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)

Although Mela's work is solely concerned with the world as known by Greeks and Romans, one should remember that their world did encompass portions of Africa and a knowledge of India. Additionally the appendix, originally written in 1521 and first appearing in the 1522 Basel printing of Mela, has a coda consisting of a 1515 letter of Vadian’s to Rudolph Agricola, the younger, that briefly discussesVespucci (X5v) and the New World (Y1r) when discussing the Spanish empire.

This is the third edition of Vadian's Mela, taken from the second edition (1522), but only the second with Vadian's appendix. Graesse comments, “Second éd. . . . fort changée et corrigée sur des mss.”

Whether all copies of the work were issued with a map has been long discussed and is without resolution: What we do know is that some have a map, most do not.

Provenance:  Macclesfield copy with the bookplate and handsome pressure-stamps.

Evidence of readership:  Scattered minor (usually one or two words) marginalia.

•  Harrisse, BAV, 157; Renouard, Paris, 2210; Alden & Landis 530/30; Sabin 63958 (not calling for a map); Graesse, V, 401 (not calling for a map).   18th-century quarter vellum with blue-green paper–covered sides, author's name in old ink to spine. Title-page lightly soiled, light discoloration or inkstains in some margins, light occasional foxing; pinhole-type worming in text of some pages with no loss of text, and a corner of last leaf torn away without loss of text; on pp. 170–96, a light waterstain across upper gutter not touching text and another across upper outer corners impinging on it. As usual, without the map found in only a few copies. Macclesfield pressure-stamps and marginalia as above. A good, sound, and soundly pleasing old folio.  (34114)

Provenance:  Front pastedown with bookplate of Edward Chapman, head of Chapman & Hall.

•  NCBEL, III, 637; NSTC 2M24993.   Publisher's violet cloth, front cover with blind-stamped frame and gilt-stamped decorative title in a lozenge, spine with gilt-stamped publication information; spine and board edges sunned to tan, extremities slightly rubbed. Mild age-toning and scattered light spotting.  (39671)

The text is nicely printed in large, clear type with a woodcut headpiece at the start of each volume (the second volume having a separate title-page); at the back are four pages of advertisements from Parisian medical publisher-bookseller J.B. Baillière, dated 1822, suggesting that perhaps Baillière had purchased the sheets as remainders. This edition isnotably uncommon, with only three U.S. institutions reporting holdings to WorldCat (National Library of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Yale).

Provenance: Front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription “H.S.S. Burman” dated 1848. Later from the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).

•  Blake, NLM 18th Century, p. 302.   Early 19th–century quarter sheep and blue paste paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped title and compartment decorations; binding rubbed and scuffed, spine sunned, joints starting (sewing holding). All edges speckled red. Inscription as above; small slip of paper with “Caroli de Mertens” inked in an early hand laid in. One leaf with paper flaw affecting lower outer corner, not touching text. Pages clean.  (40665)

Colophon reads: “Design [by] Miho. Printing [by] Hennegan Co. Cincinatti [sic]. Paper: Cover, Kromekot 15 cover/.010 Text, Kromekote enamel / 90 lb. Box, Kromekote Lith / 60 lb. Colorcast boxwrap, red on red.”

The near-miniature travelogue book is contained in a larger box measuring 19 x 19 x 2 cm (7.375" x 7,375" x .75").

WorldCat locates fewer than ten reported copies worldwide.

•  Book in fine condition, box very good. A fascinating, evocative little production.  (36984)

•  Shoemaker 9489. Not in Hill.   Removed from a nonce volume. Light age-toning. “No.7” in ink (early 19th-century hand) at top of title-page.  (27260)

“Part of Central Asia Showing the Territory between the Zarafshan and Amu-Daria Rivers,” thelarge folding map relevant to Morgan's paper, is included in the rear. Printed in in black and white with light color accents, it was drawn by the chief draughtsman for the Society, Henry Sharbau, and lithographed by British cartographer and engraver Edward Weller.

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

•  Original printed blue wrappers, front wrapper with center emblem; wrappers edgeworn and lightly discolored in spots, chipping to rear wrapper with minor loss, spine faded. Interior age-toned, light scuffs to two pages; very small occasional tears at creases of the map. A solid copy, with the attractive map.  (38056)

This is copy 152.

