•  Wellcome, III, 458; Garrison-Morton 154; ESTC T139902; Lowndes II, p.1321 (“a sumptuous edition”); Osler, Bib. Osleriana, p. 283, no. 3178; Bentley Blake Books 481; Ryskamp, William Blake, Engraver, 22. On the parts, see: Arents Collection of Books in Parts, p. 74.   Contemporary calf ruled and tooled in gilt and blind with gilt board edges and gilt turn-ins, rebacked old style; marbled edges, and blue silk marker in all volumes. Extremities rubbed and corners bumped with small loss to leather. At least one small marginal tear in each volume; offsetting from letterpress on a few leaves; very mild to quite moderate foxing (or none) on illustrations, offset onto surrounding leaves; and other occasional minor stains. Most plates protected by tissue. A monument of labor, art, and excellent “system” devoted to an exploded but fascinating theory; in fact, a wonder.  (30974)

The present example is definitely a “tall” copy, though Pforzheimer wonders about this observation, saying that “copies are sometimes listed as Large Paper but from the fact that the List of Subscribers makes no such distinction this is evidently a cataloguer's fiction.”

•  ESTC R15589; Grolier, Wither to Prior, 607; Pforzheimer 720; Wing (rev. ed.) M2147.   Contemporary mottled calf, rebacked with mottled calf with gilt-stamped leather title and subject labels, raised bands ruled in gilt; original leather acid-pitted with joints and extremities rubbed, page edges attractively speckled in red and brown. Frontispiece (author portrait) lacking; title-page with edges darkened from binding and with small hole touching frame lines but not text. Pages slightly cockled, one leaf with chip to upper margin; two plates (at p. 61 & p. 149) each with short tear from lower edge, not extending into image; one plate with tear from outer edge extending about halfway into image, cleanly repaired; one plate with light waterstaining to outer margin just barely touching outer edge of image. Occasional faint spots and smudges, scattered light foxing almost entirely confined to margins (including inner), pages mostly clean. The faults that must be noted have substantially reduced the price here; they have NOT, actually, much reduced the usefulness and pure delight of either the production or the copy.  (30742)

•  Original slipcase, sides covered in patterned black cloth, bottom in another textured black cloth, front with color-printed illustration as above, back plain with small “Fabrication Française” paper label affixed; slipcase with edges and extremities rubbed, illustration slightly darkened. Plates very slightly dimmed, edges lightly spotted, images themselves overall clean. Uncommon and very appealing.  (31431)

Theatrum Terrae Sanctae is famous for its engraved maps, but the work is justly sought for its descriptions of Palestine and the antiquities of Jerusalem. Additionally the work contains a chronology from Adam to 1585, the year of the author's death.

The work begins with an engraved allegorical title-page, has woodcut initials and tailpieces, and bears12 folding or double-page engraved maps. The text is printed in roman type in double-column format.

The work is illustrated witheight wood-engraved vignettes, including on the front and back wrappers. The elegant and charmingcrab on the front wrapper is at first a bit of a puzzle, but then the crab is sometimes seen as a Christian symbol of resurrection because it sheds its shell; or, perhaps, the printer simply found his crab elegant and charming and wanted to use it!

This printing is uncommon; WorldCat locates only two U.S. institutional holdings.

•  Publisher's printed blue-green paper wrappers; light, unobtrusive crease to front wrapper, carrying through to first leaf. A very few light spots, pages otherwise clean. Showing little to no wear overall — unusually so for this genre.  (31451)

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 396.   Binding as above, in original glassine dust wrapper and publisher's slipcase; volume clean and fresh, wrapper with small chips to spine extremities, slipcase gently sunned and with a little soiling, one corner bumped.  (30120)

Binding:  Publisher's apple green paper–covered boards in original matching slipcase with gilt-stamped spine title. All edges gilt.

