With the present letter, Hale notifies an unidentified recipient of a planned meeting for an Ithaca church subscription committee, by way of a clearly written note on his Roxbury, MA, letterhead. This very nice example of his signature (here, “Edw. E. Hale”) on his stationery is also a pleasing reminder of the great author's commitment to good works throughout his life.

•  Creased along original folds, one lower corner creased acriss. Excellent bit of Hale memorabilia.  (36715)

“Your Brother has just called with this album, in which, he tells me, it is your wish that I should write something.

I am so much flattered by your request that I lose no time in complying with it: but I am much at a loss what to say that shall deserve a place in so gay a book — & in such good Company.

But as it becomes every well bred lion to roar for the entertainment of the company when he is bid — whether he be in a growling mood or not — I take up my pen accordingly.

Yet I daresay you will often have the mortification of hearing the visitors to this your 'menagerie' exclaim — 'Well! I am sure I never saw such a stupid wild beast before — I dont [sic] believe he is a real lion after all — I have heard many a donkey make quite as good an exhibition!'”

Hall (1788–1844) was a Scot, a 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 (1829). Miss Walsh (b 8 July 1812) was the daughter of Robert Walsh (Philadelphia lawyer and abolitionist) and Anna Maria Moylan Walsh (who died in 1826).

Provenance:  The Walsh album sold at Anderson Galleries 28 Nov. 1921 (sale 1609) as lot 60. Later in the Allyn K. Ford Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, recently deaccessioned.

•  Very good condition.  (34491)

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)

Provenance:  Pencilled signature of prominent Bostonian book collector Henry Gardner Denny on half-title margin; pencilled collation note at rear from the Quaritch firm; later rubber-stamp reading “F.S.H. Dupl.” at back. Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Winsor, Halliwelliana, 1860:14.   Quarter roan in imitation of morocco with chocolate paper–covered boards, spine gilt-lettered; gently rubbed with some loss of leather at joints and paper at corners/edges. Provenance marks as above; light pencilling on endpapers and title-page.  (38010)

•  Publisher's quarter (wide) vellum and brown sueded cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped coat of arms, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; covers slightly bowed, suede rubbed down to cloth along edges and in small spots on sides, vellum showing minor soiling. Pages faintly age-toned. Inscriptions as above; small piece of paper with inked annotations re. two Guadagnini instruments, laid in at the Joannes Baptista Guadagnini page. A useful and authoritative work in and of itself, with remarkable connections to three different prominent musical families.  (39715)

•  Syntax: Moon, John Harris's Books for Youth, 766(4); see also Osborne Collection, p. 630 and Gumuchian 1948 & 1949. Hubbard: Gumuchian 4329; Moon, 560(4); see Osborne pp. 683/84 (for 1st and 2nd eds).   19th-century half vellum and marbled paper–covered sides; paper rubbed, vellum darkened, upper outer corner bumped, none of this awful. Pages lightly age-toned and faintly creased, otherwise clean. An attractive copy, andearly editions of these beloved classics are now uncommon.  (40758)

Provenance:  Inscribed to a Philadelphia social club “from the President & Fellows of Harvard University,” signed by Josiah Quincy.

•  American Imprints 1772 & 7465; Sabin 30729 (vols. 1–3) & 30730 (maps).   Publisher's quarter cloth and tan paper–covered sides, spines with printed paper labels; worn and soiled/stained but sound, with spines sunned and front lower outer corner of vol. I chipped. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplates, endpapers with call number, rubber-stamp on title-pages and a few others, no other markings. Front free endpaper of vol. I with inked inscription as above.  (26904)

Provenance:  Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of New York collector and philanthropist Katharine de Berkeley Parsons (b. 1897).

•  Ray, Illustrator and the Book in England, 248; BAL 7606 (for first ed.).   Bound as above, in later cloth chemise and slipcase with chemise label chipped and largely lost, slipcase with corners and outer edges rubbed; volume with spine gently sunned, joints and extremities showing light rubbing. Pages and plates clean, with guard leaves present.  (40858)

Binding:  Handsome diced tan calf, covers framed in gilt roll composed of pyramid and trefoil elements, spine with wide raised bands, gilt-stamped leather title and author labels, and gilt-stamped foliate designs in compartments and on bands. Turn-ins with blind roll; marbled paper endpapers. All edges marbled (different marbling than the endpapers).

