Recent Acquisitions
April 23, 2024
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A note on OCLC
As is now the norm, OCLC counts are tentative, at best, as we recognize that searches using different qualifiers will often turn up different results. Searches are now further complicated by the vast numbers of digital, microfilm, and even print-on-demand copies, which have polluted the database considerably, making it difficult, without numerous phone calls or emails, to determine the actual number of tangible copies. Hence, even though the counts herein have been recently checked, most all should be taken as a measure of approximation.
1. The ascent of Mount St. Elias [Alaska] ... Narrated by Filippo de Filippi. Illustrated by Vittorio Sella and translated by Signora Linda Villari with the author's supervision. Westminster: Archibald Constable and Co., 2 Whitehall Gardens, 1900.
$3,200
First edition in English, the so-called "de luxe edition" (Neate) limited to 100 copies printed on hand-made paper, and with the photographic prints mounted in the text; small folio (textblock 11½" tall), pp. xvi, 230; title page printed in red and black, photogravure frontispiece of Mt. St. Elias, 4 folding panoramic views, 2 color maps (1 folding), 33 photogravure plates, and 117 mounted photographic reproductions in the text; original tan cloth, paper label on spine printed in red and black (a little cracked but without loss of any lettering), linen ties on front and back covers; with the ownership signature of O. A. Spencer, the British and Italian Consul in Seattle, and a brief typed letter signed by Filippo de Filippi, dated Genoia, May 1900, presenting this copy to him.
The first successful ascent of the 18,000-foot peak on the Alaska-Canadian border by the great Italian Alpinist. Most of the photographic illustrations were by the great mountain photographer, Vittoria Sella. First published in Italian the same year.
Neate 264.
2. A guide to the tongues, ancient and modern: being short and comprehensive grammars of the English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Latin, Greek, Hebrew with the Arabic, Chaldaic, and Syrian languages, each at one view, and so contrived, that a person of moderate capacity may be made capable in a few hours, to make out sentences in any one of them. Shrewsbury: printed and sold by William Morris, Kiln Lane. Likewise sold by R. S. Kirby, Bookseller, No. 11, London-House Yard, near Paternoster Row, London, 1804.
$3,000
First edition, folio, 12 double-page spreads, printed on rectos only, consisting of a title page, dedication, preface, a "Key to all the Grammars at One View." and a similar key to each of the above-mentioned languages, a double-page spread for each; original paper-covered boards, cream shelfback. upper joint cracked, pencil annotations in the margin of the Italian grammar; all else very good.
The author, about whom little is known, is described on the title page as a professor of mathematics. He also published, in the following year, The Young Mathematician's Assistant, 4to.
Rare. NUC locates only one copy of a second edition dated 1809. OCLC locates 9 copies worldwide, only Newberry and Kansas in the U.S.
3. Inni giovenili della Signora Barbauld. Tradotti da un Toscano. In Londra: stampato per N. Hailes, Libreria Giovenile, Piccadilly: da C. Whittingham, Casa di Collegio, Chiswick, 1819.
$375
16mo, pp. x, [2], 146[4] ads for Hailes’ Juvenile Library; original drab paper-covered boards, printed paper label ("Mrs. Barbauld’s / Hymns for Children. / — / Price 3s.") on upper cover, and a second label ("Inni Goivenili. / Price 3s.") on spine; some rubbing but generally very good and sound.
4. An Arabian tale, from unpublished manuscript: with notes critical and explanatory. London: printed for J. Johnson, in St. Paul’s Church-Yard, and entered at the Stationers’ Hall, 1786.
$4,500
First edition, 8vo, pp. vii, [1], 334; woodcut illustrations on p. 316 (X6v), showing ostrich and peacock-feather fans; original blue paper-covered boards, brown paper shelfback; spine mostly perished, exposing cords, joints cracked, cords holding, but barely; a good copy in a quarter green crushed levant folding box.
Beckford's influential gothic tale. "Vathek was translated from Beckford's French original by a friend, the Rev. Samuel Henley, who also contributed the 'Notes'. Its publication in English before the appearance of a French edition was contrary to Beckford's instruction in a letter to Henley dated 9 February 1786" (Rothschild).
Rare in boards. Notes the previous owner: "A fragile, wounded, and rare survivor."
Rothschild 354.
5. [Beekeeping.] Volledige beschrijving van alle konsten, ambachten, handwerken, fabrieken, trafieken, derzelver werkhuizen, gereedschappen, enz. Ten deele overgenomen uit de beroemdste buitenlandsche werken; en vermeerderd met de theorie en praktijk der beste inlandsche konstenaaren en handwerkslieden. Veertiende stuk. De honingbijënteelt. Dordrecht: A. Blussé en Zoon, 1797.
$500
First edition, 8vo, pp. [8], 139, [5]; 2 engraved folding plates of beehives and supers; original speckled stiff paper wrappers; a nice copy, with the initial halfsheet bearing the spine title and showing this is the fourteenth in the series.
Complete description of the art and craft of beekeeping, partly taken from the most famous foreign works, and augmented with the best theories and practice of the finest native beekeepers.
Apparently, from a series of 20 volumes on the useful arts, crafts, their workshops, tools, etc., and dedicated "To the honorable, wealthy member of the economic branch of Dutch society in Haarlem, a zealous supporter of useful arts and a promoter of the development of sciences that are useful to humanity in general and to the patriot in particular, this work on honey bee cultivation is dedicated by his sincere friends the publishers."