•  Binding as above: lower front and back edges each with tiny bump, extremities showing very slight rubbing, slipcase with edges rubbed and a few small spots of discoloration. Front free endpaper with pencilled annotations in French. Pages and plates clean. Really in quite remarkable condition.  (30574)

These examples are numbered copy 238 of either 2000 or 2500 printed depending on the set (except for one trio out of the five, which is numbered 236); the appropriate LEC newsletter is present.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 193^1-3, 202^4-6, 203^7-9, 222^10-13, 228^12-15.   Publisher's cloth of various colors, eight volumes in the original glassine dust wrappers, all in publisher's red paper–covered slipcases with printed paper spine labels; some wrappers with tears or chips, slipcase spines gently sunned, slipcases showing light shelfwear overall with Aladdin set case dust-soiled, Emperor's New Clothes spine lettering rubbed. Ali Baba and a few other volumes with scattered spots of light foxing, overall most pages clean. Newsletter moderately worn. Complete sets are uncommon; this one shows no signs of having been in the hands of any actual child.  (30766)

•  Publisher's quarter cloth with paper-covered sides, corners the slightest bit rubbed; original slipcase, this sunned and abraded with “spine” broken. Danish copyright information lined through, volume otherwise clean and quite nice internally.  (24517)

•  Binding as above in original cream paper boards embossed in an all-over leafy pattern; apparently issued without a title-leaf. Light soiling on boards, spine lightly worn. (31393)

The set is illustrated with a total oftwelve steel-engraved portraits and three oversized, folding facsimiles of prominent physicians' letters and signatures. The binder has disregarded the printer's directions for the arrangement of the plates, and grouped them all at the fronts of the volumes.

•  NSTC 2A12623.   Contemporary speckled calf, spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels; bindings mildly rubbed overall and moreso in spines' top compartments where old labels were removed(?), spines darkened and showing small cracks in leather with some joints just starting, small square of old tape at corner of back cover on vol. I. Ex–social club library: each volume with 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Vol. I with hinges (inside) starting. Occasional mild spotting or smudging, short edge tears (not extending into text) and occasional corners or lower margins partially torn away throughout. Vol. III: lower inner margins of frontispiece and engraved title-page reinforced with strip of cloth tape. An uncommon and fascinating set.  (29411)

Honored to serve as the volume's sole U.S. distributor, we are ready to take your orders for both the regular issue and the deluxe one (priced at $1050.00).

•  New.  (32223)

The volume was published at the request of Cardinal Ascanius Columnas in an edition ofonly 750 copies, and was printed at Antwerp at the press of Moretus’ widow and sons with the famous Plantin device appearing in two versions (engraved, to the title, and woodcut, to the final recto).

A full-page engraved funeral portrait of Rubens engraved by Cornelius Galleafter Peter Paul Rubens signals the beginning of the third section, in which Jan Brant records the life of his son-in-law’s brother and transcribes his epitaph. Even Balthasar Moretus contributes an epigram in honor of the deceased.

In the fourth section, Rubens’ own orations and selected letters appear, i.a. his funeral oration to Philip II of Spain. Josse DeRycke contributed the final funerary tribute.

Done up in fully elegant Plantin–Moretus style, the volume has in addition to its careful typography and full-page plate and devices been lavished throughout with two-line block initials and four-line historiated woodcut initials; also, it offers several intricate woodcut tailpieces.

Searches of NUC Pre-1956 and WorldCat locate only eight copies in U.S. institutions, one of which has been deaccessioned; most arenot in obvious places.

•  Graesse, I, 241; Corpus Rubenianum, XXI (1977), 152.   Period-style full brown calf, covers framed in blind double fillets, spine with gilt-stamped red leather title-label, raised bands with blind tooling extending onto covers. With a few odd spots to the text only, this is aremarkably fine, crisp copy. All edges green.  (28878)

•  Wright, III, 168.   Publisher's cloth, spine gilt-stamped, front cover stamped in “silver” and gilt; cloth a touch rubbed over corners and spine extremities, otherwise clean and neat. Sewing breaking, not because this is a “bad” copy but because it's the nature of the thing.  (12987)

•  Publisher's brown cloth, spines with brown paper label; several labels with ssmall brown spots, cracks, and edge chips, not too conspicuous and not affecting printing. Two leaves (pp. 343–346 of vol. X) detached from binding; long tear down center of pp. 283/284 (vol. IV), without loss of text; except for two leaves with some offsetting from laid-in scrap of paper, interiors clean. Outer and lower edges deckle, with a few signatures opened unevenly and some unopened. A very good set.  (24537)

•  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)

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

The volume is illustrated with three engraved views, all three incorporating volcanos. As usual, this copy does not include the oversized map, which was printed and published separately.

