Rare is the man with the force of character, powers of leadership, and variety of cultural, scientific and spiritual interests of Elihu Yale (1649-1721). Having made his fortune during his tenure at the East India Company, Yale returned to London in 1699 with a magnificent collection of Indian gems, furniture and textiles, which was subsequently augmented by books, art works and scientific instruments. The auctions of his collection following his death in 1721 are seen as a landmark in the history both of collecting and of ...
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Rare is the man with the force of character, powers of leadership, and variety of cultural, scientific and spiritual interests of Elihu Yale (1649-1721). Having made his fortune during his tenure at the East India Company, Yale returned to London in 1699 with a magnificent collection of Indian gems, furniture and textiles, which was subsequently augmented by books, art works and scientific instruments. The auctions of his collection following his death in 1721 are seen as a landmark in the history both of collecting and of auctioneering art in early 18th-century England. This biography explores Elihu Yale's life in the society of Madras and London, and his interests, including musical and scientific instruments and books, and then turns to a study of Yale as a dealer and a collector. Spanning Mughal India, the London of the English Enlightenment and Puritan New England, this story will appeal to anyone interested in early 18th-century London; furniture; the fashion for things Oriental in the West; gemstones and jewelry; and collecting works of art.
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Seller's Description:
Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. Though second-hand, the book is still in very good shape. Minimal signs of usage may include very minor creasing on the cover or on the spine.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good in Good jacket. AR5-A hardcover book SIGNED by Benjamin Zucker (first name only) and inscribed to previous owner in very good condition in good dust jacket. Dust jacket har wrinkling, chipping, and crease on the edges, sides and corners, scattered chipping and peeling, light discoloration and shelf wear. Book has some bumped corners, light discoloration and shelf wear. 9.5"x6.5", 288 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. Elihu Yale was a British-American merchant and a slave trader, President of the East India Company settlement in Fort St. George, at Madras, and a benefactor of the Yale College in his honor. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, to David Yale (1613-1690) and Ursula Knight, he was the grandson of Ann Lloyd (1591-1659), who after the death of her first husband, Thomas Yale (1587-1619) in Chester, Cheshire, England, married Governor Theophilus Eaton (1590-1658) of New Haven Colony. The Yale family left Boston and returned to England when Elihu was three years old and he grew up and went to school in London. For 20 years Yale served the Honourable East India Company. In 1684 he became the first president of Fort St. George, the company's post at Madras (now Chennai), India. He succeeded a number of agents from Andrew Cogan to William Gyfford. Yale was instrumental in the development of the Government General Hospital, housed at Fort St. George. Yale amassed a fortune while working for the company, largely through secret contracts with Madras merchants, against the East India Company's directive. By 1692, his repeated flouting of East India Company regulations and growing embarrassment at his illegal profiteering resulted in his being relieved of the post of governor. Yale returned to Britain in 1699. He spent the rest of his life at Plas Grono in Wales, a mansion bought by his father, or at his house in London, spending liberally the considerable wealth he had accumulated. Yale's ancestry can be traced back to the family estate at Plas yn Iāl near the village of Llandegla in Wales. In 1718, Cotton Mather contacted Yale and asked for his help. Mather represented a small institution of learning that had been founded in 1701 in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, as the Collegiate School of Connecticut, which needed money for a new building. Yale sent Mather 417 books, a portrait of King George I, and nine bales of goods. These last were sold by the school for £800 pound sterling. In gratitude, officials named the new building Yale; eventually the entire institution became Yale College. Yale was also a vestryman and treasurer of St. Mary's Church at Fort St. George. On 6 October 1968, the 250th anniversary of the naming of Yale College for Elihu Yale, the classmates of Chester Bowles, then the American ambassador to India and a graduate of Yale (1924), donated money for lasting improvements to the church and erected a plaque to commemorate the occasion. In 1970 a portrait of him, Elihu Yale seated at table with the Second Duke of Devonshire and Lord James Cavendish was donated to the Yale Center for British Art from Chatsworth House. On 5 April 1999, Yale University recognized the 350th anniversary of Yale's birthday. An article that year in American Heritage magazine rated Elihu Yale the "most overrated philanthropist" in American history, arguing that the college that became Yale University was successful largely because of the generosity of a man named Jeremiah Dummer, but that the trustees of the school did not want it known by the name "Dummer College". In her article for The Atlantic about Skull and Bones, a secret society at Yale University, Alexandra Robbins alleges that Yale's headstone was stolen years ago from its proper setting in Wrexham. She further alleges that the tombstone is now displayed in a glass case in a room with purple walls.
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Seller's Description:
Near fine in very good jacket. With 140 color illustrations. 288 pages. 8vo, brown boards with white lettering at the spine, pictorial d.w. (slightly edgeworn, abraded at the spine). London: Thames & Hudson, (2014). A near fine copy in a very good wrapper.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good. Unmarked text; light shelfwear. Ships with tracking the same or next business day from New Haven, CT. We fully guarantee to ship the exact same item as listed and work hard to maintain our excellent customer service.
