Itinerario, Overo Nova Descrittione de’ viaggi Principali d’Italia

1628

De Beer Ib 1628 S

Franc Bolzetta

‘A Jollie Good Book Whereon to Looke is Better to Me Than Golde’ – so reads the text on the bookplate of Lucy Wharton Drexel (1841-1912). ‘Golde’, or money for that matter, was not in short supply for Drexel as she was married to wealthy American banker and philanthropist, Joseph Wilhelm Drexel (1833-88). The bookplate is a stylised scene of a woman reading in her library executed in 1904 by the designer, Edwin Davis French (1851-1906). Marks of previous ownership also appear with the stamped initials of ‘HL’ on the front cover, and an inscription above the bookplate recording when John English Doben (4th Baronet of Finedon, 1750-1837) purchased the volume at the Kettering Book-Meeting in March 1803.