BIOGRAPHIES, AUTOBIOGRAPHIES, MEMOIRS
[This is a mainly 20th-Century General Reading & Reference File]
Virtually every volume on this list is fit to be not just a pleasing
"read" but a pleasing gift — "word to wise!"

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All volumes are octavo; all are in very good used condition unless otherwise noted.

(Acheson, Bohlen, Harriman, Kennan, Lovett, McCloy). Isaacson, Walter and Thomas, Evans. The wise men: Six friends and the world they made. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986.
$17.50

(Acheson, Dean). Acheson, David C. Acheson country: A memoir. New York: W.W. Norton, 1993. Dust jacket as new.
$17.50

(Acheson, Dean). McLellan, David S. and Acheson, David C., eds. Among friends: Personal letters of Dean Acheson. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1980. Dust jacket somewhat worn.
$17.50

(Adams, Abigail & John). Butterfield, L.H.; Friedlaender, Marc; and Kline, Mary-Jo, eds. The book of Abigail and John: Selected letters of the Adams family. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1975.
$17.50

(Adams, Charles Francis Jr.). Kirkland, Edward Chase. Charles Francis Adams, Jr. 1835–1915: The patrician at bay. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1965. Dust jacket slightly worn.
$17.50

(Adams family). Adams, James Truslow. The Adams family. Boston: Little, Brown, 1930.
$10.00

(Adams, John). Smith, Page. John Adams. New York: Doubleday, 1962. 2 vols. History Book Club edition.
$18.00

NOT Your Best Copy — Interesting Reading, However!

•  Includes "The trial of Charles Mechlin, for the murder of Thomas Hallam" on pp. 31–35 and "An account of the life and genius of Mr. Charles Macklin, comedian" on pp. 36–38. Click either image for an enlargement.

•  ESTC T22230. Rebound in quarter library cloth, front and back covers pressure-stamped by a now-defunct library, front cover with paper shelving label. Hinges (inside) starting. Title-page and p. 37 with perforation stamp, pp. 23 and 35 with rubber-stamp, title-page with paper remnants adhered at top margin, rear free endpaper with library charge pocket. Title-leaf separated and chipped, with loss of three letters from the title and several letters from the imprint. Pages 1–6 with tear in lower inner margin and slightly separating. Front free endpaper loose and chipped. Title-leaf browned, p. 1 soiled at top margin, light stain on p. 36, soiling on p. 38. Pages 29-30 soiled, missing some paper in fore-margin, and creased from folding of one corner. Final two leaves with very small dog-ears. Lacks the frontispiece. Toned. (10352)

(Alighieri, Dante). Chubb, Thomas Caldecott. Dante and his world. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1966. $30.00

•  Inscription (author's?); translation of Italian quotation handwritten in ink on dedication page.

(Alsop, Joseph W.). Alsop, Joseph W. I’'ve seen the best of it: memoirs. New York: W.W. Norton, 1992. As new.
$17.50

(Alsop, Stewart). Alsop, Stewart. Stay of execution: A sort of memoir. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1973. Two tears in dust jacket, otherwise good.
$17.50

The Most FamousFairy-Tale Author of All

•  First English-language edition of H. Topsoe-Jensen's annotated edition of Andersen's autobiography, here translated by W. Glyn Jones, with illustrations by Niels Larsen Stevns.

•  Publisher's quarter cloth with paper-covered sides, corners the slightest bit rubbed; original slipcase, this sunned and abraded with “spine” broken. Danish copyright information lined through, volume otherwise clean and quite nice internally.  (24517)

Cagliostro, Con-Man

•  Original Italian edition of this biography of one of history's most notorious charlatans — Giuseppe Balsamo, a.k.a. Count Cagliostro. It was published anonymously by the Vatican's printing office, but has been attributed to Giovanni Barberi (1748–1821), one of Cagliostro's Inquisitors during the 1791 trial that landed him in confinement at the Castel Sant'Angelo. Cagliostro, a forger, alchemist, and dabbler in the occult, was brought before the Inquisition on the charge of Freemasonry. Translations of the work appeared that same year in German, French, and English. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  Passano, Dizionario di opere anonime e pseudonime, 77.   Recent quarter black morocco and marbled paper-covered sides. Spine with gilt-stamped title and gilt center devices in spine compartments; gilt-stamped place and date of publication at foot; gilt-accented raised bands, with gilt ruling above and below each band; and gilt-tooled border on covers. Some loss of paper in lower margin of two leaves. Inked four-digit number at base of p. 1; no other markings. Small ink smudge within text area of p. 5, blotting out a few letters but not overall sense; pages otherwise clean. A very attractive copy.  (24464)

(Beecher family). Rugoff, Milton. The Beechers: an American family in the nineteenth century. New York: Harper & Row, 1981. Dust jacket worn, with several tears. History Book Club edition.
$10.00

A Jesuit Pioneer inIndia & Japan

•  Later edition of this French Jesuit's biography of Saint Francis Xavier, in two volumes; first pu blished in Paris, in 1682, it is here complete in six books, with a “Table des Matières” at end of second volume. Per Sommervogel, it is the “edition du P. Brolier, qui a mis on tête la lettre de Condé au P. Talon sur cette Vie et l'a fait suivre d'observations.” Click the interior image for an enlargement.

The New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia notes that Dominique Bouhours (1632–1702) was best known to English readers as the author of this much-reprinted work and an earlier life of Ignatius of Loyola; for a long time these were “the most widely circulated biographies” of the two saints. Bouhours also achieved prominence for his anti-Jansenist writings.

