LITERATURE

The California Poets

•  A collection of 15 poems selected for the 1933 Annual of the California Writers Club. The poems were chosen by Margaret Widdemer, Margaret Tod Witter, and David Morton, who singled out “Skylark Terrace” by Alice Harlow Stetson and “The Prairie Saga” by Don Farran as the best of the collection. One poem celebrates the campanile (Sather Tower) at Berkeley.

Provenance:  Bookplate inside front wrapper of Lorraine & Horace Haynes.

•  Publisher's light-blue wrappers. Bookplate as above. Near fine.  (23669)

Life & Letters — A German Neo-Latin Poet

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•  Three first editions, all uncommon: Joachim Camerarius the elder’s life of the German neo-Latin poet Helius Eobanus Hessus (1488–1540), followed by books two and three of Hessus’s correspondence as edited by Camerarius. All books were issued separately. The Protestant humanist Camerarius was a member of Hessus’s circle and an associate of Melanchthon’s, as was Johannes Crato von Crafftheim, the royal physician and friend of Martin Luther to whom Camerarius dedicated the final volume of letters; Melanchthon, Euricius Cordus, Justus Menio, Mutiano Ruffo, and others appear with letters sometimes wholly in Greek, others with extensive passages in that language.

Binding: Contemporary alum-tawed pigskin, dated 1567 in blind; binding with bevelled edges, covers blind-embossed using rolls: faith, hope, justice, and charity. One metal clasp is present, the other perished.

•  Narratio: Adams C436; Brunet, II, 1009; VD16 C480 / VD16 C408. Libellus: Brunet, II, 1009; VD 16 C409; not in Adams. Tertius libellus: Brunet, II, 1009; VD16 C410. Binding as above, spine with later hand-inked paper label; binding much darkened and somewhat rubbed, one clasp intact and the other lacking. First title-page with ownership inscription dated 1559 inked in lower margin; Libellus alter lacking last leaf of preface (with errata on reverse) and Tertius libellus epistolar lacking title-page. Some corners dog-eared; two leaves with outer corners torn away, without loss to text. Early inked underlining and lining through of text, with a few marginalia, mostly in Narratio and occasionally in other two works. Last few leaves of final work with light waterstaining to lower outer corners.

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English Camões in Green Morocco

•  Fourth edition: Sonnets and canzones by the legendary Portuguese poet and playwright, translated into English by Percy Clinton Sydney Smythe, Viscount Strangford, a notable Lusophile who served as a diplomat in Lisbon. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

Binding:  Contemporary dark green straight-grain morocco, spine with gilt-stamped rules, rolls, and devices. Covers framed with a delicately curly gilt-rolled border; the center panels, within, accented by gilt-stamped corner fleurons. A bit of additional filigree in blind appears both within the rules of the gilt border and within the border on each center panel, to nice subtle effect. Gilt inner dentelles. All edges gilt.

•  NSTC C355.   Binding as above, leather rubbed at edges and joints, spine a bit dimmed. Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of John Allan Powell; front fly-leaf with inked inscription dated 1922. A few spots of foxing, pages otherwise clean. A pretty and very English production for this Portuguese poet.  A charming volume.  (23077)

Des Cartes in Verse — An Attractive Folio

•  L'Adamo by Sicilian poet and philosopher Tommaso Campailla (1668–1740) is a didactic poem that puts into memorable verse the principles of Cartesian philosophy. The engraved frontispiece is a portrait of the author, and the engraved plate is a portrait of the dedicatee, Michele Grimaldi. This work was first published in 1709 and regularly reprinted throughout the century. Single-click image at left
for an enlargement.

Rare: Only one copy of this edition traced via NUC Pre-1956, OCLC, and RLIN (at the Bancroft Library).

•  Quarter vellum with vellum turn-ins. Covers originally covered with gilt or marbled paper, now lost, exposing underlying paste boards—a rather interesting effect. Spine divided into compartments by gilt rolls; a tan leather label, gilt-lettered. Somewhat cockled. Pages untrimmed. Upper outer corner of title-leaf repaired with paper. Two wormholes through frontispiece, plate, and first three printed leaves, with a little loss to illustrations (which yet remain effective) and to parts of individual letters; some additional worming in the margins, not affecting text.

