(GOLDEN COCKEREL PRESS). BRABY, DOROTHEA, Illustrator
362 x 222 mm. (14 1/4 x 8 3/4"). 266 pp., [1] leaf (colophon).Translated from the Welsh by Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones. Original rust-colored half morocco over tan buckram by Sangorski & Sutcliffe (stamp-signed on front turn-in), upper cover with large gilt Celtic design by Braby, smooth spine with gilt titling. With 20 wood engravings, including illustrated title page and two maps, by Dorothea Braby. Cockalorum 176; Cave and Manson, pp. 192-95. âMorocco with small areas of minor soiling, buckram faintly bubbled where it meets the leather (as often), a couple of leaves with trivial foxing, otherwise fine--very clean and fresh internally, and in a binding with few signs of use. This handsome edition of the Medieval prose masterpiece of Welsh literature combines a translation praised by the Oxford Companion for "its subtle evocation of the spirit of the original and the unfailing elegance of its style" with illustrations that Cockalorum proclaims "a perfect interpretation of the great literature of a nation." "Mabinogion" is a collection of 11 tales first recorded in the 12th and 13th centuries, based on an oral tradition of folklore, heroic legends, and Celtic mythology. The work was first translated into English and given its present title by Lady Charlotte Guest in the mid-19th century. The Oxford Companion to the Literature of Wales declares our translation "largely responsible for awakening world interest in these tales. It is still the authoritative translation, notable for its combination of meticulous accuracy and a fine literary style." It is the result of a collaboration between two professors at the University College of Wales, Gwyn Jones (1907-99), who held the Rendell chair of English language and literature, and Thomas Jones (1910-72), professor of Welsh. Illustrator Dorothea Braby (1909-87) spent 18 months creating the complex illustrations here. Trained at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, she worked as a freelance designer and illustrated a number of books for the Golden Cockerel Press before taking up a career as a social worker in 1959. Established by Hal Taylor in 1920, Golden Cockerel was led by Christopher Sandford from 1933 to 1959, and published 120 titles during his tenure. It has always maintained an honored position in the second tier of fine English private presses, after the Big Three of Kelmscott, Ashendene, and Doves. No. 300 OF 550 COPIES. First Edition of this Translation.
(BINDINGS - CLUB BINDERY). THEURIET, ANDRÉ
290 x 200 mm. (11 3/8 x 7 7/8"). 4 p.l., 213, [3] pp. SUPERB CARAMEL-COLORED CRUSHED MOROCCO, GILT AND ONLAID, BY THE CLUB BINDERY (stamp-signed and dated 1900 on front turn-in), covers with frame of onlaid black morocco tooled with an undulating floral gilt vine, the frame outlined by multiple plain and dotted gilt rules, oblique fleurons at corners of central panel, raised bands, spine compartments with similar frames, gilt lettering, wide turn-ins gilt with decorative floral rolls and gilt rules, leather hinges, all edges gilt. With additional illustrated title page printed in red and dark blue on Chine, and 72 ILLUSTRATIONS by Émile Adan, 60 of these wood-engraved vignettes in the text, all in an additional state, and 12 ETCHED PLATES, ALL IN THREE STATES, two before letters. Front pastedown with morocco bookplate of Robert Hoe. âA hint of shelfwear to tail edge of boards, but really AN IMMACULATE COPY INSIDE AND OUT. This is the epitome of a "bibliophile book": a strictly limited, deluxe version of a lavishly illustrated Parisian production, with plates in multiple states, bound by the first great bindery in the United States, in pristine condition, and with impeccable provenance. Printed on thick, smooth Japanese vellum, "Gertrude" tells the story of two provincial lovers who overcome family objections and myriad other obstacles to be together. Tales of country life were the specialty of novelist André Theuriet (1833-1907), a member of the Académie française and a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur. The characters are brought to life by the illustrations of Émile Adan (1839-1937), a painter who specialized in landscapes often populated by charming anecdotal scenes; the strengths of writer and artist could not be more perfectly matched. Bibliophile editions like the present work were created explicitly for connoisseurs like former owner Robert Hoe, a founder of the Grolier Club and one of the world's great book collectors. After Grolier was established in 1884, it soon became apparent that the country's few established hand binders were overtaxed in providing repairs and rebinding for the club members' rapidly accumulating acquisitions. As a consequence, in 1895, Grolier members, along with Edwin Holden and other wealthy collectors, established the Club Bindery in order to attract European craftsmen to provide, close to home, fine quality binding work rivalling what was available abroad. The Club Bindery was in operation until 1909, with Hoe being its most influential manager and client. It provided bindings that tended to be traditional in style--though frequently with elaborate decoration--and that lived up to its patrons' expectations in terms of excellence. The first members of the staff of the Club Bindery were the Englishmen R. W. Smith and Frank Mansell. They were subsequently joined by a number of French binders, chief among them being Leon Maillard, who had worked previously for Cuzin, Gruel, and Marius Michel. It is said by Beverly Chew that Hoe (1839-1911) had a collection that was "the finest [America] has ever contained." He acquired illuminated manuscripts, early printing (he owned a Gutenberg Bible on paper and one on vellum), fine bindings, French and English literature, and Americana, and when his library was sold in 1911-12, it fetched nearly $2 million, a record that held until the Streeter sale more than 50 years later. No. 13 OF 25 "GRAND LUXE" COPIES on Japon (and 25 on Chine).
(ELZEVIR IMPRINT). PLINIUS, CAUIS SECUNDUS (PLINY THE ELDER)
127 x 70 mm. (5 x 2 3/4"). Three volumes. Edited by Jean de Laet. VERY PRETTY 18TH CENTURY RED MOROCCO, GILT, covers with French fillet border, raised bands with gilt lettering, spine compartments with central floral sprig framed with curling brackets terminating in ivy leaves, spray of daisies on either side, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Woodcut headpieces, tailpieces, and initials (some of them historiated), engraved title page in first volume, printer's device in second and third volumes, author's medallion portrait facing the beginning of the text. Willems 428; Rahir 420-21: Dibdin II, 323-24. âSpines gently and evenly sunned, joints a little rubbed (one with a thin crack beginning at the top), boards with trivial soiling; occasional mild foxing, but a nearly fine copy, clean and fresh internally, in equally well-preserved, and pleasing bindings. This is the only Elzevir edition of one of the great works of antiquity and, according to Willems, one of the masterpieces of the famed Dutch press. In the same vein, Dibdin tells is that "its beauty is a theme of extraordinary commendation by the French bibliographers." Pliny the Elder's famous "Natural History" is an encyclopedic compendium, in 37 books, of ancient knowledge, particularly about animals, vegetables, and minerals. However, the author, an admiral of the Roman fleet who died in the eruption of Vesuvius (79 A.D.), does not confine himself to studying only the natural world, but also collects information on human inventions and institutions, ranging widely over the arts and sciences. His section on painting, for example, is a key source for our understanding of ancient frescos, while his four geographical books preserve a great deal of topographical and sometimes historical information. Our Belgian editor Jean de Laet (d. 1649) was not only a classical scholar, but also a geographer who wrote a number of important works in his field on topics ranging from Brazil to Persia to Belgium itself. Louis Elzevir began the family publishing dynasty in the 1580s, when he set up as a bookseller and publisher in Leyden. Five of his seven sons became printers; the most distinguished of these was Bonaventure (1583-1652), who opened his Leyden press in 1608, and took his nephew Abraham into partnership in 1626. The press enjoyed its greatest success during their nearly 30-year collaboration, becoming especially noted for their fine editions of the classics, like the present item. Britannica notes that "their small editions in 12mo, 16mo and 24mo, for elegance of design, neatness, clearness and regularity of type, and beauty of paper, cannot be surpassed." If the bindings here are not irresistible, they come very close to being so.
