestone, 1779

2 volumes, octavo, contemporary polished calf, rubbed, hinges cracked but holding, lxviipp + 325; (2) + 424pp, with the half title in volume II.

First Irish edition, rare, of an important book first published in Edinburgh in 1777. In this work the agricultural reformer James Anderson (1739-1808) concludes that the rent of land is a premium paid for the cultivating of soils that are more fertile than others and that its payment equalises the profits of farmers tilling land of different qualities. This, the "Ricardian" theory of rent, was first established by Anderson in this book. Anderson was a persistent critic of Adam Smith's views with respect to agricultural policy and especially on the export bounties on corn and this book contains one of the earliest published criticisms of The Wealth of Nations. It appears in volume II, Postscript to Letter XIII, pp.109-224 - "I have the misfortune to differ in opinion from an author of such extensive knowledge, and liberal sentiments, on a subject of so much real importance", seeking to counter Smith's objections to the bounty on corn. Adam Smith, who described Anderson as " a very diligent, laborious, honest Man", answered by revising one sentence in the second edition of The Wealth of Nations in which he acknowledged that he had been guilty of a "careless expression".
Kress, B170. Goldsmith, 11772. Not in Bradshaw, Irish Collection, Cambridge. Schumpeter, Economic Analysis, pp.263-265. Viner, Guide to John Rae's Life of Adam Smith, 1965 p.17. Ross, Life of Adam Smith, p.348. 2 volumes, octavo, contemporary polished calf, rubbed, hinges cracked but holding, lxviipp + 325; (2) + 424pp, with the half title in volume II. First Irish edition, rare, of an important book first published in Edinburgh in 1777. In this work the agricultural reformer James Anderson (1739-1808) co ...

BATE, John

The Mysteryes of Nature and Art: Conteined in foure severall Tretises, The first of water workes. The second of Fyer workes, The third of Drawing, Colouring, Painting, and Engraving, The fourth of divers Experiments, as wel serviceable as delightful: partly collected, and partly of the Authors Peculiar Practice, and Invention by J * B. 1634

Four parts in one volume, quarto, contemporary calf, spine with five raised bands, contemporary red morocco label lettered gilt, 17.5 x 13.0 cm, 5 leaves + 198pp: the collation is (5 leaves) + 45pp + (1p) blank + (1 leaf) full page woodcut + (1) leaf title + (2pp) + 53-99pp + (1p) blank + (1 leaf) title + 103-112pp + (8) leaves including full page woodcuts + 121-142pp + (1 leaf) title + 149-192pp, additional woodcut leaf inserted between pp.14 and 15, including the fine engraved title [illustrating in compartments fireworks, the Circular glasse, various experiments including rarifying ayre by fire, how to make a light burne under water, and an artist] very slightly trimmed affecting a few letters and the date, the separate title pages to books two, three and four, all with the imprint Thomas Harper for Ralph Mab 1634 and large woodcuts, 14 full page woodcuts and 71 elaborate and charming woodcuts in the text, [of which two are slightly cropped on the outer margin on p.17 and p.82], woodcut initials, a few leaves lightly discoloured, contemporary ink stain in the upper margin of pp.175/176, an attractive copy of a remarkable book.

