Antiquarian

 

[Belzoni's Narrative] Narrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries within the Pyramids, Temples, Tombs and Excavations in Egypt and Nubia; and of a Journey to the Coast of the Red Sea, in Search of the Ancient Berenice; and another to the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon: BELZONI, G.

 

John Murray, London, 1822. Two volumes. The last 17 pages of the second volume are ‘Remarks on Mr Belzoni’s Plates’; they refer to the plates in the separately-issued atlas, not present (as often) with this set.

 

Giovanni Battista Belzoni (1778-1823), sometimes known as The Great Belzoni – a name used in his earlier role as strongman for a travelling circus (Belzoni was a huge man over two metres tall) – was a prolific Venetian explorer of Egyptian antiquities.

 

He was the first to penetrate into the second pyramid of Giza, and the first European in modern times to visit the oasis of Bahariya. He also identified the ruins of Berenice on the Red Sea.

 

This is the third edition and a scarce publication (first edition printed 1820) depicting the exploits of one of the great adventurers. Both volumes contain the bookplate of W.P. Trevelyan, most likely that of Rev William Pitt Trevelyan (1812-1905) of Nettlecombe, Somerset. $1250

 

[Haweis's Bible] The Evangelical Expositor or A Commentary On The Holy Bible. Wherein The Sacred Text Of The Old And New Testament Is Inserted At Large: HAWEIS, Rev. Thomas

Archibald Fullarton & Co, Glasgow, 1845. Rev. Thomas Haweis (1734-1820) published several prose works, including History of the Church and A Translation of the New Testament. This is volume three only of a posthumous reprint of the three-volume Commentary. $90

We have been fortunate enough to acquire two volumes of historical significance:

Medical Casebooks: COLQUHOUN, Dr Daniel

These are the personal medical casebooks for the years 1895 and 1898 of Dr Daniel Colquhoun, New Zealand’s first Professor of Medicine (University of Otago) and the inaugural editor of the New Zealand Medical Journal.

Whilst providing a fascinating insight to the era (occupations include Chimney Sweeps, Blacksmiths and Domestic Servants), these handwritten records are also important snapshots of the professional life of a noted New Zealand pioneer. $3000 for the pair

 


 

[Scott’s Bible] The Holy Bible, Containing The Old And New Testaments. With Explanatory Notes, Practical Observations, and Copious Marginal References: SCOTT, Thomas

L.B. Seeley, London, 1810. Present are volumes 1, 3 & 4, this being an incomplete set (of five volumes). This is the work for which Rev. Thomas Scott (1747-1821) is principally known (he also founded the Church Missionary Society). $120

 

 

 

 

Sanchoniatho’s Phoenician History, Translated From The First Book Of Eusebius De Praeparatione Evangelica. With A Continuation Of Sanchoniatho’s History By Eratosthenes Cyrenaeus’s Canon, Which Dicaearchus Connects With The First Olympiad: CUMBERLAND, Rev. R.

R. Wilkin, London, 1720. Sanchoniatho (now commonly Sanchuniathon) was a Phoenician who was said to be the author of three lost works, which only partially survived in a Greek translation by Philo of Byblos. These few fragments comprise the most extended literary source concerning Phoenician religion in either Greek or Latin but doubt has always followed the legend as to its authenticity.

Richard Cumberland (1631-1718) was an English philosopher, and bishop of Peterborough from 1691 until his death. This was just one of a number of works for which he was revered and was edited posthumously before publication. It is a very rare item indeed.$500

 

The Book Of Martyrs or Christian Martyrology: FOX, John

Nuttall, Fisher & Dixon, Liverpool, 1807. From the title page: “Containing an Authentic and Historical Relation of Many Dreadful Persecutions against The Church of Christ, From the Death of Abel to the beginning of the Nineteenth Century; Being a Particular Account of all the Martyrs of the Old and New Testaments, and the Ten great Persecutions under the Roman Emperors, with the Persecutions exercised by the Papists in England and other Parts of Europe, including every important relation in Fox’s Book of Martyrs, and also all the essential Parts of every Work on the Subject which has appeared since that Publication; the whole carefully revised, corrected, and amended; with some Original Material”.

Complete in two volumes, with numerous full-page copper-engraved plates.

Acts and Monuments (immediately and universally referred to as Fox’s Book of Martyrs) was first published in 1563. A massive folio volume, containing about 1800 pages, it was a comprehensive history of the Church. However, editors of later versions selected only the most sensational episodes of torture and death to create compendiums of atrocities, real and imagined, committed by Catholics against Protestants. When taken together with equally sensational illustrations, such as here, these versions gave Fox’s work a lurid quality which appears far from his intention.

This publication is rare – especially in such excellent condition – and lavish. $450

 

 

Views Of The Rhine [together with] Upper Rhine: TOMBLESON, William

These handsome volumes, published in 1832, were effectively elaborate travel guides that depict various scenes and (predominantly) architecture along the route taken by this majestic German river. The artist, William Tombleson (1795-1846), was an early pioneer of steel engraving at a time when the world was moving away from copper, making these among the earliest and finest contemporary productions and the works for which he is most renowned. Views of the Rhine includes an amazing 1.2m foldout engraved panoramic view of the 200km stretch from Cologne to Mayence. $700 for the pair