French

•  Brunet, II, 402. Recent black moiré cloth, covers framed with blind roll; spine with gilt-stamped leather title, author, and publication labels. Title-page with early inked annotation to volume information. Some mild foxing, with a few leaves more heavily spotted; plates browned. Plate VII with outer edge cropped, with loss of some characters; plate V with short tear from inner margin.

The Histoire and the Supplement have their own title-pages, each with an engraved vignette and red and black lettering. Opposite each printed title-page is an engraving. That opposite the Histoire critique des dogmes et cultes is an added engraved title-page, while that opposite the Supplement is a frontispiece; however, both engravings are closely related and bear scenes from Genesis. The text is illustrated with engraved initials, and head- and tailpieces.

•  19th-century quarter sheep over marbled-paper boards, spine with gilt-ruled raised bands, gilt lettering and ornaments within “compartments”; binding a little chipped and abraded; ex-library with white-lettered call number at base of spine, institutional bookplate on front pastedown, pressure-stamp on title-page, rubber-stamp on title-page and several other pages, and inked numeral at base of p. [iii]. Top and bottom paper edges speckled blue. Interior generally clean, with light toning in some margins and occasional small spots of browning or foxing; light orange streaks to four pages of supplement and a small hole within text of pp. 149/150 costing two letters to each page, neither impeding reading. Several page corners chipped, and bottom edges of a few pages of the supplement a little ragged; plates clean and untattered. A solid, satisfying copy.  (23743)

    Some of both the voyages and the maps make their first published appearances here—among them the New England map depicting the Maryland and Virginia coastlines, engraved by R. Michault after one contained in Richard Blome’s Description of the Island of Jamaica, part of which work appears here translated into French. Altogether, a volume notable both for its strong African and North American content and for the aesthetic appeal of its plates and pleasingly ornamented typography.

The engraved title-page vignette here incorporates the Dauphin’s coat of arms and the French royal banner, while the headpiece on the next page depicts two cherubim wrestling with dolphins.

Binding: Contemporary speckled calf, spine overlaid some time ago with red morocco (to achieve a uniform appearance with other books in a previous owner’s library); spine with gilt-stamped leather title label and a similar series/date label (“In usum Delphini”). Raised bands, spine compartments, and head and foot bear gilt-stamped decorations

•  Brunet, IV, 342; Sandys, II, 292. Binding as above; boards very slightly warped, spine darkened and with small paper label, leather a bit rubbed at extremities and along spine. Front pastedown with private collector’s bookplate, old institutional rubber-stamp, and pencilled annotations; front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription dated 1892; title-page with small early ownership inscription. Frontispiece lacking. Some offsetting to margins of first and last few leaves. All edges speckled blue and red.

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Several bibliographies, including Pilling's Proof-sheets and Ayer, treat this as two distinct works. Indeed, the dictionary and the grammar do each have their own distinct title-pages, pagination, and signature markings. They were issued together, however, though sometimes separated for sale. The publisher’s original paper wrappers are bound into this volume.

•  Pilling, Bibliography of the Algonquian Languages, 283; Newberry Library, Indian Linguistics in the Edward E. Ayer Collection, Cree-93 & Cree-9; Pilling, Proof-Sheets of a Bibliography of the Languages of the North American Indians, 2155 & 2156. Not in Vancil, Cordell Collection. Recent black moiré cloth, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Wrappers (bound in) dust-soiled and with edge chips; front wrapper partially adhered to half-title and back wrapper with Grammaire half-title affixed. Map partially adhered to an additional half-title. Page edges untrimmed; pages very slightly age-toned, else clean. Pagination jumps from 708 to 711 in pt. 1, but as the word listing goes from sagamité to sagamo it seems certain that the text is complete.

•  Newberry Library, Indian Linguistics in the Edward E. Ayer Collection, Cree-95; Pilling, Algonquian, 283; Pilling, Proof-Sheets of a Bibliography of the Languages of the North American Indians, 2156; Banks 36. Not in Vancil, Cordell Collection. Modern maroon cloth with black spine and corners. Very good copy.

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

The Abbé Ladvocat, librarian of the Sorbonne and a prominent Hebraist and Biblical exegete, also compiled the Dictionnaire géographique-portatif and a Grammaire Hébraïque à l’usage des Ecoles de la Sorbonne.

Binding:  Contemporary vellum, spines with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels and gilt-stamped compartment decorations.

