Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - March - 2008 Issue

17th and 18th Century Books and Pamphlets (Mostly British) from Jarndyce Antiquarian Booksellers

17th and 18th century works from Jarndyce Antiquarian Booksellers.

17th and 18th century works from Jarndyce Antiquarian Booksellers.


by Michael Stillman

This month we review our first catalogue from Jarndyce Antiquarian Booksellers, located opposite the British Museum in London. The firm has been selling books for 35 years, and this is the 174th catalogue they have issued. Jarndyce specializes in antiquarian English literature and history, although the works here are perhaps a bit older than most they usually offer. The catalogue is titled Books and Pamphlets of the 17th and 18th Centuries Part I. It contains 462 items, and we will undoubtedly see many more as this one only takes us through the letter "H." While there are exceptions, most are British works, in the English language, published in England, usually London. However, as noted, there are exceptions, such as a few books in French, published in Paris. Here are some of the many fascinating old books to be found in this latest Jarndyce catalogue.

Lest anyone think all British history is serious and proper, Item 49 is George Hickes' Ravillac Redivivus...To which is annexed, an account of the tryal of that most wicked Pharisee Major Thomas Weir, who was executed for adultery, incest and bestiality. Weir was an apparently deeply religious Presbyterian official, former soldier, and most respectable of men. The result is that it came as a great shock to his neighbors when at the age of 70, he suddenly confessed to all of these and other crimes. His 60-year-old sister backed him up, confessing to incest with him as well as witchcraft. What on earth compelled these two to make such terrible, and unforced confessions is hard to fathom. There was evidently some serious mental instability in the family, but it may well be that there was also truth to some of their confessions, and perhaps a consuming guilt led them to suddenly blurt out admissions they knew would have terrible consequences. While town officials at first tried to attribute Weir's statements to insanity, physicians could find no signs of illness (they must not have looked very hard). Weir was convicted and on April 11, 1670, he was strangled, his body burnt. The following day, his sister was hanged, tearing off her clothes on the gallows as she wished to die in even more shame. This 1682 account of their trial (and that of another preacher, James Mitchel, for murder) is priced at £350 (US equivalent of approximately $681).

Daniel Defoe is best remembered for his novel Robinson Crusoe, but it took him a long time to get there. Defoe was involved in a myriad of business ventures and political intrigues, almost always in debt, and on occasion in prison. Indeed, he had only recently been released from prison when perhaps the worst storm to ever hit Britain pounded the island on November 26 and 27, 1703. Thousands of people died. Defoe wrote hundreds of pamphlets and books over the course of his life, generally for the purpose of relieving his debts, and in this storm he saw an opportunity to make some money. He ran advertisements in the paper looking for eyewitness accounts, which he used to write this book: The Storm, or, a Collection of the most remarkable Casualties and Disasters, which happen'd in the late dreadful Tempest, both by Sea and Land, published in 1704. Item 318. £650 (US $1,265).

Rare Book Monthly

  • Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Th. McKenney & J. Hall, History of the Indian tribes of North America, 1836-1844. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Biblia latina vulgata, manuscript on thin parchment, around 1250. Est: €70,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. Beckmann, Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen, 1924. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. S. Merian, Eurcarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, 1717-18. Est: €6,000
    Ketterer, May 26: PAN, 9 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: €12,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: €15,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Quran manuscript from the Saadian period, Maghreb, 16th century. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer, May 26: E. Hemingway, The old man and the sea, 1952. First edition in first issue jacket. Presentation copy. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De re militari libri quatuor, 1553. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer, May 26: K. Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. Est: €30,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Brassaï, Transmutations, 1967. Est: €6,000
  • Doyle
    The Collection of Mary Tyler Moore
    June 4, 2025
    DOYLE: Peter Max, Portrait of Mary Tyler Moore (Versions 1,2, 5, 6), 2001. Estimate $10,000-15,000
    DOYLE: The iconic screen-used wall-mounted "M" from The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Estimate $5,000-8,000
    DOYLE: The Mary Tyler Moore Show by Al Hirschfeld. Estimate $4,000-6,000
    Doyle
    The Collection of Mary Tyler Moore
    June 4, 2025
    DOYLE: Annie Leibovitz presents Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke for Vanity Fair. Estimate $4,000-6,000
    DOYLE: Al Hirschfeld presents Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke in the CBS Wednesday Night Lineup. Estimate $4,000-6,000
    DOYLE: Richard McKenzie, Portrait of Mary Tyler Moore. Estimate $1,000-2,000
    Doyle
    The Collection of Mary Tyler Moore
    June 4, 2025
    DOYLE: Three Original Bill Hargate Costume Designs for The Mary Tyler Moore Hour. Estimate $600-800
    DOYLE: The famous Bonnie and Clyde "Wanted" broadside. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE: Ticket to the Final Episode of the Mary Tyler Moore Show Estimate $400-600
  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR

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