Lilly, William
Catastrophe Mundi: or, Merlin Reviv'd
£2,520
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 8 February 2023 at 10:00 GMT
Description
in a Discourse of Prophecies and Predictions, and their Remarkable Accomplishment. With Mr. Lilly's Hieroglyphicks exactly cut. London: printed and are to be sold by John How at the south west corner of the Royal Exchange in Cornhill, and Thomas Malthus at the Sun in the Poultrey, 1683. 8vo (14 x 9.5 cm), contemporary mottled sheep, 17 full-page woodcuts (counted in pagination and register), wear to head of spine and upper fore corners of boards, small section of worming to spine not extending into leaves, contents moderately browned, front free endpaper absent, a few plates closely trimmed along bottom edge, plate 4 (pp. 29/30) torn at lower fore corner, plates 5 and 7 (pp. 31/32 and 35/6) each with short closed tear, text-leaf E8 with short closed tear [ESTC R231167; Wing L2214]
Footnote
Note: A separate reissue of the appendix to Lilly's 1651 work Monarchy or No Monarchy, retaining the woodcut showing a city in flames, which caused trouble for the author in the aftermath of the Great Fire of London in 1666, when he was summoned by a parliamentary committee suspicious of his possible involvement. ESTC traces three copies only in the UK, all at the British Library, and five in the USA.
Provenance: Ermengarda Greville-Nugent (ownership inscription to head of title-page).