
BIBLIO-GIFTABLES
A-B C-D E-G H I-L M-N O-R
S T-Z
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Armstrong Binding — Popular Illustrator — The HORSES Get the Last Word
MacGrath, Harold. The man on the box. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., (1904). 8vo (19.2 cm, 7.55"). Frontis., [12], 361, [1] pp.; 6 plts.
$80.00
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First edition: A totally, TOTALLY silly (and very “period”) romance set in Washington, DC, and spiced with international intrigue as well as
challenges of horsemanship (met both in riding and, as per title, driving). The author was a Syracuse-born writer of novels, short stories, and screenplays; the illustrator was “American Girl” artist
Harrison Fisher, who provided a frontispiece and six plates.
This became, apparently, a Broadway play and then a film starring Charlie Chaplin's brother Syd Chaplin!
Binding: Signed binding by Margaret Armstrong: Publisher's blue-green cloth, front cover and spine pictorially stamped in light green, cream, and black, with “MA” on front cover.
Gullans & Espey, Checklist of Trade Bindings Designed by Margaret Armstrong,158. Binding as above, cocked; extremities and front panel mildly rubbed. Pages and plates clean.
An entertaining novel in an attractive presentation. (35662)
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Illustrated Theatre Edition
Maclaren, Ian (John Watson). Beside the bonnie brier bush. New York: R.F. Fenno & Co., 1905. 8vo. Frontis., 258 pp.; 5 plts.
$85.00
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The earliest and best-known of all the tales of rural Scottish life published by “Ian Maclaren,” pseudonym of the popular author and preacher John Watson. This special illustrated theatre edition of the Rev. Watson's beloved work (originally published in 1894) features a photographic frontispiece of James H. Stoddart in the role of Lachlan Campbell, as well as five other scenes both comic and tragic. The final section of the volume is “A Doctor of the Old School,” a loving portrayal of stalwart practitioner Dr. William MacLure.
Binding: Publisher's tan cloth, front cover with double iris design stamped in green, white, and violet.
Binding as above, minimal rubbing only. Pages and plates clean. A beautiful copy. (28613)
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They Had Their Problems Then, Too . . .
But Also, for the Moment, a Nice Little Surplus
Madison, James (President, 1809–17). Message from the President of the United States, to the two houses of Congress, at the commencement of the second session of the fourteenth congress. Washington: Pr. by William A. Davis, 1816. 8vo. 16 pp.
$100.00
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President Madison's address to Congress deals with such matters as a depression in commerce, difficulties with the Barbary States and a naval incident involving a Spanish and a U.S. ship in the Caribbean, continued repayment of 110 million dollars of debt from the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, and a Treasury surplus at the end of the year of nine million dollars.
Shaw & Shoemaker 39552. Good; removed from a nonce volume. Large but faint old library stamps to title-page; age-toning, and occasionally a spot. (33153)
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The Philosophy of Science & Logic, or,
How Does “Thinking” Work?
Mansel, Henry Longueville. Prolegomena logica: An inquiry into the psychological character of logical processes. Boston: Gould & Lincoln; New York: Sheldon & Co., 1860. 12mo (19.8 cm, 7.8"). 291, [1], [20 (adv.)] pp.
$140.00
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“First American, from the second English edition, corrected and enlarged”: Treatise on “the constitution and laws of the thinking faculty, such as they are assumed by the Logician as the basis of his deductions” (p. iv), originally published in 1851. Mansel, an English theologian and philosopher much influenced by Kant, was the first Waynflete Professor of Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy at Oxford, and later Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral.
Binding: Publisher's brown cloth, covers decoratively blind-stamped, spine with gilt-stamped title. In its modest, subtle (and difficult to photograph!) way, this is a
very handsome binding.
Bound as above; binding very slightly cocked, corners and spine extremities with minor rubbing. Ex–social club library: call numbers on fly-leaves, rubber-stamp on title-page and two others, no other markings. Pages clean save for slight offsetting from stamps. A nice copy. (28238)
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A “Bargain”
Mason & Webb
Mason, Lowell, & George James Webb. The psaltery, a new collection of church music, consisting of psalm and hymn tunes, chants, and anthems.... Boston: Wilkins, Carter, & Co., [1848?]. Oblong 8vo. 352 pp. (lacking title-page & pp. 9/10).
