First Edition of aPRACTICAL CLASSIC Building Shapes EFFICIENTLY
Alberti, Giuseppe Antonio. Trattato della misura delle fabbriche nel quale oltre la misura di tutte le superficie comuni si da ancora la misura di tutte le specie di Volte, e d'ogni specie di solido, che possa occorrere nella misura di esse. Venezia: appresso Giambattista Recurti, 1757. 8vo (21.4 cm; 8.5"). Engr. frontis. port., xxxii, 279, [3] pp., XXXVIII plts. [SOLD]
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First edition of an important work on stereometry — meaning the volume measurement of solid figures — as it relates to architecture, from an influential Bolognese architect and mathematical writer who also invented his own land surveying tools.
The text has been expertly set to include both complicated and extended formulas and is complete with37 full-page plates and one folding engraved plate depicting the various measurements and angles to be taken into consideration when building with various shapes. Alberti uses the research of other architects and theoreticians — including Jousse, Blondel, Sangallo, Parent, La Hire, and Varignon — in the explanations of various mathematical problems.
Binding: Original cartonné binding; title inked on spine, text untrimmed and partially unopened.
Catalogo ragionato dei libri d’arte e d’antichità posseduti dal conte Cicognara, 389; Riccardi, P. Biblioteca matematica italiana, vol. I, col. 16–7. Bound as above, gently rubbed with squiggle of wormtracking through front board and first leaves including half title/frontispiece, portrait, and title-page, with delicate repairs thereto. Two central sections with light staining to upper outer corners, as of old, very light blue ink; some late leaves with slim crescent of old and likewise light waterstain just into top margins; two leaves with limited in-press ink smears (and a few mispaginations). A nice copy of an important work. (37209)
Arnaud, François-Thomas-Marie de Baculard d'. Sidnei et Silli. Ou la bienfaisance & la reconnaissance [.] Histoire anglaise, suivie d'odes Anacréontiques. Francfort: Jean Georg Eslinger, 1767. 8vo (16.4 cm, 6.45"). [2], 112 pp. (i.e., 110, pp. 33 & 34 not used in pagination and the leaf on which they should appear is cancelled). $275.00
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A popular French short story — quickly translated into German, and the basis for a Viennese play — here in an attractive edition, with the author's accompanying Anacreontic poetry nicely printed with typographical head- and tailpieces. This appears to be the first Frankfurt printing, following the first edition of 1765 (which had appeared under a false London imprint), and it is now uncommon; a search of WorldCat findsno U.S. institutional holdings.
Binding: Contemporary mottled sheep, spine gilt extra with a well-handled dianthus motif and gilt-stamped red leather title-label; covers plain and board edges with a gilt roll, all edges red. Remnant of green paper placemarking tab to fore-edge at division between sections.
Despite pagination indicating a skipped or missing pp. 33/34, the content here is uninterrupted and the volume is complete.
Not in Brunet. Bound as above, pp. 33/34 lacking; small portion of one cover slightly sunned and both a little rubbed scuffed, spine bright and nice. Offsetting to margins of title-page and final text page; pages overall clean. An early reader has affixed a small green paper tab to the fore-edge marking the start of the Odes. An appealing copy in an elegant contemporary binding. (41378)
Bennett, Edward Turner; William Harvey, illus. The Tower menagerie: Comprising the natural history of the animals contained in that establishment; with anecdotes of their characters and history. London: Robert Jennings (pr. by Charles Whittingham, College House), 1829. 8vo (22.8 cm, 8.97"). xviii, 241, [1] pp.; illus. $250.00
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First edition: Detailed accounts of the animals and birds of the Royal Menagerie at the Tower of London — not just the natural history of their species, but the specific temperaments and characteristics ofthe individual creatures then living in the collection. The great cats, hyenas, wolves, bears, monkeys, elephants, eagles, vultures, owls, macaws, alligators, anacondas, etc. areillustrated with “portraits of each, taken from life, by William Harvey; and engraved on wood by Branston and Wright.” This work marks the closing days of the 600-year history of the menagerie, as by 1832 all of the animals had been transferred into the care of the Zoological Society of London.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Contemporary quarter sheep and cream paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and date; binding rubbed overall with sides darkened and leather scuffed (particularly at joints). Hinges (inside) starting from top; still holding. Back pastedown with small ticket of F. Westley, binder. Pages faintly age-toned with a few scattered small smudges, otherwise clean; one leaf with short tear from lower margin, just touching last line of text without loss. An enjoyable copy of this attractive Whittingham production, and from a good collection. (41296)
Bible. Italian. 1562. Brucioli. La Bibia, che si chiama Il vecchio Testamento, nuouamente tradutto in lingua volgare secondo la verità del testo Hebreo ... Quanto al nuouo Testamento è stato riueduto e ricorretto secondo la verità del testo Greco.... [Geneva]: Stampato Appresso Francesco Durone, 1562. 4to (26.2 cm; 10.375'). [6] ff., 465 (i.e., 467), [1], 110, [18] ff., [1] folding plt. (facsim), [1] folding table (facsim); illus. $4275.00
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A much revised edition of Brucioli's Old Testament married to Massimo Teofilo's New Testament, printed for Genevan Protestant refugees and meant to be spirited into Italy for crypto-Protestants. Darlow and Moule note that “this edition closely resembles certain contemporary French and English Bibles printed at Geneva. The woodcuts are the same as those in the French Bible of 1560 printed by Antoine Rebul . . . , and the type is that of the English Geneva Bible of 1560.” Of the two variations described in Darlow and Moule, this copy is variant A, meaning that the N.T. has marginal notes similar to those of the rest of the text; Darlow and Moule also tell us that “[t]his revision. . . has been ascribed to Filippo Rusticio, or Rustico.”
