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NEWEST
ARRIVALS
NEWEST ENTRIES 8 MARCH 2010

As
a CATALOGUE formed partly
BY CHANCE, this does not represent ALL our strengths!
[ PART I
PART II ]
El
ingenioso Hidalgo
“Impression
Soignèe” (Brunet)
Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de. El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha. México: Impreso por Ignacio Cumplido, 1842. 8vo (23.5 cm; 9.4"). 2 vols. I: Added chromolithographic t.-p., xvi, 24, 434 pp., 67 plates. II: Added chromolithographic t.-p., vii, [1 (blank), 473, [1 (blank)] pp., 59 plates, fold. map.
$3275.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Perhaps the most sought-after edition of El Quixote printed in the New World: Cumplido's typography is clear and crisp and Mexican lithography was, in the 1840s, achieving such a very good, comfortable, and pleasant level of sophistication and accomplishment that his decision to adorn the work with
125 lithographic plates was easy and wise. He used, for this, the leading Mexico City fine-lithography firm of Massé y Decaen, which employed the artists Blanco, Iriarte, and Heredia “copiando los dibujos de Tony Johannot” (Palau).
Palau opined that the result “representa un esfuerzo editorial muy estimable.”
Bindings: Contemporary green calf, modest gilt roll on boards, spines each with two caramel-colored labels and gilt center devices in the other “compartments.” Ownership initials at base of each spine as below.
Provenance: Bindings with mid-19th-century ownership initials “M.O.”; front free endpapers with mid-20th-century ownership notation, “Mary S. Pettit, Mexico City.”
Brunet, I, 316; Palau 52078; Rius, Bibliografía crítica de las obras de Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 105; PMM III(for first edition); Mathes, Mexico on Stone, p. 21. Bindings lightly rubbed, corners worn to boards. Internally very clean.
A strong, lovely set. (26529)
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Geomancy
Chiromancy
&
Metoposcopia
— Many Plates
Gran-Pescatore, di Chiaravelle. Metoposcopia et chiromantia curiosa. Das ist: Kurtze und deutliche Anweisung Wie man aus dem Gesichte und Gestalt eines Menschen, von dessen Verstand, Gedachtniss, Sitten und seinen Verrichtungen, wie auch Gluck und Ungluck, so wohl Vergangenen, als Zukunfftigen, kan einige vernunfftige
Muthmassung fallen. [with another, as below]. Jena: Verlegts Heinrich Christoph Croker, 1701. 12mo (13.5 cm; 5.25"). Frontis., [5] ff., 250, [18] ff., [30] leaves of plates. [also bound in] Anonymous. Vollkommene Geomantia, oder sogenante Punctier-Kunst. Worin nicht allein, was von verschiednen in dieser bissher ziemlich ohnbekanten Wissenschafft hocherfahrnen Leuthen, Arabern, Welschen, Franzosonen, und Engellandern durch Fleiss und Erfahrung beobachtet worden, der curiosen teutschen Welt zu Dienst zusammen getragen. Freystadt [i.e., Jena]: [Cröcker], 1702. 12mo (13.5 cm; 5.25"). Frontis., 408 p., [3 of 5] fold. plates.
$1800.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Two works of the occult bound in one volume.
The first claims to be translated from the Italian but all titles by the “Gran
Pescatore di Chiaravalle” are in languages other than Italian! The Metoposcopia
et chiromantia curiosa deals with prediction of personality and destiny
based on the pattern of lines on one's forehead and via the lines in one's palm.
The Vollkommene Geomantia treates of divination by way of markings on the ground or how fistfuls of dirt land when tossed. This last work is supposedly based on researches in books on the subject written in rabic, Italian, French, and English.
Vollkommene: Jantz Collection, 3334. Neither work in Coumont, Demonology and Witchcraft. Contemporary vellum over paste boards, with slightly yapp edges; all edges red. Text unmarked and untattered. A very nice pair of uncommon books. (26955)
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“On
the Welch Tract
on [the] Pee Dee River”
1743
Chanler,
Isaac. Manuscript: “The Qualifications
of a Gospel Minister for, and Duty in studying rightly to divide [sic]
the Word of Truth; and the Duty of those who do partake of the Benefit of his
Labours, towards him fully, plainly
& impartialy [sic]
represented in Two Sermons on 2 Tim: 2.15. Preached at the ordination of the Revd
mr. Philip James at the Welch Tract on Pee Dee River in
South
Carolina April 4. 1743. With some Illustrations & Enlargements.”
[South Carolina: 1743]. Folio (31.5 cm; 12.4"). [20] ff.
$5750.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Chanler (1701–49), a native of Bristol, England, was a Baptist
minister in the Ashley River region of South Carolina, beginning 1733. He published
three works: Doctrines of glorious grace unfolded (Boston, 1744), New
converts exhorted to cleave to the Lord (Boston, 1740), and The state
of the Church of Christ, both militant and triumphant (Charlestown, S.C.,
1744), the latter known in only one copy!
Although the title-page of this manuscript proclaims, “Published at
the Unanimous and Earnest Request of Both Minister and People,”
this work was never published in the sense of having been printed, or if it
was printed, no copy survives, nor has any evidence of its publication.
This
manuscript is apparently the only surviving evidence, and very substantial
it is, of an unpublished work by this pioneer minister.
The second sermon mentioned on the title-page was on Galatians 6:6 and is
not present here; it may well have never been copied out and sewn to the end
of this manuscript. In any case the second sermon is apparently long-lost.
Provenance:
Ex-Crozer Theological Seminary.
Written in a clear hand with numerous
corrections. Unbound, on laid paper of the 1740s; now
age-toned and a bit brittle, with some fold tears. Edges of paper chipped
with some small pieces missing, occasionally costing a letter (only). Now
safely housed in a Mylar sleeve within a marbled paper–covered chemise
within a red cloth clamshell box. (26309)
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Deluxe
Comedic Production,
Deluxe Binding
Wills, William Henry,
ed. Poets' wit and humour. New York: D. Appleton & Co.,
1861. 8vo (22.8 cm, 9"). [8], 278, [1] pp.; illus.
$975.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First U.S. edition: “Illustrated with
one
hundred engravings from drawings by Charles Bennett and George
H. Thomas.” The work was edited by a friend and collaborator of Charles
Dickens; from Chaucer to Swift to “Saint Anthony's Sermon to the Fishes,”
Wills's comic selections are delightfully entertaining, and their wood-engraved
illustrations equally amusing.
Binding:
Publisher's deluxe black calf, covers and spine elaborately embossed and stamped
in blind and gilt with central vignette of a cherub dressed as a jester and
playing a lyre. All edges gilt.
The embossing plaque is signed with the designer's initials:
“R.D.”
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)
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Long
the Standard in its Field
— Many Illustrations
Potter,
John. Archaeologia graeca or the antiquities of Greece. The
fifth edition. London: Ja. & Jo. Knapton, R. Knaplock, J. & B. Sprint,
et al., 1728. 8vo (19.8 cm, 7.75"). 2 vols. I: iv, [4], 464, [28 (index)] pp.;
2 fold. plts., 7 plts. II: [4], 420, [36 (34 index, 2 adv.)] pp.; 9 fold. plts.,
13 plts.
$550.00
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Fifth edition of this popular and then-authoritative history of
ancient Greece, following the first of the previous year. Written by the archbishop
of Canterbury (bishop of Oxford at the time of this publication), the work incorporates
numerous and extensive Greek quotations. This edition is
illustrated with 31 copper-engraved plates (11 folding)
depicting temples, theatres, wrestlers and other burly athletes, armor, military
maneuvers, ships, and elephant- and horse-drawn war carriages;
the title-pages are printed in red and black, and the text is ornamented with
head- and tailpieces in addition to decorative capitals.
Present
here under a handsome headpiece is a vigorous two-page note from "THE BOOKSELLERS
TO THE READER," explaining why first editions are not always to be preferred
and why some editions may not be among the trustworthy!
ESTC T121647; Graesse 428; Lowndes 1932. Contemporary speckled calf, framed and panelled in blind with panel of plain calf decorated with blind roll and blind-tooled corner fleurons, rebacked with sympathetic calf, spines with gilt-stamped green leather title and volume labels, gilt-dotted raised bands, and blind-tooled compartment decorations; original leather showing minor pitting and cracking more pronounced towards edges. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate and call number on front pastedowns, pressure-stamp on title-pages, no other markings. Hinges (inside) unobtrusively reinforced with paper. Title-page of vol. I with early inked annotations regarding author's identity and additional editions of this work. Pages age-toned; first and last few leaves with offsetting to margins from turn-ins. (27102)
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Nahuatl
Instruction Manual
— A Nahuatl Sermon
on
the
Virgin of Guadalupe
Paredes,
Ignacio de. Promptuario manual mexicano.
Mexico: Impr. de la Bibliotheca Mexicana, 1759. Small 4to (20.5 cm; 8"). [22]
ff., 378 (of 380), 90 pp., lacks the engr. frontis., and one text leaf.
$1800.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition of this renowned work in Nahuatl and Spanish by the
century's greatest student of the Aztec language. Produced by one of Mexico's
best 18th-century presses, it is composed of 46 moral discussions and 6 sermons
in Nahuatl meant to explain points of Catholic theology.
At the end, in Nahuatl, is a sermon on the Virgin
of Guadalupe incorporating the history of Her apparition.
The detailed title-page and beautiful full-page woodcut coat of arms are
present. The printer has also employed various handsome woodcut head- and
tailpieces at different points in the text.
Provenance:
Bookplate of Nicolás León; later in the collection of the John
Carter Brown Library (now deaccessioned).
Viñaza 344; García Icazbalceta, Lenguas, 57;
Medina, Mexico, 4568; H. de León-Portilla, Tepuztlahcuilolli, 2082; Sabin 58575; De Backer-Sommervogel, VI, 211–12; Burrus & Grajales 206; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 2892.
19th-century half blue morocco, plain style, with marbled paper on covers;
binding lightly scuffed. Lacks the engraved frontispiece and pp. 199–200. Scattered worming,
severe in one section and repaired to avoid tearing, this chiefly costing only some words here and
there, not impairing a reader's ability to understand. Title-page lightly soiled and with areas of
brown staining at edges shared with other early leaves; very light old waterstaining variously
elsewhere, with pages otherwise clean. There are some minute interlinear and marginal notes in
the “Platica Quarta; que trata, y explica,; Quien sea Dios?” and a very small number of other
words appear in manuscript elsewhere. (26398)
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Vita's
Tribute to Virginia
— Hogarth
Press
Sackville-West, Vita. Seducers in Ecuador. London: Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press., 1924. 8vo (17.2 cm, 6.75"). 73, [1] pp.
$450.00
First edition of this acclaimed novella, dedicated to Virginia Woolf and inspired by Woolf's literary aesthetic; Sackville-West once wrote that this was the only one of her novels she “might save from the rubbish-heap.”
Click the images for enlargements.
NCBEL, IV, 336. Publisher's red and black marbled cloth, spine with printed paper label, dust jacket lacking; minor rubbing, unobtrusive spots of discoloration, spine label darkened. Front free endpaper with pencilled sketch, back pastedown with bookseller's small ticket and front one with a collector's(?) pencilled note on the book and its rarity. Pages clean and crisp; top edges red. (27044)
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A Black-Letter
17th-Century Folio
BCP
Church
of England. Book
of Common Prayer.
The book of common prayer, and administration of the sacraments, and other rites
and ceremonies of the church, according to the use of the Church of England,
together with the psalter or psalms of David, pointed as they are to be sung
or said in churches [as below].... London: Charles Bill, Henry Hills,
& Thomas Newcomb, 1687. Folio (31.7 cm, 12.5"). Add. engr. t.-p., [231]
ff. (S1 bound in out of order, T6 lacking, Tt2-4 (blank) lacking, H2 of Psalms
signed H3). [with] Bible.
O.T. Psalms. English. Sternhold & Hopkins. The whole book of psalms.
Collected into English meeter ... conferred with the Hebrew, with apt notes
to sing them withal. London: Pr. by J.M. for the Company of Stationers, 1687.
Folio. [64] ff.
$800.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Nicely bound
black-letter
Anglican prayer book, with an additional engraved architectural title-page
done by P. Williamson (giving a date of 1686), and a Kalendar printed in red
and black. The Psalter has a separate title-page (dated 1686) but continuous
registration with the BCP; the accompanying Psalms has separate title-page and
registration, and features music. The type is handsome throughout, and generally
is notably LARGE.
ESTC R36536; Griffiths, Bibliography of the Book of Common Prayer, 1687/1; Wing (rev. ed.) B3679. Psalms: ESTC R40777; Wing (rev. ed.) B2561. Contemporary mottled calf panelled with plain calf, decorated with blind-tooled scalloping and corner fleurons, recently rebacked with mottled calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-ruled and blind-tooled raised bands, and gilt-stamped acorn decorations in compartments; original leather with expectable acid-pitting, back cover with slightly deeper abrasions, hinges (inside) reinforced. Front pastedown with early inked ownership inscription. Added engraved t.-p. with short tear from lower margin, just touching lower edge of frame; upper outer corners of same and main t.-p. chewed. S1 bound in out of order; T6 lacking; Tt2-4 (blank) lacking; H2 of Psalms signed H3. Most pages clean and whole, but a number of early BCP leaves with lower and outer portions tattered, in some cases with significant loss and in others with only a few letters affected. First and last few leaves darkened. A damaged but still very attractive 17th-century exemplar. (26945)
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French Symbolism
in
Ornate
Dress
Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, Auguste, comte de. Histoires
souveraines. Bruxelles: Edmond Deman, 1899. 8vo (26.4 cm, 10.4"). 367, [5] pp.; illus.
$350.00
Click
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First edition of this collection of tales from an important French
poet identified with the Symbolist movement and known for his fascination with
the occult. The volume was edited and published posthumously by friends of the
author; it is decorated with an elegant Art Nouveau title-page and head-and
tailpieces, designed by Theo Van Rysselberghe and printed in sage and hunter
green. Allegedly only 60 copies were printed, 50 on papier du Japon and 10 allegedly
on Hollande Van Gelder paper; however, more institutional holdings than that
are reported, and virtually all copies on the market and in institutional holdings
lay claim to being one of the 10 Hollande printings. The present example is
unnumbered, and printed on Japanese laid paper.
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)
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The
Future INTERPRETED
by
“the
English Merlin”
Lilly,
William. A collection of ancient and moderne prophesies concerning
these present times, with modest observations thereon. London: John Partridge
& Humphrey Blunden, 1645. 4to (18.1 cm, 7.1"). [8], 54, [2] pp.; illus.
