This is one of 15 presentation copies. The colophon bears the LEC stamp noting that fact, as well as the artist's signature.

Provenance: Very handsome gilt grey leather bookplate of Bernard and Roslyn Gittelson; the presentation at the colophon is to “B.G.” When this book was printed Gittelson was the director of the New York State Legislation Committee on Discrimination.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 150.   Publisher's red sheepskin, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped title and design, in original paper-covered slipcase; slipcase faded with edges and spine rubbed, volume with spine dimmed and gently rubbed, front cover with small scuff, covers otherwise clean and bright. Front pastedown with bookplate as above. A slightly worn special copy of a lovely production, priced to reflect condition, with a fine provenance.  (36761)

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

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

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

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

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

•  This ed. not in NSTC (see 2C5005 for other 1846 ed.). On Campbell, see: DNB (online).   Contemporary red morocco, spine compartments stamped in blind with raised bands and title stamped in gilt, covers framed in single gilt fillet around blind foliate roll, board edges and turn-ins with dashed roll in blind, all edges gilt; spine evenly darkened, a few small spots or short slivers of leather lost, two rear fly-leaves moderately foxed. Light to moderate age-toning with the occasional speck, one crinkled and smoothed leaf, one témoin. Booklabel as above, one inked endpaper note and an ink mark or two, a few pencilled and two inked marks of emphasis, otherwise clean. A handsome little book in all respects.  (38988)

This edifying story isillustrated with a maritime vignette on the front cover, a frontispiece, and five rather large in-text wood engravings. The frontispiece has early hand coloring in blue and a greenish yellow, as does one other image; three others are touched with the yellow alone.

Provenance:  Ownership signature of a young Caleb D. Shreve, dated 1843, on front free endpaper; bookplate with lending rules of the “Library of Upper Evesham Monthly Meeting of Women Friends, at Medford.”

•  American Imprints 11639. Not in Rosenbach, Children's.   Publisher's printed paper–covered sides with sheep shelfback, spine with gilt-stamped and chipped at head; binding darkened and rubbed overall, especially at extremities and unfortunately across the vignette on the cover. Front joint (outside) open. Front free endpaper with early pencilled ownership inscription. A browned copy with spots of minor foxing and staining. Two leaves torn across lower outer corners with loss of last words on several lines, though sense is still clear; another leaf, in a signature where the leaves are smaller, with a chip or paper flaw from bottom taking a word on one side and a few letters on the other. Laid in at p. 120, someone's slip noting that the chapter beginning there refers to the War of 1812 and recounts the history of the American Revolution. Clearly read and loved.  (35238)

•  BAL 2482 (second printing state, with plates included in pagination). Publisher's brown cloth, front cover stamped in gilt and green, spine with gilt-stamped title; front cover lightly scuffed, with corners rubbed. Front fly-leaf with inked gift inscription "to My Daughter," dated 1890; newspaper clipping about Carleton affixed to front fly-leaf, poem affixed to back fly-leaf as described above. Several insurance advertisements, religious leaflets, and other ephemera laid in.  (14367)

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

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

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

The colophon says only that “a few copies of this book” were printed; the back pastedown here bears a very small inked numeral 44, which may indicate this copy's number.

•  Publisher's red cloth, without the original glassine dust wrapper and with darkening around the bottom and fore-edge of front cover; page edges and endpapers also affected (especially the back one). Not pristine but nice.  (17863)

large, magnificent Benedictine Psalter

The text appears here in sepia ink in a large Renaissance rotunda hand, set forth to the point of our bracket above, illuminated and featuringa large miniature of King David filling the center of a large initial B. Along the bottom margin in three medallions are Saints Mark, Benedict (center bottom), and Laurence; the right margin has two additional medallion portraits of unidentified female figures. The margins are garnished with gilt and bright-colored flowers, among which hidesthe small image of a deer — “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God”?

•  Matted and under glass in an elegant 20th-century gilt frame, ready for hanging. We have not opened this to discover whether Psalm 1 continues (or Job concludes) on the other side of the leaf, but the suspicion must be, given the beauty and quality of the side showing, that this is a leaf that would benefit from double-glazing showcasing both sides.  (33296)

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

Provenance:  Title-page with early inked ownership inscription of Domenico Antonio Farini (1777–1834); later part of the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).

