WOMEN

Women as Writers, Editors, Translators, Illustrators, & Printers
Books By, For, & About Women
A-B C-D E-G H-K
L-M N-Q R-Sh Si-T U-Z
Foreigners Aren't Wanted & Drunks Are Better Dead than Alive
Campbell, John. The Naturalization Bill confuted, as most pernicious to these United Kingdoms. To which are annexed, some remarks upon the Geneva Act, and a new scheme proposed.... London: Pr. for the author, sold by G. Woodfall & M. Cooper, 1751. 8vo (20.3 cm, 8"). 24 pp.
$500.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
First edition: A Scottish-born author attacks two bills, one for naturalizing foreigners and one for suppressing liquor abuse; the pamphlet concludes with “Some Observations upon the many miserable Objects that frequent our Streets, And the many Whores that infest the Town all Hours of the Night: And a Remedy advanced, whereby to render all of them serviceable to the Publick, &c.” (from the title-page). One of Campbell's suggestions here is that distillers should be at full liberty to sell as much liquor in their shops as they like, so that “human Brutes” could conveniently drink themselves to death onsite without being forced to take their criminal mischiefs and evils throughout the city (pp. 20–21). Prostitutes, particularly wronged women unable to find work due to lack of good references, are to be dealt with by establishing a “British Nunnery,” in which they should be industriously employed.
Scarce: A search of WorldCat and ESTC locates only two U.S. institutional holdings, and only one U.K.
ESTC T206417. Removed from a nonce volume; upper outer corners creased, some leaves with small edge chips and/or dust-soiling, half-title with spots of staining.
A very uncommon example of a particular, enduring mindset. (29928)
For
more BRITISH POLITICS, click here.
ForTEMPERANCE,
click here.

Second U.S. Edition: An Influential Classic
Carter, Susannah. The frugal housewife: Or, complete
woman cook. Philadelphia: James Carey, 1796. 12mo (17.2 cm, 6.75"). 132 pp.; 2 plts.
$4500.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
Second American edition (following the first of 1792, and the true London first of 1765) of this landmark work of early British cookery. Not much is known about Carter herself, but her emphasis on a variety of tasty, accessible gravies and sauces has stood the test of time. Although in its initial U.S. appearances, the Frugal Housewife was strictly oriented towards British cuisine and ingredients, it was later adapted and expanded for American housewives, and portions of the original publication directly formed the basis for the first American-authored cookbook: Amelia Simmons's American Cookery.
Click the interior images for enlargements.
ESTC W12281; Bitting 78–79; Evans 30168; Lowenstein, American Cookery, 15. Contemporary treed sheep, moderately rubbed and with some chipping; spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label (also chipped), boards slightly warped, and joints well repaired. Paper somewhat browned and foxed but quite strong, with pp. 41–44 long ago supplied from another copy; some edges ragged and corners bumped. Back free endpaper and last few leaves lightly waterstained. Inscriptions as above. Now housed in a maroon cloth clamshell case with gilt-stamped spine label of matching leather. (24689)
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COOKERY, click here.
Extraordinary
CONFESSORS
for Nuns
Catholic
Church. Pope, 174058 (Benedictus XIV).
[drop-title] Constitutio sanctissimi in Christo patris et domini nostri Benedicti
divina providentia Papæ XIV. Super designationes confessariorum extraordinariorum
pro monialibus. Constitucion del santissimo en Christo padre y señor
nuestro señor Benedicto por la divina providencia Papa XIV, sobre señalamiento
de confessores extraordinarios para las monjas. Madrid: En la imprenta de Phelipe
Millan, [1748]. Folio (28.3 cm, 11.375"). 46 pp.
$550.00
One of the consequences of the Council of Trent and the advances
made in moral theology in the 17th century was a re-emphasis on confession and
self-examination as well as higher standards for obtaining a confessor's license
good things in themselves, but changes that resulted in more penitents
and fewer confessors. In this constitution, Benedict XIV (who was known as a
very pastoral pope) says that he has heard that
nuns
are not making full confessions because of the intimate nature of some transgressions
and the fact that each convent is assigned only one permanent confessor. He
now allows extraordinary confessors who will visit once or twice a year.
This is printed in Latin with a Spanish translation in the facing column,
sidenotes, and a woodcut initial. A search of NUC Pre-1956, RLIN,
and OCLC revealed only two copies of the constitution in addition to the one
given in Palau.
Palau 27260. On Benedict XIV, see New Catholic Encyclopedia,
II, 278. Removed from a nonce volume. Paper generally clean and crisp with
a few small spots of foxing and waterstaining. Paper closely trimmed by binder,
shaving some sidenotes.
Bound
with
All
for Love
Centlivre, Susannah.
The busy body. A comedy. Taken from the manager's book at the Theatre
Royal Covent-Garden. London: Pr. by R. Butters, [ca. 1770]. 12mo. 48 pp. Bound
with John Dryden's "All for love. Or the world well lost. A tragedy, in five
acts" ("Taken from the manager's book, at the Theatre-Royal, Drury-Lane." London:
Pr. for R. Butters, [ca. 1770]. 12mo. 51 pp. Removed from a nonce volume; sewing
loosening. Title-page soiled and nearly separated from spine. Library stamps.
Only a few very small spots. Outer margins of a several pages uneven. Without
the frontispieces. (352)
$60.00
For
more (similarly inexpensive)
18TH-/19TH-CENTURY BRITISH PLAYS
(& especially if you like Mrs. Inchbald)
review this additional
PDF-CAT click
here.

