Recent Acquisitions
April 30th, 2024
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A note on OCLC
As is now the norm, OCLC counts are tentative, at best, as we recognize that searches using different qualifiers will often turn up different results. Searches are now further complicated by the vast numbers of digital, microfilm, and even print-on-demand copies, which have polluted the database considerably, making it difficult, without numerous phone calls or emails, to determine the actual number of tangible copies. Hence, even though the counts herein have been recently checked, most all should be taken as a measure of approximation.
1. The guards. A novel ... In three volumes. London: T. Cleric Smith, St. James’s Street, 1827.
$750
First edition, 3 volumes, 12mo, pp. [4], 261, [1]; [4], 259, [1]; [2], 266, [4] ads; the first leaf of ads is bound in after the title page in volume III; original blue paper-covered boatds, cream paper shelfbacks, printed paper labels on spines; very good.
Ownership signature of Eliza M Geough (possibly M'Geough, or McGeough) at the top of each title page. On the upper cover of volume I is the octagonal bookseller's ticket of "Martin Keene & Son, Bookseller & Stationer, No. 6 College Green, Dublin."
Wolff 7478, noting half-titles in just the first two volumes (as here), and also noting one leaf of ads at the back of volume III, where there should be two (as here).
2. Grand steeple chase run at Hogs Norton exemplified in six plates. By J. B. N.p.: printed by C. Hullmandel, n.d., [ca. 1832].
$2,500
Folio (approx. 15" x 11"), consisting of 6 unnumbered leaves each with a mounted lithograph after "J.B."; without text, and contained in the original printed brown wrapper bearing a presentation at the top of the front wrapper to "The Revd. Wm. J. Moore with the author's complts." Also, with an original pen & ink drawing at the bottom of the wrapper of a hog steeplechase, signed "B.J." and dated 1832. (Is it possible "B.J." is the same as "J.B."?). Spine split, chips at edges of wrappers, short breaks in the foremargins of the lithographs, stitching loosening, but in all, a good copy.
A satiric depiction of hogs steeple chasing — an amateur laugh at field sports. The plates are adaptations of Henry Alken's series on steeple chasing, and include Alken's captions, although the horses are here represented by pigs and the jockeys as apes.
Charles Joseph Hullmandel (1789-1850) was among the first successful lithographers in Britain. "He published a translation of Raucourt's Manual of Lithography, and in 1824 prepared his Art of Drawing on Stone, giving a full explanation of the various styles. His practice and study resulted in the discovery of a new mode of preparing the stones, and in 1827 he issued a pamphlet On some important Improvements in Lithographic Printing, with illustrations to prove that he could retouch the stones, a point in which his process had been inferior to others. It was followed by another, On some further Improvements, &c. in 1829" (Oxford DNB).
Virginia only in OCLC. Not in Abbey, Life.
3. Six weeks at Long’s. By a late resident. Third edition. In three volumes. London: printed for the Author; and sold by all booksellers. [B. Clarke, printer, Well-Street, London], 1817.
$750
3 volumes, 12mo, pp. xii, 230; [2], 228; [2], 222, [2] ads; original blue paper-covered boards, brown paper shelfback, printed paper labels on spines; lightly rubbed and slightly chipped at the joints; very good and sound. Bookplate of Anne and F. G. Renier.
This third edition was published the same year as the first, and here is without half-titles (as issued). On the upper cover of volume I is the octagonal bookseller's ticket of C. P. Archer, Bookseller & Stationer, 34 Dame St., Dublin.
Wolff 319: "Literary figures such as Byron, Wordsworth and Southey were introduced into the story under feigned names."
4. [Bonaparte, Napoleon.] The oraculum; or book of fate: consulted by Napoleon Bonaparte, who considered it as his greatest treasure, being in the habit of referring to it on all momentous occasions, ever finding its revelations the truest insight into futurity. Price sixpence. London: published by A. Park, 47, Leonard Street, Finsbury, n.d., [ca. 1840s].
$250
At the head of the title: "Park’s edition." 5¼" x 3½", pp. 36; inserted hand-colored lithograph vignette title page and hand-colored folding lithograph frontispiece; fine copy in original printed blue wrappers. Bookplate of Anne and F. G. Renier.
The oraculum; or book of fate is a collection of oracles and divinations that are said to have been used by Napoleon himself to make important decisions and predict the future. Archibald Alexander Park was operating from this address in Finsbury from 1828-1863. His brother, also A[rthur] Park, apparently operated out of the same address.
5. On the beauties, harmonies, and sublimities of nature: with occasional remarks on the laws, customs, manners, and opinions of various nations. Second edition. In four volumes. London: G. and W. B. Whittaker, Ave-Maria Lane, 1823.
$675
Second edition, 4 volumes, 8vo, original blue-gray paper-covered boards, red paper shelfback, printed paper labels on spines; some chipping and staining, especially on the spine of volume I, but on the whole a very good, sound, and attractive set. Bookseller's ticket of "Cowing / Bookseller, printer and stationer / Barnet" on the front pastedown of each volume.
Bucke (1781-1846) was a dramatist and miscellaneous writer, who published this book anonymously in 1813 in 2 volumes under the title The Philosophy of Nature. At his death he left this title "improved and enlarged" in 20 manuscript volumes. He also published, among other dramatic words, a popular tragedy, The Italians, 1819, which went through at least 8 editions owing to the fact that Edmund Kean, with whom Bucke had a famous dispute, played the part of the principle character.
