RELIGION

Women's Lives . . .

•  Later edition of these accounts of the lives of Eliza Astor Rumpff and Albertine Ida Gustavine de Stael-Holstein, Duchess de Broglie, preceded by an engraved portrait of the former and by Lydia Sigourney's poem "Transplanted Flowers." Memorialized more briefly are Mrs. Grandpierre and Mrs. Monod.

•  Publisher's blind-stamped textured cloth, spine gilt-stamped; binding lightly worn, with spine gilt rubbed and dimmed. Front pastedown with bookplate of J.E. Vanderhoef, front free endpaper with early inked inscription of Susan A. Baker. Some foxing to endpapers and a few scattered spots to pages; internally mostly clean. (8958)

“Sprinkling” Is Best

•  First edition of this rebuttal of Tombes's Two Treatises . . . Concerning Infant Baptisme and Hobson's Fallacy of Infant Baptisme Discovered, preceding the 1650 publication of the author's The Dippers Plunged in a Sea of Absurdity. The first point is that “Infants of Christians ought to be Baptized,” and the second that “the Sprinckling the Baptized more agreeth with the minde of Christ then Dipping or Plunging in or under the Water.” Click the images for enlargements.

The printer bordered the title-page, used two nice initials, supplied one elegant headpiece, and added several other modest embellishments.

Uncommon: ESTC, OCLC, and NUC Pre-1956 locate only seven U.S. holdings, two of which have been deaccessioned.

•  Wing (rev. ed.) B534; ESTC R5282.   Later marbled paper wrappers. Title-page with author's name inked in an early hand; early inked shouldernotes throughout marking biblical citations. Trimmed closely, affecting one final line (without loss of sense) and marginalia. Pages age-toned.  (25549)

On Private Worship: An Oratory in One's Home

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•  Our author was the “cura mas antiguo del Sagrario de [Sevilla], examinador Synodal de su arzobispado, comisario y revisor de libros del Santo Oficio, academico numerario,” and the “censor de dicha Real Academia.” His work was first read before the Real Academia on 25 October 1771 but because of delays in obtaining the necessary licenses to print it, publication was delayed until 1777.

In this work of canon law and Catholic Church customs and practices, Baquero studies the privilege that the Bull of the Holy Crusade granted the Spanish nation regarding oratories in private residences; it applied not only to Spain but to colonies as well.

The first of three, this edition was published by “un amigo del author.” The other editions appeared in 1781 AND 1861.

Only one U.S. library reports ownership of either the 1777 or 1781 edition. It should be noted that there is NO 1771 edition, despite Palau and online cataloguing; cataloguers have simply failed to look at the last page of the supposed 1771 edition to see that the colophon is dated 1777.

This offers one very pretty large initial and some modestly nice work with type ornaments.

•  Palau 23499 (giving wrong date of publication).   Contemporary limp vellum, a bit missing from back cover; evidence of ties, and binding with light dust-soiling. Lacking rear free endpaper. A clean, nice copy.  (29596)

Two Quaker Classics forPhiladelphians, 1788

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• Important work by a prominent Quaker theologian noted for scholarship as well as for advocacy of religious tolerance, here issued by Joseph James together with a brief explanation of Quaker practices. The Catechism and Confession was first published in 1673 and subsequently reprinted numerous times, with the current example following but a handful of previous American editions.

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)

An “Interesting Female's” Religion — Her Life, Letters, & Example

•  Scarce sole edition: Biography and epistles of a pious Christian woman, “an interesting female, whose lot was cast in the middle rank of life, and who was nurtured in privacy . . . [yet] manifested a conduct, worthy of imitation beyond the confined sphere in which she moved” (p. 2). In publisher's binding, pages uncut. Click the images for enlargements.

WorldCat and OPAC locateonly one copy anywhere (at the British Library).

•  NSTC 2S46400.   Publisher's light blue paper–covered boards and tan paper shelfback, edges nicked/chipped and sides soiled; rebacked with tan cloth. Ex–defunct library: covers pressure-stamped along spine, cover with small paper shelving label, title-page and several others rubber-stamped, back free endpaper with old pocket and chargeslip. Text with the odd light spot only; despite library service, in fact a clean sound copy.  (27821)

Defining “Child” for Baptismal Purposes — RARE

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•  Sole edition of this examination of the writings of the Apostolic Fathers as pertaining to the great infant baptism controversy. Closing the work is a collection of New Testament usages of various Greek words for “child” or “children,” with analysis of their contexts and connotations.

The author was a dedicated observer of meteors and comets and published several well-received works on those subjects in addition to his religious and philosophical treatises.

Rare: OCLC and ESTC locate only one U.S. holding, since deaccessioned; there are only two holdings found in the U.K.

•  ESTC T68482.   Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; yellow wrapper with early hand-inked title bound in. Title-page institutionally pressure-stamped and a five-digit number inked twice to the first page of the preface; no other markings. First and last few leaves with minor foxing; other scattered spots mostly confined to margins. Occasional pencillled annotations.  (25768)

A Marblehead Puritan Printed in London
forBoston Distribution

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•  Barnard (1681–1770) was a Puritan pastor of a church in Marblehead, Mass., and famous for his passion and ability as a preacher. This work is uncommon in that it was printed in London for two Boston booksellers.

