18TH-CENTURY BOOKS
Aa-Al   •   Am-Az   •   Ba-Beq   •   Ber-Bo   •   Bibles   •   Bp-Bz
Ca-Cb   •   Cc-Coq   •   Cor-Cz   •   Da-Di   •   Dj-Dz
  Ea-England   •   English-Ez   •   F   •   Ga-Gp   •   Gr-Gz   •   Ha-Hb  
Hc-Hz   •   I-K   •   La-Lel   •   Lem-Log   •   Loh-Lz   •   Maa-Mar
  Mas-Mz   •   N-O   •   Pa-Pi   •   Pj-Pz   •   Q-R   •   Sa-Sch
Sci-Se   •   Sf-Sol   •   Som-Sz   •   Ta-Th   •   Ti-U   •   Va-Wil   •   Wim-Z

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Geomancy Chiromancy & Metoposcopia — Many Plates

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•  Two works of the occult bound in one volume. The first claims to be translated from the Italian but all titles by the “Gran Pescatore di Chiaravalle” are in languages other than Italian! The Metoposcopia et chiromantia curiosa deals with prediction of personality and destiny based on the pattern of lines on one's forehead and via the lines in one's palm.

The Vollkommene Geomantia treates of divination by way of markings on the ground or how fistfuls of dirt land when tossed. This last work is supposedly based on researches in books on the subject written in rabic, Italian, French, and English.

•  Vollkommene: Jantz Collection, 3334. Neither work in Coumont, Demonology and Witchcraft.   Contemporary vellum over paste boards, with slightly yapp edges; all edges red. Text unmarked and untattered. A very nice pair of uncommon books.  (26955)

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Dance of Death Chapbook — “Très Rare”

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•  Wonderfully “antique” style printing of the classic French Dance of Death, textually revised but still based solidly on Marchant’s original work of 1486, and making use of its woodcut designs. Issued as a chapbook,”Marchant” was sold by peddlers and at fairs, and was one of the most popular educational picture books in Europe since the Middle Ages. It contains two sections: First the Dance of Death of men of all ranks and professions and after that the Dance of Death of women of various ranks and stations in life.

Over60 large woodcuts illustrate the text, with some images appearing in both sections. The volume concludes with several poems on the themes of life, death, and the afterlife.

Though an 18th-century printing of a “reformed” version, this production respects its original and has the typographic look of early post-incunables.

Uncommon: We trace only nine copies in the U.S., all but one in libraries east of the Mississippi.

Binding: 19th-century calf by F. Bedford with that firm’s minute stamp on front free endpaper; covers framed in gilt triple fillets. Spine gilt extra, with gilt-stamped leather title and publication labels. Gilt inner dentelles, french-combed endpapers, and all edges red.

•  Fairfax-Murray, French, 108; Morin, Bibliothèque bleue de Troyes, 435; Nisard, Histoire des Livres Populaires, II, 303. Binding with old, good repairs to head and foot of spine; joints and corners with additional subtly neat repairs and refurbishment. Pages lightly age-toned, with some signature marks and a few bottom lines shaved; a treasure from multiple points of view.

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The First Book fromthe Strawberry Hill Press

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•  First edition and sole Strawberry Hill edition, with the points called for by Hazen; kirgate issued a close reprint of the work in the 1790s but corrected the points. As handsomely printed a work as one would expect of Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill press, this bears a title-page offering an engraved vignette of Strawberry Hill.

Gray (1716–71) and Walpole were best of friends at Eton (two of the “quadruple alliance” along with Thomas Ashton and Richard West), became estranged when they went off to university, and reconciled as adults with Walpole taking an active role in promoting Gray's career as a poet. The two “Pindaric” odes published here for the first time are “The Progress of Poesy” and “The Bard.” “Progress” came from Gray's study of the history of poetry and was written over the span of 1751 to 1754: It “ traces the spirit of liberty and poetry from ancient Greece to medieval Italy to modern England” (DNB on-line). “The Bard” came from Gray's study of Welsh poetry and was written between 1755 and 1757: It concerns Edward's destruction of the Welsh bards and is appropriately Gothic to align nicely with Walpole's interests in that genre.

