Bibles And Statutes . . . And Charles Calvert

Were it not for Charles Calvert, today’s post would be almost entirely Bibles and Acts of Assembly, with a psalter and some Common Prayer books thrown in for good measure.

Charles Calvert, Esquire, appraised sometime before August 1737:

• Sundry books Viz. Telemaque, D^r. Hickes Education of a Daughter, a Companion for the Festivals & fasts of the Church of England, The whole duty of man, the rule & Exercise of holy Living

You see?  Charles Calvert starts the day with a bang, setting a high standard that none of today’s other libraries even approaches.  First we have:

Frontispiece and title page of a 1715 English translation

And then there’s:

Note that both of these books are the work of François Fénelon, Archbishop of Cambrai.  Dr. Hickes is credited with ‘putting [the latter] into an English dress’ – but he doesn’t exactly get a glowing review from the publishers of this edition, who inform the reader that they ‘are sensible that this translation is far from that elegance, that might have been expected in one revised by a person of Dr. Hickes’ [sic] learning.’

Next up is:

This is an edition from 1791; the others had much less interesting covers.

Followed by our old friend:

And finishing up with:

Charles Calvert was clearly a fan of instructional literature.

Mr. John King, appraised sometime before August 1737:

• 7 old Acts of Assembly
• 1 Ditt^o bound

This is an additional inventory – either these books of statutes escaped the appraisers notice the first time around or somebody had borrowed them.

Justinian Barwell, appraised April 1737:

• 3 Books

James Thomasman, appraised May 1737:

• 1 old common prayer book

Doctor George Burch, appraised July 1737:

• a parcell of old books

Richard Wise, appraised July 1737:

• 1 Common prayer book

John Leonard, appraised August 1737:

• 1 old broken Bible
• 1 old Salter
• 1 history

John Leonard’s Bible is not shattered, mind you – just broken.

John Sparks, appraised June 1737:

• 8 books

Mr. Dominick Carroll, appraised August 1736:

• a p^rcel of old books

Zachariah Wade, appraised sometime before September 1737:

• a p^rcel of old books

Mr. William Comegys, Gent., appraised September 1736:

• a parcel Books very old
• a large Book intituled the Collection of Sundry Statutes &c^a
• A p^rcel books pretty well bound

More statutes –– and I thought I’d be able to turn up this book, but the closest I could find is A Collection of Several Acts and Statutes Relating to Her Majesty’s Revenue of Ireland.  Unfortunately, I do not know enough about Mr. Comegys to speculate whether this title is relevant.

Alexander Johnson, appraised sometime before May 1737:

• 1 large Bible
• 1 small D^o
• 1 old D^o
• 1 Book the Baptismal Covenant
• 3 old Books

Thomas Bray, author of A Short Discourse Upon the Doctrine of Our Baptismal Covenant

William Blackiston, appraised June 1737:

• a parcel of old books

Robert Mansfield, appraised May 1737:

• 2 old Bibles
• 1 testament
• 3 old books

Joseph Everet, appraised June 1737:

• 1 Large Bible in folio
• a parcel old Books

Thomas Reason, appraised August 1737:

• three old Books

Evan Miles, appraised August 1737:

• old Common prayer book

John Grainger, appraised July 1737:

• 4 old Books

John Summers, appraised September 1737:

• a Small old Bible

Doctor Thomas M^cWilliams, appraised October 1736:

• a p^rcel of Books

Mr. John Bailey, appraised June 1737:

• 3 old books

Major Nicholas Sewall, appraised June 1737:

• a Testam^t. & 11 old Books of several sorts

Robert Wiseman, appraised August 1737:

• a Parcel old books

I can’t decide which is more frustrating: the overwhelming number of vague parcels of books in various stages of decrepitude or the books that have been carefully counted . . . but not named.

 

Surging Ahead

With this post I am passing my place in Maryland Inventories once again.  One might suspect that writing about sporadic book titles is easier than investigating enigmatic objects . . . and one would be right.  All those parcels of old books make for quick work.

James Boyce, appraised April 1737:

• 2 Books

James Keen, appraised April 1737:

• 2 books

Mr. John Bruce, appraised April 1737:

• 3 books
• sundry books

Dr. William Edwards, appraised January 1737:

• 1 large Bible with Clasps
• Parcell old books
• 3 D^o. new

Mr. William Hemsley, appraised January 1737:

• A large parcell of old books of many sorts

Familiar frustration.

