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)

nothing new since my last, exceptCapt. 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)

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)

Who made the translation is not known, but it is highly likely that it was made for Thomas Larkin (1802–58), an early-arrived American settler in Alta California (April 1832), a signer of the original California constitution, and the first and only U.S consul to the California Republic.

The information in Bandini's report would have been powerful ammunition in Larkin's reports to Washington encouraging American interest in California and its settlement by Anglo-Americans.

Despite the importance of the information contained in Bandini's account of California in the period to ca. 1830, it remained unpublished until 1951, when the Friends of the Bancroft Library published a transcription of the Spanish and a translation into English. This present translation remains unpublished still.

Curiously, while Hubert Howe Bancroft was able to track down and acquired the manuscript history of California written by José Bandini's son Juan (“Apuntes para la historia de la Alta California desde el ano de su fundacion en 1769 hasta el ano de 1845"), he betrays no knowledge in his own history of California of José's work.

Provenance:  The Pacific School of Religion (properly released).

•  See: Bandini, José. Description of California in 1828. Tr. by Doris Marion Wright. Berkeley, CA: Friends of the Bancroft Library, 1951.   Written in a clear secretarial hand on wove paper watermarked “Casa de Vall,” using sepia ink, now faded but evenly so and still readable. Outer wrappers tattered and bug-stained. Document folded three times as to fit in a a pigeonhole storage box; paper somewhat relaxed and flattening, but still notably wavy. Now in a quarter blue morocco clamshell case.  (34728)

Provenance:  Ex–Allyn K. Ford Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, recently deaccessioned.

•  Very good condition; slight smearing of two words, not impairing legibility.  (33356)

•  Publisher's marbled paper–covered boards with roan shelfback; binding rubbed overall. Three additional leaves of notes laid in; pages gently age-toned with occasional small spots. A very readable, evocative, wide-ranging compendium.  (37203)

All documents are certified copies by notaries, and written in a standard public notarial hand liberally and interestingly usingblack, blue, red, and gold ink with calligraphic touches. The originals dated from 1652 to 1788.

The painted and illuminated Coats of Arms: The volume begins with a full-page accomplishment onvellum, in full color, of the Berdugo Avila coat of arms. The coats of arms of ancestors that are incorporated therein are found in the text in appropriate places:Berdugo (fol. 8v), Avila (fol. 13r), Haro (16v), and Torre (21v). These are accomplished inreds, gold, silver, blue, black, and white, and each is followed by a full heraldic explanation of its symbolism and origins. All of these coats of arms are worthy examples of Mexican Colonial illuminated art on paper and vellum.

Binding:  Acid-stained Mexican calf (ca. 1790) with single gilt rope roll on periphery of boards; gilt spine extra, no raised bands. Bright blue-striped floral/foliate “wallpaper” pastedowns, all edges red.

Provenance:  The Berdugo Avila Haro family; in the 20th century in the library of Dirk Stenger of Dusseldorf and then later in the stock of the the Antique Book Shop in Buenos Aires.

New World cartas de hidalguia are much rarer than those done in Spain, and are as yet a little-studied area of Colonial art.

•  Binding as above; free endpapers lacking and poor quality paper ones substituted for the “wallpaper,” with some old “repair” to pastedown “wallpaper” at gutters. Bookstore label on font pastedown; Stenger's neat round ownership stamp on front free endpaper and verso of the vellum coat of arms. This is a meaty example of an iconic kind of Spanish-world document offering social history, legal history, and painted and illuminated art, with the text presented in an attractive and readable hand and the whole in a good, attractive original binding.  (37599)

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)

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 isa stunning testament to one scholar's study of the O.T.  (31077)

This leaf was once part of a Book of Hours: a prayer book with eight sections corresponding to different times of day, always containing the Hours of the Virgin, as well as a calendar and selection of psalms, but more or less personalized depending on each owner's taste and social class. Illuminated Books of Hours like this signaled the owner's status and “values” at the same time — the more sophisticated the decoration, the more money spent — therefore, the more devout the scribe's patron!