$25.00
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Early edition. “By Lowell Mason and George James Webb, professors in the Boston Academy of Music. Published under the sanction, and with the approbation of the Boston Academy of Music, and the Boston Handel and Hayden Society.” This offers the tutorial “Elements of Vocal Music” as well as the music itself.
Publisher's green printed paper–covered boards, rebacked with brown library cloth, spine with inked title and shelving label; paper rubbed and stained, front cover with early inked “1830" in upper outer portion. Back hinge (inside) reinforced. Pastedowns and preface institutionally rubber-stamped, second text page with rubber-stamped numeral in lower margin. Title-page lacking; pp. 9/10 (practice technique exercises) excised. Scattered pencilled marks of emphasis. Some corners bumped; one leaf with tear from outer margin, extending into music without loss. Battered but musically complete, and the instructional parts as interesting as the musical ones. (29618)
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The “Philosophy of America” — First Edition, in a Signed Binding
Mason, Walt. Uncle Walt [Walt Mason]: The poet philosopher. Chicago: George Matthew Adams, 1910. 8vo (20.1 cm, 7.9"). Frontis., 189, [3] pp.; illus.
$85.00
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“Walt Mason's Prose Rhymes are read daily by approximately ten million [newspaper] readers,” according to the preface, making Mason “the Poet Laureate of the American Democracy.” This collection of his popular, often humorous short pieces comes “from the presses of the Caslon Press . . . Arranged and decorated by Will Bradley. Frontispiece by John T. McCutcheon. Illustrations by William Stevens” (per the colophon); this first edition is in a
publisher's binding signed “B” (for Bradley).
The type here is set within ruled borders, and the verbal vignettes' titles are set as shouldernotes; the “poetry,” set as prose, is
frank period doggerel and often the more fun for that, although many sentiments are also “period.”
Binding: Publisher's brown cloth, front cover and spine pictorially stamped in orange, black, and tan with an image of Uncle Walt holding forth; the orange title lettering is LARGE and the image fills the entire cover.
Bound as above; minor wear to black portions of front cover, extremities slightly rubbed. Dust jacket lacking, as is typical; page edges untrimmed. Text age-toned, otherwise clean and crisp. (41338)
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A Mash-up of Attitudes — A Catalogue of Erotic Options
Member of the Royal Asiatic Society. Marriage ceremonies & priapic rites in India & the East. No place: Privately Printed, 1909. Sq. 8vo. [1] f., 107, [1] pp., [1] f.
$50.00
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“Printed for private circulation only.” Classic study of marriage, sex, manners, customs, and social life in India in the 19th century.
Publisher's tan linen shelf-back with rust-colored boards. Boards lightly chipped. A very good copy. (36591)
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Memorial biographies of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Boston: Pub. by the Society, 1880. 8vo (24.5 cm, 9.6"). 533 pp.
$100.00
First edition of the first volume in a series compiled and published by the oldest genealogical society in the United States. Among the biographies present are entries on Harrison Gray Otis, Albert Gallatin, William Ingalls, and Daniel Webster.
Publisher’s cloth, spine with printed paper label; spine and back cover scuffed, spine label darkened and chipped. Front pastedown with institutional stamp. Many signatures unopened. Pages slightly age-toned, else clean; paper embrittled, with a few short edge tears. (19655)
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Signed Binding — Decorative Designers
Merriman, Henry Seton. The vultures: A novel. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1902. 8vo (19.2 cm, 7.55"). vi, [2], 340, [3 (2 adv.)] pp.; 8 plts.
$30.00
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First American edition of this thriller-romance featuring international espionage, set largely in Poland and leading up to the events of 1881. The
binding is signed “DD” for Decorative Designers; the eight plates are unsigned.Provenance: Front free endpaper with ownership inscription of Theodore H. Swan.
Publisher's green cloth, front cover and spine stamped in dark brown and gilt; very slight rubbing to extremities, otherwise clean and fresh. Pages faintly age-toned. One leaf with chip in upper margin; one leaf with tear from upper margin, extending into a few lines of text without loss. A solid, pleasing copy. (41297)
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“The Little Odd Antiquities of Early Literature Which
Much Research Has Enabled Me to Collect Together”
Merryweather, Frederick Somner. Bibliomania in the Middle Ages. London: Merryweather [Varty, Printer], 1849. 12mo (18 cm, 7.1"). iv, 218 pp.
