MILITARY • NAVAL A-E   •   F-L   •   M-R   •   S-Z

---

He Survived “La Noche Triste” & Much, Much More
   THE CONQUEROR'S REWARD  

Move your mouse over the document above, and click,
to select and view details.

•  Pedro de Villanueva was one of the conquistadores of Mexico.  He was among Cortés's original party, part of the Francisco de Saucedo (also spelled “Salcedo”) contingent, whose ship was delayed in leaving Cuba.  With Saucedo, a friend of Cortés, he arrived at Villarica de Veracruz in July of 1519, shortly after Cortés and his men had destroyed the “idols” at Cempoala.

Villanueva was among the small but grand “army” that marched into Tenochtitlán in the Spring of 1520 and in July of the same year were to flee the western world's largest city fighting for their lives, on the “Noche Triste.”  He survived the hell and slaughter of the causeways and later returned with the greatly augmented force that destroyed the Aztec capital and its empire. Still later he was with Cortés in the exploration and conquest of Pánuco and following that with Nuño de Guzmán in the exploration and conquest of Zacatecas and Jalisco. He and his brother Fernando (also a member of the Saucedo contingent) jointly received an encomienda (Quechula) and settled in Puebla de los Angeles where Pedro served as a regidor on the town council in the 1540s and 1550s.

In the last years of the 1550s Villanueva petitioned the crown for the grant of a coat of arms in recognition of his service to the crown in the conquest of Mexico.  Felipe II honored that request in this impressive document.  He enumerates the Conqueror's deeds, specifically mentioning Don Hernando Cortés and Nuño de Guzmán and the various conquests in which Villanueva participated.  He describes the coat of arms being granted and the significance of the colors and symbols.  The granted arms are beautifully accomplished in many colors within the text of the document, with that text yielding space to the large miniature: Measuring 17.5 x 15 cm (7" x 6"), the arms are painted with a formal frame delimiting their presentation on a red field with corner brackets of gold over blue.  Surmounting the arms is a knight's helm with plumage, trailing from which are decorative “swooshes.”  The new Villanueva arms are quartered, showing a cyphered “M” surmounted by a fleur de lis in the upper left, a crowned lion en passant in the upper right, an arm holding a sword rising out of a flowing river in the lower left, and a castle on a hill in the lower right.

The text of the grant of arms is elegantly indited in a standard court semi-round gothic in sepia ink and is enclosed on the left, right, and top sides by an illuminated and historiated sash-like border.  In the upper left and right corners are miniatures of Justice and Knowledge in sylvan settings.  Running between those two along the top of the document is a decorative panel incorporating flowers, fruits, mythic animals, and cherubs.  Below this, the king's name is accomplished in large letters of gold on a field of red accented with gold, and the “D” of his honorific “Don” is given special treatment.  This is elaborated in an ornate, almost baroque style that comes close to obfuscating the fact of its being a majuscule “d”:  Wrought in gold, the letter at first appears to be merely a “frame” for the royal coat of arms that fills its center.  The king's arms are accomplished in gold, white, black, red, and blue; the whole being laid on a blue field with white accents.

The panels running down the left and right sides of the document are accomplished in red, gold, green, pink, white, red, blue, and brown, many in several shades.  The decoration includes birds of several varieties including a fine owl, animals including a watchful rabbit, strawberries and other fruits, and flowers, ribbons, grotesques, and butterflies.




The document is signed in the king's name by Juana (Joanna Habsburg) de Austria, “princesa de Portugal.”  Married to Prince Juan of Portugal, young Juana (b. 1537) was the regent of the Spanish crown from 1554 until her brother Philip's return to Spain in September of 1559. She had just lost her husband to death and borne his posthumous son, both in January, 1554, when she left Portugal and her child in the Spring of that year to assume the regency throne in Valladolid.



In format and content this document differs dramatically from the cartas executorias de hidalguía that most collectors are familiar with.  Here we have a single large sheet of vellum handsomely engrossed, artfully illuminated, and exquisitely decorated with a composite border containing miniatures.  This is not a bound volume of copies of documents created for storage in the family archive. This was created for display in a prominent place of honor; and it is a magnificent display item.  This is not a grant of nobility nor a confirmation of it based on something that some vague ancestor did; rather it is a grant of a coat of arms to a man who himself performed significant military and other service for the Crown and whom the Crown wishes to honor both publicly and privately.  Only a few hundred of Cortés's men survived the Noche Triste, the reentry into and destruction of Mexico City, and the subsequent conquests in Panuco and elsewhere.  The number of grants such as this to actual members of Cortés's original “army” were few.

