Binding:  Publisher's purple cloth, gilt-stamped title on spine; each cover framed in blind rules, with foliate and drawer-handle motifs surrounding a gilt leaf device at center. All edges gilt.

•  Bound as above, almost entirely sunned to brown and with a very little rubbing. Light to moderate age-toning and foxing throughout; lacks frontispiece, other three plates present and brightly colored. Overall a handsomely done collection of letters about roses (and life).  (35940)

•  Publisher's printed yellow paper wrappers over printed paper–covered stiff boards; wrappers with spine sunned, minor edge wear. Contents clean and crisp. Very good.  (34969)

This is numbered copy 1051 of 1500 printed; it wassigned at the colophon by the artist.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 32.   Publisher's brown and orange cloth as above, spines with gilt-stamped titles; slipcase and wrappers lacking, bindings showing moderate shelf wear most pronounced at spine extremities. Clean.  (30404)

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

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

Provenance:  Front pastedown with inked inscription: “Duchess of Somerset [/] 1875" (presumably Margaret Shaw-Stewart Seymour, widow of the 11th Duke of Somerset, d. 1880). Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Publisher's red cloth, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped title, front cover with gilt-stamped oval medallion title frame, back cover with gilt-stamped urn and flowers vignette; spine sunned with cloth chipping at joints and frayed at extremities. All edges gilt. Title-page with small portion of outer edge repaired some time ago. Mild age-toning and offsetting around guard tissues; last few leaves foxed. An attractive (if somewhat alarming) production.  (37890)

NUC and WorldCat locate only two copies in the U.S. Searches of CCPB and the OPAC of the Spanish national library locate three Spanish libraries reporting ownership; COPAC finds no copies in Britain.

The number of “splendid ceremonies” books produced in colonial Peru is small: There is no census but we suspect the number to be around 20.

Other interesting aspects of the work are that it is an important source on the social and artistic life of Lima in the decade following the Tupac Amaru rebellion and that it is from one of Latin America's famous presses of “orphan children.”

•  John Carter Brown Library, Catalogue, 1493-1800, III,324; Medina, Lima, 1697; Sabin 73902; Vargas Ugarte, Impresos peruanos, 2546.   Contemporary limp vellum with neatly inked title on spine; all edges inked decoratively. Old blurred stamp on front free endpaper, old single numerals very faintly on title-pages. Small tear in margin of plate, not into image. Overall a very good copy, very clean and with wide margins.  (34668)

Rare: WorldCat locates only two copies in the U.S.

An important source on the social and artistic life of Lima in the decade following the Tupac Amaru rebellion.

•  John Carter Brown Library, Catalogue, 1493-1800, III,324; Medina, Lima, 1697; Sabin 73902; Vargas Ugarte, Impresos peruanos, 2546.   Contemporary limp vellum with late, neatly inked title on spine. Some foxing. Plate lacking lower half and small portion of upper one; a handsome skeleton (memento mori) archer is the focus of what remains. Bookplate sometime removed; rubber-stamps on several pages, including title, reading (yes, in English), “Bought of F. Perez Velasco October 1912.”  (25771)

Binding:  Publisher's green cloth with a young farmer's vignette stamped in white, black, and gilt on the cover, spine with gilt-stamped title and bird vignette.

•  BAL 16671.   Binding as above, dust jacket lacking, very minor rubbing to extremities and front cover vignette. Front pastedown with ownership inscription of Alice Grace Stone. Clean and fresh.  (35049)

14 maps of important battle locations

•  Howes R311; Sabin 71530.   Publisher's ribbed brown cloth, covers with blind-stamped foliate frames surrounding publisher's arabesque cartouche, spines with gilt-stamped title and blind-stamped decorative bands; corners rubbed, spine heads chipped and reinforced with brown cloth tape, lower board edges showing very faint water damage, lower back cover of vol. I and lower front cover of vol. II slightly warped, endpapers stained by bleed-through of binder's glue. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplates, call number on endpapers, rubber-stamp on title-pages and a few others, no other markings. Vol. I: Two plates with small spots of light staining; light waterstaining to lower outer corners of a few leaves, including one plate. Vol. II: mild waterstaining to lower portions, extending into text; signatures in latter portion unopened. A slightly rough copy, still solid and readable and decent on shelf.  (29427)

