adds a preliminary volume of background information on England's politics and economy during the 15 years prior to the start of the main history

•  NSTC 2M17389.   Publisher's textured brown cloth, spines with gilt-stamped title; vols. III and IV with spine heads chipped. Ex–social club library: paper shelving label on each spine head, call number on endpapers, title-pages and a few others rubber-stamped, no other markings. Light waterstaining to upper and lower inner portions of vols. I and II, upper only of vol. III; pages otherwise clean save for very faint age-toning. Paper a bit embrittled, with occasional short edge tears or corner chips, but the set quite suitable for use with reasonable care.  (28336)

•  Late 19th-century quarter red morocco, plain style, with marbled–paper covered boards. Leather lightly scuffed in places. All edges marbled to match endpapers. Occasional pencilling.  (24596)

Provenance:  Front free endpaper of vol. I with inked inscription: “Presented to the 'German Society Library of the State of Pennsylvania' by the Compiler,” signed “Wm. M'Carty.”; same to vol. III. Vol. II from a second 19th-century Philadelphia subscription library!

•  American Imprints 42-3093; Sabin 42997.   A married set. Vols. I & III: Publisher's brown cloth, covers framed in blind, spines with gilt-stamped title and two different vignettes; corners and spine extremities chipped (foot of vol. I revealing printed music beneath the cloth). Ex–social club library with remnants of shelving labels on spine heads, 19th-century bookplates and call number on endpapers, pressure-stamp on title-pages. Vol. II (Naval) sometime rebound in navy leather over blue cloth, leather edges blind-tooled, spine with gilt-stamped leather title label; spine sunned, rubber-stamp of a different 19th-century library on title-page and a number of other pages, small repair to dedication leaf of vol. II. All volumes with occasional short marginal edge tears or corners chipped away; some pages lightly age-toned. All meaty, all sound for use, all evocative; despite “mixed” nature, a very pleasant set.  (3283)

Meade was, briefly, a member of the 3rd Philadelphia Battalion, but saw no military action himself; his grandson was Gen. George Gordon Meade, commander of the Army of the Potomac.

•  On Meade, see: Dictionary of American Biography, XII, 473–74. Creased along folds, with a few ink blotches and very minor offsetting. Later pencilled note beneath signature.

Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Not in Sutro.  Sewn. (3852)

This is a states' edition, promulgated by José Gómez de la Cortina, Governor of the Federal District.

•  Streeter, Texas, 880.   Very good condition. Lacking the integral blank leaf.  (24618)

Front wrapper reads: “Mexico y Cuba; apuntes históricos.”

Apparently scarce: OCLC has a record for this but with no library holdings given. Searches of the University of Texas and University of California OPACs failed to find this publication.

•  20th-century Mexican red calf binding. Title in gilt on front cover. Original wrappers bound in. Front free endpaper torn out exposing inner hinge; waterstaining particularly visible to first leaves, faint to later ones. (21513)

An early owner has mounted on the title-page an armorial plate bearing an image of the two leopards of Normandy on a shield superimposed by a crown, the whole flanked by attendants holding long branches (palms? laurels?) in one hand and the shield in the other.

Handsomely decorated with engraved initials and tailpieces.

•  Brunet 24296.   Recent deep walnut full calf old style, by Grace Bindings (signed in blind at inner area of rear cover, lower turn-in); round spine with raised bands accented in gilt and with blind-tooled devices in compartments, oxblood leather gilt-lettered title-label, blind fillets extending onto covers from each band to terminate in trefoils and covers framed in double blind fillets. Ex–Mercantile Library of Philadelphia with stamps, mostly faint, including to title-page; title-page re-margined along top and inner edge with an interior hole filled also (no words affected). Title-page with early inked ownership initials; a few other instances of early inked notations within text. Some leaves chipped, others mildly to moderately waterstained; we have chosen to show pages bearing more waterstains rather than fewer. Armorial device mounted to title-page, as noted; we cannot be sure what this covers, but it is elegant!  (21215)

•  BAL 14856; Shaw & Shoemaker 48824; Wegelin 1066. On Neal, see: Dictionary of American Biography, XIII, 398–99. Period-style quarter tan cloth over light blue paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper label. Dedication page and a few others (not including title) stamped by a now-defunct institution. Waterstaining to upper margins and some inner page parts, with final leaves darkened and a few spotted with foxing. Some upper edges chipped; final leaf with inner margin repaired.

Rare.  We traceno U.S. copies of this work via NUC Pre-1956, OCLC, or RLIN.

•  NSTC 2N3196. Removed from a nonce volume. Light soiling. Some shallow tears. Inked numeral on title-page.

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

Signed binding: Publisher's quarter blue cloth and light blue paper–covered sides, front cover with black-stamped title and larkspur decoration, spine with gilt-stamped title and larkspur. The design is signed “C.S.” (unidentified, but not the square letters of C.H. Simonds).

