•  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)

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)

•  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)

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)

The work is a classic in the field of early European accounts of China, of missions to and in China, and of travel in general. Thomas Jefferson owned a copy of this edition and may have done so for the work's sections on education in that kingdom.

Provenance:  Signature of M. Middleton dated 1699 at top of the frontispiece. Later in the collection of the Pacific School of Religion (properly released).

•  Wing (rev. ed.) L831; ESTC R15898; Goldsmiths'-Kress 3379; DeBacker-Sommervogel, II, 1356; Cordier, Bibliotheca Sinica, I, 40.   Contemporary modest Cambridge-style binding of speckled calf; very nicely newly rebacked. Small institutional stamp on title-page and in margin of one other page. A very good copy.  (36372)

WorldCat locates only one U.S. institutional holding.

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

•  Publisher's printed pink wrappers; binding slightly cocked, gently worn, spine faded. Front endpapers with pencilled annotations. Pages slightly age-toned, map and plates lightly foxed, plates trimmed just to touch the heads of the tallest costumed figures. A nice example of an uncommon item. (38487)

•  Publisher's quarter ivory cloth and black paper–covered sides in original color-printed dust-jacket; jacket with cream areas (including spine) very slightly darkened, extremities lightly rubbed, back panel with short tear from upper edge, volume with minimal wear to extremities. A pleasing copy of a classic from an award-winning children's author/illustrator.  (34435)

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

The stories are illustrated with a title-page vignette andfive full-page wood engravings; at least one of the engravings (the young girl almost run over by a cart) was done by Alexander Anderson. The final story (and illustration) contrasts a group of white children at play with a group of black children waiting for their own turn after the first group leaves — “Which do you think will have the most sport?”

Provenance:  Front inside wrapper with early inked inscription of Eleanor Curtis. Later in the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel ("AHA") at rear.

•  Pomeroy, Alexander Anderson, 1973a (giving a printing date of 1842; the present item appears to be an earlier edition). Not in Rosenbach, Children's; not in American Imprints.   Publisher's printed green paper wrappers. Small area of staining to lower outer corners of wrappers and pages; pages gently age-toned overall, with a few light spots. Overall remarkably solid and clean for its ilk, this example all but unworn by childish hands.  (38480)

In addition to being a prolific writer, Mary A. Livermore was a lifelong devotee of the women's suffrage movement, having stood as president of the Association for Advancement of Women, as well as the American Woman Suffrage Association. Her work for the U S. Sanitary Commission during the Civil War had inspired her to believe that giving women the vote would allow other social reforms, such as temperance, become reality.

Provenance:  On front flyleaf, the signature of Marsha Anderson.

•  Publisher's textured green cloth with gilt lettering to front board and spine, floral endpapers; extremities and joints gently rubbed, small spots of soiling to boards. Minor foxing to endpapers. A lovely copy.  (37786)

Recent research (Wichlan, Complete Poetry of Jack London, 2007) suggests that this was printed atthe Keesling Press in Campbell, California. The number of copies printed is unknown.

•  BAL 11989; Woodbridge, p. 275.   Printed on heavy, textured card stock and folded lengthwise once to form a booklet. Front cover irregularly age-toned; interior facing pages, displaying whole poem, very fresh and nice.  (30148)

E.V. Lucas (1868–1938) was a highly prolific English writer and humorist whose 30-year career at Punch saw him produce short essays, novels, plays and more. He and his wife, Elizabeth, also a writer, created several children's books together, such as this one.

Binding: Publisher's light green cloth with gilt lettering to spine, spine and front board decorated with dark green vertical lines, gilt lettering and dark green lettering to front board within dark green-bordered boxes, top edge gilt.

Provenance:  On front pastedown, the bookplate of Gladys Mary Perks. An inscription to Perks from “her loving father” dated 1900 is on the front flyleaf.

•  Bound as above, spine cocked, extremities rubbed and boards lightly stained; front hinge (inside) cracked, offsetting to front free endpaper, minimal mild foxing (fore-edges most affected) and some creased corners. A nice look at how Victorian children were encouraged to entertain themselves.  (38221)

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)

Provenance:  On front pastedown, thegreen morocco bookplate of the Sussex Board for Local Examinations, with black double-rule border and gilt emblem. On front free endpaper, mountedprinted presentation slip reading “Prize given by W.T. Loveday, Esq., to the youngest student who passed in Latin and in Honours, and presented through the Sussex Board for Local Examinations to Henry Chester Goodhart (pupil of Mr. C.W. Goodhart, Brighton) who passed in Class I. in the Junior Division, at the examination held in Brighton, June, 1870, by authority of the University of Oxford”; signed by Mayor Rich. M. Webb and Honorary Secretary Barclay Phillips, dated 3 May 1871.

•  NSTC 2M1243.   Bound as above, edges refurbished, very light rubbing to corners and one raised band on spine. Offsetting to presentation slip from bookplate, minor spots to front fly-leaf, and very faint stain to the edge of last few pages; interior otherwise clean. An elaborate and beautiful English prize binding; a volume bearing “top of the line” versions of its other “prize” elements.  (37848)

•  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)

The offering begins witha merrily violent woodcut border of rabbits hunting men on the title-page; the text is printed in single columns with italic type and roman chapter headings along with the occasional decorative initial.

Evidence of Readership: Two early users have covered the title-page verso and three endpapers with notes in Latin and Greek — sometimes minute and some overlaying previous ones — in addition to adding a few phrases and decorations to the title-page, embellishing nearly every large initial (both plain and decorative), supplying a few marginal notes, and underlining a few phrases of text, all in ink. A more modern user has contributed a few English notes in pencil at the back.

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

•  Not in Adams; not in VD16. On Mosellanus and Hegendorff, see: Contemporaries of Erasmus; our quotation on Hagendorff is from this source. On the Paedologia, see: Seybolt, Paedologia of Petrus Mosellanus (introduction).   16th-century limp vellum over pasteboards, title inked on spine, all edges stained blue; evenly dust-soiled, new endpapers. Lacks final blank (only) as above. Provenance and readership markings as above, with a few notes partially trimmed. One small marginal hole and a few pages with slightly worn type; moderate age-toning and occasional, chiefly marginal, staining. An exciting find for multiple reasons.  (38117)

•  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)

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)

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)