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Berhardt Wall's Works:
“A Prize of the Cognoscenti, a Delight for Collectors, & the Pride of Librarians”
Weber, Francis J. Following Bernhardt Wall 1872–1956. Austin, TX: The Book Club of Texas, 1994. Folio (29.9 cm, 11.75"). [2], 63, [1] pp.; 5 col. plts., col. illus.
$450.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Weber's account of the life and works of Wall, known as the “Postcard King,” an American artist, historian, and pioneer of etching. Originally published in 1974 as a miniature volume, the work appears here in an
expanded full-sized presentation designed and typeset by Castle Press and printed by Patrick Reagh Printers, limited to 195 copies (this example unnumbered). Like the first edition, this one is illustrated with mounted intaglio reproductions by Anthony Kroll — but this one additionally features a number of examples of Wall's work printed from the original plates, five colored photogravure reproductions of etchings by Wall, and one
original postcard (with writing on the reverse).
Publisher's speckled paper–covered boards with gray cloth shelfback, front cover with printed paper label, in plain paper dust jacket with printed spine label and in coordinating paper and cloth slipcase; jacket spine very slightly sunned, slipcase and volume clean and crisp.
A beautiful tribute to an important American illustrator. (37130)

A Poem Commemorating
Fifteen Lost Smokejumpers
(50 COPIES)
Weil, James L. Mann Gulch. New York: Kelly Winterton Press, 2000. 12mo (19.1 cm; 7.5"). [5] ff.
$100.00
Click the images for enlargements.
This short poem remembering the smokejumpers who died in 1949 during the Mann Gulch fire was printed by the Kelly Winterton Press, an American press founded in 1978.
The edition was limited to 50 copies only.
The colophon notes that this text was printed from Bembo, Cleland Initial, and Sistina types on Niddegen paper.
Rose wrappers with black lettering on front; spine gently faded. Light pencilling on front endpaper. A simple yet elegant production. (36075)
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English Countryside, Captured by a German-Born Artist
Weissenborn, Hellmuth. Country scenes: 1. Wood-engravings by Hellmuth Weissenborn. [Whittington, Gloucestershire]: Whittington Press, 2001. 12mo (14.8 cm, 5.875"). [32] pp.; illus. [with the same illustrator's] Country scenes: 2. Wood-engravings by Hellmuth Weissenborn. [Whittington, Gloucestershire]: Whittington Press, 2001. 12mo (14.8 cm, 5.875"). [32] pp.; illus.
[SOLD]
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“Hellmuth probably engraved these two sets of images sometime in the 1940s. He had left Germany in 1939, and there are echoes of his homeland in both sets of engravings, perhaps a nostalgia for the countryside he had left behind” (J[ohn] R[andle], 1, p. [3]). In the first collection, each seasonally themed illustration is captioned simply with its appropriate month, printed in red; in the second, each illustration is faced by lines from “The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke, printed in green. 250 copies of the set were printed in Goudy Modern on Rosa paper, then bound in Canson Ingres by The Fine Bindery.
Publisher's printed paper wrappers, in maroon paper slipcase. Crisp and clean, virtually
pristine. (37167)
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Wells, Seth Youngs. Millennial praises, containing a collection of gospel hymns, in four parts; adapted to the day of Christ's second appearing. Composed for the use of his people. Hancock: Pr. by Josiah Tallcott, jr., 1813. 12mo. viii, 288, [4 (adv.)] pp.
$3500.00
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First edition of the very first Shaker hymnal, including the text without music for 140 hymns. The work also has the distinction of being the first book from a Shaker press, having been preceded only by broadsides and pamphlets. That the Hancock printers were still learning their art is evident by the at times wobbly impression of the type, the sudden shift to a smaller point size in part of the table of contents, etc. But it is a noble effort.
This work appeared during the period of American Shaker history when attention was expended on codifying Shaker beliefs and practices. This is the first attempt to codify the hymnal.
Shaw & Shoemaker 30511; Richmond 1416. Full original calf, plain style, rubbed overall with small chips on front cover; chip at head of spine, front joint starting. Paper browned, and some stains; a bit of blue crayon doodling in blank area of top left
corner of p. 50. Early leaves with stitch holes in inner margin, not touching text; three leaves with tears, not affecting text. Ex–theological library with area of spine blacked out where call number once was; library name and five-digit number rubber-stamped on front pastedown, accession number inked and rubber-stamped at base of p. [iii]. (21139)
Westropp, Hodder Michael; & Charles Staniland Wake. Ancient symbol worship. Influence of the phallic idea in the religions of antiquity. New York: J.W. Bouton & London: Trübner & Co., 1874. 8vo (24.7 cm, 9.75"). 98, [6 (adv.)] pp.
$200.00
First edition: Two papers read before the Anthropological Society of London on 5 April, 1870, discussing artifacts and religious practices connected to various literal and allegorical phallic representations. The illustrations found in the second edition were issued there for the first time.
The advertisement leaves are devoted specifically to books of phallic subject matter.
NSTC 0803266; Allibone, Critical Dictionary, 1505. Publisher’s green cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped medallion, spine with gilt-stamped title; cloth rubbed at corners and pulled at spine extremities, board edges lightly discolored. Pencilled owner’s name in upper margin of title-page. Title-page and two others pressure-stamped; preface with inked annotation and stamped numeral. Pages slightly age-toned, else clean. (20486)

Lappish Devotionals Rare, by Our Tracing
Wexels, Wilhelm Andreas. Rokkus-ja oappo-girje. Samas jårggaluvvum. Kristianiast: Kr. Gröndahl lut prenttijuvvum, 1840. [1] f., 209, [1 blank] pp.
$450.00
Click the interior image for an enlargement.
Devotional exercises in Lappish. This translation of “Bønne-og leerebog,” excerpted from Wexels's Andagtsbog, was done by Niels Joachim Christian Vibe Stockfleth.
NUC Pre-1956 locates only one U.S. library reporting ownership (Newberry); WorldCat adds no others.
Quarter recent leather over marbled boards; spine with gilt-stamped title label and five raised bands, two inscribed lines above and below each gilt band. Edges stained green. A handsome copy. (24884)
Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome. London: Macmillan & Co., 1912. 8vo (18.8 cm, 7.4"). [2], 195, [1 (blank)] pp.
$250.00
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Early U.K. issue of the first edition of one of Wharton’s most widely read novels, though possibly not the most representative of her works; critically acclaimed from its first appearance in 1911, Ethan Frome has been in print continuously ever since, and has become a staple of the Western literary canon. This printing has a cancel title-page dated 1912 instead of 1911, and is the first English printing to incorporate several text corrections as described by Garrison, but is otherwise identical to the Scribners issues of 1911, and shows the expected type batter in “wearily” on p. 135, line 21.
