•  NSTC 2H29711. Recent moiré cloth-covered boards. Front free endpaper with outer edge chipped; title-page with small inked numerals in upper outer corner. A very clean, fresh copy.

•  Publisher’s brown cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title; cloth slightly chipped over corners and spine extremities and wrinkled on front cover, gilt oxidized (not undecoratively), spine with paper shelving label. Front pastedown with institutional stamp (no other markings).

•  19th-century quarter sheep over paper-covered boards, worn and abraded with small discolorations; spine leather chipped, with remnants of gilt-stamped leather title label. Edges untrimmed. Some offsetting and a very few spots to pages; small area of worm damage in upper margins.

•  Venus: ESTC T73277; Ode: ESTC T41985 (first ed.). Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper label. Second work lacking half-title and title-page. Inner margins of two leaves reinforced; last line of advertising page shaved. Title-page and last few leaves with moderate foxing; one page (not the title) stamped by a now-defunct institution, with some offsetting to opposing page.

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•  ESTC R7382; Wing (rev.) F1087; Goldsmiths’-Kress 2518.0-2 suppl. Sewn, with spine and inner margins reinforced some time ago; now laid into a case of quarter morocco over cloth-covered boards. Pages age-toned, with small edge nicks; outer and upper edges trimmed closely, in some cases touching pagination. This collation, including the absence of C4, matches that reported by ESTC.

•  Medina, Mexico, 9502; Palau 97721; Sabin 16551. Publisher's treed sheep binding, gilt spine extra, spine label mostly perished. All edges carmine. A very good copy.

•  Laced together with a silk ribbon. Some small spots of browning on drawing and elsewhere adjacent to ribbon; a little soiling exterior and along edges; and a few tiny tears in edges.

•  Laced together with a silk ribbon. Some browning, especially from ribbon.

•  Laced together with a silk ribbon. Some foxing, especially on drawing; soiling on exterior fold with traces elsewhere; and spotting to ribbon and wafer.

•  Laced together with a silk ribbon. Some browning, especially adjacent to ribbon and wafer; and a few tiny tears in edges. Short closed tears along the folds, without loss.

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•  Laced together with a silk ribbon. Some browning, especially adjacent to ribbon and wafer.

The work is illustrated with an added engraved title-page bearing a vignette signed in type, “H. Corbould del.” and “O. Pelton sc.,” and with 21 plates of pendulums, levers, pulleys, etc., engraved by H. Morse. Contents include a series title-page and an index.

•  Checklist American Imprints 7802.   Publisher's quarter cloth over paper-covered boards, spine with printed paper label; label darkened, sides rubbed and with stains; cloth splitting along joints and down center of spine (through paper label). Front pastedown with with inked ownership inscription, undated but early. Chip at lower margin of pp. 243/244, taking several words of bottom line but not affecting sense; top right corner of pp. 245/246 chipped, costing a portion of the page numbers only. Foxed throughout, including the plates; engraved title-page browned. Several instances of penciled notations in margins. Pages untrimmed.  (24557)

•  Recent period-style blue paper–covered boards, tan paper spine label. Faded library stamps on title-page and one other page; lacking half-title. Light foxing; page edges embrittled.

This first edition of Mechanick Dialling is printed with side- and shouldernotes, numerous tables (including those for the latitudes of many cities), and woodcut in-text diagrams. Of the 12 engraved plates, 11 are detailed sketches of diverse sundials, the twelfth showing a celestial sphere. This work went on to see a number of editions in the 18th-century and was twice revised.

•  ESTC T133701. On Leadbetter, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, XXXII, 314–15. Deep walnut quarter calf over marbled paper, old style; round spine with raised bands, accented in gilt and with gilt device in each compartment; red leather title label, gilt-lettered; edges of leather rolled in blind. Plt. I, bound between pp. 116 and 117, is chipped on the outside margin, with partial loss of the numerals on that edge. The printed portion of the last plate, bound in facing p. 125, has been detached and closely trimmed, just shaving the printed area, and then mounted on the remaining blank area of the plate. One page with chip out of the upper outer corner, just touching page numbers; dustsoiling and occasional spotting. Light inked marginalia on plt. 4. A delight for the lover of astronomy, geometry, or chronography.

Lockwood, a patent lawyer for the American Bell Company, held his own patents for automated call switching — technology that helped bring about the end of the very operators for whom he wrote Practical Information. The work was first printed in 1882, with the present example being the fifth edition.

•  Publisher’s dark green cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding very slightly cocked, with cloth a bit worn at corners and spine extremities. Pages faintly age-toned, else clean.

•  Original printed wrappers; dusty. Number stamped in upper outside corner of the front wrapper.

Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Shoemaker 21854. Light blue paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper title-label. First leaf with closed tear from outer margin, just touching text. Foxed, with some staining to final blank leaf.

Click either image for an enlargement.

The Pennsylvania Society for the Promotion of Internal Improvements in the Commonwealth was established in Philadelphia, in December 1824, to disseminate information on the latest improvements in the development of transportation systems including roads, railways, canals, bridges, etc.; as the first line of text here puts it, “The acting committee of ‘The Pennsylvania Society for the Promotion of Internal Improvement,’ have been, from the formation of the society, particularly desirous to lay before the public correct information on the subject of Railways.” William Strickland, Mathew Carey, Richard Peters, Jr., Joseph Hemphill, Stephen Duncan, and Gerard Ralston were among the society’s members.