Adventures of an Unfortunate Spaniard
Céspedes y Meneses, Gonzalo de. Poema tragico del español Gerardo, y desengaño del amor lascivo. Primera, y segunda parte. Madrid: Don Pedro Marin, 1788. 4to (20.8 cm, 8.4"). [4], 447, [1] pp.
$975.00
Click the images for enlargements.
A popular, oft-translated and much reprinted picaresque novel,
from the pen of a Spanish Golden Age novelist and historian. It tells
the story of the protagonist's desperate love
for four women! John Fletcher used the work as source material
for both The Spanish Curate and The Maid in the Mill. This is
a revised edition, following the first of 1615; it is not widely held in U.S.
institutions.
Brunet, I, 1756; Palau 54187. Contemporary treed sheep,
spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-ruled bands; binding
lightly scuffed (most notably at spine), spine with tiny pinholes, front joint
just starting from head. Front pastedown with attractive small ticket of a
prominent Madrid bookseller. Pages generally lightly age-toned with scattered
faint spotting; some leaves browned. (29248)
This
appears in the HISPANIC
MISCELLANY
click here.

A Southern Hero Enters the “Brawl with Boston” — Illustrated by Christy
Girl Heroes, Prominent!
Chambers, Robert W. The maid-at-arms. New York & London: Harper & Brothers, 1902. 8vo. Frontis., vi, [6], 342, [6] pp.; 7 plts.
$75.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition of this novel from the “Cardigan” series, set in New York state during the American Revolution and written by an author best known for his important supernatural work The King in Yellow. The plot here stars George Ormond, a Southerner of good family; it also features a character named Catrine Montour, based in part on the half-French, half-Native American “Queen” Catherine Montour (1710–1804), while the climactic rescue involves two maidens riding to the aid of an officer captured by Senecas. The
eight halftone plates were done by Howard Chandler Christy, and the belles are much in the style of his famed Christy Girls.
This is the genuine first edition, not a modern reprint.
Binding: Publisher's olive cloth, front cover with Art Nouveau water lily design and gilt-stamped title, spine with gilt-stamped title.
Binding as above, minor rubbing at extremities. Front free endpaper with pencilled Christmas gift inscription dated 1902; back free endpaper with rubber-stamped numeral (no other markings). Pages and plates clean. A very nice copy. (28585)
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ILLUSTRATED BOOKS,
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Legal Age for Marrying
Charles IV, King of Spain. Begins: Don Carlos ... Con fecha de diez de Abril de este año he tenido a bien expedir mi Real Decreto del tenor siguiente.” [Madrid: No publisher/printer, 1803]. Folio. [4] pp. (last blank).
$250.00

