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Armstrong Binding — Popular Illustrator — The HORSES Get the Last Word
MacGrath, Harold. The man on the box. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., (1904). 8vo (19.2 cm, 7.55"). Frontis., [12], 361, [1] pp.; 6 plts.
$80.00
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First edition: A totally TOTALLY silly (and very “period”) romance set in Washington, DC, and spiced with international intrigue as well as
challenges of horsemanship (met both in riding and, as per title, driving). The author was a Syracuse-born writer of novels, short stories, and screenplays; the illustrator was “American Girl” artist
Harrison Fisher, who provided a frontispiece and six plates.
This became, apparently, a Broadway play and then a film starring Charlie Chaplin's brother Syd Chaplin!
Binding: Signed binding by Margaret Armstrong: Publisher's blue-green cloth, front cover and spine pictorially stamped in light green, cream, and black, with “MA” on front cover.
Gullans & Espey, Checklist of Trade Bindings Designed by Margaret Armstrong,158. Binding as above, cocked; extremities and front panel mildly rubbed. Pages and plates clean.
An entertaining novel in an attractive presentation. (35662)

Illustrated Theatre Edition
Maclaren, Ian (John Watson). Beside the bonnie brier bush. New York: R.F. Fenno & Co., 1905. 8vo. Frontis., 258 pp.; 5 plts.
$85.00
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The earliest and best-known of all the tales of rural Scottish life published by “Ian Maclaren,” pseudonym of the popular author and preacher John Watson. This special illustrated theatre edition of the Rev. Watson's beloved work (originally published in 1894) features a photographic frontispiece of James H. Stoddart in the role of Lachlan Campbell, as well as five other scenes both comic and tragic. The final section of the volume is “A Doctor of the Old School,” a loving portrayal of stalwart practitioner Dr. William MacLure.
Binding: Publisher's tan cloth, front cover with double iris design stamped in green, white, and violet.
Binding as above, minimal rubbing only. Pages and plates clean. A beautiful copy. (28613)
PLAYS Elegantly Produced for Their
First Print Appearance
Maffei, Francesco Scipione. Teatro del Sig. Marchese Scipione Maffei cioè la tragedia la comedia e il drama non più stampato.... Verona: Gio. Alberto Tumermani, 1730. 8vo (19.7 cm, 7.75"). xli, [3], 281, [1] pp.; 1 fold. plt., illus.
$675.00
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First edition. Francesco and Andrea Zucchi were responsible for the copperplate engraving for this work: The title-page bears a copperplate vignette, with four other copperplate vignettes and one decorated capital present as well as the oversized, folding plate. Giulio Cesare Becelli edited and introduced this collection of Maffei’s plays, providing what Gamba calls “tre erudite prefazioni.” The author was an archeologist and man of letters whose tragedy Merope (present here) achieved enormous popularity in not only his native Italy but also almost every country where translations appeared, including France, England, Germany, and Holland.
Gamba 2323; not in Brunet. Contemporary vellum over paste boards, outer edges yapp, spine with hand-inked title; vellum torn and partially lost over lower edge of front cover, with signs of wear and small spots of staining elsewhere. Ex-library, front pastedown with Italian institutional bookplate; yet volume otherwise free of markings. Title-page verso with affixed scrap of paper. Intermittently occurring light dampstaining in upper margins; otherwise clean. (17693)

“Al-fred Was a Kind Heart-ed Boy: He Ne-ver
Play-ed With Naugh-ty Chil-dren”
Mamma's gift, or pretty tales and pretty pictures for good children... Embellished with coloured engravings. London: Published by D. Carvalho, [ca. 1833–35?]. 12mo (17.5 cm, 7"). [8] ff.; illus.
$750.00
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The text of this wonderfully illustrated book of stories has half-page illustrations above a syllabified letterpress text in prose, the whole printed on one side of each leaf only and the printed pages bound facing each other. The illustrations are hand-colored wood engravings. The date range of publication is suggested by Brown's London Publishers and Printers, p. 33.
Provenance: From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
This is a copy of the third edition. Searches of NUC, WorldCat, and COPAC locate no copies of this edition and only one library worldwide reporting ownership of either the first or the second edition (the second, at Princeton).
Publisher's printed dun-colored wrappers; excellent repairs to spine. Some finger soiling.
Overall very good, with the coloring very neat and vivid. (38809)