Edward Chetham, appraised June 1736:

• 1 large Bible
• a book call’d History of the O^d. N^w. Test^t.
• 2 old small prayer books

William Swift, appraised August 1737:

• 3 old Books

Daniel Walker, appraised June 1737:

• Parcell old books

William Hickman, appraised May 1737:

• Parcell of books

John Usears, appraised March 1737:

• A parcell of books

William Sheild, appraised sometime before June 1737:

• 4 old Shattered books

There is an astonishing number of books that have ‘shattered’ in the title; I hardly know where to begin.  There’s this:

but also:

not to mention:

plus who can forget:

and (of course) the whole Shattered Realms series.

Isaac Dixon, appraised March 1737:

• 1 large Bible
• 1 small D^o.
• 2 Testaments
• 7 old books

John Wrightson, appraised June 1737:

• a parcell of books

Mr. John Smith, appraised March 1737:

• 4 old books

John Frazer, appraised December 1736:

• 1 large Bible & other books

Robert Philips, appraised March 1737:

• a parcell of old books

Mr. Thomas Hunt, appraised May 1736:

• To parcell old books other old Truck

It’s a little distressing to have books, no matter how old, reduced to the level of ‘heterogeneous small articles often of little value‘ (to use Merriam-Webster’s concise summary of ‘truck’ in this context).

John Betenson, appraised May 1737:

• A parcell of Books

This parcell is the very first item in the inventory, thus according John Betenson’s books rather more respect than those of Mr. Hunt.

Mrs. Sarah Day, appraised sometime before July 1737:

• 1 old Bible

John Lea, appraised May 1736:

• 1 small book Entitled D^r. Sherlocks Practical Discourse &c^a.
• 1 D^o. Sobermindedness
• 1 D^o. y^e man mouse taken in a trap

Three engaging titles!

1. Most likely A Practical Discourse Concerning Death by William Sherlock (not to be confused with William Sherlock, the cricketer).
2. I’m guessing Sober-Mindedness Press’d Upon Young People: In a Discourse on Titus II. 6 by Matthew Henry (not to be confused with Matt Henry, the cricketer).
3. This one’s a gem: The man-mouse taken in a trap, and tortur’d to death for gnawing the margins of Eugenius Philalethes by Thomas Vaughan (not to be confused with Thomas Vaughan, the footballer).

William Sherlock (c. 1641-1707)

Matthew Henry (1662-1714)

I could not find an image for Thomas Vaughan (1621-1666)

None of the above are cricketers.

Matt Henry (not to be confused with the theologian)

Or footballers.

Thomas Vaughan (not to be confused with the philosopher) played in the 1880s.  This is from 1897 but the best I could do.

Richard Jenkins, appraised May 1735:

• One old folio Bible

For some reason this is included with items that are identified as Sadlery.

Mr. Thomas Benson, appraised February 1737:

• A parcell of old book
• 1 Bible & Prayer book

George Betts Collier, appraised February 1737:

• 2 books

John Nelson, appraised May 1737:

• 1 old Testament

Alexander Hall, appraised May 1737:

• a parcell of old Books

William Horsey, appraised September 1735:

• 4 old books & 2 Ps’s

Psalters, surely.

And that’s it – at least until I get Maryland Inventories up to date.

Holding Steady

With this post I’m catching up to my place in Maryland Inventories once again – and fulfilling my promise to those of you who came here expecting Dr. John Haw’s alchemical library.

Elizabeth Turner, appraised October 1736:

• a parcell of books

Mrs. Anne Gwinn, appraised October 1736:

• a large old bible
• a small bible
• a new Testament
• 4 small books of Divinity
• 10 old books Ditto

William Dicas, appraised sometime before January 1737:

• 1 old bible & Common prayer book

Mr. George Skirven, appraised September 1736:

• a parcell of books

Quite a valuable parcel, as books go – appraised at £4, which is roughly 40 times the value of a typical parcel.

Nathaniel Pearce, appraised July 1736:

• one large old Bible

Comfort Benton, appraised November 1736:

• 3 Bibles

John Turpin, appraised sometime before March 1737:

• 6 very old books

Mr. Richard Warner, appraised February 1737:

• a parcell of old books different sorts

Luke Raven, appraised December 1736:

• 1 Quarto bible
• The History of the old & new Testament
• Daltons Justice folio
• 1 small old Bible

Ann Hall, appraised August 1736:

• a parcell of books

William Cromwell, appraised March 1736:

• To his Library

That’s just mean.  (But appraised at £1, so still less frustrating than Mr. Skirven’s vague, but valuable, parcel.)

