Binding:  Publisher's blue-gray cloth, front cover with vignette of a tree rooted in a heart, bearing silhouette portraits of a woman and man done in black and gilt on a cream paper inlay; binding signed “MA” — Margaret Armstrong.

•  BAL 15377 (for first ed.); Gullans & Espey 158.   Binding as above, top edge gilt; very slightly cocked, edges and extremities lightly rubbed. Faint waterstaining to some lower outer corners. A nice copy of an engaging work.  (35751)

Provenance:  An armorial bookplate of 19th-century English book collector Edward Cheney with the motto “Fato Prudentia Major” appears on the front pastedown; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Bongi, Annali di Gabriel Giolito de’ Ferrari, I, p. 147 (1547 ed.); EDIT16 CNCE 26527. This edition not in Adams, Brunet, or Graesse. On Parabosco, see: Treccani (online).   Vellum over boards, publication information inked on spine; evenly dust-soiled with ink faded. One tiny chip along edge of title-page; otherwise, light age-toning with a handful (only) of small light stains. Bookplate and label as above. A pretty, pocket-sized play from a great 16th-century press.  (39555)

Binding:  Publisher's grey silk, front cover with affixed color-printed illustration, spine with title stamped in black, in a striking lucite slipcase.

•  Binding as above, lucite showing predictable minor shelfwear, overall a beautiful copy. An uncommon printing of work by one of the most popular contemporary crime writers; actually, ofan all-star trio of writers.  (33332)

The first three volumes were printed in Amsterdam in 1734, and each opens with an engraved frontispiece; the fourth volume was printed in Cologne in 1739. All four volumes have title-pages printed in red and black, with the fourth specifying that Nicole's notes were translated by Mademoiselle de Joncourt.

Provenance:  All four title-pages with small early inked ownership inscription in upper outer corner of “A. Thorpe, York.”

•  Period-style quarter mottled calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. Vols. I and II with frontispiece rectos institutionally rubber-stamped, with bleed-through into images; ownership inscriptions as above. Pages clean.  (27243)

•  Publisher's tan and brown printed paper–covered boards; spine somewhat darkened, paper chipped at spine and cracking along front joint. Front and rear free endpaper with inked presentation inscriptions dated 1914. Pages age-toned; one leaf with short tear from outer margin.  (33100)

Binding:  Publisher's blue cloth, front cover pictorially stamped in cream, black, and gilt, spine stamped in cream and black.

•  Binding as above, minor rubbing to extremities, a few spine letters with tiny spots of rubbing. One leaf with lower outer corner torn away. Clean and fresh.  (28606)

•  Apparently not in Palau.   Repairs to first leaf of part I, with loss of a very few words; close trimming of two pages touching some lines without actually taking type (this last suggesting the hasty production typical of such cheap, essentially ephemeral publications).  (38510)

Binding:  Publisher's brown cloth, gilt-and black-stamped.

•  A little spotting, a little shaken; a good++ copy.  (34001)

This is an uncommon edition: WorldCat does not find any institutional locations. There is apparently one copy of the same printing at the University of Essex, and the date given here is based on their assessment.

•  This edition not in NSTC.   Removed from a nonce volume; sewing loosening, with signatures starting to separate. Pages age-toned, with small area of waterstaining to upper outer margins; title-page with small spot of staining; plate mounted (some time ago), with three small spots of staining and some darkening around caption. A very readable copy of a striking and strikingly vivid morality tale.  (37200)

•  NCBEL, II, 1583 (for the 1854 ed. on which the present ed. was based). Publisher’s textured cloth, worn, covers framed in decorative blind-stamping, spines ruled in blind and simply gilt-stamped with titles and volume numbers; spines faded, slightly discolored, all pulled with cloth lost above page level and one with additional chip out of cloth near head. Front pastedowns with tickets from a Nashville bookseller. Many pages with light offsetting (darker following frontispieces) and foxing such as the paper is prone to; front free endpaper of vol. IV with pencilled ownership inscription and back fly-leaf of vol. II with pencilled annotations. (4737)

The poem was originally printed in 1771. While this mid-19th-century chapbook was printed with reckless disregard for the amount of ink that actually wound up on any given page (for that is very uneven), it does feature a wood-engraved vignette on the title-page and what appears to be a tombstone tailpiece. It is also uncommon, WorldCat locatingno U.S. institutional holdings of this printing.

