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History of the Roman Empire — Bodoni Printing
Tacitus, Cornelius. C. Cornelii Taciti opera. Parmae: Ex Regio Typographeo, 1797. 8vo (22 cm, 8.66"). 2 vols. I: [4], xii, [4], 379 (i.e., 376) pp. II: [4], 328 pp.
$500.00
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First Bodoni octavo edition of Tacitus's Annals (only, despite the title), following the press's folio and quarto printings of 1795. Dedicated to Ferdinand, Duke of Parma and one of Bodoni's most important patrons, this two-volume set offers a classic example of Bodonian restraint and minimalism. Searches of WorldCat show
only seven U.S. institutions reporting holdings.
Brooks 692; Brunet, V, 638. This ed. not in De Lama, not in Schweiger. Modern quarter green morocco and green pebbled cloth–covered boards, spines with gilt-stamped title and gilt rule–framed compartments; spines sunned (not unattractively), volumes lightly rubbed overall. Some pages creased in the press, with variable spotting/soiling/foxing, the last generally speckle-type; still a
solid, dignified set. (40179)
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Bodoni Tacitus — Three Volumes Nicely Bound
Tacitus, Publius Cornelius. C. Cornelii Taciti opera. Parmae: In Aedibus Palatinus, Typis Bodonianis, 1795. Imp. 4to (32.38 cm, 12.75"). 3 vols. I: [2], xii, [6], 284 pp. II: [4], 297, [1] pp. III: [4], 281, [3] pp.
$1000.00
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Large quarto variant of the Bodoni edition of Tacitus's Annals (only, despite the title); the spine labels here give the more correct “Annales,” rather than Opera). Giani notes the scrupulous accuracy of this text, and the “grande perizia filologica” brought to the task by editor Vincenzo Jacobacci.
Binding: Contemporary quarter calf and marbled paper–covered boards, spines with gilt-stamped olive leather title and date labels; quatrefoil gilt roll on raised bands and blind-tooled, black-accented decorations in compartments. All page edges marbled to match endpapers.
Brooks 594; De Lama, II, 106; Giani 71 (p. 54); Schweiger, II, 1006. Bound as above, rebacked with the original spines laid down; sides and edges with moderate scuffing. Faint spotting, occasionally more pronounced, to many page edges; pages overall clean.
Bodoni's unadorned typesetting embodies classical elegance. (40168)
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Scarce Napoleonic Poem — Bodoni Printing
Presented by the Author, Owned by Nobility
Tadini, Placido Maria. Genethliacon Regis Romae ode alcaica. Parmae: Typis Bodonianis, 1811. Folio (42 cm, 16.5"). [8 (2 blank)] pp.
$2500.00
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Sole Bodoni and sole book edition: Written in Horatian-inspired Alcaic stanzas, this Napoleonic birthday tribute in honor of the “King of Rome” was the third Latin ode from Cardinal Tadini to be printed by Bodoni. Never reprinted in book form and apparently otherwise printed only once in a contemporary periodical, the poem is now scarce, most especially in this large, imposing Bodoni production: A search of NUC, WorldCat, COPAC, KVK, and SBN finds only six libraries worldwide reporting ownership
none in the U.S., one in Britain, one in Switzerland, and four in Italy.
Provenance: Inscribed on the title-page “Donné par L'Auteur.” Front pastedown and free endpaper with bookplates of Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater and Prince of the Holy Roman Empire; John Egerton-Cust, 2nd Earl Brownlow, Ashridge, 1876; Crosby Gaige (Broadway producer, book collector, and co-founder of the Watch Hill Press); abd Grolier Club member Leroy Arthur Sugarman. Additionally, the large, neat, elegant rubber-stamp of the Ashridge Library at foot of title-page.
Brooks 1100; De Lama, II, 196. Not in Brunet, not in Graesse. Original Bodoni orange paper–covered boards, front cover with gilt-stamped title and author and paper now more brown than orange — rubbed at extremities and spine with loss of paper in top 7". Bookplates, ownership markings, and inscription as above. Pages clean.
An uncommon item, with extended, interesting provenance. (40199)
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Gilt Vellum Binding with
the Papal Coat of Arms
[Tagliaferri, Johannes Baptista]. Manuscript on paper, in Latin. “De executiva et inspectiva ecclesiae potestatibus disputatio.” [Rome?: ca. 1831–44?]. Folio (32 cm; 12.5"). [7] ff., 371 pp.
$1275.00
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Gregory XVI (pope, 1831–46) was a fervent ultramontanist and so sought to strengthen the papal prerogatives and powers, and through them the religious and political authority of his papacy. This manuscript on the
executive and investigative powers of the Church, a topic dear to his heart, dovetails nicely with ultramontanism and was dedicated to him. Signed by Tagliaferri at the end of the dedication, it is written in a single easy-to-read hand on a single stock of high quality wove paper with a watermark bearing the date of 1822.
An extended text apparently unpublished, at least separately.
Provenance: Gilt supra-libros of Pope Gregory XVI. Circa 1930 acquired by John Howell, bookseller in San Francisco, and added to his personal library (bookplate on front pastedown). He later sold it to the Pacific School of Religion (bookplate on front pastedown; stamps).
Binding: Full vellum over boards, round spine, no raised bands; spine richly gilt using a variety of tools. Papal coat of arms in the center of each board. All edges gilt.
Binding as above, spine darkened as are the boards, front joint repaired; gilt faded but still attractive and “legible.” Small stamp on a blank page and another in upper margin of the first page of the dedication; charge pocket on rear pastedown.
An impressively bound copy of an interesting and very nicely produced manuscript. (35975)
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A Classic of Italian Renaissance Literature
Bodoni
Super-Royal Folio Format Copy
Tasso, Torquato. Aminta favola boschereccia ... ora alla sua vera lezione ridotta. Crisopoli: Impresso Co' Topi Bodoniani, 1793. Folio extra (44.5 cm, 17.75"). xxxv, [1], 117, [1] pp.
$2500.00
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Bodoni's super-royal folio format edition of Tasso's best-known work. This folio extra is a reprint of the press's edition of 1789, with a handsome engraved headpiece done by Lucatelli; Brooks notes that this edition is found both with and without a frontispiece portrait, and the latter is the case here.
Binding: Contemporary brown calf, covers framed in blind fillets surrounding a wide blind roll, with large areas of blind-tooled arabesques in corners; covers with blind-stamped supra-libros (see below). All edges gilt.
Provenance: Covers with armorial supra-libros of Henry Welbore Agar-Ellis, 2nd Viscount Clifden (1761–1836), with his motto: “Non haec sine numine.” Front pastedown of deep blue with armorial bookplate and “C” shelf-list tag at one corner, front free endpaper with bookplates of Robert Wayne Stilwell and Brian Douglas Stilwell.
Brooks 514; Brunet, V, 673; Giani 46 (p. 48). Binding as above, rebacked with original spine laid down and recent gilt-stamped red leather labels; corners and lower edges rubbed. Bookplates as above. Free endpapers with offsetting from turn-ins. Pages notably clean clean and crisp.
A striking copy of this dramatic presentation. (40163)
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Uncommon Version of Bodoni's Aminta
Tasso, Torquato. Aminta favola boschereccia ... ora alla sua vera lezione ridotta. Crisopoli: Impresso Co' Topi Bodoniani, 1796. 4to (24.2 cm, 9.52"). xxxvii, [1], 142 pp.
$575.00
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Limited Bodoni edition of Tasso's best-known work. Bodoni first published this widely read 16th-century play in 1789, in honor of the Marchesa Anna Malaspina della Bastia. Vincenzo Monti supplied a dedicatory poem, and Pierantonio Serassi the preface. The text here was reset in different characters from the 1789 and, according to Brooks, limited to 100 copies
on carta velina and 2 on vellum. This is a paper copy, with the engraved portrait of Tasso present on the title-page.
Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplate of Joseph H. Hamilton (an oak tree being cut by a saw, with the motto “Through”; bookplate attributed to Richard Joseph Ablett by the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts). Title-page with early inked inscription of Catherine Cowper.
