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Itinerarium curiosum: or, an account of the antiquities, and remarkable curiosities in nature or art, observed in travels through Great Britain. Illustrated with copper plates. Centuria I. The second edition, with large additions. (Centuria II. To which is added, The itinerary of Richard of Cirencester, monk of Westminster. With an account of that author and his work.) By William Stukeley, ...
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STUKELEY, William (1687--1765)
Itinerarium curiosum: or, an account of the antiquities, and remarkable curiosities in nature or art, observed in travels through Great Britain. Illustrated with copper plates. Centuria I. The second edition, with large additions. (Centuria II. To which is added, The itinerary of Richard of Cirencester, monk of Westminster. With an account of that author and his work.) By William Stukeley, ...
London (Place), printed for Messrs. Baker and Leigh [i.e.Leigh and Sotheby],, 1776 [i.e. c. 1815].
2 vols ; 36.2 cm. (2°)
I: x, 205, [7] p., etch. frontis. port., 100, [1] pl.
II: [4], 177, [13] p., etch. frontis.,
First edition 1724; second edition 1776. The present edition is a type-facsimile reprint of the second edition (2 vols, 1776) published by Leigh and Sotheby around 1815. Stukeley gathered the material for this work, originally consisting of the first volume only, during tours through England undertaken between 1720 and 1724, and published it at his own expense. After his death a new edition was published in 1776 (ESTC t145546) with the addition of a second volume comprising material which may have been prepared by Stukeley for a continuation of the Itinerarium curiosum. This included 'Ricardi monachi westmonasteriensis commentarioli geographici de situ Brittaniæ' (vol. II, pp. 79--108), a famous forgery first published by Charles Bertram in 1757, and claimed by him to be copied from a manuscript written by Richard of Cirencester. The BAL catalogue cites Lowndes V, p. 2541, which notes of the present type-facsmile that "The paper was made expressly for it, and is so perfect an imitation of the original that an unpractised eye could not discern the difference." It follows the 1776 edition word for word, but in the BAL copy, as in the Soane copy, in part 2 the etched head-piece is absent from leaf B1 (recto) and the facsimile illustration of the (forged) manuscript is absent from leaf Qq1 (verso). The plates in part 1 are numbered 1--100, [101] plus the frontispiece portrait; those in part 2 are numbered 1--102, [103--4] plus the frontispiece captioned 'Centvria. I.' (which was the frontispiece to part 1 in the 1776 edition, but is here swapped with the frontispiece portrait). BAL, Early printed books, no. 3199.
Copy Notes The Soane copy has the two parts bound together with both frontispieces at the front of the volume. The plates have been bound at the page locations 'where explained' according to the indexes to the plates bound at the end of each part (leaf Ggg2 in part 1, leaf Ccc1 in part 2) for a total of 153 plates bound in part 1 and 57 in part 2. Front free-endpaper inscribed in ink 6/6/0 (possibly by Soane) and in pencil by an unidentified bookseller (possibly Thomas Boone?) £6=s6=d0.
Binding C19th half calf, blind triple-rule borders, gilt-ruled and blind-tooled spine.
Reference Number 3391
Additional Names Bertram, Charles (1723--1765); Richard, of Cirencester (d.$1401?)
Itinerarium curiosum: or, an account of the antiquities, and remarkable curiosities in nature or art, observed in travels through Great Britain. Illustrated with copper plates. Centuria I. The second edition, with large additions. (Centuria II. To which is added, The itinerary of Richard of Cirencester, monk of Westminster. With an account of that author and his work.) By William Stukeley, ...
London (Place), printed for Messrs. Baker and Leigh [i.e.Leigh and Sotheby],, 1776 [i.e. c. 1815].
2 vols ; 36.2 cm. (2°)
I: x, 205, [7] p., etch. frontis. port., 100, [1] pl.
II: [4], 177, [13] p., etch. frontis.,
First edition 1724; second edition 1776. The present edition is a type-facsimile reprint of the second edition (2 vols, 1776) published by Leigh and Sotheby around 1815. Stukeley gathered the material for this work, originally consisting of the first volume only, during tours through England undertaken between 1720 and 1724, and published it at his own expense. After his death a new edition was published in 1776 (ESTC t145546) with the addition of a second volume comprising material which may have been prepared by Stukeley for a continuation of the Itinerarium curiosum. This included 'Ricardi monachi westmonasteriensis commentarioli geographici de situ Brittaniæ' (vol. II, pp. 79--108), a famous forgery first published by Charles Bertram in 1757, and claimed by him to be copied from a manuscript written by Richard of Cirencester. The BAL catalogue cites Lowndes V, p. 2541, which notes of the present type-facsmile that "The paper was made expressly for it, and is so perfect an imitation of the original that an unpractised eye could not discern the difference." It follows the 1776 edition word for word, but in the BAL copy, as in the Soane copy, in part 2 the etched head-piece is absent from leaf B1 (recto) and the facsimile illustration of the (forged) manuscript is absent from leaf Qq1 (verso). The plates in part 1 are numbered 1--100, [101] plus the frontispiece portrait; those in part 2 are numbered 1--102, [103--4] plus the frontispiece captioned 'Centvria. I.' (which was the frontispiece to part 1 in the 1776 edition, but is here swapped with the frontispiece portrait). BAL, Early printed books, no. 3199.
Copy Notes The Soane copy has the two parts bound together with both frontispieces at the front of the volume. The plates have been bound at the page locations 'where explained' according to the indexes to the plates bound at the end of each part (leaf Ggg2 in part 1, leaf Ccc1 in part 2) for a total of 153 plates bound in part 1 and 57 in part 2. Front free-endpaper inscribed in ink 6/6/0 (possibly by Soane) and in pencil by an unidentified bookseller (possibly Thomas Boone?) £6=s6=d0.
Binding C19th half calf, blind triple-rule borders, gilt-ruled and blind-tooled spine.
Reference Number 3391
Additional Names Bertram, Charles (1723--1765); Richard, of Cirencester (d.$1401?)