Garrison A.19.1.f. Publisher’s cloth, front cover and spine stamped in gold; lacking the very scarce dustjacket, with spine sunned, and cloth wrinkled over lower portion of back cover. Pages clean. (15731)
Wheatley, James. An extract of the life and death of Mr. John Janeway. London: John Paramore, 1783. 12mo (19 cm, 7.5"). 40 pp.
$300.00
Originally printed in 1749, this piece was excerpted and edited by James Wheatley from James Janeway’s Invisibles, realities, demonstrated in the holy life and triumphant death of Mr. John Janeway. John Janeway was a Puritan scholar who died at an early age; his brother’s account of his religious experiences was considered exemplary reading for quite some time, and went through numerous editions.
The title-page proclaims “This book is not to be sold, but given away.”
ESTC N9602. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper label. Title-page with repairs to margins and one page crease; title-page verso rubber-stamped by a now-defunct institution. First few leaves with inner margins repaired. Pages untrimmed, and gently age-toned. (20365)

Haters Gonna Hate: Whistler vs. the Critics — The Unauthorized First Edition
Whistler, James McNeill. The gentle art of making enemies: Edited by Sheridan Ford. New York [i.e., Antwerp]: “Frederick Stokes & Brother”, 1890. 12mo (17.4 cm, 6.9"). [8], xi–xvii, [2], 21–256, [6 (2 adv.)] pp.
$2500.00
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First edition: Collected exchanges of letters in which the artist harangues his critics, including arch-nemesis John Ruskin, Oscar Wilde, Tom Taylor, Harry Quilter, Theodore Child, and many others. Whistler's sarcasm and venom know no bounds, nor does his commitment to defending his aesthetic philosophy.
This pirated edition, quickly suppressed by Whistler, was produced immediately after the artist first gave and then withdrew publishing permission from the American journalist Sheridan Ford. It thus preceded the author's printing, and differs notably from the later, officially published text, providing
more Wilde correspondence as well as record of the final bitter spat between Ford and Whistler — and it gives only Ford's name on the cover, spine, and title-page, with no mention of Whistler himself until he appears in the preliminary note.
While Ford used the Stokes name on this Antwerp printing (and again later in the same year on a Parisian printing to which he resorted after Whistler's representatives successfully halted the Belgian production and confiscated most of the existing copies), Stokes denied having been involved in any way.
Provenance: Inked inscription of noted educator and book collector Jahu Dewitt Miller on final blank page.
For the story of Ford's pirated edition, see: E.R. & J. Pennell's Life of Whistler, 1908, V. II chap. 34, pp. 100–13. Publisher's heavy gray paper wrappers, front wrapper with title stamped in red; spine creased and sunned, corners rubbed, rear wrapper very unobtrusively reinforced. Now housed in a violet cloth–covered chemise and a quarter deep purple morocco and violet cloth–covered slip case, with outer box edge and case spine and front cover sunned, case showing light shelfwear overall. Front two fly-leaves with short tear from upper margin; a very few instances of light spotting, generally not occurring within text. With laid-in auction catalogue information regarding publication and textual details; final blank page with inked inscription as above. Now very uncommon. (36545)
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White of Savannah OPINES as to
England
White,
Joshua E. Letters on England: Comprising descriptive scenes; with remarks on the state of society, domestic economy, habits of the people, and condition of the manufacturing classes generally.... Philadelphia: M. Carey (pr. by William Fry), 1816. 8vo (23.5 cm, 9.4"). 2 vols. I: xv, [1], 358 pp. II: xi, [1], 324 pp.
$400.00
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First trade edition, following an issue of the same year privately printed for the author, here in an uncut copy in the original paper-covered boards. White, an American “of Savannah,” provides his impressions of British culture in London,
Oxford, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, and elsewhere in England — with many comparisons to the contemporary state of affairs in the United States.
Shaw & Shoemaker 39807; Smith, Americans Abroad, W66. Contemporary paper-covered boards, spines with printed paper labels; darkened and worn, vol. I with covers detached and paper cracked over spine, vol. II with front joint open though presently holding Front pastedowns with bookplates of the Salem Library Company; vol. I with early inked inscriptions to endpapers and half-title. Light to moderate foxing, no other stains. (18430)
BEFORE His Falling-Out with
the Wesleys — Travels in Georgia
Whitefield, George. A journal of a voyage from London to Savannah in Georgia. In two parts. Part I. From London to Gibraltar. Part II. From Gibraltar to Savannah. [bound with the same author's] A continuation of the Reverend Mr. Whitefield's journal from his arrival at Savannah, to his return to London. London: Pr. for James Hutton, 1739. 8vo. [2] ff., 38 pp., [1] f. London: Pr. for James Hutton, 1739. 8vo. 55, [1 (blank)] pp.
$2000.00
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George Whitefield (1714–70), a Calvinist preacher who had also been an early follower of the Wesleys during the nascent years of Methodism, was a prime mover in the Great Awakening in the English colonies in American during the second quarter of the 18th century. The present works recount his travel to and in Georgia in aid of the Wesleys' efforts there; the Continuation offers half a dozen pages speaking to time spent in Ireland.
Fifth edition of the Voyage from London and second edition of the Continuation.
Voyage from London: Sabin 103534; Alden & Landis 739/343; ESTC T29204. Continuation: Sabin 103535 & 103538; Alden & Landis 739/340; ESTC T34033 & T34025. Recent full calf antique-style with gilt concentric panels on covers and gilt corner-devices on same; round spine with raised bands, each accented by gilt rules. 19th-century wood-engraved portrait of Whitefield added as a frontispiece. A very pleasing volume. (21775)
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“I Never Did Pretend to These Extraordinary Operations of Working Miracles”
Whitefield, George. The Rev. Mr. Whitefield’s answer, to the Bishop of London’s last pastoral letter. London: Pr. by W. Strahan for J. Oswald, 1739. 8vo (20.6 cm, 8.1"). 27, [1] pp. (without half-title and final adv. leaf).
$550.00
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First edition: The Rev. Whitefield's reply to Bishop Edmund Gibson, who had rebuked Whitefield for presenting himself as an “enthusiast” who received direct revelation from God. Whitefield (1714–70), a Calvinistic Methodist whose friendship with John Wesley ended over theological disputes, was a controversial evangelist, a prolific sermonist, and a prime mover in the American Great Awakening of the mid-18th century.
Here he not only rebuts Gibson's charges, but also accuses the Church of England of preaching false doctrine.
ESTC T44854; Sabin 103577. Recent quarter calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-ruled raised bands. Lacking half-title and final advertisement leaf; p. 3 incorrectly numbered 1, matching ESTC's description. Pages lightly age-toned, a few with small areas of staining in outer margins. (25955)
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Bird & Bull Press — Clubs Compared
Whitehill, Walter Muir. The Club of Odd Volumes, Boston, 1887–1973. [Philadelphia]: Printed for The Philobiblon Club [by the] Bird & Bull Press, 1973. 8vo (23 cm; 9"). 13, [1 (colophon)] pp.
