It is a study of the Society of Jesus and its expulsion from Spain and France and the consequences thereof, and it was presented to Joseph of Portugal so that he might anticipate similar consequences following his order of expulsion.

•  DeBacker-Sommervogel, XI, 1205.   Contemporary vellum over paste boards. Blackened area on spine; bookplate. A clean copy. (20462)

•  Wright, II, 2174; Sabin 78641.   Publisher's brown cloth, covers blind-stamped with star-shaped design, spine with gilt-stamped title and blind-stamped decoration; binding cocked and rubbed, spine extremities chipped. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate and call number on pastedown and fly-leaf, front free endpaper lacking, title-page pressure-stamped. No other markings. Pages faintly age-toned, otherwise clean.  (26565)

A Roman edition also appeared in 1694, the year of the work’s first appearance; the present edition is more uncommon: We trace only one U.S. library copy of it.

•  DeBacker-Sommervogel, VII, 1079. Boards covered in music-printed paper from an 18th-century antiphonal, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Title-page and one other stamped by a now-defunct institution. Light spotting throughout, more pronounced to first and last few leaves; some corners dog-eared.  (15453)

This is the sole edition of this important Recusant work.

This is a volume that shows such controvery was definitely not “dry”; we have photographed the start of Sergeant's explanation/defense of his personal animus against his antagonist, and also the “Stationer's” description of the polemical feast to come, this worked out as a menu or “Bill of Fare ”!

Provenance:  On the recto of the second front fly-leaf is a presentation inscription: “For my honnord & best frind, Master John Bulteel.” The most likely John Bulteel is the one who was created M.A. at Oxford in 1661, and later served as secretary to Edward, Earl of Clarendon.

•  Wing S2589; ESTC R6168; Clancy, English Catholic Books, 1641–1700, 897. On Sergeant, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, LI, 251–53. On Bramhall, see: DNB, VI, 203–206. On Hammond, see: DNB, XXIV, 242–46. Contemporary mottled calf, with remnants of modest double gilt rules on covers; rubbed and joints open, front cover detached. Browning from turn-ins on fly-leaves, last leaves, and fore-edge of title-page, as well as moderately to a few signatures, with a little occasional light waterstaining; otherwise, the expectable degrees of age-toning and spotting only. (7067)

Binding:  Red crushed morocco framed and panelled in blind double fillets with gilt-tooled corner fleurons, spine with raised bands, gilt-stamped title and publication information, and gilt-tooled strawberry leaf decorations in compartments; turn-ins with gilt compound roll, all edges gilt. Signed binding by Capé, name camouflaged in lower front turn-in.

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with ex libris of Panof Grafsos Skinos, with shelving number; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Pettegree, Livres vernaculaires français 18447. Not in Adams; see Brunet, III, 207 for other eds.   Binding as above, minor rubbing to extremities and light scuff to back cover; bookplates as above. Pages mildly age-toned; first text page with tiny nick to upper margin. Scarce edition ofa classic anti-woman romance with much influence throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, here in a distinguished, attractive signed binding.  (37930)

•  Palau 307020. Wrappers stencilled in green with manuscript title on paper label affixed to front wrapper; all edges speckled red. Wrappers with a few tears and a little tattering. Small wormhole in front fly-leaf. A few pencil marks. Inked number on verso of front fly-leaf.  (9044)

•  Publisher's three-quarters green cloth, front cover with color-printed floral bouquet design on white paper, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped title. Very slight traces of wear to lower front edge, otherwise a crisp, clean copy.  (34436)

•  ESTC T54732, covering also an edition of multiple plays that apparently shared plates with this series of stand-alones.   Removed from a nonce volume, now in a light marbled paper wrapper. Pages mildly age-toned, otherwise clean.  (35509)

This isnumbered copy 974 of 1012 printed (1000 on paper, 12 on vellum), this copy being on Riccardi handmade paper.

•  Publisher's light blue paper–covered boards with blue-grey cloth shelfback, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped title; top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed. Binding mildly sunned overall especially to spine and outer board edges, the latter also a bit dust-soiled; spine cloth worn at extremities and endpapers with offsetting, front endpapers smudged. Internally clean and crisp. An elegant production.  (36891)

Sent from Shaw's home in Ayot St. Lawrence and postmarked in Hertfordshire, both cards areinscribed in Shaw's distinctive hand and signed with his initials.

