ERNST, Max.
Five parts, 4to, with 182 photo-mechanical illustrations reproducing collages by Ernst; a fine set, in the original printed coloured paper wrappers (purple, green, red, blue and yellow respectively), spines sunned, card slipcase (worn and partly defective) with green illustrative cover label.First edition, no. 706 of 800 copies on papier Navarre from a total edition of 816.Une semaine de bonté is the most famous of Ernst's surrealist 'collage novels', composed entirely of recomposed images drawn from illustrations to nineteenth-century novels and scientific journals, with no easily discernible plot. Each of the seven 'days' in the 'week of kindess' is devoted to an element mud, water, fire, blood, blackness, sight, and the unknown and populated by mysterious figures, some with the heads of birds and beasts. Dark, humorous, erotic, often creepy, they seethe with repressed sexuality, violence, and anti-establishment feeling. In 'Monday' for example, the streets are stalked by the 'Lion of Belfort', while Tuesday features recurring images of drowning figures, and by the 'poemes visibles' of Friday the surrealism verges on abstraction. The work was originally planned in seven parts, but as it was less successful than hoped the final three days were issued together. Language: French
[COLETTE.] 'WILLY' [pseud. Henri GAUTHIER-VILLARS].
8vo, pp. 256; photographic illustrations throughout; a very good copy in contemporary red morocco-backed boards with marbled sides, spine lettered directly in gilt, ribbon place-marker, with the original halftone photographic wrappers bound in; contemporary postcard (140 x 90 mm) from Willy to 'Mon ami Pierrot' loosely inserted.First edition of these vignettes of bohemian life in fin-de-siècle Paris by author and critic Willy, illustrated by nearly one hundred photographs of the author himself, as well as Marcel Boulestin, Marcelle Rossat, and Colette's famous French bulldog, Toby-Chien.In 1893 Willy married Colette, the author of the renowned semi-autobiographical Claudine novels, published under Willy's name between 1900 and 1903; they separated in 1906. 'Willy the voyeur was a pioneer of what would become the "illustrated novel", publishing in 1904 a work that presented itself as a "modern" attempt to include in the novel many "photographic illustrations", in which the author himself can be recognized' (Kristeva, Colette (2004), p. 473, n. 74). Willy blurs the distinction between reality and imagination in these images, in which figures move beyond the confines of photographic borders, and through the character of Henry Maugis, both a figure who appears repeatedly in the Claudine novels and another of Gauthier-Villars's pseudonyms.His attempts at self-promotion in En Bombe ultimately rely upon the commercial success of Colette's novels; contemporary advertisements, likely authored by Willy himself, ask readers: 'Who hasn't read the Claudine books? Who doesn't want to get to know these enigmatic characters, portrayed by Willy with such wit and daring? En Bombe, with its 100 photographs, is not only a book, but an album: L'Album des Claudine' (cited in Bartl, Kraus, and Wimmer eds., Skandalautoren (2014), p. 444 trans.).A loosely inserted postcard bearing a photograph of Willy and Colette perhaps attests to Willy's reputation as something of a libertine. Here, he jokes with his friend and former secretary Pierre Varenne about his latest dalliance with a 'jolie Russe', adding that he wouldn't mind if her fiancé caught typhoid fever or cholera. Language: French
SAINT AULAIRE, Achille.
4to, pp. 54, [2 (table of contents)], with hand-coloured lithographic title and 24 hand-coloured lithographic plates by Roche; some woodcut vignettes within text; closed marginal tear to pp.41-42 and to blank leaf facing Japan plate (without loss), some foxing particularly at end, blue ink stain to blank leaf facing title (no offsetting); overall very good in brown morocco-backed boards, pebble-grained brown cloth sides with blind-blocked panels, spine gilt in compartments and lettered directly in gilt, white watered silk endleaves; some wear to endcaps and corners, light staining to fore-edges of covers.A hand-coloured copy of this scarce and charming juvenile guide to twenty-four countries across the globe. The plates are adapted from those first published in Paris by Aubert circa 1845 under the title Récréations instructives: voyage pittoresque à travers le monde (Gumuchian 5037). They are here brought up to date with information referencing events between 1862 and 1864, and are interleaved with fifty-six pages of accompanying letterpress text, not present in Aubert's edition. Each plate comprises several scenes depicting local costumes, customs, and scenery, with a textual summary at the foot. The countries and regions covered are France, England, Russia, Spain, Italy, Greece, Persia, Barbary, Australia, the Canary Islands, India, Indonesia, West Africa, Argentina, Switzerland, Turkey, Brazil, the United States, China, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Egypt, and New Zealand. Among the charming details are a French château and thatched cottage juxtaposed, English boxers squaring off, the Tower of London, ancient Persian sculptures, Aboriginal Australian body art, Hindu dancers, the Turkish Sultan, a Mississippi steamer, a Mexican temple, an Egyptian minaret, and a New Zealand canoe. A footnote to the US plate mentions the abolition of slavery in 1863, while the Italian plate refers to hostilities between France and Italy in 1864. The accompanying text summarises each country's population, geography, climate, industry and commerce, language and culture, government, religion, and national character, beginning, of course, with France: 'this beautiful land can rival the greatest nations of antiquity and modern times.' No copies traced in the UK. OCLC records two copies only in the US (UCLA, Yale). Language: French
MASON, Richard.
