ROBERT STEVENSON'S COPY OF THE FIRST NATURAL HISTORY OF IRELAND
Irelands naturall history. Being a true and ample Description of its Situation, Greatness, Shape, and Nature; Of its Hills, Woods, Heaths, Bogs, Of its Fruitfull Parts and profitable Grounds, with the severall ways of Manuring and Improving the same. With its Heads or Promontories, Harbours, Roads and Bays; Of its Springs and Fountains, Brooks, Rivers, Loghs; Of its Metalls, Mineralls, Freestone, Marble, Sea-coal, Truf, and other things that are taken out of the ground...
Imprinted at London.
for John Wright at the Kings Head in the Old Baily, 1657.
Second edition.
8vo.
[16], 186pp, [6]. Occasional pencilled highlighting to text. ESTC R27215. USTC 3073182. Wing B3373.
[Bound after:] [DAVIES, Sir J.] A discoverie of the true causes why ireland Was never entirely Subdued, nor brought under Obedience of the Crowne of England, Untill the Beginning of His Majesties happie Raigne. Printed exactly from the Edition in 1612. London. Printed for A. Millar, opposite Katharine Street in the Strand, 1747. 12mo in 6s. 283pp, [5]. With two terminal advertisement leaves. ESTC T136455.
Two works bound in one. Contemporary calf-backed marbled 'Dutch' decorative paper boards. Worn, with loss to spine, joints. Robert Stevenson's copy, inscribed 'Robert Stevenson Esq. With best regards from A.W.', which David Alan Stevenson has suggested in manuscript beneath is 'Adam Warner, son in law of R.S.'; Robert Stevenson himself has added 'Formerly the property of Sir Wm. Rae, R.S.'. Rae's own inscription to head of the title of second mentioned work, and the 'Through' armorial bookplate of Newburgh Hamilton to verso of the same title.
[Bound after:] [DAVIES, Sir J.] A discoverie of the true causes why ireland Was never entirely Subdued, nor brought under Obedience of the Crowne of England, Untill the Beginning of His Majesties happie Raigne. Printed exactly from the Edition in 1612. London. Printed for A. Millar, opposite Katharine Street in the Strand, 1747. 12mo in 6s. 283pp, [5]. With two terminal advertisement leaves. ESTC T136455.
Two works bound in one. Contemporary calf-backed marbled 'Dutch' decorative paper boards. Worn, with loss to spine, joints. Robert Stevenson's copy, inscribed 'Robert Stevenson Esq. With best regards from A.W.', which David Alan Stevenson has suggested in manuscript beneath is 'Adam Warner, son in law of R.S.'; Robert Stevenson himself has added 'Formerly the property of Sir Wm. Rae, R.S.'. Rae's own inscription to head of the title of second mentioned work, and the 'Through' armorial bookplate of Newburgh Hamilton to verso of the same title.
A choice copy of two significant works of Irish history - one seventeenth and one eighteenth-century - with illustrious provenance; bearing the inscriptions of civil-engineer and lighthouse designer Robert Stevenson (1772-1850), Scottish lawyer and politician Sir William Rae (1769-1842), and the bookplate of Irish playwright and librettist Newburgh Hamilton (1691-1761).
The earlier work, bound second, is Dutch physician Gerald Boate's (1604-1650) posthumously published natural history of Ireland, divided into 24 chapters, outlining the island's coastline, its 'promontories', rivers, lakes, mountains, minerals, earth composition and flora. Although he had not even visited Ireland at the time of composition, his study of Ireland was not only the first original vernacular survey - not translated from an earlier source - of its natural history, but indeed the first of its kind for any part of the British Isles. Despite having worked as physician to Charles I, Boate was a supporter of Parliament's efforts to reduce Ireland, subscribing money for the project in 1642; his efforts were rewarded by his appointment, with a stipend of £50, as physician for Ireland in 1649, whilst Cromwell was in command, shortly before his death.
Written in the mid 1640s, Irelands natural history remained unpublished until after his death, when the manuscript came into the possession of Polish-born English writer Samuel Hartlib (1600-1662), who dedicated the work to Cromwell and Fleetwood and published the first edition in 1652. This second edition appeared in 1657, a French translation, Histoire Naturelle d'Irlande (Paris, 1666) duly followed; in the eighteenth-century two Dublin- printed quarto editions were also published (1726 and 1755).
The appeal of this work to Robert Stevenson - with its strong emphasis on the impact of water on the environment and detailed descriptions of the geomorphology of the Irish coastline - is self-evident.
Provenance: from the recently dispersed remains of the Stevenson family library.
£ 2,500.00
Antiquates Ref: 31288
The earlier work, bound second, is Dutch physician Gerald Boate's (1604-1650) posthumously published natural history of Ireland, divided into 24 chapters, outlining the island's coastline, its 'promontories', rivers, lakes, mountains, minerals, earth composition and flora. Although he had not even visited Ireland at the time of composition, his study of Ireland was not only the first original vernacular survey - not translated from an earlier source - of its natural history, but indeed the first of its kind for any part of the British Isles. Despite having worked as physician to Charles I, Boate was a supporter of Parliament's efforts to reduce Ireland, subscribing money for the project in 1642; his efforts were rewarded by his appointment, with a stipend of £50, as physician for Ireland in 1649, whilst Cromwell was in command, shortly before his death.
Written in the mid 1640s, Irelands natural history remained unpublished until after his death, when the manuscript came into the possession of Polish-born English writer Samuel Hartlib (1600-1662), who dedicated the work to Cromwell and Fleetwood and published the first edition in 1652. This second edition appeared in 1657, a French translation, Histoire Naturelle d'Irlande (Paris, 1666) duly followed; in the eighteenth-century two Dublin- printed quarto editions were also published (1726 and 1755).
The appeal of this work to Robert Stevenson - with its strong emphasis on the impact of water on the environment and detailed descriptions of the geomorphology of the Irish coastline - is self-evident.
Provenance: from the recently dispersed remains of the Stevenson family library.