•  Binding as above, paper split at corners; spine extremities slightly rubbed. Pages faintly age-toned with occasional tiny spots of light foxing, mostly quite clean.  (28589)

Several lines of text at the base of the document are headed “The Seminole Federalists,” an unflattering soubriquet given to the faction of Federalists who opposed the Clinton administration. This section is signed in type, “Red-Jacket.”

•  Not in Shoemaker.   As issued, with some later folds. Inch-long tear within first line of text, costing one word and portions of two or three letters, without affecting sense. Tear above center fold snaking five lines of text, touching letters from seven words without costing any text. Thumbnail-sized chip in center, affecting portions of three lines and costing several complete words but little sense. Lightly foxed.  (24635)

Provenance & Evidence of Readership: Front pastedown with bookplate of collector Proinnsías Ó Bríain (i.e., Francis Massey O'Brien, Irish-American bibliophile and bookseller); front fly-leaf with pencilled inscription of N.A. Murphy and with older, partially effaced inked inscription (similar inked inscription on title-page, now all but absent). Endpapers with O'Brien's pencilled annotations (including his statement that this copy once belonged to U.S. Congressman Dan McGillicuddy); purchase place noted on both front free endpaper and back fly-leaf. Occasional other pencilled annotations and marks of emphasis from O'Brien's hand, almost entirely confined to early and late portions.

•  ESTC T56380. On O'Halloran, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Contemporary calf, covers framed in gilt fillet and blind roll, spine with gilt-stamped title and gilt-decorated raised bands; a bit rubbed and scuffed, front joint predictably starting from the weight of the volume. Endpapers and fly-leaves with annotations and inscriptions as above; back pastedown with affixed biography of O'Halloran. Several sorts and degrees of waterstaining variously in (not all) upper portions, affecting title-page and engraved armorial vignette at head of dedication; otherwise, only scattered spotting/staining and mild to moderate age-toning. One leaf torn from upper margin, extending into text without loss; a few lower corners bumped; lock of hair laid in. Not a pristine but a good usable copy of a relatively uncommon item, with pleasingly appropriate associations.  (30548)

•  NSTC O363. Recent quarter red morocco over marbled paper with gilt-lettered spine. Upper outer corner of pp. 9–10 lost, repaired with paper resulting in no loss of text. Shallow chipping and tattering (with one tissue repair on title-page), not touching text or figures. Some brownstaining in margins. Rubber-stamps of a now-defunct library, including one on title-page. All edges gilt. (10986)

•  Palau 259382. Leaves detached and reattached; some dampstaining and age-toning.

Provenance:  Title-page with early inked ownership inscription, “Boquhan” (Stirling, Scotland).

•  Adams, American Controversy, 83-69a; ESTC T5851; Howes P26; Sabin 58229.   Gilt-stamped leather spine laid down on 20th-century dusty rose-colored paper-covered boards; front cover slightly faded, spine extremities chipped. Ownership inscription as above. Pages clean.  (29323)

The poems, stories, and Christian meditations are illustrated with a number of in-text wood engravings, including an image of Marion's Men and one of the two Native American “Children in Exile” of J.T. Fields's poem; the front cover scene of a young boy declaiming to his mother and sister was engraved by John Karst after George White.

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with ownership inscription of a Miss Brewer inked twice, once faintly as Harriet and once a little more darkly as Hattie (dated 1870); title-page same name in upper margin (very faint) and front cover with very very faint fourth signature.

•  Publisher's quarter sheep and printed paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and embossed stars within circles, all edges marbled (now faded); spine head chipped, corners bumped, general rubbing and paper darkened. Ownership indicia as above; early hand-coloring to title, probably Hattie's. Intermittent mild to moderate foxing.  (28421)

The Journal was first published in London in 1826 and shortly followed by this first American edition. It includes a fold-out map showing Parry's route, in this case bound in upside down!

Provenance:  Signature of “B. Rush McConnell, 1827.”

•  Shoemaker 25670; Sabin 58867. On Parry, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, XLIII, 392–93.   Quarter cloth over paper with paper spine label, antique style. Map a bit tattered on the edges, affecting ruled border, and with closed tears repaired from rear; paper overall a bit brittle at gutter, and first leaves wanting to separate from binding. Lightly cockled with bumped corners; foxing and old damp-staining. A leaf of advertisements has been bound in at front. Ownership inscription on title-page.  (4580)

•  Single sheet without the integral blank. Irregular margins. Very good condition.

Not overtly present is any discussion of the particular events of the war, but it is part of this lady's life in this era: On 5 June, “Willie took Johnny with him to the office after dinner to see the soldiers go”; on 23 August, we hear that “Will [is] feeling so bad about Pres — we think he must have been taken prisoner” (he was, this “darling brother” whose release was learned of on 13 September and whose regiment was in Kentucky in October); and on 28 August, “Willie received a letter from Doc, saying he was a prisoner after Charleston. We feel relieved that it is no worse.”

