
MANUSCRIPTS
A-G H-Z

Our numerous SPANISH-LANGUAGE MANUSCRIPTS now have
their own separate, dedicated catalogue: Click here.
[
]
A MANUSCRIPT Epitome of the
Laws Relating to Indians in Spanish America
(“A” is for “A VERY MEATY ONE”). (Indians, South America). Manuscript on paper. In Spanish. “Resumen de d[e]r[ech]os tocantes a los Yndios, sobre su reduccion. [Spanish America, most likely the Viceroyalty of Peru]: ca. 1725. Small 4to (21.5 cm; 8.5"). [14] ff. (3 ff. blank).
$3500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Because Spanish colonial-era laws concerning Indians were numerous and published in the unwieldy Recopilacion de leyes de los reynos de Indias (5 vols., 1681 with subsequent revisions and editions) and authoritatively interpreted in Solorzano Pereira's also hefty Politica indiana (2 vols., 1648 and later editions), lawyers and judges often resorted to reducing the laws most relevant to their own work to a manuscript epitome, i.e., a booklet offering an abstract of each chosen law with its proper citation to either the Recopilacion or to Politica indiana when the full law or interpretation might be wanted.
THIS IS JUST SUCH A WORKING EPITOME, and that it speaks both to laws relating to Indians generally and, as per its title, to
laws relating specifically to Indians settled in reducciones helps to localize it. In regions where the indigenous populations were sedentary (e.g., Mexico, Guatemala, central Peru) there was no need to force them into “reducciones” (essentially, created communities with a high degree of “townness”); but in places were the natives were nomadic (e.g., Paraguay, and some jungle regions of the Viceroyalty of Peru) enforced resettlement was the norm.
Whether the Indians within the ken of this law practice were sedentary by tradition or “resettled,” they were to enjoy numerous privileges and exemptions and also were prohibited from doing certain things. The first chapter headings here are a good summary of these privileges, exemptions, and prohibitions: “On the treatment of Indians,” “Personal service,” “Privileges in legal matters,” and “On criminal behavior.” A second section of the manuscript, in a different hand, offers chapters titled “On the service of Indians,” “On the privileges that the Indians enjoy because of their status as miserables [i.e., a Roman law term for certain categories of individuals],” “On conducting legal proceedings against Indians,” and “Other privileges granted to the Indians.” The many dozens of laws recited here sketch the legal parameters of Indian life under Spain: the requirement of fixed addresses, the ban on white and black residents in the Indian reducciones, bans on polygamy and wine, whippings for those who move to another settlement without permission, and more.
We assign the manuscript's place of composition to the viceroyalty of Peru because in the period to 1776 it included regions were there were reducciones, whereas there were none in the viceroyalty of Mexico.
Written in a clear secretarial hand on two different paper stocks: One for the first six leaves, a different for the last four. Original stitching. Some stray ink stains. Slight loss of text in one corner, minimal worming, otherwise only minor wear. Overall, very good. (36916)
For SOUTH AMERICANA, click here.
For more of NATIVE AMERICAN interest, click here.
For our MSS in SPANISH, click here.
For EUROPEAN (Heritage!) LAW, click here.
Or for MINING, click here.
& for a bit more AGRICULTURE, click here.
This also appears in the HISPANIC
MISCELLANY click here.

One American Merchant Writes Another on the
American Revolution
News of a
FIERCE Sea Battle Waged after Yorktown
(AMERICAN NEWS). Crawford, James. A.L.S. to John Brown (“Care of Governor Hancock, Boston”). Philadelphia: 16 April 1782. Small 4to (9" x 7.5'). 1 p., with integral address leaf.
$3500.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Crawford was a Philadelphia merchant and in this letter to a corresponding merchant in Boston, he begins by discussing an insurance matter that requires Brown's attention. Then he writes:
nothing new since my last, except
Capt. Barney in the ship Hyder Aly taking the King ship Monk of 10 nine pounders, in an action of 30 minutes. The Hyder Aly mounted 6 nines & 10 sixes, there never was more execution done by the same force in the same time. The Monk had every officer except two, killed or wounded, amongst the latter was the Capt. She had in all 21 kill'd & 32 wounded. The Hyder Aly had 4 kill'd & 11 wounded, from such slaughter no doubt you'd conclude one of them boarded, but it was not the case, a fair action within pistol shot.
Although the land battles of the American Revolution had ended with the surrender at Yorktown, sea battles continued until receipt of the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The account above refers to Comm. Joshua Barney's capture on 8 April off Cape May, NJ, of the sloop of war General Monk. In a wonderful twist of fate, the intrepid Barney had only arrived in Philadelphia in March — having been occupied since the previous May with his escape, recapture, and second escape from Portsmouth prison! into which stronghold he had been clapped by the British for his previous maritime (infr)actions.
Having, then, been given command of the Hyder Ally (a.k.a., Hyder Ali) only a few weeks previously, and having been charged with clearing the Delaware River and Bay of privateers, Barney had met the General Monk while pursuing that task — and, in a Revolutionary War naval action eclipsed only by that of the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis, took on and thoroughly defeated a King's ship of superior firepower in a bloody, 26-minute battle.
Following this capture of the General Monk, Congress voted Barney a sword for his gallantry and offered him command of his prize after renaming her General Washington. In November, 1782, he was ordered to sail to France in the Washington with dispatches for Benjamin Franklin who was negotiating the Treaty of Paris. He returned with news of the signing of the preliminary peace treaty and with money from the French.
Barney was an American Hornblower!
On Barney, see: Dictionary of American Biography and Appleton's Cyclopedia. Very good condition. Small blank portion of the integral address leaf torn with loss where the sealing wax was attached. Old dealer's (Sessler's) coding in pencil at base of letter. (31069)
For PRE-1820 AMERICANA, click here.
For more of MILITARY/NAVAL interest, click here.
For MARITIME matters, click here.
For COMMERCE / TRADE /
FINANCE / ECONOMICS, click here.
For NEW JERSEYANA, click here.
For more of PHILADELPHIA interest, click here.
Or for ENGLISH POLITICS, click here.



