Provenance:  From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Buff-color printed wrappers with hand-colored vignette on front wrapper; stitched, head and foot of spine chipped, rear wrapper detached and reattached with archival tissue. A good++ copy.  (38873)

•  Publisher's printed cream-colored paper wrappers, front wrapper with cornucop ia design in navy and gold; back lower outer corner bumped, light dust-soiling to back wrapper. One page with small affixed sticker in upper portion, partially obscuring header but no other text.  (30227)

The second edition, following the first of the previous year. Harris published his fifth and last in 1830.

Provenance:  From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Gumuchian 3085; Moon, John Harris's Books for Youth, 362(2). Not in Osborne Collection.   Lacks printed wrappers; in contemporary block-printed floral–pattern wrappers, rubbed and backed. Occasional small spots of foxing; pages otherwise clean and entirely free of childish markings — or even any hints of having been held by childish hands. A very nice copy of this early printing.  (39871)

This, the editio princeps, was edited by and has the notes of Matthew Bust (1543 or 1544–1613), Fellow of Eton College and father of his namesake who was Master of Eton (1611–30). The prefatory matter and notes are printed in Latin in italics and the main text is in a large greek face; the actual printer's name is from STC.

Searches of STC, WorldCat, and ESTC locate many copies in Britain and even Europe, but only five in U.S. libraries.

Provenance:  18th-century ownership inscription at top of title-page: “Petri Bonifantii.” Most recently in the collection of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

An amazing early English schoolbook!

•  STC (rev.) 14622; ESTC S103427.   20th-century quarter red morocco with red cloth sides. Light age-toning and some stray ink spots. In fact, very good.  (37309)

Binding:  Signed “Liebherre, GRA.” Midnight blue or purple cloth with blind-stamped boards and richly gilt-stamped spine.

Provenance:  On front free endpaper, “Present to Albert Loomis by N.L. Tilden, Teacher.”

•  Sternick, Bibliography of 19th-century children's series books: 1291.   Binding as above, minor rubbing of spine foot and crown, gilt very bright. Calligraphic inscription and ownership stamp to front endpapers; light foxing throughout. Very good.  (37749)

Provenance:  Printed presentation leaf at front inscribed to “Harford” with two inked dashes through a printed date of 1841; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  On Hawtrey, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.   Binding as above, rubbed and scraped with leather loss and some spotting; front hinge (inside) starting, boards firmly attached. Dust-soiling of varying degrees along top edges with the occasional spot; moderate foxing to first and last few leaves, two leaves with offsetting from ribbon placemarker that is still present. Presentation inscription and booklabel as above.  (38839)

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 17875; Welch 739; Rosenbach, Children, 395; German Language Printing in the U.S. 1690; Pomeroy, Anderson, 289.   Publisher's stone-pattern marbled-covered boards.A very nice copy; remarkably, beautifully clean.  (36378)

Knight, who was devoted to books and to literature from the time he was a small child, was a much-admired printer and publisher, as well as an author, reformer, and would-be educator: Many of his publishing endeavors were aimed at improving and enlightening the working class.

•  NSTC 2K7731. On Knight, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online. On binding cloth, see: Krupp, Bookcloth, style Wav3.   Publisher's textured brown cloth, covers blind-stamped with muse motif and title, spines with gilt-stamped title and blind-stamped decorations; lightly worn overall with some fading, vol. II spine head with traces of a strip of cloth tape. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Paper slightly embrittled (more so in second volume), with a few short edge tears. Externally ordinary; internally worthwhile.  (26860)

Binding:  Publisher's deep blue cloth, front cover and spine pictorially stamped in black and gilt; endpapers as above.

•  Bound as above; extremities mildly rubbed, lower outer back corner bumped. Front fly-leaf with difficult-to-decipher inked ownership inscription dated 1885. Pages gently age-toned. An attractive and interesting take on Marco Polo for what would now be thought of as the “YA” audience.  (40347)

No one here was sent to what came to be the “far” West — it wasn't yet time for that — but concerned as these young women surely were about unsaved frontier folk and “papal ascendancy,” they clearly felt themselves to be off on real adventures in places that were not, well, New England . . .

