Miscellaneous tracts from the English Civil War to Augustan Poetry

i) First volume: Nunc aut Nunquam, Peace Now or Never; being a Dialogue betwixt Jack and Will...Thomas Snowden, 1697 [Wing N1470, ONLY ONE COPY RECORDED BY ESTC, at Yale]--[Ridpath, George.] A  Dialogue betwixt Jack and Will...1697 [Wing R1461]--University of Oxford. Comitia habita in universitate Oxoniensi Apr. 16. an. Dom. 1696. Oxford: e theatro Sheldoniano, 1696, broadside, folded [Wing O868]--[Winthrop, John.] A Short Story of the rise, reign, and ruin of the Antinomians, Familists & Libertines, that infected the Churches of New-England...For Ralph Smithe, 1644 [Wing W1269, SCARCE, a reissue of Wing W3094; Sabin, 104848]--A True Relation of Certaine special and remarkable passages from both Houses of Parliaments...the 15 of August till...the Nineteenth 1642. Containing [Letters from Scotland...Of news from Ireland...] Francis Leach, 1642 [Wing T2901]--The True Relation of the Queenes Departure from Falmouth into the Brest in the west of France. After whom our Lord Admirall sent all his Ships to overtake her... For Mathew Walbancke, 1644 [Wing T3030]--A True & particular Relation, of the taking of Todos los Sanctos in Brasiel, by the Hollanders the 9. of May last, 1624...For Nathaniel Butter, Nicholas Bourne, and William Sheffard, 1624 [apparently part of a series of newsbooks, cf STC 18507.174]; with another issue from the same series--[Lilburne, John.] An Unhappy Game of Scotch and English...Edinburgh: Evan Tyler, 1646 [Wing L2195]; and 20 others, similar, including Humble Addresses, Papers of the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland (Edinburgh imprint), tracts on the Oath of Allegiance, attacking the "Fallacies of William Prynne", etc.;

ii) Second volume: The Honourable Chiftains [sic] of the Highland-Clans, vindicated...re-printed at Edinburgh: James Watson, 1713--[Pope, Alexander.] An Essay on Criticism. For W. Lewis, 1711, with half-title but without advertisement leaf, [Foxon P806; Griffith 2; Rothschild 1562], stained and browned; and 17 others, mostly early eighteenth-century tracts; both chiefly 4to, first volume in later quarter calf, marbled boards, the second volume in full calf (spines numbered 12 and 27), bindings somewhat worn, some works stained or soiled (2)

The Forbes Baronetcy was created in 1626 for Sir William Forbes (d. circa 1650) by James VI in the Barontage of Nova Scotia. The majority of the works offered here were acquired by the sixth Baronet, also William (1739-1806), who added Pitsligo to his title in 1781. He was an eminent Scottish banker and benefactor, good friend of James Boswell and Samuel Johnson (see lots 45-46), and finally succeeded in recovering the Pitsligo estates forfeited after the Jacobite rebellion of 1745. His son William, the seventh baronet, beat Sir Walter Scott to the hand of the renowned beauty Williamina Belsches Stuart (1776-1810), and it was with their marriage that the family moved to her family seat, Fettercairn House in Kincardineshire, Aberdeenshire.

One of the sixth baronet’s acquisitions for his library at Pitsligo were numerous highly important miscellanies and tract volumes, many of which were purchased as a set from Edinburgh bookseller Elphinstone Balfour in October 1786. These were subsequently supplemented by further contemporary tracts and other works from the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century. Most of these miscellanies bear a nineteenth century Forbes family bookplate.

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing unless otherwise stated
"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."

The sixth listed item here is the contemporary account of Queen Henrietta Maria's final escape from the Parliamentary army and navy as she sailed from Falmouth on 14 July 1642 accompanied by her courtier Henry Jermyn, one lady, a physician, her dwarf and her dog. The final item listed is the first edition of Pope's first separate publication, issued just before his twenty-third birthday, containing some of the most well-known lines in the English language, including "To err, is human, to forgive divine", "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread", and "A little learning is a dangerous thing".