
NATURAL HISTORY
A-E F-R S-Z
[
]
Bringing
TEA to the British
Fortune, Robert. A journey to the tea countries of China; including Sung-Lo and the Bohea Hills; with a short notice of the East India Company's tea plantations in the Himalaya Mountains. London: John Murray, 1852. 8vo (22.5 cm, 8.875"). Col. frontis., add. illus. t.-p. (incl. in pagination), xv, [1], 398 pp.; 1 map., 1 col. plt., 1 plt., illus.
[SOLD]
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First edition: a first-person account of the critical stage in the story of how the British first broke China's monopoly on tea production and established tea cultivation in India. Fortune (1812–80) was a Scottish botanist and plant hunter who, during his original trip to China (described in Three Years' Wanderings in the Northern Provinces of China), became the first European to discover that green and black tea come from the same plant. On his second trip, recounted here, he successfully purchased Camellia sinensis plants and seeds in areas of the country forbidden to foreigners, and then smuggled them out on behalf of the East India Company. In addition to his
world-altering corporate espionage, Fortune is remembered today for the numerous plants he introduced to the West, many named in his honor. Here, he describes not just his botanical experiences but also his
cultural adventures disguised as a native (successfully, according to him!) during the course of his travels beginning in 1848.
The volume is illustrated with a delicately tinted, lithographed frontispiece with a beautiful view of a mountainside tea plantation and a similarly rendered scene of ling fruit harvesting, both done by W.L. Walton; a decorative title-page featuring a red-printed gate; a map of the primary tea-growing districts; and a number of in-text engravings of plants, artifacts, the “mode of carrying common tea,” etc.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
NSTC 2F11546. Late 19th-century half black calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine gilt extra; front board and spine neatly and unobtrusively reattached with new gilt-stamped leather title-label, leather refurbished, sides and edges rubbed. Top edges gilt. Frontispiece recto with former owner's label partially removed from upper inner corner; upper outer frontispiece corner with small repair neatly done some time ago, offsetting onto previous and following leaves. Pages gently age-toned.
Like its author, showing signs of having travelled; like its subject, both enduring and attractive. (39766)

The Ill-Fated Scots Colony at
Darien
Foyer, Archibald, supposed author. A defence of the Scots settlement at Darien. With an answer to the Spanish memorial against it. And arguments to prove that it is the interest of England to join with the Scots, and protect it. To which is added, a description of the country, and a particular account of the Scots colony. No place [Edinburgh?]: No publisher/printer, 1699. Small 4to (20 cm; 8"). [2] ff., 60 pp.
$1250.00
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As the 1690s wound down the lords and and burghers of Scotland dreamed of an overseas empire such as Spain, England, Portugal, and the Dutch had, and to this end came into existence the Company of Scotland for Trading to Africa and the Indies. Chartered in 1695 and with a coffer of some £400,000, it established a colony (“Darien”) on the Caribbean coast of what is now Panama, a worse location being hard to conceive. Even today that site is virtually uninhabited.
Trouble plagued the enterprise from the arrival of the first Scots in 1698 and it fairly shortly collapsed for lack of supplies, malaria, other diseases, internal dissension, a nonexistent trading base, and the might of the Spanish military in the region. The wreck of the scheme led to an economic crisis at home which in turn helped enable the 1707 Act of Unification.
The vast bulk of this work attempts to convince the English to support the Scots' enterprise and cites political, religious, social, and economic reasons for doing so; clearly, the Scots knew that English naval might in particular would be essential for the success of the scheme. Beyond this, however, a section (pp. 42 to 51) addresses the natural history, native population, agricultural commodities, and indigenous industry of the region; and the work ends with an account of the Scots' settlement, the buildings erected there, and its intercourse with the indigenous people.
Authorship of this work is problematic: It is signed “Philo-Caledon” at the end of the dedication and three other names have have been proposed as possible authors in addition to Foyer's — George Ridpath, Andrew Fletcher, and John Hamilton (2nd Baron Belhaven). Added to the conundrum of authorship, the work was produced in four editions in the same year, each having different numbers of pages, each with a different signature scheme, none with a publisher, and this one without even a place of publication!
Wing (rev. ed.) F2047; Sabin 78211; Alden & Landis 699/9; ESTC R18505 ; and Halkett & Laing II:32. 20th-century half dark brown crushed morocco with brown linen sides. This copy has all the hallmarks of having once been through a British bookseller's “hospital”: all leaves are dust-soiled or age-toned; all leaves are uncut but some have been extended and others not, and some leaves with torn margins (but not all) have had lost paper restored; all such repairs and extensions are within the first six leaves, meaning these were probably supplied from another copy. Top of title-leaf trimmed with loss of “A” of the title; another leaf with a tear to the top margin with loss costing tops of several letters of words on one page, and two leaves with the running head guillotined by a binder; some stray stains.
An interesting copy for its probable if problematic history and condition. (34130)

