Observations and Reflections Made in the Course of a Journey through France, Italy, and Germany
2 vols, 8vo, contemporary red half calf, blue paper boards, marbled endpapers, green leather spine labels, gilt rules and lettering. Six pages of publisher's advertisements in volume two. In 1784 Hester Lynch Thrale (1741-1821), the famous friend and confidante of Samuel Johnson, married an Italian musician, Gabriel Mario Piozzi, and they soon set off for Europe, where they traveled for three years, which she artfully chronicled in one of the most entertaining accounts of the Grand Tour. Written in an informal conversational style, Observations and Reflections is "alive with present-tense immediacy, to erode the barriers between diary and travel narrative. Her delight in Piozzi and in Italy was everywhere apparent in the materials she included in this development of the genre, which subverted masculine tropes of the grand tourist as disillusioned and hard to please" - ODNB. Piozzi's work became a model for other women travel writers and a source for authors like Ann Radcliffe in her novel The Mysteries of Udolpho. Bookplate of Charles Langton Massingberd on the front paste-downs, below which is the bookplate of American author Larry McMurtry. This is a duplicate from his collection of books by women travelers. Edges and boards a little rubbed and worn; light foxing to the prelims; very good copy. ESTC T71718; Rothschild 1551; Pine-Coffin 784-5; Robinson, Wayward Women, page 243
More from Brick Row Book Shop
Three Months Passed in the Mountains East of Rome, During the Year 1819
8vo, original gray boards sillfully rebacked, recent printed paper label, untrimmed. Frontispiece and five plates after sketches by Charles Eastlake. With errata, directions for the binder and four pages of advertisements between the front endpapers for the Literary Gazette, dated June 20, 1820. A travel narrative revealing of the adventurous and fearless nature of its author, Maria Graham (1785-1842). In the summer of 1819, she, her husband and the artist Charles Eastlake ventured into the mountains east of Rome, to the villages of Poli, near Tivoli and Palestrina, to escape the heat, but where it was known that the roads and locales were controlled by the dreaded banditti. Foreigners were discouraged from visiting this region and that apparently appealed to Maria Graham, who for a summer documented the local history, the personalities and nature of the people who were considered bandits, and she managed to do it unscathed. This was the third of five travel narratives by Graham, which established her as a bona fide travel writer, as opposed to a writer of a single travelogue. She had previously published two accounts of her travels in India; Brazil and Chile would be her next far-flung destinations. Contemporary bookplate on the front paste-down, below which is the modern bookplate of author Larry McMurtry. This is a duplicate from his collection of books by women travelers. Edges slightly rubbed; some light foxing; very good copy in contemporary state. Pine-Coffin 819-3; Robinson, Wayward Women, pages 44-45; see the ODNB
A Dissertation upon the Epistles of Phalaris, Themistocles, Socrates, Euripides, and Others; and the Fables of Aesop
8vo, early polished calf, gilt rules. The seminal treatise by Richard Bentley (1662-1742) on the authenticity of ancient texts, most notably the alleged letters of the 500 BC tyrant Phalaris, which Bentley convincingly demonstrated on linguistic and historical grounds to be forgeries. It was a controversial treatise and roundly attacked, but Bentley successfully defended his arguments. "Richard Bentley was and remains the greatest of English classical scholars. His reputation was made by his Dissertation on Phalaris, the final crushing blow in the Battle of the Books" - see under Printing and the Mind of Man, 178. The Dissertation was issued in two forms in 1697, as an appendix to William Wotton's Reflections upon Ancient and Modern Learning, Second Edition (1697) and separately, as here. The title-pages and text of both issues are identical. See the ODNB. Early ink number on the title-page. Edges a little rubbed; upper hinge repaired; very good copy. ESTC R14052; Wing B1928; cf. Bibliotheca Fictiva 39
The Queen of Hearts. A Dramatic Fantasia. For Private Theatricals. By An Amateur
