
HUMOR
[
]
Censuring Current Events in Verse
(“ANY Target's a 'Fair' Target?”). Moore, Francis [pseud.]. The age of intellect: Or clerical showfolk, and wonderful layfolk. A series of poetical epistles between Bob Blazon in town, and Jack Jingle in the country. London: Pr. for William Hone (by Plummer & Brewis), 1819. 12mo (18.4 cm, 7.25"). Frontis., [2], 172, [8 (index)] pp.
[SOLD]
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First edition of this comedic epistolary poem, “with notes critical, ethical, satirical, physiological, craniological, and astrological.” Sometimes attributed to Henry Andrews and sometimes to publisher William Hone himself, the work is satirically dedicated to Delaram, wife of the Persian ambassador (although she is herein named only as “the Fair Circassian”), and mocks figures including barmaids, surgeons, bishops, music composers, velocipede riders, “the proprietor of the automaton chess player,” and George IV himself. The
frontispiece by George Cruikshank appears here in its original uncolored state; the title-page is printed in red and black.
Provenance: From the library of Robert L. Sadoff, M.D., sans indicia.
Cohn, Cruikshank, 574; NSTC 2A12367. 19th-century three-quarter dark red morocco with red cloth–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title, author, and date, and top edges gilt; extremities lightly rubbed, spine slightly darkened and rubbed. Front fly-leaf with old slip of printed cataloguing (referring to a different copy) affixed; preliminary matter bound slightly out of order. Pages with edges untrimmed; intermittent minor foxing.
A fine instance of “English humor” in a solid, very decent copy. (41199)



“Good Ladies,
UNCENSUR'D Bath's Pleasures Pursue . . . ”
Anstey, Christopher. The new Bath guide: Or, memoirs of the B-n-r-d family. In a series of poetical epistles. London: J. Dodsley, and Fletcher & Hodson, 1767. 8vo (17.5 cm, 6.875"). Frontis., [6], iv, 173, [1] pp.
$175.00
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Christopher Anstey's popular, good-humored epistolary poem about the Blunderhead family's comic misadventures while taking the waters in Bath, originally published in 1766 and still in print today. Hypochondriacs, poets, dandies, society ladies, cooks, lecherous priests, and quack doctors — among other characters — all come in for gentle ribbing. This is the fifth edition, following closely on the heels of the previous year's first; it opens with an amusing copper-engraved frontispiece of
Folly leading a small parade of well-dressed Blunderheads by their noses, done by Charles Grignion after Samuel Wale (this frontispiece having appeared for the first time in the fourth edition).
Provenance: The front free endpaper is stamped “Charles Helyar, East Coker 1772.”
ESTC T82490. Contemporary marbled paper–covered boards with brown calf shelfback, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped compartment decorations; binding much rubbed overall, front joint cracked (but holding) and back joint starting, spine head chipped. Back pastedown with small ticket of a Connecticut bookseller. Offsetting to title-page from frontispiece; upper half of back fly-leaf excised. Pages gently age-toned with occasional light foxing.
A respectable, readable copy of this nice early printing. (39848)

Lots of Laughs & Illustrated TOO
Anstey, Christopher. The new Bath guide: or, memoirs of the B-n-r-d family. London: C. Whittingham ... for the Associated Booksellers, 1800. 16mo (16.4 cm; 6.5"). viii, 155, [5 (adv.)] pp., [5] plts.
$200.00
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“New edition” of Christopher Anstey's popular, good-humored “New Bath Guide,” an epistolary poem about the Blunderhead family's adventures in Bath originally published in 1766 and still in print today.
This edition bears five humorous engraved plates by Tayler after Baynes dated 1 September 1797. Advertisements for books by Vernor and Hood follow the poem; the volume is printed on wove paper with watermark date of 1798.
Provenance: Inked inscription “H.H.L.C.—“ on title-page; later in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
ESTC T83541. Late 19th-century half red morocco and marbled paper covered boards, modest gilt stamping, ruling, and lettering; marbled endpapers matching cover paper, all edges marbled. Very light rubbing. Plates variably with foxing and a narrow border of old waterstaining, offsetting from this and from the engravings themselves (again “variably”) to nearby leaves; text otherwise clean save in last section where faded evidence shows old water exposure more generally. Ownership note as above, a few small pencil marks on endpapers and a flourish highlighting one quatrain. (37823)

The Best of 16th-Century Italian Satire
Ariosto, Ludovico, & others; Francesco Sansovino, ed.
Sette libri di satire di Ludovico Ariosto, Hercole Bentivogli, Luigi Alemanni, Pietro Nelli,
Antonino Vinciguerra, Francesco Sansovino, ed altri scrittori. Venice: Appresso Fabio, &
Agostin Zopini fratelli, 1583. 8vo (14.6 cm, 5.75"). [8], 206, [1] ff. (lacking original final
blank).
$500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Later edition of collected satires by famous Italian authors, edited by one of them,
Francesco Sansovino (1521–86).
Sansovino dedicates this collection to the historian Camillo Portio (Porzio, 1526 – ca.
1580), and introduces it with an essay on the material of satire, which he breaks down as “pure
simplicity, with severe acerbity, sometimes mixed with a bit of salt, or with some feature [that is]
tasty, and acute.” Prior to this, Sansovino also worked on the satires of Ariosto (1474–1533),
separately published.
The text is divided into sections by author, each of whom the editor introduces with a
brief biography. A short abstract printed in roman precedes each poem, printed in italic. Fine
woodcut head- and tailpieces, and a variety of initials in historiated, patterned, and factotum
designs, decorate the text; and the title-page features the woodcut printers' device of Truth
personified, flanked by an eagle, a lion, a bull, and an angel, representing the Four Evangelists.
Provenance: Ownership inscription on front fly-leaf of Luigi Pagani Cesa, possibly the
Italian jurist born at Belluno in 1855, who served as a member of Parliament for 1904–13; and
the words “penso che” (“I think that . . .”) written above, in an earlier hand?
Adams A1691; CNCE 2806. Later glazed cream-colored boards, title and date
inked on upper spine, small paper label on lower spine, marbled red edges; boards soiled and
front joint opening. One spot of worming on front pastedown and on colophon leaf; traces of
former mounting on colophon leaf verso. Title-page with one letter added in manuscript (o, in
Bentivoglio). Trimmed close at margins almost grazing headline on a few leaves. Very minor
stains on a few leaves, generally bright and crisp.
(30836)
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Wayward Wives & Shysters in Disguise
Specifically CALIFORNIAN Comedy
Baer, Warren. The duke of Sacramento. San
Francisco: The Grabhorn Press, 1934. 8vo. [12], 77, [1] pp.; illus.
$60.00
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One of the earliest comedies produced in San Francisco, CA: “Reprinted from the rare edition of 1856, to which is added a sketch of the Early San Francisco Stage by Jane Bissell Grabhorn, and Illustrations by Arvilla Parker.” This is the first volume of the third series of “Rare Americana” from Grabhorn Press; 550 copies were printed.
Publisher's quarter cream textured cloth with light blue fleur-de-lis printed paper sides, spine with printed paper label; lacking the blue dust-wrapper, small spot of staining at head of spine, otherwise a very nice example. (28209)
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Adventures of Euphormio —First English-Language Appearance
Barclay, John. Euphormio's Satyricon. London: The Golden Cockerel Press, 1954. Folio (28.6 cm, 11.25"). [2], 158 pp.; 8 plts.
$250.00
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Golden Cockerel edition: Early 17th-century picaresque “satire upon the wickedness of the world.” Written by a Scottish Catholic, this is one of the earliest satirical romans à clef. The work appears here in English for the first time, with the translation from the original Latin done by Paul Turner from the 1605 edition.
Designed and produced by Christopher Sandford and printed in Perpetua type on mould-made paper, under the supervision of K.S. Tollit, the volume is
illustrated with eight wood-engraved plates and two vignettes by Derrick Harris, with the plate images printed within bright red borders. This is numbered copy 205 of 260 printed.
Cock-a-hoop 196. Publisher's light taupe paper–covered boards with red cloth shelfback, front cover with rooster vignette stamped in red, spine with gilt-stamped title; minor rubbing to spine foot and lower outer corners. A few page edges slightly darkened and one very limited, very faint stain affecting endpapers' lower outer corner at rear, pages otherwise clean.
A nice copy of this interesting production. (37173)

