An engraved frontispiece of Ptolemy done by Menzel opens the volume; the main title-page is printed in red and black, with an engraved allegorical vignette.

Provenance:  Title-page verso with intaglio-printed armorial ex libris, printed directly on the leaf (not a bookplate that was glued on): “Ex Bibliotheca Friederici Roth-Scholtzii.” Friedrich Roth-Scholtz (1687–1736) was a prominent Nuremberg printer and publisher, as well as the author of Icones bibliopolarum et typographorum de republica litteraria and the Bibliotheca chemica; there are several reported examples of such bookplates in his books.

•  Recent quarter calf and speckled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped author, title, place, date and gilt-ruled raised bands. Volume a little cocked. Endpapers soiled; some pages with mild offsetting, and text otherwise clean.  (25490)

Five Thousand Receipts was first printed in America in 1826, and enjoyed as enthusiastic a reception in the United States as it previously had in England. This is the fourth American edition, here in the Kay variant giving “122 Chestnut Street – near 4th” as the publisher's address.

Provenance: Francis Kelsey, New York City.

•  Bitting 299; Lowenstein 122; Shoemaker 39366.   Contemporary sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped decorations; worn and abraded, joints open and fragile, front cover darkened, leather lost at spine extremities. Front free endpaper with early inked ownership inscription; front fly-leaf with small hole and pencilled annotations. Pages with varying degrees of age-toning and spotting, several signatures deeply browned. Some corners dog-eared. One leaf with upper outer corner torn away, with loss of a few words; one leaf with tear from lower margin extending into text without loss; one leaf with internal closed tear, without loss. Used, as this usually was!  (27405)

Provenance:  Withphotographic plates of Queen Marie and King Ferdinand, autographed by each. Inscribed in ink on a front fly-leaf to Miss Elsie L. Green with compliments of A. Lupescu, '24.

Binding:  Contemporary mottled sheep, covers framed in gilt rolls surrounding the arms of the Hohenzollern–Sigmaringen house as rulers of Romania, spine gilt extra. Upper edges stained red, heavy green silk endpapers, original silk bookmark present.

•  Binding as above, moderately rubbed at expectable places without affecting splendor. A few scattered light smudges and instances of offsetting, overall appealingly clean. An impressive, distinctly deluxe production.  (30970)

Author's presentation copy:  Signed by Markham, with an inscription “with my friendly greetings” to a theological seminary, dated 1933.

•  Mounted on cardboard. Age-toned, edges darkened; clean and unchipped.  (26119)

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 large, round, gilt-stamped armorial leather bookplate of notable 19th-century bookseller and book collector James Toovey; smaller, round, gilt-stamped “I.T.” bookplate with motto “Inter folia fructus” (also Toovey's and of cream-colored leather); 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)

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

Provenance: Signature on title-page of Bruce J. Worthington, dated 1794; of Ethan Allen, dated 1856; of John H. Alexander, Esq.; in the library of the Maryland Diocesan Librarywherein Wroth will have worked with and delighted in it (deaccessioned).

•  Evans 10049; Wroth, Maryland, 254; Sabin 45186.   Recent full calf, old style, by Grace Bindings (signed “G.B.” on lower turn-in of inside back cover), with gilt tooling on covers and spine, raised bands on spine, red title-label. Title-page browned around the edges and with some loss of paper; leaf now backed as is the last (bookseller's advertisements). Maryland Diocesan library stamp (deaccessioned as above) on title-page. Dedication page with very old repair along inner area of blank verso. Old damp- and/or waterstaining to early and late leaves and a few other places; occasional stray spots or small stains. Complete with the errata/advertisement leaf. A handsome, impressive volume.  (20605)

Binding: Publisher's very bright pebbled violet-blue cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title tending attractively to copper, back cover with blind-stamped Masonic device; all edges red.

Provenance:  The front cover is gilt-stamped “Blessed Charity. Chicago, October 8th and 9th, 1871" (reported on several other copies), beneath which is “Grand Lodge State of Massachusetts” (gilt-stamped in a different font).

