•  Binding as above; edges and extremities rubbed, small cracks in leather of front cover and spine, a few small abrasions to back cover. Pages age-toned with occasional light spotting, otherwise clean. Evocative, charming.  (27354)

•  Publisher's cloth, front cover and spine stamped in white, black, orange, and gilt; lacking the dust jacket, with binding slightly cocked, spine stamping a bit dimmed. Front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription.  (13027)

Binding:  Publisher's blue cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title and vignette of two bonnet-wearing, bouquet-carrying ladies possibly designed by Wheelhouse, spine with gilt-stamped title and rose tree vignette.

•  NCBEL, III, 876.   Binding as above, front cover with a few small spots of light discoloration, spine and extremities with minor rubbing, back lower outer corner showing faint traces of waterstaining. Top edges gilt, other edges untrimmed. Front free endpaper with small ticket of an Indianapolis bookstore. Scattered light foxing, largely confined to margins, pages mostly and images entirely clean. A lovely book giving an overall favorable impression despite minor faults.  (30040)

The plates are signed “F. Kearny,” an artist born in Perth Amboy, NJ, who studied drawing with Archibald and Alexander Robertson and engraving with Peter Maverick. From 1810 to his death in 1833 he practiced engraving in Philadelphia.

There are two states of gathering “U”: this copy has the typographical error “tibbon” with the stop-press correction to “ribbon” on p. 235.

The volume ends with advertisements for several sporting and fishing goods suppliers.

•  Shoemaker 27838; Howes K108; Henderson, American Sporting Books, 6; Phillips, Sporting Books, 21; Streeter Sale 4084; Bennett, Practical Guide, 60–61. On Stauffer, American Engravers, I, 148–49.   Publisher's sprinkled sheep with simple rope roll in blind on board edges, some abrasion to leather; round spine with gilt double rules forming “spine compartments,” black leather title label. The usual light and scattered foxing noted in all copies, nothing more. A very nice copy.  (28553)

•  Photographic dust jacket protected by mylar, not price clipped, over bright red boards; bottom edge bumped but no damage to jacket. Neat black “remainder” mark near spine on bottom edge; practically new!  (30106)

illustrated with six plates

•  Brunet, II, 1568.   Contemporary treed calf, covers framed in gilt Greek key roll, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped compartment decorations; rubbed with leather lost at corners and spine head, front joint starting from foot. Pages lightly age-toned with scattered faint spotting; plates clean and fresh.  (26987)

The present work opens with an oversized, folding view of the ruins of Persepolis, and includes a folding map of “Persia or iran” done by prominent engraver Samuel John Neele, as well as two small copper-engraved vignettes. The main text is given in Farsi and English on opposing pages; in addition to the portions of text taken from the Jahan-ara, Ouseley also provides “collateral illustrations from other manuscripts” (p. ii) and historical works. An errata slip is tipped in — this also, interestingly, containing instructions to the binder!

•  ESTC T97308; Lowndes 1741; Brunet, IV, 261; Allibone 1469.   Uncut copy. Publisher's paper shelf-back and plain boards, respined with similar paper; binding rubbed and soiled, spine head chipped, spine reinforcement with crack. Ex–social club: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, annotation on title-page covered over with slip of paper (pleasure and challenge of removal reserved for next owner), pressure-stamp on title-page. Frontispiece and map moderately waterstained, title-page with offsetting. Pages lightly age-toned, a few mildly foxed. Early inked corrections to a handful of words.  (26276)

This volume is illustrated with10 steel-engraved plates and one hand-colored map.

Rare in the U.S.: We trace only the Getty copy of this edition, and earlier editions are no less rare.

•  Landwehr, German Emblem Books, 317. Boards covered in music-printed paper from an 18th-century antiphonal, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels. Engraved title and pp. 49/50 (emblem VII) lacking. Title-page and next leaf with long-ago repaired holes, one on the latter affecting an initial on the verso; title-page with old inked device(?) and 19th-century institutional stamp on verso, showing through in part to recto; a small hole in a third leaf, taking perhaps a letter or two. Final blank leaf and two other leaves also stamped. One leaf torn from margins into text, repaired with Japanese tissue. Pages slightly age-toned, some with mild foxing or the odd spot. Faults noted, this is yet a worthwhile and studyable/enjoyable volume.

Held in most of the expectable libraries but currently uncommon in commerce.

•  Sabin 70769. Recent black moiré cloth, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Title-page and several others rubber-stamped by a now-defunct institution. Pages clean.

