Sole edition.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 14179 & 12469. Recent gray-green paper over light boards; front cover with paper label, lettered in black. Uncut copy. Paper lightly age-toned and deckle edges with some light browning, waterstaining, and traces of soiling.

•  Publisher's quarter cloth with illustrated paper sides. Inside front hinge weak and paper split due to nature of binding. Else, sound. (3595)

Parson Weems (1756–1825) is best known for this highly readable biography of Washington, the one which contains the famous story of the cherry-tree. Weems was a great storyteller whose technique was to use anecdotes as a window into the moral character of his subjects. He has since fallen into disfavor, especially among academic historians who dismiss his work as mere hagiography and question the accuracy of some of the incidents. Perhaps this work's most enduring legacy is how it reflects the nearly universal esteem and awe in which Washington was held during the 19th century.

Illustrator Robert Quackenbush, whose signature appears on the colophon page, created the book's seven full-page two-color plates (blue and white), 12 half-page woodcuts (mostly black and white, with at least one in red and white), and the two-page blue and white color spread of Washington crossing the Delaware. The monthly newsletter (included with this offering) states that these evoke “a combination of the formal style of the early Byzantine period of Constantine and the woodcuts of Dürer.”

Henry Steele Commager, author of numerous works of American intellectual, political, and cultural history, wrote the introduction. Richard Ellis designed the book choosing a 12-point Modern 8A font with three points leading-space between the lines. Encircling each chapter title is a wreath of 13 stars, with the initials “G W” printed above.

Binding:  Full American white cotton printed with a “colonial-style” pattern of eagles and stars in blue. Gilt-stamped leather spine label.

•  Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 475.   Binding as above. Slipcase covered in blue paper; title label on spine. Fine, in a fine slipcase.  (22081)

•  NSTC 2W12242.   Publisher's maroon pebbled cloth, covers and spine gilt-stamped, rebacked preserving original spine; corners rubbed, spine darkened, covers institutionally pressure-stamped. All edges gilt. Title-page and first text page faintly rubber-stamped by a now-defunct institution. One plate with tear from upper margin extending into image and two other leaves each with a tear not reaching text; some instances of damage where one leaf sometime adhered to another; general soiling. Faults obvious and to be noted, but — amazing.  (23862)

•  Recent paper wrappers. Reverse of the title-page and one other page with institutional stamps; a few pages with pencilled marginalia, otherwise clean.

For more POST-1820 AMERICANA,  click here.
For more CHILDREN / EDUCATION,  click here.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 30511; Richmond 1416.   Full original calf, plain style, rubbed overall with small chips on front cover; chip at head of spine, front joint starting. Paper browned, and some stains; a bit of blue crayon doodling in blank area of top left corner of p. 50. Early leaves with stitch holes in inner margin, not touching text; three leaves with tears, not affecting text. Ex–theological library with area of spine blacked out where call number once was; library name and five-digit number rubber-stamped on front pastedown, accession number inked and rubber-stamped at base of p. [iii]. (21139)

This volume nicely shows both Welser's wealth (access to the Aldine press) and his antiquarian scholarship (on the history and Roman antiquities of Augsburg, Germany). A good example of the late Aldine press's contract work, it employs the usual mix of roman and italic type and on some leaves demonstrates the art of printing sideways; it does not bear the anchor and dolphin device, but is attributed to Aldus in Renouard, which makes a great deal of sense given the relationship between Welser and Manuzio. It is uncommon in today's market and is little held in U.S. libraries.

Contents include: Antiqua quae Augustae Vindelicorum extant monumenta (pp. 199–244); Antiqua agri Augustani monumenta (pp. 245–258); Antiqua monumenta peregrina (pp. 259–74). Signature D is letterpress and an engraved double page map (upside down); signature Ii is letterpress and an engraved double page folding plate.

Provenance: Signature of Hermanus Conringius, dated 1662.

•  Renouard, Alde, 252. Vellum over paste boards, lacking ties; old inked title and paper shelving label on spine (minor wear, mild soiling and discolorations). Ex–theological seminary with bookplate on front pastedown and rubber-stamp on title-page engraving; title-page mounted. Early inked writing on front fly-leaf and rear free endpaper; a few instances of inked underlining and marginal notation. First few leaves with evidence of worming in bottom right corners and top right corners of first six repaired; light waterstains at top margins of some later leaves. Edges sprinkled red. Overall, a clean, crisp copy.