•  Palau 21943; Sabin 2771; Nicaraguan National Bibliography 1476.   20th-century quarter red morocco and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; minor wear to corners and spine extremities. Plates with light waterstaining to lower portions; frontispiece, title-page, and plates backed with linen.  (25454)

•  Publisher's yellow bookcloth wrappers, front wrapper with affixed photographic label. Very clean and crisp.  (30630)

Sadleir's analysis suggested to him the following probable sequence: a) the private edition, b) copies of the public edition with p. 236 in the same form as it appears in the private edition, c) copies of the public edition with p. 236 blank; and d) copies of the public edition with the complete new version of the text on p. 236.

However, the remnants of the binding preserved at the back of the present first volume — see note below andtop-right image above — are red moiré silk (as opposed to the brown cloth of the public edition), with the side panels and spine ornately blocked with a gilt design and the title within the gilt frame (the spine is rather worn, but legible). This suggests that only some of the twelve private copies were bound in leather, and others, or at least one, were bound in this special silk cloth, gilt extra.

Barham began writing the short pieces making up this series as contributions to his friend and classmate's Bentley's Miscellany. The subject matter was “at first derived from the legendary lore of the author's ancestral locality in Kent, but soon [was] enriched by satires on the topics of the day and subjects of pure invention, or borrowed from history or the ‘Acta Sanctorum’. . . . The success of the ‘Legends’ was pronounced from the first, and when published collectively in 1840 they at once took the high place in humorous literature which they have ever since retained” (DNB).

Provenance: With R.H.D. Barham’s signature as noted above, and with the armorial bookplate of Sir David Lionel Salomons (1851–1925) in each volume.

•  NCBEL, III, 365; Sadleir 156a; Tinker 216 (public edition); Carter, Binding Variants, p.92. Bindings a bit darkened and slightly discolored at extremities, light rubbing to joints, some foxing to the prelims of the first volume, with an old tide-mark in the lower gutter areas of the plates; a tipped-in bookseller's description in the first volume. A very good, very interesting example of a very rare thing.  (18236)

Bindings: Contemporary signed bindings by E.P. Dutton & Co., of red morocco with covers framed in gilt triple fillets; spines with raised bands, gilt-stamped titles, and compartments framed in gilt double fillets. Board edges gilt-ruled, gilt inner dentelles. Upper page edges gilt. Original cloth covers and spines bound in at the back.

•  Sadleir 156b, e, & f; NCBEL, III, 365. Bindings as above, spines and upper board edges darkened with a bit of rubbing; free endpapers with offsetting from turn-ins. One volume with lower part of cover stained and the lower inner margin of the title-page and plates (not the text leaves!) waterstained. One plate evenly age-toned.  (12844)

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 5809. Recently rebound in period-style tan cloth over light blue paper sides, spines with paper labels. Contemporary ownership inscription to front fly-leaf in each volume. Map with light offsetting and short tear just starting along one fold. First 20 leaves of vol. II waterstained and last 10 foxed; scattered incidences of spotting in all volumes, pages generally clean. A nice-looking set, and still — as it always was! — a work offering a pleasant way to absorb ancient history.  (2736)

This volume also includes an interesting editorial, “Solid Pudding,” in which the author claims that modern girls are both better educated and as domestically skilled if not more so than their ancestors — they're better company for it, to boot!

Readers looking for entertainment should note that many of the tales present here are portions of serialized novels begun in previous numbers or slated to end in later ones.

