Binding:  Publisher's tan cloth, front cover with double iris design stamped in green, white, and violet.

•  Binding as above, minimal rubbing only. Pages and plates clean. A beautiful copy.  (28613)

Click the images for enlargements.

•  Gamba 2323; not in Brunet. Contemporary vellum over paste boards, outer edges yapp, spine with hand-inked title; vellum torn and partially lost over lower edge of front cover, with signs of wear and small spots of staining elsewhere. Ex-library, front pastedown with Italian institutional bookplate; yet volume otherwise free of markings. Title-page verso with affixed scrap of paper. Intermittently occurring light dampstaining in upper margins; otherwise clean.

The volume is illustrated with afrontispiece and 10 plates by painter Henry S. Hubbell.

Signed binding: Publisher's tan-with-green-tint cloth, front cover with title and Art Nouveau iris design stamped in pink and green surrounding a color-printed portrait of the heroine; spine with green-stamped title. Binding with the distinctive monogram of prolific book designer Amy M. Sacker (1873–1965).

•  Not in Wright.   Binding as above, clean and fresh; endpapers with areas of offsetting. One leaf with lower outer corner torn away; half-title with pencillings. A very attractive copy.  (28587)

•  Publisher's red cloth in dust wrapper, jacket not price-clipped; dust jacket rubbed and chipped at extremities and along upper back edge, light dustsoiling to portion of back cover.  (24682)

This example is numbered copy 972 of 1500 printed, signed at the colophon by the illustrator; the appropriate LEC newsletter is laid in.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 269.   Binding as above, in publisher's original slipcase; spine leather dried and chipping, slipcase with small scratches and mild shelfwear. Quite sound, and internally very clean and crisp; in fact, depending on taste, the look of the spine can suggest survivorship of a sort that Marcus Aurelius would have appreciated!  (30121)

Merlin also printed a duodecimo edition in 1767; in the present edition, “Fragmens de philosophie morale” is found on pp. 273–340, followed by the Addition and Approbation.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with gilt-stamped armorial bookplate of notable 19th-century book collector Edward Hailstone, gilt-stamped “I.T.” bookplate with motto “Inter folia fructus,” and bookplate of Sir Montague Shearman.

Binding:  Contemporary crimson morocco, covers framed in gilt triple fillets; spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather labels, board edges and turn-ins with gilt rolls. This volume (complete in itself) seems at one time to have been part of a set of Marmontel's works, and bears an (unnumbered) spine label reading “Oeuvres de Marmontel.”

•  Brunet, III, 1440; Cohen de Ricci, Guide de l’amateur de livres à gravures du XVIIIe siècle, 688; Graesse 406; Tchermezine 455.   Binding as above, with edges, extremities, and joints showing minor rubbing. Front pastedown with bookplates as above; front free endpaper with affixed slip of early cataloguing; rear pastedown with small chip out of paper. Light spots of foxing, slightly heavier around plates. All edges gilt.  (25776)

A considerable and interesting array of ads for other Griffin publications is appended.

•  Publisher's green textured cloth, extremely neatly rebacked, back cover blind-stamped, front cover gilt-stamped with abstract plant-recalling border and central title amidst flowers; each cover pressure-stamped by now-defunct library, with slight discolorations to upper edges. All edges gilt. Title-page and four others lightly stamped (plates untouched); library pocket on back free endpaper. Small bookseller's ticket on back pastedown; endpaper edges chipped. Plates clean and very pleasing; in fact, it's a pleasing little volume overall.

Click the images for enlargements.

The volume is illustrated with an added engraved title-page and three steel-engraved plates, done by O. Pelton after designs by T.B. Read and Beaume, and by Charles Phillips after Sir Joshua Reynolds.

Signed binding: Hunter green embossed morocco, covers with cherub vignette in foliate frame; the embossed panel was designed by Francis N. Mitchell and engraved by Alex C. Morin, and the binding was done by Benjamin Bradley, with all three names stamped in panel. All edges gilt.

