Child Labor in the Coal Mines
as aCharacter-Building Experience “A True & Interesting Story”
The affectionate daughter: shewing how, when very young, she maintained her afflicted mother, and one of her brothers, by working in a coal-pit; and how providence rewarded her after her mother's death. London: J. Evans & Son, [ca. 1820]. 8vo (17.7 cm, 7"). 8 pp. [SOLD]
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An exhortation to meekness, humility, and hard labor, delivered by way of the story ofa little girl who starts working in a colliery at the tender age of nine. The title-page vignette depicts our heroine, dejected, having just been turned away from a better domestic job in a three-story home.
This is an uncommon printing on cheap paper, with the tale more frequently seen in one of the Religious Tract Society variations.
Provenance: From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.
Removed from a nonce volume, now in a Mylar folder. Minor dust-soiling, primarily to last page, otherwise clean. Not a very nice story but a very nice copy of it. (41020)
UNexpurgated by the Mexican Inquisition MS Notes in NAHUATL in Addition
Avila, Francisco de. Arte de la lengua mexicana, breves platicas de los mysterios de n. santa fee catholica, y otras para exortacion de su obligacion a los indios. Mexico: Por los herederos de la Viuda de Miguel de Ribera Calderon, 1717. 12mo. [13], 36, [1] ff. $9975.00
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Mexico saw a major rebirth of scholarly interest in Nahuatl during the first half of the 18th century, and Fr. Avila was a contributor to it. In his introduction here (“Al pio lector”), he explains why, despite the existence of the works of Molina, Carochi, Ribera, and Manuel Perez (whose enthusiastic endorsement [“Sentir”] is part of the preliminaries), he has decided to write and publish this grammar: “solo quitar algunas dificultades, que he reconosido [sic] en los que aprenden por el discurso de veinte anos.” The work achieves this aim well. Moreover, Fr. Avila's extremely notable introduction has much to say about the physical and spiritual condition of the Indians at the beginning of 18th century and about the economic and social debt of the Spanish population to them. Sra. Leon-Portilla points out that among the “chats” (i.e, “platicas”) that form the appendix, “las destinadas a lograr una buena confesion” are of“gran importancia.”
This copyescaped the Inquisition censors who after its publication insisted that the section on folio 34r-v, “Instruccion para ensenar lo que se resive [sic] en la Hostia” be lined through.
Evidence of Readership? Or, frugal management of paper? Or, something else entirely?? A singular quality of this among all the copies that we have ever seen is the presence oftwo additional leaves (four pages) at the end containing18th-century manuscript notes in Nahuatl for a sermon on the theme of “they who acquired divine happiness” and on conducting a confession.
Provenance: Sold by the Linga Library of Hamburg as a duplicate. Pencil notes of a Spanish bookseller.
Medina, Mexico, 2478; Garcia Icazbalceta, Lenguas, 9; Vinaza 271; Newberry Library, Ayer Indians, Nahuatl 18 (incomplete, lacking title-leaf); H. de León-Portilla, Tepuztlahcuilolli, 240. Recased in modern vellum with button and loop ties, some few leaves strengthened at inner margins. Last leaf of text torn in lower margin and expertly repaired, costing small portion of two letters; a bit of staining at some edges, particularly in early part of volume. Small round old stamp “BS” to front free endpaper, leaves filled with manuscript annotation at end as above. Very good, and very interesting. (34576)
Adventures of Euphormio —First English-Language Appearance
Barclay, John. Euphormio's Satyricon. London: The Golden Cockerel Press, 1954. Folio (28.6 cm, 11.25"). [2], 158 pp.; 8 plts. $250.00
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Golden Cockerel edition: Early 17th-century picaresque “satire upon the wickedness of the world.” Written by a Scottish Catholic, this is one of the earliest satirical romans à clef. The work appears here in English for the first time, with the translation from the original Latin done by Paul Turner from the 1605 edition.
Designed and produced by Christopher Sandford and printed in Perpetua type on mould-made paper, under the supervision of K.S. Tollit, the volume isillustrated with eight wood-engraved plates and two vignettes by Derrick Harris, with the plate images printed within bright red borders. This is numbered copy 205 of 260 printed.