Brooks 650; Giani 92 (pp. 57/58). Contemporary green calf, covers framed in gilt double fillets with gilt-tooled corner fleurons, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-tooled compartment decorations between gilt-ruled raised bands, board edges and turn-ins with gilt rolls, all edges gilt; spine and board edges browned, spine label chipped, joints and extremities rubbed. Pages faintly age-toned, otherwise clean. (40176)
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A Classic of Italian Literature — Bodoni Printing — Exceptional Binding
Tasso, Torquato. Aminta favola boschereccia di Torquato Tasso ora per la prima volta alla sua vera lezione ridotta. Crisopoli: Impresso co' Caratterei Bodoniani, 1789. Large 4to (30.2 cm, 11.89"). [12], 14, [2], 142, [2 (blank)] pp.
$1500.00
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First Bodoni edition of Tasso's best-known work. This widely read 16th-century play, a pastoral set in the time of Alexander the Great, features a wedding at its conclusion — perfect for
this present printing done in honor of the marriage of the niece of a celebrated and influential noblewoman, Marchesa Anna Malaspina della Bastia. Bodoni dedicated the graceful production to the Marchesa, a devotee of his work. While it was subsequently reprinted in 1792 with a frontispiece bearing the original printing date of 1789, this example is identifiable as the first issue (with the small signature number on p. 13 of the preface, and the correct “novi lumi” on p. 38). Brunet cites this as “une des plus belles éditions” produced by the legendary printer-typographer.
Binding: Contemporary speckled calf, spine with gilt-stamped red leather title label and gilt-stamped strawberry compartment decorations; covers framed with a narrow gilt flower-and-diamond roll and panelled incorporating
unusual marbled calf onlays. Paneling of front cover demarcated using the border roll with a wider Greek key roll, and that of the back cover created using the flower-and-diamond roll in combination with a pattern of circles between fillets. Marbled endpapers, all edges gilt.
Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplate of private collector Brian Douglas Stilwell.
Brooks 379; Brunet, V, 673; Giani 11 (p. 39); Renouard, IV, 305. Binding as above, unobtrusively rebacked preserving original spine; light wear to joints and extremities, sides with small scuffs refurbished with a restrained hand. Bookplate as above; front free endpaper with pencilled reference annotations. The wide-margined, crisply printed and engraved pages are notably clean.
Distinctive for its occasion and and desirable for its lovely production. (40138)
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Tasso's Masterpiece, with a
Dellacruscan Scholar's Take
Tasso, Torquata. Aminta: Favola boscareccia ... con le annotazioni d'Egidio Menagio accademico della Crusca. Venezia: Gio. Battista Pasquali, 1736. 8vo (18.8 cm, 7.4"). xlii, [2], 387, [1] pp.
$350.00
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Tasso's best-known work, accompanied by Ménage's analysis. Gilles Ménage (Italianized as “Menagio”) was a French man of letters, salonnier, and member of the influential Accademia della Crusca. Here, he supplies scene-by-scene commentary on the hugely successful pastoral, with extensive annotations incorporating significant quotations in Greek, Latin, and French — and even a (very) few words of Arabic and Hebrew.
This is
the first Venetian edition: “accresciuta & migliorata” from the first Parisian edition of 1655, and in a handsomely accomplished printing. The title-page is printed in black and red, with Pasquali's “La felicità delle lettere” printer's mark, and each section is decorated with head- and tailpieces.
This ed. not in Brunet. Contemporary vellum-covered boards, spine with delightful hand-inked title and
ship and whale silhouettes; extremities rubbed, one corner bumped, spine with small chip affecting one word of title. All edges sprinkled red. Front pastedown with the Haverford College institutional bookplate (properly deaccessioned in 2017 with rubber-stamp marking) and adhered traces of now-absent bookplate, title-page and one other pressure-stamped. A very few instances of light spotting and one pencilled annotation in Italian, pages otherwise clean.
An engaging copy. (38979)
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Epic Artistry
Tasso, Torquato. La Gerusalemme liberata. Parma: Nel Regal Palazzo, 1807. Large 4to (30 cm, 11.8"). 2 vols. in 1. [18], 331, [3], 337, [1] pp.
$975.00
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Luxurious Bodoni edition of the great Italian Renaissance epic, with the text edited by distinguished scholar Abbot Pier Antonio Serassi. Bodoni first printed folio and quarto editions of the Gerusalemme in 1794, having previously published Tasso's Aminta in 1789. Giani and other sources consider the present grand quarto edition worthwhile as both a useful text and a generally faithful reprinting; it hews very closely to the 1794 quarto design, though the original Roman stanza numerals are here replaced by Arabic. The work was printed in two volumes — here bound as one — on laid paper.
Binding: Contemporary green textured calf, covers framed in gilt triple fillets with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather author label. Board edges and turn-ins with gilt roll.
Textblock edges delightfully marbled in a bright, impressive, tour-de-force match to marbling of endpapers.
Brooks 1017; Brunet, V, 667; De Lama, II, 175; Giani 179 (page 72). Bound as above, rebacked with original spine sunned to brown reapplied; sides with scuffs (some showing signs of refurbishing) and with edges and extremities moderately rubbed.
A monument of both literature and typography in a very clean and handsome copy. (40192)
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King Edward I of England's
WELSH Castles
Taylor, Arnold Joseph. Four great castles. [Newtown, Montgomeryshire, Wales]: Gwasg Gregynog [The Gregynog Press], 1983. Folio (26.9 cm, 10.5"). [2], vi, 70, [2] pp.; 8 plts.
$675.00
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Fine press
GREGYNOG edition of this essay on the architecture and history of Caernarfon, Conwy, Harlech, and Beaumaris, opening with a foreword by Charles, Prince of Wales. Illustrated with eight delicately, precisely etched views by David Woodford, printed by him on his own press in Snowdonia, the volume was designed and otherwise printed by Eric Gee on Zerkall mould-made paper with deckle edges. The present example is numbered copy 96 of 165 printed — 150 bound as here, with an additional 15 copies specially bound.
Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplate of Norman J. Sondheim, the American collector of press books.
Publisher's grey marbled paper–covered sides, front cover with gilt-stamped coat of arms, spine with black-stamped title; spine a touch sunned with unobtrusive small scuff towards foot, sides very slightly sprung, slipcase lacking. Front pastedown with bookplate as above. Volume clean and unworn, beautiful and uncommon. (30597)
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Ultra-Patriotic Verse Tribute to the
Spirit of America
Taylor, Bayard. The national ode. The memorial freedom poem. Boston: William F. Gill & Co., 1877 (copyright 1876). 8vo (22 cm, 8.7"). Frontis., 744 pp.; illus.
$125.00
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“The Memorial Freedom Poem, which may be fittingly termed the poem of the centennial year, was written for the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of American Independence” (p. 5). This is the first edition standard book-form printing, it having been preceded by a heliotype facsimile of Taylor's manuscript in 1876, following the piece's smashing success at the festivities in Philadelphia. Electrotyped by Smith & McDougal and printed by Filmer & Class, the volume is illustrated with
more than 70 engravings done by a variety of hands, including at least one woman.
Provenance: Front free endpaper (now separated) with bookplate of Dr. Martin J. Loeb, a prominent New York physician and philanthropist, with an explanatory “Legend of the Bookplate” label affixed to opposing fly-leaf.
BAL 19807. Publisher's brown morocco, bevelled boards, covers framed in decorative blind rolls, spine with raised band and gilt-stamped title, turn-ins with gilt roll; light wear overall with extremities rubbed and spine title dimmed. All edges gilt. BAL binding C, the others being cloth. Front free endpaper (with bookplate) separated; back pastedown with small (upside-down!) numerical paper label. Foxing, as the paper is inclined to it, and a little soiling; a “decent” copy. (40360)
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“Christians
Unjustly Accused of Polytheism” — On the Unity of Jehovah
Taylor, Henry. The apology of Benjamin Ben Mordecai to his friends, for embracing Christianity; in seven letters... London: J. Wilkie, 1771–74. 4to (26.5 cm, 10.4"). vii, [1], 128, [2], v, [1], 60, lxiii–lxv, [1], 63–115, [1], cxxi–cxxiv, 125–205, [1], v, [1], 48, xlix/l, 49–94, xcv–xcvii, [1], 95–187, [1 (adv.)] pp.
