
GAMES
SPORTS PUZZLES
This Educational Game Puts a
Young Victoria at the Center *&* Pinnacle
(A BOUND BOARD GAME). Historical pastime. A new game of the history of England. London: E. Wallis, [ca. 1837]. Folio (17.5 cm, 7"). [1] f.
$750.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Fold-out hand-colored playing surface for a tabletop game meant to teach children about major events in England's history, with the 12 paper panels of the board mounted on linen. The timeline begins with the Battle of Hastings and culminates in the abolition of slavery, featuring a central portrait of a youthful Victoria — possibly in her first appearance in this popular game, where prior editions had George III, George IV, or William IV. This is
the attractive bound game board only, here without the instructional booklet (as is common for these ephemeral survivors).
Binding: Publisher's moiré-style ribbon-embossed rose-brown cloth, covers with blind-stamped frame and corner fleurons, front cover with gilt-stamped title and crown-and-banners vignette.
Binding as above, neatly rebacked with similarly colored cloth; ties lacking, covers showing water-spotting (less noticeable on front cover). Instruction booklet and slipcase lacking; board age-toned, three corners each with a spot of mild staining, some corners and folds split and unobtrusively reinforced.
An object sound, charming, and, yes, STILL educational! (32343)

Pindar
ON
THE
OLYMPICS
in
English
(A
Classic Text)! Pindarus.
The odes of Pindar, in celebration of victors in the Olympic, Pythian, Nemean,
and Isthmian games, translated from the Greek .... London: William Miller, 1810.
4to (25.8 cm, 10.2"). Frontis. (incl. in pagination), liv, [2], 496 pp.; 1 map.
$775.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: Pindar's famous tributes to the classical Panhellenic festivals, of which at the time of this work's appearance “not one fourth . . . have ever appeared in English” (according to the title-page). The Rev. Francis Lee, chaplain in ordinary to the Prince of Wales, here takes on the avowedly challenging task of rendering the entire body of the victory odes into English; his efforts are accompanied by West's dissertation on the history and nature of the Olympic Games, first published in 1749, and West's previous translations of some of the odes. The volume opens with an engraving of a classical bust of the poet,and is additionally illustrated with a plan of Olympia in Elis, both from drawings by Lee himself.
Provenance: Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of Edward Everett, renowned American statesman and orator, Governor of Massachusetts (1836–39), President of Harvard University (1846–49), and Secretary of State under Millard Fillmore.
Lowndes 1869; NSTC L976; Schweiger, I, 238. Not in Dibdin. Mid-20th-century half brown morocco and light green cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title, compartments with gilt-stamped floral and foliate decorations; spine gently sunned, extremities slightly rubbed. Top edge gilt. Front pastedown with bookplate as above, front free endpaper with inked inscription of Douglas F. Bauer, dated 1970. Front hinge (inside) unobtrusively reinforced with long-fiber tissue. Text with scattered light foxing, frontispiece and map affected more heavily; a few other spots only.
Handsome and interesting. (29763)

One Poem on an “Air Balloon” & a *FUNNY* One Called
“A Receipt for Writing a Novel”
Alcock, Mary. Poems, &c. &c. by the late Mrs. Mary Alcock. London: C. Dilly, 1799. 8vo. vii, [3], 183, [1] pp. (lacking subscribers list).
$100.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: Published posthumously and edited by Joanna Hughes, this includes poetry, brief essays, and dramatic bits quite variously religious, political, and/or social-satirical with also a few riddles and charades! Here with preface, but lacking list of subscribers.
Provenance: Title-page with early inked name “Timothy Tynell” in upper margin and ink smear to inner margin; early inked gift inscription (“J. Sadler given to him by W. Clanton”) between verses on p. 3.
ESTC T86344. 19th-century half calf over marbled paper, much worn and abraded with covers detached, last few leaves starting to separate, and leather partially lost over spine; an ex-library, reading copy worthy of rebinding — covers pressure-stamped by a now-defunct institution, title-page and several others rubber-stamped, back free endpaper with pocket. Lacking extensive (25 pp.) subscribers' list (only). Pages with light to moderate spotting and a few short edge tears, not touching text. (17696)