Cock-a-hoop 196. Publisher's light taupe paper–covered boards with red cloth shelfback, front cover with rooster vignette stamped in red, spine with gilt-stamped title; minor rubbing to spine foot and lower outer corners. A few page edges slightly darkened and one very limited, very faint stain affecting endpapers' lower outer corner at rear, pages otherwise clean.A nice copy of this interesting production. (37173)
Didot Printed — Petit Bound — BEAUTIFUL Biblical Antiquarianism
Bible. Latin (Old Latin). Vulgate. 1785. Bibliorum sacrorum vulgatae versionis editio. Parisiis: Excudabat Fr. Amb. Didot natut maj., 1785. 8vo in 4s (19 cm, 7.5"). 8 vols. I: xvi, 501, [1] pp. II: [2] ff., 450 pp. III: [2] ff., 393, [1] pp. IV: [2] ff., 428 pp. V: [2] ff., 400 pp. VI: [2] ff., 444 pp. VII: [2] ff., 407, [1] pp. VIII: [2] ff., 373, [1] pp. $2500.00
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Produced here in fine French bibliophilic style is “the most extensive collection ofOld Latin versions, which exist only in fragments, compiled from manuscripts and the writings of the Fathers” by Pierre Sabbathier and continued after his death under the care of Vincent de La Rue (Darlow & Moule). This edition, following the first (Rheims, 1739–49) was issued In the Didor series Collection des auteurs classiques, françois et latins.
Binding: Full red crushed morocco, gilt spine and boards; gilt rule on board edges; gilt rolls on turn-ins; marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. Bindings signed Petit Succs. de Simier.
Provenance: Bookplates of Casimir L. Stralem, Clarence E. Clark, and Brian Douglas Stilwell.
WorldCat locates only six U.S. libraries reporting ownership ofall eight volumes as present here (NYPL, Cornell, Seton Hall, Holy Cross College, New York Historical Society, UC-Berkeley Law) and two libraries reporting ownership of incomplete sets (Harvard Divinity [vols. 1, 2 only], University of Dayton [vol. 3 only]).
Darlow & Moule, III, 6263; Jammes, Les Didot, 25. Bound as above, some joints (outside) showing cracking but all intact. All volumes housed in light marbled-paper open-back cases, some with tape repairs. Very good. (40318)
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Ribbon–Embossed Binding / Historical Architecture
Bloxam, Matthew Holbeche. A glimpse at the monumental architecture and sculpture of Great Britain, from the earliest period to the eighteenth century. London: W. Pickering [Leicester: Printed by Thomas Combe, Junior], 1834. 8vo (20 cm, 7.8"). xv, [1], 291, [1] pp.; 2 plts. $125.00
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First edition of an architectural history book from an author known for writings that are “eminently readable, factual, informative, well structured, and certainly less opinionated than those of many of his contemporaries” (ODNB). The work progresses chronologically, starting with the Celtic and Belgic Britons, in its descriptions of monuments throughout British history to the end of the 17th century, and is illustrated withtwo double-sided full-page plates of priestly garments and 55 in-text illustrations — mostly from original drawings. Also included are a wood-engraved title-page vignette and, at end, a grinning-skull memento mori (with French motto) and the printer's device, the two latter executed by Jewitt and the last designed by “T. Williment” [i.e., Willement].
Binding: Dark brownish purple ribbon–embossed cloth, printed paper spine label. Bookcloth is Krupp style Ft19.
Provenance: Small bookplate of T. Davison of Scarborough at front; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
NSTC 2B38425. Not in Kelly, Checklist of Books Published by William Pickering, nor Keynes, William Pickering (rev. ed.). On binding cloth, see: Krupp, Bookcloth in England and America, 1823–50, p. 72. On Bloxam, see: DNB (online), source of the quotation above. Binding as above, a little cocked with spine and edges of covers sunned; extremities, rear joint, and corners chipped with spine label quite so. Bookplates as above. Pages very slightly cockled, with light age-toning and the occasional speck; faint foxing around the plates. One pencilled correction in text. Interesting reading! (39455)
Buffon's Natural History in the “Short” Version: Four Volumes “Upwards of Four Hundred Engravings on Wood”
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de; John Wright, ed. Buffon's natural history of the globe and of man; beasts, birds, fishes, reptiles, and insects. London: Printed for T.T. & J. Tegg (by C. Whittingham at the Chiswick Press), 1833. 12mo (16.8 cm, 6.6"). 4 vols. I: vi, 463, [1] pp.; illus. II: [2], 492 pp.; illus. III: [2], 476 pp.; illus. IV: [2], 470 pp.; illus. [SOLD]
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Buffon was widely admired by the public for his numerous scientific publications, although his disagreement with the church's position on the age of the earth and his musings on the connections between men and apes did not earn him much support from contemporary scholars. His Histoire Naturelle, originally published in 15 volumes, is given here in an abridged rendition more suitable for “the rising generation” (p. vi), with additional material adapted “from the writings of . . . Cuvier, Lacépède and other eminent naturalists,” and also with “Elements of Botany.” Wright first published his version in 1831; this second Chiswick Press printing featuresover 400 wood-engraved illustrations of birds, animals, and denizens of various lands, along with the title-page vignettes done by John Thompson after William Harvey.