6. Some account of the life of Rachael Wriothesley Lady Russell, by the editor of Madame du Deffand’s letters. Followed by a series of letters from Lady Russell to her husband, William Lord Russell, from 1672 to 1682; together with some miscellaneous letters to and from Lady Russell. To which are added, eleven letters from Dorothy Sidney Countess of Sunderland, to George Saville Marquis of Hallifax. In the year 1680. Published from the originals in the possession of His Grace the Duke of Devonshire. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, Paternoster-Row; and James Ridgway, Piccadilly., 1819.
$850
First edition, 4to, pp. ciii, [1], 150; original brown paper-covered boards, printed paper label on spine; small cracks at the bottom of the spine, small wax spots on lower cover, but otherwise near fine. On the upper cover is the ownership signature of Princess Starhemberg [i.e. Princess Franziska Starhemberg 1787-1864].
Presentation copy from the editor, Mrs. Berry, inscribed "To the Princess Starhemberg from her most attached grateful, & affectionate friend, The Editor." There is one correction in ink in the margin of p. viii, also in her hand. Berry (1763-1852), was the editor of the works of Horace Walpole, two dramatic plays, and A Comparative View of the Social Life of England and France from the Restoration of Charles II to the French Revolution.
"These letters are written with such a neglect of style, and often of grammar, as may disgust the admirers of well-turned periods, and they contain such frequent repetitions of homely tenderness, as may shock the sentimental readers of the present days. But they evince the enjoyment of happiness, built on such rational foundations, and so truly appreciated by its possessors, as too seldom occurs in the history of the human heart. They are impressed too with the marks of a cheerful mind, a social spirit, and every indication of a character prepared, as well to enjoy the sunshine, as to meet the storms of life" (Berry, p. xix).
Lowndes, p. III, 2155.
7. [Blake, Wiliam.] Life of William Blake, "Pictor Ignotus." With selections from his poems and other writings ... Illustrated from Blake's own works, in facsimile by W. J. Linton, and in photolithography; with a few of Blake's original plates. London & Cambridge: Macmillan and Co., 1863.
$750
First edition, 2 volumes, 8vo, pp. xiv, [2], 389, [1]; vii, [1], 268; original pictorial brown cloth stamped in gilt on upper covers and spines, the whole recased with new endpapers, original spines neatly laid down; very good, and sound.
This is the first comprehensive biography of Blake, published posthumously by Anne Gilchrist. After Gilchrist died in 1861 the final section of the work was written by Dante Gabriel Rossetti from notes left by Gilchrist. The work contains a portrait frontispiece of Blake by Jeens after Linnell in volume I, folding frontispiece in volume II, 11 plates after various Blake's designs, 21 photolithographs from The Book of Job, 15 more from Songs of Innocence, and numerous illustrations in the text.
8. Poems, by Felicia Dorothea Browne. Liverpool: printed for G. F. Harris for T. Cadell and W. Davies, Strand, London, 1808.
$750
First edition of the author's first book, published when she was just 14 years' old; 4to, pp. xxvii, [1], 111, [1]; engraved vignette title page, 12 other wood-engraved vignettes throughout; extremities rubbed and worn, label rubbed and spine darkened and with a small chip at the bottom; all else very good.
Includes a lengthy 19-page subscribers' list here annotated in pencil next to a half-dozen names. Pickering & Chatto note: "Although it received some harsh criticism, her book was sufficiently interesting to Shelley for him to make repeated efforts to meet her (young Felicia's reported beauty may also have been an inducement) - but her mother prevented what would have been an interview fraught with possibilities."
9. The poetical works of the Right Hon. George Canning, M. P. Secretary of State for foreign affairs, &c. &c. &c. comprising the whole of his satires, odes, songs, and other poems; with a biographical memoir of the author. London: published by J. Limbird, Strand; and sold by all booksellers. Price sixpence, [1823].
$225
12mo (approx. 6" x 3¾"), pp. 53, [1]; engraved frontispiece portrait; original printed brown wrappers bound in later green cloth, gilt-lettered spine; very good and sound. Ownership signature of The Rev. Dr. Hutton at the top of the front wrapper.
Canning (1770-1827) "held various senior cabinet positions under numerous prime ministers, including two important terms as Foreign Secretary, finally becoming Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for the last 119 days of his life, from April to August 1827" (Wikipedia) - the shortest term of any Prime Minister until Liz Truss in 2022. He was one of the predominate contributors to Eton's school newspaper, The Microcosm, which he helped edit with John Hookham Frere, and he was later among the founders of The Anti-Jacobin, a newspaper supporting the government and condemning the revolutionary practices of the Jacobins.
Four institutions holding copies in OCLC: Cornell, Penn, V&A Museum, and the BL.
10. Life in Paris; illustrated with scenes from real life. Drawn and engraved by Mr. George Cruikshank [wrapper title]. Life in Paris; comprising the rambles, sprees, and amours of Dick Wildfire, of Corinthian Celebrity, and his bang-up companions Squire Jenkins and Captain O’Shuffleton. London: John Fairborn, Broadway, Ludgate-Hill, 1822.
$3,000
First edition in the original 21 parts, 8vo, pp. xxiv, 489, [1]; the two cancel leaves 143-44, and 335-36 are contained in the final part; hand-colored aquatint frontispiece and 20 hand-colored aquatint plates; original pictorial pink wrappers (a bit toned, especially the first part); the rather elusive directions to the binder is present; all else very good, attractive copy, but with a number of professional repairs, as below. Contained in a blue cloth folding box, morocco label lettered in gilt on upper cover, upper cover detached; bookplate of Robert H. & Donna L. Jackson.
