KING (Daniel)

The Vale Royall of England. Or, The County Palatine of Chester Illustrated. Wherein is contained a Geographical and Historical Description of that Famous County, with all its Hundreds and Seats of the Nobility, Gentry, and Freeholders; its Rivers, Towns, Castles, Buildings Ancient and Modern. Adorned with Maps and Prospects, and the Coats of Arms belonging to every individual Family of the whole County... Also, An Excellent Discourse of the Island of Man; Treating of the Island. Of the Inhabitants. Of the State Ecclesiasticall. Of the Civil Government. Of the Trade; and, Of the Strength of the Island.

London: Printed by John Streater, 1656. First edition, small folio (285 x 180 mm), [12], 99, [7], 239, [11], 55, [1], [6], 34pp., signature A incorrectly bound in after signature B, complete with the engraved title page, the printed title page, a double-page engraved map of Chester, a double-page engraved plan and inset prospect of Chester by Wenceslaus Hollar, a double-page engraved map of the Isle of Man with 8 inset prospects, 2 double-page engraved plates (one with repair to a closed tear), 15 other engraved plates, including armorial plates, and engravings in the text, small piece of blank lower corn of title page torn-away, finely bound in nineteenth-century green straight-grained morocco, gilt tooled dentelles, boards with a gilt roll tooled floral border, spine with five raised bands, two compartments lettered in gilt direct, others ornately tooled, all edges gilt, fine. Frances Mary Richarson Currer's copy in a fine morocco binding. A choice copy with a fine provenance and bound in a sumptuous full green morocco binding. "In 1656 King published in London The Vale-Royall of England, or, The County Palatine of Chester Illustrated, for which he wrote the preface. In it he printed for the first time two essays on Chester written by William Smith and William Webb more than forty years earlier, as well as an essay on the Isle of Man by James Chaloner. This book was illustrated with etchings mostly by Wenceslaus Hollar, which were unsigned and for this reason have often been attributed to King himself."—(Oxford DNB). Frances Mary Richardson Currer (1785-1861) was England's earliest female bibliophile and was described by Dibdin as the "head of all female book collectors in Europe.". Currer inherited both the library of her great grandfather, Richard Richardson (1663-1741) and her grandfather Mathew Wilson of Eshton Hall. With the additions added by Currer the library became of considerable importance, and in its day, it was surpassed only by those of Earl Spencer, the duke of Devonshire, and the duke of Buckingham. Most of the books in her library were auctioned at Sotheby's in 1862, realising £6,000. A second sale took place in 1916 which raised more than £3700, and the residue of her library was sold in 1979 and 1994. Provenance: Contemporary signature of Joseph Hopkinson to head of engraved title; The front pastedown has the armorial bookplates of Mathew Wilson and his grand-daughter Frances Mary Richardson Currer. Wing, K488; Upcott I, p.61; Cubbon I, p.461.

Forest BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 38138

Keywords: ENGLISH TOPOGRAPHY BINDINGS CHESTER ISLE OF MAN FEMALE BOOKCOLLECTOR FRANCES MARY RICHARDSON CURRER YORKSHIRE

KING (Daniel):

The Vale-Royall of England Or, The County Palatine of Chester Illustrated. Wherein is contained a Geographical and Historical Description of that Famous County, with all its Hundreds and Seats of the Nobility, Gentry, and Freeholders; its Rivers, Towns, Castles, Buildings Ancient and Modern. Adorned with Maps and Prospects, and the Coats of Arms belonging to every individual family of the whole County. Performed by William Smith, and William Webb, Gentlemen. Published by Mr. Daniel King. To which is annexed, An Exact Chronology of all its Rulers and Governors both in Church and State, from the time of the Foundation of the Stately City of Chester, to this very day: Fixed by Eclipses, and other Chronological Characters. Also, An Excellent Discourse of the Island of Man; Treating of the island. Of the Inhabitants. Of the state ecclesiasticall. Of the civil government. Of the trade; and, of the Strength of the Island.

London Printed by John Streater, in Little S. Bartholomews, and are to be sold at the Black-spread-Eagle at the west-end of Pauls 1656 FIRST EDITION. Folio, 270 x 170 mms., pp. [xii], 99, [7], 239, [11], 55, [7], 34, additional engraved title-page, trimmed to margin and laid down, double-page maps of Cheshire & The Isle of Man, double-page plan of Chester, 11 plates of Arms and 5 other folding or full-page plates, engraved illustrations, letterpress title rather soiled, backed with 1 letter restored, 1 double-page map and the plan with splitting along central fold, 1 plate trimmed, affecting caption at foot, occasional short marginal repaired tears, occasional soiling, damp-staining towards end, armorial bookplate on front paste-down end-paper, attractively bound in 18th century red morocco, gilt border on covers, spine ornately gilt to Greek motif in compartments, all edges gilt; some light wear to extremities but a very good copy, The work was in fact written by William Smith, William Webb and Samuel Lee, and the part devoted to the Isle of Man by James Chaloner. King only wrote the dedication and was the engraver of the plates.ODNB notes, "In 1656 King published in London The Vale-Royall of England, or, The County Palatine of Chester Illustrated, for which he wrote the preface. In it he printed for the first time two essays on Chester written by William Smith and William Webb more than forty years earlier, as well as an essay on the Isle of Man by James Chaloner. This book was illustrated with etchings mostly by Wenceslaus Hollar, which were unsigned and for this reason have often been attributed to King himself; the same is true of the one-sheet etching An Orthographical Designe of Severall Viewes upon the Road in England and Wales (c.1660), which, although published by King, is also by Hollar. This mistake has led to a gross overestimation of King's abilities as an etcher, which were decidedly modest. King also wrote a manuscript, 'Miniatura, or, The art of limning' (BL, Add. MS 12461), and translated Gerard Desargues's Universal Way of Dyaling, published in 1659."

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 10359

Catalogue: Topography

Keywords: topography association copy prose

SINCLAIR, JOHN M. (ED.); HOEY, MICHAEL (ED.); FOX, GWYNETH (ED.)

Techniques of Description : Spoken and Written Discourse: A Festschrift for Malcolm Coulthard

London, Routledge. 1993, First Edition. (ISBN: 0415088054). Hardcover. Ex-Library, Black cloth boards, bumped at ends of spine. Ex-library: barcode, remains of return slip, writing on FEP; ink stamps on endpapers, last pp, indicia; contents otherwise clean, sound, bright throughout. Very Good/No Dust Jacket.

PsychoBabel BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 204429

Catalogue: Language & Communication

Keywords: Discourse Analysis 0415088054