Clarification of an earlier royal decree concerning legal marriage age for “españoles” outside of Spain (and who were not orphans) was required and obtained from the
courts. Now the king orders local officials in the Spanish Empire to obey and publish the original decree with its amendments.
Signed by the crown with a wooden stamp, “Yo el Rey.”
This copy sent to Santiago, Chile, and docketed there.
Removed from a nonce volume. Clean and untattered. (25817)
Restoration Binding Painted Fore-Edge
Church of England. Book of Common Prayer. The book of common prayer and administration of the sacraments, and other rites and ceremonies of the church, according to the use of the Church of England. Together with the Psalter or Psalms of David, pointed as they are to be sung or said in churches. London: John Bill, Thomas Newcomb, & Henry Hills, 1680. 12mo (14.7 cm, 5.75"). [432] pp. (lacking A1, blank or licence). [with] Bible. English. Authorized (i.e., “King James Version”). 1679. The Holy Bible, containing the Old Testament and the New ... appointed to be read in churches. London: John Bill, Thomas Newcomb, & Henry Hills, 1679. 12mo. [870] pp. [and with] Bible. O.T. Psalms. English. Sternhold & Hopkins. 1679. The whole book of Psalms, collected into English metre, by Thomas Sternbold, John Hopkins, and others. London: Pr. for the Company of Stationers, 1679. 12mo. [72] pp.
$6875.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Beautiful family heirloom prayerbook containing a later, but still 17th-century, printing of the King James Bible alongside the BCP and Psalter. The Bible is printed in two columns of roman type, without the Apocrypha; the New Testament has a separate title-page dated 1679. The Book of Common Prayer does not exactly match any of the 1680 printings described by ESTC or Griffiths: the collation ends with S12, while the title-page does not include “and the form & manner of making, ordaining, & consecrating of bishops, priests, and deacons,” nor does it give “Printed by the assigns of . . . “ before the publishers' names. The Psalter is likewise an unusual variant, not exactly matching any variant in ESTC.
Provenance:
Fore-edge painted with “Elizabeth
Smith, 1680”; front fly-leaf with inscription recording
the birth of William Rice in 1681 and with inscription of Charles Knowlton,
dated 1738; fly-leaf verso with early inked genealogy describing the Smith-Rice-Knowlton
descent.
Binding: Elaborate Restoration binding: black morocco framed in gilt semi-circle and strawberry rolls surrounding a broken panel design of red-inlaid scalloped corners decorated with floral-dotted volutes, containing a bouquet of tulips and other flowers with red and citron morocco inlays; the upper- and lowermost tulips each with a smaller gilt-stamped flower and leaf tool inside, spaces filled with small flowers and dots. Spine gilt extra using cover rolls and additional floral decorations, with two decorated compartments of red morocco; board edges and turn-ins with gilt rolls. The tools used do not appear to be an exact match to any binder represented in Bennett, Nixon, or Maggs: Bookbinding in the British Isles, although the tulip with superimposed small flower is reminiscent of the binder Nixon identifies as the Small Carnation Binder. All edges gilt. Fore-edge painted with name as above, surrounded by hand-painted floral decorations.
BCP: Wing (rev. ed.) B3659B. Not in ESTC; not in Griffiths (see 1680/5 for a very close example). Bible: ESTC R215858; Wing (rev. ed.) B2308A; Herbert 758. Psalms: Not in ESTC, not in Wing. Binding as above, front joint cracked (sewing holding) with corners/edges rubbed; spine leather with small cracks and head chipped, small area darkened. BCP lacking A1, either a blank or a licence and much more likely an initial blank; title-page repaired at one corner. Elsewhere, one leaf with tear from outer margin, extending across one column without loss; page edges with occasional small smudges from fore-edge decorations; some faint spotting and foxing. Now housed in a café au lait morocco slipcase mistakenly giving 1630 as year of publication, based on misleading print impression on title-page.
A good and interesting book apart from its extraordinary binding, charming fore-edge treatment, and multi-generational provenance. (25925)
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Pickering & Whittingham's
SEVEN BCPs
Church of England. Book of Common Prayer. [Seven editions of the Book of Common Prayer, 1549–1844 ]. London: William Pickering (pr. by Whittingham), 1844. Folio (35.8 cm, 14"). 7 vols. I: [264] ff. II: [314] ff. III: [134] ff. IV: [130] ff. V: [142] ff. VI: [140] ff. VII: [154] ff.
$6500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Complete set of Pickering's handsome homages to important editions of the Book of Common Prayer, consisting of six early versions and one contemporary: Edward VI, 1549; Edward VI, 1552; Elizabeth, 1559; James I, 1604; Charles I, 1637 (for the use of the Church of Scotland, commonly called Archbishop Lauds); Charles II, 1662; and Victoria, 1844. The uniform black-letter printing was done by Charles Whittingham the younger, of the Chiswick Press, “distinguished for . . . tasteful design and excellent presswork” (Oxford DNB online).
