Binding:  Late 19th- or early 20th-century full crimson calf, covers framed in triple gilt fillets with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spine with gilt-dotted raised bands, gilt-stamped title and author labels, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. Top edge gilt. The publisher's original brown cloth spine and blind-stamped covers arebound in at the back of the volume. Signed: Front free endpaper stamped “Root & Son.”

•  Hayward 258; Tinker 1509; NSTC 2M1220.   Binding as above, carefully refurbished; edges and extremities mildly rubbed, sides with unobtrusive scuffs and a few small smudges. Previous owner's small ticket on back pastedown, slightly scraped. Two leaves with offsetting from now-absent laid-in slip. Last few leaves with pinhole worming in lower margins, not touching text; worming to back fly-leaves and endpapers neatly repaired. Endpapers foxed; pages age-toned with occasional faint spots or smudges, generally clean. Solid and very attractive.  (29456)

Merlin also printed a duodecimo edition in 1767; in the present edition, “Fragmens de philosophie morale” is found on pp. 273–340, followed by the Addition and Approbation.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with large, round, gilt-stamped armorial leather bookplate of notable 19th-century bookseller and book collector James Toovey; smaller, round, gilt-stamped “I.T.” bookplate with motto “Inter folia fructus” (also Toovey's and of cream-colored leather); and bookplate of Sir Montague Shearman.

Binding:  Contemporary crimson morocco, covers framed in gilt triple fillets; spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather labels, board edges and turn-ins with gilt rolls. This volume (complete in itself) seems at one time to have been part of a set of Marmontel's works, and bears an (unnumbered) spine label reading “Oeuvres de Marmontel.”

•  Brunet, III, 1440; Cohen de Ricci, Guide de l’amateur de livres à gravures du XVIIIe siècle, 688; Graesse 406; Tchermezine 455.   Binding as above, with edges, extremities, and joints showing minor rubbing. Front pastedown with bookplates as above; front free endpaper with affixed slip of early cataloguing; rear pastedown with small chip out of paper. Light spots of foxing, slightly heavier around plates. All edges gilt.  (25776)

Binding:  Full green calf, covers elaborately blind-embossed using the same plaque for both covers. Round spine with gilt ruling, gilt title, and gilt center devices in compartments; all edges marbled.

•  Palau 156283.   Binding as above, a little rubbed, some loss of gilt; front free endpaper with a patch of abrasion. Signature on verso of title-page. The usual scattered foxing.  (28726)

Click the images for enlargements.

The volume is illustrated with an added engraved title-page and three steel-engraved plates, done by O. Pelton after designs by T.B. Read and Beaume, and by Charles Phillips after Sir Joshua Reynolds.

Signed binding: Hunter green embossed morocco, covers with cherub vignette in foliate frame; the embossed panel was designed by Francis N. Mitchell and engraved by Alex C. Morin, and the binding was done by Benjamin Bradley, with all three names stamped in panel. All edges gilt.

•  Faxon 713. On binding, see: Wolf, From Gothic Windows to Peacocks, 178; Spawn & Kinsella, American Signed Bindings, 53.   Binding as above, extremities with very minor rubbing; frontispiece lacking. Offsetting from plates, two pages with offsetting from now-absent laid-in item, scattered light spotting elsewhere. A gorgeous example of the binding, with interesting reading inside.  (26737)

Provenance:  Cortlandt F. Bishop, with his elegant red leather bookplate.

Binding:  Signed binding by M. Lortic: red morocco, gilt extra with accents of black; original wrappers bound in. Board edges with gilt double fillet; wide turn-ins with richly gilt; marbled endpapers. All edges gilt.

The prospectus is bound at the rear.

•  Binding as above, joints unobtrusively repaired, very faint traces of shelfwear to lower edges. Pages gently age-toned. A beautiful volume.  (3390)

Binding: Contemporary treed calf; spines with gilt-stamped decorative bands and compartment devices, and with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels. Edges gilt-rolled. All page edges stained yellow.

•  Bindings a little rubbed over joints and extremities, with a few instances of pinhole-type worming to back cover of vol. I; upper and outer edges dust-soiled. Some instances of light foxing. An attractive set.

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

Binding: Contemporary straight-grain black morocco, covers framed and panelled in gilt and blind, spine with gilt-stamped title and gilt-framed compartments, spine compartments blind-tooled in foliate designs, turn-ins with gilt double fillets. All edges gilt.

•  NCBEL, III, 264.   Bound as above, edges and extremities with minor rubbing, bottom spine compartment with small crack, leather (only) starting at front joint (joint itself strong). Front pastedown with early inked ownership inscription. Moderate foxing, more pronounced to first and last few leaves; two pages with offsetting from dried plant matter laid in. A lovely volume.  (24906)

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)

•  Palau 220773.   Contemporary mottled calf with gilt-stamped red leather title-label; minor wear to edges and extremities. Half-title rubber-stamped, no other markings. Pages age-toned with a few scattered instances of faint spotting or smudging.  (29867)

Binding:  Contemporary mottled calf panelled with plain calf, framed in blind with blind-tooled corner fleurons, spine with gilt-stamped red morocco title-label.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with bookplate of John Thomas Ambrose (1798–1881), a philanthropist and solicitor in Mistley and Manningtree.

