LITERATURE

The California Poets

•  A collection of 15 poems selected for the 1933 Annual of the California Writers Club. The poems were chosen by Margaret Widdemer, Margaret Tod Witter, and David Morton, who singled out “Skylark Terrace” by Alice Harlow Stetson and “The Prairie Saga” by Don Farran as the best of the collection. One poem celebrates the campanile (Sather Tower) at Berkeley.

Provenance:  Bookplate inside front wrapper of Lorraine & Horace Haynes.

•  Publisher's light-blue wrappers. Bookplate as above. Near fine.  (23669)

Life & Letters — A German Neo-Latin Poet

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•  Three first editions, all uncommon: Joachim Camerarius the elder’s life of the German neo-Latin poet Helius Eobanus Hessus (1488–1540), followed by books two and three of Hessus’s correspondence as edited by Camerarius. All books were issued separately. The Protestant humanist Camerarius was a member of Hessus’s circle and an associate of Melanchthon’s, as was Johannes Crato von Crafftheim, the royal physician and friend of Martin Luther to whom Camerarius dedicated the final volume of letters; Melanchthon, Euricius Cordus, Justus Menio, Mutiano Ruffo, and others appear with letters sometimes wholly in Greek, others with extensive passages in that language.

Binding: Contemporary alum-tawed pigskin, dated 1567 in blind; binding with bevelled edges, covers blind-embossed using rolls: faith, hope, justice, and charity. One metal clasp is present, the other perished.

•  Narratio: Adams C436; Brunet, II, 1009; VD16 C480 / VD16 C408. Libellus: Brunet, II, 1009; VD 16 C409; not in Adams. Tertius libellus: Brunet, II, 1009; VD16 C410. Binding as above, spine with later hand-inked paper label; binding much darkened and somewhat rubbed, one clasp intact and the other lacking. First title-page with ownership inscription dated 1559 inked in lower margin; Libellus alter lacking last leaf of preface (with errata on reverse) and Tertius libellus epistolar lacking title-page. Some corners dog-eared; two leaves with outer corners torn away, without loss to text. Early inked underlining and lining through of text, with a few marginalia, mostly in Narratio and occasionally in other two works. Last few leaves of final work with light waterstaining to lower outer corners.

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English Camões in Green Morocco

•  Fourth edition: Sonnets and canzones by the legendary Portuguese poet and playwright, translated into English by Percy Clinton Sydney Smythe, Viscount Strangford, a notable Lusophile who served as a diplomat in Lisbon. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

Binding:  Contemporary dark green straight-grain morocco, spine with gilt-stamped rules, rolls, and devices. Covers framed with a delicately curly gilt-rolled border; the center panels, within, accented by gilt-stamped corner fleurons. A bit of additional filigree in blind appears both within the rules of the gilt border and within the border on each center panel, to nice subtle effect. Gilt inner dentelles. All edges gilt.

•  NSTC C355.   Binding as above, leather rubbed at edges and joints, spine a bit dimmed. Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of John Allan Powell; front fly-leaf with inked inscription dated 1922. A few spots of foxing, pages otherwise clean. A pretty and very English production for this Portuguese poet.  A charming volume.  (23077)

Des Cartes in Verse — An Attractive Folio

•  L'Adamo by Sicilian poet and philosopher Tommaso Campailla (1668–1740) is a didactic poem that puts into memorable verse the principles of Cartesian philosophy. The engraved frontispiece is a portrait of the author, and the engraved plate is a portrait of the dedicatee, Michele Grimaldi. This work was first published in 1709 and regularly reprinted throughout the century. Single-click image at left
for an enlargement.

Rare: Only one copy of this edition traced via NUC Pre-1956, OCLC, and RLIN (at the Bancroft Library).

•  Quarter vellum with vellum turn-ins. Covers originally covered with gilt or marbled paper, now lost, exposing underlying paste boards—a rather interesting effect. Spine divided into compartments by gilt rolls; a tan leather label, gilt-lettered. Somewhat cockled. Pages untrimmed. Upper outer corner of title-leaf repaired with paper. Two wormholes through frontispiece, plate, and first three printed leaves, with a little loss to illustrations (which yet remain effective) and to parts of individual letters; some additional worming in the margins, not affecting text.

