LITERATURE
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Virginia Love Story / Margaret Armstrong Binding
Page, Thomas Nelson. The old gentleman of the Black Stock. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1900. 8vo (18.7 cm, 7.3"). viii, [4], 169, [1] pp.; 8 col. plts.
$80.00
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First enlarged, illustrated edition of this sweet multigenerational romance, originally printed in 1897. The title character is a
book collector, and the action takes place in Richmond, Virginia — a setting the author knew well, being descended from not one but two of the most prominent families in that state. The text, expanded by Page for this printing, is illustrated with
eight color plates by Howard Chandler Christy (including the title-page's “Old Gentleman” portrait).
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)

Signed Limited Edition: Noir Fiction
Parker, T. Jefferson. Easy Street. [Mission Viejo: ASAP Publishing], © 2000. 8vo (23.6 cm, 9.3"). Frontis., 44 pp.; 2 col. plts.
$300.00
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First edition, preceding the story's republication in The Best American Mystery Stories 2001: a tale of two brothers and a rash of bank robberies in Southern California. Elizabeth George provided the thoughtful introduction, Robert Crais the enthusiastic afterword, and Phil Parks the mounted, color-printed illustrations. This is
lettered copy N of 26 collector's copies, out of 250 total, signed by Parker, George, Crais, and Parks on the limitation page.
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, of
an all-star trio of writers. (33332)

Something of an
Odd Couple
Parsons, Albert Richard; August Vincent Theodore Spies; & others. Die moderne Gesellschaft, gekennzeichnet durch die Reden der verurtheilten Chicagoer Anarchisten A.R. Parsons, August Spies, Sam Fielden, Oscar Neebe, M. Schwab, L. Lingg, A. Fischer, G. Engel, in dem grossen Tendenzprozess vor Richter Gary, am 7., 8. und 9. Oktober 1886 Gründe, warum das Urtheil nicht vollzogen werden sollte. Chicago: Socialistic Publishing Society, [1886]. 8vo. 100 pp. [bound with] Schuecking, Levin. Praemie. Schloss Dornegge oder Der Weg zum Gluck. [Ein] Roman. [Milwaukee, WI]: Separat-Abdruck aus dem “Herold,”1869. 8vo. 339 pp.
$575.00
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A wonderful
Haymarket Affair publication about “Modern society, characterized by the speeches of the condemned” anarchists. And it is
bound with an unrecorded American printing of a German novel.
We trace only five copies in U.S. libraries of the Haymarket item and
none of the novel.
Contemporary half brown cloth in imitation of leather, with marbled paper sides; rubber-stamp of Milwaukee bookseller C.N. Caspar on back pastedown. Haymarket item printed on highly acidic paper and brittle, brittle, brittle, and totally browned; novel with foxing. (32122)

The Provincial Letters
Pascal, Blaise. Les provinciales, ou lettres ecrites par Louis de Montalte a un provincial de ses amis, et aux R.R. P.P. Jesuites sur la morale & la politique de ces Peres ... Nouvelle edition, revue, corrigée & augmentée. Amsterdam: Aux depens de la Compagnie, 1734; Cologne: Pierre de la Vallée, 1739. 12mo (15.8 cm, 6.25"). 4 vols. I: Frontis., [14], 404 pp. II: Frontis., [10], 378 pp. III: Frontis., [10], 372 pp. IV: [8], 539, [13] pp.
$900.00
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Pascal's pseudonymously published Provinciales, an elegantly composed, widely read defense of Antoine Arnauld and of Jansenism against Jesuit opponents. First printed in 1657, the work appears here along with the notes by Guillaume Wendrock (a.k.a. Pierre Nicole), translated from Latin into French.
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)

A Pretty Way to
Encounter This Tale
Pater, Walter, trans. The story of Cupid and Psyche done out of the Latin of Apuleius. New York: Platt & Peck Co., [ca. 1914]. 12mo (15.5 cm, 6.1"). Frontis., [2], 107, [1] pp.
$50.00
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Uncommon printing of an elegant, much-commended English translation originally included as part of Pater's Marius the Epicurean. The frontispiece is a sepia portrait of Pater, and the text is printed
on rectos only.
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)
Marrying for Money
NEVER
Ends Well
Patterson, Joseph Medill. A little brother of the rich. Chicago: Reilly & Britton Co., 1908. 12mo. Col. frontis., 361, [3] pp.; 5 plts.
$65.00
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Greed destroys the lives and dreams of a cast of young members of “the best families,” the nouveau riche, and the would-be rich; part of the action is set at the Yale Promenade. This is an early printing of the first edition, illustrated with a total of six plates: a color-printed frontispiece from a painting by Hazel Martyn Trudeau and five black-and-white illustrations from paintings by Walter Dean Goldbeck.
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)