$1250.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Uncommon first edition: A gathering of foretellings compiled and analyzed by the famed English astrologer who wrote Christian Astrology and published the annual Merlini Anglici Ephemeris almanac. Lilly (1602–81), whose prediction of the King's defeat at the Battle of Naseby made his name as a professional fortuneteller, became deeply involved in politics, only to see his influence wane after the Restoration; at one point, he was put on trial and accused of having set the Great Fire of London, which he had predicted a number of years before.
In the present work, Lilly includes an early recording of Mother Shipton's prophecies
along with descriptions of their fulfillment, and an account of his own interpretation
of the White King prophecy and its connections to Charles I; also here is “An
Irish Prophesie: or, the Baby Prophesie,” illustrated with
woodcuts
depicting the central images of that set of predictions. Astrological charts
are provided for Thomas, Earl of Strafford, and William Laud, Archbishop of
Canterbury.
ESTC R200424; Wing (rev. ed.) L2217; Huth, Catalogue,
849. Not in Coumont, Demonology and Witchcraft. On Lilly, see: Oxford
Dictionary of National Biography online. Recent calf in a classic
“collectors' style”; covers framed in gilt double fillets, spine
with gilt-ruled raised bands and gilt-stamped leather title-label. Title-page
darkened, with small closed tear and early inked ownership inscription; pages
with small pencilled annotations and marks of emphasis. The shouldernotes,
of a sort often trimmed-into, are here intact; and the volume is now in a
tan cloth–covered slipcase, this with light dust-soiling.
A
solid and interesting copy of an intriguing work, one of Lilly's rarest.
(26921)
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Harvard
Library Catalogue
Signed
by
President
Quincy
Harvard University. A catalogue of the library of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Cambridge: E.W. Metcalf & Co., 1830–31. 8vo (24.8 cm, 9.8"). 4 vols. I: xvii, [3], 490 pp. II: [2], [491]–952, [2] pp. III: xii, 233, [1] pp. IV: viii, 224 pp.
$1000.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First of the 19th-century
catalogues of Harvard's holdings, here
uncut and unopened in four volumes,
including the Catalogue of the Maps and Charts, which was published shortly
after the three main volumes.
Provenance: Inscribed to a
Philadelphia social club “from the President & Fellows of Harvard
University,” signed by Josiah Quincy.
American Imprints 1772 & 7465; Sabin 30729 (vols.
1–3) & 30730 (maps). Publisher's quarter cloth and tan paper–covered
sides, spines with printed paper labels; worn and soiled/stained but sound,
with spines sunned and front lower outer corner of vol. I chipped. Ex–social
club library: 19th-century bookplates, endpapers with call number, rubber-stamp
on title-pages and a few others, no other markings. Front free endpaper of
vol. I with inked inscription as above. (26904)
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Dime
Novel: Secret
Service
New York Detective, A. The Bradys and the girl
smuggler, or working for the custom house, and other stories. New York: Frank Tousey, 1914.
Folio. 30, [2 (adv.)] pp.
$45.00
Click
the image for an enlargement.
Technically a nickel weekly but really a classic “detective
hero” dime novel, this is no. 804 (19 June 1914) of the long-running serial
thriller “Secret Service: Old and Young King Brady, Detectives.”
The Bradys were a spin-off from Tousey's popular “New York Detective Library”
series; early Old King Brady stories were written by Francis Worcester Doughty,
with subsequent tales supplied by various in-house writers. The present issue
features the
complete title story along
with chapters VII and VIII of “Drawer 99 or A detective's Six-Year Search”
by Percy B. St. John, chapters IX and X of “Ventriloquist Val or The Mystery
of the Dark Room” by Tom Fox, the
complete
story “The Witch in the Well,” and an assortment of jokes and odd
news clips. (The ads present are their own enhancement.)
Publisher's color-printed paper wrappers, spine chewed and overall
with soiling; back cover with tear from upper edge into text without impairment
to reading. Paper age-toned; some text pages ragged at edges, again, without
harm to reading. (26935)
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Illustrated
Explorations of
the
Countryside
Dibdin,
Charles. Observations on a tour through
almost the whole of England, and a considerable part of Scotland, in a series
of letters, addressed to a large number of intelligent and respectable friends.
London: G. Goulding & John Walker (pr. by T. Woodfall), [1801–02].
4to (28.9 cm, 11.4"). 2 vols. I: 404 pp.; 27 plts. II: [2], 406, [2] pp.; 33
plts., 1 fold. map, 1 fold. chart.
$750.00
Click the images for enlargements.
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 are
illustrated
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)
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“Marble
is Never Commonplace”
National
Association of Marble Dealers.
The everyday uses of marble. Cleveland: The National Association of Marble Dealers,
© 1927. 8vo. 76 pp.; illus.
$65.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Sole edition: Promoting the usage of marble in banks, bathrooms,
churches, gardens, libraries, railroad stations, stores, and just about anywhere
else it could be employed architecturally or decoratively. The volume is illustrated
with
photographs
of a wide variety of interiors and exteriors.
Publisher's brown marbled, textured paper–covered boards,
front cover with gilt-stamped title. Clean and unworn.
Not a commonplace copy! (26833)
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Gold & Silver Conversion Tables
from
the Press of a Woman Printer
Berdugo, Nicolás. Reducciones de plata, y oro a las leyes de 11. diner. y 22. quilat. valores de una y otra especie por marcos, onzas, ochav. tomin. y gran. como S. Mag. (que Dios guarde) lo manda en sus novissimas reales ordenanzas, expedidas en 1. de agosto de 1750. Cuyas reducciones, y valores el Excmo. Sr. Conde. de Revilla Gigedo ... mandò imprimir. Mexico: Impr. de Doña Maria de Rivera, 1752. Small 8vo (14.8 cm; 5.875"). [15] ff., 324 pp.
$1450.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Mining was one of the chief industries of colonial Mexico, and after a century of decline during the 1600s, the 18th century saw a renaissance in ore extraction, chiefly due to new technologies that made it possible to rework old ore and to achieve higher than previously imagined levels of silver and gold extracted from newly mined ore. Berdugo's work is a vade mecum of conversion tables of values for gold of different carats and for silver of different values of purity.
The work was
absolutely essential for all merchants and other business people, and for government workers in the treasury department — for milled coins were the exception in Mexican commerce, cob pieces the norm, and raw gold and silver, including dust, were extremely common.
The volume ends with the “Reglas varias, para sacar juntos, o separados en pasta, o en moneda los reales derechos, que se pagan a S. Mag. De el oro y de la plata, y para reducir a toda su ley estos metales.”
An uncommon economic work: We trace fewer than nine copies in the U.S.
This was printed by Doña Maria de Rivera with a red and black title-page, and with woodcut arms on first dedication page. The charming cut of a herald cherub appears after the decima dedicated to the author at the end of the preliminaries.
Medina, Mexico, 4073. Contemporary full Mexican calf, modestly tooled in gilt and with all edges red; recased, new endpapers. Final two leaves little ragged at edges costing a few letters and with small hole at center and short tears at inner margin; old staining and age-toning/browning throughout.
There is every indication that this well-produced little volume saw time “in the field”! (26850)
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Complete
Barrett Browning
— Miller's
“Blue-&-Gold Edition”
Browning,
Elizabeth Barrett. Poems by Elizabeth
Barrett Browning from the last London edition, corrected by the author [with]
Essays on the Greek Christian poets and the English poets. New York: James Miller,
1866. 12mo (14.4 cm, 5.6"). 5 vols. I: Frontis., 384 pp. II: 408 pp. III: [8],
400 pp. IV: 242, [2 (adv.)] pp. V: 233, [3 (adv.)] pp.
$350.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Four volumes collecting Barrett Browning's verse, issued in uniform with an
additional volume containing her essays on the Greek Christian and the English poets. The first
volume opens with a steel-engraved portrait of the poet.
Binding: Publisher's bright
blue cloth (Krupp's style Wav3), covers blind-stamped, spines with gilt-stamped
title in decorative gilt frame. All edges gilt.
On binding cloth,
see: Krupp, Bookcloth, 43. Bindings as above, minor wear to extremities,
front cover of vol. V and spine of vol. I with small spots of discoloration. Each front free
endpaper with inked gift inscription (“Lizzie C. Alvord From Mother,” dated 1868). Pages
clean. A beautiful, very gift-worthy set. (26864)
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Reasons
to Submit
to the Government
“Both
from Scripture
& the Laws of the
Land”
Long, Thomas. A full answer to all the popular objections that have yet appear'd, for not taking the oath of allegiance to their present Majesties, particularly offer'd to the consideration of all such of the divines of the Church of England (and others) as are yet unsatisfied. London: R. Baldwin, 1689. 4to (19.7 cm, 7.75"). [4], 83, [1 (adv.)] pp.
$675.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: Legal and religious arguments in favor of swearing the oaths to William and Mary. Long (1621–1707) was prebendary of Exeter Cathedral and a prolific controversialist and anti-dissenter; he was author of An Answer to a Socinian Treatise, Call’d The Naked Gospel; The Healing Attempt Examined and Submitted to the Parliament and Convocation; and The Character of a Separatist: or, Sensuality the Ground of Separation among other works.
ESTC R19546; Wing (rev. ed.) L2967. Contemporary speckled calf framed and panelled in blind with blind-tooled corner fleurons and contrasting plain calf panel, nicely rebacked with speckled calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and blind-tooled compartment decorations; corners and edges rubbed, sides in pleasing condition. Somewhat-spotted half-title with early inked authorship annotation; pages age-toned, otherwise clean and all edges red. (26525)
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The
HEIGHT of
Late
Georgian Cuisine
Simpson, John. A complete system of cookery, on a plan
entirely new; consisting of every thing requisite for cooks to know in the kitchen business;
containing bills of fare for every day of the year ... second edition, corrected and enlarged....
London: W. Stewart, [1807]. 8vo (21.8 cm, 8.6"). xvi, 696 pp.
$950.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Uncommon second edition, published shortly after the 1806 first, of a kitchen
guide written by the chef to the Marquis of Buckingham — with the present revision adding a
number of confectionary recipes. Extensive (and enticing!) bills of fare are supplied in charts
showing how the dishes should be laid out, for the use of cooks, stewards, housekeepers, tavern
keepers, and others; some of the individual recipes would be very feasible for home chefs,
although the lavish suggested menus are clearly intended for upper-crust tables, prosperous food-serving establishments, or (for example) “a gentleman who does not keep a Man Cook” (p. viii)
but proposes giving a large dinner. This cataloguer (wg) thinks any winter day would most
certainly be brightened by the 6 January two-course bill of fare, which encompasses Semels of
Carp, Artichoke Bottoms fried in batter, two Rabbits à la Portugueze, Neat's Tongue and
barberries, Spinage [sic] and Eggs, a Wax Basket of Crayfish, Maccaroni, Eighteen Larks, a
Sparerib of Pork, etc. etc.
NSTC S2029; Bitting 436–37; Cagle 990 (first ed.); Oxford
134–35; Vicaire 792 (first ed.). Contemporary speckled calf,
covers framed in gilt double fillets; rebacked some time ago, spine with gilt-ruled
raised bands and gilt-stamped leather title-label, spine leather showing small
cracks, edges and extremities lightly rubbed. New endpapers. Title-page with
small early inked ownership inscription in upper margin; one recipe with tiny,
early inked annotation (“1 leg [of beef] will make 5 qts. [of stock]”).
Pages untrimmed. Light foxing.
A desirable copy. (26834)
For
more COOKERY, click here.
This
book also appears in the GENERAL
MISCELLANY click
here.
Washington
in a
Beautiful
Striped Binding
(He'd
have Wanted the Cloth
for a Waistcoat)
Bancroft, Aaron. The life of George Washington,
commander in chief of the American army, through the Revolutionary War; and the first
president of the United States. Boston: Phillips & Sampson, 1847. 12mo (19.9 cm, 7.8"). 223,
[1], 218, [6 (adv.)] pp.; 4 plts.
$500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Bancroft's biography of Washington, originally published in 1807, appears here as
two volumes in one in an attractive gift binding. Each volume is illustrated with two wood-engraved plates; the second volume has a separate title-page.
Binding: Publisher's green-blue
vertically striped ribbed cloth (predominantly seen in the 1840s, never common).
Covers with gilt-stamped foliate and drawer pull frame, spine gilt extra with
American eagle and portrait of Washington. All edges gilt.
For early eds.: Sabin 3097; Howes B86. On striped bindings,
see: Krupp, Making a Case for Cloth, p. [11]. Binding as above,
very lightly rubbed, most notably at corners. Front free endpaper with old,
closed cuts/slashes and early inked presentation inscription. Plates browned;
some signatures foxed, most pages clean.
A lovely copy. (26759)
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“General Reading” & Inexpensive, click here.
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Verse
& Prose
Inspired by Charity
Independent
Order of Odd Fellows. The Odd-fellows'
offering, for 1850. Embellished with elegant engravings, and a highly-finished
presentation plate. Contributed chiefly by members of the order. New York: Edward
Walker, 1850 (© 1849). 8vo (22.3 cm, 8.75"). Col. frontis., frontis., add.
engr. t.-p., 298 pp.; 8 plts.
$275.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: The 1850 volume of an annual gift book issued by
the charitable fraternity. The poems and stories, among which are several pieces
on the principles and virtues of Odd Fellowship, are illustrated with a total
of 10 steel-engraved plates (including the
illuminated
presentation plate, chromolithographed by Ackerman).
Binding:
Publisher's textured denim blue cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped vignette
of Friendship, Love, and Truth personified within an architectural frame;
back cover with Truth stamped in gilt within the same frame stamped in blind.
All edges gilt.
Faxon 608. Binding as above, front cover and spine lightened
to an attractive dark robin's egg blue, gilt showing minor rubbing and oxidizing.
Presentation leaf unused. Guard leaves foxed, pages and plates generally clean.
(26749)
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more POST-1820 AMERICANA,
click here.
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FELLOWS, ETC., click here.
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This
appears in the GENERAL
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La
Crème de la Crème
of
French
Cookery in English
Ude,
Louis Eustache. The French cook, a system of fashionable and
economical cookery, adapted to the use of English families ... tenth edition,
corrected and enlarged, with an appendix of observations on the meals of the
day... London: John Ebers & Co., 1829. 12mo (19.5 cm, 7.7"). Frontis., lxxii,
485, [3] pp.; illus.
$800.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Formal French cuisine laid out for an English audience by the celebrated Monsieur
Ude, who cooked for Louis XVI, the Earl of Sefton, and the Duke of York. This classic
cookbook, groundbreaking in its day, was first published in 1813 and is here in its tenth edition,
with a frontispiece portrait of the author engraved by A. Deane after a Maclise drawing, and nine
pages depicting bills of fare as they should be arranged at table. The work is peppered liberally
with French terms (of which a vocabulary is provided) and with elaborate techniques that seem
likely to have been in use in the most elegant kitchens (but not necessarily beyond the reach of
less elite aspirants); Byron swiped the names of many of Ude's dishes for use in canto 15, stanzas
62–74 of “Don Juan,” and indeed two of Ude's suggested course progressions for stanza 63 (see
p. 426).
