.
BIOGRAPHIES, AUTOBIOGRAPHIES, MEMOIRS
[This is a mainly 20th-Century General Reading & Reference File]
Virtually every volume on this list is fit to be not just a pleasing
“read” but a pleasing gift — “word to wise!”
A-G   •   H-Z

[ ]

All modern volumes are octavo; all are in very good used condition unless otherwise noted.

A Popular Edition from aSurreptitious Manuscript Copy

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•  Early American edition of the “unofficial” but extremely popular Life, re-translated into English from the French publication and released despite William Temple Franklin's attempts to suppress any version other than his own. This example comprises two volumes in one, opening with an engraved portrait of Franklin signed by Tanner andfeaturing an addition “not in any other Edition,” according to the title-page: “An Examination, before the British House of Lords, respecting the Stamp-Act.” At the back are a six-page list of subscribers and four pages of advertisements for Woodward publications.

•  Sabin 25602; Shaw & Shoemaker 515. On Temple Franklin and early editions, see: Green & Stallybrass, Franklin,151–60.   Contemporary treed sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; spine extremities a little chipped, front cover a little sprung, hinges (inside) reinforced. Frontispiece and title-page tattered and now mounted, with outer margin of first preface page repaired; a number of corners bumped or dog-eared, with a few in one section at some point delicately rodent(?)-nibbled. Subscribers' list trimmed closely, affecting two names only; pages age-toned with intermittent foxing. In fact, though certainly not “excellent” — quite “satisfactory.”  (25357)

ANOTHER “FRANKLIN” appears below
in the expectable alphabetical place.

(Acheson, Bohlen, Harriman, Kennan, Lovett, McCloy). Isaacson, Walter and Thomas, Evans. The wise men: Six friends and the world they made. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986.  (6529)
$17.50

(Acheson, Dean). Acheson, David C. Acheson country: A memoir. New York: W.W. Norton, 1993. Dust jacket as new.  (6530)
$17.50

(Acheson, Dean). McLellan, David S. and Acheson, David C., eds. Among friends: Personal letters of Dean Acheson. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1980. Dust jacket somewhat worn.  (6531)
$17.50

(Adams, Abigail & John). Butterfield, L.H.; Friedlaender, Marc; and Kline, Mary-Jo, eds. The book of Abigail and John: Selected letters of the Adams family. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1975.  (6532)
$17.50

(Adams, Charles Francis Jr.). Kirkland, Edward Chase. Charles Francis Adams, Jr. 1835–1915: The patrician at bay. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1965. Dust jacket slightly worn.  (6533)
$17.50

(Adams family). Adams, James Truslow. The Adams family. Boston: Little, Brown, 1930.  (21049)
$10.00

(Alighieri, Dante). Chubb, Thomas Caldecott. Dante and his world. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1966.
$30.00

•  Inscription (author's?); translation of Italian quotation handwritten in ink on dedication page.  (6536)

(Alsop, Joseph W.). Alsop, Joseph W. I've seen the best of it: memoirs. New York: W.W. Norton, 1992. As new.  (6537)
$17.50

(Alsop, Stewart). Alsop, Stewart. Stay of execution: A sort of memoir. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1973. Two tears in dust jacket, otherwise good.  (6538)
$17.50

Whittingham Printing, Hayday Binding

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•  Uncommon first edition of this biography of the esteemed bishop, non-juror, and hymnodist (1637–1711), written by the author of The River Dove (although the work was anonymously published, this attribution was later confirmed by Plumptre). The frontispiece portrait of the subject was engraved by W. Humphreys “from a contemporary print by Loggan.” The volume overall is ahandsome example of Whittingham's printing, set in a large type with ornamental initials and tailpieces; at the back are three pages of sheet music for hymns written by Ken, and the errata slip is tipped in.

Binding:  Contemporary full violet-brown morocco, framed and panelled in blind with blind-tooled corner fleurons, done by James Hayday (with binder's stamp on front free endpaper). All edges gilt.

Provenance:  From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Kelly, Checklist of Books Published by William Pickering, 1851.10; Keynes, William Pickering (rev. ed.), p. 75; NSTC 2A11311.   Binding as above, recased, spine slightly darkened with mild cracking to leather, light wear to extremities, small scuffs to back cover, hinges expertly refurbished. Previous cataloguing slip laid in. Pages clean and crisp. A lovely copy of the infrequently seen first edition. (40597)

The Most FamousFairy-Tale Author of All

my life

•  First English-language edition of H. Topsoe-Jensen's annotated edition of Andersen's autobiography, here translated by W. Glyn Jones, with illustrations by Niels Larsen Stevns.

•  Publisher's quarter cloth with paper-covered sides, corners the slightest bit rubbed; original slipcase, this sunned and abraded with “spine” broken. Danish copyright information lined through, volume otherwise clean and quite nice internally.  (24517)

Literati of Antwerp Salute One of Their Own — Portrait after Peter Paul Rubens
Woodcut *&* Engraved Versions of the Plantin Device

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•  First edition.  A multi-part memorial volume from the Plantin–Moretus press in honor of Philippe Rubens (1574–1611), brother of the famed artist, whose Greek and Latin rendition of the Homilies by Asterius, Bishop of Amasia (ca. 375–405), occupies the first section of the text, here in Greek and Latin printed in double columns. Little is known about Asterius, Bishop of Amasea, and there has been much scholarly debate regarding exactly which homilies should be attributed to his authorship and which to other early Christians, including Asterius the Sophist; the Catholic Encyclopedia online says his works provide “valuable material to the Christian archaeologist.”

The second section here includes verses Rubens composed in the later years prior to his death in 1611 and dedicated to illustrious members of his circle including the humanist Justus Lipsius, Janus Woverius, and Peter Paul Rubens and Isabelle Brant, who married in 1609. Brant’s father, Jan, composed the introductory letter to the reader.

The volume was published at the request of Cardinal Ascanius Columnas in an edition ofonly 750 copies, and was printed at Antwerp at the press of Moretus’ widow and sons with the famous Plantin device appearing in two versions (engraved, to the title, and woodcut, to the final recto).

A full-page engraved funeral portrait of Rubens engraved by Cornelius Galleafter Peter Paul Rubens signals the beginning of the third section, in which Jan Brant records the life of his son-in-law’s brother and transcribes his epitaph. Even Balthasar Moretus contributes an epigram in honor of the deceased.