•  Sabin 3471; ESTC T65667; not in Alden & Landis.   Contemporary sheep, modestly tooled in blind; leather dry and abraded. Ex-library with call number on spine, shelf marks in pencil, bookplate on front pastedown, and rubber-stamp on title-page. (20159)

“Opera quae exstant”NOT

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•  One of several editions all printed in 1596, all bearing the same title, and all claiming to be “Opera quae exstant,” but differing in significant ways: Some editions are in Greek and Latin; some have as place of printing “Lugduni” and others have no place. The present edition contains only the homilies and is entirely in Greek.

Provenance:  Early 19th-century armorial bookplate of Robert Chambers; manuscript ownership “Ex libris G.R.W.”— William R. Wittingham, fourth Anglican bishop of Baltimore (a Latinophile who used “Guillelmus” for “William”), dated Sept. 22, 1856; later in the diocesan library of Maryland; deaccessioned 2006.

•  VD16 B 727.   Contemporary limp vellum with evidence of ties; slightly yapp edges. Occasional light foxing. 19th-century library stamps on the front free endpaper and title-page. A clean solid copy.  (24432)

Mystic Nun, Early New WorldPrivate Press

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•  One of the most substantial biographies written and published in Mexico during the colonial era, this has as its subject one of the outstanding figures of colonial Pueblan history, a Dominican nun, mystic, and Puebla native who has been described as “the other Mexican muse” both by way of comparing her to Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and to rapidly situate her historically and literarily. Sor Maria Ana’s published works include spiritual texts of mystical nature, and she has been the subject of several recent biographies and studies.

The author (1700–83), a Jesuit and a native of Granada, includes 410 pages of the “Obras” of the nun, and his thick volume includes a fine engraved portrait of her by Ortuño.

The Bibliotheca Mexicana was the private press of the great bibliographer, writer, and secular cleric Juan Jose de Eguiara y Eguren.

•  Palau 26854; Medina, Mexico, 4454; DeBacker-Sommervogel, I, 1220.   Contemporary limp vellum with remnants of ties. A copy that has seen more than its share of water: waterstaining variously throughout (though often light); first half of volume cockled; title-leaf repaired and now mounted, with four other leaves repaired along margins. Far from the ideal copy, but a decent and usable one priced for its shortcomings; portrait engraving, lovely.  (29736)

Voice of theHuguenots in EXILE

•  First edition, attributed by Barbier to Benoist, famed historian of the Edict of Nantes. The author here defends the emigration of the Huguenot pastors against anonymously published accusations that the ministers had deserted their charges in favor of self-preservation. Benoist himself had been pastor to the Protestant congregation at Alençon before taking refuge in Delft, and responded earnestly to the imputation of cowardice with this careful, thorough vindication of his fellow ministers' conduct in the face of Catholic oppression. Click the images for enlargements.

This was most likely a false imprint, probably printed in the Netherlands; no other works printed by “Jean Corneille” are recorded, and no other works by Benoist were printed in Germany during the time of his exile.

Uncommon: OCLC locates only six U.S. institutional holdings, one of which has since been deaccessioned.

•  VD17 12:116486H; Barbier, Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes et pseudonymes, 800.   Period-style speckled calf framed and panelled in gilt with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-dotted raised bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations; binding signed in blind on lower rear turn-in by Grace Bindings. Title-page and last page institutionally pressure-stamped; title-page verso with rubber-stamp “Ex Biblioth. Regia Berolinensi,” with superimposed deaccession stamp; first page of preface with inked numeral in lower margin; lower (closed) edges rubber-stamped. Front fly-leaf with annotations on Benoist and first portion of volume with inked marginalia in an early hand. Pages age-toned with light spotting.  (25851)

“Remarks” — A Reply

•  First edition of one of the best-known responses to Anthony Collins's landmark Discourse of Free-Thinking. Bentley's Remarks was considered a crushing rebuttal of Collins's treatise, and of deism as interpreted in the Discourse; the DNB says “Bentley destroyed any pretensions of Collins to thorough scholarship, exposed many gross blunders, and claimed Collins's principle of free inquiry as his own and that of all the orthodox believers.” Click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  ESTC T53380.  On Bentley's response to Collins, see: Dictionary of National Biography.   Recent marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Title-page with author's name inked in an early hand, dedication with dedicatee's name (Francis Hare) inked in the same hand. Title-page with two spots of light staining; pages otherwise clean, with a very few early inked marginalia. (20745)

This ClassicistCrushes Collins?

•  First edition of the second portion of one of the best-known responses to Anthony Collins's landmark Discourse of Free-Thinking. Bentley here takes up where he left off in the first part of the Remarks (considered a crushing rebuttal of Collins's treatise, and of deism as interpreted in the Discourse), moving on to assess many of the citations and classical references from p. 90 onwards of Collins's work. Writers whose words Bentley feels Collins misrepresented include Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Plutarch, Cato, and Cicero. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  ESTC T53381. On Bentley's response to Collins, see: Dictionary of National Biography.   Recent marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Faint crease lines occasionally visible, pages otherwise clean. (20751)

On Getting Old & Liking It

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•  Sir Thomas Bernard, baronet, describes and defends the merits of maturity, experience, and wisdom — as well as their responsibilities. Inspired by Cicero, the work is framed as an imaginary dialogue among John Hough, Bishop of Worcester; Edmund Gibson, Bishop of London; and Lord Lyttelton. The author provides, at the back of the volume, biographical notes on the eminent names mentioned throughout the text.

