Horologiographia = The art of dialling…

At London : Printed by Felix Kyngston, dwelling in Paternoster-Row, 1627.

1 volume ; 20 cm

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From dealer's description: "Fale, Thomas. “Horologiographia. The art of dialing.” London, printed by Felix Kyngston, 1627 Small in-4, [4] ff., 59 ff., [16] ff. 19th century brown canvas, smooth spine, gilded title along the length, cover preserved (book burned, very rounded margins on the first and last pages, leaf D4 (= p. 12) missing, rough reinforcement on the back of the title. Dimensions: 18.3 x 12.5 cm References: STC (2nd edition), n° 10680. Owned by: 1. (William) Higgenson, 17th century (“Will(iam) Higgenson” on a fragment of torn sheet added at the end of volume). 2. William Rhodes, tobacco merchant and pewter of Liverpool (c. 1760 (?)-c. 1830 (?)), with purchase note dated 26 November 1778 (f. R1 v: “Wm Rhodes his book bought this present Nov. 26 Anno Domini 1778"; he sometimes uses the initial WR). 3. George Pares, 1879 ("George Pare's Book, Nov. 19 1879", on 19th century paper he added, which proves that the book had already burned in 1879. Language of the notes: English; Latin (a few words). A rare book on sundials: This is an important edition of this book about the manufacture and use of sundials, illustrated with diagrams by Jodocus Hondius. Using sundials was a sort of aristocratic pastime in the Elizabethan period and was considered an introduction to mathematics. Shakespeare gives this hobby to the king in Henry VI: “To carve out dials quaintly, point by point/, Thereby to see the minutes how they run / How many make the hour full complete (…).” The practice subsequently became democratized with the development of instruments for measuring time in the daily sphere. This volume was mainly used as a diary and notebook by William Rhodes, a tobacco merchant who lived in Liverpool from the end of the 18th century to the first third of the 19th century. An eccentric collector and verbose annotator, Rhodes transformed this copy of the book into its own object: a sort of dizzying meditation on the passing of time and thoughts about his life in relation to a number of contemporary events. William Rhodes' remarks are not ordinary. The notes on the margins of the book are messy and mixed, just like the thoughts in his mind. In his notes, he is in equal parts obsessive, literary and scientific: he obsessively notes the years, the dates, the passing of time. His passion for small facts, precise dates and seemingly unimportant events is compulsive. What could be better than using the margins of a book dedicated to time to keep such a diary? William Rhodes – who was passionate about the curious mottoes found on sundials – was noted as a collector of horological books, notably works by Fale, John Good and William Leubourn – books in which he appreciated writing notes. Read more about his collection: Mrs. A. Gatty, The Book of Sun-dials, London, Bell, 1890, p. 494. A llist of books that belonged to him can be found in Notes and Queries, 7th series, vol 8, London, July-December 1899, pp. 142-143. Some notes that mourn the deaths of people close to him are written in a mix of English and Latin, perhaps in a search for solemnity. Two pages are devoted to the death of his wife and to someone who seems to be his daughter: “Little Martha O. N. died Sept: 21 1822 and buried at the Church along [w]ith her poor grand mother and uncle hodie,” with a calculation of the temporal distance that separates 1822 from 1779. Likewise, he adds a note comparing 1821 and 1784 with this comment: “Longum nunc videtur praesentem post mortem Martha Charae uxorem me<am> who died March 17 1820” (The time now seems very long since the death of my dear wife Martha who died on March 17, 1820). A few professional notes are also slipped into the work: “Our Little Tobacco Engine Sold from Wharehouse this present 2 June” and “Aug 9 1783 put up Brass Dial North Declining West…” His preoccupation with the passing of time was incessant. The dates follow one another in the margins of this horological work, in a whirlwind of calculations, small everyday facts and notes on extraordinary events: "June 28 1804. Saw shooting with bow & arrows,” an event that seems to mix on the page with another dated "June 27 1794." Finally, the fact that this book is burned in its margins in such a "perfect" way — that is to say, with the corners so evenly rounded and with few gaps — strikes us as perhaps not a coincidence. We know that the book had already been burned in 1879 when George Pares added his bookplate to it, but that it was not yet burned in the early 1800s. This is only a hypothesis, but it seems rather likely to us that it was an attempt by Rhodes, following a fire that may have been intentional or accidental, to push a little further, beyond the book, his meditation on time, the passing days and the ineffable. This “book object” is ultimately, it seems to us, at the frontiers of “Art Brut” (raw art). Fascinating book-object combining science, diary and questioning of the metaphysical." Ordered from Nicolas Malais, D9737, 2024-04-04, New York Antiquarian Book Fair Livres Rares & Manuscrits 1493 - 1937 #16

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