 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
WOMEN [
]
Ellis on “the Whole Law of Woman's Life” — Complete Set
SCARCE PRESENTATION CASE 
(“A” is for “ALL FOUR in a SNAZZY BOX”). Ellis, Sarah Stickney. (The Englishwoman's Family Library). The daughters of England, their position in society, character & responsibilities. The mothers of England[,] their influence & responsibility. The wives of England, their relative duties, domestic influence, & social obligations. The women of England, their social duties, and domestic habits. London: Peter Jackson & Fisher, Son, and Co., [ca. 1845]. 8vo (17.7 cm, 6.96"). 4 vols. Daughters: Frontis., 400 pp. Mothers: Frontis., [8], 390 pp. Wives: Frontis., 371, [1] pp. Women: Frontis., 343, [1] pp.
Click the images for enlargements.
the embodiment of the Angel in the House, though these books preceded the publication of that poem. Ellis grants the necessity of some degree of education for women primarily in order to make them better housekeepers and more interesting companions to men, noting that “so far as cleverness, learning, and knowledge are conducive to woman's moral excellence, they are therefore desirable, and no further” (Daughters, p. 105) — but still she reinforces women's agency, responsibility, and need for self-awareness and self-management, particularly in the daunting task of choosing husbands who will respect them and treat them well. 
in the publisher's leather-covered wooden display casewith shaped roof-like pediment, gilt decorations, gilt-stamped “Library” title, glass-fronted door, and push-button metal catch. The works were first published separately in 1839 (Women), 1842 (Daughters), early 1843 (Wives), and late 1843 (Mothers); the case, apparently first advertised in 1843, could be “had separately” and assembled sets then ensconced in it, or one could buy handsome, variously bound complete sets already encased when new.
Uniform sets are uncommon, and contained in cases like this one are even more so.
Provenance: Daughters with inked ownership inscription of Josephine Sparre, dated 1856; Women with early inked inscription of A.M. Kirwan of Well Park, Drumcondra (Ireland).
• Publisher's red pebbled cloth, covers elaborately stamped in blind, spines with gilt-stamped titles and embossed decorations; volumes with edges and extremities rubbed, small scuffs and spots of discoloration to sides, spines gently sunned, Daughters cloth somewhat lighter overall. Daughters: Offsetting from frontispiece to title-page. Mothers: Frontispiece lightly foxed; light pencilled marks of emphasis. Wives: Front free endpaper lacking; frontispiece foxed. Inscriptions as above; occasional small spots of foxing, smudges, and edge chips scattered throughout; box with scuffs and wear, cracks to leather at top refurbished. A removable dais has been added to the foot of the box in order to fit the presently contained volumes more snugly; markings to the cloth lining of the box suggest that, at one time, taller volumes resided there. 
Some of Ellis's most successful and influential writing in a desirable uniformly bound set, within the rarely surviving and quite charming display case. (41250)
Burd's Festive Little Women(ALL of Us were Jo)? Alcott, Louisa M.; Clara M. Burd, illus. Little women. Philadelphia: John C. Winston Co., 1926. 4to (23.5 cm, 9.25"). Col. frontis., xiii, [1], 496, [2] pp.; 4 col. plts., illus.
Click the images for enlargements. the first edition to feature Burd's art, and also offers an introduction by Albert Lindsay Rowland. This copy has an inked inscription reading “Marjorie [/] From 'Lookie' Christmas 1930.”
Binding: Publisher's dark green cloth, front cover with foliate frame stamped in gilt and light green surrounding a chromolithographed paper onlay depicting the March girls peacefully at work in the woods, spine with foliate motifs repeated.
• Binding as above; gently rubbed, spine slightly darkened, lower corners bumped. Inscription on front fly-leaf as above. Pages faintly age-toned, with foxing surrounding plates (plates themselves unaffected). 
Loved and still lovely, with an appealingly sentimental inscription. (41375)
For CHILDREN'S BOOKS, many ILLUSTRATED, click here.
For ILLUSTRATED BOOKS generally, click here. For PUBLISHER'S CLOTH, click here. For LITERATURE, click here. For “GIFTABLES” — mostly $150 Our highlighted
entries are repeated in the
Signed Binding —Pure GoldAlbin, Thomas, ed. Pure gold from the rivers of wisdom. Edited by the author of “Affection's keepsake.” New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1841. 32mo (10.5 cm; 4.25"). [1 (ads)] f., 126 pp., [2 (ads)] pp.; frontis. (included in pagination).