Marmontel's Political-Philosophical Novel with
Gravelot's Illustrations
Marmontel, Jean François. Bélisaire. Paris: Chez Merlin, 1767. 8vo (19.9 cm, 7.8"). [4], x, 340, [6] pp.; 4 plts.
$900.00
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First edition, early state, featuring the frontispiece and three copper-engraved plates designed by Gravelot. Quickly translated into numerous languages following its initial publication, Marmontel's controversial philosophical novel was written in great part in the hope that its retelling of the story of Gen. Flavius Beisarius of the Byzantine Empire would convince Louis XV to become, himself, the longed-for Philosopher-King. Chapter 15, however, in which Marmontel advocates freedom of opinion and religious tolerance, inspired extensive commentary by Voltaire and others and brought on condemnation by both the Sorbonne and the Archbishop of Paris — though it may ultimately have helped the Huguenot cause.
Merlin also printed a duodecimo edition in 1767; in the present edition, “Fragmens de philosophie morale” is found on pp. 273–340, followed by the Addition and Approbation.
Provenance: Front pastedown with large, round, gilt-stamped armorial leather bookplate of notable 19th-century bookseller and book collector James Toovey; smaller, round, gilt-stamped “I.T.” bookplate with motto “Inter folia fructus” (also Toovey's and of cream-colored leather); and bookplate of Sir Montague Shearman.
Binding: Contemporary crimson morocco, covers framed in gilt triple fillets; spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather labels, board edges and turn-ins with gilt rolls. This volume (complete in itself) seems at one time to have been part of a set of Marmontel's works, and bears an (unnumbered) spine label reading “Oeuvres de Marmontel.”
Brunet, III, 1440; Cohen de Ricci, Guide de l’amateur de livres à gravures du XVIIIe siècle, 688; Graesse 406; Tchermezine 455. Binding as above, with edges, extremities, and joints showing minor rubbing. Front pastedown with bookplates as above; front free endpaper with affixed slip of early cataloguing; rear pastedown with small chip out of paper. Light spots of foxing, slightly heavier around plates. All edges gilt. (25776)

Early New World Treatise on the Zodiac
from a Modern Fine Hand Press
with VOLVELLE
Martínez, Enrico. Los signos del zodiaco: Trece grabados de Artemio Rodríguez y uno, del mismo autor. [Tacámbaro de Codallos, Mexico]: Taller Martín Pescador, 2019. Small 4to (25.5 cm, 10"). 40 pp.
$145.00
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Master printer Juan Pascoe of the Taller Martin Pescador explains (p. 1) that the text of this short treatise on astrology comes from pages 25 through 38 of the Repertorio de los tiempos, y historia natural desta Nueva España that the cosmographer and printer Enrico Martinez wrote and published in 1606 in Mexico City.
To that text he has added wonderfully striking woodcuts by the T.M.P.'s long-time artist Artemio Rodríguez and a working replica volvelle.
In his introduction Pascoe tells us about the press that Enrico Martinez used, the later printings of the Repertorio, and the special characters that were recast for this edition “en homenaje a los 480 años de imprenta en México-Tenochtitlán.”
Limited to 150 copies: “Florencia Ramírez compuso las letras de caja Poliphilus Blado, Castellar, con la cruz fourchée tallada por Antionio de Espinosa en 1554 y el punto alargado de Enrico Martínez, 1600. Juan Pascoe y Martín Urbina imprimieron . . . [el libro] sobre papel de hilo De Ponte” (colophon).
Laced-in binding of wrappers with paper label on front wrapper.
As issued, new, beautiful. (40676)