Romance in the Wilds of
Kentucky
Paulding, James Kirke. Westward ho! A tale. New York: J. & J. Harper, 1832. 12mo (18.4 cm, 7.25"). 2 vols. I: 203, [1] pp. II: 196, [8 (adv.)] pp.
$200.00
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First edition of this best-selling novel set on the Kentucky frontier. Among the characters are an uprooted Virginia family and their slaves, a
lone Native American hunter, a would-be newspaperman, and a young man susceptible to madness.
Part of the “Harper's library of select novels” series, the work appears here with vol. I in the second printing (vol. II had only one printing); the binding is BAL's state A, with the front cover of vol. II incorrectly marked “No. XXV.”
American Imprints 14120; Wright, I, 2024; BAL 15715. Publisher's green cloth, covers and spines stamped in black; corners bumped, spots of discoloration, spines sunned (and a little bubbled) with extremities rubbed. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate and call number on endpapers, title-pages pressure-stamped. No other markings; endpapers foxed and pages with intermittent moderate spotting. (26533)

Popular Literature — “A True Relation & a Curious Romance”
Pavón, Gonzalo. [drop-title] Verdadera relacion y curioso romance, en que se dà cuenta y declara la descripcion y grandeza del Templo de Salomon. Primera [– segunda] parte. [colophon: Màlaga: Felix de Casas y Martinez, 1789]. 8vo (21.3 cm, 8"). I: [2] ff; II: [2] ff.
$137.50
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A woodcut illustration of the temple appears at the top of each part. Both parts are verse tales.
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)

A Treasure Trove of Information
Historical *&* Commercial — BATH, 1884
Peach, R. E. Historic houses In Bath and their associations. [Second Series]. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co.; & Bath: R. E. Peach, 1884. Square 4to (22 cm; 8.75"). Frontis., [2] ff., 158 pp., [11 (ads)] ff.
$45.00
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Brimming with information on literary and other association information. Old Manor House (Claverton) and Kingston House (Bradford-on-Avon) are illustrated, the latter by a
tipped-in photograph. The eleven leaves of advertisements at the rear are entirely for businesses in Bath.
Binding: Publisher's brown cloth, gilt-and black-stamped.
A little spotting, a little shaken; a good++ copy. (34001)

The Farmer's Daughter of Essex
Penn, James. Life of Miss Davis, the farmer's daughter of Essex, who was seduced by her lover... London: T. Hughes (pr. by G. Whiteman), [1802]. 12mo (16.7 cm, 6.6"). pp.; 1 plt.
$300.00
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A popular melodramatic tale of ruin and misery, first published in 1767: A dissipated nobleman convinces a lovely country maiden that they are honestly married, sets her up in luxury, then abandons her in a London brothel. The plot is notable for its elaborate detailing of Miss Davis's exceedingly cruel treatment from not only her lover, but also various officials and citizens — though by the close of the story her innate virtue earns her a happier ending than one would expect. The stipple-engraved plate, depicting the fair victim swooning in the arms of one of the brothel denizens, was done by Rumford after Edwards.
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)
Pepys,
Samuel. Diary and correspondence...the diary deciphered by
the Rev. J. Smith, A.M. from the original shorthand MS. in the Pepysian Library.
With a life and notes by Richard Lord Braybrooke. First American from the fifth
London edition.... Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1855. 8vo (22.3 cm,
8.75"). I: Frontis., xxxvi, 427, [1 (blank)] pp.; II: Frontis., [1] f., 484 pp.;
III: [1] f., 481, [1 (blank)] pp.; IV: [2] ff., 470 pp.
$575.00
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Pepys’s perennially fascinating shorthand journal in its first longhand transcription, done by John A. Smith, later the rector of Baldock but an undergraduate student at St. John’s College at the time of the work. This appears to be the first Philadelphia printing of the diaries, here in an abridged form edited for decency, although there were earlier American editions and a limited deluxe edition was printed in Philadelphia in the same year. The four-volume work is illustrated with two portraits, one of the author and one of his wife, engraved by J.W. Steel.
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)
For BIOGRAPHY, mostly 20th-Century
“General Reading” & Inexpensive, click
here.

A Master Rhetorician of
the New World ENLIGHTENMENT
Peralta Barnuevo Rocha y Benavides, Pedro de. Passion y triumpho de Christo. Dividida en diez oraciones, que comienzan desde el mysterio de la oración del huerto hasta el de la ascension del Señor. Lima: En la imprenta que està extra muros de Santa Cathalina, 1738. 4to (20.5 cm; 8"). [108], 216, 196–99, [8], 229–326 pp.
$4975.00
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Pedro Peralta Barnuevo (1663–1743) was colonial Peru's greatest polymath: linguist, historian, architect, administrator, mathematician, poet, orator, and medical writer.
The present work is curious in several ways: the bizarre and erratic signing of the gatherings, the extensive use of factotum initials, the curious setting of the italic type so that capital letters at the start of words slope upwards, and the detailed genealogical essay that Peralta writes of the Moscoso family.
With the exception of the genealogy, all the curious aspects are attributable to Antonio Jose Gutierrez de Cevallos, the owner of the “la imprenta que està extra muros de Santa Cathalina,” who printed the work. He established his press in 1737, continued it in that location until 1740, moved it to the “calle de S. Ildephonso” until 1745, then worked for other presses, and disappeared from the printing scene in 1750.
The presence of the genealogy is explainable because Peralta dedicated this work to Alvaro Navia Bolano y Moscoco, an oidor of the Lima audiencia. The currying of favor aside, the essay is fascinating for providing important sociological and political information about the family and its nexus with other elite families of Mexico, Peru, and Spain.
In this series of ten sermons Peralta studies the passion of Christ beginning with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, progressing to the appearance before Pilate, the application of the Crown of Thorns, and the carrying of the Cross, ending with the Resurrection and Ascension. The sermons were clearly written for presentation at the University of San Marcos where he was the rector and they were presented in an engaging tone of a storyteller. The second sermon begins, for example, “Celebrada ya en el Theatro de el mas felize [sic] Huerto el Primero [sic] triste Acto de la mas mysteriosa Tragedia; doliente preliminio de la accion mas divina, lacrymoso Vestibulo de la mas alta Frabrica; entra a ver deseosa y resistente la memoria la primera Scena [sic] de la angustia, el primer Articulo del sufrimiento, y la primera Estancia del dolor.”
Clearly this is a work that presents the scholarly community with a major source for study of not just Peralta's rhetoric but of Peruvian Enlightenment rhetorical practices in general.
Soon after the work was published it found disfavor with the Peruvian Inquisition and it was
recalled and expurgated by the Holy Office beginning in 1739, the year after publication. Other copies were expurgated as late as 1789. This copy was spared the ravages of
the censors.
Provenance: 19th-century ownership stamp on front flyleaf of the “Casa de Ejercicios de San Juan Bautista.”
Medina, Lima, 916; Palau 218091; Vargas Ugarte, Impresos peruanos, 1457. On the censorship of the work, see: Slade, David y Jerry Williams (eds.), Bajo el cielo peruano: The Devout World of Peralta Barnuevo. La Galería de la Omnipotencia and Pasión y Triunfo de Christo (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2008). Modern tan calf, round spine, raised bands. No worming. Some stray stains in margins with most staining or “toning” near the end. Generally a clean crisp copy. (35326)

