BIBLIO-GIFTABLES

Nero Lives!

Click the images for enlargements.

•  Henryk Sienkiewicz's novel about the last years of the reign of Nero Caesar appeared in 1896. This work, along with his trilogy on the 17th-century wars between the Russians, Turks, Swedes, and his native Poland, was first translated into English by the multilingual Jeremiah Curtin, who first came across Siekiewicz's writings by peering over the shoulder of a man reading a Polish newspaper in a Washington streetcar; that translation appears here. Sienkiewicz won the Nobel Prize in 1905, and spent the remainder of his life aiding Poles who suffered during the German invasion in World War I. He died in 1916.

Harold Lamb wrote the introduction. Of the author's attention to the minutiae of daily life in the Rome of A.D. 63–66 he writes, “The city itself appears in exact historical detail. Praetorians idling at their posts pass the time with their favorite dice games; girl attendants at Petronius' bath finish their duties punctiliously and break away to their own diversions as soon as the door curtain falls behind the master. Sienkiewicz knows how the dishes, including blackbirds, were prepared for a nobleman's feast; he knows what the oriental dancers wore on their heads and what the priests of Cybele carried in their hands, and what you see when you round a corner of the Vicus Sceleratus.”

Salvatore Fiume created the 35 drawings which were reproduced in three-tone process and mounted by hand. Giovanni Madersteig designed this edition, which is limited to 1500 copies, choosing a monotype Old Face font; the composition and printing of the text and illustrations was done by Madersteing at the Officina Bodoni in Verona.

The binding is full natural linen printed, in grey-blue, with an overall pattern derived from an old wood engraving. The signatures of Salvatore Fiume and Giovanni Madersteig appear on the colophon.

•  Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 302.   In the original slipcase, spine sunned with a long closed crack to paper and paper cracked/chipped; case good overall. Book with spine lightly faded and rear pastedown with small gold bookseller's label; volume in the original dust jacket (spine sunned to darker than sides are); near fine.  (22293)

For more LIMITED EDITIONS CLUB books,  click here.
For more ILLUSTRATED BOOKS,  click here.
For more LITERATURE,  click here.
For more GREEK & LATIN CLASSICS,  click here.

Abalone to Zwieback — History, Opinions, & Anecdotes

•  Revised edition of this classic reference work, illustrated with line drawings and color plates.

•  Publisher's red cloth in color-printed dust wrapper; minor shelfwear to corners and spine extremities, otherwise clean and fresh.  (23194)

For COOKERY,  click here.
For ILLUSTRATED BOOKS,  click here.

First Edition — Limited Edition

•  First edition. Copy 232 of 520, signed by the author. Printed at the Windmill Press.

•  Publisher's cloth with marbled cloth sides; without the dust jacket. Top edge gilt.

“Easy” Einstein?

•  “A discussion of the more intelligible features of the theory of relativity.” Early printing, following the first edition of 1920.

•  Publisher's tan cloth, front cover and spine stamped in black; binding a bit sprung with light wear to lower edges. Pages age-toned but clean. (16724)

For more POST-1820 AMERICANA,  click here.
For a little more SCIENCE,  click here.
For our shelves of inexpensive GENERAL
              READING,  click here.
This book also appears in the GENERAL
            MISCELLANY — click here.

Arctic Explorations

•  "Being detailed accounts of the several expeditions to the North Seas, both English and American, conducted by Ross, Parry, Back, Franklin, M'Clure and others. Including the first Grinnell expedition ... "

•  Sabin 85145. Publisher's cloth, covers stamped in blind, spine with gilt-stamped title and ship vignette; spine sunned, with gilt dimmed, cloth showing a touch of rubbing at corners and spine extremities, and a small insect hole to the back joint. A few pages with mild foxing, generally a nice, clean copy. (18404)

For VOYAGES, TRAVELS, & books on
"EXOTIC" PLACES,  click here.
For ILLUSTRATED BOOKS,  click here.

TheScience of Soap

(Soapmaking Scrapbook).

