A Collection Of Curious Travels & Voyages In Two Tomes

A collection of curious travels & voyages in two tomes: the first containing Dr. Leonhart Rauwolff’s Itinerary into the Eastern Countries, as Syria, Palestine, or the Holy Land, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Chaldea & c., translated from the High Dutch by Nicholas Staphorst and the second
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Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt

Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt: undertaken by order of the old government of France; illustrated with forty engravings; consisting of portraits, views, plans, a geographical chart, antiquities, plants, animals, &c. drawn on the spot, under the author’s inspection. C.S. Sonnini, translated from the French
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Early gardening books

The Trust lent a group of books to Hogarth’s House in Chiswick as part of an exhibition which ran until 1 November 2015. It celebrated the award of funding from HLF towards a major project which will create an “exhibition garden” presenting 300 years of
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Atlas Chinensis

Atlas Chinensis: An Embassy from the East India Company of the United Provinces to the Grand Tartar Cham, Emperor of China, being a second part of a relation of remarkable passages in two embassies from the East-India Company Ogilby collaborated with Dutch publisher Jacob van
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Lease of property from the estate of Sir John Maynard

Sir John Maynard was an immensely wealthy lawyer and government official who died in 1690. He owned a Palladian mansion at Gunnersbury, which was demolished about 1800. His complex will which took about 20 years of legal wrangling to sort out. In the meantime, his
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Lease of land in Brentford for a charity school

This deed, numbered 17805 in the collection, records a land transaction in 1725. The 98-year lease was taken by a group of men from  Brentford and Kew who were effectively the trustees of the charity school. A transcript of the full text follows: This Indenture
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Examples of Early English Pottery

Layton acquired reference books about objects as well as the objects themselves. This fine example, about early English pottery, was published in a limited edition of 500 copies in 1891. The embossed cover design uses the style of lettering from Staffordshire slipware, especially that of
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The Nativity of the late King Charles

The Nativity of the late King Charles Astrologically and Faithfully performed with reasons in the Art of the various Success and Mis-fortune of his whole life, by John Gadbury, published by James Cottrell, London in 1659. Layton Collection no 1602 These two pages come from
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The Life and Times of James Catnach

The Life and Times of James Catnach by Charles Hindley, published by Reeves & Turner: London, 1878. Layton Collection no 1588 Layton was interested in the kind of chap books with rhymes and woodcuts which Catnach produced and there are several volumes about him in
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Lives of famous London beggars

Lives of Famous London Beggars with Forty Portraits of the most remarkable drawn from life by John Thomas Smith, published by Diprose and Bateman: London. Layton Collection no 1196 Layton’s collection includes several books recording the appearance and lives of comparatively ordinary people. This is
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