This Parisian printing is uncommon: WorldCat locatesonly one U.S. institutional holding. Chrétien Wechel's attractive production bears his tree and bird printer's device on the title-page and again on the verso of the last leaf.

Provenance:  Undeciphered 18th-century signature with many fussy flourishes, at rear. Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Brunet, II, 1629; Renouard, ICP, IV, 1008. Not in Adams.   19th-century half red morocco over mottled marbled paper–covered boards, leather edges with single gilt fillet, spine with gilt-dotted raised bands, gilt-ruled compartments, and gilt-stamped title, date, and compartment fleurons; edges, extremities, and joints showing light to moderate rubbing, spine slightly darkened. French combed marbled endpapers; original blue silk bookmarker attached and present. Pp. 33–48 bound in after p. 64. A few instances of faint early inked underlining and miniscule early inked annotations (in text); a very few scattered small spots of foxing, pages otherwise clean. Without the blank leaf E3 but retaining E4 with the printer's device. An uncommon edition of an important work in a lovely copy.  (37517)

Uncommon: WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locate only three U.S. institutional holdings. There seems to have been a 36-page variant of the same year, which is also uncommon.

•  Martin & Walter, II, 15045.   Never bound, simply sewn as issued. Title-page with affixed paper shelving label in lower inner corner (not touching text) and with pencilled monogram in upper outer corner. Signatures unopened, page edges untrimmed. Pages slightly age-toned and/or dust-soiled, title-page with light spotting.  (30815)

Uncommon: WorldCat locates only one U.S. institutional holding of this 1911 (as per the imprimatur) edition.

Binding:  Cream-colored plasticized boards (with cream cloth intentionally visible at joints), front cover with color-printed overlay of an angel delicately tinted in light blue and pink with gilt backdrop beneath a rose and grapevine motif, turn-ins with gilt roll, moiré silk endpapers. All edges gilt.

•  Binding as above, corners slightly rubbed, minor discoloration to sides and spine head. Lacking pp. 19–30 (though with its not being entirely clear whether these were ever present). Pages age-toned; lower outer corners of first few leaves bumped. A beautiful little prayerbook.  (30391)

Provenance:  Ex–John Howell Collection of the Pacific School of Religion.

•  VD17 23:669552D.   Bound as above, the whole very solid and strong. Spine with small nails or brads visible to help secure text block, and almost certainly with a second filigree appliqué lost; covers with small piercings that may have to do with binding security or may be evidence of once-attached elements now lost although the design as-is does not seem “incomplete.” Later endpapers over original ones, one old endpaper with old inked jottings; bookseller's label of John Howell, no library markings. One section of textblock slightly extruded. A wonderful example of a Baroque-era, highly decorative metal binding.  (36073)

•  Original printed tan paper wrappers; minor dust-soiling, front wrapper with small unobtrusive stain, corners slightly rubbed. A nice copy.  (35986)

numbered copy 80 out of just 100 printed

•  Publisher's Mexican bark paper wrappers bound on cream thongs; front wrapper with small splash of bright red. Pages very clean and crisp.  (31328)

Binding: Bound by Hayday in green pebbled morocco, spine with raised bands; two compartments with title and author and four with rich and elaborate gilt decoration; wide gilt composite borders to boards, board edges with gilt hatching, gilt zig-zag design on turn-ins. All edges gilt.

•  Bound as above; light rubbing particularly to spine-head, one slim scrape to front board and several to rear one. Endpapers lightly foxed, silk placemarker present with end a little frayed, old pencilling to verso of front free endpaper. Interior and illustrations clean and unmarked. A very good presentation copy of this classic.  (37320)

•  Publisher's teal cloth, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped title and decorative floral motifs; back cover and corners showing very slight scuffing. Back hinge cracked and front hinge starting; front free endpaper excised. Still, an attractive copy.  (18393)

Provenance: Bookplate on front pastedown engraved with the Duke of Bedford's family motto, “Che sara sara,” and the dated name of the family seat, “Woburn Abbey, 1873.” Later in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Dobson, Thomas Bewick and His Pupils, pp. 70–86; Ray, The Illustrator and the Book in England, 50.   Half red morocco with textured cloth sides, gilt title to spine, and marbled endpapers; corners and joints rubbed, endpapers and first and last few leaves foxed with occasional such spotting or the occasional limited stain elsewhere. A beautiful production.  (37635)

Dandyism was a “hot topic” in Spain at the end of the 18th century and Gómez Marín, more famous for his Defensa guadalupana . . . contra la disertacion de D. Juan Bautista Muñoz, clearly shows dandyism and reaction to it had spread to Mexico as well, with this printing showing that it was still of interest and a pleasing target half a century later. Obviously also as a point of continuing interest, the work deals withthe strained relationships between Europeans and Mexicans and the social and racial hierarchy in Mexico.