Provenance:  Front pastedown with bookplate of British collector and author Eric Stanley Quayle, dated 1965; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  NCBEL, II, 658; NSTC 2H14088.   Bound as above, joints (outside) and corners mildly rubbed, leather a little mottled; light offsetting to title-page from frontispiece. Occasional tiny spots of faint foxing, pages otherwise clean. A lovely, appealing copy of this interesting cross between Spenser and Pope.  (37630)

In addition to the printed Poems and Crisis, Gerson Leiber'sfour original ink drawings for Crisis — including one not printed in the piece — are here, with a cover letter (dated 1993 and apologizing for the 24-year delay!), signed by editor and publisher Don Olsen. Also present is Hays's typescript of “Crisis,” addressed to Olsen and stapled to two typed, signed letters from Olsen to Leiber regarding the artwork commission and subsequent printing details.

A card designed and printed by Fredric Aldwyn Brewer at the Raintree Press on behalf of the Indiana University LIbraries, with a warm handwritten message from Brewer thanking the recipient (presumably Leiber) for an engraving, is laid in to Crisis.

Provenance:  From the collection of Gerson Leiber, the artist, engraver, sculptor, and book collector.

•  Poems: Publisher's printed light blue paper wrappers; spine and edges sunned. Crisis: Publisher's brown paper wrappers, front wrapper with black-stamped title and author information. A marvelous look at one example of the collaborative process among writers, artists, and printers.  (33615)

Many of the recipes in the first portion of this book are attributed to such well-known names as Glasse, Raffald, and Mason. Oxford points out that both the extended subtitle and the overall contents of the work as a whole are strikingly similar to Mary Cole's Lady's Complete Guide of 1791, commenting “One wonders who was the real author.” Whatever its origins, the present volume as attributed to Hazlemore is now uncommon: WorldCat, ESTC, and Cagle cite only seven U.S. institutional holdings.

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with ownership inscription and title-page with pressure-stamp of prominent cookbook collector Eloise Schofield; title-page also with early inked inscription of Charlotte Booty; front pastedown with early ticket of J. Rackham, a late 18th-/early 19th-century printer and bookseller in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk.

•  ESTC T93869; Cagle, Matter of Taste, 734; Oxford, English Cookery, 122. Not in Bitting.   Incomplete copy. Contemporary treed sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, scuffed; spine label and extremities chipped, joints open and volume tender, front cover with spots of insect damage extending through to upper inner margins of first few leaves, touching two letters of title but no other text. Pp. 331/32, 341–44, 357–62, and 365–84 excised with great neatness (and no, we cannot work out any theory of “why”). Scattered instances of early pencilled or inked marginal annotations, including alternate instructions in two cases anda full recipe for dressed spinach inked at the end of the vegetables section, intended to replace the crossed-out printed recipe provided. Pages age-toned, otherwise clean. An incomplete copy, priced accordingly, of a still interesting work.  (29554)

•  NSTC 2H15366; Cagle 736 (for first and third eds. only.); Goldsmiths'-Kress no. 25858.17 (first ed.).   Publisher's olive green textured cloth, covers and spine blind-stamped, front cover with gilt-stamped armorial vignette, back cover with gilt-stamped device and motto, spine with gilt-stamped title; spine slightly sunned, extremities mildly rubbed. Hinges (inside) of this hefty volume now cracked, with joints tender but holding. One plate (the map dated 1560) with pencilled annotations. Some plates faintly age-toned; pages with a few instances of light foxing. A workfull of valuable and interesting detail in a nice, clean, and (as handled with care) sound copy.  (37084)

Provenance:  Rolle family armorial bookplate.

•  ESTC R10688; Wing (rev.) H1578; Allibone 813.   Contemporary sheep, covers framed in blind double fillets; leather rubbed and scuffed, partially cracked along front joint. All edges marbled. Pastedowns peeled up, front pastedown with early inked inscription; inside front cover with armorial bookplate. Title-page with inked numeral in upper outer corner. (21012)

Provenance:  Pasted in the top margin of Herodotus is a slip reading “Ex libris Joannis Adami Messerschmid 1770.” Later in the library of the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School (properly deaccessioned).

Binding:  Recent full calf by Starr bindery, raised bands to spine accented with gilt rules, and a gilt green spine label; interesting but modest blind tooling on the covers in a 16th-century style.

Previous Binding:  Deteriorated but preserved in a separate blue cloth clamshell case: Boards covered in calf with a center gilt device accomplished with a single stamp used dos á dos Visible under the pastedowns and on the back of the preserved but incomplete spine covering are scraps of a medieval manuscript. Also visible on the front pastedown is a curious embossing, possibly intentional and possibly the impression of something once pressed long and hard between cover and text block.