This is the first publicly circulated edition and anexpanded version of the original text, of which a now scarce, very limited edition was printed in 1813 for the benefit of the author's friends. (WorldCat fails to locate any holdings of the 1813 printing.)

Provenance:  Front pastedown with bookplate of the Rev. William Burrough Cosens, rector of Monkton Farleigh; title-page with inked ownership inscription of D.L. Browne, dated 1816.

•  NSTC 2B19927.   Contemporary half calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped red leather title-label, gilt-stamped raised bands, and blind-stamped compartment decorations; sides moderately rubbed, leather moreso. Half-title lacking. Occasional light pencilled bracketing; occasional foxing, most noticeable to first and last leaves. Much appreciated in its day as a comfort against the encroachments of age and infirmity.  (29558)

First Printing in Europe of theBhagavadgita

•  First printing in the West of the Bhagavadgita, here in Sanskrit and Latin and with Latin notes by August Wilhelm von Schlegel (1767–1845). The Gita is part of the epic poem Mahabharata and a summation of the Vedic, Yogic, Vedantic and Tantric philosophies—a major sacred text of Hindu thought, religion, and philosophy. Click either image
for an enlargement.

Provenance: From the collection of 19th-century scholar Dr. Johann August Neander (1789–1850), a convert from Judaism who became a leading scholar of Christianity.

Uncommon: Of U.S. institutional copies we trace only a dozen.

•  19th-century German black mottled paper over boards. Binding shows wear. Ex-library with call number tag on spine; bookplate.

“Few Productions of Late Years Have Occasioned
More Speculation & Controversy than
These Essays”

•  First edition of this anonymous entry in the debate over the Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion by Henry Home, Lord Kames; the work rebuts many objections and defends Lord Kames's controversial writings in “true Calvinist” terms. At least one source suggests an attribution to Hugh Blair, with possible assistance from George Wishart, Robert Hamilton, and Robert Wallace. Click the image for an enlargement.

An interesting and uncommon entry in the corpus of the Scottish Enlightenment and one with an American connection — as among the “modern Calvinist “ writers approvingly cited is “the Reverend Mr Jonathan Edwards minister of Stockbridge in New England.”

WorldCat and ESTC combine to locate fewer than 10 copies in U.S. libraries.

•  ESTC T54876.   Removed from a nonce volume; laid into modern wrappers. A few instances of faint spotting, pages almost entirely clean.  (27638)

“You desire mine opinion . . . ”

•  “Prepared for the resolution of a friend, and now presented to the publick view of all, for the satisfaction of them who desire to walk in the ancient and long-approved way of truth and holiness.” Click the image for an enlargement.

•  ESTC R12103; Wing (rev. ed.) B3148.   Removed from a nonce volume, edges speckled red; spine reinforced with archival tape. Ex-library with some pencillings and perforation- and rubber-stamps. Worming to last leaves, entirely within gutter margins; light waterstaining.  (25705)

Dissertation — Copenhagen, 1732

•  Diss. — Copenhagen (George Freidrich Bluhme, respondent), 1732. No edition of this work listed in NUC Pre-1956.

And Another, This One on DIVORCE Boehmer, Justus Henning, praeses. ...De ivre principis evangelici circa divortia.... Halae Magdeburgicae: Stanno Grunertiano, [1715]. Small 4to. [1] f., 70 pp.
$95.00

•  Inaug. diss. — Halle (Johann Friedrich Kayser, respondent), 1715.

•  Sometime bound in a nonce volume (removed).

For more 18TH-CENTURY GERMAN, LATIN LANGUAGE
LEGAL DISSERTATIONS — many on
religious subjects — click here.

History of the “Anti-Trinitarians”
or,UNITARIANS

•  History of Unitarianism by Friederich Samuel Bock (1716–85), professor of theology and university librarian at Königsberg. Unitarianism denied the doctrine of the Trinity as being irrational (hence it was also known as Anti-Trinitarianism), and it was also known as Socinianism after an early Unitarian, Faustus Socinus (1539–1604). This work appears to be an expanded version of Bock’s History of Socianism, first published in 1754. Tomus primus, here on offer in two volumes, gives biographies of noted Unitarians, A–Z; the first part was published in 1774 and the second in 1776. Tomus secundus was not to be published until 1784–85, so this set of books is complete as published, as a stand-alone, despite its primus designation.

•  19th-century yellow-green paper over cardboard with red paper spine labels lettered in black; abraded with some tears, especially to paper over spine. Interior clean, and all edges red.

Life's Persistent QuestionsAsked & (Partially) Answered

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•  Second edition of 177 theosophical questions asked and 14 answered on theological anthropology: the nature of God, the origin of the world, and the character of Adam and of Christ. The German mystic, formerly cobbler, Jakob Böhme (or Behmen, or Teutonicus Philosophus, 1575–1624) overcame a charge of heresy in 1612 for his first religious treatise and, after a five-year hiatus, wrote prolifically on the subject until his death; this washis last work, which he started and left incomplete in 1624. The present edition was probably published both as part of Böhme's Alle theosophische Wercken (15 vols. in 6) edited by Johann Georg Gichtel (1638–1710), and as a stand-alone work.

Printed in Fraktur with occasional roman for foreign words, this bears large handsome woodcut initials and an engraved plate that shows Adam standing in Heaven and Earth, as explained on the following leaf (in our copy, ff. 2–3, although others have the illustration and explanation preceding the title-page).

