
Clothing & Fashion
[
]
A Costume Designer's Interpretation of
GOGOL
(A “Costume” Book LITERALLY & LENGTHILY). Gregory, Anne. [Costume illustration for ] The government inspector by Nikolay Gogol. [U.S.]: ca. 1971. (27 cm, 10.65"). 24 col. illus.
$875.00
Click the images for enlargements.
A remarkable album: 24 panels of hand-inked and painted costume designs for a production of Gogol's Government Inspector (a.k.a. The Inspector General, originally Revizor). These delightful designs, slightly reminiscent in style of Jean de Brunhoff's illustrations, convey a great deal of personality; each panel's character is shown in a different pose — including those characters given more than one costume — with a range of expressions portrayed throughout. The images were painted on heavy panels bound together with cloth tape
leporello- or accordion-style, with the entire sequence unfolding as one very long, very impressive strip ABOUT 20 FEET LONG.
Following Anne Gregory's name on the cover here is the designation, “'71,” but its significance has not been established. There was a premiere of Zador's revised operatic version of The Government Inspector at El Camino College in that year, and these do look like they could be operatic costumes; so perhaps the date refers to that production — or, perhaps “Anne Gregory” was to graduate from that institution or another, that year.
As above, cover panels with small smudges, interior panels clean and bright.
A unique and extensive work of art, offering literary, theatrical, and costuming interest in addition to its aesthetic pleasures. (36014)



Early Editions of the FIRST Children's Books
White Knights Library Copies
Baïf, Lazare de; Charles Estienne, ed. De Vasculis libellus, adulescentulorum causa ex Bayfio decerptus, addita vulgari latinarum vocum interpretatione. Parisiis: Ex officina R. Stephani, 1536. 8vo (17.4 cm, 6.9"). 56, [8] pp. [bound with their] De Re vestiaria libellus, ex Bayfio excerptus: Addita vulgaris linguae interpretatione, in adulescentulorum gratiam atq; utilitatem. Parisiis: Ex officina Rob. Stephani, 1536. 8vo. 68, [10] pp. (final blank lacking).
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
Early editions of the first two volumes in a series of books considered “the first books produced specifically for the entertainment (unlike school-books) as well as the edification of a juvenile readership,” here focusing on Roman antiquities, including dress, textiles, color, containers, and dishware, among other things. Charles Estienne compiled the series using Baïf's earlier scholarly works while tutoring Jean Antione, the humanist's son. The texts are neatly printed in single columns using roman type with the occasional phrase in italic or Greek; printer's device Schreiber no. 4 appears on both title-pages. Almost certainly first printed by Robert Estienne in 1535 (another edition of De Re vestiaria was also printed by Girault that year), both works proved popular and went through several editions in the 16th century.
Provenance: Ink signature of Hannah Hall on front free endpaper above an inked ownership inscription reading “Duke of Marlborough's White Knights Library 1819"; Duke George Spencer-Churchill (1766–1840) was a noted book collector. Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
De Vasculis: Adams B54; Renouard, Estienne, 44:21; Schreiber, Estiennes, 51 (1535 ed.). De Re: Adams B43; Renouard, Estienne, 44:20; Schreiber, Estiennes, 50 (1535 ed., also the source of the quotation above). 19th-century brown polished calf, spine lettered and ruled in gilt with compartments stamped in blind, covers framed in single gilt fillet around a tulip roll in blind, board edges with gilt dashes, turn-ins ruled in gilt, all edges speckled brown; gently rubbed with a few stains, corners bowing inwards. Very light waterstaining across some corner-tips and barely noticeable pin-sized wormholes/tracks to most leaves; three leaves with small spots and one with an imperfect corner (probably from manufacture); final blank (only) lacking as above. Provenance indicia as above, a few leaves gently creased along corners.
