42 19th March 2011 antiquarian books Mapping Britain through
■ Britain in pictures – physical, topographical, ecclesiastical
■ Sales across the country offer wide range of plates and maps
Ian McKay
THERE is a distinct British theme to this week’s reports, which focus principally on topography, maps, local archives, etc. from sales of recent times, but also include some notable Bibles and comic illustrations of life at sea. County maps seen in recent sales
include the copy of the first published map of Gloucestershire engraved by Augustine Ryther for Christopher Saxton’s pioneering collection of county maps, the Atlas of England and Wales of 1579. The contemporary colouring
extends to the elaborate title cartouche surmounted by the arms of Elizabeth I, and to the arms of Thomas Seckford, who was Master of Requests to Elizabeth and the man who commissioned and financed the surveys carried out by Saxton during the 1570s. There is also a coloured mileage scale, though Saxton’s maps did not actually incorporate roads. A Yorkshire surveyor, Saxton was
granted a ten-year privilege for printing and selling his 34 county maps, which were engraved in the years 1574-78. Mounted, framed and glazed, this example of his Glocestria made £3200 at
Above: Saxton’s Gloucestershire sold for £3200 at Dominic Winter’s January 26-27 sale.
Above right: an engraved view of St Andrews from a tall, clean copy of John Slezer’s Theatrum Scotiae that sold for £3200 at Lyon & Turnbull of Edinburgh on January 26. A 1693 first edition in a rebacked contemporary calf binding bearing the arms of the Bridgman family, it contained good, dark impressions of all 57 double-page views and the numerous engraved coats of arms. The price matched that paid for another seen in the same rooms in 2008, but the ex-Sloane-BM-Beriah Botfield-Longleat copy made £5000 at Christie’s in 2002. Right: one of 42 engraved plates and maps from William Boys’ Collections for Sandwich in Kent.... Published in Canterbury in 1792, and containing ‘Notices of the other Cinque Ports and Members, and of Richborough’, this first edition sported an 1833 calf binding by Charles Lewis (according to an inscription) and though the covers are now detached, sold for what would appear to be an auction record £920 at Bonhams Oxford on February 22.
Dominic Winter sale on January 26-27. In the same sale, a 1768 second
edition of Sir Robert Atkyns’ Ancient and Present State of Glocestershire was sold at £3000. Generally clean, in a rebacked 19th
century full-calf binding, it was complete with eight single-page armorial plates, an engraved map and 64 double- page views by Kip (plus eight related engravings, loosely inserted), but copies have made twice as much in past years. On November 30 at Bonhams
Oxford, a fine copy of the 1840 second edition of G.B. Greenough’s Physical and Geological Map of England and Wales
sold for £5500. A copy of Sir William Dugdale’s
monumental Monasticon Anglicanum seen at Bloomsbury Auctions on February 24 was a mixed-edition set, the first of the three volumes being a second edition. In an 18th century binding, it was far from ideal – some of the Hollar plates were a little faint or smudged and many trimmed and mounted – but did contain a letter from Dugdale to a fellow antiquary and historian, Robert Brady of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge. Seemingly written on receipt of a
copy of Brady’s An Introduction to the Old English History of 1684, or perhaps
a manuscript of his Complete History of England of the following year, Dugdale’s letter explains that, after diligent reading, he finds it “
...to be done with much judgement as well as great paines”, but then proceeds to point out a few mistakes or misconceptions. One of these concerns a portrait of
Henry VIII: “
...that excellent picture in the privy gallery at Whitehall, neere the chimney; it is commonly taken for K. Henr. 8. riding in state into Bulloine whereas, in truth, it is his riding into Ghisne in the 12th yeare of his reign”. Sold for 14 guineas in a 1777 sale of the library of John Ives, another
Sporting the Oak from Cranbrook
ALMOST a year ago now, I reported the sale at Canterbury Auction Galleries of a copy of Thomas Dearn’s
...Account of the Weald of Kent of 1814 and, aided by online research, unwittingly perpetuated some misconceptions about the life and royal connections of this historian, artist and architect. In due course I heard from Paul
Donovan who, having purchased Dearn’s house in Cranbrook and working there
as an art dealer, embarked on a study of Dearn’s life that was published in 2007 as Sporting the Oak.... Dearn’s real story is even more
fascinating than the myth and Donovan’s book, which also lists all his architectural and historical books, prints, drawings and maps, has more than just local interest and appeal. Paul Donovan also tells me that he is currently doing more research into
Dearn’s life, so there could be another book in the offing, but here – rather belatedly, and with due apologies for not finding an earlier opportunity – I pass on the information that Sporting the Oak is available at £20 (incl. p&p) from the author at Dearn Villa, High Street, Cranbrook, Kent TN17 3DT. Tel. 01580 713435.
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