Books and Manuscripts

[Blake, William] (Darwin, Erasmus)
The Botanic Garden. A Poem, in Two Parts. Part I. Containing The Economy of Vegetation. Part II. The Loves of the Plants. With Philosophical Notes
London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1794-95. Two parts in one volume. Third edition of first part, fourth edition of second part. 4to. xx, 174, (ii), 175-218, 124, (2); (iv), viii, 200 pp.; with a general title-page and two sectional title-pages. Illustrated with two engraved frontispieces and 18 engraved plates, including six after William Blake. Contemporary full tree calf, rebacked with original spine laid down, black morocco spine label, stamped in gilt, boards rubbed and scratched, corners worn; all edges trimmed; with the Paul Revere-designed armorial book-plate of John-Lyon Gardiner (1770-1816) on front paste-down; inscribed on title-page by Captain Nathan Hayley to John-Lyon Gardiner, "John Lyon Gardiner the gift of Captain Nathan Hayley of Groton in the State of Connecticut .--Citizen Soldier in the Army of England of the Grand Republique under the chief Consul Buonoparte--1803"; foxing to general title-page; foxing to frontispieces and plates with offsetting onto text; scattered light spotting to text; closed tear in fore-edge of pp. 55/56 in first part. Bentley and Nurmi 363A; Bentley, Blake Books 450C; Brigham, pp. 110-111

A lovely copy of Charles Darwin's grandfather, Erasmus Darwin's first major literary work and one of the first popular science books, a celebration of scientific discovery and technological innovation. Includes the plate "The Tornado" by William Blake after Henry Fuseli, which does not appear in earlier editions.

Captain Nathan Haley was born in Stonington, Connecticut in 1766, became a naval captain in the United States, acted as a courier in the State Department, and served as a one-time French naval officer under Napoleon. A Francophile and friend and creditor of Thomas Paine, during the lead-up to the Quasi-War with France he incurred the ire of the United States government when in 1797 he captured an American vessel, the Hare, purportedly because it carried British contraband. Suspected of piracy, he also attracted the derision of the British, who put out a warrant for his arrest. During the Napoleonic Wars he fought for France and helped raise privateers to ravage British shipping, to which he was eventually caught and served time in a Gibraltar prison. He frequently traveled between France and the United States and received the Cross of the Legion of Honor from France under Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1839 he was appointed by President Martin Van Buren to serve as consul at Nantes, where he died in 1841.

John-Lyon Gardiner (1770-1816) was the seventh proprietor of Gardiner's Island, a small island in the town of East Hampton, New York. Six miles long, and three miles wide, English King Charles I made the 3,300-acre island a proprietary colony in 1639, and that has since descended in the Gardiner family over the ensuing 384 years. It remains the oldest estate in the United States and the only Royal grant from the English Crown still intact in the country.