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Just the second literary publication in the English language...
Just the second literary publication in the English language...
Item # 699473
December 11, 1682
WEEKLY MEMORIALS FOR THE INGENIOUS, with the longer title including: "...Or, An Account of Books lately set forth in several Languages, With other Accounts Relating to Arts and Sciences." London, Dec. 11, 1682
* Very rare 17th century publication
This rare title existed for just 50 issues, from January 16, 1682 thru January 15, 1683. Offered is issue #48.
Records note that this was just the second literary periodical in English, the first being "Mercurius Librarius" from 1680, but it was not much more than a mere catalog of titles.
This newspaper provides in-depth reviews of recently published books on a wide variety of topics. This issue focuses on just four books, all quite scientific.
This is the second issue of this rare title we have had the pleasure to offer, this one coming from the private collection. Crane & Kaye notes two publications with this title but from different publishers. This is C. & K. title #934.
Eight pages, 6 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches, wide margins, discrete archival strengthening at the spine, a few very small wormholes at the blank spine of the last 2 leaves, great condition.
AI notes: Weekly Memorials for the Ingenious was an early English weekly periodical published in London from January 1682 to January 1683, primarily by Henry Faithorne and John Kersey, with contributions often attributed to John Beaumont. It served as a digest of newly published books in multiple languages, offering summaries, reviews, and accounts of discoveries and innovations in the arts and sciences. Drawing inspiration from continental publications like France’s Journal des Savans, it aimed to keep English readers informed about international scholarship and curiosities, functioning as one of the first “abstracting journals” in English. Though its run lasted only about a year, with roughly fifty issues, it is historically significant as part of the emergence of periodical literature in England and the broader culture of knowledge exchange in the late seventeenth century. Digitized copies are now available through the Internet Archive and other historical libraries.
Category: The 1600's and 1700's
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$598.00