Griffiths, Bibliography of the Book of Common Prayer, 1844/26–32; Gewirtz, But One Use, 62 (for Victoria, 1844 and discussion of others); Lowndes, 1945; Brunet, I, 1108. Publisher's quarter vellum and marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels, vellum variously dust-soiled and showing short cracks on some spines (rubbed through in small spots at the feet of two spines); boards and edges rubbed, a few spine labels with small chips or cracks, one volume with hinges (inside) reinforced, two volumes with
minor repairs to joints. Bookseller's small ticket on back pastedowns in two volumes; each title-page save one stamped in upper outer corner by a 19th-century collector as above. Occasional minor foxing only, as a rule, with greater spotting in one section of one volume only. Many signatures unopened. (24828)
What
to Wear, the
Duty
of Schoole-Masters, Divorce
Sentences, &
More
Church
of England. Constitutions and canons. 1603. English.
Constitutions and canons ecclesiasticall treated upon by the Bishop
of London, president of the convocation for the province of Canterbury, and
the rest of the bishops and clergy of the said province: And agreed upon with
the Kings Majesties licence in their synod begun at London, anno Dom. 1603,
and in the year of the reign of our soveraigne Lord James, by the grace of God,
King of England, France, and Ireland the first, and of Scotland the 37. And
now published for the due observation of them, by His Majesties authority under
the Great Seal of England. London: Pr. by John Norton, for Joyce Norton, and
Richard Whitaker, 1633. Small 4to. [60] ff.
$500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
A translation of Constitutiones sive canones ecclesiastici. Several editions give this publishing information and date; this is one of the few that seem actually to have been printed in 1633 as opposed to 1640 or later.
The Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical was an assemblage of rulings given equal force with the canon law, although the rulings themselves were not based on canon law.
STC (rev. ed.) 10076; ESTC S101555. Removed from a nonce volume. A very nice, clean copy with an array of marginal markings — Xs, asterisks, “vid.,” and the odd hand-with-pointing-finger. (21226)
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17TH-CENTURY BOOKS,
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Capturing an Age
One Biography at a Time
[Clarke]. The Georgian era: Memoirs of the most eminent persons, who have flourished in Great Britain, from the accession of George the First to the demise of George the Fourth. London: Vizetelly, Branston, & Co., 1832–34. 8vo (19.5 cm, 7.65"). 4 vols. I: Frontis., 582 pp.; 12 plts. II: Frontis., [2], 588 pp. III: Frontis., [2], 588 pp. IV: Frontis., 588 pp.
$450.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First
edition: Concise
yet entertainingly anecdote-laden biographies recounting the accomplishments
and characters (foibles and all) of the most prominent figures of the age: nobles,
churchmen, politicians, dissenters, military and naval officers, jurists, physicians,
voyagers and travelers, scientists, writers, economists, architects, artists
and musicians, etc.
All
the expectable princesses, duchesses, and countesses are present, along with
a handful of women represented in other categories — the preponderance
falling under the “Vocal Performers” and “Actors” headings.
The first volume is illustrated with
12
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)
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more BIOGRAPHIES, mostly 20th-Century
“General Reading” & Inexpensive, click
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Illustrated & Signed by
Françoise Gilot
Colette. Break of day. New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1983. 4to (27.9 cm, 11"). xiii, [1], 137, [5] pp.; three plates.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
This copy, no. 1496 of a limited edition of 2000, is
signed on the colophon page by Françoise Gilot, a longtime companion of Pablo Picasso and a great painter in her own right. She created the illustrations for this edition, which include
nine monochrome line drawings in-text(eight in blue, one in terra-cotta) printed at Wild Carrot Letterpress and
three full-page silk-screen multicolor plates printed at the Studio Heinrici, which show the influence of Matisse more than Picasso. Gilot also contributed a page of reflections on what it meant for her to illustrate this work. Her goal, she wrote, was more to “sustain a mood” than provide “visual commentary” — before adding, “Re-reading Colette is like falling in love all over again.”
The work was introduced by Robert Phelps and translated by Enid McLeod.
Gilot and Ben Shiff designed the work choosing 16-point Bembo with four points leading-space between the lines. The title on the title-page and half-title are printed in blue ink. The blue of the inside of the book is matched by the binding by Robert Burlen and Son, which is full deep-blue Chinese pongee silk, stamped in gold on the spine and front. On the whole, a very pleasing production!
The appropriate LEC newsletter is laid in.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 534. Binding as above, in publisher's blue-gray slipcase; silk very slightly rubbed on rear cover and spine, slipcase showing only minimal shelf wear. Text pristine. (30463)

