A Lecture on Heads. STEVENS (George).
A Lecture on Heads, by the Celebrated George Stevens; Which has been exhibited upwards of Three Hundred successive Nights to crowded Audiences, and met with the most universal Applause.
Folding engraved frontispiece.
8vo. [215 x 130 x 21 mm]. 18pp. Bound c.1790 in half calf, marbled paper sides, smooth spine divided into six panels by two thick gilt fillets, lettered in the longer second panel on a green goatskin label, the others with a gilt centre tool, plain endleaves and edges.
London: printed for J. Pridden, at No.100 in Fleet-Street, [1770?]
Without the final advertisement leaf. Short tear in inner margin of frontispiece and closely cut, just touching a few letters at the fore-edge on p.6. Originally published in 1764, this is one of ten editions with Pridden's name. In this edition there is no press figure on p.10 and the title-page ornament contains a head facing right. ESTC locates seven copies, at the British Library, Cambridge, California State Library, Lilly Library, Princeton University, Rice University and University of Toronto.
Bound with: THICKNESSE (Philip, senior). Queries to Lord Audley, (Second Edition).
8vo. 8pp.
[London? 1782?]
With ink initials "P.T." at the foot of the title and signature "P. Thicknesse" at the end of the text. One of two editions - the first has 14 pp and ESTC locates six copies (British Library, Cambridge, Oxford, New York Public Library, UCLA and Yale). Only four copies of this second edition have been located, at the British Library, Merton College Oxford, University of Saskatchewan and Yale. An angry series of queries directed by the Bath eccentric Philip Thicknesse (1719-1792) to his son George, who had inherited the Baronetcy of Audley from his uncle in 1777. Amongst his misdemeanours George had seduced and ruined a Miss Walker at Bristol. In his will Philip stipulated that his right hand be cut off and delivered to George, "to remind him of his duty to God after having so long abandoned the duty he owed to a father, who once so affectionately loved him".
And: [TICKELL (Richard)]. The Green Box of Monsieur De Sartine, Found at Mademoiselle Du The's Lodgings. From the French of the Hague Edition. Revised and Corrected by those of Leipsic and Amsterdam. The Fourth Edition.
8vo. [1]f, 71, [1] pp.
London: sold by A. Becket, and R. Faulder, 1779
Without the half-title. One of five editions published in London in 1779; there was also a Dublin edition. ESTC locates 20 copies of this fourth edition. A political satire purporting to be the correspondence of De Sartine with Franklin and others.
And: [WILLIAMS (David)]. Royal Recollections on a Tour to Cheltenham, Gloucester, Worcester, and Places Adjacent, in the Year 1788. The Seventh Edition.
8vo. [1]f, 107, [1].
London: printed for James Ridgway, 1788
Without the half-title. The seventh of 12 editions to be published in London in 1788. ESTC locates five copies, at the British Library, John Rylands Library, National Trust, Columbia University and University of Kansas. A fictitious diary, professing to have been written by George III, but actually by Rev. David Williams, a Unitarian Minister.
And: CALET (Jean Jacques). A True and Minute Account of the Destruction of the Bastile; by Jean Jaques Calet, A French Protestant: who had been a Prisoner there upwards of Twenty Years, and who received his Liberty on, and who assisted at the Demolition of that Infamous Prison. Translated from the French, by an English Gentleman.
Aquatint frontispiece.
8vo. [3]ff, 61pp.
London: printed by W. Browne and J. Warren, and sold for the Author by C. Stalker, J. Walter, and all the Booksellers in Town and Country, 1789
Without a half-title. ESTC locates 10 copies, at the British Library, Cambridge, Oxford, DePaul University, Harvard (two), McMaster (two), University of Missouri and University of Texas. The French title has not been traced.
The five titles are lettered in abbreviated form on the spine. The last piece is a little foxed, and there are few uneven margins but the volume is in fine condition. Two separate pieces of marbled paper were used on the rear cover - a case of "waste not, want not".
Stock no. ebc5144