French N.T. with Marlorat Notes & an
ILLUSTRATED CALENDAR
(French Calendar). Calendrier Historial, & Lunaire. La Lune est nouuelle à l'endroit du Nombre d'or: & nous aluons 9. ceste annee 1566. Lyon: Pour Antoine Vincent, 1566. 8vo (12.1 cm; 4.75"). [16] ff.; illus. [bound with] Bible. N.T. French. [1564]. Geneva. [Le nouveau Testament, c'est à dire, la nouvelle Alliance de nostre Seigneur Jesus Christ. Reueu & corrigé de nouveau sur le Grec par l'aduis des Ministres de Geneve. Auec annotations reueuës et augmentées par M. Augustin Marlorat]. [Par Antoine Vincent, 1564; colophon: A Lyon: Par Symphorien Barbier]. 12mo. [30], 824, [24] pp. Lacks t.-p.
$3250.00
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Paired in this pocket-sized volume are an elegant 16th-century calendar and a French, Geneva N.T. The calendar — printed for use in 1566 — contains
twelve attractive and well-impressed one-third page size woodcuts depicting the various chores required in each month, such as shearing sheep in June or crushing grapes in September, and it ends with French fair dates generally as well as dates for fairs in Lyon, Frankfurt, and Anvers specifically.
The French N.T. contains revisions and numerous marginal notes from Marlorat (1506–62), a French reformer and popular preacher, and was published only two years after he was
martyred at Rouen in 1562 under charges of treason. While this N.T. lacks its title-page, its contents match those of Van Eys N.T. 118.
Binding: Late 19th- or early 20th-century tan calf, spine gilt extra with two gilt leather labels; covers framed in gilt and triple-ruled in blind, with marbled endpapers, gilt board edges and turn-ins. All edges gilt.
Searches of NUC, WorldCat, COPAC, and KVK find only one copy of the almanac and one of the New Testament, bound together. They are in the Württembergische Landesbibliothek. However Chambers lists five copies in addition to that one, including one at the National Library of Scotland that is not findable via COPAC.
Provenance: The Howell Bible Collection, Pacific School of Religion (properly released).
Van Eys, Bibles French, pt. II, 118; Chambers, French Bibles, 340; not in Darlow & Moule. Bound as above, rebacked, with gentle rubbing. Light general age-toning with this greater at edges, Bible title-page lacking; two early leaves darkened and one repaired, some leaves closely trimmed touching captions or with loss of a letter or two from marginal notes, two leaves with short tears and three each with a small spot. Ex-library as above: pencilling on endpapers, five-digit acquisition stamp and call number on title-page verso, booklabel at back.
A compact and dare it be said “darling” book. (36407)
CORNERSTONE
for an
AMERICAN
SPORTING
LIBRARY
“Gentleman
of Philadelphia County, A” [i.e.,
Jesse Y. Kester]. The American shooter's manual, comprising
such plain and simple rules, as are necessary to introduce the inexperienced
into a full knowledge of all that relates to the dog, and the correct use of
a gun; also a description of the game of this country. Philadelphia: Carey,
Lea & Carey, 1827. 12mo (18.5 cm; 7.125"). [2] ff., pp. [ix]–249,
[1] p., [1 (errata)] f., [3 (ads)] ff.; frontis., 2 plts.
$1800.00
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The first American illustrated sporting
book and the first American sporting book written by an American.
Only one sporting book published in America preceded it: The Sportsman's
Companion (NY,1783; later editions Burlington [NJ], 1791, and Philadelphia,
1793), “by a gentleman, who has made shooting his favorite amusement upwards
of twenty-six years, in Great-Britain, Ireland, and North-America.”
Kester deals almost exclusively with game birds and waterfowl native to the
Delaware Valley that surrounds Philadelphia: wild turkeys, partridge, snipe,
quail, grouse, and ducks. With regard to rifles and guns he addresses cleaning,
powder, wadding, etc. And when writing about dogs, in addition to notes on training
and conditioning them, he offers recipes for common ailments and gun-shot wounds.
The plates are signed “F. Kearny,” an artist born in Perth Amboy,
NJ, who studied drawing with Archibald and Alexander Robertson and engraving
with Peter Maverick. From 1810 to his death in 1833 he practiced engraving
in Philadelphia.
There are two states of gathering “U”: this copy has the typographical
error “tibbon” with the stop-press correction to “ribbon”
on p. 235.
The volume ends with advertisements for several sporting and fishing goods
suppliers.
Shoemaker 27838; Howes K108; Henderson, American Sporting
Books, 6; Phillips, Sporting Books, 21; Streeter Sale 4084; Bennett,
Practical Guide, 60–61. On Stauffer, American Engravers,
I, 148–49. Publisher's sprinkled sheep with simple rope roll
in blind on board edges, some abrasion to leather; round spine with gilt double
rules forming “spine compartments,” black leather title label.
The usual light and scattered foxing noted in all copies, nothing more.
A
very nice copy. (28553)

“The Yaks are Strong & Hardy”
Gerard, Alexander. Account of Koonawur in the Himalaya,
etc. etc. etc. London: James Madden & Co., 1841. 8vo (23 cm, 9"). xiii, [3], 190, [2], [195]–308 (i.e.,
310), xxvi, [2 (adv.)] pp.; 1 fold. map.
$1750.00
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First edition: Description of the Kannaur (or Kunáwár) region of the Himalayas, taken from the late Capt. Gerard's papers and edited by George Lloyd. Charles William Wason, in the Monthly Review (1841 collected volume), opened his review of this work by saying “Captain Alexander Gerard, and his brother Dr. J.G. Gerard, have been deservedly ranked amongst the most enterprising scientific travellers to whom Great Britain has given birth,” and he went on to predict that this volume “will be regarded as a precious contribution to science, and to geographical knowledge.”
Gerard's observations cover botany, linguistics, culture, and commerce, as well as geography. The area of his travels is depicted by an oversized, folding map of his own design.
NSTC 2G5453; Howgego, II, G7. Contemporary brown cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title; rebacked and 95% of original spine reapplied, with the publisher's name at the foot of the spine chipped. Front pastedown and back of map each with institutional rubber-stamp (no other markings), front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription dated [18]49. Hinges (inside) reinforced. Last preface page with small inked annotation. Pages slightly age-toned; map with light offsetting and one short tear starting along fold, not touching image. (24291)