“I am anxious you should do a writing portrait . . . ”
Cook, Eliza. A.L.s. (“Eliza”) to “My dear Sec.” London: 6 June 1860. 12mo (7.25" x. 4.5"). 1 p.
$275.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Cook (1818–89) was
a Chartist poet, author, and proponent of political and sexual freedom for women. She writes, “I am again here for a few days . . . and want to know if you can receive me on Friday about eleven. I am anxious you should do a writing portrait to see which will afford you most satisfaction. I will bring the proofs of the sonnet with me.”
Provenance: Residue of the stock of Seven Gables Bookshop (1930–79), via the son of Michael Papantonio (2009).
Very good condition. Tipped onto a slightly larger sheet. With the integral blank. (25726)
For
MANUSCRIPTS, click here.
A
Woman Dead
Yet
“Living”
Cox, Samuel Hanson. The dead are the living. A sermon preached on Lord's day afternoon, October 1, 1843, on occasion of the funeral of Mrs. Mary L., the wife of the Rev. Ward Stafford, A.M.[,] of this city. New-York: John F. Trow & Co., Printers, 1843. 8vo. 30 pp., [1 (blank)] f.
$25.00
A sermon and eulogy on the death of Mary Stafford “but a few years a wife . . . a disciple of Jesus Christ . . . an instructoress of youth.”
Good. Ex-historical society copy (rubber-stamps, "New Jersey Historical Society," on front cover and title-page). Pencil marks to front cover. Some chipping to front cover and first page. (290)
San
Francisco Cookery in
a
High-Flying
Era
Craig, John C., ed. The recipe
book of
Lillie
Hitchcock Coit. Introduction by Carol Hart Field. Berkeley,
CA: The Friends of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1998.
8vo. [2 (blank)], frontis., 5–65, [5 (3 blank)] pp.
$20.00
Number 44 in the Keepsakes series issued for its members by the Friends of the Bancroft Library. One of eighteen hundred copies in this edition. The original manuscript recipe book of Lillie Hitchcock Coit—whose life is recreated by Carol Hart Field in the introduction—was acquired by The Bancroft Library in 1995, and is here edited by John C. Craig and transcribed by Barbara Hoddy.
The recipes collected by Mrs. Coit reflect the “cosmopolitan character of San Francisco” during the 1870's and 1880's and show “the influence of the French, Spanish, Mexican, and English traditions in the cookery of the period.”
Illustrated with a frontispiece portrait and one additional illustration.
Paperback. Fine. (5461)