The following repairs are noted: I: font wrapper reattached; V: new stab sewing; X: front wrapper reattached; XIII: letterpress portion of back wrapper inlaid; XIV: repair to paper of lower right of front wrapper, and to tears in outer margin; back wrapper replaced with plain substitute; XV: repair to paper next to joint on lower left of front wrapper; XVI: front letterpress inlaid, the back left blank; XVII: repairs to tears in outer margin of front wrapper; back wrapper replaced with plain substitute; XVIII: wrappers replaced with plain paper XIX: front letterpress inlaid, back wrapper replaced with plain substitute; XX: wrappers replaced with plain paper; XXI: front letterpress inlaid, back wrapper replaced with plain substitute.
Abbey, Travel, 112; Cohn 109; Tooley 129.
11. Mediolanenses antiquitates ex urbis paroecijs collectae, ichnographicis ispsarum tabulis, recentibus rerum memorijs, varijs ecclesiasticis ritibus auctę et illustratę . Mediolani: apud Ioan. Bapt. Bidell, 1625.
$750
First edition, small 4to, pp. [44], 288, [22]; temoine on leaf C4; engraved title page with an elaborate engraved border by Io. P. Blancus, with coats-of-arms and the figures of saints Vincent, Quirinus, Nicomedes, and Abbondio, copper-engraved folding topographic map of the San Vittore and Porta Ticinese areas, full-page copperplate in the text with the plan of the Vincentian Basilica; plus other copper and wood engravings in the text illustrating medals, archaeological finds, inscriptions, etc.; 18th-century calf-backed pastepaper-covered boards, old morocco label on spine; very good and sound.
Casteliono was a Milan priest who died during the plague of 1630. He was a careful researcher of the ancient ecclesiastical monuments of his homeland and his work represents images and monuments seen by him in various churches in Milan on which he layers many points of ecclesiastical erudition.
12. The third tour of Dr. Syntax, in search of a wife. A poem. London: R. Ackermann, Repository of Arts, 101, Strand, [1821].
$850
First edition, 8vo, pp. [4], 279, [1]; 24 hand-colored aquatints by Rowlandson plus a hand-colored vignette on the title page; original brown paper-covered boards, printed pink paper label on spine; upper joint cracked, vertical crack in spine; all else near fine, and contained in a quarter tan morocco folding box, with gilt lettered spine. Armorial bookplate of Henry Collingwood; and later bookplate of Maxine and Joel Spitz, Glencoe Illinois.
Tipped in is an 1812 autograph letter from Combe apologizing for and correcting a statement he made about how long it took him to write The Tour of Dr. Syntax, in Search of the Picturesque. It took him 92 days, not 92 hours.
Abbey, Life, 267 (for the parts issue); Tooley 429.
13. The news-paper: a poem. London: printed for J. Dodsley, in Pall-Mall, 1785.
$350
First edition, 4to, pp. vii, [1], 29, [3]; self-wrappers, stitched, as issued; title page dusty else very good; contained in a green morocco-backed slipcase, gilt lettering on spine. Bookplates of Simon Nowell-Smith and Judith Adam Nowel-Smith on the sleeve of the slipcase. Early ownership signature at the top of the title page of "E Beaufort B". Includes the last leaf with ads for two other Crabbe titles.
A satire on the popular press. "In 1783 Crabbe demonstrated his full powers as a poet with The Village. Written in part as a protest against Oliver Goldsmith’s The Deserted Village (1770), which Crabbe thought too sentimental and idyllic, the poem was his attempt to portray realistically the misery and degradation of rural poverty. Crabbe made good use in The Village of his detailed observation of life in the bleak countryside from which he himself came. The Village was popular but was followed by an unworthy successor, The Newspaper (1785), and after that Crabbe published no poetry for the next 22 years" (Britannica).
NCBEL II, 610; Tinker 785.
14. An arrangement of English grammar; with critical remarks, and a collection of synonymes. Edinburgh: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London; Macredie, Shelly, and Muckersy, 52, Prince’s Street, Edinburgh; Brash and Reid, Glasgow; J. Sinclair, and Preacher and Dunbar, Dumfries; A. M’Millan, Castledouglas; and T. M’Millan, Kirkcudbright., 1815.
$750
First edition, 12mo, viii, 303, [1]; original drab boards, printed paper label (somewhat toned) on spine; very good and sound. With an early owner's inscription on the front cover reading in faint ink: "James Maxwell Esq. / of Kirkconnell." And with the heraldic bookplate of Maxwell of Kirkonnell. Contained in a blue cloth clamshell box with black morocco label lettered in gilt, with the bookplate of Geoffrey Cains.
Only 5 copies located in OCLC: Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, University of St. Andrews, and only Wisconsin in the U.S. To which can be added the copy at the BL.
15. Les jardins ou l’art d’embellir les paysages, poëme. Nouvelle édition, revue, corrigée, et considérablement augmentée. Nouvelle édition, revue, corrigée et augmentée. Londres: de L’Imprimerie de Ph. Le Boussonier, No. 5, Hollen Street, Soho Square, 1801.
$750
First complete edition, with the addition of better than 1100 lines over the first edition; 4to, pp. [4], iv, xxii, 143, [1], xii; original blue paper-covered boards, cream paper shelfback; manuscript title on spine; very nice copy.
First published in octavo in 1782 in Paris, the book enjoyed a long and popular run, and was still in print as late a 1844. In 1801 alone there were three editions one in duodecimo, one in octavo, and this handsome quarto. And, there were many translations of the poem: into Polish (1783); three into Italian (1792, 1794, 1808); into German (1796); into Portuguese (1800); and three into Russian (1804, 1814, 1816). Inspired by Virgil's The Georgics (which he translated) and Nicolas Rapin's The Art of Gardens, this work brought Delille to the height of his notoriety. He praises and poetically describes the English garden, with its immense landscaped parks made up of trees and bodies of water.
