A-C D-G H-L M-R S-T U-Z
Laws of Oxford
University of Oxford. Parecbolae sive excerpta è corpore statutorum Universitatis Oxoniensis. Accedunt articuli religionis XXXIX. in Ecclesia Anglicana recepti: nec non juramenta fidelitatis & suprematus. Oxoniae: E Theatro Sheldoniano, 1729. 8vo in 4s (15.9 cm, 6.25"). [24], 232 (lacking pp. 227–30) pp.
$350.00
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18th-century edition of this collection of selected statutes of the University of Oxford, originally compiled by Thomas Crossfield of Queen's College and printed in 1638 under the title Statuta selecta è corpore statutorum Universitatis Oxon. The section Statuta Bibliothecae Bodleianae is of special interest to book people, though the notes on disturbing the peace and de nocturna Vagatione cannot but please the Latinate.
That this is a volume of “selections” is trumpeted on the title-page. However, both usefully for the seeker of context and at points confusingly for the actual reader, its table of contents seems to be not for what's present as selected but for the text in full extent — so the table announces, for example, that “Titulus XVII” comprises nine sections and lists these even unto the subsections, though the body of the book itself sets forth sections five and six only.
The title-page offers a handsome vignette of the Theatre, not one of the commonest ones.
ESTC T118673; Madan, Oxford Books, 17. Period-style calf, framed and panelled in blind with blind-tooled corner fleurons and rather elaborate additional decorations in blind; spine with gilt-stamped title and publication information and different blind-tooled decorations. Endpapers a little smudged and title-page mounted, with edges darkened. Early inked ownership inscription in upper margin of first text page mostly torn away, with loss of a few words. Pp. 227–30 lacking, being the last bit of the printing of the Church of England's 39 Articles and the first part of the section, “De Eligendis Publicis Lectoribus.” Pages faintly age-toned, with occasional light spotting; mostly clean. (25553)

The
ENDURING LAWS
of the
VISIGOTHS
Visigoths.
Laws, statutes, etc. Fuero juzgo en latín y castellano,
cotejado con los más antiguos y preciosos códices por la Real
Academia Española. Madrid: Por Ibarra, 1815. Folio (34.2 cm, 13.5").
[7] ff., pp. [iii], ivliv, [2] ff., X, 162 pp., [2] ff., XVI, 231, [1]
pp.
$300.00
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The best pre-20th century edition: Edited by scholars of the Spanish Royal Academy. The Fuero juzgo (in Latin, Forum judicum) is, basically, the customary law of the Visigoths of Spain that existed and was maintained outside of and in parallel with the Leges romanæ, the Fuero juzgo being the code to which German-origin Spaniards were liable and the Leges romanæ that to which inhabitants of pre-Visigothic origin had to answer. The Visigoths achieved the code in written form during the high middle ages.
As a social and historical document of medieval Spain, the Fuero juzgo
is of outstanding importance, but its significance does not stop there, for
the code continued unrepealed into the 19th century and, indeed, was an important
element in the formation of the legal status of the Indians of America under
the Spanish rule. The verso of the seventh unnumbered leaf at the beginning
of this edition has an engraved facsimile of a page from the Codex murcianus
of the Fuero juzgo.
Palau 95528. Original printed wrappers with a little tattering and a small chip from the base of the spine; light waterstaining in the outside margins of some leaves and title-page with some staining in the inside margin, not affecting printed area. Wrappers, edges, first and last leaves with smoke discoloration; many upper margins with intrusion of same. (3312)

On
Art, Life, & Disillusionment
Ward, Lynd. Prelude to a million years. New York: Equinox, 1933. 8vo (22.3 cm, 8.75"). [4] pp.; 30 plts.
$550.00
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Wordless wood-engraved novel by the great Lynd Ward. Ward himself said of this work, set during the Depression: “It was printed directly from the woodblocks on beautiful rag paper in a small edition. Prelude was the third publication of Equinox Cooperative Press, a group of young people, including myself, working in printing, publishing, and the book arts, who wanted to do non-commercial books, just for the love of doing it. Each copy of Prelude was bound by hand and made with loving care.”
The volume was designed by Lewis F. White and printed in an edition of 920 copies; this is numbered copy 648, and
signed by the artist.
Publisher's airbrush-patterned paper–covered sides with copper foil backstrip stitched in black (stitching intact); front upper outer corner and back outer edge bumped, paper showing minor wear, foil chipped at head and foot. Front free endpaper with inked ownership inscriptions dated 1933 and 1977. Stains and smudges to early leaves with the occasional spot elsewhere; most plates and pages with waterstaining to upper outer corner, not touching images. Not a “painful” copy but not pristine either; priced accordingly. (29246)

