
ILLUSTRATED
BOOKS \ CUTS & ENGRAVINGS
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Limited Edition of 80 Copies, with an
Original Water Color
Nancy, Jean-Luc. Le regard du portrait. [Paris]: Galilée, (2000). 8vo (21.5 cm; 8.5"). 90, [1], [1 (blank)] pp., [1], [2 (ads)], [1 (blank)], [1(colophon)] ff., [8] pp. of color illus., [1] tipped-in watercolor.
$275.00
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Nancy's treatise on the philosophy of portraiture was issued in a trade edition and a limited edition. This is a copy of the limited edition of 80 copies containing an original water color portrait by François Martin: 70 were numbered and for sale, five were lettered and for the artist, and five were lettered and not for sale.
This is number 21 of the 70 numbered, with the water color being a version of the frontispiece on heavy artists' paper and signed by the artist with his initials.
Original wrappers with a glassine dust jacket; front wrapper and title-page with publisher's “scribble” device above imprint as seen on other titles from this press. Very good. (35646)

“O What Has Wrought Again the Miracle of Spring?”
Newbolt, Henry; Ralph Keene, illus. The linnet's nest. London: Faber & Gwyer Ltd. (pr. by the Curwen Press), 1927. 8vo (18.5 cm, 7.28"). [8] pp.; col. illus.
$45.00
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No. 2 of the Ariel Poems series. Keene provided
two wood-engraved illustrations, one color-printed in green and purple and one in black on the front cover. This is
numbered copy 219 of 350 printed on Zanders' handmade paper.
Provenance: Front pastedown with small, handsome gilt-stamped leather bookplate of Alva B. Gimbel, philanthropist and member of the Gimbel family of department-store fame.
Publisher's paper–covered limp boards; spine and edges much sunned. Faint offsetting from bookplate (see above) to front free endpaper; pages crisp and clean. (41521)

Flowers, Patriotism, SCANDAL
[Newell, Mrs. D., ed.]. Family circle and parlor annual [volume IX]. New York: J.G. Reed, [1851]. 8vo (22.6 cm, 9"). [1], 10–410 pp., [26] leaves of plates (some col.); illus., music, ports.
$255.00
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Sentimental literature originally published as individual issues of the Family Circle magazine and here collected and bound into a yearly volume gift book (with index) — charmingly illustrated not only with 12 of the usual steel-engraved scenes but also with
9 hand-colored plates, 4 wood-engraved plates, and a chromolithographed added title-page. The hand-colored plates include a peacock and variety of flowers, shrubs, and trees including alstroemeria, the moss rose, the inga, catalpa, and the Nankin magnolia.
The book's theme is established both by these plates and by the accompanying series of florally themed romantic stories, while other pieces refer admiringly to temperance, patriotism, or female education. Some plates were engraved by R. Soper, Allanson, W. Wellstood, A.L. Dick, and J. Smillie; lyrics and music for “Christian Graces” and “Springdale” are present.
Shockingly the editors report “a most infamous conspiracy to injure and break down several periodicals in this city — our own among the number — has lately come to light” (p. 230). The subscribers’ lists of several periodicals were leaked (apparently by clerks) to unscrupulous individuals who then sent “a vile obscene and filth paper [sic]” to those unsuspecting patrons.
Binding: Publisher's red, richly gold-stamped textured leather, covers with gilt-stamped central bouquet in a basket. All edges gilt.
Provenance: Pencilled name of Peter J. Revill on front free endpaper.
Faxon 188c. Not in Tepper or Thomson. Binding as above and
a brilliantly BRIGHT example. Varying degrees of foxing and staining, most notably surrounding plates. A very pleasing volume from many points of view. (40888)

Biblio-LEC
High
Spots
Newman, Ralph Geoffrey, & Glen Norman Wiche. Great and good books: A bibliographical catalogue of the Limited Editions Club 1929–1985. Chicago: Ralph Geoffrey Newman, Inc., 1989. Folio. ix, [73] pp.; illus.
$95.00
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First edition, limited to 500 copies, of which this is numbered copy 226. The work is illustrated with examples of some of the most significant illustrations and colophons found in the LEC oeuvre; the colophon here is signed by Mortimer J. Adler, who provided the preface.
Publisher's blue-grey cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title and LEC compass device, spine with gilt-stamped title. Slipcase lacking. Clean and fresh. (30010)