•  Faxon 713. On binding, see: Wolf, From Gothic Windows to Peacocks, 178; Spawn & Kinsella, American Signed Bindings, 53.   Binding as above, extremities with very minor rubbing; frontispiece lacking. Offsetting from plates, two pages with offsetting from now-absent laid-in item, scattered light spotting elsewhere. A gorgeous example of the binding, with interesting reading inside.  (26737)

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

Binding:  Publisher's tan cloth, front cover pictorially stamped in black and white; designed by Thomas Watson Ball and with his “B” cipher. The cover depicts a richly dressed man at a tickertape machine. Top edge gilt.

•  Bound as above; black stamping showing light wear: a solid, clean copy.  (22208)

•  Bound as above; moderate rubbing to corners and joints, front cover with small areas of faint staining, one small spot of insect damage to each cover. Pages age-toned with occasional faint spotting, otherwise clean. A lovely little book and an engaging example of its genre.  (27353)

Also included is a woodcut map showing Europe, the Atlantic, and the New World.

•  Palau 159680; Alden & Landis, European Americana, 609/77; Medina, BHA, 123. Old vellum; red leather, gilt-lettered spine label; some staining, and chipping to edges and label. Old, careful repairs to interior worming occasionally cost individual letters (but never sense) or a little loss to an illustration. Old rubber-stamps and red and black ownership label on title-page; inked notations on title-page and front pastedown. All edges speckled red.

This is “a new edition, with a supplement, continuing the subject to the year 1829.” The first edition had appeared in 1824 and each subsequent edition expanded on the earlier one. This edition contains an amazing amount of information about the myriad early steam engines and their patents. Each of the53 plates is a diagram of a different, named engine.

•  Publisher's green pebbled cloth with paper title-label, paper shelving label at top of spine, cloth with patches of discoloration. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. A bit of foxing/spotting; in fact, however, a clean and good copy.  (27328)

•  Publisher's tan cloth, front cover with title and Art Nouveau decorative design (unsigned) stamped in brown and dark blue; spine and front cover with a trio of tiny spots and edges significantly darkened, the discoloration just touching outer edges of title stamping. Pages still clean; children's pictures still adorable.  (29815)

This is numbered copy 932 of 1650 printed on grey Van Gelder paper at the Curwen Press.

Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplate of prominent New Yorker E. Coster Wilmerding.

•  BAL 13726; McKitterick/Rendall/Dreyfus 36.   Publisher's red cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title, in black-printed dust-wrapper; spine slightly sunned with extremities rubbed, dust-wrapper split and significantly chipped with most of spine paper lost. Provenance as above, and the volume clean.  (28230)

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club 260.   Publisher's quarter leather over printed paper-covered sides; spine extremities slightly rubbed, in slipcase showing a bit of scraping and refurbished at top fore-edge. Very nice.  (13276)

Provenance:  Cortlandt F. Bishop, with his elegant red leather bookplate.

Binding:  Signed binding by M. Lortic: red morocco, gilt extra with accents of black; original wrappers bound in. Board edges with gilt double fillet; wide turn-ins with richly gilt; marbled endpapers. All edges gilt.

The prospectus is bound at the rear.

•  Binding as above, joints unobtrusively repaired, very faint traces of shelfwear to lower edges. Pages gently age-toned. A beautiful volume.  (3390)

•  Publisher's textured taupe silk binding, front cover with patterned coral silk insert; spine with gilt-stamped title. Dust wrapper and original slipcase present, lower back corner of jacket slightly crumpled; otherwise a gorgeous, clean copy in an undamaged slipcase.  (24683)

The binding is full rusty-brown Nigerian goat, stamped in gold on the spine. The etchings are by Leonard Baskin, a series of five portraits tracing the downward spiral of Willy Loman — a powerful complement to Miller's portrait of a salesman at the end of his career and at the end of his rope! The plates, printed by Bruce Chandler, are each protected by a brown paper tissue guard. The book is designed by Benjamin Schiff, who chose a Bulmer font for the text.

This offering includes the monthly newsletter but not the mailing notice.

