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The third volume includes two plates and one oversized, folding plate reproducing two inscriptions and a frieze, engraved by E. Malpas.

Uncommon outside of Great Britain.

•  ESTC T113913; Brunet, I, 26; Lowndes, I, 5. Contemporary treed calf, spines gilt extra, with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels; leather worn at edges and moderately rubbed with joints cracking. Front pastedowns with private bookplates and signs that a plate was removed on front free endpaper (one vol. endpaper holed); impressions of old pencilled shelf numbers on title-pages (and one lightly inked old date). First two leaves of vol. III with upper margins stained and final leaf browned; some pages with a few spots of faint foxing, most clean and crisp. (13107)

These examples are numbered copy 238 of either 2000 or 2500 printed depending on the set (except for one trio out of the five, which is numbered 236); the appropriate LEC newsletter is present.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 193^1-3, 202^4-6, 203^7-9, 222^10-13, 228^12-15.   Publisher's cloth of various colors, eight volumes in the original glassine dust wrappers, all in publisher's red paper–covered slipcases with printed paper spine labels; some wrappers with tears or chips, slipcase spines gently sunned, slipcases showing light shelfwear overall with Aladdin set case dust-soiled, Emperor's New Clothes spine lettering rubbed. Ali Baba and a few other volumes with scattered spots of light foxing, overall most pages clean. Newsletter moderately worn. Complete sets are uncommon; this one shows no signs of having been in the hands of any actual child.  (30766)

•  Publisher's brown cloth, spines with brown paper label; several labels with ssmall brown spots, cracks, and edge chips, not too conspicuous and not affecting printing. Two leaves (pp. 343–346 of vol. X) detached from binding; long tear down center of pp. 283/284 (vol. IV), without loss of text; except for two leaves with some offsetting from laid-in scrap of paper, interiors clean. Outer and lower edges deckle, with a few signatures opened unevenly and some unopened. A very good set.  (24537)

The present edition forms volumes 8 and 9 of the series Historia de la conquista del Nuevo Mundo.

Provenance:  Bookplate of the great 19th-century Mexican collector J. M. Andrade on the front pastedown of each volume.

•  This edition not in Sabin.   19th-century quarter red morocco with red textured cloth sides. Spine with raised bands and very good gilt tooling including center devices in spine compartments. Interiors clean. A very good set.  (25271)

Bindings: Contemporary signed bindings by E.P. Dutton & Co., of red morocco with covers framed in gilt triple fillets; spines with raised bands, gilt-stamped titles, and compartments framed in gilt double fillets. Board edges gilt-ruled, gilt inner dentelles. Upper page edges gilt. Original cloth covers and spines bound in at the back.

•  Sadleir 156b, e, & f; NCBEL, III, 365. Bindings as above, spines and upper board edges darkened with a bit of rubbing; free endpapers with offsetting from turn-ins. One volume with lower part of cover stained and the lower inner margin of the title-page and plates (not the text leaves!) waterstained. One plate evenly age-toned. (12844)

•  NSTC B758. Contemporary half calf with marbled paper–covered sides, spines with later gilt-stamped leather labels; spines slightly darkened, corners and spine extremities rubbed. Pencilled bracketing and marks of emphasis; some light to moderate foxing. (20026)

•  Bindings as above, joints and extremities with spots of mild to moderate rubbing. Added engraved title-page with pencilled ownership inscription dated 1882 in upper portion. Scattered small smudges and spots of foxing, occasional mild offsetting. Vol. I with offsetting to two pages from laid-in item; vol. II with pages gently age-toned.  (30080)

Provenance:  Front fly-leaf with inked inscription: “These volumes were the property of the Rev. Francis Wayland, D.D., President of Brown University. They are presented to the Bucknell Library [of Crozer Theological Seminary] by Henry G. Weston. June 14, 1900.” The Rev. Weston was the first president of Crozer.