$550.00
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First edition. The ostensible conversion of the title was actually an excuse to attack the Athanasian creed; written by the controversialist Rev. Henry Taylor and addressed to Elisha Levi, these letters “espoused the restrained Arianism of Samuel Clarke . . . and embraced the Apollinarian heresy which questioned the human nature of Christ's person” (DNB).
Letters II–IV and V–VII have separate title-pages, dated 1773 and 1774 respectively.
ESTC T101252; Allibone 2344; Lowndes 2581–82. On Taylor, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online. Recent quarter calf with marbled paper–covered sides, leather edges tooled in blind, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments. Outer (closed) edges institutionally rubber-stamped; title-page and one other pressure-stamped in an old style.
Very clean and with wide margins. (25083)
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Highlights of the New World
for
Youthful Edification & Entertainment
Taylor, Isaac. Scenes in America, for the amusement and instruction of little tarry-at-home travellers. London: J. Harris & Son (pr. by H. Bryer), 1821. 12mo (17 cm, 6.69"). viii, 122, [2 (adv.)] pp.; fold. map, 28 plts.
$425.00
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First edition: a view of the Americas intended to engage juvenile readers. These scenes were written and illustrated by the Rev. Isaac Taylor (1759–1829), a nonconformist minister who, like his father, was an accomplished engraver. The stories — and accounts of creatures such as beavers and rattlesnakes — come from South, Central, and North America, including items from Mexico, Canada, and Patagonia; strong abolitionist themes are notable, and sympathy for indigenous peoples abused by conquering invaders, although also present are underlying assumptions that English ways are sanest and most logical. The text is
illustrated with 28 copper-engraved plates laid out in double-page spreads, each side of the opening with three images, as issued uncolored in this copy.
Provenance: Half-title with inked inscription of M.A. Nelson, dated 1821; most recently in the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Osborne Collection, p. 190; Opie H 140; Gumuchian 5535; Sabin 94469. Publisher's printed tan paper–covered sides with red roan shelfback, hinges (inside) tender; sides dust-darkened, spine and extremities rubbed with leather chipped and cracking. Interior with expectable age-toning and foxing/spotting, and title-page with some offsetting from map; map in good sturdy condition.
Overall a very reasonable, indeed attractive copy of this first edition. (41180)
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Anglican Moral Theology from
“the Shakespeare of Divines”
Taylor, Jeremy. Ductor dubitantium, or the rule of conscience in all her generall measures; serving as a great instrument for the determination of cases of conscience. London: Pr. by James Flesher for Richard Royston, 1660. Folio (32 cm, 12.6"). 2 vols. I: Add. engr. t.-p., [6], xl, 559, [1] pp.; 1 plt. II: [2], 558, [2] pp.
$1500.00
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First edition: Important philosophical treatise on conscience, casuistry, and Christian ethics, written by the Bishop of Down and Connor. The controversialist Taylor, crowned “the Shakespeare of divines” by Ralph Waldo Emerson, was the subject during his career of a number of accusations of crypto-popery, but the present work — the first of its kind — was designed as a “complete protestant answer to the many Roman Catholic manuals of casuistry” (according to the Oxford DNB online) and intended to provide an authoritative Anglican reference on the subject.
The portrait of the author was engraved by Pierre Lombard, while the added engraved title-page is unsigned. Each of the four books here (in two volumes) has a separate title-page; the main title-pages are printed in black and ruled in red. The text is in English, Greek, and Latin. A printed addenda slip is affixed to the final text page of vol. II, above the catalogue of books sold by Richard Royston. Leaf L6 in vol. II is a cancel (and separated).
Provenance: Vol. I added title-page recto with inked ownership inscription dated 1781 (“T. Moore”); vol. II front fly-leaf with inked ownership inscription dated 1696 (“Guilel. Rayner”) and another (of “T. Moore's”) dated 1781.
ESTC R20123; Wing (rev.) T324; Allibone 2348. On Taylor, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online. Recent quarter calf and marbled paper–covered sides, leather edges tooled in blind, spine with gilt-stamped title and volume labels and gilt-stamped decorations between raised bands. Ownership inscriptions as above. First few leaves of vol. I (including regular and added title-pages) with tiny spots of worming; slightly larger sections of same to inner margins of some subsequent leaves; a number of pages in both volumes with scattered spots of worming, touching letters but not affecting sense. Light waterstaining to outer margins of some leaves. One leaf in vol. II separated.
Significant and attractive. (24889)
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The One Necessity
Taylor, Jeremy. Vnum necessarium. Or, the doctrine and practice of repentance. Describing the necessities and measures of a strict, a holy, and a Christian life. And rescued from popular errors. [with his] A further explication of the doctrine of originall sin. London: James Flesher for R. Royston, 1655. 8vo (19 cm, 7.5"). A–Z8Aa–Zz8Aaa4; engr. t.-p., [46], 448, [8], 449–690 (i.e., 746), [6 (index)] pp. (pagination incorrect); 1 fold. plt.
$650.00
Click
either image above for an enlargement.
Second edition of the Unum necessarium, following the first of 1653, followed by the first edition of the Further Explication. Jeremy Taylor (1613–67), a High Church divine and chaplain to Charles I, was well known as a theologian and one of the school of Caroline Divines who brilliantly systematized Anglican theology in the 17th century. The first of these present works caused him some difficulty, as some of its arguments were widely considered unorthodox and antidoctrinal; the Further Explication was Taylor’s attempt to clarify his position.
The engraved frontispiece by P. Lombart depicts Jesus in shepherd guise, and is followed by a title-page printed in red and black. An oversized, folding plate shows a contrite heart accompanied by scriptural figures and allegorical images; this is also signed, Lombart. Both works came off the press with incorrect pagination, the latter with apparent page count being thrown significantly off.
Provenance: Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of Charles Grave Hudson.
ESTC R203751; Wing (rev.) T415. Contemporary speckled calf, framed in blind, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; leather cracked over joints and spine. Occasional pencilled bracketing. (12659)

“They Rambled on about
Soho, a Much Frequented Track”
[Taylor, John]. Monsieur Tonson. A new version. Illustrated with beautiful copper-plates. Philadelphia: Morgan & Yeager, [1821–24]. 16mo (17 cm, 6.75"). [12] pp; 12 plts., illus.
$875.00
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The online catalogue at the American Antiquarian Society writes of this work: “An adaptation for children of the comic narrative poem Monsieur Tonson, by John Taylor (1757-1832). For his authorship see the Dictionary of national biography.” It also notes that “Morgan and Yeager published together from 1815 to 1824" and that the work was “probably issued after 1820.” Another observation is that the hand-colored plates “might be by William Charles, who worked with Joseph Yeager” but that the title is “not listed in Harry B. Weiss' William Charles: Early caricaturist, engraver and publisher of children's books (1932).”
The title-page (i.e., the front wrapper) informs that the publication price was “25 cents plain, 37 1/2 coloured.” The text and illustrations are mostly printed only on one side of a leaf.Provenance: 19th-century signature of Richard H. Downing on verso of frontispice; most recently in the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
WorldCat locates only three U.S. libraries reporting ownership (Yale, Free Library of Philadelphia, AAS).
Shoemaker 2310; not in Welch; not in Rosenbach, Children's. Buff printed paper covers; text block recased. Wrappers and text age-soiled and with stains; still, a (now) solid and appealing period piece. (38923)
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The La Crosse Morning Leader's Leader Speaks
Taylor, Lute A. Lute Taylor's chip basket; being choice selections from the lectures, essays, addresses, editorials, and public and social correspondence. Hudson, WI: Star & Times Printing House, 1874. 8vo (17.4 cm, 6.75"). Frontis., 218 pp.
$40.00
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First edition: Collected writings of a beloved Wisconsin newspaperman (and stutterer, who writes with good humor about that here). A steel-engraved portrait of the author opens the volume.
