Wing N1145 (there is a more common variant state of the title with imprint “Cambridge: by Thomas Buck, Printer to the Universitie of Cambridge, 1652.”).
Reissued the following year with a new title, Arcula gemmea: or, A cabinet of jevvels : discovering the nature, vertue, value of pretious stones, with infallible rules to escape the deceit of all such as are adulterate and counterfeit, and with a London imprint for Nathaniel Brooke, 1653. Reissued again in 1659 with a new title, Gemmarius fidelius, or, The faithful lapidary …,, with Nicols’ name replaced with initials and with a London imprint for Henry Marsh.
This copy has an extra leaf after B2 with a 28-line poem by the author on the recto (verso blank) titled “A friendly pleasure” and signed “T.N.”: “Askest thou how Nature doth form her births? | What’s the mysterious off-spring of th’ earths | Womb? Wouldst thou know how gemms have their glory? | …”. It has not been noted as appearing in other copies and is not included in the Union First Line Index of English Verse.
Nicols, of whom little is known except that he was a son of a Cambrdge physician and was admitted to Jesus College, Cambridge in 1640, “wrote what is **generally considered to be the first independent gemmological book by a British author…**he book is separated into two distinct parts. The first part is a general treatise on gemstones, while the second describes the individual characteristics of particular gemstones and decorative materials. Nicols states in his preface that he has used much material from Boetius de Boot’s Gemmarum et lapidum (1st edn, 1609) and from other authors such as Pliny. His classification of gemstones by their properties is, like de Boot’s, presented on a folding table. The book describes methods of falsifications and enhancements of gemstones, including their dyeing and foiling when set in jewellery. This information is presented in a style that suggests that Nicols may have had personal experience of the subject, as well as his demonstrable skill in compiling a comprehensive treatise from the works of earlier authors.”
As noted above Nicols relied in particular on the Flemish physician, natural historian and gemologist Anselmus Boetius de Boodt’s important 1609 treatise which had not been translated into English for his information. Despite his protestations of scepticism with regard to the supernatural and natural powers of certain gems, his text is still steeped in the traditions of medieval lapidaries which concentrated on the mythical and medical powers of various stones, e.g. of diamonds, Nicols writes: “If a true Diamond be put upon the head of a woman without her knowledge, it will make in her sleep, if she be faithfull to her husband, to cast her self into his embraces; but if she be an adulteresse, to turn away from him.” (p. 51); and of sapphires: “It is reported of it, that if it be worn by an adulterer, by loosing its splendour it will discover his adultery: and that the wearing of it, doth hinder the erections that are caused by Venus.” (p/84). Consequently it is a fascinating and enjoyable book which provides much information on the contemporary attitudes to and significance of jewellery, especially as it was displayed in Stuart portraits.
Nicols’ Lapidary was a slow seller as its reissues with new titles in 1653 and 1659 attest and it was still being advertised for sale in the early 1690s. It was never reprinted and as it added nothing new scientifically it was superseded by the Hon. Robert Boyle’s An Essay about the Origine & Virtues of Gems (1672) which had the benefit of his pioneering microscopic observations on crystallisation.
Provenance: The text is dedicated to “the Heads of the Universitie of Cambridge” - there were sixteen colleges at the time and one can suppose that with its extra leaf of verses and its elaborately gold-tolled limp vellum binding was intended for presentation. The binding must be Cambridge work and it can be compared stylistically to the work of the contemporary Cambridge binder John Houlden. However, none of the many tools, including the characteristic fleur-de-lis and the thistle tool can be found in David Pearson’s Cambridge Bookbinding 1450-1770 (Legacy Press, 2023). The volume was long in the library of the Sandys (later Hill) family of Ombersley Court, Worcestershire, Barons Sandys (from 1743). Following the death of the 7th Baron in 2013 the barony passed to a distant cousin, the 9th Marquess of Downshire. Ombersley Court was sold in 2017 and the contents dispersed by Christie’s and Chorley’s who sold this on 17/9/2024, lot 32.