16. Little Dorrit. London: Bradbury & Evan, Bouverie Street, 1855-57.
$5,000
First edition in the original 20 parts in 19, 8vo, pp. pp. xiv, 625; engraved frontispiece, engraved title-p., and 38 steel-engraved plates (including the "dark" plates) by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"); includes all advertising matter and inserts per Hatton & Cleaver; some spines neatly repaired; enclosed in a folding green cloth box lettered in gilt.
17. [Eton College.] A list of Eton College, taken at elections, 1801. Eton: printed and sold by M. Pote and E. Williams, 1801.
$175
16mo, pp. 19, [1]; woodcut vignette on title page; original plain black wrappers; stitching loosening, else very good.
Includes lists of the fellows and provosts, masters and students (first through sixth forms), and other groups of students.
Not found in OCLC.
18. Destiny; or, the chief’s daughter. By the author of “Marriage,” and “The Inheritance”. Edinburgh: Robert Cadell, Edinburgh; and Whittaker and Co., London, 1831.
$3,750
First edition, 8vo, 3 volumes, pp. [2] ads, [4], 337, [1]; [4], 407, [1]; [4], 399, [1]; original blue cloth-backed drab paper-covered boards, printed paper labels on spines; an uncommonly fine set in a variant binding. Bookplate of Douglas C. Ewing. Red cloth dropback box lettered in gilt.
Ferrier (1782-1854) a friend of Scott and the author of three good novels of Scottish life, Marriage (1818), Inheritance, and Destiny (1831), all marked by a sense of humor and high comedy. In fact, Destiny is dedicated to Sir Walter Scott.
Wolff 2234.
19. Report of a mission to Yarkund in 1873, under command of Sir T. D. Forsyth with historical and geographical information regarding the possessions of the ameer of Yarkund. Calcutta: printed at the Foreign Department Press, 1875.
$2,800
4to, pp. [2], iii, [1], 2, [2], 573, [1]; 45 mounted albumen photographs captioned on the mounts, 3 full-page maps outside the pagination, lacking the folding map (see below) inside back cover pocket, but the book has been rebound (so no pocket) in later green library cloth, gilt-titled spine (with small snap in the cloth), old library rubberstamp on title page of the Survey of India Dept, Photo. & Litho Office, Calcutta; occasional minor dampstaining and foxing, newspaper shadow on pp. 154-55; good and sound.
Ostensibly, the copy belonging to Paul Pelliot (1878-1945, the French sinologist and explorer), with a manuscript note by him on the front free endpaper, and with notes in the text on pages 126, 132, and 133.
A Doyle Auction catalogue notes: "This report of the official British mission to Yarkund was one of the earliest works of this nature to be photographically recorded. This is likely a second issue, containing only the 45 photographs listed in the plate list and not 102 as in other copies, the presumption being that the supply of the additional photographs had been exhausted (we have sold one other similar copy). It is also possible that there was a version for official purposes, and one prepared for wider distribution. We additionally trace another copy sold with 45 plates (Bloomsbury, 20 April 2001, lot 201), and the catalogue for that sale reports the that the London Library and one British Library copy also only contain 45 photographs. A folding map is sometimes found in the second issue, but was likely also exhausted early."
20. [French Revolution.] State of the finances and resources of the French Republic, to the 1st of January 1796. Being a continuation of the reflections on the war, and of the cursory view of the assignats; and containing an answer to the picture of Europe, by Mr. de Calonne. Translated from the original French. London: printed for P. Elmsly, Strand; J. Debrett, Piccadilly; J. Edwards, Pall-Mall; J, De Boffe, Gerard-street, Soho; J. Owen, Piccadilly; J. Sewell, Cornhill; and Vernor and Hood, Birchin-lane, March, 1796.
$275
First edition, 8vo, pp. [4], 136; unbound, stitched, as issued; near fine. Inscribed at the top of the title page: "From the author."
Francis D'Ivernois (1757-1842) was a political exile from France and a politician in Geneva. He wrote and was a diplomatic agent for the British cause against revolutionary France, and was knighted by George III in 1796. He was one of the two Genevan deputies at the Congress of Vienna (1814-15) and was instrumental in establishing Geneva as a Swiss Canton.
21. [French Revolution.] A letter to the King, with notes. [Drop title:] A letter from his excellency the Gonfaloniere di Giustizia, of Lucca, to his serene highness the Elector of Hanover, &c. &c. &c.. London: printed for J. Owen, No. 168, Piccadilly, 1795.
$500
8vo, pp. [2], 35, [1]; residue of adhesive along the sides of the spine, and additional (but now unused) sewing holes, suggest this pamphlet has been dis-bound, and restitched for further rebinding; very good.
Virginia and Waseda only in OCLC, both copies, apparently, missing the title page and citing the drop title only.
"The author of this letter has affirmed the title of Gonfaloniere di Giustizia, of Lucca for the purpose of ridiculing the solution of continuity between the elector of Hanover and a great personage, in the case of a former finding the French 'capable of preserving the accustomed relations of peace and amity,' which the latter has not yet been able to discover. The satire is better clothed, and is more uniform, than we generally find in works attempted on the plan of Swift; and there are occasionally touches which may be mentioned with some of the most fortunate of that author's effusions. The Gonfaloniere conceals his indignation and is poignant without being rancorous. He is, however, somewhat tedious: and many of his notes might have been dispensed with, for they do not all keep up the farce of gravity" (Critical Review, 1796).
22. Mandeville. A tale of the seventeenth century in England. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co. and Longman, Hurst, Rees, Ornme, and Brown, London, 1817.
$7,500
First edition, 3 volumes, 12mo, pp. xii, 306; [4], 316; [4], 367, [1]; original blue paper-covered boards, brown paper shelfback, printed paper labels on spines; a very good set. Ownership signature in volumes II and III of E. Hornby. Blue cloth slipcase with red morocco label lettered in gilt.