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  Publisher's teal cloth, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped title and decorative floral motifs; back cover and corners showing very slight scuffing. Back hinge cracked and front hinge starting; front free endpaper excised. Still, an attractive copy. (18393)

•  Sabin 27904.   Full recent tan cloth with gilt leather spine labels, clean and neat. Ex–social club library with old inked stamps, including to title-pages, no other markings. Otherwise, save between two pages where something once was laid in and in the index where a few leaves show a little soiling, chipping, or tearing to margins and one displays an old repair, only the odd small inkstain or short marginal tear and the gentlest of age-toning. A remarkably clean and fresh set.  (30144)

“Hours of innocent amusement!”

•  Publisher's full sheep, spines with gilt-stamped Greek key bands and gilt-stamped leather title labels; abraded, chipped, all covers loose, one vol. lacking spine label. Vol. II lacks title-leaf and pp. iii-iv of the index. Ex–social club library, where it was apparently popular: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper of each volume, pressure-stamp on both title-pages of vol. I and on p. v of vol. II; no other markings. Some short tears to edges of some leaves; pages with scattered smudges, spots, and a few early inked doodles.  (26361)

•  Vollkommene: Jantz Collection, 3334. Neither work in Coumont, Demonology and Witchcraft.   Contemporary vellum over paste boards, with slightly yapp edges; all edges red. Text unmarked and untattered. A very nice pair of uncommon books.  (26955)

Over60 large woodcuts illustrate the text, with some images appearing in both sections. The volume concludes with several poems on the themes of life, death, and the afterlife.

Uncommon: We trace only nine copies in the U.S., all but one in libraries east of the Mississippi.

•  Fairfax-Murray, French, 108; Morin, Bibliothèque bleue de Troyes, 435; Nisard, Histoire des Livres Populaires, II, 303. Binding with old, good repairs to head and foot of spine; joints and corners with additional subtly neat repairs and refurbishment. Pages lightly age-toned, with some signature marks and a few bottom lines shaved; a treasure from multiple points of view.

Binding:  Publisher's green cloth, front cover with palm tree vignette stamped in dark green and title in maroon, spine likewise.

•  Binding as above, all but unworn. Front free endpaper with early inked ownership inscription. Pages clean.  (28950)

Click the images for enlargements.

The volume is illustrated with a total of three wood-engraved depictions of New England buildings.

•  Publisher's pebbled terra cotta cloth, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped title; spine darkened and worn with gilt rubbed, sides with small spots of discoloration, cover gilt nice and bright. Some light smudging to margins, pages otherwise clean. All edges gilt.  (27649)

Binding: Publisher's brown suede, front cover with embossed Celtic designs, signed by Galwey & Co. of Dublin (with their ticket on the front pastedown).

•  Scott, A Bibliography of the Works of Sir Henry Haggard 1856–1925, 10. Publisher's red pictorial cloth, issued without frontispiece. Spine a bit darkened, a few leaves with faint spots of foxing, endpapers lightly discolored. Spine slightly cocked. (8614)

Provenance: Early inked ownership inscriptions reading “P.N. Spofford” on the front fly-leaf and the title-page.

•  Original printed paper–covered boards, front cover detached, with paper cracked over the spine and back joint, and some light staining to the covers. A few verses with pencilled notes; pages with occasional small, light spots. A binder's bad day: The pages from 157–68 are bound in twice in this copy, with the pagination skipped from 169–80; the text headers go from “rose, bridal” to “rose-bud, red.”

This is the stated fifth edition, following the first of 1724; WorldCat suggests that it may be a reissue of the 1724 printing with the edition statement added. It is printed on one side of each leaf only.

Provenance:  Engraved title-page with early inked ownership inscription of A.W. Rappe in upper outer corner.

•  ESTC T78313.   Contemporary speckled sheep; abraded overall, spine label lost, covers all but detached. Engraved title-page with inscription as above. Minor to moderate offsetting throughout, pages otherwise clean. An interesting pattern-book from an author perhaps better known for such works than for his actual constructions.  (29679)

•  Later green cloth with paper spine labels; labels browned and chipped. A nice set.  (30071)

•  BAL 7841.   Publisher's tan cloth, front cover with affixed color-printed paper illustration; binding somewhat darkened (especially spine), corners and spine extremities rubbed, a few small spots of discoloration to front and back covers. Front pastedown with pencilled gift inscription, front free endpaper with bookseller's small ticket. Pages clean. A very nice book. (20839)

Thomas's monograph describes earwigs, cockroaches, devils-horses, walking-sticks, grasshoppers (this category including locusts), and crickets, and is illustrated with a few in-text wood engravings in addition to the lithographed plate (done by W.H. Holmes) showing 17 different U.S. insects. This copy is uncut and unopened.

