PUBLISHERS' CLOTH
A GALLERY OF BINDINGS, ca. 1840,  ff. 
Part I - Authors A-E   |   Part II - Authors F-Q   |   Part III - Authors R-Z

Brief Life — Brief Fame — Beautiful Book

•  Henry Kirke White (1785–1806), poet, and protégé of Robert Southey died at an early age while studying the classics at St. John's College, Cambridge. Among the writings contained herein are his prose works, such as "Melancholy Hours," a series of 12 essays on religious and philosophical themes; a collection of complete poems including hymns, sonnets, childhood verse, and the poem "Clifton Grove;" a mass of fragments, including an unfinished epic on the life of Christ called "The Christiad;" his personal letters; and "tributary verse" by various admirers. Following his death, which had passed nearly unnoticed at Cambridge, White's poetic oeuvre found a champion in Lord Byron who wrote, "Unhappy White! while life was in its spring / And thy young muse just shook her joyous wing, / The spoiler came; and all thy promise fair / Has sought the grave, to sleep for ever there. / 'Twas thine own genius gave the final blow, / And helped to plant the wound that laid thee low (pp. 197–198)."

The DNB, however, has a harsher verdict of White's poetic legacy: "White's verse shows every mark of immaturity. In thought and expression it lacks vigour and originality. A promise of weirdness in an early and prophetic lyric, ‘A Dance of Consumptives’ (from an unfinished ‘Eccentric Drama’), was not fulfilled in his later compositions. The metrical dexterity which is shown in the addition to Waller's ‘Go, lovely Rose,’ is not beyond a mediocre capacity. Such popularity as White's work has enjoyed is to be attributed to the pathetic brevity of his career and to the fervour of the evangelical piety which inspired the greater part of his verse and prose." Deservedly or not, White's reputation has receded over the years and he is now a relatively obscure poet.

This volume is illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of the author, engraved by Jas. Eddy from an illustration by Pendleton [William S. Pendleton?], and an engraved portrait on the half-title. Prefaced by a sympathetic "Account of the life of Henry Kirke White" on pp. [3]–44, by Robert Southey.

•  Publisher's brown cloth, spine lettered in gilt, both spine and covers stamped with an attractive gilt design. Cloth showing little wear at foot of spine. All page edges gilt. Faint ownership signature, dated 1849, pencilled on the front free endpaper. Yewllow slip of paper printed with eight lines of verse and pink slip with handwritten lines, pasted to front (blank) pages. Outer pages foxed; else, a few stray spots. Very good. In mylar cover. (6977)

This entry is repeated in the
“R-Z” section of this
catalogue . . .

Scots “Lays” — With Notes

Aytoun, William Edmonstoune.

•   Part of the "Lansdowne Poets" series; the poems are interspersed with a great deal of background information on Scottish history and other topics. Nicely printed, with numerous head- and tailpieces and pages red-ruled.

•  Very good; front cover bright and unmarked, spine notably faded, corners and spine extremities gently worn. All edges gilt. Pages very clean. (1908)

Historical Fiction — Romance, War,
the Romance of War

•  American novel about the backwoodsmen of the valley south of the St. Lawrence at the time of the War of 1812. Illustrated by F. C. Yohn.

•  Publisher's dark red cloth, stamped in gilt; front cover with a long oval illustration on-lay of a young woman. Covers soiled, front cover illustration lightly scratched. Christmas gift inscription (unsigned) on front free endpaper, dated Dec. 25, 1901. Endpapers soiled, final four pages chipped. Occasional spots of soil inside. Paper tops gilt, other edges deckle. Very good. (5851)

TEXTURED — EMBOSSED — ATTRACTIVE         

•  The final 48 pp., advertising other publications, bear numerous engravings.

One small, faintly soiled patch on each cover; slight wear to corners and spine extremities. Many leaves foxed; occasional signs of waterstaining. Front pastedown with affixed notice of private ownership. (1212)

PHOTOPLAY EDITION

•  Photoplay edition, “illustrated from scenes in the drama... by photographs from life of Maude Adams, Robert Edeson, and other members of the company, by Sarony.”

