This volume’s oversized, folding frontispiece shows the front facade of the “new East India House now building in Leadenhall Street”; there is also one in-text engraving of Lethington House in East Lothian, residence of the Maitland family.

Provenance: Front pastedown with inked ownership inscription of Joshua Gilpin, a Quaker from Philadelphia who established the first paper mill in Delaware, in 1787.

•  Disbound with front cover, front free endpaper, and frontispiece separated; back cover lost, and signature sewing exposed/going, with many leaves loose. Now contained in a simple, acid-free phase box. Edges untrimmed. Minor offsetting and a few stray marks; mostly clean.

•  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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Binding:  Vellum over paste boards; covers ruled in deep blue and stamped with gilt coat of arms of the Earl of Aylesford (motto: “Aperto vivere voto”), spines with gracefully gilt-stamped blue leather title-labels. Marbled endpapers. Blue silk placemarkers.

•  Brunet, II, 1097; Dibdin, I, 532–33; Graesse, II, 519; Schweiger, I, 115.   Bindings as above, moderate soiling to vellum, joints unobtrusively strengthened with cloth from the inside. Signs of card pockets once present and shadows of pencilled numerals on title-pages; Aylesford bookplates as above; three volumes only, of four (see above), with Greek portion complete. An attractive, even luxurious example of “Clarendon Press Greek.”  (23262)

•  ESTC T22250; Foxon E519; NCBEL, II, 547. Recent marbled-paper wrappers, front wrapper with paper label. One page stamped by a now-defunct institution. Some early inked marginalia, one page with first few letters of each line hand-supplied where the printer erred. First and last pages with extremely light foxing.

Provenance:  Inscribed by the author: “To B.F. Pyle, Esq. [?] from his friend the author.”

•  Publisher's textured violet cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title; faded, especially over spine, tear to cloth along front joint with corners and extremities a bit rubbed. Front fly-leaf with inked inscription as above. Endpapers, frontispiece (“The Rhine”), and title-page lightly foxed. In fact a clean, nice copy.  (23195)

We were able to trace only one copy in the U.S. via OCLC, RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956, while STCN locates only one copy at the British Library.

• STCN 168904. Recent brown speckled wrappers. Closely trimmed in the bottom margin with loss of part of imprint and of guide words and signatures. Some spots of light browning and soiling. Rubber-stamp of a now-defunct library on title-page. Terse pencilled notations on title-page, and inked correction on p. 9.

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•  NSTC 2F1364 (Imprint 9). Contemporary embossed calf framed in gilt-stamped border, spine with gilt-stamped title and decorative motifs; edges and extremities rubbed, with some of the raised portions of the leather lightened. Pages with a very few instances of pencilled marginalia; plates moderately foxed, with mild foxing to leaves immediately surrounding plates. (10621)

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Nicely printed, this is illustrated with an engraved frontispiece portrait of John Fellows, with the titles of some of his other works (see above) appearing beneath it; preliminary pages (8 pp.) consist of a dedication to the Rev. Mr. John Ryland of Northampton, and a preface. Stated at foot of title-page: “Price One Shilling and Six-Pence.”

Rare:  ESTC locates only two copies in the U.S., and this is one of them, now deaccessioned; and OCLC adds only the copy at Yale.

•  ESTC N39616; on Fellows, see: Edwin F. Hatfield's The Poets of the Church (New York, 1884), & Josiah Miller's Singers and Songs of the Church (London, 1869).   Recent quarter calf and marbled paper over boards; gilt-stamped leather spine labels, gilt-ruled raised bands, gilt rule where leather meets paper of covers. Title-page chipped at upper right corner, one leaf a little ragged at outer edge, another leaf repaired at outer margin. Pages overall clean, but with some random spotting and slight age-toning, including to title-page and frontispiece; light offsetting to title-page from facing plate. Ex-library with “no. 5" marked in blue crayon at the top of title-page; faintest traces of library call number on the verso; no other markings. Final three pages (pp. 94–96) mispaginated 118, 119, and 120. Handsome.  (24459)

The collection, which was later printed under the title Oasis; or Golden Leaves of Friendship, opens with a hand-colored floral frontispiece; the title-page gives the editor’s name as “Fergurson.” The front free endpaper bears an early inked gift inscription, and a coupon printed in 1854 for 100 expressions of “sincere homage & never failing devotion of an affectionate heart” is laid in, although the space for the recipient’s name has been left blank.