•  Cards crisp and clean, one with pair of staple holes.Delightful and characteristic Shavian ephemera.  (37045)

Numbered copy 1082 of 1500 printed, this issigned at the colophon by the illustrator. The appropriate LEC newsletter and prospectus are laid in.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 443.   Binding as above, in original glassine wrapper and slipcase; wrapper with spine sunned and a few small edge chips, slipcase with one small nick at upper edge and label lightly rubbed, volume clean and fresh. A very nice copy.  (30712)

Additionally, both the Chinese and English texts are presented on a folded slip of paper, with additional commentary in Chinese characters only.

The ivory is mounted within a black frame affixed to a small square of gold paper, on red velvet, and contained in a beautiful, eminently displayable case covered in olive-green silk with a woven Asian-inspired knotwork pattern in bronze and blue, decorated with a Chinese-printed label on the front cover. The case closes with a fabric loop and white-painted wooden toggle.

•  Box as above, showing the faintest hint of rubbing to one corner, overall in excellent condition. Small compartment beneath presentation window seems to indicate a long slender item was at one point laid in, but it is difficult to say what that might have been.  (30544)

Attributed to Luke Shepherd by Halkett and Laing, this is a satirical poem, a dialogue in verse, on the Eucharist, and could even be seen as a short play. It is printed in gothic (black letter) type witha large woodcut of a procession of the Eucharist on the title-page.

None of the copies reported to WorldCat, COPAC, or NUC are described as printed on vellum. The copy that Alston found at the British Library is not findable via the BL OPAC.

Provenance:  Early 19th-century manuscript ownership on front fly-leaf: “Thomas Briggs Esq., Edgeware Road.” Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Alston, Books Printed on Vellum in the Collections of the British Library, p. 35; Halkett & Laing (2nd ed.), III, p. 192; Halkett & Laing (3rd ed.), J21 (var.) l NSTC, I, S1667.   Original dun colored boards with beige linen shelfback; rebacked, and binding discolored. “25 copies Printed on chosen Parchment” written in ink in an early 19th-century hand in lower margin of the title-page. Foxing, heaviest on last three leaves; last page (a publisher's note and colophon) lightly inked and so a little faint. A nice find for the collector of printing on vellum, letterpress facsimiles, or reprints of rare 16th-century English tracts.  (34699)

•  Publisher's half vellum with printed paper sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; dust jacket lacking as now seen with most copies, vellum dust-soiled with a little rubbing, paper slightly darkened and with two small chips., small chip to paper at bottom edge of front cover and one to lower outer corner of back cover. Internally clean and crisp. Enjoyable.  (34010)

•  ESTC R8272; Wing (rev. ed.) S3325.   Contemporary speckled calf, panelled with corner fleurons in blind, rebacked in similar calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and blind-tooled compartment decorations; sides acid-pitted, edges rubbed. All edges speckled red. Lower margin of title-page and lower (closed) edges institutionally rubber-stamped, no other markings. First few leaves foxed with scattered light spots elsewhere, last few signatures browned; one leaf with two small portions lost from outer margin; one outer corner torn away; one leaf torn across between header and text without any of this affecting text. A solid, tight, and dignified-looking copy.  (35824)

In this densely composed gathering of “the Evidences of Christs [sic] Kingdom and Reign on Earth to come under or after the seventh Trumpet” (p. 24), Sherwin, who was ejected from the Church of England following the Act of Uniformity, offers an examination ofApocalyptic prophecy.

WorldCat locatesonly four U.S. institutional holdings under this title.

•  Halkett & Lang, III, 172. No record of this separate title in ESTC or Wing; 1674 Prodromos, Wing (rev. ed.) S3410.  Removed from a nonce volume; sewing strong. Pages evenly age-toned with scattered small spots of foxing. Scarce.  (37222)

•  ESTC R34225; Wing (rev. ed.) S3406.   Removed from a nonce volume. Date of publication penciled neatly at lower margin of title-page. Final word (i.e., “Finis”) of p. 32 partly cropped at bottom edge. A clean, very good copy.  (27766)

Mrs. Sherwood (Mary Martha Sherwood, 1775–1851) was a beloved, prolific children's book author.

