james cummins booksellerblake, william milton, a poem in 2 books with 45 hand-colored plates in...

JAMES CUMMINS bookseller

2016 New York Antiquarian Book Fair

April 7-10

JAMES CUMMINS bookseller2016 New York Antiquarian Book Fair

April 7-10

To place your order, call, write, e-mail or fax:

james cummins bookseller 699 Madison Avenue, New York City, 10065 Telephone (212) 688-6441 Fax (212) 688-6192 [email protected] jamescumminsbookseller.com

hours: Monday – Friday 10:00 – 6:00, Saturday 10:00 – 5:00 Members A.B.A.A., I.L.A.B.

front cover: item 55 inside front cover: items 29 & 35 inside rear cover: item 15 rear cover: items 8 & 12 photography by nicole neenan

terms of payment: All items, as usual, are guaranteed as described and are returnable within 10 days for any reason. All books are shipped FedEx (please provide a street address) unless otherwise requested. Overseas orders should specify a shipping preference.All postage is extra.New clients are requested to send remittance with orders. Libraries may apply for deferred billing. All New York and New Jersey residents must add the appropriate sales tax.We accept American Express, Master Card, and Visa.

The following catalogue is a selection of books that we will be exhibiting at the 2016 New York Antiquarian Book Fair. Full descriptions can be found on our website, or on request.

1]

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION) [DORLON, John, Captain, et al.]

Orderly Book of Captain John Dorlon’s Company of New York MinutemenNew York: 19 February-11 April 1776.

defending NYC in advance of the British InvasionManuscript orderly book documenting the fortifications and preparations by rebellious colonists in advance of the Brirish invasion of New York and Long Island in 1776.

SOLD

2]

ASHMUN, J[ehudi]

History of the American Colony in Liberia, from December 1821 to 1823. Compiled from the Authentic Records of the ColonyLarge folding map. Washington, D.C: Way & Gideon, 1826. First edition.

EARLY REPORT ON THE COLONY FOR FREED AND FREE-BORN BLACKSAshmun acted as the agent for the United States in the establishment of the American colony of Liberia, a settlement in west Africa for freed blacks. He served two terms as governor of the colony: the first from 8 August 1822 - 2 April 1823. After a brief hiatus, he resumed governorship for a longer second term: 14 August 1823 - 26 March 1828. He is the most important figure in the early years of Liberia, and this work is one of the earliest accounts of the colony’s settlement.

$3,000

2 | James Cummins bookseller

3]

AUDUBON, John James

The Birds of America500 hand-colored lithographed plates after Audubon. New York: Roe Lockwood & Son, 1840-1844. First octavo edition.

The first octavo edition of Audubon’s Great National WorkA tall set, bound from the original parts, in a contemporary full morocco binding.

$65,000

4]

(BAKST, Leon) ALEXANDRE, Arsene

The Decorative Art of Leon Bakst … with Notes on the Ballets by Jean CocteauWith frontispiece portrait, 50 colored plates, 27 monochrome plates. London: Fine Arts Society, 1913. First English edition.

A standard, indispensable workThis beautifully produced volume was the first work in English on the art and theatrical designs of Leon Bakst.

$3,750

2016 New York Antiquarian Book Fair | 3

5]

(BIBLE, Catholic)

The New Testament of Jesus Christ, Faithfully Translated into English, out of the Authentical Latin … with Annotations, and Other Helpes … in the English College of RhemesAntwerp: James Seldenslach, 1621. Third edition of the Rheims New Testament.

‘The first pocket edition of the Roman Catholic Bible’The third edition of the Rheims Catholic New Testament, following editions in 1582 and 1600. In 12mo format, it is the first pocket edition of the Roman Catholic Bible in English.

$2,750

6]

(BIBLE)

The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Translated out of the Original Greek: and with the Former Translations Diligently Compared and Revised. Appointed to be Read in ChurchesBoston: Alexander Young and Thomas Minns, 1794.

SO MUCH FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATERare edition of the New Testament printed in 1794 at Boston for a consortium of booksellers (to provide an American printed alternative to British printings). The Great Seal of the United States, prominently displayed on the title page, suggests that even at the dawn of the American republic, certain clauses of the Third Amendment were subject to fluid interpretation. This is the only instance where the Great Seal of the United States was used in conjunction with a patently religious work. Copies are recorded at AAS and Duke.

$26,500


7]

BLACKSTONE, William

Commentaries on the Laws of England America [Philadelphia]: Printed for the Subscribers, by Robert Bell, 1771-2. First American edition.

Subscriber’s copy of the first american editionBlackstone’s Commentaries was first published at Oxford in 1765-69 and was immediately successful. Blackstone translated English common law into layman’s terms. As the colonial legal system, and afterwards, that of the United States, was based upon the English legal system, it was as important a text in America as in England.