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Renaissance Classics withCommentary from Two Modern Masters

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•  Verses selected and prefaced by W.H. Auden, and introduced by John Hollander. Many of the texts are accompanied by music, with some photographic reproductions of songs from the Bookes of Ayres. The book was printed at the Stamperia Valdonega in Verona, Italy, with calligraphy by Edith McKeon Abbott and engraving by Leo Wyatt; this is the trade edition rather than the deluxe printing of the same year.

•  Publisher's red cloth, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped title, in original dust jacket; jacket lightly dust-soiled, price-clipped. A beautiful clean copy of a beautifully done book.  (24833)

One of CHILE’s“Padres de la Patria”
    ALS with anEdgar Allan Poe Connection

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•  Carrera writes of events in Uruguay, of war news from Peru, of O’Higgins, of various family members and acquaintances who remain prisoners, and of the cabildo elections in Buenos Aires.

Writer Carrera:  From one of the leading families of Chile, José Miguel Carrera led the successful coup de etat of 15 November 1811 that overthrew the Junta de Gobierno that was established in the political void after the capture of the king of Spain. As sole leader of the nation he created the first Chilean constitution, designed the first Chilean flag and coat of arms, and was responsible for bringing the first printing press to Chile. Disagreement with the Lautaro Lodge of the Masons led to his overthrow by Bernardo O’Higgins and the rift never healed, eventually leading to Carrera’s exile in Argentina, the U.S., and later Uruguay. His brothers fell into the hands of O’Higgins who had them executed.

Recipient Didier:  Henry Didier was the godfather of Edgar Allan Poe’s older brother, William Henry; he was to take the boy into his home for some years, though accounts differ as to whether this happened immediately after the death of the Poe children's parents (1811) or after the death of their guardian grandfather (1816). He ran a counting house in Baltimore and William Henry worked there as a young man. Though the Poe brothers' intimacy varied due to circumstances over the years, clearly Edgar knew Didier; he would surely have visited his brother at the Didier house.

On Uruguay:  “Las cosas continuan en el mismo estado. Los Portugueses no han recivido refuerzo despues de los 500 Pernambucanos. Artigas se mantiene firme, esta guarnicion no se mueve. El Rey ha escrito para que el Gobierno de Buenos Ayres se desida.”

On Argentina: “Buenos Ayres continua tranquilo, está entretenido en la eleccion del nuevo cavildo que se verificará a fines del presente.”

On Peru:  “En el Perú no hay novedad considerable. [L]os españoles tienenel aquella costa 11 buques de guerra, inclusas dos de 44, pero esto no estorbó al Berg.n chileno el Aguila. . . . No pasa de 9000 veteranos el Ex[erci]to en aquel pais, aseguran que llegando los buques de guerra de Estados Unidos piensan atacar a Arequipa y seguir a Lima; no lo creo por ahora.”

On O’Higgins: “O’Higgins sigue mandando el Ex[erci]to y Brayer es sus m[ay]or gene]ral. — Pueyrredon ha mandado a esta un comisionado para que alcance de Leon que se me eche de aqui; Leon constante en su amistad y systema se negó despresiando al comisionado.”

On Prisoners: “Mi viejo Padre, 85 años de edad, ha estado incomunicado 17 dias, y ultimamente sigue su arresto en casa. . . . Mis hermanos presos aun, y lo mismo muchos de nuestros compatriotas. . . . Mr. Handle continua en su prision con todos sus oficiales y tripulacion.”

•  Very good condition. Written in a very clear hand.  (24646)

Love & MUCH More

•  Sole edition: Romantic novel, including a subplot in which a healthy young girl is involuntarily confined to an insane asylum. Any early buyer may have to wait for this until its cataloguer (CDB) has finished actually reading it!