John Norwood, appraised May 1737:

• a parcell of old books

John Dodson, appraised February 1737:

• a parcell of old books

William Connell, appraised February 1737:

• 10 books

William Rose, appraised sometime before June 1737:

1 old Bible

John Jones, appraised April 1737:

• parcell old books

Captain John Martindale of Liverpool, appraised April 1737:

Finally, some detail.

• A Bible
• A Callender
• Cockers Dictionary
• A whole Duty Man
• A Book Rates
• Lex Mercatoria
• A Geographical Grammar

Perhaps Patrick Gordon’s Geography Anatomiz’d, first published in 1693.  AbeBooks has a second edition available for a mere $4,638,46 (plus $9.01 shipping) – but this link will take you to the fifth edition, printed in 1708.

• A Mariners compass Rectified
• Annis Mirabilis by John Dryden

Annus Mirabilis: More than 1200 lines of decasyllabic quatrain describing the miraculous events of 1665-1666.  Also a notable shift from Dryden’s earlier use of heroic couplets – just so you know.  (I thought about trying to write this information in a decasyllabic quatrain but quickly came to my senses.  Even heroic couplets are beyond me.)

John Dryden (1631-1700)

• A musick book
• A common Prayer book
• The Grounds & Pinciples of Christian Religion

The Grounds and Principles of the Christian Religion, Explain’d in a Catechectical Discourse, for the Instruction of Young People.  You can acquire your own reprint edition from Amazon – or read the 1704 edition here.

Mr. John Edgar, appraised April 1737:

• One large Bible
• two small Ditto
• One good common Prayer book
• one old D^o.
• One parcell of old tore books

William Cockran, appraised November 1736:

• A Memorandum book
• Baleys Dictionary
• Six old bound books
• A old Bible [sic]

John Newman, appraised April 1737:

• 3 old Books

Dr. John Haw, appraised March 1727:

Included within the account of his Apothecarys Medicines Chynrical Preparations Chirurgeons Instruments fials Pots Physick books & other

• The Map of Commerce & Temples memoris 2 Vol.
• D^r. Reads Practice of Surgery & the compleat Gardener
• The Mysteries of Conjugal love & Dr. Cockburn of Looseness^s.
• Quincy’s Dispensatory & Medicina Statica
• Dionis’s course of Surgic^l. Operations & an Account of Livinia
• An Epitomy of Surgery & Criticon febris^y by Strother
• The hospital Dispensatory & the compleat Surgeon
• D^r. Mead of Poisons & Garths Dispensary
• Douglass on the Muscles & Fullers Dispensatory
• Salmons Practice & the history of Rebellion
• The Vanities of Philosophy & Romes Traditions
• Keill’s Anatomy, the 4^th. Vol. of the Tatler & some Dialog^s.
• Some old Trash valued as wast paper
• 2 Vol. of D^r. Pitcairn’s

So much to digest here.  Some highlights:

The Merchants Map of Commerce by Lewes Roberts — not, as Google tried to convince me, a map of the Commerce campus of Texas A&M.

The Mysteries of Conjugal Love Reveal’d by Nicolas Venette –– a follow up to his best-seller, A Treatise on Scurvy.

An Account of Livonia by Karl Johann von Blomberg (who does not seem to rate a Wikipedia page).

Pharmacopoeia pauperum, or, The hospital dispensatory: containing the Medicines Used in the Hospitals of London by Henry Banyer.

A Mechanical Account of Poisons in Several Essays by Richard Mead.

Richard Mead (1673-1754)

Criticon febrium : or, a critical essay on fevers; with the diagnosticks and methods of cure, in all the different species of them by Edward Strother (also no Wikipedia page).

The Vanities of Philosophy and Physick by Gideon Harvey (‘the King’s Physician to the Tower’ and still no Wikipedia page, but his Dictionary of National Biography entry does make it into Wikisource).

An engraving of the Tower of London in 1737 by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck

 

It’s hard to top the Tower of London (or Dr. Haw’s library), so here I will adjourn.

And Now Passing

Passing Maryland Inventories, that is.  Turns out the last batch of inventories I indexed had a lot of interesting items, but not that many books.

Mr. William Clarkson, appraised 1736:

• 3 books

Robert Taylor, appraised February 1737:

• a parcell of old books

William Turvil, Senior, appraised April 1736:

• A parcell of old Books

Mr. James Lindow, appraised sometime before November 1736:

• a parcell of old Books

John Donelson, appraised January 1737:

• old books of various sorts N^o 26

Sigh.

