Robert Bolton, Mr. Boltons Last and Learned Worke of the Foure Last Things, Death, Iudgement, Hell, and Heaven (1639)

Dated ownership inscriptions are always a delight to come across, since they indicate the time frame in which a woman book-owner acquired and / or inscribed a book. The above inscription, written on a front flyleaf in a 1639 edition of Robert Bolton’s Last and Learned Worke of the Foure Last Things, Death, Iudgement, Hell, and Heaven, reads: “Eliza: Blois her Booke giuen Me by my Aunt hodges In ye yeare: 1675.” Not only do we have a date for when the library entered Blois’s possession, but we also have a source: her aunt. Like most of our featured book owners so far, however, Elizabeth remains unidentified.

Source: Book offered for sale by Lyppard Books, 3/21/19. Images used with permission.