(ELZEVIR IMPRINT). CICERO, MARCUS TULLIUS
133 x 75 mm. (5 1/4 x 3"). 10 volumes. VERY PRETTY 18TH CENTURY RED MOROCCO, GILT, covers with French fillet border, raised bands with gilt lettering, spine compartments with central floral sprig framed with curling brackets terminating in ivy leaves, spray of daisies on either side, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Frontispiece portrait and engraved title in "De Rhetorica," woodcut printer's devices on titles of other volumes, woodcut headpieces, tailpieces, and decorative initials. Engraved title with contemporary ink signature of "Arn. [illegible due to ink blot]"; another title page with evidence of removal of early inscription; four titles or flyleaves with 18th century ink signature of "Nicoll"; two volumes with two or three marginal notations in an 18th century hand. Willems 535; Rahir 530; Schweiger II, 106; Dibdin I, 400; Brunet II, 8; Graesse II, 157. âA couple of rust spots in one volume, occasional mild foxing or faint corner creases, other insignificant defects, but very close to fine internally. Spines a bit sunned and slightly rubbed, minor wear to joints, boards with trivial chafing and soiling, but none of these problems of significance, and the delightful set very well preserved and making an especially pleasing appearance on the shelf. This is a particularly pleasing set of what Dibdin deems "a very beautiful and correct edition" of Cicero. Dibdin states further that "bibliographers . . . dwell with rapture on the beauty of the paper and brilliancy of the type; and critics allow that its correctness is equal to its beauty." It is one of the highlights of that golden period (1622-52) when the chief glories of the vast Elzevir corpus of works was produced in Leyden by Louis Elzevir's son, Bonaventure, in partnership with a grandson, Abraham. Britannica says that this partnership's "small editions in 12mo, 16mo, and 24mo, for elegance of design, neatness, clearness and regularity of type, and beauty of paper, cannot be surpassed." The bibliographers are unanimous in their praise of this sought-after "Works" of Cicero. And these 10 exceptionally pretty volumes would enhance a small space on any library shelf.
VISSCHER, CORNELIUS, Illustrator. (ENGRAVINGS, 17TH CENTURY DUTCH). SCRIVERIUS, PETRUS
560 x 387 mm. (22 x 15 1/8"). 1 p.l., 122 pp., [2] leaves. Contemporary stiff vellum, smooth spine. With an engraved title page and 39 ENGRAVINGS BY CORNELIS VISSCHER. Front pastedown with bookplate of James M. Blackford III and armorial bookplate of Phillip Davies Cooke; ink signature of Bryan(?) Cooke in margin of title page. Smith, "Catalogue of the Works of Cornelius Visscher," pp. 146-85; Brunet V, 248. âThe binding with noticeable splaying (as almost inevitable), vellum with minor scratches and a couple light stains, but the volume very sturdy and with its antique appeal intact. Engraved title with expertly repaired closed tear from right margin into image (with reinforcing strip on the verso obscuring the length of the repair), about a third of the engravings with varying degrees of marginal toning because of paper quality (usually even and light, and never blotchy or spotted), other very minor imperfections internally, but still a compelling wide-margined book, with two-thirds of the plates quite clean, and even the toned ones retaining their powerful effect. A grand and sumptuous monument to the secular and spiritual authorities during the golden age of the Netherlands, this imposing volume comprises a fine collection of very impressive images by one of the greatest portrait engravers of his time, Cornelius Visscher (1629? - 1658?). His striking portraits--which often seem to be bursting with vitality--are mostly after full-length portraits in the town hall of Haarlem, including some after Jan Van Eyck, Rubens, Titian, and Lucas van Leyden, or else based on Phillip Galle and Hendrick Golzius. The likenesses are notable because they are very large, almost always forceful and/or striking, as well as quite realistic, especially for the middle of the 17th century. Pieter Scriverius, or Schrijver (1576-1660), was a Dutch philologist and poet who wrote on the history of Holland and edited a great many texts of classical and other early authors. A large picture book like this would have encouraged avid (not always careful) readership over the years, and copies in agreeable condition are now difficult to find.
(PAPAL SEAL)
Round, 35 mm. (1 3/8") in diameter. One side with the heads of Saints Peter and Paul in relief with a cross in between, the letters "SPA SPE" above them, identifying the portraits; reverse side with the name of the pope. âA couple of small dents to edges, Saint Paul's face a little worn, short line etched into Saint Peter's beard, but still quite an excellent specimen. This is a circular lead seal known as a "bulla," which would have been attached to a document signed by the pope in order to autheticate it. Seals were treasured by those lucky enough to have one, and some were even buried with their owners to ease the deceased's entry into heaven--like a celestial subway token. Gregory IX is one of the best known Medieval popes, occupying the Holy See from 1227 to his death in 1241. A learned lawyer, he issued the famous Decretals codifying canon law.
DEMOSTHENES
205 x 127 mm. (8 1/8 x 5"). 14 p.l., 344, [1] pp. Edited and annotated by John Taylor. Contemporary polished calf, covers with decorative blind tooling running vertically beside joints, raised bands, red morocco label. Text in Greek and Latin. Pastedowns with half a dozen neat contemporary ink inscriptions (one dated 1744). Dibdin I, 488 ("An excellent and critical edition, neatly printed"). âSpine lightly sunned and with half a dozen dark spots, corners a little bumped, offsetting to endpapers from binder's glue, but still A FINE COPY, the binding with almost no wear, and THE TEXT EXCEPTIONALLY CLEAN, FRESH, AND BRIGHT. This is an attractively printed scholarly edition of Demosthenes' famous judicial oration "Against Meidias," significant for its strong stance on the rule of law. The orator warns that a democracy will perish if the rule of law is undermined by the wealthy and unscrupulous and that the voice of the citizenry in state affairs depends on "the strength of the laws." One of history's great orators, Demosthenes (383-22 B.C.), a contemporary of Aristotle, sought to rouse the citizens of Athens against the threat to their democracy posed by Philip of Macedon and his son, Alexander the Great. He was an orator that other rhetoricians revered: Quintilian considered him the standard to which all should aspire; Cicero thought him the perfect orator and was much influenced by his style, which the Oxford Companion to Classical Literature describes as "combining nobility of thought and diction with simplicity of language." The other work in our volume is by Demosthenes' fellow Attic orator, Lycurgus (ca. 390-324 B.C.), who here indicts Leocrates for treason in fleeing Athens after a military defeat (in violation of a decree forbidding persons to leave the city); this is the sole surviving text by Lycurgus. Editor John Taylor (1704-66) was a Cambridge classicist known for his editions of the Attic orators, valued especially for his learned commentary on Athenian law.