Signatures of the
Famous & Obscure
(Autographs in Abundance). Collection of signatures of notable and lesser Mexicans of the colonial era and first three quarters of the 19th century. Mexico: 1646 to ca. 1880. Various small sizes.
$2250.00
Click the images for enlargements.
The collection contains approximately 400 clipped signatures of historical, political, and literary figures, including: José María Fagoaga (signer of the Act of Independence), Manuel Sotarriva (signer of the Act of Independence), Miguel Cervantes (i.e., Marques de Salvatierra. signer of the Act of Independence), Juan de Solorzano Pereira (jurist and major writer on the law of the Indies), Juan Cervantes y Padilla (signer of the Act of Independence), Jose Maria Heredia (poet), Jose Fernandez de Jauregui (printer), Jose Maria Guridi y Alcocer (signer of the Act of Independence), Valentín Canalizo (general, supporter and confidante of Santa Anna), Marques de San Juan de Rayas (signer of the Act of Independence), Santiago de Irissarri ((Independence-era military figure), Jose Bustamante (signer of the Act of Independence), Enrique White (governor of East Florida), Ignacio Barbachano (leader of the 1841 Yucatecan-break-away protonation), Vicente de la Concha (Queretaro politician), Juan Hierro Maldonado (Minister of Fomento, Colonización é Industria, and great politician), El Marques de Selva Nevada, Jacobo Ugarte y Loyola (governor of province of Coahuila y Tejas in the 1790s), El Conde de Alcazar, Ignacio de Bustamante (many times governor of Sonora), José Ignacio de Berasueta (intendent of Puebla in 1811), José Mariano de Arce (chief of revenue for pulque and alcabala), Francisco Javier Miranda (one of the delegation that offered Mexico to Maximilian!), Urbano Tovar (conservative politician, governor of Jalisco), Ramon Gutierrez del Mayo, Francisco Robledo, Francisco Jose de Urrutia, Victoriano Lopez Gonzalo (bishop of Puebla), Esteban Lorenzo de Tristán y Esmenota (bishop of Durango), Manuel José Rubio y Salinas (archbishop of Mexico), Mariano Riva Palacio (politician), Rafael Mangino (politician who crowned Emperor Agustin I), José Agustín Domínguez y Díaz (bishop of Oaxaca), Ignacio Alas (railroad entrepreneur), Juan Faustino Mazihcatzin (Indian leader of Tlaxcala), Pedro Saenz de la Guardia (naval commander of the San Blas region), Vicente Filisola (general, second in command to Santa Anna in the Texas Campaign), Esteban Moctezuma (general defeated by Bustamante at Gallinero), Jose Mariano Beristain (the great bibliographer), Manuel Payno (novelist and playwright), and many more.
Beyond its simple charm as
a signature gallery both representing and evoking a long era of Mexican history, this is a most useful archive of “sample” signatures.
All items glued to
both sides of sheets of paper (approximately 25 x 21.5 cm; .75 x 8.5" h x w) with multiple clipped signatures per sheet, 21 sheets total. Glue stains, and some early colonial ones with sealing-wax stains. (34167)