Retitled but
Readable & Well Decorated
Percival, Emily, ed. The garland: Or, token of friendship. A Christmas and New Year's gift. New York: Leavitt & Allen, [1854–5]. 12mo (19 cm, 7.5"). 288 pp.; 7 plts.
$95.00
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A romantic, feminine turn-of-the-year present: the eighth entry in the popular Garland series of American gift books. Actually a retitled version of 1854's Amaranth, this issue of the Garland appeared in several variants; the first piece in the present copy is “The Daughter of the Bardi.” The volume is decorated with a frontispiece, an added chromolithographic title-page, and five plates, all save one with the original protective tissue. While the printed list of illustrations attributes all of the five story-related plates to H.W. Smith (only), two of the plates themselves are labelled as engraved by Sartain after Pingret and by A.H. Ritchie after F. Rochard, two more only signed by Sartain, and the final two unsigned. The list also calls for a presentation plate, here replaced with a frontispiece.
The chromolithographic title-page is accomplished in blue, green, pink, and maroon. Compared to the digitized University of California copy, which has a substantially different binding and only five plates (including a frontispiece replacing the presentation plate), this item has a completely different added title-page and only one identical plate bound in a different location — but entirely the same text. Clearly “stock” stereotyped plates were used here!
Binding: 19th-century textured red roan in imitation of morocco, both covers and spine gilt extra with elaborate floral and foliate designs, title in each case in red relief “on” a pair of gilt panels textured with cross-hatching. Covers framed in triple fillets, the second delicately cornered with small diamonds, surrounding a border incorporating floral corner brackets and a floral base supporting an arch that itself breaks out in flowery flourishes. All edges gilt.
Evidence of Readership: A previous owner has tucked in a newspaper clipping of a poem titled “What is Love?” as well as two poems
printed on silk and framed in paper lace (gilt in the one case, pink and white in the other), titled “To Papa” and “Farewell.”
Faxon, Literary Annuals and Gift Books, 258; Tepper, American Gift Books & Literary Annuals (2nd ed.), pp. 84–85 (see copy 2); Thompson, American Literary Annuals & Gift Books, pp. 106–07. Bound as above, rubbed along board edges with very small worm holes along joints, light glue action to pastedowns. Light age-toning with the occasional spot or stain, plates moderately to heavily foxed; a few gently creased pages, one gathering loosely attached to binding.
Lay-ins absolutely charming. (38203)

Hotspur's Son's Adventures: One HAPPY Set of Lovers, One TRAGIC
Percy, Thomas. The hermit of Warkworth: A Northumberland tale, in three parts. Newcastle-on-Tyne: W.R. Walker, [ca. 1860]. 12mo (16.3 cm, 6.45"). 24 pp.
$185.00
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Written by Dr. Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore, this ballad tells a romantic tale of the return of Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland (1393–1455), from his exile in Scotland, accompanied by the fair Lady Eleanor Neville — with an additional melodramatically heartrending plot element regarding the founding of the hermitage by the former “bold Sir Bertram,” now “poor and humble Benedict” (p. 21).
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 locating
no 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 was
given 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)

