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Letter-writing for
Business & Pleasure
The pocket letter writer, embracing practical illustrations of epistolary correspondence. Worcester: S.A. Howland, 1851. 16mo (11.4 cm, 4.5"). Lith. title page, 128 pp.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
Palm-sized treasury of the art of tactful and articulate written correspondence, taught by
74 examples of letters (and a brief assortment of calling cards at the end), e.g., “From a young trader in distressed circumstances, to another of age and experience”; “From a gentleman to a lady, disclosing his passion”; “A young trader to a gentleman, desiring permission to visit his daughter”; and so forth. The introduction emphasizes the importance of proper spelling and good handwriting, and gives instructions for folding and addressing a letter.
This bears an added
gilt chromolithographic title-page by William Sharp of Boston, who printed the first American chromolithograph there in 1840, and a wood-engraved image of a woman writing at a parlor desk on p. [2].
Binding: Publisher's green cloth, spine gilt extra; covers blind-embossed in a floral motif, framing a gilt-stamped vignette of a woman writing at a desk on the upper cover (this not the same image as the one mentioned just above). Endpapers white with a green pattern, all edges gilt.
Provenance: G.W. Emery of Hyde Park, MA (pencil inscription on front fly-leaf).
On W. Sharp, see: P. Marzio, The Democratic Art: Pictures for a 19th-century America: Chromolithography, 1840–1900 (Boston, 1979), pp. 17–19 & ff. Bound as above with remarkably little wear; front cover a bit darkened in upper left corner and another small spot to the back. The interior is very clean, remarkably so, considering this is a practical manual to be used, and carried in the pocket! (30030)
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(Pollock vs. the Thane of Cawdor). Answers for John Campbel of Calder Esq; and Mr. James Anderson writer to the signet his factor: To the petition of Ruth Pollock, who calls herself relict of Captain George Campbel, son to the deceast Sir Hugh Campbel. [Edinburgh], 1717. Folio (30.5 cm, 12"). 4 pp.
$850.00
The battle between Ruth Pollock and the Campbells (or Calders, from their estate of Cawdor) rages on, with the Calder side strenuously denying that any legitimate marriage ever took place between her and Capt. George Campbell. Pollock, who called herself Campbell’s widow despite apparently never having been acknowledged as his wife during his lifetime, was claiming a portion of the estate of his father, Sir Hugh Campbell; in this response to some of her petitions, lawyer John Fleming, acting on behalf of the Campbells, discusses the merits of various claims as pertaining to estate law. OCLC, ESTC, and NUC Pre-1956 record
no holdings of this item.
Not in ESTC. Once sewn, now in a Mylar folder. Last leaf with closed tear partially repaired some time ago, costing or or obscuring a few letters to each line of about two paragraphs on either side of leaf. Age-toned, dust-soiled, creased.
It
Says SHE
LIES . . .
(Pollock
vs. the Thane of Cawdor).
Broadside. Begins:
"Memorial for John Campbell of Calder Esq...." [Edinburgh], 1718. Folio (31.2
cm, 12.25"). [1] p.
$900.00

Dated July 30 1718, this broadside is a rebuttal of certain financial
assertions made by Ruth Pollock in her ongoing legal battle against John Campbell
over the estate of Sir Hugh Campbell, which included Cawdor Castle (although
that legendary castle is not mentioned in this document).
This
is an uncommon legal item, with no holdings described by OCLC, RLIN, or ESTC.
Not in ESTC. Creased and dust-soiled, with a small hole in
lower margin not touching text and a few pinholes within text. Tipped onto
a leaf of 19th-century paper, now in a Mylar folder.
(Pollock
vs. the Thane
of Cawdor [Again]). Broadside.
Begins: “Memorial for John Campbell of Calder....”[Edinburgh], 1718.
Folio (31.5 cm, 12.4"). [2] p.
$900.00

Dated February 5th 1718, this broadside was part of a protracted
legal struggle between Ruth Pollock and John Campbell, grandson of Sir Hugh
Campbell, thane of Cawdor. Particularly in question here are the
marriage
articles between Sir Alexander Campbell and Elizabeth Lort,
John Campbell’s parents; the definition of impeachment of waste is discussed.
No
holdings of this uncommon item are listed by ESTC, RLIN, OCLC.
Creased and slightly dust-soiled but in overall good condition.
Tipped onto a leaf of 19th-century paper; now in a Mylar folder.
A
“Collection Discount” will be applied should anyone take ALL THREE
of the “Pollack Case” Broadsides.
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Pomey,
François. Pantheum mythicum, seu Fabulosa deorum historia
hoc epitomes eruditionis volumine brevitur dilucidéque comprehensa. Amstaelodami:
Ex officina Schoudeniana ; Trajecti ad Rhenum: Apud J.J. a Poolsum, 1777. Small
8vo (15.5 cm; 6"). [8] ff., 298, [7] ff., 27 plts. (4 fold.).
$625.00
Originally published in 1659, Pomey’s work on classical mythology was extremely popular and was reprinted many times during the following 150
years. This edition describes itself as “editio decima, denuò recensita, à quamplurimis erroribus repurgata, & aeneis figuris ornata.”
The work begins with an elaborate engraved title-page signed “G. Schoute, fecit,” followed by a printed title–page in black and red. The text
is printed in roman type with side- and shouldernotes and is illustrated with
27 plates, four of which are folding. The text is edited by Samuel Pitiscus (1637–1727).

Binding: Full vellum over paste boards, covers with bead and vine borders in gilt at outer edges and large gilt-stamped supralibros coat of arms of the Dutch town of Kampen, with the text “Pallas Minerva sospitatrix urbium.” Round spine with gilt rope-design roll forming spine compartments. Red leather author and title label.
Provenance: With the printed and folding ex-proemium of J.J.S. van Goltstein van Hoekenburg, Jan. 1819.
DeBacker-Sommervogel, VI, 976. Binding as above. All edges marbled. A very good copy; text block very slightly skewed in binding.
Pons, François Raymond Joseph de. Voyage à la partie orientale de la Terre-Ferme, dans l'Amérique Méridionale, fait pendant les années 1801, 1802, 1803 et 1804: contenant la description de la capitainerie générale de Carácas.... Paris: Chez Colnet, F. Buisson, and others, 1806. 8vo (20 cm, 7.875"). 3 vols. I: [2] ff., 358 pp.; foldout map. II: [2] ff., 469, [1 (blank)] pp. III: [2] ff., 362 pp.; 3 foldout maps.
$2875.00
Single-click the image above, for an enlargement.
The map is NOT fully folded out that would have mandated an image either too small
in scale to be at all useful, or simply TOO big.

