People in California could make practical use of item 29: Orazione devotissima contro I terremoti, tuoni e saette. This is a prayer against earthquakes issued in 1725 in Bologna. The broadside claims the prayer comes from 528 when it spared Antioch, and that it spared Constantinople in 532. £400 (US $667).

Item 18 presents a pair of posters for the manly (or chickenly) art of cockfighting. These are for fights to be staged in Northumberland in 1812 and 1813. The first fight offered prizes of 10 pounds, the second 20 pounds. These amounts would certainly have been more than chicken feed 200 years ago. Cockfighting in Britain was outlawed in 1835, though Gedge notes it was still common in the mining districts of Northumberland into the 1870s. £450 (US $750).

Item 21 is a medical prescription from Derby dated January 30, [17]93. It was written for a "Master Simpson" with the chemical compounds listed in Latin. Just as today, the patient would have taken it to a druggist. The prescription is signed by "E.D." E.D. was no ordinary doctor, but Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles Darwin. Erasmus was a believer in evolution long before his famous grandson presented his theory, but he had the underlying process wrong. He believed organisms somehow possessed the power to advance themselves, rather than advancements coming about through a process of natural selection. £450 (US $750).

Samuel Gedge Ltd. Rare Books may be reached at +44 (0)1263 722 555 or rarebooks@samuelgedge.com. Their website is www.samuelgedge.com.