Binding: Contemporary dark red textured roan, covers with gilt-stamped foliate cartouches; spines with gilt-stamped title, band decorations, and volume number; spines gently sunned and scuffed, board edges and extremities rubbed. All edges gilt.
Provenance: Inked ownership inscriptions of Clara Gibbons, one dated 1850; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabels (“AHA”) at rear.
NSTC 2L8393. This ed. not in Osborne. Vols. I and II with Gibbons inscription on front pastedown, vol. III on title-page, vol. IV without inscription; front hinge (inside) of vol. III starting from head, with text block pulling. Gentle age-toning, occasional light spotting; title-pages mildly foxed; a few leaves in vol. II affected by small spot of staining in upper margins, two of those leaves with resulting adhesion and loss of perhaps ten words (total). Pages overall clean. A very nice set on shelf and in hand. (41038)
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Pickering BCP Facsimile — LAVISHED with the Work ofMARY BYFIELD
Church of England.Book of Common Prayer. The book of common prayer: King James, anno 1604, commonly called the Hampton Court Book. London: William Pickering (pr. by Charles Whittingham), 1844. Folio (35.1 cm, 13.8"). [260] pp. $950.00
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Pickering's beautiful type facsimile of Robert Barker's 1604 edition — a.k.a. the Hampton Court Book — here in a Rivière binding. Charles Whittingham printed the work on handmade paper in black-letter type for Pickering, who, inspired by the printing of Aldus Manutius, published in 1844 a series of six such facsimiles of important editions of the Book of Common Prayer, each of which wasillustrated with wood-engraved initials and ornaments done by Mary Byfield, and limited toonly 350 copies printed on paper (with another two on vellum). The original title-pages were reproduced for each inred and black, and in the case of the present example, the almanac pages likewise printed in red and black. Each book in this homage to important editions of the BCP wasan outstanding example of the Victorian-era Gothic design movement, and Kelly notes that these volumes are “considered to be among the finest work of Whittingham.”
Binding: Signed 19th-century dark brown morocco framed and panelled in single gilt and double blind fillets with gilt-tooled corner fleurons, surrounding a central arabesque medallion; spine with raised bands, gilt-stamped fleur-de-lis decorations in compartments, and gilt-stamped publication information. All edges gilt. Front lower turn-in stamped by Rivière.
Provenance: Front free endpaper with small stamp of B[asil] M. Pickering, who took over the business after his father's death; later in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Brunet, I, 1108; Griffiths, Bibliography of the Book of Common Prayer, 1844:29; Kelly, Checklist of Books Published by William Pickering, 1844.4; Keynes, William Pickering (rev. ed.), p. 85; McLean, Victorian Book Design, 13; Pickering & Chatto, William Pickering (catalogue 708), 222. Bound as above, joints and extremities showing moderate rubbing. Scattered spots of faint to mild foxing, pages generally clean and fresh. (39585)
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Dutch Republicanism — For & Against
Court, Pieter de la. Interest van Holland, ofte, Gronden van Hollands-welvaren. Amsterdam: By Joan. Cyprianus vander Gracht, 1662. Small 8vo (15.5 cm; 6.125"). [8] ff., 267, [5] pp. [with bound at the end] Huygens, Constantijn. Den Herstelden Prins tot Stadt-houder ende Capiteyn Generaal vande Vereenighde Nederlanden, ten dienst ende luyster vande loffelijcke en de wel geformeerde Republijck vande Geunieerde Provincien, &c. tegens de boekjens onlangs uyt gegeven met den naem van Interest van Hollandt, ende stadt-houderlijcke regeringe in Hollandt ... Amsterdam: Voor Joan. Cyprianus vander Gracht, 1663. Small 8vo (15.5 cm; 6.125"). [16], 122, [4], [2 (blank)] pp. $2750.00
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Court (1618–85) and his brother Johan (1622–60) were the sons of Protestant émigrés from Flanders who settled in Leiden around 1613. Both were political and economic theorists; during their lifetimesPieter was held to be more capable of the two. This work circulated in manuscript and was first published in Amsterdam in 1662 without the author's permission and with alterations and the addition of two important chapters and part of another by Johan de Wit. A later edition was published under the title Aanwysing der heilsame politike gronden en maximen van de republike van Holland en West-Vriesland, and that edition was translated into English as The true interest and political maxims of the republick of Holland and West-Friesland (London, 1702).