•  Faxon 857 & 58 (for first & second eds.). Publisher’s brown cloth, covers and spine gilt-stamped with arabesque and foliate motifs; corners and spine extremities lightly rubbed, gilt (attractively) oxidized in some portions. All edges gilt. Front free endpaper with early inked gift inscription. Pages faintly age-toned, two pages with offsetting from now-absent item.

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•  Sternick 496.4 (describing binding as red).   Publisher's blind-stamped green textured cloth, spines gilt extra; bindings fresh and clean. Eight vols. of 12 present. Each volume with inked ownership inscription dated 1863 on front free endpaper. Pages slightly age-toned with occasional faint offsetting from illustrations, generally clean. A beautiful set, virtually as new.  (24423)

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The binding is full blue linen stamped in gold on the spine and front cover, with additional ornamentation to both covers in deep pink. Top edges are gilt, others deckle; one leaf is left unopened.

•  Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 49.   Binding as above; spine sunned and with thumbnail sized dark patch at head and foot. Some cracking along the top edges and spine of the slipcase, which is still sturdy; spine of case sunned, paper label a little soiled. Pages clean; no ownership markings or labels. A very good, clean copy.  (22313)

•  Publisher's quarter cloth over green paper boards; paper title label on spine. Contemporary gift inscription on front free endpaper. Paper covers with some old minor scrapes and finger marks; VG.  (19462)

Signed binding: Contemporary half tan morocco with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with raised bands each accented above and below with single gilt rule and single black rule; gilt-stamped title, spine compartments framed in gilt with gilt dots in each corner and each with gilt center device. Front free endpaper stamped “Bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe.” Top edge gilt; silk ribbon place marker.

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•  Binding as above, spine slightly sunned, corners and extremities showing minor rubbing. Front pastedown with private collector’s armorial bookplate. Pages clean.

This edition is limited to 2,000 copies, was translated from the Spanish by Gregory Rabassa, and carries an introduction by Alastair Reid. The colophon page issigned by both Rabassa and Reid, and also by the illustrator Rafael Ferrer.

Rafael Ferrer, a native Puerto Rican, created eight full-page oil paintings and 25 in-text ink drawings, well reproduced here — plus a full-page original graphic, laid in at the back (i.e., not bound into the book) and most suitable for framing. Ferrer's images, with their bold lines and colors, often pack an emotional punch. His style belongs to the New Image school of painting, which bears the unmistakable influences of neo-expressionism, surrealism, and Dada.

Binding:  Three-quarter leather, stamped in gold on the spine, over straw-colored textured Chinese silk.

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•  Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 532.   Binding as above. Book clean and bright, in slipcase with small scrapes at the lower spine and at the mouth. Fine, in a near fine slipcase.  (21791)

The frontispiece portrays a small but elegantly composed octagonal structure, labelled “Theatrum Cutlerianum.”

•  ESTC T34564; Foxon G21; Wing (rev.) G273 (first ed.). Recent marbled paper wrappers, front cover with printed paper label. Two pages (not including title-page) stamped; one page with two pencilled corrections. Margins untrimmed and occasionally showing a few spots or light staining, pages otherwise quite clean.

•  Foxon G73. Recent marbled paper wrappers; paper tape from an old library hinge reinforcement left in place. Frontispiece with small chip from bottom margin; title-page chipped along narrow old ink splotch at top, and slim adherence from old binder’s slip. Pencilled bracketing on several pages.

The work was additionally printed in Dublin and Basil in the same year. OCLC notes that a third volume was printed almost ten years later, by J. Murray; that supplementary volume is not present here.

Signed binding: Contemporary treed calf, covers framed in gilt rolls, beautifully rebacked with gilt-stamped spines preserving handsome original gilt-stamped, two-color leather title and volume labels, turn-ins with gilt rolls. Front pastedown of vol. I with binder's ticket: “Pigge Binders, Lynn.”

A charming silhouette of Gibbon serves as frontispiece to volume I.

•  ESTC T79696; Allibone 663; Brunet, II, 1586; Norton, Gibbon, 131.   Bindings as above with original leather showing some scuffs and abrasions; gilt on original spine labels a little (but a little only) dimmed. Hinges (inside) reinforced. Final page of each volume, back pastedown of vol. I, and title-page of vol. II institutionally rubber-stamped; no other such marks. Intermittent spots of light foxing. A lovely, wide-margined, archetypically “18th-century” quarto production for this quintessentially 18th-century writer.  (23770)

•  Publisher's black cloth, stamped in blind and gold. Fine.  (5219)

•  Publisher's gilt-stamped green cloth. Lightly toned. Small abrasion on two pages, not affecting text. A very good copy.  (23652)