Depons’s Voyage gives us a picture of the Spanish Main (Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam, etc. to the mouth of the Amazon) in the period shortly before independence, including Spanish colonial administration, the colony’s commerce, finance, and military, a discussion of the inhabitants—including aboriginal ones—and notes on the organization of the Church, including
the Inquisition. The maps are “Carte de la Capitainrie Génerale de Caracas (vol. I, facing p. 1), “Plan de la ville de Caracas” (vol. II, facing p. 63),“Plan de la Port de la Goayre” (vol. III, facing p. 124), and “Plan de la Rade et de la Ville de Porto” (vol. III, facing p. 128).
François Raymond Joseph de Pons (1751–1812) was archivist for the French Navy. This work also appeared in English, German, and Spanish editions; this is its first edition, and the sole French edition.
Provenance: Engraved armorial bookplates of Thomas Munro on front pastedowns. Unattributed note in pencil in top margin of half-title of vol. I (repeated in substance in the other volumes): “This was Talleyrand’s copy.”
Sabin 19641; Palau 70507. Treed calf, spines gilt with red leather labels, marbled endpapers; a little rubbed with fine chipping and some cracking along joints, endpapers with some browning from turn-ins, pages with some light waterstaining and brownspotting and a few small holes resulting in loss of individual letters. Closed tear (without loss) into map in vol. I, short closed tear into right border and some soiling and browning in bottom portion of map facing p. 63 in vol. III, light browning in bottom margin and faint waterstaining in top portion of map facing p. 124 in vol. III, and light waterstaining in map facing p. 128 of the same volume. All edges speckled red and blue.
Overall quite handsome and intriguing.
Porta, Giambattista della. Della fisionomia dell'huomo.... Venetia: Presso Christoforo Tomasino, 1644. 4to (23 cm, 9"). a6 A–Z8 Aa–Nn8; [6] ff.,
570 (i.e., 572) pp., [2] ff.; illus.
$1000.00
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Giovanni Battista (or Giambattista) della Porta (1535?–1615) was a natural philosopher and physician who made significant scientific contributions—he was first, for example, to recognize that light rays have a heating effect. However, his approach employed many principles now known to be invalid and in his pursuit of the ancient pseudo-science of physiognomy he tried to determine a man’s character from his outward resemblance to animals.
"Porta's system . . . leads him constantly to conclusions of analogies between plants, animals and men. Similar humours are found in various apparently unrelated organisms. Plants and animals that correspond in shape are interrelated. A leaf formed like a stag horn shares the character of the deer. The horse is a noble animal, therefore it is a sign of nobility to walk erect with the head held high. Men who resemble a donkey are like that animal: timid, stupid, nervous. He who looks like an ostrich is akin to it in character: he is timid, elegant, vicious, stolid. A man who reminds us of a swine is a swine, eating greedily and having all the other characteristics, such as rudeness, irascibility, lack of discipline, sordidness, lack of intelligence [and] modesty. In a similar way, men who look like ravens are impudent; those who resemble oxen are stubborn, lazy, irascible; men who have lips shaped like those of a lion are hearty, magnanimous, courageous; others who make us think of a ram are timid, malicious and humble. When practising medicine, Porta had many occasions to observe his patients, and to study their character and complexion; the results of this studious inquiry are laid down in his book." (Seligmann)
This work was written in Latin and first published in 1586 under the title De humana physiognomia. It saw 19 editions before 1701, and has been translated into Italian (1598; translation by Salvatore Scarano), German (1651), French (1655), and English (1817).
This tenth Italian edition is replete with a large number of intriguing (and humorous) woodcuts. The first is a portrait of Porta, and, while some of the rest show anatomical figures, the vast majority contrast the shapes of faces and bodies of animals and men. The title-page vignette is of Aesculapius, the Greco-Roman god of healing.
Appended to Della fisionomia humana are the Fisionomia naturale of Giovanni Ingegneri († 1600), the Physionomia of Polemon (ca. a.d. 88 – a.d. 145) in an Italian translation, Porta’s Della celeste fisionomia (a repudiation of astrology), and two short related treatises by Livius Agrippa and Luigi Settala (1552–1633). Della celeste fisionomia has a number of interesting woodcuts showing pagan gods and constellations.
Seligmann, The History of Magic, 319. On physiognomy, see: Thorndike, History of Magic and Experimental Science, VII, 448 & following. On Porta, see: Webster’s New Biographical Dictionary 811. Vellum over paste boards, soiled and cockled with a little chipping; vellum along front joint cracked but joint strongly holding. Ex-library: paper labels on spine and rubber-stamps, including one on title-page. Edges bumped and pages severely cockled (though with no waterstaining); some soiling especially to top edges and margins, with a few edge chips.
Plates in very clear, strong impressions. Price reduced for faults, but a volume offering much despite them. (4654)

