
BIBLIO-GIFTABLES
A-B C-D E-G H I-L M-N O-R
S T-Z
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Laugh a Little — Cringe a Little — Carrington Curiosa
Cabanès, Augustin. The secret cabinet of history peeped into by a doctor. Paris: Charles Carrington, 1897. 8vo. x pp., [2[ ff., 3–239, vii, [1 (blank) pp., [4 (ads)] ff.
$100.00
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W.C. Costello's translation of Cabanès' Cabinet secret de l'histoire (première série), the sole edition in English and an interesting, if at times gruesome, complication of medical anecdotes, medical humor, celebrity lore, and titillation.
Cabanès (1862–1928) was a medical doctor, historian, and successful writer of a goodly number of works of fiction and history, with a subspecialty of historical medical mysteries. Carrington was a leading British publisher (“abroad”) of late-Victorian and Edwardian pornography/erotica for “bibliophiles,” much of it flagellatory; there have been significant essays on him and his works, but
Wikipedia provides one irresistible sentence: “Carrington went blind as a result of syphilis and the last few years of his life were spent in poverty as his mistress stole his valuable collection of rare books.”
The chapters in this publication are: A youthful indiscretion of Louis XIV, The fistula of a great king, The maladies of Louis XV, The semi-impotency of Louis XVI, The first pregnancy of Marie-Antoinette, Louis XVI in private life, One of the judges of Marie-Antoinette: the surgeon Souberbielle, What was Marat's disease, Talleyrand and the doctors, The accouchement of the empress Marie-Louise, The ancestors of Marshal Mac-Mahon, and Gambetta's eye.
Nicely printed, with title-page in black and red and text block issued untrimmed, this is a copy of the trade edition: There was a deluxe issue on Japan vellum limited to 30 copies.
Provenance: “Virginia Pritchard Hilton-Green, my father's book.”
Publisher's blue cloth stamped in blind. Minor rubbing; small tear at base of front joint (outside). Inside clean. (35372)
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A Musical Novel of Iceland — In a Signed, Themed Binding
Caine, Hall. The prodigal son. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1904. 8vo (19.3 cm, 7.59"). [8], 408 pp.
$55.00
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First American edition: A popular novel that kicks off with two brothers falling in love with the same girl. The story — the basis for both a play and a movie — is set largely in Iceland, featuring much description of that country as well as some of the musical world of the titular figure, a composer led astray by a beautiful singer. The
Viking-inspired binding is signed “AR” — Amy Richards.Binding: Publisher's brown cloth, front cover and spine pictorially stamped in red and gilt, signed as above.
Bound as above; corners and spine extremities with minor rubbing, front cover with unobtrusive small, faint area of discoloration. Front free endpaper with inked inscription of Walter White, dated 1905. Pages clean; last few leaves opened somewhat roughly, with short edge tears.
A handsome book and a tear-jerker of a story. (41337)
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Renaissance Classics with
Commentary from Two Modern Masters
Campion, Thomas. Selected songs of Thomas Campion. Boston: David Godine, 1973. Folio. 161, [1] pp.; illus.
$85.00
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Verses selected and prefaced by W.H. Auden, and introduced by John Hollander. Many of the texts are accompanied by music, with some photographic reproductions of songs from the
Bookes of Ayres. The book was printed at the Stamperia Valdonega in Verona, Italy, with calligraphy by Edith McKeon Abbott and engraving by Leo Wyatt; this is the trade edition rather than the deluxe printing of the same year.
Publisher's red cloth, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped title, in original dust jacket; jacket lightly dust-soiled, price-clipped. A beautiful clean copy of a beautifully done book. (24833)
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Enjoyable, Essential, & UPDATED!
Carter, John; & Nicolas Barker & Simran Thadani. ABC for book collectors. Ninth edition. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2016. 8vo. 264 pp.
$30.00
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Are you a novice reader of rare book cataloguing who is just beginning to realize that there might be a difference between a “joint” and a “hinge”? Would you rather be asked for the proof of “E=MC2” than for the meaning of “ *6a-z6A-R6S2**6)(6)()(4T6V-X4 ”? Or are you on the other hand a connoisseur of the bibliographer's terms of art who savors the very sound and cadence as well as the exact and enticing images that the words and sentences raise in a description like the following: “18th-century olive morocco; round gilt spines extra without bands; gilt triple-line fillet frames on covers with gilt corner devices; single gilt rule on board edges; gilt inner dentelles. Dutch-style printed endpapers with gilt and green stars and dots on a white field. All edges gilt; all pages ruled in red in the 17th-century style”?
AT ONCE a great basic resource and a rewarding volume for browsing or bibliophilic pleasure-reading, this classic work by John Carter contains over 490 alphabetical entries offering definitions and analysis of technical terms as well as the jargon of book collecting and bibliography with ample
examples now including illustrations and much enhanced coverage of the implications of the internet. Carter's ABC, first printed in 1952, was last revised, expanded, and given a new introduction by Nicolas Barker, his friend and the respected editor of The Book Collector, in 2004. This new, 9th edition co-revised by Barker and Simran Thadani is
a book that no purchasing collector or cataloguer should think of as a frivolous expense, and a book that as a gift to a collector or cataloguer cannot fail to please.
