CATTEAU-CALLEVILLE (Jean-Pierre):

A General View of Sweden: containing, Besides a Geographical Description of the Country, an account of its constitution, religion, civil and criminal laws, population, natural riches, external and internal commerce, finances, money, weights, and measures: Together with The Manners and Customs of its Inhabitants, the present State of the Arts and Sciences in that Kingdom, and the Form of Government as established in 1772. Translated from the French of Mr. Catteau.

London: Printed for G. G. J. and J. Robinson..., 1790. FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. 8vo, 211 x 126 mms., pp. [v][, vi - xx, 410, including half-title, contemporary half calf, marbled boards (rubbed); rebacked, with new spine and new end-papers, red leather label; a very good copy. Jean-Pierre Catteau-Calleville (1759 - 1819) published Tableau général de la Suède in French in 1790, and it was translated into English the same year. In a notice of the French edition, the reviewer for The Monthly Review for 1790 remarked that it was an "agreeable and useful work," adding that the author "seems to have bestowed much pains in gaining his information, though sometimes his knowledge appears rather superficial and popular rather than clear and discriminating: on subjects, too, which require plainness and precision, his language is, occasionally, too flowery; but if it is light, it is always pretty, and if he fails to instruct he is sure to amuse."

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Book number: 8216

Catalogue: Topography

Keywords: topography geography prose

DAVIS (J. B.):

The Ancient and Modern History of Nice; Comprehending An Account of the Foundation of Marseilles: To which are prefixed Descriptive Observations on the Nature, Produce, and Climate of The Territory of the Former City, and to its Adjoining Towns: With An Introduction Containing Hints of Advice to Invalids, who, with the Hope of Arresting the Progress of Disease, seek the renovating Influence of these salubrious Climes.

London: Printed for Tipper & Richards..., 1807. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. 8vo, 204 x 126 mms., pp. xxxii, 348, contemporary half calf, gilt spine, maroon morocco label, marbled boards; lacks engraved view of Nice by F. C., Lewis, title-page foxed, with the armorial bookplate of Henry Birkbeck on the front paste-down end-paper and his autograph on the top margin of the recto of the front free end-paper. The frontispiece appears never to have been bound into the book. Noticing the work in 1807, The Annual Review and History of Literature was rather sniffy about the author's style: "This volume contains a whimsical medley of philosophy, medicine, antiquities, topography, and sentiment; nor is the last by any means the least. Dr. Davis has probably so much habituated himself to the reading of French writers, that he has thence insensibly contracted their peculiarities of manner. He abounds in ejaculations, interjections, and those romantic bursts of feeling which ill suit the sobriety of English readers." The physician John Bunnell Davis (1777 - 1824) studied surgery at Guy's Hospital and St Thomas's Hospital, London, and became a member of the Company of Surgeons. He was taken prisoner of war while in France as doctor to a travelling English family. ODNB records "He made the best of his circumstances, continuing his medical studies at Montpellier, and graduating MD there in 1803, having completed a dissertation on cancer."

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Book number: 8883

Catalogue: Topography

Keywords: topography medicine prose

EUNSON (George):

The Ancient and Present State of Orkney, Particularly The Capital Borough of Kirkwall. To which are added, the Petty Tyrants; or Grinders of the Poor. The Characteristic New Year's Gift, of Lawrie's Elections, and Lastly, Free National Thoughts Upon Great Britain.

