[Henry, 9th earl of Northumberland] Livy | Les concions, Paris, 1564, contemporary vellum gilt

[Henry, 9th Earl of Northumberland] Titus Livius

Les concions et harengues... nouvellement traduictes en François par I. de Amelin. Paris: Michel de Vascosan, 1567

8vo (170 x 108mm.), woodcut initials and headpieces, ruled in red, with final blank leaf, late sixteenth-century English vellum gilt, with gilt badge of the earl of Northumberland superimposed over centrepiece, flat spine gilt, gilt edges, original front flyleaf removed and another blank leaf tipped in, lacking two pairs of ties, binding very slightly rubbed

THE WIZARD EARL'S COPY of Jean d'Amelin's translation of speeches from Livy. Henry Percy owned a substantial library of perhaps 2,000 volumes, usually identifiable by his garter stamp on the covers and his shelfmark. This volume contains the later version of the garter stamp and does not have a shelfmark, though it does have his motto and signature on the title-page which Batho dates to Henry's childhood. Another book from his library, on another Paris imprint from 1576, is illustrated in Batho's article (plate II); Henry had studied in Paris in the 1580s and it is plausible that he purchased these books during his visit.

Much of the Wizard Earl's library is still at Petworth and Alnwick Castle, despite various sales over the years. A later manuscript note on the flyleaf details the "Wizzard" [sic] provenance.

LITERATURE

USTC 23489; Gordon Batho, "The library of the Wizard Earl: Henry Percy Ninth Earl of Northumberland (1564-1632)", The Library Fifth Series 15 (1960), 246-261

PROVENANCE

Henry, 9th earl of Northumberland (1564-1632), his motto "Esperance en Dieu" and signature "H. Percy" on title-page, and arms on binding; Michael Wodhull, his date of reading at end, "Jan 1st 1792", his anonymous sale of duplicates (from which he excised his notes on the flyleaves of the books), Sotheby's, 24 March 1803, lot 843, 2s., bought by; James Bindley (1737-1818), sale, Evans, 7 December 1818, lot 1522, to Shepherd(?)