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Founded by Sara Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon, Girton was originally known as the Hitchin College for Women before its relocation and renaming in 1873. Although the women students were not granted the full rights of Cambridge degrees until 1948, “Girton girls” quickly achieved numerous academic successes, many of which are vividly commemorated in songs or verses present in this volume. One such piece—sung to the tune of “The British Grenadiers”—honors the Girton Pioneers, the first three women to sit the Tripos exams (these are the university’s honor examinations, and one of the first three Gifton champions was C. L. Maynard). Another entry, a rousing take-off on “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” celebrates the“Charge of the Five [Girton] Students” who nobly passed the “Little Go” in December, 1872: “Papers to right of them, Papers to left of them, Papers in front of them Rustled and threatened. Pelted with questions round, bravely they stood their ground . . .”

The controversy over women’s degrees was raging hotly at the time of this book’s creation, and is reflected in a number of the songs, with less political entries including “Auld Lang Syne,”“Gaudeamus,” “The Great God Cram,” and “Farewell, dear Friends, Farewell ye comrades dear.” There is much to smile at, much to think about, and much to admire, in this Victorian keepsake volume.

Provenance: Front cover gilt-stamped “A.E. Tuthill”; one page bears the ownership inscription of Katherine V. Woodward of New York.

•  Contemporary limp morocco, front cover gilt-stamped as above; extremities rubbed, with leather cracked and partially lost over spine. Several leaves partially excised or affixed deliberately to one another; some instances of light offsetting and a few instances of verses struck lightly through with pencil (we cannot venture why). Otherwise clean.

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

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

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•  NSTC 2F18403; Sabin 71523 (series described in note). Later pebbled cloth, spine with printed paper label; cloth slightly worn over extremities and just starting to split over front joint, spine label darkened and with upper portion chipped. Spots of faint to mild foxing.

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•  Publisher's green cloth binding, front cover stamped in black and gilt; bright and clean, with cloth showing only very minor wear to corners and extremities. All edges gilt. (14437)

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

Scarce

•  Creased with slight soiling along crease, edges slightly ragged, otherwise in good condition; now in a Mylar folder. Tipped onto a blank leaf bearing a watermark of 1826.

Of the ten engraved plates, eight depict various states of grace or lack thereof (the hearts of sinners are inhabited by loathsome beasts, while those of repentant sinners contain symbols of the Holy Ghost and of the crucified Christ); the remaining plates contrast the deathbed scenes of sinful and righteous individuals.

•  Shoemaker 8988. 19th-century quarter goat with paper-covered sides, limp and showing some water damage with much wear and abrading. Hinges (inside) cracked; covers not coming off, though one signature is separated. Pages age-toned and foxed with signs of exposure to water. Used!

•  Original wrappers, all edges stained red. Spine slightly cocked and lightly rubbed, covers with a little faint creasing. Mildly age-toned. No tears, internally clean. Very good. (7179)

•  Removed from a nonce volume. Back free endpaper with library pocket. First signature separated. Stray pencil marks; some staining.  (7370)

•  19th-century library half-sheep with paper-covered sides; binding much worn, front and back covers pressure-stamped by a now-defunct institution, front cover separated and back joint cracked, leather lost over corners, paper abraded and cracking. Front pastedown with bookplate, last advertising page with pocket. Pages age-toned with some light waterstaining and cockling; a few edge tears and stray pencil marks.  (7402)

Our righthand photograph was made not because it shows typical markings, but because those are almost the book's ONLY markings.  How interesting, and possibly how sad, that the section on the treacherous seduction of opiates got that reader's slashing emphasis!

•  Publisher's green cloth, front cover with blind-stamped title and decorative motif, spine with gilt-stamped title; sides and extremities showing small scuffs. Front free endpaper with affixed color-printed contemporary round advertisement for the New England Mutual Accident Association of Boston. Title-page verso with pencilled annotation; first preface page with pencilled inscription in upper portion; pencil emphasis to one or two other pages.  (23644)

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The fourth volume, Loose and Humourous Songs, is not present; one wonders if this was somebody’s censorship of the set, or if, on the other hand, a borrower found the missing volume so engaging that he never returned it!

•  NCBEL, III, 1650 (passing mention). Contemporary half morocco with marbled paper–covered sides; spines with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels and with blind-stamped decorative devices in compartments. Some abrading to sides and spines, spines with shelving numbers inked in white. Fourth volume lacking. Frontispiece facsimile leaf with one edge slightly ragged; pages very clean and crisp.