The First Lady of
Fly Fishing?
(Angling).
Berners, Juliana. The treatyse
of fysshynge wyth an angle. London: William Pickering, 1827. 8vo (18.1 cm, 7.2").
Frontis., [2], xiii (pagination skips v–viii), [1], 41, [1] pp.; 4 plts.
$650.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First Pickering edition of the first known English work on fishing. Reprinted from the Boke of St. Albans, the famed sporting book originally published by Wynkyn de Worde in 1496, this essay on angling is generally attributed — although not certainly so — to Dame Juliana Berners (or Barnes), supposed prioress of Sopwell nunnery circa 1450. If that attribution is correct, this is not only the earliest printed English work on fishing, but also one of the earliest published English works by a female author. Regardless of its source, it seems to have served as an inspiration both to Izaak Walton and to William Pickering, who printed several editions of Walton, including a particularly lavish production in 1836.
The volume is printed with the original language and spelling preserved, and is illustrated with a woodcut frontispiece of a fisherman taken from de Worde's 1518 edition that is cited as the earliest known depiction of an angler fishing with a rod, as well as with six woodcuts (provided at the back of the volume in the form of four plates) showing types of poles, hooks, etc. As the title-page proclaims, the work was printed with the types of John Baskerville, making it one of the last such printings done in England. A later hand has helpfully added pencilled marginalia clarifying archaic or obscure terms and suggesting subject headers.
NSTC 2B20037; Keynes, Pickering, 42. Later half calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-decorated raised bands, and gilt-stamped fishing creel devices in compartments; spine label with small edge chips and mild rubbing to paper. Pencilled annotations as above, pages and plates otherwise pleasingly clean. (28566)
Printed Using Baskerville's Types — Uncut Copy
Berners, Juliana. The treatyse of fysshynge wyth an angle. London: Printed ... for William Pickering [by Thomas White], 1827. 8vo (19 cm, 7.5"). Frontis., [2], xiii (pagination skips v–viii), [1], 41, [1] pp.; 4 plts.
$750.00
Click the images for enlargements.
As above, but:
This copy uncut and in original boards: RARE THUS.
NSTC 2B20037; Keynes, Pickering, 42. Beyond the scope of Gaskell, Baskerville. Publisher's dun-colored light boards. Uncut copy. Light overall rubbing; spine with minor loss of paper. Old bookseller's description affixed to front free endpaper; small oval stain to corner of half-title and frontispiece, a bit of light offsetting from plates. A very nice copy in a later open-back cardboard slipcase. (30461)

“To Engage the Mind, By Attracting the Eye”
Bible. English. Authorized. 1836. Selections. A new
hieroglyphical Bible. With four hundred embellishments on wood. Chiswick: Pr. by C. Whittingham for William Jackson, New York, 1836. 12mo (15.4 cm, 6.1"). 106, [2 (adv.)] pp.; illus.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
Hieroglyphic Bibles, or familiar passages or stories from the Bible expressed in words and pictures, were a popular version of the Good Book, designed for children who were in the early stages of learning to read. Consequently, they generally went into the hands of children not yet old enough to treasure and care for such slim and fragile productions — but the present example is in far better condition than most.
This is the stated 11th edition, illustrated with
400 wood engravings, regarding which the publisher claims that, “concerning the embellishments and typography, this Edition is decidedly superior to any that has hitherto been submitted to the public” (p. iv). The full texts are printed at the foot of each page of rebuses, both to help any youthful reader not quite able to identify the images and to help children still “working from the pictures” to develop their reading skills.
Uncommon: WorldCat and American Imprints locate only eight U.S. institutional holdings of this edition.
American Imprints 36168. This ed. not in NSTC. Publisher's printed paper–covered boards; extremities rubbed, spine paper chipped, front cover with a few spots of discoloration. Pages very slightly age-toned, otherwise clean.
An exceptionally good, solid representation of the genre. (31710)