•  Publisher's textured green cloth, front cover with blind-stamped frame and decorative gilt-stamped title, spine with gilt-stamped title; spine darkened with head chipped, edges and extremities rubbed, sides showing spots of minor discoloration, binding slightly shaken. Front free endpaper rubber-stamped “Mrs. Stanley.” Light foxing; a few leaves with upper margins chipped; outer edge of folding plate slightly ragged.A marvelous representation of women's reading of the day, with attractive color plates.  (32034)

•  Publisher's blue cloth, spine with gilt- and blue-stamped title; without dust jacket, spine slightly sunned, a clean, solid copy.  (24835)

The volume is printed with the original language and spelling preserved, and is illustrated with a woodcut frontispiece of a fisherman taken from de Worde's 1518 edition that is cited as the earliest known depiction of an angler fishing with a rod, as well as with six woodcuts (provided at the back of the volume in the form of four plates) showing types of poles, hooks, etc. As the title-page proclaims, the work was printed with the types of John Baskerville, making it one of the last such printings done in England. A later hand has helpfully added pencilled marginalia clarifying archaic or obscure terms and suggesting subject headers.

•  NSTC 2B20037; Keynes, Pickering, 42.   Later half calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-decorated raised bands, and gilt-stamped fishing creel devices in compartments; spine label with small edge chips and mild rubbing to paper. Pencilled annotations as above, pages and plates otherwise pleasingly clean.  (28566)

This copy uncut and in original boards: RARE THUS.

•  NSTC 2B20037; Keynes, Pickering, 42. Beyond the scope of Gaskell, Baskerville.   Publisher's dun-colored light boards. Uncut copy. Light overall rubbing; spine with minor loss of paper. Old bookseller's description affixed to front free endpaper; small oval stain to corner of half-title and frontispiece, a bit of light offsetting from plates. A very nice copy in a later open-back cardboard slipcase.  (30461)

Posthumous second edition in English, “translated from the French, with notes and engravings, illustrative and supplementary, by Andrew Ure.”

Uncut, partially unopened copy.

•  Uncut, partially unopened copy. Publisher's quarter cloth with paper covered boards; some discoloration to cloth, light chipping to board edges. Ex–social club library: paper label at top of spine, 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. A clean copy with the plates good and crisp; as noted above, an uncut, partially unopened copy.  (27388)

One of the “Collector's Series in Science” publications.

•  Publisher's quarter cloth. In original slipcase, which is sunned (and pictured above). Very Good condition.  (22449)

•  Publisher's printed paper wrappers, showing minor traces of wear. Pages generally clean; one upper outer corner with minor spot of staining, a few samples of page layouts lightly annotated in pencil.  (29712)

Scarce: Searches of WorldCat, the Catálogo Colectivo del Patrimonio Bibliográfico, REBIUN, and the OPAC of the Spanish National Library fail to locate any institutional holdings of this periodical.

•  Contemporary plain paper wrappers, spine with inked title-label; wrappers worn and chipped with small area of insect damage, spine extremities reinforced with cellophane tape. First page with two examples of same old oval institutional rubber-stamp; mild to moderate spotting and staining scattered throughout with very faint waterstaining to upper and outer areas of some plates and pages. A complete set of this scarce and interesting periodical and an artifact in good, studyable, displayable condition.  (32029)

•  Ter Meulen & Diermanse 893; STCN 167104 (I), 167404 (II), 170404 (III-IV). On Brandt, see: P. Burke, “The Politics of Reformation History: Burnet and Brandt,” in Clio's Mirror: Historiography in Britain and the Netherlands (1985), pp. 73–85. On Prof. Osgood, see: his obituary in The Biblical World, vol. 39, no. 2 (Feb. 1912), pp. 137–39.   Contemporary full calf, board edges gilt-stamped, spines gilt extra with raised bands and red morocco label; multicolored speckled edges. Joints cracked on all volumes but holding fine; spine leather cracked and chipped at ends, boards scuffed and somewhat sprung. Ex-library: pressure-stamp on title-pages and stamp to bottom edges, no other markings. A few repairs, wormholes, and very mild to moderate foxing, heavier in last two volumes; vol. IV with a bit of light waterstaining and some other indications of onetime exposure to moisture. A worn butworthwhile set.  (31172)

Provenance:  Each front pastedown with armorial bookplate of William Arthur, sixth Duke of Portland.

