GENERAL MISCELLANY

Religion Laws & Liberty

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•  Statements regarding the position of William III of England on Scottish “Religion, Laws and Liberties,” affirming his defense of the Presbyterian government of the Church of Scotland. In their speeches, both the Duke of Queensberry and the Earl of Marchmont urge acquiescence to the king’s desire that troops be raised and supplied as a response to “the Warlike Preparations which are made both for Land and Sea, by other Neighbouring Princes and States,” as Lord Polwarth puts it.

There is at least one other variant of the first piece, also printed in 1700, “For A.H.” according to its colophon. It seems likely that the two speeches were in the present case issued together — the paper and type match, and the second speech is paginated “(2)” — although these examples were later separated and existing cataloguing records are inconsistent regarding the number of leaves that should be present. Sets of the two pieces together are scarce.

•  ESTC R182313 / R33479; Goldsmiths’-Kress 03732; Wing Q160. Removed from a nonce volume, now in a Mylar folder. Leaves darkened and creased, both lower margins irregularly torn with loss of approximately 20 words. First speech with nick affecting two letters of the title.

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I Do Here Present You / With a Token Love Hath Sent You”

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•  Erotic 17th-century lyrics by such luminaries as Campion, Donne, Herrick, and Wilmot (as well as the always-popular Anonymous), selected by Quennell and handsomely printed by theGolden Cockerel Press on heavy, handmade paper with deckle edges. The title-page is printed in black and gilt with a gilt-stamped cockerel, and each poem opens with a large capital in red. The present example is numbered copy 115 of 215 printed.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with calligraphic bookplate of Norman J. Sondheim, the American collector of press books.

Binding:  Signed binding by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, stamped “S. & S.” on front pastedown: Quarter cream morocco and bright gold buckram–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and cockerel decorations.

•  Binding as above, lower outer corners very slightly bumped, morocco with three small spots of staining and a bit of darkening associated with its gluing-down; cloth bright with a little soiling and with reddish spotting apparently associated not with “staining” but with something in the nature of the cloth itself. Pages clean. Overall a solid and attractive copy.  (30589)

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Keep Christ in Your Heart

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•  Private prayer is the topic of this small pocket book. Its stated aim is to teach one to prayeasily while holding Christ in one's heart. The various lessons are each preceded by an engraving, seven of them being dedicated each to a day of the week; every engraving features a heart shape containing a different image of Christ within it and the image of a saint (named at the top of the engraving) surmounting it. The saints include Sts. Theresa, Genevieve, Francis de Sales, Norbert, Ives, Gregory, Louis, Elizabeth, and Francis.

The work begins with an engraved title-page preceding the printed one and offers 10 other engraved plates. The work was very popular and was reprinted often.

Provenance:  18th-century booklabel of “Lefebure-Duquesne Libraire-Relieur” of Tournay; 19th-century bookplate of the Redemptorist Fathers of Baltimore and with their rubber-stamp on the title-page, verso of front free endpaper, and verso of engraved title; later in the library of the Redemptorists of Mt. St. Alphonsus.

•  Caillet 9036.   Early full sheep with modest gilt tooling on spine; leather overall abraded. Notes in a neat, precise 18th-century hand in French on verso of front free endpaper. Early underscoring in places. A good copy with an interesting provenance.  (32666)

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On Infection

•  Uncommon early edition, following the first of 1749. This monograph on wound infection was written by the self-educated physician and political economist who established the Physiocratic school of thought. Single-click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  Goldsmiths’-Kress 8461 (for first ed.); not in Garrison & Morton. Contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title-label; leather rubbed at edges and joints, spine a bit scuffed, joints just starting at front foot and back head. Front fly-leaf with student’s inked ownership inscription dated 1768. Some instances of light spotting and age-toning, pages mostly clean. All edges marbled.

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“Oh, C'mon . . . ”
(As He Might Have Put It)

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•  He feels the House has gone overboard in the language used in the censure of the British ambassador in his discussions with the president. A very uncommon Quincy item.

•  Not in Shaw & Shoemaker. Removed from a nonce volume; stapled and respined with archival tissue. Six-digit number stamped on title-page.

