This isnumbered copy 733 of 2000 printed, signed at the colophon by the illustrator. Both the appropriate Club newsletter (in its original envelope) and the prospectus are laid in.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 497.   Publisher's fabric-covered binding as above, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, in original brown paper–covered slipcase with printed paper label; spine cloth very slightly (and unobtrusively) sunned, slipcase showing only minimal traces of shelfwear.A nice copy of this handsome piece of LEC exotica.  (36838)

This offers evidence of early readership in form of underlining in ink and occasional marginal notations, confined to early portion of the tome.

•  Gibson, Bacon, 243a. On Bacon, see: Oxford Companion to English Literature, 56–57. Contemporary vellum, spine with gilt-stamped title; vellum showing minor scuffing and spots of discoloration. Front pastedown with a 19th-century bookplate; front free endpaper with edge nicks and short edge tears. Lacking half-title. Early inked marginalia and underlining, as above; leaves age-toned with intermittent light offsetting and foxing. One leaf with short tear from upper margin, not extending into text. (19001)

•  American Imprints 5858.   Uncut copy. Publisher's quarter red cloth and plain paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label; binding rubbed/soiled, spine sunned/discolored, spine extremities chipped. Ex–social club library: traces of now-absent label at head of spine, bookplate on front pastedown, call number in a 19th-century hand on pastedown and front free endpaper. No other markings. Pages generally clean, with text block firm.  (26284)

•  American Imprints 5859.   Publisher's quarter red cloth shelfback with drab paper on boards and paper label to spine; spine cloth chipped at top (3/4" missing). Ex–social club library; with 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpapers, no other markings. Small piece of front free endpaper torn away. Uncut copy. Clean.  (28077)

Provenance:  From the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).

•  Barbier, Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes et pseudonymes, 13963; Licquet, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de la ville de Rouen, 2858.   Contemporary mottled calf in an interesting striped pattern, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-dotted raised bands, and gilt-stamped floral compartment decorations; edges and extremities rubbed, front joint cracked and open (sewing holding). All page edges stained red. Title-page with early inked annotation re: author. Pages gently age-toned and cockled.  (39986)

Binding:  Both volumes neatly bound in full tobacco morocco with gilt lettering on spine, done by Duval of Paris, and housed in a Gloster marbled paper–covered slipcase done by Adine of Paris.

•  Bentley, Blake Books, 202; Keynes, Bibliography of William Blake, 218.   Bound and housed as above; binding with a few small spots or specks and very light pencilling on endpapers, housing rubbed along edges. A handful of very small marginal spots; expectable paint and rust on guide sheet and stencil from use. A beautiful and scholarly reference tool.  (38346)

Binding:  19th-century half brown morocco and brown and tan marbled paper–covered sides, signed binding done by R. David (gilt-stamped on lower front turn-in). Top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed.

•  Brooks 724; Brunet, I, 1037; Schweiger, II, 34.   Binding as above; joints and extremities rubbed, spine and corners more so. Bookplates as above. Endpapers with pencilled reference annotations, front fly-leaf with affixed slip as above. Pages very clean and crisp. A handsome copy with impressive provenance.  (40181)

We find six copies only in U.S. libraries.

•  Publisher's printed wrappers; minor pencilling in some margins, dust-soiling. Folded once lengthwise. Very good.  (34312)

•  Shoemaker 8196; NSTC 2B53063.   Period-style quarter light grey cloth and light blue paper–covered sides, spines with printed paper labels. One leaf with short tear from outer edge, not touching text. Pages age-toned with a scant handful of scattered small spots, otherwiseremarkably clean.  (30339)

The frontispiece portrait of Brown was engraved by W. Watson after George Watson's 1806 portrait. The volume contains “a memoir of the author, by the Rev. David Welsh, minister of St. David's Glasgow.”

Provenance:  Bookplate of William S. O'Brien and with his note “This book is to belong to [my son] Edward William after my death [.] William S. O'Brien [,] Christmas, 1859.”

Binding:  Mid-19th-century polished tan calf, spine gilt extra, single gilt rule on boards; gilt roll on board edges.

•  Binding as above, small scuffs and joints (outside) very lightly abraded; paper of the front hinge partially open and with “invisible” cello tape repair (cover firmly attached). Back pastedown and lower outer margins of a few index leaves with spots of worming, not touching text. A nice copy.  (39818)

•  ESTC R1885; Wing B6150.   Modern dark brown quarter calf over marbled boards, spine with raised bands gilt-ruled above and below, burgundy leather author and title labels, and gilt devices in compartments; leaves in facsimile as noted above and lower outer corner of B7 torn away taking a few words on each side. First and last leaves with offsetting to edges from previous binding, severest at rear; title and first two gatherings a bit soiled, with other instances of that variably elsewhere, and first few leaves with old marginal waterstaining; edges dusty and a bit darkened throughout, with general age-toning. A copy that clearly had been through a good deal and has been priced accordingly, now cased neatly and safely, ready for good use.  (39427)

Uncut and unopened copy of a beautifully accomplished volume..