Rare. STC 1577. Wellcome, I, 714. Michael White, Isaac Newton. The Last Sorcerer. 1998 pp.20-21, 27. FIRST EDITION OF THIS ENCYCLOPAEDIC TECHNICAL COMPENDIUM FROM WHICH ISAAC NEWTON AS A BOY DISCOVERED THE ELEMENTS OF EXPERIMENTATION AND PRACTICAL SKILLS. “Isaac Newton discovered this book when he was about thirteen years of age. He was totally captivated by it and spent 2 1/2d on an exercise book into which he copied out long passages. Bate’s book, first published in 1634, was full of detailed instructions for making wonderful machines and devices, and it was from following these that the teenage Newton was able to design and build working mechanical models for which he gained something of a reputation as a schoolboy. Some 70 years later, Stukeley was able to find a few folk who still remembered Newton’s miraculous models – windmills that actually worked…perfectly functioning sundials; and paper lanterns with which he found his way to school on dark winter mornings”. Michael White.John Bate’s encyclopaedic technical compendium is divided into four parts – water-works, fireworks, drawing and painting, and miscellaneous experiments. Little is known of the author, though the second edition carries a portrait. The first part on water-works describes various ingenious machines including of drawing water by Engines, the making of an Engin, whereby you mat draw water out of a deepe Well, experiments of motions by rarifying ayre by fire, an artificiall water-clock, an engine to force water to the top of a hill, a water-presser. The second part on fireworks [the woodcut on the title of the ‘green man’ garlanded in foliage and wielding a fire club who traditionally from medieval times led processions of fireworkers] begins with an introduction to the basic principles of the nature of elements in choosing ingredients for fireworks. He then gives directions and guidance on the composition of various kinds of fireworks including how to make rockets, serpents, rayning fire, fire boxes, Gironells or fire wheeles, flying Dragon, fire Drakes (a firework kite), Balloones, Crackers, Saucissons, fire-lances, rockets for the water, a Dolphin. The third part is devoted to Drawing, Limming, Colouring and Graving. It includes guidance on how to mix and create colours such as purple, crane colour, hayre colour motile greene, browne blew, brasse, azure, Lyon-tawny. Also advice to make good Inke and of painting in Oyle, as well as of Gravers and of Etching. The final book Of Extravagants includes bizarre ways to catch birds and fish, how to lay gold on glass, how to make a light burne under the water, to make yron as soft as lead, a cement as hard as stone, marbled paper, glue, work in glass, invisible ink, coral, saltpetre, and recipes for treating a wide range of ailments from a water for toothache, curing an ulcer, to a good powder for the gout.There was an expanded second edition in 1635 and a further augmented but poorly printed edition in 1654 Four parts in one volume, quarto, contemporary calf, spine with five raised bands, contemporary red morocco label lettered gilt, 17.5 x 13.0 cm, 5 leaves + 198pp: the collation is (5 leaves) + 45pp + (1p) blank + (1 leaf) full page woodcut + (1) leaf title + (2pp) + 53-99pp + (1p) blank + (1 leaf) ...

Betjeman, John

The Betjeman Library. A Catalogue of the Library of Sir John Betjeman. Printed Books, manuscripts, letters, books with autograph notes & annotations. 1996

Swanton Abbot, Hamish Riley-Smith 1996

Folio, printed paper covers, numerous illustrations throughout, 4065 books and related items listed.

A descriptive catalogue of the Betjeman Library divided into categories which illustrate Betjeman's principal interests - Poetry, Theology, Schoolboy Novels, Art, Topography, Churches, Architecture, Railways etc. The Library is now at the University of Exeter Library. Folio, printed paper covers, numerous illustrations throughout, 4065 books and related items listed. A descriptive catalogue of the Betjeman Library divided into categories which illustrate Betjeman's principal interests - Poetry, Theology, Schoolboy Novels, Art, Topography, Churches, Architecture, ...

BLAES,Gerard

Anatome Animalium 1681

Amsterdam, Joannis à Someren 1681

Quarto, contemporary quarter vellum and marbled boards, spine lettered in ink, vellum tips to boards, entirely uncut throughout, (3) + 496pp, engraved frontispiece, 65 fine engraved plates, ownership in ink on the front blank leaf W.Hurd M.D. e Coll.Eden 1751, first few leaves a little dust stained in the outer margins otherwise an excellent large copy

FIRST EDITION, an unusually large copy, entirely uncut in its original binding. By the Dutchman Gerard Blaes, who became professor of medicine in Amsterdam. He was a keen student of comparative anatomy and was especially interested in embryology. This work is the first comprehensive treatise on comparative anatomy; a compendium of previous writings on the subject with original observations by Blaes. 119 types are considered and as many as 78 types represented in the illustrations. Each animal is treated organ by organ and the work “throws into clear relief the community of structure of the larger groups of vertebrate animals such as birds, rodents and carnivorous animals”.Garrison & Morton, 296. Cole, History of Comparative Anatomy pp.150-155. Singer, History of Biology pp.208-9. Wood, Literature of vertebrate zoology p.243. Thornton, Scientific Books, pp.128-9. Quarto, contemporary quarter vellum and marbled boards, spine lettered in ink, vellum tips to boards, entirely uncut throughout, (3) + 496pp, engraved frontispiece, 65 fine engraved plates, ownership in ink on the front blank leaf W.Hurd M.D. e Coll.Eden 1751, first few leaves a little dust stained ...

BULLION REPORT.

