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BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
antiquarian & modern
1
Blackwell’s Rare Books
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to prior sale).
Please mention Catalogue B182 when ordering.
Front cover illustration: Item 30
Rear cover illustration: Item 298
2
Part I
Antiquarian Books
1.
Aegidius of Assisi. Aurea verba. [Germany: c.1450,] manuscript in ink on paper, written in ink in two
distinct hands, the first a semi-cursive gothic bookhand, the second a more rapid cursive, text complete,
27-36 lines per page, spaces left for capitals, initials touched in red, chapter headings in red-brown
ink added in a later hand; sometime part of a larger volume, as indicated by early pagination, 12 paper
leaves in one gathering, plus two (of three?) added leaves, one at beginning and one at end, 150 x 105
mm (120 x 75 mm), early twentieth-century boards, preserved in a cloth folding box, good £6,000
The Aurea verba or Dicta aurea (‘Golden sayings’) comprise the collected teachings of Aegidius of Assisi (d.
1262), one of the original companions of St. Francis of Assisi. ‘St. Bonaventure held these “Sayings” in high
esteem, and they are cited in the works of many subsequent ascetical writers. They are short, pithy, popular
counsels on Christian perfection, applicable to all classes. Saturated with mysticism, yet exquisitely human
and possessing a picturesque vein of originality, they faithfully reflect the early Franciscan spirit and teaching’
(Catholic Encyclopedia).
Extant manuscripts of the Aurea verba fall broadly into two classes. The present manuscript comes within the
second (‘B’) described by Paschal Robinson (The Golden sayings of the Blessed Brother Giles of Assisi, 1907,
p. liv, citing twelve such manuscripts), ending as it does ‘… Deus bona sua que ip[s]e facit, ap[pro]priat’. A
second scribe has here completed the work of the first scribe, whose script breaks off mid-sentence about half
way through the text. The additional leaves at the beginning and end of the manuscript contain over three
pages of text in Latin and German, in two further hands, of a similarly mystical character to the Aurea verba.
Taking as its starting point a quotation from Psalm 41, ‘Sitivit a[n]i[m]a mea ad deu[m] fonte[m] vivu[m]’ (‘My
soul hath thirsted after God, a living fountain’), the text on the first added leaf concerns spiritual thirst, with
themes of wine, grapes and vinegar. The texts on the final leaf include a discussion of friendship.
2.
[Andreae (Johannes)] Super arboribus consanguinitatis, affinitatis et cognationis spiritualis et legalis
una cum exemplis et enigmatibus [Heidelberg: Heinrich Knoblochtzer, about 1494,] xylographic text,
with 10 full-page woodcuts, woodcut initials, some worming in the inner margins and in the lower part
of the leaves, in the latter case with the loss of some letters, and a single hole in the middle with minor
loss of text, ff. [12], folio, modern vellum backed boards, sound (ISTC ia00626000; Goff A626; BMC III
672)
£4,000
One of the shorter works of Giovanni d’Andrea, whose vast erudition and voluminous writings gained him the
epithet ‘iuris canonici fons et tuba’. This text, on canon law regarding kinship and marriage, was immensely
useful and popular, some 45 editions being published before 1500. Knoblochtzer’s edition of c.1483 was the
first to increase the number of woodcuts, from 3 hitherto, to 10. A scarce edition: BL only in the UK (2 copies),
and only 2 in America (Brown University & the Huntington).
3.
(Arabian Nights.) ARABIAN NIGHTS Entertainments: consisting of One Thousand
and One Stories, told by the Sultaness of the Indies, to divert the Sultan from
the Execution of a bloody Vow he had made to marry a Lady every Day, and
have her cut off next Morning, to avenge himself for the Disloyalty of his first
Sultaness, &c. Translated into French from the Arabian Mss. by M. Galland
of the Royal Academy; and now done into English from the last Paris edition.
Vol. I [-IV]. Printed for T. Longman, 1792, pp. [xii], 320; 314, [2, Contents and
ads]; iv, [5-] 302, [2, Contents and ads]; 312, 12mo, contemporary tree calf,
spines gilt in compartments, contrasting lettering pieces, corners a trifle worn,
contemporary engraved armorial bookplate inside each front cover with the
name scored out, very good (ESTC N29713)
£1,200
A very pretty set of a rare edition - only 3 copies in ESTC: BL, King’s College London,
and Harvard. This title first appeared with Longman in the imprint in 1725 - the
anonymous ‘Grub Street’ translations/abridgements of Galland’s text began
1
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
multiplying soon after the first 1706 version - and was a staple of the house for the rest of the eighteenth
century. Most Longman printings are recorded in very few copies in ESTC.
4.
Ascham (Roger) A report and Discourse written by Roger Ascham, of the affaires and state of Germany
and the Emperour Charles his court, durying certaine yeares while the sayd Roger was there. At
London: Printed by Iohn Daye, [1570?], FIRST EDITION, title-page within woodcut border, large woodcut
initial on following leaf, printed primarily in blackletter, small rust-stain to one leaf, ff. [iii], 33, 4to,
recent green morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, spine lettered in gilt, morocco booklabel of Austin
Smith, spine just slightly sunned, very good (ESTC S100282)
£4,000
The second published work by Roger Ascham, tutor to Queen Elizabeth, now best known for his posthumous
‘The Scholemaster’. The ‘Report and Discourse’ was written in 1553 but, like ‘The Scholemaster’, printed
posthumously in 1570. ‘His ‘Report and Discourse upon the affairs of Germany’, which has been frequently
printed, is perhaps one of the most graphic, spirited, and amusing dissertations on that country, ever given
to the world. Unlike the common laborious state papers of this time, (or indeed, we might add, of every other
time,) it is neither dry nor tedious; but, with much valuable information, is relieved by anecdote, sparkles with
kind and gentle wit, and abounds in such minute portraits of the eminent men of that age as are nowhere else
to be found’ (Tytler, England Under the Reigns of Edward VI and Mary’).
Samuel Johnson said of it that it was ‘written in a style which to the ears of that age was undoubtedly
mellifluous, and which is now a very valuable specimen of genuine English’ (preface to Ascham’s Works,
1763). It is valuable for other reasons as well: ‘Although now rarely read, Ascham’s incomplete ‘A Report
and Discouse of the State of Germany’...stands as a pioneering example of early English responses to the new
methods of continental historiography and as an enlightened precursor for the English histories of Bacon and
Camden’ (Hadfield, Shakespeare and Renaissance Europe’, p. 72). Ascham praises Thomas More and delivers
a political and historical analysis based on that style and on Xenophon, Caesar, and Livy; his claims about
historical writing ‘are in reality an outline of humanistic theory’ (Campbell, Shakespeare’s ‘Histories’, p. 65).
He is also here ‘the first Englishman to give Machiavelli’s name a sinister connotation’ (Warneke, ‘Images of
the Educational Traveller’, p. 121).
5.
2
Ascham (Roger) The Schoolemaster Or plaine and
perfite way of teaching Children, to vnderstand,
write, and speake, the Latin toong, but specially
purposed for the priuate bringing vp of youth
in Ientlemen and Noble mens houses: And
commodious also for all such as haue forgot the
Latin toong, and would, by them selues, without a
Scholemaister, in a short time, and with small paines,
recouer a sufficient habilitie, to understand, write,
and speake Latin. Printed by Abell Ieffes, 1589, title
within typographic border, large woodcut printer’s
device on recto of final leaf (a large bell at the centre,
a rebus on the printer’s name), black letter, woodcut
initials, typographic head- and tail-pieces, a few
catchwords cropped, small paperflaw in R2 affecting
a couple of letters, some water-staining throughout,
sometimes barely discernible, heavier towards the
end, worming in the fore-margin (not affecting text
or side-notes) in the second half, ff. [6], 39 (recte
40), 37-44, 46-60, [1], small 4to, eighteenth-century
Cambridge panelled calf, sometime rebacked,
longitudinal red lettering piece, spine defective at
head and tail, corners worn, loss of surface in upper
half of fore-edge of lower board and the leather
lifting a little off the board, near contemporary ownership inscription at foot of B4v of Immanuel
Bourne (see below), 2 old booksellers’ descriptions pasted in on verso of front free end-paper and inside
front cover (neither referring to the present copy), sound (STC (2nd ed) 836; ESTC S100267; Pforzheimer
16)
£5,500
Antiquarian & modern
The fifth printing of this famous work, the first not printed by Day, and the last in the sixteenth century.
‘Ascham’s principal project, and the most lasting memorial to him’ (ODNB). As scarce edition. Of the 11 copies
in the British Isles recorded by ESTC, 6 are in Cambridge libraries; 6 are recorded in the USA.
Provenance: 1). ownership inscription of Immanuel Bourne on B4v, with ‘Solus Christus mihi salus’ above and
‘Non est mortale quo opto’ below. This is Immanuel Bourne (1590-1672), Church of England clergyman and
religious controversialist. ‘Bourne claimed that, at the outset of the civil war, he adopted a neutral position.
This did not protect him: indeed, both sides victimized him. When Sir John Gell left Derbyshire to the earl
of Newcastle's men, the cavaliers, “like demons, destroyed all they came neare and left the poore to starve.”
Bourne lost, in this way, all his books and “my Manuscripts, near thirty years studies and pains night and day
rent in pieces and taken away” (Bourne, Light from Christ, 7)’ (ODNB). Evidently he rebuilt is book collection,
since according to ODNB he left a substantial library. 2). Exeter College, Oxford: inscription at top of front
fly-leaf, recording ‘Ex dono Reveren [this title added in superscript] S Reynolds Ludimagistris de Plympton in
Comitatis Devon.’ This is the father of Sir Joshua Reynolds. In ‘The First Booke for Youth’ there are a number
of underlings, and marginal linings, which, as they concern Ascham’s enlightened principles, may well be
by Samuel Reynolds, reflecting as they do that latter’s own progressive ideas. 3) Engraved armorial bookplate
inside front cover of George Thomas Robinson (British architect, 1829-1897). 4). Armorial bookplate of
Ernest E. Baker on front free end-paper. Baker inherited a portion of the Halliwell-Phillipps library and made
additions to it. 5). William L. Cuttle (of Downing College): signature dated 1939 on front free end-paper. 6).
John Lawson: book-label inside front cover.
6.
Basil of Caesarea, Saint Basil the Great Magn[us] Basilius de Poetarum oratorum, historicorumque
ac philosophorum legendis libris. [Edited by Leonardo Bruni (Leonardo Aretino)]. Leipzig: Melchior
Lotter, 1519, a trifle browned, centre of B beginning to separate in the gutter, contemporary
underlinings and marginal notes, ff. [14] (A4, B6, C4), 4to, mid-twentieth-century blue boards, spine
faded, good (VD16 B 675)
£600
The Doctor of the Curch on the advisability of the study of Greek literature. There were numerous editions,
with varying titles, between 1478 and the mid-sixteenth century. VD16 locates 3 copies of this one in Germany,
and WorldCat adds only Duke.
7.
Beckford (William Thomas) Recollections of an Excursion to the Monasteries of Alcobaca and
Batalha Richard Bentley, 1835, FIRST EDITION, engraved portrait frontispiece (offset onto title-page),
slightly browned, pp. xi, 228, 8vo, contemporary half calf, rebacked, near contemporary ownership
inscriptions on fly-leaf, good £300
Beckford’s ‘third residence in Portugal was undoubtedly the most important, as in June 1794 he visited the
monastery churches of Alcobaça and Batalha, both north of Lisbon in the province of Estremadura. These
two sites differed considerably. Alcobaça had been built by the Cistercians in the twelfth century in a style
intermediate between Roman and Gothic. Batalha, built by the Dominicans in the late fourteenth century, was
more massive and theatrical, reached, as Beckford's journey took him, across the plain of Aljubarrota, the field
of a bloody battle in the fourteenth century. These two monuments strongly influenced his plans at Fonthill,
where he was already engaged with a new building to replace Splendens’ (ODNB). These Recollections were
written up from Notes made at the time.
8.
Bellagatta (Antonio) Le Disavventure della medicina cagionate da’ pregiudizj della falsa emulzione
... e dagli errori degl’idioti; con un ragguaglio di Parnasso intorno alle medesime ... Milan: Heirs of
Domenico Bellagatta, 1743, FIRST EDITION, 2 parts in one vol. continuously paginated, some foxing and
damp-staining throughout, pp. [iv], 146, [1], 8vo, original carta rustica, spine partly defective, sound
(Not in Worldcat; Copac locates one copy, at the BL)
£450
A rare medical polemic, written with gusto and erudition, attacking the multiplicity of medical schools and
the contradictions between them, the ‘errors of idiots’, &c.
9.
Berkeley (George, Bishop of Cloyne) Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous. The Design
of which is plainly to demonstrate the Reality and Perfection of Human Knowledge, the Incorporeal
Nature of the Soul, and the Immediate Providence of a Deity: in Opposition to Sceptics and Atheists.
Also To open a Method for rendring the Sciences more easy, useful, and compendious. The Second
3
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
Edition. Printed for William and John Innys, 1725, FIRST EDITION, second issue (see below), title-page a
little spotted, a few minor stains and thumb marks, pp. [x], 166, 8vo, contemporary mottled calf, double
gilt fillets on sides, rebacked, corners slightly worn, good (Keynes 10)
£1,200
Though calling itself the second edition, this is in fact a re-issue of the first edition of 1713 with a new titlepage. Some copies have 4 pp. advertisements at the end, but as Keynes points out they are on very inferior
paper, and a late addition. The Three Dialogues ‘form only a slender volume, but it is properly placed among
the major works owing to its special relation with The Priciples of Human Knowledge.. The Dialogues seek
to inculcate in the reader’s mind the same principles as had there been advanced, though in a form likely to
be more easily assimilated ... It is regarded as a literary work of art, being written with all the author’s grace
and clarity’ (Keynes). ‘Beautifully written and dense with the sort of arguments that delight contemporary
philosophers’ (SEP).
10.
Bessarion (Cardinal) In calumniatore[m] Platonis libri quatuor ... Eiusdem
correctio librorum Platonis De legibus Georgio Trapezuntio interprete
... Eiusdem De natura e arte adversus eundem Trapezuntium tractatus ...
Index eorum omnium. Venice: Aldus, July 1503, Aldine device on title,
minor stains and soiling on title, 2 small patches of worming affecting a
few letters on verso and the succeeding leaf, one patch on title filled in,
insignificant marginal dampstaining at beginning and end, ff. [viii], 112,
folio (324x215 mm), contemporary limp vellum with external lacing on
spine, thong ties lacking, a bit soiled, occasional early underscoring and
marginalia, modern bookplate of Kenneth Rapoport, preserved in a blue
cloth folding box, very good (Renouard pp. 40-41, ‘fort rare’; Adams
B831;CNCE 5644)
£7,500
An attractive copy of the first Aldine edition of the chief work by the Greek
émigré scholar and religious leader (1403-72), originally published in 1469,
defending Platonism and its compatibility with Christianity in response to an
attack by the Aristotelian George of Trebizond.
11.
(Bible. English. Authorised.) The Holy Bible, containing the Old Testament and the New ... [together
with:] The Book of Common Prayer ... [Two vols.] Oxford: Printed at the Clarendon Press by W. Jackson
and W. Dawson; London: Printed by Millar Ritchie, 1794, the Bible slightly smaller, BCP with engraved
plates, large 8vo, uniformly bound in strictly contemporary red straight-grained morocco, neo-classical
roll-tooled borders on sides with inner roll tooled-border and decorative cornerpieces, upper covers
lettered in gilt ‘Thomas Oakes / Church Warden / Parish of Liverpool / 1795’, flat spines richly gilt in
compartments, gilt edges, gilt inner dentelles, front hinge of BCP slightly strained, spines minimally
faded, minor shelf wear, very good (ESTC T95101, BL, C, and Huntington only; Darlow & Moule 1387;
and T214402, 5 copies, not in BL: variants of both exist, yet none are common in ESTC)
£1,200
A beautiful pair of bindings, not only supremely elegant but functional as well: family records to the 1840s
(and later) testify to the books being used (treasured if not handled) for a considerable time, and responding
well. Liverpool was created an independent parish in 1699, with Our Lady and St Nicholas as one parish
church. As the population grew so did the number of daughter churches, but these then gradually closed and
by 1916 Our Lady and St Nicholas was again the only parish church. It saw much addition and expansion
over this period and had to be wholly rebuilt in 1775, but ‘the number of private family pews whose owners
resisted any change was such that the parish took the startling decision to rebuild leaving the existing pews
and galleries in situ’ (church website) The tower was left untouched and tragically collapsed in 1810, killing 25
people in the nave; the new tower was then the only part to survive bombing in 1940.
12.
4
(Bible. New Testament. Epistles of John.) S. Johannis Apostoli & Evangelistae Epistolae Catholicae
Tres, Arabicae & Aethiopicae. Omnes ad verbum in Latinum versae, cum vocalium figuris exacte
appositis... Cura ac industria Johann. Georgii Nisselii & Theodori Petraei. Leiden: Ex officina Johannis
& Danielis Elsevier. 1654, first leaf sometime mounted on a stub leaving a stain in gutter, portion of
blank margin of one leaf torn away (clear of text), a bit of staining and brittleness in gutters, some minor
spotting elsewhere, frequent learned notes in a later hand, pp. 40, 4to, modern marbled boards, sound
(Willems 750; Rahir 755; D&M 3564)
£350
Antiquarian & modern
Nissel and Petreius’s edition of the text of the Epistles of St John in Arabic and Ethiopic, each with translations
into Latin. An owner of this copy, a student of Arabic sometime in the mid-nineteenth century (he references
Freytag’s Lexicon Arabico-Latinum of 1835 but not Lane’s of 1863-93), has read it closely with his pen handy,
and every page features notes on vocabulary and grammar with lemmas transcribed in Arabic and meanings
given in Latin or English (and once some Hebrew). On the leaf following the title, which gives a Hebrew
proverb, an extensive note discusses its meaning and quotes Luke 6:22 as a contrast.
13.
(Bible. New Testament. Greek.) Novum Testamentum. Juxta Exemplar Millianum. Typis Joannis
Baskerville. Oxford: E Typographeo Clarendoniano, 1763, title-page lightly toned, some light spotting
elsewhere, half-title bound after title-page, pp. [iv], 415, [1], 4to, contemporary brown calf, boards
bordered with gilt fillets and blind decorative rolls, rebacked preserving original spine, new morocco
labels, old backstrip much darkened, boards scratched and scraped, hinges relined, Eton leaving gift
presentation inscription to initial binder’s blank, good (ESTC T94898; D&M 4755)
£500
A significant edition of the Greek New Testament from the Oxford learned press, printed using types
commissioned from Baskerville. ‘By the time of the 1763 edition we feel able to breathe again: the text, now
continuously rendered in Baskerville’s quiet, unligatured Greek, sits full-width on a squarish quarto page’
(Luna & Ould in The History of OUP, I.544). The Greek typeface, which Blackstone had negotiated with
Baskerville to use, ‘combines Baskerville’s natural style with the older models that were shown to him. It is
notable that it is not a fully ligatured face... finally breaking with the tradition of Aldus and Garamond’ (I.518).
14.
The first New Testament printed at Oxford - in Turkish - with MS corrections
(Bible. New Testament. Turkish. -Nogai) Domini nostri Iesu Christi Testamentum novum Turcice
redittum. Opera [William] Seaman. Oxford: H. Hall, 1666, FIRST EDITION, Latin title, followed by
Turkish title and text in Arabic script, slightly browned around the edges, a few spots, including rust
spots with the occasional loss of a letter or two, tear in lower margin of 3h3, not affecting text pp.
[iv], 160, 600, small 4to, contemporary blind ruled calf, a bit worn at corners, skilfully rebacked,
Macclesfield bookplate and blind stamps, with a number of corrections to the text in a contemporary
hand, very good (Darlow and Moule 9345; Madan 2727 ‘A noticeable volume, as being the first New
Testament printed at Oxford’; ESTC R31588, recording 5 copies outside the UK, 2 in Germany, and 3 in
the US: Huntington, Texas, and Yale)
£6,000
William Seaman ‘became involved in an international project of evangelization of the Levant, originating
in the circle of Samuel Hartlib, whose millenarian convictions included belief in the imminent conversion
to Christianity of the Muslims and a determination to hasten the process. In England the plan was fostered
by Hartlib himself, Henry Oldenburg, John Durie, and above all Robert Boyle, with Edward Pococke and
John Worthington taking a marginal role. It obtained even more support in the Netherlands, thanks mainly
to the Bohemian scholar Jan Amos Comenius and the French refugee Petrus Serrarius. A fundamental role
was to be played by the translation of the Bible into Turkish. The Dutch, who relied on a Polish convert to
Islam in Constantinople, were slow, however, and only the Old Testament was completed. Boyle then turned
to Seaman, who had already translated the Johannine epistles into Turkish in 1659, asking him to translate
the entire New Testament. By 1664 Seaman had done so and two years later his translation was published
at Boyle's expense in Oxford, making Seaman the first European to publish a Turkish translation of the New
Testament’ (Alastair Hamilton in ODNB). Scarce.
Like so many books from the Macclesfield library, this is an interesting copy. At the end of the text there is an
oval medallion stamp giving the title of the work in Turkish, indicating that this was one of the copies intended
for export. We don’t know when it entered Shirburn Castle, but it seems more likely than not that it ever
strayed very far from its place of printing. Scattered throughout the volume are corrections to the text, and in
one place a marginal note in Turkish. In collating we have noticed these on 15 pages, sometime two or three
to a page: a really painstaking examination would probably discover more, since some of them are very slight,
just a letter. In addition, starting about half way through the volume, there are numerous dots placed right by
the fore-margin which will have some significance. The notes are accomplished in a practiced hand, and such
a hand was not in abundant supply in England in 1666. One candidate for the notes is Edward Pococke, and
intriguingly the initials EP appear in MS in a couple of combinations on the inside back cover. But they are next
to what seems to be a collation note and perhaps signify something pertaining to their acquisition rather than
ownership. We are grateful to Professor Gerald Toomer who has looked at the inscriptions, concluding that as
regards Pococke ‘the verdict is non liquet.’
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BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
15.
Bonaventura (Cardinal, Saint) Commentarius in secundum librum
Sententiarum Petri Lombardi. Ed: Thomas Penket. Venice: Reynaldus
de Novimagio and Theodorus de Reynsburch, 1477, text in 2
columns, capital spaces with guide letters, minor worming in the first
2 gatherings with the loss of the odd letter, a few leaves browned or
spotted, but on the whole good and clean, 335 leaves (of 336, without
the initial blank), 4to (by dimension, but actually gatherings ranging
from 6 to 12 leaves), early to mid-nineteenth-century Italian dark
purple calf, widely spaced quadruple gilt fillets on sides enclosing a
blind roll tooled border, large blind stamped arabesque at the centre
of the covers, spine gilt and blind tooled, minor wear to extremities,
last 6 leaves of final gathering pulled (but not entirely separated) from
the textblock due to the adhesion of the fly-leaf at the inner margin,
abbreviated notes of the Distinctions and their subsections in ink in a
contemporary had at the head of each page, marginal lines and a few
notes, including a couple of textual corrections, in red and brown ink,
in at least 2 early hands, good (ISTC ib00873000)
£6,000
Peter Lombard’s Sentences are in four books, the second being on On the Creation and Formation of Things.
Saint Bonaventura’s Commentaries are ‘his major philosophical and theological work’ (SEP). Only those on
the first and the second were published during the incunable period: those on the first at Strasbourg sometime
between 1474 and 1479, and again in Brescia in 1490. Those on the second appeared in 2 editions in 1477,
ours (Venice) and the other Treviso. Neither of these editions have dates more precise than the year: that
Treviso is usually listed first (ISTC, Goff, &c) is probably down to the alphabet rather than chronology.
There are numerous copies recorded in ISTC, but only 5 in the UK, 3 of them in Oxford Libraries, the others
being BL and Lampeter.
16.
(Book of Common Prayer.) The Book of Common Prayer, and administration of the Sacraments, and
other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, According to the Use of the Church of England: Together
with the Psalter or Psalms of David, Pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches. Cambridge:
Printed by John Baskerville, 1762, foxed, particularly heavily at beginning, one leaf with a jagged
tear extending through 8 lines without loss of sense, the tear sometime reinforced with thread, old
ownership inscription to title-page, ff. [344], 8vo, contemporary red morocco, boards bordered with
gilt decorative rolls, spine divided by other rolls with central decorative tools in the compartments,
front board with initials ‘AS’ stamped in gilt at centre, marbled endpapers, the colour somewhat
mottled, slight wear to corners and a little rubbing to extremities, two pages of later manuscript prayers
bound in at end, armorial bookplate and ownership inscription to front endpapers, good (Gaskell 19;
ESTC T87227)
£300
The third Baskerville Book of Common Prayer, complete with the ‘occasional prayers’ which are not always
found (see Gaskell). This copy belonged to a Nevillia Thomas, whose inscription adorns the title-page, the
armorial bookplate (of the Thomas family), and a binder’s blank facing the title-page, where she records that
the book was ‘the legacy of the best of mothers, Charlotte Senior, who departed this life 10th of November
1811, but who will never be forgotten by her daughter’. This is the same provenance as a copy of the Third
Folio of Shakespeare held at Meisei University, which was apparently given to Nevillia (1769-1842) by her
mother before 1811 since no reference is made in the inscription to a legacy.
17.
Brathwaite (Richard) Essaies vpon the Five Senses, with a pithie one vpon Detraction. Continued
vvith sundry Christian Resolues, full of passion and deuotion, purposely composed for the zealouslydisposed. Printed by E.G. for Richard Whittaker, 1620, FIRST EDITION, cut close, with the loss of the
tips of the first line of the title and several headlines, and touching one sidenote (no loss of sense), a bit
browned, more especially around the edges ,and in the terminal leaves, which are slightly frayed (no
loss), pp. [viii], 142, [2], small 8vo, modern calf backed boards, sound (ESTC S104664)
£3,000
The rare first edition. Besides those items mentioned on the title-page there are two further pieces in the
volume: The Authors Opinion of Marriage, and [the character of] A Shrow (i.e. Shrew). The latter, an
antidote to the eulogy of marriage preceeding it, is a rollicking piece, and was dropped from the two later
6
Antiquarian & modern
printings, in 1625 and 1635. Braithwait is best known for his The English Gentleman (1630) and The English
Gentlewoman (1631), and for Barnabae itinerarum (c. 1636), but his other output was prolific (STC Nos.
3553-91). ‘Brathwaite’s œuvre is of growing importance as evidence of a gentleman’s literary activity in the
seventeenth century as well as of particular approaches to social and political issues’ (ODNB). ESTC locates 3
copies in the UK (BL, Glasgow, Bodleian) and 4 in the US (Folger, Huntington, Harvard, Yale)
18.
Brewster (John) Ardra and Abala: an African Tale in Verse. With a Preface on the Slave Trade. Stockton
upon Tees: [P]rinted by R. Christopher, 1788, FIRST EDITION, title-page dust-soiled, last 2 leaves stained
(?wax, ?oil), pp. viii, 8, 4to, modern sugar paper wrappers, sound (ESTC N29648)
£5,000
A rare provincial abolitionist tract and poem. The only UK copy recorded
by ESTC is at the BL, while 3 are listed in the US: Cornell, JCB, Providence.
John Brewster (1754–1842), Church of England clergyman and
antiquary, graduated from Lincoln College, Oxford, in 1775 (MA 1778).
In 1799 he became vicar of Stockton, and he was also, according to
the title-page here, Chaplain to Lord Viscount Falkland. He published
a number of books, the best known of which is ‘Parochial History
and Antiquities of Stockton-on-Tees’, 1796. There were also religious
works, and others concerning social questions, notably prisons. The
present work seems to have been largely overlooked. The Preface is an
impassioned plea for total abolition, of the trade and the institution.
Brewster points out to planters that gentler treatment would be more
profitable for them. The Tale in Verse is also designed to pull on the
heartstrings. The eponymous couple of the title are young lovers,
snatched from their native shore (unspecified). They endure the voyage,
but, when sold, are separated. Later, Adra learns where Abala is living,
and makes the perilous journey to meet her. They are blissfully reunited,
but there is no future for them in slavery. They go to a high cliff, embrace for the last time, and plunge to their
deaths. This is an early contribution to the literature of Abolition, the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave
Trade having been formed only the year before.
19.
(Broadside.) CHEVY-CHASE. [Drophead title:] The Unhappy Memorable Song of The Hunting of ChevyChase. [?London: ?1760], single sheet, printed on recto only, with a double column width woodcut
below the title, text in 5 columns, the columns not separated by rules, minor staining, oblong folio,
good (ESTC 50432)
£500
A rare broadside version of the perennially popular Chevy Chase. ESTC recorded 4 copies of this version, BL,
Cambridge (bis) and Yale. The date and place of printing are guesswork. There are various versions with the
woodcut and 5 columns, variably with the columns separated by rules or whatever, but this one is unusual in
having the title beginning with ‘The’ (usually it is ‘An’). The woodcut is is an old one, anachronistic too in the
sense that the soldiers are armed with muskets.
20.
So slight a claim to favour
[Brontë (Charlotte)] Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. Edited by Currer Bell. In Three Volumes. Smith,
Elder, and Co., 1847, FIRST EDITION, 3 vols., half-titles present, advertisements discarded, half-title and
title-page vol.iii guarded, pp.[iv], 304; [iv], 304; [iv], 311, [1], 8vo, late twentieth-century dark green
crushed morocco, by Bayntun (Riviere), unobtrusive mark on upper side vol.ii, backstrips with gilt wavy
line decorated raised bands between gilt rules, lettered direct in second and fourth compartments, with
date at foot; sides with single gilt fillet border at three edges, ball and dot roll on the board edges, wide
turn-ins with gilt fillets at edges, border and fleuron corner pieces, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt, in
leaf green cloth slipcase, excellent (Parrish Victorian Lady Novelists pp.87-8: Smith 2: Wise 3) £20,000
An unusually clean copy of a book which is notoriously liable to heavy foxing and browning. Many of the
large number of errors in headlines, differences in chapter headings, and textual data, in the first issue of the
first edition of `Jane Eyre’ (as listed by Parrish in an appendix to his Victorian Lady Novelists at p.99 et seq.,
[augmented by Smith in his The Brontë Sisters 1991, at p.24]), are present in this copy.
7
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
21.
Cervantes (Miguel de) A Collection of Select Novels, Written Originally in Castillian, by Don Miguel
Cervantes Saavedra, Author of the History of Don Quixote de la Mancha: In the Territory of the
Imperial City of Toledo, in New Castle. Made English by Harry Bridges, Esq; Under the Protection of
His Excellency, John, Lord Carteret, Lord Lieutenant of the Kingdom of Ireland. Bristol: Printed by
S. Farley; and sold by F. Wall, Bookseller, on the Tolze); James Warriner, in Bath; Henry Clements, in
Oxford; Edw. Score, in Exeter; and John Palmer, in Gloucester, 1728, title-page a little soiled, some
browning, especially towards the end, pp. 343, [1], 8vo, modern panelled calf, good (ESTC T59477)
£1,800
A rare provincial printing - it is noticeable that the booksellers who are named on the title-page are none of
them in London. ESTC locates just 3 copies in the UK (BL, Bodley, Brotherton) and 6 in the US. ‘The Translator,
from the University of Oxford, accompany’d the most accomplish’d Edward Montague, Earl of Sandwich ...
in his extraordinary Embassy to the Court of Spain, in the Year, 1666 ... The Translator has Inoculated some
Castillian Words into our Language for Decoration, and his own Pleasure in the doing’ (The Translator to the
Reader). Comprises: The Gypsie. The Dogs of Mahudez. The Deceitful Marriage. Quixaire. The Illustrious
Chamber-Maid. The Jealous Estramaduran.
22.
(Chapbook.) The History and Love Adventures of Roswal and Lillian. An Account of Roswal’s
removing from his native Kingdom of Naples, and what befel him on his Journey, from the Steward: The
Entertainment he met with from an aged Woman, his Education at School, with his fortunate admission
to be servant to Lillian, the King’s only Daughter with whom she fell deeply in Love; the Reward of the
three Lords; by whom he attained the Honour of three Days Justing before the Marriage of the Steward,
who was found to be a Traitor, and therefore justly executed: With the renewed wish for Marriage
betwixt Roswal and Lillian: and his thankful Remembrance of his Friends: The Number of his Children,
and their Fortune. Glasgow: J. & M. Robertson, 1785, a little browned, one or two spots, pp. 24 (a single
unsigned gathering), 12mo, disbound (Not in ESTC)
£850
An unrecorded printing of this interesting verse romance, the long version (877 lines). Surviving printings
before 1800 are rare. An Edinburgh printing of 1663 is known in 4 copies. Then there is a gap of a century
before a clutch of printings in Newcastle and Edinburgh between 1760 and 1785: less than 10 copies of these
later printing are known. The long sub-title of our printing follows fairly closely that of T. Saint in Newcastle,
?1780: the most interesting variant being that the Steward is ‘found’ to be traitor in Glasgow, while ‘known’
to be a traitor in Newcastle. Sir Walter Scott remembered the story of Roswal and Lillian being sung on the
streets of Edinburgh in his youth: he was 14 or so when this version was printed.
23.
Signed by Winston Churchill
(Churchill.) Certificate of Naturalization to an Alien. [for Denis John Arthur Richardson Kuhlmann.]
15th March 1911, single long folded sheet, printed on both sides with holograph sections and ‘Home
Office Registered’ stamp at foot of verso, pp. [2], 33 x 18cm, a few small staple holes and marks from
rusted paperclips at either end, good £1,500
An official document, signed by Churchill in his capacity as Home
Secretary. Paul Addison, in the ODNB, records that Churchill was
already at this time ‘apprehensive about German intentions’ and had
begun ‘to think seriously about the implications of a major war’ - in
which respect the present document gains additional significance.
The subject in question had been born in Florence as Denis Arturo
Giovanni Richardson Kuhlmann to German parents; at the time of
this document he was studying at Cambridge, and would go on to
fight for his new country in the Great War, having divested himself
of the connotations of his parentage via deed poll. This latter act
was recorded in the following announcement from the London
Gazette of 13th October 1914: ‘on the nineteenth day of September,
one thousand nine hundred and fourteen, I formally and absolutely
renounced, relinquished and abandoned the use of my said surname of Kuhlmann, and then assumed and
adopted and determined thenceforth on all occasions whatsoever to use the surname of Richardson, which
was my Mother's maiden name, instead of the said surname of Kuhlmann’.
8
Antiquarian & modern
24.
Claudianus (Claudius) Opera. [Edited by Thaddaeus Ugoletus.] Parma: Impressa autem per Angelum
eius fratrem, 1493, FIRST UGOLETUS EDITION and EDITIO PRINCEPS OF THE ‘CARMINA MINORA’, 36 lines
per page, Roman type, woodcut printer’s device on last leaf, a scattering of wormholes towards the
gutter of last 30 leaves (a few of them often touching a letter but never with loss of sense), two small
marginal wormholes to first few leaves, a few small chips to margins of early leaves, some light foxing
and staining, title-page mounted on a stub, early manuscript notes to three leaves towards the end (and
the shadow of similar notes, now washed, to a number of leaves at the beginning), ff. [142], 4to (210 x
148mm), recased in early wooden boards backed with sheep, the leather decorated with blind fillets, the
remains of a leather and brass clasp to fore-edge of boatrds, new pastedowns, no free endpapers, a few
wormholes in wood, old manuscript title (largely faded) to front board, sound (ISTC ic00702000; BMC
VII 945; Goff C702; GW 7060; Bod-Inc C-353)
£4,000
This incunable is the second printed edition of the works of Claudian, and the first to be edited by Thaddaeus
Ugoletus [Taddeo Ugoletti], following the editio princeps of the works (albeit without the ‘carmina minora’) of
1482. (The ‘De raptu proserpine’ had been printed separately starting in 1471.)
Moss calls this edition ‘rare, and...more intrinsically valuable than the Ed. Pr.’; it would be reprinted in 1495
and again in 1500. It is recorded (by Dibdin, among others) that Ugoletti meant to expand the text with the
works of another Claudian, an early Christian author of epigrams, but was called away from this project by
his appointment as Royal Librarian to the Raven King, Matthias Corvinus of Hungary. However, this would
appear to be an apocryphal tale: Ugoletti joined Corvinus in 1477, returning to Parma thirteen years later and
publishing the first of his important editions (Calpurnius) in 1492 using manuscripts he had acquired for the
Raven King’s library. For this edition, Ugoletti did improve on the editio princeps, which had printed the text
of a single source, by collating several additional manuscripts including one of notable antiquity which, he
reports, was sent to him from Germany.
25.
Coleridge (Samuel Taylor) Christabel: Kubla Khan, A Vision: The Pains of Sleep.
