The Original Works.
ADVOCATE OF THE DOCTORS; JUDGE OF THE HIGH COURT OF ADMIRALTY AND KEEPER OF THE RECORDS IN IRELAND, AND VICAR GENERAL TO THE LORD PRIMATE. NOW FIRST COLLECTED INTO THREE VOLUMES: WITH HISTORICAL NOTES, AND MEMOIRS OF THE AUTHOR. VOLUME THE FIRST. A 64 mm round illustration of Kings portrait. Under the portrait a verse; "His eye was keen, with sweetness aptly mix'd". (there are similar little verses under volumes second and third). LONDON, PRINTED FOR THE EDITOR; AND SOLD BY M. CONANT, SUCCESSOR TO MR. WHISTON, IN FLEET-STREET. MDCCLXXVI. The 2nd and 3rd editions have exactly the same title pages.
FIRST COLLECTED EDITION. 1776. 190 x 130 mm. VOL.1: Marbled inside board and end paper. 2nd fep. Half Title. [1] Title page. [1] 1p Dedication by anonymous editor. [1] vii - viii Advertisement. ix - xxxii Memoirs of Dr King. 2p Reflections. 3 - 280. 281 - 282 Contents of vol.1. 1 fep. 2nd fep. marbled on verso and also back inside board. VOL.2: Marbled inside board and end paper. 2nd fep. Half Title. [1] Title page. [1] 2p The Transactioneer;. 3 - 6 Preface. 7 - 308. fep. 2nd fep. marbled on verso and also back inside board. VOL.3: Marbled inside board and end paper. 2nd fep. Half Title. [1] Title page. [1] 3 - 308. 309 -313 Index. 314 -315 Contents of Vol.111. On last verso Publishing advertisement. 1 fep. 2nd fep. marbled on verso and also back inside board. The three volumes beautifully bound in quarter bottle-green morocco with same for tips. the boards in marbled paper. All in very fine condition.
- Dr William King LL.D. was a great reader, academic and writer. His writing and poetry were scattered and had not been compiled. These three volumes are the first collected and original works in verse and prose brought together in 1776, and edited by John Nicols of the Antiquarian Society. Of interest to the collector of cookery books is the 'Art of Cookery' in the first volume. This had been printed separately in 1708. (see item 10939 on this site). Dr King is a humorous writer and this first edition of his collected works are very scarce. He was born in London, the son of Ezekiel King and related to the family of Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon. From Westminster School, he was a scholar at the age of 18 and was elected to Christ Church, Oxford in 1681. There he is said to have dedicated himself completely to his studies. In 1688 he graduated M.A. Taking up civil law, he became Doctor in 1692, and was admitted an advocate at Doctors' Commons. In 1702, having moved to Ireland, he was made Judge of the Admiralty, Commissioner of the Prizes, Keeper of the Records in Birmingham's Tower, and Vicar-General to Narcissus Marsh the primate. King found a friend in Anthony Upton, one of the High Court judges, who had a house called Mountown, near Dublin, where King frequently stayed. Both men were severely criticised by their political opponents for neglecting their official duties: it was said that they had no thought but to live out their days in rural retirement. In 1708, when Lord Wharton was sent to govern Ireland, King returned to London. In 1710 he became a supporter of the High Church party, on the side of Henry Sacheverell; In the autumn of 1712, King's health declined and he died on Christmas Day.
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Antiquarian category
ref number:
11281