•  Not in Penzer, Annotated Bibliography of Sir Richard Burton.   Publisher's quarter vellum and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; vellum darkened, corners bumped. Pages clean.  (28273)

Binding:  19th-century quarter brown sheep in ecclesiastical style with marbled paper sides; spine blind-embossed with elements of a church (rose window, arches, leaded glass window, etc.) and with gilt ruling and tooling. All edges marbled. Binding by B. Miyar (with his ticket).

Provenance:  16th-century signature of Juan de la Torre in lower margin of main title-page.

Searches of NUC, WorldCat, and the Iberian Book Project locate only three copies of the 1519 edition in U.S. (Hispanic Society, Newberry, Huntington), no copies anywhere in the world of the 1546 (i.e., apparently a ghost), and only six U.S. copies of this 1552 (Hispanic Society, NYPL, Bancroft, Lilly, BPL, and UPenn).

•  On Castilla, see: Archivo biográfico de España, Portugal, e Iberoamérica, fiche 195, frames 158–59. Brunet, I, 1632; Graesse, II, 66 & VII, 161, note; Palau 47981; Salvá, 522; Heredia, II, 1887; Wilkinson, Iberian Books, 2921; Iberian Book Project IB 2921; Sánchez, Bibliografia aragonesa, II, 332. Not in Alden & Landis; not in Harrisse.   Binding as above; spine ends rubbed. Text lightly to moderately age-browned, with scattered foxing; small chipping to fore-edges of some leaves, small piece torn from blank outer margin of title to second part, last leaf with a closed tear, repaired. Overall a very nice copy of a scarce Spanish work of the Golden Age.  (38121)

Second thoughts here raise the question, though — maybe this wasn't censorship but rather an expression of erotic interest or, um, art appreciation?? Maybe someone wanteda nice little nude to keep in his pocketbook??????

•  Contemporary mottled calf framed in triple gilt fillets, spine gilt extra, all page edges marbled; binding with expectable acid-pitting and minor cracking of the leather over the spine and joints. One (and only one) signature foxed, leaves otherwise clean. A handsome book, defaced in a way that is depressing but also interesting.  (11896)

Provenance:  Early 17th-century ownership inscription on title “Ex bibliotheca Magister Joannes Makgill” (a Johannes Makgill graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1602); 18th- or early 19th- century signature of George Blair on front fly-leaf; 18th-century signature of Daniel MacKinnon on title-page. (Our thanks to Eric White of Princeton for deciphering the Makgill's last name and his university affiliation.)

•  Index Aurel. 139.245; Adams C1769; Schweiger, Handbuch der classischen Bibliographie, II, 200–01; VD16 C3211. On Wolf see: Schweiger, Handbuch der classischen Bibliographie, II, p. 268.   Recent blue-grey paper–covered boards; spine with printed paper labels, new endpapers, all edges speckled red. Age-toning, some spotting, and light to moderately heavy waterstaining throughout; perhaps a dozen leaves with corners bumped and perhaps another dozen with minor, very unobtrusive touches of worming, a few light markings in pencil and ink. Title-page and three index leaves artfully repaired with Japanese tissue, the first with no loss of text and the latter with some loss; an internal blank and three index leaves lacking, otherwise complete. A well-used and imperfect but solid and still useful compilation of extensively analyzed classical texts, and from an important press.  (36087)

The Traité is a history of divination (i.e., the prediction of the future) in ancient Western and Middle Eastern cultures. Discussing its origins and its main kinds (artificial and natural), it considers divination through dreams, prodigies and presages, and the function of the Aruspices.

Isocrates’s Discourse addresses “the behavior of honest men in the course of life,” with didactic advice.

Trojet's title-page is in red and black with an emblematic engraved vignette; his last four pages give a “Catalogue des livres francois qui se trouve à Amsterdam, chez Isaac Trojel,” with an interesting selection promised.

Binding: Contemporary calf, covers gilt ruled and spine gilt extra with gilt-lettered morocco label. Gilt inner denteles, blue endpapers, edges speckled red. Red silk ribbon book mark present.

Provenance:  18th-century French inscription on the fly-leaf.

WorldCat locates no copies in the U.S.

•  Dorbon, Bibliotheca Esoterica, 746; Quérard, II, 203. Not in Caillet; not in Coumont..   Bound as above, a little scuffed; evidence of mismanaged binding acid, especially at one corner, and front endpapers abraded. A handful of leaves slightly browned (poorly dried) or with the odd, small, light dampstain; text generally clean, with a couple of blank margins unobtrusively strengthened.  (41303)

This is numbered copy 1048 of 1500 printed.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 452.   Binding as above, spine with gilt-stamped title, in original glassine dust jacket and original slipcase; volume very clean and fresh, glassine wrapper intact, slipcase all but unworn. A very nice copy.  (34057)

The present example appears to be the variant printing of the first edition as described by the University of Illinois, with line 32 of p. 179 giving “F acies” (instead of “Fallacies”); ESTC and Thomason suggest that the actual printing date was 1653. Printed legend “Cokes Art of Logick in English.” vertically on a blank between the front free endpaper and the title-page; the relic of a ream wrapper.
Binding:  Notably elegant period-style quarter speckled calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, raised bands, and blind-tooled decorations filling compartments.