Click the images for enlargements. The frontispiece (retaining its tissue guard) is an engraving by Thomas Phillibrown showing a young male writer in a sea-side cave with a quill pen, leaning on his writing pad and looking for inspiration.
Binding: Signed binding (embossed stamp on front fly-leaf) by B. Bradley of Boston. Green cloth, spine stamped in gold with vines, grapes, and title; stamped in blind on covers featuring birds and vines. Yellow calendared endpapers. All edges gilt.
Provenance: Mid- to late-19th-century pencil signature of L.A. Nichols.
• American Imprints 41-128. Binding as above. Minor discoloration in a few inner and foremargins; offsetting from frontispiece to title-page despite tissue (or because of it). Very good. (36017)
Early Printing: WOMEN Are Inherently Flawed, ButCan Be VirtuousAllestree, Richard. The ladies calling in two parts. Oxford: Pr. at the Theater, 1673. 8vo (18.1 cm, 7.12"). [26], 141, [3], 96, 89–94, 99–[100] pp. (engr. frontis. lacking).
Click the images for enlargements.
• ESTC R4982; Wing (rev. ed.) A1142; Madan, Oxford Books, 2963. On Allestree, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online. Contemporary polished calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments; binding sometime varnished with leather much worn and abraded, front joint cracked and back joint starting, spine extremities and label chipped, corners rubbed. Title-page with early inscription cut away and leaf later repaired, with partial loss of impression line; lacking frontispiece. Pages age-toned with light waterstaining to early lower margins; about 24 leaves (non-consecutive) with vertical smears of blue ink affecting but not obscuring text; a few leaves towards back with minor worming in lower outer corners. Unprepossessing physically, still a very readable copy still in a contemporary binding. (40981)
With a Woman's IllustrationsAnacreon. Anacreontis Odaria, ad textus Barnesiani fidem emendata. Londini: Gul. Bulmer & Soc., 1802. 8vo (21.5 cm, 8.4"). [2], 130 pp.; illus.
Click the images for enlargements.
20 copper-engraved vignettes. The Annual Review & History of Literature for 1803 described the resulting volume as an “exquisite specimen of typographical skill,” while Dibdin called it an “elegant work” that “confers great credit on the printer.”
Provenance: Early 19th-century ownership signature on front fly-leaf of Robert Harry Hughes, Jesus College, Oxford; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
• Dibdin, I, 266–67; NSTC A1179; Schweiger, I, 25–26. Bound as above; darkening to spine and small adjoining area on boards and along top area of boards; joints and edges rubbed. Pages age-toned with instances of mild to moderate foxing. A handsomely printed and pleasingly bound volume. (39276)
Forster's IMPROVED AnacreonAnacreon; Edward Forster, ed.; Lavinia Banks Forster, illus. Anacreontis Odaria, ad textus Barnesiani fidem emendata. Accedunt variae lectiones cura Edvardi Forster ... Londini: Ex officina B.R. Howlett, veneunt apud J. Murray, 1813. 8vo (18.7 cm, 7.36"). [2], 130 pp.; illus.
Click the images for enlargements.
Provenance: Front fly-leaf with inked inscription of J.[F.?] Mackarness, dated 1839.
• Dibdin, I, 266–67 (for first ed.); NSTC A1179; Schweiger, I, 26. Binding as above, joints and extremities with variable rubbing. Pages gently age-toned with occasional offsetting from engravings or faint spotting, otherwise clean. A desirable copy of this extremely attractive production. (40741)
Murder by PoisonUnidentifiedAngus, Charles (defendant). The trial of Charles Angus, Esq. on an indictment for the wilful murder of Margaret Burns, at the Assizes held at Lancaster, on Friday, 2d Sept. 1808, before the Hon. Sir Alan Chambre. Liverpool: Printed by William Jones, [1808]. 8vo (21 cm, 8.25"). [2] ff., 288 pp.
Click the images for enlargements.important material relating to medical jurisprudence and forensic medicine.
Binding: Circa-1865 half-black calf with green marbled paper sides, spine with gilt-stamped red leather label, gilt rules to form compartments, and blind-stamped center device in five compartments.
Provenance: Contemporary signature on title-page of James Kendrick; embossed ownership stamp of J.H. Williams, rector of Llangadwaladr; bookseller's label of Wildy & Sons, London; late 19th- or early 20th-century armorial leather bookplate of Alexander MacGregor; most recently in the collection of Robert Sadoff, M.D.