The pair of volumes were nicely printed, with some nicely engraved head- and tailpieces. The text offers sidenotes.

Rare.  A search of OCLC records only two copies, of which this is one, now deaccessioned.

•  De Backer-Sommervogel, I, 1904–1905; Cordier, Bibliotheca Japonica, 146.   Recent full calf, covers framed and panelled with single gilt fillets and with gilt-stamped corner fleurons; spines gilt extra, with gilt-ruled raised bands, gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels, gilt publication date at foot, and elaborately gilt-tooled floral decorations in compartments; marbled endpapers. Tear in outer margin of pp. 269/270, just barely touching sidenotes; very occasional foxing; offsetting from leather of previous binding affecting first and last leaves at margins, including title-pages. Ex-library, with faint penciled notations on verso of title-page and at base of following page in each volume. Vol. I lacks the frontispiece portrait. Faults noted, still a good copy and in an attractive binding.  (24526)

For more SETS,  click here.

(Bowen family). Bowen, Catherine Drinker. Family portrait. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1970.
$17.50

(Brown, John Mason). Stevens, George. Speak for yourself, John: the life of John Mason Brown, with some of his letters and many of his opinions. New York: Viking, 1974. Dust jacket somewhat worn.
$17.50

(Browning, Robert). Thomas, Donald. Robert Browning: A life within life. New York: Viking, 1983. Dust jacket with one tear.
$17.50

Diplomatic History & Memoirs

•  First edition. A unique perspective on American foreign policy during the Carter Administration.

•  Publisher's cloth. Good-plus condition.

He Served UnderMORELOS

Click the interior images for enlargements.

•  Bustamante (1774–1848), the great post-Independence political thinker and historian, first published this work as Cuadro histórico de la revolución de la América Mexicana (México: M. Ontiveros, 1821–23), a work issued in parts, written in the form of letters, each letter separately paged with separate imprint. Bustamante had served under Morelos during the War for Independence and knew all of the major and many of the minor figures, making his work most valuable.

In this edition Lic. Pablo de Mendibil has edited the letters into four large chapters and added lithographic portraits of Hidalgo, Morelos, Bravo, Guerrero, and Guadalupe Victoria. They are variously from originals by Gauci or unidentified artists, and are lithographed by either R.Cooper or Englemann & Co.

•  Sabin 47810; Palau 163362 (under Mendibil).   Mid–19th century half red leather, flat spine, machine-made marbled paper on covers and as endpapers, marbled edges. Leather abraded and refurbished; interior clean and nice.  (21727)

Life & Letters — A German Neo-Latin Poet

Click the images for enlargements.

•  Three first editions, all uncommon: Joachim Camerarius the elder’s life of the German neo-Latin poet Helius Eobanus Hessus (1488–1540), followed by books two and three of Hessus’s correspondence as edited by Camerarius. All books were issued separately. The Protestant humanist Camerarius was a member of Hessus’s circle and an associate of Melanchthon’s, as was Johannes Crato von Crafftheim, the royal physician and friend of Martin Luther to whom Camerarius dedicated the final volume of letters; Melanchthon, Euricius Cordus, Justus Menio, Mutiano Ruffo, and others appear with letters sometimes wholly in Greek, others with extensive passages in that language.

Binding: Contemporary alum-tawed pigskin, dated 1567 in blind; binding with bevelled edges, covers blind-embossed using rolls: faith, hope, justice, and charity. One metal clasp is present, the other perished.

•  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.

(Cassatt, Mary). Hale, Nancy. Mary Cassatt. Garden City: Doubleday & Co., 1975.
$17.50

Lives of theFathers with PORTRAITS

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•  Third, revised edition of this history of the early church, originally published by Chiswell in 1676. The additional copper-engraved title-page, signed by Michael Burghers and dated 1677, depicts scenes of martyrdom as well as allegorical Moses and Mary imagery; most of the lives are also illustrated with a copperplate engraving of the appropriate saint — making 23 total of these in-text engravings, most signed by Burghers.

Burghers (1653–1727) was born in Amsterdam, worked initially at Utrecht, and fled to England after the capture of Utrecht by the French in 1672; he settled in Oxford in 1673. There he worked under David Loggan and succeeded him as engraver to the University.

The volume closes with “A Chronological Table of the Three First Ages of the Christian Church,” which has a separate title-page dated 1686, but is paginated continuously with the preceding work.

Cave, a Church of England clergyman whose scholarly interests were primarily patristic, also wrote Primitive Christianity, or, The Religion of the Ancient Christians in the First Ages of the Gospel as well as Scriptorum ecclesiasticorum historia literaria; the DNB notes that his works “follow the tradition of Christian bio-bibliography that in late antiquity and into the medieval period had such a long and rich history.”

•  ESTC R26585; Wing (rev.) C1592; Lowndes 395; Allibone 356–57. On Cave, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Recent quarter calf with marbled paper–covered sides, leather edges tooled in blind, spine with gilt-stamped author and title labels and gilt-stamped decorations between raised bands. Half-title with inked ownership inscription in upper outer corner.  (24886)

Lafayette — With Chromos

•  Stirringly written and excitingly illustrated with chromolithographic plates, frontispiece, and added title-page. Cecil also wrote a similar biography of Washington.