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The First Revised

•  First revised edition of these popular poems, including numerous illustrations and an added piece in honor of Charles Dickens, "The Ship-Builder." This copy has been added to with a number of additional poems by Carleton and articles about him, clipped from various sources and affixed to almost every available blank page.

•  BAL 2485 (state 2, with contents page corrected). Publisher's brown cloth, front cover stamped in black and gilt with central gilt-stamped vignette, spine with gilt-stamped title; board edges and spine extremities showing minor rubbing, with spine gilt slightly dimmed. Front fly-leaf with inked gift inscription "to My Wife," dated 1890; newspaper clippings about Carleton and poems by him affixed to front pastedown, front and back fly-leaves, half-title, end of illustrations list ("The Old-Fashioned Christmas Dinner"), and reverse of one plate. Some instances of offsetting from clippings. A pleasing, interesting example. (14366)

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Love & MUCH More

•  Sole edition: Romantic novel, including a subplot in which a healthy young girl is involuntarily confined to an insane asylum. Any early buyer may have to wait for this until its cataloguer (CDB) has finished actually reading it!

•  Wright, II, 474.   Contemporary quarter morocco and marbled paper sides, worn and abraded, spine chipped and cracking, front and back covers pressure-stamped by a now-defunct library. Text block separated from spine, front cover partially detached. Title-page and several others stamped; pages with light waterstaining and scattered small spots.  (4362)

The Dialogues of the“Seraphic” Virgin — Catharina

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•  St. Catherine of Siena (1347-80) at the age of sixteen took the habit of the Dominican Tertiaries and almost immediately mystical experiences became a part of her life, consequently making her a major figure in Mysticism during the late Middle Ages/early Italian Renaissance. Her “Dialogue,” or “Treatise on Divine Providence,” is a major document in Italian literature and is written in the beautiful Tuscan vernacular of the 14th century. It was first printed in 1472, but there were, in fact, few editions between that printing and this one.

This edition was densely printed in roman type at the Sessa Press. It has a large woodcut on the title-page of St. Catherine receiving the Stigmata and a small xylograph on the colophon page of the famous Sessa printer's device of the cat and mouse.

All pre-17th-century editions are scarce if not rare. Of this edition we trace only four library copies in the U.S., and this is one, deaccessioned, of that quartet.

•  Index Aurel. 134.030; Essling 739; Sander 1819; Shaaber C268.   Later vellum. Library bookplate on front pastedown and rubber-stamp on closed bottom edges; shadow of erased pencilled call number on a front blank. Semicircular stain of varying extent (not ink, not water, not wax) to pages of central section and but a very few other stains; pleasantly clean. Early, excellent repair to margin of last leaf. (12228)

Bound with All for Love Centlivre, Susannah. The busy body. A comedy. Taken from the manager's book at the Theatre Royal Covent-Garden. London: Pr. by R. Butters, [ca. 1770]. 12mo. 48 pp. Bound with John Dryden's "All for love. Or the world well lost. A tragedy, in five acts" ("Taken from the manager's book, at the Theatre-Royal, Drury-Lane." London: Pr. for R. Butters, [ca. 1770]. 12mo. 51 pp. Removed from a nonce volume; sewing loosening. Title-page soiled and nearly separated from spine. Library stamps. Only a few very small spots. Outer margins of a several pages uneven. Without the frontispieces. (352)
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Fly Me to the Moon — On a Magic Horse!

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•  First edition in English of part II of the first great novel in the Western World. Part I first appeared in English in 1612, with Thomas Shelton the translator; this translation of the second part is also ascribed to him although some demur (citing style and errors in translation, and comparing the two parts one to the other). Leonard Digges, for example, has recently been proposed as the translator (Anthony George Lo Ré, Essays on the Periphery of the Quixote, p. 29 ff).

Shelton's part I was reissued in 1620 in a new edition as a logical companion to this part II; the original Spanish editions had also been issued separately over a period of time, part I in 1605 and part II in 1615.

It is extremely noteworthy that this translation was entered into the Stationer’s Register on 5 December 1615, although not printed until five years later. That is, it was entered the same year that part II appeared in Spanish!

