NEWEST ARRIVALS
NEWEST ENTRIES 19 MAY 2013
As a CATALOGUE formed partly BY CHANCE,  this does not represent ALL our strengths!

[ PART I — PART II ]

A Double Bill of Eck & Erasmus — Froben “Producing” the Latter

Eck, Johannes. 

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•  [bound with] Arnobius, the Younger. Io. Frobenius pio lectori. S.D. En optime lector, rarum damus thesaurum, & nihil non nouum, D. Erasmi Roterodamni praefationem ad nuper electum pontificem Romanum Adrianum huius nominis sextum. Arnobii Afri, vetusti pariter ac laudatissimi scriptoris commentarios, pios iuxta ac eruditos in omnes Psalmos sermone Latino, sed tum apud Afros vulgari per Erasmum Roterodamum proditos and emendatos. Basileae: ex aedibus Io Frobe[n], 1522. Folio (29.5 cm; 11.75"). [6] ff., 215, [1], [207]–65, [1] pp.

Eck (1486–1543) was a forceful and often convincing voice for Catholicism during the first quarter century of the Reformation, and he was, specifically, Luther's “most indefatigable and important opponent” (Encyclopaedia Britannica). The Opera contra Ludderum reached five volumes over the course of five years, with sets of all five volumes being most uncommon: NO complete sets of the 1530 to 1535 edition are reported via WorldCat as in the U.S. This volume contains these opuscules: “Epistola ad gloriosissi. Imp. Carolum V. August.a Deo coronatum, “ “De Primatu Petri lib. III,” and “De Poenitentia lib.IIII.”

The second work in this volume, bothhandsomely and characteristically printed by Froben, contains the editio princeps of Arnobius, the Younger's, mystical commentary on Psalms (edited by Erasmus and wrongly attributed by him to Arnobius, the Elder), a preface by Erasmus (“Ad nuper electum Pontificem Romanum Adrianum”), and at the end Erasmus' “Commentarium in psalmum. Quare fremuerunt gentes. Fruere, ac uale.”

Both works have elaborate framed title-pages, that of the Eck done in black and red and that of the Froben/Erasmus Arnobius being wonderfully illustrated/emblematic, with most “characters” conveniently labelled. The Arnobius has additional woodcut borders, all different, on the first pages of the preface, the Arnobius text, and Eramus' “Commentarium in psalmum”; while a large, beautiful device of Froben's graces its last leaf verso — a bracket to his having put his own name at the top of the title-page in capital letters twice as large as the font he used in “up/low” style for the names of Arnobius and Erasmus! The Arnobius also offers many historiated woodcut initials.

Provenance: 18th-century inscription on title-page of Eck, “Fr. Mon. Bambergensium ad S. Annam.” 20th century, in an American Redemptorist library.

An interesting sammelband showing that sometimes things were bound together because of similarity of size, not similarity of content!

•  Eck: VD16 E389; Arnobius: VD16 B3130, VD16 E2459 (for Commentarius in psalmum Quare fremuerunt gentes); Index Aurel. 108.894; Adams B 1402; Bezzel 553; Panzer VI, 231, 430; Vander Haeghen II, 10.   Contemporary quarter alum-tawed pigskin elaborately tooled in blind using rolls and devices, with exposed wooden boards; remnants of metal and leather closures. Some discoloration to spine from glue that once adhered paper labels to compartments, and bits of one of these present. Text with some discoloration due to sometime exposure to damp, age-toning occasionally rising to browning; marginal worming very occasionally touching a sidenote and virtually all pin-type, in last half; shelving sticker and partial Redemptorist rubber-stamp to verso of title-page, old charge pocket with “rules.” One leaf loose/extruded, but present; title and author inked old-style to fore-edge. A very few old marginal notations. Withal, a nice antiquarian volume offering two notable texts, one from a most notable printer.  (32632)

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“Hold Your Peace Good Man-Boy” . . .
 . . . This ReallyIS “Full of mirth and delight”!  

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•  At once a satire of chivalric romances, a parody of Thomas Heywood's The Four Prentices of London and Thomas Dekker's The Shoemaker's Holiday, and a delightful, romping, bawdy comedy of manners, this offers the winking fun and bravura opportunities of a play within a play while poking slyly at the typical middle class theater audience and its love of improbable fantasies. Held to be the first full-scale parody play in English, it was pretty much a flop when first performed in 1607 and publication did not come until 1613; revived, it has never quite been forgotten nor died, partly because actors, directors, and producers feel such kinship with the play-within-the-play troupe who try so desperately to make the show go on despite the outrageously disruptive demands and behavior of their onstage “audience.”

At this writing, e.g., the American Shakespeare Center touts its performances with the invitation, “Imagine Homer and Marge Simpson buying tickets to a Chekhov play and then climbing on stage to redirect the show with Bart as the star, and you have some idea of the fun Beaumont unleashes . . .”

This is a copy of the true second edition as specified by STC, 1635; in that year the play was “acted by Her Majesties servants at the Private house in Drury Lane.”

Provenance:  20th-century bookplate of Henry J. and Anna B. Howe, of Iowa.

•  STC (rev. ed.); 1675a; Greg I:316b; The Huth Library, p. 1645; Pforzheimer Library 49 (for the third edition — dated 1635 but really 1661).   20th-century half crushed green morocco with marbled paper sides, top edge gilt, spine sunned to brown; lacks initial blank (only). Housed in a quarter brown leather round fall-back box case with brown cloth sides. Very good in all respects, with title-page lightly dust-soiled and otherwise but a light spot or two.  (32714)

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Gay's Witty Creatures — Blake's Illustrations

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•  First Stockdale edition of Gay's popular fables: Aesop-inspired, rhymed tales of talking animals and foolish mortals, originally published in 1727 and touching on such contemporary subjects as tulip-mania, importunate coxcombs, and literary foes of Swift and Pope. The first volume marks thefirst printing of the 12 fable illustrations engraved by William Blake, part of the total of 70 engraved plates here (including two engraved title-pages).

Binding: Contemporary full mottled calf; spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-ruled compartments, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations, all this very elegant.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with inked ownership inscription of Elizabeth Bird (1845) and with 19th-century monogram bookplate: “MHR.”

•  ESTC N9619; Bentley, Blake Books, 460; Ray, Illustrator & the Book in England, 8.   Bound as above, front joint repaired and back cover reattached using the Japanese long-fiber method and toning; extremities rubbed and spine leather with fine cracks, volume still strong and very handsome. Offsetting from images as usual, throughout, with foxing variably (including to engraved title-pages) as is typical also. An excellent pairing of literary and artistic merits — the book-making arts to be remembered amongst the latter.  (32279)

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ThisAZTEC Catholic Catechism — First Edition

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•  The first edition of Father Ignacio de Paredes's translation of Father Ripalda's Spanish-language catechism into Nahuatl. Both men were Jesuits, but in different centuries and on different continents: Ripalda was born in Spain in 1535 and died in 1618, never having left Europe; Paredes was born in Mexico in 1703 and died there the year this book was published, hailed as one of the most important Nahuatl scholars of the period.

Beristain describes Paredes as being “outstanding in the Mexican language.” His volume was intended for use by missionaries, by parish priests, and by Indians: Indeed, there is a prologue intended to persuade Indians in particular to read and learn this catechism.

The volume is illustrated on verso of second title-page with woodcut arms and with many woodcut initials and tailpieces throughout.

Provenance:  Pencil note on inside front cover, “From Miss Kurtz, January 28, 1918.” Miss Kurtz supplied many early Mexican imprints to the American Antiquarian Society and this may well be an ex-AAS copy, but it has no stamps.

•  Garcia Icazbalceta, Lenguas, 56; Viñaza 341; H. de León-Portilla, Tepuztlahcuilolli, 2286; Palau 269110; Medina, Mexico, 4500; DeBacker-Sommervogel, VI, 210–11; Sabin 71488; Leclerc 2334; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 2891.   Contemporary limp vellum with remnants of ties; sophisticated copy with pp. 25–32 supplied from a smaller, stained, copy. Withal a good, rather decent example of a work decidedly important in several respects.  (32719)

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“Three Bishops, in Three Bumpers, with Three Cheers”

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•  Poet and essayist Samuel Bishop (1731–95) had been a student at Merchant Taylors' School and became friends with one of the young instructors, James Townley, who would go on to become the headmaster and would be Bishop's friend till Townley's death. Kirkes was James's half-brother and as evidenced by the content of this poem, the Bishop family and all of the Townleys were close friends.

This birthday poem is signed by Bishop, his sister (Mary), and his wife (Mary Palmer). Bishop's collected poems were first published in 1796.

Searches of ESTC, WorldCat, NUC Pre-1956, and COPAC findno copies.

•  As issued. Old stitching holes and uneven edge to inner margin, top cornertip lost. Clean and nice.  (32758)

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“Nuestra Carta Executoria de la Dicha su Hidalguia de Sangre”
      A Triumph of the Adage, “If at first you don't succeed . . . ”

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•  When the various male members of the Perez de Camino family living in Casa de la Reina sought to have their nobility confirmed, their claim was denied by the local herald authority; they appealed and, despite that local opposition, their claim was upheld when it eventually reached the king — who here grants them their coat of arms.

That coat of arms fills the verso of this substantial volume's first leaf, its shield featuring a castle with a chained dog in the left half and a green tree with a fleur-de-lis in the right, both on a field of gold and surrounded by an outer frame of red incorporating gilt scallop shells alternating with gilt crosses. The shield is surmounted by a helm accomplished in blue with a red and gilt visor and with plumes of green, gold, and pink. An outer border of red defines a gilt field containing an array of martial emblems such as shields, armor, gauntlets, battle axes, pennants, banners, etc.

In order to win their case the family produced a large number of witnesses who testified as to the family's history, the legitimacy of their marriages, and the purity of their blood. Transcriptions of these testimonies are included at length.

The text of the documents is accomplished in a clear calligraphic hand in sepia ink within twin double-ruled frames. The calligraphy of the text is highlighted and augmented by64 lines of illuminated text on fields of blue or red and80 two-line illuminated initials, most with filigree ornamentation, also on fields of blue or red.

Binding:  Contemporary tan calf over paste boards, spine with a gilt acorn device in each of the four spine compartments; covers tooled in blind along the perimeter using a roll, the rest of each cover blind-tooled with a large central longitudinal compartment surrounded by a compartmented frame and with an outer frame accomplished using a double fillet forming squares at the corners and rectangles between each pair of squares. The central compartment has a middle lozenge containing a gilt device composed of four acorn stamps; a single gilt acorn is stamped in each corner of the compartment; and each outer corner's square has a gilt acorn device.

An unusual aspect of the binding is that a multicolored braided cord has been used to secure the central portion of the text block to the binding and the two ends of the cord have been threaded through the spine panels, perhaps once securing a lead seal.

•  Binding lightly rubbed and with evidence of silk tie closures at top, bottom, and fore-edges. The coat of arms fine and beautiful, with red border touched by knife at outer edge and with red silk guard cloth intact. The vellum of a good quality, each leaf bearing the royal tax stamp. A very nice example of this type of manuscript. doubtless with an extra-interesting story behind it.  (32217)

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Royal Emblems — Over 100LARGE & Elegant Engravings

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•  First edition: Inspired by Otto van Veen's Emblemata Horatiana, these visual representations of edifying precepts fromHORACE were engraved by Pierre Daret for the purpose of assisting the Queen Mother and Cardinal Mazarin with the education of the then eight-year-old King Louis XIV. Each moral is illustrated with a large scene bearing a caption in French verse; the facing page of each bears explication in French and original quotations in Latin; the array are presented in two parts, each with a separate engraved title-page.

While some copies open with an engraved portrait of Gomberville, the present example commences with “La vertu au Roy”: a wholly engraved page bearing a large vignette signed by Daret and a poem beginning “Prince ma gloire et ma deffance” [sic].

•  Brunet, II, 1656/57; Landwehr 476.   Later quarter mottled calf with marbled paper–covered sides, front cover with gilt-stamped green leather label, spine with gilt-stamped rules and compartment decorations; edges rubbed, corners bumped, spine and front joint scuffed with none of this disfiguring. Front free endpaper with neatly inked abbreviated ownership inscription dated 1845 and pencilled annotation. Pages age-toned with scattered spotting and staining; waterstaining variously along a good many leaves' inner portions, sometimes with waterstaining to lower and outer portions also. Folio 60 lacking. One leaf with stray inked lines in lower portion, touching one letter, with one line extending into image. Several leaves with repairs, most generally not touching text or image; one with remaining signs of tear extending into text without loss; one with tear extending into image, upper portion repaired, small area of loss within image; one with repair to tear just touching one letter. Final two leaves creased and stained, with more significant repairs, one tape repair covering upper left portion of image. Despite wear and accidents, impressive and attractive.  (32639)

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AT LEAST THREE “FIRSTS” — First English Septuagint
First American-Translated English N.T. — First Bible Printed by an American Woman

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•  The first-ever translation into English of the Septuagint, the first English translation of the New Testament by an American, and the first Bible printed by an American woman — Jane Aitken.  It was also the first translation of the Greek New Testament into English by a native of Ireland, and of course it is the work of a key figure of the American Revolution.

