Provenance: Front fly-leaf inscribed “Thomas G. Arnolds Book Coventry,” inked in an early hand.

•  ESTC W37335; Evans 20950; Sabin 3366.   Contemporary speckled sheep, worn and very slightly sprung, spine scuffed with foot chipped. Pages age-toned and variably waterstained, with occasional edge nicks and crumpled corners; yet not brittle or nasty and the volume quite pleasant for reading.  (24391)

•  ESTC T65811. Recent wrappers. Pages age-toned, with a few small spots.

Provenance:  Vol. I title-page with inscription dated 1790, reading “Joseph Russells cost 10s a Vollume [sic]”.

•  ESTC T102429.  Contemporary treed calf, spines with gilt-stamped leather title labels; worn and one cover off. Ex–defunct library with bookplates, a stamp to each title-page and last leaf, old (interestingly make-shift) card pockets. Some instances of offsetting and foxing, generally no more than moderate, with pages otherwise clean.  (8655)

Provenance:  Each volume's front fly-leaf (facing title-page) with inscription dated 1791, reading “John Humphrey, his book 1791 Price 10s”; each volume's pastedown with small bookplate of Richard McIlvain.

•  ESTC N2800.   Contemporary treed calf, spines with gilt-stamped leather title labels; worn, with all front covers and free endpaper of vol. IV detached. Some instances of light offsetting and foxing, with pages generally clean; some leaves chipped or with marginal tears, one tear causing loss of a few letters from a heading.  (14671)

•  Vol. I not in Shoemaker (see 30192 for vol. II).   Contemporary speckled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; moderately rubbed and scuffed overall, spine darkened, spine head reinforced some time ago with library cloth tape. Ex–social club library: paper shelving label on spine, 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, title-page and two others rubber-stamped, one page pressure-stamped. Mild age-toning, scattered small spots of foxing. Despite condition notes reflecting onetime residence in a lending library, this is a nice old thing.  (29879)

•  Wegelin 996; Shaw & Shoemaker 669; Sabin 32786; Richmond 2274. Period-style quarter tan cloth with light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Title-page and several others rubber-stamped by a now-defunct institution. An uncommon book, with many interesting points, including some charming little head- and tailpieces.

true first edition of the unofficial second series

visiting Quaker meetings

The first series made its first appearance in book form in London, 1823. The authorized second series was not published until 1833, under the title The Last Essays of Elia; the pieces selected for the unauthorized American second series offered here are different from those contained in that volume, and mistakenly include three essays written by other hands.

•  Shoemaker 33813 & 33814; NCBEL, III, 1225; NSTC 2L2346.  Vol. I: Uncut copy. Publisher's quarter once-red cloth and paper sides, covers printed with “Elia” within a simple frame, spine with printed paper label; binding rubbed and lightly soiled, spine sunned to yellow. Repaired tear to one leaf, touching text without loss; remarkably clean and sound. Vol. II: Contemporary speckled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; rubbed, and head of spine chipped with old refurbishing. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate and call number ticket on front pastedown, front free endpaper with inked numerals, title-page pressure-stamped. Author's name inked on title-page; front free endpaper and title-page reinforced at fore-edge (the latter from the back). Both volumes age-toned, with intermittent spots of staining; advertisements absent. The set now housed in a quarter blue morocco and blue cloth–covered clamshell case with marbled paper–covered sides and gilt-stamped spine.  (26434)

Elizabeth Webb, "an acknowledged minister among the people called Quakers," first encountered Prince George of Denmark's chaplain Boehm while on a visit to Great Britain; the missive with which she opened her subsequent correspondence with him, here, greatly inspired him and a number of his friends.

Provenance: With inscription reading "Miss Hannah Amelia Moore / Book a Present from her worthy / Friend Ruth Patton / 1789."

•  Law: ESTC W32233; Evans 16817; Hildeburn 3987. Webb: ESTC W13440; Evans 18295; Hildeburn 4409. Benezet: ESTC W6416; Evans 18355. Contemporary quarter sheep over paper-covered sides, the whole worn and abraded but the little volume quite sound. Light age-toning, occasional darker spots. Small chip in bottom margin of title-page; one leaf with paper flaw in lower corner, resulting in the loss of a very few letters.

The present copy does not include the thirty pages, mentioned in the subtitle, on the nature of war; the Extract and Some Thoughts were issued as the first and second titles in a collection of religious tracts printed by Henry Miller, and also issued separately (Evans 10352 and 10505). Sabin calls for 48 pages, as found in this copy.

•  Evans 10352; Sabin 39325. On Law, see: Dictionary of National Biography, XXXII, 236–40. Later neat plain cloth binding, spine with gilt-stamped morocco title label; clean. Half-title lacking. Some foxing, mostly marginal. Pencilled notes to top of title-page and final page; early inked ownership inscription to title-page verso, including Philadelphia street address.

•  Shoemaker 5812. Removed from a nonce volume, stapled, and respined with archival tissue.

Click the image for an enlargement.

•  ESTC R25145; Wing (rev. ed.) L1130; McAlpin, IV, 589.   Recent marbled paper wrappers. Title-page darkened and institutionally pressure-stamped, with lower outer portion torn away, just touching final number in date with no loss of sense. First few pages with edge nicks. Final (adv.) leaf with short internal tear with loss of a few letters, not affecting sense.  (25009)

the “molestations given to the churches of New-England, by that odd sect of people called Quakers”

There were two Silas Andrus issues in 1820, one printed by Roberts & Burr and one by S. Converse. This set incorporates one volume from each issue; at least one U.S. institution reports a similarly mismatched set. Although the two volumes here bear different (early) marks of ownership, they are in matching 19th-century bindings.