“Recibiremos una Inteligencia Inculta y en Breve la Devolveremos Ilustrada”
A Plan Rigorous, Classical, &
AMBITIOUS!
Boada y Malmes, Miguel. [drop-title] Colegio de Santo Tomas de Aquino, bajo la direccion de MigIel Boada y Balmes, sito en la Nueva Guatemala, Calle de la Victoria, No. 17. [colophon: Guatemala: Tipografia y litograpfia del “Noticioso”, 1862]. Folio (33 cm; 13"). [2] pp, with integral blank leaf.
$650.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
One of the editors of the opposition (i.e., anti-Carrera) newspaper proposes to establish a school for educating young Guatemalan children. To be admitted whether they are ignorant of the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic or not, they will be classed into three groups, ranging from the most ignorant beginners to those truly in command of the “Three Rs.” Once in command of those essentials, they will commence on a four-year course of instruction that will include logic, grammar, philology, religion and morals, basic Latin, history, and geography and end with physics, chemistry, zoology, geometry, algebra, and English. There will also be instruction in
gymnastics, drawing, and music.
The prospectus includes the names of the instructors, information about examinations, and specifics of costs.
Prospectuses for schools in 19th-century Latin America are rare.
Searches of NUC, WorldCat, COPAC, CICLA, and Metabase locate absolutely no copies.
Not in Valenzuela. Never bound; as issued. Faint waterstaining in upper margin, corners bumped slightly; a very good copy. (31055)
(Bullfight Program). [drop-title] Programma. Domingo 18 de fevereiro...em a nova bem construida praça no largo de Santo Antonio de Bomjardina.... [Porto: Imprensa Constitucional, 1838]. 4to (20.4 cm, 8"). [2] ff.
$200.00


Program for a bullfight in Porto at the new bull-ring; with a woodcut
of a bull above the drop-title.
This
is no “game” for the bull, of course.
Rare.
No copies traced via the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal’s online catalogue,
nor via NUC Pre-1956, OCLC, and RLIN.
A little light spotting and soiling. Inked numeral on first
page.
“Why is a . . . ?”
(Conundrums). Manuscript on paper, in English,
[cover-title] "Conundrums." [England, ca. 180414]. Small 4to (20 cm, 7.875"),
23 pp. filled; two other leaves, written-on on three sides, laid in.
$525.00

An nice compilation for personal use of wordplay exercises that were popular
at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries. There are
97 numbered conundrums and an additional 23 unnumbered brain exercises. Includes such classics and timeless chestnuts
as "When is a door not a door?" and "Why is a mad man like two men?" Other
less common puzzlers are: "Why is a man in a crimson coat the fittest person
for the president of a library society?", "What is it that walks on his head,
hangs by his tail, and travels 60 miles a day?", and "What word is [it] that
in the English language [is] of one syllable, which by taking away the two
first letters becomes a word of two syllables?"
Answers are not provided, although a later hand has pencilled in two or three.
A stationer's blank book with watermarked paper dated 1804. Bound in quarter
vellum with marbled paper sides. Handwriting clear, in sepia and dark ink;
some interlinear additions. Clean.
CORNERSTONE
for an
AMERICAN
SPORTING
LIBRARY
“Gentleman
of Philadelphia County, A” [i.e.,
Jesse Y. Kester]. The
American shooter's manual, comprising such plain and simple rules, as are necessary
to introduce the inexperienced into a full knowledge of all that relates to
the dog, and the correct use of a gun; also a description of the game of this
country. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Carey, 1827. 12mo (18.5 cm; 7.125").
[2] ff., pp. [ix]–248, [1] p., [1 (errata)] f., [3 (ads)] ff.; frontis.,
2 plts.
$1800.00
Click the images for enlargements.
The first American illustrated sporting book and the first American sporting book written by an American. Only one sporting book published in America preceded it: The Sportsman's Companion (NY,1783; later editions Burlington [NJ], 1791, and Philadelphia, 1793), “by a gentleman, who has made shooting his favorite amusement upwards of twenty-six years, in Great-Britain, Ireland, and North-America.”
Kester deals almost exclusively with game birds and waterfowl native to the Delaware Valley that surrounds Philadelphia: wild turkeys, partridge, snipe, quail, grouse, and ducks. With regard to rifles and guns he addresses cleaning, powder, wadding, etc. And when writing about dogs, in addition to notes on training and conditioning them, he offers recipes for common ailments and gun-shot wounds.
The plates are signed “F. Kearny,” an artist born in Perth Amboy, NJ, who studied drawing with Archibald and Alexander Robertson and engraving with Peter Maverick. From 1810 to his death in 1833 he practiced engraving in Philadelphia.
There are two states of gathering “U”: this copy has the typographical error “tibbon” with the stop-press correction to “ribbon” on p. 235.
The volume ends with advertisements for several sporting and fishing goods suppliers.
Shoemaker 27838; Howes K108; Henderson, American Sporting Books, 6; Phillips, Sporting Books, 21; Streeter Sale 4084; Bennett, Practical Guide, 60–61. On Stauffer, American Engravers, I, 148–49. Publisher's sprinkled sheep with simple rope roll in blind on board edges, some abrasion to leather; round spine with gilt double rules forming “spine compartments,” black leather title label. The usual light and scattered foxing noted in all copies, nothing more.
A very nice copy. (28553)

