LITERATURE
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“Nurse Lovechild's Legacy” — The History of Nursery Rhymes
Immel, Andrea, & Brian Alderson. Tommy Thumb's pretty song-book. The first collection of English nursery rhymes: a facsimile edition with a history and annotations. Los Angeles: Cotsen Occasional Press, 2013. Folio box (32.7 cm, 12.87"). 4to: xv, [1], 121, [1] pp.; illus. I: [4], 59, [5] pp.; illus. II: [2], 64, [4] pp.; illus. III: [2], 63, [3] pp.; illus.
[SOLD]
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Delightful, award-winning set offering both scholarship and aesthetic appeal: Facsimiles of the earliest known printed collection of nursery rhymes (Tommy Thumb's Song Book, 1744, followed by Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book Vol. II and The Pretty-Book), accompanied by an illustrated quarto volume featuring Immel and Alderson's bibliographical essay “Nurse Lovechild's Legacy” and their annotations to the rhymes. The commentary and the three miniature nursery rhyme volumes — the latter in scrupulous photo-facsimile, including the never-before reproduced Cotsen Children's Library copy of the Pretty Song Book — are presented in a well-designed cloth-covered clamshell case.
This set was
limited to 500 copies, designed and typeset by Patrick Reagh and Patty Holden, and printed and bound by Ken Coburn.
Quarto in publisher's purple cloth with gilt-stamped title on front cover, miniatures in red, crimson, and violet ribbon-stamped cloth with gilt-stamped title on front covers, the whole in a purple
cloth–covered clamshell case with compartments for each book; case with very slight sunning and ISBN label to back cover.
All volumes clean, crisp, and unworn. (40870)

A Victorian Favorite, in a Stunning Edition
Ingelow, Jean. Poems. London: Longmans, Green, Reader, & Dyer, 1867. 8vo (23.6 cm, 9.29"). Frontis., xiv, [2], 318, [2] pp.; illus.
$150.00
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The first appearance of this collection in 1863 made Ingelow (1820–97) one of the most popular poets of her day. Here, the beloved verses — including the tear-jerker “High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire (1571)” — appear in an
uncommon deluxe edition lavishly illustrated by G.J. Pinwell, J.W. North, J. Wolf, E.J. Poynter, E. Dalziel, T. Dalziel, A.B. Houghton, and W. Small, all designs engraved by the Brothers Dalziel.
The striking decorated binding is unsigned, although confirmed by Longman ledgers to have been the work of Albert Warren.
Binding: Contemporary pebbled midnight blue cloth–covered boards with beveled edges, covers elaborately stamped in black and gilt with quatrefoil corner decorations surrounding central four-lobed cartouches of inlaid cream paper with ornate gilt-stamped title, spine with similar designs in gilt and black; back pastedown with binder's ticket of Leighton, Son and Hodge. All edges gilt.
Provenance: Front free endpaper with inked inscription reading “To Elizabeth Watson Travis from F.H. Leedham — With pleasant memories and happy anticipations,” dated 1867. Later in the library of Hubert Dingwall, as part of his collection of publishers' cloth bindings, the endpaper notes noted below being his.
Ray, Illustrator and the Book in England, 155; McLean, Victorian Publishers' Book-bindings in Cloth and Leather, 108; King, Victorian Decorated Trade Bindings (1830-1880), 703; for firm binding attribution to Warren, we thank Dr. Graham Dry. Binding as above; blue of spine slightly sunned but designs bright, with corners rubbed and joints and extremities lightly so. Front free endpaper recto with inscription as above, verso with pencilled purchase and bibliographical notes. Intermittent light foxing, pages otherwise clean.
Worthwhile reading, remarkable illustrations, gorgeously composed binding — a triple threat! (37852)
Sumptuously Bound
First American Edition
of Irving's FIRST HISTORICAL Work
Irving, Washington. A history of the life and voyages of Christopher Columbus. New York: G. & C. Carvill, 1828. 8vo (22 cm; 8.625"). 3 vols. I: xvi, 399 pp., 1 folded map. II: viii, [1], 10–367. III: viii, [1], 14–419, [1] pp.
$850.00
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First American edition of Irving's somewhat fanciful yet readable work on Christopher Columbus. Irving notes in the preface “the sight of disjointed papers and official documents is apt to be repulsive to the general reader” so he has decided to create a narrative rather than simply translate pertinent documents related to Columbus as originally asked. This edition comes with a
large folding map of Columbus' route through the Bahama Islands.
Binding: Gorgeous 19th-century acid-stained autumnal binding: Covers framed with a gilt floral roll and brilliantly crossed with bands of walnut brown, ochre, deep green, russet red, black, and grey, all
very bright. Spines gilt extra with compartment devices and multiple interesting rolls, and bearing black leather gilt labels; board edges touched at corners with gilt; marbled endpapers.
Provenance: Signature of Sam Baird on front endpaper and title-page of vol. I and half-title of vol. II.
As described in the BAL, signature sign 6 is not present on p. 41 in vol. I and the last page of vol. III is unnumbered.
BAL 10124. Bound as above, bindings moderately rubbed with one sliver of leather lost at a joint and a small patch lost near the bottom of one back cover. Age-toning, foxing, and some other spotting; some corners creased (some corners improperly trimmed during manufacture. Inscriptions as above, light pencilling on endpapers of one volume; map wrinkled with some old light staining and a tear repaired some time ago from back, with cloth tape — folds strong.
A classic semi-historical work most strikingly bound. (36170)

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)
Irving's
Tales of
New
York, Paris,
Granada,
Etc.
Irving,
Washington. Wolfert's roost and other
papers, now first collected. New York: G.P. Putnam & Co., 1855. 12mo
(19.3 cm, 7.6"). Frontis., add. engr. t.-p., [2], [7]–383, [1], 12 (adv.)
pp.
$200.00
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the images for enlargement.
First U.S. edition, later printing (with publisher's address of 10 Park Place), in the
binding described by BAL; delightfully entertaining tales from a beloved author, collected from
their appearances in various periodicals. The frontispiece was done by Darley and the added
wood-engraved title-page by J.W. Orr.
Provenance:
Front pastedown with bookplates of prominent Philadelphia collector
Robert R. Dearden and Philip Justice Steinmetz, an Episcopal clergyman; the
latter design shows a view of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Elkins Park,
PA, of which Dr. Steinmetz was the pastor.
BAL 10188. Publisher's slate-green cloth, covers with blind-stamped rococo frame, front cover with gilt-stamped scenic vignette, spine with gilt-stamped
author/title and embossed decorations; binding very slightly cocked, extremities rubbed, cloth
somewhat faded overall. Front pastedown with bookplates as above and with affixed slip of old
cataloguing. Frontispiece and added title-page with margins lightly stained; pages faintly age-toned, otherwise clean. (29557)