• 1 Dictionary for Divines & 1 Sermon book
• 1 small book

William Burroughs, Junior, appraised January 1737:

• Books

Oh, now that’s helpful.

Henry Johnson, appraised December 1736:

• old Bible
• Prayer book

James McLeane, appraised December 1736:

• 1 Bible & one old Prayer book

Mr. John Rowles, appraised September 1736:

• a parcell of books

William Pinder, appraised October 1736:

• Parcell of old books
• Prayer book & Psalter
• 2 new Testaments

Solomon Wright, appraised November 1736:

• a parcell of old Books

Lazarus Cocks, appraised January 1737:

• a small parcell of old books

John Smith, appraised March 1737:

• a parcell of old books

Mary Wiles, appraised August 1736:

• a parcell of old books

George Collison, appraised December 1736:

• a parcell of old books

Thomas Pitchfork, appraised September 1736:

• Some old Books

James Bissco, appraised sometime before March 1737:

• 3 old books

Mr. William Walker, appraised August 1736:

• A parcell of old books

John Redman, appraised December 1736:

• A parcell of old books

Charles Mills, appraised February 1736:

• a parcell of old books

John Huttson, appraised sometime before April 1737:

• 8 old books

Capt. John Leigh, appraised November 1736:

• a parcell of Books

Elizabeth Williams, appraised March 1737:

• a parcell of old book [sic]

Mr. William Stoddert, appraised March 1737:

• Books to the value of L4

Nathaniel Chew, appraised July 1728:

• 1 old quarto bible
• 1 old Markhams masterpeice

At last, an actual title.

Presumably a work by Gervase Markham (d. 1637), an English poet, writer, and soldier of fortune — and not to be confused with Gervase Markham (d. 2018), a British programmer for the Mozilla Foundation.

What’s odd is that Markham’s Masterpiece of Horse Care (first published in 1610; this edition is 1703) is widely discussed both as an exemplary work of veterinary scholarship and as unmistakably the work of Gervase Markham (who, among other accomplishments, is credited with being the first to bring an Arabian horse to England; I must tell my equine expert).  Yet his Masterpiece is not listed among his works on his Wikipedia page!  Very strange.  (For an informative discussion of this title, I recommend this post from the National Library of Medicine.)

• 1 Common Prayer

Mary Chew, Anne Arundel County, appraised December 1729:

• One large Bible
• one Common prayer book
• Markhams Masterpeice

Surely the same book appraised in her husband’s inventory, which (as you can tell from this post) immediately precedes hers in this volume of records — but was actually taken about 18 months earlier.

• book of Apocrypha

But this book is a new addition to the Chew library.  I presume it’s an edition of biblical apocrypha.

Nathaniel and Mary likely were Quakers; as such, they were unlikely to believe ‘that Divine revelation neither began with Moses nor ended with the Apostles,’ and therefore might have studied religious texts that were not included in some editions of the Bible.  (Thanks to A Quaker Approach to the Bible for that quote.)

That’s it.  I am well and truly caught up and I really am going to index more inventories . . . tomorrow.

Catching Up

Time to even things out with Maryland Inventories.

Jonas Hewling, appraised August 1736:

• Sixteen new books
• a parcel books
• a parcel of Copy Books
• one common Prayer book

Mr. John Spencer, appraised October 1735:

• 1 old Bible
• a parcel of old books
• 1 old fiddle and 2 books

Mary Anderson, appraised September 1735:

• 1 Bible

Abraham Milton, appraised sometime before September 1735:

• one bible
• one large Book work of Saml. Fisher

Rusticus ad Academicos in Exercitationibus Expostulatoriis, Apologeticis Quatuor. The Rusticks Alarm to the Rabbies, or the Country correcting the University and Clergy by Samuel Fisher, an erstwhile Puritan converted to Quakerism in 1654.

• one old Testmt.
• 5 old Books

Capt. Harmanus Schee, appraised July 1735

• 14 old Books chiefly Dutch

Patrick Gault, appraised May 1735:

• 1 Old small Bible

Charles Baker, appraised June 1735:

• 1 old Testament

Joseph Carman, appraised August 1735:

• 1 Bible
• 1 Testam^t
• y^e young mans Compⁿ

Most likely George Fisher’s The Instructor: Or, Young Man’s Best Companion.  By all accounts, this book was first published in London in 1727 but not printed in the colonies until 1737, so this copy must have been imported.  The 1727 edition is listed in several libraries, but the earliest I could find with a link for your perusal is the 1735 edition.