• Binding as above, edges rubbed, small scuffs. The endpapers, curiously, appear to have been marbled over typeprint. Very good. (39633)
For SCOTLAND & SCOTS, click here. For MEDICINE, click here.For ANGLO-AMERICAN LAW, click here.
A Lotta Moneyon the Line — A Lady's DowryArias de Saavedra, Francisco. Manifestacion de los derechos de la menor dona Grimaneza de la Puente en el juicio que en segunda instancia; ha promovido en esta real audiencia, con el Señor Marques de Corpa oydor de ella: sobre el entero de la dote de la Marquesa de la Puente su hija finada, para que se reforme la sentencia de vista declaratoria de la simulacion del instrumento dotal. Lima: En la Imprenta Real de los Niños Expósitos, 1793. Small 4to (21 cm; 8.25"). [3] ff., 175, [1 (blank)] pp., [1 (errata)] f.
Click the images for enlargements. dowry of Marquesa de la Puente, a member of one of the richest and most important families of Peru in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Provenance: Bookplate of the Clements Library, properly deaccessioned.
An interesting production of the “Orphans' Press” of Lima.
• Medina, Lima, 1764; Vargas Ugarte, Impresos peruanos, 2645. Early decorative wrappers bound into 20th-century gray cloth binding; old, somewhat inexplicable stamp (in English) to front wrapper. A very good copy, complete with the errata leaf. (35488)
Jane Austen's Works — A Handsome,
Limited EditionIllustrated by the Brock Brothers Austen, Jane. The novels and letters of Jane Austen. New York & Philadelphia: Frank S. Holby, 1906. 8vo. 12 (of 12) vols. I: Frontis., [6], vii–lix, [6], 255 pp.; 5 plts. II: Frontis., [8], 302 pp.; 6 plts. III: Frontis., [4], v–vii, 3–283 pp.; 5 plts. IV: Frontis., [8], [3]–299 pp.; 5 plts. V: Frontis., [4], v–vii, [5], 338 pp.; 5 plts. VI: Frontis., [8], 347 pp.; 5 plts. VII: Frontis., [6], vii–viii, [4]–339 pp.; 5 plts. VIII: Frontis., [8], 359 pp.; 5 plts. IX: Frontis., [4], v–viii, [4]–338 pp.; 5 plts. X: Frontis., [4], vii–viii, [4]–362 pp.; 5 plts. XI: [10], 3–392 pp.; 3 plts. XII: Frontis., [8], 3–393 pp.; 3 plts. (1 fold.).
Click any interior image for enlargement.
PRB&M offers a small prize to anyone who can, without looking anything up,
69 plates, including a wonderful series of color drawings to accompany the text, done by the brothers Charles Edmond and Henry Matthew Brock, this isadditionally embellished with portraits of the author, pictures of her residences in Bath and Winchester, a view of her burial place inside Winchester Cathedral, a facsimile autograph letter, and a facsimile title-page of the first edition of Sense and Sensibility. Each plate is accompanied by a protective tissue guard, printed with a descriptive caption in red ink. Title-pages are printed in red and black, and each has its own unique engraved vignette. The delights in this production abound. On the whole, very satisfying!
• Publisher's brown cloth, spines with brown paper label; several labels with ssmall brown spots, cracks, and edge chips, not too conspicuous and not affecting printing. Two leaves (pp. 343–346 of vol. X) detached from binding; long tear down center of pp. 283/284 (vol. IV), without loss of text; except for two leaves with some offsetting from laid-in scrap of paper, interiors clean. Outer and lower edges deckle, with a few signatures opened unevenly and some unopened. A very good set. (24537)
For more SETS, click here.
Additions to aSpaniard's Take on Roman Law Ayllón Laynez, Juan de. Illustrationes sive additiones eruditissimae ad varias resolutiones Antonii Gomezii. Lugduni [Lyon]: Sumptibus Anisson & Posuel, 1692. Folio (32.7 cm, 12.9"). [4] ff., 380, [14] pp.
Click the images for enlargements. heredity, marriage, and torture, inter alia — were first printed at Utrera, Andalusia, in 1654.
The text is in Latin, decorated with woodcut initials, factotum initials, and intricate head- and tailpieces. The title-page, printed in red and black, features a large device of a fleur-de-lis in an elaborate cartouche.