Bernesque Poetry at its Finest
Berni, Francesco; Giovanni Mauro; & Others. Tutte le opere del Bernia in terza rima, nuovamente con somma diligentia stampate. [Venice?: s.n.], 1540. 8vo (15.1 cm, 6"). 168 ff.
$2250.00
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Italian translator Berni (1497/8–1535) was so good at writing serio-comic and satirical poetry with double meanings that the style took on his name. Written in terza rima, the present early “Bernesque” collection showcases his aesthetic by gathering his work with that of three of his peers. Donadoni notes Berni's “poems deal with the most futile, most cunningly indecent, or the most paradoxical themes,” and these examples are no exception — they cover a variety of topics including Pope Adriano and Aristotle (History of Italian Literature, I, 240). Court official Mauro (1490–1536), bishop Della Casa (1503–56), and apostolic abbreviator Bini (1484–1556) were all friends of Berni and here imitate his poetry, although none of them comments on a pope.
The text is neatly printed in single columns and split into three different parts with a sectional title-page for each, the latter two reading “Tutte le terze rime del Mauro, nuouamente raccolte e stampate” and “Le ter'ze rime de messer Giouanni dalla casa, di messer Bino et d'altri.”
Though several editions were printed in a short period of time in the 16th century (1538, 1540, 1542, 1545), extant copies are few and far between. Searches of WorldCat, COPAC, and the NUC reveal
only one holding of this edition in a U.S. institution (Penn).
Evidence of Readership: An early owner has added a handful of inked words and marks on two pages; a more recent owner has penciled extensive notes on several endpapers, supplied page numbers where lacking, marked several passages with arrows or bars, and written a marginal word.
Provenance: Title-page marked with initials “G.D.S.R.” in ink; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
EDIT16 seems to have based its entry on an incomplete copy, for it gives the foliation as 267 [i.e., 167], and while folio 167 is misnumbered in this copy, there is also a folio 168 that is correctly numbered.
EDIT16 CNCE 5538; Adams B753; not in Gamba, Serie dei testi di lingua. Recent cream calf, spine with two dark red leather labels, new endpapers; light scratching. Provenance and readership evidence as above. Light dust-soiling, staining, or spotting mostly in margins; just under four gatherings with light marginal waterstaining.
A desirable representative of the burlesque poetry genre. (38032)

“Ae-hy Ae-hy, Kih She”: Geordie Tales “Related by the Late Thomas Bewick”
Bewick, Thomas. The howdy and the upgetting. Two tales of sixty years sin seyne ... in the Tyne side dialect. London: Admirers of Native Merit, 1850. 12mo (22 cm, 8.75"). [2] ff., 9-16 pp.; frontis. port.
$225.00
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Two Tyneside stories recounted by the great wood engraver, in
an edition limited to just 60 copies, “imprinted by Samuel Bird . . . for John Gray Bell” (verso of title-page). An addition to the literature on English dialects, this little booklet is illustrated with
three wood engravings by Bewick and a portrait of the artist by John Jackson, one of his former pupils. Bewick's illustrations “were cut . . . for the Newcastle Chronicle Newspaper, and headed the Local and London News in that Paper for above twenty years” (note, p. [9]).
Provenance: Presentation copy from the publisher: “C.S. Bell, Esq. with J.G.B.'s compts.” (i.e., John G. Bell). This copy came from the Bewick collection of S. Roscoe, with his cataloguing slip tipped in and his pencilled note “one of 18 on large paper” (which we believe is erroneous). Described on Roscoe's slip as “on blue” paper: if so, it is very, very pale blue.
Hugo, Bewick Collector, 466. Fine copy in later marbled light boards, edges lightly rubbed; provenance/presentation indicia as above. (38856)

A “Bibliomania” Printed for Grolier Members
(A Delightful Emblematic Cover Design)
Bollioud-Mermet, Louis. Crazy book-collecting or bibliomania, showing the great folly of collecting rare and curious books, first editions, unique and large paper copies, in costly bindings, etc. New York: Duprat & Co., 1894. 12mo. x, 60 pp.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
An attractive English version of this 18th-century French text
printed for Grolier Club members, and with an introduction by Alphonse Duprat.
Laid in is a printed promotional slip of pale green paper noting that “At the Chicago Exhibition Duprat & Co. received a medal and award” for a book NOT this one!
Binding: Flexible dark green cloth, cover with elegant gilt lettering and a charmingly, delicately embellished design featuring one man seated at right, fishing for a book, and another man at top left dancing to have found one. Rose-colored endpapers, cream paper wrappers bound in.
Provenance: Bookplate of Howard Ingram Dohrman (“Coconut Grove / Canaan”) now laid in, having sometime detached itself from front pastedown.
Bound as above, in excellent condition.
A keepsake. (41332)

Laugh a Little — Cringe a Little — Carrington Curiosa
Cabanès, Augustin. The secret cabinet of history peeped into by a doctor. Paris: Charles Carrington, 1897. 8vo. x pp., [2[ ff., 3–239, vii, [1 (blank) pp., [4 (ads)] ff.
$100.00
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W.C. Costello's translation of Cabanès' Cabinet secret de l'histoire (première série), the sole edition in English and an interesting, if at times gruesome, complication of medical anecdotes, medical humor, celebrity lore, and titillation.
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, but
Wikipedia 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)
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“General Reading” & Inexpensive, click here.

The Broadway (of New Haven) Broadsides — Scarce Small Press Items
Capet, Uther [pseud. of Arthur Head]. [20 pieces from the Profile Press.] An adventure achieved by one, Sigismondo Malatesta, Lord of Rimini, about the year 1430 A.D. being at that time thirteen years old. New Haven: The Profile Press, 1930. 8vo (22 cm, 8.65"). [4] ff. (2 copies of the above). [with (all following the same author's, unless specified; all New Haven: The Profile Press, 1930)] The American scene. 8vo (25 cm, 9.9"). [4] ff. [and] Apologia pro arte poetica sua. 8vo (25 cm, 9.9"). [4] ff. [and] B., R.T. The ballad of Tuttle's. 8vo (24.5 cm, 9.65"). [1] f., fold. [and] The color: A retelling of some well-known tales of the American Negro. 16mo (22.2 cm, 8.75"). [4] ff. [and] Colourations: Four sonnets. 16mo (21.7 cm, 8.5"). [4] ff. [and] Ex: Four characters of mooted fame with prologue & epilogue. 8vo (24.8 cm, 9.75"). [4] ff. [and] Field, Eugene. Little Willie. Folio (32 cm, 12.6"). [1] f. [and] Four English stories drawn from contemporary sources. 8vo (25 cm, 9.9"). [2], 4, [2] pp. [and] Four stories from the Jewish-American. 16mo (22 cm, 8.65"). [2], 4, [2] pp. [and] Four stories from the modern American. 16mo (22 cm, 8.65"). [2], 4, [2] pp. [and] Four stories from the old Spanish. 16mo (22 cm, 8.65"). [2], 4, [2] pp. [and] Hot from Hollywood. 8vo (25 cm, 9.9"). [4] ff. [and] Ode in imitation of Horace. 8vo (24.6 cm, 9.7"). [1] f., fold. [and] On the menstrual phase of literature and art. 16mo (20.4 cm, 8"). [1] f., fold. [and] Pullman recreations. 16mo (21.2 cm, 8.4"). [2], 4, [2] pp. [and] Stenographic sallies. 16mo (21.5 cm, 8.4"). [2], 4, [2] pp. [and] A Western fairy tale. Folio (32 cm, 12.65"). [1] f. (2 copies).
$475.00
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Collection of largely humorous verse and prose pieces in broadsides and small pamphlets, printed for the author and “issued at odd intervals” from Head's Bookshop on Broadway in New Haven. These items were issued in limited editions that ranged from
25 to 110 copies; An Adventure is represented here by numbered copies 15 and 44 of 50 printed and signed by “Capet,” while Apologia is numbered copy 89 of 110 printed and signed. Many of the items reflect particular early 20th-century sensibilities — pretty blonde stenographers are the subject of “new position” jokes, the “American Negro” tales involve foolishness and philandering (and the word “coon”), a blustering Hollywood director thinks “Hunchback of Notre Dame” is a college play about a football hero. On the other hand, An Adventure is a Gothic fantasia about a young Malatesta's brush with the bloody ending of the tale of Paolo and Francesca da Rimini, while Colourations comprises four wholly serious sonnets.
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 make
Yale 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)
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Tilting at Windmills, Protecting Dulcinea, & Flying to the MOON
Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de. Primera parte del ingenioso hidalgo don
Qvixote de la Mancha. En Brucelas: Por Huberto Antonio, 1617. 8vo ( 16.8 cm;
6.625"). [8] ff., 583, [1] p., [3] ff. (one leaf in facsimile).
$18,000.00
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That momentous international success, Don Quixote, part I, appearing in Brussels within the first dozen years of its life — this for the third time, following Brussels printings of 1607 and 1611. Part II was not issued in Brussels until 1616 and and then as a stand-alone volume. Overall this is the only 11th separate printing of part I.
Scarce: We trace but seven copies in U.S. libraries (Harvard, University of California–Berkeley, Dartmouth, Huntington, University of Kansas, Hispanic Society, Texas A&M).
Provenance: Late 17th-century ownership inscription at top of title-page of “T. Engle”; 18th-century ownership inscription below that of “E. Ward”; on endpaper, “December, 1787,” with lines in French in an 18th-century hand.
Contemporary purchase information: On recto of rear free endpaper, in an early 17th-century Spanish hand, “# 1618 # [new line] En 24 de marco [i.e., março] Costo en Brusellas 20 placas.”
Rius 11; Peeters-Fontainas 227; Suñé Benages 15; Palau 51988. Contemporary limp vellum, soiled and beginning to separate, ties perished; Don Quixote inked on spine, faded. Lacking one leaf of text only, supplied in very good facsimile (pp. 575–76).
First and last gatherings guarded with strips of Renaissance vellum manuscript. (23423)
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Anti-Papal Mockery — Latin Verse & Prose — Signed French Binding
[Curione, Celio Secondo]. Pasquillorum tomi duo. Quorum primo versibus ac rhythmis, altero soluta oratione conscripta quamplurima continentur... Eleutheropoli: [Johann Oporinus], 1543. 8vo (13.9 cm, 5.5"). [16], 537 (i.e., 637), [1] pp.
$3500.00
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First edition of this gathering of pasquinades, or political and religious satires, mostly in Latin. Published anonymously, with a false imprint that translates to “Free City” or “City of Liberty,” these lampoons were collected by a prominent humanist scholar (known in his day as Caelius Secundus Curio) who spent much of his career fleeing persecution by the Church. The denunciations of anti-Reformation thought include Hutten’s Trias Romana (in German), Erasmus’ Pasquillus, and Curione’s own Pasquillus ecstaticus. The text is for the most part printed in an attractive italic — the Hutten German text being an exception, in black letter — with
two decorative capitals hand-illuminated in red, blue, and gold.
Binding: 19th-century straight-grained red morocco, spine with gilt rules and gilt-stamped club, scepter, and wreath motif in compartments; covers framed in single gilt fillet and elegant gilt roll, board edges with single gilt fillet, turn-ins with gilt Greek key roll. All edges gilt. Spine stamped “Rel[iure] p[ar] Bozerian Jeune,” i.e,. renowned binder
François Bozerian (1765–1826), younger brother of the equally notable binder Jean-Claude Bozerian.
Evidence of Readership: Pencilled marks of emphasis in margins, and occasional early inked marginalia in Latin; final leaf with early inked verses on each side: “Oenigma de Collogino” and “Epigraphium Tilonis Ditmarri [sic] civis Goslariani [sic].”
Provenance: Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of the Earl of Mexborough, with motto “Be fast.” Later in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Adams P390; Barbier, IV, 1338; Brunet, IV, 410; Index Aurel. 148.564; VD16 C6433. Binding as above, extremities showing mild shelfwear. Bookplates as above; front free endpaper with old cataloguing for this copy affixed, front fly-leaf with early inked note (“très rare”) and ownership inscription (in a different hand), possibly “Wright.” Intermittent staining, mostly but not entirely confined to early portion of volume.
A solid, attractive, and intriguing copy, hand-embellished and in a signed binding. (37912)