Introduction to the
Sugar Trade
Porter, George Richardson. The nature and properties of the sugar cane; with practical directions for the improvement of its culture, and the manufacture of its products. Philadelphia: Carey & Lea, 1831. 8vo (24 cm, 9.4"). [2], viii, [11]–354 pp.; 3 fold. plts., 2 plts.
[SOLD]
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First U.S. edition of this important early guidebook to techniques of sugar cane harvesting, sugar production around the world, and distillation of rum. Written by a prominent statistician and economist who had unsuccessfully attempted a career as a sugar broker, the volume is
illustrated with five plates (three of them oversized) showing plans of sugar mills and equipment.
American Imprints 8805; Goldsmiths'-Kress 26165.18 (for first London ed.). On Porter, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, XLVI, 178. Publisher's tan paper–covered boards with tan cloth shelfback bearing printed paper label; rubbed, spots of discoloration, spine cloth and label darkened and worn; joints cracked and reinforced at head with cloth tape, text block pulling away from spine with front free endpaper separating, contents leaf separated with inner margin reinforced some time ago. Ex–social club library: paper shelving label at head of spine, bookplate and call number on front pastedown, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Minor offsetting to plates, otherwise clean. Uncut copy. (28127)
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Fictitious Adventure “Bringing before Us the Incident &
the Actors
Just as They Were”
[Porter, William Ogilvie]. Sir Edward Seaward's narrative of his shipwreck, and consequent discovery of certain islands in the Caribbean Sea: with a detail of many extraordinary and highly interesting events in his life, from the year 1733 to 1749, as written in his own diary. New York: J. & J. Harper, 1831. 8vo (17.9 cm, 7"). 3 vols. 239, [1] pp. (i.e., 234); [vii]-250, [2] pp. (i.e. 258); [vii]-236 pp. (i.e., 230).
[SOLD]
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First American edition. This fictitious first-person narrative by Sir Seaward describes the vicissitudes of his life and travails by land and sea on voyages from England to the New World; our caption is from the preface.
The credited “editor” is Miss Jane Porter (1776–1850), an English novelist whose literary success was based on historical novels. However, Sabin attributes this three-volume account to Miss Jane's brother, William Ogilvie Porter (1774–1850), a British naval surgeon. According to the DNB, “William drew on his shipboard experiences to produce a work that is a loss to the Jane Porter canon, since it could previously be adduced to show her versatility. There is some evidence that William also incorporated more intimate experiences: Sir Edward's wife, Eliza, an ideal of womanhood, seems to be based on William's ward, Eliza, who died tragically young of consumption, but not before, the family correspondence suggests, causing some disquiet about her real status in William's life (Porter family correspondence, MS E).”
The presentation of
slavery is also perhaps of particular interest here, the protagonist visiting slave markets and in fact buying and owning “negros” and “negresses” while at the same time apparently proceeding with every sincere intention of acting humanely within the inhuman system (neither justifying slavery and nor intending to, he yet strives to keep families together, he buys two boys with the intention of manumitting them after seven years, and interactions between him and his wife and people of color are notably respectful ”both ways”).
Provenance: Embossed library stamp of Pennsylvania's Deutsche Gesellschaft Bibliothek on the title-pages.
A classic imaginary voyage and shipwreck.
Sabin 64323; American Imprints 8810. On Jane Porter, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online. Period-style quarter sand colored cloth over blue-green paper boards, printed paper labels to spine. Tears on many leaves, and repairs on some, torn mostly in the lower gutter and outer margins; two or three corners in each volume torn away; old soiling and stains of various sorts. Pressure-stamp as above; pencil notations in a child's (?) hand in the margins of a few pages. (30134)
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Dealing Judicially with
Contraband Smugglers
Portugal. Sovereign (1750–77, Joseph). [drop-title] Eu El rey. Faço saber aos que este alvará virem: que tendo mostrado a experiencia as demoras, e embaraços, que ha, por occorrencia de outras dependencias, na execuçaõ das penas impostas aos contrabandos.... [Lisbon]: No publisher/printer, 1764. Folio (29 cm; 11.5"). [1] f., i.e., [2] pp.
$350.00

By this Alvará (13 September 1764) the king addresses matters of jurisdiction in cases against dealers in contraband sugar. (“Alvará, porque V. Magestade ha por bem ordenar que as diligencias preparatorias dos processos verbaes dos Contrabandos, apprehendidos na Alfandegado do assucar da cidade de Lisboa, se fação per ante o Juiz Conservador geral do Commercio. . . . ”)
There are two issues: in this issue on p. [1], the catchword is “hendidos,” and in the other catchword is “hendi-.”
WorldCat locates only the copy at the John Carter Brown Library.
Removed from a volume. Light brown stain in lower margin and an even lighter stain in top one; old foliation number neatly inked in upper outer corner of recto. A good exemplar. (28246)
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Hospital Reform for
the Benefit of Orphans
Portugal. Sovereign (1750–77, Joseph). [begins] Eu el rey. Faço saber aos que este Alvará virem: Que sendo o decurso dos tempos sujeito as grandes alterações, que vem a fazer necessarias muitas novas, e antes não cogitadas providencias ... Havendo sido util, e louvavelmente erigido o Hospital dos Expostos da Cidade de Lisboa.... [Lisbon]: Na Regia Officina Typografica., 1775. Folio (29 cm; 11.5"). 7, [1 (blank)] pp.
$475.00
The king has decided that reform and improvement aere needed at the Orphans' Hospital (Hospital dos Expostos) in Lisbon and here issues the decree specifying the changes. (“Alvará, por que Vossa Magestade he servido occorrer com as providencias necessarias para fazer em cessar os inconvenientes, que até agora se praticavam no Hospital dos Expostos: Dando nova forma para as creações, entregas, e educações delles . . . “).
No copies found via WorldCat or COPAC.
Removed from a bound volume; now in modern wrappers. Old foliation neatly inked in upper outer corners; clean, with wide margins. (28222)
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REFORMING the Queen's
Hydrotheraphy Hospital at Caldas
Portugal. Sovereign (1750–77, Joseph). [begins] Eu el rey. Faço saber aos que este Alvará virem: Que sendo o decurso dos tempos sujeito as grandes alterações, que vem a fazer necessarias muitas novas, e antes não cogitadas providencias ... Havendo sido util, e louvavelmente erigido o Hospital dos Expostos da Cidade de Lisboa.... [Lisbon]: [colophon: Na Regia Officina Typografica, 1775]. Folio. 38 pp.
$500.00