Rare, WorldCat & NUC Pre-1956 locatingjust two copies in the U.S.
• Palau 20846. Modern boards covered with 18th-century religious manuscript on vellum, with red speckled edges and ink title to spine; tight, with paper cockled and boards a bit sprung. Title-leaf with small marginal tear and three repairs; the next 88 pages repaired/reinforced in upper outer margin; minor worming variously, mostly marginal and often unnoticeable; small hole from natural paper flaw on one leaf. Foxing generally, other spotting occasionally. A used, occasionally abused, still strong copy of a scarce work. (30297)
(4) Women's Lives . . .Baird, Robert. Transplanted flowers, or memoirs of Mrs. Rumpff, daughter of John Jacob Astor, Esq. and the Duchess de Broglie, daughter of Madame de Stael. New York: John S. Taylor, 1847. 12mo. Frontis., 159, [1] pp.
Click the image for an enlargement. • Publisher's blind-stamped textured cloth, spine gilt-stamped; binding lightly worn, with spine gilt rubbed and dimmed. Front pastedown with bookplate of J.E. Vanderhoef, front free endpaper with early inked inscription of Susan A. Baker. Some foxing to endpapers and a few scattered spots to pages; internally mostly clean. (8958)
Milkmaids, Bathing Beauties, Muses, ETC. Bamlach, Christian. Pudelnakerd erotische Szenen aus der Gründerzeit. Dortmund: Harenberg, © 1981. 12mo (17.5 cm, 6.9"). 155, [5] pp.; illus.
Click the image for an enlargement. • Publisher's yellow bookcloth wrappers, front wrapper with affixed photographic label. Very clean and crisp. (30630)
“Les connoissances qui multiplient nos desirs, multiplient nos besoins” —Scarce French Philosophy[Barbier, de Vitry-le-Français]. Pensées diverses, ou reflexions sur l'esprit et sur le coeur. Paris: Chez le Breton, 1748. 12mo (15.4 cm, 6.1"). xxxii, 148 pp.
Click the images for enlargements.contemporary French actresses and female authors. The author was apparently no relation of the bibliographer Antoine Alexander Barbier, but rather the father of the editor and bureaucrat Barbier-Neuville. While at least one reference suggests that his “Thoughts” were reissued in the following year under the title Réflexions diverses propres à former l'esprit et le coeur, that work is properly attributed to Simon Bignicourt, making this the first and only edition; it is nicely printed, with each section opening and closing with a head- and tailpiece. This work is now scarce, with a search of WorldCat locatingno U.S. institutions reporting holdings, and only four European listings.
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)
Important Account ofThe Augustinian Missionaries in Western MexicoFrom the Press of Paula de Benavides
Basalenque, Diego. Historia de la provincia de San Nicolas de Tolentino de Michoacan. Mexico: por la viuda de Bernardo Calderon [i.e., Paula de Benavides], 1673. 4to (20.8 cm, 8.125" ). [12], 219 [i.e., 221], [3] ff.
Click the images for enlargements.several Mexican tongues. There is evidence that he authored multiple works on a variety of topics, including mathematics and theology, but only three were published, all posthumously.
the very talented and well-connected widow-printer Paula de Benavides, widow of printer Bernardo Calderon. It is both a chronicle and a prosopographical account of the the Augustinians in Mexico from 1533 to 1643, and is divided into two main chapters: 1533 to 1602 when the province of the province of San Nicolas of Tolentino of Michoacan was created out of the province of The Most Holy Name of Jesus (“Santísimo Nombre de Jesús”), and 1602 to 1643. The facts and dates for events prior to ca. 1590 are mostly recounted from Juan de Grijalva's Crónica de la orden de N.P.S. Augustín en las provincias de la Nueva España, en quatro edades desde el año de 1533 hasta el de 1592 (Mexico, 1624) but those of the 17th-century are wholly Basalenque's. His biographies of the 17th-century Augustinians are extremely valuable as they are based on his having known and lived with them; personality traits are discussed and family history and genealogy are detailed.
a woodcut vignette portrait of St. Nicholas of Tolentino. There are errors in foliation: 47 and 48 are duplicated and 133 and 134 are incorrectly numbered 132 and 133.
In this copy opposite the title-page is an added facsimile map of the province taken from an edition of Augustin Lubin's Orbis Augustinianus, sive, Conventuum ordinis eremitarum Augustini chorographica et topographica descriptio; no map was issued with the book originally.