In the fourth section, Rubens’ own orations and selected letters appear, i.a. his funeral oration to Philip II of Spain. Josse DeRycke contributed the final funerary tribute.

Done up in fully elegant Plantin–Moretus style, the volume has in addition to its careful typography and full-page plate and devices been lavished throughout with two-line block initials and four-line historiated woodcut initials; also, it offers several intricate woodcut tailpieces.

Searches of NUC Pre-1956 and WorldCat locate only eight copies in U.S. institutions, one of which has been deaccessioned; most arenot in obvious places.

•  Graesse, I, 241; Corpus Rubenianum, XXI (1977), 152.   Period-style full brown calf, covers framed in blind double fillets, spine with gilt-stamped red leather title-label, raised bands with blind tooling extending onto covers. With a few odd spots to the text only, this is aremarkably fine, crisp copy. All edges green.  (28878)

With BOTH the Author's & the Subject'sSignatures

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•  Uncommon first edition of this life of the prominent sculptor, remembered for his memorial busts and statues in Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, and elsewhere. The author was an eminent Church of England clergyman and one of the founders of the Eclectic Society. Joseph Collyer steel-engraved the frontispiece portrait, which shows Bacon at work on a classical head, after John Russell.

WorldCat locates only seven U.S. institutional holdings.

Provenance:  This copy is inscribed by the author on a front fly-leaf: “Mrs. Bacon wth the author's affect. respects.” In addition, athree-page autograph letter signed by Bacon is tipped in; the letter pertains to Bacon family heraldic and heritage matters and includes mention of a deposition. The front pastedown bears the pictorial bookplate and small ticket of Robert Heysham Sayre of Bethlehem, PA.

•  NSTC C1166.   19th-century half brown morocco with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and blind-tooled trefoil decorations in compartments; joints refurbished, spine bands and extremities slightly worn. Pages age-toned; six leaves browned from an old stain and a few more with small marginal areas browned; frontispiece and title-page with spots of foxing. Manuscript letter with outer edges creased, some creases partially slit, one small strip detached along an edge fold and laid in. An attractive copy of an interesting text with excellent and interesting additional material.  (33598)

A Different Take on Cromwell vs. the King

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•  Rare version of Cromwell's life and military successes: WorldCat and Copac findno institutional holdings of this sole, separately-printed edition. The biography is attributed to “A Gentleman of the Middle Temple,” but the text is for the most part adapted from of A Short Critical Review of the Political Life of Oliver Cromwell by John Bancks (or Banks, 1709–51), a bookseller, poet, and biographer; there seems to have been some confusion with the Restoration-era playwright John Banks (d. 1706).

The present rendition was excerpted from the first eight chapters of the Critical Review, and closes with a discussion of Cromwell's burial; much of Bancks's editorializing regarding the conduct of the king and other political matters has been removed, providing an interesting contrast to the original work. According to the DNB, the work in its first state earned Bancks accusations of being an enemy of the monarchy due to its sympathetic tone towards Cromwell — a major difference from all previous biographies.

This edition features a wood-engraved frontispiece done by Turnbull after Harper.

Provenance:  From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Not in NSTC (CD version). On Bancks, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Recent light blue paper–covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. Frontispiece recto (back) with rubber-stamped numeral and pencilled annotation, no other markings. Pages age-toned with spots of minor staining, edges slightly ragged, corners bumped. An intriguing oddity.  (38654)

The First Jesuit Mission to theMughal Empire

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•  Rodolfo Acquaviva (a.k.a., Ridolfo Aquaviva), nephew of Claudio Acquaviva the fifth Superior General of the Society of Jesus (1581–1615), after his Jesuit novitiate was ordained a priest in 1578 at Lisbon and sailed for India. Arriving in India he taught at the Jesuit school (Saint Paul's College) in Goa, founded by St. Francis Xavier and the site of the first printing press in India. In 1580 the Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great summoned him to his court and thus began Acquaviva's mission to the Mughal empire. His was, in fact, the first Jesuit mission there.

As Prof. Emerita Frances W. Pritchett of Columbia University writes on her great website (http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/ikram/part2_12.html): “Of all the aspects of Akbar's life and reign, few have excited more interest than his attitude toward religion. . . . [H]e built the Ibadat Khana, the House of Worship, which he set apart for religious discussions. Every Friday after the congregational prayers, scholars, dervishes, theologians, and courtiers interested in religious affairs would assemble in the Ibadat Khana and discuss religious subjects in the royal presence.”

It was to these discussions/conversations/debates that Acquaviva was invited. The religions represented were many, the major participants including Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Hindus, Jains, and Zoroastrians.  After several months Acquaviva felt his contributions to the debates insufficient to justify continuing as part of the mission and left the task to fellow Jesuits. On return to Goa his missionary work led him to the Hindu Kshatriyas of Salcette, south of Goa, which proved a fatal decision. Prior to his arrival, the Jesuits with the aid of Portuguese troops had destroyed some temples there; the Cuncolim Revolt of July, 1583, was partially a result of those actions and it was in the revolt that Acquaviva and the four companions alluded to in the title of this work were murdered.

The author of this biography was a major Jesuit historian of the Society's activity in Asia. He was the author of the monumental Istoria della Compagnia di Gesu (1650–1673) in 6 folio volumes, Della vita e dell'istituto di S. Ignatio, fondatore della Compagnia di Gesu (1650), L'Asia (1653), Il Giappone, parte seconda dell'Asia (1660), La Cina, terza parte dell'Asia (1663), L'Inghilterra, parte dell'Europa (1667), L'Italia, prima parte dell'Europa (1673), and biographies of Jesuits Vincenzo Caraffa (1651), Robert Bellarmine (1678), Stanislas Kostka (1678), Francis Borgia (1681), and Niccolo Zucchi (1682). Also of interest are his works on science: Della tensione e della pressione (1677), Del suono, dei tremori armonici, dell'udito (1679), and Del ghiaccio e della coagulatione (1682).

This is the second edition of Bartoli's account of Acquaviva and his mission, following the first of the previous year. Searches of NUC, WorldCat, and COPAC locate just two copies of the 1663 edition, both in the U.S., and similarly only two copies of this 1664 (one in Germany, one at Oxford).