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with early inked inscription of M[atthew?] Bakewell; half-title and title-page each with early rubber-stamp of S. Davies. Later in the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).

•  ESTC R9220 (variant); Wing (rev. ed.) A804B (formerly C4986); Thomason E.1436[2].   Binding as above; endpapers with offsetting from previous leather, front one chipped at edges, age-toning generally with page edges browned/dust-soiled. Small spots of pinhole worming to upper inner margins of roughly first half of volume, just touching some top lines without affecting legibility; old waterstaining across lower outer corners variably reaching text; a few pages showing traces of red around edges, presumably from now-shaved original red edge staining. A solid, pleasing copy of this fairly uncommon treatise.  (40076)

This copy lacks the two preliminary leaves. The catchword on p. 7 is “allow'd.” This is the variant issue with a final blank leaf instead of the advertisement leaf.

Provenance:  From the library of the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School; properly deaccessioned.

Evidence of Readership: Occasional pencil markings and a few marginal comments in the first third of text.

•  ESTC T31966; Allibone 411–12.   Recent blue-grey marbled paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper label. Title-page repaired with loss of perhaps ten letters of epigraph, with partially trimmed name inked in an early hand, and with very elegant old institutional pressure-stamp; title-page verso with pencilled call numbers; first text page with institutional stamp in upper margin, inked and pencilled numeral in lower margin. Two preliminary leaves lacking. A few leaves closely trimmed at one or another margin; last 20 with very short marginal tears not approaching text. Light age-toning and occasionally a spot; generally, clean; marked as above. An influential work on rational religion with evidence of use.  (36007)

The Dictionary of Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Dutch Philosophers labels this work “the first unequivocal expression of republicanism in the Dutch Republic.”

There were at least five editions printed in 1662: three in Amsterdam (one 8vo, two 12mo) and two in Leiden (one 8vo, one 12mo), but with stop-press corrections resulting in STCN listing 12 editions/variants. We believe this to be a true first edition.  The STCN speculates that the printer cited on the title-page here, I.C. vander Gracht, was a pseudonym used by the Hackius firm of Leiden.

Alden and Landis succinctly summarize theAmericana content: “Includes refs [sic] to West Indies commerce, whale & cod fisheries, salt-trade, & Puritans in English colonies.”

Huygens (1596–87) was a Dutch Golden Age poet and composer, secretary to two Princes of Orange, and the father of the scientist Christiaan Huygens. Here he pens a rebuttal of Interest van Holland, defends the House of Orange, and seeks to rebut as many republican assertions as possible. This is thesole edition of Herstelden Prins tot Stadt-houder.

Provenance:  Frank Marshall Vanderhoof (American scholar, university librarian, private collector; 1919–2005).

•  Court: Goldsmiths'-Kress 1659.2; Alden & Landis, European Americana, 662/38; Knuttel 8652; Meulman 3925; STCN 063391201. Huygens: Knuttel 8806a; STCN 61687140.   Contemporary vellum over boards. Waterstaining variously noticeable and never serious. A good solid copy.  (35677)

Evidence of readership: This copy has extensive pencilled shouldernotes left by an unknown reader who thoroughly (and neatly) recorded numerous questions about and responses to the first 39 pages of the text — after which our reader is heard from no more.

•  ESTC T109696.   Period-style quarter red morocco and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped publication information and gilt-ruled raised bands, leather edges with gilt roll. One leaf torn across from outer margin, without loss. Marginalia as above, pages otherwise clean. An attractive and interesting copy.  (31050)

Provenance:  Title-page with old and decorative but partially obscured rubber-stamp and with early inked inscription (“Kopp”); front free endpaper with rubber-stamp of R. Weiss (“Fairmount Ave”). Later in the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).

Personalizations: Spine with hand-inked English title embellished with a small key drawing, and with place/date at bottom; affixed coat of arms taken from chocolate packaging; and an affixed gilt “knowledge” label (possibly a cigar band in a previous life). Front endpapers with affixed slip of old cataloguing, a printed clipping aboutglow-in-the-dark ink, pencilled annotations, and an early inked inscription in German.