Polenta before It Was Made with
“Turkey Wheat”
& Woodcuts from the
Moretus Press
Gerard, John. The herball, or, General historie of plantes. London: Printed by Adam Islip, Joice Norton & Richard Whitakers, 1636. Large folio (35.5 cm; 14"). [19 of 20] ff., 1630 [i.e., 1634] pp., [24 of 25] ff. (without the initial and final blank leaves).
$13,500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
“When reading Gerard we are wandering in the peace of an Elizabethan garden, with a companion who
has a story for every flower and is full of wise philosophies” (Woodward, p. viii). And indeed, Gerard's herbal is written in “glorious Elizabethan prose, [with] the folk-lore steeping its pages'” (Woodward, p. vii), these factors going a long way towards making it one of the best-known and -loved of the early English herbals. The “herbs” surveyed include plants aquatic and terrestrial, New World and Old, embracing shrubs, plants, and trees, each with a description of its structure and appearance, where it is found (and how it got there), when it is sown and reaped or flowers, its name or names (often with engrossingly exotic etymologies), its “temperature,” and its “vertues” or uses (often curious).
The story is famous: John Norton, Queen's printer, wished to bring out an English language version of Dodoen's Pemptades of 1583 and hired a certain “Dr. Priest” to do so, but the translator died with the work only partially done. A copy of the manuscript translation made its way into John Gerard's hands and he seized the opportunity, reorganizing the contents, obscuring the previous translator's contribution, incorporating aspects of Rembert and Cruydenboeck's works, and commandeering the result as his own.
Gerard abandoned Dodoen's classification, opting for l'Obel's instead, and, in a stroke of ambition and brilliance, illustrated the work with
more than 2500 woodcuts of plants. Many of these are large and all are attractive but more than a few were of plants he himself did not know, thus leading to considerable confusion between illustration and text in the earliest editions, this being third overall and the second with Thomas Johnson's additions and amendments. For both Johnson editions
a large number of the woodcuts were obtained from the famous Leyden printing and publishing firm of Moretus, successors to the highly famous firm of Plantin. As Johnston notes: “Most of the cuts were those used in the botanicals published by Plantin, although a number of new woodcuts were added after drawings by Johnson and Goodyer” (Cleveland Herbal . . . Collections, #185).
The large thick volume begins with a handsome engraved title-page by John Payne incorporating a bust of the author, urns with flowers and herbs, and full-length seated images of Dioscorides and Theophrastus and of Ceres and Pomona. Replacing the missing initial blank is a later leaf on which is mounted a large engraving of Gerard. The text is printed in italic, roman, and gothic type.
There is, to us, a surprising and very interesting section on grapes and wines. The first part of our caption delights partly in discovery that maize, the “corn” of the U.S., is here called “turkey wheat” — with further note that you can make bread of it, but that the result is pleasing only to “barbarous” tastes! The entry as a whole shows
Gerard at his characteristic best, at once scientifically systematic and engagingly discursive.
Provenance: Neatly lettered name of “W. Younge” at top of title-page; it is tempting to attribute this to William Younge, physician of Sheffield and Fellow of the Royal Linnean Society, whose online correspondence shows him to have been an eager collector of botanical books.
STC (rev. ed.) 11752; Alden & Landis, European Americana, 636/25; Nissen, Botanischebuchs, 698n; Pritzel 3282n; Johnston, The Cleveland Herbal, Botanical, and Horticultural Collections, 185; Woodward, Gerard's Herball: The essence thereof distilled (London, 1964). On the source of the blocks, see: Hunt Botanical Catalogue and Bowen, K. L., & D. Imhof, The illustration of Books Published by the Moretuses (Antwerpen, 1997). For “Turkey Wheat, “ see: Gerard, p. 81; for polenta, p. 71. Late 17th-century English calf, plain style; rebacked professionally in the 20th century, later endpapers. As usual, without the first and last blank leaves. Three leaves with natural paper flaws in blank margins. A very good copy. (34500)
González Bustillo, Juan. Extracto, ô Relacion methodica, y puntual de los autos de reconocimiento, practicado en virtud de commission del señor presidente de la Real Audiencia de este reino de Guatemala. Pueblo de Mixco [Guatemala]: Impreso en la oficina de A. Sanchez Cubillas, 1774. Folio (29.5 cm; 11.675"). [2], 86 pp. (without final leaf with one erratum).
$10,750.00
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Following the ruin of Santiago de los Caballeros by the big earthquake of 1773, the capital of Guatemala was moved first to the little town of Mixco and then later to the location of the present site of Guatemala City. Offered here is the highly important report of the commission headed by Juan González Bustillo on that devastating July, 1773 earthquake: It occupies pp. 1–55 and is followed by "Prosigue la relacion, ô Extracto de todo lo que resulta èvacuado en la Junta general, y demas que se ha tenido presente hasta la conclusion del assunto de translacion, e informe, que debe hacerse à Su Magestad” on pp. 57–86.
The careful, lengthy, and contemporary reports present here detail the day’s events, give the sequence of the destruction of various buildings and areas of the city, recount salvage and evacuation efforts, etc. The writers (and the citizens) erroneously blamed the nearby volcanos for causing the tremors and quaking, but that was logical at the time. Seeking historical perspective, the commissioners make significant and informed comparisons with earlier earthquakes.
This document is one of the very few printed in the temporary capital of Mixco, a press having been salvaged from the ruins in the former capital. Thus, Mixco was the second city/town to have a press in Central America, and then, for only a short time—appoximately two years.
In addition to being important for its contents and in the realm of printing history, the González Bustillo report is uncommon: We trace only half a dozen copies in U.S. libraries.
Medina, Guatemala, 384; Palau 105113; Sabin 27811. Modern full calf, very plain style. Without the final leaf with one erratum on it. (13841)

“He is Treacherous — He is Barbarous — He is Vile Beyond Measure”
Greenwood, James; Ernest Griset, illus. The purgatory
of Peter the cruel. London & New York: George Routledge & Sons, 1868. 4to (22.7 cm, 8.9"). Frontis. (incl. in pagination), 164, [2 (adv.)] pp.; col. illus.
$100.00
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Peter, a mean and thoughtless sailor who since childhood has indulged in unbridled cruelty to small animals, learns his lesson after metamorphosizing first into a blackbeetle, then in rapid succession a bluebottle fly, a snail, an ant, and finally a newt. This comic tale of redemption — which, like several of Greenwood and Griset's collaborations, uses language reflecting contemporary social and racial prejudices — is illustrated with a total of
36 hand-colored, wood-engraved full-page and in-text scenes by Ernest Griset (a frontispiece, 23 full-page images, and 12 vignettes).Trigger warning: This is a 19th-century book and does use the “n” word more than once in very derogatory ways.
Osborne Collection, p. 250; NSTC 2G21003. Publisher's dark red textured cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped decorative title and vignette, back cover with blind-stamped arabesque medallion, rebacked with plainer cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title; original cloth edges darkened and worn, back cover with spots of bubbling and discoloration. Pages very faintly age-toned with a few occasional edge chips. Internally clean, unmarked copy of this unusual juvenile item. (39403)