The Portuguese king decides to reform and reorganize the Hospital Real das Caldas (a thermal springs treatment center) that Queen Leonor established in 1484. The details of the innovations are detailed here. (“Alvará de Regimento, por que Vossa Magestade, annullando, cassando, e abolindo o antigo Regimento, chamado Compromisso do Hospital Real das Caldas . . . que depois delle se expediram; fazendo cessar a Inspecção, que sobre elle até agora teve a Meza da Consciencia, e Ordens; e separando-o da Adminstração dos Conegos Seculares de S. João Evangelista”).
No copy traced via WorldCat or COPAC.
Removed from a volume and laid into modern wrappers. Light stain in outer margin of last leaf with a trace of same showing on a few more inward; old foliation neatly inked in upper outer corners; generally clean, with good margins. One inked, contemporary marginal note. (28234)
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Westward!
Post, Charles Cyrel. Driven from sea to sea; Or, just a campin'. Philadelphia & Chicago: Elliot & Beezley, 1888. 8vo. 414, [2] pp.; 8 plts.
$50.00
Novel about the 1880 gunfight at Mussel Slough, in California, between settlers and the agents of the Southern Pacific Railroad. With engraved plates. Testimonials (in the back) compare it to "Uncle Tom's Cabin."
Publisher's brown cloth, stamped in black and “silver”; front and spine with decorated with a frontier scene showing Conestoga wagons in a wilderness landscape with rising sun in the background. (We can't seem to get a photograph of this that doesn't "glare out.") Bright with a few flecks of white (paint?). Spine slightly rubbed on joints and at head and base. Pages toned. Good+. (20739)
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Long the Standard in its Field — Many Illustrations
Potter, John. Archaeologia graeca or the antiquities of Greece. The fifth edition. London: Ja. & Jo. Knapton, R. Knaplock, J. & B. Sprint, et al., 1728. 8vo (19.8 cm, 7.75"). 2 vols. I: iv, [4], 464, [28 (index)] pp.; 2 fold. plts., 7 plts. II: [4], 420, [36 (34 index, 2 adv.)] pp.; 9 fold. plts., 13 plts.
[SOLD]
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Fifth edition of this popular and then-authoritative history of ancient Greece, following the first of the previous year. Written by the archbishop of Canterbury (bishop of Oxford at the time of this publication), the work incorporates numerous and extensive Greek quotations. This edition is
illustrated with 31 copper-engraved plates (11 folding) depicting temples, theatres, wrestlers and other burly athletes, armor, military maneuvers, ships, and elephant- and horse-drawn war carriages; the title-pages are printed in red and black, and the text is ornamented with head- and tailpieces in addition to decorative capitals.
Present here under a handsome headpiece is a vigorous two-page note from "THE BOOKSELLERS TO THE READER," explaining why first editions are not always to be preferred and why some editions may not be among the trustworthy!
ESTC T121647; Graesse 428; Lowndes 1932. Contemporary speckled calf, framed and panelled in blind with panel of plain calf decorated with blind roll and blind-tooled corner fleurons, rebacked with sympathetic calf, spines with gilt-stamped green leather title and volume labels, gilt-dotted raised bands, and blind-tooled compartment decorations; original leather showing minor pitting and cracking more pronounced towards edges. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate and call number on front pastedowns, pressure-stamp on title-pages, no other markings. Hinges (inside) unobtrusively reinforced with paper. Title-page of vol. I with early inked annotations regarding author's identity and additional editions of this work. Pages age-toned; first and last few leaves with offsetting to margins from turn-ins. (27102)
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Powell, J.W. Report on the geology of the eastern portion of the Uinta Mountains and a region of country adjacent thereto. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1876. Folio (30 cm, 11.75"). vii, [1], 218 pp.; 4 plts.
$200.00
First edition: Printed for the Department of the Interior as part of the U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, this is a scientific description of the topographic and geologic features of portions of Utah and Colorado, with summaries of fossil findings. The steel-engraved frontispiece is an attractive depiction of the Gate of Lodore, while other plates and in-text illustrations offer diagrams of strata sections; the title-page mentions an atlas containing two maps, which was published separately and is not present here. Publisher’s cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title (attractively oxidized); cloth rubbed at extremities, spine with small spot of faint discoloration from a now-absent label. Front pastedown institutionally rubber-stamped (no other markings). Erratum slip tipped in. A cleaner copy than most seen on the market.

WORLD MYTHOLOGY — 8 Vols. & Thousands of Entries
Pozzoli, Giovanni; Felice Romani; Antonio Peracchi, et al. Dizionario storico-mitologico di tutti i popoli del mondo. Livorno: Stamperia Vignozzi, 1824–28. 8 vols. 8vo (21 cm, 8.25"). I: 580 pp. II: 581–1163, [1] pp. (pp. 1057–64 repeated in place of pp. 1065–72). III: [1165]–1708 pp. (pagination 1551–52 repeated, 1687–88 skipped). IV: [1709]–2342 pp. V: 2351–3086 pp. (pagination skips 2519–26). VI: 3087–3855 pp. (pagination skips 3407–08). VII: 576 pp. VIII: 577–1074 pp.
$2500.00
Click the middle and right hand-images for enlargements.
Second edition of this classic dictionary of comparative mythology, a hefty collection of the deities, heroes, tales, festivals, antiquities, and other folklore of numerous cultures and countries including Mexico, Peru, America, Africa, India, Japan, China, etc, along with Jewish, Greek, and Roman antiquities. The foundation of the work was François Noel's Dictionnaire de la Fable; copious additions and corrections were made by Pozzoli, Romani (the famed poet, scholar, and librettist for La Scala), and Peracchi (another librettist). The resulting encyclopedic endeavor was originally published from 1809–27 under the title Dizionario d'ogni mitologia e antichità incominciato, according to Graesse and Brunet, who both give Pozzoli's first name as Girolamo.
This set includes two volumes of supplemental text, adding a number of entries. The first edition was followed by two volumes of supplemental plates, not present here and not called for: Graesse describes this edition as “sans grav.”
The pagination is erratic in a number of places; there is a numbering gap from 2342 to 2351 between vols. IV and V, but the text and signatures are uninterrupted.
Uncommon: OCLC locates only two U.S. institutional holdings of this second edition.
Provenance: Most volumes with small inked ownership inscription in an outer margin: “G.R.W.” the mark of William Rollinson Whittingham (1805–79), fourth Episcopal Bishop of Maryland and an enthusiastic book collector.
Brunet, IV, 851; Graesse, V, 429. Not in Sabin. Contemporary half binding, recently rebacked with tan paper, spines with printed paper labels; boards rubbed and faded with small chips, one vol. with front cover waterstained. Foxing almost throughout, generally no worse than moderate; light waterstaining in upper margins of vol. I; one leaf in vol. VII with lower outer portion torn away, with loss of words from about 18 lines on each side. Vol. II with printer's error replacing pp. 1065–72 with duplicates of pp. 1057–64; pagination erratic in other places. Most vols. with ownership mark as above; vol. VI with one pencilled and one inked marginal annotation. (25862)
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Prentis, Joseph. Autograph Letter Signed to Robert Saunders. Unnamed place in Virginia, 2 February 1820. Folio (32.8 cm, 13"). [2] ff.
$125.00


