Provenance:  Gilt supra-libros of Pope Gregory XVI. Circa 1930 acquired by John Howell, bookseller in San Francisco, and added to his personal library (bookplate on front pastedown). He later sold it to the Pacific School of Religion (bookplate on front pastedown; stamps).

Binding:  Full vellum over boards, round spine, no raised bands; spine richly gilt using a variety of tools. Papal coat of arms in the center of each board. All edges gilt.

•  Binding as above, spine darkened as are the boards, front joint repaired; gilt faded but still attractive and “legible.” Small stamp on a blank page and another in upper margin of the first page of the dedication; charge pocket on rear pastedown. An impressively bound copy of an interesting and very nicely produced manuscript.  (35975)

Provenance:  Covers with armorial supra-libros of Henry Welbore Agar-Ellis, 2nd Viscount Clifden (1761–1836), with his motto: “Non haec sine numine.” Front pastedown of deep blue with armorial bookplate and “C” shelf-list tag at one corner, front free endpaper with bookplates of Robert Wayne Stilwell and Brian Douglas Stilwell.

•  Brooks 514; Brunet, V, 673; Giani 46 (p. 48).   Binding as above, rebacked with original spine laid down and recent gilt-stamped red leather labels; corners and lower edges rubbed. Bookplates as above. Free endpapers with offsetting from turn-ins. Pages notably clean clean and crisp. A striking copy of this dramatic presentation. (40163)

Provenance:  Front pastedown with bookplate of private collector Brian Douglas Stilwell.

•  Brooks 379; Brunet, V, 673; Giani 11 (p. 39); Renouard, IV, 305.   Binding as above, unobtrusively rebacked preserving original spine; light wear to joints and extremities, sides with small scuffs refurbished with a restrained hand. Bookplate as above; front free endpaper with pencilled reference annotations. The wide-margined, crisply printed and engraved pages are notably clean. Distinctive for its occasion and and desirable for its lovely production.  (40138)

•  Brooks 1017; Brunet, V, 667; De Lama, II, 175; Giani 179 (page 72).   Bound as above, rebacked with original spine sunned to brown reapplied; sides with scuffs (some showing signs of refurbishing) and with edges and extremities moderately rubbed.A monument of both literature and typography in a very clean and handsome copy. (40192)

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with garter-encircled pressure-stamp of Manchester bookseller Edwin Slater; front fly-leaf with early inked gift inscription to Ellen I. Moscrop [?] “from her sincere friend, Arabella Ble[???].” Most recently in the collection of Hubert Dingwall.

•  Ray, Illustrator and the Book in England, 191.   Binding as above, spine gently sunned; joints and edges mildly rubbed, corners somewhat more so. Stamp and inscription as above. Foxing/spotting variously, pages ranging from quite clean to bearing a few small spots to being more broadly affected, although the hue of this is generally light and the action is mostly confined to margins. Quintessentially and delightfully Victorian: a lovely collection of some of this beloved artist's best work.  (38851)

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

•  NSTC 2T6768.   Binding as above, spine sunned to a rosy tan color, extremities lightly rubbed. Old cataloguing affixed to front free endpaper verso (i.e., to paper, not silk). Small line of staining to upper margins of most leaves, pages and plates otherwise clean save for three instances of offsetting from plates. A pretty little book; a nice thing in 1848 and a nice thing now.  (38635)

Provenance:  On the front pastedown of each volume, a charming bookplate of Alfred and G. Ivy Clark, the former (1873–1950) being the pioneer in music recording and cinema whose work with Thomas Edison produced the first “moving pictures” having continuity and plot; he also helped Emile Berliner with the development of the gramophone, and he assembled one of the most important collections of Chinese ceramics in the West.

