Loggan Oxford Views

Loggan, David (1635-1700).
Oxonia Illustrata.
Oxford: Sheldonian Theatre, 1675.
Folio (17 1/8 x 11 5/8 inches). 2 engraved title-pages (one for the later 1710 edition tipped-in), engraved dedication to Charles II, preface leaf, engraved privilege leaf, and 40 fine double-page views including one folding panorama of Christchurch, engraved index leaf at end, all mounted on guards (without the portrait of James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde, one or two fore-edges a bit chipped and browned). Earlier vellum over paste-board (reboitage).
Provenance: from the library of Edward Gordon Duff (1863-1924), his sale Sotheby’s March, 1925 (contemporary bookseller’s inscription on front paste-down). First edition, and a tall copy of Loggan’s celebrated work containing magnificent views of Oxford University. Originally from Gdansk, David Loggan (1635-1700?) moved to England in the middle of the 17th century and became engraver to Oxford University, and subsequently to Cambridge University. “The “Oxonia Illustrata†was evidently intended as a companion to Wood’s “History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford,†published in 1674, for the table of contents gives, opposite each plate, a reference to the page of that work where the history of the building represented is to be found; and the two books were given together by the university to distinguished visitors.†From the distinguished library of bibliographer Edward Gordon Duff, who while himself at Oxford created a catalogue of the fifteenth-century books in the Bodleian Library. “Neither the Bodleian nor the British Museum, however, would offer him a place, and in 1889 he began to read for the bar. Duff had to wait for more congenial work until 1893, when Mrs Rylands appointed him her librarian. He had the task of cataloguing her books (including the Spencer library) advising on new purchases, organizing the collection, and supervising its transfer to the new John Rylands Library in Manchester. The library opened in 1900, but Duff resigned shortly afterwards, having quarrelled with the trustees. He never took another permanent job, but supported himself with freelance work (he catalogued books for the London booksellers Pearson & Co.), with academic appointments (he was Sandars reader in bibliography at Cambridge in 1899, 1904, and 1911), and with the income from his books†(Arnold Hunt for DNB). Madan 3035; Wing L-2838.
Comparable: Sotheby’s, 07/20/2000 - GBP 15,200.