For John Murray...by William Bulmer. 1816, FIRST EDITION, without the halftitle and the 2 leaves of inserted terminal advertisements as so often, fly-leaves
foxed and this affecting slightly the terminal leaves, pp. [iii-] vii, 64, 8vo, green
morocco-backed boards for Sir William Stirling Maxwell with his arms stamped
in blind on the upper cover and his monogram on the lower one, bbokplate
inside front cover, gilt edges, spine faded, annotated, possibly by Sir William,
with variant readings from the 1828 edition, good (Wise 32; Hayward 207:
Tinker 693)
£2,500
The first appearance of each poem.
26.
Collins (Wilkie) The Moonstone. A Romance. Tinsley Brothers, 1868, FIRST EDITION, 3 vols., with the
half titles, but without the advertisements, uniformly slightly browned, the odd spot, pp. viii, 315, [1];
[iv], 297, [1]; [iv], 309, [1], 8vo, later half brown morocco by Root & Son, spines gilt in compartments,
top edges gilt, joints slightly rubbed, upper joint of vol. i split, cords holding, brown cloth slip-in case
(Sadleir 598; Wolff 1368; Parrish p.89)
£3,750
‘The first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels’ (T.S. Eliot), or ‘probably the finest
detective story ever written’ (Dorothy L. Sayers). Inspired by the case of Constance Kent, who murdered her
younger brother in 1860, and by the Northumberland Street murder, The Moonstone has remained both a
literary classic and a classic of its genre, filled with unforgettable characters. The author's achievement in
writing and completing it is all the more remarkable in that he was under enormous stress when composing
the novel: his mother (to whom he dedicated the work) died in March 1868, Collins himself suffered great
ill-health at the same time (he was too unwell to attend his mother's funeral), and he had to turn to an
amanuensis to whom he dictated portions of the story.
27.
Congreve (William) The Works of Mr. William Congreve. In three volumes. Consisting of his Plays
and Poems. Birmingham, Printed by John Baskerville; For J. and R. Tonson, 1761, engraved portrait
frontispiece and 5 other plates, volume i cancellanda (preliminary sigs. a & b) discoloured as usual, a
little other light spotting, pp. xl, 360; [xii], 17-516; [xii], 17-516, 8vo, contemporary tree calf, smooth
backstrips ornamented in gilt within compartments formed by doric rolls, red and olive green morocco
9
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
labels slightly chipped, covers bordered with a floriate and ornamental twist roll in gilt, inner dentelles
with a Greek key design, marbled endpapers, joints cracked but strong, a little light wear to extremities,
armorial bookplate of T.M. Bruce-Gardyne and more recent bookplate of William Hamilton, good
(Gaskell 16; Rothschild 2636)
£300
28.
(Cookery.) HAMMOND (Elizabeth) Modern Domestic Cookery, and Useful receipt Book. Adapted to
Families in the Middling and Genteel Ranks of Life [engraved title]. Fifth edition, improved. Printed for
Dean & Munday, and A.K. Newman, 1824, with additional engraved title-page and frontispiece, and 4
engraved plates, a few spots and stains, especially at the beginning, pp. iv, [5-] 287, 12mo, contemporary
mottled calf, spine with triple gilt rules forming compartments, black lettering piece, cracks in joints
and head and tail of spine a little worn, good (This particular edition not in Oxford, Bitting, Cagle, &c)
£500
This estimable little volume was reprinted for the best part of half a century, the first edition having appeared
in 1817, and the ninth in 1854: it is very scarce in any edition. The publishers seem to have been liberal in
their interpretation of ‘edition’ since the ‘fifth edition, improved’ appeared undated, dated 1824 as here (2 in
COPAC), 1825 (Harvard only), and [1826?] - C and Leeds only in COPAC (Leeds having a good concentration).
The work covers the whole gamut of domestic economy (including medicine), and the engraved title vignette
and frontispiece are extremely informative. The author’s preliminary remarks about the decline in standards
of domestic knowledge among her intended audience - Families in the Middling and Genteel Ranks of Life are interesting.
29.
Dickens (Charles) The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit ... Chapman & Hall, January 1843July 1844, FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL MONTHLY PARTS, 20 parts in 19, etched frontispiece, vignette
title-page and 38 plates by Hablot K. Browne [‘Phiz’], the vignette title-page with the signpost reading
‘100£’, second issue of the errata with 14 lines, with all the advertisements called for by Hatton &
Cleaver, including the rare ‘Moses & Son’ booklets in parts 9,10, 11 and 16 and the ‘Scenes of Incidents
of Foreign Travel’ slip at the front of part VII, 7 plates foxed or badly browned in the unprinted area,
original printed wrappers, most with repairs to spines, preserved in 2 full red morocco pull-off cases
(one of which slightly damaged at top) good £3,500
Besides the browning to a small proportion of the plates, and a few other minor blemishes and/or repairs
(full details on request) this is a very nice and on the whole a fresh set. Nevertheless it has undoubtedly ‘been
through the mill’ as almost every ‘Dickens in parts’ has. One pointer to this is the presence of the advertising
slip in part VII. Hatton and Cleaver call this ‘essential to the collation, being an original inset as stitched in
by the binder’, and recording that only six copies of it were known. In the present copy it does not appear to
have been stitched in, but instead is tipped onto the first page of the Chuzzlewit Advertiser, right up against the
stitching it is true. Similarly the last page of advertisements in XVII is a bit soiled, while the succeeding wraper
is clean. The reversed £ sign on the engraved title is clearly shown by Hatton and Cleaver to have no bearing
on priority of issue, but the 14-, as oppsed to 13-line errata is an issue point (13 being the earlier).
30.
10
The Suzannet copy
Dickens (Charles) The Personal History, Adventures,
Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield
the Younger. Of Blunderstone Rookery. (Which He
never meant to be Published on any Account). With
Illustrations by H.K. Browne. Bradbury & Evans, May
1849-November 1850, FIRST EDITION IN THE ORIGINAL
20 MONTHLY PARTS (bound in 19 as issued), with the
38 plates by ‘Phiz’ bound 2 at the front of each part,
frontispiece and dated vignette title-page in the final
part with the othjer preliminary matter, advertisements
as per Hatton and Cleaver (including the rare folding
advertisement for Letts diaries, but without sample
leaves), some plates lightly spotted or foxed, one
advertisement in final part loose, one back advertisement
in final Part loose, 8vo, original printed wrappers, spine
of Part 1 repaired, small tear to the rear hinge of Part
Antiquarian & modern
19/20, tiny repairs to the fore-edges of Parts 2 and 3, preserved in a red cloth clamshell box with the
Suzannet bookplate inside it and a modern bookplate above it (just covering the top of the earlier one),
very good (Hatton & Cleaver pp. 253-72)
£20,000
One of the scarcest and most desirable of the parts issues. This is an exceptional set (reflecting its Suzannet
provenance), largely unsophisticated, with the wrappers minimally soiled and of an even brightness and
colour.
31.
Dickens (Charles) A Tale of Two Cities. With Illustrations by H.K. Browne. Chapman and Hall, JuneDecember, 1859, FIRST EDITION IN THE ORIGINAL 8 MONTHLY PARTS (bound in 7 as issued), etched
frontispiece and title (in last part), 14 plates by H.K. Browne, advertisements as Hatton and Cleaver
(barring a variant in part 3), some spotting, mostly to plates, 8vo, original printed wrappers, some slight
general fraying, slight wear to spines and some repairs, very good £15,000
First issue with p.213 misnumbered. The Tale had originally been published weekly from April to November
of 1859 in All the Year Round, and the huge readership it enjoyed there meant that there was less demand for
the parts issue, which is consequently scarce. ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ...’
32.
Edwards (M. Betham) Snow - Flakes and the Stories they told the Children. Illustrated by H.K. Browne.
Sampson Low, Son & Co., [1862,] frontispiece, additional title-page, and 10 pages of text printed
in colour (the last page with a light pencil scribble over image), pp. 46, [2], 8vo, original green cloth
blocked overall in blind, a central frame and illustration on front board blocked in gilt, spine also
blocked in gilt, gutta-percha partially perished with title-pages and first leaf of text consequently
loose, ownership inscriptions on front flyleaf of T. Tindall Wildridge and ‘C.L. Dodgson’, with printed
booklabel ‘This was the property of Lewis Carroll’ to front board, a bit rubbed, sound £450
The inscription ‘C.L. Dodgson’, although in purple ink like Dodgson famously used, is clearly not by him,
being written using a broad-nibbed pen and in handwriting completely alien to Dodgson’s personal style. It
could be an early (and poor) forgery, or it could be a later addition meant to confirm a known (or believed)
provenance. The ‘Property label’ on the front board, according to Lovett, was ‘perhaps...provided for buyers
who wished to identify their purchases’ at the Sotheby’s 1902 sale of books purportedly from Carroll’s library
and seems not to go back any further than there. This particular title is not listed by Lovett in Lewis Carroll
Among His Books, or in any of the sources reproduced in Stern’s Lewis Carroll, Bibliophile.
However, absence of positive evidence there is not proof that the book did not belong to Dodgson. The next
owner, Thomas Tindall Wildridge, was an antiquary who is recorded as having made a group of pen-and-ink
drawings of Alice and other characters, reproduced c.1910 as halfpenny postcards titled ‘A Lewis Carroll
Pageant’, so his interest in owning something from Dodgson’s library would be appropriate and he may have
attended the early library sales. On the other hand, he may have been duped by an unscrupulous seller who
had access to the ‘Property’ labels.
33.
Fielding (Henry) The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. In Six Volumes ... Printed for A. Millar. 1749,
FIRST EDITION, 3 wood engraved tail-pieces, errata leaf present in vol. i (see note), gathering E in vol. i
misbound with pp. 81-88 between 92 and 93, final blanks present in vols. i and iii, occasional slight
browning, and the odd minor stain here and there, textblock in 2 vols. cracked, with corresponding
cracks in spine of binding, and a similar tendency in all vols., pp. lxii, [i, Errata], 214, [2, blank]; [i],
324; [i], 324; [i], 370 plus final blank leaf; [i], 312; [i], 294; [i], 304, 12mo, contemporary (publisher’s)
sprinkled calf, new red lettering pieces, joints cracked but cords firm, hinge of vol. vi invisibly
reinforced, various bookplates and inscriptions of the Farquhars of Gilmilnescroft (Ayrshire), sound
(Cross Vol.2, pp.117-22 and Vol.3, pp. 316-17: Jensen. Proposals for a Definitive Edition of Fielding’s
Tom Jones. The Library, 4th Ser., Vol.XVIII, p.314 et seq.: Rothschild 850)
£4,500
Fielding’s masterpiece, widely regarded as the greatest English novel of the eighteenth century. The question
of cancelled leaves in this novel has exercised bibliographers for decades, but Hugh Amory’s article in
Harvard Library Bulletin (Volume 25, 1977) confirms that the cancellans usually number twenty-four (twelve
single leaves plus the whole of signature O in volume three). The numerous errors which occurred in the text
are a result of its hasty printing; demand for the novel forced publisher and author into print before they were
11
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
properly ready. The fact that volume six, which contains some of the most glaring errors, is not included in the
errata suggests that not only was Millar unable to bind fast enough to keep up with demand, but also that he
did not wait for either proof readers or Fielding to read the last volume.
The entire first edition of 2,000 copies was immediately bought up by the London trade, necessitating a
second edition very quickly. Both Cross and Jensen support the view that the second edition was in hand
at about the same time as the sixth volume of the first edition went to press. The latter goes further and
suggests that the second edition may even have been printed before publication of the first. The most obvious
difference is that the errata leaf in volume one is omitted and the re-spaced Contents extends into the page
which it formerly occupied. Cross concludes that ‘Tom Jones, as the novel [first] appeared in February, is a
most rare book.’
34.
Gadesby (Richard) A New and Easy Introduction to Geography, by way of question and answer,
divided into lessons. Principally designed for the Use of Schools. Containing A Description of all the
known Countries in the World; Of their respective Situations, Divisions, Mountains, Rivers, Principal
Cities and Towns, Forms of Government, Religion, &c. Likewise several useful problems on the
terrestrial globe, with An Explanation of the Vicissitudes of the Seasons. To which is now added, a new
geographical table. The second edition, Improved and Enlarged. Printed for the Author and sold by S.
Bladon, 1783, with a folding engraved plate, short tear in plate, a little foxing, pp. xii, 191, [1], 12mo,
original sheep, spine gilt ruled, minor wear, good (ESTC T113973, BL only, COPAC adds NLS)
£450
There were five editions in the space of 25 years, the first in 1776 (recorded in 3 copies in ESTC, all in the UK),
the last edition not printed for the author. The author describes himself as a ‘Private Teacher of Writing,
Accounts, Geography, &c.’ Scots are said to be descended from Scythians, the United States are 13 in number
and the Spanish are in possession of Florida, Louisiana, Old and New Mexico and the peninsula of California,
‘though the native Indians, of which there are innumerable tribes, still live in the quiet possession of many
large tracts.’ Australia, where ‘natives are black, and go naked’, is only known from the coasts. In the section
on globes we are referred to ‘that ingenious piece of mechanism, Mr. Harrison’s Time-Keeper.’
35.
Ghirardi (Boneto, Bonetto or Benetto) La Leonida comedia. Venice: Paolo Meietto, 1585, FIRST
paper flaw in f. 130 with the loss of some text on the recto,
with, however, part of the text over printed at an angle on the verso, a little browning or spotting,
lacking the blank leaf at end, ff. [vi], 136, [1], small 8vo, modern (not recent) boards, good (CNCE 20858;
Adams G573, 2 copies, both lacking final leaf, one the penultimate (part of the Errata) as well)
£600
EDITION, woodcut printer’s device on title,
Ghirardi, a follower of Aretino, seems to be known only by this play, set in Pisa. It is five acts, in prose, and
abounds in typical situations and devices - mistaken identities, cross-dressing, &c.
36.
(Gibbon.) Manuscript notebook on Greco-Roman history, particularly Gibbon’s Decline and Fall. [c.
1850,] manuscript in ink on paper watermarked 1837-38, the first four-fifths hand-numbered, some
pages written vertically, pp. 141, [35] plus c.70 blanks, oblong 8vo, original calf-bound notebook
labelled ‘Orders to go Out’ in manuscript on lower board and illegibly on the front, backstrip split at
front joint and lifting to reveal an old respining underneath, rubbed, a touch of wear, good £400
A kind of study notebook, compiled by a sedulous reader, albeit of popular sources. The writer has gathered
summaries and notes on various works, mostly arranged chronologically, including several pages of a table of
Roman emperors with their dates and causes of death. The sections are: I. Memorandum of the substance of
the several Books of Aristotle’s Ethics. II. Condition of Greek Women - Greek Literature. III. From Thirlwall’s
History of Greece. Lardner’s Cyc. Miscellaneous Notes. IV. Religious Sanctuaries in Greece. In the works of
Fra Paolo. V. History of Rome. L.C.C. VI. Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
Several sources apart from Gibbon are immediately identifiable: L.C.C. is Dionysius Lardner’s Cabinet
Cyclopaedia, of which the two volumes on the history of Rome appeared in 1834. Connop Thirlwall’s history
of Greece was published 1835-44. Much of the text is summaries - in fact, summaries of summaries, since
Lardner mostly summarises Livy in his own history of Rome, but there are also substantial quotations followed
by interpretation and ‘observations’.
12
Antiquarian & modern
37.
[Goldsmith (Oliver)] Le Ministre de Wakefield, histoire supposée écrite par lui-même. Tome premier
[-second.] A Londres, et se trouve à Paris, Chez Pissot [&] Desaint. 1767, FIRST FRENCH EDITION, a
little minor spotting, pp. [iv], 258, [4, blanks], [2], 233, [3], 12mo, contemporary French mottled calf,
spine with five raised bands, red morocco lettering piece, compartments gilt with central flower tools
and corner sprays, marbled endpapers, a.e.r., tiny wormhole at head of front joint, bookplates of Jean
Philippe Loiseau and Lt Colonel de la Villeon, very good (ESTC T98006; Streeter 157)
£350
Despite the chance nature of its publication, Goldsmith’s novel was not only immediately popular in the
Anglophone world but in Europe as well; this first French translation appeared within a year of the first
English edition, with a second edition following shortly afterward. The translators have helpfully added a few
footnotes explaining English customs, and it must have been thought to be a good representative text since
it became a standard resource for Continental students of the English language. ESTC notes ‘probably printed
in Paris’, despite the imprint, and attributes the translation to either ‘C. G. Beraud de la Haie de Riou [i.e.
Charlotte-Jeanne, Marquise de Montesson?] and M. Rose,’ or ‘M. Charlos.’ It lists eleven locations holding
copies, only 3 of them in the UK (BL, Cambridge, Oxford).
38.
Goethe’s favourite chemist
Göttling (Johann Friedrich August) Almanach, oder, Taschen-Buch für Scheidekünstler und Apothekar
auf das Jahr 1785 [-1786]. Sechtes [-Siebentes] Jahr. Weimar: Hofmann, 1785-86, FIRST EDITION of
these 2 vols. (and the Index bound with them - see below), engraved vignette on title-pages (putti in
a laboratory), one folding engraved plate and large folding table at end, the table a bit ragged at the
extreme edge, pp. [xvi], 208; [xxxii], 191, [1], small 8vo,
[bound with:]
Vollständiges Register über den Almanach oder Taschen-Buch für Scheidekünstler und Apotheke der
Jahre 1780[-85], (some black chemical staining obscuring text on a few leaves), ff. 40, contemporary
English half calf, red morocco lettering piece (in English), rather rubbed and a bit warped, joints
splitting, sound (see Ferguson I p. 335)
£600
Two early issues of a rare and important periodical, which ran from 1780 to 1829, often in more than one
edition. Göttling (1753-1809) studied medicine at Göttingen, and went in to business as an apothecary. At
Goethe’s behest he was appointed professor of Chemistry at Jena in 1809. This Almanac was a vehicle for his
promotion of Lavoisier. Göttling’s Description of a Portable Chest of Chemistry (London edition 1791) was
widely influential.
39.
Gray (Lucy) Little Lucy and her pretty doll. Easingwold: Published by Thomas Gill. Leeds: Webb,
Millington and Co., and J.G. Menon and Co., c. 1850, ?FIRST EDITION, with a woodcut frontispiece
(Bewick-style) and 6 woodcuts in the text, a minor stain at the beginning, pp. 16, 24mo, original printed
wrappers, slightly soiled, crack at foot of spine, good £250
An unrecorded little chapbook. ‘How much better it is for a girl to be good, than to be naughty.’
40.
[Gray (Thomas)] An Elegy wrote in a Country Church Yard.
Printed for R. Dodsley; And sold by M. Cooper, 1751, FIRST
EDITION, small repair to inner margin of title and last leaf, short
closed tear in for-margin of second leaf, pp. 11, 4to (240 x 185
mm), early twentieth-century full black crushed morocco by
Rivire and Son, sides elaborately gilt to a varied floral design
including inlays, spine gilt and lettered direct, gilt inner
dentelles, dark blue silk doublures and endleaves, gilt edges,
preserved in a very dark green straight grained morocco pull off
box, very good (Northup 492; Hayward 173; Rothschild 1056;
Grolier, Hundred 49)
£20,000
First edition of Gray’s much-loved masterpiece, containing some
of the most famous (and most often parodied) lines in English
literature, in a very handsome Riviere binding.
13
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
41.
[Greg (Hannah)] A Collection of Maxims, Observations, &c. Liverpool: Printed by J. M’Creery, 1799,
FIRST EDITION, a single wormhole at the beginning extending throughout, mainly confined to the upper
margin, increasing slowly and then suddenly in gathering F entering to the third line of text with some
loss, then relenting, slightly foxed at the end, pp. [ii], vii, 134, 12mo, contemporary half calf, spine gilt
and with a red lettering piece, joints cracked, upper cover held by a single thread, ownership inscription
on fly-leaf of Agnes Pares ESTC T86625)
£950
‘Though printed... not intended for the public.’ Nonetheless there were 2 ‘published’ editions, in 1800 as The
Moralist, and in 1804 as The Monitor. Hannah Greg (née Lightbody) was ‘a notable and overlooked woman
at the heart of the Industrial Revolution... With her educated, literate and independent mind, she became
an influential woman in a man’s world’ (from David Seekers’ website, where there is a wealth of information
about her). The maxims are culled from Classical and modern authors (one from Mary Wollstonecraft),
while a few are original. There is a charming Dedication to ‘Ma chere amie’ who, it transpires, was one of her
daughters. Agnes Pares was Hannah’s sister. A rare book: BL only in ESTC.
42.
Travels to Doltchester, Stealyard, and Tankardville
[Hall (Joseph)] Mundus alter et idem sive terra australis ante hac semper incognita longis itineribus
peregrini academici lustrata autho. Mercurio Britanico. Frankfurt: apud haeredes Ascanii de Rinialme,
[?1607,] first-state engraved title-page, 5 folding engraved plates (all first edition), the text a mixed
edition (two gatherings from the second printing - see below), somewhat soiled and browned, a few
outer edges slightly frayed, title slightly abraded, some contemporary manuscript notes, ownership
inscriptions to title and flyleaf and Macclesfield embossment to first two leaves, pp. [xvi], 224, 8vo,
original limp vellum, somewhat soiled, ties lost, stitching loosening, Shirburn Castle bookplate,
preserved in a clamshell morocco-backed box, sound (ESTC S103674; Sabin 29819; Church II 54)
£4,500
Joseph Hall (1574-1656) was bishop of Exeter and later Norwich, but in his early years was an important
English satirist - his work includes ‘the first collection of formal verse satires on the Latin model to be
published in England’ and the introduction of the Theophrastan ‘character’ to English literature (ODNB). This
anonymously published work, probably written during Hall’s Cambridge days, is ‘the first English dystopia’
(McMullan, ‘Politics of Unease’, p. 236) as well as an important influence on Swift’s ‘Gulliver’s Travels’. It
seems to have been only formally attributed to Hall in 1674, although Milton had attacked the work and Hall
himself at the time for being devoid of the moral message necessary to satire.
In the text, the fictional traveller ‘Mercurius Britannicus’ visits four nations with telling Latinesque names:
Crapulia, Viraginia, Moronia, and Lavernia (respectively, gluttony, shrewish women, folly, and deceit); the
index glosses the various placenames within each region to emphasise the joke. In this copy, an early owner
has then written in further English ‘translations’ for many of the entries in the index (e.g. ‘Scioccia, pr. ab Ital.
Sciocco, fatuus’, annotated as ‘Doltchester’) - and these are not the same as those given in the first printed
English translation of 1609. The maps illustrate the imaginary ‘Australis’ (Antarctic) continent, and two give
details of the Americas as well (hence its inclusion in Church and Sabin).
The publication history of the text is somewhat complicated - it was first published in London around 1605,
but with a title-page bearing a Frankfurt imprint. It was then reprinted in 1607 in Hanau, with a different titlepage. But a number of copies, like this one, are primarily the first edition but with two gatherings - the prelims
and D - from the second printing. Evidence that this was done before publication comes from the presence of
a corrected reading in the same hand in the prelims of several such ‘mixed’ copies, as well as from the wholly
original state of this copy. Wands conjectures (‘Early Printing History of Joseph Hall’s Mundus Alter et Idem’,
PBSA 74) that signature D was damaged or lost during the transit of sets of sheets to the Frankfurt Book Fair in
1607, and the loss made up from the recently-printed second edition. If so, this copy must have been almost
immediately re-imported to England, since all signs point to early English provenance.
Although ESTC lists 8 copies of this mixed edition in the UK, these are spread across only three locations: BL,
Cambridge (2) and Oxford (5). The unmixed first edition is also oddly concentrated, with ESTC giving 14 UK
copies (plus two in Dublin), these comprising 7 in Cambridge, 3 in Oxford, and 4 in cathedral libraries.
43.
14
Hardy (Thomas) A Pair of Blue Eyes. A Novel. Tinsley Brothers, 1873 FIRST EDITION, without half-titles,
mis-aligned 'c' in 'clouds' on page 5 of volume 2, C8 in volume 2 clumsily opened (not affecting text),
some slight staining and soiling, pp.[iv], 303; [iv]+311; [iv], 262, 8vo, fairly recent half dark blue calf,
spines gilt and blind tooled, lettered in gilt direct, good (Purdy p.8)
£3,750
Antiquarian & modern
Hardy's third novel, following Desperate Remedies and Under the Greenwood Tree and the first to carry his
name. With its ‘romantic setting, the interplay of class and gender issues within its tragicomic plot, and the
vitality of its heroine’ A Pair of Blue Eyes was ‘a favourite novel of many Victorians, Tennyson and Coventry
Patmore among them’ (Michael Millgate, Oxford DNB). Purdy notes that the novel was published ‘in an edition
presumably of 500 copies’ (see Purdy, Thomas Hardy - A Bibliographical Study, Oxford, 1979, p. 12).
44.
Hardy (Thomas) Tess of the D’Urbervilles. A Pure Woman. James R. Osgood, McIlvaine & Co., 1891
FIRST BOOKFORM EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION, 3 vols., with half-titles and blanks as called for. some
offsetting to endpapers, slight foxing to edges and paste-downs encroaching very slightly onto outer
leaves, pp.[viii], [264]; [viii], 278; [viii], [277], 8vo, original tan cloth lettered in gilt on spines and
with honeysuckle blossom design on upper covers, minimal wear to corners, preserved in green cloth
chemises and quarter calf slip-in case, excellent (Purdy, pp.67-78; Sadleir 1114)
£12,500
First impression issue points are present in this set,
as follows: Volume I: p.[iv] "1891" present, p.[v]
"have it said" (later "have said"), p.45 "her skin is |
as sumple" (later "her skin is as | sumple"), p.[264]
final full-stop present; Volume II: p.[iv] "1891"
present, p.58 "Valasquez" (later "Velasquez"), p.155
"seampstress" (later "sempstress"), p.199 "XXV"
(later "XXXV"), and p.234 "it's husband's" (later
"its husband's"); Volume III: p.[vi] "1891" present,
p.14 line endings comprise "towards", "but", "On",
"al-", "hitherto" and "a", and p.112 "are ye doing"
(later "are you doing"), p.160 line endings comprise
"than", "deviations", "domesticity,", "vale", "curve.",
"light" and "was", p.198 "summit of the road" (later
"summit of the load"), p.252 line endings comprise
"and", "foul", "bear" and "And", p.270 "sisters-inlaw" (later "sister-laws"), p.275 "piteously" (later
"pitilessly"), p.277 no page number present, and
p.[278] no final full-stop.
45.
Hardy (Thomas) Domicilium. [colophon: Privately printed for Clement Shorter for distribution among
his friends], [1916], FIRST EDITION, pp. [ii, blank], 7, [1], 2, blank], 4to, as issued sewn with purple cord
into stiff purple wrappers, upper cover printed in black as title-page within single line border, preserved
in a chemise and blue morocco backed slip-in case (date 1923 at foot of spine), inscribed to ‘John Lane
from C.K.S. July 12, [19]23’, very good (Purdy pp. 176-77)
£2,000
The colophon states 1 of 25 copies, and Purdy calls for these to be numbered and signed by Shorter. In
an Appendix, Purdy avers that ‘the limitation was by no means rigidly adhered to’, but goes no further
than suggesting that the number ‘might easily be doubled’. Whatever the truth, and the records have been
destroyed, this remains a very scarce item, and is ‘the earliest discoverable of young Hardy’s attempts in verse.
It describes his birth-place at Higher Bockhampton.’ Purdy also calls for the border on the wrapper to be
printed in white: we have a note in our copy of Purdy - ‘also seen in black.’
46.
‘You could not have a better man than Mr Harford’ - Burke
[Harford (Joseph)] Manuscript diary written in The Daily Journal; or, the Gentleman’s, Merchant’s, and
Tradesman’s Complete Annual Accompt-book, for the Pocket or Desk, for ... 1792 ... Printed and sold
by R. Baldwin, G. Robinson, and S. Crowder; F. Power and Co.; and B. C. Collins, in Salisbury, 1792,
printed journal with manuscript additions, pp. [viii], [110], 66, 8vo, original wallet style calf, gilt roll
tooled borders on sides, top of spine and wrap-around slightly defective, good (ESTC T153333, BL and
NLS only)
£1,800
‘Joseph Harford (1741-1802), born at Frenchay, Bristol. Joseph Harford’s commercial interests were based
upon his father's wholesale grocery business in Queen’s Square, but he extended into important new areas.
He was a founding partner of the New Bank in 1786 and a partner in the bank of Ames, Cave & Co. from
1786 to 1798. He was a member of Merchant's Hall, and master of the Society of Merchant Venturers in 1796.
His industrial interests centred on the Bristol Brass Company, of which he was a committee member, and
15
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
leader from 1796 to 1802, but he also had interests in the iron, tin, and glass trades, and financed Richard
Champion’s Bristol China Works in 1768.
‘Joseph Harford aggrandized the family by marrying in 1763 Hannah (d. 1811), daughter of Joseph Kill of
Stapleton Grove, near Bristol, where they took up residence. He became a justice of the peace, treasurer
of Bristol Infirmary, promoter of the Bristol Library Society, and chairman of the Bristol slavery abolition
committee. He was prominent in Bristol politics during the radical campaign of 1769 and was in 1771 one of
Edmund Burke's two sponsors to become a member of parliament, opening his campaign with a subscription
of £300. Burke said, “You could not have a better man than Mr Harford. He has a great bottom for confidence.
He has a firm Integrity; very enlarged notions; and one of the most solid and well cultivated understandings I
have met with” (Underdown, 137). Harford himself was elected to Bristol common council in 1779 and acted
as high sheriff on three occasions. The Society of Friends disavowed him for taking his oath, resulting in his
conversion to the Church of England. Joseph Harford died at Stapleton Grove on 11 October 1802’ (ODNB).
The printed pages do not give much room for entries, but Harford has filled in each daily box with an average
of about 5 lines in a small and on the whole legible copperplate hand. There are also a few entries in some sort
of code, and one day’s entry is crossed out. It is a diary of his daily doings, where he went, who he saw, where
he dined, &c. At the beginning of the year he is going about his ordinary business - mostly reading, writing
and drawing, visiting friends and relations, going on drawing walks - with trips into Bristol on business proper.
He attends meetings of the Philosophical Society, and they meet in his house. An entry for 4th April reads
‘Slave trade decided.’ In the middle of March he begins to plan a journey to Scotland, which begins on 19th
May, back home at the beginning of September. He visits Edinburgh, Glasgow, Mull, Inverness, Aberdeen,
Edinburgh, then back south via Gretna Green. He seems to have had extensive acquaintance, or introductions,
in Scotland, although in his journey south through England he frequently has difficulty finding lodgings. His
mode of transport is logged. He visits the big houses and admires the art and libraries. He buys books and
prints. In Aberdeen he buys a sword, and in Edinburgh a plaid. On either side of the Scottish journey he visits
London, spending much time in Lincoln’s Inn. He meets Burke. He visits the library of All Souls with Deverell
(?Robert Deverell [formerly Pedley] (1760–1841). He is much in the company of Lord Eden. He goes to the
theatre often, the opera in London, and goes to Balls. There is little in the way of comment or opinion, but, for
example, of Lord Kenyon in court in Newcastle ‘very stupid.’ The facing pages were intended for accounts and
these are filled in in a seemingly desultory fashion, but giving information on the cost of coach and chair hire,
a wig, &c. When the Scottish journey begins notes on the weather take over from accounts. Loosely inserted
in the pocket at the front (leather present but detached) are 5 slips of paper, being various accounts, one being
for ‘a chaise and pair’ for 9 days, made out to Joseph Harford. A fascinating glimpse of a year in the life of a
wealthy, cultivated, active gentleman.
47.
Harrison (Sarah) The House-Keeper’s Pocket-book, and compleat family cook: containing above
twelve hundred curious and uncommon receipts in cookery ... To which is now added several modern
receipts, by very good judges of the separate articles, particularly to dress turtle, &c. Also, Every one
their own Physician; A collection of the most approved receipts for the cure of most disorders incident
to human bodies. Carefully compiled by Mary Morris. Printed for R. Ware, 1755, 2 parts in 1 vol.,
with woodcuts of table settings in the text, occasional minor staining, a bit of foxing at the end, pp.
[iv], iv, [5-]215, [i], [24, Tables], 36, [8, Index], 12mo, contemporary sheep (price 2/6 on title, but not
specifying boards or sheep), double gilt fillets on sides, spine gilt ruled in compartments, minor wear,
very good (Bitting p. 217; Vicaire 438)
£600
First published in 1733, this is the first edition to have the medical second part. Not as rare as earlier editions,
but scarce enough in UK libraries: BL and C only. The earliest edition in Wellcome is the 7th, of 1760. Mary
Morris’s text begins with a complaint about the ‘Exorbitance’ of the fees of medical men and the ‘Extravagance
of Apothecaries Bills.’ Strict economy is the guiding principle of both parts, yet the table-settings are for
considerable feasts. Sarah Harrison was a Gentlewoman who had at one time kept a boarding school, but
nothing seems to known about Mary Morris.
Arnold Whitaker Oxford did not think much of this book: ‘neither original nor well arranged ... The third
[medical] remedy, one for Ague, prejudices one at the start against Mary Morris. “Take a spider alive ... let the
patient swallow it ...”’ But to be fair, the remedy is Mead’s. ‘Mary Morris apparently took issue with the gender
bias in the title [of Tennent’s Every Man his own Doctor, 1743] She published [the present] remarkably
similar volume which became popular with women of both sides of the Atlantic’ (Dorothy A. Mays, Women in
early America, p. 234).
16
Antiquarian & modern
48.
Harte’s production is a mixture of sound sense and nonsense
[Harte (Walter)] Essays on Husbandry. Essay I. A General Introduction; shewing that Agriculture is
the Basis and Support of all flourishing Communities.... Essay II. An Account of some Experiments
tending to improve the Culture of Lucerne by Transplantation.... From whence it appears, that Lucerne
is an Article of great Importance in English Husbandry, London: Printed for W. Frederick in Bath.
And sold by J. Hinton....[etc.], 1764, FIRST EDITION, with 5 engraved plates, woodcuts in the text, pp.
xviii, [1, Errata], [2], 213, 232, 8vo, contemporary calf, double gilt fillets on sides, spine gilt ruled in
compartments, red lettering piece (small piece missing, affecting 1 letter), a trifle worn, but an excellent
copy (Fussell, More Old English Farming Books, pp.45-46; British Bee Books 114; Goldsmiths 9959;
Kress 6188; Perkins Agricultural Library lists the second edition, 1770, only, as does Hunt)
£500
‘A far more outstanding piece of work was written by the Rev. Walter Harte but issued without a signature.
Lord Chesterfield wrote of him in the highest terms and Johnson admired his companionable talents. Much
of the Essays in Husbandry is general discussion, and Harte displays a wide acquaintance with the extensive
literature of his subject, both English and Foreign, contemporary and classical. Interest in lucerne had been
of long standing even in Harte’s day, but it has still to become a plant that is generally grown in this country’
(Fussell).
49.
Henrion (Charles) Viellees de Momus, ou Recueil d’aventures, contes,
faits et gestes peu connus et intéressans. Par Henrion. Tome I [-II].
Paris: Caillot, An 13, 1805, FIRST EDITION(?), 2 vols. in 1, each with an
engraved frontispiece, a little spotting or browning here and there,
pp. 143, [1]; 138, [1], 12mo, original half dark green calf, rebacked in
brown morocco, boards rubbed, good £1,200
An unrecorded edition, possibly the first. WorldCat records 3 copies of an
1820 edition (2 in the BNF, 1 in Kentucky), which however only runs to 108
pages. It seems there are two variants, one with the author’s name, plain
Henrion, and the other with H*.
Little seems to be known of Henrion. He died in 1808, but the date of his
birth is unknown. He was a fairly prolific writer of comedies, often enough
‘mêlée de vaudevilles’. The clever little tales here are amusing, and treat of
topics such as cheating husbands and wives’ revenge. The title-page to the
first volume appears to be a cancel.
50.
[Holbach (Paul Henri Thiry, baron d’)] Ecce Homo! or, A critical inquiry into the History of Jesus
Christ, being a rational analysis of the Gospels. Translated from the French [by George Houston].
Printed for the Booksellers, 1799, with an engraved title-page incorporating a vignette, this, the
following leaf and the endleaves foxed, otherwise just a few scattered spots, pp. [i, engraved title], iv,
347, 8vo, uncut in the original boards, cloth spine renewed, paper label, ex-Wigan Public Library with
book-plate inside front cover, a note by the Librarian, blind stamp on title and 3 other leaves, good (ESTC
T80548)
£4,500
First edition in English of Histoire critique de Jésus-Christ, ou, Analyse raisonneé des Evangiles: Ecce homo
(1770), and a very rare book, owing to its having been suppressed. Houston, the translator (who states that
he had been unable to discover the author, and attribures the work to Nicolas Antoine Boulanger: Holbach
did in fact use Boulanger’s name as a pseudonym when he published Christianisme dévoilé in 1761) was
sentenced to two years imprisonment and fined two hundred pounds. ESTC records just the BL copy, WorldCat
adds Manchester, Stanford and Meadville-Lombard Theological School. There was a second edition in 1813,
and there is a recent critical edition. ‘Holbach was notorious in the 18th century for his atheism and for his
criticisms of Christianity ... and [he] continues to be a hero of defenders of atheism ... There is no doubt that
a great deal of what Holbach wrote was inflammatory and intended to be so. However, the fact that at least
some of his polemics, furious though they may have been, arose in the context of developing an account of
virtue should mitigate the impression of Holbach as a purely destructive thinker or (merely) a lover of scandal.