The work offers a handsome printer's device on its title-page, along with24 in-text
woodcuts of various sizes, all located in the Old Testament, and a folding plate, “La forma de la restauration del Tempio.” A second folding plate contains a table of the passion timeline. At the end of the edition's O.T. is a two-page commentary on “Lo stato dei giudei sotto la monarchia dei Romani,” i.e., the state of the Jews in [ancient] Rome.
Adams B1198; Darlow & Moule 5592. For more on Italian editions of the Bible, see: Pelikan, The Reformation of the Bible; the Bible of the Reformation, p. 60. 18th-century vellum over boards with narrow yapp edges, spine ruled in gilt, covers framed in gilt with gilt arabesque centerpiece, remnants of green silk ties; small sticker on spine, front joint just starting, pastedowns lost with turn-ins starting to warp and fly-leaves (due to this) tattered at edges. Light pencilling/inking on inside front board, and evidence of bookplate no longer present. Age-toning variously with light, often very faint waterstaining to most bottom corners; signature on title-page, a few worn edges or unevenly trimmed leaves, one repaired corner, occasionally a spot, and a number of leaves creased across lower outer corner. Folding plate and folding table both in excellent facsimile, laid in. A sturdy, affordable copy of this beautiful book. (37300)
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& “REFORMATION,” click here. For BOOKS IN ITALIAN, click here. For BIBLES & TESTAMENTS, click here. For RELIGION generally, click here. For JUDAICA / HEBRAICA specifically, click here.
Illustrated Record of the1931 International Exhibition of Persian Art
Binyon, Laurence; J.V.S. Wilkinson; & Basil Gray. Persian miniature painting. London: Oxford University Press, 1933. Folio (39.37 cm, 15.5"). Col. frontis., xiv, 212, [2] pp.; 113 plts. (15 col.). $750.00
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First edition. Including a “critical and descriptive catalogue of the miniatures exhibited at Burlington House January – March, 1931,” this hefty, very much “oversize” volume provides thorough documentation of the exhibition itself, along with extensive information on the history and aesthetics of Persian painting. The work, which one reviewer notes “immediately became the standard monographic introduction to the material” (Roxburgh, Art Bulletin, vol. XCV, no. 4), is printed on good paper and is illustrated with acolor-printed frontispiece and 113 plates, 15 of which are in color.
Publisher's ochre cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title and medallion, in original tan dust jacket; jacket spine and edges chipped but by no means tattered, with volume corners bumped. Foxing to endpapers (only); pages and plates clean. A significant work, here in the first edition in the uncommon dust jacket. (41400)
Cochlaeus, Johannes. Ein[n] nötig und Christlich Bedencken, auff des Luthers Artickeln, die man Gemeynem Concilio fürtragen sol. Gedruckt zu Leipzig: Durch Nicolaum Wolrab, 1538. Small 4to (20.8 cm, 8.125"). [96] pp. $1750.00
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First edition of Cochlaeus' detailed response to Luther's Schmalkald Articles, a summary of Lutheran doctrine written at the request of Luther's patron, Elector John Frederick of Saxony, for presentation at the Schmalkaldic League's meeting in 1537. The league was organized in 1531 as a union of the Lutheran territories and cities to provide a united military and political front against the Roman Catholic politicians and armies led by Emperor Charles V.
Luther was unable to attend the 1537 meeting; consequently, the League ended up being largely influenced by Melanchthon and decided not to adopt the Articles chiefly because of their stand on the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper. The Articles did, however, circulate widely and were incorporated in the 1580 Book of Concord.
Searches of NUC and WorldCat locateonly one U.S. library reporting ownership UPenn).
