•  Publisher's quarter cream textured cloth with light blue fleur-de-lis printed paper sides, spine with printed paper label; lacking the blue dust-wrapper, small spot of staining at head of spine, otherwise a very nice example.  (28209)

The text is divided into sections by author, each of whom the editor introduces with a brief biography. A short abstract printed in roman precedes each poem, printed in italic. Fine woodcut head- and tailpieces, and a variety of initials in historiated, patterned, and factotum designs, decorate the text; and the title-page features the woodcut printers' device of Truth personified, flanked by an eagle, a lion, a bull, and an angel, representing the Four Evangelists.

Provenance:  Ownership inscription on front fly-leaf of Luigi Pagani Cesa, possibly the Italian jurist born at Belluno in 1855, who served as a member of Parliament for 1904–13; and the words “penso che” (“I think that . . .”) written above, in an earlier hand?

•  Adams A1691; CNCE 2806.   Later glazed cream-colored boards, title and date inked on upper spine, small paper label on lower spine, marbled red edges; boards soiled and front joint opening. One spot of worming on front pastedown and on colophon leaf; traces of former mounting on colophon leaf verso. Title-page with one letter added in manuscript (o, in Bentivoglio). Trimmed close at margins almost grazing headline on a few leaves. Very minor stains on a few leaves, generally bright and crisp.  (30836)

At this writing, e.g., the American Shakespeare Center touts its performances with the invitation, “Imagine Homer and Marge Simpson buying tickets to a Chekhov play and then climbing on stage to redirect the show with Bart as the star, and you have some idea of the fun Beaumont unleashes . . .”

This is a copy of the true second edition as specified by STC, 1635; in that year the play was “acted by Her Majesties servants at the Private house in Drury Lane.”

Provenance:  20th-century bookplate of Henry J. and Anna B. Howe, of Iowa.

•  STC (rev. ed.); 1675a; Greg I:316b; The Huth Library, p. 1645; Pforzheimer Library 49 (for the third edition — dated 1635 but really 1661).   20th-century half crushed green morocco with marbled paper sides, top edge gilt, spine sunned to brown; lacks initial blank (only). Housed in a quarter brown leather round fall-back box case with brown cloth sides. Very good in all respects, with title-page lightly dust-soiled and otherwise but a light spot or two.  (32714)

The text itself has many faces, including B.R.'s own Centaur type, and Goudy Newstyle, which was designed specifically for this project. The inserts take various forms: biographical sketch, type (and paper) specimen, letter, tribute . . . each with a separate colophon. The inserts are variously ruled in red, printed in color, illustrated, and/or decorated with ornamental borders. Four of the inserts aresigned by Fred Goudy, Edward Stevens, Richard Ellis, and Charles W. Smith. This copy is no. 91 of 100, as written in ink on the second leaf.

•  Work of Bruce Rogers 767 (bookplate of William Reydel); but this book not in WBR.   Publisher's black cloth with large B and R gilt on rear and front cover, respectively, each letter gilt against a gilt graph background framed by gilt fillets extending across both covers and enclosing title gilt on spine. In protective mylar wrappers. 28 leaves uncut, per style. Reydel bookplate stained, and light stains offset from ornaments in another insert, elsevery nice.  (30681)

The two volumes, printed two years apart, are seldom now found together as seen in the present uniformly bound set. These are the original first editions — not modern reprints.

•  Sabin 8905; Shoemaker 8211; Howes B-924.   Slightly later speckled sheep, spines with gilt-stamped leather labels, housed in a recent green cloth clamshell case with gilt-stamped leather spine label; bindings scuffed, spines chipped, joints opening. Front hinge (inside) of vol. II reinforced. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplates, call number on endpapers, pressure-stamp on title-pages. One page with early inked inscription in lower margin inked over; one leaf with lower margin excised. Intermittent smudges and spots, some leaves age-toned, a few corners bumped or torn away, vol. II with occasional small pencilled annotations — these volumes were clearly read appreciatively. Their “imperfections” are characteristic of extensive use, not abuse.  (28164)

•  BAL 1916.   Fragile, rear cover almost separated; lightly soiled, one minute chip to one edge.  (32708)

These six comedies and tragedies — Les illustres ennemis, comedie; Berenice, tragedie; Timocrate, tragedie; La mort de l'empereur commode, tragedie; Darius, tragedie; and Le charme de la voix, comedie — comprise six of the seven plays making up the second volume only of a five-volume set, Les tragédies et comédies de Th. Corneille, printedfor the Elzevirs by Abraham Wolfgang in Holland, 1665–78. Six separate title-pages with the “Quaerendo” printer's mark andsix particularly lively, charming added engraved title-pages precede the six plays, each dated 1662 (the first editions date to 1656–59). This copy is lacking the general title-page dated 1665 and the first play, Le geôlier de soy-mesme (1662); the text, in French, is decorated with woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, and sparse woodcuts of animals.