A Famous Illustrator's Copy
Percy, Thomas, ed.; William Harvey, illus.; et al. The beggar's daughter of Bednall Green. London: Jennings & Chaplin, 1832. 8vo (19.6 cm, 7.75"). Engr. frontis., 30, [4] (adv.) pp.; 5 plts.
[SOLD]
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George Cruikshank's own copy of this oft-reimagined poem, with the publisher's original printed wrappers bound in and three pages of publisher's advertisements at the back. In addition to a lengthy, scholarly preface, the text contains six wood-engraved plates done by Jackson, Branston and Wright, Nesbit, Thompson, S. Williams, and T. Williams all from designs by William Harvey, as well as title-page and final vignettes.
Provenance: Title-page with signature of noted illustrator and caricaturist George Cruikshank, dated 1832, in pencil with part of one letter in ink; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Later 19th-century half very dark blue morocco and marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt lettering and floral stamps in compartments, covers with double gilt fillets along edges of leather; gently rubbed, most notably to joints. Marbled endpapers, top edge gilt. Provenance indications as above. Light pencilling on endpapers; light age-toning with some spotting, mostly marginal.
Neatly illustrated, and a copy in nice condition with exceptional provenance. (37984)

MYSTIC or Pragmatic Wife?
Pérez Galdós, Benito. La loca de la casa, comedia en cuatro actos. Madrid: Imprenta de la Guirnalda, 1893. 12mo (18.2 cm, 7.15"). [8], 294 pp.
$100.00
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First edition: Acclaimed play from a prominent Spanish realist author, addressing issues of class, materialism, and feminism.
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)

Four Classic
Spanish Novelas Neatly Bound
Pérez Galdós, Benito. La sombra. Celin. Tropiquillos. Theros. Madrid: Imprenta de La Guirnalda, 1890. 8vo (17.9 cm, 7"). [10], [5]–257, [3 (2 adv.)] pp.
$100.00
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First edition of this collection of four works by a prominent Spanish realist author.
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)
This also appears in the HISPANIC
MISCELLANY click here.

Don't Fall for It, Fatima!
Perrault, Charles.
The popular story of Blue Beard. Embellished with neat engravings. Cooperstown, NY: H. & E. Phinney, 1839. 16mo (9.9 cm, 3.9"). 31, [1] pp.; illus.
[SOLD]
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Nice example of a popular 19th-century version of the Bluebeard tale, here
prefaced by an alphabet and illustrated with a total of 13 rather large wood engravings (plus a repeat on the front wrapper and an unrelated engraving on the back wrapper) — some, signed “J.H.,” were probably done by John H. Hall.
The inside front wrapper bears
an interesting little early affixed label reading “Such is life.”
WorldCat finds no copies west of Rochester, NY.
Provenance: From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Not in Rosenbach. Publisher's printed tan paper wrappers, lightly dust-soiled, extremities rubbed, spine unobtrusively reinforced. Moderate foxing; inkstain to outer portions of last few leaves, touching but not obscuring a few letters, paper brittle in stained area. Showing signs of age, but none of childish abuse. (38473)

Erudite Edition Stealth Deluxe Binding
Petit de Julleville, Louis, trans. La chanson de Roland: Traduction nouvelle rhythmée et assonancée avec une introduction et des notes. Paris: Alphonse Lemerre (pr. by A. Quantin), 1878. 8vo (20.7 cm, 8.18"). [4], 460, [4] pp.
$350.00
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First edition of this modern French verse rendition of the classic epic, done by medievalist Louis Petit de Julleville (1841–1900), known for his studies of the history of French language and literature. The text is printed on facing pages with the original Old French on the left and the translation on the right.
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)

The Triumphs
Petrarca, Francesco. I Triomphi del Petrarca colla supositione di misser Giovanni Andrea Gesvaldo da Traetto. [colophon: Stampato in Vinegia: per Giouann' Antonio di Nicolini & fratelli da Sabbio, 1533]. 4to (21.5 cm; 8.5"). [76] ff.
[SOLD]
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Extracted here from the first edition of Petrarch's works to be printed with Giovanni Andrea Gesualdo's commentary is Petrarch's Triomphi with the numerous comments of Gesualdo.
The Renaissance page management by which a short section of text may be printed as near-surrounded by a sea of commentary is on full show here.
This offering contains the sectional title-page for I Triomphi, the dedication to Contessa di Colisano with a preface by Gesualdo, an introduction, and the poems, all neatly printed and ruled in red; the “triumphs” are love, chastity, death, fame, time, and eternity.
Petrarch did not conceive of I Triomphi as a single, unified work: They do not represent a continuous writing, they differ in character one from another, and they were not assembled as a single poem until after his death. Still, once brought together the six are clearly Petrarch's greatest effort to bring the model of Dante's Comedy into his own canon.
Adams P-801; Fowler, M. Petrarch, Pet N 533a. 18th-century quarter vellum over marbled paper–covered boards with “Petrarca – Trionfi” inked to spine, all edges speckled red; volume rubbed, especially at corners, boards gently bent inwards at fore-edge, light worming at spine, one small mark on front cover. Part of a larger work as mentioned above, with light pencilling on endpapers and one instance of old crayon, small signs of worming on front endpapers and most inner margins with several repaired, light waterstaining to upper inner margins and also across upper outer corners at end, a no more than ordinary degree of variable light foxing and soiling generally and a handful of leaves with uneven edges from paper manufacture.
A noble fragment, in fact very attractive and evocative. (36559)