•  VD17 online 12:101402A; Buddecke, I, p. 10; Dünnhaupt, p. 678, no. 3; Bruckner, 513; for the first edition (1677), see: Faber du Faur, 113.   Modern beige paper over boards, with the title, author, and date printed in gothic on the spine. Very mild foxing just visible on some leaves.  (29923)

A Guide to Heaven

•  Relying on insights from the Church Fathers and some ancient philosophers, this popular spiritual work has been compared to the Imitation of Christ because of the simplicity of its style. First published in 1658, it saw 14 Latin editions in its first four decades; it was also translated into Armenian, English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. The author, Giovanni Cardinal Bona (1609–74), was a Cistercian monk and abbot noted as much for his scholarship as for preserving the great simplicity of his lifestyle even after he had attained high rank in the Church.

•  On Bona, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, II, 655. Speckled paper over light boards, lightly soiled. Interior with some light soiling, especially on outer pages and upper edges, and a little faint waterstaining.

Louis XIV's Court Preacher

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•  Bishop Bossuet (1627–1704) was a renowned preacher, orator, and theologian of his time. He was also the court preacher to Louis XIV of France and not unexpectedly a strong advocate of political absolutism and the divine right of kings. His Catéchisme du diocèse de Meaux (1687) became a model in certain orthodox Catholic theological circles and was reprinted often in French. This is the first edition in Spanish, the translator being Miguel Joseph Fernández.

The title-page here is in black and red, opposite a fine frontispiece of Christ seated, surrounded by adults and children and the quotation from Matthew 19:14 (i.e., “Sinite parvulos et nolite eos prohibere ad me venire talium est enim regnum caelorum,” or in English, “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven”). The engraving is by Juan Antonio Salvador after Maella.

Preceding the frontispiece is a leaf of publisher's advertising for other works by Bossuet and translations by Fernandez. Such advertising leaves in Spanish books of this era are very uncommon in our 30 years of experience.

Searches of NUC Pre-1956 and WorldCat locate no copies of this edition in U.S. libraries. Searches of COPAC found no Spanish-language 18th-century editions. Searches of the Catálogo Colectivo del Patrimonio Bibliográfico gave the best results, with 15 copies of this first edition found in libraries across Spain.

•  Palau 33620.   Contemporary vellum over light boards; button and loop closures (broken). Inconsistent browning varying from gathering to gathering, having to do with impurities in water used in paper manufacture and subsequent exposure to humidity. Light waterstain to foremargin of the frontispiece and slightly into the image. Withal, a rather good copy of a book that is difficult to find in today's market.  (29824)

The Beginning ofDemographic Studies

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•  Botero (1540–1617) was an Italian thinker, priest, poet, and diplomat, and after 1580 an expelled Jesuit. His Relaciones universales del mondo, originally published 1594 to 1595 in Italian, tells of the “universal church” (i.e., Catholicism) in various parts of the world, including America, the Old World, India, the circum-Mediterranean, Africa, China, the Philippines, Japan, and Southeast Asia, but also England, Scotland, Ireland, and “the realm of Prester John.” More than a few scholars view this as one of the first demographic studies.

This first edition, second issue in Spanish is the translation of Diego de Aguiar. It is composed of the sheets of first edition of 1600–1599 with a new title-page. Printed in roman type, double-column format, it offers a liberal sprinkling of large woodcut initials, some of which are historiated.

Provenance:  19th-century private ownership stamp on verso of title-leaf; bookplate of the John Carter Brown Library (with small release stamp) on the front pastedown.

•  Alden & Landis, European Americana, 603/17; Sabin 6809; Palau 33704; Medina, BHA, 468.   18th-century mottled sheep, raised bands, gilt spine extra; spine gorgeously bright and covers with some abrasions. Title-page and final leaf with foremargins excised and the leaves mounted; first folio 113 with short tears repaired with with cello tape now darkened. Occasional foxing and the other odd spot or stain only; all edges red and a blue ribbon placemarker. A text volume only, this lacks the maps and is priced accordingly; it is an important and famous work with a good provenance in an otherwise very handsome copy, for the reader.  (28307)

A Jesuit Pioneer inIndia & Japan

•  Later edition of this French Jesuit's biography of Saint Francis Xavier, in two volumes; first pu blished in Paris, in 1682, it is here complete in six books, with a “Table des Matières” at end of second volume. Per Sommervogel, it is the “edition du P. Brolier, qui a mis on tête la lettre de Condé au P. Talon sur cette Vie et l'a fait suivre d'observations.” Click the interior image for an enlargement.

The New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia notes that Dominique Bouhours (1632–1702) was best known to English readers as the author of this much-reprinted work and an earlier life of Ignatius of Loyola; for a long time these were “the most widely circulated biographies” of the two saints. Bouhours also achieved prominence for his anti-Jansenist writings.

The pair of volumes were nicely printed, with some nicely engraved head- and tailpieces. The text offers sidenotes.

Rare.  A search of OCLC records only two copies, of which this is one, now deaccessioned.

•  De Backer-Sommervogel, I, 1904–1905; Cordier, Bibliotheca Japonica, 146.   Recent full calf, covers framed and panelled with single gilt fillets and with gilt-stamped corner fleurons; spines gilt extra, with gilt-ruled raised bands, gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels, gilt publication date at foot, and elaborately gilt-tooled floral decorations in compartments; marbled endpapers. Tear in outer margin of pp. 269/270, just barely touching sidenotes; very occasional foxing; offsetting from leather of previous binding affecting first and last leaves at margins, including title-pages. Ex-library, with faint penciled notations on verso of title-page and at base of following page in each volume. Vol. I lacks the frontispiece portrait. Faults noted, still a good copy and in an attractive binding.  (24526)

For more SETS,  click here.