8vo, original printed wrappers, 32 pages. James Bradstreet Greenough (1833-1901) was a Latin scholar at Harvard and one of the founders of Radcliffe College. He wrote several compositions and short plays intended for private performance by his family and friends, of which The Queen of Hearts is an example. The plot is adapted from the English nursery rhyme of the same title and was also famously used by Lewis Carroll in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. In Greenough's version, the cards come to life and burlesque the human motives and conduct in courtship. Though Greenough intended his play for a private audience only, The Atlantic obtained a copy and favorably reviewed it, and it was later published by Ginn & Heath (Boston, 1885). Greenough also wrote a clever adaptation of Thackeray's Rose and the Ring (1880). Wrappers a little browned at the edges amd skillfully repaired; very good copy. OCLC records eight copies (LC, Chicago, Boston PL, Harvard, Colby, UNC Chapel Hill and Brown)
The Virgin Unmask’d: or, Female Dialogues, betwixt an Elderly Maiden Lady, and her Niece, on Several Diverting Discourses on Love, Marriage, Memoirs, Morals, &c. of the Times. The Fourth Edition
8vo, contemporary calf with gilt rules and raised bands. An interesting variation on the courtesy book in ten dialogues between Lucinda, the elderly spinster aunt, and Antonia, her niece, in which Bernard Mandeville explores matrimony, child bearing, women's sexuality and happiness. The first dialogue begins with the aunt admonishing her niece for wearing a dress that reveals so much of her cleavage: She tells her: "Women, in strictness, should never appear in Public but veil'd; at least Young Women should never shew their Faces to any Men, but their nearest Relations." Mandeville (1670-1733) was a master of the dialogue form and used it most successfully in his Fable of the Bees. Scholars have made a case that the elderly aunt is based on English author Mary Astell (1666-1773), who is often referred to as "the first English feminist." Text somewhat smudged and soiled; some minor chips and tears to the margins; a few faint damp-stains; very good copy. Fourth edition; the first was published in 1709. Three Dialogues on the Amusements of Clergymen
Small 8vo, contemporary black half calf, red paper boards, gilt decorations in five compartments on the spine, gilt lettering. Without the half-title. Three clever dialogues by William Gilpin (1724-1804), the educator and writer on the picturesque, purporting to be conversations between one Dr. Joseph Frampton and the famous theologian and scholar Edward Stillingfleet (1635-1699), as copied from a manuscript found in Frampton's library when it was sold at auction in 1730. The subjects discussed between Stillingfleet and Frampton include matters that are proper for clergymen to partake in outside their pastoral duties, such as shooting, playing cards, attending theater, gardening, riding horses, etc. Gilpin's first published book in 1748 was a dialogue on gardens. 20th century bookplate of Charles Benson on the front paste-down. Very good copy in a handsone contempoary binding. Divine Dialogues, Containing Sundry Disquisitions & Instructions Concerning the Attributes and Providence of God . . . Collected and Compiled by the Care and Industry of F. P.
12mo, contemporary sprinkled calf rebacked to style, red leather spine label, gilt lettering. Title-page in red and black. A philosophical-theological discussion in three dialogues between Cuphophron, Hylobares, Philopolis, Sophron and other Greek-named interlocutors by the poet, theologian and philosopher Henry More (1614-1687), published under the pseudonym Franciscus Evistor Palaeopolitanus, though in this earlier issue only the initials F. P. are on the title-page. Among the subjects discussed is the validity of the verses of Lucretius. Title-page a little dust-soiled; some smudges in the text; edges and spine skillfully repaired; very good copy. ESTC R17163; Wing M2650; NCBEL I, 2335 Two Letters to the Right Honorable Lord Byron in Answer to His . . . Second Edition with Alterations . .
8vo, later olive half calf, marbled paper boards and matching endpapers, gilt lettering, a.e.g. A collection of the writings of William Lisle Bowles (1752-1860) in which he defends himself against attacks he had received from Byron, Thomas Campbell, Octavius Gilchrist (a "Certain Critic and Grocer") and others over his treatment of Alexander Pope in the ten-volume edition of Pope's works that Bowles edited. The pamphlet war that ensued became known as the "Pope Controversy" and here Bowles presents the lion's share of it with notes. See Cecil Woolf, "Some Uncollected Authors," The Book Collector, Autumn, 1958, for an interesting account of Bowles, and the DNB. Edges a little rubbed; preliminary binder's blank detached; very good copy.
Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse. By Lydia Huntley
12mo, contemporary half sheep and marbled paper boards, spine with gilt rules. Seven-page list of subscribers. The uncommon first book by Lydia Huntley Sigourney (1791-1865), a substantial collection of poems and short essays which foreshadowed her career as one of the most popular and prolific American literary women of the 19th century. Edges and boards somewhat rubbed; lacking the front free endpaper; rear blank torn; one leaf chipped in the top margin, just slightly affecting the the text; a good copy. BAL 17615; Shaw & Shoemaker 35937; Stoddard & Whitesell 1111
An Illustrated History of the Hat, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time
Small 8vo, original pictorial wrappers, 54 pages. Four full-page illustrations and about (depending on how you count them) 35 vignettes in the text; illustration of the Genin Hatter store in Manhattan on the lower wrapper. An attractive advertisement for the Genin Hatter business on the history of the hat by the proprietor of the firm, John Nicholas Genin (1819-1878), one of the most famous hatters of his generation. "Like P. T. Barnum, his neighbor on Broadway, Genin had a remarkable knack for using publicity to boost his business" - Wikipedia. The imprint of 214 Broadway was the address of the Genin Hatter store. Wrappers a little worn and soiled and chipped at the spine, but sound and complete; very good copy.
The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets; With Critical Observations on their Work. With an Introduction and Notes by Roger Lonsdale
Four vols, 8vo, original black cloth, gilt lettering. Frontis portrait. The definitive edition of Johnson's famous Lives of the English Poets, issued 225 years after its original publication. This edition, edited by 18th century English literature scholar Roger Lonsdale, has been celebrated as a great achievement in textual scholarship in giving Johnson's 52 biographies literary and historical context unlike anything that been previously accomplished. "The crowning achievement of Lonsdale's career is his magisterial edition of Johnson's Live of the Poets, a work more than two decades in the making. . . . This richly illuminating guide to Samuel Johnson's culminating critical accomplishment also delivers an astonishingly comprehensive masterclass in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century poetry, from the shifting status of writing for publication to the increasingly expanding market. Lonsdale's sympathetic understanding of Johnson [is] . . . a rare work whose greatness stands with Johnson's own" - Michael F. Suarez, S.J., in his introduction to Christopher Edwards Antiquarian Books List 87, The Library of Roger Lonsdale. Ink ownership signature with a few notes in pencil on the rear endpapers and margins of another Johnson scholar, Chester Chapin, dated June 14, 2006. This edition is inexplicably out of print - in any format: hard cover, paperback, e-book or print on demand - and accordingly scarce. Strange and shocking that Clarendon Press, a branch of Oxford University Press, would allow an important text like this to be unavailable except at select libraries. Fine copy, enclosed in the publisher's slipcase.
Les Entetiens Curieux, de Tartuffe et de Rabelais, sur les Femmes. Par le Sr. de la Daillhiere [pseud]
Small 12mo, 19th century brown half morocco, signed P. Pralon of Dijon, dark brown paper boards, blind rules and gilt lettering. Woodcut device on the title-page and two woodcut initials. [12], 95 pages. Three ingenious, bold and entertaining imaginary conversations between the fictional character of Moliere's famous play, Tartuffe, and the deceased FranÁois Rabelais, written pseudonymously and modeled most closely on the dialogues of Lucian, Pietro Aretino and Bernard le Bovier Fontenelle. The subject of the conversations is women, men's relationship to women, procreation, coquetry, seduction, and caring for them, including the roles of eunuchs in classical antiquity. Moliere's character Tartuffe made his first appearance on stage in 1663. Outwardly he was pious, but in reality he was mercenary, lecherous and deceitful. Both character and play were popular, but frowned upon by the church and banned, which made pairing him in dialogue with the master of satire, free-thinker and great writer Rabelais (circa 1485-1553) intriguing. In one part of the second conversation, the character of Rabelais teasingly critiques the work of Moliere. And in the preface, the pseudonymous Le Sieur de la Daillhiere falsely claims, as Tartuffe might have, that there is no sin in the text of the dialogues. ? This is an early example of a dialogue that uses literary figures as its interlocutors. The dialogue form was popular in France in the 17th century and was used most successfully by Fontenelle (1657-1757) and FranÁois FÈnelon (1651-1715). In the preface the author states that his