Complete with printed dust-jacket; new. (39930)
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One Classic Nonfiction
BIBLIO-Who-Dunnit
Carter, John, & Pollard, Graham. An enquiry in the nature of certain nineteenth century pamphlets. London: Constable & Co.; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1934. 8vo. xii, 400 pp., plts.
$250.00
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The first edition of the book that destroyed Thomas Wise, England's doyen of bibliographers and biblio-forgers. “This book is a fully documented exposure of a group of more than fifty 'first editions' of such eminent authors as Wordsworth, Tennyson, Dickens, Thackeray, the Brownings, Swinburne, George Eliot, William Morris, R. L. Stevenson, and Rudyard Kipling. . . . The exposure of the real character of these books introduces scientific methods which have never before been applied to bibliographical problems of this period.”
Fine copy in a very good dust jacket, jacket with minor chipping to lower area of spine, one long split at spine repaired on verso, and lower corner of ifront flap cut off; volume very clean and nice, top edge gilt. In a green cloth chemise with red leather author, title, and date labels on the spine, in an open-back slipcase. (33426)
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Armistice Day
Remembered by . . .
Smacking the Wehrmacht AGAIN
Cary, Melbert Brinckerhoff. Willi's wishful thinking issued in commemoration of Armistice Day ... New York: Press of the Woolly Whale, 1938 (copyright 1939). 8vo (15.5 cm, 6.2"). 34 pp.; illus.
$37.50
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Reproductions of German and Austrian
postcards from 1914, with English translations of the German texts; all cards, in one way or another (and ridiculously in the upshot) show the German Army triumphant.The colophon says only that “a few copies of this book” were printed; the back pastedown here bears a very small inked numeral 44, which may indicate this copy's number.
Publisher's red cloth, without the original glassine dust wrapper and with darkening around the bottom and fore-edge of front cover; page edges and endpapers also affected (especially the back one). Not pristine but nice. (17863)
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A Thoughtfully Cautious Gift
Cavendish, George; Samuel Weller Singer, ed. The life of Cardinal Wolsey ... Metrical visions, from the original autograph manuscript. Chiswick: C. Whittingham, 1825. 8vo (23.2 cm, 9.125"). 2 vols. I: [5], x–xxvii, [5], 344 pp. (lacking half-title); 6 plts. II: lxxii, 304 pp.; 3 plts.
$125.00
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Chiswick Press edition of what some consider to be the first major English biography along with Cavendish's verse tragedies, here with supplementary material including illustrative letters and documents; a dissertation on the true author of the Life by Reverend Joseph Hunter; and “Extracts from the life of . . . Queen Anne Boleigne, by George Wyatt” with a series of letters about her. Elizabethan scholar Singer (1783–1858), who edited these texts, also owned a bookshop, wrote a history of playing cards, and served as the librarian to the Royal Institution in Albemarle Street. The volume is illustrated with
nine plates of portraits, facsimiles, and scenes from the cardinal's life.
Evidence of Readership: A past reader has added several lengthy marginal notes as well as a few smaller ones in pencil in both volumes, usually in relation to
women mentioned in the text.
Provenance: An armorial bookplate of Samuel Edward Herrick with the motto “virtus omnia nobilitat” appears on the front pastedown of both volumes with the inked note “Gift of Jno. M. Fiske Xmas 1892" at the bottom (Fiske and the Rev. Herrick were both members of the City Missionary Society of Boston); a one-page letter from Fiske to a Mr. Doer written on Boston Custom House Stationary and tipped into the first volume notes, if he already owns the set, “I have the assurance of friend Bartlett of Hornhill that he will exchange it for something not already on your shelves.” Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
NSTC 2C12319. On Cavendish & Singer, see: DNB (online). Half red roan in imitation of morocco and Papier Tourniquet paper–covered boards, spines lettered and compartments stamped in gilt, overprinted marbled endpapers, top edges gilt, others uncut; gently rubbed, hinges (inside) starting to crack. Light age-toning with the very occasional stain, light foxing or offsetting around plates. Provenance and readership indicia as above, some pencilled notes very faint. A nice edition of an influential work. (39444)
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“Beautifully Embellished with Superior Engravings,
for the Mind & Eye”
The child's own Sunday book ; or Sabbath-day lessons for little children. New Haven: S. Babcock, [1840?]. (11.2 cm, 4.375"). 16 pp.; illus.
$55.00
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Illustrated Sunday school book with
fourteen in-text wood engravings, including the Last Supper and the Crucifixion. Stories include “The World Drowned,” “History of Joseph,” “Birth of Jesus Christ,” and “Death of Our Savior.” Biblical content between lessons is quickly summarized to lead children to the next story, such as this sentence bridging the gap between Jesus' birth and story of his death: “When Jesus Christ was grown to manhood, he began to do a great deal of good in the world.” (p. 13).
This copy is undated and has no illustrations on p. [2] and [3] of the wrappers, unlike other the copies dated 1840 cataloged in WorldCat. Page [4] of the wrappers has this advertisement: “Babcock's moral, instructive, and entertaining toy books.”advertisement, p, [4] of wrapper.
