AUBREY, John.
Miscellanies, upon the following Subjects. I. Day-Fatality. II. Local-Fatality. III. Ostenta. IV. Omens. V. Dreams. VI. Apparitions. VII. Voices. VIII. Impulses. IX. Knockings. X. Blows Invisible. XI. Prophesies. XII. Marvels. XIII. Magick. XIV. Transportation in the Air. XV. Visions in a Beril, or Glass. XVI. Converse with Angels and Spirits. XVII. Corps-Candles in Wales. XVIII. Oracles. XIX. Exstasie. XX. Glances of Love / Envy. XXI. Second-Sighted Persons. XXII. The Discovery of two Murders by an Apparition … The second Edition, with large Additions. To which is prefixed, some Account of his Life.
London: Printed for A. Bettewsorth, and J. Battley … J. Pemberton … and E. Curll … 1721.
8vo, pp. [2], x, [4], 236, [2 (blank)], [16 (two 8-page catalogues of books published by Curll, not called for by ESTC)], with an engraved plate; a very good copy in contemporary calf; section of leather cut away from upper board; ownership inscriptions to title and elsewhere of Thomas Meyricke (1726), Evan Owen, Robert Gryffydd (1735), manuscript medical receipt against colic ascribed to Dr Garth on the lower pastedown.
Added to your basket:
Miscellanies, upon the following Subjects. I. Day-Fatality. II. Local-Fatality. III. Ostenta. IV. Omens. V. Dreams. VI. Apparitions. VII. Voices. VIII. Impulses. IX. Knockings. X. Blows Invisible. XI. Prophesies. XII. Marvels. XIII. Magick. XIV. Transportation in the Air. XV. Visions in a Beril, or Glass. XVI. Converse with Angels and Spirits. XVII. Corps-Candles in Wales. XVIII. Oracles. XIX. Exstasie. XX. Glances of Love / Envy. XXI. Second-Sighted Persons. XXII. The Discovery of two Murders by an Apparition … The second Edition, with large Additions. To which is prefixed, some Account of his Life.
Second edition, enlarged, of Aubrey’s entertaining collection of folk history, superstitions, and gossip, the only book he completed, first published in 1696. The topics he tackles in this work of ‘hermetick philosophy’ include ‘omens and prophecies, dreams and apparitions, day fatality and second sight, all of which he was concerned to explore and explain, verify or discredit’ (ODNB). It is a work rich in curious information: there are charms to cure agues or the bite of a mad dog, spells to summon a vision of your future spouse on St Agnes’s Eve, and advice on the interpretation of dreams.
The posthumous second edition is taken from ‘a printed copy … corrected for the Press by Mr. Aubrey’ and sent with a covering letter to the bookseller Awnsham Churchill, dated 1 June 1697, less than a week before Aubrey's death. Churchill did not however produce the revised edition, and at his posthumous book-sale (26 July 1720) the marked-up exemplar was purchased and employed by four joint-publishers, including Bettesworth and Curll. The new material is indicated by asterisks in the index and the 1721 printing is deservedly considered the standard text of the work. At the front is added a short life of Aubrey.
You may also be interested in...
THE 'FATHER OF THE BEATS' REXROTH, Kenneth.
An Autobiographical Novel …
First edition, inscribed ‘In friendship / for Geoffrey Bridson / Kenneth Rexroth SF June 66’.
TALES OF PIRACY AND SHIPWRECK [TURNER, John.]
Sufferings of John Turner, chief mate of the country ship, Tay, bound for China, under the command of William Greig, including the seizure of him and six lascars in the cutter, and their captivity and danger amongst the ladrones … Also a curious account of Peter Serrano, who having escaped from shipwreck, lived seven years on a sandy island, on the coast of Peru.
Scarce account of piracy and shipwreck, with a striking aquatint frontispiece portraying a pirate attack.