"Mandeville was an unexpected novel, coming from the philosopher who laid such stress on the role of reason. Written at the period when his stepdaughter, Fanny, hanged herself, and his daughter, Mary, and Shelley were married at St. Mildred's in Broad Street [27 December 1816], Godwin's novel was set in the civil war, with a poor plot but vivid characterisation turning on the unreasoning hatred of the sour and puritanical Mandeville for the pleasure-loving, charismatic and noble-blooded Clifford. 'Even more than in Caleb Williams, Godwin wields his metaphysical dissecting knife to lay bare the deepest involutions of motive and personality, taking us within his character to feel what he feels and hate what he hates. For all its faults, its verbosity and tedium, it is the relentless expression of this one dominating state of mind ... that makes Mandeville one of Godwin's most extraordinary works' (Locke, A Fantasy of Reason, 1980, pp. 277-78). A fourth volume, entitled Mandeville: the Last Words of a Maniac, was completed by another writer called Arnold and issued by a different publisher" (Christies).
Wolff 2588.
23. Glasgow Looking Glass, Volume 1, nos. 1-5. [With]: Northern Looking Glass, or Lithog: Album, Volume 1, nos. 6 - 8. [With]: Northern Looking Glass, Volume 1, nos. IX - XV. [Glasgow] : John Watson, Lithographic Press, 169 George St., Jun 11, 1825 - Feb 20, 1826.
$4,500
Folio, pp. [28], 26-61; extensively illustrated throughout, 2 with overlays, 1 tipped in; contemporary quarter calf, black morocco label on spine; spine rubbed, repairs to short tears in lower margins of pages [11-14]; contents clean; the first six numbers carry carmine duty stamps on their first pages. Throughout, in pencil, relevant numbers for the images recorded in the BM Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings (12 vols, 1870-1954).
A pioneering publication and generally accepted as the world's first published comic, those famous words "to be continued" first used as early as issue 2. Altogether 19 issues were published: a 17th in this series, and then 2 further issues of a new series.
Ownership signature on the front free endpaper of R. K. Greville, almost certainly Dr. Robert Kaye Greville (1794-1866), an English mycologist, bryologist (mosses, lichens, etc.), and botanist; also, an accomplished artist and illustrator of natural history. In addition to art and science he was interested in causes such as abolitionism, capital punishment, and the temperance movement. "In 1823 he began the illustration and publishing of the journal Scottish Cryptogamic Flora which he dedicated to his friend Hooker. In the following year he published his guide to the flora of Edinburgh, Flora Edinensis. Partially as a result of these publications Greville was awarded a doctorate by the University of Glasgow in 1826. He gave a large number of lectures in the natural sciences and built up collections that were bought by the University of Edinburgh ... At some point in late 1826 or early in 1827, he took a boat trip to the Isle of May in the Firth of Forth with two students, William Ainsworth and Charles Darwin" (Wikipedia).
The first seven issues lithographed, the later ones printed, caricature and comic illustrations text throughout, the latter issues each conclude with a letterpress final leaf. The illustrations are highly satirical, not only of contemporary politics, but also of local affairs. Caricature applied to the wide range of topics typically addressed during the late Regency 1820s, but with a local Glaswegian Scottish spin. The images are densely massed on the folio pages, creating varied and unending visual comedy.
Conceived and illustrated by William Heath. "Europe's first caricature magazine" (see Bryant, Dictionary of British cartoonists and caricaturists, 1730-1980). There is some debate regarding the extent of William Heath's involvement with indications that he did not participate until issue no. 10. As early as issue 7, the publisher was advertising that complete sets could be hand on application.
24. An address to subscribers to the Windsor and Eton public library and reading room. Delivered at the first general meeting of the subscribers held at the Christopher Inn, Eton, in Tuesday, 29th Jan, 1833. By ... President of the Institution. Second edition. London: Smith Elder and Co., 65, Cornhill, 1834.
$400
12mo, pp. 32; original printed blue wrappers; small ink stain at the bottom of the front wrappers, some dustiness, else very good. Ads for Smith, Elder publications on the back wrapper.
Herschel (1792-1871), the great astronomer and mathematician, was also the president of the Windsor and Eton Public Library. Here, in his first lecture to the subscribers, Herschel seeks ways to "improve the standard of moral and intellectual culture in the mass of the people."
Not common: OCLC locates 8 copies of the first edition of 1833, and only 2 copies of this second edition at the BL and Cambridge.
25. 萬寳叢書洋字篇 / Benpou sousho youjihen [= Dutch primer]. Owari: Hanaen Shoten, 1841.
$3,500
Fukurotoji, 9.5 x 6.5 in., ff. 11; original yellow paper wrappers, bound in an unusual style, where the wrappers are glued above the nail papers, and not sewn, possibly to replicate the look of a western pamphlet; leaf imprint on upper wrapper and some manuscript annotations throughout, including "Toujou" on upper wrapper, a chart of the alphabet in Gothic font pasted down to inside lower wrapper, and a manuscript wordlist in Japanese on the outside lower cover listing parts of speech. light soiling and wear to wrappers, mall stain in gutter of first few leaves, good and sound.
An introduction to the Dutch alphabet and spelling, for use in the Owari clan's western studies school at Nagoya. Its clarity and concision were well regarded and made it an influential text in Dutch studies. The primary author, Itou Keisuke, was a naturalist, physician, and Dutch scholar. He studied under Phillipp Franz von Siebold and was the first Japanese to receive a Doctorate in Science. According to the Osaka bibliography, another of the cited authors, Ryouzou Nishimura, was only ten at the time of the book's publication.