Interest van Holland is Pieter Court's most famous and important work. In this critical analysis of the economic success of the Dutch Republic he ascribes the rise of Holland to a combination of free competition and free (i.e., republican) government. It clearly was a republican manifesto, so on one side of the political spectrum it gained notoriety and infamy and on the other fame and honor. Abroad it was translated into German and English and was studied in order to learn how the Dutch had ascended to a position of prominence in the European and world economic and political theaters.
The Dictionary of Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Dutch Philosophers labels this work “the first unequivocal expression of republicanism in the Dutch Republic.”
There were at least five editions printed in 1662: three in Amsterdam (one 8vo, two 12mo) and two in Leiden (one 8vo, one 12mo), but with stop-press corrections resulting in STCN listing 12 editions/variants. We believe this to be a true first edition. The STCN speculates that the printer cited on the title-page here, I.C. vander Gracht, was a pseudonym used by the Hackius firm of Leiden.
Alden and Landis succinctly summarize theAmericana content: “Includes refs [sic] to West Indies commerce, whale & cod fisheries, salt-trade, & Puritans in English colonies.”
Huygens (1596–87) was a Dutch Golden Age poet and composer, secretary to two Princes of Orange, and the father of the scientist Christiaan Huygens. Here he pens a rebuttal of Interest van Holland, defends the House of Orange, and seeks to rebut as many republican assertions as possible. This is thesole edition of Herstelden Prins tot Stadt-houder.
Provenance: Frank Marshall Vanderhoof (American scholar, university librarian, private collector; 1919–2005).
Court: Goldsmiths'-Kress 1659.2; Alden & Landis, European Americana, 662/38; Knuttel 8652; Meulman 3925; STCN 063391201. Huygens: Knuttel 8806a; STCN 61687140. Contemporary vellum over boards. Waterstaining variously noticeable and never serious. A good solid copy. (35677)
Praised by the Pope, CONDEMNED by the Chinese: Death of a Jesuit Missionary
[Fatinelli, Giovanni Jacopo]; Carlo Majelli. Relazione della preziosa morte dell' eminentiss. e reverendiss. Carlo Tomaso Maillard di Tournon prete cardinale della S.R. Chiesa. Commissario, e Visitatore Apostolico Generale, con le facoltà di legato a latere nell' Impero della Cina, e regni dell' Indie Orientali, seguita nella città di Macao li 8. del mese di giugno dell' anno 1710, edi [sic] ciò, che gli avvenne negli ultimi cinque mesi della sua vita. Roma & Bologna: Costantino Pisarri, 1711. 4to (20.4 cm, 8"). 70, [2] pp. $875.00
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Cardinal Charles-Thomas Maillard de Tournon (a.k.a. Carlo Tommaso, 1668–1710) was a papal legate to the East Indies and China, tasked with overseeing the missionaries in those areas and with managing the inflammatory issue of the Malabar and Chinese rites: controversial practices intended to accommodate Indian and Chinese traditions and rituals as part of the process of teaching Christian thought and practice. While in India in 1704, Tournon attempted to resolve the problem there by issuing a decree prohibiting a variety of missionary adaptations thought to endorse idolatry or superstition — a decree which actually caused further, knottier complications for the local missions and for the Pope — but once he arrived in China and the Kangxi Emperor learned of his intentions, he was imprisoned at Macau, where he died.
This announcement of Tournon's death, written in Italian with Latin quotations, is attributed to the Cardinal's deputy, Abbot Giangiacomo Fatinelli; following the main statement are “Verba per Sanctissimum Dominum Nostrum Clementem Papam XI . . . de obitu Cardinalis de Tournon” and Carlo Majelli's “Oratio habita in Sacello Pontificio V. Kal. Decembris A.D. MDCCXI. in funere ... Cardinalis Caroli Thomae Maillard de Tournon apostolici ad Sinas, & Indias Orientales.” This is the second of three editions published in 1711, with this being a notably scarce printing: Searches of WorldCat findonly three U.S. institutions reporting holdings (Harvard, Princeton, and Cleveland).