Searches of NUC Pre-1956, WorldCat, and Shoemaker locatejust four copies.

Provenance:  Marcus Fay, 19th-century ownership inscription in ink on front wrapper. Later in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Shoemaker 10261. For Mrs. Sherwood's works, see: F.J.H. Darton, Life and times of Mrs. Sherwood; and M.N. Cutt, Mrs. Sherwood and her books for children.   Original green printed wrappers respined with cloth tape obscuring part of the text of the back wrapper; ex-library with rubber-stamps to inside of front wrapper and lower margins of first and final pages (not title). Light to moderate foxing.  (38485)

Owner's modification: The word “Pax” is neatly printed in black ink on the book's back cover, gently arced above the engraving; and “Roosevelt” has been similarly added to the back of the slipcase, with “Post Lux Tenebras” being artfully placed below the engraving.

•  Faxon 1303.   Binding as above, back inside cover with brown silk pull-tab intact, joints very skillfully refurbished with long fiber and then toned; extremities gently rubbed. Front free endpaper pencilled with old bookseller annotations. Pages and plates generally clean with very occasional light foxing; guard leaves with predictable offsetting. Case somewhat rubbed with extremities chipped at corners but completely sound and with the described embellishments. A lovely little gift book, with the original (and early for its kind) slipcase.  (36042)

Binding:  Publisher's light brown near-herringbone cloth, covers elegantly stamped in border-and-medallion style in blind, with spine quite interestingly embossed in blind in “compartments” and lettered in gilt.

•  Bound as above, spines sunned and upper corners bumped; tops of spines slightly discolored and each with slight tearing in same area. A few gatherings carelessly opened, in one case with upper outer corners torn across yet no actual loss. Ex–social club library, and each volume has: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, no other markings. A nice set.  (28758)

Indited in secretary hand with witnesses' signatures in both italic and secretary, the deed is followed by two blank pages on the interior (as usual); the witnesses were John Morroy (Morrey?) and John Best (Lest?), who both had fine signatures. Not unexpectedly, the widow signed with her mark. A docket on the last leaf's verso reads, “Xher [Christopher] Libthorpe To George Rothe” and another, in a second hand, adds, “and a Deed from Pickering to Post for a lot,” with a computation below on the same page.

The watermark appears to be a heart-shaped shield crowned by a fleur de lis, or trefoil; however we find no match in Briquet or Gravell.

•  Parry, E.C., “A Widow's Might,” Old York Road Historical Society Bulletin, Vol. XXVII, 1966. For the early history of Philadelphia, its incidents and denizens, see: Watson, Annals of Philadelphia (1850).   Previously folded in multiple places, and now along bifolium crease only; four small holes in the upper corner where previously stapled or pinned. “Lacing,” a result of the iron gall ink's exposure to moisture, is in evidence here but does not affect the legibility or stability of the deed, which is neatly repaired in two places at the outer edge of the first recto near the remnants of the red wax seal. An attractive relic of colonial American, Pennsylvania/Philadelphia, commercial, and women's history.  (29823)

•  Dreyfus, History of the Nonesuch Press, 73.   Publisher's printed paper–covered boards, front cover with printed paper label, in green paper–covered chemise lined with paper matching the book's, the whole in a likewise covered slipcase. Chemise with spine rubbed and slightly sunned, slipcase darkened with corners rubbed but quite solid. Volume itself fresh and unworn; mild offsetting to endpapers, pages otherwise clean and crisp.  (36909)

•  ESTC R21446; Wing (rev. ed.) S3770.   Period-style mottled calf, covers framed and panelled in blind fillets with blind-tooled corner fleurons, spine with raised bands and gilt-stamped title. Pages age-toned and foxed with occasional small inkspots; some paginations trimmed and frontispiece edges slightly ragged. One early leaf with tear in lower margin, extending into text, repaired with two words from opposing page partially lifted by adhesion; one leaf with small hole affecting about eight words; one leaf with tear in outer margin touching final letters of seven lines; occasional edge chips, one upper outer corner torn away. A very readable copy in a dignified binding; a romantic tale with a romantic inscription.  (33123)

