•  Softbound exhibition catalogue, on good paper. Worn but intact.

Click the image to the left or right
for an enlargement.

The Selectae dissertationes mexicanae was planned as a three-volume work but only this volume was published, the other two having been left in manuscript. It was printed by the widow Hogal, who continued to maintain the high standards of printing that she established with her husband; more than one bibliographer has compared the Hogal output favorably with that of the best European contemporaries. The title-page is in black and red with the text in double-column format in roman and italic, and the whole has decent margins. The volume was intended as a university level text for the study of certain theological concepts.

Provenance:   Marca de fuego on top and bottom edges of the closed volume of the “Convento Grande de Nuestra Señora de la Merced” in Mexico City.

Very uncommon. We trace only one copy in the U.S., at the University of Texas.

•  Medina, Mexico, 3763 Palau 78637; Beristain, I, 216–21. Contemporary limp vellum with remnants of button and loop ties. Marca de fuego as noted previously. Some worming into text on pages 361–94, costing letters but not impairing sense.

A preface to another volume in this series notes that “by means of some new literary connexions in america, we shall possess peculiar advantages in presenting to our Readers, accounts of the most interesting circumstances belonging to the United States”—and it was an American reader, in fact, who owned the present example.

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; marbled paper–covered boards much chipped and worn, with joints cracking and large portions of spine leather lost or worn down; sewing going, with some leaves separated. Some signatures uncut; page edges untrimmed and in some cases browned. Occasional edge chips. Volume now housed in a simple, acid-free phase box.

•  Venus: ESTC T73277; Ode: ESTC T41985 (first ed.). Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper label. Second work lacking half-title and title-page. Inner margins of two leaves reinforced; last line of advertising page shaved. Title-page and last few leaves with moderate foxing; one page (not the title) stamped by a now-defunct institution, with some offsetting to opposing page.

For CLOTHING/DRESS/
FASHION,  click here.

Click the image to the left
for an enlargement.

•  Written in a small notarial hand and slightly difficult to read. All edges tattered with some loss of paper and of an occasional word or end of word, not impairing sense.

•  Palau 81595. Removed from a nonce volume. Small inked numeral in upper margin. Some light waterstaining; two leaves with outer edges untrimmed and ragged.

•  Very Good. Sewn; in original printed wrappers. A little staining on the very top edge of the front wrapper and first two leaves. (788)

•  Brown, Culinary Americana, 4125.   Publisher's beige wrappers, printed in red and black, with original hanging loop intact; a few tiny spots of faint staining to wrappers. Pages clean.  (22193)

The collection, which was later printed under the title Oasis; or Golden Leaves of Friendship, opens with a hand-colored floral frontispiece; the title-page gives the editor’s name as “Fergurson.” The front free endpaper bears an early inked gift inscription, and a coupon printed in 1854 for 100 expressions of “sincere homage & never failing devotion of an affectionate heart” is laid in, although the space for the recipient’s name has been left blank.

•  Faxon 857 & 58 (for first & second eds.). Publisher’s brown cloth, covers and spine gilt-stamped with arabesque and foliate motifs; corners and spine extremities lightly rubbed, gilt (attractively) oxidized in some portions. All edges gilt. Front free endpaper with early inked gift inscription. Pages faintly age-toned, two pages with offsetting from now-absent item.

•  Written in a very clear hand, with the paper and wax seal below the king’s signature (wax desicated and paper loose, but present). Two blank leaves at end. Very good condition.

•  Sternick 496.4 (describing binding as red).   Publisher's blind-stamped green textured cloth, spines gilt extra; bindings fresh and clean. Eight vols. of 12 present. Each volume with inked ownership inscription dated 1863 on front free endpaper. Pages slightly age-toned with occasional faint offsetting from illustrations, generally clean. A beautiful set, virtually as new.  (24423)

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

The binding is full blue linen stamped in gold on the spine and front cover, with additional ornamentation to both covers in deep pink. Top edges are gilt, others deckle; one leaf is left unopened.

•  Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 49.   Binding as above; spine sunned and with thumbnail sized dark patch at head and foot. Some cracking along the top edges and spine of the slipcase, which is still sturdy; spine of case sunned, paper label a little soiled. Pages clean; no ownership markings or labels. A very good, clean copy.  (22313)

•  Palau 290780. Recent quarter red morocco over red cloth, spine gilt extra, red marbled endpapers, and top edge red. Clean, attractive interior.

•  Bitting 166–67; Cagle, A Matter of Taste, 691 (for fourth ed.). Contemporary mottled sheep, recently rebacked in complementary fashion, preserving the original gilt-stamped leather spine label; sides and edges worn, with abrasions. Title-page with stray small ink markings; half-title and title-page with outer edges darkened. A few leaves with spots of light staining; two lower corners torn away, and a number of others dog-eared. Pages mostly clean — this is overall an attractive copy.

The statutes cover all aspects of the scholars’ lives, from the process of presidential election to rules regarding confession, from meal schedules and the recitation of the Hours to whether or not scholars might keep either weapons or women within the college (no).

These rules and regulations are completely spelled out in the facsimile volume of this set, where the text of the original Latin, written out in a Gothic hybrida textualis with red rubrics, is reproduced. The 80 miniatures are in full color illuminated with gilt. These show both religious scenes and illustrations of the college rules (a woman with a small child points to the college door under the rubric "mulierum in domo sapie prohibita." "Women not ever allowed in the house!") The initials are elaborate, decorated with geometric and anthropomorphic motifs. The second volume offers a biography of Kerer, a history of the College, and a transcript of the Latin text with a detailed synopsis of its contents in English as translated by Josef Hermann Beckmann. Another issue of this edition gives the translation into German.

The two volumes were wrought in celebration of the University of Freiburg’s 500th anniversary.

•  Vol. I, the facsimile: publisher's binding of paper imitating vellum over boards (hard back). Front cover embossed with the College coat of arms. Flat spine with title and date. Vol. II, the commentary, transcription, and translation: publisher's paper covers (soft back). Front cover also embossed with coat of arms. Flat spine with title and date. Both volumes in one slipcase. Very good condition.

Click the image to the left
for an enlargement.

•  Sewn. Some edges ragged; worming to upper margins of last few leaves, touching two letters.

Binding: Half red morocco over marbled paper; spine amply gilt. Marbled endpapers. All edges marbled.

Provenance: Armorial bookplate of B.M. Fox-Watkins on front pastedown.

•  On Fry, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, XX, 294–96. Binding as above. Some rubbing to joints and edges of covers. Some moderate to light foxing, including on plates.