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
VD16 C4347; Index Aurel. 142.161; Claus 187, 28; Spahn 132. Removed from a sammelband. Very good condition. (38083)
First facsimile edition of this gathering of folksongs and ballads, redone in quirkily illustrated versions by Joseph Crawhall II (1821–96), an antiquarian, writer, and artist — who has supplied his own woodcuts. According to the preliminary note, “Crawhall's Chap Book Chaplets were originally issued uncoloured as eight separate chap-books and as a bound volume containing the eight parts. A small number of volumes were made up with the illustrations hand-coloured: there is considerable variation between copies. The present edition, printed by lithography follows a hand-coloured original.” That original was published in 1883 by Field & Tuer et al.
This bright and cheerful facsimile reproduces “The Barkeshire Lady's Garland,” “The Babes in the Wood,” “I Know What I Know,” “Jemmy & Nancy of Yarmouth,” “The Taming of a Shrew,” “Blew-Cap for Me,” “John & Joan,” and “George Barnewel,”all with their remarkable, rambunctious, good-humored illustrations.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Publisher's quarter very light grey linen and printed paper–covered sides; small faint spot of staining at lower edge of front cover, otherwise clean and unworn. Pages age-toned (not unattractively or indeed inappropriately!). A thoroughly delightful production in a very nice copy. (41201)
The Daguerreotype: A magazine of foreign literature and science; compiled chiefly from the periodical publications of England, France, and Germany. Boston: J. M. Whittemore, 1847–49. 8vo. 3 vols. Vol. 1, no. 1 (Aug. 7, 1847)–v. 3, no. 12 (Apr. 14, 1849). $775.00
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An uncommon, short-lived, and fascinating compendium of reviews of “the latest and most interesting” books, of news of scientific advancements, and of this and that for the inquiring mind of the late 1840s.
Despite the title of the magazine, these three thick, strong volumes are unillustrated; this is a wealth ofword pictures, for WORD PEOPLE!
Recent, handsome black moiré cloth with caramel color spine labels; text blocks excellent with only the very occasional instance of a generally light spot/stain, short closed tear, or dog-ear. Handsome on shelf, comfortable in lap. (27436)
MAGICAL SECRETS of Philosophy & Nature; READ by an ESOTERICIST?
Eckartshausen, Karl von. Aufschlüsse zur Magie aus geprüften Erfahrungen über verborgene philosophische Wissenschaften und verdeckte Geheimnisse der Natur. München: Joseph Lentner, 1791. 8vo (20.4 cm, 8.03"). Frontis., [20], 488 pp. $275.00
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The writings of German mystic Eckartshausen influenced occultists, spiritualists, and alchemists. Here is his introduction to metaphysical study ina copy showing extensive reader engagement — both internally and externally, with underlining and marks of emphasis in red and grey pencil throughout the text, and a fancifully decorated spine.
A self-contained text in and of itself, this is the first volume only (of four) of the stated second edition, following the first of 1788; it opens with a symbolic frontispiece copper-engraved by Weissenhahn, followed by an even more mystically allusive title-page vignette.
Provenance: Title-page with old and decorative but partially obscured rubber-stamp and with early inked inscription (“Kopp”); front free endpaper with rubber-stamp of R. Weiss (“Fairmount Ave”). Later in the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).
Personalizations: Spine with hand-inked English title embellished with a small key drawing, and with place/date at bottom; affixed coat of arms taken from chocolate packaging; and an affixed gilt “knowledge” label (possibly a cigar band in a previous life). Front endpapers with affixed slip of old cataloguing, a printed clipping aboutglow-in-the-dark ink, pencilled annotations, and an early inked inscription in German.
19th-century quarter cloth with speckled paper–covered sides, spine with German title-label, rubbed overall, edges reinforced some time ago; additions as described above; vol. I only, of four, with front hinge (inside) cracked, front free endpaper and frontispiece separated. Paper foxed, in parts browned, with pencilled marks of emphasis as above; two leaves each with a closed tear just touching text, without loss, and one leaf with lower outer corner torn away. Early printings of this work are uncommon, and this copy is particularly engaging as an object. (41258)
Ellis on “the Whole Law of Woman's Life” — Complete Set
in theSCARCE PRESENTATION CASE
Ellis, Sarah Stickney. (The Englishwoman's Family Library). The daughters of England, their position in society, character & responsibilities. The mothers of England[,] their influence & responsibility. The wives of England, their relative duties, domestic influence, & social obligations. The women of England, their social duties, and domestic habits. London: Peter Jackson & Fisher, Son, and Co., [ca. 1845]. 8vo (17.7 cm, 6.96"). 4 vols. Daughters: Frontis., 400 pp. Mothers: Frontis., [8], 390 pp. Wives: Frontis., 371, [1] pp. Women: Frontis., 343, [1] pp. $5500.00
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Ellis's popular “Women of England” series: Moral education aimed not at fine ladies but rather at middle-class women, of “that estimable class of females who . . . enjoy the privilege of liberal education, with exemption from the pecuniary necessities of labor” (Women, p. iv). These volumes seek to teach Englishwomen to be observant, kind, and humble as girls; thrifty, domestic, and comforting as wives; dedicated instructors and guides as mothers; good, soothing Christian influences on those around them throughout their lives; and above all, patient and submissive — in shortthe embodiment of the Angel in the House, though these books preceded the publication of that poem. Ellis grants the necessity of some degree of education for women primarily in order to make them better housekeepers and more interesting companions to men, noting that “so far as cleverness, learning, and knowledge are conducive to woman's moral excellence, they are therefore desirable, and no further” (Daughters, p. 105) — but still she reinforces women's agency, responsibility, and need for self-awareness and self-management, particularly in the daunting task of choosing husbands who will respect them and treat them well.
