Provenance:  An armorial bookplate of 19th-century English book collector Edward Cheney with the motto “Fato Prudentia Major” appears on the front pastedown; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Bongi, Annali di Gabriel Giolito de’ Ferrari, I, p. 147 (1547 ed.); EDIT16 CNCE 26527. This edition not in Adams, Brunet, or Graesse. On Parabosco, see: Treccani (online).   Vellum over boards, publication information inked on spine; evenly dust-soiled with ink faded. One tiny chip along edge of title-page; otherwise, light age-toning with a handful (only) of small light stains. Bookplate and label as above. A pretty, pocket-sized play from a great 16th-century press.  (39555)

Binding:  Contemporary marbled calf, spine with gilt-stamped red leather title and author labels, compartments gilt-stamped; covers framed in triple gilt fillets, board edges with gilt roll. All edges gilt; marbled endpapers.

Provenance:  Front fly-leaf with inked inscription of Gwynne A. Williams.

•  Brooks 424; De Lama, II, 67; Giani 19 (p. 41).   Bound as above, moderate rubbing to joints and extremities, spine labels with chip; front cover with small unobtrusive scrape, back cover with small chip in leather. Scattered very faint spots of foxing, mostly to upper or lower margins; pages overall pleasingly clean and fresh.  (40145)

Provenance:  Inside box lid with bookplate of Vance Gerry of the Weather Bird Press; later in the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, with small booklabel (“AHA”).

•  Publisher's printed paper wrappers, housed in the original printed paper–covered box with color-printed “Jeu du Thaumatrope” illustration; box edges and corners with minor rubbing. Booklet and toys clean, absolutely fresh, and ready for fresh experimentation!  (40819)

Parker's biography is well illustrated with 32 black-and-white plates (including his frontispiece portrait) featuring the many people he met throughout his “lives” — early life, musical life, theatrical life, and pageant life (as the book is sectioned).

Binding:  Half red morocco double gilt-ruled, over red cloth sides; five raised bands to spine, lettering or elegant gilt floral decoration in ruled compartments. Top edge gilt, fore- and bottom edges untrimmed. Signed by Bickers & Son.

Provenance & added material: Previously owned by Parker's friend “Saint” (unidentified; see further). Mounted on front free endpaper, a black and white photograph of Parker in front of shelves holding a glass collection; mounted underneath is a clipping from a letter: “Your very affectionate, Luigi.” On following verso, a newspaper clipping of an interview from 1932 is tipped in; on the next recto is mounted a letter to “Saint” (a delightfully written apology for the friend's absence in the book) with, on its second leaf, an original poem asking his friend to “accept this trivial book.” Additional newspaper clippings laid in. On rear pastedown, a black and white photograph with a small ink note indicating it is of Parker's salon; on rear free endpaper, Parker's obituary clipped from the Illustrated London News (as indicated by previous owner's pencilled note) dated 1944. Occasionally a pencilled word or checkmark; one clipping with cut-off words supplied in ink.

•  Bound as above, minor rubbing to corners, small stain and light fading to boards; offsetting to endpapers and soiling from glue used to attach ephemera, evidence of one glue-in removed. Evidence of readership as above; one checkmark in old-fashioned red pencil. A splendid, unique volume containing intriguing related ephemera — clearly owned by a special friend of Parker's.  (38018)

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)

The Americana content is found in the first section of the volume, dedicated to “deists,” chapter XI (subsections xxvi–xxxii); the natives discussed include those of Canada (Hurons), Virginia, Florida, Mexico, Peru, Paraguay, the Caribbean, and Brazil. Earlier in the “deists” section there is equally interesting discussion of the afterlife in the religions for variousAfrican nations.

The title-page is printed in red and black with an engraved armorial design in the center. Several engraved historiated initials, including a few that show people holding books, and one engraved headpiece of women leading horses on clouds decorate the text.

Binding:  Uncut text in an 18th-century cartonné binding with an attractive hand-lettered vellum spine label.

Provenance:  “Ex Libris P. Josephi Sacella” written in the bottom margin of the title-page; Sacella has also inked a few words (mostly obliterated) to the front pastedown and a manicule within the text.