Charles Thomson was born in County Derry, Ireland, 29 November 1729 and arrived with his brothers in the American colonies as an orphan in 1740, his mother having died before embarkation and his father having died at sea during the crossing. He studied ancient languages and theology; through the influence of Benjamin Franklin received the mastership of the Latin school in Philadelphia (now the William Penn Charter School); kept records of proceedings at the Treaty of Easton (1757) on behalf of the Indian tribes, and was adopted into the Delaware Indian nation; served as the secretary of every congress from 1774 until 1789; and designed the Great Seal of the United States. An abolitionist and ardent supporter of the Revolutionary cause, he was characterized by a fellow Revolutionary (John Adams) as “the Sam Adams of Philadelphia, the life of the cause of liberty,” and by a conservative (Joseph Galloway) as “one of the most violent of the Sons of Liberty in America.” It was he who informed George Washington of his election to the presidency.

On 4 July 1776 only two signatures were affixed to the unanimously adopted Declaration of Independence — those of John Hancock, president of the Congress, and Charles Thomson, secretary, in order to authenticate the document that had been voted on and approved.  Yet by a curious twist of fate (read rather, surely, of a political enemy's knife), when the calligraphic copy that is so well known to every school child was ready shortly after 19 July, authenticator Thomson was not invited to sign it!

When he had retired from public life in 1789, Thomson was to turn his interest in the Bible and Greek to the 20-year task of producing this monumentally important work.

Its printer was the daughter of Robert Aitken, who had printed the first Bible in English in America. A major edition of the English Bible, this isessential for any Bible collection, not just for collections of American Bibles — though as an American Bible and simple Americanum it has a revered place.

Provenance: 19th-century signatures of D. Shields and of John K.Wilson in ink and pencil on title-pages. One of Wilson's signatures dated 1871.

•  Rumball-Petre, Rare Bibles, 184; Hills 153; Herbert 1514; O'Callaghan 91–92; Shaw & Shoemaker 14486; Hedak, Early American Women Printers and Publishers, 20–42. On Thomson, see: Dictionary of American Biography, XVIII, 481–82.   Recent quarter brown calf with stone-pattern marbled paper sides; a lightly tanned set with occasional light spotting only.  A solid and very good set.  (32628)

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A Sorrowful Reader?

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•  First and only U.S. edition of this English translation: Romantic fiction about Joachim Murat, King of Naples; a noble Arab character features prominently.

Evidence of Readership: Title-page with early, rather elegantly inked comment, “with a Sorrowful ending.”

•  Contemporary quarter morocco and marbled paper sides, worn and abraded; front and back covers pressure-stamped by a now-defunct library, spine rubbed and with paper shelving label. Title-page and several others stamped; title-page with comment as above; stray pencil marks to a handful of pages.  (4364)

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He Mentored Henry VIII & Like So Many Others,
HeLost His Head Because of Henry

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• Two important anti-Luther works by St. John Fisher, here in uncommon Antwerp editions with the handsome device of printer “Steelsius” blazoned at the end of each. Fisher was the tutor to Prince Henry while Henry was a student at Cambridge and may have been the ghost writer of the royal treatise against Luther entitled Assertio septem sacramentorum, published in 1521, which earned Henry (now the VIII)I the title “Fidei Defensor” from a grateful pope! Disputes with Henry over the question of papal supremacy and other state matters led to a trial and Fisher's beheading.

The Assertatio was first published in 1523 in answer to Luther's defiance of the Pope as exemplified by his burning of the bull “Exurge Domine.” The Sacri sacerdotii defensio, published in 1525, is a defense of the priesthood and the mass against the attacks contained in Luther's 1522 De abroganda missa privata. Both these works (in these editions) are little held in U.S. libraries if WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 are accurate.

Provenance:  Early 17th- & early 18th-century ownership inscriptions on title-page of Assertationis: Frater Hieronimus Urbeueterus, Frater Seraphynus Lodius, and another eradicated. Later rubber-stamp on title-page verso of a Redemporist Library in upstate New York.

•  I: Adams F520; Njhoff & Kronenberg, Nederlandse bibliografie van 1500-1540, 940; Pettegree & Walsby, Netherlandish Books. Books Published in the Low Countries and Dutch Books Printed Abroad before 1601, 12269. II: Njhoff & Kronenberg, Nederlandse bibliografie van 1500-1540, 942; Pettegree & Walsby, Netherlandish Books. Books Published in the Low Countries and Dutch Books Printed Abroad before 1601, 12270; not in Adams.   19th-century quarter red leather with marbled paper sides, showing wear; stamps as above. Two ink smears on first title-page (not opaque nor obscuring text) and old library sticker with shelfmark to verso, curious small stain on f. 97, light waterstaining in upper outer corner of ff. 343–50; second work with natural paper flaws to one leaf (not affecting text), close trimming by binder touching some sidenotes. Charge pocket on rear pastedown. Overall very nice copies of both works.  (31512)

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Dr. Rosenbach's Copy! of aHighly Significant American Judaicum

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•  This Siddur in Hebrew and English wasthe first Ashkenazic prayer book edited and printed in America. Its editor, Isaac Leeser (1806–68), was a towering figure in American Jewry in the 19th century: writer, educator, and hazan of the Mikveh Israel congregation in Philadelphia.

The English-language title-page reads, “The book of daily prayers for every day in the year. According to the custom of the German and Polish Jews.” The text is presented with the original Hebrew and English translation on opposite pages.

Binding:  Contemporary full gilt-tooled and -stamped black pebbled morocco, covers each with a broad double-ruled gilt frame enclosing an elegant Arabesque design; blind tooling was used to flatten and smooth the pebbling, those designs then being outlined precisely in gilt. Spine gilt, gilt board edges, gilt turn-ins, all edges gilt.

Provenance:  Bookplate of The Philip H. & A.S.W. Rosenbach Foundation, with small release stamp on the bookplate. The books of this library were the personal collection of Dr. Rosenbach, the great bookseller and book collector, one of whose sub-collections was American Judaica; he gave the bulk of the Judaica collection to the American Jewish Historical Society in 1931 but this work was not included in that gift.

•  Rosenbach, Jewish, 636; Singerman, Judaica Americana, 1024; Goldman 37.   Binding as above, in splendid condition. Small bookplate as above. Interior virtually pristine, with service for Purim an exception showing use. A marvelous copy with a significant provenance.  (32645)

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Taxing a Luxury Good — A Decade in the Silk Trade

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•  Nothing is ever simple, especially when multiple bureaucracies are involved. In this dense volume we see the multiple “hands” involved in the collection of sales and import/export taxes (almojarifazgo) on various commodities, but especially silk, sold by the “United Guild of Resellers” of Seville. Clearly the tax money belonged to the crown, but collection of it was accomplished at the first level by the members of the guild and then at the second by a middleman who bid for the right to act as such.

The scheme basically worked like this: the winning bidder guaranteed the crown a fixed sum for each year of his grant, or “asiento,” with a limit to the number of years. If he collected more than the agreed upon sum, he kept the difference, and if he collected less, he had to make up the difference. His success depended on correctly estimating the market for his commodity and his ability to collect from the sellers!

Contained in this volume is a 15-leaf printed document of 1629 detailing the rights and responsibilities of Jeronimo Guerra and Francisco de Acosta Brandon, the new holders of the asiento for collecting taxes on silk in the cities of Seville and Cadiz. The hundreds of pages of manuscript documentsALL relate to the sale of silk and the taxes paid on it.

Silk (raw and finished) arrived in Seville from China by way of Mexico, having travelled overland from Acapulco through Mexico City and Puebla, then on to Veracruz. The luxury product was then sold and resold and taxes collected again and again at each transaction.

Because the documents in this volume were all transacted using notaries, it is an excellent paleographical teaching tool. It is also a great source for teachingmercantile mathematics of the early 17th century, for there are many pages of cyphering and numerous accounting documents showing costs and expenses.

And, obviously, it isa primary source on the silk trade in the great port city of Seville during a full-decade period.

Binding:  Contemporary red goat nicely tooled in gilt to form two concentric oblong panels, each accented with corner devices and with a gilt central medallion in the middle of each cover. Strong, handsome gilt lettering to front cover. Green and gold silk ties.

•  Binding shows some abrasion and small loss of leather. A volume in good state, entirely legible and solidly bound.  (32637)

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“The Earl of Castlemain Did Say Mass in His Priestly Habit,
after the Rites . . . of Rome”

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•  Turberville served as an usher to Lady Mary Molineux, daughter of the Earl of Powis, and in the earl's house met the earl's confessor, a Jesuit named William Morgan. He gives testimony against both Morgan and the earl as conspirators wishing to overthrow the government, not forgetting to note that Lady Powis has further the establishment of a nunnery as a hoped-for pet project.

•  Wing (rev. ed.) T3252; ESTC R222425.   Removed from a nonce volume. Very good condition.  (32247)

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Printing StudentsLook at the News, Typographically

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•  Fall 1998 edition of a multi-year student project at the Archetype Press of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA: “Social commentary, depicted in purely typographic form, [representing] a cross section of ideological, political, and environmental concerns we face at the end of the current millenium.” Supervised by Vance Studley, instructor at the Art Center and founder of the Archetype Press, this volume reimagines headlines and news clips as art, via choices in font, layout, and color; almost 40 of Studley's students contributed.

This is one of only 52 copies printed.

•  Publisher's paper wrappers, front wrapper with printed paper label extending onto spine. Fresh and clean.  (32693)

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Roman Poets, Orators, Rhetoricians, &c. (but No Nudity, Please)
for 16th-Century Students

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•  As Hadrian's private secretary, Suetonius was intimately familiar with then-current events and with the historical record; he made use of the imperial archives as well as contemporary gossip to write his biographies and histories, particularly his best known work, the De Vita Caesarum (known in English as the Twelve Caesars). The Illustrium Virorum (a.k.a. On Famous Men), accounts of prominent men of letters, provide much of what is known about Roman authors of the period and were consulted by many subsequent biographers — despite having survived in only partial form. Also known as De viris illustribus urbis Romae, the work has in the past been attributed to Aurelius Victor, Cornelius Nepos, and Pliny the Younger as well as Suetonius.

The present copy is a very uncommonschoolbook edition. The main text is printed in roman and surrounding additions in gothic type; the title-page is printed in red and black within a woodcut framework of allegorical figures.

Evidence of readership: In the present copy, the first five lives were extensively annotated in Latin by an early hand, with both interlinear and shouldernotes. Evidence of something else: In the present copy, inkblots cover significant portions of three nude figures in the title-page frame!

Provenance:  19th-century ownership stamp of the Redemptorist house in Ilchester, England; later 19th-century stamp and label of the Redemptorists' provincial library of Baltimore; 20th-century stamps of the Redemptorists' library at Mount St. Alphonsus.

WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 do not locateany U.S. institutional holdings of this edition.

•  VD16 P3514; Schweiger, II, 1140 (under Victor); Index Aurel. 110.780. Not in Adams.   Early 19th-century half roan and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title-label; three corners lacking leather, binding scuffed overall, spine leather rubbed, hinges (inside) tender. Title-page darkened with edges somewhat tattered, early inked ownership inscription (faint), two closed tears, two institutional rubber-stamps, and paper shelving label affixed in lower portion of woodcut title-page border; “censoring” inkblots as above with some bleeding to subsequent two leaves. Back pastedown with pocket and slip, one endpaper rubber-stamped. Pages age-toned; some shouldernotes, running headers, and pagination shaved. A nice example of a surviving, utilized, classroom copy of a classic Classical work.  (32635)

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The BALLAD of Gawain — Illustrated & Beautifully Printed

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•  This newest book from Juan Pascoe's esteemedTaller Martin Pescador is a beautifully illustrated and perfectly felicitous production of a new modern English translation in traditional ballad meter of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” Artemio Rodriguez's lino cuts are exemplary and John Ridland's translation invites reading aloud, flowing naturally yet grandly; the language is similarly easy and familiar, and yet noble and epic. (“Thus Arthur was handed a New Year's marvel, a startling gift, first thing / In the young year, what he'd been yearning for: to hear a boasting challenge. . . .”)

Like all books from this press, the “Gawain” is not only handsome but well made. The edition is limited to 200 copies, printed using Bembo Titling and Poliphilus types cast by Bradley Hutchinson of Austin, TX, on green paper made by Pasquale De Ponte in San Lucas Tepetlaco. As the elegantly printed prospectus notes — http://www.letterpress.com/greenknight/ — “the majority of the edition has been bound by the printers, sewn on vellum tapes and laced into a dark green [or brown] stiff paper cover, the structure reminiscent of a classic limp vellum binding. Twenty-six copies, lettered from A to Z, were set aside to be bound in quarter vellum hard covers with a handsome slipcase, by Jace Graf of Cloverleaf Studio in Austin, Texas.”

Honored to serve as the volume's sole U.S. distributor, we are ready to take your orders for both the regular issue and the deluxe one (priced at $1050.00).  If ordering the regular, please specify which of the two binding papers is your preference — and *do* click to the prospectus, which offers links not only to images of the book in process in the press but also to pictures of the workshop itself, housed in an ancient hacienda set beautifully amidst a sweeping vista of Michoacan's sugar-cane fields.