Report, together with minutes of Evidence, and Accounts, from the Select Committee appointed to inquire into the cause of the High Price of Gold Bullion, and to take into consideration the state of the circulating medium, and of the exchanges between Great Britain and Foreign Parts. 1810

London, J.Johnson 1810

Octavo, original blue boards, uncut, xpp + (1) + 78pp + (1) + 237pp + (1) + 115pp, including the appendices, a fine copy.

First edition of one of the great works on money and banking and the chief source of inspiration and criticism in the English monetary controversy of the period. The Report attributed the depreciation of the currency to the excessive issues of the Bank of England (the "superabundance in its quantity" as David Ricardo called it), and recommended a resumption of cash payments in two years. The Bullion Report has been described by McCulloch as "one of the most valuable papers that has ever proceeded from a committee of the legislature. It was mainly written by Francis Horner, with help from William Huskisson and Henry Thornton, and embodies a comprehensive view of the principles which determine the value of paper money. It was said by many, including the government, to contradict the very principles laid down in it and remained a subject of much controversy for several years.
Goldsmith, 20056. Stephens, p.38 Octavo, original blue boards, uncut, xpp + (1) + 78pp + (1) + 237pp + (1) + 115pp, including the appendices, a fine copy. First edition of one of the great works on money and banking and the chief source of inspiration and criticism in the English monetary co ...

Chambers, Ephraim

: or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences 1728

London, James and John Knapton 1728

2 volumes, large thick folio, fine 19th century panelled calf by Townsend, ruled in black, spines in seven compartments with raised bands, lettered in gilt, covers with armorial crest and lettered in gilt, titles printed red and black, engraved folding frontispiece to volume I, 19 engraved plates (plate XIV in two parts), some folding, the anatomy plate browned as usual, complete in spite of the erratic pagination, printed in double columns throughout, some small woodcuts in the text, printers woodcut devices at chapter endings, an excellent copy.

First edition of the first modern encyclopaedia. Ephraim Chambers was born in 1680 and trained as a map-maker. Inspired by John Harris’s Lexicon Technicum 1704-1710, he set out to compile a more comprehensive work. Chambers is clearly the father of the modern encyclopaedia throughout the world and his book is remarkable for its elaborate system of cross-references and the inclusion of the humanities. The work is dedicated to King George II, and in recognition of his work Chambers was elected a member of the Royal Society in 1729. The influence of Chambers encyclopaedia has been incalculable, influencing Diderot’s Encyclopedie and the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Almost every development in the world of encyclopaedia making is traceable to the pioneering example of Chamber’s work. This first edition is very rare.Printing & the Mind of Man, no. 171(b). Collison, Encyclopaedias: Their History, pp.103-104. 2 volumes, large thick folio, fine 19th century panelled calf by Townsend, ruled in black, spines in seven compartments with raised bands, lettered in gilt, covers with armorial crest and lettered in gilt, titles printed red and black, engraved folding frontispiece to volume I, 19 engraved plates (p ...

COOK, Captain James

A Voyage towards the South Pole, and round the World.

London, W.Strahan and T.Cadell 1777

2 volumes, quarto, 29.5 x 24.0 cm and 1 volume folio, 51.3 x 34.5 cm, text volume in fine contemporary pale mottled calf with elaborate gilt rules to covers, spines richly and elaborately gilt in seven compartments with red morocco labels lettered and numbered gilt, hinges to vol.I skilfully repaired, xlpp + 378pp; (4) + 396, 1 folding table; atlas volume in original blue boards as issued from the press, paper label to upper cover skilfully rebacked, pp; engraved portrait after Hodges of Captain Cook, 63 engraved plates and maps many folding all edges uncut, some slight foxing and off-setting, a fine large copy and rare survival of the atlas in the original boards.