•  Florilegium of late 19th– and early 20th–century science pertaining to soapmaking, composed of both hand-inscribed material and clippings from various periodicals. In addition to such articles as “The Specific Heat of Glycerin Waste Lyes and Crude Glycerin,” the volume contains an advertisement for a patented soap frame, chemical analyses of various soap-related commercial products, information on running a boiler room efficiently, and statistics regarding the fat yield of a steer; also present are occasional motivational pieces entirely unrelated to soap.

•  Pebbled cloth, lightly worn. Leaves with minor cockling, some staining and offsetting. Some pages with portions excised; one leaf excised entirely.

For more POST-1820 AMERICANA,  click here.
For a little more SCIENCE,  click here.
For a bit more AGRICULTURE,  click here.
For more MANUSCRIPTS,  click here.

Quaker Life inDutchess County, NY — 1779

•  Woolly Whale printing of the minutes from a Dutchess County, New York Quaker meeting, in which the construction of the Millbrook meeting house is discussed. Long, breathless, run-on sentences make the expected Quaker standards of behavior, in this place and time, quite clear.

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

For the FRIENDS/QUAKERS,  click here.
For more RELIGION,  click here.
For more CONDUCT Books,  click here.
For more WOOLLY WHALE,  click here.
      For more PRE-1820 AMERICANA,  click here.

Songs & Meds for the Kiddies — Dos a Dos!

•  A little pamphlet advertising two patent medicines, “Peruvian Syrup” and “Dr. Wistar's Balsam of Wild Cherry,” produced by Seth W. Fowle & Sons of Boston. Interspersed with the advertisements and testimonials are nursery rhymes, riddles, and other verse. The two texts begin at opposite ends of the pamphlet and read towards the middle — which see, at right! Click the images for enlargements.

•  Sewn; sewing loosening a bit. Paper of the spine starting to split. Lightly soiled.  (5000)

For POST-1820 AMERICANA,  click here.
For COMMERCE / TRADE /
        FINANCE / ECONOMICS,  click here.
For MEDICINE,  click here.
For CHILDREN / EDUCATION,  click here.

Inventions et Decouvertes

•  Not in Von Hunersdorff, Coffee. Publisher's embossed gilt-paper binding, moderately worn with the spine and board edges a bit darkened; still a very attractive, unusual binding. Front pastedown with small bookseller's ticket and with remnants of a school prize bookplate. Pages mostly clean, with scattered hints of light foxing. (10592)

For more BOOKS IN FRENCH,  click here.
For a little more SCIENCE,  click here.
Or for INVENTIONS,  click here.
And for more PUBLISHER'S CLOTH,  click here.

His Lyrics

•  Woodcut title-page, head- and tailpieces in the art nouveau style; engraved portrait of Spenser as the frontispiece.

•  Very good. Green publisher's cloth, spine and front cover amply gilt in the art nouveau style. Edges and joints rubbed, small abrasion to front cover. Pages untrimmed and partially uncut. Top edge gilt. (3142)

For more ENGLISH LITERATURE,  click here.
For our shelves of inexpensive GENERAL
              READING,  click here.

“Take 500 Protestations . . . ”

•  Spofford's third almanac. Predictions for 1818; alsohow to compose a “modern” love letter plus a (truly) humorous description of marriage.  Two states of gathering C noted. In the second, a note has been added at foot of p. [34], correcting information given in the calendar pages about a solar eclipse on April 24th. This is a copy in the state without the correction.

•  Drake 3819; Shaw & Shoemaker 43108.   Uncut copy; old stitching. A very good copy.  (9622)

      For more PRE-1820 AMERICANA,  click here.
For more ALMANACS,  click here.
For a bit of AGRICULTURE,  click here.
For more ASTRONOMY,  click here.

A Word-Book for Children — A Bright & Clean Copy

•  First edition of a juvenile reference book “specifically designed to supply the help for beginning writers which the conventional dictionary is too cumbersome to give.”