•  Wright, II, 474.   Contemporary quarter morocco and marbled paper sides, worn and abraded, spine chipped and cracking, front and back covers pressure-stamped by a now-defunct library. Text block separated from spine, front cover partially detached. Title-page and several others stamped; pages with light waterstaining and scattered small spots.  (4362)

Bound with All for Love Centlivre, Susannah. The busy body. A comedy. Taken from the manager's book at the Theatre Royal Covent-Garden. London: Pr. by R. Butters, [ca. 1770]. 12mo. 48 pp. Bound with John Dryden's "All for love. Or the world well lost. A tragedy, in five acts" ("Taken from the manager's book, at the Theatre-Royal, Drury-Lane." London: Pr. for R. Butters, [ca. 1770]. 12mo. 51 pp. Removed from a nonce volume; sewing loosening. Title-page soiled and nearly separated from spine. Library stamps. Only a few very small spots. Outer margins of a several pages uneven. Without the frontispieces. (352)
$60.00
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18TH- & 19TH-CENTURY BRITISH PLAYS, many
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Wind Mills Mambrino's Helmet Dulcinea & All That

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•  Don Quixote, part I, appearing in Brussels within the first dozen years of its life — this for the third time, following Brussels printings of 1607 and 1611. Part II was not issued in Brussels until 1616 and and then as a stand-alone volume. Overall this is the only 11th separate printing of part I.

Scarce: We trace but five copies in U.S. libraries (Harvard, University of California–Berkeley, Dartmouth, University of Kansas, Hispanic Society).

Provenance:  Late 17th-century ownership inscription at top of title-page of “T. Engle”; 18th-century ownership inscription below that of “E. Ward”; on endpaper, “December, 1787,” with lines in French in an 18th-century hand.

Purchase information: On recto of rear free endpaper, in an early 17th-century Spanish hand, “# 1618 # [new line] En 24 de marco [i.e., março] Costo en Brusellas 20 placas.”

•  Rius 11; Peeters-Fontainas 227; Suñé Benages 15; Palau 51988.   Contemporary limp vellum, soiled, ties perished; Don Quixote inked on spine, faded. Lacking one leaf of text, continuity supplied although not in facsimile from this edition (pp. 575–76). First and last gatherings guarded with strips of Renaissance vellum manuscript.  (23423)

AMERICAN Edition — Complete & Attractive

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•  First American edition thus, reprinting the 1823 London edition of this extensive collection compiling material from the Tatler, Guardian, Spectator, Adventurer, Rambler, World, Connoisseur, Idler, Mirror, Lounger, Observer, and Looker-On periodicals. Chalmers, a prolific journalist and editor, is now best remembered for his General Biographical Dictionary, a massive undertaking which occupied years in its original preparation and subsequent revisions; the DNB lists some of his other publications with the comment that “No man ever edited so many works as Chalmers for the booksellers of London.”

An early purchaser has recorded the cost of binding the set (60 pence per book) in a pencilled note on the front fly-leaf of vol. I: “Aug. 15th 1864 in 38 vol bound in fine 1/2 moroco [sic] per vol c/60 d.”

The essays and authors here were all once fashionable as well as interesting; they are no longer at all fashionable, but they are interesting in ways that their authors and original readers never imagined.  

Bindings: Contemporary half morocco over attractive marbled paper–covered sides, each spine with gilt-stamped title, volume number, and elegant arabesque decorations. Top edges gilt.

•  On Chalmers, see: The Dictionary of National Biography. Bindings lightly rubbed, a few with leather showing slight cracking over spines. Frontispiece with bookplate of private collector. Pages age-toned, with edges slightly embrittled; some occurrences of staining and pencilled underlining, with the majority of pages clean. An attractive set; many hours’ worth of reading. For anyone who savors slices'o'life, and slices'o'time, very rich fare.

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Why Believers Believed . . .

•  First edition of this response to Malone’s Inquiry into the Authenticity of Certain Miscellaneous Papers, an analysis of William Henry Ireland’s now-infamous Shakespearean forgeries. Chalmers, though reluctantly conceding the inauthenticity of the documents, here explains in detail why so many were taken in by the scam — providing much material of interest for both Shakespeare scholars and historians of literary frauds. The volume is illustrated with a facsimile of five Shakespeare signatures, engraved by I. Girtin. Single-click the image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.

•  ESTC T138271; Lowndes, II, 404; Allibone, 2036. Recent quarter morocco over marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments. Title-page and a few others stamped by a now-defunct institution; pages slightly age-toned, one with pencilled underlining/emphasis.

