Signed binding: Publisher's dark blue cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped stylized double fish design, signed with the double D monogram of Decorative Designers; spine with gilt-stamped title and scallop shell. Top edge gilt.

•  Binding as above, corners and spine a bit rubbed. Front pastedown with private owner's bookplate. A clean, attractive copy.  (28862)

The five articles go so far as to proclaim that sharing of bad news is treason and punishable as such.

•  One fold.

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•  Palau 69406. Old wrappers; some dustsoiling and age-toning.

•  NSTC 2F12262, 2J13268, & 2B13609.   Green cloth over boards, gilt rules and lettering to spine; cloth worn away at spine extremities and corners and splitting over front joint; preliminary pages (including frontispiece) and pp. 1–2 separated from binding. Private ownership signature at top edge of title-pages; a (different) private owner's pressure- and rubber-stamps; institutional bookplate. Off-setting to six pages from old newspaper articles or leaves laid in; old newspaper article (a review of a much later biography of Fouché) still inserted; Inner margin of pp. 327–8 repaired, not affecting text. Spotting and staining of various sorts and a few dog-ears; not a swell copy but a perfectly serviceable one.  (14222)

•  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, and small hole at intersection of two folds. One blank page with early pencilled doodles.  (27562)

Designed and printed in an edition of 300 numbered copies by Claire Van Vliet atthe Janus Press, with typesetting by Nancy Boylen and binding by Jim Bicknell. The paper is Mohawk Superfine Vellum and the type 18-point Monotype Spectrum. This is copy 274.

•  Fine, Janus Press 1955–75, p. 42.   Publisher's gray cloth with paper spine label. Fine copy.  (30523)

Binding:  In the style of a percaline mosaïquée, but the gilt and mosaic are applied to a textured pebbled cloth. Spine gilt extra with added “mosaic” of green, white, red and blue. Front cover with a blind-stamped border incorporating elegant corner-pieces; within this, “Souvenir de Versailles” gilt-stamped in an arc above a large on-laid crowned coat of arms flanked by banners and flags, this embellished in gilt with rich use of blue, white, red, blue, and green. Rear cover with similar blind-stamped border and a different large gilt-stamped center device strikingly incorporating an on-lay of blue stamped in gilt with a military medal. All edges gilt.

•  On this type of binding, see: Morris & Levin, The Art of Publishers' Bookbindings, pp. 94–97.   Binding as above, rubbed to the underlying boards at the corners of the boards and top of spine slightly pulled with one bit of rubbing. Scattered pale brown stains mostly on interleaves and sometimes visible on versos of plates; some discoloration in some margins of plates and occasionally into one; overwhelmingly a clean copy, remarkably bright and unfoxed. A strong and nice example of this category of “souvenir” and of a gilt mosaic binding.  (30464)

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.

16 steel-engraved maps

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with early pencilled inscription reading “Mary William own Book Syracuse Newyork [sic].”

•  American Imprints 24673.   Publisher's quarter tan straight-grained sheep and printed paper–covered sides; spine and extremities scuffed, paper darkened with spots of staining. Front free endpaper with inscription as above; back free endpaper excised. Variously foxed. A strong, charming, interesting schoolbook — inside and out.  (30508)

This is less dry than might seem, with notes being present as to which officials’ accountings were in revolting disarray, as to what bakers were scamming Navy purchasing officers, how much was spent on what at military hospitals—etc.

•  ESTC T94705; Goldsmith’s-Kress 5055. 20th-century gray wrappers with title in blue ink on front wrapper. Wrappers with browning, fading, light soiling, a little shallow chipping, and a few shallow tears. Heavy pencilling on inside front wrapper and title-page. Pages with some shallow dog ears and traces of soiling. All edges speckled red.

•  NSTC ENG830. Removed from a nonce volume, now in a Mylar folder; sewing gone. Page edges slightly darkened, with occasional small edge chips; title-page dust-soiled. Two leaves with short tears from inner margins, just touching text on one leaf.

