Binding:  Contemporary crimson straight-grained morocco, covers framed in blind acanthus-leaf and fillet rolls surrounding central blind-tooled foliate medallions, spine with blind-tooled designs and gilt-stamped publication information, board edges with gilt roll. Morocco doublures (i.e., “pastedowns”) of same leather as covers (but now much brighter!) with light blue moiré silk inlays as center panels; matching silk mounted on free endpapers. Morocco with very large and wide, very bright gilt-rolled borders surrounding the inlays, and both inlays and endpapers with blind-rolled and -stamped decorations. All edges gilt.

Provenance: Front pastedown with booklabel and bookplate of Charles T. Tallent-Bateman (a lawyer and antiquary who served as president of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society), one reading “No. 15 of my R. Westall library or collection. C.T. T.-B., Manchester.” Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  NSTC 2F1364.   Bound as above; joints (outside) and edges rubbed, spine and edges slightly darkened. Ownership indicia as above. As usual, some offsetting from plates, occasional instances of mild foxing. An elegantly distinctive volume on shelf or table and a frankly “showy” one when opened.  (37632)

•  ESTC W21390; Evans 30442; not in Sabin. Recently rebound in quarter blue morocco over blue cloth, leather edges stamped with gilt rolls, spine gilt-stamped with title and publication information. Title-page with inner margin reinforced, chips to outer edges. Some leaves lightly spotted, title-page somewhat more darkly so.  (2735)

This edifying story isillustrated with a maritime vignette on the front cover, a frontispiece, and five rather large in-text wood engravings. The frontispiece has early hand coloring in blue and a greenish yellow, as does one other image; three others are touched with the yellow alone.

Provenance:  Ownership signature of a young Caleb D. Shreve, dated 1843, on front free endpaper; bookplate with lending rules of the “Library of Upper Evesham Monthly Meeting of Women Friends, at Medford.”

•  American Imprints 11639. Not in Rosenbach, Children's.   Publisher's printed paper–covered sides with sheep shelfback, spine with gilt-stamped and chipped at head; binding darkened and rubbed overall, especially at extremities and unfortunately across the vignette on the cover. Front joint (outside) open. Front free endpaper with early pencilled ownership inscription. A browned copy with spots of minor foxing and staining. Two leaves torn across lower outer corners with loss of last words on several lines, though sense is still clear; another leaf, in a signature where the leaves are smaller, with a chip or paper flaw from bottom taking a word on one side and a few letters on the other. Laid in at p. 120, someone's slip noting that the chapter beginning there refers to the War of 1812 and recouns the history of the American Revolution. Clearly read and loved.  (35238)

Binding: Publisher's navy cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped decorative title and ship vignette, spine with gilt-stamped title and publication information, in later quarter blue morocco and blue cloth slipcase and matching chemise.

Provenance:  Front pastedown of volume and front inside panel of slipcase each with armorial bookplate of the Verneys of Hertfordshire.

•  Wise 55 ; Keating 131.   Bound as above, dust jacket lacking; very slight rubbing to extremities, slipcase showing moderate shelfwear with spine sunned. Slipcase and front pastedown each with armorial bookplate as above. One leaf with short tear from lower margin, extending into text, partially and unobtrusively repaired; one signature just starting to loosen. Volume clean and attractive, in solid and pleasing housing.  (32484)

•  Forster 32; Toy 156.   Publisher's brown cloth, covers stamped in blind, spine with gilt-stamped title; edges and extremities slightly rubbed, spine with small spots of discoloration. Pages faintly age-toned, otherwise clean; a nice copy.  (33301)

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)

•  Updike, Merrymount Press, 390. Not in Agner, Books of WAD (!).   Publisher's red cloth, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, front cover with floral and ribbon frame surrounding lettering, back gilt-stamped in a panel design, top edge gilt, others untrimmed; gently rubbed, corners slightly bowing inwards, untrimmed edges dust-soiled. Small specklings to paper, from manufacture; light age-toning and occasional offsetting from plates to opposite pages.  A readable and evocative text, often opinionated, that is much enhanced by its well-chosen and well-produced illustrations.  (38835)

•  NSTC 2D970.   Publisher's gray-blue paper wrappers; front wrapper with tiny hole, spine creased with one chip, edges and corners rubbed. Pages age-toned, otherwise clean. A solid, clean copy of a scarce item.  (36558)

The story is illustrated witheight color plates (including the frontispiece) by legendary artist Arthur Rackham. This is a later issue of the first edition, in the original red cloth, with Rackham's name not given on the title-page and no page numbers on the illustrations.