•  Bound as above; spines slightly darkened, front joint of vol. II neatly and unobtrusively refurbished. Interiors age-toned, some offsetting to pages opposite illustrations, several leaves in vol. I pulling from the binding but still attached; in vol. II, small closed tear to frontispiece, the corner of one plate torn away not affecting illustration and laid in, small slim marginal waterstain to last few leaves. HANDSOME.  (38687)

•  Fine, Janus Press 1975–80, 41.   Publisher's navy cloth, front cover with illustration on paper as above; spine very slightly sunned, outer front corners showing most minimal wear. Van Vliet's lithograph bright and beautiful.  (32333)

Binding:  16th-century polished calf expertly rebacked in slightly lighter leather; spine plain with raised bands accented by blind rules above and below each band. Covers blind-ruled with large gilt fleurons to corners and gilt floral centerpieces. All edges gilt.

Provenance:  Contemporary inscription “Perrot” to title-page (possibly Charles Perrot, 1541–1608, a Protestant minister in Geneva who preached religious tolerance and so fell out of favor with Calvin); slightly later name “Langloir” also inked to same. Small 19th-century photographic portrait of a military officer pasted to verso of front free endpaper. Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

Pettegree & Walsby record two copies, one in the U.S. (Harvard); WorldCat and COPAC find no copies with Bogard’s imprint.

•  Renouard, Imprimeurs & libraires Parisiens du XVIe siècle, 281; Pettegree & Walsby, French Books, 8834.   Bound and rebacked as above, with onetime cracking to covers near joints also strengthened/refurbished with darkening to leather; minor repair to corners, and later endpapers. Text double-ruled in red, with occasional slight toning and a little foxing to the title-page and last three leaves; a slender waterstain to the upper blank margin of the last two leaves and a small repair to the outer blank margin of the last.A very nice copy in an interesting binding.  (40794)

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

•  Kelly, Checklist of Books Published by William Pickering, 1851.9; Keynes, William Pickering (rev. ed.), p. 75.   Binding as above, original silk bookmark present. Pages gently and evenly age-toned, otherwise clean and fresh. A desirable copy.  (40820)

Patrick Murdoch's short biographical piece on Thomson is included here, as well as a preface by James Nichols and notes from the editor. Stunning engravings signed by English engravers John Gilbert and William Greatbach appear throughout, protected by tissue guards.

Binding:  Dark teal(?) morocco darkened to black with beveled boards and intricate decoration in blind; gilt lettering and additional blind decoration to spine. Marbled endpapers, all edges gilt and gauffered. Binder's ticket of Poulter of Leamington on front pastedown.

Evidence of Readership: Two rather interestingly late-dated notes of reading completion (August and September 1942), in pencil in margins.

Provenance:  Signature and initials of V.C. Turnbull on verso of front free endpaper; another owner's notes on place/price of purchase on the same page.

•  Bound as above, refurbished. Lacks half-title; frontispiece and several plates lightly foxed, offsetting to tissue guards from plates, and small, sparse spots of staining to several leaves. Pencillings as above plus one pencilled marginal rule. A lovely collection, delicately detailed plates, and an excellent binding.  (37350)

Binding:  Contemporary green morocco, covers framed in gilt triple fillets with gilt-tooled corner fleurons surrounding a central foliate medallion, spine gilt extra. Turn-ins with gilt roll. All edges gilt. Signed binding: “Bain, Binder” small stamp in lower margin of verso of front free endpaper.

Provenance:  Prize copy: front fly-leaf with inked inscription reading “Jno. Hy. Lloyd [/] Prize for proficiency in English and British History. July, 1872 [/] A.R. Abbott [/] Grove House”; beneath inscription, affixed paper label inscribed “George B. Lloyd.” Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  McLean, Victorian Book Design, 68 & 146.   Binding as above, showing light wear overall with joints, spine bands, and extremities rubbed, spine slightly darkened. Front fly-leaf with inscription and label as above. Fly-leaves and half-title foxed; a few faint spots of foxing scattered through pages. A distinguished example of this quintessentially Victorian present.  (38060)