•  Not in Goldsmiths’-Kress. Recent paper wrappers. Title-page with small section of offsetting from a now-absent laid-in item; a few pages stamped by a now-defunct institution.

•  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)

The text is printed in Latin, double-column, with a handful of large woodcut initials, a few tail ornaments, and one letterpress diagram. The title-page, printed in red and black, features Blaeu's large device of an astrolabe flanked by Time and Hercules. An index on the final two pages lists Grotius's correspondents and the corresponding letters, which are arranged chronologically in the text.

•  Meulen, Grotius, 1210; Brunet, II, 1766; Graesse, III, 163.   Contemporary northern-European style vellum over boards ruled in blind, panels with blind-stamped central cartouches, spine with seven raised bands and remnants of later paper labels, red speckled edges; vellum soiled and lightly rubbed at extremities with corners bumped. Ex-library with bookplate on front pastedown and later library marking in pen on second leaf; light foxing, a light waterstain across the lower outer corner of perhaps a dozen leaves, and scattered darker stains, with a few leaves browned; small tear in outer margin of title-leaf and another margin, small hole from natural flaw in outer margin of one leaf and small bit of paper torn away from lower corner of another. Very mild worming in middle of two leaves and final leaf, the latter repaired; additional very minor, “slim” worming mostly to margins at rear.A solid, handsome important book.  (30293)

Grotius saw his book published for the first time in 1625 at Paris: It studies the legality of war and immediately established itself as a foundational work on the topic. Modern scholars regard it asfoundational in international law.

This edition contains added scholarship from Joannes Fredericus Gronovius (1611–71) and Jean Barbeyrac (1674–1744). In addition to De jure belli ac pacis the reader will find two other important Grotius tracts at the rear of the volume: Mare liberum and Libellus singularis de aequitate, indulgentia et facilitate, meaning the volume treats not just of law of war, but natural law, international law, maritime law, and law of the sea.

There are two issues of this edition, the other having “Ex Officina Wetsteniana” on the title-page in place of “Apud Janssonio-Waesbergio.” In both editions the title-page is printed in black and red, and of course, they have the same pagination. The work has side- and shouldernotes, an engraved portrait of Grotius, and an added engraved title-page.

•  Meulen & Diermanse (1950 ed), Grotius, 602.   Modern quarter claret-colored morocco with gilt-accented raised bands; gilt center device in each spine compartment. Marbled paper sides. Library pressure-stamps on title-page, no other markings; light age-toning and occasional spotting or foxing. A very nice copy with all edges decorated — more than “speckled,” not quite “marbled,” definitely attractive.  (26526)

military service

Vol. I opens with a steel-engraved portrait of the author, done by Henry Cook after Hervé; vol. III is illustrated with an oversized, folding plate of a water-engine intended for millwork, devised by the author, and a plate of another of his inventions: the automated “chamber fire escape”, which enables anyone to lower him- or herself from a high window. This is the third edition, following the first of 1807.

•  NSTC H625; Sabin 30461.   Contemporary speckled sheep, spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels; vol. I with joints and extremities refurbished, vols. II and III with spines and edges rubbed, old strips of library tape reinforcing spine heads. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplates, call number on endpapers, pressure-stamp on title-pages, vols. II and III with paper shelving labels at top of spines (vol. I showing signs of now-absent label). Vol. I title-page with offsetting from frontispiece; vol. III with pp. 69–72 excised (two leaves of a rather long religious-themed letter from Harriott to his son) and with upper portion of one leaf crumpled, reinforced some time ago. Some light age-toning, intermittent small spots of foxing and ink-staining, pages generally clean. Utterly absorbing.  (30651)

Included herein is a summary of the state of the U.S. Navy at the time.

Uncommon: We trace only three U.S. library copies.

•  NSTC 2H12871. Recent speckled brown wrappers. Lightly age-toned with traces of soiling. Inked numeral in margin of title-page.

Many of the 52 lithographed plates are in duotone; some were done by Ackerman Lithography and some by P.S. Duval & Co., after views of scenery, buildings, and natives drawn by Lieut. Gibbon.

