It is our purpose from time to time to call the attention of our
book-buying friends to the approaching sales of any collections which
may seem to us to deserve their attention; and to any catalogues which
may reach us containing books of great rarity and curiosity. Had we
entertained no such intention we should have shown our respect for
the memory of that intelligent, obliging, and honourable member of
the bookselling profession (to whom a literary man rarely addressed
a QUERY, without receiving in reply a NOTE of information worth
preserving), the late Mr. Thomas Rodd, by announcing that the sale of
the first portion of his extensive and valuable stock of books will
commence on Monday next, the 19th instant, and occupy the remainder
of that week.
The following Lots are among the specimens of the rarities contained
in this portion of Mr. Rodd's curious stock:--
189 ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, Orders, Declarations,
Proclamations, &c. 1657 to 1660, _the original
Papers and Broadsides collected and bound in
1 vol. calf_ 1657-60
*** This very important volume contains the Acts, &c.
during the period intervening between Scobell's
Collection and the recognized Statutes of
Charles II. As the laws during this period
have never been collected into a regular edition,
a series of them is of the greatest rarity.
194 ÆSOP, FABLES, TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH
WILLIAM CAXTON, _curious wood engravings_
BLACK LETTER, VERY RARE, _imperfect, old russia_
EMPRYNTED BY RICHARD PYNSON (NO DATE)
*** This edition is altogether unknown and undescribed.
The present copy commences with signature C1, and
extends to sig. S(v) in sixes, on the reverse of
which is the colophon, with Pynson's device
underneath. _It wants sheets A and B, and E_ (iiii).
380 Cellii (E.) Eques Auratus Anglo-Wirtembergieus;
id est, actus admodum Solennis; quo
Jacobus Rex Angliæ, &c. Regii Garteriorum
supremus ac Frid. Ducem Wirtembergicum,
per Rob. Spencer Barnoem declaravit,
_portrait woodcut Tubing. 1605_
*** This was Sir Wm. Dethick's copy, Garter King at
Arms, who accompanied Lord Spencer in his
journey; in it he has written some very curious
circumstances respecting the journey, and of
the ill-treatment he experienced from Sir Rob.
Spencer and Wm. Seager, "a poore paynter,
sonne of a base fleminge and spawne of a Jew,"
with an account of the family of Dethick, or De
Dyk, of Derbyshire and Staffordshire.
475 CHRISTINE OF PISA. THE FAYT OF ARMES AND OF CHYVALRYE
BLACK LETTER, _one leaf inlaid and three or four
beautifully fac-similed, otherwise a fine and
perfect copy, russia extra, gilt leaves, by C.
Lewis_ WESTMESTRE, PER CAXTON, MCCCCLXXXIX
*** This work consists of 139 leaves, exclusive of
the table, occupying two leaves. The Colophon of
the Printer is one of great interest, filling
the two last pages. It thus commences:--"Thur
endeth this boke, whiche xpyne of pyse made
drewe out of the boke named Vegecius de re
militari and out of tharbre of bataylles
wyth many other thynges sett in to the same
requisite to werre and batailles, which boke
beyng in Frenshe was delyvered to me Willm
Caxton by the most crysten kinge and sedoubted
prynce, my naturel and souvrayn {45}
Lord Kyng Henry the VII, Kyng of England
and of France, in his Palais of Westmestre,
the 23 day of Janyuere, the III of his regne,
and desire and wylsed me to translate this
said boke and reduce it into our enlish natural
tonge and to put it in enprynte, &c."
522 ENGLAND:--Copy of a Letter written by a Spanish
Gentleman to his Friend in England in refutation
of sundry Calumnies there falsely bruited among
the People, 1589--An Advertisement written to a
Secretarie of my Lord Treasurer of Ingland by an
Inglish Intelligencer as he passed through Germanie
towards Italie; also a Letter written by the
Lord Treasurer, 1592.
*** Two very rare and curious historical pieces, written
by a zealous Catholic in defence of Philip II.
944 Neumayr van Ramszla (J.W.) Johann fursten des
Jungern Hertzogen zu Sachsen, Reise in Franckreich
Engelland und Nederland, _port. and plates_
_russia extra, gilt leaves Lips. 1620_
*** The volume contains accounts of many of the
pictures and curiosities in the royal palaces of
Westminster, St. James, &c.
On the following Monday will commence the sale of the theological
portion of his collection, which will occupy eight days, and conclude
on the 4th of December. The sales are entrusted to the management of
Messrs. S. Leigh Sotheby & Co. of Wellington Street.
We have also received from Mr. Asher of Berlin, a copy of the
_Bibliotheca Tieckiana_--the sale catalogue of the library of Ludwig
Tieck, the distinguished German poet, novelist, and critic. The
sale will commence at Berlin on the 10th December, with the English
portion of the library, which besides the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th folios,
is particularly rich in works illustrative of Shakespeare, and of
translations of various portions of our great dramatist's writings.
The following lot, comprising an edition, we believe, not very
generally known, and containing the manuscript notes and comments
of so profound a critic as Ludwig Tieck, ought to find an English
purchaser.
2152 THE PLAYS OF W. SHAKSPEARE, with the Corrections
and Illustrations of various Commentators,
to which are added Notes by Johnson and
Steevens. 23 vols. gr. in 8vo. Basil 1800-1802
"Exemplaire unique et de la plus grande importance,
contenant des notes sans nombre de la main de
M. Tieck. Ces notes renferment les fruits d'une
étude de plus de 40 ans sur le grand poète, par
son plus grand traducteur et commentateur, et
forment le texte du grand ouvrage sur Shakspeare,
promis depuis si longtemps."
One of the most curious articles in this catalogue, copies of which
may be obtained from the London Agent for the sale, Mr. Nutt, of the
Strand, is No. 1965, a copy of Lilly's _Sixe Court Comedies_, which
had belonged to Oliver Cromwell, and appears to contain his autograph.
There are few literary men who have not, in the course of some one
or other of their inquiries, experienced the difficulty there is in
procuring copies of pamphlets which being for the most part originally
published for purposes of temporary interest, are rarely preserved
by binding, and consequently when afterwards wanted become extremely
difficult of attainment. We all remember the valuable Catalogue
published many years since by Mr. Rodd, of Newport Street, the father
of Mr. Thomas Rodd, and have often regretted the loss of our copy of
that extensive collection; and we record now for the information of
our readers the publication by Mr. Russell Smith, of 4. Old Compton
Street, of Part I. of a Catalogue of a singular and unique collection
of 25,000 ancient and modern Tracts and Pamphlets: containing I.
Biography, Literary History, and Criticism; II. Trials, Civil and
Criminal; III. Bibliography and Typography; IV. Heraldry and Family
History; V. Archæology; VI. Architecture, Painting, and Sculpture;
VII. Music; VIII. Metaphysics.
* * * * *