signed first edition
1651 [i.e. 1652], 1650 [i.e. 165 · London
by (ENGLISH REFORMATION). FULLER, THOMAS, DANIEL FEATLEY, and THOMAS GATAKER. (BINDINGS - BEDFORD)
London: T. Brudenell for J. Stafford, 1651 [i.e. 1652], 1650 [i.e. 1651]. A Reissue of the 1651 First Edition. 185 x 137 mm. (7 1/4 x 5 1/2"). 6 p.l., 440 pp., [11] leaves, 441-595, 599 [i.e., 596] pp.
Pretty 19th century salmon pink crushed morocco, gilt, by Francis Bedford (stamp-signed on front turn-in) for bookseller B. Pickering (his ticket on front pastedown and stamp on verso of front free endpaper), covers framed by two sets of French fillets, the innermost with oblique floral sprays at corners, raised bands, spine compartments with large central fleuron, scrolling cornerpieces, gilt-rolled turn-ins, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Engraved frontispiece portrait of Fuller and extra engraved illustrated title page, present in two states, the first the 1652 version with author's name beneath the title, and the second dated 1651 and without the author's name, and 44 small portraits of Protestant leaders (one plate of Lancelot Andrewes, and the rest in-text illustrations). Front pastedown with book label of Bent Juel-Jensen and engraved bookplate of Robert S. Pirie; front flyleaves with extensive bibliographical notes in pencil by Juel-Jensen about his acquisition of the book at the Jennings sale in 1952. Wing F-2401; ESTC R16561 (for the second work, see also: Wing I-1058 (with variant title) and ESTC R505632) Spine evenly sunned toward ochre, very slight rubbing at spine ends, leaves lightly washed and pressed (in keeping with bibliophilic fashion at time of binding), leaves trimmed a little close at head, but still very pleasing--clean and fresh in a scarcely worn decorative binding.
Offered in a fine binding and with outstanding provenance, this volume, which was published during a period of crisis for the Church of England, contains two complementary works containing biographical sketches of Protestant thinkers and divines William Tyndale, Martin Luther, John Wycliffe, Lancelot Andrewes, and others. The present edition is a reissue of the first printing of 1651, and contains a short, inserted work on the life and death of Lancelot Andrewes, complete with its portrait plate and separate title page (one or both of which are often lacking in other copies). DNB tells us that the main work, "Abel Redivivus," came about as a reaction to the Interregnum--most significantly, the execution of Charles I, the rise of Puritanism, and the disestablishment of the Church of England--offering "possible patterns for . . . rebuilding" by embracing as models the pious lives of key figures in the English Reformation and beyond. Our author, Thomas Fuller (1608-61), studied at Cambridge and gained prominence as a clergyman until receiving honors from the King and Prince of Wales, marking him as a royalist during the tumultuous 17th century. Despite the "unwelcome changes" of the 1650s, DNB says that the decade was "a remarkably productive period for him as a scholar and writer." Upon the Restoration of Charles II, Fuller was appointed Chaplain in Extraordinary to the king. The present copy has passed through multiple prominent collections after it was attractively rebound by Francis Bedford. Its first owner in its present form was apparently William Gott (1797-1863); it then passed into the Christie-Miller Family Library at Britwell Court, then to celebrated collector Richard Jennings (1881-1953), then to the physician and bibliophile Bent Juel-Jensen (1922-2006), and finally to Robert S. Pirie (1934-2015). A very prosperous wool merchant from Leeds, Gott had a splendid library that included a First Folio and a number of Shakespeare quartos; inherited by his third son, John Gott, Bishop of Truro (1830-1906), his collection was dispersed first by Sotheran's (see "Bibliotheca Pretiosa," 1907, item #200, priced at £8, 8s) and then Sotheby's in 1908-10. Although the Britwell Court Library typically used no internal signs of ownership, we are confident our volume was there because when it was sold in 2015 (as a Pirie book), it was described as the Britwell-Jennings-Bent Juel-Jensen copy. De Ricci says that the Britwell Court library was simply the most outstanding collection of English books ever assembled. The voracious book collector William Henry Miller (1789-1848) was a bibliophile who, in de Ricci's words, "literally bought by the cartload." Miller's books were kept at his Britwell Court estate in Buckinghamshire, where they were added to substantially by successors Samuel Christy (d. 1889) and Wakefield Christy (d. 1898), both of whom took the name Christie-Miller. Their immense library was sold between 1916 and 1927 at Sotheby's, bringing in more than £500,000. Pirie, for his part, amassed the finest library of 16th and 17th century English literature in private hands during his lifetime. There is a long, pencilled note on a front flyleaf no doubt by Juel-Jensen, noting that he had bought the volume at the Jennings sale and with a further note that he believes the copy to be unique in having a special title for the medial Andrewes portion.. (Inventory #: ST20286)
