LEVER MUSEUM AND PORTLAND MUSEUM CATALOGUES
A Companion to the Museum, (Late Sir Ashton Lever's) Removed to Albion Street, the Surry end of Blackfriar's Bridge
London: 1790. 8vo, [4], [1]-53, [54] blank.197 mm x 140 mm. Engraved frontispiece (trimmed with loss from the caption (as often, says Forbes). (Part 1 only, Part 2, which was devoted to mineral specimens, was published after some years' interval.) Forbes 197. [Bound with] Portland, Margaret Cavendish Holles Harley, duchess of, 1714-1785. A Catalogue of the Portland Museum, lately the property of The Duchess Dowager of Portland, Deceased: Which will be Sold by Auction by Mr. Skinner and Co. On Monday the 24th of April, 1786 and the thirty-seven following days....London: Skinner and Co., 1786. First edition. 4to., 194 pp. Forbes 116 . Lacking the frontispiece view of the Museum and the print of the Portland Vase. Manuscript prices on pp. 138-139 ( May 28 sale: shells, corals, etc.). Modern half calf using old marbled paper over boards; old endpapers, front one detached. The front flyleaves carry four pages of contemporary manuscript notes about the collection and discussing a visit by the former American President, John Adams. The Leverian collection was particularly notable for the number, diversity, and beauty of the objects collected on Cook's third voyage. Item #33195
Price: $27,500.00