One of Indiana's Finest
Nicholson, Meredith; & Harrison Fisher, illus. The main chance. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1903. 8vo (19.2 cm, 7.5"). Frontis., [10], 419, [3], [18 (adv.)] pp.; 5 col. plts.
$35.00
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A story with drama and some romance about a young man about to inherit his late grandfather's Indiana estate, presented in a simple, decorated cloth binding and with six delicately colored plates (including the frontispiece) by American illustrator Harrison Fisher, known for his “Fisher Girl” (similar to “The Gibson Girl”).
Meredith Nicholson (1866–1947) was an American author and politician from Indianapolis who wrote several bestsellers during the early 20th century, the Golden Age of Indiana Literature.
Binding: Publisher's teal cloth with gilt lettering and white-stamped vertical fence-like lines to spine; front board is lettered in gilt and stamped in white with vertical and horizontal lines suggesting a gate. A white tram or trolley car is daintily stamped within a wide teardrop-shaped opening in the “gate's” upper portion.
Smith, American Fiction, 1901-1925, N-84. Bound as above; edges rubbed, corners bumped, spine slightly cocked, decoration to spine rubbed, minor staining to top-edge; in fact, binding quite attractive. Interior age-toned, foxing to plates and adjacent leaves (with frontispiece tissue guard separating), upper outer corners bumped or lightly creased across. Readable, and highly enjoyable as an artifact. (37558)

Surveying the Literature of
Street Vendors
Nisard, [Marie-Léonard] Charles. Histoire des livres populaires ou de la littérature du colportage depuis le XVe siècle jusqu'à l'établissement de la Commission d'examen des livres du colportage (30 novembre 1852). Paris: Librairie d'Amyot (Imprimerie D. Jouaust & Ch. Lahure), 1854. 8vo (24.5 cm, 9.64"). 2 vols. I: [4], xvi, 580, [4] pp.; illus. II: [4], 599, [1] pp.; 1 fold. plt., illus.
$500.00
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First edition of this important study of the chapbooks and tracts (both secular and religious) peddled by itinerant sellers in France: the first comprehensive, systematic work published on the subject. Nisard was a member of the titular government committee charged with licensing (and censoring) the literature sold by colporteurs, putting him in an excellent position to collect and document a great deal of otherwise ephemeral printed material — much of which he considered pernicious in influence. Covered in these two substantial volumes are almanacs, occult pamphlets, catechisms, biographies, sermons, letters, primers, religious polemics, romances, etc.
The text is
decorated with over 100 illustrations reproducing woodcuts from tracts
described, many mounted and some full-page, including a number of danses macabres.
Brunet, VI, 1720 (no. 30066); Graesse, IV, 679. Later plain cream linen, spines with titles stamped in brown; minor sunning to spines and to top front edge of vol. II. Edges untrimmed, most signatures unopened; dust-soiling to edges and into many margins; foxing, creasing and cockling variously; some leaves in vol. I with short tears from outer margins (often where an illustration needed to be placed inside an unopened signature).
Of interest for scholars of public morals and popular culture, the book trade, and illustration in France from the 15th century through the middle of the 19th, among other topics. (40866)

One of 30 Special Copies — Extra Plates, Signed Binding
Nogaret, François-Félix, et al. Le fond du sac, ou recueil de contes en vers et en prose & de pieces fugitives. Paris: Leclere (pr. Lyon: Louis Perrin), 1866. 8vo (20 cm, 7.8"). xli, [3], 172, [2] pp.; 12 plts.
$1000.00
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Nogaret (1740–1831) was perhaps more noted as France's theatrical censor or as the Freemason responsible for various Masonic hymns than as an author — with one exception, that being his story about an automaton created by a man named Frankenstein, predating Shelley's by almost 30 years. In the present collection (originally published in 1780), he gathers some of his own poems, short stories, and literary essays, including “La Main Chaude,” “Délire bachique,” and “Bouquet à Jean” along with pieces by other contemporary hands. This is
one of only 30 copies printed on papier de Chine, this example with an extra suite of plates bound in offering a second state of the frontispiece and the eleven headpiece engravings by Duplessis-Bertaux.
Binding: Contemporary signed blue morocco, covers framed in gilt triple fillets with gilt-stamped arabesque central medallion surrounded by a frame of gilt double fillets with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spine gilt extra, with gilt dentelles and marbled paper pastedowns; lower edge of front dentelle stamped “Allô” (Paul Charles Allô, 1823–90). All edges gilt. Original slim, tricolor silk bookmarker laid in.
Vicaire, Manuel de l’amateur de livres du XIXe siècle, 201. Binding as above, spine gently sunned, joints and extremities rubbed, area of light discoloration to each cover at joint, back cover with small scuffs; front hinge (inside) tender. Front pastedown with unidentified bookplate reading “Exploranda est veritas” (name effaced); back free endpaper with institutional rubber-stamp and note of proper deaccession. Bookmarker separated and laid in, as above, with offsetting on either side; scattered light foxing. Volume now housed in maroon cloth–covered clamshell case partially lined with marbled paper.
Interesting 19th-century French belles-lettres, beautifully produced, here in a beautifully bound example with the bonus suite of plates. (34918)

