[460174] Bible, Authorised Version, King James Version (selections). The Bible Promise Book. Westwood: Barbour, 1985. Limp. Very Good ISBN: 1557482306. . 176 pages, large print. Promises classified alphabetically by subject, e.g. God’s Correction, Faith, Laziness, Marriage, Pride, Repentance, Wisdom. GBP 2.00

Good sized print

[471520] Bingham, Derick. The Edge of Despair: Derick Bingham Looks at Twelve Psalms That Draw You Back. Belfast: Ambassador, 1991. First Edition. Paperback. Very Good ISBN: 0907927726. . 112 pages, good sized print. GBP 2.75

[464336] Buchanan, James. Faith in God and Modern Atheism Compared in their Essential Nature, Theoretic Grounds, and Practical Influence: Set of 2 Volumes. Edinburgh: James Buchanan, Junr, 1855. Cloth. Average . 510 + 402 pages, good sized print, spines a little torn at top and bottom and discoloured. Hard to find outside of libraries. GBP 65.00

[006608] Dickie, John. More Words of Faith, Hope, and Love: Being Letters and Extracts from Letters Written By the Late John Dickie, of Irvine, Scotland, to His Friend and Brother in Christ, James Todd, Dublin. London: S W Partridge, Cloth. Average . 352 pages, good sized print. Some reviews of “Words of Faith Hope and Love” compared Dickie’s letters to those of Rutherford. Some rubbing wear to spine, ink stain to page edges, some foxing. GBP 9.50

[430245] Enock, Esther E. Twelve Mighty Missionaries. London: Pickering & Inglis Ltd, 1948. Hard Cover. Average . 95 pages, good sized print. Spine missing. GBP 2.75

[001029] Fletcher, Lionel B. The Pathway to the Stars. London: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, Cloth. Poor . Covers water-stained, internally good. 125 pages, good-sized print. GBP 1.00

[471160] Gammie, Alexander. Pastor D J Findlay: A Unique Personality. London: Pickering & Inglis Ltd, 1949. Cloth. Good . 125 pages, illustrated, good sized print. Life of the pastor of St George’s Cross Tabernacle (now Findlay Memorial Church) in Glasgow, and associate of W P Nicholson, William Quarrier, David M McIntyre, and J Stuart Holden. GBP 5.00

[512890] Goodhart, Charles Joseph (editor); Holloway, Charles (editor); Bridges, Charles (introductory essay). The Book of Family Prayer: Comprising a Course of Original Prayers for Every Morning and Evening in the Year … by clergymen of the United Church of England and Ireland. London: Wertheim, Macintosh, and Hunt, 1859. Third Edition. Leather. Good . 956 pages, 11¼ x 8¾ x 2¼ inches, good sized print, gilt edges, some wear (heavy rubbing and small tear) to spine, foxed. Large number of contributors, mostly unknown to the present seller. Uncommon book. GBP 45.00

[471572] Goodman, Montague. The Comforter: A Devotional Study. London: Paternoster, 1938. First Edition. Cloth. Average . 136 pages, good sized print. GBP 2.25

[450499] Hunt, W Henry (editor). Mission Preaching for a Year: A Series of 86 Original Mission Sermons By Various Mission Preachers of the Church of England: Vol 1: Advent to Whitsunday (Sermons 1-41). London: Skeffington and Son, 1916. Cloth. Average . 461 pages, good sized print, covers a bit worn/grubby. Preachers include the editor; F S Webster; J Stuart Holden, and many others. GBP 7.50

[471506] Johnson, Ken; Tamasy, Robert. Reflections from the Flock: Images of the Christian Life. Denver: Accent Books, 1989. Paperback. Average Plus ISBN: 0896362191. . 133 pages, good sized print. GBP 1.50

[006463] Kyle, Melvin Grove. Explorations at Sodom: The Story of Ancient Sodom in the Light of Modern Research. London: Religious Tract Society, 1928. Cloth. Average Plus . 141 pages, illustrated, good sized print. GBP 4.75

[450300] Lea, John W. The Book of Books and its Wonderful Story. Philadelphia: The John C Winston Company, 1922. Cloth. Average . 351 pages, many illustrations, good sized print, quality paper. GBP 9.50