$75.00
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This is the text of “an address given to the Philobiblon Club on 19 April, 1973.” Whitehill, the former director and librarian of the Boston Athenaeum, begins by pointing to
similarities between social organizations in Boston and Philadelphia and then gives a history of
the Club of Odd Volumes, the Boston book collecting club founded in 1887.This brief history was printed in an edition of 250 copies at the Bird & Bull Press. The Press's bibliography says: “Title line and colophon [are printed] in Arrighi; the text [is] printed in Garamond type on Hodgkinson's Bird & Bull paper” and the wrappers are “Burnt Sienna roller-printed paste paper . . . [with the] title on [a] paper label on [the] upper cover.”
Taylor & Morris, Twenty-one Years of Bird & Bull, B3. New. Publisher's “burnt sienna” patterned wrappers as above. (35763)
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Strawberry Hill
Press Book
Whitworth, Charles Whitworth, Baron. An account of Russia as it was in the year 1710. [Twickenham]: Printed at Strawberry-Hill, 1758. Small 8vo (18 cm; 7.25"). xxiv, 158, [2] pp.
$825.00
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First edition and sole Strawberry Hill edition; second and third editions appeared from other publishers in 1761 and 1771. As handsomely printed a work as one would expect of Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill press, this bears a title-page offering an engraved vignette of Strawberry Hill and presents Walpole's account of the author and his assessment of the Account as an “Advertisement” occupying pp. [iii]–xxiv. The errata appear on the last leaf.
Limited to 700 copies.
Whitworth was perhaps the most effective English ambassador to Russia in the first half of the 18th century. His Account was originally written for the foreign office and remained in manuscript till Walpole printed it. The DNB (on-line) writes of it, “Succinct and perceptive, it was a survey of Petrine Russia which held its readership through to the century's end and beyond.”
Horace Walpole (1717–97), the 4th earl of Orford, is best remembered as the author of the Gothic novel The Castle of Otranto. Among bibliophiles he is also remembered for his private press, variously known as the Officina Arbutana or the Strawberry Hill Press. Walpole's almost fantastic wealth allowed him the connoisseur's luxury of maintaining this noble enterprise, which he operated in the arena of the rebirth of fine printing in Great Britain that was being carried on by the Foulis brothers, Baskerville, and others.
Provenance: 20th-century bookplate of William & Helena Hand.
Hazen (1973 ed.), Bibliography of the Strawberry Hill Press, 5; ESTC T138827; Rothschild 2560; Cox, I, 195. Contemporary sprinkled calf, gilt spine extra, gilt dull; joints and hinges with good repairs. Two old booksellers' descriptions taped to front pastedown. Off-setting from the turn-ins on the front and rear free endpapers and fly-leaves, title-page, and errata leaf; else, quite clean. A handsome book. (26862)
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Literature, Philosophy, Politics — Americana!
Wieland, Christoph Martin, ed. Der teutsche Merkur. Weimar : Im Verlag der Gesellschaft, 1774–76. Small 8vo (19 cm; 7.5"). 1774: 2 vols. (of 4). II: [1] f., 365, [1] pp. III: 397, [3] pp. 1775: 2 vols. (of 4). I: 286 pp., [1] f., [6] ff. of original wrapper. II: 286 pp., [1] f., [6] ff. of original wrappers. 1776: 2 vols. (of 4). I: [1] f., 290 pp., 4 plates II: 310 pp. [1] ff., 3 plates.
$750.00
Click the images for enlargements.
In this monthly journal of criticism and original German literature, three monthly issues constituted a volume. Present here for 1774 are vols. 2 and 3 (April–September), for 1775 are vols. 1 and 2 (January–June), and for 1776 also 1 and 2.
The volumes for 1775 have
retained their original green paper printed wrappers. The plates in the 1776 volumes are essentially frontispieces, being engraved portraits of Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg, Johannes Fichard, Wilibald Pirckhaimer, Sebastian Brandt, Ulrich von Hutten, and Hans Sachs.
Political coverage is secondary to the literary and philosophical content here, but
in the 1776 volumes the coverage for England is almost exclusively devoted to America.
The journal's editor, Wieland (1733–1813), was a complex figure of the German Enlightenment: a poet, novelist, political theorist, and pedagogue. His critical review/journal was of considerable influence.
Provenance: Duplicates (with no markings) of the Harold Jantz Collection (i.e., ex–Duke University).
Volume 2 for 1774: Modern marbled boards; considerable foxing and some waterstaining. Volume 3 for 1774: Contemporary wrappers of brown paper sprinkled with black; uncut; considerable foxing and some waterstain lines. Volumes for 1775: the two are bound in one volume of brown leather, spine darkened to black and flaking; plain endpapers. Binding shows wear, but text clean. Volumes for 1776: Contemporary calf, gilt spines; covers with some stains and abraded at edges, some distressing of the spines. Interesting “wallpaper” endpapers in blue-green and white of a floral and wave pattern. Good++ condition. Very definitely a mixed, partial set and definitely an interesting array of presentations. (35274)
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The Anonymously Published First Editon — A Change in Direction forWieland
[Wieland, Christoph Martin]. Musarion, oder die Philosophie der Grazien. Ein Gedicht, in drey Büchern. Leipzig: Bey Weidmanns Erben und Reich, 1768. 8vo. 96 pp.
$500.00
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As a writer, Wieland (1733–1813) evolved and changed course multiple times. The Adventures of Don Sylvio is his
first novel, all previous endeavors having been poetry, and it dates from his post-pietistic stage during which his works show the influence of English and other writers. Clearly Cervantes is paramount here, but other influences that scholars have found shaping the characters of the romance are Fielding's Tom Jones, Richardson's Joseph Andrews, and even Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice.Wieland's poetry of the late 1760s and early 1770s, offering light and graceful romances, had great appeal among the public. In Musarion, here in the anonymously published first edition, he explores the nature of love and advocates a rational unity of the sensual and spiritual.
An interesting work by this German Enlightenment writer.
Recent boards covered with German-style brown paper speckled with black. Title-page with its
memorable engraved vignette cut down and mounted, and browned from this with next three leaves browned also at edges; last leaf torn into text and repaired ham-handedly on verso, covering small portions of six letters and the tailpiece. Otherwise light age-toning and a small amount of foxing. A work not widely held. (34221)
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“Love, When We Met, 'Twas Like Two Planets Meeting.”
Wilcox, Ella Wheeler. Poems of pleasure. Chicago: W.B. Conkey Co., (1902). 8vo (19.7 cm; 7.75"). 158 pp, [2] ads.