Four copies in Japanese institutions, none in OCLC. Osaka Women's University Bibliography of Dutch and English Studies #A6.
26. Miscellanies, in prose and verse. By Mrs. Catherine Jemmat, daughter of the late Admiral Yeo, of Plymouth, and author of her own memoirs. London: printed for the Author, 1766.
$850
First edition, 4to, pp. [16], 227, [1]; original drab paper-covered boards, cream paper shelfback; spine mostly perished but with an early manuscript title in ink, 2" x 5" piece of paper torn from the upper cover and the boards lightly dampstained; all else good and sound; unrestored. This copy complete with half-title and list of subscribers. In a black cloth clamshell box, gilt lettering on spine.
Catherine Jemmat (1720-1766) was born at Exeter, the daughter of Admiral John Yeo. Her entry in Oxford DNB catalogues a life of domestic abuse, first by her father, then her husband, a silk merchant from Plymouth who proved a drunkard and was eventually bankrupted. Catherine attempted to earn a living by writing for the Gentleman's Magazine and published her memoirs in 1762, and these Miscellanies in 1766, with a second edition called for in 1771. Wikipedia notes that the works were often ribald and many of the subscribers listed are anonymous. "She freely admitted that the volumes also contained the work of others and it is unclear which are her own and which by others ... In some of her works, she bemoans the double standard that allowed men to debauch themselves without a mark on their character whilst women receive 'perpetual odium.'"
27. La Fontaine's fables. Now first translated from the French; by Robert Thomson. Paris: Sold by Chenu, Librarie, au Palais Royal, Gallerie des Offices, 1806.
$1,500
4 volumes, 8vo, pp. [4], 32,105, [3]; [4], 139, [1]; [4], 147, [1]; [4], 128; uncut and partially unopened; numerous decorative woodcut cul-de-lampe tailpieces throughout all four volumes (I: 41; II: 49; III: 58; IV: 46), many used more than once, and including tiny abstract designs, floral arrangements, and outdoor scenes; some gatherings printed on tinted paper; original blue paper-covered boards, brown paper shelfback, printed paper labels on spines; label on volume III largely perished; cracks and minor loss of paper at the joints and spines, moderate foxing; a good copy or better, and rare in boards. Preserved in a blue cloth dropback box.
Another issue (edition?), decidedly later, contains a portrait and 15 plates by Perdoux and has a varying imprint. In that, the title is expanded to read: La Fontaine's fables. Now first translated from the French, with elegant engraved figures...
First edition of this verse translation. Includes "A sketch of La Fontaine's Life and Character," La Fontaine's original preface here translated into English, and Thomson's translator's preface. In volume II is added "A sketch of Æsop's life from Croxall."
"Although Jean de la Fontaine (1621-95) is the author of a rich and varied body of writing, he is known in English for one masterwork only. The Fables (1668-93), a subtle, varied, witty reworking of Aesop and other fabulists, seem quintessentially French, but in their freedom offer a wonderful opportunity to the poet-translator ... Early renderings by John Dennis (in his Miscellanies of 1693) and particularly by the author of The Fable of the Bees, Bernard de Mandeville, recast a few fables in jolly octosyllables in the manner of Butler's Hudibras ... [but] the first more or less complete translation was published over a century later by Robert Thomson (fl. 1790-1810). His verse lacks the terseness and subtly of the original, but gives a truer idea of it than the cavalier version of John Matthews [published in London in 1820]" (Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation).
In his preface, Thomson admits the difficulty of translating the Fables ("I have heard it urged by gentlemen ... that a La Fontaine only could translate La Fontaine...") but he wanted to free a text which has "remained locked up in its own language for near a century and a half, or known only in English by some wretched translations in prose ... In all the performances I have seen, wearing the mask of his name, I see nothing but La Fontaine wholly misunderstood, mangled, or murdered" (Thomson's preface).
28. First love. A novel. London: Saunders and Otley, Conduit Street, 1830.
$2,500
First edition of this Irish author's first book; 3 volumes, 8vo, pp. [4], 380; [2], 367, [1]; [2], 433, [1], [2] Saunders & Otley ads; original brown paper-covered boards, green cloth shelfback, printed paper labels on spines; spines lightly sunned, upper joint on volume III cracked, and a few other minor defects, but in all, a very good copy of an uncommon novel in original boards.
In the top right corner of volume I is a bookseller’s octagonal label: "Sold by / Martin Keene & Son / Booksellers and Stationers. / No. 6, College Green / Corner of Anglesea Strt. / Dublin." On p. 1 of each volume, in ink: "Ballygarth House."
In 1835, Loudon wrote Philanthropic Economy; or, the philosophy of happiness, "an innovative attempt to redefine the very nature of government activity and to recast the bases of political economy. The work was widely reviewed and published in several editions before the Anti-Corn Law League chose a section to be distributed to all electors in the 1840s (around nine million copies). Yet her publications and even her name - Margracia Loudon - are largely unknown today" (Richardson, The Political Worlds of Women: Gender and Politics in Nineteenth Century Britain, 2013, p. 5).
Wolff 4190 calling for 3 errata slips and a 4-page catalogue from Whittaker, Treacher, none of which are present here.
29. Women; or, pour et contre. A tale. By the author of “Bertram.” &c. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co. Edinburgh; and Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London., 1818.
$2,200
First edition, 12mo, 3 volumes, pp. [4], 12 (ads), v, [1], 275, [1]; [7], 4-276; [7], 4-408; original blue paper-covered boards, brown shelfback, printed paper labels on spine; joints partially starting on volumes I and II, upper joint of volume III cracked; all else very good.
A satire on Methodism also known for its depictions of Dublin undergraduate life.
