William Duncan. The elements of logick. Fourth edition. London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley, 1759.
The original Deed of Gift of 1948 specifically included around 170 ‘association’ copies as part of the Alfred and Isabel Reed Collection. These are books which contain inscriptions, bookplates, letters, or have some interesting association or ownership history. The Association Collection today numbers more than 1,000 volumes.
Association copies were an early collecting interest of Reed’s. Provenance evidence suggests he was collecting them by 1920, perhaps earlier. He would reminisce half a century later that “in those days useful items could be picked up from overseas antiquarian booksellers’ catalogues at prices that seem ludicrous today.”
Reed aptly described the appeal of these books in his 1967 Autobiography: “Such books have always appealed to me as radiating something of the personality of the writer, or person with whom they have been associated. To hold in the hand a book that has been inscribed or written by some famous person, seems in a fascinating way to bring one nearer him as nothing else, save an autograph letter, can do.”
This book contains the ownership inscription of John Keble (1792-1866), English churchman, poet, and one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement.
William Duncan. The elements of logick. Fourth edition. London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley, 1759.
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