•  Bound as above; extremities rubbed, spine darkened. Pages mildly age-toned. A nice association copy of a not-terribly-common Chicago Fire item.  (29484)

Provenance: Charles Spencer, Third Earl of Sunderland, lot 6554 in the Sunderland Library sale (1882).

•  Adams M866. 17th-century sprinkled calf, plain sides, round spine, raised bands, gilt spine extra. Leather worn. Old dust-stain on title-page. A library's blind pressure-stamps; properly deaccessioned with no additional stamps. Speckled edges. A very good copy.

Provenance:  Front free endpaper of vol. I with inked inscription: “Presented to the 'German Society Library of the State of Pennsylvania' by the Compiler,” signed “Wm. M'Carty.”; same to vol. III. Vol. II from a second 19th-century Philadelphia subscription library!

•  American Imprints 42-3093; Sabin 42997.   A married set. Vols. I & III: Publisher's brown cloth, covers framed in blind, spines with gilt-stamped title and two different vignettes; corners and spine extremities chipped (foot of vol. I revealing printed music beneath the cloth). Ex–social club library with remnants of shelving labels on spine heads, 19th-century bookplates and call number on endpapers, pressure-stamp on title-pages. Vol. II (Naval) sometime rebound in navy leather over blue cloth, leather edges blind-tooled, spine with gilt-stamped leather title label; spine sunned, rubber-stamp of a different 19th-century library on title-page and a number of other pages, small repair to dedication leaf of vol. II. All volumes with occasional short marginal edge tears or corners chipped away; some pages lightly age-toned. All meaty, all sound for use, all evocative; despite “mixed” nature, a very pleasant set.  (3283)

Binding: Signed binding (with Bilbao’s ticket on front pastedown) of oxblood morocco, front and back covers framed in a wide gilt roll surrounding gilt-stamped coat of arms of Francesco de Assisi de Bourbon, Duc de Cadiz (consort to Isabella II of Spain); spine with four raised bands, compartments gilt extra, with author, title, and date gilt-stamped. Board edges and turn-ins with gilt rolls; all page edges gilt; blue moiré endpapers.

Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplate of Maria Christina, Queen of Spain.

•  Palau 350495. Binding as above, showing light wear, spine slightly faded; pastedowns with some offsetting, endpapers with spots of foxing. Rare and attractive.

This is numbered copy 932 of 1650 printed on grey Van Gelder paper at the Curwen Press.

Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplate of prominent New Yorker E. Coster Wilmerding.

•  BAL 13726; McKitterick/Rendall/Dreyfus 36.   Publisher's red cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title, in black-printed dust-wrapper; spine slightly sunned with extremities rubbed, dust-wrapper split and significantly chipped with most of spine paper lost. Provenance as above, and the volume clean.  (28230)

Provenance:  Cortlandt F. Bishop, with his elegant red leather bookplate.

Binding:  Signed binding by M. Lortic: red morocco, gilt extra with accents of black; original wrappers bound in. Board edges with gilt double fillet; wide turn-ins with richly gilt; marbled endpapers. All edges gilt.

The prospectus is bound at the rear.

•  Binding as above, joints unobtrusively repaired, very faint traces of shelfwear to lower edges. Pages gently age-toned. A beautiful volume.  (3390)

Provenance: Bookplate of Ventura Gómez Alatorre, late-19th-century citizen and official of Tepatitlán.

•  Contemporary acid-stained sheep with elegant gilt spines, with scuffs, stains, and a decorative design lightly etched into one cover, all this attractive; evidence of blue wrappers at inner margins of each volume, all edges yellow. Some mild old foxing and spotting; first volume's first leaves with crescent of dampstaining across top of gutter margin and second volume with deeper arc of same to first and last leaves; a very good set.  (31180)

an unnumbered copy from the 150 printed, with a handwritten inscription “for Andrew Hedden”

•  Janus Press 1981–1990, 43/44.   Publisher's boards coated in terra-cotta acrylic-mixed plaster with a stitched cream-colored vellum spine, without the napkin-inspired linen in which copies were originally wrapped; faint traces of wear to lower outer corners, otherwise a tasty, clean, and unworn copy.  (31267)

The volume opens with awood-engraved illustration of the saloon, done by Philadelphia artist Charles H. Reed. Author James was a medical officer in the Union army and also published Two Years in the Service, or, the Personal Recollections of a Medical Officer and A Complete History of the Great Rebellion; or, the Civil War in the United States.

