1691, 1692, 1694 The Letters Written by a Turkish Spy Who lived five and forty years undiscovered at Paris Giving an Impartial Accountto the Divan at Constantinople, of the most remarkable transations of Europe and Discovering several Intrigues and Secrets of the Christian Courts (Especially that of France)

Description

Illustrated, Scarce

With an illustrated frontispiece to each volume. Volumes II, IV, V, VI and VII are first editions with volume I as the fourth edition. Without volumes III and VIII. Volume I is dated 1692, Volume II, 1691, Volume IV, 1692, Volume V, 1692, Volume VI, 1693 and Volume VII, 1694. Direct from the Regency library of Elizabeth Greenly, later Lady Elizabeth Coffin Greenly. Elizabeth Greenly, born at Titley Court, Herefordshire, was a noted and varied collector. She kept prolific diaries from 1784 until her death in 1839 which included her responses to current events and occasions in her daily life. Among the diaries many names and anecdotes of celebrities of the time appear, including Lord Byron, Marie Antoinette, Mary Wollstonecraft and Hannah More. She was known to comment on customs of foreign countries to which she and her friends had travelled, and had a keen interest in scientific discoveries and advancements including medicine and archaeology. The Greenly library contents show Elizabeth Greenly's numerous interests including: Welsh causes, Science, topography, travel, Bibliana and literature, particularly female poets. The library contains many first editions of contemporary works, and many are signed or contain her bookplate. The library contained over 1000 volumes which show the diversity and depth of her interests and give an insight into the life of this fascinating collector. Collated, complete. Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy is an eight volume collection of fictional letters claiming the authorship to be an Ottoman spy named 'Mahmut' in the French court of Louis XIV. The original volume was written by Giovanni Paolo Marana, a political refugee to the French court of Louis XIV. The subsequent seven volumes were first written in English and appeared between 1691 and 1694. There has been controversy regarding the authorship of the seven later volumes. The most notable of those attributed to the text are William Bradshaw and Roberty Midgely who produced the original English translation.