$200.00
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First edition: collection of “sketches of bookworms — collectors — Bible students — scribes — and illuminators, from the Anglo Saxon and Norman periods, to the introduction of printing into England; with anecdotes, illustrating the history of the monastic libraries of Great Britain, in the olden time” as detailed on the title-page, focusing on a variety of historical figures including Aelfric, Abbot of Eynsham, Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Alcuin, among others. There are bibliographic references throughout, and a detailed index following the text.
Provenance: Red and black booklabel of British bookseller and William Morris collector Arnold Yates on front pastedown; most recently in the library of Robert L. Sadoff, M.D., sans indicia.
NSTC 2M25592. Blue publisher's cloth, spine lettered in gilt, covers framed in double blind fillets surrounding an arabesque frame with central decorative piece in blind; very gently rubbed, spine and cover edges evenly sun-faded, corners very slightly bumped. Moderate age-toning with some foxing. Bookplate as above, a few bibliographical pencilled notes on endpapers.
Early tales of the bibliomania. (39779)
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If you don't mind those Chipped labels . . . QUITE
Satisfactory!
Metastasio, Pietro. Opere scelte di Pietro Metastasio. Drammi (vols. I, II, & 3); Azioni e feste teatrali; Opere sacre [,] poesie varie e traduzioni. Milan: Societa Tipografica de' Classici Italiani, 1820. 8vo. 5 vols. I: Frontis., LV, [1], 565, [3] pp. II: 642, [2] pp. III: 646, [2] pp. (lacking half-title). IV: 626, [2] pp. V: [4], 617, [11 (index)] pp.
$200.00
Five-volume set of collected works by the celebrated 18th-century poet and librettist, with the first three volumes dedicated to his historical plays.
Contemporary vellum, spines with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels and gilt-stamped decorative bands; bindings lightly soiled, with spine labels chipped and rubbed, spines with shelving numbers in white. All page edges stained gold. Front pastedowns with institutional bookplates, title-pages with shadows of pencilled numerals. Vol. III lacking half-title. Intermittent light foxing, most pages clean. (14112)

A VERY PRETTY American Binding
Methodist Episcopal Church. Hymns. Hymnal of the Methodist Episcopal Church. New York: Phillips & Hunt; Cincinnati: Walden & Stowe, 1882. 8vo (19.7 cm, 7.75"). viii, 775, [1] pp.
$125.00
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Hymns only, without music; effectively, a neat and handsome volume of religious verse.
Binding: Contemporary black or very dark navy morocco, covers framed and panelled in gilt triple fillets with floral and fan-shaped corner decorations, surrounding a (blank) cartouche; spine with gilt-stamped title and arabesque decorations, board edges with gilt roll, gilt inner dentelles. All edges gilt.
Binding as above with a few small scuffs, back cover with areas of faint discoloration and light scrapes. Pages clean. Very giftable. (29151)
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A Famous Designer's TRAVELOGUE of
His TRIP TO CHINA in 1984
Miho, Jim. Kromekote opens up a whole new world. [New York?, Cincinnati?]: Champion International Corp., [1985]. 32mo (near miniature: 10 cm; 3.9375"). [48] ff.
$175.00
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Issued chiefly as a sample of the Champion International Corporation's papers. The title appears on the front of the book's box, on the inside cover of the same (as “Champion Kromekote opens whole new worlds”), and below the colophon of the book.
Titled “China” on its front cover, the book is designer Miho's travelogue of a trip to China in 1984, with his conversational, informal text on the verso of its leaves and a
handsome, well-chosen color photograph opposite on each facing leaf's recto.
Colophon reads: “Design [by] Miho. Printing [by] Hennegan Co. Cincinatti [sic]. Paper: Cover, Kromekot 15 cover/.010 Text, Kromekote enamel / 90 lb. Box, Kromekote Lith / 60 lb. Colorcast boxwrap, red on red.”
The near-miniature travelogue book is contained in a larger box measuring 19 x 19 x 2 cm (7.375" x 7,375" x .75").