His criticism of religion, and of Catholicism in particular, is founded at least in part in the conviction that
religion is the source of vice and unhappiness and that virtue can only fostered in people who seek to preserve
themselves in the world of their immediate acquaintance’ (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).
17
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
51.
Homer. Ilias, id est, de rebus ad Troiam gestis. Paris: Apud Adr. Turnebum, 1554, some light spotting, a
piece of old paper pasted to blank area of title-page covering early ownership inscription of ‘G. Stringe,
1666’, pp. [iv], 554, [2], 8vo, old vellum, long edges overlapping, backstrip stamped ‘HOM / GS’ in blind,
soiled, modern bookplate mostly removed from front pastedown, endbands worn away, second flyleaf
with inscription ‘E libris Richardi Taylor typographi / ex dono Philippi Mallet / 1810’, good (Dibdin II
63-65; Adams H775; Bibliotheca Homerica Langiana A1)
£950
The famous and highly-regarded Turnebus edition of the Iliad, the only part of Homer for which Turnebus
actually published his text - though there survives as rare fragments a Batrachomyomachia and Hymns which
were apparently intended to close a never-completed Odyssey. It is ‘the first Parisian edition of the Iliad, which
scholars of early Greek printed editions have long considered a milestone in Homeric scholarship, and have
consequently accorded to Turnebè the distinction of being the founder of Homeric textual criticism in France’
(Lewis, Adrien Turnebè, p. 157)
Dibdin calls it ‘elegant and excellent...and particularly valuable as being the only volume of Homer ever
published by that learned printer’, and also notes that ‘the finest copy I ever saw was in an old lapping overvellum binding’ (Dibdin). John Holmes, who published a catalogue of his library in 1828, said that ‘nothing
can be more beautiful and accurate, than the [Iliad] printed in 1554, by Adrian Turnebus’ (p. 111).
This copy belonged to the esteemed and innovative printer Richard Taylor (1781-1852) - a partner in the
development of the steam press - of whom Dibdin wrote: ‘My friend Mr. Richard Taylor, “Typographus
doctissumus,” as Erasmus designates his friend Froben...shall yield to no living printer in a knowledge of dead
languages’ (Reminiscences of a Literary Life, I.519). Taylor was a man of wide learning and printed important
scientific works as well as accurate editions of the classics; this volume was given to him by Philip Mallet in the
year he was elected Under-Secretary of the Linnaean Society.
52.
The edition ‘marks a new æra’
Horace. Q. Horatius Flaccus. Ex fide, atque auctoritate decem librorum manuscriptorum, opera
Dionys. Lambini Monstroliensis emendatus: ab eodemque, commentariis copiosissimis illustratus,
nunc primum in lucem editus. Lyon: Apud Ioann. Tornaesium, 1561, some toning and foxing,
occasional minor staining in margins, last sequence of gatherings in part 1 (A-S) swapped with last
sequence in part 2 (Aa-Zz) during binding, hence irregular pagination (but contents complete including
blanks), early ink note on verso of front flyleaf, faded library stamp and early ownership inscription to
title, occasional early underlining, pp. [xvi], 368, 377-543, [11], 376, 369-493, [13], 4to, contemporary
blind-stamped pigskin, two brass clasps (broken) and mounts on foreedge, spine with four raised bands,
top compartment lettered in ink, darkened and a touch rubbed at edges, two corners gently worn, front
hinge cracking a little at title, good (Adams H907; Neuhaus p. 37; Riedel A34; Mills 168, 171) £1,000
The first Lambin edition of Horace, and an important milestone in the history of that text. It was the best
edition before Bentley’s and has not lost its importance even for modern readers and editors, due to Lambin’s
copious commentary and consultation of important manuscripts. ‘He had gathered illustrations of his author
from every source; and he had collated ten MSS, mainly in Italy. The text was much improved, while the notes
were enriched by the quotation of many parallel passages, and by the tasteful presentment of the spirit and
feeling of the Roman poet’ (Sandys).
Lambin demonstrated here a new type of criticism: ‘the readers he has foremost in mind are not schoolboys...
so much as his professional colleagues.... The judicious reading of the text of Horace is the business of
Lambin in his general comments as well as in his discussion of manuscript variants. He elucidates Horace’s
pronouncements on poetry by very exact, very cogent paraphrase which makes fine distinctions of meaning...’
(Cambridge Hist. of Lit. Crit., III, p. 76). Even the typography, like the editing, ‘marks a new aera’ (Dibdin) - the
poems are printed in full and followed by a commentary arranged by lemma, in place of the medieval tradition
of surrounding small portions of text with commentary; this is also ‘one of the first [editions] to use italics to
differentiate commentary from lemmas, boldface to distinguish the lemma itself ... All of these changes point
to an increased presence of the editor in shaping the text’ (Tribble, Marins and Marginality, pp. 66-67).
The signatures and two-part arrangement evidently confused the binder of this copy, since it has been
arranged with the last half of the second part at the end of the first, and vice versa; the signatures thus
run through three complete alphabets instead of the first part ending at S before the second starts again
immediately at A.
18
Antiquarian & modern
53.
(Juvenile. Mathematics.) The Multiplication Table, in
Verse. Embellished with Fifteen Copper-Plate Engravings,
to illustrate the Subject, and render it more engaging to
the Youthful Mind. Printed and sold by John Marshall,
December, 1807, ?FIRST EDITION, with letterpress title-page
and 15 etched plates incorporating an llustration and 4
lines of verse, minor spotting, 16mo, twentieth-century
half calf, good £1,800
The verses here are similar to, but distinct from, Nathan
Withy’s Tables appended to editions of his History of England,
and other works published mainly in the Midlands between
1777 and 1789. Clearly pedagogues have always been eager to
sweeten the pill of leaning the Tables by rote, and the versions
here are picturesque and utterly redolent of the period.
There were other similar efforts at the time, e.g. Marmaduke
Multiply's Merry Method of Making Minor Mathematicians,
published by John Harris. This is the earliest recorded edition
of this title, and there is only a single copy located by COPAC,
at Leeds University; no copies located by OCLC. The next
recorded edition was published in 1816.
54.
Keynes (John Maynard) A Revision of the Treaty. Being a Sequel to ‘The Economic Consequences of
Peace’. Macmillan, 1922, FIRST EDITION, light foxing to prelims, recurring to head of ads at rear, pp. viii,
223, [6, ads], 8vo, original blue cloth with blind-stamped double horizontal rule, backstrip lettered in
gilt and lightly faded with slight lean to spine, light rubbing to extremities, free endpapers browned,
good £60
55.
[Knox, (Vicesimus) editor] Elegant Extracts: or, useful and Entertaining Pieces of Poetry, Selected for
the Improvement of Youth, in Speaking, Reading, Thinking, Composing; and the Conduct of Life; being
similar in Design to Elegant Extracts in Prose. The Second Edition. Printed for Charles Dilly, 1790, Four
parts in two vols., 2 engraved title-pages, each with a vignette, the second without imprint, printed in
double columns, little foxing here and there, pp. iv, [iv], 464; 464,
[with:]
Elegant Extracts: or useful and entertaining Passages in Prose ... A New Edition. Dilly, [1789?], engraved
title-page, pp. xvi, [viii], 856,
[and:]
Elegant Epistles. Dilly, 1790, half-title discarded, pp. [iii]-xii, [12], 798, [2, ads], royal 8vo,
contemporary tree calf, gilt roll tooled Greek key borders on sides, spines gilt in compartments, red
lettering piece and small circular black numbering pieces (on Poetry), slightly worn, head and tail
caps of Prose particularly, ownership inscriptions of Thomas Hewett to blank endpapers, good (ESTC
T202397, Queen’s Oxford only in UK; T153926, BL only in UK; N7305)
£800
Knox was a controversial figure (though a fine headmaster) thanks to his espousal of women’s rights, and his
pacifism. His Extracts, here complete, were popular, yet early editons are rare, and the poetry less common
than the prose. The first engraved title-page in the Poetry state both ‘Second edition’ and ‘The 3rd edit.,
enlarged’. The ‘Elegant Epistles’ is described in ESTC as the ‘Large paper issue’ but there is no entry for a
corresponding regular issue, and although this copy matches the height given there it is uniform with the
other volumes and has normal margins.
56.
Laetus (Julius Pomponius) Romanae Historiae Compendium ab interitu Gordiani Iunioris usque ad
Iusti num. III. Venice: Per Bernardinum Venetum, 1499, FIRST EDITION, pinprick wormhole in margin
of last 8 leaves, small dampmark to upper corner, first page slightly dusty, library blindstamp to first and
last leaf, several marginal annotations in an early hand (a few shaved), ff. [60], 4to (201 x 153 mm), early
twentieth-century mid-brown calf, boards bordered with a triple gilt fillet, spine lettered vertically in
gilt, rubbed, large library bookplate to front pastedown, very good (ISTC il00024000 [this the Wigan PL
copy]; Goff L24; Bod-inc L-019; BMC V 549)
£3,500
19
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
The first edition of the Roman history compiled by Julius Pomponius Laetus (1425-1497) - sometimes called
Guilio Pomponio Leto, although this is just an Italianisation of his adopted humanist name, with his original
birth name unknown - and published posthumously with a life of the author by Marcantonio Sabellico. This
short compendium was immediately reprinted several times and later incorporated into an oft-republished
collection of historical sources assembled by Erasmus.
Laetus was one of the most famous humanist teachers of his day and strongly dedicated to a revival of classical
and pagan learning, which was an uneasier mix in Rome than in Florence: imprisoned by Pope Paul II for
practising pagan rites, he went on to be the first teacher of Pope Paul III, among other notable pupils. It is said
that he refused to learn Greek in order to avoid tainting his Latin style.
57.
Lever (Charles James) The Fortunes of Glencore. Chapman and Hall, 1857, FIRST EDITION, 3 vols.,
occasional minor foxing, tear in lower margin of 3rd leaf in vol. i neatly repaired, pp. x, 303; [ii], 296;
[ii], 311, [1], 8vo, full mid-tan polished calf by Bradstreet’s, spines richly gilt, contrasting lettering
pieces, top edges gilt, very good (Sadleir 1405; Wolff 4088)
£350
58.
Lucian of Samosata. Dialogorum selectorum libri duo graecolatini. Ingolstadt: Ex typographeo Adami
Sartori, 1605, old stamp to front pastedown, pp. [iii], 410, [3, blank], 8vo, contemporary calf, boards
ruled with a double black fillet, floral cornerpieces and central Jesuit devices, spine with four raised
bands, central sunburst tool in compartments, old manuscript paper label to top compartment, edges
gilt and gauffered, ties removed, slight cracking to front joint, tiny repairs to two corners, very good
(VD17 23:629687D)
£600
A scarce edition of selected dialogues by Lucian of Samosata, with the poems of Theognis of Megara
appended, in an attractive contemporary binding. The stamp on the front pastedown, ‘ES’ within a plain
border in purple, is found on some books from the important Donaueschingen Court Library of the Prince
of Fürstenberg, parts of which were sold at various auctions in the 1980s and 90s (although another stamp
containing the name of the library is usually also found in books from that source.
This is a scarce edition: COPAC lists only a copy in Birmingham, although there is also one in St John’s College,
Oxford; VD17 gives just three locations in Germany.
59.
McDonald (Patrick) A Collection of Highland
Vocal Airs, Never hitherto published. To which
are added a few of the most lively Country
Dances or Reels, of the North Highlands, &
Western Isles: And some Specimens of Bagpipe
Music. Edinburgh Printed for the publishers
and to be had at the Music Shops of Corri
and Sutherland, and N. Stewart, [1784], FIRST
EDITION, with engraved title-page and engraved
Dedication, 43 pages of engraved music, titlepage and Dedication foxed, engraved music
a little browned, pp. [4, engraved title and
Dedication, printed on rectos only], 22, [1], plus
43 pages of engraved music printed on recto and
verso, last leaf on recto only, folio, disbound,
good (Cannon’s Bibliography of Bagpipe Music I,
stating that there is a copy in NLS; ESTC N51075)
£2,000
A highly important collection. Although over
800 copies were subscibed for (60 alone for the
Highland Society of London, to whom the work
is dedicated), this is a very scarce book, not quite
as rare as the ESTC entry (Bodleian (2 copies) and
Harvard only) implies but still remarkably thin on
the ground: COPAC adds the Universities of Glasgow
20
Antiquarian & modern
and Edinburgh, WorldCat adds Bangor, UCLA, Penn State and the University of S. Carolina. There are 2 copies
in the NLS, in music collections not yet reported to ESTC. There are modern editions.
Patrick McDonald ‘wrote his parish’s account for Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland (1791-9) and
published the important Collection of Highland Vocal Airs (1784), which contained music he had collected
in Argyll, Perthshire, and, probably with Joseph [his brother] (who visited Patrick there), in Ross-shire,
while the Sutherland section, ‘North Highland Airs’, was Joseph's own; music from the Hebrides came from
correspondents. The successful collection, which went into five editions, contains the first printed versions of
various Scottish and Gaelic melodies, as well as music thought to be originally for bagpipe and clarsach (the
highland harp), which influenced many later figures, including Robert Burns, who wrote some of his poems
to its melodies ... Patrick was also farsighted in the presentation of the music, having grace-note stems up and
melody stems down, which later became standard pipe notation’ (ODNB).
‘The sections of McDonald's Preface in which he explains the principles upon which his Collection was
compiled are remarkable. Lucy Broadwood, Cecil Sharp, or any of the great collectors of the first revival, could
have been justifiably proud if they had written the same things more than a century later’ (Lewis Jones, Patrick
McDonald's Highland Vocal Airs, in English Dance & Song, September 1999).
The music is the airs only, without words. Most of the tunes have titles in Gaelic, and, some of these, English
translations.
60.
MacKenzie (Henry) The Man of Feeling. A New Edition. Hambourg
[Hamburg]: printed for Hoffmann, 1785, with an engraved
frontispiece by C.C. Glasbach after Daniel Chodowiecki, a few spots,
some quite dark (like rust marks) and obscuring a few letters, pp. 192
(including frontispiece), 8vo, contemporary calf, spine ruled in gilt,
red lettering piece, very good (ESTC T131914, 5 in the UK and 1 in
Szczecin Public Library)
£850
The first Continental printing in English of The Man of Feeling (first
edition, 1771): Hoffmann produced another edition in 1794. The name of
Hoffman survives to this day in the firm of Hoffmann und Campe Verlag.
The only contender for an earlier Continental printing, in translation, is
that probably printed in Paris in 1775 (ESTC T120532). ESTC records just
11 books published by Hoffman, the present book being the first, and the
second edition of it among the tally. 8 were in English, 3 in French; 1 in
the latter category published in conjunction with Joseph Johnson.
61.
Martino (Pietro di) Nuove istituzioni di aritmetica pratica. Naples: Paolo and Nicola di Simone, 1755,
occasional light foxing or spotting, one page with contemporary repair to outer margin,otherwise
clean and unpressed, pp. [viii], 237, [1, Tavola Pittagorica], [2, blank], 8vo, contemporary vellum, spine
lettered in ink; a little soiled and a trifle worn, very good £650
Rare: this edition not in Riccardi. A ‘buon corso di aritmetica elementare’ (Riccardi), current in Italy from the
1740s to the mid-nineteenth century. According to Riccardi the work first appeared in 1739 (the date of the
Licence). A geometrical equivalent appeared in 1740, a similarly long-lived textbook. Martino was one of the
the principal proponents of Newtonianism in Italy. He spent some time as professor of astronomy in Bologna
before returning to his native Naples in 1735. He died young at the age of 39 in 1748. The earliest edition in
ICCU is 1758; Worldcat locates one copy of this edition, in Switzerland.
62.
Meredith (George) Modern Love, and Poems of the English Roadside, with Poems and Ballads.
Chapman & Hall, 1862, FIRST EDITION, pp. viii, 216, foolscap 8vo, original green wavy-grain cloth,
corners a trifle worn, 2 old bookseller’s descriptions pasted to front free endpaper and below this a
bookplate, loosely inserted a small label stating ‘From the Library of Kenneth Clark, Saltwood’, near
fine (Buxton Forman 8; Hayward 271)
£450
The primary binding.
21
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
63.
Meredith (George) Diana of the Crossways. A Novel. Considerably enlarged from “The Fortnightly
Review.” In three volumes. Vol. I -[III]. Chapman and Hall Limited, 1885, FIRST COMPLETE EDITION,
3 vols., a little foxing, pp. viii, 344; vi, 335; vi, 330, 8vo, original terracotta cloth, decorative borders
blocked in black at top and bottom of upper covers, spines lettered in gilt, inner hinges of vol. ii
strengthened, corners bumped, the Esher copy with Oliver Brett’s armorial bookplate in each vol, good
(Buxton Forman 21; Sadleir 1691)
£200
‘It was Diana of the Crossways (1885) that finally gained Meredith significant popular acclaim. Readers could
see resemblances in the account of Diana Merion's tribulations to the close relationships of Caroline Norton
with Lord Melbourne (Lord Dannisburgh in the novel) and Sidney Herbert (Percy Dacier), and the allegation
that she betrayed a political secret (concerning the corn law repeal). Possibly because of threats of legal action
the serialization in the Fortnightly Review... was abruptly terminated after twenty-six chapters. There were
seventeen more in the three-volume version brought out by Chapman and Hall in February 1885—and
the novel went into two further editions before the end of the year. Diana's double disadvantage as an Irish
woman tapped into two highly topical issues, home rule and women's rights, on both of which Meredith
was increasingly drawn to make public pronouncement. In addition, like many of Meredith's novels, Diana
contains commentary on the aims and techniques of fiction, made particularly potent by Diana's being herself
a novelist dedicated to ‘reading the inner as well as exhibiting the outer’ (Diana, chap. 1)’ (ODNB).
64.
Meredith (George) [Works.] 11 Vols. Chapman and Hall, 1889-93, 8vo, more or less contemporary
polished calf, French fillets on sides, spines richly gilt in compartments, contrasting lettering pieces, by
Maclehose, slight damage to two lower covers, very good (Buxton Forman III 1)
£550
A handsome set. Variously ‘New Edition’ or ‘Colonial Edition’, but comprising the Chapman & Hall ‘Works’.
65.
Milton (John) Paradise Lost. A New Edition, by Richard Bentley, D.D. Printed for Jacob Tonson; and for
John Poulson; [et al.], 1732, FIRST EDITION, two engraved portrait plates, some light spotting, pp. [20],
399, [17], 4to, contemporary acid-mottled calf, sometime rebacked preserving original backstrip, new
red morocco label, the old leather reather worn and pitted, hinges relined, good (ESTC T133945) £500
Bentley’s notorious edition of Paradise Lost. ‘He was encouraged by Queen Caroline and quickly completed
his work. Successive reprintings had corrupted Milton's text, but Bentley's preface alleged ‘such monstrous
Faults, as are beyond Example in any other printed Book’ (sig. a2r), for which he blamed an interfering
editor. This hypothesis required he deny the existence of the manuscript he had consulted.... Having collated
carelessly and neglected authoritative editions, Bentley failed to correct Milton's text. What raised an outcry,
however, were his 800 emendations in the margin (plus some seventy expulsions of text in brackets) and his
notes defending this virtual rewriting. Bentley's audacity certainly stimulated interest in Milton's text, and
some scholars have thought his notes show ‘a great gift for getting hold of the right thing—by the wrong end’
(C. Ricks, Milton's Grand Style, 1963, 14).’
66.
Milton (John) Paradise Lost. A poem, in twelve books ... From the text of Thomas Newton D.D. [With:]
Paradise Regain’d. A poem, in four books. To which is added Samson Agonistes: and poems upon
several occasions. Birmingham: printed by John Baskerville for J. and R. Tonson, 1758, preliminary
blanks discarded, pp. [xxx], 416; [ii], lxx, 3-100, 102-163, [3], 166-390, 8vo, later mottled calf,
rebacked preserving some of original backstrips, labels and old backstrips rather chipped, new
endpapers, hinges cracked, edges gilt, sound (Gaskell 4a and 5a)
£250
The first Baskerville edition. There were issues in octavo and quarto.
67.
Milton (John) The Poetical Works of ... With a Memoir; Embellished with Engravings after Designs by
Fuseli, Westall, and Martin. Robert John Bush, 1867, with 6 engraved plates, pp. vii, 527, 8vo, original
brown cloth, blind stamped decoration on covers, gilt lettering and vignettes on spine, very good,
Edward Lear’s copy, signed by him on the title-page at Villa Emily, Sanremo £250
An association copy, and an interesting conjunction of illustrators, seemingly acquired by Lear not long into
his occupation of Villa Emily.
22
Antiquarian & modern
68.
(Minerva Press.) WELD (Isaac) Travels in North America yb [sic] ...
And through the American States, Country of the Iroquois, and Upper
Canda by the Duke La Rochefoucault Liancourt. Abridged by William
[Fordyce] Mavor. Printed at the Minerva Prss, for Lane, Newman, and
Co., [colphon:] Printed by J. Swan and Co.], 1807, with an engraved
frontispiece and 2 engraved plates, occasional soiling or staining, first
opening a little browned, pp. [viii], 279, [1], 12mo, contemporary calf
backed boards, vellum corners, worn, lower cover nearly detached,
ownership inscription (partly erased) on front free endpaper of John
Edlington of Utterby, Nr. Louth [Lincs] dated 1873 in a barely literate
hand, (Sabin 102540; see Roscoe, Newbery A335)
£850
An Advertisement at the beginning speaks of ‘the first twenty volumes of
Voyages and Travels’, this being Mavor’s Historical Account of the most
celebrated Voyages, 1797-1801. Of this series, this is vol. XXV, here re-issued
with the Minerva Press title-page. The verso of the last leaf has the tell-tale
direction to the binder, requesting him ‘not to beat the five Supplementary
Volumes, being but very recently printed, and the ink not sufficiently dry.’
69.
One of the most important works in the history of medicine, with a commonplace book attached
Morgagni (Giovanni Baptista) De sedibus et causis morborum per anatomen indagatis. [Two vols.
bound as one.] Venice: Remondini, 1761, FIRST EDITION, first title printed in red and black, both titles
with the same engraved vignette, with an engraved portrait frontispiece, scattered foxing and browning,
mainly mild, Birmingham Central Hospital Library stamp in numerous places but not overwhelming,
pp. [viii], ix-xcvi, [ii], 3-298, [2]; [ii], 3-452, with some 150 pp. manuscript at end (see below), folio,
twentieth-century half calf, red lettering piece on spine, ‘Birmingham Medical Institute’ in small gilt
letters at the foot of the spine, crack at head of upper joint, Johnstone family bookplate inside front
cover and a portion of the original front pastedown or flyleaf, recording the book as being James
Johnstone’s and a further inscription by his grandson John, dated 1834, good (Dibner 125; Garrison
Morton 2276; Grolier Medicine 46; Heirs of Hippocrates 792; PMM 206)
£7,500
‘One of the most fundamentally important works in the history of medicine. In it he reports in precise and
exhaustive detail his findings in nearly seven hundred autopsy dissections, introducing and insisting on the
concept that diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of disease must be based on an exact understanding of the
pathologic changes in the anatomic structures. It put the final rout to the old humoral pathology. Morgagni’s
contribution to the understanding of disease may well rank with the contributions of Vesalius in anatomy and
Harvey in physiology’ (Heirs of Hippocrates).
The text bears a number of annotations in Latin, one in English, and numerous underlinings &c, not
consistent throughout the massive tome but in every part of it. These are apparently in the hand of James
Johnstone of Galabank (1730-1802), whose medical commonplace book, begun in 1763 and ended in 1799,
occupies nearly 150 pages of manuscript bound at the end (the last 5 pages are an index in the Lockean style,
but it is not filled in). These comprise extracts from journals in French and English, précis of some in Latin,
drawn from all over Europe, with some commentary. A wide range of medical topics is covered, though
one subject recurs often, namely air, also in its chemical aspect. Several passages of Priestley are copied out.
Johnstone was a friend of Priestley, as also of Erasmus Darwin, and the latter is represented too. Other subjects
include travel (Cook, Bougainville), and there is a brief translation from the Lusiad.
Born and educated in Scotland, Johnstone moved south to Kidderminster in 1751. He ‘had an extensive
practice area, well beyond the town, reaching to Lichfield, Stafford, Shrewsbury, Birmingham, and
Wolverhampton. Among his illustrious patients were Lord Lyttelton of Hagley, Lord Chesterfield, Sarah
Siddons, Lord Hertford, and Samuel Richardson’ (ODNB).
70.
Morley (John, Viscount) The Works of. In Fifteen Volumes. MacMillan and Co., 1921, large 8vo,
contemporary half calf for Sotheran’s, spines richly gilt, contrasting lettering pieces, top edges gilt,
others uncut and largely unopened, spines a trifle faded, very good £500
Edition de Luxe, 500 for the UK and 250 for America.
23
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
71.
Nelson (John) An extract from John Nelson’s journal; being an account of God’s dealing with him from
his youth to the forty-second year of his age. Written by himself. Printed and sold at the New Chapel,
City-Road; and at the Rev. Mr. Wesley’s preaching-houses in town and country, 1789, a little thumbing
or soiling here and there, pp. iv, 5-144, 12mo, original sheep, slightly worn, very good (ESTC N31078: BL,
O, Harvard and Duke)
£600
This is perhaps the third edition, following those published by Paramore in 1782 and 1785, these also at
the Rev. Mr. Wesley’s Preaching-houses. ‘The epitaph added to Nelson’s tomb in 1910, describing him as
“coadjutor of John Wesley and pioneer of Methodism in Yorkshire” (Cradock, 311), recognizes that without
Nelson’s support John Wesley’s distinctive Methodist doctrines and discipline would not have gained such a
rapid ascendancy amid the plethora of religious societies which emerged from the evangelistic initiatives of
Moravians, Inghamites, and others in Yorkshire in the 1730s and 1740s’ (ODNB)
72.
[Newman (John Henry, Cardinal)] Loss and Gain. James Burns, 1848, FIRST EDITION, pp. [iv], 386,
[1, ads], 8vo, original blue fine-ribbed cloth, blocked with blind framing, titled in gilt on spine,
spine slightly faded and a little worn at either end, slightly shaken, blind stamp of Reeve’s Library,
Leamington, bookplate of Pitt house, later stamps of Blackfriars Library and the Rev. A.L. Deleure (the
last at the foot of the title-page), good (Wolff, Gains and Losses, pp. 43-60; Sadleir 1825; Wolff 5096a, ‘a
very rare book’)
£1,750
Newman’s first novel. In spite of the emphatic declaration in the advertisment that ‘the following tale is
not founded on fact’, ‘the book is partly autobiographical, not least in its preoccupation with finding a real
as opposed to unreal religion. The hero's discovery of the objective reality of Catholic worship was meant
to reflect Newman's own experience after his conversion, particularly his fascination with the reservation
of the sacrament making Christ ‘really’ present in every Catholic church. The inconsistencies of the
comprehensiveness of the Church of England and of Anglo-Catholicism are amusingly satirized in what are
probably the most memorable parts of a novel of which the chief claim to originality lies in the introduction of
a new kind of introspective self-questioning into English fiction’ (ODNB). It is moreover something of a roman
à clef, with various Oxford characters easily identifiable.
73.
[Newman (John Henry, Cardinal)] Callista, A Tale of the Third Century. London: Burns and Lambert.
Cologne: J.P. Bachem, 1856, FIRST EDITION, with a woodcut frontispiece and an additional title-page
within wodcut border, this pair becoming loose, pp. iv, 296, small 8vo, contemporary German half
maron morocco, large crowned monogram in gilt at the centre of the upper cover, Queen Marie of
Hanover’s copy, with her stamp in red to the verso of the additional title, very good £800
‘Callista remains interesting as an imaginative attempt to recreate the world of the primitive church - in this
case third-century Africa - where an analogy between the situation of the early Christians facing persecution
in the Roman empire and that of Catholics in nineteenth-century Britain is clearly intended to strike the
reader. But it is also a much more profound exploration of the process of conversion (here from unbelief to
Christian faith) than that of his earlier Loss and Gain, as well as containing a strikingly existential theology of
hell’ (ODNB). Page iv carries an Advertisement in which the still anonymous author states ‘Since the Volume
has been in print, the author finds that his name has got abroad.’ It is curious therefore that the name of the
author given on the spine is (Cardinal) Wiseman.
74.
Newman (John Henry, Cardinal) Apologia pro vita sua: A Reply to a Pamphlet [by C. Kingsley]
entitled ‘What then, does Dr. Newman mean?’ Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1864,
FIRST EDITION IN THE ORIGINAL 8 WEEKLY PARTS, small chip out of top margin of last page of last part
(adhering to the wrapper), pp. 430 (the first 7 parts paginated continuously); 127, iv, 8vo, uncut and
unopened in the original printed wrappers, careful repair to top portion of spine of one part, preserved
in a chemise and full brown morocco pull-off case, bookplate (attached to chemise) of Harold Greenhill
and of Bradley Martin (loose), fine £5,500
‘On 30 December 1863 Newman was sent anonymously a copy of the January number of Macmillan's
Magazine, containing a review by the Revd Charles Kingsley (1819-1875), a successful novelist and regius
professor of modern history at Cambridge, in which he accused Newman in particular, and the Roman
Catholic church in general, of preferring cunning to truth. The ensuing correspondence with the publisher
24
Antiquarian & modern
and Kingsley was published by Newman as a satirical pamphlet in February 1864 and elicited a highly
favourable review by the literary critic R. H. Hutton, who scornfully dismissed Kingsley's pamphlet of
rejoinder. Long used to aspersions on his integrity, Newman now decided to take advantage of an attack by
such a well-known public figure to write an apologia for his conversion, which would finally convince the
protestant public that he had not been an agent for popery as a Tractarian and that his submission to Rome
was entirely sincere. The resulting classic autobiography - more theological than spiritual - appeared in
weekly pamphlets to take advantage of the publicity aroused by the controversy. The pressure was enormous,
but Newman shared the strain of remembering the Oxford Movement with old Anglican friends, who lent
him letters and offered advice and criticism. The pamphlets were published as a volume in 1864 entitled
Apologia pro vita sua. In the last chapter Newman undertook a general defence of Catholicism, particularly
the infallibility of the church, which he directed not only at protestants and sceptics, but also more covertly at
Catholic ultramontanes, against whom he urged a balanced theology of authority and freedom, in which the
interaction, even conflict, of the magisterium and the theologians was depicted as creative and necessary for
the life of the church’ (ODNB).
A remarkable copy, not improbably described in one of its appearances at auction as ‘almost as fresh as on the
day of publication - believed to be one of the finest copies in existence.’
75.
Ogilby (John); Owen (John); Bowen (Emanuel, engraver) Britannia depicta or Ogilby improv’d; being
a correct coppy of Mr. Ogilby’s actual survey of all ye direct & principal cross roads in England and
Wales: wherein are exactly delineated & engraven, all ye cities, towns, villages, churches, seats &c.
scituate on or near the roads, with their respective distances in measured and computed miles. [...]
The whole for its compendious variety & exactness, preferable to all other books of roads hitherto
published or proposed; and calculated not only for the direction of the traveller [as they are] but the
general use of the gentleman and tradesman. Printed for & sold by Tho: Bowles. 1720 [i.e. 1721,] FIRST
EDITION, second issue, moderately browned throughout, one page cropped just within plate-mark
(affecting only the page-number on one side), pp. [vi], 273, 8vo, contemporary panelled calf, sometime
rebacked with sheep preserving old (darkened and chipped) backstrip, rubbed and worn at edges and
corners, booklabel ‘E.S. 192.’ on front pastedown, with old ownership inscription of AM Patten, sound
(Chubb CXLVIII; ESTC N15579)
£900
The second issue of Owen and Bowen’s popular reduction of Ogilby’s 1675 folio original (which indeed
renders it more useful to any actual traveller). It differs from the first issue only in that the imprint has been
25
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
corrected (although the date remains the same), two page numbers have had their positions corrected, and a
note concerning Stony Stratford has been added to p. 53. Another issue, still dated 1720 on the title, appeared
a few years later, and later editions followed throughout the eighteenth century.
76.
Patoun (Archibald) A Compleat Treatise of Practical Navigation, Demonstrated from its First
Principles; together with all Necessary Tables. To which are added, The Useful Theorems of
Mensuration, Surveying, and Gauging; with their Applications to Practice. Written for the Use of the
Academy in Tower-Street, Printed for R. Willock, 1730, FIRST EDITION, with a folding engraved plate,
diagrams in the text, tear in plate which is frayed at the fore-edge, without loss, a bit of foxing at either
end and occasionally elsewhere, pp. viii, 353, [7], 57, [1, blank], 106 (last 2 pages being The Contents),
8vo, original calf, double gilt fillets on sides, spine gilt ruled in compartments, paper lettering piece,
without flyleaves, rubbed and worn, headcap lacking, sound (ESTC N4935, 4 copies only: not in BL;
T151060 is a variant with just 51 leaves in the final part, or perhaps just lacking the final 1 p. Table and
Contents: one copy, in Germany)
£600
The rare first edition of this textbook, which reached an 8th edition in 1770: in fact, the first few editions
are all recorded in a very few copies. The Academy in Tower-Street was Thomas Watts’s. ‘He first appears as
author of An Essay on the Proper Method of Forming the Man of Business (1716), setting out the curriculum
of the school he was about to found in Abchurch Lane... Watts seems to have had substantial funds, as about
1719, in partnership with Benjamin Worster (1685-c.1725), he moved the school to purpose-built premises in
Little Tower Street, with an existing large house for boarders. Watts taught bookkeeping; both men lectured
on natural philosophy... The academy, as it became known, flourished, employing more staff, among whom
were James Stirling, James Thomson, and Watts’s brother William, who had taken over the school by 1730’
(ODNB). Little seems to be known about Patoun, although he was an FRS.
The publisher’s premises were ‘at Sir Isaac Newton’s Head in Cornhill,’ this just three years after the great
man’s death.
77.
Penn (William) The Sandy Foundation Shaken: or, Those so generally believe and applauded
Doctrines, of One God, subsisting in three distinct and separate Persons, the impossibility of God’s
pardoning sinners, without a plenary satisfaction, the justification of impure persons by an imputative
Righteousness, Refuted. Printed in the year, 1668, FIRST EDITION, short wormtrail in lower margin (often
just touching a character but with no loss of sense) reinforced on the first 8 leaves with clear tape, light
browning and a few foxspots, pp. 36, 4to, extracted from a volume and preserved in a folding case,
sound (ESTC R38009)
£3,500
William Penn’s third publication, written the same year as the first two, and the catalyst of an important
turning point in the then 24-year-old’s life. Penn’s previous two tracts were both dissenting and polemical,
but they only hinted at the controversy he would embrace with this work, which ‘logically followed Penn’s
doubts on the Trinity and tested the grounds for the rejection of the divinity of Christ’ (ODNB). Penn (together
with the printer) was promptly arrested, charged with Socinianism, and sentenced to time in the Tower; he
quickly wrote a pamphlet softening his position and denying the more extreme accusations, and was released
after nine months. But it was during this time in the Tower that he was able to compose his rules for Quaker
behavior, his most important and enduring early work, which appeared under the title ‘No Cross, No Crown’
in 1669.
Pepys, who followed Penn’s controversial public life from the beginning, got hold of a copy of ‘Sandy
Foundation’ and reported: ‘Pelling hath got me W. Pen’s book against the Trinity. I got my wife to read it to me;
and I find it so well writ as, I think, it is too good for him ever to have writ it, and it is a serious sort of book,
and not fit for every body to read’ (Pepys’ Diary, 12 Feb. 1668/9).
78.
‘Plutarch’. Apoftemmi di Plutarco, ...Tradotti in lingua Toscana per M. Gio. Bernardo Gualandi
Fiorentino. Venice: Appresso Gabriel Giolito de Ferrari, 1567, title-page slightly dusty, faint toning
elsewhere, a few leaves with a small old repair in margins, pp. [xxviii], 632, 4to, later vellum boards,
long edges overlapping, soiled, label lost from spine, a few surface wormholes to spine, modern
booklabel to front pastedown, good (CNCE 26529)
£350
The third issue of this collection of apophthegmata (it exists with three title-pages, identical apart from the
dates 1565, 1566, and 1567). Translated by Giovanni Bernardo Gualandi, supposedly from Plutarch, it is in
26
Antiquarian & modern
fact a collection of bits and pieces from multiple sources, though Erasmus is prominent among them - who
himself compiled his own Apophthegmata from multiple sources, prominent among them Plutarch. This was
a long-established process; the ‘Apophthegmata Laconica’ from Plutarch’s ‘Moralia’ had been included in
similar collections since the incunable period, the most prominent the one translated into Latin by Franciscus
Philelphus.