Publisher's printed yellow paper wrappers (other copies known in green and blue); sewn with straight pin still present behind threads, gently worn and separating at spine. Two markings from a rusted paperclip on front wrapper and title-page, light bookseller pencilling on back wrapper; light age-toning. (36536)
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Makes the Weak Strong Peculiar to Itself
C.I. Hood & Co. Hood's pansy. Lowell, MA: C.I. Hood & Co., [ca. 1890]. 16mo (10.5 cm, 4.2"). [16] pp.; illus.
$95.00
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Shape book in the form of pansies gold and purple: A promotion of Hood's Sarsaparilla, following one page dedicated to tips on growing pansies. The sales spiel is illustrated with
steel-engraved views and vignettes printed in dark blue and dark green. A tipped-in slip advertises B.F. Taylor's general merchandise store in Wheelock, VT.
Publisher's half-tone color-printed paper wrappers as above, with a river scene glowing in the “eye” of one of the pansies; spine rubbed, one tiny spot of staining or fading near front upper edge. Pages gently age-toned.
A patent medicine give-away not, originally, meant to be much less ephemeral than the little flower it celebrates. (36568)
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A Peterborough-Based 19th-Century Writer's Pithy Sayings
Clare, John. Aphorisms of John Clare. Market Drayton [England]: Tern Press, 2002. 8vo (25 cm, 10"). 117, [1] pp., [1] f.; illus.
$475.00
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Clare (1793–1864), a Peterborough-based writer, is remembered for “expressing his thoughts in succinct and memorable states and idiomatic phrases” (p. [5]). David Powell has compiled a large number of these, which he classifies as aphorisms, and Nicholas and Mary Parry have printed them at their Tern Press in an edition of
only 75 copies. The text is set in Caslon by Brian Russell: Clare's words in italic and the source of the italicized text in smaller roman.
Nicholas Parry has supplied line illustrations. The colophon is signed by Nicholas & Mary Parry. This is copy 5.
Sole edition.
Binding: Publisher's white linen with blue leaf and flower vine pattern; paper title-label on front board.
WorldCat locates only eight libraries worldwide reporting ownership (Universities of Delaware, Iowa, Missouri, and North Carolina; Vanderbilt, Indiana, and Texas Tech Universities; and Swarthmore College).
Bound as above, very elegantly; volume clean, virtually
pristine. (40439)
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Capturing an Age
One Biography at a Time
[Clarke]. The Georgian era: Memoirs of the most eminent persons, who have flourished in Great Britain, from the accession of George the First to the demise of George the Fourth. London: Vizetelly, Branston, & Co., 1832–34. 8vo (19.5 cm, 7.65"). 4 vols. I: Frontis., 582 pp.; 12 plts. II: Frontis., [2], 588 pp. III: Frontis., [2], 588 pp. IV: Frontis., 588 pp.
$450.00
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First edition: Concise yet entertainingly anecdote-laden biographies recounting the accomplishments and characters (foibles and all) of the most prominent figures of the age: nobles, churchmen, politicians, dissenters, military and naval officers, jurists, physicians, voyagers and travelers, scientists, writers, economists, architects, artists and musicians, etc. All the expectable princesses, duchesses, and countesses are present, along with a handful of women represented in other categories — the preponderance falling under the “Vocal Performers” and “Actors” headings.
The first volume is illustrated with
12 plates each offering four rows of small portraits, some intriguingly expressive; each volume opens with an engraved frontispiece portrait of a royal George.
NSTC 2C23867. Recent textured maroon cloth, spines with gilt-stamped black leather title and volume labels; title-pages institutionally pressure- (not rubber-) stamped. Scattered light spots of staining, pages generally clean; first few leaves of voI. \ II with outer margins chipped.
A hefty, substantive evocation of Georgian life and times. (30012)
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King Alfred & “Trial by Jury”
Celebrated to Boot
(Coke, Edward). Engraving of Edward Coke. London: T. Cadell, 1792.
$75.00
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Satire of Pennsylvania Politics at the
Start of the French & Indian War
(Colonial American Satire). A fragment of the chronicles of Nathan Ben Saddi. Printed in Philadelphia by James Chattin, 1758. Philadelphia: The Philobiblon Club, 1904. 4to (27 cm; 10.5"). [1] f., 18 pp., [1] f., xv plates (facsimiles) in color.
$100.00
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A facsimile of this Colonial American “fragment” is printed here with a good introductory essay by Samuel W. Pennypacker (a governor of Pennsylvania and a major bookcollector), with the title-page of the 1758 original reading: A fragment of the chronicles of Nathan ben Saddi; a rabbi of the Jews. Lately discovered in the ruins of Herculaneum: and translated from the original, into the Italian language. By the command of the king of the Two-Sicilies. And now first publish'd in English. Constantinople, Printed, in the year of the vulgar aera, 5707. The work is, in fact, a satire by a member of the Proprietary party in Pennsylvania, dealing with the political controversies of the province during the early years of the French and Indian war and the personalities involved. It takes the form of a mock-Biblical account of the arrest of William Smith for allowing a translation of an article from Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette to be published in the German newspaper under his control. A key to the pseudonyms is provided by the great Pennsylvania bibliographer Charles Hildeburn, in his hand on two blank pages of the original 1758 printed book.