Horace Walpole (1717–97), the 4th earl of Orford, is best remembered as the author of the Gothic novel The Castle of Otranto. Among bibliophiles he is also remembered for his private press, variously known as the Officina Arbutana or the Strawberry Hill Press. Walpole's almost fantastic wealth allowed him the connoisseur's luxury of maintaining this noble enterprise, which he operated in the arena of the rebirth of fine printing in Great Britain that was being carried on by the Foulis brothers, Baskerville, and others.

•  Hazen (1973 ed.), Bibliography of the Strawberry Hill Press, 1; ESTC T42023; Northrup 1; Hayward 174; Rothschild 1067.   Modern full speckled calf with modest blind tooling: binding unsigned but defintely by Bernard Middleton. All edges gilt. Without the half-title (as is often the case); title-page lightly dust-soiled and all leaves with indication of having once been folded vertically; held to the light, some leaves show old, excellent repairs along these folds and/or at edges. A lovely copy.  (29670)

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              & TYPOGRAPHY,  click here.
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English Law — Woman Printer

Great Britain. 

•  Second, folio edition of this legal compendium edited by William Nelson, containing translations of the case records (from legalese into English, one might say), examinations of the citations made during the various cases, and definitions of “obsolete Words and difficult Sentences.” The volume is printed in roman and gothic types for ease of distinction between the actual court records and the commentaries upon them; cases are arranged not by date but by the subject of note, so that students may readily find all the instances where replevin or scire facias were at issue.

•  ESTC T8304. Contemporary full calf, covers framed in blind using double fillets on three sides and a floral roll on the fourth; rebacked and corners redone at some point using lighter calf, gilt-stamped leather title label. Abraded and worn, with front hinge(inside) tender. Pages age-toned, some more so than others; yet the volume almost entirely free of spotting. (Our image is a bit distorted, above right — Nutt & Gosling could print in straight lines, and did!)

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Keeping the Peace in Edinburgh
    (Harry Potter, Stay Home)

•  Commencing with a long list of addressees, this missive describes the duties and responsibilities of those who uphold the law in Edinburgh. Among the crimes which should be actively prosecuted are “Witchcrafts, Inchantments, magical Arts, Sorceries, Transgressions . . .” ESTC describes only Scottish holdings of this item.

•  ESTC T200651. Tipped onto a leaf of 19th-century paper; in a Mylar folder. Darkened, last page with a short closed tear and with light-colored staining partially obscuring a few letters.

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For SCOTLAND & SCOTS,  click here.

Newly IncludingLeatherworkers

Great Britain.

•  An act clarifying regulations for the trades listed in the subtitle; covered here are the rights of manufacturers in prosecuting thefts of materials by laborers employed in their shops, as well as the rights of employees to be paid in timely fashion and in the coin of the realm.

Respectably produced in the contemporary style of English law-printing, set almost entirely in gothic with a large initial containing trumpet-blowing cherubim.

•  ESTC N51532. Disbound from a nonce volume, now in a Mylar folder. Title-page with small tear to outer margin, lower outer corner lost. Pages clean and crisp.

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        FINANCE / ECONOMICS,  click here.

Making West Indies Investments Safe for All

Great Britain.

•  This act specifies that foreigners and aliens willing to loan money to owners of estates in the West Indies will have legal recourse should those owners default on their mortgages.

A good example of the solid, workaday English law-printing of its period, opening with an attractive foliate initial crowned with a seated griffin.

•  ESTC N57352. Removed from a nonce volume. Pages clean save for some very minor browning in outer margins.