Bitting 471; Cagle 1037 (for first ed.); Hazlitt 167; Oxford 142.
20th-century half scarlet morocco and marbled paper–covered sides,
spine with gilt-stamped title and raised bands ruled in black and gilt; spine
slightly sunned and minor shelf wear (only) to edges and corners. Top edge gilt.
Frontispiece and first two leaves with old waterstaining to lower inner margins,
and frontispiece browned; pages otherwise only very faintly age-toned, with
scattered light spotting.
A solid, generally clean, and definitely attractive
copy. (26609)
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This
book also appears in the GENERAL
MISCELLANY click here.

PreCivil
War Railroad
Map of
“the
West”
Especially
the MID-West
J.H. Colton, Co. Colton's new railroad map of the states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin & Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska & Kansas. Showing the township lines of the United States surveys. New York: J.H. Colton, 1860. Atlas folio folded to 12mo.
$500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
The map is on a sheet measuring 53.5 x 72.5 cm (21.25" x 28.5"; h x w), is in color, and has an engraved vignette of Lake Pepin.
Publisher's brown textured case, stamped in gilt on front cover; binding worn, and front cover no longer strongly attached to rear one except via the cloth of the spine. Map with fold tears. (26669)
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Grotius
on THE LAW of
War
& of the
Sea,
&
on Natural
Law
Grotius,
Hugo. Hugonis Grotii De jure belli ac
pacis libri tres, in quibus jus naturae & gentium, item juris publici praecipua
explicantur. Cum annotatis auctoris, ejusdemque dissertatione de Mari libero,
ac Libello singulari de aequitate, indulgentia, & facilitate, nec non Joann.
Frid. Gronovii v.c. notis in totum opus De jure belli ac pacis. Amstelaedami:
Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios, 1720. 8vo (20 cm; 8"). Frontis., engr. title-page,
[13] ff., xxxv, [1] pp., [2] ff., 483, [1] pp., [1] f., [483!]–936 pp.;
43, [1] pp., [42] ff.
$550.00
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 as
foundational
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)
For more 18TH-CENTURY BOOKS, click here.
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interest, click here.
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MISCELLANY click here.
485
Stunning Views
of
ENGLAND,
SCOTLAND,
& WALES
EACH
IMAGE Hand-Captioned
Storer, James
Sargant. Antiquarian and topographical cabinet, containing a series
of elegant views of the most interesting objects of curiosity in Great Britain.
London: W. Clarke, J. Carpenter, & H.D. Symonds, 1807–11. 8vo. 10
vols. I: [approx. 112] pp.; 56 plts. II: pp.; 49 plts. III: [approx. 110]
pp.; 55 plts. IV: [approx. 92] pp.; 46 plts. V: [approx. 86] pp.; 43 plts.
VI: [approx. 106] pp.; 53 plts. VII: [approx. 98] pp.; 49 plts. VIII: [approx.
86] pp.; 43 plts. IX: [approx. 110] pp.; 55 plts. X: [approx. 72], [16 (index)]
pp.; 36 plts. (15 plts. lacking of 500).
$2250.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Deluxe printing of the first edition, here in an impressive large-paper
set illustrated with 485 copper-engraved plates. The engraved images designed
for the duodecimo regular edition are here, in this octavo printing, mounted
within printed borders with
hand-inked
calligraphic captions. Those images depict such scenic
high spots as Dunstaple Priory in Bedfordshire, Roman remains in Brecknockshire,
the “great oak” at Silton, a Crusader monument in Winchester Cathedral,
Tintern Abbey (of course), and many, many churches and castles; they were engraved
by J. Greig, W. Angus, W. & G. Cooke, and J. Storer after drawings by various
hands.
Each
plate is accompanied by a letterpress description, generally about two pages
long.
Binding:
Contemporary green morocco, darkened to black; covers framed in gilt with gilt-stamped
corner fleurons, spines with gilt-stamped title, board edges with gilt-stamped
roll. All edges gilt.
NSTC S4069; Brunet, I, 319, Graesse 503. Bound as above
with insignificant shelf wear only, now refurbished and a bit of scuffing; 15
plates lacking of 500. Most plates clean, some foxed (a few heavily); some pages
with light offsetting from plates. One page with pencilled annotation detailing
an 1823 update in a site's ownership.
A luxurious, in fact in its way spectacular, production.
(22855)
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Fred's Book
— Scarce!
Sunbeam,
Susie [pseud. of Mrs. Henry S. Mackarness]. The picture alphabet,
with stories. Boston: Locke & Bubier, [1856]. 32mo. [2 (blank)], 96, 96,
[4 (blank)] pp.; illus.
$100.00
Click
the images for enlargements.
First U.S. edition of this Illustrated children's book, the first part being an alphabet
book, with stories. The second part is a collection of prayers and didactic verse entitled, “Little
Poems for Little Readers.” The charming engraved initials run A to Z, and the full-page
engravings are included in the pagination. Spine title: “Learning with Pleasure.”
Binding: Publisher's terra
cotta colored cloth, stamped in black on front cover, spine stamped with gilt
lettering and decorations. Center of front cover bears a full-color paper
on-lay picturing a dancing boy (possibly, Irish?) playing an accordion.
Provenance: In ink, on fly-leaf,
“Fred from Aunty Bertha.” In pencil, “Frederic Wade Hitching,
father of Elizabeth.”
Scarce, OCLC listing only one copy with
this imprint.
Binding slightly cocked/loose, stained, lightly rubbed over joints, and with cloth tearing a bit at
head and foot of spine; paper cover onlay with one corner chipped. Lacks front free endpaper.
Presentation inscription and note as above. Good+.
(7481)
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WONDERFUL
Culs-de-Lampe by
Villavicencio
& Navarro
& a
Headpiece
by Nava
Mexico
(ecclesiastical province). 1st & 2nd Concilia (1555, 1565).
Concilios provinciales primero, y segundo, celebrados en la muy noble,
y muy leal Ciudad de México, presidiendo el Illmo. y Rmo. Señor
D. Fr. Alonso de Montúfar, en los años de 1555, y 1565. En México:
En la Imprenta de el Superior Gobierno, de el Br. D. Joseph Antonio de Hogal,
1769. Folio (27 cm; 10.5"). [10], 34, [2], 35–38, 41–184, [2], 185–396,
[12] pp.
$2500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Second edition, following the first of 1555 of the acts of the
first Mexican concilium, and the first printing of the acts of the second Mexican
concilium.
This text is from the press of José Hogal,
who is often called the Baskerville of Mexico.
This edition begins with a handsome title-page in black and red with an allegorical copper
engraving by Mexican artist and engraver Manuel Villavicencio depicting the Church ministering
to the native Americans. The typography is clean with generous white space that accents the
crisp roman and italic of the text. One large engraved headpiece from another great Mexican
artist and engraver — Alonso Nava — appears on p. 1, and on that same page there is a gorgeous
engraved initial A that is signed in the plate by Villavicencio, this being one of the very few
signed engraved initials we have seen in our more than 40 years working with colonial Mexican
books. On pp. 367, 375, and 396 there are culs-de-lampe by (respectively) Manuel Villavicencio,
José Navarro, and Manuel Villavicencio. They incorporate Mexican scenery (coast near
Cozumel, a rural village) and motifs (alligators, eagle and serpent, “hieroglyphs,” and pyramids.
On the verso of the last leaf is a final engraving by Villavicencio, dated 1768, of a sleepy cherub
holding a skull. This same engraving was used as a cul-de-lampe below the last line of the
prologue (p. 37).
The first and second Mexican Concilia were called by Archbishop Moya de Contreras to
codify the principles of religious teaching, especially among the Indians, matters of canon law,
resolving problems relating to confession, addressing issues relating to slaves and free blacks,
and most curiously prohibiting Indians from owning collections of sermon and Bibles.The force behind this edition was archbishop Francisco Antonio Lorenzana (1722–1804),
a patron of Hogal's press and of the arts, who soon after assuming the archbishopric of Mexico in
1766 saw the need for a concilium. In preparation for it he paid Hogal to publish or republish, as
was the case, the acts of the first three provincial councils of Mexico, held respectively in 1555,
1565, and 1585; these appeared in 1769 and 1770. In 1771 he himself held the fourth Mexican
provincial synod; ironically, those acts were not published until 1898.
Medina, Mexico, 5299; Palau 142387; Sabin 42063.
Recent Spanish sheep mottled in the Valenciana style. Occasional light waterstain
in some upper margins, never in text. Paper crisp and printing very sharp.
A
very good copy. (26797)
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book also appears in the HISPANIC
MISCELLANY click here.
&
it appears in the GENERAL
MISCELLANY click here.

UPBRAIDING
a Lutheran Theologian
for
His
Statements on Transubstantiation
Ad frivolas calumnias, et cavillationes sophisticas Danielis Hoffmanni doctoris theologiae responsio ministrorum Ecclesiae Bremensis, qua monetur Hoffmannus, ut suo se pede metiens, & secum habitans, ad sobrietatem sapere discat, neque supra quam sapere opertet, sapiat. Bremae: ex officina typographica Theodori Glückstein, 1584. Small 8vo (16.2 cm; 6.25"). [32] ff.
$775.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Daniel Hoffmann (1538–1621) seems to be remembered now for having engaged in disputes in which he ended up making frivolous and indefensible assertions. The present publication arose from his statement concerning transubstantiation during a debate with other Lutheran theologians.The text is in Latin printed in italic, but with some passages in Greek and others in German (the latter printed in fraktur). One final section is entirely in Greek.
There were only two editions of this printed, one year apart. This is the second (1584) and is apparently much scarcer than the first (1583): It is not listed in VD16 and WorldCat finds only two copies worldwide, one of which has been deaccessioned.
VD16 A184 (for 1583 ed.). Recent ebony-brown calf old style: Round spine, fillets extending onto covers terminating in trefoils, and covers framed in blind double fillets. Very good condition. (26755)
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Gascon
Tales &
Anecdotes
Montfort, François Salvat, sieur de. C, ou recueil des
bons mots, des pensées les plus plaisantes, et des rencontres les plus vives des Gascons. Lyon:
Antoine Boudet, 1708. 8vo (15.8 cm, 6.25"). [8], 482, [2] pp.
$400.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Compilation of wit and humor from the southwest of France, a region
universally acclaimed for its douceur de vivre. This is one of two editions
of 1708 (the first year of the work's appearance), the other issued in Paris;
the collection was also issued under the title Gasconiana.
Barbier, Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes et pseudonymes,
915. Contemporary speckled sheep, spine gilt extra; overall rubbed,
front cover with small nick to upper edge and short tear from joint now repaired,
spine leather cracked with gilt rubbed yet still
very nice to look at. Front pastedown
with printed paper label (owner's name in blackletter) affixed, front free
endpaper excised. Intermittent light spotting and staining, some pages browned.
(26907)
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Creationist
Guide to the Natural World
— A Pretty 4-Volume
Set
Duncan, Henry. Sacred philosophy of the seasons; illustrating the perfections of God in the phenomena of the year. Boston: Marsh, Capen, Lyon, & Webb, 1839. 12mo (18.5 cm, 7.3"). 4 vols. I: xvi, 389, [1] pp. II: 391, [1] pp. III: 401, [1] pp. IV: 416 pp.
$250.00
Click the images for enlargements.
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)
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MENU of
a
Major
Philadelphia Occasion
Gimbel
Brothers. Dinner tendered to Mrs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
upon the occasion of the presentation of the Gimbel Awards... Philadelphia:
Gimbel Brothers, [1934]. 8vo. [16] pp.; illus.
$37.50
Click the images for enlargements.
Menu (including Lobster Thermidor and Potato Louisiana) and program
for the 1934 presentation of the Gimbel Award for Outstanding Woman of the Nation
to Eleanor Roosevelt. A photographic portrait of Mrs. Roosevelt is at the front,
and the guest list at the back.
Stapled in original printed cardstock, with decorative silk
tassel. Darkening and dust-soiling, definitely more noticeable in person than
the photos suggest on some monitors here; still a worthy souvenir. (26059)
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You
Will Find
NO
Prettier Copy!
Brooks, Elbridge S. The true story of the United States of America told for young people. Boston: Lothrop Publishing Co., © 1897. 4to. Frontis., [2], 246 pp.; illus.
$65.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Early edition, fully illustrated with numerous in-text and full-page
steel engravings.
Binding: Publisher's
tan cloth, front cover and spine pictorially stamped in black, white, and
red.
Spine very slightly sunned, otherwise a lovely copy. Pages clean.
(26919)
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Based
on
the
Didot Folio Edition
1798
Virgilius Maro,
Publius (a.k.a.
Virgil
a.k.a. Vergilius Maro). Publius Vergilius Maro. Bucolica, Georgica
et Aeneis. Londini: apud A. Dulau & Co. (T. Bensley, printer), 1800. 8vo
(23.5 cm; 9.25"). I: [2] ff., 246 pp., 7 plates. II: [2] ff., 276 pp., 7 (of
8) plates.
$700.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Reprint of Didot's folio edition, Paris, 1798, with plates here engraved by
Bartolozzi, Fittler, Sharp, and Neagle and copied from those of Gerard and Girodet in the Paris
edition. The plates are distributed one to each book of the Aeneis, one to the Bucolica, and two
to the Georgica.The work was issued in quarto and octavo format, both handsomely printed by Bensley.
Brunet, V, 1294; Graesse, VII, 344–45; Schweiger, II, 1181. Contemporary straight-grained morocco, neatly rebacked with good lettering; board edges with a gilt rule and somewhat rubbed. Lacking the single
plate at the front of Book X of Aeneis. All edges gilt. (26757)
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The
First Translation of the
Bible into Italian
from
Hebrew
& Greek Sources
Bible.
Italian. Diodati.
1641. La sacra bibbia tradotta in lingua Italiana, e commentata da
Giovanni Diodati. Stampata in Geneua: Per Pietro Chovët, 1641. Folio (30.5
cm; 12.125"). [3] ff., 837, [3], 331, [1], 148, 68 pp.
$2200.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Second edition of Giovanni Diodati's translation, “migliorata, ed accresciuta. Con
l'aggiunta de' Sacri Salmi, missi in rime per lo medesimo.” The first edition appeared in 1607.Diodati (1576–1649), a Protestant theologian, in 1609 succeeded Theodore Beza as
professor of theology at Geneva, and in fact was Beza's choice for his successor. He is best
remembered today as the first to translate the Bible into Italian from Hebrew and Greek sources.
