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Please note: Each of the following entries is preceded by a note of the catalogue in which it is to be included in our main database. They are not here arranged in any particular order. |
Nineteenth Century Prose Literature.
DOYLE (Richard). A journal Kept by Richard Doyle In the year 1840 Illustrated with several hundred sketches by the author. With an introduction by J. Hungerford Pollen And a portrait. London, Smith, Elder, & Co., 15 Waterloo Place, 1885. (All rights reserved). Demy 4to format, caoutchouc bound; etched portrait frontispiece on India-paper, laid on, and with loose tissue guard; title-page, text, and lithographic illustrations of ‘Journal' reproduced in facsimile; pp.xii+[2 (title to ‘Journal')]+152; bevelled light tan fine linen, lettered black-outlined gilt (in rustic style), blocked black, and gilt, on front cover, lettered gilt up spine, all after designs by Doyle; a.e.g.; end-papers faced black. Small restoration to cloth at head of spine; otherwise a nice copy of a delightful book.
GB £65.00
US $126.75
Doyle was born in 1824 and died on December 11, 1883. This volume was published in September 1885. One of two variant bindings, without known precedence. Allibone, Supplement, p.511
Ref: IRT818650
Nineteenth Century Prose Literature.
STEVENSON (Robert Louis). The Silverado squatters. London, Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly, 1883. (All rights reserved). Le Mousu Process engraved frontispiece after Jos. D. Strong printed in brown, with tissue guard; printer's imprint leaf at end, blank on verso; pp.[viii]+254+[ii]; bevelled coarse blue buckram, lettered gilt on spine within gilt ruled boxes; t.e.g., others uncut. Very slight fading to cloth of spine; prelims. and imprint leaf a trifle foxed; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £40.00
US $78.00
McKay, 233. A late issue, probably the third. 1,015 copies were printed altogether, 1,000 copies having been ordered by the publisher. This copy, like McKay 233, has the printed page signature ‘P' present. It is possible that, as with the first issue, some copies may have it lacking. There is no issue significance involved.
Ref: IRT807431
Nineteenth Century Poetry & Drama.
BAYLY (Thomas Haynes, Esq.). Weeds of witchery. By Thomas Haynes Bayly, Esq. Author of The second volume of "Flowers of Loveliness," "Perfection," "The Barrack Room," "A Gentleman in Difficulties," &c. London: Published by Ackermann and Co., 1837. Super roy.8vo (two gatherings, the second, rather oddly, signed ‘C'); half-title not called for; twelve engraved plates, on plate-paper; pp.32; rose-madder vertically bold-ribbed cloth, ruled and blocked with an arabesque frame, blind, on sides, blocked and lettered gilt on front cover and up spine; top- and fore- edges uncut; end-papers faced yellow. Very slight wear to cloth at head and tail of spine (affecting 3 to 5 mm or less); early ownership inscription on upper margin of title-page; two insignificant tears to front end-paper; light spotting to most plates, with some offsetting onto facing leaves; otherwise a nice copy of an uncommon book.
GB £75.00
US $146.25
Satiric verse, each poem punning on a floral theme ("John Quill was clerk to Robert Shark, a legal man was he", etc.), accompanied by twelve engraved plates. The comic anonymous etchings are lively and competent and in the manner of Robert Cruikshank, to whom they have often been attributed. NCBEL, III, 366; Ford, Ackermann & Son, p.126.
Ref: HRT818640
Twentieth Century Prose Literature.
GLEIG (George Robert, M.A.). Personal reminiscences Of the First Duke of Wellington With sketches of Some of his guests and contemporaries. By the late George Robert Gleig, M.A., Chaplain-General to Her Majesties Forces, etc., etc. Author of ‘The Subaltern'. Edited by His daughter Mary E. Gleig. William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London, 1904. All Rights reserved. Demy 8vo; blank before half-title; photogravure portrait frontispiece by J.J. Waddington, after a photograph, with tissue guard, one engraved portrait, with tissue guard, and two half-tone plates; integral advertisement leaf followed by publisher's inserted 32pp. Catalogue at end, dated ‘9/03'; pp.x+409+[i (blank)]+[ii]; bright scarlet coarse morocco cloth, ruled blind on sides, blocked gilt on front cover, ruled and lettered gilt on spine; top- and fore-edges uncut; end-papers faced black. Spine a trifle dull; some scattered foxing; in general, however, a nice copy.
GB £32.50
US $63.37
Written when Gleig was ninety, though he left the task of re-reading and correcting to his daughter. Includes numerous letters from Wellington, as well as letters from Sir Robert Peel and Lord John Russell. Not to be confused with the ‘Life' published in 1862 (for which v. Mrs. Oliphant's ‘Annals of a Publishing House', Vol.I, pp.488-9). The present volume contains material that Wellington did not wish to see published during his lifetime because as he put it "the history of my life is the history of various military campaigns and political negotiations and transactions, upon which, if ever I am to be a party to communicate anything to the public, it must be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I don't think that anybody will be of opinion that the latter could now be published..." - p.26. There is no list of illustrations, but they are tipped in to face pp.19, 124, and 340. NCBEL, 3: 726.
Ref: JRT818642
Nineteenth Century General Fiction.
GREY (Mrs. [Colonel, i.e. Elizabeth Caroline]). Two hearts A tale. Edited By Mrs. Grey, Author of "The Gambler's Wife," "Cousin Harry," &c. &c. London: Hurst and Blackett, Publishers, Successors to Henry Colburn, 13, Great Marlborough Street, 1858. The right of Translation is reserved. Post 8vo; wood-engraved frontispiece and vignette title-page on special paper; other prelims. not ccalled for; integral advertisement leaf followed by inserted leaf of publisher's advertisements at end; pp.318 (excluding frontispiece and title leaves)+[ii]; green horizontal straight morocco cloth, ruled and elaborately blocked blind on sides, ruled blind, blocked and lettered gilt, lettered green-through-gilt, on spine; top- and fore- edges uncut, lower-edges rough trimmed; end-papers coated pale yellow; binder's ticket of Leighton Son & Hodge (Ball, 53A) on back end-paper. Small, barely visible restoration to cloth over back joint; slight wear to top half-inch of front joint; slight cracking to back end-papers; inscriptions on back of frontispiece; a little light dusting passim; in general effect, nonetheless, a very nice copy. Apparently rare.
GB £85.00
US $165.75
Not in Sadleir; this title not in Wolff; Cambridge copy only on COPAC. A late work by Mrs. Grey, who had been writing novels since at least 1828, and an early work by the publishing firm of Hurst and Blackett (Colburn having died only in 1855), but in all aspects of its design apart from the colour of the cloth a precursor of the ‘Standard Novel' series they were to commence issuing later the same year. Allibone records of Mrs. Grey that she "has fairly earned a title to be ranked as one of the most popular novelists of the day", but before the new, small, firm of Hurst and Blackett, she was published by firms such as Hatchards, T.C. Newby, James Cochrane, Edward Bull, etc., who, though not necessarily small or minor, did not publish ‘literary authors', and whose publications consequently have a low survival rate. All of her novels to-day are rather scarce, many of them probably having been either read to bits or discarded by later generations to whom her reputation was not known.
Ref: CRT818643
Nineteenth Century Prose Literature.
[JEFFERIES (Richard).]. The Gamekeeper at home: Sketches of natural history And rural life. London, Smith, Elder, & Co., 15 Waterloo Place, 1878. (All rights reserved). Pp.[viii]+216; dark yellow-green diagonally very fine ribbed cloth, blocked blind on back cover, black and gilt on front cover and spine, lettered gilt on spine; top- and fore- edges uncut; end-papers coated chocolate; binder's ticket of Burn & Co. (Ball, 20 E2) on back pastedown. A little light foxing, chiefly affecting first and last few leaves; very slight cracking to end-papers; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £35.00
US $68.25
The Preface is signed ‘R.J.' Sadleir, 1307; Wolff, 3618.
Ref: IRT806970
Nineteenth Century Prose Literature.
[JEFFERIES (Richard).] Wild life In A southern county. By the author of ‘The Gamekeeper at home'. London, Smith, Elder, & Co., 15 Waterloo Place, 1879. (All rights reserved.) Pp.xii+387+[i (blank)]; diagonally very-fine-ribbed dark green cloth, blocked bllind on back cover, black and gilt on front cover, ruled black and gilt, blocked and lettered gilt, on spine; t.e. uncut; end-papers coated chocolate. Very slight rubbing to front cover, probably suggesting the removal of a label; front end-papers cracked, and back free end-paper lacking; text-fine.