•  Publisher's green cloth, front cover and spine stamped in black and orange. A clean, crisp copy.  (23630)

For more POST-1820 AMERICANA,  click here.
For CHILDREN / EDUCATION,  click here.
For DICTIONARIES/GRAMMARS, ETC.,  click here.
For more books in handsome
                          PUBLISHER'S CLOTH,  click here.

Magic Mallet

Dick Merriwell's polo team.

•  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)

For more POST-1820 AMERICANA,  click here.
For CHILDREN / EDUCATION,  click here.
For a list dedicated to GAMES,  click here.

WISCONSIN

•  1877–79 edition of what was generally an annual report, commenced in 1855. Topics covered include “Ancient Copper Mines of Lake Superior,” “Indian Wars of Wisconsin,” and “Early Times at Fort Winnebago”; the volume is illustrated with representations of cave designs from La Crosse Valley. Click the images for enlargements.

Provenance: Title-page with affixed presentation slip from the State Historical Society; front free endpaper with affixed envelope flap addressed to the Rev. E.A. Dalrymple of Baltimore, MD.

•  Publisher’s cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title. Binding sturdy but with portion of spine cloth missing, exposing underlying material; corners bumped, extremities very lightly rubbed. Front pastedown with institutional stamp. Pages slightly age-toned, else clean.

For more POST-1820 AMERICANA,  click here.
For more of NATIVE AMERICAN interest,  click here.
For our shelves of inexpensive GENERAL
              READING,  click here.
This book also appears in the GENERAL
            MISCELLANY — click here.

“Important Events . . . WhichEvery American Should Know”
ILLUSTRATED

•  Revised edition from Barnes's Historical Series: A popular survey of American history, brought up to date as of 1899. The work is illustrated with one color double-page plate, nine color maps (many of which are double-page), and numerous black-and-white engravings. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  Publisher's textured ochre cloth, front cover and spine stamped in black and gilt; spine and back cover with light dustsoiling. All edges marbled.  (23191)

For more POST-1820 AMERICANA,  click here.
For more ILLUSTRATED BOOKS,  click here.
For more books in handsome
                          PUBLISHER'S CLOTH,  click here.
For CHILDREN / EDUCATION,  click here.
This also appears in the GENERAL
            MISCELLANY — click here.

GREEK–AMERICANA

Click the middle and right image for enlargements.

•  First edition: Political humor and cartoons, almost entirely in Greek, for the Greek emigre community in the U.S. Includes a list of subscribers.

•  Publisher's brown cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title; cloth very slightly rubbed at corners and spine extremities. Otherwise clean and unworn — a nice copy. (20034)

For more POST-1820 AMERICANA,  click here.

With Introduction byBalzac

•  This edition of Stendhal’s novel about political corruption set during the time of General Bonaparte’s invasion of Italy was published in 1827. This edition is limited to 1500 copies, and carries the translation of Lady Mary Lloyd, revised by Robert Cantwell. Opening the volume is the long and thoughtful essay on Stendahl’s work by his contemporary Honoré de Balzac that was first published in La Revue Parisienne on 25 September 1840 under the title, A Study of M. Beyle. Written for an audience which did not know the works of this then obscure novelist, this introduction is one of the most celebrated literary homages of one great writer by another.

Illustrator Rafaello Busoni created the book’s numerous in-text and nine full-page lithographs in two colors, and signed the colophon. Designer George Macy chose a monotype Cochin font to be used at the Printing House of Leo Hart, and decreed a binding of imported cream linen stamped in brown, with French handmade marbled paper sides in various hues of brown.

•  Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 261. In original slipcase with a very faint crack to spine paper; exposed parts darkened and some soiling and spots generally, with shelf-scrape marks; still, sturdy and on shelf satisfactory. Of the well-protected book, a near-fine copy.

For more LIMITED EDITIONS CLUB books,  click here.
For BOOKS ACTUALLY IN FRENCH,  click here.

Designed by Eric Gill — Etchings by Tegetmeier — Signed by Both

Click the interior images for enlargements.

