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18TH-CENTURY BOOKS
Aa-Al Am-Az Ba-Beq Ber-Bo Bibles Bp-Bz
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Ea-England English-Ez F Ga-Gp Gr-Gz Ha-Hb
Hc-Hz I-K La-Lel Lem-Log Loh-Lz Maa-Mar
Mas-Mz N-O Pa-Pi Pj-Pz Q-R Sa-Sch
Sci-Se Sf-Sol Som-Sz Ta-Th Ti-U Va-Wil Wim-Z
IMPERFECT. Well Worth Having
ANYWAY.
Darwin, Erasmus. The Botanic Garden; a poem, in two parts. London: Pr. for J. Johnson, 1791. 4to. I: xii, 214, 126, [2] pp.; [6 of 8] plts. (lacking two of the Portland Vase plates). II: [4], ix, 196 pp. [9 of 10] plts. (lacks the frontispiece).
$650.00
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mouse-over, for an enlargement.
First of a famous, extended poem on plants and nature by Charles Darwin's grandfather. One of two frontispieces by Fuseli is present, the famous plate “The Fertilization of Egypt” designed by Fuseli and engraved by Blake is here, and two of the four Blake-engraved plates of the Portland Vase are also present.
Library buckram; frontispiece detached but present; waterstaining; a few old tape repairs. Age-toning and a few edges chipped. Lacks three plates. Offsetting from the plates. (1659)

A Crukshank “Plague Year”
Defoe, Daniel. The dreadful visitation, in a short account of the progress and effects of the plague, the last time it spread in the city of London, in the year 1665, extracted from the memoirs of a person who resided there during the whole time of that infection. Philadelphia: Printed by Joseph Crukshank, 1774. 8vo (17 cm; 6.6"). 16 pp.
$350.00
Fourth American edition of this abridgment of Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year.
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Evans 13241; Hildeburn 3001; Austin 635; Blake p. 111; ESTC W6028. Recent quarter leather with marbled paper sides. Some staining in foremargins and corners, sometimes into text; foxing, and light age-toning. Old library pressure-stamp on title-page (properly deaccessioned). A rather okay copy. (27083)
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Christian Consolations
Spiritually Endorsed
Defoe, Daniel; Charles Drelincourt. [The Christian’s defence against the fears of death. With seasonable directions how to prepare ourselves to die well. Written originally in French ... Translated into English, by Marius D’Assigny] A true relation of
the apparition of one Mrs. Veal ... the eighteenth edition. [London: Pr. for R. Ware, W. Innys & J. Richardson, W. & D. Baker, et al., 1756]. 8vo (20.3 cm, 8"). [2], xi/xii, 12, 502 pp. (lacking frontis., main t.-p., 3 ff. preface, & final f.).
$300.00
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English translation of Charles Drelincourt's Consolations de l’âme fidèle, with the intriguing “True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal.” First published in 1705, Daniel Defoe's convincingly matter-of-fact account of Margaret Veal's ghostly visit to an old friend went through numerous editions; it appears here as the stated eighteenth, serving (as did most later printings) as a preface to the Christian’s Defence against the Fears of Death. Legend has it that Defoe's retelling of a ghost story then in circulation was meant as a boost for flagging sales of an edition of the Defence, although current scholarship is skeptical of that tale. Drelincourt's pious work sold quite well both before and after Defoe's addition, at any rate, and was often recommended as a gift for mourners.
This example particularly showcases the “True Relation,” as the separate title-page for that item is the first leaf present here; the title-page and preface for the Defence are absent.
ESTC T189434; Lowndes 616–17; Allibone 490. Recent quarter mottled calf and marbled paper–covered sides, leather edges blind-tooled, spine with gilt-stamped leather labels, gilt-dotted raised bands, and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments. First three pages institutionally pressure-stamped, lower (closed) edges rubber-stamped; title-page with inked and rubber-stamped numerals in lower margin. Frontispiece, main title-page, preface to Christian's Defence, and final leaf lacking (the last interrupting the text of a brief account of Drelincourt's life). Title-page stained with inner margin reinforced and tear repaired some time ago. Pages browned, foxed, and stained, first and last few with edges tattered; some corners dog-eared. Two leaves torn, without loss of text; one leaf with outer margin chipped, affecting four words without loss of sense. A book often “read to death” . . . (25807)
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Defoe,
Daniel. The life and strange surprizing adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, mariner.... London:
John Stockdale, 1790. 8vo (22 cm, 8.6"). 2 vols. I: Frontis., [4], [xi]–389, [1 (blank)] pp.; 7 plts. II: Frontis., v, [1], 456, [24], pp.; 6 plts.