Sent to Robert Saunders in Williamsburg, Va., this letter discusses a debt owed to the writer (not by Saunders, but rather by a gentleman with whom Saunders was apparently in communication); a court case in which the writer’s family was involved; the health of “Aunt Susan,” who has been “so much indisposed of late”; and the stagnation of business that followed the War of 1812. The letter bears its integral address leaf with a notations, “mail single, post paid” and “Paid 12½.”
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The writer seems to have been Joseph Prentis (1785–1851), son of a Williamsburg merchant of the same name; it is difficult to identify him with absolute certainty, but Saunders is elsewhere recorded as having assisted in the administration of the estate of Joseph Prentis the elder.
Creased, with small spots of discoloration. Portion of upper and upper inner margins lost to hungry rodent, with loss of a number of words; one tear to the final leaf repaired some time ago with tape.
Prescott, William H. History of the conquest of Peru, with a preliminary view of the civilization of the Incas. New York: Harper & Bros., 1847. 8vo (24.3 cm, 9.55"). 2 vols. I: Frontis., xl, [1], 527, [1] pp.; 1 map. II: Frontis., xix, [1], 547, [1] pp.; 1 plt.
$300.00
First U.S. edition, first issue of a classic account of the clash of empires in Peru and the destruction of that of the Inca. Prescott’s follow-up to his well received History of the Conquest of Mexico appears here in BAL’s state B, without printer’s imprint on verso of title-leaf of vol. I (with no precedence established).
BAL 16346; Gardner P-7; Sabin 65272. Publisher’s blind-stamped cloth, spines with gilt-stamped titles; sunned and with small spots of discoloration, spines each showing traces of a now-absent shelving label. Front pastedowns each with private collector’s bookplate, institutional rubber-stamp, and speckled show-through of binder’s glue. Light to moderate foxing throughout.
Illustrated
Primer — “do
not lash the cat” — Philadelphia,
ca. 1860
Pretty
stories in easy words. Philadelphia: Davis, Porter & Co.,
[ca. 1860]. 16mo (13.3 cm, 5.25"). [2], 13–18 pp.; illus.
$300.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Scarce juvenile basic reader illustrated with six hand-colored wood engravings, with
the front wrapper additionally hand-colored; the hand-coloring is quite nice.
Uncommon:
OCLC and NUC Pre-1956 locate only four holdings, all in the
U.S.
Publisher's printed paper wrappers, front wrapper with early inked inscription in
upper portion; paper just starting at foot of spine. Age-toned, otherwise clean and fresh.
(25501)
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Price's History of Islam — Much Matter, a Handsome Map
Price, David. Chronological retrospect, or memoirs of the principal events of Mahommedan history, from the death of the Arabian legislator, to the accession of the Emperor Akbar, and the establishment of the Moghul Empire in Hindustaun. London: J. Booth; Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown; and Black, Parry, & Kingsbury, 1821. Large 4to (28 cm, 11"). 3 vols. in 4. I: xvi, 606, [6] pp. 1 oversized, fold. col. map. II: xvi, 716 pp. III: xv, [1], 483, [1] pp. IV: [2], [485]–998 pp.
$995.00
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Major Price (1762–1835), an officer of the East India Company, was a notable orientalist and member of the Royal Asiatic Society. The Chronological Retrospect is his best-known and most referenced effort; the DNB says it is “the painstaking work of a genuine scholar anxious to do full justice to his authorities,” while Allibone calls it “the authority on the subjects discussed.”
The first edition (1811–21) was printed by several different hands, all in Wales, and one was a woman printer: Vol. I was done by George North of Brecknock, vol. II by Henry Hughes of Brecon, and vols. III and IV by Priscilla Hughes, also of Brecon and presumably heir to Henry. This appears to be a new issue, or, at least, the same issue with new title-pages; the preface to the first volume is dated 1811, and a note to the binder at the end of vol. III, part 2, reads, “The amended title pages to be substituted for those at present annexed to this volume” (p. 998).
Vol. I has a hand-colored oversized, very large folding map..
For the first ed., see: Allibone 1677; Lowndes 1961. On Price, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online. Modern light tan cloth, caramel-colored gilt calf spine labels.
Unopened and uncut except most preliminary leaves, deckle preserved on all; leaves naturally varying in size. Ex-library pressure-stamp to all four title-pages, and to dedication in the second volume; scattered stains from chemical reactions in the paper, mild foxing, printer's ink; dampstaining in the margins or at edges of some leaves, especially in first vol. and end of vol. III, part 2. Map in vol. I intact and nice, with just a negligible tear where attached at the upper hinge and one short one along a fold outside image; a few small marginal tears in vols. II and III (part 2), and a handful of naturally occurring holes not affecting text in all vols. Creasing as from some heavy object placed on top of leaves before binding (?) throughout, without tears or soil from this; clean, sound, attractive. (30218)
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Life Insurance & Social Security
Price, Richard. Observations on reversionary payments; on schemes for providing annuities for widows, and for persons in old age; on the method of calculating the values of assurances on lives; and on the national debt. To which are added, Four essays on different subjects in the doctrine of life-annuities and political arithmetick. London: T. Cadell, 1783. 8vo. 2 vols. I: xl, 378 pp. II: [2], 324 pp., [1 (blank)] f., [2], 95, 24 (index) pp.
$1000.00
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Fourth, expanded edition, of a treatise which became the “bible” of actuarial science. Richard Price's (1723–91) method for calculating life expectancy was one of his most significant achievements. Life insurance companies would use this edition's mortality tables of Northampton, which were more accurate than the London tables, for many years to come. The book also includes a section on old-age pensions.
In addition to the dedication page, and prefaces to the first, third, and fourth editions, these volumes also include “additional notes and essays, a collection of new tables, a history of the sinking fund, a state of the public debts in January 1783, and a postscript on the population of the kingdom.” First published in 1771.
ESTC T12986; Goldsmiths-Kress 12495. Contemporary speckled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, edges of boards tooled in gilt. Joints cracked and weakly holding. Covers darkened along top and outer edges; leather lost on corners. Light foxing to a few early and later leaves, including title-pages; offsetting from leather affecting only first three and final three leaves, at edges. Each volume pressure-stamped on the title-page and one other page. Title-page rectos marked with small inked initials in upper right corner, versos rubber-stamped with a five-digit number. Penciled notation at bottom margin of p. xxx (vol. I). Now housed in a blue cloth clamshell box with gilt-stamped leather labels. (24415)
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Anti-Muslim & Anti-Deist
Prideaux, Humphrey. The true nature of imposture fully display'd in the life of Mahomet. With a discourse annex'd for the vindication of Christianity from this charge ... eighth edition, corrected. London: E. Curll, J. Hooke, W. Mears & F. Clay, 1723. 8vo (20.2 cm, 7.9"). xvi (i.e., xvii), [3], 260 pp.
$300.00
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“Offered to the Consideration of the deists of the Present Age,” this is the eighth, corrected edition of a polemic originally published in 1697 by the dean of Norwich. Much read and widely influential on both English and American opinions of Islam, this work led to the common attachment of the “impostor” epithet to Mohammed's name in Western usage.
The “Discourse for the Vindicating of Christianity from the Charge of Imposture” has a separate title-page dated 1722, but its pagination is continuous with the first work.
ESTC T138493. Contemporary speckled calf, framed and panelled in blind with panel of contrasting calf decorated with blind roll and blind-tooled corner fleurons, rebacked with sympathetic calf, spine with gilt-dotted raised bands, gilt-stamped leather title-label, and blind-tooled compartment decorations; original leather showing minor acid-pitting with edges worn and rubbed. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpapers, no other markings. Front free endpaper with upper outer corner repaired; browned, with offsetting to margins of first and last few leaves from turn-ins, yet not brittle. (27101)
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A
Curious Text &
12 Remarkable Woodcuts
Priest, Josiah. The anti-universalist, or history of the
fallen angels of the Scriptures. Albany: J. Munsell, 1839. 8vo. 420 pp.; 12 plts. (incl. in
pagination).
[SOLD]
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“Proofs of the being of Satan and of evil spirits, and many other curious matters
connected therewith”: Second edition, following the first of 1837, illustrated with twelve
engraved plates. The second portion has a separate title-page, reading “History of Satan, and
proofs of the existence of devils and evil spirits.”The twelve unsigned woodcut plates are full of energy both emblematic and artistic.
Publisher's quarter tan cloth with blue paper-covered sides;
boards stained and chipped with paper peeling, all extremities rubbed, and paper spine label
mostly lost. Front hinge cracked, back hinge starting. Front pastedown with institutional
bookplate; title-page with private owner's stamp in upper margin and old cataloguing excerpt
affixed to lower margin. Lower outer corners waterstained in first half; pages cockled, with
occasional faint spotting; first text page with newsprint blurb about Priest affixed in upper
margin. A compromised copy, but an extraordinary production; interesting from a variety of
perspectives. (15630)
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Priestley, Joseph. A general history of the Christian church, to the fall of the Western Empire ...the second edition improved. Northumberland [PA]: Pr. for the author by Andrew Kennedy, 1803–04. 8vo (21.7 cm, 8.5"). 2 vols. I: xix, [1], 488 pp. II: 552 (i.e., 554), [2] pp.
$975.00

