•  This edition not in VD18.   Modern light brown paper-covered boards with paper spine label. Ex-library with faint blind-pressure stamp on title- and one other leaf and librarian's pencil notations on verso of title-page. Scattered foxing, occasional stray stain. Overall a good, solid, clean copy.  (33597)

Uncommon: OCLC and NUC Pre-1956 locate only five U.S. holdings.

Provenance:  Ownership “label” of George Williams (1814–78), who served as Vice-Provost of King's College (Cambridge) from 1854 to 1857.

•  Recent marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with gilt-stamped red leather title-label. Title-page with small affixed slip bearing ownership inscription as above. Occasional edge nicks and short tears, and a number of leaves with old creases or the odd smudge; last leaf with old, small repairs to margins, and one other leaf with very good repair from blank reverse to an interior tear (no text lost or even affected). (25368)

Among the doctor's publications was an article on “The Accuracy of the Authorized Version of the Old Testament” (1911), including the Hebrew psalms.

Provenance:  Donated by Mrs. Betteridge to the seminary library, with institutional bookplate noting this on rear pastedown.

•  Recent black moiré silk, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Ex-library with bookplate on rear pastedown as above, pressure-stamp on title-page, call number in lower margin of second leaf; paper brittle, dust- or sometimes soot-soiled(?) at edges, and prone to chipping. Replete with scholia, this isa stunning testament to one scholar's study of the O.T.  (31077)

Oscar Lewis in his introduction to this work aptly and succinctly describes its translator Morris Jastrow, Jr. (1861–1921) as “[t]he most highly accredited Orientalist in the United States” [p. 5]. Born in Poland, he was raised from the age of five in Philadelphia and returned to Europe to earn his Ph.D. at the University of Leipzig (1884). In 1892 he was elected the chair of Semitic languages at the University of Pennsylvania, in 1898 was appointed the librarian of the university, and later was a research professor of Assyriology.

The Gentle Cynic was publication 27 of the Book Club of California and was a companion piece to its earlier-printed (1922) Jastrow translation of The Song of Songs.

•  Heller, Grabhorn Press 1915-1940, 91; Magee & Magee, Book Club of California, 27.   Publisher's stiff parchment with ties (originally green, now faded to off-white), in a brown paper–covered open-back slipcase. Cockling of the paper; fore- and bottom edges untrimmed. Very good.  (38867)

This, the final book published by Boudinot, strongly supportsfair and compassionate treatment of Native Americans. The work includes comparisons of Hebrew and Native American languages (Charibee, Creek, Mohegan, and “northern languages”), traditions, and lore; the appendix comprises “Historical Sketches of Louisiana” and “Fraser's Key to the Prophecies.”

Binding:  The binding of this copy is most curious. There are three distinct areas of the leather that are clearly inlaid repairs, the leather being of a darker color but the same style as the rest; and three of the gilt-tooled chalice or urn devices that appear on the spine are partly on this inserted leather.

Provenance:  Contemporary ownership signature of James Linn in upper margin of title-page.

•  Felcone 433; Howes B643; Pilling, Algonquian, 54; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 421; Rosenbach, Jewish, 180; Sabin 6856; Shaw & Shoemaker 37057; Singerman, Judaica Americana, 252. Not in Field. On Boudinot, see: Dictionary of American Biography, II, 477–78.   Contemporary acid-stained sheep, spine with elegant though dimmed gilt-stamped leather title-label and compartment stampings; volume scuffed and abraded. Foxing, with some soiling/staining. Still-sturdy copy of this early and oft-cited Amerindian Lost Tribes treatise.  (39632)

Provenance:  Engraved title-page with minute owner's inscription dated 1723 ofErnst Wilh[elm] Christoph Christfels of Fürth, Germany, who published a treatise, “Concerning Ialtha, daughter of the prince, an example of the learned women of the Jewish race,” in 1725, citing Buxtorf's Institutio epistolaris hebraica of 1629 at least once (and using this dictionary for the Hebrew vocabulary?).

