CAREW (Richard):

The Survey of Cornwall. And An Epistle concerning the Excellencies of the English Tongue. Now first Published from the Manuscript. With the Life of the Author, By H*** C***** Eaq. [Pierre Des Maizeaux].

London, Printed for Samuel Chapman, at the Angel in Pallmall; Daniel Brown jun. at the Black Swan without Temple-Bar; and James Woodman, at Cambden's-Head in Bowstreet, Covent-Garden. 1723. FIRST EDITION. Large 8vo, 225 x 172 mms., pp. [ii] [ii] iii - xix [xx blank], [viii], then foliated, [1] - 159 [160 - 163 indexes], followed by "An Epistle of Richard Carew Esq: concerning the Excellencies of the Engllsh Tongue," with separate title-page, pp. [2] 3 - 13 [14 blank], title-page in red and black, contemporary calf, rebacked in lighter calf, red morocco label; last six leaves (the "Epistle" stained a lower margin, but a good copy, with the armorial bookplate of Henry Waymouth on the front paste-down endp-paper, the autograph "J Harry Cook/1895" on the upper margin of the recto of the front free end-paper, an ownship inscription dated 1727 scored out on top margin of recto of adverts leaf, with adverts on verso. "Carew became a member of the Elizabethan Society of Antiquaries, where his scholarship was clearly valued. He assisted Sir Henry Spelman with the latter's researches into the history of tithes, and was rewarded with the dedication of the resulting treatise. Greatly interested in language, and particularly in etymology, Carew's panegyric on 'The excellencie of the English tongue' was first published in the second edition of William Camden's Remaines (1614). It constituted a qualified rebuttal of Richard Verstegan's Restitution of Decayed Intelligence of Antiquities (1605), which rejected the British contribution to England's history and languages in favour of Germanic elements. Carew thereby became entangled in a dispute which involved (among others) Verstegan, Thomas Nashe, Edmund Spenser, and William Shakespeare, over the extent to which English should either assimilate foreign words or attempt to maintain a degree of linguistic integrity. Carew accepted Saxon as the 'natural language' of England (Jones, 220), but he was much more willing to recognize the contributions of foreign tongues and cultures than Verstegan was" (ODNB).

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 10219

Catalogue: Language

Keywords: language philology prose

[GALLY (Henry):

A Dissertation against pronouncing the Greek Language according to Accents.

London, Printed for A. Millar..., 1754. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, 194 x 117 mms., pp. [ii], viii, 149 [150 Errata]. BOUND WITH: RUHNKENIUS (David): Epistola Criticai. In Homeridarum Hymnos et Hesiodum, ad Virum Clarissimyum Ludov. Casp. Valcknarium. Lugduni Batavorum, Apud Conrelium de Pekker, 1749. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, 194 xx 117 mms., pp. 78 [79 Addenda, 80 colophon], title-page in red and black. BOUND WITH: RUHNKENIUS (David): Epistola Critica II. In Callimachum et Apollonium Rhodium, ad Virum Clarissimum, Joan. Augustum Ernesti. Lugduni Batavorum, Apud Cornelium de Pecker, 1751. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, 194 x 117 mms., pp. 89 [90 colophon], title-page in red and black. 3 volumes in one, attractively bound in full contemporary lightly speckled calf, raised bands between gilt rules on spine, red morocco label; lower front joint very slightly cracked, but a very good copy. Gally (1696 - 1769) made a name for himself as a reformer with his publication of Some Considerations upon Clandestine Marriages. This rather more recondite work nevertheless attracted some scholarly attention and replies, with a second edition being published in 1768 in reply to John Foster's Essay on the Different Nature of Accent and Quality. David Ruhnkenius (1723 - 1798) was professor of history and eloquence at the University of Leiden. as well as lecturer in Greek. His two works are also on Greek philology and accents.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 7224

Catalogue: Language

Keywords: language philology prose

LUDLAM (William):

Essays on Scripture Metaphors, Divine Justice, Divine Mercy, and the Doctrine of Satisfaction.

