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Binding:  Publisher's brown cloth, covers decoratively blind-stamped, spine with gilt-stamped title. In its modest, subtle (and difficult to photograph!) way, this is avery handsome binding.

•  Bound as above; binding very slightly cocked, corners and spine extremities with minor rubbing. Ex–social club library: call numbers on fly-leaves, rubber-stamp on title-page and two others, no other markings. Pages clean save for slight offsetting from stamps. A nice copy.  (28238)

•  Contemporary gilt-stamped green cloth with a bit of light wear to the head and foot of the spine, otherwise bright and lovely. Some page edges uncut. (10569)

132 well-filled pages

Near the end of the book is a full-page drawing of an apparatus labeled “percolater,” which looks suspiciously like a still, followed by three pages of notes on French measures. This last set of memoranda may suggest that Mayer did not grow up with those measures, and that he might have been English is suggested by the fact that English words appear sprinkled throughout while four leaves are written entirely in that language.

A ten-centimes ticket to the Tuileries and an advertisement for a means of reproducing engravings are laid in among the pages.

•  Original quarter sheep over blue marbled boards, with paper label on front cover; spine and board edges worn, hinges (inside) open. Previous owner's inscription and pressure-stamp on endpaper. All text is written in a clear but not entirely consistent hand, the English-language recipes and two others in bright blue (as opposed to the book's “regular” brown) ink.  (2551)

Also included is a woodcut map showing Europe, the Atlantic, and the New World.

•  Palau 159680; Alden & Landis, European Americana, 609/77; Medina, BHA, 123. Old vellum; red leather, gilt-lettered spine label; some staining, and chipping to edges and label. Old, careful repairs to interior worming occasionally cost individual letters (but never sense) or a little loss to an illustration. Old rubber-stamps and red and black ownership label on title-page; inked notations on title-page and front pastedown. All edges speckled red.

•  Publisher's tan cloth, front cover with title and Art Nouveau decorative design (unsigned) stamped in brown and dark blue; spine and front cover with a trio of tiny spots and edges significantly darkened, the discoloration just touching outer edges of title stamping. Pages still clean; children's pictures still adorable.  (29815)

250 recipes making use of slow cooking

•  Bitting 326 (for 1909 & 1911 eds.); Brown, Culinary Americana, 2637 (first ed. only). Not in Cagle & Stafford.   Publisher's dark green cloth, front cover and spine stamped in black with title and images of fireless cookers; mild rubbing to extremities, very faint scratches to back cover. Front hinge (inside) with small area of insect damage near head. A clean, solid copy.  (30292)

Uncommon. A search of ESTC, OCLC, and NUC Pre-1956 finds only four U.S. holdings of this title. ESTC notes that this is a false imprint and that the work was likely printed in the Netherlands; one source suggests Lausanne.

•  ESTC T112988; Caillet, Manuel bibliographique des sciences psychiques ou occultes..., 7879.   Recent quarter calf with marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped titles. Title-pages each with inked ownership inscription dated 1804 in lower margin, name lined through; first page of preface with inked numeral in lower margin. Upper outer corners rounded, with most of these (and some margins) browned in vol. I. All edges speckled blue and brown.  (23261)

•  New. Publisher's illustrated boards.  (27539)

“A new edition, with the citations translated, and notes by P. Borthwick . . . of Downing College, Cambridge.”

•  Publisher's quarter green cloth with paper-covered boards. Rebacked in sympathetic cloth and new paper label (antique style) applied. Boards show age-stains and wear but are solid. Old library pressure-stamp on title-page. In an open back slipcase of green library cloth; spine of box with author, title, and call number in gilt. A nice copy, sound for reading.  (21773)

•  Charming and charmingly illustrated Victorian tales, poems, and songs for children, many featuring animals — plus a series of lessons on astronomy. Almost every page incorporates a steel- or wood-engraved image; variously sized, many of these are full-page. (The final illustration, of a young miss playing piano with her little lapdog “singing” along, is especially appealing.) Music is included for “The Old Year and the New,” “Chipperee, Chip,” “Song of the Cat,” and many other tunes.