Living Wisely

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•  “Nouvelle edition . . . Reveûë & augmentée par l'Autheur”: an early, uncommon edition of this popular book of maxims, originally published in 1677. Much esteemed in its day, this collection of nuggets of practical and meditative wisdom on how to conduct one's domestic, civil, and religious life was at first attributed to Fouquet but was actually written by a Jesuit preacher. The present example includes the follow-up La Suite des conseils de la sagesse, with the same copper-engraved frontispiece (Solomon at work with quill and tablet, visited by an inspiring angel) appearing before each part; the text is printed with a number of decorative tailpieces.

•  DeBacker-Sommervogel, II, 45.   Contemporary vellum, spine with early hand-inked title; vellum with small spots of staining and rear pastedown gone, binding overall clean and tight. Frontispiece with shallow chip to lower edge not into plate area; pages slightly age-toned with some very faint spotting in the second part, otherwise clean.  (29267)

Urging the Male Jewish Franchise, at Length
  (Other Matters More Briefly Addressed)

•  Despite the U.S. Constitution, states had the right to prevent Jews, Catholics, other non-Protestants, atheists, and areligious individuals from voting or holding office. Beginning in 1816 Thomas Kennedy and later Col. Worthington, Henry Brackenridge, and others sought to have the Maryland legislature change the state law regarding qualifications to hold office, part of which read “That no other test or qualification ought to be required . . . than such oath of support and fidelity to this State . . . and a declaration of a belief in the Christian religion.” The “Jew Bill” took ten years and much acrimonious debate to pass but it did, making Maryland the first state to enable its male Jewish citizens to hold elected and appointed office.

Curiously there are appended here writings unrelated to the Bill: “Western antiquities, communicated in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, by H.M. Brackenridge”; “Letter on the culture of live oak, to the secretary of the navy, by H.M. Brackenridge”; and “Report [prepared by H.M. Brackenridge] adopted by the City council of Baltimore, on the subject of the defence, &c.”

Provenance:  In ink on the front fly-leaf: “For the Library of the German Society with the complements of the Author.” Deaccessioned in 2010.

•  Rosenbach, Jewish, 312; Sabin 7183; Shoemaker 37923. On “The Jew Bill,” see: Jewish Encyclopedia online (search “Jew Bill” and “Maryland”).   Uncut copy. Publisher's quarter tan cloth with original paper spine label, small hole in cloth near top of spine; paste boards covered with brown paper, chipped. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, no other markings. Inscription to this library a bit showing through from fly-leaf to title-page; top portion of rear free endpaper torn away. Of the copies we have seen in the last 20 years, this is by far the best.  (29818)

An Influential Jurist

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•  Sole edition (with copyright date of 1901): legal, political, andreligious thoughts by Supreme Court Justice Bradley (1813–92), whose controversial vote as a member of the Electoral Commission made Rutherford B. Hayes president of the United States. (Also, as a Justice, it was he who denied the petition for habaeus corpus of presidential assassin Charles Guiteau, which led to his execution). The volume includes a review of Bradley's judicial record by William Draper Lewis and an account of his dissenting opinions by A.Q. Keasbey, the whole edited by Bradley's son Charles.

•  Publisher's plain grey cloth, spine with printed paper label; binding with spots of mild staining, small area of discoloration at head of spine. Ex–social club library: call number on front pastedown, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Pages clean.  (28159)

A Not-So-Brief History ofTime

•  Second edition of this popular survey of the history of time and calendars from the ancient world onwards, following the first edition of 1812. Brady here describes the rituals and lore associated with the regulation of time, in all its divisions and subdivisions; much material from the lives of the saints is present. Allibone quotes the London Quarterly Review's assertion that “Especially to students in divinity and law, [the work] will be an invaluable acquisition; and we hesitate not to declare that, in proportion as its merits become known to the public, it will find its way to the libraries of every gentleman and scholar in the kingdom.” Contemporary opinion seems to have borne that prediction out, as the subscribers list here (carried over from the first edition) is substantial and the work went through several editions in the first few years after its initial publication. Click the images for enlargements.

Vol. I is illustrated with one wood-engraved plate depicting a Saxon almanac, and seven in-text engravings depicting Odin, Frigga, Thor, and the other deities with days named in their honor.

Provenance: Signature on title-pages of George Buckton, vol. I dated 1812 and vol. II dated 1813.

•  Allibone 237 (listing 1813 & 1814 eds. only); NSTC B4120.   Contemporary treed calf, rebacked preserving original spines with gilt-stamped titles, gilt-ruled and -dotted compartment bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations; original spine leather chipped, cracked, and darkened as by fire. Covers with corners and edges unobtrusively rubbed; portions nearest spines showing evidence of heat exposure; hinges (inside) reinforced. Front pastedowns each with institutional bookplate, vol. I front pastedown with bookseller's ticket and affixed early cataloguing slip, vol. I back pastedown and vol. II front pastedown with inked library inscription. Title-pages with inked ownership inscriptions as above. Offsetting from plate and to endpapers from binding, pages otherwise clean though with all edges (i.e., of closed book) darkened. A particularly handsome exemplar of popular scholarship of the day.  (25436)

The End Times & the Coming of the Antichrist

•  First edition: “To which is added an appendix, containing some thoughts on the weekly celebration of the Lord's Supper, and on the nature and tendency of human standards of religion.”

