A Second Tale of a Tub: or, The History of Robert Powel the Puppet-Show-Man [Hugh Selbourne's copy]
by [BURNET, Sir Thomas, 1694-1753]
- Used
- first
- Condition
- Near Fine+
- Seller
-
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Printed for J. Roberts near the Oxford Arms in Warwick-Lane, 1715. First Edition. Full Calf. Near Fine+. First Edition of this wicked satire on statesman Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford (political power-broker and patron of Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, and Daniel Defoe), taking its title from Swift's celebrated Tale of a Tub (but not recorded by Teerink-Scouten in the list of spurious sequels to Swift's work). 8vo: [2],219,[5]pp, with frontispiece and imprimatur leaf. Variant with price 3s/6d on title page. Period calf ruled in blind, rebacked to style, red morocco lettering piece gilt, end papers renewed. From the library of bibliophile Hugh Selbourne, M.D. (1906-1973), with his discreet ownership stamp on two pages. (In an appreciation of Shelbourne's diaries, Hilary Mantle noted in The Guardian: "His passion is for antiquarian books, and he owns them by the yard; we are not talking about first editions of Dickens, but first editions of Erasmus, 'printed Basle, 1517'. His regular beat takes him to his private consulting rooms at St. John Street in the centre of Manchester, then to Shaw's, the book dealer . . .".) A handsome copy, clean and sound, with several abrasions to boards, marginal toning to some leaves, occasional spots and soiling, inoffensive ink blot to p. 195 obscuring four or five letters but not affecting sense. ESTC Citation N22063. McBurney 79. Lowndes 325 (calling it a satire on Sir Robert Walpole, ascribed to Thomas Duffet). Probably written with the collaboration of George Duckett, it casts an account of Harley's life as an allegory of a Machiavellian scoundrel who betrays family and friends in his rise to power and practice of ruthless state craft. The vehicle for this allegory is Martin Powell (fl. 1709-29), the physically deformed showman who ran a celebrated puppet-show in Covent Garden (as shown in the frontispiece). The Tale portrays Harley as a puppet-master manipulating Swift and other hack writers in the service of the Tory faction. Though not a novel, per se, Second Tale of a Tub is seen by some as an important link between Swift's antecedent and Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy (Eugene Korkowskia, Studies in the Novel, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 470-474). N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).
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Details
- Bookseller
- Fine Editions Ltd (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- BB1503
- Title
- A Second Tale of a Tub: or, The History of Robert Powel the Puppet-Show-Man [Hugh Selbourne's copy]
- Author
- [BURNET, Sir Thomas, 1694-1753]
- Format/Binding
- Full Calf
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine+
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition
- Publisher
- Printed for J. Roberts near the Oxford Arms in Warwick-Lane
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 1715
- Bookseller catalogs
- HAND-PRESS PERIOD;
Terms of Sale
Fine Editions Ltd
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About the Seller
Fine Editions Ltd
Biblio member since 2005
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
About Fine Editions Ltd
Fine Editions specializes in First Editions of English and American Literature, Landmarks In Science and the History Of Ideas, Natural History and Color-Plate books, Travel and Voyages, and books on Gardening and Landscape Design. Our hallmark is condition: with few exceptions (mostly relating to our antiquarian stock), all books sold are in Near Fine or better conditions and all are highly collectible.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Calf
- Calf or calf hide is a common form of leather binding. Calf binding is naturally a light brown but there are ways to treat the...
- Rebacked
- having had the material covering the spine replaced. ...
- Title Page
- A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Morocco
- Morocco is a style of leather book binding that is usually made with goatskin, as it is durable and easy to dye. (see also...
- Leaves
- Very generally, "leaves" refers to the pages of a book, as in the common phrase, "loose-leaf pages." A leaf is a single sheet...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...