(BIBLE ILLUSTRATIONS - BIBLE COMMENTARY). [FONTAINE, NICOLAS, "SIEUR DE ROYAUMONT"]
428 x 295 mm. (16 7/8 x 11 1/2"). [10], 212; [12], 84; [61]-187 pp. (with mispaginations, but textually complete). Translated from the French by several hands, under the supervision of Dr. Anthony Horneck and other orthodox divines. Handsome contemporary red morocco expertly rebacked, preserving the original backstrip, covers with multiple gilt straight and decorative rules, each side of the outer frame with a lacy gilt triangle pointing outward, boards each with four attractively engraved silver corner guards and an oval central plaque with the initials "J S" and the date 1725, raised bands, one compartment with gilt lettering, others with delicate gilt dots forming a saltire surrounded by foliate tools, gilt turn-ins, newer marbled endleaves, all edges gilt. With 239 engraved plates (of 240; lacking plate 55 in the Old Testament) including two frontispieces, most after G. Freeman by Kip and others, many of the plates printed back-to-back and all with later vigorous hand coloring by an enthusiastic amateur, plus six double-page maps (one of these a repeat of one of the five maps called for), two with partial or full hand coloring. Printed in red and black. ESTC T139037; Lowndes III, 2147 (1690-98 first edition in English). âLeather a little scratched and with other mild age-related wear, but very sturdy and attractive, the metalwork in especially nice condition. Folding map of Jerusalem just slightly trimmed at head and with two four-inch curving tears from tail edge through legend (with minor loss from three words) and into map (no loss), a number of the lower margins strengthened or repaired, other minor defects (foxing, soiling, browning, stains, trivial tears), but these condition issues related to frequent use far from fatal. A copy with faults, but much to recommend it in its very attractive binding, its folio-sized colored plates, and its excellent textual margins. Intended to make the Holy Scripture more accessible to a general audience by blending a simplified text, explanatory comments, and copious engravings that vividly illustrate key events, this volume makes a very strong impact with its very substantial contemporaneous red morocco binding and its richly colored engravings. First printed in French in 1670, it is the work of Nicolas Fontaine (1625-1709), a member of the Jansenist movement of Port-Royal which strove to renew and purify Catholicism, but which fell victim to persecution for alleged Lutheran tendencies in their understanding of the doctrine of grace. Fontaine was confined to the Bastille, and it was there that he composed this work under the assumed name of "Sieur de Royaumont." His companion in the Bastille, Lemaistre de Sacy, probably collaborated on the project. The Protestant tendencies that made this work objectionable to the Catholic authorities only increased its appeal in England, where the translated text was first issued over the years 1690-98, then in a complete second edition in 1700. Our expanded second printing contains an appendix with lives of the Apostles and Evangelists, and with a Chronology of the events in the Old and New Testaments.
("PILGRIM" PRESS). CARTWRIGHT, THOMAS
295 x 185 mm. (11 1/2 x 7 1/4"). 29 p.l., 315, [3], 321-515, 512-761, [19] pp. (Complete; collates as ESTC copy). Contemporary deerskin, rebacked with pigskin in the 19th century, raised bands, gilt lettering, pastedowns lifted. In a fine modern red morocco-backed, fleece-lined clamshell box. Title page with "Brewster Bear" printer's device. Binder's stubs at front with early manuscript list of related book titles ("Fulke on ye Test[ament]," etc.). Title page with acquisition information, indicating a purchase price (11 shillings, 6 pence?) in 1629. Occasional neat ink underlinings, sometimes with a tiny manicule in the margin. Herbert 364; STC 4709; ESTC S107186; Harris, "The Pilgrim Press" 16. âBoards somewhat stained and soiled, edges and corners a bit worn, but the restored binding entirely solid and not at all unpleasant. Two-inch tear to inner margin of title page and a little soiling to same, small wormholes to head margin of four quires at beginning and to gutter margin on final 50 leaves (just touching a few letters), isolated small marginal smudges or stains, but INTERNALLY A FINE COPY, REMARKABLY CLEAN AND FRESH. This is an unusually attractive copy of the most substantial and ambitious production among the 20 books known to have been printed in Leyden by expatriate English Puritan and future Pilgrim Father William Brewster (1567-1644). Later dubbed the "Pilgrim Press," his workshop operated between 1617 and 1619, when agents of King James I tracked it down and destroyed it. After being briefly detained by the authorities, Brewster dropped out of sight for about a year, reappearing in 1620 to sail for North America on board the Mayflower. Like his other works, it is a reformist religious book intended for (illegal) distribution in England. The text here is a refutation of the 1582 Rheims Catholic New Testament by the Cambridge reformist theologian Thomas Cartwright (1534/5-1603), whose controversial views and fiery sermons Brewster would have encountered as a student at the university in the 1580s. Here, Cartwright picks apart the Rheims translation of the Gospel of Matthew line by line, then takes on other selected passages. The present copy is complete with the index and the errata sheet. Pilgrim Press bibliographers James Rendel Harris, Stephen Kay Jones, and Daniel Plooij describe this work as "a veritable exhibition gallery of initials, types, and, in a lesser degree, ornaments" that they have used to authenticate works printed by Brewster. One of the best-known and most prominent of these ornaments is the tailpiece featuring a bear that Harris et al. deem "the nearest approach we have to a device." This work is seldom encountered in agreeable condition.
(MINIATURE BOOKS)
1) FOUR EARLY 20TH CENTURY DIARIES. DE LA RUE'S CONDENSED DIARY AND ENGAGEMENT BOOK (FINGER SHAPE) FOR 1902, 1906, 1909, AND 1914. (London: De La Rue & Co., 1902-14) 77 x 24 mm. (3 x 1"). [34] leaves. Four separately issued annual volumes. Diaries with soft leather covers decorated in gilt (1902 in brown morocco, 1906 and 1906 in burgundy, 1914 in scarlet), 1902 diary IN A SILVER FILIGREE SLIPCASE, the others in matching morocco cases. 1902 diary with an address noted on Memorandum page, otherwise unused; other diaries with neatly written entries in pencil or pen. Front cover of 1902 diary slightly sunned, quarter-inch chip to tail of spine, corners and extremities of all books lightly rubbed from sliding in and out of cases, binding of 1914 book lightly soiled, but none of these issues significant, and the bindings and cases all generally very well preserved. 2) AVE MARIA. ([Budapest or Italy, ca.: 1970]) 10 x 11 mm. (3/8 x 7/16"). 6 unnumbered leaves, three of them blank. Charming burgundy calf, upper cover with the head of the Madonna tooled in gilt, flat spine with gilt bands. In a black pebble-grain morocco slipcase, nestled in fabric inside a 32 x 34 mm. metal box with latch. With a cross printed on the first leaf and a simple engraving of the Madonna's head on the second. Bondy, p. 156. Tiny (what else?) scratch to head of spine, otherwise A FINE SPECIMEN. This charming minuscule book contains the Latin text of the "Ave Maria" printed on one page. Bondy tells us there is some dispute about its origins, with Hungarian bibliophiles claiming it was printed in Budapest, and Italian collectors insisting it was Italy. Whatever its place of publication, it could scarcely be more charming, and it is certainly the most portable prayer book we have ever offered for sale. 3) CHURCH OF ENGLAND. BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. [with] HYMNS, ANCIENT AND MODERN. (Oxford: University Press, London: William Clowes, ca. 1920) 60 x 45 mm. (2 1/4 x 1 3/4"). 688 pp.; 859, [1] pp. Two works bound in one volume. Contemporary ivorine covers and spine, silk joints, metal (silver?) monogram mounted on upper cover, textured white endpapers, all edges gilt. Frontispiece of choir boys to first work, and of girls' choir to second. Upper corners of spine beginning to lift, silk joints a little worn, otherwise a fine specimen, clean and bright internally, in a well-preserved binding.