Early examples of a landmark series in children's book production, from a famous press and a famous library. (39463)

New Chemistry, Practical Application, An Essential Art Illustrations
Berthollet, Claude- Louis, & Amédée B. Berthollet. Elements of the art of dyeing; with a description of the art of bleaching by oxymuriatic acid. London: Pr. for Thomas Tegg; Simpkin & Marshall; R. Griffin & Co., Glasgow; & J. Cumming, Dublin, 1824. 8vo (23.2 cm; 9.125"). 2 vols. I: xxvii, [1(blank)], 408 pp., 7 plts. (2 fold.). II: vii, [1 (blank), 453 pp., 2 fold. plts.
$500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
C.-L. Berthollet was a member of the circle of Lavoisier and helped in the development of a chemical nomenclature that was applicable and derived from the chemistry being developed at the end of the 18th century. The present work is a systematic study and scientific discussion of the nature of
dyeing, with nine plates, four folding.
Posthumous second edition in English, “translated from the French, with notes and engravings, illustrative and supplementary, by Andrew Ure.”
Uncut, partially unopened copy.
Uncut, partially unopened copy. Publisher's quarter cloth with paper covered boards; some discoloration to cloth, light chipping to board edges. Ex–social club library: paper label at top of spine, 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. A clean copy with the plates good and crisp; as noted above, an uncut, partially unopened copy. (27388)

History of Malta & the Knights Hospitallers — Well Bound, Handsomely Illustrated
Boisgelin de Kerdu, Pierre Marie Louis de. Ancient and modern Malta: Containing a full and accurate account of the present state of the islands of Malta and Goza, the history of the knights of St. John of Jerusalem, also a narrative of the events which attended the capture of these islands by the French, and their conquest by the English: and an appendix, containing authentic state-papers and other documents. London: Richard Phillips, 1805. 4to (27.5 cm, 10.75"). 2 vols. I: [6], xlviii, 326 pp.; 2 fold. plts., 3 fold. tables, 17 plts. (fold. map & 1 prelim. f. lacking). II: [8], vi, xxxi, [1], 258, [2], 315, [9 (index)] pp.; 5 plts.
$1600.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Second edition, following the first of 1804–05. The author, who was himself a Knight of St. John, here covers the culture, language, economy, natural history, and costume of the Maltese — as well as describing the Bichon or Maltese dog (also rendered pictorially in one of the plates) — before moving on to the history of the Hospitallers from the 16th century onwards.
Vol. I includes catalogues of scientific names of the plants and fish of the area as according to various authors, and is illustrated with an
oversized, folding detailed view of the city and port of Malta (with an accompanying folding map identifying the major landmarks); at the back of that volume there are also two folding tables accounting for treasury expenses of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Vol. II features a view of Messina, along with several portraits. In total, the work is illustrated with
24 copper-engraved plates, some aquatint, done by Merigot and others.
Binding: Contemporary stained calf, panelled in dramatically mottled calf with inlaid corner fleurons, framed in gilt double fillets; spine with gilt-stamped title and gilt-stamped Greek key bands.
NSTC B3507; Abbey, Travel, 194. Bound as above with leather expectably acid-pitted, scuffing with small cracks and spine titles partially rubbed away; joints(outside) expertly repaired. Folding map and one preliminary leaf (the list of plates) lacking in vol. I, and this volume with a light old waterstain occasionally visible across a gutter, mild to moderate offsetting, plates with likewise mild to moderate foxing; vol. II plates with slightly darker spotting. A strong and attractive set of one of the significant early works on Maltese history. (33600)

No, REALLY??? — For a HAT?
Dorrance, John; Arthur Fenner. Report of the case John Dorrance against Arthur Fenner tried at the December term of the Court of Common Pleas, in the county of Providence, A.D. 1801. To which are added, the proceedings in the case Arthur Fenner vs. John Dorrance. Providence: Printed by Bennett Wheeler, 1802. 8vo (21 cm, 8.25"). iv, 116 pp.
$400.00
Click the images for enlargements.
“Case commenced . . . by John Dorrance, esq., against Arthur Fenner . . . charging the defendant with having, falsely and maliciously, slandered and defamed the good name, fame and reputation of the plaintiff” (p. 2) and a “case commenced by His Excellency Arthur Fenner, esq., charging the defendant with having published a false and scandalous libel against the plaintiff” (p. [110]).Arthur Fenner was the fourth Governor of Rhode Island from 1790 until his death in office in 1805 and Dorrance was a justice of the Court of Common Pleas.