The added engraved title-page of this edition is dated 1640 and signed “A. Bosse jn. et
fecit”; it bears two old ownership notes, not deciphered. The biblical text is printed in roman
and italic in double-column format and has woodcut initials; Diodati's commentary is in smaller
roman type at the bottom of pages in very wide single-column format. The New Testament,
Apocrypha,and Psalter have sectional titles.
Darlow & Moule 5600.
Contemporary vellum over paste boards, elaborately tooled in gilt, rebacked
and the gilt of the front board mostly perished leaving the tooling attractively highlighted in
black; gilt of the bottom board still bright. Vellum with old stains and slightly yapp edges
defective in part, showing signs that silk ties were once present. The half-title leaf for the N.T. is
not printed, but blank. Light waterstaining in upper margin of early leaves; otherwise occasional
spotting only. All edges gilt. In sum, a rather nice copy. (26298)
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An
Arctic Explorer
Scoresby-Jackson, R. E. The Life of William Scoresby.
London, Edinburgh, & New York: T. Nelson & Sons, 1861. 8vo. Frontis., engr. title-page, ix, [1
(blank)] pp., fold. map, pp. [9]–406 pp., 5 color plates.
$650.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Scoresby-Jackson (bap. 1833, d. 1867) was a physician and geographer and the
nephew of William Scoresby, the famed Arctic explorer. DNB online says of him and this work:
“He remains best-known for his life of his uncle, William Scoresby, published in 1861. It is a
sympathetic account of a man who captured the public imagination for his lonely scientific
endeavours and selfless following of his Christian vocation.”The work is illustrated with a frontispiece portrait, a folding map of the coast of
Greenland and part of the Arctic Circle, and five plates in color (notably “ice blue”) of snow
flakes, ice floes, an atmospheric phenomenon, and two views of different parts of the Greenland
coast.
Sabin 35452 & 78184. Publisher's purple textured
cloth, boards blind embossed and front one with a gilt center device; spine sunned; lettered in
gilt. Top of spine with small loss of cloth and an excellent repair; one plate with a separated
sliver of tissue-guard adhered to it. Ex–social club library: call number on endpaper, very light
rubber- and pressure-stamp on title-page, pressure-stamp on another page, light rubber stamp on
map, no other markings. A good++ copy. (26822)
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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.
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)
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A
Dumfries-shire
Production
— Here
for New Yorkers
Duncan, Henry. Tales of the Scottish peasantry. By the
Rev. Henry Duncan, and others. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1849. 12mo. Frontis.,
added wood-engraved title-page and four other plts., 321 pp.
$85.00
Click the images for enlargement.
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)
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A
Curious Text &
12 Remarkable Woodcuts
Priest, Josiah. The anti-universalist, or history of the
fallen angels of the Scriptures. Albany: J. Munsell, 1839. 8vo. 420 pp.; 12 plts. (incl. in
pagination).
$150.00
Click the images for enlargements.
“Proofs of the being of Satan and of evil spirits, and many other curious matters
connected therewith”: Second edition, following the first of 1837, illustrated with twelve
engraved plates. The second portion has a separate title-page, reading “History of Satan, and
proofs of the existence of devils and evil spirits.”The twelve unsigned woodcut plates are full of energy both emblematic and artistic.
Publisher's quarter tan cloth with blue paper-covered sides;
boards stained and chipped with paper peeling, all extremities rubbed, and paper spine label
mostly lost. Front hinge cracked, back hinge starting. Front pastedown with institutional
bookplate; title-page with private owner's stamp in upper margin and old cataloguing excerpt
affixed to lower margin. Lower outer corners waterstained in first half; pages cockled, with
occasional faint spotting; first text page with newsprint blurb about Priest affixed in upper
margin. A compromised copy, but an extraordinary production; interesting from a variety of
perspectives. (15630)
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One
Year's Worth of
Well-Spent
Half Hours
Knight, Charles. Half-hours with the best authors.
[London: Charles Knight, 1847–48]. 8vo (22.8 cm, 9"). 4 vols. in 2. I: Frontis., engr. t.-p., [2],
312 pp., frontis., engr. t.-p., [2], 312 pp. II: Frontis., engr. t.-p., [iii]–iv, 312 pp., frontis., engr. t.-p., [iii]–iv, 316 pp.
$175.00
Click
the images for enlargements.
First edition: Engaging periodical compilation of poetry, history,
Christian meditations, natural history, art and literary criticism, biography,
and fiction, set forth in
52
weekly issues meant to be consumed in half-hour portions, with
each weekly number containing seven half-hours. (Indices and quarterly title-pages
are bound in here.)
Knight, who was devoted to books and to literature from the time he was a small child,
was a much-admired printer and publisher, as well as an author, reformer, and would-be
educator: Many of his publishing endeavors were aimed at improving and enlightening the
working class.
NSTC 2K7731. On Knight, see: Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography online. On binding cloth, see: Krupp, Bookcloth, style Wav3.
Publisher's textured brown cloth, covers blind-stamped with muse motif and title, spines with
gilt-stamped title and blind-stamped decorations; lightly worn overall with some fading, vol. II
spine head with traces of a strip of cloth tape. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate,
call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Paper slightly
embrittled (more so in second volume), with a few short edge tears. Externally ordinary;
internally worthwhile. (26860)
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The
Lady
Never
Having Been There “SEES!”
NYC &
Other Places
Stone, William Leete. Letter to Doctor A. Brigham, on
animal magnetism: being an account of a remarkable interview between the author and Miss
Loraina Brackett while in a state of somnambulism. New York: George Dearborn (Scatcherd &
Adams, printers), 1837. 8vo. 75, [1 (blank)] pp.
$225.00
Second edition, with additions; first edition published the same
year, the letter describing a blind young woman who had demonstrated clairvoyant
powers while in a trance-like state. Brackett, whose sight and speech had been
lost from a near fatal blow to the head by an iron weight, was able to speak
normally and discern certain objects and light from darkness following treatment
by Dr. George Capron of Providence, Rhode Island, using animal magnetism. She
also describes the scenery along walks in places she has never visited, and
paintings in homes she has never entered . . .
Click the images for enlargements.
The second edition's “Postscript” promises “additional
facts connected with this interesting subject, equally wonderful,” or
even “more so.”
William Leete Stone (1792–1844) was a journalist, editor of the “Commercial
Advertiser,” advocate of slave emancipation and Greek independence,
historian of colonial New York and New England, and first superintendent of
public schools in New York City.
Very
scarce.
NSTC 2S41964; Sabin 92135. See: Dicitonary of American Biography
for much on Stone. Removed from a nonce volume; mildest foxing to first
and final leaves with crescent of lost paper to foremargin (only) of one leaf
not nearing text.
A very good copy. (11023)
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When
Elevators
ALL
Had Operators
Howells, William Dean. The Elevator, a farce. Boston:
James R. Osgood & Co., 1885. 16mo. 84 pp.
$35.00
First edition. A romp at the expense of the janitor and the building's
missing elevator.
Binding:
Publisher's green cloth front cover elaborately stamped in black with a center
oblong in gilt leaving the title and author in revers color, i.e., in the
green of the binding.
Click the images for enlargements.
BAL 9617. Binding as above, spine with overall lightening.
Ex–social club library: call number on endpaper and front fly-leaf, rubber-stamp on title-page,
no other markings. (26806)
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E.A.
POE's Onetime
Near-Fiancée Rebuts
Griswold's
“Perverted
Facts & Baseless Assumptions”
Whitman,
Sarah Helen. Edgar Poe and his critics.
New York: Rudd & Carleton, 1860. 12mo (19.5 cm; 7.5"). [8], [13]–81,
[1], 6 (adv.) pp.
$150.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition of this early, famed defense of Edgar Allan Poe against Griswold and
other critics, written by a poet who had very nearly married Poe.
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)
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A
Practical Yet Picturesque
View of
the
U.S. & Canada
De Roos, Frederick
Fitzgerald [a.k.a. De Ros, John Frederick Fitzgerald]. Personal narrative
of travels in the United States and Canada in 1826 ... with remarks on the present
state of the American Navy. London: William Harrison Ainsworth, 1827. 8vo (21.8
cm, 8.55"). xii, 207, [1] pp.; 14 plts. (1 fold.).
$550.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition. The author (whose name is given here as Fred. Fitzgerald
De Roos, but often cited as John Frederick Fitzgerald De Ros), was at the time
of this publication a lieutenant of the Royal Navy. His American journey took
him from New York through New Brunswick and Trenton to Washington and Baltimore
before heading back north through Philadelphia and Boston to reach Nova Scotia
and Canada; in his travelogue, the author proves himself a curious yet gentlemanly
observer not only of America's shipbuilding, marine affairs, and naval strength,
but also of her customs, culture, women, and interactions with “the conquered
Indian” (p. 165).
The volume is illustrated with
an
oversized, folding panoramic view of Quebec along with 13 other plates,
including two maps of the Niagara Falls region; views of Bristol, DE, and
Chester, MA; and a bucolic depiction of the “Water Works of Philadelphia
on the Schuylkil,” all engraved after De Roos's own designs.
Binding:
Contemporary hunter green diced calf, covers framed in gilt double fillets
and an interior blind rule with small gilt-stamped corner fleurons; spine
gilt extra in five compartments. Board edges and turn-ins decorated with gilt
rolls; rich blue marbled endpapers; all edges marbled.
Howes D268; Sabin 19677. Binding as above, corners/joints
scuffed and back joint starting from head; spine a little sunned, evenly and
attractively. Scattered light foxing, pages and plates otherwise clean.
An
admirable book in a nice copy. (26665)
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A
Thrilling Adventure by
CAR
The
First
International Motor Rally
Barzini, Luigi. Peking–Paris im Automobil: Eine
Wettfahrt durcht Asien und Europa in sechzig Tagen ... mit einer Einleitung von fürst Scipione
Borghese. Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus, 1908. 8vo (23.5 cm, 9.25"). [6], 558 pp.; 32 plts., 1 fold.
map.
$125.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: Account of Prince Borghese's dramatic victory in the Peking to Paris
automobile race of 1907, written by the journalist who accompanied him. The work is printed in
black-letter on heavy, very white paper, and illustrated with an oversized, folding map of the
race's route, 32 half-tone photographic plates, and numerous in-text photographic reproductions.
Binding:
Publisher's textured tan cloth, covers and spine with stamped in brown with
small pictorial vignettes evoking “the road”; title and author
stamped in gilt. All edges subtly blue-sprinkled.
Spine very slightly darkened and virtually no
wear otherwise. One signature loosening; one page with a scrape (with a bit of loss to type), this
and a few others with the ink's having offset or adhered pages together (usually separable); and
all otherwise clean and crisp. A handsome copy. (26680)
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Around
the World “Overland”??
— including HAWAII?
Simpson, George, Sir. An overland journey round the
world, during the years 1841 and 1842. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1847. 8vo (21.3 cm,
8.4"). 273, [3], [17]–230, [2 (blank)] pp.
$325.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First U.S. edition, following the first London of the same year, published under the
title Narrative of a Journey Round the World. Simpson, an enterprising businessman and
administrator, was Governor-in-Chief of Rupert's Land for the Hudson's Bay Company (and
dedicated the present work to the nine directors of that company). In a global trek that took just
under 20 months, he voyaged from London to Canada and thence to California, Hawaii, Alaska,
and Russia before returning to London. His careful observations include much commentary on
the degree of “civilization” among various peoples and the results thereof — often not positive,
especially with regards to the impact of missionaries on local culture and morality. Simpson also
provides economic and trade analyses, linguistic comparisons, culinary critiques (in particular,
his distaste for the garlicky food served in California), and descriptions of local flora and fauna.
Cowan & Cowan, Bibliography of the History of California, 589 (London ed.
only); Forbes, Hawaiian National Bibliography, 1671; Hill, Pacific Voyages, 1572; Howgego,
Encyclopedia of Exploration, II, S25; Hunnewell, Bibliography of the Hawaiian Islands, 67
(London ed.); Sabin 81344. Publisher's speckled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; leather rubbed and discolored but volume sound. Ex–social club
library: 19th-century bookplates and old inked call numbers on endpapers (with no other
markings). Endpapers and early/late leaves with waterstaining to lower inner portions; scattered
small spots of staining elsewhere. (26391)
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The
TRYAL
of the
Seven Bishops
Sancroft, William. The proceedings and tryal in the case
of the Most Reverend Father in God William Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Right
Reverend Fathers in God, William Lord Bishop of St. Asaph, Francis Lord Bishop of Ely, John
Lord Bishop of Chichester, Thomas Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells, Thomas Lord Bishop of
Peterborough, and Jonathan Lord Bishop of Bristol. London: Pr. for J. Nicholson, J. Walthoe, G.
Conyers, J. & D. Sprint, T. Ballard, W. Mears and J. Browne, 1716. 8vo (20 cm, 7.9"). Frontis.,
[6], 376 pp. (pagination 182–89 omitted).
$450.00
Uncommon second edition, following the first of 1689: Transcript
of the 1688 trial of seven bishops of the Church of England, charged with seditious
libel for having petitioned James II to repeal his second Declaration of Indulgence.
This
is one of the landmark cases of English constitutional history,
analyzing the extent of the king's legislative authority; the bishops' eventual
acquittal delivered a fatal blow to James's reign.
Click
the images for enlargement.
The volume opens with a copper-engraved portrait of the seven bishops: Sancroft,
Thomas Ken, John Lake, William Lloyd, Jonathan Trelawny, Francis Turner, and
Thomas White.
ESTC T103539. Contemporary speckled calf, framed and
panelled in blind with blind-tooled corner fleurons and contrasting panel
of plain calf, edges and corners rubbed; recently rebacked with complementary
speckled calf, spine with raised bands. Pages age-toned with some light spotting.
Some corners bumped in use and one leaf a bit crumpled in the press; complete
with the handsome frontispiece. (26524)
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This
book also appears in the GENERAL
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1850
in
Prosperous,
Bustling Boston
Coolidge & Wiley. The Boston almanac for the year
1850. Boston: B.B. Mussey & Co., & Thomas Groom (pr. by Coolidge & Wiley), [1849]. 12mo
(13.9 cm, 6.45"). 211, [5] pp.; 1 map, illus.
$200.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Opening with an oversized, folding map of New England “exhibiting the rail road
& telegraphic lines now in operation,” this almanac offers the usual calendrical information
along with memoranda pages, brief biographies of the presidents of the U.S., and descriptions of
Boston government, recent laws, and public improvements — the latter illustrated with in-text
steel engravings of the Boston Common fountain, the “new city jail,” the Boston Athenaeum, etc.Boston-area businesses with full-page advertisements in this publication include a
silversmith/jeweler, an apothecary, an upholsterer, a pianoforte manufacturer, and an ink maker;
also provided are both an extensive business directory and an index of the smaller in-text
advertisements promoting local merchants.
