The poem was left unpublished at the time of the author’s death and Francisco Garabito de León Messía saw to its publication.

•  Palau 347681; Medina, BHA, 1806; European Americana 687/140; DeBacker-Sommervogel, VIII, 376–77. Recased in old vellum. A very good copy.

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

The present example is a fictitious imprint, printed in Amsterdam and counterfeiting the Parisian edition of the same year (actual place of printing from NUC Pre-1956 628:472, cf. E. Weller, Die falschen und fingierten Druckorte, II, 57). The volume’s two folding, engraved plates (unsigned) depict antiquarian coins and medals, while the mythologically inspired frontispiece includes a portrait of de Valois.

•  Later half sheep with speckled paper–covered boards, rebacked with speckled calf preserving original gilt-stamped leather title-label; sides and edges scuffed, with leather chipped at corners. Front pastedown with 19th-century private collector’s bookplate, partially chipped; preface with numeral inked in lower margin. Pages crisp and clean. All edges stained red.

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•  Goldsmiths’-Kress 7892.2; DeBacker-Sommervogel, VIII, 444. Contemporary speckled calf, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title-label; binding scuffed and rubbed, with leather cracking over joints and spine extremities chipped. All edges speckled red. Front free endpaper and fly-leaf partially affixed to front pastedown; front pastedown with inked initials. Pages beautifully clean.

•  Publisher's black cloth, front cover with affixed color half-tone illustration, spine with gilt-stamped title, terrific endpapers (pictured above), dust jacket lacking; corners and spine extremities slightly rubbed. Last few signatures unopened; if this was read, the reader didn't learn how it came out! A clean copy of a striking edition.  (26069)

Binding:  Contemporary quarter garnet red morocco with fawn brocade–covered sides, spine gilt extra with title and arabesque motifs. Original green wrappers bound in.

•  Caillet, Manuel bibliographique des sciences psychiques ou occultes, 11198.   Binding as above, spine faintly sunned and with one small spot darkened; joints a bit rubbed and cloth corners/edges somewhat moreso, with instances of spotting/discoloration to cloth that should be mentioned but are not obtrusive. Front pastedown with attractive 20th-century bookplate. Some signatures unopened. A lovely book in quite a nice copy.  (26821)

The work was issued in quarto and octavo format, both handsomely printed by Bensley.

•  BAL 20798; Grolier, American 100, 82; Russo & Sullivan, Bibliographical Studies of Seven Authors of Crawfordsville,Indiana, 315–17; Wright, III, 5720.   Publisher's textured brown cloth with bevelled edges, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding slightly shaken, edges and extremities rubbed, sides with spots of discoloration. Hinges (inside) tender. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate on front pastedown, title-page pressure-stamped, dedication page with inked numeral, back free endpaper with slip. Front free endpaper with faint early inscription, front fly-leaf with inked ownership inscription. Pages age-toned; a few leaves with light staining, most clean.  (26381)

•  Blue publisher's cloth, spine with simple gilt-stamped rules and title, front cover with gilt-stamped "GTS" device (for the Golden Treasury Series). With an 1896 gift inscription on half-title. Pages gently age-toned. (5538)

•  One crease in the lower margin, below the bottom of the decorative border. (8269)

Single-click the image, for an enlargement.

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•  Garrison B15. Publisher’s printed paper–covered boards, darkened, most notably over spine. Front free endpaper with pencilled owner’s name. Pages slightly age-toned.

•  Garrison A.19.1.f. Publisher’s cloth, front cover and spine stamped in gold; lacking the very scarce dustjacket, with spine sunned, and cloth wrinkled over lower portion of back cover. Pages clean.

•  Garrison A28.I.a. Publisher’s green cloth, front cover stamped with a French country scene in white, red, and gold, spine with gilt-stamped title; original box lacking, cloth a bit rubbed over corners and spine extremities, with spine title dimmed. Front free endpaper with inked owner’s inscription dated 1919. Faint waterstaining to outer margins of pp. 21–35.

•  Garrison A45.1.a, binding A, jacket A. Publisher’s blue cloth, front cover and spine stamped in gold, in original printed paper dustwrapper with price; binding clean and unworn save for minor wear to spine extremities, dustjacket with cream portions slightly darkened and small edge nicks to front panel and spine.