Petronius Arbiter. Satyricon quae supersunt cum integris doctorum virorum commentariis; & notis Nicolai Heinsii & Guilielmi Goesii.... Amstelaedami: Iansonio-Waesbergios, 1743. 4to (26.3 cm, 10.4"). 2 vols. I: Frontis., [37] ff., 886, [2] pp.; illus. II: [4] ff., 408 pp., [66 (index)] ff.
$600.00
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One of the most famous satires of all time, here in the expanded revision of Pieter Burman’s edition, with the much-debated corrections by Johann Jacob Reiske — with which the editor’s son, Caspar Burman, was most displeased. Brunet calls the 1743 edition “beaucoup plus complète que la précédente [of 1709], et celle qu'on recherche le plus;” Dibdin confirms that this second edition is preferred by collectors and “the
curious” over the first. The neoclassical frontispiece was engraved by J.C. Philips.
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)

One of the Most Famous Satires of
ALLTIME
Petronius Arbiter, Gaius. The works of Petronius Arbiter, translated by several hands. With a key by a person of honour, and also his life and character. London: Pr. for Sam. Briscoe (colophon: Pr. for George Strahan), 1713. 8vo (19.6 cm, 7.75"). [16], x, [6], 111, [3], 111–360, [8] pp.; 11 plts. (lacking add. engr. t.-p.).
$450.00
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Petronius Arbiter (†A.D. 65) was a consul and court official under Nero. Noted for his sybaritic life-style, he committed suicide after being falsely implicated in a plot against the Emperor. His Satyricon, which exists only in fragments (books 14–16) and describes the amoral adventures of two youths in the Greek cities of southern Italy, incorporates a series of amorous adventures and misfortunes that make it a classic of erotic literature, but it is also a humorous critique of the immorality, vulgarity, and corruption of Roman society by one who knew that side of things all too well.
The present example is the fourth edition of this English translation done by Thomas Brown and others, with much matter added to the Satyricon: a life of Petronius Arbiter by Charles de Saint-Évremond, English translations of a number of poems by additional Roman poets (mostly rather earthy, vigorous works), a piece by William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, inspired by the Archbishop of Cambray's Telemachus, and a verse-form essay on poetry by John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham. The volume is illustrated with
11 copper-engraved plates by various hands, which accompany non-erotic portions of the text and depict a wedding, the siege of Troy, a shipwreck, the Ephesian matron removing her husband's corpse, the death of the holy goose, etc.
Binding: Contemporary mottled calf panelled with plain calf, framed in blind with blind-tooled corner fleurons, spine with gilt-stamped red morocco title-label.
Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplate of John Thomas Ambrose (1798–1881), a philanthropist and solicitor in Mistley and Manningtree.
ESTC T17788; Lowndes 1843; Schweiger, II, 727. Binding as above, rubbed and spine leather cracked; joints strengthened, portion of headband replaced, extremities subtly refurbished with toned long-fiber tissue. Bookplate as above. Varying degrees of age-toning, with a few signatures (only) browned or foxed and some leaves showing sometime exposure to water with no plates affected; additional engraved title-page lacking and index pages bound in incorrectly, interspersed with two poems towards the back of the volume!(29672)

Pleasant Thoughts on
Congenial Spirits
The Philipena, or friendship's token: A present for all seasons. Boston: G.W. Cottrell & Co.; New York: T.W. Strong, [1848]. 16mo. Col. frontis., 126 pp.
$75.00
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Petite, pretty gift book: stories and poems dedicated to the happy rewards of virtuous domestic life. The volume opens with an
illuminated color-printed frontispiece; present here are “Social Life, or the Plains of Matrimony,” “The Heart That's True,” “Marrying for Money,” “A Good Daughter,” “Worth and Wealth,” “Congenial Spirits,” etc.
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)

Exposure of American Corruption — Signed Decorated Binding
Phillips, David Graham. The plum tree. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, (1905). 8vo (19.5 cm, 7.625"). 389, [3] pp.; illus.
$40.00
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From an influential muckraker, a novel on corruption in American politics. David Graham Phillips (1867–1911) was an American novelist and investigative journalist known for his “Treason of the [U.S.] Senate” series of articles published in Cosmopolitan, which influenced the ratification of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution. His novels often commented on social and political issues and drew from his real-life journalistic experiences. This later printing features
four black and white illustrations (including the frontispiece) by E.M. Ashe.
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)

INSCRIBED
Pimentel, Francisco. Historia critica de la literatura y de las ciencias en Mexico. Mexico: Libreria de la Enseñanza, 1883. 8vo. 736 pp.
$225.00
First edition of a projected two volume work, of which volume two never appeared.
This volume is dedicated to Mexican poets.
Inscribed copy from the author to the president of the Societe Americaine de France (the predecessor to the International Congress of the Americanists), and dated Mexico, Feb. 1888.
Uncut, unopened copy in later wrappers (which are tattered). Text block split in two: requires binding. Edges dog-eared, some dust-soiling. (21470)

Philadelphia
Poets, Playwrights, & Publishers BEWARE
Pindar, Jr., Peter [pseud. of Nathaniel Chapman Freeman]. Parnassus in Philadelphia. A satire by Peter Pindar, Jr. Philadelphia: [Privately Printed], 1854. 12mo. 58 pp.
$250.00
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A well-done poetic skewering of prominent literary Philadelphians (poets, playwrights, journalists, periodical editors and publishers) of the mid–19th century as well as fulmination on some practices and events. Uncommon, as one would expect, as
privately printed.
Sabin 62915. Publisher's plain dark gray boards, front cover with “Parnass” etched in an early hand; rubbed overall with front joint carefully repaired, spine and edges subtly restored with toned repair tissue. Ex-library, spine with remnants of paper shelving label, front pastedown with faint traces of now-absent bookplate, pencilled annotation along inner margin of first text page. Front pastedown with early pencilled note regarding contents. Light foxing, a bit of soiling. (24837)

