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.

•  Rius 11; Peeters-Fontainas 227; Suñé Benages 15; Palau 51988.   Contemporary limp vellum, soiled, ties perished; Don Quixote inked on spine, faded. Lacking one leaf of text, continuity supplied although not in facsimile from this edition (pp. 575–76). First and last gatherings guarded with strips of Renaissance vellum manuscript.  (23423)

An early purchaser has recorded the cost of binding the set (60 pence per book) in a pencilled note on the front fly-leaf of vol. I: “Aug. 15th 1864 in 38 vol bound in fine 1/2 moroco [sic] per vol c/60 d.”

The essays and authors here were all once fashionable as well as interesting; they are no longer at all fashionable, but they are interesting in ways that their authors and original readers never imagined.  

Bindings: Contemporary half morocco over attractive marbled paper–covered sides, each spine with gilt-stamped title, volume number, and elegant arabesque decorations. Top edges gilt.

•  On Chalmers, see: The Dictionary of National Biography. Bindings lightly rubbed, a few with leather showing slight cracking over spines. Frontispiece with bookplate of private collector. Pages age-toned, with edges slightly embrittled; some occurrences of staining and pencilled underlining, with the majority of pages clean. An attractive set; many happy hours’ worth of reading. For anyone who savors slices'o'life, and slices'o'time, very rich fare.

•  Publisher's half blue morocco over lighter blue cloth-covered boards, top edge gilt. A fine copy.  (24546)

Binding: Half tan cloth and marbled paper sides; round spines with five gilt-ruled raised bands, compartments gilt extra, oxblood-colored gilt-stamped leather title labels and black gilt-stamped leather volume labels. Endpapers done in same marbled paper as binding sides, with all page edges marbled in the same colors and pattern; red and yellow headbands.

•  NCBEL, II, 1101 (for the first printing of Chalmer’s ed.). Bindings as above, leather showing moderate wear with a few abrasions; upper page edges dust-darkened. Each volume with ownership inscription inked on reverse of front free endpaper. Pages mostly clean with occasional instances of age-toning or light spotting.

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•  DeBacker-Sommervogel, II, 1092–95 (for other eds.).   Contemporary vellum, spine with inked title; lightly soiled, front cover with partially effaced early inked ownership inscription and back cover with faded early inked inscription. Front pastedown institutionally rubber-stamped, front free endpaper lacking, title-page with early inked ownership inscription partially effaced (resulting in small holes). Pages age-toned, with occasional foxing.  (24349)

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  Publisher's green cloth, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped title; light shelf wear to corners and spine extremities.  (22223)

Click either image
for an enlargement.

•  Medina, Mexico, 10842; Garritz, Impresos novohispanos, 1826; Sutro, Supplement, 125.   Folded and never bound; uncut, unopened. Small hole in blank area of inner area of title-page and its conjugate. Faint stain. (21278)

•  Publisher's quarter ivory cloth with brown, red, and gold printed paper–covered sides, spines stamped in silver, in original black paper–covered slipcases; bindings clean and fresh save for small, unobtrusive smudges to spines. Glassine jackets lacking; slipcases showing minor shelf wear, one starting to split along one joint — not in fact a very visible flaw, and the case not much weakened.  (24469)

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  Brunet, I, 453–54; Dibdin, I, 301–02; Graesse, I, 207; Schweiger, I, 46. Recent quarter calf and marbled paper–covered sides, leather edges tooled in blind, spine with gilt-dotted raised bands, gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels, and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments. All edges gilt. Vol. I title-page with inked ownership inscription dated 1884 in upper outer corner; frontispiece with ink stain to outer margin not touching image (in our picture above, this misleadingly looks like it could be a wormhole). Faint spots of foxing in some sections, pages otherwise clean.

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•  Publisher's brown cloth, spines with brown paper label; several labels with ssmall brown spots, cracks, and edge chips, not too conspicuous and not affecting printing. Two leaves (pp. 343–346 of vol. X) detached from binding; long tear down center of pp. 283/284 (vol. IV), without loss of text; except for two leaves with some offsetting from laid-in scrap of paper, interiors clean. Outer and lower edges deckle, with a few signatures opened unevenly and some unopened. A very good set.  (24537)

Uncommon: Only 10 U.S. institutions report holding copies; one guesses that most have had them for quite some time.

•  Checklist American Imprints 11021.   Recent quarter red calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels. Four pages of preliminary advertising lacking (only). Moderate to heavy foxing without apparent weakening to paper or harm to reading; pages clean otherwise. (20926)

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books of the Limited Editions Club 1929–1985, 436. Binding as above, clean and unworn, in original glassine wrapper and slipcase; wrapper chipped at head of spine and with small edge tears; spine and top of slipcase sunned, back of case with a small, faint spot of soiling, spine label with some soiling, small scrapes, and a small chip at bottom edge. A fine, very attractive copy. Heroine Catherine might have liked the cover fabric here as dress material.