•  NSTC T941; Hugo, Bewick Collector, 253; Johnston, Cleveland Herbal, Botanical, and Horticultural Collections, 745; Nissen 1954; Pritzel 9238; Rohde, Old English Herbals, 224 (listing Crosby ed. only).  Contemporary calf, covers framed in blind roll and single gilt fillet, spine with blind-tooled compartment decorations; binding rubbed and scuffed overall, spine label now absent with traces remaining, repair work to splits in spine leather and to short tear from inner margin of front free endpaper, joints and extremities refurbished. Front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription (“C.M.W.”) dated 1912. Dedication tipped in. Pages gently age-toned with scattered foxing; small inkstain to upper fore-edge of first 30 ff., barely extending onto pages. One contents leaf with short tear (just touching text, without loss) and old repair in lower outer corner. A now solid, even rather distinguished-looking copy of a desirable pharmacopeiaexquisitely illustrated.  (36043)

Binding:  Mid- to late-19th-century binding, with binder’s ticket of the True American Bindery of Trenton, NJ.

•  Half morocco with marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped titles and blind-stamped decorative devices; edges and sides moderately rubbed with a bit of paper skinned from cover of vol. II. Most pages with some degree of foxing.  Handsome on shelf, solid in hand.  (12431)

The presenter of the volume was R.T. McLain, chief clerk of the Department of Agriculture; the Hon. J. Gregory Smith, the recipient, was the president of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company.

Binding:  A presentation binding of black morocco over boards with slightly bevelled edges. Covers with a gilt triple fillet border and a gilt floral vine inner “border.” Recipient's name in gilt in center of front board. Round spine, raised bands, gilt spine extra; gilt roll on board edges, different gilt roll on turn-ins. Pink endpapers of a textured paper, printed with an overall pattern of small gilt interlocking circles. Green silk place marker. All edges gilt.

A very nice example of a mid-19th-century presentation binding.

•  Binding as above, lightly rubbed at the joints (outside) and board edges. McLain's presentation card pasted to front pastedown, above Smith's bookplate. A very good copy of a book that is, as we say here, “interesting for more than one reason.”  (35244)

Fore-edge: This beautiful example bears a subtly shaded (and therefore hard to photograph)fore-edge painting showing Westminster Abbey in the background behind a waterfront view with sailboats.

Binding:  Full straight-grain dark olive green morocco, covers framed in elegant feather and pearl twist gilt roll, turn-ins with floral gilt roll. Stone-pattern marbled endpapers. All edges gilt.

•  Griffiths, Bibliography of the Book of Common Prayer, 1802/1.   Binding as above, mild rubbing overall with some abraded areas consolidated, joints and extremities subtly repaired, aesthetically appropriate endbands supplied. Title-page with inked ownership inscription dated 1803, “The gift of my beloved husband.” Intermittent faint spots of foxing, mostly confined to early leaves. One inked marginal annotation in an early hand, three psalms (145–47) with small inked emphasis marks, pages otherwise clean.  (28715)

The work was limited to 100 copies, all printed on Japan vellum. It has an engraved vignette on the black and red printed title, small illustrations or vignettes on 50 text pages, 11 vignette borders or headpieces (three of them in color, 10 of them in anextra state), and 10 tipped-in color plates. The illustrations are by Henri Gervex, J.A. Gonzalès, L. Kratké, Albert Lynch, Adrien Moreau, and Félicien Rops.

Binding:  Full red crushed morocco with five raised bands. Covers with a triple-rule gilt border; spine gilt extra with gilt beading on bands. Triple gilt fillet on board edges. Wide turn-ins richly tooled in gilt and with cream and blue leather inlays that are also gilt-tooled. Blue silk pastedowns and free endpapers. Marbled paper fly-leaves. All edges gilt. Binding signed “David.”

Provenance:  Red leather bookplate of Cortlandt Field Bishop, the famed collector of the early 20th century and, at one time, owner of the TWO most important auction galleries in NY/USA.

Original full-color wrappers bound in.

•  Vicaire, VII, 924.   Uncut copy. Bound as above with original wrappers bound in; joints abraded and front one tender. A luxurious production and very pleasing provenance.   (26675)

In the early decades of the 20th century, Tice was a sensation because of her provocative art and as the embodiment of bohemian Greenwich Village — gaining, indeed, the sobriquet “The Queen of Greenwich Village.”

