A YEAR'S JOURNEY THROUGH FRANCE AND PART OF SPAIN (Vol II only): Volume II (2) only. The Second Edition With Additions

The Second Edition With Additions
Published by Printed for and sold by W. Brown, 1778
2nd ed with additions. second of 2 vols. 8vo (8½ x 5½ ins).


Contemporary polished calf, raised ribbed spines gilt ruled in six compartments with gilt lettered labels, board edges gilt tooled (boards lightly marked and scratched and corners bumped).

Please note condition carefully: Full leather calf binding finely tooled BUT both boards are detached, have been previously mended with paper at the inside hinges, title page browned, prelim pages adhere to front board. A couple of page corners bent or folded. Sold as-is. Please examine the images.



Author:
Captain Philip Thicknesse (1719 – 23 November 1792) was an English author, eccentric, and friend of the artist Thomas Gainsborough. Philip Thicknesse was born in Staffordshire, England, son of John Thicknesse, Rector of Farthinghoe, Northamptonshire and Joyce (née Blencowe) Thicknesse. He was brought up in Farthinghoe.

Thicknesse visited the Colony of Georgia in September 1736, but returned to England in 1737, claiming to be the first of the emigrants to return.[2] He obtained a commission as a Captain of an independent company in Jamaica after 1737, and on an expedition against Jamaican Maroons in the Blue Mountains, he wrote in his autobiography of encounters with Windward Maroon leaders Quao and Queen Nanny. He transferred to a marine regiment as a Captain-Lieutenant in 1740. He was Lieutenant-Governor of Landguard Fort, Suffolk (1753–1766).

Thicknesse was a friend of the society artist Thomas Gainsborough, whom he met in about 1753,[3] and of his less well-known brother, the inventor Humphrey Gainsborough. He was an author and wrote for The Gentleman's Magazine. He also published The Speaking Figure and the Automaton Chess Player, Exposed and Detected, a not entirely accurate exposé of the chess-playing machine The Turk.

In 1742, Thicknesse eloped with Maria Lanove, a wealthy heiress, having abducted her from a street in Southampton and taken up residence in Bath, taking full advantage of the social whirl. In 1749 Maria and his children (by then three) contracted diphtheria. She and two children died, leaving only a daughter, Anna. When Maria's parents died some time later (his mother-in-law committing suicide), he spent much time trying to claim their fortune. Thicknesse then married Lady Elizabeth Tuchet, daughter of James Tuchet, 6th Earl of Castlehaven and Hon. Elizabeth Arundell, on 10 May 1749. They had a son George (1758-1818), later 19th Baron Audley. Elizabeth died in childbirth in 1762.

His third wife was his late wife's companion, Anne Ford (1732–1824), daughter of Thomas Ford, whom he married on 27 September 1762. Ann was a gifted musician with a beautiful voice, who was well-educated and knew five languages. She gave Sunday concerts at her father's house, but her ambition was to become a professional actress, and in spite of her father's disapproval, she left home to go on the stage. They had a son, Captain John Thicknesse RN (c1763–1846). The couple spent much time travelling in Europe. In later life he lived in the Royal Crescent, Bath,[4] in a house he let out and then sold. He moved to another, St Catherine's Hermitage, and landscaped the grounds to create his own "hermit's cell".

Thicknesse died on a journey near Boulogne, Pas-de-Calais, France, and was buried there. In his later life he had become an "ornamental hermit". His will stipulated that his right hand be cut off and delivered to his son, George, who was inattentive, "to remind him of his duty to God after having so long abandoned the duty he owed to a father, who once so affectionately loved him."