The Old Curiosity Shop — First Book-Form Printing
Dickens, Charles. Master Humphrey's clock. London: Chapman & Hall, 1840. 12mo (26.2 cm, 10.3"). 3 vols. I: Frontis., [2], iv, 306 pp.; illus. II: Frontis. (incl. in pagination), vi, 306 pp.; illus. III: Frontis. (incl. in pagination), vi, 426 pp.; illus.
$2500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First book-form edition of Dickens's weekly periodical — a variety of pieces gathered under a framing device of a storytelling circle led by Master Humphrey and the other members of his club. The serial marked
the first appearance of Barnaby Rudge, as well as of the enormously popular The Old Curiosity Shop, which more or less took over the author's original design of focusing on articles and sketches.
The three volumes are
illustrated by George Cattermole and Hablot “Phiz” Browne with numerous in-text engravings, displaying the former artist's skill with architecture and views and the latter's with humor and character.
NSTC 2D11892; Smith, Dickens in the Original Cloth, 6. Publisher's ribbed maroon cloth, covers with blind-stamped floral and arabesque frame and front covers with gilt-stamped clock vignette, spines gilt extra; extremities rubbed, spines faded, joints tender with some starting from extremities, cloth showing small splits at joint and spine extremities, each volume now housed in a maroon cloth chemise and the trio in a matching box. Front pastedowns with small, attractive institutional bookplate; vol. III with small area of abrasion from now-lacking bookplate. Pages faintly age-toned with a very few scattered light spots, overall pleasingly clean. Vol. III with small nick to upper outer edge of first few leaves.
An attractive item of Dickensiana, with two of the author's most significant illustrators splendidly represented. (33147)

Victorian-Era PROVINCIAL PRINTING of a
“Diverting” KidLit CHAPBOOK

The diverting history of Jumping Joan, and her dog and cat. Otley [England]: Printed by W. Walker, at the Wharfdale Stanhope Press, [ca. 1850?]. Near miniature (10 cm, 4"). 15, [1 (blank) pp.; illus.
$625.00
Click the images for enlargements.
In this penny chapbook, each page has a small wood engraving appropriate to the text of the four-line poem below it. The reader meets Joan and her mischievous, talented, and at times anthropomorphic cat and dog.
The first and last pages (i.e., 1 and 16, both blank) are pasted to the inside of the wrappers.
Provenance: From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.
WorldCat locates only three libraries reporting ownership (Pierpont Morgan, Yale, Princeton) but we know of two others (Oxford, Toronto Public).
Publisher's rust-colored wrappers; the original single stitch now perished and leaves loose. Very good. (38910)

Art Artists Wit Allegory Prose Poetry
Doni, Anton Francesco. La zvcca del Doni, Fiorentino. Divisa in cinqve libri di gran valore ... In Venetia: Appresso F. Rampazetto, ad instantia di G.B. & M., Sessa fratelli, 1565. 8vo (15.5 cm, 6.25"). [8], 316 ff.
$850.00
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Doni (1513–74) first published La zucca in parts over the course of 1551 and 1552 — a collection of moral tales, witticisms, aphorisms, and letters in which he often mocks his contemporaries, all of it in prose with some poetry and with a heavy helping of allegory. In this edition that Rampazetto printed for the famous Sessa family of publishers/printers, he has edited the five parts and renamed them in the forms now most commonly used.
Added here is his work on art (“Pitture”), which had first appeared in 1564 at Padua. The theme is the allegorical representation of Love, Chastity, Death, Fame, Time, and Eternity. Through this work he gives us an understanding of the artistic theory of his era and
many observations on the life and works of such artists as Giovanni Angelo (1507–63) and Vasari.
A full-page woodcut portrait of author is found on the verso of leaf *8, along with the printer's woodcut device on the title-page and woodcut headpieces and initials throughout the text.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Grässe, II, p. 424; Marsili-Libelli, Anton Francesco Doni,; 57; Edit16 CNCE 17710; Gamba 1367 (note). . . Early 20th-century vellum over light boards, ruled and tooled and lettered in gilt; marbled endpapers. Possible ownership name in one margin (not deciphered). Light waterstaining in some upper and lower margins, with occasional limited effect to text; overall in fact
a good and attractive copy. (40658)

