2144 - Aikin, L.

Aikin, L. Memoirs of the Court of King James I. (Illustrated with contemporary portraits by various artists, compiled by T. Mackinslay in 1850). Second edition. 2 volumes. London, Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, 1833. Large 8° (22 x 14 cm). XV (1) pp., [12] leaves (6 of which are written on: “Index to 150 inlaid plates inserted since publication”), 544 pp.; XV, 611 pp. with 2 additional calligraphic title pages, 2 engraved frontispieces, 152 partly mounted engraved portraits, 1 folded letter facsimile, and 1 multi-folded facsimile document mounted on linen. Contemporary leather bindings with gold-stamped spine titles, floral spine gilding, decorative wide cover borders, edge and inner edge gilding, and gilt edges. A work first published in 1822 about the contemporaries of King James I of England. - A unique copy supplemented by 152 portrait copperplate engravings from the 17th to the 19th centuries, including Shakespeare (“From the Edition of his Poems 1640”), Sir John Moor (“From a scarce print in the collection of R. Bull, Esq.,” a color etching in red, brown, and black), Queen Mary I, Sir Francis Bacon, King Henry VIII, Admiral Blake, Oliver Cromwell, John Milton, and Cardinal Richelieu. - The British historian and writer Lucy Aikin (1781–1864) published primarily biographical and historical works. "Her first major work, *Epistles on Women, Exemplifying their Character and Condition in Various Ages and Nations, with Miscellaneous Poems*, was published in 1810, and her only work of fiction, *Lorimer, a Tale*, in 1814. These were merely early attempts, but she earned her reputation entirely through historical works published between 1818 and 1843: *Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth* (1818), *Memoirs of the Court of James I* (1822), *Memoirs of the Court of Charles I* (1833), and *Life of Addison* (1843). The latter work, which contains many previously unpublished letters by Addison, was the subject of an essay by Macaulay, who, while praising Akin’s other works—and in particular her *Memoirs of the Court of James I*— but noted that she was “far more at home among the ruffs and goatees of the Theobalds than among the steen cherries and flowing wigs that surrounded Queen Anne’s tea table at Hampton.” She herself saw it similarly and is said to have remarked after completing *Charles I*: “I am determined not to concern myself further with English rulers. Charles II is not a subject for me: he would lead me to condemn my own style.” (Wikipedia). - Ex-libris (“Samuel F. Barker”), a unique “deluxe edition” studded with 152 portraits, in a magnificent hand-bound cover.