•  ESTC T31293.   19th-century half morocco with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; edges slightly scuffed, spine head chipped. Front free endpaper excised; back free endpaper with outer edge chipped. Title-page with institutional pressure-stamp and with small inked numeral in upper margin. All edges gilt. In fact, quite decent. (20834)

Binding: Publisher’s pebbled leather, half red over brown, with gilt-stamped title on covers and ornately gilt spine. All edges gilt.

•  Binding as above. Joints and edges somewhat rubbed with a little loss on corners and chipping at foot of spine. Light soiling and foxing to endpapers, and light foxing to frontispiece and following three leaves; interior otherwise clean. Pencilled ownership inscriptions on recto of front free endpaper and front flyleaf. Quite handsome and in strikingly good condition.

Weston’s claim for his systems was that “By this new method any, who can but tolerably write their names in round-hand, may with ease (by this book alone without any teacher) take down from ye speaker’s mouth, any sermon, speech, trial, play, &c., word by word, though they know nothing of Latin, and may likewise read one another’s writing distinctly, be it ever so long after it is written; to perform these by any other short-hand method extant is utterly impossible, as is evident from ye books themselves.” He also addresses the question of speed, assuring the would-be stenographer that in his method “ . . . can be joined in every sentence, at least two, three, four, five, six, seven, or more words together in one without taking off ye pen, in ye twinkling of an eye, and that by the signs of the English moods, tenses, persons, particles, &c., never before invented . . . [,]” the whole of a conversation can be captured.

•  ESTC T202325. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Title-page and several others rubber-stamped by a now-defunct institution — being a “mercantile” library, interesting provenance for a book of this sort. First and last few leaves showing faint waterstaining; pages and plates otherwise generally clean.

The advertisement leaves are devoted specifically to books of phallic subject matter.

•  NSTC 0803266; Allibone, Critical Dictionary, 1505. Publisher’s green cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped medallion, spine with gilt-stamped title; cloth rubbed at corners and pulled at spine extremities, board edges lightly discolored. Pencilled owner’s name in upper margin of title-page. Title-page and two others pressure-stamped; preface with inked annotation and stamped numeral. Pages slightly age-toned, else clean.

•  Garrison A.19.1.f. Publisher’s cloth, front cover and spine stamped in gold; lacking the very scarce dustjacket, with spine sunned, and cloth wrinkled over lower portion of back cover. Pages clean.

•  Garrison A28.I.a. Publisher’s green cloth, front cover stamped with a French country in white, red, and gold, spine with gilt-stamped title; original box lacking, cloth a bit rubbed over corners and spine extremities, with spine title dimmed. Front free endpaper with inked owner’s inscription dated 1919. Faint waterstaining to outer margins of pp. 21–35.

For LITERATURE, at the moment
including more WHARTON,  click here.
For more of WOMEN's interest,  click here.
For VOYAGES, TRAVELS, & books on
PLACES,  click here.
For more “GIFTABLES” — mostly $150
      & UNDER,  click here.

The title-page proclaims “This book is not to be sold, but given away.”

•  ESTC N9602. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper label. Title-page with repairs to margins and one page crease; title-page verso rubber-stamped by a now-defunct institution. First few leaves with inner margins repaired. Pages untrimmed, and gently age-toned.

Click either image for enlargement.

In the document at hand, Whitcomb in his capacity of justice of the peace attests on the verso of the leaf to the authenticity of the document on the recto. His attestation is approximately 1.5" high by 8" wide, with a clear signature.

The document on the recto is a printed legal form by which Artemus How of Boton, Worcester County, Massachusetts Bay Province, sells 50 acres of land to Bezeleel Hale. Interestingly, both Artemus and his wife Abigail signed the instrument of sale.

•  On Whitcomb, see: Appleton’s Cyclopaedia. Good/Good+ condition: short fold tears. Three small areas of discoloration from old tape used to tip item into an album. With old pencilled dealer’s code (Sessler’s).

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 39807; Smith, Americans Abroad, W66. Contemporary paper-covered boards, spines with printed paper labels; darkened and worn, vol. I with covers detached and paper cracked over spine, vol. II with front joint open though presently holding Front pastedowns with bookplates of the Salem Library Company; vol. I with early inked inscriptions to endpapers and half-title. Light to moderate foxing, no other stains.

Fifth edition of the Voyage from London and second edition of the Continuation.