The Collected Works of Erasmus, Including
His Greek New Testament
Erasmus, Desiderius. Desiderii Erasmi opera omnia in decem tomos distincta. Lugduni Batavorum [Leiden]: Pieter van der Aa, 1703–06. Folio extra (39.4 cm, 15.5"). 10 vols. in 11. I: [3] ff., 24, [64] pp., 1226 cols. (i.e., 1240); engr. t.-p., 1 double-pg. engr. plt. and 1 full-pg. engr. plt. II: [6] ff., 1212 cols., [5 4] pp. III(a): [15] ff., 1104 cols.; 18 full-pg. engr. plts. III(b): [2] ff., cols. 1105-944, [92] ff.; 2 full-pg. engr. plts. IV: [3] ff., 758 cols. (i.e., 768); 1 full-pg. engr. plt., 75 single-col. engr. vignettes (3.5" sq.), and 6 double-col. engr. vignettes (4.25" x 7.25"). V: [3] ff., 1360 cols. VI: [29] ff., 1126 cols., [17] pp. VII: [6] ff., 1198 cols., [1] p. VIII: [3] ff., 652 cols. IX: [3] ff., 1248 cols.; 1 fold-out plt., 1 full-pg. plt. X: [2] ff., cols. 1249–860, [64] ff.
$8,250.00
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Before his death, Erasmus (1466–1536) divided his writings into nine ordines (categories) for posthumous publication. This is the second edition of his collected works, first published in nine volumes by Froben in 1540. Like the original, this set includes additions by authors from the Dutch humanist's international circle and portraits of the same, as well as myriad engravings after Holbein. The printer, Pieter van der Aa (1659–1733), was an apprentice of Daniel van Gaasbeeck (fl. 1655–92) and primarily known for maps and travel books.
The text in all volumes is in Latin with some Greek, printed in roman and italic, mostly double-column with sidenotes and many large woodcut initials and tailpieces, as well as some engraved headpieces. Vol. I has both a general title-page and a volume title-page; each of the volume title-pages is printed in red and black and features a large engraved vignette signed by the illustrator J. Goeree and the engraver J. Baptist; some volumes also have sectional title-pages. There are many engraved plates: vol. I features an added engraved title-page, a double-page plate, and one full-page plate; in vol. III, part one, there are
18 full-page engraved portraits of contemporaries of Erasmus including Melanchthon, Alciatus, Charles V, and Bembo, as well as two more full-page portraits in vol. III, part two. In Praise of Folly, in vol. IV, is illustrated with
75 single-column-width engraved vignettes (3.5" sq.) and six double-column-width engravings (4.25" x 7.25") after the famous Holbein originals, and a full-page engraved portrait of the artist. Vol. IX has one large engraved fold-out plate signed by van der Aa at Leiden, engraved by D. Stoopendael, as well as one full-page engraved plate, unsigned, of medallions against a drapery backdrop.
A handsome, BIG/TALL folio set.
Provenance: Most volumes have a large stamped “Y” on the front pastedown, and a faded
18th-century ink inscription by a monk on the title-page.
All volumes in contemporary sheep recently rebacked and repaired using brown calf, spine with raised bands accented by gilt ruling with a blind ornament in each compartment, title and tome number gilt on green leather spine labels and date gilt collector-style on red leather labels at bases; marbled endpapers and red edges. Boards scuffed and chipped in places; all hinges (inside) repaired with later marbled paper. Ex- library: most volumes with bookplate and old-fashioned oval stamp on front pastedown, stamps on bottom edge and multiple leaves of text, early accession number to front free endpaper verso and bottom margin of first text leaf. In all volumes, some leaves very browned; occasional dampstaining, foxing, or other small stains from chemical reactions in paper; small natural paper flaws, short closed tears, and a few corners torn away not affecting text. One small tear in vol. IV repaired with monogrammed sticker!
Tout entière, a nice set. (31801)
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“This Kind of Composition Is Not So New to Our Language
as It Has Been Considered”
Fennor, William. Cornu-copiae. Pasquil's night-cap: Or, antidot for the head-ache. [London]: [colophon: C. Whittingham, at the Chiswick Press, 1819]. 8vo (20.2 cm, 7.9"). viii, 119, [1] pp.
$175.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Chiswick Press reprint of a delightfully filthy and humorous English poem discussing adultery, originally attributed to Nicholas Breton or Samuel Rowlands. This edition's text comes from a combination of those printed in 1612 and 1623, whose differences the introduction notes are “little more than corrections of orthography and punctuation.” A printer's device appears on the final page.
Provenance: Armorial bookplate of Ezra Otis Swift on the front pastedown; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
NSTC 2B47098 & 2P5931. Quarter black roan in imitation of morocco and dark pink paper–covered boards, gilt lettering on spine; rubbed with some loss of leather and paper. Edges uncut. Light age-toning with a handful of marginal stains. Bookplate and label as above; bookplate offsetting onto free endpaper.
A scandalous historical poem from a respectable press. (39422)

“Twiddle, Twiddle, & Tromp, Trompee” — Lighthearted Victorian Medievalism
Forsyth, Evelyn; Anna Hennen Broadwood, illus. Ye gestes of ye Ladye Anne: A marvelous pleasaunt and comfortable tayle. London: A. & G. Way, prs., [1884]. 4to (21.2 cm, 8.35"). [8], 105, [3 (pub. adv.)] pp.; illus.
$95.00
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Sole edition: Faux-medieval romance, ostensibly edited by Evelyn Forsyth (1851–1930) from an ancient manuscript discovered by one Griffith Boan in 1512. The witty, deliberately archaized misadventures of Lady Anne are set partly in italic and partly in black letter, and graced by a number of original ditties (including one with melody supplied) as well as
charming illustrations done in the style of woodcuts by Anna Hennen Broadwood, wife of Forsyth's uncle Thomas Capel Broadwood. A publisher's advertisement from the year of publication pitched this now-uncommon work as “quaint, humorous . . . a book for those with a taste for the antique and the ridiculous.”
NSTC 0255053. Imitation vellum over stiff wrappers, front wrapper stamped in black, dust-soiled, and a little short at fore-edge exposing front free endpaper also to dust-soiling;spine and front upper edge of wrapper chipped. Pages slightly age-toned with first few corners bumped, scrape along (closed) fore-edges.
Delightful gift for fans of either medieval or Victorian literature — an excellent “geste” indeed! (40442)

“May Not a POET Now & Then / Reveal These Lives of Average Men?”
Foss, Sam Walter. Whiffs from wild meadows. Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., copyright 1895. 8vo (19.4 cm, 7.7"). Frontis., [2], ix, [1], 272 pp.; illus.
$50.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: Humorous verse, often in assorted American dialects, with small in-text illustrations by various hands.
Binding: Publisher's green cloth, front cover and spine stamped in black, gilt, and yellow, with a frame of apples and greenery surrounding a decorative title and small gilt motifs.
Binding as above, corners and spine extremities very slightly rubbed, dust jacket lacking. Endpapers and a few pages sprinkled with spots of faint staining, pages generally clean
A popular and entertaining author, in an attractive and well-preserved binding. (35257)
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“Petites Histoires” with SPIRIT
Furetière, Antoine. Furetieriana ou les bons mots, et les remarques d'histoire, de morale, de critique, de plaisanterie, & d'erudition, de Mr. Furetiere. Brusselle: François Foppens, 1696. 12mo (14.2 cm, 5.55"). Frontis., [6], 267, [13 (index)] pp.
$450.00
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Witty words from the Abbé of Chalivoy, a lawyer, scholar, and one-time member of the Académie française who was expelled from that organization for daring to compile his own dictionary of the French language at a time when the Academy was claiming exclusive rights to produce such a work. While Furetière's Dictionnaire universel remains his best-known literary accomplishment, he also produced an eclectic range of entertaining literature, highlighted in the present Belgian printing of a collection of epigrams, maxims, poems, anecdotes, satirical remarks, and other bons mots edited by Guy Marais. Foppens's edition was printed in the same year as the Parisian first, following Furetière's death in 1688.
The volume opens with a
copper-engraved frontispiece done by Harrewyn, featuring a satyr and a jester in addition to muses crowning Furetière with a laurel wreath; the title-page is printed in red and black, and the text is ornamented with two woodcut headpieces, two tailpieces, and two decorative capitals. This nicely printed edition is not widely held in the United States; WorldCat locates
only four American institutional holdings and these perhaps unexpected ones, with no holdings added by NUC Pre-1956.
This edition not in Brunet. Contemporary speckled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped floral decorations in compartments, board edges with gilt roll; worn and rubbed, leather lost at extremities, front joint cracked and back joint starting (sewing holding). All edges speckled red and brown. Front pastedown and free endpaper with modern collector's inscriptions, front pastedown with early inked numerals and later pencilled annotations; one obscured name in text annotated in pencil in the margin. Pages gently age-toned with occasional tiny spots of foxing.
Externally worn, interior beautifully preserving the author's irrepressible, biting wit. (36242)
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A DUTCH Artist's Book
Made & Printed in NEW YORK
Grunberg, Arnon. Verzamelde visite kaartjes. New York: Kunst Editions, 1998. 12mo (18.5 cm; 7.5"). 2 loose leaves (half-title, title) and three booklets).
$400.00
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Arnon Yasha Yves Grunberg (b. 1971) is a Dutch writer, investigative reporter, radio and television personality, and occasional artist, as specifically exemplified by this artist book. It was printed in only 16 copies, 15 of which are signed by Grunberg and were for sale.
The work consists of three booklets with small, business-sized cards pasted one or two to a page, printed on paper or wood, with different designs, different messages, and different imagery; all are facetious, e.g., Grunberg, Magician for Children; Grunberg, Owner of Whore C.; Grunberg, Owner of Grunberg Catering; etc.
Searches of WorldCat, COPAC, and KVK locate
only 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)
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The Beckford & Durdans/Rosebery Copy
[Head, Richard]. Nugae venales, sive, thesaurus ridendi & jocandi. [bound with another, see below] Disputatio perjucunda qua probare nititur mulieres homines non esse. [The Hague: I. Burchornius, 1642]. 12mo (12 cm, 4.7’’). [4], 336, 48, 44 pp. [also bound in] Acidalius, Valens. Disputatio perjucunda qua probare nititur mulieres homines non esse. Hagae-Comitatis: I. Burchornius, 1641. 12mo. 191, [1] pp.
[SOLD]
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The elegantly bound copy of these works from the rich library of the novelist William Beckford (1760–1844). Interestingly, Beckford owned seven editions of the Nugae — this is his
first edition — printed between 1642 and 1720. In his sale catalogue, a note attributes it to the Irish novelist Richard Head (1637–ca. 86), author of the successful The Irish Rogue, although scattered sentences in Dutch or German cast doubts; the work also had an English edition, this perhaps translated by Head. The first part is a collection of ironic, witty questions and answers on satirical topics, often concerned with women — e.g., what is a liberal woman? — as well as with curiosities (e.g., why are Ethiopians black? is begging preferable to wealth? {‘it is’}). There follow essays on unrelated topics including pseudo-medicine, with the Nugae's second part — Crepundia poetica — then being a collection of short poems on sundry subjects from doctors to astrologers. The third part — Pugna porcorum — is
a satirical poem written solely and perhaps preposterously with words beginning with P.
The Disputatio, here in the second collected edition after a first of 1638, is “a jeu d’esprit against the opinions of the Socinians” (Brunet). Its two parts, propounding rhetorical paradoxes, first appeared separately in 1595, when a debate broke out following the Socinian affirmation that women were animals, not humans, as Eve was not created in the image of God. Attributed to Acidalius Valens, the work
seeks satirically to prove, through numerous mainly theological sources and following Socinian logic, that women are not men; the second essay defends women as a sex.
The title-pages offer three instances of the same handsome woodcut vignette.
Binding: 19th-century straight-grained citron morocco, raised bands, spine gilt-extra with flowers and flourishes; inner dentelles gilt, puce endpapers, all edges gilt over marbling. Red silk bookmark present and attached.
Provenance: William Beckford, with 19th-century note “Beckford sale 1883 lot 174" on front free endpaper verso and cutting from sale catalogue on front pastedown; red leather Durdans (Rosebery) booklabel to front pastedown and that library's small blind-stamp to first title-page and elsewhere. Later bookplate of Lawrence Strangman to front free endpaper; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, with his small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
I: Wing (rev.ed.) N1462;ESTC R219402. II: Brunet II, 759 (1638 ed.). Bound as above, with significant rubbing to joints and spine especially and with discoloration especially affecting raised bands; gilt ornamentation still impressive. Short closed tear to B4 not quite reaching print, another with loss to margin just touching text on L4; age-toning, with a few leaves slightly browned.
Desirable texts in a desirable copy, with very desirable provenance. (41315)