•  ESTC T27073.   Removed from a nonce volume. Half-title and last two leaves lightly soiled, half-title with small early inked numeral, pages otherwise clean.  (27653)

“Large Scale” in Several Respects . . .
62 Engravings & Bedford Bound

Click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.

•  First edition, illustrated with a total of 62 engraved plates. Allibone describes Brayley “a laborious and accurate topographer”; he compiled and edited a wide range of works with titles featuring assorted Beauties, Picturesques, Histories, Antiquities, etc. The present work provides a history of Westminster Abbey and some of its associated luminaries, along with extensive descriptions of its architecture, sculptures, and paintings. The illustrator who portrayed many of the above, John Preston Neale, was an architectural draftsman and landscape painter “best remembered for his views of the nation's country houses, churches, and public buildings,” according to the Oxford DNB.

Binding:  By Francis Bedford, signed, in dark brown morocco done between 1851 and 1880, covers framed and panelled in ornate gilt rolls with gilt-stamped corner fleurons and midpoint decoration. Spines gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels. Board edges gilt-tooled with triple fillets, turn-ins with gilt-tooled rolls and corner fleurons. All edges gilt. Stamped “F. Bedford” on lower front turn-in.

Provenance:  Each front pastedown with armorial bookplate of William Arthur, sixth Duke of Portland.

•  NSTC 2B46491; Allibone 240; Brunet, II, 1215.   Binding as above, minor shelf wear to lower edges and corners, vol. I with front board expertly reattached and with small dent to outer edge of front cover. Joints delicate, due to size and weight of volumes, but holding. A few pages and plates with faint foxing, otherwise clean.  (24100)

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Heavy Exegesis

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•  German theologian Johannes Brenz (Brentius, 1499–1570), animportant figure of the Reformation, taught Greek to Bucer, oversaw the Lutheran church at Schwäbisch Hall for over 25 years, and was later appointed provost at Stuttgart and a high-ranking church official at Württemberg. He helped establish Lutheran ordinances in most major German cities and led reform at the University of Tübingen. In addition to sermons and many exegeses like this, Brenz also composed the first reformed catechism (1527–28).

Offered here is a later edition of his exegesis on the Gospel of Luke first published in 1537 (by the same printer, Peter Braubach).

Printed in Latin with sidenotes and a few instances of Greek, the dense text is punctuated bya somewhat unusual variety of woodcut initials, including white-line, floriated, and historiated, depicting humans, skeletons, caged birds, and other designs. The separate title-page to the second part (also dated 1563) is preceded by a blank with a bit of theoriginal leather tab still affixed mid-leaf.

Provenance:  “Georgius Schermer sibi emit [ . . . ]” (contemporary ink inscription on the title-page).

There are no copies in the U.S. according to WorldCat and this edition is not found in NUC Pre-1956.

•  Adams B2793; VD16 B-7740. Not in W. Köhler, Bibliographia Brentiana. On Brenz, see: Contemporaries of Erasmus, I, pp. 193–94.   Period-style full calf ruled in blind, spine with raised bands and a blind-stamped device in each compartment, date gilt at base, and red leather title label gilt-tooled with fillets. Stains from water and ink and/or browning severe on some leaves and absent in other sections, not affecting strength or suppleness of paper; natural flaws in the lower margin of two leaves, and part of a quire bound out of order. Some contemporary marginalia and underlining in one hand (maybe two) throughout, now faded to a shadowy effect. A strong, studyable volume.  (30155)

Nonconformist Debate

•  First edition of these conference proceedings, with the title-page proclaiming “People’s edition.” The Anti-State-Church Association was one of the most prominent Dissenting societies during the church debates of 1826–52, although unsuccessful in their disestablishment campaign. Click the images for enlargements.

•  NSTC 2LON952. Removed from a nonce volume. Title-page with inked numeral in upper outer corner. First two leaves with small nicks to outer edges; pages clean.

Woman Author / Woman Printer — London, 1775

•  Third edition of Brook’s explication of the principles underlying Quaker worship practices, issued by a woman printer — Mary Hinde, successful printer and publisher of numerous Quaker items.

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

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FRIENDS/QUAKERS,  click here.

AmericanBaptist Opinions (Strong Ones)

•  The author (1795–1872) was a "minister of the gospel, and member of a church in the Baptist denomination." While discussing the many facets of communion taking, Brooks denounces Roman Catholics, Paedobaptists, and several other denominations.

•  Shoemaker 11993. Ex–defunct library, with stamp on title- and three other pages. Removed from a nonce volume; respined with archival paper. A uniformly browned copy.

Design, Beauty, Gout, Tobacco, “Chickens”

•  First edition of these poems, published posthumously by the author’s son; of two similar issues printed in the same year, this was the one meant for the general public, with the other intended for private circulation only. Browne was a notably witty and amiable conversationalist whose company (though not his public speechmaking) was prized by Dr. Johnson; he is best remembered today for his poems “A Pipe of Tobacco” (“Blest leaf! Whose aromatic gales dispense / To templars modesty, to parsons sense”) and “De Animi Immortalitate,” a meditation on the immortality of the soul — both of which are included here, the latter with Soame Jenyns’s English translation.