•  19th-century quarter cloth with speckled paper–covered sides, spine with German title-label, rubbed overall, edges reinforced some time ago; additions as described above; vol. I only, of four, with front hinge (inside) cracked, front free endpaper and frontispiece separated. Paper foxed, in parts browned, with pencilled marks of emphasis as above; two leaves each with a closed tear just touching text, without loss, and one leaf with lower outer corner torn away. Early printings of this work are uncommon, and this copy is particularly engaging as an object. (41258)

This is a “fictitious imprint” in thatits given date is false, there being two distinct editions each with a title-page stating it is “Segun el exemplar en Rohan, De la emprenta de Lavrentio Maurry. MDCLXXXII” but with one edition's last numbered page being 268 and the other's being 292 (i.e., 308) as offered here. Charles Amiel argues convincingly based on textual analysis, in his critical edition of the work, that the 292/308-page edition in hand is acounterfeit of the true 1682 edition. Much less convincingly he postulates a publication date as late as 1725, the year before the third edition was printed; whereas had he examined the watermarks in the paper of the text he would have limited the range of publication dates to ca. 1699 — a dating based on my personal experience of almost 50 years cataloguing Hispanic books and manuscripts and always paying special attention to watermarks (DMS).

•  Palau 79834; Salva 1789; Frank W. Chandler, Literature of Roguery (2 vols.; Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1907); Charles Amiel, El siglo pitagórico y Vida de Don Gregorio Guadaña (Paris: Ediciones Hispanoamericanas, 1977), pp. xxv–xxxvi. For biographical data: Archivo biográfico de España, Portugal, e Iberoamérica, fiche 285, frames 107–73.   Contemporary limp vellum, a bit shrunken and cockled, rear free endpaper lacking; remnants of ties. Title-page torn away at outside corners and repaired long, long ago without loss of print; pp. 73–80 clearly supplied from a smaller copy; the expectable sorts of dog-ears, creasing, and soiling only. A decent, interesting copy of an interesting picaresque/fantasy novel of the 17th century.  (36654)

•  Brunet, II, 1013; Schweiger, I, 107; Wolf & Hayes, Library of Benjamin Franklin, 1000.   18th-century dark hunter green morocco framed in gilt triple fillets, board edges and turn-ins with gilt rolls, spine with gilt-stamped title, gilt rules, and gilt compartment decorations; moderately worn overall, joints and extremities refurbished, spine rubbed and slightly browned. Red endpapers. All edges gilt. Pages gently age-toned, otherwise clean. What's technically known as “a sweetheart.”   (38265)

Provenance: Christmas gift inscription reading, “For my friend Cecile from Barbara Young, Christmas, 1926.” Barbara Young was the pen name of Henrietta Breckenridge Boughton, an American art and literary critic in the 1920s and a poet; she served as Gibran's secretary from 1925 until his death, revised and published his book The Garden of the Prophet, and published a study of his life (This Man from Lebanon).

•  Publisher's black cloth; gilt faded, top of spine pulled with small loss. Corner of one leaf torn away. Else a very nice copy ofa book not often found inscribed, and with a provenance that goes straight back to the inscriber.  (40911)

•  Gill (second ed.) 37.   Publisher's pink paper wrappers printed on front in blue, housed in matching pink and blue paper envelope. Pamphlet in fine condition; envelope with bumped edges and corners and a few spots of smudging.  (35362)

Printed in double-column format, roman type, this has headlines in italic and offers woodcut headpieces and initials.

Binding:  Late 19th- or early 20th-century mottled calf, spine brightly gilt extra with author and title gilt on red leather label, speckled edges. Binder's label of Jaime M. Alves, Lisbon.

Provenance:  Contemporary ownership signatures of Ruy Gago and Cristobal Martinez at top of title-page; 20th-century bookplate of Alfonso Cassuto.

•  Palau 108157.   Bound as above, a little scuffed with boards lightly bumped at corners and spine still notably shiny. Bookplate “Biblioteca Alfonso Cassuto” on front pastedown and small embossed stamp of same to main title-page and section titles. Some sections browned or with foxing, and with light, limited waterstaining in others; last section and a few other places with generally marginal worming that can or cost a few letters; lacking the prologue leaves of part II. Short closed tear in bottom margin of one leaf from a natural paper flaw; last leaf with corner repaired. A solid, handsome volume though not quite complete, offering a text of great repute and importance.  (32627)

The text is printed in Latin, double-column, with a handful of large woodcut initials, a few tail ornaments, and one letterpress diagram. The title-page, printed in red and black, features Blaeu's large device of an astrolabe flanked by Time and Hercules. An index on the final two pages lists Grotius's correspondents and the corresponding letters, which are arranged chronologically in the text.

•  Meulen, Grotius, 1210; Brunet, II, 1766; Graesse, III, 163.   Contemporary northern-European style vellum over boards ruled in blind, panels with blind-stamped central cartouches, spine with seven raised bands and remnants of later paper labels, red speckled edges; vellum soiled and lightly rubbed at extremities with corners bumped. Ex-library with bookplate on front pastedown and later library marking in pen on second leaf; light foxing, a light waterstain across the lower outer corner of perhaps a dozen leaves, and scattered darker stains, with a few leaves browned; small tear in outer margin of title-leaf and another margin, small hole from natural flaw in outer margin of one leaf and small bit of paper torn away from lower corner of another. Very mild worming in middle of two leaves and final leaf, the latter repaired; additional very minor, “slim” worming mostly to margins at rear.A solid, handsome important book.  (30293)

The work was originally published in same year at Paris by J. Camusat: This and that edition were published posthumously, Grotius having died in 1645. The dedication is signed by Grotius' widow, Maria van Reigersberch. The text is in Latin.

