Psaumes

1776 · 1744 — London: Printed by Richard Hett for the Company of Stationers 1776. Hardcover. Very good. 8vo. 203 x 123 mm. 236 4 pp. Collation: A-P8 COMPLETE. Contemporary Liverpool binding of full red morocco elaborately gilt; wide gilt border of urns and flowers surrounding a black inlay gilt with the name of the first owner: "William Pole Esqr. / Mayor 1778." Marbled pastedowns and endpapers a.e.g. Trifle wear to binding extremities. Preserved in a dark brown cloth protective case. AN ELEGANT LIVERPOOL BINDING. While the workshop is still-unnamed sixteen examples are known to us including two bindings that were bound for two different Liverpool Lord Mayors. ¶ 1. Psalms London 1778 -- bound for Robert Landor Church Warden of St. Paul's Church 1782 --> now Boston Athenaeum ¶ 2. Bible Oxford 1772 -- two volumes -- bound for presentation to Liverpool Mayor John Brown dated 1772 Lathrop Harper Cat. 239 item 101 --> Christie's London 25 June 1997 lot 154 ¶ 3. Bible Cambridge 1768 -- Earls of Derby Knowsley Hall Library Lancashire near Liverpool --> Sale Christie's London 1954 --> now Liverpool University Library Knowsley 705 ¶ 4. Bible Oxford 1772 -- two volumes as above -- Pierpont Morgan Library and Museum PML 12936 ¶ 5. Book of Common Prayer Cambridge 1770 -- Maggs Cat. 966 item 154 ¶ 6. Book of Common Prayer Oxford 1770 bound for presentation to George III -- Maggs Cat. 893 item 111 ¶ 7. Bible London 1767 bound for "MB" i.e. Maria Barclay presented to her in NYC by her son-in-law Col. Stephen Delancy ¶ 8. Book of Common Prayer Oxford 1773 bound for Liverpool attorneys Richard Gerard and James Clemens "Gent. Bailiffs 1773" formerly Alice Welsh Skilling and Raymond Skilling Collection Chicago Illinois sold Leslie Hindman auction 6 Nov 2013 Lot 216 ¶ 9. John Morrison The Advantages of an Alliance with the Great Mogul London 1774 British Library 280e18 ¶ 10. New Version of the Psalms London 1778 -- bound for Thomas Hutton Gent. Bailiff 1781 --> Clive Coates Helperby Hall Yorkshire --> now Richard Linenthal London ¶ 11-13. Three vols. at least from a collection of more than 300 Liverpool related items sold at Bonhams 11 Nov. 2015 lot 67 including Psalm and Common Prayer books bound for John Dixon St. Paul's Church Warden 1781; Thomas Hutton see No. 10 above and Joseph Birch Gent. Bailiffs; Charles Pole Edmund Rigby Gent. Bailiffs 1783 Richard Linenthal kindly drew my attention to this lot ¶ 14. Bible Cambridge 1768 two volumes -- bound for presentation to Liverpool slave trader John Sparling 1731-1800 --> Messrs. Peter Harrington as of 1/2020 ¶ 15. Book of Common Prayer Oxford 1793 early provenance indeterminate Maggs Catalogue 1075 Part II no. 240. NB: in their description Messrs. Maggs state that this binder was also responsible for the example published in their Catalogue 966 no. 191; I do not agree ¶ 16. The present binding executed in 1778 for William Pole Esq. Mayor of Liverpool from 1778-1779 dated 1778. Pole was Collector of Stamp Duties and Agent of the Sun Fire Office a long biographical note appears in pencil on first blank leaf -- subsequently in the library of noted Liverpool bibliophile and philanthropist Rev. Samuel Ashton Thompson Yates 1843-1903 with his armorial bookplate.<br/><br/>The names of early Liverpool bookbinders are few but we have located two of them in Gore's 1766 "Liverpool Directory" namely Peter Wright on Bixteth Street and Richard Wright on George Street. The work of the present binder was not within the scope of Ramsden's "Bookbinders of the United Kingdom Outside London 1780-1840. It would appear that the Wrights continued working in Liverpool for some time. According to Ramsden the name Richard Wright appears in the 1777 and 1781 directories and Peter Wright in the 1790 directory. In the 1793 records of burials at Our Lady and St Nicholas Liverpool a certain William Wright is listed as a bookbinder on Sweeting Street.<br/><br/>¶ This edition of the Psalms is scarce: ESTC T206585 lists only 5 copies worldwide none in America. Printed by Richard Hett, for the Company of Stationers hardcover books