Lotted together to sell for £3800 in a September 3 auction at Clevedon Salerooms (22% buyer’s premium) were a discoloured and occasionally soiled but rare 1607 edition (in a later binding) printed by John Norton of London and a facsimile of the original 1589 edition that was published at Harvard in 1957.
A local merchant, Browne reminds fellow Bristolians that his book and the advice it contains should be considered “…verie necessarie for their sons and servants, when they first send them beyond the sea, as to Spaine and Portingale, or other Countries”.
As such it contains information about weights and measures and foreign currencies, details of desirable commodities such as pepper and cloves, cinnamon, sugar oils and wine.
Other lots of particular local interest included, at £1900 to an online bidder, a folder containing over a hundred drawings of exterior and interior Bristol views made by Samuel Loxton (1857-1922) for the Bristol Observer.