•  Herodotus: Adams H395; VD16 H2507& G1079; Dibdin, Greek and Latin Classics, II, 19–20; Schweiger, I, 138; Graesse, III, 254. Thucydides: VD16 T1114; Adams T664; Graesse, VII, 148; Schoell, II, 166; Adams T664; Schweiger, I, 325; Dibdin, Greek and Latin Classics, II, 506.   Bound as above; text with occasional, generally light instances of soiling, staining, or spotting, this most notable at beginning (including Herodotus title-page) and at end of volume. Minor pinhole type worming in lower margin of both works (three or four very determined pests, who thankfully did not meander). A handsome and wide-margined copy.  (40952)

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

•  Written in a clear hand. In very good condition.  (33763)

Provenance: The Rev. Edwin A. Dalrymple; the Maryland Diocesan Library.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 15224. Contemporary quarter cloth over marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; binding moderately darkened and worn, cloth chipped over head of spine, spine showing shadow of a now-absent shelving label. Front pastedown with private collector’s bookplate and with institutional rubber-stamp (as above); title-page additionally with early inked gift inscription in upper margin (this cut into by binder). Some light spotting and age-toning.  (19368)

•  Binding as above; back cover with one scuff, front cover with small unobtrusive area of darkening towards upper outer corner. Offsetting to edges of free endpapers from turn-ins. Pages and plates clean and fresh. A striking, elegant volume, of surpassing interest for music historians and aficionados.  (39690)

•  Publisher's (wide) quarter green calf and green cloth–covered sides, outer leather edges with blind roll, front cover with Stradivarius coat of arms stamped in gilt and red, spine with gilt-stamped publication information; spine and back joint sunned, corners and joints lightly rubbed. Top edges gilt, other edges untrimmed. Last two leaves of index starting to separate.A nice copy of this critically important work of music history, with outstanding provenance.  (39702)

Provenance:  Signature of John Duncrist in upper margin of front wrapper; most recently in the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

•  Cf. Osborne Collection p. 631.   Original printed green wrappers; wrappers in past separated from text block and expertly reattached. Light staining in some inner margins. A very nice copy.  (38799)

Provenance: With a tipped-in, printed slip reading “With the kind regards of The Author.”

•  Publisher's purple cloth, front cover and spine gilt-stamped; spine and edges sunned, back cover with its double layer of cloth partially torn through the top layer (interesting, as to binding structure). Front pastedown with institutional bookplate, preliminary leaf with early inked ownership inscription and pressure-stamp of a religious institution, title-page with small rubber-stamp. Pages clean.  (20829)

Presentation copy: This copy inscribed “To Sister Mary Jane / Best wishes / J. Edgar Hoover / Xmas 1958.”

•  Publisher's cloth, dust jacket in protective sleeve taped to covers; dust jacket with minor scuffing at corners and spine extremities, one crease to back, price clipped. Front pastedown with institutional bookplate; endpapers with offsetting from tape. Pages clean.  (24821)

Signed binding: Contemporary brown morocco, front pastdown stamped “J. Wright Binder.” Boards with triple fillet gilt border at edges; center panel on each board composed of a triple fillet outer border with a floral/vine gilt roll within; gilt corner devices with elements extending along the outer edges of the center panel. Board edges with double fillet rules, turn-ins with same gilt roll as in the center panels of the boards, cream calendared endpapers. All edges gilt.

Evidence of readership: 20th-century notes relating to the text on rear free endpaper.

Provenance:  Large engraved armorial “Kimmel Park” bookplate of Hugh Robert Hughes of Kimmel (1827–1911), Co. Denbigh, and his small library shelf label to top of front pastedown. His signature in full, dated “June 11th 1855,” on front fly-leaf. “G.L.D. 1937" on front free endpaper.

•  NSTC 2H30539; McLean, Victorian Book Design, pp. 94, 174.   Binding as above; joints (outside) abraded, so too lower edges of boards and corners. 20th-century notes as mentioned above; shelf label largely obscured by a later blank one; a very few dog-ears or short edge tears; age-toning with some foxing and other spotting, especially towards beginning and end. A remarkable, wonderful book.  (37188)

Provenance:  Front pastedown with 19th-century armorial bookplate of a descendant of the famous Philadelphia collector Isaac Norris (argent, on a chevron gules between three falcons' heads erased sable a mullet Or, with the motto “Ubique patriam reminisci”; note that design differs from the one engraved by James Turner); front free endpaper with bookplate of Brian Douglas Stilwell.