WorldCat locates fewer than ten reported copies worldwide.
Book in fine condition, box very good.
A fascinating, evocative little production. (36984)
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A “Philadelphianum” (Published in Boston)
Mitchell, Silas Weir. The hill of stones and other poems. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1883. 16mo. iv, 98 pp.
$75.00
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First edition: Romantic poems, including one Arthurian piece, written by a neurologist born in Philadelphia and known for his work on nerve injuries and erythromelalgia (“Weir Mitchell’s disease”).
An early hand inked neat responses to a few lines in “The Quaker Graveyard.”
Publisher's cloth, front cover black- and gilt-stamped, spine simply gilt-stamped, binding gently worn with minor spotting to spine and lower edge of front cover. Ownership inscription to front free endpaper. A nice copy. (2901)
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“Early American” for THIS Sort of
Chess Book
Monroe, J. Science and art of chess. New York: Charles Scribner; London: Sampson Low, Son & Co., 1859. 12mo (19 cm; 7.5"). 281 pp., illus.
$450.00
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First edition, not a modern reprint. Designed for the beginner and novice, this was published during the early days of interest in the U.S. in chess as a social event. The first American chess congress was held in New York in 1857 and that certainly helped expand interest in the game. (Oddly, the founding of the first chess club in America did not come until 1877.)
Provenance: Ex-German Society of Pennsylvania Library, a German-American social organization.
Publisher's green cloth stamped in blind on covers and in gilt on spine (with a knight, bishop, and castle in addition to author and title); a little cocked and bottom edges worn. Front free endpaper separated and rear one chipped. Ex–social club library: call number on endpaper, rubber-stamp on title- and two other pages, no other markings. Clearly a book that was often read and consulted with some soiling and staining resultant; text not chipped though printed on inexpensive paper. (26923)
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Words for an
Important Irish Poet
from an
Important Irish Press
Montague, John; & Liam Miller. A tribute to Austin Clarke on his seventieth birthday 9 May 1966. [Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1966]. Tall 8vo. 27, [1] pp.
$25.00
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First edition: One of 1000 copies printed of this Dolmen Editions homage to the Irish poet Austin Clarke. Contributing authors include Thomas Kinsella, Hugh MacDiarmuid, Padraic Colum, Ted Hughes, Anthony Kerrigan, Liam Miller, and others; a checklist of Clarke's works is provided.
Publisher's printed paper wrappers; spine and edges gently sunned, edges with minor shelfwear. Half-title with pencilled (relevant) annotations; pages crisp and clean. (29718)
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A
Philadelphian's
Privately
Printed
“Ghostly”
Vision
Moore, Charles Leonard. Ghost of Rosalys: a play. Philadelphia: Pr. for the author (Times Printing House), 1900. 12mo. 174 pp.
$25.00
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First edition.
Full library blue cloth, gilt-stamped on the spine, covers pressure-stamped with the name of a now-defunct library, spine with shelving label. Small tear to head of spine. Binding lightly soiled. Bookplate and library pocket present. Possible authorial inscription on front fly-leaf. Remnants of paper adhered to top edge of title-page. Pages clean. Very good. (7372)

A Very Autobiographical Comedy
Moore, George. The coming of Gabrielle a comedy. New York: Boni & Liveright, 1921. 8vo (21 cm; 8.25"). 132, [1] pp.
$50.00
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First U.S. edition of this comedy about literary identity and the attentions paid to a successful author, based on a real-life incident in which a European baroness began to write to Moore following the appearance of his Evelyn Innes. This was a limited edition of 895 numbered copies, of which the present example is no. 351.
Publisher's quarter cream parchment paper and blue paper sides, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped leather title-labels, in original blue-gray paper dust jacket with black-stamped title and edition information; binding in beautiful condition, jacket with small edge chips and spine head splitting. Pages clean. A nice copy. (29707)
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Lalla Rookh, the Irish Melodies, & More
Moore, Thomas. The poetical works of Thomas Moore including his melodies, ballads, etc. Paris: A. & W. Galignani, 1827. 8vo (23.3 cm, 9.1"). Frontis., [4], vi, [2], xxii, 383, [1] pp.