reason for anonymity was "that the work doesn't deserve it, being a mere trifle in comparison to other works he is about to give to the public, of which the present is merely an outline." ? From the library of French bibliographer Gabriel Peignot (1767-1849), with the manuscript notation on front blank, "Vente Peignot." Catalogue de la BibliothËque de feu Gabriel Peignot, page 227, #1883 (this copy). On the front paste-down is the armorial bookplate of Jean-Baptiste Philippe Constant Moens (1833-1908), the Belgian philatelist considered the first dealer in stamps for collectors. Edges of the binding a little rubbed; scattered stains and foxing; paper repairs to the final two leaves, mostly marginal but affecting a few letters at the extremities of three lines in the penultimate leaf; very good copy, enclosed in a quarter morocco clamshell case. Brunet, II, 470; Cioranescu, Bibliographie de la LittÈrature FranÁaise, 38017; OCLC records 12 copies, five in the US and seven in Europe and Britain
En Resandes Ber?ttelser. Af Washington Irving
2 vols, 8vo, original printed blue-gray wrappers, untrimmed. The first edition in Swedish, translated by Lars Arnell, of Washington's Irving's Tales of a Traveller, his continuation of the short stories that began with The Sketch Book. Contemporary ink signature on each front wrapper. Wrappers slightly worn; fine copy, enclosed in a quarter morocco clamshell box. Langfeld & Blackburn, page 71; OCLC records three copies in the US (Harvard, Kansas and NYPL) and three in Sweden First edition of the first Swedish translation.![Poem" [in] Fourteenth Anniversary of the Society of California Pioneers](https://rarebookinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/31504148190.jpg)
Poem” [in] Fourteenth Anniversary of the Society of California Pioneers
8vo, original printed wrappers, 31 pages. An eight-stanza poem written for the 14th anniversary of the Society of California Pioneers that juxtaposes the calmness of California to the violence of the Civil War in the Eastern states. "Poem" is one of Harte's earliest appearances in print, three years before his first book. Wrappers a little dust-soiled, but essentially a fine copy.
Authorship, a Tale. By a New Englander Over-Sea
12mo, original purple muslin spine, tan boards, printed paper label, untrimmed. An unusual novel based on Neal's experiences in England, where he lived and worked as a writer between 1824 and 1827. Always a vocal partisan for American language and ways, the story relies heavily on dialogue and the contrasts between the two cultures. Contemporary ink signature of J. D. Harman on the title-page. Cloth somewhat worn and faded; some light foxing; very good copy. BAL 14874; Wright I, 1943; American Imprints 2696
BibliothËque de la Reine Marie-Antoinette at Petit Trianon D’apres L’Inventaire Original DressÈ par Ordre de la Convention. Catalogue avex des Notes InÈdites du Marquis de Paulmy
12mo, contemporary green half morocco by V. Champs, marbled paper boards, spine gilt-decorated in five compartments, gilt lettering, t.e.g., others untrimmed. An interesting compilation by Paul Lacroix (1806-84), French antiquary, bibliographer, editor and author, of the library of Marie Antoinette that was housed at her estate, Petit Trianon. The 736 entries are arranged by sciences and arts, belles lettres (the majority of the works) and histoire. Along with the usual suspects are imaginary voyages and a number of memoirs of amorous characters that shocked the general reader when the catalogue was first published. Lacroix, who often wrote under the pseudonym "Bibliophile Jacob," compiled this when he was librarian of the Arsenal Library, Paris. Bookplate of F. T. Kunkelmann on the front paste-down. Upper joint starting, but sound; fine copy. First edition, number 75 of 300 numbered copies on Holland paper (of a total of 317 copies).
Sonnets. By the Rev. Charles Turner
Small 8vo, original green cloth, gilt lettering, untrimmed. A substantial collection of over 100 sonnets by Charles Turner (formerly Tennyson and often referred to as Tennyson-Turner), an accomplished and prolific sonneteer (his collected poems contained over 400). In the ODNB, Roger Evans writes that this 1864 collection, Turner's second book, "reveals the influence of the sacramentalist idiom of Keble [i.e., John Keble, Church of England clergyman and poet, 1792-1866], a pronounced antipathy to current neologistic thinking, and a sensitive delicacy in its descriptions of natural forms." Charles Turner (1808-1879) was the brother of Alfred and Frederick Tennyson. Under the terms of a will, an inheritance from an uncle requested that he change his surname. Edges slightly rubbed; very good copy.Observations and Reflections Made in the Course of a Journey through France, Italy, and Germany: https://rarebookinsider.com/rare-books/observations-and-reflections-made-in-the-course-of-a-journey-through-france-italy-and-germany/