$12,000

Items 8-12

william MUIR FACSIMILES OF WILLIAM BLAKEA collection of the superb William Muir facimiles of the works of William Blake.

Notes Bentley: “[Gilchrist’s ‘Life’] not only multiplied the prices of [Blake’s] works, but it encouraged the publication of facsimiles. Of these, the most ambitious, and the most conspicuously successful, were those … produced at The Blake Press at Edmonton by William Muir and his family and friends. Twelve works in Illuminated printing were issued between 1884 and 1890, printed and coloured by hand at great trouble and with considerable success … The size of the edition was small, but their influence was appreciable, and their scope has only been equalled in recent times by the facsimiles of the Blake Trust.”


8]

BLAKE, William

America, A Prophecy, by William Blake, 1793William Muir facsimile, 18 leaves, hand-colored. London: Quaritch, 1887. 50 copies printed.

in original wrappersOne of the great large-format facsimiles by William Muir, from copy A (at the time in the possession of Quaritch, now in the Morgan Library).

$9,000

9]

BLAKE, William

Europe, a Prophecy, by William Blake, 1794. Facsimilied at Edmonton, anno 188717 leaves, hand-colored. London: Quaritch, 1887. No. 38 of 50 copies, signed by Muir on the wrapper.

spectacular large formatThis is the 8th of 12 facsimiles issued by Muir. The facsimiles were taken from Muir’s own copy of leaves 1 and 3; the BM copy (leaves 2, 4, 5, 7); and the MacGeorge copy for the rest.

$11,000


10]

BLAKE, William

Milton, a Poem in 2 BooksWith 45 hand-colored plates in facsimile by William Muir. Edmonton: John Pearson for Bernard Quaritch, 1886. One of 50 copies.

in a Special Binding by Roger de CoverlyThe Milton facsimile was made from Copy A (1804-08), the British Museum copy; it has 45 hand-colored plates.

$12,500

11]

BLAKE, William

Songs of Innocence. [And:] Songs of ExperienceWilliam Muir facsimiles, hand-colored. 34 & 31 leaves. London: 1885. Each work is one of 50 copies; one of a few sets specially bound for Quaritch.

in a deluxe bindingSongs of Innocence has an illuminated leaf at the end, with Muir’s colophon stating this is copy 47, dated 1884. Songs of Innocence was taken from the Pearson copy and he is recorded at the end as the Publisher in London in 1884. His death caused Muir to take the project to Quaritch who distributed the whole series. Songs of Experience was taken from the Beckford Copy. The general title to both works has been bound at front.

$12,500


12]

BLAKE, William

The Book of Thel [bound with:] The Marriage of Heaven and Hell [and:] Visions of the Daughters of Albion [and:] There Is No Natural Religion [and:] All Religions Are One. Hand-colored facsimiles by William Muir. With 8, 26, 11, and 21 plates in the four works (66 total). Edmonton: John Pearson for Bernard Quaritch, 1884-5. Each title one of 50 copies.

Four Muir Facsimiles, in Special BindingThe Muir facsimiles were produced in editions of 50 copies; a few copies would have been bound up by Quaritch, the distributor, in white vellum, as here.

$12,500

13]

[CARTARI, Vincenzo] & Richard LINCHE (translator)

The Fountaine of Ancient Fiction. Wherein is Lively Depicted the Images and Statues of the Gods of the Ancients, with Their Proper and Perticular Expositions. Done out of Italian into English, by Richard Linche GentLondon: Printed by Adam Islip, 1599. First English edition.

Mythology SourcebookThe Pforzheimer catalogue calls this popular mythology manual an “abbreviated paraphrase” of Caratari’s Le Imagini, con la Spositione de i Dei degli Antichi (Venice, 1556), “a compilation from Ovid, Claudian, Pliny, Homer and others of descriptions of classical deities.” ESTC goes further in calling it “mostly an original work by Linche.” An important work in the transmission of classical mythology to Tudor England.

$3,500


14]

CASTIGLIONE, Baltassar

ll Cortegiano del … novamente stampato, et con somma diligentia revisto, con la sua tavola di nuovo aggiontaVenice: Gabriel Iolito, 1541

The Ideal of the Courtier — Early Edition, Pristine from VeniceIrresistably pristine copy of a very early Venetian edition of Castiglione’s classic depiction of how the ideal gentleman should be educated and behave. First published in the year before his death, 1528, it was one of many courtesy books published throughout the 16th century (e.g., Guazzo’s Il Civil Conversatione). Il Cortegio remained the standard of behavior for all the upper classes of Europe for the next five centuries, especially in England, where it became an important and recognizable Shakespeare source and a huge influence on the court of Queen Elizabeth through her tutor, Roger Ascham.

