This auction has ended. View lot details
You may also be interested in
Lot 53•
CHARLETON (WALTER) Chorea Gigantum; or, the Most Famous Antiquity of Great-Britain, Vulgarly Called Stone-Heng. Standing on Salisbury Plain, Restored to the Danes, first edition, Henry Herringham, at the sign of the Anchor in the lower walk of the New Exchange, 1663
25 March 2015, 11:00 GMT
London, Knightsbridge£800 - £1,200
Looking for a similar item?
Our Books & Manuscripts specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
CHARLETON (WALTER)
Chorea Gigantum; or, the Most Famous Antiquity of Great-Britain, Vulgarly Called Stone-Heng. Standing on Salisbury Plain, Restored to the Danes, first edition, imprimatur leaf, title printed in red and black, 2 wood-engraved plates (one folding, slightly soiled and creased), some soiling, modern panelled calf, gilt lettered spine [Wing C3665; Macdonald, Dryden 8ai], 4to (186 x 138mm.), Henry Herringham, at the sign of the Anchor in the lower walk of the New Exchange, 1663
Footnotes
INCLUDES THE FIRST PRINTING OF A DRYDEN POEM. Dr. Walter Charleton (1619-1707), scholar and physician to Charles I, was a friend of Dryden. He contributed a Life of Marcellus to the poet's Plutarch, and proposed him for the Royal Society. The poem included here is headed "To my Honour'd Friend, Dr Charleton, on his learned and useful Works; and more particularly this of Stone-heng, by him restored to the true founders", and appears on b2r/v. Alterations were made to the verses as the book was going through the press, and this copy is in the final corrected state.
Charleton's work is a reply to Inigo Jones's The Most Notable Antiquity of Great Britain, which argued that Stonehenge had been built by the Romans. A second dedicatory verse, by Robert Howard, lends support to Carleton's view: "To my worthy Friend, Dr. Charleton, on his clear Discovery of STONE-HENG to have been a DANISH Court-Royal... and not a Roman Temple, as supposed by Mr Inigo Jones".
Provenance: William H. Jackson and Henry Pidgeons, Salop, old ink ownership signatures; Walter Flinn, bookplate.