Binding: Publisher's green cloth, covers framed in blind, front cover with gilt-stamped decorative title and basket vignette, spine with gilt-stamped author and title.
Light wear only to joints and extremities, cloth showing small spots of faint discoloration. Front free endpaper with pencilled ownership inscription dated 1910, front fly-leaf with same owner's inked inscription. Pages gently age-toned, otherwise clean. (30499)
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Birket Foster: “Green Grass Below, Green Leaves O'erhead
Green Banks on Either Side”
Taylor, Tom; Myles Birket Foster, illus. Birket Foster's pictures of English landscape. London: Routledge, Warne, & Routledge, 1863. 4to (26.3 cm, 10.4"). [74 (2 adv.)] pp.; 30 plts.
$1450.00
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First edition. One of the most popular artists of his day, Myles Birket Foster (1825–99) was famed for his idealized views of rural England. For this deluxe volume
30 of Foster's most accomplished illustrations were wood-engraved by the Brothers Dalziel. Among the Foster designs here are “The Green Lane,” “The Country Inn,” “Cows in the Pool,” “The Gleaners at the Stile,” “Old Cottages,” etc. Accompanying the plates are verses by the popular playwright, biographer, and critic Tom Taylor (1817–80) — with two of the poems, “The Smithy” and “At the Brookside,” signed “L.W.T.”: Laura Wilson Taylor (née Barker), Taylor's wife. Both text and plates are on heavy paper, mounted into this substantial volume.
Binding: Contemporary dark green morocco, covers framed and panelled in blind fillets surrounding central panel of fleurs-de-lis in latticework, upper corners of that panel with gilt corner fleurons, base of panel with gilt wreath (possibly of English elm leaves, referring to the “elm-branches” of the first poem in the volume); spine with gilt-stamped title, raised bands, and blind-stamped compartment decorations. Board edges with gilt-dotted roll, turn-ins with single gilt fillets defining three bands, of which the central band is brown leather rather than green; innermost edge with small gilt dentelle roll. All edges gilt; marbled paper endpapers.
Provenance: Front free endpaper with garter-encircled pressure-stamp of Manchester bookseller Edwin Slater; front fly-leaf with early inked gift inscription to Ellen I. Moscrop [?] “from her sincere friend, Arabella Ble[???].” Most recently in the collection of Hubert Dingwall.
Ray, Illustrator and the Book in England, 191. Binding as above, spine gently sunned; joints and edges mildly rubbed, corners somewhat more so. Stamp and inscription as above. Foxing/spotting variously, pages ranging from quite clean to bearing a few small spots to being more broadly affected, although the hue of this is generally light and the action is mostly confined to margins.
Quintessentially and delightfully Victorian: a lovely collection of some of this beloved artist's best work. (38851)
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Childhood Amusements & Lessons — Charming & Intricate Illustration
Teller, Thomas [pseud. of George Tuttle?]; Purcell, Edward B., illus. A parent's offering; or my mother's story of her own home and childhood. New Haven: S. Babcock, [1845]. 16mo (13.7 cm, 5.4"). 64 pp.; 8 plts. (incl. in pagination).
[SOLD]
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From “Teller's Amusing, Instructive, and Entertaining Tales” series, the
first edition of this sweet story of domestic life in which seven children grow up in a country house in Connecticut, learning appropriate lessons and writing letters to one another via their in-house “post office.” Set near New Haven, CT, this chapbook was also printed there, and bears a wood-engraved vignette of the
New Haven Green (done by Lossino) on the title-page; it is
illustrated with eight plates with central designs of family members at lessons or play both indoors and out, each surrounded by a complex frame composed of variable small renderings of amusements and equipment representing (only “for example”) archery, marbles, fishing, swinging, stilt-walking, boating, kite flying, jump-rope, tug-of-war, bubble-blowing, and — these last showing multiple games or exercises — gymnastics, hoops, and racquet sports including(??) lacrosse. The cover illustration is signed E[dward B.] Purcell.
This story is told by a girl narrator; Mamma is the family botanist and its general natural historian, while handsome Papa takes care of the children's chemistry lessons and presents entertaining experiments with his “electrical machine.”
American Imprints 45-6531. Publisher's charmingly printed tan paper wrappers; corners rubbed, sides with light staining, spine paper chipped. Plates age-toned; pages with light to moderate foxing and staining.
This was not a “luxury” production but it was quite a nice one — appealing both textually and visually. (41445)
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First U.S. Standalone Printing — Three Versions
Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron. A dream of fair women. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co., 1880–85. 8vo (22.9 cm, 9.01"). 3 vols. All 3: Frontis., 103, [1] pp.; illus.
$250.00
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First American edition of Tennyson's fantastical evocation of an array of great ladies of song and story, here in
a trio of publisher's variations. The poem was originally published in The Lady of Shalott, and Other Poems in 1833; Osgood's ornate production features numerous in-text and full-page illustrations drawn and engraved by a variety of hands including Mary Hallock Foote, Martha Ritchie Simpson, Thomas Moran, and others, under the supervision of Anthony Varick Stout Anthony.
Bindings: Publisher's cloth (one 1880 copy in green and one in chestnut, with 1885 copy in darker brown), front covers with three rectangular panels, the title gilt-stamped in center panel on a dotted background, the top and bottom panels embossed in a complex foliate and strapwork design picked out with black stamping against a white background; spines with with gilt-stamped title. All edges gilt.
Provenance: Green 1880 copy with pencilled inscription of Mariou Pierce of “B'ville, Mass.” (Baldwinsville), dated 1916. 1885 copy with Carroll Institute of Reading, PA, PRIZE AWARD BOOKPLATE, noting gift in that year to Frederick Clymer for excellence in arithmetic. Later in the library of Robert L. Sadoff, M.D., sans indicia.
NSTC 741843. Bindings as above; one spine with gilt dimmed, two volumes with extremities rubbed, hinges of green copy tender. Bookplate and inscription as above. Pages clean.
An unusual gathering, of interest to scholars and lovers of binding and publishing history as well as to aficionados of late 19th–century illustration. (40629)
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Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron. Maud, and other poems. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1856. 8vo (18.7 cm, 7.4"). 160, [2 (blank)], 12 (adv.) pp.
$100.00
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Second U.S. edition: The first volume of Tennyson’s verse that was published. after his acceptance of the poet-laureateship.
Publisher’s cloth, covers blind-stamped, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding lightly scuffed overall, spine with extremities worn and one compartment gently faded, back joint with small ink blotch and corner of front cover with traces of old adhesion, as a sticker. Front pastedown with private collector’s bookplate and institutional bookplate, front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription dated 1859, title-page verso stamped (no other markings). Pages slightly age-toned. (19078)

Tennyson Juvenilia from
the Chaucer Press, Bungay
Tennyson, Alfred. The devil and the lady. London: Macmillan & Co., 1930. 8vo. Frontis., xv, [1], 67, [3] pp.
$35.00
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First edition of this verse comedy written by the poet at the age of 14, edited by his grandson. 1500 copies were printed by R. Clay & Sons at the Chaucer Press, Bungay, on “Whitman hand-made paper”; an attractive label inside the back cover indicates that this copy was acquired (and/or the edition was distributed) by way of “The Times Book Club, 42 Wigmore Street, London, W.1.”
Binding: Publisher's quarter parchment over handsome, textured, swirl-printed tan paper; spine with gilt-stamped author and title. Edges uncut.
Bound as above; corners bumped, spine darkened and rubbed, joints also rubbed. Title-page with small paper adhesion, one other page with light smudge, a little light dust-soiling along the uncut lower edges, otherwise clean. (29724)
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Early American Edition: German Reformed Hymnal
Tersteegen, Gerhardt. Geistliches Blumen-Gärtlein inniger Seelen; oder Kurze Schluss-Reimen, Betrachtungen und Lieder, ueber allerhand Wahrheiten des inwendigen Christenthums; zur Erweckung, Stärkung und Erquickung in dem verborgenen Leben mit Christo in Gott; nebst der Frommen Lotterie. Germantaun: Gedruckt und zu finden bey Peter Leibert, 1791. 12mo (14 cm, 5.5"). [12], 126, [20], 127–534, [8] pp. (pagination erratic, several pages out of order).