Illustrated Fables from the Chiswick Press
Northcote, James. One hundred fables, original and selected. London: Geo. Lawford (pr. by C. Whittingham, Chiswick Press), 1829. 8vo (20 cm, 7.87"). Frontis., viii, 272 pp.; illus. [with the same author's] Fables, original and selected ... second series. London: John Murray (pr. by C. Whittingham, Chiswick Press), 1833. 8vo (20 cm, 7.87"). lx, 248 pp.; illus.
[SOLD]
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AESOPIAN MORAL TALES, some in prose and some in verse, each illustrated with a headpiece vignette and decorative capital, and most bearing a tailpiece as well. The
over 500 wood engravings were accomplished by a variety of hands (including William Harvey, one of Thomas Bewick's pupils) after designs by Harvey and by the author himself; they are attributed in indexes at the back of the volumes. The first volume is here in its stated second edition, following the first of the previous year, and the second volume in its first edition.
Provenance: Front pastedowns with “Suivez raison” armorial bookplate of Robert Callwell, front free endpapers with “Spectemur agendo” armorial bookplate of Laurence A. Waldron, Dublin. Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Ray, Illustrator and the Book in England, 55 & 56; NSTC 2N10328 & 2N10331. Contemporary half green morocco with green pebbled cloth–covered sides, leather edges with gilt fillet, spines with gilt-stamped title and dates and blind-stamped compartments; spines slightly sunned and volumes showing light shelfwear. Bookplates as above. Pages gently age-toned, otherwise clean.
A handsome set of a classic Aesop. (40759)

Presentation Copy from the Illustrator — A Star-Studded Colophon
Novak, David Alan, comp. & ed. The first one hundred years, 1892–1992. A keepsake volume for the centenary of
the Rowfant Club. Cleveland: The Rowfant Club, 1992. 4to (26 cm; 10.25"). xii, 77 pp., illus.
$200.00
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Assembled here are short biographies of members and honorary members, stories of various furnishings of the club house, episodes in the history of the club, and details of the club's library.
Limited to 315 copies, “[t]his book was printed at the Yellow Barn Press . . . during the summer of 1991. It has been set in 15 point Perpetua designed earlier this century by Eric Gill. . . . The paper is Rives. . . . The book was bound at the Campbell-Logan Bindery. . . . John DePol designed the pattern paper for the covers. Neil Shaver printed the book on a Vandercook III. Denise Brady folded and collated the edition” (colophon).
DePol also provided the
numerous wood engravings that enhance the text. This is copy 303.
Presentation copy from DePol: “For Morris Gelfand, old friend, with warm regards . . . John DePol December 3, 1991.” Gelfand was the proprietor of The Stone House Press.
Publisher's red cloth shelfback, boards covered with DePol's gray and white illustrated paper. A very nice copy. (35832)

