Provenance: Front pastedown with elegant gilt-stamped green morocco bookplate of an unusual shape, dated 15 November 1859, bearing the names of J.W. (John Wesley) and M.E. (Mary Elizabeth Smalley) Sarles. The Rev. Sarles was pastor first of the Central Baptist Church of Brooklyn and then of the Piscataway Baptist Church of Stelton, New Jersey.

Binding: Contemporary green calf, front cover with central gilt-stamped village church vignette surrounded by flowers and vines; this further framed with an elegant frame of beading, trefoiled arabesques, and foliate decorations. Back cover with identical framing surrounding a gilt-stamped lyre vignette. Spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. (Our exterior image, above, shows the spine and both covers.)  Board edges with gilt roll, turn-ins blind-tooled with a different roll, all edges marbled. The style of the covers, their sensibility, and one tool used can be associated with the Philadelphia firm whose work is illustrated by Willman Spawn as #46 in his catalogue of the Maser Collection at Bryn Mawr.

•  NSTC 2R4901.   Binding as above; see: Spawn, Bookbinding in America 1680–1910. Spine head pulled and bottom compartment scuffed, corners slightly rubbed, back cover with a few small scuffs and two small spots of faint discoloration, back joint just starting from top; all this much less distressing than it may sound. Hinges (inside) tender. Front free endpaper with early inked numeral; title-page and last index page institutionally pressure-stamped; first preface page with small inked annotation in inner margin. Back pastedown with abrasions. Pages slightly age-toned, otherwise clean. Beautiful.  (23930)

Binding: American binding of straight-grain black morocco framed in wide gilt roll with smaller blind roll and blind-tooled corner decorations, spine gilt extra, board edges with gilt rolls; gilt inner dentelles. All edges gilt. The binding has tools that are the same as seen on examples in the Maser Collection at Bryn Mawr College and the Papantonio Collection at the American Antiquarian Society that were executed by Wilson & Nichols.

Provenance:  Presentation inscription on the front fly-leaf, “Rv. G.T. Bedell [probably Gregory, Rector of St. Andrew's, Philadelphia] / with the regards / of Thos. N. Stanford” [probably the New York publisher]. Later in an institutional library; deaccessioned.

In a neat old hand, virtually every hymn has its author identified; in one place, two alternate lines are supplied.

•  Shoemaker 30362. On binding: Maser, Bookbinding in America, 37; Papantonio, Early American Bookbindings, 47.  Binding as above, rubbed at points and front cover with two scuffed areas affecting tooling, one of the gilt, one of a blind bit; back cover with other, less striking scuffed spots; spine head pulled. Spine leather overall pebbled, or roughened, by exposure to significant heat; gilt tooling much dimmed, though still “readable.” Front pastedown with institutional bookplate, deaccession noted. Front fly-leaf with early inked gift inscription as above and pencilled annotation dated 1845. Pencilled annotations to hymns as noted above; title-page with shadow of pencilled annotation in upper margin. Spots of staining to first and last few leaves. Priced according to its afflictions, not its continuing points of interest. (25654)

Helmuth's Kurze Andachten, a short collection of morning, evening, and other occasional prayers, was issued with this edition of the hymnal and is usually, as here, bound in at the end.

Provenance: Late-20th-century book label of Michael Zinman on front pastedown.

•  Hymnal: Shaw & Shoemaker 31426; Arndt, The First Century of German Language Printing in the United States of America, 2032. Kurze Andachten: Shaw & Shoemaker 31686; Arndt, The First Century of German Language Printing in the United States of America, 2034. Contemporary sheep over wooden boards with working brass clasps; spine with raised bands. Scattered abrasions with leather chipped away through to the board on front cover's outer edge. Some pages dog-eared, with spots of browning throughout as usual in German imprints of this period.

•  Hymnal: Shaw & Shoemaker 43969 ( = 43951); Arndt, The First Century of German Language Printing in the United States of America, 2286. Kurze Andachten: Shaw & Shoemaker 44299; Arndt 2288.   Contemporary black roan in imitation of straight-grain morocco, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; binding with minor scuffing, spine with faintly visible scuff from now-absent shelving label. Front pastedown institutionally rubber-stamped; back pastedown with Pennsylvania bookseller's small ticket. Expectable spots of browning throughout as usual in German imprints of this period. A few page corners dog-eared.  (24426)

Signed binding: Front free endpaper stamped “Bound by R.W. Smith.”

•  ESTC T92186.   19th-century half morocco with marbled paper-covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; refurbished. Title-page with old institutional pressure-stamp; rear free endpaper with paper adhesion and tear as from removal of old “due” slip. All edges gilt. A few scattered light spots, occasional pencilled marginalia, pages otherwise clean. A nice copy.  (19510)

Nicely printed, this is illustrated with an engraved frontispiece portrait of John Fellows, with the titles of some of his other works (see above) appearing beneath it; preliminary pages (8 pp.) consist of a dedication to the Rev. Mr. John Ryland of Northampton, and a preface. Stated at foot of title-page: “Price One Shilling and Six-Pence.”