•  Publisher's limp textured sheep with foldover flap, flap gilt-stamped “Diary 1864"; much rubbed, front “cover” detached and one “seam” of flap half open. All edges marbled. Most diary pages filled in a reasonably legibly inked hand; calendar with a few dates circled in ink. Offers a very matter-of-fact perspective on late 19th-century social and domestic life.  (30667)

•  BAL 16346; Gardner P-7; Sabin 65272. Publisher’s blind-stamped cloth, spines with gilt-stamped titles; sunned and with small spots of discoloration, spines each showing traces of a now-absent shelving label. Front pastedowns each with private collector’s bookplate, institutional rubber-stamp, and speckled show-through of binder’s glue. Light to moderate foxing throughout.

There is at least one other variant of the first piece, also printed in 1700, “For A.H.” according to its colophon. It seems likely that the two speeches were in the present case issued together — the paper and type match, and the second speech is paginated “(2)” — although these examples were later separated and existing cataloguing records are inconsistent regarding the number of leaves that should be present. Sets of the two pieces together are scarce.

•  ESTC R182313 / R33479; Goldsmiths’-Kress 03732; Wing Q160. Removed from a nonce volume, now in a Mylar folder. Leaves darkened and creased, both lower margins irregularly torn with loss of approximately 20 words. First speech with nick affecting two letters of the title.

A “Map of Servia and the Adjoining Countries” engraved by J. & C. Walker faces the title.

Fore-edge: Gracing the volume is a neat and colorful fore-edge painting of St. Paul's cathedral viewed from the Thames, with a sailboat manned by two men in the foreground drifting by Blackfriars Bridge.

Binding: 19th-century gilt red morocco, boards quadruple-ruled in gilt; innermost frames punctuated by elegant fleurons, upper board stamped at the center with arms featuring a crowned double-headed eagle with orb and olive branch encircled by a motto in Cyrillic. Spine gilt extra, with title and author in second compartment; gilt turn-ins and all edges gilt.

•  Binding and fore-edge as above; extremities rubbed, especially the joints (which are just starting), and corners bumped. Lower margins and early/late leaves waterstained; overall text mildly age-toned at edges and foxed in places with a touch of green pigment bled from a sewing cord visible at gutter in two signatures. A right wonderful volume.  (29600)

•  Good. Removed from a nonce volume; without wrappers. Some foxing and offsetting to the title-page. (1873)

Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Almirante, Bibliografía militar de España 695; Palau 258163. Removed from a nonce volume. Age-toned.

Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Palau 258065. Removed from a nonce volume. Title-page with small early inked numeral in upper margin. Pages creased and spotted, with upper and lower inner portions waterstained; last leaf with a few small holes (one on fold), not affecting text.

14 maps of important battle locations

•  Howes R311; Sabin 71530.   Publisher's ribbed brown cloth, covers with blind-stamped foliate frames surrounding publisher's arabesque cartouche, spines with gilt-stamped title and blind-stamped decorative bands; corners rubbed, spine heads chipped and reinforced with brown cloth tape, lower board edges showing very faint water damage, lower back cover of vol. I and lower front cover of vol. II slightly warped, endpapers stained by bleed-through of binder's glue. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplates, call number on endpapers, rubber-stamp on title-pages and a few others, no other markings. Vol. I: Two plates with small spots of light staining; light waterstaining to lower outer corners of a few leaves, including one plate. Vol. II: mild waterstaining to lower portions, extending into text; signatures in latter portion unopened. A slightly rough copy, still solid and readable and decent on shelf.  (29427)

•  Shoemaker 3035; Sabin 72202; this edition not in Palau. Contemporary boards, rebacked with paper in the style of the era; original paper label reapplied. Uncut copy with edges untrimmed. Library bookplate with stamps on it, but no other institutional markings.

Binding:  Publisher's dark green cloth, front cover and spine with flowering branches stamped in black, spine with gilt-stamped title.

•  BAL 16902 (not matching either described binding); Wright, III, 4619.   Bound as above, extremities rubbed not too roughly; front cover with small areas of faint discoloration. Front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription (S.M. Woodburn) dated [18]81 and tear with a bit of loss from upper margin. Generally clean and nice with occasional light spots; ads at the back giving extra pleasure and interest.  (28406)

A very handsomely printed book in Arabic and Latin.

•  Lambrecht 1129. 19th-century German boards covered with black mottled paper, boards and spine abraded; paper spine-label with hand-lettering. Institutional bookplate on front pastedown. Four-digit number in ink at base of first p. V. Housed in a modern quarter brown morocco tray case with raised bands on spine, each accented above and below with gilt beading (our last image shows the volume lying in its box). One spine compartment with title, another with publication place and dates, all others with gilt center device. A very acceptable copy of a scarce and important work for Arabic studies.