•  NSTC 2R11677; Lowndes 2099; Hugo, The Bewick Collector, 434.   Contemporary half dark green morocco with red marbled paper sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; some rubbing and with a bit of green discoloration to paper of front cover. Minor offsetting to frontispiece and title-page; mild to moderate foxing in first third of volume and to last few pages.  (21934)

Binding:  Signed binding done byFrancis Bedford, stamped as such in turn-ins on front pastedowns and on front free endpapers: 19th-century calf framed in triple gilt fillets with small corner rondels, spines gilt extra with gilt-stamped red leather title-labels and green leather volume labels, board edges with double gilt fillets, turn-ins with gilt roll. All edges gilt.

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

•  Keynes, William Pickering (rev. ed.), 87; Kelly, Checklist of Books Published by William Pickering, 1832.6; Hugo, The Bewick Collector, 86 (for first ed.).   Bindings as above, rebacked preserving original spines; edges and extremities rubbed, spines showing moderate wear, half-titles (only) lacking. Front fly-leaves and title-page of vol. II with light spotting in lower halves; a few instances of faint spotting elsewhere in each volume, pages otherwise clean and white. A handsome copy of this important step in the establishment of Robin Hood's legendary status.  (37995)

The wood engravings are printed from the original blocks from Bewick's atelier; however, many of the tailpieces differ from those of the first edition. Also, this edition adds “Sir Peny” from a Cottonian manuscript that was not included in the first edition.

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with difficult to decipher inked ownership inscription dated 1849, half-title with pencilled inscription: “Ex Armario Gulielmi Blaine Wootten.” Later in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  NSTC 2R11684; Hugo, The Bewick Collector, 488; Kelly, Checklist of Books Published by William Pickering, 1833.9; Keynes, William Pickering (rev. ed.), 87.   Publisher's plain dark blue cloth, spine with printed paper label; cloth worn and faded, spine extremities and top of label chipped. Inscriptions and ex-libris as above. Pages slightly age-toned, with edges untrimmed and dust-soiled; first and last few leaves lightly foxed. Externally an unprepossessing, internally an attractive copy.  (37871)

The contents of these two volumes appear to be based almost entirely on John Roach's Beauties of the Poets of Great Britain, although Roach is not cited as the editor, the pieces are in a different order than originally presented, and there are a few minor changes: “The Negro Boy” is not included here, while several “runic odes” by Mathias and Penrose have been added. The expected highlights of Pope, Gray, Cowper, Burns, Chatterton, Goldsmith, etc. are present, as well as lesser-known pieces such as Mrs. Carter's “Address to Meditation,” Mary Darby Robinson's “Trumpeter,” and Helen Maria Williams's “Sonnet to Twilight” and “Sonnet to Hope” (the latter memorized by Wordsworth, whose first published poem was “Sonnet, on seeing Miss Helen Maria Williams Weep at a Tale of Distress”).

The volumes are illustrated with 18 wood-engraved plates signed by Sears, Willis, and others — not the 1793 originals.

Provenance:  Ownership note of “Adams Jewett, M.D.” to top of title-page.

•  This ed. not in NSTC, Lowndes, or Allibone. Not in British Library OPAC, not in NUC Pre-1956, not in OCLC, not in COPAC.   Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spines with printed paper labels. Each title-page with early inked ownership inscription in upper margin as above. Some pages with offsetting; spots of light to moderate staining; one page with pencilled annotation.  (25339)

Provenance:  Booklabel of Raymond Clavreuil on front pastedown of vol. I.

