[Rarebooks] fa: WRITINGS OF LINNAEUS Richard Pulteney + JOHN LOCKE &c. 4 works/1 Vol. 1713-1788

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auctions ending Sunday, February 17. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/al7rkjj

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.


Richard Pulteney: A General View of the Writings of Linnæus. London: Printed for T. Payne, at the Mews-Gate; and B. White, Fleet-Street, MDCCLXXXI [1781]. First edition. iv, 425, [1] pp. ESTC T140201; Henrey 1246. [BOUND WITH:] Some Account of the Late Giles Hussey, Esq. [drop title]. [London:] Printed by John Nichols, Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street, [n.d. but ca. 1788?]. Presumed first edition. 16 pp. [BOUND WITH:] [Jean Le Clerc:] An Account of the Life and Writings of Mr. John Locke, Author of the Essay Concerning Humane Understandings. London: Printed for John Clarke in the Old-Change, and E. Curll at the Dial and Bible against St. Dunstan’s Church in Fleetstreet, 1713. Second edition, enlarged. [6], 63, [1] pp.; ESTC T137407. [BOUND WITH:] S[quier] Payne: A Brief Account of the Life, Character, and Writings, of the Right Reverend Father in God, Richard Cumberland, D.D. late Lord Bishop of Peterborough. Which may serve as a Preface to his Lordship’s Book now in the Press, entituled, Sanchoniatho’s Phoenician History, &c. London: Printed by W. B for R. Wilkin at the King’s Head in St. Paul’s Church-Yard, MDCCXX [1720]. First separate edition. 39, [1] pp. ESTC T68689.

Four important and/or uncommon works bound in one volume; hardcover 8vo in modern paper-covered boards and spine. Some browning and soiling to the title-pages, occasional mild toning to the leaves; third work bound without the half-title page and with light damp-staining to the top fore-corner of the leaves; a few small spots; otherwise quite clean and sound, firmly bound. Front paste-down with the bookplate of Melvin Edward Jahn, noted bibliographer and collector of scientific books.

The first work is considered the first biographical account of Carl Linnaeus in English. It's author, the physician and botanist Richard Pulteney (1730-1801), is credited with introducing the Linnaean classification system to British science. The second work is a scarce life of the painter Giles Hussey (1710-1788), developer and proponent of the "Harmonic Scale," a peculiar theory of artistic beauty based on mathematics and music. A devout catholic and adherent of the Stuart cause, he created the first portraits of the Young Pretender, Bonnie Prince Charlie. WorldCat locates no copy of this pamphlet in any libraries or institutions. The third title is a translation of Le Clerc's life of Locke which first appeared in French in 1705. While the title-page states that this is a second edition, ESTC lists no earlier edition under this title. The fourth title is a life of Richard Cumberland (1631-1718), philosopher and bishop of Peterborough, an early proponent of utilitarianism, and author of De legibus naturae [On natural laws]. The life was written by Cumberland's domestic chaplain and son-in-law, Squier Payne.