Provenance:  Each front pastedown with armorial bookplate of William Arthur, sixth Duke of Portland.

•  NSTC 2B46491; Allibone 240; Brunet, II, 1215.   Binding as above, minor shelf wear to lower edges and corners, vol. I with front board expertly reattached and with small dent to outer edge of front cover. Joints delicate, due to size and weight of volumes, but holding. A few pages and plates with faint foxing, otherwise clean.  (24100)

•  NSTC 2H29711. Recent moiré cloth-covered boards. Front free endpaper with outer edge chipped; title-page with small inked numerals in upper outer corner. A very clean, fresh copy.

Click the images for enlargements.

Binding:  Contemporary embossed rich cordovan-colored morocco cathedral binding featuring inter alii the Holy Ghost (in Pentacostal dove–form), the Agnus Dei, and stained/leaded glass “windows” both pointed and rosette. Spine additionally with gilt-stamped title; turn-ins with blind-roll design. All edges brightly gilt.

•  Not in Herbert.   Binding as above, in beautiful condition. First front fly-leaf with early inked familial gift inscription (including an explanation of one brother's having opted out of the group present!); second front fly-leaf with inked dedicatory poem.  (22266)

Fore-Edge: This displays a pretty rendition of what a hand on the fly-leaf has denominated“Bunyan's cottage, Elstow,” being of his birthplace, near Bedford; in its greens, red, blues, tans, and whites, it incorporates a couple seated on a bench in front and several other onlookers, including a mother holding a young child who points at the house.

Binding:  Contemporary black morocco, covers framed in gilt double fillets with gilt-tooled trefoil and fleuron corner decorations surrounding an elaborate arabesque medallion, spine compartments with gilt-stamped frames and decorations, board edges with gilt roll. All edges gilt.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of John Train.

•  Binding as above, minor wear to corners and extremities. Small spots of foxing to front free endpaper and fly-leaf, pages otherwise clean. A lovely volume.  (30140)

The first volume is illustrated with12 plates each offering four rows of small portraits, some intriguingly expressive; each volume opens with an engraved frontispiece portrait of a royal George.

•  NSTC 2C23867.   Recent textured maroon cloth, spines with gilt-stamped black leather title and volume labels; title-pages institutionally pressure- (not rubber-) stamped. Scattered light spots of staining, pages generally clean; first few leaves of voI. \ II with outer margins chipped. A hefty, substantive evocation of Georgian life and times.  (30012)

The volume’s text is in roman, italic, and Greek types, with sidenotes, an index, and ornaments including woodcut head- and tailpieces and woodcut initials, many of which are historiated.

A fold-out engraved plate shows the monuments on the Roman Capitol, signed “Ant. Alamannus delineavit.” Of the ten other, unsigned engravings, four are full-page and show early Rome and its environs, a statue of the Egyptian god Horus, ancient Roman coins, and examples of aqueducts and lead plumbing. Four more are in-text, showing Rome as originally founded by Romulus, as expanded by Romulus and Tatius, and additional coins; while two more long and narrow, curious engravings are found in the outer margins of pp. 97 and 112. That on p. 97 has been pasted over, but that on p. 112 shows the relative and actual distances of the ancient Roman half-foot and modern Roman half-palm—each divided into twelve inches.

Provenance: On front pastedown armorial bookplate of “Honest George” Dempster, (1732–1818), M.P., third laird of Dunnichen, and popular reformer.

•  DeBacker-Sommervogel, III, 132–33. Early 19th-century calf, spine with gilt-lettered and -ruled red leather label, gilt tools in compartments, and gilt date at base; double ruling at head and foot and above and below raised bands and date. Calf with stains, some small gouges and flakes, and corners bumped; joints open and fragile. All edges speckled red. Closely trimmed by the binder, shaving a few page numbers; some light waterstaining and other soiling. Inked note in top margin of p. 1. Apparently lacking frontis. and one fold-out plate—yet still, overall, worth having asa strikingly handsome production.

•  Uncut, partially unopened set. Publisher's light brown cloth, partly sunned, covers stamped in blind, spines lettered in gilt; corners and spine extremities rubbed with black tape at top of each spine extending onto covers and one volume rubbed in places to the boards. Ex–social club library: each volume with a 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpapers, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings.  (28760)

Click the image to the left
for an enlargement.

•  Sewn. Some edges ragged; worming to upper margins of last few leaves, touching two letters.

“Hours of innocent amusement!”

•  Publisher's full sheep, spines with gilt-stamped Greek key bands and gilt-stamped leather title labels; abraded, chipped, all covers loose, one vol. lacking spine label. Vol. II lacks title-leaf and pp. iii-iv of the index. Ex–social club library, where it was apparently popular: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper of each volume, pressure-stamp on both title-pages of vol. I and on p. v of vol. II; no other markings. Some short tears to edges of some leaves; pages with scattered smudges, spots, and a few early inked doodles.  (26361)

This is the stated fifth edition, following the first of 1724; WorldCat suggests that it may be a reissue of the 1724 printing with the edition statement added. It is printed on one side of each leaf only.