Why the Believers Believed — A Supplement

•  First edition of another entry in the debate over William Henry Ireland’s now-infamous Shakespearean forgeries: Chalmers’s final response to the numerous items published during the controversy, in which he reminds readers that he is in agreement regarding the inauthenticity of Ireland’s documents, but disagreement with the scholarship (and pugnacity) of Malone and others. Single-click the image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.

•  ESTCT61515; Allibone, 2036; Lowndes, II, 404. Recent quarter morocco over marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments. Title-page and a few others stamped by a now-defunct institution; pages age-toned.

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“Innocent Entertainment, Mingled with Correct Information & Sound Instruction”

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•  American edition of a British miscellany intended for a juvenile audience: Four volumes of widely ranging educational reading, enlivened by romantic short stories. The first volume includes articles on gold mining in Australia and cotton manufacturing in Manchester, a tale of two Scottish servants, a biography of Mme. de Sévigné, an analysis of Milton's Paradise Lost, etc.; the other three volumes offer a similar array of history, natural history, fiction, and improving reading. The articles are illustrated with small steel- and wood-engravings, with occasional maps.

•  Publisher's blue textured cloth, covers blind-stamped, spines with gilt-stamped title and compartment decorations; worn and scuffed with spines sunned and heads each with strip of dark cloth tape extending onto boards. Ex–social club library: Each volume with 19th-century bookplate on front pastedown, call number on endpaper, title-page pressure-stamped. Vol. IV lacking front free endpaper. Vol. II with one leaf with inner margin reinforced, several leaves with outer edges chipped, pp. 3–30 lacking from two articles. Paper slightly brittle, with occasional short edge tears; pages age-toned.  (26396)

“All Men in Adam Die, inChrist Revive . . .”

•  Apparently the sole edition of this extremely uncommon poem on the emptiness of worldly pursuits as compared to heavenly bliss. Searches of RLIN, OCLC, and NSTC show no holdings at all, while NUC Pre-1956 findsone copy, in the U.S. at the New York Public.
Single-click the far-lefthand image, where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.

•  Not in NSTC. Recent wrappers. Title-page and a few others stamped by a now-defunct institution. Portion torn away from upper margin of front fly-leaf, perhaps to remove an inscription.

This also appears in the GENERAL
            MISCELLANY — click here.

He GaveHimself the Last Word

•  First edition of this poem on the disparities sometimes found between private and public virtue, and the poet's responsibility to write for the country's good.

•  ESTC T1702. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. Half-title lacking. Title-page and two others stamped by a now-defunct institution; leaves with reinforced tears at inner margins.

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Life on theAmerican Frontier

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•  First edition of one of the most engaging, opinionated, honest accounts ever written of frontier life: the lightly fictionalized experiences of a New York City–born teacher who moved with her husband to the wilds of Michigan. Kirkland's part-novel, part-autobiography is one of the classic works of pioneer literature.

This copy includes the half-title, but has been well read and shows the signs thereof!

•  BAL 11139; Howes K184; Sabin 37991; Wright, I, 1583.   Contemporary half sheep and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and author; leather worn/rubbed, especially at head of spine, but text firm in its binding. Front pastedown with Philadelphia bookbinder's ticket of B. Kohler (printed on blue paper). Ex–social club library: 19th-century inked call numerals on endpaper and half-title overlaid with paper labels, title-page pressure-stamped, no other markings. Pages age-toned, with intermittent stains and short edge tears; many leaves with edge repairs done some time ago, often with loss of a few letters, generally not affecting sense. Two final pages of advertisements lacking; one leaf with upper outer portion torn away, costing parts of 12 lines; two leaves with lower portions torn away, with loss of about 14 lines to each. Last leaves with waterstaining to outer portions. Clearly, as noted above, the club library that owned this had avid clientele for it; and that they were as determined to “keep it going” as the repairs show, even after it had been damaged, is interesting!  (26386)

Aquatints & Boundby Riviere

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•  First book-form edition of a work originally issued in 24 monthly parts from 1814 through 1816. Combe’s verse accounts of assorted noble and ignoble deaths, most described in wryly humorous terms, are here graced with a total of73 hand-colored aquatint plates and an additional engraved vol. I title-page with aquatint vignette.  The plates were designed by Rowlandson, a prominent late 18th-/early 19th-century illustrator known for his Dr. Syntax caricatures — done for another joint production of Rowlandson’s and Combe’s.