•  ESTC T116967. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper label. Frontispiece lacking; title-page and a few others stamped by a now-defunct institution. Inner margins of the first two leaves and outer margin of the final leaf repaired.

The Author Was aStrange (Mental) Case

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•  First edition, with errata slip present. Browne was a dissenting minister who, according to Allibone, spent the last ten years of his life under the delusion that God had “annihilated in him the thinking substance, and utterly divested him of consciousness: that though he retained the human shape, and the faculty of speaking, in a manner that appeared to others rational, he had all the while no more notion of what he said than a parrot” — and yet while in that state, he compiled Greek and Latin dictionaries, answered Woolston's Discourse on the Miracles of Our Saviour, and wrote this rebuttal of Tindal's Christianity as Old as the Creation.

•  ESTC T86771; Allibone 263.   Period-style calf framed and panelled in blind rolls with blind-tooled corner fleurons, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels, gilt-dotted raised bands, and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments (signed in blind on lower rear turn-in by Grace Bindings). Pagination jumps from 267 to 272, text complete. Title-page with early inked annotation on the authorship of Christianity as Old as the Creation, and with institutional rubber-stamp in lower margin; closed lower edges rubber-stamped. First and last few leaves lightly spotted.  (23782)

NOT the Progress — The Pharisee & Publican
     & the Dying Sayings

•  Uncommon early 18th-century edition of this important theological work, originally printed in 1685. All of Bunyan’s works, not just his Pilgrim’s Progress, were widely read and often reprinted in his day; this 1725 printing is described as the 12th edition, but ESTC locates only three editions (in 1704, 1705, and 1706) between the initial appearance and the present example. The 1704–25 editions are all scarce, surviving in only a few copies each. Click the images for enlargements.

John Marshall also issued this work in the same year as the present example with a slightly different title-page, reading “Wherein several great and weighty things . . . ,” this being a copy of the issue with a cancel title-page.The text is illustrated with one woodcut scene.  A few copies are described as having a frontispiece, which would not be integral to the collation; presumably it was added later and so not original.

Provenance: John Kinsman, jun., 1760; Edwin P. Farnham, 1903.

•  ESTC T58485.   Recent speckled paper wrappers. Free endpapers and first and last leaves with worm damage to edges; final blank leaf lacking. Front free endpaper and dedication page with rubber-stamped numerals (no other markings). Lower outer corners waterstained in first portion of volume; some darker stains from laid-in plant matter, with several leaves having words obscured or lost due to botanical adhesions — in the worst case, one leaf with hole affecting about 30 words from having adhered to plant matter, subsequent leaf with about 15 words obscured. Some headers just shaved but no catchwords touched. Title-page verso and back free endpaper with inked ownership inscriptions as above.  (20618)

The City's Progress — With Fore-Edge Painting

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•  Deluxe production of one of Bunyan’s lesser-known but still much-acclaimed allegories, with the spelling modernized and very much a charmer having been given both a pretty binding and a fore-edge painting!

Fore-Edge: This displays a pretty rendition of what a hand on the fly-leaf has denominated “Bunyan's cottage, Elstow,” being of his birthplace, near Bedford; in its greens, red, blues, tans, and whites, it incorporates a couple seated on a bench in front and several other onlookers, including a mother holding a young child who points at the house.

Binding:  Contemporary black morocco, covers framed in gilt double fillets with gilt-tooled trefoil and fleuron corner decorations surrounding an elaborate arabesque medallion, spine compartments with gilt-stamped frames and decorations, board edges with gilt roll. All edges gilt.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of John Train.

•  Binding as above, minor wear to corners and extremities. Small spots of foxing to front free endpaper and fly-leaf, pages otherwise clean. A lovely volume.  (30140)

“Female Excellence” Updated through1814

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•  First complete edition of all three volumes. The preface states that this work “has progressively advanced to its present state; what is now comprised in the first volume was compiled by Dr. Gibbons, and published in 1777 . . . The second volume of the present Edition was compiled by the Rev. George Jerment” (p. viii). The Rev. Samuel Burder added a third volume, which makes its first appearance here, and revised the original two.

Present here are77 lives of notably Christian women, mostly born in England with a few from Scotland and one of German origin. The volumes are illustrated with a total of18 stipple-engraved portraits, many full of character, including the frontispiece portrait of Lady Jane Grey, with the plates copper-engraved by H. Meyer and Hopwood.

Significantly, the biographies are fleshed out with quotations from the writings (diaries, prose, and poetry) of the biographees.

•  NSTC B5415.   Period-style quarter tan cloth and light blue paper–covered boards, spines with printed paper labels. Ex–social club library: pressure-stamp on each title-page, no other institutional markings. Recto of each frontispiece with faint, early pencilled monogram. Pages lightly age-toned with scattered spots of staining; one leaf with small portion of outer margin torn away, not touching text; frontis. of vol. II with short tear from outer edge, not affecting image. Mild offsetting from portraits; a few leaves in vol. III with offsetting from laid-in plant matter. A good set of a work that is, frankly, more interesting than many might imagine!  (28857)

“Natural” Law in ourAMERICAN Background

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•  Lucid examination of the philosophy of natural law. Written by a Swiss jurist, the work was first published in 1747 and first translated into English in the following year. The Encyclopædia Britannica says of Burlamaqui that "his fundamental principle may be described as rational utilitarianism" (IV, 836); his works are considered a primary source of the theory voiced in the Declaration of Independence.