A Visit from an Unnamed BUT
Possibly Discoverable &
Probably Published WOMAN Writer
Hall, Capt. Basil. Autograph Letter Signed to “Madam.” Putney Heath: no year. 12mo (7.125" x 4"). 2 pp., with integral blank leaf.
$125.00
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Hall (1788–1844), a Scot, naval officer, and author of several accounts of voyages and travels including Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea and the Great Loo-Choo Island in the Japan Sea (1818), Extracts from a Journal Written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexico in the years 1820, 1821, 1822 (1824), and Travels in North America in 1827–28, tells his correspondent that she is welcome to call on him on Sunday as she proposes, any time after 10:30 A.M. He gives detailed instructions on how to reach his house: It “is on the top of the Heath close to the Telegraph, which is a single Staff, a Semaphore.” He tells her he has finished making notes of her vol. II but has lent vol. I to another and does not yet have it returned to him.
As Hall writes that he will be easy to find because he is “about as well known here though I hope in a different spirit as in Yankee Land,” we date the letter to some time shortly enough after publication of Travels in North America for oblique reference to its angry reception there to be both natural and “fresh”; and, indeed, we wonder if his correspondent is American?
Provenance: Ex–Allyn K. Ford Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, recently deaccessioned.
Very good condition. Old folds, a few spots of pale tea-colored stains. Written in a pale ink that is yet quite legible. (33346)
Hayden's
Survey: Thomas
on
Grasshoppers
& Locusts
Hayden, Ferdinand Vandeveer, and Cyrus Thomas. Report
of the United States Geological Survey of the territories: Synopsis of the Acrididae of North America.
Washington: Government Printing Office, 1873. Folio (31.5 cm, 12.4"). x, 24, 262 pp.; 1 plt.
$375.00
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First edition: Vol. V of a five-volume series, this volume is dedicated to zoology and
botany. Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, remembered today as one of the primary proponents of the
creation of Yellowstone National Park, was a surgeon and geologist who led the massive United States
Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories from 1867 through 1879, and edited the
resulting publications. The present portion of that enormous undertaking consists of “A Synopsis of
the Acrididae of North America,” written by pioneering American entomologist Cyrus Thomas.
Thomas's monograph describes earwigs, cockroaches, devils-horses, walking-sticks,
grasshoppers (this category including locusts), and crickets, and is illustrated
with a few in-text wood engravings in addition to the lithographed plate (done
by W.H. Holmes) showing 17 different U.S. insects.
This copy is uncut and unopened.
Schmeckebier, Catalogue & Index of the Publications
of the Hayden, King, Powell, & Wheeler Surveys, 21. Period-style quarter tan cloth
with light blue paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper label. Title-page institutionally rubber-stamped; title-page and half-title with outer margins repaired. Page edges untrimmed, signatures
unopened. Spots of staining to outer margins of a few leaves. In fact a nice copy.
(25282)
Hayden, Ferdinand Vandeveer. Report of the United States Geological Survey of the territories. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1878. 4to (30.4 cm,
11.9"). xv, [3], 366 pp.; 65 plts.
$175.00
First edition: Vol. VII of the final reports of Hayden’s massive survey, consisting of Leo Lesquereux’s report on the “Tertiary Flora” of the American west. This treatise is part II of “Contributions to the Fossil Flora of the Western Territories,” but complete in and of itself, and illustrated with 65 plates lithographed by T. Sinclair & Son.
Publisher’s cloth, covers framed in blind, spine with gilt-stamped title; front cover with discoloration to upper edge and small bump to outer edge, cloth rubbed along edges and joints, spine scuffed. Front pastedown institutionally rubber-stamped. Pages and plates clean, and the large volume quite solid. (19652)

Plants for Both
Ornament & Medicine
Hill, John. The British herbal: An history of plants and trees, natives of Britain, cultivated for use, or raised for beauty. London: Pr. for T. Osborne & J. Shipton, J. Hodges, J. Newbery, et al., 1756 [–1757]. Folio (41.3 cm, 16.25"). Frontis., [4], 536 pp.; 75 plts.
$4000.00
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First edition of this impressive herbal by the prolific and energetic botanist who first introduced the Linnaean system of nomenclature to Great Britain — a polemical figure whose failed acting career and disputes with members of the Royal Society led to academic snubbing despite his notable contributions to science and literature.
This work was originally issued in 52 parts between January 1756 and January 1757, and appears here in its first book-form edition, with a title-page printed in red and black (the title-page is dated 1756 as it was issued with the first part, as per Henrey). Entries cover general plant descriptions along with information on medicinal usages; exotic species grown in Britain are included along with the “natives” of the title.
75 copper-engraved plates by Boyce, Darly and Edwards, Benning, and other hands follow the text, each plate packed with images of multiple plants (uncolored here). The frontispiece, “The Genius of Health receiving the tributes of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, and delivering them to the British Reader,” was designed by Samuel Wade and engraved by Henry Roberts; Wade also designed the title-page vignette, “Asculapius and Flora gathering from the Lap of Nature,” which was engraved by his frequent collaborator Charles Grignion the Elder.
Provenance & Evidence of Readership: Front pastedown with two attractive bookplates of a British independent school and the manor in which it was founded (Canford). The front free endpaper and frontispiece recto are carefully annotated in an early inked hand with summaries of each class of plants described herein, along with appropriate page and plate numbers; the first four plates (only) have neatly and faintly pencilled page numbers with almost every item.
ESTC T29713; Rohde, Old English Herbals, 222; Nissen 881; Henrey, British Botanical and Horticultural Literature, II, 666 & item 798; Brunet, III, 167. Contemporary mottled calf, moderately rubbed and scuffed with spine extremities chipped, gilt-stamped leather spine label chipped with loss of two letters, joints and corners refurbished. Front pastedown with early inked ownership inscription; endpaper and frontispiece with neatly inked contents annotations as above; plate numbers inked or pencilled in margins of the corresponding texts for the first few leaves only. A few plates with light foxing almost entirely confined to margins, five plates with small area of pinholes in vicinity of images; contents otherwise in pleasing condition.
A solid, clean, pleasing copy of an important entry in British botanical studies. (34664)

The Medicinal Virtues of Plants
Illustrated
Hill, John. The family herbal, or an account of all those English plants, which are remarkable for their virtues, and of the drugs which are produced by vegetables of other countries; with their descriptions and their uses, as proved by experience. Bungay: J. & R. Childs, 1822. 8vo (21.2 cm, 8.4"). viii, xl, 376 pp.; 54 col. plts.
$750.00
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19th-century edition of Hill's popular herbal handbook for home medicinal use, originally published in 1755 and here illustrated with
54 delicately tinted hand-colored plates, most bearing three images each. The author was a prolific and energetic botanist known for his Vegetable System and other works.
Provenance: Front free endpaper with early inked inscription: “John Watts Book [/] Dunfermline”; front pastedown with inscriptions of both John Watt and Robert Watt, and back free endpaper with that of John.
Rohde, Old English Herbals, 222; Nissen 881 (for Bungay 1803 ed.); Henrey, British Botanical and Horticultural Literature, III, 829. Contemporary half calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and rules and blind-stamped devices in compartments; binding worn and scuffed, front joint cracked (sewing holding), spine leather with a number of small cracks. One plate with very short tear from upper margin, just barely extending into plate edge and not approaching image; small spots of foxing to some pages and plates, with two early plates showing somewhat more noticeable spotting.
A very browsable and readable copy, with lovely plates. (34849)