And surviving grants to those actual participants in the Conquest are extremely rare, even more so in commerce. This is the only royal grant of a coat of arms to an actual member of Cortés's “army” that we have seen that has ever appeared in the marketplace.  Via published auction records and our extensive archive of dealer catalogues, we trace no instance before this one of the offering for sale of a grant of arms to a Conqueror of Mexico.  Yes, there are examples in various libraries and museums in Mexico and Spain, and probably in the U.S., but such examples seem to have entered their institutional resting places via donation from descendants of Conquerors, not via purchase.

Provenance:  It is awesome to realize that this is no mere retained secretarial copy of Felipe's grant of arms to Pedro de Villanueva.  This gorgeous document not only records the king's rewards to one of Cortés's men, but was that Conqueror's personal property.  It is the copy of the decree sent to him expressly, by the Crown!



•  On Villanueva, see: Icaza, Diccionario autobiográfico de conquistadores y pobladores de la Nueva España, I, 88–89; Thomas, Who's Who of the Conquistadors, 146; Himmerich y Valencia, The Encomenderos of New Spain, 1521–1555, 262; Díaz del Castillo, Verdadera historia de la conquista de la Nueva España, chap. LIII. On Juana de Austria, see: the work of Dr. Kelli Ringhofer.  Overall in very good condition.  Some fold tears, some minor rubbing of small areas of images, stains as visible in our illustrations.  The wax seal and its silk cords no longer present. Text clear, not faded, and colors strong.

To review the pictures of this document more systematically than
“mousing over” the image at our description's top may allow:

Napoleon, Again

•  This attractive broadside presses the citizenry to strict loyalty to the nation against the Napoleonic armies. The five articles go so far as to proclaim that sharing of bad news is treason and punishable as such.

•  One fold.

For NAPOLEANA,  click here.

TRULY International Warfare, 1635

•  An address given by King Philip III's son, the governor of the Low Countries, on 24 June 1635, concerning the recent victory outside Nordlingen, against a Swedish–German force in the service of Cardinal Richelieu, and France's subsequent declaration of war against Spain in May 1635. Translated by Martín Goblet. Woodcut arms of Spain on title-page.

•  Palau 69406. Old wrappers; some dustsoiling and age-toning.

Memoirs ofthe Minister of Police

Click the image for an enlargement.

•  First English edition of the memoirs of France's notorious chief police officer during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Era. As Minister of Police under the Directory, Joseph Fouché (1759 or 1763–1820) was instrumental in reorganizing and centralizing the police system in France and was kept on by Napoleon until he fell out of favor in 1802. However, his network of intelligence gathering proved invaluable to Napoleon, who reinstated him in 1804 (until 1810) and again during the Hundred Days. The authenticity of these memoirs is no longer in doubt and they provide some insight into the political intrigues of the period. It's also an extremely self-serving work — he writes on p. 2 that he never wielded his “mysterious and terrible power” except to “calm the passions, disunite factions, and prevent conspiracies.” Illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of the author. Two volumes bound in one.

•  NSTC 2F12262, 2J13268, & 2B13609.   Green cloth over boards, gilt rules and lettering to spine; cloth worn away at spine extremities and corners and splitting over front joint; preliminary pages (including frontispiece) and pp. 1–2 separated from binding. Private ownership signature at top edge of title-pages; a (different) private owner's pressure- and rubber-stamps; institutional bookplate. Off-setting to six pages from old newspaper articles or leaves laid in; old newspaper article (a review of a much later biography of Fouché) still inserted; Inner margin of pp. 327–8 repaired, not affecting text. Spotting and staining of various sorts and a few dog-ears; not a swell copy but a perfectly serviceable one.  (14222)

Verse for Volunteers — 8 Demonstration/PORTRAIT Plates
INTERESTING for a BUNCH of REASONS!

Click the interior images for enlargements.