•  Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 540.   Binding as above. One of the tissue guards is loose but otherwise undamaged. Fine, in the original slipcase. A handsome production of one of the most performed plays in the world!  (21754)

•  Publisher's printed paper wrappers, back upper corner slightly bumped and back cover with faint smudges, otherwise only minimally worn. Pages clean and crisp.  (29713)

Binding:  Contemporary crimson morocco, covers framed in wide stylized thistle and leaf gilt roll with gilt-tooled corner fleurons, spine compartments with similar gilt motifs, turn-ins with gilt roll. All edges gilt. Volume housed in recent red cloth-covered slipcase.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of collector John Train and with small ticket of Rastall & Son Booksellers, back pastedown with ticket of Leighton Son, & Hodge of London. Front free endpaper with inked inscription: “To Minnie on her marriage,” from A.B., dated Oct. 1858.

•  NSTC 2M29671.   Binding as above, minor rubbing to extremities, spine leather very slightly darkened and showing thin faint cracks. Front hinge (inside) cracked but holding. Small newspaper clipping regarding Milton and a slim silk ribbon marker (possibly once attached to binding) laid in. Plates with moderate spotting confined to upper margins only, not touching images; pages clean. An attractive and very Victorian rendition of Milton.  (30150)

The illustrations consist of six full-page watercolors by Edmund Dulac. The LEC bibliography says they were “printed in process offset,” but this is in error: The mailing notice (not present with this offering) asserts they were “reproduced in six printings by the Sun Engraving Company,” and a member of the family that owned that enterprise observes to us that it did not in fact have offset presses — while it was noted for its color letterpress productions, including the original (1940) Szyk Haggadah. The design is by John Dreyfus, who chose a monotype Bembo font printed by the University of Cambridge Press; the engraving of the music was done by G.T. Friend.

The binding is quarter gold-stamped vellum with marbled paper sides; top edges are gilt.

•  Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 250.   Binding with a light, small stain on back cover. Clean inside; bookseller's small label on rear pastedown. Original slipcase, with light scuff marks and minor paper loss at head and foot of mouth. A fine book, in a very good slipcase.  (23002)

Signed binding: Publisher's brick-colored cloth, front cover and spine with decorative gilt-stamped title and twining vine and flower motifs, front cover with “AR” monogram of designer Amy Richards (fl. 1896–1918).

•  Binding as above, slightly cocked and with corners a little bumped, spine very gently darkened and back cover with small spots, front cover with a few pinprick-type holes not detracting overly from overall appearance of design. Top edges gilt. A few page margins with faint smudges, otherwise clean.  (29769)

250 recipes making use of slow cooking

•  Bitting 326 (for 1909 & 1911 eds.); Brown, Culinary Americana, 2637 (first ed. only). Not in Cagle & Stafford.   Publisher's dark green cloth, front cover and spine stamped in black with title and images of fireless cookers; mild rubbing to extremities, very faint scratches to back cover. Front hinge (inside) with small area of insect damage near head. A clean, solid copy.  (30292)

•  Lipperheide, Katalog der Freiherrlich von Lipperheide’schen Kostumbibliothek, 285m. Contemporary quarter morocco with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; joints and edges rubbed, joints cracked and leather chipped at spine extremities. Front free endpaper separated but present; front pastedown and free endpaper institutionally rubber-stamped. Pages clean. Absorbing.

Montes de Oca's plates are particularly detailed and moving when they show the saint in Japan being abused and tortured, but all are strong and striking.

Uncut.

•  Palau 363045.   Late 19th-century plain sheep binding. Uncut; lacking two plates and two with minor worming as noted above; all plates well impressed, as would be expected of a work that the artist himself saw through the press! A very good copy of a scarce and important work.  (25095)

12 copper-engraved views in and around Oxford

•  NSTC 2M34090.   Contemporary calf framed in blind triple fillets with blind-tooled corner fleurons and panelled within with gilt double fillets with gilt-tooled corner fleurons; spine gilt-extra with gilt now attractively faded and recent period-style gilt-stamped morocco label, all edges gilt. Plates including engraved title lightly to moderately foxed with offsetting to surrounding pages. A good solid copy with substantial presence.  (30110)

12 copper engravings

•  Publisher's cream vellum, spine with gilt-stamped title; gilt faded, not-awful patch of staining on back cover, front joint rubbed at head (only). Binding solid and overall cleaner-appearing than those points suggest. Pages clean and crisp.  (29952)