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MAGNIFIQUE!

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•  Stunning early 19th-century edition of Racine's collected works, inthree elephant folio, illustrated volumes that include his verse, letters, and plays. This deluxe edition was limited to 250 sets on paper (plus one additional copy printed on vellum). Produced by the renowned Didot press and part of the prestigious collection known as the Éditions du Louvre, this work is a monument of typography; Brunet extols it as “un des livres les plus magnifiques que la typographie d'aucun pays eut encore produits,” while Graesse confines himself to a mere “magnifique.”

The allegorical frontispiece was engraved by Marais; the other 56 plates consist of gorgeous steel-engraved neo-Classical and Oriental images done after designs by Moitte, F. Gerard, A.L. Girodet, Chaudet, Serangeli, and Peyron, along with more contemporary images after Taunay.

Of this pair of images showcasing Didot's typography, the righthand one answers the anxious question,
“What's the look of the absolutely very VERY worst of the set's described 'foxing'?”

This impressive set is not widely held institutionally, and not commonly seen on the market.

Signed Binding: Contemporary red straight-grain morocco, covers framed in substantial gilt and blind-tooled rolls with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, surrounding central gilt-stamped medallions of the French imperial eagle. Spines gilt extra in arabesque and foliate motifs with additional blind-tooling; board edges gilt-stamped and turn-ins with wide gilt rolls. All edges gilt. Bindings signed by Charles Hering — one of the most prominent London binders of the early 19th century — spoken of by Timperley as “the head of the craft.”

•  Brunet, IV, 1079; Graesse 13; Vicaire, Manuel de l'amateur de livres du XIXe siècle, 936–37; for note on Hering, see: Charles Henry Timperley's Dictionary of printers and printing (1839), p. 835.   Bindings as above, two covers expertly reattached with other small repairs to spines/corners and scuffed areas sealed/refurbished; vol. I with leather starting along part of front joint. Front free endpaper of vol. I with binder's ticket. Title-pages of vols. I and III and half-title of vol. II institutionally rubber-stamped, with ghosts of old library pencilling on versos and evidence of removed bookplates on inside front covers (one additional institutional stamp left exposed by that removal). First few leaves of vol. III (only) with ragged, dust-soiled edges; foxing and offsetting, across the whole range from light to notable and yet happily with no general browning, throughout.   This classic French author is here presented with classic French illustration of the era in a limited edition from a classic French printer/publisher in a classic ENGLISH binding — the set cheerfully functions as at least a “five-fer.”  (24990)

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“I Sing the PLAID & Sing with All My Skill”

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•  Substantial collection of the works of a popular Scottish poet (1686–1758). Almost everything here is either composed in Scots dialect or Scottish-themed, including an odd but charming ode to the plaid, which Ramsay finds especially admirable when it serves to adorn belles; one elegy mourns the loss of a Canongate alehouse-keeper. Ramsay's pastoral play “The Gentle Shepherd” is included, and there is asubstantial glossary at the back of the volume which defines potentially unfamiliar words such as meikle and shawps.

•  ESTC T147963; despite the internal absence of publication information, the collation of this volume matches that given by ESTC. Contemporary sprinkled calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title label and gilt-stamped floral devices in compartments, overall somewhat worn. Small inked ownership inscription to top of title-page. Some foxing, not severe; last leaves dog-eared. One text leaf torn out (being the middle part of one of the epithalamia), as also one preliminary leaf; and so a “busted bibliophile’s copy” — despite its real interest and attractions!

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A Beloved Virginia Cookbook — First Stereotype Edition?

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•  Early, corrected and expanded edition (and very possibly the first stereotyped) of a popular and distinctlysouthern cookbook, written by a cousin by marriage of Thomas Jefferson's and originally published in 1824. Randolph emphasizes efficient, economical kitchen management — citing those “proverbially good managers,” the Virginia ladies — and gives useful directions for utilizing every leftover scrap and bone, for preserving indefinitely all kinds of items, and for preparing almost any part of any given creature. Barile's Cookbooks Worth Collecting notes the regional nature of this enduringly popular work, in which the recipes reflect both the traditional form and the increasing diversity of southern cuisine, with items such as catfish soup, barbecue “shote” (young hog), and stewed sweet potatoes mingling comfortably with “East Indian Manner” curry and “Gumbo — A West India Dish.”