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Provenance: Riggs family: Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of philanthropist Elisha Francis Riggs, who funded the Riggs Library at Georgetown University; volume inherited by T. Lawrason Riggs, founding chaplain of St. Thomas More Chapel, Yale University; donated to St. Thomas More Chapel Library; deaccessioned 2008.

•  ESTC S106924; STC (2nd ed.), 1169; Gibson, Bacon, 171. On Bacon, see: Dictionary of National Biography.   18th-century calf framed in gilt single fillet, spine with recent gilt-stamped leather title and author labels, board edges with gilt roll; a little rubbed and covers with portions darkened. All edges stained yellow. Front pastedown with bookplate as above. Some pages gently age-toned, with occasional minor spotting. Small hole to added engraved title-page just beneath publication information, not affecting text. Final blank leaf (only) lacking.  (24666)

Binding: Publisher’s gothic-inspired embossed morocco; covers with embellished gilt-stamped title within elegant, overall blind-embossed frames and flourishes. Spine with gilt-stamped title, raised bands, and black-stamped decorations in compartments. Handsome marbled endpapers, all edges gilt.

•  Not in Wolf, From Gothic Windows to Peacocks. Binding as above, with some minor scuffing; front cover with scrape to central medallion (identical back cover, pristine), head of spine with rather odd pinhole through leather. Plates and surrounding leaves lightly foxed. A beautiful production.

Sadleir's analysis suggested to him the following probable sequence: a) the private edition, b) copies of the public edition with p. 236 in the same form as it appears in the private edition, c) copies of the public edition with p. 236 blank; and d) copies of the public edition with the complete new version of the text on p. 236.

However, the remnants of the binding preserved at the back of the present first volume — see note below andtop-right image above — are red moiré silk (as opposed to the brown cloth of the public edition), with the side panels and spine ornately blocked with a gilt design and the title within the gilt frame (the spine is rather worn, but legible). This suggests that only some of the twelve private copies were bound in leather, and others, or at least one, were bound in this special silk cloth, gilt extra.

Barham began writing the short pieces making up this series as contributions to his friend and classmate's Bentley's Miscellany. The subject matter was “at first derived from the legendary lore of the author's ancestral locality in Kent, but soon [was] enriched by satires on the topics of the day and subjects of pure invention, or borrowed from history or the ‘Acta Sanctorum’. . . . The success of the ‘Legends’ was pronounced from the first, and when published collectively in 1840 they at once took the high place in humorous literature which they have ever since retained” (DNB).

Provenance: With R.H.D. Barham’s signature as noted above, and with the armorial bookplate of Sir David Lionel Salomons (1851–1925) in each volume.

•  NCBEL, III, 365; Sadleir 156a; Tinker 216 (public edition); Carter, Binding Variants, p.92. Bindings a bit darkened and slightly discolored at extremities, light rubbing to joints, some foxing to the prelims of the first volume, with an old tide-mark in the lower gutter areas of the plates; a tipped-in bookseller's description in the first volume. A very good, very interesting example of a very rare thing.

Bindings: Contemporary signed bindings by E.P. Dutton & Co., of red morocco with covers framed in gilt triple fillets; spines with raised bands, gilt-stamped titles, and compartments framed in gilt double fillets. Board edges gilt-ruled, gilt inner dentelles. Upper page edges gilt. Original cloth covers and spines bound in at the back.

•  Sadleir 156b, e, & f; NCBEL, III, 365. Bindings as above, spines and upper board edges darkened with a bit of rubbing; free endpapers with offsetting from turn-ins. One volume with lower part of cover stained and the lower inner margin of the title-page and plates (not the text leaves!) waterstained. One plate evenly age-toned.

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•  Publisher's green cloth, front cover and spine stamped in black and gilt; spine with stamping a bit dimmed and extremities lightly rubbed, binding otherwise clean and handsome. Very appealing copy. (16731)

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This work is the first listed in all bibliographies under Louis Elzevir’s press at Amsterdam. In fact both the Elzevir edition of 1638 and this have the same colophon: “Lugduni-Batavorum: Typis Georgii Abrahami vander Marse, MDCXXXVIII.” And both collate the same, the only difference being the printer’s device and imprint information on the title-page.

Uncommon: Searches of OCLC, RLIN, & NUC locate fewer than ten copies in U.S. libraries.

Provenance: The Rev. Edward A. Dalrymple (Baltimore collector, mid–19th century); his collection given to the Maryland Diocesan Library; that library sold in 2006.