There are two states of this edition; in the present state p. 1 has the words “Introductory dialogue” set in solid roman capitals, and the first line of the poem reads “Father Time! ’tis well we are met” rather than “Father Time! ’tis well we’re met.” The paper in vol. I is watermarked with the dates 1813, 1814, and 1815, while in vol. II the watermarks are 1814 and 1815.

Binding: Signed binding by Riviere & Son: 19th-century mottled calf, covers framed in gilt triple fillets with gilt rosettes at corners; round spines with raised bands, the whole gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels; double-rule gilt fillets on board edges; gilt inner dentelles. All edges gilt.

•  Abbey, Life, 263; NSTC 2C32764. Bindings as above, carefully and neatly rebacked preserving original spines, corners and joints showing slight wear. Vol. I with short edge nicks to upper margins of two leaves, not touching text; last few leaves and plates of vol. II with small area of light staining to outer margins, not touching text and not obtrusive in images. A beautiful set.

Life isBetter than Death?

Combe, William.

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•  First book-form edition of the sequel to Combe and Rowlandson’s popular collaboration, the English Dance of Death; this life-affirming followup was originally published in eight monthly numbers, and is illustrated with 25 striking hand-colored aquatint plates designed by Rowlandson, along with a hand-colored vignette on the additional engraved title-page.

Binding: Signed binding by Riviere & Son: 19th-century mottled calf, covers framed in gilt triple fillets with gilt rosettes at corners; round spines with raised bands, the whole gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels; double-rule gilt fillets on board edges; gilt inner dentelles. All edges gilt.

•  Abbey, Life, 264. Tooley 410;.NSTC 2C32763. Binding as above, neatly rebacked preserving original spine, showing only very minor traces of wear. Without the advertising leaf. Some faint offsetting and spotting surrounding plates, otherwise clean.

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Damnation sansGender Limitation

[Combe, William].

•  Combe’s best-known satires, here in one of the earliest Irish issues of the pair (being one of two Dublin printings from 1777). The poems are, respectively, dedicated to the “worst man” and the “worst woman” in His Majesty’s dominions. These works first appeared in London in 1776 and 1777, achieved instant notoriety, and went through numerous editions; another sequel eventually followed, the Anti-Diabo-lady.

•  ESTC T77101; NCBEL, II, 647. Marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. Half-title spotted, title-page and two others stamped by a now-defunct institution, title-page also with traces of paper affixed to upper margin; pages otherwise clean. One ESTC listing calls for plates; most holdings, however, do not report any and OCLC listings do not note any.

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Who's Happier?

•  Dialogue in verse. Imprint derived from colophon. Not listed in OCLC. Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Uncut. Folded as issued; never sewn. Soiling around margins. Good ++ copy. (8527)

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“I am anxious you should do a writing portrait . . . ”

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•  Cook (1818–89) wasa Chartist poet, author, and proponent of political and sexual freedom for women.  She writes, “I am again here for a few days . . . and want to know if you can receive me on Friday about eleven. I am anxious you should do a writing portrait to see which will afford you most satisfaction. I will bring the proofs of the sonnet with me.”

Provenance:  Residue of the stock of Seven Gables Bookshop (1930–79), via the son of Michael Papantonio (2009).

•  Very good condition. Tipped onto a slightly larger sheet. With the integral blank.  (25726)

A Cavalier Poet — His Works

Cowley, Abraham.

•  Fourth edition of Cowley’s collected poems, beginning with a good impression of the frontispiece portrait engraved by Faithorne, “an account of the life and writings” of the poet signed by T. Spratt, and two odes on Cowley’s death by Thomas Higgons and Sir John Denham. Once considered the epitome of his era’s wit, the author of The Mistress (verses in honor of love and various women, included in this volume) suffered a notable decline in popularity in subsequent years, prompting Pope’s musing “Who now reads Cowley? . . . but still I love the language of his heart.” And indeed despite the vagaries of reputation he has always had his worthy appreciators.

Cowley’s Pindaric odes are present here, as are the Davideis and Davideidos;also set forth are the “delightful little prose Essays (with verse interwoven)” for which The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature believes Cowley will most ultimately be remembered. Some sections have separate title-pages, bearing the same publisher and date information as the main title-page but lacking the printer attribution.

