Search Results: Authors starting with W from John Price Antiquarian Books

London: Printed for Hurst, Robinson, and Co.; and Archibald Constable and Co. Edinbugh. 1822. FIRST EDITION. Tall 8vo, 219 x 123 mms., pp. xi [xii Errata], 111 [112 colophon], sturdily rebound in quarter maroon morocco, linen boards, with library stamp in blind on front cover, and, and bookplate of Nottingham Reference Library on front paste-down end-paper. A good copy, with an emendation in pencil on page 37. The Church of England clergyman and poet Willilam Lisle Bowles (1762–1850) published his first volume of verse in 1789, Fourteen Sonnets Written Chiefly on Picturesque Spots during a Journey, which attracted the favourable attention of Coleridge, then seventeen years old. One of his best known works, an edition of Pope in 1806, which Byron attacked rather severely, led to an acrimonious dispute to which Bowles alludes in the preface to the above poem. The Eclectic Review in 1823 observed, "We have that respect for Mr. Bowles as an old acquaintance, that would lead us to speak… Read More

London: Wm. S. Orr and Co...., 1838. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. 8vo, pp. viii, 256, including half-title, additional engraved title-page and coloured frontispiece, steel-engraved illustrations in text, original embossed cloth, spine block in gilt; joints snagged, slight wear to spine, but a good copy with the autograph "Ellen Bassano Deacon/ January 1842" on the upper margin of the half-title. Higgins makes no mention of earlier works on the philosophy of sound, such as those by Turner, Sound Anatomiz'd, in a Philosophical Essay on Musick (1724) or Robert Smith's Harmonics, or The Philosophy of Musical Sounds (1749). He begins with an exposition of the way in which sound is produced, to an examination of our hearing of sounds and the various physical phenomena associated with the production of sound, and concludes with a short history of music.

London: Printed and Sold by Dean and Munday..., 1827. Large 8vo, pp. xxviii, 344, engraved portrait of John Braham as frontispiece, musical illustrations throughout, uncut, contemporary boards; spine gone with folds completely exposed, boards worn. Plumstead seems to derived his work from a volume with a similar title published in 1810, but much of the work here is entirely new. The book is dedicated to John Braham, "the first singer of the day."

London: Printed for John Souter...by J. Adlard..., 1816. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. Tall 8vo, 228 x 133 mms., pp,. xiii [xiv blank, xv "The Persian Dedication," xvi blank], 348, recently recased in blue boards, paper label on spine; text a little browned, but a good copy. This rather laboured satire on Princess Augusta of Wales (1796 - 1817), was the only child of George, Prince of Wales (later King George IV), and his wife, Caroline of Brunswick. Had she outlived both her grandfather King George III and her father, she would have become Queen of the United Kingdom; but she died at the age of 21, predeceasing them both. It was reviewed at some length in The Critical Review for 1816, but without ever once disclosing that the work was not a satire: "The author of Gulzara is not deficient in humour, and we are not and then reminded of the stile of the very best writer in this kind [possibly Byron], in any language: but no such pretensions are made: the work is instructive, entertaining,… Read More

London: Printed by R. Hindmarsh...Sold by George Adams..., 1794. Large 8vo, 208 x 124 mms., pp. 9 [10 blank, 11 - 12 Contents], [9] - 226, 7 folding engraved plates, recently rebound in quarter calf, marbled boards, gilt spine, red leather labels; lacking the final leaf with the directions to the binder, but a very good copy. "In 1794 Ralph Walker 'of Jamaica' travelled to London 'for the purpose of laying my meridional and azimuth compass, and improvements upon compasses in general, before the Board of Longitude. Although Walker was a seaman and his inventive capacities were directed towards navigational problems, he included in his Treatise on Magnetism an appendix on land surveying. He felt it his duty to Jamaica and the West Indies, he said, 'to point out what advantage this improvement in compasses may be of, respecting the surveying of lands, and fixing the boundaries of estates and new settlements.' The burden of Walker's advice rested on his calculation of… Read More

London: Printed [by J. Bbarker] for West and Hughs..., 1800. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. 2 volumes. 12mo, 175 x 100 mms., pp. [iv], 288; 261 [262 blank, 263 Author's Names, 264 blank], engraved frontispiece of five dramatists (Cumberland, O'Keefe, Inchbald, Dibdin, Sheridan), contemporary half calf, spines blocked in blind, red leather labels (one chipped); some wear to joints but a good set, with the early ownership of Isabella Jones to titles and neat authorships supplied in ink to some passage, Walley Chamberlain Oulton (1761/2–1840), playwright and theatre historian, was born in Dublin and enjoyed some success in Dublin as a playwright in the early part of career. He saw the high road that leads to London in the mid-1780s where his career as a dramatist never quite met his expectations.

London: Printed, and Sold by J. Roberts..., 1729. 8vo (in 4s), pp. 29 [30 blank], 23 [24 blank], occasional annotation in pencil, bound in 20th century full cream goatskin with title blocked in black on spine. A very good copy. The Treaty of Seville, signed on 9 November 1929, had the effect, among others, of making it extremely difficult for Jacobites to expect assistance for their cause from Britain's nearest continental neighbours.