[495060] Macaulay, Thomas Babington. The History of England From the Accession of James II: Vol 2. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1849. Cloth. Poor . 617 pages, good sized print, covers 1685 (height of James II’s power) to 1689 (accession of William and Mary after the Glorious Revolution). Much of cloth spine missing, otherwise fairly good. GBP 3.50

[491607] MacDonald, Duncan. Pleasant Pictures. Edinburgh: W F Henderson, 1941. Cloth. Average . 207 pages, articles from the Free Church of Scotland’s youth magazine “The Instructor”, with photographs. Good sized print. GBP 2.50

Philips van Marnix (1538-1598)

MARNIX, PHILIPS VAN.

1. Early Career

Philips van Marnix, Baron Sainte-Aldegonde, renowned as a Dutch Protestant theologian and statesman, was born at Brussels in 1538 and died at Leyden Dec. 15, 1598. After receiving a thorough education, he resided for a time in Geneva, where he formed a friendship with Calvin and Beza. Returning to his native country between 1560 and 1562, he lived for a time in retirement, from which he was summoned to the struggle to free the Netherlands from Rome and Spain. Here his first activity was the preparation of the “Compromise” by which the Dutch nobles pledged themselves to resist the introduction of the Inquisition, while the petition to the Regent Margaret of Parma (Apr. 5, 1566) on the same subject was also written by him. He defended the iconoclastic riots in Antwerp in Aug., 1566, in his Van de beelden afgheworpen in de Nederlanden in Augusto 1566 and Vraye narration et apologie des choses passées au Pays-Bas. Before long he also took up arms in the cause of the Reformation, but, with his brother and Brederode, was repulsed at Austruweel (Mar. 13, 1567) in an attempt to raise the siege of Valenciennes, and fled successively to Breda and Germany. He was banished by the “Council of Blood,” Aug. 17, 1568, and his estates were confiscated; but in this exile he became the life-long friend of William the Silent, in whose honor he wrote late in 1568 or early in 1569 the famous “William’s Lay,” a poem which is still a favorite folk-song in Holland. Meanwhile he liad entered the service of the Reformed elector-palatine, Frederick III., and at Heidelberg he wrote on Christology and the Eucharist, besides composing his De biënkorf der heilige roomsche kercke (Emden, 1569) and attending the convention at Wesel (Nov., 1568) and the synod at Emden (Oct. 4-14, 1571).

2. Diplomat and Soldier

Holland soon claimed the services of Marnix, whose principal political activity was exercised between 1572 and 1585. In the former year he was the plenipotentiary of William and secured the promise of the Estates to renew the war with Spain. On Nov. 4, 1573, however, he was himself captured by the Spaniards at Maaslandssluis. He was taken first to The Hague and then to Utrecht, where he was induced to make vain negotiations for peace. He was exchanged on Oct. 15, 1574, and from March to June of the following year he acted as William’s deputy at the fruitless conferences at Breda. Holland and Zeeland declared themselves independent of Spain and offered the crown, under certain conditions, to Elizabeth of England, Marnix being the head of the embassy which remained in England from Christmas, 1575, to Apr., 1576, in a vain endeavor to persuade Elizabeth to become the sovereign of the Dutch. In the latter year, moreover, he was a leader in the “Pacification of Ghent.” Don John of Austria, the Spanish viceroy, who carried through the “Eternal Treaty” (Feb. 17, 1577), recognizing in Marnix a dangerous enemy of Roman Catholicism, now unsuccessfully demanded his expulsion from Brussels. The Spanish attack on the citadel of Namur (July 24, 1577) roused the Dutch to a sense of their situation. Don John was retired from his office on Dec. 7, and three days later the second Brussels union was concluded for mutual protection and toleration. Marnix, as privy councilor after Dec. 29, 1577, first put down the revolts in Groningen and Artois, and, at the Diet of Worms (May 7, 1578), secured German neutrality in the Dutch struggle with Spain.