In the volume in hand, which stands as a novel on its own although it mirrors and enriches part I, the main characters radically reverse roles: Don Quixote becomes the realist and Sancho Panza the dreamer/idealist. This is the volume offering one of literature's classic “imaginary voyages”: Sancho becomes wrapped up in a scheme to fly to the moon on a special horse!

The printer’s name is taken from the STC, and as in all other reported copies, B4 is a cancel.

Provenance:  On p. 280, “Rowland Greene . . . July y.e 8 1678.”

A sophisticated copy:  Pp. 403 to end supplied from a different copy, and one leaf in facsimile.

•  ESTC S107642; STC (rev. ed.) 4917; Pforzheimer 140; Rius, I, 607; Palau 52462 .   Later 17th-century English calf (ca. 1670?), each board with center panel formed by a blind-tooled double fillet and having blind-stamped corner devices inside and outside; spine tooled in gilt, somewhat dulled/flaked, and with small circular paper shelfmark label (private) at bottom. See above about sophistication: Without the engraved title-page and final blank, last 50 leaves from another copy, and final leaf of text supplied in neat 18th-century pen and ink block lettering. Closely trimmed affecting running heads and some sidenotes (these with some loss of letters); marginalia, not substantive, sometimes lined or scribbled through. Overall age-toning and some soiling; supplied section at end with tattering in some margins.  Far from an ideal copy but an interesting one, priced with faults most in mind.  (23815)

Why Believers Believed . . .

•  First edition of this response to Malone’s Inquiry into the Authenticity of Certain Miscellaneous Papers, an analysis of William Henry Ireland’s now-infamous Shakespearean forgeries. Chalmers, though reluctantly conceding the inauthenticity of the documents, here explains in detail why so many were taken in by the scam — providing much material of interest for both Shakespeare scholars and historians of literary frauds. The volume is illustrated with a facsimile of five Shakespeare signatures, engraved by I. Girtin. Single-click the image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.

•  ESTC T138271; Lowndes, II, 404; Allibone, 2036. Recent quarter morocco over marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments. Title-page and a few others stamped by a now-defunct institution; pages slightly age-toned, one with pencilled underlining/emphasis.

Why the Believers Believed — A Supplement

•  First edition of another entry in the debate over William Henry Ireland’s now-infamous Shakespearean forgeries: Chalmers’s final response to the numerous items published during the controversy, in which he reminds readers that he is in agreement regarding the inauthenticity of Ireland’s documents, but disagreement with the scholarship (and pugnacity) of Malone and others. Single-click the image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.

•  ESTCT61515; Allibone, 2036; Lowndes, II, 404. Recent quarter morocco over marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments. Title-page and a few others stamped by a now-defunct institution; pages age-toned.

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The Luthers @ Home

•  Stated author's edition. Novel about Martin Luther.

•  Publisher's cloth. Spine somewhat faded. Very good. (19494)

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Cambridge/RiversideChaucer

•  “Cambridge Edition,” printed and bound at the Riverside Press. Binding: Publisher's half navy morocco with light blue cloth-covered sides, leather edges ruled in gilt, spine with gilt-stamped title, spine compartments ruled in triple gilt fillets with gilt-stamped dotted rules on raised bands. Top edge gilt. Silk ribbon placemarker.

•  Binding as above, gently sunned overall, with a few tiny scuffs along joints. Front (inner) hinge cracked, but holding. Front pastedown with private collector's armorial bookplate. Pages clean; one leaf with short tear to lower margin. (19632)

“All Men in Adam Die, inChrist Revive . . .”

•  Apparently the sole edition of this extremely uncommon poem on the emptiness of worldly pursuits as compared to heavenly bliss. Searches of RLIN, OCLC, and NSTC show no holdings at all, while NUC Pre-1956 findsone copy, in the U.S. at the New York Public.
Single-click the far-lefthand image, where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.

•  Not in NSTC. Recent wrappers. Title-page and a few others stamped by a now-defunct institution. Portion torn away from upper margin of front fly-leaf, perhaps to remove an inscription.