“Of this book one hundred and fifty copies are printed on hand-made paper.” The title-page is printed in red and black.
The 15 plates offer a fine facsimile of the 1758 rarity, presented with good margins on that good paper.
Nearly New. Bound in brown paper boards, printed in black. In a protective box that is lightly chipped and with a spot or two of fading/discoloration; book in fine condition. (35756)
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“I've Been Singing His L E G”
[drop-title] Cork leg songster. Newcastle-on-Tyne: William R. Walker, [ca. 1860?]. 12mo (16.8 cm, 6.6"). 24 pp.
$75.00
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Uncommon chapbook of popular songs, featuring a curious title-page woodcut illustrating the conclusion of the first piece, “The Cork Leg”: a gamboling skeleton roams the
countryside on
one bony leg and one cork prosthesis. The contents include “A Kiss and
Nothing More,” “Ellen Aureen,” “The Exile of Erin,” “Meet Me in the Willow Glen,” “Rich and
Poor,” “The Star of Glengarry,” and “The Trial of Willy Reily,” among others.
This inexpensively printed pamphlet has two pages of text reversed, with a large portion of “The Exciseman Outwitted” incongruously replacing the second verse of “The Daughter of Israel”: “I weep, land of Judah, for thee. [/] Your hogs to a fine market you've brought . . .”
This ephemeral songster is seldom seen outside of the U.K. WorldCat finds
no U.S. institutional holdings of any imprint.
NSTC 2C37950. Removed from a nonce volume; title-page all but separated. First leaf with outer margin creased. Pages slightly age-toned. An interesting and uncommonly encountered item, incidentally presenting
a fine example of “things that can go wrong in the printshop.” (37242)
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“Then On to Meet Gaspar Maillol”
Craig, Edward Gordon. Gordon Craig's Paris diary, 1932–1933. North Hills, PA: Bird & Bull Press, 1982. Small 4to (22 cm; 8.625"). 154 pp., [1 (colophon)] f., col. facsims.
[SOLD]
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As the on-line Britannica succinctly summarizes him, Craig (1872–1966) was an “actor, theatre director–designer, producer, and theorist who influenced the development of the theatre in the 20th century.” He was also the son of actress Ellen Terry.
First printing. The diary has been reduced in length by about one-third for publication and edited by Colin Franklin. It covers a low point in Craig's life, but is detailed and tells of his friends Beerbohm, Isadora Duncan, Lovat Fraser, and others; the more offensive anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi comments were omitted.
“Three hundred fifty copies of this book have been printed at the Bird & Bull Press in March 1982. The text is composed in Baskerville types by Mackenzie-Harris Corp., printed on mouldmade Bugrabutten paper and bound by Gray Parrot. This is copy No. 149.”
FYI: Original publication price was $160.
And it's still a lovely book.
Heaney, Thirty years of Bird & Bull, A34. Publisher's quarter tan goat with tan and white paper sides. Clean and fresh. (36133)
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Well, no . . . This Wouldn't Be for Everybody . . .
(Crane, Hart). Schwartz, Joseph. Hart Crane: An annotated critical bibliography. New York: David Lewis, 1970. 8vo. xi, 276 pp.
$27.50
A detailed and valuative bibliography of writings about Crane. Intended for the extreme Crane enthusiast and Crane scholars. Very good copy in dust jacket; dust jacket lightly foxing. (1730)

“Just 25 Yards of Sail to
Carry TWO People Across the ATLANTIC OCEAN!”
Crapo, Thomas. Strange, but true. Life and adventures of Captain Thomas Crapo
and wife. New Bedford: [self-published] Capt. Thomas Crapo, 1893 [but, really, 1899 or later]. 8vo (20 cm, 7.9"). 151, [1] pp.; illus.
$60.00
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A
whaler's account of his life and times, culminating with the voyage he and his wife made from New Bedford, MA, to Penzance, England. Joanna Crapo was the first woman to cross the Atlantic in a dory boat, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. This is an early reissue of the first edition, with a postscript written by Mrs. Crapo sometime after the captain's death in 1899.
Forster 32; Toy 156. Publisher's brown cloth, covers stamped in blind, spine with gilt-stamped title; edges and extremities slightly rubbed, spine with small spots of discoloration. Pages faintly age-toned, otherwise clean; a nice copy. (33301)
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Years & Years' Worth of
Self-Sacrifice — On Both the Man's & the Woman's Part
Crawford, F. Marion. A rose of yesterday. New York & London: Macmillan & Co., 1897. 8vo (19.7 cm, 7.75"). [4], 218, [10 (adv.)] pp.
$75.00
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A seemingly impossible romance between two mature individuals, one unhappily married; Crawford, a prolific and best-selling author, includes
extended meditations on divorce and on women's rights, with the latter focusing on the perceived undesirability of trading the right to vote for the privilege of being supported by a man. This is an early reissue, marked “tenth thousand,” of the first edition of the same year.