Provenance: Front pastedown with small armorial bookplate and with bookseller’s ticket from Cambridge, England.

•  ESTC R29730; Wing (2nd ed.) C-6652. On Cowley, see: Concise Cambridge History of English Literature, 351–52. 17th-century mottled calf, rebacked at some point in the 19th century and again more recently with hinges carefully reinforced (inside); spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title label, covers showing the predictable acid-etching. Varying degrees of browning to pages; scattered incidents of worming in lower inner and outer margins, almost never affecting text. A handsome book in a binding both sturdy and attractive.

A PrettyCrowell Copy

•  Attractive later edition

•  Publisher's blue cloth, front cover and spine stamped in black and gilt; cloth a bit rubbed over corners and spine extremities, with spine gilt slightly dimmed, otherwise beautiful. Front pastedown with small bookplate, front free endpaper with contemporary gift inscription. (12985)

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Full Set of Her Works, IncludingVillancicos in Nahuatl & an African Language

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•  “The Tenth Muse” to the Anglo-American audience is Anne Bradstreet, but throughout Spanish America and Spain, and in goodly parts of Europe, that sobriquet is associated only with Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Born in a small town in Mexico in 1651, she learned to read Latin before she was six. Denied admission to the Royal University in Mexico, she was to enter conventual life instead, develop a close friendship with the great colonial Mexican polymath Sigüenza y Góngora (the Cosmographer of New Spain), and write and publish the finest known poetry of the Spanish colonial empire in the period to 1821, as well as some plays and “Christmas carols.”

Uncontestedly she was the major New World lyric poet of the colonial era and she excelled in both spiritual and profane subjects. For a sense of her range of subjects, click to enlarge our images.  She invented a decasyllabic meter and cultivated dramatic poetry: Among her works are sonnets, redondillas, décimas, villancicos, and plays, as well as prose works, including the famous Carta athenagorica in which she criticizes the great Luso-Brazilian preacher and defender of the Brazilian Indians, Antônio Vieira. The contents here are mostly Spanish-language, but some portions are in Latin — and a few, as is seldom recognized, are in the black language of “Guinea” (e.g., Villancico VIII of the “Villancicos que se cantaron en la Sta. Iglesia Metropolitana de Mexico en honor de Maria Santissima Madre de Dios . . . y se imprimieron año de 1679") or in Nahuatl (e.g., Villancico V of the “Villancicos que se cantaron en la Santa Iglesia Metropolitana de Mexico, en honor de Maria Santissima Madre de Dios . . . año de 1687, en que se imprimieron”).

Sor Juana's individual works began to be printed in Mexico as early as 1677. Her “works” were soon gathered together, and in 1689 in Madrid there appeared Inundacion castalida de la unica poetica, musa decima (the title was changed the next year to Poemas de la unica poetisa americana, musa dezima, which it has remained ever since): This is now considered vol. I of her works. Vol. II (Tomo segundo de la obras de Soror Juana Ines de la Cruz) appeared in 1692 and the final volume (Fama y obras posthumas) in 1700. The issuance by one printer of all three volumes as a definite “set” seems not to have occurred until 1725; prior to that, printers issued individual volumes, or sometimes, vols. I and II alone.

In the offering here, vol. I was printed during the great poet's lifetime, and is one of the last to hold that distinction.

•  I: Palau 65222; Medina, BHA, 1870; Alden & Landis, European Americana, 691/74; Sabin 17735; this edition not in León-Portilla, Tepuztlahcuilolli. II: Palau 65237; Medina, BHA, 2540; Alden & Landis, European Americana, 725/111. III: Palau 65233; Medina, BHA, 2541; Alden & Landis, European Americana, 725/110.   Vols. I and II in original limp vellum; III in modern red morocco, gilt extra. Some age-toning and foxing in vol. II; same volume with light worming, at times in text, at rear, costing letters but not words. With slight faults only, this is a handsome set of this major writer's works.  (26753)

IMPERFECT.  Well Worth HavingANYWAY.

Click any image where the hand appears on
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)

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A Crukshank “Plague Year”

•  Fourth American edition of this abridgment of Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year. Click the images for enlargements.