COLORFUL Engravings & (Sometimes!) “COLORFUL” Verses
(e.g., “I had a little husband . . . ”)
(Nursery Rhymes). Bysh's edition of nursery rhymes. Embellished with eight coloured engravings. London: Pr. by T. Richardson for J. Bysh, [ca. 1825]. 12mo (14.5 cm, 5.7"). 36 pp.; 6 col. plts.
$350.00
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Chapbook of poetry for children, illustrated with hand-colored wood engravings. In addition to the better-known nursery rhymes that have stayed in modern circulation, present here are some grimmer verses about carrion crows, penknives to the heart, little ducks shot through the head, etc., along with a separate section of longer “select pieces” including “The Blind Boy,” “The Beggar's Petition,” and “Winter Reflections.” Each plate offers a pair of images, for a total of 12 illustrations; both the cartoonish engravings and the very bright coloring are vigorously done.
Although the WorldCat entry for this undated edition suggests a publication ca. 1840, John Bysh's peak publishing dates (between 1810 and 1825) and the address given here — as well as the inscription (see below) — indicate an earlier printing. Only two U.S. institutions report holdings via WorldCat (Morgan Library, Princeton).
Provenance: Frontispiece recto with inked ownership inscription of S.G. Rolls, dated 1828. Later in the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
This ed. not in Opie (see N 953 & N 954 for other Bysh eds.); not in Osborne Collection. 19th-century marbled paper–covered boards, housed in a dark purple cloth–covered clamshell case; binding rubbed, case with remnants of now-absent paper label on spine. Original printed paper wrappers bound in, front with upper and lower margins trimmed. Wrappers darkened and spotted, pages lightly age-toned with scattered small spots of foxing; last leaf with outer margin ragged and with lower portion torn away resulting in loss to the sentimental “Winter Reflections” of about eight lines on each side, neatly repaired some time ago with plain paper.
Uncommon and intriguing, with more than a little by way of unexpected content. (40736)

A
Perishable Press–Favored Author
Olson, Toby. The pool, from the novel Dorit in Lesbos.
Driftless [i.e., Mt. Horeb], WI: Perishable Press, 1991. 8vo (26.2 cm, 10.3"). 38 pp.; 1 fold. plt.
$400.00
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First edition: Stand-alone printing of a particularly evocative sequence from
Olsen's novel Dorit in Lesbos, dedicated to Alan Peacock (given here as Allen). This interesting
Perishable Press printing was handset in Gill Sans and printed on Shadwell paper, made by Kent
Kasuboske “back in the Oligocene sometime” according to the colophon; the work is illustrated
with an oversized, folding plate and other designs by Lane Hall.The present example is
numbered copy 49 of 107 printed, signed by the author at the
end of the text.
Publisher's paper wrappers, front wrapper
with applied collage elements, in glassine dust wrapper. A nice copy.
(30920)

A.K.A. “Four Poems” — Hamady's Calligraphic Inscription
Olson, Toby. Three & one. Mt. Horeb, WI: Perishable Press, 1976. 16mo (13.3 cm, 5.25"). [16] pp.; illus.
$125.00
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First edition of this collaboration between Olson and Walter Hamady of the Perishable Press, with a title variance commented upon in the postface; while the half-title calls this Three & One, the title-page gives Four Poems, with the Perishable Press bibliography using the former. The typeface was Sabon-Antiqua printed in blue, maroon, black, and grey on Frankfurt and Frankfurt Cream papers, sewn into blue marbled paper wrappers, and the poems are
illustrated with two intricate drawings by Mary Laird, hand-tinted with colored pencils by the printer. 145 copies were printed.
Provenance: This copy inscribed, in an angular, decorative hand (presumably Hamady's), to a contemporary bookseller and archivist, with the inscription dated 1976.
Two Decades of Hamady & the Perishable Press, 76. Wrappers as above, with very faint traces of wear to extremities, otherwise clean and fresh. It should be noted that the hand-tinting is to small portions of the illustrations only, and very subtle in tone; inscription, as above, large and bold.
A nice copy of this “first,” with an interesting inscription. (37227)

Limited Editions Club: O'Neill Comedy
O'Neill, Eugene. Ah, wilderness! New York: Printed for the members of the Limited Editions Club, 1972. Folio (28.5 cm, 11.25"). 161, [3] pp.; 8 col. plts. (4 double-page).
$175.00
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A humorous rendition of the playwright's own youthful romantic indiscretions, here with an introduction by Walter Kerr, red and blue decorations drawn by Sylvie Roizen, and
eight full-color plates (four of which are double-page spreads) printed by Holyoke Lithograph Co. from oil paintings by Shannon Stirnweis. The artist elected to “bring the reader into the setting as a member of the audience” (according to the newsletter) by depicting the first scene as if the viewer were sitting in the theater, with subsequent images moving the viewer on stage and sweeping the other audience members out of sight.
This is
numbered copy 1346 of 1500 printed, signed at the colophon by the artist. The appropriate Club newsletter and prospectus are both laid in. The volume was designed by Adrian Wilson, set in Monotype Kennerley and Mars types, and printed on Curtis wove paper by Clifford Burke at Mackenzie and Harris, Inc.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 445. Publisher's quarter red cloth and firework-printed paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label, in original glassine wrapper and matching slipcase; glassine wrapper with small portion torn away from lower back edge and nicks to lower edge and spine head, slipcase with one nick to paper at one edge of foot, volume clean and lovely. Overall in beautiful condition. (34066)