Handsomely printed in roman with the title-page in red and black, some four-line woodcut initials, and some tailpieces, this bears the Elzevir printer's device Rahir M.17, but the book was actually printed by Joan Blaeu.

Provenance:  18th-century armorial bookplate of Johann Georg Burckhard (1684–1764) and 20th-century bookplate of Dr. A. Hollander; ownership signature on title-page of L. Kulenkamp (1767) and 19th-century signature on front free endpaper of Dr. Cajetan Felaer; later in the collection of Frank Marshall Vanderhoof (American scholar, university librarian, private collector; 1919–2005).

•  Copinger, Elzevier, 2000; Willems 1065; Rahir 1074; STCN 852310625.   Contemporary vellum over boards. Spine lettered in black ink with author and title (probably late 19th century). Very good.  (35680)

The title-pages offer three instances of the same handsome woodcut vignette.

Binding:  19th-century straight-grained citron morocco, raised bands, spine gilt-extra with flowers and flourishes; inner dentelles gilt, puce endpapers, all edges gilt over marbling. Red silk bookmark present and attached.

Provenance:  William Beckford, with 19th-century note “Beckford sale 1883 lot 174" on front free endpaper verso and cutting from sale catalogue on front pastedown; red leather Durdans (Rosebery) booklabel to front pastedown and that library's small blind-stamp to first title-page and elsewhere. Later bookplate of Lawrence Strangman to front free endpaper; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, with his small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  I: Wing (rev.ed.) N1462;ESTC R219402. II: Brunet II, 759 (1638 ed.).   Bound as above, with significant rubbing to joints and spine especially and with discoloration especially affecting raised bands; gilt ornamentation still impressive. Short closed tear to B4 not quite reaching print, another with loss to margin just touching text on L4; age-toning, with a few leaves slightly browned. Desirable texts in a desirable copy, with very desirable provenance. (41315)

Present here is an early U.S. edition of the first series; two series were published, the first in 1847–49 and the second in 1859. Much of the second volume of this series is dedicated to the question of slavery.

•  Allibone 818. On Helps, see: Dictionary of National Biography online.   Publisher's blind-stamped brown cloth, spines with gilt-stamped title; moderate rubbing most noticeable at vol. I spine head, and vol. II with strip of dark cloth tape at head of spine extending onto sides. Ex–social club library: front pastedowns with 19th-century bookplate and call-number sticker, front free endpapers lacking, title-pages pressure-stamped, no other markings. Pages age-toned, with intermittent spots of staining and light pencilled bracketing.  (26412)

This is thefirst 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)

It is illustrated with a frontispiece and four plates done by Edmund H. Garrett.

Binding:  This is an intriguing example of this novel of ideas, in that the usual thematically appropriate binding has been replaced by an unrelated, innocuous color-printed scene of a cottage by a lake on a background with a repeating design of daisies, embellished with raised cornflowers (unsigned) — perhaps intended for ladies of delicate sensibilities who didn't want to be seen in public reading this controversial novel!

Provenance:  On front free endpaper, two ownership stamps of Sarah E. Lembeck.

•  Publisher's printed paper–covered boards with pattern of daisies in white and gilt, front cover with illustration as above, robin's egg blue cloth shelfback gilt extra; very minor dust-soiling to light portion of cover illustration, traces of wear to corners and lower edges. Title-page with one tiny edge tear; pages clean.  (37535)

An elegant edition in Roman type, with historiated woodcut initials, including one of a bear chasing a boy and another of a very “busty” seraph.

Provenance:  Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

Evidence of readership: Occasional early underlinings.

WorldCat locates only one U.S. library (University of Illinois) reporting ownership.

•  Pettegree & Walsby, French Books, 77263; Moreau, IV, 461.   20th-century grey paper boards; edges sprinkled red. Text clean, save for a few scattered spots on title-page and verso of last leaf; wanting final blank. Lower outer corner of one leaf torn away, just touching one letter, small paper flaw to outer blank margin of one leaf. A handsome Vascosan production. (40843)

•  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)

While the two are said to have remained cordial, the debate was so “bitter” that the Duke of Brunswick (Lessing's supporter) “intervened, silencing Lessing” (Oxford Companion to German Literature, 2nd ed., p. 554)!

Printed here are Lessing's portions of the eleven exchanges in that debate.

