Catastrophe! Propaganda, Persuasion & Prophecy in Print Call us susceptible to current events, but we can’t get our minds off the printed works that emphasize catastrophe and downfall – that depict extremes to persuade changes in behavior, for better or for worse. To this end we offer this short list of books. Peruse, and reach out if there is something that is a complement to your collection – we are always happy to work on terms that fit libraries’ fiscal year needs, and are particularly flexible on invoicing and shipping given the diversity of closures affecting acquisitions departments. In the event that you have specific collecting goals and would like to discuss them with us, we invite you to reach out via phone or email Tuesday-Saturday when our liaison to institutional clientele is on site.

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1. Anonymous. [Barbauld, Laetitia, Hannah Cowley, Sarah Dixon, Mary Robinson, Elizabeth Sheridan, et al.]. The Bouquet, A Selection of Poems from the Most Celebrated Authors, with some Originals. London: E. Hodson, 1792. First edition. Two volumes bound in one. Contemporary tree calf rebacked to style with red morocco and gilt to spine. A lovely, square copy. Internally fresh and bright, retaining the original endpapers. Collating [2], v-xii, 9-200; [2], 5-11, [1, blank], xiii-xvi, 9-192, 185-192: bound without half-titles else complete with subscriber's list to preliminaries of volume II and an additional set of duplicate pages to rear of volume II. A scarce compilation of educational poetry directed toward female readers, ESTC records only 13 copies.

The anonymous male compiler of the present volume had a female readership in mind; women were, after all, an expanding market in the purchase of poetry books, etiquette, and novels. "In selecting the following

poetical bouquet," he writes in the preface, "his chief care has been that whilst he considered the various tastes of the public, he endeavored, as much as possible, to blend instruction with amusement." And though he admits that he hopes the book will grace the library shelves of "the youth of both sexes," he has striven to avoid any work which could "offend the ear of Chastity." But he incorporates a number of accomplished women writers -- among them the controversial Hannah Cowley (who had accused Hannah More of plagiarism), musician and poet Elizabeth Linley Sheridan, and celebrity writer and "English Sappho" Mary Robinson. These women were not necessarily tame in their compositions or their personal lives. In this sense, the Bouquet pushes boundaries in adhering to "chaste" requirements. Notably, their inclusion -- and some of their political leanings -- also highlight political inclinations in the included male-authored poetry. This is particularly the case for William Cowper's selections, which point readers toward abolitionist and anti-slavery causes (including On Slavery, The Negro's Complaint, and The African Boy). The Bouquet, then, operates under the disguise of chaste and innocent verses while presenting a largely female readership with cutting edge and politically charged work. ESTC T124910. (Item #3879) $1,850

2. Culpeper, Nicholas. Catastrophe magnatum: or, The fall of monarchie. A caveat to magistrates, deduced from the eclipse… London: Printed for T. Vere and Nathe, 1652. First edition. Modern paper wrappers. Internally complete, collating [6], 76 and including the diagram and engraving of the solar eclipse. Title pages shaved with loss of date at footer; paper loss to lower corner of pages 15-16 and upper corners of pages 49-54 with no loss of text. Rare in trade and at institutions, the present work does not appear in the modern auction record and ESTC records only 11 copies (5 of these in North America). It is the only copy currently on the market. The execution of Charles I in 1649 was considered by millenarians as the end of the fourth monarchy as described in the Book of Daniel. By 1652, the arrival of a total solar eclipse known as Black Monday was further viewed as the heralding of a new world order and the second coming of

Christ. Herbalist and astronomer Nicholas Culpeper examines Daniel's prophecies against his own readings of the skies; and he opened his tract with Daniel 2. 21-22. "He changeth the times and the seasons, he removeth Kings, he setteth up Kings...he revealeth the deep and secret things." After explaining to readers the scientific nature of an eclipse, Culpeper draws a correspondence between the sun's role in the solar system and a monarch's role in a realm. In this sense, "an Eclipse of the Sun is a taking away of both light and vertue of the Sun from a particular people, by the interpolation of the body of the Moon," and it is a symbol of the unfolding stages of God's plan. Culpeper predicts earthquakes, pestilence, and "strange massacres, desperate tumults, fire and sword" will sweep across Europe, leading to the fall of unfaithful nations. Though he is pessimistic about how many of his readers will heed his words, he encourages the faithful to trust in God and grace to preserve them. Thus he concludes his book with Ecclesiastes 12. 13-14: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter; fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing." ESTC R2956. (Item #3462). $5,500