Rare: Searches of NUC-Pre1956 and WorldCat find the five-volume set Les tragédies et comédies at just one U.S. institution (Univ. of Chicago), andeach play individually in up to three U.S. locations only.

Provenance:  Inked monogram of Edwin Wolf II on front pastedown, and inscriptions of John Bridgman, Esq., on rear endpaper and pastedown.

A charming old sketch of a woman with a lute graces the front pastedown; a bit of much sketchier sketching marks the rear one.

•  Willems, Supplement, 1727 (b); Graesse, II, 268. Not in Goldsmid.   Contemporary vellum with yapp fore-edges; joints and front hinge repaired, new fly-leaf added. Lacking general title-page and first part, as above. Light soiling to edges with occasional very minor foxing or a light stain, two short marginal tears, one leaf with a corner-tip lost — a nice copy.  (5594)

This volume is in the large ambitious quarto format of the journal's first years, not the octavo format of the later, “New Series”

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with early inked presentation inscription to New Salem Academy from the Honorable Ethan Allen Greenwood (1779–1856), the Massachusetts lawyer who established the New England Museum.

•  Sabin 64182.   Contemporary quarter sheep and light blue paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped date; rubbed and stained overall, spine leather with cracks and chips, spine head with remnants of small paper label, refurbished: spine caps readhered, front cover reattached, edges reinforced, leather consolidated. Front free endpaper with inscription as above. A later hand has laid in a number of leaves of annotations and commentary on various pieces herein, along with some account of the lacking portions; occasional pencilled annotations in text as well. One leaf with inner margin neatly reinforced; some tears repaired and loose leaves secured. Pages occasionally creased; varying degrees of browning and foxing. Outer edges trimmed closely, occasionally with loss of final letters. Upper portion of one leaf torn away, with loss of weekly header and about three paragraphs of text; one leaf chipped along fold, with loss of several letters; lower outer portion of one leaf torn away, with loss of roughly two paragraphs. Nos. 13, 14, 32, and 34 each lacking final leaf; no. 33 lacking. Pp. 395/96 bound in out of order. Several pieces of dried plant matter laid in at various points. This volume of the Port Folio is as meaty and full of just plain interesting stuff as they all were, despite its lacking bits; and, it represents the journal's beginnings.  (29227)

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with early inked presentation inscription to New Salem Academy from the Honorable Ethan Allen Greenwood (1779–1856), the Massachusetts lawyer who established the New England Museum.

•  Sabin 64182.   Contemporary quarter sheep and light blue paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped date; worn and stained, front cover with (child's?) pencilled name, spine head with remnants of paper shelving label, spine leather cracked. Volume refurbished, with leather consolidated, joints repaired, edges reinforced with repair tissue. Lacking one issue, no. 12, apparently never bound in; one stanza of one poem excised. Some leaves creased, with occasional tears into text; varying degrees of age-toning and foxing; scattered small holes. Lower outer portion of one leaf torn away, with loss of several lines. A few pencilled marks of emphasis; a later hand has laid in several sheets of annotations and commentary on various pieces herein. Dried plant matter laid in. Price reduced recognizing absent No. 12; but a volume of interest both simply as a substantial Port Folio and as the one produced in such a significant year for the proprietor.  (29238)

Advertisements on the last page, notably forpatent medicines.

•  Drake 13678.   Uncut copy; later stitching; corners cut. Slight dog-earing, title-page a little tattered. Early inked ownership signature at top of title-page and some marginalia or interlineations.  (9959)

•  ESTC S111817; STC (2nd ed.) 14751; NCBEL, I, 1657.   Green cloth over limp boards, front cover with title and publication information stamped in gilt; spine and corners lightly worn. Pages gently age-toned with a few scattered spots; some inner margins waterstained. Some signatures starting to pull away, title-page and final page with gutters reinforced with cloth tape; one leaf with short tear from lower margin, not touching text, one lower outer corner torn away. A desirable First Folio printing of a popular play.  (32716)

Provenance:  Signatures of Elizabeth Powell (17th century), Robert Binnell (18th century), and three other 17th-century signatures only partially deciphered.

