Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
IMPORTANT!
The simplest way to order from this catalogue is to click on the green button beneath the book of your choice. This will create an e-mail containing all the information we need to process your order EXCEPT that we need also to know the address for delivery. (The reason for asking that at this time is that we will send you an e-invoice for the item inclusive of postage calculated according to the country to which the parcel is to be sent.) Books will be billed at the cheapest postal rate available, unless you ask us to do something else. If delivery is to be outside Europe, and you do not want the book sent by surface mail, you should specify air-mail.
Please note: Our larger files are presented in sections for ease of downloading. At the end of each section you are invited to browse the next. |
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
AINSWORTH (W. Harrison, Esq.). Jack Sheppard. A romance. By W. Harrison Ainsworth, Esq. Author of “Rookwood,” and “Crichton.” With illustrations by George Cruikshank. In three volumes. London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, 1839. 3 Vols., lge.12mo; half-titles not called for in volumes one and two, present in volume three; advertisement leaf, blank on verso, precedes engraved portrait frontispiece on plate-paper by W. Greathatch after R.J. Lane, A.R.A. in volume one; eight etched plates on plate-paper, by George Cruikshank, in volume one, nine in volume two, and ten in volume three; pp.[xii (paged viii)]+352; iv+292; [viii]+312; vertically ribbed dark grey-green cloth, ruled and blocked blind on sides, ruled blind, lettered gilt, on spine; a.e. uncut; end-papers coated yellow. Light foxing to most plates, mostly visible only on margins, and some offsetting from plates onto facing pages; small damp-stain to blank lower fore-corner of frontispiece in volume two; nonetheless, a virtually fine copy. Scarce thus.
GB £640.00
US $1,049.60
Sadleir, 14; Wolff, 53, adding a rather cryptic note on the pagination of the prelims. in volume one. In fact the advertisement leaf has not been included in the pagination and the half-sheet has been misfolded so that the list of Illustrations to the three volumes follows the unnumbered fly-title to the first part instead of preceding it. The title and Contents leaves to volume two, and the half-title, title, Contents, and fly-title leaves to volume three were evidently printed conjugate with the prelims. of volume one, completing the full sheet, the fly-title to volume two forming the first leaf of the second gathering. A tale of criminal life set in the first quarter of the eighteenth century, more realistic and less romantic than ‘Rookwood’, and often considered Ainsworth’s best novel — though, with its idealisation of roguery, it has also, like Lytton’s ‘Paul Clifford’, sometimes been condemned as of immoral tendency.
Ref: CRT817742
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
AINSWORTH (William Harrison). The Tower of London. A Historical Romance. Illustrated by George Cruikshank. London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, Bookseller in Ordinary to Her Majesty, 1840. Demy 8vo; frontispiece, and thirty-eight plates; wood-engraved vignette on title-page, and numerous wood engravings in the text; pp.xvi+439+[i]; contemporary full polished black calf, ruled and tooled gilt on sides, ruled and very elaborately tooled gilt on spine, green lettering piece on spine; gilt tooled edges and inner dentelles; marbled edges and end-papers. Some insignificant wear to calf; plates rather foxed as usual; otherwise a nice copy, presumably bound up from the parts.
GB £110.00
US $180.40
Wolff, 76 and 76a, listing the issue in parts and the ordinary issue of the book in cloth; Sadleir 31, recording a copy of the special book edition in publisher’s dark green morocco. In this copy the caption of the plate to p.156 has the mis-spelling Mouger for Mauger, as noted by Cohn (though his text gives the mis-spelling as Manger); p.131 is misnumbered 31, and pp.135 and 139 lack the last digit of the page number. The plates to pp.16, 28, and 45 are in Cohn’s first state.
Ref: CRT800227
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
AINSWORTH (William Harrison). The Star-chamber: An Historical Romance. In two volumes. London: G. Routledge & Co., Farringdon Street, 1854. (The Author of this Work reserves the right of translating it.) 2 Vols., post 8vo; half-title not called for in volume two; 12pp. publisher’s text-paper advertisements at end of volume two, probably printed conjugate with the prelims. to that volume and so integral; pp.viii+296; iv+287+[i (printer’s imprint)]+12; dark puce straight grain morocco cloth, ruled and elaborately embossed with a pattern, blind, on sides, blocked, lettered, and with short rules, gilt, on spine; t.e. uncut; yellow-coated end-papers printed on coated surfaces with publisher’s advertisements in black. Owner’s name removed from upper margin of front free end-papers and half-title, leaving slight thinning; poor quality gilt just a trifle dull on spines, as usual with this title; two leaves in volume two a trifle proud, but not loose; otherwise a fine, crisp, copy.
GB £320.00
US $524.80
This title not in Sadleir; Wolff, 75, describing the cloth colour as ‘grey-purple’, which may suggest some fading despite his description of the set as ‘fine’: the colour in the present copy being closer to black. Issued as the seventh title in the series ‘Geo. Routledge & Co.’s Series of Original Novels’, the fact being recorded in the advertisements on the front end-paper where it is the first entry, and the only one without reviews. This was a publishing experiment: two volumes for 7s. or two volumes in one for 6s. 6d. The series began publication with ‘Linny Lockwood’ by Mrs. Crowe in November 1853 and seems to have been continued until about April 1854, when ‘Phillip Rollo’ by James Grant was advertised. The present title appeared late in January.
Ref: CRT818324
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
AINSWORTH (William Harrison). The Spendthrift: A Tale. With illustrations by Hablot K. Browne. London: George Routledge & Co., Farringdon Street; New York: 18, Beekman Street, 1857. (The Author reserves the right of Translation). Demy 8vo; wood-engraved frontispiece and seven wood-engraved plates with thin paper guards; pp.[2]+[ii]+[iii]-[vi]+[3]-332; light scarlet ripple-grain cloth, ruled, blocked, and embossed with lettering blind on sides, ruled, blocked, and lettered gilt, on spine; a.e. uncut; end-papers coated yellow. Neat restorations to cloth at head of spine, with loss of most of top-most ornamental rule; a little foxing to margins of plates; otherwise, and in general effect, a fine, bright copy.
