by (AUCTION CATALOGUE: CROFTS, Thomas)
xvi, 420 pp. 8vo, cont. diced russia, double gilt fillet round sides, spine gilt, orig. red morocco lettering piece on spine. [London: 1783]. A very handsome copy. This was a grand library of 8360 lots, notable for its Italian books, which De Ricci considered "the finest library of old Italian books yet seen in England; his sale (7 April 1783) also contained a number of fine French chivalry-romances" (p. 56). Crofts (1722-81), also had much fine early music, Spanish novels, Scandinavica, Polonica, and Eastern travel. Fine crisp copy. ❧ Gustave Brunet, Dictionnaire de Bibliologie Catholique, col. 562. Taylor, Book Catalogues, pp. 169-"few eighteenth-century English libraries show such a preponderance of cinquecento books" (and see pp. 168 & 238). (Inventory #: 2834)