$2,250

15]

CHARTERIS, Leslie

[The Saint’s Second Front] Typescript of an unpublished novella237 pp., typescript with manuscript corrections in pencil by the author. [1941].

the saint Prevents a Japanese Invasion of California The complete unpublished typescript of Leslie Charteris’s long-lost Saint novella, The Saint’s Second Front — the plot of which foreshadows the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Written just months before the attack, Charteris’s story involves a plan by the Japanese to use a clandestine army — the Black Dragon — to attack Southern California as prelude to a larger invasion. The story was submitted to Cosmopolitan, who rejected it and wrote to Charteris that “we do not think this is the time to publish anything which might aggravate the tensions with our Japanese friends.” An important rediscovery of a missing piece of The Saint canon.

$25,000


16]

CHARTERIS, Leslie

Archive of typescripts, photographs and ephemeraV.p., chiefly Lantana, Florida: ca. 1930s-1970s.

‘How I created a Saint’: a Leslie Charteris archiveAn archive of typescripts of plays, stories and articles by Leslie Charteris (1907-1993), author of the The Saint series of novels staring the good-hearted thief Simon Templar. The archive includes the typescripts of an unpublished Saint story, “Death Is So Permanent,” and The Saint radio play, “The Simon Templar Foundation,” as well as Charteris’s essays on how he created the Simon Templar character and how the character was adapted for TV (The Saint series ran from 1962-9 and starred Roger Moore). In addition, the archive contains typescripts of travel and food essays written for Gourmet, photographs of Charteris, and an assortment of Saint ephemera.

$8,500

17]

(CHURCHILL) BLUNT, Wilfrid Scawen

India Under Ripon. A Private DiaryLondon: T. Fisher Unwin, 1909. First edition.

CHURCHILL’S COPYPresented by Blunt to Churchill, “Winston S. Churchill with kind regards from Wilfrid Scawen Blunt. Nov 25 1909 for Nov 30.” In his distinctive hand, Churchill has added on the front pastedown: “This was the first copy printed WSC.” With the blookplates of both Winston Churchill and his son, Randolph.

The relationship between Blunt and Winston Churchill is well-known if under-reported. Blunt — poet, hedonist, diplomat, traveller and radical anti-Imperialist — was a good friend of Randolph Churchill and assisted the young Winston in his biography of his father. This volume is a wonderful and apposite emblem of their relationship.

$9,500


18]

[CLEMENS, Samuel L.]

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn … by Mark TwainNew York: Charles L. Webster, 1885. First American edition, first issue.

Earliest Presentation Copy of the Published ‘Huck’Presentation inscription from Clemens to his agent Pond on the front fly leaf: “To Major J.B. Pond, with the affection of Mark Twain Feb. 21/85.” Inscribed to the manager of Clemens’ lecture tour with George Washington Cable. On the leaf opposite, Pond later recalled the circumstances of the inscription when he gave the book to his son in 1897 “… the great Twain-Cable combination under my management …‘Mark’ showed me the book, & asked me if I wanted it, Yes, said I, I would very much prize the first copy of one of your books …”

$215,000

19]

COLERIDGE, Samuel Taylor

Christabel; Kubla Khan, a Vision; The Pains of SleepLondon: Printed for John Murray, 1816. First edition, with half-title.

Untrimmed in original drab wrappers Three of Coleridge’s greatest poems, which had been composed long before, but published here for the first time at the urging of friends, especially Lord Byron: his visionary opium dream, “Kubla Khan,” the anguished “Pains of Sleep,” and the haunting, erotic “Christabel.”

$10,000


20]

CORBOULD, Henry, and Thomas UNWINS

Bound album of 34 drawings (20 by Corbould, 14 by Unwins) Pen-and-ink, watercolor, and wash drawings mounted; one signed by Corbould, 3 signed by Unwins. England: 1820-1850.

original Regency Book Illustrations by corbould and unwinsCollection of bound watercolors by the neo-classical historical painter Henry Corbould (1787–1844) and the portraitist Thomas Unwins (1782–1857).

$9,500

21]

(DANTE) BOYD, Henry (translator)

The Divina Commedia of Dante AlighieriEngraved frontispiece portrait of Dante. London: Cadell and Davies, 1802. First complete edition in English.

the signet library copyThe pinnacle of Italian literature, Dante’s Divine Comedy was completed a year before his death in 1321. Its significance and influence cannot be overstated.

“[Boyd’s] translation is important as the first English version of the complete Divine Comedy to be published… The edition’s value was in assisting to re-establish an audience for Dante, whose reputation had suffered a decline in the previous century. It was dedicated to Viscount Charleville, whose chaplain Boyd was until the Irish rising induced him to resign his post” (ODNB).

SOLD


22]

DAVIS, William Richard

A Short Account of Travels in Palestine and on the Coast of SyriaBirmingham: White & Pike Ltd, [1849]. Sole edition.

