54 ASHMOLE (E.). THE INSTITUTION, LAWS AND Ceremonies of THE MOST NOBLE ORDER OF THE GARTER.

55

A work furnished with variety of matter relating to Honour and Noblesse.

With portrait, double-paged plates, and Coats of Arms.
LARGE PAPER COPY. Thick folio.

Fine copy bound by Clarke & Bedford in full dark blue morocco extra, full gilt back, g. e.

MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF THAT LEARNED ANTIQUARY, ELIAS ASHMOLE, Esq.; Drawn up by himself by way of Diary. With an Appendix of original Letters. Publish'd by Charles Burman, Esq.

FIRST EDITION. Small 8vo. Original calf.

London, Printed for J. Roberts, 1717.

Elias Ashmole has been described as "the greatest virtuoso and curioso that ever was known or read of in England before his time." His memoirs are a quaint and curious record, narrating matters of great personal importance to him in the same dry style as the most trivial particulars of his numerous ailments: how he cured himself of an ague by hanging three spiders about his neck, and how on the ever-memorable 14 Feb. 1677 "I took cold in my right ear."

56 ASTELL (Mary). AN ESSAY IN DEFENCE OF THE FEMALE SEX. In a Letter to a Lady: Written by a Lady.

With engraved frontispiece of THE COMPLEAT BEAU.
Small 8vo. Contemporary calf.

London, Printed for A. Roper and E. Wilkinson, 1696.

On page 47 we read:

£6 6s

"English Books the best helps to Conversation," and on page 48 occurs the following Shakespearean reference:

:

"Where is Love, Honour and Bravery more lively represented than in our Tragedies, who has given us nobler, or juster Pictures of Nature than Mr. Shakespeare?"

57 ASTROLOGY, ASTRONOMY, ALCHEMY, Etc.

58

59

BION

(Nicolas). THE CONSTRUCTION AND PRINCIPAL USES OF MATHE-

MATICAL INSTRUMENTS. To which are added the Construction

and Uses of such Instruments as are omitted by M. Bion,

particularly of those invented or improved by the English.

With 30 large copper-plate engravings.

Folio. Contemporary calf gilt. London, 1758.

I IOS

Copy formerly in the possession of Sir George Shuckburgh, the celebrated

mathematician, with his book-plate.

BISHOP (John). THE MARROW OF ASTROLOGY. Where-

in is contained the Natures of the Sines and Planets, etc. To

which is prefix'd a Preface in Commendation of the Author and

his Method, by Henry Coley.

1688.

Small 4to. Old calf.

London, Printed for William Fisher and Richard Mount,

Dedicated to Robert Boyle.

LI IOS

F. (J., M.D.). A NEW LIGHT OF ALCHYMIE: Taken

out of the fountaine of Nature, and Manuall Experience: To

which is added a Treatise of Sulphur: Written by Micheel

Sandivogius: i.e., Anagrammatically, Divi Leschi Genus Amo.

Also Nine Books of the Nature of Things, written by

Paracelsus.

Also a Chymicall Dictionary explaining hard places and

words met withall in the writings of Paracelsus, and other obscure

Authors.

All which are faithfully translated out of the Latin into the

English tongue, by J. F., M.D.

ASTROLOGY, ASTRONOMY, ALCHEMY, Etc.-continued.

60

61

62

FERGUSON (James). ASTRONOMY EXPLAINED UPON SIR ISAAC NEWTON'S PRINCIPLES, and made easy to those who have not Studied Mathematics.

With 13 engraved folding plates, illustrating astronomical instruments and their use, and astronomical charts, etc.

4to. Contemporary calf. London, 1757.

£225 An interesting copy, having formerly belonged to Sir George Shuckburgh, the celebrated Mathematician, with his book-plate and a number of leaves containing his manuscript notes, and Astronomical diagrams (executed when he was a boy of fourteen, at Rugby), some of which are signed and dated.

PRESENTATION COPY.

GADBURY (John, Student in Physick and Astrology).
CARDINES CŒLI: or An Appeal to the learned and Experienced
Observers of Sublunars and their Vicissitudes, whether the Car-
dinal Signs of Heaven are not most influential upon Men and
Things proved by X Remarkable Genitures, &c. In a Reply to
the learned Author of Cometomantia, wherein the character of
Gassendus is defended, and sundry other Starry Truths are
Justified.

Small 4to. Bound by Riviere in full mottled calf gilt, g. e.
London, 1684.

£8 8s

Presentation Copy from the Author to John Gibbon, Blue-Mantel at Arms, with inscription by Gadbury on fly-leaf, MS. nativity by him of Gibbon, and numerous Notes, and further a long and most interesting Autograph letter of Gadbury's on Astrological Subjects.

HEYDON (Sir Christopher). A DEFENCE OF JUDICIALL
ASTROLOGIE, in answer to a Treatise lately published by Mr. John
Chamber, wherein the reasons of Scripture, Philosophers, Sixtus
Empiricus, Picus, and others against this Arte, are particularly
examined.

Thick small 4to. Original vellum.
Cambridge, 1603.

£335

ASTROLOGY, ASTRONOMY, ALCHEMY, Etc.-continued.

63

64

65

SHUCKBURGH (Sir George).

EQUATORIAL INSTRUMENT.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE

With six folding plates of the instrument and its mechanism, and various tables.

4to. Contemporary russia gilt. (London, 1793.)

I IS

This instrument was constructed by Jesse Ramsden, and was the largest Equatorial Instrument in existence.

STREETE (Thomas). A NEW THEORIE OF THE COELESTIAL MOTIONS. Composed according to the Best Observations and most National Grounds of Art, etc.

Small 4to. Old brown morocco.

Printed for L. Lloyed at the Castle in Cornhill, 1661. £4 4s

This book belonged to John Flamstead, the first Astronomer Royal. It has his signature on title and MS. notes by him on fly-leaves. It was used by Flamstead when 19 years old to calculate eclipses and the planet's places.

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT.

STUKELEY (William). HISTORIA CELESTIS; or, The History of the Heavens, being an explication of the Asterisms of the Celestial Sphere, whence the origin of Idolatry, and first deviation from the Patriarchal, and true Religion.

The original manuscript, extending to 130 pp. Illustrated with 24 full-page coloured drawings of the various constellations, by the same hand; and two engraved plates of the heavens, inserted.

4to. Original calf, with Arms on sides. 1742.

Stukeley, in an autobiography written (in the third person) for Masters's "History of Bennet College,' says of himself: "He has traced the origin of Astronomy from the first ages of the world." Warburton, Bishop of Gloucester, one of Stukeley's oldest acquaintances, describes him as a learned and honest man, but a strange compound of " simplicity, drollery, absurdity, ingenuity, superstition, and antiquarianism."