Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - January - 2006 Issue
An Exquisite Catalogue from Phillip J. Pirages
An in utero drawing from the 18th century (item 171)
Item 163 is one of the most important British histories. It is a first edition of ...The Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande, by Raphael Holinshed, published in 1577. It covers British history from the earliest times to the Elizabethan era. However, it is best known as being the sourcebook for ten Shakespearean plays, including Macbeth. The copy Pirages offers was previously owned by Frank Bemis and Bradley Martin, two of the foremost collectors of the twentieth century. Naturally, it is an exceptional copy. $58,000.
One of the most important studies leading to the theory of evolution came over a century and half before Darwin's work, by a man who probably never even contemplated such a theory. The book was Orang-Outang, Sive Homo Sylvestris: or, the Anatomy of a Pygmie Compared with that of a Monkey, an Ape, and a Man; its author Edward Tyson. In this 1699 work, Tyson describes the many bodily similarities between various ape species and man. He observed, "from Minerals to Plants; from Plants to Animals; and from Animals to Men; the Transition is so gradual, that there appears a very great Similitude." He described this as the "great chain of being" (from which arose the concept of the missing link). It would be these similarities which would lead Darwin to develop his theory of a common ancestor, but for Tyson it would still simply be part of a deliberate, divine plan. Item 264. $16,000.
For another anatomical work, there is William Hunter's The Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus Exhibited in Figures. This 1774 work looks inside the human womb to observe gestation at various points. The illustrations by Jan van Rymsdyk are, at times, stunning (see image this page). The book has been described as one of the great artistic achievements in medicine. Item 171. $19,000.
Pirages' catalogue writers knew how to make sure we would read this listing when they added the heading: "A Very Well-Preserved Contemporary Copy of A Book that Cost its Author his Ears." Listen up. The book is Hystrio-Mastix. The Players Scourge, or the Actors Tragaedie. The unfortunate author of this 1633 work was William Prynne. Prynne must have been a barrel of laughs. This work is described as a diatribe against the theater, which he evidently found to be a den of immorality. Among the subjects Prynne attacked were stage plays, cross-dressed male actors, mixed dancing, maypoles, wakes, rural festivals, sports on the Sabbath, and stained-glass windows. Women of the stage were labeled "notorious whores." Unfortunately, some of his venom came too close to the King and Queen who had been known to dance. As a result, Prynne was sentenced to life in prison, stripped of his academic credentials, disbarred, fined, forced to watch his books burned, and had a portion of his ears cut off. Sounds like just punishment for being such an unpleasant individual. Item 236. $3,250.