London: Printed for Lockyer Davis...., 1785. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. 8vo, 216 x 137 mms., pp. [ii], 125 [126 adverts], contemporary sheepskin, red leather label; front cover detached, 19th century bookplate of Jonathan Simonds on front paste-down end-paper, autograph of [? "Edi Carneuse"] on top margin of title-page and sprawling autograph "George M Lumly/ Lexington/ Mass" written between title words. Ludlam (1717 - 1788) was a theologian and mathematician; this book was published in the same year as his Rudiments of Mathematics, which served as a textbook at Cambridge for around 30 years. Some of his views on Biblical language did not sit well with his evangelical brethren, e. g. "We read that God said Let there be light, and there was light. that he spake, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast. This is plainly a metaphorical representation; but it is such a one as conveys the most sublime idea of the divine omnipotence." ESTC T55226 locates 15 copies in UK libraries; and copies at Boston College, University of Missouri, and Yale in the United States. OCLC adds Dartmouth and McGill.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 6638

Catalogue: Language

Keywords: language religion prose

MITFORD (William):

An Essay upon the Harmony of Language.

London: Printed by Scott for J. Robson..., 1774. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, 213 x 125 mms., pp. [iv], 288, later full calf, raised bands between gilt rules on spine, red morocco label; front free end-paper creased slight general wear to binding and front cover detached, with the autograph "Charles Banham Livius" on the top margin of the front paste-down end-paper. William Mitford (1744 - 1827) wrote one of the first and useful histories of Greece, even though he never went to Greece. Neil Murray in his M. A. thesis, The Prosodic Theory of Patmore, Hopkins, and Bridges ( 1963), notes that Mitford attention to prosody was "first real attempt to grapple with the fundamental problems was made by William Mitford in his comprehensive survey of the field of prosody, Inguiry into the Principles of the Harmony of Language (1774; second enlarged edition 1804). He clearly made the distinction between accent and quantity which most earlier writers had left in obscurity. To demonstrate the point he quoted the opening lines of Paradise Lost with the accents misplaced, and remarked that no matter which syllables one chose to make long or short the lines were no longer metrical." Neil Murray, in his M.A. thesis, The Prosodic Theory of Patmore, Hopkins, and Bridges (1963), notes that the "first real attempt to grapple with the fundamental problems was made by William Mitford in his comprehensive survey of the field of prosody, Inquiry into the Principles of the Harmony of Language (1774; second enlarged edition 1804). He clearly made the distinction between accent and quantity which most earlier writers had left in obscurity. To demonstrate the point he quoted the opening lines of Paradise Lost with the accents misplaced, and remarked that no matter which syllables one chose to make long or short the lines were no longer metrical." So little has been known with certainty about the English dramatist and composer Charles Barham Livius (b. circa 1785 or 1787, d. 1865), who owned the present copy of Mitford's Essay (1774), that an obituary consisting of a single line has been one of the main sources for his life. The Era Almanack: Dramatic & Musical claimed that, on Thursday the 14th of January, "Charles Barham Livius, dramatist, died at Worthing, 1865, aged 80" (The Era Almanack: Dramatic & Musical, 1869, p. 1). Many decades later, Walter A. Reichart would make an admirable attempt to sort out some of the many confusions, and the multiple pseudonyms involved, in Livius's life with his article, "Washington Irving's Friend and Collaborator: Barham John Livius, Esq.", published in the PMLA, Vol. 56, No. 2 (June 1941), pp. 513-531. Reichart cites the variety of names found to refer to the same composer and dramatist as including Charles Barham Livius, John Barham Livius, Barham John Livius, and simply Barham Livius, with which he seems to have signed much of his work. The multiplicity may possibly be explicable in terms of a desire to remain somewhat slippery, since, as Edward Wagenknecht puts it, the "morals [of Barham Livius] were not above reproach" (Edward Wagenknecht, Washington Irving: Moderation Displayed [Oxford University Press, 1962], p. 134). One story has Barham Livius tasked with conveying to the composer Carl Maria von Weber a substantial amount of money, which, unfortunately, never actually reached Weber. Besides being a collaborator of Washington Irving's, Barham Livius was also associated with the Shakespearean actor Charles Kean, the great composer Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, the actor Charles Kemble, the diarist Emily Foster (who was a cousin), and the Victorian journalist George Augustus Sala. On the dearth of details available on Barham Livius's life, one musicologist went so far as to say, "Of this Barham Livius nothing can be traced, except that he was an amateur operetta-composer, that he had belonged to Trinity College, Cambridge (Samm. X, 299, Jan. 1909), and that both Sir George Smart and Charles Kemble himself had a very small opinion of him" (Zeitschrift, Vol. 11, [International Musical Society, 1910], p. 253). In the history of early nineteenth-century English music and drama, the presence of Barham Livius is both pervasive and shadowy. The interest of the inscription in this copy of Mitford's Essay (1774) is twofold. First, we have a book from Barham Livius's library, and a book decidedly telling with regard to his primary vocation: Mitford is writing on the harmony of English, the musical properties of the language, a correct knowledge of which could only aid a British lyricist and British composer. Secondly, we have an example of the dramatist choosing to use one of the rarer variants of his name to mark this book as his own, "Charles Barham Livius", a variant he appears to have used in the latter period of his life, which has been an especially obscure period of his largely opaque life. ESTC T68668 lists several copies of this first edition of Mitford's Essay (1774) in the British Isles, and several in the United States, but finds only one copy, Columbia's, in any Ivy League library. The ESTC database finds no books once owned by Barham Livius, at least not under any version of his name known to me.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 9312