Lowndes, p. 304.
6. Celia in search of a husband. By a modern antique ... Second edition. London: printed at the Minerva-Press for A. K. Newman and Co. (Successors to Lane, Newman, and Co.) Leadenhall-Street, 1809.
$850
2 volumes, 8vo, pp. viii, 322, [2] Minerva ads; [4], 306, [2] different Minerva ads; original blue paper-covered boards, cream paper shelfback, original printed paper labels on spine; labels still legible but clearly worn, pieces missing at top and bottom of the spines; all else good and sound, or better.
Three editions of this novel were published in 1809. "Nothing is known of Medora Gordon Byron. She has been tentatively, but not conclusively, identified as Julia Maria Byron (1782–1858), a cousin of George Gordon Byron. There are two sets of novels which have been traditionally attributed to Medora Gordon Byron, five published under the name "Miss Byron" and three under the pseudonym "A Modern Antique." Both groups of novels were brought out by the notorious Minerva Press, a highly successful London publisher of Gothic, sensation, and other popular genres.
Susan Brown et al. writes that '[b]oth strings of fiction are exclamatory in style, interested in domesticity, and latterly in the unmarried (both men and women), given sometimes to commentary on novel-writing.' Some twenty-first century experts maintain that it is unlikely that the same person authored both series, but Caroline Franklin, the editor of the only modern edition of this author's work, considers Julia Byron to be "a distinct possibility" for the author of all eight novels ... The "Modern Antique" persona has been described as conservative and a moralist, yet also as the author of the "high-spirited and entertaining ... anti-Jacobin" Celia in Search of a Husband. The literary quality is not what interests recent scholars, however, but rather Byron's role as a professional woman writer, such as her use of "multiple authorial identities," a strategy she shared with Ann Hatton and Elizabeth Meeke, both of whom also published with Minerva" (Wikipedia).
Not in Sadleir or Wolff.
7. The second tour of Doctor Syntax, in search of consolation; a poem.. London: published by R. Ackermann, at the Repository of Arts, 101, Strand, 1820.
$2,000
First edition in the 8 original parts, 8vo, 24 hand-colored aquatints after Thomas Rowlandson, with all the advertisements called for by Abbey; original printed wrappers; back wrapper missing on part IV, other wrappers a little chipped and creased; light browning and occasional light marginal soiling; modern red morocco box, gilt lettering on spine. With the discreet (but shameful) small rubberstamp of Maxine and Joel Spitz inside the back wrappers at the bottom margin.
Rare in original parts. Plate 22 is in the later state with "Skimmington." Abbey notes: "Copies with the corrected reading (as here) cannot have been bound from parts." Yet, here it is.
Abbey, Life, 266; Tooley 428.
8. The water witch; or the skimmer of the seas. A tale ... In three volumes. London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, 1830.
$1,250
First British edition, following the very rare Dresden edition by about a month (only one recorded copy according to BAL, although OCLC records at least a dozen, and as of this date there are two other copies for sale on-line), and preceding the American edition (dated 1831) by at least a month; 3 volumes, 12mo, pp. viii, 321, [1], [2] ads; [2], 316; [2], 308; original gray paper-covered boards, purple muslin shelfback, printed paper labels on spines; spines sunned, labels yellowed, small chip at the top of the label on the first volume, but overall a very good copy. On the upper cover of each volume is the ownership signature of "Mr. Murray / of Simprin," and in ink on recto of front endpaper in volumes I and III: "Georgiana McMuir Mackenzie / Garry Cottage / 1856 / From Susan Popham."
Georgina Muir Mackenzie (1833–1874) was a British Balkan sympathizer, writer and traveler. Visiting spas in Austria-Hungary and Germany in 1858 she was arrested as a spy with her traveling companion, Paulina Irby "because they supposedly had 'pan-Slavistic tendencies ... They lodged an official complaint with the British Ambassador and this brought an apology of sorts from the relevant minister. They now had a purpose as they traveled in the Balkans investigating the conditions and both became supporters of Serbia and the southern Slavs as they saw their conditions under the perceived poor government by the Turkish rulers. They were particularly concerned by the plight of Orthodox women and girls who found they had poor access to positions and schooling. They published Across the Carpathians which explained how they had been arrested for spying ... a book that William Gladstone said was 'the best English book I have seen on Eastern matters'" (Wikipedia).
BAL 3846.
9. Patronage. London: J. .Johnson and Co. St. Paul’s Church-Yard, 1814.
$1,500
First edition, 4 volumes, 8vo, pp. [4], 418; [4], 431, [1]; [4], 402; [4], 389-[1]; half-titles in volumes II-IV and with the errata leaf in vol. IV as called for; original blue paper-covered boards, cream paper shelfbacks; spines partially perished, printed paper labels intact but lightly chipped and rubbed; hinges tender; a good copy at best; unrestored. Each volume contained in a cloth chemise and green cloth box with a green morocco cover lettered in gilt.
Early ownership signature of A. S. Were Clarke, 1814 in each volume.
Edgeworth began writing Patronage in 1809, and it is the longest of all her works. "As a book it is path-making; it was among the first novels with a thesis and as such, it opened the way for Sir Walter Scott's historical novels. In the novel, Edgeworth focuses on and scrupulously explores the various types of patronage and the many forms it takes in all strata of English society" (Wikipedia).