3. Decline of Power

At this juncture, Marnix and William were attacked in an anonymous pamphlet, to which the former replied in his Response apologétique (see below, § 4) which is particularly interesting for its numerous details of his own life. After a fruitless visit to the Diet of Cologne in 1580, he entered upon the more hopeful endeavor to induce Duke Francis of Alençon-Anjou, the youngest son of Catharine de’ Medici, to accept the throne of the revolted Dutch provinces. At the head of an embassy sent to France for this purpose, he reached Plessis (near Tours) on Sept. 9, 1580, and ten days later the treaty of Plessis-lez-Tours was signed, in which Marnix ably defended the civil and religious liberties of the Dutch. He remained in France until Mar. 8, 1581, and on July 22 of the same year Philip was declared deposed in favor of Francis, Marnix himself preparing the act (Acte de deschéance de Philippe II. de sa seigneurie des Pays-Bas). In November he went to England, where Francis was paying court to Elizabeth, and on Feb. 19, 1582, he returned with the new ruler. Francis, however, madly attempted (Jan. 15-17, 1583) to seize Antwerp and the most important cities by treason or a coup d’état. He was defeated and forced to leave the Netherlands, while Marnix and William, as his allies, were exposed to such suspicion that the former retired to his estates in West-Souburg, near Flushing. He was called from this seclusion to become first burgomaster in Antwerp, Nov. 30, 1584. A few days later the siege of the city by Alexander of Parma began, ending on Aug. 17, 1585, by its honorable surrender, though without recognition of Protestantism. A storm of indignation broke over Marnix, who defended his surrender of the city in his Bref récit de l’estat de la ville d’Anvers du temps de l’assiègement. But his political activity was at an end, although he visited England in 1590, France in 1591, and Orange in 1597. He resided at West-Souburg until 1596, when he removed to Leyden.

4. Theological Position and Bible Translation

Theologically Marnix was an enthusiastic partizan of Calvin and Beza, and in this spirit he secured the rejection of the Wittenberg Concord at the Synod of Antwerp (Aug. 20, 1566). He was also instrumental in securing a Calvinistic Presbyterian organization, culminating in a general synod, for the exiled congregations of his coreligionists. Here, too, belong his polemics against the fanatics and Anabaptists, exemplified in his Ondersoeckinge ende grondelijcke wederlegginge der geestdrijvische leere, written in 1595. This was followed by a series of other polemics, the most important being the Response apologétique à un libelle fameux (Leyden, 1598), a reply to an anonymous attack by Emmery de Lyere. He was a stern opponent, moreover, of all revelation of God alleged to exist outside the Bible and creation, and was a genuine Calvinist in his assertion that the secular arm had authority to suppress religious error. He was active as a translator of the Bible and the Psalms. After ten or twelve years of labor, he issued a rimed version of the latter (Antwerp, 1580), but this, though the subject of many debates in the synods, never gained a place in the liturgy, despite its scholarly and literary merits. Like previous Dutch versions of the Psalms, the early Dutch translation of the Bible was essentially faulty, and in 1578 the Synod of Dort deputed Marnix and Dathen to seek suitable revisers. The commission was never executed, but Marnix had already begun to translate the Psalms and some of the Minor Prophets, when, in 1586, the Synod of The Hague made unsuccessful overtures to him for an entire new translation. It was not, however, until 1594, when he was formally requested by the States General to perform this task, that he consented, but he lived to complete only the Psalms and Genesis, though he left fragments of Exodus, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Daniel, and other books (see BIBLE VERSIONS, B, III.).