$200.00
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First edition of this Parisian single-volume compilation of Moore's verse, with an engraved portrait of the author done by J.T. Wedgwood after Sieurac, and a biographical and critical sketch of Thomas Moore written by J.W. Lake. The volume opens, of course, with the beloved Lalla Rookh; and, though the publishers here were the Galignanis, it is noted on the back of the half-title that “Jules Didot, Senior,” was the actual printer.
Binding: Contemporary straight-grain black morocco, covers framed and panelled in gilt and blind, spine with gilt-stamped title and gilt-framed compartments, spine compartments blind-tooled in foliate designs, turn-ins with gilt double fillets. All edges gilt.
NCBEL, III, 264. Bound as above, edges and extremities with minor rubbing, bottom spine compartment with small crack, leather (only) starting at front joint (joint itself strong). Front pastedown with early inked ownership inscription. Moderate foxing, more pronounced to first and last few leaves; two pages with offsetting from dried plant matter laid in.
A lovely volume. (24906)
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Lyric Poems, Lovely Binding
Moratín, Nicolás Fernández de, & Leandro Fernández de Moratín; Francisco Salva Miquel, ed. Poesia lirica. Barcelona: Montaner y Simon, 1945. 32mo (12 cm, 4.75"). xxiv, 252 pp.
[SOLD]
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Spanish literary bijou: This petite, highly decorative volume collects verses from two important Spanish playwrights and poets who happened to be father (Nicolás, 1737–1780) and son (Leandro, 1760–1828). A prologue from the editor precedes the sonnets, odes, epigrams, etc.
Binding: Publisher's vellum ornately framed and panelled in gilt; with green leather in-lays tooled in gilt with a Greek key design; and with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, front cover with hand-painted polychrome vignette, spine with gilt-stamped title and decorative panels. Top edge gilt; endpapers of light blue veined in gold.
Binding as above, spine very slightly darkened, spine and top edge gilt a little dimmed, cover vignette blurred. Intermittent mild foxing, largely confined to upper margins.
Important Spanish poetry, in a delightful presentation. (39416)
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The More Things Change . . .
( . . . The More They Stay the Same). Report of the speeches delivered at the public meeting of the inhabitants of Edinburgh opposed to the government scheme of education, held in the Music Hall, on Wednesday evening the 31st March 1847. Edinburgh: Grant & Taylor, 1847. 8vo. 34 pp.
$90.00
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Uncommon: Speeches objecting to “Government interference in the matter of education,” by Edward Baines, Jr., Bailie Duncan, the Rev. Andrew Thomson, the Rev. J.R. Campbell, Dr. Lindsay Alexander, Duncan McLaren, etc.
NSTC 2E4287. Removed from a nonce volume. Title-page with small inked numeral in upper outer corner. (17041)
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Epic French Legends — Inscribed by the Author — Printed by Firmin Didot
Morice, Emile; Joseph Adolphe Ferdinand Langlé. L’historial du jongleur. Chroniques et légendes françaises. Paris: A la Librairie de Firmin Didot, 1829. 8vo (23 cm, 9"). [8], cxxxvii (i.e., ccxxxvii), [3], 64 pp.; illus.
$250.00
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Gothic-decorated collection of French legends, including the tales “Le Droit de Nopçage,” “Le Jugement de Dieu,” “La Cour de Jussienne,” “Le Voeu du Faisan,” and “Le Dict des Crieries et Encombrements de Paris.” Didot printed the title-page in red and black and embellished the text itself with “ornées d’initiales, vignettes, et fleurons imités des manuscrits originaux,” several of which are colored in blue, green, red, pink, silver, or
gold, or combinations thereof. Two of the stories open with illustrated borders, and another one has a full-page illustration preceding the text; notes follow the stories to help readers better understand the “antique” text.
Provenance: Author’s inked inscription “A mon bon ami, Amand Lemire [/] E. Morice” on front free endpaper. From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Printed paper over boards imitating 16th-century strap-work and panelling on covers, with gilt lettering on otherwise plain spine and four gold dots at the corners of the covers’ inner panels; rubbed with some paper chipped, front upper corner and hinge cracked, front free endpaper reattached with paste and chipped at bottom. Light to moderate age-toning and foxing throughout; colors and illumination remarkably bright.