8vo, pp. 388, with frontispiece and 4 plates; woodcut illustrations printed in text; loosely inserted printed advertisement for peppermint lozenges from Chase & Co., Boston (MA); foxed, a few minor creases; contemporary tree-sheep, spine gilt-ruled in compartments, gilt red morocco lettering-piece, sewn two-up on 2 sunken cords; sunned and scuffed, cracks to spine; contemporary ink ownership inscription to front free endpaper, bookplate of John M. Schiff to upper pastedown.Fifth edition, the first to contain the 'earliest example of an American stud book printed in America' (Henderson). Though first printed in 1811, Mason's Pocket Farrier did not originally contain any form of stud-register; a stud-book solely for Virginia was added to the fourth edition, and the fifth was the first to include a stud-book for the whole of the United States, being the first publication to do so. The register includes prominent early American thoroughbreds, notably with entries for Sir Archy (1805 1833) and his imported sire Diomed (1777 1807). Not in Dingley; cf. Mellon 132 (fourth edition); Henderson, Early American Sport, p. 171.
[JEREMY, Henry.]
8vo, pp. viii, 111, [1 (blank)]; H8 a cancel; a very good copy, uncut in publisher's printed boards, sewn two-up on 2 sunken cords; stain to upper board and foxing to lower, splits to joints and spine, lightly rubbed and bumped at extremities.First edition of a manual on laws relating to horse ownership, transaction, and use, with details of the incidents by which case-law was established. Only one copy could be traced at auction (Swann, 1979). Mellon 123.
LAWSON, A.
8vo, pp. [4], viii, [5]-616, with engraved title, frontispiece, and 7 plates; lightly toned with very occasional spots, ink visible on frontispiece and engraved title from versos; contemporary sheep, upper board initialled 'JH' in blind, gilt red morocco lettering-piece to spine, marbled edges; boards very lightly rubbed and bumped, rebacked in calf, hinges strengthened with mull; extensive contemporary and subsequent manuscript recipes, 20th-century ink ownership stamps of J.M. Sayer.Early issue of an uncommon farriery manual, printed at Newcastle. First appearing in the early 1820s, this popular text was frequently reprinted throughout the decade, with a twenty-fifth edition recorded in 1842. All editions are now scarce, with only one copy dated 1822 recorded on Copac (at the Wellcome Library) and none recorded at auction (though an 1821 copy was sold by Sotheby's in 1969). The present copy is of additional interest for its manuscript veterinary recipes, written in several nineteenth-century hands. Cf. Dingley 392 (thirteenth edition, 1829); not in Mellon.
[YOUATT, William, and Isambard Kingdom BRUNEL.]
8vo, pp. vii, [1], 472; numerous wood-engraved illustrations in text by George Cruikshank; a very good copy, uncut in publisher's buckram boards, rebacked in cloth and subsequently reinforced with tape, later printed paper label to spine, sewn on 2 sunken cords; lightly bumped at corners, cloth a little bubbled; ticket of William Wilson of Edinburgh to upper pastedown, armorial bookplate of William Scott Kerr of Chatto.First edition of the first of Youatt's animal treatises. Established in practice with Delabere Blaine, William Youatt (1776-1847) was on similarly poor terms with the Veterinary College, leaving his mature studies there without a certificate. A leading reformer among veterinary surgeons of the 1820s, he opposed the College's focus solely on the horse and agreed in 1830 to write handbooks on various farm-animals for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, of which five titles would be published by the time of the author's death. Of these, the present work was the most successful, reaching at least seven editions by 1866. Keen to raise the status of veterinary medicine, Youatt was instrumental in developing the field as a university discipline. In 1828 he began lecturing to students at his practice, a rival to the Veterinary College, and from 1831 delivered lectures at London University (now University College). His work led to the foundation of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, incorporated by royal charter in 1844. The treatise on draught, though not acknowledged until later editions, is the work of the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859) and includes a passage on the efficiency of railways, as demonstrated on the horse-driven Surrey iron railway. Cf. Dingley 697 (1837 edition); not in Mellon.
[ANON.]
16mo, pp. [2], [7]-324, with steel-engraved title (dated 1844) and frontispiece; titles and frontispiece lightly foxed, very occasional spots; a very good copy in contemporary blind-blocked cloth, spine lettered directly in gilt, yellow endpapers; light sunning, slight bubbling, dust-staining; front free endpaper inscribed 'John Evans' Book, 1855?.Very scarce manual on farriery. 'This anonymous work consists of a digest of other authors and quotes liberally with acknowledgements from Clater, Richard Lawrence, White, Gibson, Feron, Blaine, Moorcroft, Wilkinson, Coleman, Goodwin, Clark, and The Veterinary College. The section Veterinary materia medica is abridged from the corresponding text by James White.' (Dingley). Copac finds only one copy in the UK, at the British Library. Another edition is recorded by Dingley, undated and published by Allman, and similarly held by only one institution. Only one copy, likely the other edition, could be traced at auction. Cf. Dingley 505; not in Mellon.
[BEWICK, Thomas?]
Engraved surfaces c. 50 × 60 mm, leaves c. 95-105 × 105-130 mm, laid paper, no watermarks; with a later leaf of similar size inscribed '26. Kings of England not all in their proper order / J[ane] Bewick', with the later notes 'Jupp Collection 1878' and 'Unique Set / Burnished from the Blocks not printed / E. P.'; all at one time affixed with a pin in the upper left corner, now loose.Twenty-six apparently unrecorded wood-engravings heads of the monarchs of England from William the Conqueror to George III these images taken by rubbing from the blocks rather than printing. The engravings bear strong similarity to the 26 which appear in An Abridgement of the History of England by Dr. Goldsmith with Heads by Bewick (London, 1803), of which Thomas Bewick apparently bought a copy on 20 April of that year: his account book records a 'Parcel / Goldsmith Hisy Engd / Grafton Piccy 4s d.' (A Provisional Checklist of the Library of Thomas Bewick, by David Gardner-Medwin, item 1, online).Though Hugo attributes the cuts in the Goldsmith Abridgement to Thomas Bewick, other bibliographers have been less certain. The 26 heads, plus several more (Stephen, Cromwell etc.), had earlier appeared in Characters of the Kings and Queens of England (Newbery, 1795), also with a title-page attribution to 'T. Bewick of Newcastle'; but 'The statement on TP that the "Heads" are by T. Bewick cannot be accepted. One hesitates to attribute them to his brother John, even to his workshop' (Roscoe). The subject matter is more in the realm of John, who had produced 36 heads for a Sketch of Universal History (1789, Tattersfield JB57) and another series of 32 for A Compendious History of England (1794, JB11).The images in the present set, 'burnished from the blocks', are larger and finer than those of 1795/1803, and are in an unbordered oblong format rather than in oval cartouches. The heads for Henry I, Henry II, Henry V, Edward IV, Edward VI, Elizabeth, Charles II, James II, and Anne are reversed (i.e. when actually pulled from the blocks they would be correct), while those for Richard I, Mary, and George III are different images entirely. Richard I and Henry VIII have splits in the block; Edward I is perhaps by an inferior hand. It is however unclear whether they precede the 1795 set (the presence of some details of dress not in the latter set might suggest this), or derive from them (perhaps as a workshop exercise?).The Bewick collection of Edward Basil Jupp was sold at Christie's on 25-7 February 1878, containing engravings, drawings and original woodblocks. Though the present set was not mentioned by name, lot 300 was a scrapbook of 420 engravings including 'Heads of the Kings of England' (sold for £2 10s. to Swinburne) and perhaps included them. 'Most of these Wood Engravings were purchased of Miss Jane Bewick by the late Mr. Jupp'; the present set, with its approbation in Jane's hand, presumably has the same origin. Jane, Thomas's daughter, dealt with much of Bewick's business affairs, was his literary executor, as well as the editor of his Memoirs, and along with her sisters, kept guard over a hoard of 'woodblocks, drawings, proofs and tools in the house at Gateshead' (Uglow, Nature's Engraver).
CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA (Titus Flavius CLEMENS).
Folio, pp.[viii], 252, [54]; large woodcut printer's device on title, woodcut initials, printed in two columns, running titles, printed shoulder notes; some light foxing and marginal fraying to title, some light marginal waterstaining to pp.35100; else a clean and fresh copy in contemporary limp vellum, some soiling, upper hinge split, ties perished; endguards of waste from two different fifteenth-century vellum manuscripts (one on canon law and the other a religious commentary); hundreds of contemporary marginal annotations in Latin with some Greek to the text and at the foot of the last page, consistent with the cancelled ownership inscription on title; ownership inscription 'P.Papillon' to title: very likely abbé Philibert Papillon (16661738), author of the study Bibliothèque des auteurs de Bourgogne; printed ex-libris of the abbey of Sainte-Marie La Pierre-qui-Vire, diocese of Sens, founded in 1850, to the front free endpaper.A thoroughly annotated copy of this early edition of the complete works of Clement of Alexandria, in the Latin translation of Gentian Hervet. Clement lived and wrote in the second and third centuries, one of the most important interpreters of Christianity within an established Greek philosophical culture. In the Protrepticus he invites Greeks to convert to Christianity, finely weaving theology with mythology and elements of mystery cults with which he was evidently familiar. The Pedagogus is a work of moral philosophy, illuminating Christian ethics and showing its essential harmonisation with elements of Greek ethics. The perceived moral corruption of the pagan world had been the main factor in Clement's own conversion, yet he draws much on Stoic philosophy and Greek pagan literature, quoting Homer more than sixty times. It is in this work that Clement champions equality of sexes, arguing that salvation is gifted to all humans with no distinction, asserting that Christ may not be described either as female or male, and championing women's participation in church leadership; his list of inspirational models includes both Biblical and Classical Greek figures. The more eclectic Stromata returns to the theme of Greek philosophy and its relationship with faith, considers asceticism and martyrdom, discusses the more literary books of the Bible. Our annotator is meticulous in studying, summarising, and commenting upon the whole of Clement's corpus, with special attention given to ethical and moral questions of right and wrong, of what amounts to a good life, of moderation and rectitude. His reading adds, as if in a mirror, a humanistic, Renaissance perspective to Clement's original plan: Clement grafted Christian values and worldview on to an essentially Greek culture; our reader-annotator grafts the values of Classical civilization on to an essentially Christian understanding of the world and of the role played in it by mankind. The references he makes are then transferred into the final index and the note at the foot of the last folio. Brunet II, 93; Pettegree, Walsby, & Wilkinson 62582; USTC 170075. Language: Latin
SENECA, Lucius Annaeus.
