Select Letters on Various Subjects, by James Ripley, Now, and for Thirty Years past, Ostler at the Red-Lion, Barnet

Small 8vo [in 4's], pp vii [i.e.vi], 123, etched frontispiece by J Ryland, bound in contemporary calf, sometime rebacked with raised bands, a little worn at corners, light offset from frontispiece on to title, but a good sound copy, FIRST EDITION, a very curious collection of 22 letters, mostly addressed to newspapers and perhaps published in them, by a Barnet ostler and post-master; apparently privately published by him, and distributed in London by his friends and associates mentioned in the title imprint; unfortunately there is no clue as to who printed the book or where. The contents are quite eccentric, showing the preoccupations of a man of his profession, obsessed with horses and the evil practices of post-boys whom he blames for depriving both himself and his master at the Inn of a living; apparently the Red Lion went bankrupt. Amongst the horse matters are descriptions horsemanship betting on Barnet Common, and displays of riding by one 'Mr Price'. There is also an abusive letter to another correspondent in a newspaper. Ripley himself is depicted in the frontispiece etching by J Ryland, writing at his desk, the tools of his trade at his feet, surrounded by newspapers on shelves and his post-office door -surely a unique 18th Century depiction. The charm of this copy is enhanced by a press cutting from the Barnet Press of 1903 describing how this copy came to found in the window of 'an old curiosity shop' in London priced at £2. This rather high price, and the presence of a booksellers catalogue entry on the same endpaper, suggests that it was in fact a bookseller's window. No further information on Ripley was forthcoming then, and none is now.…