[Projector.] [Anon.]

Folio, first edition, possibly the only known copy, with a very early and unrecorded reference to the game of cricket, 9pp., bound with extensive runs of two literary periodicals of the period, in two volumes [(as described below], contemporary panelled calf, some foxing, rebacked, edges restored, new endpapers

Moses Goodyere (or Goodyeare), contemporary annotations to fly-leaves of The British Apollo and to some pages of The Diverting Post; Richard Norcliffe, merchant of Hull, armorial bookplate on versos of title-pages of The British Apollo, dated 1745

Foxon P1118

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, when appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Possibly the only known copy of this vivid satire in verse on Charles Povey (1651?- 1743), an indefatigable entrepreneur, inventor, eccentric, and initiator of schemes, or what were then called "projects." This poem is to a large extent an acerbic review of the first sixty years of a long and irregular career. Not a lot is known about Povey's early years, aside from the fact that he published a pair of tracts attacking James II, but this poem provides details, apparently unknown to other sources, of his first ventures in trade. Povey is described as recklessly gambling away whatever money he had, and escaping his creditors by signing up for a voyage to the East Indies. Upon his return to London he is said to have tried setting up first as a baker, then as a hatter, then as a proprietor of a stall for canes, and then as the owner of a toyshop in Wapping, before finally, in the 1690's achieving a measure of success by entering Britain's thriving coal trade. At this point he invented some sort of hoist for loading and unloading ships, and this labor-saving device allowed him to sell his coal at less than the going rate, though by 1700 he had been driven out of business by his refusal to pay bribes, and otherwise engage in the monopolistic practices then prevalent, all of which he described in a tract called The Unhappiness of England as to its Trade by Sea and Land (1701). Povey then moved on to become some sort of professional middleman between lenders and borrowers, the proprietor of a single-sheet newspaper called General Remarks on Trade, the owner of a half-penny postal service that infringed upon the monopoly of the royal post, and a participant in various new-fangled schemes to sell life insurance and fire insurance. At the time this poem was written, he was about to start up a new periodical called The Visions of Heister Ryley, described by Povey himself as an imitation of Richard Steele's The Tatler, and it is for his habit of borrowing from Steele to the point of plagiarism that he is here chiefly chastised. The poem begins with a description of the dog days of British trade, with a very early and unrecorded reference to cricket:  "Mechanick's threw their craft's tools by, | And in the fields at cricket ply."

There is no listing for this poem in the ESTC or WorldCat, and Foxon records it only from a bookseller's catalogue of 1963, "bound with a file of The British Apollo;" this may in fact be the same copy, since the present one is bound at the back of the first of two volumes containing two periodicals of the same period, as follows: The British Apollo, or, curious amusements for the ingenious…Vol. II (- III).  For J. Mayo, n.d. (1708/9-1711). [With:] Vol. IV, Nos. 1-19 (of 20). For J. Mayo, (1711), a consecutive run of 293 issues, complete save for the final number of the last volume, with supplements, [Crane and Kaye 60; CBEL II, 1321]--The diverting post. No. 1 [- 36]. Saturday, October 28, 1704 [- Saturday June 23-30, 1705]. B. Bragg [imprints vary], 1704-5, each number a single sheet; [with]  The diverting post, made up into a packet for the entertainment of the court, city, and country. To be continued monthly. For February, 1706. For H. Playford; and sold by John Nutt, 1706, complete run of 36 weekly numbers (Vols. I-II), along with the second of two numbers in the monthly format, [Crane and Kaye 177; CBEL II, 1293] 

The British Apollo was a kind of question-and-answer journal, half in prose and half in verse, closely modelled on John Dunton's Athenian Mercury, which had ceased publication some ten years earlier. The editor-in-chief was Aaron Hill, soon to surround himself with a substantial literary coterie, including John Gay. The issue for February 20-23 contains a question about the affairs of Charles Povey, particularly his postal schemes. The Diverting Post is a rare periodical, mostly in verse, with snippets of foreign and domestic news.