GENERAL MISCELLANY

Tamil PRIMER

•  Advanced primer with in-text wood-engraved cuts.  "New Edition --5,000 Copies," but scarce in U.S. libraries. Text entirely in Tamil.

•  Publisher's wrappers, but clearly removed from a bound volume. (15126)

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Liberal Arts Summarized forFrench Students

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•  Third, corrected and enlarged edition, following the first of 1799: Elementary overviews of mathematics, geography, music, painting, French history, chemistry, rhetoric, and an array of other topics.

The oversized, folding maps of France and the world featurehand-colored provincial and continental borders; two additional oversized, steel-engraved plates depict the gods atop Mt. Olympus and the seven wonders of the world.

Early editions of this work are uncommon.

•  Quérard, La France littéraire, 341.   Contemporary marbled paper–covered boards, spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels; bindings faded and with some soiling/rubbing (most notably to spines). rubbed. Half-title of vol. I, pp. vii/viii of preface, and printed volume labels all bound in at back of vol. II; some signatures of vol. I unopened. Title-pages with traces of mostly effaced inscriptions; first and last few leaves of both volumes very lightly waterstained. One plate with two short tears from lower edge, not touching image. Solid and interesting.  (27048)

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Tiny Tasso — Levitan/Littell Provenance

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•  Miniature printing of Tasso's epic poem, a masterwork of Italian Renaissance literature. This edition comes from Pickering's “Diamond Classics” series; it opens with an engraved portrait of the author done by R. Grave after Raphael Morghen.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with the “Ex Mini-Libris Levitan” bookplate of Rabbi Kalman L. Levitan, the first president of the Miniature Book Society and one of the most prominent miniature book collectors in the United States. Also with the red morocco bookplate of Neva and Guy Littell, the latter president of the R.R. Donnelley & Sons binding company.

Binding:  Late 19th- or early 20th-century Jansenist style red morocco; spines with gilt-stamped title, board edges with gilt fillets, turn-ins with wide gilt inner dentelles; crimson silk pastedowns and free endpapers. Top edges gilt. Binding signed by Zaehnsdorf.

•  NSTC 2T2346; Welsh, Bibliography of Miniature Books, 6608.   Binding as above, corners slightly rubbed, spines darkened; top boards expertly reattached. Front pastedowns each with the two private collectors' bookplates as above, front free endpaper and front fly-leaf of vol. II with Littell ownership inscriptions. Some signatures in vol. II unopened. Pages clean save for a very few scattered faint spots. A lovely little set.  (25177)

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Gentle Prayers for the“Infant Pilgrim”

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•  Early printing of this collection of Christian-themed verses, taken (without attribution) from Ann and Jane Taylor's Hymns for Infant Minds. The Taylor sisters were, both together and separately, exceptionally popular children's authors; this example of their work featuresa preliminary alphabet and eight woodcut illustrations.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 44408.   Plain blue-green paper wrappers, much worn and creased, sewing loosening. Lower corners bumped; pages age-toned and lightly spotted. Much worn but not written or scribbled on; this copy easily imaginable as a critical element of some respectful child's nightly bedtime ritual.  (30253)

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The 1851 Streets of New York & Their Well-Regulated Cartmen

Taylor, Asher. 

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•  Two scarce official publications both in different ways relating to streets, common areas, and the use of them. The ordinance for cartmen and porters details registration requirements and fees, rules for operation, and approved prices for hauling all manner of goods from fish to rubbish to plaster, with the penalties for failure to comply. Taylor's 107-page “Hand Book,” following, locates streets (“Abingdon Place. From Hudson street, at 611, to Greenwich street”) and, where distances are necessary, gives them in hundredths of a mile; going northward, the city seems to end at about 24th Street, except for casual inclusion along Broadway of 33rd and 43rd [sic for 34th] Streets. (Taylor is described as “first marshal” and his book was “compiled for use in the mayor's office.”)

Searches of WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locateonly one copy of each item, those copies being at the New-York Historical Society; bound with the N-YHS's copy of Taylor is a separately paged, six-page publication with a caption title “Hackney coaches,” which gives rules and regulations concerning taxi fares. (The copy of Taylor reported at the New York Public Library is a photostat of the Society's copy.)