•  Ronalds, Catalogue of Books & Papers Relating to Electricity, p. 100; Wheeler Gift. I, 463 (for the first English edition).   19th-century decorative paper–covered boards (sides with cream and light blue interlaced pattern, attractive shelfback of tan paper with foliate pattern in brown and green) and hand-inked paper label; edges and extremities much worn, with paper peeling back on both boards and text block starting to separate from spine at front joint (sewing holding). Pastedowns and endpapers with limited worming, at rear touching lower margin and innermost fold of final plate without affecting image; one leaf with paper flaw in upper margin. Page edges untrimmed, leaving wide handsome margins. Text block entirely solid and pages overall clean and crisp. A most interesting copy of this interesting book.  (40045)

Binding:  19th-century calf, spine with gilt-stamped title, raised bands, and small circular gilt-stamped decorations in compartments; board edges and turn-ins with gilt rolls and covers framed and panelled in blind with gilt-stamped corner fleurons. All page edges stained red, red silk placemarker present and attached. Binding done by Koehler (with his stamp on front free endpaper).

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

•  Brunet, I, 1701-02; Index aurel. 134.656; Moreau, Editions parisiennes du XVI siecle, III, 1158. This ed. not in Adams or Mortimer, French 16th-Century Books.   Bound as above, spine and edges rubbed, sides scuffed. Endpapers with pencilled annotations and with binder's small rubber-stamp as above; title-page with date faintly inked in an early hand. Final leaf (printer's vignette) in facsimile, title-page with lower outer corner with small loss of paper in blank area repaired via excellent leaf-casting, and a similar excellent leaf-cast repair to two inner areas of last text leaf with a few letters supplied in pen and ink facsimile. One leaf with small printing flaw affecting a handful of words without loss of sense; three leaves at back with small semi-circular areas of worming touching a few letters, also without loss of sense. Pages very clean and type very clear. A scarce and desirable volume.  (37747)

WorldCat locatesonly three U.S. institutional holdings of this edition.

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

•  Adams C1190; EDIT 16 CNCE 71312; Brunet, I, 1701; Index aurel. 134.670.   19th-century half calf over marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped olive morocco title-label and gilt-tooled bands, all page edges speckled in brown; binding rubbed and worn, joints cracked but holding. First gathering very possibly supplied from a different copy. Front pastedown with two older cataloguing slips affixed; front free endpaper and (tipped-in) fly-leaf with later inked annotations in Latin and Italian. Occasional small spots of foxing and ink staining; a limited circle of light waterstain(?) to last leaf; a very few small early inked marks of emphasis in margins. A solid, eminently readable copy of animportant, readable, and uncommon early prose romanzo d'amore.  (37524)

•  Publisher's blue cloth–covered boards in original printed paper dust jacket; jacket with edges and spine lightly sunned, upper edge showing minor wear, lower corner of front inside flap clipped. Volume clean and fresh.  (36848)

This is the genuine first edition, not a modern reprint.

Binding:  Publisher's olive cloth, front cover with Art Nouveau water lily design and gilt-stamped title, spine with gilt-stamped title.

•  Binding as above, minor rubbing at extremities. Front free endpaper with pencilled Christmas gift inscription dated 1902; back free endpaper with rubber-stamped numeral (no other markings). Pages and plates clean. A very nice copy.  (28585)

Second thoughts here raise the question, though — maybe this wasn't censorship but rather an expression of erotic interest or, um, art appreciation?? Maybe someone wanteda nice little nude to keep in his pocketbook??????

•  Contemporary mottled calf framed in triple gilt fillets, spine gilt extra, all page edges marbled; binding with expectable acid-pitting and minor cracking of the leather over the spine and joints. One (and only one) signature foxed, leaves otherwise clean. A handsome book, defaced in a way that is depressing but also interesting.  (11896)

This is numbered copy 733 of 2000 printed, signed by the artist at the colophon. The monthly newsletter is laid in.

Binding:  Bound by the Tapley-Rutter Company in red and gold damask cloth with a gilt-stamped leather title-label on the spine.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 466.   Binding as above, in the original brown paper–covered slipcase, slipcase spine with cream paper label printed in brown; lightest bit of shelfwear to slipcase, volume fresh. A stunning book, outside and in.  (39043)

This copy is undated and has no illustrations on p. [2] and [3] of the wrappers, unlike other the copies dated 1840 cataloged in WorldCat. Page [4] of the wrappers has this advertisement: “Babcock's moral, instructive, and entertaining toy books.”advertisement, p, [4] of wrapper.

•  Publisher's printed yellow paper wrappers (other copies known in green and blue); sewn with straight pin still present behind threads, gently worn and separating at spine. Two markings from a rusted paperclip on front wrapper and title-page, light bookseller pencilling on back wrapper; light age-toning.  (36536)