•  New.  (32223)

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The LATEST in FashionableDress, Music, & Literature

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•  Vol. 51 of the enduringly popular ladies' periodical, covering a wide range of women's interests. This volume includes sheet music (“Shells of Ocean,” “The Youth by the Brook,” “As If You Didn't Know,” etc.), illustrations of the latest fashions (the “Montebello” lace shawl, a cassaque of finest Swiss muslin, a mantilla trimmed in black ostrich plumes, toilettes for children), patterns for embroidery, short stories (by Marion Harland, Alice B. Neal, Virginia de Forrest), poetry (by Jenny Marsh, Kate Harrington, Lottie Linwood), recipes (jellies and preserves, sickroom cookery), parlour games, floor plans for model cottages, and an assortment of articles on such topics as the development of lacemaking, the Holy Land, the history of Eau de Cologne, the life of Isabella I of Spain, etc.

The volume is extensively illustrated with various types of wood and metal engravings. Five of the fashion plates have been hand-colored, and some of the depictions of dress goods are printed in color.

•  Contemporary half black roan with brown cloth-covered sides, leather edges trimmed in gilt, spine with gilt-stamped title and volume number; joints and extremities rubbed, sides and spine with light to moderate scuffing. Lacking pp. 481–84; however, a digitized version of this number suggests that there was a printing “issue” and that nothing is missing. Pages age-toned, with light foxing scattered throughout. One leaf torn across without loss of text.; one pattern portion with a design element excised, apparently for use. Back free endpaper with pattern tracings. A solid, richly various, engrossing volume.  (31989)

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The Last (First?) Appearance ofCaptain Tom Lingard

Conrad, Joseph.

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•  First U.S. edition, published prior to the first English edition, of a Malaysian tale over which Conrad labored for over 20 years. This novel was the final entry in what is sometimes referred to as the Lingard trilogy, although chronologically speaking the events depicted here precede those of Almayer's Folly and An Outcast of the Islands.

Binding: Publisher's navy cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped decorative title and ship vignette, spine with gilt-stamped title and publication information, in later quarter blue morocco and blue cloth slipcase and matching chemise.

Provenance:  Front pastedown of volume and front inside panel of slipcase each with armorial bookplate of the Verneys of Hertfordshire.

•  Wise 55 ; Keating 131.   Bound as above, dust jacket lacking; very slight rubbing to extremities, slipcase showing moderate shelfwear with spine sunned. Slipcase and front pastedown each with armorial bookplate as above. One leaf with short tear from lower margin, extending into text, partially and unobtrusively repaired; one signature just starting to loosen. Volume clean and attractive, in solid and pleasing housing.  (32484)

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The Collected Works of Erasmus, IncludingHis Greek New Testament

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•  Before his death, Erasmus (1466–1536) divided his writings into nine ordines (categories) for posthumous publication. This is the second edition of his collected works, first published in nine volumes by Froben in 1540. Like the original, this set includes additions by authors from the Dutch humanist's international circle and portraits of the same, as well as myriad engravings after Holbein. The printer, Pieter van der Aa (1659–1733), was an apprentice of Daniel van Gaasbeeck (fl. 1655–92) and primarily known for maps and travel books.

The text in all volumes is in Latin with some Greek, printed in roman and italic, mostly double-column with sidenotes and many large woodcut initials and tailpieces, as well as some engraved headpieces. Vol. I has both a general title-page and a volume title-page; each of the volume title-pages is printed in red and black and features a large engraved vignette signed by the illustrator J. Goeree and the engraver J. Baptist; some volumes also have sectional title-pages. There are many engraved plates: vol. I features an added engraved title-page, a double-page plate, and one full-page plate; in vol. III, part one, there are18 full-page engraved portraits of contemporaries of Erasmus including Melanchthon, Alciatus, Charles V, and Bembo, as well as two more full-page portraits in vol. III, part two. In Praise of Folly, in vol. IV, is illustrated with75 single-column-width engraved vignettes (3.5" sq.) and six double-column-width engravings (4.25" x 7.25") after the famous Holbein originals, and a full-page engraved portrait of the artist. Vol. IX has one large engraved fold-out plate signed by van der Aa at Leiden, engraved by D. Stoopendael, as well as one full-page engraved plate, unsigned, of medallions against a drapery backdrop.

A handsome, BIG/TALL folio set.

Provenance:  Most volumes have a large stamped “Y” on the front pastedown, and a faded18th-century ink inscription by a monk on the title-page.

•  All volumes in contemporary sheep recently rebacked and repaired using brown calf, spine with raised bands accented by gilt ruling with a blind ornament in each compartment, title and tome number gilt on green leather spine labels and date gilt collector-style on red leather labels at bases; marbled endpapers and red edges. Boards scuffed and chipped in places; all hinges (inside) repaired with later marbled paper. Ex- library: most volumes with bookplate and old-fashioned oval stamp on front pastedown, stamps on bottom edge and multiple leaves of text, early accession number to front free endpaper verso and bottom margin of first text leaf. In all volumes, some leaves very browned; occasional dampstaining, foxing, or other small stains from chemical reactions in paper; small natural paper flaws, short closed tears, and a few corners torn away not affecting text. One small tear in vol. IV repaired with monogrammed sticker!Tout entière, a nice set.  (31801)

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This Educational Game PutsYoung Victoria at the Center *&* Pinnacle

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•  Fold-out hand-colored playing surface for a tabletop game meant to teach children about major events in England's history, with the 12 paper panels of the board mounted on linen. The timeline begins with the Battle of Hastings and culminates in the abolition of slavery, featuring a central portrait of a youthful Victoria — possibly in her first appearance in this popular game, where prior editions had George III, George IV, or William IV. This isthe attractive bound game board only, here without the instructional booklet (as is common for these ephemeral survivors).

Binding:  Publisher's moiré-style ribbon-embossed rose-brown cloth, covers with blind-stamped frame and corner fleurons, front cover with gilt-stamped title and crown-and-banners vignette.

•  Binding as above, neatly rebacked with similarly colored cloth; ties lacking, covers showing water-spotting (less noticeable on front cover). Instruction booklet and slipcase lacking; board age-toned, three corners each with a spot of mild staining, some corners and folds split and unobtrusively reinforced. An object sound, charming, and, yes, STILL educational!  (32343)

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“Waking Up Begins with SayingAm and Now”

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•  First edition, first printing: “A book about the moment and the act of living . . . a portrayal of middle age, seen as the most protean of all phases of human life.” This novel about a gay professor at a Los Angeles university is often acclaimed as Isherwood's most important work.

•  Publisher's cloth, front cover blind-stamped, spine with silver- and blue-stamped title and publication information, in original unclipped dust jacket; dust jacket with edges lightly rubbed, back panel darkened and with one small spot, spine very slightly sunned. A nice copy in a gently worn dust jacket.  (32640)

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Poor Zenobia — Her Cure Is a Hard One!

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•  Each page of this “comic” tale of a misguidedly affectionate elephant is ruled, with a testimonial to the medical benefits of Hood's Sarsaparilla appearing below that; a reprint from Puck (edited by Bunner) and Short Sixes, it is illustrated with a number of small cuts, its pale green paper wrapper bearing two larger ones.

•  BAL 1916.   Fragile, rear cover almost separated; lightly soiled, one minute chip to one edge.  (32708)

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Vamps, Ingenues, Biograph Girls, & Tough Guys

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•  Stars of the silent screen strikingly rendered in woodcuts and drypoints by Martin (1921–2005), a British etcher, engraver, and woodcut artist who taught at the Camberwell School of Art. The illustrations, some printed in color, appear here with Martin's commentary on the movies and the people who made them.

The volume was lithographically printed on Arches Rivoli paper by Northend Printers of Sheffield, with the typesetting done by Charles Hall and the binding by The Fine Bindery. This isnumbered copy 76 of 280 printed, signed at the colophon by the artist.

•  Publisher's brick paper–covered boards, spine with title and sides with images printed in maroon, minimal shelfwear to extremities; overall a clean and handsome copy.  (32634)

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From Dirty Snow tothe Big Bang

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•  First printing: A poem marking the transition from winter to spring, written by a MacArthur Award–winning teacher, scholar, and poet. The text was printed by Michael and Katherine Russem “at their new offices overlooking the Mill River” (according to the colophon) in Centaur types on heavy Twinrocker papers with deckle edges; the delicately shaded frontispieceetching by Louise Kohrman was printed by the artist “not too far from the Connecticut River.”

This is numbered copy 25 of65 printed (15 of which were reserved for “the bookworkers”), beingsigned at the colophon by Wilner and Kohrman.

•  Publisher's light sage green paper wrappers, front wrapper with printed title. A very clean, fresh copy.  (32674)

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“The Nature of the Promises”

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•  First of four editions.  Leigh (1602–71), a decided puritan, was described by one contemporary as “‘a man of fiery disposition” and by another as “a cunning man”; in addition to his religious duties he found time and inclination for politics and was elected to Parliament.

He summarizes his study of God's promises this way: “a general description of their nature, kindes, excellency, right use, properties, and the persons to whom they belong,” and the “declaration of the covenant it self, the bundle and body of all the promises, and the special promises likewise, which concern a mans self or others, both temporal, spiritual, and eternal.”

Provenance:  “Presented by the Hon. Rev. L. Barrington, 1895" in a neat hand at the top of the title-page; on rear endpaper, upside down, is “Robert French [possibly, Trench] is the right owner of this booke.”

•  ESTC S108428; Wing (rev. ed.) L15411.   Contemporary calf with modest blind ruling on covers, rebacked without label but with decorative blind tooling; covers a bit scuffed and showing wear. Age-toned, with cockling and a little foxing; pleasingly, NOT close-trimmed. A very good copy.  (32303)

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Around EUROPE inSix LARGE Volumes & MANY PLATES

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•  First American edition of “a collection of great merit and importance,” according to Sabin: an extensive gathering of travelogue and exploration highlights including Willoughby's voyages to northern Russia and Siberia, Regnard's journey to Lapland, Maupertius's voyage to the polar circle, shipwreck accounts, Phipps's journal, Lister's and Young's travels in France, Spallanzani's travels in the two Sicilies, an account of Spain's early commerce with America, Gonzales's voyage to England and Scotland, Hassel's tour of the Isle of Wight, etc. The whole was compiled by a celebrated cartographer and antiquarian, and first published in London in 1808–14. This first U.S. edition ran to only six volumes, compared to the 17 of the original, and was never completed; containing everything promised above and more, it closes with “End of Europe.”

These volumes are illustrated with a total of68 plates, including two folding maps; present here are the “Death of Sir Hugh Willoughby,” done by B. Tanner after R. Corbould, “Scene in Lapland” by Peter Maverick, “A Norwegian killing a Bear” by J. Boyd, Laplanders and a “magical drum” by W. Kneass, Samoieds (one bearing a baby on her back) by S. Seymour, “Lady of Iceland” by Kneass, “A Spanish Inn” by B. Tanner, and many others. The United Kingdom is represented with views of St. Michael's Mount, Stonehenge, and other picturesque locations (“Lake of Killarney” by W. Harrison), as well as minute descriptions of the beauties of Wentworth Castle among other architectural attractions. Incorporated throughout the various texts are accounts of mining, farming, commerce, quirky medical customs, fishing practices, superstitions and divinatory techniques, religious and cultural conflicts, etc.

•  Library Company, Afro-Americana, 8233; NSTC P1878 (first ed.); Sabin 62957; Shaw & Shoemaker 21090.   Contemporary treed sheep, spines with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels; mild scuffing, chipping, and rubbing with some unobtrusive refurbishing; some volumes with leather (only) cracked across joints and one or two with joints themselves starting to crack though all are safe for comfortable use with care. Pastedowns each with 19th-century social club library bookplate (and no stamps), front fly-leaves with early inked shelving number. Pages age-toned with intermittent light staining, mild to moderate foxing, and offsetting from plates; some pages and plates in vol. I with outer portions waterstained; a number of plates darkened; folding map in vol. I with outer portion waterstained and outer margin slightly tattered. One leaf in vol. III with short tear from outer margin, touching text without loss; one leaf in vol. V torn halfway across, without obscuring sense. A handsome and solid copy of a significant work, its volumeslarge enough to be impressive and not too large for the lap.  (32013)

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A Jewish Convert Testifies

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•  Francisco de Faria was born in Pernambuco, Brazil, in 1653, the son of John de Faria, a Jew, of Belgium, but Francisco had converted to Catholicism in 1675. At the time of the Popish Plot he was living in St. Giles and acting as the “interpreter and secretary of languages unto Gasper de Abreu de Freitas,” the “late ambassador in ordinary from the crown of Portugal.”

In English, here, he claims to have been approached about becoming involved with the Popish Plot and, naming names, he gives dates and places of meetings and conversations.

•  Wing (rev. ed.) F425; ESTC R16386.   Removed from a nonce volume. Very good condition.  (32251)

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APITTSBURGH Woman's Poetry

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•  Mrs. Wade died in 1893. She was born in New Hampshire and moved to Pittsburgh after marrying a businessman of that city; a prominent social figure there, she was also a trained singer and composed several songs published during her lifetime. Her loving husband compiled and published this volume of her poetry “for her friends.”

We locate only five libraries (three in Pittsbugh) reporting ownership of the work.