253 x 165 mm. (10 x 6 1/2"). 256 pp.With an Introduction and a Note on the Author's Game Register by Eric Parker. VERY ATTRACTIVE HUNTER (of course) GREEN CRUSHED MOROCCO BY BAYNTUN for Sotheran's (stamp-signed on front turn-in), covers with gilt fillet border and lacy blind-stamped frame, center panel outlined in gilt, with blind-stamped ornament at head and foot, the panel with five rows of gilt ornaments on the theme of hunting--weapons, dogs, and prey--three to a row, 10 of them within blind-tooled circles, raised bands, spine compartments with gilt centerpiece of a hunter and his dog beneath a tree, curling volute cornerpieces, gilt lettering, turn-ins with gilt palmette roll, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. WITH 15 COLOR PLATES OF HUNTING SCENES "taken on the spot" by T. J. Rawlins. For the 1837 edition: Abbey Life 392; Schwerdt II, 127; Tooley 393. âSpine faintly sunned, frontispiece with light foxing, four other plates with a couple spots of foxing to margin, but quite a fine copy, with virtually no signs of use inside or out. Entirely faithful to the 1837 first edition, this is a handsome later printing of a work Schwerdt describes as "an esteemed book," in which the scenes, mostly of shooting, "are unusually attractive, and convey a good impression of the way in which our forebears killed their game, in the beginning of the 19th century." Its main purpose, as Schwerdt observes, is as "a treatise on forestry, written with a view to laying out plantations in the way most suitable to game preservation." In the introduction here, Eric Parker, Shooting Editor of "The Field," writes, "'Gamonia' is valuable not only for its rarity and charm," but also as "the first treatise devoted solely to the subject of pheasant rearing, covert shooting, and the management of woodlands for the special purpose of preserving game." While Rawstorne outlines new methods for managing shooting estates, "his desire is still to stand in the old ways, and we can see much of what is in [Rawstorne's] mind in the treatment of the subjects he has chosen for illustration: in the quiet ridicule of the unskilled, in the hint of knowledge of how the thing could and should be done; in the cold and snow in which he likes to set his sportsmen seeking their quarry, and in the serenity of sunlight in which in each drawing stands Penwortham, his home." The original edition of this work was printed for the author by Rudolph Ackermann, and, according to Parker, "only a few copies" were printed and distributed as gifts of the author. The elaborately decorated sporting binding by the illustrious Bayntun workshop incorporates images of hounds and retrievers, rabbits and pheasants, and the guns used by the hunters. The whole production evokes shooting weekends at country houses before the Great War. This work was also issued in 1929 in a limited edition of 125, bound in publisher's morocco, but that edition's rather plain binding is a quiet forest next to the design of our own volume, distinguished as it is by so much spirited ferality.
165 x 117 mm. (6 1/2 x 4 1/2"). Single column, verso with 12 lines (but with ruled space for 17 lines) in a gothic book hand. Rubrics in pink, one line-filler in blue and pink with gold stripe, one one-line initial in gold, infilled with pink and on a blue ground, one four-line initial in blue with white highlighting filled with flowers over shell gold, the entire initial on a light pink ground, with a HALF-PAGE ARCH-TOPPED MINIATURE OF THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE, with the Virgin (holding the Christ child), Joseph, and an attendant holding a long candle all kneeling before the altar, a bishop with a long beard and wearing an ermine miter standing behind the altar and holding a white sheet to receive the child, with A FULL BORDER of gold and blue acanthus and colorful flowers on shell gold and bare vellum ground, with many gilt bezants and small ink dots. Scant remnants of mounting tape around edges of verso. âOnly the most trivial of imperfections (a tiny marginal hole, a tiny chip of paint gone), but the miniature IN FINE CONDITION, the paint and gold very fresh, and the details well preserved. This charming miniature depicts the traditional scene associated with the hour of None, in which the infant Christ is brought to the temple to complete the rituals of purification and redemption of the first-born son. Both the Virgin and Joseph are present in this scene, as is Simeon the high priest, holding out a white cloth to receive the child, and a female attendant who holds a candle for the procession of lights to follow the ceremony. The Virgin, dressed in somber gray and covered by her customary blue cloak, holds her son while kneeling before Simeon at the altar. Her face displays the concern that would be expected in one who has just been told, in Simeon's prophecy, that a sword would pierce her soul--that is, that she will suffer along with her son as he does God's redemptive work. Joseph's apprehension can also be felt in his wary glance toward the priest, his hands resting gingerly on the edge of the altar. Though the interior and furniture here are quite simple in form, featuring straight lines and solid blocks of color, extra attention has been given to the patterns and textures seen on the figures and their garments, such as the gilt medallions on Mary's robes, the dots on Simeon's miter, and wispy hairs on the heads and beards of Simeon and Joseph.
262 x 175 mm. (10 3/8 x 6 7/8"). xxvi, [2], 354 pp. EXTREMELY ATTRACTIVE CHOCOLATE BROWN CRUSHED MOROCCO, INTRICATELY GILT, BY ZAEHNSDORF (stamp-signed on front turn-in), covers framed in gilt, with delicate pointillé cornerpieces featuring a spray of flowers, raised bands, spines densely gilt in the pointillé style of Bozerian, with stems of flowers radiating from a central circle, gilt titling, turn-ins with drawer-handle frame accented with flowers at corners, all edges gilt. With 35 reproductions of etchings by various artists, as called for, five of these double-page, one folding. Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of Newton Hall, Cambridge. Hind, "A History of Engraving & Etching," p. 399; Benezit VI, 1084. âSpine evenly sunned to a pleasing hazel brown (though fading difficult to judge because of all the gilt), covers with half a dozen faint or shallow scratches as well as slight soiling, minor foxing on endpapers, otherwise a very fine copy of a beautifully bound book--entirely clean and fresh internally, in a binding without the usual wear to joints and extremities. This work offers an in-depth review of the art of etching, describing the various techniques involved, discussing connoisseurship, and surveying some of the most renowned practitioners of the artform. The artists profiled here include many contemporary working artists as well as historically established masters, among them Turner, David Roberts, Ruskin, Whistler, Cruikshank, Daubigny, Durer, Rembrandt, and Goya. The plates include examples mainly from the English, French, and Dutch schools--including, notably, an etching printed from an original copper plate by Rembrandt. Philip Gilbert Hamerton (1834-94) was an artist and critic who worked for a number of periodicals, including the "Fine Arts Quarterly Review," "Macmillan's" magazine, "Atlantic Monthly," and the "Saturday Review" (succeeding Francis Turner Palgrave). Hamerton started his own publication, "The Portfolio," in 1869, which DNB calls "an innovative publication in terms of the many different forms of reproduction it employed, including etching on India paper and autotype photography." Through this publication, "Hamerton was thus responsible for an important diffusion of graphic art forms in England during the last three decades of the nineteenth century." The present copy is especially attractive in its lovely Zaehnsdorf binding, and makes an excellent impression on the shelf.