Illuminated, with Full-Page Miniature, on Vellum, Great Binding
Archconfraternity of the Stigmata of St. Francis. Illuminated manuscript on vellum, in Latin. “Franciscus Tituli S. Petri & Marcellini S.R.E. Cardinalis Pignattellus ... Dilectis nobis in Christo Confratribus Confraternibus Sacror. Stigmatum & S. Antonii de Padua in Ecclia. Parrochili S. Conini Loci Cicognoli Cremonen. ... Rome: 1706. 8vo (22.7 cm, 9.5'), [10] ff.
$3500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
The parish church in the municipality of Cicognolo in the province of Cremona in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about 90 kilometres (56 mi.) southeast of Milan and about 14 kilometres (9 mi.) northeast of Cremona, has
petitioned to establish a chapter of the archconfraternity of the Stigmata of St. Francis.
Approval has been granted and this is the official document establishing the archconfraternity there. It is written in roman hand in brownish-black ink with
extensive variously sized headings indited in gold, and has a full-page portrait of St. Francis, a medallion vignette of his hands receiving the stigmata, and a large triple-bordered decorated initial “D,” all accomplished
in colors and gold and incorporating or surrounded by generous flourishes of flowers painted variously in shades of rose, yellow, and blue. All leaves have borders in black and gold (and sometimes green) except one initial blank.
On the verso of the last leaf are the signatures of “custodians” of the archconfraternity in Rome below which are two paper and wax seals (one lacking the paper) with the seals' owners' names below, attesting to the completion of the application process and the grant ing of the petition.
Binding: Contemporary crimson morocco, covers lavishly gilt-tooled. The center panel is richly filled with floral motifs and small stars surrounding a center emblem of the hands of St. Francis within a circular border of flames. Surrounding the center panel are four outer frames created by variety of large and small rolls. Marbled paper pastedowns in an unusual “patchwork” style.
Binding as above, manuscript recased, without the original ties. Some text rubbed and illegible, clean cracks in fourth leaf, crudely repaired hole in last leaf causing text loss. Curious green tarnishing of the gold. A most attractive binding, a beautifully painted manuscript, an interesting artifact of Catholic social history, and
a great tool for teaching about conservation concerns. (39295)

UNexpurgated by the Mexican Inquisition
MS Notes in NAHUATL in Addition
Avila, Francisco de. Arte de la lengua mexicana, breves platicas de los mysterios de n. santa fee catholica, y otras para exortacion de su obligacion a los indios. Mexico: Por los herederos de la Viuda de Miguel de Ribera Calderon, 1717. 12mo. [13], 36, [1] ff.
$9975.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Mexico saw a major rebirth of scholarly interest in Nahuatl during the first half of the 18th century, and Fr. Avila was a contributor to it. In his introduction here (“Al pio lector”), he explains why, despite the existence of the works of Molina, Carochi, Ribera, and Manuel Perez (whose enthusiastic endorsement [“Sentir”] is part of the preliminaries), he has decided to write and publish this grammar: “solo quitar algunas dificultades, que he reconosido [sic] en los que aprenden por el discurso de veinte anos.” The work achieves this aim well. Moreover, Fr. Avila's extremely notable introduction has much to say about the physical and spiritual condition of the Indians at the beginning of 18th century and about the economic and social debt of the Spanish population to them. Sra. Leon-Portilla points out that among the “chats” (i.e, “platicas”) that form the appendix, “las destinadas a lograr una buena confesion” are of
“gran importancia.”
This copy
escaped the Inquisition censors who after its publication insisted that the section on folio 34r-v, “Instruccion para ensenar lo que se resive [sic] en la Hostia” be lined through.
Evidence of Readership? Or, frugal management of paper? Or, something else entirely?? A singular quality of this among all the copies that we have ever seen is the presence of
two additional leaves (four pages) at the end containing
18th-century manuscript notes in Nahuatl for a sermon on the theme of “they who acquired divine happiness” and on conducting a confession.
Provenance: Sold by the Linga Library of Hamburg as a duplicate. Pencil notes of a Spanish bookseller.
Medina, Mexico, 2478; Garcia Icazbalceta, Lenguas, 9; Vinaza 271; Newberry Library, Ayer Indians, Nahuatl 18 (incomplete, lacking title-leaf); H. de León-Portilla, Tepuztlahcuilolli, 240. Recased in modern vellum with button and loop ties, some few leaves strengthened at inner margins. Last leaf of text torn in lower margin and expertly repaired, costing small portion of two letters; a bit of staining at some edges, particularly in early part of volume. Small round old stamp “BS” to front free endpaper, leaves filled with manuscript annotation at end as above.
Very good, and very interesting. (34576)

“When Pleasure Reaches Some Divine Extreme”
Bates, Charlotte Fiske. Autograph Manuscript Signed. “The Venice of Life.” On paper. No place (Boston?): no date (ca. 1900?). 12mo (8" x 6"). 1 p.
$150.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Bates (1838–1916) was born in New York but grew up and was educated in and near Boston. A teacher and author, she published her first book, Risks and Other Poems, in 1879. The present poem is written in blue ink reaching for purple and boldly signed at the bottom.
Provenance: Ex–Allyn K. Ford Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, recently deaccessioned.
Very good condition; slight smearing of two words, not impairing legibility. (33356)
For LITERATURE, click here.
For more of WOMEN's interest, click here.