Too
Vicious & Offensive for its Time
Crane, Stephen. Maggie a girl of the streets. New York: Limited Editions Club, 1974. 8vo. 105, [3] pp.; 6 plts.
$100.00
Click the images for enlargements.
“First proper publication” of Crane's original unexpurgated, unrevised text, here with an introduction by Shirley Ann Grau and six full-page gravures printed by Photogravure and Color Company from copper etchings by Sigmund Abeles. The volume was designed by Abe Lerner and printed by A. Colish in Bell and Franklin Gothic on Curtis rag paper, and bound by Tapley-Rutter in quarter black goat and gray striped buckram.
This is numbered copy 972 of 2000 printed, signed at the colophon by the illustrator; the appropriate LEC newsletter and prospectus, in an unstamped and unmailed LEC envelope, are laid in.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 479; BAL 4068; Williams & Starrett 1. Binding as above, in original glassine dust wrapper and publisher's slipcase; binding very clean and fresh, wrapper with spine chipped, slipcase showing very minor shelfwear only. A nice copy. (30127)
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more LIMITED EDITIONS CLUB
books, click here.
Cruz,
Juana Inés de la, Sister.
Manuscript
Document Signed. In Spanish, on paper. Mexico City, 21 November
1692. Folio (31.3cm; 12.25"), 1 p. (in a larger document extending to 4 pp.)
$17,500.00
"The Tenth Muse" to the Anglo-American
audience is Anne Bradstreet, but throughout Spanish America and Spain, and in
goodly parts of Europe, that sobriquet is associated only with Sor Juana Inés
de la Cruz. Born in a small town in Mexico in 1651, she
learned to read Latin before she was six. Denied admission to the Royal University
in Mexico, she was to enter conventual life instead, develop a close friendship
with the great colonial Mexican polymath Sigüenza y Góngora (the
Cosmographer of New Spain), and write and publish the finest known poetry of
the Spanish colonial empire in the period to 1821, as well as some plays and
"Christmas carols."

