WOOLF, Virginia.
First edition, signed by the author in her distinctive purple ink on verso of half title, number 107 of 861 copies; small royal 8vo (235 x 160 mm; illustrated with 7 plates (including 3 showing Vita Sackville-West as Orlando), a couple of minor spots to preliminary leaves, else near-fine; publisher's black cloth boards, gilt lettering and patterns on spine protruding on to upper and lower boards, upper board with gilt publisher's device depicting a ram, spine and head of rear board very slightly faded and bumping to spine head, otherwise a near-fine and very attractive copy. Nigel Nicholson, Vita Sackville-West's son, famously declared Orlando to be 'the longest love letter in literature.' This is the true first edition, preceding the Hogarth Press edition by nine days. Kirkpatrick A11.
[CIVIL WAR PAMPHLET].
First edition; 4to (22 x 17.5cm); 3 folding plates (each approx. 35 x 26 cm), 2 engraved portraits, woodcut initials and decorations throughout the text, engraved armorial book-stamp to last leaf verso displaying motto 'light in darKines lumiere dans les tenebres'; one integral blank leaf, title page stained and browned, some marginal staining and browning throughout, creasing to corners, one small wormhole affecting 4 leaves; side-stitched contemporary marbled wrappers, worn and soiled with extensive loss to upper wrapper; [16], 39, [1]pp. A curious and rare anonymous English Civil War pamphlet published in Paris by Michel Mettaier (sometimes spelt Mettayer) in 1648 following the capture of Charles I by parliamentarian forces the previous year. The first part of the work consists of three large folding plates depicting the House of Lords, the House of Commons and the Convocation of Canterbury, with explicatory notes explaining the history and function of these bodies in the English parliamentary system. The latter part of the book contains an original address to Henrietta Maria, Queen of England illustrated with facing engraved portraits of the Queen and the Prince of Wales, and signed simply 'le bon et loyal svbiet'. It introduces a short statement in both English and French, allegedly translated from an original Latin version, which purports to be the words of Liudolf (c.930-957), an Ottonian Duke of Swabia and grandson of the German king, Henry the Fowler (919-936). The text claims that Liudolf did not die in 957, but rather feigned his death to take exile in Mantua in the hope that his descendants would one day regain his power and prestige. The tale was likely intended by the royalist author to offer hope to the exiled queen and her son, who were soon to become widow and orphan to the executed king.
MIRO, Joan
Etching, aquatint and cut-out shapes in colours, 1977, on Arches paper, signed in pencil and numbered from the edition of 50 (there were also 12 Hors Commerce impressions in Roman Numerals), printed by Morsang, Paris, published by Maeght, Paris, 140 x 96.5 cm. (5½ x 38 in.) Dupin, J. No. 970.
SHACKLETON, Sir Ernest Henry.
First edition, 3 volumes, 4to, one of 300 copies containing the signature of every member of the shore party, illustrated throughout with mounted colour plates, photographic plates, drypoint etchings, maps, diagrams, etc., including 4 folding charts and panoramas in pocket at end of vol. II, original vellum gilt (first 2 volumes) and original vellum-backed boards (third volume), a fine, clean copy largely free from the soiling and bowing that usually blights the work. A fine copy of 'the most luxurious publication ever to have appeared during the 'heroic age' of Antarctic exploration, recording the exploits of the one British expedition to have been crowned with popular success' (Taurus). This copy with the second, corrected, state of the Antarctic Book as usual. In addition to the signatures, the final volume contains special contributions written and drawn by different members of the expedition not present in the trade edition. The British Antarctic Expedition successfully made a sledge journey to the south magnetic pole. Other achievements were the ascent and survey of Mount Erebus (12,448 feet), the active volcano on Ross Island in addition to the southern sledge journey, which reached within 100 miles of the South Pole. Taurus 57; Rosove 305.A2.
GOULD, John.
