Author: BURNET, Gilbert, Bishop of Salisbury.
Title: Some Letters, containing an account of what seemed most remarkable in travelling through Switzerland, Italy, some parts of Germany, etc. In the years 1685, and 1686.
Description: Rotterdam: printed for J[ohn] S[tarkey] and are to be Sold by Jonathan Robinson ... London, 1698. 8vo, [xxiv], 336pp including appendix. Rebound in recent full panelled calf gilt, maroon calf gilt spine label, new endpapers. Title page fore-edge margin holed in void area; some text age-browning and foxing, but no problems with legibility. ESTC: Princeton University. Wing: 5921A. Cox's Travel Volume I has the last 17th century edition as 1689. No copy found in the Italian National Union Catalogue, or the National Library Catalogues of Germany and Switzerland. This edition not in Lowndes, who states 'this curious and entertaining narrative surpasses everything of its kind extant in...style, sentiments, manner and method.' The earlier Rotterdam editions printed by Acher were quite common, whereas this 1698 edition is a rarity. We would not debate the question of rarity; however, there is a good case to be made for a publication date of 1689: Firstly, the London bookseller John Starkey is found in no imprint post 1689 and died in 1690; he was active throughout the second half of the seventeenth century. Secondly, the wording of the first item on the advert leaf indicates that Burnet's appointment at Salisbury was recent - it took place at Easter in 1689. Thirdly, 'The New System of the Apocalypse' was published in 1688; The BL entry in DISCOVER acknowledges Robinson's involvement in the publication.

Keywords: BURNETT Letters Switzerland Italy Germany Early Printings Binding