In the year before her pen is silenced and less than three before she falls
victim to the plague while caring for her sick Sisters, Sor Juana
attests to a legal document concerning her convent’s economic investments.
She was the nunnery’s contadora (bookkeeper). By way of horribly
evocative contrast, opposite her signature on the facing page is that of Francisco
Aguiar y Seijas, Archbishop of Mexico, the misogynist who caused her to give
up her writing and quasi-secular ways.
Able to bully the most gifted member of his religious community only following
the return to Spain of her last viceregal patron and protector, the Marquis
de la Laguna, Aguiar y Seijas applied increasing pressure to Sor Juana and
the prioress of her Hieronymite convent. It took him from 1688 until 1693
to put “la decima Musa” “in her place.”
Documents signed by the polymath Sor Juana are very rare and highly sought
after; this one desirably shows the trust her Sisters placed in her.
The
pairing of her signature with her arch enemy's is chilling and visually impactful.
In very good condition.

A Triumph of 19th-Century MEXICAN Literature,
TYPOGRAPHY, ILLUSTRATION,
& BINDING
Cumplido,
Ignacio, ed. Presente amistoso
dedicado a las senoritas Mexicanas. [Mexico]: Ignacio Cumplido, [1850]. 8vo
(26.5 cm, 10.45"). Col. t.-p., iv, 435, [1] pp.; 20 plts.
$3000.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Mexican women's annual
for the year 1851, edited and published by one of the most noted Mexican publishers
of the 19th century: Ignacio Cumplido, a successful editor, printer, and typographer
known both for his collaborations with the major writers of the day and for
introducing new typefaces and techniques that he had gathered in his travels
in the U.S. and Europe. This attractive volume, an excellent example of Cumplido's
work as well as of the unidentified Mexican binder's, is additionally significant
for its intended female audience — something of a novelty for Mexican
publications at that time.
Sabin, while not listing the 1851 Presente, calls the 1847 issue (the
first appearance of the series) a “fine specimen of Mexican typography,”
and this example is most certainly likewise. Each page of text is contained
within an ornate border printed in blue, green, red, yellow, brown, or violet;
many pages have wood-engraved decorative initials or culs de lampe. The
edifying, morally uplifting stories and poems (with contributions from prominent
Mexican authors Félix María Escalante, Manuel Carpio, Francisco
Zarco, Marcos Arróniz, and others) are illustrated with a gallery of
daintily pretty girls in fashionable or archaic dress, stipple-engraved by various
hands (almost entirely British) and taken from previously printed British sources:
W.H. Mote after G. Brown, J. Thomson after F. Corbeaux, H.T. Ryall after F.
Stone, etc. The volume opens with an illuminated title-page incorporating the
names of the previously mentioned plate subjects, chromolithographed by Decaen.
Binding:
Contemporary deep reddish-brown sheep in imitation of morocco, exuberantly
flourished in gilt both as to both covers and the spine; front cover gilt
extra with arabesque and floral designs surrounding a vignette of a girl bearing
a basket of flowers on her head, spine with gilt-stamped title and similar
motifs, back cover with blind-tooled foliate decorations and gilt-stamped
arabesque motifs. All edges gilt.
This
binding is illustrated as “lamina XXVIII” in Manuel Romero de
Terreros' Encuadernaciones artisticas mexicanas, siglos XVI al XIX.
Palau 66293; Sabin 65337 (for 1847 & 1852 eds.).
Binding as above, mild rubbing overall, especially to spine; front joint just
starting from head. Hinges (inside) cracked across paper, with text block
starting to pull away. Pages gently age-toned, with some light foxing generally
to or around plates and a few corners crumpled. One plate with ragged outer
edge, not touching image. Silk bookmarker laid in; many guard leaves still
present. More solid than description might imply, and an all-around
remarkable, beautiful volume. (29091)
MEXICO
is one of our great specialties.
For our MEXICANA, click
here.

Virtue & Vice (But
Mostly Vice)
Defoe,
Daniel. Roxana the fortunate mistress or a history of the life
and vast variety of fortunes of Mademoiselle de Beleau, afterwards called the
Countess de Wintselheim in Germany being the person known by the name of Lady
Roxana in the time of Charles II. Avon, CT: The Limited Editions Club, 1976.
Folio (29.2 cm, 11.5"). xiv, 256, [2] pp.; illus.
$125.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Defoe's tale of the “queen of courtesans,” as the Limited
Editions Club describes the fair adventuress, here introduced by James Runcieman
Sutherland. Adrian Wilson designed this volume, using Bembo type along with
Goudy Ornate, and Bernd Kroeber illustrated it with
12
full-page two-color woodcuts (in three different color schemes
reflecting the stages of Roxana's life) and
14
black-and-white cuts; it was printed — with the illustrations
done from the original blocks — at the Stinehour
Press and bound by the Tapley-Rutter
Company in scarlet linen stamped with heart and sword motif in white, with white
vellum-finish linen shelfback stamped in scarlet and gilt. This is numbered
copy 1265 of 2000 printed, and
signed
at the colophon by the artist; the appropriate LEC newsletter
and descriptive sheet in the original (unlabelled and unstamped) envelope are
laid in.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions
Club, 498. Binding as above, in original glassine wrapper and slipcase;
binding and wrapper all but unworn, slipcase spine label wrinkling very slightly.
A gorgeous, fresh, clean copy. (30640)

Brave Enough to Tell?
Deland, Margaret. The hands of Esau. New York & London: Harper & Brothers, 1914. 8vo. 85, [1] pp.; 2 plts.
$47.50
Click the images for enlargements.
First book-form edition: A budding romance is threatened by the young man's possibly tainted heredity, and whether or not the secret will be kept. A contemporary critic called this “a volume small in size but large in thought-provoking qualities” (Boston Transcript). Originally serialized in Woman's Home Companion, the work is here illustrated with two black-and-white plates featuring the very modish heroine, by an unknown hand.
Binding: Publisher's green cloth, front cover pictorially stamped in white, red, and gilt; spine with gilt-stamped title.
Binding as above; dust jacket lacking, minor rubbing to extremities, back cover with crease in cloth (not board). Front pastedown with private collector's bookplate dated [19]15. A nice copy! (28612)