With
Howard Pyle's Illustrations; Without Some Other Bits
Irving, Washington. A history of New-York from the beginning of the world to the end of the Dutch dynasty; containing, among many surprising and curious matters, the unutterable ponderings of Walter the Doubter, the disastrous projects of William the Testy, and the chivalric achievements of Peter the Headstrong — the three Dutch governors of New Amsterdam; being the only authentic history of times that ever hath been or ever will be published. New York: Printed for the Grolier Club, 1886. 8vo (23.5 cm; 9.125"). 2 vols. I: Frontis., [4 (of 6)] ff., 312 pp., 1 plate; lacks the two prelim. states of the frontis., the half-title, and the colophon leaves. II: [6], 275, [5] pp., [4] leaves of plates l lacks the two prelim. states of the frontis.
$400.00
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An early Grolier Club publication (i.e., number 4): Limited to 175 copies on Holland paper and two on vellum, with this copy on Holland. The illustrations are by George H. Boughton, Will H. Drake, and Howard Pyle; etchings by Henry C. Eno and F. Raubicheck. The text and illustrations were printed at the DeVinne Press, and
the edition contains previously unpublished authorial corrections.
The title-page is in black and red, bearing the Grolier Club emblem in brown. Similarly, the initials and head- and tailpieces are printed in brown.
Binding: 1920s-era half brown morocco with marbled paper sides and matching marbled endpapers; round spines, raised bands accented with gilt rules and gilt beading, and a gilt center device in each spine compartment. Top edges gilt, others uncut; binding unsigned, but elegantly accomplished.
Bound as above. Vol. I lacks half-title, colophon leaf, and the two states of the frontispieces before the lettering. Vol. II lacks the cancelled title-page, the two states of the frontispieces before the lettering, and the instructions to the binder.
A lesson of a set, as the lacking elements that so affect the price of this handsome duo are so not-obviously “missing”: One must *know* they're supposed to be there! (35436)
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Up the THAMES in a Rowboat
Jerome, Jerome K. Three men in a boat
to say nothing of the dog! Ipswich: Pr. by W.S. Cowell Ltd. for the members of the Limited Editions Club, 1975. Oblong 8vo (23.6 cm, 9.3"). xv, [1], 174, [2] pp.; 12 col. plts., 2 double-p. col. plts.
$60.00
Limited Editions Club rendition of this classic work of English humor, in which George, Harris, and Jerome (all “seasoned hypochondriacs,” as the newsletter puts it) take Montmorency the dog along with them for a boating trip up the Thames that turns out rather more complicated than expected.
Stella Gibbons (a great choice) provided the introduction, and John Griffiths produced the
12 full-page and two double-spread color plates, as well as numerous black-and-white ink drawings. John Lewis set the horizontally formatted work (so done “because so few rivers in England are perpendicular”) in Modern Extended and ultra-bold Bodoni type; it was printed by W.S. Cowell Ltd. on Abbey Mills cream-colored eggshell paper, and snazzily bound in gaily striped scarlet, slate, and yellow linen.
This is numbered copy 733 of 2000 printed; it is
signed by the artist at the colophon. The appropriate LEC newsletter is laid in.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 487. Bound as above, with ochre linen shelfback and gilt-stamped title, in yellow papercovered slipcase with gilt-stamped title; slipcase with inch-long ding to one edge and otherwise but a few small scuffs and light shelfwear to edges; volume just reached by the blow and cover just showing that — otherwise (blessedly) clean and fresh. (36861)

The “Philosophy of America” — First Edition, in a Signed Binding
Mason, Walt. Uncle Walt [Walt Mason]: The poet philosopher. Chicago: George Matthew Adams, 1910. 8vo (20.1 cm, 7.9"). Frontis., 189, [3] pp.; illus.
$85.00
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“Walt Mason's Prose Rhymes are read daily by approximately ten million [newspaper] readers,” according to the preface, making Mason “the Poet Laureate of the American Democracy.” This collection of his popular, often humorous short pieces comes “from the presses of the Caslon Press . . . Arranged and decorated by Will Bradley. Frontispiece by John T. McCutcheon. Illustrations by William Stevens” (per the colophon); this first edition is in a
publisher's binding signed “B” (for Bradley).
The type here is set within ruled borders, and the verbal vignettes' titles are set as shouldernotes; the “poetry,” set as prose, is
frank period doggerel and often the more fun for that, although many sentiments are also “period.”
Binding: Publisher's brown cloth, front cover and spine pictorially stamped in orange, black, and tan with an image of Uncle Walt holding forth; the orange title lettering is LARGE and the image fills the entire cover.
Bound as above; minor wear to black portions of front cover, extremities slightly rubbed. Dust jacket lacking, as is typical; page edges untrimmed. Text age-toned, otherwise clean and crisp. (41338)

Limited Editions Club: O'Neill Comedy
O'Neill, Eugene. Ah, wilderness! New York: Printed for the members of the Limited Editions Club, 1972. Folio (28.5 cm, 11.25"). 161, [3] pp.; 8 col. plts. (4 double-page).
$175.00
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A humorous rendition of the playwright's own youthful romantic indiscretions, here with an introduction by Walter Kerr, red and blue decorations drawn by Sylvie Roizen, and
eight full-color plates (four of which are double-page spreads) printed by Holyoke Lithograph Co. from oil paintings by Shannon Stirnweis. The artist elected to “bring the reader into the setting as a member of the audience” (according to the newsletter) by depicting the first scene as if the viewer were sitting in the theater, with subsequent images moving the viewer on stage and sweeping the other audience members out of sight.
This is
numbered copy 1346 of 1500 printed, signed at the colophon by the artist. The appropriate Club newsletter and prospectus are both laid in. The volume was designed by Adrian Wilson, set in Monotype Kennerley and Mars types, and printed on Curtis wove paper by Clifford Burke at Mackenzie and Harris, Inc.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 445. Publisher's quarter red cloth and firework-printed paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label, in original glassine wrapper and matching slipcase; glassine wrapper with small portion torn away from lower back edge and nicks to lower edge and spine head, slipcase with one nick to paper at one edge of foot, volume clean and lovely. Overall in beautiful condition. (34066)
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First U.S. Editions — Dickens & Faux-Dickens
“Quiz” [pseud. of Edward Caswall], & Charles Dickens. Sketches of young ladies: In which these interesting members of the animal kingdom are classified according to their several instincts, habits, and general characteristics. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea, & Blanchard, 1838. 16mo (13.5 cm, 5.3"). 111, [1] pp. [with] Dickens, Charles. Sketches of young gentlemen. Dedicated to young ladies. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea, & Blanchard, 1838. 108, [2] pp.
$800.00
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First American editions of these two works, together as issued, in the original publisher's cloth. Young ladies and young gentlemen are humorously categorized under their various types: including for the former Romantic, Evangelical, Literary, Manly, Hyperbolical, Abstemious, and others, and for the latter Bashful, Military, Political, Censorious, Funny, etc. While the first work was often attributed to Dickens when originally published anonymously in 1837, it was actually written by humorist Caswall in a voice very much like Dickens's; the second work, first printed in 1838, is
genuine Dickens.
American Imprints 49619. Publisher's violet cloth; front cover and spine faded to tan, the former with a printed paper label somewhat chipped, and front cover showing tiny spots of discoloration and pinholes in cloth. Pages age-toned with intermittent mild spotting; a few lower outer corners bumped and middle section with dent to upper outer margin. A copy much read; still both highly readable and
highly entertaining. (34870)
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The Illustrator's Copy
Raspe, Rudolph, et al.; John Carswell, intro.; Fritz Kredel, illus. The singular adventures of Baron Munchausen. New York: For the members of the Limited Editions Club, 1952. Small 4to (24.8 cm, 9.75"). xli, [1], 175, [1] pp.; illus.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
The Limited Editions Club brings Rudolph Erich Raspe's dauntless Baron to life with many full-page and in-text pen and watercolor drawings by Fritz Kredel (1900–73), beautifully hand-colored by Walter Fischer. Kredel illustrates the Baron galloping on a half-horse, fighting off an attack dog, and dodging a wild sow, as well as many more humorous situations.
This is
one of 15 presentation copies (of a total of 1500 copies), as indicated by the publisher's blindstamp on the colophon, and is “numbered” with the initials “F.K.,” signifying that this was
Fritz Kredel's own copy; his signature also appears on the colophon.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 221. Quarter black calf with gilt lettering to spine, and French marbled paper sides, this copy without the glassine dust jacket and the slipcase; rubbing to corners and spine-ends. Interior lightly age-toned with the very occasional finger-smudge.
A compelling copy from the artist's bookshelf; and the illustrations are amusing and bright! (39561)
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We presently have several other interesting and charming editions,
not all of which will appear in illustrated catalogues.