3. Dante, Alighieri; Henry Boyd. A Translation of the Inferno of Dante Alighieri, in English Verse. With Historical Notes on the Life of Dante. To Which is Added a Specimen of a New Translation of the Orlando Furioso of Ariosto (in 2 vols). Dublin: P. Byrne, 1785. First Thus. Contemporary speckled calf with morocco spine labels and gilt to spines and boards. Bindings in beautiful, unsophisticated condition, with just a bit of rubbing to the corners and tops of spines. Marbled endpapers. Measuring 108 x 178mm (pages) and collating viii, 1-349, [3], 351-367, [1, blank] (page 351 misnumbered but pagination continuous); [4], 5-454: complete. Volume I with some light pencil annotations to pages 56-57, 65, and 68; small loss to corner of 147-148 not affecting text; staining to margins of 206-207 not affecting text. Volume II with loss to margin of pages 363-364 not affecting text. In all, an exceptional, clean, and bright copy. The first appearance of the Boyd translation of Dante, considered superior to the first English translation of 1782 by Charles Rogers. Scarce institutionally and in trade, ESTC reports 10 copies in

the U.S. and the modern auction record documents only one appearance. One of the world’s great masterpieces and a foundational text of Italian literature, The Inferno constitutes the first part of Dante's Divine Comedy, tracing his narrator's epic journey through the bowels of Hell, into Purgatory, and finally to the embrace of Paradise. The entire Comedy would not be fully translated into English until 1802, by the present translator Henry Boyd. Boyd (1749 - 1832), a member of the Irish clergy. His translation would help bring Dante back into literary circles after he had fallen by the critical wayside in the aftermath of the Renaissance and Enlightenment. Thanks to Boyd's reintroduction of Dante's poetic vision here and then in The Divine Comedy, Dante soon regained his popularity; before the 19th century was up Longfellow would also try his hand at a translation and William Blake would make drawings of some of its more famous passages. ESTC T129133. (Item #3201). $6,500

4. More, Hannah. Remarks on the Speech of M. Dupont...on the Subjects of Religion and Public Education. London: T. Cadell in the Strand, 1793. First edition. A tall, wide-margined and surprisingly fresh copy measuring 210 x 130mm (pages) and collating complete: xv, [1, blank], 48. Bound in modern burgundy cloth with gilt to spine, bearing the bookplate of J.O. Edwards to the front pastedown. Internally unmarked. A scarce and assertive work by the fame Bluestocking, the 1793 first edition is reported at no institutions and has not appeared at auction. An exceptional and scarce example of Hannah More's propaganda against radical propaganda. Across her involvement in abolition, women's education, and integration movements, Hannah More adeptly learned to use chapbooks and cheaply distributed publications like the present work to disseminate ideas. "As an independent woman writer, much of her work was directed to the female sex, but her desire to see women play a more constructive role in society came into conflict with her own fear of certain revolutionary ideas. Consciously aware of the techniques of propaganda that she saw being used in radical literature...[she sought] to alert British women to the serious social and political dangers inherent in those forms of radical propaganda" (Hole). Such

tension shaped her Considerations on Religion and Public Education, which was directed in its first appearance "to the Ladies &c of Great Britain and Ireland" (she would revise the work to include American women, in the more common 1794 Boston edition). "More's opposition to the threat she believed the ideas of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution posed led her to popular propaganda that was directed first to the poor, then to women of the rising middle class. Her urgent campaign against the way women were represented in literature during this time led her both to her most successful and vigorous polemic" (Hole). Of the present work, Professor Claudia Johnson notes "On Religion and Public Education is straight propaganda…that speaks directly to an elite readership with an unmediated critique" of ideas about the separation of religion from education and the rise of secularism. Arguing against Dupont's remarks at the National Convention of France, More encourages her female readers to hold fast to ideas and practices related to religious morality, including sacrifice and humility. And she exhorts her readers to remember the English beliefs about God's relationship to sovereigns, discouraging the impiety of overthrowing such leadership. Near Fine. (4034) $2,250

5. Nostradamus, Michel. The True Prophecies or Prognostications of Michael Nostradamus, Physician … And one of the best Astronomers that ever were. London: Thomas Ratcliffe and Nathaniel Thompson, 1672. First English language edition. Contemporary sprinkled calf with five raised bands and gilt to spine. Extremities of spine expertly restored and front joint strengthened. All edges sprinkled red. Early ownership signature of B. Talbot 1690 to front endpaper. Occasional early ink notations to margins and a few trivial spots to paper, else an exceptionally clean and pleasing copy. Folio measuring 190 x 295mm and collating [36], 522: complete, including frontis.

For years a wandering physician, Nostradamus spent his energy pursuing knowledge of the ancient Hebrew prophets, to whose religion his family had adhered until their conversion to Catholicism. In 1555, his prophecies first appeared in print and made him famous for his astrological forecasts -- predictions he claimed were divinely inspired. "Most of the predictions Nostradamus composed during his life dealt with disasters such as plagues, earthquakes, wars, floods, invasions, murders, droughts, and battles. Enthusiasts have credited him with predicting numerous events in world history including the French Revolution, the rises of Napoleon and Hitler, the development of the atomic bomb, and the September 11 World Trade Center attacks...Nostradamus' timeless predictions continue to make him popular to those seeking answers to life's more difficult questions" (Biography). Today, Nostradamus remains an infamous and controversial figure. Here, his predictions about the future of humanity and the world appear in English for the first time. Wing N1399. (Item #3366). $18,000

6. Prynne, William. Histrio-Mastix. The Players Scourge, or Actors Tragaedie... London: Printed by E. A. and W. I. for Michael Sparke, 1633. First Edition. Second state, with errata on ***4 verso. Quarto (pages 178 x 139 mm), collating: [xxxiv], 512, ff. 513-568, 545-832, [ii], 831-1006, [xl], complete. Bound in a 19th century full morocco binding, marbled end papers, all edges gilt. Some wear to the outer joints and at the crown, otherwise binding holding well. Title page trimmed close, date still visible, no other leaves with text affected. Generally a clean copy internally, with the close cropping on the title page being the main issue.