BANYAN PRESS: Meditations on Impermanence
Kamo, Chomei; Donald Keene, trans. An account of my hut. Pawlet, VT: The Banyan Press, 1976. 8vo (26.5 cm, 10.4"). [30] pp.
$500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
One of the great classical Japanese essays: Kamo no Chōmei's Hōjōki, translated into English by Donald Keene and here in an elegantly minimalist fine press limited edition from Claude Fredericks of the Banyan Press.
Some describe the work as “the Walden Pond of medieval Japan.” This is the
first book-form edition of the translation, following its original appearance in Keene's Anthology of Japanese Literature; three hundred copies were set by hand in Garamond and printed on Masa paper by Fredericks and David Beeken.
Original hand-stitched wrappers resembling bamboo grain, with paper label on front wrapper, in paper overlay matching the endpapers; outer overlay with minor edge wear and with small annotation (possibly from publisher) on label. A lovely and uncommon production. (35979)

One
Year's Worth of
Well-Spent Half Hours
Knight, Charles. Half-hours with the best authors.
[London: Charles Knight, 1847–48]. 8vo (22.8 cm, 9"). 4 vols. in 2. I: Frontis., engr. t.-p., [2],
312 pp., frontis., engr. t.-p., [2], 312 pp. II: Frontis., engr. t.-p., [iii]–iv, 312 pp., frontis., engr. t.-p., [iii]–iv, 316 pp.
$175.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: Engaging periodical compilation of poetry, history, Christian meditations, natural history, art and literary criticism, biography, and fiction, set forth in
52 weekly issues meant to be consumed in half-hour portions, with each weekly number containing seven half-hours. (Indices and quarterly title-pages are bound in here.)
Knight, who was devoted to books and to literature from the time he was a small child,
was a much-admired printer and publisher, as well as an author, reformer, and would-be
educator: Many of his publishing endeavors were aimed at improving and enlightening the
working class.
NSTC 2K7731. On Knight, see: Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography online. On binding cloth, see: Krupp, Bookcloth, style Wav3.
Publisher's textured brown cloth, covers blind-stamped with muse motif and title, spines with
gilt-stamped title and blind-stamped decorations; lightly worn overall with some fading, vol. II
spine head with traces of a strip of cloth tape. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate,
call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Paper slightly
embrittled (more so in second volume), with a few short edge tears. Externally ordinary;
internally worthwhile. (26860)
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At Least It's
NOT Eye of Newt
Langham, William. The garden of health: containing the sundry rare and hidden vertues and properties of all kindes of simples and plants. Together with the manner how they are to bee used and applyed in medicine for the health of mans body, against divers diseases and infirmities most common amongst men. London: Printed by Thomas Harper, 1633. 4to in 8s (19 cm; 7.5"). [4] ff., 702 pp., [33] ff.
$3400.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Preparing for a trip from England to Virginia or Massachusetts in the 1630s or 40s, one would have been well advised to make sure someone in the party was bringing a copy of Langham's work. Once in America, one would have made good use of the herbal remedies for some of the more common ailments the newly arrived would have suffered, and one would have had greater access to the “exotic” American sarsaparilla and guaiacum that Langham discusses.
This precursor to the “Physician's Desk Reference” is a practical compendium of medicinal and other plants arranged alphabetically from “acacia” to “wormwood” with a strong emphasis on plants that “can be gotten without any cost or labour, the most of them being such as grow in most places and are common among us” (folio [2]).
Langham's organization is this: “He devoted a chapter to each plant, describing its parts and their uses, the different processes such as distillation that could be applied to it, and how the resulting products could be used for particular diseases. To every item of information he added a number and at the end of the chapter there is an index or table of conditions with the numbers that were in the main text. The reader can thus see at a glance that one herb could be used in a wide variety of conditions, and whether a specific illness could be helped by a particular drug” (Wear, pp. 82–83).
This is the second edition, “corrected and amended,” the first having appeared in 1597. We are sure the reading public, which was sufficient to support a second edition, would have been helped rather more if the work had had illustrations, but that would have increased the cost of the work dramatically and a
wide audience was sought. The text is printed chiefly in gothic type while the end of chapter “indices” are in roman. This herbal was not printed during a period of good English typography, so the pages are dense with little white space or appreciation for making the text on the page easy on the eye rather than wearying.
ESTC S108241; STC (rev. ed.) 15196; Alden & Landis 633/67; Huth Library 817. On Langham, see Andrew Wear, Knowledge & Practice in English Medicine, 1550–1680. Contemporary English calf, boards modestly ruled in blind at edges; rebacked in high quality goat. Age-toning or old soiling, especially at the edges of margins and with offsetting from binding to title-page; some light marginal waterstaining especially at end in index; some short tears with last leaves' edges chopped and final two with edges strengthened.
Overall, an unsophisticated copy that has been spared being washed, pressed, and gussied up! (34545)