5. Other Works

His most important contribution to theology was the Biënkorf already mentioned. It is a biting satire on the Roman Catholic Church, written by a supposed adherent of that communion, and ridiculing all its arguments against Protestantism. The book, which is clearly modelled on the Epistolae obscurorum virorum (q.v.), has won for Marnix a place among the great satirists of all time. The work ran through more than twenty editions (the last at Groningen, 1862) and was translated into most European languages (Eng. transl, by G. Gilpin, London, 1579). After his death appeared his Traicté du sacrament de la saincte cene du Seigneur (Leyden, 1599), an intensely Calvinistic attack on the doctrine of the Mass. He also carried on a controversial correspondence on the same subject with the Louvain professor Michael Bajus, which he published under the title Opuscula quœdam Domini Sanct Aldegondii (Franeker, 1598); while in his Trouwe vermaninge aen de christlike Gemeynten van Brabant, Vlanderen, enz. (Leyden, 1589) he urged his coreligionists to be patient under their afflictions. There is no complete edition of the works of Marnix, but select works were edited by E. Quinet, Œuvres de P. de Marnix de Sainte-Aldegonde (9 vols., Brussels, 1857-60), while his theological writings were collected by J. J. van Toorenenbergen, Philips van Marnix van St. Aldegonde godsdienstige en kerkelijke geschriften (3 parts, The Hague, 1871-91).
(S. D. VAN VEEN.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The life of Marnix has been written by:
J. Prins, Leyden, 1782;
W. Broes, 3 vols., Amsterdam, 1838-40;
E. Quinet, Paris, 1854;
T. Juste, The Hague, 1858;
A. Lacroix and F. van Meenen, Brussels, 1858;
J. van der Have, Haarlem. 1874;
P. P. M. Alberdingk Thijm, Leuven. 1876; and
G. Tjalma, Amsterdam, 1896.
Consult also:
P. Fredericq, Marnix en zijne Nederlandsche geschriften, Ghent, 1881;
Cambridge Modern History, iii. 201 sqq., New York, 1905;
A. Elkan, Philipp Marnix von St. Aldegonde, Part i.,
Die Jugend Johanns und Philipps von Marnix, Leipsic, 1909. , Leipsic, 1909.

We now have several copies of this hard to find book.

[090006] MacFarlane, Norman C. Apostles of the North: Sketches of Some Highland Ministers. Stornoway: Religious Bookshop, 1989. Paperback. Very Good . 105 pages, a new and unused copy of the 1989 paperback reprint. 17 lives: John MacDonald, John MacRae (MacRath Mor), Alexander Stewart, Robert Finlayson, Alexander MacLeod, Duncan Matheson, Roderick MacLeod, Finlay Cook, Duncan MacGregor, Peter MacLean, Gustavus Aird, Donald Sage, Donald MacRae, Donald Murray, George MacKay, Lachlan MacKenzie, John Kennedy. A number of these relate to the Isle of Lewis. £3.75

We have several copies of this book obtained from a bookshop that closed down. They are in new condition, and originally had a recommended price of £12.95, though we are selling them for £4.75.

[090005] Frith, Francis; Brewer, Michael. Photographic Memories of Scotland: The Francis Frith Collection: A Century of Change. Shaftesbury: Francis Frith Collection / Selecta Books Ltd, 1995. First Edition. Paperback. Very Good ISBN: 1859370179. . 112 pages. Victorian sepia photographs from all over Scotland, large format book. These are new and unused copies, with possible very slight fading to spine area. £4.75

For some time I’ve been comparing Google’s Book Search and Microsoft’s Live Book Search  (Amazon Reader is another place where one can preview some books; it’s primarily available on their USA site, Amazon.com , though it only really applies to recent books that publishers have chosen to allow Amazon to show in digital form).

Now, it seems, Google’s and Microsoft’s programmes are effectively disappearing for UK users.  Already for some months Google has reduced virtually everything printed after 1850 to Snippet View only (this date is only an approximation, some books pre-1850 are in snippet view and some post-1850 are in full view).  This is because in the UK copyright is (generally) for 70 years after an author’s death.  So, suppose an author was 20 in 1850 and lived to be 100.  He would have lived till 1930 and copyright would not expire till 2000.  On the other hand MOST books that old are long out of copyright so it’s a real pain that Google are working on that basis.

Just in the last few days it seems that Live Search Books has disappeared altogether as seen from our computers here, whether using Firefox or Internet Explorer; exactly what happens between the two browsers is sometimes slightly different, but neither browser leads me to a list of scanned books any more.  Interestingly some of the items I used to view on Live Search Books were downloadable from www.archive.org, so that is one option that is still open to us here in UK.