A great teaching item for multiple reasons.

We findno copy of it via the online databases, not even the Sutro's OPAC.

•  Sutro, pp. 866–67.   Folded, never trimmed or the two copies separated. Minor pinhole type worming, a sliver of old instain along one edge, and a very few small spots of foxing. Very good, in factvirtually pristine.  (37061)

•  Shoemaker 24712.   Contemporary speckled sheep, spines with gilt-stamped black leather title-labels, board edges cornered with gilt roll; bindings scuffed and worn overall, partially darkened, gilt mostly lost. Ex–social club library: paper shelving label at spine heads, 19th-century bookplates, call number on fly-leaves with an inked library ownership inscription joining that in vol. II, no other markings. Vol. I: front hinge (inside) tender; one leaf with tear from lower margin, extending into text without loss. A few scattered stains and smudges, pages largely clean.  (29888)

The work isillustrated with a total of 12 engravings, including portraits of the first five presidents and an engraved half-title page.

Provenance:  Ownership signature on two front fly-leaves of Giles Satterthwaite, dated 1824; his note also, “Prise [sic] $1-75.”

•  Sabin 27871; Shoemaker 12704.   Contemporary sheep, spine with gilt-stamped title and compartment decorations; binding worn and abraded, spine leather much chipped and cracked with some fragments carefully reattached in first panel; joints, corners, and headcaps restored. Pagesfoxed and age-toned throughout, loosening in some signatures, torn and chipped in margins and corners of a few pages; inner margin of one front fly-leaf reinforced. Ownership inscriptions as noted.  (5503)

16 steel-engraved maps

While the title-page gives the Boston publication line described above, the printed front cover gives Philadelphia: Thomas, Cowperthwait, & Co., 1838; this is a later edition, following the first of 1832.

A first impression is that “child” readers had, in 1832, much greater powers of attention to print than is now common, but indeed the history here is — the stories are — absorbing and evocative.

•  American Imprints 50587.   Publisher's quarter sheep and printed green paper–covered boards, rubbed and worn; pages cockled and foxed, yet paper good and untattered. One page with stray ink marks, not obstructing legibility. A good, solid, pleasing copy.  (33716)

•  Late 19th-century textured dark blue-green cloth, half style, with mottled paper sides and elegant foliate-patterned endpapers. Text block partially printed on pale blue paper; foxing, sometimes heavy, as is characteristic of the paper. A solid, decent copy.  (33291)

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)

Binding:  Contemporary dark green cloth, covers with blind-stamped foliate border, spine with similar design and gilt-stamped title; front free endpaper with pressure-stamp of Benjamin Bradley's Boston bindery — at which company Gough worked for a few months in late 1837 before being fired for presenting a shabby appearance.

•  American Imprints 45-2792.   Binding as above, very slightly cocked, spine darkened, extremities lightly rubbed; front and back fly-leaves excised. Scattered mild to moderate foxing and a few mild to moderate instances of stain; a few corners dog-eared. A very readable copy, with the added attraction of the Bradley connection.  (34808)

This isnumbered copy 46 of 1000 printed, signed at the colophon by the author/artist. The appropriate newsletter is laid in.

•  Publisher's gray Italian bookcloth with “natural eelskin spines,” each front cover with printed paper label, in a single matching slipcase; slipcase with minor dust-soiling, volumes clean and unworn.  (31524)

Elaine Kerrigan selected and wrote the introduction to this group of Graves's poems, illustrated witheight double-page plates by Paul Hogarth reproduced by Meriden Gravure Company from original watercolors. This is copy number 1496 of 2000 designed by Freeman Keith in monotype Bembo and Arrighi, and printed on Curtis cream-toned paper at The Stinehour Press in Lunenberg, VT. BothKeith and Hogarth signed the colophon.

A. Horowitz & Sons designed the binding in quarter brown buckram over black and red patterned tan boards, with author and title gilt on spine and top edge gilt. The appropriate LEC prospectus and newsletter are laid in.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 517 (200 pp., in error). On Graves, see: ODNB online.   Binding as above, in a matching slipcase with cloth at top and bottom edges and printed spine. Glassine dust jacket present. Very nice copy.  (35206)

woman

Printed mostly in roman type with some italic, this has headings in gothic and some long passages also in gothic.

Provenance:  18th-century ownership signatures at top of main title-page of J.W. Tarleton and J. Skynner (both lined through), and 19th-century signature of Wm. Saunders. Oldham Free Public Library (Lancs.) stamp on verso of same.

