BARTON, RICHARD (1706-1759)

1) Lectures in Natural Philosophy…Lough Neagh. [Dublin, 1751]. 2) Some Remarks Towards a Full Description of Upper and Lower Lough Lene… [Dublin, 1751]. 3) A Dialogue Concerning some Things of Importance to Ireland… [Dublin, 1751]. 4) Galileo to Urban VIII. Or, and History of Error Defeated… [Dublin, 1758]. 5) A Physico-Poetical Essay, Concerning the Wonders of Lake Neah, in Ireland. In Imitation of Lucretius. [Dublin, 1759].

Five works by the Irish Naturalist Richard Barton bound together, the last two being exceedingly scarce. Barton was born in 1706 in Painstown, County Meath, the son of John Barton, dean of Ardagh. He attended Trinity College, Dublin, where he obtained his B.A. in 1726 and M.A. in 1731. He was ordained a clergyman of the Church of Ireland and settled near Lough Neagh, where he took a keen interest in the geological traits of the surrounding countryside. In the 1730s he began his scientific investigations and became a member of the “Physico-Historical Society”. The five works offered here are a culmination of a lifelong pursuit of research, and include a Newtonian method of proving his theses, using propositions and demonstrations. Engraved plates are included which include views of the areas as well as samples that Barton collected. The first three works are relatively common and include the summation of his researches. The last two works, however, are of great rarity, and were written anonymously as a defense of his scientific conclusions against the controversial bishop of Clogher, Robert Clayton (1695-1758). The first defense (although the fourth bound in) is entitled ‘Galileo to Urban VIII” and is intended to invoke that great scientific controversy as akin to the one that Barton is currently fighting against Clayton. The work includes numerous notes on Barton’s methods, Clayton’s shortcomings, and sidenotes on the illustrious personages of Trinity College. The second very rare work, which appears to be a continuation of the Galileo piece, is entitled ‘A Physico-Poetical Essay’, and is a poem, in English with a Latin text on opposite pages, that Barton wrote to summarize his work and sign the praises of the areas of Ireland that he has studies, along with its rich gemological contents. It is, as he states, written in the style of Lucretius. As stated, the last two works are exceedingly scarce, with the only copy of ‘Galileo’ that I could locate at Cambridge University and the only copy of ‘A Physico-Poetical Essay’ at the British Library. It is interesting that the Cambridge catalogue entry should doubt the authorship of the piece, as it has indications throughout that the work is definitively by Barton and written against Clayton. Cambridge also mentions that a frontispiece has been mentioned by bibliographers, but it seems not to appear in their copy nor ours, and therefore may have been a superfluous insert. The collation of the work offered here is: 4to (26 x 21cm), FIRST WORK; frontispiece perspective view, xvi, (viii subscriber list), folding plate of geometrical figures, (ii), folding plate of specimens, second folding plate of specimens, folding map, third folding plate of specimens, plate of shells, 209pp. (i.e. 185pp.); SECOND WORK: 14pp., (ii); THIRD WORK: 27pp, (i); FOURTH WORK: 20pp.; FIFTH WORK: 23pp. Damp-staining touching bottom margin throughout, a few instances of foxing. Bound in contemporary calf, wear to joints and edges.

. Item #85

Price: $1,650.00