Thein-text illustrations depict a profile of a flat railway with the flange, a section of the rail-wagon, and a bird’s eye view of the railroad. The spine title gives: “Railways. Feb. 25, 1825,” and the foot of p. [1]: “No. 9.”

•  Shoemaker 21851. Light blue paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper title-label. Minor offsetting, pages otherwise clean.

•  Not in Von Hunersdorff, Coffee. Publisher's embossed gilt-paper binding, moderately worn with the spine and board edges a bit darkened; still a very attractive, unusual binding. Front pastedown with small bookseller's ticket and with remnants of a school prize bookplate. Pages mostly clean, with scattered hints of light foxing. (10592)

First published in 1667, this work is here in the second of numerous editions. It includes accounts by members of their scientific work: The two plates illustrate meteorological instruments and the principles of artillery recoil.

•  ESTC T131282. On the Royal Society, see: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., XXIII, 791–93. On Sprat, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, LIII, 419–24. Recent quarter red morocco over marbled paper. Beading on spine bands and gilt quatrefoils in compartments; gilt-lettered title, author, and date. A foliate gilt roll at edge of leather on covers. Leaves sometime exposed to moisture and cockled, with shallow chipping and light to moderate soiling. Perforation-stamp on title-page, and rubber-stamps, including one on title-page, of a now-defunct library. All edges speckled red.

The "Buzaglo" referred to in the poem is the eponymous cast-iron stove designed by London inventor/ironmaster Abraham Buzaglo, which the author of the poem contends will, once installed, quell party strife in the House of Commons by warming the uncomfortable chill that provokes and riles the more partisan members.

•  Recent marbled paper wrappers. Very light foxing on first three leaves. Two page numbers shaved.

•  Goldsmiths’-Kress 7065; ESTC T81915 and N24607. Contemporary calf with remnants of gilt; dry, flaking, and partially gone to red, with some chips to edges, corners, and spine tips; old repairs to joints. Remnants of bookplate on front pastedown. Old water/mildew damage to lower margins, occasionally making its way a bit into text; several leaves repaired, long since. Plates generally quite clean and always pleasing, with faintest waterstaining to lower portion of plate 6 (only). All edges speckled red.

Published at the beginning of renewed interest in the U.S. and England in “scientific agriculture.”

•  Goldsmiths'-Kress 25812.   Publisher's blind-embossed green cloth, rebacked with much of old spine unobtrusively reapplied. Binding a little soiled and spine darkened with gilt of title dimmed; tips of corners chipped. Instances of dust-soiling at some top margins; one leaf with loss and soiling along outer edge without affecting text. Ex-library with old rubber-stamp on the title-page and several other pages.  (24439)

In addition to the five plates (three lithographed by A. Hoen & Co. after drawings by J.H. Emerton, one by A. Gast & Co. after a drawing by Riley, and one by Sinclair & Son after a drawing by C.S. Minot), the report is illustrated with a number of in-text woodcuts of locusts and other insects, their anatomy, and their eggs and egg-masses, as well as machines and devices designed to eradicate them. Appendices include a detailed comparison of insectivorous birds and their potential benefits.

Provenance: With affixed note on Entomological Commission letterhead, addressed to the Rev. E.H. Dalrymple of Baltimore, MD, and signed by C.V. Riley; front free endpaper bearing the mailing label to Dalrymple.

•  Publisher’s quarter cloth and printed paper wrappers; wrappers darkened, with small edge nicks, cloth starting to split from top of front joint. Front wrapper and front inside cover institutionally rubber-stamped, front free endpaper with label as above. First map and title-page partially torn along inner margin; plates 2 through 5 with small nick in upper edge, not approaching image. Pages clean.

Single-click either image, for an enlargement.

•  Sabin 98291; Howes, U.S.iana, V4. On Vail, see: Dictionary of American Biography, XIX, 136–37. Recent black moiré cloth, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Pages with very minor offsetting, else clean.

Scarce: OCLC, RLIN, and NUC-Pre1956 locate only six U.S. holdings.

•  Brunet, V, 1118. Contemporary limp paste paper–covered wrappers, spine with hand-inked label; paper chipped at edges and front joint open; spine label darkened and peeling. Front pastedown with bookseller’s ticket and institutional bookplate; front free endpaper and title-page with institutional stamp; front free endpaper with ownership inscriptions dated 1829. Pages untrimmed.

•  Publisher's terra-cotta cloth, cover pictorially stamped, spine with black-stamped title; edges and spine a bit darkened, with corners and spine extremities slightly rubbed. Pages clean. (14992)

Though an "odd vol," this is a pleasing book, done up in a typical German style of the era. Paper marbled in browns, black, and greens is used over boards, with slivers of leather at corners; a round spine bears gilt ruling and a cream-colored label with author, title, translator, and volume number. All edges are green and the whole is exceptionally well preserved.

•  Schweiger, Handbuch der classischen Bibliographie, II: 1206. Bound as above. Vol. 3 of 4. Some little foxing but almost no scuffing.