Sadleir 1670; Wolff 4653.
30. 美濃竒觀 / Mino kikan [= Views of Mino Provence]. Gifu: Miura Jouzaburou, 1880.
$400
2 vols, fukurotoji, 8.5 x 6 in, ff. 4,2, 1 (numbered 7), 36; 33, 3; 15 color woodblock illustrations, most double-page; blue paper wrappers; title label on first volume perished, light worming mostly to fore edges and neatly repaired, very good.
Mino is an historical province located in what is now Gifu Prefecture. The first volume is largely on cormorant fishing, with image of the birds, boats and tools used. This is likely the second printing, with a record of one earlier printing in January of the same year.
Berkeley and LOC the only US institutions with records in OCLC, with 16 Japanese institutions in Ci.nii.
31. Voyage à travers la Mongolie et la Chine traduit du russe ... par A. Kuscinski et contenant 90 gravures d'après les croques de l'auteur et une carte. Paris: Librairie Hachette et cie., 1883.
$500
First complete French edition and first edition in a western language; excerpts from the book had previously appeared under the title "Voyage en Chine (1874-1875)" in Le Tour du Monde in 1882. Large 8vo (approx. 11¼" x 8"), pp. [6], 563, [1]; title page printed in red and black, wood-engraved frontispiece portrait, full-page map, 89 engravings on wood, many full-page; contemporary three-quarter blue crushed levant over decorative marbled boards, gilt-decorated spine in 6 compartments, gilt-lettered direct in 1, t.e.g.; near fine throughout.
In 1874, the Russian government sent a mission to China composed of Pavel Piasetskii (1843-1919), staff officer Sossnovskii and the topographer Matoussovskii. The main purpose of this mission was to study the economic situation of the Chinese empire and especially its trade with Russia. Piasetskiĭ was the artist on the expedition which traversed Siberia to Lake Baikal and Mongolia in 1874-75. This was one of the first expeditions to traverse the entire Gobi Desert.
Cordier, Sinica, 2453.
32. [Psychiatric Institutions.] First report: Minutes of evidence taken before the select committee appointed to consider of provision being made for the better regulation of madhouses, in England.. London: House of Commons, 1816.
$350
Folio, pp. [4], 95, [1]; original printed blue wrappers; tables in the text; some cracking along the spine, but otherwise generally near fine.
Includes testimony from Thomas Warburton, W. H. Lyttleton, Elizabeth Forbes, James Veitch, and many others on the treatment of patients in psychiatric institutions, largely on the subjects of cruelties, both physical and psychological, the treatment of women, diet, medical issues, the administration of drugs, and premature death.
33. Memoirs of the late Mrs. Robinson, written by herself. With some posthumous pieces. London: print\ed by Wilks and Tylor, Chancery-lane, for R. Phillips, 71. St. Paul’s; sold by T. Burst, Paternoster-Row, and by Mess. Carpenter. Old Bond-Street, 1801.
$4,500
First edition, 4 volumes, 12mo, pp. [6], 192; [2], 187, [5]; [4], 184; [4], 192; engraved oval portrait frontispiece of the Mrs. Robinson by Hopewood after Crank; original blue paper-covered boards, cream paper shelfback, printed paper labels on spine; some loss to the bottom of the spine on volume III, otherwise very good and sound.
The first two volumes contain Mrs. Robinson's memoirs, and the last two contain her poems and tributes to her by others, including those of General Burgoyne, Peter Pindar, Sir Joshua Reynolds and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Edited and published posthumously by her daughter who signs herself as "Mary" at the end of the Advertisement.
"Robinson came to notoriety as courtesan to the Prince of Wales (subsequently George IV) after he saw her in the role of Perdita in The Winter’s Tale at the Drury Lane Theatre in 1779 ... [I]n later life Robinson reinvented herself as a member of the radical intelligentsia and established a highly successful literary career that has secured her place within the history of British Romanticism. There has been extensive scholarly interest in Robinson’s Memoirs in recent years, examining its relationship to Gothic literature, Romantic autobiography, and anti-adultery and legal discourses. Critics have highlighted Robinson’s complex textual strategies to recuperate her notorious public image, noting her ability to manipulate the mechanics of eighteenth-century fame" (Culley, Amy, "The Literary Family and the ‘Aristocracy of Genius’ in the Memoirs of Mary Robinson," in: British Women’s Life Writing, 1760–1840. London, (2014).
"Mary Robinson was one of the first female celebrities of the modern era. She was dubbed as scandalous, but on the other hand educated and able to be partially independent from her husband. She was one of the first women to enter the sphere of writing, and to be successful there. Scholars often argue that she used her celebrity status only in her own advantage, but it is to be noted how much she contributed to the awareness of early feminism. She tried to elaborate the ideas of equality for women in England during the late 18th century. Nevertheless, many contemporary women were not amused with how she exposed herself to the public and ostracized her. They did not want to be associated with her, since they feared to receive a bad reputation sympathizing with Mary Robinson" (Wikipedia).
34. Peveril of the peak, By the author of “Waverley, Kenilworth,” &c. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co. Edinburgh; and Hurst, Robinson, and Co., London, 1822.
$2,800
First edition, 4 volumes, 8vo, pp. [4], xxxii, 302; [4], 319, [1]; [4], 315, [1]; [4], 320; errata slip in volume III; original blue-gray paper-covered boards, printed paper labels on spines; an exceptional copy, contained in a green cloth, fleece-lined folding box.
Leaves U1, A8 and Q7 in volumes II, III, and IV respectively are cancels. Two states of Q7 are found. This copy is in the second state with line 3 on page 253 ending with the word "circumstance," and line 6 bearing the words "and Whitehall." In this issue, the inappropriate comma has been removed from the end of the third line of the imprint. Includes the oft-missing errata slip in volume III.