Pretty 19th century salmon pink crushed morocco, gilt, by Francis Bedford (stamp-signed on front turn-in) for bookseller B. Pickering (his ticket on front pastedown and stamp on verso of front free endpaper), covers framed by two sets of French fillets, the innermost with oblique floral sprays at corners, raised bands, spine compartments with large central fleuron, scrolling cornerpieces, gilt-rolled turn-ins, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Engraved frontispiece portrait of Fuller and extra engraved illustrated title page, present in two states, the first the 1652 version with author's name beneath the title, and the second dated 1651 and without the author's name, and 44 small portraits of Protestant leaders (one plate of Lancelot Andrewes, and the rest in-text illustrations). Front pastedown with book label of Bent Juel-Jensen and engraved bookplate of Robert S. Pirie; front flyleaves with extensive bibliographical notes in pencil by Juel-Jensen about his acquisition of the book at the Jennings sale in 1952. Wing F-2401; ESTC R16561 (for the second work, see also: Wing I-1058 (with variant title) and ESTC R505632) Spine evenly sunned toward ochre, very slight rubbing at spine ends, leaves lightly washed and pressed (in keeping with bibliophilic fashion at time of binding), leaves trimmed a little close at head, but still very pleasing--clean and fresh in a scarcely worn decorative binding.
Offered in a fine binding and with outstanding provenance, this volume, which was published during a period of crisis for the Church of England, contains two complementary works containing biographical sketches of Protestant thinkers and divines William Tyndale, Martin Luther, John Wycliffe, Lancelot Andrewes, and others. The present edition is a reissue of the first printing of 1651, and contains a short, inserted work on the life and death of Lancelot Andrewes, complete with its portrait plate and separate title page (one or both of which are often lacking in other copies). DNB tells us that the main work, "Abel Redivivus," came about as a reaction to the Interregnum--most significantly, the execution of Charles I, the rise of Puritanism, and the disestablishment of the Church of England--offering "possible patterns for . . . rebuilding" by embracing as models the pious lives of key figures in the English Reformation and beyond. Our author, Thomas Fuller (1608-61), studied at Cambridge and gained prominence as a clergyman until receiving honors from the King and Prince of Wales, marking him as a royalist during the tumultuous 17th century. Despite the "unwelcome changes" of the 1650s, DNB says that the decade was "a remarkably productive period for him as a scholar and writer." Upon the Restoration of Charles II, Fuller was appointed Chaplain in Extraordinary to the king. The present copy has passed through multiple prominent collections after it was attractively rebound by Francis Bedford. Its first owner in its present form was apparently William Gott (1797-1863); it then passed into the Christie-Miller Family Library at Britwell Court, then to celebrated collector Richard Jennings (1881-1953), then to the physician and bibliophile Bent Juel-Jensen (1922-2006), and finally to Robert S. Pirie (1934-2015). A very prosperous wool merchant from Leeds, Gott had a splendid library that included a First Folio and a number of Shakespeare quartos; inherited by his third son, John Gott, Bishop of Truro (1830-1906), his collection was dispersed first by Sotheran's (see "Bibliotheca Pretiosa," 1907, item #200, priced at £8, 8s) and then Sotheby's in 1908-10. Although the Britwell Court Library typically used no internal signs of ownership, we are confident our volume was there because when it was sold in 2015 (as a Pirie book), it was described as the Britwell-Jennings-Bent Juel-Jensen copy. De Ricci says that the Britwell Court library was simply the most outstanding collection of English books ever assembled. The voracious book collector William Henry Miller (1789-1848) was a bibliophile who, in de Ricci's words, "literally bought by the cartload." Miller's books were kept at his Britwell Court estate in Buckinghamshire, where they were added to substantially by successors Samuel Christy (d. 1889) and Wakefield Christy (d. 1898), both of whom took the name Christie-Miller. Their immense library was sold between 1916 and 1927 at Sotheby's, bringing in more than £500,000. Pirie, for his part, amassed the finest library of 16th and 17th century English literature in private hands during his lifetime. There is a long, pencilled note on a front flyleaf no doubt by Juel-Jensen, noting that he had bought the volume at the Jennings sale and with a further note that he believes the copy to be unique in having a special title for the medial Andrewes portion.. (Inventory #: ST20286)
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