Six volumes, folio, (55 x 35.5 cm); 418 hand-colored lithographs, many heightened with gold leaf & other iridescent mineral paints, overpainted with transparent oil and varnish colors, after John Gould, H.C. Richter and W. Hart; Contemporary half green morocco, spines with raised bands richly decorated in gilt, titles, volumes all gilt, all edges gilt. First editions of the main title and of the Supplement. Gould maintained an obsessive fascination for Hummingbirds: 'These wonderful works of creation my thoughts are often directed to them in the day, and my night dreams have not infrequently carried me to their native forests in the distant country of America' (Preface). During his lifetime he identified more than 400 species of Hummingbird, Linneaus, by comparison, having only identified 22. Gould famously exhibited his personal collection (from which the plates in this monograph are drawn) at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in the Zoological Gardens in Regents Park, and one of his revolving displays of these tiny birds with their 'jewel-like glittering hues' (Preface) can be seen currently at the Yale Center for British Art as part of their exhibition Endless Forms: Charles Darwin and the Natural Sciences. As a result Gould's 'masterpiece [is] an incomparable catalogue and compendium of beauties' (Sitwell, Fine Bird Books). Initially employed as a taxidermist [he was known as the 'bird-stuffer'] by the Zoological Society, Gould's fascination with birds from the east began in the 'late 1820s [when] a collection of birds from the Himalayan mountains arrived at the Society's museum and Gould conceived the idea of publishing a volume of imperial folio sized hand-coloured lithographs of the eighty species, with figures of a hundred birds' (A Century of Birds Hitherto Unfigured from the Himalaya Mountains, 1830-32). Gould's friend and mentor N.A. Vigors supplied the text. Elizabeth Gould made the drawings and transferred them to the large lithographic stones. Having failed to find a publisher, Gould undertook to publish the work himself; it appeared in twenty monthly parts, four plates to a part, and was completed ahead of schedule. 'With this volume Gould initiated a format of publishing that he was to continue for the next fifty years, although for future works he was to write his own text. Eventually fifty imperial folio volumes were published on the birds of the world, except Africa, and on the mammals of Australia-he always had a number of works in progress at the same time. Several smaller volumes, the majority not illustrated, were published, and he also presented more than 300 scientific papers. 'His hand-coloured lithographic plates, more than 3300 in total, are called 'Gould plates'. Although he did not paint the final illustrations, this description is largely correct: 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 was due to the genius of John Gould, and a Gould plate has a distinctive beauty and quality. His wife was his first artist. She was followed by Edward Lear, Henry Constantine Richter, William Matthew Hart, and Joseph Wolf' (Gordon C. Sauer for DNB). Anker 177, 182; Diane Donaldson (Picturing Animals in Britain 1750-1850), pp. 59-60.
GOULD, John.
3 vols, folio, (55 x 37 cm); 182 fine hand-coloured lithographic plates, most heightened with gum-arabic, by Gould and Henry Constantine Richter, printed by Hullmandel & Walton, subscriber's list, scattered light foxing affecting some text leaves and plates, some offsetting, very light marginal browning and occasional trivial finger-soiling; publisher's green morocco gilt, spines richly gilt in six compartments with raised bands, gilt lettering to second and third compartments, all edges gilt, yellow endpapers, corners slightly rubbed; overall an extremely handsome copy. One of the most important works ever attempted by Gould. Gould's interest in Australia was piqued by specimens sent back by his wife's brothers who had settled there. He soon realized that 'the "natural productions" of the country were untapped' (ODNB) and set out there in 1838, spending 18 months in the country. 'It was not until I arrived in Australia, and found myself surrounded by objects as strange as if I had been transported to another planet, that I conceived the idea of devoting a portion of my attention to the mammalian class of its extraordinary fauna' (Preface). In his Analytical Index to Gould's works, his long-time assistant, R. Bowdler Sharpe described The Mammals as 'One of the most important works ever attempted by Gould.' He had known 'that this work was never going to be remunerative on the same scale as his ornithological ones, but his motive was purely as a contribution to science - for which, on reflection, he thought he might have deserved more praise.' The Mammals was issued, as with all Gould's great natural history monographs, in parts. The first appeared on 1 May 1845 and the final 13th part on 1 May 1863. Each of the first 12 included 15 plates, a cleverly balanced mixture of the exciting with the more prosaic, each of them accompanied by descriptive text, the final part was made up of just two plates, but provided the preliminary titles, text and indices. As with all of Gould's publications the completed work is a sumptuous production, which contributed much to the history, documentation and illustration of Australia's numerous unique species, all too many of which are now sadly extinct. BM(NH) II,p.701; Nissen ZBI 1661 & 1662; Sauer 11 & 14; Wood p.365.
ABSTEMIUS, Laurentius (editor).