Cagle and Stafford note that the work was first printed in stereotype in 1831, that printings from the first set of stereotype plates appeared in Baltimore and in Washington in 1831, and that no priority has been established between those printings — but that the original first edition appeared in Washington. The preface here is dated Washington, 1831.

Evidence of Readership: Pencilled doodles and annotations throughout; one leaf with torn excerpt from a newspaper clipping dated 1874 sewn to the page.

•  Barile 39–40; Bitting 388; Cagle & Stafford 629; Lowenstein 153.   Contemporary speckled sheep rebacked some time ago with sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather label; much rubbed overall, joints (outside) cracked and exposing in places some of the substructure, spine leather and label chipped. The first four leaves here have been supplied from another copy. Penciling and sewn-in clipping as noted; mild to moderate foxing, with occasional inkspots, occasional short edge tears, last leaf with margins chipped. A significant and desirable cookbook priced to reflect its used and “repaired” condition.  (31581)

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“The FirstDistinctly Southern Cookbook”
  (“Method is the Soul of Management”)

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•  Northern, post–Civil War printing of a distinctly southern cookbook. Mary Barile's Cookbooks Worth Collecting notes the regional nature of this enduringly popular work, written by a cousin by marriage of Thomas Jefferson's and originally published in 1824. Randolph emphasizes efficient, economical kitchen management — citing those “proverbially good managers,” the Virginia ladies — and gives useful directions for utilizing every leftover scrap and bone, for preserving indefinitely all kinds of items, and for preparing almost any part of any given creature. Her recipes reflect both the traditional form and the increasing diversity of southern cuisine, with items such as catfish soup and stewed sweet potatoes mingling comfortably with “East Indian Manner” curry and “Gumbo — A West India Dish.”

Binding:  Publisher's green cloth, covers framed in blind, front cover with decorative gilt-stamped title, spine with gilt-stamped title.

•  Barile 39–40; Bitting 388 (for early editions); Cagle & Stafford 627 (second ed. on). Not in Brown, Culinary Americana.   Binding as above, light rubbing overall, more pronounced to joints and extremities. Front free endpaper with later inked ownership inscription (“E. Endicott”). Pages very clean and crisp: a desirable copy.  (28633)

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ManuscriptCookery-Book Fragments
[ 3 LEAVES ]
  “To Make La Feyetts a nice cake for Tea”

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•  Two cookbooks or one? The leaves at hand, one a single page and the other a conjugate two-leaf spread, pose an interesting question of identification. Both offer recipes for sweets. The former is done throughout in a formal script, whereas the latter is partly in a similar if not identical hand, partly in a more casual style — perhaps they represent contributions of two generations to the same book. Then again, the chipped edges make exact determination of size difficult; these leaves might have come from the treasured documents of different families entirely. Whichever interpretation one might prefer, they provide a thought-provoking glimpse of turn-of-the-century kitchen life — going on two centuries ago!

•  In a Mylar folder. Pages darkened, with small discolorations and edges somewhat tattered. A pleasing gift for anyone exploring culinary, or almost certainly women’s, history. (2557)

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“Wo unto All Ministerial Counterfeits!”

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•  First edition of this anti-Baptist and anti-Quaker polemic. Reeve and Muggleton, self-proclaimed as the two witnesses mentioned in Rev. 11:3 ff., were the prophets and leaders of the Muggletonians, a small Christian sect that denied the doctrine of the Trinity, believed that God would no longer interfere in human affairs after the revelation of their founders, and condemned prayer and preaching. In this treatise the pair discuss the nature and destiny of the soul, the source of true apostolic authority, and the distinctions between true and false ministers.

ESTC and OCLC locate only eight U.S. institutional holdings. The pagination here matches Wing but not ESTC, which calls for only 56 pages.