$500.00
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Gerhardt Tersteegen (1697–1769) was a pillar of German pietism, a popular and innovative poet noted for his use of free verse, and (along with Joachim Neander) one of the two most significant German hymnographers of the 18th century. First published in 1729, his “Spiritual Flower Garden for Ardent Souls” contains “end-rhymes,” “meditations,” and hymns. The first American edition appeared in 1747; this is the fourth.
Evans 23823; ESTC W21016; Arndt & Eck 805. Contemporary mottled sheep, covers framed in blind, with remnants of original clasp, spine with later gilt-stamped leather title and publication labels; leather mildly rubbed, spine leather with small cracks, spine and joints unobtrusively repaired. Front free endpaper with pencilled ownership inscription dated 1835; afterwards, ex–theological library: Old-fashioned bookplate on front pastedown, title-page pressure-stamped, pocket on back pastedown. Pagination erratic; several pages appearing out of order. A few corners bumped or dog-eared; a good many sections moderately browned and stained as is commonly seen with these Germantown imprints. (27905)
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Presented by the Author — Owned by an Eminent Malpighi Scholar
Testa, Antonio Giuseppe. M. Malpighius sermo habitus Bononiae. Bononiae: Ex typographia Josephi Luchesinii, [1810]. 4to (21.2 cm, 8.35"). 45, [1]
pp.
$100.00
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Sole edition: Testa's lecture on the life and works of Marcello Malpighi (1628–94), the biologist, physician, and professor who made great advances in microscopic anatomical studies. This work is now uncommon, with a search of WorldCat finding only five U.S. institutions reporting holdings (Cornell, Yale, National Library of Medicine, Linda Hall, Wayne State).
Provenance: Front free endpaper with early inked inscription in Latin, above caption “ricevuto dall'autore” dated 24 April 1811. Half-title with later pencilled ownership inscription of Howard Bernhardt Adelmann (1898–1988), author of Marcello Malpighi and the Evolution of Embryology and editor of The Correspondence of Marcello Malpighi. Later from the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).
Contemporary speckled light blue paper–covered sides with sheep shelfback, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt roll; spine and extremities rubbed, spine head and front joint with insect damage. Front pastedown with modern pencilled annotations, front free endpaper with inscription as above. Moderate foxing throughout.
A very nice association copy. (40664)
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Starting with, “How First Love May Interrupt Breakfast”
Thackeray, William Makepeace. The history of Pendennis. New York: Harper & Brothers, [1849]. 8vo (23.5 cm, 9.25"). [10]–104 pp.; illus.
$125.00
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First number of the first U.S. edition of this charming, humorous Bildungsroman, here in the publisher's original wrappers. 16 in-text wood engravings adorn the text; like the illustration on the front wrapper here, they are based on the
originals done by Thackeray himself. The front wrapper states “To be completed in seven numbers,” although in actuality it took eight. A nice example of a “part” of a book issued in parts.
Publisher's printed paper wrappers; wrappers darkened with corners bumped, front wrapper with small ink spots, short edge tears, and faint rings of discoloration. Faint intermittent foxing with one signature (only) more notably age-toned.; final leaf with portion torn out of outer margin, not touching text.
A pleasing touchstone for Victorian literature and its “production.” (33259)
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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)
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Thackeray, William Makepeace. Vanity Fair. A novel without a hero. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1848. 8vo (23.8 cm, 9.3"). Add. engr. t.-p., 332 pp.; 31 plts.
$750.00
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First U.S. edition of Thackeray’s first great literary success. This classic Victorian novel, illustrated with the author’s own designs, had originally appeared in London in serialized form commencing the year before this publication.
NCBEL, III, 857. Contemporary half goat with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title label; binding worn and rubbed, but sturdy. Title-page with early inked ownership inscription. Front free endpaper excised, back free endpaper torn. Pages with scattered light pencil markings and some spots of mild foxing, with most of the plates browned. (8294)

First Edition Thackeray in
Riviere Dress
Thackeray, William Makepeace. The Virginians: A tale of the last century. London: Bradbury & Evans, 1858–9. 8vo (21.9 cm, 8.625"). 2 vols. I: Frontis., illus. t.-p., viii, 382 pp.; 48 plts. II: Frontis., illus. t.-p., [2], viii, 376 pp.; 22 plts.
$550.00
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First book edition following its issuance (1857–59) in 24 monthly fascicles. The British author's historical novel tells the tale of American-born twins who — after a lengthy period of dealing with troublesome relatives and financial issues — find themselves on opposing sides of the Revolutionary War. The work is a sequel to Thackeray's Henry Esmond. Each volume is illustrated with many plates and vignettes, all of which were drawn by the author himself.
Binding: Full red morocco with gilt lettering and five raised bands to spine; four of the panels with a gilt decoration of Thackeray (wearing his small, round glasses) in a jester's costume, holding the mask and a baton. Simple double-rule gilt border along board edges and gilt dentelles to turn-ins. Top edge gilt and endpapers marbled. Signed by
Riviere & Son.
Provenance: On the front pastedown of each volume, a charming bookplate of Alfred and G. Ivy Clark, the former (1873–1950) being the pioneer in music recording and cinema whose work with Thomas Edison produced the first “moving pictures” having continuity and plot; he also helped Emile Berliner with the development of the gramophone, and he assembled one of the most important collections of Chinese ceramics in the West.
Bound as above; spines slightly darkened, front joint of vol. II neatly and unobtrusively refurbished. Interiors age-toned, some offsetting to pages opposite illustrations, several leaves in vol. I pulling from the binding but still attached; in vol. II, small closed tear to frontispiece, the corner of one plate torn away not affecting illustration and laid in, small slim marginal waterstain to last few leaves.
HANDSOME. (38687)
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Humor, Pathos, Redemption & Local MID-WEST Color
Thanet, Octave (i.e., Alice French). The missionary sheriff; being incidents in the life of a plain man who tried to do his duty. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1897. Small 8vo (19 cm; 7.5"). [3] ff., 248 pp., frontis., 14 plates.
$45.00
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Thanet (1850–1934) was the nom-de-plume of Alice French, a granddaughter of Massachusetts Governor Marcus Morton. She was a novelist and short story writer who at the age of six moved with her family to Davenport, Iowa; however, she was educated in New England and at Vassar, returning to live in Iowa and summering in Arkansas, both states providing her with settings and dialects for her writings.
The present work is a series of short stories (“The Missionary Sheriff,” “The Cabinet Organ,” “His Duty,” “The Hypnotist,” “The Next Room,” and “The Defeat of Amos Wickliff”) set in Iowa The black and white illustrations are by A.B. Frost and Clifford Carleton.
Binding: Publisher's blue-gray cloth stamped in white with an overall pattern of an exuberant vine hiding the repeating image of an eagle with a palm branch in one talon and arrows in the other. Title and author in gilt on cover and on spine.
Wright, III, 2046. Binding as above, very bright and nice; without the dust jacket. Very good condition. (34607)
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Perishable Press . . .
Thayler,
Carl. The drivers. Mt. Horeb, WI: The Perishable Press, 1969.
8vo (21.8 cm, 8.6"). [24] pp.
$50.00
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First
edition: 11 poems from a
California-born poet and professor. Decorated with a title-page illustration
done after an etching by Jack Damer, these pieces were hand-set in Palatino
and printed in black, brown, red, and orange on handmade Shadwell paper. This
is
one
of 220 copies printed, of which only 130 copies were for sale;
Walter Hamady's distinctive
Perishable
Press pressmark, calligraphed by Sheikh Nasib Makarem, appears
in blind at the colophon.
Two Decades of Hamady & the Perishable Press, 23.
Publisher's gray Fabriano paper wrappers, front wrapper with title
stamped in blind. A clean, fresh copy. (30800)
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Seaside Imagery
Theobald, John. A second light. Newark, VT: The Janus Press, 1977. 8vo (25.9 cm, 10.2"). [24] pp.