GB £25.00
US $48.75
This title not in Sadleir; Wolff, 3626.
Ref: IRT818632
Nineteenth Century Prose Literature.
JEFFERIES (Richard). Nature near London. London, Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly, 1883. (All rights reserved). Half-title not called for; leaf bearing publisher's device, followed by publisher's inserted 32pp. catalogue at end, dated March, 1884; pale brownish grey buckram, blocked pictorially brown on sides and spine, blocked with publisher's monogram device brown on back cover, lettered gilt on spine; top-edges uncut; end-papers coated blackish brown. Minute rub-hole to cloth of back joint, and slight foxing to top-edges and first few leaves; otherwise a very nice copy.
GB £45.00
US $87.75
Second issue, differentiated from the first by the fact that the catalogue is dated March, 1884 rather than October, 1883, and that the sheets are sewn, not wire-stitched. This title not in Sadleir or Wolff.
Ref: IRT818633
Nineteenth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction.
STEVENSON (Robert Louis). Island nights' Entertainments Consisting of The beach of Falesa; The bottle imp; The isle of voices. With illustrations by Gordon Browne and W. Hatherell. Cassell & Company Limited, London Paris & Melbourne, 1893. (All rights reserved). Advertisement leaf precedes half-title page; frontispiece illustration (on verso of half-title) with tissue guard, one plate printed in colours, and twenty-six full-page illustrations on text-paper, arranged as plates but included in the pagination; final blank followed by 16pp. publisher's inserted advertisements dated 7G-3.93.; pp.[xii]+277+[iii]; pale blue green crushed coarse morocco cloth blocked pictorially gilt on front cover, lettered gilt on front cover and spine; end-papers printed with a floral design in grey green. Spine slightly faded; white backs of end-papers foxed; otherwise a very nice copy.
GB £18.00
US $35.10
In this copy the price on the advertisement leaf has been corrected from 5/-to 6/-by a rubber stamp, rather than in ink. This issue not noted by McKay; Prideaux 38.
Ref: CRT802958
Nineteenth Century Poetry & Drama.
DOBSON (Austin). At the Sign Of The Lyre. London, Kegan Paul, Trench & Co, 1885. Extra cr.8vo; limitation leaf and leaf blank on recto, bearing author's note on verso, precede half-title, blank on verso; inserted frontispiece by E[dwin]. A. Abbey, on special paper, with thin paper guard; title-page printed in red and black; inserted tailpiece by Alfred Parsons, on special paper, following last leaf of text; pp.[4]+[x]+231+[i (‘L'envoi')]; full dark blue morocco, sides, edges, and doublures ruled gilt, spine with gilt-ruled boxes, lettered direct in compartments; t.e.g., others very lightly trimmed; end-papers faced blue-grey. Very slight rubbing to leather over front hinge, otherwise a fine copy.
GB £680.00
US $1,326.00
Out of a total of seventy-five copies printed on large Whatman hand-made paper, numbered, and signed by Dobson, this is one of only twenty-five copies ‘for America'. The book was issued originally in plain white paper wrappers in the expectation that the purchaser would discard them and have the volume bound, as has indeed happened here, the present copy having, according to the binder's legend on the verso of the front end-paper, been: "Bound by Stikeman & Co. / for Charles Scribners Sons". Inserted after the title leaf is an additional sheet of thin card into which has been inlaid an a.l.s. from Dobson written in his ‘copperplate' hand and dated ‘12. 1. '10', c.55 words, to Mr. Burlingame, referring to his "very cordial letter, the proof, and the cheque", and adding "I am glad you are going to put the lines in Scribner." He goes on to suggest that they may meet. Murray, p.10; A.T.A. Dobson, XIV, Note.
Ref: HRT818620
Nineteenth Century Detective Fiction.
STEVENSON (Robert Louis) and OSBOURNE (Lloyd). The wrecker. Illustrated by William Hole and W.L. Metcalf. Cassell & Company, Limited, London, Paris & Melbourne, 1892. (All rights reserved.) Half-tone frontispiece, with tissue guard, and eleven plates; 12pp. integral advertisements at end dated on p.5 ‘2G. 5.92'; royal blue buckram lettered gilt on spine; fore- and lower- edges rough-trimmed. Very slight damp-spotting to covers; contemporary ownership inscription on half-title; a virtually fine copy, nonetheless. Uncommon thus.
GB £60.00
US $117.00
McKay 558; Hubin, p.390.
Ref: DRT803820
Twentieth Century Prose Literature.
KIPLING (Rudyard). Sea warfare. Macmillan and Co., Limited, St. Martin's Street, London, 1916. Blank before half title; integral advertisement leaf followed by leaf of inserted text-paper advertisements at end; blue fine linen grain cloth blocked blind on front cover, blocked and lettered gilt on front cover and spine; top- and fore- edges uncut; lower-edges rough trimmed. A fine copy.
GB £18.00
US $35.10
Ref: JRT818622
Twentieth Century Prose Literature.
JEFFERIES (Richard). The Old house at Coate And other hitherto unpublished essays. Edited with an Introduction and Notes By Samuel J. Looker. Wood Engravings by Agnes Miller Parker. Lutterworth Press, London and Redhill, 1948. Integral frontispiece and numerous wood-engravings, some full-page, in the text; facsimile from Jefferies' ms. of the title piece, also in the text; pp.215 (including frontispiece)+[i (blank)]; greyish-green buckram blocked and lettered gilt on spine; t.e. dark green; off-white end-papers. Fine copy in very slightly dusty price-clipped dust-wrapper bearing a wood-engraving by the illustrator on the front panel.
GB £22.50
US $43.87
"This is a new book by Richard Jefferies, published in 1948, the centenary year of his birth. These essays have not been collected from newspapers and periodicals of the time; they have never before appeared in print in any form. Nor are they fragments from the Notebooks, but complete essays of the deepest interest and value, altogether characteristic of the great naturalist's life and thought. Here especially, its existence hitherto unsuspected, is the enchanting piece of autobiography from which the book takes its title." - publisher's blurb. Includes Biographical Notes, textual notes, and a bibliographical check-list at the end. This title missed by NCBEL, which does, however, record later titles.
Ref: JRT818623
Nineteenth Century Poetry & Drama.
BLUNT (Wilfrid Scawen). In vinculis. London, Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1889. Pott 8vo; leaf blank but for signature mark ‘A' precedes half-title; fine engraved portrait frontispiece by Leoplod Lowenslam; title-page printed in red and black; bevelled cream buckram blocked green on sides, lettered gilt on front cover and spine; t.e.g., others uncut. Sides very lightly damp-spotted and very slightly darkened by dust; but a virtually fine copy, nonetheless.
GB £65.00
US $126.75
The rather scarce first binding, which was designed by Mrs. William Morris, here is unusually nice state. It was abandoned soon after publication in favour of a plain olive green buckram, presumably because of the impracticality of the white cloth. Irish nationalist poems, including a remarkable sonnet sequence conceived or written whilst the author was in prison in Galway and Kilmainham gaols. Printed on hand-made paper by C. Whittingham and Co. at the Chiswick Press. CBEL, III, p.332; Miles, VI.
Ref: HRT804939
Twentieth Century Poetry & Drama.
BARING (Maurice). Sonnets And Short poems. Oxford: B.H. Blackwell, 50 & 51 Broad Street; London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., 1906. Demy 8vo; pp.[viii]+67+[i (printer's imprint)]; iron grey wrappers, printed on the front wrapper in black; issued without end-papers. Virtually fine copy.
GB £80.00
US $156.00
Printed on Dutch hand-made paper at the Holywell Press. The upper margin of the half-title bears a pencilled inscription possibly in the hand of Lady Strachey: "Bought 1908 To replace M.B. gift copy sent to Mrs. Fuller Maitland."
Ref: LRT814159
Seventeenth & Eighteenth Century Fiction.
FIELDING (Henry, Esq.). Amelia. By Henry Fielding, Esq; In four volumes [omitted after volume one]. Vol. I [II; III; IV;]. London: Printed for A. Millar, in the Strand, 1752.