•  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)

“I Was Born in the Year 1632 . . . ”

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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.

“Days When ALL the Dreams Come True”

•  Charming fifth entry in the Appleton “Joy Street” series of stories and poems for children. In addition to De La Mare, contributors include Algernon Blackwood, Rose Fyleman, Lord Dunsany, Madeleine Nightingale, and Hilaire Belloc, among other familiar names. The volume is illustrated with eight color half-tone plates tipped onto colored paper leaves, along with numerous in-text black-and-white illustrations, these done by May Smith, Hugh Chesterman, Marian Allen, and others.

•  Publisher's tan cloth with terra-cotta printed medieval pattern, dust wrapper lacking; spine sunned, corners with minor soiling. Title-page with minor offsetting from frontispiece. Showing some external wear, but still a clean, solid, engaging copy of an entertaining work — in fact, a joy.  (26068)

Representing the Farmer's Weekly Museum — 1796

[Dennie, Joseph].

•  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, 235–37. 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)

Apparently asRARE as It Is Obscure

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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.

Illustrated Explorations of theCountryside

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•  First edition, published in parts, of Dibdin's epistolary account of his travels as a performer in the provinces. Charles Dibdin the elder was a famed but controversial singer, songwriter, and actor who spent a significant amount of time touring the countryside in an attempt to improve both his reputation and his income; in these Observations he includes remarks on the history, natural history, geography, famous natives, trade and manufacture, and customs of the towns and villages he passed through, as well as on various theatrical, literary, and cultural topics near and dear to his heart. He also denounces circulating libraries, watering places, and female boarding schools (in all three cases due to their detrimental effects on morals), as well as quack medicines and incompetent amateur performers.

The two volumes areillustrated with 60 copper-engraved and aquatint plates, one folding map, and one folding chart.  The copper engravings are done in two different styles; one set consists of large renditions of scenery, the other of smaller depictions of people and everyday life — the former done from Dibdin's own paintings, and the latter from drawings by his daughter Anne.

•  Anderson, Book of British Topography, 373; Lowndes 638; NSTC D1044. Not in Abbey, Life in England; not in Ray, The Illustrator & the Book in England. On Dibdin, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Recent quarter caramel morocco and ochre cloth. Light to moderate foxing; mild offsetting around plates; four pages with patch of offsetting from now-absent laid-in item. Plates depicting people all with small area of waterstaining to upper inner portions, just touching corner of platemark without affecting images; scenic plates unaffected. All edges marbled. A solid, handsome, satisfying set.  (26939)

“Possibly the Most Readable Dickens” in Existence

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•  Six volumes from the Heritage Press limited edition Dickens series, illustrated by Lynd Ward, Rene ben Sussan, Gordon Ross, Charles Raymond, Reginald Birch, and John Austen. The series as a whole was designed by Joseph Blumenthal and printed in Baskerville type on specially made paper, bound in “silvery windowshade linen” with the covers stamped in maroon and the spines in maroon and gilt. Each volume is in a maroon cloth case, each except Our Mutual Friend including the appropriate Heritage newsletter that proudly boasts the claim in the caption above.

•  Bindings as above, some spines gently sunned; books and cases otherwise showing little to no wear. Our Mutual Friend without accompanying newsletter, all others having it present. Last leaf of Tale with short tear from upper margin, touching text without loss. A lovely set.  (25195)

ALiterary “Washington'ianum”

Click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.

•  First edition of what was likely the first volume of verse printed in Washington (according to Wegelin), and one of the first anthologies compiled by an American. Richard Dinmore, editor of the National Magazine, selected the widely ranging pieces present here, including a sprinkling of poems by the Della Cruscan Robert Merry and some poems by Americans (and others that evoke American feelings and situations).
     Among the American authors is Tom Paine writing on Gen. Charles Lee, whom a 19th-century reader has identified in pencil as “A traitor to [the] American cause.” A few of the U.S. pieces are anonymous, e.g. “The People’s Friend,” which was “sung at Philadelphia, 4 July, 1801.”
     Three pages bear subscribers’ names.

