true first edition of the unofficial second series

several on plays and actors

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)

•  Publisher's quarter cream textured cloth with light blue fleur-de-lis printed paper sides, spine with printed paper label; lacking the blue dust-wrapper, small spot of staining at head of spine, otherwise a very nice example.  (28209)

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  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.

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At this writing, e.g., the American Shakespeare Center touts its performances with the invitation, “Imagine Homer and Marge Simpson buying tickets to a Chekhov play and then climbing on stage to redirect the show with Bart as the star, and you have some idea of the fun Beaumont unleashes . . .”

This is a copy of the true second edition as specified by STC, 1635; in that year the play was “acted by Her Majesties servants at the Private house in Drury Lane.”

Provenance:  20th-century bookplate of Henry J. and Anna B. Howe, of Iowa.

•  STC (rev. ed.); 1675a; Greg I:316b; The Huth Library, p. 1645; Pforzheimer Library 49 (for the third edition — dated 1635 but really 1661).   20th-century half crushed green morocco with marbled paper sides, top edge gilt, spine sunned to brown; lacks initial blank (only). Housed in a quarter brown leather round fall-back box case with brown cloth sides. Very good in all respects, with title-page lightly dust-soiled and otherwise but a light spot or two.  (32714)

Scarce: Searches of WorldCat, the Catálogo Colectivo del Patrimonio Bibliográfico, REBIUN, and the OPAC of the Spanish National Library fail to locate any institutional holdings of this periodical.

•  Contemporary plain paper wrappers, spine with inked title-label; wrappers worn and chipped with small area of insect damage, spine extremities reinforced with cellophane tape. First page with two examples of same old oval institutional rubber-stamp; mild to moderate spotting and staining scattered throughout with very faint waterstaining to upper and outer areas of some plates and pages. A complete set of this scarce and interesting periodical and an artifact in good, studyable, displayable condition.  (32029)

The colophon is signed by both the designer and the illustrator. This offering includes the monthly newsletter.

Binding: Full black linen, stamped in gold on the front cover from a design by Levine. The slipcase is covered with black paper and bears a gilt title on the spine.

Binding, slipcase, and illustrations all properly evoke the grittiness of the London underworld.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 529.   Bound as above, in publisher's slipcase; black paper peeling slightly at upper spine edge. A fine copy in a near-fine slipcase.  (30475)

Click the images for enlargements.

•  ESTC N2497. Recent marbled-paper wrappers, front wrapper with paper title label. Lacking half-title. Title-page with lower corner neatly off, otherwise in excellent, clean condition. (3247)

a popularizing work which brought the writings of Burney and Hawkins in simplified form within the reach of many without access to the originals

•  NSTC 2B62088. On Busby, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Contemporary speckled sheep, spines with gilt-stamped leather title-label; moderately rubbed overall and moreso at spines; one leaf, pp. 69/70 (in section on music in war) missing in vol I. Ex–social club library: each volume with paper shelving label on spine, 19th-century bookplate, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Pages creased with occasional light spots. Scattered early pencilled annotations and corrections, including (in a few cases) to music.  (28341)

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

•  ESTC T138271; Lowndes, II, 404; Allibone, 2036. Recent quarter morocco over marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments. Title-page and a few others stamped by a now-defunct institution; pages slightly age-toned, one with pencilled underlining/emphasis.

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

•  ESTCT61515; Allibone, 2036; Lowndes, II, 404. Recent quarter morocco over marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments. Title-page and a few others stamped by a now-defunct institution; pages age-toned.

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•  Disbound and now in a Mylar folder. Lacking title-page, opening with dedication. Repairs to inner margins of several pages occasionally touching text, with small tears remaining on first and last leaves.

T.M. Cleland illustrated the book with 16 hand-colored drawings of actors in period costume performing scenes from the play; he also designed it, choosing a monotype Janson font and a full maroon linen binding elaborately and charmingly blind-embossed on both covers. A contrastingly simple black leather spine label is stamped in gold with author and title.

This offering includes the monthly newsletter and mailing notice. T.M. Cleland signs the colophon.

•  Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929-1985, 301. A fine copy with the slipcase.

This isnumbered copy 56 of only 80 printed on handmade “parchment vellum” and signed by the translators; there were an additional 310 copies printed on paper.

•  Publisher's quarter vellum with printed paper–covered sides, front cover with printed paper label, spine with gilt-stamped title; spine vellum dust-soiled, paper darkened towards edges, board edges and corners rubbed. Pages very slightly age-toned, otherwise clean, with edges untrimmed.  (32304)

•  Contemporary calf. Gilt spines, rebacked and original spines reapplied. Spines very dry, chipped with some loss and lacking title labels, but with new volume labels.

These six comedies and tragedies — Les illustres ennemis, comedie; Berenice, tragedie; Timocrate, tragedie; La mort de l'empereur commode, tragedie; Darius, tragedie; and Le charme de la voix, comedie — comprise six of the seven plays making up the second volume only of a five-volume set, Les tragédies et comédies de Th. Corneille, printedfor the Elzevirs by Abraham Wolfgang in Holland, 1665–78. Six separate title-pages with the “Quaerendo” printer's mark andsix particularly lively, charming added engraved title-pages precede the six plays, each dated 1662 (the first editions date to 1656–59). This copy is lacking the general title-page dated 1665 and the first play, Le geôlier de soy-mesme (1662); the text, in French, is decorated with woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, and sparse woodcuts of animals.

Rare: Searches of NUC-Pre1956 and WorldCat find the five-volume set Les tragédies et comédies at just one U.S. institution (Univ. of Chicago), andeach play individually in up to three U.S. locations only.