•  Publisher's brown marbled, textured paper–covered boards, front cover with gilt-stamped title. Clean and unworn. Not a commonplace copy!  (26833)

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 51192; Welch, American Children’s Books, 453.5.   Crudely sewn, lacking wrappers. Pages darkened and spotted, with inkstain obscuring small part of title-page and frontispiece image; corners bumped and worn. Early inked annotations on frontispiece recto and elsewhere. Clearly, a successful inspiration for at least a few small hands to take up pen and ink! (29173)

•  Publisher's blue-grey cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title and LEC compass device, spine with gilt-stamped title. Slipcase lacking. Clean and fresh.  (30010)

Binding:  Publisher's olive-brown vermiform cloth of Krupp's style Mis1, spine with gilt-stamped series and individual title.

•  Sabin 32058. On binding: Krupp, Bookcloth in England and America, 1823--50, Mis1.   Binding as above, head of spine chipped, front joint with small spot of insect damage. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate and small call-number ticket on front pastedown, title-page pressure-stamped, no other markings. First map creased, outer edge slightly tattered. Pages age-toned. A nice copy.  (26418)

Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Publisher's printed paper wrappers, front wrapper with affixed color-printed illustration; corners and edges rubbed, wrappers sunned and lightly soiled, front wrapper with small area of discoloration from now-absent label. Ex–social club library with its attractive bookplate, back inside wrapper with charge-slip, inked numeral in lower margin of preface, no other markings. Pages clean; a few corners bumped.  (27469)

This volume for connoisseurs offers two distinct parts: first, the text printed and all the illustrations present as fully colored, delicately washed in shades of pink, blue, purple, grey, white, and earth tones; and second, a set of the illustrations in proofs uncolored and without text. Most of the illustrations in both suites areinitialed by Caruchet.

Jean Emmanuel Charles Nodier (1780–1844) was a French author and librarian, appointed to the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in 1824. His literary stylemuch influenced the Romantics, including Victor Hugo and Alfred de Musset. This legend, first published in La Revue de Paris (1838), is representative of his fantastical oeuvre. It was later adapted into a French opera (Béatrice, 1914) and a film (1923).

Signed Binding: Crushed half milk chocolate morocco over marbled paper boards signed “V. Champs,” gilt author, title, and date to spine; patterned marbled endpapers (different from the covers). Original gilt and hand-colored stiff cream wrappers bound in, showing Béatrix full-figure on the front, her hands extended outward beneath the gilt title.

Provenance:  An initialed ink inscription beneath the Justification du tirage states this copy was “Offert à Madame Conquet” — who must have been related toM.L. Conquet, “the great Paris publisher of works of the romantic school,” whose publications were famous for being very limited editions and for the “high artistic quality of their illustrations” (“Books and Authors,” The New York Times, 26 March 1898).

•  Carteret, V, 141; Vicaire, VI, 179.   Binding as above. One small nick on the front leather near the spine, and board extremities (paper and leather) lightly rubbed. The publisher's authentication embossed stamp below the limitation statement. Text clean, unblemished. Simply, excellent.  (30135)

In addition to what Sabin calls “a valuable ethnological disquisition,” the volume includes a “Maya vocabulary” and grammar, along witha map of the region and 24 lithographic plates done from designs by the author, many being important images of Mayan architecture.

Binding:  Rosy-purple publisher's cloth, covers blind-stamped with a border of ribbony strapwork and front one with a rather famous central gilt-stamped pictorial vignette; spine with gilt-stamped title, blind-stamped ornamentation mostly in bands, and an additional gilt vignette.

Provenance:  Frontispiece with bookplate of Henry B. Noyes, his inked signature on the title-page (“220 E. Painted Post”) dated 1843, another pencilled and dated “Noyes” on front fly-leaf; front free endpaper with rubber-stamps of an Auburn, NY, bookseller.