GB £85.00
US $139.40
With the armorial bookplate on the front paste-down of John Browne, who, as Wolff notes in respect of his copy of ‘The Star Chamber’, was “owner of many of Sadleir’s best books.” Also on the front paste-down is the orange book-ticket of Effingham Wilson, ‘Bookseller, Stationer, and Binder’ who, in an earlier incarnation was Jane Austen’s first publisher. Sadleir, 28, listing a copy in pictorial yellow boards, but noting the existence of copies in blue, red, or green cloth; Wolff, 73 & 73a, listing copies in blue cloth, one ripple-grain, as here, and one bead-grain. A curiosity of the volume, not noted by either Sadleir or Wolff, but evidently from the identity of the pagination true of their copies also, is that the title leaf appears to have been printed as leaf [B1], that gathering consisting otherwise of only seven leaves, the remaining three leaves of the prelims. forming gatherings [a] (the half-title), and ‘b’ (the two leaves of Contents), the half-title and title being included in consequence as a single inset leaf, ‘b’ being tipped-in between B1 and B2. This arrangement is reflected in the somewhat odd pagination. The embossed lettering on the sides is a rare example of a true binder’s imprint. Appearing on the wide blind rule at the tail edge of the front cover, and, upside down, on the wide blind rule at the upper edge of the back cover, it reads: ‘W. BONE & SON. BINDERS.’ It is not noted by Sadleir, Wolff, or Ball, ‘Victorian Publisher’s Bindings’, who records such binder’s signatures as “met with occasionally in the 1830s and 1840s, with an example as late as 1871". The Ball examples may, however, be in part at least of designed bindings, where the signature is, in Carter’s words (‘Binding Variants’, pp.43-4): “perhaps more in the nature of an artist’s signature on a picture than a deliberate attempt at an ‘imprint’". Of clear examples of the latter he is able to cite only one, dating from the mid 1830s. The present imprint is precisely analogous to that, though from a different firm. The spine design is apparently by John Leighton, as attested by a minute canted ‘L’ at the bottom right-hand corner of the spine panel. Unusually for Leighton, however, it is not a symmetrical design.
Ref: CRT818322
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
AINSWORTH (William Harrison). The Spendthrift: A Tale. With illustrations by Hablot K. Browne. London: George Routledge & Co., Farringdon Street; New York: 18, Beekman Street, 1857. (The Author reserves the right of Translation). Demy 8vo; wood-engraved frontispiece and seven wood-engraved plates with thin paper guards; pp.[2]+[ii]+[iii]-[vi]+[3]-332; navy blue ripple-grain cloth, ruled, blocked, and embossed with lettering blind on sides, ruled, blocked, and lettered gilt, on spine; a.e. uncut; end-papers coated yellow. Neat restoration to cloth at head of spine and top part of back joint, not affecting the blocking; plates somewhat foxed, with offsetting onto facing leaves; otherwise, and in general effect, a nice copy.
GB £55.00
US $90.20
Sadleir, 28, listing a copy in pictorial yellow boards, but noting the existence of copies in blue, red, or green cloth; Wolff, 73 & 73a, listing copies in blue cloth, one ripple-grain, as here, and one bead-grain. A curiosity of the volume, not noted by either Sadleir or Wolff, but evidently from the identity of the pagination true of their copies also, is that the title leaf appears to have been printed as leaf [B1], that gathering consisting otherwise of only seven leaves, the remaining three leaves of the prelims. forming gatherings [a] (the half-title), and ‘b’ (the two leaves of Contents), the half-title and title being included in consequence as a single inset leaf, ‘b’ being tipped-in between B1 and B2. This arrangement is reflected in the somewhat odd pagination. The embossed lettering on the sides is a rare example of a true binder’s imprint. Appearing on the wide blind rule at the tail edge of the front cover, and, upside down, on the wide blind rule at the upper edge of the back cover, it reads: ‘W. BONE & SON. BINDERS.’ It is not noted by Sadleir, Wolff, or Ball, ‘Victorian Publisher’s Bindings’, who records such binder’s signatures as “met with occasionally in the 1830s and 1840s, with an example as late as 1871". The Ball examples may, however, be in part at least of designed bindings, where the signature is, in Carter’s words (‘Binding Variants’, pp.43-4): “perhaps more in the nature of an artist’s signature on a picture than a deliberate attempt at an ‘imprint’". Of clear examples of the latter he is able to cite only one, dating from the mid 1830s. The present imprint is precisely analogous to that, though from a different firm. The spine design is apparently by John Leighton, as attested by a minute canted ‘L’ at the bottom right-hand corner of the spine panel. Unusually for Leighton, however, it is not a symmetrical design.
Ref: CRT818323
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
AINSWORTH (William Harrison). Ovingdean Grange. A tale of the South Downs. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne. London: Routledge, Warne, and Routledge, Farringdon Street; And 56, Walker Street, New York, 1860. Demy 8vo; half-title not called for; wood-engraved frontispiece and seven plates with tissue guards; pp.[x]+357+[i (printer’s imprint]; royal blue bead-grain cloth ruled, blocked, and embossed with lettering, blind on sides, ruled, blocked, and lettered gilt, on spine; top- and fore- edges uncut, lower-edges rough trimmed; end-papers coated pale yellow. Very slight bruising to corners, but a fine bright copy, nonetheless, the plates very fresh and clean.
GB £150.00
US $246.00
Sadleir, 25; Wolff, 65: the book being recorded variously in blue, red, and violet bead grain cloth, similarly ruled, blocked, and lettered, and without known precedence, to which we can add a copy in ‘old rose’. The embossed lettering on the sides is a rare example of a true binder’s imprint. Appearing on the wide blind rule at the tail edge of the front cover, and, upside down, on the wide blind rule at the upper edge of the back cover, it reads: ‘W. BONE & SON. BINDERS.’ It is not noted by Sadleir, Wolff, or Ball, ‘Victorian Publisher’s Bindings’, who records such binder’s signatures as “met with occasionally in the 1830s and 1840s, with an example as late as 1871". The Ball examples may, however, be in part at least of designed bindings, where the signature is, in Carter’s words (‘Binding Variants’, pp.43-4): “perhaps more in the nature of an artist’s signature on a picture than a deliberate attempt at an ‘imprint’". Of clear examples of the latter he is able to cite only one, dating from the mid 1830s. The present imprint is precisely analogous to that, though from a different firm. As with the Sadleir and Wolff copies, the last leaf of the Contents, signed ‘b’ is a single inset, as is the last leaf of the text, which is signed ‘2B’, the penultimate signature, ‘2A’, consisting of two leaves. In the present copy the ‘R’ of ‘Rev.’ on the dedication leaf is lacking, which we have not noted with other copies (state or issue significance, if any, undetermined).
Ref: CRT800231
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
AINSWORTH (William Harrison). The Constable of the tower An historical romance. Illustrated by John Gilbert. In three volumes. London: Chapman and Hall, 193, Piccadilly, 1861. (All rights reserved.) 3 Vols., extra cr 8vo; half-titles not called for; wood-engraved frontispiece in each volume, two further plates in volume one and one in volume two; fly-title precedes start of text in each volume; separate fly-title to books two and three; pp.[viii]+307+[i (printer’s imprint)]; [viii]+315+[i (printer’s imprint)]; [viii]+332; light scarlet bead-grain cloth, ruled and blocked blind on sides and spine, blocked bright and matt gilt, lettered gilt, embossed with lettering light scarlet through matt gilt on spine; a.e. uncut; end-papers coated yellow. Re-backed with cloth of a matching colour, the original back-strips laid on, these a little chipped at extremities and over joints, but the gilt blocking complete and very bright; very slight cracking to end-papers, and small hole in one front end-paper; frontispiece to volume one lightly foxed at top corner; one opening in volume two largely embrowned where a strip of newsprint or similar has been left between the leaves; otherwise a crisp and virtually fine copy.
GB £140.00
US $229.60
Sadleir, 8. A difficult title, number five on Sadleir’s schedule of comparative scarcities.