Perishable Press: Fathers, Sons, & Women
Oppenheimer, Joel. Notes toward the definition of David. Minor Confluence [i.e., Mount Horeb], WI: Perishable Press, 1984. 8vo (25.5 cm, 10").
[20] pp.; illus.
$50.00
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First edition: Cleanly designed Perishable Press production, this being one of 210 copies and
signed by the author, illustrated with a wood engraving by Pati Scobey. The colophon proclaims “This book is the first for the third decade of this press, and is the one-hundred-seventh since beginning in 1964" — it also thanks produce manager Randy Hagen for saving onion skins over several months to facilitate the production of the handmade Shadwell “Onionskin” cover stock.
Publisher's paper wrappers as above, front wrapper with tiny lion device stamped in red. A fresh, unworn copy. (30919)

The Science & Mechanics of
Iron, ILLUSTRATED
Overman, Frederick. The manufacture of iron, in all its various branches. Philadelphia: Henry C. Baird, 1850. 8vo (24 cm, 9.4"). 492, [4 (adv.)] pp.; illus.
[SOLD]
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Illustrated with
150 in-text wood engravings done by William B. Gihon, this important early treatise on the “practical utility” of the technology of the iron industry was written by a prominent mining engineer and metallurgist. The title-page proclaims, “Including a description of wood-cutting, coal-digging, and the burning of charcoal and coke; the digging and roasting of iron ore; the building and management of blast furnaces, working by charcoal, coke, or anthracite; the refining of iron, and the conversion of the crude into wrought iron by charcoal forges and puddling furnaces . . . to which is added, an essay on the manufacture of steel.” This is the second edition, following the first of the previous year.
Publisher's brown cloth, covers and spine with blind-stamped decorations and gilt-stamped vignettes; extremities rubbed, spine head chipped, gilt lightly rubbed. Ex–social club library: paper shelving label on spine, 19th-century bookplate, front free endpaper lacking, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Small crescent burn mark to upper margin of title-page, a very few small smudges elsewhere, otherwise clean. (28291)

Ovid's “Art of Love” in GERMAN — Limited Edition — Slevogt's Embellishments
Ovidius
Naso, Publius. Des Publius Ovidius Naso Lehrbuch der Liebe. Berlin: Paul Cassirer, 1921. Folio (31.9 cm, 12.75"). 90, [4] pp.; illus.
$975.00
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Attractive edition of the Ars Amatoria translated into German by Ernst Hohenemser. The title-page and the charming, individual, and in a few cases mildly erotic head- and tail-pieces were lithographed by Max Slevogt, a notable member of the Berlin Secession. Publisher Cassirer was an art dealer and editor who actively promoted and supported artists of the Secession and the French Impressionist School.
This is numbered copy 201 of 320 printed, of the eighteenth work to come from Cassirer's Pan-Presse. The Lehrbuch is not widely institutionally held in the U.S.; WorldCat finds
only three American locations.
Publisher's half cream pigskin and light grey/tan cloth, rich eggplant endpapers, front cover with gilt-stamped vignette and spine with gilt-stamped title; bottom edge and corners rubbed or frayed with attendant soiling, front cover with area of faint staining. Interior clean and bright. (28154)

Keeping the Theoretical & the Practical in Balance
Ozanam, Jacques. La geometrie pratique, contenant la trigonométrie théorique & pratique, la longimétrie, la planimétrie, & la stéréometrie. Avec un petit traité de l'arithmetique par géometrie. Paris: Charles-Antoine Jombert, 1736. 16mo (16.2 cm, 6.375"). [8], 308, [20 (index)] pp.; 8 fold. plts.
$300.00
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Corrected and enlarged edition, following the first of 1684. Ozanam (1640–1718) was a largely self-taught mathematician who became a teacher and a member of the Académie des Sciences. He published a number of well-regarded treatises on mathematics, including the much-reprinted Dictionnaire mathématique — the first work of its kind in French — and the groundbreaking Récréations mathématiques et physiques. The present work on practical geometry is
illustrated with eight tipped-in folding engraved plates, while its accompanying “petit traité” features numerous in-text diagrams.
Contemporary mottled roan, spine gilt extra with raised bands and gilt-stamped leather title-label; acid-pitted and worn, especially at joints and extremities. All edges stained red. One plate creased near fold with outer edge slightly proud. Pages and plates clean. (40302)