•  Darlow & Moule 4736.   Recent quarter calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped green leather title and volume labels and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. Title-pages, several others, and lower (closed) page edges institutionally rubber-stamped; title-pages with Wayland's pencilled inscription in upper margin; first text pages each with inked numeral in lower margin. Mild foxing and occasional small stains; last half of vol. II with waterstaining, significant to the eye but not impairing reading; one leaf with short tear from outer margin, touching text without loss. One inked annotation in Greek, a few other small pencilled annotations. Pagination erratic, text complete and uninterrupted. A sound, pleasant, evocative set.  (27246)

Provenance:  Pencil presentation inscription on front pastedown in both volumes from Mrs. Rev. T.T. Jaeger, Reading, PA, June 21, [18]89.

•  Darlow & Moule 4231 (1730); British Museum Catalogue ... Bible (1892), col. 202 (1730). On Pfaff's Luther Bible, see: Christian Kolb, Die Bibel in der Evangelischen Kirche Altwürttembergs (Stuttgart 1917).   Later half vellum over speckled boards, bright orange gilt-lettered spine label, red edges; vellum soiled, cracking, peeling, rubbed. Ex-library with stamps and withdrawn stamps variously on front pastedowns, fly-leaves, title-pages, and edges; stickers on spines. Each volume lacking added engraved title; vol. I lacking frontispiece and two leaves of preliminaries, with title-leaf repaired in two places and a short marginal tear repaired in one other leaf with a second unrepaired; in vol. II, one closed marginal tear extending into text without loss, a marginal tear repaired in another leaf. Occasional small inkstains and rust spots in paper, with some leaves very browned as is typical of the paper. Témoines on a total of six leaves, theserevealing real size of paper . . . BIG!  (31155)

Each volume closes with extensive Notes; the last leaf of vol. I offers a list of other works by this author for sale from the same publisher; and the last page of the second volume has an affixed errata slip. The notes are quite direct and personal, with Wakefield remarking, e.g., on what effect or variety of accuracy he is trying to achieve; what the knot of difficulty at a particular point actually is, for the translator; and whose “excellent” reading he is following (and how the chosen version from the Coptic differs from the Syriac or AEthiopic). He expresses surprise that an “obvious construction” has “escaped the critics” so “remarkabl[y]” long as it has, and in another case confesses that he is “quite at a loss” as to how one clause is supposed to connect with another — definitely, he's a scholar who yetlives in his pages.

Provenance:  Armorial bookplates of Justinian Minoch laid in.

•  ESTC T93093; Darlow & Moule 933 (see note); Herbert 1362. On Wakefield, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Recent quarter black morocco and stone pattern marbled paper–covered sides, leather edges tooled in blind; spines with gilt-stamped title, volume number, place/date, and compartment decorations. Bookplates laid in as above. Half-titles and title-pages with handsome old institutional pressure-stamp; each first text page with inked numeral. Intermittent light foxing, pages otherwise clean. An engaging pair of books in all respects.  (25784)

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!

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.

•  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)

The volumes are divided: I. The Old Testament, Genesis to Kings; II. The Old Testament, Chronicles to Malach; and III. The New Testament, followed by the Apocrypha of the Old Testament.

Provenance:  Calligraphic bookplate of Norman J. Sondheim, American collector of fine press books.

•  Dreyfus, History of the Nonesuch Press, 129.   Publisher's green cloth tooled in filt and housed in a green open-back slipcase. Very good, very clean and nice condition. A set worth having — or, giving.  (32338)

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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)

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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)

•  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)

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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The first London edition appeared in three volumes, but the present edition in two, as stated on the title-page.