Londini, Anno Domini, 1665. 12mo, 133 x 80 mms., pp. [xii], 82, engraved frontispiece, later sheepskin, probably early 19th century, borders in blind on cover, compartments on spine in blind, green morocco label; small piece missing from upper corner of A3 just affecting one letter, joints slightly cracked, corners a little worn but a good copy. Walter Charleton (1620–1707) possibly studied under John Wilkins (1614–1672), at Magdalen Hall, Oxford. He studied medicine and upon attaining his degree was, in 1643, appointed physician-in-ordinary to Charles I. He began publishing works on medicine and religion some time after that and in 1659 ventured into prose romance with The Ephesian Matron: Based on the Tale in the "Satyricon" of Petronius. "Charleton's version of this famous and often retold tale is an attack on the fashionable cult of Platonic love of his day, in which he insists that physical love and lust are both manifestations of 'an appetite to… Read More

Edinburgh; Printed for Archibald Constable and Co. Edinburgh; and Hurst, Robinson and Co. London. 1822. 8vo, 210 x 130 mms., pp. [ii] [3] - 513 [514 blank], engraved title-page, contemporary calf, recently rebacked in lighter calf, black morocco label, all edges gilt, with a recent erotic/naughty fore-edge painting by Martin Frost of monks indulging in rather unliturgical activity. One volume of an 1822 reprint; the text begins with chapter 11 ("Two or three years glided on..." and finishes with the conclusion. Sold as an odd volume for the fore-edge painting.

London: Printed by J. Wright for Lawton Gilliver..., 1735. Folio, 344 x 205 mms., pp. [iv], 30 [31 adverts, 32 blank], early 19th century wrappers, recent backstrip; a very good copy. Harte (1708/09 - 1774) is said to have had had Alexander Pope's assistance in revising this poem. The poem attracted at least on satirical rebuttal, the Epistle to the Author of the Essay on Reason, published in the same year. Two years later, Harte recapitulated his theological views in a sermon, The Union and Harmony of Reason, Morality, and Revealed Religion (1737) and was promptly accused of heresy. This seems to be a straightforward reprint of the first edition, with the errata corrected, and the adverts leaf reset to add books just published.

London: For Strictly Private Circulation, James Walter..., 1890. FIRST EDITION. Folio, 385 x 275 mms., pp., [viii], iv, 395 [396 printer's imprint], illustrated title-page, numerous illustrations in text, uncut, some leaves unopened, original decorated buckram covers; front hinge cracked, somewhat shaken in casing.

London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longman, 1856. FIRST EDITION. 2 volumes. 8vo, 182 x 115 mms., pp. viii, 416; viii, 424, fine inscribed copy to Eton schoolboy, bound in full polished calf, gilt rules on borders, spines ornately gilt in compartments, green morocco titling labels, olive morocco numbering labels, marbled end-papers and edges. A fine set with the presentation inscription on the recto of the front free end-paper in volume 1, "Evelyn, Henry, Villebois, Burnaby/ with the best wishes of his/ friend and Schoolfellow/ Stewart, J, C. Ducket./ On his leaving Eton/ Election 1864." The author George Walter Thornbury (1828-1876) is best known for his two-volume biography of the great painter J. M. W. Turner (1775-1851). As William Charles Mark Kent said in the DNB, Thornbury's "most important independent publication was his 'Life of J. M. W. Turner,' from original letters and papers (2 vols. 1861). He wrote the whole of it under the watchful observation of Mr.… Read More

London Printed by W. Gillman, Rochester; Sold by the Robinsons, Pater-Noster-Row 1792. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. Tall 8vo, 225 x 138 mms., pp. [iii] - x xi Contents, xii Latin motto,, xiii errata, xiv blank], 114, uncut, recent half calf, marbled boards, gilt spine , black morocco label; lacks half-title, but a very good copy. The work was briefly noticed in The Critical Review for 1792: "There are many important hints in this Essay, which we would recommend to the ladies, who chiefly suffer from ligatures too tight, and cloathing improperly chosen. Dr. Vaughan displays much learning in this work, and appears to have been equally diligent ant attentive; but, in a medical view, he is sometimes a little fanciful; and if his meaning is not obscured by the press errors, which are very numerous, we think frequently mistaken." Was this the passage that the reviewer had in mind: "I wish, I could persuade my fair Country Women to bear with Patience that Complement of Fat allotted to them by… Read More

London: Macmillan; New York: St Martin's Press, 1966. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. xii, 161, original cloth, fine copy in fine dust-jacket.

London: Printed for R. Faulder..., 1798. 8vo, pp. [iv], 42 [43 adverts, 44 blank], disbound. Watson proposes that national taxes (he seems to shift between advocacy of an annual wealth tax or an income tax)should be increased both to pay for the war against France as well as to reduce the national debt. Over twenty editions appeared in 1798, many of them piracies, and the work provoked a number of replies. Some of his observations have an astonishing contemporary relevance: "The channels of commerce, were they open alike to the enterprize of all nations, are so numerous and copious in the four quarter of the globe, that the industry of all the manufacturers in Europe might be fully employed in supplying them." Kress 3754, citing the Dublin edition in the same year as the first edition.

