[ADAMS (Aaron Chester)]:

Mother.

No place, No publisher, [c. 1893]. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. 8vo, 198 x 147 mms., pp. [2] 3 - 26 [28 - 32 blank], stitched within cream cardboard covers, with gilt lettering, "H. S. A. / 1813-1892." on front cover. The author is given as simply "Father" at the foot of p. 25, then as "A. C. A." at the foot of the last page of text, p. 26. A clue to the topic of the book is found, however, on p. 24, where the subject of the memoir is said to have been buried "on the southern slope of Wethersfield cemetery". From the context, it is clear that Wethersfield in Connecticut is meant. A consultation of the records of this cemetery, which are available online, show only one possible match at http//wethersfieldhistory.org/services/burying_ground/map: that being Harriet Sargent Adams (1813-1892, who married to a man who bore the initials A. C. A. This is the Congregational minister and writer Aaron Chester Adams (1815-1905). They are buried in the same plot. Aaron Chester Adams is perhaps best known today for his Historic Sketch of the First Church of Christ in Wethersfield (1877). WorldCat attributes a half-dozen publications to him in total. This book, Mother, is Aaron Chester Adam's biography of his wife, Harriet Sargent Adams. At the foot of p. 25, he notes that he wrote his account from "Wethersfield, Conn." in "February, 1893". The book is not merely personal, however, as the reader gets a vivid picture of historical life in nineteenth-century Connecticut, with some earlier scenes set in Maine and Massachusetts. Not in WorldCat, COPAC, KVK, British Library, or Library of Congress.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 9140

Catalogue: Biography

Keywords: biography Americana literature

ADDISON (Joseph). [TYERS (Thomas)]:

An Historical Essay on Mr. Addison.

London [n. p.], 1783. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. viii, 92, recently recased in quarter calf, buckram boards, new endpapers; lacks pp. i - ii (half-title), lower inner margin of last two leaves of text repaired with slight loss of text, some soiling of text, particularly the last two leaves. With the eighteenth-century armorial (lion rampant on shield) bookplate of "Geo. Morgan Esq" (probably Franks 21063, whose owner is not identified by Howe); and, on the recto of the front paste-down endpaper, the twentieth-century ownership inscription of Cecil Price, Emeritus Professor and sometime head of the Department of English at the University of Swansea, the editor of the correspondence of Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Thomas Tyers (1725-1787) was a "[m]iscellaneous writer", the "co-founder of Vauxhall Gardens", and a "longtime friend of Johnson, who depicted him as Tom Restless in The Idler, No. 48. Boswell described Tyers as having 'a handsome fortune, vivacity of temper, and eccentricity of mind … He therefore ran about the world with a pleasant carelessness, amusing every body by his desultory conversation … ' " (Lyle Larsen, ed., James Boswell: As His Contemporaries Saw Him [2008], p. 231). The ESTC records three issues of this work, all rare. This is ESTC T2814. For the British Isles and Ireland, ESTC finds only the BL, Cambridge (two copies, but one imperfect), and a copy in a library managed by the National Trust. Beyond the British Isles and Ireland, ESTC finds five copies, all in the United States, only one of which is in an Ivy League library: Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, University of Texas at Austin, and Yale.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 2573

Catalogue: Biography

Keywords: biography

ADDISON (Joseph). SMITHERS (Peter):

The Life of Joseph Addison.

Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1954. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. viii, [4], 491 [492 printer's imprint], frontispiece and 3 other illustrations, original cloth, dust-wrapper; ex-library.

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Book number: 3646

Catalogue: Biography

Keywords: biography literature

ALFIERI (Victor):

Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Victor Alfieri; Written by Himself. Translated from the Italian.

