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EMBLEM BOOKS
Exploring One of those “Lesser Paths” of History
“One Hundred Illustrations”
(A “Cousin” to Emblem Books). Larwood, Jacob, & John Camden Hotten. The history of signboards, from the earliest times to the present day... sixth edition. London: John Camden Hotten, 1867. 8vo (18.8 cm, 7.4"). Col. frontis., x, 536 pp.; 19 plts.
Click the interior images for enlargement. 
emblems and their meanings (though this is not, of course, the classic “emblem book”). “One hundred illustrations in fac-simile” are attributed to Larwood on the title-page; the work features 19 plates, each depicting an assortment of house- and pub-signs, as well as a hand-colored frontispiece “Drawn by Experience . . . Engraved by Sorrow,” in which a cheerful gin-drinking lady rides her woebegone, care-laden husband.
Provenance: Title-page stamped by a private collector: “Thomas Witherell Palmer, Log Cabin Park” (Detroit).
• Contemporary half calf with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and ornate gilt-stamped decorations within compartments; binding with light to moderate rubbing overall, with spine leather starting to show some cracking. All edges stained red. 
Delightful reading and looking, and a delightful copy. (16913)
True Beauty Lies Within[Murray, Hannah, & Mary Murray]. The American toilet. New York City: Imbert's Lithographic Office, 1827. Square 12mo (11.7 cm, 4.625"). 20 ff.
Click the images for enlargements.Each lithographed vessel for a beauty productdisplays a witty moral maxim behind a moveable flap (a concept that the Murrays may have adapted from the original 1821 London edition of The Toilet), providing the book's manipulator with emblematic instruction on true beauty, so that “A Wash to Smooth Wrinkles” is revealed as Contentment; “A Universal Beautifier” as Good Humor; “A Solution to Prevent Eruptions” as Moderation; and “An Elastic Girdle” as Benevolence — well, that's a stretch!
Each virtue is further described by rhyming couplet or two at the bottom of the page.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
• Shaw & Shoemaker 29838 (2nd ed.); Rosenbach, Early American Children's Books, 683 (n.d., ca. 1825). In olive marbled wrappers; general rubbing, and small split to rear joint. Lacking one moveable flap (revealing Humility as “The Enchanting Mirror”); interior age-toned, foxing to endpapers, variable spots of staining to leaves, one corner turned in, hole to rear free endpaper. 
A modestly delightful example of a ladies' emblem book. (39687)
An Italian's
EMBLEMS in French with Engravings by a DutchmanRipa, Cesare. Iconologie, ou La science des emblemes, devises &c. Qui apprend à les expliquer, dessiner et inventer. Ouvrage tres utile aux orateurs, poëtes, peintres, sculpteurs, graveurs, & generalement à toutes sortes de curieux des beaux arts et des sciences. A Amsterdam: Chez Adrian Braakman, 1698. Small 8vo. 2 vols. I: Engr. title-page, [8] ff., 264 pp., 29 plates. II: Engr. title-page, [1] f., pp. 265–550; 51 plates, [6 (ads)] ff.
Click the images for enlargements. 80 leaves of engravings contain six emblems each and are restrikes/reengravings of those created by the Dutch painter and engraver Jacob de Bie for the first French edition.
A delightful little duo. (34958)
The Envious DOG & the Ermine [Wynne, John Huddlestone]. Tales for youth; in thirty poems: To which are annexed, historical remarks and moral applications in prose. London: Printed by J. Crowder for E. Newbery, 1794. 8vo (17 cm, 6.75"). x (i.e., viii), 158, [2] pp.; 1 plt., illus.
Click the images for enlargements.the 30 half-page rectangular wood-engraved headpieces are by John Bewick.
Provenance: Early 20th-century bookplate of James Rolt; most recently in the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
• ESTC T3347; Roscoe, John Newberry and His Successors, J391 (1); Hugo, Bewick Collector, 72 & 4072; Osborne Collection, p. 88. Late 19th- or early 20th-century half tan calf with marbled paper sides; binding lightly rubbed. Bookplate and label as above; front fly-leaf with “No. 72 Hugo's Collector” inked in an early hand, accompanied by pencilled annotation re. Bewick. Small inkstain on title-page and one other, light soiling to text and foxing; leaf of advertisements soiled. Overall a good++ copy and well worthwhile. (38917)
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