Fine Books & Manuscripts

[LIVINGSTON, Peter Robert (1766–1847), his bookplate by Nathaniel Hurd]. –– DODDRIDGE, Philip. The Family Expositor… London: for C. Hitch and L. Hawes, et al, 1760. 2 volumes (of 6) only, 4to. Contemporary full calf, raised bands, leather lettering–pieces gilt (retains one original, other is modern). (Boards rubbed, professional restoration at joints, inner hinges reinforced, fresh endpapers but excluding the original endpaper with Livingston’s bookplate). Provenance: FROM THE LIBRARY AT LIVINGSTON MANOR (inscription on bookplate and title) which was a 160,000-acre tract of land granted to Robert Livingston the Elder in present–day New York and New Jersey during the reign of George I of Great Britain; Peter Robert Livingston (1766–1847) (engraved bookplate); Mary Thong Livingston (1783–1841), (signature as a Livingston and later as a Crawford); Robert Livingston Junior (signature on titles); G. Crawford (inscription dated 1823); C. L. Crofts (inscription dated 1875). EARLY AMERICAN BOOKPLATE OF PETER R. LIVINGSTON, engraved by Nathaniel Hurd with a Jacobean design featuring a “small frame which encloses the shield is lined with the fish–scale pattern, the mantling is handsome and profuse, and the motto ribbon is stretched in rather stiff manner below the frame.” Hurd was considered “THE BEST OF OUR EARLY ENGRAVERS OF BOOK–PLATES” and one of the first to engrave on copper in the United States. Excellent provenance from one of America’s early and important families with notable descendants including Robert R. Livingston (see next lot for his bookplates), Philip Livingston (signer of the United States Declaration of Independence), William Livingston (signee of the United States Constitution), and other 18th century lords. Allen, American Book–Plates pp. 104–116.