Catalogue: Language

Keywords: language pronunciation prose

MONBODDO (James Burnett), Lord:

Of the Origin and Progress of Language. Second Edition [volumes 1 and 3]. With large Additions and Corrections. To which are annexed, Three Dissertations, Viz. 1. Of the Formation of the Greek Language. 2. Of the Sound of the Greek Language. 3. Of the Composition of the Ancients; and particularly of that of Demosthenes [volume 2 only].

Edinburgh: Printed for J. Balfour, Edinburgh [inter alia]; and T Cadell..., London, 1774 - 1792. FIRST EDITION of volumes 2, 4, 5, and 6. 6 volumes. 8vo, 217 x 136 mms., pp. x, xi [xii blank], 678; xi [xii blank], 588; xv [xvi blank], 466; xli [xlii Errata], 463 [464 blank]; xxxi [xxxii blank], 471 [472 blank, 473 Errata and notice to binder]; lii [liii Errata, liv blank], 473 [474 blank], with volumes 4, 5, and 6 printed in half-sheets, contemporary polished calf (probably Scottish), spines richly gilt, red and green morocco labels, bindings almost uniform except for the first three volumes lettered in Roman and the last three in Arabic numerals and minor variations in tools; spines slightly rubbed, heavier to volume 1 with lettering indistinct and a few chips, but a handsome set, with the early 19th century autograph of "Joseph [?W L] Shirreff" on the front paste-down end-paper and the small armorial bookplate, in the shape of a balloon with motto "Justitia" at the top, with "J. L. Shirreff" underneath on the front paste-down end-paper. J. L. Shirreff is James Lumsden Shirreff, surgeon of Deptford, Kent, and later of Stradmore, Cardiganshire. Monboddo discusses twices the deaf-mute painter Charles Shirreff in Volume One, Book One, who is possibly some relation of J. L. Shirreff. For the record, here are the imprints in volumes 2 - 6: volume 2, Edinburgh: Printed for J. Balfour...And T. Cadell..., 1774; volume 3: London: Printed for T. Cadell...and J. Balfour, Edinburgh, 1786; volume 4: Edinburgh: Printed for J. Bell, Edinburgh and T. Cadell..., 1787; volume 5: Edinburgh: Printed for J. Bell...and T. Cadell..., 1789; volume 6: Edinburgh: Printed for Bell & Bradfute...and T. Cadell..., 1792. A portrait was added to some copies, but it is not "called for." The fullest account of Monboddo's work on language is found in Iain Maxwell Hammett's Ph. D. dissertation (1985), "Lord Monboddo's Of the origin and progress of language: its sources, genesis and background, with special attention to the Advocates' Library." In his Oxford DNB entry on Monboddo, Dr. Hammett writes, "Essentially an attack on Locke's fashionable theory of ideas as the source of scepticism and materialism in Hume and the French Enlightenment, Monboddo's work was recognized in France, Italy, and Germany. It was translated in part into German by E. A. Schmidt (1784–6) and praised by J. G. von Herder, who attributed the British notices of the first volume to a conspiracy in defence of Locke. British criticisms, which included vicious attacks in the Edinburgh Magazine and Review (1773–6) and in Dissertations: Moral and Critical (1783) by his friend James Beattie, culminated in John Horne Tooke's Lockian assault on Monboddo and Harris in The Diversions of Purley (1786). A century later, the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1875–89) found neo-Kantianism implicit in Monboddo's 'intimate knowledge of Greek philosophy' and Darwinism in 'His idea of studying man as one of the animals, and of collecting facts about savage tribes to throw light on the problems of civilisation.'" Alston records that volumes I and III were reprinted as a "second" edition in 1774 and 1786 as the publishers discovered that they had not printed a sufficient number. Some copies have mixed sets accordingly.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 6434