Two volumes of maps, not present here, were issued separately.

•  Sabin 31524; Palau 113897. Publisher’s textured cloth, covers blind-stamped, spine with gilt-stamped title; vol. I with spine sunned and cloth chipped at spine extremities; vol. II with corners bumped, cloth peeling away from spine and chipped at spine extremities, spine with gilt dimmed and small area of unobtrusive discoloration from now-absent label. Front pastedowns each with pencilled owner’s name and institutional rubber stamp (no other markings); front free endpaper of vol. II starting to tear along inner margin. Mild to moderate foxing and spotting; a few text gatherings unopened. One plate in vol. I with short tear from outer margin, turning into a narrow scrape extending about halfway into the upper portion of the image; one leaf in vol. II with tiny portion (less than one word) affixed to opposing plate. Not a perfect set, but a perfectly fascinating one.

Click the image for an enlargement.

Uncommon. We trace only three copies in the U.S.

•  Garritz 4724; Sutro, Supplement, 145. Not in Medina, Mexico.   Removed from a nonce volume. Very good condition.  (24785)

A successful novelist and journalist, Jones was wholeheartedly loyal to the Confederacy, and convinced right up until the end that the North would never conquer a united, determined South; he was also notably anti-Semitic, and there are a number of references here to the Jews being largely responsible for the country's economic woes.

•  Howes J220; Nevins I, 115 & II, 173.   Publisher's brown cloth, spines with gilt-stamped title; sunned and with some discolorations; corners rubbed and spine heads pulled/chipped. Ex–social club library: front pastedown with inked numerals in a 19th-century hand (partially obscured), title-page pressure- and rubber-stamped, a few other pages rubber-stamped. Front free endpaper of vol. I lacking. Pages with light waterstaining to upper inner portions in vol. I One leaf in vol. II with tear extending into text, without loss.  (26297)

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

Provenance:  Inked inscriptions of James Mack of Windham, VT (1784–1860) on front free endpaper and rear fly-leaf. Although both inscriptions are dated 1840, one gives “Col. James Mack” and the other “Major James Mack.”

•  American Imprints 25154.   Contemporary treed sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; joints, edges, and extremities rubbed, spine leather darkened and cracked, boards very slightly sprung. Inscriptions as above. Light to moderate age-toning and foxing, more pronounced to frontispiece and title-page. Now housed in a cloth clamshell case with gilt-stamped leather spine label.  (25116)

The date of printing is based on the fact that the printing firm of Tennery & Stockwell was active at Cambridge, N.Y., in 1804 only.

Provenance:  Ownership signature dated 1806 of M.H. Smith and another undated (i.e., Manassah H. Smith, a lawyer in Warren and Portland, Maine); 20th-century bookplate of Francis Massey O'Brien (Portland, Maine), bibliophile and bookseller.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 6570.   Publisher's acid-stained sheep, abraded; black leather spine label; front joint (outside) starting. Early and late leaves with discoloration in outer margins from migration of leather oils, otherwise typical age-toning and the occasional stain or spot. Generally a very nice copy.  (29949)

Click the images for enlargements.

This is an uncut copy; uncut, however, though it may have been, this was carefully opened. It was read cover to cover!

•  American Imprints 2078; Howes S91; Sabin 36551.   Publisher's quarter brown cloth and light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label; binding rubbed and moderately stained, with front hinge (inside) reinforced some time ago. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, frontispiece, title-page, and last page rubber-stamped. Inside the occasional spot or blot; page edges uncut.  (27106)

In the five-part appendix are the Aristeas de LXX Interpretibus in Greek and Latin, translated into the latter by Matthias Garbatius; Ad Epitomen Aristeæ; a variorum of Book VII of the Jewish War and the Maccabean Rebellion based on the MSS. in the Leipzig collection; a Latin version of the Libelli de Maccabæis by Francisco Combesis; and fragments from the p e r i p a n t a V , ascribed to Josephus, edited by David Hoeschel based upon the work of Stephan le Moyne. Sidenotes refer the reader to important historical details and parallel biblical passages. This edition was compiled from MSS. in the Palatine library and is a revised and improved version of the Geneva edition of 1591.