[SOLD]
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A collection of poetry by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, known for her
optimistic and plainly written rhyming verse. She is probably best remembered as the author of the immortal “Laugh, and the world laughs with you; / Weep, and you weep alone”; though never favored by critics, she enjoyed an enormous readership and the adoration of many who found resonance in her positive spirituality.
This is a later edition, the first having appeared in 1888. It includes a black and white frontispiece of Wilcox and the poems are divided into three sections: Passional, philosophical, and miscellaneous.
Binding: Maroon cloth stamped with intertwined gilt thorny vines bearing gilt edged green leaves, stems terminating in black-stamped roses. Binding unsigned; same design with different-colored leaves used on the author's Maurine.
Bound as above, edges rubbed; interior clean.
A very pleasant collection in a very pretty, “emblematic” binding. (37491)
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Tideline Press: Deluxe Set, Signed & with Illumination
Wild, Peter; Elaine Scull, illus. The island hunter trilogy: Pioneers, The Cavalryman, and The Island Hunter. [NY]: Tideline Press, 1976. Oblong 8vo (16.5 cm, 6.5"). 3 vols. Each [24] pp.; illus.
$350.00
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Handsome fine press printing: a set of three volumes of Wild's poetry, illustrated by Elaine Scull, printed and bound by Leonard Seastone at Tideline Press, part of an edition of 150 “regular” copies and and present here as
lettered copy S of 26 deluxe gold-illuminated, casebound copies, signed at the colophon by the author, printer, and artist.
Bindings: Publisher's paper-covered boards in light blue, light green, and taupe; covers blind-stamped each with author, volume title, and
a landscape image drawn from the double-spread title-page.
Bound as above, spines slightly sunned and spotted; each volume with small faint trace of now-absent shelf label. Pages clean and fresh.
A very nice trio. (41344)
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Orthopaedics
Wilhelm, Philipp. Uber den Bruch des Schlüsselbeines und über die verschiedenen Methoden denselben zu heilen. Würzburg: Gedruckt bey Carl Wilhelm Becker, 1822. 8vo (21.5 cm, 8.5"). 87, [3] pp.; 2 fold. plts.
$450.00
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Young Dr. Wilhelm (1798–1840) discusses fractures of the clavicle and their treatment, and in one of the
two large folding lithographic plates illustrates a device for supporting the area of the body connected by muscle and sinew to the clavicle in order to speed recovery.
Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only three U.S. libraries (CtY, DNLM, PPCP) reporting ownership.
Provenance: 19th-century stamp of the Medic. Chirug. Bibliothek Altenburg (on front wrapper and title-page, but NOT on plates). Most recently in the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).
Original blue-green wrappers. Waterstaining to wrappers at spine and onto covers and at rear on portions of the folding plates. Else very nice. (39793)
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Everything Victorians Knew about Ancient Egypt, COMPILED — Illustrated in Color
Wilkinson, John Gardner; Samuel Birch, ed. The manners and customs of the ancient Egyptians. London: John Murray (pr. by William Clowes & Sons), 1878. 8vo (23 cm, 9"). 3 vols. I: xxx, 510 pp.; 12 plts. (of which 5 col. & 6 fold.), illus. II: xii, 515, [1] pp.; 5 plts. (of which 2 col. & 2 fold.), illus. III: xi, [1], 528 pp.; 12 plts. (of which 2 col. fold. & 10 fold.; full-page illus. incl. in pagination), illus.
$400.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition of this revised and corrected version of
the work that helped launch Egyptomania among the 19th-century English masses. A dedicated traveller and independent scholar, Wilkinson (1797–1875) was at the forefront of British Egyptology — as was editor Birch (1813–1885), keeper of Egyptian antiquities at the British Museum — and this massive, detail-packed study of ancient Egyptian history and culture, first printed in 1837, brought him both general fame and a knighthood.
This three-volume set is
extensively illustrated with hundreds of in-text wood engravings as well as the 72 remarkable plates, many based on Wilkinson's own drawings. (Please note that this total follows the publisher's practice, which includes in the count of plates a number of the third volume's full-page illustrations with printed text on the reverse.)
Nine of the plates are printed in color, and 19 are oversized folding images.
Contemporary speckled calf rebacked some time ago with original spines laid on, covers framed in gilt roll; spines gilt extra with acanthus motifs and with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels; marbled endpapers and all page edges marbled. Joints rubbed (edges less so) with joints also dry; spine leather of all volumes dry and variously rubbed/chipped; vol. I with volume label chipped and back joint starting from head — priced according to faults yet with all volumes “holding” and more attractive than some of this detail would suggest. Interior very bright and remarkably unfoxed, with a very few scattered spots only; clean and crisp.
Desirable, as an example of this important work. (41532)
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The First Colonial Folio: 20 Years' Worth of
Puritan Thought on the CATECHISM
Willard, Samuel. A compleat body of divinity in two hundred and fifty expository lectures on the Assembly's shorter catechism wherein the doctrines of the Christian religion are unfolded ... and a great light thereby reflected on the present age. Boston: Pr. by B. Green & S. Kneeland for B. Eliot & D. Henchman, 1726. Folio (35 cm, 13.75"). [2], iv, 3, [3], 666, 581–914, [2] pp. (pagination erratic, skips 160–76); complete as issued.
$2500.00
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First edition of the Rev. Willard's collected sermons on the Westminster Shorter Catechism, originally delivered as monthly lectures over 20 years' time. This posthumously printed volume opens with an account of the author, written by the Rev. Ebenezer Pemberton; Willard, one of the last of the great orthodox Puritan preachers of New England, was a clergyman noted for his
opposition to the Salem witchcraft trials and for serving as
acting president of Harvard between the tenures of Increase Mather and John Leverett.
Evans notes that this is “the first folio volume, other than Laws, and
the largest work up to this time printed in the United States.” This was a subscription printing, and includes Benjamin Franklin's father and brother, among other dignitaries, in its list of names; the sheets came from several different presses, and thus “it has fallen out . . . that the Pages for a considerable way, are numbered over again” (p. 666). The title-page is printed in red and black. The binding features
a very unusual 18th-century repair job: to reinforce the joints, an early hand stitched along either side of the front joint and part way down the back.
Provenance: Title-page with inked ownership inscription of T. White, dated 1726, and with inked presentation inscription to Susanna White, dated 1782. Front pastedown with inked inscription of Timothy Badger, 1782; also with 19th-century institutional bookplate and presentation inscription.