LEC: A Southern Californian Landmark
Jackson, Helen Hunt. Ramona. Los Angeles: Printed for the members of The Limited Editions Club at The Plantin Press, 1959. 8vo. xiv, [6], 428, [2] pp.; illus.
$125.00
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Helen Hunt Jackson avowedly wrote Ramona, set during the Spanish missions period of California, to do for the American Indian what Uncle Tom's Cabin had done for the African-American The novel appeared as a book in 1884, five years after she heard an eloquent lecture by two Ponca Indians, Standing Bear and Bright Eyes, on the injustices inflicted upon the Indian at the hands of greedy white settlers. Roused to action, she had written her first book on the subject in 1881, a well-researched work of non-fiction called A Century of Dishonor; but unhappily, neither that one nor this mobilized much support for the rights of the first Americans — although the novel was very, very popular. The introduction here is by J. Frank Dobie who writes, “her chief work lives on, not only in print but in the minds and emotions of people who call for the book in libraries, buy it in stores, read it, and are moved by it. Helen Hunt Jackson's outcries of moral indignation against America's shifty and cruel treatment of Indians still lift human spirits — even though comparatively few people are moved to lift hands against ambitious patriots still trying to get hold of Indian property . . . Her passion against wrong and for right will make her book live a long, long while yet.”
The LEC illustrations consist of 8 full-page and 41 in-text color drawings by Everett Gee Jackson (no relation to the author), who also signed the colophon. Saul Marks designed the book, selecting a monotype Bembo font with the chapter titles printed in red ink, and the printing was done by Saul and Lillian Marks at The Plantin Press, Los Angeles.
Binding: In an attractive full woven fabric derived from a striated Native American design, with a colorful paper spine label.
This is numbered copy 972 of 1500 printed; the appropriate LEC newsletter is laid in.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 298. Binding as above in original slipcase, volume spine label slightly darkened, slipcase showing only minimal wear and with a spot or two of darkening to front panel. A very nice copy. (30117)
For more of CALIFORNIA interest, click here.
Jacob, P.L. Les perles. Pièces d'écrin artistique et littéraire. Paris: Veuve Jules Renouard, 1867. Folio (35 cm, 13.75"). Add. engr. t.-p., [2], 81, [1] pp.; 22 plts.
$600.00
Click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.
Scarce, and
undescribed in any major database. Edited and contributed to by the prolific French author Paul Lacroix, best known as “Bibliophile Jacob,” this lovely collection of short stories, poems, and meditations by Lacroix, Balzac, Émile Délerot, Charles Nodier, et al. is illustrated with
22 large steel engravings done by J.C. Armytage, W. Greatbach, J.B. Allen, J.T. Willmore, F. Joubert, and others after designs by artists including Turner, Webster, etc.
Contemporary quarter morocco over paper-covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding lightly rubbed over sides and extremities. Front pastedown with small armorial bookplate. Front free endpaper and first few leaves separated. Occasional faint pencilled vocabulary annotations, in English. Scattered light spots of foxing, with most plates clean and untouched, a few showing some spotting in margins. (15458)
For more BOOKS IN FRENCH, click here.

An English Incunable Leaf — Wynkyn de Worde, 1498
Jacobus de Voragine. Golden legend [single leaf]. [Westmynster: Wynkyn de Worde, 1498]. Chancery folio (27.3 x 19.5 cm; 10.75" x 7.675"). [1] f.
$1650.00
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The collection of saints' lives called the Legenda sanctorum, or Golden Legend (Legenda aurea) — “worth its weight in gold”! — was composed in the 13th century by the Dominican hagiologist Jacobus de Voragine (ca. 1230–98, elected Archbishop of Genoa in 1292), and first printed in Latin at Basle in 1470 with William Caxton printing the first English version in 1483. This is folio ccxlviii of the 1498 London (Westminster) edition
printed by Wynkyn de Worde (a.k.a., Jan van Wynkyn), England's first typographer and successor to Caxton, whose press he formally took over in 1495 after a difficult three years of litigation following Caxton's death.
This leaf of The Golden Legend has on its recto, and continuing on the verso, the final portion of account of the nativity of the Virgin, which recounts episodes from her mature adulthood and
shows the Mother of God as a powerful figure with a powerful sense of what is due her. She promises death within 30 days to a bishop who has removed from office an unsatisfactory priest that she appreciates as specially devoted to her (he is reinstated and the bishop lives); she intercedes in another vision with her “debonayre sone” to reverse the damnation of a “vayne and ryotous” cleric who, on the other hand, has been specially devoted to her and her Hours (he reforms). In a third case, she redeems from the grasp of hell a bishop's vicar who, disappointed of promotion in office, had engaged “a Jewe [who was] a magycyan” to facilitate his signing in his own blood a soul-sacrificing deal with “the devyll” (the vicar repented). The Marian section closes with an account of “Saynt Jherom's” devotion to her. All this is followed on the verso by the beginning of the life of St. Adrian of Nicomedia, who before his conversion to Christianity and subsequent martyrdom was a Herculian Guard of the Roman Emperor Galerius Maximian. He is the patron saint of soldiers, arms dealers, guards, butchers, victims of the plague, and epileptics. The text is printed in double-column format in
English gothic type.
Provenance: From an offering of leaves from this edition of The Golden Legend by the Dauber & Pine Bookshops, New York City, in ca. 1928 .
English incunable leaves are increasingly difficult to obtain.
STC (rev. ed.) 24876; ESTC S103597; Duff 411; Copinger 6475; Goff J-151; ISTC ij00151000. Removed neatly from a bound volume. With a “cover leaf” in approximation
of a title-page, reading “The Golden Legende. J. de Voragine. Printed by Wynkyn de Worde 1498. Dauber & Pine Bookshops, Inc. New York.”
A striking relic recounting multiple miracles and presenting Mary as a most interesting personality. (40744)

A Good Gathering . . .
James, Henry. The complete tales of Henry James. Philadelphia & New York: J.B. Lippincott Company, [copyright 1961–64]. 8vo. 6 vols. I: [6 (2 blank)], 7–430, [2 (blank)] pp. II: [6 (2 blank)], 7–446, [2 (blank)] pp. V: [6 (2 blank)], 7–414, [2 (blank)] pp. VI: [6 (2 blank)], 7–444, [4 (blank)] pp. VII: [6 (2 blank)], 7–462, [2 (blank)] pp. VIII: [6 (2 blank)], 7–504 pp.
$150.00
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6 of 12 volumes, edited and with introductions by Leon Edel. “The first complete edition of the great American novelist's short fiction,” as stated by the publisher. Volume titles are as follows: “Volume one: 1864–1868;” “Volume two: 1868–1872;” “Volume five: 1883–1884;” “Volume six: 1884–1888;” “Volume seven: 1888–1891;” “Volume eight: 1891–1892.”
Publisher's cloth. All near fine, in near fine dust jackets; with only minor wear to edges. Deckle edges, paper tops stained in various colors. (5586)