Ref: CRT818331
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
AINSWORTH (William Harrison). The Lord Mayor of London: Or, City life in the last century. In three volumes. London: Chapman and Hall, 193, Piccadilly, 1862. (The right of Translation is reserved.) 3 Vols.; half-titles not called for; fly-title precedes start of text in each volume; last leaf of Contents in volume one signed ‘b’, final leaf of volume two signed ‘Y’, and title leaf in volumes two and three, all single insets; pp.[x]+304; vi+302; vi+316; magenta vertical wavy grain cloth, ruled and blocked blind on sides, blocked gilt on front cover, ruled blind, blocked and lettered gilt, lettered blind-through-gilt, on spine. Some wear to extremities of spines, cloth of spines darkened, and two front covers showing slight fading, probably where a library label has been removed; two openings in volume one stained at inner margins where brownish tape has been removed; four end-papers strengthened at gutter with white cloth tape; text otherwise in general very clean and fresh. As a reading copy, for the reasons given.
GB £45.00
US $73.80
Sadleir, 19; Wolff, 58, recording an apparently defective copy, comments: “the Ainsworth 3-decker that I waited longest for.” Wolff adds to Sadleir’s note the information that in volume two signature ‘U’ is of four leaves only, and that ‘Y’ is a single inset, but fails to note that the title leaves to volumes two and three are single insets also, and says that in volume two “there is no ‘X’": there is in the present copy, and it consists of a conjugate pair — as does, in fact, the final gathering, ‘Y’, of volume three, the preceding gathering there, ‘X’, again being of four leaves. Number nine on Sadleir’s schedule of Comparative Scarcities.
Ref: CRT818802
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
AINSWORTH (William Harrison). Cardinal Pole: Or, The days of Philip and Mary. An Historical Romance. In three volumes. London: Chapman and Hall, 193, Piccadilly, 1863. (The right of Translation is reserved.) 3 Vols.; last leaf of prelims. in volume one a single inset signed ‘b’, and final leaf a single inset signed ‘Y’, the two preceding gatherings consisting each of four leaves; final leaf in volume two a single inset signed ‘X’; final leaf in volume three a single inset signed ‘Y’; pp.x+301+[i (printer’s imprint)]; viii+305+[i (printer’s imprint)]; viii+302; deep green sand-grain cloth, ruled and blocked blind on sides, ruled blind and gilt, blocked gilt, lettered blind-through-gilt and gilt, on spine; t.e. uncut, lower-edges rough-trimmed. Slight adhesion damage to front end-papers (v. note); some foxing, more or less confined to first and last few leaves in each volume; otherwise a fine, crisp, copy.
GB £300.00
US $492.00
A secondary binding done for sale by Smith’s: though these volumes have clearly never seen library use, each volume bears (or bore) on the front paste-down (it has been removed in volume one) a pink laid-on slip advertising ‘W.H. Smith & Son’s Subscription Library’, whilst the upper corner of the free end-paper bears a small blind-stamped ‘R’ within a circle, presumably for ‘Remainder’. Sadleir, 4, recording the dedicatee’s copy as in bright brown dot-and-line-grain cloth; Wolff, 40, noting no differences from the Sadleir copy. The two four-leaf gatherings in volume one, the three initial gatherings of four leaves, and the single insets complete an exact number of sheets.
Ref: CRT818325
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
AINSWORTH (William Harrison). The Constable de Bourbon. In three volumes. London: Chapman and Hall, 193, Piccadilly, 1866. (The right of Translation is reserved.) 3 Vols; half-titles not called for; final blank in volume one; pp.[viii]+285+[i (printer’s imprint)]+[ii]; vi+287+[i (printer’s imprint)]; vi+291+[i (printer’s imprint)]; brown straight grain morocco cloth blocked blind on sides, blocked, ruled, and lettered gilt on spine; t.e. uncut; end-papers coated yellow. Very slight wear to heads and tails of spines and some corners, and almost invisible restorations to cloth of back joints (with no loss); slight wear to one lower edge; small, old, private ownership stamp on upper margin of each title-page; otherwise, and in general effect, a very nice copy.
GB £160.00
US $262.40
Sadleir 7, but a binding variant, the Sadleir copy being in maroon sand-grain cloth; Wolff, 43a, hypothesising that this is an unrecorded secondary binding. The small ownership stamp on each title-page here is associated with an armorial bookplate and signature on the front end-papers, and is evidently that of the original purchaser. The front free end-papers bear the blind-stamp of W.H. Smith and Son’s Library, but since library labels have certainly never been present in this copy it appears to us that this binding may have been executed on (secondary) copies designated for sale by Smith’s. One of the more difficult Ainsworth titles in either binding, appearing as number nine on Sadleir’s list of comparative scarcities.
Ref: CRT800233
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ALCOTT (Louisa M.). Jo’s boys, And how they turned out. A Sequel to “Little Men.” Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1886. F’cap 8vo; binder’s blank at front and back; half-title not called for; engraved frontispiece with tissue guard; 2pp. integral advertisements followed by 16pp. publisher’s text-paper advertisements, at end; pp.365+[i (blank)]+[xviii]; publisher’s diagonally fine ribbed rich brown cloth, ruled and blocked black, lettered gilt, on front cover, ruled scarlet, black, and gilt, blocked scarlet and gilt, embossed gilt, lettered black and brown through gilt, on spine; end-papers printed florally light green. Very nice copy.
GB £170.00
US $278.80
Blanck, 211, also noting copies in similar green cloth. The first state of text noted by Blanck, the sheets bulking 1 1/16” as against 1” in the second state. The American sheets were issued in England by Sampson Low, the first advertisements for the book in England appearing on September 18th, whilst the earliest advertisements traced for the book in America appeared on October 9th, this suggesting the possibility that the English issue may have precedence. The present copy, however, which is of the American issue, bears on the front binder’s blank a lightly pencilled ownership inscription dated from ‘Lockport / Oct.7.1886’ — two days before the earliest advertisement noted in America.
Ref: CRT800241
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ALLEN (James Lane). The choir invisible. New York, The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1897. F’cap 8vo; integral advertisement leaf at end; pp.[viii]+361+[i (blank)]+[ii (verso blank)]; light blue buckram, ruled, blocked, and lettered gilt, lettered light blue through gilt, on front cover and spine; t.e.g., others uncut; laid-paper end-papers. Very slight fading of covers, but a nice copy.
GB £31.00
US $50.84
Blanck, 462. Precedes the English edition by more than a year, the English edition having, apparently, a revised and corrected text.
Ref: CRT800252
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANDERSEN (Hans Christian). A Poet’s day dreams. By Hans Christian Andersen, Author of ‘Pictures of Sweden,’ ‘Improvisatore,’ etc. London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, 1853, F’cap 8vo, printed on antique-toned paper; 4pp. integral advertisements at end; pp.viii+220+[iv]; royal blue moiré horizontal straight morocco cloth ruled and blocked blind on sides, ruled, blocked, and letered gilt on spine; t.e. uncut; end-papers coated deep lemon. Slight wear to cloth at extreme head and tail of spine; small hole in two leaves, with loss in total of part of three words; a few scattered fox-spots; in general, however, a nice copy.