12mo; half-titles not called for; bound up without the final blank in volume one or the initial blank in volume three; integral advertisement leaf (with verso blank) at end of volume two; A6, B-I, K-M12, N11 (ex 12); A4, B-I, K-M12; A5 (ex 6), B-I, K-O12, P6; A4, B-I, K-N12, O4; pp.xii+285+[i (ex iii)]; viii+262+[ii]; ix+[i (blank)]+323+[i (blank)]; [vii+i (blank)]+296; contemporary full natural calf, spine with five raised bands, black lettering piece. Small chip to head-cap of volume IV, and sllight cracking to a couple of joints, but no weakness; new lettering-pieces; a slightly grubby copy with a few scattered small light stains and the occasional short marginal tear; tears and creasing and some small chips to a number of lower inner margins (apparently a binding fault), especially affecting B2 - 10 in volume one, but without loss of text, and to upper forecorner of B9 in volume four, and H7 and 8 in volume two with loss of all or part of half a dozen letters on H7; some ink notes in margins and correction of errata, in a contemporary hand, showing evidence of close reading; a very good copy only but in a strong contemporary binding. As a working copy
GB £150.00
US $292.50
Cross, III, p.321-2; Rothschild, 853. With the frequently lacking advertisement leaf for the ‘Universal-Register-Office', including a reference to ‘The Covent-Garden Journal' present in volume two, as in the Rothschild copy; but without the scarce blanks. According to advertisements by the publisher in December 1751 ‘this work has been printed at four presses'. Strahan printed, and recorded in his ledger, 5,000 copies of Vols. I and III in December 1751, and 3,000 in January 1752, but according to Rothschild: ‘no distinguishing characteristics have been recorded'. Copies of the first printing show a total of thirty-three press variants in gathering I of Vol.III, but these are exhibited as one or other only of two states: either a corrected inner forme is backed by an uncorrected outer forme, or an uncorrected inner forme is backed by a corrected outer forme. It appears from this that printing must have been carried out simultaneously on two machines, each printing sheets to be backed up on the other, and to have been started before Fielding had returned the corrected proofs. These must, however, have arrived before the backing-up had been begun, so that the backing run on each machine was done in both cases with the corrected text (v. Battestin, Wesleyan Edition, Appendix VII, pp.594-5 for a discussion of this). It appears necessary also to assume that the print order must have been increased to 8,000 before the printing of this gathering commenced. A simple way to tell the difference between the two states is provided by p.191, l.4, where the misprint ‘the at Folly' was corrected to ‘at the Folly'. Vol.III in the present copy has this correction. Besides these variants, however, a number of other press variants and errata have been notes scattered throughout. The following occur only in some copies: in volume one, p.258, penultimate line, the present copy has ‘he Name' for ‘the name'; in volume two, p.107, last line, the ‘ot' of ‘Broth' is perfect (in some copies it is badly broken, the top half of these two letters being displaced to the right); p.137, last line, has both ‘it' and the catchword ‘was' below it correctly printed (some copies have ‘i' for ‘it', and the catchword ‘wa' for ‘was'); the press figure ‘3' appears on p.109, as usual (it is occasionally found on p.108 instead, as Rothschild notes); p.228, ll.17 and 20 have ‘he' for ‘she' and ‘she' for ‘he' respectively (some copies have ‘she' for both); in volume three, p.39 is without a page number (sometimes copies it is correctly numbered). The following have been noted in every copy that we have examined: in volume one, p.11, ll.13, ‘him' redundant at start; p.26, l.8, ‘or' for ‘for'; p.257, last line of text, ‘off' for ‘of'; in volume two p.221 is misnumbered ‘211'; in volume four, p.25, l.4, ‘by searching' for ‘searching; p.137 the catchword appears as ‘withou' rather than ‘without'; p.281, l.19, ‘the' redundant at start.
Ref: BRT818617
Antiquarian General Literature.
FIELDING (Henry, Esq.). The miser. A comedy. Taken from Plautus and Moliere. As it is Acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane, by His Majesty's Servants. By Henry Fielding, Esq; [sic] London: printed for J. Watts at the Printing-Office in Wild-Court near Lincoln's-Inn Fields, 1733. Post 8vo format, not watermarked; half-title not called for; 3pp. publisher's advertisements between the Epilogue and Dramatis Personæ pages; final leaf trade advertisements; pp.[12 (not paginated)]+87+[1 (advertisements)]; twentieth century red half crushed morocco, red cloth sides, ruled blind on sides, spine with two raised bands, uplettered gilt, by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. Title-page and final advertisement page dusty; a couple of headlines clipped; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £180.00
US $351.00
From the library of Mary, Viscountess Eccles, and her husband Donald Hyde, with the Donald and Mary Hyde bookplate on the front pastedown. The most successful of all Fielding's regular comedies, adapted from Molière's ‘L'Avare', which is itself based on the ‘Aulularia' of Plautus. With a prologue "by a friend," and an epilogue by Colley Cibber. The three pages of advertisements are in two places dated March 12, 1733. Two of them are devoted to the new collected edition of Molière's plays, with which Fielding may have himself been involved; and the notice includes a list of English plays indebted to Molière. ESTC N4473; NCBEL, 2: 928; Cross, III, p.297; Ashley Library, II, pp.111-2; this title not in Rothschild.
Ref: ART818612
Antiquarian General Literature.
ROUSSEAU (J[ean]. J[acques].). Letters On the Elements Of Botany. Addressed to a lady. By the celebrated J.J. Rousseau. Translated into English, With notes, And Twenty-four additional letters, Fully explaining the system of Linnæus. By Thomas Martyn, B.D. Professor of Botany In the University of Cambridge. London: Printed for B. White and Son, At Horace's Head, Fleet-street, 1785. Demy 8vo format, not watermarked; half-title not called for; seventeen entry Errata on a4v; inserted folding leaf ‘To face the blank page 114', and bearing ‘The Outlines of Linnæus's System of Vegetables'; Index of the English Names of Plants, Index of the Latin Names, [list of the] Natural Tribes, or Orders of Plants..., and Index of Terms, casually explained in the course of this Work, at end, not paginated; pp.[xxiv]+503+[i (blank)]+[28]; A8, a4, B-I, K-U, X-Z, Aa-Ii, Kk-Ll8, Mm2. BOUND WITH: [MARTYN (Thomas). Thirty-eight plates with explanations; intended to illustrate Linnæus's System of Vegetables, and particularly adapted to the Letters on the Elements of Botany. By Thomas Martyn, B.D F.R.S. Professor of Botany in the University of Cambridge. London: Printed for B. White and Son, At Horace's Head, Fleet-street, 1788.] Demy 8vo format, the text-leaves not watermarked; bound up without the prelims. and leaf of publisher's advertisements; thirty-eight hand-coloured plates drawn and engraved by F.P. Nodder, all but the last with tissue guards, and each accompanied by a printed key-leaf (sometimes with blank verso), the last serving for two plates; pp.[vi+[2 (advertisements)], not here present]+72; [a4 (not present)], A-D8. Two volumes bound in one, the plates and key-leaves distributed to their intended (and marked) positions throughout the text; contemporary full calf, ruled gilt on sides and with guinea-roll to edges, neatly re-backed with matching calf, spine with five raised bands edged by double gilt rules, tooled with floral ornaments in compartments, green lettering-piece; the original marbled end-papers preserved. Some wear and slight chipping to old calf at corners and edges; some very light foxing to text; but a generally nice copy nonetheless of a scarce book.
GB £850.00
US $1,657.50
"On various dates between 1771 and 1773, [Rousseau] drafted eight long letters on botanical themes to Madame Madeleine-Catherine de Lessert, to whom he had warmed after an earlier meeting in Lyons, and who wished to excite her four-year-old daughter's natural curiosity by encouraging her to take an interest in plants. These letters, followed over the next four years by sixteen others on similar themes to various correspondents, were to excite the interest of Thomas Martyn, a professor of botany at Cambridge who held his chair for sixty-three years and for at least part of that time used his own translation of them in his courses" (Wokler, p.111). Rousseau's letters originally made their appearance at Geneva in 1782 under the title ‘Lettres Elémentaires sur la Botanique á Madame de L***' in the second volume of the ‘Mélanges' forming part of the posthumous ‘Collection complète des Oeuvres de J.J. Rousseau'. The present marks the first appearance of these ‘Lettres' in English, and the first appearance also of Martyn's ‘continuation' of them, in which he imitated the style and manner of the originals. This popularization of Linnaeus went through many editions, reaching an eighth in 1815. It consists of a preface and introduction by Martyn, eight letters by Rousseau and twenty-four further letters by Martyn. The plates, which appeared separately and are dated ‘1 May 1788', are very often lacking. For the ‘Letters': ESTC, T136469; NCBEL, II: 1530 (not listing the plates until the fourth edition of 1794); Henrey, 1281; Soulsby, 701; for the plates: ESTC, T69543; Henrey, 1030; Soulsby, 592. COPAC lists only the British Library, Cambridge, Leicester, Leeds, Wellcome Library, and Natural History Museum copies of the first edition of the ‘Letters', and the Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Wellcome Library, Natural History Museum, and Royal Botanic Gardens copies of the plates. There is no list of plates, but they are here bound in between pp.26-7, 30-1, 42-3, 46-7, 62-3, 64-5, 122-3, 128-9, 154-5, 160-1, 168-9, 200-1, 236-7, 252-3, 262-3, 272-3, 290-1, 296-7, 300-1, 310-1, 330-1, 344-5, 360-1, 376-7, 382-3, 396-7, 404-5, 406-7 (two plates), 426-7, 452-3, 456-7, 466-7, 470-1, 490-1, 494-5, 498-9, and 500-1.
