J.F.T. Rodgers (London)
[Stock catalogues, unnumbered series] 100 rare books on 100 different subjects
London, J.F.T. Rodgers Rare Books, 1996
(23.5 cm), 90 (2) pp., illustrations (some in colour). 100 items; priced. Publisher’s printed wrappers. - “…the first catalogue I have produced myself since 1977…”, containing books “from the library of Cullen House in Banffshire, the best of which I bought in 1970… I kept as many as I could then because they were in such fine condition, not having been mucked about by booksellers or, even worse, auctioneers. This is a preliminary ballon d’essai” (from the Preface). The extraordinary catalogue was given a long review (”Odd volumes of stuff: a catalogue of literary curiosities evokes forgotten ventures into the unknown”) by Bernard Levin, in The Times, 26 April 1996, p.20. Item 28 (£28,000) is a Bible in English (London: Robert Barker, 1607) containing a specially printed leaf of presentation from Thomas Braythwaite to George Preston of Holker in Cumberland, dated 1607, and a miniature of Braythwaite on his death-bed attributed to Nicolas Hilliard (purchased by Rodgers in Christie’s, 8 December 1982, lot 88A; sold from this catalogue to Maggs; offered in Maggs Catalogue 1272, 1999, item 13, and now Yale Center for British Art, BS170 1607+ Oversize). Cf. Robert Harding, “The art of dying: The Brathwaite Bible miniature” in The British Art Journal, volume 1 (Autumn 1999), pp.16-19. ¶ Unmarked copy.