According to Dibdin, Thomas Ittigus, the editor, was “a man sufficiently conversant in Jewish antiquities, and an able reviewer of the MSS. and previous editions of his author.” As far as Dibdin was concerned, this more than made up for imperfections in type and in paper quality (the paper is strong but inclined to browning). The title-page is handsomely printed in red and black, with engraved printer's device; there is a scattering of ornamental initials and head- and tailpieces.

•  Dibdin, Introduction to the Greek and Latin Classics, II, 131; Schweiger, I, 177.   Full vellum over boards. Round spine with author's name and “Opera” in sepia ink at top. Inked personal ownership inscription on front fly-leaf; rather pleasing old library ownership stamp on verso of title-page. Lower corner of one leaf (H6) torn away without loss of text. Paper inclines to brown, as above, and there is the odd spot or underlining. A substantial, significant volume.  (2135)

•  NSTC 2K6435, Imprint 1. Removed from a nonce volume. A few light brown spots.

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The printing privilege and the colophon of this edition both give the date 1621; a revised edition was printed in Cologne in 1622.

Very uncommon.  Searches of OCLC, RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956 find no U.S. institutional holdings, and only one overseas location.

•  Not in Brunet; not in STCV. Contemporary vellum, spine with hand-inked title; ties now lacking, back cover showing minor abrasions. Title-page with early inked inscription mostly shaved away from lower margin. Pages of different signatures variously browned or age-toned; clean.

Uncommon: WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locate only four U.S. institutional holdings.

•  Sewn, never bound; outer leaf with affixed paper shelving label in lower inner corner and with pencilled annotations. Page edges untrimmed and somewhat ragged and dust-soiled; foxed.  (30694)

This edition was designed by Eugene Ettenberg and printed by The Connecticut Printers on Curtis gray wove paper; the map-printed full natural buckram binding with brown and gilt spine stamping was done by the Russell-Rutter Co.

The present example is numbered copy 1120 of 1500 printed; the appropriate LEC newsletter is laid in.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 336.   Bindings as above, in original glassine dust wrappers and publisher's slipcase; bindings clean and fresh, wrappers with spines slightly sunned, vol. I wrapper chipped and creased, slipcase very gently faded. Pages and plates crisp and clean. A pleasing copy.  (30467)

Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Sabin 78417.   Stitched originally, but this now perished and leaves separating; irregularly trimmed, in the case of two leaves to touch text; some foxing/staining, and chipping.  (26006)

•  Publisher's wrappers. A clean nice copy.  (22363)

The text is printed in roman and italic, with side- and shouldernotes; it is decorated with elegant woodcut initials against a floriated background, one factotum, a handful of head- and tailpieces, and a couple of small vignettes. The woodcut printer's device on the title-page has the monogram “AT” beneath a dolphin & anchor combination with the motto festina tarde, reminiscent of the Aldine device.

This edition is not in NUC Pre-1956, and WorldCat locates just one copy in the U.S. (with a variant imprint, “A Cologny”).

Evidence of readership: A short biography of Lipsius in French has been written on the fly-leaves in early ink.

•  Early vellum over flexible boards, somewhat stained and rubbed; evidence of four ties, and ink title to spine. Cropped close with very minor loss to a couple of running headlines and side- or shouldernotes; a few corner-tips torn away and a few stains only; instances variously of slightest perceptible worming and outer margin of pp. 585–98 holed by an insect affecting the sidenotes on those leaves, with lesser evidence of the same gnawing to rear pastedown and back cover.  (29885)

The Historia general de las Indias (first published in 1552) is divided into two parts which stand on their own although clearly written as two parts of a whole. Part I is a history of events concerning the discovery and conquests of the New World exclusive of those involving Cortés. Part II is entirely dedicated to the telling of Cortés's role in the conquest of Mexico and subsequent discoveries.

