Gabriel Naudé, 1661

NAUDÉ, Gabriel (1600-1653) and John EVELYN, translator (1620-1706). Instructions Concerning Erecting of a Library. London: Printed for G. Bedle, T. Collins, and J. Crook, 1661.

First edition in English. Naudé, the great French librarian, first published his Advis pour dresser une bibliothèque at Paris in 1627. The present translation is probably based on his revised edition of 1644, a year during which John Evelyn lived in Paris. Evelyn was not happy with the published work: "it has been so insufferably abus'd at presse, that the shame... has made me suppresse as many as I could light on." Without the later-issued errata leaf found in some copies. Wing N247.

Octavo (165 x 105mm). (Wormhole to upper margin of leaves G1-8, touching a few characters.) Contemporary sheep (rebacked, worn). Provenance: J. Willughby (ownership inscription and shelf mark) – George Goyder (armorial bookplate) – Christie’s, 26 November 1997, lot 119.