Second edition, following the first of 1790: Corrected and expanded version of this scholarly history by Priestley, a controversial theologian as well as a chemist who may be best remembered today for experiments with gasses that led to the discovery of oxygen. Covering the early development of Christianity, the two volumes also address some contemporaneous events in Judaism and among various heathen groups.
The work was printed in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, where Priestley settled in 1782, when his liberal political opinions and defense of the French Revolution (in addition to his status as a nonconforming minister of questionable orthodoxy) obliged him to emigrate from England to the United States.
Provenance: Both title-pages inscribed by N. Irwin.
Shaw & Shoemaker 4912 & 7121. Recent quarter calf over marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels. Title-pages with faint impression of a once-pencilled shelf number; some leaves lightly foxed.
Priestley, Joseph. A general history of the Christian church, from the fall of the Western Empire to the present time.... Northumberland [PA]: Pr. for the author by Andrew Kennedy, 1802–03. 8vo (21.6 cm, 8.5"). 4 vols. I: xxxvi, 475, [1 (blank)] pp. II: vii, [1], 539, [1 (blank)] pp. III: [6], 488 pp. IV: x, [3], xii–xiii, [1], 480 pp.
$1100.00

First edition. Priestley
here continues his General History of the Christian Church to the Fall of
the Western Empire (published in two volumes in 1790) up through 1802. (Although
the present set, dedicated to Thomas Jefferson, stands alone, each book does
close with an acknowledgment of its number in both series — i.e.,
“The end of Volume the third of the Second Part, or Volume the fifth of
the whole Work”.) Priestley’s ecclesiastical history not only canvasses
Catholicism and the other branches of Christianity, but considers Judaism and
Islam (if the latter to a somewhat limited extent) as well.
Click
the image to the left for an enlargement.
This work was printed in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, where Priestley settled
in 1782, his liberal political opinions and defense of the French Revolution
(in addition to his status as a nonconforming minister of questionable orthodoxy)
having obliged him to emigrate from England to the United States.
Provenance:
Each title-page inscribed by N. Irwin.
Shaw & Shoemaker 2933 & 4913. Recent quarter calf over
marbled paper–covered sides, paper darkened at edges and/or turn-ins
on some volumes, most notably vol. IV; spines with gilt-stamped leather title
and volume labels. Title-pages with faint impression of a once-pencilled shelf
number; a few page edges slightly ragged; some instances of small spots of
foxing, mostly in margins, and varying degrees of offsetting. Please note
these are octavo values they're substantial, but we think the photo
may make them look a bit taller than they actually are.

Tips from
the Prince of Ventriloquists
Prince, Arthur. The whole art of ventriloquism. London: Will Goldston Ltd., [1922]. 8vo (18.3 cm, 7.2"). Frontis., 100, [4 (adv.)] pp.; illus.
[SOLD]

