[Rarebooks] Luxury, Pomp, Superstition & Ignorance -Roman Bath (1864)

[Joslin Hall Rare Books, ABAA]

Scarth, Rev. H.M. AQUAE SOLIS, OR NOTIVES OF ROMAN BATH. London; Simpkin,
Marshall & Co.: 1864.

While acknowledging in his Introduction that prior studies have focused on
the Roman remains of Bath, the author points out their shortcomings and
inaccuracies, especially when transcribing and illustrating inscriptions.
He writes that "The author's great object has been to collect together
into one volume every fragment of the Roman times which is known to have
existed or is still preserved..." and he has indeed collected tablets,
metalwares, sculpture, architectural fragments, pottery, funeral
inscriptions, and many more interesting pieces of the Roman puzzle. His
descriptions are also quite painstaking, and the illustrations large and,
if not overly elegant, very clean and clear.

Scarth's chief aim seems to be to understand how the Romans and their
occupation affected Britain- "The study is not a dry collation of
meaningless relics, but the gathering together of speaking memorials,
which tell indeed of luxury, pomp, and display, but of superstition and
ignorance... If we view the Roman dominion under its most favorable
aspect, as the civilizer as well as the subjugator... we can yet find deep
traces of ignorance and barbarism... The Roman occupation of this island
must ever have a peculiar interest for its inhabitants, when the effect it
has had on our law and language is considered. Much more is due to the
Roman dominion than is generally supposed, and it is only by studying the
remains of art, the inscriptions, and the language of that people, that we
can adequately estimate the effect of their rule."

Hardcover. 9.5"x11.5", xiii + 137 pages, plus 52 lithographed plates by
C.S. Beckett. Original gilt-stamped cloth covers, very minor cover soil,
and some interiors foxing in several signatures. [05192] $250.00

Illustrations-
<http://www.joslinhall.com/images03/th-05192.jpg>

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