London: Printed for Henry Colburn..., 1810. 2 volumes. 8vo, pp. [vi], 286 [287 - 288 adverts]; [vi], 328, contemporary polished calf, borders in gilt and blind, spines gilt to a lattice pattern; slight wear to spine volume 1, but a very good and attractive set. The identity of the translator is unknown. The Monthly Review said of the work, "Perhaps the history of literature does not present so extraordinary an instance of the enterprise which mind alone will attempt, unassisted by art, and unimproved by instruction." Oxford University Press reissued the translation, revised by Eric Reginald Vincent, in 1961 in their Library of Italian Classics.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 2690

Catalogue: Biography

Keywords: biography prose

ARNOLD (Thomas). STANLEY (Arthur Penrhyn):

The Life and Correspondence of Thomas Arnold, D. D.; Third Edition.

London: B. Fellowes..., 1844. 2 volumes. 8vo, 214 x 135 mms., pp. [v] vi - xxiii [xxiv blank], 322; [v] vi - xvi, 447 [448 blank], including half-title in each volume, engraved portrait of Arnold as frontispiece in volume 1, contemporary polished calf, spine ornately gilt in compartments, black leather labels; slight cracking of front joint of volume 1,abrasion on front cover of volume 2, but a good set with the small book ticket of Edward John Kenney on the recto of the front free end-paper of each volume , and with ms. notes in his hand on end-papers. The headmaster and historian, Thomas Arnold (1795 - 1842) went to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge in 1811 and formed a private school with his brother-in-law John Buckland; later he became famous as the headmaster of Rugby School until his death in 1842. His reputation lived long after him, and he was still being spoken in hushed tones in the latter part of the last century, and the entry in ODNB provides a similar endorsement: "Equally, these reappraisals established Arnold's lasting educational achievements. He established the principle of headmagisterial independence, restored confidence in the public school system generally, and confirmed Rugby's position as one of the leading schools. His ideas were spread by his pupils and assistants, and he was undoubtedly a source of inspiration to others in the field of education. The enduring verdict of posterity confirms the magnitude of his personality, vision, intellectual ability, and Christian idealism."

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 9820

Catalogue: Biography

Keywords: Biography education prose

ASHBURNHAM (John).

A Narrative of John Ashburnham of his Attendance on King Charles the First from Oxford to the Scotch Army, and from Hampton-Court to the Isle of Wight: never before printed. To which is prefixed, A Vindication of his Character and Conduct, from the Misrepresentations of Lord Clarendon, by his Lineal Descendant and Present Representative.

London: Payne and Foss..., 1830. FIRST EDITION. 2 volumes. 8vo, pp. iv, 412; [ii], 180, ccxvii [ccxviii blank], engraved portrait as frontispiece in volume 1, modern library cloth; ex-library with library stamps, inner margin of frontispiece repaired.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 3835

Catalogue: Biography

Keywords: biography history

BARHAM (R. H. Dalton):

The Life and Remains of Theodore Edward Hook.

London: Richard Bentley..., 1849. FIRST EDITION. 2 volumes. 8vo, pp. x, 354; vi, 360, engraved portrait frontispiece in each volume, contemporary half roan, gilt spine, boards; front cover volume 1 detached, binding a little worn.

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Book number: 1779

Catalogue: Biography

Keywords: biography

[BARRERA (A., Madame de)]:

Memoirs of Rachel.

