Oct 13, 2022 - Sale 2617

Sale 2617 - Lot 17

Price Realized: $ 1,125
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
Estienne, Henri (1531-1598)
A World of Wonders: Or, an Introduction to a Treatise Touching the Conformitie of Ancient and Moderne Wonders.

London: Imprinted [by Richard Field] for John Norton, 1607.

First edition in English, folio, two parts in one volume; a translation of Estienne's 1566 Apologie pour Hérodote, translator's dedication signed R.C., attributed to Richard Carew; Norton's woodcut device featuring an anchor to title page; second part with divisional title page, pagination and signatures are continuous; lacking preliminary blank and final leaf with errata; bound in full contemporary calf boards, older rebacking, marbled endleaves and later wove flyleaves added, 11 x 7 1/4 in.

In his attempt to emphasize the value of Herdotus's contributions to our knowledge of the ancients, Estienne constructed this series of comparisons between ancient and modern wonders. In the process, he developed a snappy satire on his own times, one that got him into hot water with local religious authorities in Geneva, and eventually lead to his arrest and a censure of his work.

STC 10553; ESTC S121359.