The “Philosophy of America” — First Edition, in a Signed Binding
Mason, Walt. Uncle Walt [Walt Mason]: The poet philosopher. Chicago: George Matthew Adams, 1910. 8vo (20.1 cm, 7.9"). Frontis., 189, [3] pp.; illus.
$85.00
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“Walt Mason's Prose Rhymes are read daily by approximately ten million [newspaper] readers,” according to the preface, making Mason “the Poet Laureate of the American Democracy.” This collection of his popular, often humorous short pieces comes “from the presses of the Caslon Press . . . Arranged and decorated by Will Bradley. Frontispiece by John T. McCutcheon. Illustrations by William Stevens” (per the colophon); this first edition is in a
publisher's binding signed “B” (for Bradley).
The type here is set within ruled borders, and the verbal vignettes' titles are set as shouldernotes; the “poetry,” set as prose, is
frank period doggerel and often the more fun for that, although many sentiments are also “period.”
Binding: Publisher's brown cloth, front cover and spine pictorially stamped in orange, black, and tan with an image of Uncle Walt holding forth; the orange title lettering is LARGE and the image fills the entire cover.
Bound as above; minor wear to black portions of front cover, extremities slightly rubbed. Dust jacket lacking, as is typical; page edges untrimmed. Text age-toned, otherwise clean and crisp. (41338)

37 Examples of
Curwen Papers, Plus Notes & History
McKitterick, David; Paul Nash. A new specimen book of Curwen pattern papers. Andoversford, Gloucestershire: Whittington Press, 1987. 8vo (27.5 cm, 10.8"). xii, 105, [3] pp.; 4 double-sided plts. (some col.), 32 color-printed samples. Portfolio: 5 fold. ff.
[SOLD]
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“This book celebrates the co-operation between the Curwen Press and a group of artists who, between the early 1920s and the 1950s, produced the distinctive — and distinguished — series of pattern papers that have become known generally by the name of the Press itself” (p. xi). These productions, used by Curwen and by many other bookbinders for endpapers, book covers, and jackets, were avant-garde examples of modern graphic design. A fortuitously preserved stash of papers enabled the production of this 1987 sample book despite the press's having shut down in 1984, and it includes more patterns, done by more artists, than the previous Curwen specimen book of 1928. Contributing artist Paul Nash's introduction to that 1928 volume is additionally reprinted here.
Each surviving paper pattern (the 32 main samples being each a twelfth of a full sheet, mounted onto heavy stock) is accompanied by a brief biography of its designer and notes on its production; the artists represented, some by multiple papers, are Edward Bawden, Harry Carter, Claud Lovat Fraser, Elizabeth Friedlander, E.O. Hoppé, Margaret James, Thomas Lowinsky, Enid Marx, Paul Nash, Sarah Nechamkin, Eric Ravilious, Michael Rothenstein, Albert Rutherston, Graham Sutherland, Diana Wilbraham, and Althea Willoughby (the specimen of Willoughby's work was specially printed for this volume).
The colophon notes that this is numbered copy XLIV of 335 printed; this is
one of just 85 copies bound by Smith Settle in quarter morocco and Curwen paper, with an accompanying portfolio containing five additional full sheets of pattern paper. The portfolio sheets were designed by Marx, Bawden, Lowinsky, and Friedlander, the latter contributing two patterns. The main volume was set in 12-point Monotype Lutetia (borrowed from the Libanus Press) and printed on Zerkall mould-made and Colorplan papers, with the plates and reprinted pattern papers done at the Senecio Press.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Quarter dark blue morocco and vividly color-printed paper–covered sides with gilt-stamped title on spine, portfolio in matching paper, both housed in publisher's plain slipcase; portfolio spine and corners showing minor wear, main volume bright and fresh. Top edge gilt. One portfolio sample leaf with two short tears from one edge, papers otherwise in beautiful, crisp condition, as are the text pages of the main volume.
A special copy in lovely condition. (39552)
Standard & Ground (or Wave?)-Breaking
Medina, Pedro de. Arte del navigare. Venetia: Appresso Tomaso Baglioni, 1609. 4to (20.5 cm, 8"). A4 b4 2A8 B–Q8 R10; [7], [1 (blank)], 137, [1 (blank)] ff.; illus.
$8000.00
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Pedro de Medina’s (1493–1567) Arte de navegar (originally published in Spanish in 1545) was a ground-breaking work on compass navigation, and became a standard manual translated into many languages. Medina was famous as a mathematician and cosmographer, and the king of Spain placed him in charge of examining pilots and masters for the West Indies. This second Italian edition (the first was printed in 1554) was translated by Vincenzo Palentino; it has a title-page in red and black with a woodcut printer’s device, and woodcut initials, tables, and illustrations, many showing how to make celestial observations.
Also included is a woodcut map showing Europe, the Atlantic, and the New World.
Palau 159680; Alden & Landis, European Americana, 609/77; Medina, BHA, 123. Old vellum; red leather, gilt-lettered spine label; some staining, and chipping to edges and label. Old, careful repairs to interior worming occasionally cost individual letters (but never sense) or a little loss to an illustration. Old rubber-stamps and red and black ownership label on title-page; inked notations on title-page and front pastedown. All edges speckled red. (8555)

