This edition, “Hac quarta editione pluribus mendis expurgatae,” has several very good indices of “arguments,” words, and “things.”

•  Later limp, but rather stiff, vellum. Inkstains on bottom edge of closed volume; some captions a little shaved, half-title a little tattered. Remarkably solid andclean.  (31616)

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)

•  New, in dust jacket.  (29379)

•  Removed from a nonce volume and now in wrappers. A very good copy.  (11350)

Additionally appearing are various tables and charts, including genealogical tables; a chronological register of Hebrew high priests; a comprehensive chronology of general Bible history; a Jewish calendar; and an extensive index of authors' names included in thebibliography of the best sources on Scripture that precedes the dictionary in vol. I. The second volume closes with a “Dissertatio de tactice hebraeorum” by D. Equite Volard.

Bindings: Contemporary blind-tooled alum-tawed pigskin over beveled wooden boards, tooled using a variety of rules and foliate rolls and stamps in concentric rectangular panels to frame a central lozenge (constructed of multiple stamps) on each cover. Each volume bears remnants of two clasps, and both spines have raised bands with author and title written in early ink in the upper two compartments. Blue edges.

Provenance:  Discalced Carmelite Convent at Schongau, Bavaria (early ink inscription, title-pages, both volumes).

•  Graesse, II, 20n. See Brunet, I, 1495; and Vancil, pp. 44–45.   Binding as above, scuffs and dust-soiling; spine of vol. II pulled and lower spines speckled with ink. Ex-library: bookplates of two collections on front pastedowns and fly-leaves, stamp on bottom edges and rear pastedowns, call number on spines (crossed out), and penciling from a third library on front pastedowns. Clippings from old booksellers' descriptions on front pastedown of vol. I. Both title-pages trimmed just grazing print; title-page in vol. I tipped onto following leaf, with tear in outer margin and another starting near printer's device; otherwise the odd small marginal tear or isolated stain only, and occasional light foxing in both volumes including to plates. Very minor worming to one plate in vol II. An indispensable reference and an illuminating “browse.”  (30573)

•  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.

Provenance:  Front pastedown rubber-stamped by the Library of the Colgate Rochester Divinity School. Remnants of a private library bookplate on front pastedown.

•  ESTC R18390; Wing (rev. ed.) C388.   A “poor scholar's copy”: rebinding would help immensely. 19th-century half leather over marbled paper-covered boards; very worn, covers detached, text split into sections. Previous owner's signature at top of title-page, ink numeral at bottom margin of p. [5], first (blank) page and last page reinforced with archival tape at inner edge, covering a portion of the errata and advertisement. Staining and a little soiling; marginal chips and tears. Volume now housed in a simple, acid-free phase box.  (17726)

Binding:  Contemporary dark green straight-grain morocco, spine with gilt-stamped rules, rolls, and devices. Covers framed with a delicately curly gilt-rolled border; the center panels, within, accented by gilt-stamped corner fleurons. A bit of additional filigree in blind appears both within the rules of the gilt border and within the border on each center panel, to nice subtle effect. Gilt inner dentelles. All edges gilt.

•  NSTC C355.   Binding as above, leather rubbed at edges and joints, spine a bit dimmed. Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of John Allan Powell; front fly-leaf with inked inscription dated 1922. A few spots of foxing, pages otherwise clean. A pretty and very English production for this Portuguese poet.  A charming volume.  (23077)

•  Removed from a nonce binding, with stab holes, signatures intact but sewing gone; title-page with paper shelving label in lower inner corner, early pencilled inscriptions in upper portion. Edges uncut. Occasional light spotting, most to front wrapper, otherwise clean; some bits unevenly/lightly inked.  (30928)

In a more serious vein, Head (1887–1963) was the author of Antiquities of Yale and the New Yale Guide, as well as a poet and a patron and supporter of both the Brick Row Book Shop and the Yale University Library. Several of the items here makeYale references, like the barroom ghosts who “puffed at their pipes and their stogies / And pulled at their Phantoms of Ale, / Recalling the things that were Bogies / When they were assembled at Yale”; Ex is specifically about four different gentlemen expelled from Yale for reasons including bad grades, vandalism, and bawdiness.

