[Rarebooks] fa: JOHN EVELYN - FUMIFUGIUM or THE AER AND SMOAKE OF LONDON DISSIPATED - 1772

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, along with other 17th, 18th, & 19th-century titles, auctions ending Sunday, Sept. 16. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/8tv8bfj

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.


[John Evelyn:] Fumifugium: or, The Inconvenience of the Aer, and Smoake of London Dissipated. Together with some Remedies humbly proposed by J. E. Esq; to His Sacred Majestie, and to the Parliament now Assembled. Published by His Majesties Command. London: Printed by W. Godbid, for Gabriel Bedel, and Thomas Collins… MDCCLXXII [1772]. Slim 4to (24.5 cm) in modern quarter calf over marbled boards, gilt-lettered morocco labels; in slipcase; viii + 49 + [3] pp.; with the final leaf of publisher's adverts. ESTC T96652.

Binding with rubbing to the joints and edges; title-page dust-soiled and browned with closed tears, two with old archival repairs; some age-toning to the text with occasional small spots; otherwise sound. With some neat, occasionally acerbic penciled commentary in the margins by an early/contemporary owner/critic, clearly not a fan of either the author or his monarch. At one point he has inscribed: "I take this fellow [i.e., Evelyn] to have been a [knave?] of low favour, a Coxcomb, a Toady, and a Humbug." In the margin next to a passage in which Evelyn addresses "Your Majestie [Charles II], who has been so long accustomed to the excellent Aer of other Countries," our annotator has written: "Why did he come back? Master Toady Evelyn[?]." These marginalia are quite light and easily could be erased, but we don't know why anyone would want to.

One of the earliest known treatises on environmental degradation, first published in 1660. In it, John Evelyn, diarist, natural philosopher, and founding member of the Royal Society, advocated burning wood, especially aromatic woods, as less harmful to the lungs than sea coal, and recommended the cultivating of "plantations" and the relocating of London's more polluting industries outside the capital, breweries in particular. This 1772 edition was printed by William Bowyer and John Nichols; according to Maslen and Lancaster (Bowyer Ledgers, 4917), only 250 copies were printed.