Provenance: Bookplate and signature of Theodore S. Comstock.

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•  Not in Library Company, Afro-Americana; Wright, II, 1543.   Publisher's olive cloth; spine with gilt vignette of Professor Hannibal and title in gold; boards stamped in blind; covers lightly soiled/stained and corners bumped/rubbed. Ownership inscription on front free endpaper and bookplate on front pastedown. Paper with a very little foxing; old, faint crescents of waterstaining along top edge of last leaves. A clean and complete copy. (21475)

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•  Publisher's black cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title; without dust wrapper as issued, boards very slightly sprung and sides with a few spots of light discoloration. Endpapers, half-title, and four pages spotted; faint offsetting from some illustrations.  (23079)

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•  NSTC 2H412. Contemporary half vellum over marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels; sides and edges scuffed, vol. II with vellum starting to peel or lift up in several places; despite qualifications, neither unsound nor unattractive. Front pastedowns each with private collector’s 19th-century bookplate and with institutional stamp (no other markings); front pastedown of vol. I with bookseller’s ticket from B. Westermann & Co. of New York. Some faint foxing, more pronounced to endpapers; some corners dog-eared.

Binding: Publisher’s green cloth, front cover stamped in black with gilt-stamped vignette of Brer Rabbit reclining elegantly at his ease; spine with decorative gilt-stamped title featuring a banjo.

•  BAL 7100; Grolier, 100 Influential American Books, 83; Blank, Peter Parley to Penrod, 56. Binding lightly worn with some rubbing to extremities, spine a bit darkened. Title-page with inked inscription dated 1881 in upper margin, front pastedown with similar inscription. Very mild foxing to some pages.

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

•  ESTC T1746; NCBEL, II, 658. Marbled paper–covered boards, old-style, front cover and spine with printed paper labels. Lacking half-title. Title-page and a few others faintly stamped by a now-defunct institution. First few leaves lightly foxed, scattered small spots elsewhere, a very nice copy.

This volume is printed with the Greek text and Latin translation in parallel columns and the preliminary material in Latin. A woodcut device graces the title-page and there are xylographic headpieces and initials. A commentary written by Jean Bourdelot (†1638) follows the text and translation: This begins with the drop-title Ioannis Bourdelotii ad Heliodorum animadversionum liber I (of X), and has its own pagination.

•  Schweiger, Handbuch der classischen Bibliographie, I, 131. Recently rebacked mottled calf; old covers framed in blind and corners rubbed through. Lacking ff. 3–6 in the second "A" gathering, i.e., pp. 5–12. A number of leaves in second gatherings B-G have a closed tear in the same place in each gathering, likely the result of damage to them when they were stacked together prior to binding. This, and a small wax stain on the second series of pp. 73–74, has resulted in the loss of letters, but not of sense. There are a few pressure-stamps from a now-defunct library, including one on the title-page, which also has some light soiling. The pages are very lightly age-toned with some instances of light waterstaining in the top margins. All edges speckled red.

•  Original paper-covered boards, spine reinforced with cloth tape, front and back covers faintly pressure-stamped by a now-defunct library, spine with inked title and paper shelving label. Front pastedown with bookplate; title-page and several others perforation-stamped. A rough copy that's definitely been tumbled — very interesting contents, however! (3939)

This a decidedly “Southern” production. Henkel notes in the preface, signed “New-Market, Shenandoah Valley, Virginia,” that it had been “Ministers of the Gospel of both North and South Carolina” whose desire for it had encouraged his son (“by profession a Physician”) to urge his composition of it. The copyright is that of the “District of Virginia.”

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 37829.   Period-style quarter tan cloth with light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Pages age-toned and lightly to moderately waterstained; last few leaves with old mold-spotting in upper portions. Front fly-leaf, title-page, and first preface page with small areas of insect damage confined to upper margins.  (24533)

•  Publisher’s red cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title within decorative border, quite elegant, and spine with gilt-stamped title; corners bumped, binding otherwise showing virtually no wear save for a small “tick” of dent to front outer edge. A clean, attractive, very good copy.

Presentation copy: Front inside cover stamped “With compliments of the author.”

•  Publisher's cloth in imitation of morocco, front cover with gilt-stamped title; front cover detached, cloth almost entirely lost over spine. Ex-library: covers pressure-stamped by a now-defunct (Philadelphia) institution, title-page and a few others rubber-stamped, back free endpaper with pocket.   Sadly hurt, but a sweet effort and a presentation copy. (17770)

•  ESTC T41625?; Foxon H282. Removed from a nonce volume. Very good copy.

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