Cambridge: Printed by J. Archdeacon...for J. & J. Merrill..., 1785. FIRST COLLECTED EDITION. 6 volumes. Large 8vo, pp. [iv], xxxii, ii, 504; [iv], 533 [534 - 536 chronology]; [iv], 484; vii [viii blank], 513 [514 blank]; viii, 443 [444 blank]; [iv], 420 [421 - 468, Appendix, "A Catalogue of Books in Divinity," engraved map opposite p. 49 in volume 1, uncut, contemporary quarter calf, marbled boards (rubbed), red morocco labels; spines a little chafed and rubbed, but a very good set. Watson (1737 - 1816) reproduces, with commentary, some twenty-four works here; among the theologians are George Benson, Samuel Chandler, Samuel Clarke, Nathaniel Lardner, and John Taylor, but Watson also reprints Locke's Reasonableness of Christianity. Watson compiled this collection of tracts in order to encourage university students to become "better acquainted with the grounds and principles of the Christian Religion...." He adds later, an exemplification of a university education,… Read More

London: Printed by and for John Watts..., 1729 - 1731. FIRST EDITION. 6 volumes, 8vo, 190 x 118 mms., pp. [xiv], 275 [280 blank]; [iv], 179 [180 blank]; [xiv], 200; [x], 204; [xiv], 208; [xiv], 208, engraved frontispiece for each volume, title-pages in red and black, engraved music throughout,bound in later 18th century calf, raised bands between gilt borders on spines, red leather labels; some joints worn but intact (thanks, perhaps, to some amateur repair work), but a fair to good set, from the library of the the Magalen College, Oxford, scholar, Dr. Richard Luckett (1945 - 2000) with his ticket in each volume. Eleven of the songs are attributed to Handel, and two are printed here for the first time. In the early part of his career as printer and publisher John Watts (1678 - 1763) worked with Jacob Tonson, and he was responsible for the first printings of The Beggar's Opera in 1728. He also issued music for the songs from early operas in this period, and as New Grove (1980) notes,… Read More

London: Printed by and for John Watts..., 1729 - 1731. FIRST EDITION. 6 volumes, 8vo, 190 x 118 mms., pp. [xiv], 275 [280 blank]; [iv], 179 [180 blank]; [xiv], 200; [x], 204; [xiv], 208; [xiv], 208, engraved frontispiece for each volume, title-pages in red and black, engraved music throughout, later full polished calf by Zaehnsdorf, gilt borders on covers, spines richly gilt, olive and red morocco labels; some very slight wear to bindings, but really, a fine and attractive set of this important collection. Eleven of the songs are attributed to Handel, and two are printed here for the first time. In the early part of his career as printer and publisher John Watts (1678 - 1763) worked with Jacob Tonson, and he was responsible for the first printings of The Beggar's Opera in 1728. He also issued music for the songs from early operas in this period, and as New Grove (1980) notes, "These editions print the airs for the songs, printed from engraved wood blocks, as an appendix, and especially… Read More

A Paris, Rues. Jacques, De l'Imprimerie de Jacques Collobat, Premier Imprimeur ordinaire du Roy, du Cabinet, Maison & Batiments de Sa Majesté. 1743. 8vo, 197 x 120 mms., pp. [xvi], 608, engraved frontispiece and title-page after Antoine Homblot, engraved sectional title-pages after Nicolas Le Sueur, bound in full contemporary red morocco, gilt fleur-de-lys border rolls, with the arms in gilt on the covers of the French royal family, (here, probably those of Louis XV (1710 - 1774), known as Louis the Beloved), spine ornately gilt in compartments to a fleur-de-lys motif, red morocco label, all edges gilt; some occasional foxing, slight wear to binding extremities, but a very good to fine copy, with the library stamp of the Bibliotheca Prov. Anglicae on the recto of the front free end-paper, and the following inscription: "James Stewart Forbes/ d. d./ James Johnston Bevan/ In Test. Fran. Edwards [R?], A.. D. 1845."

London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley..., 1764. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, 227 X 135 mms., pp. [2] 3 - 9 [10 blank, 11 - 34 subscribers, 35 - 36 Contents] 11 117 [118 blank], page 78 mis-numbered as 87, attractively rebound by Philip Dusel in period style sprinkled calf, spine ornately gilt in compartments, red leather label. A fine copy Mary Whateley (bap. 1738 - d. 1825) was the last-born child of Mary Beach and the gentleman farmer William Whateley. She came to public attention when she was 21 or 22 by publishing some poems in the Gentleman's Magazine in 1759. She married the widower John Darwall (1732 - 1789) in 1766, having published her first volume of poems, in 1764, and by the time of her marriage was well on her way to establishing a reputation as a poet. The Critical Review commented in 1764, "Miss Whateley begins this collection with a dedication to Lady Wrottesley, in which she modestly confesses her never having studiously ranged through the regions of imagination to seek for… Read More