•  First edition: A drill manual set in verse, with illustrations. Here are some instructions for marching by the flank: “‘By the right flank — MARCH,’ you get command; / At first, the sergeants place themselves on line, / At march, the men at a right face will stand, / And move at once, at quick or double time” (p. 125). The volume includes a frontispiece and eight plates, which are drawings of officers from the 31st New York Regiment (and other units) demonstrating the manual of arms. One plate shows Lieut. Kline holding his rifle at shoulder arms; while another plate has Capt. David Lamb at attention; and yet another plate shows Capt. Ned Johnson at guard (against cavalry). The frontispiece is a portrait of Col. John A. Godfrey.

Held in most of the expectable libraries but currently uncommon in commerce.

•  Sabin 70769. Recent black moiré cloth, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Title-page and several others rubber-stamped by a now-defunct institution. Pages clean.

Reforming the Kingdom’s Finances

•  Report of the commission appointed at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession to examine the finances of the United Kingdom following the war and the recent union of Scotland and England (1707). Also included is A Report from the Commissioners Appointed to Take, Examine and Determine the Debts Due to the Army, &c. with its own sectional title-page dated 1713. First of two editions, also printed 1714.

This is less dry than might seem, with notes being present as to which officials’ accountings were in revolting disarray, as to what bakers were scamming Navy purchasing officers, how much was spent on what at military hospitals—etc.

•  ESTC T94705; Goldsmith’s-Kress 5055. 20th-century gray wrappers with title in blue ink on front wrapper. Wrappers with browning, fading, light soiling, a little shallow chipping, and a few shallow tears. Heavy pencilling on inside front wrapper and title-page. Pages with some shallow dog ears and traces of soiling. All edges speckled red.

HeNever Again Held Office

•  Government document 206, “Ordered to be printed 4th July 1805”: Account of the charges brought against Henry Dundas, first Viscount Melville, for misuse of funds in his role as Treasurer of the Navy. The impeachment was actually done as a favor to Melville, whose friends feared that a juried trial would go worse for him; this report gives extensive details regarding the missing sums of money.

•  NSTC ENG830. Removed from a nonce volume, now in a Mylar folder; sewing gone. Page edges slightly darkened, with occasional small edge chips; title-page dust-soiled. Two leaves with short tears from inner margins, just touching text on one leaf.

Army Expenses

•  Breakdown of army-related payments from 1801, including replacing horses, paying volunteers, and covering medical costs.

•  Not in Goldsmiths’-Kress. Recent paper wrappers. Title-page with small section of offsetting from a now-absent laid-in item; a few pages stamped by a now-defunct institution.

A“TEXIAN” Survivor's Narrative — 13 Maps & Plates

•  First edition: Important first-person account of the Texan Mier Expedition, written by a general in the Texas Army during the war for independence from Mexico, later a general in the Confederate Army. Gen. Green was the leader of one of the war's most disastrous raiding expeditions into Mexico, an ill-starred exploit which resulted in much suffering on the part of the captured troops, one out of every 10 of whom were executed in the infamous Black Bean Lottery incident. Here he describes the military events leading up to the expedition, the expedition itself, and the unfortunate aftermath. Click the images for enlargements.

The volume is illustrated with a total of 13 steel-engraved plates, including a frontispiece and two maps, most taken from drawings done by Charles McLaughlin, “a fellow prisoner.”

•  Howes G371; Sabin 28562; Streeter, Texas, 1581.   Publisher's speckled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; worn and stained, spine head reinforced with dark cloth tape extending onto boards. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate on front pastedown, call number on front endpapers, rubber- and pressure-stamps on title-page. Plates variously lightly waterstained; folding map of Rio Alcantra with outer half torn away and edge tattered. Pages with minor age-toning and occasional stains.  (26394)

"The Military Service Publishing Co." (1945)

•  Mass market paperback; first Superior Reprints edition. M652 in this series. First published in 1936. List of Superior Reprints in print as of June, 1945, on inside of back cover.

•  Original wrappers, all edges stained red. Spine slightly cocked and lightly rubbed, covers with a little faint creasing. Mildly age-toned. No tears, internally clean. Very good. (7179)

Grotius on THE LAW of War & of the Sea,
& on Natural Law

Click the images for enlargements.

•  Groundwork for Grotius’ De jure belli ac pacis (On the Law of War and Peace) was laid in the 16th century by Spanish theologians Francisco de Vitoria, Francisco Suarez, Bartolomé de las Casas, and Ginés de Sepulveda as they struggled with the legitimacy of making war on the Indians of the New World.