Ref: ART818618
Antiquarian General Literature.
FIELDING ([Henry]). The Temple beau. A Comedy. As it is Acted at the Theatre in Goodman's-Fields. Written by Mr. Fielding. London: Printed for J. Watts, at the Printing-Office in Wild-Court near Lincolns-Inn Fields, 1730. (Price 1s. 6d.) Extra cr.8vo format, not watermarked; half title not called for; publisher's advertisements on verso of title-page and verso of last leaf of text; pp.[iv (not paginated)]+80+[iii (not paginated)]+[1 (advertisements)]; A2, B - F8, G2; recent dark brown quarter morocco ruled blind on sides, ruled gilt, up-lettered and with small tooled ornament, gilt, on spine; marbled sides. Very nice copy.
GB £200.00
US $390.00
Copy on ordinary paper, the paper not watermarked as in the fine paper edition, and the price printed after the imprint. Fielding's second play and third book, a comedy which was turned down by Drury Lane and placed with a new East End theater, where it ran for nine performances from January 26th 1730. The Prologue is by Fielding's friend - and the companion of Benjamin Franklin - the American James Ralph, who at the time was introducing the young Fielding to the ways of Grub Street. See Cross, vol. 1, chapter 3. The advertisements are dated variously Nov.12, 1729 ["This day was published..."], January 16, 1729 ["In a few days will be published...] (both on the verso of title-page), and Feb.2 1729 ["Just published..."] (at end). The evident re-use here of old advertisements without a change of text should serve as a warning to anybody attempting to use such inserts as an evidence of issue date! ESTC T49927; Cross vol.3, p.290; Ashley Library, Vol.II, p.110; NCBEL 2: 927.
Ref: ART818610
Antiquarian General Literature.
FIELDING (Henry). The Intriguing Chambermaid. A Comedy Of Two acts. As it is Acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane. Taken from the French of Regnard, By Henry Fielding, Esq; [sic] London: Printed for J. Watts, at the Printing-Office in Wild-Court near Lincoln's-Inn Fields, 1734. (Price One Shilling.) Extra cr.8vo format, not watermarked, in half-sheets; half title not called for; music printed in text throughout; pp.[xii (not paginated)]+40; A4, a2, B - F4; Victorian dark blue quarter crushed morocco ruled, and up-lettered, gilt, on spine; oil-marbled sides. Very nice copy.
GB £450.00
US $877.50
Long noted as one of the scarcest of Fielding's plays, COPAC records only the British Library, Oxford, Cambridge, and Leeds copies. Adapted from ‘Le retour imprévu' by Jean François Regnard, and first produced on the 15th January 1734. ESTC T89905; NCBEL 2: 928; Cross, III, p.297; Ashley Library, II, p.112; Rothschild, 839.
Ref: ART818613
Antiquarian General Literature.
FIELDING (Henry). Don Quixote In England. A Comedy. As it is Acted at the New Theatre in the Hay-Market. By Henry Fielding, Esq; [sic] London: Printed for J. Watts, at the Printing-Office in Wild-Court near Lincoln's-Inn Fields, 1734. (Price One Shilling and Six Pence.) Extra cr.8vo format, not watermarked; half title not called for; music printed in text throughout; pp.[xvi (not paginated)]+64; A - E8; natural full polished calf by Root & Son, ruled and with small floral corner ornaments, gilt, on sides, spine with five raised bands, elaborately tooled gilt in compartments, red and green lettering-pieces, guinea-roll edges to boards, inner gilt dentelles; a.e.g.; marbled end-papers. Slight scratching and rubbing to calf; light foxing and marginal embrowning to text; a nice copy, nonetheless.
GB £280.00
US $546.00
One of the scarcest of Fielding's plays, COPAC records only the British Library, Oxford, Cambridge, National Library of Scotland, and Glasgow copies. Rehearsed for production at Drury Lane, an intention that was abandoned for technical reasons, it in fact came first to be produced at the Haymarket on the 4th April 1734. ESTC T89867; NCBEL 2: 928; Cross, III, p.297; Ashley Library, II, p.112; this title not in Rothschild.
Ref: ART818614
Antiquarian General Literature.
FIELDING (Henry). An Enquiry Into the Causes of the late Increase of Robbers, &c. With some Proposals for Remedying this Growing Evil. In which The Present Reigning Vices are impartially Exposed; and the Laws that relate to the Provision for the Poor, and to the punish- Ment of Felons are largely and freely ex- Amined. By Henry Fielding, Esq; [sic] Barrister at Law, and One of His Majesty's Justices Of the Peace for the County of Middlesex, and for The City and Liberty of Westminster. London: Printed for A. Millar, opposite to Katharine-Street, In the Strand, 1751. (Price 2 s. 6 d.). Post 8vo format, not watermarked; half-title not called for; four-entry Errata at foot of p.127; advertisement headed ‘To the Public' (for what was later called the ‘Universal-Register-Office') on verso of last leaf; pp.xv+127+[i]; A - I8; old polished sprinkled calf ruled gilt on sides after the manner of a panelled calf, spine with five raised bands, ruled gilt, green lettering-pieces, edges of boards heavilt tooled gilt, gilt tooled inner dentelles. Almost invisibly rebacked with matching calf, the original spine laid on, the old end-papers preserved; small scuffed patch to back board (possibly silver-fish damage); small original paper flaws to leaves C6 (with loss of one letter), and G7 (without loss); small pale mark to extreme inner margin of title-page; nonetheless a virtually fine copy.
GB £320.00
US $624.00
Originally issued stabbed. One of several works dealing with social vices and legal questions written by Fielding, this "admirable treatise", as it was described by Horace Walpole, was published while the author was principal justice of the Bow Street Police Court, and was appreciatively reviewed as early as February 1751 in ‘The British Magazine'. A second and considerably expanded edition, which is a good deal commoner today, was published later the same year. The work is dedicated to Lord Hardwicke, then lord chancellor. Included are discussions of robbery, drunkenness, gaming, poor laws, the punishment of receivers of stolen goods, vagabonds and vagrancy laws, apprehending felons, difficulties attending prosecutions, the trial and conviction of felons, etc. The great concern over excessive gin-drinking - mirrored in Hogarth's ‘Gin Lane' - led to the passage of the restrictive Gin Act later that year. In this copy the catchword to p.55 reads ‘o' instead of ‘of'. ESTC T89870; NCBEL 2: 930; Cross III, pp.320-1; Goldsmiths' 8657; Kress 5112; Sweet & Maxwell I.362.31; this title not in the Ashley Library Catalogue or Rothschild. COPAC lists only eight locations for this first printing.
Ref: ART818615
Antiquarian General Literature.
FIELDING (Henry). The Journal Of a Voyage to Lisbon, By the late Henry Fielding, Esq; [sic] London: Printed for A. Millar, in the Strand, 1755. F'cap 12mo (so watermarked); half-title present; small woodcut vignette on title-page, and headpieces, initials, and ornaments in text; pp.[4]+iv+240+193-228; [A]4, B - I, K - M12, N6; early full sprinkled calf, sides with double ruled frame with small floral corner ornaments, and extra double ruled ‘margin' towards spine, all gilt; spine with five bands raised over the cords, ruled and tooled gilt and with small gilt ornament in compartments, red lettering-piece; a.e. stained yellow; marbled end-papers. Slight rubbing to calf over joints; a few faint spots and marks in text, but a nice copy.