•  VD17 12:128987E; Vancil, Cordell Collection, 40.   19th-century paper imitating tree calf over boards, paper spine label; rubbed and spine paper cracking. Ex-library: bookplate on front pastedown and old notes in ink to same. Engraved title-page and portrait chipped at edges and lightly wormed at margins, the former also repaired at one margin. Generally lightly browned with occasional foxing and staining; smudges from printer’s and annotators’ inks; a few very small tears and holes none causing loss to text. Early repairs (or paper twisted while still wet?) on two leaves. Occasional marginalia, interlinear writing, and underlining, in black and red ink, by an early owner. Old bookseller’s note in English inserted between two leaves. A remarkably strong volume, given its great size.  (30596)

•  VD17 12:128413B. Contemporary vellum with yapp edges, spine with early inked title; some light discoloration, with cut to vellum across spine. Pastedowns loose from inside covers, with bits of old manuscript used in the binding structure, showing; 19th-century bookplate attached to exposed paste board and endpapers creased. Shadow of old shelf number on verso of title-page. One leaf with small stain and hole affecting about four letters. Foxing ranging from mild to moderate.  (18943)

Additionally appearing are various tables and charts, including genealogical tables; a chronological register of Hebrew high priests; a comprehensive chronology of general Bible history; a Jewish calendar; and an extensive index of authors' names included in thebibliography of the best sources on Scripture that precedes the dictionary in vol. I. The second volume closes with a “Dissertatio de tactice hebraeorum” by D. Equite Volard.

Bindings: Contemporary blind-tooled alum-tawed pigskin over beveled wooden boards, tooled using a variety of rules and foliate rolls and stamps in concentric rectangular panels to frame a central lozenge (constructed of multiple stamps) on each cover. Each volume bears remnants of two clasps, and both spines have raised bands with author and title written in early ink in the upper two compartments. Blue edges.

Provenance:  Discalced Carmelite Convent at Schongau, Bavaria (early ink inscription, title-pages, both volumes).

•  Graesse, II, 20n. See Brunet, I, 1495; and Vancil, pp. 44–45.   Binding as above, scuffs and dust-soiling; spine of vol. II pulled and lower spines speckled with ink. Ex-library: bookplates of two collections on front pastedowns and fly-leaves, stamp on bottom edges and rear pastedowns, call number on spines (crossed out), and penciling from a third library on front pastedowns. Clippings from old booksellers' descriptions on front pastedown of vol. I. Both title-pages trimmed just grazing print; title-page in vol. I tipped onto following leaf, with tear in outer margin and another starting near printer's device; otherwise the odd small marginal tear or isolated stain only, and occasional light foxing in both volumes including to plates. Very minor worming to one plate in vol II. An indispensable reference and an illuminating “browse.”  (30573)

Provenance:  Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of lawyer and historian Guido Kisch (1889–1985, son of Rabbi Alexander Kisch and brother of medical historian Dr. Bruno Kisch), with inked inscription beneath: “Letztes Geburtstagsgeschenk des M. Bruno, '75.”

•  Adams C302; Index Aurel. 130.118.   Contemporary vellum, spine with early hand-inked title replacing now-absent title-label; worn, especially at extremities, and cocked with vellum split over front joint (sewing holding) and front cover with insect holes. Endpapers slightly ragged; one internal blank leaf lacking. Some corners bumped; pages age-toned with occasional spotting and staining. A used but very usable copy, with interesting provenance.  (37849)

In a more serious vein, Head (1887–1963) was the author of Antiquities of Yale and the New Yale Guide, as well as a poet and a patron and supporter of both the Brick Row Book Shop and the Yale University Library. Several of the items here makeYale references, like the barroom ghosts who “puffed at their pipes and their stogies / And pulled at their Phantoms of Ale, / Recalling the things that were Bogies / When they were assembled at Yale”; Ex is specifically about four different gentlemen expelled from Yale for reasons including bad grades, vandalism, and bawdiness.

