De rebus gestis Alexandri Magni Editio prioribus correctior

Amstelodami juxta Exemplar Elzeviriorum 1690. 16mo, 110 x 58 mms., pp. 271 [272 - 287 Index, 288 blank], including fine engraved title-page, later 18th century or early 19th century red morocco, gilt border on covers, gilt spine, all edges gilt, and with a fine fore-edge painting depicting rowing boats and ships, with three individuals in the foreground to the right of two classical pillars, and an island in the background - perhaps an allusion to the battle of Issus, in 333 BC. Inscribed on the recto of the leaf preceding the title-page, "To Charles Gleadhall from Walter Fawkes Edwards, 3rd August 1833." The Charles Gleadhall (also spelled Gleadall) of the inscription, the person to whom this Curtius was presented, was a solicitor in Halifax, Yorkshire, who lived some of his life in South Kirkby (which has also been spelled -- or misspelled -- South Kirby) in Yorkshire. He died in 1865, at the age of 50 (see the paragraph-long biographical note in The Admission Register of the Manchester School, 1874, Vol. 3, Part 2, p. 199). The man who gave this Curtius to Gleadhall / Gleadall was Walter Fawkes Edwards (1815-1836), who also had roots in Halifax, Yorkshire. It has been said that Walter Fawkes Edwards was named after Walter Fawkes, M.P. (1769-1825), the major patron of J. M. W. Turner. Apparently Walter Fawkes (1769-1825) was something like a godfather to Walter Fawkes Edwards (1815-1836). Fawkes Edwards and Gleadhall were both born in 1815, so both would have been 18 when the book was given. Walter Fawkes Edwards's father was the bookseller Thomas Edwards (1762-1834), whose firm in Halifax was well-known for their innovative bookbinding, and renowned for their fore-edge paintings. Despite the rather engaging provenance, the fore-edge painting does not come from Edwards of Halifax and is definitely not by Thomas Edwards, but was probably done in the mid 20th cen tury. Editions of Curtius' de Rebis Gestos Alexandri Magni, edited by J. J. Potanus, were published by Elzevir in 1633, 1670, and 1673, and this appears to be a revised version. One copy located in Basel.