Binding:  Publisher's red cloth, spine with black-lettered, gilt-stamped label and Native American vignette, front cover with three men on a whaling ship with the name “Scud” on the side, watching two Native Americans rowing a canoe; main design stamped in black and white with accents of blue and brown.

Provenance:  On front free endpaper, the bookplate of B. George Ulizio, an avid bibliophile and collector. Kent State University holds much of his British and American literature collection.

•  BAL 4434 (for the 1840 first edition).   Binding as above, boards slightly bowed, dark spotting to top and fore-edge, scrape to fore-edge; in a brown cloth clamshell case, black label with gilt lettering, overall rubbing, the brown ribbon book-pull within now in two pieces. Frontispiece beginning to pull away, but still attached at the top; interior age-toned with occasional foxing. A fascinating journey in a striking cloth binding, with illustrations fromearly in Rackham's career.  (38624)

This Concord, NH, printing is number 9 in Rufus Merrill & Company's “Series No. 2" of “New and Amusing Toys,” according to the back wrapper. The work is illustrated with three wood engravings of ships, one of which is signed “A. DeC[???].”

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

•  American Imprints 43-4410.   Publisher's printed green paper wrappers, very bright; corners and spine extremities slightly worn; inside with only a very little light spotting. A clean, crisp, very well-preserved representative of its genre.  (38479)

•  ESTC R19001; Wing (rev. ed.) E1765.   Quarter red morocco with French-swirl marbled paper sides and gilt spine lettering; binding signed (with small rubber-stamp on verso of front free endpaper) by the Macdonald Company of New York. Leather of joints rubbed. Very good condition.  (37985)

Signed binding: Publisher's dark blue cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped stylized double fish design, signed with the double D monogram of Decorative Designers; spine with gilt-stamped title and scallop shell. Top edge gilt.

•  Binding as above, corners and spine a bit rubbed. Front pastedown with private owner's bookplate. A clean, attractive copy.  (28862)

•  Cockalorum 170.   Publisher's green cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped ship vignette, spine with gilt-stamped title; minimal wear to extremities, faintest light spotting to spine and small area of back cover, otherwisea clean and beautiful copy of this exciting adventure tale, in elegant dress.  (36890)

•  Publisher's quarter cloth over green paper boards; paper title label on spine. Contemporary gift inscription on front free endpaper. Paper covers with some old minor scrapes and finger marks; VG.  (19462)

This pamphlet presents the treaty and two separate articles with more specific details on implementation of its arrangements in French, Spanish, and English, with the British ratification statements recorded in Latin and English and the Spanish ones in Spanish and English. Several ships are mentioned by name, and the West Indies and Puerto Rico appear as locales for conflict.

•  ESTC T4473; Sabin 16195; not in Alden & Landis, European Americana; Goldsmiths'-Kress 07664.   Removed from nonce volume, first leaf separating from text block; light age-toning, one top margin trimmed closely, light marginal pencilling on first and final leaves. A good printed relic of a failed peace effort.  (38080)

Grotius saw his book published for the first time in 1625 at Paris: It studies the legality of war and immediately established itself as a foundational work on the topic. Modern scholars regard it asfoundational in international law.

This edition contains added scholarship from Joannes Fredericus Gronovius (1611–71) and Jean Barbeyrac (1674–1744). In addition to De jure belli ac pacis the reader will find two other important Grotius tracts at the rear of the volume: Mare liberum and Libellus singularis de aequitate, indulgentia et facilitate, meaning the volume treats not just of law of war, but natural law, international law, maritime law, and law of the sea.

There are two issues of this edition, the other having “Ex Officina Wetsteniana” on the title-page in place of “Apud Janssonio-Waesbergio.” In both editions the title-page is printed in black and red, and of course, they have the same pagination. The work has side- and shouldernotes, an engraved portrait of Grotius, and an added engraved title-page.