•  Publisher's quarter cranberry-colored calf with decorated paper over the boards, in a cream-colored paper wrapper. A fine copy.  (30522)

The “British Association” that visited Bath in 1888 was the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

Few U.S. institutions report holding physical copies of this work: WorldCat finds only eight American locations.

•  Publisher's pebbled blue cloth–covered limp boards, front cover with gilt-stamped title; spine cloth slightly darkened and bubbled, extremities rubbed. Pages and color map slightly age-toned, minor offsetting to upper and inner margins of first few leaves (around tipped-in map), overall internally clean.A nice copy of an interesting work.  (40375)

The author travelled Europe in search of a certain old-world atmosphere. His descriptions of his discoveries in towns such as Clovelly, England; Carcassonne, France; and San Gimignano, Italy, are accompanied by 48 black and white photographs, as well as a map of Europe. This is the second printing.

Binding:  Publisher's olive cloth with white lettering to spine. On the front board, a picturesque townscape with white-stamped stone exteriors and maroon-stamped roofs against a gilt sky; the lettering is also in white. Signed by “GH,” presumably George Washington Hood.

•  Bound as above, extremely minor rubbing to extremities, faint scratches to gilt decoration, scrape to bottom page edges; faint foxing to the very top edge of the plates and several leaves. In a decorated binding as quaint as the towns!  (38922)

Binding:  Publisher's brown cloth, gilt-and black-stamped.

•  A little spotting, a little shaken; a good++ copy.  (34001)

This attractively accomplished production features title-pages printed in red and black and16 delightful engraved plates counting the double-spread added engraved title-page serving as the frontispiece of vol. I. Offering views of the countryside and the fountains, many of the images incorporate figures such as a hunter and his hounds, riders on horseback, and well-dressed ladies and gentlemen strolling or dancing — as well as one ofa life-sized “insect” allegedly “brought away from the Kidneys of a Woman by the Drinking of the Pouhon Waters.” The unsigned plates, sometimes attributed to the author himself and sometimes to Hecquet, bearcaptions given in French, German, and English.

Provenance:  Title-pages each with early inked inscription of Frances Osborn. Later in the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).

•  Graesse, I, 109; Wellcome, IV, 407. Not in Blake, NLM 18th Century (which only lists an English-language edition).   Contemporary quarter mottled calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels; bindings rubbed, scuffed, and with leather refurbished. Added engraved title-page for vol. I here tipped in as a double-page spread. Vol. I with waterstaining to outer margins of first few leaves, including added title-page and title-page; vol. II with waterstaining to upper outer portions of first few leaves; some plates with waterstaining to margins, not affecting images. Pages otherwise crisp and clean. A pleasurable production, showcasing a pleasurable place! (40619)

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)

•  American Imprints 52683; Sabin 71961. This edition not in Palau. Publisher's pebbled brown cloth bindings: black tape at top of one spine and onto the covers. Bindings show modest wear, publisher's paper spine labels slightly chipped; text blocks slightly skewed in bindings and light waterstaining in lower inner margins of vol. I. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings.  (28891)

The author, who spent most of his life in Derby, was a sculptor as well as a Derbyshire historian, and he appears to have supplied theoriginal illustrations here himself. The two pairs of plates (one lithographed, one steel-engraved) are done in notably different styles — we suspect that two different engravers worked from Robinson's sketches. Robinson wrote one additional Twitcher piece in 1881, describing a visit to the Royal Agricultural Show, not included in this gathering.

All the Twitcher books are now scarce: WorldCat finds very few U.K. holdings of these titles and virtually no U.S.

Provenance: First text page with early pencilled ownership inscription of Mr. H. Mills in upper outer corner.

•  Crismas: NSTC 2R14138; Visit: NSTC 2R14139; Second Visit: NSTC 2R14140; Watter Cure: NSTC 0643751.   Later quarter green calf and fine combed marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; minor shelfwear. Pencilled ownership note as above. Light age-toning; first two works with mild foxing and last leaves with avery light, old waterstain across a lower corner. A highly personal production in text *and* illustration; an entertaining and very uncommon gathering.  (36501)