Cordier, Bibliotheca Sinica, 913–14 (for Gonzaga ed.); DeBacker-Sommervogel, XI, 1285-6 (calling for 38 pages only, i.e. the first part). Later plain paper wrappers, darkened and worn, back wrapper with numeral in red. Title-page with early inked numeral in upper outer corner. Title-page mildly foxed, pages otherwise overall clean. (40109)
Gellius, Aulus. Auli Gellii noctivm Atticarvm libri vndeviginti. [colophon: Venetiis: in Aedibus Aldi, et Andreae Soceri, mense Septembri 1515. 8vo (17 cm; 6.625"). [32], 289, [51] ff. (errors in foliation, but complete). $3000.00
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First of two Aldine editions published in 1515 of Gellius' only known work, with “duerniorem” on the final leaf as prescribed by Renouard. The iconic Aldine printer's device appears on both the title-page and the final leaf of text, with the fore-edge of the title-page having been slightly repaired long ago at the margin.
Gellius's Attic Nights, supposed to have been written for the entertainment and education of his children, offers a rich tapestry of the life and times of the Roman Empire under the five good emperors. In an informal style Gellius ranges from law, grammar, history, and literary criticism to evening chats with fellow students and visits to the awe-inspiring villas of Herodes Atticus, the most famous philanthropist of Athens. Editor Giovanni Battista Egnazio (1478–1553), an important part of the Aldine literary circle and executor of Manuzio's will, here presents a newly revised text — complete with two indexes and explanation of the Greek passages.
Renouard, Alde, 73.9; Brunet, II, 1523; Adams G344; Graesse, Trésor de Livres Rares, III, p. 45; Schweiger, Handbuch der classischen Bibliographie, II, p. 376; on Egnazio, see: Contemporaries of Erasmus, pp. 424–25. 18th-century vellum over boards with red and green gilt leather spine labels, one edge with one very small chip to vellum; fore-edge of title-page repaired, light age-toning, a few words in old ink to front endpapers, some unevenly trimmed pages with the occasional (chiefly light) marginal stain or spot. “A. Gellius” in old ink to fore-edge of volume. A worthy Aldine. (37243)
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A Pioneer ofRussian Realism
Gogol, Nikolai. The overcoat. The government inspector. Westport, CT: Printed for the members of the Limited Editions Club, 1976. 8vo (27.2 cm, 10.75"). xiii, [3], 187, [3] pp.; illus. $65.00
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Classic Russian literature in a Limited Editions Club version translated by Constance Garnett, with an introduction by Alfred Kazin and nine color engravings hand-pulled
by artist Saul Fields, who used a hardened-collage technique of his own design. The volume was designed by Charles Skaggs and printed by the Meriden Gravure Co. in linotype Janson on
cream-toned rag paper; the binding is green and brown buckram stamped in aluminum foil, done by the Tapley-Rutter Co.
This is numbered copy 801 of 2000 printed, signed at the colophon by the artist. The appropriate Club newsletter is laid in.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 500. Binding as above, in publisher's green paper-covered slipcase. A handsome copy. (31987)
First Appearance: NEW TESTAMENT Thoughts from theGreat Dialogist
Gregory I, Pope, ca. 540-604; Tornacensis Alulphus, ed. Gregoriana super nouum testamentum. Parisijs: Bertholdus Rembolt, 1516. 4to (22.2 cm, 8.75"). [6], 142 ff.; illus. [SOLD]
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Previously unprinted commentary on the New Testament from Gregory the Great, edited by Benedictine monk Tornacensis Alulphus. Gregory I spent time as a Benedictine monk, regularized parts of the Mass, and was known as “one of the most commanding figures in ecclesiastical history”; his analysis here begins with Matthew and ends with the Apocrypha. Searches of WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 reveal only two U.S. institutions holding this uncommon edition (Harvard and Southern Methodist University); another was printed later in the same year at Strassburg by Joannem Knoblouch, dated 28 July, while the colophon here gives 15 January as a production date.
The title-page is printed in red and black, with a three-piece decorative woodcut border featuring wyverns and other mythical creatures, and Rembolt's printer's device; following the index, there is also alarge in-text woodcut of Gregory handing a book (his commentary, most likely) to a kneeling cleric. The text is printed in double columns using black letter, with decorative and historiated initials, shouldernotes and printed manicules, and red marks to highlight the start of sentences or notes.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) on rear free endpaper.
Adams G1187; Index Aurel. 104.188; Moreau, Éditions parisiennes du XVI siècle, II, 1360. On Gregory, see: Holweck, Biographical Dictionary of the Saints, pp. 446–7; our quotation is from this source. Modern boards covered in a 16th-century leaf from a biblical index with accents in red, new endpapers; booklabel as above. Light age-toning with a handful of marginal stains, one red; uneven edges (probably from manufacture), one small wormhole touching letters throughout most of text with two additional near the end. Title-page and final leaf have been attached to stubs for binding; five other leaves with small, early marginal repairs. A neatly printed book with many embellishments; a very attractive thing of its kind. (39284)
Gros, John Daniel. Natural principles of rectitude, for the conduct of man in all states and situations of life; demonstrated and explained in a systematic treatise on moral philosophy. New York: T. & J. Swords, 1795. 8vo (20 cm, 7.9"). xvi, 456 pp. (lacking half-title). [SOLD]
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First edition. Born in Germany, Gros was a pastor and professor of both German and moral philosophy at Columbia University. This work is the text version of a course he taught there, and is the “first treatise on Moral Philosophy written and published in America,” according to Sabin.
