Literature
A Winter in Lapland and Sweden,
BROOKE, Arthur de CapellLondon: John Murray. 1827.First edition. 4to (270x210mm). pp. xvi, 612. Frontispiece and twenty one lithographed plates and eight lithographed vignettes, folding map. Full calf, spine lavishly decorated in gilt, red morocco label to spine, lettered in gilt. Save for a few marks in near fine condition. Internally there is some foxing and spotting, heavy in places but overall a nice copy of a groundbreaking travel book. Arthur de Capell Brooke, from a land-owning family and the son of a baronet resigned his army commission after the Battle of Waterloo and embarked on a life of adventure and travel.
View full detailsAntiquities, historical and monumental, of the county of Cornwall.
BORLASE, WilliamLondon: Printed by W. Bowyer and J. Nichols. 1769.Second edition, extensively revised and regarded as the best. Folio (367x230mm), pp. xvi, 464. Two maps (one double page), twenty-five plates (one double page) and ten vignettes in the text (a total of thirty seven illustrations, all engraved). Contemporary diced russia, gilt, panelled spine with double raised bands. Marbled endpapers, front pastedown has bookplate of Robert Frederick Green dated 1909. Light spotting to maps and slight offsetting from plates, otherwise very clean and fresh. A handsome copy in excellent condition throughout.
View full detailsPictura Loquens;
SMIDS, LudolphAmsterdam: ex Officina Hadriani Schoonebeek. 1695.Only edition. 8vo. 180x112mm. [16], 240, [16]. Engraved frontispiece, engraved portrait on verso of title page and sixty engravings by Adriaan Schoonebeeck. Slightly later full calf, borders in blind and gilt, spine with five raised bands, compartments decorated in gilt and blind and lettered in gilt. Turn ins decorated with gilt roll. All edges gilt with delicate gauffering. Internally near fine save for a closed tear to E7 (not affecting text).
View full detailsA Discourse of Fish and Fish-Ponds
[NORTH, The Hon. Roger]London: Printed for E. Curll. 1713.First edition. 8vo. 176x110mm. pp. [8], 79, [1]. Contemporary panelled calf, spine with four raised bands, second compartment with red morocco label lettered in gilt. In excellent condition. Internally very good with some browning and foxing, slightly heavier to title page. Attractively decorated with a variety of head and tailpieces and wood engraved initials. Front pastedown has ownership inscription: "E.Kynaston. 1743". A very nice copy of "the principal English work of early date on fish culture".
View full detailsA School Dictionary, English and Marathi
TALEKAR, Shrikrishna Raghunath ShastriBombay: Government Central Book Depot. 1870.Third edition, Revised and Enlarged. 8vo. 190x115mm. pp. viii, 488. Full sheep, red morocco label to spine, lettered in gilt. In excellent condition. Internally very good. Front free endpaper has ownership inscription I.S.White. Marathi is the language spoken in the state of Maharashtra of which Bombay/Mumbai is the capital.
View full detailsColumnensis Familiae Nobilissimae S.R.E. Cardinalium
UGHELLUS, Abbas FerdinandusRome: Typis Hæredum Corbelletti. 1650.First edition. 4to. 237x180mm. ff. [40]. Engraved title page and nineteen engraved portraits. Contemporary limp vellum, small hole to bottom edge of upper cover and a very small hole to foot of spine and some slight soiling but otherwise in very good condition. Front pastedown has the bookplate of Sloley Hall in Norfolk. Internally, there is some staining, quite heavy in places but overall a very attractive copy of a rare book: a nice example of an attractively printed Italian seventeenth century book with particularly good and striking illustrations.
View full detailsPortrait of Aubrey Beardsley
ANONYMOUSn.p. . 1898.Pen and ink portrait of Aubrey Beardsley signed "T.B.B. '98". Image measures 117x77mm, on card (187x142mm), inside a border beneath which is inscribed "Aubrey Beardsley. Artist, died 1898, aged 24". The image is based on a self-portrait done by Beardsley in 1896 and shows him, in profile, in the form of a bust, in white against a black background.
View full detailsFlora Bedfordiensis
ABBOT, Charles, M.A. F.L.S.Bedford: Printed and Sold by W.Smith. 1798.First edition. 8vo in 4s. 223x130mm. pp. xii, 351, [9]. Six contemporary hand-coloured engravings. Green buckram, maroon morocco label, lettered in gilt. Some marking and rubbing and a split to the cloth (c45mm) at joint with lower board. Some slight foxing in places but otherwise very good internally with the charming plates in particularly good condition. It is rare to find these coloured. One of the front preliminary leaves has two pages of neat manuscript notes listing plants from Abbot's book that are found in the "best natural pastures".