•  Brooks 493; Brunet, III, 322; Giani 37 (p. 46); Renouard, II, 263; Schweiger, II, 413.   Binding as above, minimal rubbing. Top edge gilt. Bookplates as above; front free endpaper verso with pencilled reference annotations. Broad, wide-margined pages clean and fresh.  (40155)

Provenance:  Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of George Henry Cherry; front fly-leaf with early stamped inscription (strongly resembling handwriing) of Vernon J. Watney, Cornbury (author of Cornbury and the Forest of Wychwood).

•  Brooks 494; Giani 37 (p. 46); Schweiger, II, 413. Not in Brunet, not in De Lama.   Binding as above; joints, spine, and extremities lightly rubbed, sides with a few small spots of minor darkening. First and last pages mildly foxed. One of Bodoni's most neoclassically restrained productions, in a rather less restrained binding. (40156)

Binding:  Early 19th-century speckled calf, spine compartments gilt-stamped and one with a gilt red leather label; covers with gilt double rules, board edges and turn-ins with gilt single rules, all edges gilt. Signed with stamp by Roger de Coverly, an apprentice of Zaehnsdorf. A very pretty “container” for some very un-pretty history.

Provenance: Armorial bookplate of the Marquess of Bute's Cardiff Castle on front pastedown; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

A rather uncommon edition, with searches of WorldCat, NUC, and COPAC revealing only one U.S. copy (Huntington Library).

•  ESTC S104240; STC 13845.   Bound as above, gentle rubbing, leather a little flaking, joints refurbished and covers solidly attached. Bookplate as above; title-page dust-soiled with one small inked word, a faded ownership signature, one small pencil mark. Light pencilling and some chipping to endpapers, general light to moderate age-toning with an occasional spot and some pages unevenly trimmed; one gathering with very light, limited waterstain to lower margin. An important work in an unusual edition and an attractive copy.  (37745)

Some copies have a frontispiece but not this one. Of the nine copies we trace to U.S. libraries, we know that at least two lack the frontispiece, but others may also. We have checked the OPAC records for the other seven but because all seven are clearly copy cataloguing we have to wonder about their accuracy.

Binding:  20th-century half dark green crushed morocco with marbled paper sides in a swirl pattern and top edge gilt, signed “Alfred Farez” who was active 1909 to ca. 1930. Unidentified owner's gilt monogram at base of spine. Binding signed “Alfred Farez” who was active 1909 to ca. 1930.

•  Sabin 58530; Streit, Bibliotheca missionum, III, 932; Palau 56514; Maggs, Bibliotheca Americana, I, 887.   Bound as above with old “wall paper” wrappers bound in. Title-page with a very little light soiling and one other leaf with a single spot likewise light; text notably clean and with good margins. A very good copy.  (34707)

Provenance:  From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Buff-color printed wrappers with hand-colored vignette on front wrapper; stitched, head and foot of spine chipped, rear wrapper detached and reattached with archival tissue. A good++ copy.  (38873)

Binding:  Gorgeous 19th-century acid-stained autumnal binding: Covers framed with a gilt floral roll and brilliantly crossed with bands of walnut brown, ochre, deep green, russet red, black, and grey, allvery bright. Spines gilt extra with compartment devices and multiple interesting rolls, and bearing black leather gilt labels; board edges touched at corners with gilt; marbled endpapers.

Provenance:  Signature of Sam Baird on front endpaper and title-page of vol. I and half-title of vol. II.

As described in the BAL, signature sign 6 is not present on p. 41 in vol. I and the last page of vol. III is unnumbered.

•  BAL 10124.   Bound as above, bindings moderately rubbed with one sliver of leather lost at a joint and a small patch lost near the bottom of one back cover. Age-toning, foxing, and some other spotting; some corners creased (some corners improperly trimmed during manufacture. Inscriptions as above, light pencilling on endpapers of one volume; map wrinkled with some old light staining and a tear repaired some time ago from back, with cloth tape — folds strong. A classic semi-historical work most strikingly bound.  (36170)

Provenance:  Front pastedown with bookplates of prominent Philadelphia collector Robert R. Dearden and Philip Justice Steinmetz, an Episcopal clergyman; the latter design shows a view of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Elkins Park, PA, of which Dr. Steinmetz was the pastor.

•  BAL 10188.   Publisher's slate-green cloth, covers with blind-stamped rococo frame, front cover with gilt-stamped scenic vignette, spine with gilt-stamped author/title and embossed decorations; binding very slightly cocked, extremities rubbed, cloth somewhat faded overall. Front pastedown with bookplates as above and with affixed slip of old cataloguing. Frontispiece and added title-page with margins lightly stained; pages faintly age-toned, otherwise clean.  (29557)