
AMERICAN GIFT BOOKS
[ PLUS THEIR ENGLISH OR EUROPEAN “GUESTS” ]
[
]
Taking the Fad TOO Far?
(A Gift-Book “Token”)! Harsha, D.A. The Heavenly token a gift book for Christians. New York: H. Dayton; Indianapolis: Asher & Co., 1859. 12mo (18.6 cm; 7.625"). Engr. frontis., 491 pp.
$125.00
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Religious “gift book” in name only, here reissued from the 1856 edition, with an engraved frontispiece of a throne under a rainbow overlooking people praying on earth by S.A. Schoff after Hammatt Billings. Tepper aptly notes about a similar edition that “it is 500 pages of exhaustive sermonizing on the love of Christ. . . . this is an interesting example of the lengths publishers would go to in
riding the coattails of the gift book fad.”
Binding: Blue publisher's cloth, spine stamped in gilt with fancified title and partly arabesque design, covers decoratively framed in blind.
Not in Faxon, nor Thompson, American Literary Annuals & Gift Books; for another year, see Tepper, American Gift Books & Literary Annuals. (Second edition), p. 100. Bound as above, recently well rebacked with original spine laid on and new endpapers, gently rubbed, small sticker on spine. Light age-toning and foxing (especially around the frontispiece as usual), with occasional other spotting or staining (some perhaps in press); a sound copy representing
an interesting phenomenon in marketing. (37262)

Hand-Colored
Floral Frontispiece
Goodrich, Samuel G., ed. The token, or affection's gift,
a Christmas and New-Year's present. Hartford: S. Andrus & Son, [ca. 1846]. 12mo. Frontis., 312 pp.; 4 plts.
$112.50
Reprint of the 1838 “Token” gift book, with different plates and a hand-colored floral frontispiece offering pink roses. One of the four uncolored plates is of a “Young American in the Alps,” by Healey and engraved by Cushman; another and this cataloguer's favorite, “Sun Set on the Hudson,” is by Weir, engraved by J.A. Ralph.
Binding: Publisher's red cloth, covers and spine gilt-stamped with avian and foliate designs; all edges gilt.
Faxon 786. Spine and edges moderately rubbed with front hinge cracked; spots of staining to bottom part of front cover. Front free endpaper with good portion torn away, back free endpaper lacking; waterstaining in varying degrees to lower outer corners after p. 120 and some soiling. One signature extruded and others heading for that; one plate shaved very very close to image at top but image itself not quite touched! Not a fresh copy, still, an interesting one. (12944)

EVERYTHING You Need to Know about the Nobility, &
Other Tuscan Matters
[Italian Almanac]. Almanacco Toscano 1846. Firenze: Stamperia Granducale, [1846]. 12mo (14.6 cm, 5.75"). Engr. t.-p., 689, [1] pp.; 6 plts.
[SOLD]
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Tuscan almanac for 1846, in a lovely contemporary binding. The information provided herein includes lists of international sovereign monarchs and their immediate families, the members of Leopold's court and Maria Antonia's chamber, the state advisors and ministers, consuls, military officers, customs officials, university and hospital staff, etc., along with mail delivery schedules and other useful items. In addition to the engraved title-page bearing a scenic vignette of Florence, the volume is illustrated with two portraits marked “A” and “L” (presumably Grand Duchess Maria Antonia Anna and Grand Duke Leopold II of Tuscany), and four views of notable Florentine buildings.
Binding: Publisher's green textured leather, each cover framed in gilt with a central gilt-stamped medallion, spine gilt extra. All edges gilt.
Binding as above, joints and extremities moderately rubbed and spine a bit darkened/dimmed; in contemporary marbled paper–covered slipcase, case rubbed and abraded with joints starting. Original silk bookmark still attached and present; a touch of light foxing, otherwise clean.
A handsome and handy reference for an upscale Italian. (12999)

Pleasant Thoughts on
Congenial Spirits
The Philipena, or friendship's token: A present for all seasons. Boston: G.W. Cottrell & Co.; New York: T.W. Strong, [1848]. 16mo. Col. frontis., 126 pp.
$75.00
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Petite, pretty gift book: stories and poems dedicated to the happy rewards of virtuous domestic life. The volume opens with an
illuminated color-printed frontispiece; present here are “Social Life, or the Plains of Matrimony,” “The Heart That's True,” “Marrying for Money,” “A Good Daughter,” “Worth and Wealth,” “Congenial Spirits,” etc.
Binding: Publisher's brown cloth, covers framed in blind, front cover with gilt-stamped urn of flowers, back cover with same design in blind. All edges gilt.
Faxon 655. Bound as above, corners bumped/rubbed and base of rear joint and spine a little rubbed; gilt bright. Endpapers with early pencilled inscriptions, frontispiece with adhesion of a sliver of paper from title-page along inner margin, title-page with brown spot in lower margin offset onto lower edge of frontispiece. Sewing loosening with some early and final leaves starting to separate, title-page all but separated. Pages generally clean, with a few scattered spots; one upper margin with pencilled inscription mostly erased. A read and cherished copy, still sweetly sentimental and interesting to look at. (30368)