Binding: Publisher's terra-cotta cloth, front cover stamped with gilt rose and ribbon design, spine with similar motifs; front cover
signed “G.W.E.” — George Wharton Edwards.
BAL 4200. Binding as above, gently faded overall, slightly cocked, edges and extremities rubbed. Top edge gilt. Front free endpaper with early inked ownership inscription. A few scattered faint spots, pages overall clean. (35835)
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Cinematically Torn Between a Soldier & the Church
Crawford, F. Marion. The white sister. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1917. 8vo (19.1 cm, 7.51"). [6], 335, [11 (adv.)] pp.; 4 plts.
[SOLD]
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Photoplay edition of this popular novel — the basis for four different movie adaptations from 1915 to 1960 — about a young Italian noblewoman who, robbed of her inheritance and believing her soldier lover dead, takes vows as a nun before discovering the truth. The text is illustrated with black and white plates from the
Inspiration Pictures film directed by Henry King, and the dust jacket features a striking, sweet-faced depiction of
Lillian Gish in the title role.
Publisher's blue cloth, front cover and spine stamped in dark blue, in original color-printed dust jacket; volume extremities very slightly rubbed, back cover with small scuff, jacket gently sunned with a few short edge tears and inside spine foot reinforced some time ago. Front free endpaper with “Elizabeth” in pencil. Pages faintly age-toned, otherwise clean and fresh.
A nice copy. (37510)
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Lovers in Disguise, Lost Children, Ghosts, Shrews, & More
Illustrated in COLOR
Crawhall, Joseph. Crawhall's chap-book chaplets. London: The Scolar Press, 1976. Large 4to (29 cm, 11.4"). [8], 27, [5], 21, [3], 25, [3], 30, [6], 27, [5], 20, [8], 15, [5], 48, [4] pp.; col. illus.
$75.00
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First facsimile edition of this gathering of folksongs and ballads, redone in quirkily illustrated versions by Joseph Crawhall II (1821–96), an antiquarian, writer, and artist — who has supplied his own woodcuts. According to the preliminary note, “Crawhall's Chap Book Chaplets were originally issued uncoloured as eight separate chap-books and as a bound volume containing the eight parts. A small number of volumes were made up with the illustrations hand-coloured: there is considerable variation between copies. The present edition, printed by lithography follows a hand-coloured original.” That original was published in 1883 by Field & Tuer et al.
This bright and cheerful facsimile reproduces “The Barkeshire Lady's Garland,” “The Babes in the Wood,” “I Know What I Know,” “Jemmy & Nancy of Yarmouth,” “The Taming of a Shrew,” “Blew-Cap for Me,” “John & Joan,” and “George Barnewel,”
all with their remarkable, rambunctious, good-humored illustrations.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Publisher's quarter very light grey linen and printed paper–covered sides; small faint spot of staining at lower edge of front cover, otherwise clean and unworn. Pages age-toned (not unattractively or indeed inappropriately!).
A thoroughly delightful production in a very nice copy. (41201)
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Bite-Sized
Theatrical Morsels
in
Fancy
Dress — Signed
Bindings
Cruz, Ramón de la. Sainetes de D. Ramón de la Cruz. Barcelona: Biblioteca “Arte y Letras” E. Domenech y Ca., 1882. 8vo (20.5 cm, 8"). 2 vols. I: [4], xliii, [1], 338, [2] pp.; 16 plts. (some incl. in pagination). II: [4], 343, [5] pp.; 5 plts.
$275.00
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Resplendent
collection of
clever, satiric 18th-century theatrical vignettes, originally intended to be
performed as intermedios during longer plays. The pieces, which include
“La Comedia de Maravillas,” “El Café de Máscaras,”
“La Duda Satisfecha,” “Manolo,” and many others, appear
here illustrated with
21
plates and numerous in-text engravings by José Llovera
and A. Lizcano, most depicting lively social scenes, musicians, dancers, and
flirtatious maidens. Although the second volume contains fewer plates than the
first, it makes up for the difference with extra in-text images.
Signed Binding: Publisher's teal pebbled cloth, front covers with striking chariot and armorial scene in light blue, tan, and gilt. The “Cibeles” statue found in Madrid's Cibeles Plaza and the coat of arms (and gilt monogram) of the city of Madrid appear with de la Cruz's name stamped in gilt below; spines offer gilt-stamped title and black-stamped griffin decoration. Cover of vol. II is signed “J. Orba.” All page edges are stamped in a Greek key pattern in blue and gilt.
Provenance:
Half-titles each with old-fashioned rubber-stamp of José Carmona y
Ramos.
Palau 65340. Bindings as above, edges and extremities
showing minor shelfwear, back cover of vol. I with small spots of faint discoloration,
front joint of vol. II rubbed. Collector's stamp as above, each front pastedown
with small paper label bearing hand-inked numeral. Pages age-toned; edges
slightly embrittled, occasionally with small chips or short tears. Scattered
light smudges in vol. I; vol. II with mild to moderate foxing.
