[Rarebooks] F/S Erasmus, Praise Of Folly / Holbein Illustrated / 1722

[Garry R Austin]

We offer for your consideration, net to all and postpaid in the US, @$150.00 the following;

Desiderius Erasmus. Wit against Wisdom; or, the Praise of Folly. Made English from the Latin of Erasmus By an Eminent Hand [i.e. by White Kennet]. Adorn'd with great Variety of Sculptures, design'd by the Celebrated Hans Holbein. London: John Wilford, 1722. Third edition; duodecimo; pp; xiv, (ii), v, 168, (iv), index; Illustrated, a frontispiece portrait and forty-six copper plate engravings, of which are six are folding plates; all plates are present, beautifully illustrated by Holbein; full leather, boards detached but present, spine worn and faded; the book block is intact and sound, lacking the last blank leaf; Inserted leaf before the "Prefatory Epistle" is a "Books Printed and Sold by John Wilford" catalogue. Previous 18th century owner's name on a preliminary, "Alex. Keith", his signature ends with a flourish. We believe this to be the Keith of Keith's Chapel or the Mayfair Chapel.

Keith's Chapel also known as Mr Keith's Chapel and the May Fair Chapel, was a private chapel in Curzon Street, Mayfair, London, operated by the 18th century Church of England clergyman Alexander Keith.

Keith had been the first incumbent of the Church of England's new Curzon Chapel, built in Curzon Street in 1730, where he began to perform marriages without either banns or license until he was excommunicated by an ecclesiastical court in 1742. Keith then went to prison and remained there for several years. However, he quickly established his own private chapel very near to his old one on Curzon Street, where he and his curates continued clandestine marriages until 1754, when the Marriage Act, 1753, came into effect.


Garry R Austin
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