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7. leland, John. the itinery of John leland the antiquary. Publish’d from the original Ms in the Bodleian library by thomas hearne. to which is prefix’d Mr leland’s new Year gift: and at the end is subjoin’d a Discourse concerning some antiquities lately found in Yorkshire. Oxford. Printed at the Theatre for James Fletcher and Joseph Pote. 1768-1769.
£1,995
8vo., 9 volumes in full chocolate morocco by r Petit (signed in volume 1), boards with single blind line panel enclosing an elaborate blind border with large gilt armorial crest of harry Vane Milbank in the centre of the boards and smaller armorial crests in each corner, lettered in gilt on spine, all edges gilt, rich gilt turn-ins over marbled endpapers. Pp.Vol.1 [vi] + xx1v + 150; vol.2 174 (with 2 inserted plates): vol.3 x + 11-196: vol. 4 xvi + 183: vol. 5 xxxii + 178: vol.6 xviii +156: vol. 7 xxvii + 153: vol.8 xlviii + 109 + 48 (with large folding plate): vol. 9 xlvi [ii] + 140 78 + [2]. With vignettes and illustrations in the text. a little occasional browning, just a little rubbing to edges, otherwise a very handsome set.
third edition. From the library of harry Vane Milbank with his bookplate in each volume and his neat ink stamp (dated 1878) on front blanks. Milbank, the son of sir Frederick Milbank, was educated at eton and subsequently joined the army, fighting in the sudan under general herbert stewart. he owned racing stables in england, France and germany, and was a renowned gambler, reputedly losing a fortune of $1,500,00 before his death in switzerland as a morphine addict. he was also a prominent duelist, participating in about 17 fights. he is also known as the husband of Mrs harry Vane Milbank, the subject of a famous John singer sargent portrait.
leland’s pioneering work on english antiquities was based on his travels in the 1540s, but was not published until 1710 by the scholar and antiquary thomas hearne.
“By about 1539 leland’s chief concerns had shifted to topography and local history. inflamed by a patriotic desire to see the places he had read about in ancient histories and chronicles, he spent by his own account some six years in travelling throughout henry’s dominions, so that:
“there is almost neyther cape nor baye, haven, creke or pere, ryver or confluence of ryvers, breches, washes, lakes, meres, fenny waters, mountaynes, valleys, mores, hethes, forestes, woodes, cyties, burges, castels, pryncypall manor places, monasteryes and colleges, but i have seane them and noted in so doynge a whole worlde of thynges verye memorable. (laboryouse Journey, ed. J. Bale, 1549, sig. D.iiiiv)”
the precise chronology of leland’s journeys, of which there seem to have been about five, is impossible to determine and only once did he give a date for his setting out: on 5 May 1542 he began an extensive tour of the west country. an earlier journey began in Wales and brought him to shropshire, up to chester and across to Yorkshire, down to the east midlands, Worksop and Bedford, and home again. other trips included the west midlands, Yorkshire again, and places further north. the accounts of more than one trip have been lost. his notebooks suggest his procedure: sometimes he made maps and measured distances, he asked information from local inhabitants, and he also examined books and charters. he compared sources and noted when there were disparities or when information seemed to be unreliable. During the travels themselves he took rough notes, which he later amplified; normally he kept both rough and fair copies. although he never managed to produce the many works he envisaged, his undertaking was an extraordinarily ambitious one and marks the beginning of english topographical studies.” (oDnB)
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