GB £340.00
US $663.00
The first published edition, which appeared in February 1755. Two editions, one drastically altered from the original, probably by John, Henry Fielding's blind half-brother, were printed in January 1755. The unedited version, which was printed first, was suppressed in favour of the edited text, but was eventually issued in December 1755 in response to a demand promoted by the Lisbon earthquake of November (v. Cross III, pp.84-8). Fielding had left for Lisbon with his wife in June of 1754, hoping to improve his health in a warmer climate, but had died there in October 1754 after a two month stay. "The incidents of his voyage are detailed with great humor and with undiminished interest in life. Mr. Austin Dobson rightly says that [the Journal] is one ‘of the most unfeigned and touching little tracts in our own or any other literature.'" - DNB. M4r - N6v consist of the fly-title and text of "A Fragment of a Comment on L. Bolinbroke's Essays'. ESTC T131333; NCBEL, 2: 931; Cross III, p.326; Rothschild, 857
Ref: ART818616
Yellowbacks.
MERRIMAN (H. Seton) and TALLENTYRE (Stephen G.). From Wisdom Court. By H. Seton Merriman Author of "The Sowers" And Stephen G. Tallentyre. Thirty Illustrations by E. Courboin. London, William Heinemann, 1896. (All rights reserved). Integral frontispiece; other illustrations in text; pp.xii [including frontispiece]+[207]+[i (printer's imprint)]; pale yellow glazed boards printed pictorially in black, green, and red on front cover and spine, printed in black on back cover with advertisements. Horizontal tear to spine, memded internally but leaving the top two inches of the front joint cracked; slight wear to corners and one bruised; otherwise a very nice copy.
GB £25.00
US $48.75
First yellowback edition of a title originally published in July 1893 (as stated on verso of the title leaf here). Sadleir, 1718 and Wolff, 4763 record the original edition, but neither records the yellowback.
Ref: GRT818606
Nineteenth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction.
DOYLE (A. Conan). The Parasite. Westminster: A. Constable And Co.: 1894. Narrow f'cap 8vo; leaf before half-title and leaf at end excised before publication, as always, leaving stubs; decorative title-page; light grey-green self-wrapper printed dark blue on sides and spine, French folded over outer end-papers. Front panel of self-wrapper lacking, and much of the spine; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £16.00
US $31.20
The first binding, issue in wrappers. Issued as the first volume of The Acme Library, in wrappers, as here, at 1s. or in cloth at 1s. 6d. Sadleir, 748 and 3393/1; Locke, ‘Spectrum', p.71; Green & Gibson, A17a; Wolff, 1911. In our experience the version in wrappers is today very much scarcer than that in cloth.
Ref: ERT803954
Yellowbacks.
SCHREINER (Olive). The story of An African farm. A Novel By Ralph Iron (Olive Schreiner). New edition. Chapman and Hall, Ld., 1892. 8pp. integral advertisements followed by 40pp. publisher's inserted Catalogue at end; yellow boards printed in black and red on front cover and spine, in black on back cover. Some rubbing and chipping of paper over spine; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £16.00
US $31.20
Not in Sadleir. Issued as a volume in the ‘Shilling Select Library'.
Ref: GRT804701
Nineteenth Century Poetry & Drama.
SEDARTÉ (N.M. [i.e., Henry Edwyn Nesmith, Jr.]). The life of a love In Songs and Sonnets By N.M. Sedarté. [No publisher, no printer], New York, 1882. Imp.16mo in half-sheets; half-title not called for; binder's blank before title-page; pp.128; bevelled diagonally-fine-ribbed light brown cloth, ruled and blocked blind on sides, blocked and lettered gilt on front cover, lettered gilt on spine; end-papers coated red-chocolate. Slight wear to cloth at head and tail of spine and slight damp-marking to edges of boards; inscription on binder's blank (v. note); light uniform embrowning to text; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £110.00
US $214.50
From the library of Algernon Charles Swinburne with his small monogram book-label giving his address as ‘The Pines, Putney Hill' on the front paste-down, and a holograph presentation inscription to him from the author (signed as ‘N.M. Sedarté'), together with a sonnet, on the recto of the binder's blank. One of the poems, ‘Love Deferred', has been marked for notice in pencil, presumably by the recipient. No.344 of a total edition of 500 copies, apparently numbered by the author. Books from Swinburne's library are now scarce.
Ref: HRT818608
Antiquarian General Literature.
FIELDING (Henry, Esq.). The Modern husband. A Comedy. As it is Acted at the Theatre-Royal In Drury-Lane. By His Majesty's Servants. Written by Henry Fielding, Esq; [sic] London: Printed for J.Watts at the Printing-Office in Wild-Court near Lincoln's-Inn Fields. 1732. (Price 1s. 6d.). Extra cr.8vo format, not watermarked; half-title not called for; 5pp. integral advertisements at end; pp.[viii (not paginated)]+[81]+[ii (not paginated)]+[v]; A4, B - F8, G4; quarter cream paper, old drab paper sides, cut flush; white end-papers. Tissued repair to spine; prelims. and final leaf of advertisements lightly embrowned; slight spotting to C6 (looks llike old glue); otherwise a fine copy.
GB £150.00
US $292.50
Fielding's most ambitious play, involving rather frank treatment of such subjects as sex and money; the responses of modern critics have been mixed. Probable third state of signature B, with the last line of text on p. 8 ending ‘Road!' rather than ‘you see', as in the first state, and the headpiece to p.13 containing a sun rather than a music book (in the second state it still contains a music book). There are also two states of signatures C-F; this copy exhibits the second state, with the following readings: p.32, l.24 ends ‘Fondness' rather than ‘Vigour'; p.46, l.23 reads ‘any Fruit' rather than ‘any thing'; p.53, l.30 ends ‘Glass' rather than ‘Lord'; p.79, l.18 ends ‘obedient' rather than ‘Turn', most of the above indicating revisions and transpositions in the text. First produced at Drury Lane on the 14th February 1732. NCBEL, 2: 927; Cross III, 294-5; this title not in Rothschild.
Ref: ART800035
Antiquarian General Literature.
FIELDING (Henry, Esq.). The Modern husband. A Comedy. As it is Acted at the Theatre-Royal In Drury-Lane. By His Majesty's Servants. Written by Henry Fielding, Esq; [sic] London: Printed for J.Watts at the Printing-Office in Wild-Court near Lincoln's-Inn Fields. 1732. (Price 1s. 6d.). Extra cr.8vo format, not watermarked; half-title not called for; 5pp. integral advertisements at end; pp.[viii (not paginated)]+[81]+[ii (not paginated)]+[v]; A4, B - F8, G4; later marbled wrappers, cut flush; white end-papers; the original front binder's blanks preseved. prelims. and final leaf of advertisements lightly embrowned, and some sllight embrowning elsewhere; short closed tear to title-page, associated with the ends of the two rules enclosing the author's name, and evidently a printing fault; otherwise a fine copy.
GB £180.00
US $351.00
First state of text throughout: in signature B the last line of text on p. 8 ending ‘you see' rather than ‘Road!', and the headpiece to p. 13 containing a music book rather than a sun; whilst in signatures C-F p.32, l.24 ends ‘Vigour' rather than ‘Fondness'; p.46, l.23 reads ‘any thing' rather than ‘any fruit'; p.53, l.30 ends ‘Lord' rather than ‘Glass'; and p.79, l.18 ends ‘Turn' rather than ‘obedient'. First produced at Drury Lane on the 14th February 1732. NCBEL, 2: 927; Cross III, 294-5; this title not in Rothschild.
Ref: ART818609
Antiquarian General Literature.
MILTON (John). Joannis MiltonI Angli Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio Secunda. Contra infamem libellum anonymum cui titulus, Regii sanguinis clamor ad Coelum adversus parri- Cidas Anglicanos. Londini, Typis Neucomianis, 1654. Pott 8vo format (watermark uninterpretable); nothing called for before title; twelve entry Errata on verso of last leaf; pp.[ii]+173+[i]; [-]1, A - I, K8, L7; old full natural calf, sides ruled and with small corner ornaments, gilt, spine with five bands raised over the cords, ruled and elaborately tooled gilt in compartments, brown and green lettering-pieces, edges ruled gilt, elaborate inner gilt dentelles; a.e.g. Rebacked almost invisibly, the original spine laid on, and the end-papers sympathetically replaced; a few very short marginal tears and some barely detectable repairs to upper fore-margins, but with slight loss to parts of one or other numeral of some page numbers; light pencil notes on pp.83 and 151; a nice copy, nonetheless.
GB £480.00
US $936.00
From the library of Viscount Birkenhead, with his armorial bookplate on the front pastedown. The correct first printing, with the verso of the title-page blank, with 173pp. of text, and with PRO and LONDINI on the title-page in Roman face, not italics. Shawcross, 185. In this copy p.76 is misnumbered 79 (this not noted by Shawcross). In our experience this second Defensio is a good deal scarcer than the first.
