Venice, Andrea Poletti, 1700 [second edition]/ [1692]. More

London, printed for W. Mears, 1717 (first English edition). German by birth, Ziegenbalg founded the Danish Lutheran mission at Tranquebar (Tharangambadi, Tamil Nadu) in 1706. He was the first translator of the New Testament into Tamil, and an early printer in that language. The correspondence reprinted here, between Ziegenbalg and..... More

Paris, Jacques Collombat, 1733 [first folio edition]/ 1731. With the armorial bookplate of Colonel Geoffrey Callander of Craigforth, and his name-stamp on the frontispiece. More

London, J. and P. Knapton, and P. Vailant, 1744 [first edition in English]. The nine-page introduction by the unidentified Bazin quotes his sources: 'To what M. de Réaumur has said, in his Memoir concerning Bees, I have added every thing which had relation to that subject, which is found in..... More

London, R. Manby and H.S. Cox, 1749 and 1751. The article on Conyers Middleton (1683-1750) by Leslie Stephen in the 'Dictionary of National Biography' is painstakingly (and almost painfully) informative. The English clergyman was no stranger to controversy: 'Serious imputations ... have been made upon his literary honesty [he was..... More

London, David Mallet, 1754 (first collected octavo edition). Each volume contains the armorial bookplate of A.R. Downer, Sir Alexander 'Alick' Russell Downer (1910-1981), politician and diplomat. He was the Minister for Immigration under Menzies from 1958, and the Australian High Commissioner in London from 1963 to 1972. Henry St John..... More

London, printed by Thomas Baskett ... for J. Nourse, 1757. More

[London], Printed at Strawberry-Hill, 1758. An early publication from Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill Press in an elegant binding in the style of (or perhaps by) the influential English binder Roger Payne (1739-1797). 'Charles Lord Whitworth ... was Envoy Extraordinary to Russia in 1704, and Ambassador Extraordinary in 1710. Seven hundred..... More

London, John Wilkie, 1760. More

Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1762 [first edition]. 'The part dealing with Crown law is a highly authoritative exposition of the law relating to treason, homicide, and some other capital offences' (Pargellis and Medley 630). The four-page 'Advertisement. To be placed immediately after the Preface' was produced after the book was published;..... More

London, Printed by G. Scott for J. Robson, 1768 (second edition)/ 1768. 'In the third edition, of 1781, the author was revealed to be Revd. William Gilpin. The work was well received both in Britain (where it went through five editions by 1802) and elsewhere in Europe. Besides Gilpin's opinions..... More

London, Printed for T. Davies, 1774. Elias Ashmole (1617-1692) 'was an English antiquary, politician, officer of arms, astrologer and student of alchemy.... Throughout his life he was an avid collector of curiosities and other artefacts. Many of these he acquired from the traveller, botanist, and collector John Tradescant the Younger..... More

London, printed for T. Payne and Son, 1777 [fourth edition]/ 1770. 'Gardening, in the perfection to which it has been lately brought in England, is entitled to a place of considerable rank among the liberal arts. It is as superior to landskip [sic] painting, as a reality to a representation..... More

London, W. and A. Strahan, 1784 [first edition]. The large folio atlas is not present with this set of the official account of Cook's third and final voyage. The first two volumes were written by James Cook, the third volume by James King. With the armorial bookplate of John Dixon..... More

London, J. Debrett, 1789. Dalrymple (1726-1810), fourth baronet of Cranstoun, was one of the Barons of the Exchequer in Scotland. He was a prolific author of history and current affairs, and he 'occupied his leisure with various experiments of a useful kind. He discovered the art of making soap from..... More

London, Printed for the Society of Antiquaries by John Nichols, 1790. Pages 423-476 are 'Ancient Cookery. From a ms. in the Library of the Royal Society', and the prefatory note is worth quoting at length: 'The ms. from which the following pages are transcribed, is without title or date, or..... More

London, W. Dickinson, S. Hooper, J. Archer and R. White, 1791. The ownership signature 'Normanton' and an (earlier) armorial bookplate with the name scratched out are on the front pastedown. William Henry Bunbury (1750-1811), amateur artist and caricaturist; his designs 'must be admitted to be inferior in humour to Rowlandson's..... More

London, Printed for George Nicol, 1792. The revised, official account of the voyage of the 'Bounty', including the mutiny and Bligh's subsequent voyage in the ship's launch with eighteen loyal crewmen. 'In their small boat Bligh and his companions made a remarkable journey of more than three and a half..... More

London, John Stockdale, 1794 [new edition]/ 1782. The dedication referred to in the title runs to 116 pages. More

London, John Wallis, 24 December 1794. An attractive Georgian board game, with the winner being the first player to reach London. The letterpress gives rules for playing the game and details of the history and manufactures of the 117 towns mentioned. It is not necessarily accurate; for instance, Henry VI..... More

London, J. Davis, 1795. With 71 hand-coloured botanical plates. More

London, Printed for T. Evans ... 1796 (third edition)/ 1796. Richard Watson (1737-1816), 'Lord Bishop of Landaff, and Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge' on the title page, 'successfully turned his hand to chemistry and divinity and ecclesiastical politics when his career demanded it and happily abandoned..... More