•  DeBacker-Sommervogel, I, 975; Graesse, I, 303 (for first edition and other later editions but not knowing of this second).   Late 18th-century quarter vellum over light boards covered with green paper. Undeciphered 17th-century ownership inscription on title-page. Waterstaining, at times significant, at others barely visible. A sound copy with no worming or tears.  (35200)

Important Biography of a Scholar of the
Tarascan & Matlaltzinga Languages

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•  Second edition (first was Mexico, 1664) of the standard biography of Father Basalenque (1577–1651), the Provincial of the Augustinians in Michoacan and the author of Arte de la lengua tarasca, the best colonial-era grammar of the Tarascan (Purépecha) language, and of Historia de la Provincia de San Nicolás de Tolentino de Michoacán, del Orden de N.P.S. Agustín, the respected history of his order in Michoacan. He was also an accomplished student of the Matlatltzinga language, leaving unpublished (until the 20th century) several manuscripts.

This work discusses his humility, obedience to the Agustinian rule and vows, and in part his work among the native population.

This second edition additionally contains Lucas Centeno's compilation of the documents relating to the reinterment of Fr. Basalenque's remains in the Convento de Santa María de Gracia in Valladolid (now Morelia), Mexico.

•  Sabin 75779; Palau 287455; Medina, BHA, 3996.   Contemporary limp vellum with remnants of ties. Rodent damage to binding (bits devoured especially at back cover fore-edge) and some nibbling to lower edge of closed book (not anywhere near the text). Clean, solid, unwormed copy.  (28616)

(Beecher family). Rugoff, Milton. The Beechers: an American family in the nineteenth century. New York: Harper & Row, 1981. Dust jacket worn, with several tears. History Book Club edition.  (6549)
$10.00

(Bowen family). Bowen, Catherine Drinker. Family portrait. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1970.  (6554)
$17.50

Designed by P.J. Conkwright — A Signer's Sad, Sensational End

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•  Boyd, the great head of the Princeton University Library and later professor of history, kept the gentlemen of the Philobiblon Club awake with his after dinner account of themurder by poison of Whyte, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence and subsequently a judge in Virginia and opponent of slavery, at the hands of Wythe's sister's 17-year-old grandson. The death of a black teen-aged servant of Wythe's in the same atrocity is not glossed over, and one bit of the talk turns on Virginia's admission (or not) of the legal testimony of “Negroes” in a case such as Wythe's became. There is a “Bibliographical note” on p. [47].

The Princeton Library catalogue record for this work states that P.J. Conkwright, the legendary designer and typographer at the Princeton University Press, designed the book. One would suspect that it was printed at the Press as well.

• New. Bound as issued; marbled paper boards, black cloth spine with title stamped in gold. Glassine dust wrapper, chipped and torn over spine but present. (35761)

Deluxe Signed Limited Edition PUBLISHER'S COPY:  Life of a Science Fiction Pioneer

(Bradbury, Ray).

BRADBURY: An illustrated life.

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•  First, limited edition thus of a visual record of the great Ray Bradbury's career in comics, movies, television, theatre, and literature. This profusely illustrated limited edition includes32 pages of material not present in the trade edition (incorporated here after the William Morrow title-page dated 2002, marked first edition): the volume opens with the previously unpublished “The Ghosts of Forever: A Film Fantasy,” illustrated by Joseph A. Mugnaini, and “Switch on the Night,” a reproduction of portions of Bradbury's original manuscript bearing his own illustrations. The foreword is by Donn Albright, and the introduction by Bradbury.

Binding:  Crimson “snakeskin” leatherette, front cover and spine with decorative gilt-stamped title and creature vignette, housed in matching clamshell case with front cover and spine similarly gilt-stamped.

A total of 26 lettered copies were issued in the binding described above. In addition to beingsigned by Bradbury and Weist on the title-page, the present example is anout-of-series copy marked (in red ink, on the title-page) as the publisher's copy.

•  Binding as above. A beautiful and unique copy of a striking tribute.  (33416)

Memorizing Monarchs — Royalty in Rhyme

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•  Chronicling the English monarchy from 1066 (William I) to 1761 (George III), this little book for children makes memorizing fun by converting biographical details about each king or queen into rhyming prompts. Each page features one monarch, with his or herwoodcut portrait in a handsome circular frame at the top and two rhyming questions below. For example, “Who was it that in night's dark hour,/ Murder'd his nephews in the Tow'r,/ And then usurp'd the kingly pow'r? Richard the Third”; and “When fam'd Elizabeth was dead,/ Who govern'd England in her stead,/ Whom Guy Fawkes gave much cause of dread?/ James the First.” The final verso contains a publisher's advertisement for other titles, among which are Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper, and Mother Goose's Quarto.

First published in 1813 (see Osborne Collection, p. 161; Gumuchian 937). WorldCat locates fewer than ten U.S. libraries reporting ownership.

Provenance:  Signature in early ink of Mary Elizabeth Williams on title-page. Later in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Shoemaker 1597.   Original printed paper boards with title-page reproduced on the front board and a publishers' advertisement on the rear, stained and dust-soiled. Foxing and dampstaining throughout, generally light and marginal but severe on final verso; deckle preserved at fore-edge of one leaf; small closed tear in one outer margin. Temoine pp. 25–26. Small tear in outer margin of pp. 17–18. A less than ideal but still decent copy andvery uncommon title in the marketplace.  (38476)

Diplomatic History & Memoirs

•  First edition. A unique perspective on American foreign policy during the Carter Administration.

•  Publisher's cloth. Good-plus condition.  (6558)

Bishop Burnet's Instructive Lives

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•  Second edition thus of these paired biographies, originally published separately in 1681 and 1680 respectively. The first work is an admiring tribute, written by a man who knew little of law but who considered Hale's life a pattern of virtue and usefulness; the preface offers a brief and rather biased look at the history of biography. A list of Hale's writings, both published and (then) unpublished, plus a list of the books he left to Lincoln's Inn in his will, are appended. The second work, an account of the legendary libertine, opens with an added title-page (dated 1820) bearing an engraved portrait by R. Grave. Both biographies were “admirably calculated to enforce the lessons of the moralist” (p. iii).

•  NSTC 2B60417.   Period-style quarter light grey cloth and light blue paper?covered sides, spine with printed paper label; engraved portrait of Hale lacking. Ex–social club library with rubber-stamp on half-titles and main title-page but not on the pretty engraved title-page introducing Rochester's life; no other markings. A few leaves with upper outer corners bumped. Nice printing of two much-read and long-respected memoirs.  (30337)

“I Never Showed Any Aptitude for Study or Literature at School”

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•  Nonesuch Press production of previously unpublished selections from Butler's papers, edited and introduced by A.T. Bartholomew, illustrated with six photographs and two collotype reproductions of oil paintings also previously unpublished (with the exception of “Miss Savage”). This isnumbered copy 603 of 800 printed in England by Ernest Ingham at the Fanfare Press; 600 were for sale in England and 200 in America.