First Series: An American Botanical Celebration with
96 Color Plates
Meehan, Thomas. The native flowers and ferns of the United States in their botanical, horticultural, and popular aspects. Boston: L. Prang & Co., 1878–79. Large 4to (26.5 cm, 10.43"). 2 vols. I: ix, [1], 192 pp.; 48 col. plts. II: v, [1], 200 pp.; 48 col. plts.
$800.00
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First edition: “The most beautiful, interesting, and important from among the vast number of plants which grow in the different parts of our country” (vol. I, p. iv). Meehan (1826–1901) was an eminent British-born botanist, gardener, and nurseryman who settled in Germantown, PA, and helped preserve Bartram's Garden — and who assessed many of the plants in these volumes from a Pennsylvania/New Jersey point of view, as well as in terms highly accessible to laypeople. All 96 plants here are
illustrated with chromolithographed plates done from the work of Alois Lunzer, “who painted from life all the plants treated” (ibid.). A second series, not present here, followed later.
Binding: Publisher's half roan with pebbled cloth–covered sides, leather edges with gilt flilet, front covers with decorative gilt-stamped title and floral vignette; spines with gilt-stamped title and author and blind-stamped fleurs de lis decorations in compartments. Moiré silk endpapers; all edges gilt.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabels (“AHA”) at rear.
Bennett, American Nineteenth Century Color Plate Books, p. 75; Nissen, Botanische Buchillustration, 1331. Bound as above, moderate rubbing overall with small scuffs, sunning to cloth at edges, front joint of vol. I partially refurbished some time ago. Pages and plates age-toned with offsetting from plates and intermittent foxing; one leaf with short tear into lower inner margin, not touching text.
Laid in is a small scrap of paper bearing an appealingly homemade rendition of a pink flower, in what looks like watercolor.
A strong, clean, and attractive set of a significant American and Philadelphia-associated botanical work, beautifully illustrated. (41168)

Predicting an Enlightened Future: Pre-Revolutionary French Science Fiction
Mercier, Louis-Sébastien. L'an deux mille quatre cent quarante. Rêve s'il fút jamais; suivi de L'homme de fer, songe. Nouvelle édition avec figures. [Amsterdam: Changuion?], 1787. 8vo (19.7 cm, 7.75"). [4], 251, [5], 240, [6], 203, [3] pp.; 3 plts.
$700.00
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Mercier's utopian novel, originally published in 1771 and set in the far-off future of 2440, prophesies an advanced, progressive Paris (and indeed an entire world) in which slavery has been abolished and education, medicine, religion, politics, and the justice system have all been reimagined and reformed, while women have been cured of coquetry (along with the pains of childbirth and the desire to marry for love!). The “brave” Americans are particularly cited for having advanced the causes of liberty and republicanism, with
Philadelphia being praised among their “cités les plus belles, les plus florissantes" (III, 31).
An extremely popular work (it went through 25 editions after its first appearance in 1771), the work describes the adventures of an unnamed man, who, after engaging in a heated discussion with a philosopher friend about the injustices of Paris, falls asleep and finds himself in a Paris of the future.
Though condemned by French and Spanish authorities and
forbidden by the Inquisition, the work was nonetheless a roaring success in Europe, going through numerous editions in multiple languages — and serving as a groundbreaking, genre-defining example of a futuristic paradise set in a real-world location. The present example is an unidentified imprint of the greatly expanded three-volume text of 1786, followed by Mercier's allegorical L'homme de fer. Wilkie suggests that this “nouvelle édition avec figures" was printed by Changuion in Amsterdam; each of the three books of the main work opens with its own tipped-in engraved plate, making this
one of the earliest illustrated editions.
Wilkie, Mercier's L'An 2440, 1787. Not in Brunet, not in Graesse. Contemporary mottled sheep, spine with raised bands, gilt-stamped leather title-label, and gilt-tooled compartment decorations; spine and edges much rubbed, with spine extremities chipped. Front and back pastedowns with traces of red wax adhesions; endpapers with offsetting from turn-ins. Minor age-toning throughout; one page with early inked annotation. Though battered, a solid, early, nicely illustrated example of this landmark work. (38525)