A pretty little thing with plenty of charm. (37895)
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Printing as an Art
Morison, Stanley. The typographic arts: Two lectures. London: Theodore Brun Ltd., 1949. 8vo (23.8 cm, 9.4"). [2], 106 pp.; 16 double-sided plts.
$100.00
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Two examinations of the printed book, from the typographer who designed Times New Roman. This is the first edition to combine both “The Typographic Arts” and “The Art of Printing” in one volume; it is illustrated with 16 double-sided plates, for a total of 32 images.
This is the
limited deluxe edition of 250 copies, of which there were 75 reserved for the Collector's Book Club: the present example is numbered copy 10 of that group. The leather binding for the special copies was done by G.A. Cramp & Sons, Ltd.
Publisher's brown sheep, front cover with gilt-stamped printing press vignette, spine with gilt-stamped decorative title; corners bumped, joints and spine extremities rubbed. Pages and plates crisp and clean. A solid copy of the deluxe edition. (33633)
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Inscribed by the Founder of the
U.S. Church School Movement
Mühlenberg, William Augustus. I would not live alway, and other pieces in verse by the same author. New York: Robert Craighead, 1860 (© 1859). 12mo (18.9 cm, 7.4"). 66, [2] pp.
$100.00
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First edition: A clergyman and pioneering Christian educator's poems, including the titular hymn. The preface notes that the work was published for the benefit of St. Luke's Hospital, the hospital Mühlenberg founded in 1858 in New York City at 54th Street and 5th Avenue.
Provenance: Inscribed by the author: “To Richard Wood from W.A. Mühlenberg [indecipherable location] — Xmas 1856.” Beneath that is another early inked inscription, “L.A. Nichols, from Misses Wood.” Mühlenberg was at
the University of Pennsylvania at the same time as George Bacon Wood, son of Richard Wood and Elizabeth Bacon; the present inscription appears to be a dedication to the father of his classmate.
Publisher's brown straight-grained cloth, covers framed in blind roll, front cover with gilt-stamped title; minor wear to extremities, back cover with small light spots. Pages very faintly age-toned with occasional spots of light foxing.
A nice little book with nice provenance. (35366)
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Produced under the Supervision of
Bruce Rogers
Murdock, Harold. Earl Percy's dinner-table. Boston: Houghton Mifflin & Co., 1907. 8vo (26 cm, 10.25"). Frontis., [6], 77, [1] pp.
$105.00
Printed at the Riverside Press under the direction of Bruce Rogers, this is number 202 out of 550 in this limited edition. Murdock's pleasant, readable fantasia on historical events near the beginning of the Revolution presents an immediate and personal perspective from the British side.
Publisher's red cloth, spine with paper label, in excellent condition save for slight discolorations to spine label. With laid-in prospectus. Pages mildly cockled; scattered, pinpoint spots of something(?) that got into the slurry during the paper-making.
A handsome, clean copy. (3799)

Chicanery & Deception
Myers, Robin, & M. Harris. Fakes and frauds: Varieties of deception in print and manuscript. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2006. 12mo. xi, [1], 144 pp.
$39.95
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Nice reprint of a compilation of articles by Lotte Hellinga, Michael Treadwell, Michael Harris, Joseph M. Levine, Nigel Ramsay, Nicholas Barker, and Tom Davis, originally published in the famed St. Paul's Bibliography series following a conference in London in 1988 at which all authors were present.The conference occurred without anyone attending knowing that, in the U.S., a major scandal relating to the forgery of Texas printed historical documents was just beginning to blossom!
New. Publisher's illustrated boards. (27539)
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“O What Has Wrought Again the Miracle of Spring?”
Newbolt, Henry; Ralph Keene, illus. The linnet's nest. London: Faber & Gwyer Ltd. (pr. by the Curwen Press), 1927. 8vo (18.5 cm, 7.28"). [8] pp.; col. illus.
$45.00
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No. 2 of the Ariel Poems series. Keene provided
two wood-engraved illustrations, one color-printed in green and purple and one in black on the front cover. This is
numbered copy 219 of 350 printed on Zanders' handmade paper.
