Stonehenge DRUIDS & Salisbury Guide SARUM J Easton 1809 SCARCE half leather VG++

The Salisbury Guide

[BOUND With]

A Description of Stonehenge,

on Salisbury Plain

by

J Easton

Salisbury: J. Easton, 1814 and 1809. 

12mo., (18cm). Half bound in contemporary polished calf over marbled boards. Gilt titles to spine, gilt rules to compartments. Speckled edges. 

The Salisbury Guide, Giving an Account of the Antiquities of Old Sarum; And the Ancient and Present State of New Sarum, Or Salisbury: The Cathedral; Seats of the Nobility and Gentry; The Post, Coaches, And Carriers; with the Distances of the Principal Towns and Villages on the high Roads from Salisbury. 

The Twenty-Seventh Edition, 1814. 

Engraved frontis fold out, A Map of Salisbury, with two very small closed tears, one to margin adjacent to spine and another to fold adjacent to spine. A further two fold out plates, Council House Salisbury and the Cathedral Church of Sarum, 1796, and two other plates, Poultry Cross and Chorister Bishop.

A wonderfully detailed account of the chief attractions of the locality, with much background history and anecdote. 

Followed by: 

A Description of Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain; Extracted from The Works Of The Most Eminent Writers On that Stupendous Structure: With An Account Of The Fall Of Three Stones January 3 1797. And A History Of The Druids. 

A New Edition, 1809. 

Wood block engraved frontis, 'Views of Stonhenge From Drawings by J. Britton, F.A.S.', showing the North view, West view, and South-west view. 

pp. ix, 77. Fold out copper plate, 'A North-East View of Stonehenge From an Original Drawing of George Keate Esq.’ 

Stonehenge is printed on a different paper, with a greyish tone. A very smart copy of two popular guides that went through numerous editions and issues under the auspices of J. Easton. 

The BL's earliest copy - the presumed first edition - is dated 1776. 

The account of Stonehenge is now hard to obtain. Other copies mention a publisher's ad to front pastedown and continued at rear, of a 'List of books, lately published', not present in this copy. 

Near fine.