Grotius saw his book published for the first time in 1625 at Paris: It studies the legality of war and immediately established itself as a foundational work on the topic. Modern scholars regard it asfoundational in international law.

This edition contains added scholarship from Joannes Fredericus Gronovius (1611–71) and Jean Barbeyrac (1674–1744). In addition to De jure belli ac pacis the reader will find two other important Grotius tracts at the rear of the volume: Mare liberum and Libellus singularis de aequitate, indulgentia et facilitate, meaning the volume treats not just of law of war, but natural law, international law, maritime law, and law of the sea.

There are two issues of this edition, the other having “Ex Officina Wetsteniana” on the title-page in place of “Apud Janssonio-Waesbergio.” In both editions the title-page is printed in black and red, and of course, they have the same pagination. The work has side- and shouldernotes, an engraved portrait of Grotius, and an added engraved title-page.

•  Meulen & Diermanse (1950 ed), Grotius, 602.   Modern quarter claret-colored morocco with gilt-accented raised bands; gilt center device in each spine compartment. Marbled paper sides. Library pressure-stamps on title-page, no other markings; light age-toning and occasional spotting or foxing. A very nice copy with all edges decorated — more than “speckled,” not quite “marbled,” definitely attractive.  (26526)

A Radical Republican's CONTROVERSIAL Civil War Critique

Click the images for enlargements.

•  First edition: The first two volumes of Count Gurowski's widely read, influential political journal, later continued in one additional volume. This is an important first-person account of the U.S. Civil War written by a sharp-tongued, Polish-born journalist, abolitionist, and early member of the Republican Party, known for both his radical politics and his eccentric personality. The bluntly critical opinions of many prominent Republican figures, including Lincoln, Seward, and Gen. Scott, that appeared in this Diary got Gurowski fired from his job at the State Department. Harper's Weekly (5 March 1864) responded to the “criticism of an inflexible, unreasonable, brave, fanatical, sincere European republican and revolutionaire upon the conduct of a constitutional Government” by acknowledging that it was simply “an extravagant expression of opinions frequently expressed in many circles,” whose “value may be more readily apprehended when they are thus gravely set forth in print.”

•  Sabin 29319; Howes G465.   Publishers' brown cloth very close in color but Boston's textured while New York's is smooth; covers framed in blind, spines with gilt-stamped author, title, and variant place information in parallel places and in typestyles not exactly matching but very close; corners rubbed, spine extremities chipped, spine heads with small strip of brown cloth tape, vol. I with binding very slightly cocked and cloth starting to split at front joint. Ex–social club library: call number on endpapers, rubber-stamp on title-pages and two others, no other markings. Front free endpaper of vol. I lacking. Pages slightly age-toned, otherwise clean and paper good.  (26252)

Britain isLosing Her Lead!

•  Supremacy of naval forces over the other powers was an essential part of British military doctrine from the end of the War of the American Revolution until the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. However, in the 1830s, after two decades of relative neglect, the Royal Navy found itself in a difficult position in comparison with the French, American, and Russian navies, and there were successful calls for a renewal and expansion of the fleet, of which this by Rear Admiral Edward Hawker (1782–1860) was one.

Included herein is a summary of the state of the U.S. Navy at the time.

Uncommon: We trace only three U.S. library copies.

•  NSTC 2H12871. Recent speckled brown wrappers. Lightly age-toned with traces of soiling. Inked numeral in margin of title-page.

An Attempt at Peace during the Wars of the Huguenots

•  This edict on restoring the religious rights of both Catholics and Huguenots, issued by Henry III of France, made its appearance in the midst of violent struggle over the opposition between the religious rights of the nation and the divine right of the king. Evidence of readership: Virtually every page has contemporary marginalia commenting on at least one passage of the edict. Click the image for an enlargement.

WorldCat locates only three copies in North America.

•  Lindsay & Neu 884; VD16 F2427.   In modern wrappers. Small 19th-century library label on title-page. Pressure-stamp on title- and three other leaves; strip of heavy paper adhered to inner margin of last leaf.  (3190)

Praising theWinter King

Click the interior images for enlargements.