Evans 2828; ESTC W30456; Sabin 104075; Streeter Sale 675. Contemporary mottled sheep framed and panelled in blind fillets with corner fleurons, a blind roll around the central panel; small scuffs, extremities rubbed, joints cracked and fragile, with early sewn repairs as above. Front free endpaper partially separated. Inscriptions as above; preface with additional early inked inscription in upper margin and inked numeral in lower margin, a very slim “mag strip” in one gutter margin and no other institutional markings. Pages age-toned and offset with varying degrees of spotting and staining; some corners dog-eared. Three leaves each with short tear from upper margin, just touching text without loss; a few leaves crumpled without tearing. First portion of volume with intermittent early inked marginalia, one note partially shaved. A milestone of early American printing and an interesting copy. (31011)
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Williams's First Published Poem
Williams, C.K. A day for Anne Frank. Philadelphia: The Falcon Press, 1968. 8vo (29.8 cm, 11.75"). [16] pp.; illus.
$875.00
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First edition of Williams's first published work: a poetic meditation inspired by the horrors of the Holocaust, with illustrations based on photographs of concentration camp victims. The volume was designed by Eugene Feldman and Sarah J. Williams, and printed by Feldman; this is
one of 1000 copies issued.
Publisher's printed paper wrappers; tiny amount of rubbing to extremities. A nice copy of this uncommon debut from a major contemporary American poet. (32661)
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H.D., Hemingway, Stein, Marianne Moore, & So Many Others Were His FRIENDS
Williams, William Carlos. The autobiography of William Carlos Williams. New York: Random House, © 1951. 8vo (21.5 cm; 8.5"). xiv, 402 pp.
$450.00
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Signed copy (on the front free endpaper) of the first edition, first printing of Williams' account of his life, friendships, and accomplishments.
Publisher's cloth, hinge (inside) cracked; dust jacket rubbed and crinkled along edges with pieces lost along top and bottom edges especially at spine. Unprice-clipped. VG/G++. (33449)
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Deluxe Comedic Production, Deluxe Binding
Wills, William Henry, ed. Poets' wit and humour. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1861. 8vo (22.8 cm, 9"). [8], 278, [1] pp.; illus.
$975.00
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First U.S. edition: “Illustrated with
one hundred engravings from drawings by Charles Bennett and George H. Thomas.” The work was edited by a friend and collaborator of Charles Dickens; from Chaucer to Swift to “Saint Anthony's Sermon to the Fishes,” Wills's comic selections are delightfully entertaining, and their wood-engraved illustrations equally amusing.
Binding: Publisher's deluxe black calf, covers and spine elaborately embossed and stamped in blind and gilt with central vignette of a cherub dressed as a jester and playing a lyre. All edges gilt.
The embossing plaque is signed with the designer's initials: “R.D.” Robert Dudley. This is an English publisher's binding, most likely done using the English sheets with an Appleton title-page.
This work is rarely found in the deluxe binding: The handsomely gilt-stamped publisher's cloth is the norm.
NSTC 2W24418; Allibone 2762. For binding, see: Morris & Levin, Art of Publisher's Bookbindings, 44. Binding as above, showing minor wear to extremities and front cover vignette, original silk bookmark detached and laid in. Volume slightly shaken with text block starting to pull away from spine; this is the kind of volume that wants to do that, and the reader will want to “cradle” it in hand — that done, no worries. Front fly-leaf with early pencilled gift inscription and with a Maine druggist's small ticket. Mild to moderate foxing.
Both funny and decorative, in a publisher's binding that may fairly be called “DAZZLING.” (26748)
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Scots Verse from the Author-Illustrator of
AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY
[Wilson, Alexander]. [drop-title] The loss of the pack; to which is added The pack's address. [Paisley: G. Caldwell, 1868?]. 16mo (15 cm, 5.88"). 8 pp.
$75.00
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A pair of poems about wandering peddlers and their gear (that is metaphorically to say, their burdens in life — primarily poverty and thwarted love), written in a heavy Scots dialect. The Scottish-born Wilson (1766–1813 ) was briefly a packman himself, before emigrating to America and achieving fame as an ornithologist. He first published The Loss of the Pack in 1795; the publication information for the present copy is suggested by WorldCat.
NSTC 2W24750. Removed from a nonce volume. Pages age-toned.
An unusual ephemeral literary item from the man known as the “Father of American ornithology.” (37236)
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A
SCARCE Labor of Love
Wilson, Douglas. The story of Little Rabbit. [London?: 1973]. Oblong 8vo (15.5 cm, 6.2"). [24] ff.; col. illus.
$450.00
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Artist's book: A self-produced fable apparently (and touchingly) aimed at consoling a little girl after the departure of her pet rabbit. The text is printed on translucent pages overlaying Wilson's hand-colored lithograph illustrations.
This limited edition was hand-printed by Wilson. It is
numbered copy 11 of just 21 printed, and signed by the creator on the front free endpaper.
Publisher's plain yellow cloth–covered boards, showing virtually no wear. A very nice copy of a scarce and charming item, interestingly designed and printed. (33365)
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Human “Novelties” — Illustrated
Wilson, Henry. Wonderful characters [comprising memoirs and anecdotes of the most remarkable persons of every age and nation]. London: J. Robins & Co. Albion Press, 1826 & 1821. 8vo (20.8 cm, 8.2"). 2 vols. (of 3, ONLY). I: Engr. t.-p., iv, 496 pp.; 16 plts. II: Engr. t.-p., [3]–480 pp.; 14 plts. (printed t.-p. lacking in both).
[SOLD]
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Fascinating sketches of such legendary personages as Bampfylde Moore Carew (the cross-dressing self-styled King of the Beggars), Hannah Snell (the “Female Warrior”), the epically absent-minded Rev. George Harvest (who missed his own wedding because he lost track of time while fishing!), Nathaniel Bentley (“Dirty Dick”), Elizabeth Parsons (perpetrator of the “Cock Lane Ghost” fraud), and many more, some whose names are still remembered and others more obscure. Contemporary mindsets are on full display, and some of the subjects are — in a way not always comfortable for modern readers — men, women, and children with physical or mental “deformities.”
The lives are illustrated with a total of
30 engraved plates, done by Robert Page and Robert Cooper, including an image of Peter Williamson in the Native American garb he adopted after his self-proclaimed Indian captivity.
This set, in matched contemporary bindings, comprises the first edition thus of the second volume and the second of the first, as per Allibone.
Allibone, III, 2771; NSTC 2W25254. Contemporary half dark blue calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped red leather title-labels, raised bands with gilt roll, and blind-tooled decorations in compartments; all edges marbled to match sides. Two volumes only, of three; printed title-pages lacking in both volumes. Early pencilled ownership inscription to front fly-leaf of vol. I; one page with pencilled inscription in upper margin. Vol. I with upper outer corners of two leaves torn away (not touching text); one plate with old repair at upper inner corner (just touching corner of frame). Two pages in vol. I with what might be splashes of tea; light waterstaining to inner margin of first text page and to outer portions of a number of plates in vol. II; mild to moderate age-toning and scattered light foxing throughout. Incomplete and priced accordingly; still
fascinating for both the anecdotes and the illustrations. (40364)
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FIRST Grammar & Vocabulary of
This AFRICAN Language?