•  Schmeckebier, Catalogue & Index of the Publications of the Hayden, King, Powell, & Wheeler Surveys, 21.   Period-style quarter tan cloth with light blue paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper label. Title-page institutionally rubber-stamped; title-page and half-title with outer margins repaired. Page edges untrimmed, signatures unopened. Spots of staining to outer margins of a few leaves. In fact a nice copy.  (25282)

•  Publisher’s cloth, covers framed in blind, spine with gilt-stamped title; front cover with discoloration to upper edge and small bump to outer edge, cloth rubbed along edges and joints, spine scuffed. Front pastedown institutionally rubber-stamped. Pages and plates clean, and the large volume quite solid.

The listings are augmented in the first three volumes by numerous in-text reproductions of illustrations and title-pages from the books. This copy includesauction prices neatly inked alongside every book.

•  Contemporary treed sheep, spines with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels and gilt-ruled bands; sides showing minor rubbing, edges, joints, and extremities moreso. All hinges (inside) cracked or tender, some endpapers with pencilled notations. Vol. I: Two pages with light offsetting from now-absent item, one leaf with lower outer corner torn away. Vol. IV with bookplate of Alvaro de Fontagud y Aguilera. Pages gently age-toned, most noticeably in vol. IV, with occasional light smudges; each volume with last page browned.  (29161)

Many of the 52 lithographed plates are in duotone; some were done by Ackerman Lithography and some by P.S. Duval & Co., after views of scenery, buildings, and natives drawn by Lieut. Gibbon.

Two volumes of maps, not present here, were issued separately.

•  Sabin 31524; Palau 113897. Publisher’s textured cloth, covers blind-stamped, spine with gilt-stamped title; vol. I with spine sunned and cloth chipped at spine extremities; vol. II with corners bumped, cloth peeling away from spine and chipped at spine extremities, spine with gilt dimmed and small area of unobtrusive discoloration from now-absent label. Front pastedowns each with pencilled owner’s name and institutional rubber stamp (no other markings); front free endpaper of vol. II starting to tear along inner margin. Mild to moderate foxing and spotting; a few text gatherings unopened. One plate in vol. I with short tear from outer margin, turning into a narrow scrape extending about halfway into the upper portion of the image; one leaf in vol. II with tiny portion (less than one word) affixed to opposing plate. Not a perfect set, but a perfectly fascinating one.

Provenance:  Rolle family armorial bookplate.

•  ESTC R10688; Wing (rev.) H1578; Allibone 813.   Contemporary sheep, covers framed in blind double fillets; leather rubbed and scuffed, partially cracked along front joint. All edges marbled. Pastedowns peeled up, front pastedown with early inked inscription; inside front cover with armorial bookplate. Title-page with inked numeral in upper outer corner. (21012)

Binding:  19th-century crushed half black levant morocco over black and white marbled paper; binding signed on verso of front free endpaper withminute stamp of [Leon] Lemardeley. Spine with raised bands, gilt above, below, and on each; gilt-tooled skull and crossbones in three compartments, a flame in two others, and author and title in the remaining one. Gilt rule where the half leather meets the marbled paper on each cover. Green and red French swirl marbled endpapers. Silk ribbon place marker. All leaves tipped to stubs. Uncut copy.

•  Warthin, The Physician of the Dance of Death, pp. 79–80; NSTC B3545. Binding as above, signed as above; front joint, front hinge (inside) and corners refurbished/strengthened with toned long-fiber tissue, edges and back joint lightly rubbed. Age-spotting on pages and plates, generally light; some off-setting from the plates. Bookseller's catalogue description clipped and pasted to front pastedown. Dealer's letter pasted to rear pastedown. Two uncalled-for plates.  This is a pleasing, better than “decent” copy priced well below excellent ones in contemporary bindings.  (25933)

This is an intact, attractive copy — the dangling acrobat has vanished from at least some reported examples, but flies bravely here.

•  Publisher's color printed paper–covered boards with cloth shelfback; boards very slightly warped at upper inner corner, edges and extremities rubbed. Acrobat figure with one leg creased; all elements otherwise sans wear or tears, with colors vivid. A delightful, uncommon “moveable book.”  (30243)