London, Thomas Horne, 1700 ('Fourth Edition, carefully Corrected and Enlarg'd')/ 1638. 'One of the earliest systematic treatises on its subject in English' ('Dictionary of National Biography') which 'represents the economic views of England of the seventeenth century more accurately than any other work of that age' (Carl Menger). More

'In the Savoy' [London], printed for D. Browne, J. Walthoe (and numerous others), 1717 (third edition, first issue)/ 1670. Blount's Law Dictionary was first published in 1670 under the title 'Nomo-Lexicon'. '[This] work quickly superseded its predecessors. In addition to providing the explanation of common law terms, Blount was the..... 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

Oxford, Printed at the Theatre, [1739]. Bound together with the bilingual Greek and Latin edition of the same work, published in 1741 (octavo, [viii], 112 pages with a vignette on the title page; tear across one leaf neatly sealed; a few early annotations). Provenance: Glen Ralph, with his Wilmar Library..... 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

Edinburgh, printed by E. and J. Robertsons for W. Gray, 1759 [enlarged edition]/ [1748]. The 1751 London edition (and presumably the 1748 first London edition) has only two added dissertations, namely those on manners and on superstitions. More

London, John Wilkie, 1760. More

London, The Author, 1766 ['second edition, corrected and enlarged'; the first two tracts were first published in 1758 and 1759 respectively]. Important early works on the corn trade, which earned the praise of Adam Smith in his 'Wealth of Nations'. More

London, Printed for T. Davies, 1774. 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, printed for J. Dodsley, 1781. Bound together with four contemporary works by Hayley, uniformly published with the Dodsley imprint. 1) 'A Poetical Epistle to an Eminent Painter'. 1779 (second edition, corrected and enlarged); iv, 84, [1] (addenda, verso blank). 2) 'Ode inscribed to John Howard, Esq., F.R.S., Author of..... More

Edinburgh, [The Author], 1786. 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, 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, John Stockdale, 1793. The journal of John Hunter, second Governor of New South Wales, and an important source for the early European settlement of Australia. Plates include the first published illustration of the new settlement ('View of the Settlement on Sydney Cove', after a sketch by the author), and..... More

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

London, J. Johnson, J. Butterworth and B.C. Collins, 1795 ['third edition, with considerable additions']. With the ownership stamp of Howard Zelling, sometime Supreme Court Judge of South Australia (plus an earlier name-stamp on the front pastedown and the title page, and a much earlier signature on the title page). More

Paris, Chez Janet [et] Hubert, [1796]/ 1651-1657. Drawing on the picaresque tradition of Rabelais and Cervantes, this work is among the first French novels. Scarron charts the adventures of a troupe of wandering actors, mixing incisive social commentary with bawdy humour. More