Entirely Engraved
EDMONDSON, Joseph.
Precedency. [London], for the author, [c. 1780].
16mo, ff. [2], 14; engraved throughout on individual plates, with Prince of Wales’s feathers to title; lightly foxed, minor soiling to head of a few leaves, nonetheless a very good copy; bound in contemporary red morocco, borders roll-tooled in gilt, spine gilt in compartments, edges gilt, marbled endpapers; a little scuffed with short slit to front joint; late eighteenth-century ink ownership label ‘J: Copley’ to front free endpaper, early nineteenth-century armorial bookplate of Sir Joseph Copley to front pastedown (Franks 6836).
First edition of this Georgian social hierarchology, entirely engraved for and self-published by the coach-painter-turned-herald Joseph Edmondson, in contemporary red morocco gilt with a roll incorporating heraldic motifs.
Dedicated to the Prince of Wales (whose feathers adorn the title), this brief work opens with the order of precedence for men from the King and Prince of Wales down through various archbishops, lords, bishops, other office-holders, sons of the above, and, finally, ‘Burgesses, &c’. Next is the precedency of women (running from the Queen to ‘Wives of Burgesses’), the precedency of a procession by the Knights of Bath to the Chapel Royal in 1726, and an account of the collar days for the knighthood.
Originally apprenticed as a barber, Edmondson (c. 1732–1786) took up the trade of emblazoning arms on coaches, which presumably led to his interest in heraldry. His purchase and publication of the great manuscript collection of peers’ pedigrees known as the Baronagium genealogicum brought renown, but his humble origins and tactlessness attracted the enmity of the College of Arms, to which he was never fully admitted. ‘Because of his extravagant lifestyle he was unable to leave any considerable property’ (ODNB), and his library was sold (partly to the College) upon his death.
Provenance:
Captain Sir Joseph Copley (c. 1769–1838), third Baronet, son of the Clerk of the Signet Sir Joseph Copley, first Baronet.
ESTC T137072.