London: Hurst and Blackett, Publishers, Successors to Henry Colburn..., 1858. FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. 2 volumes. 8vo, 186 x 108 mms., pp. xii, 342; [ii], iv, 326, vi, collotype (probably) portrait of Rachel as frontispiece in volume 1, contemporary half calf, marbled boards, black morocco labels; some wear to binding, but a very good set, with the armorial bookplate of Thomas Lator Gregg on the front paste-down end-paper of each volume. Greg was a protestant chaplain in various Irish prisons in the 19th century. Purportedly a biography of the French actress Eliza Rachel Felix (1821 - 1858), the work seems to be heavily fictionalized. The Encyclopedia of Jewish Women notes, "One of the most famous Jews in nineteenth-century France, the actress Rachel was celebrated for her unparalleled talent and is often credited with reviving the classical French tragedies of Racine and Corneille in the era of Romanticism. Rachel was born on a roadside near the Swiss town of Mumpf on February 28, 1821. By the time she was twenty she achieved fame and fortune, becoming a sociétaire of the prestigious Comédie Française in Paris. Renowned as much for her unconventional personal life as she was for her brilliance onstage, Rachel was an unusual candidate for the kind of fame she achieved in a nation still staunchly Catholic, patriarchal and class-conscious. Throughout her life she remained faithful to her family and to Judaism, had numerous well-publicized love affairs, and gave birth to two children out of wedlock. In addition, Rachel was unusually adept at managing her career, successfully negotiating contracts that not only provided an impressively high salary but also gave her time off to conduct the foreign tours that made her an international star. Rachel's parents, Jacques and Thérèse-Esther-Chaya Félix, were itinerant Jewish peddlers who sold second-hand clothes from a wagon they used as both home and warehouse. Their first child, Sophie-Sarah, was born in 1819; Elisa-Rachel was born two years later when the family wagon was in Switzerland, then known as somewhat risky territory for Jewish peddlers who were legally barred from residing or establishing businesses in the country. Four other siblings were born later: Raphaël in 1826, Rébecca in 1828; Adelaïde-Lia in 1830; and Mélanie-Dinah in 1836. From an early age the siblings displayed unusual talent as street performers. At ages ten and eight Sarah sang and Rachel accompanied her on a battered guitar (which she later, as an adult star, kept proudly on display) on the streets of Lyons, where they were "discovered" by the Parisian musician and educator Etienne Choron (1772–1834). In 1831 the family settled in the Jewish neighborhood in Paris's Marais district, where the two girls attended Choron's school and were trained in acting and music. In 1836 Rachel went to work at the Théâtre Molière, where she received additional training, and in the fall of the same year she was admitted to the prestigious Conservatoire. She soon left the Conservatoire for higher-paying work at the Théâtre de la Gymnase, and in 1837 she began private study with Joseph-Isidore Samson (1793–1871). Samson was to become as crucial a force in her professional life as her father Jacques was—the two men were often portrayed by contemporary observers as rival tyrants, competing for control over Rachel's illustrious career. In 1838 she signed a contract as a pensionnaire at the most prestigious institution of the French stage, the Comédie Française, the official state theater where Samson himself was an actor. Rachel's debut at the Comédie Française in June 1838 was in the role of Camille in Horace by Pierre Corneille (1606–1684). This performance, like most of those that followed, met with critical acclaim and public admiration. She brilliantly reproduced the traditional inflections, rhymes and gestures of the classical repertoire and was described as elevating her roles to a new level of art. Faithful to the constraints imposed by the classical style, she spoke and moved in her roles in a remarkably natural fashion, exuding a passion that no critic failed to mention in reviewing her performances. Known for her slight