An American, “Filadelphia” Ladies' Gift Book for a
Trans-American Elite Audience
Presente a las damas. Filadelphia: Carey, Lea, & Carey, 1829. 8vo (19.3 cm, 7.55"). Engr. presentation f., [4] pp., 32 ff.; 32 plts.
[SOLD]
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First edition of this unusual and intriguing gift book for the then-emerging foreign market in newly independent Spanish America: a Philadelphia-printed collection of
32 single-page poems in Spanish, each accompanied by a steel-engraved plate. These are very Anglo-American pieces, despite their linguistic guise; present here are odes to the Schuylkill, Trenton Falls, and the Delaware Water Gap (with attractive and appropriate illustrations engraved after Doughty, Wall, and others), although Hampton Court and other, more exotic locales are also featured.
At least one of these poems appears to be an uncredited, partial excerpt from José María Heredia; some of the other content seems to have come from Carey, Lea, & Carey's Atlantic Souvenir of 1827 and 1828 and Carey's 1828 El Aguinaldo para el año de 1829 — a landmark production with which the nature of Spanish-language printing in the U.S., and especially in Philadelphia, changed dramatically, as to an ordinary output of political tracts and textbooks were added
luxury Spanish-language objects of artistic and literary merit designed for marketing to a trans-American elite. Carey printed four such gift books: this Presente a las damas in 1829 and three “Alguinaldos,” for 1829, 1830, and 1831. All were meant for ladies and to be presented to them by gentleman and lady friends.
Binding: Publisher's dark green morocco, covers embossed with arabesque designs surrounding a central gilt-stamped floral medallion, spine gilt extra. All edges gilt.
Provenance: Given to Doa Caroline [sic] Tagl[e] by her husband (as per presentation page).
WorldCat locates only seven U.S. institutional holdings (DLC, ICN, MWA, NSyU, NN, PU, PPL).
Shoemaker 40147; Palau 236614. Central block similar to Wolf, From Gothic Windows to Peacocks, 7, here with addition of medallion. This edition not in Faxon, nor Thomson, nor Tepper; see Faxon 59 for further information. Bound as above, variably sunned and with edges rubbed; pulled at top and foot of spine with gilt still bright. Interior age-toned with staining/spotting/foxing throughout, never dark but ubiquitous.
An uncommon volume representing one of the vanishingly few foreign-language annuals printed by an American publisher and an often unnoticed phenomenon. (38391)

“Moral Observations & Instructions” in a
Pretty Little Package
Sacred gift of devout & useful sayings. Boston: G. W. Cottrell, copyright 1851. Miniature (8 cm; 3.125"). 96 pp.
[SOLD]
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One of two editions published in 1851 of this miniature collection of Christian thoughts, “principally intended for the benefit of private families . . . and for those who are not well able to purchase larger treatises.” The volume was stereotyped by Hobart & Robbins of Boston, as was the other edition.
Binding: Publisher's brown cloth, front cover and spine elegantly gilt-stamped with foliate motifs, back cover blind-stamped. All edges gilt.
Faxon 738; Bradbury, Miniature Books; p. 165, no. 12; Welsh, Bibliography of Miniature Books, 6097 (for the other edition). Bound as above, slightly rubbed; small abrasion with loss of cloth on front cover. Interior clean.
A treasurable “Gift.” (37239)

Early in the
FIRST English Annual Series — This Copy in Its Box
Shoberl, Frederic, ed. Forget me not;
A Christmas and New Year's present for 1828. London: R. Ackermann, [1828]. 12mo (14.4 cm, 5.75"). Engr. presentation leaf, engr. frontis., x, 418, 4 (advertisements) pp.; 14 plts. including presentation leaf and frontis.
$350.00
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An exemplar of an early and important English gift book series, one Faxon describes as “The first attempt to rival the numerous and elegant publications of the continent,”
in only its sixth annual appearance. This volume includes pieces by Mary Russell Mitford, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, and Felicia Hemans, among others. It is illustrated with a total of
14 engraved plates, including the beautiful embossed presentation leaf here in unused state. Several engravers, including E. Finden, S. Davenport, and A.W. Warren, modeled their work after various artists.
Binding: Publisher's glazed green paper–covered boards, pictorially printed in black, all edges gilt. Housed in publisher's cardboard slipcase with green glazed paper sides pictorially printed in black.
Owner's modification: The word “Pax” is neatly printed in black ink on the book's back cover, gently arced above the engraving; and “Roosevelt” has been similarly added to the back of the slipcase, with “Post Lux Tenebras” being artfully placed below the engraving.
Faxon 1303. Binding as above, back inside cover with brown silk pull-tab intact, joints very skillfully refurbished with long fiber and then toned; extremities gently rubbed. Front free endpaper pencilled with old bookseller annotations. Pages and plates generally clean with very occasional light foxing; guard leaves with predictable offsetting. Case somewhat rubbed with extremities chipped at corners but completely sound and with the described embellishments.
A lovely little gift book, with the original (and early for its kind) slipcase. (36042)

