FIRST EDITION; engraved portrait frontispiece of Bull by Van der Gucht, woodcut initials and head-pieces, hand-ruled in red throughout; universally a little toned but very good; pp. xvi, 542, [2]; 8vo; contemporary full crimson morocco, elaborately gilt, with cottage roof motif and the arms of Queen Anne (1665-1714), gilt edges, marbled endpapers; neatly rebacked, head of spine worn, board edges rubbed, 19th-century morocco slipcase; provenance: Anne, Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland (1665-1714); Lady Abigail Masham (1670-1734) and her husband Samuel (1678/79-1758); Richard Palmer of Otes, Essex; W. A. Foyle, Beeleigh Abbey. An attractive Queen Anne binding - a restrained version of the rather more profuse Restoration bindings - on this biography of the contemporary divine George Bull (1634-1710). The Queen's arms here reflect include her motto Semper Eadem (Ever the Same), which she borrowed from Elizabeth I (who in turn took it from her mother Anne Boleyn). This was doubtless a gift from the ailing Queen to Abigail Masham (née Hill, 1670-1734), her (now infamous) 'favourite'. Abigail was the daughter of Francis Hill, a London merchant, and Elizabeth Hill (née Jennings). The family was reduced to poor circumstances through her father's financial speculations, and Abigail was forced to work as a servant. Her mother was an aunt of Sarah Jennings, later Duchess of Marlborough, who offered a reprieve; she introduced Abigail to court, where she became a Lady of the Bedchamber. She there met her husband Samuel (1678/79-1758), the eighth son of Sir Francis Masham of Otes in Essex, who had been introduced to the Royal Household as page to Prince George of Denmark, and remained at court, becoming King's Remembrancer in 1716. The Mashams founded a short-lived courtly dynasty; their son Samuel (1712-1776) was Lord of the Bedchamber to George II and Auditor General of the Household of George, Prince of Wales. At the time of his marriage to his second wife Charlotte Dive he sold much of his family library to a bookseller. He and his wife were extravagant and borrowed money on a grand scale, which led to the eventual loss of Otes to their estate manager Robert Palmer. His son Richard, whose bookplate appears in the present volume, inherited Otes from his father and disposed of it at auction in 1801.