build and burning eyes, Rachel's passion and technique made her seem larger than life and her riveting authority on stage (as well as off-stage) was often described as "masculine." In addition to Camille, Rachel's roles in the 1840s included Hermione in Jean Racine's (1639–1699?) Andromaque, Amédaïde in Voltaire's Tancrède, Eriphile in Racine's Iphigénie en Aulide, the title role in Racine's Esther, Roxane in Racine's Bajazet, and Pauline— a Jew who converts to Christianity—in Corneille's Polyeucte. She first played what was perhaps her most famous role, Phèdre, in Racine's play of the same name, in 1843. She also performed key roles in historical plays in the 1840s, including Joan of Arc and Mary Stuart. Only in the 1850s did she begin to perform in contemporary dramas on a regular basis, including roles in plays written for her by her friend Madame de Girardin (1804–1855, née Delphine Gay). Her most successful role of this sort was in Adrienne Lecouvreur by Eugène Scribe (1791–1861). Although her audiences never overlooked her Jewishness, remarkably, Rachel was also seen as a symbol of the French nation. Her choice of roles made this identification possible; in addition to playing Joan of Arc in the mid-1840s, she also performed the Marseillaise to great acclaim in 1848. Dressed in a simple, all-white costume, carrying the flag, her eyes blazing with passion, she seemed to many admirers to embody the very will of the people in that short-lived era of republican optimism. Yet like her erstwhile lover and longtime friend Louis Napoleon (1808–1873, who became Emperor Napoleon III in 1852), she had no regrets when the Second Republic gave way to the Second Empire. When Prince-President Louis Napoleon brought the French state theater under much stricter control in 1849, Rachel benefited greatly. She had a strong voice in selecting the new theater director, Arsène Houssaye (1815–1896), and negotiated a new contract with him in which she was required to perform only forty-eight times a year. This reduction in her duties made it possible for her to embark on long, profitable tours abroad. She had been performing abroad for years already—from 1843 she made annual trips to Great Britain—but in the 1850s these lucrative tours became much longer and the destinations more distant. In 1853 she performed in Moscow and in 1855 she embarked on a tour of America, arranged by her brother Raphaël, who was then working as her manager. Like many stars, Rachel was famous for her private life as well as for her professional achievements. She always remained close to her family, and involved them in her career—her brother and her father each worked as her manager at different times, and she supported the acting careers of her sisters. She was also faithful to her origins. She resisted the many attempts to convert her to Christianity and spoke proudly of her family's humble background. Never married, she had love affairs with some of the most important men in mid-nineteenth-century France. They included the Prince de Joinville (1818–1900, son of King Louis-Philippe), Count Alexandre-Colonne Walewski (1810–?, illegitimate son of Napoleon I by the Polish countess Marie Walewska), future emperor Louis Napoleon, his cousin Prince Napoleon (1822–1891), the poet Alfred de Musset (1810–1857), and the journalist Emile de Girardin (1802–1881). She bore two illegitimate children and, though faithful to Judaism herself, had them both baptized. Her son Alexandre-Antoine-Colonne Walewski (1844–1898) was recognized by the father whose name he carried and had a brilliant career as a diplomat. Gabriel-Victor Félix (1848–1889), Rachel's son by the general Arthur Bertrand (1811–1878), served in the navy and died in Brazzaville, Congo, where he was serving as French consul. Rachel died on January 4, 1858 of tuberculosis, of which she had shown symptoms as early as 1841. Her funeral, like her life, was a public spectacle that attracted the widest spectrum imaginable of Parisian society, including poor Jews from the Marais district, famous journalists, actors, military leaders and the Emperor himself. Appropriately, the Chief Rabbi of France, Lazard Isidor (1813–1888), recited the funeral prayers."

