MAGALOTTI (Lorenzo):

Lettere Familiari del Conte Lorenzo Magalotti, Gentiluomo Florentino, e Accadeico dellas Crusca Divise in due Parti Part Prima. [Seconda].

In Venezia, Appresso Sebastian Coleti, con Licenza de Superiori, Privilegio, 1719 FIRST EDITION. 4to, 233 x 170 mms., pp. [xvi], 646 [647 errata, 647 publisher's statement, dated 2 September 1718], title-page in red and black, with engraved vignette (byAlessandro dalla Via), engraved circular portrait of Magalotti above similar emblematic youth ("Omnia Lustra") before first page of text (by Antonio Montauti), fine engraved head-piece (by the author) to top margin of first page of text, section title for part 2 after page 494, with engraved vignette at top margin of page 497, contemporary vellum, letter in ink on spine; long tear in fore-margin of leaves L2.3 (pages 83 - 86) towards inner margin, but a very good and attractively-printed copy with the armorial bookplate of Lord Dinorben on the front paste-down end-paper. It is possible that the leaves were intended to be cancelled and cut from the fore-margin rather than the lower margin; and the inner margin of L2r is stuck to the verso of the preceding leaf. Lorenzo Magalotti (1637 - 1712) was born into a Roman aristocratic family and developed an early interest in the works of Galileo Galilei and later, as a result of travels and exploration beyond Rome, became a poet, who translated Milton's Paradise Lost and John Philips's Cyder. The most complete recent work on Magalotti is that of Stefano Miniati, Lorenzo Magalotti (1637-1712): rassegna di studi e nuove prospettive di ricerca(2010)

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Book number: 9610

Catalogue: Correspondence

Keywords: correspondence science prose

PIOZZI (Hester Lynch), editor. JOHNSON (Samuel), author:

Letters to and from the late Samuel Johnson, LL.D., to which are added, Some Poems Never Before Printed. Published from the Original MSS. in Her Possession. By Hester Lynch Piozzi. In Two Volumes

Dublin: Printed for Messrs. R. Moncrieffe, L. White, P. Byrne, P. Wogan, W. Porter, H. Colbert, J. Moore, J. Jones. M.DCC.LXXXVIII, 1788. FIRST IRISH EDITION. 2 volumes in 1. 8vo, 205 x 120 mms., pp. [v] vi - xvi, 279 [280 nlamk]; [iii] iv - ix [x blank], 306, contemporary sheepskin, gilt rules on spine, red leather label; top margin of title-page with name slightly defective, top of spine chipped, some scoring and very slight wear to covers, front joint slightly cracked, but a good to very good copy with fine provenance. This is the first Irish edition of the classic collection of letters of Samuel Johnson edited by his friend Hester Lynch Piozzi. The provenance of this copy is distinguished and very much Irish, while also connecting to London literary circles, including Edmund Burke, who was close to Samuel Johnson for many years. The printed book-label is so rare that I had never come across it before. It is that of Sir Hercules Langrishe, 1st Baronet (c.1729-1811), Minister of Parliament for Knocktopher, County Kilkenny, Ireland, who was also "commissioner of barracks (1766-74), supervisor of accounts (1767-75), commissioner of revenue (1774-1802), and commissioner of excise (1780-1802)", as well as being "appointed an Irish privy councillor in 1786" (Oxford DNB). Langrishe had a "lifelong friendship with Edmund Burke, who wrote an open 'Letter to Sir H. Langrishe' in 1792, encouraging his efforts to secure relief for Catholics from the rigours of the Penal Laws" (Wikipedia). Literary himself, being a poet and the main compiler of the anthology Baratariana: A Select Collection of Fugitive Political Pieces (Dublin, 1772), Langrishe was notably anthologised himself together with Mrs Piozzi in The Poetical Farrago: Being a Miscellaneous Assemblage of Epigrams and other Jeux D'Esprit (1794): Piozzi's poem titled "Verses" is found in the first volume on page 89, and Langrishe appears five pages later, with "Verses on Miss Farren's Acting in Dublin for the Benefit of Persons Confined for Small Debts". The second owner, who signed "Richard Martin / Clifford", is no doubt Richard Martin, Esquire (1744-1824) of Clifford House, County Cork, Ireland. Clifford House, which he built, and which still stands, is featured on Ireland's National Inventory of Architectural Heritage website, where one can see several photos of the pleasant country seat: . This first Irish edition of Piozzi's collection of Johnson letters is ESTC T75351. It is far more scarce than the first edition, published in London the same year, which is ESTC T82906.