GB £100.00
US $164.00
From the library of Hugh Walpole, with his Brackenburn bookplate on the front paste-down. The volume that Andersen dedicated to Charles Dickens.
Ref: CRT800260
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANDOM (R. [i.e., Alfred Walter Barrett]). We Three And Troddles: A tale of London life By R. Andom. With 83 illustrations in silhouette By Alec. Carruthers Gould. London, Tylston & Edwards, Publishers, 13 Cliffords Inn, Fleet St., E.C., N.D. [1894]. Sm.cr.8vo; blank before half-title; three leaves publisher’s integral advertisements at end dated July 1894, the last page blank; pp.[iv]+VIII+242+[v]; ice-blue and white mottled fine-linen-patterned smooth cloth blocked black on back cover, blocked black, lettered gilt, on front cover and spine; end-papers printed with floral pattern in pale brownish grey. Very slight fading of spine; recto of initial blank and blank verso of last leaf embrowned by contact with the end-papers; very slight foxing of prelims.; a very nice copy, nonetheless.
GB £140.00
US $229.60
The author’s scarce first book, inspired, no doubt, by ‘Three Men in A Boat’.
Ref: CRT800262
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANDOM (R. [i.e., Alfred Walter Barrett]). Martha and I: Being Scenes from our Suburban Life. By R. Andom, Author of “We Three and Troddles,” “The Strange Adventure of Roger Wilkins,” “Side Slips,” etc., etc. Illustrated by Alec C. Gould. Second edition. London, Jarrold & Sons, 10 & 11, Warwick Lane, E.C., (All Rights Reserved), 1899. Post 8vo, wire-stitched; half-tone frontispiece on text-paper and numerous wood engravings in text, some unbacked and arranged as plates, but included in the pagination; 16pp. publisher’s text-paper advertisements, followed by 32pp. publisher’s inserted catalogue at end; pp.256; bright yellow buckram, ruled black on front cover, pictorially blocked and lettered black on front cover and spine; end-papers printed with design of ivy tendrils in green. Very slight dusting of cloth, and insignificant rusting of staples, but a virtually fine copy of a scarce title.
GB £45.00
US $73.80
The second printing of a title first published the previous year.
Ref: CRT818153
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANONYMOUS. The Andrews family. By the Author of “Mary Arnold.” Published under the direction of the Tract Committee. London. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; Northumberland Avenue, Charing Cross; Royal Exchange; 48, Piccadilly. New York: Pott, Young & Co., N.D. [c.December 1878]. F’cap 8vo; half-title not called for; integral wood-engraved frontispiece signed with what looks like monogram ‘TA’ or ‘AT’; pp.128 (including frontispiece); 4pp. inserted advertisements at end, dated ‘2 — 12 — 78’ on first page; diagonally fine-ribbed chocolate cloth, blocked and lettered with publisher’s monogram black on back cover, blocked black, blocked and lettered gilt, on front cover and spine, ruled black on spine; end-papers coated grey-chocolate. Fine copy.
GB £27.00
US $44.28
Presentation copy, with inscribed on the upper margin of the title-page in ink: ‘For dearest Cuch / from her loving sister / “The Author".’ The British Library Catalogue records a copy of this title with the word ‘etc.’ added after “Mary Arnold” on the title-page, to which it assigns the date 1879, presumably on the basis of deposit. The inscription in the present copy makes it virtually certain that it is of the earliest state of text, and we believe it to have been published for the Christmas market of 1878. According to the advertisements at the end most of the works advertised by the Society at this date “may be had in Ornamental Bindings, with Gilt Edges, at a small extra charge.” It is possible, therefore, that there was another issue of this volume.
Ref: CRT800270
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANONYMOUS. Charley Chalk; Or, The career of an artist: Being Sketches from Real Life; Comprising A narrative of his extraordinary adventures in Great Britain and Ireland, France and Greece. With illustrations by Jacob Parallel. London: G. Berger, Holywell Street, Strand; And may be had of all booksellers, N.D. [1839]. Demy 8vo; engraved frontispiece and vignette title-page precede letterpress title-page; half-title not called for; eighteen engraved plates; pp.[viii]+1-192+191-310; early quarter black fine-sand-grain cloth, grey paper covered boards; made up without end-papers. Boards a little peeled, that of the back cover showing some underlying blocking suggestive of economical re-use; plates heavily embrowned in margins (not touching the printed area); a little light dusting to text; but in general a nice copy. Scarce.
GB £200.00
US $328.00
Stab-holes visible through most gatherings which do not align, together with variations in paper quality, suggest that this copy was issued in eight page numbers (almost certainly twenty in nineteen, the prelims. forming part of the last number). Sadleir, 79, records two later issues in book form, a collection copy in yellow pictorial boards printed in black and red, for which he hypothesises a binding date of 1842 or 1843, and another copy, not in his collection, in maroon diaper cloth blocked blind on sides, blocked and lettered gilt on spine, which he assumes to be earlier, and for which he suggests a date of 1840. According to the ‘English Catalogue of Books’ the first book edition was published (at eleven shillings) in November 1841. In 1842 the sheets were re-issued, without the plates, as part of volume six of the ‘Romancist, and Novelist’s Library, New Series’. The British Library Catalogue, somewhat oddly, gives [1839] for a listing of the book under Charley Chalk, and [1840] for a listing under Jacob Parallel — a confusion which may reflect the period of issue of the parts. Block, p.39, citing one bookseller’s copy only; not in Summers or Wolff. The reduplicative numbering of pp.191-192, which does not reflect any overlap of text, occurs in all copies. The present copy, however, lists two Errata on the verso of the title leaf: these may have been corrected in the Sadleir copy, since he does not mention the presence of a list of Errata there. An additional erratum has been noted in this copy: in the List of Plates that to p.190 is given as ‘Ghastly appearance of the parson’, but on the caption it reads ‘Ghostly’: either would fit. The author in his Preface, which appears to be a make-weight introduced to fill two vacant leaves, says that he is himself an artist, and that the book is based on his own experience. This suggests in turn that the author and his thoroughly competent illustrator may perhaps be the same — a thought suggested also by the choice of the name ‘parallel’. The plates, which are always carefully signed, are remarkably ‘Phiz’-like.
Ref: CRT800277
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANONYMOUS. Ede. A Story. Three volumes. London, Remington & Co Publishers, Henrietta Street Covent Garden, 1889 (All rights reserved). 3 Vols. bound in one, as issued; half-title present to first volume, not called for for other volumes in this issue; Contents leaf to volume one a single inset, those to other volumes conjugate with title leaves; pp.[vi]+272; [iv]+256; [iv]+249+[i (blank)]; diagonally fine-ribbed deep blue-green cloth, ruled and blocked blind on front cover, ruled, blocked, and lettered black on front cover, gilt on spine; end-papers printed with all-over pattern in light brown. Vertical crease in cloth of spine, and front end-paper a trifle frayed at fore-margin; neat private library stamp on half-title; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £200.00
US $328.00
Not in Sadleir; Wolff, 7451, recording a copy of the three volume issue, in ‘blue-grey diagonal fine-ribbed cloth, blocked in black on front [cover] with floral and geometrical designs in right-hand corners; lettered in gold on spine; pale green and white end-papers with over-all design of oak-leaves and acorns’, and with a (presumably) integral half-title in volume one, and a (presumably) single inset half-title in volumes two and three (the half-title in the present copy being conjugate with the title-page, whilst in the other volumes the title and Contents leaves are conjugate). The Wolff copy had a pencilled inscription attributing the book to ‘G. Gissing’.
