Details
BRIDGES, John (1666-1724) -- Catalogus librorum Johannis Bridges...nuper ex Hospitio Lincolniensi. London: James Tonson & John Watts, 1725.
8o (226 x 139 mm). Engraved allegorical frontispiece by A. Motte showing the idealized entrance to the Bridges Library. (Some minor spotting.) Contemporary calf (rebacked, worn). Provenance: unidentified armorial bookplate; Bibliotheca Lindesiana (bookplate); Wilfred Merton (book label).
The third earliest English inventory catalogue, preceded only by those of Brocklesby (1714) and Betham (1720). Compiled by the collector himself, the books are arranged according to subjects, not sizes as in the sale catalogue. The library was left to his brothers who had this catalogue printed for sale en bloc. When they failed to find a buyer, the entire collection was auctioned off the following year (see lot 213). Interestingly, this copy is PRICED in a contemporary hand with the individual auction sale prices, ruled in red. Fletcher, pp. 156-8; Pollard & Ehrman, p. 212, Table XXV, and no. 222; Taylor, pp. 193 & 206.
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The third earliest English inventory catalogue, preceded only by those of Brocklesby (1714) and Betham (1720). Compiled by the collector himself, the books are arranged according to subjects, not sizes as in the sale catalogue. The library was left to his brothers who had this catalogue printed for sale en bloc. When they failed to find a buyer, the entire collection was auctioned off the following year (see lot 213). Interestingly, this copy is PRICED in a contemporary hand with the individual auction sale prices, ruled in red. Fletcher, pp. 156-8; Pollard & Ehrman, p. 212, Table XXV, and no. 222; Taylor, pp. 193 & 206.