A Leading Light of
17th-Century
French Poetry
An Elegant Retrospective Edition
Deshoulières, Antoinette. Poésies de Madame Deshoulières. Paris: Chez Lemoine (pr. by J.L. Bellemain), 1826. 16mo (10.4 cm, 4.1"). viii, [5]–156 pp.
$100.00
Click the images for enlargement.
Sole edition thus, a petite rendition from the “Bibliothèque en Miniature” series: Miscellaneous poems by the socialite, philosopher, and belle-lettrist once acclaimed as the French Calliope.
Binding: Contemporary green calf framed in gilt single fillet, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations, board edges with gilt rolls at corners. All edges marbled. Red silk bookmark present and intact.
Binding as above, corners bumped, spine sunned (not unattractively), joints and spine extremities slightly rubbed. Pages clean. An appealing
little collection of highlights from a once-adored salonnière. (29943)
For
LITERATURE, click here.

Who
Wrote the
Book
of Mormon?
Dickinson, Ellen E. New light on Mormonism. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1885. 8vo. [8], [11]–272, 16 pp.
$100.00
First edition. An exposé related to the Rev. Solomon Spaulding, whose “The Manuscript Found” is claimed by some to be the source of the Book of Mormon. With an introduction by Thurlow Reed. Publisher's catalogue in the back.
Beyond matters of authorship, there is quite a lot of general Mormon history here, including a good deal on polygamy; the perspective is not friendly.
Provenance: From the libraries of the Rev. C. C. Bitting and Crozer Theological Seminary.
Flake & Draper 2832. Publisher's green cloth, spine chipped at head and foot. Title-page separated from binding, but present; shallow chipping along edges. Short closed tears to top edge of pp. 29–32 and 103–106 and outer edge of one page chipped; several page corners chipped/creased. Ex-library with bookplate, card and pocket, pressure-stamp on title-page, inked numeral, penciled notation, two rubber-stamps. A few penciled check-marks. (24434)
For
more of MORMON/LDS INTEREST,
click here.
Dickinson, Emily. Letters of Emily Dickinson. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, [1931]. 8vo (22.4 cm, 8.75"). xxxi, [1] pp. [1] f., 457, [1 (blank)] pp.; 19 plts (incl. frontis.).
$100.00
Second edition, third printing: edited by Mabel Loomis Todd, this is illustrated with photographs of persons mentioned and specimens of Emily Dickinson’s autograph. BAL 4685. Handsome green publisher’s cloth; front cover gilt-stamped with title at top and Indian Pipes in lower right corner: corners rubbed with a little loss of cloth. Some very shallow chipping on corners, and traces of soiling on edges and endpapers. An attractive book.

“WOMEN'S THEATER” — San Francisco 1923
Dramatic-Musical
Society of San Francisco. [drop-title] The Dramatic-Musical
Society of San Francisco. Seventh performance of the 19221923 season.
Friday, April 20, 1923 at 2:30 o'clock. San Francisco: Dramatic Musical Society,
1923. 8vo. [1] f. (verso blank).
$75.00
Program and cast of characters for “The Knave of Hearts” by Louise Saunders and “The Unseen” by Alice Gerstenberg, two plays by women dramatists with all-female casts.
Fine. (19234)
For
THEATER/THEATRE,
click here.

New
Homes, New
Hearts
Duncan, Norman. The suitable child. New York:
Fleming H. Revell Co., 1909. 4to. Frontis., 96 pp.; 4 plts.
$45.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: Two intertwined stories of learning to love
again after loss, set at Christmas-time aboard the westbound express train from
Winnipeg. Written by a Canadian-born journalist, this sentimental tale (meant
for grownups who love children rather than the children themselves) is here
illustrated with a frontispiece and four plates by Elizabeth Shippen Green,
mounted on green paper, with additional in-text decorations done by Harold J.
Turner and printed in green.
Binding:
Publisher's sage green paper–covered sides with dark green cloth shelfback,
front cover with decorative title and train vignette both stamped in gilt
and dark green, spine with gilt-stamped title. Top edge gilt, outer edge deckle.
Binding as above; edges, joints, and extremities rubbed, front cover mottled. Front pastedown with inked ownership inscription. Pages and plates clean. (29126)
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