“Female actors, notorious whores!” Infamous Puritan polemicist William Prynne issues the almost 1,000 page Histrio-Mastix as the ultimate denunciation of Caroline theater in all its forms -- from public plays, to dancing, to private masques. Of particular concern to Prynne was the practice of cross-dressing on stage, made necessary because only men could be licensed as professional actors and therefore played all parts. He declared that cross-dressing "perverts one principal use of

garments, to difference men from women: by confounding, interchanging, transforming these two sexes for the present, as long as the play or part doth last." The result, he argued, was a rise in unnatural lusts within both actors and the audience, and a breakdown of clear gender identities or attractions. Not to leave out women, Prynne also issued a critique of King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria, who regularly hosted private masques in the Banqueting House at White Hall Palace and at Somerset House. Henrietta Maria and her ladies broke new ground in January 1633 with The Shepherd's Paradise, assigning speaking roles to women for the first time; and as a result, Prynne raged against the court and its "female actors, notorious whores." Displeased, Charles I charged him with seditious libel and perjury. After a swift trial, the court issued a poetic punishment: "Mr. William Prynne, for writing a booke against Stage Players...was first censured in the Starr Chamber to loose both his Eares in the pillorie, fined...Stigmatized on both his Cheekes with a firey iron" (Roberston). Histrio-Mastix remains the most famous and important critique against British drama. (Item #2155) $3,000

7. Sand, George. Fanchette. Se vend au profit de Fanchette Paris: [Imprimerie de Schneider et Langrand],[1843]. First edition. Contemporary 19th century quarter calf binding with green boards; gentle wear to edges. Internally an excellent copy with original wraps bound in; occasional light foxing and small paper loss to margins of last two leaves, neither affecting text. Octavo collates complete with 31 pages. An exceptionally rare copy of Sand’s first work on social justice, of which only 500 were printed. This copy is the only one known to have come onto the market, with none in the modern auction records and the only other held at La Bibliotheque Nationale de France. Having dedicated the first decade of her career toward writing novels about women’s internal and social struggles, George Sand made her first move into activism with Fanchette. Shocked by the story of a young girl with mental illness, who had been refused refuge in a convent and was soon after discovered pregnant and arrested for begging, Sand opted to expose the events in a set of letters printed in the Revue Independente. Following a wave of public outcry, “Sand decided to have [the letters] printed in brochure form with the plan that half the copies would be distributed free to the workers of La Chatre, the others sold for the benefit of Fanchette. Five hundred copies of this brochure of thirty-one pages were printed and circulated. The Fanchette case, therefore, revealing as it did an appalling lack of sympathy for the poor and misfortunate, convinced George Sand that an effort should be made to awaken the citizens of La Chatre to their duties as members of a community” (Bowes). This publication marked a new phase of Sand’s writing career, which more directly emphasized social justice, particularly for vulnerable women. A rare and important work. (Item #2030). $4,500

8. [Women in Wartime] [Caroline Kirkland] Loyal Publication Society.

A Few Words on Behalf of the Loyal Women of the United States, by One of Themselves New York: Wm. C. Bryant & Co Printers, 1863. First edition. Original paper wraps. 23 pages. Number 10 in a series of 17 pamphlets addressing the causes and outcomes of the Civil War. One of two variant printings with no priority assigned, this with page 23 beginning "attempt at corrupting." Some separation to the foot of spine, with text block holding well. Soiling and edgewear to front wrap; rusted imprint of paperclip affecting top of pages 13-15. Small blot to text of page 13. Else a solid copy of this important work, which suggests that all women who have survived the Civil War deserve credit for their strength and sacrifice.

While at its release, A Few Words was anonymous, an 1865 publication by the Loyal Publication Society attributes the work to Caroline Kirkland (Mrs. C. M. Kirkland). According to her argument, women on both sides nursed sick soldiers, rationed, and experienced the losses of husbands, brothers, and fathers. Yet Kirkland takes issue with the popular notion that Southern women more aggressively support their soldiers and

their cause. "They, having seen slavery, felt it, known its horrors, suffered under its attendant evils and learned...its incompatibility with God's benign law of love have deliberately lent themselves...to the perpetuation of so awful an evil" are implicated in something evil. As an abolitionist and a women's rights activist, Kirkland highlights the cognitive dissonance involved in promoting the virtuous strength of white supremacist women. A rare and interesting work documenting a Union woman's perspective on American women's responsibilities in wartime. History of American Women. Very Good + (Item #2488). $390

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