Bernard & Gordon & Angela
James, Henry. Confidence. Boston: Houghton, Osgood & Co., 1880. 12mo (19.4 cm, 7.6"). [2], [5]–347, [1] pp.
$400.00
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First U.S. edition, in BAL's binding state 1 (with “Houghton, Osgood & Co.” on spine). Although modern criticism considers this novel one of James's more lightweight works, it was quite popular at the time of its publication, and the author chose to include it in the first collection of his works.
We have, at the moment, an interesting number of such “first American editions.” Please, enquire!
BAL 10549; Edel & Laurence, Bibliography of Henry James (3rd. ed.), A11b; Wright, III, 2913. Publisher's terra-cotta cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title; extremities rubbed and cloth with areas of discoloration. Ex–social club library: call number on endpaper, rubber-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Pages with scattered light stains, still a very nice copy. (26637)

1st U.S. Edition — The Europeans
James, Henry. The Europeans. A sketch. Boston: Houghton, Osgood & Co., 1879. 8vo (19.4 cm, 7.6"). [2], 281, [1] pp.
$200.00
First U.S. edition: Two nomadic European siblings travel to Boston to become acquainted with their American cousins.
BAL 10537; Edel & Laurence, Bibliography of Henry James (3rd. ed.), A7b. Publisher's green finely cross-ribbed cloth, covers framed in blind, spine with gilt-stamped title; corners and spine extremities rubbed, sides with small spots of discoloration, spine darkened with lighter, rubbed patch under title. Ex–social club library; 19th-century call-number inked to a front blank and rubber-stamp to title-page, no other markings. (26569)
We have, at the moment, an interesting number of such “first American editions.”
Please, enquire!

“The Blackest of All Nursery Tales,
the Most Terrifying of All Ghost Stories,
the Most Pathetic of All the Chronicles of Damnation”
James, Henry; Mariette Lydis, illus. The turn of the screw. Los Angeles: Printed for the members of the Limited Editions Club at the Plantin Press, 1949. 8vo (29.4 cm, 11.57"). xii, [4], 145, [3] pp.; 12 plts.
[SOLD]
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First edition of the Limited Editions Club production of James's “sinister romance,” a psychologically tense ghost story that has served as source material for numerous adaptations in formats including radio, film, opera, ballet, and television. The novella appears here in a volume designed by Saul Marks, typeset in Bembo by Lillian Marks, and printed by the two at the Plantin Press, with an introduction by Carl Van Doren and
twelve suitably spooky “gravure-brown” illustrations by Mariette Lydis.
This is numbered copy 1157 of 1500 printed, with the appropriate LEC newsletter laid in; unlike many LEC editions, this one was issued unsigned, as
the mysterious artist had vanished into parts unknown by the time of publication!
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 199. Publisher's tan buckram, front cover and spine stamped in brown and gilt; spine showing a little rubbing and darkening. Slipcase lacking. A solid, pleasing copy. (41183)

San Antonio of the Gardens, The Flower of Death, The Legend of Padre José . . .
Janvier, Thomas Allibone. Stories of old New Spain. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1898. 8vo. Frontis., 326, [10 (adv.)] pp.
$40.00
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Early reprint of these Mexican-themed stories, originally issued as no. 71 from Appleton's Town and Country Library.Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplate of Arthur K. Brewer.
BAL 10842 (first ed. only). Publisher's cloth, front cover stamped in black and red, spine stamped in black and gilt, with very minor rubbing to extremities. Front pastedown with bookplate.
An excellent, attractive copy of a very attractive little production. (13540)

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)

TWO 18th-Century English Verse Poems about
HEALTH
& the Maintenance Thereof
Joannes, de Mediolano; William Combe, trans. The
oeconomy of health. [London]: Sold by Mr. Almond, & Messrs. Becket & De Hondt, & Mr. Newbery, [1776? 1780?]. 8vo (18.4 cm, 7.25"). Engr. t.-p. (incl. in pagination), xv, [3], 56 pp. [bound with] Armstrong, John. The art of preserving health: A poem. London: T. Davies, 1774. 8vo. [4], 96 pp.
[SOLD]
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First edition: William Combe's
rhymed, English-language rendition of the Regimen sanitatis salernitanum, a medieval treatise on diet, exercise, hygiene, etc. long held to have been compiled at the ancient and venerable Schola Salernitana. A vignette on the
emblematic engraved title-page attributed to Delotte, after Cosway, shows Joannes, the alleged author — also known as John of Milan — gesturing towards a life-giving fountain with his manuscript in hand, as described in a note on preliminary p. v; while dedicatee Prince Robert of Normandy looks on rather dubiously with his arms crossed, perhaps partly in protection of the wounded one, and with his body inclined away from the author! At right a man at arms guards his armor, holding a palm frond representing the successful crusade in which it was worn; and in the
background is a small temple wherein stands Asclepius with his snake-entwined rod.
Although Wellcome gives 1776 for the date of publication, ESTC suggests 1780.
The second, similarly themed work — which closes with
a section praising music as beneficial to health — here includes its half-title, which notes this is “a new edition,” following the first of 1744. The author was a Scottish-born physician who published a number of poems, essays, and other pieces, including the scandalously explicit The Oeconomy of Love.
Joannes: ESTC T135836; Roscoe A389; Wellcome, IV, p. 494. Armstrong: ESTC T59726; Foxon A297 (for first ed.). Later half reddish-brown calf and chestnut cloth, spine with raised bands, gilt-stamped title, and gilt-stamped compartment fleurons; minor wear overall, boards carefully and unobtrusively reattached with new endpapers. First few leaves with edges chipped, a little staining, and one corner taken (away from text); otherwise the gently age-toned pages are clean with only one or two minor exceptions.
A pleasing pairing, of interest to scholars of both medicine and poetry. (39529)