The foot of the first recto in each gathering is marked "Vol. I"; Sweet & Maxwell cite a second volume not printed until 1784. All 14 chapters listed in the table of contents are present here, and Burlamaqui seems to come to a rather thundering conclusion at the end of the work, one that affirms the validity of the Christian religion and the honorable nature of the "happy agreement between natural and revealed light." Definitely, a satisfactory stand-alone.

•  Sweet & Maxwell 592. Recently trimly rebound in quarter calf over marbled paper sides, spine with gilt-ruled raised bands, small gilt-stamped floral devices in compartments, and gilt-stamped morocco title label. Pages gently age-toned, some with light spots of foxing. Pleasing copy of a significant text in the history of law.

Parliament Thanked the Author for Vol. I
& Requested Vol. II Forthwith
A “Corrected” Edition, Handsomely Printed & Enhanced with Plates

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•  Second edition, corrected, of the Bishop of Salisbury's history, with copies of the texts of many original source documents appended: a work much acclaimed in its time. First printed in two volumes in the critical time period of 1679 through 1681 — “in the midst of the revelations of the Popish Plot,” as the DNB puts it — the History met with widespread approval and was for many years considered the definitive source on its subject, though Burnet's aggressively Protestant and pro-parliamentary bias was questioned by some readers. This example is without the third, supplementary volume, which was not published until 1715.

The volumes are illustrated with a total of18 copper-engraved plates: 16 portraits of Henry VIII, Lady Jane Grey, Cardinal Wolsey, Elizabeth I, and others, done by Robert White after various artists including Holbein, along with two additional engraved title-pages (the first with King Henry and Archbishop Cranmer flanking a vignette of the tearing down of the edifice of Superstition and the building of that of Religion, the second including a scene of Queen Mary presiding over the burning of the Oxford Martyrs). The main title-pages are printed in red and black; the separate title-page for the “Collection of Records, and Original Papers; with Other Instruments Referred to in the Second Part . . .” gives “Printed by J.D. for Richard Chiswell, 1680" as the publication information.

•  Wing (rev. ed.) B5798; Lowndes 318; Brunet, I, 1409; ESTC R19796. On Burnet, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Period-style calf, covers framed and paneled with gilt rolls and blind-stamped roll, panel with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spines preserving original gilt-stamped tobacco leather title-labels, with gilt-ruled raised bands and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. All edges marbled. Half-titles institutionally rubber-stamped; title-page of vol. I with small ink blot offset to printer's dispensation. First and last leaves of each volume age-toned, with small edge nicks; one leaf in vol. I with tear from outer margin extending into text, without loss; one leaf with short tear from lower margin, not touching text. Two pages in vol. I with early inked marks of emphasis. Scattered small spots of light staining; overall impression clean. An impressive set of an important work.  (26997)

A SET of This Anglican Classic inRed Morocco

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•  Attractive early 19th-century edition of the Bishop of Salisbury's widely acclaimed history, based by Burnet as closely as possible on original records and papers. First printed in 1679 through 1714, this work was for many years considered the definitive source on its subject, though Burnet's aggressively Protestant and pro-parliamentary bias was questioned by some readers.

Each volume features a steel-engraved additional title-page, and the odd-numbered volumes open with steel-engraved portraits of the author, Henry VIII, and Archbishop Cranmer.

Bindings: Contemporary crimson straight-grain morocco, covers framed in gilt double fillets surrounding one gilt and one blind-tooled roll. Spines with gilt-stamped titles, three wide bands of gilt-stamping, and raised bands with triple gilt-stamped fillets. All edges gilt.

•  NSTC 2B60409.   Bindings as above, spines and board edges slightly darkened, corners and edges showing minor wear, spine leather with small surface cracks, two spines with extremities refurbished, one volume with front joint carefully repaired. Front pastedowns each with institutional presentation bookplate, front fly-leaves each with early inked ownership inscription. Vol. V with front fly-leaf and frontispiece separated; vol. VI with outer edges of three early leaves tattered and some lower corners dog-eared. Pages very slightly age-toned, otherwise clean. A lovable set.  (25537)

Burton's Philosophical Poetry

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•  Burton's Sufi-inspired poem, with an introduction by Aurelia Henry Reinhardt and extensive endnotes. The work was printed by John Henry Nash for the Book Club of California (this being only their ninth publication), with title-page decoration and headpieces by Dan Sweeney. This is numbered copy 254 of 500 printed.

Uncut and unopened copy of a beautifully accomplished volume.

•  Not in Penzer, Annotated Bibliography of Sir Richard Burton.   Publisher's quarter vellum and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; vellum darkened, corners bumped. Pages clean.  (28273)

A Railroad Evangelist

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•  First edition: A long-time railroad man who became a preacher — while continuing to work as a conductor — tells the story of his former wicked ways and his return to temperance and the Christian church. The volume opens with an introduction by J. Wilbur Chapman and a poem (“The Gospel Train”) by Fanny J. Crosby, and closes with “The Railroad Man's Psalm” (Psalm 121); it is illustrated with a frontispiece and 12 halftone photographic plates.

Binding:  Publisher's green cloth, front cover with title and train vignette stamped in black, red, cream, and gilt, spine with gilt-stamped title.

•  Binding as above, without dust wrapper; cocked, with edges and extremities lightly rubbed and a few wrinkles to back cover cloth. Pages clean; two leaves with small portion of outer edge chipped. A nice copy, with front cover clean and bright.  (29133)

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