•  Soft, white vellum, red edges, lightly soiled; tiny nicks (as usual) on one edge of the leaf where it was sometime detached from previous sewing, preserving margin except for one lower corner where a bit of vellum was cut away or naturally lacking. Very charming.  (30810)

Bond, a Harvard astronomer who pioneered the use of photography in his discipline, may keep it until his death or until it is called for.

Provenance:  Ex–Allyn K. Ford Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, recently deaccessioned.

•  Very good condition. Some folds and creasing.  (33366)

The recto has text and chant of prayers for celebration of the Feast of [Saint] Mary Magdalene (22 July): The rubric reading “Sancte marie ma-/-gdalene ad primas vesperas super psalmos diei. antyphon,” lines 1–2) and the text beginning “Maria pio coniuncta ihesu osculando pedes . . .” (line 3). The verso contains a list of prayers (mainly collects?) for celebrating the feasts of a number of saints and occasions, including the feasts of Saints Peter and Paul (“In Octaua Apostolorum Petri et Pauli,” lines 3–8); “Sanctorum Septem Fratrum” (“[De] Septem fratrem martirum”, lines 16–19); the translation of Saint Benedict (“[In] translacio sancti benedicti abbatis et confessoris,” lines 20–21); Saint Thuriam (“[De] Sancti thuriam episcopi et confessoris,” lines 29–30); Saint Arnulf (“[De] Sancti arnulphi episcopi et martiris,” lines 30–31); Saint Arsenius (May 8) (“[De] Sancti arsenij abbatis et confessoris,” lines 31–32); and Saint Margaret (“[De] Sancte margarete virgine et martiris” lines 32–33).

The text is written in a Gothic textura book hand of good quality in two grades of formality: the text on the recto and that of larger size on the verso is written in textualis quadrata (minims have consistently applied feet), while the text of smaller size on the verso is written in the slightly less formal textualis semi-quadrata (although some minims have feet, others are simply rounded off). As should be expected there is frequent use of abbreviations including both contractions and suspensions (“-us,” “-rum” and “-bus” abbreviations), although with a general preference for “et” in full. The music for the chant (on the recto) is written inneumes.

The recto has a single large initial “M” in red (the height of one stave plus one line), marking the opening of the chant for “Maria pio communita oscilando. . . . “ and on the verso are six large 2–line initials in alternating red and blue (D[eus], S[anctoru(m)], P[resta], D[eus], C[onserua], and D[eus]), marking the beginning of liturgical sections; the outside portion of each initial was lost to cropping when the leaf was recycled as binding material. The rubrics and liturgical signposts (e.g., “oratio”) are in red, including antiphons on recto and Orations, Chapters, Collects, Hymns, Antiphons, Responds and Versicles on verso, with other liturgical signposts underlined in red.

•  This leaf was used as binding waste in making up a volume half its size, to which end it was heavily cut down to a size just smaller than the text block and rotated horizontally. A crease running horizontally across the middle of the leaf shows the mark (location) of the spine of that volume. Instructive, and visually striking.  (37285)

large, magnificent Benedictine Psalter

The text appears here in sepia ink in a large Renaissance rotunda hand, set forth to the point of our bracket above, illuminated and featuringa 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 hidesthe 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)

Provenance:  This copy is inscribed by the author on a front fly-leaf: “Mrs. Bacon wth the author's affect. respects.” In addition, athree-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)

•  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)

a Chartist poet, author, and proponent of political and sexual freedom for women

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)

Provenance:  Martha Crownfield was the wife of the Rev. Henry Crownfield, rector of St. Lawrence in South Walsham, Norfolk. There is another extant cookery manuscript known to have been written by her, bearing inscriptions dated 1746 and 1765; the handwriting matches that seen here.

•  Original sewing, first bifolium (“wrapper”) not present. Pages age-toned, with margins darkened and scattered light smudges, otherwise clean. A very pleasing collection of recipes, from a clearly dedicated housekeeper.  (36929)

•  Both long folded, the bill apparently into an "envelope" (with direction to Mrs. Hofmaster); receipt with some tears and tatters not affecting text.

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)

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)

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)

•  Binding as above; edges and extremities rubbed, small cracks in leather of front cover and spine, a few small abrasions to back cover. Pages age-toned with occasional light spotting, otherwise clean. Evocative, charming.  (27354)