•  ESTC T17788; Lowndes 1843; Schweiger, II, 727.   Binding as above, rubbed and spine leather cracked; joints strengthened, portion of headband replaced, extremities subtly refurbished with toned long-fiber tissue. Bookplate as above. Varying degrees of age-toning, with a few signatures (only) browned or foxed and some leaves showing sometime exposure to water with no plates affected; additional engraved title-page lacking and index pages bound in incorrectly, interspersed with two poems towards the back of the volume!(29672)

Provenance:  Each front fly-leaf with early inked inscription of Henry Moore, Worcester College, Oxford; front pastedowns with bookplate of H.M., presumably also Moore.

Binding:  Publisher's mottled crimson calf, covers framed in gilt beaded roll, spines with gilt-stamped title and compartment decorations, board edges with gilt roll.

•  ESTC T134377; Brunet, IV, 660; Dibden, II, 290; Gaskell 274; Schweiger, I, 236.   Bindings as above, edges and extremities rubbed, spine leather darkened and showing small cracks. Vol. I with occasional instances of early inked marginalia in Greek. Vol. II with paper flaw to one leaf that has torn slightly, affecting about three letters. Pages gently age-toned with a very few scattered light spots, otherwise clean. A nicely printed text in a pleasing small format.  (30208)

Provenance:  Stamp of the Bibliothek der Fürsten- und Landesschule zu Grimma.

Evidence of readership: Sparse underlining in light early ink (pp. 137–51) and stray pencil marks.

•  De Bure 6079; Dibdin, II, 336 (“the most portable and convenient [edition]”); Hoffmann, III, 171; Moeckli 77; Renouard, 134, 2 (“supérieure aux [éditions] précédentes”); Schreiber, Estiennes, 179; Schweiger, I, 258 (“Erste u. schöne”); and Sandys, p. [105], who with Dibdin gives Paris as the printing place. On cameo bindings and for a similar example, see: C.J.H. Davenport, Cameo book-stamps, pp. 18–21.   Pigskin of rear board with natural flaw patched at time of binding, foliate roll pattern not interrupted across this, extremities rubbed, spine worn, scattered stains. Clasps fully intact. Top edge of some leaves at beginning and especially at end waterstained and lightly deteriorated; small marginal inkblots to a handful of leaves and one narrow, light in-text smear. Old institutional stamp as above and a neat shelf mark to title-page. Clean, interesting copy.  (29514)

Provenance: With the printed and folding ex-proemium of J.J.S. van Goltstein van Hoekenburg, Jan. 1819.

•  DeBacker-Sommervogel, VI, 976. Binding as above. All edges marbled. A very good copy; text block very slightly skewed in binding.

The "Story of the Country-Mouse and the City-Mouse," Prior's satiric and politically motivated response to Dryden's "Hind and Panther," is not included, but the long pieces "Solomon on the Vanity of the World" and "Alma" are present. The "Life of Mat. Prior" in the first volume commences beneath a small engraved portrait.

Binding:  Later sprinkled calf, covers gilt-ruled with gilt inner dentelles, spines gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels. All edges saffron.

Provenance:  Both volumes with armorial bookplates of Sir Robert D'Arcy Hildyard.

•  On Prior, see: Dictionary of National Biography, 397–401. Leather cracking over joints with hinges tender; spine tips a little dry and pulled; upper and outer edges of all covers somewhat darkened; light wear to extremities. Light foxing to some pages. In fact a very handsome pair.

Binding/Provenance: Prize binding of contemporary vellum, covers framed and panelled in gilt rolls with gilt-stamped corner fleurons and gilt central vignette with the crest of the city of Amsterdam, spine with gilt-ruled raised bands and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments. The partially printed, partially inscribed, bound-in prize certificate reads “Ingenuo magnaeque spei adolescenti, Henrico Gerteler propter insignes in artibus humanioribus progessus, in classe tertia . . . Quod testor R. v. Ommeren [/] Gymnasii publici Amstelaedamensis Rector,” dated 1791.

•  Brunet, IV, 905; Dibdin, I, 385–86; Graesse, V, 460; Sandys, II, 455; Schweiger, II, 831. Binding as above, vellum slightly darkened, lacking ties; spine with gilt dimmed and traces of a now-absent label and inked call number at foot of spine. Lower edges with institutional rubber-stamp; title-page with shadow of a pencilled numeral. Front free endpaper with paper adhesions from a now-absent bookplate; back pastedown with rubber-stamp and small adhesion. Pages clean save for offsetting to upper margins of a few, from a laid-in slip.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with calligraphic bookplate of Norman J. Sondheim, the American collector of press books.

Binding:  Signed binding by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, stamped “S. & S.” on front pastedown: Quarter cream morocco and bright gold buckram–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and cockerel decorations.