First edition thus; 12mo (16.5 x 11 cm); deleted ink inscription to front free endpaper, Greek marginalia to a2, light dampstaining to terminal leaves, inner hinges reinforced, scattered light spotting; later vellum over boards, MS lettering to spine, light soiling to boards, lower edge rubbed, red speckled edges; collation: a-c8 d4. A collection of, for the most part, previously unpublished Latin poems of Christian interest. This work was the first published by Hieronymus [Gershom] Soncino after a pause of five years following his relocation to Fano, preceding the publication of the first Hebrew book by his press by just nine months. USTC 857787.
KOONS, Jeff
Limoges porcelain with chromatic coating, signed by the artist and numbered on the inside of the front right leg. from the edition of 799 (there were also 50 artist's proofs), 40 × 48 × 15.8 cm. (15.7 × 18.9 × 6.2 in.) 'Balloon Dog (Blue)', 2021, is the first time that Jeff Koons has created a free-standing 'Balloon Dog' in this scale. This piece is a continuation of his famous 'Celebrations' series which the artist first began working on in 1993 and completed in 2000. It consisted of monumental hyper-polished sculptures of nostalgic items such as balloon animals, part hats and Play-Doh. This limited edition of 799 was hand crafted in Limoges, France, the premiere city for French porcelain production since the 19th century. A symbol of contemporary art, the 'Balloon Dog' in fact marries the traditional process of fine porcelain production with new, never before applied technologies to achieve the dog's iconic hyper-polished metallic-like surface.
PUSHKIN, Alexander; LÉBDÉFF, Jean (illustrator).
Limited edition, one of 230 copies on vélin de Rives, this numbered 77; 4to (33 x 25 cm); translated from the Russian by Alexandra de Holstein et René Ghil, woodcut illustrations and decorations hand-coloured by Jean Saudé, minor thumb stains; unbound in the original thick wrappers, minor age toning to borders, in the original cloth backed portfolio, spine faded and flaps very worn, otherwise very good copy. Limited edition of Pushkin's tales with wonderful hand-coloured illustrations. Jean Lébédeff was born in a small town near Nizhniy Novgorod in 1884 to a family of grain merchants. Aged 22 he became a navigator and shortly afterwards captain of a merchant ship on the Volga. He was abhorred by the deplorable behaviour of the Tsar's guards and banished them from his vessel. Seeing as he didn't have the authority to relieve them from duty, he fled to France in order to escape imprisonment. The experience left an indelible mark on Lébédeff and he remained fervently anti-imperialist his whole life, befriending Kropotkin in exile and hiding anarchists and Jews during WWII. In 1909 he settled in Paris and studied at the Beaux-Arts, where his love affair with woodcut engraving was born. His artistic career was incredibly fruitful and his circle of friends included some of the most notable creative figures of the era such as Modigliani, Picabia, Cendrars, Soutine and Matisse. Despite acquiring his education in France his style of illustration is much akin to Russian lubok prints. Pushkin's fairy tales have received numerous different interpretations and this particular rendition is particularly charming, no doubt influencing later émigré artists such as Goncharova.
ARTAMOF, Pierre [pseud. de LA FITE de PELLEPORC, Vladimir].
First edition; 2 vols (37 x 26.5 cm); half titles with Imperial coat of arms, numerous illustrations, maps and plans after M.H. de La Charlerie, blanks browned, some minor foxing throughout; contemporary black morocco backed cloth boards by Heldt, gilt double-headed eagle to upper boards and Imperial crown to lower boards, spine in parts with raised bands, gilt tooling, some minor staining to boards otherwise a very good set. A comprehensive and richly illustrated work on all aspects of the Russian Empire, in a fine decorative binding by Heldt.
CAMUS, Albert.
First edition in English, first impression; 8vo; light spotting to margins and fore-edge; publisher's grey cloth, gilt lettering to spine, spine and edges slightly faded, with the original pictorial dust jacket designed by Edward Bawden, neatly repaired tear to front panel, slight edge-wear, spine ends slightly chipped, some toning to edges, overall a very good example. A very good example of the UK first of Camus' masterpiece. Gilbert's wonderful translation matched by one of its era's greatest pieces of book design. Connolly (100 Modern Books), 94B.
LEBEDEV, Ivan (illustrator); EHRENBURG, Ilya (translator); BAISIEUX, Jacques de.
