THE SANCTUARIE OF A TROUBLED SOULE. [and] DAVID'S TEARES de (BINDINGS - BATEMAN). HAYWARD, JOHN - 1623

London: Printed by George Purslow, 1623. 195 x 145 mm. (7 3/4 x 5 3/4"). 20 p.l., 193, [17], 250, [4] pp. (including blank); 4 p.l., 344 pp. (second work without title page and frontispiece). Two works in one volume, the first work in two parts..
SPLENDID 17TH CENTURY ENGLISH CALF, HEAVILY GILT, PROBABLY BY JOHN OR ABRAHAM BATEMAN, covers with a field of many florettes surrounding a large gilt arabesque centerpiece and enclosed by azured cornucopia cornerpieces; flat spine divided into nine panels featuring alternating floral bands and florette rows, marbled endpapers, edges gilt and elaborately gauffered and painted, traces of two pairs of ties. Elaborate allegorical title page engraved by John Payne. Verso of front flyleaf with bookplate of Maurice Burrus dated 1937; recto of rear flyleaf with small "Bibliotheca Heberiana" ink stamp of Richard Heber (see below for both). STC 13008, 12992. Joints and extremities a little rubbed, title page mounted, occasional minor soiling, stains, or light foxing, primarily affecting margins, but still a really excellent copy, the interior generally clean and crisp despite the occasional imperfection, and THE UNRESTORED BINDING ENTIRELY SOLID, SHOWING ONLY MINOR WEAR, AND BRIGHT WITH GILT.

Featuring deeply impressed and vigorously gilt decoration, this superb early 17th century binding houses two of the more popular devotional works of the period, written by a man who experienced both sides of royal preferment. Best known to posterity as an historian, Sir John Hayward (1564?-1627) found himself imprisoned after his first work, "The First Part of the Life and Raigne of King Henrie IIII" (1599), offended Queen Elizabeth, as it was dedicated to (and seemed to support) Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl Essex, executed for treason in 1601. While in prison until the queen died in 1603, Hayward seemed to experience a kind of spiritual awakening, the fruits of which were the present "Sanctuarie of a Troubled Soule," first published in 1601 and frequently reprinted. After James I's accession, Hayward worked with William Camden and Sir Robert Cotton under Arundel's patronage; he became master of the chancery in 1616; and he was admitted to Gray's Inn and knighted in 1619. His additional devotional work, "David's Teares" (1622, the 1623 edition is found here), also went through numerous editions. The present immensely handsome English binding, the various surfaces of which could hardly be more lavishly decorated, seems in the particulars of its design and in its abundance and density of ornamentation likely to be the work of John Bateman (d. 1635) or possibly his son and successor Abraham, both of whom apparently occupied the position of bookbinder to the king. According to Maggs Bros. Catalogue 1075 (see their item #29), the elder Bateman "seems to have run a large bindery" that produced "many bindings with the arms of James I, Henry Prince of Wales, and his brother Charles." In addition, "his blocks are to be found on earlier bindings produced for Queen Elizabeth, Archbishop Matthew Parker, Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester, William Cecil Lord Burghley, Sir Christopher Hatton, and others, [these earlier bindings being] attributed to the shop of the [so-called] MacDurnan Gospels Binder, whose tools Bateman acquired and possibly for whom he worked." (For further examples of the style and tools of the Batemans and the "MacDurnan Gospels Binder," see, for example, the cornerpieces and gauffering in items #48-50 and the centerpiece in item #68 in Foot's "Henry Davis Gift.") The provenance here is as illustrious as the binding is striking. One of the most famous bibliophiles in history, Richard Heber (1773-1833) had perhaps the largest private library ever assembled, encompassing between 200,000 and 300,000 volumes at his death. Although he bought with avidity, Heber was nevertheless discriminating in terms of condition. According to the note on the front flyleaf, Heber likely acquired this item at the sale of Thomas Lloyd's library by Sotheby's on 8 July 1819. Our other known owner, Maurice Burrus (1882-1959), was a tobacco magnate whose worldwide stamp collection was of great renown..