Newcastle Upon Tyne, Printed for the Author. 1788. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. 12mo, 178 x 107 mms., pp. [5] 6 - 127 [128 blank], recent (or fairly recent) full polished calf, gilt borders on covers with thistle ornament at each corner, spine ornately gilt, red morocco label, all edges gilt; front joint slightly rubbed, but a very good to fine copy. George Eunson seems to have had a colourful career; I quote from Richard Platt's book, Smuggling in the British Isles: A History(2012: "Most of the smuggling on Orkney, though, consisted of illegal malting of Barley and stilling of whiskey, and many of the tales speak of how wiley Orcadians concealed their stills and steeping malt from the prying eye of the gauger. There are exceptions to this rule: the most renowned of Orkney's smugglers was probably George Eunson. He started his adult life as a cooper's apprentice, but soon became restless, and took command of a smuggling ship. He was too greedy, however, and soon the ship's owners were looking for a new master. For Eunson, there followed a succession of adventures, featuring besides smuggling, the press gang and privateering. Eunson eventually found himself back on Orkney, and embroiled in a political dispute which had divided the island. One faction contrived to have Eunson made officer of excise, and in this post he pursued the smugglers with all the vigour of poacher-turned-gamekeeper. His principal targets were the local magistrates, who were widely suspected of smuggling, and he made many enemies among the upper classes of the island. When he took one step beyond the law, the magistrates were quick to pounce, and Eunson was locked up for 10 weeks without trial. He later sued them for £2000 apiece, and wrote a diatribe against the 'Petty Tyrants, or Grinders of the Poor' which was published in 1788. Eunson did not stay revenue man for long: he returned to smuggling, with a lucrative side-line as a pilot. It was in this role that he died on a man-of-war." ESTC finds ten copies in the UK, but only one in North America, at the Huntington. There is also a copy at the University of South Carolina.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 10007

Catalogue: Topography

Keywords: topography exegesis prose

GILLINGWATER (Edmund):

An Historical and Descriptive Account of St. Edmund's Bury, In the County of Suffolk: Comprising an ample Detail of the Origin, Dissolution, and Venerable Remains of the Abbey, and Other Places of Antiquity in that Ancient Town.

Saint Edmund's Bury: Printed by and for J. Rackham..., 1804. FIRST EDITION. 8vo (in 4s), 170 x 100 mms., pp. [3] - 8, 311 [312 blank], 3 engraved plates, uncut, contemporary half vellum, boards very soiled); lacks half-title, spine split and defective. Gillingwater (1736 - 1813) began life as a barber, then became a bookseller; upon his marriage to a wealthy widow, he retired from business to devote himself to topography and local history.

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Book number: 7383

Catalogue: Topography

Keywords: topography history prose

HICKLIN (John):

Roberts' Chester Guide; With Forty-Six Engravings and an Illustrated Plan of the City, Revised by John HicKlin.

Chester: Hugh Roberst..., no date, [1858], 12mo, 172 x 105 mms., pp. [iv], 108, [36 - adverts], folding engraved plan, steel-engraved frontispiece, 18 other engraved illustrations, contemporary half roan, binder's cloth; engraved plan slightly frayed, but a good copy.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 9007

Catalogue: Topography

Keywords: topography travel prose

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."

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Book number: 10359

Catalogue: Topography

Keywords: topography association copy prose

LOVE (John), compiler:

The New Waymouth Guide: Or, Useful Pocket Companion: Containing A Description of Waymouth, the Mineral Spring, at Nottinton, And whatever is worty of Notice at, or going to, the following Places: Portland, Abbotsbury, Bridgport, Sherbourghne, Dorchester Blandford, Lulworth , Corse Castle, Poole, Wareham, Winborn &c.