The survival of a bound-together duo particularly useful to cartmen and another to hacks, along with a separately bound copy of the text that would have been independently useful to both, raises tantalizing questions about how the pamphlets were sold and left Bowne's shop — i.e., as individual items, as mix-and-match two-fers, bound or only to-be-bound?? The questions may be unresolvable as the surviving exemplars constitute so small a sample!

•  Contemporary sheep with modest blind roll around the perimeter of the boards; plainly rebacked. Overall clean; stray staining in Ordinances, age-toning overall. Housed in a light brown cloth open-back case with dark brown leather spine label, and cloth chemise (by MacDonald of New York). An amazing survival of two interesting works relating to “New-York's” public spaces.  (29764)

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A Sweet Book

•  Early printing: Poems of country life, nature, and nostalgia. With a number of in-text and full-page engravings.

•  Very good; light wear to corners and spine extremities, spine gilt slightly dulled. Offsetting to pastedowns; back free endpaper torn. All edges gilt; pages clean. Inscription dated 1877 to front flyleaf. (1945)

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“ChristiansUnjustly Accused of Polytheism” — On the Unity of Jehovah

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•  First edition. The ostensible conversion of the title was actually an excuse to attack the Athanasian creed; written by the controversialist Rev. Henry Taylor and addressed to Elisha Levi, these letters “espoused the restrained Arianism of Samuel Clarke . . . and embraced the Apollinarian heresy which questioned the human nature of Christ's person” (DNB).

Letters II–IV and V–VII have separate title-pages, dated 1773 and 1774 respectively.

•  ESTC T101252; Allibone 2344; Lowndes 2581–82. On Taylor, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Recent quarter calf with marbled paper–covered sides, leather edges tooled in blind, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments. Outer (closed) edges institutionally rubber-stamped; title-page and one other pressure-stamped in an old style. Very clean and with wide margins.  (25083)

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Anglican Moral Theology from“the Shakespeare of Divines”

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•  First edition: Important philosophical treatise on conscience, casuistry, and Christian ethics, written by the Bishop of Down and Connor. The controversialist Taylor, crowned “the Shakespeare of divines” by Ralph Waldo Emerson, was the subject during his career of a number of accusations of crypto-popery, but the present work — the first of its kind — was designed as a “complete protestant answer to the many Roman Catholic manuals of casuistry” (according to the Oxford DNB online) and intended to provide an authoritative Anglican reference on the subject.

The portrait of the author was engraved by Pierre Lombard, while the added engraved title-page is unsigned. Each of the four books here (in two volumes) has a separate title-page; the main title-pages are printed in black and ruled in red. The text is in English, Greek, and Latin. A printed addenda slip is affixed to the final text page of vol. II, above the catalogue of books sold by Richard Royston. Leaf L6 in vol. II is a cancel (and separated).

Provenance:  Vol. I added title-page recto with inked ownership inscription dated 1781 (“T. Moore”); vol. II front fly-leaf with inked ownership inscription dated 1696 (“Guilel. Rayner”) and another (of “T. Moore's”) dated 1781.

•  ESTC R20123; Wing (rev.) T324; Allibone 2348. On Taylor, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Recent quarter calf and marbled paper–covered sides, leather edges tooled in blind, spine with gilt-stamped title and volume labels and gilt-stamped decorations between raised bands. Ownership inscriptions as above. First few leaves of vol. I (including regular and added title-pages) with tiny spots of worming; slightly larger sections of same to inner margins of some subsequent leaves; a number of pages in both volumes with scattered spots of worming, touching letters but not affecting sense. Light waterstaining to outer margins of some leaves. One leaf in vol. II separated. Significant and attractive.  (24889)

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A HandsomeVictorian Edition

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•  Attractive set of these two enduringly popular works by the Bishop of Down and Connor (1613–67), here well printed with half-titles and title-pages in red and black, and a steel-engraved frontispiece in the first volume.


Binding:  Prize binding from King Edward VI's School: Contemporary walnut-brown calf, framed and panelled in blind double fillets with blind-stamped corner crosses and gilt-stamped English Royal coat of arms (with the quarter of France and dragon supporter) as central medallions; spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels and blind-stamped crosses in compartments.