Sadleir 780; Slade 16a; Wolff 1993.
10. The American museum, or repository of ancient and modern fugitive pieces, &c. prose and poetical. For July 1787. Vol II. Numb. I. Philadelphia: printed by Mathew Carey, 1787.
$450
8vo, pp. 103, [1]; stitched, as issued; paper a bit toned, else very good. Ownership signature of Sarah Potts, November 3, 1791 on the title page. Three male Potts are in the subscriber list (Stacey, David and Joseph), but not Sarah.
Carey's American Museum was the most comprehensive American magazine of the eighteenth century, printing political tracts, foreign correspondence and news, poetry and prose. This issue is dedicated to the Marquis de La Fayette and includes a 7-page article "Remarks and Facts relative to the American Paper Money," by Benjamin Franklin, written in London, 1764; and several other articles on money and its relationship to the newly founded Republic; also, includes a letter from Thomas Jefferson to David Ramsey dated Paris, Oct. 27, 1786; and poems by Jonathan Trumbull, an account of a waterspout and an account of the life and death of Edward Drinker, purportedly by Benjamin Rush.
A lengthy list of subscribers includes George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Edmund Randolph, Timothy Pickering, William Bradford, John Dunlap, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and many other prominent names of the day..
11. Manuscript warrant signed, as Prince Regent: “for affixing the Great seal to the ratification of a Treaty between His majesty and The Grand Duke of Hesse, and of Three Separate and Secret Articles thereunto annexed — Addressed to Lord Eldon, Lord Chancellor. Palace of Carleton House: 9-Sep, 1816.
$500
Folio, pp. 26; seal affixed to the first leaf; signed by George IV on the first leaf; a few short splits in the gutter margins, but generally very good. Signed also by Castlereagh, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
Following the death of his father, George III, he served as King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover (1820-1830). Served as Prince Regent during his father's final mental illness from 1811 until his accession.
12. The Iliad of Homer, translated into English blank verse by the late William Cowper, Esq. The second edition, with copious alterations and notes, prepared for the press by the translator, and now published with a preface by his kinsman, J. Johnson, LL.B. chaplain to the Bishop of Peterborough. London: printed for J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard, 1802.
$1,250
Together with and uniformly bound with: The Odyssey of Homer, translated into English blank verse by the late William Cowper, Esq. With copious alterations and notes, prepared for the press by the translator, and now published with a preface by his kinsman, J. Johnson, LL.B. chaplain to the Bishop of Peterborough, London: J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard, 1802.
Four volumes, 8vo, original pink paper-covered boards, cream paper shelfback, printed paper labels on spine; spines a little sunned, boards with some smudges, a few small bumps and cracks, but generally a very good, sound set.
First published in London in 1791, and here substantially revised. "For editors and critics [this second edition] has never displaced the first edition of 1791, yet Cowper's revisions served to correct many of the flaws they diagnosed. It is argued that Cowper's increasing responsiveness to criticism by laymen and scholars alike was neither a symptom of his deteriorating mental state, as Robert Southey claimed, nor a mere expression of his desire to appease hostile reviewers, but rather an extension of the same collaborative modus operandi that helped him produce the translation in the first place. The lack of scholarly attention to the 1802 edition has, until now, prevented proper understanding of Cowper's achievement in translating the Homeric epics" (euppublishing[dot]com).
13. The adventures of Doctor Comicus of the frolics of fortune. A comic satirical poem for the squeamish & the queer, In twelve cantos, by a modern Syntax. London: printed for B. Blake, No. 15, Bell Yard, Temple Bar, [1815].
$950
First edition, 8vo, pp. [2], 269, [1]; inserted hand-colored frontispiece and title page and 13 hand-colored plates by Thomas Illman; original drab printed boards; upper hinge cracked, small spot on lower board. Contained in a modern green cloth box with a brown morocco label lettered in gilt on spine.
An imitation of The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque by William Combe and with illustrations by Thomas Rowlandson. Pages 1-64, the frontispiece, added title page and 3 plates were first issued ca. 1825 under title: Dr. Comicus or The Frolics of Fortune, with imprint of Jaques and Wright. This was the first part of a parts issue, which was never completed. "The publication then passed from the hands of Jacques & Wright to that of B. Blake and also of John Bennett under whose imprint the complete volume appeared. Copies of the first edition in book form do not bear the name of Jacques & Wright on the engraved title page or the letterpress title ... The plates numbered 2, 3, and 4 retain the original imprint and three other plates also carry the name of Jacques & Wright, but two only are signed by the engraver. From this it would appear that Blake and Bennett took over the printing and engraving at the publication of the first number" (Abbey).
Another edition was published in 1820 with only 12 colored plates. Reissued in 1828 by Jaques & Wright using the same sheets as the first edition but with their name and later date on the title.
Abbey, Life, 255; Tooley. no. 431: "This is the first of many imitations of Dr. Syntax."
14. Extracts from the journal of Marshal Soult, addressed to a friend: how obtained, and by whom translated is not a subset of enquiry. Newburyport: William B. Allen & Co., 1817.
$1,750
First edition, 12mo, pp. 143, [1]; original printed orange paper-covered boards; near fine. In nine instances in the text where a name has been given in asterisks, an early owner has filled in the name in full.