•  Sabin 55494; Catalogue of the Avery Architectural Library 721; Smith, American Travellers Abroad, N27.   Binding mildly cocked with scattered small spots of discoloration, spine sunned as this color cloth loves to be. Ownership indicia as above and on one other page, outer edge of front free endpaper chipped through one of the bookseller's stamps. A few instances of minor offsetting from plates only; a nice, clean copy.  (28418)

•  Charming and charmingly illustrated Victorian tales, poems, and songs for children, many featuring animals — plus a series of lessons on astronomy. Almost every page incorporates a steel- or wood-engraved image; variously sized, many of these are full-page. (The final illustration, of a young miss playing piano with her little lapdog “singing” along, is especially appealing.) Music is included for “The Old Year and the New,” “Chipperee, Chip,” “Song of the Cat,” and many other tunes.

•  Contemporary half roan and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and date; binding scuffed. Two leaves with chips in lower margins, with loss of about four letters; two pages with spots of staining, pages otherwise clean. This copy evidently was never abused by childish hands, although the magazine certainly deserved to be pored over — really, this is a wonderful little book.  (29570)

A search of WorldCat locates only four copies in the U.S. and another of COPAC finds only the British Library copy.

•  Palau 201032; Almirante, Bibliografia militar de España, 575.   Early limp vellum, old author, title, and device inked on spine; recased and new endpapers supplied in front, with ties renewed. Added engraved title supplied in facsimile, so too the volvelle; interior tear without loss precisely along the outer edge of the text block on pp. 1/2, evidence of printer misjudgment in the impression. Old inked notes on inside of rear cover, and in a few other places; some instances of old, generally faint waterstaining or minor ink-accident; generally, a clean copy.  (28466)

Provenance:  Front pastedown with inked ownership inscription of Ida M. Hardy, dated 1867. The book itself, alas, provides no indication whether Ms. Hardy was a traveller of the actual or armchair sort.

•  Sabin 57368. Not in Phillips, List of Maps of America.   Publisher's brown cloth of Krupp's style Lea8, covers blind-stamped, front cover with gilt-stamped title; a little sunned with corners bumped and binding slightly cocked. Front pastedown with inscription as above, front free endpaper with mostly erased pencilled inscription. Mild smudging to some page edges; a few leaves with light waterstaining to lower outer portions. One leaf torn, repaired some time ago with cellophane tape, touching but not obscuring five words; map with short tear from lower edge, upper edge a bit crumpled. A solid copy, with map and all plates.  (26666)

The volume opens with an oversized, color-printed map of Ireland on green paper; it is further illustrated with a frontispiece and 31 other plates mostly representing churches and abbeys but also Irish landscapes (“The Shannon above Limerick”), historical moments (“Massacre at Drogheda”), and prominent figures. One split image contrasts a tormented Irish family with the same family happy and prosperous in America; interestingly, that same split plate is reproduced at the back of the volume as two facing plates with new captions — “Ireland As She Is” and “Ireland As She Ought to Be.”

Binding:  Publisher's pebbled blue cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title and gilt-stamped vignette of a radiant monolith surrounded by shamrocks; back cover with same vignette in blind, and spine with decorative gilt-stamped author, title, and publisher. All edges gilt.

Provenance:  Back free endpaper with pencilled ownership inscription of Maggie Brennan of Philadelphia; we note, but dare not speculate on the import of, her surname's matching that of one of the authors here.

•  NSTC 0558744 (for 1878 ed.).   Bound as above, front cover and spine aged to dark brownish blue and volume moderately rubbed overall. Folding map with tear from inner margin, extending inside frame (close to but not touching actual image). Pages browned in from edges due to nature of paper, but not brittle; dried plant matter laid in at three spots and an old tassel at another. A very solid copy, with hinges holding (unusual for copies of this hefty volume).  (29569)

Uncommon.  OCLC and NUC Pre-1956 find only four U.S. holdings.

•  Brunet 13064.   Contemporary vellum, covers framed and panelled in blind with blind-tooled central lozenge, spine with hand-inked title; front cover slightly warped, binding dust-soiled. Front pastedown institutionally rubber-stamped. Scattered spots of light to moderate foxing. Errata (final page) lined through in ink.  (24490)

Binding:  Publisher's light green cloth, front cover stamped with wreath and star design in dark green, red, and gilt, spine with green-stamped title.