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Book number: 9491

Catalogue: Biography

Keywords: Biography women prose

De Bie (Jacques):

Les Vrais Portraits des Rois de France. Tire de ce quit Novs Reste de leurs Monumens, Sceaux, Medailles, ou autres Effigies, conseruees dan les plus rares & plus curieux Cabinets du Royaume. Av Tres. Chrestien Roy de France et de Navarre Lovis XIII. Seconde Edition. Augmentee de nouveaux Portraits, & enrichie des Vies des Rois par le R. P. H. de Coste....

A Paris, Chez Jean Camvsat..., 1636. Folio, 297 x 215 mms., pp. [xxiv], 395 [396 Avertissement dl'Auteur, 397 - 423 Index, 424 colophon], title-page printed in red and black, additional engraved title-page, 57 engraved plates, each taking up most of the recto of a leaf, 5 without image of king, contemporary lightly mottled calf, gilt spine (faded), black morocco, expertly rebacked with old spine laid down; some occasional damp-staining but a very good to fine copy, with the an armorial bookplate on the front paste-down end-paper, and deaccesioned from the Ashmolean Museum. The engraver Jacques de Bie (1581 - 1640) published a number of dictionaries, checklists, or anthologies of various of medals, coins, portraits etc. In an online paper entitled "Collection, conviction, and contemplation; or, Picturing coins in early modern books, ca. 1550-1700," Professor Brian W. Ogilvie comments, "De Bie wanted to do for the French monarchy what sixteenth century antiquarians had done for the Roman emperors: produce a series of metallic portraits and reverses that would illustrate the kings of France, from Charlemagne to the present, and their noble deeds. Faced with a distinct lack of such medals, especially for the Carolingians and early Capetians, De Bie made them up, covering up his inventions (not entirely successfully) by emphasizing the research he had conducted to find them. De Bie's text told one story, but his engravings sometimes told another: he was honest enough to include the real source of a picture (for instance, a tomb completed centuries after its occupant's inhumation) while portraying it in the form of a medal."

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Book number: 8667

Catalogue: Biography

Keywords: biography portraits prose

[BOULAINVILLIERS (Henri), Comte de]:

The Life of Mahomet. Translated form the French Original, written by the Count of Boulainvilliers.

London: Printed for T. Longman, and C. Hitch..., 1752. 12mo, 166 x 100 mms., pp. iv, 294, contemporary lightly speckled calf, gilt borders on covers, raised bands between gilt rules on spine, dark red leather label; some slight rubbing of binding, but a good to very good copy. The French nobleman and writer Henri de Boulainvilliers (1658 - 1722) published works on history, medicine, physics, astrology among other topics, including a translation of Spinoza's Ethics. His Vie de Mahomed was published in 1730, and the first English translation, which is by William Hinchcliffe, in 1731. In the short preface, Hinchcliffe writes that it "can[not] be unreasonable in these our times, when luxury and corruption prevail, when rapine and oppression triumph, when sordid selfishness, and its eternal concomitant, hardness of heart, have swallow'd up all regard to the good of others, all generosity, all humanity, and even common justice; I say, in such times, it cannot be unreasonable to set before men's eyes some amiable examples of the contrary virtuees; nor ought it to be taken amiss if we desire such Christians to learn integrity, temperance, benevolence, and liberailty, even from Saracens, Turks, and Mahometans." Hmmmm. England must have been in a real pickle in 1731.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 9927

Catalogue: Biography

Keywords: Biography Islam prose literature

CALDWELL (Henry).

Memoir of the Services of Captain Henry Caldwell, Royal Navy, Companion of the Bath, Aide-de-Camp to the Queen, and Commodore.

[No Place] Printed for Private Distribution, 1869. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. Large 4to, 269 x 204 mms., pp. [3] 4- 16 [17 - 28 blank], portrait photograph of Captain Caldwell tipped in before title-page, with tissue guard present, attractively bound in binder's navy blue cloth, title within blind borders on front cover, blue end-papers, all edges gilt. A fine copy. Caldwell (1815 - 1868) entered the Royal Navy when he was 13 and served as Commodore in the last nine years of his life. The anonymous author writes of him, "A man of commanding stature and appearance, with wonderful power of voice, he was the beau ideal of a naval officer. A thorough seaman and a good mechanic, with great aptitude for the direction of artificers, he was admirably fitted for the post which he was afterwards appointed to fill, in superintending the out of ships in Portsmouth Dockyard as Captain of the Steam Reserve." No other copy located: not in COPAC, KVK, WorldCat, British Library, or Library of Congress

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Book number: 8817

Catalogue: Biography

Keywords: biography navy literature

[CAPRANI (Giuseppe). STENDHAL. Marie-Henri Beyle]:

The Life of Haydn, In a Series of Letters Written at Vienna. Followed by The Life of Mozart, with Observations on Metastasio, and on the Present State of Music in France and Italy. Translated from the French of L. A. C. Bombet. With Notes by the Author of the Sacred Melodies.