APPARENTLY UNRECORDEDDavis states in the preface, “This little pamphlet is a description of my Travels in Palestine and on the Coast of Syria during the time I was allowed to go as servant to my officers whilst on board H.M.S. Harlequin.” The author was abroad for three years and four months in total. His account also includes stops at Jaffa, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Mount Carmel. The second half of the book consists of extracts from his diary. Very rare: not in BL, OCLC, or COPAC.

$1,250

23]

(DEFOE, Daniel, supposed author) JOHNSON, Charles

A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious PyratesWith three engraved plates. London: Rivington, 1724. First edition.

the foundations of pirate-loreHistory of the pirates who pillaged the Caribbean, north Atlantic, and Cape of Good Hope during the 17th and 18th centuries, usually attributed to Daniel Defoe. It is in this work that the foundations of pirate-lore are established: wooden legs, eye patches and the Jolly Roger all make their first appearance here. We are introduced to characters such as Blackbeard, Calico Jack, and Bartholomew Roberts, names which influenced the likes of Robert Louis Stevenson and J.M. Barrie. The plates show Black Beard, Bartholomew Roberts, and the two female pirates, Anne Bonny and Mary Read.

$17,500


24]

DESCARTES, [René]

Meditationes de prima philsophia, in qua Dei existentia et animae immortalitas demonstraturParis: Michaelem Soli, 1641. First edition, unrecorded early state, without printed errata on final contents leaf.

in an Unrecorded Early StateThe exceedingly rare first edition of Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy, a companion to Discourse on Philosophy (1637). As Descartes told Marin Mersenne, who edited the work and saw it through the press, the Meditations contains “all the principles of my physics.”

An exceedingly rare book in any state — only 34 copies located, the majority in French institutions. Only three copies (one incomplete) are recorded at auction by ABPC in the last 40 years. A superior copy in contemporary vellum — in an unrecorded, and arguably the earliest, state.

SOLD

25]

DIBDIN, T.F.

Book Rarities; or A Descriptive Catalogue of Some of the Most Curious, Rare, and Valuable Books of Early Date; Chiefly in the Collection of the Right Honourable George John Earl Spencer, K.G. &c. &c. &cIllustrated. London: Printed by W. Bulmer and Co. Cleveland-Row, St. James’s, 1811. First edition, one of 36 copies.

Presentation Copy of the Spencer Catalogue ProspectusInscribed on a front flyleaf, “With the Author’s respectful Compts.” The rare specimen of Dibdin’s great catalogue of the Spencer collection, Bibliotheca Spenceriana (1814-5), published in 4 volumes with 3 volumes of supplements (1822-3). Here Dibdin proposes a work on early printing, to be illustrated with woodcuts and describing examples from the Spencer collection and elsewhere. Many of the copies, as this one, were presented to close friends.

$12,000


26]

DIBDIN, T.F.

The Lincolne Nosegay. London: W. Bulmer and Co. for Dibdin, [1814]. First edition, one of 36 copies. Bound in Dublin by George Mullen, c. 1816.

inscribed by dibdin, in a george mullen bindingInscribed: “Price stitched 3/6. Only 36 Copies printed” and signed with initials.

Dibdin’s pseudo-auction catalogue, limited to 36 copies and typically written in faux-Middle English, of the 19 early printed books in English (including three Caxtons) that he had bought from the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln Cathedral for 500 guineas. In a fine contemporary binding by the Dublin binder George Mullen.

$55,000

27]

EGE, Otto F.

Original Leaves from Famous Bibles, Nine Centuries 1121-1935 A.D.Printed descriptive leaf and 37 mounted leaves. [New York: Philip C. Duschnes, October 1936].

with three manuscript and two incunable leavesThe first of Otto Ege’s portfolios of manuscript and printed leaves, sold by New York bookseller Philip Duschnes in 1936. The portfolio comprises 3 manuscript leaves and 34 leaves from printed Bibles.

Ege has been characterized by Christopher de Hamel as “the most endearing of arch-villains” and his role in breaking manuscripts and dispersing leaves throughout the 1930s is well known. Recent scholarship tends to confirm his ambivalent status, while examining the whereabouts of the manuscripts and contents of the portfolios. Ege “stressed their educational value and the inimitable experience of seeing and handling manuscripts and books” (Silver).

$5,000


28]

EKINS, Charles

Universal Signals Simply and Intelligibly Displayed; in Symbols of Black and White … with Geographical Notes of Reference, as connected with Ships, Colonies and CommerceFolding frontispiece and plate. London: Thomas Curson Hansard, 1838.

NOT PUBLISHED: SIR WILLIAM PARKER’S COPYOCLC locates just a single copy of this work on signaling at the NMM. The presentation inscription reads: “A Specimen of [Universal Signals] for Sir William Parker Bart G.C.B. &c, &c. No. One. To be read first.” This is an early proof, printed in part for Parker’s consideration and comments.