•  Howes B-745. Publisher’s charcoal blind-stamped cloth, spines with gilt-stamped title; cloth showing mild wear overall, with spine gilt attractively oxidized. Front free endpapers with pencilled owner’s inscription dated 1869. Pages slightly age-toned, with scattered small spots of staining. Quite a nice set. (15871)

•  NCBEL, III, 865.   Original green cloth, spines with printed paper labels, lacking the dust wrappers (which are scarce and almost never seen); labels darkened, a few starting to peel up at corners. Pages untrimmed, with some signatures unopened. A beautiful, clean example of this set.  (24629)

Added at end of vol. 3 and paged separately here is “Death of Cicero, a Fragment.”

Provenance:  Ex–social club library (the German Society of Pennsylvania): each volume with its 19th-century bookplate, call number label on spine and number on pastedown, pressure-stamp on title-page; no other markings.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 237; Wright, I, 421; BAL 1500.   Full speckled sheep with round spines and black leather spine labels, binding from ca. 1820; abraded, front joints cracked and starting. Vol. I lacking front free endpaper and early leave of that volume detached at some time, crumpled, torn (repaired), and crudely reattached. Stains, some leaves closely cropped. One leaf in vol. II with natural paper flaw causing misprinting of some text; same volume missing final leaf of text . A tattered and stained and slightly imperfect set of a scarce early American novel.  (30263)

•  Shoemaker 8196; NSTC 2B53063.   Period-style quarter light grey cloth and light blue paper–covered sides, spines with printed paper labels. One leaf with short tear from outer edge, not touching text. Pages age-toned with a scant handful of scattered small spots, otherwiseremarkably clean.  (30339)

Each volume is introduced by George Willis Cooke, author of the Guide Book to the Poetic and Dramatic Works of Robert Browning, and concluded with his notes. Indices of first lines and titles are included at the end of the final volume.

Binding: Turquoise half-morocco over blue and gold marbled boards with matching marbled endpapers; spines with raised bands, compartments with gilt-tooled author and title labels or modest and attractive gilt tooling. All top edges gilt, blue silk place markers.

•  Bound as above; spines sunned to a handsome olive, boards lightly scuffed and a bit worn along the joints. One section of some 16 leaves in vol. II (as per spine) with a lower corner bumped/crumpled; one group of upper corners in vol. III with a small worm-piercing at outer edge. Ungilt page edges with light age-toning, spotting, and the occasional small nick; mostly, unopened. Nice to hold and behold.  (30001)

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)

Vol. I opens with a steel-engraved portrait of the author.

•  Howgego, II, C2.   Period-style quarter tan cloth and light blue paper–covered sides, spines with printed paper labels. Five plates and one map lacking (frontispiece present); two leaves each with tear along inner margin, not touching text; foxed throughout but without embrittlement.  (24387)

•  Not in Weale & Bohatta.   Bindings as above, edges and extremities rubbed, spine leather with tiny cracks, one spine head chipped, one joint starting. Ex-library with bookplates, rubber-stamp on lower edges of pages of the closed volumes. One volume with text block separating from spine and sewing loosening; this with the most leather rubbed away and the darkest instances of the usually-light waterstaining and spots of foxing seen occasionally throughout. Endpapers bear early inked ownership inscriptions and annotations. An elegant quartet.  (12406)

An early purchaser has recorded the cost of binding the set (60 pence per book) in a pencilled note on the front fly-leaf of vol. I: “Aug. 15th 1864 in 38 vol bound in fine 1/2 moroco [sic] per vol c/60 d.”

The essays and authors here were all once fashionable as well as interesting; they are no longer at all fashionable, but they are interesting in ways that their authors and original readers never imagined.  

Bindings: Contemporary half morocco over attractive marbled paper–covered sides, each spine with gilt-stamped title, volume number, and elegant arabesque decorations. Top edges gilt.

•  On Chalmers, see: The Dictionary of National Biography. Bindings lightly rubbed, a few with leather showing slight cracking over spines. Frontispiece with bookplate of private collector. Pages age-toned, with edges slightly embrittled; some occurrences of staining and pencilled underlining, with the majority of pages clean. An attractive set; many hours’ worth of reading. For anyone who savors slices'o'life, and slices'o'time, very rich fare. (14180)

Provenance: Elegant old lozenge-shaped ink-stamp on title-pages: “John Brymer Heir-Loom.”