I’ve been unable to find out anything about the disappearance of MSN Live Book Search by searching the web, so I thought I’d blog about it and see if anyone else had any information.  Incidentally, there’s a picture of what it used to look like at Phil Bradley’s Weblog .  

I’m cataloguing a book by John Baillie called “Preaching: What to Preach, and How to Preach”, published in 1862.

According to the prefatory note, dated London, December 26, 1861, the author had had “a ministry extending over twenty years, and exercised in five different spheres..
* a country parish to which he was presented by the crown in the year that he left college
* two others situated in small towns; and
* the remaining two in the metropolis “

According to various entries on COPAC and Google Books he was
* Minister of Fogo, and afterwards
* Rector of Wivenhoe;
* Minister of the Free Church of Scotland, Hanover Square

According to the back cover of the book on Preaching he wrote:
* Memoirs of the Rev W H Hewitson (then in 10th edition)
* Scenes of Life, Historical and Biographical; chiefly from Old Testament Times; or, Chapters for Solitary Hours
* The Revival; or, What I Saw in Ireland (then in 14th edition)
* Rivers in the Desert; or, the Great Awakening in Burmah (with memoirs of Judsons and fellow-labourers)
* Memoir of Adelaide L Newton (then in 13th edition)
* Decision (a small penny item)
* Oil of Joy for the Afflicted and the Bereaved
* St Augustine: A Biographical Memoir
* Manna for the Pilgrim: For every day of the month
* The Cross of Christ; or the True Doctrine of the Atonement
* Memoir of Captain W Thornton Bate, R N
* The Sinner’s Welcome to Jesus Christ (a small penny item)
* Life-Studies: or, How to Live: Being biographies of Bunyan, Tersteegen, Montgomery, Perthes, and Mrs Winslow
* Thoughts and Aphorisms on the Christian Life
* The Missionary of Kilmany: A Memoir of Alexander Paterson (then in 16th edition)

and, books by others edited by Baillie:
* The Heavenly Life: Select Writings of Adelaide L Newton
* Select Letters and Remains of Rev W H Hewitson (2 vols)
* Baxter, Richard: Crucifying of the World by the Cross of Christ
* Labagh, I: The Great Events that are Coming upon the Earth

COPAC lists further titles:
* Christ our life; or, Scenes in Our Lord’s passion and ministry
* The comforter; how he acts on the world through the church
* Coming events; or, Thoughts on the Antichrist
* An earnest ministry; or, How to win souls: a tract for the times
* God’s avenger; or, England’s present duty in India, with a glance at her future: being notes of a sermon preached in All Souls’, Langham Place, on Wednesday, 7th of October, the national fast (published 1857)
* Grace abounding: a narrative of facts, illustrating what the revival has done and is doing, with thoughts on the Christian ministry, lay-action, and individual responsibility
* “Over there”; a memoir of the conversion and last days of Edward K. Dennis
* Pleasant memories: a woman’s thoughts and life-work. [A biography.]
* Brownlow North, Esq. … What he was: what he did: and how he did it
* Report of the Proceedings in the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, for 1841.
* Proceedings of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, with a Sketch of the Proceedings of the Residuary Assembly. 1843

I had wondered whether he might have been the father of twentieth century rather liberal theologians John Baillie and Donald Baillie, but, although their father was a Free Church of Scotland minister (in Gairloch) called John Baillie, he lived from 1829 to 1891.

So, a prolific Victorian author, with very little information readily available about him. By no means the only one, from what I’ve seen.

Here are two recent reviews of our book

A Treatise of the Covenant of Grace by John Ball

1) By David McKay (professor in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland’s Theological College, and author of The Bond of Love: God’s Covenantal Relationship with His Church: Covenant Theology and the Contemporary World)
in the Reformed Theological Journal (2006 edition):