ESTC W28659; Evans 28775; Sabin 28933. 19th-century quarter sheep in imitation of morocco, rubbed and worn; covers pressure-stamped by a now-defunct institution, spine with paper shelving label. Half-title lacking, title-page and a number of others stamped, back free endpaper with pocket. Pages clean save for stamps. (9536)
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“R is for Readers”
Immel, Andrea. Jack Whirler's alphabet; or, The St. Paul's primer. Adorned with cuts by the Newberys. Princeton: Printed for the Cotsen Childrens' Library, at the sign of the Giant Book, 2014. 8vo (21.7 cm, 8.5"). 63, [1] pp.; illus. [SOLD]
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“It took antiquarian bookseller Justin G. Schiller years to find nearly four hundred Newbery books, translations, harlequinades, board games, cards, manuscripts, and related materials. In 1990 [Lloyd E.] Cotsen purchased the collection from Schiller, knowing that such a trove was unlikely to be assembled again anytime soon. Since then, the collection has grown to over 550 items, making it the largest either in private hands or in a public institution.”
“Jack Whirler's Alphabet — 'Jack Whirler' being Dr. Johnson's nickname for John Newbery, the firm's famous founder — was inspired by the engaging alphabets the Newberys published, which must have made learning to read such fun. It concludes with a prose nonsense poem from one of the most famous of all Newberys, The Renowned History of Giles Gingerbread.”
Each letter is represented by two Newbery blocks (“M is for Moon and Mine”); the facing text provides information on the origin of the illustrations, some of which are by Bewick.
Publisher's white pictorial wrappers with navy blue illustrations and navy blue lettering to spine; very faint dirtying to one corner of front wrapper. Interior is bright and clean. (38679)
An Account of the Murder of St. Peter Martyr
(The Fast-Tracked Saint) From the First Printer in Ulm
Jacobus de Voragine. One leaf from the Legenda aurea sanctorum, sive Lombardica historia. Ulm: Johann Zainer, [not after 1478]. Chancery folio (27.5 x 19.5 cm, 10.75" x 7.5"). 1 leaf. $450.00
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Saint Peter of Verona, O.P. (1206 – 6 April 1252), a.k.a. Saint Peter Martyr, was a Dominican friar and a celebrated preacher who was assassinated on the road from Como to Milan by a man hired by a group of Milanese Cathars (i.e., members of a Gnostic revival movement). He was canonized eleven months after his death, the swiftest canonization in history.
The incunable leaf offered here contains the account of his murder. It was printed in single-column format in an interesting gothic font by the famous early printer Johann Zainer, the first printer to set up shop in Ulm.
Provenance: From the collection of leaves assembled by the Grabhorn Press (1920–65), for their reference library.
ISTC No.ij00091000; Goff J91; GKW M11319. Disbound. Numeral “53" in lower outside corner of the recto. Nice margins, and very clean. (40788)
Victorian Illustrated Verse: A Beautiful Romp through Late 19th-Century France
[Keary, Eliza?]; Ellen E. Houghton & Thomas Crane, illus. Abroad. London: Marcus Ward & Co., [1882]. 4to (22 cm, 8.66"). 56 pp.; col. illus. $150.00
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“Last year, dear friends, we met 'At Home,' / And now 'Abroad' we mean to roam,” in the even lovelier companion volume to At Home. For this outing, the poems and illustrations share a coherent theme: the experiences of an English family travelling in France. Osborne notes that “Thomas Crane, Walter's elder brother, designed the ornamental pages while his cousin, Mrs. Houghton did the figure designs.” The chromolithographed scenes include our well-dressed friends departing from Charing Cross Station (and later, sleeping on the train home), boarding the steamer to cross to Calais, walking the Rue de l'Epicerie and visiting the Creche of Sister Rosalie (a nursery for children of working women) in Rouen, observing lacemakers in Caen, and enjoying all sorts of amusements in Paris. The publisher tells us only that “the verses are by various writers,” but Opie suggests that Eliza Keary, who wrote the poems for At Home, may have been involved.
Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplate of Margaret Heydon Folger.