$1500.00
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Illustrated late 18th-century rendition of this classic tale: The Stockdale edition of Defoe's most-read novel contains a frontispiece and engraved title-page in each volume, along with an engraved portrait of Defoe and 12 engraved illustrations
done by Medland after drawings by Stothard. Chalmers’s Life of Defoe appears in this edition for the first time anywhere; another interesting addition is “A List of Writings, which are considered as undoubtedly De Foe’s.”
A handsome edition of a great, indeed landmark English novel.
ESTC N47632; Lowndes, III, 613; NCBEL, II, 900 (first few eds. only). Contemporary half calf over marbled paper–covered sides, bindings overall worn and rubbed with leather lost over corners and front joint of vol. I cracked though holding; now housed in a handsome clamshell case of quarter calf with marbled paper sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped decorations. Front free endpapers with pencilled ownership inscription (dated 1875 in vol. I); front pastedowns with 20th-century collector’s bookplate. Light to moderate foxing to pages in proximity to plates, with occasional small spots to other pages; plates spotted and browned although not beyond expectable degrees.
Worthy.
“To
the King”
Denham, John. Coopers-Hill.
A poem. London: Pr. & sold by H. Hills, 1709. 8vo. 16 pp.
$225.00
Uncut copy. Originally published in 1642. This reprint is a copy
of the issue with printer's flowers at the top of p. 5 and with the second line
of imprint reading "near the Water-side, 1709"; the first line of p. 16 reads,
"Fair Liberty pursu'd, and meant a Prey". Denham (161569) took the Royalist
side during the Civil Wars; this piece about Chertsey Abbey, dismantled by order
of Henry VIII, and the scenery around Windsor, is a classic of
topographical
poetry.
ESTC N15580; Foxon D214. Removed from a nonce volume. One leaf
torn into the text of one page, in the margin of the other. Very good copy.
Representing the Farmer's Weekly Museum 1796
[Dennie, Joseph]. The lay preacher; or short sermons, for idle readers. Walpole, NH: David Carlisle, Jr., 1796. 12mo (17 cm, 6.75"). 132 pp.
$400.00
First collected edition of these pieces, most of which originally
appeared in the Farmer's Weekly Museum, "a rural paper of Newhampshire"
per Dennie and "one of the best New England papers of its day" according to
the DAB. The author, who quickly abandoned a mediocre legal career
but enjoyed an extended stint as one of the fashionable literati of the time,
produced a fair number of Federalist writings; his bent towards political commentary
is partially but not wholly submerged in these short, often humorous religious
exhortations. A good example is the essay on the text "Little children, keep
yourselves from idols," which tarries briefly with the topic of women's fascination
with the looking-glass before moving on to the more exciting "Green Draggons
of sedition," which are responsible for encouraging Americans to "forget WASHINGTON
. . . your first love" and to dabble in "scribbling saucy toasts, and
vamping rash resolves against the treaties and laws of your land" (p. 37).
Provenance: Front fly-leaf
is inscribed "P Doddridge to his sister Harriett" in an early hand. There
is a Doddridge County in New Hampshire, but who "P" and "Harriett" were, we
cannot say.
ESTC W20627; BAL 4633; Evans 30335; Sabin 19585. On
Dennie, see: Dictionary of American Biography, V, 23537. Contemporary
mottled sheep rebacked with plain cloth, abraded (most notably over edges
and corners); hinges taped (inside) some time ago. Some offsetting and a few
scattered light spots; one page with portion of text insufficiently inked
during printing. Chip out of one page margin, just touching but not obscuring
outermost letters. (4706)
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Bodoni Printing: Texts of the Hebrew Old Testament
De Rossi, Giovanni Bernardo. Variae lectiones Veteris Testamenti, ex immensa mss. editorumq. codicum congerie haustae et ad Samar. textum, ad vetustiss. versiones, ad accuratiores sacrae criticae fontes ac leges examinatae [and] Scholia critica in v.t. libros seu supplementa ad varias sacri textus lectiones. Parmae: Ex Regio typographeo, 1784–88. Folio (I & II: 29.8 cm, 11.75"; III: 28.8 cm, 11.25"). 5 vols. in 3. I: [8], clx, 116, xiv, [2], 264 pp. II: viii, [2], 268, xxxii, [2], 242 (pp. 241/42 misbound), [16] pp. III: xvi, 144 pp.
$1500.00
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First edition of an important collection of variant readings of the Old Testament, assembled by an Italian Christian Hebraist who taught Oriental languages at the University of Parma. This gathering of Massoretic manuscripts was printed by Bodoni in Latin and Hebrew, in double columns. The first four books close with Specimen ineditae et hexaplaris Bibliorum versionis Syro-Estranghelae cum Simplici atque utriusque fontibus Graeco et Hebraeo collatae cum duplici lat. vers. ac notis, and the final volume adds the Scholia critica in V.T. libros seu supplementa ad varias sacri textus lectiones.
Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplate of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Farmar Jarvis, historian and author of A Discourse on the Religion of the Indian Tribes of North America, The Colonies of Heaven, and A Chronological Introduction to the History of the Church.
Brooks, Compendiosa Bibliografia di Edizioni Bodoniane, 279; Steinschneider, Catalogus hebraeorum in Bibliotheca Bodleiana, 2152. Binding on vols. IIV: Contemporary calf, covers framed and panelled in blind rolls with original leather cracked, chipping, and darkened (IIIIV especially severely); rebacked, spines with gilt-stamped title, gilt-dotted raised bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. Hinges (inside) reinforced. Binding on the Scholia: Recent, full period-style calf framed and panelled in blind rolls; spine with gilt-stamped title, gilt-dotted raised bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. All title-pages with very old institutional rubber-stamps; early portions of vol. I with lightly pencilled annotations and bracketing, and vol. II with small pencilled marks of emphasis. Old soft corner creases or mild cockling variously throughout to vols. IIV and, where these things (or a natural paper flaw) are most notable, a grey soil has entered at the loose or open places to mark the margins at their edges. Otherwise, scattered light foxing, golden, not brown; and the occasional old spill (e.g., I Samuel) or smudge only. Not “fresh” but substantial, impressive, and with its lovely typography still lovely. (25513)
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Apparently as
RARE as It Is Obscure
(Devotional Verse). A hymn to our blessed saviour: considered as the light of the world, according to that of St. John. London: Pr. by E. Fawcett, 1784. Folio. 31, [1 (blank)] p.
$250.00
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Not listed in ESTC or NUC Pre-1956; may originally have been bound with another item. Whatever this is, it has not been digitized in a place where we can find it.
Marbled boards. Ex–defunct library: library label and blind-stamp on front cover; title-page and one other stamped. Text of hymn appears to be complete, although signature A is lacking and pagination begins at 9 (title-page present). First four leaves with waterstaining at bottom and outer margins, fading thereafter.

ABCs around the WORLD Illustrated
Diderot, Denis. Caractères et alphabets de langues mortes et vivantes (Extracted from the Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers). [Paris: ca. 1750–72]. Folio (30.5 cm, 12"). 24 double-p. plts. (of 25).
$500.00
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Eye pleasing and mind instructive, this volume contains
24 double-spread engraved plates of alphabets for various languages. They were engraved for the article on alphabets in the Diderot Encyclopédie, a massive 20-year project aiming to encompass every branch of human knowledge that was a landmark of Enlightenment-era philosophy, attacking superstition while promoting science, rationality, and scholarship. Many of the volumes were supplemented with illustrations, such as the plates present here, designed to facilitate comparing and contrasting the alphabets and basic writing conventions of “dead and living” languages.
Languages charted in these tables include “Tartares Mouantcheoux,” Tamoul, Telongou, Persian (ancient and modern), Armenian, Russian (ancient and modern), Coptic, Hebrew, etc., with the
engraving done by master artisan Robert Bénard (fl. 1750–85).
Half green calf with green marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; slight wear to corners and spine extremities. Lacking one plate (#25). (24823)
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Early Biography of Palafox
Dinouart, Joseph-Antoine-Toussaint. Vie du vénérable Dom Jean de Palafox, evêque d'Angélopolis, & ensuite evêque d'Osme, dédiée a Sa Majeté Catholique. Cologne: Nyon, 1767. 8vo (19.7 cm, 7.75"). Frontis., iv, lvi, 576 pp.; 3 plts.
$300.00
First edition: Life of the celebrated yet controversial viceroy and reformer Bishop Juan de Palafox y Mendoza. Abbé Dinouart consulted an unpublished biography begun by the Jesuit Pierre Champion (and halted due to Champion's “franchise,” according to Barbier) to produce this important account of Palafox's life, accomplishments, and disputes with the Jesuits. Dinouart's Vie includes the text (in French translation) of Palafox's letters to the king of Spain and to Pope Innocent X on behalf of the cruelly treated Mexican Indians, as well as the text of the petition by Charles III of Spain to the Pope, requesting that Palafox be considered for canonization.
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The work is illustrated with a frontispiece and three copper-engraved plates done by Louis le Grand after designs by Gravelot.
Sabin 20201; Palau 73986; LeClerc, Bibliotheca Americana, 3180; Barbier, Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes et pseudonymes, 1003–04. Contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title-label; corners, joints, and spine extremities rubbed, spine with two pinpoint holes and surface cracks to leather. Front free endpaper partially separated, with pencilled annotation on verso; inner margins of one plate and opposing page with small area of offsetting from now-absent laid-in item, pages otherwise clean. All edges marbled in blue. An attractive copy. (25799)
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