
Clothing & Fashion
(Ancient
Dress). Lens, André Corneille. Le costume
ou essai sur les habillements et les usages de plusieurs peuples de l’antiquité,
prouvé par les monuments. Liege: Aux dépens de l’auteur, chez
J.F. Bassompierre, 1776. 4to (24.9 cm, 9.8"). xxxi, [1], 411, [1] pp.; 51 plts
$1750.00
Single-click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.
First edition: Treatise on ancient dress among the Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Jews, and Romans, among other peoples. The author, a Flemish artist also known as Andries Cornelis Lens, came to the study of antiquarian clothing by way of his classically inspired focus in painting. Illustrated with 51 copper-engraved plates done by Pitre Martenasie, this is an “Ouvrage estimé” according to Brunet (who seemingly mistakenly cites 57 engravings as opposed to the 51 given by von Lipperheide, described in institutional holdings, and present here).
Brunet, III, 980; Von Lipperheide, Katalog der Freiherrlich von Lipperheide’schen Kostumbibliothek, 105. Contemporary calf, rebacked in complementary style, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels and gilt-stamped compartment decorations; original leather acid-pitted and cracked over edges and extremities. Front pastedown with small bookseller’s ticket from Albany, NY; free endpapers with a few stray pencilled notations. Dedication page with institutional rubber-stamp in lower margin.

Illustrated Indigenous
Customs & Dress
FIRST Edition in ENGLISH
Clavigero, Francesco Saverio. The history of Mexico. Collected from Spanish and Mexican historians, from manuscripts, and ancient paintings of the Indians ... translated from the original Italian, by Charles Cullen. London: Pr. for G.G.J. and J. Robinson, 1787. 4to (28.5 cm, 11.2"). 2 vols. I: [2], xxxii, [4], 440, (441–44), 441–76 pp. (pagination skips v/vi, with text complete); 1 fold. map, 25 plts., 1 table. II: [4], 463, [1 (blank)] pp.; 1 fold. map, 1 plt.
$2750.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
First edition: Cullen's translation, the first in English, of Clavigero's Storia antica del Messico, an important description of the country synthesized from a range of sources including Torquemada. Abbé Clavigero, a Mexican-born Jesuit and antiquarian who left the country when the Jesuits were expelled in 1767, also wrote a history of California, but is better remembered for the
often-reprinted present work, which is notably critical of the Spanish and sympathetic to the natives.
Because of his exile, he was forced to write his chief historical treatises in Italy, from such notes and recollections of facts in manuscripts read in Mexico as he was able to carry with him, doing his additional extensive research in libraries and archives in Italy; the works of his exile universally first appeared in Italian, not his native Spanish. Indeed, this translation into English was made from the original Italian and precedes the edition in Spanish, which did not appear until 1826!
The
two oversized, folding maps were engraved by T. Conder; a genealogical chart in vol. I shows the descent of the Mexican kings from the 13th century, while
numerous engraved plates depict Mexican artifacts, costumes, activities, flora and fauna, architecture, etc.
DeBacker-Sommervogel, II, 1210; Palau 55485; Sabin 13519. Not in Medina, Biblioteca hispano-americana; not in León-Portilla, Tepuztlahcuilolli, but see 624 for the 1868 edition and a lengthy discussion of the work's importance for Nahuatl studies. On Clavigero, see: Charles Ronan, Francisco Javier Clavigero, S.J. (1731–1787), Figure of the Mexican Enlightenment; and Archivo biográfico de España, Portugal, e Iberoamérica, fiche 215, frames 148–218. 19th-century half red morocco, plain style. Scattered light foxing in text, heavy on endpapers. Ex-library with partially eradicated stamps; call numbers faintly visible on spines. In all, a good+ / good++ set of an important work. (24582)
(English Political Satire PLUS). Venus attiring the graces. London: J. Dodsley, 1777. 4to
(24.8 cm, 9.75"). 11, [1 (blank)] pp. [with]
[Mason, William?] [Ode to Mr. Pinchbeck,
upon his newly invented patent candle-snuffers. London: J. Almon, 1776]. [5]–11,
[1 (adv.)] pp.
$385.00
Satiric verse mocking fashionable English dress, accompanied by
a political satire addressed to Christopher Pinchbeck which includes the lines
“Haste then, and quash the hot Turmoil, / That flames in Boston’s
angry Soil . . .” The first work is here in its first edition, while the
second is likely an early printing.
Venus: ESTC T73277; Ode: ESTC T41985 (first ed.). Recent marbled
paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper label. Second work lacking
half-title and title-page. Inner margins of two leaves reinforced; last line
of advertising page shaved. Title-page and last few leaves with moderate foxing;
one page (not the title) stamped by a now-defunct institution, with some offsetting
to opposing page.
Fitzroy, Charles; Alured Clarke; Thomas Trigge; & Harry Burrard. Autograph Letters Signed. “Know all Men by these Presents ...” [London], 1810. Folio (32.5 cm, 12.75"). [2] ff.