• Medina, Mexico,1084; Pinelo-Barcia, Epitome, II, Col. 755; Beristain, I, p. 143; Ternaux 902; Andrade 632. Recased in contemporary limp vellum with slightly yapp edges showing evidence of now-lost ties; rear free endpaper lacking and all edges mottled. Case marks on front pastedown; last leaf torn cleanly and expertly repaired, one leaf with an old limited ink smear that does not impede reading.A clean, very nice copy of a history offering much first-hand reporting, from a significant press and sometime enhanced, by a former owner, by addition of that helpful map! (41363)
“In Former Times, in the Warmest of Climes, aGentleman Gloried in Several Crimes”Bayley, Frederic William Naylor; Alfred Crowquill, illus. Blue Beard. London: W.S. Orr & Co., [ca. 1842]. 8vo (17.7 cm, 7"). [4], 47, [3] pp.; 13 plts.
Click the images for enlargements.illustrated with 13 full-page tinted wood-engraved plates by “Alfred Crowquill” (pseudonym of Alfred Henry Forrester), as well as in-text vignettes engraved on wood by Henry Vizetelly after Crowquill's designs. The title “BLUE BEARD” is rendered in blue on the title-page, and the plates' images are rendered on pale blue and green backgrounds; the bloody key on the title-page has been hand-colored red. 
Binding: Publisher's color-printed tan pictorial paper–covered boards, simply rebacked with plain paper. All edges gilt.
Provenance: Front free endpaper with early inked ownership inscription of Mi[chael?] H. Beague; later in the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
• Osborne Collection, p. 21; Opie C 748; NSTC 2B12476; Gumuchian, 489. Bound as above, sides darkened, extremities rubbed; back cover with spots of discoloration. Title-page with tiny spot of paper adhesion from frontispiece (resulting absence to frontispiece image is unobtrusive). Pages with a very few scattered spots of faint foxing, otherwise clean. A nice copy, seemingly all but untouched by childish hands. (41044)
Romance, Sex, & Procreation:
HOW-TO's for Two out of ThreeBecklard, Eugène; Philip M. Howard, transl. Physiological mysteries and revelations in love, courtship and marriage; an infallible guide-book for married and single persons, in matters of the utmost importance to the human race. New York: Holland & Glover, 1844. 16mo (11.5 cm, 4.52"). [2 (blank)], 256, [2 (blank)] pp.; 16 plts.
Click the images for enlargements.a popular guide to human sexuality written for a broad audience, here “translated from the third Paris edition, with the revision and additions of the sixth Paris edition.” This curious work skips back and forth between matters of the heart and of the body, covering a wide range of topics connected to love and marriage; there are sections that focus at length on specific concepts, and sections offering snippets of a few lines apiece on seemingly randomly selected items, with one such section offering“Love Matches,” “Double Uterus,” “Disease,” and “Courting” all on one page. Addressed to both men and women, these “revelations” are often scientifically questionable, at best: spicy food and vigorous dancing will prevent conception, pregnancy resulting from rape is physiologically impossible, and an infant will most strongly resemble the parent “whose orgasm was highest” (p. 165) during congress — but the author does acknowledge good reasons why women might want to avoid pregnancy, defends the idea that women not only can experience sexual pleasure but are entitled to expect it, and points out “the very unjust usages of society” regarding demands of female vs. male continence, as well as providing actual contraceptive techniques like sponges for women. Details on intercourse go no further than warnings against “all attitudes of enjoyment but the natural one” (p. 40).
a total of 16 wood-engraved plates, including one labelled “Terrors of Absolute Continence” and a remarkable image ofa couple occupied with their pets rather than with each another, captioned “Offspring Prevented.”This is the second New York printing of the Physiological Mysteries, following the first of 1842, andthe first edition both to append Onanism and to add the plates.
Provenance: Front free endpaper with early inked inscription of William H. Harriman.
• American Imprints 44-583; Hoolihan, Annotated Catalogue of the Edward C. Atwater Collection of American Popular Medicine & Health Reform, 266. Publisher's blind-stamped brown cloth, spine very attractively gilt with title and decorations; edges and extremities lightly rubbed. One leaf with lower outer corner torn away, not touching text; intermittent spots of mild to moderate foxing. Plates on yellow paper, perhaps partly for easy finding? (41243)
Retrieving Her Ranchos Benavides, Tomás. Informe en derecho que Tomas Benavides ha presentado ante la exma. tercera sala del Supremo Tribunal de Guerra para que le sirva revocar la sentencia de primera y segunda instancia, que se han pronunciado en favor de D. Mariano P. Tagle. Mexico: Imp. de la Calle de Cordobanes Num. 5, a cargo de J. V. Hernandez, 1854. Small 4to. 24 pp.
