
EMBLEM BOOKS
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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.
$200.00
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Sixth edition (following its initial appearance in the previous year) of this engaging account, full of anecdotes, historical digressions, and literary quotations, as well as attempted analysis of
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.
[SOLD]
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This variant of The Young Lady's Toilet in its second edition, inspired by the original handmade books by Hannah and Mary Murray of New York, two young ladies who cut out pictures from periodicals and pasted them onto blank leaves, adding their own captions.
Each lithographed vessel for a beauty product
displays 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 Dutchman
Ripa, 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.
$950.00
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Ripa's Iconologia first appeared in 1593 in Italian, published at Rome and although unillustrated was an instant success with several subsequent editions and translations into German, Dutch, English, and French. The French is the work of Jean Baudoin (1590?–1650) and it first appeared in 1636. The
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.
This later French reissue proudly proclaims on the black and red title-pages that it is, “Enrichie & augmentée dun grandnombre de figures avec des moralités, tirées la pluspart de Cesar Ripa. Par J.B.”
Querard, 2/3, 324; Vinet 114; Brunet, Supplement, 485; Landwehr 687; Adams, Rawles, & Saunders, Bibliography of French Emblem Books, F510. Contemporary sprinkled calf, gilt spine extra, rubbed at corners and two spine tips; age-toned and otherwise the occasional spot or instance of light foxing only.
A delightful little duo. (34958)

The Envious DOG & the Ermine
(Thirty Poems Thirty-ONE Engravings)
[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.
$600.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Verse and prose on conduct of life — explained via emblems and fables — fill this volume of Christian literature for children. The copper-engraved frontispiece is by Thomas Cook and
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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