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He GaveHimself the Last Word

•  First edition of this poem on the disparities sometimes found between private and public virtue, and the poet's responsibility to write for the country's good.

•  ESTC T1702. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. Half-title lacking. Title-page and two others stamped by a now-defunct institution; leaves with reinforced tears at inner margins.

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Aquatints & Boundby Riviere

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•  First book-form edition of a work originally issued in 24 monthly parts from 1814 through 1816. Combe’s verse accounts of assorted noble and ignoble deaths, most described in wryly humorous terms, are here graced with a total of73 hand-colored aquatint plates and an additional engraved vol. I title-page with aquatint vignette.  The plates were designed by Rowlandson, a prominent late 18th-/early 19th-century illustrator known for his Dr. Syntax caricatures — done for another joint production of Rowlandson’s and Combe’s.

There are two states of this edition; in the present state p. 1 has the words “Introductory dialogue” set in solid roman capitals, and the first line of the poem reads “Father Time! ’tis well we are met” rather than “Father Time! ’tis well we’re met.” The paper in vol. I is watermarked with the dates 1813, 1814, and 1815, while in vol. II the watermarks are 1814 and 1815.

Binding: Signed binding by Riviere & Son: 19th-century mottled calf, covers framed in gilt triple fillets with gilt rosettes at corners; round spines with raised bands, the whole gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels; double-rule gilt fillets on board edges; gilt inner dentelles. All edges gilt.

•  Abbey, Life, 263; NSTC 2C32764. Bindings as above, carefully and neatly rebacked preserving original spines, corners and joints showing slight wear. Vol. I with short edge nicks to upper margins of two leaves, not touching text; last few leaves and plates of vol. II with small area of light staining to outer margins, not touching text and not obtrusive in images. A beautiful set.

Life isBetter than Death?

Combe, William.

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•  First book-form edition of the sequel to Combe and Rowlandson’s popular collaboration, the English Dance of Death; this life-affirming followup was originally published in eight monthly numbers, and is illustrated with 25 striking hand-colored aquatint plates designed by Rowlandson, along with a hand-colored vignette on the additional engraved title-page.

Binding: Signed binding by Riviere & Son: 19th-century mottled calf, covers framed in gilt triple fillets with gilt rosettes at corners; round spines with raised bands, the whole gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels; double-rule gilt fillets on board edges; gilt inner dentelles. All edges gilt.

•  Abbey, Life, 264. Tooley 410;.NSTC 2C32763. Binding as above, neatly rebacked preserving original spine, showing only very minor traces of wear. Without the advertising leaf. Some faint offsetting and spotting surrounding plates, otherwise clean.

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Damnation sansGender Limitation

[Combe, William].

•  Combe’s best-known satires, here in one of the earliest Irish issues of the pair (being one of two Dublin printings from 1777). The poems are, respectively, dedicated to the “worst man” and the “worst woman” in His Majesty’s dominions. These works first appeared in London in 1776 and 1777, achieved instant notoriety, and went through numerous editions; another sequel eventually followed, the Anti-Diabo-lady.

•  ESTC T77101; NCBEL, II, 647. Marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. Half-title spotted, title-page and two others stamped by a now-defunct institution, title-page also with traces of paper affixed to upper margin; pages otherwise clean. One ESTC listing calls for plates; most holdings, however, do not report any and OCLC listings do not note any.

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Who's Happier?

•  Dialogue in verse. Imprint derived from colophon. Not listed in OCLC. Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Uncut. Folded as issued; never sewn. Soiling around margins. Good ++ copy. (8527)

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Mr. Cook'sCommonplace Book

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•  Civil War–era commonplace book collecting poems and hymns, most inscribed in one small, neat hand but a few in a larger cursive script. Present here are “Hail, Ye Sighing Sons of Sorrow,” Sarah Josepha Hale's “The Watcher,” “Richmond by Amanda F. Jones,” and at least one piece most likely written by Cook himself. The literary items are followed by a religious diary marking Scripture portions and (apparently) sermon topics, and one recipe: “Best method of keeping Beef.” Maritime themes are notable in the verse, along with death, loss, and pride in the independence derived from frugality.