•  Illustrated with etchings by Denis Tegetmeier, this Limited Editions Club production was designed by Eric Gill (with a new typeface created by him), printed by Hague & Gill of England, and bound by the latter company in tan buckram stamped in blue and red, with a gilt-stamped spine title. This is copy no. 103 of 1500 printed, and is signed by both Gill and Tegetmeier at the colophon.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club 1929-1985, 81. Binding as above, upper edges and lower back corner lightly stained (not affecting interior), in original blue cloth-covered slipcase with printed paper label; slipcase spine and label sunned with label printing much faded. Pages clean; in fact, a good-looking copy.

For more LIMITED EDITIONS CLUB
books,  click here.

Profusely Illustrated & Elegantly Bound

•  Very attractive edition of George C.T. Bartley's English translation of this history, travel guide, and overview of the folklore of the Rhine. Bartley's translation was first published in 1877, and appears here illustrated with 50 photographic plates and an oversized, folding map of the region.

Binding:  Publisher's cream cloth, front covers and spines stamped in two shades of gilt.

•  Bindings pleasingly clean and showing virtually no wear or discoloration, lacking the rarely found cloth dust jackets. Front fly-leaf of vol. I with inked gift inscription dated 1898. Hinges (inside) of vol. II cracked. Pages and plates clean. (20484)

For more POST-1820 AMERICANA,  click here.
For more ILLUSTRATED BOOKS,  click here.
For more books in handsome
                          PUBLISHER'S CLOTH,  click here.
For more VOYAGES, TRAVELS, & books on
“EXOTIC” PLACES,  click here.
For more TRANSLATIONS,  click here.
This book also appears in the GENERAL
            MISCELLANY — click here.

“What are the Correct Questions, I Kept Asking . . .”

•  Carol Z. Rothkopf selected the essays and edited them; Stephen Weissman provides the preface. Must reading for all bibliophiles. By one of the towering figures of the library/book world of the last 50 years.

•  New.

For more BOOKS ABOUT
         BOOKS,  click here.

You (Sho' nuf'!) Have to Have aTolerance for Dialect

•  First edition, in a signed binding by Decorative Designers (“DD”). A characteristic work from this popular “local color” author, whose locality was Louisiana; her portrayals of black characters and black/white relations are in fact somewhat less simply stereotypical than they now tend to look, and were praised for their accuracy in her day.

•  Publisher's green cloth, front cover stamped in gilt and light green, spine gilt-stamped; corners and spine extremities a touch rubbed, otherwise clean and bright. Front free endpaper with pencilled gift inscription dated [19]10.  (12946)

For more books in handsome
                          PUBLISHER'S CLOTH,  click here.
For more POST-1820 AMERICANA,  click here.
For LOUISIANA'ana,  click here.
For DICTIONARIES/LANGUAGE,  click here.

Birds of PA

•  Pamphlet on bird life in Pennsylvania. Illustrated with black and white photographs by several ornithologists and drawings by the author. Bulletin no. 9. Scarce: OCLC records only three holdings of this item (at Yale, Bloomsburg University, Pa., and Cincinnati Public Library).

•  Original wrappers, illustrated in color on the front with the figure of a cardinal. Front and back wrappers lightly soiled, front wrapper with short tear at bottom edge. Internally clean. (13961)

For NATURAL HISTORY,  click here.
For another BIRD book or two,  click here.

Dürer — Rembrandt

•  In Sweetser's series, Artist-biographies. The biographies were issued separately in 15 volumes, then gathered in 5 volumes with three biographies per volume. This is vol. 4 in the gathered series. It must be noted that none of the volumes in the either series indicates it is part of a "set." That is, each volume truly is (and looks like) a stand-alone.

•  Publisher's deep blue cloth stamped in black and gold. Slight fraying to top and bottom of spine. A very good copy.

TO Part XXIV . . .

PLACE AN ORDER   |   E-MAIL US   |   PRB&M HOME