79.
Pufendorf and Bacon Sammelband
Pufendorf (Freiherr Samuel von) Von Natur und Eigenschafft Der Christl. Religion und Kirche
in Ansehen des Bürgerlichen Lebens und Staats: Einigen Hohen Standes-Personen Zu Gefallen In
Teutscher Sprache ausgefertiget durch Immanuel Webern. Printed in Zwickau by Christian Bittorff for
Johann Friedrich Gleditsch, Leipzig, 1688, 4 works in 1 vol, title of the Pufendorf printed in red and
black, Bacon with an engraved frontispiece, pp. [xxx], 395, [1],
[bound with:]
Bacon (Sir Francis) Fürtrefflicher Staats- Vernunfft- und Sitten-Lehr-Schriften I. Von der Alten Weißheit.
II. Etliche Einrahtungen, aus den Sprüchen Salomonis. III. Die Farben (oder Kennzeichen) des Guten
und Bösen| ... Nuremberg: Michael Enger, 1654, pp. [xxviii], 286, [9], 12mo,
[and two other contemporaneous German theological works], late seventeenth-century vellum, ink
lettering on spine now illegible, good (Bacon: Gibson 101)
£2,000
An interesting conjunction of texts. The Pufendorf is the rare German translation by the jurist Immanuel
Weber, of De habitu religionis Christianæ ad vitam civilem, translated more or less contemporaneously
into English as Of the nature and qualification of Religion, in reference to civil society. The Bacon is the first
translation into German of De sapientia veterum. The former is rare (no copy outside Europe in Worldcat,
none in UK libraries) and the latter distinctly uncommon. The frontispiece to the Bacon is a rather fine Baroque
image of a group of savants contemplating the reflection of the sun in a small pond.
80.
(Quackery.) VAN CLAUTERBANK (Waltho, pseud.) [drop title:] To the Afflicted. [No place, publisher or
date, but c.1800, broadside, a couple of small spots, p. [1], 4to (265 x 185mm), unbound, excellent £450
An apparently unrecorded version of this extraordinary diatribe, usually printed under the title ‘The High
German Doctor’s Speech’, first in about 1760. Of the three printings listed in ESTC all are recorded in single
copies only (although Wellcome have two of them as well). Chamber’s Book of Days attributes this speech
to Joseph Haines, the actor, following the example of Rochester, but his dates (d. 1701) are difficult to square
with the date of the first publication of Van Clauterbank’s extravagant oration.
This is a positively Rabelasian spoof of a Quack’s self-promotional puffery. Only a page in length, it is densely
printed, and takes a while to read through, the time lengthened by fits of laughter and gasps of amazement.
The exotic Van Clauterbank can cure everything, including those who have had their brains beaten out, and
those decapitated, but the main object of his cures are achieved by ‘the chiefest antipudenda gregagarian
specific in Venus’s regalia.’ Famous patients restored to complete health include Prester John’s godmother (‘a
tremendous dolor about the os sacrum’), and ‘one hundred and fifty eunuchs in the seignior’s seraglio’ were
restored to virility ‘and the comforts of generation.’ In fact, since the cure of ailments in Venus’s regalia are so
curable and are accomplished ‘with as much pleasure as the same was contracted ... it is worth any person’s
while to get this modish distemper once a fortnight.’
81.
[Salvard, or Salvart (Jean-François, editor)] An Harmony of the Confessions of
the Faith of the Christian and Reformed Churches, which purelie professe the
holy doctrine of the Gospell in all the chiefe kingdomes, nations, and prouinces
of Europe: the catologue and order whereof the pages following will declare.
There are added in the ende verie shorte notes: in which both the obscure
thinges are made plaine, & those thinges which maie in shew seeme to be
contrarie each to other, are plainelie and verie modestlie reconciled, and if anie
points doe as yet hang in doubt, they are sincerelie pointed at. All which things,
in the name of the Churches of Fraunce and Belgia, are submitted to the free
and discrete iudgement of all other Churches. Newlie translated out of Latine
into English. Also in the end is added the confession of the Church of Scotland.
Alowed by publique authoritie. [With notes by Simon Goulart.] [Cambridge:]
27
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
Imprinted by Thomas Thomas printer to the Vniuersitie of Cambridge, 1586, woodcut initials and
headpieces, a little damp-stained in places, cut fairly close but without any loss, outer leaves slightly
soiled, the first (title-page) laid down, [xxxvi], 111, 202-593 [i.e. 609], [40]; 24, [4], 8vo, nineteenthcentury calf, sometime rebacked in tan morocco, signature on title of Samuel Prince, note on fly-leaf
opposite “Duplicate”, S.P., good (ESTC S107818, NLS and Glasgow only in Scotland)
£2,500
A translation of: Harmonia confessionum fidei orthodoxarum & reformatarum ecclesiarum, edited by Salvart
and published in 1581. The Scottish Confession at the end, having a separate register, is sometimes wanting,
although called for on the title-page. The Scots Confession was drawn up by six Johns, John Winram, John
Spottiswoode, John Willock, John Douglas, John Row, with John Knox as the superintendent: the last usually
gets the credit for the work.
82.
Sandabad (attrib.) Roman Stories; or The History of the Seven Wise Masters of Rome: containing seven
days entertainment, in many pleasant narrations wherein the treachery of evil counsellors is discovered,
innocency cleared, and the wisdom of the seven wise masters displayed. The fifth edition. T. Sabine
and Son, [c. 1800,] with a pair of woodcuts as frontispiece and 12 woodcuts in the text (including the
2 of the frontispiece repeated), 3 leaves printed too close to the fore-edge (not cropped: see below),
uncut, pp. 84, 8vo, stitched in original printed wrappers with woodcut on upper cover, publisher’s
advertisements on lower, very good (ESTC N71628 - BL only - or T300965 - Oxford only; Worldcat
apparently adds Harvard and Cincinnati)
£500
‘The history of the seven wise masters’ is ‘a collection of oriental stories, dating from at least the tenth century,
which was reproduced in many different versions,’ according to ESTC. The woodcuts are wildly and variously
anachronistic. The title was published a few times in the eighteenth century, seemingly always with misleading
edition statements. There is no other edition by Sabine recorded.
A remarkable survival, in original condition, exhibiting the shortcomings of the cheapest of printing.
Gathering E is untrimmed, like all the others, but in this case the sheet was evidently not quite as large as the
forme, so that the print runs right to the edge, or just beyond, the deckled fore-edges.
83.
Scott (Andrew) Poems, chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. Edinburgh: Printed for the Author, by T. Oliver,
Netherbow. And sold by William Creech, 1805, FIRST EDITION, with woodcut vignette on title,
‘Contents’ a woodcut cartouche, and with 16 woodcut head- and tail-pieces, all these in the Bewick
style, small piece torn from head of B5 (not affecting text), a trifle browned, pp. 215, Errata slip pasted
onto blank verso of last leaf, small 8vo, nineteenth-century black morocco, single gilt fillet on sides,
rebacked, longitudinal red morocco lettering piece on spine, top edges gilt, signature on front free
endpaper of one Alfred J. Scott, Born 1/8/1901, seemingly written in advanced old age, small book label
of J.O. Edwards inside front cover, Errata corrected in pencil at a fairly early date, good £1,200
A very rare ‘Poems, chiefly in the Scottish Dialect’, by Andrew Scott, of Bowden (by Melrose). He was the son
(he tells us in the Preface) of a day-labourer ‘remarkable for nothing but the facetiousness of his disposition
and an untutored poetic genius.’ The father died when he was twelve. ‘By the blessings of Providence, and the
piety, industry and frugality of his mother, she was enabled to bring up her children in a decent manner.’ In
the winter months Scott attended school, and the summers were spent herding. This edition was published
by subscription: heading the list are the Duke and Duchess of Roxburgh, but these and the Earl of Buchan are
the only aristocratic subscribers, most of whom were Borderers (apparently the entire population of Bowden),
and some of whom were quite humble - labourers, gardeners, joiners, weavers, and servants among them.
There are not many Esquires, but among them ‘Walter Scott, Esq. advocate, Asha Stiel, 2 copies.’ Ashestiel was
the property near Selkirk that Scott leased between 1804 and 1811, before he embarked on Abbotsford. The
Poems were popular, and other editions appeared in Edinburgh, Kelso and Jedburgh.
Andrew Scott acknowledges Burns: “Robert Burns, whose matchless talen’/Nane can outshine.” Not only are
many of the poems in Burnsian stanzas, some of the themes and tropes reflect those of Burns. Thus we have
‘The Twa Frogs’, in which a pair of the amphibians contemplate the consequences of a French invasion. Scott
had participated in the American War of Independence, as a volunteer in the 80th Foot (Royal Edinburgh
Volunteers). Two of the poems, one a song rather, composed in America appear here: The Major and the
Soger’s Wife, begins: ‘Twas when Columbian war was hot’, and Betsy Rose - begins ‘Adieu sweet orchards in
fair Statan [sic] Island’,
28
Antiquarian & modern
84.
Seneca. Tragoediae. Animadversionibus et notis marginalibus fideliter emendatae atque illustratae.
Excudebat Felix Kingstonius impensis Gulielmi Welby, 1613, FIRST FARNABY EDITION, last leaf dusty,
cut down slightly, and with blank verso mounted, penultimate leaf with a small area torn from blank
corner, some spotting and soiling elsewhere, initial blank discarded, pp. [vi], 96, 87-206, 176, 181228, [16], 8vo, nineteenth-century sheep in antique style, bordered with blind rolls, darkened and a bit
rubbed, label lost from spine, signature excised from front pastedown, short crack to upper joint, sound
(ESTC S117120)
£450
The first edition of Seneca’s tragedies edited Thomas Farnaby (1574-1647) for the use of schoolboys. Farnaby
was called by Wood ‘the chief Grammarian, Rhetorician, Poet, Latinist and Grecian of his time’ (quot. in
ODNB), and his notes on Seneca remained standard accompaniments to the text throughout the following
century in Europe as well as England. The laudatory poems at the end include one by Ben Jonson, and Farnaby
returned the favour by praising Jonson in the preface to his 1615 Martial.
85.
Sewell (Anna) Black Beauty: Hid Grooms and Companions.
The Autobiography of a Horse. Translated from the original
Equine. Jarrold and Sons, [1877], FIRST EDITION, wood-engraved
frontispiece, 8pp. publisher's advertisements at end, some foxing,
textblock almost broken between gatherings G and H, pp. viii, 247,
[1], [8, ads], 8vo, original brick-red cloth with design and lettering
in gilt and black on upper cover and spine (variant of Carter's ‘B’
binding with the horse’s head facing right and printed in black),
hinges split, extremities worn, preserved in a brick red morocco
backed folding (a fairly good match for the binding), sound (Carter,
More Binding Variants, pp. 37-38 )
£6,500
A copy of the first edition in an unrestored and extremely rare binding.
Carter describes three bindings. Binding A and B he suggests are
‘undoubted primaries, while C may be a simultaneous style or may
be a later one.’ The third binding is ‘comparatively common’ but ‘A
and B are so rare that deductions are inevitably conjectural.’ It is now
generally accepted that the A binding was used for presentation copies and that the B binding was used for the
regular published edition. It is the rarest of the three bindings: Carter only saw one (noting titling in gilt, rather
than black as here).
86.
Shakespeare in Paris
Shakespeare (William) Poems. [London:] Reprinted for Thomas
Evans [and] Paris: Barrois jeune, [1775], Paris imprint stamped in red,
engraved portrait of Shakespeare by A. Bannerman on title-page, some
foxing, pp. [ii], viii, 250, 8vo, contemporary tan speckled calf, double
gilt fillets on sides, lacking lettering piece, worn, spine defective at head
and tail, charming engraving, dated (designed) 1767, after Querverdo
pasted onto front free end-paper depicting a putto handing to a young
lady seated on a rock in a pastoral setting a sheet with the words ‘à
l’Humanité’, sound (Jaggard p. 435)
£2,000
This is essentially ESTC T138089, but the addition of the Paris imprint seems
to be unrecorded. The same addition is found in an edition of Thomson’s
Seasons, 1773 (2 copies only in ESTC), to which there is an uncontrolled
note attached: ‘Uncertain if the stamped Paris imprint indicates a special
edition or just an opportunistic advertisement by Barrois. At present this is
considered a possible “edition”’. At any rate, this is an interesting example
of marketing Shakespeare in late 18th-century France. The date is asserted
by Jaggard, who remarks: ‘This edition was printed in the same style as
Capell’s 1767-68 edition of the Works, and intended to be supplementary
to it. Perhaps editied by E. Capell.’ ‘Apart from his submissions to the Society of Artists exhibitions of 1773 and
1774 nothing more is heard of Bannerman’ (ODNB).
29
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
87.
Shakespeare (William) King Lear, A Tragedy: altered from Shakspeare by David Garrick ... Marked with
the Variations in the Manager’s Book: at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane Printed for C. Bathurst, J.
F. & C. Rivington, L. Davis, W. Owen & Son, B. White & Son, [and 25 others in London including E.
Newbery], 1786, with an engraved frontispiece, frontispiece trimmed at fore-margin but not affectin
main image, some foxing, pp. 67, [5, ads], 12mo, disbound (Jaggard p. 358; ESTC T62767)
£600
A revision of Nahum Tate’s ‘The history of King Lear’ by the restoration of much of Shakespeare’s original
text. Though Garrick appeared as Lear some 40 years previously, a performance considered by many
contemporaries as his finest tragic role, his name did not appear on the title-page of any edition until this one,
though an edition of 1779 had a frontispiece of ‘Mr. Garrick as King Lear.’ He appears here at the head of the
Dramatic Personae, but had of course died in 1779.
Accompanying the pamphlet, for no apparent reason are the Rules of the Trinity College Shakespeare Society,
dated Michaelmas Term, 1899, a small society devoted to the reading of Shakespeare’s Dramatic Works: not
found in COPAC.
88.
Skogman (Carl Johan Alfred) Fregatten Eugenies Resa Omkring Jorden åren
1851-1853, under befäl af C. A. Virgin. Stockholm: Adolf Bonnier, 1854, FIRST
EDITION, 2 vols. in 1, with three folding tinted maps, and 20 lithographs (18
coloured) and numerous woodcuts, a few ink (or other) stains (mostly opposite
plates, and there is perhaps a connection to the printing process), pp. vi, 250; [vii],
224, [2], 8vo, modern half green morocco, lettered in gilt on the spine, good (Hill
1578)
£250
The official account of the voyage of the Eugenie, the first Swedish circumnavigation,
with particularly good accounts of the expedition's stops in Honolulu, Tahiti, San
Francisco, Sydney and Manila, with shorter notices on various South American ports,
the Galapagos, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Cape of Good Hope.
89.
Smith (Adam) Recherches sur la Nature et les Causes de la Richesse des Nations... Traduction nouvelle,
avec des notes et observations; par Germain Garnier. [5 vols.] Paris: Chez H. Agasse, 1802, FIRST EDITON
OF THIS TRANSLATION, engraved portrait frontispiece in vol. i, Hungarian ownership stamp to flyleaf,
half-title, and title-page in each vol. (‘Gyulai Gaal Gaston Könyvtára’), pp. [iv], cxxvii, [i], 368, [2]; [iv],
493, [5]; [iv], 564, [2]; [iv], 556, [2]; [iv], 588, [2], 8vo, contemporary marbled paper boards, pink paper
lettering pieces to spines, a little bit scuffed, slight chipping to a few headcaps, edges yellow, good £600
Not the first French translation of the Wealth of Nations (in fact the third), but the most important and
influential by far. Jean-Baptiste Say called it ‘the only one that is worthy of the original’, and ‘one may suspect
that Garnier’s understanding of Smith played a tacit but significant role in the development of economic
science in Continental Europe’ (Force, ‘First Principles in Translation’, History of Political Economy 38:2, pp.
320-1).
‘It is rare in French intellectual history for such an important figure to translate a British academic book with
such devotion’ (Lai, Adam Smith Across Nations, p. 62), and Garnier remained devoted to Smith, reiterating
his support in the second edition of 1822 and refuting criticisms from Malthus and Ricardo. ‘In these ways
Garnier’s work (which was read exclusively on the Continent), certainly contributed to establish and defend
the prestige of the Smithian orthodoxy’ (Fontana, Rethinking the Politics of Commercial Society, p. 70).
90.
30
Spenser (Edmund) The Faerie Queen: The Shepheards Calendar: together with the other works of
England's Arch-poët ... collected into one volume, and carefully corrected. Printed by H[umphrey]
L[ownes] for Mathew Lownes, 1617, title within elaborate woodcut border, large woodcut device to
title of the Second Part of the Faerie Queen (this dated 1613), numerous woodcut head- and tail-pieces,
bound in the following order, Section I, IV, II, III, VII, V, VI, with the blank leaves, general title and
Dedication reinforced at lower inner margin, the former with a small fragment adhering to the fly-leaf
opposite, the latter with the headpiece just trimmed at the outer margin, rust hole in A6 of Section II
with the loss of 2 letters on the verso, paper flaw in X6 in Section III with 2 small resultant holes, 1 in
a blank area, the other casing minor loss to the tailpiece (the flaw centred on the watermark), repair
to tear in 2A6 in the same Section a little crudely repiared, without loss, a few minor stains, last leaf
Antiquarian & modern
a bit soiled on verso, blank leaf at beginning of Section II a bit soiled on recto and with an ink blot,
pp. [iv]; [xvi]; [ii], 363, [3, the last 2 blank]; ff. 68; pp. [x], 56; 16, folio in 6s, eighteenth-century calf,
double gilt fillets on sides, rebacked, spine richly (if somewhat indistinctly) gilt, two eighteenth-century
Irish ownership inscriptions on general title-page, one ‘John Bainbridge, A.B., T.C.D.’ and his armorial
bookplate inside front cover, the other of the dramatist MacNamara Morgan, good (Johnson 19, all
Sections B except VI which is A; STC (2nd ed.) 23085 &c; ESTC S122304) £1,750
Second collected edition (a phrase which is accurate enough but veils a host of bibliographical complexities:
see Johnson), otherwise, a reissue of STC 23084, with cancel general title page and dedication. An above
average copy for condition. 'The Faerie Queene was a new departure in the history of English poetry, being a
combination of Italian romance, classical epic, and native English styles, principally derived from Chaucer.
Spenser signalled this by inventing a new stanza (which has come to be known as the Spenserian stanza), a
hybrid form adopted from the Scots poetry of James I, 'rhyme royal', and Italian 'ottava rima' ... Spenser's work
has had an enormous influence over the course of English poetry in the four centuries since his death. His
most widely read poem has been The Faerie Queene, which any aspiring English poet has felt obliged to read
carefully and imitate. But The Shepheardes Calender and much of Complaints have also had a major impact (it
is one of the great clichés of literary criticism that Spenser's shorter poems would be far better known had he
not written The Faerie Queene) ... W. B. Yeats, who edited an important selection of Spenser's poetry in 1906,
wrote an influential preface to that work arguing that Spenser has to be divided up into the sensitive poet
who appreciated the beauties of Ireland and the brutal colonizer who sought to impose his narrow-minded
English will on the natives. Yeats's version of Spenser is essentially repeated in the critical works of C. S. Lewis,
undoubtedly the most widely read Spenser critic of the twentieth century. Spenser featured more in the work
of Irish and Scottish writers than of English at the end of the twentieth century, notably in that of Seamus
Heaney, George MacBeth, and Brendan Kennelly, who regarded Spenser in the same ambiguous way as Yeats
did' (Andrew Hadfield in ODNB).
91.
With a letter to ‘Silly Billy’
Stanhope (Philip Dormer, 4th Earl of Chesterfield) Letters written ... to his Son, Philip Stanhope, Esq;
late Envoy Extraordinary at the Court of Dresden: together with several other pieces on various subjects.
Published by Mrs. Eugenia Stanhope, from the originals now in her possession. In two volumes. In Two
Volumes. Printed for J. Dodsley. 1774, FIRST EDITION, FIRST STATE (erratum on p.55 of vol. i uncorrected),
engraved frontispiece in vol. i, bound without errata leaf in vol. ii (but with a blank leaf of matching
paper in its place), some light foxing, embossment of Grendon Hall, 1850 (then belonging to Sir George
Chetwynd, 3rd Baronet) to title-page, pp.[iv], vii, [i], 568; [iv], 606, 4to, modern biscuit calf, spines
gilt with red morocco lettering pieces, circular red morocco numbering pieces on green morocco
grounds, new endpapers preserving old bookplates of William Frederick, 2nd Duke of Gloucester and
Edinburgh, on front and rear pastedowns (the front his arms, the rear his monogram), a manuscript
letter (written on four sides of one folded sheet and one side of an additional loose half-sheet; see below)
loosely inserted, very good (ESTC T136181; Gulick *2A; Rothschild 596)
£600
The first state of the first edition of Stanhope’s famous letters to his son, which ‘brought more lasting fame, as
well as censure, than all his political achievements’ and have been called ‘one of the world’s permanent books
… an exquisite flower of civilisation’ (ODNB); this copy with royal provenance and an interesting manuscript
letter inserted. There was a press correction in the middle of the print run, according to Gulick (with suriviving
copies split roughly half-and-half), this being the earlier version with the error uncorrected.
Loosely inserted is a manuscript copy of a substantial letter to the owner of the volume, Prince William
Frederick, later Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh. The letter is dated ‘Woolmers - 6th Aug. 1800’ and signed
‘C Grey’. Woolmers, in Hertfordshire, was at the time owned by the brewer and politician Samuel Whitbread
(the younger, 1764-1815), so this can only be Charles Grey (1764-1845), later Prime Minister, Whitbread’s
schoolfriend and brother-in-law. Grey advises William that it is for the best not to have been chosen for the
upcoming expedition (this being the failed blockade of Ferrol at the end of August) since the writer ‘augur[s]
most ill of it, and wish not those I love, esteem & regard, to have any hand in it’. Prince William was ‘an
enthusiastic and brave, if not terribly professional, soldier’ (ODNB) and was clearly frustrated by the King
blocking him from joining the mission, despite his recent meteoric rise through the ranks: he was then the
second-youngest Lieutenant General in the army. The minimal corrections, presence of catchwords, and tiny
signature suggest this is a fair copy rather than the original draft, but if so, certainly a contemporary copy (and
the paper is watermarked 1795).
31
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
92.
[Sterne (Laurence)] A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. By Mr.
Yorick. T. Becket and P. A. de Hondt, 1768, FIRST EDITION, 2 vols. in 1, halftitles, list of subscribers, 1 engraving in the text, occasional minor spotting,
half-titles and verso of last leaf in vol. i slightly soiled, pp. xx, 203; [iv], 208,
8vo, contemporary calf, rebacked and recornered, a little rubbed, engraved
armorial bookplate of H.C. Booth, good (Rothschild 1972; and see PineCoffin R788(n))
£2,500
‘The virtuoso who wrote Tristram Shandy achieved his most perfect performance
in A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy’. (John Butt, Oxford Hist.
of Eng. Lit., Mid-Eighteenth Century, p. 446). Sterne called it his ‘work of
redemption’ and that has been taken to mean, most often, that he heeded his
critics’ advice to mine his sentimental vein and thus atone for the bawdiness
of Tristram Shandy. But it is equally possible that Sterne’s redemptive intention
... represents an attempt at self-justification for his life and his writings, a final
effort to find the proper equation between human and divine love (more broadly
between human appetites and spiritual injunctions) - a problem that had dogged
Sterne throughout his life' (ODNB). The first edition of A Sentimental Journey sold out within a month, to
considerable praise, even from those who had criticized Tristram Shandy.
93.
Stevenson (Robert Louis) The Body Snatcher. [In:] Pall Mall Christmas “Extra”. [Pall Mall Gazette],
1884, FIRST EDITION, with 1 large woodcut illustration (repeated on the upper wrapper, pp. [3-] 12
(complete number 96), 4to, later half green (faded to brown) morocco by the Club Bindery, spine gilt,
top edges gilt, original wrappers bound in, wrappers a little chipped at the edges, binding a little worn
at the edges, bookplate of Henry William Poor, good (Beinecke 825)
£750
First appearance of The Body Snatcher, a gruesome short story, sharing with Jekyll and Hyde the theme of
doubling. ‘Stevenson was always interested in the supernatural and the uncanny ways in which the human
brain can distort reality. His short stories are distinguished by psychological insight and a deft handling of
horror. His first “crawler” (his own pet name for horror stories) was "The Body-Snatcher", written in 1881
and inspired by the case of Burke and Hare. He shelved the story for three years “in justifiable disgust, the
tale being horrid,” but it eventually appeared in the Christmas number of the Pall Mall Gazette (1884). It was
advertised on posters, which were suppressed by the police for being too lurid and shocking’ (Sullivan (ed),
The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural. p. 402).
94.
Stevenson (Robert Louis) Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Longman’s Green, and Co., 1886,
FIRST UK EDITION, one or two finger marks, bound without the advertisements, pp. [viii], 141, crown
8vo, contemporary or near contemporary blue cloth, titled in gilt on the spine, good (Prideaux 17)
£2,000
This copy may have been one of those in the first issue wrappers, since it would not have been necessary
to rebind a copy in the salmon-coloured cloth. The front wrapper had the date 1885 with the publishers
intending it for the Christmas market, but when it was ready the shops were already full of Christmas stock
and the trade wouldn’t look at. Therefore it was delayed until January, which allowed the US edition to appear
first, by a matter of four days.
‘In his fiction Stevenson is seen exploring moral ambiguity and duality in human nature; a recurring theme is
the contrast and conflict between good and evil. He achieved world-wide success with his “shilling shocker”
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), a moral allegory about the divided self and the problem of
evil, the main incidents of which came to him in a dream. The characters of Jekyll and Hyde have become
proverbial and the story has been widely translated, reprinted in countless editions, and dramatized (if often
distorted) in plays and films’ (ODNB).
95.
32
Stevenson (Robert Louis) Kidnapped. Being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the year
1751 ... Cassell & Company, Limited, 1886, FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, with folding frontispiece map,
minor foxing at beginning and end, pp. viii, 311, [1], [16, ads, dated April 1886], 8vo, original green
cloth, spine lettered in gilt, inner hinges strained, text-block skewed, some wear to extremities and
marks to spine, good (Prideaux 18; Beinecke 378; Princeton 31)
£1,200
Antiquarian & modern
A reasonably good copy of a novel often read to pieces. It was issued in four different coloured cloths, but no
priority is assigned: indeed Princeton 31 comprises all four all withe first issue advertisments (as here). ‘It is far
more than the adventure story for boys that it purports to be. Making skilful use of Scots it brilliantly evokes
the atmosphere of Scotland in the period following the 1745 Jacobite rising and explores the differences
between lowland and highland mentality in the contrasting characters of David Balfour and Alan Breck.
It remains one of Stevenson's most popular books, and there have been many film and television versions’
(ODNB).
96.
Stevenson (Robert Louis) Underwoods. Chatto and Windus, 1887, FIRST EDITION, 18/50 COPIES ON
LARGE HANDMADE PAPER signed by the printers 'R. & R. Clark', pp.xvii, 139, 4to, original white cloth,
backstrip lettered in gilt, two small stains on the front cover, endpapers lightly foxed, untrimmed and
almost entirely unopened, good (Prideaux 23)
£750
Bookplate of Charles Plumptre Johnson, bibliographer of Dickens and Thackeray. The second half of the book
is poems in Scots.
97.
Stevenson (Robert Louis) Catriona. A Sequel to "Kidnapped." Being Memoirs of the Further Adventures
of David Balfour at Home and Abroad ... Cassell & Company, Limited, 1893, FIRST EDITION, last leaf of
ads dog-eared, minor foxing among the ads, pp. [ii], [x], 371, [16, ads], 8vo, original dark blue cloth,
merest hint of fading to spine, text-block very slightly skewed, very good (Prideaux 39)
£350
Catriona was first published under the title David Balfour in ‘Atalanta' [Magazine], December, 1892, to
September, 1893. The bookform edition appeared on the same day on both sides of the Atlantic, the US
edition retaining the title ‘David Balfour’ as it continues to do. It was felt that British reader’s would conclude
that ‘David Balfour’ was just another edition of Kidnapped, hence ‘Catriona’ in the UK. It is sometimes felt
necessary to expalin the pronunciation of the heroine’s name: the spelling follows the Irish/Gaelic rule that a
broad vowel must be preceeded by another on the prior side of the consonant. Thus, the ‘o’ is inserted in the
written form of the name, to no other purpose than to obey this rule, it being otherwise quite redundant.
98.
[Swift (Jonathan)] Travels into several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver,
First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of several Ships. Vol. I [-II]. Printed for Benj. Motte, 1726, 4 parts in
2 vols., frontispiece portrait (in second state) and 6 further plates, a bit of browning and spotting in vol.
i, damp-staining in vol. ii, pp. xii, 148; [6], 164; [vi], 154, [8], [155]-353, [1], 8vo,
[bound with, following the relevant part:] [Corolini di Marco (pseud)] The Flying Island, &c. Being
a Key to Gulliver’s Voyage ... In a Third Letter to Dean Swift, 1726, pp. 32. [and:] [Corolini di Marco
(pseud)] The Kingdom of Horses. Being a Key ... In a Fourth Letter to Dean Swift, 1726, pp. 28.
contemporary panelled calf, rebacked, new end-papers, contemporary signature repeated a few times
on back of frontispiece, sound (ESTC T139450, T139452; Teerink-Scouten 290, 291; T2484, T2485 )
£2,000
A mixed set, the first volume being from the AA (second) edition and the second volume from the B (third)
edition. The first three editions were once considered to be different issues of a single first edition. Later
bibliographical analysis demonstrated that they were separate editions, each set from the previous, but
Teerink, acknowledging the work done to identify them, still thought it ‘advisable to stick to the well
established practice of calling the three 1726 editions first’, in part because both the printer and the author
thought of them that way.
The ‘Keys’ were 4 in number, one for each part, issued separately and at length collectively, the practice of
binding them up with the text beginning with the B edition.
99.
A supplement to one of Teerink’s Scotch editions
Swift (Jonathan) The Posthumous Works. [Three volumes.] Edinburgh: Printed for John Balfour,
1766, offsetting from the binding turn-ins affecting the outer leaves at either end of all vols., pp. vi,
322; v, 345; vii, 290, 12mo, contemporary Scottish speckled calf, gilt ruled compartments on spines,
tan morocco lettering pieces, numbered ‘1’-‘3’ direct in gilt, a little rubbed and worn, contemporary
signature ‘Leven’ at the heads of titles of vols. i-ii, later book-label of one Douglas Grant, with separately
printed shelf-mark label (these only in i-ii again), good (Teerink-Scouten, 94 (part of, adding U Penn to
33
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
the ESTC holdings), ESTC T228837 - transcribing date as 1866 - NLS (2 copies) and Alexander Turnbull
Library only, but see also T140251, issue with vol. nos. IX-XI on the titles, NLS and BL only)
£450
An issue of the ‘Works’, vols. 9-11, printed for John Balfour in the same year, with additional ‘The Posthumous
Works’ title-pages over the original volume title-pages: in this instance the original volume title-pages have
been cancelled, together with either a half title or preliminary blank, or some such thing (two stubs). These
vols. were certainly considered a separate edition by whoever commissioned the binding.
100. Taylor [née Martin] (Ann) The Family Mansion. A Tale. Printed [ by T. Miller] for Taylor and
Hessey, 1819, FIRST EDITION, with an engraved frontispiece by engraved by Samuel Freeman after
William Hilton, frontispiece foxed and offset in either direction, pp. [iv, including half-title], 206,
[6, advertisements], 12mo, original plum polished calf, double gilt fillets on sides, spine richly gilt in
compartments, marbled endleaves matching the marbled edges, spine a trifle faded, minor wear to
corners, very good (Osborne p. 947; Garside & Schöwerling 1819:66)
£800
‘Ann Taylor was a prolific and lively correspondent, writing regularly to her children whenever they were
apart. The texts of many of these letters survive; in them the spirit of the youthful satirist gleams through the
pages of sound maternal advice, together with an eye for detail and a striking gift for narrative.. Ann also
published two moralistic novellas, or ‘tales’, for the young - The Family Mansion (1819) and Retrospection: a
Tale (1821)’ (ODNB).
John Taylor, joint publisher, famous as the publisher of Keats, is not known to have been any close relation
of Ann Taylor’s husband Isaac, but there is a Dissenting thread running through various Taylor families. The
binding here is instantly recognisable as ‘Taylor and Hessey’ (sans fore-edge painting), though unsigned.
Scarce: only 3 locations in the British Isles, 8 in North America recorded between COPAC and Worldcat.
101. [Tennyson (Alfred, Lord)] In Memoriam. Edward Moxon, 1850, FIRST PUBLIC EDITION, no ads bound
in, pp. viii, 210, 8vo, original vertical-ribbed purple cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, the covers with blind
borders of trailing foliage and flowers, spine and edges of boards slightly faded, ownership inscription
at head of title of Thomas Louis Oxley, cloth folding box, good (Hayward 246; Thomson XVIII; Wise
37)
£350
The first section of ‘In Memoriam’ was written just after his close friend Hallam’s death and no doubt the
emotional impact of such a loss led Tennyson to write with such sentiment. The work includes one of
Tennyson’s best known phrases: ‘ ‘Tis better to have loved and lost, Than never to have loved at all’. It marks
a turning point in the poet’s fortunes too, which grew steadily after its publication; his marriage on 13th June
1850, long-delayed for lack of funds, was enabled by the expectation of royalties from this volume.
This is the first public edition (preceeded by a privately circulated one), with the first-edition title-page and
the earliest variants on pp. 2 and 198. As Simon Nowell-Smith established (contra Wise, and despite many
still repeating his errors), these do not distinguish issues of the first edition but the reading on p. 198 was
changed, along with the title-page, for the second edition. Thomson describes a first issue as having an ad leaf
(properly an 8 pp. section) dated February 1850; no advertisements were bound in to this copy, which from the
inscription was bought no more than 11 days after publication.
102. [Thackeray (W.M.)] The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. A Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Q.
Anne. Written by Himself. Printed for Smith, Elder, & Company, 1852, FIRST EDITION, 3 vols., half-titles
present, volume ii & iii initial blanks discarded, pp. 344; vi, 319; vi, 324, 8vo, slightly later half green
morocco, spines gilt and lettered direct, top edges gilt, trifling wear to extremities, very good (Grolier
34: Sadleir 3187: Van Duzer 85: Wolff 6692)
£400
‘The most perfectly conceived and carried out of Thackeray’s novels’ (CHEL) - by many considered to be his
masterpiece.
103. (Thucydides.) Abstract of the History of Thucydides. [Two volumes.] [no place, c.1790,] manuscript
written primarily on rectos, in English with some Latin and Greek, in a clear cursive hand with
occasional corrections, blanks at the end of each vol. (a few in vol. i, c.35 in vol. ii), on laid paper
with a ‘Maid of Dort’ ‘Pro Patria’ watermark, countermarked ‘GR’ under a crown, ff. [155]; [57], 4to,
34
Antiquarian & modern
contemporary marbled boards backed with vellum, spines lettered in ink, paper rubbed and faded,
good £650
An unpublished and learned abstract of Thucydides’ great historical work by an unknown English writer at
the end of the eighteenth century. The manuscript is in an adult hand and the writer is has clearly mastered the
ancient languages, regularly citing passages in Greek and occasionally Latin, and has also clearly read widely
in the ancient authors, citing Herodotus, Homer, Strabo, and even the Thucydidean scholia with confidence.
However, no mention is made of any contemporary scholarship or interpretation, the closest being a single
note indicating that the writer has closely compared Valla’s Latin translation (of the mid-fifteenth century)
with the original Greek and two mentions of contemporary (‘hodie’) place names: ‘Castellammare della Bruca’
(formerly Velia) and ‘The Patrimony of St Peter’ (containing ancient Caere). In the summary of Book III the
writer gives a direct quotation of a section (III.21) rather than summarising, but this appears to be the writer’s
own translation, since it matches neither Hobbes (1629), Smith (1753), or even Bloomfield (1829).
Although he wrote in the 5th century BCE, Thucydides could be considered one of the most important
historians of the eighteenth century. He had been mostly neglected through the Renaissance, despite
Machiavelli’s parallels with his work, and it was Hobbes’ translation that began the restoration of his fortunes
in the English-speaking world. Hobbes’ version was reprinted in 1723, to be followed by Smith’s, and Hume
wrote in 1742 that ‘The first page of Thucydides is, in my opinion, the commencement of real history’. This
unknown writer’s close attention to the text is further evidence of the value placed by eighteenth-century
readers on his work.