•  Publisher's green cloth, front cover and spine stamped in black and gilt; spine with stamping a bit dimmed and extremities lightly rubbed, binding otherwise clean and handsome. Very appealing copy. (16731)

CanTeenage Girls Be Taught SELFLESSNESS?

•  “New edition,” from the Warne's Star series, of this improving novel aimed at young ladies. Advertisements at front and back list evocatively other items in the Star series, and in other Warne series as well. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

Binding:  Publisher's dark green cloth, front cover and spine stamped in black and gilt with the cover incorporating an elegant emblematic device featuring Apollo/Hyperion and his horses, and the spine an angel holding a small child; the number 18 can be seen in the right raking light, stamped in blind, within the bottom element of the front cover.

•  Binding cocked, corners and spine extremities a touch rubbed. Page edges age-spotted; pages faintly and evenly age-toned. In fact a bright, handsome copy.  (23190)

Maritime Derring-Do — Romance for Boys?

•  “A romance of the days when 'The Great Lord Hawke' was King of the Sea.” First edition.

•  Publisher's blue cloth, front cover and spine stamped in white, green, and gilt; binding slightly cocked, with light rubbing to extremities. Front pastedown with institutional bookplate ("Fifth Form English Library"); front free endpaper with small bookseller's ticket and pencilled owner's name. A clean, handsome copy. (16721)

They Travelled in Style with a Taste for Exotic Luxuries —
But Also anAppreciation of the Simple Things

•  Early American edition of Baroness Brassey's popular travelogue, recounting a tour of the world in lighthearted but highly evocative style. Onboard their private yacht “Sunbeam” for the great adventure were the Brasseys, their four children, two pug dogs, three birds, and a Persian kitten; all took great interest (at least, as expressed by the author!) in the manners, dress, cuisine, flora, and fauna of the areas they visited. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

The volume is illustrated with one oversized, folding map, a frontispiece and eight plates, and a number of in-text engravings done “Chiefly after designs by the Hon. A.Y. Bingham.”

•  NSTC 0922089.   Publisher's blue cloth, front cover and spine pictorially gilt-stamped; spine slightly darkened, cloth rubbed at edges, extremities, and joints. First few leaves (including map) with lower outer corners waterstained, pages otherwise clean. (20695)

ARemarkably Fresh & Attractive Copy

•  Temperance-themed survey of the structures and processes of the human body, noting the damages done by alcohol and tobacco. Designed for use in “common schools,” this edition bears a copyright date of 1886 and a preliminary notice from the Department of Scientific Instruction of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, dated 1888.

Four color-printed anatomical plates and a number of black-and-white in-text engravings illustrate the volume.

Binding:  Publisher's brown cloth, front cover elegantly stamped all over in black, spine stamped in black and gilt.

Provenance:  Pencilled ownership inscription of Burr Hines, of DeGraff, Ohio.

•  Bound as above with slightest rubbing; clean and tight. Front free endpaper with pencilled ownership inscription; front and back fly-leaves with pencilled medical annotations (headings for study? and definitions).  (23752)

Printed inRed & Black

•  Poems and short pieces on Christian duties, meant for young readers. Printed with touches of red — pages ruled in red.

Covers showing a few small worn spots, corners bumped, spine extremities pulled. Gift inscription to front flyleaf. Four leaves with some offsetting, probably from now-absent item laid in. All edges gilt. (1188)

With aCharming! Gilt! Cover Vignette

•  Amateur’s guide to the care and keeping of birds such as canaries, goldfinches, linnets, and pigeons; this is most likely the first edition and certainly at least a very early printing. Written by Browne, head of the agricultural division of the U.S. Patent Office from 1853 through 1859, the work is illustrated with a number of in-text engravings in addition to the frontispiece depiction of two canaries and their nest. Single-click either image,
for an enlargement.

Provenance: Front pastedown and free endpaper with inked inscriptions belonging to “Caroline and Jane (of) Millport” and (twice) “J. Emory Botsford (of) Millport NY.” These bird lore–seeking Botsfords were surely kin to Anna Botsford Comstock (1854–1930)—identified by the online Encyclopedia Britannica as a prominent American “naturalist, illustrator, and educator” and by a Cornell “Sciencenter” publication as “the first female Cornell professor and arguably the mother of nature education.” A pleasant thought, if not a matter of true importance! (See: http://search.eb.com/women/articles/Comstock_Anna_Botsford.html and http://seti.sentry.net/archive/bioastro/2002/Jul/0145.html.)

