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Pre-Fire:
Help for
the Masonic Secretary
Bailey,
J.C.W. The secretary's special help;
a monitor for the secretary of the lodge. Chicago: Brother J.C.W. Bailey, Northwestern
Masonic Publishing House, 1867. 12mo (17 cm, 6.7"). 95, [1 (adv.)] pp.
$175.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Pre-fire
Chicago imprint: Uncommon second
edition (the first was the previous year) of this manual from “Bailey's
Series of Practical Masonry,” a guide to maintaining lodge records, organizing
procedures, handling membership dues, etc.
W.P.A., Chicago Ante-Fire Imprints, 1128. Publisher's light violet-brown cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped crossed quills; slightly faded overall with a few small dark smudges, spine sunned. One early inked correction. Intermittent mild to moderate foxing; a few corners dog-eared. (29458)
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imprints BEFORE 1871 . . .
Women's
Lives . . .
Baird, Robert. Transplanted flowers, or memoirs of Mrs. Rumpff, daughter of John Jacob Astor, Esq. and the Duchess de Broglie, daughter of Madame de Stael. New York: John S. Taylor, 1847. 12mo. Frontis., 159, [1] pp.
$87.50

Later edition of these accounts of the lives of Eliza Astor Rumpff and Albertine Ida Gustavine de Stael-Holstein, Duchess de Broglie, preceded by an engraved portrait of the former and by Lydia Sigourney's poem "Transplanted Flowers." Memorialized more briefly are Mrs. Grandpierre and Mrs. Monod. Publisher's blind-stamped textured cloth, spine gilt-stamped; binding lightly worn, with spine gilt rubbed and dimmed. Front pastedown with bookplate of J.E. Vanderhoef, front free endpaper with early inked inscription of Susan A. Baker. Some foxing to endpapers and a few scattered spots to pages; internally mostly clean. (8958)

Milkmaids, Bathing Beauties, Muses, Etc.
Bamlach, Christian. Pudelnakerd erotische Szenen aus der Gründerzeit. Dortmund: Harenberg, © 1981. 12mo (17.5 cm, 6.9"). 155, [5] pp.; illus.
$45.00
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Early edition: Remarkable collection of female nude photographs dating from the turn of the (20th) century, with an afterword by Bamlach. This is no. 246 in the series Die bibliophilen Taschenbücher, “pocket books for bibliophiles.”
Publisher's yellow bookcloth wrappers, front wrapper with affixed photographic label. Very clean and crisp. (30630)
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A
Different Take
on
Cromwell
vs. the King
[Bancks,
John]. The life of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth
of England, Scotland, and Ireland: Containing particularly his decent, his first
advances to popularity, his wonderful success in the civil wars, Battle of Worcester,
&c. &c. Stourbridge: Heming & Tallis, [ca. 1815]. 12mo (19 cm, 7.5").
Frontis., [2], [7]–28 pp.
$125.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Rare version of Cromwell's life and military successes: WorldCat and Copac find
no institutional holdings of this sole edition thus. The biography is attributed to “A Gentleman of the Middle Temple,” but the text is for the most part adapted from of A Short Critical Review of the Political Life of Oliver Cromwell by John Bancks (or Banks, 1709–51), a bookseller, poet, and biographer; there seems to have been some confusion with the Restoration-era playwright John Banks (d. 1706).
The present rendition was excerpted from the first eight chapters of the Critical Review, and closes with a discussion of Cromwell's burial; much of Bancks's editorializing regarding the conduct of the king and other political matters has been removed, providing an interesting contrast to the original work. (According to the DNB, the work in its first state earned
Bancks accusations of being an enemy of the monarchy due to its sympathetic tone towards Cromwell — a major difference from all previous biographies.)
This edition features a wood-engraved frontispiece done by Turnbull after Harper.
Not in NSTC. On Bancks, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online. Recent light blue paper–covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. Frontispiece recto (back) with rubber-stamped numeral and pencilled annotation, no other markings. Pages age-toned with spots of minor staining, edges slightly ragged, corners bumped. An intriguing oddity. (28744)
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A TREASURY
Barnardo, T.J., ed. Our darlings. London: J.F. Shaw & Co.,
1884. 8vo. viii, 424, [2 (adv.)] pp.; illus.
$85.00
Click the images for enlargements.
1884's example of the annual collection of Dr. Barnardo's “children's
treasury of pictures & stories,”
intended
as a Christmas gift. The compilation includes four
extra plates not found in the original weekly issues.
Binding: Publisher's red
cloth, front cover and spine stamped in black and gilt, front cover with full
color illustration on paper laid on, and back cover pictorially blind-stamped.
Binding showing some darkening and wear; hinges cracked and
shaky. Priced to reflect not-quite-glorious condition, and still a charming,
attractive volume with much interesting content and many quaint illustrations.
(22212)
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“Come, Let Us March”
Bascom, E.H. The school harp: a collection of pleasing and instructive songs. Music and words, original and selected. Designed for the use of schools and singing classes. Oblong. Boston: Morris Cotton, (Stereotyped by A.B. Kidder), 1855. 12mo. viii, 96 pp., [2] ff.
$30.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Sole edition. A fine school music text, with several pages of instruction; some of the music is simple but a good deal is moderately complicated, in three or four parts and in keys like E flat.
Publisher's quarter leather over printed boards, respined with cloth tape; clean, solid copy. (3612)
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This Example Worthy of a
Medieval Lady
Bédier, Joseph, ed.
Le roman de Tristan et Iseut. Paris: L'Édition d'art, 1926. 8vo. [8], xii, [2], 222, [8] pp.
$300.00
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Gorgeously bound version of the beloved Celtic Arthurian legend, here in Bédier's French rendition — an attempt to reconstruct the ideal original version of this oft-retold romance. The text is attractively printed, each chapter opening with a large foliate capital.
Binding: 20th-century hand-painted vellum, front cover with sailing ship between decorative bands accomplished in a style reminiscent of the Bayeux Tapestry, spine with title and decorations, back cover with castle tower and distant ship motif. Publisher's original tan paper wrappers with Celtic motifs bound in.
Binding as above, vellum slightly darkened, clean and tight. Front pastedown with small rubber-stamped monogram “MG.” Pages gently age-toned, else clean.
One of the great medieval romances, and a truly lovely object. (30283)
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Real . . . REVELATIONS!
Bennett, Stuart. Trade bookbinding in the British Isles, 1660-1800. New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll; London: British Library, 2004. Folio. 176 pp.
$85.00
Major new, path breaking work revising what we know about trade and publisher's bindings in England, Scotland, and Ireland in the period to 1800. Excellently researched and written and appropriately and fully illustrated in
color with examples of the bindings under discussion. A must for all collectors and libraries interested in the literatures and historical writings of Great Britain prior to the 19th century. New, publisher's cloth, in dust jacket. (10888)
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Interesting
& Illustrated — Metallurgy
/ FIREWORKS!
Biringucci, Vannoccio. The pirotechnia of Vannoccio Biringuccio. New York: Basic Books, 1959. Small folio. 477 pp.
$60.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Reprinting of the 1942 edition produced by the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, which was a complete translation of Biringuccio's Venice,1540 work on metallurgy and fireworks. The translation is by Cyril Stanley Smith and Martha Teach Gnudi and includes copies of the original woodcut illustrations. Smith and Gnudi added historical notes, bibliography, and an introduction. This edition contains a new introduction by Smith.
One of the “Collector's Series in Science” publications.
Publisher's quarter cloth. In original slipcase, which is sunned
(and pictured above). Very Good condition. (22449)
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