Provenance:  Front free endpaper with early inked gift inscription in a childish hand “To Miss Phebe Webber from Lyman”); back free endpaper with inked gift inscription in more sophisticated hand from the recipient of the first (“Presented to Eddie Ferris by his new Aunt Phebe”).

•  Not in Sternick, Children's Series.   Publisher's dark teal-green cloth, covers blind-stamped, spine gilt-stamped; corners and spine rubbed, cloth with areas of light discoloration. Inscriptions as above. Scattered spots of foxing; a very few short edge tears extending into text without loss.  (28753)

Provenance:  Front free endpaper and fly-leaf with early inked ownership inscription of James [Brown?]; title-page with pencilled inscription of Mary M. Bancroft.

•  Shoemaker 23503; Pomeroy, Alexander Anderson, 777.   Contemporary treed sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; moderately rubbed overall, spine moreso, leather tender at front joint. Vol. I only (of 12), though, of course, complete as “what it is.” Ownership inscriptions as above. Light to moderate foxing and spotting/staining; one leaf with paper flaw resulting in ragged lower outer portion.  (29705)

•  DeBacker-Sommervogel, II, 45.   Contemporary vellum, spine with early hand-inked title; vellum with small spots of staining and rear pastedown gone, binding overall clean and tight. Frontispiece with shallow chip to lower edge not into plate area; pages slightly age-toned with some very faint spotting in the second part, otherwise clean.  (29267)

•  ESTC T1702. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. Half-title lacking. Title-page and two others stamped by a now-defunct institution; leaves with reinforced tears at inner margins.

This volume is in the large ambitious quarto format of the journal's first years, not the octavo format of the later, “New Series”

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with early inked presentation inscription to New Salem Academy from the Honorable Ethan Allen Greenwood (1779–1856), the Massachusetts lawyer who established the New England Museum.

•  Sabin 64182.   Contemporary quarter sheep and light blue paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped date; rubbed and stained overall, spine leather with cracks and chips, spine head with remnants of small paper label, refurbished: spine caps readhered, front cover reattached, edges reinforced, leather consolidated. Front free endpaper with inscription as above. A later hand has laid in a number of leaves of annotations and commentary on various pieces herein, along with some account of the lacking portions; occasional pencilled annotations in text as well. One leaf with inner margin neatly reinforced; some tears repaired and loose leaves secured. Pages occasionally creased; varying degrees of browning and foxing. Outer edges trimmed closely, occasionally with loss of final letters. Upper portion of one leaf torn away, with loss of weekly header and about three paragraphs of text; one leaf chipped along fold, with loss of several letters; lower outer portion of one leaf torn away, with loss of roughly two paragraphs. Nos. 13, 14, 32, and 34 each lacking final leaf; no. 33 lacking. Pp. 395/96 bound in out of order. Several pieces of dried plant matter laid in at various points. This volume of the Port Folio is as meaty and full of just plain interesting stuff as they all were, despite its lacking bits; and, it represents the journal's beginnings.  (29227)

The authorial attribution is tentative; WorldCat notes that the present text “is not the poem published under the title “My Brother” in Mary Elliott's Grateful Tributes (1819). Text of issue is designated as an 'uncertain ascription to Mary Elliott' by Mary Elliott's bibliographer Marjorie Moon.”

Provenance:  Inside front wrapper with beautifully inked inscription reading “Samuel Gara his Book Bought in Lancaster August the 23rd, 1827 by his Mother.”

•  Publisher's printed paper wrappers, age-toned, paper splitting along spine and sewing loosening; inside front wrapper with inscription as above. Pages age-toned, with mild foxing. In delicate condition, but a very appealing item.  (30251)

It is notable that despite its light theme and touch, this book offers serious instruction to men wanting seriously to achieve real competence in its era's arts of entertaining. Those seeking a gamesmanship guide suggesting ways merely to appear competent, or those cheerfully assuming that it is charming for men to be incompetent in this realm, had best look for support elsewhere.

•  Brown, Culinary Americana, 3337 (for first ed.).   Publisher's black cloth, front cover with eggplant- and gilt-stamped vignette of a mustachioed man hoisting a drink tray, spine with eggplant-stamped stripes and gilt-stamped title; dust jacket lacking, minor shelfwear to extremities and lower edges. A clean, solid copy.  (30269)

•  Medina, Mexico, 7061; Palau 204344.   Contemporary limp vellum, ties perished; text block loosened from binding. Unidentified marca de fuego on upper and lower edges of closed volume. Worming in some margins and into text with loss of letters and some words, repaired with archival tissue. A less than pristine copy, but copies are scarce on the market in any condition.  (28206)

The subject of this work is the rivalry between Spain and France for political and religious supremacy in the Catholic realm of Europe, but the author also discusses national traits, as he sees them, such as manner of dressing, walking, eating, and talking.