“Full a Fun, Tales, An Rhymes” — “Printed for the Author”
[Robinson, Joseph Barlow]. [Works of Sammy Twitcher]. Owd Sammy Twitcher's
CRISMAS BOWK FOR THE YEAR 1870. Derby: Printed by the author, [1870]. 8vo (21.3 cm, 8.4"). 26 pp.; 4 plts. [with] Owd Sammy Twitcher's visit tu't Gret Exibishun e Darby. Derby: Pr. by the author, [1870]. 8vo. [24] pp. [and] Owd Sammy Twitcher's second visit tu't Gret Exibishun e Darby, wi' Jim. Pr. by the author, [1870]. 8vo. [24] pp. [and] Owd Sammy Twitcher's visit tu't watter cure establishment, at Matlock-Bonk. Darby: Pr. by the author, [1872]. 8vo. 54, [14 (adv.)], 22 (adv.) pp.; 4 plts.
$750.00
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Attractively bound collection of the first editions of these four humorous works written in thick Derbyshire dialect (the first sentence here reads “Frend, ah gey thee my hond, ah dunna mene tow fingers, bur a gud grip, az tha'll feel tinglin e aw thy veins”).
Three of the pieces include glossaries of some of the more opaque terms. Two of the essays recount
visits to the extensive and interesting Midland Counties Fine Arts and Industrial Exhibition of 1870, and the final entry features a lengthy appendix offering a more serious look at
Matlock-Bank, its hydropathic establishments, and its other landmarks, this in standard English. Mr. Smedley's Hydropathic Establishment, referenced in the text, is the first business appearing in the subsequent advertisement section, which is extensive, evocative, and contains
many ads embellished with little recommendations (by “Twitcher”?) in Darbyshire doggerel.
The author, who spent most of his life in Derby, was a sculptor as well as a Derbyshire historian, and he appears to have supplied the
original illustrations here himself. The two pairs of plates (one lithographed, one steel-engraved) are done in notably different styles — we suspect that two different engravers worked from Robinson's sketches. Robinson wrote one additional Twitcher piece in 1881, describing a visit to the Royal Agricultural Show, not included in this gathering.
All the Twitcher books are now scarce: WorldCat finds very few U.K. holdings of these titles and virtually no U.S.
Provenance: First text page with early pencilled ownership inscription of Mr. H. Mills in upper outer corner.
Crismas: NSTC 2R14138; Visit: NSTC 2R14139; Second Visit: NSTC 2R14140; Watter Cure: NSTC 0643751. Later quarter green calf and fine combed marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; minor shelfwear. Pencilled ownership note as above. Light age-toning; first two works with mild foxing and last leaves with avery light, old waterstain across a lower corner.
A highly personal production in text *and* illustration; an entertaining and very uncommon gathering. (36501)

“Afloat by the Heels, in That Terrible Ocean
In a Manner of Which You Can Scarce Have a Notion”
(Robinsonade — Not Defoe, Daniel). Robinson Crusoe: With thirty illustrations. London: Wm. S. Orr & Co. (pr. by Vizetelly Brothers & Co.), [ca. 1843]. 16mo (17 cm, 6.45"). Frontis., [2], 39, [1] pp.; 8 plts., illus.
[SOLD]
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Uncommon comedic verse retelling of the most famous castaway story of all (sorry Gilligan, sorry Tom “Cast Away” Hanks, Will “Lost in Space”), featuring
a total of nine sepia-tinted plates and a number of in-text vignettes. In this version, Crusoe stays lost mostly because he prefers to be his own king, free of civilization, rent, and taxes; once having left his island, he sells Friday and puts his mother in the workhouse. Among other cracks at contemporary societal quirks, the narrator suggests that Crusoe would have found his lack of a wife “the most pleasing of facts” if only he had read Malthus and Martineau, and the scanty costumes of the natives are compared to those at the ballet this season.
The wood-engraved frontispiece is signed “A.C.,” i.e., Alfred Crowquill, pseudonym of A.H. Forrester, while the other
tinted plates and black and white in-text illustrations are unsigned. While the exact publication date of this volume is difficult to identify, Orr published this popular piece in 1840 and 1844, as well as part of the 1843 edition of the Comic Album; it appears here as part of the “Comic Nursery Tales” series. This stand-alone printing is scarce: WorldCat locates only seven U.S. institutions reporting copies (Boston Public, Yale, Huntington, Lilly, Minnesota, Free Library of Philadelphia, SUNY-Stony Brook).Provenance: From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
NSTC 2D7678. Not in Gumuchian; not in Osborne Collection. Publisher's original printed paper–covered boards; paper slightly darkened, edges and extremities rubbed, joints refurbished. Now in a sturdy, dark blue cloth–covered clamshell case and matching slipcase. Pages evenly age-toned. One leaf with tear from lower margin, touching two lines of text and lower edge of one illustration (without loss); one leaf with short tear from lower margin not touching text.
A worthwhile copy of this unusual parody, in its original binding and nicely box-housed. (39980)

Nonesuch Press Edition: A Novel
C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien Read Aloud
to
Make the Inklings Laugh
Ros, Amanda McKittrick. Irene Iddesleigh. London: Nonesuch Press, 1926. 12mo (20 cm, 7.9"). 151, [1] pp.; illus.
$125.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Nonesuch printing of the first novel from an Irish author who made a career out of being critically savaged for her florid and improbably alliterative prose. Anna Margaret Ross, who wrote under the “Ros” pseudonym, first published this tragic novel about a doomed marriage at her own expense in 1897; Mark Twain called it “one of the greatest
unintentionally hilarious novels of all time,” and to this day it continues to be featured on lists of the worst books ever written. Unkind though that
“unintentionally” may make it to put this here still??
“This edition follows exactly the text of the original Belfast issue of 1897 except that certain misprints have been corrected,” according to the edition statement; the text is ornamented with reproductions of the original
three wood engravings by W.M.R. Quick. The present example is numbered copy 719 of 1250 printed.
Provenance: Calligraphic bookplate of Norman J. Sondheim, American collector of fine press books.
McKitterick/Rendall/Dreyfus 33. Publisher's half sheep and pink, red, and brown mottled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; spine gently sunned, extremities a bit rubbed. Front pastedown with bookplate as above; light foxing to endpapers, with a very few faint spots elsewhere. Lovely Nonesuch production of a “must read it to believe it” novel! (32039)

Legalese Has Always Been
Joke-Worthy
Ruggle, George. Ignoramus. Comoedia coram rege Iacobo et totius angliae magnatibus per academicos Cantabrigienses habita. Editio quarta, locis sexcentis emendatior. London: Ex officina I[ohn] R[edmayne], 1659. 12mo (13 cm, 5.1"). Frontis., [22], 153, [1] pp.
$450.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Early, uncommon edition (first printed in 1630) of the tremendously popular Latin-language academic farce that introduced the title's modern English usage. First produced in 1615 in Clare College, Cambridge, the play, which took six hours to perform at its premiere, mocks a foolish lawyer prone to particularly inept use of legal jargon in Latin. The copper-engraved frontispiece here features the protagonist in front of an array of reference books and case documents such as “Proude Buzzard contra Peake Goose.” This is the stated “editio quarta, locis sexcentis emendatior.”
Provenance: Front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription of Richard Wattel; back free endpaper with inked note: “H.h Price ex dono Rich. Wattel 17 June 1810.”
Gregg, Bibliography of the English Printed Drama to the Restoration, L8d; ESTC R8556; Wing (rev. ed.) R2214; Sweet & Maxwell 241. Contemporary sheep framed in double blind fillets; rubbed, especially at spine and extremities, with sewing starting to loosen and text block separating from spine, back joint just starting from foot. Frontispiece with small smudge in lower portion (not touching main figure); pages lightly age-toned. (34493)
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“Shakspearean” Inspiration? — A Special Copy
[Singer, Samuel Weller, ed.]. Shakspeare's [sic] jest book. Chiswick: A. & G. Way, prs., 1814. 8vo (20 cm, 7.875"). xxxii, 116, [2] pp.
$550.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First appearance of this cleverly marketed and in fact valuable Chiswick Press reprint of a humorous Elizabethan short story collection: Tales, and Quicke Answeres, Very Mery, and Pleasant to Rede from the edition printed by Berthelet around 1535. There were two subsequent volumes edited by Singer under the general title of “Shakspeare's Jest Book” and published in 1815 and 1816.
The introduction here explains the text's Shakespearean connection and origin story, with canvassing also of the editor's scholarly processes and his decisions to offer his tale with original orthography, in its full “licentiousness,” and with its original “moral reflections.” A short glossary of Elizabethan words is provided.
This is one of six copies printed on blue paper of an edition of 250 copies.
Provenance: Ca. 1930 bookplate of Henry Pennell Frank; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Late 19th-century half black morocco and marbled paper–covered sides, spine lettered in gilt; blue endpapers; rubbed at corners and edges.
A testament to 19th-century Shakespeare mania. (40233)