Provenance: Inscribed to Mrs. John R. McCune by the writer of the volume's biographical sketch of the author, “Frank H. Wade, M.D.,” and his wife.

•  Publisher's white cloth elaborately stamped in gold, all edges gilt; binding and text both remarkably clean and fresh.  (29567)

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19 Comedias sueltas byAgustin Moreto

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•  [drop-title] Comedia famosa. Primero es la honra. [colophon: Valencia: en la Imprenta de la Viuda de Joseph de Orga, 1761]. 4to. 32 pp. “N.6" in the upper left corner of the first page, and “Pag. I” in upper right.


In addition to the first title, this sammelband contains 18 other comedias sueltas by Antonio de Solis, in order as follows:

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. La negra por el honor. [colophon: Valencia, en la Imprenta de la Viuda de Joseph de Orga, 1762]. 40 pp. “N.31" in upper left corner of the first page and “Pag. I” in upper right.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. Amor, y obligacion. [colophon: Valencia, en la Imprenta de la Viuda de Joseph de Orga, 1766]. 32 pp. “N. 112" in upper left corner of first page, and “Pag. I” in upper right.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. La fuerza de la ley. [colophon: Barcelona, En la Imprenta de Carlos Sapera, 1764. Vendese en su Casa . . . y en la de Francisco Surià]. [16] ff. “Num. 114" in upper right corner of first page.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. La fuerza del natural. [colophon: Barcelona, En la Imprenta de Francisco Suriá [sic], 1769. Vendese en su Casa . . . y en la de Carlos Sapera]. [16] ff. “Num. 120" in upper right corner of first page.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. El cavallero. [colophon: Valencia, en la Imprenta de la Viuda de Joseph de Orga, 1768]. 32 pp. “N.126" in upper left corner of first page and “Pag. I” in upper right.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. El Eneas de dios, y cavallero de el sacramento. [colophon: Salamanca, en la Imprenta de la Santa Cruz]. 40 pp. Stamp of the Santa Cruz on first page, and “Num. 137" in upper right corner.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. El poder de la Amistad, y venganza sin castigo. [colophon: Salamanca, en la Imprenta de la Santa Cruz]. 32 pp. “Num. 146" in upper right corner of first page.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. De fuera vendrá quien de casa nos echará. [colophon: Valencia, en la Imprenta de la Viuda de Joseph de Orga, 1769]. 36 pp. “N.149" in upper left corner of first page and “Pag. I” in upper right.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. Fingir, y amar. [colophon: Valencia, en la Imprenta de Joseph, y Thomàs de Orga, 1772]. 32 pp. “N.181" in upper left corner of first page and “Pag. I” in upper right.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. La fingida Arcadia. [colophon: Barcelona, En la Imprenta de Juan Nadal, 1773]. [14] ff. “Num. 184" in upper right corner of first page.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. El parecido. [colophon: Barcelona, Por Juan Nadal, 1777]. [18] ff. “Num. 191" in upper right corner of first page.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. Lo que puede la aprehension. [colophon: Valencia, en la Imprenta de Joseph, y Thomàs de Orga, 1774]. 34 pp. “N.193" in upper left corner of first page and “Pag. I” in upper right.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. El licenciado vidriera. [colophon: Valencia, en la Imprenta de Joseph, y Thomàs de Orga, 1775]. 34 pp. “N.196" in upper left corner of first page and “Pag.” in upper right.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. La ocasion hace al ladron. [colophon: Barcelona, En la Imprenta de Carlos Sapera, 1773]. [16] ff. “Num. 197" in upper right corner of first page.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. Antioco, y Seleuco. [colophon: Valencia, en la Imprenta de Joseph, y Thomàs de Orga, 1775]. 28 pp. “N. 198" in upper left corner of first page and “Pag. I” in upper right.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. La misma conciencia acusa. [colophon: Valencia, en la Imprenta de Joseph, y Thomàs de Orga, 1781]. 32 pp. “N.235" in upper left corner of first page and “Pag. I” in upper right.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. Trampa adelante. [colophon: Valencia, en la Imprenta de Josef y Tomás de Orga, 1781]. 36 pp. “N.238" in upper left corner of first page and “Pag. I” in upper right.

[drop-title] Comedia famosa. El valiente justiciero, y el ricohombre de Alcala. [colophon: Salamnaca [sic], en la Imprenta de la Sta. Cruz, por D. Francisco de Toxar, n.d. but ca. 1775]. 32 pp.

Binding: Full calf single-ruled in gilt around blind border, gilt board edges and blind-patterned turn-ins, spine gilt extra with two black spine labels lettered in gilt; marbled endpapers and brown speckled edges, green ribbon place holder.

Provenance:  19th-century bookplate of Robert Henry Clive on rear pastedown.

•  On the comedias sueltas, see: Bergman & Szmuk, Comedias Sueltas; McKnight & Jones, Catalogue of Comedias Sueltas; Sullivan & Bershas, Comedias Sueltas.   Extremities rubbed with loss to gilt on board edges, boards a little scuffed; front joint (outside) starting to crack but board solidly attached. Sticker on front free endpaper. One lower corner neatly cut away in La negra; splattered early inkstains on first two leaves of La fuerza and La misma; light foxing on first leaf of El cavallero and El parecido, and first quire in La ocasion; El poder and El valiente lightly age-toned; printing flaw on last leaf of El valiente affecting headline; a handsomely bound volume of sueltas in decidedly nice condition, overallclean and crisp.  (30955)

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“So to Make a Man a Sportsman” — Extra-Illustrated Copy in aRoot Binding

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•  First edition: An experienced fox-hunter shares his “ideas of the hunting-field” (p. 41), incorporating advice on riding, choosing horses, assessing fellow riders, etc., along with many detailed accounts of specific packs and chases, all presented in first-person narrative thick withlingo. The author was a popular writer of sporting books and a regular contributor to Sporting Magazine.

This copy isextra-illustrated with 52 plates taken from a variety of sources. Depicted here are prominent horsemen mentioned in the text, notable hunting grounds, and the London Horse & Carriage Repository, interspersed with numerous examples of the expectable horse, hound, rider, and hare images — as well as some unexpected entries, such as Sir Walter Scott (following a poetic endeavor on the author's part), and the Duke of Wellington (after a cry of “Up, boys, and at 'em!”). Also present is a hand-colored view of Windsor.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with monogram bookplate of “F.D.E.”

Binding:  Signed binding by Root & Son: chestnut morocco, covers framed in gilt triple fillets with gilt-stamped horseshoe decorations in corners, spine with gilt-stamped title, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-framedfox-head compartment decorations, turn-ins with gilt rules and the fox motif repeated.

•  NSTC 2H20685.   Binding as above, spine extremities lightly rubbed, sides showing very minor shelfwear. Front pastedown with red inked numeral (reasonably unobtrusive against marbling); first plate with ghost of signature offset from a previous location opposite. Original silk bookmarker detached, laid in. A very few scattered spots including a small one to edge of title-page, otherwise clean. A handsome copy of a sporting classic, delightfully embellished.  (32105)

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19th-CenturyGUIDEBOOK

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•  “. . . To give much in little on every subject that presents itself to the intelligent tourist, is the design of the present work,” the ninth edition of a popular travel guide first published in 1830. The route, illustrated with avery large fold-out frontispiece map, leads up the East coast into Canada commencing with the passage from Philadelphia to New York. In addition to historical notes, the guide includes helpful charts documenting up-to-date transportation modes (Hackney-coach, steamboat, train) and costs.

Provenance:  19th-century ink inscription of C.A. Phelps of Boston on front free endpaper.

•  Sabin 98487; Howes V-28; American Imprints, 41-5297; on binding cloth, see: Krupp, Bookcloth in England and America, 1823–50, At2 (p. 50).   Original dark green ribbon-embossed cloth over boards, printed paper label on front cover; extremities rubbed, paper label largely devoured by silverfish, spine lightly sunned. Ex-library: sticker on front cover and bookplate on front pastedown. A little foxing and spotting, a few leaves creased across corners, lower half of rear endpaper torn away; map intact and strong at folds. A seasoned travel companion ready for more.  (32030)

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Achieving a State ofFeeling No Pain

United States.

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•  William Thomas Green Morton (1819–68) sent Congress a “memorial asking remuneration from Congress for the discovery of the anaesthetic or pain-subduing properties of sulphuric ether,” a compound of which he had learned while studying with Prof. Charles T. Jackson of the Harvard Medical School. Leaving Harvard after significant coursework but without a degree and entering upon dental practice, he on 30 September 1846 publicly performed a painless tooth extraction after administering ether to a patient. This wasthe first public demonstration of the effectiveness of the anesthetic and Morton obtained a patent on 12 November 1846.

It was not uncommon for Congress in this era to buy important or sensitive patents, whether for security reasons, to prevent their antisocial use, or to promote the common good; and although Morton's “discovery” claim was disputed by Prof. Jackson and a thorough investigation was pursued with much testimony taken from a wide variety of witnesses and “experts,” the Select Committee reporting here, the Army, Navy, and Treasury departments, and virtually all other deciding parties concurred that remuneration should be awarded in the huge sum of $100,000. The record of the discussion, both colorfully narrative and cooly documentary, is here at great length, including the Committee's sweeping yet detailed historical account from the Greek era forward and encompassing Chinese medicine as well, of various herbs and plants — including cannabis — that have been used to alleviate pain or to approximate a true anesthetic quality.

Congress refused to pay, apparently for reasons partly based in a point of procedure; but the argument produceda great, early account of the discovery and use of anesthetics both historically and in the U.S.

•  Removed from a nonce volume, scattered foxing; very good condition and, frankly, utterlyabsorbing reading.  (32215)

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Plains & RockiesCanadian Style

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•  Sole editions of all parts of Palliser's British “Blue Book” of the British North American Exploring Expedition which explored and surveyed the prairies and wilderness of western Canada from 1857 to 1860. The expedition had a manyfold purpose: to explore possible routes for the Canadian Pacific Railway; discover new species of plants; amass scientific measurements (astronomical, meteorological, geological); describe the land, its fauna, flora, and inhabitants; make detailed maps; and topographically delimit the boundary between British North America and the United States. This last was accomplished from Lake Superior to the coast of the Pacific Ocean.

As a result of the survey's findings, the government ended the Hudson's Bay Company's ownership of Rupert's Land.

Palliser was Irish and a captain in the Waterford Militia at the time of his tramping the Canadian Rockies and prairies.

The large folding map “General Map of the routes in British North America explored by the expedition under Captain Palliser during the years 1857, 1858, 1859, 1860" is found in a separate pocket on the inside of the rear board.

Provenance:  Signature of George Vaux, Jr., noted Philadelphia collector of minerals, commissioner for the U.S. Board of Indian Commissioners, and frequent visitor to the U.S. and Canadian Rockies.

Evidence of readership: Typed daily itinerary of the expedition tipped in at the front, based on part III.

•  Wagner-Camp (4th ed.) 338:1, 338:2, 338:3, 338:3a; Howes P42; Graff 3167; Sabin 58331, 58331; Peel 217, 222, 238; Wheat, Transmississippi West, 5; Streeter sale 3728.   Parts I, II, III bound in early 20th-century half brown morocco with tan linen sides, original blue wrappers bound in; joints starting to crack but binding sound. Part IV laid in at rear, original wrappers, all maps separated, chipping to edges of wrappers. Texts clean, with limited foxing only. Maps with varying degrees of handcoloring; some have minor spotting, most are clean. A significant gathering with evocative provenance and all maps and plans present.  (30701)

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Silk for Sale!

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•  Patterned silk samples in luxurious deep purples, greens, and blues once lined the pages of this slender sample book and they totalled 44. Time and the hand of (wo)man have caused loss and the book now contains24 silks and traces of the now missing samples). Numbered in contemporary ink, the samples are arranged one to four horizontal strips per page.

Binding:  Deep blue-green moiré folding stiff paper boards textured in an all-over leafy pattern, with a third panel deeply overlapping to create a portfolio effect; paper label affixed to front with “Shaded Figures” written in contemporary ink at center of elegantly printed cartouche. The contentsunfold accordion-style in one long strip, folded into 17 leaves to make a “leporello” presentation.

•  Binding as above, chipped; some samples lost, as above.  (31759)

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AnAMAZING Narrative

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•  Lewis gives a narrative that confirms the Popish Plot “and the justice of the executions done upon Grove, Pickering, and the Jesuits.” Another part of his narrative tells of “the design of the papists to set the Navy Royal on fire in harbour; and to throw the guilt . . . upon the Presbyterians.”

•  ESTC R21973; Wing (rev. ed.) L1851.   Removed from a volume. Foxing. Still, very good condition.  (32242)

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Departures Were atFour A.M.

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•  At the top of this advertising broadside isa wood engraving of four horses in gallop pulling a stage coach. Included is information about departures from both terminuses, stops along the way, the tariff, and cost of excess baggage.

Not located via NUC, WorldCat, COPAC, or the OPAC of the Mexican National Library. Durango imprints are rare.