A
peacocky set. (29262)
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“You Can't Keep a Squirrel on the Ground”
Cullen, Clarence Louis. Tales of the ex-tanks: A book of hard-luck stories. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1900. 12mo (18.6 cm, 7.25"). 392 pp.
$35.00
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A series of fictional “hard-luck” stories about the goings-on of the Harlem Club of Former Alcoholic Degenerates, originally written by Cullen — a “restless newspaper man” — for the New York Sun. The so-called “Ex-Tanks” tell tales of their less sober days with reference to
gambling/sporting adventures involving boxing, horse racing, cards, etc., and a Stradivarius found in a hock shop in quite a range of American cities. Cullen's stories are here gathered and presented in this handsome, decorated cloth binding.
Binding: Publisher's light green cloth with gilt lettering to spine and front board. The front board is divided into four compartments by single-ruled black borders; a scene of a man walking along a railroad track stamped in blue, black, and gilt decorates the top section.
Wright, III, 1331. Binding as above; extremities a bit rubbed, spine faded not unattractively. Small waterstain to top edge of about a dozen leaves, minor dirtying and finger-smudges to a handful of pages; overall very nice. (37534)
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A Celebration of Fine Education — Inscribed by the Author
Cunningham, Frank H. Familiar sketches of the Phillips Exeter Academy and surroundings. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co., 1883. 8vo (20.1 cm; 7.875"). xiv, 360 pp. illus.
$200.00
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First edition and inscribed by the author. One of the oldest secondary schools in the United States is celebrated in this handsome, illustrated volume; first established in 1781 in New Hampshire, Phillips Exeter Academy is known for its conference-style classes and professed tradition of diversity.
Over 20 illustrations of buildings, interiors, and portraits illustrate the beauty of the campus and its history, many offering two images (or more) per plate leaf (with a tissue guard). A fold-out “Table of Athletic Tournaments” listing events from 1874 to 1881 is also included.
Binding: Original brown cloth with beveled edges, stamped in gilt and black with gilt lettering to front board and spine; gilt vignette of the Academy to front board.
Provenance: Cunningham, an affectionate and appreciative graduate of the Academy, has inscribed the front free endpaper
“With the compliments of the author, 6/22, '83.” Later in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Extremities lightly rubbed, minor bumping; gilt bright on spine and brighter on cover.
Very nice, clean copy “personalized” by the author. (37760)
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This Book is
Exactly What It Claims to Be
Dan, Wynn. 100 pages: words + pictures. [New York: Wynn Dan, 1996]. 16mo (17.8 cm; 7"). [100] pp.; illus.
$40.00
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SONGS in Prose & Verse
Davidson, Gustav. Songs of adoration. New York: The Madrigal, 1919. 12mo (18 cm, 7"). [4] ff., 13-37 pp, [1] f.
$38.75
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First edition. One of 333 numbered copies for sale on untrimmed “San Marco hand wove deckle edge paper” (colophon); this is number 323 of 500 total.“Title page and decorations by I. Sanders, sculptor. Lettering by Theodore Mehrer. Composition by I. Marlin. Cover and interior stock supplied by The Japan Paper Company” (verso of title-page).
Davidson (1895–1971) was an American poet, writer, publisher and longtime secretary of the Poetry Society of America.
Original green stiff wrappers with lettering and design in gold on front cover. Fine copy.
A very elegant little production. (39837)
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“STUMPED & the KITTENS Are Everywhere” — One of 26 Special
Copies
Davidson, Michael. Two views of pears. Berkeley, CA:
Sand Dollar, 1973. 8vo (20.1 cm, 7.9"). [10] ff.
$80.00
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A collection of poems on various subjects, with an especial emphasis on
art
history. The title-page is lettered in sky blue and black, with a small blue sand dollar ornament.
376 copies comprise this limited edition printed by Wesley Tanner at the
Sand Dollar Press,
including
26 on Wookey Hole paper and signed by the poet, of which this is number 14.
Michael Davidson (b. 1944) was the first curator of the Mandeville Special Collections
Library at the University of California, San Diego, where he has taught American Literature since
1988.
Stitched in orange paper wrappers with matching
orange paper jacket, title and author printed in light brown surrounded by black ornamental
frame on front cover. Fine, in a mylar slipcase.
(30796)
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Wine as a “Necessity of Life” — Curwen Press in Dust Jacket
Davis, J. Irving. A beginner's guide to wines and spirits. London: Stanley Nott Ltd. (pr. by the Curwen Press), 1934. 12mo (19 cm, 7.48"). [10], 93, [1] pp.; illus.
$75.00
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First edition and in the uncommon dust jacket: an appealingly opinionated introduction to wine connoisseurship from the Curwen Press, with spirits addressed in briefer fashion at the back of the volume. Wines “of the British Empire,” the U.S.S.R., Africa, the Americas, and “The Rest of the World” are included, as is a glossary; the text is illustrated with drawings of bottles and wineglasses and with six
very attractively rendered maps showing the wine territories of Europe.
Publisher's green cloth–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped title, clean and fresh; dust jacket sunned and lightly worn with spine head minorly chipped. Pages age-toned and a few with instances of light staining.