Rare:  ESTC locates only two copies in the U.S., and this is one of them, now deaccessioned; and OCLC adds only the copy at Yale.

•  ESTC N39616; on Fellows, see: Edwin F. Hatfield's The Poets of the Church (New York, 1884), & Josiah Miller's Singers and Songs of the Church (London, 1869).   Recent quarter calf and marbled paper over boards; gilt-stamped leather spine labels, gilt-ruled raised bands, gilt rule where leather meets paper of covers. Title-page chipped at upper right corner, one leaf a little ragged at outer edge, another leaf repaired at outer margin. Pages overall clean, but with some random spotting and slight age-toning, including to title-page and frontispiece; light offsetting to title-page from facing plate. Ex-library with “no. 5" marked in blue crayon at the top of title-page; faintest traces of library call number on the verso; no other markings. Final three pages (pp. 94–96) mispaginated 118, 119, and 120. Handsome.  (24459)

OCLC and ESTC find only one U.S. location (and one former location, since deaccessioned); NUC Pre-1956 does not even list this edition.

•  ESTC T92017.   Period-style speckled calf, covers framed in blind double fillets, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; signed in blind on lower rear turn-in by Grace Bindings. Title-page verso with private collector's elegant 19th-century rubber-stamp. Frontispiece mounted; upper outer corner of title-page repaired. Frontispiece and title-page gently age-toned, pages otherwise clean. A handsome little volume.  (25287)

•  Contemporary morocco, covers framed in blind with central blind-stamped medallions, spine with gilt-stamped title, front cover with owner's name gilt-stamped as described above; leather a touch rubbed over joints and extremities. (14463)

his own hymns

The volume opens with two copper-engraved plates, depicting the protagonist in his natural and converted states.

•  ESTC R215502; Wing (rev ed.) K105.   Period-style speckled calf framed in gilt single fillet, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations; binding signed by Starr Bookworks. Five plates lacking. Title-page and several others (including the reverse of the first plate) institutionally rubber-stamped, same also of the lower edges of closed book. First plate with two small ink stains and small repair in upper margin (end of now-closed tear extending into image without loss). Pages age-toned with some spotting; trimmed closely, occasionally touching initial letters or headers. Imperfect — interesting.  (24771)

Binding: Contemporary black morocco, covers gilt-stamped with arabesque and foliate motifs, spine gilt extra, board edges and turn-ins with gilt rolls. Front cover gilt-stamped “C.A. Babcock.” All edges gilt.

•  Binding as above, corners bumped, a few spots of light rubbing to gilt, edges, and extremities. Edge gilt, though rubbed, still glimmering. Front free endpaper with pencilled monogram. Pages clean. Once, somebody’s treasure — “C.A. Babcock’s,” to be specific.

•  Publisher's ribbed charcoal cloth; spine stamps and lettered in gilt (faded); covers stamped in blind, but front cover also with a gilt stamped device of a lyre and laurels; cloth at top of spine breaking. Quite a good copy. (2568)

This German blackletter hymnal includes unaccompanied melodies in its first portion. The psalter, hymnal, and index are separately paged, the hymnal having a special title-page reading “Ein Neues unpartheyisches Gesangbuch . . .”

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 6767; Arndt, First Century of German Language Printing in the U.S.,1395. Not in Sabin.   Contemporary polished speckled calf with original brass and leather clasps; binding scuffed, spine with traces of shelving label and call number, one clasp lacking tongue portion. Front pastedown institutionally rubber-stamped; front fly-leaf with early inked inscription. Pages age-toned, with moderate waterstaining and spotting. All institutional signs noted, a nice book.  (15181)

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 4172; Goedeke, Grundriss zur Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung aus den Quellen, 572; Arndt, First Century of German Language Printing in the United States of America, 1337. Andachten: Shaw & Shoemaker 4360; Arndt 1338. Anhang: Shaw & Shoemaker 4171; Arndt 1334. Contemporary sheep, spine with later and sympathetic gilt-stamped title and author labels, binding with brass and leather clasps (intact); leather rubbed and some chipped away with joints open though holding, and spine leather showing some cracking. Front pastedown, free endpaper, and fly-leaf with early inked ownership inscriptions; back pastedown with later pencilled notation; front free endpaper separated and back free endpaper lacking. Pages age-toned and spotted (as usual in German imprints of this period); some corners dog-eared. One leaf with portion of outer margin torn away, with loss of a few words. Condition actually rather typical, for this sort of volume!

•  Contemporary sheep with spine gilt extra and covers gilt modestly, rubbed and pulled at top of spine; ex-library with paper label and remnant of call number on spine, perforation-stamps on title- and one other leaf, several inked or stamped old numbers, and old pencilling. Paper browned as so often, with some foxing and soiling; all edges red.  (25827)

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

•  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)

•  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)