FIRST EDITION OF JAMES COOK’S SECOND, AND HISTORICALLY MOST IMPORTANT, VOYAGE BETWEEN 1772 AND 1775 - THE ATLAS VOLUME IN ORIGINAL BOARDS WITH THE ENGRAVED PLATES AND MAPS UNCUT
The prime purpose of the voyage was to settle, once and for all the speculative existence of the Great Southern Continent of whose existence Cook himself was a sceptic. Cook intended to search the vast wastes of the South Pacific for further discoveries circling the globe in an easterly direction. Sailing in the Resolution with Cook was William Wales as astronomer, William Hodges the ship’s artist, the tiresome German botanist-philosopher-church minister Johann Reinhold Förster, and George Vancouver, aged 15, the future surveyor of the north-west coast of North America. Cook also had the Harrison-invented ‘watch machine’ giving Greenwich Mean Time wherever they went. A second sloop the Adventure accompanied them commanded by Tobias Furneaux.
Captain Cook, aged 43, began by cruising on the Resolution as far south as possible round the edge of the Antarctic ice. As in the first voyage, he visited New Zealand and, cruising through the Pacific, discovered, or explored again, many of the islands, in particular New Caledonia, Palmerston, and Norfolk Islands, Easter Island, the Marquesas, New Hebrides, Tonga, the South Sandwich Islands and South Georgia. This voyage produced a vast amount of information concerning the Pacific peoples and islands. His charts mariners relied upon for many years.
“Cook exhibited an entirely new and refreshingly civilised attitude towards the natives of the lands he exposed to public view for the first time…he presented the most tolerant aspect of Western man….He was in the judgement of Fanny Burney, whose brother sailed with Cook, ‘the most moderate, humane, and gentle circumnavigator that ever went upon discoveries’ “
Printing & the Mind of Man, 223. Hill, Pacific Voyages, p.61. Mitchell Library 1216. National Maritime Museum, I, Voyages & Travel, 577. see Richard Hough, Captain James Cook, A Biography. 1994
2 volumes, quarto, 29.5 x 24.0 cm and 1 volume folio, 51.3 x 34.5 cm, text volume in fine contemporary pale mottled calf with elaborate gilt rules to covers, spines richly and elaborately gilt in seven compartments with red morocco labels lettered and numbered gilt, hinges to vol.I skilfully repair ...

CUSTOMS & EXCISE

The Act of Tonnage and Poundage and Book of Rates. ; with Several Statutes at large relating to the Customs 1675

London, John Bill and Christopher Barker 1675

Small octavo, contemporary sheep, rebacked, (1) + (11) + 15-325pp; pp.15-22 misbound in after page 318, title within double ruled border, ownership in ink on front blank of J.O.Kerslake 1681, an excellent copy

As customs laws increased it became necessary to publish Book of Rates as guidance both to customs officers and merchants. Tonnage was a duty on every tun of wine imported; poundage was an ad valorem duty on every pound’s worth of merchandise imported or exported. The practice had begun in 1347. After the Restoration of Charlkes II tonnage and poundage was levied at whatever rate Parliament considered the exigencies of the time required. Wing E1147a. Kress 1376. Goldsmith 2126. COPAC, 3 copies at Glasgow, Liverpool, London University Libraries. Small octavo, contemporary sheep, rebacked, (1) + (11) + 15-325pp; pp.15-22 misbound in after page 318, title within double ruled border, ownership in ink on front blank of J.O.Kerslake 1681, an excellent copy As customs laws increased it became necessary to publish Book of Rates as guidance both t ...

DAVENANT,Charles

The Political and Commercial Works of the celebrated Writer Charles D’Avenant, LL.D. Relating to the Trade and Revenue of England, the Plantation Trade, the East-India Trade, and African Trade. Collected and Revised by Sir Charles Whitworth, Member of Parliament. To which is annexed a copious Index. 1771

5 volumes, octavo, contemporary pale calf, spines with five raised bands, contemporary red morocco labels lettered gilt, (1) + xvipp + 459pp; (2) + 382pp; (2) + 430pp; (2) + 439pp; (1) + 463pp + (21), with 3 folding tables, dedication leaf in volume I loose, ownership in ink on the titles of John Hamilton, an attractive copy.

Provenance: John Hamilton 1739-1821 of Sundrum Castle, Ayrshire; prominent in local politics in Ayr, he had enlightenment interests typical of his age, was a friend of James Boswell who introduced him to Samuel Johnson in 1773 which is recorded in Boswell’s Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides.Rare. Goldsmiths Library 10710. Kress 6785. Einaudi 1437. Adam Smith’s Library: Yanaihara p.101, Mizuta p.86, Bonar p.54.FIRST AND ONLY COLLECTED EDITION and very rare. Davenant (1656-1714) was Inspector-General of Imports & Exports in the reign of Queen Anne. His writings were first published between 1695 and 1712. Though a partisan of the mercantilist system, he was free from some of the prejudices of its more indiscriminate and zealous supporters. A disciple of William Petty, he contributed t6o keeping political arithmetic alive by quoting and reproducing Gregory King’s careful quantitive estimates of national income, the growth of population, the value of capital and the rate of the growth of capital. Adam Smith quotes directly from this work in The Wealth of Nations, Book I, chapter viii, referring to Davenant’s comments on Gregory King’s skill in political arithmetic. Again in Book V, chapter ii, Adam Smith notes Davenant’s view about the incidence of taxation on malt liquors. Adam Smith’s own copy of this work is in Edinburgh University Library. 5 volumes, octavo, contemporary pale calf, spines with five raised bands, contemporary red morocco labels lettered gilt, (1) + xvipp + 459pp; (2) + 382pp; (2) + 430pp; (2) + 439pp; (1) + 463pp + (21), with 3 folding tables, dedication leaf in volume I loose, ownership in ink on the titles of John Ha ...

