•  Narratio: Adams C436; Brunet, II, 1009; VD16 C480 / VD16 C408. Libellus: Brunet, II, 1009; VD 16 C409; not in Adams. Tertius libellus: Brunet, II, 1009; VD16 C410. Binding as above, spine with later hand-inked paper label; binding much darkened and somewhat rubbed, one clasp intact and the other lacking. First title-page with ownership inscription dated 1559 inked in lower margin; Libellus alter lacking last leaf of preface (with errata on reverse) and Tertius libellus epistolar lacking title-page. Some corners dog-eared; two leaves with outer corners torn away, without loss to text. Early inked underlining and lining through of text, with a few marginalia, mostly in Narratio and occasionally in other two works. Last few leaves of final work with light waterstaining to lower outer corners.

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

Binding:  Contemporary dark green straight-grain morocco, spine with gilt-stamped rules, rolls, and devices. Covers framed with a delicately curly gilt-rolled border; the center panels, within, accented by gilt-stamped corner fleurons. A bit of additional filigree in blind appears both within the rules of the gilt border and within the border on each center panel, to nice subtle effect. Gilt inner dentelles. All edges gilt.

•  NSTC C355.   Binding as above, leather rubbed at edges and joints, spine a bit dimmed. Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of John Allan Powell; front fly-leaf with inked inscription dated 1922. A few spots of foxing, pages otherwise clean. A pretty and very English production for this Portuguese poet.  A charming volume.  (23077)

•  Not in Weale & Bohatta.   Bindings as above, edges and extremities rubbed, spine leather with tiny cracks, one spine head chipped, one joint starting. Ex-library with bookplates, rubber-stamp on lower edges of pages of the closed volumes. One volume with text block separating from spine and sewing loosening; this with the most leather rubbed away and the darkest instances of the usually-light waterstaining and spots of foxing seen occasionally throughout. Endpapers bear early inked ownership inscriptions and annotations. An elegant quartet.  (12406)

An early purchaser has recorded the cost of binding the set (60 pence per book) in a pencilled note on the front fly-leaf of vol. I: “Aug. 15th 1864 in 38 vol bound in fine 1/2 moroco [sic] per vol c/60 d.”

The essays and authors here were all once fashionable as well as interesting; they are no longer at all fashionable, but they are interesting in ways that their authors and original readers never imagined.  

Bindings: Contemporary half morocco over attractive marbled paper–covered sides, each spine with gilt-stamped title, volume number, and elegant arabesque decorations. Top edges gilt.

•  On Chalmers, see: The Dictionary of National Biography. Bindings lightly rubbed, a few with leather showing slight cracking over spines. Frontispiece with bookplate of private collector. Pages age-toned, with edges slightly embrittled; some occurrences of staining and pencilled underlining, with the majority of pages clean. An attractive set; many hours’ worth of reading. For anyone who savors slices'o'life, and slices'o'time, very rich fare.

Provenance: Fore-edge painted with “Elizabeth Smith, 1680"; front fly-leaf with inscription recording the birth of William Rice in 1681 and with inscription of Charles Knowlton, dated 1738; fly-leaf verso with early inked genealogy describing the Smith-Rice-Knowlton descent.

Binding: Elaborate Restoration binding: black morocco framed in gilt semi-circle and strawberry rolls surrounding a broken panel design of red-inlaid scalloped corners decorated with floral-dotted volutes, containing a bouquet of tulips and other flowers with red and citron morocco inlays; the upper- and lowermost tulips each with a smaller gilt-stamped flower and leaf tool inside, spaces filled with small flowers and dots. Spine gilt extra using cover rolls and additional floral decorations, with two decorated compartments of red morocco; board edges and turn-ins with gilt rolls. The tools used do not appear to be an exact match to any binder represented in Bennett, Nixon, or Maggs: Bookbinding in the British Isles, although the tulip with superimposed small flower is reminiscent of the binder Nixon identifies as the Small Carnation Binder. All edges gilt. Fore-edge painted with name as above, surrounded by hand-painted floral decorations.

•  BCP: Wing (rev. ed.) B3659B. Not in ESTC; not in Griffiths (see 1680/5 for a very close example). Bible: ESTC R215858; Wing (rev. ed.) B2308A; Herbert 758. Psalms: Not in ESTC, not in Wing.   Binding as above, front joint cracked (sewing holding) with corners/edges rubbed; spine leather with small cracks and head chipped, small area darkened. BCP lacking A1, either a blank or a licence and much more likely an initial blank; title-page repaired at one corner. Elsewhere, one leaf with tear from outer margin, extending across one column without loss; page edges with occasional small smudges from fore-edge decorations; some faint spotting and foxing. Now housed in a café au lait morocco slipcase mistakenly giving 1630 as year of publication, based on misleading print impression on title-page. A good and interesting book apart from its extraordinary binding, charming fore-edge treatment, and multi-generational provenance.  (25925)

Provenance:  George Richard Mackarness M.A. (bookplate); Wallace Parham (bookplateand sticker).