“Pindaric”
Satire . . .
Pindar, Peter [pseud. of Wolcot, John]. Peter's pension. A solemn epistle to a sublime personage.... Second edition. London: Pr. for G. Kearsley, 1788. 4to (26.8 cm, 10.5"). [4], 47, [1 (adv.)] pp.
$245.00
Wolcot lets George III in for it, first taking a moment to decry his own reputation for devilish unkindnesstotally undeserved, according to him, as witnessed by the subsequent four laughably saccharine imitations of contemporary verse. Having gotten that out of the way, he recounts humorous tales of the monarch's poor judgment, dim sensibilities, and parsimony, before directing a final blow at a hypocritical parson.
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)
For ENGLISH POLITICS, click here.

Anthologia Graeca Aldina — Beautiful Copy with Excellent
Provenance
Planudes, Maximus, comp. [First five lines in Greek transliterated as] Anthologia diaphoron epigrammaton, archaiois suntetheimenon sophois, epi diaphorois hypothesesin, eis hepta tmemata dieremene. [then in Latin] Florilegium diversorum epigrammatum in septem libros distinctum, diligenti castigatione emendatum. Cui nonnulla nuper inventa in fine adiecta sunt, una cum indice tam rerum, guam auctorum copiosissimo. Venetiis: Apud Aldi filios, 1550–51. Small 8vo (16.5 cm, 6.5"). 288, [12] ff.
[SOLD]
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Third Aldine edition of the Greek anthology originally compiled by Maximus Planudes (ca. 1260 – ca.?1305) and edited by Andreas Joannes Lascaris (1445–1534). Hutton believes that this edition and that published by Nicolini in 1550 are virtually identical. He also notes that the ten leaves immediately after fol. 288 (and before the blank leaf preceding the final leaf with the printer's device) are printed in
Paolo Aldus's new Greek type, which is larger than the type of the main text.
“The Greek anthology,” as it is commonly known among Hellenists, contains poems, mostly in form of epigrams, spanning the Classical and Byzantine eras of Greek literature. It had its origins in the collection of epigrams that Constantine Cephalas compiled around 900, which in turn used compilations made by Meleager of Gadara (first century B.C.), Philip of Thessalonica (ca. A.D. 50), and Agathias of Myrina (A.D. 567/568). Those three sources are now lost. Next in the chain is the Palatine Anthology, the work of an unknown scholar, which expanded the number of epigrams to about 3700. Offered here is the “Plaundian” anthology that Byzantine monk Maximus Planudes produced ca. 1301: It is a reduced version of the Palatine Anthology, but does add some epigrams not included by the Palatine version. The Planudean Anthology was
the Greek anthology of the Renaissance and it exerted a huge influence.
While the title-page gives the publication date as 1550, the colophon is dated 1551.
Binding: Brown pigskin, top and bottom of round spine with a gilt hash design repeated on raised bands; compartments defined by gilt double-fillets and with a gilt center device of a flower. Covers framed with triple gilt fillets, each corner with a small blossom; board edges with gilt triangle-and-dot roll; turn-ins tooled in gilt using two different rolls separated by a single gilt fillet. Marbled endpapers of a French combed pattern and all edges gilt. A 19th-century hand has written in pencil on the verso of the front free endpaper: “Pigskin by Desseuil.”
Provenance: The Rev. H. Drury's copy: “Coll. per H. Drury Harroviae” at the top of front fly-leaf (and with five lines of his neat, small hand-written notes below that); his books were sold in 1841. English bookseller's catalogue entry pasted to verso of front free endpaper. 20th-century collation note by Quaritch on recto of rear free endpaper. Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Adams A1185; Renouard 148:7; UCLA, Aldine Press: Catalogue of the Ahmanson-Murphy Collection
(2001), 401; Edit 16 CNCE 1974 and CNCE 1975. Binding as above. Very good, indeed excellent condition.
A true collector's copy. (37864)

LEC Plato: “Love, Friendship, & Hiccups”
Plato. Dialogues on love and friendship. New York: Printed at the Press of A. Colish for the members of The Limited Editions Club, 1968. Folio (28 cm, 11"). xiv, [3], 208, [2] pp.; illus.
$100.00
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The three dialogues that form the present volume — the “Lysis,” the “Symposium,” and the “Phaedrus” — constitute nearly all of Plato's ideas on the subject of love and friendship, and are here translated from the Greek by Benjamin Jowett. The introductory materials consist of a preface by Whitney J. Oates and three prefatory analyses (one preceding each dialogue) by Jowett, who also contributed brief running summaries of the text, which are printed in the margins.
Eugene Karlin (who signed the colophon) created the
delicate 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)