The LATEST in Fashionable
Dress, Music, & Literature
Hale, Sarah J., & Louis A. Godey, eds. Godey's lady's book and magazine. Vol. LI. – from July to December, 1855. Philadelphia: Louis A. Godey, 1855. 8vo (24.5 cm, 9.6"). 572 pp. (481–84 lacking, but see below); 21 plts., illus.
$125.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Vol. 51 of the enduringly popular ladies' periodical, covering a wide range of women's interests. This volume includes sheet music (“Shells of Ocean,” “The Youth by the Brook,” “As If You Didn't Know,” etc.), illustrations of the latest fashions (the “Montebello” lace shawl, a cassaque of finest Swiss muslin, a mantilla trimmed in black ostrich plumes, toilettes for children), patterns for embroidery, short stories (by Marion Harland, Alice B. Neal, Virginia de Forrest), poetry (by Jenny Marsh, Kate Harrington, Lottie Linwood), recipes (jellies and preserves, sickroom cookery),
parlor games , floor plans for model cottages, and an assortment of articles on such topics as the development of lacemaking, the Holy Land, the history of Eau de Cologne, the life of Isabella I of Spain, etc.
The volume is extensively illustrated with various types of wood and metal engravings.
Five of the fashion plates have been hand-colored, and some of the depictions of dress goods are printed in color.
Contemporary half black roan with brown cloth-covered sides, leather edges trimmed in gilt, spine with gilt-stamped title and volume number; joints and extremities rubbed, sides and spine with light to moderate scuffing. Lacking pp. 481–84; however, a digitized version of this number suggests that there was a printing “issue” and that nothing is missing. Pages age-toned, with light foxing scattered throughout. One leaf torn across without loss of text.; one pattern portion with a design element excised, apparently for use. Back free endpaper with pattern tracings.
A solid, richly various, engrossing volume. (31989)

Never in Childish Hands — Cuts Very Well Impressed
The history of Tommy and Harry. York: J. Kendrew, [ca. 1820]. 16mo (10.3 cm, 4.1"). 30, [2] pp.; illus.
$250.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Virtually pristine copy of this penny toybook — a popular cautionary tale of two overly indulged brothers, one of whom prospers by way of his natural love of learning, and one of whom enjoys bad company and eventually goes to rack and ruin (not here, as some variants of this story have it, being eaten by wild beasts after a shipwreck, but rather more prosaically being sent to Newgate). The story is illustrated with eight woodcuts, two of which show the boys playing
badminton and marbles.
One signature at the back is unopened.
NSTC 2H10236. Publisher's light yellow printed paper wrappers, removed from a nonce volume. Clean, crisp, unread copy. (31946)

The ESSAYS that Made Lamb's Reputation — 1st U.S. Edition
Lamb, Charles. Elia. Essays which have appeared under that signature in the London Magazine. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea, & Carey (pr. by Mifflin & Parry, and J.R.A. Skerrett), 1828. 12mo (I: 18.4 cm, 7.25", II: 16.8cm, 6.6"). 2 vols. I: 292 pp. II: 230 pp. (both vols. without ads.).
$1000.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First U.S. edition of the official first series, and
true
first edition of the unofficial second series, of Lamb's pseudonymously
published essays for the London Magazine. These eloquently written pieces
mingle humor and pathos as they describe the experiences of the author and his
acquaintances while attending boarding school,
playing
whist, listening to music, visiting Quaker meetings, etc.
Food is a recurring topic (“A Dissertation upon Roast Pig”); there
are two essays on Valentine's Day (one in each volume), and several on plays
and actors.
The first series made its first appearance in book form in London, 1823.
The authorized second series was not published until 1833, under the title
The Last Essays of Elia; the pieces selected for the unauthorized American
second series offered here are different from those contained in that volume,
and mistakenly include three essays written by other hands.
Shoemaker 33813 & 33814; NCBEL, III, 1225; NSTC 2L2346.
Vol. I: Uncut copy. Publisher's quarter once-red cloth and paper sides,
covers printed with “Elia” within a simple frame, spine with printed
paper label; binding rubbed and lightly soiled, spine sunned to yellow. Repaired
tear to one leaf, touching text without loss; remarkably clean and sound.
Vol. II: Contemporary speckled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label;
rubbed, and head of spine chipped with old refurbishing. Ex–social club
library: 19th-century bookplate and call number ticket on front pastedown,
front free endpaper with inked numerals, title-page pressure-stamped. Author's
name inked on title-page; front free endpaper and title-page reinforced at
fore-edge (the latter from the back). Both volumes age-toned, with intermittent
spots of staining; advertisements absent. The set now housed in a quarter
blue morocco and blue cloth–covered clamshell case with marbled paper–covered
sides and gilt-stamped spine. (26434)
CHESS
— One
of
250
Copies
Mansfield, Comins. Adventures in composition[:] The art of the two-move chess problem. Stamford: Printed at the Overbrook Press, 1944. Small quarto. [8 (2 blank)], iii–xi, [2 (blank)], 212, [8 (5 blank)] pp.
[SOLD]