$700.00
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First edition of these poems from a professor at San Diego State University; the first piece is “La Jolla Shores.” This is one of
75 copies set in Gudrun Zapf's Diotima by Susan Johanknecht and printed on French-folded Fabriano paper, with the front cover being a portion of an original ocean-inspired
lithograph by Claire Van Vliet, done in blues, greens, white, and silver.
Fine, Janus Press 1975–80, 41. Publisher's navy cloth, front cover with illustration on paper as above; spine very slightly sunned, outer front corners showing most minimal wear.
Van Vliet's lithograph bright and beautiful. (32333)
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Classic Illustrated German
BOTANICAL GUIDE — Some Early Hand-Coloring
Theodorus, Jacobus, called Tabernaemontanus. Neu vollkommen Kräuter-Buch: Darinnen uber 3000 Kräuter, mit schönen und kunstlichen Figuren, auch deren Underscheid und Würckung samt ihren Namen in mancherley Sprachen beschrieben: dessgleichen auch wie dieselbige in allerhand Kranckheiten beyde der Menschen und des Viehs, sollen angewendet und gebraucht werden angezeigt wird. Basel: Johann Ludwig König, 1731. Folio (38.4 cm, 15.1"). 3 vols. in 1. [12], 663, [5], 665–1529, [97 (index)] pp.; illus.
$2500.00
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Massive German pre-Linnaean herbal, printed largely in black letter and copiously illustrated. The first portion was originally published by Theodorus, an accomplished physician and botanist, in 1588, and the second by Caspar Bauhin in 1613 after Theodorus's death; this is the fifth edition of the enduringly popular completed work, additionally enlarged by Caspar and Jean Bauhin.
As the title boasts, some
3000 plants are described herein — including, among the Americana, tobacco, New World gourds and melons, and “Indian corn” — many among which are illustrated with attractive woodcuts reproduced from Bock, Fuchs, Mattioli, and others.
53 of the numerous illustrations have been hand-colored in a pleasing and competent but not professional style, in naturalistic hues of green, brown, blue, yellow, red, violet, and charcoal. There does not appear to be any immediately obvious pattern underlying which illustrations have been selected for this coloring!
Nissen 1931; Pritzel 9093. Contemporary mottled calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and small paper shelving label, joints cracked; much abraded and acid-pitted, leather chipped along spine and lost at spine extremities, free endpapers lacking, the whole holding. Mild to moderate foxing, some corners bumped, about 40 leaves with small area of worming in lower margin. Limited area of light waterstaining across gutter, up into text but typically not far, from p. 197 on, this rising higher and approaching “moderate” at ca. p. 1350 and darkest/largest to last leaves and register; variously light waterstain additionally across upper outer corner from ca. p. 1000 with some leaves at rear in register showing this along full length. Two leaves (423/24, 429/30) with outer margins trimmed short, possibly tipped in from another copy; first two leaves of second volume with outer margins slightly ragged; one leaf with long tear from upper margin, passing through one illustration without loss; one leaf with very small burn mark in between columns, just touching one letter; one leaf with tear from outer margin extending into text, without loss.
A worn and aged but still appealing, venerable, and entirely usable copy, with the added interest of contemporary coloring. (36429)
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“Exact Portraitures of the
Very Peculiarities of Temper That Are
Every Day Passing under Our Own Observation”
American Edition, Uncredited
Theophrastus. The characters of Theophrastus; illustrated by physionomical sketches. Boston: Frederic S. Hill (stereotyped by Jenkins & Greenough), 1831. 12mo (16.9 cm, 6.7"). xiv, 64 pp.; 31 plts.
$100.00
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The earliest surviving character studies, translated from the original Greek into English. This appears to be an unauthorized American reprinting of the 1824 London edition attributed to “Francis Howell” but actually done by artist and theologian Isaac Taylor; Taylor's preface (signed “T”) appears here but his appended commentary on human nature does not, and his
31 wood engravings — a bust of Theophrastus and 30 caricatures — have been recut.
Evidence of Readership: One sketch in this copy bears a pencilled identification (“The Dissembler” = Dr. Baker); in addition, many of the images have been traced in pencil on the reverse of their plates.
American Imprints 9398. Contemporary tan paper–covered boards with brown cloth shelfback; cloth worn, paper lost over rear board and wrinkled/chipped on front board. Front pastedown and free endpaper with early inked and pencilled inscriptions; tracing and annotation as above. Pages age-toned; one plate with upper portion excised, just shaving top of image.
A quirky copy of a quirky work. (36683)
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Interpreting the Prophets
Theophylactus of Achrida; Lonicer, Jean (trans.). Theophylacti Bulgariae archiepiscopi In quatuor Prophetas enarrationes. Parisiis: Apud Iacobum Bogardum, sub insigni D. Christophori è regione gymnasij Cameracensium, 1549. 8vo (17.5 cm, 6.75’’). [8], 112 ff.
$875.00
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Theophylactus (1055–1107) was a Byzantine archbishop of Achrida, in Bulgaria, and an important theologian whose work was included by Thomas Aquinas in his Catena aurea. First published in Latin in the 1520s, his commentaries on the Scriptures were very influential to Erasmus’s exegetical work. This scarce Parisian edition, based on Bogard’s of 1542, was reprinted by his heirs in cooperation with Jean Macé; the title-pages of the two issues bear slight differences in the imprint information. The work features Theophylactus’s commentary on the Old Testament books of Habakkuk, Jonah, Nahum, and Hosea in Loncier's translation from the Greek, which first appeared in 1534; each chapter discusses their most important vaticinia with Theophylactus' interpretations following, with mention of early Christian heresies and doctrinal debates.
Binding: 16th-century polished calf expertly rebacked in slightly lighter leather; spine plain with raised bands accented by blind rules above and below each band. Covers blind-ruled with large gilt fleurons to corners and gilt floral centerpieces. All edges gilt.
Provenance: Contemporary inscription “Perrot” to title-page (possibly Charles Perrot, 1541–1608, a Protestant minister in Geneva who preached religious tolerance and so fell out of favor with Calvin); slightly later name “Langloir” also inked to same.
Small 19th-century photographic portrait of a military officer pasted to verso of front free endpaper. Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Pettegree & Walsby record two copies, one in the U.S. (Harvard); WorldCat and COPAC find no copies with Bogard’s imprint.
Renouard, Imprimeurs & libraires Parisiens du XVIe siècle, 281; Pettegree & Walsby, French Books, 8834. Bound and rebacked as above, with onetime cracking to covers near joints also strengthened/refurbished with darkening to leather; minor repair to corners, and later endpapers. Text double-ruled in red, with occasional slight toning and a little foxing to the title-page and last three leaves; a slender waterstain to the upper blank margin of the last two leaves and a small repair to the outer blank margin of the last.
A very nice copy in an interesting binding. (40794)
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Considering the
A--------n R---------n
Thickell, Richard. Anticipation: containing the substance of His M------y's most gracious speech to both h-----s of P----l-----t, on the opening of the approaching session.... London: Pr. for T. Becket, 1778. 8vo. vi pp., [1] f., 74 pp. .
$325.00
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Although this is labelled “Second Edition,” it is printed from the same setting of type as the first edition. (Another edition of 1778, also labelled “Second Edition,” is indeed entirely reset and has a shorter collation.) The work attempts to convey the substance of several Parliamentary speeches concerning the American controversy, with at least one Cassandra saying the Franco-American alliance cannot last, and another doubting the war can have any lasting effect on the British economy.
Adams, American Controversy, 78-102b; Sabin 95788. Sewn, later wrappers applied; some foxing. Four leaves chipped along the outer margin, not affecting text. Without the final blank (only); with the half-title. A very good, clean copy. (25497)
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“The Bat . . . Is a Murderous Plaything”
“Thine, Bawlingly.” Something for the admirers of base ball. New York: Glenn Horowitz, 1990. 16mo (21.5 cm, 8.5"). 12, [4] pp.; illus.
$125.00
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Dedicated to the memory of Bart Giamatti and reprinted from the Salem Register of 15 August 1867: a comic account of the trials and tribulations of the game of baseball in its formative years. This is one of 150 copies printed at the Kelly/Winterton Press.