•  Hermann (1563–1637), “H. Schrifft Doctore, der Kirchen und Schulen in Bresslaw Inspectore,” praises Friedrich V (elector of the Palatinate, Frederick I, King of Bohemia [1619 to 1620]) and — discourses on what makes a king good and great.

Uncommon: VD17 locates only four copies in Europe and OCLC locates no copies.

•  Modern plain brown calf, old style. Very good copy.  (22422)

The Amazon & Its “Aborigines” — 52 Lithographed Plates

Click the images for enlargements.

•  Original government issue of these “Minute, accurate, and very interesting accounts of the aborigines of the Andes, and the Amazon and its tributaries” (Sabin). These two volumes are parts I and II of Senate Executive Document no. 36, 32d Cong., 2d sess., consisting of Lieut. Herndon’s description of following the Amazon itself and Lieut. Gibbon’s account of his travels along the Amazon’s tributaries in Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil.

Many of the 52 lithographed plates are in duotone; some were done by Ackerman Lithography and some by P.S. Duval & Co., after views of scenery, buildings, and natives drawn by Lieut. Gibbon.

Two volumes of maps, not present here, were issued separately.

•  Sabin 31524; Palau 113897. Publisher’s textured cloth, covers blind-stamped, spine with gilt-stamped title; vol. I with spine sunned and cloth chipped at spine extremities; vol. II with corners bumped, cloth peeling away from spine and chipped at spine extremities, spine with gilt dimmed and small area of unobtrusive discoloration from now-absent label. Front pastedowns each with pencilled owner’s name and institutional rubber stamp (no other markings); front free endpaper of vol. II starting to tear along inner margin. Mild to moderate foxing and spotting; a few text gatherings unopened. One plate in vol. I with short tear from outer margin, turning into a narrow scrape extending about halfway into the upper portion of the image; one leaf in vol. II with tiny portion (less than one word) affixed to opposing plate. Not a perfect set, but a perfectly fascinating one.

For more SETS,  click here.

First-Person AMERICAN Account of the Boer War
 Signed by THE AUTHORS

Click the images for enlargements.

•  Written by two captains of American scouts in the Boer Army, this book opens with a comparison of the Second Anglo-Boer War to the American Revolution, and goes on to provide a great deal of military analysis as well as moving pleas for relief of the suffering women and children. The volume isillustrated with an oversized, color-printed map (affixed to the back pastedown) and with a total of 42 plates, mostly photographic, including a frontispiece portrait of Paul Kruger, president of the South African Republic (Transvaal).

Presentation copy:  Front free endpaper inscribed by the authors to Dr. Charles J. Hexamer “in appreciation of his generous espousal of the Boer Cause.” Hexamer was president of the German-American National Alliance.

•  Publisher's orange cloth, front cover pictorially stamped in green and gilt, spine with gilt-stamped title; edges and extremities lightly rubbed, sides with small areas of minor discoloration, spine sunned. Ex–social club library: call number in 19th-century hand on front pastedown, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Pages and plates clean and fresh.  (26364)

A Popular-at-Home History of Virginia

Click the images for enlargement.

•  First edition: Account of Virginia from its inception through 1848, written by a lawyer and educator native to that state. Virginians were generally much pleased by this history of the Old Dominion, which was inspired by the romance of Virginia's founding and which praises the state's natural resources, outstanding citizens, military accomplishments, etc. Howison accounts for Virginia's having fallen behind other states of the Union in economic terms by blaming lack of education, insufficiency of internal improvements (roads, canals, railroads, etc.), and the continued existence of slavery — which the author defends as a legal institution, but attacks as a detriment to the state's overall prosperity.

•  Sabin 33370; Howes H739.   Publisher's cloth, vol. I (now) olive and vol. II brown, covers blind-stamped, spines with gilt-stamped title and gilt-stamped seal of Virginia (“Sic semper tyrannis”); corners and spine extremities rubbed, sides with areas of light discoloration, endpapers darkened. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate on front pastedowns, call number inked on front free endpaper of vol. I and front fly-leaf of vol. II, vol. II lacking front free endpaper. No other markings. Upper margins of vol. I with small areas of light waterstaining, extending to touch top lines of text at back of volume only; vol. II with similar light waterstaining never touching text. Vol. II with occasional lightly pencilled marginalia and marks of emphasis, many pertaining to the perceived value of the footnotes and references.  (26452)

Advice to Guerrero on the Day He DeposedPres. Gomez Pedraza

•  Written on the very day that Vicente Guerrero, with the aid of Gen. Santa Anna and Lorenzo de Zavala, staged the successful coup d'état unseating president Manuel Gómez Pedraza, Francisco Ibar, an astute political observer and no friend of either the U.S. or the politicos who pulled the governmental strings during the early years of the republic, here addresses Guerrero and expostulates on the influence of the Yorkino Masons, the political situation, and the task ahead for Guerrero. Click the image for an enlargement.