•  Goedeke, IV, 447; Holzmann 2383.   Recent boards covered in brown paper specked with black in the style of the era; age-toning and some dampstaining, not beyond “typical.” Overall, a good copy of a complete set of Lessing's eleven arguments.  (33323)

•  ESTC T117287; Pforzheimer 611.   Period-style calf, covers framed and panelled in gilt rolls with gilt-stamped corner fleurons and central decoration, spine with with gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. Title-page with early inked ownership inscription (William R. Williams) in upper outer corner; preface with early inked initials in upper corners, partially effaced, resulting in small holes to upper outer corner (touching two letters of text without obscuring sense). Occasional early inked corrections and annotations; partial topical index filling final blank. One leaf with short tear from upper margin not extending into text, another with portion of lower foremargin torn away just touching (but not really “affecting”) print; scattered light smudges and a handful of pages with old marginal stains, ink-drop to fore-edge (closed) in Latin section, otherwise clean.  (30851)

Provenance:  On the front pastedown, the bookplate of Brian Douglas Stilwell.

Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only four U.S. libraries reporting ownership of this edition (Harvard, Kansas, University of Texas-HRHRC, Princeton Theological).

•  Brooks 507; Giani 44 (pp. 47–48).   Binding as above, rubbing to extremities and to spine/joints; somewhat noticeable scrape to length of front board and bump to bottom edge, very small spot of discoloration to top edge of front board, small scrape to rear board and rubbing to fore-edge. Without the initial and final blanks (i.e., two blank leaves total). Provenance marks as above; occasional light foxing to leaves, interior otherwise in very nice condition.  (40159)

The Plantin Press first published this work in 1566, and the title-page here bears Christopher Plantin's “Labore et constantia” compass device. The edition is rather rare, being reported in only three U.S. institutions.

Binding:  18th-century mottled calf, spine with gilt-stamped red leather spine label and gilt floral decorations in compartments. Marbled endpapers and all edges red.

•  Schweiger, II, 574. This edition not in Brunet or Graesse.   Bound as above, extremities rubbed; back free endpaper with old repair and front fly-leaf affixed to front free endpaper with early inked ownership inscription showing through on verso. Pages age-toned with mild staining; a few small, early inked marks of emphasis and one early inked marginal annotation. An elegant little production in a sound and pleasant copy.  (33944)

Title-page printed in black and red with a large woodcut of the royal coat of arms. The main text is printed in dense double-column format in roman type with some italic and embellished with typographic headpieces, large tailpieces, and a scattering of woodcut initials.

Provenance:  19th-century purple stamp of private Mexican collector Jose M. Martinez (on front free endpaper and on binding).

We fail to locate any copy of this edition in the U.S. libraries.

•  Palau 107930.   Recased some time ago in contemporary vellum reused from a different book, but vellum still not really large enough; front hinge (inside) strengthened. Vellum cockled lacking ties, and with bug-spotting; title-page with some small tears and some repairs (on verso); cropping has cost some sidenotes, signature marks, portions of letters in final lines on some pages, and a few last lines on a few pages. Lower outer corner of one leaf torn with loss of text; some closed tears, repaired; lacks the final two leaves of the “tabla.” A few natural paper flaws, some stray spots, some darkening of pages by ink spray; occasional light waterstaining; some lower outer corners at end (in Tabla) tattered/irregular with loss of a few letters on last two leaves. A problematic but solid copy, one that does not “feel,” in “person,” as distressed as its description suggests.  (30638)

Binding:  Publisher's brown cloth, covers decoratively blind-stamped, spine with gilt-stamped title. In its modest, subtle (and difficult to photograph!) way, this is avery handsome binding.

•  Bound as above; binding very slightly cocked, corners and spine extremities with minor rubbing. Ex–social club library: call numbers on fly-leaves, rubber-stamp on title-page and two others, no other markings. Pages clean save for slight offsetting from stamps. A nice copy.  (28238)

Merlin also printed a duodecimo edition in 1767; in the present edition, “Fragmens de philosophie morale” is found on pp. 273–340, followed by the Addition and Approbation.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with gilt-stamped armorial bookplate of notable 19th-century book collector Edward Hailstone, gilt-stamped “I.T.” bookplate with motto “Inter folia fructus,” and bookplate of Sir Montague Shearman.

Binding:  Contemporary crimson morocco, covers framed in gilt triple fillets; spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather labels, board edges and turn-ins with gilt rolls. This volume (complete in itself) seems at one time to have been part of a set of Marmontel's works, and bears an (unnumbered) spine label reading “Oeuvres de Marmontel.”

•  Brunet, III, 1440; Cohen de Ricci, Guide de l’amateur de livres à gravures du XVIIIe siècle, 688; Graesse 406; Tchermezine 455.   Binding as above, with edges, extremities, and joints showing minor rubbing. Front pastedown with bookplates as above; front free endpaper with affixed slip of early cataloguing; rear pastedown with small chip out of paper. Light spots of foxing, slightly heavier around plates. All edges gilt.  (25776)

Binding:  Contemporary red morocco, spine gilt extra with green leather gilt label and elegant tooling to top and bottom, bands, and compartments; covers with similarly elegant, well-composed gilt borders and with board edges and turn-ins gilt in complementary fashion. All edges gilt, silk bookmarker present.