The Secret Is in Their Eyes — Five Volumes as Here Bound — Hundreds of Engravings
Including the work of Fuseli & Blake
Lavater, John Caspar. Essays on physiognomy, designed to promote the knowledge and the love of mankind ... illustrated by more than eight hundred engravings accurately copied; and some duplicates added from originals. London: Printed for John Murray, No. 32, Fleet-Street; H. Hunter, D.D. Charles's-Square; and T. Holloway, No. 11, Bache's-Row, Hoxton, 1789–98. 4to in 2's (34.1 cm, 13.4"). 3 vols. in 5. I: [11] ff., iv, [10], 281 pp. (i.e., 285); 15 plates. II, part 1: xii, 238 pp.; 45 plates. II, part 2: [3] ff., pp. [239]–444; 47 plates. III, pt. 1: xii, 252 pp.; 25 plates. III, pt. 2: [3] ff., pp. 253-437 (i.e., 181 pp.), [9] pp.; 42 plates.
$2500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition in English of
Lavater's study of character based on physical attributes. Originally published in German (Physiognomische Fragmente, 1775–78), these influential Essays were translated into English by Henry Hunter (1741–1802) from the subsequent French edition (La Haye, 1781-87), and published in 41 parts under the direction of Royal Academy artists Henry Fuseli (1741–1825) and Thomas Holloway (1748–1827), who both contributed illustrations. In fact, Lavater (1741–1801), a Swiss priest and poet, had no part in the new publication; Hunter arranged the endeavor with Holloway and publisher John Murray without the consent of the author, who learned of the project after it had gone to press, and objected, fearing a new edition would subtract from sales of the old.
These books contain
over 360 engraved illustrations in the text and 132 full-page engraved plates, many of which Holloway copied directly from the French edition; it's the multiple images on the full-page plates that produce the proud claim of “more than 800 engravings” on the title-page. They include
portraits of famous wrinkled writers, philosophers, musicians, monarchs, statesmen, and Lavater himself; silhouettes of Jesus and portraits of Mary; details of male, female, and animal attributes; and skulls, hairlines, eyes, noses, and mouths, among other features, engraved by Holloway, Fuseli, William Blake (1757–1827), James Neagle (1765–1822), Anker Smith (1759–1819), James Caldwall (1739–ca. 1819), Isaac Taylor (1730–1807), and William Sharp (1749–1824), inter alios, after works of art by Rubens, Van Dyke, Raphael, Fuseli, LeBrun, Daniel Chodowiecki (1726–1801). The commentary on these images makes this a work of
art history/criticism, as Lavater is both free and detailed in his notes of how various artists handle details of physiognomy and body language to express character and engender beauty.
The first systematic treatise on physiognomy was written by Aristotle. Publications on the subject continued steadily throughout the ages, although the developing study of anatomy in the 17th century detracted interest from what later came to be known as pseudoscience. Lavater's is the only notable treatise in the 18th century, and indeed, “. . . [his] name would be forgotten but for [this] work,” which was very popular in France, Germany, and England (EB).
Provenance: Bookplate of Nicholas Power on front pastedown of all five volumes (related to Richard Power, Esq., of Ireland, listed as a subscriber?); and bookplate of Gordon Abbott on front free endpaper of three volumes, engraved by J.W. Spenceley of Boston in 1905.
Wellcome, III, 458; Garrison-Morton 154; ESTC T139902; Lowndes II, p.1321 (“a sumptuous edition”); Osler, Bib. Osleriana, p. 283, no. 3178; Bentley Blake Books 481; Ryskamp, William Blake, Engraver, 22. On the parts, see: Arents Collection of Books in Parts, p. 74. Contemporary calf ruled and tooled in gilt and blind with gilt board edges and gilt turn-ins, rebacked old style; marbled edges, and blue silk marker in all volumes. Extremities rubbed and corners bumped with small loss to leather. At least one small marginal tear in each volume; offsetting from letterpress on a few leaves; very mild to quite moderate foxing (or none) on illustrations, offset onto surrounding leaves; and other occasional minor stains. Most plates protected by tissue.
A monument of labor, art, and excellent “system” devoted to an exploded but fascinating theory; in fact, a wonder. (30974)

United Brethren Missions to
“The Indians in North America”
Loskiel, George Henry. History of the mission of the United Brethren among the Indians in North America. In three parts.... Translated from the German by Christian Ignatius la Trobe. London: Pr. for the Brethren's Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel by John Stockdale, 1794. 8vo (21.3 cm, 8.4"). xii, 159, [1 (blank)], 234, [2 (blank)], 233, [1 (blank)], [22 (index and advertisement)] pp. (lacking map).
$725.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First English translation of Loskiel's highly informative account of missionary activities among Native American tribes “to the west of New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia” (p. 2), dating between 1735 and 1787. Before recounting the mission's history, the author describes the customs, languages, and beliefs of various tribes, along with the flora and fauna prevalent in their territories. A great deal of Loskiel's information is taken from the accounts of Bishop Augustus Gottlieb Spangenberg and David Zeisberger, the latter having served for over 40 years as a missionary in North America. Howes notes that the English edition “omits naming some former antagonists who had later become friendly.”
Provenance: Front pastedown with early inked ownership inscription of James Beatty; two additional similar inscriptions dated 1825 and 1826. First preface page with genealogical annotations regarding the Beatty family, including remarks on the Staten Island Moravian Church's acquisition of John Beatty's land, and a note that the James Beatty who owned this volume was the son of that donor; all three generations of Beattys were strong supporters of the Moravian Church.
Howes L474; Field 952; Sabin 42110; ESTC T88588. Contemporary mottled sheep, shellacked, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped compartment decorations; front cover with small abrasions, joints and extremities rubbed, spine with leather cracked (at one point deeply) and and chipped at head, joints starting from head and foot but binding still holding nicely. Map lacking. inner page portions with irregular semicircular of browning, sometimes deep into pages, sometimes quite shallow; old waterstaining across lower outer corners at beginning and end of volume only. Occasional other stains; occasional pencilled underlining. (29265)

Stout Manual from
One of Homeopathy's Major Promoters
Lutze, Ernst Arthur. Lehrbuch der Homöopathie von Arthur Lutze. Cöthen: Verlag der Lutze'schen Klinik, 1867. 8vo (18.5 cm, 7.25"). [8], xcvi, 918, [2] pp.
$175.00
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The controversial Lutze (1813–70), a disciple of famed homeopath Samuel Hahnemann, was a charismatic Prussian physician who practiced for many years as a mesmerist and homeopathic doctor, founding a large and lavishly appointed hospital in Köthen, Germany. This volume is his encyclopedic guide to symptoms and their appropriate prescriptions.
Needless to say there is an interesting herbal section. This is an early edition (stated sixth), following the first of 1855.
Provenance: Front pastedown with label of H.C.G. Luyties' Homeopathic Pharmacy of St. Louis, MO. It was a long-standing practice of pharmacies/herbalists (whether “homeopathic” or other) to also sell books.
Publisher's half roan and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and arabesque decorations; mildly to moderately scuffed overall, spine sunned and with small tear in upper part of leather. Paper browned and slightly embrittled; one preliminary leaf with a tear from outer margin extending into text without loss. Front joint (outside cracked in top portion, hinge (inside) cracked and
with an old repair, board holding nicely. Good condition with faults noted. (35823)

Pocket Book of Butterflies — Fine COLORED Illustration
Malo, Charles. Les papillons. Paris: Chez Janet, [1820?]. 12mo (13.2 cm, 5.2"). 198 pp., fold. calendar; 11 plts.
$300.00
One of a series of editions issued in the second decade of the 19th century of this
uncommon entomological work, illustrated with beautiful hand-colored images of various European butterflies; dating of the edition is based on the date of the Calendar at the end of the text. The author notes, in his introduction, that the work is meant as a light-hearted introduction rather than a serious, methodically organized guide — which would have required a “gigantesque” folio instead of the charmingly petite volume that Malo had in mind!
The 11 engraved plates have been especially attractively shaded, and include depictions of “Le Souci” (sometimes incorrectly called “Le Soufré,” according to Malo), “Le Petit Nacré,” and “Le Sphinx de la Vigne,” along with Hyperia, Priamus, Anceus, and those butterflies listed in the header above.
Printed by the Imprimerie de Richomme, this bears a note at the foot of the title-page reading, “Gravés d'après les dessins de P[cancrace] Bessa.” Plates (unnumbered) and vignette on title-page are in stipple, printed in color and finished by hand, and were engraved by Francois Janet.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Contemporary-style quarter morocco over marbled paper sides, leather edges embellished with a gilt roll, spine with gilt-stamped title and gilt decorative motifs between raised bands. Moderate foxing to first and last few leaves, with the few spots elsewhere mostly found surrounding plates.
A little volume both instructive AND charming. (38639)