Ref: CRT800283
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANONYMOUS. [Chapbook:] The History And Famous Exploits Of Robin Hood. Displaying The many curious speeches and gallant behaviour of him And his skilful band of Archers, on various occasions: Including An account Of his Birth, education, marriage, And death. The whole being entirely new, written in a pleasing style And free from those ob[s]olete and uncouth expressions, which Have rendered former Accounts so obscure & unentertaining. Printed for W. Browne, By D. Wrighton[,] Birmingham, N.D. [?c.1794]. F’cap 12mo format, in half-sheets (not watermarked); integral woodcut frontispiece, not included in the pagination; pp.vi+[7] — 72; A — D, [E — F]6; stabbed and sewn through, as issued, but further sewn into later French-folded parchment wrappers hand-lettered black on front cover and up spine, and with hand-drawn double rule and ornaments on front cover, vellum ties; a.e. uncut; made up without end-papers. Frontispiece supplied in facsimile and loosely laid-in (v. note); title-page and final page of text dusty and a little rubbed; title and Contents leaves chipped at blank lower inner margins, Contents and Preface leaves chipped at blank lower fore-corner, last leaf torn and chipped at blank lower inner margin; otherwise in general a nice copy. Rare.
GB £140.00
US $229.60
A pencilled note on the back of the frontispiece records that it is a “photostat copy of frontispiece in Birmingham Reference Library copy [shelf-mark] 201119". There is no copy of this printing in the British Library; nor is it recorded on COPAC, though several other undated printings are, none of them printed in Birmingham. There is a family resemblance between the several early editions listed on COPAC that leads us to suspect that the present copy may, perhaps be the earliest. It does at any rate present a unique wording of the title-page, other printings where a sufficiently extended title is recorded reading ‘the merry speeches’ rather than ‘the many curious speeches’ as here, the latter being to our eye the more in keeping with the tone of the whole, whilst ‘merry’ is of course a possible compositors mis-reading of ‘many’, the word ‘curious’ having in that event neither need nor counterpart. Is is also more probable, perhaps, that the word ‘curious’ would have been dropped than added. In case it assists to distinguish printings, in this copy C1 and C3 are not signed, nor are D1 and D2; D3 is signed ‘3D’; gatherings E and F have no signature marks; there are numerous errata and typographical flaws and it is sufficient to record those from one page only: p.13, l.11, ‘A’ of ‘At’ broken at top; l.20, ‘lentgh’ for ‘length’; l.25, ‘no’ for ‘now’; l.26, ‘shorn’ probably for ‘thorn’.
Ref: CRT818598
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANONYMOUS. The Lady Godiva; Or, Peeping Tom of Coventry. A Romance. London: Printed and published by E. Lloyd, Salisbury-square Fleet-street, N.D. [March, 1849]. Demy 8vo in half-sheets; half-title not called for; wood-cut vignette on title-page; other illustrations in text; pp.[iv]+244; recent brown morocco cloth, ruled and lettered gilt on spine. Extreme inner margin of title-leaf chipped with loss of about half an inch of the ruled border; prelims. and first leaf of text strengthened at gutter with matching period paper; prelims. and last two leaves lightly embrowned; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £480.00
US $787.20
‘Penny Dreadful’. A scarce early publication by Edward Lloyd, issued 31 numbers in 30 between about September 1848 and March 1849, the prelims., including the dated Preface being issued, as usual with such publications, with the final part. That the embrowning affects only the first and last two leaves is attributable to the fact that the final gathering was printed on paper of an inferior quality to the rest of the volume. NSTC lists the British Library copy only (acquired between 1956 and 1965); Block, p.130, lists the Barry Ono copy only; not in Summers, the London Library Catalogue, or Wolff.
Ref: CRT800300
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANONYMOUS. Laura & Ellen; Or, Time works wonders. By the author of “The Pearl,” “Urania,” Etc. etc. London: G. Routledge & Co. Farringdon Street; New York: 18, Beekman Street, 1856. F’cap 8vo; wood-engraved frontispiece and vignette title-page by the brothers Dalziel precede letterpress title-page; half-title not called for; pp.[ii]+158; blue wavy-grain cloth, ruled and blocked blind on sides, blocked and lettered gilt on front cover, ruled, blocked, and lettered gilt on spine; t.e. uncut; end-papers coated deep yellow. Nice copy.
GB £45.00
US $73.80
Juvenile.
Ref: CRT800301
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANONYMOUS. The Life and times Of Dick Whittington: An Historical Romance. London: Hugh Cunningham, St. Martin’s Place, Trafalgar Square; Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., Stationers’ Hall Court. Bell & Bradfute, Edinburgh; John Cumming, Dublin; D. Campbell, Glasgow, 1841. Demy 8vo; half-title not called for; wood-engraved frontispiece and twenty-one plates, the frontispiece and later plates by William Read, the first twelve plates by T.H. Jones; List of Plates, blank on verso, at end; pp.viii+342+[ii]; dark green very fine-diaper cloth, blocked on sides with an arabesque within a triple-ruled frame, ruled, blocked, and lettered gilt on spine; top- and fore-edges uncut; end-papers coated lemon. Gilt rule at head of spine a little rubbed; front end-paper with short tear to fore-margin, and small ink-splash; some slight dusting or fingering, more or less confined to margins of first and last few leaves; plates foxed or embrowned at margins; small piece chipped from blank lower corner of one leaf; a generally nice copy, nonetheless, of a rare title.
GB £180.00
US $295.20
Issued in, apparently twenty-two, weekly Numbers, August to December, 1840, as is made clear by the author’s Preface, the prelims. being issued with the final part. The present copy represents the first edition in book form, first issue, and is bound from the stripped parts (as is evidenced by stab-holes). The book was re-issued after the death of the publisher, Cunningham, in 1841, by Thomas Tegg, and such later copies were in brown cloth and have 4pp. Tegg advertisements inserted at the front. Not in Summers or Wolff; Block, p.140, recording the title from a single booksellers’ listing only; COPAC records the British Library, National Library of Scotland, Oxford, Cambridge, Birmingham, Guildhall, and V. & A. copies only, the V. & A. copy at least being of the Tegg issue. One might speculate at length on the vicissitudes of the original illustrator, Jones, who appears to have been not without his problems. Was he ill, or alcoholic, or did he merely starve to death? The first four plates are signed, quite normally, ‘T.H. Jones fec.’, but he was evidently short of work, and on the next five he enterprisingly adds his address as ‘15 Queen St. Cheapside’. After the ninth plate, he removed to less salubrious lodgings, which he chronicled on the next two plates as ‘No.2 Newington Terrace Southwark’. He still was not obtaining sufficient work, however, and it occurred to him that the new address might have been inadequate: on the tenth and eleventh plates he gives it, more precisely, as ‘No.2 Newington Terrace, Horsemonger Lane, Boro’ — and after that he is replaced by Read!