Folio, pp.[16], 690 (i.e.694), [18 (index)]; woodcut Froben device to title and Herwagen device to last page, initials; occasional toning, a few light marks; very good in contemporary blind-stamped pigskin over wooden boards, roll incorporating medallion portraits of Erasmus, Luther and Melanchthon (dated 1540), bevelled edges, two brass catches and clasps, four raised bands to spine; small loss to lower cover, some wear to corners and spine ends, rubbed; inscription to title 'Su[m] Lud.Carini an[n]o MDXLV', his marginalia and manicules to c.32pp.Second Erasmus edition of the moral essays and letters of Seneca, owned and annotated by Ludovicus Carinus (d.1569), friend and later foe of Erasmus himself. Erasmus's first edition of Seneca was published by Froben in 1515. This edition, jointly undertaken with Beatus Rhenanus, was much improved: 'The second edition is so greatly superior to the first, that it is said Erasmus would have willingly withdrawn his name from that of 1515' (Dibdin, An Introduction to Greek and Latin Classics). Carinus (or Kiel) first met Erasmus while studying at the University of Basel in 1514, and in 1522 he lived with the great Dutch humanist as his famulus. Erasmus commended Carinus as an exemplary young scholar and included him as a speaker in his 1523 colloquy Convivium poeticum. For reasons not entirely clear, the pair fell out in the summer of 1528, after which Erasmus referred to Carinus as 'the young viper he had carried in his bosom' (Contemporaries of Erasmus). When Carinus died in 1569 'he left a library which was purchased by a member of the Fugger family for six hundred florins' (ibid.). Carinus's annotations in this volume show that he was principally interested in De brevitate vitae, on the value of time and the wise use of it, considered one of Seneca's best essays, and in the three consolatory works De consolatione ad Polybium, ad Marciam, and ad Helviam matrem, in which Seneca consoles his mother from exile. Given his angry split with Erasmus it is also interesting to find two marginal notes by Carinus to Seneca's De ira. VD16 S-5759/S-5760. Somewhat confusingly this copy has the colophon of the 1537 reprint, although the text belongs to the 1529 edition since the errata are not corrected. Language: Latin
ORIBASIUS.
[bound after:]GALEN, Claudius. De sanitate tuenda, libri sex Thoma Linacro Anglo interprete. Paris, Claude Chevallon, 1538. Two works bound together, 8vo; Galen: ff.[xii] [of xvi, lacking title page and three preliminary leaves], 95, [1 (blank)]; Oribasius: ff.116; a very good copy; bound together in contemporary deer over boards, spine ends defective, abrasions to surface and extremities; Galen copiously annotated throughout in a contemporary hand, extensive contemporary annotations to front endpapers, ownership inscription to rear endleaf by a female owner 'Paola Rayna di ?Chissolo', dated 1738.First edition of this commentary on Hippocrates, bound with a richly annotated copy of Galen's works in the translation by Thomas Linacre. Oribasius's work, here edited by by Johannes Günther, who dedicated it to Francesco Vimercato, physician to Eleanor, Queen of France, preserves excerpts from older writers whose writings would have otherwise been lost, and has thus been extremely valuable to modern scholars. Among the preserved material is, for example, the earliest known description of a string figure, presented as the surgical sling Plinthios Brokhos by the Greek physician Heraklas. Ancient medical uses of cannabis are also described. The copy of Galen bound here, though lacking four preliminary leaves, is uniquely interesting by virtue of the very many contemporary annotations to the text. Arranged as marginalia and interlinear notes, there are comments of a medical nature that suggest practical knowledge on the subject, as well as connections, citations, re-formulations of some major medical questions, personal considerations, perhaps lecture notes, textual corrections, references (Dürer's De proportione, 1532; Martial), and French translations. Adams O-269; Bayle I, 81; Bruni-Celli, Bibl.Hippocratica 327; Choulant 122; Durling, NLM 16th cent., 3407; Renouard 217; Schreiber 103; Wellcome I, 4644: 'Les éditions anciennes des oeuvres d'Oribase sont fort rare'. Language: Latin
MARIN, Pieter.