•  Voyage from London: Sabin 103534; Alden & Landis 739/343; ESTC T29204. Continuation: Sabin 103535 & 103538; Alden & Landis 739/340; ESTC T34033 & T34025.   Recent full calf antique-style with gilt concentric panels on covers and gilt corner-devices on same; round spine with raised bands, each accented by gilt rules. 19th-century wood-engraved portrait of Whitefield added as a frontispiece. A very pleasing volume.  (21775)

•  NSTC 2W17788.   Original wrappers, front wrapper chipped at edges, back wrapper chipped at inner edge and with paper remnants affixed at top. Leaves loose (wrappers included). Long tear in fore-margin of title-leaf and small chips in inner margins of title- and final leaves. Some short marginal tears. Small chips to lower outer margins. Lengthwise fold mark. (8931)

This is the stated 15th edition; the work was originally printed in 1740, under the title An Essay towards an Instruction for the Indians. The author, an Anglican divine praised by the DNB for “his ecclesiastical discipline . . . his transparent purity, his uniform sweetness of temper, and his self-denying charities,” was bishop of Sodor and Man from 1697 until his death in 1755, and an early supporter of both the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

•  ESTC T85016; Field, Essay towards an Indian Bibliography, 1680 (for early eds.); Sabin 104691. On Wilson, see: Dictionary of National Biography. Recent quarter calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and blind-tooled decorations in compartments. Lower edges of closed book and half-title (in lower margin) institutionally rubber-stamped (no other markings). First and last two leaves slightly foxed, pages otherwise clean.

This has a very few, very elegant headpieces, tailpieces, and historiated initials.

•  ESTC T138654. Contemporary calf double-panelled in blind, outer and innermost panels speckled; blind-stamped corner fleurons, center panel framed in blind roll; spine with raised bands and painted gilt cross decorations. Leather worn, with medium-sized abrasions, and cracked over joints; binding still holding reasonably solidly. Front pastedown showing traces of now-absent bookplate; title-page with small inked notation in upper outer corner, and first text page with personal stamp. Pages gently cockled, with a few scattered spots, but generally clean.

For more 18TH-CENTURY BOOKS,  click here.
For more RELIGION,  click here.

This Boston edition most likely appeared shortly after the Philadelphia edition printed in the same year; among the prominent American women’s rights activists known to have read and been influenced by the Vindication are Judith Sargent Murray, Abigail Adams, and (later) Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

•  Evans 25054; ESTC W2450; PMM 242 (for first ed.); Windle, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, A5d. Recent quarter calf over marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels and gilt-stamped devices between raised bands. Half-title mounted; a few leaves with old repairs to lower inner margins. Pages age-toned, with offsetting, staining, and spotting.

This is the sole American edition. First printed in England in 1804.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 30564; NSTC W2651. Contemporary speckled sheep. Spines divided into compartments by double gilt rules with large red leather title labels and small round black volume labels, both edged with gilt fillets and gilt-lettered. Fine cracking to spines with shallow chipping from head and foot; edges rubbed, corners bumped. Pages with light browning around impression and on edges, with darker browning from turn-ins towards beginning and end of each volume. Large bite from rear free endpaper of vol. II; generally, text problem-free, with but a few shallow tears and chippings and a few light waterstains.

Click the image to the left
for an enlargement.

The printed Career is followed in this little volume by an extended manuscript section containing neatly written excerpts from Wooley’s Science of the Bible or an Analysis of the Hebrew Mythology.

•  Contemporary half calf over textured cloth, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-ruled raised bands; front cover detached, leather scuffed. All page edges marbled. Upper portion of front free endpaper torn away; two front fly-leaves partially excised. Back free endpaper with pencilled owner’s name. Printed portion very slightly age-toned, with faint creasing to first section.

This isthe first music book printed typographically in America: All previous music books had been engraved.

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription reading “Warren Burr's Booke 1786.”

Uncommon: Only seven U.S. institutions report holdings of this first edition.

At top of the title-page: “Laus Deo!”

