1754 1st Edtn OBSERVATIONS OF THE ANTIQUITIES, HISTORICAL AND MONUMENTAL OF THE COUNTY OF CORNWALL By William Borlase Very Good History

1754 1st Edition , With Provenance
OBSERVATIONS OF THE ANTIQUITIES, HISTORICAL AND MONUMENTAL OF THE COUNTY OF CORNWALL
Consisting of several essays on the First Inhabitants, Druid-superstition, customs, and remains of the most remote antiquity, in Britain, and the British Isles: exemplify’d and prov’d by monuments now extant in Cornwall and the Scilly Islands, faithfully drawn on the spot, and engrav’d according to their scales annex’d. With a summary of the religious, civil, and military state of Cornwall before the Norman Conquest; illustrated by the plans and elevations of several ancient castles, an eastern view of the monastery and site of St. Michael’s Mount; and a vocabulary of the Cornu-British language.

A cornerstone Cornish folio and one of the defining antiquarian topographies of the eighteenth century: Borlase’s measured, on-the-ground account of Cornwall’s prehistoric monuments (quoits/tolmens, circles, barrows), together with historical essays, Roman and later survivals, castle plans/elevations, St Michael’s Mount, and the celebrated Cornish-English vocabulary section. The volume is illustrated with an engraved county map and a substantial suite of plates/plans (trade counts vary—copies are often described as “engraved map and 23 plates (one folding)” plus engraved vignettes/head- and tail-pieces).
By William Borlase

Author Bio: William Borlase (2 February 1696[1] – 31 August 1772), Cornish antiquary, geologist and naturalist. From 1722, he was Rector of Ludgvan, Cornwall, where he died. He is remembered for his works The Antiquities of Cornwall (1754; 2nd ed., 1769) and The Natural History of Cornwall (1758), although his plans for a parish-by-parish county history were abandoned.

Illustrated By: Engraved plates after Borlase’s drawings, signed ‘W.B. delin.’ and ‘J. Green sculp. (Oxon.)

Provenance: Three ink ownership inscriptions in differing hands: “Wm Hills” to title page; “Barnett Carden” to dedication leaf [iii]; and “Mr Kerrapthorne” to leaf B (opening of Book I). The subscriber list’s C section is complete and does not include “Carden”; the H/K sections shown also do not match these ownership names (i.e., they appear to be later owners rather than subscribers).

Binding: Hardcover, folio (fo 12 × 19 in 305 × 483 mm )
 Note: Binding/size selection follows standard bibliographic conventions and is approximate; exact measurements may vary.
Collation: xvi, 413, [1] pp.
Illustrated: engraved map + engraved plates/plans (counted variously in catalogues

Language: English

Published By: Printed by W. Jackson, in the High-Street, Oxford


Condition Report:
Dust Jacket: No Jacket, Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
Very Good - Contemporary full calf, tastefully rebacked, with later spine label; boards rubbed/marked as expected. Internally: some small marginal tide marks and light soiling/spotting in places (typical of a working 18th-century folio), but sound and well-presented. Plates/map present.

List of Subscribers: present and complete, i–xi (A–Y), followed by “Particular Antiquities, where explained.”. Notable multi-copy subscribers include J. Prideaux Basset of Tehidy (20 copies), William Lemon of Carclew (25 copies), Thomas Hawkins of Trewithen (6 copies), and the dedicatee Sir John St. Aubyn of Clowance (5 copies).

Binding:
Contemporary full calf, sympathetically rebacked, with later spine label; boards rubbed/marked as expected.

References:
WorldCat (OCLC) 4391247
ESTC T131270
Schulich-Woolf Rare Book Collection (DA670.C8 B7 1754).


SKU: BTETM0002365
Shipping Info: Approximate Package Dimensions H: 12.5, L: 30, W: 25 (Units: cm), W: 2Kg
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