HEAVILY ANNOTATED — The Gospels & Acts in an Important Edition
Bible. N.T. Greek & Latin. 1588. Testamentum Novum, sive novum foedus Iesu Christi, D.N. Cuius Graeco contextui respondent interpretationes duae: vna, vetus altera, Theodori Bezae, nunc quartò diligenter ab eo recognita... [Genevae]: [Henricus Stephanus], 1588. Folio (33 cm; 13"). [6] ff., 555, [1 (blank)] pp., [8] ff. (lacks final blank leaf); lacks vol. II (Epistles, Revelation).
$2500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
An interleaved and heavily annotated copy of the Gospels and Acts of “Beza's third major edition [of the Greek New Testament]. The text follows that of the second major edition (1582) with only five exceptions” (Darlow and Moule).
One should note that the title-page proclaims this “quarta editio,” and that this is Estienne's third folio printing of Beza's N.T.
Beza's New Testament Greek text is here accompanied by his Latin and the Vulgate (i.e., Catholic Latin) translations, the trio appearing in parallel columns on each page with
extensive notes that often fill as much as one-third to one-half of a page and with parallel references additionally set in the margins. The volume's title-page is printed in red and black and bears Henri Estienne's printer's device; a different finely wrought woodcut headpiece opens each book, with each column on those pages bearing a woodcut initial at its head, and a few of the books of the N.T. end with woodcut tailpieces.
Evidence of readership: An interleaved copy with
the vast majority of the leaves bearing an early 19th-century reader's notes and annotations. The notes cite references published as late as 1809 and it is clear that the natively German-speaking scholar was comfortable in Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and English.
Provenance: Ownership signature on title-page of Leon St. Vincent. Later in The Howell Bible Collection, Pacific School of Religion (properly released; no markings).
The paper stock used for the interleaving has the classic ProPatria watermark and that and its countermark match Churchill's 151, which has a starting date of 1799.
Darlow & Moule 4650; Adams B1711. On the interleaves' watermarks, see: Churchill, Watermarks in paper in Holland, England, France, etc., in the XVII and XVIII centuries. 19th-century half vellum with German pastepaper over boards, spine with tinted and tooled label, text recased and new endpapers; vol. I (only) of this production, without the Epistles and Revelation. Title-page creased and dust-soiled, all leaves before pp. 9/10 rodent-gnawed in lower outside corner with loss of paper but not of text or manuscript annotation, and a bit of light waterstaining to rearmost leaves only.
An important edition and a singular copy. (37032)

Marginalia to
the Max & Other Notes
Bible. O.T. Psalms. Hebrew. 1880. [two lines in Hebrew, then] Liber psalmorum. Textum masoreticum acuratissime expressit ... notis criticis confirmavit S. Baer. Praefatus est edendi operis adjutor Franciscus Delitzsch. Lipsiae: Ex officina Bernhardi Tauchnitz, 1880. 8vo (22.4 cm, 8.8"). [1] f., 82 pp.; manuscript notes bound in.
$1000.00
Click the images for enlargements.
This “textum masoreticum” book of psalms, i.e., the traditional Hebrew text, was edited by masoretic scholar Seligman Baer (1825–97) and theologian Franz Delitzsch (1813–90) as part of their Masoretic Bible series, published by Tauchnitz between 1869 and 1895. A truly
unique copy, this particular volume is thickly interleaved with variously sized sheets and tabs containing the fastidious manuscript notes of published author
Walter Robert Betteridge, D.D. (1863–1916), a notable faculty member in the Old Testament Department of the Rochester Theological Seminary who swathed page after page in minute inked marginalia, and added yet more bulk with clippings from related texts — annotated, of course.Among the doctor's publications was an article on “The Accuracy of the Authorized Version of the Old Testament” (1911), including the Hebrew psalms.
Provenance: Donated by Mrs. Betteridge to the seminary library, with institutional bookplate noting this on rear pastedown.
Recent black moiré silk, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Ex-library with bookplate on rear pastedown as above, pressure-stamp on title-page, call number in lower margin of second leaf; paper brittle, dust- or sometimes soot-soiled(?) at edges, and prone to chipping. Replete with scholia, this is
a stunning testament to one scholar's study of the O.T. (31077)
For BIBLES, TESTAMENTS, *&*
BIBLE SCHOLARSHIP, click here.
For a bit more JUDAICA / HEBRAICA, click here.
For more Books with SPECIAL PROVENANCE, click here.
For “EVIDENCE of READERSHIP,” click here.