104. Trollope (Anthony) An Autobiography. In two Volumes. Vol. I [-II]. Edinburgh and London: William
Blackwood and Sons, 1883, FIRST EDITION, 2 vols., with a photogravure portrait frontispiece, tissue
foxed and this offset onto frontispiece and title-page, pp. [xiii], 259, [1]; [v], 227, [1], 4, 24 (the last 2
groups ads), 8vo, original smooth dark red cloth, upper covers lettered in black, spines gilt lettered,
extremities slightly worn, inner hinges weak, both vols. with ownership signature of C.J. Northcote (?),
and vol. i inscribed ‘With Mr. Blackwood’s kind regards’, sound (Sadleir 67)
£250
Sadleir distinguishes between first and second issue by virtue of the colour of the endpapers, green being the
first, and brown the second. In this copy, both volumes of which were presumably acquired at the same time,
the endpapers in vol. i are green, in vol. ii brown.
105. Trollope (Mrs. [Frances Milton]) The Vicar of Wrexhill. Richard Bentley, 1837, FIRST EDITION, 3 vols.,
with 9 etched plates by A. Hervieu, with list of plates in vol. i, half-titles in vols. ii and iii (all called
for), pp. [iv], 324; [iv], 328; [iv], 343, [1], large 12mo, contemporary half blue calf by Broadbere,
Southampton, spines gilt, red lettering pieces and small oval numbering pieces, top edges gilt, minor
wear, bookplates of L.P. Shawe-Storey and Christopher Knox, good (Sadleir 2346; Wolff 6835
£500
Fanny Trollope excelled in biting satire and broad humour. This is one of her best: it ridicules evangelicalism.
Christopher Knox’s bookplate is possibly by Eric Gill. A nephew of Ronald Knox, Christopher was a forester
who lived in the vicinity of Piggots, Gill’s home and workplace from 1928 until his death in 1940. Knox had
the bookplate designed and etched at Pigotts; his widow, however, thought it probable that it was the work of
one of Gill’s apprentices.
Including an answer to the debt problem
106. Turner (Richard) The Young Geometrician’s Companion; being a new and comprehensive course of
practical geometry; Containing, I. An easy Introduction to Decimal Arithmetic, with the Extractions of
the Square, Cube, Biquadrate, and other Roots. II. Such Definitions, Axioms, Problems, Theorems, and
Characters, as necessarily lead to the Knowledge of this Science. III. Planometry, or the Mensuration
of Superficies; as Squares, Parallelograms, Triangles, Circles, Segments, &c. IV. Stereometry, or the
Mensuration of Solids; as Cubes, Parallelopipedons, Prisms, Cones, Pyramids, Cylinders, Spheres,
Frustums, &c. V. The Sections of a Cone; as Ellipses, Parabolas, Hyperbolas, Spheroids, Conoids,
Spindles, &c. VI. The Platonic Bodies; as Tetraedrons, Hexaëdrons, Octaëdrons, Dodecaëdrons, and
Icosaëdrons. To Which is Added A Collection of curious and interesting Problems, shewing that Lines
and Angles, (and consequently the least Particle of Matter) may be divided in infinitum; that Superficies
and Solids may be so cut as to appear considerably augmented; and, that the famous Problem of
Archimedes, of moving the Earth, is capable of an easy and accurate Demonstration. ... Printed for
35
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
S. Crowder, 1787, FIRST EDITION, title printed in red and black (‘Companion’ printed in red and gone
over in black ink, numerous woodcut illustrations and diagrams in text, a bit of damp-staining in the
lower inner margins, ink splodge on one page, pp. [xii], 240, 12mo, modern drab boards, spine lettered
vertically in black, original blue sprinkled edges, good (ESTC T112951)
£500
A long title, but one worth reading through. ESTC records just six copies, 3 on either side of the Atlantic: of
those in the UK, 2 are in Scotland, one at Glasgow Univeristy, which granted Turner an honorary LLD in 1785.
‘Problem 24. To find the Side of a Cubic Block of Gold, which being coined into Guineas, would pay off the
National Debt’ (the answer is 16 feet).
107. Viollet-le-Duc (Eugene) Lectures on Architecture. Translated
from the French ... by Benjamin Bucknall, Architect. [Two
Volumes]. Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle [etc.]. 1877/81.
FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, 36 double-page plates, 2 tinted, one
or two with captions shaved, pp. viii, 487; viii, 468, royal
8vo, contemporary half rose calf, the backstrips elaborately
panelled in gilt, brown morocco labels with gilt lettering,
slightly sunned and a touch rubbed, marbled sides and
endpapers, very good £450
French architect and theorist, famous for his ‘restorations’ of
medieval buildings, Viollet-le-Duc was as central a figure in the
Gothic Revival in France as he was in the public discourse on
‘honesty’ in architecture, which eventually transcended all revival
styles, to inform the emerging spirit of Modernism.
108. Virgil. Georgica Publii Virgilii Maronis Hexaglotta. E Typographeo Gulielmi Nicol, 1827,
PRESENTATION COPY from the English translator & printer, half-title inscribed ‘For the library of the
Royal Institution from William Sotheby, 12 Grosvenor Street, Feby 19, 1833’, a letter from the printer
presenting the volume tipped in, text in six languages, some light dustsoiling, pp. [viii], 563, [1],
imperial 4to, contemporary half purple roan over marbled boards, edges untrimmed, spine divided
by triple gilt fillets, second compartment gilt-lettered direct, rubbed, extremities worn, front hinge
cracking after title, rear flyleaf removed, ‘withdrawn’ stamp to front pastedown, good (Kallendorf
‘Morgan’ O(ML)1827)
£750
Undoubtedly the largest edition of the Georgics ever published. William Sotheby’s English translation
had been first published in 1800 and was warmly reviewed, called ‘the most perfect translation of a classic
poet now extant in our language’ and earning Sotheby the title of ‘the best translator in Christendom’. This
enormous edition, which prints the Latin, Sotheby’s English, John de Guzman’s Spanish, J.H. Voss’s German,
Francesco Soave’s Italian, and James Delille’s French, was produced at Sotheby’s own expense (probably in
an edition of 250 copies) and he was tireless in promoting it, presenting copies to heads of state and notable
figures around the world. A copy he gave to Coleridge was then willed by the poet to his daughter on her
wedding day; Scott recorded in his diary in October 1826 that he ‘picked up Sotheby, who endeavoured to
saddle me for a review of his polyglott Virgil. I fear I shall scarce convince him that I know nothing of the Latin
lingo’.
This copy was inscribed (probably by a secretary) and presented to the library of the Royal Institution just ten
months before Sotheby died. ‘In admiring this magnificent folio, we have to speak of one of the most splendid
as well as remarkable specimens of typography which we ever saw; and altogether as great a literary curiosity
as ever issued from the press’ (London Literary Gazette, 10th Feb. 1827).
109. Voltaire (François Marie Arouet de) Le Temple de l’Amitie, et le Temple du Goût. Pièces de Mr. De
Voltaire. [?Rouen:] Hierome Print-All [i.e. Claude-François Jore], 1733, minor spotting, bound with 4
other works (see below), pp. 87, 12mo, slightly later (c. 1760) catspaw calf, spine gilt in compartments,
tan lettering piece (‘Pieces Fugitiv’), very good (Bengesco 601 and 603; Worldcat locates 2 copies in
Switzerland, 2 in France, and 1 in the US, NYPL)
£3,000
36
Antiquarian & modern
An extremely rare book, comprising the FIRST EDITION of Temple de l’Amitie,
and the third edition of Le Temple du Goût, the latter first published in the same
year by the same printer, two editions in 8vo. Le Temple de l’Amitie was written
in 1732 in praise of Mme Fontaine Martel, whose hospitable household Voltaire
had just entered. It was to be but a short period of stability, for Mme Martel died
in 1733. It was during Voltaire’s removal the he met Émilie du Châtelet. When
Le Temple de goût was first published at Rouen by Jore in March, 1733, without
official authorization, a storm of controversy arose. The work, which is in the
form of short poems interspersed with prose, is Cardinal de Polignac’ journey
to the Temple of Taste, from which certain writers (e.g. Rouseau) are excluded,
along with poetasters, hypocrites, &c. So the indignation was not just official.
The book was also issued with variant title page omitting ‘Piéces de Mr. de
Voltaire’. On the title-page of our copy the words ‘A l'enseigne de la Vérité’
appear within a type flower compartment: the issue with variant title-page has
an ornamental compartment. This detail is taken from the NYPL catalogue,
but there is no distiction made among the 5 copies recorded. Bound with the
Voltaire are 4 French plays, dating between 1734 and 1760, the most interesting
or relvant of which is Charles Palissot de Montenoy’s Les Philosophes, 1760 (first edition): the play is antiphilosophes, and Diderot comes in for brutal treatment. Another is Marmontel’s Denis le Tyran (1759, 1st
1752) which is prefaced by a letter to Voltaire.
Another Oxford spat
110. Wall (Martin) A Letter to John Howard, Esq; F.R.S. [Oxford: 1785], ‘F.R.S.’ at head of text inked out,
corrections in ink on p. 6, presumably authorial, slightly browned, the outer pages more so, title
page with cancelled stamp of the Radcliffe Library (duplicate), pp. 16, 8vo, stitched as issued without
wrappers, outer leaves almost detached, fragile (ESTC T196152)
£400
The Radcliffe Infirmary opened on St Luke’s Day (18 October) 1770, and in 1784 in the third edition of his
State of the Prisons Howard made some critical remarks about it, both its architecture and its functioning.
This is Wall’s rebuttal. The letter was printed for Subscribers and was presumably produced in generous
enough numbers, but today it is rare, with just four copies recorded in ESTC: three in Oxford, one at Harvard.
111. Wallace (The Rev. James) and Charles Townshend. Every Man his own Letter-writer: or, the new and
complete art of letter-writing made plain and familiar to every capacity. Containing a collection of
upwards of two hundred original letters... To which is added, A Collection of Complimentary Cards,
with Directions for addressing Persons of all Ranks and Conditions... [&c, &c.] Printed for J. Cooke,
[1782], FIRST EDITION, with engraved allegorical frontispiece, frontispiece bound in at a slight angle
and consequently trimmed at top with the loss of most of the headline (i.e. ‘Frontispiece’), title-page a
bit foxed, slight worming in the upper outer margins of the latter half of the book, pp. xii, 204, 12mo,
original sheep, spine gilt ruled in compartments, spine slightly defective at either end, ownership
inscription on recto of frontispiece, ‘Parnell, May 1790’, very good (ESTC T111819)
£650
A very rare, and very complete, Letter-writer, just the BL and Harvard copies being recorded in ESTC, and not
in Alston. The frontispiece is dated 1782. The catchword on p. xii is ‘The’ although the first word on the next
page is ‘A’, as per ESTC, where, however a stub is mentioned between p. xii and p. 1 (this conceivably could be
the stub of the frontispiece, but no stub appears here). Only a taste of the full title is given above: in total it runs
to 257 words, not counting the authors’ names and the imprint. The import of the book has as much to do
with morals as etiquette, and a full and vivid picture emerges of social evils and proprieties. The publication
date is taken from the frontispiece.
112. Wauthier (J.M.) The Geographical Institutions: or, a set of classical and analytical tables; forming
a complete course of gradual lessons in ancient and modern geography. First part [-Second Part].
To which are added, an entirely new and familiar Treatise on the Sphere; an extensive collection of
problems on the globes; also a complete table of the proprieties of the planets, and a catalogue of the
fixed stars, on a new plan, with appropriate maps, schemes, etc. The whole laid down according to the
most recent treaties and latest discoveries. Printed by Schulze and Dean ... for Longman, Hurst, Rees,
Orme and Brown ... and J.M. Wauthier ... Sold also by Messrs. Bossange and Masson, 1816-15, FIRST
37
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
EDITION of both parts, 2 parts in one vol., 3 folding engraved hand-coloured maps, slight foxing at either
end, pp. vi, [64, each a Table]; 25, [1], folding table, [2, Tables or Heads ... to be cut out and pasted on
Cards), 4to, original calf backed boards, rebacked and recornered, original large printed label on upper
cover, good £650
A very rare and interesting schema of geography and astronomy. The author describes himself as a
‘Geographer and Professor of the instructive methods of the Abbé Gaultier,’ but little else sems to be known
about him, although he published a number of books and maps, in English and French, the present work
emerging in a third edition in 1820. The 1820 edition is recorded in COPAC only at Leicester, the second
edition not at all, and the first at the BL only. The maps, ‘a large sized one of Europe and four smaller ones [on
2 sheets] of Asia, Africa, North and South America,’ have no names on them (for pupils to fill in), and were
also to be had separately. The text suggests that ‘children in their walks may be taught all these different terms
by the easy and natural contrivance of pouring water on an uneven place ... where they will soon discover by
themselves many isles, peninsula’s [sic], gulphs, &c., and form a clearer idea of them than out of any book.’
113. Webb (Miss S.W., translator) GENLIS (Stéphanie Félicité Brulart Comtesse de) The Siege of La Rochelle
or Misfortune and Conscience. In two volumes. Vol. I [-II]. S. Low, 1830, 2 vols. in 1, a little spotting and
marginal damp-staining, first leaf of second vol. creased and the opening with a light stain (apparently
from a bookmark), pp. [iv], [i], [v-] viii, 172; 204, 8vo, recased in the original green linen backed boards,
spine faded, edges rubbed, later printed paper label on spine, good £750
The translator begins her preface (which is on an inserted leaf): ‘The constant kindness with which for the
last thirty years my works have been regarded by the public, and especially the favourable reception which it
has deigned to give to this production of my pen, might have authorised me in not making in not making any
alteration in this edition’, and goes on to outline the changes. However we have not been able to locate any
earlier edition. Nor have we been able to ascertain much about ‘Miss Webb’ (as she appears on the title-page).
That she was connected with Oxford or Oxfordshire is obvious from the dedication to the county’s MP, and
the preponderance of Oxfordshire addresses for the subscribers. Otherwise we have drawn a blank. BL and
Bodleian only in COPAC and WorldCat.
114. Wesley (John) Popery Calmly Considered. Printed by R. Hawes, and sold at the New-Chapel, City
Road; and at the Rev. Mr. Wesley’s Preaching-Houses, in Town and Country , 1779, FIRST EDITION,
woodcut ornaments on title and headpieces to ‘To the Reader’ and to the text, a little browned around
the edges, small fragment missing from lower outer corner of first leaf (not affecting text), pp. 25, 12mo,
disbound, last pair of leaves loose (Green 336; ESTC T173738)
£600
‘Charles Wesley says he was told that some of the bitterest Calvinists were reconciled to his brother by the
tract on Popery’ (Green). There were three London editions within the year, an Edinburgh one, and, according
to Green, a Dublin one, though the last is not in ESTC. None of them are common, the present edition
recorded in 6 copies in 5 locations in the UK, and 6 in the US.
115. Woolman (John) A Word of Remembrance and Caution to the Rich. Reprinted [from the Dublin
edition] and Sold by Darton and Harvey, 1796, pp. 60, 12mo, bound with another work (see below) in
contemporary half calf, black lettering piece (referring to the other work), slightly worn, good (Smith
2.960; Kress, B.2869; Sabin 105210; ESTC T80775)
£450
This text was first printed in Dublin in 1793, an edition which has plentiful locations recorded in ESTC. This
London edition however is somewhat rare, with 4 locations recorded, 2 copies each in 2 Friends’ Libraries
one on either side of the Atlantic, and otherwise BL and Harvard only. The first American edition was in
Burlington, NJ, 1803, and there was a French translation published in Dublin in 1800.
A minor work compared with ‘Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes,’ nonetheless exhibiting the
author’s gentle yet trenchant style, and as relevant as ever. Wollman’s short work is bound after an incomplete
copy of ‘A True Account of the ... Sufferings of Katherine Evans and Sarah Cheevers,’ 1663, which is lacking
6 leaves from gathering F. This Quaker book is also scarce: see ESTC R222517. Evans and Cheevers’ letters
and the accounts of their travels to Malta, arrest, and imprisonment, recounting their sufferings, fasting, and
visions, were taken to England by Daniel Baker and published in 1662, then republished in 1663 with the
account of the last period of detention and of their release. Katherine Evans was again re-arrested several times
in Great Britain before her death at a ripe old age in 1692.
38
Antiquarian & modern
Part II
Modern Books
Inscribed by Douglas Adams et al.
116. Adams (Douglas) & Mark Carwardine. Last Chance to See...
Heinemann, 1990, FIRST EDITION, page borders lightly toned,
32 colour-printed photographic plates, pp. [x], 208, 8vo,
original blue boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, tiny mark to
lower board, dustjacket a little frayed with fading to backstrip
panel, very good £150
Inscribed twice by Douglas Adams, to the verso of the flyleaf and
the half-title, as well as a host of others on the occasion of his
wedding day. Adams’s new wife, Jane, has also signed to the verso
of the half-title, whilst further inscriptions from Ben Elton (‘All
best mate’) on the flyleaf, David Dixon (Ford Prefect in the TV series
of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) on the title-page, and Clive
Anderson on the dedication page. An outstanding and unique copy of this book.
117. (Allen Lane Christmas Book.) GILBERT (W.S.) Selected Bab Ballads. With an Introduction by Hesketh
Pearson and a Note on Gilbert as Illustrator by Philip James. Allen Lane. 1955, ONE OF 1,500 COPIES
printed on pink Grosvenor Chater paper, numerous line-drawings by Gilbert throughout the text, pp.
32, f’cap.8vo., original black linen, backstrip gilt lettered, a Gilbert design blocked in gilt on a pale blue
label and onlaid to the front cover, faint endpaper foxing, very good £40
With the Allen Lane Christmas card for 1955, signed by him, loosely inserted.
118. Amis (Kingsley) The Folks that Live on the Hill. Hutchinson, 1990, FIRST EDITION, pp. [vi], 246, 8vo,
original blue boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, dustjacket, near fine £30
Signed by the author on the title-page.
119. Amis (Kingsley) The Old Devils. London Limited Editions, 1986, FIRST EDITION, 145/250 COPIES signed
by the author, pp.[xi], 294, cr.8vo, original quarter orange cloth with vertical gilt rule, marbled boards,
backstrip gilt lettered within gilt frame, original tissue-jacket, near fine £115
120. Apollinaire (Guillaume) Bleuet. New York: Caliban Press, 2008, 85/100 COPIES (from an edition of 114
copies), printed on mouldmade paper, French to verso, English translation by Richard Stokes to recto,
pp. [2], 12mo, original handmade paper wrappers printed in black to front, sewn endpapers using maps
of the Middle East, prospectus laid-in at rear, fine £35
‘Written during the First World War and originally published in the Parisian journal Nord-sud in 1917, Bleuet
is Apollinaire’s poetic meditation on youth and war. The original title is a reference to the new French recruits
and thier cornflower blue uniforms’.
121. (Ardizzone.) FARJEON (Eleanor) Mrs Malone. Illustrated by Edward Ardizzone Oxford University Press,
1962, FIRST ARDIZZONE EDITION, 18 illustrations in the text by Edward Ardizzone, one or two light
handling marks, small drink-splash to one page, pp. [24], 32mo, original boards illustrated overall by
Ardizzone, dustjacket reproduces the cover design, a little rubbing to extremities, very good £160
Inscribed by the author on the half-title: ‘A Birthday Greeting to John Longman from Eleanor Farjeon, May 7th
1964’.
122. Armitage (Simon) Considering the Poppy. Wood Engravings by Chris Daunt. Rochdale: Andrew J
Moorhouse, 2014, II/7 COPIES (from an edition of 120 copies) signed by both author and illustrator, pp.
39
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
[34], royal 8vo, original full brown leather with poppy design inlaid to
front, cloth solander box, fine £500
Printed at the Evergreen Press and bound at the Fine Book Bindery. This is
the first publication of these poems, written for a BBC Culture Show special
on the First World War. The binding of this deluxe issue is particularly
striking.
123. Armitage (Simon) Considering the Poppy. Wood Engravings by Chris
Daunt. Rochdale: Andrew J Moorhouse, 2014, 58/75 COPIES (from an
edition of 120 copies) signed by both author and illustrator, pp. [34],
royal 8vo, original quarter red leather with brown cloth sides, printed
label inset to front, fine £80
Printed at the Evergreen Press and bound at the Fine Book Bindery. This is
the first publication of these poems, written for a BBC Culture Show special
on the First World War.
Item 122
124. (Artists’ Choice Editions.) CARROLL (Lewis) Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There.
With Illustrations and an Afterword by John Vernon Lord and Textual Corrections and a Foreword by
Selwyn Goodacre. 2011, ONE OF 322 NUMBERED COPIES (this 331 of an edition of 420 copies) signed by
the artist, printed on Mohawk cool-white paper in black and blue, with title, chapter and shoulder-titles
printed in red, illustrations, almost all in colour, a number full-page, by John Vernon Lord, pp. 144,
sm.folio, original green cloth-backed boards, backstrip gilt lettered, the front board illustrated overall
in colour, the rear board with a large black and white design, black design of chequerboard on orange
endpapers, new £98
The artist’s favourite Carroll title, amply proven in the superb quality and range of illustrations evidenced here
where his quirky sense of humour shows through. With a copy of the prospectus loosely inserted.
Angela Carter’s copy
125. Atwood (Margaret) The Handmaid’s Tale. Jonathan Cape, 1986, FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, very faint
toning to page borders, pp. 324, 8vo, original black boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, dustjacket, near
fine £300
From the library of author Angela Carter, with a small bookplate recording such on the front pastedown - an
important association copy between two authors whose work explores similar themes.
126. Auden (W.H.) Spain. Faber and Faber, 1937, FIRST EDITION, one or two light handling marks, pp. 12,
crown 8vo, original printed pink stapled wrappers, light fading around backstrip, a little creasing to
corners, very good (Bloomfield & Mendelson A14a)
£120
Written on his return from the country during civil war, with the author’s royalties going to Medical Aid for
Spain - as stated on the inside front cover
127. Banville (John) Ancient Light. Viking, 2012, FIRST EDITION, pp. [viii], 245, 8vo, original black boards,
backstrip lettered in copper, dustjacket, fine £35
Signed by the author on a tipped-in page stating ‘Exclusive signed edition’.
Inscribed by the author to Owen Barfield, with the beginnings of a letter in return
128. (Barfield.) ‘A’. Love-in-Memory. An Elegy. Fortune Press, 1948, FIRST EDITION, pp. 43, crown 8vo,
original quarter dark green cloth with mid green boards, backstrip lettered in gilt now dulled, fading to
edge of upper board, edges untrimmed and toned, a handful of foxspots to endpapers, good £400
From the library of Owen Barfield, with a sticker to that effect on the front pastedown. The book has been
40
Antiquarian & modern
inscribed to him by the author (his uncle) to the flyleaf: ‘To Owen
Barfield, from JAB, 25 Aug’48’. Laid in is an incomplete draft of
Barfield’s response, in blue ink on Barfield & Barfield Solicitors
headed paper and dated two days after the inscription: ‘Dear Uncle
Alfred, Very many thanks for sending me the revised version of Love
in Memory’.
A poem written in memory of the author’s daughter, who had died
from meningitis aged 22.
129. (Barfield.) BURGEON (G.A.L.) This Ever Diverse Pair. With an introduction by Walter de la Mare. Victor
Gollancz, 1950, FIRST EDITION, a single foxspot at the head of the first few text-pages with the same on
occasion further in, pp. 144, crown 8vo, original green cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt now dulled with
a little rubbing at tips, slight bowing to upper board, light dustsoiling to top edge, dustjacket lightly
frayed around head with some faint spotting and light overall soiling, very good £60
The first of the Burgeon books, and the only one to actually be published under this pseudonym, in which
Barfield draws upon his work as a solicitor, and divides his consciousness into Burgeon and Burden (partners
in a firm) in order to discuss various philosophical problems encountered in the profession - including, in
Chapter VI, a case involving Lewis.
130. Barfield (Owen) History in English Words. Methuen, 1926, FIRST EDITION, occasional light foxing, pp.
223, 8[ads], crown 8vo, original brown boards, lettered in black to upper board and backstrip, singlefillet black border stamped in black to upper board, ownership inscription to flyleaf, good £40
131. Barfield (Owen) Unancestral Voice. Faber and Faber, 1965, FIRST EDITION, pp. 163, 8vo, original red
cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, light dustsoiling to top edge, dustjacket price-clipped with some light
dustsoiling, very good £50
The third, and last, of the Burgeon books.
132. Barfield (Owen) Worlds Apart. A Dialogue of the 1960’s. Faber and Faber, 1963, FIRST EDITION, pp. 211,
8vo, original green cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt with slight lean to spine, partially erased ownership
inscription to flyleaf, dustjacket with fading to backstrip panel and a short closed tear at head of rear
panel, very good £50
The second of Barfield’s Burgeon books.
Inscribed by the author for Owen Barfield
133. (Barfield.) TANAHASHI (Miyoko) Dæg-Mæl. Times of the Day. Craven Arms: Onny Press, 1975, FIRST
EDITION, four small decorations used on title-page and at the opening of each section, pp. [iv], 23, small
4to, original stapled wrappers a little sunned to borders, good £60
From the library of Owen Barfield, with a sticker to that effect on the inside front cover. The author has
inscribed this copy to him on the title-page: ‘To Mr Barfield, Miyoko, 1975 late autumn’.
A.S. Byatt’s copy
134. Barker (Pat) Regeneration. Viking, 1991, FIRST EDITION, pp. [iv], 252, 8vo, original grey boards,
backstrip lettered in red with just a touch of softening at head, dustjacket with very minor creasing to
extremities, near fine £225
A.S. Byatt’s copy with her ownership inscription at head of flyleaf; laid in is a letter to Byatt from Clare
Alexander, Publishing Director at Viking, soliciting a quote for the forthcoming paperback edition - a quote
from Byatt did not appear thereupon, but has subsequently appeared on editions of the trilogy.
41
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
135. Barry (Sebastian) The Secret Scripture. Faber and Faber, 2008, FIRST EDITION, pp. [viii], 300, 8vo,
original grey boards, backstrip lettered in black, dustjacket, fine £35
Signed by the author to the title-page, beneath his printed name.
136. Barstow (Stan) A Kind of Loving. Michael Joseph, 1960, FIRST EDITION, pp. 288, crown 8vo, original
black boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, bookseller sticker to pastedown, ownership inscription and
tipped-in bookplate to flyleaf, dustjacket toned overall and a little frayed around head, very good £45
137. (Bartholomew Press.) THE WIZARD AND HIS PUPIL. A Polish Fairy Tale, Translated by Marek Laczynski.
Designed and Illustrated by Brenda Barnard. Exeter College of Art, 1972, FIRST EDITION, 6 illustrations
reproduced from the original etchings, pp. [15], folio, original claret boards lettered in scarlet to upper
board, a few faint handling marks, small bookseller’s sticker at foot of free endpapers, near fine £40
138. Bates (H.E.) The Seekers. Bumpus, 1926, FIRST EDITION, pp.32, crown 8vo, original blue-grey boards
stamped in gilt to upper board, just a touch of fading at extremities, a little faint foxing to fore-edge,
tissue-jacket worn with a large portion missing at foor of rear panel, very good (Eads A4)
£45
139. Beckett (Samuel) Pas moi [on pages 2-9 of] Minuit 12. Paris: Minuit, January 1975, SOLE EDITION, pp.
72, crown 8vo, original printed blue wrappers, spine faded, near fine £200
Signed by Samuel Beckett at the head of page 2.
140. Beckett (Samuel) Waiting for Godot. A tragicomedy in two acts. New York:
Grove Press, 1954, FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH, with 4 photographic plates,
pp. 61, [4], crown 8vo, original black cloth, title blind-stamped across both
boards, faint soiling at head of upper board, backstrip lettered in silver and
gilt, red endpapers, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket with a few spots
of repair to head and to corners, good (Federman & Fletcher 373)
£1,200
141. Belloc (Hilaire) The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts. Verses by H.B. Pictures by
B.T.B. Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent and Oxford: Alden & Co. Ltd.,
Bocardo Press, [1896,] FIRST EDITION, occasional light handling marks, one
or two pencil marks, pp.47, square 8vo, original grey boards printed in black
and red, the paper entirely worn from backstrip and boards slightly worn
and soiled, free endpapers browned with some adhesive spots from tape,
bookplate tipped in to pastedown, good (Cahill 2)
£750
A presentation copy of Belloc’s second book, characteristically inscribed in ink by the author to the flyleaf.
Belloc has sketched three beasts at the head, and captioned them, ‘For the great God who loveth us/ He made
& loves them all’, with the dedication below - ‘To Philip Comyns Carr, from HB. May 11. 1897. The day before
the Prince came to Oxford’.
As the inscription suggests, Comyns Carr, the son of Joseph Comyns Carr and the child-subject of an exquisite
Burne-Jones portrait, was someone with whom Belloc was acquainted from his time at Oxford.
142. Belloc (Hilaire) The Jews. Constable, 1922, FIRST EDITION, light foxing to prelims with occasional
further outbreaks, pp. xix, 308, 8vo, original red cloth with blind-stamped horizontal rules to both
boards, backstrip lettered in gilt and lightly faded, edges roughtrimmed with some light foxing, top
edge lightly dustsoiled, browning to endpapers with ownership inscriptions and tipped-in bookplate to
flyelaf, good (Cahill 77)
£45
A book denounced by Bernard Bergonzi as ‘offensive as well as unconvincing’ (ODNB).
42
Antiquarian & modern
143. Belloc (Hilaire) New Cautionary Tales. Pictures by N. Bentley. Duckworth, 1930, FIRST EDITION,
very faint foxing to prelims, pp.79, 8vo, original champagne pictorial boards with white cloth back,
backstrip lettered in black, a couple of spots and a little darkening to edges, bookplate tipped in to
flyleaf, dustjacket with light overall soiling, chipping to corners and at tips of backstrip panel with a
short closed tear and a few marks to rear panel, good (Cahill 115B)
£175
144. Betjeman (John) Summoned by Bells. John Murray, 1960, PROOF COPY, pp. [vii], 111, 8vo, original
green wrappers, front cover lettered and decorated in black with ‘Book Proof’ printed at foot, a little
light creasing, very good £80
145. (Blake.) MILTON (John) On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity. Milton’s Hymn with Illustrations by
William Blake and a Note by Geoffrey Keynes. Cambridge: University Press, 1923, 21/150 COPIES
printed on handmade paper, head-piece and monochrome 6 full-page illustrations by William Blake
with guards, title and press-device printed in red, bookplate tipped in to initial blank, light dustsoiling
to borders of a few leaves, pp. [iv], 33, 4to, original quarter vellum with green buckram sides stamped
in gilt to upper board, backstrip lettered in gilt, patterned endpapers, very light rubbing to extremities
and small bump to top edge of lower board, a little bubbbling of cloth to border of same, t.e.g., others
untrimmed, slightly strained, good £120
A Bodleian memoir
146. Bodley (R.V.C.) Indiscretions of a Young Man. Harold Shaylor, 1931, FIRST EDITION, pp. xii, 251,
crown 8vo, original brown cloth, backstrip lettered in black, light foxing to edges with top edge a little
dustsoiled, faint partial browning to free endpapers, dustjacket with sunning to backstrip panel, very
good £150
Bodley, the son of John Edward Courtenay Bodley and a direct descendant of Miles Bodley - brother of
Thomas Bodley, the founder of the Bodleian - as well as the cousin of Gertrude Bell. The Great War is at the
centre of this autobiography; Bodley was invalided in 1918 and thereafter, as Military Attaché at the British
Embassy in Paris, played an active role in the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 - which experiences, his insight
into which left him disillusioned with military life, receive the most detailed exposition.
Bodley was a friend of T.E. Lawrence, whom he met via Gertrude Bell - and on Lawrence’s advice went to live
in the Sahara for seven years, his experiences of which are briefly recounted here but form the focus of much
of his other writing.
147. Boyd (William) An Ice Cream War. Hamish Hamilton, 1982, FIRST EDITION, full-page map, pp. [xii],
372, crown 8vo, original dark blue boards, backstrip lettered in gilt with tips slightly softened and slight
lean to spine, dustjacket with a touch of fading to backstrip panel, very good £75
Inscribed by the author on the title-page, to the theatre director Patrick Garland: ‘To Patrick, with all very
good wishes, William Boyd’. The author’s second novel, set in Africa during the First World War.
148. Braine (John) Life at the Top. Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1962, FIRST EDITION, pp. 288, foolscap 8vo, original
blue boards, backstrip lettered in gilt and blind, the latter against a red ground, a few faint spots to
edges and a thin strip of browning to free endpapers, dustjacket with a little spearation in the laminate
along upper joint-fold and re-pricing sticker on front flap, very good £30
The sequel to ‘Room at the Top’.
149. Briggs (Raymond) Ivor the Invisible. Channel 4 Books. 2001, FIRST EDITION, colourprinted illustrations
and endpapers throughout by Briggs, pp. 40, 4to., original mid blue boards, backstrip blocked in silver,
dustjacket, fine £45
Signed by Raymond Briggs on the half-title.
43
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
Inscribed to his mother-in-law
150. Buchan (John) A History of the Great War. [4 vols.] Nelson, 1921-1922, FIRST EDITIONS, 78 tissue plates
of maps, the majority folding, some a trifle creased, half-titles of first two volumes browned, a few tiny
foxspots to page-borders in first volume and a single instance of pencil annotation to the same, final text
page of first two volumes a little browned, pp. xvi, 552; x, 578; xii, 603; xii, 528, 8vo, original blue cloth
with author’s monogram-device stamped to upper board, backstrips lettered in gilt, variable fading to
backstrips of all but last volume, rubbing and occasional wear to extremities and a few small marks
overall, some bumping to corners and edges, light foxing or browning to some free endpapers, good
(Blanchard A52)
£750
Inscribed, to the flyleaf of the first volume, by John Buchan to his mother-in-law: ‘Caroline Grosvenor with
much love from John Buchan Oct: 1921’.
Inscribed to his mother
151. Buchan (John) A History of the Great War. [4 vols.] Nelson,
1921-1922, FIRST EDITIONS, 78 tissue plates of maps, the
majority folding, some a trifle creased and one with small
amount of adhesive residue, half-titles of first two volumes
browned, pp. xvi, 552; x, 578; xii, 603; xii, 528, 8vo, original
blue cloth with author’s monogram-device stamped to upper
board, backstrips lettered in gilt with variable fading, a little
waterstaining to upper board of first two volumes and lower
board of third, overall rubbing and bumping to corners, light
foxing or browning to free endpapers, hinges to volume iii
weak, good (Blanchard A52)
£2,000
All four volumes inscribed variously by Buchan to his mother: I,
‘Mother with much love from John Sept: 1921’; II, ‘Mother with
all the love of the writer John Buchan Nov: 1921’; III, ‘To my old
mother from her aged son J.B.’; IV, ‘To my mother this, the last
volume of the lengthiest work of her aged son John Buchan Aug.
24: 22’.
152. (Buckland Wright.) BROOKE (Rupert) Poems. Illustrated by Buckland-Wright. Folio Society, 1948, FIRST
ILLUSTRATED EDITION, 9 scraper-board illustrations, title-page and poem-titles printed in blue, pp. xii,
164, crown 8vo, original quarter blue grained leather with lavender cloth boards, wear around edges to
leather, top edge lavender and faded, a few foxspots to fore-edge and endpapers, remnants of printed
tissue dustjacket in one piece preserving most of front panel, good (Keynes 20; Reid A49)
£35
153. Bunting (Basil) Loquitur. Fulcrum Press, [1965], FIRST EDITION, ONE OF 200 COPIES (of an edition of
1,000 copies) printed on Glastonbury laid paper, pp. 80, imperial 8vo, original black cloth, backstrip
gilt lettered, dustjacket, very good £200
154. Bunting (Basil) The Spoils. Newcastle upon Tyne: Morden Tower Book Poem, [1965], FIRST EDITION,
portrait frontispiece, pp. [16], foolscap 8vo, original sewn white wrappers, lettered in black, front cover
illustration, fine £35
155. Bunting (Basil) Version of Horace 1969. Officina Mauritiana, 1972, FIRST EDITION, 48/300 COPIES,
single folded sheet, pp. [4], 16mo, in its original printed envelope, as issued, fine £25
An inscribed copy of the true first edition
156. Carey (Peter) Oscar and Lucinda. University of Queensland Press, 1988, FIRST EDITION, pages toned
throughout as usual, pp. [xiv], 511, 8vo, original green boards, backstrip lettered in gilt with light bump
at head, touch of rubbing to extremities, fine spotting to borders of endpapers, dustjacket, very good £200
44
Antiquarian & modern
Inscribed by the author to the title-page: ‘For Elsbeth, I hope you enjoy reading it (Happy Birthday), Peter
Carey’ - he has also left a trailing pen-mark on the dedication-page. The author’s third book, and his first
Booker Prize winner.