• some old Books

Samuel Harper, appraised November 1736:

• some old books

John Howison, appraised October 1736:

• a parcel of old Books

Jess Jacob Bourne, Gent., appraised December 1736:

• To his books as p^r Cathologue

So frustrating!  If only the clerk had transcribed the catalog as well as the inventory . . . .

Mr. Henry Brome, appraised December 1736:

• 1 large Bible & other books

Johanna Hall, appraised January 1737:

• 1 old Church Bible
• a pcell of old Books

A church bible as opposed to a family bible?  As in, a larger edition, intended to be used in a church setting?  I tried to explore this online and got precisely nowhere.

George Drew, appraised December 1736:

• a parcell of old Books

And that’s it.  I’m off to index more inventories.

 

As Promised

I’ve decided that John Crockett’s library deserves its very own post. I’ve also decided that I cannot possibly track down all of these books for you.  I have inserted some information and links, but left plenty for you to explore on your own.  [I have tried to transcribe the titles accurately, but if you want to take a look at them for yourself, the Maryland Archives link is:

http://mdhistory.msa.maryland.gov/msaref10/msa_te_1_018/pdf/msa_te_1_018-0242.pdf

(and here for the second page).]

 

John Crockett, appraised sometime before October 1736:

[in a section titled Books Viz^t]

• The works of John Lock Esq^r in 3 Vol^s fo. Ed. Lond^o 1722
• Locks Essay of Human understanding fo. Ed. Lond 1706
• Wolastons Religion of Nature delineated 4to Ed. Lond^o 1731
• Shaftsbury’s Characteristicks 3 Vol^s 8vo Ed. Lond^o 1727
• Temples Essays 2 Vol^s
• Fable of the bees 2 Vol^s 8vo Ed Lond^o 1732

Or, Private Vices, Publick Benefits (the sixth edition, as you can see here)

• The Rights of the Xtian Church
• The Grounds of the Xtian Religion
• Spavans Pufendorf 2 Vol^s

I thought this one might be hard to find, but it was actually quite easy: Pufendorf’s Law of Nature and Nations, abridged by some fellow identified as “J. Spavan, M.A.,” of whom I can find no trace.

• Burnelds Exposition of the 39 Articles of the Church of England fo. Ed. 1720
• Barcleys works old
• Wilkins of Natural Religion
• Echards Ecclesiastical History 2 Vol^s Ed Lond 1729
• Souths Sermons 3 Vol^s
• 1 Vol of Colliers Dictionary

Courtesy of Wikipedia:

“Collier published an early encyclopedia in 1701, The great historical, geographical, genealogical and poetical dictionary. He freely admitted that the text was based on a number of earlier historians, but especially [on] the eight[h] edition of Louis Moréri’s Grand Dictionnaire Historique. This was issued in two volumes in London from 1701-1705 with an appendix covering the time period from 1688 ‘by another hand’ being issued in the latter year. A further appendix was issued in 1721 and a second edition in 1727.“

• 2^d Vol Scotts Xtian Life
• The Gentlemans Religion
• Government of the Tongue

Ah, another work by the author of our old friend, The Whole Duty of Man.

[This title, by the way, was appropriated by Seamus Heaney in 1988.]

• Crouch against Covetousness
• John Edwards of the Holy Scriptures
• Melius Inquirendum

Two possibilities here: Melius Inquirendum or Melius Inquirendum. Both deal with the vexing problem of Nonconformists, although the latter seems to focus only on those pesky Quakers.

• Pearson of Tythes 8vo
• Stennells Answer to Russell
• L’Stranges Tullys Offices
• Seneca’s Morals old book
• Echards Gassateer

A gazetteer, of course, and self-styled as a Geographical Index . . . Of special Use for the true Understanding of all Modern Histories of Europe, as well as the present Affairs; and for the conveniency of Cheapness and Pocket Carriage, Explained by Abbreviations and Figures. The inventory does not indicate which of the many editions Crockett had in his library; this is the seventh, printed in 1704.

• Wards young Mathematicians Guide
• Hattons Comes Comecrecy

I had just typed a confession that I could not find this, and then I looked at a source for a different title and immediately saw Hatton’s Comes Commercii. The good news is that I have now found references in a number of catalogs of books printed in England in the 18th century; the bad news is that I cannot find any link to the actual book.