Binding: Signed binding
of brown straight-grained cloth, front cover gilt-stamped with vignette of
the city and blind-stamped with two female figures representing Agriculture
(holding a scythe) and Law and Order (holding scales), back cover similarly
blind-stamped with central stamp of Benjamin Bradley & Co. bookbinders.
Drake, Almanacs, 4446; Spawn & Kinsella, American
Signed Bindings, 56. Not in Phillips, List of Maps of America.
Binding as above, spine showing minimal wear; clean and beautiful.
Front pastedown with ticket of a Massachusetts bookseller. Endpapers with
offsetting; map age-toned with offsetting, outer edges slightly ragged; one
index page with chip to outer margin, with loss of a few letters. Pages lightly
age-toned.
An excellent copy. (26684)
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also appears in the GENERAL
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Isn't
“Rustlings in the
Rockies” a
GREAT
Title??
Shields, G.O. Rustlings in the Rockies: Hunting and fishing by mountain and stream. Chicago: Belford, Clarke & Co., 1883. 8vo. Frontis., xvi (vii/viii bound in after xvi),9–306, [6 (adv.)] pp.; illus.
$100.00
Early edition, following the first of 1880 (published as Hunting the Great West): Outdoors adventures among the bears and buffalo — not to mention the trout and the alligator — as well as encounters with the Cheyenne and Sioux, all illustrated with numerous full-page and in-text steel engravings. The author (a.k.a. Coquina) was president of the League of American Sportsmen and a frequent contributor to American Field.
Click the images for enlargements.
Binding: Publisher's brown cloth, front cover with black-stamped hunting scene and title framed in gilt, spine with gilt-stamped title.
Binding as above, corners and spine head lightly rubbed. Ex–social club library: call number on endpaper, rubber-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Pages clean. (27113)
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The
Latest
Agricultural Innovations,
with COLOR-PRINTED
Plates
Wells, David Ames. The year-book of agriculture; or, the
annual of agricultural progress and discovery, for 1855 and 1856. Exhibiting the most important
discoveries and improvements.... Philadelphia: Childs & Peterson, 1856. 8vo (24 cm, 9.45").
399, [1] pp.; 5 plts. (4 col.).
$300.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: “Agricultural mechanics, agricultural chemistry,
agricultural and horticultural botany, agricultural and economic geology, agricultural
zoology, meteorology, &c.” The volume opens with a portrait and biography
of
Andrew
J. Downing, “the most eminent of American horticulturists
and professors of Rural Architecture” (p. 5). Much interesting material
is present here on the cultivation of various fruits and vegetables, the introduction
of exotic domesticated animals (Chinese yaks, cashmere goats, camels) into the
United States and Europe, statistics of American production, and various mechanical
and technical innovations.
Illustrated
with four color plates done by Max and Louis N. Rosenthal of the famed Philadelphia
firm Rosenthal's, producers of some of the earliest chromolithographs
in the U.S. The frontispiece here, after a drawing by B.L.C. Wailes, depicts
a blossoming cotton plant, while the three other chromolithographed plates show
a more mature example, the cotton caterpillar, and rot in cotton. The volume
is additionally illustrated with a number of in-text steel and wood engravings.
Allibone 2641. Not in Reese, Stamped with a National Character.
Publisher's blind-stamped green cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title;
spine sunned, chipped at head, and with small darkened area. Ex–social
club library: Call number on front pastedown, front free endpaper lacking,
title-page and several others (not plates) with old, round, light rubber-stamp.
Pages age-toned, otherwise clean. (26420)
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in there), click
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“General Reading” & Inexpensive, click here.
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This
book also appears in the GENERAL
MISCELLANY click here.
A
Must for
Visitors
to AMAZONIA
Figueira, Luis. Arte da grammatica da lingua do Brasil.
Lisboa: Na Officina Patriarcal, 1795. Small 4to (20.5 cm; 8"). [2] ff., 103, [1 (blank)] pp.
$1875.00
Figueira (1573–1643), a Jesuit missionary in the Pará and Marañón regions of the
Amazon, saw his grammar of the Tupí Guaraní language of the Brazilian natives published for
the first time in 1621, with subsequent editions all being posthumous (1681, 1687, 1754, and
1795). This fifth edition (incorrectly labelled “quarta impressaõ” on the title-page) was edited by
José Mariano da Conceição Velloso (1742–1811). The 1754 edition seems to have been
suppressed in the wake of the 1759 expulsion of the Jesuits from Portugal and its empire.
Click the images for enlargements.
Sabin 24313; DeBacker-Sommervogel, III, 721; Viñaza 389;
Valle Cabral 6; Rodrigues 1002; Ayrosa 202, Borba de Moraes (rev. ed.), I,
409. Publisher's “wallpaper” wrappers.
Fine, crisp copy. (26520)
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also appears in the GENERAL
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Not-Always-Pretty
Lives Recounted
— but a Pretty Book!
Earle, Alice Morse. Child life in colonial days. New
York: Macmillan & Co., 1899. 8vo. Frontis., xxi, [1], 418, [2 (adv.)] pp.; 55 plts., illus.
$55.00
First edition of this detailed, heavily illustrated account of the joys and sorrows of
growing up in early America.
Publisher's green cloth, front
cover and spine stamped in gilt, white, and yellow; slightly cocked, with edges and extremities a
bit rubbed. Occasional small pencilled marks of emphasis. In fact, quite a nice copy.
(15620)
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The
FIRST Complete
Church of
England Liturgy
in
GREEK
Church
of England. Book of Common Prayer. Greek.
[in Greek, romanized as ] Leitourgia Brettanikē ēgoun Biblos dēmosiōn
euchōn kai diakonēseōs mystēriōn kai tōn allōn
thesmōn kai teletōn en tē Ekklēsia hēmōn Anglikanē
eis t[ēn] tōn philhellēnōn neōn charin hellēnisti
ekdotheisa. Liber precum publicarum ac celebrationis sacramentorum reliquorumq[ue];
rituum & caeremoniarum in Ecclesiâ nostrâ Anglicanâ, in
studiosae juventutis gratiam nunc primùm graecè editus. Operâ
& studio Eliae PetilI presbyteri. Londini: Typis Tho. Cotes pro Richardo
Whitakero, 1638. 8vo (16.1 cm, 6.5"). [262] pp. (lacking prelim. blank f.).
[π1A4α4(-α1) β4γ4 ¶4¶¶4¶¶¶1
B–N4 A–04 P2].
$1500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First Greek translation of the entire Liturgy, including the Psalter, done by Elias
Petley from the 1604 English Prayer Book. The Oxford Guide to the Book of Common Prayer
describes this work as “reflecting an interest in Anglican-Orthodox union being promoted by
Archbishop Laud and the Greek Patriarch Cyril Lucar”; the volume is dedicated to Laud.The main title-page is printed in red and black; the separate title-page for the Psalter has a
neat woodcut printer's vignette and blazons (in Greek type) Psalterion prophetou kai basileos tou
Dabid. The elegant Greek type is set in double columns, with some nicely laid in typographic
ornaments and decorated capitals. The signing is erratic, but the collation of this example
matches most recorded descriptions: Leaf α1, apparently a cancel in a few copies but lacking in
most reported examples and not present here, was a supplemental title-page giving Biblos
dēmosiōn euchōn, kai leitourgēseōs mystēriōn; Griffiths calls for only one preliminary leaf, as is
found here, with the other leaf in the gathering being a blank. Leaf 1C2 is a cancel.
Provenance: Front pastedown
with armorial bookplate of Twistleton Fiennes, with that family's motto: “Fortem
posce animum”; front free endpaper rubber-stamped “Birch”
and front fly-leaf inked “Tho.s Birch e Coll. Herts. Oxon.” (apparently
neither the historian nor the marine painter); title-page with inked monogram
(obscure).
ESTC S108726; STC (rev. ed.) 16432 & 2353; Griffiths,
Bibliography of the Book of Common Prayer, (Other Languages) 45/2.
Psalter: Darlow & Moule 4683. See: Oxford Guide to the Book of Common
Prayer 57. Contemporary speckled calf, covers framed in gilt double
fillets, rebacked with speckled calf quite plainly (without labels but with
gilt-dotted raised bands); corners rubbed, original leather showing expectable
acid-pitting. One preliminary blank (only) lacking; title-pages trimmed closely
at outer edge, affecting typographical border and (on main page) one letter
of publication information. Ownership marks as above. Pages lightly age-toned,
otherwise clean; tiny spot of worming in lower inner margin, not affecting
text.
A handsome and evocative little book.
(26373)
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Recipes
& Wine
Suggestions:
“Bunny
in a Bucket” “Pheasant
in the Fire” &
“Moose
Mulligan”
Willard, John. Game is good eating. Helena, MT: State
Publishing Co., © 1958. 8vo. [6], 106 pp.; illus.
$65.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Second edition: “The West's finest old & new recipes for wild game - fish - birds,”
illustrated with drawings by Vern Craig and with photographic plates (included in pagination).
Recipes from eight famed American outdoorsmen are included, along with photographs of the
eight bearing their printed signatures.
Publisher's textured
brown cloth, front cover and spine stamped in green, front cover with vignette of deer in pot,
dustwrapper chipped at corners, upper edges, and spine extremities with spine lightly sunned.
Front fly-leaf with inked owner's name. Pages clean. (26903)
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“The
Great Problem of Hieroglyphics”:
Champollion
Explained to
English
Speakers
Greppo, J.-G.-Honoré. Essay on the hieroglyphic
system of M. Champollion, Jun. and on the advantages which it offers to sacred criticism.
Boston: Perkins & Marvin, 1830. 12mo (20.4 cm, 8"). xii, 276 pp.; 2 plts.
$250.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition in English, translated from the French by Isaac Stuart
and here with an introduction from the Rev. Moses Stuart, a prominent biblical
scholar as well as the translator's father. Greppo here expounds on Champollion's
groundbreaking discoveries in the history and translation of hieroglyphics,
with additional notes and content provided by Stuart.
Two
plates at the back of the volume depict hieroglyphics and compare the “pure,”
hieratic, and demotic forms.
American Imprints 1679; Allibone 2292. Publisher's
red cloth, faded and discolored, recently rebacked preserving original spine
label and as much of original spine cloth as possible; spine label darkened
with chip. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, pressure-stamp
on title-page, no other markings. Page edges untrimmed; pages moderately age-toned,
otherwise clean. In fact quite a decent copy. (26382)
For more POST-1820 AMERICANA, click here.
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This
book also appears in the GENERAL
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For
German-AMERICANS
Wanting
to
Learn
English
Sower (a.k.a.
Saur), Christopher, comp. Eine nuetzliche Anweisung oder
Beyhuelffe vor Deutsche um Englisch zu lernen.... Nebst einer Grammatic....
Vierte und vermehrte Auflage. Germantaun: Gedruckt und zu bekommen bey Peter
Leibert, 1792. 8vo (16.8 cm, 6.6"). [4], 282 (i.e., 284) pp.
$450.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Christopher Sower (a.k.a. Saur, 1721–84) is the likely compiler
of this German–English grammar (cf. Evans 6777), designed to help German-speaking
immigrants to North America learn English.
In addition to the lessons it includes short German–English
and English–German lexicons. First published in 1751,
it is printed here in both fraktur and roman type, with a woodcut headpiece
of the all-seeing eye above the preface. This is the fourth of four 18th-century
editions.
Provenance:
Front fly-leaf with early inked inscription “Sebastian Keller jnr.”
Sebastian Keller the second was the son of
Catharine Hummer of White Oak, Pennsylvania;
Hummer was the first woman to preach among the German Baptist Brethren of
Pennsylvania, and famed for her visions of dead people being baptized in Heaven.
ESTC W21002; Evans 24771; Arndt & Eck, German Language
Printing in the U.S., 853. Contemporary mottled sheep, covers
framed in blind double fillets; binding scuffed and rubbed, spine and front
cover with insect damage. Pages browned and intermittently stained as usual
with German American imprints; edges of front free endpaper, first few leaves,
and back free endpaper tattered. Front fly-leaf with inscription as above.
(26180)
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A
Capuchin
on the Trinity, with
Some
POETRY
as Well
Feliciano de Sevilla. El sol increado dios trino y uno, y
la grande excelencia de su culto y devocion. Reimpreso en Mexico: por D. Felipe de Zúñiga y
Ontiveros, 1790. 4to (20.5 cm; 8.25"). [10] ff., 464 pp.
$775.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Originally published in 1702 and here in its first Mexican edition, this work on
God and the Trinity is from the pen of a Capuchin from Seville — hence his religious name. He
served as a missionary in Andalucia and, despite assertions by one university cataloguer that are
copied by several others, he never was a missionary in Mexico.The volume ends with a “Corona Florida a la Santisima Trinidad,” being a small literary
collection of coplas, canciones, and a romance “en Metafora del Sol, que discurre por los doce
signos del Zodiaco.”
Binding: Publisher's mottled sheep, gilt spine extra. Marbled endpapers; all edges red.
Medina, Mexico, 8016. Binding lightly worn. A few gatherings starting to extrude. A very good, clean copy. (26851)
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MEXICO is one of our great specialties.
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This
appears in the HISPANIC
MISCELLANY click here.
From
Aberdeen's
FIRST
PRINTER
Dickson, David. A short explanation, of the Epistle of
Paul to the Hebrewes. Aberdene [i.e., Aberdeen]: Imprinted by Edw. Raban, 1635. Small 8vo.
[14], 333, [1] pp. (lacks initial and final blank leaves).
$1250.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition of this work and an early Aberdeen imprint, the press not having
arrived there until 1622, more than 100 years after it was established in Edinburgh. Raban, the
printer here, was the first printer to work in Aberdeen. He is thought to have been a native of
Gloucester and it is hypothesized that after serving as a soldier in the Low Countries, he learned
the printing art there. Researchers are struck by the similarities between his type, devices, and
ornaments and those of the Pilgrim Press in Leyden. Here, the title-page has a border made up of
small type ornaments and incorporates a handsome larger ornament above the imprint; the text is
graced with a variety of headpieces that are also ornament-composed, plus two tailpieces and one
nice initial “W.”Dickson (1583?–1663) was a Scottish divine who had a trouble-tossed career but who
eventually settled into a pattern of living that suited him. He authored a number of works on
several of the books of the Bible; this one was reprinted at Dublin in 1637 and Cambridge in
1649.
Uncommon: ESTC locates only six copies in the U.S. and of those only three are verified.
STC (2nd ed.) 6824; ESTC S109676. Contemporary sheep
rebacked with library cloth tape (!). Ex-library with bookplate and 19th-century library rubber-stamps (including one on title-page); blind pressure-stamp on title as well. Title-page soiled.
Text age-toned slightly. (17341)
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Separation
of Church & State
— RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
First
Collected Edition
Locke,
John. Letters concerning toleration.