•  Publisher's quarter red cloth, stamped in blind on sides and in gold on spine. Cloth starting at joints, and splitting over edges and corners; spine tips off. Waterstains on first five leaves, intermittent light foxing in margins, pencilling to front endpapers. Minor bubbling to front and rear pastedowns, front endpaper chipped. (756)

(Cecil family). Cecil, David. The Cecils of Hatfield House: An English ruling family. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1973. Dust jacket in very good condition.
$22.50

(Cheng, Nien). Cheng, Nien. Life and death in Shanghai. New York: Grove Press, 1986. Dust jacket somewhat faded over spine, otherwise in good condition.
$17.50

(Churchill, Clementine). Soames, Mary. Clementine Churchill: The biography of a marriage. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1979. 8vo. Illus.
$8.50

•  Later American edition. Biography of Clementine and Winston Churchill by their youngest daughter.

•  Publisher's cloth. Water stained, pages cockled. Fair condition.

MARLBOROUGH

(Churchill, John, first duke of Marlborough). Cowles, Virginia. The great Marlborough and his duchess. New York: Macmillan, 1983. Ownership signature, dust jacket worn; waterstained and with photos sticking from water damage.
$5.00

CHURCHILL

(Churchill, Winston). Churchill, Winston. Blood, sweat, and tears. With a preface and notes by Randolph S. Churchill. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1941. 8vo.
$15.00

•  Edition not stated. A collection of Churchill's speeches from May, 1938 to January, 1941.

•  Publisher's cloth. Spine faded a little. Good-plus condition.

Lives of Popes & Popely Letters

Click the interior images for enlargements.

•  Giovanni Ciampini (1633–98) studied law and was subsequently appointed “Magister” at the Apostolic Chancery, thus providing him with a secure job (i.e., sinecure) and allowing him to devote himself to scholarship, as for example, here in his studies of papal biographies and the letters from Pius II to Charles II of France.

Both works are printed in roman type with large woodcut initials featuring cherubs and each has its title-page printed in black and red. The Examen is divided into two parts, each with its own collation and pagination, with the second part being “Sanctae romanae ecclesiae bibliothecariorum catalogus, iuxta chronologicum ordinem. . . .”

Evidence of readership.  In the first part of the Examen an early reader has underlined in sepia ink passages or phrases s/he found significant but added no marginalia.

•  Contemporary vellum. Bookplate removed from front pastedown. Very good copies of both titles.

(Clark, Kenneth). Clark, Kenneth. The other half: A self-portrait. London: John Murray, 1977. Dust jacket in good condition, very slightly crumpled at top of spine.
$17.50

(Clark, Kenneth). Secrest, Meryle. Kenneth Clark: A biography. New York: Fromm International, 1986. Paperback, in fine condition, inscribed by author. With photographs.
$7.50

(Cocteau, Jean). Steegmuller, Francis. Cocteau: A biography. Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown & Company, and Atlantic Monthly Press, 1970. 8vo. Illus.
$25.00

•  First trade edition, first issue.

•  Publisher's cloth. Very good condition, no dust jacket.

On Wesley’s Death — By a Friend & Co-Laborer

•  First edition of this sermon given by Coke, the first American Methodist bishop, on the occasion of Wesley’s death. Coke acted as Wesley’s agent in establishing and legitimating the earliest Methodist figures of authority in the United States; Wesley later bequeathed his papers to John Whitehead, Henry Moore, and Coke, and the latter two prepared and published a biography. In the present sermon, Coke compares Wesley’s life to that of the prophet Elijah.

•  ESTC T48777. On Bishop Coke, see: Dictionary of National Biography. Removed from a nonce volume. Title-page with early inked ownership inscription in upper margin, slightly shaved at top. Lightest waterstaining to upper edges and faint spotting around sewing holes in inner margins; pages otherwise clean, with some minor creasing.

(Colville, John). Colville, John. Footprints in time. London: Collins, 1976. Dust jacket worn, with small tears. Previous owner's name in ink on fly-leaf.
$17.50

World War II Memoirs

•  First American trade edition, first issue.

•  Publisher's cloth. Very good condition, no dust jacket.

“I Was Born in the Year 1632 . . . ”

Click the image above left for an enlargement.

•  Illustrated late 18th-century rendition of this classic tale: The Stockdale edition of Defoe's most-read novel contains a frontispiece and engraved title-page in each volume, along with an engraved portrait of Defoe and 12 engraved illustrations done by Medland after drawings by Stothard. Chalmers’s Life of Defoe appears in this edition for the first time anywhere; another interesting addition is “A List of Writings, which are considered as undoubtedly De Foe’s.”

A handsome edition of a great, indeed landmark English novel.

•  ESTC N47632; Lowndes, III, 613; NCBEL, II, 900 (first few eds. only). Contemporary half calf over marbled paper–covered sides, bindings overall worn and rubbed with leather lost over corners and front joint of vol. I cracked though holding; now housed in a handsome clamshell case of quarter calf with marbled paper sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped decorations. Front free endpapers with pencilled ownership inscription (dated 1875 in vol. I); front pastedowns with 20th-century collector’s bookplate. Light to moderate foxing to pages in proximity to plates, with occasional small spots to other pages; plates spotted and browned although not beyond expectable degrees. Worthy.

