Describing the County and Its Ancient Monuments Particularly the Roman. With The Character of Those that have been the chief Possessors of the Lands and An Account of the most Memorable Occurrences
The History of Hertfordshire Describing the County and Its Ancient Monuments Particularly the Roman. With The Character of Those that have been the chief Possessors of the Lands and An Account of the most Memorable Occurrences
Published by the author, 1728.
First edition. Folio. Handsomely bound in modern full dark tan polished calf, with raised bands and gilt lettering to the spine. One of only 187 published copies. Double page map of Herfordshire. A very good copy, some marginal tears to page edges.
Nathaniel Salmon was an antiquarian who for some time officiated as curate in the village of Westmill, Herts., but when he refused to take the oath of allegiance to Queen Anne in 1702, he had to leave his post, instead practising medicine in St Ives. His desire to write and publish county histories, including his research on Roman antiquities and a very partisan view of the recent Civil War, could only be funded if he could attract subscribers to defray the costs of publication. With The History of Herfordshire, he enlisted 183 subscribers (for 187 copies), the majority of whom were members of the Hertfordshire gentry, who would have expected see some account of the descent of their own estates, but who were "no doubt happy to connive at the suppression of all mention of their own republican antecedents." [Stephen Doree] The subscribers are all listed.
[Nathaniel Salmon: Herfordshire's Neglected Historian. S.G. Doree]
Stock ID: 19653
