Here is a book all men need to read, as it contains everything you ever wanted to know about women: The History of Women, from the earliest antiquity to the present time; giving some account of almost every interesting particular concerning that sex, among all nations, ancient and modern. Here is a small note of caution for those hoping to learn everything necessary for domestic tranquility from William Alexander's book. Some of the more current data may be missing, as "present time" for this book was 1782. Item 120. £350 ($681).

Item 206 is Thomas Bridges' A Burlesque Translation of Homer. Indeed it is, as it is doubtful Homer would have described hard times in words quite like these: "When all the nation is so poor / That few can keep above one whore / Except the Lawyers -- (whose large fees / Maintain as many as they please)." Published in 1797. £350 (US $681).

More proper, if less amusing poetry can be found in the Poems by the most deservedly admired Mrs. Katherine Philips, the matchless Orinda. Mrs. Philips, or "Orinda," wrote of great friendship and platonic love, rather than the messier kind practiced by her contemporaries. Despite her great propriety, it does appear, as the picture above left attests, that Orinda wasn't above employing push-up bras. Item 76 is a third edition from 1678. £850 (US $1,654).

Robert Ferguson, aka "The Plotter," was involved in all kinds of intrigue in the late 17th, early 18th centuries. He found himself involved in various political and religious causes, always with an eye toward self-promotion, developing a reputation for great treachery. He used his pen to support his causes, as with this 1689 title, A Brief Justification of the Prince of Orange's Descent into England -- and of the Kingdom's late Recourse to Arms. In typical fashion, he would later turn against William of Orange when the latter regarded him of small importance and only rewarded Ferguson with a minor post. He would write violent pamphlets against William's government once removed from his post. Jarndyce quotes from T.B. Macaulay's "History of England" in describing author Ferguson as performing those services "...from which honest men shrink in disgust and prudent men in fear, the class of fanatical knaves. Violent, malignant, regardless of truth, insensible to shame, insatiable of notoriety, delighting in intrigue, in tumult, in mischief for its own sake, he toiled during many years in the darkest mines of faction. He lived among libelers and false witnesses. He was the keeper of a secret purse from which agents too vile to be acknowledged received hire, and the director of a secret press whence pamphlets, bearing no name, were daily issued." So Ferguson was not only an author, but a publisher as well. Item 40. £125 (US $243).

Jarndyce Antiquarian Booksellers may be reached at 020-7631-4220 or books@jarndyce.co.uk, or visited online at www.jarndyce.co.uk