•  Contemporary half roan and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and date; binding scuffed. Two leaves with chips in lower margins, with loss of about four letters; two pages with spots of staining, pages otherwise clean. This copy evidently was never abused by childish hands, although the magazine certainly deserved to be pored over — really, this is a wonderful little book.  (29570)

A search of WorldCat locates only four copies in the U.S. and another of COPAC finds only the British Library copy.

•  Palau 201032; Almirante, Bibliografia militar de España, 575.   Early limp vellum, old author, title, and device inked on spine; recased and new endpapers supplied in front, with ties renewed. Added engraved title supplied in facsimile, so too the volvelle; interior tear without loss precisely along the outer edge of the text block on pp. 1/2, evidence of printer misjudgment in the impression. Old inked notes on inside of rear cover, and in a few other places; some instances of old, generally faint waterstaining or minor ink-accident; generally, a clean copy.  (28466)

•  Publisher's brown cloth, covers and spine with blind-stamped decorations and gilt-stamped vignettes; extremities rubbed, spine head chipped, gilt lightly rubbed. Ex–social club library: paper shelving label on spine, 19th-century bookplate, front free endpaper lacking, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Small crescent burn mark to upper margin of title-page, a very few small smudges elsewhere, otherwise clean.  (28291)

microscope

Publishers' advertisements at back offer other useful volumes, and tout this one as, “not by any means a clap-trap book, though it exposes many clap-traps.”

•  Publisher's black pebbled cloth, covers blind-stamped, spine with blind-stamped title; limited fading and rubbing, sewing starting to loosen. Front pastedown with inked inscription, front free endpaper with intriguing “Fraters Florere” rubber-stamp. Pages faintly age-toned, otherwise clean.  (26631)

The work was printed in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, where Priestley settled in 1782, when his liberal political opinions and defense of the French Revolution (in addition to his status as a nonconforming minister of questionable orthodoxy) obliged him to emigrate from England to the United States.

Provenance: Both title-pages inscribed by N. Irwin.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 4912 & 7121. Recent quarter calf over marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels. Title-pages with faint impression of a once-pencilled shelf number; some leaves lightly foxed.

Click the image to the left for an enlargement.

This work was printed in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, where Priestley settled in 1782, his liberal political opinions and defense of the French Revolution (in addition to his status as a nonconforming minister of questionable orthodoxy) having obliged him to emigrate from England to the United States.

Provenance: Each title-page inscribed by N. Irwin.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 2933 & 4913. Recent quarter calf over marbled paper–covered sides, paper darkened at edges and/or turn-ins on some volumes, most notably vol. IV; spines with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels. Title-pages with faint impression of a once-pencilled shelf number; a few page edges slightly ragged; some instances of small spots of foxing, mostly in margins, and varying degrees of offsetting. Please note these are octavo values — they're substantial, but we think the photo may make them look a bit taller than they actually are.

Binding:  Later (but not recent) vellum over flexible boards, gilt-ruled round spine with two gilt labels (red and black); blue speckled edges and a green silk marker.

Provenance:  Bookplate of John B. Doukas, front pastedown; undeciphered ownership inscriptions in early ink on the title-page, one dated 1567.

•  Renouard, Alde, 87, 7; Adams P2215 & P1860 (Opera); Isaac 12895; Graesse, V, 498; UCLA, Aldine Press, 183. Not in Schweiger.   Bound as above, somewhat soiled and spotted and lightly rubbed at extremities; vellum pierced at spine corners in association with sewing. Title-page and final three leaves reinforced at gutter to cover wormholes; some other almost-piercings visible in index. A bit of foxing only, some leaves lightly browned, and a faint waterstain to outer margin of perhaps 20 leaves at mid-section. Temoine folded in at f. 22.  (30104)

This has additional interest as a decent example of an early American publisher's full cloth binding.