Ref: CRT818923
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANONYMOUS. The Lifeguardsman: A Tale of the English Revolution. Adapted from Schimmel’s “De kaptein van de lijfgarde". Adam and Charles Black, 1896. Pp.351+[i (blank)]; bright yellow buckram ruled, blocked, and lettered gilt, embossed with design of tulipsbright yellow through gilt, on front cover and spine, lettered bright yellow through gilt on spine; a.e. uncut. Slight foxing of covers and edges; end-papers foxed; otherwise a fine copy.
GB £14.00
US $22.96
Not in Sadleir or Wolff.
Ref: CRT800305
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANONYMOUS. Madge’s legacy. Illustrated. London, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 3 Paternoster Buildings, E.C. And 44 Victoria Street, Westminster, 1894. Sm.cr.8vo; integral half-tone frontispiece and two illustrations, signed ‘J.K.S.’, full-page, unbacked, and included in the pagination; pp.[viii]+119+[i (blank)]; grey-green buckram blocked with publisher’s monogram blind on back cover, blocked pictorially, black, yellow, blue, and gilt, embossed with lettering black, on front cover, blocked scarlet, gilt, and black, embossed with lettering black, and blind-through-gilt, on spine; end-papers faced lemon. Evidence of flowers having been pressed between the leaves, with serious staining only at one opening; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £12.00
US $19.68
Juvenile.
Ref: CRT817910
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANONYMOUS. Ned Nimble amongst the Tartars. No.1 [2, etc.] Price one halfpenny. (Published Every Monday.) [so on No.1 : on later parts the price and/or day are absent]. No place, no publisher, no printer, N.D. [c.1881, Edwin J. Brett, 173, Fleet Street]. Super roy.8vo, wire-stabbed; general prelims. not present, possibly not called for, at least in this issue; wood-engraved plate printed in colours ‘Presented Gratis’ with number one; twelve full-page wood-engravings, unbacked, but on text-paper and included in the pagination; pp.187+[i (publisher’s advertisement for No.1 of the next title in the series, ‘Ned Nimble Amongst the Chinese’); bluish violet alligator grain boards, scarlet glazed paper spine label printed in (?)gilt. Some general wear to covers, and gilt on label (if gilt!) oxydised to dark greenish brown; frontispiece not present; first few leaves lightly embrowned; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £130.00
US $213.20
Summers, p.575 records this title from an advertisement as Vol.7 of the ‘Ned Nimble Series of Stories’. Not in Wolff. The original twelve halfpenny numbers in eleven (No.2. being ‘Presented Gratis’ with number one). The binding looks contemporary, and may perhaps be original. If it is, then a general title-page is not called for in this issue.
Ref: CRT800321
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANONYMOUS. The Odd confidant; Or, “Handsome is that Handsome Does.” By DOT. London: J.F. Hope, 16, Great Marlborough Street, 1858. The right of translation is reserved by the Author. Post 8vo; half-title not called for; blank precedes title, blank at end; pp.[2]+vi+301+[iii]; red horizontal straight morocco cloth, ruled and blocked blind on sides, ruled and blocked blind, lettered gilt, on spine; t.e. uncut, others rough-trimmed; end-papers coated yellow. Front cover slightly marked where library labels have been removed; restorations to cloth of spine, and gilt rubbed (the word LONDON beneath the publisher’s name has no gilt at all); a little very light foxing internally and a couple of small marks, but in general nice.
GB £75.00
US $123.00
A scarce minor novel, not in Sadleir or Wolff. Dedicated to Mrs. Charles Murray.
Ref: CRT800323
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANONYMOUS. The Pastor’s stories. Moral sketches for youth. By the author of “Sketches and Incidents,” “The Lost Child,” etc. Dublin: Published by James M’Glashan, 21, D’Olier-street, 1849. Imp.32mo, gathered in twelves; integral wood-engraved frontispiece; numerous illustrations in text; pp.[vi (including frontispiece)]+[10]-171+[i (blank)]; vertically ribbed dark chocolate cloth, ruled, lettered, and elaborately blocked blind on sides, lettered and elaborately blocked gilt on spine, all in series style; end-papers coated yellow. Inscriptions on half-title and back of frontispiece; a little scattered marking internally; but a nice copy. Scarce.
GB £90.00
US $147.60
Issued as a volume in The New Juvenile Library, a fact only stated on the covers. Not in the BLC on-line catalogue.
Ref: CRT800326
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANONYMOUS. Private hours Of Napoleon Buonaparte, From his earliest years To the period of his marriage with the Arch-duchess Maria Louisa. Written by himself During his residence in the island of Elba. In two volumes. Paris: Printed for Germain Mathiot, 1816. WITH: ANONYMOUS. Private hours Of Napoleon Buonaparte, From his earliest years To the period of his marriage with the Arch-duchess Maria Louisa. Written by himself During his residence in the island of Elba. Part II. Vol.III [IV]. Paris: Printed for Germain Mathiot, 1816. 4 Vols., 12mo; half-titles not called for; final page in volume two advertisements of ‘Interesting works Lately Published by H. Colburn, Conduit Street.’; engraved frontispiece portrait in volume three; pp.[2]+ii (Editor’s Preface)+XIV (Introduction)+[15]-240; [ii]+247+[i]; [ii]+248; [ii]+240; volumes I and II: quarter white paper, blue-grey boards, paper spine labels; volumes III and IV: quarter drab paper, Saxe-blue boards, paper spine labels; a.e. uncut. Paper rubbed from tail of spine in volume one, and label badly rubbed; label of volume two a little rubbed; both volumes with insignificant chips to headbands; slight wear over joints in volumes three and four; otherwise a fine set.
