Lot Details
Lot 155
CORNWALLIS, WILLIAM, (Sir) Essayes by Sir VVilliam Cornevvallyes the yonger, Knight ... Newly enlarged.
London: I. Windet for John Browne, 1610. As noted by ESTC: "A reissue of the 1606 edition of part 1, with title page cancelled and replaced with a general title page; with an enlarged edition of part 2 and a reprint of "Discourses upon Seneca the tragedian." Old calf, neatly rebacked, all edges red. 4 7/8 x 3 1/4 inches (12.5 x 8 cm); unpaginated, collating A-2X^(8) (-2X8, terminal blank). Light binding wear, tidily rebacked at an earlier time, leaf E8 creased, generally a clean copy. Faint ownership inscription at head of title of R. Salusbury Cotton (d. 1809), the cousin of Hester Thrale, Johnson's close friend; bookplate of Henry B. Humphrey.
The first blank bears the inscription "This very singular and rare little book was given me by my much esteemed friend Dr. Samuel Johnson," initialled J.B. This is not in James Boswell's hand, the obvious candidate, but (while an outright imposture cannot be totally ruled out), the handwriting is consistent with hands of the period. Those of Johnson's circle with the initials J.B. include Sir Joseph Banks; Joseph Baretti; Dr. James Beattie; John Bell; and James Barrie, the painter (information in a 1950 note from Yale University Library). Of these, the script fairly closely resembles the first, but with such a small sample, certainty is difficult, and there are differences in some of the letterforms from Banks's hand. The work is ESTC S108703.
C Property of a Massachusetts Gentleman
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