Rare: We locate only the copy at the Bancroft Library.

•  Folded, as issued. A slim wormtrack in the foremargin, not touching any text; one pin-type wormhole in the text touching or costing one letter on each page. Clean, a nice copy.  (25814)

The Surrender ofValladolid, now, MORELIA

•  Fascinating account of Iturbide's approaching Valladolid in May, 1821, the last city or town in Michoacan held by royal forces — and the subsequent exchange of letters between him and Louis Quintanar, the officer in charge of the city, leading up to its surrender. Seventeen letters are printed here. Click the image for an enlargement.

Uncommon. We trace only three copies in the U.S.

•  Garritz 4724; Sutro, Supplement, 145. Not in Medina, Mexico.   Removed from a nonce volume. Very good condition.  (24785)

Important (Grey Side) Civil War Journal

Click the images for enlargements.

•  First edition: Personal narrative by an articulate, passionate, pro-slavery Northerner who moved south after Lincoln's election and became employed as a clerk to the Confederate Secretary of War in Richmond. Jones's Diary provides detailed observations on both the increasing difficulties of day-to-day life for him and his family, and on the progression of the war at large — recording not only official statements and newspaper reports, but also rumors and the word on the street regarding troop movements and battle successes or failures. The shifting prices of flour, fruits and vegetables, assorted other necessities, and liquor are documented, as well as the values of gold, silver, and Confederate paper money. The entries end with Lincoln's death.

A successful novelist and journalist, Jones was wholeheartedly loyal to the Confederacy, and convinced right up until the end that the North would never conquer a united, determined South; he was also notably anti-Semitic, and there are a number of references here to the Jews being largely responsible for the country's economic woes.

•  Howes J220; Nevins I, 115 & II, 173.   Publisher's brown cloth, spines with gilt-stamped title; sunned and with some discolorations; corners rubbed and spine heads pulled/chipped. Ex–social club library: front pastedown with inked numerals in a 19th-century hand (partially obscured), title-page pressure- and rubber-stamped, a few other pages rubber-stamped. Front free endpaper of vol. I lacking. Pages with light waterstaining to upper inner portions in vol. I One leaf in vol. II with tear extending into text, without loss.  (26297)

Irish Insurgency — American Imprint & Provenance

•  Revised U.S. edition of this collection of first-person accounts of the United Irishmen's 1798 uprising against British rule, originally published in Dublin in 1799. The volume begins with a woodcut frontispiece of the Battle of Vinegar Hill. Levi Harris also published an earlier edition in 1833 at South Newbury, N.Y. Where “South Newbury” might have been, we don't know. South New Berlin is an equally obscure place, but still exists west of Cooperstown and east of Syracuse. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

Provenance:  Inked inscriptions of James Mack of Windham, VT (1784–1860) on front free endpaper and rear fly-leaf. Although both inscriptions are dated 1840, one gives “Col. James Mack” and the other “Major James Mack.”

•  American Imprints 25154.   Contemporary treed sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; joints, edges, and extremities rubbed, spine leather darkened and cracked, boards very slightly sprung. Inscriptions as above. Light to moderate age-toning and foxing, more pronounced to frontispiece and title-page. Now housed in a cloth clamshell case with gilt-stamped leather spine label.  (25116)

First Edition — Uncut Copy

•  First edition: Biography of the Scottish-born Commodore John Paul Jones, perhaps best known for his command of the U.S.S. Bonhomme Richard against the British frigate Serapis when, his ship sinking and in flames, he refused to surrender saying, “I have not yet begun to fight!” This volume, which opens with a steel-engraved portrait of Jones done by J.W. Paradise, is based on “original letters and manuscripts in the possession of Miss Janette Taylor,” Jones's niece. Click the images for enlargements.