DE TOCQUEVILLE,Alexis

Democracy in America. Translated by Henry Reeve Esq. In Two Volumes

London, Saunders and Otley 1835

2 volumes, octavo, quarter calf and contemporary marbled boards, rebacked, paper labels, pp.xliv, 333, (1), (2) adverts; viii, 462, (2) adverts, folding map hand coloured in outline, engraved bookplate of John William Willis Bund, an excellent, large copy.

Downs, Famous Books since 1492. No.66.

RARE FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH of de Tocqueville’s masterpiece of political philosophy and one of the most important texts in political literature.
De la Démocratie en Amérique by Alexis de Tocqueville [1809-1859] was first published in January 1835 in less than 500 copies and in 1840 two concluding volumes were published. In March 1835 de Tocqueville met Henry in Reeve in Paris, became a lifelong friend Reeve became the official translator of his work.
de Tocqueville wrote to Henry Reeve in May 1840 “You have rendered my thoughts, in their most delicate shades, with a fidelity and clearness that seem to me perfect”.
2 volumes, octavo, quarter calf and contemporary marbled boards, rebacked, paper labels, pp.xliv, 333, (1), (2) adverts; viii, 462, (2) adverts, folding map hand coloured in outline, engraved bookplate of John William Willis Bund, an excellent, large copy. Downs, Famous Books since 1492. No.66. ...

FELICIANO, Francesco

Libro di Arithmetica & Geometria speculatiua & practicale. 1550

Venice, Francesco Bindoni & Mapheo Pasini 1550

Quarto, 21.0 x 15.0 cm, quarter vellum and marbled boards, 3 parts, 80ff unnumbered, [A-V4], title with wood-cut of skeleton key and ladder within historiated wood-cut border, wood-cut initials at chapter openings, printed marginalia throughout including arithmetical and geometrical devices, numerous contemporary and later annotations in ink in Italian in the margins and on the verso of the final leaf, title dust and finger stained, old damp stain, ownership inscription in ink on the title of Valentinus Chetterlin emit Vercelli 1650, an excellent copy.

Smith, Rara Arithmetica, pp.146-151. Adams, F219 (Cambridge University Library only).An interesting copy of Feliciano of Lazissa’s (fl.1512-1563) arithmetic, with many early annotations, which was first published in 1527 in Venice. He acknowledges indebtedness to Borghi and Pacioli. The first part of the book is commercial, in the second part he deals with roots, rule of false and algebra and the third part is devoted to geometry. Smith writes that the work “is more complete than Treviso, more modern than Borghi, more condensed and practical than Pacioli, few books had greater influence on the subsequent teaching of elementary mathematics”. Quarto, 21.0 x 15.0 cm, quarter vellum and marbled boards, 3 parts, 80ff unnumbered, [A-V4], title with wood-cut of skeleton key and ladder within historiated wood-cut border, wood-cut initials at chapter openings, printed marginalia throughout including arithmetical and geometrical devices, numerou ...

FLEETWOOD,W.

A Sermon against Clipping, Preach’d before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen, at Guild-Hall Chappel, On Decemb.16,1694. 1694

London, Tho.Hodgkin 1694

Quarto, old marbled wrappers, paper spine lettered in ink, (2) + 30pp + (3pp) adverts, with half title/imprimatur leaf.