Waymouth: Printed for, and sold by J. Love, at his Repertory, on the Esplanace..., no date, [1788] FIRST EDITION. 8vo (in 4s), 178 x 122 mms., pp. [5] 6 - 67 [68 advert for Phoenix Fire Office), including half-title, later wrappers. A very good copy. At some time after 1762 the engraver and and (later) forger William Wynne Ryland (1733 - 1783) took John Love (1751/2 - 1793) as an apprentice. Unfortunately, in his 50th year, Ryland issued two forged bills drawn on the East India Company, and he was hanged. Love might have left his apprenticeship when Ryland went bankrupt in 1777, but by 1783 he was no longer associated with Ryland. The advert on the verso of the last leaf suggests that he had acquired some financial nous, as he was insuring "Houses, Buildings, and Ships" at this time. He was also noted for his corpulence: The New Wonderful Museum, and Extraordinary Magazine (London, 1805) described him as follows: "About this time he was remarkably thin, and became at last so lean and puny that his friends dreaded a consumption. According to the advice of his physicians he had every kind of delicious nutriment, which gave him such a habit of ease and indulgence, that Mr. Love gave himself up entirely to wine and dainties. When he became a bookseller in Weymouth, he gave full scope to his desires; through over eating and drinking he now grew as remarkably heavy and corpulent as he was before light and thin—his weight and bulk were the astonishment of all beholders; he was obliged (as our print, which is a striking likeness, shows) to have the waistband of his breeches nearly up to his chin, in order to prevent their failing off; he was seldom seen in a coat at home as he could not bear the confinement of sleeves ; he would frequently eat and drink in his night gown. At last, suffocated by fat, he paid the general debt of nature in the forty first year of his age, and was buried at Weymouth, October, 1793. When living he weighed 26 stone, or 368 pounds. The coffin and corpse is supposed to have weighed about a tun altogether. He was obliged to be put out of the window, and conveyed down by ropes on two pieces of timber." Dr. George Cheyne (1671/2 - 1743) probably outweighed him: at his heaviest he weighed just over 200 kilos (440 pounds) Uncommon. ESTC T66353 locates copies at BL (2), Bodleian, and McMaster.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 8989

Catalogue: Topography

Keywords: topography travel prose

RAUTHMEL (Richard):

Antiquitates Bremetonacenses; Antiquitates Bremetonacenses, or, The Roman antiquities of Overborough.

Kirkby Lonsdae: Printed by and For Arthur Foster. 1824. Tall 8vo, 208 x 126 mms., pp. [ii], 4, vi [sic, for iv], 138, including list of subscribers, Engraved frontispiece of Burrow Hall, engraved map between pages 18 and 19, engraved plan of Roman garrison between pages 68 and 69, three engraved plates at end of text between pages 118 and [119], contemporary half calf, marbled boards, gilt spine (a little rubbed), some other wear to extremities of binding, lacks label, but a good to very good copy. The work was first published, in a quarto format, in London by Henry Woodfall in 1746, with a dedication signed Richard Rauthmell. This is not just a straightforward reprint but an expanded second edition made by the publisher, Arthur Foster. The work contains an early mention of the Easington Fell Ring, at Newton, Lancashire.

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Book number: 9472

Catalogue: Topography

Keywords: topography antiquities prose

STIRLING. RANDALL (M.):

The History of Stirling, From the earliest accounts to the present time. Compiled from the Latest and best Authorities. With a Sketch of a Tour to Callander and the Trosachs, &c. &c. Second Edition.

Stirling: Printed and Sold by M. Randall..., 1817. 12mo, 170 x 92 mms., pp. xi [xii blank], 279 [280 blank], including half-title, folding engraved plate of Stirling castle as frontispiece, one other folding engraved plate, contemporary half calf, marbled boards (rubbed), red leather label; binding a bit soiled and worn, but a good copy with the autograph "Harry Hope" on the top margin of the title-page. Randall published this history of Stirling in 1812, and there was a further reprint in 1836 by J. Shearer.

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Book number: 7869

Catalogue: Topography

Keywords: topography History prose Scottish Enlightenment

[TOPHAM (Edward)]:

Letters from Edinburgh; Written in the Years 1774 and 1775: Containing Some Observations on the Diversions, Customs, Manners, and Laws, of the Scotch Nation, During a Six Months Residence in Edinburgh.

London: Printed for J. Dodsley..., 1776. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, 200 x 124 mms., pp. [v] vi - xv [xvi blank], 383 [384 blank], contemporary calf, joints neatly restored, gilt spine, red morocco label. A very good copy. The journalist and playwright Edward Topham (1751–1820) was known as something of a smart dresser in his day, with Oxfod DNB recording that "Topham was a leader of fashion of the day. Reynolds describes his 'short scarlet coat, with large cut steel buttons; a very short white waistcoat, top-boots, and leather breeches, so long in their upper quarters, as almost to reach his chin', in contrast to the long coats and waistcoats and short breeches normally worn at this period." The Critical Review for 1776 quoted long portions of the text and concluded "...we shall inform [our readers] that though the author has treated Dr. Johnson with a degree of severity, he has, on some occasions, adopted the most exceptionable of his observations; and that amidst both the prejudice and partiality which the writer of the Letters alternately discovers, his remarks are frequently more ingenious than just, and frivolous rather than interesting. The Letters, however, which amount to forty-six, are written in an agreeable and lively style."