Provenance:  Inked monogram of Edwin Wolf II on front pastedown, and inscriptions of John Bridgman, Esq., on rear endpaper and pastedown.

A charming old sketch of a woman with a lute graces the front pastedown; a bit of much sketchier sketching marks the rear one.

•  Willems, Supplement, 1727 (b); Graesse, II, 268. Not in Goldsmid.   Contemporary vellum with yapp fore-edges; joints and front hinge repaired, new fly-leaf added. Lacking general title-page and first part, as above. Light soiling to edges with occasional very minor foxing or a light stain, two short marginal tears, one leaf with a corner-tip lost — a nice copy.  (5594)

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)

•  Fair in printed paper wrappers, front cover torn nearly in half.   (438)

This volume is in the large ambitious quarto format of the journal's first years, not the octavo format of the later, “New Series”

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with early inked presentation inscription to New Salem Academy from the Honorable Ethan Allen Greenwood (1779–1856), the Massachusetts lawyer who established the New England Museum.

•  Sabin 64182.   Contemporary quarter sheep and light blue paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped date; rubbed and stained overall, spine leather with cracks and chips, spine head with remnants of small paper label, refurbished: spine caps readhered, front cover reattached, edges reinforced, leather consolidated. Front free endpaper with inscription as above. A later hand has laid in a number of leaves of annotations and commentary on various pieces herein, along with some account of the lacking portions; occasional pencilled annotations in text as well. One leaf with inner margin neatly reinforced; some tears repaired and loose leaves secured. Pages occasionally creased; varying degrees of browning and foxing. Outer edges trimmed closely, occasionally with loss of final letters. Upper portion of one leaf torn away, with loss of weekly header and about three paragraphs of text; one leaf chipped along fold, with loss of several letters; lower outer portion of one leaf torn away, with loss of roughly two paragraphs. Nos. 13, 14, 32, and 34 each lacking final leaf; no. 33 lacking. Pp. 395/96 bound in out of order. Several pieces of dried plant matter laid in at various points. This volume of the Port Folio is as meaty and full of just plain interesting stuff as they all were, despite its lacking bits; and, it represents the journal's beginnings.  (29227)

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with early inked presentation inscription to New Salem Academy from the Honorable Ethan Allen Greenwood (1779–1856), the Massachusetts lawyer who established the New England Museum.

•  Sabin 64182.   Contemporary quarter sheep and light blue paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped date; worn and stained, front cover with (child's?) pencilled name, spine head with remnants of paper shelving label, spine leather cracked. Volume refurbished, with leather consolidated, joints repaired, edges reinforced with repair tissue. Lacking one issue, no. 12, apparently never bound in; one stanza of one poem excised. Some leaves creased, with occasional tears into text; varying degrees of age-toning and foxing; scattered small holes. Lower outer portion of one leaf torn away, with loss of several lines. A few pencilled marks of emphasis; a later hand has laid in several sheets of annotations and commentary on various pieces herein. Dried plant matter laid in. Price reduced recognizing absent No. 12; but a volume of interest both simply as a substantial Port Folio and as the one produced in such a significant year for the proprietor.  (29238)

•  Plain robin's-egg blue wrappers printed in black, a little darkened. Excellent condition. (28507)

Evidence of Readership: An early owner of this copy who seems to have sided with Jeffrey has made occasional annotations in pencil, one of which decries “these commentators [who] will never allow poor Shakespeare any invention, always endeavoring to prove him pilfering . . . “

Both volumes are illustrated with wood engravings by J. Berryman, reproducing medieval and Renaissance images; vol. II also includes a total ofnine plates, one being an oversized, folding rendition of a fanciful 15th-century engraving of a Flemish morris dance. The title-pages are printed in red and black.

Provenance:  Front fly-leaf of vol. II with pencilled ownership inscription of prominent 20th-century Philadelphia collector E.M. Boyle.

•  NSTC D1619; NCBEL, III, 1644.   Period-style quarter calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped red morocco title-label, compartments with blind-tooled and gilt-stamped decorations, back pastedowns with binder's tickets. All edges marbled. Regular but not heavy early pencilled annotations, some offset onto opposing pages; a few scattered small smudges, pages otherwise clean. One leaf with small central hole affecting about four letters. A very attractive copy, with interesting and engaging signs of readership.  (30112)

•  Fine.  (19234)

•  On Dunlap, see: Oxford Companion to the Theatre, 211. American Imprints 24237; BAL 5026; Howes D571; Sabin 21303.   Publisher's quarter green diced cloth and tan paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped title; edges and extremities rubbed, corners bumped, spines sunned, sides with spots of staining and discoloration. Front hinges (inside) tender. Ex–social club library: spines with paper shelving labels, front pastedowns with 19th-century bookplates and inked shelving numbers, title-pages and one other in each volume rubber-stamped, no other markings. Some outer corners of vol. II lightly waterstained; a very few instances of small spots of staining.  (27558)

•  Portfolio worn, in two pieces, with old repairs. Text and illustrations in very good condition.  (31085)

theatrical and musical performances

Provenance: Front pastedown with inked ownership inscription of Joshua Gilpin, a Quaker from Philadelphia who established the first paper mill in Delaware, in 1787.

•  Disbound with front cover, front free endpaper, and frontispiece separated; back cover lost, and signature sewing exposed/going, with many leaves loose. Now contained in a simple, acid-free phase box. Edges untrimmed. Minor offsetting and a few stray marks; mostly clean.

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