Ref: ART818644
Literary Periodicals.
LITERARY PERIODICAL. [Engraved title:] EUROPEAN MAGAZINE and LONDON REVIEW: Containing the Literature, History, Politics, Arts Manners & Amusements of the Age. By the Philological Society of London. Vol.26 From July to Decr. 1794. London, Printed for J. Sewell Cornhill, 1794. Demy 8vo format, in half-sheets; half-title not called for; engraved title-page to volume, letterpress title to each of the six individual issues, these included in the pagination; engraved frontispiece and eleven plates called for, eight plates only being present (one of them including three illustrations separately listed at the start of the number, as though individual plates); Index to volume and List of Bankrupts at end; pp.[456 (excluding engraved title)]+14 (ex 16: lacking blank or advertisement leaf at end); contemporary quarter sheep ruled and dated gilt on spine, red lettering-piece, marbled sides. Sheep a trifle rubbed; marbled paper almost wholly worn away; strip torn from front end-paper; small chip to margin of one plate, short tear to margin of another, and small upper fore-corners of two leaves torn away with loss of part or all of two page numbers; a little light dusting internally, but a nice copy nonetheless, strongly bound.
GB £55.00
US $107.25
Includes posthumous letters from David Garrick, Lord Shaftesbury (to Dr. Burnet), Stephen Duck, and James Thomson, and a poem by Dean Swift, all apparently here first printed, as well as poems by Ann Yearsley, George Keate (‘To Captain Bligh'), E. Cornellia Knight, James Jennings, Thomas Adney, Dr, Perfect, Robert Oliphant, T. Holcroft (‘To Haydn'), Joseph Moser, J. Moore, etc., though most contributors are identified only by initials, if at all. Articles include ‘Execution of Robespierre', a lengthy ‘Account of Henry Brooke, Esq.' (including a bibliographical check-list), and a biographical account of Mrs. Cibber. Regular sections appear such as ‘Foreign Intelligence', ‘Domestic Intelligence', ‘Theatrical Journal', reviews, daily records of the ‘State of the Barometer and Thermometer' and wind directions, stock prices, prices of corn, ‘Promotions', ‘Marriages', etc. A useful primary source. The surviving plates are bound in to face pp.[3], [83], 134, [163], [243], [315], 326, and [387].
Ref: FRT818645
Twentieth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction.
BENSON (E.F.). Visible and Invisible. London: Hutchinson and Co., Paternoster Row, E.C. N.D [1923]. Half-title not called for; pp.288; publisher's inserted 40pp. catalogue at end, dated Autumn, 1923; light blue broad vertical rib-effect fine linen patterned cloth, ruled blind, lettered black, on front cover, ruled and lettered black on spine; lower-edges uncut; thick off-white endpapers. Slight darkening to spine and top edge of back cover; slight foxing to prelims.; otherwise a very nice copy of a scarce book.
GB £120.00
US $234.00
Includes "And the Dead Spake-", The Outcast, The Horror Horn, Machaon, Negotium Perambulans, At the Farmhouse, Inscrutable Decrees, The Gardner, Mr. Tilly's Séance, Mrs. Amworth, In the Tube, and Roderick's Story. Bleiler (1948) p.48, listing the later American edition only; Clute & Nicholls (1993), p.109 (adding a ‘k' to Benson's ‘Frederic'); Locke's Spectra, I, p.31.
Ref: MRT818646
Twentieth Century Prose Literature.
BUTLER (Samuel). Luck, or Cunning, As the Main Means of Organic Modification? An attempt to throw additional light upon Darwin's theory of Natural Selection. New and Cheaper Issue. London: A.C. Fifield, N.D. [1908]. Half-title not called for in this issue; advertisement leaf for Fifield's Re-issue of the Works of the late Samuel Butler precedes conjugate cancel title-page; Erratum plus four entry Additional Errata on verso of Contents leaf; pp[xii]+328; publisher's inserted 16pp. Catalogue at end dated April, 1911; fawn coloured art canvas lettered in red on front cover and spine. Spine a little darkened and light dust-marking to covers; otherwise a very nice copy.
GB £25.00
US $48.75
From the library of the Fabian economist, don, and noted writer of detective fiction, G.D.H. Cole, with his Magdalen College Oxford street plan bookplate on the front paste-down. Sheets of the first edition of 1886 (which was dated 1887), re-issued without the half-title, title, terminal advertisement leaf and blank, but with the Fifield advertisement leaf and cancel title pasted to a stub. Hoppé, 19, pp.46-7, records that "341 copies were re-issued in 1908 with Mr. A.C. Fifield's imprint, the original sheets being used." He presumably meant rather that 341 sets of sheets were taken over by Mr. Fifield and re-issued, since there are at least three binding batches traceable over a period of about nine years. The first, and the only one known to Hoppé, was as this, but had no catalogue and apparently retained the terminal blank (he does not mention the blank, but records the absence of its conjugate leaf of advertisements); the second was as this, with a catalogue at the end dated April, 1911; and the third was as the first, but had an ‘Increase in Price' label dated September 29, 1917 tipped onto the advertisement page. Hoppé remarks that the volume may also have been "re-issued by Longmans in or about 1890, as others of Butler's works were", adding that it "is a matter of doubt; the compiler has not seen an example of such a re-issue." We, however, have: the present copy representing therefore the fourth issue of at least five.
Ref: JRT818647
Twentieth Century Prose Literature.
KIPLING (Rudyard). Letters of Travel (1892 - 1913). Macmillan and Co., Limited, St. Martin's Street, London, 1920. Extra cr.8vo; blank before half-title; title-page printed in scarlet and black; 4pp. integral advertisements at end; pp.[2]+vi+284+4; mottled red rough buckram, blocked and embossed with medallion gilt on front cover, lettered gilt on spine; t.e.g. Fine copy in dust-wrapper slightly frayed at extremities of spine.
GB £35.00
US $68.25
Ref: JRT810374
Nineteenth Century General Fiction.
ANTHOLOGY. Stories by an Archæologist and His friends. [on half-titles:] In two volumes. [on title-page:] London: Bell and Daldy, Fleet Street, 1856. Post 8vo; integral advertisement leaf precedes half-title in volume two; title-pages printed in red and black; wood-engraved head-pieces; pp.viii+247+[i (blank)]; [2]+[vi]+240; 14 entry Corrigenda slip to both volumes tipped-in before start of text in volume one; bright green horizontal straight grain morocco cloth, ruled and blocked blind on sides, ruled blind, lettered gilt, on spine; a.e. uncut; end-papers coated buff. Small restoration to cloth at head of spine, and very slight wear to cloth at extreme tail in both volumes, and very slight fading to cloth of spine and at edges of covers; end-papers sympathetically replaced at an early date with light sage green paper (traces of the original end-papers remaining visible at the edges of the paste-downs); some rubbing to cloth over back joint in volume one, with three or four small holes; a little foxing or marking to edges and final leaves in both volumes, and the prelims. in volume two; half a dozen leaves in both volumes slightly foxed or marked; nonetheless in general effect a nice copy of a scarce title.
GB £180.00
US $351.00
From the library of bibliographer Eric Quayle, with his pencilled notes on the front pastedown of volume one. One of three fictional works by Henry Noel Humphreys in which Thomas Wright and James Orchard Halliwell are said to have collaborated. In the present copy the advertisement leaf is bound up with its conjugates at the start of volume two: in another copy reported it had been separated and bound in at the end. This is probably without significance, and either variant may be reckoned as first issue: later copies were bound up two volumes in one, and trimmed to a much smaller format. Not in Sadleir; Wolff, 3418, recording a copy collating as this.
Ref: CRT818649
Nineteenth Century General Fiction.
JEFFERIES (Richard). Wood Magic; A Fable. Vol. I [II]. Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co.: London, Paris & New York, 1881. (All rights reserved.). 2 Vols., extra cr.8vo; pp.[viii]+235+[i (blank)]; [vi]+263+[i (blank)]; 8pp. text-paper advertisements coded ‘6 G - 581' at end of each volume; diagonally very-fine-ribbed dark green cloth, ruled blind on back cover, ruled and blocked pictorially black on front cover, blocked black, ruled and lettered gilt on spine; top- and fore- edges uncut; end-papers coated dark grey. Very slight wear to cloth at head and tail of spines, and the merest hint of labels having been removed from front covers; end-papers unobtrusively renewed, probably at an early date, with paper coated red-chocolate; some half-dozen or so leaves opened badly with chips or tears to margins, not approaching textotherwise a nice copy.
