With a Provenance to the Early 18th Century

(Wren, Christopher). NUMISMATUM ANTIQUORUM SYLLOGE. POPULIS GRÆCIS, MUNICIPIIS, & COLONIIS ROMANIS CUSORUM, EX CIMELIARCHIO EDITORIS. Londini: Apud Davidem Mortier, 1708. 4to, later full tan morocco; spine with two raised bands, lettered in brown; brown endpapers. (4), 42, (2) pages; engraved headpiece depicting coins; 6 engraved plates, 4 depicting ancient coins, one signed by S. Coignand; woodcut printer’s device and initial. Several handwritten notes by the consignor have been bound into the front of the volume (see comments). Spine discolored; a bit trimmed. Very good. An interesting and rather rare publication by Christopher Wren the Younger (1675–1747), son of Sir Christopher Wren, the famed architect. Ex Thomas Hearne (1678–1735) Library, with his signature on the title. Hearne was associated with the Bodleian Library, whose coins he catalogued, though his Jacobite political beliefs interfered with his prospects there. He discusses this work and its disputed authorship in the second volume of his Remarks and Collections. This volume was sold at the February 1735/36 auction of Hearne’s library (lot 3618), at which time it passed into the library of John Loveday (1711–1789), a friend of Hearne’s. BCD purchased this copy from a descendent of Loveday’s. Brückmann (1729) 99 & 134. Dekesel W229. Hirsch 93 & 143. Lipsius 388 & 441.