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Book number: 9993

Catalogue: Topography

Keywords: topography sociology prose

TROIL (Uno von) and BANKS (Joseph):

Letters on Iceland: Containing observations on the civil, literary, ecclesiastical, and natural history ; antiquities, volcanos, basaltes, hot springs ; customs, dress, manners of the inhabitants, &c. &c. made, during a voyage undertaken in the year 1772, by Joseph Banks, Esq. F.R.S. assisted by Dr. Solander, F.R.S. Dr. J. Lind, F.R.S. Dr. Uno Von Troil, and several other literary and ingenious gentlemen. Written by Uno Von Troil, D.D. first chaplain to his Swedish Majesty, almoner of the Swedish orders of knighthood, and member of the Academy of Sciences at Stockholm. To which are added the letters of Dr. Ihre and Dr. Bach to the author, concerning the Edda and the elephantiasis of Iceland: Also, Professor Bergman's curious observations and chemical examination of the lava and other substances produced on the island. With a new map of the island, and representation of the remarkable boiling fountain called by the inhabitants Geyser.

Dublin: Printed by G. Perrin, For. Price, and W. and H. Whitestone..., 1780. FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. 8vo, 204 x 124 mms., pp. xxvi, 400, engraved frontispiece of geyser, folding engraved map, attractively bound in contemporary speckled calf, gilt border on covers, spine ornately gilt, red morocco label; spine rubbed, corners very slightly worn, but a very good copy, with the armorial bookplate of the Lyons Library on the front paste-down end-paper. This English translation of von Troil's work, originally published in Swedish at Uppsala in 1777, was translated from the German of by J. G. P. Moller by Susanna Dorothy Dixon (1757 – 1822). See Pam Perkins, Iceland and Eighteenth-Century Travel and Exploration [online], Iceland and Eighteenth-Century Travel and Exploration (2012): The English translation of Uno von Troil's Letters on Iceland–the only published account of Banks' expedition–foregrounds the matter-of-fact rather than the literary, addressing matters ranging from volcanoes to Icelandic cuisine and to the varieties of whales to be found in Icelandic waters, among many other topics–according to the presumed interests of the person being addressed. Yet that is not quite what one would expect if one judged by the book's reviews. The Monthly Review, for example, seemed to find von Troil's picture of Iceland less a matter of facts and figures than it was a vision of the exotic, the mysterious, and the dangerous–in a word, of the sublime. Describing Iceland as a fantastical place that "within a small and almost inconsiderable space freezes with the utmost rigour, and burns with all the violence of the most intense flame" (187-88), the reviewer presents a version of the country that might sound at least somewhat at odds with von Troil's deprecating assessment of it as a "dreary" land "so little favoured by nature" that "one is tempted to believe it impossible to be inhabited by any human creature" (25). Yet the reviewer's rhapsodic evocation of a sublimely elemental world of fire and ice is not as unjustified by von Troil's prose as one might be tempted to think if one looked simply at the headings of his letters or leafed through his accounts of matters such as Icelandic breeds of cattle or the economy of the in-shore fishery.

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Book number: 10379

Catalogue: Topography

Keywords: topography travel prose

[WHITE (John)]:

Some Account of the Proposed Improvements of the Western Part of London, By the formation of the Regent's Park, The New Street, The New Sewer, &c. &c. Illustrated by Plans, and Accompanied By critical Observations.