The Folly of a Vain Doll — With Hand-Colored Cruikshank Plates
Pardoe, Julia; George Cruikshank, illus. Lady Arabella: Or the adventures of a doll. London: Kerby & Son, [1856]. Sm. 8vo (17.6 cm, 6.92"). [2], 88, [4 (adv.)] pp.; 4 col. plts.
$425.00
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First edition: George Cruikshank–illustrated tale of a little girl's encounter with a discarded doll who recounts her downwards progression from haughty, well-dressed queen of an upscale toy shop to a “miserable, one-eyed, ugly-looking wreck” (p. 7). The author was a prolific poet, historian, novelist, and travel writer as well as a children's writer.
This copy with
Cruikshank's four wood-engraved plates hand-colored, which Cohn notes was not always the case.
Provenance: Front pastedown with small book label featuring an illustration of a bird with the head of a fish wearing a jester’s hat brandishing a sword and with large feathered tail, the initials “N.H.L.T.” at the corners. Most recently in the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Cohn, George Cruikshank: A Catalogue Raisonné, 625; Osborne Collection, p. 1019. Contemporary textured red cloth, covers stamped in blind with foliate corner decorations, front cover with central gilt-stamped title (main title within decorative garter motif), spine with gilt-stamped title; corners rubbed, spine dimmed and a very little chipped. Small, illegible pencilled inscription on front pastedown; back pastedown with binder's ticket of Westley's & Co. Pages with a handful of small spots, overall clean. (40808)

“Wonder Turners” for Everyone
Paris, John Ayrton. Philosophy in sport made science in earnest; being an attempt to illustrate the first principles of natural philosophy by the aid of popular toys and sports. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green, 1827 [Brattleboro, VT: Optical Toys, 1995]. 12mo (15.3 cm, 6.02"). 28 pp. (incl. pr. wrappers).
$95.00
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“This is a faithful reproduction of a set produced in France over 100 years ago”: Modern facsimile of the chapter on thaumatropes from the first edition of Dr. Paris's Philosophy in Sport,
accompanied by 14 working examples and instructions for their use. The 1827 text uses an elaborate fictional frame story about the Seymour family and friends to teach about conducting experiments and examining scientific principles via “the common toys which have been invented for the amusement of youth” (p. 25), including the thaumatrope, or wonder turner — a spinning-disk optical illusion serving as an early form of animation, and often considered a part of cinematic history. The French “jeu du thaumatrope” set reproduced here was originally published circa 1891; 12 of the present thaumatropes have preprinted illustrations, while two have been left blank for a user to decorate.
Provenance: Inside box lid with bookplate of Vance Gerry of the Weather Bird Press; later in the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, with small booklabel (“AHA”).
Publisher's printed paper wrappers, housed in the original printed paper–covered box with color-printed “Jeu du Thaumatrope” illustration; box edges and corners with minor rubbing.
Booklet and toys clean, absolutely fresh, and ready for fresh experimentation! (40819)

“Your Very Affectionate, Louis N. Parker” — Autobiography with Signed Letter
Parker, Louis N. Several of my lives. London: Chapman & Hall, 1928. 8vo (22.7 cm, 8.875"). viii, 312 pp.; 32 plts.
$125.00
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First edition: From the prolific British playwright, an illustrated autobiography with signed ephemera laid in, mounted, or tipped in
including a handwritten letter and poem written by Parker, photographs, and newspaper clippings. Louis N. Parker (1852–1944), best known for his 1911 play Disraeli, started his career composing music after attending the Royal Academy of Music; as he began to lose his hearing, he became increasingly involved with drama instead. During his career, he wrote or translated (either alone or in collaboration) over 100 plays, and organized pageants — huge drama festivals involving hundreds of performers, inspiring a rise in “pageantitis” in England.
Parker's biography is well illustrated with 32 black-and-white plates (including his frontispiece portrait) featuring the many people he met throughout his “lives” — early life, musical life, theatrical life, and pageant life (as the book is sectioned).
Binding: Half red morocco double gilt-ruled, over red cloth sides; five raised bands to spine, lettering or elegant gilt floral decoration in ruled compartments. Top edge gilt, fore- and bottom edges untrimmed.
Signed by Bickers & Son.
Provenance & added material: Previously owned by Parker's friend “Saint” (unidentified; see further). Mounted on front free endpaper, a black and white photograph of Parker in front of shelves holding a glass collection; mounted underneath is a clipping from a letter: “Your very affectionate, Luigi.” On following verso, a newspaper clipping of an interview from 1932 is tipped in; on the next recto is mounted a letter to “Saint” (a delightfully written apology for the friend's absence in the book) with, on its second leaf, an original poem asking his friend to “accept this trivial book.” Additional newspaper clippings laid in. On rear pastedown, a black and white photograph with a small ink note indicating it is of Parker's salon; on rear free endpaper, Parker's obituary clipped from the Illustrated London News (as indicated by previous owner's pencilled note) dated 1944. Occasionally a pencilled word or checkmark; one clipping with cut-off words supplied in ink.
Bound as above, minor rubbing to corners, small stain and light fading to boards; offsetting to endpapers and soiling from glue used to attach ephemera, evidence of one glue-in removed. Evidence of readership as above; one checkmark in old-fashioned red pencil.
A splendid, unique volume containing intriguing related ephemera — clearly owned by a special friend of Parker's. (38018)