View full detailsFables Choisies, Mises en Vers par J. de la Fontaine
LA FONTAINELeiden: Chez Luzac & van Damme. 1786. First edition with these illustrations. Three volumes. 8vo in 4s. 195x115mm. Vol. 1, Tome Premier (1786), Tome Second (1764): pp. xxiv, [4], 79 [1bl], two engraved frontispieces, 45 engraved plates; [4], 78, 50 engraved plates. Vol. 2, Tome Troisieme (1770) and Tome Quartrieme (1775): pp. [4], 69 [1bl], 43 engraved plates; [8], 108, 45 engraved plates. Vol. 3, Tome Cinquieme (1786) and Tome Sixieme (1786): pp. xliv, II, 89 [1bl], 42 engraved plates; iv, 152, 50 engraved plates. Beautifully bound by P.
View full detailsThe Accomplished Housekeeper, and Universal Cook.
WILLIAMS, T. and the principal cooks at the London and Crown and Anchor TavernsLondon: Printed for J. Scatcherd. 1797.First edition. 8vo. 175x100mm. pp. xvi, 274. Folding frontispiece and twelve plates each with a monthly "Bill of Fare". Contemporary calf, recently and expertly repaired, red morocco label to spine lettered in gilt. Closed tear to E6 with no loss, some foxing but otherwise very good. An excellent copy of a rare book, ESTC recording only six copies. The Accomplished Housekeeper is an abridged version of Francis Collingwood's The Universal Cook and City and Country Housekeeper, itself a rare book, first published in 1792 with a second edition in 1797.
View full detailsBallads in Imitation of the Antient
IRELAND, W.H.London: Printed for T.N.Longman and O.Rees. 1801.Only edition. Small 8vo. pp. [6], 201, [1bl]. Contemporary calf, double fillet borders to boards, rebacked to style with gilt decoration and black morocco label lettered in gilt. Edges and corners rubbed with a little wear to the latter. All edges speckled. Internally near fine. A very nice copy of the first book published by Ireland following his exposure as a forger. Rare in commerce, only two copies appearing at auction in the last fifty years.
View full detailsExperiments and Observations on the Atomic Theory and Electrical Phenomena
HIGGINS, WilliamDublin: Printed by Graisberry and Campbell. 1814.First edition. 8vo. pp. [6], 180. Original grey-brown paper covered boards, rebacked, original paper label to spine (torn and missing left and right edges), lettered in black. Edges of boards slightly worn. Internally very good with some foxing in places, leaves uncut. Front free endpaper has ownership inscription of A.M. Perkins. Upper cover has a gift inscription (only partially legible) "To. Perkins Esqr, 7 Hereford [?] Street, Red Lion Square, London or [...] Regents Park. W.J [...ins] Compliments [.....] Dublin". Rare in commerce, the last copy appearing at auction in 1980.
View full detailsScrap Book 1900-1981
PENROSE, RolandLondon: Thames and Hudson. 1981.Presentation copy to Stephen and Natasha Spender with an original drawing by Penrose on the title page. First edition. 265x185mm. pp. 299, [1]. White cloth, lettered in black to spine, illustrated dustjacket. Slight scuffing to dust jacket at head and foot of spine and at corners. Illustrated endpapers. Internally fine. Illustrated throughout with colour and black and white photographs. The drawing by Penrose on the title page is an abstract design in green, black and red pastel and the inscription reads "for Stephen and Natasha with my love Roland".
View full detailsBringing up the Bodies
MANTEL, Hilary[London] 4th Estate. n.d..Limited edition proof. 245 of 500. xviii, 411, [1bl]. Illustrated paper covers in excellent condition. Internally near fine. A superb proof copy of the second of Hilary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell trilogy. Like its predecessor Wolf Hall, this novel won the Booker Prize.
View full detailsSome Limericks.
DOUGLAS, Norman[Florence]: Privately Printed [Orioli]. 1928.First edition issued to subscribers only. Limited to 110 copies of which this is number 110. Royal 8vo. 250x165mm. pp.97, [1bl]. Original yellow/gold rough canvas with title stamped in red on upper cover. Corners slightly bumped and light soiling on the covers. Internally very good with some slight marking in places. Overall a very nice copy. Some Limericks has long been a popular work, famous for its obscene verse and clever, amusing mock-scholarly apparatus. It has appeared in a number of pirated editions.
View full detailsIntimate Journals
BAUDELAIRE, CharlesLondon and New York: The Blackamore Press and Random House. 1930.First English edition, translated by Christopher Isherwood, limited to 400 copies of which this is number 175 so this is one of the 250 for sale jointly in the US and UK. Printed on Arches Paper. 8vo. 203x140mm. pp. 128. Frontispiece self-portrait and seven further drawings by Baudelaire reproduced by D. Jacomet and described in a note at the end of the book as "studies of introspection, at times as profound and as vital as certain passages of the Intimate Journals".