As the final page is devoted to an enticing description of “WARKWORTH CASTLE” and its environs, set in larger type than the poem, we wonder if this wasgiven or sold to tourists as a souvenir?

•  NSTC 2P11186.   Removed from a nonce volume; one leaf with two nicks to outer edge. A look at the enduring appeal of medieval legend to the Victorian audience.  (37230)

•  Palau 220783.   Contemporary quarter maroon sheep and red pebbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and compartment decorations; spine attractively darkened, edges and extremities rubbed, sides with spots of discoloration. Front free endpaper with private shelf-code sticker; title-page with private collector's rubber-stamp. Pages age-toned, with some scattered small smudges or spots of light staining.  (29936)

•  Palau 220773.   Contemporary mottled calf with gilt-stamped red leather title-label; minor wear to edges and extremities. Half-title rubber-stamped, no other markings. Pages age-toned with a few scattered instances of faint spotting or smudging.  (29867)

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

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

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

The forematter includes a history of the text, a bibliography, a study of medieval customs and the characteristics of the protagonists and antagonists, and an introduction to the versification.

Binding:  Contemporary dark brown morocco, covers framed and panelled in gilt fillets with gilt-tooled corner fleurons, spine gilt-lettered and with gilt-beaded raised bands and compartments stamped similarly to covers using same tools; board edges with gilt fillet, free endpapers in maroon silk. Doublures of brown morocco matching covers and stamped more ornately, in foliate and floral designs. Top edges gilt, page edges otherwise untrimmed; silk place marker. Front pastedown (doublure) signed, gilt-stamped, “The Harcourt Bindery.”

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

•  Bound as above, spine gently and evenly sunned to olive and spine edge of front cover slightly so, extremities lightly rubbed. Some gatherings in introduction and in notes unopened. Minor foxing throughout, pages otherwise clean. A great example of the binders' style/philosophy rewarding those who care actually to open their subtly-finely bound volumes; “but look, here's more!”  (37751)

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

•  Brunet, IV, 575; Dibdin, II, 276–77; Schweiger, II, 725. 19th-century quarter sheep in imitation of morocco, with marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped titles; spines, edges, and extremities rubbed, vol. I with spot of discoloration to spine. Main title-page with shadows of pencilled numerals. Pages clean.  (16816)

Binding: Publisher's brown cloth, covers framed in blind, front cover with gilt-stamped urn of flowers, back cover with same design in blind. All edges gilt.

•  Faxon 655.   Bound as above, corners bumped/rubbed and base of rear joint and spine a little rubbed; gilt bright. Endpapers with early pencilled inscriptions, frontispiece with adhesion of a sliver of paper from title-page along inner margin, title-page with brown spot in lower margin offset onto lower edge of frontispiece. Sewing loosening with some early and final leaves starting to separate, title-page all but separated. Pages generally clean, with a few scattered spots; one upper margin with pencilled inscription mostly erased. A read and cherished copy, still sweetly sentimental and interesting to look at.  (30368)

Binding:  Publisher’s grey cloth with light and dark blue lettering on spine and front board, decorated with images of a plum tree (get it??) growing dollar signs stamped in light blue, dark blue and ochre. The cream dust jacket bears the same design with green decorations and lettering. Signed by Rome K. Richardson.

•  BAL 15961 (for first ed.); Minsky, Art of American Book Covers, p. 93.   Bound as above, with age-toned and chipped dust jacket having small tears along edges and larger tears at joints and fore-edges, bottom two inches of spine detached but present. Volume with small tear at spine-head, extremities of boards bumped; a handful of leaves with creased corners and bumping to fore-edges (not margins), and wrinkling to p. 383 that appears to have occurred during printing. A rather nice copy, seemingly uncommon in the dust jacket.  (37904)

•  Uncut, unopened copy in later wrappers (which are tattered). Text block split in two: requires binding. Edges dog-eared, some dust-soiling.  (21470)

This second edition was printed in the same year as the first; although the title-page mentions "an engraving by an eminent artist," no illustration is present in this copy.