Signed Binding — Decorative Designers
Merriman, Henry Seton. The vultures: A novel. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1902. 8vo (19.2 cm, 7.55"). vi, [2], 340, [3 (2 adv.)] pp.; 8 plts.
$30.00
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First American edition of this thriller-romance featuring international espionage, set largely in Poland and leading up to the events of 1881. The
binding is signed “DD” for Decorative Designers; the eight plates are unsigned.Provenance: Front free endpaper with ownership inscription of Theodore H. Swan.
Publisher's green cloth, front cover and spine stamped in dark brown and gilt; very slight rubbing to extremities, otherwise clean and fresh. Pages faintly age-toned. One leaf with chip in upper margin; one leaf with tear from upper margin, extending into a few lines of text without loss. A solid, pleasing copy. (41297)

Too Much Was NOT Enough — THIS Copy with Quasi-Relics of St. Macarius
Meyer, Jean. Description du jubilé de sept cens ans de S. Macaire, patron particulier contre la peste, qui sera célébré dans la ville de Gand ... a commencer le 30. de mai jusqu'au 15. juin 1767, avec le détail ultérieur des cérémonies, solemnités, cavalcade, ornemens, & des feux d'artifice ... Gand: Chez Jean Meyer, imprimeur de la ville, 1767. 4to (26.5 cm, 10.5"). [4] ff., xii, 84 pp.; 15 plts. (some fold.), illus.
$4975.00
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Ghent honored its patron saint S. Macaire [i.e., St. Macarius] in 1767 with
a splendid procession featuring 46 floats/tableaux including such exotica as elephants, crocodiles, and American Indians. Each plate has text explaining the content and emblematic and rare nature of the display. Emmanuel Petrus van Reyschot designed the rococo plates and F. Heybrouck, P. Wauters, and J.L. Wauters etched them. The work ends with a “Liste des personnes qui accompagnent la cavalcade” (pp. 75–82) and the “Detail des rejoissances publique, qui auront lieu en cette Ville depuis la 30 Mai jusqu'au 15 Juin 1767" (pp. 83–84).
All in all, it was clearly a splendid ceremony and spectacular spectacle.
Bound into this copy is a printed broadside (27 x 21.5 cm, 10.75" x 8.5"; imprint: Gandavi: typis Viduae Michaelis de Goesin, e regione curiae, [1767]), by which Govaert Geeraard van Eersel (1713–78), the 16th bishop of Ghent (1772–78), certifies that
the piece of vellum attached to the broadside, with a hand-colored and illuminated engraving of St. Macarius, actually touched the bones of the saint. The image, engraved by Alexander Goetiers (1637–86) and so signed, shows the saint in a field with the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove above his right shoulder; the vellum measures 9 x 7 cm (3.75" x 2.75"). The broadside further states that
the included bit of cloth is a fragment of the covering of the afore-mentioned remains (“insuper adjunctum frustrum esse tegumentis, in quibus praedictae Reliquiae fuerunt involutae”).
Additionally, laid in is a 19th-century sketch-like tracing of what is described at top as a lithograph of the procession winding its way through the town. The various carriages and “floats” of the “cavalcade” are identified in ink along the edges of the page, which is large and folded, measuring 22.5 x 52 cm, 8.875" x 20.5". It is accomplished on good quality, but thin almost tracing paper thin laid, watermarked paper.
Correspondence with American libraries owning copies of the book confirms that the broadside and the vellum image were added post-printing and are not found in other copies.
Provenance: Bookplate of Baron Surmont [de Volsberghe].
Rosenwald Collection (1977) 1734; Cicognara 1524; Ruggieri 1111; Vinet 817. Not in Landwehr because this ceremony was not for a state entry. 19th-century half vellum with marbled paper sides; vellum darkened, sides scuffed. Some age-toning; a few short tears in lower margins. Very satisfactory condition.
A fantastic book in a remarkable copy. (39787)

