Gift Guide 02 | Early English Books
1. William SHAKESPEARE. The Works of Shakespeare: in Eight Volumes. London, 1740. £5,000
Everyone should own a Shakespeare, and this is such a sweet set, crisp and clean, with illustrations, in a contemporary binding.
2.[George GLEIG; Colin MACFARQUHAR (editors)]. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Edinburgh, 1797-1803. £6,500
To me, the Encyclopaedia Britannica really symbolises the moment that Britain became a modern nation. This, the third edition marks the appearance of the text as we know and love it today, with twenty-two door-stopper sized volumes, and hundreds of illustrations.
3. Gervase MARKHAM. The Art of Archerie. London, 1634. £4,500
This is one of Markham’s scarcest titles, and reminds me that aversion to change has been a common theme throughout history. To Markham the poetry of the bow and arrow, and its association with the legendary English victories at Crécy and Agincourt a generation before, could never be outpaced by the advent gunpowder.
4. [HENRY CLEWS & CO.]. Private Telegraphic Code of Henry Clews & Co. New York, [1908]. £450
This is such a great reminder of how ephemeral the technology we know and use today will one day become. A means to communicate through the language of a lost world.
5. Geoffrey CHAUCER. Canterbury Tales. New York, 1934. £500
I have always loved Chaucer, but the language he wrote in can often be inaccessible. This edition with illustrations by the American artist Rockwell Kent solves that issue by rendering Chaucer’s verse into modern English.
6. Edward GIBBON. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. London, 1848. £2,500
Apparently, I’m always thinking about the Roman Empire… you can see why. Gibbon was such a brilliant writer, and his view that Rome’s fall was the 'natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness' still holds sway today.
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Moriae Encomium;
ERASMUS, Desiderius.Original price £2,750.00 - Original price £2,750.00Original price £0.00£2,750.00£2,750.00 - £2,750.00Current price £2,750.00Early edition in English. The first edition of John Wilson's English translation of this important work of humanist rhetoric, which satirised the c...
View full detailsOriginal price £2,750.00 - Original price £2,750.00Original price £0.00£2,750.00£2,750.00 - £2,750.00Current price £2,750.00 -
Letters Concerning the English Nation.
[PHILOSOPHY]. VOLTAIRE (pseud. AROUET, François-Marie).Original price £3,500.00 - Original price £3,500.00Original price £0.00£3,500.00£3,500.00 - £3,500.00Current price £3,500.00'the first bomb hurled against the Ancien Régime'. The first edition of this interesting, outsider's take on English society and its people, precip...
View full detailsOriginal price £3,500.00 - Original price £3,500.00Original price £0.00£3,500.00£3,500.00 - £3,500.00Current price £3,500.00 -
Cicero's Prince.
CICERO, Marcus Tullius; [BELLENDEN, William (editor); RYMER, Thomas (translator)].Original price £1,500.00 - Original price £1,500.00Original price £0.00£1,500.00£1,500.00 - £1,500.00Current price £1,500.00Rare edition in English. The first edition in English of these collected writings by Cicero on the origin and duties of princely government.The wor...
View full detailsOriginal price £1,500.00 - Original price £1,500.00Original price £0.00£1,500.00£1,500.00 - £1,500.00Current price £1,500.00 -
The Holy Bible
[BIBLE. KING JAMES VERSION].Original price £2,250.00 - Original price £2,250.00Original price £0.00£2,250.00£2,250.00 - £2,250.00Current price £2,250.00Original silver 'furniture'. The King James Version, splendidly preserved in the original black morocco gilt binding furnished in silver. A handsom...
View full detailsOriginal price £2,250.00 - Original price £2,250.00Original price £0.00£2,250.00£2,250.00 - £2,250.00Current price £2,250.00
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