Fine-Press Love Poems from
Medieval Andalusia
Parker, Margaret, transl.; Fredric Brewer, ed. I am going to cry. Bloomington, IN: The Raintree Press, 1977. 4to (17.9 cm, 7.04"). [12] pp.; illus.
$35.00
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Scarce sole edition: Twelve kharjas — closing lines of strophic poems written in a mixture of
vernacular Arabic and early Spanish — translated into English by Dr. Parker, a professor at Louisiana State University. The text was handset by Brewer, who decorated it with zodiac symbols printed in black and red.
Provenance: From the collection of Gerson Leiber, the artist, engraver, sculptor, and book collector, sans indicia.
Publisher's printed yellow paper wrappers; spine very slightly sunned, faint dust-soiling in upper inner portion of front wrapper, light creasing at lower edges, presenting very well overall. Pages fresh and clean.
A nice copy of a very uncommon item. (41504)

Signed Limited Edition: Noir Fiction
Parker, T. Jefferson. Easy Street. [Mission Viejo: ASAP Publishing], © 2000. 8vo (23.6 cm, 9.3"). Frontis., 44 pp.; 2 col. plts.
$300.00
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First edition, preceding the story's republication in The Best American Mystery Stories 2001: a tale of two brothers and a rash of bank robberies in Southern California. Elizabeth George provided the thoughtful introduction, Robert Crais the enthusiastic afterword, and Phil Parks the mounted, color-printed illustrations. This is
lettered copy N of 26 collector's copies, out of 250 total, signed by Parker, George, Crais, and Parks on the limitation page.
Binding: Publisher's grey silk, front cover with affixed color-printed illustration, spine with title stamped in black, in a striking lucite slipcase.
Binding as above, lucite showing predictable minor shelfwear, overall a beautiful copy. An uncommon printing of work by one of the most popular contemporary crime writers; actually, of
an all-star trio of writers. (33332)