This is an uncut copy; uncut, however, though it may have been, this was carefully opened. It was read cover to cover!

•  American Imprints 2078; Howes S91; Sabin 36551.   Publisher's quarter brown cloth and light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label; binding rubbed and moderately stained, with front hinge (inside) reinforced some time ago. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, frontispiece, title-page, and last page rubber-stamped. Inside the occasional spot or blot; page edges uncut.  (27106)

“Oh, what terrible sights met my view!”

•  Born Frances Wiggins in 1845 at Orilla, Canada, Mrs. Kelly was captured by Ogalala Sioux in 1864 near Little Box Elder Creek in Wyoming en route via the Oregon Trail to Montana. Her captivity lasted five months. The work also includes “a brief account of General Sully's Indian expedition in 1864, bearing upon events occurring in my captivity.” Click the images for enlargements.

A later issue of the first edition, with a different title-page but printed from the same stereotype plates as the first edition, which was published in Cincinnati in 1871.

Provenance:  “Presented by / D. Johnstone to his / son Washington. / Brantford Setp. 12 '77.”

•  Howes K62; Newberry Library, Indian Captivities, 170; Graff 2296.   Publisher's blue cloth, salmon endpapers, title in gilt on spine with top and bottom of spine pulled; blind-stamped image of an Indian within borders on each cover, covers spotted. Interior clean and with remarkably little foxing; indeed, this appears only (and minimally) to the frontispiece.  (25972)

“I owe no apology to Your Grace . . .”

•  Charles Kinnaird (1780–1826), a Scots peer and a Bonapartist, was falsely implicated with a M. Marinet in an 1818 attempt to assassinate Wellington, and he here defends himself and protests against the violation of Marinet’s safe-conduct. Marinet was a protegé of Kinnaird’s who claimed to be able to reveal details of an assassination plot against the Duke, it turning out that he himself was likely the would-be assassin. This is the first of two 1818 editions.

•  NSTC 2K6435, Imprint 1. Removed from a nonce volume. A few light brown spots.

For OVER 100 items of Scottish interest offered
via unillustrated, PDF-format, printable list — click here.

By anEye-Witness to the Action

•  First edition of this history of the Siege of Colombia in 1741. The work, notable for its very critical perspective on the British actions, is often attributed to Sir Charles Knowles, the naval commander who was surveyor and engineer of the fleet during the failed West Indies expedition; Knowles was the subject of contention and controversy throughout his career in the British navy. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

The Appendix here provides a fairly comprehensive exposition of the enemy's defensive position at the time of the English arrival, while the main body describes ship movements and land fortifications in detail.

•  ESTC T18830; Sabin 11128; Alden & Landis 743/1. On Knowles, see: The Dictionary of National Biography.   Recent half calf with paper-covered sides; spine with gilt-stamped title. A clean and very good copy.  (24824)

The Smolensk War IsOver

•  Uncommon Spanish report on the end of the Smolensk War and the peace treaty between Poland and Russia, in which Vladislaus IV, King of Poland, renounced his claim to the Muscovite throne.
Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Palau 60707; not in Almirante. Removed from a nonce volume. Creased, with holes along creases causing loss of some letters; lower inner margins waterstained. Leaves trimmed closely, second leaf with first line lost and second line partially shaved.

This also appears in the HISPANIC
                      MISCELLANY — click here.

Bohemian History

Click the interior images for enlargements.

•  Scarce first edition: History of the Bohemian Revolt and the resulting Calvinist–Protestant strife during the earliest portion of the Thirty Years’ War. The author, bishop of Antwerp from 1604 to 1611, was “an indefatigable historical writer” and “a reliable historian,” according to the Catholic Encyclopedia (online).

The printing privilege and the colophon of this edition both give the date 1621; a revised edition was printed in Cologne in 1622.

Very uncommon.  Searches of OCLC, RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956 find no U.S. institutional holdings, and only one overseas location.

•  Not in Brunet; not in STCV. Contemporary vellum, spine with hand-inked title; ties now lacking, back cover showing minor abrasions. Title-page with early inked inscription mostly shaved away from lower margin. Pages of different signatures variously browned or age-toned; clean.