Binding: Publisher’s pebbled blue cloth, covers and spine gilt- and blind-stamped,. Front cover with gilt-stamped pictorial vignette of a woman at a casement window, surrounded by birds on boughs and caged.

•  Binding lightly rubbed, gilt bright. Endpapers browned, pages clean. A nice copy.

A BruchhausenFAN's Copy!

•  First edition, with a photographic frontispiece of the poet. This copy has been annotated in an early hand with occasional corrections; in a few instances typed stanzas are affixed over the original printed, and a clipping of more Bruchhausen verse is laid in.

•  Publisher's dark blue cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped harp vignette; covers mildly spotted, spine faded, cloth worn over extremities. Last two leaves of advertisements have been excised; guard leaf of frontispiece mostly torn away (as can be seen in image). A few scattered spots; marginalia etc. as described above (5865)

Little Lord Fauntleroy

•  Early English edition (1st was New York, 1886) of this American author's most famous novel, wildly popular well into the 20th century and memorably made into a film starring Freddy Bartholomew. This edition is amply illustrated with plates (integral to pagination) and in-text pictures also.

Binding: Publisher's red pictorial cloth, front cover and spine stamped in black, brown, and gilt.

•  Good++: Some soiling to binding; light to moderate foxing internally. (8539)

A Lancashire Story — First Edition

•  First edition, first state. First collection of children's stories by the author of the wildly popular Little Lord Fauntleroy and The Secret Garden. The title story, subtitled “A Lancashire Story,” is in the Lancashire dialect. The other stories are “Le Monsieur de la Petite Dame,” “Smethurstses,” “One Day at Arle,” “Esmeralda,” “Mère Giraud's Little Daughter,” “Lodusky,” and “Seth.”

•  BAL 2036, first state with p. 274 left blank.   Publisher's terra-cotta cloth binding, front stamped in gold and black, back stamped with publishers' seal in blind. Small areas of gold on front darkened. Traces of wear at head and base of spine. Previous owner's penciled signature on the front free endpaper; no other markings. Pages clean, binding tight. In fact, an uncommonly nice copy.  (23461)

The First Revised Edition

•  First revised edition of these popular poems, including numerous illustrations and an added piece in honor of Charles Dickens, "The Ship-Builder." This copy has been added to with a number of additional poems by Carleton and articles about him, clipped from various sources and affixed to almost every available blank page.

•  BAL 2485 (state 2, with contents page corrected). Publisher's brown cloth, front cover stamped in black and gilt with central gilt-stamped vignette, spine with gilt-stamped title; board edges and spine extremities showing minor rubbing, with spine gilt slightly dimmed. Front fly-leaf with inked gift inscription "to My Wife," dated 1890; newspaper clippings about Carleton and poems by him affixed to front pastedown, front and back fly-leaves, half-title, end of illustrations list ("The Old-Fashioned Christmas Dinner"), and reverse of one plate. Some instances of offsetting from clippings. A pleasing, interesting example. (14366)

Quaint Customs

•  First edition of another “Farm” volume by a successful and beloved poet. A copy of Carleton's poem "Captain Young's Thanksgiving," including illustration, has been affixed to the back fly-leaf and free endpaper.

•  BAL 2482 (second printing state, with plates included in pagination). Publisher's brown cloth, front cover stamped in gilt and green, spine with gilt-stamped title; front cover lightly scuffed, with corners rubbed. Front fly-leaf with inked gift inscription "to My Daughter," dated 1890; newspaper clipping about Carleton affixed to front fly-leaf, poem affixed to back fly-leaf as described above. Several insurance advertisements, religious leaflets, and other ephemera laid in. (14367)

“The Little Sleeper” & “Paul's Run Off with the Show”
ILLUSTRATED    

•  With engraved plates and in-text illustrations by various hands.

Very good; traces of wear to corners and spine extremities, one small spot to front cover. Slightly cocked. Front flyleaf with gift inscription. (1250)

The Luthers @ Home

•  Stated author's edition. Novel about Martin Luther.

