History Books, Pt.1 - Early Mediterranean History

One of the genres in Grimes collection that has interested me the most out of all of the subjects is History. It is one of my majors for my degree and a reason why I chose to take part in a Rare Books internship. When I was creating the database of titles in the collection, I was glad to come across not one, but four history texts that belonged to Bishop Grimes. These books cover a range of topics, from the ancient history of the inhabitants around the Mediterranean to the history of the Europeans countries. But despite their innocent appearance as a history book, these texts in his collection all seem to return to the topic of the Catholic faith, or another form of religion.

Map of Assyria in The Ancient History (1820)

The earliest time period that is present in Grimes' collection is a copy of Charles Rollins’ The Ancient History of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes & Persians, Macedonians, and Grecians (1820). Charles Rollins (1661-1741) was a French academic whose other works included Roman History and a book called Traité des Etudes. Translated from French, the UC copy is in 6 volumes and contains maps and the seller ticket of Thomas Baker, 1 Soho Square, London 1*. Although Grimes’ copy has nothing particularly special about it (because it is a late edition and there are no signs of earlier provenance) it is still an interesting book for him to have in his collection, considering that this time period was characterised by its monotheistic and pagan religions, before the emergence of the Christianity.

Another history text in Grimes’ collection focusses on a group of inhabitants who emerged in the thirteenth century and were geographically close to those discussed in Ancient History. The generall Historie of the Turkes, from the first beginning of that nation to the rising of the Othoman familie: with all the notable expeditions of the Christian princes against them. Together with the lives and conqvests of the Othoman kings

An illustration from The Generall Historie of the Turkes (1820)

and emperours (1631) is a book written by Richard Knolles (c.1545-1610), a great English historian of the sixteenth-century.  His book about the history of the Turks received the attention of an eighteenth-century writer, Samuel Jackson. Although it is only a 4^th edition of the 1603 text, the Grimes copy is the only text from this edition outside of North America and Europe. While the material remains the same, the 4^th edition differs by the fact that it contains a continuation by Sir Thomas Roe, an English diplomat and Ambassador in Constantinople. As suggested in the title, this book would have contained some of the history behind the Catholic Crusades taken against the Muslim Ottoman empire, either in a religious war, or to regain the sacred city, Jerusalem.

These early history books hold an interesting place in Grimes' collection as texts referring to events before and after the first millennium of the Catholic faith. It also exhibits Grimes' interest for a range of religions, such as Islam and the early Roman pagan gods,

* The 'Thomas Baker' book seller ticket was found in Benjamin Calamy’s Sermons Preached Upon Several Occasions (1700). Thomas Baker was operating between 1884 and 1903 in London's Soho Square. (See Provenance Blog for more information)

References

New Advent. "Rollin, Charles." Catholic Encyclopedia. 2012. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13119b.htm 

Birch, Dinah. "Knolles, Richard." The Oxford Companion to English Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

The Ancient History of  the Egyptians..., 1820. University of Canterbury Rare Books Collection - 115798 - AnicentHistory - Vol1 - Interior - Map - Book 3

The Generall Historie of the Turkes..., 1631, 4th ed. University of Canterbury Rare Books Collection - 2108577 - HistorieTurkes - Interior - pg245