Provenance: Front fly-leaf of vol. I with inked inscription dated 1863, noting this set's presentation to R.K. Rodwell as an “Extra Prize for the best English Essay.”

•  NSTC 2T3717.   Bound as above, spines and extremities rubbed. Endpapers and frontispiece lightly spotted. All edges stained red.  (21923)

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The One Necessity

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•  Second edition of the Unum necessarium, following the first of 1653, followed by the first edition of the Further Explication. Jeremy Taylor (1613–67), a High Church divine and chaplain to Charles I, was well known as a theologian and one of the school of Caroline Divines who brilliantly systematized Anglican theology in the 17th century. The first of these present works caused him some difficulty, as some of its arguments were widely considered unorthodox and antidoctrinal; the Further Explication was Taylor’s attempt to clarify his position.

The engraved frontispiece by P. Lombart depicts Jesus in shepherd guise, and is followed by a title-page printed in red and black. An oversized, folding plate shows a contrite heart accompanied by scriptural figures and allegorical images; this is also signed, Lombart. Both works came off the press with incorrect pagination, the latter with apparent page count being thrown significantly off.

Provenance: Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of Charles Grave Hudson.

•  ESTC R203751; Wing (rev.) T415. Contemporary speckled calf, framed in blind, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; leather cracked over joints and spine. Occasional pencilled bracketing.

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Controversial Apocalyptic “Analysis”
   [“Controversial” being ONE Word for It!]

•  Uncommon second, expanded edition: Ananti-Catholic examination of biblical prophesy, written by a minister of Larbert who claimed that much of Revelation had been fulfilled by the actions of the king of Prussia, and who predicted the total destruction of Turkey (to the delight, it was rumored, of Catherine the Great). The Monthly Review, expressing doubt over the “new and amazing explications” contained in the first edition, concluded that “you will find in [this book] such things as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered the heart of any man, except the heart of Mr. Lauchlan Taylor . . . or of that other wonderful Decypherer, who discovered the Cherokee Indians in the prophecies of Ezekiel” (Vol. XXVIII, March 1763). Click the image for an enlargement.

Leaf containing pp. 109–10 is a cancel.

•  ESTC T115642.   Removed from a nonce volume. Title-page with inked numeral in upper outer corner. Occasional light staining or dust-soiling; one outer margin with inked annotation. A nice, neat book.  (27637)

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Loving the Sinner, Hating the Sin — SLAVERY

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•  First edition: Thoughts on Methodist church fellowship for Christian slaveholders, and on abolition in general. Although arguing here at length that slavery is immoral and unchristian, Taylor also posits that the Church as an organization cannot take an official stand on its legality due to the necessity of maintaining separation between religious and civil matters.

•  Not in Library Company, Afro-Americana (rev. ed.); not in Sabin.   Publisher's brown cloth, covers framed in blind, spine with gilt-stamped title and elaborate decorations; spine and edges moderately sunned, extremities rubbed, front joint with small spot of insect damage. Back pastedown with pencilled calculations. Foxed, with a few lower outer corners bumped.  (30358)

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A Scandinavian Epic — A Swedish Production — Contributions from Longfellow!

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•  One of the most beloved of all works in Swedish literature, Tegnér's Frithiof's Saga is an epic poem consisting of 24 cantos or ballads, each describing an event in the legendary hunter's life. The text of this edition was compiled by John T. Winterich from four English verse translations by William Lewery Blackley, Lucius Sherman, Thomas and Martha Holcomb, and, of all people, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. In 1837, 12 years after the epic's original publication, Longfellow wrote a paper for the North American Review synopsizing each canto, interspersing selected lines of translation in English. Longfellow's synopses, along with his contribution to the translation of Frithiof's Saga (225 lines in all), are happily here incorporated complete into one volume for the first time.  Bayard Taylor wrote the general introduction.

The book is profusely illustrated with pen drawings by Eric Palmquist, who has signed the colophon; of these, some are full-page, and some are spread across two pages with the text printed beneath. Most are smaller in-text drawings, including an extensive series of decorative tailpieces.

This edition was prepared under the supervision of Ragnar Svanström at the Royal Printing House in Stockholm, Sweden, and is limited to 1500 copies. Designer Karl-Erik Forsberg used a hand-set Berling Roman font which he himself designed; Forsberg also drew uncial letters, printed in red ink, for use on the title-page and for the canto-opening initials.