•  Folded as issued. 10 of the pamphlets with small inscription “M. Clark” or “Clark” pencilled on front wrapper. Apologia with two pencilled corrections. Upper edges of Hot from Hollywood chewed. Minor age-toning, occasional small spots and edge nicks. Overall a clean, crisp collection of these uncommon pieces.  (36453)

The Pennsylvania Society for the Promotion of Internal Improvements in the Commonwealth was established in Philadelphia, in December 1824, to disseminate information on the latest improvements in the development of transportation systems including roads, railways, canals, bridges, etc.; William Strickland, Mathew Carey, Richard Peters, Jr., Joseph Hemphill, Stephen Duncan, and Gerard Ralston were among its members.

•  Shoemaker 15654, 21855, 19953, 19955, & 19949. Light blue paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper title-label. Light age-toning and spotting, more pronounced in last few leaves. Final (blank) leaf with early inked ownership signature; child’s pencilled drawings on one blank page.  (18669)

An Englishman through and through, Carr seems sincerely to have liked Ireland and the Irish he met. His book is full of extended and very readable detail — some original, much quoted — on (e.g.) language matters and Irish poetry, Irish agriculture and industry, Irish management of charities, Irish “sights” and ruins, Irish marriage cust marriage customs — and the implications of a potato-based diet.

Provenance: Contemporary inked inscription reading “Tho.s Wynne.”

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 10096. On Carr, see: The Dictionary of National Biography. Contemporary mottled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped title-label; leather moderately rubbed, joints cracking and spine label dimmed. Title-page with owner's name as described above; title-page and one other stamped. Pages, except for central leaves, with waterstaining in lower margins; two pages with smeared spots of ink.  (11960)

Provenance:  Pressure-stamp of private collector Colossio Solari of Cremona.

Brunet labels this “une des plus belle editions de cet ouvrage.”

•  Graesse, II, 56; Brunet, I, 1601.   Mid-19th-century quarter cloth with marbled paper sides. Some staining; some gatherings probably supplied or damaged and now tipped to stubs. Light waterstaining here and there. A less than perfect copy priced very much according to its faults and still a worthy copy for an impoverished collector or a person who just doesn't need “perfect”!  (34647)

•  Fine copy in a very good dust jacket, jacket with minor chipping to lower area of spine, one long split at spine repaired on verso, and lower corner of ifront flap cut off; volume very clean and nice, top edge gilt. In a green cloth chemise with red leather author, title, and date labels on the spine, in an open-back slipcase.  (33426)

Provenance:  Flourishing old signatures of “J. Lowry” to pastedown and title-page.

Sometime before 1792, the authorities and well-placed private individuals in Guadalajara began soliciting among the printers of Mexico City for one of them to move with his/her press to their ever-growing city. At first there were no takers, but eventually Manuel Antonio Valdés, the editor of the Gazeta de México, accepted their offer and guarantees, and agreed to send his son, Mariano, to fill the position. The father ordered new type and equipment from Spain, and all of the necessary permissions for the establishing of the first press in Guadalajara were in place by February of 1792. Valdés Tellez Girón and his press, however, did not arrive until the beginning of the next year. As with all first presses, the work available was less than promised or envisioned, but Valdés persisted and probably did much more “job printing” than book or broadside work. His presswork is characterized by neatness and good page design.

The importance of this production is underscored by its having been reproduced in a limited edition facsimile of 50 copies in Guadalajara in 1982.

•  Medina, Guadalajara, 1; Palau 79207 (incorrect collation); Sabin 22362 & 29025; Beristain, I, 303.   Evidence of original wrappers along inner margin of title-page, spine, and blank rear leaf: some discoloration from glue. Some dust-soiling. No worming or tears. A very good copy, now laid (not glued) into a neat folder of marbled paper.  (34568)

This leaf was once part of a Book of Hours: a prayer book with eight sections corresponding to different times of day, always containing the Hours of the Virgin, as well as a calendar and selection of psalms, but more or less personalized depending on each owner's taste and social class. Illuminated Books of Hours like this signaled the owner's status and “values” at the same time — the more sophisticated the decoration, the more money spent — therefore, the more devout the scribe's patron!