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Book number: 10082

Catalogue: Correspondence

Keywords: correspondence poetry literature

ROCHESTER (John Wilmot, Earl of):

Familiar letters: ... Written by the Right Honourable John, late Earl of Rochester. To the Honble Henry Savile, Esq; And other Letters, by Persons of Honour and Quality. With Letters written by the most Ingenious Mr. Thomas Otway, and Mrs. K. Phillips. Publish'd from their Original Copies. With Modern Letters, by Tho. Cheek, Esq; Mr. Dennis; and Mr. Brown. The Fourth Edition, with Additions.

London: Printed for Rich Wellington..., 1705. 2 volumes in one. 8vo, 164 x 97 mms., pp. [xvi], 224 [225 - 226 adverts]; [xiv], 207 [208 blank], garishly rebound in bright orange cloth, Cockerell boards, black leather label; imprint closely trimmed in volume with lost of last line and date, top margins of first six leaves slightly defective and repaired, with slight loss of text. This collection of "familiar letters" was first published in 1697 and reprinted several times in the 17th century; this 1705 edition was the first to be published in the 18th century as well as the last of the early editions of any letters by Rochester. Commenting on these four editions, Dr. Nicholas Fisher notes, "These editions, while not as sumptuous as the editions published by Jacob Tonson in 1691 and 1696, seem to have been directed at the same readership, and 'not unbecome the Cabinet of the Severest Matron': the paper is of good quality, the presswork is clear and there is a significant presence of white space in the text, with each letter, even the short notes, starting on a fresh page. Evidence of continuing public interest in Rochester's letters is provided by the inclusion of Briscoe's collection in the edition of Rochester's Works published by Tonson in 1714 and by his nephew in 1732, and in the anthology printed for Rivington and Dodsley in 1755." In my register of early books rebound unsympathetically or inappropriately, this one is jostling with others for first place. Nicholas Fisher,"The perspective of Rochester's letters" in Lord Rochester in the Restoration World (Cambridge, 2015). ESTC N8135 finds only four holding institutions for the British Isles and Ireland: Liverpool University; University of Oxford (which has two copies); University of Hull; and the V&A (National Art Library). ESTC also locates a copy in a private collection in the British Isles, but gives no details about that ownership except for a shelfmark ("Scot. 1: BH. L. A3/16(1,2)."). For North America, the ESTC finds twelve holding institutions, the University of Texas having two copies, and Yale having only a sorely imperfect copy, whose first volume lacks its title leaf.

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Book number: 9983

Catalogue: Correspondence

Keywords: correspondence letters literature

STEELE (Sir Richard):

Epistolary Correspondence of Sir Richard Steele. Containing Letters to his Second Wife, Mrs. Mary Scurlock, and Her Two Daughters [volume 1]; Containing Letters to and from His Friends and Patrons [volume 2]. Now first printed from the originals, which are deposited in the British Museum. Illustrated with Literary and Historical Anecdotes By John Nichols.

London, Printed by and for the Editor; And sold by J. Robson and W. Clarke..., 1787. FIRST EDITIION. 2 volumes. 12mo, 180 x 104 mms., pp. xvi, 279 [280 blank]; vii [viii blank], 279 - 518 [519 - 520 adverts], with pages xix and xx are misnumbered xv and xvi and page 279 repeated in pagination, engraved vignette portrait of Steel on half-title in volume 1, contemporary lightly speckled calf, gilt rules across spines, red leather labels; some slight wear to bindings, but generally a very good set. Rae Blanchard, in her edition of The Correspondence of Richard Steele (Clarendon Press, 1941; reprinted 1968), states that the foundation for her editor work is Nichols' text, which "contains the entire collection of Steele's notes and letters to Mrs. Steele, the originals of which Nichols purchased from the Steele family and presented to the British Museum...." The English Review, Or, An Abstract of English and Foreign Literature in its review in 1787, volume 10, concluded, "This Epistolary Correspondence is one of the few posthumous publications in which the industry of the collector has not been carried beyond the bounds of discretion. It exhibits the character of Sir Richard Steele in the most amiable and interesting points of view, as a husband, a father, a friend, and a member of society."

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 7902

Catalogue: Correspondence

Keywords: correspondence autobiography literature