Antiquarian Books, Manuscripts, and Ephemera from Samuel Gedge Rare Books

Item 2 consists of three handbills from 1820, 1823, and 1824 for performances on the Apollonicon. As the 1823 handbill announces, the “selection will be performed by Mr. Thomas Adams, accompanied by Messrs. Lord, Cooper, Moxley and Warren...” The apollonicon was an organ, a very large one as the list of performers implies. Five people could play it at one time. The 1820 handbill promotes a performance by blind organist John Purkis. £450 (US $697).

Item 39 offers two gruesome views produced from a copper plate of James Nailor, Quaker. Nailor was brutally punished, though his life spared, for his religious indiscretion. Printed in 1656, one view shows Nailor being whipped (though not hung) by the hangman. In the other, he is tied to a pillory while his tongue is bored with a hot iron. Left out is a picture of Nailor's other punishment – having his forehead branded with a “B” (not for “baby,” but for “blasphemy”). He was then placed in solitary confinement, where he was kept until 1659 when an amnesty was declared for Quaker prisoners. He died the following year. £2,500 (US $3,874).

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