•  Alden & Landis, European Americana, 748/147.   Uncut and bound as above, corners bumped and binding rubbed with some loss of paper at front bottom corner, binding dust-soiled and spotted. Volume with final blank (only) lacking and with markings as noted above; half-title with loss of some paper at fore-edge. One leaf detached and two with short to medium marginal tears; central gatherings with a very pale, old, circular stain across gutter reaching type on a few leaves only; and a few leaves creased or with small spots. A handsome text interestingly cased.  (36831)

Provenance:  Signature on front fly-leaf of John Yeames (1 January 1846); related late 19th–century ownership note on front free endpaper; most recently in the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Osborne Collection, p. 729; Gumuchian 3077.   Publisher's boards covered with green paper printed with intertwined vine pattern; paper rubbed, spine darkened with extremities chipped, front cover with small inkstain in upper inner corner. Inscriptions and booklabel as above. A few interior smudges. Without the publisher's ads at the end; good++. Lithographs very bright!  (38919)

Provenance:  Front pastedown with attractive armorial bookplate of Walter Henry James, 2nd Baron Northbourne, bookplate done by “T.E.H.”: Thomas Erat Harrison, famed for rebus-style representations of names and heraldic motifs. Later in the library of Robert L. Sadoff, M.D., sans indicia.

•  NSTC 2P9143.   Contemporary half calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine gilt extra, with gilt-stamped leather title-label; edges and extremities rubbed. All edges stained red. Minor foxing, largely confined to first portion and last few leaves of volume, endpapers more notably foxed. A solid and distinguished copy.  (39877)

Perez de Ribas' work is exceedingly rare on the market. In forty years of bookselling, this is only the second copy we have handled. Very important and desirable.

•  Wagner, Spanish Southwest, 43; Alden & Landis 645/96; Sabin 60895, 70789; DeBacker-Sommervogel, VI, 525; Servies 176. JCB (3), II, 333. Medina, BHA, 1083; Palau 222254; Streit 1745; Barrett 1984; Bell P169; Howgego R35; Brunet, IV, 21590; Graesse, VI, 106; Leclerc, Bibl. Amer. (1867), 1305; Huth, Catalog, IV, 1243; Heredia 6836; Salva 3376.   Contemporary vellum, manuscript spine title, marca del fuego; hinges (inside)cracking, light soiling. Very small ink stamp on title-page. Light foxing and tanning to text; some very slight worming, confined primarily to margins in rear of text block. A few ink notations and stains. A very good copy in a cloth clamshell case, leather label.  (34581)

Provenance:   With a partially removed armorial bookplate of the Bibliotheque de Rosny (the library ofDuchess Marie-Caroline de Bourbon-Sicile — King Henry the Fifth's mother) on front pastedown and two bookseller descriptions of the item in hand on binder's blanks; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

WorldCat locates only four U.S. libraries reporting ownership, and at least one of the reported sets is incomplete. The publication date given here is that suggested by the Osborne Collection.

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

•  Osborne Collection, p. 765.   Blue textured paper over cardboard slipcase; embossed red paper onlay on front, printed in gold and titled “Picture books”; chromolithographed paper onlay on front (as described above). One of the chapbooks has small repairs, others variously displaying a small chip, a light stain, or a bit of creasing; else and indeed, very good.  (39521)

•  Uncut, unopened copy in later wrappers (which are tattered). Text block split in two: requires binding. Edges dog-eared, some dust-soiling.  (21470)

Vol. I here bears an extensive and interesting list of subscribers.

•  ESTC N20527.   Contemporary speckled calf, spines with raised bands, gilt-stamped leather title-labels, and gilt-stamped volume numbers; volumes rubbed and covers only gingerly holding with front free endpapers separated. Vols. I and II only, of six; vol. I spine label lost, vol. II label chipped. Text blocks strong with some light age-toning and occasional foxing, only, and first and last few leaves with offsetting. Priced according to condition and with reading, engravings, and provenance all still pleasurable to engage with.  (37174)

Provenance:  Bookplates of Wilfred Merton, Robert Wayne Stilwell, and Brian Douglas Stilwell.