• The Tryal of Wills
• An old Bible
• Norwoods Epitomie
• 1^st Vol Turkey Spye

Intrigue! Even better, plenty of French intrigue, as the full title promises:

The First Volume of Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy, Who lived Five and Forty Years, Undiscovered, at Paris: Giving an Impartial Account to the Divan at Constantinople, of the most Remarkable Transactions of Europe; And discovering several Intrigues and Secrets of the Christian Courts, (especially that of France) from the Year 1637 to the Year 1682.

The book’s frontispiece, courtesy of    The British Museum

I should warn you, however, that there’s a good chance a few things got lost in translation, as the text purportedly was Written Originally in Arabick, first Translated into Italian, afterwards into French, and now into English.”

Here is the fourth edition, printed in 1692.

• Browns Justin
• Gardian 2 Vol^s
• Popes Miscellanies
• Homers Iliad 6 Vol^s
• Addisons Travels into Italy
• Gay’s Fables
• Felamicus 2 Vol^s

Help!

• Bladens Cesar’s Commentarys
• The Freeborn Subjects Inheritance
• Infants Lawer

The Infants Lawyer: Or, the Law (Both Ancient and Modern) Relating to Infants.

I can’t imagine how the appraisers (or the clerk transcribing the inventory) got tripped up on ‘lawyer.’  But this is a work I immediately added to my Google Books library, as it promises to set forth their several Ages for divers purposes – just the information I need to settle several vexing questions, such as when children could sign contracts. It even has an Appendix of the Forms of Declarations and Pleadings concerning Infants – a gold mine!

• Doct^r and Studient
• Godolphis Orphans Legacy
• Body of the Laws of Maryland
• The Clerks remembrancer
• The compleat Clerk
• Kiells Introduction to Natural Philosophy

Another expected mystery that proved not to be a mystery at all, just an easily-found work by John Keill (albeit in Latin).

• Animal Oconomy

This one, however, remains a mystery.

• Durhams Phisico Theolog^y

Actually, Physico-Theology by W. Derham, printed in 1713 – a collection of sermons with large Notes, and many curious Observations.

• Friends History of Physick

Maryland manuscripts from this period commonly spell ‘friend’ as ‘freind’ – but here the error is reversed (as was the case with John Kiell/Keill).  This book is the work of John Freind.

• Quncy’s Dispensatory
• Lexicon
• Medicina Statica

This one could be another work by John Keill or by John Quincy (he of Quincy’s Dispensatory, two titles up).  There’s Medicina Statica Britanica (by Keill) and Medicina Statica (by Quincy), which is the Aphorisms of Sanctorius, translated into English with large Explanations.  Confusing matters further, Quincy’s Medicina Statica offers the bonus addition of Dr. Keil’s Medicina Statica Britanica, with comparative Remarks, and Explanations.

• Sydenham’s Works
• Gibsons Anatomy
• Bates Dispensatory Translated by Salmon
• A parcel of old Books

I have come to realize no library is complete without a parcel of old books.

• New books according to Invoyce Amounting to £4,16,9 Sterl^g is Curr^t £6,9,0

Now if we could just figure out from whom Crockett was ordering his books – that would be very cool.

As It Ended, So It Begins

Yes, technically Volume 21 ended with 4 books but the last post had plenty of parcels of old books – and that’s what we have to kick off Volume 22.

David Peterkin, appraised June 1736:

• a parcel of old books

Mary Cook, appraised May 1736:

• one large bible and [an] other small book

Thomas Manning, appraised July 1736:

• a parcel of old books
• 1 new Spelling book

John Readin, appraised July 1736:

• two Primmers

Mr. William Tidmarsh, appraised October 1736:

• 1 Book Daltons Country Justice
• 1 large bible
• 1 large Prayer book
• 1 small D^o and Prayer book
• 1 Book the Gentleman instructed

Instructed in what, you might ask? Why, the Conduct of a Virtuous and Happy Life, but the advice is only intended for young noblemen.  Still, it’s a good read — even the declaration of the publisher, who “fling[s] this Treatise at your Feet, and if you will be pleased to peruse it with Leisure and Reflection, it may not only furnish you with Instruction, but with Pleasure; not such, indeed, as courts Sense, and gratifies the Beastial part, but such as is proportioned to the supreme and leading Faculty, such as feast a Soul, and regales an Intelligence.”

The earliest edition I could find is the fifth, published in 1713, which helpfully includes A Word to the Ladies. It’s nice to be remembered.

• 9 old small books
• Kearseys Dictionary

John Kersey the younger published A New English Dictionary: or, a complete collection of the most proper and significant words, commonly used in the language in 1702. He has to be identified as ‘the younger’ because his father was also an author. No, I can’t relate to that at all.