Emily's Brother

(Dillon, Henriette-Lucy, Marquise de La Tour du Pin). Dillon, Henriette-Lucy. Memoirs of Madame de La Tour du Pin. Harcourt, Felice, ed. & tr. New York: McCall, 1971. Previous owner's name in ink on fly-leaf.
$17.50

(Douglas, William O.). Douglas, William O. Go east, young man: The early years. New York: Random House, 1974. Dust jacket in good condition.
$17.50

(Dulles, Eleanor Lansing). Dulles, Eleanor Lansing. Eleanor Lansing Dulles: Chances of a lifetime, a memoir. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1980. Dust jacket shows wear, otherwise good.
$17.50

(Dulles family). Mosley, Leonard. Dulles: a biography of Eleanor, Allen, and John Foster Dulles and their family network. New York: Dial Press, 1978. Dust jacket slightly worn, faded on spine. History Book Club edition. With photographs.
$10.00

(Edward VIII). Donaldson, Frances. Edward VIII. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1974. Dust jacket worn.
$17.50

(Ehrhart, W.D.). Ehrhart, W.D. Vietnam—Perkasie, a combat Marine memoir. Jefferson: McFarland, 1983. Paperback, very good condition.
$50.00

(Eisenhower, Dwight D.). Ferrell, Robert H., ed. The Eisenhower diaries. New York: W.W. Norton, 1981. History Book Club edition. Dust jacket worn.
$10.00

(Elizabeth I). Jenkins, Elizabeth. Elizabeth the Great. New York: Coward-McCann, 1959.
$10.00

SIGNED by the Author — Gerald Ford

•  This copy is SIGNED by President Gerald Ford. From Easton Press's “Library of the Presidents” series, this offering includes the introductory pamphlet by Henry Kissinger.

Stepping into the presidency amidst scandal, war, and a poor economy, Gerald Ford was presented with some very difficult leadership challenges. On the one hand, he was the right man at the right time: His honesty and reassurance restored the confidence in the presidency that been lost during the Watergate scandal, and his negotiation of the Helsinki Agreement contributed to the end of the Cold War. However, Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon eroded much of the trust he had built early in his term. This fateful decision, together with the fall of Saigon and his inability to “whip inflation,” were the main factors that cost him reelection. This memoir speaks to his role in navigating the challenges of his time with the same honesty and straightforwardness that characterized his tenure as president.

•  Full red leather, covers lavishly gilt-stamped with a pattern of elephants, spine with raised bands, gilt title, author's name, and gilt elephants within “compartments.” Endpapers bear a version of the image of the obverse side of the Great Seal of the United States. Silk ribbon placemarker. All edges gilt. Fine condition.  (23605)

With theVery Striking Folding Plate

•  First printed work to give instructions on producing mezzotints, and a most curious account of the development of "sculpture." Evelyn (1620–1706), whose occupation the Dictionary of National Biography cites simply as "virtuoso," published popular works on gardening, politics, and education. His roughly chronological history of illustrative arts, divided primarily by significant figures, is sprinkled with a number of languages (Greek, Hebrew, and German all in their respective typefaces, along with Latin in italics), and also contains a detail from the first mezzotint print ever created, here reproduced as an oversized (and dramatic) folding plate. A "Life" of Evelyn is also supplied.

The work first appeared in 1662, with a second edition published in 1755; the present copy is a reissue of the 1755 with a cancel title-page. A handsome engraved portrait, in which Mr. Evelyn is wearing a most dashing cape, opens the volume.

•  Wing E3513 (first ed.) On Evelyn, see: Dictionary of National Biography, XVIII, 79–83. Contemporary speckled sheep with red gilt-stamped morocco spine label; some little chipping to edges, with joints and spine lightly abraded and cracking (not disastrously). Early inscription reads "Evelyns Sculptura compiled originally the elder Faithorne." Pages unspotted for the most part, and plates in good condition save for slight offsetting to frontispiece. A pleasing book!

“Prince of the Renaissance”

Last 18th-Century American Edition of His WORKS

Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Early edition of this popular collection of assorted pieces by Franklin, originally published in 1790. Vol. I begins with Franklin's autobiography, with a continuation written by Dr. Stuber, and ends with “Extracts from the last will and testament of Dr. Franklin” on pp. 146–56. Vol. II contains “The Essays.” The engraved frontispiece opposite the title-page of vol. I, a portrait of Franklin in a fur cap, was done by J. Bannerman.

•  Evans 37442; Sabin 25602; ESTC W17376.   Contemporary speckled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; joints fully open and holding by cords, leather peeled up from board edges, gilt dimmed on spine label. Front fly-leaves with faint pencilled and inked inscriptions; back fly-leaves with inked ownership inscriptions, one dated 1801. Pages age-toned, last few waterstained; one leaf torn with loss of several words from one line. A “survivor” copy, priced accordingly.  (22636)

“Dr Franklin” — Illustrated

•  Uncommon first edition of this juvenile version of Franklin's biography, illustrated with 10 woodcuts, six hand-colored. Click the image at right for an enlargement.

•  Shoemaker 40547. Not in Rosenbach, Early American Children's Books.   Publisher's printed yellow paper wrappers, front wrapper lacking, back wrapper stained with edges nicked, spine overstitched at a later date. Moderate spotting and staining to pages; corners bumped. Slightly tattered: first few leaves with short tear from outer margin, not touching text; title-page and subsequent two leaves with short tear from inner margin, extending into text without loss.  (24545)

With A.N.S.

•  First edition. With a signed and handwritten note by the author declining a lunch invitation with the former owner of the book. Fremantle tells her own story and that of her mother, the daughter of Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff, Liberal Member of Parliament under Gladstone.

•  Publisher's cloth. Very good condition, in a good dust jacket with some creases and stains.