155 x 100 mm. (6 1/8 x 4"). xxviii, 199 pp.Edited by Francis Turner Palgrave. VERY PRETTY SIENNA CRUSHED MOROCCO DECORATED IN GILT AND BLIND BY ZAEHNSDORF (stamp-signed in gilt on front turn-in, oval blind stamp on rear pastedown), covers with frame of blind and gilt rules containing an undulating gilt vine on a pointillé background, a blind-tooled heart-shaped compartment at the center of each side containing a palmette, raised bands, spine compartments with central blind-stamped palmette enclosed by gilt vines on a pointillé background, turn-ins with three gilt rules with leafy cornerpieces and accents, sienna silk pastedowns and endleaves, all edges gilt. Front flyleaf inscribed in ink: "Emily L. Sanford / from / Philip Leach / Christmas." âSpine a little dulled, otherwise a very fine copy, clean and fresh internally, and the especially attractive binding unworn. In an appealing binding by a prominent English bindery, this is a pleasing copy of a collection of poetry by a major 17th century writer who rhapsodized on the human and divine. A friend and follower of Ben Jonson, Herrick (1591-1674) showed a dazzling display of technical versatility in his poetry, employing almost every stanzaic and verse form in English. The works chosen for this collection are arrange by type: idylls, love poems, epigrams, nature poems, and elegies. Our binding is a fine example of the work of the Zaehnsdorf firm, long a top-ranked English bindery. Born in Pest, Hungary, Joseph Zaehnsdorf (1816-86) served his apprenticeship in Stuttgart, worked at a number of European locations as a journeyman, and then settled in London, where he was hired first by Westley and then by Mackenzie before opening his own workshop in 1842. His son and namesake took over the business at age 33, when the senior Joseph died, and the firm flourished under the son's leadership, becoming a leading West End bindery. Over the years, Zaehnsdorf employed a considerable number of distinguished binders, including the Frenchman Louis Genth (who was chief finisher from 1859-84), and trained a number of others, including Roger de Coverly and Sarah Prideaux. A family-run business until 1947, the Zaehnsdorf bindery continued to produce consistently attractive and innovative designs executed with unfailing skill.
240 x 310 mm. (9 1/2 x 12 1/4"). Double column, 16 intact lines in a large Romanesque script. Rubrics and two small initials in red, one three-line initial in red, and A STRIKING SIX-LINE (65 x 55 mm.) ROMANESQUE INITIAL "U" DEPICTING CHRIST WITH A BOOK AND ST. PETER WITH THE KEYS TO HEAVEN, the full-length figures and their garments drawn with simple black and red pen lines, Christ's robes and halo touched with a thin wash of green against a light blue ground, the initial drawn in red with light embellishment and washed with yellow. From the collection of Roger Martin (1939-2020). âRecovered as a binding lining and thus with overall darkening, creases, small holes, and other condition issues, but the text entirely legible; a small curved tear and a little abrasion just touching the side of the initial, coloring perhaps a bit faded, but overall in excellent condition, the figures intact and representing a remarkable and impressive survival. This is a large and attractive fragment preserving much of its original appeal, with an exceptionally nice Romanesque initial featuring Christ handing the key of heaven to St. Peter. The two figures, composed of red and black penstrokes and tinged with light washes of color, are rendered with beautiful simplicity. The artist has cleverly placed St. Peter slightly outside the interior of the initial, and Christ mostly within it (with just one foot crossing over its base), as though he is welcoming the Apostle into a sacred space. The composition is uncluttered and elegant, inviting the viewer to enjoy the precision of the artist's pen. Romanesque initials with historiation are not nearly as common as purely decorative ones, and the present subject matter--Christ handing the key to St. Peter--is rare among the examples containing human figures. In institutions, we have been able to locate only two roughly contemporary examples depicting this particular scene (see BL MS Egerton 809, fol. 41, and Walters MS W.754). Although we have no additional information about the parent manuscript, it is clear that this fragment comes from a very substantial volume, and was probably made for the use of a monastery. The date and attribution are made on the basis of the fragment's script and decoration. Sotheby's has suggested parallels to three manuscripts made at Echternacht (see BnF Latin 9558, BnF Latin 8912, and BnF Latin 9740), but this fragment would benefit greatly from additional research. Even in its reused state, it stands out as an unusually fine example of Romanesque art and narrative that would make an excellent addition to any private or institutional collection.
180 x 116 mm. (7 x 4 5/8"). 179 pp. VERY APPEALING CHOCOLATE BROWN CRUSHED MOROCCO, GILT AND INLAID, BY GRABAU (stamp-signed on front turn-in), covers with gilt rule border, inlaid green morocco frame tooled with gilt floral vines, rosettes at corners, raised bands, spine compartments with gilt flowering vine rising from tail edge to head, two onlaid blue-green morocco blossoms, gilt titling, gilt-ruled turn-ins, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt. Original green cloth spine and front cover bound in at rear. Front pastedown with bookplate of Charles Cobb Walker; title page with embossed stamp of New England Conservatory of Music. BAL 12150. âSpine faintly and uniformly sunned, but the binding otherwise unworn. Leaves with overall faint toning because of paper stock, otherwise A VERY FINE COPY, clean and fresh internally, and in a sparkling binding. This especially well-preserved copy of Longfellow's verse plays was beautifully bound by John F. Grabau, an American whose work is not well known and is underappreciated. A prominent member of the German-American community in Buffalo, Grabau (1878-1948) apprenticed there with Peter Paul and Walter Brown before working for Elbert Hubbard's Roycroft bindery from 1902-05, and then opening his own studio, which he operated with his friend and pupil Wesley Hutchinson. Among other testimony to his achievements was the silver medal he received for his binding at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915. A 1909 article in "Palette and Brush" praised his "understated and elegant artistry" and "the uniqueness of his creativity," acknowledging that "he never repeats a design but rather uses previous work as a ground for further cultivation of technique." He was a member of the Buffalo Guild of Allied Arts, which he served as director, the Buffalo Society of Artists, and the Guild of Book Workers in New York. The two dramas here, "John Endicott" and "Giles Corey of the Salem Farms," comprise Longfellow's critical look at two instances where the rule of law was shamefully used against the innocent, first in the persecution of the Quakers and then in the Salem Witch Trials. In his preface, Longfellow (1807-82) explains why he brings up past acts some would rather forget: he says it is "For the lesson that they teach; the tolerance of opinion and of speech." Former owner Charles Cobb Walker (1871-1950) was the son of a wealthy stockbroker who made his home in the Gilded Age resort town of Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, where his neighbors included Longfellow's son, painter Ernest Longfellow. Walker bequeathed his library to the New England Conservatory of Music.
