•  Brunet, V, 115; De Backer-Sommervogel, VII, 532; Englisch, Der erotischen literatur, 145; Palau 294482. Contemporary alum-tawed pigskin, tooled in blind, spine with inked title; binding darkened and scuffed, with clasps now lacking and with leather torn over head and foot of spine (lacking at foot, with underlying vellum showing). Title-page with inked ownership inscriptions dated 1715, later institutional stamp in lower margin, and faint shadows of pencilled notations; front pastedown and one text page also with institutional stamps. Small spots of worming to lower margins of a number of leaves. Pages age-toned, with some instances of marginalia and underlining in early inked hands and occasionally in pencil (a handful of leaves in part III extensively annotated within text); a few spots of foxing, and one leaf with paper flaws partially obscuring a few letters. A big, solid volume.

Click the images for enlargements.

•  Publisher’s brown cloth, covers blind-stamped, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding faded, cloth partially split along joints and rubbed at corners and edges, spine gilt almost entirely faded. Hinges (inside) starting. Front pastedown with institutional rubber-stamp (no other markings). Pages slightly age-toned, otherwise clean.

The title-page here has a most striking xylographic printer's device depicting a man looking up at the moon. The work is also decorated with a number of handsome, rather unusual woodcut historiated initials and headpieces. The text is in italic and roman with sidenotes.

Provenance: “D.M. Armstrong / Venice 1872.”

•  Not in Adams. Limp vellum with indications of lost ties; soiled, stained, and cockled with some holing (a natural hole in the vellum of the rear cover is repaired by sewing). Front fly-leaves with some holing and chipping, partially repaired with paper. Pages lightly waterstained and cockled with some shallow dog-earing, a little shallow tattering, and some browning and soiling, usually on the edges. Inked ownership inscription on front fly-leaf.

Uncommon.  Searches of OCLC, RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956 locate only five U.S. holdings of this item.

•  Contemporary vellum, spine with early inked title; volume widely sprung, vellum slightly dustsoiled, spine title faded. One leaf with short tear from outer margin, with loss of one or two letters; one leaf with tear from lower margin, extending into text without loss; one leaf with lower outer corner torn away, with loss of five letters. Pages slightly age-toned, with ink blotch to reverse of title-page, otherwise clean.

Paul Hogarth illustrated the book with black-and-white vignettes which open and close each chapter, and eight full-page color wash drawings. John Lewis designed the book choosing a monotype Walbaum font. The binding is quarter red calf over light-brown buckram sides, gilt-lettered on the spine, and gilt-stamped on the front cover with a design of various fox-hunting implements; tucked away at the lower edge of the back cover is a gilt design of a sly-looking fox in full trot.

This edition is limited to 1600 copies and is signed by the artist on the colophon.

•  Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 506.   Binding as above, in original glassine wrapper and slipcase; wrapper with tears at bottom edge. Slipcase with slight bumping at inner front edge. A fine copy, in a near fine slipcase.  (22104)

Paul Hogarth's eight full-page watercolors and over a dozen black-and-white vignettes vividly illustrate the bomb-churned landscape of no-man's land, the explosions of rifle and gunfire, and the irony of well-fed generals enjoying life behind the lines. Dennis J. Grastorf designed the book using a 12-point Baskerville font with two points leading space in between the lines. The binding is a natural-tone rough linen, stamped in black on each cover with a bugle design. David Daiches wrote the introduction.

This edition is limited to 2,000 copies and this offering includes the monthly newsletter. The colophon is signed by the artist.

•  Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 519.   Binding as above; slipcase with two short scratches on back. Fine, in a fine slipcase.  (22078)

Provenance: Charles Spencer, Third Earl of Sunderland, lot 8432 in the Sunderland Library sale (1882).

•  On Saumaise, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, XII, 988–89. On Petau, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, XI, 199–200. Vellum over paste boards. Ex-library with paper labels on spine and pressure-stamps, yet a copy notably clean, bright, and even crisp; perhaps a half-dozen leaves sometime exposed to a small spill(?) lightly marking lower outer corner-tips. All edges speckled red.