The binding is half natural Swedish linen stamped on the spine in red and black; the sides are covered with Swedish paper hand-grained to look like wood, and bear a small gold-stamped design of a warship, the Norse drakkar.

This is numbered copy 972 of 1500 printed; it wassigned by the illustrator.  The relevant Club newsletter is laid in.

Binding:  Quarter tan Swedish linen with streaked red paper–covered sides, front cover with gilt-stamped Viking ship, spine with decorative title in black and red, in the original matching slipcase with printed paper spine label.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 232.   Binding as above, spine slightly sunned, slipcase with moderate shelfwear to edges and one edge opening. A solid, attractive copy of a handsome book.  (29946)

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Travels inGreece & Turkey

•  First U.S. edition, in an uncut copy in the original publisher’s binding. Emerson, who added the Tennent surname in 1831 and was knighted in 1845, here describes his travels through Greece and Turkey in “characteristic sketches of manners and scenery” (p. iii); a great supporter of Greek independence, he considered the present work more “picturesque than political” (ibid.).

The six pages of advertisements offer multiplereviews of the Harper works listed, not just publication information!

Provenance: Front free endpaper with ex libris inscription initialed “GRW”: William [Guillelmus] R. Whittingham, Bishop of Baltimore.

•  Shoemaker 40623; NSTC 2E8969. Publisher’s quarter cloth and paper-covered sides, spine with printed paper label; binding faded and worn, spine label chipped and darkened. Front pastedown with institutional rubber-stamp, no other markings; pages untrimmed, and foxed throughout.

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WithExtensive Book Advertising at the End — “New Books
& New Editions” for Boston & Beyond, 1856

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•  Second U.S. edition: The first volume of Tennyson’s verse that was published. after his acceptance of the poet-laureateship.

•  Publisher’s cloth, covers blind-stamped, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding lightly scuffed overall, spine with extremities worn and one compartment gently faded, back joint with small ink blotch and corner of front cover with traces of old adhesion, as a sticker. Front pastedown with private collector’s bookplate and institutional bookplate, front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription dated 1859, title-page verso stamped (no other markings). Pages slightly age-toned. (19078)

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Tennyson Juvenilia fromthe Chaucer Press, Bungay

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•  First edition of this verse comedy written by the poet at the age of 14, edited by his grandson. 1500 copies were printed by R. Clay & Sons at the Chaucer Press, Bungay, on “Whitman hand-made paper”; an attractive label inside the back cover indicates that this copy was acquired (and/or the edition was distributed) by way of “The Times Book Club, 42 Wigmore Street, London, W.1.”

Binding:  Publisher's quarter parchment over handsome, textured, swirl-printed tan paper; spine with gilt-stamped author and title. Edges uncut.

•  Bound as above; corners bumped, spine darkened and rubbed, joints also rubbed. Title-page with small paper adhesion, one other page with light smudge, a little light dust-soiling along the uncut lower edges, otherwise clean.  (29724)

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The Scottish Church Divided

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•  From about 1820 through 1843 the Church of Scotland was in turmoil over the question of lay patronage and its implications regarding civil authority over the church; in 1843, after the “Ten Years’ Conflict” between the evangelical and moderate branches of the church, the issues were temporarily resolved by “the Disruption,” in which close to a third of the ministers of the Church of Scotland separated to form the Free Church of Scotland. The upheaval prompted the publication of numerous pamphlets and treatises on the controversy, and its effects continued to be felt in Scotland for many years afterward.

The collection contains works by many of the principal voices of the conflict. The vast majority of the publications are from ca. 1840.

A good research collection. 

•  All items are in good to very good condition, disbound, a few with library markings (stamps) but a few only. The strange glossy effect in our “group photo” is the pamphlets' archival mylar folders, reflecting light — nothing worse, and nothing stranger! You can CLICK HERE for a list.   Do note, please, that this gathering is being sold as a collection only.

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Petite Printing of Terence's Plays

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•  Later edition of Terence's six plays, his only known works, long in circulation but only first published by the Elzevirs in 1619. According to Suetonius, Publius Terentius Afer (Terence, ca. 195–159 BC) came to Rome as a slave to a senator, who recognized the boy's talent and freed him. Accepted into a circle of the Roman elite, Terence composed six plays based on Greek originals; and though elder dramatists criticized his writing, the playwright became famous, winning even Julius Caesar's praise.