•  Printed on rose-colored paper, faded and tattered at edges; small fold tears, dog-earing, and an old tape stain in one margin. Faults noted, stilldisplayable/frameable!  (31472)

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The Antebellum Southern Frontier

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•  First edition of the first series: “The life of the planter, the squatter, the Indian, and the negro — the bold and hardy pioneer, and the vigorous yeomen — these are the subjects” (p. vii) of this collection of ghost stories and other wild and romantic tales, a part of Wiley and Putnam's “Library of American Books” series. The stories are “Grayling; Or, 'Murder Will Out,'” “The Two Camps, a Legend of the Old North State,” “The Last Wager, Or the Gamester of the Mississippi,” “The Arm-Chair of Tustenuggee, a Tradition of the Catawba,” “The Snake of the Cabin,” “Oakatibbe, or the Choctaw Sampson,” and “Jocassee, a Cherokee Legend.”

Simms was a poet, novelist, and historian later known for his pro-slavery response to Uncle Tom's Cabin; Edgar Allan Poe declared him “immeasurably the greatest writer of fiction in America,” and this book “decidedly the most American of American books.”

•  American Imprints 45-5946; Wright, I, 2436.   Contemporary sheep, spine with gilt-stamped series and title labels; worn and rubbed, spine head with paper shelving label and cloth tape reinforcement done some time ago, front joint tender. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Intermittent staining and spotting; back free endpaper with upper outer corner torn away. Clearly much read, still a solid copy of the first edition of an American classic of a particular and popular kind.  (31869)

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Salvadoran Nation Building to1863

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•  Following the achievement of independence from Spain in 1821, El Salvador along with the rest of Central America had a brief flirtation with being part of Mexico, but with the fall of Iturbide and the collapse of the first Mexican empire, El Salvador and the rest of Central America formed a confederation, with Guatemala being the more equal of the supposed five equals.

The Confederation itself collapsed as unworkable in 1838 and following the dissolution of it, the political and social history of El Salvador was characterized by a wrenching dynamic of Liberal vs. Conservative forces each wanting to control society and the government. But added to that were the ambitions of its neighbors, especially Guatemala, and occasionally Honduras and even Nicaragua.

Then there was the problem of Britain and its citizens' investments in the country and the need to protect those interests.

This assemblage provides rare documents on many of the issues and the personalities of the era. Of the 26 publications, we find only 8 to be held in U.S. libraries, mostly at only one library (two being held at two).

A full list available and the condition statement below is keyed to it.

•  Generally good to very good condition unless otherwise noted: Item 1) waterstained and with paper damage with loss in foremargin; 4) much worming, mostly in margins but also in text, touching but not costing letters; 5) totally browned; 9 & 10) in recent wrappers; 11) water damage to upper outer corner with loss of paper; 12) recent wrappers, cockling of paper and a few stray stains; 13) recent wrappers, small hole in blank portion of title-page, light waterstaining at base of same; 14) recent wrappers, a few stains; 17) two very small pin-type wormholes in text, touching but not costing letters; 20) light age-toning. Housed in an archival phase box.  (31057)

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One of Peter Martyr'sThree Great Old Testament Commentaries
ENGLISHED   

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•  First edition in English of In librum Judicum commentarii doctissimi, Peter Martyr's commentary on the Book of Judges. The author (1499–1562) was an Italian theologian who, like Luther, began his religious life as an Augustinian friar but converted to the Protestant cause. He was closely associated on the continent with Ochino, Bucer, and some prominent Lutherans, and, while in England where he held the Regius Chair of Divinity at Oxford, was an intimate of Thomas Cranmer and Bishop Jewel. Here, among other points, he examines the natures of government and of political resistance, and debates Catholic reasoning for temporal power of the clergy.

The text is printed almost entirely in black-letter with decorative capitals.

Provenance & Evidence of Readership: Various inked annotations including ownership inscriptions and doodles by one Richard Weaver, with Weaver's inscriptions dated 1718 through 1722; a few instances of underlining and one marginal note appearing to have been done by an earlier hand — possibly an overly enthusiastic John Asterley, as one annotation reads “John Asterley not his Booke 1694.” Occasional early inked corrections, including the lining-through of what would seem to be a rather crucial“not” in one theological statement.

•  STC (rev. ed.) 24670; ESTC S117825; NCBEL, I, 1860.   Period-style morocco, spine with raised bands and gilt-stamped leather title-label; blind ruling from bands extending decoratively onto covers and these also framed in blind. Lacking six preliminary leaves and eight final (including the title-page, Day's prefatory letters, the final table, and the colophon); lower (closed) edges institutionally rubber-stamped, first page with inked numeral in lower margin, no other markings. First leaf and one other early one each with lower portion repaired some time ago not affecting text, and final leaf with portion of outer margin repaired with losses to three shouldernotes; other old and some recent repairs to margins or corners. Pages age-toned with intermittent smudges, spots, and waterstaining, none devastating; one leaf with portion of lower margin (only) torn away. One leaf slightly roughly excised between leaves 116 and 117, with both text and pagination continuous and uninterrupted regardless; one clean stub between 118 and 119. Annotations and doodles as above. The primary body of text is present andcomplete here despite losses at front and back, and offers interesting evidence of engagement (or lack thereof?) by multiple readers.  (31357)

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“Spread Reports in the Coffee Houses that the Popish Plot Was a Contrivance of the Presbyterians”

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•  Plots within plots and much cloak and dagger are succinctly told of in Dangerfield's account of his dealing with Lord Peterborough, Mrs. Collier, and others.

•  Wing (rev. ed.) D187; ESTC R6224.   Removed from a nonce volume; small stain in outer margin of four leaves. Very good condition.  (32248)

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Dipping the Kinder

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•  Second edition. A rejoinder to Nietigheyt van den kinder-doop by Hermanus Montanus according to the title, this text by Jacobus Du Bois (1607–61), who identifies himself as “Server of the Divine word [in] Leyden,” was first published in 1642, being one of many counterpoints in the 17th-century paedobaptism debate: a vigorously and voluminously conducted theological exchange by some of the most prominent theologians and preachers of the day.

The text is in Dutch with some Latin and occasional Greek, printed in alternating roman, italic, and black-letter type, and sparsely decorated with nice woodcut initials and head- and tailpieces.

Provenance:  Bookplate on front pastedown of “JM,” the Dutch sugar merchant and bibliophile Isaac Meulman (1807–68), whose renowned collection was dispersed at auction following his death.

Scarce: WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locateno copies in the U.S. of this or the first edition.

•  Springer & Klassen, Mennonite Bibliography, 1631–1961, 4067; Knijff & Visser, Bibliographia sociniana, 4082; STCN (online) 164808.   Contemporary vellum with yapp fore-edges, lightly dust-soiled; early ink inscription on spine; edges speckled red. Remnants of glue on front pastedown where former bookplate removed and Muelman bookplate exposed; mild waterstaining on a few leaves but entire textcrisp. (32033)

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“Wandering over the Dim Regions of Romance”

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•  First edition: Continental European myths and legends, recast in English versions and set within a framing story of guests entertaining themselves at a country estate. Present here are all sorts of devils, witches, vampires, willis, fairies, and ghostly apparitions.

Mrs. Ellet was a commercially successful novelist, poet, historian, and periodical contributor known for her Women of the American Revolution — and for the “Bluestocking Scandal” of 1845, in which Ellet, having had her affections rebuffed by Edgar Allan Poe, accused him of improprieties with Frances Osgood.

•  Wright, I, 898.   Contemporary half sheep in imitation of morocco and marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped author/title and gilt-ruled bands; binding with small scuffs overall, leather starting to crack along front joint (joint holding). Ex-social club library: 19th-century call number on endpaper, title-page pressure-stamped, no other markings. Pages mildly spotted and stained throughout; one leaf with short reinforced tear at lower margin, not touching text; two leaves with outer margins repaired — actually, quite a decent copy. Entertaining reading, and an interesting mix of folklore and middle-class formal literature! — not commonly seen on the market in the first edition.  (31868)

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“The Everlasting, TWIN Bonds ofFood & Sex”

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•  Famed German author Grass's intricate, earthy meta-novel featuring a talking flounder, eleven women cooks embodying a range of feminine experience (not to mention culinary styles!), and more or less the entire span of human history, all loosely inspired by the fairy tale “The Fisherman and His Wife.” This work marksthe Limited Editions Club's first time publishing an edition illustrated by the author, with much intriguing interplay between Grass's etchings and text; the latter is Ralph Manheim's English translation of the original German.

Designed by Ben Shiff, the volume was printed by Daniel Keleher at Wild Carrot Letterpress (with the images printed from Carl Schütte and C. Behling's relief plates, done in transparent green with black overprinting by David Wolfe at the Anthoensen Press) and bound by Jovonis. The Club newsletter notes the five-year inception period of this project, and calls the work an “homage which these American craftpeople have paid to one of Germany's most creative citizens.”

This isnumbered copy 46 of 1000 printed, signed at the colophon by the author/artist. The appropriate newsletter is laid in.

•  Publisher's gray Italian bookcloth with “natural eelskin spines,” each front cover with printed paper label, in a single matching slipcase; slipcase with minor dust-soiling, volumes clean and unworn.  (31524)

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The Inquisition's Top Guidebook — Big & Thorough & Handsome for Use

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•  Compiled as early as 1376 and first printed at Barcelona in 1503, this is the influentialguide for inquisitors composed by Spanish Dominican theologian Nicolas Eymeric (Aymerich, ca. 1320–99), elected thegrand inquisitor of Aragon in 1357. The second Italian printing and third edition overall, it includesextensive commentary by Francesco Pegna (Peña, ca. 1540–1612), an Aragonese canonist with strong ties to the Roman Curia.

Enumerating hundreds of heresies and prosecution procedures, Eymeric outlines the belief system of the Inquisition and defines categories of offenses includingsorcery and witchcraft, paving the way for later texts like the famous Malleus maleficarum (Hammer of Witches, 1486).

The Latin text is printed in roman and italic, mainly double-column with sidenotes and with various, numerous, at timesvery large and always interesting woodcut initials throughout; some sections are framed by a single-rule border. Copious indices accompany each of the three parts; and both the title-page and the final verso feature the printer's large device employing elements of Roman iconography. There is a separate title-page to the third part, Pegna's Literae apostolicae diversorum romanorum pontificum (Rome, 1579), which was also issued independently of Eymeric's text.

As ahandbook of the Inquisition, this remained influential well into the 17th century.

•  Palau 20871 (Aymerich); Vekene, Bib. bibliographica ... inquisitionis, I, no. 109; id., Bib. der Inquisition, 79; id., “Die gedruckten Ausgaben ... des Nicolaus Eymerich,” in Gutenberg-Jahrbuch 1973, 3; Index Aurel. *167.023; Brunet, II, 1142n; Edit16 CNCE 18448. This ed. not in Adams. On Eymeric, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia online.   Recent full dark brown morocco blind-ruled, old style; spine with raised bands, author/title gilt on a red leather compartment label, and date gilt collector-style at base; bottom edge with title elegantly inked on, early. Ex-library: stamps on bottom edge, old pressure-stamp on first, last, and one other leaf, and acquisition number in ink on second leaf. Title-page repaired at inner margin, with short closed internal tear near device and canceled ink inscription at bottom; first and last leaves (only) dust-soiled and waterstaining in some lower margins (only); an early ink marking or two (only); a handful of quires very foxed, others unevenly browned. Occasional instances of very minor wormwork, typically almost unnoticeable and in gutters, with more noticeable but still minor tracks in lower margins of some quires. A volume satisfying and impressive physically, and textually important.  (31327)

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A Beloved Virginia Cookbook — First Stereotype Edition?

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•  Early, corrected and expanded edition (and very possibly the first stereotyped) of a popular and distinctlysouthern cookbook, written by a cousin by marriage of Thomas Jefferson's and originally published in 1824. Randolph emphasizes efficient, economical kitchen management — citing those “proverbially good managers,” the Virginia ladies — and gives useful directions for utilizing every leftover scrap and bone, for preserving indefinitely all kinds of items, and for preparing almost any part of any given creature. Barile's Cookbooks Worth Collecting notes the regional nature of this enduringly popular work, in which the recipes reflect both the traditional form and the increasing diversity of southern cuisine, with items such as catfish soup, barbecue “shote” (young hog), and stewed sweet potatoes mingling comfortably with “East Indian Manner” curry and “Gumbo — A West India Dish.”

Cagle and Stafford note that the work was first printed in stereotype in 1831, that printings from the first set of stereotype plates appeared in Baltimore and in Washington in 1831, and that no priority has been established between those printings — but that the original first edition appeared in Washington. The preface here is dated Washington, 1831.

Evidence of Readership: Pencilled doodles and annotations throughout; one leaf with torn excerpt from a newspaper clipping dated 1874 sewn to the page.

•  Barile 39–40; Bitting 388; Cagle & Stafford 629; Lowenstein 153.   Contemporary speckled sheep rebacked some time ago with sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather label; much rubbed overall, joints (outside) cracked and exposing in places some of the substructure, spine leather and label chipped. The first four leaves here have been supplied from another copy. Penciling and sewn-in clipping as noted; mild to moderate foxing, with occasional inkspots, occasional short edge tears, last leaf with margins chipped. A significant and desirable cookbook priced to reflect its used and “repaired” condition.  (31581)

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Only Known Copy? — “Abajo los traidores!! Viva Madero!!”