•  ESTC T136807; Sweet & Maxwell 12.Ia.6 and 12.Ia.10.   Late 20th-century quarter brown calf with brown stone-pattern marbled paper sides; all edges gilt. Slim waterstain in upper margin of last four leaves; same leaves foxed. Overall a very good copy.  (34007)

RLIN and OCLC report only one holding of this item in the U.S.

•  Not in NSTC. Removed from a nonce volume, now in a Mylar folder; title-page and final blank lightly dust-soiled. Sewing mostly gone. Title-page with short tear from inner margin, not touching text; some leaves with small edge chips.  (17274)

tobacco

Uncommon: ESTC locates only four copies, none of which are in the U.S.

•  ESTC T26238; Goldsmiths’-Kress 7877.5. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Pages age-toned, with some dustsoiling.  (16585)

•  NSTC ENG385. Recent paper wrappers. Title-page with rubber-stamped numeral and shadows of now-absent pencilled annotations. Three leaves with upper outer corners torn off and reattached/repaired without loss of sense. A few faint spots of foxing to title-page, otherwise clean.  (18733)

ESTC lists no publication prior to this occurring in Newport-Pagnel.

•  ESTC T44132; NCBEL, II, 598.   Uncut copy and stitched as issued. Title-page with rubber-stamped numeral and internal tear touching the first line of title without loss; first and last pages dust-soiled, fore-edges chipped and slightly ragged. Not pristine, but a desirable example of this uncommon piece in its original state.  (29490)

Sickness is a theme here

The volume is illustrated with a total of three wood-engraved depictions of New England buildings.

•  Publisher's pebbled terra cotta cloth, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped title; spine darkened and worn with gilt rubbed, sides with small spots of discoloration, cover gilt nice and bright. Some light smudging to margins, pages otherwise clean. All edges gilt.  (27649)

•  Martin & Walter 15618. Removed from a nonce volume; sewing holes present but stitching perished; gatherings now loose. Page edges untrimmed. Half-title lacking, title-page with paper shelving label in lower inner corner and inked numeral, old pencilling, and a light ink-smear. Pages age-toned with occasional small spots of mild staining or foxing; one word corrected in text in old ink.  (32622)

Uncommon:  WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locate only four U.S. institutional holdings.

•  Folded as issued, never sewn; outermost signature chipped at spine. First page with paper shelving label, not touching text, and with pencilled monogram in upper outer corner. Mild to moderate foxing.  (30820)

•  Removed from a nonce volume. Pages lightly creased but clean.  (27789)

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

This is the last Paris-printed edition in the incunable period and the next to the last of all printed in that era.

•  ISTC ig00406000; Goff G406; BMC, VIII, 29; GKW 11402.   Later limp vellum, light dust-soiling, lacking final blank as above. Title-page and first two leaves of text with marginal repairs, the former with a small reddish stain and starting to separate from gathering; some dust-soiling and chipping to leaves, especially at start and end of text, and a single pin-type wormhole through perhaps a third of the text's bottom margins. With hand-coloring, ribbon tabs, and “personalization” of title-page as above.  (37735)

George Gregory seeks here to champion his brother's cause of educating women to minister medically to women, especially but not exclusively as midwives in the broadest terms. “Does the fact that a man practises medicine give him any right to invade his neighbor's wife . . . ?”

Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only five U.S. institutions reporting ownership.

•  Removed from a nonce volume, with the two plates (which would have been near-pornographic in their time) torn out and present in laid-in facsimile, thus lowering the price considerably. Lightly age-toned, with a little foxing and spotting only.  (32183)

•  Publisher's cloth with dust jacket. New.  (37779)

Provenance:  Front fly-leaf with decoratively flourished inked inscription: “Jn. M. Davis 1799"; title-page inscribed “Jn. Maynard Davis.” Davis, a maritime insurance expert, was one of the founders of the South Carolina Insurance Company; he is thought to have been the first independent insurance agent in America. His particular focus is noted by the sole obvious mark of emphasis here, which points towards a paragraph of the section on wrecks. Grimke (1752–1819) and Davis (professionally active in 1783 and alive through at least 1822) were both South Carolinian Freemasons during the same time period, though from rival lodges; the former was Grand Master of the Free and Accepted Masons, while the latter was Senior Grand Warden of the Ancient York Masons.