GB £610.00
US $1,000.40
From the library of Anne and F.G. Renier, with their small book-label on each front pastedown. A bibliographical mystery: the first two volumes carry very prominently on the verso of the title leaves and at the end of the text the imprint: “London: Printed by Schulze and Dean, 13, Poland Street; the word ‘End’ appears at the foot of the text of volume two; volumes three and four carry no printer’s imprint anywhere at all, and nothing to connect them with an English publisher. They are, however, certainly from the same type as the first two volumes, and almost certainly from the same bindery, despite the superficial difference in their dress — and the binding as well as the printing is characteristically English rather than French. Moreover, despite their having the same title, they carry the story forward from the time of Napoleon’s marriage to the Arch-Duchess Maria Louisa and can perhaps be reckoned for this reason not to have been planned at the time when the first volumes were printed. The novel has been attributed to a French author, Charles Doris de Bourges, an agent de police, who is known to have written a number of pretended biographies and autobiographies derogatory of Napoleon at about this time — but a habit seems to have grown up of attributing to Doris any work of this class. In the present instance the evidence is somewhat weak. In 1814 Mathiot published in Paris two anonymous works which were in fact by Doris, the ‘Précis Historique’ and ‘Les Mémoirs Secrets de Bonaparte’, both of which were issued in English translation by Colburn in the following year, the first as ‘An Historical Survey of the Character of Napoleon Buonaparte, drawn from his own words and actions’, the second as ‘Secret Memoirs of Napoleon Buonaparte. Written by one who has never quitted him for fifteen years’. They must have achieved some success in England, since Colburn reprinted both works in one volume later the same year. This established the connection between Colburn and Mathiot, which was continued with the publication of the present volumes. Whereas the first two works were originally printed not only in French, but in France, however, as were all the other works attributed to Doris, with the sole exception of the ‘Manuscript Transmitted from St. Helena By An unknown channel’, published by John Murray in two editions, English and French, in 1817, the present work, though bearing a French publisher’s imprint, was printed entirely in England — and this is true even of the edition in French issued by Mathiot (as ‘Loisirs De Napoléon Buonaparte; Depuis son enfance Jusqu’a l’epoque de son mariage avec L’Archduchesse Marie-Louise. Ecrits par lui-meme [sic], Pendant son sejour [sic] dans l’isle [sic] d’Elbe’), which also bears the imprint of Schulze and Dean. Whether Mathiot issued the edition in English at all is perhaps to be doubted — but we have succeeded in tracing a French edition only of the first two volumes: if the third and fourth volumes ever were published in French, they seem to have disappeared. It is also to be noted that the present work is more than twice as long than any of the other works attributed to Doris, makes less reference to historical events, and bears rather more the character of a novel. Nor does it claim to have been translated, as the others do — either into English or into French! Given the English manufacture of the present work, and the fact of the Colburn advertisements in volume two, which give no indication that the book in its English manifestation is expected to be met with anywhere but in London (the corresponding leaf in the French edition is blank), we have grave doubts as to the honesty in this instance of the Paris imprint. Colburn would certainly appear to have had a hand in the publication, and we hypothesise that he was in fact the publisher of all four volumes, the Paris imprint, though true for the French edition, being for the English one largely or wholly a blind, introduced on account of the nature of the work: it is very well written, but reminds us in its tone more of ‘Fanny Hill’ than of Doris’s ‘Histoire amoureuse’! The reason for the greater anonymity of production evident in the last two volumes is perhaps explained by the opening words of Volume three: “Now that the chance of war has decided my fate . . . I may, without danger to my personal interest, present to the world a supplement to my Private Hours. While in my palace at Porto Ferrajo, I still cherished the fond hope of giving laws to the French, and it was necessary that I should then regulate myself by circumstances. It was for this reason that I did not venture to mention, in the two first volumes . . . what will form the subject of the third and fourth. Not that these scenes of voluptuous happiness can ever be brought forward as an accusation against me. Who will condemn me? Some scoundrel, doubtless, disgraced by nature . . . some decrepid woman, in despair because she cannot be as culpable as those who have been dear to me . . .” making clear that the erotic content is to be increased. Having got away with publishing the first two volumes, Colburn — or whoever — saw the chance of an excellent further sale: but this necessitated more blatant titillation and, in an English context, a somewhat increased risk. Both for the publisher and the printer discretion was the better part of valour! We hypothesise that the second two volumes certainly, and probably the first two volumes as well, were commissioned by Colburn, probably from an English source — though possibly from Doris — in order to take a further swift advantage of the market that had been shown to exist by the success of the ‘Historical Survey’ and the ‘Secret Memoirs’. A scarce novel, at any rate — especially in such nice state as this — and apparently not in NUC.
Ref: CRT800329
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANONYMOUS. The Race for gold; Or, the City Merchant and his Country Brother. Edinburgh: Oliphant, Anderson, & Ferrier (Late William Oliphant & Co.), 1881. F’cap 8vo; half-title not called for; wood-engraved frontispiece and two plates by S. Proctor; integral advertisement leaf at end; pp.iv+154+[ii]; brown buckram blocked with publisher’s monogram device black on back cover, ruled black and greenish blue, blocked and lettered black, chromatically blocked greenish blue, orange, and lime green, on front cover and spine, lettered black on front cover, gilt on spine; end-papers printed in series style (including advertisement panel) in grey. Inscription (dated 1891) on back of frontispiece; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £14.00
US $22.96
Listed in the integral advertisements as one of the last three issued volumes in the publisher’s one and sixpenny series “Each with three illustrations” (as here), but having the series end-papers of ‘Oliphant’s Shilling Series’ (in which it is not listed, either on end-papers or in the integral advertisements, and which was apparently unillustrated): either this copy was inadvertently supplied with the wrong end-papers, or, more probably, it is a later issue of the first edition sheets, supplied at a reduced price — a hypothesis supported by the date of the inscription on the back of the frontispiece. Juvenile. There is no list of illustrations, but the frontispiece is marked for p.9, the others for p.87 and 148, the latter being tipped in to face those pages.
Ref: CRT800330
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANONYMOUS. Ruth and Her Friends: A story for girls. London, Macmillan and Co., And New York, 1891. All Rights Reserved. Sm.globe 8vo; half-title not called for; wood-engraved frontispiece with tissue guard, vignette title-page, and two plates engraved by Dalziel after Walter Crane; pp.348 (excluding title leaf); white coarse linen, blocked with publisher’s art-nouveau initials device red on back cover and spine, blocked with art nouveau design red, blocked and lettered gilt, on front cover, lettered gilt on spine. Slight dusting of covers, and cloth of spine a little darkened; end-papers foxed; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £40.00
US $65.60
The cover design, though not signed, is almost certainly by Walter Crane. There is no list of plates, but they are marked for pp.11 and 50, and are so bound in.
Ref: CRT800332
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANONYMOUS. Scenes and sketches Of English life. A series of Narratives, Incidents, and Details Of Attraction and interest. Published by Reynolds and Son, Strand; And sold by all booksellers, N.D. [1834] [One asterisk] Price eight shillings. Lge.12mo; cancel prelims. on slightly thicker paper; half-title not called for; Preface leaf, conjugate with title leaf, printed ‘Scenes and sketches Of English life’ (as though a half-title) on verso (the Preface, being evidently an afterthought, was printed on the verso of the intended half-title, this then being folded back behind the title-leaf); inserted engraved frontispiece; final blank; pp.[iv]+349+[iii]; claret fine morocco cloth, ruled and blocked blind on sides, blocked and lettered gilt on spine; end-papers coated yellow. Slight fading and marking of covers; otherwise a fine copy.