8vo, pp. [16], 351, [1]; engraved title to first page; some toning to margins, a little light creasing; very good in contemporary Dutch vellum, spine in compartments with gilt green morocco lettering-piece and repeated device stamped in black; a few small marks; Gaddesden Library bookplate to front pastedown; occasional contemporary annotations comprising numbers.Fifth edition of this charming guide to the French and Dutch languages by the linguist and publisher Pieter Marin (d. 1718).After trudging through word lists, declensions, conjugations, and syntax, the student is rewarded for their perseverance with numerous dialogues in facing French and Dutch on themes such as dinner, fashion, school, business, travel, and love, filled with handy bilingual phrases such as 'I'm off to fly my pigeons' and 'Oh my angel, such a beautiful flame should be eternal'. There follow various model French letters, congratulating a friend on his marriage, consoling another on the death of his spouse, exhorting a son to apply himself to study, and so on, and the volume closes with several choice anecdotes and bons mots involving Frenchmen, Spaniards, Italians, Germans, musicians, peasants, soldiers, impoverished youths, Elizabeth I's jester, and Julius Caesar.OCLC finds only 1 copy of this edition, at ThüringerUniversitäts- undLandesbibliothekJena.
[TAXATION.]
8vo, pp. [2], 125, [1 (blank)]; a little creasing to fore-edges, a few small spots; a very good, clean, wide-margined copy, uncut and partly unopened, stab-stitched in contemporary plain wrappers; small loss to one corner, light marks and staining.Rare first edition of this anonymous work reviewing the existing system of taxation in France and making suggestions for its improvement, written on the eve of the French Revolution during the economic crisis that was one of its principal causes.OCLC records 2 copies in the US (Harvard and NYPL) and 1 in the UK (British Library).
[HOSPICE SAINT-NICOLAS, METZ.]
Single sheet (28.5 x 42cm); manuscript on parchment in French, 33 lines in brown ink in a fine notarial hand, the opening five words in larger script, attractive notarial mark in form of cross incorporating notary's name; some creases from folding, ink note in nineteenth-century hand to verso; very well preserved.An attractive document recording the grant of agricultural land in 1464 to the Hospice of Saint-Nicolas, the oldest hospital in Metz, in northeast France, issued during the reign of Louis XI and in the final year of the papacy of Pius II.Under the terms of the document, Jehan Werneson and Werry Roncel, 'chevallier citain de mets', grant forty-two parcels of oat fields ('quarentedeux quartes dauvoines') to the 'lospital saint nicolay en nuefbourg de mets', to be given in two parts, on the feasts of the nativity of St John the Baptist (24 June) and of St Remigius (1 October). The deed was witnessed by Burtalt Joffroy, merchant, and Jehan Petit, one of the town's thirteen jurors, and subscribed by the public notary Nicolas Jehan.Dating back to at least the eleventh century and devoted to the care of the poor, the Hospice Saint-Nicolas remained operational until 1986. Grants of agricultural land such as this were essential to its longevity. The hospital also benefitted from the right to sell the clothes of anyone who died in the town ('l'impôt des morts'), as long as it used some of the funds resulting therefrom to maintain the town's bridges.
LAWRENCE, Richard.
8vo, pp. [2], [v]-xxiv, 224, with 17 stipple-engraved plates (of which 13 folding) and 15 ff. explanatory text; perhaps without half-title; a little spotting to early leaves and plates, very short marginal tear to P8; a very good copy in contemporary half red straight-grained roan with non-pareil marbled sides, spine gilt in compartments and lettered directly in one, edges speckled red, sewn on 3 sunken cords; rubbed, spine lightly sunned, front free endpaper a little loose; armorial bookplate of Richard Brinsley Sheridan to upper pastedown.Second edition of the treatise on farriery and equine anatomy by Lawrence, one of the first students of the Veterinary College. A resident pupil from January 1793 and employed as a surgical assistant to the College's infirmary the following year, Lawrence complains of the still very much amateur nature of farriery in England, writing that 'the necessity of long study in anatomy, pathology, and the composition of drugs, to qualify a practitioner in medicine, is universally acknowledged, and as the horse exists by similar laws, and is subject to many of the diseases incident to mankind, it cannot require much penetration to discover that studies of the same nature must be absolutely requisite to constitute a good farrier it would seem that the science of farriery has been considered as a natural gift, and not in the least dependant on the tedious process of medical inquiry and investigation; for every blacksmith, groom, and stable boy, not only conceives himself, but is often believed by his employer to be fully competent to the important task of curing diseases, of the nature of which he is totally ignorant consonant to this was the practice of farriery, until the establishment of the Veterinary College took place the treatises written on the subject before that period, were found to be so fallacious in the description of diseases, as well as in the proportions of drugs prescribed, that it was judged necessary to begin de novo' (pp. viii-xi). Notable is his chapter On Progression, with observations on the motion of the horse which would later be confirmed by photography. From the library of the satirical playwright, poet, and politician Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816). Not in Dingley (cf. 390 for the first edition); not in Mellon; not in Dejager.