The first volume is introduced by an engraved title-page showing two men arguing in an architectural setting, with the title above in a decorative cartouche. The text, edited by Daniel Heinsius (1580–1655) and here divided into two volumes paginated continuously, is printed in roman and italic, with at least two decorative tailpieces in the second volume. This edition isless common than others printed the same year, by Jan Blaeu et al.

Binding:  Contemporary mottled calf with triple gilt fillets framing gilt supra-libros “DG” at the center of each cover, author's name gilt to spines.



Provenance:  In both volumes: bookplate of the Biblioteca Lamoniana with the designation “Y” (front pastedown), and ink stamp “L” surmounted by a crown (first leaf of text) — both marks of the prestigiousLamoignon family library formerly located at the (now home to the Bibliothèque historique de la ville de Paris). Guillaume de Lamoignon (1617–77) became the first president of the Parlement in 1658.

•  Willems 1136; Goldsmid, III, 59; Schweiger, III, 1065; Graesse, VI, Part II, 59.   Binding as above; lightly rubbed with a little chipping, joints cracked but holding fine. Light offsetting from binding onto fly-leaves, both vols., and a small stain near lower gutter and waterstain in lower outer corner of first twelve pages of the first vol. A few ex-Lamoignon library markings on fly-leaves. A lovely, stocking-size set the shape of two fine chocolate bars!  (30305)

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English/Latin Edition — Roman Comedy

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•  Third edition of Richard Bernard's translation of Terence, the first in English, with the Latin text preceding it before every scene; present here are the complete six comedies. The first edition was 1598.

•  Schweiger, II, 1079; ESTC S118348.   Contemporary calf, recently rebacked; spine with raised bands, gilt-stamped title and gilt date at base. Covers crudely blind-tooled in concentric compartments; clearly a provincial binding. “Ding” to top of front cover and bits of leather lost at at edges and corners of both covers; offsetting from leather along margins of endpapers and final page of text. Title-page mounted, with chips at corners, costing the first letter of title and a portion of three additional letters. Pages age-toned, with occasional soiling, some heavy soiling on title-page, and some mild foxing or the odd spot. A handful of leaves (including title-page) with extensive ownership signatures or penmanship trials in early inked hands, extending sometimes over type. Closely trimmed, in some cases into tops of letters of heading; chip at outer margin of pp. 175–76 without costing any text. Complete, despite irregular pagination.  (23771)

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Early American Edition: German Reformed Hymnal

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•  Gerhardt Tersteegen (1697–1769) was a pillar of German pietism, a popular and innovative poet noted for his use of free verse, and (along with Joachim Neander) one of the two most significant German hymnographers of the 18th century. First published in 1729, his “Spiritual Flower Garden for Ardent Souls” contains “end-rhymes,” “meditations,” and hymns. The first American edition appeared in 1747; this is the fourth.

•  Evans 23823; ESTC W21016; Arndt & Eck 805.   Contemporary mottled sheep, covers framed in blind, with remnants of original clasp, spine with later gilt-stamped leather title and publication labels; leather mildly rubbed, spine leather with small cracks, spine and joints unobtrusively repaired. Front free endpaper with pencilled ownership inscription dated 1835; afterwards, ex–theological library: Old-fashioned bookplate on front pastedown, title-page pressure-stamped, pocket on back pastedown. Pagination erratic; several pages appearing out of order. A few corners bumped or dog-eared; a good many sections moderately browned and stained as is commonly seen with these Germantown imprints.  (27905)

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Hundreds ofCOLOR-PRINTED Anatomical Illustrations

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•  Second, revised and expanded edition, following the first of 1905: Cowritten by one of the authors of the important Traité d’anatomie humaine and long a standard reference work for medical students, this thorough and substantive guide to gross anatomy is extensively illustrated with color-printed, in-text engravings on almost every page, depicting every part of the body — many in both normal and abnormal states.

Provenance:  Bindings stamped “R.P.M.” at foot of each spine: physician Ricardo P. Mura, whose inked inscription (dated 1920) is on both title-pages and whose rubber-stamp is also on the half-titles.