Knapp was a lawyer who practiced in New York and Boston, and whose chief literary output consisted mostly of historical and biographical works. As a biographer "he was laudatory and patriotic, but not trustworthy" (Kunitz & Haycraft). Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 1st Duke of Dalmatia, was a French general and statesman, named Marshal of the Empire in 1804 and often called Marshal Soult. Soult was one of only six officers in French history to receive the distinction of Marshal General of France. The Duke also served three times as President of the Council of Ministers, or Prime Minister of France.
Wright I, 1592; American Imprints 41208.
15. The confessions of J. Lackington, late bookseller at the temple of the muses, in a series of letters to a friend. To which are added two letters on the bad consequences of having daughters educated at boarding-schools. London: printed by Richard Edwards, Crane Court, Fleet Street, for the author; and sold by all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1804.
$300
First edition, 12mo, pp. viii, 212, [4] index and errata; original blue paper-covered boards, cream paper shelfback, printed paper labels on both the front board and (unusually) on the back board as well; front cover loose, spine largely perished; all else good or better.
Lackington (1746-1815) was a prosperous and innovative bookseller who "is credited with revolutionizing the British book trade ... He is best known for refusing credit at his shop which allowed him to reduce the price of books throughout his store. He printed catalogues of his stock; according to Lackington's biography, the first edition contained 12,000 titles. He bought whole libraries and published writers' manuscripts. He also saved remaindered books from destruction and resold them at bargain prices, firmly believing that books were the key to knowledge, reason and happiness and that everyone, no matter their economic background, social class or gender, had the right to access books at cheap prices" (Wikipedia).
16. [Law.] The posthumous works of Charles Fearne, Esquire, barrister at law. Consisting of a reading on the Statute of Inrolments, arguments in the singular case of General Stanwix, and a collection of cases and opinions. Selected from the author’s manuscripts by Thomas Mitchell Shadwell, of Gray’s-Inn, Esquire. London: printed by A. Strahan, law printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty; for J. Butterworth, Fleet-Street, 1797.
$425
First edition, 8vo, pp. ix, [15], 468, [12]; 16-p. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown catalogue dated March 1814 bound in at the back; largely unopened; original blue paper-covered boards, cream paper shelfback, manuscript titling on spine; light wear and minor defects; all else very good and sound.
Likely a remainder binding: the Longman ads at the end, corrected up to 1814, and the text block water-mark of 1794, suggest the volume may not have been bound in boards—until which time it remained in sheets — until 1814, since the Longman ads are bound in, not merely tipped in.
Charles Fearne (1742-1794) was an English jurist. When he died he left his wife and family in dire financial circumstances, and this book was published by subscription for their benefit.
17. Don Esteban; or, memoirs of a Spaniard. Written by himself. London: Henry Colburn, New Burlington Street, 1825.
$2,000
First edition of the author's first novel, 8vo, 3 volumes, pp. [4], x, 303, [1]; [4], iv, 267, [1]; [4], v, [1], 292, 4 (Colburn ads); original brown paper-covered boards, printed paper labels on spines; 2½" crack along the rear joint of the first volume; all else about fine throughout. Early ownership signature in each volume of "M. O'Hara."
Llanos Gutiérrez was the husband of Fanny Keats, John's sister. Wolff notes: "Perhaps there were half-titles in Volumes I and II. But the preservation of the advertisements at the end of Volume III leads me to doubt it." In our copy, all half-titles are present.
Not in Sadleir; Wolff 4163.
18. [Massachusetts.] Acts and laws, passed by the great and general court or assembly of His Majesty’s province of the Massachusetts-Bay, in New-England: begun and held at Boston, in the country of Suffolk, upon Wednesday the twenty-sixth day of May, 1773... [drop title]. Boston: printed by Richard Draper and Green and Russell, Printers to the Government, March 9, 1774.
$125
Folio, pp. 8; stitched, as issued; comprising pp. 509-516 of the Acts and Laws passed by the Great and General Court of Massachusetts; paper toned and with a vertical newspaper shadow on the first leaf; all else good, or better.
Seven laws enacted: 1) Supplying the Treasury with 3000 pounds; 2) An Act for the further provision of the Alewives Fishery in the Town of Bridgewater; 3) An Act to Prevent Neat Cattle, Horses, Sheep, Goats and Swine for going at large upon the Island of Chabequidick; 4) An Act to enable the Proprietors of Stow ... to tax and assess the Original Proprietors of said Town and their Heirs...; 5) An Act in addition to ... An Act in Adition [sic] to several Acts to prevent the Destruction of Salmon and other Fish in the Merrimack River; 6) An Act to Improve the Town of Dartmouth to regulate the taking of Fish within the Harbors and Coves of said Township; and, 7) An Act for Continuing an Act intitled, An Act for granting unto His Majesty several rates and duties of Import and Tonnage of Shipping.
Evans 13407
19. My life. By the author of "Stories of Waterloo," "Wild sports of the West," &c. &c. &c. In three volumes. London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, 1835.
$650
First edition, 3 volumes 12mo, pp. xvi, 288; [4], 300; [4], 340; original drab paper-covered boards, green muslin shelfback. printed paper labels on spines; some soiling to the boards, text and labels toned and occasionally spotted, ink scribble on the front free flyleaf in volume I; all else very good.