Apparently the last annual report was in 1852.

•  Sabin 38542.   Disbound. Clean.  (38336)

true first edition of the unofficial second series

attending boarding school

The first series made its first appearance in book form in London, 1823. The authorized second series was not published until 1833, under the title The Last Essays of Elia; the pieces selected for the unauthorized American second series offered here are different from those contained in that volume, and mistakenly include three essays written by other hands.

•  Shoemaker 33813 & 33814; NCBEL, III, 1225; NSTC 2L2346.   Vol. I: Uncut copy. Publisher's quarter once-red cloth and paper sides, covers printed with “Elia” within a simple frame, spine with printed paper label; binding rubbed and lightly soiled, spine sunned to yellow. Repaired tear to one leaf, touching text without loss; remarkably clean and sound. Vol. II: Contemporary speckled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; rubbed, and head of spine chipped with old refurbishing. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate and call number ticket on front pastedown, front free endpaper with inked numerals, title-page pressure-stamped. Author's name inked on title-page; front free endpaper and title-page reinforced at fore-edge (the latter from the back). Both volumes age-toned, with intermittent spots of staining; advertisements absent. The set now housed in a quarter blue morocco and blue cloth–covered clamshell case with marbled paper–covered sides and gilt-stamped spine.  (26434)

This now-uncommon textbook is illustrated with five folding engraved plates of diagrams. WorldCat showsjust one U.S. institution (Society of the Cincinnati) reporting a copy, and only a handful of overseas holdings.

Provenance:  Title-page with early inked inscription “de Ratzenried” and front pastedown with von Ratzenried armorial bookplate (coat of arms showing greyhounds and a moon with clouds) labelled F.C.V.R.: possibly Franz Carl Anton von und zu Ratzenried.

•  Contemporary mottled calf, board edges with gilt roll, spine with raised bands, gilt-stamped leather title-label, and compartments gilt extra; light wear overall, edges and joints moderately rubbed. All edges speckled red. Bookplate and inscription as above. Pages with occasional small pencilled marks of emphasis, otherwise clean; one plate with outer edge slightly tattered. A very nice copy, in contemporary binding, of this scarce practical compendium.  (40246)

It is handsomely printed using several point sizes of roman and italic, with center justification in the top portion and full justification below. Around the printed area are wide margins on the four sides, which margins contain16 large, crisp, evenly spaced impressions of the city of Toledo's double-headed eagle, with crown above, sword in its right talon and mace in its left.

Boadsides were an important source of income for handpress-era printers in Europe and Spanish America and the printers offered “package deals” to the families of the graduate and post-graduate degree postulants; the packages were geared to the students' families' economic means. Broadsides could be large (folio) or small (8vo), have an engraving or not, have a border of type ornaments or not, and be printed on standard paper or colored paper (usually blue); if one splurged, one could get the announcement printed, as here, on silk. The usual total number of copies printed for each candidate is unknown at this time, but is likely to have been only one or two dozen, and we also don't know if more than one silk copy was printed when that top option was in fact ordered. In extravagant cases, one can imagine one for the degree candidate, one for the parents, one for each godparent, etc.; still, such cases would probably have been few.

Certainly, the printers would have been willing to rake in as much money as possible, on each happy occasion, and these richly beautiful silk mementos — doubtless proudly displayed for years going forward in homes or offices — would have been excellent ongoing advertisements. Equally clearly, however, the number of copies of all of the defense broadsides surviving is small, and the survival of those on silk is very small.

No copies of this broadside are traced via the usual bibliographies, nor via NUC, WorldCat, COPAC, KVK, CCPB, or the OPACs of University of Toledo and the national library of Spain.