•  ESTC W37120; Evans 30519; Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law, 8466.   Contemporary mottled sheep, covers framed in blind beaded roll, spine with gilt-stamped black leather title-label; moderately rubbed and scuffed overall, spine leather and label with cracks. Pages much foxed and darkened; one leaf with chip out of upper margin; inscriptions and one early inked marginal emphasis mark as above; back fly-leaf with legal term pencilled (“Amerciament”) in an early hand. An important work of early U.S. law, with happy provenance.  (36771)

•  American Imprints 40-2804; NSTC 2G23438. This ed. not in Amerine & Borg; see entry 1599 for later, 1848 ed.   Publisher's brown cloth, covers blind-stamped, spine with decorative gilt-stamped title; showing only light shelf wear. Ex–social club library: paper shelving label on spine, 19th-century bookplate and presentation plate (bequest of George Fox), call numbers on endpapers, title-page and one other rubber-stamped, no other markings. Pages lightly cockled but clean.  (28182)

• ESTC W28659; Evans 28775; Sabin 28933. 19th-century quarter sheep in imitation of morocco, rubbed and worn; covers pressure-stamped by a now-defunct institution, spine with paper shelving label. Half-title lacking, title-page and a number of others stamped, back free endpaper with pocket. Pages clean save for stamps. (9536)

Both the first and this second edition are little held in the U.S.: We trace three copies of the first and three of the second, one of which has been deaccessioned.

Provenance:  Three 18th-century ownership inscriptions on title-page: Jehoua Portis, Lib. Richbach, and Joh[ann]is Buys. 19th-century pressure-stamps of a Pennsylvania theological library, deaccessioned.

•  Full modern calf old style: Spine with raised bands, accented with gilt beading and blind rules, rules extending onto boards to Vs and ending with trefoils; blind double fillets beyond. Gilt center device in each spine compartment and a green title label lettered in gilt. Waterstaining in inner margins, extending into text on pp. 136–61; otherwise, expectable age-toning only. All edges red.  (25847)

•  This ed. not in Brunet.   Contemporary vellum, spine with early inked title; vellum showing minor spots of discoloration and spine with call number. Front pastedown and bottom page edges with institutional rubber-stamp; back pastedown with stamp of a 19th-century Dutch bookseller; front fly-leaf with early inked annotation. First dedication leaf with inked numeral in lower margin; some instances of early inked underlining and marginalia, confined to early part of volume. First few leaves with light waterstaining to outer portions. First part skips pp. 1/2 (between preface and first text page), with this collation matching that reported online.  (19564)

The text is printed in Latin, double-column, with a handful of large woodcut initials, a few tail ornaments, and one letterpress diagram. The title-page, printed in red and black, features Blaeu's large device of an astrolabe flanked by Time and Hercules. An index on the final two pages lists Grotius's correspondents and the corresponding letters, which are arranged chronologically in the text.

•  Meulen, Grotius, 1210; Brunet, II, 1766; Graesse, III, 163.   Contemporary northern-European style vellum over boards ruled in blind, panels with blind-stamped central cartouches, spine with seven raised bands and remnants of later paper labels, red speckled edges; vellum soiled and lightly rubbed at extremities with corners bumped. Ex-library with bookplate on front pastedown and later library marking in pen on second leaf; light foxing, a light waterstain across the lower outer corner of perhaps a dozen leaves, and scattered darker stains, with a few leaves browned; small tear in outer margin of title-leaf and another margin, small hole from natural flaw in outer margin of one leaf and small bit of paper torn away from lower corner of another. Very mild worming in middle of two leaves and final leaf, the latter repaired; additional very minor, “slim” worming mostly to margins at rear.A solid, handsome important book.  (30293)

Grotius saw his book published for the first time in 1625 at Paris: It studies the legality of war and immediately established itself as a foundational work on the topic. Modern scholars regard it asfoundational in international law.

This edition contains added scholarship from Joannes Fredericus Gronovius (1611–71) and Jean Barbeyrac (1674–1744). In addition to De jure belli ac pacis the reader will find two other important Grotius tracts at the rear of the volume: Mare liberum and Libellus singularis de aequitate, indulgentia et facilitate, meaning the volume treats not just of law of war, but natural law, international law, maritime law, and law of the sea.

There are two issues of this edition, the other having “Ex Officina Wetsteniana” on the title-page in place of “Apud Janssonio-Waesbergio.” In both editions the title-page is printed in black and red, and of course, they have the same pagination. The work has side- and shouldernotes, an engraved portrait of Grotius, and an added engraved title-page.

