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35. [BROWNE, Sir Thomas]. religio medici. Printed for Andrew Crooke. 1642. [with] DIGBY, Sir Kenelm. observations upon religio medici. Printed by R.C. for Daniel Frere. 1643.
£3,500
small 8vo. 2 works bound together; contemporary sheep, rebacked by bernard middleton (with his pencil inscription), preserving the original backstrip, leather label; the first work pp. [ii, engraved title] + 159 + [1, blank]; the second work pp. [iv, blank leaf and title] + 124; the first work has the engraved title-page by William marshall depicting a figure falling headlong from a rock into the sea, the figure being caught by a hand issuing from clouds above; slight restoration to the inner margin of this title-page, light embrowning to the text of the first work; generally a very good copy, with a contemporary engraved plate of st francis Xavier bound in as a frontispiece; preserved in a custom made quarter morocco fall-down-back box with a leather label.
Religio Medici: the first and “unauthorized” text. there are two such unauthorized editions printed for Andrew crooke in 1642, both of which precede the first authorized edition (also for Andrew crooke) of 1643. in the first edition of his Bibliography of Sir Thomas Browne, 1924, geoffrey keynes gave precedence to this edition, with 159pp., on the strength of the fresh appearance of the engraved title-page. however, in the second edition of his bibliography, 1968, keynes reversed the order of the two unauthorized editions, placing the edition with 190pp. first on evidence based on textual differences. curiously, Wing also has a change of opinion on the precedence of these two editions, but reverses them in the opposite direction from keynes! browne does not seem to have been too displeased at the appearance of these unauthorized editions as he allowed crooke to issue the amended and authorized edition in 1643.
“by turns credulous and sceptical, sir thomas browne is one of the most unusual of the great writers of the seventeenth century. he spent his working life as a doctor practising in norwich, and not least remarkable is his aloofness from all the political disturbances though which he lived. A platonist by temperament, the world to him was only an image, a shadow of the real, and all existence is merely the substance of reflexions. nothing is too minute to be considered: the smallest trifle may provide the key to the problems of existence and what lies beyond death. browne’s inimitable style mirrors the peculiarity of his thought: in an age given to erudition, metaphor and elaborate diction, his writing has an individual excess of all three of which the reader never tires.
the Religio is not, as its many imitators were to be, a defence of its author’s calling, nor is it the expression of heterodox opinion: browne’s opinions were free from heresy, and his book’s title would be better translated as ‘philosophy’ or ‘faith’ than as ‘religion’. What he demands is the liberty to be guided by his own reason in cases where no exact guidance is laid down by scripture or the teaching of the church. the book was a puzzle to his contemporaries; it was published in paris as the work of a roman catholic; in rome it was placed on the Index Expurgatorius. so, in a way, it has remained ever since. but it is not the matter only which makes the Religio Medici still so universally read. the combination of detachment from the world with fascination with its smallest physical objects, the style, and the mind which both style and contents reveal, has absorbed the interest of readers of all mkinds ever since its first appearance”. (pmm 131).
Wing B5166 (1972 ed: B5167). Keynes (2nd edn.) 2. Pforzheimer 111
Observations upon Religio Medici: first edition, the issue with the imprint ‘r.c for daniel frere’, listed first by keynes. sir kenelm digby wrote his work on religio medici, based on one of the unauthorised editions, when under arrest by the puritan long parliament. it is reported that he wrote the work in twenty-four hours, and it was issued, to browne’s disappointment, before the authorised revised version was published in 1643. digby, an english courtier and diplomat, was also a highly reputed natural philosopher and is credited with the invention of the modern-day wine bottle.
Wing D1442. Keynes 218. Pforzheimer 289.
36. BURRELL, Robert Michael — the library of robert michael burrell. books on the middle east. London: Sotheby’s, 1999.
£30
4to (269 x 208mm). original printed wrappers, reproducing burrell’s bookplate on the lower wrapper; pp. 164; colour-printed frontispiece, and colour-printed and monochrome illustrations; a fine copy.
the sale catalogue for the auction of the library of the soAs academic r.m. burrell (1943-1999), sold by sotheby’s in london on the 14-15 october 1999. the catalogue is prefaced by an appreciation by david morgan — ‘bibliomania is of course the near-universal occupational disease of historians, but burrell had it in a particularly acute form. his collection of books, antiquarian and modern, on the middle east cannot have had many equals in private hands’ — and the extensively-illustrated catalogue itself comprises circa 8,000 volumes arranged into some 912 lots, and is supplemented by an index. the sale realised a total of nearly £1,925,310,
and the
printed auction results are loosely inserted.
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37. CAMPBELL, Colin. the beggarstaff posters. the Work of James pryde and William nicholson. Barrie & Jenkins. 1990. £78
4to., original cloth with dust wrapper. illustrated throughout with colour and black and white illustrations. A fine copy.
first edition. the definitive work on pryde and nicholson’s poster designs.
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