GB £65.00
US $126.75
An early owner (1896) has noted a couple of errata in pencil, as under (state or issue significance, if any, undetermined): volume one, p.73, l.10, ‘said' for ‘thought'; p.126, ‘Rook' for ‘Rat'. Sadleir, 1317; Wolff, 3672.
Ref: CRT818634
Seventeenth & Eighteenth Century Fiction.
FIELDING (Henry). [General title-page present in volume one only:] Miscellanies, By Henry Fielding Esq; [sic] In Three Volumes. London: Printed for the Author: And sold by A. Millar, opposite to Catharine-Street, in the Strand, 1743. 3 Vols., extra cr.8vo format (apparently watermarked with a fleur-de-lys); half-titles not called for; general and volume title, List of Subscrebers [sic], and author's Preface precede fly-title to first piece in volume one; volume title only to other volumes, as called for (v. note); pp.[2]+[ii]+[22 (not paginated)]+[xxxvii (mis-paginated [i]-xxxii, xxxi, xxviii, xxix, xxvi, xxvii)]+[i (blank)]+354 (p.255 being mis-paged 154); [ii]+420+[ii (Epilogue, not paginated)]; [x (not paginated)]+421+[i (blank)]; A8, a5, b-c8, d3, 2A8, B-I, K-U, X-Y8, Z1; [A]1, B-I, K-U, X-Z, Aa-Dd8, Ee3; [A]1, a4, B-I, K-U, X-Z, Aa-Dd8, Ee3; contemporary full sprinkled calf, ruled gilt on sides, rebacked in matching style, applied spines with five bands raised over the cords, preserving the old brown lettering-pieces and the end-papers; edges burnished brown. Slight wear to calf over some corners, and one with minute chip to calf (not board); small damp-stain affecting some lower fore-corners in volume two (generally only 3 or 4mm, but at worst 6 by about 25mm); margins of end-papers and one or two leaves at front and back in each volume lightly stained from the turnovers of the calf; otherwise, and in general effect, a fine, crisp, copy.
GB £1,800.00
US $3,510.00
The first issue: with the subscribers list present, and the titles of volumes one and three not cancels. The book was first issued simultaneously in two formats, extra cr.8vo, as here, and on large paper in roy.8vo, 343 copies of the cr.8vo issue being subscribed for and 200 copies in roy.8vo, totals which included advance orders from booksellers. Once the subscribers copies had been delivered - and presumably after a decent interval - Millar provided the remaining sheets with cancel title-pages denominating them ‘Second Edition' (only, for some reason, to volumes one and three), and re-issued them, without the subscribers list, at a reduced price. The specific title to volume one reads: ‘Miscellanies, By Henry Fielding Esq; [sic] Vol. I.' That to volume two reads: ‘Miscellanies, By Henry Fielding Esq; [sic]] Vol. II. A Journey from this World to the Next, &c.' That to volume three reads: ‘Miscellanies. The Life Of Mr. Jonathan Wild The Great. Vol. III. By Henry Fielding Esq; [sic]'. The imprint on the specific title-pages to volumes one and two is the same as that on the general title-page. That to volume three reads ‘London, Printed for the Author; and sold by A. Mil- Lar, opposite to Catharine-street in the Strand.' All are dated 1743. Besides the lengthy Preface, volume one includes some early poems by Fielding (all he had preserved), essays ‘On Conversation', ‘On the Knowledge of the Characters of Men', ‘On Nothing', etc., ‘A Dialogue between Alexander the Great and Diogenes the Cynic', and some other minor pieces; but the first 250pp. of volume two are occupied by a reincarnation fantasy, ‘A Journey from this World to the Next'; whilst the whole of the third volume is occupied by ‘The Life of Mr. Jonathan Wild the Great' both of the last mentioned works, as well as a large part of the rest, being here first printed. This first edition of ‘Jonathan Wild' includes a number of passages suppressed in the considerably revised second edition of 1754, including the fantastic imaginary voyage involuntarily undertaken by Mrs. Heartfree. NCBEL, 2: 926; ESTC, N11032; Rothschild, 845, giving a collation identical to that of the present copy, but for the roy.8vo issue; Cross, III, 308-9.
Ref: BRT818635
Nineteenth Century Poetry & Drama.
CAPERN (Edward). Poems By Edward Capern, Rural postman of Bideford, Devon. London: David Bogue, 86, Fleet Street, 1856. Globe 8vo; half-title not called for; List of Subscribers at end; pp.viii+200; moss-green horizontal straight morocco cloth, ruled and elaborately blocked blind on sides, ruled, elaborately blocked, and lettered, gilt on spine; end-papers faced yellow. Minute, barely visible, restoration to cloth at head of spine; old glue marks on end-papers; a little scattered light foxing; in general effect, a very nice copy, nonetheless.
GB £75.00
US $146.25
Capern's rather scarce first book, published on subscription. Pp.[iii] - vi are occupied by a Preface to the Subscribers by W.F. Rock, who edited the volume. 532 copies were subscribed, the subscribers including William Mackworth Praed (at that time Recorder of Barnstaple, Bideford, and South Molton), Alfred Tennyson, Charles Dickens, Walter Savage Landor, Charles Kingsley, Eliza Cook, Leitch Ritchie, J.A. Froude, Alexander Smith, Roland Hill, Viscount Palmerston, and the Duke of Wellington. Miles, X.
Ref: HRT818048
Nineteenth Century Poetry & Drama.
SARGANT (Mrs. J[ane]. A[lice].). Joan of Arc: A play in five acts. London: Joseph Rickerby, Sherbourn Lane, King William Street, City, 1840. Demy 8vo; half-title not called for; pp.[vii]+[i (blank)]+99+[i (blank)]; full very dark brown calf, ruled and elaborately tooled gilt on sides, spine with five bands raised over cords, elaborately ruled and tooled gilt in compartments, light brown lettering-piece, gilt-tooled edges and inner dentelles; a.e.g., marbled end-papers. Calf minutely chipped at extremities of spine, and rubbed at edges, lettering-piece chipped without loss of lettering; final leaf torn across in two places and repaired without use of tissue or loss of text; otherwise a nice copy. Scarce.
GB £35.00
US $68.25
A play in verse. British Library and Southampton copies only on COPAC.
Ref: HRT818636
Nineteenth Century Prose Literature.
TROLLOPE (Anthony). An Autobiography. In two volumes. William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London, 1883. All Rights reserved. 2 Vols.; photogravure portrait frontispiece by Leopold Lowenstarn after a photograph printed on India paper and laid on to a leaf of thick paper, with tissue guard, in volume one; no frontispiece called for to volume two; 4pp. integral advertisements followed by publisher's Catalogue, not dated, 24pp. on text-paper, at end of volume two; pp.[xiv]+259+[i (printer's imprint)]; [vi]+227+[i (printer's imprint)]+4; dark red smooth cloth, lettered and blocked with author's signature black on front cover, ruled and blocked black, blocked and lettered gilt, panelled white (v. note) on spine; top- and fore- edges uncut; end-papers coated dark brown. Slight fading and marking to covers, caused in part by the removal of a library label from each front cover; spines a little mottled, white panels darkened and more or less lightly rubbed; slight cracking to end-papers in volume one, and one or two small marks or slight dusting to text; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £65.00
US $126.75
A binding variant (if so) that is almost certainly primary. Sadleir, Trollope Bibliography, 67, records the spine panels as blind, and offers no variants of this (though he does offer a variant of the cloth grain, and of the colour of the end-papers); nor have we previously ourselves seen a copy in which the panels were clearly white (though we do remember to have seen traces of what looked like white pigment around the edges of one or more of the three pressed-out panels in some copies). White enamel is notoriously evanescent, especially when applied to a smooth cloth, and it seems possible at least that it was originally on all copies, but has disappeared, or that it was originally on the earliest copies, but was dropped from later binding batches because of its tendency to rub or flake. The present copy with its three white panels, even though they are somewhat darkened and rubbed, is a good deal more striking than the binding as it usually appears. Wolff, 6765, records a copy, evidently without the white enamel, but with the same coloured end-papers as here, inscribed by the publisher in the month of publication, whilst Sadleir records a copy with an undated inscription by the publisher, that had dark green end-papers, though since it is the only copy recorded with such end-papers one might hypothesise that it was a binding trial.
Ref: IRT818638
Nineteenth Century Detective Fiction.