The four volumes, each with its own engraved frontispiece, appear herein the publisher's leather-covered wooden display casewith shaped roof-like pediment, gilt decorations, gilt-stamped “Library” title, glass-fronted door, and push-button metal catch. The works were first published separately in 1839 (Women), 1842 (Daughters), early 1843 (Wives), and late 1843 (Mothers); the case, apparently first advertised in 1843, could be “had separately” and assembled sets then ensconced in it, or one could buy handsome, variously bound complete sets already encased when new.
Uniform sets are uncommon, and contained in cases like this one are even more so.
Provenance:Daughters with inked ownership inscription of Josephine Sparre, dated 1856; Women with early inked inscription of A.M. Kirwan of Well Park, Drumcondra (Ireland).
Publisher's red pebbled cloth, covers elaborately stamped in blind, spines with gilt-stamped titles and embossed decorations; volumes with edges and extremities rubbed, small scuffs and spots of discoloration to sides, spines gently sunned, Daughters cloth somewhat lighter overall. Daughters: Offsetting from frontispiece to title-page. Mothers: Frontispiece lightly foxed; light pencilled marks of emphasis. Wives: Front free endpaper lacking; frontispiece foxed. Inscriptions as above; occasional small spots of foxing, smudges, and edge chips scattered throughout; box with scuffs and wear, cracks to leather at top refurbished. A removable dais has been added to the foot of the box in order to fit the presently contained volumes more snugly; markings to the cloth lining of the box suggest that, at one time, taller volumes resided there. Some of Ellis's most successful and influential writing in a desirable uniformly bound set, within the rarely surviving and quite charming display case. (41250)
Frost, Robert. The complete poems of Robert Frost. New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1950. 8vo (27 cm, 10.63"). 2 vols. I: xliv, 308, [2] pp.; illus. II: [4], [309]–607, [3] pp.; illus. [SOLD]
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The Limited Editions Club's very fine two-volume set of Frost's poetry, featuring a preface by the author (signed in type “R.F.”), an “appreciation” by Louis Untermeyer, andwood-engraved vignettes by the “Poet Engraver of New England,” Thomas Willoughby Nason. Designed byBruce Rogers and produced at the Marchbanks Press, the set was bound by the Russell-Rutter Company in full blue denim with gilt-stamped black leather spine labels.
This numbered copy 1157 of 1500 printed issigned at the colophon by Frost, Nason, and Rogers. The appropriate LEC newsletter is laid in.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 208. Binding as above; slipcase lacking, spines sunned and somewhat rubbed. Pages clean. Contents fresh and lovely, wood-engravings terrific. (41402)
Glanvill, Joseph. Plus ultra: Or, the progress and advancement of knowledge since the days of Aristotle. London: Pr. for James Collins, 1668. Sm. 8vo (17.8 cm, 7"). 36, 149, [5] pp. (1 final adv. f. lacking). $1500.00
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First edition: “An account of some of the most remarkable late improvements of practical, useful learning: to encourage philosophical endeavours. Occasioned by a conference with one of the notional way.” Glanvill defends the advances of science and the Royal Society's scientific method in this rather pugnacious response to controversy caused by an “enrag'd Antagonist” (the Puritan theologian Robert Crosse) who “reported [the author] an Enemy to the Scriptures” (p. 141) and charged him with atheism. Here, Glanvill describes recent progress in chemistry, anatomy, algebra, geometry, astronomy, geography, and natural history, along with advances in instruments such as the telescope, microscope, thermometer, and barometer.