•  Brooks 451; Brunet, IV, 783; De Lama, II, 71–72; Giani 23 (p. 43).   19th-century half brown mottled sheep and marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-ruled raised bands; extremities rubbed. Front pastedown with bookplates as above and with pencilled reference notes; some foxing or other spotting/soiling intermittently; a volume overall clean and pleasing.  (40150)

Besides editing the letters, Irish-born Ussher provides notes and an essay, “De Ignatii Martyris Epistolis, indeque . . . de Polycarpi quoque scriptis, atque Apostolicis Constitutionibus et Canonibus Clementi Romano tributis,” at the end of the volume.

The ESTC record indicates that a portion of this work was salvaged from an edition of Ignatii, Polycarpi, et Barnabæ, epistolae atq[ue], martyria quibus praefixa est de Polycarpi & Ignatii scriptis Jacobi Usserii archiepiscopi armachani dissertatio: quae in hoc volumine continentur alia, operi praefixa synopsis indicabit that was accidentally burnt while being printed by Lichfield in 1642.

Provenance:  17th- or 18th-century ownership signatures of “Will. Young” and of “John Dearle.” In early 19th century given to Kenyon College by John Foster of Hertfordshire; in the 20th century in the library of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School (properly deaccessioned).

•  Wing (2nd ed.) P2789; Wing (rev. ed.) U185; Madan, II, 1739–1744; ESTC R203207.   Contemporary sprinkled calf, modestly tooled in blind with a double rule on covers; rebacked, original spine label reattached, new front free endpaper. Library bookplates and one-line rubber-stamps on pastedowns but not title-page; one leaf with small loss of paper in lower margin, not affecting text. Edges of title-leaf and leaf following darkened from offset of the turn-ins. Solid, handsomely printed, interesting.  (34456)

This was, both in the Portuguese and the Latin versions, circulated as a propaganda tool in the diplomatic war that Pombal waged in Europe against the Society of Jesus.

Provenance:  Ex-Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, with its stamp showing this a deaccessioned duplicate.

Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only six U.S. libraries reporting ownership of this edition.

•  Sabin 14962; Borba de Moraes, Bibliographia brasiliana,194; Palau 58290; Streit, Bibiotheca missionum, III, 747. Not in Borba de Moraes, Bibliografia brasileira do periodo colonial.   Contemporary mottled paper wrappers. Neat, oval Vatican Library stamp on title-page and final blank. A very good copy, clean and with full margins.  (34688)

Provenance:  Front pastedown and free endpaper with bookplates of Brian Douglas Stilwell and Robert Wayne Stilwell.

•  Brooks 1088; Giani 193 (p. 75). Not in Brunet.   Cream paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped red leather title-label; front board with upper inner and lower outer corners bumped. Several instances of variable foxing, with title-page and final page more noticeably spotted; six leaves each showing small stain from now-absent organic(?) material. Solid, overall clean copy of this interesting medico-literary Bodoni production.  (40197)

This set includes two volumes of supplemental text, adding a number of entries. The first edition was followed by two volumes of supplemental plates, not present here and not called for: Graesse describes this edition as “sans grav.”

The pagination is erratic in a number of places; there is a numbering gap from 2342 to 2351 between vols. IV and V, but the text and signatures are uninterrupted.

Uncommon: OCLC locates only two U.S. institutional holdings of this second edition.

Provenance: Most volumes with small inked ownership inscription in an outer margin: “G.R.W.” the mark of William Rollinson Whittingham (1805–79), fourth Episcopal Bishop of Maryland and an enthusiastic book collector.

•  Brunet, IV, 851; Graesse, V, 429. Not in Sabin.   Contemporary half binding, recently rebacked with tan paper, spines with printed paper labels; boards rubbed and faded with small chips, one vol. with front cover waterstained. Foxing almost throughout, generally no worse than moderate; light waterstaining in upper margins of vol. I; one leaf in vol. VII with lower outer portion torn away, with loss of words from about 18 lines on each side. Vol. II with printer's error replacing pp. 1065–72 with duplicates of pp. 1057–64; pagination erratic in other places. Most vols. with ownership mark as above; vol. VI with one pencilled and one inked marginal annotation.  (25862)

The "Story of the Country-Mouse and the City-Mouse," Prior's satiric and politically motivated response to Dryden's "Hind and Panther," is not included, but the long pieces "Solomon on the Vanity of the World" and "Alma" are present. The "Life of Mat. Prior" in the first volume commences beneath a small engraved portrait.

