Provenance:  Signature on front fly-leaf of John Yeames (1 January 1846); related late 19th–century ownership note on front free endpaper; most recently in the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Osborne Collection, p. 729; Gumuchian 3077.   Publisher's boards covered with green paper printed with intertwined vine pattern; paper rubbed, spine darkened with extremities chipped, front cover with small inkstain in upper inner corner. Inscriptions and booklabel as above. A few interior smudges. Without the publisher's ads at the end; good++. Lithographs very bright!  (38919)

Provenance:  From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only four U.S. libraries reporting ownership (Free Library of Philadelphia, University of Washington, Pierpont Morgan, and the Strong Museum [Rochester, NY]).

•  Osborne Collection p. 655.   Recased in light boards with original wrappers laid down on the appropriate board, neatly repairing a diagonal tear to the front one. Hand-coloring more enthusiastic than sophisticated, but very bright; text leaves with a good deal of soiling but no tattering. A “well enjoyed” copy.  (38814)

Binding:  Contemporary mauve calendered paper–covered sides, covers framed in wide gilt grapevine roll, spine with complementary gilt foliate roll. All edges gilt.

Provenance:  From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Gumuchian 4425.   Bound as above, without the matching slipcase; volume showing only light wear overall and with archival tape strengthening joints, this latter overlying but not at all obscuring gilt tooling. Small spots of faint to mild foxing, otherwise clean, and clearly untouched by childish hands. As Gumuchian says, charmante!  (40062)

And yes, Claude was related to (brother, in fact, of) Charles Perrault, the fabulist and reteller of the Cinderella story and other tales.

•  Brunet, IV, 507; Graesse, V, 207; Cicognara, I, 607.   Contemporary speckled calf, spine with gilt-stamped title and compartment decorations, board edges with gilt roll; joints and extremities carefully and unobtrusively repaired and refurbished, edge gilt rubbed. Pages slightly age-toned, with scattered spots; last few leaves with margins a bit darkened. Small area of pinhole worming to outer margins, not touching text (three plates each with tiny portion of one line touched); some instances nicely refurbished with long-fiber tissue. A clean, wide-margined, attractive copy of an attractive book.  (33221)

The53 in-text engravings offer iconographic evidence for the Amazons. The majority are numismatic, showing portrayals of Amazons on classical coins. Some others show works of art, especially sculpture, and representations of what Amazonian weapons might have looked like.

The work begins with a dedication to Baudelot de Dairval and a full table of contents. The body of the text is organized into chapters concerning various aspects of the lives and types of evidence relating to the Amazons. There is an “Addenda” on pp. 381–98 that includesdiscussions of Christopher Columbus, cannibalism, and Amazons in the New World. The book ends with another index.

•  European Americana 587/106; Sabin 61256; Hayn, Amazonen-Litteratur, 53.   Recent marbled paper over boards, leather spine label. Added engraved title-page cut down with loss of imprint data and mounted; without the map, often missing. Light staining to the preliminary and first few text pages. Otherwise, a rather nice copy.  (40385)

Provenance:   With a partially removed armorial bookplate of the Bibliotheque de Rosny (the library ofDuchess Marie-Caroline de Bourbon-Sicile — King Henry the Fifth's mother) on front pastedown and two bookseller descriptions of the item in hand on binder's blanks; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

The views begin along the Caribbean coast, move inland to Mexico City, then north, and then back to the Gulf Coast. Scenes include Campeche, Jalapa, Orizaba, Perote, Puebla, Popocatepetl, the Valley of Mexico, the Cathedral of Mexico, Veracruz, Zacatecas, a battle scene of Chapultec Castle, el Paseo, and several others.

Provenance: Bookplate (early 20th-century) of Almeric Hugh Paget, 1st and sole Baron Queenborough (1861–1949). Among his many and remarkably various interests, in all senses of that word, Lord Queenborough in a Mexican connection was president of the Ferrocarril Chihuahua al Pacifico (Chihuahua and Pacific Railroad).

•  Palau 224780; Sabin 62498; Abbey, Travel, II, 671; Mayer, México ilustrado, 13–21.   The portfolio is intact and strong in good++ condition, with the plates expertly conserved and rehinged so that the volume now safely opens perfectly flat for better appreciation of the contents. Binding with some rubbing to expectable places, and spine with small rectangular area of rubbing/discoloration one inch from the bottom, possibly from an old label; corners bumped with some loss of cloth and cloth generally with light soil, a scattering of small spots, and (to back cover) a patch of old waterstaining not reaching inward. Queenborough bookplate as described to front pastedown; old abrasions and adhesions to rear endpapers. Lithographic title-page and margins of some other plates with small marginal tears at edges, nicely repaired; printed title-page with blank portion at bottom right corner (6" by 9") excised and replaced long ago; one leaf of letterpress description with similar (blank) portion excised and replaced. Text leaves and plates with only the very occasional spot of foxing or “other”; in fact a copy that isnotably appealing, and suitable both for study and for exhibition.  (27591)