ESTC R14223; Wing (rev. ed.) G820. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped leather label, lacking final advertisement leaf (only); imprimatur leaf mounted, small repairs to upper margins of title-page and first few leaves. Pages browned and cockled, two with a few letters partially obscured from apparent adhesion one to the other some time ago; text overall very readable. A few instances of annotations, mostly biographical, in an early inked hand. Despite internal wear, now solid for use and attractive on shelf. (41357)
Grañén Porrúa, María Isabel. Tesoros musicales de la Nueva España: Siglo XVI. Tacámbaro de Codallos [Mexico]: Taller Martín Pescador, 2018. Small 4to (25.7 cm, 10"). 46 pp., [1] f., 2 fold. plts., illuis. $375.00
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Dr. María Isabel Grañén Porrúa is Mexico's leading scholar of 16th-century printing in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and Juan Pascoe of the Taller Martín Pescador is Mexico's greatest living handpress printer. Her scholarship, based on archival research and the minute study of early colonial-era printed musical texts, and his precise and meticulous presswork are here combined to give us a masterful study of a neglected area of the history of the book in Mexico, in a volume that is joy in the hand and a jewel to the eye.
Prior to publication here, the extended essay had been “presentado en el simposio 'El libro en la Nueva España. Historiografía en Construcción.' Dirección de Estudios Históricos del INAH, octubre de 2017.”
Only 210 copies were printed: Florencio Ramírez composed the text using Dante, Centaur, Poliphilus, and Blado type. Juan Pascoe and Martín Urbgina printed the work on Tamayo De Ponte paper using a Vandercook cylinder press and two Washington handpresses. The work was bound by Fermín Urbina.
The two folding plates are printed in black and red, as is the title-page and the first page of text. Other illustrations are an Antonio Espinosa vignette, a woodcut of a kneeling Mexica man, and two printer's ornaments. All are printed from zinc plates.
Green shelfback with yellow paper spine label and matching yellow paper on the boards. Author and title printed on front board in a frame of printer's ornaments. As new. (40095)
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Hamady's OwnWords, Paper, & Printing
Hamady, Walter. In sight of Blue Mounds. Mt. Horeb, WI: Perishable Press, 1972. Oblong 8vo (15.9 cm, 6.25"). [8] pp., 20 ff., [2] pp. $850.00
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A marvelous Perishable Press production: “Twenty poem pieces arranged by season,” written by the press's proprietor. These poems, taken from Hamady's journal, were printed partly as a thank-you to Paul Blackburn (“who showed us by example the forgotten apiary of journal keeping”) and also “to use up all the different papers that came from trying to reduce our supply of old towels, ties, jeans, sheets & shirts” — resulting in a seasonally-themed progression of red, brown, blue, and green Shadwell papers for the front pages, and a variety of hues throughout. The book opens with an illustration by Ellen Lanyon; the text itself is printed in red, black, green, browns, and blues.
This is numbered copy 87 of 125 printed.
Two Decades of Hamady & the Perishable Press, 52. Publisher's quarter brown cloth and autumnal marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title, in a brown cloth–covered slipcase; clean and fresh. (31266)
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The Beckford & Durdans/Rosebery Copy
[Head, Richard]. Nugae venales, sive, thesaurus ridendi & jocandi. [bound with another, see below] Disputatio perjucunda qua probare nititur mulieres homines non esse. [The Hague: I. Burchornius, 1642]. 12mo (12 cm, 4.7’’). [4], 336, 48, 44 pp. [also bound in] Acidalius, Valens. Disputatio perjucunda qua probare nititur mulieres homines non esse. Hagae-Comitatis: I. Burchornius, 1641. 12mo. 191, [1] pp. [SOLD]
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The elegantly bound copy of these works from the rich library of the novelist William Beckford (1760–1844). Interestingly, Beckford owned seven editions of the Nugae — this is hisfirst edition — printed between 1642 and 1720. In his sale catalogue, a note attributes it to the Irish novelist Richard Head (1637–ca. 86), author of the successful The Irish Rogue, although scattered sentences in Dutch or German cast doubts; the work also had an English edition, this perhaps translated by Head. The first part is a collection of ironic, witty questions and answers on satirical topics, often concerned with women — e.g., what is a liberal woman? — as well as with curiosities (e.g., why are Ethiopians black? is begging preferable to wealth? {‘it is’}). There follow essays on unrelated topics including pseudo-medicine, with the Nugae's second part — Crepundia poetica — then being a collection of short poems on sundry subjects from doctors to astrologers. The third part — Pugna porcorum — isa satirical poem written solely and perhaps preposterously with words beginning with P.
The Disputatio, here in the second collected edition after a first of 1638, is “a jeu d’esprit against the opinions of the Socinians” (Brunet). Its two parts, propounding rhetorical paradoxes, first appeared separately in 1595, when a debate broke out following the Socinian affirmation that women were animals, not humans, as Eve was not created in the image of God. Attributed to Acidalius Valens, the workseeks satirically to prove, through numerous mainly theological sources and following Socinian logic, that women are not men; the second essay defends women as a sex.