4to, pp. 127, [1 (blank)]; with half-title; a very good copy, uncut and largely unopened, in the original printed orange paper wrappers, front cover with a Pegasus vignette by Antoine Bourdelle; perforated stamp 'A M' or 'M A' to rear cover.First edition of a rare work of verse and prose poetry; a presentation copy from the author 'à son Eminence le Cardinal Mercier; hommage humble et respectueux d'un catholique italien; Paolo Giusti / Paris, Janvier 1938'. Giusti (born 1884, in Venice) wrote much of his poetry in Italian before translating it into French, but he nonetheless worked in strict rhyme schemes, attempting notoriously difficult translations of terza rima. His work bears more resemblance to Verlaine, or perhaps Swinburne in English, than to Mallarmé, but is nevertheless presented by Royère as working within the same school. As Royère's preface makes clear, the title is derived from an essay by Mallarmé, in which he deplores those who would relegate poetry to 'une magie à côté' [magic at the fringe of language], where it can be explained away. This preface, a forcefully-argued short work of criticism, argues for the unity of prose and poetry from Symbolist principles; in particular that rhythm should not be imposed upon a poem, but instead emerge from its verbal complexity, which it considers the 'crux of thought'.The publisher Albert Messein was editor and publisher to Verlaine, Baudelaire, and Mallarmé, and Magie formed part of the 'Collection Phalange' in connection with Jean Royère's literary revue of that name. Giusti had published a number of works in Milan (and one in St Louis, MO) before the present piece, including a translation of Wilde's An Ideal Husband (staged in Rome in 1918).OCLC records only two copies: Bibliothèque nationale de France and University of Ottawa. Not in Library Hub. Language: French
RUSH, John, and Jacob F. SHEEK (editor).
12mo in 6s, pp. [2 (blank)], xviii, 144; small stain to top-edge of later leaves; a very good copy in publisher's pebble-grained cloth, spine lettered in gilt; a little rubbed and lightly bumped.Later American edition of a rare hand-book to veterinary homoeopathy. The text, first published in 1853, offers homoeopathic remedies for a variety of ailments, prefaced by a defence of the principles of the practice. OCLC and Copac find no copies dated 1878, and few of any other edition. We could only trace one copy of any edition (Philadelphia 1858) at auction.
Two vols, 8vo, pp. I: [8], 404; II: [4], 536; pp. 439 and 491 mispaginated '339' and '391', both vols with half-titles; woodcut vignettes to title-pages by Tony Johannot; vol. I half-title lightly foxed, a very light dampstain to upper corners of vol. I (not touching text); otherwise a handsome set in twentieth-century gilt-ruled half morocco with blue marbled sides, raised bands, spine lettered directly in gilt, marbled endpapers, ribbon place-markers; spines sunned; modern pencil notes to endpapers.First edition, third issue, of Victor Hugo's great historical novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, one of 275 copies pri nted.Notre-Dame de Paris, Hugo's first full-length novel, was critical in cementing his reputation as one of France's most celebrated writers. The first edition was published on 16 March 1831 in an edition of 1100 copies all from the same sheets, divided into four issues of 275 copies each and arbitrarily classified by the publisher '[first]', 'second', 'third', and 'fourth' editions on their respective title-pages in an attempt to convince the public of the novel's runaway success. Hugo had agreed to write Notre-Dame de Paris in 1828, but little progress had been made by the summer of 1830, by which time Gosselin had already granted the author two extensions. Faced with the termination of his contract or a fine of 1000 francs per week should he fail to complete the work by February 1831, Hugo worked on the novel ceaselessly, allegedly locking away all his clothes save for a large shawl in an attempt to resist the allure of the outside world. He finished the work on 15 January 1831, mere weeks before the deadline set by Gosselin. Carteret I, 402 ('Cette edition originale, en bel état, est la plus rare de toutes les oeuvres de l'auteur [ ] c'est une des plus difficiles à se procurer de la période romantique'); Vicaire IV, cols 256-7. Language: French
NETTEN, Cornelis Anthonie Geisweit van der.
2 vols, 8vo, pp. I: [10], xxii, 247, [1 (blank)], 128, [8], 25, [1], [2 (blank)], II: [56], 334, [2], lxii, [2], [16]; with 7 folding tables and 16 plates (of which 14 folding); large paper-flaw to vol. I half-title, damp-stain to half-title and title; a very good set, uncut and partially unopened in publisher's blue printed wrappers, sewn on 2 tapes; ink stain to upper wrapper vol. I, spines sunned and cracked with a few small chips; ink shelf-marks to wrappers and vol. I half-title.First edition of the first part, second of the second, of a scarce Dutch treatise on horsemanship and farriery. Captured by the Prussians in the late 1780s, Cornelis Anthonie Geisweit van der Netten (1772-1847) served in the Austrian army against the Turks and in Belgium before returning to his native military, where he was placed in command of cavalry training in Delft and eventually achieved the rank of major general, publishing several works on equestrianism and military science. No copies could be traced at auction. Not in Dingley; not in Mellon.