•  Sternick, Children's Series Books, 920.   Binding as above, spine and board edges sunned. Front fly-leaf with inked inscription: “Bought with money Sarah sent me Christmas 1898.” Sewing starting to loosen in some signatures. Page edges slightly age-toned, otherwise clean.  (28920)

•  Publisher's brown cloth, covers and spine with blind-stamped decorations and gilt-stamped vignettes; extremities rubbed, spine head chipped, gilt lightly rubbed. Ex–social club library: paper shelving label on spine, 19th-century bookplate, front free endpaper lacking, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Small crescent burn mark to upper margin of title-page, a very few small smudges elsewhere, otherwise clean.  (28291)

•  Publisher's half cream pigskin and light grey/tan cloth, rich eggplant endpapers, front cover with gilt-stamped vignette and spine with gilt-stamped title; binding showing only very minor wear overall, upper edge of front cover with area of faint staining. A clean and attractive copy.  (28154)

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 440.   Binding as above, in publisher's glassine dust jacket and original metallic slipcase; volume all but pristine, jacket with a few tiny nicks but an unusually nice example of these impermanent wrappers, case with corners very slightly rubbed. A clean, fresh copy; frankly, one wants to dare say, “could not be better.”  (30130)

Click the images for enlargements.

Signed binding: Publisher's dark violet cloth, covers with blind-stamped strapwork and floral decorations, spine with gilt-stamped title. Front panel stamped “Davies & Hands” around each corner.

•  Binding as above with minor rubbing, spine and portion of front cover faded to olive. Scattered foxing; one corner torn away (not touching text).  (29034)

The poems, stories, and Christian meditations are illustrated with a number of in-text wood engravings, including an image of Marion's Men and one of the two Native American “Children in Exile” of J.T. Fields's poem; the front cover scene of a young boy declaiming to his mother and sister was engraved by John Karst after George White.

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with ownership inscription of a Miss Brewer inked twice, once faintly as Harriet and once a little more darkly as Hattie (dated 1870); title-page same name in upper margin (very faint) and front cover with very very faint fourth signature.

•  Publisher's quarter sheep and printed paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and embossed stars within circles, all edges marbled (now faded); spine head chipped, corners bumped, general rubbing and paper darkened. Ownership indicia as above; early hand-coloring to title, probably Hattie's. Intermittent mild to moderate foxing.  (28421)

•  Publisher's red buckram, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped title, in publisher's metallic paper–covered slipcase; volume clean and fresh, slipcase showing shelfwear. An attractive copy.  (29938)

This is a handsome production from the Hogal press, which is considered one of the finest operating in Mexico in the 18th century. It sports a full-page woodcut of the coat of arms of José de Castorena y Urzúa, the bishop of the Yucatan, and a notably strong, lovely one of St. Joseph and the Infant Christ; neither is signed.

Provenance: Marca de fuego of the main Mercedarian convent in Mexico City, in upper and lower edges of the book.

WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 combine to locate only five copies of this in the U.S., one of which is incomplete.

•  Medina, Mexico, 3086; Palau 218002; DeBacker-Sommervogel, VI, 480.   Contemporary limp vellum with ties. An occasional spot or stain; two short, slim, delicate wormtracks to (in each case) perhaps six leaves, across text but not affecting reading, and a third even shorter, slimmer, entirely marginal.foray in a number of other leaves. A very nice copy.  (29581)

Binding:  Publisher's red leather, covers embossed in blind and stamped in gilt, each cover with a different embossed and chromolithographed floral illustration affixed (bouquet to front and wreath to back; spine gilt extra. All edges gilt.

•  Faxon 259.   Binding as above, spine slightly darkened with small repaired tear to cloth and volume refurbished; joints skillfully and unobtrusively repaired with toned tissue, spine lining and endbands readhered to text block, leather consolidated and carefully toned. Front free endpaper with owner's inscription dated 1869. A few spots of foxing, mostly in proximity to plates. A lovely and entertaining gift book bound in particularly splendid (and somewhat unusual) fashion.  (12931)

The views begin along the Caribbean coast, move inland to Mexico City, then north, and then back to the Gulf Coast. Scenes include Campeche, Jalapa, Orizaba, Perote, Puebla, Popocatepetl, the Valley of Mexico, the Cathedral of Mexico, Veracruz, Zacatecas, a battle scene of Chapultec Castle, el Paseo, and several others.