•  Soft, white vellum, red edges, lightly soiled; tiny nicks (as usual) on one edge of the leaf where it was sometime detached from previous sewing, preserving margin except for one lower corner where a bit of vellum was cut away or naturally lacking. Very charming.  (30810)

Provenance:  18th- or early 19th-century ownership note at top of title-page (partially crossed out) of Bachiller Perez Jimenez y Mendoza; bookplate of Frederick Starr, noted 20th-century scholar of Mexican languages and matters indigenous.

•  Viñaza 280; García Icazbalceta, Lenguas, 56; Sabin 60912; Medina, Mexico, 2719; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 2957; H. de León-Portilla, Tepuztlahcuilolli, 2135.   Original limp vellum; text block almost totally loose in it. Lacking endpapers; worming at inner margins, some repaired. Stains and foxing but minor and only occasional. Withal, a solid, good, and useable copy of this significant work — with pleasant provenance both early and late.  (34616)

Kalispel is the language of the Flathead Indians of Montana, Idaho, eastern Washington, Alberta, and portions of British Columbia.

•  Pilling, Salishan, 29; Newberry Library, Ayer Indians, Kalispel 2.   Publisher's pale green wrappers, minor chipping or abrasion to wrappers with small loss of paper at top of spine and to one corner. A nice clean copy.  (35116)

The recto has text and chant of prayers for celebration of the Feast of [Saint] Mary Magdalene (22 July): The rubric reading “Sancte marie ma-/-gdalene ad primas vesperas super psalmos diei. antyphon,” lines 1–2) and the text beginning “Maria pio coniuncta ihesu osculando pedes . . .” (line 3). The verso contains a list of prayers (mainly collects?) for celebrating the feasts of a number of saints and occasions, including the feasts of Saints Peter and Paul (“In Octaua Apostolorum Petri et Pauli,” lines 3–8); “Sanctorum Septem Fratrum” (“[De] Septem fratrem martirum”, lines 16–19); the translation of Saint Benedict (“[In] translacio sancti benedicti abbatis et confessoris,” lines 20–21); Saint Thuriam (“[De] Sancti thuriam episcopi et confessoris,” lines 29–30); Saint Arnulf (“[De] Sancti arnulphi episcopi et martiris,” lines 30–31); Saint Arsenius (May 8) (“[De] Sancti arsenij abbatis et confessoris,” lines 31–32); and Saint Margaret (“[De] Sancte margarete virgine et martiris” lines 32–33).

The text is written in a Gothic textura book hand of good quality in two grades of formality: the text on the recto and that of larger size on the verso is written in textualis quadrata (minims have consistently applied feet), while the text of smaller size on the verso is written in the slightly less formal textualis semi-quadrata (although some minims have feet, others are simply rounded off). As should be expected there is frequent use of abbreviations including both contractions and suspensions (“-us,” “-rum” and “-bus” abbreviations), although with a general preference for “et” in full. The music for the chant (on the recto) is written inneumes.

The recto has a single large initial “M” in red (the height of one stave plus one line), marking the opening of the chant for “Maria pio communita oscilando. . . . “ and on the verso are six large 2–line initials in alternating red and blue (D[eus], S[anctoru(m)], P[resta], D[eus], C[onserua], and D[eus]), marking the beginning of liturgical sections; the outside portion of each initial was lost to cropping when the leaf was recycled as binding material. The rubrics and liturgical signposts (e.g., “oratio”) are in red, including antiphons on recto and Orations, Chapters, Collects, Hymns, Antiphons, Responds and Versicles on verso, with other liturgical signposts underlined in red.

•  This leaf was used as binding waste in making up a volume half its size, to which end it was heavily cut down to a size just smaller than the text block and rotated horizontally. A crease running horizontally across the middle of the leaf shows the mark (location) of the spine of that volume. Instructive, and visually striking.  (37285)

Binding:  Contemporary cream wallpaper binding with (now?) olive-toned floral, leaf, and cherry(?) designs.

Evidence of Use/Readership: Notes in three hands have been added to the front endpapers, two in ink and one scratched onto the front pasteboard. Candle wax present on front pastedown and several leaves of text, perhaps from ceremonial or devotional use.

No copies traced via NUC, WorldCat, COPAC, or the OPAC of the Bibliotheque National, Paris.