Illustrated Admiration

•  Popular account of Scott, his childhood, education, accomplishments; a rousing piece of campaign literature. Above the drop-title is a half-page cut of Scott in uniform on horseback, and the text is illustrated with numerous other cuts, including “Scott and the Irish Prisoners” and “Scott at the Cholera Hospital.” Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Sabin 78417.   Stitched originally, but this now perished and leaves separating; irregularly trimmed, in the case of two leaves to touch text; some foxing/staining, and chipping.  (26006)

Cortés Malinche & Montezuma

•  Following the achievement of the conquest of Mexico, Cortés did not know how to stop and rest on his laurels: He sought greater fame and honor and to do this embarked on several ill-conceived expeditions that added no luster to his name, and when it became clear that the king was not going to make him a viceroy, the slide down the slope was an unpleasant one. Still striving, he enlisted his chaplain Francisco López de Gómara to write a history of the New World that would include a laudatory biography.

The Historia general de las Indias (first published in 1552) is divided into two parts which stand on their own although clearly written as two parts of a whole. Part I is a history of events concerning the discovery and conquests of the New World exclusive of those involving Cortés. Part II is entirely dedicated to the telling of Cortés's role in the conquest of Mexico and subsequent discoveries.

Click the images for enlargements.

In this Italian translation from the pen of Agostino di Cravaliz, López's “all-Cortés” volume stands as part III of the three-volume Historia, delle nuove Indie Occidentali, with parts I and II being translations of Cieza de Leon's Historia, over Cronica del gran regno del Peru and the previously mentioned part I of Gómara's Historia general de las Indias.

The text here is printed in italic type except the capitals, which are roman. The title-page is printed in roman and italic and has the woodcut printer's device.

•  Alden & Landis 564/25; Sabin 27741; Medina, BHA, 159n; Wagner, Spanish Southwest, 2v.   18th-century vellum over paste boards, soiled and a bit rubbed; red leather spine label, with a chip, and an old circular paper shelf-label. Title-page dust-soiled, mounted; small, narrow, oblong portion of blank area of title-page excised and filled in at an early time. Lacks folio 1 and final blank. Top margins closely trimmed, sometimes costing the running heads and folio numbers.  (25767)

EarlyENGLISH Translation

Lucanus, Marcus Annaeus [Lucan].

•  Second edition of May’s esteemed English verse translation, following Thomas Jones’s first printing of 1627. Lucan (A.D. 39–65), born in Cordoba, Spain, and raised in Rome, was the grandson of the elder Seneca, nephew of the younger Seneca, and the brother of the Gallio mentioned in Acts 18; he published the Pharsalia in A.D. 62 or 63, but it seems likely that his poetic talent aroused the jealously of the vain Nero, as he forbade him to write or even plead in the courts, and then later compelled him to commit suicide for alleged treason.

The editio princeps of the Pharsalia was printed in Rome by Sweynheym and Pannartz in 1469; Christopher Marlowe published the first English translation of any part of the Pharsalia, his rendition of the first book, in 1600, with a 1614 effort by Sir Arthur Gorges being the only other such to precede May’s standard-setting 1626 English version of books one through three.

In the present volume, this great epic poem in May’s translation is accompanied by its translator’s English rendition of his own sequel, originally written in Latin verse. This Continuation advances the action through Cleopatra’s seduction of Caesar (May depicts the Egyptian queen with “snowie necke” and “golden tresses”), the death of Cato, and various additional battles before arriving at Caesar’s death. At the time, May’s work was thought highly enough of that Charles I allowed the Continuation’s dedication to bear his name.

•  Pharsalia: STC 16888; Schweiger, II, 567; ESTC S108868. Continuation: STC 17712; ESTC S108892. 20th-century black morocco in imitation of early, severe style, with raised bands from which blind-tooling extends onto covers; spine with gilt-stamped title and date, and turn-ins elaborately tooled in blind. Moderately worn, spine faded not unattractively, and leather rubbed over joints. Front pastedown with bookplate, inked date of 1986; front free endpaper with inked gift inscription dated 1944. T1-2 trimmed differently and possibly surviving from another copy; A3 of the continuation also possibly supplied. Occasional instances of very minor staining; mostly clean. Pleasant on shelf and in hand.

For more LUCAN, 
      click here.

TO Part III

PLACE AN ORDER   |   E-MAIL US   |   PRB&M HOME