[Rarebooks] fa: 1748 Gentleman's Magazine: MAPS of AFRICA/EAST INDIES/SOLAR ECLIPSE/BALTIC SEA &c.

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, October 13. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/m3hzuff

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.

The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle. Volume XVIII [18]. For the Year MDCCXLVIII [1748]. London: Edw. Cave, jun. at St. John's Gate, [1748]. Twelve monthly issues (Jan.-Dec.), plus supplement, volume title, indices and preface. Tall, thick 8vo (22.5 cm), untrimmed in early quarter calf and marbled boards; 600 + [20] pp.; with numerous charts and tables, in-text diagrams, illustrations and plans, musical notation, plus 31 engraved plates, eleven of which are folding (some bound out of order).

A jam-packed and profusely illustrated example of this mighty organ of the Age of Enlightenment, the first and longest-running "magazine" in the modern sense. Binding with rubbing and wear; rear joint cracked and front joint starting, but both boards are secure; spine a bit dried and rubbed with some loss at the ends; lacking one text leaf (pp. 345-6) and  one plate (section of a ship of war), but the total number of plates matches that of the directions to the binder, so there is presumably an extra plate here; wear and darkening to the untrimmed edges of the text block, mild intermittent toning to the leaves with a few scattered small spots, but overall, the contents are unusually clean and fresh, securely bound.

The THIRTY-ONE PLATES in this volume include:

** A Map of AFRICA "Drawn from the best Maps by T. Jefferys, Geographer to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales" (folding).
** A Map of the EAST INDIES (folding).
** A Map of the BALTIC SEA, Gulfs of Finland and Bothnia, with the Sound (folding).
** The SOLAR SYSTEM and the "Artificial Sphere," or orrery.
** The Geography of the GREAT SOLAR ECLIPSE of July 14 [1748], Exhibiting an accurate Map of all parts of the Earth where it will be Visible, with the North Pole, according to the latest Discoveries (folding; tear to right margin).
** The OSTRICH (folding).
** HERALDRY & COATS OF ARMS: 12 plates showing "The Blazon of Coat Armour", "Bearings of Coat Armour", Coats of Arms of Earls, Barons, Bishops, etc.
** Plan of the City and Fortifications of MAESTRICHT (folding).
** View of the MANSION HOUSE , erected for the Residence of the Lord Mayors of London.
** View of AMSTERDAM (folding).
** A North View of GREENWICH HOSPITAL from the Isle of Dogs.
** An East View of CHELSEA COLLEGE and the Rotunda in RANELAGH GARDENS.
** A view and a plan of AIX-LA-CHAPELLE (2 plates, 1 folding).
** Natural and Artificial Curiosities (including a Weighing Engine and a Hygrometer)
** View of the FOUNDLING HOSPITAL.
** A Ship of War.
** "The Manner of Building in the East" (the courtyard of a house in the Levant).
** Plus full page woodcuts of "SWAN PAN [suanpan], a Chinese arithmetical Machine," or abacus, accompanied by an explanation; and a "Plan of the LATE FIRE IN CORNHILL", accompanied by a list of the Tenants burnt out; and in-text illustrations of a Fumigator for sore throats, a Machine for raising water, a Rube Goldberg-esque alarm system, a large Hailstone, etc., etc.