Search Results: Authors starting with P from Patrick Olson Rare Books

32 POLITICAL TRACTS COLLECTED BY AN OUTSIDER | NAMBY PAMBY, DEFOE AMERICANA, ETC. ¶ 4 vols | 8vo | 195 x 120 mm ¶ Complete contents: George Ridpath. Parliamentary right maintain'd, or, The Hanover succession justify'd... [London?] 1714. [10], 262 p. The longer of two editions published the same year. ESTC T43664. --- The character of the Parliament, commonly called the Rump… London: Booksellers of London and Westminster, 1721. iv, 38 p. One of three issues that year, all preceded by an edition ca. 1701. ESTC T30436. --- George Granville, Baron Lansdowne. A letter from a noble-man abroad to his friend in England. London, 1722. 8 p. One of three editions, all issued in 1722. ESTC T63012. --- A guide to the electors of Great-Britain, beings lists of all those members in the last Parliament who voted for and against such bills… London: S. Popping, 1722. [2], 28, [2] p. First and only edition. ESTC T116130. --- A compleat history of the late septennial Parliament… London: J. Peele, 1722. viii,… Read More

HISTORY OF INVENTIONS | GALILEO'S SIDEREUS NUNCIUS EXCERPTED ¶ [16], 144, 155-354, 335-342 p. | 8vo | )(^8 A-Y^8 ¶ 161 x 95 mm First edition of the philosopher's probing history of human ingenuity, organized chiefly by the fields of philosophy, medicine, science (physicus), mathematics, and technology (mechanicus). A second edition followed in 1700. Opening with an account of ancient inventions, the work is sweeping in breadth. "The first mortals," for example, "by thinking through purposeful work, gave succor to the necessity of life first, for which man introduced agriculture and shepherding" (p. 4). But he more deeply investigates innovations of his own age. He credits Francis Bacon with ushering in the present enlightened era of science (p. 7), followed by a complimentary twenty-page chapter on Descartes. ¶ From here, the author works through all of history. He begins with Socrates (inventor of philosophy) and Pythagoras (inventor of music). He discusses the juridical… Read More

INTERLEAVED AND LINGUISTICALLY COMPLEX --- [24], 276 p. | 12mo | a^12 A-L^12 M^6 | 135 x 81 mm --- An early edition of the French Jesuit's bilingual guide to learning Latin vocabulary, which first appeared at Lyon in 1667, also as a bilingual Latin-French work. It went through dozens of editions, in multiple language combinations, through the middle of the 18th century. ¶ In his preface, Pomey opines that the most difficult obstacle to learning Latin is "ignorance of certain words and terms, which usually fall into colloquial speech [discours familier]. These are the names of nearly all the things that we see and touch every hour and every moment" (a4r). Pomey here aims to help the French student learn these words, providing terms in French with their Latin equivalents. He organizes everything not alphabetically, but conceptually, dividing the entirety into three broad categories: the world and its creation, humans and their attributes, and cities and their parts, this final section… Read More

2 v. | v.1: [2], xvj, 370 p. | v. 2: [2], 360 [i.e. 400] p. | 12mo | v.1: pi1 a8(-a8) e1 A-P12 Q6(-Q6) | v.2: pi1 A6 B-R12 S2 | 174 x 103 mm ¶ First edition, followed by a second in 1784. Howes identified the present work's account of "the infant colony of Georgia" as particularly valuable. Prévost describes Savannah, for example, as a settlement of nearly 140 homes. He makes some mention of the area's native tribes, identifying Coweta as the principal settlement of the Creek (v. 2, p. 185). ¶ Prévost's observations are all the more remarkable for his never having visited North America. Not translated from the English, but rather the author's own invention, the work capitalized on the popularity of both fictional and authentic travel narratives of the time. Perhaps the chief interest of the work lies in the fact that it convinced some contemporary readers of its professed veracity, not unlike Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver's Travels. The Mercure de France reported in November 1744:… Read More