215 x 140 mm. (8 1/2 x 5 1/2). vii, [1] (blank), 190 pp. Without the leaf of publisher's ads. VERY ATTRACTIVE SCARLET CRUSHED MOROCCO BY CEDRIC CHIVERS (stamp-signed on rear turn-in) ca. 1911, covers framed by one blind and two gilt fillets, upper cover with INLAID PAINTED VELLUCENT ESCUTCHEON with the arms of the city of Rochester within a "tiled" gilt frame, the inlay enclosed by Art Nouveau floral design incorporating a heart motif, an onlaid citron morocco heart at the foot of the design, three raised bands dividing the spine into two small compartments, slightly larger compartment with gilt titling, and an elongated compartment with inlaid vellucent and gilt escutcheon displaying the arms of the county of Kent, within similar Art Nouveau tooling featuring an onlaid citron heart, turn-ins ruled in gilt, with dot cornerpieces, leather hinges, red watered silk endleaves, all edges gilt. Frontispiece portrait, engraved vignette title, and 12 plates (as called for) by S. L. Fildes, EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED with reproductions of a black & white portrait of Fildes and an engraved portrait of John Forster (both taken from contemporary publications?), a reduced reproduction of the original green paper wrapper cover (all three of these mounted in heavy stock frames), additional calligraphed title page noting extra-illustrations, 16 ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS, FOUR OF THESE WATERCOLORS, 13 dry-point, all but one mounted in heavy stock frames (one drawn directly on heavy stock), all captioned, and all with tissue guards. Front flyleaf with embossed ex-libris of Dana C. Bradford. With "The Last Book," a seven-page excerpt from Forster's "Life of Dickens," mounted in frames at rear, following a handwritten section title page. âSlight rippling of some of the inserted leaves, text faintly yellowed because of paper stock (as no doubt in all copies), perhaps a whisper of wear to the binding, but still and easily a very fine copy. In terms of content, illustration, binding, and condition, this item is obviously of very considerable appeal. Dickens' final, unfinished novel, "Edwin Drood," is a murder mystery that remains unsolved to this day. Set in a lightly fictionalized version of Rochester, near which Dickens was living, the plot involves a marriage engagement between the two orphans Drood and Rosa Budd, made by their parents and distasteful to both of them. When Drood disappears, suspicion falls heavily on Neville, another orphaned young man, who is in love with Rosa. Neville has the reader's sympathy, and we can only hope that Drood's sinister and scheming uncle Jasper is the culprit. A distinguished artist who did many famous portraits in his later years, Samuel Luke Fildes (1844-1927) began as an illustrator known especially for powerful black and white images of social realism; his career was measurably advanced by his selection as the artist to execute the plates in "Edwin Drood." Cedric Chivers opened his Bath bindery in the 1880s, producing various kinds of fine decorative bindings, but specializing in a "vellucent" binding based on the 18th century painted vellum work of Edwards of Halifax. Here, he has used the vellucent technique to create the shields with the arms of Rochester and Kent inlaid on the cover and spine. The anonymous watercolors here are extremely attractive, being skillfully done in pleasing colors. They are mostly depictions of the novel's localities, generally in Rochester.
1) FOUR EARLY 20TH CENTURY DIARIES. DE LA RUE'S CONDENSED DIARY AND ENGAGEMENT BOOK (FINGER SHAPE) FOR 1902, 1906, 1909, AND 1914. (London: De La Rue & Co., 1902-14) 77 x 24 mm. (3 x 1"). [34] leaves. Four separately issued annual volumes. Diaries with soft leather covers decorated in gilt (1902 in brown morocco, 1906 and 1906 in burgundy, 1914 in scarlet), 1902 diary IN A SILVER FILIGREE SLIPCASE, the others in matching morocco cases. 1902 diary with an address noted on Memorandum page, otherwise unused; other diaries with neatly written entries in pencil or pen. Front cover of 1902 diary slightly sunned, quarter-inch chip to tail of spine, corners and extremities of all books lightly rubbed from sliding in and out of cases, binding of 1914 book lightly soiled, but none of these issues significant, and the bindings and cases all generally very well preserved. 2) AVE MARIA. ([Budapest or Italy, ca.: 1970]) 10 x 11 mm. (3/8 x 7/16"). 6 unnumbered leaves, three of them blank. Charming burgundy calf, upper cover with the head of the Madonna tooled in gilt, flat spine with gilt bands. In a black pebble-grain morocco slipcase, nestled in fabric inside a 32 x 34 mm. metal box with latch. With a cross printed on the first leaf and a simple engraving of the Madonna's head on the second. Bondy, p. 156. Tiny (what else?) scratch to head of spine, otherwise A FINE SPECIMEN. This charming minuscule book contains the Latin text of the "Ave Maria" printed on one page. Bondy tells us there is some dispute about its origins, with Hungarian bibliophiles claiming it was printed in Budapest, and Italian collectors insisting it was Italy. Whatever its place of publication, it could scarcely be more charming, and it is certainly the most portable prayer book we have ever offered for sale. 3) CHURCH OF ENGLAND. BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. [with] HYMNS, ANCIENT AND MODERN. (Oxford: University Press, London: William Clowes, ca. 1920) 60 x 45 mm. (2 1/4 x 1 3/4"). 688 pp.; 859, [1] pp. Two works bound in one volume. Contemporary ivorine covers and spine, silk joints, metal (silver?) monogram mounted on upper cover, textured white endpapers, all edges gilt. Frontispiece of choir boys to first work, and of girls' choir to second. Upper corners of spine beginning to lift, silk joints a little worn, otherwise a fine specimen, clean and bright internally, in a well-preserved binding.
220 x 128 mm. (8 5/8 x 5"). xiv, 206 pp., [1] leaf (colophon). SUPERB DARK BLUE CRUSHED MOROCCO BY SANGORSKI & SUTCLIFFE for Henry Sotheran (stamp-signed on turn-ins), covers with French fillet borders, elaborate cornerpieces with floral spray and massed small tools, upper cover with MINIATURE PORTRAIT OF MILTON UNDER GLASS, WITHOUT DOUBT BY MISS C. B. CURRIE, the painting enclosed by a brass frame surrounded by gilt tooling, raised bands, spine compartments with double fillet frames, fleuron cornerpieces, gilt lettering, gilt-framed turn-ins, light blue moiré silk endleaves, all edges gilt. In a velvet-lined blue buckram clamshell box. Frontispiece and title page in decorative red frames, 63 illustrations by A. Garth Jones, 28 of them full-page. Ray, "England" 303. âAN IMMACULATE COPY, INSIDE AND OUT. Beautifully designed and in exemplary condition, this is a fine example of a Cosway-style binding, featuring the polished and elegant painting of Caroline Billin Currie. The so-called "Cosway" binding, with painted miniatures inlaid in handsome morocco--either inside or (as here) on the outside of the front cover--apparently originated with the London bookselling firm of Henry Sotheran about 1909. In that year, G. C. Williamson's 1905 book entitled "Richard Cosway" (which celebrated the career of this leading Georgian and Regency miniature painter) was remaindered by Sotheran and presumably given this special decorative treatment in order to boost sales. The name "Cosway" then was used to describe any book so treated, whatever its subject. The finest miniatures on Cosway bindings were executed by Currie (1849-1940), who is known to have created such paintings for Sotheran's from 1910 until her death, usually from designs by J. H. Stonehouse, and typically (though not in the present case) for bindings executed by Riviere. Not present here is an inserted leaf acknowledging Currie's work--something normally seen with Cosway bindings featuring her miniatures; but she has a distinctive deftness to her brush strokes and a recognizably refined execution that are clearly present here. (And, as helpful corroboration, a note on the front free endpaper states that this is her work.) Here, she has produced a sympathetic portrait based on William Faithorne the elder's 1670 engraving. Currie has softened the expression of Faithorne's severe Puritan, who gazes imperiously down and away; our Milton, his long hair touched with gray, looks straight at the viewer with kindly pale blue eyes, patient, understanding, and empathetic to suffering. Apart from the binding, this is a handsomely illustrated deluxe printing, done on luxurious paper, of Milton's so-called "minor" poems, which are minor only when compared to such a monumental achievement as "Paradise Lost." They span his entire career, from "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity" (1628)--generally considered to be his first great poem--to "Samson Agonistes" (1671), perhaps his last work. From his university days, we have "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso," which contrast a sociable, joyous life with one devoted to pensive contemplation (Milton's personal preference); then, from his later years, we have the touching "On his Blindness," a meditation on patience and forbearance. Also included are "Lycidas," "Comus," and the sonnets that some consider second only to Shakespeare's. Artist Alfred Garth Jones (1872-1955) tells us in his preface that "he has striven to keep to what he conceives to be the Miltonic spirit," eschewing excessive ornamentation to embrace the "sanity and severity of Milton's writing." Ray notes his emphasis on the "more intellectual side of the poet," which he finds to be particularly complementary to "Il Penseroso" and "Samson Agonistes." The present copy is essentially unchanged from the day it left the Sangorski & Sutcliffe workshop.