Provenance:  Bookplate of Brian Stilwell.

•  Brunet, Supplement, 981; Graesse, IV, 439.   Bound as above in excellent condition with only the lightest shelfwear and a very short tear (not advancing) at head of spine; wide-margined leaves very clean with only the lightest sort of normal foxing. A treasurable copy.  (40323)

•  Publisher's tan linen shelf-back with rust-colored boards. Boards lightly chipped. A very good copy.  (36591)

An extremely popular work (it went through 25 editions after its first appearance in 1771), the work describes the adventures of an unnamed man, who, after engaging in a heated discussion with a philosopher friend about the injustices of Paris, falls asleep and finds himself in a Paris of the future.

Though condemned by French and Spanish authorities andforbidden by the Inquisition, the work was nonetheless a roaring success in Europe, going through numerous editions in multiple languages — and serving as a groundbreaking, genre-defining example of a futuristic paradise set in a real-world location. The present example is an unidentified imprint of the greatly expanded three-volume text of 1786, followed by Mercier's allegorical L'homme de fer. Wilkie suggests that this “nouvelle édition avec figures" was printed by Changuion in Amsterdam; each of the three books of the main work opens with its own tipped-in engraved plate, making thisone of the earliest illustrated editions.

•  Wilkie, Mercier's L'An 2440, 1787. Not in Brunet, not in Graesse.   Contemporary mottled sheep, spine with raised bands, gilt-stamped leather title-label, and gilt-tooled compartment decorations; spine and edges much rubbed, with spine extremities chipped. Front and back pastedowns with traces of red wax adhesions; endpapers with offsetting from turn-ins. Minor age-toning throughout; one page with early inked annotation. Though battered, a solid, early, nicely illustrated example of this landmark work.  (38525)

This is number 21 of the 70 numbered, with the water color being a version of the frontispiece on heavy artists' paper and signed by the artist with his initials.

•  Original wrappers with a glassine dust jacket; front wrapper and title-page with publisher's “scribble” device above imprint as seen on other titles from this press. Very good.  (35646)

Printed with a two-page, small-type list of the subscribers to this Irish edition, some entries noting a profession or a locality.

•  Wallis, Newton, 328.2; ESTC T18642.   Recent full brown calf, Cambridge style binding: Round spine, raised bands accented with single gilt rules above and below each, gilt center device in five spine compartments; black spine label, gilt. Covers tooled in blind with center compartment with corner devices; new endpapers. Old rubber-stamp along inner margin of title, with another to lower margin of dedication page and an inked line of presentation to its gutter; age-toning and stray stains. A good+ copy of the uncommon Dublin edition.  (33120)

The first three volumes were printed in Amsterdam in 1734, and each opens with an engraved frontispiece; the fourth volume was printed in Cologne in 1739. All four volumes have title-pages printed in red and black, with the fourth specifying that Nicole's notes were translated by Mademoiselle de Joncourt.

Provenance:  All four title-pages with small early inked ownership inscription in upper outer corner of “A. Thorpe, York.”

•  Period-style quarter mottled calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. Vols. I and II with frontispiece rectos institutionally rubber-stamped, with bleed-through into images; ownership inscriptions as above. Pages clean.  (27243)

Potter (1795–1858) notes in the preface that he liberally borrowed passages from Samuel Hopkins as “few probably have ever read [his “excellent treatise”], nor will, except it should be published in a detached work from his body of divinity, which is too costly and voluminous for the common class of Christians to be possessed of.”

•  Shoemaker 17680.   Tree calf, spine with gilt black leather label and gilt ruling; rubbed, boards gently bowed outward. Moderate age-toning and occasional spotting; light pencilling on endpapers, a few leaves with inner corners torn, a handful of leaves with bent corners.  (36115)

Provenance:  From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Rosenbach, Children's, 603; Shoemaker 5091.   Publisher's plain salmon-colored paper over light paste boards. Some plates browned as in all copies; glue stains showing through frontispiece. A few leaves mildly foxed. A nice book, a charming book.  (38470)

•  Brunet, IV, 1421. Contemporary black half morocco over blue pebbled cloth, spine beautifully gilt extra, leather edges ruled in gilt; volume clean and virtually unworn. Front pastedown with private collector’s bookplate and with institutional rubber-stamp (no other markings); some soiling and offsetting to front pastedown and free endpaper. Many leaves lightly to moderately foxed, a few more heavily — the paper here was not as good as it might have been. One leaf with short tear from upper margin, touching page number but not text. An attractive production.(19301)

Among the authors excerpted are Cadalso, Antonio Solis, Lope de Vega, Cervantes, Luis de Granada, López de Gómara, Gracián, and Feijóo.

Provenance:  Early 19th-century bookplate of James Bruce.