One of the
First Two Books Printed at ETON
John, Mauropus, Metropolitan of Euchaita (active 11th century). Joannis Metropolitani Euchaitensis versus iambici in principalium festorum pictas in tabulis historias atq[ue] alia varia compositi. Etonae: In Collegio Regali, excudebat [M. Bradwood for] Ioannes Norton, in Gr[a]ecis, &c. regius typographus, 1610. 4to (22.8 cm; 9"). [4] ff., 73, [1] pp., [4] ff.
$3500.00
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One of the first two books printed at Eton, both in Greek and both printed in 1610. The Byzantine poetry here is from the pen of John, Mauropus, an 11th-century teacher, hymnographer, orator, Byzantine Greek poet, and correspondent of scholars.
This, the editio princeps, was edited by and has the notes of Matthew Bust (1543 or 1544–1613), Fellow of Eton College and father of his namesake who was Master of Eton (1611–30). The prefatory matter and notes are printed in Latin in italics and the main text is in a large greek face; the actual printer's name is from STC.
Searches of STC, WorldCat, and ESTC locate many copies in Britain and even Europe, but only five in U.S. libraries.
Provenance: 18th-century ownership inscription at top of title-page: “Petri Bonifantii.” Most recently in the collection of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
An amazing early English schoolbook!
STC (rev.) 14622; ESTC S103427. 20th-century quarter red morocco with red cloth sides. Light age-toning and some stray ink spots. In fact, very good. (37309)

Signed Binding on a
Reward Volume from a Teacher
Johnny and Maggie, and other stories. Boston: Crosby, Nichols, & Co., [1852–60?]. 16mo (15.3 cm; 6"). 48, 14 pp. (publisher's catalogue).
$42.50
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From the Young People's Library series. An endearing collection of children's stories accompanied by
five full-page wood engravings (including title-page and frontispiece), in addition to smaller ornamental illustrations. The stories include “Johnny and Maggie” (two dolls), “The Coffee Pot and the Milk Pitcher,” and “M. Du Pratz and the Beavers.”Binding: Signed “Liebherre, GRA.” Midnight blue or purple cloth with blind-stamped boards and richly gilt-stamped spine.
Provenance: On front free endpaper, “Present to Albert Loomis by N.L. Tilden, Teacher.”
Sternick, Bibliography of 19th-century children's series books: 1291. Binding as above, minor rubbing of spine foot and crown, gilt very bright. Calligraphic inscription and ownership stamp to front endpapers; light foxing throughout.
Very good. (37749)

In Search of Well-Reasoned Happiness — Illustrated
Johnson, Samuel. The history of Rasselas, prince of Abyssinia. A tale. London: Pr. by C. Whittingham for F. and C. Rivington et al., 1801. 8vo (16.5 cm, 6.5"). Frontis., viii, 192 pp.; 5 plts.
[SOLD]
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Originally published in 1759, this exotically set work from Dr. Johnson describes the adventures of the young prince Rasselas, who escapes the utopian life of the “happy valley” along with his sister, Nekayah; her servant, Pekuah; and Imlac, “a man of learning.” Together they travel through Egypt, searching for the “choice of life.”
This edition, attractively printed by Whittingham, is
illustrated with a total of six plates, including the stipple-engraved frontispiece portrait of the author. One of the story-related plates was copper-engraved after T. Kirk by C. Rivers, and the rest by Rothwell.
Provenance: Title-page with early inked inscription of Richard Lee; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
NSTC J780. Contemporary mottled calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-ruled compartments, and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments; spine with small cracks and head chipped, binding with light rubbing all over, more pronounced to joints and edges. Light offsetting to title-page from frontispiece. Pages age-toned, some plates with margins darkened; two corners dog-eared.
A pleasing early 19th-century example of this classic 18th-century text. (41040)

“The Last Augustan” According to
T.S.E.
Johnson, Samuel. London: a poem and The vanity of human wishes ... with an introductory essay by T.S. Eliot. London: Frederick Etchells & Hugh MacDonald, 1930. Folio (35.2 cm, 13.8"). 44, [2] pp.
$200.00
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Limited edition: Johnson's enduring verse satires, here with an interesting foreword by Eliot. The volume was printed at the Chiswick Press as part of the Haslewood Books series.
This is
numbered copy 262 of 450 printed.
Olive cloth–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; spine and board edges sunned, extremities slightly rubbed, lower front board edge with small dent. Front pastedown with bookplate of one of Harvard's undergraduate houses (with small deaccession stamp); title-page with pressure-stamp from the same house, with deaccession stamp on the reverse. Pages gently age-toned. Clean. (33613)

Early 18th-Century Jonson Collection — At End, a Most
AMBITIOUS Catalogue
Jonson, Ben. [The three celebrated plays of that excellent poet Ben Johnson]. London: Pr. for J. Walthoe, G. Conyers, J. Knapton, et al., 1732. 12mo (16.8 cm, 6.6"). Frontis., 96, 96, 100, 35, [1] pp., without the general title-page.
$800.00
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Volpone, The Alchemist, and Epicoene: Or, the Silent Woman: Three of Jonson's most popular and enduring comedies, happily followed by “A True and Exact Catalogue of All the Plays and Other Dramatick Pieces, That Were Ever Yet Printed in the English Tongue, in Alphabetical Order.” The plays were also issued separately; and while the title-page giving “The Three Celebrated Plays of That Excellent Poet Ben Jonson,” published by W. Feales, is not present here, the presence of
the Volpone plate (engraved by Jan Van der Gucht) and several pagination errata seem to indicate that this is indeed Feales's omnibus edition.
Provenance: Front pastedown with armorial bookplate (a crowned lion rampant, billetty) labelled “A.C.J.L.”
Binding: Contemporary speckled calf framed and panelled in blind with roll-bordered panel in plain calf, blind-tooled corner fleurons.
ESTC T79993. Binding as above, rebacked some time ago with mottled calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt floral decorations in compartments; upper corners refurbished, edges and extremities rubbed, hinges (inside) cracked, volume holding. A copy without the general title-page, and with bookplate as above. First and last few leaves (including frontispiece) with offsetting to margins from pastedowns; back free endpaper with a corner torn away; pages age-toned, with some instances of mild foxing.
A nice 18th-century look at Jonson, with the bonus of the contemporary theatrical catalogue. (35449)

Spanish Statecraft — First English Appearance
Juan de Santa María, fray. Christian policie: Or, the Christian common-wealth. London: Pr. by Thomas Harper for Richard Collins, 1632. 4to (22 cm, 8.6"). [18 of 19 (lacks blank {only})], 481, [1] pp.
$2850.00
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Uncommon first edition of this English translation of Fray Juan de Santa María's Tratado de República y policía christiana, published in 1615. A Christian perspective on the powers and responsibilities of monarchs, the work was inspired by the Franciscan author's opposition to the government of the Duke of Lerma. The English rendition was often assigned to Edward Blount (who signed the dedication), but is now generally considered the work of
scholar and poet James Mabbe, known for his translations of Cervantes and other works of Spanish literature and theology.
The title-page here is a cancel, changing the publisher from Edward Blount to Richard Collins. The work was additionally issued in the same year with yet another title-page, under the title, Policy Unveiled: Wherein may be Learned the Order of True Policie in Kingdomes and Commonwealths, the Matters of Justice, and Government. . . .
Uncommon: ESTC, OCLC, and NUC Pre-1956 find only 9 U.S. holdings.
ESTC S107911; STC (2nd ed.) 14831. Period-style calf framed and panelled in gilt fillets with gilt-stamped corner fleurons; spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels. Lacks initial blank leaf, as is the case with virtually all copies. Two leaves with tattered outer edges, one leaf with small hole affecting a few letters; pages with some moderate offsetting, a few browned. (25084)