Goudy as the Maker of an
Illuminated “Medieval” Manuscript
Bible. Manuscript. O.T. Ecclesiastes. ca. 1903. Manuscript. “Ecclesiastes[,] or the preacher.” No place [Park Ridge, IL; Hingham, MA]: no date [ca. 1903–06]. 8vo (21 x 13 cm; 8.25" x 5.125"). [56] ff.
$25,000.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Frederic W. Goudy is famous as a type designer, owner of a press, advocate of good type design in all print media, and an inspiring spirit of the American fine press movement at the beginning of the 20th century. We know that he took some of his own inspiration from the British and American Arts and Crafts movement and its interest in medieval manuscripts.
Virtually unknown is his creation of medieval-inspired manuscripts, indited on parchment, illuminated, hand-colored, illustrated, and then bound appropriately. He created this rendering of Ecclesiastes without providing a colophon but did initial the title-page thus tying its creation to him. The overall style would point to the 1890s.
The first leaf bears a gilt border on the recto but is otherwise blank; this is followed by two blank leaves, then the title-leaf. The recto bears an asymmetrical illuminated and polychromatic four-element border filling the top, inner, and bottom sides. The wording is presented in a modified serif with the “E” of Ecclesiastes done in red on a gold field with some white floral elements, and the “P” of “Preacher” is in red with black hashing. The verso is blank as is the next leaf.
The biblical text begins on 6r and all of the text leaves bear illuminated, polychromatic, and illustrated borders on two of the four sides of the page.
Each border is unique, there are no repeats. The text is enlivened with infills of red, green, and gold, as well as vines and even bowls with flowers. The many human faces that appear in some of the borders may well be those of friends, neighbors, or acquaintances.
The leaf/page construction of the manuscript is this, with a very few exceptions: a leaf of parchment is folded in half and sewn to the binding at the open end, thus leaving inner “pages” blank, as with Asian books. The text of this manuscript, then, is present on the outer surfaces of the folded leaves.
Binding: Dark brown leather with a richly embossed border on the covers that has been gilt over the embossing, and an inner frame offering a central lobed oval with pendants and corner pieces with arabesque designs on a gold ground. Modeled on that “used in the 17th and 18th centuries to produce sharp inlaid medallion designs of the Persian-style binding. The supporting board was hollowed out in the exact shape of the stamp to be used, then the dampened leather was placed over the board. When applied to the leather, the heated stamp molded into the contours of the board and created a deep impression. The gilt patterns were applied to paper, perhaps because paper took the gilding more readily than leather. The paper was then placed between the leather and the stamp, hence becoming sealed to the leather during the stamping process” (Beinecke Library Exhibit “Islamic Books and Bookbinding,” Arabic ms. 166, http://www.library.yale.edu/neareast/exhibitions/Islamic_book2.html ).
Pastedowns of lighter brown leather with inlaid blue leather central lobed oval; pendants and corner pieces with arabesque designs All edges gilt.
Binding as above, spine expertly repaired using the Japanese long-fiber method and then toned. One blank leaf with a cut. Folded edges of two bifolia partially opened.
A beautiful, curious, and sumptuous production; an extraordinary relic of a legend in lettering. (35510)



Early 20th–Century
AMERICAN Cookery Manuscript
Bishop, Mary Ellen. Manuscript on paper, in English. Begins “Christmas pudding ...” [U.S.]: 1916. 4to (21.2 cm, 8.38"). [154 (70 used)] pp.
$200.00
Click the images for enlargements.
This manuscript recipe book mixes sweet and savory dishes with abandon; absent any categorization or sorting, it offers a “Parisian Salad” featuring potatoes, beets, and lima beans in an egg and anchovy–based dressing; “Eggs a La Cuban,” a deviled egg dish with minced sweet red pepper mixed in the yolks; “Jelly for Dessert,” a mold made with plain Knox gelatine with fruit and cream on top; “Chilie Sauce,” a tomato-based spiced relish; “Solid Chocolate Cake,” “Corned Beef a la Americaine,” and various breads, puddings, soups, salads, etc. The handwriting, while informal, is very legible; there is one laid-in recipe for grapefruit marmalade done in a different, likewise legible hand.
Plain paper wrappers with oilcloth shelfback; wrappers worn and stained. Pages with occasional ink smudges or spots, light waterstaining to small area of upper margins, otherwise clean. (38252)

A Volume EXTRA ILLUSTRATED & Then Some!
Brown University. Celebration of the one hundreth anniversary of the founding of Brown University, September 6th, 1864. Providence: Sidney S. Rider & Bro., 1865. 4to (26.5 cm; 10.25"). [4] ff., 178 pp., [1] f.
$10,000.00
Click the images for enlargements.
An extra-illustrated copy. Noted 19th-century book collector, devoted Baptist, and political and civic activist Horatio Gates Jones, an honored participant in the centennial celebration at Brown, created this extra-illustrated copy of the official publication. Added as embellishments are an original copy of the broadside publication of the theses for the first commencement of the College of Rhode Island (the first name of Brown University), 19 autograph letters signed, 14 engravings (views, portraits), 15 photographs (including cartes de visite), eight clipped signatures, and 5 other items including a partially printed document from 1738.
Provenance: Horatio Gates Jones, Jr. (American, 1822–93); donated to the Crozer Theological Seminary; later deaccessioned.
In a late 19th-century black half leather binding with red morocco spine label. Occasional library pressure-stamps. Very good condition. (25981)
For
CHILDREN / EDUCATION, click
here.
For more representing COLLEGES, click here.
For
ILLUSTRATED BOOKS, click here.