There are two illustrations with captions per page. Some of the engravings are reworkings of illustrations that had appeared previously (e.g., in The Wonderful Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Albany, 1810; Mother Goose's Melody, Worcester, 1794); others are entirely original to this production.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 11163 & 26465; Rosenbach, Children, 466; Welch 993.   Original yellow stiff wrappers, splitting along the spine. Small chip missing from the top of the title-page. The impressions are various, with some quite faint and others very bright and crisp. A good copy.  (36385)

In addition to a finely engraved frontispiece portrait of Savonarola, there areeight plates, numbering four engraved coats of arms, for the Atestina, Medici, Borgia and Sforza families, and four large foldout letterpress family trees, for the author's family, the Atestina, Medici, and Borgia, who are all related in some way or another to Savonarola's story.

•  BM STC French, P1013. On Pico della Mirandola, see: NCE, XI, 347–48, and C.B. Schmitt, Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola ... and his Critique of Aristotle (1967). On Billaine, see: B. Montagnes OP, “Éditions et éditeurs de Savonarole dans la France d'Ancien Régime,” in Archivium fratrum praedicatorum, LXXV, pp. 159–78.   Vellum over boards with yapp edges, ink title to spine and blue speckled edges; vol. II, “Additiones,” not present. Unnoticeable pin-type wormhole to frontispiece, title-page rubbed with loss to part of two words and with small hole to its blank area; small spottings to Medici fold-out plate and a few other leaves; Borgia fold-out plate repaired and with a diamond-shaped waterstain; a few tears in lower margins, two resulting in a bit of loss and one of these given an old repair.  (30276)

WorldCat locates only four U.S. libraries reporting ownership, and at least one of the reported sets is incomplete. The publication date given here is that suggested by the Osborne Collection.

Provenance:   From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

•  Osborne Collection, p. 765.   Blue textured paper over cardboard slipcase; embossed red paper onlay on front, printed in gold and titled “Picture books”; chromolithographed paper onlay on front (as described above). One of the chapbooks has small repairs, others variously displaying a small chip, a light stain, or a bit of creasing; else and indeed, very good.  (39521)

WorldCat locatesonly three U.S. institutions reporting holdings of this 1767 printing, and just a handful of the 1766.

•  Contemporary mottled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped title and pomegranate decorations in compartments; joints and extremities rubbed, with back joint starting from foot. All edges stained red. Pages with a very few scattered small spots or smudges, overall clean.  (40294)

Eugene Karlin (who signed the colophon) created thedelicate fine-pen illustrations; of these, 20 are full-page and 9 are in-text. The drawings of lovers engaged in the act of lovemaking are both tasteful and erotic; they are mostly heterosexual, with one — non-explicit — depicting two men). Robert L. Dothard designed the edition, which is limited to 1500 copies (of which this is numbered copy 1002), using a monotype Emerson font; the binding is quarter goatskin vellum with the title stamped in gold on a brown skiver label, and the sides are Swedish tan paper with a gold-stamped design on the front. The appropriate LEC newsletter is laid in.

•  Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 409.   Binding as above, in original glassine dust wrapper and slipcase; wrapper with lower corners chipped, slipcase with minor rubbing to gilt spine label, vellum spine with a few tiny brown spots (possibly as issued — the club newsletter for this volume says “Goats are real individuals, and that goes for their skins too; connoisseurs in such matters prize the mottled and stained appearance, which the skins come by quite naturally”). The whole generally clean and unworn; pages fresh and crisp. A beautiful copy.  (30460)

This attractively accomplished production features title-pages printed in red and black and16 delightful engraved plates counting the double-spread added engraved title-page serving as the frontispiece of vol. I. Offering views of the countryside and the fountains, many of the images incorporate figures such as a hunter and his hounds, riders on horseback, and well-dressed ladies and gentlemen strolling or dancing — as well as one ofa life-sized “insect” allegedly “brought away from the Kidneys of a Woman by the Drinking of the Pouhon Waters.” The unsigned plates, sometimes attributed to the author himself and sometimes to Hecquet, bearcaptions given in French, German, and English.

Provenance:  Title-pages each with early inked inscription of Frances Osborn. Later in the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).

•  Graesse, I, 109; Wellcome, IV, 407. Not in Blake, NLM 18th Century (which only lists an English-language edition).   Contemporary quarter mottled calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels; bindings rubbed, scuffed, and with leather refurbished. Added engraved title-page for vol. I here tipped in as a double-page spread. Vol. I with waterstaining to outer margins of first few leaves, including added title-page and title-page; vol. II with waterstaining to upper outer portions of first few leaves; some plates with waterstaining to margins, not affecting images. Pages otherwise crisp and clean. A pleasurable production, showcasing a pleasurable place! (40619)

Binding:  Mid-19th-century half cream vellum with marbled paper–covered sides, vellum edges ruled with single gilt fillet, spine with gilt-stamped black leather title and author labels, gilt-stamped decorative bands, and gilt-stamped fleurons in compartments; binding stamped “Cary, Binder, Wakefield” on front turn-in. Top edges gilt.