Provenance:  Bookplate (early 20th-century) of Almeric Hugh Paget, 1st and sole Baron Queenborough (1861–1949). Among his many and remarkably various interests, in all senses of that word, Lord Queenborough in a Mexican connection was president of the Ferrocarril Chihuahua al Pacifico (Chihuahua and Pacific Railroad).

•  Palau 224780; Sabin 62498; Abbey, Travel, II, 671; Mayer, México ilustrado, 13–21.   The portfolio is intact and strong in good++ condition, with the plates expertly conserved and rehinged so that the volume now safely opens perfectly flat for better appreciation of the contents. Binding with some rubbing to expectable places, and spine with small rectangular area of rubbing/discoloration one inch from the bottom, possibly from an old label; corners bumped with some loss of cloth and cloth generally with light soil, a scattering of small spots, and (to back cover) a patch of old waterstaining not reaching inward. Queenborough bookplate as described to front pastedown; old abrasions and adhesions to rear endpapers. Lithographic title-page and margins of some other plates with small marginal tears at edges, nicely repaired; printed title-page with blank portion at bottom right corner (6" by 9") excised and replaced long ago; one leaf of letterpress description with similar (blank) portion excised and replaced. Text leaves and plates with only the very occasional spot of foxing or “other”; in fact a copy that isnotably appealing, and suitable both for study and for exhibition.  (27591)

In addition to a finely engraved frontispiece portrait of Savonarola, there areeight plates, numbering four engraved coats of arms, for the Atestina, Medici, Borgia and Sforza families, and four large foldout letterpress family trees, for the author's family, the Atestina, Medici, and Borgia, who are all related in some way or another to Savonarola's story.

•  BM STC French, P1013. On Pico della Mirandola, see: NCE, XI, 347–48, and C.B. Schmitt, Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola ... and his Critique of Aristotle (1967). On Billaine, see: B. Montagnes OP, “Éditions et éditeurs de Savonarole dans la France d'Ancien Régime,” in Archivium fratrum praedicatorum, LXXV, pp. 159–78.   Vellum over boards with yapp edges, ink title to spine and blue speckled edges; vol. II, “Additiones,” not present. Unnoticeable pin-type wormhole to frontispiece, title-page rubbed with loss to part of two words and with small hole to its blank area; small spottings to Medici fold-out plate and a few other leaves; Borgia fold-out plate repaired and with a diamond-shaped waterstain; a few tears in lower margins, two resulting in a bit of loss and one of these given an old repair.  (30276)

Provenance: With the printed and folding ex-proemium of J.J.S. van Goltstein van Hoekenburg, Jan. 1819.

•  DeBacker-Sommervogel, VI, 976. Binding as above. All edges marbled. A very good copy; text block very slightly skewed in binding.

"Porta's system . . . leads him constantly to conclusions of analogies between plants, animals and men. Similar humours are found in various apparently unrelated organisms. Plants and animals that correspond in shape are interrelated. A leaf formed like a stag horn shares the character of the deer. The horse is a noble animal, therefore it is a sign of nobility to walk erect with the head held high. Men who resemble a donkey are like that animal: timid, stupid, nervous. He who looks like an ostrich is akin to it in character: he is timid, elegant, vicious, stolid. A man who reminds us of a swine is a swine, eating greedily and having all the other characteristics, such as rudeness, irascibility, lack of discipline, sordidness, lack of intelligence [and] modesty. In a similar way, men who look like ravens are impudent; those who resemble oxen are stubborn, lazy, irascible; men who have lips shaped like those of a lion are hearty, magnanimous, courageous; others who make us think of a ram are timid, malicious and humble. When practising medicine, Porta had many occasions to observe his patients, and to study their character and complexion; the results of this studious inquiry are laid down in his book." (Seligmann)

Appended to Della fisionomia humana are the Fisionomia naturale of Giovanni Ingegneri († 1600), the Physionomia of Polemon (ca. a.d. 88 – a.d. 145) in an Italian translation, Porta’s Della celeste fisionomia (a repudiation of astrology), and two short related treatises by Livius Agrippa and Luigi Settala (1552–1633). Della celeste fisionomia has a number of interesting woodcuts showing pagan gods and constellations.