Present at the back of the volume isa list of “disabled men in Burillville [Rhode Island] July 1863”; a later, handwritten card with some information on Benjamin Cook and some of the pieces in this volume is laid in.

•  Contemporary half sheep and marbled paper–covered sides; binding rubbed and worn, spine head pulled. Back (inside) hinge cracked. Leaves excised at both front and back of volume. Some light spotting and staining. (20849)

A Cavalier Poet — His Works

Cowley, Abraham.

•  Fourth edition of Cowley’s collected poems, beginning with a good impression of the frontispiece portrait engraved by Faithorne, “an account of the life and writings” of the poet signed by T. Spratt, and two odes on Cowley’s death by Thomas Higgons and Sir John Denham. Once considered the epitome of his era’s wit, the author of The Mistress (verses in honor of love and various women, included in this volume) suffered a notable decline in popularity in subsequent years, prompting Pope’s musing “Who now reads Cowley? . . . but still I love the language of his heart.” And indeed despite the vagaries of reputation he has always had his worthy appreciators.

Cowley’s Pindaric odes are present here, as are the Davideis and Davideidos;also set forth are the “delightful little prose Essays (with verse interwoven)” for which The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature believes Cowley will most ultimately be remembered. Some sections have separate title-pages, bearing the same publisher and date information as the main title-page but lacking the printer attribution.

Provenance: Front pastedown with small armorial bookplate and with bookseller’s ticket from Cambridge, England.

•  ESTC R29730; Wing (2nd ed.) C-6652. On Cowley, see: Concise Cambridge History of English Literature, 351–52. 17th-century mottled calf, rebacked at some point in the 19th century and again more recently with hinges carefully reinforced (inside); spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title label, covers showing the predictable acid-etching. Varying degrees of browning to pages; scattered incidents of worming in lower inner and outer margins, almost never affecting text. A handsome book in a binding both sturdy and attractive.

A PrettyCrowell Copy

•  Attractive later edition

•  Publisher's blue cloth, front cover and spine stamped in black and gilt; cloth a bit rubbed over corners and spine extremities, with spine gilt slightly dimmed, otherwise beautiful. Front pastedown with small bookplate, front free endpaper with contemporary gift inscription. (12985)

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First AMERICAN Edition —
New Plates New Poems New Wood Engravings

Single-click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.

•  “Principally intended as illustrations of thirty copper-plates, designed and etched by R. Dagley . . .” First American edition of this 19th-century-style Dance of Death, following the first London edition of 1826, which however appeared with only 24 plates as compared to the30 plates present here. These plates have been re-engraved by an unidentified American artist working from the London second-edition originals, and do not bear Dagley’s initials; the anonymously done wood-engraved tailpieces present in the London second edition (but not the first) are also present here. The second volume has a separate title-page; the contents do not exactly match the list of plate titles and locations given in the first volume, but the overall number of plates is correct.

Dagley was a painter and engraver who got his start enamelling views, portraits, and other images on items of jewelry. Among the contributing writers inspired by his engravings here are Thomas Gaspey (“Death at the Toilet”), Cheviot Tichburn (“The Antiquary”), and W.H. Watts (“The Assurance Office”); added since the first edition are Mrs. Hemans (“Death and the Warrior” and “The Angler”) and R. Montgomery (“Gaming”), as well as a number of others, with several additional pieces by L.E.L. (Letitia Elizabeth Landon). Interestingly, “The Warrior” is attributed to Landon, who did indeed publish a poem by that name — but that text is not the one given here.

•  On Dagley, see: Dictionary of National Biography. Contemporary half red morocco over marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding rubbed and scuffed overall, but sturdy. Shadows of occasional pencilled marks of emphasis; many plates moderately to significantly foxed, as well as some pages. Two leaves with short tear into upper margin, not touching text.

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RareAyr Imprint

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•  Two works onthe Creation by 18th-century writers of very different backgrounds. Dalrymple was a native of Ayr, educated for the church, and served in Ayr for 68 years. His Mosaic Account appeared in this sole edition and was one of the first books printed in Ayr, which received its first press in 1791 when John Wilson, one of the printers here, set up shop. It is rare: ESTC locates only three copies worldwide, two in Britain and one in Canada (BL, SNL, Un. Brit. Col.).