•  ESTC T78965; Sabin 71973.   Brown speckled calf, two gilt leather spine labels, double rules accenting raised bands and covers framed in gilt fillets, all edges speckled red; bindings lightly rubbed and one cover with (limited) old stain to top. Marked as above, light age-toning; very small amount of pencilling on endpapers and off-setting to early/late leaves from turn-ins; a few tears in folded maps artfully repaired from back, folds strong. A handsome, sturdy set of a classic. (36140)

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 theoriginal 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)

•  Publisher's blue cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title and fish vignette with blind-stamped decorative borders; spine slightly darkened, small spots of light discoloration, extremities rubbed. Sewing just barely starting to loosen but holding; pages clean. A more than decent copy of this interesting and, shall we say, “highly personal” work.  (35139)

The book is illustrated with 100 engraved plates and numerous in-text engravings, as well as a frontispiece map of the Holy Land in each volume. The plates are mostly figural illustrations taken from paintings in catacombs and on sarcophagi, illuminated manuscripts, mosaics, ivory figurines, murals, etc. The title-pages are printed in black and red ink, and decorated with an engraved vignette.

•  Publisher's red cloth, stamped in gilt on the spines and front covers. Spines sunned and front cover of vol. II slightly sunned along fore-edge also; cloth of spines frayed at extremities and chipped in other places. Hinges (inside) of vol. I a little weak, stitching exposed; corners bumped with cloth damage; pages very shallowly bumped. Ex-library, with shelf labels on spines, institutional bookplates on front pastedowns, pressure-stamp to title-pages and one other page in each volume. Paper very good; pages clean and bright.  (24688)

•  Brunet, IV, 1224; Cohen, Guide de l’amateur de livres à gravures du XVIIIe siecle, 510–11; Lewine, Bibliography of eighteenth century art and illustrated books, 252.   Later quarter oxblood morocco and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations; light wear to paper. Frontispiece mounted some time ago, title-page with short tear from lower margin, repaired; pages age-toned, with foxing and soiling/staining in various degrees throughout; despite flaws, a charmer. Uncut copy.  (29322)

“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 originalthree 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)

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

•  Rosenbach, Children's, 603; Shoemaker 5091.   Publisher's plain salmon-colored paper over light paste boards. Some plates browned as in all copies; glue stains showing through frontispiece. A few leaves mildly foxed. A nice book, a charming book.  (38470)

Rosenbach was the leading bookseller in America during the first half of the 20th century, helping to form the collections of Huntington, Folger, Widener, Doheny, Bell, Lilly, Clements, and many others. His personal collecting included American Judaica and Early American children's books. This is the highly illustrated and very bibliographically detailed catalogue of his personal collection of the latter. The collection was donated to the Free Library of Philadelphia.

The introduction is by A.E. Newton, Rosenbach's friend and customer, and a man whose own books on the joys of collecting helped fuel the fashion for it in the 1920s and 30s.

•  Blue pigskin, embossed in black on covers with an early American design; rebacked in plain blue morocco; abraded joints nicely refurbished. In the original black cloth slipcase but without the paper label. A good+ copy.  (34040)

•  Peterson A20; NSTC 0651818.   Original cream limp vellum, spine with gilt-stamped author/title; spine very slightly darkened, top rear and bottom front silk ties perished but their partners present. (The ties on Kelmscotts seem to always be a problem.) Housed in a quarter crushed brown morocco solander (i.e., clam shell) case with rust-colored cloth sides and a spine with five raised bands; title in gilt in one compartment, author in gilt in another; remaining compartments with a blind-tooled foliate center device.A lovely example of an iconic Kelmscott volume, fitly housed.  (36887)

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

•  Hatch, Mosher, 184; Bishop, Mosher, 47.   Vellum-cased boards with green silk accents, spine modestly lettered in gilt; very lightly dust-soiled and spotted, outer green silk uniformly faded, ties appearing to have been trimmed off at edges. Interior creamy and clean. A textually interesting work and a spectacular example of an unusual printing method from an American press.  (37302)

•  NSTC 2A17980 (for all years 1855–61).   Removed from a nonce volume. Title-page with small inked numeral in upper outer corner, otherwise clean.  (17033)