Editio Princeps Estienne Printing
Justin, Martyr, Saint. [in Greek, romanized as] Tou hagiou Ioustinou philosophou kai martyros, Zēna kai Serēnō, Logos parainetikos pros HellēEx Officina Roberti Stephani nas. Pros Tryphōna Ioudaion dialogos. Apologia hyper Christianōn pros tēn Rhōmaiōn sygklēton [etc., i.e., Opera omnia] ... ex Bibliotheca Regia. Lutetiae: ex officina Roberti Stephani typographi Regii, Regiis typis, 1551. Median folio (34.5 cm, 13.5"). [4] ff., 311, [1] pp., [2] ff.
$2000.00
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The editio princeps, printed using the first font of the “grecs du roi” (i.e., Claude Garamond's “gros-romain” font of the “grecs du roi,” as per Mortimer), and based on the manuscripts in the French Royal Library. Schreiber notes that its publication resulted in a “sensation . . . among the learned [that was] still remembered . . . over 40 years later” by Henri Estienne and noted in the preface to his edition in 1592 of Pseudo-Justinus.
Adding to the wonderful Greek typography, Robert Estienne has enhanced his text with gorgeous woodcut foliated and grotesque Greek initials and harmonious headpieces. “The edition was complete and published by Charles Esteinne after Robert's final departure for Geneva” (Schreiber).
Provenance: 18th-century bookplate of Beilby Thompson of Eserick (1742–99 ), who may famously be remembered for having gradually bought up and relocated the village of Eserick to move it away from his house. Later in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Binding: 18th-century calf in a modified Cambridge-style binding. The covers' central panels, stained black and outlined in a filigree roll, are surrounded by a wide frame of tan calf; beyond that, at the boards' edges, is a 1.5" outer border of sprinkled calf. Blind-tooled rules and beading articulate the intersections, with black(?)-stamped devices accenting the tan compartments' corners, in the speckled section, and with the chains connecting those devices to the innermost panel being also (sometimes?) blackened. The round spine has raised bands accented by gilt rules above and below each band, and a gilt-stamped label with the author's name abbreviated.
Renouard, Estienne, 79/2; Adams J494; Hoffmann, Bibliographisches Lexicon der gesamten Literatur der Griechen, II, 502–503, & 648; Shaaber, Sixteenth-century Imprints, J111; Armstrong 138, 222; Mortimer, French, II, 335; Schreiber, Estienne, 107. Bound as above, front board recently expertly reattached; endpapers chipped and front one with upper outer corner torn away.
A very nice, very wide-margined copy. (40074)

A Present for the Students of “the English Mezzofanti”
Juvenal, & Persius. Decii Junii Juvenalis aquinatis satirae decem et sex[.] Auli Persii Flacci satirae sex. Londini: [colophon: Excudebat Carolus Whittingham], 1845. 4to (28.3 cm, 11.125"). [99] ff.
[SOLD]
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Satirical poems from Juvenal and Persius, here edited by Edward Craven Hawtrey (1789–1862), a language lover known as the “the English Mezzofanti.” Also an Eton headmaster responsible for a number of reforms, including the addition of mathematics to the curriculum, Hawtrey had this printed for giving to his students as a leaving book, and each page of text is neatly printed in black with a red decorative border surrounding it.
Binding: 19th-century polished calf, spine with blue leather title-label and compartments elaborately stamped in gilt with small oval medallions surrounded by arabesque and foliate designs, covers framed in gilt double fillets and floral roll with daisy stamps at corners; board edges and turn-ins with gilt rolls, French curl marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Front endpaper with small rubber-stamp noting: “Bound by Rivière.”Provenance: Printed presentation leaf at front inscribed to “Harford” with two inked dashes through a printed date of 1841; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
On Hawtrey, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Binding as above, rubbed and scraped with leather loss and some spotting; front hinge (inside) starting, boards firmly attached. Dust-soiling of varying degrees along top edges with the occasional spot; moderate foxing to first and last few leaves, two leaves with offsetting from ribbon placemarker that is still present. Presentation inscription and booklabel as above. (38839)

In Latin, Printed at The Hague
(English English ENGLISH PROVENANCE)
Juvenalis, Decimus Junius, & Aulus Persius Flaccus. D. Iun. Iuvenalis et Auli Persii Flacci Satyrae. Hagae Comitum: Apud Arnoldum Leers, 1683. 12mo (14 cm, 5.5"). 189, [1 (blank)] pp.
$550.00
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These classic Classical satires are here offered with commentary by Thomas Farnaby (c.1575–1647), and they consitute
apparently the first printing at The Hague of any Latin Classic(s) in their original Latin.
Juvenal was a Roman poet of the early second century A.D. His Satires are a standard of the genre, eloquent, humorous, and rhetorically
polished, but revealing a very bitter man. Persius (a.d. 34–62), was a gentler soul than Juvenal, and his poems are more Stoic
sermons than satires, preaching a moral life during one of Rome's more corrupt periods and doing so, most remarkably, without a hint of self-righteousness.
The two Satyrae are often published together, in contrast and comparison.
This is the first printing at the Hague of this edition with Farnaby's notes,
originally printed at London in 1612 and then reprinted in Amsterdam in 1630.
The emblematic engraved title-page here was done by A. de Blois; the separate
title-page for Persius bears the printer's device.
Provenance: Front fly-leaf
with three generations of early, dated, inked ownership inscriptions: Thomas
Mansell, first Baron Mansel (1684); Robert Mansel (sic, 1712); and
Thomas Mansell (1730–31).
Brunet, III, 631; Graesse, III, 520; Morgan, Bibliography
of Persius, 298; Schweiger, I, 511. Recent marbled paper–covered
boards, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Front fly-leaf darkened
and engraved title a littlevery little tattered at edges, the first with inscriptions
“stacked” as above and the second with old repair. Pages gently
age-toned and generally clean, with all edges red. (25952)