Provenance:  Calligraphic bookplate of Norman J. Sondheim, American collector of fine press books.

•  McKitterick/Rendall/Dreyfus 84.   Publisher's quarter natural niger morocco with red and black Cockerell marbled paper–covered sides; glassine wrapper lacking, boards very gently curved, extremities slightly worn. A solid, handsome copy of a handsome book.  (32040)

Laugh a Little — Cringe a Little — Carrington Curiosa

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•  W.C. Costello's translation of Cabanès' Cabinet secret de l'histoire (première série), the sole edition in English and an interesting, if at times gruesome, complication of medical anecdotes, medical humor, celebrity lore, and titillation.

Cabanès (1862–1928) was a medical doctor, historian, and successful writer of a goodly number of works of fiction and history, with a subspecialty of historical medical mysteries. Carrington was a leading British publisher (“abroad”) of late-Victorian and Edwardian pornography/erotica for “bibliophiles,” much of it flagellatory; there have been significant essays on him and his works, butWikipedia provides one irresistible sentence: “Carrington went blind as a result of syphilis and the last few years of his life were spent in poverty as his mistress stole his valuable collection of rare books.”

The chapters in this publication are: A youthful indiscretion of Louis XIV, The fistula of a great king, The maladies of Louis XV, The semi-impotency of Louis XVI, The first pregnancy of Marie-Antoinette, Louis XVI in private life, One of the judges of Marie-Antoinette: the surgeon Souberbielle, What was Marat's disease, Talleyrand and the doctors, The accouchement of the empress Marie-Louise, The ancestors of Marshal Mac-Mahon, and Gambetta's eye.

Nicely printed, with title-page in black and red and text block issued untrimmed, this is a copy of the trade edition: There was a deluxe issue on Japan vellum limited to 30 copies.

Provenance:  “Virginia Pritchard Hilton-Green, my father's book.”

•  Publisher's blue cloth stamped in blind. Minor rubbing; small tear at base of front joint (outside). Inside clean.  (35372)

Life & Letters — A German Neo-Latin Poet

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•  Three first editions, all uncommon: Joachim Camerarius the elder’s life of the German neo-Latin poet Helius Eobanus Hessus (1488–1540), followed by books two and three of Hessus’s correspondence as edited by Camerarius. All books were issued separately. The Protestant humanist Camerarius was a member of Hessus’s circle and an associate of Melanchthon’s, as was Johannes Crato von Crafftheim, the royal physician and friend of Martin Luther to whom Camerarius dedicated the final volume of letters; Melanchthon, Euricius Cordus, Justus Menio, Mutiano Ruffo, and others appear with letters sometimes wholly in Greek, others with extensive passages in that language.

Binding: Contemporary alum-tawed pigskin, dated 1567 in blind; binding with bevelled edges, covers blind-embossed using rolls: faith, hope, justice, and charity. One metal clasp is present, the other perished.

•  Narratio: Adams C436; Brunet, II, 1009; VD16 C480 / VD16 C408. Libellus: Brunet, II, 1009; VD 16 C409; not in Adams. Tertius libellus: Brunet, II, 1009; VD16 C410. Binding as above, spine with later hand-inked paper label; binding much darkened and somewhat rubbed, one clasp intact and the other lacking. First title-page with ownership inscription dated 1559 inked in lower margin; Libellus alter lacking last leaf of preface (with errata on reverse) and Tertius libellus epistolar lacking title-page. Some corners dog-eared; two leaves with outer corners torn away, without loss to text. Early inked underlining and lining through of text, with a few marginalia, mostly in Narratio and occasionally in other two works. Last few leaves of final work with light waterstaining to lower outer corners.  (18853)

(Cassatt, Mary). Hale, Nancy. Mary Cassatt. Garden City: Doubleday & Co., 1975.  (6470)
$17.50

A Thoughtfully Cautious Gift

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•  Chiswick Press edition of what some consider to be the first major English biography along with Cavendish's verse tragedies, here with supplementary material including illustrative letters and documents; a dissertation on the true author of the Life by Reverend Joseph Hunter; and “Extracts from the life of . . . Queen Anne Boleigne, by George Wyatt” with a series of letters about her. Elizabethan scholar Singer (1783–1858), who edited these texts, also owned a bookshop, wrote a history of playing cards, and served as the librarian to the Royal Institution in Albemarle Street. The volume is illustrated withnine plates of portraits, facsimiles, and scenes from the cardinal's life.

Evidence of Readership: A past reader has added several lengthy marginal notes as well as a few smaller ones in pencil in both volumes, usually in relation towomen mentioned in the text.

Provenance:  An armorial bookplate of Samuel Edward Herrick with the motto “virtus omnia nobilitat” appears on the front pastedown of both volumes with the inked note “Gift of Jno. M. Fiske Xmas 1892" at the bottom (Fiske and the Rev. Herrick were both members of the City Missionary Society of Boston); a one-page letter from Fiske to a Mr. Doer written on Boston Custom House Stationary and tipped into the first volume notes, if he already owns the set, “I have the assurance of friend Bartlett of Hornhill that he will exchange it for something not already on your shelves.” Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  NSTC 2C12319. On Cavendish & Singer, see: DNB (online).   Half red roan in imitation of morocco and Papier Tourniquet paper–covered boards, spines lettered and compartments stamped in gilt, overprinted marbled endpapers, top edges gilt, others uncut; gently rubbed, hinges (inside) starting to crack. Light age-toning with the very occasional stain, light foxing or offsetting around plates. Provenance and readership indicia as above, some pencilled notes very faint. A nice edition of an influential work.  (39444)

(Cheng, Nien). Cheng, Nien. Life and death in Shanghai. New York: Grove Press, 1986. Dust jacket somewhat faded over spine, otherwise in good condition.  (6562)
$17.50

CHURCHILL

Capturing an AgeOne Biography at a Time

[Clarke]. 

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•  First edition: Concise yet entertainingly anecdote-laden biographies recounting the accomplishments and characters (foibles and all) of the most prominent figures of the age: nobles, churchmen, politicians, dissenters, military and naval officers, jurists, physicians, voyagers and travelers, scientists, writers, economists, architects, artists and musicians, etc. All the expectable princesses, duchesses, and countesses are present, along with a handful of women represented in other categories — the preponderance falling under the “Vocal Performers” and “Actors” headings.