“Shakspearean” Inspiration?
[Singer, Samuel Weller, ed.]. Shakspeare’s [sic] jest book. Chiswick: From the Press of C. Whittingham, 1814–15. 8vo (20 cm, 7.875"). xxxii, 116, [2], xi, [1], 26, [2], xxviii, 121, [3] pp.
$225.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Cleverly marketed and in fact valuable Chiswick Press reprint. of two humorous Elizabethan short story collections, first Tales, and Quicke Answeres, Very Mery, and Pleasant to Rede from the edition printed by Berthelet around 1535, and second A C. Mery Talys from John Rastell’s edition, printed about 1525. Singer had in 1814 issued the first title alone as Shakspeare’s Jest Book, believing it was quite probably a collection of facetiae drawn on for Much Ado about Nothing; then, in 1815, after a scholar had discovered the second work disguised within a pasteboard, he promptly
printed the two together to correct “the fallacy of our [first] gesture” — for, surely, the second was the referenced text!
This offering consists of the aforementioned two parts and
a 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)
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A SERIES OF SURTEES

An Enduring Figure of
English Comic Literature
Surtees, Robert Smith. Handley Cross; or, Mr. Jorrocks's hunt. London: [Whitefriars Press, 1888]. 8vo (22.6 cm, 8.9"). xiii, [3], 578 pp.; 17 col. plts., 31 plts.
$100.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Largely unopened copy, from a subscription edition: A rollicking entry in a much-loved series, in which the Cockney grocer Mr. Jorrock becomes master of the “hounds” of the Handley Cross hunt, with chaotic results. Surtees, a sporting writer and novelist, is remembered for keen-eyed chronicles of the golden age of foxhunting such as this one; they were thought to carry a whiff of the vulgar in their day, Allibone not deigning even to mention them, though Surtees is fairly appreciated for his “mordant observations on men, women, and manners; his entertaining array of eccentrics, rakes, and rogues; his skill in the construction of lively dialogue (a matter over which he took great pains); his happy genius for unforgettable and quotable phrases . . .” (DNB).
First published in 1843 and first printed with illustrations in 17 monthly parts 1853–54, the misadventures of the enthusiastic Mr. Jorrocks appear here “printed for subscribers from the plates of the Original Edition issued by Bradbury, Agnew & Co.” The volume is illustrated with
16 hand-colored, steel-engraved plates and 31 wood-engraved plates by famed caricaturist John Leech. The colored scenes, many involving horses or hounds or both, are carefully and artistically tinted; the social scenes are more delicately shaded than the vivid hunting scenes. In addition to the color and black-and-white plates, numerous in-text wood-engravings decorate the text.
Binding: Publisher's crimson cloth, front cover with horse and hound vignettes stamped in black and gilt, spine with black and gilt portrait of Jorrocks himself.
NCBEL, III, 967. On Surtees, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online. Binding as above, spine much sunned but covers bright and fresh. Signatures almost entirely unopened; contents pages and a few other early signatures awkwardly opened with resulting edge tears, including to upper margins (only) of five uncolored plates. One colored plate with tiny scuff in image. Despite described faults, still a solid, bright, beautifully illustrated copy with a great deal of charm. (30448)

The Thrill of the Chase
Illustrated by Phiz
Surtees, Robert Smith. Hawbuck Grange. London: [Whitefriars Press, 1888]. 8vo (22.6 cm, 8.9"). [14], 265, [1] pp.; 8 col. plts.; 13 plts.
$125.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Unopened copy, from a subscription edition: The entertaining trials and tribulations of dedicated fox-hunter Tom Scott, illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne, a.k.a. Phiz.
See
the end of the first paragraph in our first “Surtees” entry, for
a general note on him.
First published in 1847, these vividly rendered hunting scenes appear here “printed for subscribers from the plates of the Original Edition issued by Bradbury, Agnew & Co.” The volume is illustrated with
8 plates by Phiz, hand-colored, and 13 steel-engraved plates by W.T. Maude. While Phiz's caricatures are sharp and witty, the coloring itself is rather elegantly restrained. In addition to the color and black-and-white plates, numerous in-text wood-engravings decorate the text, the whole providing many depictions of the hunt.
Binding: Publisher's crimson cloth, front cover and spine stamped with hunting vignettes and hound decorations in black and gilt.
NCBEL, III, 967. On Surtees, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online. Binding as above, spine much sunned but covers bright and fresh, minimal wear to extremities. Signatures unopened. Save for the dimmed spine, a beautiful and bright copy. (30434)

Chasing after
Foxes & Fortunes: 13 Hand-Colored Plates
Surtees, Robert Smith. Mr. Sponge's sporting tour. London: [Whitefriars Press, 1888]. 8vo (22.6 cm, 8.9"). [2], x, [2], 450 pp.; 13 col. plts., 30 plts.
$125.00
Unopened copy,
from a subscription edition: Misadventures of “Soapey” Sponge, a
rakish anti-hero constantly on the prowl for both a wealthy wife and a good
hunt (the latter preferably at someone else's expense). “The author .
. . will be glad if [this work] serves to put the rising generation on their
guard against specious, promiscuous acquaintance, and trains them on to the
noble sport of hunting, to the exclusion of its mercenary, illegitimate off-shoots”
(p. iii), says Surtees . . .
See
the end of the first paragraph in our first “Surtees” entry, for
a general note on him.
First published in 1853 as a 13-part serial, the Sporting Tour appears
here “printed for subscribers from the plates of the Original Edition
issued by Bradbury, Agnew & Co.” The volume is illustrated with
13
hand-colored and 30 steel-engraved plates
by famed caricaturist John Leech. The colored scenes, most of which
depict hunting or riding scenes, are carefully and attractively done with
nicely shaded tints. In addition to the color and black-and-white plates,
numerous in-text wood-engravings decorate the text.
Binding: Publisher's crimson
cloth, front cover and spine stamped with horse and hound vignettes in black
and gilt.
NCBEL, III, 967. On Surtees, see: Oxford Dictionary
of National Biography online. Binding as above, spine much sunned
but covers bright and fresh. Signatures unopened. One leaf holed in text with
loss of a few words and with some light discoloration around this, without
loss of sense. Save for the dimmed spine, a beautiful and bright copy. (30426)

Social Satire at Brighton: Illustrated by Leech
Surtees, Robert Smith. Plain or ringlets? London: [Whitefriars Press, 1888]. 8vo (22.6 cm, 8.9"). x, [4], 398 pp.; 12 col. plts., 8 plts.
$125.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Unopened copy, from a subscription edition, its title expressing the critical question before fair Miss Rosa as she considers the effects of her coiffure on her matrimonial options. The novel takes a mocking look at social life in provincial England and, although not as fixated on foxhunting as some of the author's other tales, offers much of interest relating to horses and hounds.
See
the end of the first paragraph in our first “Surtees” entry, for
a general note on him.
First published in 13 monthly parts in 1860, the machinations of Rosa and her mamma appear here “printed for subscribers from the plates of the Original Edition issued by Bradbury, Agnew & Co.” The volume is illustrated with
12 hand-colored, steel-engraved plates and 8 wood-engraved plates by famed caricaturist John Leech. The colored scenes, some involving young ladies in elegant dress and some horses and hounds, are carefully and artistically tinted; the social scenes are more delicately shaded than the vivid hunting scenes. In addition to the color and black-and-white plates, numerous in-text wood-engravings decorate the text.
Binding: Publisher's crimson cloth, front cover with black- and gilt-stamped hound decorations and a gilt-stamped vignette of two flirting equestrians, spine with black and gilt Cupid vignette.
NCBEL, III, 968. On Surtees, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online. Binding as above, extremities slightly rubbed, spine much sunned but covers bright and fresh. Signatures unopened. A clean, unread copy, with lovely plates. (30470)
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“They Rambled on about
Soho, a Much Frequented Track”
[Taylor, John]. Monsieur Tonson. A new version. Illustrated with beautiful copper-plates. Philadelphia: Morgan & Yeager, [1821–24]. 16mo (17 cm, 6.75"). [12] pp; 12 plts., illus.
$875.00
Click the images for enlargements.
The online catalogue at the American Antiquarian Society writes of this work: “An adaptation for children of the comic narrative poem Monsieur Tonson, by John Taylor (1757-1832). For his authorship see the Dictionary of national biography.” It also notes that “Morgan and Yeager published together from 1815 to 1824" and that the work was “probably issued after 1820.” Another observation is that the hand-colored plates “might be by William Charles, who worked with Joseph Yeager” but that the title is “not listed in Harry B. Weiss' William Charles: Early caricaturist, engraver and publisher of children's books (1932).”
The title-page (i.e., the front wrapper) informs that the publication price was “25 cents plain, 37 1/2 coloured.” The text and illustrations are mostly printed only on one side of a leaf.Provenance: 19th-century signature of Richard H. Downing on verso of frontispice; most recently in the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
WorldCat locates only three U.S. libraries reporting ownership (Yale, Free Library of Philadelphia, AAS).
Shoemaker 2310; not in Welch; not in Rosenbach, Children's. Buff printed paper covers; text block recased. Wrappers and text age-soiled and with stains; still, a (now) solid and appealing period piece. (38923)