•  Quérard, La France littéraire, IV, 387.   Some volumes somewhat sprung and spines slightly darkened, one spine label chipped (refurbished) and one spine with small area of insect damage. Front free endpapers each with inked ownership inscription dated 1833, front pastedowns each with institutional rubber-stamp (no other markings). Occasional small early inked shouldernotes, scattered light to moderate foxing and spotting. Pp. 181–88 of vol. IV bound in upside down and in reverse order. One leaf with closed tear from upper margin, just extending into text. (20682)

Provenance: This set carries the bookplate of French collector Louis Mercier.

Over60 large woodcuts illustrate the text, with some images appearing in both sections. The volume concludes with several poems on the themes of life, death, and the afterlife.

Uncommon: We trace only nine copies in the U.S., all but one in libraries east of the Mississippi.

•  Fairfax-Murray, French, 108; Morin, Bibliothèque bleue de Troyes, 435; Nisard, Histoire des Livres Populaires, II, 303. Binding with minor scuffing at corners and old (good) repairs to head and foot of spine, with leather starting to crack over joints; hinges tender. Pages slightly age-toned, with signature marks shaved.

•  Blackmer Collection 942; Atabey Collection 659; Tobler 153; Rohricht 1776; Europa und der Orient 336. This ed. not in Brunet. Publisher's blind-stamped cloth, spines with gilt-stamped title; cloth gently faded with spine extremities chipped, spine titles dimmed, front covers of vols. I and II detached, cloth starting along joints of vol. IV, spines with later paper shelving labels. Front pastedowns each with institutional bookplate. Vols. II and III lacking frontispieces; frontispiece and first few leaves of vol. I separated. Light to moderate foxing throughout; some corners dog-eared. Maps foxed but otherwise clean and crisp. (19642)

Uncommon: Of institutional copies, we only locate five in the U.S.

•  Cordier, Bibliotheca Sinica, 723. 19th-century quarter brown morocco with marbled paper sides. Joints just starting at top and bottom, with a bit of a “bite” taken at bottom of front one. Blank portion of half-title excised and replaced with later paper. Evidence of sometime water exposure, with some crinkling/cockling and faint outline of stain to upper outer page quadrants. Gift inscription on title-page partially blacked out. Overall a good copy of a scarce book.

•  Publisher's cloth, clean and unworn, in original glassine dustwrapper. (14192)

•  ESTC T52110. Removed from a nonce volume and now in a Mylar folder. Edges untrimmed. Sewing all but gone, with a number of leaves separated. Title-page with early inked inscription in lower margin, chips to inner margin, dust-soiling, and old taped tear from outer margin; old repair at inner margin of last two leaves with loss of a few letters. A bit of interior foxing/spotting.

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

Provenance:  Old signatures of Eustace Barron and Louis Despres, fils.

•  Publisher's blue diced paper–covered boards, worn and partly discolored; foxing. Signatures as above. Housed in a cloth clamshell case.  (20508)

One will also find pieces by Boyle, Lister, Halley, Brotherton, and David Clarkson, to mention just five.There is much meat here!

Present are volumes 1–6, 8–16, 18, and 21–24.

•  Contemporary vellum over paste boards. Ex-diocesan library with bookplate on each front pastedown and rubber stamp on each front free endpaper, else clean. (20381)

•  Contemporary quarter green sheep in imitation of morocco over paper-covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; joints and edges slightly rubbed, spine showing very faint traces of a now-absent label. Front pastedown with private collector’s 19th-century bookplate and with institutional rubber-stamp (no other markings). Half-title with chip to outer margin; pages and plates clean and fresh.

•  Brunet, III, 950; Goedeke, Grundriss zur Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung aus den Quellen, 345. Contemporary paper-covered boards, spine with inked paper label; joints and extremities rubbed, spine label darkened, spine with shelving label (inked over) and stamped numeral. Front pastedown with 19th-century private collector’s bookplate; inked numeral in lower margin of first text page (no other markings). Pages very faintly age-toned, with small spot of light staining to first five leaves, pages otherwise clean.

•  Contemporary quarter black morocco with paper-covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped title and gilt-stamped compartment decorations; bindings clean and solid with only very minimal edge and corner wear. Front pastedowns and free endpapers each with institutional rubber-stamp (no other markings). Pages slightly age-toned; a few leaves unopened. Handsome.