Todd & Bowden 165Aa
35. Quentin Durward. By the author of “Waverley," "Peveril of the Peak.” &c. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh; and Hurst, Robinson, and Co. London, 1823.
$1,500
First edition, 3 volumes, 8vo, pp. [4], lxiii, [1], 273, [1]; [4], 331, [1]; [4], 360; original brown paper-covered boards, brown paper shelfback, printed labels on spines. Spines cracked and chipped with some loss, joints and hinges cracked and textblocks dropped, old library stickers (see below) on spines; a fair, but interesting copy with some provenance. Contained in a half brown morocco slipcase.
An unusual survival from the Huntley Circulating Library with their blue printed label on the upper cover of each volume, their circulating library rules and rubberstamp on the front pastedowns, and a later bookplate on the front free endpapers of Herbert Brenon, the silent film director, which was designed by J. H. Nash and engraved by W. Wilke.
For his part, Brenon, one of the most famous directors of his time ("the quality of Brenon's artistic output rivaled that of film pioneer D. W. Griffith" - Wikipedia), was well acquainted with Walter Scott. He directed Ivanhoe, a 1913 silent adventure film, the screenplay adapted by Brenon based on the epic 1819 historical novel of the same title.
Todd & Bowden 167Aa.
36. The Epistles of Lucius Annæus Seneca; with large annotations, wherein, particularly, the tenets of the ancient philosophers are contrasted with the divine precepts of the gospel, with regard to the moral duties of mankind. In two volumes. by Thomas Morell, D. D. London: printed by W. Woodfall, Dorset-street, Salisbury-square; and sold by G. G. J. and J. Robinson, Pater-noster-row, 1786.
$1,750
First edition, 2 volumes, large 4to, pp. [4], xix, [1], 308; [4], 368; nice copy in original blue paper-covered boards, brown shelfback, manuscript titling and stamped volume numbers on spines; near fine throughout. Early ownership signature of H. D. Forbes on the front pastedown of each volume.
Surviving quartos in boards from this period are uncommon.
The Critical Review for June 1786 notes: "Dr. Morrell has translated the Epistles of Seneca with accuracy, conciseness, and perspicuity." And, in the Monthly Review in July of the following year it is noted that "Dr. Morrell rendered an acceptable service to the Public, by clothing the best part of Seneca's works, his Epistles, in a modern dress, which has ... never been attempted since they were done into English by Thomas Lodge, and arrayed in a rustic habit by that great master of the vulgar dialect, L'Etrange ... Morell devoted a long life to classical learning, and therefore ... must have been well qualified to give a correct and faithful translation of Seneca."
Brueggemann, p. 653.
37. The secret history of the court and cabinet of St. Cloud: in a series of letters from a gentleman at Paris to a nobleman in London, written during the months August, September, and October, 1805. London: John Murray, 32, Fleet-Street, 1806.
$2,000
First edition, 12mo, 3 volumes, pp. [2], xx, 362; xiv, 311, [1]; xix, [1], 316; with the final leaf of advertisements in volume III; a fine copy in original blue paper-covered boards, pink paper shelfback, printed paper spine labels on each volume; lightly rubbed else near fine. With the bookplates of Harry H. Blum. Contained in a blue morocco pull-off case, gilt lettering on spine misidentifying the author as "Goldsmith" (see below).
A virulent attack on Napoleon and revolutionary France, with letters on censorship and on the French discontent with President Jefferson. The work was very popular but little is known of the possibly pseudonymous "Mr. Stewarton." Owing to a similarity of title with The Secret History [of the Cabinet of Bonaparte], the anti-Revolutionary and anti-Napoleonic works of B. Stewarton have often been falsely attributed to [the journalist Lewis] Goldsmith who ran an English language newspaper in Paris, before disillusionment led to his outspoken writings against France (see DNB).
Wolff 6576.
38. Labor and porcelain in Japan. Yokohama: printed at the "Japan Gazette" office, 1882.
$2,500
Reprint from the 1880 "Reports from the Consuls of the United States," 8vo, pp. [6], 59, [1], 10; 11 hand-colored albumen photographs tipped in; quarter brown morocco over marbled boards; spine sunned and chipped, joints starting, gutter split in a few places, good. Inscribed "With compliments from the author" on free endpaper. The first section is a broad survey of labor in Japan; the second section in ten pages is on porcelain.
The photos include two images of porcelain from the author's collection, and photos of the Meiji Emperor and Emperess, Ainu, tattoos, geisha, coolies, etc. The Emperor and Emperess' portrait was taken by Uchida Kuichi, then the most prominent native photographer in Japan at the time. The other photos have been attributed to Felice Beato.
39. [Bayt-i laylah], or, Persian distichs, from various authors, in which the beauties of the language are exhibited in a small compass, and may easily be remembered. London: printed for the author; by S. Rousseau, Wood Street, Spa Fields, 1814.
$2,500
First edition, slim 8vo, pp. 101, [3]; parallel text in Persian and English; original blue paper-covered boards; about fine throughout.
This copy inscribed "From the author" on the blank verso of the front free endpaper. Laid in is a lengthy 4-page autograph letter dated Jan. 3 1814 and sent from Devonshire Place, signed "Drachi" (?) who seems to have a clear knowledge of Persian which he quotes at ease. He comments extensively on the book in English, and offers suggestions.
Stephen Weston (1747-1830), antiquary and classical scholar, was a prolific author, and also made some translations from Chinese, publishing works on philology and antiquities. The book was printed by S. Rousseau, "a teacher in the Persian tongue," at his Arabic and Persian Press, the first Oriental press in England.