Literary Life and Select Works of Benjamin Stillingfleet, Several of Which Have Never Before Been Published. Illustrated With Plates. Complete in Three Volumes.

Stillingfleet, Benjamin.

Published by London: Printed by J. Nichols and Son For Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown. 1811.

About this Item

Three volumes, tall 8vo, (164x258mm), pp: vol. 1: iv+5-256; vol. 2 pt. 1: viii+1-357,(1); vol. 2 pt 2: ii+359-651,(1),(4), 3 vols. all published, complete, final leaves of vol 2 pt 2 contain 'Directions for the Plates', Errata and 2pp publisher's adverts. Vol. 1, Portrait frontis, 3 portraits and plate of 'Monument' to Mr. Stillingfleet. Vol. 2, 17 coloured plates and 1 uncold. botanical plate. Plates numbered 1-16 with 2 numbered '10', complete as listed with full complement of 23 plates of which 17 are coloured. Uniformly bound in half morocco, marbled boards & marbled endpapers, spines with gilt ruled raised bands,gilt lettered, mark to spine ends of vol. 1, lightly worn and rubbed to hinges and extremeties, however sound, tight and very good.Benjamin Stillingfleet (1702-1771) born in Norfolk, was a botanist, translator and author. He is said to be the first Blue Stocking, a phrase from which is derived the term bluestocking now used to describe a learned woman. Educated at Norwich School before obtaining a B.A. at Cambridge in 1723. He was tutor to his relative William Windham at Felbrigg Hall, he then set out to accompany William Windham on the Grand Tour returning several years later in 1742. Windham was to become a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1744 based on the explorations that he and Stillingfleet had made of glaciers in Switzerland. A Society was founded in the early 1750s by Elizabeth Montagu and Elizabeth Vesey as a literary discussion group, primarily for women. They invited various people to attend including Stillingfleet. One story tells that Stillinhgfleet was not rich enough to have the proper formal dress, which included black silk stockings, so he attended in everyday blue worsted stockings. James Boswell records that they were "nowhere without blue stockings". The term bluestocking today is used to mean any learned worman.

Seller Inventory # 2038

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Literary Life and Select Works of Benjamin Stillingfleet, Several of Which Have Never Before Been Published. Illustrated With Plates. Complete in Three Volumes.
• Publisher: London: Printed by J. Nichols and Son For Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown. 1811.
• Binding: Hardcover