$3,500

29]

ENGLAND. Privy Council

A Decree of Starre-Chamber Concerning Printing, Made the eleventh day of July last part 1637London: by Robert Barker … and the assignes of John Bill, 1637. First edition, first issue.

Censorship in pre-revolution EnglandFourth of the Star Chamber ordinances for the regulation of printing, forbidding the printing or distribution of “any seditious, scismaticall, or offensive Bookes or Pamphlets.” The decree required that all works be entered into the register of the Stationers’ Company of London, and that all works display their imprimatur as well as the name of the printer and author. Furthermore, the number of licensed printers was capped at 20. The Decree was in part an attempt to regulate and stifle dissent in the period leading up to the English Civil War. It remains a landmark work in the history of printing, censorship, piracy and copyright law.

$8,500


30]

FRASER, George MacDonald

Complete run of the Flashman Papers: all volumes signed in first editionLondon: Barrie & Jenkins and later Harvill and HarperCollins, 1969-2005. All first editions.

A RARE SIGNED SETThe Flashman Papers in their entirety, documenting the many adventures and great many loves of Sir Harry Flashman VC KCB KCIE. For all his success, Fraser made it clear that his hero remained “a scoundrel, a liar, a cheat, a thief, a coward — and, oh yes, a toady.”

$9,500

31]

GISSING, George

New Grub StreetLondon: Smith, Elder, 1891. First edition, one of 500 copies.

the lower depths of literary londonA near fine copy of the first edition of Gissing’s grim tale of the lower depths of literary London, where aspiring writers, journalists and critics negotiate the often incompatible demands of integrity and commercial success. “[Gissing’s] strongest book, an acknowledged classic. Its main characters have become recognized symbols of the many shades of professional integrity and adaptability in the literary world, shades not substantially affected by the passing of the years” (ODNB).

$6,500


32]

GODFREY, Thomas

Juvenile Poems of Various Subjects. With the Prince of Parthia: A Tragedy by the late Mr. Thomas Godfrey, Jun. of Philadelphia. To which is Prefixed some Account of the Author and his WritingsPhiladelphia: Henry Miller, 1765. First edition.

The first play produced by an AmericanFirst edition of The Prince of Parthia, which was “the first drama written by a native American to be produced upon the professional stage” (DAB). The play debuted on 24 April 1767 at the Southwark Theatre in Philadelphia. Performed by David Douglass’s American Company, its riches were such that a second performance was deemed unnecessary. Nonetheless it is a significant moment in American theatre, not least for being performed in the first permanent theatre in the country. ABPC lists no copies at auction in the past 35 years.

$8,500

33]

(HENRY VII)

Letters patent to Sir Thomas Tyrell, restoring his estatesDocument on vellum, ca. 1504.

with original wax seal of henry viiLetters patent from King Henry VII restoring lands to Sir Thomas Tyrell. An impressive example on two large vellum membranes, with the wax seal of Henry VII, and housed in the original leather document case.

Sir Thomas was the son of Sir James Tyrell (d. 1502), a supporter of Richard III and allegedly, at the King’s command, the murderer of “the Princes in the Tower” — Edward V and his brother Richard, Duke of York. He managed to find favor for a time with Henry VII, securing an important post in English Calais.

As referenced in this document, Tyrell’s fortunes turned, and he was beheaded in 1502 for his involvement in the Earl of Suffolk’s plot to overthrow the king.

$30,000


34]

JAMES II

Autograph Letter, signed as Duke of York (“James”), to Samuel PepysThe Hague: April 24, 1679.

James II and Pepys discuss naval mattersPrior to becoming king, James II acted as lord high admiral from 1660-73. He had a small board of seven men to assist him; Samuel Pepys served among them as clerk of the acts. This letter was written at the time of the Popish plot, and in order to quell any suspicion of involvement, James went abroad to Brussels and later Scotland where he was “virtual viceroy.”

The letter reads in part, “I had received yours in which you gave an account of the losse of the marigold prise at Tanger. I hope that we shall now sone heare of the arrival of Sr. J. Narborough for then we shall have some more strength at home, though not so much as I thinke aught to be at sea, considering the French are fitting out …”

$8,500

35]

LACTANTIUS

L. Cœlii Lactantii Firmiani divinarum institutionum Libri septem [bound with:] Tertullianus [Apologeticum]Venetiis [Venice: Aldus] in Aedibus Aldi, et Andreae Soceri, [April 1515]. First Aldine edition.

Macclesfield Copy, Rubricated ThroughoutAldine printing of the early Christians Lactantius and Tertullian, published just after the death of the elder Aldus in January 1515. The preface to the Lactantius notes his death. This copy fully rubricated, unusual for an Aldine octavo.