The first volume is illustrated with12 plates each offering four rows of small portraits, some intriguingly expressive; each volume opens with an engraved frontispiece portrait of a royal George.

•  NSTC 2C23867.   Recent textured maroon cloth, spines with gilt-stamped black leather title and volume labels; title-pages institutionally pressure- (not rubber-) stamped. Scattered light spots of staining, pages generally clean; first few leaves of voI. \ II with outer margins chipped. A hefty, substantive evocation of Georgian life and times.  (30012)

(Clark, Kenneth). Secrest, Meryle. Kenneth Clark: A biography. New York: Fromm International, 1986. Paperback, in fine condition, inscribed by author. With photographs.  (6473)
$7.50

(Cocteau, Jean). Steegmuller, Francis. Cocteau: A biography. Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown & Company, and Atlantic Monthly Press, 1970. 8vo. Illus.
$25.00

•  First trade edition, first issue.

•  Publisher's cloth. Very good condition, no dust jacket.  (6571)

On Forman & Wise

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•  Well-written and well-documented account of Wise & Buxton Forman and their now notorious forgeries of books by 19th-century writers like the Brownings, Tennyson, Swinburn, Ruskin, and Stevenson.

•  New, in dust jacket.  (24560)

Satire of Pennsylvania Politics at theStart of the French & Indian War

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•  A facsimile of this Colonial American “fragment” is printed here with a good introductory essay by Samuel W. Pennypacker (a governor of Pennsylvania and a major bookcollector), with the title-page of the 1758 original reading: A fragment of the chronicles of Nathan ben Saddi; a rabbi of the Jews. Lately discovered in the ruins of Herculaneum: and translated from the original, into the Italian language. By the command of the king of the Two-Sicilies. And now first publish'd in English. Constantinople, Printed, in the year of the vulgar aera, 5707. The work is, in fact, a satire by a member of the Proprietary party in Pennsylvania, dealing with the political controversies of the province during the early years of the French and Indian war and the personalities involved. It takes the form of a mock-Biblical account of the arrest of William Smith for allowing a translation of an article from Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette to be published in the German newspaper under his control. A key to the pseudonyms is provided by the great Pennsylvania bibliographer Charles Hildeburn, in his hand on two blank pages of the original 1758 printed book.

“Of this book one hundred and fifty copies are printed on hand-made paper.” The title-page is printed in red and black.The 15 plates offer a fine facsimile of the 1758 rarity, presented with good margins on that good paper.

•  Nearly New. Bound in brown paper boards, printed in black. In a protective box that is lightly chipped and with a spot or two of fading/discoloration; book in fine condition.  (35756)

LEC: American Expatriate Literary Culture

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•  Limited Editions Club production of one of the earliest American works about the Lost Generation, here with an introduction by Leon Edel andcontemporary photographs by Berenice Abbott, Man Ray, André Kertész, and others, in a volume designed by Laurie Rippon and printed by Daniel Keleher at the Wild Carrot Letterpress. Numbered copy 538 of 2000 printed, this issigned at the colophon by both Cowley and photographer Abbott. The appropriate LEC newsletter and prospectus are laid in.

Binding: A. Horowitz & Sons bound the work in quarter brown cloth with gray Fabriano Ingres paper, the front cover stamped in brown to reproduce the front cover of a 1920s literary magazine.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 523. Binding as above, in original glassine dust jacket with very minor chipping to corners. Also in original slipcase of brown cloth and gray paper with brown printed lettering to spine. A clean, fresh, indeed wonderful copy.  (39039)

“Then On to Meet Gaspar Maillol”

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•  As the on-line Britannica succinctly summarizes him, Craig (1872–1966) was an “actor, theatre director–designer, producer, and theorist who influenced the development of the theatre in the 20th century.” He was also the son of actress Ellen Terry.

First printing. The diary has been reduced in length by about one-third for publication and edited by Colin Franklin. It covers a low point in Craig's life, but is detailed and tells of his friends Beerbohm, Isadora Duncan, Lovat Fraser, and others; the more offensive anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi comments were omitted.

“Three hundred fifty copies of this book have been printed at the Bird & Bull Press in March 1982. The text is composed in Baskerville types by Mackenzie-Harris Corp., printed on mouldmade Bugrabutten paper and bound by Gray Parrot. This is copy No. 149.”

FYI: Original publication price was $160. And it's still a lovely book.

•  Heaney, Thirty years of Bird & Bull, A34.   Publisher's quarter tan goat with tan and white paper sides. Clean and fresh.  (36133)

“The Fourteenth of August was the Day Fixed Upon for the Sailing of the Brig Pilgrim”

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•  A memoir offering a look at the common seaman's life and the hardships sailors endure, presented in a striking decorated cloth binding. Richard Henry Dana, Jr. (1815–82), an American lawyer and politician, embarked on a voyage from Boston to California as a merchant seaman and recorded his experiences in a journal which eventually became an American classic. Dana did not intend the memoir to be an adventure story, but rather an earnest argument for improved conditions for seamen; still, it has lived on as the former.

The story is illustrated witheight color plates (including the frontispiece) by legendary artist Arthur Rackham. This is a later issue of the first edition, in the original red cloth, with Rackham's name not given on the title-page and no page numbers on the illustrations.

Binding:  Publisher's red cloth, spine with black-lettered, gilt-stamped label and Native American vignette, front cover with three men on a whaling ship with the name “Scud” on the side, watching two Native Americans rowing a canoe; main design stamped in black and white with accents of blue and brown.

Provenance:  On front free endpaper, the bookplate of B. George Ulizio, an avid bibliophile and collector. Kent State University holds much of his British and American literature collection.

•  BAL 4434 (for the 1840 first edition).   Binding as above, boards slightly bowed, dark spotting to top and fore-edge, scrape to fore-edge; in a brown cloth clamshell case, black label with gilt lettering, overall rubbing, the brown ribbon book-pull within now in two pieces. Frontispiece beginning to pull away, but still attached at the top; interior age-toned with occasional foxing. A fascinating journey in a striking cloth binding, with illustrations fromearly in Rackham's career.  (38624)

Emily's Brother

(Douglas, William O.). Douglas, William O. Go east, young man: The early years. New York: Random House, 1974. Dust jacket in good condition.  (6579)
$17.50

(Dulles, Eleanor Lansing). Dulles, Eleanor Lansing. Eleanor Lansing Dulles: Chances of a lifetime, a memoir. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1980. Dust jacket shows wear, otherwise good.  (6580)
$17.50

(Dulles family). Mosley, Leonard. Dulles: a biography of Eleanor, Allen, and John Foster Dulles and their family network. New York: Dial Press, 1978. Dust jacket slightly worn, faded on spine. History Book Club edition. With photographs.  (6581)
$10.00

An Artist's View of theEarly Development of American Art

Dunlap, William.