•  NSTC 2B46491; Allibone 240; Brunet, II, 1215.   Binding as above, minor shelf wear to lower edges and corners, vol. I with front board expertly reattached and with small dent to outer edge of front cover. Joints delicate, due to size and weight of volumes, but holding. A few pages and plates with faint foxing, otherwise clean.  (24100)

The colophon is signed by both the designer and the illustrator. This offering includes the monthly newsletter.

Binding: Full black linen, stamped in gold on the front cover from a design by Levine. The slipcase is covered with black paper and bears a gilt title on the spine.

Binding, slipcase, and illustrations all properly evoke the grittiness of the London underworld.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 529.   Bound as above, in publisher's slipcase; black paper peeling slightly at upper spine edge. A fine copy in a near-fine slipcase.  (30475)

•  Lipperheide 969; Colas 1618; Hiler, p. 501; Landwehr, Studies in Dutch Books With Colored Plates, 333–4.   Publisher's yellow paper over boards with red lettering and decoration incorporating the arms of Amsterdam on front cover, yellow-tan calf spine; boards lightly soiled/stained, extremities lightly rubbed, remnants of red sticker partially removed with loss to underlying imprint formation on front cover, and pencil-doodled tassel(?) to cap of woman on rear cover. Plates vivid and fresh, detailed and ELEGANT.  (31429)

•  NCBEL, III, 865.   Original green cloth, spines with printed paper labels, lacking the dust wrappers (which are scarce and almost never seen); labels darkened, a few starting to peel up at corners. Pages untrimmed, with some signatures unopened. A beautiful, clean example of this set.  (24629)

Present here are77 lives of notably Christian women, mostly born in England with a few from Scotland and one of German origin. The volumes are illustrated with a total of18 stipple-engraved portraits, many full of character, including the frontispiece portrait of Lady Jane Grey, with the plates copper-engraved by H. Meyer and Hopwood.

Significantly, the biographies are fleshed out with quotations from the writings (diaries, prose, and poetry) of the biographees.

•  NSTC B5415.   Period-style quarter tan cloth and light blue paper–covered boards, spines with printed paper labels. Ex–social club library: pressure-stamp on each title-page, no other institutional markings. Recto of each frontispiece with faint, early pencilled monogram. Pages lightly age-toned with scattered spots of staining; one leaf with small portion of outer margin torn away, not touching text; frontis. of vol. II with short tear from outer edge, not affecting image. Mild offsetting from portraits; a few leaves in vol. III with offsetting from laid-in plant matter. A good set of a work that is, frankly, more interesting than many might imagine!  (28857)

signed at the colophon by the artist

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 491.   Binding as above, in original glassine wrapper and paper-covered slipcase; wrapper with a few tiny nicks at spine extremities, slipcase showing minimal shelfwear, volume fresh and clean. A handsome, crisp copy.  (30718)

•  Binding as above. Pristine in a mylar wrapper.  (30559)

Difficult to photograph, easy to enjoy in hand.

Fore-edge painting: A pleasantly bucolic scene of Ripley Castle in Harrogate (according to an endpaper annotation), with a few human figures dotted about the landscape.

•  Binding as above, covers with minor scuffs, spine bands and extremities rubbed; leather consolidated, hinges (inside) skillfully repaired with long-fiber tissue. Scattered mild to moderate foxing in first and last sections; faint smudging to two pages.  (28711)

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

•  McKitterick/Rendall/Dreyfus 84.   Publisher's quarter natural niger morocco with red and black Cockerell marbled paper–covered sides; glassine wrapper lacking, boards very gently curved, extremities slightly worn. A solid, handsome copy of a handsome book.  (32040)

Provenance:  Front pastedown with bookplate of Ethel Randolph Thayer [Starr], a New England artist better known as Polly Thayer.

•  NSTC 2B64516.   Bound as above, spine slightly dimmed, extremities rubbed, one corner partially refurbished; occasional offsetting from plates. Index with small pencilled marks of emphasis. A handsome and uncommon representation of the long-running Byron “mania.”  (29989)