The La Crosse Morning Leader's Leader Speaks
Taylor, Lute A. Lute Taylor's chip basket; being choice selections from the lectures, essays, addresses, editorials, and public and social correspondence. Hudson, WI: Star & Times Printing House, 1874. 8vo (17.4 cm, 6.75"). Frontis., 218 pp.
$40.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: Collected writings of a beloved Wisconsin newspaperman (and stutterer, who writes with good humor about that here). A steel-engraved portrait of the author opens the volume.
Binding: Publisher's green cloth, covers framed in blind, front cover with gilt-stamped decorative title and basket vignette, spine with gilt-stamped author and title.
Light wear only to joints and extremities, cloth showing small spots of faint discoloration. Front free endpaper with pencilled ownership inscription dated 1910, front fly-leaf with same owner's inked inscription. Pages gently age-toned, otherwise clean. (30499)

Starting with, “How First Love May Interrupt Breakfast”
Thackeray, William Makepeace. The history of Pendennis. New York: Harper & Brothers, [1849]. 8vo (23.5 cm, 9.25"). [10]–104 pp.; illus.
$125.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
First number of the first U.S. edition of this charming, humorous Bildungsroman, here in the publisher's original wrappers. 16 in-text wood engravings adorn the text; like the illustration on the front wrapper here, they are based on the
originals done by Thackeray himself. The front wrapper states “To be completed in seven numbers,” although in actuality it took eight. A nice example of a “part” of a book issued in parts.
Publisher's printed paper wrappers; wrappers darkened with corners bumped, front wrapper with small ink spots, short edge tears, and faint rings of discoloration. Faint intermittent foxing with one signature (only) more notably age-toned.; final leaf with portion torn out of outer margin, not touching text.
A pleasing touchstone for Victorian literature and its “production.” (33259)
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“The Bat . . . Is a Murderous Plaything”
“Thine, Bawlingly.” Something for the admirers of base ball. New York: Glenn Horowitz, 1990. 16mo (21.5 cm, 8.5"). 12, [4] pp.; illus.
$125.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Dedicated to the memory of Bart Giamatti and reprinted from the Salem Register of 15 August 1867: a comic account of the trials and tribulations of the game of baseball in its formative years. This is one of 150 copies printed at the Kelly/Winterton Press.
Publisher's paper wrappers.
A fresh, clean copy. (37134)

“Is it Best to be Laughing-Mad, or Crying-Mad, in the World?”
Titmarsh, M.A. [pseud. of William Thackeray]. Mrs. Perkins's ball. [London]: Chapman & Hall (pr. by Vizetelly Brothers & Co.), [1847]. 4to (21.6 cm, 8.5"). [2], engr. t.-p., 46, [2] pp.; 1 fold. col. plt., 20 col. plts.
$400.00
Click the images for enlargement.
First edition, first issue of this Thackeray publication, intended as a
Christmas gift book. The wry satire on the attendees of a society ball commences when our humble narrator is strong-armed into taking the Mulligan of Ballymulligan — a bumptious Irishman — to an upper-crust dance featuring young maidens on matrimonial lookout, frivolous society men, old maids, members of the Foreign Office, illustrious literary rivals, those who polka and those who don't, plus a host of other characters captured in brief but telling detail. Each of the delightfully droll vignettes features an illustration
engraved after Thackeray's own design, along with a frontispiece, engraved title-page, and oversized folding plate, for a total of
22 hand-colored plates.
Van Duzer 140; NCBEL, III, 857. Publisher's printed pink paper–covered boards, in red cloth clamshell case with gilt-stamped publication information on spine; binding faded, rubbed, and dust-soiled though not “sad,” with case showing moderate shelfwear, spotting, and signs of handling. Inside cover of clamshell case with pencilled annotations regarding issue points; front free endpaper with 19th-century inked inscription of Mrs. James Tradut [?] and with another pencilled annotation on points in a different hand. Light foxing and occasional smudges to pages and plates; overall a very reasonable copy of this delightful first edition. (37999)

Only the Second Known Copy?
Waterville College. Bell-a! Horrid-a bell-a! Inaugural ceremonies at the coronation of John Tupper Champlin. [Maine?]: No publisher/printer, 1853. 8vo (23 cm; 9") 4 pp.
$425.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
College wit and humor delivered to the not unsuspecting audience on Wednesday, April 6th, 1853. “The performance will commence with a grand review of all the available force of the institution, under the immediate inspection of the emperor. At precisely 7 o'clock the rabble will move in the following order.”
The caption title reads: “Smith, with a copy of the 'Fugitive Slave Law,' eagerly inquiring the way to Canada.” The text printed within a wavy border.
WorldCat locates only the copy at the Library Company of Philadelphia, this being its deaccessioned duplicate.
Old folds, dust-soiled, other stains. Evidence of old stitching. A decent copy of a rarity. (38404)

Deluxe Comedic Production, Deluxe Binding
Wills, William Henry, ed. Poets' wit and humour. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1861. 8vo (22.8 cm, 9"). [8], 278, [1] pp.; illus.
$975.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First U.S. edition: “Illustrated with
one
hundred engravings from drawings by Charles Bennett and George
H. Thomas.” The work was edited by a friend and collaborator of Charles
Dickens; from Chaucer to Swift to “Saint Anthony's Sermon to the Fishes,”
Wills's comic selections are delightfully entertaining, and their wood-engraved
illustrations equally amusing.
Binding:
Publisher's deluxe black calf, covers and spine elaborately embossed and stamped
in blind and gilt with central vignette of a cherub dressed as a jester and
playing a lyre. All edges gilt.
The
embossing plaque is signed with the designer's initials: “R.D.”
Robert Dudley. This is an English publisher's binding,
most likely done using the English sheets with an Appleton title-page.
This work is rarely found in the deluxe binding: The handsomely gilt-stamped
publisher's cloth is the norm.
NSTC 2W24418; Allibone 2762. For binding, see: Morris
& Levin, Art of Publisher's Bookbindings, 44. Binding as above,
showing minor wear to extremities and front cover vignette, original silk
bookmark detached and laid in. Volume slightly shaken with text block starting
to pull away from spine; this is the kind of volume that wants to do that,
and the reader will want to “cradle” it in hand — that done,
no worries. Front fly-leaf with early pencilled gift inscription and with
a Maine druggist's small ticket. Mild to moderate foxing.
Both
funny and decorative, in a publisher's binding that may fairly be called “DAZZLING.”
(26748)
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The Envious DOG & the Ermine
[Wynne, John Huddlestone]. Tales for youth; in thirty poems: To which are annexed, historical remarks and moral applications in prose. London: Printed by J. Crowder for E. Newbery, 1794. 8vo (17 cm, 6.75"). x (i.e., viii), 158, [2] pp.; 1 plt., illus.
$600.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Verse and prose on conduct of life — explained via emblems and fables — fill this volume of Christian literature for children. The copper-engraved frontispiece is by Thomas Cook and
the 30 half-page rectangular wood-engraved headpieces are by John Bewick.
Provenance: Early 20th-century bookplate of James Rolt; most recently in the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
ESTC T3347; Roscoe, John Newberry and His Successors, J391 (1); Hugo, Bewick Collector, 72 & 4072; Osborne Collection, p. 88. Late 19th- or early 20th-century half tan calf with marbled paper sides; binding lightly rubbed. Bookplate and label as above; front fly-leaf with “No. 72 Hugo's Collector” inked in an early hand, accompanied by pencilled annotation re. Bewick. Small inkstain on title-page and one other, light soiling to text and foxing; leaf of advertisements soiled. Overall a good++ copy
and well worthwhile. (38917)
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