London: John Murray..., 1817. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, 212 x 130 mms., pp. xv [xvi translator's note], 496, including engraved leaf of music, contemporary half calf, gilt spine, black morocco label, marbled boards; some light foxing but a very good copy. Marie-Henri Beyle (1783 - 1842) apparently used over one hundred pseudonyms, but he is best-known as Stendhal, even though that pseudonym doesn't appear on the title-page. As Copac notes, "The life of Haydn is a plagiarism of G. Carpani's Le Haydine; the biographical part of the Mozart is, practically, a reproduction of Winckler's Notice biographique sur Jean-Chrysostom-Wolfgang-Théophile Mozart, which in turn is a translation of Schlichtegroll's Mozarts Leben; the last letter of the Mozart and the letter on Metastasio are Bombet." William Gardiner (1770 - 1853) was the compiler/author of Sacred Melodies (1812 - 1838).

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Book number: 7163

Catalogue: Biography

Keywords: biography music prose

[CAPRANI (Giuseppe). STENDHAL. Marie-Henri Beyle]:

The Life of Haydn, In a Series of Letters Written at Vienna. Followed by The Life of Mozart, with Observations on Metastasio, and on the Present State of Music in France and Italy. Translated from the French of L. A. C. Bombet. With Notes by the Author of the Sacred Melodies.

London: John Murray..., 1817. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, 212 x 130 mms., pp. xv [xvi translator's note], 496, including engraved leaf of music, contemporary half roan, gilt spine, marbled boards; some slight browning of text, joints and corners worn, some general overall wear to binding, with ownership inscription "M. L. Crawford. September 1835." on the top margin of the title-page Marie-Henri Beyle (1783 - 1842) apparently used over one hundred pseudonyms, but he is best-known as Stendhal, even though that pseudonym doesn't appear on the title-page. As Copac notes, "The life of Haydn is a plagiarism of G. Carpani's Le Haydine; the biographical part of the Mozart is, practically, a reproduction of Winckler's Notice biographique sur Jean-Chrysostom-Wolfgang-Théophile Mozart, which in turn is a translation of Schlichtegroll's Mozarts Leben; the last letter of the Mozart and the letter on Metastasio are Bombet." William Gardiner (1770 - 1853) was the compiler/author of Sacred Melodies (1812 - 1838).

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Book number: 8166

Catalogue: Biography

Keywords: biography music prose

CAROLINE-MATILDA, QUEEN OF DENMARK.

Memoirs of an Unfortunate Queen. Interspersed with Letters (Written by Herself) to several of Her illustrious Relations and Friends, on Various Subject and Occasions. The Second Edition.

London: Printed for J. Bew..., 1776. 12mo, 167 x 96 mms., pp. [ii], 260, engraved portrait as frontispiece, contemporary sheepskin; joints cracked and tender, corners worn and, overall, not a wonderful copy, with the autograph and date "R. M. Vevers/ Feb. 21/1794" on the front past-down end-paper, with the name and date repeated on the title-page. Thes memoirs were presumably suppressed, as Queen Caroline was a sister of the King of England and while married to Christian VII of Denmark entered into a notorious love affair with her husband's doctor called Struensee. It eventually led to his execution and her banishment to Celle where she died of Scarlet Fever in 1775 at the age of 23. Her later biographer Wraxall was at first inclined to doubt the authenticity of the book, but on reflection he decided that the circumstantial evidence pointed to it being written by one of her circle, avoiding the displeasure of George III by remaining anonymous. The work would also appear in French and German translations with spurious imprints. There have been several more fictionalized biographies since, including film adaptations. The work was reviewed in The Monthly Review in 1776, with an abrupt opening: "In this truly Grubean, though not ill-written performance, poor Mathilda is made to turn Authoress.... These Sketches are tolerably drawn, after pretty good originals; and, on the whole, it is evident, from the promising specimens before us, that if Carolina Matilda had not, unfortunately for herself, been made a Queen, she might, in time, have arrived at the honour of being even a Monthly Reviewer. N. B. The honest Grub is a warm advocate for the virtue and innocence of his heroine; in which he may be right; though it does not appear he ever travelled to Copenhagen." The work was also translated into French, with London as the location and Bew as the printer, buth the French version was published in The Netherlands. This second edition is not a re-issue of the first also printed in London. ESTC locates copies of the first edition in BL, and Cambridge; and California State Library. The present, second edition is found in BL (three copies) and the Bodleian in these islands; and Harvard, Huntington, and Library of Congress in the United States.