The root of all the litigation was whether Dorrance had swapped the cadaver of a suicide for a hat. Needless to say, there is political animosity at work here.
The whole was “carefully compiled from notes correctly taken by several gentlemen who were present during the whole course of the trial.”
Shaw & Shoemaker 2156; Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law, 11968. Removed from a nonce volume, lacking the wrappers. Age-toning and a few spots of foxing. Else very good. (39246)

School's Out for the Summer! — Illustrated by the Brothers Dalziel
Editor of The Playmate. Home for the holidays; a pleasant remembrance of my early days. London: James Nelson & Co. (pr. by Thomas Horrild), 1859. 4to (22.6 cm, 8.89"). [2], 19, [1] pp.; 8 col. plts.
$475.00
Click the images for enlargements.
These gentle, nostalgic tales of summertime games and amusements (including a theatre excursion to see “The Merry Wives of Windsor” and “Beauty and the Beast,” playing cricket, pretending to be horses, and sailing toy boats) were
illustrated with a total of nine hand-colored drawings by Joseph Kenny Meadows, engraved by George and Edward Dalziel, two members of the famed Brothers Dalziel firm. The Playmate, also known as the Illustrated Juvenile Miscellany, was a children's periodical that later merged with Robert Merry's Museum; it is unclear who was holding the title of editor at the time of this work's publication. Whoever the anonymous author was, he set these very English stories in “Seacome Park,” England, close
to London. This is the second London edition of the work, following the first of 1848; WorldCat locates only three U.S. holdings.
Though this offers “stories” not “morality,” and its illustrations are meant only to give pleasure in connection with the stories, yet
a good deal can be gleaned here as to both “conduct” and “costume.” Binding: Publisher's blue textured cloth, covers framed with wide embossed strapwork and foliate borders, front cover with gilt-stamped decorative title and vignette of a small child reading a large book. All edges gilt.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
NSTC 2H27679. Binding as above, spine and edges rubbed and darkened with hinges (inside) cracked, upper outer corners bumped, areas of discoloration to back cover, none of this condemning and gilt vignette still bright. Pages faintly age-toned with occasional minor smudges; plates clean and appealing. (41207)

INTEMPERANCE Killed the Tailor
Elegy on Jamie Gemmill, tailor. [Paisley, Scotland?]: no publisher/printer, [18--]. 12mo (15.5 cm, 6.125"). 8 pp.
$125.00
Woodcut title vignette of a group of ladies and gentlemen surrounding a corpse in an open coffin. Inscribed on the title page: “John Andrews, Paisley.” An elegy in Scottish dialect for a fine tailor and a hard drinker: “For Jamie weel coud use the thumle, / An' was wi' needle aye fu' nimle, / An' ne'er about the price wad grumle / O' ony job, / But aft wad drink until he'd tumle / Clean aff the broad.”
The last page offers a “Per Contra” claiming, “Jamie Gemmill yet is leevin” — with a note on where you can find him to buy him a drink!
Provenance: Neat inscription John Andrews, Paisley,” on front wrapper.
Original self wrappers (unbound; removed); sewn with sewing loosening. Very good. (38503)
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(English Political Satire PLUS). Venus attiring the graces. London: J. Dodsley, 1777. 4to (24.8 cm, 9.75"). 11, [1 (blank)] pp. [with] [Mason, William?] [Ode to Mr. Pinchbeck, upon his newly invented patent candle-snuffers. London: J. Almon, 1776]. [5]–11, [1 (adv.)] pp.
$385.00
Satiric verse mocking fashionable English dress, accompanied by a political satire addressed to Christopher Pinchbeck which includes the lines “Haste then, and quash the hot Turmoil, / That flames in
Boston’s angry Soil . . .” The first work is here in its first edition, while the second is likely an early printing.