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•  Outrage and fear for the future fill this denunciation of those thought to be implicated in the assassination of President Madero and Vice-President José María Pino Suárez,. and the murder of Madero's brother. It is printed on very thinred paper in triple-column format, with the center column (offering a shadowy, badly printed portrait of Madero at top) set in a smaller point size than the other two.

No copies are located via NUC, WorldCat, COPAC, or the OPAC of the Mexican National Library. The attributed place of printing is based on the fact that it was part of a collection of manuscripts and other printed items all originating in Parral.

•  Some minor tattering and crumpling of paper; rich color faded along part of one edge and at horizontal fold. At fold, one tear through four words, not costing letters; one hole at center costing portions of four words; one other small hole entirely interlinear.  (31474)

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Dressed-Up Denizens ofthe Netherlands

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•  This captivating souvenir, rather large of its kind, illustrates thedress of Dutch men and women in various provinces, shown in16 brightly colored chromolithographic plates, all with short captions in Dutch. While most of the plates show individual women with fancy headresses, four depict couples; one plate depicts a couple riding in a horse-drawn carriage, two show couples strolling, and a fourth is of two women with a dogcart. Finally, one plate shows a man alone leaning against the prow of a beached dory, pipe jauntily in mouth, waders up over his thighs, wearing a red tee shirt that is asred as a Dutch tulip.

The contents unfold accordion-style in one long strip comprised of four pieces neatly joined together in a leporello binding. Fully extended, the images “spread”almost six feet.

•  Lipperheide 969; Colas 1618; Hiler, p. 501; Landwehr, Studies in Dutch Books With Colored Plates, 333–4.   Publisher's yellow paper over boards with red lettering and decoration incorporating the arms of Amsterdam on front cover, yellow-tan calf spine; boards lightly soiled/stained, extremities lightly rubbed, remnants of red sticker partially removed with loss to underlying imprint formation on front cover, and pencil-doodled tassel(?) to cap of woman on rear cover. Plates vivid and fresh, detailed and ELEGANT.  (31429)

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An Ohio Women's College'sFirst “Annual”

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•  This school advertised itself as “the oldest university chartered college for women in the world” in the American College and Public School Directory, 1890; it was founded as the Cincinnati Wesleyan College for Young Women in 1842, so, though it was indeed early in the field, and depending on the exact implications of “university chartered college,” that was perhaps just a little over-excited!

This lovely book hopefully, lovingly announces itself asthe first issue of what is hoped to be an annual publication by the school, containing salutatories, memoirs, reports, and programs for commencements from the inaugural class to that of 1859. Later issues did appear but “annualness” was never actually achieved; vol. 10 appeared 1890–1900.

Laid in are two programs for commencement exercises on June 18th and 19th of 1856, one of which has an advertisement for New Market Seminary (N.J., and run by a woman “late of Wesleyan”) pinned to the front.

Binding:  Original deep purple morocco single-ruled in blind and double-ruled in gilt with title gilt at center of each cover, symmetrically framed above and below by floral and linear ornaments in the English style; gilt board edges and turn-ins and multi-colored marbled endpapers. Spine with raised bands, compartments accented by gilt tooling sympathetic to the covers.

Provenance:  Ink ownership signature of Addie G. Marlay on front free endpaper and pencil note of sale to Marlay on title-page.

•  Binding as above; joints worn and starting but holding well, light offsetting from binding onto pastedowns. Mild foxing on some leaves mostly at end. Advertisement for “Demorset's Family Magazine” inserted between two leaves. An early, proud, and significant record of women's education in the U.S.  (31532)

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“Something Which Belongs to the Muse, the Moon”

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•  Following the publication of his collected poems in 1959, English writer Robert Graves (1895–1985) was awarded a gold medal in 1960 by the National Poetry Society of America; a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Mexico City in 1968; and a gold medal from the Queen of England the same year. He taught poetry at Oxford from 1961 to 1966 and was made an honorary fellow at St. John's College, Oxford, in 1971.

Elaine Kerrigan selected and wrote the introduction to this group of Graves's poems, illustrated witheight double-page plates by Paul Hogarth reproduced by Meriden Gravure Company from original watercolors. This is copy number 1496 of 2000 designed by Freeman Keith in monotype Bembo and Arrighi, and printed on Curtis cream-toned paper at The Stinehour Press in Lunenberg, VT. BothKeith and Hogarth signed the colophon.

A. Horowitz & Sons designed the binding in quarter brown buckram over black and red patterned tan boards, with author and title gilt on spine and gilt top edge. The appropriate LEC prospectus is laid in.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 517 (200 pp., in error). On Graves, see: ODNB online.   Binding as above, in a matching slipcase with cloth at top and bottom edges and printed spine. Very minor shelfwear on box, else like new.  (31259)

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The Life & Writings, & Some Remembrances of a
NANTUCKET Quaker Woman

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•  Mary Mitchell (née Callender, 1731–1810) of Newport, RI, joined the Society of Friends in 1762; starting in 1778, on account of the war, she began attending meetings in Smithfield and Greenwich, and “her Gospel labours were twice extended through some parts of the state of New-York, and once as far as Jersey and Pennsylvania.” Married in 1778 (at rather an advanced age!) to Joseph Mitchell, Mary moved back to Rhode Island with him in 1781 and to Nantucket in 1787.

Mary's brief, spiritual memoir — in which she reflects on various life experiences, including meetinga “poor black slave . . . in a suffering condition” — is followed by a selection of her writings: 95 “Pious Reflections, &c.,” and “Some Thoughts on the Qualifications and Work of an Elder in the Church of Christ.” Concluding the book is an obituary from the Monthly Meeting of Nantucket and a two-page advertisement by the publisher for Piety Promoted, in Brief Memorials and Dying Expressions . . . of Friends, Commonly Called Quakers (London 1810).

•  Smith, Friends' Books, II, 179; Shaw & Shoemaker 26103; Sabin 49706.   Contemporary calf, spine gilt-ruled; scuffed with extremities rubbed, front free endpaper torn away with stub remaining. Moderate foxing throughout. Contemporary manuscript note on rear free endpaper verso, “The property of [no name].”  (31420)

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An Aldine Imprint, A Distinguished Binding Style

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•  First Torresani edition: Collected speeches of the two great political rivals of 4th-century b.c. Athens, presented in two separate sections. The volume is elegantly printed in an attractive Greek type with distinctive open-work decorative capitals, and bears the famous Aldine anchor on the title-page (Frederico Torresani, a son of Aldus's partner and father-in-law, married Aldus's sister Paola). Renouard notes that “ce volume bien exécuté, et indubitablement dans l'Imprimerie dont il porte l'ancre et le titre avec le mot Aldus, est un des plus rares de cette époque.”

Provenance:  Front pastedown with 20th-century bookplate of Kenneth Rapoport (an American collector of early and scientific books).

Binding:  16th-century dark red morocco, unusually and interestingly gilt-ruled in all-over vertical stripes on covers and horizontal stripes on spine, in imitation of the Aldine binding style of Diego Hurtado de Mendoza (1504–75, a Spanish diplomat, poet, humanist, and governor of Granada), differentiated by the addition of a gilt roll frame and a central cartouche of two cherubs maintaining either a baronial coronet or a very fancy halo over a partially obscured coat of arms: a possibly leonine creature rampant, sable. (The spine bears a more elaborate coronet.) Evidence of silk ties at top, bottom, and fore-edges of the binding; all edges gilt.

Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only eight copies in North America.

•  Renouard, Alde, 1549:5; Adams A255; Index Aurel. 100.894; Graesse, I, 28; Brunet, I, 76.   Binding as above, spine with later gilt-stamped leather title-label; extremities rubbed, edges and spine extremities refurbished some time ago, joints starting from extremities and spine leather with small cracks, furniture now lacking with four small holes left behind on each cover. Endpapers and first few leaves with slim tracks of worming, affecting a few letters of text without loss of sense. Ahandsome volume despite above notes, and an impressive, uncommon example of the Torresani-Aldine partnership.  (31311)

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Pay Up, or It's Jail for You! — Boston, 1691

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•  Henry Smeath (or Smith) “bot oak plank” from Thomas Doughty and was sued in 1689 for breach of their contract dated 18 March 1688–89; this warrant dated 26 March 1691, at Boston, orders the county “Marshall General or his Lawfull Deputy” to arrest Smeath (or Smith), a shipwright, who still owes Doughty, late of Saco, 14 pounds, 11 shillings, and 6 pence according to their court settlement of August 1690, plus two shillings for execution of this order.

Smeath (or Smith) is to pay the marshal immediately orbe arrested and jailed in Boston until he makes payment; the authorities responsible “may not faill” to deliver him and will “answer the contrary at [their] peril.”

The document is written in a neat secretary hand in ink on one side only andsigned by clerk Joseph Webb (1640–98), the Suffolk County recorder from 1690 to 1698, according to Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society for 1899. He here signs himself, “cler[k].”

•  On the contretemps, see: Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, p. 1096, no. 13. Sheet previously folded twice and paper weak along creases but holding, with small hole at center of sheet and small chip at crease on each edge; symmetrical old (light) dampstaining in same pattern on each half of sheet not at all affecting ink.  (31445)

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Jewish Writings, Christian Thought?

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•  Sole edition: Edited by theologian Johann Gerhard Meuschen (1680–1743), this volume presents a prominent Christian Hebraist's analysis of alleged Talmudic references to Jesus and the New Testament, accompanied by a variety of contemporary writings similarly focused on how Jewish texts could shed light on the New Testament. In addition to Balthasar Scheidt (1614–70), professor of Oriental languages at the University of Strasbourg, also represented here are Johann Andreas Dantz (a.k.a. Danz or Dans, 1654–1727), Herman Wits, and Jakob Rhenferd (1654–1712); the largest part of the volume, including several treatises on Jewish baptismal rites, is by Dantz, professor of Hebrew and theology at Jena, noted for his strictly Christological interpretation of the Old Testament.

The title-page here is in red and black, sporting an engraved title vignette. Ornamented with woodcut head- and tailpieces (the latter repeated once) and a few woodcut initials, the primarily Latin text incorporates numerous quotations printed in Hebrew, several in Greek, three in Arabic, and one in Syriac; the sole German quotation is printed in black-letter.

Provenance:  Bookplate of Johann Christian Wilhelm Diederichs (1750–81), a philosopher and professor of Oriental languages at Göttingen and Königsberg, laid in along with those of two seminaries (plates formerly affixed to front pastedown). Front fly-leaf and one page each with an inked annotation in the same 18th-century hand, possibly Diederichs'.

•  Recent speckled paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper label; title-page with faded 19th-century institutional rubber-stamp and bottom edges with another stamp, lower outer portion of Diederichs bookplate partially torn away. Two leaves each with small paper flaw, one marginal, one affecting a few letters without loss of sense; a few corners dog-eared. Pages gently age-toned with minor to moderate offsetting and occasional slight spotting; first and last few leaves with margins browned by offsetting from old binding. Two early inked annotations as above, and a scattered handful of small inked text corrections. A thick, sturdy, fistful of a book.  (31721)

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THREE Classics with Commentary, in aPRIZE BINDING

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•  The works of Catullus, Tibullus, and Propertius were first published together in 1472. The first part here contains a section for each of these Roman poets, each with copious notes by Joseph Justus Scaliger (1540–1609); the second part is divided into14 chapters of commentary by Muretus, Statius, and others as per the title-page. The volume's text is in Latin with some Greek, printed in roman, italic, and capital letters, with the main text single-column above Scaliger's notes, printed smaller and in double columns; the separate commentaries, paginated continuously but quite erratically, are also in double-column. Dotted throughout are attractive woodcut initials of floral, historiated, and factotum designs; ornaments and head- and tailpieces; a small woodcut diagram; and a few inscriptions printed in capitals, including one set lengthwise on a full page. The title-page features the printer's large device and is preceded by an added engraved title-page.

Binding: Contemporary vellumprize binding paneled in gilt on each cover with fleurons at corners, this surrounding thecoat of arms of Rotterdam, i.e., two gilt lions supporting a shield of four lions passant above a pale charge, crowned by a ducal coronet with a fleur-de-lis at the helm. Spine blind-ruled with a single floral ornament blind-stamped in each compartment, title written in early ink (now faded).

Provenance:  Two different bookplates of Lebanese lawyer, writer, and translator Camille Aboussouan (b. 1919), former UNESCO ambassador to Lebanon who founded the cultural review Les Cahiers de l'Est. Pressure-stamp of Jean-François Jolibois (1794–1879), a priest at Trévoux, France, who was a member of the légion d'honneur and various literary societies. Ink inscription in French dated 25 February 1863 at Lyon, shelf number in same hand on front pastedown, and price in ink on front free endpaper.