Dolores Campuzano.
• Sutro 893. Removed from a nonce volume. (3886)
For EUROPEAN (Heritage!) LAW, click here.
The First Lady ofFly Fishing? Berners, Juliana. The treatyse of fysshynge wyth an angle. London: William Pickering, 1827. 8vo (18.1 cm, 7.2"). Frontis., [2], xiii (pagination skips v–viii), [1], 41, [1] pp.; 4 plts.
Click the images for enlargements. The volume is printed with the original language and spelling preserved, and is illustrated with a woodcut frontispiece of a fisherman taken from de Worde's 1518 edition that is cited as the earliest known depiction of an angler fishing with a rod, as well as with six woodcuts (provided at the back of the volume in the form of four plates) showing types of poles, hooks, etc. The title-page proclaims this as printed with the types of John Baskerville, making it one of the last such printings done in England, and most cataloguing follows suit; but Kelly identifies the font used as the elegant "Fry" Baskerville variant developed by typefounder Isaac More.
Evidence of Readership: A later hand has helpfully added pencilled marginalia clarifying archaic or obscure terms and suggesting subject headers.
• NSTC 2B20037; Keynes, Pickering, 42; Kelly, Checklist of Books Published by William Pickering, 1827.1 (p. 21). Later half calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-decorated raised bands, and gilt-stamped fishing creel devices in compartments; spine label with small edge chips and mild rubbing to paper. Pencilled annotations as above, pages and plates otherwise pleasingly clean. (28566)
Printed Using “Fry” Baskerville Types — Uncut Copy Berners, Juliana. The treatyse of fysshynge wyth an angle. London: Printed ... for William Pickering [by Thomas White], 1827. 8vo (19 cm, 7.5"). Frontis., [2], xiii (pagination skips v–viii), [1], 41, [1] pp.; 4 plts.
Click the images for enlargements. This
copy uncut and in original boards:
RARE THUS.
• NSTC 2B20037; Keynes, Pickering, 42. Beyond the scope of Gaskell, Baskerville. Publisher's dun-colored light boards. Uncut copy. Light overall rubbing; spine with minor loss of paper. Old bookseller's description affixed to front free endpaper; small oval stain to corner of half-title and frontispiece, a bit of light offsetting from plates. A very nice copy in a later open-back cardboard slipcase. (30461)
For a bit more FISHIN' & HUNTIN', click here.
Hannah's Legacy — Illustrated N.T. — Sentimental Womanly Provenance(Bible – A Woman's Inheritance). Bible. N.T. English. Authorized. 1841. The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; with the marginal readings; and illustrated by marginal references, both parallel and explanatory, and a copious selection, carefully chosen, and newly arranged. New York: John C. Riker, 1841. 16mo (11 cm, 4.4"). Frontis., add. engr. t.-p., [2], 350 pp.; 4 plts.
Click the images for enlargements. illustrated with a frontispiece, an additional engraved title-page, wood-engraved headpieces, and four steel-engraved plates, the latter done by Illman and Pilbrow after various artists.
Provenance: Tipped-in leaf with inked inscription: “Hannah M. Williams / Presented by directive from her grandmother Williams when on her death bed with this injunction to be read with careful attention”; in pencil below is “A precious legacy.” Williams (or a contemporary) apparently took the directive seriously; there are several instances of pencilled bracketing, marks of emphasis, and marginalia in the “precious legacy” hand.
Binding: Contemporary diced-grain red sheep, covers framed in gilt roll surrounding gilt-stamped acanthus and acorn design, spine with gilt-stamped title (“Polyglott Testament”) and decorative motifs, board edges with gilt roll. All edges gilt.