Venus: ESTC T73277; Ode: ESTC T41985 (first ed.). Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper label. Second work lacking half-title and title-page. Inner margins of two leaves reinforced; last line of advertising page shaved. Title-page and last few leaves with moderate foxing; one page (not the title) stamped by a now-defunct institution, with some offsetting to opposing page. (5875)
“Exotic Dishes” from
Foreign Lands
Frost, Heloise. A world of good eating. A collection of old and new recipes from many lands. [Newton, MA?]: Phillips Publishers, Inc., © 1951. 8vo. 128 pp.; illus.
$40.00
Click image for enlargement.
Recipes from around the world, “tested in the kitchen of
a New England housewife and published for the enjoyment of many American families.”
This cookbook was illustrated by Ellen A. Nelson, who also contributed the Scandinavian
recipes; each section opens with a full-page, color-printed image of
children
in various national costumes, and small illustrations both
in color and black-and-white are scattered throughout. The volume closes with
a section of regional American cookery including Ozark Pudding, Southern Pecan
Pie, Creole Calas, Texas Gumbo, Alaskan Nuggets (a sort of salmon croquette),
Salt Cod Dinner, and California Orange Bread.
This is an
uncommonly
nice copy, still housed in its original publisher's box, which
features the front cover image reproduced in color.
Not in Brown, Culinary Americana. Publisher's
spiral-bound wrappers, front wrapper color-printed with image of Dutch girls
baking, in publisher's box (as above); one edge of box rubbed and corners
of box bottom reinforced. Front fly-leaf with inked gift inscription and pencilled
date (March 24, 1956). A clean, fresh, virtually unworn copy — and very
uncommon as such. (29584)

Commedia Dell'Arte & Other Expressive Figures
Kredel, Fritz. Dolls and puppets of the eighteenth century as delineated in twenty four drawings. Lexington, KY: The Gravesend Press, 1958. 12mo (16.5 cm, 6.5"). [20] pp.; 24 plts.
$225.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Sole edition: A famed illustrator's marvelous images of 18th-century dolls and puppets from the “Mon Plaisir” doll village, the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam), the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the Museo Civico (Venice), and the Cooper Union Museum (New York), with a preface by Joseph C. Graves. This charming little volume was designed by Gotthard de Beauclair and printed by Ludwig Oehms at Frankfurt am Main. The 24 drawings were copper-engraved for these reproductions and
hand-colored through stencils by Schauer & Silvar.
This is numbered copy 110 of 500 printed and
signed at the colophon by the artist.
Publisher's blue linen–covered boards, front cover with gilt-stamped vignette, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, in striped paste paper–covered slipcase; volume crisp and clean. (35259)
Lens, André Corneille. Le costume ou essai sur les habillements et les usages de plusieurs peuples de l’antiquité, prouvé par les monuments. Liege: Aux dépens de l’auteur, chez J.F. Bassompierre, 1776. 4to (24.9 cm, 9.8"). xxxi, [1], 411, [1] pp.; 51 plts
$1750.00
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First edition: Treatise on ancient dress among the Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Jews, and Romans, among other peoples. The author, a Flemish artist also known as Andries Cornelis Lens, came to the study of antiquarian clothing by way of his classically inspired focus in painting. Illustrated with 51 copper-engraved plates done by Pitre Martenasie, this is an “Ouvrage estimé” according to Brunet (who seemingly mistakenly cites 57 engravings as opposed to the 51 given by von Lipperheide, described in institutional holdings, and present here).