•  Wegelin 932; Shaw & Shoemaker 2148. Period-style quarter tan cloth over light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Title-page torn, with outer corner chipped, resulting in loss of four letters from end of title; now mounted. One contents leaf with edge tear extending into text; last leaf with short edge tears. Some light to moderate foxing, with pages age-toned; final page with shadow of pencilled “Finis” and p. 80 with pencilled comment as above.

For WASHINGTON, D.C.,  click here.

Thomson's Illustrations — “Beau Brocade”

•  Second edition, with numerous illustrations by Hugh Thomson. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  Publisher's cloth, front cover and spine decoratively gilt-stamped; spine, lower edges, and corners a touch rubbed. Top edge gilt. A few leaves and plates with waterstaining to lower outer corners, scattered spots of light foxing. (18409)

For more “GIFTABLES” — mostly $150
      & UNDER,  click here.

Under-Rated?

•  First edition. Romantic novel based upon the travels of Marco Polo, narrated by a 20th-century Irishman. Illustrated by C. B. Falls. Christmas gift inscription on front free endpaper.

•  Publisher's brown-orange cloth. Very good. (5734)

For CHINA,  click here.

Dunbar's First Novel

•  First edition of Dunbar's first novel: The child of a notorious drunkard attempts to overcome both his Ohio community's prejudice against him and his guardian's rigid morality. Dunbar, whose parents had been slaves, was a seminal African-American writer of prose and poetry famed for both his dialect and standard English pieces.

Signed binding: Publisher's blue-gray cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title in black and silver framework, signed “GWE” (George Wharton Edwards).  The front cover and spine give the author's name as Lawrence rather than Laurence, making this BAL's binding state A.

Click the images for enlargements.

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with inked gift inscription to journalist, lecturer, and poet Nixon Waterman from Edward F. Burns, likely the poet and Boston Globe editor of that name.

•  BAL 4923; Wright, III, 1671.   Binding as above, a little cocked, spine sunned, extremities lightly rubbed; front cover clean and bright. Front free endpaper with inked gift inscription (see above) dated Christmas 1898, half-title with extensive inked inscription dated 1953. The latter hand has made a checkmark beside almost every page number as well as occasional annotations and marks of emphasis; pages otherwise clean.  (26651)

Creationist Guide to the Natural World — A Pretty 4-Volume Set

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•  First U.S. edition of this widely read contemplation of of natural theology, here with “important additions and some modifications to adapt it to American readers,” done by the Rev. Frances William Pitt Greenwood. The work, which was endorsed by the Massachusetts Board of Education, was praised by Edgar Allan Poe as a “well-arranged and well-digested compendium, embracing a vast amount of information upon the various topics of physical science, and especially well adapted to those educational purposes for which the volumes are designed” (Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, March 1840). The practical sciences of agriculture, husbandry, and manufacture have their places here along with much on the physical and biological worlds as such.

Bindings: Publisher's half green morocco and marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped title and decorations; very attractive.

•  American Imprints 55446.   Spines slightly darkened; lightly rubbed. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplates, call number on endpapers, no other markings. A clean, sound handsome set.  (27171)

ADumfries-shire Production — Here for New Yorkers

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•  Early edition. “The following narratives were written chiefly by a society of clergymen in Dumfries-shire, in imitation of those excellent productions, the Moral tales of Hannah More.”

Binding:  Publisher's charcoal-colored ribbed cloth, front and rear covers blind-embossed with “Carter's Cabinet Library First Series” in a cartouche, and spine elaborately stamped in gilt. Small piece of cloth absent from top of spine.

Nicely done up, with several plates including a rather seductive one of “Mary Wilson.”

•  Binding as above. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Spotting and discoloration in margins of early and late pages; occasional foxing. With that, still, a rather nice copy in a good example of this handsome and delicate American binding.  (26508)

Printed D.C. 1901 — Purchased Y.T. 1907

•  Yukon verse, written by Gold Rush poet Dunham, who also designed the cover art. The front free endpaper bears two inked inscriptions in the same hand, one reading “Marguerite Lux / Syracuse, N.Y.” and the other “Dawson City Y.T. [Yukon Territory] / July 1907.” The back pastedown bears the ticket of a bookseller located in Dawson.

•  Publisher's cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title and landscape vignette, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding worn over extremities, with gilt showing some rubbing. Pages clean.  (5701)

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