Poe in French with
Dulac Illustrations & Designs
Poe, Edgar Allan; J. Serruys, trans.; & Edmund Dulac, illus. Les cloches et quelques autres poèmes. Paris: L'Édition d'Art H. Piazza, [1913]. 4to (30 cm, 12"). 96 pp.; 28 col. plts., illus.
$550.00
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Limited to 400 copies on “papier du Japon,” this translation of The Bells and Other Poems from the pen of Parisian literary light Jenny Serruys Bradley (1886–1983) is stunningly illustrated with
28 full-color plates tipped onto leaves with an embossed frame, plus 39 decorated initials, 9 headpieces in black and white, and 34 tailpieces in black and red done by
Edmund Dulac. Dulac also designed the red and gold front wrapper. Each plate has a tissue guard captioned in red.
Early 20th-century half brown levant morocco, spine richly gilt, with marbled paper sides and marbled endpapers; spine sunned and rubbed, binding scuffed, and corners bumped. Top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed. Original wrappers bound in. Pages gently age-toned. (38153)
(Poetry, Spanish). [drop-title] La pia del pueblo español. Cancion patriotica en celebridad de la venida de nuestro amado rey el señor don Fernando el VII. [at end: Madrid: Impr. de Alvarez, 1814]. Small 4to. [3] pp. on [2] ff.
$195.00
An anonymous patriotic poem/song (without music), printed in double-column format, celebrating the return of Ferdinand VII to the throne of Spain. An interesting and rare example of this sort of Spanish poetry.
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)

A
Loving & Respectful Production
Pollok, Robert. The course of time; a poem, in ten books...with a memoir of the author; an analysis of each book; divisions of the subjects embraced in the poem; and a comprehensive index. The whole prepared expressly for this edition, by W.C. Armstrong. Hartford: Silas Andrus & Son, 1846. Large 12mo. xii, 13–322 pp.
$85.00
Time in its course has not been kind to Pollok’s reputation, but among his contemporaries his name enjoyed a triple fame due to his sublime preaching, best-selling poetry, and untimely, tragic death from consumption. Inspired by its author's reading of Byron’s "Darkness," the Course of Time examines in ten books the destiny of mankind, and in the words of the Dictionary of National Biography, "tends to prolixity and discursiveness, but is relieved by passages of sustained brilliancy."
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 informationboth 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.
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quite a lot more English Literature in
pleasant form click here.

He Wrote More than Histories!
(Some Readers Wrote in His Margins!)
Prescott, William Hickling. Biographical and critical miscellanies. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1845. Sm 4to (24.1 cm; 9.5"). Frontis., [5] ff., 638 pp.
$225.00
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First American edition of Prescott's collected literary writings, almost all previously published in the North American Review. Prescott (1796–1859), an American historian known for his work on Spain and Latin America, here covers a variety of additional topics, including an essay promoting the creation of an asylum for the blind in New England and ruminations on Italian narrative poetry.
Presentation copy: From Prescott to Dr. Elliott dated 16 April 1846, probably in the hand of a secretary. Elliott was almost certainly Prescott's ophthalmologist.
Provenance: Front free endpaper signed by Minnie Voorhees in April 1895.
Evidence of Readership: One pencilled comment only, but that a striking one; under a footnote of Prescott's repudiating such conceptions of American “empire” as had justified the Annexation of Texas, someone has written, “This note is unfortunate for your former and future reputation, Mr. Prescott — ”
Binding: Publisher's dark brown cloth, spine lettered in gilt with arabesque rules in blind and a gilt device, covers with elaborate arabesque frames stamped in blind.
BAL 16344. Bound as above, well rebacked with original spine laid on, edges rubbed. Light to moderate age-toning and foxing throughout; inscribed as above, light pencilling on endpapers (and one leaf of text as above). (36203)

Did Pizarro Really Draw a
Line in the Sand?
Prescott, William Hickling. History of the conquest of Peru, 1524–1550. Mexico City: Imprenta Nuevo Mundo for the members of the Limited Editions Club, 1957. Folio (32 cm, 12.6). xxxvi, 252 pp., [2] pp.; illus.
$150.00
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This Limited Editions Club edition of Prescott's classic account of the clash of empires in Peru and the destruction of that of the Inca is limited to 1500 copies. It includes an introduction by Samuel Eliot Morison and water-color illustrations by Everett Gee Jackson. The colophon is signed by the illustrator and by Harry Block, the printer. The book was designed and issued to be a companion volume to the Club's printing of Bernal Diaz del Castillo's Discovery and Conquest of Mexico (Mexico City, 1942).
The binding is full marbled sheep (pasta española) with gilt-stamped red spine-labels and raised bands accented with gilt rules.
Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 275. Original red slipcase present, rubbed; the volume contained, well preserved. A very nice copy. (33379)

Speaking to
TRANSLATIONS of His Mexico
Prescott, William H. Letter Signed to Theodore S. Fay. [Boston: ca. 1848]. Oblong 12mo ( 6.5" x 7.75"). 2 pp.
$175.00
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The author of several extremely popular and well received histories, including The History of the Conquest of Mexico and The History of the Conquest of Peru, sends Fay a letter received from Julius Herrmann Eberty who had translated Prescott's Peru into German and asks Fay to comply with the German’s request.
Prescott then goes on to discuss the various translations of his Mexico into Spanish and French.
Provenance: Ex–Allyn K. Ford Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, recently deaccessioned.
Good condition but clearly trimmed at top. Lacking most of the integral blank leaf. Written in a very clear hand. (33352)