Second edition, revised, with a color frontispiece portrait of the author: Guidelines to throwing one's voice, imitating accents and tones, and using a dummy. The work is illustrated with numerous interesting anatomical diagrams, images of dummies and their inner workings, and room layouts for optimal performance effect.
So many and various are these illustrations that we SIMPLY couldn't decide which to photograph!
Click the images present, for enlargements.
Provenance: Front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription dated 1943 and with rubber-stamp of Kanter's Magic Shop, a famed but now-defunct emporium in Philadelphia.
Publisher's gray-brown cloth without dust-jacket, front cover with black-stamped title and dummy vignette; spine very slightly darkened, edges and extremities with minor shelfwear. Front free endpaper as above. Pages age-toned. A nice copy. (26622)
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Prince, Thomas. A chronological history of New-England in the form of annals: Being a summary and exact account of the most material transactions and occurrences relating to this country, in the order of time wherein they happened, from the discovery by Capt. Gosnold in 1602, to the arrival of Governor Belcher, in 1730. With an introduction containing a brief epitome of the most remarkable transactions and events abroad, from the Creation.... Boston: Pr. by Kneeland & Green for S. Gerrish, 1736. 8vo (16.6 cm, 6.5"). [8], xi, [1], 20, 104, [2], 254 pp. (lacking title-page).
$500.00
Click either image above for an enlargement.
First edition of an extremely ambitious, painstakingly detailed history — “our most scholarly colonial work,” according to Howes. The Rev. Thomas Prince was minister of the Old South Church in Boston and founder of the New England Library (now the Prince Collection of the Boston Public Library); he began collecting the historical references that formed the basis of the present work in 1703, when he entered Harvard.
Dedicated to Jonathan Belcher, this first volume ends at the year 1630, with a note that the size of the undertaking had exceeded the expectations of both the author and the bookseller. The second volume did not appear until 1755, under the title Annals of New-England.
Sabin 65585; Evans 4068; Howes P615; ESTC W30371. On Prince, see: Dictionary of American Biography. Contemporary sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; leather rubbed and scraped, with spine label chipped. Front pastedown with institutional stamp; front free endpaper and fly-leaf with pencilled notations. Title-page lacking; first (dedication) leaf with signature “[W?] Nathans” and two early inked inscriptions on text pages reading “Nath[.] Mason his book.” Pages browned, most heavily the first 50 pages; some other staining; a few leaves with short edge tears, in two cases touching text without loss. Sound, and still interesting reading.
Prinsep, Henry Thoby. The India question in 1853. London: William H. Allen & Co., 1853. 8vo (19.6 cm, 7.75"). [2], 111, [1 (blank)] pp.
$350.00
Parliament reviewed the management of the East India Company every 20 years beginning in 1773. At the time of the 1853 review the number of directors of the East India company was reduced, one of those retained being Henry Prinsep (1793–1878), an able and successful Indian civil servant and member of the Council of India. He here gives his insights on a wide range
of issues, from education and the press to finance, the administration of justice, and how best to govern the country. NSTC 2P27024. On Prinsep, see: DNB. Removed from a nonce volume. Lightly age-toned. Traces of soiling and small inked numeral on title-page. A few instances of pencilled sidelining.
THACKERAY
Admired These “Most Charmingly
Humorous
of English Lyrical Poems”
Some
Fellow-ADMIRER
Had
THIS
Set Bound
Prior, Matthew. The
poetical works...: Now first collected, with explanatory notes, and memoirs
of the author, in two volumes. London: Pr. for W. Strahan, T. Payne, J. Rivington,
et al., 1779. 8vo (19.4 cm, 7.6"). I: xvi, xxviii, 420 pp.; 1 plt. II:
[2] ff., xvi, 287, [1 (errata)] pp.
$400.00


Witty, amorous, sardonic works by the English poet-diplomat, edited by Evans and first thus. The DNB notes that among posthumous editions of Prior's works, "that of Evans . . . long enjoyed the reputation of being the best."
The "Story of the Country-Mouse and the City-Mouse," Prior's satiric and politically motivated response to Dryden's "Hind and Panther," is not included, but the long pieces "Solomon on the Vanity of the World" and "Alma" are present. The "Life of Mat. Prior" in the first volume commences beneath a small engraved portrait.
Binding: Later sprinkled calf, covers gilt-ruled with gilt inner dentelles, spines gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels. All edges saffron.
Provenance: Both volumes with armorial bookplates of Sir Robert D'Arcy Hildyard.
On Prior, see: Dictionary of National Biography, 397–401. Leather cracking over joints with hinges tender; spine tips a little dry and pulled; upper and outer edges of all covers somewhat darkened; light wear to extremities. Light foxing to some pages. In fact a very handsome pair.
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Propertius, Sextus. Sex. Aurelii Propertii elegiarum libri IV. Trajecti ad Rhenum: Barth. Wild, 1780. 4to (26.3 cm, 10.4"). [10], xiv, [2], 990 (i.e., 996; pagination repeats 627–32), [2] pp.
$450.00
First edition: Pieter Burmann the younger’s edition of Propertius, based primarily on Brouckhusius’s text and — after Burmann’s death — edited and completed by Laurentius Santen with commentary on the final elegy. Graesse points out some flaws in the text and exposition, but says that “les notes de Burmann sont de nouvelles preuves de son érudition,” and Dibdin agrees that the commentary is “a treasure of critical and philological learning.”
Binding/Provenance: Prize binding of contemporary vellum, covers framed and panelled in gilt rolls with gilt-stamped corner fleurons and gilt central vignette with the crest of the city of Amsterdam, spine with gilt-ruled raised bands and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments. The partially printed, partially inscribed, bound-in prize certificate reads “Ingenuo magnaeque spei adolescenti, Henrico Gerteler propter insignes in artibus humanioribus progessus,
in classe tertia . . . Quod testor R. v. Ommeren [/] Gymnasii publici Amstelaedamensis Rector,” dated 1791.
Brunet, IV, 905; Dibdin, I, 385–86; Graesse, V, 460; Sandys, II, 455; Schweiger, II, 831. Binding as above, vellum slightly darkened, lacking ties; spine with gilt dimmed and traces of a now-absent label and inked call number at foot of spine. Lower edges with institutional rubber-stamp; title-page with shadow of a pencilled numeral. Front free endpaper with paper adhesions from a now-absent bookplate; back pastedown with rubber-stamp and small adhesion. Pages clean save for offsetting to upper margins of a few, from a laid-in slip.
Prunetti, Michelangelo. Saggio pittorico ed analisi delle pitture più famose esistenti in Roma con il compendio delle vite de’più eccellenti pittori ec. ec. Edizione seconda corretta ed aggresciuta. Roma: Nella Stamperia Salvioni, si vende nella Libreria di Giambatista Petrucci, 1818. 12mo (20 cm, 7.9"). xii, 296 pp.
$500.00
Click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.
Uncommon second, corrected edition of a work originally printed in 1786, here in an uncut copy in the original wrappers. Prunetti, the author of several works on painting and art, offers his thoughts on the great paintings of Rome, the artistic techniques used in their creation, and how to judge them, along with brief lives of the most prominent Italian painters.
Original paper wrappers, spine with hand-lettered paper label. Early inked owner’s inscription on front free endpaper; one early inked shouldernote. Some pages with faint hint of foxing, most clean. A very good copy.