Each volume commences with a copper-engraved frontispiece and title-page vignette, the former done by Robert White after a painting by Lely, the latter signed M[ichael] Burg[hers]. Burghers also engraved a substantial number of head- and tailpieces for the work, as well as decorative capitals.

•  ESTC N9847, N9850, T147811; Brunet, I, 81; Allibone 385.   Contemporary speckled calf panelled in blind with plain calf, decorated with blind-tooled corner fleurons, spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels; edges and extremities rubbed, joints cracked or starting, some acid-pitting to speckled portions, spines each with small paper shelving label. Each front pastedown with institutional bookplate over private collector's bookplate, and with early inked gift inscription. Title-pages with small institutional rubber-stamp in lower margin; half-titles lacking. Pages generally clean; occasional minor spotting mostly confined to margins. One instance of early inked marginalia.  (24574)

The first volume is illustrated with12 plates each offering four rows of small portraits, some intriguingly expressive; each volume opens with an engraved frontispiece portrait of a royal George.

•  NSTC 2C23867.   Recent textured maroon cloth, spines with gilt-stamped black leather title and volume labels; title-pages institutionally pressure- (not rubber-) stamped. Scattered light spots of staining, pages generally clean; first few leaves of voI. \ II with outer margins chipped. A hefty, substantive evocation of Georgian life and times.  (30012)

Bindings: Publisher's plain light blue paper–covered sides with tan shelfbacks, spines with printed paper labels; uncut.

•  NSTC 2C41665; NCBEL, II, 611; Shaw & Shoemaker 47741.   Spine paper darkened and cracked, joints and spines of both volumes restored with long-fiber tissue; inner margins of first and last few leaves unobtrusively repaired; as noted, page edges uncut.. Vol. I with front cover waterstained and back cover inkstained(?); title-page of vol. II with pencilled ownership inscription in upper portion. Foxing variously; one pencilled correction.  (30085)

•  NSTC 2C42639; Goldsmiths’-Kress 26080; not in Maggs, Bibl. Asiatica. On Crawfurd, see: Dictionary of National Biography. Publisher’s dark green cloth, blind-stamped, spines with gilt-stamped title; spines very slightly sunned and showing faint traces of now-absent paper labels, cloth lightly rubbed at corners and spine extremities. Hinges cracked (inside). Front pastedowns rubber-stamped (no other institutional markings). Title-pages with pencilled owner’s name in upper margins; contents pages with inked owner’s name dated 1865. Frontispiece, plates, and a few pages in proximity to plates lightly to moderately foxed; one plate in vol. II torn from inner margin, tear not touching image. Absorbing reading, evocative images. (19179)

Signed Binding: Publisher's teal pebbled cloth, front covers with striking chariot and armorial scene in light blue, tan, and gilt. The “Cibeles” statue found in Madrid's Cibeles Plaza and the coat of arms (and gilt monogram) of the city of Madrid appear with de la Cruz's name stamped in gilt below; spines offer gilt-stamped title and black-stamped griffin decoration. Cover of vol. II is signed “J. Orba.” All page edges are stamped in a Greek key pattern in blue and gilt.

Provenance:  Half-titles each with old-fashioned rubber-stamp of José Carmona y Ramos.

•  Palau 65340.   Bindings as above, edges and extremities showing minor shelfwear, back cover of vol. I with small spots of faint discoloration, front joint of vol. II rubbed. Collector's stamp as above, each front pastedown with small paper label bearing hand-inked numeral. Pages age-toned; edges slightly embrittled, occasionally with small chips or short tears. Scattered light smudges in vol. I; vol. II with mild to moderate foxing. A peacocky set.  (29262)