157. (Celtic Cross Press.) LESTER (Elizabeth) A Different Heaven. Drawings by Rosemary Roberts. York,
1996, 91/130 COPIES signed by poet and artist, 1 full-page drawing and 6 vignettes printed in green, pp.
[11], 8vo, original stitched grey printed wrappers, edges untrimmed, fine £40
158. (Celtic Cross Press.) LESTER (Elizabeth) The Moorland Tree, and Other Poems. Drawings by Rosemary
Roberts. York, 1996, 91/130 COPIES signed by poet and artist, fronstispiece and 7 head or tail-pieces
printed in orange, pp. [15], 8vo, original stitched green printed wrappers, edges untrimmed, fine £40
159. (Chesterton.) BRANGWYN (Frank) The Way of the Cross. An Interpretation. With a Commentary
by Gilbert Keith Chesterton. Hodder and Stoughton, [1935,] FIRST EDITION, 118/250 COPIES signed
by Chesterton and Brangwyn, tiny gift inscription to inner top corner of initial blank, contents and
title-page printed in black and brown, initial letter brown, 14 plates onlaid to stiff paper backing with
preceding caption-pages, printed rectos only, one or two very small foxspots to gutters or margins,
pp. 51 + plates, folio, original cream vellum lettered in gilt to upper board, tiny scuff to lower board,
slightest of bumps to top corner of upper board, t.e.g., others untrimmed, very good (Sullivan 98) £800
160. Christie (Agatha) The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side. The Crime Club [by Collins,] 1962, FIRST
EDITION, pp. 256, crown 8vo, original red boards, backstrip lettered in black, bookplate tipped in to
flyleaf, dustjacket with lightest of rubbing at foot of backstrip panel and to front corners, a few faint
foxspots to rear panel, very good £65
John Buchan’s copy with his notes and a letter from the author
161. Churchill (Winston S.) The World Crisis. 1916-1918, Part II.]
Thornton Butterworth, 1927, FIRST EDITION, 6 folding maps or charts
and two facsimiles of letters from Haig as well as further maps within
text, occasional pencil markings to margin by Buchan with occasional
comment or correction, a few very faint foxspots to initial and ultimate
leaves and one or two light handling marks, pp. ix, 293-589, 8vo,
original dark blue cloth blind-stamped to upper board, backstrip
lettered in gilt, edges lightly toned and free endpapers a little browned,
very good (Woods A31a for set)
£6,000
With Buchan’s bookplate on the front pastedown, and his pencilled notes
(largely listing page-numbers, but with a few comments in his hand) across
the rear endpapers. A superb 2-page letter from the author to John Buchan
is tipped in to the flyleaf, dated 22.2.27. Written on Treasury Chambers
headed notepaper during his Chancellorship of the Exchequer, he thanks
Buchan for a letter in praise of his own work on the First World War,
The World Crisis 'I am so pleased to get your letter & most highly valued
congratulations. No one knows more about the subject than you & yr
history will remain the immediate contemporary record for this country [...]
One of the least laborious parts of my task was reading your account [...]
Yours sincerely, Winston S. Churchill’.
John Buchan’s copy, with a letter from the author to the same
162. Churchill (Winston S.) The World Crisis. The Aftermath. Thornton Butterworth, 1929, FIRST EDITION,
errata-slip tipped in, 4 folded maps and further maps within text,occasional pencil markings to
margin by Buchan with occasional comment or correction, a pp. 474, 8vo, original dark blue cloth
blind-stamped to upper board, small bump to fore-edge of upper board, backstrip lettered in gilt with
bubbling to cloth along joints, good (Woods A31a for set)
£4,500
45
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
With Buchan’s bookplate on the front pastedown, and his pencilled note to rear pastedown. A letter from
Churchill to Buchan, on Treasury Chambers paper, dated 21.iii.29, is tipped in to the flyleaf: 'I am most
grateful to you for yr most kind & encouraging letter, wh. is of particular value to me on account of yr gifts and
authority in this sphere. It was so nice of you to write. Yours ever, Winston S. Churchill’.
163. Clarke Hall (Edna) Facets. A Book of Poems and Six Illustrations. Elkin Mathews and Marrot, 1930,
FIRST EDITION, ONE OF 330 NUMBERED COPIES (this unnumbered), 6 full-page drawings, pp. 48, folio,
original blue cloth, lettered in gilt to upper board and backstrip, one or two spots of light soiling, t.e.g.,
others untrimmed, free endpapers a little browned, very good £150
Printed at the Curwen Press.
164. [Coghill (Neville)] The Masque of Hope. Presented for the Entertainment of H.R.H. Princess Elizabeth
on the Occasion of her Visit to University College, 25 May 1948 by Oxford University Dramatic Society.
Goeffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press, 1948, FIRST EDITION, 5 monochrome plates, pp. 21,
8vo, original pink boards, light dustsoiling and a few pinprick foxspots to borders, browning to free
endpapers, tissue dustjacket separated along backstrip panel, toned and creased overall, good £20
The ‘Masquers’ include Kenneth Tynan, John Schlesinger, Tony Richardson, and Robert Hardy.
165. Conrad (Joseph) Almayer’s Folly. A Story of an Eastern River. Fisher Unwin,
1895, FIRST EDITION, first state with title-page printed in black and red
and with type missing in the last 2 lines on p. 110, preliminaries, final few
leaves and endpapers lightly foxed, pp. 272, crown 8vo, original mid green
fine-ribbed cloth, backstrip gilt lettered within gilt boxes, front inner hinge
possibly repaired (if so, near-invisibly), bookplate (or some other piece of
paper) formerly attached at the corners to the front free endpaper, t.e.g., others
untrimmed, preserved in a navy blue fleece-lined folding box, the lining foxed,
very good (Smith 1)
£2,500
The author’s first book.
166. Conrad (Joseph) Chance. A Tale in Two Parts. Methuen, 1913, FIRST EDITION, second issue with cancel
title-page, pp. [vii], 406, [8 & 31, ads dated Autumn and July 1913], crown 8vo, original green cloth,
backstrip lettered in gilt, light rubbing to extremities, fore- and tail edge roughtrimmed, bookplate to
flyleaf, very good (Smith 18)
£200
167. Conrad (Joseph) Conrad’s Manifesto: Preface to a Career. The History of the Preface to The Nigger
of the "Narcissus", with Facsimiles of the Manuscripts. Edited with an Essay by David R. Smith.
Northampton, MA: Gehenna Press, 1966, FIRST EDITION, 876/1,100 COPIES printed on Fabriano paper in
black and red, woodcut portrait frontispiece by Leonard Baskin, 15 facsimile pages, pp.79, 4to, original
marbled boards with printed label to front, rubbing along joints and edges, untrimmed, grey board
folder, board slipcase with some light soiling, very good (Brook 49)
£60
The slipcase label shows the name of Bodley Head, marking this as one of 250 copies given over to UK
subscribers.
Inscribed to Sir Hugh Clifford
168. Conrad (Joseph) Lord Jim. Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood, 1900, FIRST EDITION, light
foxing to initial and ultimate pages with one or two spots throughout text, a faint waterstain at the
head of the first 70 or so pages, pp. [iv], 451, crown 8vo, later Sangorski & Sutcliffe full crushed green
morocco, single gilt fillet border to both boards, light mark to lower board, backstrip decorated and
lettered direct in gilt with five raised bands and a little faded, a.e.g., green endpapers with bookplate
tipped in to flyleaf, very good (Smith 5; Cagle A5a1)
£8,000
46
Antiquarian & modern
Inscribed by the author to the flyleaf: ‘To Hugh Clifford, With the author’s most friendly regards. Pent Farm
1900’. Clifford was a colonial governer stationed in Malaya, and an author whose literary circle included the
eminent figure of Conrad. Conrad had met Clifford in 1899, and would later dedicate ‘Chance’ to him.
The inscription dates from Conrad’s years at Pent Farm (1898-1902), whose previous inhabitant had been Ford
Madox Hueffer.
169. Conrad (Joseph) The Mirror of the Sea. Memories and Impressions. Methuen, 1906, FIRST EDITION,
title-page printed in black and red, scattered light foxing, pp. viii, 306, [40, ads dated August 1906],
crown 8vo, original green cloth, backstrip lettered and decorated in gilt, rubbing to extremities,
t.e.g., others untrimmed, a few small foxspots to endpapers with offsetting from adhesive tape to free
endpapers, contemporary ownership inscription to flyleaf with later bookplate tipped in to same, good
(Smith 12; Cagle A11a(a))
£300
170. Conrad (Joseph) The Nigger of the "Narcissus". A Tale of the Sea. Heinemann, 1898, FIRST ENGLISH
EDITION, occasional light foxing and one instance of pencil annotation, pp. [vi], 259, [16, ads], crown
8vo, original slate-grey cloth, stamped in gilt to upper board, backstrip lettered in gilt, textblock
strained in a couple of places, edges untrimmed, free endpapers browned with bookplate to flyleaf,
good (Smith 3; Wise p.3; Cagle A3c1(a)) £500
Published in America as The Children of the Sea.
171. Conrad (Joseph) Nostromo. A Tale of the Seaboard. London & New York: Harper & Brothers, 1904,
FIRST EDITION, foxing to prelims with occasional foxspots to text, pp. [viii], 480, crown 8vo, original
blue cloth stamped in light blue to upper board, backstrip a shade darkened and lettered in gilt with
decorations in light blue, some light rubbing with a few marks to upper board, light spotting to
endpapers, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf with bookseller stamp at foot of the same, good (Smith 11;
Wise p.10; Cagle A10a1)
£600
One of 2,000 copies in the first edition, with the first issue features as per Smith (e.g., p. 187 numbered as 871).
172. Conrad (Joseph) An Outcast of the Islands. Fisher Unwin, 1896, FIRST EDITION, title-page printed in
red and black, one or two faint foxspots to prelims, a tiny brown liquid stain towards gutter of pp.46-7,
a few handling marks, pp. [vii], 391, crown 8vo, original dark green cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt with
a couple of nicks at tips, slight lean to spine, t.e.g., others untrimmed, endpapers lightly browned in
places, bookplates and a blindstamp to flyleaf and pastedown, good (Smith 2: Cagle A2a1)
£950
The author’s second book.
173. Conrad (Joseph) The Rescue. A Romance of the Shallows. Dent, 1920, FIRST ENGLISH TRADE EDITION,
a single foxspot at head of prelims, pp. 416, crown 8vo, original green cloth with publisher’s device
and border blind-stamped to upper board with small spot of gilt to lower corner of border, backstrip
lettered in gilt, tail edge roughtrimmed, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket with light browning to
rear panel, some creasing overall and a couple of closed tears around foot, very good (Smith 23) £220
174. Conrad (Joseph) The Rover. Fisher Unwin, 1923, FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, issue with ‘g' lacking from the
word 'go' in line 2 of p. 221, pp.318, crown 8vo, original green fine ribbed cloth stamped in gilt to front,
bump to top and tail edge of upper board, backstrip lettered and bordered in green, partial light free
endpaper browning, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket very bright with just a few small nicks,
very good (Smith 25; Wise p. 47)
£250
The colour used for the lettering on the backstrip varies from any copies described in the bibliographies
where, as one might expect, it is consistent with the gilt lettering used on the front.
47
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
175. Conrad (Joseph) The Secret Agent. A Drama in Three Acts. Privately Printed for Subscribers Only
by T. Werner Laurie, 1923, 107/1,000 COPIES signed by the author, portrait frontispiece, captioned
tissue-guard present, pp. [ix], 185, 8vo, original quarter cream parchment with grey boards, a little
wear to corners, backstrip with printed paper label (spare label tipped in at rear), edges untrimmed and
unopened, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket also with a printed label, backstrip panel a little
darkened with light chipping and a few marks to corners, two small spots of white paint ot front panel,
very good (Smith p.112; Cagle A54b)
£300
Dramatised in 1920 and first published in a privately printed edition of about fifty copies in 1921. The first
performance was given in London in November 1922, followed by publication in its present form in 1923.
176. Conrad (Joseph) A Set of Six. Methuen, 1908, FIRST EDITION, first issue, second state with the half-title
and title-leaves conjugate cancels, pp. [viii], 312, [40, ads dated February 1908], crown 8vo, original
blue cloth stamped in red to upper board, backstrip lightly faded and lettered in gilt with decorations
in the same, a few faint marks and light rubbing, top edge a little dustsoiled and others lightly toned
with tail edges roughtrimmed, a small amount of adhesive browning to borders of pastedowns with
bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, good (Smith 14.2 [variant]; Cagle A13a2)
£250
The cancel title and half-title pages were inserted to correct the formatting of the list of Conrad’s publications,
which did not originally make clear those books on which the author had collaborated with Ford M. Hueffer.
Smith does not record any copies of the first issue with a February 1908 publisher’s catalogue at rear, as here.
177. Conrad (Joseph) The Shadow Line. A Confession.
Dent, 1917, FIRST EDITION, a little very faint foxing
to prelims, small chip at the head of two leaves, pp.
[vi], 227, 18 [ads], crown 8vo, original green cloth
stamped in black to front, small spot towards foreedge of upper board, backstrip lettered in gilt and
black with decorations in black, slight lean to spine,
top edge brown, free endpapers browned as usual,
dustjacket with light chipping to corners and tips of
backstrip panel, light handling marks and backstrip
panel a shade darkened, very good (Smith 21; Cagle
A21a1)
£1,000
178. Conrad (Joseph) Suspense. With an Introduction
by Richard Curle. Dent, 1925, FIRST ENGLISH
EDITION, frontispiece after a drawing by Muirhead
Bone, occasional light foxing, pp. x, 303, [4, ads],
crown 8vo, original maroon fine-ribbed cloth with
publisher’s device and border blind-stamped to
upper board, backstrip slightly faded and lettered
in gilt now a little tarnished, slight lean to spine, top
edge green, flyleaf with erased ownership inscription
and tipped in bookplate, dustjacket with very light
chipping to bottom corners and at foot of backstrip,
good (Smith 28)
£200
Conrad’s final novel, published posthumously - the English edition post-dating the American by a single day.
179. Conrad (Joseph) Tales of Hearsay. With a Preface by R.B. Cunninghame Graham. Fisher Unwin, 1925,
FIRST EDITION, very faint foxing to prelims with one or two faint spots to text, pp. 288, crown 8vo,
original green cloth stamped in gilt to upper board, backstrip lettered in gilt and a little tarnished, free
endpapers with usual partial browning and a couple of adhesive spots, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf,
dustjacket very bright with a couple of nicks, very good (Smith 27)
£250
48
Antiquarian & modern
180. Conrad (Joseph) Tales of Unrest. Fisher Unwin, 1898, FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, title-page printed in
black and red, page number fully present on p.36, pp. [viii], 298, [14, ads], crown 8vo, original dark
green cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, light rubbing to extremities and some faint scuffing to boards,
t.e.g., others untrimmed, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, very good (Smith 4)
£800
181. Conrad (Joseph) Typhoon and Other Stories. Heinemann, 1903, FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, a few spots
to prelims with one or two faint foxspots to text, two small pencil marks, pp. [vi], 304, [32], crown
8vo, original slate cloth stamped in gilt to upper board, backstrip lettered in gilt with a short closed
tear at head, and rubbing at tips, slight lean to spine, top edge dustsoiled, edges toned with a few faint
spots, dried adhesive stain to gutter of front endpapers with bookplate tipped in to flyleaf and erased
ownership inscription to the same, rear endpapers foxed, good (Smith 9; Cagle A8b1(b))
£400
The second of the two bindings described by Cagle, with all edges trimmed.
182. Conrad (Joseph) Victory. An Island Tale. Methuen, 1915, FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, a single foxspot at
head of prelims, pp. viii, 415, [4, ads dated Autumn,1915], [32, publisher’s list dated 8/5/15], crown
8vo, original red cloth, backstrip lettered and decorated in gilt with a few faint spots and gentle fading,
top edge lightly dustsoiled, some offsetting from adhesive tape to free endpapers, bookplate tipped in to
flyleaf, very good (Smith 20; Cagle A19b1)
£200
Includes an Author’s Note not featured in the American edition, published six months earlier.
183. Conrad (Joseph) Within the Tides. Tales. Dent, 1915, FIRST EDITION, title-page printed in black and red,
a single foxspot at the head of a few pages, light creasing to the top corner of a few of the final leaves, pp.
[viii], 280, crown 8vo, original green cloth with publisher’s device and border blind-stamped to upper
board, backstrip lettered in gilt with rubbing to tips and along joints, very slight lean to spine, a little
light wear at corners, top edge blue-green, usual partial browning to endpapers, rear hinge starting to
strain, bookplate to flyleaf and to pastedown, good (Smith 19)
£120
184. Conrad (Joseph) Youth: A Narrative. And Two Other Stories. Edinburgh & London: William
Blackwood, 1902, FIRST EDITION, one or two small foxspots to text and the odd handling mark, pp. [vii],
375, [32, first state ads dated 10/02], crown 8vo, original green cloth stamped in black to upper board
with floral decoration, backstrip lettered in gilt and decorated in black with a little rubbing and a small
black mark above the author’s name, cloth a little grubby with brighter panel at foot of upper board
(probably where library label has been removed, but no other library markings), fore-edges of boards a
little crooked, rubbing to extremities with corners turned in, bookplate to flyleaf, good (Smith 8) £600
The two other stories are ‘The End of the Tether’ and ‘Heart of Darkness’ - the latter a modern classic,
appearing in book form for the first time here.
185. Davidson (John) A Selection of his Poems. Preface by T.S. Eliot. Edited with an introduction by Maurice
Lindsay, and with an essay by Hugh McDiarmid [sic]. Hutchinson, 1961, FIRST EDITION, frontispiece
portrait by Sickert, pp. [xxii], 220, crown 8vo, original black cloth, backstrip lettered in silver with red
decorations, top edge red, dustjacket with a little nick to top corner of upper board, near fine £45
186. Day Lewis (C.) Christmas Eve. Illustrated by Edward Ardizzone. Faber and Faber, [1954,] FIRST EDITION,
3 Ardizzone illustrations with 1 full-page and in colour, pp. [5], crown 8vo, original sewn wrappers,
original envelope with a few very faint spots to rear, fine £30
187. Day Lewis (C.) Us Kids [The Otterbury Incident.] Based on the French film, ‘Nous les Gosses’. n.d.,
circa 1948, MANUSCRIPT NOTEBOOK, written in blue ink predominantly on rectos with corrections
and insertions to verso in ink or pencil, [unpaginated], small folio, original quarter maroon cloth with
Oxford stationer’s stamp to inside front cover, some light rubbing overall with wear to corners and one
or two small marks, marbled edges, good £3,750
49
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
A complete draft of C. Day Lewis’s second book for children, clearly at a
late stage of composition but with numerous corrections and insertions
of a minor nature. Its derivation from a French film has always been
explicit, but is here brought entirely into relief by the original title,
which is a direct translation of its source material. The book, published
with illustrations by Edward Ardizzone, was enormously popular and
remained in print for almost fifty years.
A few cryptic but intriguing notes are to be found on the rear pastedown:
amongst which ‘poem for Cyril [Connolly?]’, ‘Preface for William
[Plomer?]’, ‘P.D. [Patric Dickinson?] poems’, ‘Script for [?]’, [?] synopsis’,
‘Talk[?] for Calder Marshall’, ‘Lichfield [?]’; in addition to these there
are some sums as well as a few drafted lines that relate to this or other or
other projects - the most legible being ‘Do me favour of dropping down
dead’, which may be for one of his Nicholas Blake crime novels.
188. Deighton (Len) The Ipcress File. Hodder, 1962, FIRST EDITION, pp.
224, crown 8vo, original orange boards, backstrip lettered in gilt,
first issue dustjacket with minor chipping to corners and rubbing
along laminate edges, very good (Milward-Oliver p.27)
£650
The author’s first book.
Item 187
189. (Delos Press.) CHAR (René) Lascaux. Birmingham, 1998, 138/150 COPIES, pp. [6], 16mo, original sewn
printed wrappers, fine £15
A sequence of four poems, translated by Mark Hutchinson. This copy inscribed on the title-page by Peter
Baldwin of the Delos Press: ‘For Nigel, Christmas/New Year 1998, Peter’.
190. (Delos Press.) CONSTANTINE (David) Recollecting Delos. Island Reflections. Birmingham, [2002,]
92/300 COPIES, title-page printed in red and black, 2 full-page red outline maps, pp. 20, 8vo, original
marbled wrappers over stiff card, printed label to front, fine £30
191. (Delos Press.) Durrell (Lawrence) On seeming to presume. A poem. Birmingham, [1998,] 4/100 COPIES,
printed in black and brown on Zerkall mouldmade paper, pp. [4],royal 8vo, original sewn brown
wrappers, untrimmed, fine (Carter 269 [note])
£30
Printed by Sebastian Carter at his Rampant Lions Press.
192. (Delos Press.) JOUVE (Pierre Jean) The present greatness of Mozart. Translated by David Gascoyne.
Birmingham, 1996, 33/150 COPIES signed by Gascoyne, title-page and initial letters printed in green,
pp. [ii], 12, 8vo, original marbled paper over sewn card wrappers, printed label to front, untrimmed,
fine (Carter 257)
£30
Gascoyne’s translation of Jouve’s 1937 article originally appeared in Horizon in 1940. This most attractive
edition, its first separate appearance, was printed by Sebastian Carter at the Rampant Lions Press.
193. Dexter (Colin) The Daughters of Cain. Macmillan, 1994, FIRST EDITION, pp. xii, 295, 8vo, original blue
boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, pictorial endpapers, blue page-marker, dustjacket, fine £70
Inscribed on the title-page: ‘For Peter Watson, [in Greek] A possession for all time, Colin Dexter’. The Greek
quotation is from Thucydides.
Inscribed by the author and additionally signed by John Thaw
194. Dexter (Colin) Daughters of Cain. Macmillan, 1994, FIRST EDITION, pp. xii, 295, 8vo, original blue
50
Antiquarian & modern
boards with a small stain to the front, backstrip lettered in gilt, pictorial endpapers, a couple of small
stains on the bottom edge, blue page-marker, dustjacket, fine £150
Inscribed by the author, ‘For Mike - Bless you for your continuous support! And every best wish to you and
yours always. Colin Dexter’. This copy has been additionally signed by John Thaw, the actor who made the
role of Morse his own, beneath Dexter’s inscription.
195. Dexter (Colin) Morse’s Greatest Mystery. Macmillan, 1993, FIRST EDITION, pp, [x], 240, 8vo, original
black boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, light bump to bottom corners, sky blue endpapers and pagemarker, dustjacket, near fine £90
Inscribed by the author to the title page, ‘Bless you for your support, Mike! Colin Dexter’.
196. Dexter (Colin) The Remorseful Day. Macmillan, 1999, FIRST EDITION, pp. [x], 374, 8vo, original black
boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, black page-marker, dustjacket, fine £100
Inscribed by the author to the title-page: ‘For Mike - how very good to see you at the launch! Colin Dexter’.
197. Dexter (Colin) The Wench is Dead. Macmillan, 1989, FIRST EDITION, map preceding text and 2
further illustrations, pp. [viii], 200, crown 8vo, original mid brown boards, backstrip lettered in gilt,
dustjacket, fine £100
Inscribed on the title-page: ‘For Peter Watson, [in Greek] A possession for all time, Colin Dexter’. The Greek
quotation is from Thucydides.
198. Dostoievsky (F[yodor]) Poor Folk. Translated from the Russian ... by Lena Milman
with an Introduction by George Moore. Elkin Mathews and John Lane: Roberts
Brothers, Boston. 1894, FIRST EDITION in English, title printed in red, with a design
by Aubrey Beardsley on the title-page reproduced on the front cover, pp. xx, 192,
xvi [Publisher’s list for March 1894], f’cap.8vo., original yellow cloth, backstrip gilt
lettered, design of a key on the backstrip (repeated on the rear cover) and lettering
and Beardsley design on the front cover all blocked in black, untrimmed and
substantially unopened, very good (Gilcher ‘A Bibliography of George Moore’ 87a)
£400
199. Du Maurier (Daphne) The Breaking Point. Eight Stories. Victor Gollancz, 1959, FIRST EDITION, one or
two small foxspots at head of prelims, pp. 288, crown 8vo, original red boards, backstrip lettered in gilt,
bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket lightly soiled overall with a couple of ring-stains to rear panel
and a little foxing to border of front, a little frayed around foot, good £35
200. Du Maurier (Daphne) Mary Anne. Victor Gollancz, 1954, FIRST EDITION, partial browning to halftitle, bottom corners of ultimate pages a little turned in, pp. [x], 379, 8vo, original red boards, backstrip
lettered in gilt, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf and ownership inscription to pastedown, dustjacket a little
frayed around head with light overall soiling, a little chipping to corners and darkened backstrip panel,
very good £40
Inscribed by Piper to Betjeman, and signed by Ronald Duncan
201. Duncan (Ronald) Judas. Illustrated by John Piper. Anthony Blond, 1960, FIRST EDITION, printed on
rose-tinted Abbey Mills Glastonbury laid paper, 8 lithographic plates by John Piper, pp. [vi], 37, royal
8vo, original blue buckram, stamped in gilt to upper board, lightest of rubbing to extremities, very good £275
Inscribed in pencil on the flyleaf, ‘J. Piper to J. Betjeman, 10 Nov. 1960’, and signed below by the author.
51
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
202. Durrell (Lawrence) Cities, Plains and People. Poems. Faber and Faber, 1946, FIRST EDITION, pp.72, 8vo,
original bright yellow linen, backstrip lettered in gilt, tail edges untrimmed, dustjacket with a little
fading to backstrip panel and edges, very good (Thomas 12)
£35
203. Durrell (Lawrence) On Seeming to Presume. Faber and Faber, 1948, FIRST EDITION, pp. 60, 8vo, original
fuchsia boards, backstrip lettered in silver, very light dustsoiling to top edge, dustjacket, very good
(Thomas 16)
£200
Signed by the author on the title-page, and dated 1985.
204. Durrell (Lawrence) The Tree of Idleness. Faber and Faber, 1955, FIRST EDITION, pp. 48, crown 8vo,
original puple cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, top edge a trifle dusty, usual adhesive browning to free
endpapers, dustjacket very slightly faded and a touch worn, very good (Thomas 23)
£100
Signed by the author to the title-page, beneath his printed name, and dated 1983.
205. (Eliot.) PERSE (St.-J.) Anabasis. With a Translation into English by T.S. Eliot. Faber and Faber, 1930, FIRST
EDITION IN ENGLISH, 199/350 COPIES signed by the translator, pp. 75, royal 8vo, original green cloth
lettered in gilt to upper board and backstrip, a couple of faint marks to cloth, t.e.g., others untrimmed,
free endpapers browned as usual, original glassine jacket with chipping and loss at foot of rear panel,
slipcase soiled and worn with some splitting, very good (Gallup A16b)
£325
Eliot also provides a 5-page Preface to his translation, which was made in collaboration with the author.
206. Eliot (T.S.) After Strange Gods. A Primer of Modern Heresy. The Page-Barbour Lectures at the University
of Virginia. Faber and Faber, 1934, FIRST EDITION, a few unobtrusive pencil marks to margins, pp.
68, 8vo, original black cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, a little dustsoiling to top edge, other edges
untrimmed, a couple of small adhesive spots to free endpapers with bookplate to flyleaf, dustjacket,
darkened backstrip panel with light chipping to tips, a few light handling marks, a few nicks along
edges and a short closed tear at foot of rear flap-fold, very good (Gallup A25a)
£200
A notorious work, primarily because of the reference to the undesirability of ‘free-thinking jews’ on p. 20 - it
was never reprinted, and disavowed by the author in probable recognition of the misconception that results in
its awkward tenor.
207. Eliot (T.S.) Charles Whibley. A Memoir [The English Association, Pamphlet No. 80.] Humphrey
Milford, Oxford University Press, 1931, FIRST EDITION, pp. 13, [3], 8vo, original sewn printed wrappers,
toned to borders, bookplate to inside cover, very good (Gallup A20a
£50
208. Eliot (T.S.) Ezra Pound. His Metric and Poetry. New York: Knopf, 1917 [but 1918,] FIRST EDITION,
frontispiece portrait of Pound by Gaudier-Brzeska, pp. 31, crown 8vo, original red boards lettered in gilt
to upper board, light fading around backstrip, tipped-in bookplate and erased ownership inscription
to flyleaf, a few small foxspots to rear endpapers, original plain dustjacket nearly split down backstrip
panel and a bit chipped elsewhere, very good (Gallup A2)
£700
The author’s second book, and very scarce in the dustjacket. Published anonymously in an edition of 1,000
copies, Gallup notes that Pound made corrections and changes before sending it on to John Quinn for
publication by Knopf. Quinn, a New York lawyer and important patron of modernist authors, had subsidised
the publication of this and Pound’s ‘Lustra’ - the collection that it was written to publicise. As a purely literary
transaction, Eliot’s short but thorough critical appreciation of Pound’s influences and innovations was a
reciprocal gesture for Pound’s eagerness to, as he put it, ‘boom Eliot’ during their first years of contact.
209. Eliot (T.S.) For Lancelot Andrewes. Essays on Style and Order. Faber and Faber, 1928, FIRST EDITION,
initial blank and verso of final page partly browned as usual, pp.143, crown 8vo, original blue cloth,
backstrip with printed label and a single spot of fading through hole in dustjacket, edges untrimmed
52
Antiquarian & modern
with a little dustsoiling to top edge, contemporary ownership inscription in pencil to flyleaf and
bookplate tipped in to pastedown, dustjacket with design by Bawden, backstrip panel darkened with
light chipping at tips, very good (Gallup A12a)
£180
210. Eliot (T.S.) Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Faber and Faber, 1939, FIRST EDITION, pp. 45, 8vo,
original yellow cloth with illustration by author stamped in red to upper board, some light dustsoiling
to edges, backstrip lettered in red, edges untrimmed, bookplate tipped in to pastedown, contemporary
gift inscription to flyleaf and a few faint spots and handling marks to the same, dustjacket price-clipped
and lightly soiled overall with a few marks, darkened backstrip panel with a little splitting to rear fold,
edges rubbed, heavy chipping to corners and tips of backstrip panel with a few tears and creasing
around head, small portion of loss at head of rear panel, good (Gallup A34a)
£450
211. Eliot (T.S.) Poems 1909-1925. Faber & Gwyer, 1925, FIRST EDITION, small ink-spot at foot of half-title
and half-title, pp. [ii], 99, crown 8vo, original blue cloth, backstrip very slightly faded with printed
paper label a little browned, slight fading at head of lower board, edges untrimmed, free endpapers with
marks from adhesive tape, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, ownership stamp of Philip Gaskell (Librarian
at Trinity College, Cambridge) to front pastedown, very good (Gallup A8a)
£300
Notable as the first printing of ‘The Waste Land’ to include the dedication to Ezra Pound.
212. Eliot (T.S.) A Presidential Address to the Members of The London Library. Printed for The London
Library by the Queen Anne Press, 1952, FIRST EDITION, ONE OF 500 COPIES, pp. [8], crown 8vo, original
sewn wrappers printed in red and black, a little fading around folds, bookplate tipped in to inside cover,
very good (Gallup A59a)
£40
213. Eliot (T.S.) Selected Essays, 1917-1932. Faber and Faber, 1932, FIRST EDITION, pp. 454, 8vo, original
brown cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt with just a hint of fading at tips, top edge a little dustsoiled, others
roughtrimmed, bookplate tipped in to pastedown, dustjacket with backstrip panel a trifle darkened,
light rubbing to extremities with some chipping to corners and head of backstrip panel, very good
(Gallup A21a)
£275
With original Faber mailing card laid in at front.
214. Eliot (T.S.) Sweeney Agonistes. Fragments of an Aristophanic Melodrama. Faber and Faber, 1932,
FIRST EDITION, pp. 31, foolscap 8vo, original blue boards, backstrip lettered in red and lightly faded,
bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket with light overall dustsoiling, a small nick at head of backstrip
panel with a little creasing, very good (Gallup A23)
£140
215. Eliot (T.S.) Thoughts After Lambeth. [Criterion Miscellany No. 30.]
Faber and Faber, 1931, FIRST EDITION, pp. 32, foolscap 8vo, original sewn
wrappers over stiff card, very slight rubbing to extremities, bookplate
tipped in to inside front cover, very good (Gallup A18)
£45
With pamphlet advertising the Criterion Miscellany series laid in at front.
216. Eliot (T.S.) The Waste Land. Hogarth Press, 1922, FIRST ENGLISH EDITION,
faint foxing to prelims and ultimate leaves with occasional faint foxing to
borders of text and one or two light handling marks, pp. 35, [1], crown
8vo, original blue marbled boards with printed label to upper board
lightly browned, a few faint marks, rubbing to edges and light wear to
corners, backstrip lightly faded with slight lean to spine and chipping at
head, a little cracking along joints, edges untrimmed, bookplate to front
pastedown with a little faint foxing to endpapers, very good £5,000
53
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
The printed label is in the 2nd of the 3 states described by Gallup, with horizontal rules either side of the title
and author information. A beautiful example of this high spot of modernism.
217. (Farleigh.) DANIELL (Georgina) God’s Blanket. Illustrated by John Farleigh. The Batchworth Press,
[1953,] FIRST EDITION, frontispiece, chapter head-pieces, and 7 full-page illustrations by Farleigh,
occasional faint foxspots, pp. 204, crown 8vo, original yellow cloth, backstrip lettered in yellow against
a black ground with light fading at ends, small puncture mark to upper board, faint foxing to edges and
endpapers, dustjacket price-clipped with Farleigh illustration to front panel, toned and a little chipped,
good £30
218. Faulkner (William) Absalom, Absalom! New York: Random House, 1936, FIRST EDITION, folded map
tipped in at rear, this and the title-page printed in black and red, pp. 384, 8vo, original black cloth with
five horizontal rules in red, author’s signature in gilt to upper board, backstrip lettered in gilt, top edge
red, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket with mild toning to backstrip panel, light rubbing to
extremities and a few short closed tears, very good £2,500
219. Faulkner (William) Go Down, Moses and Other Stories. New York: Random House, 1942, FIRST
EDITION, occasional light handling marks, pp, [viii], 383, 8vo, original black cloth stamped in gilt to
upper board with horizontal rule in red, backstrip lettered in gilt with five horizontal rules in red and
tips a little softened, a few faint speckles to cloth, top edge red, a small amount of adhesive browning to
gutter of front endpapers, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket price-clipped and lightly rubbed to
extremites with light dustsoiling to rear panel and a few short closed tears, very good £2,000
In the first issue binding.
220. Faulkner (William) Requiem for a Nun. New York: Random House, [1951,] FIRST EDITION, 188/750
COPIES signed by the author, title-page printed in black and white against a grey ground, pp. [vi], 286,
crown 8vo, original half black cloth with marbled boards, top edge grey, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf,
protective glassine jacket, near fine £750
221. Faulkner (William) Requiem for a Nun. Chatto & Windus, 1953, FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, pp. 256,
foolscap 8vo, original pale blue boards, gilt lettered backstrip, faint partial free endpaper browning,
dustjacket in beautiful condition with a design by Paul Hogarth, near fine £100
222. Faulkner (William) Soldiers’ Pay. New York: Boni & Liveright, 1926, FIRST EDITION, pp. 319, crown 8vo,
original blue cloth stamped in yellow to upper board, backstrip lettered in yellow with blind-stamped
publisher’s device, very slight lean to spine, small indentation at head of upper board with very light
rubbing to extremities, edges roughtrimmed and a little toned, patterned endpapers with bookplate
tipped in to flyleaf, very good £550
The author’s second book and his first novel, with a first printing of 2,500 copies.
223. Firbank (Ronald) La Princesse Aux Soleils & Harmonie. With English Versions by Edgell Rickword and
an Introductory Note by Miriam J. Benkovitz. Illustrated by Philippe Jullian. Enitharmon Press, 1974,
FIRST EDITION, 69/200 COPIES printed on Glastonbury Antique Laid paper, frontispiece illustration and
2 plates, pp. [xiv], 11, 8vo, original quarter black cloth with purple boards, backstrip lettered in silver,
original glassine jacket with split to front panel, very good (Benkovitz A27)
£40
224. Fitzgerald (F. Scott) Flappers and Philosophers. New York: Scribner’s, 1920, FIRST EDITION, pp. [viii],
272, crown 8vo, original mid green cloth, tarnished gilt backstrip lettering faintly readable, front cover
blocked in blind, ownership name on front free endpaper, roughtrimmed, good £425
54
Antiquarian & modern
225. Fitzgerald (F. Scott) Preface to This Side of Paradise. Edited by John R. Hopkins. Iowa City: The
Windhover Press and Bruccoli Clark, 1975, ONE OF 150 COPIES, printed on Rives Heavy mould-made
paper, tipped-in frontispiece portrait of author by John Thein, title-page printed in black and red, pp.
[11], tall 8vo, original olive green cloth with printed paper label to upper board, heavy spotting around
head of upper board with a handful of spots elsewhere, very good (Bruccoli A40)
£60
Originally submitted with the novel to Charles Scribner’s Sons, but jettisoned - this is its first publication.
226. (Fleece Press.) SEMPILL (Gabriel) & Simon Lawrence. Mr Kilburn’s Calicos. Upper Denby, 2014, ONE
OF 300 COPIES, title-page printed in red and black, 6 tipped-in illustrations to introduction, 62 pages of
colour facsimile of Kilburn’s notebook, additional booklet of 16 pattern designs, pp. [15], [62], [16],
oblong 8vo, original quarter red cloth with Kilburn patterned boards, backstrip with printed label,
additional booklet with sewn wrappers and printed labels to front, cloth solander box with printed
label, fine £175
A beautiful reproduction of a pocket-book from 1800 owned by the important fabric designer William
Kilburn (1745-1818), with his designs and notes. With a Fleece Press Christmas card loosely inserted, ‘Stay
optimistic this Christmas’.
227. (Fleming.) FAULKS (Sebastian) Devil May Care. Penguin, 2008, FIRST EDITION, 473/500 COPIES signed by
the author, pp. [viii], 295, [15], 8vo, original illustrated boards with certificate from the Fleming estate
laid in, edges silver, page marker, as new in shrinkwrapped red velvet hinged box with overall design of
poppies in a lighter shade of red and title information stamped in silver to front, fine £230
228. Fleming (Ian) Octopussy. Cape. 1966, FIRST EDITION, pp. 95, cr.8vo., original black boards, backstrip
and front cover lettered in silver, dustjacket with repricing sticker to front flap (16s / 80p), fine £175
229. (Florence Press.) CHAUCER (Geoffrey) The Romaunt of the Rose.
Rendered out of the French into English. 1908, 451/500 COPIES (of
an edition of 512 copies) printed in double-column on Aldwych
handmade paper, 20 colourprinted plates by Norman Wilkinson
and Keith Henderson (10 each) tipped to grey and white ground
paper, captioned tissue-guards present, usual offsetting to guards
and following page, fly-title and initial letter of text printed in
blue, some dampstaining at head of a handful of leaves (and
endpapers) and the occasional faint foxspot, pp.[vii], 103, [1],
imperial 8vo, contemporary brown morocco by Bumpus, boards
with a border of double gilt fillets enclosing double blind fillets, inside
these two concentric frames of blind and gold fillets, at the centre of
the front board ‘JMF’ blocked in gilt, backstrip similarly decorated and
lettered in gilt, a tiny crack at foot of rear joint, free endpapers a bit
foxed, a.e.g., good £200
230. Forster (E.M.) Abinger Harvest. Edward Arnold, 1936, FIRST EDITION, first
issue with pages 277-82 in uncancelled state, pp.viii, 351, 8vo, original
dark blue cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, top edge blue, other edges
lightly toned, small amount of browning to free endpapers, bookplate
tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket with very light dustsoiling, near fine
(Kirkpatrick A18a)
£500
The first issue, with the article ‘A Flood in the Office’ present. The inclusion of
the article brought about a libel action; publisher's unsold copies and those
returned by booksellers were re-issued with the offending material removed
and a cancel inserted.
55
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
231. Forster (E.M.) England’s Pleasant Land. A Pageant Play. Hogarth Press, 1940, FIRST EDITION, pp. 80,
foolscap 8vo, original orange cloth, backstrip lettered in green, free endpapers with usual partial
browning, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket with backstrip panel a little dulled and light overall
dustsoiling, very good (Kirkpatrick A22; Woolmer 466)
£60
232. Forster (E.M.) A Passage to India. Edward Arnold, 1924, FIRST EDITION, pp.325, [3, ads], crown
8vo, original maroon cloth stamped in black to upper board, backstrip lettered in black and a trifle
darkened at foot, very light browning to rear free endpaper, one or two tiny spots to edges, tail edge
roughtrimmed, bookplate of H. Bradley Martin to pastedown with later bookplate tipped in to flyleaf,
custom box, near fine (Kirkpatrick A10a)
£1,200
Bradley Martin’s copy of Forster’s lauded novel.
233. Forster (E.M.) Two Cheers for Democracy. Edward Arnold, 1951, FIRST EDITION, pp.371, 8vo, original
dark blue cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, top edge maroon, a few foxspots to fore-edge, endpapers
with light adhesive browning, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket with a few foxspots, very good
(Kirkpatrick A28a)
£120
234. Forster (E.M.) Where Angels Fear to Tread. Edinburgh & London: Blackwood, 1905, FIRST EDITION,
pp.[iv], 319, [32, ads], crown 8vo, original blue cloth stamped in black to upper board, backstrip
lettered in gilt with minimal fading and tips just a little softened, a few small spots to edges, red
endpapers with bookplates of Michael Sadleir and H. Bradley Martin to pastedown, bookplate tipped in
to flyleaf also, custom box, near fine (Kirkpatrick A1a)
£3,500
A beautiful copy of the author’s first book, with the ads at rear in the first state recorded by Kirkpatrick: dated
5/05 and without mention of Forster’s work.
235. (Forster.) MACAULAY (Rose) The Writings of E.M. Forster. Hogarth Press, 1938, FIRST EDITION, pp. 304,
crown 8vo, original blue cloth, backstrip lettered in black, a single faint spot to upper joint, top edge a
trifle dustsoiled, dustjacket with backstrip panel a little browned, near fine (Woolmer 434)
£75
236. (Fraser.) DAVIS (Alec) The Graphic Work of Eric Fraser. The Uffculme Press, 1974, FIRST EDITION,
numerous examples of Fraser’s work throughout with many full-page, pp. vi, 80, small 4to, original
black boards lettered in gilt to front and backstrip, light dustsoiling to top edge, dustjacket, near fine £30
Roger Senhouse’s copy
237. Fry (Roger) The Artist and Psycho-Analysis. Hogarth Press, 1924, FIRST EDITION, a single foxspot at foot
of first few pages, pp. 19, crown 8vo, original series cream card wrappers printed in dark green, a little
dustsoiled with a nick at head of front cover, good (Woolmer 45)
£120
With the pencilled ownership inscription of Bloomsbury associate and publisher Roger Senhouse at the head
of the flyleaf, dated 1924.
238. Gill (Eric) ALs requesting books from Hugh Rees. December 18th 1937, written in black ink on ‘Pigotts’
headed paper, pp. [1], 12.5 x 20 cm, original folds, very light creasing around corners, some light
handling marks, very good condition
£85 + VAT in EU
Gill writes to accompany ‘two lists of books’ (the lists not included), with his detailed sending instructions,
signed ‘Yours faithfully, Eric Gill’. A short note at the bottom left reads: ‘Sorry to be so late with this. I trust
there will be no difficulty in getting these off in a day or two, as some of them are to be posted on to other
people. EG’.
56
Antiquarian & modern
239. (Golden Cockerel Press.) SHENSTONE (William) Men & Manners. Selected and Introduced by
Havelock Ellis. 1927, 332/500 COPIES printed in black on handmade paper, title-page printed in
black and red, pp. xxiii, 98, crown 8vo, original quarter tan sheep, backstrip lettered in gilt and a little
darkened at head, pale brown boards, t.e.g., others untrimmed, bookplate to flyleaf dustjacket with
darkened backstrip panel, light overall dustsoiling and a few nicks, very good (Chanticleer 48)
£100
The text is taken from the sixth edition of 1791.
240. Graham (Rigby, Illustrator) THE POPPY AND THE POMEGRANATE. The Story of Demeter and Persephone,
or the Origin of the Seasons. Leicester: Grange Fibre, 1962, FIRST EDITION, 22 colour-printed
illustrations in yellow, blue or purple with 4 full-page, pp. [24], foolscap 8vo, original quarter vellum
with a 7-colour Graham design on boards, backstrip lettered in gilt and a little darkened at ends,
textblock strained after first gathering, acetate jacket, very good (Van Eijk A33)
£30
241. Grass (Günter) [To Be Continued...] Nobel Lecture, 7 December 1999. [Translated from German
by Michael Henry Heim]. Fyfield: Oak Tree Fine Press, 2009, 100/150 COPIES (from an edition of 176
copies) signed by the author, printed on Zerkall mould-made paper, title-page printed in black and grey
with wood-engraved portrait of author by Abigail Rorer, fly-title printed in grey, pp. 33, tall 8vo, original
quarter grey cloth with beige cloth sides, backstrip lettered in gilt, edges untrimmed, endpapers with
illustration by author, slipcase, fine £180
Oak Tree Fine Press exists to raise money for the care and support of children made vulnerable by HIV and
AIDS - this is one of a series of Nobel Prize Lectures that they have published, with Doris Lessing and Toni
Morrison being the others available.
242. (Graves.) APULEIUS (Lucius) The Transformations of Lucius, otherwise Known as The Golden Ass.
Translated by Robert Graves. Penguin, 1951, FIRST GRAVES EDITION, 1,076/2,000 COPIES signed by
Robert Graves, pp. 302, 16mo, original quarter cream parchment, backstrip lettered in gilt, marbled
black and red boards, t.e.g., near fine (Higginson & Williams A66b)
£90
243. Graves (Robert) The Feather Bed. Hogarth Press, 1923, FIRST EDITION, 39/250 COPIES signed by the
author on a tipped-in limitation label, pp. 28, 8vo, original patterned boards with black paper label
to upper board printed in white, borders a little faded, rubbing at tips of backstrip, untrimmed and
unopened, a small amount of adhesive browning to endpapers, bookplate tipped in to pastedown, very
good (Higginson & Williams A9; Woolmer 33)
£750
244. Graves (Robert) Good-Bye to All That. An Autobiography. Jonathan Cape,
1929, FIRST EDITION, first state, frontispiece portrait of author and 7 further
plates, pp. 448, 8vo, original salmon-pink cloth with publisher’s device
blind-stamped to lower board, backstrip lettered in gilt, light bumping to
top corners and a few patches of water-staining at foot of cloth, edges a little
toned and top-edge dustsoiled, tail edge roughtrimmed, bookplate tipped
in to flyleaf, dustjacket a little browned overall with a few marks to rear
panel, backstrip panel darkened, a few nicks and creases to edges, very good
(Higginson & Williams A32a)
£1,200
Includes the passages removed at Sassoon’s insistence, on pp. 290 & 341.
245. Gray (Alasdair) Old Negatives. Four Verse Sequences. Jonathan Cape, 1989, FIRST EDITION, 171/500
COPIES signed, numbered, and dated by the author, with an amusing lengthy errata slip laid in at front,
frontispiece by Gray as well as Contents Page and full-page drawings at start of each section, final page
printed in seven colours, pp. 67, tall crown 8vo, original black boards with Gray design stamped in
silver to both, backstrip lettered in silver, dustjacket with a few handling marks, very good £120
57
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
246. (Greene.) AN IMPOSSIBLE WOMAN. The Memories of Dottoressa Moor of Capri. Edited and with an
Epilogue by Graham Greene. Bodley Head, 1975, FIRST EDITION, pp. 205, 8vo, original blue boards,
backstrip lettered in gilt, very light dustsoiling to top edge, near fine (Wobbe A61a)
£40
A project conceived and begun with Kenneth Macpherson, who died during the process of preparing it; Moor
practised as a doctor on the island of Capri for some 50 years, with her patients including Norman Douglas.
247. Greene (Graham) Monsignor Quixote. Bodley Head, 1982, FIRST EDITION, pp. 221, 8vo, original green
cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, top edge green, dustjacket with backstrip panel very lightly sunned, near
fine (Wise & Hill A63)
£40
248. Greene (Graham) Our Man in Havana. An Entertainment. Heinemann, 1958, FIRST EDITION, pp. [vi],
273, 8vo, original blue cloth with publisher’s device blind-stamped to lower board, backstrip lettered
in gilt, bookseller’s sticker to pastedown and bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket a trifle chipped at
corners with a spot of internal tape repair at head of backstrip panel, a little sunning to borders of rear
panel and flaps, very good (Wobbe A38a)
£250
249. Greene (Graham) The Tenth Man. Bodley Head and Anthony Blond, 1985, FIRST EDITION, pp. 158,
crown 8vo, original green boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, dustjacket, fine (Wise & Hill A68)
£40
Julian Barnes’s copy
250. Greene (Graham), Elizabeth Bowen and V.S. Pritchett. Why Do I Write? An Exchange of Views. With
a Preface by V.S. Pritchett. Marshall, 1948, FIRST EDITION, a little light foxing to prelims, pp. 58, 8vo,
original patterned boards, browned to borders and along backstrip with a faint mark on lower joint,
some light foxing to endpapers, good (Wobbe A22)
£35
Correspondence had begun in 1947 and was broadcast on the BBC's Third Programme 'The Artist in Society'
in October 1948; this volume was published in November of the same year. From the library of Julian Barnes,
with the Barnes/Blackwell bookplate.
251. Gresham (William Lindsay) Monster Midway. An Uninhibited Look at the Glittering World of the
Carny. New York: Rinehart, 1953, FIRST EDITION, pages lightly toned throughout, pp. [x], 309, crown
8vo, original black cloth, backstrip lettered in blue and white, patterned endpapers, dustjacket with
some light rubbing at tips and folds, very light chipping at foot of backstrip panel, very good £250
A bright copy of the third book by Gresham - the first husband of Joy Davidman, who would subsequently
marry C.S. Lewis.
252. H.D. [Hilda Doolittle] Selected Poems. New York: Grove Press, 1957, FIRST EDITION, 3/50 COPIES
signed and dated (‘Küsnacht, Zürich. March 17, 1957’) by the author, pp. [2], 128, crown 8vo, original
quarter brown cloth lettered in gilt to upper board, backstrip lettered in gilt and slightly dulled, a trifle
sunned to borders, very good (Boughn A25a.i.)
£300
253. Hampson (John) O Providence. Hogarth Press, 1932, FIRST EDITION, pp. 394, crown 8vo, original blue
cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, faint sunning through dustjacket, top corners slightly bumped, top edge
brown, dustjacket with backstrip panel darkened and a trifle chipped at head, a couple of nicks and
light chipping at corners, some light dustsoiling, very good (Woolmer 290)
£150
Inscribed by the author on the flyleaf: ‘H.M. Cashmore, with the compliments of John Hampson Simpson,
11-2-32’. Cashmore was the City Librarian in the author’s home town of Birmingham. The carbon copy of his
letter thanking Hampson is laid in at the front.
254. (Hayloft Press.) MASSINGHAM (H.J.) Fifteen Poems. Birmingham, 1987, 54/250 COPIES, 2 full-page
58
Antiquarian & modern
drawings by Allen Freer printed in brown, pp. [25], crown 8vo, original marbled paper over stiff card,
printed label to front, near fine £25
Published to celebrate the centenary of the author’s birth, the collection includes Massingham’s parody
‘Recipe for an Imagist Poem’ and the impassioned response to the Great War, ‘War and Peace’.
An inscribed copy
255. (Heaney.) Beowulf. An Illustrated Edition. Translated by Seamus Heaney. Illustrations edited by John D.
Niles. New York: W.W. Norton, 2008, FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION, photographic illustration on facing
verso of all text-pages, pp. xxvii, 260, 4to, original wrappers, near fine £250
Inscribed by Heaney on the half-title, using ink that has bled out a little and so shows through on the
copyright page: ‘For Jacqui, on your retirement from the Sheldonian Theatre - fond wishes- Seamus Heaney,
2013’. The book has additionally been signed by Brian Patten beneath Heaney’s inscription.
256. (Heaney.) Four Poets for St Magnus: George Mackay Brown, Ted Hughes,
Seamus Heaney, Christopher Fry. (Printed at the September Press for the
Breckness Press, Orkney). 1987, 1987, FIRST EDITION, 27/80 COPIES (of
an edition of 100 copies) signed by each of the contributors, 5 tipped-in
facsimiles taken from the four original manuscript contributions, and 2
drawing of sculptures by Bryce Wilson taken from those in St Magnus
Cathedral and reproduced in maroon, the title printed in black and red, ff.
[24], large 4to, original quarter white vellum, backstrip gilt-lettered, dull
pink boards, the front cover with a design reproducing a cathedral aspect
and printed in black, cloth slipcase with pictorial label, fine £1,500
The contributions are: ‘The Kirk and the Ship’ by George Mackay Brown, ‘The
Zodiac in the Form of a Crown’ by Ted Hughes, ‘In memoriam’ by Seamus
Heaney and ‘Hymn at Lauds’ translated from the Latin by Christopher Fry.
257. Heaney (Seamus) Door into the Dark. Faber and Faber, 1972, FIRST PAPERBACK EDITION, pp. 56, crown
8vo, original wrappers, some light soiling, rubbing and creasing to borders with some faint pressure
marks to front, backstrip a touch toned with the surface lifting a little at foot, small liquid-spot to inside
front cover, good (Brandes & Durkan A5c)
£75
Signed by Heaney on the title-page, beneath his printed name. One of 500 copies in this edition.
258. Heaney (Seamus) Station Island. Faber and Faber, 1984, FIRST EDITION, pp. 123, crown 8vo, original
wrappers, very light rubbing to extremities with some faint mottling on rear white panel, top edge
slightly browned, one or two tiny faint foxspots to fore-edge and endpapers, very good (Brandes &
Durkan A36b)
£50
Signed by the author to the title-page.
259. (Heaney.) SOPHOCLES. The Burial at Thebes. Sophocles’ ‘Antigone’ Translated by Seamus Heaney. Faber
and Faber, 2004, FIRST EDITION, pp. [viii], 56, 8vo, original black boards, backstrip lettered in gilt,
dustjacket with small pressure mark at foot of front, near fine £30
260. Hemingway (Ernest) Death in the Afternoon. New York: Scribner’s, 1932, FIRST EDITION, colour
frontispiece by Juan Gris, photograph printed to each recto pp. 281-407 pp. [xi], 517, 8vo, original
black cloth with author’s signature stamped in gilt to upper board, backstrip lettered and decorated in
gilt, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket lightly toned with rubbing to edges, some light creasing
and short closed tears, a little chipping to tips of backstrip panel, at corners and to fore-edge of front
panel, very good (Hanneman 10A)
£2,000
59
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
261. Hemingway (Ernest) The Green Hills of Africa New York: Scribner’s, 1935, FIRST EDITION, decorations
by Edward Shenton, pp. [viii], 295, 8vo, original light green cloth with author’s signature stamped in gilt
to upper board, backstrip lightly faded through dustjacket and lettered in gilt against a black ground
with further decorations in gilt, fore-edge rough-trimmed, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket
with the merest hint of rubbing to extremities and some light creasing at foot of backstrip panel, near
fine (Hanneman 13A)
£3,000
262. Hemingway (Ernest) A Moveable Feast. New York: Scribner’s, 1964, FIRST EDITION, 8 plates, one or two
light handling marks to outer margin, pp. [x], 211, 8vo, original quarter terracotta cloth with author’s
signature stamped in gilt to upper board, top edge grey, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket with
some light rubbing, soiling and creasing with a few nicks around edges and the odd small chip, very
good (Hanneman 31A)
£225
263. Hemingway (Ernest) Winner Take Nothing. New York: Scribner’s, 1933,
FIRST EDITION, pp. [viii], 244, crown 8vo, original black cloth with gold
paper label printed in black to upper board and backstrip, light rubbing
to labels and a few faint marks overall, top edge red with fore-edge
rough-trimmed, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket with a few small
water spots, browning to backstrip panel and borders of flaps, rubbed to
extremities with a small amount of light chipping, very good (Hanneman
12A)
£1,600
With a letter from the publisher to the book’s original owner (Mr A.W.
Schwartz) laid in at front, thanking him for identifying an error in the first
edition.
264. (Heritage Press.) MILTON (John) The Masque of Comus. With a Preface by Mark Van Doren, & The
Airs by Henry Laws, With a Preface by Hubert Foss. Illustrated with Water-Colors by Edmund Dulac.
Cambridge: Printed for the Heritage Press at the University Press, [1955,] title-page printed in black and
blue, with further decorations in blue, 12 pp. musical notation at rear, 6 colour-printed illustrations pp.
59, [12], imperial 8vo, original quarter black cloth with marbled paper sides, top edge blue, slipcase
with a little fading to borders, near fine £40
An attractive production, printed by Brooke Crutchley.
265. Hill (Geoffrey) Clavics. [The Daybooks IV.] Enitharmon Press, 2011, FIRST EDITION, 2 reproductions of
drawings, pp. 42, crown 8vo, original black boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, dustjacket, fine £50
Signed by the author to the title-page.
266. Hill (Susan) The Lighting of the Lamps. Hamish Hamilton, 1987, FIRST EDITION, light toning to page
borders, pp. [vi], 209, crown 8vo, original black boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, dustjacket with
lettering on backstrip panel faded, very good £35
Signed by the author on the title-page. A collection of essays and radio plays.
267. Hollinghurst (Alan) The Stranger’s Child. Picador, 2011, FIRST EDITION, pp. [vi], 564, 8vo, original
black boards, backstrip lettered in silver, dustjacket, fine £40
Signed by the author to the title-page, and dated 11 July 2011.
An inscribed copy of this Cold War suspense novel
60
Antiquarian & modern
268. Hopkinson (Tom) Down the Long Slide. Hogarth Press, 1949, FIRST EDITION, pp. 128, crown 8vo,
original black cloth a little rubbed and marked overall, backstrip lettered in green now slightly faded,
top edge lightly dustsoiled with tail edge roughtrimmed, good £30
Inscribed on the flyleaf by the author: ‘Maureen Gebbie from Tom Hopkinson, Nov: 1949’. A thriller set in
Communist Europe by a notable left-wing journalist and editor.
269. Household (Geoffrey) Prisoner of the Indies. Illustrations by William Stobbs. Bodley Head, 1967, FIRST
EDITION, title-page vignette and head- and tail-piece to each chapter, map preceding text, pp. 142,
crown 8vo, original blue boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket with
some very light soiling to rear panel, one or two nicks and light creasing around head, very good £35
270. Hughes (Ted) Crow. From the Life and Songs of the Crow. Faber and Faber, 1970, FIRST EDITION, pp. 80,
8vo, original black cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, top edge a trifle dustsoiled, dustjacket with Baskin
design, just a touch of fraying at one corner and backstrip panel a shade darkened, very good (Sagar &
Tabor A25a.1)
£120
271. Hughes (Ted) The Earth-Owl and Other Moon-People. Illustrated by by R.A. Brandt. Faber and Faber,
1963, FIRST EDITION, 10 full-page illustrations, pp. 46, crown 8vo, original blue cloth, backstrip lettered
in gilt, dustjacket with Brandt design, near fine (Sagar & Tabor A7)
£150
272. Hughes (Ted) Ffangs the Vampire Bat and the Kiss of Truth. Illustrated by Chris Riddell. Faber and
Faber, 1986, FIRST EDITION, monochrome drawings throughout with many full-page, pp. 96, 4to,
original black boards, backstrip lettered in silver, top edge a trifle dustsoiled, dustjacket, near fine £40
273. Hughes (Ted) Gaudete. Faber and Faber, 1977, FIRST EDITION, pp. 200, 8vo, original black cloth,
backstrip lettered in red and gilt, dustjacket, near fine (Sagar & Tabor A51a.1)
£60
274. Hughes (Ted) Under the North Star. Drawings by Leaonrd Baskin. Faber and Faber, 1981, FIRST EDITION,
13 full-page illustrations, half-title, title and fly-title all by Leonard Baskin and colourprinted, pp. 47,
4to, original brick-red cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, dustjacket with just a little creasing at tips of
backstrip panel, near fine £50
With a publisher’s insert recommending ‘Brave New World’
275. Huxley (Aldous) Ape and Essence. A Novel. Chatto & Windus, 1949, FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, pp. [vi],
153, crown 8vo, original grey cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt against a blue ground with slight lean to
spine, top edge blue with tail edge roughtrimmed, a few tiny foxspots at head of fore-edge, dustjacket,
very good (Bromer A62.2)
£60
With the publisher’s insert recommending Huxley’s earlier dystopian novel ‘Brave New World’ (‘May we
suggest that if you have not yet read BRAVE NEW WORLD, you will enjoy doing so?’) and advertising the New
Collected Edition of his works.
276. (Inky Parrot Press.) SISSON (C.H.) Night Thoughts and other Poems. Illustrated with linocuts by Annie
Newnham. Oxford, 1983, 73/326 signed by the author and illustrator, 20 illustrations with some
full-page and one printed in black and copper, pp. 47, royal 8vo, original illustrated boards, matching
slipcase, fine £40
277. James (Henry) Pardon my Delay. Letters from Henry James to Bruce Richmond. (Introduction by Philip
Horne). Foundling Press, Tunbridge Wells. 1994, FIRST EDITION, 215/350 COPIES printed on Zerkall
moukldmade paper in black with occasional typographical decorations in red, 2 frontispiece portraits
of James and Richmond tipped-in, pp. 44, crown 8vo, original off-white boards with enlarged facsimile
61
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
of James’s holograph reproduced overall, printed front cover label, untrimmed, fine £25
278. James (Henry) The Spoils of Poynton. Heinemann, 1897, FIRST EDITION, second issue, pp. [ii], 286,
[1], crown 8vo, original blue cloth with tulips in blind to upper board and publisher’s device in same
to lower, lettered in gilt to upper board and backstrip with publisher’s name a little tarnished, lean
to spine, a little rubbed to extremities with a few marks overall and a stain to bottom corner of upper
board, edges untrimmed and toned with a couple of small red spots to tail edge, bookplate tipped in to
flyleaf, good (Edel & Laurence A48a(ii))
£70
279. James (Henry) The Wings of the Dove. [2 Vols.] New York: Scribner’s, 1902, FIRST EDITION, pp. [iv],
329; [iv], 439, crown 8vo, original brown cloth, backstrips lettered in gilt with very light wear to tips, a
little light bumping to corners, t.e.g., others untrimmed, bookplate tipped in to pastedown of Vol. I, a
few light marks to cloth, very good (Edel & Laurence A56a)
£300
280. James (P.D.) The Lighthouse. Faber and Faber, 2005, FIRST EDITION, pp. [x], 323, 8vo, original navy
boards, backstrip lettered in cream, dustjacket, fine £40
Signed by the author to the title-page.
281. James (P.D.) The Private Patient. Faber and Faber, 2008, FIRST EDITION, pp. [x], 395, 8vo, original black
boards, backstrip lettered in silver, dustjacket, fine £40
Signed by the author to the title-page.
‘V. from G.’
282. Jekyll (Gertrude) Home and Garden. Notes and Thoughts, Practical and
Critical, of a Worker in Both. With 53 Illustrations from Photographs
by the Author. Longmans, Green, and Co., 1900, FIRST EDITION, title
printed in red and black, with photographic illustrations (as per title),
just a few spots here and there, pp. xxiv, 301, 8vo, uncut in the original
maroon cloth, titled in gilt on the upper cover within a cartouche, spine
gilt, spine faded, inscribed on the half-title ‘V. from G. Jany. 23, 1900’,
good £220
A presentation copy, inscribed by the author. The recipient is identified in a pencil note as Lady Victoria Rowe.
283. Kawabata (Yasunari) House of the Sleeping Beauties, and other stories. With an introduction by
Yukio Mishima. Translated by Edward G. Seidensticker. Quadriga Press, 1969, FIRST ENGLISH EDITION,
frontispiece printed in brown, pp. 149, crown 8vo, original red cloth, backstrip lettered in silver,
ownership inscription to flyleaf, dustjacket price-clipped and a little toned to borders and backstrip
panel, with light overall dustsoiling and a few faint marks, very good £20
The author was the first Japanese Nobel laureate. This novella, first published in Japan in 1961, has recently
been used as the basis for German and Australian films.
284. (Kinsey.) ROLLINS (Leighton) Hippolytus. Freely adapted from the Hippolytus of Euripides. Illustrated
by Carolyn Huff Kinsey. [Preface by Hugh Kenner.] Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1963, FIRST
EDITION, printed on Beckett India vellum, numerous line-drawing illustrations throughout, pp. 108,
8vo, original oatmeal cloth with Kinsey illustration blind-stamped to upper board, backstrip lettered in
brown, dustjacket, very good £30
With an inscription to the flyleaf by Jack L. Cross, editor at the Press, presenting this copy to ‘Carl’ (a former
employee) as ‘a small token of my esteem’, dated 29 April 1963.
62
Antiquarian & modern
285. (Lamb.) MACKIE (George) Lynton Lamb, Illustrator. A Selection of His Work. Scolar Press, 1978, FIRST
EDITION, 2 headpieces and 96 plates showing Lamb’s work in various styles and contexts with 18 in
colour, pp. xxxi, 104, small 4to, original brown cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt partially against a black
ground, light dustsoiling to top edge, dustjacket a little rubbed to extremities with some light chipping
and creasing, larger chip at head of rear panel, price on front flap blocked out, very good £30
286. (Latimer Press.) BULL (Florence) Perspective. With drawings by Kate Jackson. 1969, 17/25 COPIES
signed by the author and artist (from an edition of 350 copies), printed on Basingwerk toned
parchment, frontispiece and 3 full-page drawings printed in purple, green or brown, pp. 35, small 4to,
original brown buckram with Jackson design stamped in silver to upper board, original glassine jacket
with a couple of tears and some loss to rear panel, very good £40
287. Lawrence (D.H.) Aaron’s Rod. Secker, 1922, FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, light foxing to prelims, pp. 312,
[8], crown 8vo, original brown cloth lightly soiled overall with blind-stamped double border, backstrip
lettered in gilt and rubbed at tips, slight lean to spine top and fore-edge trimmed, edges toned, free
endpapers browned, corners bumped, good (Roberts A21)
£30
288. Lawrence (D.H.) The Lovely Lady. Secker, 1932, FIRST EDITION, pp. 248, foolscap 8vo, original mid
brown cloth, backstrip gilt lettered, dustjacket with backstrip panel chipped and a little darkened, good
(Roberts A63)
£250
Contains one story, ‘The Man Who Loved Islands’, not present in the American edition.
289. Lawrence (D.H.) Pornography and Obscenity. [Criterion Miscellany, No. 5.] Faber and Faber, 1929,
FIRST EDITION, pp. 32, crown 8vo, original orange cloth stamped in gilt to upper board, some light
dustsoiling to upper board and usual browning to endpapers, very good (Roberts A49b)
£45
An unread copy, with pages unopened.
290. Lawrence (D.H.) St. Mawr Together with The Princess. Secker, 1925, FIRST EDITION, variant 1 with the
text block 7/8 inch across, preliminaries a trifle foxed, pp. 240, foolscap 8vo, original chocolate-brown
cloth, gilt lettering on lightly faded backstrip tarnished, very good (Roberts A31a(1))
£50
291. Lawrence (T.E.) More Correspondence with Writers. Edited by Jeremy and Nicole Wilson [T.E.
Lawrence Letters, Volume VI.] Salisbury: Castle Hill Press, 2014, 196/260 COPIES (from an edition of
377 copies), frontispiece colour portrait of Doughty by Eric Kennington tipped in, pp. xxviii, 419, royal
8vo, original blue cloth with blind-stamped border to upper board, backstrip lettered in gilt, top edge
gilt, dustjacket, fine £180
In the ‘subscriber’s binding’ of full cloth. Includes correspondence with Siegfried Sassoon, Frederic Manning,
Maurice Baring, Laurence Binyon, Noel Coward, C. Day Lewis, Herbert Read, H.G. Wells, and W.B. Yeats.
292. (Lawrence.) VERGA (Giovanni) Mastro-Don Gesualdo. Translated by D.H. Lawrence. Jonathan Cape,
1928, FIRST EDITION WITH LAWRENCE INTRODUCTION, pp. [xviii], 454, [23], foolscap 8vo, original blue
cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, foxing to edges, dustjacket lightly soiled, good (Roberts A28b)
£20
Variant 2 in Roberts, with the shorter catalogue following text.
293. Le Carré (John) Single & Single. Hodder, 1999, FIRST EDITION, pp.336, 8vo, original maroon boards,
backstrip gilt lettered, dustjacket with a little creasing around head, near fine £45
Signed by the author on the title-page.
63
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
294. Lee (Christopher) Under the Sun. Poems. The Bodley Head, 1948, FIRST EDITION, pp. 63, crown 8vo,
original red cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt and lightly faded, dustjacket with gentle fading to backstrip
panel and light overall dustsoiling, a little frayed at corners, very good £20
Lee’s first collection had been published by the Woolfs at the Hogarth Press in 1937, whilst he was still at
Oxford. This collection includes a number of war poems.
Presentation copy to Roger Senhouse, with his copious notes
295. Lehmann (John) The Whispering Gallery. Autobiography I. Longmans, Green, 1955, FIRST EDITION,
frontispiece photograph of Lehmann with sisters, Senhouse’s pencilled notes to margins, pp. ix, 342,
8vo, original brown boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, top edge pink, dustjacket a touch frayed with light
overall soiling and slightly faded backstrip panel, very good £325
Inscribed twice by Lehmann to Roger Senhouse: first on the flyleaf, ‘with love and many thoughts of many
years - John’; and then on the title page, ‘from [printed] John Lehmann, with love to Roger who can read
between the lines - John, October 1955’. Senhouse has made notes in pencil on both sets of endpapers
and throughout the text. The rear free endpaper is taken up with notes for or from an interview with John
Lehmann on ‘Sat. p.m., 20 Feb. 1960’, whilst a few notes to flyleaf reference Lehmann’s text either via citation
or reflection upon it; within the text itself Senhouse has marked these and further passages (with occasional
annotation). Senhouse himself does not receive mention in the text - although the second inscription
insinuates him - but there are frequent references to his lover Lytton Strachey, and to other members of the
Bloomsbury Group.
296. (Leicester College of Arts and Crafts.) CELTIC LEGENDS. Leicester, 1935, FIRST EDITION, frontispiece
and 4 illustrations in green and pink, occasional light foxing, pp. 36, 8vo, original quarter yellow cloth,
patterned sides, printed label to upper board, some light soiling, bubbling to lower board, good £25
297. (Lewis.) A.J.A. SYMONS TO WYNDHAM LEWIS. Twenty-Four Letters. With comments by Julian Symons.
Edinburgh: Tragara Press, 1982, 2/120 COPIES, frontispiece portrait of Symons by Lewis, pp. 21, 8vo,
original marbled wrappers over stiff card with paper label printed in black to front, some very light
creasing around head, very good (Halliwell 85)
£40
298. (Lewis.) BAYNES (Pauline) Original drawing for Prince Caspian. [p. 34: ‘… it sat up, rubbed its arms
& legs …’] [n.d., circa 1951,] black ink with pencil annotations, 31.7 x 19cm, original creasing from
publisher storage, but none touching image, trace overlay with some pen and pencil markings fixed
with tape on verso, very good
£5,000 + VAT in EU
Baynes’s drawing, with her pencilled signature beneath, shows Trumpkin the Dwarf, having been rescued
(Chapter III: 'The Dwarf '). The image is the same size as published in the first edition. The other pencil
markings (some in red, numerals in pen at head) refer to sizing and place in text, with a contextual quotation
(from p. 33, contemporary with the original drawing) in Baynes’s hand captioning her illustration.
299. (Lewis.) BAYNES (Pauline) Original drawing for Prince Caspian. [p.
112: ‘right up there, between those mountain ashes …’] [n.d., circa
1951,] black ink with pencil annotations, 31.7 x 19cm, original
creasing from publisher storage, but none touching image, trace
overlay fixed with tape on verso, very good
£5,000 + VAT in EU
Baynes’s drawing, with her pencilled signature beneath, depicts Lucy
showing Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Trumpkin the Dwarf where she has
just seen Aslan at the gorge of the river Rush (Chapter IX: 'What Lucy
Saw'). The image is the same size as published in the first edition. The
other pencil markings (some in red, numerals in pen at head) refer to
sizing and place in text, with a contextual quotation (contemporary with
the original drawing) in Baynes’s hand captioning her illustration.
64
Antiquarian & modern
300. (Lewis.) BAYNES (Pauline) Original drawing for Prince Caspian. [p. 151: ‘… half man, half wolf …
leaping upon a boy about his own age...’] [n.d., circa 1951,] black ink with pencil annotations, 23.8 x
18.4cm, original creasing from publisher storage, but none touching image, trace overlay with some
pen and pencil markings fixed with tape on verso, very good £5,000 + VAT in EU
Baynes’s drawing, with her pencilled signature beneath, shows the fight in Aslan's How (Chapter XII: 'Sorcery
and Sudden Vengeance'). The image is the same size as published in the first edition. The other pencil
markings (some in red, numerals in pen at head) refer to sizing and place in text, with a contextual quotation (
from p. 150, contemporary with the original drawing) in Baynes’s hand captioning her illustration.