(George I). Hatton, Ragnhild. George I: Elector and king. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978. Dust jacket in good condition.
$27.00

(George III). Brooke, John. King George III. London: Constable, 1972. Dust jacket very slightly worn.
$17.50

With aMost Lifelike Portrait

Giacinto di Santa Maria.

•  Fr. Hyacinth of Saint Mary (P. Giacinto di Santa Maria), an Austin friar, here gives the life of a fellow Augustinian, the Genoese Servant of God Charles Hyacinth of St. Mary (Carlo Giacinto di Santa Maria, 1658–1721), for the edification of the faithful and to promote his cause for canonization. That cause enjoyed some limited success, as Charles was elevated from a simple Servant of God and is now considered the Venerable Charles Hyacinth.

The most striking feature of this piece is the first of the two plates, a lifelike portrait of the book’s subject engraved by Heinrich Wehymer after Antonio Davide. The other plate, an unsigned etching, depicts the statue of Our Lady of Consolation in the Augustinian church at Genoa. Also present is an engraved title-page vignette depicting the arms of Pope Benedict XIII, the work’s dedicatee, and there are a few initials and woodcut head- and tailpieces, the tailpiece on the last page being especially large and handsome.

This is apparently the sole edition of this biography, and it is rare: A search of OCLC, RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956 revealed no copies, and the Italian Library Service union catalogue lists only one holding, at the Central Library in Turin.

•  Vellum over paste boards with staining on front cover; pastedowns torn along turn-ins and puter edge of front free endpaper somewhat tattered. Lightly foxed throughout, a few pages more heavily so, with a light waterstain on the bottom edge and/or lower outer corner of most leaves (barely visible, on some). Small hole in outer margin of half-title and hole with tear (from a paper defect) in the margin of pp. 51–52. The second plate with two closed tears into the engraving, without loss. All edges mottled red and blue.

With a Striking PortraitTipped In

•  Scarce early printing (following the also uncommon first edition of 1650, which was issued with another work) of this biography of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geneva, with a nicely accomplished, tipped-in woodcut portrait depicting the saint. Giarda is better remembered for his Bibliothecae Alexandrinae icones symbolicae, a symbol book which went through a number of editions in various languages; of the present saint’s life NUC Pre-1956 gives only one holding, with no additional locations in RLIN or OCLC. Click the righthand image for an enlargement.

Provenance: Front free endpaper with early inked ownership inscription of Marianna Ungarelli; title-page with blurred heraldic pressure-stamp affixed.

•  Later quarter rough paper over marbled paper–covered limp boards; binding rubbed. Pages age-toned, with additional mild foxing.

(Goya, Francisco). Poore, Charles. Goya. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1938. Hinges loose.
$17.50

The General's Wife Was Mighty with Her Pen

•  First edition. Illustrated. With an introduction by Bruce Catton and The First Lady as an Author by Ralph G. Newman.

•  Very good in original dust jacket, slightly worn. Inscription in ink on front free endpaper.

For more of WOMEN's interest,  click here.

“Stumping” for Temperance

•  Anecdotes and personal meditations on temperance, with a brief history of Gough's life and work written by Lyman Abbott. With two steel-engraved portraits of Gough, an engraved title-page, 15 plates, and numerous in-text engravings. Good; little to no edge wear, but spine faded. Ownership inscription dated 1920 to top of title-page. (1263)

(Helms, Cynthia). Helms, Cynthia. An ambassador's wife in Iran. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1981.
$17.50

•  Dust jacket very slightly worn, otherwise good.

Blair, Blazoned

•  First U.S. edition, following the Edinburgh first of 1807, of this laudatory biography written by a professor at the University of Edinburgh. Dr. Blair, a Scottish preacher, critic, and rhetorician, is best remembered for his sermons (which were praised by Dr. Johnson) and his involvement in the Ossian debate, in which he defended the poems’ authenticity.

Provenance: The Rev. Edwin A. Dalrymple; the Maryland Diocesan Library.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 15224. Contemporary quarter cloth over marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; binding moderately darkened and worn, cloth chipped over head of spine, spine showing shadow of a now-absent shelving label. Front pastedown with private collector’s bookplate and with institutional rubber-stamp (as above); title-page additionally with early inked gift inscription in upper margin (this cut into by binder). Some light spotting and age-toning.

The Collector

•  First edition.

•  Publisher's quarter cloth. Very good condition.

White Savage? — Trustworthy Memoirs?

•  First U.K. edition, printed in the same year as the Philadelphia first edition: Controversial captivity narrative, in which Hunter claims to have been captured as a very young child and raised by Kansas Indians, eventually leaving his tribe when he was about 19 years old. The work was first acclaimed, then attacked as a fraud; in recent years, scholars have returned to the debate with somewhat more faith in the tale’s authenticity (see Drinnon’s White Savage: The Case of John Dunn Hunter). The memoirs are followed by an “account of the soil, climate, and vegetable productions of the territory westward of the Mississippi,” including much information about medicine as practiced by the Native Americans of Hunter’s alleged acquaintance. Click the image to the left for an enlargement.

•  Ayer, Narratives of Indian Captivity, 142; Howes H813; Sabin 33921. Contemporary half morocco over cloth, rebacked using original spine with gilt-stamped title and decorations in compartments; leather worn and chipped. Hinges (inside) reinforced. Pages slightly age-toned, with occasional instances of small spots of staining, and a few stray pencil marks.

(James, Henry). Edel, Leon. Henry James: A life. New York: Harper & Row, 1985. The one-volume version. Book club Edition. Dust jacket worn.
$12.50

An Anthology of American Jewish Memoirs

•  First edition. Illustrated. Good reading.