Wilson, John Leighton. A grammar of the Mpongwe language, with vocabularies. New York: Snowden & Prall, printers, 1847. 8vo (22.5 cm, 9"). 94 pp., 2 fold. tables.
$500.00
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One of the first books printed in the Mpongwe dialect of the Myene language spoken by a small group of Bantus living in Gabon. It is also almost certainly the
first published grammar of any dialect of this African language. According to the 1848 report of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, John Leighton Wilson was chiefly responsible for preparing it for publication.
Wilson, a South Carolinian, was educated in New York City, and he and his wife, Jane Bayard Wilson, were the first missionaries sent to West Africa by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. They were first settled at Cape Palmas, Liberia, working among the Grebo, but in 1842 moved to Gabon and worked among the Mpongwe. Ill health forced their return to the us in 1850, never to return to Africa.
The two folding tables are printed on very thin tissue or “tracing”-like paper. In addition to the grammar and the vocabularies there is also
a printing of the parable of the prodigal son in Mpongwe with a literal translation into English done interlinearly.
Provenance: Deaccessioned from the Bowdoin College library.
Publisher's marbled paper covered boards, brown leather shelfback, original title label on front board; light abrasions only, and some soiling to label. Browning to endpapers, some chipping and crinkling to edges and corners, intermittent spotting and soiling; ex-library with partially removed bookplate on front pastedown, embossed stamps on title-leaf and two others, no other markings. (41081)
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MPONGWE Grammar & Vocabulary
[Wilson, John Leighton?]. Heads of Mpongwe grammar; containing most of the principles needed by a learner. By a late missionary. New York: Mission House, 1879. 8vo (23.5 cm, 8.25"). 59, [1], 54 [i.e., 52] pp.
$425.00
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The attribution of authorship to Wilson is very tenuous and most probably wrong. It is based on the author's preface noting that Wilson's 1847 brief outline of Mpongwe grammar is the basis of the work, but the writer also says that he has been seven years absent from Gabon. Wilson had left Gabon in 1852 and did not return.
Mpongwe is a dialect of the Myene language spoken by a small group of Bantus living in Gabon. In addition to the grammar here, a second pagination is dedicated to “A vocabulary of the Mpongwe language, [compiled] by American missionaries at Gaboon [as it was spelled then], West Africa.” It has its own title-page and is sometimes found separately, although it was clearly issued with the grammar and is mentioned in gilt along with the Heads on the front cover of the binding here.
“List of Grammars, etc., of the Languages of Africa,” p, 540, in the Bulletin of the New York Public Library, vol. 13. Publisher's reddish brown cloth with titles in gilt on front board; boards with dampstaining and board edges with silverfish or other similar insect damage. Internally very clean and very good. (41077)
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Polynesia & Tahiti — 7 Maps & 6 Plates — Absorbing Narratives
Wilson, William, ed. & illus. A missionary voyage to the southern Pacific Ocean, performed in the years 1796, 1797, 1798, in the ship Duff, commanded by Captain James Wilson. Compiled from journals of the officers and the missionaries; and illustrated with maps, charts, and views ... London: Pr. by S. Gosnell for T. Chapman, 1799. 4to (28.5 cm, 11.25"). [12], c, 420, [12] pp.; 7 fold. maps, 6 plts.
$2000.00
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First edition. This account of a mission to Polynesia and Tahiti (funded by the London Missionary Society) supplies, it must be said, much more by way of the missionary travellers' interested observations of lands and people's exotic to them than it does reports of the proselytizations they pursued; it was compiled by chief mate William Wilson from his own journals and those of Captain James Wilson. Dr. Thomas Haweis, co-founder of the London Missionary Society, edited the work and the Rev. Samuel Greatheed provided (anonymously) the “Preliminary discourse; containing a geographical and historical account of the islands where missionaries have settled, and of others with which they are connected.” The Hill catalogue says, “The narrative is fresh, although sometimes naive, and provides a glimpse of everyday life on the islands that the mariner or naturalist didn't consider worth reporting.” There is a most interesting Appendix, also, canvassing everything from native dress to houses to dances to cookery to canoes to marriage and the place of women to funeral customs — not forgetting human sacrifice and sports.
The volume is illustrated with six plates and seven oversized, folding maps, and includes an extensive list of subscribers. An inferior, less expensive edition appeared in the same year, printed by Gillet; the present example is sometimes identified as the Gosnell edition to distinguish it from the Gillet production.
ESTC T87461; Hill, Pacific Voyages, 1894; Sabin 49480. Contemporary reverse sheep, framed and panelled in blind, spine with leather title-label; leather peeling at extremities, front joint repaired and back one starting from head, spine with label rubbed and two compartments discolored. Hinges (inside) reinforced with cloth tape; front free endpaper lacking. Front pastedown with institutional bookplates; dedication leaf with pressure-stamp in upper margin and rubber-stamped numeral in lower margin. Title-page and dedication with offsetting to margins; title-page with small hole not touching text. First map foxed, with tears along two folds; sixth map with jagged tear along one inner corner; other maps lightly foxed. Occasional stray small spots of staining and some offsetting from plates onto opposing pages; a few page edges slightly ragged. In sum, in fact, a sound, clean, and pleasant volume. (19603)
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A Glimpse of Public Policy from the
Dutch Golden Age
Witt, Johan de. Resolutien der heeren Staten van Hollandt ende West-Vriesland van consideratie, ende oock voor de toekomende tyden dienende, genomen zedert den aenvangh der bedieninge van den Heer Johan de Witt ... beginnende met den tweeden Augusti 1653. ende eyndigende met den negentiende December 1668. Utrecht: Willem vande Water, 1706. 4to (25.3 cm; 10"). [2] ff., 635, 638–828, [33] pp.
$550.00
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Johan de Witt was one of Europe's greatest statesmen of the 17th century: Appointed the “councillor pensionary” (i.e., the political leader) of Holland (1653–72), he successfully led the United Provinces in the First and Second Anglo-Dutch wars (1652–54, 1665–67) while at the same time effectively consolidating the country's position as a formidable commercial and naval power.
This text with a sizable subject index records de Witt's public resolutions from 2 August 1653 to 19 December 1668 on a variety of topics, including the price of gold, the East India Company, and England.
In the dedication, vande Water, the printer of this work, notes that he is producing it so that the documents will not be lost to the future.
Evidence of Readership: Notes referring to specific pages written on front free endpaper and a newspaper clipping dated 25 April 1926 laid in text.
STCN 216098602. Speckled calf, gilt spine with stamped and lettered compartments, all edges speckled red; top of spine artfully repaired, joints strengthened, gently rubbed. A few gatherings age-toned and one section at rear with band of very light waterstaining to foremargin; small holes in foremargin of two leaves, possibly created during manufacture, small tear to bottom margin of another.