402 x 270 mm. (15 7/8 x 10 5/8"). SPLENDID EARLY 19TH CENTURY RED STRAIGHT-GRAIN MOROCCO, VERY INTRICATELY GILT, BY AN APPRENTICE IN THE WORKSHOP OF DANISH MASTER BOOKBINDER NIELS ANTHON, covers with border of pointillé tulips, sunbursts at corners, inner strapwork frame with round and oval compartments on the sides and heart-shaped compartments at corners, each of these containing either a floral ornament or a sunburst, central panel tooled with rows of strapwork cruciform compartments filled with massed botanical tools, including pomegranates and acanthus leaves, the alternating compartments with a tall stem of blossoms emerging from a vase, raised bands, spine compartments with strapwork ovals containing stylized floral drawer-handle tools, gilt lettering, turn-ins with gilt lattice formed by star tools, blue glazed endpapers, flyleaves watermarked "Whatman 1819," all edges gilt. With two engraved portraits. Front pastedown with gilt monogram "J L S." P. Nielson and R. Berg, "Danmarks Bogbindere" (1926), p. 81; Bibliotheca Danica III, 68. âA bit of wear to corners, first dozen leaves, portraits, and one other bifolium with overall light browning, trivial foxing here and there, but still a very nearly fine copy of AN ESPECIALLY IMPRESSIVE BOOK, internally clean and fresh, with very wide margins, and the gorgeous binding lustrous and glistening with gold. This is a superb example of the binding style of Copenhagen craftsman Niels Anthon, who apparently used copies of this definitive biography of the great Danish king Christian IV as the work to be bound as a sort of demonstration piece or "final examination" for his apprentices. (The Library of Congress and the Wormsley Library have similarly bound copies of this work, and another is illustrated in Nielson and Berg's "Danmarks Bogbindere.") Son of master bookbinder Peter Anthon, the younger Anthon (1761-1829) apparently devised this intricate design and selected this massive (and thus very challenging) work to test the abilities of his apprentices, presumably before they could be trusted to produced bindings for clients of the workshop. Based on the watermarks of the flyleaves, our binding was produced ca. 1820 by a craftsman who deserved to pass the test with flying colors! The structure of the binding was sturdy enough to stand the test of time, the finely finished morocco is still glistening, and the tooling is extremely precise and elegant.
260 x 165 mm. (10 1/4 x 6 1/2"). Two volumes. Publisher's red pictorial cloth, upper covers with black and gilt design, smooth spines elaborately decorated in black and gilt, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. IN THE ORIGINAL RED CARDBOARD BOX with printed label (some light wear to edges, corners of lid reinforced with cello-tape). WITH 180 COLOR PLATES containing 320 images, including three maps, one of which is folding. Front pastedowns with the ex-libris of the Forrest Fenn Collection, Santa Fe. âA small, negligible stain at top corner of a few leaves in volume II (apparently from the gilding process), otherwise A PRISTINE COPY INSIDE AND OUT. Straight out of a time capsuleâ"that is to say, its original boxâ"this is an unsurpassably fine copy of a handsome trade edition of George Catlin's landmark work documenting the lives of North American Indians. Catlin (1796-1872) walked away from a law practice at age 25 in order to pursue his dream of becoming an artist. He achieved some success as a portrait painter but found the work dull. After seeing a delegation of Indian leaders from the western states in Philadelphia, he decided to dedicate himself to memorializing those tribes whose traditional way of life was being destroyed. He travelled west from St. Louis to Fort Union on the Santa Fe Trail in present-day New Mexico, then toured the Southern Plains and went up the Mississippi to explore the Great Lakes and upper Midwest. In 1841, he published "Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Conditions of the North American Indians" and staged exhibitions of his Indian portraits. As ANB notes, "Artists before him had painted Indian dignitaries visiting in Washington, D.C., or had portrayed them in council with American officials in the field. Catlin's claim to originality turned on the nature and extent of his coverage. Besides more than 300 portraits of men and women from some fifty tribes, he displayed 200 paintings of Indians on their own turf, going about their everyday activities. . . . He rightfully insisted that he was the first artist to offer the world a representative picture of Indian life based on personal observation." ANB considers that his paintings "show people, not romantic stereotypes, and the ethnographic value of his work has only appreciated with the passage of time." Catlin's repeated attempts to obtain government funding for his work failed, and his paintings were seized by creditors. Miraculously, the artwork survived storage with the collection intact, and the first edition of "Letters and Notes" with color-printed plates appeared four years after Catlin's death. The plates here capture moments in time before disease, displacement, and resettlement devastated the indigenous population, and show large, bustling villages, games and celebrations, hunting parties, and sacred rites, in paintings ANB calls "sometimes naive and awkward, sometimes poignant and profound," that form "the prism through which Americans still view a vanished world." Our copy comes from the collection of Santa Fe art dealer Forrest Fenn. The condition here is impossible to overpraise: the books seem to have sat in their box untouched for more than a century.
548 x 363 mm. (21 1/2 x 14 3/8"). 6 p.l., [72] leaves. Very pleasing modern maroon half morocco over red buckram boards, raised bands, gilt lettering. WITH 80 STRIKING HAND-COLORED LITHOGRAPHIC PLATES by Elizabeth Gould after John Gould. Pastedown with bookplate of Oregon gardener and rhododendron enthusiast James M. Blackford III. Fine Bird Books p. 101; Anker 168; Wood, p. 364; Zimmer p. 251. âSlight, unobtrusive wear to corners and edges, scattered always-vague foxing and intermittent always-faint offsetting internally, otherwise only the most trivial imperfections. A very nearly fine copy of a lovely book, the binding with few signs of use, the text clean and fresh, and the plates beautifully colored. Depicting a selection of vibrant species found in the Himalayan mountains, this impressive work was the first of Gould's celebrated folio volumes, and its success would launch his long and fruitful career of publishing similarly splendid volumes. Inspired by a collection of birds given to the Zoological Society (where Gould was employed as a taxidermist), the work was self-published and issued in 20 monthly installments, with text supplied by N. A. Vigors, and the beautiful lithograph illustrations by Gould's wife Elizabeth. The first edition of this work appears in two states: one with the backgrounds uncolored (as here), and one with the backgrounds colored (which appeared later, as evidenced by a letter in which Gould mentions adding colored backgrounds to the remaining copies). As with all of Gould's work, the hand coloring in our volume is very fine, and the variety of colors and plumage exhibited by the specimens makes each turn of the page a new delight. The work was a triumph, and its financial success led Gould to focus increasingly on bird illustrations in subsequent works. Although Gould was not responsible for the final lithographs (in this or his other works), many of the plates are based on his preliminary sketches, and he was intimately involved in almost every other aspect of production. In the words of DNB, "he was the collector (especially in Australia) or purchaser of the specimens, the taxonomist, the publisher, the agent, and the distributor of the parts or volumes. He never claimed he was the artist for these plates, but repeatedly wrote of the 'rough sketches' he made from which, with reference to the specimens, his artists painted the finished drawings. The design and natural arrangement of the birds on the plates [were] due to the genius of John Gould, and a Gould plate has a distinctive beauty and quality." Because of the vast corpus he produced, Gould (1804-81) is the most recognizable name in ornithology after Audubon. Hailing from a modest background, he began his career as a taxidermist, and later, as the "bird-stuffer" to the Zoological Society, he was exposed to leading naturalists of the day. As DNB tells us, "The sheer number of imperial folio volumes on birds published by Gould has never been surpassed. He was the entrepreneurial naturalist of the 1800s in England, and the pioneer naturalist of Australia." Mullens & Swann affirm that Gould's oeuvre is "excelled in extent and beauty by the work of no one other ornithologist, past or present.". FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, with the backgrounds uncolored.