Browne, according to our colleague Steve Weissman of Ximenes Rare Books, “was a pen-cutter by profession; he was also an enthusiastic fisherman, and is now best remembered for his poetry on angling, and for an edition of The Compleat Angler, which he edited at the suggestion of Samuel Johnson.” The first edition of The Works and Rest of the Creation appeared in 1752. The entire work, divided into three parts, is in verse. Quite an accomplishment.

•  Dalrymple: ESTC N26245. Browne: NSTC B4891. Later 19th-century half calf, rubbed. Rubber-stamp on front pastedown. All edges carmine.

IMPERFECT.  Well Worth HavingANYWAY.

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mouse-over, for an enlargement.

•  First of a famous, extended poem on plants and nature by Charles Darwin's grandfather. One of two frontispieces by Fuseli is present, the famous plate “The Fertilization of Egypt” designed by Fuseli and engraved by Blake is here, and two of the four Blake-engraved plates of the Portland Vase are also present.

•  Library buckram; frontispiece detached but present; waterstaining; a few old tape repairs. Age-toning and a few edges chipped. Lacks three plates. Offsetting from the plates. (1659)

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1960s Folio SocietyLimited Edition

•  Special issue, limited to 250 copies. Woodcuts by Peter Pendrey, who has signed the limitation page; the illustrations are handsome and chilling. This is copy #47. Click the images for enlargements.

Binding: Specially bound in black morocco, spine with gilt-stamped title and a pillar incorporating a skull; covers blind-stamped with pillars both topped and based with skulls. The endpapers show London Bridge and the Thames; top edge gilt.

•  Binding as above, lightly sunned on spine and top edge of binding. A very good copy.  (23253)

“I Was Born in the Year 1632 . . . ”

Click the image above left for an enlargement.

•  Illustrated late 18th-century rendition of this classic tale: The Stockdale edition of Defoe's most-read novel contains a frontispiece and engraved title-page in each volume, along with an engraved portrait of Defoe and 12 engraved illustrations done by Medland after drawings by Stothard. Chalmers’s Life of Defoe appears in this edition for the first time anywhere; another interesting addition is “A List of Writings, which are considered as undoubtedly De Foe’s.”

A handsome edition of a great, indeed landmark English novel.

•  ESTC N47632; Lowndes, III, 613; NCBEL, II, 900 (first few eds. only). Contemporary half calf over marbled paper–covered sides, bindings overall worn and rubbed with leather lost over corners and front joint of vol. I cracked though holding; now housed in a handsome clamshell case of quarter calf with marbled paper sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped decorations. Front free endpapers with pencilled ownership inscription (dated 1875 in vol. I); front pastedowns with 20th-century collector’s bookplate. Light to moderate foxing to pages in proximity to plates, with occasional small spots to other pages; plates spotted and browned although not beyond expectable degrees. Worthy.

Apparently asRARE as It Is Obscure

•  Not listed in ESTC or NUC Pre-1956; may originally have been bound with another item.

•  Marbled boards. Ex–defunct library: library label and blind-stamp on front cover; title-page and one other stamped. Text of hymn appears to be complete, although signature A is lacking and pagination begins at 9 (title-page present). First four leaves with waterstaining at bottom and outer margins, fading thereafter.

Dickens Goes toAMERICA

Click the interior images for enlargements.

•  “American Notes is the account of a love affair that went badly wrong.” So begins Angus Wilson's introduction to this Limited Editions Club edition of Dickens's travel book. It is illustrated with black-and-white sketches and eight watercolors by Raymond F. Houlihan, and designed by Richard Blumenthal who set the text in monotype Bulmer and Baskerville fonts.

Binding:  Quarter brown calf over grey-paper sides, with a gilt-stamped black leather title-label on the spine. The sides are decorated with line drawings by Houlihan in dark grey and framed in dark red. This is copy no. 1672 of 2000 printed, and is signed by the artist on the colophon.