Limited Edition — 500 Copies — Art-Deco Illustrations
Prévost, l'Abbé. Manon Lescaut. London: Geoffrey Bles, 1928. Sm. folio (32.3 cm, 12.75"). [8], ix, [1], 141, [3] pp.; 12 col. plts.
$150.00
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The classic tale of passion and inconstancy, illustrated with 12 color plates and numerous large in-text line drawings by John Austen — with this being the sole edition of Austen's Art Deco–influenced designs. This is numbered copy 212 of
500 numbered copies printed, and is
signed by the illustrator. (An additional 20 copies, not for sale, were lettered.)
Among other things, this book is a bonanza for lovers of
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)

THACKERAY Admired These “Most Charmingly Humorous
of English Lyrical Poems”
Some Fellow-ADMIRER Had
THIS Set Bound
Prior, Matthew. The poetical works...: Now first collected, with explanatory notes, and memoirs of the author, in two volumes. London: Pr. for W. Strahan, T. Payne, J. Rivington, et al., 1779. 8vo (19.4 cm, 7.6"). I: xvi, xxviii, 420 pp.; 1 plt. II: [2] ff., xvi, 287, [1 (errata)] pp.
$200.00
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Witty, amorous, sardonic works by the English poet-diplomat, edited by Evans and first thus. The DNB notes that among posthumous editions of Prior's works, "that of Evans . . . long enjoyed the reputation of being the best."
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)
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BINDINGS, click here .

Introduction by Dickens Illustrations by Tenniel, Millais, Palmer, et al.
Procter, Adelaide Anne. Legends and lyrics. London: Bell & Daldy, 1866. 8vo (22.9 cm; 9"). Frontis., [10] ff., 329, [1] pp., 20 plts.; lacks dedication leaf.
$100.00
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New edition with additions: This new edition of Adelaide Anne Procter's 1861 collection of poems is the first to feature an introduction by her father's good friend Charles Dickens; the introduction was repeated in subsequent editions. The
20 plates are wood engravings by Horace Harrel after W.T.C. Dobson, Samuel Palmer, John Tenniel, William H. Millais, and several others.
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)
Adelaide
Introduced by Charles
Procter, Adelaide A. The poems of Adelaide A. Procter. Complete edition. With an introduction by Charles Dickens. New York: Worthington Co., 1887. 8vo. Frontis., 442 pp.; 1 plt.
$65.00
Later American printing, illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of Procter and an engraved plate, of the works of one of the most important and successful women poets of the 19th century. Dickens, for whom Procter wrote a number of pieces under the pseudonym Mary Berwick, provided the introduction.
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)
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Early Christian Poet Bodoni Printing
Prudentius Clemens, Aurelius. Aurelii prudentii Clementis V.C. Opera omnia nunc primum cum codd. Vaticanis collata praefatione, variantibus lectionibus, notis, ac rerum verborumque indice locupletissimo aucta et illustrata. Parmae: Ex Regio typographeo, 1788. 4to (31.5 cm, 12.5"). 2 vols. I: [12], 71, [1], 302, [2], [303]–61, [3] pp. II: [4], 215, [1], 219–84, [2] pp. (text complete despite pagination).
$1150.00
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First edition of Prudentius from the Bodoni press. Prudentius (348 – ca. 410) was a Roman Christian poet born in Northern Spain, known for the asceticism he adopted late in life as well as for his lyric (Cathemerinon, Peristephanon), didactic (Apotheosis, Hamartigenia, Psychomachia), and polemical works (Contra Symmachum). The Psychomachia is particularly notable as one of the earliest Western examples of allegorical verse, exerting much influence on the subsequent medieval development of that genre.
This is a typically handsome Bodoni production with wide margins, an elegant type, and a different engraved vignette on each title-page; Dibdin calls it “one of the most beautiful editions of a classical author I ever beheld.”
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)

Illustrations by Dulac
Pushkin, Alexander. The golden cockerel. New York: The Limited Editions Club, n.d. [1950]. Folio. [4], 41, [3] pp.; illus.
$200.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
This eccentric Russian fairy-tale is retold here in prose by Edmund Dulac, the noted children's book illustrator, from the poem by Alexander Pushkin. Dulac, in the foreword, asserts that the meaning of the tale is not easily understood, seeing it as belonging to a “class of folk tales that start as clear and simple myths and . . . have other myths or incidents, often irrelevant, added to them from generation to generation in order to make them more entertaining.” However, it has usually been interpreted as a kind of political satire.
Edmund Dulac created the book's enchanting illustrations, consisting of 10 full-page and six in-text watercolors, a two-color decorative title-page, and decorative head- and tailpieces, and initials, also in two colors. Ernest Ingham designed the book using a monotype Poliphilus font.
The binding is full Russian-red cloth with a
polished brass design of a cockerel set in the front cover and a gilt-lettered title on the spine. (The cloth is brighter than we seem to be able to make it appear, here.) This edition is limited to 1500 copies and this offering includes the monthly mailing notice.
Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 205. Binding as above. In a glassine wrapper with shallow edge tears and chips, contained within a chemise covered with Russian-red paper with gilt cockerel design with gilt-lettered spine; spine sunned and paper chipped. The whole in an unevenly sunned slipcase, with slight loss of paper to top edge at mouth and spine. A fine book, in a good+ slipcase. (22314)
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