•  Publisher's cloth. Spine somewhat faded. Very good. (19494)

Cheever’sPILGRIMS

•  Second printing, following the first of 1847, of Cheever’s annotated edition; his organization of the materials was designed to highlight “the germs, or beginnings, or first appearances of our native New England customs and institutions” (p. iv), as well as “the wonderful providential discipline of God with the colony of Plymouth, and to some extent with that of Massachusetts, and to show the constant action of those principles of piety for which they suffered . . .” (ibid.)
Click the image to the left
for an enlargement.

Binding: Publisher’s maroon cloth, covers with gilt-stamped arabesque designs, spine gilt extra with decorative gilt-stamped title.

•  Sabin 51199. Binding as above, with minor rubbing over corners and spine extremities, spine sunned and edges faded, gilt partially (not unattractively) oxidized. All edges gilt. Front pastedown with private collector’s bookplate. A few instances of light spotting, with some pages age-toned. A very solid, appealing copy.

ThePhotographic Illustrations Do Not much NOW Impress.
That They DID, Is the Food for Thought!

•  Analysis of mythic motifs in Keats, Shelley, and other poets, issued in asigned pictorial binding done by "B.S." The 12 plates are reproductions of various paintings and sculptures of deities and Titans.

•  Publisher's cloth, front cover stamped in black, white, and gilt, spine with gilt-stamped title; spinal extremities and one bit of stamping very slightly rubbed, else clean and nice. (12247)

A PrettyCrowell Copy

•  Attractive later edition

•  Publisher's blue cloth, front cover and spine stamped in black and gilt; cloth a bit rubbed over corners and spine extremities, with spine gilt slightly dimmed, otherwise beautiful. Front pastedown with small bookplate, front free endpaper with contemporary gift inscription. (12985)

“This Teaches Us . . . ”

•  Early edition, following the first of the previous year, of these charming fables "for the fair sex."

•  Signed binding with unfortunately unidentifiable initials! Publisher's quarter brown cloth over paper-covered sides, printed pictorial paper front cover, spine with gilt-stamped title; cream-colored paper slightly darkened, with very minor rubbing over corners. (15006)

Thomson's Illustrations — “Beau Brocade”

•  Second edition, with numerous illustrations by Hugh Thomson. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  Publisher's cloth, front cover and spine decoratively gilt-stamped; spine, lower edges, and corners a touch rubbed. Top edge gilt. A few leaves and plates with waterstaining to lower outer corners, scattered spots of light foxing. (18409)

Printed D.C. 1901 — Purchased Y.T. 1907

•  Yukon verse, written by Gold Rush poet Dunham, who also designed the cover art. The front free endpaper bears two inked inscriptions in the same hand, one reading “Marguerite Lux / Syracuse, N.Y.” and the other “Dawson City Y.T. [Yukon Territory] / July 1907.” The back pastedown bears the ticket of a bookseller located in Dawson.

•  Publisher's cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title and landscape vignette, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding worn over extremities, with gilt showing some rubbing. Pages clean.  (5701)

CRANBERRIES

•  Early reprint, following the first edition of 1856.

•  Publisher's embossed cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title; corners and spine extremities showing minor wear, with gilt oxidized. Front free endpaper with pencilled inscription; some page edges with small blotches. Binding very handsome in its subtle way. Impossible! to get a good image of! (12986)

Elegant Production — GORGEOUS Copy

•  Bright, fresh copy of this gorgeously bound etiquette manual with each page of black-letter text framed in a teal border with floral decorations. Originally published in 1878, this guide stayed in print until 1928. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

Binding: Publisher's crimson cloth, front cover and spine gilt- and black-stamped, back cover black-stamped. All edges gilt. Actually, breathtaking.

•  Binding as above, clean and bright with only very faint traces of wear to corners and joints. Pages clean; some lower outer corners slightly crumpled. It is hard to imagine a better copy.  (23709)

A Cream/Gilt Binding

•  Illustrated with images of Italian and Italian-themed artworks.

•  Publisher's cream-colored cloth, front cover embossed with gilt arabesque designs, spine with gilt-stamped title and decorations; cloth showing minor soiling, with spine slightly darkened. Last text leaf and back free endpaper separated; one leaf with lower corner torn away, resulting in loss to sense — a pretty book and one nice to read despite this sad interruption. (14736)

 



 

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