Brunet, III, 980; Von Lipperheide, Katalog der Freiherrlich von Lipperheide’schen Kostumbibliothek, 105. Contemporary calf, rebacked in complementary style, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels and gilt-stamped compartment decorations; original leather acid-pitted and cracked over edges and extremities. Front pastedown with small bookseller’s ticket from Albany, NY; free endpapers with a few stray pencilled notations. Dedication page with institutional rubber-stamp in lower margin. (19415)

“NO CRIES Are Sure of Such Renown, as Those of
Famous London Town”
London cries for children. Philadelphia: Johnson & Warner (pr. by John Bouvier), 1810. 24mo (14 cm, 5.5"). Frontis. (incl. in pagination), 40 pp.; illus.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
First American edition, taken from the London printing of the same year. Illustrations in this work are a woodcut frontispiece, a woodcut on the title-page, and a
half-page woodcut illustration for each of the 18 cries in the text, for a total of 20 cuts. Dr. R wrote of this work: “This edition of the London Cries resembles [the Cries] of Philadelphia and of New York in that each Cry is accompanied by a verse, and a long explanatory passage in prose . . . [A]nd although the book is intended for children, the propaganda introduced into . . . [it] is at times obviously intended for their parents.”
Provenance: From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Rosenbach, Children's, 421; Welch 249.12; Shaw & Shoemaker 19892 & 20586. Publisher's light boards with salmon-colored paper covering. Browning as in all copies seen today. One leaf with short tear from lower margin, just touching text.
Solid, and engaging from multiple perspectives. (38925)
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A Pretty Present Indeed
My pretty present. Thomas Nelson & Sons; London: S.W. Partridge & Co., [ca. 1885]. 18mo (14.7 cm, 5.75"). [56] pp.; illus.
$100.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: This appealing and now uncommon children's book appeared as part of both Nelson's “Short Story” series and their “My Story Box” series. The front cover bears an affixed
chromolithograph of a Greenaway-style young girl holding a posy; the title-page vignette was engraved by popular illustrators Bross and Bogart — as several subsequent images also appear to have been — and each text page features a large wood engraving, four done in silhouette style, with an accompanying paragraph telling a brief story or describing the moral to be drawn from the image. The subjects of the pictures include a poor sailor, a policeman, and a milkmaid as well as fashionably dressed children and a variety of pets and livestock. Overall, the stories stress perseverance, politeness, and kindness to animals.
Binding: Publisher's cream paper–covered boards, front cover with mounted color-printed illustration of a young girl as above, back cover with black-stamped decorative design.
Provenance: From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Binding as above, very lightly soiled, and interior with a few spots of light foxing only; a clean, lovely copy, apparently
untouched by childish hands (or only by awfully careful ones). (40740)
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prettily bound books ca. 18401910 that are
ALSO, often, quite charmingly illustrated click here.
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The Folly of a Vain Doll — With Hand-Colored Cruikshank Plates
Pardoe, Julia; George Cruikshank, illus. Lady Arabella: Or the adventures of a doll. London: Kerby & Son, [1856]. Sm. 8vo (17.6 cm, 6.92"). [2], 88, [4 (adv.)] pp.; 4 col. plts.
$425.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: George Cruikshank–illustrated tale of a little girl's encounter with a discarded doll who recounts her downwards progression from haughty, well-dressed queen of an upscale toy shop to a “miserable, one-eyed, ugly-looking wreck” (p. 7). The author was a prolific poet, historian, novelist, and travel writer as well as a children's writer.
This copy with
Cruikshank's four wood-engraved plates hand-colored, which Cohn notes was not always the case.
Provenance: Front pastedown with small book label featuring an illustration of a bird with the head of a fish wearing a jester’s hat brandishing a sword and with large feathered tail, the initials “N.H.L.T.” at the corners. Most recently in the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Cohn, George Cruikshank: A Catalogue Raisonné, 625; Osborne Collection, p. 1019. Contemporary textured red cloth, covers stamped in blind with foliate corner decorations, front cover with central gilt-stamped title (main title within decorative garter motif), spine with gilt-stamped title; corners rubbed, spine dimmed and a very little chipped. Small, illegible pencilled inscription on front pastedown; back pastedown with binder's ticket of Westley's & Co. Pages with a handful of small spots, overall clean. (40808)

Chatty, Sophisticated, & Charmingly Illustrated
High-Society Guide to SPA
Pöllnitz, Karl Ludwig, Freiherr von. Amusemens des eaux de Spa, ouvrage utile à ceux qui vont boire ces eaux minérales sur les lieux. Enrichi des tailles-douces, qui représentent les vues & les perspectives du bourg de Spa, des fontaines, des promenades, & des environs. Amsterdam: Chez Pierre Mortier, 1740. 8vo (15.1 cm, 5.94"). 2 vols. I: ix, [3], 424 pp.; 9 fold. plts. II: [2], 414 pp.; 7 fold. plts.