THREE Satirists / One Elegant Printing
Juvenalis, Decimus Junius; Aulus Persius Flaccus; & Sulpicia; Heinrich Christian von Hennin, ed. D. Junii Juvenalis Aquinatis satyrae [with] Auli Persii Flacci satyrarum liber [and] Sulpiciae satyra. Mannhemii: Societatis literatae, 1780–81. 8vo (16.5 cm, 6.5"). [4], 178, [181]–251, [1] pp.
$100.00
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Juvenal's bitterly eloquent pieces are often published with and set in contrast to Persius's gentler, more Stoic-inspired poems, with both authors' Satyrae being standards of the genre. In this Mannheim edition from the Societatis literatae, Juvenal's work has been edited by Heinrich Christian de Hennin and appears with
a title-page featuring an engraved portrait of Nero done by Egid Verhelst. Persius's, with a separate title-page, was edited by Isaac Casaubon and is paginated continuously from the Juvenal, although dated 1780 as opposed to the 1781 of the first set. ne of Sulpicia's surviving pieces follows, along with synopses and notes.Provenance: Front free endpaper with inked inscription “P[v?]. Beroldingen 1782.”
Schweiger, II, 513; VD18 10208364. Contemporary tan sheep, covers framed in blind fillets, spine with raised bands, gilt-ruled compartments, and gilt-stamped leather title-label; binding moderately worn overall, slightly sprung, spine darkened with spine leather showing cracks. All edges stained red. Pp. 179/80 (between end of Juvenal and title-page of Persius, presumably a blank) not bound in here; back pastedown showing apparent bleed-through from early inked annotations on a leaf or laid-in page no longer present. Pages very lightly cockled and some ten pages with old light waterstaining to central portions of leaves; two of these pages with a few letters obscured from paper their having been adhered one to the other, two other pages still partially adhered.
Withal an attractive, nice copy. (41377)

BANYAN PRESS: Meditations on Impermanence
Kamo, Chomei; Donald Keene, trans. An account of my hut. Pawlet, VT: The Banyan Press, 1976. 8vo (26.5 cm, 10.4"). [30] pp.
$500.00
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One of the great classical Japanese essays: Kamo no Chōmei's Hōjōki, translated into English by Donald Keene and here in an elegantly minimalist fine press limited edition from Claude Fredericks of the Banyan Press.
Some describe the work as “the Walden Pond of medieval Japan.” This is the
first book-form edition of the translation, following its original appearance in Keene's Anthology of Japanese Literature; three hundred copies were set by hand in Garamond and printed on Masa paper by Fredericks and David Beeken.
Original hand-stitched wrappers resembling bamboo grain, with paper label on front wrapper, in paper overlay matching the endpapers; outer overlay with minor edge wear and with small annotation (possibly from publisher) on label. A lovely and uncommon production. (35979)

“Our English Children's Ways to Show” — Via Chromolithographs
[Keary, Eliza]; John George Sowerby & Thomas Crane, illus. At home. London: Marcus Ward & Co., [ca. 1881]. 4to (22 cm, 8.66"). 56 pp.; col. illus.
$195.00
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A volume of illustrated poetry for children, described as “among the loveliest books ever produced” (Roger Dixon, “The Splendid Press of Messrs Marcus Ward & Company”). Sowerby's color-printed illustrations are framed by Crane's decorative motifs, all accompanying delightful verses written by Eliza Keary (1827–1918). Keary went uncredited here — and indeed under-appreciated in her day, having all but stopped writing for adult readers following a four-sentence dismissal of her work by The Athenaeum in 1874. In the present book, her poems about childish activities (including fishing, gathering flowers, and hosting tea parties) make a perfect complement to the Greenaway-esque art.
Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplate of Margaret Heydon Folger.
Osborne Collection, p. 50; Opie PP 190. Publisher's brightly color-printed paper–covered sides with green cloth shelfback; spine and edges rubbed, hinges (inside) tender, paper split along gutters and sewing starting to loosen, ready for ongoing comfortable handling if care is used. Pages very slightly age-toned with a handful of spots of foxing, overall clean.
An outstanding Victorian children's production. (40823)
Keate, George. Netley Abbey. An elegy...the second edition, corrected and enlarged. London: J. Dodsley, 1769. 4to ( 26.4 cm, 10.4"). 31, [1 (blank)] pp. (lacking the half-title).
$250.00
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Originally published in 1764 under the title Ruins of Netley Abbey (and a different item from the anonymously printed Ruins of Netley Abbey of 1765), this poem features an engraved vignette of the titular ruins, done by C. Grignion, on the title-page; also present is a brief history of the abbey. ESTC T75210. Marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. Half-title lacking. Upper margin of title-page showing small abrasions and traces of affixed paper; title-page and several others stamped by a now-defunct institution.

“Moods of One's Mind! You Know I Hate Them Well . . . ”
Keats, John. Dear Reynolds, as last night I lay in bed. New Rochelle, NY: James L. Weil, June 1991. 4to (26.1 cm, 10.25"). 9, [2] pp.
$135.00
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This insomniac sonnet by John Keats (1795–1821) is addressed to his friend John Hamilton Reynolds (1794–1852), a lesser but still notable light among England's Romantic poets. Keats sent him the verses with a letter dated 25 March 1818, at Teignmouth, Devon, England, where he spent a few weeks and completed the epic poem Endymion.This limited edition keepsake pamphlet is one of 50 printed by Martino Mardersteig at the
Officina Bodoni, handset using a variant of Dante type on Magnani handmade paper.
On the poem, see: Milnes, ed., Life, Letters, and Literary Remains, of John Keats, pp. 83–86. Stitched in gray paper wrappers with author and title printed in black on front cover.
Fine. (30803)

Fairies, Medieval Ladies, & Ancient Greeks
24 Color-Printed Plates by Averil Burleigh
A Sangorski & Sutcliffe Binding
Keats, John; Averil Burleigh, illus. The poems of John Keats. London: Chapman & Hall, [1912]. 8vo (19.4 cm, 7.63"). viii, 360 pp.; 24 col. plts.
$200.00
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From the “Burlington Library” series: Keats, here with
the first appearance of the 24 illustrations done by Averil Burleigh, color-printed in dusky, twilight shades. The fairy tale–style images incorporate Pre-Raphaelite and Art Nouveau influences, and include
Burleigh's take on the pot of basil so beloved by the Pre-Raphaelites, as well as a stunning Belle Dame Sans Merci.
This is the first edition. While some sources offer 1910 or 1911 as the publication date, our suggested date is based on announcements in contemporary publications including The Dialand The Independent; another such notification, in The Bookseller, Newsdealer & Stationer (vol. XXXVII, 1912), lauds the “pictures of graceful imagery, of subtle, tender sentiment, charming alike in color and presentment from the brush of Averil Burleigh.”
Binding: Signed binding by Sangorski & Sutcliffe (rubber-stamped on front free endpaper): green calf, covers framed in gilt double fillets with small gilt-tooled corner fleurons, spine gilt extra, edges with gilt fillets, turn-ins with gilt roll. All edges gilt; iridescent green marbled endpapers.
Provenance: From the library of Robert L. Sadoff, M.D., sans indicia.
Binding as above, somewhat rubbed; front pastedown with two small traces of paper adhesion. Occasional mild to moderate foxing, largely confined to margins, with pages mostly clean overall.
Gorgeous plates. (41210)