Provenance:  From the library of Robert L. Sadoff, M.D., sans indicia.

•  ESTC T5736.   Binding as above, vellum darkened, edges rubbed, lower spine label with chip not affecting lettering. Mild to moderate foxing and occasionally an old stain; one leaf with closed hole in outer margin, not touching text, one leaf torn across and repaired some time ago. A handsome edition here in a pleasing old binding.  (39682)

•  This ed. not in Brunet; see Mortimer, Italian 16th-Century Books, 398; Cicognara 2460. See also Seligmann, The History of Magic, 319. No edition of the Polemo forgery is listed in Freeman, Bibliotheca Fictiva.   Contemporary mottled calf, covers framed in gilt double fillets, spine with gilt-stamped title, compartments ruled in gilt and holdaing gilt-stamped decorative motifs, and raised bands with gilt roll; leather expectably acid-pitted, binding moderately worn overall. Annotation as above. This is a very pleasing copy, with pages clean and images printed darkly and crisply.  (39430)

•  Brunet, IV, 852.   Later marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Pages age-toned and mildly foxed; title-page with lower edge shaved, touching printing privilege line. An attractive and uncommon work.  (40387)

•  Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 275.   Original red slipcase present, rubbed; the volume contained, well preserved. A very nice copy.  (33379)

Provenance:  From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

•  Original green wrappers with bird illustration on front wrapper and advertisement on rear. Minor soiling to two pages and small crease in upper corner of rear wrapper, else fine. A very attractive little “toy.”  (38780)

COSTUME!

•  Publisher's quarter vellum and light blue buckram sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; vellum darkened and spotted, sides with mild wear and discolorations; front hinge (inside) slightly tender. Front free endpaper with a very faded (all but illegible) early inked inscription; margins with scattered light smudges, pages and plates otherwise clean. A volume clearly pored over . . .  (35542)

Procter was a philanthropist as well as a poet, involved in several charitable and feminist causes, and contributed to Dickens' Household Words under the pen name “Mary Berwick” in hopes that her work would not be judged based on her father's friendship with Dickens. She died shortly before the publication of this new edition of her poems.

Binding:  Red morocco over bevelled-edged wooden boards, spine with gilt lettering, rules, and stamped compartment decorations of acorns and oak leaves; covers with a wide composite gilt border incorporating laurel crowns and more oak'y ornaments surrounding a large gilt spray of holly and ivy. Marbled endpapers, all edges gilt.

•  Eckel, First Editions of the Writing of Charles Dickens . . . A bibliography, pp. 163–64; Podeschi, Dickens & Dickensiana, B293.   Bound as above, heavy boards sometime separated and reattached; extremities rubbed with spine pulled. Dedication page mentioned by Eckel lacking; foxing and minor staining to edges of frontispiece portrait with one other illustration and adjacent page foxed also. Previous owner's notes in pencil on front endpapers. A Good+ copy (priced accordingly) of this attractive production.  (37385)

This threepenny chapbook is illustrated with wood engravings in the Bewick manner; the illustrations include a frontispiece, title-page vignette, and six wood engravings, three of which are signed “Lee.” Although the work is undated, the Scottish Book Trade Index in the National Library of Scotland shows that Oliver & Boyd's years of activity at Netherbow address were 1808 through 1809. (Pages 1 & 32 are blank and are pasted to the inside of the wrappers.)

Provenance:  From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

WorldCat locates only seven North American libraries reporting ownership (CalBerkeley, UCLA, UFlorida, Wayne State, Princeton, Connecticut College, Toronto Public Library).

•  Osborne Collection, p. 291.   Mauve-colored printed wrappers with only a faint touch of soiling; else very good and clean.  (38904)

The 28 wood-engraved illustrations are interesting and good, but attribution to the artist is in dispute. Hugo attributes them to Thomas Bewick while Roscoe differs, saying “. . . Hugo's statement 'with 28 charming cuts by Thomas Bewick' cannot be justified.”

The date of publication is suggested by the Bodleian Library and by Roscoe & Brimell.

Provenance:  From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Roscoe & Brimell, Lumsden, 17; Hugo, Bewick, 315; Gumuchian 1571.   Tan illustrated stiff wrappers with large cut of Darby and Joan on front wrapper and a cobbler in his stall on rear one. “Gammer Gurton” in neat hand in top margin of front wrapper. Top edge gilt.  Clearly removed from a nonce volume at some past time. Very good.  (38906)