An unusually nice copy. (41474)
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Hague & Gill Bibliography — “Observing Eric Gill's Centenary”
Davis, James. Printed by Hague and Gill a checklist prepared in conjunction with the exhibit A Responsible Workman observing Eric Gill's centenary. [Los Angeles]: Regents of the University of California, © 1982. 8vo. [2], 48, [2] pp.; illus.
$20.00
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An Example of Determination! — One Man's Take on Boston
Dearborn, Nathaniel. Boston notions; being an authentic and concise account of “that village,” from 1630 to 1847. Boston: Printed by N. Dearborn ... sold by W.D. Ticknor & Co., 1848. 16mo (15.9 cm; 6.25"). xx, [3], 8–426 pp., [35] plts., [6] maps.
[SOLD]
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A history of Boston in encyclopedic entries written, illustrated, and printed
all by one man, engraver and flautist Nathaniel Dearborn (1786–1852), who first proposed the work in 1814. All manner of people, places, and historical events are here discussed in the work's extensive contents, including many societies, libraries, and museums. In addition to several in-text illustrations there are
35 plates, many engraved by the author, with five folded to fit the text, as well as
six maps of Boston, three of them folding. The engraved work is a mix of wood engraving and engraving on copper.
Provenance: Ink signature of J.R. Sower dated 1865 on front fly-leaf in ink.
Sabin 19078; Hamilton 692. On Dearborn, see: Stauffer & Fielding, American Engravers, v. 1, 62–3. Black paper–covered boards imitating leather, gilt ruling/stamping/lettering on spine, covers framed in blind with floral stamps at corners; well-rubbed with paper flaking on spine to expose some gatherings. Provenance marking as above, light age-toning with very occasional light staining, foxing, or corner creases, one plate with chipped edges, all folds strong.
A fun read and lots of VERY engaging illustration. (37071)
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Popular Author — Decorative Designers Binding
Deland, Margaret. Dr. Lavendar's people. New York & London: Harper & Brothers, 1903. 8vo (19.3 cm, 7.6"). [viii], 369, [7 (adv.)] pp.; 12 plts.
$45.00
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First edition, illustrated with
twelve plates by Lucius Hitchcock: loosely interconnected tales of Deland's beloved “Old Chester” setting. The “Doctor” here is an old-fashioned pastor, not a physician; one story features four snippets of printed music.
Signed binding: Teal cloth, front cover with village scene stamped in dark green, terra cotta, and white, marked with the distinctive intertwined capital Ds of Decorative Designers (Henry and Lee Thayer).
Binding as above, slightly cocked, spine dimmed, front panel lightly rubbed. Front free endpaper with early inked ownership inscription of Lottie Ellis. One piece of dried plant matter laid in. (35665)
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“We Have Gathered Here Tonight in Tribute to Those Whose Leadership Contributed to
the Magnificent Democratic Victory of 1964”
Democratic National Committee. 1965 Democratic Congressional dinner. June 24, 1965. [Washington: Democratic Party, 1965]. Folio (27.3 cm, 10.75"). [12] pp.; illus.
$100.00
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Commemorative program honoring Rep. Michael J. Kirwan, Sen. Warren G. Magnuson, the leadership of the House and Senate, and the chairmen of the Standing Committees; the names of all of the former are given, along with the prominent players of the Congressional and Senatorial campaign committees. President Lyndon B. Johnson, whose portrait appears on the inside front wrapper, spoke at the dinner, which also featured entertainment by Carmel Quinn and a main course of filet mignon with pommes rissolées and French-cut string beans; the booklet closes with an exhortation regarding preparations for the 1966 elections.
Publisher's very colorful (bright pink and bright green) printed paper wrappers; slightly cockled, small spot of staining to foot of front wrapper.
A nice piece of political ephemera. (34158)
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A Herculean Effort — A Beautifully Produced Book
Di Bassi, Pietro Andrea. The Labors of Hercules. Barre, MA: Imprint Society, 1971. 4to (27.9 cm, 11"). 89, [3] pp.
$75.00
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To redress his having killed his own wife and children during an episode of insanity, the Greek hero Hercules was ordered to serve King Eurystheus for twelve years and to complete twelve seemingly impossible feats. This English version of his Labors is the first translation made of an Italian manuscript in the Philip Hofer collection at Harvard's Houghton Library, written by Pietro Andrea di Bassi for Niccolo III d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara, before 1435.
The translator, W. Kenneth Thompson, selected thirteen episodes from Bassi's text, and illustrations including
one double-page plate and twelve miniatures, reproduced from photographs of the manuscript in five-color facsimiles printed by offset lithography at The Meriden Gravure Company in Meriden, CT. Giovanni Mardersteig designed the text in his own Monotype Dante on Manunzia paper, and oversaw production with his son Martino at the Stamperia Valdonega in Verona, Italy. The edition was limited to 1950 copies, of which this is no. 164, as written in ink below the colophon.
Bound as above, spine very lightly sunned with light pencil smudge; case with one side a little soiled and a limited patch of staining. Text very fresh and clean. (30549)
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Dobson, Austin. The ballad of Beau Brocade and other poems of the XVIIIth century. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1892. 8vo. Frontis., xiii, [3], 89, [3] pp.; 25 plts., illus.