•  Schweiger, II, 81; Dibdin, I, 377; Graesse, II, 87 (“fort rare”).   Binding as above, with four green ribbon ties; prize assignment lacking and engraved title-page reattached; lightly soiled, gilt rubbed in places, some staining to edges of text block. Mild to moderate foxing, occasionally; a few inkstains or smudges and small dampstains; two small holes from natural paper flaws not affecting text and one sectional title-page with same taking “A” from CATULLUS; two short marginal tears. Overall, indeed, clean and crisp and pleasing.  (31362)

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“Will You Truck Your Watch?” — BRADFORD Imprint,AMERICAN Revisions

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•  First American edition, revised for the American audience and a substantial work from the Bradford Press. “Carefully re-printed from the second London, andrevised by a gentleman in this city [of Philadelphia],” this was apparently only the second Spanish grammar printed in the U.S., Giral del Pino’s grammar of 1795 having been its sole predecessor. The text discusses pronunciation, conjugation, agreement, syntax, etc.; then proceeds with vocabulary; and ends with dialogues, fables, and samples of mercantile letters.

Interest in learning Spanish increased in the U.S. in the 1790s as commerce with Mexico, Central America, Cuba, and even Spain became a practical matter after Spain opened some ports to foreign commerce.

Searches of WorldCat and ESTC locate fewer than 10 U.S. institutions reporting ownership of this work. Needless to say, early school books suffered at the hands of children, one of the great enemies of books.

•  Not in Parsons. Evans 33731; ESTC W13901.   Publisher’s sheep; back cover damaged with loss of leather; text foxed and stained, with dampstaining. Far from a pristine copy but acceptable for such a scarce book.  (31031)

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An Eternally Popular Version of PSALMS — A Tall, Folio Edition

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•  Sternhold and Hopkins's influential and enduring metrical psalmody, which first appeared in 1562. Opening with a large woodcut headpiece incorporating the lion and unicorn, the text is printed in two columns of roman type, withmusic included.

When produced in folio, with elegant layout as here, this familiar “title”breathes grace.

•  ESTC S122133; STC (2nd ed.) 2676.   Later period-style black morocco framed and panelled in double gilt fillets and gilt roll with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spine with gilt-stamped title and gilt-ruled raised bands; boards slightly bowed, gilt showing small spots of rubbing. Lower (closed) page edges (only) institutionally rubber-stamped. Last few leaves with portions of inner and outer margins waterstained; pages slightly cockled, age-toned with occasional small spots.  (31319)

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The FirstENGLISH Koran

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•  First edition. Du Ryer's was thefirst vernacular translation of the entire Koran (L'Alcoran de Mahomet, 1647, the third Western translation), and the basis for many following editions in various languages, including thisfirst ever complete English version published just two years later.

Despite never having attended university, André Du Ryer (ca. 1580–1660) became an accomplished orientalist and translator, credited with introducing Persian literature to Europe (Gulistān, 1634). Appointed French vice-consul to Alexandria in 1623, he studied Arabic and Turkish in situ for years, collecting oriental manuscripts on trips with the French ambassador, for whom he was an interpreter and later counselor. In Istanbul, the sultan also made Du Ryer his ambassador extraordinary to France.

Woodcut headpieces and initials decorate the text, which is entirely in English, printed in roman and italic with sidenotes. The book closes with “The life and death of Mahomet, the prophet of the Turks, and author of the Alcoran” (pp. 395–407), but does not include the final, discrete article called for by ESTC, “A needfull caveat of admonition for them who desire to know what use may be made of, or if there be danger in reading the Alcoran,” by Alexander Ross.

•  Wing (rev. ed.), K747; ESTC R200453; Thomason, E.553[3]. On Du Ryer's translation, see: Hamilton, André Du Ryer and oriental studies in seventeenth-century France (2004), ch. 4.   Contemporary full calf paneled in gilt with gilt corner fleurons; rebacked to style. Extremities rubbed revealing boards below at corners; spine chipped at head. Lacking final 7 ff. (apparently never bound in). Mild age-toning throughout., closed tear in outer margin of two leaves, and a few stains; occasional marginalia and underlining in red.  (31238)

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His Story ofthe Reformation

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•  This is thefirst edition of vols. II–IV, and the second edition of vol. I (enlarged from the same author's Verhaal van de reformatie, 1663), of the seminal history of the Reformation in the Low Countries to 1623 — describing the main events and major players — by the Dutch Remonstrant preacher and historian Gerard Brandt (1626–85).

The text is in Dutch, printed in roman and italic, with sidenotes (including handy dates in roman numerals, to make following the chronology easier), woodcut floriated initials, and ornaments; one tailpiece is signed I.I.D. in the first volume. Each title-page features a woodcut printer's device, and theengraved title-page in vol. I is signed by Romeyn de Hooghe (1645–1708). In the four volumes combined there are25 full-page engraved portraits, including one woman, Louise de Coligny, all signed by various artists, among whom Hendrik Bary (1632–1707); Anthony van Zylvelt (ca. 1640–95); Jacob von Sandrart (1630–1708) and P. Sluyter (fl. 1700); John de Leeuw (b. ca. 1660), and Barent Bos, who issued vols. III and IV of this set at Rotterdam; and one full-page engraved plate illustrating theSynod of Dordrecht in vol. III.

Provenance:  Armorial bookplate on front pastedown (I-IV) ofHoward Osgood, D.D., LL.D. (1831–1911), a major contributor to the American Standard Revised Version of the Bible (1901) who taught Hebrew at Crozer Theological Seminary (1868–74) and Rochester Theological Seminary (1875–1900).

•  Ter Meulen & Diermanse 893; STCN 167104 (I), 167404 (II), 170404 (III-IV). On Brandt, see: P. Burke, “The Politics of Reformation History: Burnet and Brandt,” in Clio's Mirror: Historiography in Britain and the Netherlands (1985), pp. 73–85. On Prof. Osgood, see: his obituary in The Biblical World, vol. 39, no. 2 (Feb. 1912), pp. 137–39.   Contemporary full calf, board edges gilt-stamped, spines gilt extra with raised bands and red morocco label; multicolored speckled edges. Joints cracked on all volumes but holding fine; spine leather cracked and chipped at ends, boards scuffed and somewhat sprung. Ex-library: pressure-stamp on title-pages and stamp to bottom edges, no other markings. A few repairs, wormholes, and very mild to moderate foxing, heavier in last two volumes; vol. IV with a bit of light waterstaining and some other indications of onetime exposure to moisture. A worn butworthwhile set.  (31172)

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Phinney Thumb Bible, 1839

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•  Thumb Bibles were a favorite gift or reward for children during the late 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries, but they were enough of a curiosity that they also found audiences among other classes of readers and collectors as well. Miniature books, with page measurements not exceeding 2" x 1 1/2", their text is composed of paraphrased versions of famous Bible stories or passages. Because these books were most commonly owned, read, and played with by children, they suffered heavy and rough use and saw a great rate of destruction.

Adomeit notes that the “long run of Phinney Bibles . . . are distinctive as the majority of the cuts are portraits, which Stone suggests are portraits of neighboring farmers.” The present example is illustrated with 24 wood engravings, all in nice strong impressions and squarely impressed on the pages.

•  Adomeit, Three Centuries of Thumb Bibles, A90.   Period-style speckled calf, spine with two raised bands and gilt-stamped title. One leaf with most of lower half torn away, resulting in partial loss of image on one side and loss of roughly 20 words on the other; otherwise, pages slightly age-toned only, with occasional faint spotting.  (25202)

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Practical Christian Ethics — Incunable Edition — Two Large Painted Initials

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•  “The Summa Theologica (1477), more properly called the Summa Moralis, is the work upon which [St. Antoninus's] theological fame chiefly rests . . . [it] is probably the first — certainly the most comprehensive — treatment from a practical point of view of Christian ethics, asceticism, and sociology in the Middle Ages” (NCE, I, 647).

After his ordination in 1413 (at Cortona, where he was sent for the Dominican novitiate along with artists Fra Angelico and Fra Bartolommeo!), Antoninus (1389–1459) swiftly attained prominence in the Church; returning to his native Florence, he consecrated the Convent of San Marco in 1443 and was appointed Archbishop of that city just a few years later. A great yet humble reformer whose writings were widely published even in the incunable period, Antoninus washailed as a Doctor of the Church in the bull for his canonization.

The Summa, completed shortly before his death, is divided into four parts: the first is concerned with the soul and its faculties, passions, sin, and law; the second (this volume) addresses different types of sin and redress; the third considers various states and professions in life, with treatises on ecclesiastical offices and censures; and the fourth contemplates the cardinal virtues, religious morals, and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Although the text draws heavily on earlier theological works by St. Thomas Aquinas, among others, it is regarded as“a new and very considerable development in moral theology” (NCE online), and containsa wealth of matter for the student of 15th-century history.

Various Italian and German printers published individual parts of the Summa separately; however it was printed in complete folio sets at least 20 times. This is thesecond part only, the first to be published, of a five-volume set from Michael Wenssler (including the Molitoris tabula, i.e., part five) dated 23 March; 4 January (this); 21 May; 19 February; and 12 April of 1485, respectively. The Latin text, rubricated throughout, is printed double-column in handsome gothic type with 56 lines to a full page and nice wide margins. There aretwo very large painted initials in red and blue with long flourishes into margin at the beginning of the introduction and the first chapter, and five-line painted red initials introducing some other chapters, a few with flourishes.

Scarce: WorldCat, NUC Pre-1956 and Goff locatejust three copies of this part, this edition, in the U.S. (two of those being part of full five-part sets). Wenssler was a prolific printer, but his works are not necessarily common. Elizabeth Evenden & Thomas S. Freeman, in Religion and the Book in Early Modern England, note that “Like many technologies in their early stages, printing provided entrepreneurs with the opportunity to make considerable fortunes, but at considerable risk. . . . The business fortunes of Michael Wenssler, a printer in fifteenth-century Basle, areinstructive” (p. 6).

•  Goff A-874; HC 1245*; BMC, III, 728; GW 2188; ISTC ia00874000. On Antoninus, see: NCE, I, 646–47, and online.   Recent full calf ruled in blind and tooled old style using one roll in the same design on each cover; new endpapers. Second part only of five; title-page lacking but title words excerpted and seamlessly integrated into front fly-leaf. Waterstaining throughout, with all edges and many whole leaves age-toned; leaves at the beginning repaired across the inner column of text affecting legibility of print, in some cases with whole words or parts of lines taken; some other leaves repaired similarly and yet others unrepaired leaving holes or tears very occasionally affecting text; paper now stable and nowhere weakened. Otherwise, one pin-type wormhole to outer margin of early leaves, three corners torn away, a short closed marginal tear in three leaves; a few signatures corrected in early ink manuscript. An incunable that has seen multiple instances both of suffering and of “rescue,” across its many generations.  (31142)

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Up to Date!

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•  Stated second edition of this collection of hymns and other tunes, with an overview of musical elements and “a melodeon instructor; by the use of which, a knowledge of all instruments of the organ kind may be easily acquired.”

•  Publisher's printed paper–covered boards, rebacked with brown library cloth, spine with inked title and shelving label; paper dimmed and rubbed, front cover with early inked “1854" in upper outer corner. Front pastedown with large early inked ownership inscription; front fly-leaf and title-page with faint pencilled inscriptions; first preface page with rubber-stamped numeral in lower margin. Three instances of laid-in dried plant matter. Pages age-toned, with occasional light spotting and intermittent pencilled marks of emphasis and annotations; some corners dog-eared. Moderately battered, but still a nice overview of mid-19th-century music.  (29616)

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One ofFIVE Author's Copies

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•  First edition of these five poems from a Pulitzer Prize–winning author, all later incorporated into 1988's Zone Journals: “Yard Journal,” “A Journal of English Days,” “March Journal,” “A Journal of True Confessions,” and “Night Journal.” The volume was printed at the Red Ozier Press by proprietor Steve Wright, who had taken letterpress printing classes with Walter Hamady at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; the text was set in Spectrum and printed in black and blue on beige Amora paper.

This is one of 100 copies printed (25 of which were in boards), with this example specifically designatedan author's copy — one of only five such, unnumbered — and signed at the colophon by Wright.

•  Publisher's blue paper wrappers, spine very slightly sunned; otherwise clean and fresh.  (31278)

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One American Merchant Writes Another on theAmerican Revolution
News of aFIERCE Sea Battle Waged after Yorktown

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•  Crawford was a Philadelphia merchant and in this letter to a corresponding merchant in Boston, he begins by discussing an insurance matter that requires Brown's attention. Then he writes:

nothing new since my last, exceptCapt. Barney in the ship Hyder Aly taking the King ship Monk of 10 nine pounders, in an action of 30 minutes. The Hyder Aly mounted 6 nines & 10 sixes, there never was more execution done by the same force in the same time. The Monk had every officer except two, killed or wounded, amongst the latter was the Capt. She had in all 21 kill'd & 32 wounded. The Hyder Aly had 4 kill'd & 11 wounded, from such slaughter no doubt you'd conclude one of them boarded, but it was not the case, a fair action within pistol shot.

Although the land battles of the American Revolution had ended with the surrender at Yorktown, sea battles continued until receipt of the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The account above refers to Comm. Joshua Barney's capture on 8 April off Cape May, NJ, of the sloop of war General Monk. In a wonderful twist of fate, the intrepid Barney had only arrived in Philadelphia in March — having been occupied since the previous May with his escape, recapture, and second escape from Portsmouth prison! into which stronghold he had been clapped by the British for his previous maritime (infr)actions.