•  Folded as issued. 10 of the pamphlets with small inscription “M. Clark” or “Clark” pencilled on front wrapper. Apologia with two pencilled corrections. Upper edges of Hot from Hollywood chewed. Minor age-toning, occasional small spots and edge nicks. Overall a clean, crisp collection of these uncommon pieces.  (36453)

Binding:  Publisher's blue cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title. Cloth is ribbed and fits Krupp's Rb3 pattern.

Evidence of readership: One pencilled footnote, arguing that capital punishment is the will of the divine.

•  American Imprints 55455. On the binding cloth, see: Krupp, Bookcloth in England and America, 1823–50, p. 40.   Binding as above; spine and board edges gently faded, extremities rubbed. Mild to moderate foxing throughout. An interesting book in a good example of an early American cloth binding.  (34765)

This is a “fictitious imprint” in thatits given date is false, there being two distinct editions each with a title-page stating it is “Segun el exemplar en Rohan, De la emprenta de Lavrentio Maurry. MDCLXXXII” but with one edition's last numbered page being 268 and the other's being 292 (i.e., 308) as offered here. Charles Amiel argues convincingly based on textual analysis, in his critical edition of the work, that the 292/308-page edition in hand is acounterfeit of the true 1682 edition. Much less convincingly he postulates a publication date as late as 1725, the year before the third edition was printed; whereas had he examined the watermarks in the paper of the text he would have limited the range of publication dates to ca. 1699 — a dating based on my personal experience of almost 50 years cataloguing Hispanic books and manuscripts and always paying special attention to watermarks (DMS).

•  Palau 79834; Salva 1789; Frank W. Chandler, Literature of Roguery (2 vols.; Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1907); Charles Amiel, El siglo pitagórico y Vida de Don Gregorio Guadaña (Paris: Ediciones Hispanoamericanas, 1977), pp. xxv–xxxvi. For biographical data: Archivo biográfico de España, Portugal, e Iberoamérica, fiche 285, frames 107–73.   Contemporary limp vellum, a bit shrunken and cockled, rear free endpaper lacking; remnants of ties. Title-page torn away at outside corners and repaired long, long ago without loss of print; pp. 73–80 clearly supplied from a smaller copy; the expectable sorts of dog-ears, creasing, and soiling only. A decent, interesting copy of an interesting picaresque/fantasy novel of the 17th century.  (36654)

•  ESTC S121254; STC (2nd ed.) 11465; Allibone 643; Wither to Prior 387 (for the first edition, 1639).   Period-style dark calf, covers framed and panelled in gilt and blind rolls with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. Title inked on outer (closed) edges in an early hand. “Declaration of the Frontispiece” mounted; added engraved title-page with upper margin repaired, lower area trimmed into the imprint line (taking most) and with one pinhole. Otherwise browning, mild spotting and light waterstaining variously, last leaves dust-soiled; light cockling and volume a tad sprung; a few leaves with short edge tears, not extending into text; map with ragged portion of lower inner edge, tear along one fold neatly repaired from rear, and small hole at intersection of two folds. One blank page with early pencilled doodles.  (27562)

Binding:  Quarter natural-grain goatskin vellum with black buckram sides and gilt lettering to spine; top edge is gilt.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 315.   Binding as above; vellum darkened lightly in spots, spine-head warped slightly (but in no way broken) from being pulled out of the slipcase. In original red cloth–covered slipcase with cream spine label printed in black; clean and strong and one side with a small black spot, label with faint waterspot. Volume with one light finger smudge to front free endpaper, else clean. Another masterful LEC production, simply handsome, and in a very pleasing copy.  (38941)

•  Exercitationes: VD17 12:122022C; Dissertatio: VD17 23:620709H. Not in Brunet.   Recent speckled paper–covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. Some very faint waterstaining and light spotting, mostly confined to margins; in fact, nice and clean.  (28908)