• See Hills, English Bible in America, 768 for 1831 ed.; 1841 not listed. Bound as above, rubbed at joints and extremities with front hinge (inside) cracked yet sound. Front pastedown and free endpaper with pencilled inscriptions dated 1853; inscription leaf as above; one front fly-leaf with pencilled annotations (and with hole in lower center). Additional annotations as above; one plate with “My Saviour” pencilled in lower margin. Intermittent mild foxing and a bit of other staining; a few corners bumped. Worn, yes — still luminous in its own way, and an interesting example of two early 19th-century women's engagement with the Bible. (35204)
In a GOOD AMERICAN Binding — Sarah Leverett's French Bible (Bible – Womanly Provenance). Bible. French. 1839–40. Martin. La Sainte Bible...revue...par David Martin.... New York: Stéréotypé par Henry W. Rees, pour la Société Biblique Americaine, D. Fanshaw, Imprimeur, 1839–40. 8vo. 819 [1 (blank)] pp., 261, [1 (blank)] pp.
Click the images for enlargements. Binding: This copy is exquisitely bound in full black leather in good imitation of morocco, elaborately stamped in gold on the covers forming a five-element frame or border, with gilt tooling on the board edges and with gilt inner dentelles. The spine has slightly raised bands and elaborate gold stamping in its compartments. This is the second copy of this Bible that we have had and we are convinced that this is a publisher's deluxe leather binding. A choice of colors was apparently available, for the other copy we had was of an olive-green color.
Provenance: The name “Sarah B. Leverett” is lettered in gilt on the front cover, and the same name is given in precise gothic calligraphy on the front free endpaper.
• Not in O'Callaghan; not in Darlow & Moule. Bound as above, corners a little bumped with a bit of long ago refurbishing thereto, dulling outermost elements of gilt border (only) on front cover, just at those corners. Evidence to endpapers of the volume's once having been sewn into a chemise or wrapper; old notes just discernible (not really readable) in a minute hand on front free endpaper (i.e., “behind” Sarah's name); see our image. Faint waterstaining in lower inside area for the first few pages (only). 
The whole very attractive and well preserved. (2666)
For the “case” of BIBLES & TESTAMENTS, click here.
A Neat Construction & Pleasing to Play WithBlackson, Ruth Scott. Life of a weave. Nottingham, England: Artist Studio, 2012. 16mo ( 6" x 11").
Click the images for enlargements.
The weave is, indeed, lively! And there is a suggested “narrative” here, too, as the weave's “story” when read from cover to cover becomes more and more complicated . . .
Binding: Yellow spine paper over grey boards, the covers further supplied with deep rose-pink paper slip-on over-sheaths which, according to the artist, were constructed by “a specific type of folding in case you ever wanted to change the covers. They slip on and off quite easily, nice and versatile and good for non-adhesive books.”
• Fine andone-of-a-kind. (40353)
A NOVEL “Which Proves That War is Solving Civilization's ProblemsBradley, Mary Hastings. The wine of astonishment. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1919. 8vo (19.2 cm, 7.56"). 312, [2] pp.
Click the images for enlargements.binding is signed MA, for Margaret Armstrong: the dust jacket is in the style of Maxfield Parrish, although unsigned. This is the second printing.
Provenance: Front free endpaper with pencilled inscription of Harry E. Young, dated 1921.
• American Fiction, 1901-1925, B-858; Gullans & Espey, Checklist of Trade Bindings Designed by Margaret Armstrong, 38. Publisher's tan paper–covered sides with title stamped in black and grapevine design in green and purple, light green cloth shelfback with matching grape motif, in original color-printed dust jacket; jacket, with spine and back panel slightly dust-soiled, front joint rubbed, three short edge tears and a few tiny edge nicks, in overall very good, attractive condition. The volume itself, in its Armstrong binding, shows a faint narrow band of offsetting across its back cover (only) from “protective” plastic wrapping the dust jacket; otherwise, very clean and fresh. A nice copy of the now-uncommon first edition of a socially interesting novel in an “MA” binding. (37550)
Works of the
Brontë Sisters Brontë,
Anne; Charlotte; & Emily. The Shakespeare
Head Brontë. Oxford: Basil Blackwell & Houghton Mifflin Co. (pr. at
the Shakespeare Head Press), 1931. 11 vols. 8vo (24 cm, 9.45"). I [Charlotte]:
Frontis., x, [2], 312 pp.; 2 plts. II: Frontis., [6], 284 pp.; 2 plts. III:
Frontis., [8], 351 pp.; 2 plts. IV: Frontis., [6], 362 pp.; 2 plts. V: Frontis.,
[8], 319, [1] pp.; 2 plts. VI: Frontis., [6], 313, [1] pp.; 2 plts. VII: Frontis.,
[10], 283, [1] pp.; 1 plt. I [Anne]: Frontis., [8], 220 pp.; 2 plts. II: Frontis.,
xi, [1], 282 pp.; 2 plts. III: Frontis., [6], 278 pp.; 1 plt. I [Emily]: Frontis.,
xii, 385, [1], 9, [1] pp.; 1 plt.