A Gift Book for
Women of “Elevated Character”
Keese, John, ed. The opal: A pure gift for the holy days. New York: J.C. Riker, [1846]. 8vo (20.4 cm, 8"). 304 pp.; 8 engr. plts., without the added engr. title-page.
$100.00
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Collection of Christian-themed short stories, poems, and readings, most of which counsel the womanly virtues of patience, submission, and self-control. This volume, the third to appear in the Opal series, is illustrated with mezzotints by J.G. Chapman; all eight of the plates described in the list of illustrations are present, but not the added engraved title-page.
Includes two poems by Whittier: “My soul and I” and “The wife of Manoah to her husband.”
Binding: Publisher’s textured brown calf, covers with blind-stamped frame of foliate design; front cover suitably gilt-stamped with central vignette of
Jesus and the woman at the well, back cover centrally gilt-stamped with a weary-looking woman harvesting grain (Ruth?). Spine gilt-stamped with foliate (ivy?) design and ornate title; all edges gilt.
Provenance: 19th-century stencilled ownership name of H. Amelia St John (Purdy) (1838–1925) of Yates County, NY.
Faxon 622; Thompson 145; Tepper, American Gift Books & Literary Annuals. (Second edition), 167. Binding as above, gilt designs moderately rubbed, edges and corners worn, spine faded and head of spine pulled. Front free endpaper clipped to remove inscription; ownership stencil to front fly-leaf. Some pages with soiling, light foxing, or brown stains.
Mezzotints well accomplished and several quite lovely. (37280)

Kelmscott Press: Posthumous William Morris Work
Burne-Jones Frontispiece
(Kelmscott Press). Ellis, Frederick Startridge, ed. Syr Ysambrace. Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1897. 8vo (21.1 cm, 8.3"). [4], 41, [1] pp.
[SOLD]
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Kelmscott Press first edition: This stunning, “long-expected” production from William Morris, finished in the year following his death, was described by a contemporary reviewer (in a clipping laid into this copy) as “something very like a voice from the dead.”
Printed in an edition of 350 copies on paper (with an additional eight on vellum), this Middle English tale of the woes of Sir Isumbras serves as a perfect subject for the unmistakable Kelmscott borders, decorative capitals, and gothic type, as well as the
wood-engraved frontispiece done by William Hooper after a design by Edward Burne-Jones. The text was “edited by F.S. Ellis after the edition printed by J.O. Halliwell from the MS. in the Library of Lincoln Cathedral, with a few corrections” according to the colophon.
Peterson, Kelmscott Press, A48. Original blue paper–covered boards with linen backing, showing almost no wear. Small, neatly pencilled ownership inscription in upper outer
corner of front flyleaf, dated '97; printed clipping regarding publication laid in. Pages very clean and fresh.
A desirable copy of a beautiful production. (41191)

The Last Romance Written by William Morris
Edited by May Morris
(Kelmscott Press). Morris, William. The sundering flood. Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1897 [i.e., 1898]. 8vo (21 cm, 8.26"). [2], 507, [1] pp.
$3000.00
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First edition of this groundbreaking medieval-inspired fantasy, partially dictated by Morris on his deathbed and published following his death. As noted by the colophon, the manuscript was
edited by the author's daughter May Morris — herself an accomplished artist and designer — and printed at the Kelmscott Press. Ornamented with one full and several partial woodcut borders as well as numerous decorative capitals, the text is set in the Chaucer type with chapter headers and shouldernotes printed in red.
Like many of the modern fantasy novels to follow it, this volume opens with
a map of the imaginary land in which the action is set, in this case drawn by H. Cribb and engraved by Walker & Boutall to serve as front pastedown.
Peterson, Kelmscott Press, A51. Original blue paper–covered boards with linen shelfback, spine with printed paper label; lower outer corners a little bumped, spine label with minor rubbing over sewing band, a few small spots of very minor discoloration. Offsetting to outer portions of front pastedown front free endpaper, and front fly-leaf, not reaching other front blanks or half-title; lighter offsetting to rear endpapers. Front free endpaper with small pencilled initials (F.S.?), dated 1898.
Pages throughout very crisp and clean, a handsome copy. (41193)

Kerouac before He Was
“Jack”
Kerouac, Jack [but writing as “John”]. The Town & the City. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., (1950). 8vo (20.5 cm; 8"). [3] ff., 499, [1] pp.
$1150.00
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First edition of Kerouac's first book. An advance review copy, this distinction being printed on its wrapper; there apparently was no distributed “proof copy” for it.
A fictionalized account of the author's life and family and friends, the novel is somewhat conventional but contains the seeds and hints of things that will mature, expand, and dominate in his later writings.
Charters A1a for the first edition, first issue; Charters notes the existence of advance reading copies, but does not give them a separate entry, nor speculate about the number bound as here. Publisher's printed salmon paper wrappers, rear cover with a slim crease to paper (in production?); a fresh, unworn copy. Cryptic pencilled characters (totalling 13) on endpapers and rear endpaper with one very short tear. Housed in a quarter green morocco clamshell box. (34815)

Standard Bibliography — Nonesuch First Edition
Keynes, Geoffrey. Bibliography of William Hazlitt. London: Pr. for the Nonesuch Press, 1931. 8vo (22.7 cm, 8.9"). Frontis., xix, 135, [3] pp.; 32 plts.(1 fold.).
$145.00
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First edition of this authoritative reference work on the essayist and literary critic, written by the great British surgeon who pioneered blood transfusions and a rational approach to breast cancer. He was also a noted book collector, bibliographer of Blake, brother of the economist Maynard Keynes, and the man who saved Virginia Woolf's life following her first (i.e., 1913) suicide attempt. The volume is illustrated with reproductions of many of Hazlitt's first edition title-pages, as well as a portrait and a folding facsimile of one of Hazlitt's letters.
This is
numbered copy 298 of 750 printed by R. & R. Clark in Edinburgh for the Nonesuch Press, with the four collotype illustrations printed by the Chiswick Press.
Provenance: Front pastedown with calligraphic bookplate of Norman J. Sondheim, American collector of fine press books.
Dreyfus, History of the Nonesuch Press, 75. Publisher's quarter blue-grey paper with taupe paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label, in original dust wrapper with black-stamped spine label; binding very slightly cocked with corners rubbed; wrapper sunned with edge chips and short tears, and interior tape reinforcements to two tears at spine and one at back fold. Offsetting from jacket flaps to endpapers; front pastedown with previous owner's pencilled annotations. A clean, solid, and
quite pleasant copy. (33868)