$950.00
Click the images for enlargements.
“Nouvelle edition” following the first of 1734 (also published by Mortier), of this entertaining guide to the delights of Spa — the
first work of its kind, focusing primarily on society and fashion rather than on practical descriptions of the waters and their medicinal qualities. Baron von Pöllnitz was a favorite of Frederick the Great, and published an assortment of memoirs of himself and others. His Amusemens enjoyed great success, was quickly translated into English, and went through a number of editions in both languages, launching a genre of similar works on Spa and other fashionable destinations.
Early editions of the present guide are uncommon: WorldCat finds
only one U.S. institution (New York Academy of Medicine) reporting holding this printing, and only a small handful more of the scarce first.
This attractively accomplished production features title-pages printed in red and black and
16 delightful engraved plates counting the double-spread added engraved title-page serving as the frontispiece of vol. I. Offering views of the countryside and the fountains, many of the images incorporate figures such as a hunter and his hounds, riders on horseback, and well-dressed ladies and gentlemen strolling or dancing — as well as one of
a life-sized “insect” allegedly “brought away from the Kidneys of a Woman by the Drinking of the Pouhon Waters.” The unsigned plates, sometimes attributed to the author himself and sometimes to Hecquet, bear
captions given in French, German, and English.
Provenance: Title-pages each with early inked inscription of Frances Osborn. Later in the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).
Graesse, I, 109; Wellcome, IV, 407. Not in Blake, NLM 18th Century (which only lists an English-language edition). Contemporary quarter mottled calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels; bindings rubbed, scuffed, and with leather refurbished. Added engraved title-page for vol. I here tipped in as a double-page spread. Vol. I with waterstaining to outer margins of first few leaves, including added title-page and title-page; vol. II with waterstaining to upper outer portions of first few leaves; some plates with waterstaining to margins, not affecting images. Pages otherwise crisp and clean.
A pleasurable production, showcasing a pleasurable place! (40619)

Limited Edition — 500 Copies — Art-Deco Illustrations
Prévost, l'Abbé. Manon Lescaut. London: Geoffrey Bles, 1928. Sm. folio (32.3 cm, 12.75"). [8], ix, [1], 141, [3] pp.; 12 col. plts.
$150.00
Click the images for enlargements.
The classic tale of passion and inconstancy, illustrated with 12 color plates and numerous large in-text line drawings by John Austen — with this being the sole edition of Austen's Art Deco–influenced designs. This is numbered copy 212 of
500 numbered copies printed, and is
signed by the illustrator. (An additional 20 copies, not for sale, were lettered.)
Among other things, this book is a bonanza for lovers of
COSTUME!
Publisher's quarter vellum and light blue buckram sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; vellum darkened and spotted, sides with mild wear and discolorations; front hinge (inside) slightly tender. Front free endpaper with a very faded (all but illegible) early inked inscription; margins with scattered light smudges, pages and plates otherwise clean. A volume clearly pored over . . . (35542)
“A Voyage to Abyssinia” — A GOOD, Lively, & Readable Account
Salt, Henry. A voyage to Abyssinia, and travels into the interior of that country, executed under the orders of the British government, in the years 1809 and 1810; in which are included, an account of the Portuguese settlements on the east coast of Africa .... Philadelphia: M. Carey; Boston: Wells & Lilly (pr. by Lydia R. Bailey), 1816. 8vo (23.5 cm, 9.25"). 24, 454 pp.; fold. map., illus.