TWO Astrological Works, Added Manuscript Leaves, Hand-Colored Title-Page
Caesius, Georg. Newer und alten Schreibkalender mit den aspecten aller Planeten, auff das Jar nach ... M.DCVI [1606] ... [colophon: Gedruckt zu Nurnberg: durch und in verlegung Valentin Fuhrmanns, {1605}]. 4to (in 8s) (18.5 cm, 7.5"). A–B8; [16] ff. [bound with his] Prognosticon astrologicum das ist, Teutsche Practick und gründliche wahre aussführliche beschreibung der zusammenfügungen guter und böser Aspecten der sieben Planeten ... Auf dass Jahr ... M.DCVI [1606]. [colophon: Gedruckt unnd verlegt zu Nurnberg: durch Valentin Fuhrmann, {1605}]. 4to. A8–B6; [14] ff.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
United in this volume are the last two astrological works of George Caesius (1542–1604), published the year after his death. The schreibkalender begins with
a wide, brightly hand-colored and elaborate woodcut border surrounding the black and red text of the title-page information. The text is also
printed in black and red in gothic type and, although the large blank area on the recto of leaves A2–B6 meant for diary entries and almanac commentary is mostly blank except for some occasional pen practice, this copy is
interleaved with twelve leaves filled with chiefly contemporary and some later manuscript content in German — the 17th-century writing seeming to be diary entries with also some astrological notes.
The Prognosticon by contrast is printed solely in black, but is similarly in gothic type. In the center of the title-page is a large woodcut coat of arms. Unlike that of the schreibkalender, the content of the prognosticon is not calendar driven but is still astrologically based: It is written in prose and contains
astrological and astronomical information and predictions based on that data.
Caesius was a clergyman who studied in Wittenberg, where in 1565 he became a master; soon he was a deacon in Rothenburg and in 1574 he was a deacon in Ansbach. Because of disputes over the court preacher Georg Besserer, in 1577 he was transferred to Leutershausen. In 1580 he finally received the pastorate in Burgbernheim, where he died in 1604. He had issued an annual almanac beginning in 1567, and beginning in 1577 he gained the favor of Margrave Georg Friedrich (1539–1603), who awarded him 25 gulden annually for the work.
Binding: Contemporary full brown calf over light pasteboards, covers tooled in black using three different rolls and a triple-fillet to form a wide border around a central panel; thistle corner devices, different coats of arms in the centers of the front and rear boards as below, all edges onetime gilt.
Provenance: Unidentified coats of arms on the covers, different front and rear.
Searches of NUC, WorldCat, COPAC, and VD17 fail to find any library reporting ownership of this edition of the Schreibkalender and WorldCat alone finds copies of this edition of the Prognosticon (at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek and the Staats und Staatsbibliothek Augsburg). Searches of KVK were inconclusive.
Apparently not in VD17. Bound as above, leather peeling from the boards and frayed and missing pieces; damage with loss to areas of corners and fore-edges of binding. Leaves closely trimmed at top, corners dog-eared and edges variously tattered; browning and old waterstaining to Prognosticon. Two stubs in the Schreibkalender indicate two leaves meant for manuscript additions sometime excised; one manuscript leaf present, torn with some loss.
A remarkable survival. (39892)

The Beatus vir . . . Gorgeously Produced, Beautifully Framed
Catholic Church. Liturgy & Ritual. Psalter. Manuscript leaf. Northern Italy: ca. 1490. Folio. [1] f. (56 x 42 cm; 22" x 16").
$8750.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
From a
large, magnificent Benedictine Psalter, this is the start of Psalm 1, “Beatus vir . . .” (“Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off: and all [whatsoever he shall do shall prosper]. . . . ”).
The text appears here in sepia ink in a large Renaissance rotunda hand, set forth to the point of our bracket above, illuminated and featuring
a large miniature of King David filling the center of a large initial B. Along the bottom margin in three medallions are
Saints Mark, Benedict (center bottom), and Laurence; the right margin has two additional medallion portraits of unidentified female figures. The margins are garnished with gilt and bright-colored flowers, among which hides
the small image of a deer “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God”?
Matted and under glass in an elegant 20th-century gilt frame, ready for hanging. We have not opened this to discover whether Psalm 1 continues (or Job concludes) on the other side of the leaf, but the suspicion must be, given the beauty and quality of the side showing, that this is a leaf that would benefit from double-glazing showcasing both sides. (33296)
For CATHOLICA, click here.
For SERVICE BOOKS, click here.
For general RELIGION, click here.
For ILLUSTRATED BOOKS, click here.

With BOTH the Author's & the Subject's
Signatures
Cecil, Richard. Memoirs of John Bacon, esq. R.A. with reflections drawn from a review of his moral and religious character. London: Pr. for F. & C. Rivington by R. Noble, 1801. 8vo (17.5 cm, 6.9"). Frontis., iv, 118, [2 (1 adv.)] pp.
$1800.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Uncommon first edition of this life of the prominent sculptor, remembered for his memorial busts and statues in Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, and elsewhere. The author was an eminent Church of England clergyman and one of the founders of the Eclectic Society. Joseph Collyer steel-engraved the frontispiece portrait, which shows Bacon at work on a classical head, after John Russell.
WorldCat locates only seven U.S. institutional holdings.
Provenance: This copy is inscribed by the author on a front fly-leaf: “Mrs. Bacon wth the author's affect. respects.” In addition, a
three-page autograph letter signed by Bacon is tipped in; the letter pertains to Bacon family heraldic and heritage matters and includes mention of a deposition. The front pastedown bears the pictorial bookplate and small ticket of Robert Heysham Sayre of Bethlehem, PA.
NSTC C1166. 19th-century half brown morocco with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and blind-tooled trefoil decorations in compartments; joints refurbished, spine bands and extremities slightly worn. Pages age-toned; six leaves browned from an old stain and a few more with small marginal areas browned; frontispiece and title-page with spots of foxing. Manuscript letter with outer edges creased, some creases partially slit, one small strip detached along an edge fold and laid in. An attractive copy of an interesting text with excellent and interesting additional material. (33598)
For ART REFERENCE, click here.
For more BIOGRAPHIES, mostly 20th-Century
“General Reading” & Inexpensive, click here.