Maxwell (1792-1850) was an Irish novelist. His novels, O'Hara, (1825), and Stories from Waterloo (1834) started the school of rollicking military fiction, which culminated in the novels of Charles Lever. Maxwell also wrote a Life of the Duke of Wellington (1839–1841), and a History of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 (1845) - written in a spirit hostile to the rebels, and accompanied with similarly hostile illustrations by George Cruikshank. A later edition of My Life was retitled The Adventures of Captain Blake.
Sadleir 1680; Wolff 4669.
20. A new voyage to Italy. With curious observations on several other countries: as Germany; Switzerland; Geneva; Flanders, and Holland: together with useful instructions for those who will travel thither. In two volumes. The fifth edition, with large additions throughout the whole, and adorned with several new figures. London: printed for J. and J. Bonwick, C. Rivington, S. Birt, T. Osborne, E. Comyns. E. Wicksteed, C. Ward, and R. Chandler, and J. and R. Tonson, 1739.
$950
2 volumes in 4, 8vo, 30 engraved plates (including several folding) and an engraved folding table, woodcuts in the text, original blue paper-covered boards backed in roan with volume designation numbers on spines; some rubbing, the final leaves of vol. 1 part 1 (pp. 345 -348 - misprinted 448) misbound in the preface to vol. 1, slight paper discoloration throughout, with the bookplates of John and Michael Bury.
Famous travel account by the French writer and Paris parliament councilor Maximilian Masson (1650-1722). Masson left France in 1685, settled in England, and in 1687-88 he accompanied the brothers James and Charles of Ormond, grandsons of the Duke of Ormond, on their "Grand Tour", a journey through the countries of Central Europe that was considered obligatory for sons of the European nobility, which took travelers through Holland, Flanders, Germany and Switzerland all the way to Italy.
Masson's description of this journey and its various stops is today considered one of the most important and vivid travel books of the 18th century, especially as far as Italy is concerned. The following cities, among others, are described in detail: Rotterdam; Leyden; Amsterdam; Utrecht; Arnhem; Duisburg; Bonn; Andernach; Koblenz; Frankfurt; Mannheim; Heidelberg; Nuremberg; Munich; Innsbruck; Verona; Padua; Venice (very detailed); Naples; Castellana; Verona; Rome; Florence; Milan; Geneva; and Bern.
21. My cousin in the army: or, Johnny Newcome on the peace establishment. A poem. By a staff officer. . London: printed for J. Johnston, 98, Cheapside, 1822.
$1,400
First edition in the original eight parts, 8vo, pp. [4], 316; 16 hand-colored aquatint plates by Charles Williams, some after designs by I.R. Cruikshank; parts VII and VIII with wrappers replaced in drab paper, and these parts lacking their preliminary and terminal blank leaves; edges on the remaining parts curled and with small short tears; on the whole, very good, and rare thus. In a blue cloth chemise and blue morocco-backed slipcase. Bookplate of Robert H. and Donna L. Jackson.
The wrapper for part VI shows an erasure and re-inking on the roman numbering (in the top left corner of the front wrapper) suggesting this is a supplied wrapper that has been renumbered.
Title on Parts I - III: Johnny Newcome on the Peace Establishment. A Poem. By a Staff Officer. With numerous plates, from designs by Cruikshank, Rowlandson, Williams, and others. Part IV onward, the title is changed, and an explanatory note included, to the title adopted for the completed work - though with the reference to the plates retained.
Abbey, Life, 370.
22. The works of the right honourable Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, including her correspondence, poems, and essays. Published, by permission, from her genuine papers. The sixth edition. London: printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; John Murray; and Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, 1817.
$500
5 volumes, 8vo, engraved frontispiece portrait by Watson after Richardson; original drab paper-covered boards, printed paper labels on spines; labels a bit rubbed but generally a very good, sound set. Uncut, and largely unopened.
A commanding figure of the 18th century, Lady Montague evinced an admirable style with her intelligence, independence and sense of adventure. She defiantly noted the prevailing attitudes towards women: "There is no part of the world where our sex is treated with so much contempt as England" -- which is perhaps why she settled in Italy, choosing to live apart from her husband for a period of twenty-three years. She maintained "an undisputed supremacy as hostess in the intellectual society of London, and to her assemblies was, apparently for the first time, applied the now accepted epithet of 'blue-stocking'" (DNB).
23. Ayesha, the maid of Kars. By the author of “Zohrab,” “Haji Baba,” &c. London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street (successor to Henry Colburn), 1834.
$950
First edition, 3 volumes, 12mo, pp. vii, [1], 317, [1]; [2], 330; [2], 335, [1]; original brown paper-covered boards, printed paper labels on spines; upper joint of volume II cracked, light to moderate foxing throughout; all else approaching near fine.
Sadleir 1796; Wolff 4927.
24. The five nights of St. Albans. In three volumes. Edinburgh: William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and T. Cadell, Strand, London, 1829.
$750
First edition, 3 volumes, 8vo, pp. viii, 312; [4], 285, [1]; [4], 286; original drab paper-covered boards, carmine cloth shelfbacks, printed paper labels on spine; first volume cracked at p. viii, one label with a small chip out at the margin, spines a little sunned; all else very good. With the 1829 ownership signature of Frances Price, Rhiwlas, 1829" on the front pastedowns, and with the bookplate of R. J. Ll. Price, Rhiwlas Library, Bala, Merionethshire. On the top of each spine above the printed label is a diamond shaped (library reference) label, numbered "74" in ink.
William Mudford (1782-1848) was a British writer, essayist, translator of literary works and journalist. His short story "The Iron Shroud" was apparently a source for Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum." "His 1829 novel The Five Nights of St. Albans: A Romance of the Sixteenth Century received a good review from John Gibson Lockhart, an achievement which was considered a rare distinction. Mudford also published short fictional stories which were featured in periodicals such as Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Fraser's Magazine, and Bentley's Miscellany" (Wikipedia).
Not in Sadleir; Wolff 4972.
25. The profitable planter. A treatise on the theory and practice of plaint forest trees, in every description off soil and situation; more particularly on elevated sites, barren heaths, rocky soils, &c. including directions for the planting and management of permanent screens; with useful hints on shelter and ornament. Second edition, enlarged. Huddersfield: printed for the Author, and sold by J. Harding, 36, St. James’s-Street; J. White, Fleet-street; & J. Mawman Poultry London, 1808.
$850
8vo, pp. 222, [4] ads, 3, [1] ads; engraved frontispiece; labelled samples of four woods (Scotch Fir, Spruce Fir, Abel stained, and Larch stained) enclosed in blue paper, further wrapped in a folding envelope attached (inside) to rear pastedown, as issued; original pink paper-covered boards, printed green paper label on spine; some cracking along the joints. spine a bit sunned, boards bumped at corners and top and bottom edges; generally a good, sound copy, unrestored. Ownership signature at the top of the title page of "J. Melville." With 2 corrections in ink in the text: p. 163, two lines from bottom - “fine” altered to “fire”; p. 165, eight lines from the top, “and a half” inserted between “feet” and “distance" - possibly authorial.
First published in 1796 and here greatly expanded to include forest trees in general, and to argue the benefits of using British timber: "It will be observed, that though the present is called a second edition, it may be considered as nearly a new work; the former being chiefly devoted to the cultivation of Larch, and Scotch Fir; and hence, though most of the sentiments are retained, a regard to method, has rendered it necessary to write most of the work anew" (Advertisement, p. 6).
26. Harmonies of nature, by J. B. H. de Saint-Pierre; being a sequel to his studies of nature. With a portrait and a prefatory account of the author, and the work. By Louis Amé-Martin ... Translated by W. Meeston. London: Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, 47, Paternoster Row, [C. Baldwin, printer, New Bridge-street, London], 1815.
$750
First edition in English, 3 volumes, engraved portrait frontispiece, original chocolate-brown paper-covered boards, paper labels on spines; a few chips and cracks but largely a very good, sound set. In ink, on verso of each front free endpaper: El: Rose / Kilravock Castle 27th June / 1816.
Though she died in 1815, the signer is probably Elizabeth Rose, of the clan Rose, erstwhile owners of Kilvarock Castle.
Saint-Pierre (1737-1814) was the author of the often reprinted story Paul et Virginie (1789). In Harmonies, Saint-Pierre attempts to prove the existence of God based on the wonders of nature. "After Rousseau, and even more than Rousseau, Bernardin was in French literature the apostle of the return to nature, though both in him and in his immediate follower Chateaubriand there is still much mannerism and unreality" (EB-11).
27. A course of lectures on dramatic art and literature ... Translated from the original German by John Black. London: printed for Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, 47, Paternoster Row; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin., 1815.
$450
First edition in English, 2 volumes 8vo, pp. xv, [1], 391, [1]; iv, 390, [2] ads; original drab paper-covered boards neatly rebacked to match, and with recent but sympathetic printed paper labels on the spines; edges worn, but on the whole very good and sound.
Originally published as Über dramatische Kunst und Literatur (Heidleberg, 1809-11). August W. Schlegel (1767-1845) was a German essayist, critic, translator, philosopher, and poet. Although the philosophical dimension and profundity of his writings remain underrated, he is considered to be one of the founders of the German Romantic Movement—which he conceived of as a European movement—as well as one of the most prominent disseminators of its philosophical foundational ideas, not only in Germany but also abroad and, most notably, in Britain" (Encyclopedia of Philosophy).
"Schlegel accompanied Mme de Staël on travels in Germany, Italy, France, and Sweden, where he served in 1813–14 as press secretary to the crown prince Bernadotte. The series of important lectures Schlegel gave while in Vienna in 1808, published as Über dramatische Kunst und Literatur ... attack French Neoclassical theatre, praise Shakespeare, and exalt Romantic drama. These lectures were translated into many languages and helped spread fundamental Romantic ideas throughout Europe" (Encyclopedia Britannica).
28. Kenilworth; a romance. By the author of “Waverley,” Ivanhoe,” &c. Edinburgh: printed for Archibald Constable and Co.; and John Ballantyne, Edinburgh; and Hurst, Robinson, and Co., London, 1821.
$850
First edition, 8vo, 3 volumes, pp. [4], 320; [4], 339, [1]; [4], 348, [2] ads; original blue paper-covered boards, cream paper shelfback, printed paper labels on spines; spines and boards soiled; front joint cracked on volume I and rear joint cracked on volume III; all else good and sound. Leather bookplates of Estelle Doheny; contained in a quarter blue morocco slipcase with three gilt-decorated spines.
Line 4, p. 119 in volume II is in the second state, reading 'ere' for 'Here.'
Todd & Bowden 149Aa.
29. The lady of the lake, a poem ... Illustrated with engravings from paintings by Richard Cook. . London: published by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown & W. Miller; & J. Ballantyne & Co., Edinburgh, 1811.
$350
A suite of the 6 engraved illustrations and an engraved vignette title page which were sold separately to accompany the poem, each approx. 10" x 7", and contained in drab paper wrappers, stitching perished; the whole in a drab paper-covered binding with a large printed label on the upper cover; edges rubbed, overall soiling, all else very good, all with tissue guards intact. Without the 2 "advertisement slips" as noted by Todd & Bowden, the first "not seen" by them, and the second noted only in the Yale and Harvard copies. Present, however, is a leaf of ads of lately published works by Scott at the back which is not noted by Todd & Bowden.
The illustrations are advertised on the label as being for the quarto and the octavo editions of the poem, and for the octavo without the poem, as here - each with a separate price. The first fifteen editions of the poem were issued without plates but could have been extra-illustrated with these plates which were separately published. These plates were first announced on a slip tipped into the third edition of 1810.
Todd & Bowden 47Dab[3].
30. Poems, chiefly in the Scottish dialect. Edinburgh: printed for the author, by D. Willison; and sold by W. Creech and P. Hill, Edinburgh; and G. G. J. & J. Robinson, London, 1790.
$800
First edition, 8vo, pp. xxviii, [2], xv-xxvii, [2], 30-365, [1], 41 (glossary), [1]; engraved oval portrait frontispiece by Buego after Caldwall; original blue paper-covered boards, cream paper shelfback, manuscript titling on spine; a very nice copy, in a blue cloth folding box with black leather label lettered in gilt. With the ownership signatures on the title of Anne Brodie and Hugh Rose.
Contains a lengthy subscriber list and a dedicatory epistle to Charlotte Lennox (1709-1804), the Scottish author and critic, and the author The Female Quixote (1752). Shirrefs (1762-1807?), crippled, "abandoned the intention of following a learned profession, and began business in Aberdeen as a bookseller and bookbinder. In May 1787 he joined with others in starting the short-lived Aberdeen Chronicle (not to be confounded with the paper of the same name started in 1806), and became proprietor and joint editor of the Caledonian Magazine. The latter ceased in 1790, and he went to Edinburgh as a bookseller and printer. In 1798 he left for London, after which it is impossible to trace him. The date of his death is given as 1807, but this cannot be confirmed; and from his not appearing with his other brothers in the will of his first cousin Alexander, a Jamaica planter, who died in 1801, it might be inferred that he was dead before that date.
"Shirrefs corresponded with John Skinner and James Beattie; and Burns in the notes of his northern tour mentions having seen him, and describes him as ‘a little decrepit body with some abilities.’ He was best known as the author of Jamie and Bess, a pastoral five-act comedy, avowedly in imitation of Ramsay's Gentle Shepherd. It was performed in Aberdeen in 1787, and in Edinburgh, for the author's benefit, in 1796, when he appeared and sang his own song, ‘A cogie o' yill and a pickle aitmeal.’ Inglis (Dramatic Writers of Scotland) mentions a short piece, The Sons of Britannia, said to have been acted in Edinburgh in 1796, but it does not seem to have been printed. In 1790 Shirrefs published Poems, chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (Edinburgh, printed for the author), which contains his portrait by Beugo" (DNB).
31. Forget me not; a Christmas and New Year's present for 1826. London: R. Ackermann, 101 Strand, [1825].
$400
12mo, pp. [2], vii, [1], 386, [2] ads; 13 engraved plates (after Heath, Finden, and others) and a presentation plate; original green glazed paper-covered boards a little rubbed at the spine and with a few small cracks, and preserving the original cardboard sleeve with matching green glazed paper labels; sleeve with some soiling and cracking but overall a very good copy of a fragile book.
Includes contributions by Mary Russell Mitford, W. H. Harrison, and John Bowring. The Forget Me Not for 1823 was the first such annual published in England. "Mr. Ackermann was the father and originator in England of those elegant bijouteries of the festive season, the 'Annuals,' which was a spirited attempt to rival the numerous publications issued in France and Germany. It is well known that his successful attempt to furnish in the Forget Me Not, a worthy offering to an object of kindness and affection, has generated in this country a new class of elegant works" (Timperley, Dictionary of Printers and Printing, 1839).
Faxon, Literary Annuals and Gift Books, 1301.
32. [Songster.] The laughable songster and comic companion, being a prime collection of all the droll ditties, comic airs, and laughable songs, now singing in the metropolis. London: printed for Thomas Pegg, No. 111, Cheapside, 1812.
$250
12mo, pp. 36; stitching broken, removed from binding; very good. Ownership signature on the title page of "Eugene Field / 1887," and a pencil note on p. 9 at the song, "Paddy O'Brian."
Not found in OCLC.
33. De L’Allemagne, par Mme La Baronne de Staël Holstein. Paris: H. Nicolle, à la Libraire Stéréotype, Rue de Seine, N, 12. 1810. Ré-imprimé par John Murray, Albemarle-Street, Londres. [Volume II: De l’Imprimerie de R. Taylor et Co. Shoe-lane, Londres; volume III: De l’Imprimerie de Cox et Baylis, Great Queen-street, Lincoln’s Inn-fields, Londres], 1813.
$1,500
Second (i.e. first available) edition, 3 volumes, 8vo, pp. xxi, [3], 360; [6], 399, [1]; [8], 416; original blue paper-covered boards, brown paper shelfback, printed paper labels on spine; light cracking and wear but generally very good and sound. Ownership signature of "Cambusmore" on the title pages.
This is the first edition to reach the public of Madame de Staël's most important work which introduced German literature, especially the Romantic poets, to French readers, and greatly influenced French writers throughout the 19th century.
The book was first printed in Paris in 1810, but the entire edition, except for three proof copies ending with page 240 of the third volume was seized and destroyed on the orders of Napoleon who misunderstood it as a political work. In her preface to this London edition - the 'de facto' first edition - De Staël wrote about the fate of her book and her expulsion from France. She explains the circumstances of the suppression: although the text had already been submitted and passed after certain excisions, the minister of police had all 10,000 copies destroyed on the grounds that the book was "un-French."
Her impressions are based on two journeys through Germany in 1803-04 to Weimar and Berlin, and in 1807-08 to Munich and Vienna. The most important second part offers an almost complete literary history of the time of Goethe and Schiller, but the young romantic poets were especially close to her heart. No doubt she was influenced there by her travel companion August Wilhelm von Schlegel.
34. [Opera.] Varietate lectionis et perpetua adnotatione illustratus a Chr. Gottl. Heyne accedunt indices editio nouis curis emendata et aucta volumen primum [-sextum]. Lipsiae: Sumptibus Caspari Fritsch, 1800.
$1,500
Six volumes, thick 8vo, uncut and partially unopened in original blue-gray paper wrappers; small rectangular volume number labels at the tops of the spines; engraved frontispiece in volume I, engraved vignette title pages; beautifully illustrated throughout with a total of 204 engraved vignettes by Geyser after Fiorello; a few of the preliminaries in volume IV with a little worming; light occasional spotting, the spines variously with chips and cracks exposing cords; these thick, heavy volumes are in the most economic and hence most precarious of bindings, which have only survived, perhaps, because they remain unopened (and unused); nonetheless, the bindings remain reasonably sound given the nature of its preservation.
The work of the great German classical scholar, Christian Gottlieb Heyne 1729-1812 was first published 1767-75 and several times augmented and reprinted. "The Leipsic edition of 1800 is the last and most complete ... The first four volumes contain the regular works of Virgil; the fifth the 'Carmina Minora,' Life of Virgil, and an account of the MSS. and editions ... the sixth volume has two copious indexes, viz. Verborum, et Nominum, an index to the notes and commentaries, explanation of the plates and vignettes, and seven pages of 'supplenda et emendata.' It also contains many new excursus and emendations. This edition of 1800 is adorned with a great variety of vignettes ... designed by Fiorillo and engraved by Geyser; there is also a bust of Heyne. Some copies are struck off on fine writing and on vellum paper; the latter exhibit, in my opinion, the most beautiful production of a Latin classic that the German press has ever produced ... This admirable edition was printed at the expense of Caspar Fritsch, whose generosity and public spirit are highly extolled by Heyne "(Dibdin, Introduction to the Greek and Latin Classics, 4th edition, 1827).
Brunet V 1294-95; Dibdin, p. 559: Ebert 23738: "A masterpiece in an exegetical point of view, but less satisfactory as regards the critical part."
35. Walpoliana. Second edition. [Edited by John Pinkerton]. London: printed for R. Phillips, 71, St. Paul’s Church Yard, by T. Bensley, Bolt Court, Fleet Street, n.d., [1800?].
$500
2 volumes 12mo, pp. l, [2] ads, 140; 180, [20]; inserted engraved vignette title pages, folding facsimile; original blue paper-covered boards, cream paper shelfback, printed paper labels on spine; spines slightly soiled, else near fine.
"A transcript of [the] literary chit-chat" of Horace Walpole, with anecdotes, extracts from his letters, etc., and with a biographical sketch compiled by John Pinkerton.
Hazen, p. 145.
36. The little maid and the gentleman; or, we are seven. Embellished with engravings. York: printed by J. Kendrew, 23, Colliergate, [c. 1820].
$500
On the front wrapper: "Kendrew's edition." Chapbook, approx. 3¾" x 2½", pp. [16]; 14 wood engravings (including those on the wrappers), including 3 by Thomas Bewick; original pictorial yellow self-wrappers; fine.
Poem by William Wordsworth from Lyrical Ballads (1798). The poem was revised in 1815; this edition follows (with a few variants) the original version. In a letter to Frances Wrangham (June 5, 1808), Wordsworth comments on the chapbook trade and adds: "I have so much felt the influence of these straggling papers that I have many a time wished that I had talents to produce songs, poems, and little histories that might circulate among other good things in this way, supplanting partly the bad; flowers and useful herbs to take [the] place of weeds. Indeed, some of the poems which I have published were composed, not without a hope, that at some time or other they might answer this purpose."
OCLC finds copies at the University of York, Manchester, BL, Nottingham, Aberystwyth University, National Library of Scotland, and in the U.S., only the NYPL, although Chicago and North Carolina at Greensboro apparently have copies bound up with other similar chapbooks.
See Osborn I, p. 87.