Books sold by Nath. Crouch: Histories, Admirable Curiosities, Extraordinary Adventures, Unparallel’d Varieties.

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Admirable curiosities rarities, & wonders in England, Scotland, and Ireland, or, An account of many remarkable persons and places, and likewise of the battels, seiges, prodigious earthquakes, tempests, inundations, thunders, lightnings, fires, murders, and other considerable occurrences, and accidents for several hundred years past. Together with the natural, and artificial rarities in every county, and many other observable matters; as they are recorded by the most authentick, and credible historians of former and latter ages; adorned with the lively description of several memorable things therein contained, ingraven on copper plates. By R. B., author of the History of the wars of England, &c. and Remarks of London, &c (London: Printed by Tho. Snowden, for Nath. Crouch, 1683) Call number: Ex 3701.276 vol 1.

Admirable curiosities rarities, & wonders in England, Scotland, and Ireland, or, An account of many remarkable persons and places, and likewise of the battels, seiges, prodigious earthquakes, tempests, inundations, thunders, lightnings, fires, murders, and other considerable occurrences, and accidents for several hundred years past. Together with the natural, and artificial rarities in every county, and many other observable matters; as they are recorded by the most authentick, and credible historians of former and latter ages; adorned with the lively description of several memorable things therein contained, ingraven on copper plates. By R. B., author of the History of the wars of England, &c. and Remarks of London, &c (London: Printed by Tho. Snowden, for Nath. Crouch, 1683) Call number: Ex 3701.276 vol 1.

London bookseller Nathaniel Crouch (ca. 1640-1725) published his ‘histories’ under the pseudonym R.B. (alluding to Robert or Richard Burton). According to a contemporary, he “melted down the best of our English Histories into Twelve-Penny Books” and became a “Celebrated Author.” His works for the “middling sort” sold well, with some known to have gone into as many as thirteen editions. Thousands of illustrated, cheaply produced copies were issued, but few survive today. In 1918, publisher Charles Scribner II (1854-1930) presented a collection of “Burton’s books” and the Library collocated them at call number Ex 3701.276, subdivided by volume number, as follows:

Vol. 1. Admirable Curiosities. 1682.
Vol. 2. Admirable Curiosities. 10th Ed. 1737.
Vol. 3. England’s Monarchs. 2d Ed… Enl. 1685.
Vol. 4. The English Empire in America. 5th Ed. 1711.
Vol. 5. The English Hero. 13th Ed. [1739]
Vol. 6. Extraordinary Adventures, Revolutions and Events. 3d Ed. 1704.
Vol. 7. The General History of Earthquakes. 1734.
Vol. 8. Historical Remarques and Observations. 4th Ed. 1691.
Vol. 9. The History of The Kingdom of Ireland. 12th Ed. [A much enl. Ed. of 2d pt. of v. 170] 1746.
Vol. 10. The History of The Kingdoms of Scotland & Ireland. 1685.
Vol. 11. The History of The Nine Worthies of The World. 1727.
Vol. 12. The History of The Principality of Wales. 1695.
Vol. 13. The History of The Two Late Kings, Charles The Second and James The Second. 1693.
Vol. 14. The Ladies Glory. 5th Ed. 1781.
Vol. 15. Martyrs in Flames. 1700.
Vol. 16. The Surprizing Miracles of Nature and Art. 2d Ed. 1685.
Vol. 17. Two Journeys To Jerusalem. 1695.
Vol. 18. The Unfortunate Court-Favourites of England. 2d Ed. 1706.
Vol. 19. The Unhappy Princesses. 1733.
Vol. 20. Unparallel’d Varieties. 3d Ed. 1699.
Vol. 21. Unparallel’d Varieties. 4th Ed. 1728.
Vol. 22. The Wars in England. 5th Ed… Enl. 1684.
Vol. 23. Youth’s Divine Pastime. 5th Ed. 1767.
Vol. 24. The Wars in England, Scotland & Ireland … 6th Ed., Rev. and Cor. 1697.
Vol. 25. Historical Remarks and Observations upon the Ancient and Present State of London and Westminster … 5th Ed. 1703.

Martyrs in flames: or The history of Popery. Displaying the horrid persecutions and cruelties, exercised upon Protestants by the Papists for many hundred years past, to this time. In, Piedmont. France, with the massacre at Paris. Orange. Ephemia. Germany. Poland. Lithuania. Italy. Spain, with the bloody Inquisition. Portugal. Holland. Flanders. Scotland. Ireland, with the massacre in 1641. and England. Containing an account of I. The martyrs in the reign of King Henry VIII. and Queen Mary. II. The Spanish invasion 1588. III. The Gun-powder Treason 1605. IV. The fire of London 1666. V. The horrid Popish plot in 1678. VI. The marther of Sir Edmunbury Godfrey. VII. The detectable conspiracies of the Papists, and their adherents against K. William III. 1. By Grandivile a Frenchman. 2. By Charnock, Sir Wil. Perkins, Sir John Friend, Sir John Fenwick, and others, with their tryals and execution[.] Also Gods judgments upon persecutors. With several pictures By R.B. (London: N. Couch, 17xx). Call number Ex 3701.276 vol 15. • No copy recorded in ESTC.

Martyrs in flames: or The history of Popery. Displaying the horrid persecutions and cruelties, exercised upon Protestants by the Papists for many hundred years past, to this time. In, Piedmont. France, with the massacre at Paris. Orange. Ephemia. Germany. Poland. Lithuania. Italy. Spain, with the bloody Inquisition. Portugal. Holland. Flanders. Scotland. Ireland, with the massacre in 1641. and England. Containing an account of I. The martyrs in the reign of King Henry VIII. and Queen Mary. II. The Spanish invasion 1588. III. The Gun-powder Treason 1605. IV. The fire of London 1666. V. The horrid Popish plot in 1678. VI. The marther of Sir Edmunbury Godfrey. VII. The detectable conspiracies of the Papists, and their adherents against K. William III. 1. By Grandivile a Frenchman. 2. By Charnock, Sir Wil. Perkins, Sir John Friend, Sir John Fenwick, and others, with their tryals and execution[.] Also Gods judgments upon persecutors. With several pictures By R.B. (London: Nath. Crouch, 1700). Call number Ex 3701.276 vol 15. • No copy recorded in ESTC.

For further details see: Robert Mayer, “Nathaniel Crouch, Bookseller and Historian: Popular Historiography and Cultural Power in Late Seventeenth-Century England,” Eighteenth-Century Studies v. 27, no. 3 (Spring, 1994), pp. 391-419.