•  Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 484.   Binding as above, clean and unworn, in original glassine wrapper and slipcase; a streak of soiling to the latter; wrapper chipped at head of spine and with small edge tears. The club's monthly newsletter and mailing notice are not present.  (21909)

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ALiterary “Washington'ianum”

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•  First edition of what was likely the first volume of verse printed in Washington (according to Wegelin), and one of the first anthologies compiled by an American. Richard Dinmore, editor of the National Magazine, selected the widely ranging pieces present here, including a sprinkling of poems by the Della Cruscan Robert Merry and some poems by Americans (and others that evoke American feelings and situations).
     Among the American authors is Tom Paine writing on Gen. Charles Lee, whom a 19th-century reader has identified in pencil as “A traitor to [the] American cause.” A few of the U.S. pieces are anonymous, e.g. “The People’s Friend,” which was “sung at Philadelphia, 4 July, 1801.”
     Three pages bear subscribers’ names.

•  Wegelin 932; Shaw & Shoemaker 2148. Period-style quarter tan cloth over light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Title-page torn, with outer corner chipped, resulting in loss of four letters from end of title; now mounted. One contents leaf with edge tear extending into text; last leaf with short edge tears. Some light to moderate foxing, with pages age-toned; final page with shadow of pencilled “Finis” and p. 80 with pencilled comment as above.

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Thomson's Illustrations — “Beau Brocade”

•  Second edition, with numerous illustrations by Hugh Thomson. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  Publisher's cloth, front cover and spine decoratively gilt-stamped; spine, lower edges, and corners a touch rubbed. Top edge gilt. A few leaves and plates with waterstaining to lower outer corners, scattered spots of light foxing. (18409)

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Under-Rated?

•  First edition. Romantic novel based upon the travels of Marco Polo, narrated by a 20th-century Irishman. Illustrated by C. B. Falls. Christmas gift inscription on front free endpaper.

•  Publisher's brown-orange cloth. Very good. (5734)

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Unauthorized Uncut “A&A”

•  Uncut copy of this unauthorized reprinting of Dryden’s 1681 satire targeting the Earl of Shaftesbury and the Duke of Monmouth. Akey is included for reader comprehension, identifying a list of dramatis personae including David as Charles II, Absalom as Monmouth, and Bathsheba as the Duchess of Portsmouth “or any other Concubine.”

Hills’s pirate edition was allegedly “Printed and Sold . . . For the Benefit of the Poor,” according to the title-page; two different 1708 states are identified by Foxon—in the present example, signature C is under “his” on p. 17 and p. 22 is printed in two columns.

•  ESTC T19006; Foxon D449. Removed from a nonce volume with sewing partially gone, now in a Mylar folder. Edges uncut. First few pages of the poem with line numberings inked in an early hand; some darkening around margins, occasional small spots. One signature separated.

“Whylom, as old Stories tellen us,

Single-click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.

•  First edition of Dryden’s final work, including some of his best-remembered poems and finest translations, followed by texts of some of the original source material from Chaucer. The Dictionary of National Biography considers that these pieces “show Dryden's energy of thought and language undiminished by age.”

Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplate of Gertrude W. and Edward A. Strauss, prominent Chicago book collectors of the early 20th century.

•  ESTC R31983; Wing (rev.) D2278; Allibone 524; Lowndes, III, 678. Contemporary speckled calf, framed in blind, panelled with calf with blind-tooled corner fleurons; rebacked some time ago and original spine gilt extra, with gilt-stamped title, laid back on. Edges and extremities rubbed, front joint starting from foot, and spine foot pulled. Front pastedown with bookplates of two private owners (one as described above) and front free endpaper showing traces of a now-absent bookplate; half-title with faint shadow of pencilled numbers. Some pages browned with a few spotted, most clean.

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Printed D.C. 1901 — Purchased Y.T. 1907

•  Yukon verse, written by Gold Rush poet Dunham, who also designed the cover art. The front free endpaper bears two inked inscriptions in the same hand, one reading “Marguerite Lux / Syracuse, N.Y.” and the other “Dawson City Y.T. [Yukon Territory] / July 1907.” The back pastedown bears the ticket of a bookseller located in Dawson.

•  Publisher's cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title and landscape vignette, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding worn over extremities, with gilt showing some rubbing. Pages clean.  (5701)

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