1845 1st Edition – THE HISTORY OF KINGTON By A Member of the Mechanics' Institute, of Kington.
Antiquarian VERY RARE Book on the market town of Kington, in Herefordshire, England. Forming a popular sketch of the Welsh Border. 303pp. plus ix. With an Appendix, a FOLD-OUT FAMILY TREE OF THE PEDIGREE of the Town of Kington and Manor of Huntington, and a FOLD-OUT FAMILY TREE OF THE PEDIGREE OF THE FAMILY OF CHEESE. Bound in its ORIGINAL CLOTH, OVER BOARDS. It also includes yellow pastedowns.
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED IN 1845 (MDCCCXLV) BY CHARLES HUMPHREYS, HIGH-STREET, KINGTON. I understand that it was written by Richard Parry, who was a member of the Mechanics' Institute, of Kington.
IT CONTAINS THE FIRST PUBLISHED WORK OF ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE, THE FAMOUS ENGLISH NATURALIST, EXPLORER, GEOGRAPHER, ANTHROPOLOGIST, BIOLOGIST AND ILLUSTRATOR, an An Essay on the Best Way of Conducting the Kington Mechanics Institution on page 66 onwards.
THIS WAS PERSONALLY OWNED BY W. P. WILLIAMS, VICAR OF NANTMELAN, RADNOR AND HUGH THOMAS EVANS OF LEINTWARDINE, SON-IN-LAW OF W. P. WILLIAMS, and their pen inscriptions are inside the book. W. P. Williams was the Reverend William Prosser Williams, who I understand was born in about 1791 in New Radnor and died in 1874. Hugh Thomas Evans, of Leintwardine was himself, and eminent person of standing, and so to have his notes written in this book makes it a unique and historically important find. He was a historian and has been credited for the rediscovery of the entrenchments of Leintwardine in 1852. Leintwardine is a village in Herefordshire, about 17 miles from Kington.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE COVER OF THIS BOOK HAS DISBOUND FROM THE TEXT BLOCK AND INSIDE, THIS BOOK IS IN AN ACCEPTABLE BUT WORN CONDITION. ALTHOUGH IT IS PERFECTLY READABLE. This has been reflected in the price and please take into consideration that this is 180 YEARS OLD. Also note that THIS IS A VERY SCARCE BOOK and IT IS FASCINATING PIECE OF HISTORY. ALL THE PAGES OF TEXT ARE INCLUDED, although the free endpapers (which were most likely blank) have been removed. Please read the description below for further details on its condition.
The cover is bound in brown cloth, over boards, with ornate and embossed decorations and panelling on the boards, and gilt lettering on the spine. There is no dust jacket. The cover has overall wear, and it is fragile. The wear includes several marks, rips on the spine, bumping to the corners, small rips at edges and corners, and patches of fading. Please see the photographs provided for further reference.
Inside, the pages are tanned with light marks. The pages are mainly uncreased, with only the occasional small fold or light crease. The edges of the pages are uneven and roughly cut, but this is highly likely due to the construction of this book and is all part of its beautiful history. The page leaves were probably uncut and then severed with a pen knife. Several pages have small rips at the edges, including inner edges, but this does not affect the text, and are mainly as a result of being roughly cut. There is also a small rip through the fold-out family tree of the pedigree of the Town of Kington and Manor of Huntington and a larger rip through page 140 and overleaf. Please see the photographs provided for details. On the half title page there are pen and pencil inscriptions, remnants of pen on the front pastedown (transferred from the half title page), and a further pen inscription for Hugh Thos. Evans on the back pastedown, which has transferred to the last page. There are also the occasional annotations and underling of text on the pages, written in pen or pencil. There are issues with the binding and some of the pages are partially loose to one side of the inner binding (but still attached) and between a few pages there are cracks in the gutter.
PLEASE STUDY THE PHOTOGRAPHS CAREFULLY, AS THESE ALSO FORM PART OF THE DESCRIPTION.
This measures approximately 23.3 cm by 15 cm and 2.4 cm wide. It weighs approximately 513 grams. Thank you so much for looking.