•  Palau 97802.   Recent boards covered with marbled paper; leather spine label gilt with title. Some lower margins irregular due to natural paper flaws. All edges speckled red. A very good copy.  (25812)

• ESTC W28659; Evans 28775; Sabin 28933. 19th-century quarter sheep in imitation of morocco, rubbed and worn; covers pressure-stamped by a now-defunct institution, spine with paper shelving label. Half-title lacking, title-page and a number of others stamped, back free endpaper with pocket. Pages clean save for stamps. (9536)

This was first printed in 1839, again in 1843, and then only this last edition. We find but two U.S. institutional holdings.

•  Lacking wrappers. Lightly foxed; corners bumped; last leaf a bit creased.  (27855)

This is the original edition andnot a modern reprint.

•  Bitting 273; Brown, Culinary Americana, 2914.   Publisher's textured paper wrappers, front wrapper with printed title; extremities rubbed. Pages slightly age-toned, otherwise clean.A delightfully aspirational read.  (29727)

The text is printed in roman and italic, with side- and shouldernotes; it is decorated with elegant woodcut initials against a floriated background, one factotum, a handful of head- and tailpieces, and a couple of small vignettes. The woodcut printer's device on the title-page has the monogram “AT” beneath a dolphin & anchor combination with the motto festina tarde, reminiscent of the Aldine device.

This edition is not in NUC Pre-1956, and WorldCat locates just one copy in the U.S. (with a variant imprint, “A Cologny”).

Evidence of readership: A short biography of Lipsius in French has been written on the fly-leaves in early ink.

•  Early vellum over flexible boards, somewhat stained and rubbed; evidence of four ties, and ink title to spine. Cropped close with very minor loss to a couple of running headlines and side- or shouldernotes; a few corner-tips torn away and a few stains only; instances variously of slightest perceptible worming and outer margin of pp. 585–98 holed by an insect affecting the sidenotes on those leaves, with lesser evidence of the same gnawing to rear pastedown and back cover.  (29885)

•  NSTC 2M14137. Removed from a nonce volume. Pages clean. (16756)

Benjamin Franklin was among those who acknowledged the book's great influence on his life.

Preliminary pages include the testimonials or “Recommendations” (pp. iii–iv) and a “Preface” (pp. [xiii]–xxv). At the end are “On fulfilling engagements and paying debts. From a sermon by the late President Edwards,” “On the religious education of children. (From the Christian observer),” “On sanctifying the Sabbath-Day. By Sir Matthew Hale. (From the same),” and the table of contents.

•  Holmes, Cotton Mather, 112-E2; Shaw & Shoemaker 35227.   Publisher's sheep with a neat gilt red leathr label; binding dry, front joint (outside) starting. Ex–social club library: small 19th-century paper label at top of spine, 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, no other markings.  (29293)

A newspaper clipping of a portrait of Hannah More taken from an engraving after the painting by H. W. Pickersgill, lies loose inside first volume.

•  Contemporary half red sheep in imitation of morocco over marbled cloth-covered boards, spines with gilt-accented raised bands, gilt lettering on spines. All edges marbled. Leather rubbed and scraped with some chips on spine, joints, and edges; pp. 421–34 of vol. VI have some shallow tears and chips from being bumped, fore-edge of one leaf folded back, without affecting text. Front joint of vol. VII starting from top edge. Some foxing throughout. Clean and complete.  (21439)

Single-click the image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.

Though Nares is quite capable of picking nits with a level of scrupulousness to match that of the most pedantic of scholars, he is also prone to flights of fancy such as pondering—after noting that a married woman’s moveable goods are unquestionably the property of her husband— “whether the female tongue is to be reckoned among the moveables . . . I believe it is pretty generally held to continue ‘in potestate Mulieris,’ even after marriage, and I know nothing to prevent it” (p. 148). This is followed up with references to Ovid, the Wife of Bath, and the much-storied Flitch of Bacon!

•  Contemporary half calf with marbled paper sides, spines with gilt-stamped helm decorations and gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels (the volume labels recently supplied, in sympathetic style). Board edges showing light to moderate wear, with leather cracking at joints and crackled over the spines generally. Top edges gilt. Front pastedowns with bookplates now partially torn away; title-page of vol. II with an early inked ownership inscription in the upper margin. Delightful reading, as well as an overall attractive set.

Click the images for enlargements.

The frontispiece portrait of Nelson was engraved by George Vertue after a painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller. The volume also includes all publisher's advertisements as well as the rather uncommon Poem in Memory of Robert Nelson Esquire.

This was produced to be a handsome work, printed in large type on good paper with wide margins — the better to appeal to a “quality” audience?