$1250.00
First U.S. edition and printed by Lydia Bailey, following the London first of 1814. Salt, a British traveller and Egyptologist, first visited Ethiopia in 1805, and returned in 1809 on a diplomatic mission intended to promote ties between the British government and the Emperor of Abyssinia. The Voyage gives Salt’s observations of Ethiopian customs, manners,
dress, cuisine, and music, along with the factual details of his diplomatic achievements — or lack thereof, in terms of concrete agreements — followed by an appendix comparing vocabulary words from various languages spoken along “the Coast of Africa, from Mosambique to the borders of Egypt, with a few others spoken in the Interior of that Continent” (p. 395).
This is an untrimmed copy in original boards, with
24 pages of advertising for Carey publications bound in at the front of the volume. The preliminary map, engraved by John Bower, has hand-colored border lines; this American edition does not call for the plates found in the English first, but does include in-text depictions of several “Ethiopic inscriptions.”
Shaw & Shoemaker 33864; NSTC 2S3118. Publisher’s quarter tan paper over light blue paper–covered sides; front cover detached and back joint cracked, binding spotted, paper cracked and split along spine, spine label now absent and replaced with hand-inked title, spine with later paper shelving label. Front pastedown with institutional bookplate, front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription dated 1829. Half-title with portion of outer margin torn away (not touching text) and laid in. Map lightly foxed, with two short tears along folds. Pages age-toned, with occasional spots of foxing. (19413)

“A Glass of Fashion to the
Beau Monde”
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley. The school for scandal. Stratford-upon-Avon: Shakespeare Head Press, 1930. Folio (29.2 cm, 11.5"). xxvii, [1], 145, [1] pp.; illus.
$125.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Handsome edition of Sheridan's famed comedy of manners, decorated and illustrated with wittily pointed drawings by Thomas Lowinsky. R. Crompton Rhodes's lengthy,
informative introduction offers much background detail on the play's original costuming, language, stage business, etc.
This is
one of 475 copies on Batchelor's handmade Kelmscott paper; an additional seven were printed on vellum.
Publisher's half vellum with printed paper sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; dust jacket lacking as now seen with most copies, vellum dust-soiled with a little rubbing, paper slightly darkened and with two small chips., small chip to paper at bottom edge of front cover and one to lower outer corner of back cover. Internally clean and crisp.
Enjoyable. (34010)


A SPANISH SERIES
Dyers & Loomers are
Engaged in Essential Services!
Spain. Sovereigns, 1759–1788 (Charles III). Real cedula...por la qual se manda por via de declaracion general, á beneficio de las manufacturas, que se guarde á los maestros tintoreros.... Madrid: Pedro Marin, 1775. Folio. [3] ff.
$325.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Exempts master dyers, and wool- and silk-loomers, from military service. Woodcut of the royal arms on title.
Lightly in later wrappers; small ownership stamp eradicated from title-page. A very good exemplar. (24386)
Protecting the
Spanish Fashion Industry
Spain. Sovereigns, 1759–1788 (Charles III). Real cedula...por la qual se prohibe general y absolutamente la introduccion en estos reynos, y señoríos, de gorros, guantes, calcetas, fajas, y otras manufacturas de lino, cañamo, lana, y algodon, redecillas de todos generos, hio de coser ordinario...y concede à los comerciantes en estos generos un año de termino para el despacho de los ya introducidos en estos reynos.... Madrid: Pedro Marin, 1778. Folio. [6] ff.
$300.00

Click the image for an enlargement.
Royal decree forbidding importation of caps, gloves, stockings, sashes, and other goods made of linen, wool, and cotton. A very nice woodcut of the royal arms on the title.
Disbound, with a bit of pinhole worming not affecting text; lightly laid into later wrappers. (24388)

We Are SERIOUS, Here!
Spain. Sovereigns, 1759–1788 (Charles III). Real cedula...por la qual, en consequencia de los que dispone la ley 62. titl. 18. lib. 6. de la Recopilacion, se manda cortar el abuso de la inobervancia que ha tenido hasta aqui, y que se guarde, y cumplay aora en la parte en que prohibe la introduccion en estos reynos de toda especie de vestidos, ropas interiores, y exteriores.... Madrid: Pedro Marin, 1779. Folio. [4] ff.