Limited edition, one of 25 copies on Japon de 'Shidzouka', from a total edition of 685, signed by Lebedev; folio (39 x 28 cm); illustrated and engraved entirely by Lebedev, lettrines coloured by hand; stitched in the original self-wrappers, some age toning to margin of upper cover, otherwise a very good copy. One of only 25 copies on Japon. Signed by the illustrator. This impressive production was a collaboration between two Russian émigrés based in Paris (specifically Montparnasse) at that time the artist and illustrator Ivan Lebedev (1884 1972) and the writer Ilya Ehrenburg (1891 1967). This was one of Ehrenburg's earliest published works. The Three Knights and the Shirt was originally a fabliau written by Jacques de Baisieux, a French-language poet and troubadour of the late thirteenth century. Short narratives in verse between 300 and 400 lines long, fabliaux were written by jongleurs in Northeast France between 1150 and 1400 and went on to feature in and inspire works such as Le Roman de Renart, the Decamerone, and the Canterbury Tales. This edition, produced in the style of a medieval manuscript is coloured by hand and signed by the artist. All of the woodblocks used were destroyed immediately after printing and remaining examples are decidedly rare. Not in the Russian State Library; WorldCat locates three copies at Harvard, Yale and the British Library.
GONCHAROVA, Natalia; TSETLIN, Mikhail (Amari).
First edition, limited edition, one of 1000 copies on Vergé d'Arche, this unnumbered; 8vo (21 x 16 cm); title, frontispiece, head and tail-pieces and initials illustrated in black and red after Goncharova, upper flyleaf stained, otherwise internally fresh; publisher's pictorial wrappers, skilful repairs to spine, yapp edges worn, a very good copy. The scarce first edition of Mikhail Tsetlin's collection of poems, Transparent Forms, wonderfully illustrated by Goncharova. Tsetlin, known by his pseudonym Amari had set up the Zerna publishing house in 1915 and worked closely with other émigrés at the time such as Ilya Ehrenburg and Ivan Lebedev. The aim was to publish books where the author and artist worked together in a holistic approach of design, much like the radical futurist groups had been doing in Moscow since 1909. Unlike her earlier futurist works, this edition is reflective of Goncharova's Paris years where folk motifs and natural forms are predominant. The present example is in the scarce pictorial wrappers which mimic the 'transparent shadows' of the title, as opposed to the much plainer variation.
CHURCHILL, Winston.
First two-volume edition; 8vo (22 x 15.5 cm); bookplate to front pastedown of each vol., ownership inscription to front free endpaper recto of each vol., half titles, frontispiece portraits, richly illustrated with folding maps and facsimile letters; publisher's purple cloth, gilt arms to upper covers, gilt spine, top-edge stained purple; 1050, 1078pp. The first two-volume edition of Churchill's Marlborough, His Life and Times, Sir Winston's attempt to rehabilitate the image of his ancestor John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, a soldier and politician at the court of Queen Anne. It followed 'A long succession of the most famous writers of the English language [who] have exhausted their resources of reproach and insult upon his name' (p.17). With bookplate and ownership inscription for John Basil Goulandris (1930-2016) of the famous Greek shipping family.
DURRELL, Lawrence.
First edition, first impression, signed and dated by the author with a signed note by him laid in; 8vo; publisher's purple cloth, titles to spine gilt, with the dust jacket, endpapers rather browned but a very good copy in the somewhat nicked, rubbed and sunned, price-clipped dust jacket missing a very small piece at the top of the spine panel. Boldly signed by Durrell on the title page in 1985, the signed note by him written on his printed calling card reads, ' Please Note I shall be in London May 15 for ten days, I hope at Alan Thomas' in case Gerry wishes to contact me yours Larry'.
ALCYONE. [KRISHNAMURTI, Jiddu].
First UK edition, first impression, inscribed by the author; small 8vo; frontispiece, some minor worming, light foxing; publisher's limp calf, pathway and gate device and titles to upper board gilt, titles to spine gilt, spine and upper board faded, extremities rubbed; very good. With the author's signed presentation inscription to the front free endpaper, 'To Naga from Krishna Bude, Freb; 7; 1915'. The author's first book written when he was just 14 years old and first published pseudonymously in India in 1910. This UK printing was the organised by Annie Besant, prints the identity of the author on the title page. A rare presentation copy of a cornerstone work of 20th century spiritualism, which remained in print for 100 years.
STANLEY, Henry Morton.