Harold Lamb wrote the introduction. Of the author's attention to the minutiae of daily life in the Rome of A.D. 63–66 he writes, “The city itself appears in exact historical detail. Praetorians idling at their posts pass the time with their favorite dice games; girl attendants at Petronius' bath finish their duties punctiliously and break away to their own diversions as soon as the door curtain falls behind the master. Sienkiewicz knows how the dishes, including blackbirds, were prepared for a nobleman's feast; he knows what the oriental dancers wore on their heads and what the priests of Cybele carried in their hands, and what you see when you round a corner of the Vicus Sceleratus.”

Salvatore Fiume created the 35 drawings which were reproduced in three-tone process and mounted by hand. Giovanni Madersteig designed this edition, which is limited to 1500 copies, choosing a monotype Old Face font; the composition and printing of the text and illustrations was done by Madersteing at the Officina Bodoni in Verona.

The binding is full natural linen printed, in grey-blue, with an overall pattern derived from an old wood engraving. The signatures of Salvatore Fiume and Giovanni Madersteig appear on the colophon.

•  Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 302.   In the original slipcase, spine sunned with a long closed crack to paper and paper cracked/chipped; case good overall. Book with spine lightly faded and rear pastedown with small gold bookseller's label; volume in the original dust jacket (spine sunned to darker than sides are); near fine.  (22293)

This is this history’s first edition and was followed by 1579, 1593, and 1628 editions. It is printed with a woodcut printer’s device on the title-page showing the goddess Liberty with two books labelled “Bononia docet” (“Bologna teaches”) at her feet. The text is enclosed in double-ruled borders and simply ornamented with a few woodcut initials, one of which shows Juno being pulled in her chariot by peacocks.

•  Adams S1117; Soltész, Catalogus librorum sedecimo saeculo . . . in Bibliotheca Nationali Hungariae . . . S524. On Sigonius, see: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., XXV, 82; and Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship, II, 143–45. Full calf old style: Round spine with raised bands, accented in gilt beading; tan leather title label; fillets in blind extending onto covers from each band to terminate in trefoils with blind double fillets beyond. Pages lightly washed, clean, and crisp: a few instances of staining, not obscuring text; a few short notations in ink and occasional worming in the margins, neither affecting text; ink stain on p. 95 obscuring letters without loss of sense. Inked title on lower edge, old style. Three ink ownership stamps on title-page. EEe3–4, the last two leaves of the index, are lacking. (4561)

As is increasingly the case with Mexican imprints of the 17th century, it islittle found in the marketplace.

Provenance:  18th-century ownership signature on title-page and first leaf of preliminaries of the Conde del Fresno de la Fuente.

•  Medina, Mexico, 1328; Palau 312973; Asuncion Lavrin, “Cotidianidad y espiritualidad en la vida conventual novohispana: Siglo XVII,” in Memoria del Coloquio Internacional Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz y pensamiento novohispano (1995).   Late 19th-century Mexican quarter dark green morocco with mottled green paper sides; binding rubbed and abraded, front endpapers with an old paper label and remnants of one removed. Pencilling on front fly-leaf and title-page verso; top margins closely cropped occasionally costing top of letters of running heads and foliation. Worming, chiefly in margins but occasionally into the text, not costing words, sometimes repaired; first and last few leaves with old repairs to corners and margins and a bit of text restored in pen and ink. Withal, a good++ copy of important work that is not often on the market.  (34203)

ten oversized, folding maps

•  Sabin 81135; Howes S461; American Imprints 44-5635.   Publisher's plain paper–covered boards, recently rebacked with olive green cloth, spine with new antiqued printed paper label; paper rubbed and stained. Hinges (inside) reinforced. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page and sectional title, no other markings. All leaves affected by an unusual sort of very light and remarkably even waterstaining that left the upper outer corners (only) untouched and even bright, with a variously wavy line of light to moderate brown marking the “border”; otherwise a few other pages with other soiling or staining; one page with smudge of green ink, touching but not obscuring text; one leaf with short tear from upper margin, not extending into text; and a bit of cockling. An excellent example of a good book that has suffered accidents but also is “better than it sounds.”  (29420)

Provenance:  Signature on title-page of Howard Osgood, a prominent late 19th- and early 20th-century Hebrew scholar and noted collector.