•  Not in Garrison & Morton.   Contemporary treed sheep, spines with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels; joints and edges mildly rubbed, a few small scuffs to spines. Provenance markings as above; vol. I with a few leaves having small portion of outer margin chewed. Pages age-toned, otherwise almost entirely clean, a few with light spots of foxing. Once virtually required for physicians' working libraries, this is still desirable for significance, illustrations, and general interest.  (29932)

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French Perspective onTheir Own Victory

•  A report, in official form, of the French victory at Fontenoy over the British during the War of the Austrian Succession. Fontenoy was a set-piece battle, and a standard object of study for military science in the 18th century.

This work is rare: A search of ESTC, NUC Pre-1946, RLIN, and OCLC revealed onlyone copy.

•  ESTC T13180. In recent marbled wrappers. Uncut copy: some soiling and deckle edges with some chipping with loss of part of a letter in one place. Paper lightly age-toned. Rubber-stamps from a now-defunct library, including one on title-page.

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Becky! Comes to America

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•  First U.S. edition of Thackeray’s first great literary success. This classic Victorian novel, illustrated with the author’s own designs, had originally appeared in London in serialized form commencing the year before this publication.

•  NCBEL, III, 857. Contemporary half goat with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title label; binding worn and rubbed, but sturdy. Title-page with early inked ownership inscription. Front free endpaper excised, back free endpaper torn. Pages with scattered light pencil markings and some spots of mild foxing, with most of the plates browned. (8294)
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The Adventure Starts atHarvard
Then Boards a Train & Heads West

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•  First edition of this detective novel from a prolific female author: A stalwart former military man tries to unravel a convoluted kidnapping scheme involving thwarted financial ambitions and a beautiful young lady who (of course) may or may not be implicated. While the novel opens at Harvard University, much of the action takes place in California, including San Francisco's Chinatown, and the earthquake of 1906 plays an important role. The book isillustrated with six halftone plates by Edmund Marion Ashe.

Signed binding: Publisher's maroon textured cloth, front cover with blind-stamped lion rampant outlined in black, gilt-stamped title, and outlined heart and roundel decorations. Signed by American illustrator and book designer Thomas Maitland Cleland (front cover blind-stamped “C”).

•  Binding as above, mild rubbing at extremities and joints, front cover clean and beautiful. Scattered small smudges, pages predominantly clean. A nice copy.  (28579)

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Dramatic Romance & Comic Opera —
With Hot Air Balloons!

Each:   $450.00

Bifolia. [2] ff.
Each:   $1000.00

•  Benefit performances, dances with great names, in-theatre “balloon ascensions,” two pantos, and wonderfully *various* evenings are offered — although this is too early for “Mr. Kite” and there appear to be no “effects” involving trampolines.  Our broadside bills advertise productions at the Theatres-Royal in Covent Garden and Drury Lane, with dates running from the winter of 1783 through the spring of '84. Featured plays include Romeo and Juliet, Douglas, The West Indian, and “a new comic opera” called Robin Hood; or, Sherwood Forest.

These theatrical ephemera are quite scarce: While 19th-century examples are fairly common, a check of ESTC found only a few scattered instances of 18th-century Theatre-Royal playbills, none with more than one holding.

Secondary attractions range from dances to minor dramatic works to pantomimes, with sheets for consecutive evenings showing how a main attraction might be paired with a comedy one night and a musical entertainment the next. John Kemble and his sister Sarah Siddons appear together on several playbills, while William Lewis (that "airiest and most mercurial of comedians," according to the Oxford Companion to the Theatre) takes the lead role in many productions.

All of the playbills list cast members by part, and the majority have a final banner promoting the next evening’s production. Many include the phrase "Vivant Rex & Regina," while on several sheets it is mentioned that the main play’s accompaniment will be a "Pantomime Entertainment called Fortunatus / In which will be introduced an Air Balloon." Throughout the series, the typography is workmanlike — reflecting speedy job-printing — but is surprisingly accurate, with only a few reversed letters, hardly any letters dropped, and consistent orthography.

A few playbills are actually bifolia — double spreads — with conjoined leaves for consecutive nights at the two different theaters, showing that Covent-Garden and Drury-Lane sent their bills in to be printed at the same time.