•  BAL, VII, p. 146.   Publisher's terra-cotta ribbed cloth, covers framed and modestly decorated in blind, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped title; binding cocked, a little rubbed, and spine gilt slightly darkened. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate and call number on endpapers, title-page and two others rubber-stamped, back endpaper with pocket. No other markings. Pages age-toned and slightly embrittled. A good copy, with list of Rudd & Carleton's “NEW BOOKS” at the end.  (26513)

Binding:  Publisher's deeply waved terra-cotta cloth of Krupp's style Wav6, front cover with gilt-stamped title and blind-stamped frame.

•  Binding: Krupp, Bookcloth in England and America, 1823--50, p. 43.   Binding as above, corners/edges slightly rubbed and spine pulled at top; interior with an upper corner bumped. A very attractive, clean copy.  (26714)

•  Publisher's cloth. Text split from binding at several places.

•  Not in Library Company, Afro-Americana (rev. ed.).   Recent red cloth with black leather spine label. Library pressure-stamp (defunct library) in margin of one page. A delicate book, as one must expect given the place and date of publication. Old stab holes in inner margins.  (26097)

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•  NSTC 2F755 & 2W16139.   Disbound. A few light brown spots on title-page. A very good copy.  (11078)

Willis himself was the founder of the magazine that became the Home Journal, and was celebrated in his day for his essays and travel writings as well as several collections of his journalistic work. The Cambridge History of American Literature calls him the “prince of magazinists,” and remarks on “the evanescent sparkle and glancing brilliance” of A L'abri, later known as Letters from under a Bridge. These charming, witty essays touch on Willis's Yale education (and its lack of practical application!); fishing; a dinner with Lady Blessington, Benjamin Disraeli, Count D'Orsay, and Lord Durham; the possibility of local railroad construction to connect the Hudson with Lake Erie; the relationship of American to British literature, etc. Whatever the ostensible topics of the individual letters, each touches in affectionate and amusing fashion on some aspect of life in the Susquehanna region.

A publishing practice, demonstrated: Bound in at the back of this volume are yellow printed paper wrappers for John Smith's Letters, and the title-page and preface for Fireside Education — both items published by Colman in the same year as the present work.

•  BAL 22752 (spine label in first state, cloth described as “Brown S cloth “); American Imprints 59260; Fearing, Check List of Books on Angling, Fishing, Fisheries, Fish-Culture, etc., 135; Sabin 104504. On Willis, see: Cambridge History of American Literature online.   Publisher's brown cloth embossed with floret and dash pattern, spine with printed paper label; corners rubbed, and spine cloth chipped with paper label chipped and darkened. Front free endpaper with early pencilled ownership inscription. Foxing throughout; occasional pencilled marginalia and marks of emphasis.  (25806)

This work is rarely found in the deluxe binding: The handsomely gilt-stamped publisher's cloth is the norm.

•  NSTC 2W24418; Allibone 2762.   Binding as above, showing minor wear to extremities and front cover vignette, original silk bookmark detached and laid in. Volume slightly shaken with text block starting to pull away from spine; this is the kind of volume that wants to do that, and the reader will want to “cradle” it in hand — that done, no worries. Front fly-leaf with early pencilled gift inscription and with a Maine druggist's small ticket. Mild to moderate foxing. Both funny and decorative, in an American publisher's binding that may fairly be called “DAZZLING.”  (26748)

•  ESTC T121646; NCBEL, II, 695. Removed from a nonce volume and now in a Mylar folder. One corner creased; first and last page lightly spotted, otherwise clean.

Provenance: With laid-in invoice from the Davenant Bookshop in Oxford, dated 1924.

•  McKittrick/Rendall/Dreyfus 17. Publisher’s quarter brown buckram over tan paper- covered sides, spines with printed paper labels; gently worn, two labels chipped, one volume with cloth of a darker shade and noticeable rippling thereto. Two volumes with hinges slightly tender. Page edges untrimmed, some signatures uncut. It should be remarked that, by some unexpected trick of the camera, our righthand picture above makes this set look a bit smarter than it is; that said, though — it is rightly priced for its real condition and still worthy of purchase.