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•  First edition. Dunlap (1766–1839) was “one of the first outstanding figures of the American stage” according to the Oxford Companion to the Theatre; sent to London to study painting with Benjamin West, he found the lure of the theatre more compelling and eventually became a playwright, manager of New York’s Park Theatre, and vice president of the National Academy of Design. Here reverting to his first “life,” he providesinteresting biographical accounts, full of anecdotes and personal observations, of numerous prominent American artists and their works. Vol. I features a facsimile of an autograph bill of sale, for portraits, by John Singleton Copley.

•  On Dunlap, see: Oxford Companion to the Theatre, 211. American Imprints 24237; BAL 5026; Howes D571; Sabin 21303.   Publisher's quarter green diced cloth and tan paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped title; edges and extremities rubbed, corners bumped, spines sunned, sides with spots of staining and discoloration. Front hinges (inside) tender. Ex–social club library: spines with paper shelving labels, front pastedowns with 19th-century bookplates and inked shelving numbers, title-pages and one other in each volume rubber-stamped, no other markings. Some outer corners of vol. II lightly waterstained; a very few instances of small spots of staining.  (27558)

(Ehrhart, W.D.). Ehrhart, W.D. Vietnam—Perkasie, a combat Marine memoir. Jefferson: McFarland, 1983. Paperback, very good condition.  (6583)
$50.00

(Eisenhower, Dwight D.). Ferrell, Robert H., ed. The Eisenhower diaries. New York: W.W. Norton, 1981. History Book Club edition. Dust jacket worn.  (6584)
$10.00

(Elizabeth I). Jenkins, Elizabeth. Elizabeth the Great. New York: Coward-McCann, 1959.  (6585)
$10.00

A Paragon of a Priest Who Helped Quell the Tupac Katari Rebellion

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•  The bare facts of this publication are these: Gregorio Francisco de Campos served as bishop of La Paz from 1764 until his death at Christmas season 1789. His eulogizer was Joseph Erazu de Burunda, “Familiar del mismo Señor Obispo, su Exâminador Sinodal, Visitador de la Provincia de Pacages, Cura, y Vicario actual de la Parroquial de San Pedro de Acora en el Partido de Chucuito.”

Clearly the men were close and events of 1781 brought them even closer:That was the year of the Tupac Katari rebellion and the nearly year-long siege of La Paz by the 40,000-strong indigenous independence activists who rebelled against the Spanish Empire. And yes, mention is made in this volume of the rebellion.

Into his bibliographical entry for this eulogy Medina copied an interesting document, a letter from the viceroy to the king concerning Erazu. That letter reads in part: “desde el año de 80, obtiene su actual curato, que sirve igualmente con el vicariato de él, con la misma obligación y esmero, sin dar en este ni los anteriores cargos motivos á la menor queja; que al punto que se sintieron en aquel pueblo los primeros movimientos de la rebelión se esmeró en apartar á sus feligreses de seguirla, y dió prontos avisos á Chucuito para librar las armas del Rey: que retirado por sus achaques á la ciudad de La Paz, sufrió en ella sus dos rriesgados penosos sitios, ejercitando su caridad en sepultar diariamente los muchos cadáveres arrojados por las calles: que el infame indio Isidro Mamanú (alias Catari) que destruyó á Chucuito, fue aprisionado por los mismos feligreses, y entregado al corregidor de Puno, bajo cuyo mando continuaron sirviendo hasta la retirada al Cuzco; que concluídos los sitios de La Paz y abiertos los caminos, regresó á su curato, de donde despachó 600 indios auxiliares contra los rebeldes collanos, y un donativo de doscientos pesos para los gastos de esta expedición, tomando también á su cargo la recaudación de tributos de su doctrina en aquellas críticas circunstancias, logrando aumentarlos desde enotnces en quinientos pesos en cada tercio; que dispuso casa para cuartel de las dos compañías de Santa Cruz de la Sierra, sin gravamen alguno de la Real Hacienda, constituyéndose por capellán de ellos durante los tres años que guarnecieron su pueblo, sin reparto ni derecho por los entìerros y demás funciones de iglesia que se les ofrecieron, y haciéndolos con toda solemnidad; que ha establecido una escuela pública á su costa, comprando casa, pagando al maestro, é instruyendo á los muchachos en el idioma castellano; que promovió y logró cortar en todo aquel partido un abuso con que eran gravados sus naturales por los caciques; y que ha sido exacto en asistir en sus doctrinas, en la administración de sacramentos y en la instrucción de sus feligreses. Y considerándolo por todo acreedor á la gracia que solicita de una silla de merced vacante en el coro de la Catedral de La Paz, ú otra que sea del agrado de S. M., lo hago presente á V. E. para los efectos que su superior discernimiento halle correspondientes.”

This was printed with several handsome historiated initials and one attractive headpiece.

•  Medina, Lima, 1754; Sabin 22717.   20th-century Latin American brown calf, letters on spine in sans serif (!!) and some staining to edges; a rear blank (retained from previous binding) is of 19th-century wastepaper with fragmentary manuscript accountings. Old neatly inked numeral to title-page; interior clean and bright, red ribbon placemarker.  (36810)

Biography of a Nice, ORDINARY Guy
(by anExtraordinary One)

•  This is the first published work by Espionsa, the great Franciscan chronicler of the middle third of the 18th century. He was born in Queretaro, Mexico, in 1679, was educated there, and on 19 March 1697 began his career as a Franciscan; he took holy orders on 17 December 1703. Between 1709 and 1721 he participated in several expeditions to Texas: those of Captain Pedro de Aguirre, Domingo Ramón, Martín de Alarcón, and the Marques of San Miguel de Aguayo.

While Espinosa is most famous for his writings on Texas and his fellow Texas missionary Antonio Margil de Jesus, this biography is of Fray Antonio de los Angeles Bustamante, the beloved porter of the Franciscan monastery in Queretaro. Fray Antonio was a lay cleric, a Spanish immigrant who arrived in Mexico as a boy and as an adult had a successful career in business which he abandoned to enter the monastic life. A full biography of such an “ordinary Joe” in the 18th century is most unusual.