One of the Great 16th-Century ILLUSTRATED Herbals — A Several-Times
“Working” Copy
Mattioli, Pietro Andrea. Commentarii secundo aucti, in libros sex Pedacii Dioscoridis de medica materia. Colophon: Venetiis: In officina Erasmiana, Vincentii Valgrisii, [1558]. Folio (30 cm, 11.8"). 776 of 928 pp.(lacking tile-leaf, 98 prelim., & 50 supp. pp.); illus.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
An early printing if an incomplete copy of this brilliantly successful rendition of Dioscorides' Materia Medica, here in Latin (and some Greek) with Mattioli's extensive commentary, added plants not found in Dioscorides, and
copious woodcut illustrations. Mattioli first published his Italian translation in 1544, and the first Latin edition followed in 1554; the Latin commentaries here are revised and expanded from the “Discorsi” of the 1544 Italian edition.
Pritzel notes that
62 of the 703 woodcuts are non-botanic, as is emphasized in our choice of illustration here, and in addition to the plants, a variety of land and sea creatures (including porcupines, seahorses, and various shellfish) are illustrated here, as well as scenes of a man catching snakes, a hound chasing hares, a beekeeper with hives, farmers shearing sheep, a man riding an elephant, and more. (133 of the cuts, according to Pritzel, appear here for the first time — including one of a mummy.)
Evidence of readership: Extensive early inked marginalia in Latin, some illustrations with additional Latin captions in a different early inked hand; intermittent underlining.
This copy has lost its title-page and apparatus including the first of its two prefaces i.e., (the dialogues) and the preliminary index; but its primary preface (“Praefatio Dioscoridis”) and all of the Materia Medica itself are present.
Adams D667; Brunet, III, 1538; Nissen, Botanishe Buchillustration, 1305; Pritzel 5985. Covers lacking, with sewing structure intact and in fact with the
text block workably solid; first text page tipped on (outer edge chipped), back fly-leaf tattered. Title-page, 100 preliminary, and 50 final pages (“Apologia adversus Amathum Lusitanum, cum censura in ejusdem ennarrationes”) lacking. Upper outer corners of about 20 early leaves dog-eared; a few leaves creased; two leaves with short tears from upper margins, not touching text; one leaf with tear from lower margin extending into text, without loss; one leaf with outer margin chipped, affecting marginalia and one shouldernote but not main text; one leaf with closed tear within text; one leaf with lower outer portion torn away, with loss of portions of ten lines. Scattered spots of mild staining and foxing; markings as above; some marginalia shaved. An imperfect copy, but one with
all illustrations present, excellent evidence of contemporary scholarly interaction with the text, and binding structure exposed for potential study. Housed in a phase box for protection. (36428)

Paley's Works & His Life in
Five Neat Volumes
Paley, William. Works of William Paley. In five volumes, with a memoir of his life, by G.W. Meadley. Boston: Joshua Belcher, 1810. 8vo. 5 vols. I: Frontis., 371, [1] pp. II: [2], 424 pp. III: 523, [1] pp. IV: 453, [1] pp. V: 509, [1], [68 (index)] pp.
$250.00
Click the images for enlargement.
Early and attractive American edition of these writings on natural history, Anglican theology, and moral philosophy. The first third of vol. I supplies Paley's biography, and that volume offers a frontispiece portrait of him; vol. V supplies an index.
Shaw & Shoemaker 20980. Contemporary treed sheep, spines with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels; leather rubbed and volumes pleasantly refurbished. Front and back pastedowns with institutional bookplates; pencilled shelfmarks, etc., with shadows of these visible on title-pages. Occasional spots of light to moderate foxing. (14453)

The
LARGEST Herbal in the English Language — Ruskin's Copy
Parkinson, John. Theatrum botanicum: The theater of plantes. Or, an herball of a large extent ... London: Thomas Cotes, 1640. Folio (35.3 cm, 13.9"). Add. engr. t.-p., [18], 1755 (i.e., 1745), [3] pp.; illus.
$6000.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: Over 3,000 species and their virtues described for the use of apothecaries and herbalists. Parkinson (1567–1650), who served officially as Royal Botanist to Charles I and unofficially as gardening mentor to his queen, Henrietta Maria, was also one of the founders of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries — to which the allegorical frontispiece here may refer with the rhinoceros in its upper portion. The author of Paradisi in sole paradisus terrestris, Parkinson was much acclaimed by his contemporaries and by later botanists; Henrey cites Sir James Edward Smith's assessment that “this work [the Theatrum botanicum] and the herbal of Gerarde were the two main pillars of botany in England till the time of Ray.” Gerard and Parkinson indeed competed in publication, with the printing of the present work having been delayed several years so as to avoid marketplace clash with Johnson's edition of Gerard's herbal.
In the present work, Parkinson divided the plants by classes such as “Sweete smelling Plants,” “Purging Plants,” saxifrages, wound herbs, cooling herbs, “Strange and Outlandish Plants,” etc. Most of the entries are illustrated with in-text woodcuts, interspersed with pages wholly occupied by four images. Among the Americana content here are descriptions of Virginia bluebells, Peruvian mechacan, potatoes, and an assortment of “Ginny peppers” (with dire warnings regarding their fiery hotness); also present are
28 previously unrecorded British species, including the strawberry tree and the lady's slipper orchid. The index and tables are organized by Latin name, English name, and medicinal property.
Provenance: Front pastedown with John Ruskin's Brantwood ex-libris, and with bookplate of American zoologist Charles Atwood Kofoid; additional engraved title-page with inked inscription “Ex bibliotheca Mathiae Lynen, Londini,” dated 1641. A cheque drawn on Prescott Dinsdale Cave Tugwell & Co. by Joanna Ruskin Severn on Ruskin's behalf is tipped in.
ESTC S121875; Henrey 286; Johnston, Cleveland Herbal, Botanical, and Horticultural Collections, 197; Nissen 1490; Rohde, Old English Herbals, 142; STC (rev. ed.) 19302; Alden & Landis 640/143; Arents 212; Pritzel 6934; Hunt 235. Contemporary speckled calf framed in blind double fillets, spine with gilt-stamped red leather title-label; much worn with front joint open, hinges (inside) reinforced with linen tape, old refurbishments including shellacking. Front pastedown and engraved title-page reinforced, the latter by attachments to endpaper and title-page; preface leaf partly separated; first and last leaves generally tattered and a few others with marginal paper flaws, one affecting a few letters and a small portion of one image. Occasional marginal tears, one just touching text; three small ink spots to one leaf, touching two images, else scattered spots only; one spread with ink blot (possibly printer's) obscuring portions of five words. Some corners bumped, and index leaves creased with three partly split along creases; final table leaf and errata leaf with old repairs costing a few words. Some pagination erratic and pp. 845–48 laid in, supplied from a smaller-margined copy; front free endpaper with pencilled annotations regarding this copy. A worn and pored-over yet respectable copy of this important 17th-century herbal, with
nice English and American provenance suggesting who did some of the poring. (34702)