•  Goldsmiths'-Kress 2558; Wing (2nd ed.) S3801B.   Contemporary speckled calf, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title-label, board edges stamped with gilt roll; corners and spine extremities worn, front joint cracked and back joint starting, sewing holding. Front pastedown with small French bookseller's ticket and early inked numeral. Title-page with small early inked owner's name and with institutional pressure stamp, reverse with pencilled numerals. Pages clean. (19511)

•  Publisher's quarter orange cloth and dark green paper–covered sides, spine with title stamped in silver, in original dust jacket; jacket with spine extremities lightly worn, edges of back panel darkened, upper inner front corner and upper back corner each with short tear. One page with light smudge to lower outer margin. A nice copy of a signed Singer first edition.  (34092)

The volume was designed by Bruce Campbell and set in Centaur and Arrighi types, with the text printed by Hampshire Typothetae (under Harold McGrath's supervision) and the watercolors by the Princeton Polychrome Press; the binding was done by the Tapley-Rutter Company. This is numbered copy 1063 of 2000 printed, and it issigned at the colophon by author and artist. The monthly newsletter and prospectus are laid in.

This offering consists of the aforementioned two parts anda supplement with 26 extra tales taken from a newly discovered (in 1815) edition printed in 1567 by H. Wykes of theTales, and Quicke Answeres. Each section has a separate title-page and introduction explaining its Shakespearean connection and origin story, with canvassing also of the editor’s scholarly processes and his decisions to offer his tales with original orthography, in their full “licentiousness,” and with their original “moral reflections.” A short glossary of Elizabethan words is provided, and the second preface is signed in type “S.W.S.,” i.e., Samuel Weller Singer.

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

•  19th-century half black morocco and marbled paper–covered sides, spine lettered in gilt, with differently patterned marbled endpapers and black silk placemarker, top edge gilt; rubbed at corners and edges. Light age-toning with very occasional off-setting and a few spots, light pencilling referencing a 1925 Goodspeed’s price on title-page.A testament to 19th-century Shakespeare mania and a resonant, even cautionary tale for scholars of any ilk in any era.  (37850)

Part of Bentley's Shilling Series, with a leaf listing offerings of “Bentley's Railroad Library” bound in opposite title-page.

•  Original green paper–covered light pictorial boards, rubbed and edgeworn with corners bumped; five inches of spine paper detached but present (laid in). Previous owner's purchase note on front pastedown; interior otherwise unmarked.A good copy of an inherently fragile style of publication.  (37363)

Provenance: Booklabel of C.C. Gowran (“Handle me gently . . . ”).

•  BAL 18242. Publisher's cloth, front cover and spine stamped in white and gilt; stamping and extremities showing just a touch of rubbing, with a small bump to one edge, otherwise clean and fresh. Front pastedown with booklabel as above. A very pleasing copy.  (33626)

•  Bound as above, housed in a grey cloth–covered, felt-lined clamshell case with affixed printed paper illustration reproducing the engraved title-page; vellum very slightly sprung, case showing spots of minor discoloration and shelfwear. Very nice facsimile of this important work.  (32214)

Provenance:  No bookplates or inscriptions, but spine with initials “G.O.B.” tooled at base.

•  20th-century cordovan-color sheep, covers framed in single gilt fillet with gilt-stamped corner fleurons; spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-stamped fleurons in compartments; spine sunned/lightened with darker streaks and patches evident, one spine compartment with small scuff, joints with excellent repairs and corners likewise well refurbished. Text with only an occasional age-stain or instance of foxing; plates remarkably unblemished. Blue silk placemarker. Overall indeed aVERY NICE COPY.   (33233)

Provenance:  Round armorial bookplate of Baronet Heathcote of Hursley on front pastedown; bookplate of Thomas Vernon of Hanbury (1654–1721) dated 1703 attached to title-page verso. Later in the Howell Bible Collection, Pacific School of Religion (properly released), with library bookplate tucked in front cover.