Click the images for enlargements.

In this Italian translation from the pen of Agostino di Cravaliz, López's “all-Cortés” volume stands as part III of the three-volume Historia, delle nuove Indie Occidentali, with parts I and II being translations of Cieza de Leon's Historia, over Cronica del gran regno del Peru and the previously mentioned part I of Gómara's Historia general de las Indias.

The text here is printed in italic type except the capitals, which are roman. The title-page is printed in roman and italic and has the woodcut printer's device.

•  Alden & Landis 564/25; Sabin 27741; Medina, BHA, 159n; Wagner, Spanish Southwest, 2v.   18th-century vellum over paste boards, soiled and a bit rubbed; red leather spine label, with a chip, and an old circular paper shelf-label. Title-page dust-soiled, mounted; small, narrow, oblong portion of blank area of title-page excised and filled in at an early time. Lacks folio 1 and final blank. Top margins closely trimmed, sometimes costing the running heads and folio numbers.  (25767)

Born in Córdoba, Spain, Lucan (A.D. 39–65) was the grandson of the elder Seneca, nephew of the younger Seneca, and the brother of the Gallio mentioned in Acts 18. He published the Pharsalia in A.D. 62 or 63, but it seems likely that his poetic talent aroused the jealously of the vain Nero, as after its publication the emperor forbade him to write or even plead in the courts, and then later compelled him to commit suicide for alleged treason.

The editio princeps of Lucan was printed in Rome by Sweynheym and Pannartz in 1469. This edition is based on the text of the Venice 1493 edition and improved upon by Aldus after an old manuscript given to him by Marco Antonio Mauroceno, who contributed the prefatory note. The short life of Lucan appended at the end is drawn from Tacitus.

This is anice and early Aldine with spacious margins, printed in the famous Aldine italic with guide letters and space left for initials (unaccomplished). The famous anchor and dolphin device is not found here for it did not make its first appearance until late in 1502, when one issue of Dante's Terze rime introduced the image to the world presses — this dates to the earlier part of that year. A second Aldine edition was issued in 1515.

Evidence of readership: One underlining and one inked correction of a typo.

•  Schweiger, II, 560; Renouard 33, 3; Goldsmid 40; Brunet, III, 1198; Adams L1557; Isaac 12775.   20th-century vellum over boards, spine very faintly blind-stamped just with author, printer, and date inked or black-stamped; early inked “Lucanus” on top edge. A couple ink spots on the fore-edge. Title-page with old Inkstain (covering an ownership inscription?) seeping through to next leaf and old round ownership stamp mostly erased; small pink water (or wine) stain in upper outer corner terminating at f. [33]; traces in some margins of old inactive mildew and mild foxing; a couple of old ink. A good copy for one's “Bibliotheca Aldina Vetustior.”  (30101)

In the present volume, this great epic poem in May’s translation is accompanied by its translator’s English rendition of his own sequel, originally written in Latin verse. This Continuation advances the action through Cleopatra’s seduction of Caesar (May depicts the Egyptian queen with “snowie necke” and “golden tresses”), the death of Cato, and various additional battles before arriving at Caesar’s death. At the time, May’s work was thought highly enough of that Charles I allowed the Continuation’s dedication to bear his name.

•  Pharsalia: STC 16888; Schweiger, II, 567; ESTC S108868. Continuation: STC 17712; ESTC S108892. 20th-century black morocco in imitation of early, severe style, with raised bands from which blind-tooling extends onto covers; spine with gilt-stamped title and date, and turn-ins elaborately tooled in blind. Moderately worn, spine faded not unattractively, and leather rubbed over joints. Front pastedown with bookplate, inked date of 1986; front free endpaper with inked gift inscription dated 1944. T1-2 trimmed differently and possibly surviving from another copy; A3 of the continuation also possibly supplied. Occasional instances of very minor staining; mostly clean. Pleasant on shelf and in hand. (7101)