•  Rahir 1876; Willems 961 note. Contemporary vellum over light boards; spine delicately and lightly tooled in gilt. Ex–Maryland Episcopal Diocesan Library with stamp on front pastedown. One natural paper flaw; occasional early underlining.

Provenance: On verso of frontispiece amidst much scribbling and crossing out — e.g., numerals and “I owe beyonde my power” — “Sr Charles Mordaunt's Book.” Inside front cover, bookplate of John Odiarne Luxford.

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

Binding:  Publisher's dark green cloth, front cover and spine stamped in black and gilt with the cover incorporating an elegant emblematic device featuring Apollo/Hyperion and his horses, and the spine an angel holding a small child; the number 18 can be seen in the right raking light, stamped in blind, within the bottom element of the front cover.

•  Binding cocked, corners and spine extremities a touch rubbed. Page edges age-spotted; pages faintly and evenly age-toned. In fact a bright, handsome copy.  (23190)

It was sung for the first time by Cayetano Carreño and six other voices, the night of 23 April 1810 with the accompaniment of the military orchestra of the “Batallon Veterano.” The performance took place below the balcony on which were assembled the members of the Supreme Junta.

In addition to the historic collaboration of Bello and Carreño, this fabulous document has the distinction of having been printed by Venezuela’s first press, that of Gallagher and Lamb, which only arrived in Caracas in October of 1808, and was almost certainly printed on 24 April, the day after the hymn was first sung!

Very Rare.  This broadside was unknown to both Medina and Pedro Grases. Searches of NUC, OCLC, and RLIN fail to find any copy at all, as is the case when searching the OPACs of the national libraries of Venezuela, Colombia, Spain, France, and England.

•  Not in Medina, Caracas; not in Grases, Historia de la imprenta en Venezuela; not in Villasana. As issued. Worming in foremargin, repaired. A very good copy.

Binding: Publisher’s full sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label.

•  Binding as above, joints starting, rubbed over edges and extremities, spine darkened and scraped, leather lost over head of spine. All edges marbled. Front free endpaper with early pencilled ownership inscription. Pages clean.

•  O’Callaghan 288–89; Hills 1161. Binding as above, carefully and reasonably rebacked, with portion of uppermost spine compartment left free of gilt; a few small scuffs, and some minor refurbishing over extremities. All edges gilt. First few leaves with outer edges ragged; pages very faintly age-toned, otherwise clean. A gorgeous copy, with the interesting manuscript additions described above.

Binding: Contemporary red straight-grain morocco, covers framed in gilt single fillet, spine with gilt-stamped title. All edges gilt.

•  NSTC B2162; Lowndes, Bibliographer’s Manual, 2002 (for 1798 Tattersall ed.); Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature, 1269 (likewise). Binding as above, spine and outer edge of front cover darkened, joints and edges with moderate shelf wear. Front pastedown with institutional bookplate and donor bookplate; front free endpaper reverse with inked ownership inscription and pencilled inscription dated 1814; title-page with small inked initials in upper outer corner. Light foxing. In fact quite nice.

•  Publisher’s cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title; cloth faded along edges and spine. Front hinge (inside) slightly tender. Pages faintly age-toned; in fact, a very clean nice copy.

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Unlike virtually all other Heritage Press books, this is NOT a reprint of a Limited Editions Club edition.

•  Red leather, covers stamped in blind, title stamped in gilt on spine; spine lightly rubbed. Slipcase slightly faded and lightly worn at edges. Early owner's name on front free endpaper.  (22082)

This edition is printed in two unruled columns with shouldernotes, sidenotes (including dates), and italic headers. Acts 6:3 wrongly reads “ye may” for “we may.” Tables of kindred and affinity, weights and measures, money, and time are found on the last two pages. The New Testament sectional title has a woodcut vignette showing the arms of the University.

Binding: 19th-century black calf, elaborately tooled in blind in imaginative evocation of an “over the top” 17th-century binding, being horizontally, vertically, and diagonally ruled, foliate and floral devices within. Spine compartments tooled within, with gilt title in second one and gilt “Barker 1637” gilt at base. Red marbled endpapers. All edges gilt.

Provenance: 20th-century bookplate of C. ( or J.?) F. Weidmann, D.D. on front pastedown.

•  Herbert 757; Darlow & Moule 595; Wing (rev.) 2315; Loftie, A Century of Bibles, 354; ESTC R213033. (The title-page is from ESTC S90540 or S90541.) Binding as above, a little rubbed, and refurbished. Occasional light browning, soiling, and shallow bumping or chipping (not touching text). Lacking engraved title (replaced with title and preliminary leaf from another edition). A bibliophile’s delight, and warning.