Click the interior images for enlargement. 
The lovely illustrations are of real places fictionally transfigured in the novels . . .• NCBEL, III, 865. Original green cloth, spines with printed paper labels, lacking the dust wrappers (which are scarce and almost never seen); labels darkened, a few starting to peel up at corners. Pages untrimmed, with some signatures unopened. A beautiful, clean example of this set. (24629)
For SETS, click here.
Woman Author / Woman Printer — London, 1775Brook, Mary. Reasons for the necessity of silent waiting, in order to the solemn worship of God...third edition. London: Mary Hinde, 1775. 8vo (20 cm, 7.9"). [2], 31, [1 (blank)] pp.
Click the image for an enlargement. • ESTC T65811. Recent wrappers. Pages age-toned, with a few small spots. (9302)
For a page dedicated to the FRIENDS/QUAKERS, click here.
These Cooks Really Set TheirHANDS to This ProductionBrooklyn Methodist Home.
Brooklyn Methodist Home cook book. [Brooklyn, NY]: Brooklyn M.E. Church Home, (copyright 1939). 8vo (23.7 cm, 9.33"). 320 pp.; illus.
Click the images for enlargements.the feel of a cherished handwritten collection: Each page offers a copy of a manuscript or typed recipe (sometimes two), many with small accompanying doodles. Some items are much more legible than others, but all were clearly loved by the contributors, all of whom — including the current chef at the home — provided their names and in some cases their addresses, the latter including Scranton, PA; Ridgewood, Maplewood, and Midland Park, NJ; Lynbrook, Hempstead, and Albany, NY; Mansfield, MA; North Scituate, RI; Des Moines, IA; Thorburn, Nova Scotia; and the Canal Zone, as well as Brooklyn and Manhattan. 
Not just a nice example of early 20th-century American cookery, but also a glimpse into the personalities of these charitable-minded ladies of New York, New Jersey, and beyond. (40941)
For RELIGION, click here. For ILLUSTRATED BOOKS, click here. For COOKERY, click here. For “GIFTABLES” — mostly $150
Design, Beauty, Gout, Tobacco, “Chickens”Browne, Isaac Hawkins. Poems upon various subjects, Latin and English. London: J. Nourse, 1768. 8vo (24 cm, 9.4"). [10], 160 pp. (frontis. lacking).
• ESTC T116967. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper label. Frontispiece lacking; title-page and a few others stamped by a now-defunct institution. Inner margins of the first two leaves and outer margin of the final leaf repaired. (10692)
For TOBACCO, click here.
An Old Story — A German Tale for a Scots AudienceBurger, Gottfried August. The lass of Fair Wone, Or, the parson's daughter betrayed. Glasgow: Pr. for the booksellers, [ca. 1840?]. 12mo. 8 pp.
Click the image for an enlargement.A nobleman pursues a virginal country maid, and the liaison ends very, very badly for the latter. The title-page bears a woodcut vignette of a woman picking mushrooms, with [no.] “70" at the foot of the title.
• Not in NSTC. Removed from a nonce volume. Pages faintly age-toned, with small edge nicks. (37155)
For SCOTLAND & SCOTS, click here. For CHAPBOOKS, click here. For TRANSLATIONS, click here. For more of WOMEN's interest, click here.
A Beautiful Country Girl & a Spanish BullfighterBurnett, Frances Hodgson. The pretty sister of José. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1889. 12mo (19.1 cm; 7.5"). iv, 127, [8] pp (publisher's
catalogue), [12] leaves of plates.
Click the images for enlargements. Twelve beautiful plates illustrated by C.S. Reinhart accompany Burnett's tender story, including a tissue-guarded frontispiece.Binding: Publisher's green decorative cloth printed on front cover with a guitar and lady's fan in gilt and with a flowering vine design in dark green and gold; spine lettered in gold.
• BAL 2073, state 2; Wright, III, 814. Bound as above, slightly cocked; top and bottom of spine rubbed with loss of green coloring of cloth, now a bit frayed, and spots of discoloration on rear cover. Interior lightly age-toned, overall unmarked and readable. A nice copy. (35454)
Our PUBLISHERS' BINDINGS GALLERY offers
 TO Part
II .
. . |