Catalogue: Language

Keywords: language philosophy prose Scottish Enlightenment

PARSONS (James):

Remains of Japhet: Being Historical Enquiries into The Affinity and Origin of The European Languages.

London, Printed for the Author: And sold by L. Davis and C. Reymers, 1767. FIRST EDITION. 4to, 262 x 200 mms., pp. xxxii, 491 [420 blank], 2 folding engraved plates, one folding chart or table, with a contemporary note in French by the imprint ("de la biblioth. de mon pere/ V. Lanjuinais"), with notes in the same hand on four of the margins in the preface, bound in contemporary French cat's paw calf, spine richly gilt in compartments, red morocco label, with the bookseller's ticket of Theophile Barrois, fils (1752 - 1836), and the circular armorial bookplate of "Bibliotheque de Mr. Lanjuimais," both on the front paste-down end-paper; lower front joint wormed, top and base of spine chipped, but a good copy, with a rather fine provenance. The physician and antiquary James Parsons (1705 - 1770) got his M. D. degree at the University of Rheims in France in 1736. This was his last published work, "and he used it to attempt to show that the source of many of the European tongues was originally Irish and Welsh—languages he had learned as a boy" (ODNB). It attracted several reviews, mostly unfavorable, and The Critical Review for 1767, in a long and sarcastic article, concluded, "After having thus candidly reviewed this work, we cannot help lamenting that the author has bestowed so much time, labour, and expence, upon a system, which, as he has managed it, is untenable. We find in it little that is new, and less that is useful. It is, upon the whole, a cento collected from the observations and observations of former writers.... We are sorry that Dr. Parsons has disturbed the remains of his good friend Japhet [Japheth, one of Noah's three sons, c. 2205 B. C.] and we should recommend to him, if possible, to recommit them to the same comfortable state of non-existence where he imagines he found them."

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 9376

Catalogue: Language

Keywords: language linguistics prose

QUINZIANO STOA (Giovanni Francesco), Brixiani Poetae Laureati:

De Syllabarum Quantitate Epographiae Sex. Epographia I. De Literis. Epographia II. De syllabae accidentius. Epographia III. De primis Syllabis. Epographia IIII. De mediis..Epographia V. De ultimis syllabis. Epographia VI. De ambiguis dictionibus. Riusdem Ars de Aliquibus Metrorum Generibus, ac de omnibus Heroici carminis speciebus.