$200.00
“Assignment of Off-reckonings for an Augmentation to the 1st Battn. 25th Regt. of Foot from 25th June 1809 to 24th December 1809”: Two documents, signed by four British generals — Lord Charles Fitzroy, Sir Alured Clarke, Sir Thomas Trigge, and Sir Harry Burrard. In the first item, Fitzroy (1764–1829) dictates terms of payment to Nathaniel Collyer and George Samuel Collyer for clothing provided to the 25th Regiment of Foot, created in 1689 and later dubbed “the King’s Own Scottish Borderers.” The second item is slightly more difficult to decipher, but pertains to another order of clothing for the same regiment; that missive is signed by three officers of the Clothing Board, Clarke (1744–1832), Trigge (17??–1814), and Burrard (1755–1813) (remembered for his overly conservative response at the Battle of Vimeiro during the Peninsular War).
Creased along folds; spine reinforced with later cloth tape bearing inked identification annotation. First page with British governmental pressure-stamp, second page with folded paper mount from now-absent seal.

Meant for the
Railroad Mens' Wives?
Philp, Robert Kemp. The housewife's reason why affording to the manager of household affairs intelligible reasons for the various duties she has to perform. London: Houlston & Wright, 1857. 8vo (19 cm; 7.625"). 352 pp.; illus.
$200.00
Brief scientific answers to such domestic mysteries as “Why
does cooking vegetables render them digestible?,” “Why do mustard
poultices cause the skin to blister?,” and “Why should bedsteds
not be placed against walls?” The book was intended to encourage women's
enthusiasm for their household chores by providing rational explanations for
tasks that might otherwise seem like meaningless drudgery; Philp offers scientific
principles underlying, e.g., points of nutrition, cookery, weather warning signs,
children's health,
dress,
decoration, and other necessities of a well-ordered home.
Click
the images for enlargements.
Some of the science is now of questionable authority (and may have been
even at the time of this publication), as in the answer to “What is
supposed to be the proximate cause of sleep?” — “An impeded
motion of the nervous fluid to the brain, produced by a mechanical compression
or collapse of the nerves” (p. 176).
Provenance:
Front and back pastedowns rubber-stamped by the Railroad Mens' Reading Room
of Sayre, Pennsylvania (“Contributed by Henry C. Davis”); bookseller's
label of a firm in Glasgow. Faint oval rubber-stamp on fly-leaf of Richard
Hutchinson(?), New Brunswick (probably in England), with pencilled date, 1858.
NSTC 2P15178. Publisher's green moiré cloth,
front cover with gilt-stamped candle vignette surrounded by blind-stamped
title and arabesques, spine with gilt-stamped title and back cover blind-stamped;
binding lightly rubbed, with spine somewhat sunned and covers with streaks
of discoloration. Front hinge (inside) tender; paper across back hinge cracked.
Pastedowns and fly-leaf markings as above and two text pages rubber-stamped
by the Railroad Men; two leaves of publisher's advertising affixed at front.
(23715)
Salt, Henry. A voyage to Abyssinia, and travels into the interior of that country, executed under the orders of the British government, in the years
1809 and 1810; in which are included, an account of the Portuguese settlements on the east coast of Africa .... Philadelphia: M. Carey; Boston: Wells & Lilly (pr. by Lydia R. Bailey), 1816. 8vo (23.5 cm, 9.25"). 24, 454 pp.; fold. map.,
illus.
$1250.00
First U.S. edition and printed by Lydia Bailey, following the London
first of 1814. Salt, a British traveller and Egyptologist, first visited Ethiopia
in 1805, and returned in 1809 on a diplomatic mission intended to promote ties
between the British government and the Emperor of Abyssinia. The Voyage gives
Salt’s observations of Ethiopian customs, manners,
dress,
cuisine, and music, along with the factual details of his diplomatic achievements
— or lack thereof, in terms of concrete agreements — followed by
an appendix comparing vocabulary words from various languages spoken along “the
Coast of Africa, from Mosambique to the borders of Egypt, with a few others
spoken in the Interior of that Continent” (p. 395).
This is an untrimmed copy in original boards, with
24
pages of advertising for Carey publications bound in at
the front of the volume. The preliminary map, engraved by John Bower, has
hand-colored border lines; this American edition does not call for the plates
found in the English first, but does include in-text depictions of several
“Ethiopic inscriptions.”
Shaw & Shoemaker 33864; NSTC 2S3118. Publisher’s quarter
tan paper over light blue paper–covered sides; front cover detached
and back joint cracked, binding spotted, paper cracked and split along spine,
spine label now absent and replaced with hand-inked title, spine with later
paper shelving label. Front pastedown with institutional bookplate, front
free endpaper with inked ownership inscription dated 1829. Half-title with
portion of outer margin torn away (not touching text) and laid in. Map lightly
foxed, with two short tears along folds. Pages age-toned, with occasional
spots of foxing.
Joseph
& the
COAT
of MANY
Colors — Illustrations
PRINTED
in Color
(Sorry,
we COULDN'T RESIST! putting this here).