Against! “Secret Confederations”
Warfield, Charles. The kingdom and glory of the branch, and testament of the west. Baltimore: William Wooddy [sic], 1833. 8vo (21.9 cm, 8.6"). 261, [3 (blank)], 263–341, [1 (blank)] pp. (lacking port.).
$500.00
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Sole edition of these mystical meditations composed by the eccentric founder of the Branch Tabernacle in Baltimore. Anti-Masonic sentiments are woven throughout, e.g., “General George Washington, of N. America, used a Masonic influence to the best of Purposes; and we know that a man of less virtue, would have acted very differently. . . . If secret Orders are patronized, at large,— their pretentions will extend to Legislative counsels, and to the Judiciary, and Executive departments, and, that too, with much unfairness.” (pp. 180–81). Warfield also has a great deal to say about government, U.S. law, women, and slavery, all mixed in virtually at random with his religious proclamations.
Scarce. Only 11 institutions, all in the U.S., report holdings via OCLC.
Sabin 37866; American Imprints 22538. Period-style quarter tan cloth with light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Frontispiece portrait lacking. Light to moderate foxing. (23903)
A
Remarkable Array of
Collotypes
Fampf, Frank. Famous prints: masterpieces of
graphic art reproduced from rare originals. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons,
1926.
$250.00
Copy 277 of 1025. Illustrations very nicely reproduced using
collotype plates. Contains a dizzying panolopy of artists, media, and periods:
Callot,
Dürer, Goya, Meryon, Zorn, Turner, Blake, Cranach, Lucas van Leyden,
Daumier, Holbein, and Whistler; lithographs, wood engravings, etchings,
mezzotints, aquatints, stipple engravings, and woodcuts.
Front hinge starting (inside, only); gluestains on front pastedown.
Priced
accordingly. Top edge gilt.
For
more ART REFERENCE, click
here.
White, Joshua E. Letters on England: Comprising descriptive scenes; with
remarks on the state of society, domestic economy, habits of the people, and condition of the manufacturing classes generally.... Philadelphia: M. Carey (pr. by William Fry), 1816. 8vo (23.5 cm, 9.4"). 2 vols. I: xv, [1], 358 pp. II: xi, [1], 324 pp.
$400.00
First trade edition, following an issue of the same year privately printed for the author, here in an uncut copy in the original paper-covered boards. White, an American “of Savannah,” provides his impressions of British culture in London, Oxford, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, and elsewhere in England — with many comparisons to the contemporary state of affairs in the United States.
Shaw & Shoemaker 39807; Smith, Americans Abroad, W66. Contemporary paper-covered boards, spines with printed paper labels; darkened and worn, vol. I with covers detached and paper cracked over spine, vol. II with front joint open though presently holding Front pastedowns with bookplates of the Salem Library Company; vol. I with early inked inscriptions to endpapers and half-title. Light to moderate foxing, no other stains.
Wright, G[eorge] N[ewenham]. A guide to the lakes of Killarney. London: Baldwin, Cradock, & Joy (pr. by T.C. Hansard), 1822. 12mo (17.5 cm, 6.9"). viii, 97, [3] pp.; 1 plt. (of 6).
$160.00
First edition of this tourist’s directory of picturesque and historical sites, including “every necessary direction . . . the time required, the modes of conveyance, the inns on the road, and the probable expense” (p. v).
NSTC 2W33589. Recent plain paper-covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. Frontispiece, title-page, and several other pages stamped by a now-defunct institution. Lacking all but one plate (the frontispiece). Page edges untrimmed.
For more of IRISH interest, click
here.
For
more VOYAGES, TRAVELS, & books on
"EXOTIC" PLACES, click
here.
Wycherley,
William. The complete works...edited by Montague Summers. Soho:
Nonesuch Press, 1924. 4 vols. 8vo (26.5 cm, 10.4"). I: xiv, 269, [1 (blank)] pp.
II: [6], 323, [1 (blank)] pp. III: [6], 299, [1 (blank)] pp. IV: [6], 281, [1
(blank)] pp.
$250.00
Nonesuch Press limited-edition production of the only collected
edition of Wycherley. 975 sets were produced, this example being number 99 of
900 on mould-made paper with the Nonesuch watermark. Present here are Wycherley’s
letters and miscellaneous poems, as well as his cynical and often-licentious
plays.
Provenance: With laid-in invoice from the Davenant Bookshop in Oxford,
dated 1924.
McKittrick/Rendall/Dreyfus 17. Publisher’s quarter brown
buckram over tan paper- covered sides, spines with printed paper labels; gently
worn, two labels chipped, one volume with cloth of a darker shade and noticeable
rippling thereto. Two volumes with hinges slightly tender. Page edges untrimmed,
some signatures uncut. It should be remarked that, by some unexpected trick
of the camera, our righthand picture above makes this set look a bit smarter
than it is; that said, though it is
rightly priced for its real condition and
still worthy of purchase.
For
more ENGLISH LITERATURE, click here.
For the GENERAL
MISCELLANY click
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