Copies of any early edition of this text are scarce, andsearches of NUC, COPAC, and OCLC reveal only three known copies, this copy one of only two in North America, and now deacessioned. Two other reported copies in COPAC are false. The other North American copy is described in the library's catalogue record as “Imperfect: leaves B4-B5, C3 and V7 lacking; faded and stained in places, spine broken; covers detached.”

•  ESTC S4905; STC (rev. ed.) 22849.7. On Smith, see: DNB (online).   Contemporary calf, Cambridge–style binding with raised bands ruled in blind and gilt-lettered red leather spine label, covers double framed and panelled in blind, board edges rolled in gilt; rebacked, new endpapers, added engraved title-page and one leaf of text.lacking, covers rubbed with some loss of leather. Moderate age-toning with the very occasional spot;; two leaves with corners torn and loss of a letter or two but not sense, one with a small hole, another two repaired. Bookplates as described above, call numbers on title-page verso, rubber-stamp on title-page and one leaf of text. Imperfect, but worthwhile.  (36326)

Offered with the prospectus.

•  Fine, Janus Press 1975–80, 43–44.   Publisher's natural Zaan paper wrappers, front wrapper with mauve-stamped decorations; wrappers with a few tiny spots blending rather well into the paper's heavy texture. Pages crisp and clean. A nice copy.  (37268)

The minister-turned-printer Kuyper (1629–91) produced only Socinian works in the decade 1663–73, many edited by Andreas Wissowatius, Socinus's grandson who had an influential hand in the present opera. The printer Samuel Przypkowski, whose shop produced earlier volumes in the series of which these are a part, contributed the brief biography of Socinus here; and he has graced the text with refined tailpieces, large initials against a floriated background, and woodcut devices to the section titles (some initialed “HB” for printer Hendrick Boom). There are occasional Hebrew references in vol. II.

Provenance:  Early inscription “Middeldorpf” on front flyleaf; bookplate and stamp of Rochester Theological Seminary (later the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School). Deaccessioned 2005.

Evidence of readership: Sparse ink annotations in a contemporary hand; underlining throughout, heavy in quires R–S and Nnn–Ppp in vol. I.

•  Knijff & Visser, Bibliographia sociniana, 2004–5 (for Bib. fratrum polonorum, see 2001–11); Estreicher Bibliografia polska, XIII: 45–48; Knuttel, Verboden boeken 60; STCN/ Bock I: 46–54; Wallace, Antitrinitarian Biography (for notes on protagonists of the movement); NCE 13: 397–8 (Socinianism).   Contemporary northern-European style vellum over boards ruled in blind, panels with blind-stamped central cartouches, blue speckled edges and evidence of ties; old spotting and soiling with front joint (outside) of vol. II partially open at top and bottom but binding sound. Institutional stamps to each title-page and another few places as above, and additionally an old library sticker to spine of vol. II; old underlining and other inkings as above. Paper somewhat age-toned, with foxing and the occasional stain or short tear; indices (only) with light waterstains in some lower margins (only). A good, solid, clean set.  (29264)

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. El doctor Carlino. [colophon: Barcelona: En la oficina de Pablo Nadal, 1798]. 4to (21.1 cm, 8.3"). 32 pp. “Num. 60" in the upper left corner of the first page.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. Un bobo hace ciento. [colophon: Valencia: en la Imprenta de la Viuda de Joseph de Orga, 1763]. 32 pp. “N.60" in upper left corner of the first page and “Pag. I” in upper right.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. Las Amazonas de escitia. [colophon: Valencia, en la Imprenta de la Viuda de Joseph de Orga, 1764]. 32 pp. “N.68" in upper left corner of the first page and “Pag. I” in upper right.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. Amparar al enemigo. [colophon: Valencia, en la Imprenta de la Viuda de Joseph de Orga, 1765]. 32 pp. “N.85" in upper left corner of the first page and “Pag. I” in upper right.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. El alcazar del secreto. [colophon: Valencia, en la Imprenta de la Viuda de Joseph de Orga, 1765]. 32 pp. “N.86" in upper left corner of first page, and “Pag. I” in upper right.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. Erudice y Orfeo. [colophon: Valencia, en la Imprenta de la Viuda de Joseph de Orga, 1765]. 32 pp. “N. 89" in upper left corner of first page, and “Pag. I” in upper right.