213 x 146 mm. (8 3/8 x 5 3/4"). 26 volumes bound in 14. Recent dark blue highly polished calf, covers with vaguely Art Deco gilt frame, raised bands decorated with stylized silver Greek key rolls, azure morocco labels, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt. Stewart, p. 575. âOne leaf with two-inch closed tear into text with no loss, isolated mild foxing or other trivial imperfections, but IN VERY FINE CONDITION, the text clean and fresh throughout, and the bindings as new. The is a pleasing deluxe set of the writings of one of Britain's best-known writers. Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) is most famous for his works portraying the lives of both natives and colonialists on the Indian subcontinent. An opponent of female suffrage and a staunch supporter of British imperialism, Kipling nonetheless had great sympathy for the traditions of India as well as the literary ability and desire to present it as a land of beauty and enchantment. He was born in Bombay, where his father ran a school of art, and he lived in India until the age of six. He was sent to school in England, but chose to return to the East at 18. His father had become director of the Lahore Museum in what is now Pakistan, and Rudyard became a journalist for the "Lahore Civil and Military Gazette." His first two collections of stories, "Plain Tales from the Hills" and "Soldiers Three," depict the lives of the British military in India; he proved to be a prolific author, writing novels, tales for children and adults, and many poems. Kipling's wife was American, and they lived for a time in Vermont, but from 1896 the couple settled in England. Among his many honors are a Nobel Prize (1907) and the Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Literature (1926), which had previously only been awarded to Scott, Meredith, and Hardy. According to Stewart, this edition was "printed from the types of volumes I-XXV of the Seven Seas edition," the deluxe set issued by Doubleday beginning in 1914. An additional volume, not found in the Seven Seas edition, is added here, a collection of biographical essays by various authors entitled "Around the World with Kipling." The recent unsigned bindings, probably American, are at least slightly adventurous in their design, especially in their mixing of gold and silver ornamentation. (They also no doubt cost more to execute than the price we're asking for the set.).
170 x 97 mm. (6 5/8 x 3 3/4"). 100, [2] pp.; 120 [2] pp.; 42 pp.; 267, [5] pp. VERY PRETTY CONTEMPORARY GERMAN SILVER AND PINK VELVET over wooden boards, cover edged on three sides with silver, filigree silver cornerpieces, central medallion on each cover with a filigreed cipher topped by a coronet, two silver filigree catches, contemporary gilt and turquoise Dutch floral endpapers, all edges gilt, delicately gauffered at corners with floral designs. IN THE ORIGINAL CALF PULL-OFF CASE, front with gilt initials "* A * S * S *." âSmall losses in velvet at spine ends and all along joints, some inevitable compression of the velvet nap, one leaf with short fore-edge tear affecting the end of two lines, but a fine specimen nevertheless--quite clean and fresh internally (being printed on better than usual paper), the binding solid and with no serious condition issues, and the original case showing remarkably little wear. This is an extremely well-preserved example of the silver-and-velvet bindings popular for devotional books in Germany in the 18th century, here protected over the centuries by its original case--a special appurtenance that is not often present. The binding was created for someone with the initials A. S. S., which appear both in filigree in the cipher on the covers and in gilt on the leather case. The floral motifs in the filigree and gauffering and the color of the velvet suggest that the original owner was a woman, and the coronet over the cipher indicates she was an aristocrat. The contents tell us she was Protestant. In addition to a Catechism of the Reformed Church and a New Testament in German, the printed matter here includes the German translation of the Genevan Psalter, the standard psalm book used in German evangelical congregations. It is the best-known work of German humanist Ambrosius Lobwasser (1515-85), whose translation from the original French was first issued in Leipzig in 1573. There is also a hymnal by Joachim Neander (1650-80), who in his brief life became the most important post-Reformation German hymnist. His most famous hymn is the soaring--and still popular--"Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation" (German: "Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren," p. 97 here), described by John Julian in his Dictionary of Hymnology as "a magnificent hymn of praise . . . and of the first rank in its class." This beautiful little book may also be considered "of the first rank in its class," with all original components present and in such satisfying condition.
120 x 71 mm. (4 3/4 x 2 3/4"). Three volumes. Edited by Daniel Heinsius. VERY CHARMING 18TH CENTURY RED MOROCCO, GILT, covers with French fillet border, raised bands with gilt lettering, spine compartments with central floral sprig framed with curling brackets terminating in ivy leaves, spray of daisies on either side, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Title page of first volume with engraved ornate frame containing a tondo portrait of Ovid at head, woodcut printer's device, and decorative initials. A few leaves printed in red and black. Willems 317; Rahir 288; Dibdin II, 266-67; Brunet IV, 272 ("bonne édition"); Graesse V, 70. âSpine of first two volumes a bit sunned and very lightly rubbed, boards with trivial soiling and chafing, but the very prettily decorated unrestored bindings bright with gilt and still altogether pleasing. First volume with tiny hole to first leaf of text, volumes I and II with head margin of A1 trimmed away (doubtless to remove previous owner inscription), affecting headline in volume I and a handful of words in volume II, title page of volume III similarly trimmed with no loss and with later repair, third volume with narrow margin at the top (an occasional headline cut into); possible to imagine a finer copy internally, but nothing here to distract significantly from the pleasure the set provides. This is a delightful copy of the first Elzevir printing of Ovid, a new recension by Daniel Heinsius based on the 1578 Plantin edition and with notes at the end of each of the three volumes. The leading scholar of the Dutch Renaissance, Heinsius (1580-1655) was a professor of Greek, director of the library at the University of Leyden, and a prolific editor of Greek and Latin classics acclaimed by scholars all over Europe. Louis Elzevir began the family publishing dynasty in the 1580s, when he set up as a bookseller and publisher in Leyden. Five of his seven sons became printers; the most distinguished of these was Bonaventure (1583-1652), who opened his Leyden press in 1608, and took his nephew Abraham into partnership in 1626. The press enjoyed its greatest success during their nearly 30-year collaboration, becoming especially noted for their fine editions of the classics, as here. Britannica notes that "their small editions in 12mo, 16mo and 24mo, for elegance of design, neatness, clearness and regularity of type, and beauty of paper, cannot be surpassed." Having this finely printed Ovid in such charmingly decorated antique bindings sets the present copy apart in quite an engaging way.
