LECHNER, Johann.
A full sheet of brocade paper.
Fürth, 1790s?: 1790
- $957
A gold-coloured embossed design cut in positive relief on a single-colour brushed paper featuring a menagerie of tame and wild animals (elephant, stag, unicorn, camel, etc.), birds, insects, as well as a shepherd, a shepherdess, and some children. Papers such as this are known as Bilderbogen, 'picture sheets', and were aimed squarely at the juvenile market. In his autobiography, Dichtung und Wahrheit, Goethe famously reminisces about his childhood in Frankfurt where, 'since the earliest times, buyers and sellers had thronged around the Bartholomäuskirche The stalls of the so-called Pfarreisen were very important to us children and we would come along with fistfuls of money to buy sheets of coloured paper printed with golden animals.' Lechner (c.17661839) seems to have begun his business in Fürth, just northwest of Nuremberg, in about 1790. This is an early design of his, marked No. 9. Haemmerle 89. Single sheet (365 × 425 mm); some marginal discoloration, creased where previously folded, one small hole.
More from Simon Beattie
Londoner Notizen. Erster [- Zweiter] Band.
Seemingly a self-published book, the memoirs of a young Austrian abroad, typed up by the author himself, who apologises for the look of the final product in his preface. The young Zinterhof came to London in 1903 from Vienna in order to improve his English, working for Lord Walters. Or so he says. I have been unable to trace a Lord Walters at that time. Is the whole book actually an elaborate fiction which, in terms of composition (photographs etc.), prefigures the work of W. G. Sebald by almost 90 years? Typescript copy, 2 vols, thick 8vo (236 × 168 mm); vol. I: pp. [4], 00 , 00/a , 01 02a, 02b , 03 032, 134, 134a 134h, 8, 8/1 8/2, 8a 8f, 9 352 (some cut-out images from Madame Tussaud s pasted to pp. 269 276); with 5 black-and-white photographic illustrations pasted onto additional leaves, plus one small photograph, and another from a newspaper, loosely inserted; vol. II: pp. [8], 353 , 353a 353d, 354 813; with 6 black-and-white photographic illustrations pasted onto additional leaves; some numbered blanks between sections and at the end in each volume; contemporary cloth, spines lettered gilt; slipcase, a little worn. Pamphlet des pamphlets
COURIER, Paul-Louis. First edition of one of the author s final works. After a career in the army, Courier (1772 1825) who also translated Longus into French retired to his estates in Touraine where he became interested in the people, and wrote a series of pamphlets (signed Paul-Louis, Vigneron [as here]) and letters to newspapers in which he upheld the rights of the peasants against oppression by the clergy and local government officials His most famous pamphlets rank, after the Provinciales of Pascal, among the masterpieces of French polemical writing (Oxford Companion to French Literature). Styliste impeccable, admirateur des Provinciales, disciple de Voltaire, Paul-Louis, vigneron a renouvelé la tradition française du pamphlet politique en des formules incisives Il a eu de nombreux imitateurs qui ne l égalèrent point (En français dans le texte 233). Quérard II, 314; Vicaire II, col. 1041. WorldCat locates no copies outside Europe. 8vo (210 × 126 mm), pp. [4], 31, [1]; some light spotting and offsetting; uncut in modern marbled boards, preserving the original printed wrappers, a few marks.- $479
- $479
Kamo griadeshi? Perevod Petra Olenina [Quo vadis? Translated by Pyotr Olenin].
