Knight's An Account of the Remains of the Worship of Priapus

R[ichard]. P[ayne]. Knight. AN ACCOUNT OF THE REMAINS OF THE WORSHIP OF PRIAPUS, LATELY EXISTING AT ISERNIA, IN THE KINGDOM OF NAPLES. London: T. Spilsbury, 1786. First (and only) edition. Later gilt-tooled blue morocco, spine gilt-decorated with raised bands and gilt-titled "Santo Cosimo," all edges gilt, with marbled endpapers and green ribbon bookmark. 4to; [1-3], 4-195, [1blank]pp. (18) total numbered plates, with (12) full-page and the rest in-text, plates VIII-XVIII bound at the end. Provenance: once in the collection of Henry E. E. Groner, Esq. of Winston Salem, NC, purchased from the well-known London bookseller Bernard Quaritch Ltd in January 1925 (documentation of provenance including letter and invoice laid in loose). ESTC N2172.

11 1/8 x 9 in.

Richard Payne Knight (1750-1824) was a British art critic, collector, writer, and art historian with expertise in ancient Greek art, as well as a member of Parliament and the Society of Dilettanti. His study on the fertility god Priapus, who Sir William Hamilton describes as "the obscene Divinity of the Ancients," as well as his support of paganism more generally, were incredibly controversial (p. 4).

Boards with a minor tear, light scuffing, corners slightly bumped, and rubbing to extremities; slight creasing at joints, gutter cracking between rear free endpapers; minor wear at endpapers including remnants of bookplate and small tear in flyleaf; a couple of negligible repairs(?) at inner margins of title and frontispiece; interior with expected offsetting and mild toning, light scattered foxing (heavier at plates and endpapers), one closed tear and one tiny area of thinning to paper at Y4, and occasional grime, pencil marks, and notations/corrections in brown ink. A very good copy.