•  Howes M391; Sabin 46393; Shoemaker 2183 & 2184.   Contemporary treed sheep, spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels and traces of now-absent shelving labels; acid-pitted and abraded especially at spines, vol. I with joints cracked. Vol. I: Front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription dated 1923, front fly-leaf with inked ownership inscription dated 1877, title-page with inscription similar to the latter in upper margin. Vol. II: Front pastedown with institutional presentation bookplate, not filled in; back free endpaper with 19th-century inked ownership inscription. Vol. I moderately foxed, with pencilled bracketing throughout and occasional pencilled annotations. Vol. II with lighter foxing and some offsetting, pages browned. An important Americanum in its American first edition.  (29689)

•  Publisher's cloth, front cover black- and gilt-stamped, spine simply gilt-stamped, binding gently worn with minor spotting to spine and lower edge of front cover. Ownership inscription to front free endpaper. A nice copy.  (2901)

Quaker

Provenance:  Final blank leaf with inked inscriptions reading “Tho.s. Scupholme His Book 1740" and “Henery Collier His Book 1759.”

•  ESTC R267; Wing (rev. ed.) M3050; Smith, Anti-Quakeriana, 305.   Period-style calf, covers framed in blind double fillets, spine with gilt-ruled raised bands and gilt-stamped leather title-label. Pages age-toned and spotted; one leaf with tear from lower margin into text, sewn by hand some time ago.  (26004)

The title of this second edition (first edition, 1662) is within a simple border of type ornaments, and the text has two typographical headpieces and a xylographic tailpiece.

•   ESTC T93652; Smith, Bibliotheca Anti-Quakeriana, 311–12. On Muggleton and the Muggletonians, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, XXXIX, 264–67; and Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church 948. On Penington, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, XLIV, 297–300. Recent marbled paper over light boards; front cover with a paper label lettered in black. Spotting, staining, and occasional tears in the margins (repaired with tissue paper) with no loss of text. Pencilled marginalia.

Single-click the image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.

Though Nares is quite capable of picking nits with a level of scrupulousness to match that of the most pedantic of scholars, he is also prone to flights of fancy such as pondering—after noting that a married woman’s moveable goods are unquestionably the property of her husband— “whether the female tongue is to be reckoned among the moveables . . . I believe it is pretty generally held to continue ‘in potestate Mulieris,’ even after marriage, and I know nothing to prevent it” (p. 148). This is followed up with references to Ovid, the Wife of Bath, and the much-storied Flitch of Bacon!

•  Contemporary half calf with marbled paper sides, spines with gilt-stamped helm decorations and gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels (the volume labels recently supplied, in sympathetic style). Board edges showing light to moderate wear, with leather cracking at joints and crackled over the spines generally. Top edges gilt. Front pastedowns with bookplates now partially torn away; title-page of vol. II with an early inked ownership inscription in the upper margin. Delightful reading, as well as an overall attractive set.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with bookplate and front free endpaper with pencilled inscription of George M. Haverstick, an early proprietor of the company that eventually became the Whitall Tatum glass factory in Millville, New Jersey.

•  ESTC T92500; Sabin 52167. On Mary Peisley Neale, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Contemporary treed calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt rules, expectably acid-pitted overall; spine chipped, front cover with spots of discoloration and abrasion, edges and extremities rubbed. Occasional scattered light spots, most noticeable on last three pages; some lower outer corners bumped. One pencilled text correction. An interesting item, and not tremendously common in the U.S.  (29674)

Despite this strongly worded treatise against persecution (which argues that all men should be able to make a free and open choice of faith and worship), the statutes remained in place for many years to come.

•  Wing (rev.) P1298A; ESTC R12742. Recent marbled paper–covered boards. Title-page with tiny, unobtrusive numeral inked in upper outer corner, first text page with numeral stamped in lower margin (no other markings). Title-page and first text page with moderate foxing, others clean.

•  ESTC R32277; Wing (rev. ed.) R679; Smith, Anti-Quakeriana, 304; Whitley, Baptist Bibliography, 49-658.   Period-style calf, covers framed in blind double fillets, spine with gilt-ruled raised bands and gilt-stamped leather title-label. Pages age-toned and spotted; one leaf with outer and lower margins repaired some time ago as shown in last photo.  (26001)

Click the image for an enlargement.

Rare: ESTC, OCLC, and NUC Pre-1956 locate only two U.S. institutional holdings, one of which has been deaccessioned.

•  ESTC T103464; Allibone 1887; Smith, Bibliotheca Anti-Quakeriana, 383.   Recent marbled paper wrappers. Title-page with rubber-stamped numeral in upper margin, institutional perforation-stamp, and tattered outer edge; first text page also with stamped numeral and perforation-stamp; final (blank) page rubber-stamped. Pages otherwise clean.  (25530)

Provenance: Front free endpaper with early inked ownership inscription by Mary and Rebecca Bude.

•  ESTC W19882; Evans 32810; Sabin 78287; Howes S228. Contemporary mottled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title label; worn and abraded especially over joints and edges, spine leather cracking. Some leaves dog-eared; spots of foxing to first and last few leaves, with other pages mostly clean.

•  Sewn in publisher’s color-flecked paper wrappers. A crisp, clean copy.

•  Shoemaker 4624 and Sabin 3922 for Bates's “Letter”; this composite vol. not in Shoemaker (see 14306 for 1823 ed.).   Period-style quarter tan cloth and light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Title-page and a number of others institutionally pressure-stamped, title-page verso with rubber-stamped date. One page with pencilled numerals; a handful of early pencilled text corrections. Some pages browned or foxed, most clean.  (27967)