NOUGUÈS, Jean. First edition in Russian: Henri Caïn's libretto for Quo vadis? (1909), Nouguès' 'most celebrated work' (New Grove), based on the 1896 novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz, 'a large-scale affair dealing with the plight of Christian martyrs in Rome' (ibid.). The Russian premiere took place at Moscow's Solodovnikov Theatre in September 1910, performed by members of the Zimin Opera. Sergei Zimin (18751942), the publisher here, was the founder of a private opera company in Moscow which ran from 1904 until the Revolution, staging the premieres of works such as Rimsky-Korsakov's Golden Cockerel (1909), as well as the Russian premieres of various Western operas. The translator is the baritone Pyotr Olenin (18711922), a singer at the Bolshoi who between 1907 and 1915 was Zimin's director-in-chief. Not listed in WorldCat. 8vo (169 × 125 mm), pp. 56; a few short marginal tears, a little soiling to pp. 367, finger-marks elsewhere, some creasing to corners; wanting front cover, rear cover present, tears to spine.- $376
- $376
Von unten gesehen. Impressionen und Aufzeichnungen des Obergefreiten Felix Harlaub. Herausgegeben von Geno Hartlaub.
HARTLAUB, Felix. First edition: the first appearance of any of Hartlaub's wartime notes and impressions, edited and published by his sister, the Gruppe 47 writer Geno Hartlaub (19152007). It is thought Hartlaub died sometime in May 1945 during the siege of Berlin by the Red Army, at the age of 31. His body was never found. 'The list of great writers who died young is a soberingly long one For great writers who die before they had the chance to produce or publish anything substantial, the spaces on the shelves where their books should be are the most poignant. The sense of what might have been is perhaps strongest of all with Felix Hartlaub. He published nothing during his short lifetime beyond his doctoral thesis and beyond that left nothing more than a scatter of notebooks, diaries and letters to his father. Despite this, Hartlaub is regarded as one of German literature's great lost writers, a man who left just enough to tantalise posterity at what heights he may have scaled had he lived just another two weeks until the German surrender' (Charlie Connelly, 'Posts from Paris under the Nazis', The New European, 18 Aug. 2022). The presence of two different dust-jackets here seems unusual. While books in post-war Germany were sometimes furnished with two jackets (one for the shop protecting another beneath for when the book was purchased), I have never seen a book with two different jackets. Both were designed by Karl Staudinger. One wonders if book shops could decide which to display. 8vo (190 × 113 mm), pp. 156; blob of wax to p. 7, small stain to pp. 1467; top edge blue; original boards, cloth spine, with two different illustrated dust-jackets (see below), a little light browning, some waterstaining to the spine; from the library of the writer Albrecht Goes (19082000), though there are no marks of provenance.- $137
- $137
A Commercial Dictionary, in the English and Russian Languages; with a full Explanation of the Russian Trade, &c. &c.
KROLL, Adam. Rare first edition, published by subscription, of the first EnglishRussian dictionary to be printed in Britain. 'The author was induced to undertake this Work, in consequence of the very increasing Commerce between England and Russia, and from a conviction in his own mind of the necessity of having some Guide by which the English Trader, not conversant in the Russian Language, might soon acquire such a Pronunciation as to render himself intelligible to the Russian, without having recourse to the laborious and difficult task of learning the Russian Characters, which would appear so formidable to his imagination, that he would be deterred from making the attempt' (Preface). 'This publication is far less and far more than a dictionary. The "dictionary" section is in fact a relatively limited vocabulary of about 650 words intended to be of use to merchants and their agents It is hard to believe that this can have been much use to those seeking to sell their wares in Russia. The compiler's knowledge of Russian seems to have been limited; his name, moreover, is German-sounding [although a member of the Russia Company, he was originally from Riga], and the transliterations may owe something to a German accent. 'However, the book is immensely informative in other ways; the vocabulary is only the start of its 135 pages. There are statistics of Russian exports to Britain and other countries [including America], lists of goods prohibited from export or import, ships arriving at St Petersburg (more than half of them British at this time), the coinage, means of conveying goods to the interior and translations of various Government edicts on trade, duties payable to the King of Denmark on goods for Britain passing the Elsinore Straits, and advice to ships' masters and private travellers arriving at or departing from St Petersburg. Apparently they had to expect their luggage would be sealed and not released for up to twelve days, and advance notice of departure had to be advertised in Russian and German in the Petersburg papers so that any Russian having financial claims might make them. If the book did not foster linguistic knowledge and understanding, it obviously provided other types of valuable information to assist the trader' (James Muckle, The Russian Language in Britain, 2008, pp. 1920). Alston XIV, no. 471; Cat. Russica K-1357; Goldsmiths' 17967; not in Kress, though there is a copy at Harvard's Baker Library. ESTC adds 4 others only: BL, LSE, NLS, Penn. 8vo (221 × 133 mm) in half-sheets, pp. v, [3], 135, [1]; leaves a little toned, some old waterstains to the first half of the bookblock; original publisher's pink boards, title printed within a decorative border to upper cover; sometime rebacked, corners worn, some soiling to the boards, but sound.- $2,462
- $2,462
Promotional poster for Pierre Frondaie s novel Die Frau von zweimal zwanzig.