$5,500


36]

LULL, Ramón

[Three works in one volume:] Opusculum Raymundinum de Auditu Kabbalistico sive ad Omnes Scientias Introductorium; Ars Brevis Illuminati Doctoris Magistri Raymundi Lull; Sacrosanctae ac Salitiferae Christianae eum eorundem perpulchra introductionParis: Aegidius Gorbinus, 1578.

sammelband of three worksVery rare: Lull’s work includes a description of a system which influenced Leibnitz and can be classified “among the forerunners of both modern symbolic logic and computer science” (DSB).

Ramón Lull, c. 1232-c. 1315 — poet, philosopher, alchemist, Catalan mystic, called “Doctor Illuminatus.”

$5,000

37]

MACHIAVELLI, Niccolo

Nicholas Machiavel’s Prince … Translated out of Italian into English; by E[dward] D[acres]London: R. Bishop, for Wil: Hils, and are to be sold by Daniel Pakeman, 1640. First edition in English.

Machiavelli’s Prince: the First English editionFirst published in Rome in the Italian vernacular in 1532, The Prince marks the foundation of modern political theory. The work was innovative and controversial from the start, divorcing the study of politics from ethics and religion. Several 16th-century manuscript English translations are known — it is likely that Shakespeare read one of these, for he has Richard III speak of the “notorious Machiavel” and the “murderous Machiavel” in Henry VI, parts I & 3. The Life of Castruccio Castracani, another study of contemporary Italians and which follows the text of The Prince, was a likely source for Mary Shelley’s Valperga.

$85,000


38]

[MARCEL, Jean-Joseph]

Vocabulaire Francais-ArabeCairo: Imprimerie Nationale, an VII de la Republique [1798]. First edition.

One of the first books printed in Cairo The Imprimerie Nationale was established in October 1798, shortly after Napoleon’s army arrived. This French-Arabe dictionary commences with numbers and other basic vocabulary (time, temperatures, etc.), before moving on to food, professions, local geography (Cairo, Nile, pyramids) and other useful words for a soldier on the ground. This is augmented by the selection of phrases in the final section. Marcel’s preface gives useful instructions as to the correct pronunciation of certain Arabic letters (shown) and of the Arabic words and phrases, which are given in Latin transliteration throughout the volume. Extremely rare. We locate just four copies. There are no copies recorded on ABPC.

$19,500

39]

[MONTANO, Andreas Avelino]

[Emma, Queen of Hawaii.] Photograph and clipped signatureHonolulu: c. 1870. Framed and glazed, measuring 9 x 10-½ in.

A particularly fine example of Emma’s photograph and signature She has signed herself “Emma R / September 26, 1865.”

Born in Honolulu in 1836, she was adopted by her maternal aunt, the chiefess Grace Kama’iku’i Young Rooke, and her husband, Dr. Thomas C. B. Rooke. She married Kamehameha IV on 19 June 1856. Emma was an active queen, concerned with palace affairs and was involved in the expansion of the royal library. She is best known for founding the Queen’s Hospital in 1860, which was built to care for native Hawaiians who had no immunity to many of the European diseases which they encountered.

$2,500


40]

PHILLIP, Arthur

The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany BayFrontispiece portrait, engraved title (in the first state) and 54 engraved plates & charts (31 hand-colored). London: Printed for John Stockdale, 1789. First edition, deluxe issue.

THE RAREST AND MOST DESIRABLE FIRST FLEET BOOKA beautiful copy of the best First Fleet book in the rare deluxe issue: the official account by its first governor.

“A work of primary importance for Australian history” (Hill). Compiled primarily from Phillip’s journal, it also includes material from John Shortland, John Watts, Henry Lidberg Ball and John Marshall. Less known is that it includes the first published account of La Perouse’s expedition and it was due to Phillip that the documentation of the latter half of the expedition was saved.

$50,000

41]

PIKE, Z[ebulon] M.

An Account of Expeditions to the Sources of the Mississippi … Frontispiece portrait, 6 maps. 8vo. Philadelphia: John Binns, 1810. First edition.

In a contemporary American bindingThe report of the first, and certainly one of the most important, exploration narratives of the Southwest. Pike’s narrative includes his account of his travels to explore the headwaters of the Arkansas and Red Rivers, as well as his earlier journey to the sources of the Mississippi River. He also relates his visit to the Spanish settlements in New Mexico. Along with the writings of Lewis & Clark, Pike’s Account must stand as the most important early work on western exploration. The maps, which Wheat considers “milestones in the mapping of the American west,” are the first to show geographic knowledge of the area based upon first-hand explorations.

$15,000


42]

[PORTER, Elijah]

“Journal of a Revolutionary Soldier …”[Farmington, Connecticut: 1841].

first-hand account of revolutionary war battlesElijah Porter’s journal of his American Revolutionary War service covers a three-year period, May 1777 to May 1780, and provides a vivid narrative of the leading incidents and campaigns during his military service in New York and New Jersey. Porter served in General Israel Putnam’s Division of the Connecticut Line, under General George Washington’s command.

