- 856
Wither, George
Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 USD
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Description
- A Collection of Emblemes, Ancient and Moderne: Quickened with Metricall Illustrations, both Morall and Divine: and Disposed into Lotteries, that Instruction, and Good Counsell, may bee furthered by an Honest and Pleasant Recreation. By George Wither. The First — Second — Third — Fourth Booke. London: Printed by A[ugustine] M[athewes] for Robert Milbourne, and are to be sold at the Gray-hound in Pauls Churchyard, 1635 (1634)
- ink, paper, leather
Folio (11 3/4 x 7 1/4 in.; 299 x 184 mm). Engraved title-page by William Marshall (Johnson no. 29), letterpress title-page with woodcut printer's device (McKerrow 304) within double-ruled border, license on verso of first title-page, separate title-pages for each book but with continuous register and pagination, engraved frontispiece portrait of Wither, 200 emblems originally engraved by Crispijn van de Passe the elder for Gabriel Rollenhagen's Nucleus emblematorum (1611–1613), woodcut initials, head– and tailpieces, two woodcut dials on last leaf with movable pointers fixed at the center; short marginal tear on lower inside corner of D3 not affecting text, marginal repair to X1, pointers in facsimile. Contemporary calf, triple-filleted in blind, the spine in six compartments, plain endpapers; crazing to calf with minor losses, endpapers stained and rehinged.
Provenance
acquisition: Seven Gables
Literature
STC 25900b; ESTC S118586. See also, Rosemary Freeman, English Emblem Books, pp. 140–147
Condition
Folio (11 3/4 x 7 1/4 in.; 299 x 184 mm). Engraved title-page by William Marshall (Johnson no. 29), letterpress title-page with woodcut printer's device (McKerrow 304) within double-ruled border, license on verso of first title-page, separate title-pages for each book but with continuous register and pagination, engraved frontispiece portrait of Wither, 200 emblems originally engraved by Crispijn van de Passe the elder for Gabriel Rollenhagen's Nucleus emblematorum (16111613), woodcut initials, head and tailpieces, 2 woodcut dials on last leaf with movable pointers fixed at the center ; short marginal tear on lower inside corner of D3 not affecting text, marginal repair to X1, pointers in facsimile. Contemporary calf, triple-filleted in blind, the spine in six compartments, plain endpapers; crazing to calf with minor losses, endpapers stained and rehinged.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
First edition, variant general title. Wither's emblem book possessed a unique characteristic: a Lottery, which the poet devised as a "moral pastime." The last leaf depicts two dials with pointers that "would determine which emblem fell to the player's lot; by it the reader was directed not only to the page where a picture and thirty lines of moral instruction were to be found, but also to another place where the special application of his emblem to everyday life was set out in a short, easily remembered stanza."