•  Bound as above, lightly rubbed with some loss of paper, joints (outside) cracked but covers firmly attached. Readership markings and old wax-drops as above, one unevenly trimmed margin, light age-toning.  (36871)

•  Bound as above, with moderate rubbing, boards firmly attached; no front free endpapers, text block slightly cocked. Gentle age-toning and occasional spotting; moderate soiling (offsetting from binding) at start and end. An appealing example froma fine Spanish press.  (36046)

Binding:  Original wrap-around red morocco, richly gilt on back cover with a Virgin and on front one with a foliate design on a finely ruled background, spine gilt and with title; leather of rear cover extends across fore-edge onto front cover and is attached there with a tongue slipped into a strap (wallet style). All edges gilt.

Provenance:  Gift inscription “Laura, from C. & S. M., June 7, 1869.”

Searches of NUC, WorldCat, COPAC, CCPBE, KVK, and the OPAC of the Spanish National Libraryfail to find another copy.

•  Welsh, Miniature Books, 4378 for a work of same title, different place of publication, and approximately same number of pages, but with no mention of plates.   Light wear to binding, gilt of rear cover faded; the tongue of the binding is rubbed under its strap and may be missing a small piece at the end. Interior clean and fresh; over all very good.  (35616)

•  Not in Weale & Bohatta.   Bindings as above, edges and extremities rubbed, spine leather with tiny cracks, one spine head chipped, one joint starting. Ex-library with bookplates, rubber-stamp on lower edges of pages of the closed volumes. One volume with text block separating from spine and sewing loosening; this with the most leather rubbed away and the darkest instances of the usually-light waterstaining and spots of foxing seen occasionally throughout. Endpapers bear early inked ownership inscriptions and annotations. An elegant quartet.  (12406)

Provenance:  Contemporary ownership signature of Fr. Cristobal de Parayso on verso of title-page.

Searches of OCLC, the NUC, and COPAC reveal no copies of this edition in U.S. libraries.

•  Bound as above, with light rubbing and some darkened leather, dust-soiling (or evidence of old polish) around clasps, and clasp attachments having a little poked through endpapers with small spots of associated discoloration but no apparent continuing danger. Moderate age-toning with a few leaves crinkled along edges from gauffering or with a small spot, one leaf with short internal tear; ownership signature as noted above and date lightly pencilled on back fly-leaf. A lovely, ornately embellished, and lovable book.  (36927)

•  EDIT16 CNCE 13404. Not in Adams.   Later quarter vellum and printed paper–covered boards; extremities slightly rubbed, vellum gently darkened. Waterstaining variously, from atmospheric to pretty severe; final eight leaves with upper margins repaired, affecting parts of captions and a few words of text; endpapers with later pencilled annotations. A survivor souvenir of a worthy press, with pleasant provenance.  (36846)

Binding: Contemporary vellumprize binding paneled in gilt on each cover with fleurons at corners, this surrounding thecoat of arms of Rotterdam, i.e., two gilt lions supporting a shield of four lions passant above a pale charge, crowned by a ducal coronet with a fleur-de-lis at the helm. Spine blind-ruled with a single floral ornament blind-stamped in each compartment, title written in early ink (now faded).

Provenance:  Two different bookplates of Lebanese lawyer, writer, and translator Camille Aboussouan (b. 1919), former UNESCO ambassador to Lebanon who founded the cultural review Les Cahiers de l'Est. Pressure-stamp of Jean-François Jolibois (1794–1879), a priest at Trévoux, France, who was a member of the légion d'honneur and various literary societies. Ink inscription in French dated 25 February 1863 at Lyon, shelf number in same hand on front pastedown, and price in ink on front free endpaper.

•  Schweiger, II, 81; Dibdin, I, 377; Graesse, II, 87 (“fort rare”).   Binding as above, with four green ribbon ties; prize assignment lacking and engraved title-page reattached; lightly soiled, gilt rubbed in places, some staining to edges of text block. Mild to moderate foxing, occasionally; a few inkstains or smudges and small dampstains; two small holes from natural paper flaws not affecting text and one sectional title-page with same taking “A” from CATULLUS; two short marginal tears. Overall, indeed, clean and crisp and pleasing.  (31362)