•  Meulen & Diermanse (1950 ed), Grotius, 602.   Modern quarter claret-colored morocco with gilt-accented raised bands; gilt center device in each spine compartment. Marbled paper sides. Library pressure-stamps on title-page, no other markings; light age-toning and occasional spotting or foxing. A very nice copy with all edges decorated — more than “speckled,” not quite “marbled,” definitely attractive.  (26526)

The work was originally published in same year at Paris by J. Camusat: This and that edition were published posthumously, Grotius having died in 1645. The dedication is signed by Grotius' widow, Maria van Reigersberch. The text is in Latin.

Handsomely printed in roman with the title-page in red and black, some four-line woodcut initials, and some tailpieces, this bears the Elzevir printer's device Rahir M.17, but the book was actually printed by Joan Blaeu.

Provenance:  18th-century armorial bookplate of Johann Georg Burckhard (1684–1764) and 20th-century bookplate of Dr. A. Hollander; ownership signature on title-page of L. Kulenkamp (1767) and 19th-century signature on front free endpaper of Dr. Cajetan Felaer; later in the collection of Frank Marshall Vanderhoof (American scholar, university librarian, private collector; 1919–2005).

•  Copinger, Elzevier, 2000; Willems 1065; Rahir 1074; STCN 852310625.   Contemporary vellum over boards. Spine lettered in black ink with author and title (probably late 19th century). Very good.  (35680)

•  ESTC N14190.   Contemporary speckled calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, board edges with gilt roll; joints cracked (sewing holding), extremities rubbed/chipped. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on paper label to spine and endpaper, no other markings. Early inked ownership inscription on title-page. Title-page and last leaf with offsetting from turn-ins, otherwise occasional light foxing only.  (28342)

Searches of WorldCat, COPAC, and KVK locateonly one copy worldwide  (in the National Library of the Netherlands).

•  Original red clamshell box with spine label in silver metal holder; author, title, and imprint date on handmade paper adhered to front board. All contents in very good condition.  (34731)

Searches of NUC, WorldCat, COPAC, CICLA, and Metabase locate only two copies, both in the U.S. However, we do know of a third copy at Tulane.

•  Not in Valenzuela.   Folded and stitched as issued; minor chipping in lower margins. Scattered faint foxing. A very good copy.  (31053)

Finally, the printers are the usual admirable suspects: Bracamonte, Beteta, and Arevalo. It is interesting to see them represented by such UNusual ephemera!

•  Medina, Guatemala, 761; 814; 852; 1523; 1525; 1557; 1577; 1580; 1596; 1613, 1626; 1758 1898; 1806; 1918; 2138.   All items are in very good condition, in Mylar sleeves, the entire collection in a quarter morocco clamshell case.  (33845)

WorldCat locates copies in only four U.S. and three Canadian institutions.

Provenance:  Stamp on the title-page of the [L'Oeuvre Pontificale de la] “Propagation de la Foi, 5 rue Monsieur, Paris.”

•  Pilling, Algonquian, 215; Newberry Library, Ayer Indians, Cree 36; Banks (rev. ed.), Books in Native Languages, 43; not in Evans, Masinahikan.   Publishers quarter cloth with blue paper covers; a bit of chipping to spine and lightly rubbed at edges. Ex-library: paper call number label partially removed from top of spine; stamp on title-page as above; else very good.  (34294)

•  Wing (rev. ed) E3714 & G2215; ESTC R519; McAlpin, IV, p. 15.   Removed from a nonce volume. Very good condition.  (32254)

Provenance:  From the collection of 19th-century scholar Dr. Johann August Neander (1789–1850), a convert from Judaism who became a leading scholar of Christian church history; later in the Rochester Theological Seminary (properly released); yet later in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

Uncommon: Searches of OCLC & COPAC combine to locate only two copies in the U.S., this deaccessioned copy being one of them.

•  VD16 G3986.   19th-century German black mottled paper over pasteboards, abraded, especially along the joints (outside); lacking blank leaf and ex-library as above, having institutional bookplate but no stamps and pencilled call number on title-leaf verso. Light to moderate age-toning with faded inkstains along top margin of several leaves. A substantial, interesting compendium with considerable printerly charm.  (37310)

WorldCat locates no copies of this edition in the U.S.; NUC Pre-1956 (under Guzman Genzer) finds three copies in the U.S.; the Catálogo Colectivo del Patrimonio Bibliográfico locates no copies in Spain, but the OPAC of the BNE finds a single copy in its holdings.

•  Palau 111738.   20th-century binding using an 18th-century vellum leaf over paste boards. Old ownership inscriptions on title-page inked out long ago; occasionally, amarginal note. Some age-toning, some gatherings browned (impurities in water during paper manufacture), glue stain in some inner margins; light waterstaining in a good many parts and other stray stains, yet in all a very decent copy of a rare edition.  (29083)