In Search of a Spanish Barber's Basin
King, Clarence. The helmet of Mambrino. San Francisco: The Book Club of California, 1938. 12mo (20.3 cm, 8"). xx, [2], 21, [3] pp.
$100.00
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Originally composed as a letter to King's friend, the “Bachelor of San Francisco,” and first published in Century Magazine in 1886,
this delightful tale was inspired by Cervantes and his account of Don Quixote's encounter with the legendary helmet of the Moorish king; Francis P. Farquhar
introduces it here. The present example is
one
of 350 copies printed at the University of California Press for the Book Club
of California. Prior to this edition, the story — which
opens with a recollection of an encounter in San Francisco — had only
appeared in book form once before, in 1904.
Provenance: Front free endpaper
with inked gift inscription from historian Carl Wheat, author of Mapping
of the Trans-Mississippi West, to Joe Blumenthal (of Spiral Press fame),
a “fellow member of WOOFFB.”
Publisher's quarter vellum and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped author/title; minimal shelfwear to
outer corners. A fresh, clean copy with an interesting inscription.
(30622)

Hypatia, in Disguise?
Kingsley, Charles. Hypatia or new foes with an old face. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1897. 8vo (18.7 cm, 7.36"). Frontis., [2], xvi, 477, [1] pp.; 4 plts.
[SOLD]
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Kingsley's best-selling tale of fifth-century religious and philosophical conflict canvassed via
the extraordinary career and sensational murder of Hypatia, a renowned and revered female philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician in ancient Hellene Alexandria.
It is illustrated with a frontispiece and four plates done by Edmund H. Garrett.
Binding: This is an intriguing example of this novel of ideas, in that the usual thematically appropriate binding has been replaced by an unrelated, innocuous color-printed scene of a cottage by a lake on a background with a repeating design of daisies, embellished with raised cornflowers (unsigned) — perhaps intended for ladies of delicate sensibilities who didn't want to be seen in public reading this controversial novel!
Provenance: On front free endpaper, two ownership stamps of Sarah E. Lembeck.
Publisher's printed paper–covered boards with pattern of daisies in white and gilt, front cover with illustration as above, robin's egg blue cloth shelfback gilt extra; very minor dust-soiling to light portion of cover illustration, traces of wear to corners and lower edges. Title-page with one tiny edge tear; pages clean. (37535)

A German
ROMANTIC Who Committed SUICIDE
Kleist, Heinrich von. Heinrich von Kleists hinterlassene Schriften, herausgegeben von L. Tieck. Berlin: Gedruckt und verlegt bei G. Reimer, 1821. 8vo (19.5 cm; 7.75"). lxxviii, 290 pp.
$1000.00
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Posthumous publication for the first time of a selection of Kleist's plays and poetry (he committed suicide in 1811). Tieck, the editor, present here “Prinz Friedrich von Homburg,” “Die Herrmannsschlacht,” “Fragment aus dem Trauerspiel Robert Guiskard,” and several poems.
Kleist's life was a troubled one financially, psychologically, and creatively. The Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th ed.) characterizes him as “by far the most important North German dramatist of the Romantic movement, and no other of the Romanticists approaches him in the energy with which he expresses patriotic indignation.”
Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only two copies in U.S. libraries, but we know of a third.
Later 19th-century blue-green marbled paper–covered boards; foxing and browning as typical of the paper with but a few odd spots additionally, and perhaps six leaves with a stain as from a spill, extending across text but not hampering reading. Very readable in both senses; a decent, solid copy of an important work of German literature. (33011)
One
Year's Worth of
Well-Spent
Half Hours
Knight, Charles. Half-hours with the best authors.
[London: Charles Knight, 1847–48]. 8vo (22.8 cm, 9"). 4 vols. in 2. I: Frontis., engr. t.-p., [2],
312 pp., frontis., engr. t.-p., [2], 312 pp. II: Frontis., engr. t.-p., [iii]–iv, 312 pp., frontis., engr. t.-p., [iii]–iv, 316 pp.
[SOLD]
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the images for enlargements.
First edition: Engaging periodical compilation of poetry, history,
Christian meditations, natural history, art and literary criticism, biography,
and fiction, set forth in
52
weekly issues meant to be consumed in half-hour portions, with
each weekly number containing seven half-hours. (Indices and quarterly title-pages
are bound in here.)
Knight, who was devoted to books and to literature from the time he was a small child,
was a much-admired printer and publisher, as well as an author, reformer, and would-be
educator: Many of his publishing endeavors were aimed at improving and enlightening the
working class.
NSTC 2K7731. On Knight, see: Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography online. On binding cloth, see: Krupp, Bookcloth, style Wav3.
Publisher's textured brown cloth, covers blind-stamped with muse motif and title, spines with
gilt-stamped title and blind-stamped decorations; lightly worn overall with some fading, vol. II
spine head with traces of a strip of cloth tape. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate,
call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Paper slightly
embrittled (more so in second volume), with a few short edge tears. Externally ordinary;
internally worthwhile. (26860)

A Dutch Count's Private Meditations
for 1813 New Yorkers
Kniphuysen Nienvort, George William, Count of. Prayers and meditations, composed in the French language in the year 1693 ... translated by an American. New York: T. & J. Swords, 1813. 12mo (14.5 cm, 5.7"). 105, [1] pp.
$300.00
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First U.S. edition of these devotional pieces, originally published in 1694 under the title Entretiens solitaires d'une âme dévote avec son dieu, here in an English translation accomplished by an anonymous American. A reviewer of a later edition concluded that the work represented “the aspect of devotional life favored by the evangelical school in the Episcopal church” (The Literary World, no. 220, p. 317).
The original author's name appears in innumerable variations according to various transcribers' nationalities; Count Georg Wilhelm von Kniphausen (or Knyphausen) of Nienort (or Nienoort) was also known as George Willem (or Guillaume), Comte van Kniphausen, etc.
Shaw & Shoemaker 28892. Contemporary treed sheep, recently rebacked with complementary mottled calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; original leather showing expectable rubbing/cracking. Title-page with institutional pressure- and rubber-stamp; no other marks. One leaf with old burn damage (the ash from a pipe??) to lower inner portion, margins repaired, loss of a few letters without obscuring sense; one leaf with closed tear from outer margin and no loss; one leaf with a corner taken, just touching text without loss; upper corners dust-soiled, and pages generally age-toned, with no brittleness or other “issues.” (27242)
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