•  American Imprints 33201.   Publisher's printed tan cloth; spine heads reinforced with cloth tape extending onto sides (partially chipped), spine slightly darkened, sides with light spotting. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplates, call number on endpapers, pressure-stamp on title-pages, no other markings. A few scattered small spots, pages generally clean.  (30444)

•  Sewn; wrappers chipped, front separating near spine; author's name pencilled on front. Ex-historical society copy with stamp on title-page. Some page edges irregular and with short tears.  (650)

•  Brown, Culinary Americana, 1955 (for 1927 ed.).   Publisher's orange buckram-covered boards inoriginal pictorial dust jacket showing a clearly very fortunate family at table; spine very slightly sunned, front upper edge faintly dust-soiled, jacket with spine sunned and back panel moderately soiled, tear (with some resulting creasing) to upper portion of front panel and small nicks to spine extremities. Pages gently age-toned, otherwise clean.  (30179)

The work is illustrated with a frontispiece portrait, a folding map of the coast of Greenland and part of the Arctic Circle, and five plates in color (notably “ice blue”) of snow flakes, ice floes, an atmospheric phenomenon, and two views of different parts of the Greenland coast.

•  Sabin 35452 & 78184.   Publisher's purple textured cloth, boards blind embossed and front one with a gilt center device; spine sunned; lettered in gilt. Top of spine with small loss of cloth and an excellent repair; one plate with a separated sliver of tissue-guard adhered to it. Ex–social club library: call number on endpaper, very light rubber- and pressure-stamp on title-page, pressure-stamp on another page, light rubber stamp on map, no other markings. A good++ copy.  (26822)

•  Shoemaker 17997; NSTC 2S24902.   Period-style quarter light grey cloth and light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Pages gently age-toned, a few faintly foxed. A nice copy of one of the most highly regarded natural histories of the time.  (30335)

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Original edition, not a modern reprint.

•  Publisher's oxblood cloth, covers decoratively stamped in black, spine black- and gilt-stamped; corners and spine extremities rubbed, sides with small areas of minor discoloration, spine sunned with paper shelving label at head, a little cocked. Ex–social club library: call number on endpapers, rubber-stamp on title-page and four others. Final blank leaf excised. Clean, sound for use.  (27367)

•  Pebbled cloth, lightly worn. Leaves with minor cockling, some staining and offsetting. Some pages with portions excised; one leaf excised entirely.

•  Not in Von Hunersdorff, Coffee. Publisher's embossed gilt-paper binding, moderately worn with the spine and board edges a bit darkened; still a very attractive, unusual binding. Front pastedown with small bookseller's ticket and with remnants of a school prize bookplate. Pages mostly clean, with scattered hints of light foxing. (10592)

•  ESTC T131282. On the Royal Society, see: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., XXIII, 791–93. On Sprat, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, LIII, 419–24. Recent quarter red morocco over marbled paper. Beading on spine bands and gilt quatrefoils in compartments; gilt-lettered title, author, and date. A foliate gilt roll at edge of leather on covers. Leaves sometime exposed to moisture and cockled, with shallow chipping and light to moderate soiling. Perforation-stamp on title-page, and rubber-stamps, including one on title-page, of a now-defunct library. All edges speckled red.

•  Not in Bitting, not in Cagle.   Publisher's moiré plum-colored cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title; spine and edges worn with hinges (inside) starting. Pages age-toned with occasional smudges; some corners dog-eared and one leaf with ragged edges. Recipe index with several instances of “cider” lined through in pencil and rubber-stamped “ciderette” instead. Lots and lots and lots of information and, in the format, some sense of how it was worked with.  (28522)

•  NSTC 2S40115. On Stewart, see: Dictionary of National Biography, XVIII, 1169–73.   Contemporary treed calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and extremely elegant gilt-stamped decorations; joints and hinges with excellent repairs, spine leather with small cracks, top spine compartment showing old shelving notations. Ex–social club library: Front pastedown with old inked numeral and 19th-century bookplate affixed over an older one; front free endpaper with inked call number offsetting to bookplate. No other markings; pages gently age-toned.  (26443)