1705 1766 birch (2 Ergebnisse)

Hardcover. Zustand: Very Good. folio. pp. iv, 216. engraved title vignette by H.Gravelot. 108 engraved portraits. full red gilt-paneled hard-grained morocco by Riviere, gilt spine, gilt inside dentelles, a.e.g. with initials on upper cover J.G. from C.C.T. (bit rubbed, corners worn, 5 portraits trimmed & mounted). Fourth Edition of this handsome portrait book (first: 1743-51). Included are biographies, with portraits engraved by Jacob Houbraken and George Vertue after paintings by Holbein, Van Dyck, Lely, Kneller and others, of Geoffrey Chaucer, Thomas Wolsey, Sir Thomas More, George Buchanan, Mary Queen of Scots, Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, Ben Jonson, Sir Francis Bacon, Sir Edward Coke, William Harvey, Oliver Cromwell, John Milton, the Earl of Shaftesbury, John Locke, Isaac Newton, Catharine of Aragon, William Shakespeare, Kenelm Digby, John Dryden, Alexander Pope, &c. NCBEL II 1703.

207 x 131 mm. 8vo. [iv], 458, [14], [2 ads.] pp. Title-page vignette, 5 figs. (pp. 236, 237, 242, 244), index. Modern full calf, raised bands, gilt spine title; small puncture p. 1, corners torn away (pp. 25/6, 27/28). Small ink notation on title referencing The Spectator, Vol. 7 (etc.), very occasional marginalia (p. [iv], 1, 64, 69, 84, 96-97, 104, 124, 131, 160, 162, 166, 266, 285-6, 295-6, 340, 388, Ii2r, Ii3v). Fine. FIRST EDITION of this separate issue, with the imprint date error on title: "MDCDXLIV" [should be: MDCCXLIV]. Birch's biography of Boyle was previously published in Boyle's Complete Works, vol. I, edited by Birch (1744). [Fulton 240-1]. Lawrence Principe describes this edition as "The longest-lived portrait of Robert Boyle . . ." :: The Aspiring Adept, (p. 16). Michael Hunter states, "the account written by Thomas Birch and published in conjunction with the first collected edition of Boyle's works in 1744 has remained the chief source on Boyle's life ever since." :: p. 9. Michael Hunter, Boyle, Between God and Science. / "For Boyle's life, nothing has superseded the work compiled by Birch (ably assisted by Henry Miles) which was prefixed to both collected editions, and also published separately in 1744. Modern biographies have added little of value." Boas, Robert Boyle, p. 233. Birch edited The works of the honorable Robert Boyle, (first appeared in 5 vols., folio, 1744; 6 vols., quarto, London, 1772); these are the standard editions. See: King, The road to medical enlightenment, p. 91, note 5; Boas, Robert Boyle, p. 233. / This work contains a selection of Robert Boyle's letters, perhaps a positive asset for an octavo book, otherwise one had to refer to Birch's edition of Boyle's Collected Works of the same year (1744). That in itself was superseded only by Michael Hunter's edition of The Correspondence of Robert Boyle. / This work also contains "The Charter of the Corporation for propagating the Gospel in New England and the parts adjacent in America, of which Mr. Boyle was the first Governor." Boyle's Last Will & Testament is reprinted herein. Some considerable attention is paid to "An answer to the objection against printing the bible in Irish" and exchanges relating to that issue. / Thomas Birch, D.D. was a historian and biographer. Birch wrote most of the biographical sketches published in the General dictionary, historical and critical, which appeared in ten folio volumes (1734-1741). His biographies were held in high esteem. Between 1742 and 1753, Birch's memoirs of Chillingsworth, Mrs. Cockburn, Cudworth, Du Fresnoy, Greaves, the Reverend James Hervey, Milton, and Raleigh were prefixed to editions of their works. DNB, II, pp. 530-532. / The marginalia is from an unknown person. The longest note (p. 1) is transcribed here: "Read a fine quotation from Mr. Boyle's Occasional Reflections, in [John] Flavel's [1630?-1691] Touchstone of Sincerity, page 40, Vol. 2[n]d." REFERENCES: ESTC T66425; Bibliotheca Walleriana, 16531; Fulton, Robert Boyle, no. 380. See: Michael Hunter (ed.), The Correspondence of Robert Boyle, 2001.