Signed binding: Publisher's mushroom-colored cloth, front cover with jungle vignette stamped in blue and title in green, spine with green-stamped title. Binding signed with “H”: Frank Hazenplug (1874–1931).

•  Binding as above, minor wear to edges and extremities. Front pastedown with inked gift inscription dated 1927. Pages age-toned with occasional smudges, endpapers spotted.  (28932)

The volume is illustrated withtwo steel-engraved plates, one view of Tahiti and one of Pitcairn's Island.

•  American Imprints 11221; Hill, Pacific Voyages, 70.   Publisher's speckled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; edges and extremities rubbed, spine darkened, spine leather with fine cracks, spine head covered with dark cloth tape extending onto sides. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate on front pastedown, inked numerals on front free endpaper, title-page pressure-stamped. Pages with scattered spots of staining; last page with series title pencilled across — quite decoratively!  (26390)

The Griffin Press, which did the printing, also did the binding: full beige homespun linen with a gilt-stamped brown leather spine label, with the front and back covers stamped in brown with two different ship vignettes done by Ingleton.

This is an unnumbered, “out of series” presentation copy (pressure-stamped as such on the colophon) from a print run limited to 2000; it is signed at the colophon by the artist and designer. The appropriate LEC newsletter (in the original, unsealed, unmarked envelope) is laid in.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 494.   Binding as above, in original slipcase; lacking the glassine wrapper, slipcase with one side sunned in upper portion and a few small nicks to other side, book clean and fresh. A very nice copy, and an uncommon out-of-series example.  (30526)

The edition was designed by John O.C. McCrillis and printed atThe Stinehour Press in Lunenberg, VT, using monotype Bembo on creamy Curtis smooth-antique rag paper. Robert Shore contributed the12 full-page color illustrations, reproduced from his acrylic paintings by the Holyoke Lithograph Company. Of 2000 copies printed, this is no. 1412, beingsigned by the artist below the colophon and bound at the Sendor Bindery in full cream linen printed in an all-over brown and black batik pattern, with the title gilt-stamped on a brown spine label. The illustrated LEC newsletter is laid in.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 486.   Binding as above, in publisher's brown slipcase with paper label; minor shelf wear on box bottom and book spine edges, else fresh and clean.  (30563)

Provenance:  Front pastedown with bookplate of private collector Laurence Gilman Noyes.

•  Publisher's quarter green cloth with yellow and black printed paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; dust wrapper lacking, paper slightly wrinkled over front cover. Front pastedown with bookplate as above, back pastedown with New York bookseller's small ticket; endpapers mildly foxed. Pages clean.  (30551)

In any case, this work is a standard early European work on the history of China and of the European travellers and missionaries to it. The details are gleaned from previously published works but were augmented by some unpublished or oral sources.

For Americanists, pp. 301–79 are the most important, being Father Martin Ignacio's account of his voyage from Spain to China by way of the Spanish Main, Mexico, and the Philippines. The pages on his time in Mexico include an important account of the Espejo Expedition to and discovery of New Mexico.

Provenance:  Ex–John Carter Brown Library, with its bookplate.

•  Palau 105504; Adams G868; Cordier, Bibliotheca Sinica, 10; Lowendahl 30; Sabin 27778 ; Leclerc 261; Alden & Landis, European Americana, 586/34; Wagner, Spanish Southwest, 7j.   19th-century half calf with sprinkled edges; interior with the usual browning and stains that characterize 1580s editions printed at Rome, these varying by section with the paper. Short closed tear to title-page and one leaf with lower corner lost, taking a bit of lowest shouldernote; lacking pp. 263–66 (Franciscans in China — an interesting omission/excision!). Library bookplate on front pastedown with its small release stamps. Rather a nice copy with distinguished provenance for the busted bibliophile.  (28311)

Binding:  Publisher's green cloth, front cover with palm tree vignette stamped in dark green and title in maroon, spine likewise.

•  Binding as above, all but unworn. Front free endpaper with early inked ownership inscription. Pages clean.  (28950)

•  Shoemaker 9489. Not in Hill.   Removed from a nonce volume. Light age-toning. “No.7” in ink (early 19th-century hand) at top of title-page.  (27260)

The volume opens with anoversized, folding map, engraved by M.M. Peabody, which Graff describes as “the earliest map of the Oregon interior with a pretense to accuracy”; includes an account of Parker'svoyage to Hawaii and Tahiti; and closes with avocabulary of Indian languages (Nez Perce, Klicatat, Calapooa, and Chenook). The plate depicts “Basaltic Formations on the Columbia River.”

•  Flake & Draper, Mormon Bibliography, 6100; Graff 3193; Hill, Collection of Pacific Voyages, 1306; Howes P89; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 2907; Sabin 58729; Wagner-Camp, Plains & Rockies, 70:3.   Publisher's charcoal-colored ribbed cloth, covers with blind-stamped arabesque frame, spine with gilt-stamped title; cloth chipped at spine extremities and front joint, corners rubbed. Mild to moderate foxing. Map with faint spotting, a pinpoint hole at one corner, and one very short tear from inner edge; foxing and soiling, never dark/nasty but present throughout. A comfortably solid copy.  (29273)

All images were drawn and etched by the author himself.

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with inked inscription of Fairman R. Furness, of the prominent Furness-Bullitt family. Title-page with earlier signature of “A.G. Findlay.”

•  Hill, Collection of Pacific Voyages, 1563; Howgego, Encyclopedia of Exploration, II, S42; Sabin 80483; NSTC 2S19683.   Contemporary half calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; binding rubbed and abraded overall, spine head and label chipped. Front pastedown with small booklplate bearing no name; ownership inscriptions as above. Lower outer corner of title-page torn away; list of Briton officers with small tear repaired some time ago, tissue now lifting from repair. Pages and plates browned at edges with moderate spotting, staining, and dust-soiling; four pages with ink blurred from press. A fascinating book, an interesting copy.  (28374)

Provenance: Residue of the stock of Seven Gables Bookshop (1930–79), via the son of Michael Papantonio (2009).

•  Bold clear signature. Very good condition. (25679)