The title-pages offer three instances of the same handsome woodcut vignette.
Binding: 19th-century straight-grained citron morocco, raised bands, spine gilt-extra with flowers and flourishes; inner dentelles gilt, puce endpapers, all edges gilt over marbling. Red silk bookmark present and attached.
Provenance: William Beckford, with 19th-century note “Beckford sale 1883 lot 174" on front free endpaper verso and cutting from sale catalogue on front pastedown; red leather Durdans (Rosebery) booklabel to front pastedown and that library's small blind-stamp to first title-page and elsewhere. Later bookplate of Lawrence Strangman to front free endpaper; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, with his small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
I: Wing (rev.ed.) N1462;ESTC R219402. II: Brunet II, 759 (1638 ed.). Bound as above, with significant rubbing to joints and spine especially and with discoloration especially affecting raised bands; gilt ornamentation still impressive. Short closed tear to B4 not quite reaching print, another with loss to margin just touching text on L4; age-toning, with a few leaves slightly browned. Desirable texts in a desirable copy, with very, very desirable provenance. (41315)
WONDERS ~ Oddities ~ *&* Good Old-Fashioned ENTERTAINMENT!
(Varia Par Excellence across ALL FOUR VOLUMES)
Hone, William; George Cruikshank, Samuel Williams, et al., illus. The every-day book, and table book; or, everlasting calendar of popular amusements, sports, pastimes, ceremonies, manners, customs, and events, incident to each of the three hundred and sixty-five days, in past and present times ... [WITH!] The year book of daily recreation and information; concerning remarkable men and manners, times and seasons, solemnities and merry-makings, antiquities and novelties, on the plan of the Every-day book and Table book, or, everlasting calendar of popular amusements, sports, pastimes, ceremonies, customs, and events, incident to each of the three hundred and sixty-five days, in past and present times; forming a complete history of the year; and a perpetual key to the almanack. London: William Tegg & Co.; Glasgow: R. Griffin & Co.; Dublin: Cumming & Ferguson (pr. by J. Haddon), 1826–28; 1848. 8vo (22.8 cm, 8.98"). 4 vols. I: Frontis. (incl. in pagination), viii pp., 1720 col., 8 (adv.) pp.; illus. II: Frontis., [6] pp., 860, 888 col.; illus. III (marked II): Frontis., viii pp., 1712 col.; illus. IV: Frontis., [4] pp., 1644 col., [2] pp.; illus. $625.00
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Originally issued as weekly numbers and here in their first book form: descriptions of the customs and traditions associated with various celebrations, many now obscure. Hone (1780–1842), a bookseller, author, and reformer noted for battling censorship and other injustices, here takes advantage of the topic's broad scope to incorporate an impressive variety of antiquarian anecdotes, folklore, natural history, travelogues, historical tales, and literary quotations (plus the odd scrap of sheet music) along with the hagiographies found in the Every-Day volume — though the Table Book, written in response to the success of the first series, dispenses with many of the religious associations and generalizes shamelessly in its topics. The Year Book, first printed in 1832 and appearing here in a slightly later edition, adds entries on an equally striking variety of subjects including chess, Old Edinburgh taverns, whale fishing, the life and songs of Walther von der Vogelweide, witches, “Lawless Day” at Exeter, morris dancing, the Riding of Lanark Marches, booksellers of Little Britain, “a Chinese tea-man's shop-bill,” and an array of biographical and historical notes along with astronomical, agricultural almanac, and medical information, while continuing with the generous helpings of poetry and illustrations seen in the previous volumes. Americana content is not lacking, with entries appearing, e.g., on Niagara Falls and “Penn and the Indians.”
“These publications were at once popular, educational, quaint, and socially pertinent,” says the DNB. Assorted contributors including Charles Lamb supplied the pieces not written by Hone himself for this entertaining grab-bag, illustrated withover 700 wood engravings, some of which were done by George Cruikshank.
Evidence of Readership: In addition to one mischievous artistic addition (pencilled glasses and a mustache on the illustration of Blind Hannah), there are several highly indignant comments regarding an account of duelling in Charleston, South Carolina: “A lie! . . . how English these lies are! English lies!” — obviously suggesting an American reader.