“May Content Gild with Smiles Every
Hour as it Flies”
(Commonplace Book). Manuscript on paper, in English. “Album.” [U.K.: 1828–33]. 8vo (18.9 cm, 7.45"). [143] ff.; illus.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
This remarkably substantial collection opens with a neatly hand-inked Burns quotation: “O may the powers the giftie gie me, [/] To see mysel as others see me,” followed by two mounted engravings giving the text of the Lord's Prayer and Psalm 100 in extremely “micro” form. From there the volume offers a wide variety of early 19th-century poems, quotations, plates, and original illustrations, preserved on both plain white and on pink, green, yellow, dark blue, and turquoise pages.
The
original illustrations include pencil sketches of ships in a stormy sea and of stately country homes, a hand-colored moth (one of two) excised and affixed to a watercolored branch of flowers, a pretty spray of colorful blooms signed by Fanny Simpson of Doncaster, and an oil-painted scene of cows in a misty pastoral setting; among the images taken from printed sources are steel-engraved views of Cliffords Tower and Laythorp Postern, “Feramorz relating the story of the Peri,” and a portrait of Sir Walter Scott.
The many poems include “Forget-me-not,” Thomas Campbell's lines on Hope, “Lines Written in the First Leaf of a Friend's Album” (slightly mistitled here, originally written by Bernard Barton), a meditation on the letter E, and an imitation of “Oh no! we never mention her” that closes with “I never can forget”; some entries, e.g., Jessy Steele's “On Leaving Home,” seem to be
original/occasional. Also present is
an original poem signed by John Roby, folklorist and author of Traditions of Lancashire, with the version as inscribed here in Roby's hand (titled “The hush'd Tempest” and dated Rochdale, 1828) differing slightly from “The Storm,” the published form which appeared in The Investigator in 1820.
There is one page offering a puzzle; another offers one verse in French; and a third presents us with
a particularly fine version of “The Map of Matrimony,” beautifully rendered and with a verse from Cowper underneath.
It is possible that more extended sleuthing than we can indulge in might locate this book within a particular family and circle. Fanny Simpson, signing one of her several charming artistic contributions at full length, gives us a Doncaster connection. An “M. Simpson” / “M.S.” appears more than once; was the “Isabella” / “Isabella S” who signed her contribution from Byron intimately, with her given name only, a sister? There are Bayne, Newall, and Stockdale connections; at least TWO Steeles made entries, the Jessy above and also Thomas, who
contributed a number of entries penned in calligraphic mode — one or two of these signed in full and many others signed “T.S.” Was John Roby a family friend??
Half black sheep in imitation of morocco over marbled paper–covered sides, leather edges (including corners) with gilt roll, spine gilt extra; binding rubbed and scuffed overall, but still dignified. All edges gilt. Pages slightly age-toned, with occasional small spots; a few instances of offsetting from or uneven fading to colored paper. Some plates foxed.
A rich and warmly evocative early 19th-century commonplace book, one emanating both Sense and Sensibility as well cultivated in Accomplishments. (35342)
For LITERATURE, click here.
For ILLUSTRATED BOOKS, click here.
For more of WOMEN's interest, click here.
For Books with SPECIAL
PROVENANCE, click here.

“I am anxious you should do a writing portrait . . . ”
Cook, Eliza. A.L.s. (“Eliza”) to “My dear Sec.” London: 6 June 1860. 12mo (7.25" x. 4.5"). 1 p.
$275.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Cook (1818–89) was
a Chartist poet, author, and proponent of political and sexual freedom for women. She writes, “I am again here for a few days . . . and want to know if you can receive me on Friday about eleven. I am anxious you should do a writing portrait to see which will afford you most satisfaction. I will bring the proofs of the sonnet with me.”
Provenance: Residue of the stock of Seven Gables Bookshop (1930–79), via the son of Michael Papantonio (2009).
Very good condition. Tipped onto a slightly larger sheet. With the integral blank. (25726)
For ENGLISH POLITICS, click here.
For more of WOMEN's interest, click here.