•  Binding as above, lower outer corners very slightly bumped, morocco with three small spots of staining and a bit of darkening associated with its gluing-down; cloth bright with a little soiling and with reddish spotting apparently associated not with “staining” but with something in the nature of the cloth itself. Pages clean. Overall a solid and attractive copy.  (30589)

Signed Binding: Contemporary red straight-grain morocco, covers framed in substantial gilt and blind-tooled rolls with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, surrounding central gilt-stamped medallions of the French imperial eagle. Spines gilt extra in arabesque and foliate motifs with additional blind-tooling; board edges gilt-stamped and turn-ins with wide gilt rolls. All edges gilt. Bindings signed by Charles Hering — one of the most prominent English binders of the early 19th century.

The editor's advertisement, type-signed by Sophia Raffles (Sir Thomas's second wife), notes that the plates from the first edition and some additional plates were published in “a separate quarto volume, detached entirely from the present work” (p. xi). This did not actually appear until 1844 and so is not present here.

•  Brunet, IV, 1088; Graesse, VI, 17; Lowndes 2037. On Raffles, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Contemporary calf, covers framed in blind triple fillets with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spines with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels and with gilt-stamped and blind-tooled compartment decorations; board edges with blind roll. Binding rubbed at joints/edges and with small scuffs, portions of boards variously stained/sunned; still quite attractive. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate and inked call number on each front pastedown, title-pages pressure- and lightly rubber-stamped; no other markings. Fore-edge of vol. I shows signs of old water exposure, without actual waterstaining to pages themselves save in a few cases where upper or outer margins are touched; pages clean. A pleasant old pair of books.  (26379)

Binding:  Publisher's green cloth, covers framed in blind, front cover with decorative gilt-stamped title, spine with gilt-stamped title.

•  Barile 39–40; Bitting 388 (for early editions); Cagle & Stafford 627 (second ed. on). Not in Brown, Culinary Americana.   Binding as above, light rubbing overall, more pronounced to joints and extremities. Front free endpaper with later inked ownership inscription (“E. Endicott”). Pages very clean and crisp: a desirable copy.  (28633)

A “Map of Servia and the Adjoining Countries” engraved by J. & C. Walker faces the title.

Fore-edge: Gracing the volume is a neat and colorful fore-edge painting of St. Paul's cathedral viewed from the Thames, with a sailboat manned by two men in the foreground drifting by Blackfriars Bridge.

Binding: 19th-century gilt red morocco, boards quadruple-ruled in gilt; innermost frames punctuated by elegant fleurons, upper board stamped at the center with arms featuring a crowned double-headed eagle with orb and olive branch encircled by a motto in Cyrillic. Spine gilt extra, with title and author in second compartment; gilt turn-ins and all edges gilt.

•  Binding and fore-edge as above; extremities rubbed, especially the joints (which are just starting), and corners bumped. Lower margins and early/late leaves waterstained; overall text mildly age-toned at edges and foxed in places with a touch of green pigment bled from a sewing cord visible at gutter in two signatures. A right wonderful volume.  (29600)

Binding:  Signed binding by Cedric Chivers: Brown morocco, covers with gilt-stamped Art Nouveau curved designs and inlaid flowers of red morocco; front cover with painted rendition of the author's “Beata Beatrix” in one of Chivers's famed Vellucent panels. Spine stamped in gilt with red inlaid flowers, turn-ins with gilt-stamped corner fleurons. Top edge gilt.

•  Binding as above, spine and board edges darkened, minor traces of wear to extremities, spine head with small chip. Offsetting to free endpapers from turn-ins. Front fly-leaf with inked gift inscription dated 1919. Pages clean.  (27380)

•  Brunet, IV, 1421. Contemporary black half morocco over blue pebbled cloth, spine beautifully gilt extra, leather edges ruled in gilt; volume clean and virtually unworn. Front pastedown with private collector’s bookplate and with institutional rubber-stamp (no other markings); some soiling and offsetting to front pastedown and free endpaper. Many leaves lightly to moderately foxed, a few more heavily — the paper here was not as good as it might have been. One leaf with short tear from upper margin, touching page number but not text. An attractive production.

Click the images for enlargements.

This is a later edition, following the first of 1728, with this particular printing being uncommon: ESTC locates only four institutional holdings (two in the U.K. and two in the U.S.), while COPAC does not find any additional U.K locations. WorldCat adds two more U.S. locations, for a total of only four.

Binding:  Contemporary treed sheep, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped red leather title-label, board edges with gilt roll; tooling very attractive along lines that “feel” just a touch “provincial.”

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with inked inscription: “Mrs. Hinckley 1809.”

•  ESTC N3296; this edition not in NCBEL, but see II:565 for earlier editions and translations into French and German.   Binding with edges rubbed, spine leather showing small cracks, joints carefully repaired with tissue, caps rebuilt, corners reinforced, leather consolidated. Occasional minor staining; inscription as above. A very readable copy in an attractive period binding.  (28806)