The volume offers anexcellent copper-engraved portrait by Joaquín Sotomayor of Fray Antonio with the keys of his office and the symbols representing his responsibility of giving bread and water to those begging at the monastery door.

The book is from the press of master printer Hogal, considered to be the Ibarra (or Baskerville) of Mexico.

Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate fewer than a dozen copies in U.S. libraries.

•  Medina, Mexico, 3173; Ayala Echavarri, Bibliografía histórica y geográfica de Querétaro, 423; Palau 82700; Sabin 22895. On the engraver of the portrait, see: Romero de Terreros, Grabados y grabadores de la Nueva España, pp. 537–38.   Contemporary stiff vellum with remnants of ties, recased; new endpapers. The occasional stain or wormtrack, never serious; one leaf with small tear at inner gutter affecting a few letters. A handsome book in a very good copy.  (23508)

Catherine, the RUINER

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•  A scandalous life of Catherine de Medici, expanded from a pamphlet titled Sympathie de la vie de Catherine et de Jésabel, avec l'antipathie de leur mort and here followed by a section titled “Exhortation a la paix, aux François Catholiques.” The pamphlet was first printed in 1574 and the extended version in the following year, with more than a few subsequent appearances in the 16th and 17th centuries. The present example is one of two editions printed in 1649; the other has only 138 pages (although the two contain similar content). Perhaps these 1649 editions were inspired by the overthrow of English King Charles I, and anxiety “around” monarchy?

The title-page here is decorated with a small printer's device of a snail, perhaps making haste slowly, and the text features shouldernotes for ease of use.

Evidence of Readership: A past reader has added a few paragraphs of commentary in French on the verso of the front endpaper as well as two marginal notes in pencil and one in ink.

Provenance:  19th-century “Ex libris Lebers” in ink on verso of front free endpaper. Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Barbier 4030.   19th-century quarter brown morocco and brown, tan, and yellow marbled paper–covered boards, spine lettered and stamped in gilt, stormont marbled endpapers, all edges stained red; lightly rubbed with some loss of paper and leather. Provenance and readership markings as above, light age-toning with a few spots; a few leaves with waterstaining at corners, two short marginal tears, and one marginal repair.  (38054)

A Really Elaborate Apology — Columbus, Too!

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•  First Genoa edition of Italian historian Foglietta's biographical sketches of influential citizens from Liguria, the region in which Genoa happens to be located, includingfour pages on Christopher Columbus. Native Genoan and historian Fogiletta (1518–81) was banished from the city and moved to Rome after publishing his work Delle cose della repubblica di Genova, which described abuses of the old nobility against the new (the latter including his family). The present work, originally published in 1572 at Rome, was written to prove his loyalty to his hometown, to which he happily returned in 1576.

The text is sumptuously printed in single columns with spacious margins using roman and italic type with a few illustrated initials, headpieces, and type ornaments as well as a printer's device featuring a hydra surrounded by the motto “virtus virescit vulnere” on the title-page; an index printed in double columns and register follow the main body of text. Cataloging at the Library of Congress notes that this edition consists of the same sheets as the Rome, 1573 printing except for the first gathering (pp. [1–8]), which has been reset.

Provenance: “Foglieta Claro[rum] Illustrium” has been written in ink along the bottom edge with “Don Berardi della Ferra” and another name scribbled out on the title-page, as well as a signature dated 1669 below the colophon, in what appear to be three different early hands; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Alden & Landis, European Americana, 588/31; EDIT16 CNCE 19333; Sabin 24942. Not in Adams. On Foglietta, see: Treccani (online).   Contemporary limp vellum, title inked on spine and bottom edge, evidence of now-absent ties; spine darkened and crackling just enough to show evidence of binding waste, some spotting on covers, endpapers repaired. Provenance notes and booklabel as above. Light to moderate age-toning and mostly faint marginal waterstaining throughout, with intermittent foxing and a handful of spots. Three leaves including the title-page have been repaired. Exactly what one expects a nice 16th-century book to look like!  (39368)

SIGNED by the Author — Gerald Ford

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•  This copy is SIGNED by President Gerald Ford. From Easton Press's “Library of the Presidents” series, this offering includes the introductory pamphlet by Henry Kissinger.

Stepping into the presidency amidst scandal, war, and a poor economy, Gerald Ford was presented with some very difficult leadership challenges. On the one hand, he was the right man at the right time: His honesty and reassurance restored the confidence in the presidency that been lost during the Watergate scandal, and his negotiation of the Helsinki Agreement contributed to the end of the Cold War. However, Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon eroded much of the trust he had built early in his term. This fateful decision, together with the fall of Saigon and his inability to “whip inflation,” were the main factors that cost him reelection. This memoir speaks to his role in navigating the challenges of his time with the same honesty and straightforwardness that characterized his tenure as president.

•  Full red leather, covers lavishly gilt-stamped with a pattern of elephants, spine with raised bands, gilt title, author's name, and gilt elephants within “compartments.” Endpapers bear a version of the image of the obverse side of the Great Seal of the United States. Silk ribbon placemarker. All edges gilt. Fine condition.  (23605)

Memoirs ofthe Minister of Police

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

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

“We May Peep Here & There into That Bygone World of the Georges”

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•  The “original issue in The Cornhill Magazine”: A book-form collection, with printed title-page, of the serialized first printing of Thackeray's witty, entertaining biographies of Kings George I through IV, incorporating much commentary on the social and cultural life of each era. Charles Dudley Warner said of these essays that they “do not profess to be history in any sense — certainly not in that in which Macaulay understood or McCarthy understands it, still less in that which Mr. Kidd predicts it will some day assume: they express the thoughts of the kindly satirist, of the novelist who sees not too deeply, but whose gaze misses nothing in the field it scans. Written in much the manner of ‘Esmond’ or ‘Vanity Fair,’ and in the author’s inimitable style, they give delight which their readers never afterward wholly lose” (Warner, Library of the World's Best Literature). The four sections were printed in the July through October 1860 issues of the magazine (although the original Cornhill wrappers bound in here are for the no. 18, June 1861 issue).

Each sketch opens with a wood-engraved plate, and also includes smaller vignettes. Two of the four wood-engraved plates were signed by Joseph Swain, and many of the other in-text illustrations here were likely that prolific engraver's work.