Mr. John Ward, appraised June 1736:

• a parcel of books

Mr. Robert Magruder, appraised September 1736:

• 4 small old books

Joseph Howard, appraised September 1736:

• a parcel old books

Edmund Evans, appraised August 1736:

• 1 Prayer book

Thomas Summerset, appraised July 1736:

• 3 very old & torn books

George Drew, appraised August 1736:

• a parcel of old books

William Shipley, appraised November 1736:

• 11 old small books

Mrs. Alice Murphy, appraised sometime in 1735:

• 5 old books

John Bath, appraised September 1736:

• a Bible
• some old Books
• a pair of old books

I know items often appear in inventories rather haphazardly, but I still find it odd that this pair of old books is entered well after the old Books with the Bible – and on the same line as a Sword without a Scabbard, to boot.

Samuel Wright, appraised August 1736:

• a parcel of books

David Thomas, appraised June 1736:

• 1 Bible Octavo

Henry Hosiere, appraised sometime before October 1736:

• a parcel of old Books

Darby Shehawn, appraised sometime before October 1736:

• 1 Spelling book

Mr. Benjamin Hopkins, appraised July 1736:

• 5 old book [sic]

Mr. Robert Hanson, appraised sometime before October 1736:

• 1 Common prayer book
• 1 History book

Mr. James King, appraised July 1736:

• 1 Comon Prayer book
• one Psalter

Joseph Howard, appraised December 1736:

• 1 old bible

Dr. Peter Bouchell, appraised November 1736:

• 1 Q^to bible
• 2 Octavo Dutch bibles
• a folio Concordance

A concordance, of course, is an alphabetical index of the principal words in a book or the works of an author with their immediate context. (No, really, I didn’t just look that up because I didn’t already know what it meant . . . ) Trouble is, this particular Concordance could be to just about anything.

• a half Doz: other books

And in his apothecarys shop:

• a parcell of Physical books [valued at £0.15]
• a parcell of Physical books [valued at £3]

[You’ll find more about Dr. Bouchell’s apothecary shop over on Maryland Inventories just as soon as I can get that post written.]

This is a good place to end for today, but hold onto your hats: I’ve peeked ahead and the next post will make it all worthwhile.

Now We’re Talking

We get to wind up this volume of inventories with something a tad more interesting than a parcel of old books, thanks to Thomas Warren.

Joshua Calvert, appraised February 1735:

• 2 old books

Valued at just £0.0125 . . .

John Capshaw, appraised April 1736:

• 2 old books

Mr. Thomas Warren, appraised August 1736:

• Pools Annotations on the Holy Bible Volumn 2d
• 1 Book the works of Josephas
• 1 Law D^o Traitors of Pleas to the Crown

A Treatise of the Pleas of the Crown: or a System of the Principal Matters relating to that Subject, digested under their proper Heads (although the appraisal does clearly say ‘Traitors’).

Also Word in its infinite wisdom spell-checked ‘pleas’ to ‘please’ – not helpful.

• 1 D^o Woods Institutes

An Institute of the Laws of England by Thomas Wood – not to be confused with Sir Edward Coke’s Institutes of the Lawes of England, which would be quite unfair to Mr. Wood. I could not easily find a link to the first edition, published in 1716, but you can see the fourth edition (1724) here.

• 1 small D^o Synaca Morals
• 1 small D^o Scrivners Guide Vo: 2
• 1 Book Dydams Treatee of Physick
• 1 small D^o History Cold Barth
• 1 Law D^o Nelsons Justice
• 1 old D^o Alsops fables
• 1 Book English Liberty
• 1 old D^o Saml. Cradocks Discourse upon Divinity
• 1 Book Beavridges Works

A work of theology by William Beveridge, Bishop of St. Asaph (and not the work of William Beveridge, British economist; William Beveridge, Scottish footballer; Bill Beveridge, ice hockey player; William Blackwood Beveridge, Canadian merchant; or William Ian Beardmore Beveridge, Australian animal pathologist).

William Beveridge, Bishop of St. Asaph (1704-1708)

• 1 D^o Practice of Piety
• 1 Common Prayer Book
• 1 Book Humane Prudence

Or the Art by Which a Man may Raise Himself and his Fortune to Grandeur. And who wouldn’t want to do that? This is the seventh edition, published in 1697.

• 1 Spelling Book
• a parcel of old Book

Plenty of theology but, curiously, no Bible.

