Demetrius Cantemir | The history of the growth and decay of the Othman Empire. 1734, folio, contemporary calf

Demetrius Cantemir

The history of the growth and decay of the Othman Empire… translated into English … by N. Tindal. London: James, John, and Paul Knapton, 1734

FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, 2 parts in one volume, folio (331 x 210mm.), mezzotint portrait frontispiece of the author, list of subscribers, folding engraved plan of Constantinople, 22 engraved portraits of Ottoman sultans by C. Du Bosc after original portraits in the Seraglio, contemporary German speckled calf, spine in compartments with raised bands gilt, short tears to folding plan, portrait with horizontal crease (possibly supplied), occasional minor spotting and dust-stains, joints starting, extremities rubbed

SUBSCRIBER'S COPY (see provenance). Cantemir deserted his Turkish overlordship and went to Russia to join Peter the Great, where he wrote his history in Latin. The manuscript was brought to London by his son Antiochus as a present to George I, from which Tindal made his translation, published in twenty monthly instalments (see R.M. Wiles, Serial Publication in England before 1750 (Cambridge, 1957), p.297 and passim).

LITERATURE:

Atabey 190; Blackmer 294

PROVENANCE:

1. Droste von Reiche, armorial bookplate, listed in the subscribers as "Mr De Reich, Privy Secretary for Hanover"

The University Library of Göttingen has a copy of Sir John Harington’s Nugae antiquae (London, 1769-75) which bears the bookplate of Droste von Reiche and was included in the sale of books from the privy counsellor's house in Hanover in May 1780. (G. Jefcoate (ed.) A catalogue of English Books printed before 1801 held by the University Library of Göttingenm (Hildesheim, 2017), part 4, volume 2, item 5678.

2. Schröder [...], signature on preliminary blank