Michener on
Japanese Woodblocks
Michener, James A. Japanese prints from the early masters to the modern. Rutland, VT & Tokyo, Japan: Charles E. Tuttle Co., (copyright 1959). Folio (31.7 cm, 12.5"). 287, [1] pp.; plts., 6 fold.
$250.00
First edition of this “tour of three centuries of art,” conducted by famed novelist Michener. 257 illustrations decorate the substantial volume, including 55 in full color; many are full-page, others in-text or several to a page.
Publisher's textured taupe silk binding, front cover with patterned coral silk insert; spine with gilt-stamped title. Dust wrapper and original slipcase present, lower back corner of jacket slightly crumpled; otherwise a gorgeous, clean copy in an undamaged slipcase. (24683)

The 99-Copy Blue Oasis First Edition — Signed by Miller
Miller, Henry. Order and chaos Chez Hans Reichel. Tucson, AZ: Loujon Press, 1966. 4to (25.2 cm, 9.95"). 101, [1] pp.; illus.
$450.00
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“Written in 1937–38 in Paris . . . gifted as a long intimate book letter to the painter Hans Reichel”: Miller's gathering of letters and sketches sent to his dear friend Reichel, here
with an introduction by Lawrence Durrell, in a beautifully designed, award-winning production including
text printed in black, blue, and red; facsimile reproductions of manuscript portions; two loose preliminary textured leaves, one with printed design; and a glossy photographic portrait of the author.
This is
one of 99 “Blue Oasis” copies signed by Miller (out of a total of 1524 printed); signature towards the back of the volume with a laid-in Loujon Press leaf noting that fact.
Publisher's quarter teal morocco and cream cloth–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title, in original dust jacket (printed on both sides) and printed cork–covered slipcase; slipcase with corners a little rubbed, jacket with spine and extremities chipped, volume's spine a tiny bit rubbed and sunned at extremities; the volume itself in all, fresh and lovely.
A nice copy of this remarkable first edition. (35851)

Milton, Illustrated
Milton, John; Richard Westall, illus. Paradise lost. A poem, in twelve books. London: Pr. for John Sharpe, 1816–22. 12mo (17.2 cm, 6.75"). 2 vols. I: Frontis., 8, [192] pp.; 6 plts. II: Frontis., [4] pp., [188 (7 blank)] pp.; 6 plts.
$225.00
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Westall's acclaimed illustrations — two frontispieces and one plate for each of the 12 books — were steel-engraved for this edition by Charles Heath, George Courbould, William Finden, and others. The present paired volumes, from the same 19th-century private collection, have been bound in different but complementary styles; the title-page of vol. I gives 1821 and the plates 1822, while vol. 2 is marked 1816 throughout.
Provenance: Front pastedowns with armorial bookplate of James Wiseman of Glasgow; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabels (“AHA”) at rear.
Contemporary bindings, joints and extremities mildly rubbed, vol. II spine a little sunned; vol. I in pebbled dark red roan and vol. II in red morocco but with all tooling done to match — covers framed in gilt double fillets, spines with gilt-ruled bands, gilt-stamped titles, gilt rolls at head and foot, all edges gilt. Bookplates and labels as above; vol. II half-title with early pencilled ownership inscription. Mild to moderate foxing to plates (more noticeable to vol. I frontispiece and titlte.-page) and surrounding leaves.
Not quite a perfectly matched set, but rather fascinatingly close; an engaging and attractive pair with a pleasing provenance. (41049)
Montelius, Oscar. Antiquités suédoises, arrangées et décrites .... Stockholm: P.A. Norstedt & Söner, 1873–75. 2 vols. in 1. 8vo (25.1 cm, 9.9"). [6], 80, [12], 182, [16] pp.; illus.
$300.00
First edition comprising both parts: French translation of Montelius’s Svenska fornsaker, an atlas of Swedish antiquities from the Stone Age through the Iron Age. The weapons, pots, jewelry, and other items are beautifully depicted in wood engravings by Karl Fredrik Lindberg, with accompanying descriptive text by Montelius, a prominent archeologist whose work on the chronological dating method known as seriation is reflected in the organization of the present volume.
Lipperheide, Katalog der Freiherrlich von Lipperheide’schen Kostumbibliothek, 285m. Contemporary quarter morocco with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; joints and edges rubbed, joints cracked and leather chipped at spine extremities. Front free endpaper separated but present; front pastedown and free endpaper institutionally rubber-stamped. Pages clean.
Absorbing. (19549)