London: Printed and Published by W. & P. Reynolds...and sold also by Mr. Lloyd..., 1814. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, 223 x 124 mms., pp [iv], 99 [100 blank], lxxxii, four hand-coloured folding engraved plates, contemporary half calf, marbled boards (slightly rubbed); tear in fold of first plate, spine and corners restored. A very good copy, with a nameless bookplate bearing at the top the motto "muneribus sapienter uti" (Horace: Ode to Lollius, IV, ix), and "indocti discant ament meminisse periti" (formerly attributed to Horace, but, as the all-purpose Wikipedia tells me, is from Jean-François Hénault (1685 - 1770), paraphrasing Alexander Pope. John Nash (1752 - 1835) and John White (c. 1747 - 1813) seem to be chiefly responsible for this account of the proposed development of the Regent's Park area; in the second edition of 1815, White's name appeared on the title-page as author. "The text describes the Regent's Park plan of John White senior (1747?-1813), and compares this with the designs of John Nash, and of Thomas Leverton and Thomas Chawner. Nash was architect to the Commissioners of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works and Buildings, while Leverton and Chawner were the Commissioners' surveyors. Nash's plan was accepted, in a revised form, in a Treasury minute dated 18 October 1811.... By 1814 work on Nash's design for the park, canal, surrounding streets and sewerage system had begun, but had run into various problems including the rising costs of material and labour and the conservative estimates originally made by Nash. Not unnaturally, White defends his father's plan with vigour, and criticises the Commissioners for having omitted the details from their report of 4 June 1812, and for 'not having sufficiently brought forward Mr. White's plan, which evidently possesses merit enough to have obtained a place for it in a publication which contains matters not entitled to half so much attention' (p.91). The appendices reprint a letter from White senior to the Surveyor General John Fordyce, outlining his plans, the official reports of Leverton, Chawner and Nash, a letter from William Treadgold commenting on Nash's faulty estimates for the sewers, a 'Resolution of the Vestry of the Parish of St. Mary-le-bone ... 26th March, 1811', and a brief explanation of [the fourth] plate..." (OCLC). Ann Saunders: Regent's Park (1969).

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Book number: 9204

Catalogue: Topography

Keywords: topography town planning prose

WRIGHT (Charles):

The Brighton Ambulator, Containing Historical and Topographical Delineations of The Town, from the earliest period to the present time. Dedicated, by Permission, to his Royal Highness The Prince Regent.

London: Printed for the Author; and published by Sherwood, Neely, and Jones...[inter alia], no date, [1818] FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. 12mo, 171 x 103 mms., pp. xii, 179 [180 addenda], engraved frontispiece of Pavilion (dated May 1818, engraved by R. Alford), two other full-page engraved plates (all plates a little browned), contemporary half calf, gilt spine, marbled boards; front joint rubbed, corners very slightly worn, but a very good copy, with the inscription on the recto of the front free end-paper, "W. H. [?Blaber]/ 22 December 1925/ from/ B. Watson." Among the other interesting features of Brighton in the Regency period that Wright describes if that of a "fly," a small carriage drawn by one horse, and as the Brighton Museum notes, "Flys were the cause of some debate in the early nineteenth century – mostly due to being numerous and because of complaints about variable rates, and so the town Commissioners, the local authority of the day, issued a table of fares and started to regulate them. They could be described as the Regency equivalent to the mini-cab, and were particularly popular in the busy seaside resort of Brighton, and may even have originated here. The difference to a normal coach or hansom cab was that they were pulled and pushed by manpower rather than horses." Wright also describes in some detail the "steam kitchen" as an "admirable specimen of mechanical innovation" and a culinary phenomenon in which one can find "every modern improvement to facilitate the process of the culinary art...." No wonder the then Prince Regent, who would become George IV in 1820, weighed about 130 kg., and as one observer noted, "'What do you think of his breakfast?' wrote this astounded witness. 'Two pigeons and three beefsteaks, three parts of a bottle of Mozelle, a glass of dry Champagne, two glasses of Port and a glass of Brandy.'" Uncommon. I located copies in BL, City of London Guildhall Library, Brighton University (Falmer); Yale, Princeton, Library of Congress.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 8717

Catalogue: Topography

Keywords: topography History prose