View full detailsLeipziger Taschenbuch für Frauenzimmer zum Nutzen u Vergnügen für das Jahr 1799
ANONYMOUSLeipzig: bei Adam Friedrich Böhme. 1799.106x64mm. Additional engraved title page and engraved frontispiece, 16pp, title page, [2 contents], 282, two folding leaves of music, fourteen engraved plates including one coloured showing a hairy spider eating a bird. Green pictorial wrappers, worn and creased and split to upper joint. Internally very good with slight browning. The first sixteen pages contain information about seasons, lunar movements, star signs, Saint's days. The main part of the book is a collection of poems, stories and advice for ladies, for their "use and pleasure".
View full detailsScotland's Skaith; or The History O' Will and Jean owre true a tale!
[MACNEILL, Hector]Edinburgh: Printed by Mundell and Son. 1795.Subscriber's copy. 8vo. (223x140mm). Unpaginated, [pp62]. Engraved frontispiece and two further engraved plates and tailpiece. Two title pages. Contemporary half calf, marbled paper covered boards, green label to spine, lettered in gilt. Corners bumped and rubbed. Slight foxing and browning and staining to first page of "Subscribers Names". Overall a nice copy of a book which went through numerous editions (under different imprints) in its first year (1795), ESTC recording this as the second edition with two copies in the UK (BL and NLS) and eight in the US.
View full detailsMaximes et Reflexions Morales
LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, Duc deParis: Chez J-J Blaise, Chez Pichard. 1813.8vo. pp. 203, [1bl]. Engraved frontispiece portrait of La Rochefoucauld by Pierre-Philippe Choffard after Jean Petitot. Folding facsimile letter by La Rochefoucauld. Beautifully bound in contemporary green straight-grained Morocco, elaborately decorated in gilt and blind. Upper and lower covers with a triple fillet border framing an acanthas leaf motif inside which is a panel in blind with a leaf motif in gilt in the corners of the inner panel. Spine with four double raised bands, compartments elaborately decorated in gilt, second compartment lettered in gilt.
View full detailsHistory of Russia and of Peter the Great
DE SEGUR, General Count PhilipLondon: Treuttel and Wurtz, Treutell, Jun. and Richter. 1829.First edition in English published in the same year as the first edition in France. 221x141mm. 8vo. pp. xxxix, (i bl), 448. Original blue paper covered boards, spine covered with beige linen. Pasted onto the upper cover is the label (160x100mm) of "Bigg's New Westminster Subscription Library". Corners bumped and edges worn with a small tear (5mm) to front edge of upper cover, joint with upper cover split and a short split at top of the joint with lower cover, small tear (10mm) to linen towards foot of spine.
View full detailsSunday or a Working Girl's Lament
FELLOWES, DaisyMonaco: Imprimerie A Chène. 1930.Limited edition, number 92 of 200 printed on velin supérieur signed by the author. 244x157mm. 74 leaves. Quarter green cloth, white paper covered boards, colour illustration to centre of upper cover. Some marking and soiling to covers and scuffing to corners and edges of boards. Some foxing but otherwise a very good copy. Text printed in black, blue, red and green on recto only (verso blank), four illustrations. Daisy Fellowes was an heiress to the Singer Sewing Machine.
View full detailsFour cartoons
ANONYMOUS [JHL]n.p. [Ireland] n.p. 19th century.Four cartoons showing the life of the poor in Ireland. The only real clue that they are Irish is that one of them shows two old women begging under a banner advertising a sermon from the Protestant Orphan Society. Two other cartoons comment on the divide between rich and poor while the fourth simply shows an old woman knitting outside what looks like a workhouse. The pictures are signed "JHL". Prints measure 180x115mm and are mounted on cream paper and framed in a wooden frame.
View full detailsHeroics
HINE, DarylFontainebleau: L'imprimerie Gosswiller. 1961.Limited edition, exemplaire numéro 11 of 100. Eight folded sheets of Rives paper (250x400mm), the engravings on separate sheets (250x200mm). One further folded sheet which is a prospectus for Heroics. All housed in a folder with the title on the upper cover. The folder is a little soiled and there is slight foxing elsewhere but overall this is a very good copy of a scarce work. In addition, there are twelve loose typescript sheets (270x210mm) with poems by Hine.
View full detailsAurea Catena
Basilius ValentianusBelvezy: Editions Anima Mundi. 2002.Limited edition, 19 of 50. 150x120mm. Unpaginated. pp.20. The text is printed in red from the Kleweta's calligraphy. Illustrated with six coloured engravings including one on the title page and line drawings in the text. Bound in red morocco illustrated on the upper cover and lettered in gold to upper and lower cover. Near fine. Printed by Kleweta on his own press, this is an attractive example of his distinctive dream-like style and left-field choice of subject mixing erotic prints with alchemical symbols.
View full details