London: A. Millar, H. Woodfall, I. Whiston & B. White, I. Rivington, et
al., 1765. 4to (29.5 cm, 11.6"). Frontis., [8], 399, [1 (blank)] pp.
$2000.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First collected edition of Locke's four letters on the subject of religious liberty,
including the original Latin text of the groundbreaking first letter. The first Letter Concerning
Toleration, originally published in 1689, was widely read (including by Jefferson) and served as
a major philosophical support for freedom of worship by all, including Jews, Muslims, and
pagans. Locke's subsequent letters — the fourth was left unfinished at the time of his death —
were defenses of the first against attacks made by Anglican clergyman Jonas Proast.
The copper-engraved frontispiece portrait of the author was done by I.B. Cipriani
after Sir Godfrey Kneller; it is celebrated.
This
is a lovely, “gentleman's library” edition, well printed with generous
margins.
Provenance: Two text
pages and back pastedown with flourished ownership inscriptions of Richard
Wood, Jr., dated 1780.
ESTC T114245; Graesse, IV, 243; Lowndes 1380; Allibone 1113–14.
Contemporary speckled calf, spine with gilt-ruled raised bands and
gilt-stamped leather title-label; binding lightly rubbed/scuffed overall,
joints starting from top and front hinge (inside) starting; spine with a chip
and a small paper label. Front pastedown with three bookplates most tantalizingly
layered over one another, the most recent being from a 19th-century social
club library; front free endpaper with pencilled and inked numerals in an
early hand. Pages age-toned and faintly to moderately spotted; minor offsetting
from frontispiece to title-page. (26302)
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Anti-Muslim
& Anti-Deist
Prideaux, Humphrey. The true nature of imposture fully display'd in the life of Mahomet. With a discourse annex'd for the vindication of Christianity from this charge ... eighth edition, corrected. London: E. Curll, J. Hooke, W. Mears & F. Clay, 1723. 8vo (20.2 cm, 7.9"). xvi (i.e., xvii), [3], 260 pp.
$300.00
Click the images for enlargements.
“Offered to the Consideration of the deists of the Present Age,” this is the eighth, corrected edition of a polemic originally published in 1697 by the dean of Norwich. Much read and widely influential on both English and American opinions of Islam, this work led to the common attachment of the “impostor” epithet to Mohammed's name in Western usage.
The “Discourse for the Vindicating of Christianity from the Charge of Imposture” has a separate title-page dated 1722, but its pagination is continuous with the first work.
ESTC T138493. Contemporary speckled calf, framed and panelled in blind with panel of contrasting calf decorated with blind roll and blind-tooled corner fleurons, rebacked with sympathetic calf, spine with gilt-dotted raised bands, gilt-stamped leather title-label, and blind-tooled compartment decorations; original leather showing minor acid-pitting with edges worn and rubbed. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpapers, no other markings. Front free endpaper with upper outer corner repaired; browned, with offsetting to margins of first and last few leaves from turn-ins, yet not brittle. (27101)
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First
American Edition
James, Henry. The Reverberator. London & New York:
Macmillan & Co., 1888. 8vo (18.1 cm, 7.1"). [4], 229, [1] pp.
$100.00
First American and first one-volume edition, following the two-volume London
edition of the same year: James's tale of a young American girl in Paris, her acquaintance with a
correspondent of an American scandal sheet, and the impact of her indiscretion on an old
Parisian family.
BAL 10583; Edel & Laurence, Bibliography of Henry James
(3rd. ed.), A31b. Not in Wright. Publisher's blue cloth, upper edge of front
cover and spine with gilt-stamped decorative band, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding very
slightly cocked, very minor rubbing, spine with square of light discoloration from a now-absent
label. Ex–social club library: 19th-century call number on half-title, title-page rubber-stamped.
No other markings. (26537)
For more POST-1820 AMERICANA, click here.
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We
have, at the moment, an interesting number of
such “first American editions.”
Please, enquire!
“On
a brilliant day in May, in the year 1868
. . .”
James,
Henry. The American. Boston: Houghton,
Mifflin & Co., 1882. 8vo. 473, [1] pp.
$35.00
Sixth edition, following the first of 1877: James's novel of an American
businessman wooing an aristocratic Parisian widow.
Click the images for enlargements.
Edel & Laurence,
Bibliography of Henry James (3rd. ed.), A4 (for first ed.); Wright, III, 2909 (for first ed.).
Publisher's brown cloth, front cover and spine stamped in gilt and maroon; a
bit cocked, rubbed, spine with area of discoloration from now-absent label, and some light
patches to cover cloth. Ex–social club library: call number on blank side of preliminary
advertisement, rubber-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Pages age-toned, with faint
staining in upper margins towards back of volume. (26559)
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READING, click
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Romance
in the Wilds of
Kentucky
Paulding, James Kirke. Westward ho! A tale. New
York: J. & J. Harper, 1832. 12mo (18.4 cm, 7.25"). 2 vols. I: 203, [1] pp. II: 196, [8 (adv.)] pp.
$200.00
First edition of this best-selling novel set on the Kentucky frontier. Among the
characters are an uprooted Virginia family and their slaves, a lone Native American hunter, a
would-be newspaperman, and a young man susceptible to madness.
Click the images for enlargements.
Part of the “Harper's library of select novels” series, the work appears here with vol. I in
the second printing (vol. II had only one printing); the binding is BAL's state A, with the front
cover of vol. II incorrectly marked “No. XXV.”
American Imprints 14120;
Wright, I, 2024; BAL 15715. Publisher's green cloth, covers and spines
stamped in black; corners bumped, spots of discoloration, spines sunned (and a little bubbled)
with extremities rubbed. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate and call number on
endpapers, title-pages pressure-stamped. No other markings; endpapers foxed and pages with
intermittent moderate spotting. (26533)
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Good Solid
Early American
Home Cooking
Putnam,
Elizabeth H. Mrs. Putnam's receipt book; and young housekeeper's
assistant. Boston: Ticknor, Reed, & Fields, 1849. 12mo (18.7 cm, 7.4").
4 (adv.), 11, [1], 131, [1] pp.
$450.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Uncommon first edition. In addition to the classic and expected stewed oysters,
mutton chops, and Indian pudding recipes, this cookbook includes advice on what to feed the
sick, how to garnish dishes with potato crust or basic sauces, and how to roast and prepare
coffee. The publisher's preliminary advertising leaves are present in this copy.
Bitting 384; Cagle & Stafford 621; Lowenstein 460. Publisher's brown fine-grained cloth, covers framed in blind, spine with gilt-stamped title; worn, covers with areas of
discoloration. Front pastedown with recent pencilled annotations; front free endpaper lacking;
back fly-leaf with early pencilled home remedy for poison ivy. Light to moderate foxing. A
well-used copy but not a “sad case”; a pleasure of a cookbook. (26760)
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Tips
from
the
Prince of Ventriloquists
Prince, Arthur. The whole art of ventriloquism. London:
Will Goldston Ltd., [1922]. 8vo (18.3 cm, 7.2"). Frontis., 100, [4 (adv.)] pp.; illus.
$150.00

Second edition, revised, with a color frontispiece portrait
of the author: Guidelines to throwing one's voice, imitating accents and tones,
and using a dummy. The work is illustrated with numerous interesting anatomical
diagrams, images of dummies and their inner workings, and room layouts for optimal
performance effect.
So
many and various are these illustrations that we SIMPLY couldn't decide which
to photograph!
Click
the images present, for enlargements.
Provenance:
Front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription dated 1943 and with rubber-stamp
of Kanter's Magic Shop, a famed but now-defunct emporium in Philadelphia.
Publisher's gray-brown cloth without dust-jacket, front cover
with black-stamped title and dummy vignette; spine very slightly darkened,
edges and extremities with minor shelfwear. Front free endpaper as above.
Pages age-toned. A nice copy. (26622)
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“The
Great Discovery”
— GOLD
Dunbar, Edward E. The romance of the age; Or, the
discovery of gold in California. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1867. 16mo (18.6 cm, 7.3").
Frontis., 134, [10 (adv.)] pp.; 2 plts.
$150.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: History of California immediately prior to and during the gold rush,
based on the author's firsthand observations and on facts “gathered from living witnesses” (p. 9).
The volume is illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of John Augustus Sutter and with two steel-engraved plates.
Sabin 21232; Gaer, California Literature of the Gold-Rush, 25;
Cowan & Cowan, Bibliography of the History of California, 187. Publisher's
textured maroon cloth, front cover with very decorative gilt-stamped title presentation; lightly
rubbed, spine sunned and with some other sort of discoloration at top. Ex–social club library:
front free endpaper and fly-leaf with inked numerals in a 19th-century hand; title-page, one plate,
and one other page rubber-stamped. Pages faintly age-toned, otherwise clean. A nice little book.
(26296)
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Early
History of Persia
in English &
with the Farsi — View
& Map Both Present
Ghaffari, Ahmad
ibn Muhammad, & William Ouseley. Epitome of the ancient history
of Persia. London: Pr. by Cooper & Wilson for Cadell & Davies, 1799.
12mo (17.9 cm, 7"). Fold. frontis., [4], xxxvi, 92 pp.; 1 fold. map.
$1000.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: Annals of Persian history as extracted from the “Jehan Ara”
manuscript (i.e., the Nusakh-i Jahan-ara, a general history of Asia) and translated into English by
Sir William Ouseley. Ouseley was an orientalist who served as secretary to his brother, the
English ambassador to the court of Persia from 1810 through 1812; he published numerous
critically acclaimed studies of Persian literature, history, and antiquities. The Classical Journal,
which said that Ouseley's Travels in Various Countries in the East “must rank high among the
most important books of reference of which we are possessed,” also praised Ouseley as having
“done more to elucidate ancient geography and antiquarian studies, than any who have preceded
him in the same tract” (vol. XXX, p. 161).The present work opens with an oversized, folding view of the ruins of Persepolis, and
includes a folding map of “Persia or iran” done by prominent engraver Samuel John Neele, as
well as two small copper-engraved vignettes. The main text is given in Farsi and English on
opposing pages; in addition to the portions of text taken from the Jahan-ara, Ouseley also
provides “collateral illustrations from other manuscripts” (p. ii) and historical works. An errata
slip is tipped in — this also, interestingly, containing instructions to the binder!
ESTC T97308; Lowndes 1741; Brunet, IV, 261; Allibone 1469. Uncut copy.
Publisher's paper shelf-back and plain boards, respined with similar paper; binding rubbed and
soiled, spine head chipped, spine reinforcement with crack. Ex–social club: 19th-century
bookplate, call number on endpaper, annotation on title-page covered over with slip of paper
(pleasure and challenge of removal reserved for next owner), pressure-stamp on title-page.
Frontispiece and map moderately waterstained, title-page with offsetting. Pages lightly age-toned, a few mildly foxed. Early inked corrections to a handful of words.
(26276)
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An
American Scots Pastor
Edits “Kempis” —
A Glaswegian Writes the Preface
Thomas
a Kempis. The imitation of Christ. In three books. Boston:
Lincoln & Edmands, 1829. x, [1] 228 pp.
$55.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
“Rendered into English from the original Latin, by John Payne. With an
introductory essay, by Thomas Chalmers, of Glasgow. A new edition: edited by Howard
Malcolm, Pastor of the Federal Street Baptist Church, Boston.” A Protestant edition, without the
fourth “book” (i.e., chapter).
This has an engraved title-page with vignette incorporating David as harpist, and a steel-engraved frontispiece signed by J. Eddy as engraver, “W. Heath, del.”
Provenance: Inked ownership
note to blank of “Charlotte Russell / July 14th — 1831.”
Publisher's brown cloth shelfback with paper-covered boards;
binding fragile, showing considerable wear with tears in the cloth. Foxing and age-toning; page
edges lightly chipped and worn. Ex-library: call number on binding, bookplate, pressure-stamps
and other identifications, pencilling. Uncut copy. (23938)
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“Neither
Romance Nor Pure History”
— The Pilgrims &
Their Departure from England
Sears, Edmund H. Pictures of the olden time, as shown
in the fortunes of a family of the Pilgrims. Boston: Crosby, Nichols & Co.; Cincinnati: George S.
Blanchard; London: Sampson Low, Son, & Co., 1857. 12mo (19.8 cm, 7.75"). viii, 342 pp.
$100.00
First edition: Historical novel based on the author's
genealogical researches, with chapters entitled “The Exile,” “The
Adventurer,” and “The Pilgrim.” Sears later in the same year
issued a now-rare private edition of this work which included a spurious pedigree
of Richard Sears, not present here.
The
Massachusetts-born Sears was a Unitarian minister and author of the famous carol
“It Came upon the Midnight Clear.”
Click
the images for enlargements.
Wright, II, 2174; Sabin 78641. Publisher's brown cloth,
covers blind-stamped with star-shaped design, spine with gilt-stamped title
and blind-stamped decoration; binding cocked and rubbed, spine extremities
chipped. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate and call number
on pastedown and fly-leaf, front free endpaper lacking, title-page pressure-stamped.
No other markings. Pages faintly age-toned, otherwise clean. (26565)
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Tokens
of Loving Friendship
ILLUSTRATED
Sinclair, Thomas S., illus. Album of gems. New York:
J.C. Riker, [ca. 1850]. 4to (20.3 cm, 8"). [approx. 170] pp.; 6 col. plts.
$250.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Charming keepsake album, opening with a gilt-stamped title-page followed by
approximately 170 pages of white and colored paper meant for inscriptions as well as by six
chromolithographed plates done by pioneering Philadelphia lithographer Thomas S. Sinclair after
designs by William Dreser: “Evening” and “The Gondola” (both set in Venice), “Marguerite,”
“The Token,” “View from West Point on the Hudson,” and “Gipsey Children.” (The family
enjoying the Hudson “View” has more than beauty to nourish it; they are about to be served a
picnic, by a black attendant in a fine blue-and-white striped coat.)
This copy bears an inked dedication to “Marian” (Marianne Case, also addressed as
“Mary”), dated 1853. Most of the subsequent inscriptions are poetical excerpts or brief original
thoughts, generally dated 1853–56 from Killingworth or other towns in Connecticut. About one
sixth of the pages have been used.
Not in Faxon. Publisher's
red sheep in imitation of morocco, covers framed in gilt double fillets surrounding a blind roll
inner border incorporating blind-tooled corner fleurons; central title gilt-stamped on front cover
and blind-stamped on back; worn and rubbed overall, with spine leather lost and hinges (inside)
tender. Back free endpaper lacking; one guard leaf mostly torn away. Some colored leaves
faded; incidents of foxing varying from mild to moderate. (26148)\
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Popular
Philosophical Dialogues
Helps, Arthur, Sir. Friends in council: A series of
readings and discourse thereon. Boston & Cambridge: James Munroe & Co. (pr. by Allen &
Farnham), 1853. 8vo (18.5 cm, 7.25"2 vols. I: [2 (adv.)], viii, [2], 291, [1] pp. II: vi, [2], 271, [1]
pp.