[FRONDAIE.] Promotional poster for the novel Die Frau von zweimal zwanzig (Berlin, Ullstein, 1929), the first (and only) edition in German of Deux fois vingt ans (Plon, 1928) by Pierre Frondaie (1884 1948). The novel follows a heroine, Emma, aged 40 (hence the title, twice twenty years ), who grapples with widowhood, fidelity, and sensuality. It was made into a film in 1931, directed by Charles-Félix Tavano. Poster (455 × 299 mm); horizontal crease where previously folded, minimal fading; old stamp of the Werbe-Archiv, Graz (founded 1923) to upper right-hand corner.- $103
- $103
A striking image of the Scottish portrait and landscape painter, George Paul Chalmers (18361878).
RAJON, Paul-Adolphe. Rajon (1842/31888) 'first exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1868 and received medals in 1869, 1870, 1873 and 1878. His widowed mother placed him with her brother-in-law, a photographer, and there Rajon learned how to touch up negatives. When he was older he went to Paris, and after leading a rather Bohemian existence colouring photographs and drawing portraits, he joined the École des Beaux-Arts and studied under Pils. He remained there only a month. It was his acquaintance with Léopold Flameng and Gaucherel that determined his future career he became a successful etcher and was a supplier to the print firm Maison Goupil. During the war of 1870 he enrolled in a battalion of francs-tireurs. After the war he went to London where he made some interesting connections. He also made the acquaintance of the eminent New York art publisher Frederick Keppel, who brought his work to the attention of the American public. In 1880 he went to live with his friend Daubigny and remained with him until the end of his life' (Benezit). Chalmers visited Paris in 1872, though it is possible the two met on one of Rajon's visits to London. Béraldi, Les graveurs du XIXe siècle, vol. XI, no. 151: 'de trois quarts à droite, cheveaux rares et longs, moustaches, favoris longs, in-8.' Etching (plate: 150 × 110 mm; paper: 270 × 200 mm), unsigned, printed on Japanese paper, a few creases and spots, but still good; mounted.- $479
- $479
Christliche Leichen-Rede über Offenb. Joh. XIV: 12. bey Erdbestattung der Ehren- und Tugendreichen Frau Valencia Huber
BURCKHARDT, Johann Rudolf. Sole edition of this funeral oration, in distinctive typographic wrappers by Schneider; even the spine is decorated. WorldCat locates a copy at Bern only. 8vo (199 × 117 mm), pp. 24; printed on thick paper; original publisher's wrappers decorated with various typographical ornaments, a few spots; a copy of Am Grabe unserer Freundinn Schnell-Huber (Basel, 1805, pp. [4]), in the original printed wrappers, loosely inserted.- $957
- $957
Six Etchings from Sketches by Mr. O’Neill, of the Ruins of the late Fire at Christ Church, Oxford. To which is prefixed some Account of the Fire, and the Buildings injured by it
CROTCH, William. First edition: Crotch's first published set of etchings, 'made with the help of the London engraver John Girtin and published by Crotch's brother-in-law Robert Bliss, jr, in Oxford; the topicality of the event gave interest to the set, which was widely advertised at 12s., or 26s. on India paper, and was sold in London' (Alexander, Biographical Dictionary of British and Irish Engravers, p. 253). Crotch the composer was also remarkable as an artist, exhibiting a number of times at the Royal Academy. He had drawn since childhood, and in Oxford became acquainted with the drawing master John Malchair (c.17301812), a fellow musician, and it has been argued that 'Malchair's teachings found their most influential advocate in Oxford's Professor of Music, William Crotch, who passed on the old man's theories to someone who could put them to best advantageJohn