•  Rose-colored silk, with old folds; sun-fading variously and rather attractively approaching pinks and apricots. Sides “accented” by an attractive retained green and white selvage edge; bottom edge hemmed and top one, possibly once so, now with fraying and a bit of ravelling; near the broadside's center, a round hole costs six letters. Still, at 230+ years old, frankly gorgeous.  (39844)

•  Metallic marbled paper-covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. Clean and pleasant, in original glassine dustwrapper remarkably intact.  (31136)

Provenance:  From the chapbook collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

•  Drake, Almanacs, 4945.   Fine copy in original illustrated wrappers.  (38778)

Provenance:  On front pastedown, a bookplate of The Pierpont Morgan Library; small note of deaccession (with librarian's initials) on verso of a front blank. Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Not in Good; not in Osborne.   Bound as above; bands, joints, and extremities rubbed and gilt bright, narrow discoloration to endpapers from turn-ins. Provenance marks as above. Signature(?) cut from above the title on first page with paper subsequently repaired; some soiling to leaves and original wrappers, a non-fragile crease across a corner of the front wrapper, and a light pencil doodle on the blank side of one leaf outlining the image of the woman's dog. A silly story with still-brilliant color, well-preserved in a sturdy and modestly elegant binding.  (39668)

•  Rosenbach, Children's, 421; Welch 249.12; Shaw & Shoemaker 19892 & 20586.   Publisher's light boards with salmon-colored paper covering. Browning as in all copies seen today. One leaf with short tear from lower margin, just touching text. Solid, and engaging from multiple perspectives.  (38925)

Provenance:  From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Osborne Collection, p. 278; Opie R 76. On authorship, see: Nicoll, A History of English Drama, 1660-1900, III, p. 283.   Publisher's dun wrappers; light soil. Very good.  (38793)

An engraved frontispiece of Ptolemy done by Menzel opens the volume; the main title-page is printed in red and black, with an engraved allegorical vignette.

Provenance:  Title-page verso with intaglio-printed armorial ex libris, printed directly on the leaf (not a bookplate that was glued on): “Ex Bibliotheca Friederici Roth-Scholtzii.” Friedrich Roth-Scholtz (1687–1736) was a prominent Nuremberg printer and publisher, as well as the author of Icones bibliopolarum et typographorum de republica litteraria and the Bibliotheca chemica; there are several reported examples of such bookplates in his books.

•  Recent quarter calf and speckled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped author, title, place, date and gilt-ruled raised bands. Volume a little cocked. Endpapers soiled; some pages with mild offsetting, and text otherwise clean.  (25490)

This is a copy of the third edition. Searches of NUC, WorldCat, and COPAC locate no copies of this edition and only one library worldwide reporting ownership of either the first or the second edition (the second, at Princeton).

•  Publisher's printed dun-colored wrappers; excellent repairs to spine. Some finger soiling.Overall very good, with the coloring very neat and vivid.  (38809)

Binding:  Contemporary red morocco, spine gilt extra with green leather gilt label and elegant tooling to top and bottom, bands, and compartments; covers with similarly elegant, well-composed gilt borders and with board edges and turn-ins gilt in complementary fashion. All edges gilt, silk bookmarker present.

Provenance:  Bookplate of Brian Stilwell.

•  Brunet, Supplement, 981; Graesse, IV, 439.   Bound as above in excellent condition with only the lightest shelfwear and a very short tear (not advancing) at head of spine; wide-margined leaves very clean with only the lightest sort of normal foxing. A treasurable copy.  (40323)

•  Light discoloration and minor cockling.  (35307)

•  NSTC 2E4287.   Removed from a nonce volume. Title-page with small inked numeral in upper outer corner.  (17041)

The four sections of the title story open each with alarge, crisp woodcut illustration; the book closes with the poems “Dan and Jane: Or Faith and Works” and “The History of Richard.”

Provenance:  From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 23422; Welch, American Children's Books, 886. Not in Rosenbach.   Contemporary blue textured paper–covered boards, respined with blue paper shelfback; corners and edges rubbed, front outer corners showing faint tidelines. Pages, probablyblue to begin with, browned; final leaf with short tear from outer margin, not extending into text. A solid, unmarked copy.  (38653)

•  Publisher's color-printed wrappers; lightly dust-soiled, corners and spine showing minor rubbing, front wrapper with one faint spot of staining and inked owner's name in upper outer corner. Pages very slightly age-toned with one small adhesion between first two leaves, otherwise clean. A pretty and now relatively uncommon book, overall showing impressively little wear for an item of this nature.  (36527)

Rare.  No copies traced via NUC Pre-1956, OCLC or RLIN.