Publisher's paper wrappers.
A fresh, clean copy. (37134)
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Pickering–Chiswick Imitation — Signed Binding
Thomas, à Kempis. De imitatione Christi et contemptu mundi omniumque ejus vanitatum libri IV. Codex De-Advocatis saeculi XIII. Londini: Guil. Pickering (pr. by C. Whittingham at the Chiswick Press), 1851. 12mo (14.4 cm, 5.67"). xxii, 322, [2] pp.
$275.00
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Handsome Chiswick Press production of the enduring classic, here in an equally handsome signed binding. The Latin text opens with a prefatory “Life of Thomas of Kempis” (in English) by Charles Butler and is decorated with ornamental headpieces and capitals. While Pickering had previously published an Imitation of Christ in Latin in 1827, this is the
first Pickering edition printed by Whittingham at the Chiswick Press and “from the edition of Lambinet, with a strict adherence to the text “ (p. xv).
Binding: Signed binding, stamped by Charles Capé at foot of front pastedown: Very simple black morocco, spine with raised bands and gilt-stamped title, place of publication, and date; board edges with gilt rules, pastedowns with gilt dentelle rolls. All edges gilt.Provenance: Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Kelly, Checklist of Books Published by William Pickering, 1851.9; Keynes, William Pickering (rev. ed.), p. 75. Binding as above, original silk bookmark present. Pages gently and evenly age-toned, otherwise clean and fresh.
A desirable copy. (40820)
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Welsh Press / Anglo-Welsh Poet
Thomas, Edward. Selected poems of Edward Thomas. [Newtown, Montgomeryshire, Wales]: The Gregynog Press, 1927. 8vo (23.6 cm, 9.3"). xix, [1], 95, [1] pp.
$275.00
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An early production from the
Gregynog Press, being 67 pieces by an acclaimed early 20th-century poet. The introduction, by Edward Garnett, includes letters from Thomas to Garnett.
This is
numbered copy 173 of 275 printed. The text was set in Garamond type with decorative initials in red and page ruling in blue, and printed by Robert Ashwin Maynard on Japanese vellum.
Harrop, Gregynog Press, 6. Publisher's yellow buckram, spine with gilt-stamped title; sides mildly dust-soiled, spine slightly darkened, back cover with two areas of discoloration near upper edge. Pages gently age-toned and entirely clean. (35245)
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Brought to You by the
Royal Asiatic Society
Thomas, Frederick William, ed. & trans. Tibetan literary texts and documents concerning Chinese Turkestan. Part I: Literary texts. London: The Royal Asiatic Society, 1935. 8vo (21.6 cm, 8.5"). x, 323, [1] pp.
$125.00
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First edition of the first part (only) of a four-part series on Tibetan literary texts presented by the Royal Asiatic Society in their “Oriental Translation Fund” series, this being its vol. XXXII. The Royal Asiatic Society, created in 1823, connected significant scholars of Asian Studies, such as Sir Aurel Stein and Sir Richard Francis Burton, to share science, art, and literature related to Asia.
For this volume, Frederick William Thomas (1867–1956), an English Indologist and Tibetologist, collected and translated all the Tibetan literary texts then known. Several translations are prefaced by explanations of the text's origin and/or or notes on previous studies of it.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear. A portion of Howard's receipt for purchase, dated 1955, is laid in.
Publisher's navy blue cloth with gilt lettering to spine; edges rubbed and extremities bumped, fading to front board, minor gutter crack at p. 96. This offering is pt. I only. A sound, decent copy of this first volume of an intriguing series. (38078)
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Thomas, Joseph. A poetical descant on the primeval and present state of mankind; or, the pilgrim’s
muse. Winchester, Va.: A. Foster, pr., 1816. 12mo (13 cm; 5.25"). 219, [1 (errata)] pp.
$850.00
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Somebody had to be North Carolina’s first native born poet and the task/honor was Joseph Thomas’s, and he did it with A Poetical Descant! It is scarce, having been printed in small format in a small town by a very small-time printer for a rather small audience. Thomas’s other publications include a hymnal and short works of theology (totally fitting given that he was an itinerant preacher), and an autobiography.
Wegelin, American Poetry, 1168; Shaw & Shoemaker 39076. Recent quarter cloth with blue-green paper sides, in the style of early 19th-centry American books. Ex–mercantile library with a few stamps, including on title-page. Two letters of title abraded and mostly invisible, yet, still, a clean copy. (10217)

Printed for The Philobiblon Club by Edmund Thompson at
HAWTHORN HOUSE
Thompson, Lawrance. Emerson and Frost: Critics of their times. Philadelphia: The Philobiblon Club, 1940. Small 8vo (20.5 cm; 8"). 44 pp.
$35.00
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“An essay read before a meeting of the Philobiblon Club at Philadelphia on 24 October 1940, and now privately printed for the Members of the Club” (title-page). The colophon tells us: “Two hundred and fifty copies, printed by Edmund Thompson at Hawthorn House, Windham, Connecticut, were complete on the last day of the year nineteen hundred and forty. The type is Bulmer, hand set; the paper Worthy Charta. The portrait of Emerson is a wood-cut by James Britton, and is issued through the courtesy of Edwin Valentine Mitchell.”
The title-page is printed in black with two blue lines; the portrait of Emerson is in blue on a pale ochre field; the colophon incorporates a large blue “H.”
Lawrance Thompson (1903–73) was a member of the English faculty at Princeton University and the official biographer of Robert Frost.
New. Publisher's gray cloth shelfback with orange-red marbled paper sides. Deckle edges. In the original gray cloth openback slipcase. (35754)
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“The Great Archer of England”
[Thoms, William John]. The noble birth and gallant atchievements [sic] of that remarkable outlaw
Robin Hood. London: William Pickering, 1827. 8vo (21.8 cm, 8.56"). [2], xix, [1], 53, [1] pp.
$750.00
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“Together with a true account of the many merry and extravagant exploits he play'd in twelve several stories: to which is added, the life of Robin Hood, from a manuscript in the British Museum”: A 19th-century printing of a 1678 prose account, offering a particularly roguish take on Robin as a “bold and licentious” outlaw in the days of Henry VIII.
This is the first printing of Thoms' edition; the work was issued separately, and later reprinted as part of the three-volume Collection of Early Prose Romances (1828). WorldCat locates
only four U.S. institutional holdings.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
NSTC 2H28672. This edition not in Kelly, Checklist of Books Published by William Pickering (see 1828.22 for three-volume collection); likewise Keynes, William Pickering (rev. ed.), (see p. 92 as above). Modern pebbled black morocco, front cover with gilt-stamped green morocco title-label, in matching morocco and marbled paper–covered slipcase; slipcase rubbed, volume spine sunned and rubbed. Pages faintly age-toned with scattered small spots of light foxing. (37602)
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“Come, Gentle Spring, Ethereal Mildness, Come”
Thomson, James. The poetical works of James Thomson: comprising all his pastoral, dramatic, lyrical and didactic poems and a few of his juvenile productions: with A life of the author. London: William Tegg & Co., 1850. 18mo (16.3 cm, 6.375"). lxxii, 681, [3] pp.
$125.00
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Handsome second edition of this collection of poetry by James Thomson (1700–48), writer of the British patriotic song, “Rule, Britannia!” and best known as author of “The Seasons” — a tetralogy of lengthy blank-verse celebrations of the countryside's landscape that influenced not only poets but artists such as Thomas Gainsborough, J.M.W. Turner, and Joseph Haydn.
Patrick Murdoch's short biographical piece on Thomson is included here, as well as a preface by James Nichols and notes from the editor.
Stunning engravings signed by English engravers John Gilbert and William Greatbach appear throughout, protected by tissue guards.
Binding: Dark teal(?) morocco darkened to black with beveled boards and intricate decoration in blind; gilt lettering and additional blind decoration to spine. Marbled endpapers, all edges gilt and gauffered. Binder's ticket of Poulter of Leamington on front pastedown.
Evidence of Readership: Two rather interestingly late-dated notes of reading completion (August and September 1942), in pencil in margins.