Binding:  Publisher's textured green cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped vignette of the shop and a very large American flag, taken from the frontispiece; back cover with same vignette in blind. Spine with a bit of gilt embellishment at top and bottom, gilt-stamped title.

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with inked inscription: “Compliments of Mrs. A. Horner Phila. July 4th 1876"; also with rubber-stamp of Samuel Hoffman, a Philadelphia collector and dealer of presidential and political material; and finally with inked inscription: “To the LIbrarian U. of Chattanooga Sept. 13, 1957 from John C. Daub,” a Pittsburgh rare book dealer.

•  Sabin 50402.   Bound as above, corners and spine extremities rubbed. Front free endpaper with inscriptions and stamp as above. A clean, solid copy.  (29560)

Signed binding: Publisher's striped cloth, predominantly seen in the 1840s and never common: Brown ripple-textured cloth thinly striped in light blue, covers each with blind-stamped frame and gilt-stamped harp and shamrock vignette, spine with gilt-stamped title and strapwork; front free endpaper with pressure-stamp of the Benjamin Bradley company. All edges gilt.

•  On binding cloth: Krupp, Bookcloth in England and America, 1823–50, Rip3.   Binding as above, cocked, corners rubbed, spine extremities chipped, short stretch of insect damage in front joint; overall more attractive than these notes suggest. Front hinge (inside) tender. Pages gently age-toned; a few leaves of preface with light staining along inner margins. A very popular work, here in an unusual and distinctive binding.  (30344)

Provenance:  Final blank leaf with inked inscriptions reading “Tho.s. Scupholme His Book 1740" and “Henery Collier His Book 1759.”

•  ESTC R267; Wing (rev. ed.) M3050; Smith, Anti-Quakeriana, 305.   Period-style calf, covers framed in blind double fillets, spine with gilt-ruled raised bands and gilt-stamped leather title-label. Pages age-toned and spotted; one leaf with tear from lower margin into text, sewn by hand some time ago.  (26004)

The French humanist Muret (1526–85) has long been recognized as the best Latin prose stylist of the Renaissance, and his works were used as a model for students. Greatly admired for his excellent understanding and interpretation of classical texts, he was dubbed “le meilleur orateur du temps” in Italy and France by Montaigne, whom he tutored; and Scaliger mused that Muret “satirised the Ciceronians and at the same time expressed himself in a thoroughly Ciceronian style.” LIke most of Muret's published work, these Variae are based on his academic lectures; however the scholar Lambinus accused Muret of plagiarism, and indeed it seems Muret “borrowed” bits from his work without permission. (In retaliation, Lambinus published their personal correspondence.)

Muret's personal life was fraught with tribulation stemming from multiple accusations of homosexuality in various cities where he resided. From 1559 till his death, however, he lived in Rome under the protection of at least one cardinal and a pope.

The text is in Latin and Greek, printed in roman and italic, with decorative headpieces and floriated initials. A letterpress diagram on p. 547 shows the Greek alphabet corresponding to numerals.

Provenance:  John Saltar (19th-century adolescent's signature, front pastedown); Henry Johns Gibbons, Rittenhouse (Philadelphia), 1923 (signature, front fly-leaf verso).

•  Adams M1971. On Muret, see: Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship, II, pp. 148–52.   Contemporary vellum with evidence of four ties and trace of oval stamp to front cover center, ink title to spine and bottom edge; soiled, with worm to spine/ pastedowns, hinges (inside) cracked, textblock starting to loosen. Paper age-toned and foxed, with small holes from natural flaws on two leaves (and two others partially uncut); Hymni dampstained in lower inner portions (not horribly). A few early ink annotations present.  (30146)