“No Plan, No Pattern Can We Trace” — Illustrated
(The Persuasive Power of Metaphor?)
[More, Hannah]. Turn the carpet; or, the two weavers: A new song, in a dialogue between Dick and John. London: Sold by J. Marshall, R. White, & S. Hazard, [1796]. 12mo (17.7 cm, 6.97"). [8] pp.; illus.
$200.00
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From the “Cheap Repository” series: Early, uncommon printing of this cheerful religious consolation in iambic tetrameter, signed “Z” (i.e., Hannah More). When one weaver grumbles about his hardships, the other turns the seemingly disordered threads of the unfinished carpet in their workshop into a metaphor for man's inability to comprehend the workings of the divine plan.
The ballad is here
illustrated with two handsome woodcuts: the title-page features a large vignette of Dick and John at their loom, and the final text page displays the patterned carpet itself.
Provenance: From the chapbook collection of American collector Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.
ESTC T052020. Disbound from a nonce volume, with early inked numeral in upper outer corner of title-page. Title-page foot with faint shadow of pencilled annotation; pages with very minor foxing. (41145)

Epic French Legends — Inscribed by the Author — Printed by Firmin Didot
Morice, Emile; Joseph Adolphe Ferdinand Langlé. L’historial du jongleur. Chroniques et légendes françaises. Paris: A la Librairie de Firmin Didot, 1829. 8vo (23 cm, 9"). [8], cxxxvii (i.e., ccxxxvii), [3], 64 pp.; illus.
$250.00
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Gothic-decorated collection of French legends, including the tales “Le Droit de Nopçage,” “Le Jugement de Dieu,” “La Cour de Jussienne,” “Le Voeu du Faisan,” and “Le Dict des Crieries et Encombrements de Paris.” Didot printed the title-page in red and black and embellished the text itself with “ornées d’initiales, vignettes, et fleurons imités des manuscrits originaux,” several of which are colored in blue, green, red, pink, silver, or
gold, or combinations thereof. Two of the stories open with illustrated borders, and another one has a full-page illustration preceding the text; notes follow the stories to help readers better understand the “antique” text.
Provenance: Author’s inked inscription “A mon bon ami, Amand Lemire [/] E. Morice” on front free endpaper. From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Printed paper over boards imitating 16th-century strap-work and panelling on covers, with gilt lettering on otherwise plain spine and four gold dots at the corners of the covers’ inner panels; rubbed with some paper chipped, front upper corner and hinge cracked, front free endpaper reattached with paste and chipped at bottom. Light to moderate age-toning and foxing throughout; colors and illumination remarkably bright.
A pretty little thing with plenty of charm. (37895)

