£500 and above

The following items are available to sponsor as part of our Sponsor a Book scheme at a cost of £500 or more.

To sponsor one of these items, please contact the Alumni Officer:

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Henry More, Enthusiasmus Trimphatus (1656)

Ref. SB17-18/21

SPONSORED!

Henry More (1614-87), alumnus and long-time Fellow of Christ’s College, is among the best known of the ‘Cambridge Platonists’, a group of philosophers associated with the University in the mid-17th century. Although today ‘enthusiasm’ is regarded generally as a good characteristic, from around the mid-17th to mid-18th centuries the term ‘enthusiast’ was applied to someone who mistakenly thought themselves to have a special link with God. More attempts to draw a medical link by stating clearly “that Melancholy disposes a man to Apoplexies and Epilepsies is acknowledged both by Philosophers and Physicians”, and that “grosse vapours stopping the Arteriae Carotides and Plexus Coroides... may doe the same”.

Our copy has a detached front board, its text-block is split, and an unsuccessful earlier repair will have to be re-done correctly. Surface cleaning will also be required.

Shelfmark: Christ’s College, D.12.36

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Prophetae Priores (1485)

Ref. SB17-18/22

Cost: £720

In Judaism, this book titled the Former Prophets – composed of the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings – was the first half of the Nevi’im (the second section of the Tanakh, a.k.a. the Hebrew Bible). Selections from the Former Prophets were used in the Shabbat services in synagogues.The Jewish ‘Soncino’ family were pioneers of Hebrew printing; our title was printed by Joshua Solomon (also called Joshua Soncino, fl.1483-92). A rare book printed in the town of Soncino, in the duchy of Milan, this was the first book of Scripture printed in Hebrew that was not the Psalms or the Pentateuch. This incunable includes commentary by the medieval rabbi David Kimhi (1160-1235).Our copy was donated by William Robertson Smith (b.1846), Fellow of Christ’s, upon his death in 1894.Sponsorship would allow for the extensive staining to be drawn out and the text stabilised.

Shelfmark: Christ’s College, Inc. 2.18

 

James Ussher, Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates (1639)

 

Ref. SB17-18/23

Cost: £825

At almost 1,200 pages, this book by James Ussher (1581-1656) is a simply amazing piece of scholarship. In 17 chapters, it begins with an account of Britain before Christianity, and includes such oddities as a report of a visit to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea in the year 48AD Ussher is also famous for having postulated that the earth was created in 4004BC; but behind such flawed reasoning was a serious scholar and churchman, erstwhile Primate of all Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh, and one of the first scholars to be enrolled at Trinity College, Dublin.

Unfortunately, the book’s sheer size has led to some quite serious damage to our copy, including splitting of the binding along the spine. Sponsorship would allow a complete re-backing of the book, with repairs to the sewing supports and leather joints.

Shelfmark: Christ's College, F.20

 

John Parkinson, The Theater of Plants (1640)

Ref. SB17-18/24

Cost: £1120-£1400

Official apothecary to King James I, John Parkinson (1566/7-1650) is known as the last of the great English herbalists. The title-page of this mammoth work rather smugly boasts that it exposes “the many errors and oversights of sundry other authors”, containing as it does “a more ample and exact” history of herbs. The Theater of Plants is indeed extensive, detailing some 3,800 specimens, somewhat idiosyncratically ordered into 17 “tribes”, including “Venomous, Sleepy and Hurtful”, and “Strange and Outlandish”.

Our first edition of this beautifully-illustrated book is remarkable for containing numerous annotations and pressed plant specimens gathered by an enthusiastic reader. Each specimen needs to be carefully repaired, mounted and housed to avoid any further damage.

Shelfmark: Christ's College, Rouse 15.9