A well-organized look at what was considered important during the middle of the Dutch Golden Age. (35705)
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American Women's Missions
Woman's Home Missionary Society. Woman's home missions [of the Methodist Episcopal Church]. Delaware, OH: Woman's Home Missionary Society, 1884–85. Folio (27.1 cm, 10.67"). 104, 144, 192 pp.
[SOLD]
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Collected here are the first three volumes of a monthly periodical dedicated to Methodist women's domestic missions — and their accompanying fundraising efforts — in the south and west of the U.S., running from Jan. 1884 through Dec. 1886. The Woman's Home Missionary Society was organized in 1880, and sent missionary teachers to
Mormon, Chinese, African-American, and Native American communities as well as assisting impoverished women and children. The present accounts of their labors include news of members' activities, uplifting readings, illustrated advertisements, and extensive writings on
the state of affairs in Utah and in Indian Territory.
Contemporary half oxblood morocco and pebbled cloth–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; minor shelfwear overall, spine and extremities unobtrusively refurbished. All page edges speckled red. Front pastedown with book manufacturer's ticket. Pages very slightly age-toned, otherwise clean and fresh.
Uncommon. (41345)
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Bible Dictionary for
“the Methodist Connexion”
Wood, James. A dictionary of the Holy Bible. New York: D. Hitt & T. Ware, 1813. 8vo (22 cm, 8.625"). 2 vols. I: 600 pp. II: 616 pp.
$200.00
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Sole American edition, this being the state with the title-page showing Hitt and Ware as publishing it for “the Methodist Connexion in the United States.” First printed in England in 1804, James Wood (1751–1840), a Methodist minister, largely based this encyclopedic dictionary of the Bible on that of Augustin Calmet.
Provenance: Three inked notes in early hands reading “John McDouglas' Book” on front endpapers and another small signature reading “John McDougall.”
Shaw & Shoemaker 30564; NSTC W2651. Contemporary speckled sheep, spines divided into compartments by double gilt rules, with red leather title labels and small round black volume labels; binding rubbed and bumped with small loss of leather, glue action to pastedowns and first/last few leaves, large bite from one rear free endpaper. Moderate age-toning throughout, with only the rare short tear, chip, or stain. Early provenance evidence as above, with more recent readers adding a pencilled note and a few scribbles on two endpapers, and tucking in both a newspaper recipe for green cloth dye and a small advertisement for “A Good Cold Cream.”
In fact quite a satisfactory set. (11313)
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Sensational “News” Reports — Shocking “Plots” Fortunately “Discovered”!
(Worcester, Edward Somerset, Marquis of). The earl of Glamorgans negotiations and colourable commitment in Ireland demonstrated; Or, the Irish plot for bringing ten thousand men and arms into England, whereof three hundred to be for Prince Charls's Lifegard. Discovered in several letters taken in a packet-boat by Sir Tho: Fairfax forces at Padstow in Cornwal; which letters were cast into the sea, and by the sea coming in, afterwards regained; and were read in the Honorable House of Commons, and ordered to be printed. London: Edward Husband, 1645. 4to (19 cm, 7.5"). 35, [1] pp.
$950.00
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False news, conspiracy theories, and fears of alien invasion seem to have always been with us — they were definitely alive and well in England during the era of the Irish Rebellion of 1641, and are on display in their full regalia in this pamphlet from the ever-reliable author “Anonymous.”
ESTC R200673; Wing (rev. ed.) W3533. Quarter red morocco with French-swirl marbled paper sides and gilt spine lettering; binding signed (with small rubber-stamp on verso of front free endpaper) by the Macdonald Company of New York. Leather of joints lightly rubbed in places. Text soiled/stained throughout; fore- and top margins of all leaves with repairs to areas of lost paper, not affecting sidenotes; in all, Good. (37988)
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The Envious DOG & the Ermine
[Wynne, John Huddlestone]. Tales for youth; in thirty poems: To which are annexed, historical remarks and moral applications in prose. London: Printed by J. Crowder for E. Newbery, 1794. 8vo (17 cm, 6.75"). x (i.e., viii), 158, [2] pp.; 1 plt., illus.
$600.00
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Verse and prose on conduct of life — explained via emblems and fables — fill this volume of Christian literature for children. The copper-engraved frontispiece is by Thomas Cook and
the 30 half-page rectangular wood-engraved headpieces are by John Bewick.
Provenance: Early 20th-century bookplate of James Rolt; most recently in the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
ESTC T3347; Roscoe, John Newberry and His Successors, J391 (1); Hugo, Bewick Collector, 72 & 4072; Osborne Collection, p. 88. Late 19th- or early 20th-century half tan calf with marbled paper sides; binding lightly rubbed. Bookplate and label as above; front fly-leaf with “No. 72 Hugo's Collector” inked in an early hand, accompanied by pencilled annotation re. Bewick. Small inkstain on title-page and one other, light soiling to text and foxing; leaf of advertisements soiled. Overall a good++ copy
and well worthwhile. (38917)
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Bulls Bow Down & Fiends Are Powerless
[IN ITALIAN]
Ximénez, Mateo. Compendio della vita del beato Sebastiano d'Apparizio, laico professo dell'ordine de' Minori Osservanti del Padre S. Francesco della provincia del Santo Evangelio nel Messico. Roma: Stamperia Salomoni, 1789. 4to (24.2 cm, 9.5"). xvi pp., port., 228 pp., [1] f. [with] Coleccion de estampas que representan los principales pasos, echos, y prodigios del Bto.. Frai Sebastian de Aparizio, relig[ios]o. franciscano de la provincia del S[an]to Evangelio de Mexico. Dispuesta por el R.P. Fr. Mateo Ximenez. Roma: por el incisor Pedro Bombelli, 1789. 4to (23.5 cm, 9.125"). Engr. title, [100] of [129] plts.
$7500.00
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From humble carter to revered and beatified lay Franciscan is not an easy course to pursue in life, but Sebastián de Aparicio (1502-1600) accomplished it in Mexico. Although he was married multiple times, he is said to have remained chaste, deciding in 1574 to abandon his secular lifestyle for that of a lay Franciscan. He is said to have had great ability to manage and calm animals, including near-wild bulls. His life was filled with teaching, begging, and accomplishing near-impossible things. Offered here is the first edition of Ximénez's biography and the fine album of plates illustrating events in Aparicio's life (see our caption, above).
Finding the “life” and the volume of plates together is uncommon. Only by happenstance did the two volumes come to us within months of one another, from two different continents, allowing us to marry them for this offering. For example, in the U.S., only the Lilly and Bancroft Libraries report owning both works. There is some question as to the number of plates in a complete copy of the Colección: Some sources call for an engraved title-page and 128 plates, while others call for 129 plates.
There seems not to have been an edition of the Vita in Spanish.