•  STC (rev. ed.) 17063; ESTC S108999.   20th-century half blue morocco with cloth sides. This copy clearly spent time in an English bookseller's “hospital” and may be sophisticated, a fact perhaps of some positive, studyable interest now that such hospitals and their ministrations have been “history” for decades; title-leaf dust-soiled, creased but flattened, with rents and holes repaired most sympathetically. Many corners and leaf edges expertly renewed; some captions touched by binder's knife, none or only one seriously. Child's writing practice, including an alphabet (without J or V), in some margins. A good copy with an interesting provenance worthy of deeper research and greater paleographical skills than we can bring to bear.  (32713)

Unkind though that “unintentionally” may make it to put this here — still??

“This edition follows exactly the text of the original Belfast issue of 1897 except that certain misprints have been corrected,” according to the edition statement; the text is ornamented with reproductions of the originalthree wood engravings by W.M.R. Quick. The present example is numbered copy 719 of 1250 printed.

Provenance:  Calligraphic bookplate of Norman J. Sondheim, American collector of fine press books.

•  McKitterick/Rendall/Dreyfus 33.   Publisher's half sheep and pink, red, and brown mottled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; spine gently sunned, extremities a bit rubbed. Front pastedown with bookplate as above; light foxing to endpapers, with a very few faint spots elsewhere. Lovely Nonesuch production of a “must read it to believe it” novel!  (32039)

First published in 1843 and first printed with illustrations in 17 monthly parts 1853–54, the misadventures of the enthusiastic Mr. Jorrocks appear here “printed for subscribers from the plates of the Original Edition issued by Bradbury, Agnew & Co.” The volume is illustrated with 16 hand-colored, steel-engraved plates and 31 wood-engraved plates by famed caricaturist John Leech. The colored scenes, many involving horses or hounds or both, are carefully and artistically tinted; the social scenes are more delicately shaded than the vivid hunting scenes. In addition to the color and black-and-white plates, numerous in-text wood-engravings decorate the text.

Binding:  Publisher's crimson cloth, front cover with horse and hound vignettes stamped in black and gilt, spine with black and gilt portrait of Jorrocks himself.

•  NCBEL, III, 967. On Surtees, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Binding as above, spine much sunned but covers bright and fresh. Signatures almost entirely unopened; contents pages and a few other early signatures awkwardly opened with resulting edge tears, including to upper margins (only) of five uncolored plates. One colored plate with tiny scuff in image. Despite described faults, still a solid, bright, beautifully illustrated copy with a great deal of charm.  (30448)

See the end of the first paragraph in our first “Surtees” entry, for a general note on him.

First published in 1847, these vividly rendered hunting scenes appear here “printed for subscribers from the plates of the Original Edition issued by Bradbury, Agnew & Co.” The volume is illustrated with8 plates by Phiz, hand-colored, and 13 steel-engraved plates by W.T. Maude. While Phiz's caricatures are sharp and witty, the coloring itself is rather elegantly restrained. In addition to the color and black-and-white plates, numerous in-text wood-engravings decorate the text, the whole providing many depictions of the hunt.

Binding:  Publisher's crimson cloth, front cover and spine stamped with hunting vignettes and hound decorations in black and gilt.

•  NCBEL, III, 967. On Surtees, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Binding as above, spine much sunned but covers bright and fresh, minimal wear to extremities. Signatures unopened. Save for the dimmed spine, a beautiful and bright copy.  (30434)

See the end of the first paragraph in our first “Surtees” entry, for a general note on him.

First published in 1865 in 12 monthly parts, this vividly rendered novel — Surtees's last, sometimes titled Mr. Facey Romford's Hounds — appears here “printed for subscribers from the plates of the Original Edition issued by Bradbury, Agnew & Co.”

The volume is illustrated with24 hand-colored and 4 steel-engraved plates by John Leech and Hablot Knight “Phiz” Browne. The colored plates are particularly neatly and artistically tinted. In addition to the plates there are numerous in-text engravings, the whole providing many depictions of the hunt, as well as fancy social scenes and less-fancy but still saucy servants in livery. The famed caricaturist Leech began the illustrations for this novel, with Phiz taking them over after Leech's death: either Surtees nor Leech lived to see this work appear in print.

Binding:  Publisher's crimson cloth, front cover and spine stamped with hunting vignettes and hound decorations in black and gilt.