$315.00
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Sumptuary Standards Barcelona Edition
Spain. Sovereigns, 1788–1808 (Charles IV). Real cedula...por la cual se manda observar los dispuesto en las de trece de abril de mil setecientos noventa, y diez de agosto de mil ochocientos y dos, que tratan de la reforma de galones y adornos en las libreas.... Barcelona: Juan Francisco Piferrer, 1804. Folio. [4] ff.
$200.00
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Social Satire at Brighton: Illustrated by Leech
Surtees, Robert Smith. Plain or ringlets? London: [Whitefriars Press, 1888]. 8vo (22.6 cm, 8.9"). x, [4], 398 pp.; 12 col. plts., 8 plts.
$125.00
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Unopened copy, from a subscription edition, its title expressing the critical question before fair Miss Rosa as she considers the effects of her coiffure on her matrimonial options. The novel takes a mocking look at social life in provincial England and, although not as fixated on foxhunting as some of the author's other tales, offers much of interest relating to horses and hounds.
Surtees, a sporting writer and novelist whose keen-eyed chronicles of the golden age of foxhunting were thought to carry a whiff of the vulgar in their day — Allibone not deigning even to mention them — may still be appreciated for his “mordant observations on men, women, and manners; his entertaining array of eccentrics, rakes, and rogues; his skill in the construction of lively dialogue (a matter over which he took great pains); his happy genius for unforgettable and quotable phrases . . .” (DNB).
First published in 13 monthly parts in 1860, the machinations of Rosa and her mamma appear here “printed for subscribers from the plates of the Original Edition issued by Bradbury, Agnew & Co.” The volume is illustrated with
12 hand-colored, steel-engraved plates and 8 wood-engraved plates by famed caricaturist John Leech. The colored scenes, some involving
young ladies in elegant dress and some horses and hounds, are carefully and artistically tinted; the social scenes are more delicately shaded than the vivid hunting scenes. In addition to the color and black-and-white plates, numerous in-text wood-engravings decorate the text.
Binding: Publisher's crimson cloth, front cover with black- and gilt-stamped hound decorations and a gilt-stamped vignette of two flirting equestrians, spine with black and gilt Cupid vignette.
NCBEL, III, 968. On Surtees, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online. Binding as above, extremities slightly rubbed, spine much sunned but covers bright and fresh. Signatures unopened. A clean, unread copy, with lovely plates. (30470)
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“Is it Best to be Laughing-Mad, or Crying-Mad, in the World?”
Titmarsh, M.A. [pseud. of William Thackeray]. Mrs. Perkins's ball. [London]: Chapman & Hall (pr. by Vizetelly Brothers & Co.), [1847]. 4to (21.6 cm, 8.5"). [2], engr. t.-p., 46, [2] pp.; 1 fold. col. plt., 20 col. plts.
$400.00
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First edition, first issue of this Thackeray publication, intended as a
Christmas gift book. The wry satire on the attendees of a society ball commences when our humble narrator is strong-armed into taking the Mulligan of Ballymulligan — a bumptious Irishman — to an upper-crust dance featuring young maidens on matrimonial lookout, frivolous society men, old maids, members of the Foreign Office, illustrious literary rivals, those who polka and those who don't, plus a host of other characters captured in brief but telling detail. Each of the delightfully droll vignettes features an illustration
engraved after Thackeray's own design, along with a frontispiece, engraved title-page, and oversized folding plate, for a total of
22 hand-colored plates.
Van Duzer 140; NCBEL, III, 857. Publisher's printed pink paper–covered boards, in red cloth clamshell case with gilt-stamped publication information on spine; binding faded, rubbed, and dust-soiled though not “sad,” with case showing moderate shelfwear, spotting, and signs of handling. Inside cover of clamshell case with pencilled annotations regarding issue points; front free endpaper with 19th-century inked inscription of Mrs. James Tradut [?] and with another pencilled annotation on points in a different hand. Light foxing and occasional smudges to pages and plates; overall a very reasonable copy of this delightful first edition. (37999)
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