Constable. Because of their mutual interest in both music and art, Malchair and Crotch became firm friends, and they discussed every possible aspect of Malchair's theories. When Crotch arrived in London, he met Constable (around 1806), and this friendship, too, soon developed [They] both came from the eastern counties, and although Crotch had not been brought up in the country, as Constable had, he was nevertheless strongly attracted to the small cottages and village churches, the cornfields and the oak trees, and the infinitely variable aspects of the sky, which formed the ever-recurring themes of both men's artistic work' (Rennert, William Crotch: Composer, Artist, Teacher, p. 94). The fire had broken out in buildings on Christ Church's Tom Quad on the night of 34 March 1809; so fierce was the blaze that there were fears for both the Hall and Tom Tower. 'The whole property was consumed with the exception of some books and manuscripts, which, being kept in a room on the ground floor, were rescued from the flames, (as it was reported,) through the exertions of a person acquainted with their value and situation' (p. [3]). Small folio (352 × 265 mm), pp. 6, [2], plus an engraved plan by Girtin and 6 etchings by Crotch, one in two states, all prepared by Girtin, numbered 14, '4', 56; slightly creased in places, the title and final blank page finger-marked/soiled and a little ragged, the plates likewise finger-soiled, short tear to the lower corner of two plates, marginal inkstain to five of them, the final plate a little dusty and ragged (old tape repairs to verso), lower left-hand corner torn away, not touching the image; stitched as issued and preserved in a paper wrapper, with remains of the original front cover, with printed paper label, laid down.- $616
- $616
The Absent-Minded Beggar Copyright in England and the United States by the Daily Mail Publishing Co.,
KIPLING, Rudyard. 'This souvenir is presented by Mrs. Langtry on the occasion of the 100th performance of the "Degenerates" at the Garrick Theatre. For permission to use Mr. Kipling's poem Mrs. Langtry has made to the "Daily Mail" a contribution of £100 for the benefit of the wives and children of the Reservists fighting in South Africa.' Kipling wrote 'The Absent-Minded Beggar' to assist the Daily Mail's 'Soldiers' Families Fund', established to raise money for comforts such as tobacco, cocoa, and soap for the troops, and clothing and postage for parcels from home for their families. Many of the men mobilised were ex-soldiers in permanent employment for whom returning to military duty meant a significant cut in their income, and there was no legislation to protect Reservists' employment. Poverty hit many families when the lifestyle maintained comfortably on a workman's wage of twenty shillings could not be kept up on the infantryman's 'shilling a day': When you've shouted "Rule Britannia" when you've sung "God Save the Queen" When you've finished killing Kruger with your mouth Will you kindly drop a shilling in my little tambourine For a gentleman in kharki ordered South? The poem was first published in the Daily Mail on 31 October 1899; both Kipling and the artist Richard Caton Woodvillethe image of a defiant Tommy was commissioned to accompany Kipling's poem, and endlessly reproducedcontributed their fees, and the Fund raised £100,000 in three months. While not rare in commerce, this is a particularly nice example, well preserved. Folding cream silk 'triptych' (287 × 588 mm; 287 × 200 mm when folded), printed in green, the poem in manuscript facsimile, portrait of Kipling on the front and Richard Caton Woodville's 'A gentleman in kharki' inside printed in sanguine; the silk stitched over three pieces of card, as issued; in very good condition.- $376
- $376