Venetiis, Apud Hieronymum Scotum. M D LXXVII. 1568. 8vo, 156 x 92 mms., pp. 447 [ 448 printer's device], epographiae sex, title with woodcut printer's device, woodcut head- and tail-pieces and historiated initials, final folio with woodcut device verso, ownership stamp to title: occasional spotting and light staining, recased in contemporary limp vellum, spine repaired, lacking ties, little stained, but a very good and uncommon copy of this edition. thumbnail Property Value dbo:abs The works of the Italian poet and humanist Giovanni Francesco Conti (1484 - 1587) are catalogued and referred to under his humanistic name. He published works in several genres - poetry, expository prose, philosophy - in Italian as well as Latin and was nicknamed "Stoa" or "Rortico delle Muse." The present work was first published in 1519 and was frequently reprinted thereafter. The printer Girolamo Scotto (Hieronymus Scotus; also Gerolamo) (c.1505 – 3 September 1572) was an Italian printer, composer, businessman and bookseller of the Renaissance, active mainly in Venice. He was the most influential member of the firm of Venetian printers, the House of Scotto, which existed from the late 15th century until 1615. At its peak in the 1560s, the Scotto firm under Girolamo was one of the preeminent publishing firms of Europe, producing volumes on law, scholasticism, philosophy, medicine, theology, and ancient literature in addition to music. Only the firm of Gardano produced more books of music in the 16th century than the House of Scotto under Girolamo; over half of Scotto's publications, 409 out of approximately 800 in total, were books of music. OCLC locates only two copies of this edition, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma and Bibliothèque nationale de France. There seem to be no copies of any edition of this work on the market at present.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 10067

Catalogue: Language

Keywords: language epography literature

SCURVEY (Ed) and Bob Charlies:

Kutchin: Indian Words and Meanings.

Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada Published by The Whitehorse Star Ltd [no date] [1974] Small 12mo, 140 x 108 mms., pp. [12], printed on stiff orange paper, stapled at folds, with illustration on front cover and on recto of first leaf after title-page. A fine copy. According to the Alaskan State Library catalogue, this is a dictionary of the language "Kuchin Athapaskan." The language is also known as the "Gwich'in language", and has gone under other names as well, including of course "Kutchin" (the name used on the title page of this book), a variant of the spelling "Kuchin." Wikipedia says, "Few Gwich'in speak their indigenous Gwich'in language, which is in the Athabaskan language family. There are two main dialects of Gwich'in, eastern and western, which are delineated roughly at the United States-Canadian border. Each village has unique dialect differences, idioms, and expressions. The Old Crow people in the northern Yukon have approximately the same dialect as those bands living in Venetie and Arctic Village, Alaska. According to the UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, Gwich'in is now a 'severely endangered' language, with fewer than 150 fluent speakers in Alaska and another 250 in northwest Canada. Innovative language revitalization projects are underway to document the language, and to enhance the writing and translation skills of younger Gwich'in speakers." Copies located in Peabody Essex Museum, Library and Archives Canada, Inuvik Centennial Library, University of Alberta Libraries, Alaska State Library, and Newberry.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 9073

Catalogue: Language

Keywords: language dictionary prose

SEYER (Samuel):

On the Syntax of the Latin Verb: Designed for the Use of Students.

Bristol: Printed by J. Rudhall, for T. Cadell, Junr. and W. Davies..., 1798. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. 8vo (in 4s), 194 x 117 mms., pp. 339 [340 blank], contemporary half calf, gilt spine, morocco label, marbled boards; top of spine chipped, front joint very slightly cracked, but a good copy. The antiquary and Church of England clergyman Samuel Seyer (1757–1831) was born in Bristol and spent his entire life there. This work was part of a projected, but never completed, complete Latin syntax. ESTC T113982 locates 11 copies in British libraries; and Library Company of Philadelphia, Chicago, and Yale in North America.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 7043

Catalogue: Language

Keywords: language grammar prose