Vita: Palau 377047; Sabin 105727A. Colección: Palau 377048; Sabin 105728. Vita: Contemporary Italian binding of quarter leather with “wallpaper” covered boards; edges of boards seriously rubbed and exposing underlying paste boards. Internally very good. Colección: 20th-century Spanish quarter leather, with paper in imitation of treed calf on the covers. Private ownership stamps on title-page. Missing 29 plates; the other hundred in very good! condition. (2093)
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From Ape to Zebra . . .
The young child's A, B, C; or, first book. New York: Samuel Wood & Sons, No. 261, Pearl-Street; Samuel S. Wood & Co. No. 212, Market Street, Baltimore, [ca. 1820]. Square 8vo (10.5 cm, 4.13"). 16 pp.
$300.00
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First published in 1806, this little abecedarium was
the first children's book ever published by Samuel Wood, whose work included “many thousands of children's religious, instructive, and nursery books.” (Rosenbach) The alphabet in this later edition is illustrated with
variations on the fine wood engravings of birds, animals, and objects included in the first, except for the portrait of Xerxes, which seems to have been a constant throughout the many editions. Alexander Anderson, America's preeminent wood engraver, is thought to have supplied the illustrations to the original edition.
The front wrapper wood-engraving on this copy shows three young boys playing with a spinning top, and the rear features a swarm of bees buzzing around a honey pot.
Provenance: From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel ("AHA”) at rear.
Rosenbach, Children's, 596 ([c. 1820]); Shaw & Shoemaker 46904 ([1818?]); Pomeroy, Alexander Anderson, 203e. This ed. not in Welch. Publisher's printed paper wrappers with woodcuts, as above; wrappers foxed and leaves age-toned, not distressingly or weakening paper. Very little used, in good shape. (38483)
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Shaker “Statement”
Youngs, Benjamin Seth. The testimony of Christ's second appearing; containing a general statement of all things pertaining to the faith and practice of the Church of God in this latter-day. Albany: E. & E. Hosford, 1810. 12mo. xxxviii, 620, [2] pp.
$450.00
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Stated second edition, “corrected and improved,” of this important early Shaker book about their beliefs and history. First published in Lebanon, Ohio, in 1808. Preface signed in type by David Darrow, John Meacham and Benjamin S. Youngs, of whom the two first-named “signed their names not as authors, but as counsellors, and as sanctioning the work.”
Shaw & Shoemaker 22127. Full original sheep, spine showing flex marks with small chips at extremities and a gilt-stamped leather title-label; first and last leaves with offsetting from leather turn-ins. Short tear at top margin of one leaf, without touching any text; some scattered spots of foxing. Ex-library with (attractive) old pressure-stamp to half-title, five-digit accession number rubber-stamped on front pastedown and base of p. [iii], evidence that an inked call-number on spine was sometime obscured. A clean, nice, solid copy. (21126)
Peruvian
Conquest
Illustrated
Zárate, Agustín de. Histoire de la decouverte et de laconquete du Perou. Traduite de l'Espagnol...par S.D.C. Paris: La compagnie des libraires, 1716. 8vo (17 cm, 6.75"). 2 vols. I: Frontis., [40], 360 pp.; 13 (2 fold.) plts., 1 fold. map. II: [8], 479, [1 (blank)] pp.
$700.00
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Early French printing of this very successful Peruvian history, which went through numerous editions in languages including Spanish, Italian, Dutch, German, and English. Zárate arrived in Peru as part of the retinue of the first viceroy, and served there from 1543 until 1548. His work was first printed in its original Spanish in 1555, but did not appear in French until 1700; the present translation was done by S. de Broë, Seigneur de Citry et de la Guette. The first volume is illustrated with an oversized folding map and fourteen engraved plates, including the well known depiction of a nattily dressed European gentleman, reclining on a raft-like cushion, borne across a stream by two Indians.
Married set: The two contemporary bindings are similar but not identical; both are of mottled leather, one more coarsely grained (and acid-etched) than the other, while one has floral and the other pomegranate motifs gilt-stamped in spine compartments. The match was made by a previous, Spanish-speaking collector, who has left pencilled notes in Spanish in both volumes.
Sabin 106261; Palau 379641. Contemporary mottled sheep and calf as above, corners and edges worn, all joints cracking, both volumes with minor worming to front covers and pinholes to spines; vol. I with loss of leather over spine head (half of top compartment). Pencilled check marks scattered throughout; front free endpaper and recto of last text page of vol. II with annotations. (3446)
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A “Lovely Indian” Organizes a RESCUE
(Also “Lisette & Login”)
(Zoa). The authentic history of Zoa, the beautiful Indian, (daughter of Henriette de Belgrave), and of Rodomond, an East-India merchant, whom Zoa releases from confinement and intended death, and with him escapes to England. London: Dean & Munday, [between 1808 and 1816]. 12mo (17.8 cm, 7"). Frontis., [3], 8–36 pp.
$100.00
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Uncommon early 19th–century edition of this popular tale in which English merchant Rodomond is attacked for having rooted out fraud on the part of native Bombay factory employees, but rescued by the titular Zoa — a fair maiden of half Indian and half French parentage, who is wholly willing to convert to Christianity and marry Rodomond. Following the main piece is the tragic story “Lisette and Login, an Affecting Russian Tale.”
The frontispiece, in which Zoa wears salwar kameez and a turban-style headwrap, was engraved by “S.D.” after a design by Robert Cruikshank, and gives the address on which we base our suggested publication date (Dean & Munday were located at 35 Threadneedle Street from 1808 until 1816, when they moved to 40 Threadneedle).
A search of WorldCat finds
only two U.S institutional holdings (Harvard, University of Pennsylvania) and one additional Canadian.
Removed from a nonce volume. Pages gently age-toned, frontispiece lightly foxed (showing primarily in margins), title-page with offsetting from frontispiece, two pages at back with small spot of staining in lower margins.
A nice example of a seldom-seen printing. (41469)
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“FATHER'S FATHERS” — One of 50 Copies
Zundenfel, Dieter. Father's fathers. Six poems with six wood engravings. Lebanon, PA: Red Howler Press, 1989. 8vo (23.5 cm; 9.25"). [10] ff., 6 plates; illus.
$275.00
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The colophon tells us the edition was limited to “50 copies. The poems are set in 14pt. Garamond type and printed on Rives paper. The prints were engraved on end grain maple blocks and printed on Kitakara Japanese paper. This book is bound in Arches Cover paper with Japanese binding.”
This is copy 22 of 50; the engravings are signed and numbered 22 of 75.
The illustrations are by David Moyer.
Poet and artist look humorously at early 20th-century fathers: baritone, critic, physicist, militarist, machinist, and photographer.
Binding as above, with title embossed on cover and red-cord sewing. Fine copy. (35481)
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