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        FINANCE / ECONOMICS,  click here.
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An Act to Aid Chippendale Hepplewhite & Others

•  The act allows for direct, duty-free importation into England, on English ships, of American mahogany and other woods, especially in the form of lumber but also as other wood products. The chief aim is to stimulate furniture manufacturers and other "artificers."

•  Removed from a volume and old sewing holes visible in inner margins. Last leaf detached and reattached with archival-quality tissue tape. A clean copy.

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Reformingthe Kingdom’s Finances

•  Report of the commission appointed at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession to examine the finances of the United Kingdom following the war and the recent union of Scotland and England (1707). Also included is A Report from the Commissioners Appointed to Take, Examine and Determine the Debts Due to the Army, &c. with its own sectional title-page dated 1713. First of two editions, also printed 1714.

This is less dry than might seem, with notes being present as to which officials’ accountings were in revolting disarray, as to what bakers were scamming Navy purchasing officers, how much was spent on what at military hospitals—etc.

•  ESTC T94705; Goldsmith’s-Kress 5055. 20th-century gray wrappers with title in blue ink on front wrapper. Wrappers with browning, fading, light soiling, a little shallow chipping, and a few shallow tears. Heavy pencilling on inside front wrapper and title-page. Pages with some shallow dog ears and traces of soiling. All edges speckled red.

The “Who’s Who”

•  Register prepared for the 1741 general election, with notations regarding how M.P.s voted on the Convention and on Walpole’s proposed Excise Bill (a tax on tobacco and wine). The current U.K. Parliament website sums up the terms thusly: “The Lords Spiritual are made up of the Archbishops of Canterbury and of York, the Bishops of London, Durham and Winchester as well as specific bishops of the Church of England. The Lords Temporal are made up of Hereditary Peers elected under Standing Orders, Life Peers, Law Lords, the earl Marshal and the Lord Great Chamberlain.” Click the image to the left
for an enlargement.

Uncommon: ESTC locates only four copies, none of which are in the U.S.

•  ESTC T26238; Goldsmiths’-Kress 7877.5. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Pages age-toned, with some dustsoiling.

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        FINANCE / ECONOMICS,  click here.
& for TOBACCO,  click here.
Or for more relating to WINE,  click here.
This also appears in the GENERAL
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Cowper's Life a “Striking Instance of
the Instability of Earthly Hopes”

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•  First edition. A dissenting minister and founding member of the Eclectic Review, the Rev. Samuel Greatheed was a close friend of Cowper's; this memorial piece includes affecting descriptions of the poet's mental illness. This is the first issue of the first edition, with “sermon” in solid type on the title-page and a semi-colon after Wakefield in the imprint.

ESTC lists no publication prior to this occurring in Newport-Pagnel.

•  ESTC T44132; NCBEL, II, 598.   Uncut copy and stitched as issued. Title-page with rubber-stamped numeral and internal tear touching the first line of title without loss; first and last pages dust-soiled, fore-edges chipped and slightly ragged. Not pristine, but a desirable example of this uncommon piece in its original state.  (29490)

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An American FIRST inPHILOSOPHY

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• First edition. Born in Germany, Gros was a pastor and professor of both German and moral philosophy at Columbia University. This work is the text version of a course he taught there, and is the “first treatise on Moral Philosophy written and published in America,” according to Sabin.

• ESTC W28659; Evans 28775; Sabin 28933. 19th-century quarter sheep in imitation of morocco, rubbed and worn; covers pressure-stamped by a now-defunct institution, spine with paper shelving label. Half-title lacking, title-page and a number of others stamped, back free endpaper with pocket. Pages clean save for stamps. (9536)

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The Greek Anthology — A Bright Handsome Set

Click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.

•  First edition thus: Important collection of Greek poems from the ancient and Byzantine periods, here edited by Bosch, with Grotius’s metrical Latin renditions provided on facing pages and Pierre-Daniel Huet’s notes closing the third volume. Two other volumes of commentary were added later, in 1810 and 1822, but are not integral to the main text and are not present here.