Binding:  Publisher's black goat, round spine with raised bands lettered in gilt and with a gilt-stamped female nude figure in center area of spine; front cover with two gilt-stamped reclining female nude figures reminiscent of those on big-rig mud guards! Elegant gilt turn-ins, top edge gilt and other edges deckle. Housed in a brown paper–covered open-back case.

•  Case rubbed but sound; binding as above with spine a little pulled, corners a little bumped, and front joint (outside) a little abraded. First leaves separated and tipped in; possibly, cancels? All illustrations eye-popping in several senses; all tissue guards present.  (33447)

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

•  Bound as above; joints, edges, and spine extremities rubbed and refurbished, spines sunned. Back free endpapers each with bookseller's ticket of Hessey, Fleet Street. Minor offsetting from turn-ins to free endpapers; pages slightly age-toned, otherwise clean. A desirable set, externally a bit worn, now exuding the promise of comfortable enjoyment. (40307)

•  Keynes, William Pickering (rev. ed.), p. 94; Kelly, Checklist of Books Published by William Pickering, 1836.17; Ing, Charles Whittingham, 13; Horne, The Compleat Angler 1653–1967, 43.   Bindings as above, spines gently sunned; front free endpapers stamped “Bartlett & Co, Boston” in upper outer corners. Occasional minor foxing/spotting; vol. II with mild waterstaining to lower outer portions, more pronounced to first few leaves and later ones. An enduring classic, in a beautiful set. (40961)

Provenance:  Covers gilt-stamped with the device of Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere.

Binding:  Contemporary calf framed in gilt triple fillets and blind roll, rebacked preserving original spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title-label; covers gilt-stamped with supra-libros as above. All edges marbled.

Uncommon: OCLC and NUC Pre-1956 find only six U.S. locations.

•  Bound as above; spine leather with small chips and cracks, sides with small unobtrusive areas of rubbing and light discoloration. Binding overall solid and still attractive; interior clean and nice.  (25320)

Evans notes that this is “the first folio volume, other than Laws, andthe largest work up to this time printed in the United States.” This was a subscription printing, and includes Benjamin Franklin's father and brother, among other dignitaries, in its list of names; the sheets came from several different presses, and thus “it has fallen out . . . that the Pages for a considerable way, are numbered over again” (p. 666). The title-page is printed in red and black.The binding features a very unusual 18th-century repair job: to reinforce the joints, an early hand stitched along either side of the front joint and part way down the back.

Provenance:  Title-page with inked ownership inscription of T. White, dated 1726, and with inked presentation inscription to Susanna White, dated 1782. Front pastedown with inked inscription of Timothy Badger, 1782; also with 19th-century institutional bookplate and presentation inscription.

•  Evans 2828; ESTC W30456; Sabin 104075; Streeter Sale 675.   Contemporary mottled sheep framed and panelled in blind fillets with corner fleurons, a blind roll around the central panel; small scuffs, extremities rubbed, joints cracked and fragile, with early sewn repairs as above. Front free endpaper partially separated. Inscriptions as above; preface with additional early inked inscription in upper margin and inked numeral in lower margin, a very slim “mag strip” in one gutter margin and no other institutional markings. Pages age-toned and offset with varying degrees of spotting and staining; some corners dog-eared. Three leaves each with short tear from upper margin, just touching text without loss; a few leaves crumpled without tearing. First portion of volume with intermittent early inked marginalia, one note partially shaved. A milestone of early American printing and an interesting copy.  (31011)

This work is rarely found in the deluxe binding: The handsomely gilt-stamped publisher's cloth is the norm.

•  NSTC 2W24418; Allibone 2762.   For binding, see: Morris & Levin, Art of Publisher's Bookbindings, 44. Binding as above, showing minor wear to extremities and front cover vignette, original silk bookmark detached and laid in. Volume slightly shaken with text block starting to pull away from spine; this is the kind of volume that wants to do that, and the reader will want to “cradle” it in hand — that done, no worries. Front fly-leaf with early pencilled gift inscription and with a Maine druggist's small ticket. Mild to moderate foxing. Both funny and decorative, in a publisher's binding that may fairly be called “DAZZLING.”  (26748)