•  On Muretus, see: Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship, II, 148–52. Contemporary half vellum over stencilled paper, spine with inked title; stained and paper torn with much chipping, especially on edges of covers. Ex-library with white-lettered call number on spines and, on title-pages, two different Catholic institutions’ rubber-stamps, plus the old inked ownership inscription of a Jesuit novitiate (Maryland). Ink scratches to frontispiece portrait (intentional?), and some inkstains in margins elsewhere. Lightly foxed. All edges speckled red.  (11574)

Provenance:  Front pastedown with bookplate of Brian Douglas Stilwell, front free endpaper with bookplate of Robert Wayne Stilwell.

Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only eight U.S. libraries reporting ownership (Providence Public, NYPL, UCLA, University of California-Irvine, HRC, Bridwell, Pierpont Morgan).

•  Brooks 805; De Lama, II, 142; Giani 135 (p. 65).   Later half green morocco and marbled paper–covered boards, spine lettered in gilt; minimal shelfwear to lower edges only. Front pastedown with pencilled reference annotations. A few small spots of staining; two pages with faint area of offsetting from now-absent laid-in item; pages crisp and clean overall. A marvelous polyglot, of much interest both textually and typographically, in a very attractive copy. (40184)

The frontispiece portrait of Nelson was engraved by George Vertue after a painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller. The volume also includes all publisher's advertisements as well as the rather uncommon Poem in Memory of Robert Nelson Esquire.

This was produced to be a handsome work, printed in large type on good paper with wide margins — the better to appeal to a “quality” audience?

•  ESTC T85360; Goldsmiths’-Kress 5249. Poem: ESTC T25431; Foxon P538.   Contemporary speckled calf, framed and panelled in blind with blind-tooled corner fleurons; rebacked with speckled calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, raised bands, and blind-tooled foliate compartment decorations. Original leather abraded, front cover with small chip to outer edge and area of faint discoloration from a now-absent label; title-page institutionally rubber-stamped (no other markings). Some signatures browned and foxed, most pages clean.  (25999)

•  Publisher's color-printed paper wrappers, spine chewed and overall with soiling; back cover with tear from upper edge into text without impairment to reading. Paper age-toned; some text pages ragged at edges, again, without harm to reading.  (26935)

•  Publisher's color-printed paper wrappers; spine and edges chewed with overall light soiling. Paper age-toned and actually rather good/strong, of its sort.  (26936)

Provenance:  Bookplate of the Clements Library, properly deaccessioned.

An interesting production of the “Orphans' Press” of Lima.

•  Medina, Lima, 1764; Vargas Ugarte, Impresos peruanos, 2645.   Early decorative wrappers bound into 20th-century gray cloth binding; old, somewhat inexplicable stamp (in English) to front wrapper. A very good copy, complete with the errata leaf.  (35488)

The Rev. Norris (1657–1712), rector of Bemerton near Salisbury (“Sarum” as the title-page fashions it), was an Anglican divine, a poet, a Platonist, and a prominent disciple of Malebranche, and a noted opponent of Locke and critic of philosophical writings.

Provenance:  From the Ambrose Swasey Library (Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School) with library stamp on verso of title-page and bottom edge of text block.

•  Wing (rev. ed.). N1274; ESTC R32226; Smith, Bibliotheca Anti-Quakeriana, p. 340; on Norris, see: DNB (online).   Recent marbled paper–covered boards with gilt black leather label, new endpapers, all edges speckled red. Marked as above, light to moderate age-toning and occasional wormwork, almost completely in margins; one leaf with some paper torn away at foremargin. Avariety of pieces from a prolific theological writer.  (36098)

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

•  Bound as above: gently rubbed at corners and hinges, one sunned board, two short scratches and one with a bit of discoloration around it, pencilling on one endpaper. Provenance as above, light age-toning with the occasional spot, moderate foxing on and around frontispiece. Neatly laid out, beautifully illustrated, handsomely bound, happy condition.  (37998)