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Book number: 10000

Catalogue: Biography

Keywords: Biography women literature

CELLINI (Benvenuto). NUGENT (Thomas):

The Life of Benvenuto Cellini: A Florentine Artist. Containing A Variety of Curious and Interesting Particulars, relative to Painting, Sculpture and Architecture and The History of his own Time. Written by Himself in the Tuscan Language, and translated form the originla by Thomas Nugent.

London: Printed for T. Davies..., 1771. FIRST EDITION. 2 volumes. 8vo, 212 x 113 mms., pp. [v] vi - x, 512; [xlvi including contents of both volumes, one gathering in duplicate], 403 [404 Errata],fine engraved portrait of Cellini as frontispiece in volume 1, contemporary calf, spines richly gilt in compartments, with red and black morocco labels; some waterstaining to upper portions of text, particularly early leaves, three hinges strengthened with cellotape, some browning of end-papers, very slight wear to binding, but a very good set of impeccable provenance, with the armorial bookplate of William John Arthur Charles James Cavendish-Bentinck, 6th Duke of Portland (1857-1943), the bookplate being signed in print "W. P. B.", initials standing for the British artist and esteemed bookplate designer William Phillips Barrett (1861-1938) of John & Edward Bumpus Ltd. This is the autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571). Cellini was, as every schoolboy knows, one of Italy's greatest artists, though he was more than that, being also a goldsmith, sculptor, draftsman, soldier, musician, the author of poetry and a famous autobiography, first published in Italian in 1728, and the subject of an opera by Hector Berlioz. Thomas Nugent's translation of Cellini's autobiography precedes the translations by Thomas Roscoe and John Addington Symonds. It was reviewed in 1771 in The Monthly Review, where the anonymous critic concluded: "On the whole, though Cellini is often intolerably minute and circumstantial in relating the most trifling incidents of his life, and of the works in which he was successively engaged, yet the many vicissitudes which he experienced will not fail to interest his readers in his various reverses of fortune; - and the anecdotes of other geniuses, his contemporaries, will also contribute to the entertainment they will receive from this very singular performance: a performance which may, in some measure, though in a lower rank of life, be considered as a companion to the picture which the romantic Lord Herbert of Cherbury has given us of himself" (Monthly Review, August 1771, pp. 148-9). I can't help thinking that the reviewer didn't give his full attention to Cellini's narrative nor to Nugent's workmanlike translation. The provenance of this copy is a fine match to the subject matter. The set has the attractive and elaborate armorial bookplate of William John Arthur Charles James Cavendish-Bentinck, 6th Duke of Portland (1857-1943), the great art collector and great book collector. He became the sixth Duke of Portland in December 1879, and by the early 1890s had become sufficiently serious about his accumulation of books to have a catalogue of them compiled by John Nicholson (librarian of Lincoln's Inn) and printed for private circulation: Catalogue of the Printed Books in the Library of His Grace the Duke of Portland, at Welbeck Abbey, and in London (London, 1893). Shelfmarks are not given in the 1893 catalogue, which makes the text of the bottom of the spines of the two volumes on offer all the more interesting: "V. 3473" in gilt, which looks like a shelfmark, appears in the lower compartments of the spine on each volume. Of the four works the duke owned on Cellini and his art, Nugent's translation of the life was the only work in the English language, and of the four it is the work given the fullest entry in the catalogue (p. 83). ESTC T145593. Franks 2262.

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Book number: 9817

Catalogue: Biography

Keywords: Biography theatre literature