Cohn, George Cruikshank, 402 & 403; NCBEL, III, 1285. On Hone, see: DNB (online). All four volumes are in matching publisher's brown cloth bindings, covers with blind-stamped arabesques, spines with gilt-stamped title and volume number. Volumes worn overall, cloth splitting along spines of the hefty volumes and one with chip to cloth at top of spine, front covers and spines sunned, hinges (inside) starting. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplates, call number and paper label on endpapers, title-pages pressure-stamped. Some signatures opened roughly, with chipping and sometimes short tears; vol. II with occasional pencilled markings, including those embellishments to the image of Blind Hannah (col. 221/222), and one page with faint markings in light blue. Scattered minor foxing. With all four volumes present, a massive amount of wonderfully various reading, offering engaging evidence of readership and lots and LOTS of evocative illustrations. (27545)
Kingsley, Charles. Hypatia or new foes with an old face. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1897. 8vo (18.7 cm, 7.36"). Frontis., [2], xvi, 477, [1] pp.; 4 plts. [SOLD]
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Kingsley's best-selling tale of fifth-century religious and philosophical conflict canvassed viathe extraordinary career and sensational murder of Hypatia, a renowned and revered female philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician in ancient Hellene Alexandria.
It is illustrated with a frontispiece and four plates done by Edmund H. Garrett.
Binding: This is an intriguing example of this novel of ideas, in that the usual thematically appropriate binding has been replaced by an unrelated, innocuous color-printed scene of a cottage by a lake on a background with a repeating design of daisies, embellished with raised cornflowers (unsigned) — perhaps intended for ladies of delicate sensibilities who didn't want to be seen in public reading this controversial novel!
Provenance: On front free endpaper, two ownership stamps of Sarah E. Lembeck.
Publisher's printed paper–covered boards with pattern of daisies in white and gilt, front cover with illustration as above, robin's egg blue cloth shelfback gilt extra; very minor dust-soiling to light portion of cover illustration, traces of wear to corners and lower edges. Title-page with one tiny edge tear; pages clean. (37535)
Conspiracy! Murder! Kissing Fair Maidens on the Cheek!
(A Gothic Novelist Turns His Eyes to Venice)
Lewis, Matthew Gregory. Rugantino, the bravo of Venice. Durham: George Walker, Jr., 1838. 12mo (16.8 cm, 6.61"). 24 pp. $150.00
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Scarlet Pimpernel–style derring-do from the author of the classic gothic novel The Monk. Lewis first published this story — inspired by Abällino der grosse Bandit by Zschokke — in 1804, before reworking it into a play which premiered in 1805. The present Durham printing offers an abridged rendition witha dramatic wood-engraved title-page vignette of a mustachioed swordsman, and it is uncommon. Searches of WorldCat find only two U.S. institutions (Harvard, Haverford) reporting ownership.
Provenance: From the chapbook collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.
NCBEL, III, 743 (for earlier eds.); NSTC 2L14132. Removed from a nonce volume in printed self-wrappers, sewing loosened. Front wrapper/title-page with short tear from upper margin not reaching print. Pages age-toned, with some edges slightly ragged. (41173)
A Pittsburgh Woman'sExceptionally Well-Documented Trip to Europe
McKnight, Mary Baird. Manuscript on paper, in English. European travel diary. Rome, Seville, Paris, Gibralter, & elsewhere.: 1895. 4to (19 cm, 7.5"). [136] pp.; illus. & lay-ins. $950.00
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A grand three-and-a-half-month adventure in Europe, memorialized in a combination journal-scrapbook created by Mary Baird McKnight (1866–1958). Daughter of Charles McKnight (1826–1881), a journalist and proprietor of periodicals including The Pittsburgh Chronicle, The Illustrated People's Monthly, and The Evening News of Philadelphia, McKnight was 28 years old and single at the time of the trip. She started out in Italy and ended in France: The diary opens with an entry from Rome, and closes with a letter written home from Paris on 2 July affixed at the back of the volume. Along the way she visited the Vatican, Switzerland, Germany, and Spain, providing daily descriptions of the scenery and people along with museums, cathedrals, events, etc. While her handwriting requires some study, it is legible, and her notes are detailed.
Many of the pages featuresmall affixed photographic reproductions of the sights. Among the other intriguing items present are a first-class ticket booklet from Seville to Madrid (perforation- and rubber-stamped), the color-printed folding cabin passenger list for the Kaiser Wilhelm II steamship sailing from Genoa to New York (via Gibraltar, where Mary stopped), a bullfight ticket, the card of Wayne MacVeagh (United States ambassador to Italy), letterheads from many of the hotels and restaurants visited, and numerous other souvenirs, as well as instances of dried flower and plant matter.