•  Gewirtz, But One Use, 55; ESTC T141242; Griffiths, Bibliography of the Book of Common Prayer, 1717/2.   Binding as above; leather cracking slightly along joints and scuffed in a few places, chips at top of spine. Lacking volvelle, as is almost always the case; later manuscript note citing Walpole's “Anecdotes of Painting” laid in. Age-toning/soiling across page-bottoms and lower outer corners, with only a bit of soiling/spotting otherwise; reds remain very bright and impressions dark and crisp. Ink inscription “From my mother Jan. 1855" on front fly-leaf verso. A wondrously beautiful piece of devotional art in very nice condition.  (30126)

Binding:  Publisher's lavender paper–covered light boards, covers framed in purple floral roll, spine with purple roll and all edges gilt.

•  Lightly rubbed, lightly faded, paper mostly lost from spine. Front hinge (inside) cracked, sewing loosening, free endpapers lacking. Light staining to upper outer corners of first and last few leaves, only; otherwise clean. We judge that the rarity of this little book and its “siblings” is the direct result of inherent fragility!  (27192)

The second work is Peter Martyr's commentaries on Corinthians, here in the second edition. It has a full-page woodcut portrait of him on the recto of leaf aa6. The printer's woodcut device is on the title-page and there are numerous woodcut initials. The sidenotes are printed in italic while the text proper is in roman.

Peter Martyr (8 September 1499 – 12 November 1562), was an Italian theologian who began his religious life as an Augustinian friar, converted to the Protestant cause, was closely associated on the continent with Ochino, Bucer, and some prominent Lutherans, and, while in England where he held the Regius Chair of Divinity at Oxford, was an intimate of Thomas Cranmer and Bishop Jewel.

Both works are uncommon in these editions in the U.S.: We locate four copies of the first title and two of the Vermigli, but one copy of each title has been deaccessioned, meaning current holdings are three and one only.

Binding:  Contemporary alum-tawed pig over wooden boards with bevelled edges and metal and leather clasps; one clasp perished. Leather tooled elaborately in blind using a variety of rolls and fillets, including one roll incorporating the date 1546, a medallion of David and his harp, and another medallion depicting John the Baptist with the words below the image, “Ecce Agnus Dei.”

•  Clement: VD16 C4070; Index Aurel. 104.903; Adams C2106. Vermigli: VD16 B5054; Adams M788.   Bound as above. Ex-library with bookplate on front pastedown, small blind pressure- (not perf-.) stamp on title-page and remnant of charge pocket at rear; six-digit number stamped in lower margin of one leaf. Early inked ownership indicia on title-page and old private ownership stamp on front free endpaper; a little old marginalia and underlining. A very little foxing and the odd spot only. Excellent copies of both works in a handsome contemporary binding.  (24827)

There are two states of this edition; in the present state p. 1 has the words “Introductory dialogue” set in solid roman capitals, and the first line of the poem reads “Father Time! ’tis well we are met” rather than “Father Time! ’tis well we’re met.” The paper in vol. I is watermarked with the dates 1813, 1814, and 1815, while in vol. II the watermarks are 1814 and 1815.

Binding: Signed binding by Riviere & Son: 19th-century mottled calf, covers framed in gilt triple fillets with gilt rosettes at corners; round spines with raised bands, the whole gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels; double-rule gilt fillets on board edges; gilt inner dentelles. All edges gilt.

•  Abbey, Life, 263; NSTC 2C32764. Bindings as above, carefully and neatly rebacked preserving original spines, corners and joints showing slight wear. Vol. I with short edge nicks to upper margins of two leaves, not touching text; last few leaves and plates of vol. II with small area of light staining to outer margins, not touching text and not obtrusive in images. A beautiful set. (18517)

Binding: Signed binding by Riviere & Son: 19th-century mottled calf, covers framed in gilt triple fillets with gilt rosettes at corners; round spines with raised bands, the whole gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels; double-rule gilt fillets on board edges; gilt inner dentelles. All edges gilt.

•  Abbey, Life, 264. Tooley 410;.NSTC 2C32763. Binding as above, neatly rebacked preserving original spine, showing only very minor traces of wear. Without the advertising leaf. Some faint offsetting and spotting surrounding plates, otherwise clean. (18518)

signed at the colophon by Chandler

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 543.   Binding as above, in original box with gilt-stamped leather author label on spine; box with faint wear to corners, back/bottom lightly rubbed and with a small scuff laid down. Volume pristine.  (30761)

Binding:  Contemporary deep reddish-brown sheep in imitation of morocco, exuberantly flourished in gilt both as to both covers and the spine; front cover gilt extra with arabesque and floral designs surrounding a vignette of a girl bearing a basket of flowers on her head, spine with gilt-stamped title and similar motifs, back cover with blind-tooled foliate decorations and gilt-stamped arabesque motifs. All edges gilt. This binding is illustrated as “lamina XXVIII” in Manuel Romero de Terreros' Encuadernaciones artisticas mexicanas, siglos XVI al XIX.

•  Palau 66293; Sabin 65337 (for 1847 & 1852 eds.).   Binding as above, mild rubbing overall, especially to spine; front joint just starting from head. Hinges (inside) cracked across paper, with text block starting to pull away. Pages gently age-toned, with some light foxing generally to or around plates and a few corners crumpled. One plate with ragged outer edge, not touching image. Silk bookmarker laid in; many guard leaves still present. More solid than description might imply, and an all-around remarkable, beautiful volume.  (29091)