•  NCBEL, III, 967. On Surtees, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Binding as above, spine much sunned but covers bright and fresh, minimal wear to extremities, lower outer corners lightened. Signatures unopened; early owner(s) possibly more interested in the pictures than the text? Lower outer corners once wet, staining visible primarily to closed edges with title-page, several guard-leaves, and a few plates showing lightly tinted tide marks in that area. Despite issues cited, still a lovely and generally bright copy with tremendously appealing plates.  (30436)

See the end of the first paragraph in our first “Surtees” entry, for a general note on him.

First published in 1853 as a 13-part serial, the Sporting Tour appears here “printed for subscribers from the plates of the Original Edition issued by Bradbury, Agnew & Co.” The volume is illustrated with13 hand-colored and 30 steel-engraved plates by famed caricaturist John Leech. The colored scenes, most of which depict hunting or riding scenes, are carefully and attractively done with nicely shaded tints. In addition to the color and black-and-white plates, numerous in-text wood-engravings decorate the text.

Binding:  Publisher's crimson cloth, front cover and spine stamped with horse and hound vignettes in black and gilt.

•  NCBEL, III, 967. On Surtees, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Binding as above, spine much sunned but covers bright and fresh. Signatures unopened. One leaf holed in text with loss of a few words and with some light discoloration around this, without loss of sense. Save for the dimmed spine, a beautiful and bright copy.  (30426)

See the end of the first paragraph in our first “Surtees” entry, for a general note on him.

First published in 13 monthly parts in 1860, the machinations of Rosa and her mamma appear here “printed for subscribers from the plates of the Original Edition issued by Bradbury, Agnew & Co.” The volume is illustrated with12 hand-colored, steel-engraved plates and 8 wood-engraved plates by famed caricaturist John Leech. The colored scenes, some involving young ladies in elegant dress and some horses and hounds, are carefully and artistically tinted; the social scenes are more delicately shaded than the vivid hunting scenes. In addition to the color and black-and-white plates, numerous in-text wood-engravings decorate the text.

Binding:  Publisher's crimson cloth, front cover with black- and gilt-stamped hound decorations and a gilt-stamped vignette of two flirting equestrians, spine with black and gilt Cupid vignette.

•  NCBEL, III, 968. On Surtees, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Binding as above, extremities slightly rubbed, spine much sunned but covers bright and fresh. Signatures unopened. A clean, unread copy, with lovely plates.  (30470)

Binding:  Publisher's green cloth, covers framed in blind, front cover with gilt-stamped decorative title and basket vignette, spine with gilt-stamped author and title.

•  Light wear only to joints and extremities, cloth showing small spots of faint discoloration. Front free endpaper with pencilled ownership inscription dated 1910, front fly-leaf with same owner's inked inscription. Pages gently age-toned, otherwise clean.  (30499)

miracle drug

This is no. 1120 of 1500 copies, designed by Bert Clarke and printed at The Thistle Press in monotype Caslon Old Style, with an introduction by Norman Strouse and15 full-page color plates & numerous illustrations in text by Lynton Lamb, who signed the colophon. The handsome book is bound by Russell-Rutter Company in full forest-green cloth with a spine label set in the gilt-stamped outline of a medicine bottle.

The appropriate LEC newsletter is laid in.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 307.   Binding as above, in publisher's yellow slipcase with paper label; minor shelf-wear and discoloration. Spine base lightly scuffed, elsefine.  (30469)

This work is rarely found in the deluxe binding: The handsomely gilt-stamped publisher's cloth is the norm.

•  NSTC 2W24418; Allibone 2762.   For binding, see: Morris & Levin, Art of Publisher's Bookbindings, 44. Binding as above, showing minor wear to extremities and front cover vignette, original silk bookmark detached and laid in. Volume slightly shaken with text block starting to pull away from spine; this is the kind of volume that wants to do that, and the reader will want to “cradle” it in hand — that done, no worries. Front fly-leaf with early pencilled gift inscription and with a Maine druggist's small ticket. Mild to moderate foxing. Both funny and decorative, in a publisher's binding that may fairly be called “DAZZLING.”  (26748)

•  Publisher's brown paper–covered boards, front cover with title and author's signature stamped in black, and with affixed printed paper illustration; without dust-jacket, paper mottled, edges and extremities rubbed, front cover with two small scrapes. A few faint smudges to some pages, otherwise clean.  (29138)