Provenance: Front pastedown with small, handsome gilt-stamped leather bookplate of Alva B. Gimbel, philanthropist and member of the Gimbel family of department-store fame.
Publisher's paper–covered limp boards; spine and edges much sunned. Faint offsetting from bookplate (see above) to front free endpaper; pages crisp and clean. (41521)
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CHRISTMAS READING
Newcombe, Jack, ed. A Christmas treasury. New York: Viking Press, (copyright 1982). 8vo. xx, [2], 474 pp.
$22.50
Excerpts from prose and verse Yuletide classics, with the selections ranging from Hans Christian Andersen and Beatrix Potter to Thomas Hardy, W.B. Yeats, and James Joyce.
Paperback, in publisher's printed paper wrappers; very minor shelf wear to edges and spine. (22237)
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Flowers, Patriotism, SCANDAL
[Newell, Mrs. D., ed.]. Family circle and parlor annual [volume IX]. New York: J.G. Reed, [1851]. 8vo (22.6 cm, 9"). [1], 10–410 pp., [26] leaves of plates (some col.); illus., music, ports.
$255.00
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Sentimental literature originally published as individual issues of the Family Circle magazine and here collected and bound into a yearly volume gift book (with index) — charmingly illustrated not only with 12 of the usual steel-engraved scenes but also with
9 hand-colored plates, 4 wood-engraved plates, and a chromolithographed added title-page. The hand-colored plates include a peacock and variety of flowers, shrubs, and trees including alstroemeria, the moss rose, the inga, catalpa, and the Nankin magnolia.
The book's theme is established both by these plates and by the accompanying series of florally themed romantic stories, while other pieces refer admiringly to temperance, patriotism, or female education. Some plates were engraved by R. Soper, Allanson, W. Wellstood, A.L. Dick, and J. Smillie; lyrics and music for “Christian Graces” and “Springdale” are present.
Shockingly the editors report “a most infamous conspiracy to injure and break down several periodicals in this city — our own among the number — has lately come to light” (p. 230). The subscribers’ lists of several periodicals were leaked (apparently by clerks) to unscrupulous individuals who then sent “a vile obscene and filth paper [sic]” to those unsuspecting patrons.
Binding: Publisher's red, richly gold-stamped textured leather, covers with gilt-stamped central bouquet in a basket. All edges gilt.
Provenance: Pencilled name of Peter J. Revill on front free endpaper.
Faxon 188c. Not in Tepper or Thomson. Binding as above and
a brilliantly BRIGHT example. Varying degrees of foxing and staining, most notably surrounding plates. A very pleasing volume from many points of view. (40888)
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LEC Biblio
High Spots
Newman, Ralph Geoffrey, & Glen Norman Wiche. Great and good books: A bibliographical catalogue of the Limited Editions Club 1929–1985. Chicago: Ralph Geoffrey Newman, Inc., 1989. Folio. ix, [73] pp.; illus.
$95.00
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First edition, limited to 500 copies, of which this is numbered copy 226. The work is illustrated with examples of some of the most significant illustrations and colophons found in the LEC oeuvre; the colophon here is signed by Mortimer J. Adler, who provided the preface.
Publisher's blue-grey cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title and LEC compass device, spine with gilt-stamped title. Slipcase lacking. Clean and fresh. (30010)
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Not Your Regular School Yard Jump Rope
Newmarch, Olive M.; Elsie A. Crouch, photog. Skipping manual. London: A. Brown & Son, 1930. 12mo (18.9 cm, 7.5"). ix, 74, [2 (publisher's adv.)] pp.; illus.
[SOLD]
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A physical education manual for one of the “foremost exercises for promoting health” — skipping rope! Olive M. Newmarch's guide for jumping rope covers techniques for basic skipping, dancing steps, skipping with a partner, and more. Many
photographs and diagrams illustrate the skipping moves described by Newmarch.
This is the second edition, following the first of 1924 and preceding the third and last of 1942. WorldCat could not locate any institutional copies in the U.S. of this edition, only one (Miami of Ohio) of the first, and none of the third. The total number of institutional copies worldwide of all editions is very, very small.
Binding: Publisher's red cloth with black lettering to spine and front board. In original cream paper dust jacket featuring a photograph of a young girl preparing to jump rope.