•  Evans 19752; Amer. Sacred Music 533; Sabin 95414c (under “Also”); ESTC W15184.   Contemporary limp sheep, covers framed in blind double fillets; ownership stamps effaced on both covers, spine and edges rubbed, foot of spine with paper shelving label. Front pastedown partially removed, with bookplate remnants beneath; back free endpaper lacking and front one with inscription as above; title-page with institutional rubber-stamp in lower margin; back pastedown rubber-stamped. Pages age-toned and foxed. Sewing loosening, text block pulling away from spine, leaves starting to separate. Occasional tiny, unobtrusive early inked “rec'd.” marks, witha very few measures of music corrected or added to in an early hand.  (24016)

Provenance: Title-page upper margin with inked presentation inscription reading “Mrs. Miller with the Editor’s kind regards,” the editor being Thomas Worsley. Inked beneath the printer’s information are the words “not published,” also noted in another copy of this work. The front pastedown bears an inked inscription from Major and Mrs. F. Miller to Father Green, with a date in 1944 added in a different hand.

Binding: Signed contemporary binding: textured green cloth in imitation of morocco, front cover with decorative frame and title stamped in gilt; back pastedown with small binder’s ticket from Westleys & Co., London.

•  NSTC 2W32791. Binding as above, cloth a bit rubbed over corners and joints, with spine extremities pulled. All edges gilt. Front pastedown and title-page with inscriptions as above. Pages slightly age-toned, else clean, with errata slip present. Very nice.

•  ESTC T113860. Contemporary calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; leather showing numerous small cracks, joints rubbed, spine darkened. Front pastedown, title-page, and lower page edges institutionally rubber-stamped. One leaf with short tear from lower margin, touching signature but not text; one leaf with short tear from lower margin just touching last line of text. Some light spotting and staining, pages mostly clean.

All early editions are scarce, including this one: OCLC and ESTC report only three U.S. institutional holdings of this elaborated third edition, counting this (now-deaccessioned) copy.

Provenance:  This copy was apparently used by a clergyman; the back free endpaper has a list of hand-inked annotations beginning “March 12 1734 Baptiz'd Rich'd Son of John Bagsby of Broughton & Alice his wife” and ending with a private baptism in April of 1750. Six manuscript pages on “Churching of Women” and inditing a prayer to be used “when there appears but little hope of recovery” have been added at the back of the volume.

•  ESTC T84836.   Contemporary calf framed and panelled in blind with blind-tooled corner fleurons, rebacked with speckled calf, inner fleurons on front and back covers retooled, original leather rubbed. Front pastedown with private collector's bookplate, front free endpaper lacking, dedication page with early inked ownership inscription, back pastedown with inked annotations as above, back free endpaper with pencilled numerals. Pencilled bracketing; occasional inked corrections and additions in the same hand as the 18th-century inscriptions. Paper browned but strong.  (23706)

•  NSTC 2W33589. Recent plain paper-covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. Frontispiece, title-page, and several other pages stamped by a now-defunct institution. Lacking all but one plate (the frontispiece). Page edges untrimmed.

For more of IRISH interest,  click here.
For more VOYAGES, TRAVELS, & books on
"EXOTIC" PLACES,  click here.
For Books for the BUSTED
            BIBLIOPHILE,  click here.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 22127.   Full original sheep, spine showing flex marks with small chips at extremities and a gilt-stamped leather title-label; first and last leaves with offsetting from leather turn-ins. Short tear at top margin of one leaf, without touching any text; some scattered spots of foxing. Ex-library with (attractive) old pressure-stamp to half-title, five-digit accession number rubber-stamped on front pastedown and base of p. [iii], evidence that an inked call-number on spine was sometime obscured. A clean, nice, solid copy. (21126)

•  DeBacker-Sommervogel, VIII, 1446. 19th-century half vellum over marbled paper–covered sides, spines with inked titles; sides and edges a bit scuffed, with spines darkened. Front pastedowns with institutional bookplates; title-pages with early inked ownership inscriptions. Most pages lightly to moderately foxed. All edges speckled blue. A good sound set.

Married set: The two contemporary bindings are similar but not identical; both are of mottled leather, one more coarsely grained (and acid-etched) than the other, while one has floral and the other pomegranate motifs gilt-stamped in spine compartments. The match was made by a previous, Spanish-speaking collector, who has left pencilled notes in Spanish in both volumes.

•  Sabin 106261; Palau 379641. Contemporary mottled sheep and calf as above, corners and edges worn, all joints cracking, both volumes with minor worming to front covers and pinholes to spines; vol. I with loss of leather over spine head (half of top compartment). Pencilled check marks scattered throughout; front free endpaper and recto of last text page of vol. II with annotations.