Osborne Collection, p. 49; Opie PP 330. Publisher's color-printed paper–covered sides with teal cloth shelfback; extremities rubbed with a little loss to paper of covers at corners and front cover with an instance of abrasion affecting the “O” of “Abroad”; general light soiling and limited areas of old blue (ink?) staining. Bookplate as above; half-title with inked Christmas gift inscription dated 1882. Pages gently age-toned with a very few small spots, overall clean; sewing loosening but not broken; a children's book “read,” for sure. One ready for more reading, and looking! (40829)
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20 Poems + aVan Vliet Print
Leontief, Estelle Marks. Whatever happens. West Burke, VT: Janus Press, 1975. Small 4to (24 cm, 9.25"). [16] ff.,1 col. illus. [SOLD]
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Powerful, deeply personal poems by Leontief, opening with a color relief print by Claire Van Vliet. This fine press production was limited to 250 copies, “hand set in Times New Roman by Nancy Southworth, printed on Mohawk Superfine by Susan Johanknecht and bound by James Bicknell” (colophon). The present example is numbered copy 230,signed by Leontief and Van Vliet.
Provenance: From the collection of Gerson Leiber, the artist, engraver, sculptor, and book collector, sans indicia.
Fine, Janus Press 1975–80, p. 35. Publisher's charcoal cloth with paper spine label. Fine copy, without dust jacket as issued. (41117)
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Linnaeus on Plants, in French — First Appearance
Linné, Carl von; Nicolas Jolyclerc, trans. Systême sexuel de végétaux, suivant les classes, les ordres, les genres et les espèces, avec les caractères et les différences. Paris: Chez Ronvaux, 1798. 8vo (20 cm, 7.87"). [6], 789, [1] pp. [SOLD]
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First edition in French of Linnaeus's pioneering work of plant taxonomy, Systema vegetabilium. The translation of the text — which had in its original incarnation formed a part of the Systema natura before being revised and published separately — was done by Nicolas Jolyclerc, based on the “fifteenth edition” edited by Murray and Persoon. Jolyclerc (1746 –1817) was a clergyman who left the Church in favor of a career as a botanist and who gave lectures and published works by himself and others on the subject, becoming anecdotally famous for having offended a group of young female students (plus their mothers) by describing the reproductive organs of plants in class. The volume opens with the poem “Au Grand Linné,” written by Jolyclerc; while it closes with a notice describing a second volume (to include a table cross-referencing the systems of Tournefort and Jussieu with that of Linnaeus, among other items), no such follow-up appears to have been published.
Americana contents includemany New World plants such as yucca, New World sunflower (baltimora), potato (solanum), tomato (solanum lycopersicum), and cacao (theobroma)
Provenance: From the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).
Johnston, Cleveland Herbal, Botanical, and Horticultural Collections, 642. Contemporary mottled calf, covers framed in single blind rule, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and elaborate gilt-tooled foliate compartment decorations between raised bands; rubbed and scuffed with spine head chipped and otherwise spine least affected, front joint and spine with snall areas of worming. First and last pages with offsetting to margins; otherwise scattered spots of foxing only and the volume otherwise clean. A solid, in fact attractive copy. (40660)
One of Luther's Favorite Texts, with His Commentary — English Black Letter, 1616
Luther, Martin. A commentarie of ... Martin Luther upon the epistle of S. Paul to the Galathians. London: Richard Field,, 1616. Small 4to (18 cm; 7"). [4], 296 ff. $1225.00
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Fourth edition in English of Luther's In epistolam Sancti Pauli ad Galatas commentarius, which first appeared for the English monoglots in 1575, with second and third editions in 1577 and 1602.
The Epistle to the Galatians held a special place in Luther's heart and mind; he lectured on it in 1519 and also in 1523. It is widely reported that in his table talks he is recorded as saying: “The Epistle to the Galatians is my epistle. To it I am as it were in wedlock. It is my Katherine [i.e., the name of his wife].”
Provenance: Ownership inscription of Bryan Tompson, 1735 (fol. 166r); also on A2r, undated, family name spelled “Thompson” and with notation of cost of book as 5/3. Late 19th- or early 20-century ownership inscription on front free endpaper of G.P. Hesketh, of Beltrami Cty., MN; later given (1907) to Dr. Charles Schwartz.
