The Touch-Stone: Or Historical, Critical, Political, Philosophical, And Theological Essays On The Reigning Diversions Of The Town...
first edition Hardcover
1728 · London
by RALPH, James (17051762)
London: Printed, and sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster, 1728. First Edition. Hardcover. Good. MDCCXXVIII (1728). 12mo (165 x 95mm). Pagination: [xxviii], 237pp. Signatures: a-b(6), c(2), B-U(6), X (5 of 6, lacking final blank). Woodcut chapter initials, head and tail-pieces. Epistle dedicatory signed: A. Primcock [i.e. James Ralph]. 19th-century English calf; boards detached; intermittently browned, more at beginning and end of text block; outer edgewear with lightly bumped corners, otherwise very good. Rear pastedown inscribed in an 18th-century hand: To the Right Honourable Tho. Earl of Pomfrett. The title for the Earldom of Pomfret was created in 1721 for Thomas Fermor (16981753). Final blank verso inscribed in a contemporary hand To thee alone. Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of James Barlow (double-headed displayed eagle), motto: Renovabitur ut aquilae juventus tua from Psalm 102, carefully hand-colored in red, yellow, green, black and gray washes. James Barlow is perhaps the well-known James Barlow who was mayor of Bolton from 186769 and was known to keep this crest.
Rare First Edition of The Touch-Stone printed in London in 1728, another edition followed in 1729 printed in London for J. Crokatt at the Golden Key; it was reissued in 1731 as The Taste of the Town. American-born James Ralph (17051762), friend of Benjamin Franklin and Henry Fielding, has long been attributed as the author of The Touch-Stone, a tongue-in-cheek survey of 18th-century city amusements, although no contemporary reference to his authorship has ever been uncovered. Throughout the seven essays that comprise The Touch-Stone, the pseudonymous author A. Primcock reviews the many commercial attractions of London, including the opera, theatre, and masquerades, with a particular penchant for novelty or for the modern, quality diversions. The long-standing idea of England as a nation obsessed with innovation affected literary and leisurely amusement as much as it did politics and religion. A. Primcock (Ralph) employs many timely comical diversions in The Touch-Stone, including a lengthy title page signed by a Person of some Taste and some Quality, a sardonic preface, and an overly detailed table of contents. Perhaps most unique is the hundreds of elliptical dashes and asterisks of Words to be
guessd at, which Ralph thought would engage his readers to meet with such Gaps, in order to fill them up. Ralphs aesthetic has been compared to the famed English poet John Dryden. A most uncommon work, found in the expected North American institutions, but not elsewhere. ESTC no. T140548. (Inventory #: WB16221)
Rare First Edition of The Touch-Stone printed in London in 1728, another edition followed in 1729 printed in London for J. Crokatt at the Golden Key; it was reissued in 1731 as The Taste of the Town. American-born James Ralph (17051762), friend of Benjamin Franklin and Henry Fielding, has long been attributed as the author of The Touch-Stone, a tongue-in-cheek survey of 18th-century city amusements, although no contemporary reference to his authorship has ever been uncovered. Throughout the seven essays that comprise The Touch-Stone, the pseudonymous author A. Primcock reviews the many commercial attractions of London, including the opera, theatre, and masquerades, with a particular penchant for novelty or for the modern, quality diversions. The long-standing idea of England as a nation obsessed with innovation affected literary and leisurely amusement as much as it did politics and religion. A. Primcock (Ralph) employs many timely comical diversions in The Touch-Stone, including a lengthy title page signed by a Person of some Taste and some Quality, a sardonic preface, and an overly detailed table of contents. Perhaps most unique is the hundreds of elliptical dashes and asterisks of Words to be
guessd at, which Ralph thought would engage his readers to meet with such Gaps, in order to fill them up. Ralphs aesthetic has been compared to the famed English poet John Dryden. A most uncommon work, found in the expected North American institutions, but not elsewhere. ESTC no. T140548. (Inventory #: WB16221)