Complete set of the 40 monthly parts
The Percy anecdotes - original and select by Sholto and Reuben Percy - brothers of the Benedictine monastery Mont Benger
London: printed for Thomas Boys, No.7, Ludgate Hill; and sold by Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, 1821-23. 40 monthly parts [complete] in the original printed wrappers, 12mo (5¾" x 4"), wrappers loose on volume I (but present), back wrapper on part XI (Humor) is wanting, some spines partially perished, and all spines with some cracking and chipping (with one exception, lettering on spines remains legible); part XXV (Patriotism) with mice nibbles at lower gutter (no loss of any text); all others in good condition or better with overall moderate wear. Titles of the individual parts include Literature, Music, Fashion, Honor, Woman, Captivity, Science, Traveling, Crime and Punishment, The Stage, Commerce, War, Imagination, The Bar, Shipwrecks, etc. Compiled pseudonymously by Thomas Byerley, a Scottish journalist, whose fame rests on these Anecdotes. "These volumes...were professionally written 'by Sholto and Reuben Percy, brothers of the Benedictine monastery of Mount Benger.' Reuben Percy was Thomas Byerley, and Sholto Percy was Joseph Clinto Robertson, who died in 1852. The name of the collection was taken from the Percy Coffeehouse in Rathbone Place, where Byerley and Robertson were accustomed to meet" (see DNB). Lowndes states that there are 41 parts, and DNB 44. In fact, the work is complete in 40 volumes, as here. Three other volumes did follow these, but were part of a new series projected as the "Percy Histories," but no more than the first three volumes were ever published. (See the advertisement on the back wrapper of the 40th part.) Lowndes, 1831. Item #66953
Price: $1,250.00