“Words are Meant to be Clothed, Not Buried”
Morris, Henry. 11 items from the Bird & Bull Press. Newton, PA: Bird & Bull Press, [1978–98]. 11 items, varying sizes; illus.
$220.00
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Eleven promotional pieces: prospectuses and other ephemera (including two sheets of printing-themed wrapping paper!) from the small Newtown, PA, press famed for its fine printing, particularly on the subjects of book arts and printing history. This collection of Bird & Bull items offers a nice overview of a variety of the press's favored fonts, illustration styles, and subject matters — and of proprietor Henry Morris's sense of humor as well.
The gathering comprises: Bibliophilic, Typographic and Politically Correct Bijoux. That's a wrap! [1996]. Nos. 2 & 3. [1] f. each. (folded); Chinese Handmade Paper. [1986]. [4] pp.; Chinese Decorated Papers. [1987]. [1] f.; The Etching of Figures. [1998]. [4] pp. (specimen laid into some copies of Dard Hunter & Son; this example including the mysterious “yellow image”); The First Fine Silver Coinage of the Republic of San Serriffe: The Bird & Bull Press Commemorative 100 Coronas. 1988. [4] pp.; Numismata typographica. [1992]. [1] f.; The Private Press-Man's Tale. [1990]. [1] f.; Swine Print. [1978]. [4] pp.; Three Early French Essays on Paper Marbling 1642–1765. [4] pp.; Trade Tokens of British and American Booksellers & Bookmakers. [1989]. [4] pp.
Items clean and unworn. Swine Print with crease from previous folding. An attractive, interesting gathering of uncommon ephemera. (31235)

“Guilford & Green May Be
Strange Bedfellows”
Morris, Henry. Guilford & Green. [North Hills, PA: Bird & Bull Press, 1970]. 8vo (24.5 cm; 9.625"). [1] f., 88 pp., [2] ff. (two leaves not counted in pagination), 4 facsims. tipped-in (part fold.), illus, port.
$300.00
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A curious and complicated volume. It is divided into two parts, each independent in almost every way of the other and each with a very formal sectional title: Part 1: A visit to
Hayle Mill [an English firm making fine artists' papers from 1808 to 1987], written from notes made during a visit to J. Barcham Green, limited, by H. Morris; part 2: Dear friend at home; letters written by Nathan Guilford on a journey to Kentucky [where he meant to establish a law practice] in 1814, with an introduction by W. Bell, Jr. The over-all title of this work is taken from the half-title-like leaf preceding the sectional title of part I; part I includes correspondence with
William Morris.
The production was limited to 210 copies, printed using Baskerville types. Part 1 is printed on Jack B. “Green's hand made Royal, and 'Hayle Mill' is printed on hand made 'Bird & Bull Royal” paper. Contained in a pocket of the dust wrappers is a sample of “the paper originally made for covering the sides of the book [but which] was found unsuitable.”
This is copy 152.
Publisher's quarter cranberry-colored calf with decorated paper over the boards, in a cream-colored paper wrapper. A fine copy. (30522)

True Beauty Lies Within
[Murray, Hannah, & Mary Murray]. The American toilet. New York City: Imbert's Lithographic Office, 1827. Square 12mo (11.7 cm, 4.625"). 20 ff.
[SOLD]
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Second edition of this variant of The Young Lady's Toilet, inspired by the original handmade books by Hannah and Mary Murray of New York, two young ladies who cut out pictures from periodicals and pasted them onto blank leaves, adding their own captions.
Each lithographed vessel for a beauty product
displays a witty moral maxim behind a moveable flap (a concept that the Murrays may have adapted from the original 1821 London edition of The Toilet), providing the book's manipulator with emblematic instruction on true beauty, so that “A Wash to Smooth Wrinkles” is revealed as Contentment; “A Universal Beautifier” as Good Humor; “A Solution to Prevent Eruptions” as Moderation; and “An Elastic Girdle” as Benevolence — well, that's a stretch!
Each virtue is further described by rhyming couplet or two at the bottom of the page.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Shaw & Shoemaker 29838 (2nd ed.); Rosenbach, Early American Children's Books, 683 (n.d., ca. 1825). In olive marbled wrappers; general rubbing, and small split to rear joint. Lacking one moveable flap (revealing Humility as “The Enchanting Mirror”); interior age-toned, foxing to endpapers, variable spots of staining to leaves, one corner turned in, hole to rear free endpaper.
A modestly delightful example of a ladies' emblem book. (39687)
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