•  ESTC R32277; Wing (rev. ed.) R679; Smith, Anti-Quakeriana, 304; Whitley, Baptist Bibliography, 49-658.   Period-style calf, covers framed in blind double fillets, spine with gilt-ruled raised bands and gilt-stamped leather title-label. Pages age-toned and spotted; one leaf with outer and lower margins repaired some time ago as shown in last photo.  (26001)

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Muggletonian Stand againstReligious Persecution

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•  First edition: An account of Reeve and Muggleton's early history and actions as prophets, followed by an attack on the authority of the magistrates who charged the pair with blasphemy, and of the jury who delivered the verdict at their trial — which had “no Commission from Heaven to judge men, or try men for their faith concerning God and the sacred Scriptures” (pp. 11–12). Reeve and Muggleton were the leaders of the Muggletonians, a small Christian sect that denied the doctrine of the Trinity, believed that God would no longer interfere in human affairs after the revelation of their founders, and condemned prayer and preaching; here they argue that “the free-born people of England . . . should not onely injoy their civill liberties, but the Libertie of their Consciences also towards God” (p. 13).  Clicking on the righthand image above, and reading the last, italicized paragraph, is rewarding.

OCLC and ESTC locate only six U.S. institutional holdings.

•  ESTC R40093; Wing (rev. ed.) R682; Smith, Anti-Quakeriana, 303.   Period-style calf, covers framed in blind double fillets, spine with gilt-ruled raised bands and gilt-stamped leather title-label. Title-page and first text page institutionally perforation-stamped, first text page with inked and rubber-stamped numerals in lower margin. Title-page with several tears repaired (with loss of a few letters from table of contents) and a sliver of the bottom edge replaced (with loss of lower portion of publication date); pages generally age-toned and soiled, first one with upper margin repaired. Edges trimmed closely and tattered. A “survivor.”  (26010)

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A U.S.–U.K. Collaboration

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•  First edition of these poems, preceded by a wood engraving printed from an original block by Richard Shirley Smith. Twinrocker, the Janus Press, and the Gruffyground Press are described as co-publishers in the colophon.

The edition was limited to a total of 240 copies; this is one of the 75 unsigned copies printed for the two American publishers, bound in hand-marbled Fabriano paper done by Susan Johanknecht and Claire Van Vliet. The text was hand set in Walbaum, also by Johanknecht and Van Vliet.

•  Fine, Janus Press 1975–80, 40.   Publisher's lilac marbled paper–covered boards with tan shelfback, front cover with printed paper label. A clean and crisp copy.  (32334)

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Insects, Illustrated — A Pair of Books Often Separated

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•  First editions: Numbers VIII and LXXIV in the Harper's “Family Library” series — the two were issued five years apart, and are now infrequently found together. The works cover bees and their hives, parasitical insects, insect metamorphoses, silkworms, hints for students, etc., with in-text wood-engravings illustrating the text.

This has additional interest as a decent example of an early American publisher's full cloth binding.

•  American Imprints 33201.   Publisher's printed tan cloth; spine heads reinforced with cloth tape extending onto sides (partially chipped), spine slightly darkened, sides with light spotting. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplates, call number on endpapers, pressure-stamp on title-pages, no other markings. A few scattered small spots, pages generally clean.  (30444)

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Maps, Plates, Charts — Coins, Medals — Black Sea Travels!

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•  First edition: Baron du Reuilly's account of his travels in the Black Sea area, focussed primarily on trade and commerce but including illustrated chapters on coins, medallions, and antiquities as well as general descriptions of the area and people. In addition to the eight total oversized folding plates (two maps, three plates, and three charts), the work is illustrated with six chapter head vignettes designed and engraved by J. Duplessi Bertaux; the large map of the Crimea was designed by J.B. Poirson and engraved by P.F. Tardieu.

•  Not in Howgego; not in Goldsmiths'-Kress.   Period-style quarter calf and marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels and blind-tooled floral decorations in compartments. Half-title and title-page with institutional rubber-stamps dated 1879; half-title with upper and lower margins cut away and later repaired, inner margin reinforced. Pages and plates with light to moderate foxing; a few pencilled English translations of obscure words. Large map with short tear from inner margin, barely extending into image.  (24309)

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TO Part XXXI

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