•  Very good condition. In dust jacket, sunned and slightly soiled with a small tear.

Unusual FRENCH History — Luxuriously Bound by CLOSS

Click the interior images for enlargements.

•  Sole edition: Assorted documents touching on various interesting episodes in the history of France, including memoirs, essays, biographies, and personal accounts. The first volume begins with the “Procès criminel, fait au cadavre de frère Jacques Clément, jacobin” (an account of the posthumous trial of the French Dominican monk who assassinated Henry III of France and was immediately killed himself, the trial culminating in Clément's body being quartered and burned), while the second volume includes a “Trait curieux, sur la Pucelle d'Orleans,” addressing Pere Vignier's opinion that Joan of Arc was not in fact executed.

Uncommon.  OCLC and NUC Pre-1956 locate only nine U.S. holdings.

Binding:  Signed by Closs: 19th- or early 20th-century crimson morocco, spines with gilt-stamped titles and publication information, board edges with gilt double fillets, gilt inner dentelles. All edges marbled under gilt.

•  Pichon, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de feu M. le baron Jérôme Pichon, 4028.   Bound as above, a very little rubbed, vol. II with matching small nicks to fore-edges of covers. Front pastedown of vol. I with armorial bookplate; that flyleaf with inked inscription dated 1911, noting that this work is not found in Barbier. Scattered light spotting, pages almost entirely clean. A charming set.  (24640)

(Jubelin, Rear Admiral André). Jubelin, Rear Admiral André. The flying sailor. Translated from the French by James Cleugh. New York: The British Book Centre, 1954. 8vo. Illus.
$20.00

•  First American edition. With photographs.

•  Publisher's cloth, no dust jacket. A good-plus copy.

Inscribed

(K'ang-hsi). Spence, Jonathan D. Emperor of China: Self-portrait of K'ang-Hsi. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1974. Dust jacket front in good condition, back with slight crumpling, tape repairs, one torn corner. Illustrated.
$17.50

Bookselling Reminiscences

•  First American edition of the first volume of reminiscences of Percy Muir's widow: Much on the bookselling firm of Elkin Mathews and life on home front in WWII England. A good sequel to Muir's Minding My Own Business, below. In print for $35.00.

•  Fine in original dust jacket.

Camelot

•  Second edition.

•  Publisher's cloth. Good-plus condition. Gift inscription on the title-page.

(Kipling, Rudyard). Birkenhead, Frederick Winston Furneaux Smith. Rudyard Kipling. New York: Random House, 1978. Dust jacket somewhat worn, with spine faded. History Book Club edition. With photographs.
$10.00

(Kissinger, Henry A.). Kalb, Marvin and Kalb, Bernard. Kissinger. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1974. Book club Edition.
$12.50

(Lawrence of Arabia). Aldington, Richard. Lawrence of Arabia: A biographical enquiry. London: Collins, 1955. 8vo.
$25.00

•  First edition of the first biography to reveal the illegitimacy of Lawrence's birth. Early state, for the errata on p. 332 is on paper whiter than that of the page and it measures only 2.4 cm high.

•  O'Brien E192. In dust jacket that is chipped and rubbed.

Over 400 Small-Print Pages

•  Important biography of the soldier and statesman, here in its second edition (the work was formerly known as Sam Houston and His Republic) and greatly expanded. Plates show Houston listening for the signal guns of the Alamo, confronting Santa Anna, and being embraced by his adopted father among the Cherokee, among other heroic scenes; maps include the battleground of San Jacinto and the routes of Santa Anna's and Houston's armies.

•  Howes L271. Publisher's blind-stamped cloth, worn and spotted; spine gilt-stamped with title and American eagle, much faded, head pulled. A very few pencil marks and some pages dog-eared; occasional spots of foxing.

For more POST-1820 AMERICANA,  click here.

TVA

AEC

(Lippmann, Walter). Steel, Ronald. Walter Lippmann and the American century. Boston: Little, Brown, 1980. Dust jacket in very good condition. History Book Club edition. With photographs.
$10.00

(Louis XIV). Mitford, Nancy. The Sun King. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1966.
$17.50

(Maier, William J. Jr.). Maier, William J. Jr. The education of a philanthropist. Charleston, 1982.
$17.50

(Marie Antoinette). Erickson, Carolly. To the scaffold: The life of Marie Antoinette. New York: William Morrow, 1991.
$17.50

(McGhee, George). McGhee, George. Envoy to the Middle World: Adventures in diplomacy. New York: Harper & Row, 1983. Dust jacket faded over spine, slightly worn; inscribed.
$17.50

Mere Angélique & Her Works

Port-Royal

•  History of the influential Cistercian convent at Port Royal and the development of the Jansenist movement nurtured therein, along with a biography of Mere Angélique de Saint-Jean Arnauld d'Andilly, printed in three volumes. Attribution of this work is something of a confusing issue, as several histories were published with virtually identical titles; some of the one-volume 1739 editions can be differentiated by the subtitle Relations de la vie et des vertus de quelques unes des filles de la Mere Angelique, au nombre desquelles ont eté sa mere & ses soeurs qui sont mortes religieuses à Port Royal. Various sources cite the Sieur du Fossé, Jean Louis Barbeau de la Bruyère, Nicolas Fontaine, and others as authors of those works. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  Contemporary mottled calf, spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels, spine compartments with gilt-stamped floral decorations; covers mildly acid-pitted and considerably abraded, with leather lost at head of spine, corners, and joints. Spines with paper shelving labels or remnants thereof; front pastedowns each with bookplate. All edges marbled. Faint pencilled marginalia and bracketing; intermittent offsetting.  (22804)

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“First First”

•  First edition of the first volume in a series compiled and published by the oldest genealogical society in the United States. Among the biographies present are entries on Harrison Gray Otis, Albert Gallatin, William Ingalls, and Daniel Webster.

•  Publisher’s cloth, spine with printed paper label; spine and back cover scuffed, spine label darkened and chipped. Front pastedown with institutional stamp. Many signatures unopened. Pages slightly age-toned, else clean; paper embrittled, with a few short edge tears.

Apologia Pro Vita Sua

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•  Montenegro Colón had been vilified for his adherence to the Spanish cause and here, after receiving news while in exile on Curaçao that the Venezuelan congress was allowing his repatriation, provides an “apologia pro vita sua.”

Front wrapper reads: “Mexico y Cuba; apuntes históricos.”

Apparently scarce: OCLC has a record for this but with no library holdings given. Searches of the University of Texas and University of California OPACs failed to find this publication.

•  20th-century Mexican red calf binding. Title in gilt on front cover. Original wrappers bound in. Front free endpaper torn out exposing inner hinge; waterstaining particularly visible to first leaves, faint to later ones. (21513)

BUILDER of the FIRSTNew World Utopian Community

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•  In the 18th century Mexico saw a birth of great biographical writing focusing on important figures in its history, especially its ecclesiastical history. Vasco de Quiroga (1470–1565) was an imposing and perhaps quixotic figure during the early post-Conquest decades. A learned man, he arrived in Mexico in 1531 as one of the first four judges of the high court (i.e., oidores) and became the first bishop of the far western province of Michoacan. In that “out of the way” region of Mexico he devoted himself to establishing European culture, ensuring fair treatment of the indigenous population, creating towns and cities, and building the first utopian community in the New World.

Not the least of his accomplishments was the creation of two pueblo-hospitals for native Americans, and appended and integral to this biography are his “Reglas, y ordenanzas para el gobierno de los Hospitales de Santa Fé de México, y Michoacàn,” which occupy the final 29 pages.

Historians still consider this to be the definitive biography of Quiroga. The engraved portrait of him, handsome and from the burin of José Morales, adds a face to the words of the biographer and to the account of the deeds of the biographee.

•  Medina, Mexico, 5099; Wellcome, Medical Americana, M.134; Palau 181902; Beristain, III, 2059.   Contemporary limp vellum lacking ties. A very good copy.  (23061)

•  First edition. Illustrated with photographs.

•  Publisher's cloth. Fore-edges of text spotted. Very good condition, in a very good dust jacket.

Inscribed by the Author & Subject

•  First edition. Inscribed by the author and subject. Biography of Harpers Ferry Mayor Bradley Nash, born in 1900.

•  Publisher's cloth. Very good condition, no dust jacket.

Die Religion desZoroaster

•  Contains the Persian text of Daulat Shah Alai Samarkandi and the translation of the texts as edited by Justus Olshausen and Julius Mohl. An important text on the lasting influence of Zoroaster and with the life of the great poet Ferdusi (i.e., f Abu-'l Kasim Mansur). Click either image for an enlargement.

•  19th-century German boards covered with black mottled paper; abraded. Paper author/title label on spine, call number label on front cover. Ex-library with bookplate on front pastedown and call number in pencil on verso of title-page. No other markings. (19137)

Plutarch’s Lives & Plutarch’s Life

•  Later, nine-volume, illustrated edition of the Englished Lives in duodecimo format (with perpendicular chain lines and gathered in sixes), the English rendition being based on Dacier’s 17th-century translation of the Vitæ parallelæ. The “eight volumes” of the title-page commence with Dryden’s life of Plutarch himself, with a separate volume providing a general index to the other Lives; each volume except for the index is illustrated with several engraved portrait medallion plates (no solid collation of plates was found against which to compare this copy’s array).

Provenance: Ownership signature of Fanny Shepherd, dated 1823; later signature of Ste. Mallinson, Jr.

•  ESTC T83878; Schweiger, I, 266. Contemporary calf, each spine with gilt-stamped leather title label and gilt-stamped volume number; bindings moderately worn especially over spines, with joints open on almost all volumes but sewing holding. Front pastedowns with early inked ownership inscriptions dated 1823, front free endpaper of the first volume only with another inscription dated 1893. Moderate offsetting to pastedowns; pages with occasional small spots but generally clean. Some plates are apparently lacking (though not obtrusively so); it is unclear exactly how many plates are called for.

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A Study of Eskimo Life

•  Later edition. First published in 1941. The author, a French aristocrat, recounts his travels in the Arctic wilderness and his life among the Eskimos, still untouched by modern civilization. With drawings and photographs.

•  Paperback. Very good condition.

An ABOLITIONIST’s Take onLorenzo de’Medici

•  Uncommon first U.S. edition of this biography of one of the great Renaissance men, accompanied by his collected poems and by an extensive set of appended documents in Italian and Latin. Roscoe, an anti-slavery politician, is now best remembered for this history and for his children’s classic, The Butterfly’s Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 4994. Contemporary treed sheep, rubbed; joints cracking and front cover of vol. 2 with a small circular patch in similar leather; back covers of all volumes stamped by a now-defunct institution, spines with 19th-century paper shelving labels, and pastedowns with old library bookplates. Pages foxed and with old waterstaining. A very few stray pencil marks; first signature of vol. I partially separated.

For other ABOLITION items,  click here.
      For more PRE-1820 AMERICANA,  click here.

(Roosevelt, Selwa "Lucky"). Roosevelt, Selwa. Keeper of the gate. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990. Dust jacket in fine condition. With photographs.
$17.50

(Russell, Christabel). Hunter, Eileen. Christabel: the Russell case and after. London: Andre Deutsch, 1973. Dust jacket slightly worn. With photographs.
$17.50

(Sackville-West, Vita). Nicolson, Nigel. Portrait of a marriage: V. Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson. New York: Atheneum, 1973. Dust jacket in good condition; one marginal correction in ink. With photographs.
$17.50

(Santayana, George). Santayana, George. Persons and places: The background of my life. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1944. Small 8vo.
$15.00

•  Later trade edition.

•  Publisher's cloth. Good-plus condition; spine darkened.

Remembrances ofIdyllic Youth

•  Geoffrey Keynes provided the introduction to Siegfried Sassoon's semi-autobiographical novel of his childhood and youth. Keynes here explains Sassoon's efforts and anxieties in making the transition from poet to writer of prose.

Paul Hogarth illustrated the book with black-and-white vignettes which open and close each chapter, and eight full-page color wash drawings. John Lewis designed the book choosing a monotype Walbaum font. The binding is quarter red calf over light-brown buckram sides, gilt-lettered on the spine, and gilt-stamped on the front cover with a design of various fox-hunting implements; tucked away at the lower edge of the back cover is a gilt design of a sly-looking fox in full trot.

This edition is limited to 1600 copies and is signed by the artist on the colophon.

•  Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 506.   Binding as above, in original glassine wrapper and slipcase; wrapper with tears at bottom edge. Slipcase with slight bumping at inner front edge. A fine copy, in a near fine slipcase.  (22104)

The Face of Battle

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•  Siegfried Sassoon was one of a celebrated group of soldier-poets who experienced firsthand the ghastly realities of life in the trenches and whose words form an important part of Britain's cultural memory of the Great War. Sassoon's Memoirs covers some of the war's most significant actions, including its single bloodiest day, when 60,000 British soldiers were killed on 1 July 1916, at the Battle of the Somme.

Paul Hogarth's eight full-page watercolors and over a dozen black-and-white vignettes vividly illustrate the bomb-churned landscape of no-man's land, the explosions of rifle and gunfire, and the irony of well-fed generals enjoying life behind the lines. Dennis J. Grastorf designed the book using a 12-point Baskerville font with two points leading space in between the lines. The binding is a natural-tone rough linen, stamped in black on each cover with a bugle design. David Daiches wrote the introduction.

This edition is limited to 2,000 copies and this offering includes the monthly newsletter. The colophon is signed by the artist.

•  Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 519.   Binding as above; slipcase with two short scratches on back. Fine, in a fine slipcase.  (22078)

(Sitwell, Osbert). Sitwell, Osbert. Left hand, right hand! Boston: Little, Brown, 1944.
$7.50

Signed byNY's Governor Al

Click the images for enlargements.

•  First edition: Autobiography of the four-time governor of New York and Democratic candidate for President of the United States in 1929 (making him the first Roman Catholic to run for president as the nominee of a major party).

This is numbered copy 258 out of 1485, with Smith's signature and cancelled stamp (a Philadelphia post office cancel dated 18 Dec.) on a plate affixed on the front fly-leaf.

•  Publisher's quarter tan paper with black paper-covered sides, paper cracking along joints; spine with gilt-stamped title and decorative stamping; dust jacket lacking, spine darkened and with inked shelving number, corners rubbed. Front pastedown with institutional bookplate. Top edge gilt, others deckle. Generally a very clean copy of this interesting “read.”  (24677)

Atomic Energy “Too Cheap to Meter”

[Sweetser, Moses F.]. Dürer. Boston: Houghton, Osgood & Co., 1880. 12mo. Frontis., 158 p., 2 pl. [also bound in, his] Rembrant. Boston: Houghton, Osgood & Co., 1880. 12mo. 162 p., 5 pl. [also bound in, his] Van Dyck. Boston: Houghton, Osgood & Co., 1880. 12mo. 157 p., 4 pl.
$25.00

•  In Sweetser's series, Artist-biographies. The biographies were issued separately in 15 volumes, then gathered in 5 volumes with three biographies per volume. This is vol. 4 in the gathered series. It must be noted that none of the volumes in the either series indicates it is part of a "set." That is, each volume truly is (and looks like) a stand-alone.

•  Publisher's deep blue cloth stamped in black and gold. Slight fraying to top and bottom of spine. A very good copy.

(Trefusis, Violet). Jullian, Philippe, & Phillips, John. Violet Trefusis: life and letters. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1976. Ownership signature. With photographs.
$17.50

(Truman, Harry S.). Miller, Merle. Plain speaking: An oral biography of Harry S. Truman. New York: Berkley Publishing, 1974. Dust jacket in fair condition.
$12.00

(Turner). Lindsay, Jack. Turner: The man and his art. London, Toronto, Sydney, New York: Granada Publishing Limited, 1985. 8vo. 179 pp.; illus.
$30.00

•  First edition. With 12 color and 13 black and white illustrations.

•  Paperback. On both covers is a detail of the painting A First Rate Taking in Stores.

Heroic Lima — Heroic