$200.00
Essays on social and moral problems including educating women and children,
improving the condition of the rural poor, and giving and taking criticism, presented in a framing
text involving several personable imaginary figures whose interspersed dialogues enliven the
philosophical exposition. Helps, a civil servant, was much admired in his day for this popular
work, which was at least partly inspired by his time as a member of the Cambridge
Conversazione Society (a.k.a. the Apostles).
Click the images for enlargements.
Present here is an early U.S. edition of the first series; two series were
published, the first in 1847–49 and the second in 1859.
Much of the second volume of this series is dedicated
to the question of slavery.
Allibone 818. On Helps, see: Dictionary of National
Biography online. Publisher's blind-stamped brown cloth, spines with gilt-stamped title; moderate rubbing most noticeable at vol. I spine head, and vol. II with strip of dark
cloth tape at head of spine extending onto sides. Ex–social club library: front pastedowns with
19th-century bookplate and call-number sticker, front free endpapers lacking, title-pages
pressure-stamped, no other markings. Pages age-toned, with intermittent spots of staining and
light pencilled bracketing. (26412)
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Illustrated
English Translation:
HERETICS
in the MOUNTAINS
Muston, Alexis. The Israel of the Alps: A history of the
persecutions of the Waldenses. London: Ingram, Cooke, & Co., 1852. 8vo (19.5 cm, 7.75"). vii,
[1], 312 pp.; 7 plts.
$200.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Uncommon first edition of this English rendition, translated from the original
French by William Hazlitt. John Montgomery also published an English translation of L'Israël
des Alpes around the same time — Montgomery's Israel of the Alps: A Complete History of the
Vaudois of Piedmont and Their Colonies should not be confused with the present work. Hazlitt's
version, done for the “Illustrated Library” series, includes excerpts from Gilly's “Narrative of an
Excursion to the Mountains of Piedmont”; the volume is illustrated with an additional engraved
title-page, six plates (including a map) and 12 in-text steel engravings.
Binding:
Publisher's embossed brown cloth in pattern incorporating foliage, heraldic
shields, and the words “National Illustrated Library”; spine with
gilt-stamped title and floral decorations.
Binding as above, cloth gently faded and partially split over
joints, corners and spine tips rubbed. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, inked call
number on front free endpaper, no other markings. Back pastedown with London bookseller's
ticket. Sewing going, two signatures separated and other leaves starting. One leaf with tear from
lower margin, extending into text with loss of one or two letters; one section with small edge
chips. Pages age-toned. (26411)
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A
Woman Collector's BLOCKBUSTER
Collection
Jones, Mrs. B.F., Jr. Important paintings by great
masters. Superb works by Gainsborough, Hoppner, Romney, Lawrence ... collection formed by
the late Mrs. B.F. Jones, Jr. removed from her residence at Sewickley Heights, PA. New York:
Parke-Bernet Galleries, 1941. 8vo. [8], 84, [6] pp.; illus.
$35.00
Click the images for enlargements.
The first successful and major sale of art in the “post-Depression”
era. Sale occurred December 4–5 and comprised 112 lots, bringing $463,520.00.
Were the buyers still optimistic two days later when the news started to come
in from Pearl Harbor?
Heavily illustrated; hammer prices pencilled in.
Original printed boards, scuffed and stained yet volume sound
and pleasant enough with interior clean.
As noted, most hammer prices pencilled in.
(26156)
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The
FIRST English-Language
History
of Java
Raffles,
Thomas Stamford, Sir. The history
of Java ... second edition. London: John Murray, 1830. 8vo (21.6 cm, 8.5").
2 vols. I: xlviii, 536 pp.; 1 fold. table. II: iv, 332, clxxix, [1] pp.
$875.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Second edition, following the first of 1811: Authoritative history of the Indonesian
island of Java, written by a British statesman who served for four years as its Lieutenant-Governor before becoming Governor-General of Bencoolen (now Bengkulu) and eventually
founding the British colony of Singapore. Sir Thomas was an avid zoologist and botanist, and in
this work paid much attention to those topics as well as to the island's geography, culture,
religion, languages, agriculture, crafts and productions, and commerce — not forgetting games,
dress, and dancing girls. A contemporary reviewer praised this history in the Edinburgh Review
as presenting, “to the British reader at least, the only authentic and detailed account of a land of
eminent fertility and happy situation, inhabited by an interesting race of people,” while Lowndes
called it a “very elaborate and valuable work.”The editor's advertisement, type-signed by Sophia Raffles (Sir Thomas's second
wife), notes that the plates from the first edition and some additional plates
were published in “a separate quarto volume, detached entirely from
the present work” (p. xi). This did not actually appear until 1844 and
so is not present here.
Brunet, IV, 1088; Graesse, VI, 17; Lowndes 2037. On Raffles, see:
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online. Contemporary
calf, covers framed in blind triple fillets with gilt-stamped corner fleurons,
spines with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels and with gilt-stamped
and blind-tooled compartment decorations; board edges with blind roll. Binding
rubbed at joints/edges and with small scuffs, portions of boards variously
stained/sunned; still quite attractive. Ex–social club library: 19th-century
bookplate and inked call number on each front pastedown, title-pages pressure-
and lightly rubber-stamped; no other markings. Fore-edge of vol. I shows signs
of old water exposure, without actual waterstaining to pages themselves save
in a few cases where upper or outer margins are touched; pages clean.
A pleasant old pair of books. (26379)
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An
Anglo-Jewish Cookbook
Greenberg, Florence. The Jewish Chronicle cookery
book. London: The Jewish Chronicle, [1934]. 8vo (18.4 cm, 7.25"). vi (adv.), 307, [1] pp.
$100.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition. Written before food rationing came into force, while refrigerators
were a possibility but not a probability in the home, this landmark cookbook is a remarkable
document of British Jewish culture in the early 20th century. The author was the wife of Leopold
Jacob Greenberg, a prominent Zionist and for many years the editor of the Jewish Chronicle; the
Chronicle later published this work several times with the title Florence Greenberg's Jewish
Cookery, under which it remains popular in many homes to this day.There is a small separate section on Passover cookery; there is one on “invalid cookery”;
and there are advertisements front and back that tickle in themselves.
Bitting
200. Publisher's blue cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding cocked,
spine sunned, covers with spots of light discoloration. One upper outer page corner torn away,
not touching text; index with one inked annotation. Pages age-toned with occasional small spots,
mostly clean. (26663)
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Decadence
in the “Yellow Nineties”
Beardsley,
Aubrey, & Henry Harland.
The
yellow book an illustrated quarterly. London: Elkin Mathews
& John Lane; Boston: Copeland & Day, 1894–97. 4to (21 cm, 8.25).
13 vols. I: 272 pp.; 14 plts. II: 360, [2] pp.; 22 plts. III: 279, [1] pp.;
15 plts. IV: 285, [1] pp.; 17 (1 double) plts. V: 317, [1] pp.; 14 plts. VI:
335, [1] pp.; 16 plts. VII: 318, [2] pp.; 20 plts. VIII: 406 pp.; 26 plts. IX:
256 pp.; 17 plts. X: 344 pp.; 13 plts. XI: 342 pp.; 12 plts. XII: 344 pp.; 14
plts. XIII: 316, [2] pp.; 17 plts.
$1500.00
Click
the images for enlargements.

The (in)famous embodiment of fin-de-siècle aestheticism,
in a complete set of early issues,
without publisher's advertisements but also without later edition statements.
This is a largely uncut set of
all
13 volumes of the quarterly Yellow Book, featuring
Aubrey Beardsley as art director and illustrator of the first four volumes.
Present here are stories by Henry James, Ella D'Arcy, Kenneth Grahame, Henry
Harland, and Hubert Crackanthorpe; poetry by Richard Le Gallienne, Olive Custance,
and Leila Macdonald; articles by Max Beerbohm, Arthur Waugh, and James Ashcroft
Noble; art by Sir Frederic Leighton, Walter Sickert, Laurence Housman, and of
course Beardsley; with many other contributors represented.

Publisher's yellow cloth, covers and spines variously stamped
in black with those famous designs; bindings generally moderately worn (especially
to spine tips) and lightly dust-soiled, one volume with spine head (?)nibbled.
Many signatures unopened; with a little care and cleverness, reading quite
possible despite this.
Pages and plates clean. (26698)
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A
Journalist
Reports from
Virginia
Cook, Joel. The siege of Richmond: A narrative of the
military operations of Major-General George B. McClellan during the months of May and June,
1862. Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 1862. 12mo (19 cm, 7.5"). 358 pp.
$400.00
An important first-person account, written by a “special correspondent of the
Philadelphia Press “ who was with Maj. Gen. McClellan and the Army of the Potomac during
the Peninsular campaign. In addition to detailed descriptions of military activities, Cook
provides anecdotes of interactions between Northerners and Southerners, observations of the
character of “Virginia negroes,” and brief descriptions of life in Virginia. The introduction is by
B.J. Lossing.
Click the images for enlargements.
Sabin 16279. Publisher's textured teal cloth,
spine with gilt-stamped title; sides and edges clean and showing virtually no wear, spine with
head pulled, title dimmed, and small rubbed spots. Ex–social club library: number on endpaper
in a good 19th-century hand, rubber- and pressure-stamp on title-page, several other pages faintly
stamped. Front free endpaper lacking. A nice, clean, sound copy with its paper holding up
beautifully. (26266)
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appears in the GENERAL
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“Domestic
Life on Shipboard”
Foley, Fanny [pseud.]. Romance of the ocean: A
narrative of the voyage of the Wildfire to California. Illustrated with stories, anecdotes, etc.
Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, 1850. 12mo (17.9 cm, 7"). [4], [ix]–218, [2 (adv.)] pp.
$250.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: A charming, giddy (for the most part) maritime romance
set on a trip from New York to California, written from the perspective of a
lighthearted would-be adventurer. This is the genuine first edition, not
a reprint.
Sabin 24947; Wright, I, 965. Publisher's speckled sheep, spine
with gilt-stamped leather title-label; rubbed, spine label with small scuffs,
some leaves pulling away from sewing. Ex–social club library: 19th-century
bookplate, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Waterstaining
(appropriately?) to inner margins of first few leaves, with lower inner margins
of those leaves nicked; spotting and staining variously. (26375)
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The
First
CHILEAN
Naturalist
Molina, Giovanni Ignazio. Saggio sulla storia naturale
del Chili. Bologna: Stamperia di S. Tommaso d'Aquino, 1782. 8vo (20 cm, 7.9"). 367, [1] pp.
(map lacking).
$700.00
Uncommon first edition of a classic work of natural history. Despite having been
expelled from his native Chile along with his order in 1767, the Jesuit naturalist and geographer
Abate Molina (a.k.a. Juan Ignacio Molina) published several volumes on the country; the
Catholic Encyclopedia online calls him “the most prominent historian and geographer of his
native American home.” The present important example of his scholarship went through several
editions in its original Italian and was also translated into German, Spanish, French, and English.
Click the images for enlargements.
Brunet, III, 1811; DeBacker-Sommervogel, V, 1165; Graesse, IV, 568; Leclerc,
Bibliotheca Americana, 1958; Palau 174558; Sabin 49888. Contemporary
quarter mottled sheep and speckled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-tooled compartment bands; spine leather chipped/cracked with spots of insect
damage, corners abraded, and sides/edges otherwise lightly rubbed. Some leaves browned;
scattered light stains. Lacking the map, text complete. (26248)
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Manufacturing
Very
Various Articles
for Market
Phin, John.
Trade
“secrets” and private recipes. A collection of recipes,
processes and formulae. New York: Industrial Publication Co., 1887. 8vo (18.6
cm, 7.4"). 96, [4] pp.
$140.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Sole edition: Practical guide to producing various commercial, cosmetic, and
quasi-medical goods, intended for those inclined to set up shop for themselves; the “recipes” for
amandine, blacking, face powder, corn salve, fly paper, egg preservatives, an ink eraser, and a
simple microscope are exact and interesting.Publishers' advertisements at back offer other useful volumes, and tout this one as, “not
by any means a clap-trap book, though it exposes many clap-traps.”
Publisher's black pebbled cloth, covers blind-stamped, spine with blind-stamped title; limited fading and rubbing, sewing starting to loosen. Front pastedown with inked
inscription, front free endpaper with intriguing “Fraters Florere” rubber-stamp. Pages faintly
age-toned, otherwise clean. (26631)
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Life
on the
American
Frontier
Clavers,
Mary [pseud. of Caroline M. Kirkland]. A new home —
who'll follow? Or, glimpses of western life. New York: C.S. Francis; Boston:
J.H. Francis, 1839. 12mo (17.5 cm, 6.9"). 317, [1 (blank)] pp. (lacking 2 final
adv. pp.).
$200.00
Click the images for enlargements.
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)
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Two
Tracts on
PEACE
Erasmus,
Desiderius. The complaint of peace: With
a digression, on the folly of kings in unlimited monarchies. To which is added,
Antipolemus: Or, the plea of reason, religion, and humanity, against war. London:
[s.n.], 1795. 8vo (21.7 cm, 8.5"). [2], x, 150, v–xliii, [1], 183, [1
(blank)] pp.
$150.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Erasmus's Querela pacis and Antipolemus in English
translations done by Vicesimus Knox, the first work here in its first edition
thus and the latter in its second. The Querela pacis was originally published
in 1517 upon the failure of the “Congress of Kings” to preserve
peace throughout Europe; the other piece is a translation of the author's Bellum,
extracted from his Adagia. Together, the works assert “that reasonable
creatures ought always to be coerced when they err, by the force of reason,
the motives of religion, the operation of law, and not by engines of destruction”
(p. xliii), as the translator puts it in his preface to the second piece. Knox
was an educator, minister, and author (known as the editor of Elegant Extracts)
who steadfastly opposed British military involvement in the French Revolution.
ESTC N31610. On Knox, see: Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography online. Contemporary treed sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather
title-label and board edges gilt; binding rubbed, irregularly darkened, and
chipped, with front joint open (sewing presently holding) and back joint starting.
Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, inked call number on
endpapers, title-page pressure-stamped. No other markings. Collation matches
ESTC's description. Varying degrees of foxing/browning, with most leaves unaffected
or only a little so. All edges saffron. (26377)
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This
appears in the GENERAL
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“In
Vienna Everyone Worships
the Opera”
Prawy, Marcel. The Vienna Opera. New York: Praeger
Publishers, 1970 (© 1969). 4to. 224 pp.; illus.
$25.00
Multiply
IN
YOUR HEAD by
27 . . .
Orton, Hoy D.
