Sales catalogue 78: Peter Murray Hill Ltd.

Date:
Autumn 1961
Reference:
WA/HMM/CM/Sal/43/4
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Sales catalogue 78: Peter Murray Hill Ltd. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    33/46 page 33
    163 164 165 166 167 73 SLOANE AVENUE, CHELSEA, LONDON, S.W.3. 33 News of whores, sodomy, the embarrassing physiological quirks of hanged bodies, and a lady’s complaint against her husband *‘ by Reason of her Disappointment in his Conjugal Performance ” are thus interspersed with pious platitudes, theatrical and book reviews, curious poems, vicious side-kicks at anti-Duntonites, and elaborate compliments to the complaisant. (Who, incidentally, was the Mr. S named as one of the “sole Authors of [Dunton’s] first Athenian Mercury”? Swift, we know, wrote verses for one issue). A farrago The Post-Angel may be, and something of a fool Dunton undoubtedly was, yet he remains a fascinating figure. The Post-Angel deserves “‘a prominent place in the history of English literary periodicals.” (Graham, English Literary Periodicals, p. 59). POST BOY (The), With the Freshest Advices, Foreign and Domestick. Printed for L. Beardwell [John Morphew}], 1709-19. £4 4s Folio, 5 ORIGINAL ISSUES, for July 28, 1709, June 29, 1717; March 31, April 23, June 4, 1719. The later issues have the bold new woodcut head-pieces by Francis Hoffman. POST-MAN (The); and The Historical Account, &c. Printed by Dryden Leach, in Elliots-Court, 1708-1720. £9 10s Folio, 12 ORIGINAL ISSUES, for Sept. 4 (with Postscript), Sept. 25, Nov. 27, 1708; Dec. 29, 1711; Feb. 14, 1712; Oct. 17, 1713; June 29, 1717; March 27, 29, April 1, 1718; Jan. 21, 1718[9]; Dec. 1, 1720. One torn and a few imprints cut into, but an interesting cross-section of a famous paper, showing the changing format. Several issues are On the paper specially watermarked “* The Post Man,” designed to outwit pirates. AUTHOR V. BOOKSELLER. PRATER (The). By Nicholas Babble, Esq. [? J. HoLcomBe}. The Second Edition, Corrected and Improved by the Author. Printed for T. Lownds, at his Circulating Library, in Fleet-Street, 1757. £6 6s 12mo, contemporary calf, RARE. CRANE AND KAYE (742) RECORD THIS REPRINT ONLY, AND ONLY THE YALE COPy. The paper ran from March 13 to Nov. 6, 1756, and Bodley’s set of the 35 original weekly issues appears to be unique. It is there ascribed to Holcombe. The C.B.E.L. gives it to Hugh Kelly who was a youth of 17 in Dublin in 1756. Whoever “‘ Nicholas Babble’ was, his venture was a lively one, and is especially valuable for its 8-page “* DIALOGUE BETWIXT A MODERN AUTHOR AND A BOOKSELLER ON PLAGIARISM, COPY-MONEY, SIMILES AND NOVELS...” &c., &c. Other subjects include playhouse manners, modern dress (with special reference to fans and muffs), opera glasses and spectacles, quacks, haircutting, the “* Fraudulent Arts of Dealers in pictures,” “‘ the Invention of Message Cards,” the Plate Act, the “‘ painting academy in St. Martin’s Lane,” gardening, and (unrecorded in Gove) a ‘‘ DREAM OF A JOURNEY TO THE Moon...” PRESENT STATE OF EUROPE (The): Or, The Historical and Political Mercury: Giving an Account of all the Publick and Private Occurrences that are most Considerable in every Court, Beginning with the Month of July 1690. [Vols. I-II]. Printed, and are to be Sold by Randal Taylor, 1690-1. £12 10s 4to, CONTEMPORARY CALF; the first eighteen monthly issues, from July 1690 (No. 0, having been compiled, as a note explains, after the issue for August) to Dec. 1691 (No. 12 of Vol. If). By John Phillips, translated from Courtilz de Sandras’ Mercure Historique et Politique. It continued well into the 18th century. Crane and Kaye, 745. PRESENT STATE OF EUROPE (The): Or, The Historical and Political Monthly Mercury. [11 monthly issues as detailed below]. Printed for Henry Rhodes ... and Eliz. Harris, 1699-1700. £5 5s 11 issues, 4to, unbound; August-November 1699; Feb.-March, July-September, and November 1699; December 1700. Crane and Kaye, 745.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3