Up & Down
Pocklington Gardens Street
Hand-Colored Plates — Zaehnsdorf Binding
Thackeray, William Makepeace. Our street. London: Chapman & Hall, 1848. 8vo (18.7 cm, 7.4"). 54, [2 (adv.)] pp.; 16 plts.
$750.00
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First edition, illustrated with 16 hand-colored plates: Thackeray's second Christmas book, published under the pseudonym “Mr. M.A. Titmarsh,” is a collection of trenchant observations on the follies of his neighbors, upper crust and lower class alike. The illustrations were engraved by Henry Vizetelly after Thackeray's drawings.
Binding: Oxblood morocco with covers simply framed in gilt double fillets, spine with gilt-stamped title and gilt-ruled compartments; board edges with double-rule fillet. Wide turn-ins with gilt roll, double-fillets, and dentelle roll; silk pastedowns and free endpapers. All edges gilt. Original wrappers bound in; binding
signed by Zaehnsdorf.
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)

Prize Copy — Handsome Binding — A Victorian Treasury of Song
Thornbury, Walter, ed. Two centuries of song: Or, lyrics, madrigals, sonnets, and other occasional verses of the English poets of the last two hundred years. London: Sampson, Low, Son, & Marston, 1867. 8vo in 4s (23.7 cm, 9.3"). xii, 307, [1] pp.; 19 plts.
$275.00
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First edition of this gift book: a “carefully-culled and pleasantly-contrasted nosegay” of vers de société, or “poems written for refined circles of educated people,” with brief notes about the poets' lives and personalities. McLean notes that this volume's production was supervised by Joseph Cundall, calls it “an unusual [example] of mid-Victorian commercial book design,” and describes the letterpress machining (done by Richard Clay) as “superb.” Henry Shaw designed the color-printed borders for the text pages, as well as the engraved half-title and various other decorations for the book, which also features
19 engraved plates done by Orrin Smith, H. Harral, W.J. Linton, W.J. Palmer, and W. Thomas after designs by William Paton Burton, George Bouverie Goddard, Edmund Warren, Edmund Morison Wimperis,and Joseph Wolf (the acclaimed wildlife artist, here represented by a nice scene of a stork winging away from a fox on the prowl).
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)

“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)
For HUMOR, click here.

The Title Says It All
Various Hands. A paradise of daintie devices. A collection of poems, songs, ballads. New York: Imprinted [by the Press of Francis Hart & Co.] for Charles Pratt & Co., Christmas, 1882. 8vo (20.6 cm; 8.125"). [6], 9–97, [7] pp.
$125.00
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Promotional gift book created by Charles Pratt & Co. for “patrons of ours already, or shall become such hereafter” to celebrate the Christmas season (p. [5]). The text contains a variety of poems and songs — some about Christmas, some not — from Longfellow, Robert Burns, Edmund Clarence Stedman, Keats, and more. A surprising number of poems discuss death, and one from the Cottonian MS. beseeches women not to be “wilful wives.”
Following the poetry section there is a series of advertisements for products such as Pratt's Astral Oil and double-deodorized benzine. This is an interesting, attractive little relic of an era when manufacturers of such humble products sought surprisingly often to associate themselves with Much Higher Things — often going to real trouble and expense to do so!
Beige printed wrappers with “1888" written on the front cover in ink and a small pink stain at top edge; light age-toning. (36736)



ON AMERICAN GIFT BOOKS
A Useful & Attractive Paperback
Tepper, Michael. American gift books & literary annuals: An annotated catalog. [Easton, MD: Michael Tepper], copyright 2016. 8vo (25 cm; 9.5"). 215 pp., illus. (some color).
$35.00
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The second edition (first was 2015) of a very good catalogue of this genre of 19th-century books, chiefly based on the author's large private collection: “This is a catalog of a large, privately held collection” (back cover). “The second edition contains additions and corrections and adds over 100 titles to the collection” (p. 15).
We've added a copy to our permanent reference library here at PRB&M: This includes collations and useful commentary.
Paperback with full color illustrations.
A very good reference work. (36706)
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