Shaftesbury, (Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of)

Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times

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by James Purser], 1737-1738 [Colophon in vol.III: London The Sixth Edition, Corrected. With the Addition of a Letter concerning Design. Engraved frontispiece portrait of Shaftesbury by Gribelin after Closterman. Title-page vignettes and engraved headpieces.Three volumes. On large and thick paper. 8vo. [230 x 146 x 138 mm]. Contemporary bindings of dark-blue goatskin, the covers gilt tooled with a border, on vol.1 composed of a dog-tooth roll used twice and a large insect roll, on vols 2 and 3 a dog-tooth roll and a bird and wave roll, enclosing lozenge shaped centrepieces composed of various small tools. The spines divided into seven gilt panels, lettered in the second panel and numbered in the third, the others tooled with cornerpieces and central ornaments, comb-marbled endleaves, gilt edges. (Slightly rubbed and refurbished). Contained within a modern cloth slipcase. The title-pages in vols. 1 and 3 are dated 1737, and in vol.2 as 1738. Occasional light spotting or foxing, but a magnificent copy. The three volumes all have a number of tools in common, indicating that they were almost certainly from the same bindery, but they each differ in a number of details. While vol.1 has an insect roll border, vols.2 and 3 have a shared bird and wave roll; the centrepieces are composed of a mixture of tools; vols.1 and 3 have the same sprig corner tools on the spines, while vol.2 has a scroll corner tool, and the central ornaments are all different. These bindings were designed for presentation, and I assume that a number of different finishers were working on them with different tools at the same time in order to meet a deadline. I know of five other copies of this edition bound by the same binder to similar designs: 1. George II's copy in the Old Royal Library, in the British Library (with the bird and wave roll on all 3 vols). 2. Mary, the wife of the fourth Earl of Shaftesbury's copy, which was in Maggs catalogue 845, no.114 (with the insect roll on all 3 vols). 3. Maggs catalogue 893, no.91 (in red goatskin with the insect roll, the bird and wave roll and a "formal" roll) . 4. Maggs catalogue 1212, no.100 (with the insect roll on all 3 vols). 5. The Wormsley Library copy (with the insect roll on vols.2 and 3, and a bird and wave roll on vol.1). The bird and wave roll appears to be the same as the one used by Jonas Hanway's first binder (see, for example, item 121 in Maggs Bros. catalogue 1212). The insect roll was also used on George III's copy of Simes, "Military Medley" (1768), illustrated as plate 46 in Craig, "Irish Bookbindings 1600-1800" (where it is described as "an English binding in the Irish style"); a presentation copy of Robert Lloyd's "Poems", 1762, from the H. Bradley-Martin collection, sold, Sotheby, New York, 30/4/1990, lot 3011; and a copy of "Liber Jobi", 1742, no.95, in an unnumbered Pearson catalogue of "188 Manuscripts [etc]", c.1922. Shaftesbury's "Characteristicks" was one of the most popular philosophical texts of the eighteenth century, though his extraordinary prose style has won him mixed praise. Horace Walpole writes that "he delivers his doctrines in exstatic diction, like one of the Magi inculcating philosophical visions to an eastern auditory". Fielding found him "elegant" and "sublime" and Montesquieu held him one of the four great "poets" - the others being Plato, Montaigne and Malebranche. This sixth edition is a lavish production, presumably sponsored by the fourth Earl (1710-1771), who wrote his father's biography and revered his memory - although he was only three when the philosopher died at Naples. An early owner has marked each volume "C[ollated] P[erfect]", adding his initials "WB" in vols. II and III.

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• ordernr.: ebc1613

• bookseller: George Bayntun (GREAT BRITAIN)