First edition. Edited by Alain White, and illustrated. From a total edition of four hundred copies printed in Centaur and Lutetia types, with handset chess diagrams, this is one of two hundred and fifty copies printed on laid paper.
Cahoon, 42. Quarter gilt cloth and boards, gilt label. Fine in tissue dust jacket. (24865)

“Early American” for THIS Sort of
Chess Book
Monroe, J. Science and art of chess. New York: Charles Scribner; London: Sampson Low, Son & Co., 1859. 12mo (19 cm; 7.5"). 281 pp., illus.
$450.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition, not a modern reprint. Designed for the beginner and novice, this was published during the early days of interest in the U.S. in chess as a social event. The first American chess congress was held in New York in 1857 and that certainly helped expand interest in the game. (Oddly, the founding of the first chess club in America did not come until 1877.)
Provenance: Ex-German Society of Pennsylvania Library, a German-American social organization.
Publisher's green cloth stamped in blind on covers and in gilt on spine (with a knight, bishop, and castle in addition to author and title); a little cocked and bottom edges worn. Front free endpaper separated and rear one chipped. Ex–social club library: call number on endpaper, rubber-stamp on title- and two other pages, no other markings. Clearly a book that was often read and consulted with some soiling and staining resultant; text not chipped though printed on inexpensive paper. (26923)

Pindar
ON
THE
OLYMPICS
in
English
Pindarus. The odes of Pindar, in celebration of victors in the Olympic, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian games, translated from the Greek .... London: William Miller, 1810. 4to (25.8 cm, 10.2"). Frontis. (incl. in pagination), liv, [2], 496 pp.; 1 map.
$775.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: Pindar's famous tributes to the classical Panhellenic festivals, of which at the time of this work's appearance “not one fourth . . . have ever appeared in English” (according to the title-page). The Rev. Francis Lee, chaplain in ordinary to the Prince of Wales, here takes on the avowedly challenging task of rendering the entire body of the victory odes into English; his efforts are accompanied by West's dissertation on the history and nature of the Olympic Games, first published in 1749, and West's previous translations of some of the odes. The volume opens with an engraving of a classical bust of the poet,and is additionally illustrated with a plan of Olympia in Elis, both from drawings by Lee himself.
Provenance: Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of Edward Everett, renowned American statesman and orator, Governor of Massachusetts (1836–39), President of Harvard University (1846–49), and Secretary of State under Millard Fillmore.
Lowndes 1869; NSTC L976; Schweiger, I, 238. Not in Dibdin. Mid-20th-century half brown morocco and light green cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title, compartments with gilt-stamped floral and foliate decorations; spine gently sunned, extremities slightly rubbed. Top edge gilt. Front pastedown with bookplate as above, front free endpaper with inked inscription of Douglas F. Bauer, dated 1970. Front hinge (inside) unobtrusively reinforced with long-fiber tissue. Text with scattered light foxing, frontispiece and map affected more heavily; a few other spots only.
Handsome and interesting. (29763)

Perishable Press: Marking the Occasion
Rothenberg, Jerome. B • R • M • TZ • V • H. Mount
Horeb, WI: Perishable Press, 1979. 8vo (21 cm, 8.25"). [8] pp.
$75.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
First edition of this poem in honor of Matthew Rothenberg's bar mitzvah,
signed by the author. This is one of 225 copies printed in black and gray on Umbria paper and pamphlet-sewn in a single, four-folded sheet of Raffaello Roma. Walter Hamady's usual
colophonic flair is showcased here: the edition statement is composed
acrostically.
Two Decades of Hamady & the Perishable Press, 90.
Publisher's paper wrappers, front wrapper with title printed in off-white. Crisp and clean.
(30903)