Brunet calls this a “belle édition, la seule où l'on ait donné l'élégante traduction de l'Anthologie par Grotius,” with the present example beinga particularly nice, wide-margined copy. Each engraved title-page has a vignette done by R. Vinkeles.

•  Brunet, I, 309; Schweiger, I, 31. Recent black moiré cloth, covers framed in blind rolls, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-labels. Vol. I with one signature separated. Title-page of vol. III with upper inner corner waterstained; scattered spots of light foxing to be noted, but in fact the whole very clean and nice. All edges marbled.

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Grotius & the Old Testament

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•  Later three-volume edition of Grotius' famous notes on the Old Testament, here corrected and edited and with additional refinements by Georg Johann Ludwig Vogel (1742–76) and Johann Christoph Döderlein (1746–92).

Printed in double-column format in roman and italic, with handsome woodcut headpieces, initials, and other ornaments.

•  Half dark tan calf with tan paper sides speckled with black and gilt center ornaments in spine compartments; rubbed and abraded, lacking free endpapers. Ex-library: each volume with an old-fashioned 19th-century paper spine label, handsome bookplate, a bit of pencilling (no stamps). Offsetting to initial and final blanks from the leather of the corners; bold old inked shelf-mark, possibly a private owner's, at top of first blank in each volume. Solid and attractive.  (30392)

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For BIBLES, TESTAMENTS, *&*
        BIBLE SCHOLARSHIP,
  click here.
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Grotius on THE LAW of War & of the Sea,
& on Natural Law

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•  Groundwork for Grotius’ De jure belli ac pacis (On the Law of War and Peace) was laid in the 16th century by Spanish theologians Francisco de Vitoria, Francisco Suarez, Bartolomé de las Casas, and Ginés de Sepulveda as they struggled with the legitimacy of making war on the Indians of the New World.

Grotius saw his book published for the first time in 1625 at Paris: It studies the legality of war and immediately established itself as a foundational work on the topic. Modern scholars regard it asfoundational in international law.

This edition contains added scholarship from Joannes Fredericus Gronovius (1611–71) and Jean Barbeyrac (1674–1744). In addition to De jure belli ac pacis the reader will find two other important Grotius tracts at the rear of the volume: Mare liberum and Libellus singularis de aequitate, indulgentia et facilitate, meaning the volume treats not just of law of war, but natural law, international law, maritime law, and law of the sea.

There are two issues of this edition, the other having “Ex Officina Wetsteniana” on the title-page in place of “Apud Janssonio-Waesbergio.” In both editions the title-page is printed in black and red, and of course, they have the same pagination. The work has side- and shouldernotes, an engraved portrait of Grotius, and an added engraved title-page.

•  Meulen & Diermanse (1950 ed), Grotius, 602.   Modern quarter claret-colored morocco with gilt-accented raised bands; gilt center device in each spine compartment. Marbled paper sides. Library pressure-stamps on title-page, no other markings; light age-toning and occasional spotting or foxing. A very nice copy with all edges decorated — more than “speckled,” not quite “marbled,” definitely attractive.  (26526)

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      interest,  click here.
This book also appears in the GENERAL
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“The Reasonableness ofBelieving & Embracing the Christian Religion”

•  Grotius's defense of Christianity: the first Protestant textbook of apologetics, first published in Dutch verse in 1622, here edited by Jean Le Clerc and translated into English prose by John Clarke, dean of Salisbury. This is the eighth edition thus, following the first of 1711. Click the images for enlargements.

•  ESTC N14190.   Contemporary speckled calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, board edges with gilt roll; joints cracked (sewing holding), extremities rubbed/chipped. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on paper label to spine and endpaper, no other markings. Early inked ownership inscription on title-page. Title-page and last leaf with offsetting from turn-ins, otherwise occasional light foxing only.  (28342)

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This book also appears in the GENERAL
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TO Part XVII . . .

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