Includes accounts of the Battles of Fort Montgomery, Monmouth, and Stony Point; the capture and execution of two spies; an attempt to kidnap Washington; an African American servant’s single-handed capture of a British officer; and Washington’s tearful solicitude for his troops during the harsh winter encampment at Morristown. An outstanding account.

$30,000

43]

PYLE, Howard

Howard Pyle’s Book of Pirates. Compiled by Merle Johnson36 full-page plates, this copy extra-illustrated on the endsheets with 7 watercolor drawings (5 full-page) by Merle Johnson, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1921. First edition, no. 21 of 50 copies only on Japan vellum stock, signed by Merle Johnson on the limitation page.

With 7 Merle Johnson Watercolors of Piratical ScenesThe deluxe edition on Japan vellum of this collection of pirate tales and illustrations by Howard Pyle, compiled by Merle Johnson. This copy marvelously extra-illustrated by Merle Johnson with 7 full- and double-page watercolor illustrations of pirates. These are not the grim, hardened pirates of Pyle’s illustrations; Johnson’s pirates are drawn in a humorous, cartoon style that blends the historical and the modern.

$7,500


44]

(RACKHAM, Arthur) ANDERSEN, Hans Christian

Fairy Tales

the signed limited edition, in fine conditionWith twelve color plates, fifty-nine black-and-white illustrations by Arthur Rackham. London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd, [1932]. No. 144 of 500 copies signed by Rackham.

$4,500

45]

SCOTT, Robert Falcon

Scott’s Last ExpeditionFrontispieces, 18 colored plates, maps. London: Smith, Elder & Co, 1913. First edition.

OUTSTANDING ASSOCIATION COPYThe copy of Edward R.G.R. Evans, first Baron Mountevans: he was second in command on the expedition, the captain of the Terra Nova and the last living man to see Scott alive. These volumes are further distinguished by two of Evans’ original drawings (including one of the Terra Nova) and his signature. It is also signed by Roald Amundsen, Cecil H. Meares, Capt. J. Neil, Cherry Keaton, Hjalmar Riiser Larsen, John Hugh Mather, and John Baptist Lucius Noel.

$15,000


46]

SHAKESPEARE, William

Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, and TragediesEngraved portrait by Martin Droeshout. London: Printed for P[hilip] C[hetwinde], 1664. Third folio edition, second enlarged issue, of Shakespeare’s plays, generally regarded as the rarest of the seventeenth-century folio editions.

The Rare Third Folio, J.P. Morgan CopyThe Third Folio is a reprint of the second edition (1632), but this second issue contains seven additional plays; of which only Pericles Prince of Tyre is now considered to be the work of Shakespeare. An unknown number of copies is thought to have been destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666. With the gilt-stamped red leather armorial bookplate and pencilled-in shelf mark of J.P. Morgan.

$500,000

47]

SHAW, Henry

Alphabets Numerals and Devices of the Middle Ages 48 plates, many hand-colored and heightened in gold. London: William Pickering, 1845. Larg paper copy.

Large paper copy in a fine binding McLean praises all of Shaw’s books as being “among the finest achievements of Victorian book design and illustration” (McLean, pp. 65) and signals out the present title as being of particular interest to students of lettering. Starting with Illuminated Ornaments (1831-33), Shaw’s major works were printed by the Chiswick Press and published by Pickering. Each work was offered in plain or colored issues, with a small portion of each edition, as in the present example, printed on Imperial Quarto with plates “more highly finished in opaque colors, heightened with gold.”

This copy in a stunning contemporary binding.

$4,750


48]

(SLAVERY) CONVENTION NATIONALE

Decrets de la Convention Nationale Des 16e jour de Pluviose & 16e jour de Germinal, an second de la republique Francoise, une & indivisible. 1. Qui abolit l’Esclavage des Negres dans les Colonies.Evreux: de l’Imprimerie de J.J.L. Ancelle, 16 Pluviose An II [4 February 1794]. First edition.

FRANCE ABOLISHES SLAVERYA document of historic significance — and a testament to the fraught path to the abolition of slavery. This document is the first in what would prove an arduous though ultimately successful path: France abolished slave trading in 1818, though it wasn’t until 1899 that abolition in the empire was complete. The decree was printed throughout France and in addition to Paris, imprints from Marseille, Lille, Avignon and Auxerre are recorded in a total of nine copies on OCLC. There are none recorded from Evreaux.

$6,500

49]

STARK, Freya

Baghdad Sketches 12 plates. Baghdad: The Times Press Ltd, 1932. First edition.

scarce first book by one of the great 20th-century travellers Born in Paris, brought up in Devon and Italy, Stark studied history at Bedford College, University of London, then trained as a nurse and learned Arabic at the School of Oriental Studies.