Oblong 8vo (143 x 213 mm), ff.[36], comprising engraved title and 35 engraved plates (numbered 2-36), plate 2 signed 'S.le Clerc f.'; plate 16 bound before plate 12, plates 28 and 29 reversed, two small marginal tears to title, a few small marginal chips to final leaves, occasional light foxing; overall a very good, wide-margined copy in eighteenth-century red morocco, boards panelled in gilt, spine gilt in compartments, gilt board edges and turn-ins, gilt edges, combed marbled endpapers; small losses at head and foot of spine, some wear to joints, edges and corners, small abrasions to lower cover; armorial bookplate of 'John Somers Lord Somers' to upper pastedown (Franks 6257).Scarce later issue of this wonderful suite of engravings depicting the Passion of Christ by the noted engraver Sébastien Le Clerc (16371714), running from Christ's arrival in the Garden of Olives to the Holy Spirit descending upon the Apostles. Dedicated to Madame de Maintenon, wife of Louis XIV, the title-page bears her arms flanked by the female allegorical figures of Religion and Charity. The series that follows includes especially striking representations of the Agony in the Garden (4), Christ before Pilate (10), the Flagellation (14), Christ falling beneath the weight of the cross (19), His being nailed to the cross (21), His death upon the cross (27), His descent into Hell (28), the Entombment (31), and the Resurrection (32). Le Clerc taught perspective at the Académie des Beaux-Arts and served as engraver to the king. 'Few artists have produced as much work as Le Clerc and [he] treated every genre with an indisputable mastery' (Benezit). This series was first published by Audran in 1692, each image being without a border. Our later issue has ornamental borders in the style of picture frames, being all the same with the exception of plate 22. Provenance: John Somers-Cocks, Viscount Eastnor and second Earl Somers (17881852), soldier and politician who served as MP for Reigate and for Hereford. Brunet III, 915; Jombert, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre de Sebastien le Clerc 232. Language: French
[MIRACLE CURE.]
8vo, pp.12; woodcut headpiece depicting manufacture of the poudre; some spotting and browning; in contemporary marbled wrappers.Seemingly unrecorded pamphlet extolling the virtues of 'Swedish Powder', sold at the Hôtel du Grand-Cerf on the rue Saint-Denis for the treatment and prevention of several ailments, but especially for the 'most unfortunate symptoms of venereal disease'. The powder was the invention of a Swede, and was recommended to a gonorrhoea sufferer at the end of his tether, to be applied morning and night for a month to the gums. Acting as diuretic and purgative, the powder worked: 'le trente-deuxiéme jour il se trouva parfaitement rétabli'; and so the patient became an evangelist, recommending it to all his friends who were in less severe pain (because nobody could be in more severe pain and live). The pamphlet describes the powder ('un alcohol impalpable, d'une belle couleur de rose'), its effects, dosage, the diet a patient should follow while using it (no salad), and its many virtues, also giving the price and the guarantees of authenticity.Enquiries should be addressed to a M.Boileau, Surgeon at the Infirmary of the États-Généraux de Hollande.Not in OCLC or Library Hub. Language: French
Three 4to. typescripts. ff. [1], 62 with corrections in pencil and ink dated July 1950 (one printed addition tipped in); ff. [1], 68, [1], incorporating the earlier corrections and with further corrections and formatting notes; and ff. [9], comprising only the poetical extracts by Apollinaire; also with a loose design for an initial, a typescript leaf of 'Calibrage' dated 4 September 1950, explaining the proposed printing details, a sample printed bifolium of the first four pages of the work (in a variant text); and a corrected typescript leaf of promotional blurb for Apollinaire's Ombre de mon Amour (1947); loose in two original annotated folders. [Offered with:]ROUVEYRE, André, and Henri MATISSE. Apollinaire. Paris, Raisons d'Etre, 1952 [1953].Folio, pp. 86, [10], with two initial and two terminal blanks, a half-title, and a frontispiece, six lithograph plates, one lithograph tailpiece, and three linocut initials after designs by Matisse; bound preserving the original wrappers (also designed by Matisse) in black crushed morocco by Alix, panelled in yellow calf, matching slipcase.The original corrected typescripts of André Rouveyre's Apollinaire (1952), prepared in 1950 for submission to Louis Broder (though in the event Broder was not to publish the work); along with the first edition of the published text, #144 of 330 copies, illustrated by Matisse.Twenty-three years after Apollinaire's tragic early death in 1918, his mutual friends Rouveyre and Matisse, who had subsequently lost touch, crossed paths again and began an intense and rewarding friendship, exchanging some 1200 letters over the next decade or so, and collaborating on several publications including Rouveyre's novel Repli (1947). In September 1948, Rouveyre proposed a collaboration in tribute to their old friend Apollinaire, with text by Rouveyre to accompany six of Matisse's lithograph portraits of the poet. By early 1950 they had fixed on Louis Broder as the publisher and were discussing with him choices of paper, exchanging proofs, and debating the title. The earlier of Rouveyre's typescripts here shows three sets of corrections, coded by colour, and dated 5, 13 and 14 July 1950. The alterations are both typographic and substantive, ranging from word subsitutions to the insertion of several lengthy passages. Corrections are denser towards the end of the text, and Rouveyre seems to have struggled in particular with the closing paragraphs several versions with very different content are provided then struck through, none which eventually appeared in print. The second typescript represents a firmer form of the text (though again the end differs from the work as printed), with scattered corrections and instructions as to the design of the text. Included loose is tracing paper sample of a decorative initial 'U' or 'V' in a similar style to those provided by Matisse.The 'Calibrage', which describes this second typescript as the 'manuscrit définitif', proposes the illustrations comprise three large initials in red, three large headpieces and three tailpieces, and the six lithos; the print run would be 280, plus 20 hors commerce.If Broder had issued the publication, it would have been one of his earliest he went on to become a major publisher of artist books, working with Braque, Picasso, Miro, Eluard, Claudel etc. But there were inscreasing delays and financial conflicts during the summer of 1950, and by the autumn, even as the text was being set by Coulouma, Matisse and Rouveyre abandoned Broder as the publisher. In May 1951 they signed a new contract with Adda Gérard of 'Raisons d'Être', and printing was largely completed in April 1952, but the final product, with its screen-printed covers by Matisse, did not see the light until the following January.See Matisse-Rouveyre: Correspondance (2001), passim. Language: French
MYERS, Robin, Andrew BURNETT, and Renae SATTERLEY.