“An Agreeable Book, in Intervals of Leisure & Retirement”
Saunders, Frederick. Salad for the solitary. New York: Lamport, Blakeman & Law, 1853. 8vo (19.8 cm, 7.8"). Frontis., add. engr. t.-p., 344, [2 (adv.)] pp.; illus.
$145.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition of these meditations on life's pleasures: Fine dining, good company, flowers, “curious and costly books,” pastimes and sports, the “fallacies and foibles of the literary profession,” etc. The essays are illustrated with various
in-text engravings by Avery and others.
NSTC 2S5136. Publisher's brown cloth, covers framed and panelled in blind with blind-stamped strapwork corner decorations, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped decorative title; unobtrusively rebacked preserving most of original spine, cloth sunned and mottled, corners/edges refurbished and hinges (inside) reinforced. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Author's name inked in an early hand on the title-page (which gives “By an Epicure” only). Pages lightly age-toned with various spottings and stainings and a few marks of emphasis; some corners creased with a very few torn away.
Aged but not displeasingly so, especially given this work's affection for all things vintage and evocatively nostalgic. (32308)
Magic Mallet
Standish, Burt L.
Dick
Merriwell's polo team. Or, the magic mallet. New York:
Street & Smith, (1906). 8vo. [4], 311, [7 (adv.)] pp.
$10.00
Reprint. No. 132 in the Merriwell series, this dime novel was also
published with the subtitle "The rattlers of the roller rink."
Publisher's printed paper wrappers, edges chipped and corners
lost. Being a "pulp" novel, this is on pulp paper pages therefore age-toned,
brittle, and breaking off where the corners are sharply dog-eared.
(12422)
An
Enduring Figure
of
English
Comic Literature
Surtees,
Robert Smith. Handley Cross; or,
Mr. Jorrocks's hunt. London: [Whitefriars Press, 1888]. 8vo (22.6 cm, 8.9").
xiii, [3], 578 pp.; 17 col. plts., 31 plts.
$100.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Largely unopened copy, from a subscription edition: A rollicking
entry in a much-loved series, in which the Cockney grocer Mr. Jorrock becomes
master of the “hounds” of the Handley Cross hunt, with chaotic results.
Surtees, a sporting writer and novelist, is remembered for keen-eyed
chronicles of the golden age of
foxhunting such as this one; they were thought
to carry a whiff of the vulgar in their day, Allibone not deigning even to mention
them, though Surtees is fairly appreciated for his “mordant observations
on men, women, and manners; his entertaining array of eccentrics, rakes, and
rogues; his skill in the construction of lively dialogue (a matter over which
he took great pains); his happy genius for unforgettable and quotable phrases
. . .” (DNB).
First published in 1843 and first printed with illustrations in 17 monthly
parts 1853–54, the misadventures of the enthusiastic Mr. Jorrocks appear
here “printed for subscribers from the plates of the Original Edition
issued by Bradbury, Agnew & Co.” The volume is illustrated with
16
hand-colored, steel-engraved plates and 31 wood-engraved plates
by famed caricaturist John Leech. The colored scenes, many involving horses
or hounds or both, are carefully and artistically tinted; the social scenes
are more delicately shaded than the vivid hunting scenes. In addition to the
color and black-and-white plates, numerous in-text wood-engravings decorate
the text.
Binding: Publisher's crimson
cloth, front cover with horse and hound vignettes stamped in black and gilt,
spine with black and gilt portrait of Jorrocks himself.
NCBEL, III, 967. On Surtees, see: Oxford Dictionary
of National Biography online. Binding as above, spine much sunned
but covers bright and fresh. Signatures almost entirely unopened; contents
pages and a few other early signatures awkwardly opened with resulting edge
tears, including to upper margins (only) of five uncolored plates. One colored
plate with tiny scuff in image. Despite described faults, still a solid, bright,
beautifully illustrated copy with a great deal of charm. (30448)
For
more SURTEES, click here
& Scroll to the S's.