Die Geschichte Joseph's und seiner
Brüder. Eine biblische Erzähtung.
Harrisburg, PA: G.S. Peters, 1835. 12mo (14.2 cm, 5.5"). 18 pp.; col. illus.
[SOLD]
Scarce early edition, likely the first, of this juvenile version of the story of Joseph. This toybook is illustrated with
15 color-printed wood engravings and a color-printed title-page vignette, making this one of the earliest such American works. Gustav Sigismund Peters (1793–1847), who emigrated from Saxony to the U.S. in the early 1820s, was a major printer of ephemera, children's books, and other reading matter for the Pennsylvania Dutch; his color printing here is neatly and skillfully accomplished.
Uncommon: OCLC and NUC Pre-1956 find only four copies of this 1835 edition.
Not in American Imprints; not in Rosenbach, Early American Children's Books. Publisher's printed paper wrappers, browned and tattered with edge tears and chips, spine clumsily resewn at a later date. Pages darkened and spotted, corners bumped.
Clearly read, but intact and unmarred by childish hand. (24673)
Spain.
Sovereigns, 1621–1665 (Philip IV).
Prematica en que su magestad manda, que ninguna muger ande tapada, sino descubierta
el rostro, de manera que pueda ser vista, y conocida, so las penas en ella contenidas,
y de las demas que tratan de lo susodicho. Madrid: Pedro Tazo, 1639. Folio (28.2
cm, 11.1"). A4; 4 ff.
$750.00
Scarce royal proclamation forbidding women from appearing in public wearing hats that prevent their faces from being plainly seen and recognized, also printed in Granada in the same year.
Click the image for an enlargement.
Palau 87353 (for Granada printing). Removed from a nonce volume. Title-page with shadow of pencilled numeral and faintly inked earlier numeral in upper margin. Pages creased but clean, with tiny hole along fold of last leaf.

Around the World with a
LITTLE TRAVELLER
Steerwell, J. The little traveller. Philadelphia: W. Marshall & Co., 1835. 16mo (17 cm, 6.7"). [7]–30 pp.; illus.
$1375.00
Click any interior image for an enlargement.
Scarce early American edition of this children's toy book, originally published in London with the subtitle “A sketch of the various nations of the world representing the costumes, and describing the manners and peculiarities of the inhabitants.” This edition, which appears to be complete according to the publisher's intentions despite the pagination, omits the Otaheitians and Sandwich Islanders featured by the London and Baltimore printings; it is illustrated with
12 hand-colored wood engravings of Laplanders, Highlanders, Greeks, Persians, Chinese, American Indians, etc., with the first engraving signed “HB” and the rest unattributed. The section on “Negroes” notes the “cruel” and “disgraceful” nature of slave trade; the one on the Scots notes they do love their bag-pipes; we hear that the Persians “exercise great hospitality to strangers.”
Uncommon. OCLC and NUC Pre-1956 find no holdings of this Philadelphia imprint.
Provenance: Pencilled ownership note, “Miss Emily Larned.”
Rosenbach, Early American Children's Books, 680 (for first Baltimore ed. only); not in American Imprints. Publisher's printed blue paper wrappers, showing minimal wear to corners and spine extremities, faint spotting to front wrapper, overall in excellent clean condition. Front inside wrapper with early pencilled ownership inscription. Pages clean save for light offsetting towards back of book. (24580)
Vallejo, Fernando de. Pregon en que su magestad manda, que ninguna muger de qualquier estado y calidad que sea pueda traer, ni traiga guardainfante, ò otro instrumento, ò trage semehante, excepto las mugeres que con licencia de las justicias publicamente son malas de sus personas. Madrid: En la imprenta de Francisco Martinez, 1639. Folio (28.2 cm, 11.1"). [4] ff.
$750.00


Declaration forbidding farthingales (the “guardainfante” was so-called because it could be used to conceal pregnancy) and excessive displays of decolletage by women except for prostitutes and ladies with special licenses.
Click the image for an enlargement.
Palau 236212. Removed from a nonce volume. Title-page with small early inked numeral and shadow of pencilled numeral in upper margin; publication authorization leaf with small hole just touching letters, without loss of sense.
For EUROPEAN LAW, click here.
Vallejo,
Fernando de. Pregon en que
su magestad manda, que por quanto el abuso de las guedejas y copetes con que andan
algunos hombres, y los rizos con que componen el cabello ha llegado à hazer
escandalo en estos reynos, ningun hombre pueda traer guedejas ni copete
.
Madrid: En la imprenta de Francisco Martinez, 1639. Folio (28.2 cm, 11.1"). [4]
ff.
$750.00
Proclamation regarding acceptable and unacceptable hairdressing
practices for men — in particular, the scandalously long hairdos or wigs
worn by fashionable beaux.
Click
the image for an enlargement.
Palau 236209. Removed from a nonce volume. Pages creased, with
small areas of light waterstaining to upper and lower inner margins; title-page
with early inked numeral and shadow of pencilled numeral in upper margin.
This
also appears in the HISPANIC
MISCELLANY click here.
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