Bound as above, dust jacket age-toned and foxed with waterstaining to edges, chipping at extremities, tears at spine-head and top rear edge; spine of volume sunned at chip. Foxing to endpapers, minor gutter cracks, one photo leaf with an old stain below the image.
Pretty fascinating. (40381)
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One of Indiana's Finest
Nicholson, Meredith; & Harrison Fisher, illus. The main chance. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1903. 8vo (19.2 cm, 7.5"). Frontis., [10], 419, [3], [18 (adv.)] pp.; 5 col. plts.
$35.00
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A story with drama and some romance about a young man about to inherit his late grandfather's Indiana estate, presented in a simple, decorated cloth binding and with six delicately colored plates (including the frontispiece) by American illustrator Harrison Fisher, known for his “Fisher Girl” (similar to “The Gibson Girl”).
Meredith Nicholson (1866–1947) was an American author and politician from Indianapolis who wrote several bestsellers during the early 20th century, the Golden Age of Indiana Literature.
Binding: Publisher's teal cloth with gilt lettering and white-stamped vertical fence-like lines to spine; front board is lettered in gilt and stamped in white with vertical and horizontal lines suggesting a gate. A white tram or trolley car is daintily stamped within a wide teardrop-shaped opening in the “gate's” upper portion.
Smith, American Fiction, 1901-1925, N-84. Bound as above; edges rubbed, corners bumped, spine slightly cocked, decoration to spine rubbed, minor staining to top-edge; in fact, binding quite attractive. Interior age-toned, foxing to plates and adjacent leaves (with frontispiece tissue guard separating), upper outer corners bumped or lightly creased across. Readable, and highly enjoyable as an artifact. (37558)
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BILINGUAL KISSES
Nicolaius, Johannes Secundus. Kisses: Being a poetical translation of the Basia of Joannes Secundus Nicolaius. London: Pr. by John Crowder, for J. Bew, 1790. 8vo (20 cm, 7.75"). [6], iv, 6, 17-252 pp., [1] f., plt. (without the added engr. title-leaf).
$75.00
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Nicolaius (a.k.a. Janus Secundus, 1511–36) was a Dutch poet known for his Latin elegies, epigrams, odes, verse epistles and epithalamia (i.e., lyric odes in honor of a bride and bridegroom). This English rendition of his most famous work, the Liber basiorum, was done by physician and prolific translator John Nott: It presents the translation and the original Latin in parallel columns.
In addition to an essay on Nicolaius's life and writings, Nott also provided passages from other poets for comparison, samples of other English and French translations of Nicolaius, and annotations on phrases he found particularly attractive or compelling; the Epithalamium and some fragments are appended following the title work. This is self-described as the fourth edition.
The plate depicting Aphrodite admiring the sleeping Ascanius is after a design by Mortimer and was engraved by F. Bartolozzi.
19th-century half tan calf, scuffed and abraded but sound; without the added engraved title-leaf and with the odd stain, otherwise complete and pleasing.
A nice old book. (39875)
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Presentation Copy from the Illustrator — A Star-Studded Colophon
Novak, David Alan, comp. & ed. The first one hundred years, 1892–1992. A keepsake volume for the centenary of
the Rowfant Club. Cleveland: The Rowfant Club, 1992. 4to (26 cm; 10.25"). xii, 77 pp., illus.
$200.00
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Assembled here are short biographies of members and honorary members, stories of various furnishings of the club house, episodes in the history of the club, and details of the club's library.
Limited to 315 copies, “[t]his book was printed at the Yellow Barn Press . . . during the summer of 1991. It has been set in 15 point Perpetua designed earlier this century by Eric Gill. . . . The paper is Rives. . . . The book was bound at the Campbell-Logan Bindery. . . . John DePol designed the pattern paper for the covers. Neil Shaver printed the book on a Vandercook III. Denise Brady folded and collated the edition” (colophon).
DePol also provided the
numerous wood engravings that enhance the text. This is copy 303.
Presentation copy from DePol: “For Morris Gelfand, old friend, with warm regards . . . John DePol December 3, 1991.” Gelfand was the proprietor of The Stone House Press.
Publisher's red cloth shelfback, boards covered with DePol's gray and white illustrated paper. A very nice copy. (35832)
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