Wing 1248. Kress 1843. Goldsmith 3029. Ming-Hsun Li p.57, p.245.First edition. Coin clipping by the end of the 17th century, clipped because in ordinary times the coins could still circulate as full-weight coins if the diminution was not too great, had become very common. It was such a common malpractice that Fleetwood, the Bishop of Ely, preached this sermon warning the people of the great calamities ahead of them in consequence of this scandalous clipping. He said the passing of Clip’d, for Money of just Weight, is, in effect and truth, raising our Money, and making that to go for Thirty Pence, which is indeed but worth Twenty. In 1695 an Act was passed against clipping with heavy penalties for violators but it was ineffective because the public were in sympathy with the violators. By 1695 the scarcity of money, the widespread increase in clipping together with the extent of silver bullion exports had become so critical that it lead to the recoinage debate between John Locke and Lowndes and the eventual recoinage of 1696. Quarto, old marbled wrappers, paper spine lettered in ink, (2) + 30pp + (3pp) adverts, with half title/imprimatur leaf. Wing 1248. Kress 1843. Goldsmith 3029. Ming-Hsun Li p.57, p.245.First edition. Coin clipping by the end of the 17th century, clipped because in ordinary times the coins could sti ...

GORDON,William

The Universal Accountant, and complete Merchant, new modelled. The sixth edition, with many essential Additions, Alterations, and Improvements. Vol I. II 1796

2 volumes bound on one, octavo, contemporary tree calf, rubbed, red morocco label, spine chipped, hinges split but holding, small paper loss in the lower outer margin of one leaf, viiipp + 202, (1) + 184pp, 1 folding table, contemporary ownership in ink on the title of Thos.Rothwell

Kress B3136. Not in the Goldsmith Library. Not in Bradshaw, Irish Collection. Not in ICA, Historical Accounting Literature. Not in ICA of Scotland Library. Not in the Herwood Library of Accountancy. See Murray, Chapters in the History of Book-keeping, pp.33-37.Very rare first Irish edition. William Gordon (died 1793) was one of the earliest teachers of book-keeping in Glasgow. Together with James Scruton, he carried on the Mercantile Academy in Glasgow from 1763 until at least 1778. The Academy was originally in the Trongate. Gordon carried on after 1778 on his own account teaching figures and accountancy, as well as classics. The Universal Accountant was first published in 1763-65 and ran to five editions to 1787 before this Dublin printing. All editions appear to be very rare. The first volume covers the elements of arithmetic and the application of arithmetic to the business of the merchant, the banker, custom-house, insurance offices, &c. The second volume begins with a Dissertation on the Business of the counting-house and then the book is divided into two parts, part I The elements of Mercantile Accountantship and part II Mercantile accountantship reduced to practice, in various specimens of books, connected and digested as in real trade. Gordon was also the author of The General Counting-House 1766 2 volumes bound on one, octavo, contemporary tree calf, rubbed, red morocco label, spine chipped, hinges split but holding, small paper loss in the lower outer margin of one leaf, viiipp + 202, (1) + 184pp, 1 folding table, contemporary ownership in ink on the title of Thos.Rothwell Kress B3136. No ...

HAMILTON,William of Bangour

Poems on Several Occasions. 1748

Glasgow, Robert & Andrew Foulis, 1748

Foolscap octavo, contemporary calf a little scuffed and rubbed, spine of five raised bands with gilt leaf designs in the compartments, upper hinge skilfully restored, red morocco label, (3) + 148pp, with Adam Smith's Preface dated Glasgow, December 21 1748, tear to inner margin of title not touching any text skilfully repaired, some light thumb-stains to some leaves, bookplate of Fort Augustus Abbey Library, a good copy.

First edition containing Adam Smith's first published work - the Preface to these poems. William Hamilton of Bangour (1704-1754) was a Jacobite poet-laureate who, because of his Jacobite activities, was in exile from 1747 until his pardon in 1750. The publication of this edition was arranged in his absence by a group of his Scottish friends. Adam Smith was asked, possibly by Kames, to provide an unsigned preface for this octavo volume. "Hamilton's poetry reflected a broad range of literary culture, from an imitation ballad in Scots... to 'imitations' or free adaptations of Pindar, Anacreon, Sophocles, Virgil, Horace, Shakespeare, and Racine, and the first rendering into English blank verse of a passage from Homer". Ross.
Gaskell 110. Ian Simpson Ross, The Life of Adam Smith, p.96. Viner, Guide to John Rae's Life of Adam Smith, pp.47-49. Foolscap octavo, contemporary calf a little scuffed and rubbed, spine of five raised bands with gilt leaf designs in the compartments, upper hinge skilfully restored, red morocco label, (3) + 148pp, with Adam Smith's Preface dated Glasgow, December 21 1748, tear to inner margin of title not touching ...