Orton's lightning calculator, and accountant's assistant. The shortest, simplest,
and most rapid method of computing numbers, adapted to every kind of business,
and within the comprehension of every one having the slightest knowledge of
figures. Shelby, Ohio: H.D. Orton, ©1866. 12mo. vi, [9]–194 pp.
$35.00


Self-published; first edition.
“Energy
is the price of success.” “Address all
orders for this book to H.D. Orton, Shelby, O. Single copies by mail, One Dollar.
For sale by all Booksellers.”
Publisher's brown cloth shelf-back with printed paper on the
boards; small rent in cloth. Very nice copy. (26558)
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You'll
Wish You'd Been Buying THEN
. . .
Gilhofer
& Ranschburg, booksellers, Lucerne (Switzerland). A
pair of their catalogues: Catalogue 45 (Rare books on North, Central, and South
America, Africa, Australia and Asia, Scandinavia and Russia). Lucerne: Gilhofer
& Ranschburg, [ca. 1950]. 8vo. 36 pp.; illus. [and] Catalogue 52
(Fine and valuable books). Lucerne: Gilhofer & Ranschburg, [ca. 1950]. 8vo.
132 pp.; illus.
$25.00
Catalogue 45 offers books on voyages, navigation, and geography, and is priced in Swiss
francs; Catalogue 52 proffers “Incunabula, woodcut books, Renaissance, humanism,
Reformation, geography, history & chronicles, history of science and medicine,” with many
illustrations, and is priced in both Swiss francs and dollars.
Click the image for an enlargement.
Both in original wrappers, one (52) glossy and larger, one (45) smaller and “matte”; the larger
one one with pencilled note on front cover. (26154)
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duo also appears in the GENERAL
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Dyers
& Loomers
are
Engaged
in Essential Services!
Spain.
Sovereigns, 1759–1788 (Charles III). Real cedula...por
la qual se manda por via de declaracion general, á beneficio de las manufacturas,
que se guarde á los maestros tintoreros.... Madrid: Pedro Marin, 1775.
Folio. [3] ff.
$325.00
Exempts master dyers, and wool- and silk-loomers, from military service. Woodcut of the royal arms on title.
Lightly in later wrappers; small ownership stamp eradicated from title-page. A very good exemplar. (24386)
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more of MILITARY/NAVAL
interest, click
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CLOTHING & FASHION, click
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This
appears in the HISPANIC
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“PRINTED
AT THE ETON COLLEGE PRESS”
Gray,
Thomas. Poems by Thomas Gray. Eton: Eton College Press, 1902.
8vo. xiv, 164, [2] pp.; 4 plts.
$90.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Early 20th-century Eton “leaving book,” being the College's own printing of these
much-beloved 18th-century poems, graced with a portrait engraving of Gray and three other
handsome plates including a fine “distant prospect” of the College.
Binding: Tan calf, covers
framed in gilt double fillets and gilt roll with gilt-stamped corner stars,
central gilt-stamped coat of the Warre family arms; board edges with gilt
roll, gilt inner dentelles, fine marbled endpapers. Spine with raised bands
accented with gilt rolls and gilt-stamped floral decorations in compartments.
All edges gilt. Signed by Spottiswoode & Co.
Provenance:
The preprinted presentation leaf, completed in manuscript, notes (in Latin)
that the recipient was Crichton Jordan Milne and the donor headmaster was
Edward Warre.
Binding damaged by old fire with spine label chipped nearly
away, corners/edges abraded, and significant cracking/darkening of leather overall; still sound
and indeed attractive. Interior very good, having been protected from that fire by the heavy gilt
to the page edges which prevented smoke entry. Presentation leaf as above, with information
dated 1905. (12687)
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A
Novel of
the
“Peculiar
Institution”
Kirke, Edmund [pseud. of James R. Gilmore]. Among
the pines: Or, South in secession-time. New York: J.R. Gilmore & Charles T. Evans, 1862. 8vo.
310 pp.
$75.00
Later printing (“nineteenth thousand”) of this influential fictional account of a pre-Civil War stay at a South Carolina plantation, a harrowing but realistic depiction of Southern
culture and the evils of slavery. Lincoln allegedly read the book and found it troubling.
Click the images for enlargements.
Wright, II, 1003. Publisher's dark green textured cloth, spine
with gilt-stamped title; corners and spine extremities rubbed, spine slightly sunned, sides with
spots of lighter discoloration. Front free endpaper with pencilled and inked inscription (partly)
dated 1862. Light to moderate foxing throughout. (25992)
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PRICE's
History
of Islam
Price, David. Chronological retrospect, or memoirs of
the principal events of Mahommedan history, from the death of the Arabian legislator, to the
accession of the Emperor Akbar, and the establishment of the Moghul Empire in Hindustaun.
London: J. Booth; Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown; and Black, Parry, & Kingsbury,
1811–20. Large 4to (29.8 cm). 3 vols. in 4. I: xvi, 606, [8] pp. II: xvi, 716 pp.; 1 oversized, fold.
col. map. III: xv, [1], 483, [1] pp. IV: [2], [485]–998 pp.
$750.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition. Major Price (1762–1835), an officer of the East India Company, was
a notable orientalist and member of the Royal Asiatic Society. The Chronological Retrospect is
his best-known and most referenced work; the DNB says it is “the painstaking work of a genuine
scholar anxious to do full justice to his authorities,” while Allibone calls it “the authority on the
subjects discussed.”
The work was printed by several different hands, all in Wales, and one was
a woman printer: Vol. I was done by George North of Brecknock, vol. II by
Henry Hughes of Brecon, and vols. III and IV by Priscilla Hughes, also of
Brecon and presumably heir to Henry.
Vol. II opens with a hand-colored oversized, folding
map.
Allibone 1677; Lowndes
1961. On Price, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.
Publisher's quarter cloth and paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels;
bindings rubbed and faded overall, spines with spots of discoloration, cloth splitting along front
joint of vol. I and starting from head of front joint of vol. II. Front pastedowns with traces of
now-absent bookplates; each vol. with title-page and one other institutionally pressure-stamped.
Page edges untrimmed; intermittent mild to moderate foxing. Map with one short tear from inner
margin, otherwise in beautiful condition. (26024)
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Strawberry
Hill
Press
Book
Whitworth, Charles Whitworth, Baron. An account of
Russia as it was in the year 1710. [Twickenham]: Printed at Strawberry-Hill, 1758. Small 8vo
(18 cm; 7.25"). xxiv, 158, [2] pp.
$825.00
First edition and sole Strawberry Hill edition; second and third
editions appeared from other publishers in 1761 and 1771. As handsomely printed
a work as one would expect of Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill press, this bears
a title-page offering an engraved vignette of Strawberry Hill and presents Walpole's
account of the author and his assessment of the Account as an “Advertisement”
occupying pp. [iii]–xxiv. The errata appear on the last leaf.
Limited to 700 copies.
Click the images for enlargements.
Whitworth was perhaps the most effective English ambassador to Russia in the first half
of the 18th century. His Account was originally written for the foreign office and remained in
manuscript till Walpole printed it. The DNB (on-line) writes of it, “Succinct and perceptive, it
was a survey of Petrine Russia which held its readership through to the century's end and
beyond.”
Horace Walpole (1717–97), the 4th earl of Orford, is best remembered as the author of
the Gothic novel The Castle of Otranto. Among bibliophiles he is also remembered for his
private press, variously known as the Officina Arbutana or the Strawberry Hill Press. Walpole's
almost fantastic wealth allowed him the connoisseur's luxury of maintaining this noble
enterprise, which he operated in the arena of the rebirth of fine printing in Great Britain that was
being carried on by the Foulis brothers, Baskerville, and others.
Provenance: 20th-century
bookplate of William & Helena Hand.
Hazen
(1973 ed.), Bibliography of the Strawberry Hill Press, 5; ESTC T138827; Rothschild 2560; Cox,
I, 195. Contemporary sprinkled calf, gilt spine extra, gilt dull; joints and
hinges with good repairs. Two old booksellers' descriptions taped to front pastedown. Off-setting from the turn-ins on the front and rear free endpapers and fly-leaves, title-page, and errata
leaf; else, quite clean. A handsome book. (26862)
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also appears in the GENERAL
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What
to Serve for
Breakfast,
Luncheon,
Dinner,
& Supper
Maddocks, Mildred. [cover title] Rumford receipt book.
Providence, RI: Rumford Chemical Works, © 1911. 8vo. 24 pp.
$30.00
“Every day dishes simple to make and wholesome to eat,”
from the makers of Rumford Baking Powder. Not all the recipes in this promotion
for the Rumford Complete Cook Book (which could be obtained for
free in exchange for 10 cards from pound cans of baking powder) include the
sponsoring product, although many do.
The chromolithographed front cover illustration
depicts a rosy-cheeked young girl in a fur-lined winter bonnet and coat.
Not in Brown, Culinary Americana (describes Rumford Cook Book and Complete
Cook Book only). Publisher's printed paper wrappers, with hanging loop;
wrapper rubbed, with corners creased — and still charming. Pages with light spotting, one upper
outer corner creased and darkened, one recipe with title bracketed in pencil — a copy apparently
cooked from! (26056)
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“READ!”
Williamson, Will.
Marvellous and disinterested patriotism of certain learned Whigs, illustrated
in prose and rhyme, for the use of “the inhabitants of Edinburgh.”
By Fair Play, and Have At Them. Edinburgh: Pr. by Duncan Stevenson & Co.,
1820. 8vo. 32 pp.
$60.00


We
have at this writing several more satires by this author;
please, inquire!
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NOT IN THE ILLUSTRATED SCOTS WEB CATALOGUE ABOVE
&
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via unillustrated, PDF-format, printable list
click here.
Missions
around
the
World, Illustrated
Edwards, Bela Bates. The missionary gazetteer; comprising
a geographical and statistical account of the various stations of the American and foreign Protestant
missionary societies of all denominations, with their progress in evangelization and civilization.
Boston: William Hyde & Co., 1832. 12mo (19.4 cm, 7.6"). Frontis., [4], [ix]–431, [1] pp. (pp. 137/38
bound in out of order); 24 plts.
$225.00
Click the interior image for an enlargement.
First U.S. edition, “prepared upon the basis of a volume
published in London, in 1828, by Mr. Charles Williams” (p. ix). The 1828
Missionary Gazetteer incorporated material from an American work compiled
by the Rev. Walter Chapin, almost all of which has been excised and replaced
with new descriptions for the present work according to Edwards. The reports
are organized alphabetically by city, and describe the establishment of schools,
successes and challenges of conversion, and native habits before and after the
arrival of missionaries among the Chinese, Africans, Indians, Native Americans,
etc.
The volume is illustrated with a total of
25 wood-engraved plates and a wood-engraved title-page
vignette depicting architectural views, native dress, dwellings,
and religious sites.
American Imprints 12263; Sabin 21891. Late 19th-century
half roan with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped
title; edges and extremities showing moderate shelf wear (refurbished) . Front
pastedown with old seminary bookplate, frontispiece and title-page with faded
rubber-stamps of the same, one preliminary leaf with inked numeral in lower
margin. Most plates with offsetting, pages with scattered light spotting;
otherwise clean and unmarked.
In fact, a nice copy of an interesting missionary and
in part ethnographical work. (25507)
For more POST-1820 AMERICANA, click here.
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Sumptuously
Bound by DAVID
for
Cortland
Bishop
Uzanne,
Octave. Son altesse la
femme. Paris: A. Quantin, 1885. Small folio (27.5 cm; 11" ). [2] ff.,
[i]–xii, 312 pp., 2 l. illus. (part col.).
$1875.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Definitely this work was created
by a bibliophile for fellow lovers of the book. When this
work appeared, Uzanne (1852–1931) was in full stride as a leader of the
Paris circle of men and women interested in handsomely illustrated, printed,
and bound works of literature. In 1880 he launched Miscellanées bibliographiques
and, soon after Son altesse la femme appeared. he introduced the influential
periodicals Le Livre, Le Livre moderne, and L'Art et l'Idée.
In 1889, he took part in the creation of a publishing company, the “League
of Contemporary Bibliophiles.” He counted among his friends the artists
Jean Lorrain, Barbey d'Aurevilly, and Remy de Gourmont.
Son altesse la femme essays most satirically the position of women in
society from the medieval to the author's time. The chapters are: Le vray
mirouer de sorcellerie, La mie du poete, La précieuse, La caillette,
La citoyenne française, Les galanteries du directoire, Sous la restauration,
L'amour aux champs, La parisienne moderne, and Mulieriana.
The work was limited to 100 copies, all printed on Japan vellum. It has an
engraved vignette on the black and red printed title, small illustrations
or vignettes on 50 text pages, 11 vignette borders or headpieces (three of
them in color, 10 of them in an
extra
state), and 10 tipped-in color plates. The illustrations are
by Henri Gervex, J.A. Gonzalès, L. Kratké, Albert Lynch, Adrien
Moreau, and Félicien Rops.
Binding:
Full red crushed morocco with five raised bands. Covers with a triple-rule
gilt border; spine gilt extra with gilt beading on bands. Triple gilt fillet
on board edges. Wide turn-ins richly tooled in gilt and with cream and blue
leather inlays that are also gilt-tooled. Blue silk pastedowns and free endpapers.
Marbled paper fly-leaves. All edges gilt.
Binding
signed “David.”
Provenance: Red leather
bookplate of Cortland Field Bishop, the famed collector of the early 20th
century and, at one time, owner of the TWO most important auction galleries
in NY/USA.
Original
full-color wrappers bound in.
Vicaire, VII, 924. Uncut copy. Bound as above with original
wrappers bound in. Light refurbishment of front joint (outside).
A
fabulous copy. (26675)
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Full
Set of Her Works,
Including
Villancicos
in Nahuatl &
an African Language
Cruz,
Juana Inés de la, Sister.
Poemas de la unica poetisa americana, musa dezima, Soror Juana Ines de la Cruz
... Tercera edicion, corregida, y añadida por su authora. [with others,
as below]. Barcelona: por Joeph Llopis, 1691. 4to (21 cm; 8.25"). [8] ff.,
426 pp., [5] ff. [with the same author's] Segundo tomo de las obras de
Soror Juana Ines de la Cruz. Madrid: Impr. de Angel Pasqual Rubio, 1725. 4to
(20 cm; 8"). [4] ff., 438 pp., [3] ff. [with the same author's] Fama,
y obras posthumas del fenix de Mexico, dezima musa, poetisa americana. Madrid:
Impr. de Angel Pasqual Rubio, 1725. 4to (20 cm; 8"). [10] ff., 352 pp., [2]
ff.
$16,500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
“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)
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MEXICO is one of our great specialties.
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This
appears in the HISPANIC
MISCELLANY click here.
&
it appears in the GENERAL
MISCELLANY click here.
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