•  Meulen & Diermanse (1950 ed), Grotius, 602.   Modern quarter claret-colored morocco with gilt-accented raised bands; gilt center device in each spine compartment. Marbled paper sides. Library pressure-stamps on title-page, no other markings; light age-toning and occasional spotting or foxing. A very nice copy with all edges decorated — more than “speckled,” not quite “marbled,” definitely attractive.  (26526)

Searches of NUC, WorldCat, COPAC, CICLA, and Metabase locate only two copies, both in the U.S. However, we do know of a third copy at Tulane.

•  Not in Valenzuela.   Folded and stitched as issued; minor chipping in lower margins. Scattered faint foxing. A very good copy.  (31053)

Four black and white plates (including the frontispiece) done by F.T. Merrill accompany the text.

Binding:  Publisher's green cloth with white lettering to spine; front board decorated with a ship at sea stamped in white and gray, with white lettering and two white single-rule borders. Signed by Amy Sacker.

•  Bound as above; extremities very lightly rubbed. Small, rubber-stamped monogram (CMcA? JCA?) on the front free endpaper. Minor gutter crack at p. 30. Overall a wonderful copy.  (38127)

merchant-service

Vol. I opens with a steel-engraved portrait of the author, done by Henry Cook after Hervé; vol. III is illustrated with an oversized, folding plate of a water-engine intended for millwork, devised by the author, and a plate of another of his inventions: the automated “chamber fire escape”, which enables anyone to lower him- or herself from a high window. This is the third edition, following the first of 1807.

•  NSTC H625; Sabin 30461.   Contemporary speckled sheep, spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels; vol. I with joints and extremities refurbished, vols. II and III with spines and edges rubbed, old strips of library tape reinforcing spine heads. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplates, call number on endpapers, pressure-stamp on title-pages, vols. II and III with paper shelving labels at top of spines (vol. I showing signs of now-absent label). Vol. I title-page with offsetting from frontispiece; vol. III with pp. 69–72 excised (two leaves of a rather long religious-themed letter from Harriott to his son) and with upper portion of one leaf crumpled, reinforced some time ago. Some light age-toning, intermittent small spots of foxing and ink-staining, pages generally clean. Utterly absorbing.  (30651)

Illustrated witheight pastels in color by the author, printed by Adrian Lack at the Senecio Press, this is copy 46 in a limited edition of 280 set in Monotype Gill Sans 262 cast by Harry McIntosh on heavy Rivoli paper. It was bound by Rachel and Richard James in quarter bright yellow fine-grain cloth with the title gilt-stamped not on the spine but along the line of the its cloth on the handmade light green Larroque paper covering the boards; black Canson was used for the endpapers. Copies 241–80 were reserved for binders in sheets.

•  Binding as above. Pristine in a mylar wrapper.  (30558)

This is the first printing of the first treaty of commerce and navigation between the United States and Russia; the only prior convention between the two nations was the convention of 1824 concerning the Pacific Northwest. This treaty establishes and confirms reciprocal trade, and commercial and navigation rights to vessels of both countries, and also applies the same rights to thekingdom of Poland.

Government document: 23d Congress, 1st Session. Doc. No. 415. Ho. of Reps. Executive.

•  Recent paper wrappers. Title-page with inked numeral in upper margin. Light spotting.  (12529)

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 487.  Bound as above, with ochre linen shelfback and gilt-stamped title, in yellow paper–covered slipcase with gilt-stamped title; slipcase with inch-long ding to one edge and otherwise but a few small scuffs and light shelfwear to edges; volume just reached by the blow and cover just showing that — otherwise (blessedly) clean and fresh. (36861)

As described by the title-pages, the volumes are “Illustrated by upwards of three hundred engravings, from sketches by the author. The steel plates executed [by J. Hamilton and others] under the superintendence of J.M. Butler, the wood engravings by Van Ingen & Snyder.” The plates total 20 altogether, including frontispieces.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 39552. Good; removed from a nonce volume. Large but faint old library stamps to title-page; age-toning, and occasionally a spot.  (33153)

•  Publisher's cloth. Very good condition, in a good dust jacket; some nicks along the lower edge of the jacket's near panel and head of the spine.  (6767)