Having, then, been given command of the Hyder Ally (a.k.a., Hyder Ali) only a few weeks previously, and having been charged with clearing the Delaware River and Bay of privateers, Barney had met the General Monk while pursuing that task — and, in a Revolutionary War naval action eclipsed only by that of the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis, took on and thoroughly defeated a King's ship of superior firepower in a bloody, 26-minute battle.

Following this capture of the General Monk, Congress voted Barney a sword for his gallantry and offered him command of his prize after renaming her General Washington. In November, 1782, he was ordered to sail to France in the Washington with dispatches for Benjamin Franklin who was negotiating the Treaty of Paris. He returned with news of the signing of the preliminary peace treaty and with money from the French.

Barney was an American Hornblower!

•  On Barney, see: Dictionary of American Biography and Appleton's Cyclopedia.   Very good condition. Small blank portion of the integral address leaf torn with loss where the sealing wax was attached. Old dealer's (Sessler's) coding in pencil at base of letter.  (31069)

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FromWolves to Butterflies — One of the Great Western Surveys

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•  First edition of the zoology portion of a pioneering seven-volume report from the United States Army Corps of Engineers. This substantial, stand-alone volume, an impressively hefty collection of data, offers reports on the zoological collections obtained from Nevada, Utah, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona from 1871 through 1874 as part of what is now generally known as the Wheeler Survey. First Lieut. Wheeler was operating under the direction of Brig. Gen. A.A. Humphreys, Chief of Engineers, and his work was published by authority of the Hon. William W. Belknap, Secretary of War; the resulting present volume includes detailed observations onfish, insects, birds, and a wide range of mammals large and small.

The reports are illustrated with a total of45 engraved plates done by Thomas Sinclair & Son, including 29 chromolithographic plates; the bird images were “drawn from nature by Mr. Robert Ridgway, of the Smithsonian Institution” (p. 11), and are printed here (along with several of the snake, butterfly, and insect plates) in strikingly well-accomplished color printing. The notes on birds make especially interesting reading, discussing bird calls, the birds' behavior prior to extended exposure to humanity, and comparisons between western and eastern American birds of similar types.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with bookplate of private collector the Rev. Edwin A. Dalrymple, a Baltimore collector, mid–19th century; his collection given to the Maryland Diocesan Library; that library sold in 2006.

•  Not in Graff, Howes, or Sabin. Marston, Supplement to Bibliotheca Piscatoria, 243.   Vol. V only (complete as a stand-alone text). Publisher's textured brown cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title and U.S. seal with “Essayons” motto of the Corps of Engineers, rebacked with brown cloth preserving almost all of original spine; edges and extremities rubbed. Front pastedown with bookplate as above and with institutional rubber-stamp. One leaf with tear from outer margin, not touching text; pages slightly and evenly age-toned, quite clean; plates crisp and clean and lovely. A significant account of the American West, with gorgeous color images.  (31178)

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Beauties & Antiquities ofthe Bard's Home Town

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•  First edition. This “accurate and careful compilation remains a standard work of reference” (DNB). The author, Robert Bell Wheler (1785–1857), was a native of Stratford-upon-Avon and an antiquary who developed a lifelong passion for the local topography and Shakespearean research. This work is illustrated with eight plates by F. Eginton from Wheler's own sketches: Six are sepia aquatints and two are sepia etchings.

Wheler's other publications include Guide to Stratford-upon-Avon, published in 1814 and reprinted in 1850, and Historical and Descriptive Account of the Birthplace of Shakespeare (1829), a detailed description of Shakespeare's birthplace as it stood in the beginning of the nineteenth century.

•  NSTC W1527; Lowndes 2888; Abbey 317.   Recent quarter tan cloth and light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper title-label. 19th-century private collector's armorial bookplate (with name reasonably unobtrusively scratched out) and Dublin bookseller's ticket preserved on front pastedown. Light rubber-stamp on title-page, several other pages, and one plate. One rear fly-leaf with affixed manuscript account of an 1837 Shakespearean monument repair effort, one with newspaper article on the sale of Shakespeare's house (no date, but “16 Sep 1847" written on the article in sepia ink). Small nick to outer edge of first few leaves; minimal offsetting from a few plates, infrequent scattered instances of very faint foxing, otherwise clean.  (7416)

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“An Absolute Pedagogical Necessity for the Children of
All Well-To-Do Graphic Designers”

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•  One broadside and one typed sheet promoting the 121st publication of the Perishable Press: a volume of poems by Reeve Lindbergh illustrated with paintings by John Wilde, “ostensibly a children's book concerning apples.” The limited edition is here described as “an attempt to show how books grow from idea to artifact,” with “surprises to delight the receptive and confound the costive.”

The broadside showcases Walter Hamady's inimitable style, both textually and typographically: The header is a jumble of decorative letters from the words “John's Apples,” and faint shadow text runs behind the main body of text, which in addition to the statements of purpose includes a pithy comment from the painter's ten-year-old granddaughter. The printing was done in gray-green, red, and black on cream-colored handmade paper with one deckle edge.

The typed sheet, which starts out with “Some critical acclaim and just plain comments about John's Apples aka the apple book,” offers blurbs and quirky reader responses to John's Apples. While this is a fairly simple and straightforward production by the Perishable Press's standards, Hamady clearly could not resist at least a touch of his usual flair, typing a number of lines in diagonal directions with reckless disregard for the straight and level.

•  Broadside with two nearly invisible mailing folds; one corner very slightly creased, otherwise unworn and clean. Sheet likewise with mailing folds, otherwise crisp and fresh. Appealing and uncommon Perishable Press ephemera.  (31234)

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Savonarola's Triumph

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•  Composed in 1497 and translated by the author himself from Latin into Italian shortly thereafter, this is Savonarola'sbest and grandest work (Ridolfi), and one of his most popular, being endlessly reprinted until the 18th century. A letter from Domenico Benivieni, a Florentine priest, introduces this edition, which is comprised of four books defending Savonarola's faith. An index at the end lists all the chapters, including “Che la religione christiana conuenienteme[n]te parla della pene de dannati” (Libro III, cap. vi), and “Che la Secta de Mahumetani e' tucta irrationabile” (Libro IV, cap. vii).

Theelaborate title-page, which is printed in reverse fashion against a black background, features a woodcut border in eight compartments — flora, armor, and mythical creatures adjoining and surmounting a shield left blank, flanked by two falcons, in the bottom compartment — all framing the title and a large woodcut Crucifixion vignette with God the Father above Christ on the cross and angels surrounding Him. (A different, smaller Crucifixion woodcut beneath the colophon features Mary and John as witnesses/mourners.) The text is in Italian, printed in roman with elegant white-line initials in various sizes.

•  Giovannozzi 256; Sander 6878; Brunet, V, 162; Ridolfi, Vita, p. 173.   20th-century green paper over boards, title elegantly inked to spine and edges speckled red; lower front joint starting. Mild to moderate foxing in many margins and some light stains. A few instances of early ink marginalia in Italian.  (27055)

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Dispatches from the Frontier

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•  Detailed descriptions of travel, battle, and business with Mexico form a captivating narrative in this edition illustrated withnine full-page wood-engraved plates by Gilbert and Gihon (counting the frontispiece), and17 engravings in text, including one full-page plan of Matamoros, Fort Brown, and environs.

This copy has the officers'official reports (pp. 197–300), sometimes lacking.

•  Howes T-236; Sabin 95665; Basic Texas Books 205.   Recently rebound in glazed black moiré cloth, title gilt on leather spine label, edges lightly speckled brown. Ex-library with pressure-stamps on added illustrated title-page and title-page; no other markings. Browning at edges throughout and light cockling from sometime damp on all leaves; brown-liquid spatters not impairing reading on ten or so pages. Only a “good” copy and so priced, this gives a fine glimpse of Mexico at the onset of theMexican-American War.  (26481)

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WELCOME! to the Order ofthe Sisters of Santiago

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•  Dona Manuela and Dona Inez de Ibarra y Chavez, daughters of Don Gabriel Ibarra and Dona Jeronima Chavez, have completed their novitiate year. Robles, the comendadora (i.e., head) of the convent of Santa Fe of the order of the Sisters of Santiago, certifies that they have completed this period of self examination and apprenticeship and she welcomes them into the order.

•  Very good condition.Written in sepia ink in an interesting script with idiosyncratic spelling.  (31211)

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“A Fair General View of theMost Important Characters”

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•  First U.S. edition of detailed biographies of the most notable 17th- and 18th-century actors to grace the English stage — Charles Hart, Edward Kynaston, Mrs. Elizabeth Barry, Susanna Centlivre, Lacy Ryan, Charles Macklin, Mrs. George Ann Bellamy, and John Philip Kemble, among many others — with many and often pungent details of their personal and stage lives, and including significant roles played.

Scottish author John Galt (1779–1839) pursued legal studies, business, travel, politics, and prolific writing in London and Glasgow before joining the Canada Company. Traveling back and forth to North America in the late 1820's, he was appointed superintendent of the Company and founded the city of Guelph, Ontario, in 1827. Galt continued writing to support his family throughout his life and published many books, including an autobiography documenting his experiences abroad and a biography of Lord Byron, whom he knew personally. His Lives of the Players was first published in London, also in 1831.

•  American Imprints 7212.   Publisher's brown cloth over boards, printed paper label on spines, cloth stained and worn; hinges repaired with brown tape. Ex–social club library: bookplate and call number in ink on front pastedowns, pressure-stamp on title-pages and sticker on upper spines. Corners creased and one tip lost in vol. I; and one leaf in vol. II creased across middle horizontally in the press. Foxing and staining of expectable sorts. A good set.  (30842)

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The Shipboard“Immigrant Experience” in Detail, 1854

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•  Hamilton Fish's report. A landmark public health document. The diseases, the number of sufferers, conditions on board named ships, etc., are here with extraordinary detail as to individual cases/situations — along with much about the “why” of things. Separate issue of 33d Congress, 1st Session, SR 386.

•  Publisher's textured cloth, stamped in blind and gold, chipping along board edges. Bookplate. Clean and very good copy.  (30942)

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The Secret Is in Their Eyes — Five Volumes as Here Bound — Hundreds of Engravings
Including the work of Fuseli & Blake

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•  FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH ofLavater's study of character based on physical attributes. Originally published in German (Physiognomische Fragmente, 1775–78), these influential Essays were translated into English by Henry Hunter (1741–1802) from the subsequent French edition (La Haye, 1781-87), and published in 41 parts under the direction of Royal Academy artists Henry Fuseli (1741–1825) and Thomas Holloway (1748–1827), who both contributed illustrations. In fact, Lavater (1741–1801), a Swiss priest and poet, had no part in the new publication; Hunter arranged the endeavor with Holloway and publisher John Murray without the consent of the author, who learned of the project after it had gone to press, and objected, fearing a new edition would subtract from sales of the old.

These books contain over 360 engraved illustrations in the text and 132 full-page engraved plates, many of which Holloway copied directly from the French edition; it's the multiple images on the full-page plates that produce the proud claim of “more than 800 engravings” on the title-page. They includeportraits of famous wrinkled writers, philosophers, musicians, monarchs, statesmen, and Lavater himself; silhouettes of Jesus and portraits of Mary; details of male, female, and animal attributes; and skulls, hairlines, eyes, noses, and mouths, among other features, engraved by Holloway, Fuseli, William Blake (1757–1827), James Neagle (1765–1822), Anker Smith (1759–1819), James Caldwall (1739–ca. 1819), Isaac Taylor (1730–1807), and William Sharp (1749–1824), inter alios, after works of art by Rubens, Van Dyke, Raphael, Fuseli, LeBrun, Daniel Chodowiecki (1726–1801). The commentary on these images makes this a work ofart history/criticism, as Lavater is both free and detailed in his notes of how various artists handle details of physiognomy and body language to express character and engender beauty.

The first systematic treatise on physiognomy was written by Aristotle. Publications on the subject continued steadily throughout the ages, although the developing study of anatomy in the 17th century detracted interest from what later came to be known as pseudoscience. Lavater's is the only notable treatise in the 18th century, and indeed, “. . . [his] name would be forgotten but for [this] work,” which was very popular in France, Germany, and England (EB).

Provenance:  Bookplate of Nicholas Power on front pastedown of all five volumes (related to Richard Power, Esq., of Ireland, listed as a subscriber?); and bookplate of Gordon Abbott on front free endpaper of three volumes, engraved by J.W. Spenceley of Boston in 1905.

•  Wellcome, III, 458; Garrison-Morton 154; ESTC T139902; Lowndes II, p.1321 (“a sumptuous edition”); Osler, Bib. Osleriana, p. 283, no. 3178; Bentley Blake Books 481; Ryskamp, William Blake, Engraver, 22. On the parts, see: Arents Collection of Books in Parts, p. 74.   Contemporary calf ruled and tooled in gilt and blind with gilt board edges and gilt turn-ins, rebacked old style; marbled edges, and blue silk marker in all volumes. Extremities rubbed and corners bumped with small loss to leather. At least one small marginal tear in each volume; offsetting from letterpress on a few leaves; very mild to quite moderate foxing (or none) on illustrations, offset onto surrounding leaves; and other occasional minor stains. Most plates protected by tissue. A monument of labor, art, and excellent “system” devoted to an exploded but fascinating theory; in fact, a wonder.  (30974)

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