$90.00
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Second edition, with numerous illustrations by Hugh Thomson.
Publisher's cloth, front cover and spine decoratively gilt-stamped; spine, lower edges, and corners a touch rubbed. Top edge gilt. A few leaves and plates with waterstaining to lower outer corners, scattered spots of light foxing. (18409)

“The Father of the postWorld War II Private-Press Movement”
Duncan, Harry; Juan Pascoe, comp. & ed. The inner tympan: The collected verse and prose of Harry Duncan [compiled by Juan Pascoe]. Tacámbaro: Taller Martín Pescador, 2015. 8vo (23.5 cm, 9.25"). 305 pp., illus., ports.
$85.00
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From the book's rear cover, extensively: “Harry Duncan was a major Master Printer, from whom many younger workers learned enough that legions of poets can be forever grateful to have had their work presented so appropriately that the material particulars, text and all, will melt way, vanish into thin air, leaving the work — the POEM — imprinted in the reader's brain, as if an electronic chip had been implanted: as some crafty publisher might attempt some day, hoping to equal the impact of a Harry Duncan book.
“Harry Duncan was also a distinctive though not prolific poet and translator; a stylist as eloquent and elegant in prose as in speech and bearing; a fine italic penman; and husband of Nancy, whose genius, separate but equal, was of the theater, though still imprinted in the memories of fellow actors and audiences, especially children.
“The Inner Tympan brings together every published piece of Duncan's writing that could be found, and constitutes thus a self-portrait; not one consciously planned, certainly not one he helped to gather, but neither is it one he would have rejected.”
Duncan (1916–97) is “considered the father of the post-World War II private-press movement” (Ray Anello, “Reading the Fine Print,” Newsweek, August 16, 1982, p. 64). He operated the Cummington Press beginning in 1939 in Cummington, MA, later at Iowa City after becoming director in 1956 of the typographical laboratory at the University of Iowa's School of Journalism, and later still in 1972 in Omaha, NB, where he created the University of Nebraska's fine arts press, Abattoir Editions.
The first edition of The Inner Tympan was printed in 2005 in an edition of 30 copies by Juan Pascoe — Duncan's last apprentice, then and now a master hand-printer in Mexico — for his friends and those of Harry and Nancy Duncan, the Cummington Press, and the Taller Martín Pescador. This second edition “was set in Enrico, a digital version of the 12-point type cut and cast in 1600 by Enrico Martinez in Mexico City, and drawn by Gonzalo Garcia Barcha in the final years of the twentieth century” (colophon).
Publisher's illustrated hardcover binding. New. With a four-page pamphlet of “Some memories of the Cummington Press” by Gloria Goldsmith Gowdy, printed by Juan Pascoe in 100 copies “with HD's pressmark & PWW's drawing for The Winter Sea,” laid in. (40713)
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Biblical Law, Debated
Dupin, André Marie Jean Jacques. The trial of Jesus before Caiaphas and Pilate. Being a refutation of Mr. Salvador's chapter entitled “The Trial and Condemnation of Jesus.” Boston: Charles C. Little & James Brown, 1839. 16mo (18 cm, 7.1"). viii, 88, [2 (blank)] pp.
$100.00
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First edition, translated from the original French “by a member of the American Bar”: John Pickering (1777–1846), a lawyer and philologist. Salvador's Histoire des Institutions de Moise et du Peuple Hebreu included a chapter in which he concluded that as a court proceeding, the trial of Jesus was in accordance with Jewish law; Dupin here rebuts that chapter's arguments, while continuing to express admiration for Salvador as a scholar and author — and while focusing on legal issues rather than theological ones.
Binding: Publisher's blue cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title. Cloth is ribbed and fits Krupp's Rb3 pattern.
Evidence of readership: One pencilled footnote, arguing that capital punishment is the will of the divine.
American Imprints 55455. On the binding cloth, see: Krupp, Bookcloth in England and America, 1823–50, p. 40. Binding as above; spine and board edges gently faded, extremities rubbed. Mild to moderate foxing throughout. An interesting book in a good example of an early American cloth binding. (34765)
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W.A.D. 1880 – 1980
(Dwiggins, William Addison). Strand, Julia, ed. A tribute to W.A. Dwiggins on the hundredth anniversary of his birth. New York: Inkwell Press, 1980. 8vo (24 cm, 9.5"). Frontis., 153, [3] pp.; illus.
$35.00
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Eleven essays on the innovative typographer/artist/author, plus a letter from him to Alfred A. Knopf regarding colors for book cloth. Featuring numerous examples of Dwiggins's designs, lettering, and illustration work, this volume was privately printed for friends of Hermann Püterschein (“Püterschein” being Dwiggins's sarcastic, self-mocking alter ego).
The volume was designed by Vincent Torre; this is
one of 500 copies printed.
Publisher's gray-green cloth, front cover with black-stamped vignette, spine with black-stamped title. Minimal wear to lower outer cover corners, otherwise a crisp, lovely copy. (36864)
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