ESTC S108962; STC (rev. ed.) 16973. 18th-century English speckled sheep, recently rebacked; late 19th- or early 20th-century endpapers. Title-page cut down close to text (supplied from a different copy?), mounted to restore page size and expose type on verso; leaf soiled. Top margins throughout closely cropped, costing the top line of text on five of the eight preliminary pages and the running heads and folio numbers on many (not all) text leaves; staining in portions in margins and sometimes into the text of the upper outer sixth of a leaf; longitudinal hole on fols. 259 to 262 costing three words total. Not a perfect, but a decent copy of a Lutheran mainstay in an edition not often found on the market. (34166)
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Father ofPediatric Medicine
Rosén von Rosenstein, Nils. Des Herrn Nils Rosén von Rosenstein ... Anweisung zur Kenntniss und Cur der Kinderkrankheiten. Göttingen und Gotha : Bey Johann Christian Dieterich, 1768. 8vo (17.7 cm; 7"). [8] ff., 541 (i.e., 539 ), [1] pp., [7] ff. $600.00
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Johann Andreas Murray's German-language translation out of the Swedish of Rosén von Rosenstein's treatise on childhood diseases and their cures (Underrättelser om barn-sjukdomar). This is the “2. verm. und verb. Aufl.” Rosén von Rosenstein (1706–73) was a Swedish nobleman, the physician to the king of Sweden, an original member of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, and a professor at the University of Uppsala; he published the first edition of this work in 1764, basing it on a series of lectures he had delivered. This is considered one of the most important works in the history of pediatrics and was quickly translated into English, German, French, and Italian.
Garrison and Morton say of the first edition in English: “Sir Frederick Still considered this work 'the most progressive which had yet been written;' it gave an impetus to research which influenced the future course of paediatrics.”
Translator Murray (1740–91) was a Swedish student of Linnaeus and later a professor of botany and medicine at Göttingen.
Provenance: Bookplate of Adamus Elias Schmidt, dated 1784. Early 19th-century signature of a Philadelphia doctor (erased) at top of title-page.
G&M 6323. Contemporary half calf, well worn: leather dry and gone to red with joint leather lost, cords holding, paper of covers worn through to boards in some places. Text with age-toning. Not a pretty copy but complete, and solid for now. Housed in a red cloth clamshell case. (22256)
Ultra-Patriotic Verse Tribute to theSpirit of America
Taylor, Bayard. The national ode. The memorial freedom poem. Boston: William F. Gill & Co., 1877 (copyright 1876). 8vo (22 cm, 8.7"). Frontis., 744 pp.; illus. $125.00
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“The Memorial Freedom Poem, which may be fittingly termed the poem of the centennial year, was written for the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of American Independence” (p. 5). This is the first edition standard book-form printing, it having been preceded by a heliotype facsimile of Taylor's manuscript in 1876, following the piece's smashing success at the festivities in Philadelphia. Electrotyped by Smith & McDougal and printed by Filmer & Class, the volume is illustrated withmore than 70 engravings done by a variety of hands, including at least one woman.
Provenance: Front free endpaper (now separated) with bookplate of Dr. Martin J. Loeb, a prominent New York physician and philanthropist, with an explanatory “Legend of the Bookplate” label affixed to opposing fly-leaf.
BAL 19807. Publisher's brown morocco, bevelled boards, covers framed in decorative blind rolls, spine with raised band and gilt-stamped title, turn-ins with gilt roll; light wear overall with extremities rubbed and spine title dimmed. All edges gilt. BAL binding C, the others being cloth. Front free endpaper (with bookplate) separated; back pastedown with small (upside-down!) numerical paper label. Foxing, as the paper is inclined to it, and a little soiling; a “decent” copy. (40360)
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Bird & Bull Press — Two Clubs Compared
Whitehill, Walter Muir. The Club of Odd Volumes, Boston, 1887–1973. [Philadelphia]: Printed for The Philobiblon Club [by the] Bird & Bull Press, 1973. 8vo (23 cm; 9"). 13, [1 (colophon)] pp. $75.00
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This is the text of “an address given to the Philobiblon Club on 19 April, 1973.” Whitehill, the former director and librarian of the Boston Athenaeum, begins by pointing to
similarities between social organizations in Boston and Philadelphia and then gives a history ofthe Club of Odd Volumes, the Boston book collecting club founded in 1887.
This brief history was printed in an edition of 250 copies at the Bird & Bull Press. The Press's bibliography says: “Title line and colophon [are printed] in Arrighi; the text [is] printed in Garamond type on Hodgkinson's Bird & Bull paper” and the wrappers are “Burnt Sienna roller-printed paste paper . . . [with the] title on [a] paper label on [the] upper cover.”
Taylor & Morris, Twenty-one Years of Bird & Bull, B3. New. Publisher's “burnt sienna” patterned wrappers as above. (35763)
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