•  ESTC T7920; NCBEL, II, 695. Recently rebound in marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped title label. Lacking engraving. A half-title (possibly not that belonging to this piece) has, at some point in the past, been cut in thirds and used to back/repair the title-page (to good effect, actually), leaf 45–46, and leaf 47–48 (text on p. 48, a list of "Pindar's" productions partially obscured by repair; the work itself, fine). One page (not the title) has been stamped by a now-defunct library; several leaves with tears, some repaired.  (3057)

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

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

Not in NUC Pre-1956, WorldCat, or Catálogo Colectivo del Patrimonio Bibliográfico Español.

•  Not in Palau. Modern marbled boards with cordovan-colored gilt morocco title-label on front cover. A very good copy.  (7791)

Provenance:  Bookplates of Wilfred Merton, Robert Wayne Stilwell, and Brian Douglas Stilwell.

•  Brooks 451; Brunet, IV, 783; De Lama, II, 71–72; Giani 23 (p. 43).   19th-century half brown mottled sheep and marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-ruled raised bands; extremities rubbed. Front pastedown with bookplates as above and with pencilled reference notes; some foxing or other spotting/soiling intermittently; a volume overall clean and pleasing.  (40150)

The present volume is a late edition among numerous English, Scottish, and American printings of the poem but apparently the first of this restored and annotated text, although someone has provided misleading copyright information—both Stevens of Cincinnati and Andrus & Son of Hartford are on record as claiming to have copyrighted the text in 1846.

Binding: Contemporary brown morocco bordered in triple gilt fillets, with gilt foliate and arabesque motifs to covers; spine gilt extra with title, author, and floral motifs. Beautiful gilt inner dentelles.

•  On Pollok, see: Dictionary of National Biography, XLVI, 69–70. Binding as above, corners and joints rubbed with light edge wear; spine leather and irregular areas of covers faded. Gilt bright. Original green silk bookmark separated but laid in. Pages pleasingly white save for a very few spots and one area where a poetry clipping was laid in. Neatly pencilled ownership inscriptions dated 1848 to front pastedown and title-page. Lovely, if somewhat worn, copy of this once-beloved poem.

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

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

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

COSTUME!

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

The "Story of the Country-Mouse and the City-Mouse," Prior's satiric and politically motivated response to Dryden's "Hind and Panther," is not included, but the long pieces "Solomon on the Vanity of the World" and "Alma" are present. The "Life of Mat. Prior" in the first volume commences beneath a small engraved portrait.

Binding:  Later sprinkled calf, covers gilt-ruled with gilt inner dentelles, spines gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels. All edges saffron.

Provenance:  Both volumes with armorial bookplates of Sir Robert D'Arcy Hildyard.

•  On Prior, see: Dictionary of National Biography, 397–401. Leather cracking over joints with hinges tender; spine tips a little dry and pulled; upper and outer edges of all covers somewhat darkened; light wear to extremities. Light foxing to some pages. In fact a very handsome pair. (3402)

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

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

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

•  Publisher's red cloth, front cover and spine stamped in black, spine with gilt-stamped title label (gilt just showing in our photograph); cloth very slightly rubbed over corners and spine extremities, with a small smudge to front cover near head of spine and spine stamping a bit dimmed. Reverse of frontispiece with inked gift inscription dated [18]87. One leaf with short tear from outer margin, not quite touching text.  (14353)

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

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

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

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

•  Brooks, Compendiosa Bibliografia di Edizioni Bodoniane, 361; Brunet, IV, 916; Dibdin, II, 360–61; Graesse 467. On Prudentius, see: Catholic Encyclopedia online.   Recent half vellum and paper–covered sides, vellum edges graced with gilt single fillet, spines with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels and with gilt-stamped Greek key design; binding discolored and a little bubbled from proximity to fire. Edges untrimmed, signatures unopened; vol. I with surprisingly various old waterstaining, sometimes faint and sometimes not, in upper margins of first half and outer margins of last few leaves. Interior of both volumes otherwise clean, with no markings, save that the endpapers are smudged and those untrimmed edges, plus occasional small areas of margin contiguous, are darkly smokestained from that fire. This is a book that has suffered, yet a production that is still as lovely as Dibdin said it was and a set well worth having.  (25517)