Binding:  19th-century half dark red morocco with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with raised bands continued in blind onto boards, gilt-stamped title, and gilt-stamped trefoil decorations in compartments; binding stamped by Donnelley.

Provenance:  Original front wrapper with inked inscription of R[obert] G[eorge] Moger (ca. 1811–85), a Highgate physician and philanthropist. Most recently in the library of Robert L. Sadoff, M.D., sans indicia.

•  NCBEL, III, 858.   Binding as above, front joint and extremities a little rubbed, upper outer front corner bumped. Pages slightly age-toned. A pleasing piece of Thackeriana.  (39838)

“PAY orI'll Tell the Truth About You”

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•  Renaissance collector, writer, and rascal, Giovio's most important writing is his “Lives of Illustrious Men.” Written in what is often called “law style” and clearly in part an outgrowth of his passion for collecting oil portraits of the great, it has among itsnearly 200 biographies a judicious sprinkling of reports on contemporaries who were solicited for financial contributions, which solicitations were thinly disguised blackmail demands. Those who paid had much embellished biographies; those who didn't were treated harshly and faults and sins were exposed ruthlessly. Among the booty Giovio thus obtained were two houses and much gold and silver.

Added to this edition is Francsco Negri's Latin translation of Giovio's Commentario de le cose de' Turchi (“De rebuvs et vitis imperatorum Turcarum usque ad Solymanum”; vol. 2, pp. 390–[472]).

Provenance:  17th-century ownership signature of “Ant. de Sedorne” on title-page; two 19th-century stamps on same, one unidentified and the other of the “Seminarium Sancti Nicolai de Cardueto”; and stamp on verso of same, of the Redemptorist Fathers of the Mount St. Alphonsus Seminary (deaccessioned).

•  VD16 G2077; Adams G666.   Early vellum with precursor yapp edges, author/title inked old-style on top page edges as well as on spine; text block recased and new ties attached. Text browned in places, light waterstaining in some lower portions, stamps as noted above, else a good++ copy andan impressively thick fistful of book.  (34405)

Freed from GRINDING Poverty in London, a WriterLooks Back at Life

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•  “Gissing's last and most beautiful book,” according to Mosher. The lightly fictionalized memoir — stylized as an edited, seasonally organized presentation of a deceased author's journal — is preceded by an introductory survey of Gissing's work, written by Thomas Secombe. This edition was printed on handmade Van Gelder paper, with the type distributed afterwards; only700 copies were printed on paper, with an additional 25 on Japan vellum.

•  Hatch, Mosher, 688; Bishop, Mosher, 313.   Publisher's quarter tan paper and blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label; spine moderately sunned, with extremities rubbed and one tiny fleck to one compartment. Back hinge (inside) cracked, front hinge tender, volume yet holding firmly; as usual, without the dust jacket or the slipcase. Overall, a very good copy ofan interesting book and an attractive Mosher production.  (34463)

FIRST EDITION

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•  First edition of Gough's account of the origins of the Society of Friends, includingbiographies of a number of Irish Quakers. This three-volume set in matching contemporary bindings is composed of the original three books projected; a fourth volume, published in 1790, is not present here. Each book has an index at the back.

Provenance: Vol. I title-page with inscription dated 1790, reading “Joseph Russells cost 10s a Vollume [sic]”.

•  ESTC T102429.   Contemporary treed calf, spines with gilt-stamped leather title labels; worn and one cover off. Ex–defunct library with bookplates, a stamp to each title-page and last leaf, old (interestingly make-shift) card pockets. Some instances of offsetting and foxing, generally no more than moderate, with pages otherwise clean.  (8655)

A Third GenerationMEXICAN Woman Printer

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•  Sweeping in its breadth and detailed in its depth, Gutiérrez Dávila's history of the Oratorian Order in Mexico from its founding in the second half of the 17th century offers fact and myth about the order as well as biography and near-hagiography of many members, up to to ca. 1730.

The Oratorians were unlike the other religious orders in New Spain: “The Oratory of St. Philip Neri was founded by the saint in Rome in 1575. . . . It consists of independent communities of secular priests held under obedience but not bound by vows, and it is dedicated to prayer, preaching, and the sacraments” (online Encyclopedia Britannica). That is, members were free to leave at any time and embraced no vows of silence, poverty, or denial.

Further, “[e]ach Oratorian community enjoyed locally autonomous government by their own elected officials, and acquired many of the benefits of both religious and lay corporations without the burden of formal vows, or professional exclusion from religious offices” (Reed). Scholars have noted that Oratorians used preaching to help shape the formation of patriotic culture and historical writing in colonial Mexico.

The author (1676–1740) was a member of the order and had served as its provost. He dedicated this work to Archbishop and Viceroy Juan Antonio de Vizarron, y Eguiarreta, whose coat of arms appears in a woodcut on the recto of the leaf following the title-leaf. The title-page is printed in black and red and has a woodcut of the “logo” of the Mexico City Oratory. The text is printed in double-column format in roman and italic, with head- and tailpieces and woodcut initials.

The tome comes from the shop ofone of Mexico's famous widow printers, Maria de Rivera — daughter and granddaughter of other woman printers (her mother Maria de Benavides, her grandmother Paula de Benavides). This three generations of women printers spanned the period 1641–1754 and printed 860 known books, sermons, pamphlets, and broadsides.

The Mexican engraverJose Antonio Amador provided a full-page plate, which a cataloguer at the John Carter Brown Library describes as “A priest [Saint Philip Neri?] wearing a biretta and holding a flower stand[ing] on clouds, flanked by angels. Below him is a group of priests [Oratorians] who carry a book, birettas, and rosary. One angel throws flowers down on the priests while holding a rosary, the other holds a sacred heart and a book.”

Provenance:  Marca de fuego in upper edges of an unidentified Oratorian monastery

In all, a very important book for its text, illustration, printer, and genre.

•  Sabin 18778; Medina, Mexico, 3418; Palau 11568; Streit, Bibliotheca missionum, III, 389; Lathrop C. Harper, Three catalogues of Americana, II, 333; Benjamin Reed, “Devotion to Saint Philip Neri in Mexico City, 1659-1821" (digital repository, University of New Mexico).   Modern quarter brown leather with red and green title and author labels to spine; handsome blind tooling with gilt accents. Text with variably light old waterstaining to leaves' lower half nearly throughout and occasionally another sort of spot or blot; yeta copy that impresses one as clean and crisp.  (36013)

TO Part II . . .

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