“In 1929 she moved to Baghdad, where she went slumming in Arab clothing and was an outsider among priggish British expatriates” (ODNB). During this time she made two journeys into the mountains of western Iran. The first took her to Luristan, which lies between Harsin and Khorramabad. Her second trip was to Ilam and the Kabirkuh mountains. The War Office made maps based on the information she brought back and her profile in the expat community rose as a result.

$1,250


50]

SWIFT, Jonathan

Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel GulliverEngraved frontispiece portrait of Captain Gulliver (in the second state as usual), 5 engraved maps & one engraved plate of the automatic writing machine. London: Benjamin Motte, 1726. First edition (Teerink’s A), first printing.

one of the great satires in the English language A very pretty set of the rare first printing.

$45,000

51]

THESIGER, Wilfred

Arabian Sands46 plates, 8 maps to the text & folding map in pocket. London: Longmans, 1959. First edition.

‘I went to Southern Arabia only just in time’Rare signed copy in the dust-jacket.

$4,000


52]

TOWNSEND, Joseph

Manuscript by Quaker Joseph Townsend of the Battle of Brandywine September 11, 1777

49 pp. manuscript. [Baltimore: between 1833-1841].

Quaker Eyewitness account of a Washington defeatJoseph Townsend’s own manuscript for his eyewitness account of the Battle of Brandywine is one of the few civilian, first-hand narratives of that American Revolutionary War battle and its aftermath. Townsend was a Quaker non-combatant, but he provides a clear description of the decisive flanking movement of the British army. While the American army commanded by Washington was defeated at Brandywine, the battlefield is today celebrated as the place where the young, twenty-year-old Marquis de Lafayette was wounded serving the American cause and the place where the Stars and Stripes were possibly first flown in battle.

$25,000

53]

VERGUET, C.M. Leopold

Histoire de la Premiere Mission Catholique au vicariate Melanesie Map, facsimile letter and 23 plates. Carcassonne: P. Labau, 1854. First edition.

first catholic mission in melanesiaA fine copy of this rare work on the first Catholic mission in Melanesia. Verguet was a missionary of the Societé de Marie whose activities long preceded that of the Missionaires du Sacre-Coeur in Melanesia and the western Pacific.

The work’s appeal is enhanced by the series of beautiful woodcut plates illustrating local inhabitants and views. It also includes a comparative vocabulary of French, English, Tahiti, Hawaii, the Marquesas, Fiji, Aboriginal Australia, Maori, Tonga and Samoa. There is a substantial chapter on New South Wales, including an image of the monument to La Perouse.

$7,500


54]

(VIRGIL) [VIRGILIUS MARO, Publius]

The Thirteene bookes of Aeneidos … Translated into English verse to the first third part of the tenth booke, by Thomas Phaer Esquire: and the residue finished, and now newly set forth for the delight of such as are studious in poetrie: by Thomas Twyne, Doctor in PhysickeLondon: Thomas Creede, 1596.

The third complete PHAER & TWYNE translation of the Aeneid This translation follows partial translations in 1558 and 1562, and a complete translation printed in 1573 and 1584. “Though not the first, Phaer’s was the most popular of all the Tudor translations having been published in whole or in part at least eight times (Pforzheimer).

$9,000

55]

WHITMAN, Walt

Leaves of GrassEngraved frontispiece portrait of Whitman by Samuel Hollyer after a photograph. Brooklyn, New York: 1855. First edition, first issue.

‘I see and hear the whole’“He was and is the poet and prophet of democracy, and the intoxication of his immense affirmative, the fervor of his ‘barbaric yawp,’ are so powerful that the echo of his crude yet rhythmic song rings forever in the American air” (Grolier One Hundred). Of the original 795 copies, only 337 were issued in the first binding, as this copy, with extensive gilt stamping, marbled endsheets, and gilt edges (in the second binding only the title was gilt, and plain yellow endsheets were used).

A beautiful copy of a landmark work in American literature.

$200,000


56]

(WINE) STEINLEN, Christian Gottlieb

La Fête des Vignerons, VeveyHand-colored engraved panorama, comprising 30 conjoined sections. 7-½ x 588 in. Lausanne: Spengler & Cie, [1833]. Sole edition.

Forty-Seven Foot Tribute to WinemakersThe fête in Vevey was organized by the Brotherhood of Vevey Winegrowers (then known as Agricultural Association or Abbaye of St. Urban). What began as an annual festival in the seventeenth century became one of the few permitted community events during the Protestant Reformation. In 1833 the festival was held on August 8-9, and the procession included 800 participants. It was staged by David Constantin and Steinlin, the local drawing teacher, designed the costumes for the procession and produced the drawings for this picturesque memento. The drawings feature people who actually participated in the procession. A wonderful survival, completely untrimmed.

$12,500

james cummins booksellerblake, william milton, a poem in 2 books with 45 hand-colored plates in...

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