John Ball (1585-1640) is rightly regarded as one of the pioneers of covenant theology in the English speaking world. Indeed the appearance of A Treatise of the Covenant of Grace in 1645 may have exercised a significant influence on the covenantal perspective of the Westminster Divines. It is therefore a particular pleasure to have this facsimile reprint of Ball’s treatise readily available. In the First Part, Ball considers in turn the significance of the word ‘covenant’, the Covenant of Grace in general, and the revelations of the Covenant of Grace to Adam, Abraham, Moses, Israel, David and in the period after the exile. In the Second Part he considers the New Covenant, concentrating especially on the role of Christ as the Mediator of the New Covenant and the fellowship which he provides for his people. Regarding the Covenant at Sinai, Ball departs from the usual Reformed view by arguing that the difference between Old and New Covenants is not that of promise and fulfilment, but simply one of degree and intensity. The nature of the Sinai covenant is an issue that has been widely debated in Reformed circles, with a diversity of views resulting. Ball’s position can now be assessed from the original source. The print in this facsimile is remarkably clear and a little practice will enable the reader to cope with seventeenth century typography.

2) By blogger “Witsius” in Canada in his blog ¡Alarma! Standard :

Despite the trepidation when I began reading this ancient text - I foresaw trouble with the print quality (facsimile), esp. w/side column references, and f/s-type archaisms, etc. I found it, actually, quite easier to read and understand than the McMahon edition of Rutherford (#12, above). Not only that, but I appreciated the original language as, I am sure, most more scholarly (than me) types will. (It seems odd that a 1645 printing would read better than a modernized 1654.)

Christian Herald Publishing Co, London.  126 pages, large print, illustrated, gilt decorated title to front cover, undated but possibly first edition (British Library shows an edition of 1894). Introduction by Thomas Spurgeon.  Gifted to Mr Wm Savage by W E Piper, Jan 1, 1901.  Endpapers browned, a little grubbiness/foxing to pages.

Visit our eBay Auction listing, ending Thursday
 

Sometimes when cataloguing a book, it is useful to know over what range of dates a particular publisher produced books.

I’d quite like to get dates for the following:

Alabaster and Passmore

Passmore and Alabaster

Marshall Brothers

Morgan and Scott (and any predecessors)

Marshall Morgan and Scott (additional info 27/08/07: from books we’ve had catalogued for sale in the past it looks like the merger could have happened some time between 1928 and 1930, possibly - by Googling - 1929)

Pickering and Inglis

Marshall Pickering

If anyone can provide us with this information I’d post it up on the blog for other people’s reference, and also, if it is verifiable and I got round to it, perhaps on Wikipedia too.

Meanwhile, here is an interesting page about the history of Alabaster Passmore:

Further to above I have now received the following information from another bookseller (I have paraphrased his wording slightly):

Near the release of the 7th volume of the Treasury of David in 1885, Passmore & Alabaster (owner aging) started merging with Marshall Brothers. Both companies were operated separately. Passmore & Alabaster publications started, in about 1890, to selectively be published under “Marshall Brothers” on up till the early 1900s… Information is hard to come by, due to both companies being independent with publishing rights. Cross over publications have a note about the merger e.g a copy of According to Promise dated 1890 says “Marshall Brothers, incorporating Passmore & Alabaster”.

This would explain how the printers’ history page mentioned above can state “In 1910 the publishing division was sold” while books appear 20 years before this date with the “incorporating” text.

There’s a book:
Print is Our Business - A History of Alabaster Passmore & Sons
by Elizabeth Repath
Alabaster Passmore, Maidstone, 1983.

There are reference copies in:
* Maidstone Library
* Centre for Kentish Studies (Maidstone)
* Tonbridge Library
* Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
* Archive of Art & Design/National Art Library, Victoria & Albert Museum, London

[464267] Bible, Authorised Version, King James Version. Miniature Bible in Brass Effect Plated Metal Case with Magnifier. Glasgow: David Bryce and Son, 1901. Limp. Good . Tiny Bible 42 x 30 x 12 mm in brass effect plated metal case (Janncke’s Patent - No 231183) with red leather front panel containing circular magnifying glass. Licence to back of title page dated 1901. Leather around magnifying glass a bit chipped, plating a bit rubbed away, but generally in pretty decent condition; likewise Bible itself has a browned edges/endpapers and a little foxing but is generally good. The print of this reproduction in miniature of an Oxford Nonpareil … Bible is so tiny that only those with the keenest eyesight and/or good Bible memory will read it without the magnifier. GBP 130.00