THORNHILL (Gerald H.). The Golden Sceptre. London, C. Arthur Pearson Limited, Henrietta Street W.C., 1899. Extra cr.8vo; final blank; pp.[viii]+341+[i (printer's imprint)]+[ii]; deep reddish pink and pink flecked linen-patterned cloth, blocked black and gilt, lettered gilt, on front cover, blocked and lettered gilt on spine. Very slight wear to cloth at extremities of spine, and ens-papers a little cracking; end-papers foxed, with offsetting onto facing page, and single fox-spot affecting title and Contents leaves; one or two small spots or marks elsewhere, but nonetheless a nice copy.
GB £40.00
US $78.00
Signed by the author on the title-page. A scarce Ruritanean detective novel with rationalised occult elements, set variously in London and Derbyshire. Not in Hubin, Wolff, or, or course, Sadleir.
Ref: DRT818639
Nineteenth Century Poetry & Drama.
BRIDGES (Robert). The feast Of Bacchus. A comedy in the Latin manner And partly translated from Terence. Published by George Bell & Sons, Covent Garden, and J. & E. Bumpus, Lim., Holborn Bars [London, E.C.], N.D. [1894]. Double cr.8vo; half-title not called for; pp.[ii]+185-230; grey wrappers printed in black on front wrapper, and (with publisher's / author's advertisements) on inside back wrapper; a.e. uncut; issued with tissue free end-papers but without paste-downs. Wrappers very slightly embrowned, and slight foxing to first few leaves; otherwise a nice copy. Scarce.
GB £48.00
US $93.60
The second (and first revised) edition of a title printed originally in a very small edition at the Daniel Press in 1889, here issued as No.vii in the series ‘Plays by Robert Bridges', and continuing the pagination, No.i being designated retrospectively as ‘Nero, Pt.I' (1885), No.ii being ‘Palicio' (1890), No.iii, ‘Return of Ulysses' (1890), No.iv, ‘Cristian Captives' (1890), No.v, ‘Achilles in Scyros' (1890), and No.vi, ‘Humours of the Court' (1894). No.viii, ‘The Second Part of Nero' is advertised as forthcoming. Printed on van Gelder paper. The volume bears no printer's imprint.
Ref: HRT818625
Twentieth Century Poetry & Drama.
PEGGE (C. Denis). Obsidian. Poems by C. Denis Pegge. London-at the Scholartis Press, XXX Museum Street, 1934. Demy 8vo; printer's device on final leaf; pp.51+[i]; navy blue buckram lettered gilt on front cover and up spine; fore- and lower- edges uncut. Slight bubbling to cloth on back board; otherwise a fine, unopened, copy in slightly marked, dusty, and minutely nicked dust-wrapper.
18.00
Printed at the Alcuin Press on mould-made paper. The publisher is given on the back wrapper at ‘Eric Partridge Limited At the Scholartis Press'.
Ref: LRT818626
Nineteenth Century Poetry & Drama.
ABEL (G[eorge].). Gordon, And Other poems. Published [by the London Literary Society] at 376, Strand, [London,] W.C., N.D. [1885]. Pp.xix+[i (blank)]+236; diagonally very fine ribbed cloth, ruled and elaborately blocked black, lettered gilt, on front cover, ruled blind on back cover, ruled and lettered gilt on spine; t.e. uncut; end-papers printed florally in brown. Obtrusive foxing to edges and first and last few leaves; armorial bookplate on front paste-down; otherwise a fine copy, unopened throughout.
GB £35.00
US $68.25
Besides the title poem and a number of short poems, includes "The City Arabs. A Topical Drama in four acts" in verse, with characters bearing names like Pat Prigger, Bob Knuckleduster, Tim Sixshooter, etc. A very scarce title, and, externally at least, a beautiful book. Not in Reilly; British Library, Oxford, Cambridge, and National Library of Scotland copies only on COPAC
Ref: HRT818627
Twentieth Century Prose Literature.
READ (Herbert). Existentialism, Marxism and Anarchism. Chains of Freedom. Freedom Press, London, 1949. Demy 8vo; half-title not called for; pp.56; two entry Errata slip tipped in before p.9; duck-egg blue boards printed dark red on front cover and down spine. Inscription on front end-paper; back end-paper creased due to an original binding fault; otherwise a fine copy in very slightly faded dust-wrapper, just a trifle frayed at head of spine.
GB £12.00
US $23.40
Ref: JRT818628
Twentieth Century Poetry & Drama.
COMFORT (Alex). Elegies. Routledge London, 1944. Pp.32; quarter black buckram up-lettered gilt on flat spine, white boards. Virtually fine copy in minutely frayed dust-wrapper.
GB £12.00
US $23.40
Ref: LRT818629
Nineteenth Century Poetry & Drama.
[COMBE (William).]. [Engraved title:] The tour Of Doctor Syntax Through London, Or the Pleasures and Miseries Of the Metropolis. A Poem By Doctor Syntax. London, Published by J. Johnston, Cheapside, 1820. Med.8vo; half-title and letterpress title leaf not called for; hand-coloured frontispiece, vignette title, and eighteen plates (v. note), one with tissue guard; Preface leaf and leaf bearing List of Plates on recto, blank on verso, precede start of text; pp.iv+[2]+319+[i (blank)]; contemporary brown half-calf, marbled sides and matching end-papers, calf tooled gilt on sides; excellently rebacked with matching calf, spine with five raised bands, tooled gilt in compartments with a large daisy ornament, brown lettering-piece. Slight wear to calf of sides, and inner hinges professionally strengthened with brown linen; otherwise a very nice copy, the plates all very fresh and bright.
GB £240.00
US $468.00
Not in fact by Combe, but of all the many attempts to copy the format of the Rowlandson-Combe collaborations, this is generally reckoned the most successful. It was originally issued in parts, then advertised to be collected as a volume in boards. One of the plates is signed ‘Williams D, et Ft', but as Tooley remarks, "according to the advertisement more than one artist was employed, or at least a different engraver to the artist", a formula that fails to preclude the possibility of other artists being involved, and he notes also: "Both Rolandson and I.R. Cruikshank are credited with the designs . . . the balance of opinion favouring Cruikshank." An important book that had a direct influence on Rodolphe Toppfer, who in 1833 was to produce what is considered to have been the first comic book, ‘L'histoire de M. Jabot'. Tooley, 434; Abbey, ‘Life in England', 265; Hardie, 168; Prideaux, p.357, listing it under E. Williams.
Ref: HRT818630
Nineteenth Century General Fiction.
GRESLEY (Rev. W., M.A., Prebendary of Lichfield). Church-clavering; Or, The Schoolmaster. London: James Burns, 17 Portman Street, Portman Square, 1843. 12mo, printed in half-sheets; series title, and wood engraved frontispiece by Orrin Smith, precede title-page; half-title not called for; one wood-engraved plate, by Smith; wood-engraved tail-pieces; text-paper advertisement leaf at end (a singleton, advertising Gresley's works), followed by 12pp. publisher's inserted catalogue on thinner paper, not dated; pp.viii+280+[ii]; very dark slate-purple fine diaper cloth, ruled and blocked blind on sides, ruled blind, lettered and with short rule gilt on spine; t.e. uncut, fore-edges rough-trimmed; end-papers coated pale lemon. Small, almost invisible, restoration to cloth of back joint; very slight cracking to back end-papers; a very little light dusting or foxing to some half-dozen or so leaves; in effect, a nice copy.
GB £28.00
US $54.60
Issued as volume 24 of ‘The Englishman's Library'. Sadleir 3744 lists only the First Series, up to volume twenty, believing that no further volumes were issued. Wolff, 2762, listing a rebound copy without the series title or advertisements, and lacking one plate, which he assumed, presumably on the authority of Sadleir, was not issued as part of ‘The Englishman's Library' series, though he remarks that it is in fact in the same format. No location for the plate is given, but it is here tipped in to face p.85.
Ref: CRT801406
Twentieth Century Prose Literature.
ELIOT (T.S.). What is a classic? An address delivered before The Virgil Society On the 16th of October 1944. Faber & Faber Limited, 24 Russell Square, London, 1945. Demy 8vo, printed in half sheets on blue-toned paper; blank before half-title; pp.32; horizontally mottled light sky blue fine weave cloth, lettered gilt down spine; lower-edges uncut; pale blue end-papers. Inscription on front end-paper; small mark on blank fore-corner of one leaf (apparently an original paper flaw); otherwise a very nice copy in a very slightly frayed dust-wrapper.
GB £15.00
US $29.25
First trade and first hardcover edition, preceded by an edition of 500 copies printed for The Virgil Society. Printed on paper watermarked ‘British Hand-made'. Gallup A45b
Ref: JRT809227
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