Provenance: Signature and initials of V.C. Turnbull on verso of front free endpaper; another owner's notes on place/price of purchase on the same page.
Bound as above, refurbished. Lacks half-title; frontispiece and several plates lightly foxed, offsetting to tissue guards from plates, and small, sparse spots of staining to several leaves. Pencillings as above plus one pencilled marginal rule.
A lovely collection, delicately detailed plates, and an excellent binding. (37350)
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“Spectacle de la Nature” — Illustrated
Thomson, James; Marie Jeanne de Chatillon Bontemps, trans. Les saisons, poème traduit de l'anglais de Thompson. Paris: Didot Jeune, 1796. 8vo (24 cm, 9.45"). 272 pp.; 4 plts.
$300.00
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French prose rendition of Thomson's massively popular sequence The Seasons, done by Marie Jeanne de Chatillon Bontemps. The four poems were first published together in 1730, with Bontemps's translation appearing in 1759; this is the first edition (here in its second issue, following the first of the previous year, with a new half-title and title-page) illustrated with
four seasonally themed, copper-engraved plates designed by Jean-Jacques-François Le Barbier (l’aîné) and engraved by Pierre Baquoy, Dupréel, Dambrun, and Patas under his direction. A search of WorldCat finds only two U.S. institutions reporting holdings, both in New York (Columbia University and the Morgan Library).
Binding: Early 19th-century quarter sheep with marbled paper–covered sides, spine neatly, handsomely ornamented with gilt-stamped title and date in roman numerals, blind-tooled raised bands, and elegantly gilt-stamped stylized floral motifs in five compartments.
Provenance: From the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).
Brunet, V, 836; Cohen-de Ricci 991–992. On Le Barbier, see: Ray, I, 76–77. Bound as above; joints and spine extremities refurbished, sides lightly rubbed and edges more so. Pages faintly age-toned; edges untrimmed. Plates with spots of foxing mostly confined to margins.
A beloved 18th-century work in an interesting French form, with striking plates and very attractive on the shelf. (40598)
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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)
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BEWICK-Illustrated HERBAL
Thornton, Robert John. A new family herbal: Or popular account of the natures and properties of the various plants used in medicine, diet, and the arts. London: Richard Phillips (pr. by Richard Taylor & Co.), 1810. 8vo (24.1 cm, 9.5"). xvi, 901, [1 (adv.)] pp.; illus.
$850.00
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First edition: “A more complete and perfect herbal than has hitherto appeared . . . intended to unite the various advantages that have been derived to science from [Andrew Duncan's] 'Edinburgh New Dispensatory'” (p. vii). Compiled by an English physician and botanist remembered for his magnificent Temple of Flora, the present pharmaceutical treatise lists and describes the uses of 283 plants
illustrated with 261 wood engravings by Thomas Bewick. According to Johnston, this represents Bewick's “only attempt at botanical wood engravings,” based on designs by Peter Charles Henderson. Dr. Thornton was the author of A Grammar of Botany and The Philosophy of Botany, as well as The Temple of Flora,
In addition to the expectable lavender, chaste tree, burdock, lungwort, etc., also present here are discussions of Chinese smilax, coffee, tea, the Peruvian bark tree, ginseng, sarsaparilla, pimento (“Jamaica Pepper”), and tobacco.
Provenance: Front cover with gilt-stamped armorial device of Dr. Alfred Freer of Stourbridge, Worcestershire: out of a ducal coronet, an antelope's head.
NSTC T941; Hugo, Bewick Collector, 253; Johnston, Cleveland Herbal, Botanical, and Horticultural Collections, 745; Nissen 1954; Pritzel 9238; Rohde, Old English Herbals, 224 (listing Crosby ed. only). Contemporary calf, covers framed in blind roll and single gilt fillet, spine with blind-tooled compartment decorations; binding rubbed and scuffed overall, spine label now absent with traces remaining, repair work to splits in spine leather and to short tear from inner margin of front free endpaper, joints and extremities refurbished. Front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription (“C.M.W.”) dated 1912. Dedication tipped in. Pages gently age-toned with scattered foxing; small inkstain to upper fore-edge of first 30 ff., barely extending onto pages. One contents leaf with short tear (just touching text, without loss) and old repair in lower outer corner. A now solid, even rather distinguished-looking copy of a desirable pharmacopeia
exquisitely illustrated. (36043)
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With a List of Members of the Philobiblon Club in 1945
Thorp, Willard. The lost tradition of American letters. Philadelphia: Privately Printed for The Philobiblon Club, 1945. 8vo (24 cm; 9.5"). 26, [1] pp.
$25.00
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Thorp (1899–1990) was a literary historian, an editor, and a critic who taught at Princeton University for more than 40 years. Here he seeks to resurrect interest in 19th-century American literature. He gave this paper as a talk to the Philobiblon Club in 1945, and the last three pages contain a list of members of the club at that time.
New. Bound, as issued, in quarter blue linen with marbled paper boards, title stamped in gold on spine. With the glassine wrapper. (35759)
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Dispatches from the Frontier
Thorpe, Thomas Bangs. Our army on the Rio Grande. Being a short account of the important events transpiring from the time of the removal of the “Army of Occupation” from Corpus Christi, to the surrender of Matamoros; with descriptions of the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, the bombardment of Fort Brown, and the ceremonies of the surrender of Matamoros: with descriptions of the city, etc. etc. Philadelphia: Carey and Hart, 1846. 8vo (17.7 cm, 7"). [2] ff., ix, [10]–300 pp.; 9 pls.
$450.00
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Detailed descriptions of travel, battle, and business with Mexico form a captivating narrative in this edition illustrated with
nine full-page wood-engraved plates by Gilbert and Gihon (counting the frontispiece), and
17 engravings in text, including one full-page plan of Matamoros, Fort Brown, and environs.
This copy has the officers'
official reports (pp. 197–300), sometimes lacking.
Howes T-236; Sabin 95665; Basic Texas Books 205. Recently rebound in glazed black moiré cloth, title gilt on leather spine label, edges lightly speckled brown. Ex-library with pressure-stamps on added illustrated title-page and title-page; no other markings. Browning at edges throughout and light cockling from sometime damp on all leaves; brown-liquid spatters not impairing reading on ten or so pages. Only a “good” copy and so priced, this gives a fine glimpse of Mexico at the onset of the
Mexican-American War. (26481)
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“The Proprietor of the Late Edition of Puckle's Club . . . Trusts [This]
Cannot Fail to Interest the Lovers of the Fine Arts. . . .”
Thurston, John. Illustrations to Puckle's club: printed (for the proprietor) in colours, from the original blocks, and limited to one hundred impressions. [London?]: Printed (for the proprietor) [by R. Ackermann], 1820. 8vo (24.6 cm; 9.75"). [3] pp, 24 color plates.
$750.00
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The engraved illustrations from the 1817 edition of James Puckle's The Club. This is an
alphabet of fools, knaves, and other types of immoral or unpleasant characters with one “wise” exception only, presented in
25 wood engravings printed in colors, produced from the original blocks and mounted on India paper. English engraver and illustrator John Thurston designed them and John Thompson, the English wood engraver best known for his work in History of British Birds, cut them; each rectangular image is set within a printed double-ruled border and its subject is labelled (e.g., “Buffoon,” “Hypocrite,” “Swearer,” etc.).
Puckle's story, a moral dialogue between a father and son, has been reprinted numerous times. The edition with Thurston's illustrations was reprinted as recently as the year 1900; the wood-engraved monogram of Edward Walmsley, editor of the original 1817 edition, appears on the title-page of this volume.
Binding: Original red paper–covered boards with black lettering and double-ruled border to title on front board.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
WorldCat has located only ten institutional copies.
Bound as above; rubbed, soiled, and scraped with wrinkling to rear board. Minor gutter crack at the seventh illustration. Pages untrimmed. Housed in a modern red cloth slipcase, faded, with lettering on spine reading “Illustrations to Puckle's Club — Original Boards — 1820.
A copy complete, clean, and in original boards, containing wonderful engravings. (37777)
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“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)
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