The
LARGEST Herbal in the English Language — Ruskin's Copy
Parkinson, John. Theatrum botanicum: The theater of plantes. Or, an herball of a large extent ... London: Thomas Cotes, 1640. Folio (35.3 cm, 13.9"). Add. engr. t.-p., [18], 1755 (i.e., 1745), [3] pp.; illus.
$6000.00
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First edition: Over 3,000 species and their virtues described for the use of apothecaries and herbalists. Parkinson (1567–1650), who served officially as Royal Botanist to Charles I and unofficially as gardening mentor to his queen, Henrietta Maria, was also one of the founders of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries — to which the allegorical frontispiece here may refer with the rhinoceros in its upper portion. The author of Paradisi in sole paradisus terrestris, Parkinson was much acclaimed by his contemporaries and by later botanists; Henrey cites Sir James Edward Smith's assessment that “this work [the Theatrum botanicum] and the herbal of Gerarde were the two main pillars of botany in England till the time of Ray.” Gerard and Parkinson indeed competed in publication, with the printing of the present work having been delayed several years so as to avoid marketplace clash with Johnson's edition of Gerard's herbal.
In the present work, Parkinson divided the plants by classes such as “Sweete smelling Plants,” “Purging Plants,” saxifrages, wound herbs, cooling herbs, “Strange and Outlandish Plants,” etc. Most of the entries are illustrated with in-text woodcuts, interspersed with pages wholly occupied by four images. Among the Americana content here are descriptions of Virginia bluebells, Peruvian mechacan, potatoes, and an assortment of “Ginny peppers” (with dire warnings regarding their fiery hotness); also present are
28 previously unrecorded British species, including the strawberry tree and the lady's slipper orchid. The index and tables are organized by Latin name, English name, and medicinal property.
Provenance: Front pastedown with John Ruskin's Brantwood ex-libris, and with bookplate of American zoologist Charles Atwood Kofoid; additional engraved title-page with inked inscription “Ex bibliotheca Mathiae Lynen, Londini,” dated 1641. A cheque drawn on Prescott Dinsdale Cave Tugwell & Co. by Joanna Ruskin Severn on Ruskin's behalf is tipped in.
ESTC S121875; Henrey 286; Johnston, Cleveland Herbal, Botanical, and Horticultural Collections, 197; Nissen 1490; Rohde, Old English Herbals, 142; STC (rev. ed.) 19302; Alden & Landis 640/143; Arents 212; Pritzel 6934; Hunt 235. Contemporary speckled calf framed in blind double fillets, spine with gilt-stamped red leather title-label; much worn with front joint open, hinges (inside) reinforced with linen tape, old refurbishments including shellacking. Front pastedown and engraved title-page reinforced, the latter by attachments to endpaper and title-page; preface leaf partly separated; first and last leaves generally tattered and a few others with marginal paper flaws, one affecting a few letters and a small portion of one image. Occasional marginal tears, one just touching text; three small ink spots to one leaf, touching two images, else scattered spots only; one spread with ink blot (possibly printer's) obscuring portions of five words. Some corners bumped, and index leaves creased with three partly split along creases; final table leaf and errata leaf with old repairs costing a few words. Some pagination erratic and pp. 845–48 laid in, supplied from a smaller-margined copy; front free endpaper with pencilled annotations regarding this copy. A worn and pored-over yet respectable copy of this important 17th-century herbal, with
nice English and American provenance suggesting who did some of the poring. (34702)

A Thoughtful Study — A Lovely Book
Pascoe, Juan. An early Mexican typographic ornament / 1554–1686. Santa Rosa, Tacámbaro, Michoacán, Mexico: Taller Martín Pescador, 2019. Small 8vo (23 cnm 9"). 39, [1 (blank)] pp., color illus., facsims.
$37.50
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Pascoe, Mexico's greatest modern hand-printer, has long made a study of early Mexican printing, printers, and typography. Here he traces the use of a fourchée cross designed, cut, and cast by Antonio Espinosa, first used in 1554, that subsequently was part of the typographic repertoire of Pedro Balli, Antonio Ricardo, Pedro Ocharte, Melchor Ocharte, Diego López Dávalos, Enrico Martinez, Cornelio Adrián César, and Juan Ruíz.
In addition to discussion of this ornament's use by those various printers, Pascoe also offers interesting and sometimes new biographical information on the printers based on archival documents. His assessment of each printer's skills is informed by his own eye and decades of experience as a hand-press printer.
His text is illustrated by more than 20 color illustrations and by examples of each printer's signature.
In all, a totally satisfying work on the skills and personalities and, at times, the tribulations of these early New World printers — itself beautifully printed in Pascoe's own unmistakable style.
Issued in a strong soft white cover printed in black and red, within a dove grey typographic over-wrapper printed in darker grey and red. As new. (40046)

The History & Bibliography of
The Taller Martín Pescador
(through 2014)
Pascoe, Juan. Taller Martín Pescador, anecdotario y bibliografía / 1971–2014. Oaxaca: Museo de Filatelia de Oaxaca, Huipulco, Tlalpan, 2014. 4to (31 cm, 12"). 208 pp., illus., (some color)., facsims.
$95.00
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A history of Taller Martín Pescador, master printer and typographer Juan Pascoe's fine press atelier in Tacámbaro, Michoacán, Mexico. The volume, which is in Spanish, includes a history of Pascoe, his family beginning with his great grandfather, and his press, as well as press publication history, information about projects, and a complete list of published works (pp. 144–207) through November of 2014.
The introduction (pp. 5–7) is by María Isabel Grañén Porrúa.
Limited to 500 copies printed in November, 2014, in “Talleres de Offset Rebosán” in Mexico City. As of late June, 2020, WorldCat reports only seven libraries, all in the U.S., reporting ownership.
Stiff wrappers. New. (41143)
For TALLER MARTIN PESCADOR, click here.
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