Gould, Robert

8vo (7 x 4 1/2 in.; 178 x 114 mm). Title printed in red and black within double-ruled border, each section with divisional title-page, dedication to James, Earl of Abingdon (A3–8), leaf F1 cancelled and replaced by 4 leaf gathering, the first leaf of which is signed "F"; a fine, bright and crisp copy. Contemporary red morocco by Queen's Binder A, all-over tooling with drawer-handle tools, groups of four tulip and leaf tools, and massed small tools, within a roll-tool border of small alternating daisies and leafy sprays, the spine in six compartments paneled gilt within a central fleur-de-lys, marbled endpapers, edges gilt. Red cloth, felt-lined folding-case.

James Bertie, 1st Earl Abindgon (dedicatee, presentation binding) — A. Abingdon (? the Earl's daughter Anne Bertie, d. 1718) — [?]W. Hanwell, Oxford, active late eighteenth century (Abingdon provenance note, signature and price) — Richard Heber (sale, Sotheby's, Part IV, 12 December 1834, lot 911) — S. R. Christie-Miller, Britwell Court Library (sale, Sotheby's, 3–4 May 1920, lot 482) — Lucius Wilmerding (bookplate and sale, Parke-Bernet, 27 November 1950, lot 322) — Allerton C. Hickmott. acquisition: Seven Gables, 1962

Wing G1431; ESTC R14024. Binding: Howard M. Nixon in The Book Collector, (Winter 1963), p. 488; cf. Nixon, English Restoration Bindings, no. 61  

First edition, in a very fine and well-preserved Restoration binding by Queen's Binder A. The dedication copy, The Earl of Abingdon-Heber-Britwell-Wilmerding-Hickmott copy.