•  ESTC T85360; Goldsmiths’-Kress 5249. Poem: ESTC T25431; Foxon P538.   Contemporary speckled calf, framed and panelled in blind with blind-tooled corner fleurons; rebacked with speckled calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, raised bands, and blind-tooled foliate compartment decorations. Original leather abraded, front cover with small chip to outer edge and area of faint discoloration from a now-absent label; title-page institutionally rubber-stamped (no other markings). Some signatures browned and foxed, most pages clean.  (25999)

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 440.   Binding as above, in publisher's glassine dust jacket and original metallic slipcase; volume all but pristine, jacket with a few tiny nicks but an unusually nice example of these impermanent wrappers, case with corners very slightly rubbed. A clean, fresh copy; frankly, one wants to dare say, “could not be better.”  (30130)

•  American Imprints 21026; Howes R522; Sabin 74264.   Period-style quarter tan cloth and light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Pages age-toned, with minor spotting; a good, clean copy.  (27208)

•  Sabin 74265; Howes R523; Allibone 1893.   Publisher's brown cloth, blind-stamped, spine with gilt-stamped title and blind-stamped decorations; rubbed with cloth split at joints and front cover with spot of discoloration. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate on front pastedown, old inked call number on endpapers and flyleaf (which has small old adhesions of paper to verso); no other markings. Very light to moderate waterstaining to upper inner portions of central third of the volume.  Yes, in its way, this belongs in this catalogue! (26480)

•  Shoemaker 6710. Publisher's sheep. Abrasions to covers and spine, with pieces of leather flaked off; joints abraded. Foxing. Tear to rear free endpaper. Bookplate on front pastedown. (1078)

illustrated with eight steel-engraved plates

Written by a New Hampshire-born poet and educator and published by subscription, this work was originally printed in 1883 as Our Home; Or the Key to a Nobler Life; it appears here in significantly expanded form with contributions from several ministers and one physician. The wide-ranging volume includes the advice to always send your little child to bed happy (“give the dear child a warm good-night kiss as it goes to its pillow,” p. 67), and to spare the rod and develop the child's conscience and sense of honor instead. It also covers the necessity of education and equality of professional opportunity for girls and women, and offers recommendations to smile often in the home, permit only good reading materials, pursue music, provide guidance in maintaining correspondences and friendships, model Christian values and religious observance, encourage fresh air and exercise, avoid alcohol and tobacco, etc.

Binding: Publisher's dark green cloth, front cover with “silver”-stamped decorative frame and red- and “silver”-stamped “Our Home” heart design in center; spine with decorative red and “silver” title. All edges bright red.

•  “Silver” stamping and extremities showing slight rubbing, front cover with a few small, unobtrusive spots of staining. Front hinge (inside) tender from the weight of this hefty work, but holding. Pages clean; a few leaves with small nick to upper edge. A pleasing example of a tenderly appealing portrayal of domestic joys.  (30304)

•  Sewn in publisher’s color-flecked paper wrappers. A crisp, clean copy.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 44408.   Plain blue-green paper wrappers, much worn and creased, sewing loosening. Lower corners bumped; pages age-toned and lightly spotted. Much worn but not written or scribbled on; this copy easily imaginable as a critical element of some respectful child's nightly bedtime ritual.  (30253)

This has a very pretty engraved title-page, acting as frontispiece; between the arched words “Bridal Greetings,” above and below, is a bridal bouquet of emblematic flowers, signed F.E. Jones.

Binding:  Publisher's textured red cloth, covers framed in blind, front cover with gilt-stamped rose vignette, spine gilt extra. All edges gilt.

•  Not in Faxon.   Binding as above, cocked, extremities lightly rubbed, front cover with tiny dark spatter; joints each with small instance of insect damage. Front free endpaper with pencilled annotation. Moderate foxing throughout.  (30370)

The Rev. Alfred Wright (1788–1853) was a missionary and physician who spent over 30 years among the Choctaw people in Mississippi and Oklahoma. He founded the Wheelock Mission (named for Wright's friend Eleazer Wheelock, Dartmouth College's first president) in 1832, where he was directly involved in developing the Choctaw written language, along with Cyrus Byington and Joseph Dukes; indeed his Choctaw translations were among the first books printed in that language.

•  Pilling, Proof-sheets, 3890; Newberry Library, Ayer Indians, Choctaw-59; Rosenbach, Early American Children's Books, 285; W. B. Morrison, “The Choctaw Mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions,” The Chronicles of Oklahoma 4 (June 1926).   Original cloth-backed light marbled boards, the inner covers and endpapers foxed (an effect of the glue used in the binding) and all leaves a bit puckered (an effect of the sewing); lower corners lightly bumped and small tear to outer margin of B1. A very good, clean copy.  (29478)

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with pencilled ownership inscription of prominent 20th-century Philadelphia collector E.M. Boyle, front fly-leaf with gift inscription dated 1833 and pencilled ownership inscription dated 1893.

Binding:  In an excellent American binding of straight-grained black morocco framed in double gilt fillets and a wide gilt border composed of five undulating fillets surrounding a blind-tooled chain roll, spine gilt extra, board edges and turn-ins with gilt roll. All edges gilt. Endpapers of glazed yellow stiff paper.

•  American Imprints 17193.   Binding as above, minimal wear to extremities. Front hinge (inside) starting, first few leaves with sewing loosening; still holding and very reasonably solid overall, with original silk bookmark present and intact. Inscriptions as above. Pages gently age-toned. First edition of a classic of its genre, in an outstanding American binding that isremarkably bright and fresh.  (29974)