“Pull Out of Bate, Allow to Drain a Little & Throw into Pickel”
MANUSCRIPT TRADE SECRETS
Endicott-Johnson Company. Manuscript on paper, in English. Formula book for shoe hide preparation. Endicott, Johnson City, NY: 1924–25. Various sizes (12mo to folio). Bound volume and 10 single sheets (74 pp. used).
$550.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Shoe manufactury was the Endicott-Johnson Company's business and it did well until market forces, especially foreign factories with cheap labor, caused an international upheaval, not just in shoe factories, but all U.S. manufacturing. Its longtime embrace of a particular version of welfare capitalism that it called the “Square Deal” makes it an interesting corporate case study.
This manuscript book offers detailed descriptions of leather preparation techniques and dye formulas as scattered throughout the volume on a total of 74 pages. Also recorded here are charts indicating numbers of hides dyed, as well as which colors were produced on which days. The colors of the 1920s are less common today and their names and details will convey a great deal to fashion historians: Muskox, Esquimo, Velour, Coffee Elk, and Box Brownstone, to list a few.
Needless to say the dye color formulae were proprietary and consequently copies of them rare.
The loose leaves are not excised from the book but are a mix of internal company documents and communications received from suppliers.
Provenance: John Donnelly, whose name appears at the top of two loose leaf of technical tables laid in the bound volume.
An important, suggestive resource for 1920s fashion research, industrial chemistry of the period, and American shoe manufacturing.
A stationer's blank book with lined paper; boards covered with a faux leather that is separating from them; good condition. The ten separate leaves have been removed from volume and are housed separately in a Mylar sleeve. (35989)

20th-Century Renaissance Man — Medievally Inspired MANUSCRIPT Memorial
Erie Railroad Company (Follansbee, Mitchell Davis). Manuscript on paper, in English. “In memoriam Mitchell D. Follansbee 1870 – 1941.” [Chicago: 1941]. 8vo (27.4 cm, 10.75"). [8 (1 blank)] ff.
$950.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Gorgeously rendered manuscript tribute to a prominent lawyer, financial advisor, and railroad executive remembered fondly for “his public spirit, his high personal character, his urbanity and his loyalty as a friend.” Follansbee was a Harvard graduate (and notably active alumnus, serving as president of the Associated Clubs of Harvard) who studied law at
Northwestern University prior to becoming a board member and director of the Erie Railroad Company.
This admiring hand-accomplished homage to Follansbee's life and career was commissioned by his fellow directors and
beautifully calligraphed and illuminated on vellum by the Harris Engrossing Studio of Chicago. The capitals are accomplished in whitework, gilt, purple, and green, and the text in an even, handsome modern Gothic hand, with a gilt border surrounding the text on each page. Each leaf is protected by a moiré-patterned tissue guard. The final page was signed by the chairman and the secretary of the board, and pressure-stamped with the Erie Railroad Company's seal.
Binding: Dark blue morocco framed in gilt double fillets and panelled in a dotted gilt roll with gilt-tooled corner fleurons; spine with gilt-ruled raised bands and gilt-framed compartments. Turn-ins tooled to echo covers, cream moiré silk endpapers, all edges gilt.
Binding as above, edges and extremities showing slight sunning and wear. Vellum (expectably) cockled.
Lovely, unique, beautifully bound, and an impressive showcase both of modern calligraphy and of Follansbee's impact. (38417)

Middlebury College's Early Financial Problems
Evarts, Jeremiah. Autograph Letter Signed to Henry Davis. Charlestown, MA: 20 January 1817. Small 4to (24.5 cm; 9.75"). 3 pp. plus integral address page.
$250.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Below a partially printed receipt form of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions — that Evarts has completed in manuscript acknowledging receipt of
$53.12 “as donations from Sunday Societies,” said money forwarded by the Rev. Dr. Henry Davis, president of Middlebury College — is a serious letter to President Davis.
Evarts writes that he regrets “the unfortunate issue of your attempt to get a philosophical apparatus for your College” and the school's difficulty in raising money. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions holds a note for $1000 that the college owes and Evarts, the organization's treasurer, asks that if the college cannot pay at least some part of the principal, can it at least pay the interest promptly and send a paper guaranteeing payment?
Provenance: Ex–Allyn K. Ford Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, recently deaccessioned.
Written in a clear hand. (33764)
For PRE-1820 AMERICANA, click here.
For CHILDREN / EDUCATION, click here.
For COLLEGES (just a small gathering!), click here.
For RELIGION, click here.
For COMMERCE / TRADE /
FINANCE / ECONOMICS, click here.

Speaking Engagement — Restoration Appeal
Farrar, Frederick William. Autograph Letter Signed to unidentified recipient. Westminster, England: 20 April [between 1876 and 1883]. 12mo (18 cm; 7"), 4 pp.
$40.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Farrar served as rector at St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, and later as Dean of Canterbury, and he was author of the once-famous novel for boys, Eric, or Little by Little. He writes this correspondent, a member of an unnamed society, that he believes he will be able to speak at a meeting, and asks aid in raising funds to restore St. Margaret's — which needs (and in his tenure got) substantial, expensive TLC.
On stationery imprinted “17, Dean’s Yard, Westminster, S.W.”
Provenance: Ex–Allyn K. Ford Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, recently deaccessioned.
Written in a clear hand, with some abbreviations. Evidence of old mounting. (33766)
PLACE
AN ORDER | E-MAIL
US | PRB&M HOME