An Arte of Substantial Value — An Amazing
ACROSTIC
Tapia Zenteno, Carlos de. Arte novissima de lengua Mexicana. Mexico: por la Viuda de D. Joseph Bernardo de Hogal, 1753. Small 4to (20.5 cm; 8.125"). [10] ff., 58 pp., plus acrostic leaf.
$3700.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Leon-Portilla describes this book as a “breve compendio gramatical de prosodia y morfologia solamente. En los cinco capitulos en que esta dividido el libro, el autor pasa revista a la fonetica, y las partes de la oracion.” Of additional interest to scholars of colonial literature are the Latin epigram and a Spanish acrostic poem, (the latter in the form of two concentric wheels), both by Dr. Miguel Jose Moche, Vice-Rector of the Pontificio y Real Colegio Seminario, near the end of the preliminaries. Tapia Zenteno was not only an important Mexican linguist and professor of Mexican languages at the Royal University, but he was also a Comisario of the Inquisition.
A work from the famous
Hogal press, this volume was produced under the supervision of Jose Bernardo's widow, one of the famous “widow printers” of colonial Mexico.
The acrostic leaf is a marvelous display of innovative use of the compositor's case to stand in for the engraver's burin! But the preliminaries do sport a fine engraving, as well; this is of the coat of arms of Manuel Rubio Salinas, the archbishop of Mexico, and the work of Antonio Moreno.
Provenance: Bookplates of Frederick Starr (his, paper) and Estelle Doheny (hers, red leather with gold stamping) on front endpapers.
Medina, Mexico, 142; Leon Portilla, Tepuztlahcuilolli, 2693; Palau 327485; Sabin 94353; Garcia Icazbalceta, Lenguas, 74; Vinaza 334. Later vellum over boards, somewhat sprung. Acrostic leaf and final leaf of preliminary matter adhered together at top outer corner. Foxing and staining, never severe; light soiling, heavier to last few leaves; five lines of old marginalia to one page. Very good. (31447)
“As
Slap-Happy
& Rootin'-Tootin'
a Piece of Fiction
as
Ever
Graced Publisher's List”
Tripp, C.E. Ace
High the 'Frisco detective or, the girl sport's double game. San Francisco:
The Book Club of California, 1948. Folio. [8], 56 pp.; illus.
$65.00
Click the images for enlargements.
“A story of the Sierra & the Golden Gate City . . . reprinted
from Beadle's Half-Dime Library, Number 814, February 28, 1893.” This
double-barreled dime novel
gambling
and adventure tale was printed at the Grabhorn Press and limited to 500 copies,
with a title-page and vignettes printed in red and black; the illustrations
were done by Mallette Dean.
Is
it giving away too much if we reveal that “The Girl Sport” is
also known as “The Bonanza Widow”???
Publisher's quarter red cloth and printed paper–covered
sides; spine sunned, extremities rubbed. The printed spine label is laid in.
Pages clean.
Swell.
(28247)
Copiously & Usefully Illustrated
Vindel,
Francisco. Solaces bibliográficos. Madrid:
Instituto Nacional del Libro Español, 1942. 12mo. xi, 193 [1] pp., illus.
$110.00
Short bibliographical essays on such topics as Spanish-language
printing in Italy in the 16th century, Spanish books on
chess
and on women in the 15th through the 17th centuries, and the Ibarra press.
Click
the images for enlargements.
This copy with an authorial inscription to a recipient whose name has been
gently, but entirely, obliterated!
Good quality red cloth, original wrappers bound in; grey spine
label. Very good copy. (21546)

Hide & Seek. Rolling a Hoop. Playing with Dolls.
Wee Elsie's picture book. New York: Dodd, Mead, & Co., © 1877. 4to. 80 pp.; illus.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
Uncommon sole edition of this well-thought-out collection of stories and poems for children, syllables separated for the young reader's convenience. The volume is profusely illustrated with full-page and in-text wood engravings, featuring an especially charming close-up of a sweet-faced St. Bernard. Three images have been partially hand-colored by a reasonably adept early reader, and three by a slightly more enthusiastic hand.
Binding: Publisher's brick-colored cloth, front cover decoratively stamped in black and gilt with
three affixed CHROMOLITHOGRAPHIC illustrations of children at play.
Binding as above, spine and extremities moderately worn, small spots of light discoloration mostly confined to spine and edges. Pages faintly age-toned with intermittent light spotting; six images with early hand-coloring as above. Really, a very pleasing copy and
a covetable gift for anyone who appreciates the joys of childhood. (30281)
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