Works

1730

Shoults Eb 1730 W

Printed for J. Tonson in the Strand

Throughout the book’s long history, owners have used title-pages, margins, and preliminary pages to leave their mark: strange doodles, shopping lists, brief critical notes, and of course names. Inscribing a book is the easiest way to indicate ownership, and it can be accompanied by other evidential material important to the book historian: place of residence, price paid, date acquired. Sometimes there is a warning attached, as in this copy of Edmund Waller’s Works, once owned by Samuel Daniel, 3 March 1828: ‘Steal not this book …’.