For the record, I tried to find a history called ‘Barth’ as well as ‘English Liberty’ but came up empty. Not surprisingly, most of the hits were John Barth (here’s a shout-out to The Sot-Weed Factor) and John Wilkes (who’s all about English Liberty, but too late for this inventory). Dydams Treatee of Physick is also a mystery.

Mr. Richard Vowles, appraised April 1736:

• parcel old books

Robert Clark, appraised March 1736:

• some old books

Jacob Morris, appraised May 1736:

• 2 old books

John Hayes, appraised June 1736:

• a parcel old books

Mr. Richard Coade, appraised June 1736:

• prcel old books

John Barwick, appraised June 1736:

• one old bible and prayer book

Isaac Martain, appraised June 1736:

• small old bible and 2 very old books

John Loveday, appraised May 1736:

• 7 old books

Philip Kacey, appraised July 1736:

• 1 old large Bible
• some small books

Robert Skiene, appraised May 1736:

• 1 large bible
• a parcel of old books

Mr. John Stevens, appraised May 1736:

• 5 books

Thomas Tate, appraised sometime before July 1736:

• 20 old books

Peter Cearsey, appraised April 1736:

• one old prayer book
• 2 old Testaments

John Murry, appraised November 1736:

• 1 bible

David Addams, appraised June 1736:

• a parcel of old Books

Mr. Thomas Haskins, appraised May 1736:

• 4 books

 

That’s it for Volume 21 – stay tuned for the libraries of Volume 22.

 

Nothing Challenging Today

Bibles, prayer books, parcels of old books . . . just the usual.

Mr. Gilbert Falconar, appraised May 1736:

• 2 old Bibles
• sundry old Books

Henry Ennalls, appraised December 1735:

• 7 old Small Books

John Norris, appraised July 1736:

• 1 old Large Bible
• 2 oth^r books

John Johnson, appraised May 1736:

• a Bible

John Lewis, appraised sometime before May 1736:

• 1 Bible and Common Prayer Book

Robert Dutton, appraised April 1736:

• one old Bible
• 2 other old Books

Patrick Andrew, appraised March 1735:

• a parsell of old Bookes

John Fowler, appraised August 1736:

• a prayer book

Thomas Hampton, appraised May 1736:

• old books

Mrs. Mary Brown, appraised February 1736:

• one very old large Bible
• 4 Small Books
• one Small Common Prayer Book

Peter Bowman, appraised April 1736:

• one old psalm Book

Daniel Hurley, appraised July 1736:

• 1 old Bible Prayer book w^th the Testam^t

Mr. John Woodall, appraised August 1736:

• a parcell of old Books
• a Bible

Edward Cousand [Cosons], appraised March 1736:

• a Small parcell of old Books

Benjamin Griffith, appraised June 1736:

• 1 Large Bible in fol^o

William Canter, appraised June 1736:

• 1 old testament

Archibald Craque [Cragh], appraised August 1736:

• a parcel of old books
• 1 large D^o

Richard Fulston, appraised May 1736:

• 14 old books

Mr. Samuel Gooding, Kent County appraised June 1736:

• 1 large bible
• a small D^o
• 1 large common Prayer books
• 3 small D^o
• 6 small old books
• 1 small book

Now It’s Jonathan Taylor Who Leaves Me Hanging

To be fair, it’s really Jonathan Taylor’s appraisers who dropped the ball.

Thomas Maddox, Senior, appraised April 1736:

• old books and slate

Lazarus Maddux, appraised June 1736:

• pcell of old Books

Daniel Day, appraised May 1736:

• one small Bible one book common prayer and one horn Book

George Drew, appraised March 1736:

• one small Bible
• 1 old Large Bible

Mr. George Noble, appraised February 1736:

• one Neilsons Justice the 10 Eddition
• the Bound Bodey of Laws the others acts since
• a parcell of new and old Books

Also

• one new map of the world
• one Virginia and Maryland map very old
• To the North p^rspect of the Cathedrall Church
• To an old p^rspect of a Steeple

Not books, but intriguing.  Augustine Herrman’s map, perhaps?

Mr. John King, appraised sometime before June 1736:

• a parcell of old Books
• 3 small Books

William Williams, appraised sometime before June 1736:

• a parcill of old Books

Mark Noble, appraised sometime before June 1736:

• a pcell of old Books

Jonathan Taylor, Talbot County appraised June 1735:

• His Libarary of Books Considered Destinctly amounting to £5,5,0

Aaarrrgghhh!