Nine plates are included, the last of which an impressively oversized, folding map in French and Russian showing the river route from Yakutsk to Okhotsk; the map is labelled, “Par un Anglois nommé William Walton qui en envoya l‘original à Mr. Visher à Petersbourg le 15 fevrier 1743” and “Calquée d‘après l‘original et gravée par E. Dussy.”

•  Sabin 77608. Mottled calf, worn and cracking, covers framed with triple gilt fillets; spine with five raised, abraded bands and gilt-stamped, chipped floral devices in compartments. Front joint cracked and back starting, with cords holding. Some loss of leather to corners, base of spine.  Bookplate of the Bibliotheca Sobolewskiana.  Edges marbled; most pages clean, a few with varying offsetting.

Very uncommon. OCLC and ESTC report only one holding, at Stanford.

•  Original printed boards, worn, paper almost entirely lost over spine. Without endpapers, apparently as bound. Sewing loosening, with several leaves separated. Scattered spots of mild foxing. Despite faults noted, a charmer.

Uncommon.  Searches of OCLC, RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956 locate only three copies in U.S. libraries.

•  Goedeke, Grundriss zur Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung (for first ed.). 19th-century quarter morocco (refurbished) over paper-covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; edges of paper sides rubbed. Front pastedown with bookseller’s ticket from B. Westermann & Co. of New York, private collector’s 19th-century bookplate, and institutional stamp (no other markings). Small repaired hole to title-page, with four letters unobtrusively replaced. Foxed, with a few corners crumpled or dog-eared. One engraved plate from another work laid in. A pleasant, we would say “atmospheric” little volume.

•  Contemporary vellum pleasantly panelled in blind with arabesques as centerpieces on covers; spine with inked title, light soiling, corners a little bumped. Some tears along turn-ins. Paper generally clean with traces (only) of soiling; on title-page, small stain obscuring one letter. Inked ownership inscription on verso of title-leaf and signs of one-time pencillings on recto. All edges red.

Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Not in ESTC; not found either via OCLC or NUC. Removed from a nonce volume. Reverse with early inked inscription. Tattered, with lower quarter lost, as well as several words along the chipped and repaired inner margin. An incomplete survivor, but scarce and still of interest.

Many of the items produced by the Anderson press bear the misspelling seen in the header here.

•  ESTC P2750 (for complete sets of 1706–07 minutes). Tipped onto a leaf of 19th-century paper; now in a Mylar folder. Waterstained and creased, with uncut edges slightly ragged.

one of Izaak Walton's favored fishing sites

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  ESTC T2712. Marbled paper wrappers. Half-title very lightly stamped by a now-defunct institution. Small ink blot touching outer page edges, otherwise very clean.

•  Blue Lights: Wegelin 1132; Shaw & Shoemaker 42070. Vision: Shaw & Shoemaker 23893. Patriotic Effusions: Wegelin 1045; Shaw & Shoemaker 48509. Waterloo: Shaw & Shoemaker 35871. Letters: Shaw & Shoemaker 23699. Contemporary sheep, covers framed in single gilt roll, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped decorative bands; binding a little rubbed at joints and extremities. Front pastedown with early inked ownership inscription; free endpapers excised. Trimmed closely, in occasional instances just touching outermost letters. Some age-toning and spotting; one leaf with ink stain not obscuring text, two leaves with tears from outer margins extending into text. Intermittent pencilled underlining and small marks. Pp. 49–56 of Letters bound in at end.

Binding: Contemporary half red morocco with rose cloth–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title, raised bands with dotted gilt rules, spine compartments framed in triple gilt fillets with gilt dots in each corner. Top edge gilt; silk ribbon place marker.

•  Binding as above, front cover with one small spot of discoloration, leather showing minor scuffing. Front pastedown with private collector’s armorial bookplate. Pages clean.

•  Very good; scattered small lightened spots to covers (a not unpleasing effect), spine extremities rubbed, with spine somewhat dulled. Pages with a very few spots of foxing. All edges gilt. (1906)