Compendium of Early Physiognomy, in Italian,
& with a Byzantine Forgery
Porta, Giovanni Battista [Giambattista] della; Antonius Polemo (attrib.); Giovanni Ingegneri.
La fisonomia dell'huomo, et la celeste ... libri sei. Venetia: Sebastian Combi & Gio. LaNoù, 1652. 8vo (16.6 cm, 6.55"). Add. engr. t.-p., [30], 598, [18], 190, [2], 134 pp.; illus.
$1500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Della Porta's influential work on physiognomy, originally published in 1586 as De humana physiognomonia. Here, the author seeks to categorize similarities between visible external physical characteristics and the traits of the soul or character hidden within — formalizing a pseudo-science that continues (in assorted variations) to find adherents even today. The human physiognomy treatise is followed by its celestial counterpart, and then, as issued, by the Fisonomia di Polemone (although attributed to Polemo, actually a Byzantine forgery) and the Fisonomia naturale of Giovanni Ingegneri.
The two Italian-laguage della Porta texts are illustrated with
numerous in-text copper engravings: These remarkable vignettes include, along with a sequence of individual animals and humans, a series of
side-by-side comparisons of human facial types to various types of animal, offered as examples of Porta's determinations: “The horse is a noble animal, therefore it is a sign of nobility to walk erect with the head held high. Men who resemble a donkey are like that animal: timid, stupid, nervous. He who looks like an ostrich is akin to it in character: he is timid, elegant, vicious, stolid man who reminds us of a swine is a swine, eating greedily and having all the other characteristics, such as rudeness, irascibility, lack of discipline, sordidness, lack of intelligence [and] modesty. In a similar way, men who look like ravens are impudent; those who resemble oxen are stubborn, lazy, irascible; men who have lips shaped like those of a lion are hearty, magnanimous, courageous; others who make us think of a ram are timid, malicious and humble” (Seligmann). Mortimer notes that these engravings “were probably copied from the Vicenza woodcuts used by Pietro Paolo Tozzi.”
Evidence of readership: Front pastedown and free endpaper with early inked annotation in Latin and French.
This ed. not in Brunet; see Mortimer, Italian 16th-Century Books, 398; Cicognara 2460. See also Seligmann, The History of Magic, 319. No edition of the Polemo forgery is listed in Freeman, Bibliotheca Fictiva. Contemporary mottled calf, covers framed in gilt double fillets, spine with gilt-stamped title, compartments ruled in gilt and holdaing gilt-stamped decorative motifs, and raised bands with gilt roll; leather expectably acid-pitted, binding moderately worn overall. Annotation as above.
This is a very pleasing copy, with pages clean and images printed darkly and crisply. (39430)

“Another Successful Step in the Exploration of Inner Asia”
Przheval’skii (Prejevalsky), Nikolai Mikhailovich; E. Delmar Morgan, trans. From Kulja, across the Tian Shan to Lob-Nor. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1879. 8vo (22.8 cm, 9"). xii, 251, 32 pp.; 2 maps.
$900.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Nikolai Mikhailovich Przheval’skii (1839–88) was a Russian geographer and explorer. His expeditions
extensively contributed to Europe’s knowledge of Central Asia and advanced the study of the region’s geography, fauna, and flora, earning him the Founder’s Gold Medal from the Royal Geographical Society in 1879, as well as a breed of horse named in his honor.
In his second expedition to Central Asia (1876–77), documented here, Przheval’skii traveled through Kulja, today called Yining, to Lop Nur, although the ultimate goal of reaching Lhasa was not achieved due to an illness and worsening relations with China. For this
first English edition, English explorer Edward Delmar Morgan translated the account of the trek and Thomas Douglas Forsyth provided an introduction. The volume includes
two color folding maps; the larger shows Przheval’skii’s journey through South Asia in 1877 and the smaller one depicts the “comparison between Chinese and Prejevalsky’s geography from tracings by Baron Richthofen.”
Evidence of Readership: On the title-page, beside the author’s name, “London 5/11/88 — Telegram death of Col. Prejevalsky while on expedition to Thibet.” Occasionally, an inked or penciled mark or number in a margin.
Provenance: On verso of title-page, signature of M. Holzmann and (in a different hand) “C.J.M. 5944.” Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
NSTC 0618155. Publisher’s brown cloth with gilt lettering to spine and minimal black decoration; light rubbing with a bit of unobtrusive spotting, corners a little bumped and a sliver of loss to spine-head. Finger smudges to front free endpaper, three small tears along folds to largest folding map.
An interesting and important expedition; a copy complete with the colored maps. (37867)
Travelling
to
Where
Few Wanted to Go
Robertson, John Parish, & William Parish Robertson. Four years in Paraguay: comprising an account of that republic, under the government of the dictator Francia. Philadelphia: E.L. Carey & A. Hart, 1838. 12mo (19 cm; 7.25"). 2 vols. I: [9] ff., 236 pp. II: 220 pp.
$450.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First American edition of the brothers Robertson's wonderful account of their travels in South America culminating in their arrival in Paraguay and an extended residence there. They also recount the efforts to emancipate the various South American regions from Spanish control, compare and contrast Portuguese and Spanish America, describe flora and fauna, discuss native populations, etc. The preliminary leaves of advertisements for other books from the same publishers have their own additional interest.
American Imprints 52683; Sabin 71961. This edition not in Palau. Publisher's pebbled brown cloth bindings: black tape at top of one spine and onto the covers. Bindings show modest wear, publisher's paper spine labels slightly chipped; text blocks slightly skewed in bindings and light waterstaining in lower inner margins of vol. I. Exsocial club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. (28891)
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