(AUCTION CATALOGUE: EDWARDS, James). A Catalogue of the Valuable Library of James Edwards, Esq. Containing a splendid Assemblage of Early Printed Books, chiefly upon Vellum. Highly Curious and Important Manuscripts, many of them executed for Sovereign Princes. Magnificent Books of Prints, and various important Articles in every department of Literature and Science...
Three folding engraved plates of vases (the first well-backed at an early date). 2 p.l., 47 pp. 8vo, cont. purple half-morocco & marbled boards (rubbed), spine nicely gilt, a.e.g. London: R.H. Evans, 1815. A fine large and fine paper copy, ruled in red, and priced with buyers' names throughout in a contemporary hand. Edwards (1757-1816), a member of the famous "Edwards of Halifax" family, came to London in 1784 where he quickly became one of the greatest booksellers of his time. Operating on a large scale and reaping handsome profits, he acquired the Pinelli library from Venice, the Paris d'Illens books from France, and books from Prince Eugène de Savoie in Vienna. This sale included many of the treasures that he had kept back for himself such as the Bedford Missal, the 1469 Livy on vellum, and Poussin's drawings after Leonardo. The sale is treated at length by Dibdin in The Bibliographical Decameron, Vol. III, pp. 111-27. 830 lots of books and MSS. and nine lots of vases. Apart from the rubbing, a nice copy.
$US1650
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