Canvas-covered limp wrappers with leather edging; cloth with date inked in upper outer corner and with small spots of discoloration, leather edging lost at spine extremities and worn elsewhere. Pages age-toned, with some starting to separate; that said, however, this compendium is in a better state of conservation than most “mixed media” constructions of the sort. The affixations remain affixed, the artistically arranged clipped images have not faded to mere shadows, the pressed flowers have not crumbled and retain color. A unique and remarkable travelogue. (41244)
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Grammar & Vocabulary
(MPONGWE Bantu/Gabon). [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)
Noyes, John Humphrey, ed. The circular. Brooklyn, NY: No publisher/printer, 1851–52. Folio (46 cm, 18.5"). 207, [1] pp. $2875.00
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John Humphrey Noyes founded the Oneida Community in 1848 and The Circular came into being only three years later as the reinvented version of The Free Church Circular, which had been Oneida's periodical until a fire destroyed the printing area in July, 1851. It was not only the Oneida community’s own newspaper, it wasits chief propaganda organ and that is apparent in these pages; for who “outside” could resist curiosity such as that raised by the headline of the very first issue's first article here — “Financial View of the Second Coming. [Adapted to Wall Street]”? Over the years The Circular was to change its name several more times; in 1871 it became The Oneida Circular and in 1877 it changed again to The American Socialist. Similarly, and even more frequently, its place of publication changed: Brooklyn (1851–54), Oneida, NY (1855–Feb. 1864), Mount Tom (i.e., Wallingford, CT, Mar. 1864–Mar. 9, 1868), and finally Oneida Community (Mar. 23, 1868–Dec. 26, 1870).
The Oneida Community has often been called the most successful American 19th-century Utopian community: A Perfectionist communal society dedicated to living as one family and to sharing all property, work, and love. The website of the Swarthmore College’s Peace Collection has this to say about the it, and about The Circular in particular: “The Oneida Community was an experiment in Christian perfectionism, the doctrine that by union with God, humans could live lives entirely free from sin. Founded by John Humphrey Noyes (1811–1886), it was radical in the thoroughness with which this challenging ideal was pursued. The community's religious leanings are readily apparent in the discussion provided by The Circular, in which many [secular] topics are covered; yet most of the conclusions call on religious ideals.”
The Oneida newspaper meant so much to Noyes that even after he gave up control of the Oneida Community, he was to retain control of the newspaper and continue itsits advocacy for social change along with argument for communitarian economic aims, and these embraced a wide range: women’s rights, abolition, “complex marriage” (a form of polyamory), birth control via male continence, and (eventually) proto-eugenics, to name but five. As a University of Syracuse digital guide to the Oneida Community Collection notes, “The papers contained a very frank record of the daily life at Oneida as well as religious tracts, discourses on current subjects of social, political, and economic interest, letters to the editors, and advertisements for the Community's varied manufactured goods. They made no secret of their manner of life. . . . “
Present here is The Circular's volume I (numbers 1–52, November 1851 through October 1852), all issues printed in four-column format and very legible type. Following the attention-grabbing article already cited, the gathering's first issue presents a neat statement of “The Basis and Prospects of the Circular” before moving directly on to recount at length the foundering on a Hudson River excursion of a Community-owned sloop, with the loss of two woman members' lives. This is an engaging, very readable social history compendium apart from its usefulness for the study of a particular, mid–19th century American, radical social and religious movement.
Mott, History of American Magazines, II, p. 207; Lomazow, American Periodicals, 568; Oneida Community collection in the Syracuse University Library, pp. 24–25; https://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/o/OneidaCommunityCollection/hsr1.htm; and Sabin, 89516. Stitched, in plain wrappers. Front wrapper with a patch of waterstaining along upper spine area, carrying through variously but usually faintly through March issue; some later issues on paper inclined to browning. Untrimmed, and with very little staining or tattering. A physically stable collection, safely and immediately usable. (41155)
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Finally . . . for Freezing February? A Fiji Isles Paradise
Van Sandwyk, Charles. Sketches from a tropic isle. [North Vancouver?]: Published by the artist, 1997. 12mo (17.3 cm, 6.81"). 28 pp.; col. illus. $150.00
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Drawn and annotated in the Fiji Islands: a stunning booklet of color-printed watercolor illustrations by Canadian-born artist Van Sandwyk, accompanied by his calligraphed meditations and signed by him on the dedication page. This present example features the parrot-variant front cover illustration and, according to the artist's website, is one of 1500 copies.
The gilt-stamped matching bookmark and a card with information on purchasing prints are laid in.
Binding: Publisher's gilt-stamped olive green paper wrappers with color-printed parrot portrait onlay on front wrapper.
Searches of WorldCat locateno copies in the U.S., with two found in Canada and one at the National Library in New Zealand, which last library supplies the “[North Vancouver?]“ attribution for this production without internal assertion of imprint place. Another online source gives “Tavewa Island,” with we know not what evidence.
Wrappers crisp and fresh, showing virtually no wear save for a small area of faint discoloration from now-absent label; booklet pristine and lay-ins present. A lovely copy of a scarce and attractive item. (41361)