HERRIES, John Charles

A Review of the Controversy respecting the High Price of Bullion, and the State of Our Currency

Octavo, disbound, (1) + iipp + 119pp, 1 folding table, an excellent copy

First edition. Kress B5837. Goldsmith, 20309. Stephens, p.45

HODGES,James

The Present State of England, as to Coin and Publick Charges. In Three Parts. Treating of the Necessity of more Money before Taxes can be effectual, Trade revived, and of Ways and Means to procure it: as Calling in all the Plate on ready Money; Restoring Credit; Bringing out Hoarded Money; Rectifying the Value of Money, against which the opposite Prejudices, as injurious to King, Parliament and People, with Mr Lock’s chief Positions, are refuted by demonstrable and Matter of Fact. By J.H. 1697

London, Andr.Bell 1697

Octavo, three parts on one volume, contemporary panelled calf, rebacked, red morocco label, xxviiipp + 340pp, with errata printed on p.xv, title within double ruled border, contemporary ownership in ink on the front blank leaf of Tho.Day

Kress 2029. Goldsmith 3427. Wing H2299. Ming-Hsun Li, p.245. Schumpeter, p.357.See Ming-Hsun Li, The Great Recoinage of 1696-9. London 1963 for a detailed examination of the contemporary debate.First edition. One of the books published during the debate on the recoinage of the English currency at the end of the 17th century in which Locke played such an important part in rejecting devaluation. John Locke’s contention that the old standard should be maintained was chiefly based upon his ‘commodity theory’ of money – he regarded money as representing nothing but a quantity of silver. Hodges disagees with Locke and argues for the raising of the value of money, together with calling in all the ‘plate of the kingdom’ to be melted down for coin. Schumpeter identifies that in this book Hodges explicitly recognises the fact that a policy aiming at persistent export surpluses must defeat itself through the rise in domestic prices that it would eventually produce. Hodges published a supplement to this work in 1698. Octavo, three parts on one volume, contemporary panelled calf, rebacked, red morocco label, xxviiipp + 340pp, with errata printed on p.xv, title within double ruled border, contemporary ownership in ink on the front blank leaf of Tho.Day Kress 2029. Goldsmith 3427. Wing H2299. Ming-Hsun Li, p.245 ...

HUME,David

The History of Great Britain...The Reigns of James I and Charles I. The Commonwealth and the Reigns of Charles II and James II. The History of England under the House of Tudor. The History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Accession of Henry VII. 1754

Edinburgh, Hamilton, Balfour, and Neill 1754 and London, A.Millar 1757; London, A.Millar 1759; London, A.Millar 1762

6 volumes, quarto, fine contemporary matching pale mottled calf, double gilt fillets to front and back covers, spines richly gilt with five raised bands with contemporary red and green morocco labels, lettered and numbered gilt, a little worn at head and foot, marbled endpapers, vipp + 473pp + (1p)adverts, (1) + vpp + (1p)blank + 459pp + (1p)adverts; viiipp + 402pp, ivpp + (403)-739pp + (1p)adverts; viiipp + 424pp, viiipp + 446pp +(1) errata, Digby engraved armorial bookplate, an attractive set.Jessop, pp.27-30. Todd,pp.196-199. Chuo,47 (1-6).

First edition of all six volumes. With the publication of the first volume of his History of England in 1754 David Hume stepped into the position as one of Britain’s leading men of letters; only Samuel Johnson could be said to outshine him in national and international reputation. The History of England was probably more widely and more often reprinted than any of Johnson’s works, and it attracted the attention and admiration of scholars, historians and literary critics as well as some controversy. Complete sets of the first edition of all six volumes in quarto of the History of England are hard to find as they were printed over a number of years and Hume changed publishers after the first volume was published in Edinburgh in 1754. It is remarkable to find a complete set in matching contemporary bindings 6 volumes, quarto, fine contemporary matching pale mottled calf, double gilt fillets to front and back covers, spines richly gilt with five raised bands with contemporary red and green morocco labels, lettered and numbered gilt, a little worn at head and foot, marbled endpapers, vipp + 473pp + (1p)a ...

HUME,David

Autograph letter signed to Ronald Crawfurd. 1759

Upper Jack’s Land [Edinburgh] November 1759

Folio, 29.6 x 18.7 cm, 1 page in ink entirely in the hand of David Hume, endorsed on the verso in ink in a contemporary hand, skilful discreet paper repairs along old folds, some browning, dust stained on the verso, preserved in a cloth slip case.