•  Seligmann, The History of Magic, 319. On physiognomy, see: Thorndike, History of Magic and Experimental Science, VII, 448 & following. On Porta, see: Webster’s New Biographical Dictionary 811. Vellum over paste boards, soiled and cockled with a little chipping; vellum along front joint cracked but joint strongly holding. Ex-library: paper labels on spine and rubber-stamps, including one on title-page. Edges bumped and pages severely cockled (though with no waterstaining); some soiling especially to top edges and margins, with a few edge chips. Plates in very clear, strong impressions. Price reduced for faults, but a volume offering much despite them. (4654)

illustrated with five plates (three of them oversized) showing plans of sugar mills and equipment

•  American Imprints 8805; Goldsmiths'-Kress 26165.18 (for first London ed.). On Porter, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, XLVI, 178.   Publisher's tan paper–covered boards with tan cloth shelfback bearing printed paper label; rubbed, spots of discoloration, spine cloth and label darkened and worn; joints cracked and reinforced at head with cloth tape, text block pulling away from spine with front free endpaper separating, contents leaf separated with inner margin reinforced some time ago. Ex–social club library: paper shelving label at head of spine, bookplate and call number on front pastedown, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Minor offsetting to plates, otherwise clean. Uncut copy.  (28127)

•  Publisher’s cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title (attractively oxidized); cloth rubbed at extremities, spine with small spot of faint discoloration from a now-absent label. Front pastedown institutionally rubber-stamped (no other markings). Erratum slip tipped in. A cleaner copy than most seen on the market.

Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Publisher's cloth, virtually pristine, in excellent dust wrapper with minimal rubbing to spine extremities.  (26317)

The binding is full marbled sheep (pasta española) with gilt-stamped red spine-labels and raised bands accented with gilt rules.

•  Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 275. Original red slipcase; rubbed, chipped and splitting along edges, with some paper loss at corners; case spine sunned. Spine leather a bit darkened, bottom of front joint starting. A very good copy, in a good slipcase.

For the LIMITED EDITIONS CLUB,  click here.

Uncommon: OCLC and NUC Pre-1956 locate only four holdings, all in the U.S.

•  Publisher's printed paper wrappers, front wrapper with early inked inscription in upper portion; paper just starting at foot of spine. Age-toned, otherwise clean and fresh.  (25501)

•  Publisher's acid-stained sheep, round spine with gilt tooling and two spine labels; rubbed at corners and extremities and with evidence of old worm attack at lower part of front joint. Interior clean; in
fact, a very good copy.   (25094)

The twelve unsigned woodcut plates are full of energy both emblematic and artistic.

•  Publisher's quarter tan cloth with blue paper-covered sides; boards stained and chipped with paper peeling, all extremities rubbed, and paper spine label mostly lost. Front hinge cracked, back hinge starting. Front pastedown with institutional bookplate; title-page with private owner's stamp in upper margin and old cataloguing excerpt affixed to lower margin. Lower outer corners waterstained in first half; pages cockled, with occasional faint spotting; first text page with newsprint blurb about Priest affixed in upper margin. A compromised copy, but an extraordinary production; interesting from a variety of perspectives.  (15630)

Edmund Dulac created the book's enchanting illustrations, consisting of 10 full-page and six in-text watercolors, a two-color decorative title-page, and decorative head- and tailpieces, and initials, also in two colors. Ernest Ingham designed the book using a monotype Poliphilus font.

The binding is full Russian-red cloth with apolished brass design of a cockerel set in the front cover and a gilt-lettered title on the spine. This edition is limited to 1500 copies and this offering includes the monthly mailing notice.

•  Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 205.   Binding as above. In a glassine wrapper with shallow edge tears and chips, contained within a chemise covered with Russian-red paper with gilt cockerel design with gilt-lettered spine; spine sunned and paper chipped. The whole in an unevenly sunned slipcase, with slight loss of paper to top edge at mouth and spine. A fine book, in a good+ slipcase.  (22314)