[drop-title] Comedia. El amor al uso. [colophon: Madrid: en la Libreria de Quiroga, 1799]. 32 pp. “I” in upper right corner of first page.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. El mayor triunfo de Julio César, y batalla de Farsalia. [colophon: Valencia, en la Imprenta de la Viuda de Joseph de Orga, 1770]. 36 pp. “N.162" in uppper left corner of first page and “Pag. I” in upper right.

The Spanish National Library attributes this title to Francisco de Alsedo Herrera, not Solis.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. La gitanilla de Madrid. [colophon: Valencia, en la Imprenta de Joseph, y Thomàs de Orga, 1780]. 32 pp. “N.232" in upper left corner of first page and “Pag. I” in upper right.

Binding: Full dark caramel calf single-ruled in gilt around blind-ruled border, gilt board edges and blind-patterned turn-ins, spine gilt extra with two black spine labels lettered in gilt. Marbled endpapers and brown speckled edges, green ribbon place holder.

Provenance:  19th-century bookplate of Robert Henry Clive on rear pastedown.

•  On the comedias sueltas, see: Bergman & Szmuk, Comedias Sueltas; McKnight & Jones, Catalogue of Comedias Sueltas; Sullivan & Bershas, Comedias Sueltas.   Bound as above; extremities rubbed with loss to gilt on board edges, joints starting but volume strong, boards with a few stains and scratches. Sticker on front free endpaper. Gentle age-toning and occasional cases of foxing, most noticeable in El amor al uso, otherwiseclean and crisp.  (30950)

His “major poem was The Chace, published in 1735 and dedicated to Frederick, prince of Wales. In four books of blank verse he conveyed the excitement and dangers of the chase as well as its place in history” (ODNB).

This is the third edition, printed by William Bowyer for Hawkins, in an edition of 1500 copies, attesting to the poem'sgreat popularity. A fourth edition followed in the same year and it continued to be printed in the 18th century with an edition appearing as late as 1800, and yet others in the 19th century!

•  Foxon, English verse, 1701–1750, S564; ESTC T30392.   Modern boards covered in a brown stone-pattern marbled paper. Clean and not close-trimmed; very good.  (32765)

The Italian text is accompanied by citations and original documentation, which is in both Italian and, mostly, Latin; it is printed in roman and italic, with one large floriated woodcut initial and a decorative headpiece at the beginning of the first chapter. The final leaf contains the imprimatur and errata.

Searches of NUC Pre-1956 and WorldCat locate only two copies in U.S. libraries, one of which has been deaccessioned.

•  Contemporary vellum over boards with four laces visible on covers at spine extremities, gilt title in painted spine compartment, red marbled edges; binding somewhat soiled and bumped and a bit warped, with light worming not penetrating the leather. Title rubbed affecting a few letters; a light brown stain running along the gutter on two leaves and a crescent stain at the bottom of one other not affecting text; small tears at a couple of outer margins; and a handful of natural paper flaws, especially notable to two leaves that literally came up short in the press and therefore have “deckle” lower edges. Old pressure-stamps to title-leaf and a few others, a five-digit accession number stamped in two places, old library pencillings, indications of removed bookplates and card pocket; minor dampstaining, foxing, and age-toning throughout, most notable in the first and last two gatherings. Recital of faults and “library features” makes this sound much less appealing than it is.This is a sound, attractive, pleasing book.  (29568)

Provenance:  The inscriptions are in at least two different scripts; the back pastedown is inscribed (upside-down) “E.F. Putnam [/] Theolog. Seminary [/] Alexandria DC,” while another inscription on the front free endpaper gives “E.P. Soule [/] 1855" (this being the script most clearly matching the actual journal entries), with what seems to be a later addition directly under the above inscription that reads “Thoughts in moments of retirement. To my beloved husband.”

•  Contemporary half dark blue roan and blue, green, and yellow marbled paper–covered sides; cockled, worn and rubbed, with paper starting to peel at back outer edge. Traces of spots of red adhesions at four outer corners of front pastedown and front free endpaper. Some waterstaining, occasionally smearing or obscuring a few words; excisions as noted.  (38315)