The Saints & a Mystic
Pseudo-Dionysius, Areopagita. Beati Dionysii
Areopagitae ... Opera, cum scholiis in librum de Ecclesiastica Hierarchia. Lugduni: apud Gulielmum Rovillium, 1585. Small 8vo. [8] ff., 690 pp., [21 (of 23)] ff., lacks final two blanks (only).
$500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
In addition to the mystical works of pseudo-Dionysius, Areopagita, the volume's editor Joachim Périon (1499?–1559) has added the Epistolae of St. Ignatius (bishop of Antioch), the Epistolae of St. Polycarp (bishop of Smyrna), the Epistolae of St. Martial (bishop of Limoges), and Commonitorium pro Catholicae fidei of St. Vincent, of Lérins.Périon has added scholia and the publisher an index.
Index Aurel. 153.994; Baudrier, IX, 394; not in Adams. Early vellum over boards, evidence of cloth ties and all edges red; author and title in an 18th-century calligraphy hand on spine and spine label of a library removed. A used copy, with front hinge open between front free endpaper and title-page; title-page soiled, old (cancelled) German library stamps on verso of same; lacks final two blank leaves (only). Some light cockling of pages, the odd spot, a very occasional note. (28870)
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Ancient Astrology in
Renaissance ALDINE Clothes
Ptolemaeus, Claudius. Centum Ptolemaei sententiae ad Syrum fratrem à Pontano è graeco in latinum tralatae, atque expositae. Eiusdem Pontani libri XIIII. De reb. coelestibus. Liber etiam de luna imperfectus. Venetiis: In aedibus Aldi, et Andreae soceri, September 1519. 4to in 8's (19.5 cm, 7.7"). 301, [19] ff.
$4375.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Only separate Aldine edition of
one hundred astrological aphorisms, newly translated into Latin and expounded by the Italian humanist Giovanni Gioviano Pontano (1429–1503). The first medieval commentaries on the Centiloquium attributed this influential text to the 2nd-century Greek scientist Claudius Ptolemaeus; however modern historians agree with Renaissance scholars that the author is probably “psuedo-Ptolemy.” The present volume, which also contains the 14-book De rebus coelestibus, and De luna imperfectus, is Book III of Pontano's three-part Opera omnia.
For each of the aphorisms — concerning birthdays, compatibility, event timing, world affairs, and general predictions — Pontanus supplies at least a page of commentary, all printed by Andrea d'Asola, who inherited the press upon the elder Aldus's death in 1515, in the famous Aldine italic with roman uppercase letters standing in the margin to orient the reader and with guide letters set in spaces left for initials (unaccomplished).
The Aldine dolphin-and-anchor device appears on the second register verso.
Binding: Later (but not recent) vellum over flexible boards, gilt-ruled round spine with two gilt labels (red and black); blue speckled edges and a green silk marker.
Provenance: Bookplate of John B. Doukas, front pastedown; undeciphered ownership inscriptions in early ink on the title-page, one dated 1567.
Renouard, Alde, 87, 7; Adams P2215 & P1860 (Opera); Isaac 12895; Graesse, V, 498; UCLA, Aldine Press, 183. Not in Schweiger. Bound as above, somewhat soiled and spotted and lightly rubbed at extremities; vellum pierced at spine corners in association with sewing. Title-page and final three leaves reinforced at gutter to cover wormholes; some other almost-piercings visible in index. A bit of foxing only, some leaves lightly browned, and a faint waterstain to outer margin of perhaps 20 leaves at mid-section. Temoine folded in at f. 22. (30104)
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Illustrations by Dulac
Pushkin, Alexander. The golden cockerel. New York: The Limited Editions Club, n.d. [1950]. Folio. [4], 41, [3] pp.; illus.
$200.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
This eccentric Russian fairy-tale is retold here in prose by Edmund Dulac, the noted children's book illustrator, from the poem by Alexander Pushkin. Dulac, in the foreword, asserts that the meaning of the tale is not easily understood, seeing it as belonging to a “class of folk tales that start as clear and simple myths and . . . have other myths or incidents, often irrelevant, added to them from generation to generation in order to make them more entertaining.” However, it has usually been interpreted as a kind of political satire.
Edmund Dulac created the book's enchanting illustrations, consisting of 10 full-page and six in-text watercolors, a two-color decorative title-page, and decorative head- and tailpieces, and initials, also in two colors. Ernest Ingham designed the book using a monotype Poliphilus font.
The binding is full Russian-red cloth with a
polished brass design of a cockerel set in the front cover and a gilt-lettered title on the spine. This edition is limited to 1500 copies and this offering includes the monthly mailing notice.
Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 205. Binding as above. In a glassine wrapper with shallow edge tears and chips, contained within a chemise covered with Russian-red paper with gilt cockerel design with gilt-lettered spine; spine sunned and paper chipped. The whole in an unevenly sunned slipcase, with slight loss of paper to top edge at mouth and spine. A fine book, in a good+ slipcase. (22314)
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TWO Responses to
Anthony Collins
Pycroft, Samuel. A brief enquiry into free-thinking in matters of religion; and some pretended obstructions to it ... Cambridge: Pr. at the University Press for Edmund Jeffery & Jonah Bowyer, 1713. 8vo (19.8 cm, 7.75"). [2], 150, [2 (errata)] pp. (lacking half-title). [bound with] Addenbrooke, John. A short essay upon free-thinking. London: Jonah Bowyer, 1714. 8vo. [8], 16 pp.
$500.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
First editions of these two responses to Anthony Collins's landmark treatise on freethought (and on either deism or atheism, depending on one's interpretation), the Discourse of Free-Thinking. Numerous attacks on the Discourse were published, including rebuttals by Richard Bentley, George Berkeley, and Jonathan Swift; the present two pieces are more obscure (the second was written by a
physician far better remembered today for his founding of a hospital for the poor than for his writings), but offer interesting perspectives on contemporary thought.
Provenance: The first work's title-page has “Ex dono Autoris” inscribed in the upper margin in an early hand.
Pycroft: ESTC T144698; Allibone 1712. Addenbrooke: ESTC T88427.
Recent marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Pycroft half-title lacking; title-page with annotation as above. Pages slightly age-toned, with light spotting to final leaves of Enquiry and throughout Essay. (20760)
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