•  Shoemaker 22193.   Publisher's sprinkled sheep, flat spine with red leather title-label; binding scuffed and abraded, joints (outside) open but sewing seemingly strongly holding. Age-toning, and one leaf with an ink-drop not preventing reading; now in a basic phase case. By nature, expectably scarce, and in fact especially so out of the eastern U.S.  (38424)

•  ESTC R18009; Wing (rev. ed.) S2579; Clancy, English Catholic Books 1641-1700, 891.   Contemporary Oxford-style calf binding, recently and expertly rebacked; new endpapers. Occasional worming in margins. A damp-mottled and embrowned copy, still solid and complete.  (39576)

•  I: VD16 S6278; Graesse, VI, 398. II:: Pettegree & Walsby, French Books, 79713; not in Brunet.   Binding as above. Joints and spine cracked but firm, with edges a bit rubbed and spine with leather lost at head, foot, and band ends; front free endpaper torn at lower outer corner. Text ruled in red, with an appended, unrelated gathering B entitled Phocylidis poema admonitorium (from an unidentified 16th-century probably French edition) and two leaves of gathering F misbound; upper blank margin of title trimmed, edges a trifle dusty, the odd marginal spot. Engaging content, an engaging physical copy, and a very engaging provenance.  (40793)

Provenance:  Now missing bookplate (see below) read “Aus der Büchersamlung von Georg Stophel”; acquired by August Neander; later in the Colgate University Library (the Rochester Theological Seminary, later the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, deaccessioned 2005).

•  Modern black moiré cloth, gilt leather spine label; damaged in a fire and its aftermath, losing its previous binding, this also lost its previously recorded bookplate and other provenance indicia with only one line of a shelfmark remaining. Translucently waterstained throughout in a W pattern across each opening, handwriting and reading almost miraculously unaffected; now restored to strength and safety for use.  (30159)

Binding:  Recent black morocco signed G[race] B[ingings] with round spine and raised bands, the bands defined by gilt rules and beading; gilt center device in each spine compartment. Author, title, and date tooled directly on spine in gilt. Covers with gilt rope roll around perimeter; two concentric center panels on each cover with gilt corner devices, gilt roll on turn-ins. Marbled endpapers and all edges carmine.

•  Bound as above. A very nice copy, with only the faintest hint of waterstaining in a few places, the odd smudge to an endpaper or margin, and the occasional old spot.  (24897)

Provenance:  Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Kelly, Checklist of Books Published by William Pickering, 1851.9; Keynes, William Pickering (rev. ed.), p. 75.   Binding as above, original silk bookmark present. Pages gently and evenly age-toned, otherwise clean and fresh. A desirable copy.  (40820)

WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locate only eight U.S. institutional holdings.

•  Martin & Walter 33276. “Spine” with overcast, later stitching. Title-page with paper shelving label in lower inner corner, pencilled initials in upper outer corner. One leaf with tear from upper inner margin, touching a few letters without loss; last leaf with tear from foot along inner margin. Light to moderate foxing scattered throughout.  (30943)

Provenance: The publisher-issued bookplate and box label proclaim that this copy belonged to L. Haskell Sweet, a New York businessman.

•  Coigney 308.   Publisher's quarter vellum and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; original glassine dust wrapper and original charcoal-colored paper-covered box with personalized label present, wrapper with chips, short tears, and some creasing, and box split at seams with two side elements fully detached (one lost). Vellum of the volume's spine faintly darkened and spotted, book otherwise clean and fresh with top edges gilt; sweet identification as above. A good catch.  (28332)

The journal's editor, Wieland (1733–1813), was a complex figure of the German Enlightenment: a poet, novelist, political theorist, and pedagogue. His critical review/journal was of considerable influence.

Provenance:  Duplicates (with no markings) of the Harold Jantz Collection (i.e., ex–Duke University).

•  Volume 2 for 1774: Modern marbled boards; considerable foxing and some waterstaining. Volume 3 for 1774: Contemporary wrappers of brown paper sprinkled with black; uncut; considerable foxing and some waterstain lines. Volumes for 1775: the two are bound in one volume of brown leather, spine darkened to black and flaking; plain endpapers. Binding shows wear, but text clean. Volumes for 1776: Contemporary calf, gilt spines; covers with some stains and abraded at edges, some distressing of the spines. Interesting “wallpaper” endpapers in blue-green and white of a floral and wave pattern. Good++ condition. Very definitely a mixed, partial set and definitely an interesting array of presentations.  (35274)

Wieland's poetry of the late 1760s and early 1770s, offering light and graceful romances, had great appeal among the public. In Musarion, here in the anonymously published first edition, he explores the nature of love and advocates a rational unity of the sensual and spiritual.

An interesting work by this German Enlightenment writer.

•  Recent boards covered with German-style brown paper speckled with black. Title-page with itsmemorable engraved vignette cut down and mounted, and browned from this with next three leaves browned also at edges; last leaf torn into text and repaired ham-handedly on verso, covering small portions of six letters and the tailpiece. Otherwise light age-toning and a small amount of foxing. A work not widely held.  (34221)