GB £40.00
US $65.60
First edition, fifth (or sixth) issue of five (or six). Not in Sadleir, Wolff, Block, or Summers. Originally published in 1834 as the first volume in a series of three, at 31s. 6d. the set, in a binding of vertically bold ribbed green cloth, without frontispieces, and with a title-page reading: English scenes And English civilisation; Or Sketches and Traits In The nineteenth century. In three volumes. Smith, Elder and Co., Cornhill. Booksellers by appointment to their majesties, 1834. The first volume collated: pp.[i-ii] title leaf, [iii]-iv author’s Note (dated April, 1832), [v-vi] Second Note (dated March, 1834) recording a delay in publication, [vii-viii] fly-title, [1]-349 text, [350-352] blank; the text then concluding with an epigraph. The second issue is the same as the first, except that the publisher’s have added a frontispiece to each volume. These frontispieces (of Allan Cunningham, Lord Lytton, and Washington Irving, in all copies seen, all engraved by Roffe) have no connection whatsoever with the work, and obviously represent a job lot of plates left over from some other volume (possibly an Annual), which Smith, Elder decided to work off in an effort to make the book look more attractive and speed up what was evidently a very slow sale. The plates are found randomly distributed as between volumes in different sets, and it is by no means impossible that copies exist in which two (or even three!) volumes have the same plate. Subsequently the book was remaindered, and passed to Reynolds and Son, who issued it in the same binding, and with the same plates, but with cancel prelims. as described above, and with the three volumes offered separately at eight shillings each. The plate of Lytton, however, was evidently in short supply, and the latest copies bound up in this cloth may have been issued with plates present only of Cunningham and Irving. After that, remaining sets of sheets were bound up in a claret fine diaper cloth, similarly lettered and blocked, with the plates of Cunningham and Irving, but with an engraving of Mary Russell Mitford, again by Roffe, replacing that of Lytton. As is noted by Carter, Binding Variants in English Publishing 1820-1900, p.44, the binding of these issues is of interest in that they provide the only example he could quote of a book bearing a true binder’s imprint on the sides: “This book has a blind band running round the sides on which, neatly raised and obviously part of the die for the whole border, occur the words J.J. SMITH. — BINDER. — GATE ST. These appear at the foot of the front cover and at the top, upside down, on the back.” All of the issues referred to above have this binder’s imprint. According to Ramsden, ‘London Bookbinders, 1780-1840’, Joseph James Smith was at 3 Gate Street and also at 26, Little Wild St. in 1832; in 1836 his address is given as 36, Little Wild Street (presumably larger premises to which he consolidated), and by 1840 he is at 5, Ivy Lane, after which the firm changed its style. In 1834-6 he might still well have been at 3 Gate Street, but he would hardly have made use of that address after his removal to 36, Little Wild Street in the last year, and this would seem to provide us with a limiting latest date for the issues with this blocking. The present volume, however, is in a different binding again: claret fine morocco cloth, similarly blocked to the other issues, except that the binder’s imprint is no longer on the rules. This would suggest a date for this issue later than 1836. The frontispiece, still by Roffe, is different again — and one that we have not seen except in this latest issue: a portrait of Felicia Hemans.
Ref: CRT800335
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANONYMOUS. Sephora; A Hebrew tale, Descriptive of the Country of Palestine, And of the Manners and customs Of the Ancient Israelites. Abridged and corrected from the London edition, By Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris, D.D. Worcester [Massachusetts]: Published by Clarendon Harris. Boston: Russel, Odiorne and Metcalf, 1835. Lge.12mo in half sheets; leaf of Notes at end; pp.254; quarter green diagonally fine ribbed moiré cloth, brown and very dark green marbled sides, paper spine label. Label chipped; a little very light foxing, chiefly of first and last few leaves; a generally nice copy, nonetheless.
GB £90.00
US $147.60
First published in two volumes in England, by Hatchards, in 1826. This abridged edition includes a prefatory letter from the abridger, Thaddeus, to his son, the publisher dated from Dorchester, Massachusetts, October 23rd 1834. The original English edition is definitely rare; this one by no means common.
Ref: CRT800337
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANONYMOUS. The Sepoy’s daughter: A true tale of the Indian war. By An eye witness. London: Henry Lea, Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row, N.D. [1859]. Roy.8vo in half-sheets, printed in double columns; half-title not called for; 107 wood-engraved illustrations in text; contemporary green half-roan, green and white marbled sides. Small hole in roan over front joint, not due to weakness (apparently a scrape); marbled paper a little chipped over front board, and marbling also a little rubbed; front end-paper and binder’s blank both strengthened at fore-margin with matching paper; extreme blank fore-margins of first three leaves unobtrusively strengthened also with matching paper; otherwise, and in general effect, a very nice copy. Scarce.
GB £500.00
US $820.00
A ‘Penny Dreadful’, issued 109 numbers in 107, the first and last numbers apparently being double ones, since numbers 2 and 109 are without woodcuts. The title leaf was issued with the last number. Dated from an ownership inscription on the front end-paper subscribed ‘Decbr 24th 1859’, by which time the volume had already been bound. Summers, p.500, recording a copy dated 1860, which is obviously later; Block, p.212, giving the date as [c.1845], which is self-evidently wrong since the story is set during the Indian Mutiny of 1857. We would guess from the inscription in the present copy that it commenced issue in October or November 1857 and was completed in November or early December 1859.
Ref: CRT800338
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANONYMOUS. Tales from Chambers’s Journal: A limited horizon. W. & R. Chambers, Limited, N.D. [1885]. F’cap 8vo; pp.[144]; half-title not called for; wood-engraved vignette on title, large wood-engraved headpiece, and tailpieces to the chapters throughout; yellowish brown wrappers, cut flush, printed on the front wrapper in black; wire-stabbed through wrappers; issued without end-papers. A very fine copy.
GB £40.00
US $65.60
Not in Sadleir or Wolff. Dated from the English Catalogue of books. A scarce series, of which Sadleir found only one example for his collection (No.8). Sadleir’s copy was in lilac wrappers, was printed on the spine as well as on the front wrapper, and apparently carried series advertisements running to number eight, which caused him to speculate that this may have been the number issued. There were in fact twelve titles, the present being number eleven. Three versions of the wrappers have been seen: lilac printed in purple, as the Sadleir copy, and bearing, apparently, the printed price, sixpence; and yellowish brown, printed in black, as here, this colour of wrapper occurring in two states: with the words ‘PRICE SIXPENCE’ printed in a box at the foot of the front wrapper, and with the price box left empty. The present copy is of this last variant.
Ref: CRT800344
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
ANONYMOUS. The Dialect of Leeds And its neighbourhood, Illustrated by Conversations and tales Of common life, etc. To which are added A copious glossary; Notices of the various Antiquities, manners, and customs, And general Folk-lore of the district. London: John Russell Smith, 36, Soho Square, 1862. 12mo in half-sheets; half-title not called for; pp.[IV (not paginated)]+xxxiii+[i (blank)]+454; 12pp. text-paper advertisements at end; dark green horizontal fine straight-morocco cloth, paper spine-label (reading ‘DIALECT / OF / LEEDS / 6/-’ between two rules); a.e. uncut. Label chipped at one corner, not affecting lettering, but touching lower rule; end-papers split and half of muslin backing of front joint broken; otherwise a fine copy. Very scarce.
GB £380.00
US $623.20
An excellent scholarly compilation, adopting “the plan of Grose as the only legitimate one", and distinguishing in its Introductory Remarks between the speech of Leeds and that of the villages surrounding. Pp.[i] — xxxiii comprise the Introductory Remarks; pp.1 — 229 the Conversations and Tales of Common Life, and pp.[231] — 454 the Glossary. The Glossary is itself fascinating for its description of local beliefs customs to which special words attach (‘knor and spell’, etc) and its detailed descriptions. The binding does not look like a publisher’s binding, but must be one because of the priced label.
Ref: CRT818249
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage |