.
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!”
A-G   •   H-Z

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

“I Was Born in the Year 1632 . . . ”

Click the interior image 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. (15202)

A Popular Edition from aSurreptitious Manuscript Copy

•  Early American edition of the “unofficial” but extremely popular Life, re-translated into English from the French publication and released despite William Temple Franklin's attempts to suppress any version other than his own. This example comprises two volumes in one, opening with an engraved portrait of Franklin signed by Tanner andfeaturing an addition “not in any other Edition,” according to the title-page: “An Examination, before the British House of Lords, respecting the Stamp-Act.” At the back are a six-page list of subscribers and four pages of advertisements for Woodward publications. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  Sabin 25602; Shaw & Shoemaker 515. On Temple Franklin and early editions, see: Green & Stallybrass, Franklin,151–60.   Contemporary treed sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; spine extremities a little chipped, front cover a little sprung, hinges (inside) reinforced. Frontispiece and title-page tattered and now mounted, with outer margin of first preface page repaired; a number of corners bumped or dog-eared, with a few in one section at some point delicately rodent(?)-nibbled. Subscribers' list trimmed closely, affecting two names only; pages age-toned with intermittent foxing. In fact, though certainly not “excellent” — quite “satisfactory.”  (25357)

TWO OTHER “FRANKLINS” appear below
in the expectable alphabetical place.

(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

(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

my life

•  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)

Litterati of Antwerp Salute One of Their Own — Portrait after Peter Paul Rubens
Woodcut *&* Engraved Versions of the Plantin Device

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•  First edition.  A multi-part memorial volume from the Plantin–Moretus press in honor of Philippe Rubens (1574–1611), brother of the famed artist, whose Greek and Latin rendition of the Homilies by Asterius, Bishop of Amasia (ca. 375–405), occupies the first section of the text, here in Greek and Latin printed in double columns. Little is known about Asterius, Bishop of Amasea, and there has been much scholarly debate regarding exactly which homilies should be attributed to his authorship and which to other early Christians, including Asterius the Sophist; the Catholic Encyclopedia online says his works provide “valuable material to the Christian archaeologist.”

The second section here includes verses Rubens composed in the later years prior to his death in 1611 and dedicated to illustrious members of his circle including the humanist Justus Lipsius, Janus Woverius, and Peter Paul Rubens and Isabelle Brant, who married in 1609. Brant’s father, Jan, composed the introductory letter to the reader.

The volume was published at the request of Cardinal Ascanius Columnas in an edition ofonly 750 copies, and was printed at Antwerp at the press of Moretus’ widow and sons with the famous Plantin device appearing in two versions (engraved, to the title, and woodcut, to the final recto).

A full-page engraved funeral portrait of Rubens engraved by Cornelius Galleafter Peter Paul Rubens signals the beginning of the third section, in which Jan Brant records the life of his son-in-law’s brother and transcribes his epitaph. Even Balthasar Moretus contributes an epigram in honor of the deceased.

In the fourth section, Rubens’ own orations and selected letters appear, i.a. his funeral oration to Philip II of Spain. Josse DeRycke contributed the final funerary tribute.

Done up in fully elegant Plantin–Moretus style, the volume has in addition to its careful typography and full-page plate and devices been lavished throughout with two-line block initials and four-line historiated woodcut initials; also, it offers several intricate woodcut tailpieces.

Searches of NUC Pre-1956 and WorldCat locate only eight copies in U.S. institutions, one of which has been deaccessioned; most arenot in obvious places.

•  Graesse, I, 241; Corpus Rubenianum, XXI (1977), 152.   Period-style full brown calf, covers framed in blind double fillets, spine with gilt-stamped red leather title-label, raised bands with blind tooling extending onto covers. With a few odd spots to the text only, this is aremarkably fine, crisp copy. All edges green.  (28878)

A Different Take onCromwell vs. the King

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•  Rare version of Cromwell's life and military successes: WorldCat and Copac findno institutional holdings of this sole edition thus. The biography is attributed to “A Gentleman of the Middle Temple,” but the text is for the most part adapted from of A Short Critical Review of the Political Life of Oliver Cromwell by John Bancks (or Banks, 1709–51), a bookseller, poet, and biographer; there seems to have been some confusion with the Restoration-era playwright John Banks (d. 1706).

The present rendition was excerpted from the first eight chapters of the Critical Review, and closes with a discussion of Cromwell's burial; much of Bancks's editorializing regarding the conduct of the king and other political matters has been removed, providing an interesting contrast to the original work. (According to the DNB, the work in its first state earned Bancks accusations of being an enemy of the monarchy due to its sympathetic tone towards Cromwell — a major difference from all previous biographies.)

This edition features a wood-engraved frontispiece done by Turnbull after Harper.

•  Not in NSTC. On Bancks, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Recent light blue paper–covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. Frontispiece recto (back) with rubber-stamped numeral and pencilled annotation, no other markings. Pages age-toned with spots of minor staining, edges slightly ragged, corners bumped. An intriguing oddity.  (28744)

An “Interesting Female's” Religion — Her Life, Letters, & Example

•  Scarce sole edition: Biography and epistles of a pious Christian woman, “an interesting female, whose lot was cast in the middle rank of life, and who was nurtured in privacy . . . [yet] manifested a conduct, worthy of imitation beyond the confined sphere in which she moved” (p. 2). In publisher's binding, pages uncut. Click the images for enlargements.

WorldCat and OPAC locateonly one copy anywhere (at the British Library).

•  NSTC 2S46400.   Publisher's light blue paper–covered boards and tan paper shelfback, edges nicked/chipped and sides soiled; rebacked with tan cloth. Ex–defunct library: covers pressure-stamped along spine, cover with small paper shelving label, title-page and several others rubber-stamped, back free endpaper with old pocket and chargeslip. Text with the odd light spot only; despite library service, in fact a clean sound copy.  (27821)

(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

His Story ofthe Reformation

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•  This is thefirst edition of vols. II–IV, and the second edition of vol. I (enlarged from the same author's Verhaal van de reformatie, 1663), of the seminal history of the Reformation in the Low Countries to 1623 — describing the main events and major players — by the Dutch Remonstrant preacher and historian Gerard Brandt (1626–85).

The text is in Dutch, printed in roman and italic, with sidenotes (including handy dates in roman numerals, to make following the chronology easier), woodcut floriated initials, and ornaments; one tailpiece is signed I.I.D. in the first volume. Each title-page features a woodcut printer's device, and theengraved title-page in vol. I is signed by Romeyn de Hooghe (1645–1708). In the four volumes combined there are25 full-page engraved portraits, including one woman, Louise de Coligny, all signed by various artists, among whom Hendrik Bary (1632–1707); Anthony van Zylvelt (ca. 1640–95); Jacob von Sandrart (1630–1708) and P. Sluyter (fl. 1700); John de Leeuw (b. ca. 1660), and Barent Bos, who issued vols. III and IV of this set at Rotterdam; and one full-page engraved plate illustrating theSynod of Dordrecht in vol. III.

Provenance:  Armorial bookplate on front pastedown (I-IV) ofHoward Osgood, D.D., LL.D. (1831–1911), a major contributor to the American Standard Revised Version of the Bible (1901) who taught Hebrew at Crozer Theological Seminary (1868–74) and Rochester Theological Seminary (1875–1900).

•  Ter Meulen & Diermanse 893; STCN 167104 (I), 167404 (II), 170404 (III-IV). On Brandt, see: P. Burke, “The Politics of Reformation History: Burnet and Brandt,” in Clio's Mirror: Historiography in Britain and the Netherlands (1985), pp. 73–85. On Prof. Osgood, see: his obituary in The Biblical World, vol. 39, no. 2 (Feb. 1912), pp. 137–39.   Contemporary full calf, board edges gilt-stamped, spines gilt extra with raised bands and red morocco label; multicolored speckled edges. Joints cracked on all volumes but holding fine; spine leather cracked and chipped at ends, boards scuffed and somewhat sprung. Ex-library: pressure-stamp on title-pages and stamp to bottom edges, no other markings. A few repairs, wormholes, and very mild to moderate foxing, heavier in last two volumes; vol. IV with a bit of light waterstaining and some other indications of onetime exposure to moisture. A worn butworthwhile set.  (31172)

(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.

“Original Productions of the American Press”

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•  Collected American essays, poems, travelogues, short stories, biographies, humor, etc., gathered from newspapers around the country by Joseph Buckingham (1779–1861), an influential Boston printer, journalist, and politician. Many of the pieces are still entertaining, and most are highly evocative of their milieu.

The two volumes, printed two years apart, are seldom now found together as seen in the present uniformly bound set. These are the original first editions — not modern reprints.

•  Sabin 8905; Shoemaker 8211; Howes B-924.   Slightly later speckled sheep, spines with gilt-stamped leather labels, housed in a recent green cloth clamshell case with gilt-stamped leather spine label; bindings scuffed, spines chipped, joints opening. Front hinge (inside) of vol. II reinforced. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplates, call number on endpapers, pressure-stamp on title-pages. One page with early inked inscription in lower margin inked over; one leaf with lower margin excised. Intermittent smudges and spots, some leaves age-toned, a few corners bumped or torn away, vol. II with occasional small pencilled annotations — these volumes were clearly read appreciatively. Their “imperfections” are characteristic of extensive use, not abuse.  (28164)

“Female Excellence” Updated through1814

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•  First complete edition of all three volumes. The preface states that this work “has progressively advanced to its present state; what is now comprised in the first volume was compiled by Dr. Gibbons, and published in 1777 . . . The second volume of the present Edition was compiled by the Rev. George Jerment” (p. viii). The Rev. Samuel Burder added a third volume, which makes its first appearance here, and revised the original two.

Present here are77 lives of notably Christian women, mostly born in England with a few from Scotland and one of German origin. The volumes are illustrated with a total of18 stipple-engraved portraits, many full of character, including the frontispiece portrait of Lady Jane Grey, with the plates copper-engraved by H. Meyer and Hopwood.

Significantly, the biographies are fleshed out with quotations from the writings (diaries, prose, and poetry) of the biographees.

•  NSTC B5415.   Period-style quarter tan cloth and light blue paper–covered boards, spines with printed paper labels. Ex–social club library: pressure-stamp on each title-page, no other institutional markings. Recto of each frontispiece with faint, early pencilled monogram. Pages lightly age-toned with scattered spots of staining; one leaf with small portion of outer margin torn away, not touching text; frontis. of vol. II with short tear from outer edge, not affecting image. Mild offsetting from portraits; a few leaves in vol. III with offsetting from laid-in plant matter. A good set of a work that is, frankly, more interesting than many might imagine!  (28857)

Bishop Burnet's Instructive Lives

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•  Second edition thus of these paired biographies, originally published separately in 1681 and 1680 respectively. The first work is an admiring tribute, written by a man who knew little of law but who considered Hale's life a pattern of virtue and usefulness; the preface offers a brief and rather biased look at the history of biography. A list of Hale's writings, both published and (then) unpublished, plus a list of the books he left to Lincoln's Inn in his will, are appended. The second work, an account of the legendary libertine, opens with an added title-page (dated 1820) bearing an engraved portrait by R. Grave. Both biographies were “admirably calculated to enforce the lessons of the moralist” (p. iii).

•  NSTC 2B60417.   Period-style quarter light grey cloth and light blue paper?covered sides, spine with printed paper label; engraved portrait of Hale lacking. Ex–social club library with rubber-stamp on half-titles and main title-page but not on the pretty engraved title-page introducing Rochester's life; no other markings. A few leaves with upper outer corners bumped. Nice printing of two much-read and long-respected memoirs.(30337)

“I Never Showed Any Aptitude for Study or Literature at School”

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•  Nonesuch Press production of previously unpublished selections from Butler's papers, edited and introduced by A.T. Bartholomew, illustrated with six photographs and two collotype reproductions of oil paintings also previously unpublished (with the exception of “Miss Savage”). This isnumbered copy 603 of 800 printed in England by Ernest Ingham at the Fanfare Press; 600 were for sale in England and 200 in America.

Provenance:  Calligraphic bookplate of Norman J. Sondheim, American collector of fine press books.

•  McKitterick/Rendall/Dreyfus 84.   Publisher's quarter natural niger morocco with red and black Cockerell marbled paper–covered sides; glassine wrapper lacking, boards very gently curved, extremities slightly worn. A solid, handsome copy of a handsome book.  (32040)

Life & Letters — A German Neo-Latin Poet

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•  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

(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

Ciampini, Giovanni Giustino. Examen libri pontificalis, sive vitarum romanorum pontificum; quae sub nomine Anastasij bibliothecarij circumferuntur.... Romae: Komarek, 1688. 4to. a–b⁴ A–P^{4 2}A–²P⁴[8] ff., 120, 119, [1] pp. [also bound in, the same author's] Parergon ad examen libri pontificalis,sive, epistola Pii II. ad Carolum VII. regem Franciae ab haereticis deprauata, & à Launoiana calumnia vindicata.... Romae: Joannis Jacobi Komarek, 1688. 4to. π⁴ A–E⁴; 39 pp.
$950.00

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•  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.

Capturing an AgeOne Biography at a Time [Clarke].  The Georgian era: Memoirs of the most eminent persons, who have flourished in Great Britain, from the accession of George the First to the demise of George the Fourth. London: Vizetelly, Branston, & Co., 1832–34. 8vo (19.5 cm, 7.65"). 4 vols. I: Frontis., 582 pp.; 12 plts. II: Frontis., [2], 588 pp. III: Frontis., [2], 588 pp. IV: Frontis., 588 pp.
$450.00

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•  First edition: Concise yet entertainingly anecdote-laden biographies recounting the accomplishments and characters (foibles and all) of the most prominent figures of the age: nobles, churchmen, politicians, dissenters, military and naval officers, jurists, physicians, voyagers and travelers, scientists, writers, economists, architects, artists and musicians, etc. All the expectable princesses, duchesses, and countesses are present, along with a handful of women represented in other categories — the preponderance falling under the “Vocal Performers” and “Actors” headings.

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)

(Clark, Kenneth). Clark, Kenneth. Another part of the wood: A self-portrait. New York: Harper & Row, 1974. Dust jacket slightly worn, yellowed.
$17.50

(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.

(Coleridge, Samuel Taylor). Holmes, Richard. Coleridge: Early visions. New York: Viking, 1990. Dust jacket in good condition. History Book Club edition.
$10.00

(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 (Cooper, Diana). Cooper, Diana. Trumpets from the steep. Boston and Cambridge: Houghton Mifflin Co. (Riverside Press), 1960. 8vo. Illus.
$20.00

•  First American trade edition, first issue.

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

LEC: American Expatriate Literary Culture Cowley, Malcolm.  Exile's return[:] a literary odyssey of the 1920's. New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1981. 8vo (25.2 cm, 9.9"). xx, [2], 281, [3] pp.; illus.
$400.00

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•  Limited Editions Club production of one of the earliest American works about the Lost Generation, here with an introduction by Leon Edel andcontemporary photographs by Berenice Abbott, Man Ray, André Kertész, and others, in a volume designed by Laurie Rippon and printed by Daniel Keleher at the Wild Carrot Letterpress. A. Horowitz & Sons bound the work in quarter brown cloth with gray Fabriano Ingres paper, the front cover stamped in brown to reproduce the front cover of a 1920s literary magazine.

Numbered copy 1496 of 2000 printed, this issigned at the colophon by both Cowley and photographer Abbott. The appropriate LEC newsletter and prospectus are laid in.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 523.   Binding as above, in matching slipcase of brown cloth and gray paper. A clean, fresh, attractive copy.  (30717)

Emily's Brother (Dickinson, Austin, & Todd, Mabel Loomis). Longsworth, Polly. Austin and Mabel: The Amherst affair and love letters of Austin Dickinson and Mabel Loomis Todd. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1984. Dust jacket good.
$17.50

(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

An Artist's View of theEarly Development of American Art Dunlap, William.  History of the rise and progress of the arts of design in the United States. New York: George P. Scott & Co., 1834. 8vo (24.6 cm, 9.7"). 2 vols. I: 435, [1] pp.; 1 facs. II: viii, 480 pp.
$450.00

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•  First edition. Dunlap (1766–1839) was “one of the first outstanding figures of the American stage” according to the Oxford Companion to the Theatre; sent to London to study painting with Benjamin West, he found the lure of the theatre more compelling and eventually became a playwright, manager of New York’s Park Theatre, and vice president of the National Academy of Design. Here reverting to his first “life,” he providesinteresting biographical accounts, full of anecdotes and personal observations, of numerous prominent American artists and their works. Vol. I features a facsimile of an autograph bill of sale, for portraits, by John Singleton Copley.

•  On Dunlap, see: Oxford Companion to the Theatre, 211. American Imprints 24237; BAL 5026; Howes D571; Sabin 21303.   Publisher's quarter green diced cloth and tan paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped title; edges and extremities rubbed, corners bumped, spines sunned, sides with spots of staining and discoloration. Front hinges (inside) tender. Ex–social club library: spines with paper shelving labels, front pastedowns with 19th-century bookplates and inked shelving numbers, title-pages and one other in each volume rubber-stamped, no other markings. Some outer corners of vol. II lightly waterstained; a very few instances of small spots of staining.  (27558)

(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 Ford, Gerald.  A time to heal: the autobiography of Gerald R. Ford. Norwalk, Conn.: Easton Press, ©1987. 8vo. [8], 454 pp.
$495.00

•  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)

Memoirs ofthe Minister of Police Fouché, Joseph.  The memoirs of Joseph Fouché, Duke of Otranto, minister of the general police of France. London: Charles Knight (William Clowes, pr.), 1825. 8vo. Frontis. port., viii, 357, [3], 329, [1] pp.
$235.00

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•  First English edition of the memoirs of France's notorious chief police officer during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Era. As Minister of Police under the Directory, Joseph Fouché (1759 or 1763–1820) was instrumental in reorganizing and centralizing the police system in France and was kept on by Napoleon until he fell out of favor in 1802. However, his network of intelligence gathering proved invaluable to Napoleon, who reinstated him in 1804 (until 1810) and again during the Hundred Days. The authenticity of these memoirs is no longer in doubt and they provide some insight into the political intrigues of the period. It's also an extremely self-serving work — he writes on p. 2 that he never wielded his “mysterious and terrible power” except to “calm the passions, disunite factions, and prevent conspiracies.” Illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of the author. Two volumes bound in one.

•  NSTC 2F12262, 2J13268, & 2B13609.   Green cloth over boards, gilt rules and lettering to spine; cloth worn away at spine extremities and corners and splitting over front joint; preliminary pages (including frontispiece) and pp. 1–2 separated from binding. Private ownership signature at top edge of title-pages; a (different) private owner's pressure- and rubber-stamps; institutional bookplate. Off-setting to six pages from old newspaper articles or leaves laid in; old newspaper article (a review of a much later biography of Fouché) still inserted; Inner margin of pp. 327–8 repaired, not affecting text. Spotting and staining of various sorts and a few dog-ears; not a swell copy but a perfectly serviceable one.  (14222)

“Prince of the Renaissance” (François I). Seward, Desmond. Prince of the Renaissance: the golden life of François I. New York: Macmillan, 1973. Dust jacket very slightly worn, faded over the spine. Lavishly illustrated.
$17.50

Last 18th-Century American Edition of His WORKS Franklin, Benjamin.  Works of the late Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Consisting of his life, written by himself, together with essays, humourous, moral and literary; chiefly in the manner of the Spectator. Huntingdon, PA: Pr. for the proprietor by John R. Parrington, 1800. 12mo. 2 vols. in 1. Frontis., 156, 119, [1] pp.
$400.00
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•  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 (Franklin, Benjamin).  Robinson, David F.  Stories about Dr. Franklin, designed for the instruction and amusement of children. Hartford: D.F. Robinson & Co. (pr. by P. Canfield), 1829. 16mo (13.1 cm, 5.25"). 69, [3] pp.; illus.
$147.50

•  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)

(Frederick the Great). Mitford, Nancy. Frederick the Great. New York: Harper & Row, 1970. Cloth somewhat buckled over spine. Illustrated.
$17.50

With A.N.S. (Fremantle, Anne, & Clara Annabel Caroline Grant Duff).  Fremantle, Anne. Three-cornered heart. New York: Viking, 1971. 8vo. Illus.
$32.00

•  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.

“A Fair General View of theMost Important Characters” Galt, John.  The lives of the players. Boston: Frederic S. Hill, 1831. 8vo (18.2 cm, 7.2"). 2 vols. viii, 315 pp.; [4], 308 pp.
$225.00

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•  First U.S. edition of detailed biographies of the most notable 17th- and 18th-century actors to grace the English stage — Charles Hart, Edward Kynaston, Mrs. Elizabeth Barry, Susanna Centlivre, Lacy Ryan, Charles Macklin, Mrs. George Ann Bellamy, and John Philip Kemble, among many others — with many and often pungent details of their personal and stage lives, and including significant roles played.

Scottish author John Galt (1779–1839) pursued legal studies, business, travel, politics, and prolific writing in London and Glasgow before joining the Canada Company. Traveling back and forth to North America in the late 1820's, he was appointed superintendent of the Company and founded the city of Guelph, Ontario, in 1827. Galt continued writing to support his family throughout his life and published many books, including an autobiography documenting his experiences abroad and a biography of Lord Byron, whom he knew personally. His Lives of the Players was first published in London, also in 1831.

•  American Imprints 7212.   Publisher's brown cloth over boards, printed paper label on spines, cloth stained and worn; hinges repaired with brown tape. Ex–social club library: bookplate and call number in ink on front pastedowns, pressure-stamp on title-pages and sticker on upper spines. Corners creased and one tip lost in vol. I; and one leaf in vol. II creased across middle horizontally in the press. Foxing and staining of expectable sorts. A good set.  (30842)

(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

Money & Passion Gere, Charlotte, & Marina Vaizey.  Great women collectors. London: Philip Wilson, 1999. Folio (27 cm, 10.6"). 208 pp.
$35.00

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•  Biographies of famous female collectors from Catherine the Great to Peggy Guggenheim, richly illustrated with images of the women and their outstanding stuff.

•  Photographic dust jacket protected by mylar, not price clipped, over bright red boards; bottom edge bumped but no damage to jacket. Neat black “remainder” mark near spine on bottom edge; practically new!  (30106)

FIRST EDITION Gough, John.  A history of the people called Quakers. From their first rise to the present time. Dublin: Robert Jackson, 1789. 8vo (21 cm, 8.25"). 3 (of 4) vols. I: x, [2], 546, [10 (index)] pp. (pagination skipping 294 to 297, text complete and uninterrupted). II: [2], 557, [11] pp. III: 526, [10] pp.
$375.00

•  First edition of Gough's account of the origins of the Society of Friends, includingbiographies of a number of Irish Quakers. This three-volume set in matching contemporary bindings is composed of the original three books projected; a fourth volume, published in 1790, is not present here. Each book has an index at the back.

Provenance: Vol. I title-page with inscription dated 1790, reading “Joseph Russells cost 10s a Vollume [sic]”.

•  ESTC T102429.   Contemporary treed calf, spines with gilt-stamped leather title labels; worn and one cover off. Ex–defunct library with bookplates, a stamp to each title-page and last leaf, old (interestingly make-shift) card pockets. Some instances of offsetting and foxing, generally no more than moderate, with pages otherwise clean.  (8655)

Second Edition (?) — “New” Fourth Volume Present Gough, John.  A history of the people called Quakers. From their first rise to the present time. Dublin: Robert Jackson, 1790. 8vo (21 cm, 8.25"). 4 vols. I: x, [2], 542, [10 (index)] pp. II: [2], 557, [11] pp. III: 526, [10] pp. IV: 573, [7] pp.
$350.00

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•  Second edition (?) of Gough's account of the origins of the Society of Friends, withbiographies of a number of Irish Quakers. This is a four-volume, 1790 set in matching contemporary bindings, composed of the originally projected three books first printed in 1789 along with a fourth, printed for the first time here, which brought the history up to date; each volume has an index at the back.

Provenance:  Each volume's front fly-leaf (facing title-page) with inscription dated 1791, reading “John Humphrey, his book 1791 Price 10s”; each volume's pastedown with small bookplate of Richard McIlvain.

•  ESTC N2800.   Contemporary treed calf, spines with gilt-stamped leather title labels; worn, with all front covers and free endpaper of vol. IV detached. Some instances of light offsetting and foxing, with pages generally clean; some leaves chipped or with marginal tears, one tear causing loss of a few letters from a heading.  (14671)

The General's Wife Was Mighty with Her Pen (Grant, Julia Dent). Simon, John Y., ed. The personal memoirs of Julia Dent Grant. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1975. 8vo. 346 pp.
$17.50

•  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.

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