Provenance:  Engraved title-page with early inked ownership inscription of A.W. Rappe in upper outer corner.

•  ESTC T78313.   Contemporary speckled sheep; abraded overall, spine label lost, covers all but detached. Engraved title-page with inscription as above. Minor to moderate offsetting throughout, pages otherwise clean. An interesting pattern-book from an author perhaps better known for such works than for his actual constructions.  (29679)

•  ESTC T75210. Marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. Half-title lacking. Upper margin of title-page showing small abrasions and traces of affixed paper; title-page and several others stamped by a now-defunct institution.

•  Paperback. Fine.  (5324)

This is the original edition andnot a modern reprint.

•  Bitting 273; Brown, Culinary Americana, 2914.   Publisher's textured paper wrappers, front wrapper with printed title; extremities rubbed. Pages slightly age-toned, otherwise clean.A delightfully aspirational read.  (29727)

Click the images for enlargements.

WorldCat locates only two copies of this edition.

•  Recent marbled paper-covered boards with leather spine label. Without the plates; light age-toning.  (26145)

•  Publisher's brown marbled, textured paper–covered boards, front cover with gilt-stamped title. Clean and unworn. Not a commonplace copy!  (26833)

Binding:  Striking medieval-style vellum, front cover with inset chromolithographic illustration in jewel tones in raised, stamped and gilt frame; hand-painted foliate decorations in pink, green, blue, and yellow with stamped and gilt “studs” laid on, artfully scattered. Calligraphic title incorporating onlaid raised decorative capitals; spine with painted foliate decoration; back cover with fully-filling reverse-painted griffin in blue-green and gilt. Studs and other raised elements appear to be clay or ceramic; upper edges gilt and gauffered.

•  Binding as above, moderately dust-soiled and darkened, ties now lacking; gilt elements, front cover inset, and some paint a bit rubbed, with a few studs chipped and three absent — none of this much diminishing the effect. Frontispiece recto with early inked gift inscription. Pages age-toned with a very few light smudges; almost, entirely clean. A pretty and remarkable binding, very appropriate for this romantic history.  (30306)

The volume opens with an oversized, color-printed map of Ireland on green paper; it is further illustrated with a frontispiece and 31 other plates mostly representing churches and abbeys but also Irish landscapes (“The Shannon above Limerick”), historical moments (“Massacre at Drogheda”), and prominent figures. One split image contrasts a tormented Irish family with the same family happy and prosperous in America; interestingly, that same split plate is reproduced at the back of the volume as two facing plates with new captions — “Ireland As She Is” and “Ireland As She Ought to Be.”

Binding:  Publisher's pebbled blue cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title and gilt-stamped vignette of a radiant monolith surrounded by shamrocks; back cover with same vignette in blind, and spine with decorative gilt-stamped author, title, and publisher. All edges gilt.

Provenance:  Back free endpaper with pencilled ownership inscription of Maggie Brennan of Philadelphia; we note, but dare not speculate on the import of, her surname's matching that of one of the authors here.

•  NSTC 0558744 (for 1878 ed.).   Bound as above, front cover and spine aged to dark brownish blue and volume moderately rubbed overall. Folding map with tear from inner margin, extending inside frame (close to but not touching actual image). Pages browned in from edges due to nature of paper, but not brittle; dried plant matter laid in at three spots and an old tassel at another. A very solid copy, with hinges holding (unusual for copies of this hefty volume).  (29569)

•  NSTC 2A17980 (for all years 1855–61).   Removed from a nonce volume. Title-page with small inked numeral in upper outer corner, otherwise clean.  (17033)

Click the images for enlargements.

Very uncommon: NSTC and OCLC locate only the copy at the National Library of Scotland. RLIN located only the copy at Yale.

•  NSTC S3358; Goldsmiths’-Kress 21080.   Disbound. Very Good copy.  (11008)

The volumes are from the famous press of the widow of José Bernardo de Hogal, the Baskerville of Mexico, and they retain all of the fine characteristics that are associated with the Hogal name, including handsome black and red title-pages, great typography (here in double-column format), and use of good quality paper.

The author was general accountant of the Treasury's office of mercury accounting (the element was important in silver refining) and one of the most illustrious Cosmographers of New Spain. He wrote this treatise at the insistence of the viceroy, who was greatly pleased by it.

•  Sabin 99686; Medina, Mexico, 3802; Tovar de Teresa, Bibliografía novohispana de arte, II, 86/87.   Recent full dark brown calf, round spines, raised bands accented with gilt rules; green and red leather spine labels; gilt center devices. Covers with elaborate gilt roll at edges, concentric center compartments and gilt corner devices. Lacking the engraved title, only. Present are intermittent touches of limited worming and, in vol. II, the occasional old stain to a top margin's edge. This is a clean and indeedBEAUTIFUL SET.  (26378)