UNPUBLISHED. See Thomas Murray (ed) Letters of David Hume, Edinburgh 1841. Greig, Letters of David Hume, 2 vols, Oxford 1932, vol.i,pp.xxii-xxiii, xxviii-xxix, also letter nos.47-49, 51,158,180,181. Mossner, Life of David Hume (1954) Chapter 13, The Unfortunate Tutor, pp.163-176.Unpublished autograph letter to Ronald Crawfurd, agent to the estate of the Marquess of Annandale, asking him to ensure that his ‘memorial of my case’ is passed to Lord Hoptoun. Part of the lost correspondence of David Hume which was once with the Annandale Trustees as documents in the lawsuit that Hume was threatening to bring in the Court of Session in order to enforce his claim for the sum that had not been paid to him. Some of the correspondence, but not this letter, was found in an Edinburgh lawyer’s office by Thomas Murray which he published in 1841.The debt was £75 dating back to his tutorship of the mad Marquess of Annandale in 1745-46 when he was owed for a final quarter’s salary. In about 1750, on Henry Home’s advice, David Hume opened a lawsuit; the Marquess having been judged a lunatic. The heir-at-law Lord Hopetoun, promised justice when he took over the estate. In 1759 he offered to pay at once if secured by a decision of a Judge in Edinburgh. Negotiations were still going on in 1761 but presumably were then settled out of court to Hume’s satisfaction. Mossner writes that Hume “would never have let the matter drop, no matter how well-off he had become in the meantime. The betterment of his financial situation had nothing to do with the dispute over the Annandale salary…The accumulated funds of the Annandale estate, tied up in litigation, ultimately rose to the staggering sum of £415,000! There seems to be no good reason why a philosopher should not be permitted to collect his debts as well as a businessman.”Hume wrote in 1746 “Justice and equity must be here the same, for can it be imagin’d that I am in a condition to make the M(arquess) of A(nnandale) a present of £75 that of right belongs to me?”. Folio, 29.6 x 18.7 cm, 1 page in ink entirely in the hand of David Hume, endorsed on the verso in ink in a contemporary hand, skilful discreet paper repairs along old folds, some browning, dust stained on the verso, preserved in a cloth slip case. UNPUBLISHED. See Thomas Murray (ed) Letters of Davi ...

HUTCHESON,Francis

A Short Introduction to Moral Philosophy, in three books; containing the Elements of Ethicks and the Law of Nature

Thick octavo, contemporary calf, upper hinge cracked but holding, top of spine chipped, (2) + ivpp + (6) + 347pp, contemporary ownership in ink on front blank leaf of B.Drayton

First edition in English, first published in latin in 1745, was a classroom text for students and a work of extreme importance in Adam Smith’s intellectual development.Francis Hutcheson (1694-1746), who could be described as the Father of the Scottish Enlightenment, was professor of moral philosophy at Glasgow University from 1727 and Adam Smith’s tutor, of whom Adam Smith called “the never-to-be-forgotten Hutcheson”. Hutcheson was one of the earliest propounders of what is known as the utilitarian doctrine of ethics and his teaching in this may be regarded as the foundation in the corresponding theory of economics, whose supporters included Smith, Bentham, James Mill and to a modified degree John Stuart Mill.Of Hutcheson’s influence on Adam Smith, “Dugald Stewart seems to have heard Smith admit that it was Hutcheson in his lectures that suggested to him that particular theory of the right of property which he used to teach in his own unpublished lectures on jurisprudence, and which founded the right of property on the general sympathy of mankind with the reasonable expectation of the occupant to enjoy unmolested the object which he had acquired or discovered”. Rae, Life of Adam Smith.“Hutcheson was a practical moralist in the Ciceronian tradition, a teacher of virtue who sought to persuade his students at Glasgow University and his reading public, not just to understand the good life but to live it”. Miller.Gaskell, The Foulis Press no.45. Thomas Miller, Francis Hutcheson and the Civic Humanist Tradition, in Hook & Sher (ed) The Glasgow Enlightenment pp.40-55. Jessop, Scottish Enlightenment, p.145. Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis, p.128. Graham, Scottish Men of Letters in the 18th Century, Hutcheson pp.31-34. Thick octavo, contemporary calf, upper hinge cracked but holding, top of spine chipped, (2) + ivpp + (6) + 347pp, contemporary ownership in ink on front blank leaf of B.Drayton First edition in English, first published in latin in 1745, was a classroom text for students and a work of extreme impor ...