'I do not eat the bread of idleness' will be published on 20 November 2023. Pre-ordered copies will be despatched in advance.This volume brings together revised versions of four of Robin Myers's papers on aspects of Ducarel's life and work published between 1994 and 2002, and 'The Life and Times of the Ducarel Brothers', her recent introductory essay to Two Huguenot Brothers: Letters of Andrew and James Coltée Ducarel, 17321773 (The Garendon Press, 2019), which has been updated with a section by Adam Pollock on the life of the Ducarel children among other Huguenot families in Greenwich. It also contains new essays by Robin Myers on the collaboration and developing friendship between Ducarel and Philip Morant (17001770), historian of Essex, and on Doctors' Commons, an institution whose name most know but few understand. To complement these Renae Satterley, Librarian of the Middle Temple, contributes an essay on Doctors' Commons Library, and Andrew Burnett, former Keeper of Coins and Medals at the British Museum, on Ducarel as numismatist. The appendix comprises a family tree from Ducarel to the present day, an annotated list of works of Andrew Ducarel, a timeline of Ducarel's life, and bibliography. Penelope Bulloch, Christine Ferdinand, and Lorren Boniface helped to edit the work. Dr Andrew Coltée Ducarel (17131785) and his two younger brothers were brought to England in 1722 as infants by their widowed mother fleeing persecution for her faith. Ducarel became a civilian or advocate of Doctors' Commons, the Inn of Court specialising in Roman and Canon law which dealt with ecclesiastical law, marriage, divorce, and probate, and maritime law in the High Court of Admiralty. Ducarel made a good living as an advocate, which fully occupied him in term time, while his vacations were given to his work as Librarian of Lambeth Palace from 1754. He was an active member of the Society of Antiquaries, pioneered the study of Norman architecture, and was a keen book and coin collector. 'I do not eat the bread of idleness' has been designed by Robert Dalrymple. Consisting of 264 pages, measuring 285 x 170 mm., it is profusely illustrated with portraits, coins from Ducarel's collection, plates from works by Andrew Ducarel, and other contemporary prints sourced by Penelope Bulloch; it has attractive endpapers, sewn binding, rounded and backed and an eye-catching jacket. It is designed as a companion piece to Two Huguenot Brothers and will appeal to those who appreciate excellence in book production. 'I do not eat the bread of idleness' will be published on 20 November 2023. Pre-ordered copies will be despatched in advance. Language: English
4to, pp. [24], 24, [2], with woodcut royal arms of France to title-page; inner margin of title lightly soiled, two very faint waterstains throughout, final leaf mounted on a stub obscuring a few letters of the first word of each line; overall a very good copy in early nineteenth-century wrappers.Uncommon first edition of Balthasar de Vias's elegant neo-Latin elegy commemorating the life of his friend the scholar, antiquary, and collector Nicolas Claude Fabri de Peiresc (15801637) of Aix-en-Provence, the most learned man of his time; our copy contains the extremely rare 'Encomiasticon' bound in on a separate printed sheet.Balthasar de Vias (15871667) was a noted neo-Latin poet. He published his first collection of verse, dedicated to Henry IV, at the age of nineteen; impressed by his poetic prowess, Urban VIII attempted in vain to lure him to Rome. He inherited the (non-resident) position of Consul of Angiers from his father in 1627.The present work demonstrates both Vias's lyricism and epic talent as well as his obvious deep-seated respect for his subject and friend. Peiresc knew him from 1614: Vias's wife was the sister of Peirec's very young stepmother, and his brother-in-law, Pierre Fort, managed Peiresc's finances. They shared an interest in numismatics and antiquities, and exchanged coins and medals (many of them Islamic) as well as books. Vias helped Peiresc to identify Arabic coinage and provided him with an overview of Turkish coinage in collaboration with his merchant contacts in Turkey; his own impressive cabinet was sold after his death. Known correspondence between the two collectors dates only from 1626 onwards, and a total of forty-one letters from Peiresc to Vias have survived. By contrast, Peiresc's biographer Gassendi had received fifty-one letters.Our copy contains the additional leaf containing the twelve-line 'Encomiasticon' not present in three of the five known copies (see below). The leaf is a singleton pasted on a stub, suggesting that it was most likely a late addition and thus may never have been added to most copies.Very rare. We could locate only two copies containing the 'Encomiasticon', both at the Houghton Library, Harvard; We have found three additional copies, all bound without the additional leaf (two at the BnF and one at the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek in Germany). Language: French