First edition. 8vo, xxiii, 736 pp., 6 maps (1 large folding, slightly foxed, 3 other folding, 1 full-page, 1 in text), mounted photograph frontispiece of Stanley, numerous full-page and other illustrations, original brown pictorial cloth gilt, minimal restoration to spine extremities, a very good copy. 'One of the most famous books in the broad spectrum of African exploration, this title acquainted many a nineteenth-century reader with the wonders of the Dark Continent' (Czech). 'Stanley landed in Zanzibar on 6 January 1871 to begin the search for Dr. David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary and explorer whose whereabouts in central Africa had become a question of international concern since his last letter of 30 May 1869. The journey lasted 236 days. On the morning of 3 November, with an American flag flying on a pole, Stanley led his remaining fifty-four men down a mountain toward a lake and his historic meeting with Dr. Livingstone. Stanley returned to Europe to a hero's welcome, though he had to contend with accusations that the Livingstone letters and journals he brought back were forgeries; members of the Royal Geographical Society wanted to ignore the American who had found "their man" in Africa. But he received the gratitude of Livingstone's family and official thanks from Queen Victoria. The public's appetite for his published story was voracious' (Delaney, Mountains of the Moon).
CARLETON, George.
Third edition; 4to (18.4 x 13.8 cm); engraved portrait frontispiece of the author, additional engraved title, numerous engravings to text, light age-toning, contemporary ink ownership inscriptions to prelims, V&A exhibition label to front pastedown, hinges cracked but holding, some evidence of worming to endpapers, rear flyleaf torn with loss; contemporary panelled calf, boards slightly worn, corners rubbed, overall a very good copy. Third edition, revised and enlarged, compiled by George Carleton, Bishop of Chichester (1619-1628). This work traces supposed attempts on the part of Catholics within and without England to overthrow the Protestant state. This copy was exhibited at the V&A as part of the 'Exhibition of Anglo-Jewish Art and History in Commemoration of the Resettlement of the Jews in the British Isles' in 1956 (bookplate to front pastedown). Queen Elizabeth I's physician, Roderigo Lopez, was tried and executed for allegedly plotting to kill the queen in 1594. As a Portuguese double agent, 'Doctor Lopez a Jew' was said to have conspired with the Spanish, England's enemies at that time. He was accused of attempting to kill the Portuguese King Antonio and 'take away Queene Elizabeths life by poyson', in return for 'fifty thousand Crowns'. The scandal is recounted more than 20 years later in this work (see p.163). ESTC S107516.
LOWMAN, Moses.
First edition; 8vo; contemporary calf, with embossed title, spine gilt in compartments with raised bands, joints slightly cracked but holding; edges stained red, pages clean and crisp. [12], 404 pp. Moses Lowman (16801752) was an English nonconformist minister in a Presbyterian congregation at Clapham, Surrey. He was known as a Biblical commentator and an authority on Jewish antiquities (this reputation of his resting mainly on his Dissertation on the Civil Government of the Hebrews, published in 1740). As a Christian writer Rev. Lowman extols the virtues of Judaism as support for the Christian faith: 'For a right Understanding of the Mosaical Ritual, requires some Knowledge of the rites themselves, together with some Understanding of the Ends, Designs, real Advantages, and Uses of them. For these are the proper Proofs of their Wisdom and Goodness, the proper Reasons and Motives for Approbation and Esteem.' ESTC T88610.
BIRNBAUM, Menachem (illustrator); BIRNBAUM, Uriel (translator).
First edition, 4to (290 x 230 mm); 10 woodblock colour illustration plates.; original decorated boards, browned, lacking the cloth ties; text in Aramaic and German; foxing to leaves; unpaginated, 15 ll. A colourful art book, illustrating the famous Passover hymn Had Gadjo (Chad Gadya in English spelling). Menachem (18931944) and Uriel Birnbaum (18941956) were sons of Austrian-Jewish Philosopher and journalist Nathan Birnbaum (1864-1937). Menachem was an illustrator and portrait painter who lived in Berlin from 1911 until 1914 and again from 1919 until 1933. He then emigrated to the Netherlands. In the spring of 1943 he was arrested by the Gestapo and with his relatives and transported to a Nazi concentration camp - presumably Auschwitz, where he died. Uriel, artist and poet, who had also illustrated a number of books during his lifetime, survived the war in the Netherlands. Vinograd, Berlin 2713.
![Contes populaires russes [Russian Folk Tales].](https://rarebookinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/31462261987-600x409.jpg)
![O trekh rytsariakh i o rubakhe [The Three Knights and the Shirt].](https://rarebookinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/31459421688-600x839.jpg)
![Prozrachnye Teni. Obrazy [Transparent Shadows. Forms].](https://rarebookinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/31459416806-600x773.jpg)