•  In Mylar folders. Most leaves with chipped edges, in a few cases touching last lines; a few leaves with small holes. Leaves in overall good condition, with varying degrees of off-setting, fading, and age-toning or soiling to edges.  For the PLAYBILLS,  click here.

Nihil obstat — Documents from the Vatican Archives
A Bit of Skullduggery in the Background

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•  A compendium of letters and documents from the Vatican Library concerning the ecclesiastical history of Hungary in the years 1216–1352 and 1352–1526, respectively — primary sources in Latin and Italian, listed in a table of contents at the beginning of each volume and indexed “virorum et locorum praecipuorum” at the end.

The Catholic canonist Augustin Theiner (1804–74) went to the Vatican Archives in 1850 at the invitation of Pius IX, who five years later appointed him Prefect. During his tenure at the BAV, Theiner published numerous collections of primary source material, including the present set. In 1870, however, he was dismissed from his esteemed post for sharing documents related to the Council of Trent with opponents of the Curia during Vatican Council (1869–70).

Provenance:  Bookplates of Madison University Library and Colgate University Library on the front pastedown of each volume, and Madison again on the half-title.

•  NCE, 14, 9 (Theiner); A. Mauri, “A. Theiner”, in ArchStorIt 21 (1875), pp. 350–91; H. Gisiger, “Theiner und die Jesuiten,” in Bilder aus der Geschichte der katholischen Reformbewegung, 1.5–6 (1875), pp. 213–314; ADB 37, pp. 674–77; LTK 10, pp. 27–28.   Half roan and green cloth over boards with marbled edges and gilt to spines, a bit rubbed and with evidence of onetime shelf-labels; offsetting from leather turn-ins visible at edges and internally on some leaves. Very minor foxing to a few leaves in vol. I, and scattered small inkstains in both volumes. Title imprint in vol. II smudged in printing.  (29409)

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Considering theA--------n R---------n

•  Although this is labelled “Second Edition,” it is printed from the same setting of type as the first edition. (Another edition of 1778, also labelled “Second Edition,” is indeed entirely reset and has a shorter collation.) The work attempts to convey the substance of several Parliamentary speeches concerning the American controversy, with at least one Cassandra saying the Franco-American alliance cannot last, and another doubting the war can have any lasting effect on the British economy. Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Adams, American Controversy, 78-102b; Sabin 95788.   Sewn, later wrappers applied; some foxing. Four leaves chipped along the outer margin, not affecting text. Without the final blank (only); with the half-title. A very good, clean copy.  (25497)

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Thomas à K forAmerican Methodists
    Ownership Marks to Dream On?

•  Early American printing of John Wesley's abridged version of the Imitatio Christi, following the London first edition of 1741. This was one of a series of works published by John Dickins, an early Methodist preacher, for the use of Methodist Societies in the U.S.; Dickins's publishing operation eventually became the Methodist Publishing House, still in business today as the United Methodist Publishing House.

Provenance: An interesting array of ownership inscriptions: “Abigail Davis Book Given her By her Friend [Master?] Vaughan” — “Abigail Davis Book”— “Abigail Davis” — “Abigail Vaughan, Her Book,” this last written largest of all.  (“Reader, I married him”?)

•  Evans 27179; ESTC W33646.   Contemporary sheep, binding overall showing scuffs and small cracks. Endpapers and fly-leaf with early inked ownership inscriptions; title-page verso institutionally rubber-stamped. Pages age-toned and spotted, with intermittent pencilled bracketing; a few leaves starting to separate. (20808)

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An American Scots Pastor Edits “Kempis” — A Glaswegian Writes the Preface

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•  “Rendered into English from the original Latin, by John Payne. With an introductory essay, by Thomas Chalmers, of Glasgow. A new edition: edited by Howard Malcolm, Pastor of the Federal Street Baptist Church, Boston.” A Protestant edition, without the fourth “book” (i.e., chapter).

This has an engraved title-page with vignette incorporating David as harpist, and a steel-engraved frontispiece signed by J. Eddy as engraver, “W. Heath, del.”

Provenance:  Inked ownership note to blank of “Charlotte Russell / July 14th — 1831.”

