John Bickham, Fables Short POEMS, art of writing, 1731
| Start Price |
GBP 949.99 |
| Current Price |
GBP 949.99 |
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| Start Time |
Thursday, July 24, 2008 |
| End Time |
Sunday, August 03, 2008 |
| Location |
Ascot, Royal County of Berkshire |
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Description
Fables and other Short Poems: collected from the most celebrated English authors ; the whole curiously engrav'd for the practice & amusement of young gentlemen & ladies in the art of writingbyJohn Bickham [ PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR MORE PICTURES ] DETAILS: (London): Printed and sold by Thos. Cobb, 1731. First edition. Contemporary calf, rebacked. Leaves printed on one side - 32; 1-6, 8-20; 23, 9; 10 leaves. Illustrated throughout with engraved vignettes and calligraphic texts, plus 4 engraved title pages. 8vo (standard sized book). CONDITION: Very Good to Good (see table below for details). Rebacked, preserving original spine leather. Some rubbing and edgewear to boards. Bookplate to front endpaper. First title and preface leaf loose. Page 7 of volume 2 missing. Some sunning to pages. Foxing to some pages, occasional dirt spots (ink spot to bottom corner of leaf 3 in volume 1). Small stain (spot) to fore edge of pp18-19 in volume 1. Generally plates in good condition. *Photo(s) given of actual book. CONTENTS: An extremely rare copy of this collection of fables and poetry by John Bickham, and engraved by George Bickham. In the UK, only Edinburgh University appears to have a copy, but we have not been able to determine is completeness. The Bodleian copy in Oxford contains Volume 1 of the Fables only (despite the catalogue entry on Copac which suggests it is complete). The work consists of three separate volumes, each with title pages (but sharing the 'Fables and Other Short Poems' title), plus two extra works, one an appendix to volume 3, the other a separate work by George Bickham from the same publisher. Volume 1 includes 13 single-page fables, each with an engraved vignette at the top of the page. Titles include: The Philosopher, and Shepherd; The Lyon, The Tyger, and the Traveller ("A Tyger, in pursuit of prey/Seiz'd Colin, as he sleeping lay/To his Defence a Lyon flies/And at his feet the Tyger dies"); The Wild Boar and the Ram; The Spaniel, and the Cameleon; The Eagle, and the Assembly of Animals; The Universal Apparition ("As a young Rake repentant sat/Deploring his Unhappy Fate/The Phantom Care thus spoke. Be Wise/And Health above thy Pleasure prize"). The fables are interspersed with other poems, mostly sage advice and wisdom on a number of subjects - Moral Precepts ("Delays are dangerous; take a Friend's advice/Begin, be bold, and Venture to be Wise); On the Invention of Writing ("Great was that Genius, most sublime that thought/Which first the Curious Art of Writing taught/This Image of the Voice did Man Invent/To make thought lasting, Reason permanent"); A Description of the Antient Rustical Entertainments of ye first Romans ("Our brawny Clowns of Old, who turn'd ye soil/Content with little, and inur'd to Toil/At Harvest home, with Mirth and Country Cheer/Restor'd their Bodies for another Year). The last four leaves contain examples of handwriting - round-hand and Italian alphabets, sentences in both, German text, and Old English, Roman and Italick prints. Volume 2 includes 10 fables with vignettes, including: The Barley-mow and the Dunghill; The Rat-catcher and the Cat; The Young Lion and Asses ("A Lyon-Cub, of sordid Mind/Avoided all the Lyon kind/With Asses all his time he spine/Their Club's perpetual president"); The Owl and the Farmer; The Hound and ye Huntsman. The other poems include Dryden's tribute to Milton; 'To Mr G. Granville, on his Verses to the King'; On Success ("Success, the Mark no mortal Wit/Or surest Hand, can always hit?"). The work is missing leaf 7, presumably another poem between two fables. Volume 3 contains 11 fables with vignettes, including: The Council of Horses; The Philosopher and the Pheasant; The tame Stag ("A Stag within a Yard confin'd/At first was frighten'd at mankind/He flies he hides, with great amaze; Now bolder grown he dares to graze"); The Persian, ye Sun and the Cloud; The Sick Man and the Angel; The Husband and Jupiter; The Pin and the Needle. Other poems include A Description of Extreme Cold, or Frost; The Happy Man ("Happy's the Man that leads the Life/Retir'd from Hurry, Noise and Strife"); The War Horse "He braves the Spear, and mocks the twanging bow/Demands the fight, and rushes on the Foe"). This volume also includes a curious addition (noted on the title page) - "Tables for reducing the most common Gold Coisn to Pounds, and the contrary. Being very useful in receiving and paying Monies". There are 9 leaves of tables for converting different amounts of coins, together with notes on calculating interest and discount. The final work is entitled "A New introduction to the Art of Drawing, collected from ye most free and easy Designs of the best Masters. With short Instructions for the Use of Schools" by George Bickham (who engraved the previous works), and from the same publisher (Thomas Cobb). The work does not really provide much instruction, just a single page introduction, followed by 9 leaves of plates (3 full-page, 6 with two engravings per leaf). The work is attractively engraved throughout, both the vignettes and calligraphic text on each page. There is scattered foxing and occasional dirt spots, but the leaves are generally still in very good condition. We cannot find any comparable copies of this text for sale (only modern facsimile reproductions). This work also has the bookplate of Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810-1899) English writer, poet, and author of 'Proverbial Philosophy' at the front endpaper. Of great interest to collectors. key words: On 07-Sep-07 at 04:22:03 BST, seller added the following information: Powered by eBay Turbo Lister
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