Binding:  Later sprinkled calf, covers gilt-ruled with gilt inner dentelles, spines gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels. All edges saffron.

Provenance:  Both volumes with armorial bookplates of Sir Robert D'Arcy Hildyard.

•  On Prior, see: Dictionary of National Biography, 397–401. Leather cracking over joints with hinges tender; spine tips a little dry and pulled; upper and outer edges of all covers somewhat darkened; light wear to extremities. Light foxing to some pages. In fact a very handsome pair. (3402)

Binding/Provenance: Prize binding of contemporary vellum, covers framed and panelled in gilt rolls with gilt-stamped corner fleurons and gilt central vignette with the crest of the city of Amsterdam, spine with gilt-ruled raised bands and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments. The partially printed, partially inscribed, bound-in prize certificate reads “Ingenuo magnaeque spei adolescenti, Henrico Gerteler propter insignes in artibus humanioribus progessus, in classe tertia . . . Quod testor R. v. Ommeren [/] Gymnasii publici Amstelaedamensis Rector,” dated 1791.

•  Brunet, IV, 905; Dibdin, I, 385–86; Graesse, V, 460; Sandys, II, 455; Schweiger, II, 831. Binding as above, vellum slightly darkened, lacking ties; spine with gilt dimmed and traces of a now-absent label and inked call number at foot of spine. Lower edges with institutional rubber-stamp; title-page with shadow of a pencilled numeral. Front free endpaper with paper adhesions from a now-absent bookplate; back pastedown with rubber-stamp and small adhesion. Pages clean save for offsetting to upper margins of a few, from a laid-in slip.  (20594)

Provenance:  Front fly-leaf of vol. I with affectionate inked gift inscription from David Williams to John Griffiths (both academics of the University of Oxford, as referenced in the inscription), dated 1854. Front pastedowns each with 19th-century bookseller's small leather label (“the most Expert Bookfinder Extant”).

•  Brooks 361; Brunet, V, 916; De Lama, II, 52–53; Dibdin, II, 360–61; Graesse 467.   Bindings as above, edges and extremities rubbed, spine labels with small repairs. One of the most desirable editions of this important poet, here in an attractive copy with delightful provenance.  (40137)

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 includestwo 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)

•  NSTC 2P28587.   Publisher's textured dark blue cloth, covers blind-stamped with acanthus leaf frame, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding cocked, spine sunned, extremities lightly rubbed. All edges gilt. Front hinge (inside) open from head with sewing loosened and tender. Pages evenly age-toned with light spots of foxing to first and last few leaves, pencilled markings as above, otherwise clean.  (41041)

•  20th-century half pebbled blue cloth with blue marbled paper sides, spine with gilt-stamped title-label; moderate rubbing overall, joints showing old refurbishment, back hinge (inside) cracked and reinforced some time ago with cloth tape. Personal and bookseller rubber-stamps as above. Half-title taped in between pp. xiv and xv; one leaf with old cellophane tape repair now browned, four leaves with old drop-stain of something light in upper portion, some corners creased, back free endpaper with corners chipped. A number of recipes are marked “ojo” in pencil, with other scattered small pencil or ink marks throughout. A read and appreciated association copy, not showing any significant evidence of kitchen use.  (36416)

Provenance:  Title-page with early inked ownership inscription of a member of the von und zu Ratzenried family.

•  Barbier, IV, 1022 (for the 1701 ed.).   Contemporary sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-framed compartments; binding moderately worn and scuffed, front cover with small area of worming. All edges stained red. Two pieces of dried plant matter laid in. Unobtrusive pencilled marks of emphasis in margins, pages otherwise clean.  (40247)

Provenance: The first work's title-page has “Ex dono Autoris” inscribed in the upper margin in an early hand.

•  Pycroft: ESTC T144698; Allibone 1712. Addenbrooke: ESTC T88427.   Recent marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Pycroft half-title lacking; title-page with annotation as above. Pages slightly age-toned, with light spotting to final leaves of Enquiry and throughout Essay. (20760)