•  Publisher's brown cloth shelfback with paper-covered boards; binding fragile, showing considerable wear with tears in the cloth. Foxing and age-toning; page edges lightly chipped and worn. Ex-library: call number on binding, bookplate, pressure-stamps and other identifications, pencilling. Uncut copy.  (23938)

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SomeoneHad to Be . . .
   . . . NORTH CAROLINA's First

Single-click either image for an enlargement.

•  Somebody had to be North Carolina’s first native born poet and the task/honor was Joseph Thomas’s, and he did it with A Poetical Descant! It is scarce, having been printed in small format in a small town by a very small-time printer for a rather small audience. Thomas’s other publications include a hymnal and short works of theology (totally fitting given that he was an itinerant preacher), and an autobiography.

•  Wegelin, American Poetry, 1168; Shaw & Shoemaker 39076. Recent quarter cloth with blue-green paper sides, in the style of early 19th-centry American books. Ex–mercantile library with a few stamps, including on title-page. Two letters of title abraded and mostly invisible, yet, still, a clean copy.

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OriginalPRINTED Boards & Three Plates Signed by Anderson

•  Later American edition and in early American printed boards, now VERY scarce as such. James Thomson (1700–48), Scottish poet and dramatist, was one of the most influential poets of his day; he is perhaps best remembered for “The Seasons” whose sections were published separately — Winter in 1726, Summer in 1727, Spring in 1728, and Autumn in 1730. The complete poem was published in 1730 and inspired numerous imitators and admirers, such as Coleridge and Haydn, who composed an oratorio from its German translation.

The added engraved title-page here is embellished with engravings from the designs of Richard Westall, and the frontispiece and added title-page were engraved by John Scoles. Among the four wood-engraved illustrations for the seasons, three are definitely by Alexander Anderson. “Spring” and “Summer” are signed “Anderson” and “Winter” is signed “A.”

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 42282; Pomeroy, Alexander Anderson, 565a.   Uncut and partially unopened copy. Publisher's printed paper over boards softly rubbed, obscuring some printing detail; very fragile, with joints cracked and weak, paper of spine cracked and chipped. Initials “JSH” inked on front free endpaper; a different monogram inked at top of title-page. All plates in nice impressions and frontispiece with protective tissue guard; some foxing/offsetting to this and engraved title-page opposite. Very evocative.  (9907)

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Herbal/Alternative Medicine: It'sThe Thomsonian System

•  Popular yet controversial manual by a self-taught, “Empiric” herbalist who encouraged public resistance to the then-fashionable established practices of treating illnesses with mercury, opium, and bloodletting, establishing his own system based on steaming and on botanical remedies (including lobelia, bayberry, and cayenne pepper). This is the eighth edition, following the first of 1822; Thomson here provides detailed instructions for making home remedies from the plants mentioned above, as well as raspberry leaves, valerian, goldenseal, etc. Click the images for enlargements.

Among the public health crises Thomson discusses in this guidebook is an increase inchildbirth mortality rates; he notes that many doctors' techniques and prescriptions endangered the lives of women and infants, and strongly recommends that pregnant women rely on experienced midwives instead of greedy, “ignorant pretenders” (p. 179).

•  American Imprints 14994. Not in Garrison & Morton.   Contemporary treed sheep, spine with later paper, hand-inked label; binding moderately rubbed overall, spine head chipped, front joint cracked and back joint starting from foot. One leaf with small hole, not touching text; one leaf with tear from lower margin, extending into text without loss. Foxing, staining, used and fit for more use.  (28458)

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“Literary” Plato

Single-click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.

•  Second edition, following the first of 1754: David Ruhnken's revision of this 4th century A.D. guide to Plato's vocabulary and usage. Ruhnken was a prominent Greek scholar who served as chair of Latin and professor of Greek at the University of Wittenberg; Sandys notes that the “ learned notes ” Ruhnken provided for this work “drew the attention of scholars to the literary interest of Plato.”

•  Brunet, V, 861; Sandys, II, 457; Schweiger, I, 332. Contemporary paper-covered boards, spine with inked paper label; binding scuffed and rubbed, spine with paper shelving label (inked through), title-label darkened. Front pastedown with 19th-century collector's bookplate, title-page verso with same collector's inked inscription. Light foxing. Final leaf with upper outer corner torn away, with loss of a few letters.

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TO Part XXXVI

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