301. (Lewis.) BAYNES (Pauline) Signed illustration from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. [‘Then they
began to drag him...’, p. 123.] New York: Macmillan, 1969, full-page illustration, 8vo, very good £200
Taken from an early US edition of the book, where improved printing quality allows for greater detail in the
reproduction of Baynes’s drawing, and signed by the artist beneath her illustration. A number of other signed
illustrated pages from Narnia books are available between £110 and £200, suitable for display or framing.
302. Lewis (C.S.) The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. A Story for Children. Bles, 1950, FIRST EDITION,
line-drawings throughout, some full-page, by Pauline Baynes, pp. 224, crown 8vo, original green cloth,
backstrip lettered in silver with lean to spine, sunned through dustjacket and a little fading to edges,
ownership inscription to flyleaf, dustjacket defective with central portion of backstrip panel missing
and other areas of loss, good £1,500
303. Lewis (C.S.) Transposition and other Addresses. Geoffrey Bles, 1949, FIRST EDITION, pp. 64, foolscap
8vo, original printed red and white wrappers, light foxing to top edge, dustjacket with some light soiling
and toning, fading to borders of front panel, very good £30
304. Lewis (C.S.) The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Bles. 1952, FIRST EDITION, line-drawings throughout,
some full-page, by Pauline Baynes, pp. 224, crown 8vo, original pale blue boards lightly stained,
backstrip lettered in silver, front endpaper maps, dustjacket just a little frayed, mainly to head and tail of
backstrip panel which is unfaded, with faint browning to the white area on the backstrip panel and the
rear panel a little soiled, but overall in much better state than is usual with this work, very good £1,200
305. Lewis (Wyndham) The Role of Line in Art. With Six Drawings to Illustrate the Argument. Edited with
an Introduction by Paul W. Nash. The Strawberry Press: Witney, 2007, 87/156 COPIES (from an edition
of 166 copies) printed on mouldmade paper, title and opening letters printed in red, 12 plates by
Wyndham Lewis showing 6 subjects in both black & white and colour, pp. 40, royal 8vo, original russet
linen stamped in gilt to upper board, backstrip lettered in gilt, untrimmed, board slipcase, fine £85
This essay was originally intended for publication by Viscount Carlow’s Corvinus Press, but the entire edition
was destroyed in the Blitz - excepting one copy, the sheets for which had been sent direct to Carlow and which
he had bound. This version is based on that sole, surviving copy - but incorporates some of Lewis’s corrections
that had not yet been carried out, and adds a hitherto unseen Tailpiece.
306. (Libanus Press.) POPE (Alexander) Imitations of English Poets. Illustrated by Meredith Ramsbotham.
Introduction by Julia Briggs. Marlborough, 1987, 117/250 COPIES (from an edition of 300 copies)
printed on Zerkall mouldmade paper, 10 line-drawings, each printed in cinnamon, pp. [32], small 4to,
original quarter green cloth with patterned boards, backstrip with printed label, fine £40
307. (Limited Editions Club.) VIRGIL. Eclogues. Translated into English verse by C.S. Claverley, With an
Introduction by Moses Hadas and Drawings by Vertès. New York, 1960, 1,387/1,500 COPIES signed by
the artist, 20 line-drawings with splashes of colour, the majority full-page or double-spread, pp. xxvii,
96, 4to, original quarter green cloth with linen sides, Vertès design stamped in green to upper board,
65
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
top edge green, slipcase, very good £65
The author’s own copy
308. (Lovat Fraser.) DRINKWATER (John) A Tribute to the late C. Lovat Fraser. Printed for private circulation,
1921, SOLE SEPARATE EDITION, a little offsetting from bookplate to first page, pp. [4], 8vo, original tan
sewn wrappers with Fraser vignette to front, some very light soiling, Drinkwater’s small bookplate to
inside cover, in Drinkwater’s custom cloth folder, very good £200
Drinkwater’s tribute begins in stark fashion: ‘Dead at the age of thirty-one after a sudden operation, Claud
Lovat Fraser was a surely a victim of the war as though he had fallen in action. He was full of vigour for his
work, but shell-shock had left him with a heart that could not stand a strain of this kind’. The author has
signed and dated at the head of his text, adding a bibliographic note: ‘A few copies of the sheets of my Note
prefixed to C.L.F’s edition of ‘The Beggar’s Opera’ bound up thus’. A loose slip of paper, also signed and dated
by Drinkwater is laid in at the front.
309. (Low.) FLAUBERT (Gustave) The First Temptation of Saint Anthony. Being a translation into English by
René Francis from the 1849-1856 manuscripts edited by Louis Bertrand. New Edition illustrated from
drawings by Katherine Low. Duckworth, 1915, ONE OF 625 COPIES, 12 plates, heavy foxing to prelims,
pp. [viii], 270, original quarter beige cloth with blue sides, backstrip browned and lettered in black,
light overall dustsoiling and some foxing with bump to bottom corners, light wear to corners, top edge
dustsoiled, others untrimmed, good £25
310. Lowell (Robert) Prometheus Bound. Derived from Aeschylus. Faber and Faber, 1970, FIRST EDITION, pp.
[viii], 67, crown 8vo, original purple cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, very light dustsoiling to top edge,
dustjacket with backstrip panel lightly sunned and just a single small foxspot to rear panel, very good £25
311. Macaulay (Rose) Catchwords and Claptrap. [Hogarth Essays, Second Series, No. 4.] Hogarth Press,
1926, FIRST EDITION, light creasing to top corner of a few pages, pp. 45, [2], 12mo, original boards with
lettering and design by Vanessa Bell, fading to borders and backstrip, some wear at tips of backstrip,
a little dustsoiling to top edge and light spotting to endpapers, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, good
(Woolmer 101)
£65
312. Macaulay (Rose) Told by an Idiot. Collins, 1923, FIRST EDITION, pp. [viii], 315, [4, ads], crown 8vo,
original blue cloth stamped in red to front, backstrip lettered in red and a little rubbed along joints and
at tips, slight lean to spine, top edge lightly dustsoiled, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, very good £80
A complex portrait of the war’s effects occupies the novel’s final movement.
An inscribed copy
313. McEwan (Ian) Atonement. Jonathan Cape, 2001, FIRST EDITION, pp. [viii], 372, [1], 8vo, original black
boards, backstrip lettered in silver, one or two faint marks to edges, dustjacket, near fine £150
Inscribed by the author on the title-page: ‘To Katie, Ian McEwan’.
314. McEwan (Ian) Saturday. Jonathan Cape, 2005, FIRST EDITION, pp. [viii], 279, [1], 8vo, original black
boards, backstrip lettered in gilt and slightly softened at head, dustjacket, near fine £40
Signed by the author to the title-page.
315. McEwan (Ian) Solar. Jonathan Cape, 2010, FIRST EDITION, pp. [x], 285, 8vo, original black boards,
backstrip lettered in gilt, dustjacket, fine £30
Signed by the author to the title-page, beneath his printed name.
66
Antiquarian & modern
316. McEwan (Ian) Sweet Tooth. Jonathan Cape, 2012, FIRST EDITION, pp. [viii], 323, 8vo, original black
boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, dustjacket, fine £40
Signed by the author to the title-page, beneath his printed name.
317. (Maidstone College of Art.) DE MAUPASSANT (Guy) His Wife. Translated by Marjorie Laurie. Maidstone:
Department of Printing, 1950, title-page illustration and 7 further two-colour line drawings by Patricia
Humphreys, pp. [ii], 9, 8vo, original illustrated boards, a few light handling marks, very good £30
318. Mantel (Hilary) Bring up the Bodies. 4th Estate, 2012, FIRST EDITION, ONE OF 2,000 COPIES signed by
the author, pp. xviii, 411, 8vo, original quarter red cloth with black cloth sides stamped in gilt to front,
still in publisher’s shrinkwrap, fine £70
319. (Marillier.) DE LA HARPE (Monsieur) Three Gifts. An Arab Love Story. After the French verison entitled
‘Tangu et Félime’ [...] published in Paris in 1780, and now done into English by Sir Frank Swettenham.
With Marillier’s five illustrations reproduced from the French edition. John Lane The Bodley Head,
1928, 785/1500 COPIES, light foxing to borders of prelims with occasional outbreaks further in,
frontispiece and 4 further colour illustrations, pp. 76, 8vo, original quarter beige cloth with marbled
boards, backstrip a little spotted with leather label lettered in gilt, light rubbing to edges and a little
fading at foot of backstrip panel, t.e.g., others untrimmed and unopened, good £25
320. Maurois (André) Chelsea Way. Translated by Hamish Miles. Elkin Mathews & Marrot, 1930, 457/500
COPIES (from an edition of 530 copies) signed by the author, pp. 58, crown 8vo, original quarter grey
cloth with patterned paper boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, edges untrimmed, dustjacket lightly toned
overall with a little fraying around head and rubbing to extremities, very good £60
321. Milne (A.A.) The House at Pooh Corner. With decorations by Ernest H. Shepard. Methuen, 1928, FIRST
EDITION, pp. xii, 178, crown 8vo, original salmon-pink cloth with Shepard vignette in gilt to upper
board and single fillet gilt border to the same, backstrip lettered in gilt and very lightly faded, t.e.g., pink
illustrated endpapers with a little browning to inner margin of free endpapers, bookplate tipped in to
verso of flyleaf, dustjacket in two pieces and lightly soiled and chipped, sound £300
322. Mitford (Nancy) Don’t Tell Alfred. Hamish Hamilton, 1960, FIRST EDITION, pp. 248, foolscap 8vo,
original green boards with a few marks at foot of upper board, backstrip lettered in gilt, a few faint
spots to edges, partial browning and a couple of faint adhesive marks to free endpapers with small
bookseller’s stamp at foot of rear, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket designed by Cecil Beaton
with slight rubbing, creasing and soiling to rear panel, small hole at head of front flap-fold, good £30
323. Murdoch (Iris) Existentialists and Mystics. Birmingham: The Delos Press, 1993, ONE OF 400 NUMBERED
COPIES (this unnumbered), from an edition of 500, pp. [iv], 21, 8vo, original printed wrappers, fine £25
324. Nash (Paul) Aerial Flowers. Oxford: Counterpoint, 1947, FIRST EDITION, 109/1,000 COPIES, 6
illustrations by Nash (including one tipped-in colourplate), pp. 8, 4to, original fawn wrappers with a
small amount of rusting to staples, lettering on the front cover in black, near fine £30
325. (Nonesuch Press.) DONNE (John) Complete Poetry and Selected Prose. Edited by John Hayward. 1929,
297/675 COPIES printed on Pannekoek paper with typographical ruled borders printed in pale bluegrey to a design by Beatrice Warde, pp. [vi] (blanks), xxiiii, 794, [4] (blanks), f’cap.8vo., original blue
morocco, gilt lettering between raised bands on a faded backstrip, single gilt ruled inner border, t.e.g.
on the rough, others roughtrimmed, very good (Dreyfus 56)
£400
67
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
326. (Nonesuch Press.) DONNE (John) Sermon of Valediction at his going into Germany, preached at
Lincoln’s Inn April 18, 1619. Printed from the original Version in the Lothian and Ashmole Manuscripts
and from XXVI Sermons. Edited by Evelyn Simpson. 1932, 81/750 COPIES printed in the Fell types
on Auvergne handmade paper, typographic border to the title-page printed in red, without any of the
foxing or browning usually associated with is work, pp. [vi](blanks), vi, 81, [3](blanks), sm.folio, original
(unusually clean) white boards with yapp edges, backstrip lettered in black and the front cover stamped
in blind to a seventeenth-century design, free endpapers and initial and final flyleaves browned,
untrimmed, near fine (Dreyfus 86: Keynes 33f)
£175
327. (Nonesuch Press.) RICKETTS (Charles) Oscar Wilde. Recollections by Jean
Paul Raymond & Charles Ricketts 1932, 598/800 COPIES printed on Van
Gelder handmade paper, large press-device printed in red on the title-page
and designed by Stephen Gooden, pp. 60, [2], 8vo, original white cloth,
with gilt blocked designs overall on the covers by Charles Ricketts echoing
his designs for Wilde’s ‘The Sphinx’, backstrip lettered in gilt, t.e.g, others
untrimmed, usual browning to endpapers, contemporary ownership
inscription to flyleaf, good (Dreyfus 81)
£200
Raymond being an invention of Ricketts: ‘Although the setting is invented the
episodes and conversations were conscientiously taken from the diaries and
letters that he had kept. By this artifice Ricketts created a sympathetic audience
for his words of passionate indignation at the fate of his friend.’ (Note by
Thomas Lowinsky)
328. Noyce (Wilfrid) Michael Angelo. A Poem in twelve parts, with Epilogue. Illustrated by Richard Taylor.
Heinemann, 1953, FIRST EDITION, 4 line-drawings with 1 full-page, pp. [viii], 71, foolscap 8vo, original
red cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, a few pinprick fospots to edges, gift inscription on tipped-in slip to
flyleaf, dustjacket price-clipped with light rubbing to extremities, very good £60
A long poem by the mountaineer and poet, who has signed on the flyleaf.
329. (Officina Bodoni.) ELIOT (T.S.) Four Quartets. [Printed at the Officina Bodoni for] Faber and Faber,
1960, 140/290 COPIES signed by the author, printed on Magnani paper using the Dante typeface, pp.
[iv] (blanks), 56, [4] (blanks), sm.folio, original quarter vellum, green and yellow Putois marbled boards,
t.e.g., marbled board slipcase broken as usual, near fine (Mardersteig 119; Gallup A43c)
£2,700
330. (Old Bourne Press.) MILTON (John) Hymn on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity. [Harting,] [1904,]
165/200 COPIES, printed in blue and green, tissue guards, pp. [37], small oblong 4to, original quarter
blue cloth with patterned boards, backstrip a shade darkened, a little dustsoiling and toning to board
edges, untrimmed and largely unopened, patterned endpapers, very good £70
An attractive book designed and made by James Guthrie, later of the Pear Tree Press, with W. Herbert Broome.
331. (Old Stile Press.) EPHEMERA. - List of books, published by & forthcoming from... 1986-1987, pp. 16.
- List of books, published by & forthcoming from... 1988-1989, pp. 31, [1].
- Set of 9 prospectus postcards in original wraparound band with press device (a little torn and
reinforced internally).
- Prospectus postcard for two miniature books, ‘Be Still’ and ‘Psalms 23 &150’ (2000).
- Catalogue of illustrated poetry books, single sheet folded twice to bookmark size.
- Prospectus for ‘The Poems of Light’ by Lucian Blaga (2002), in the form of a greetings card, Sara
Philpott illustration to front, printed in turquoise.
- Prospectus postcard for ‘The Pyed Pyper’ (2002).
- Prospectus for ‘Leading the Cranes Homes’ (2006). Llandogo, [1986-2006,] various formats, near fine
condition overall £25
68
Antiquarian & modern
332. (Old Stile Press.) ROBIN TANNER & THE OLD STILE PRESS. Being printed examples of twenty original
patterned paper designs, with a personal memoir by Nicolas McDowall. Llandogo, 1994, 120/195
COPIES signed by the printer, 20 examples of patterned paper tipped in, frontispiece facsimile of letter
and decorations to title-page printed in red, pp. [120], tall 8vo, original quarter terracotta cloth with
facsimile of illustrated letter from Tanner reproduced on upper board, backstrip lettered in black, cloth
slipcase with 4 inset strips of patterned paper, fine £75
333. (Old Stile Press.) BARNFIELD (Richard) The Affectionate Shepheard. [with an essay, ‘The Enigmatic
Shepherd: The Sweet & Bitter Love of Richard Barnfield’ by Peter Wakelin.] Llandogo, 1998, 22/200
COPIES signed by artist and Wakelin (at the foot of his essay), printed on Old Stile handmade paper using
Abaca and Jute, marginal illustration throughout by Clive Hicks-Jenkins using a variant of the clichéverre technique, pp. 60, folio, original beige boards illustrated overall, backstrip lettered in dark grey,
untrimmed, handmade endpapers incorporating reeds and irises, enclosed in a cloth folder, fine £150
A poem originally published in 1594 - this is believed to be the first illustrated edition.
334. (Old Stile Press.) BLAGA (Lucian) The Poems of Light. Versions in English by Oltea Simescu & Eric
Williams. Images by Sara Philpott. Llandogo, 2002, 183/200 COPIES signed by both translators and
artist, text printed in blue on Zerkall mould-made paper, collage drawings printed in black throughout
with the majority full-page, pp. [64], royal 8vo, original quarter blue cloth with illutrated boards,
backstrip lettered in silver, top edge grey, untrimmed, fine £90
335. (Old Stile Press.) BUCHANAN (Robert) The Ballad of Judas Iscariot. Llandogo, 1982, 24/100 COPIES
signed by the artist, printed on mouldmade paper, 15 linocut engravings with 14 of them full-page, by
J. Martin Pitts and printed in a variety of colours, pp. 31, royal 8vo, original quarter brown cloth, with
linocut illustration to each board, backstrip lettered in gilt, untrimmed, cloth and boards slipcase, near
fine £65
336. (Old Stile Press.) LEAR (Edward) Two Nonsense Stories. [The Story of the Four Little Children Who
Went Round the World & The History of the Seven Families of the Lake Pipple-Popple.] Llandogo,
1990, 52/225 COPIES (from an edition of 251 copies) signed by the artist, illustrated throughout with
line drawings by Gillian Martin, loose double-leaf insert of ‘nonsense cookery’ by Lear also illustrated
by Martin, tiny dent to initial blank and half-title of latter story, pp. 32; 33, royal 8vo, original dos-à-dos
binding of quarter red cloth with illustrated boards, backstrip lettered in gilt with very light rubbing at
tips, edge speckled black, cloth and boards slipcase with a hint of fading to cloth at opening, very good £60
337. (Old Stile Press.) MCDOWALL (Nicolas) The Paradise Driver. Llandogo, 1999, 95/150 COPIES signed
by the artist, printed on Fabriano Rosaspina paper, line block images developed from original
photographs, loosely inserted ‘Afterwords’ leaflet, pp. [32], tall imperial 8vo, original illustrated blue
wrappers in a non-adhesive binding designed by Nesta Davies, untrimmed, fine £40
‘The text of this somewhat unusual book is taken verbatim from the tape-recorded recollection of a single
night of extraordinary dream or vision or hallucination while under the benign influence of morphine’ [Press
website].
338. (Old Stile Press.) MCDOWALL (Nicolas) A Wall in Wales. An Observation. Llandogo, 1991, 24/125
COPIES signed by the artist, printed on St.Cuthbert's Mill mould-made paper, 36 line block images
developed from original photographs by the artist, title-page printed in black and gilt, pp. [38], crown
8vo, original cream hand-made paper boards with illustration inset to upper board, backstrip with
printed label, fine £35
339. (Old Stile Press.) NOEL (Roden) The Waternymph and the Boy. Llandogo, 1997, 47/225 COPIES
69
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
printed on fawn Hahnemuhle Ingres paper and signed by the artist, with 3 colour linocuts, including a
frontispiece, 2 double-page linocuts and 22 other linocuts by J. Martin Pitts, interwoven with the text,
pp. [vi] (blanks), [28], [6] (blanks), large 4to., original pale blue cloth, with an illustration overall in pale
grey by J. Martin Pitts, backstrip gilt lettered, 4 yellow silk-ties, blue paper endpapers, untrimmed, fine £100
340. (Old Stile Press.) RIDER (Cardanus) ‘from an Almanack, 1726’. Rider’s British Merlin Adorn’d with
many delightful Varieties and Useful Verities for the year of Lord God, 1726, Fitted for all Capacities
within the Islands of Great Britain and Ireland. Made and Compiled for his Country’s Benefit. Images by
Peter Reddick. Llandogo, 2009, 31/150 COPIES signed by the artist, printed on Hahnehuhle Laid paper,
line drawings in green at head of each section and throughout by Peter Reddick, loosely inserted leaflet
describing and depicting the source text, pp. [56], tall crown 8vo, original illustrated boards, backstrip
lettered in black, near fine £65
341. (Old Stile Press.) URQUHART (Catriona) The Mare’s Tale. A Sequence of Poems. Images by Clive HicksJenkins. Llandogo, 2001, 93/180 COPIES signed by author and artist, printed on All-rag paper from St
Cuthbert's Mill, line drawings throughout with a few full-page, pp. [32], tall 8vo, original illustrated
boards, backstrip lettered in silver and slightly faded, very good £35
342. (Old Stile Press.) WEST (Arthur Graeme) The Diary of a Dead Officer. Being the Posthumous Papers of
Arthur Graeme West. Linocuts, Text Selection and Afterword by John Abell. Llandogo, 2014, 39/140
COPIES (from an edition of 150 copies) signed by the artist, printed on Vélin Arches paper, linocuts
throughout printed directly from the block, many full-page and double-spread, title-page printed in
red and grey, pp. [64], oblong 4to, original quarter beige cloth with linocut illustrated boards, cloth to
both boards stamped in red, backstrip lettered in red, top edge speckled black, other edges untrimmed,
green cloth slipcase with red ‘velvet’ lining, fine £295
Originally published by George Allen & Unwin in 1919, West’s diary offers vivid physical description of
officer life alongside an astonished internal narrative that condemns the motives, mechanics, and effects of
war; it is here presented with a selection of West’s poetry, including his most famous ‘The Night Patrol’, all
lavishly illustrated by linocuts that reinforce West’s sense of war’s horror.
343. Orwell (George) Dickens, Dali & Others. Studies in Popular Culture. New York: Reynal & Hitchcock,
1946, FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, pp. [x], 243, foolscap 8vo, original beige cloth lettered in grey to
front and backstrip, edges lightly toned with fore-edge roughtrimmed, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf,
dustjacket a little frayed with some internal repair and some light soiling to the rear panel, very good
(Fenwick D1b)
£60
The American version of the English title ‘Critical Essays’ from the same year. In the list of his books on the
verso of half-title, ‘Animal Farm’ is called ‘Animal Fair’.
With a Gormenghast drawing
344. Peake (Mervyn) ALs to Mr Godden, dated August 4th. [1951,]
written in black ink on rectos of a single folded sheet, with an
original drawing by Peake in brown ink on verso of first page, pp.
[3], sometime folded, in envelope, good condition
£1,500 + VAT in EU
On the verso of the letter’s first-page is a full-page ink drawing of
Abiatha Swelter, the head chef from Peake’s ‘Gormenghast’ books. The
sketch is signed and dated 1951. Peake’s letter is written having just
returned to England and finding Mr Godden’s letter waiting for him - ‘a
“welcome home” of a very happy kind’. Peake expresses his pleasure
that his correspondent has enjoyed his books, and confirms for him
that a third is ‘on the way but it’s very much in its birth pangs’.
70
Antiquarian & modern
With a TLs from the publisher to wood-engraver George Mackley
345. (Perishable Press.) [SNODGRASS (W.D.)] Remains. Poems by S.S. Gardons. Mount Horeb, Wisconsin.
1970, 193/200 COPIES printed on grey Shadwell handmade paper made specially for this book and
printed in black, blue, grey, red and yellow, title illustration of a line-block by Walter Hamady, pp. [iv]
(blanks), [25], [3] (blanks), foolscap 8vo, original mid blue morocco, lightly faded backstrip lettered in
blind, blue and brown marbled boards, untrimmed, near fine £150
‘S.S. Gardons’ (the poet W.D. Snodgrass) was a petrol station attendant and later owned a cycle shop. Also
a musician, he was lead guitar in the rock group Chicken Gumbo. A one-page typed letter from Walter
and Mary Hamady to the wood-engraver George Mackley, dated 22 September 1972, is loosely inserted. It
expresses pleasure at having met him at his house, the quality of his work and raises the question of whether
Mackley would allow his engravings to be used by Hamady and if so which subjects, flower subjects or scenes.
346. (Piper.) BETJEMAN (John) John Piper. Penguin Modern Painters. Penguin Books, 1944, FIRST EDITION, 32
plates by Piper with 16 colourprinted, creasing to top corner of most plate leaves, pp.16 + plates, oblong
8vo, original printed fawn and white stapled card wrappers, covers a little dustsoiled with faint foxing to
white areas, staples a little rusted, good £40
347. (Pym.) A Christmas card to Barbara Pym. [captioned, ‘some tame gazelle?’] 1952, folded card pp. [1],
two small staple holes at head, ‘Ex Libris Barbara Pym’ sticker to inside cover, very good condition £50
A handmade Christmas card to Barbara Pym, from Daniel George - the reader for her publisher Jonathan
Cape - using a Christmas card from the 1870s, which is tipped in to the front of the sheet. The image at
the centre of the illustration is of a young couple petting a faun, beneath which a Christmas message is
printed within a floral border. George has amusingly written underneath the message, ‘some tame gazelle?’,
referencing Pym’s debut novel, published by Cape two years earlier. A charming piece of Pym ephemera.
348. (Rackham.) BARRIE (J.M.) Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. From ‘The Little White Bird’. A New
Edition. Hodder & Stoughton, 1912, tipped-in colour frontispiece and 49 further colour plates, all with
captioned tissue-guards, further drawings within text with 7 full-page, light foxing, small tear at foot of
a couple of leaves in prelims, pp. [x], 123, 4to original green cloth stamped in gilt to front and backstrip,
backstrip very gently faded, a touch of wear to corners and one or two very small marks to upper board,
illustrated endpapers with long inscription in Dutch to flyleaf, dustjacket with a patch of waterstaining
around foot of backstrip panel, a few short closed tears and a portion of loss removing upper-left corner
of decorative border on front panel, good £700
Reprinting the 1906 edition with a new colour frontispiece and seven full-page black and white drawings.
349. (Rackham.) POE (Edgar Allan) Tales of Mystery and Imagination. Harrap. 1935, FIRST RACKHAM
EDITION, 12 colourprinted plates with captioned tissue-guards, 17 monochrome plates, and head
and tail-pieces and illustrated endpapers all by Rackham, the Rackham title design printed in green,
preliminaries and edges lightly foxed, pp. 318, large 4to., original dark green morocco, the backstrip
and front cover with Rackham designs and lettering all gilt blocked, marbled endpapers, free endpapers
browned, t.e.g., edge rubbed boards slipcase, very good £800
350. (Rackham.) WAGNER (Richard) The Ring of the Niblung: the Rhinegold & the
Valkyrie. Translated by Margaret Armour. Heinemann. 1910, FIRST RACKHAM
EDITION, 34 lightly tipped-in coloured plates with captioned tissue guards, titlevignette and text illustrations placed as head and tail-pieces, by Arthur Rackham,
title-page lettered in brown, pp. x, 160, imperial 8vo, original tan buckram
lettered and decorated in gilt to a design by Rackham, dustjacket printed in
brown reproducing the same design, decorated endpapers, dustjacket somewhat
rubbed and soiled with a bit of wear and short tears to edges, good £350
Scarce in the dustjacket.
71
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
351. Raine (Kathleen) Visiting Ezra Pound. Enitharmon Press, 1999, FIRST EDITION, 53/90 COPIES (of an
edition of 100 copies) signed by the author, printed on Teton paper, pp. 13, 8vo, original marbled
wrappers with paper label printed in black to front, very slight fading around head of backstrip, near
fine £40
With a compliments slip from Stephen Stuart-Smith of the Enitharmon Press to the previous owner laid in at
front. Printed by Alan Anderson at the Tragara Press.
352. (Rampant Lions Press.) MITCHELL (David M.) Translations from the Greek Anthology. Cambridge,
1965, ONE OF 500 COPIES, title-page printed in grey and black, pp. 36, crown 8vo, original plain stitched
wrappers, dustjacket, near fine (Carter 62)
£30
353. (Reading Room Press.) THE BELLMAN’S RETURN. [Yet another attempt to conclude ‘The Hunting of
the Snark’ by Lewis Carroll.] Quenington, 2012, FIRST EDITION, ONE OF AROUND 150 COPIES printed
on Zerkall paper, small colour illustration to each verso of text-pages, pp. [11], 12mo, original sewn
printed wrappers, tail edge untrimmed, fine £10
A charming little squib, handsomely produced.
Including descriptions of the founding of the Corvinus Press and his friendship with T.E. Lawrence
354. (Reading Room Press.) CARLOW (Viscount) On Collecting Books, and Printing Them Too.
Quenington, 2013, 61/110 COPIES, tipped-in frontispiece portrait by Eric Kennington, title-page printed
in brown, pp. [32], small 4to, original quarter beige cloth with patterned boards, backstrip and upper
cloth lettered in gilt, fore-edge untrimmed, fine £44
Viscount Carlow’s engaging record of his twin passions for book-collecting and printing was unfinished
at the time of his death, in an air crash at the end of the Second World War. It is conversational in tone,
with anecdotes regarding a number of the literary personalities he liaised with - including Louis Golding,
Wyndham Lewis, and most extensively T.E. Lawrence, from whom his first direction in the realm of bookcollecting came. Corvinus Press bibliographer Paul W. Nash provides the Foreword.
355. (Rudland.) SHAKESPEARE (William) Venus & Adonis. Designed and Drawn by Peter Rudland. W.H.
Allen, 1948, ONE OF 980 COPIES, text transcribed and illustrated with line drawings by Rudland, pp. 87,
4to, original white cloth with Rudland illustration stamped in red to upper board, backstrip lettered
in red, a few foxspots overall with light soiling to edges, corners slightly bumped, dustjacket a little
darkened round edges with some creasing and short closed tears, good £30
356. Sackville-West (Vita) The
Edwardians. Hogarth Press,
1930, FIRST EDITION, ONE OF
125 COPIES signed by the author,
this marked ‘out of series’, some
very light and occasional foxing,
pp. 349, crown 8vo, original
quarter white vellum, backstrip
lettered in gilt, pink cloth sides
with some light dustsoiling,
endpapers lightly foxed, t.e.g.
and slightly dulled, others
untrimmed and a little toned,
good (Woolmer A235a) £850
72
Antiquarian & modern
Inscribed by Philippa Powys
357. Sackville-West (Vita) Solitude. A Poem. Hogarth Press, 1938, FIRST EDITION, pp. 56, [5, ads), crown 8vo,
original orange cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, top edge slightly dusty, a little spotting to inner margin
of free endpapers, dustjacket with darkened backstrip panel a little chipped at head, a few small spots
and light dustsoiling to rear panel, very good (Woolmer 438b)
£190
Inscribed on the flyleaf by poet and novelist Philippa Powys: ‘To my Peggy, With all great love from her friend
Philippa Powys. Xmas 1940’
358. Sackville-West (Vita) Walter de la Mare and ‘The Traveller’. Warton Lecture on English Poetry, British
Academy 1953 [From the Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume XXXIX.] Goeffrey Cumberledge,
1953, FIRST EDITION, pp. 23-36, 8vo, original printed pale grey wrappers, light browning to edges and a
few faint marks to front, very good £35
359. Sassoon (Siegfried) Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man. Faber & Gwyer, 1928, FIRST EDITION, a strip of
browning to initial and ultimate blank, pp. 395, crown 8vo, original blue cloth, backstrip lettered in
gilt, top edge trimmed with saffron colouring faded, others untrimmed, dustjacket price-clipped with a
touch of light creasing and light overall dustsoiling, nick at head of backstrip panel, very good (Keynes
A30a)
£800
This copy has the ‘A’ on the initial blank, but Keynes states that the ‘typographical irregularities have no
significance whatever’; he also does not credit the variable states of the tail and fore-edges as having any
‘priority of issue’ (this copy would seem to be his Class IIb). Sassoon’s name does not appear as the author of
this book in what is a very bright and well-preserved copy.
The dedication copy, inscribed to Harcourt Williams
360. Sayers (Dorothy L.) The Devil to Pay. A Stage-Play.
Victor Gollancz, 1939, FIRST EDITION, some faint foxing
to borders of prelims and closing pages, pp. 112, 8vo,
original blue cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt and faded
with a little soiling at head, slight lean to spine, light
rubbing to extremities, a hint of straining at head of both
hinges, good (Gilbert A31b)
£1,500
Inscribed on the flyleaf by the author: ‘To dearest Billy, with
more love and gratitude than I can say, Dorothy L. Sayers,
Canterbury, 10-17 June 1939. “Not in the words/ Is power,
but in the faith of him that speaks...”’. The recipient is the
actor Harcourt Williams, who played Faustus in the original
production of the play at Canterbury Cathedral. A sonnet,
entitled ‘To the Interpreter’ and addressed to Harcourt
Williams, precedes the Preface.
361. Sayers (Dorothy L.) In the Teeth of the Evidence and
Other Stories. Victor Gollancz, 1939, FIRST EDITION,
pp.286, crown 8vo, original black cloth, backstrip lettered
in orange with very slight lean to spine, light fading to
dustjacket with darkened backstrip panel, a touch frayed
around head with some very light soiling and some
faintly visible erased writing in pencil on rear panel, good
(Gilbert A32a)
£900
362. Sayers (Dorothy L.) The Just Vengeance. The Lichfield Festival Play for 1946. Victor Gollancz, 1946,
FIRST EDITION, a little faint foxing to half-title, pp.80, foolscap 8vo, original printed orange wrappers,
spine lightly faded, ownership inscription to inside front cover, very good (Gilbert A42)
£40
73
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
A Christmas gift from Quentin Bell
363. (Senecio Press.) BELL (Quentin) An Introductory History of England in the 18th Century. For Use in
Secondary & Approved Schools, Institutions for Remedial Teaching, Prisons, Insane Asylums etc.
A Facsimile, with an Introduction by Julian Bell. Charlbury, 2013, FIRST EDITION, 37/500 COPIES,
illustrations throughout (many in colour and full-page), all text reproduced in facsimile, pp. 86, imperial
4to, original quarter brown leather with green patterned boards in a facsimile of the original binding,
Introduction by Julian Bell laid in at front on folded sheet with limitation number, slipcase with printed
label to front, fine £195
Originally produced by Bell as a Christmas present to his nieces Henrietta and Amaryllis Garnett in 1957, this
playful account of the 18th century is beautifully illustrated and has never before been published - unlike his
equivalent gift of the previous year, published in 1957 by Faber and Faber as ‘The True Story of Cinderella’.
For this edition, Senecio Press have reproduced every detail of Bell’s text - from the binding to the vivid
illustrations, including all of the marks and stains from the lovingly hand-produced original.
Quentin Bell (1910-1996) was born into the Bloomsbury Group, the son of Clive and Vanessa Bell (née
Stephen). His biography of his aunt, Virginia Woolf, was widely lauded, but he was also an artist - specialising
in ceramics - and a Professor of Art History. Bell’s original TLS presenting the gift is reproduced in facsimile
preceding the text, whilst his son Julian provides an additional introduction to what is an impressive and
curious family document, richly deserving of a wider audience.
364. Shove (Fredegond) Daybreak. Hogarth Press, 1922, FIRST EDITION, errata-slip loosely inserted, the
occasional faint foxspot, pp.43, [2, ads], smalll 4to, original brown and gilt patterned boards with
printed label, top edge slightly dusty, extremities lightly rubbed with some very minor wear to backstrip
ends and bottom half of lower joint, a few spots to endpapers, good (Woolmer 24)
£300
250 copies printed. A nice copy of a scarce book, written by Virginia Woolf’s cousin (née Maitland) and
published by her.
365. Silkin (Jon) Killhope Wheel. Ashington: The Mid Northumberland Arts Group, 1971, 81/100 COPIES
signed by the author, title-page printed in purple, very faint spotting to title-page and colophon, pp.
[15], oblong 8vo, original stapled photographic wrappers with some light creasing at corners, very
good £30
366. Smith (Zadie) The Embassy of Cambodia. Hamish Hamilton, 2013, FIRST EDITION, pp. [vi], 69, foolscap
8vo, original white boards stamped in silver to upper board, backstrip lettered in silver, dustjacket with
publisher’s sticker, fine £15
Signed by the author to the title-page.
367. (Stanbrook Abbey Press.) MARITAIN (Raissa) Patriarch Tree. Thirty Poems. Translated into English
by a Benedictine of Stanbrook. With a Preface by Robert Speaight. Worcester, 1965, 173/500 COPIES
(from an edition of 550 copies) printed in black, red and green in parallel texts of English and French
on Barcham Green handmade paper, photographic portrait tipped in, pp. xxii, 81, [5], imperial 8vo,
original quarter black morocco with patterned black boards, backstrip lettered in gilt with a small
amount of rubbing along upper joint, t.e.g., tail edges untrimmed, green endpapers, slipcase a little
rubbed along edges, very good (Butcher A12)
£150
368. Steinbeck (John) The Short Reign of Pippin IV. A Fabrication. Heinemann, 1957, FIRST ENGLISH
EDITION, a little very faint foxing to margin of prelims and snag at top corner of first text-page, pp. [vi],
164, crown 8vo, original blue boards with publisher’s device blind-stamped at foot of lower, backstrip
lettered in silver, edges with a few foxspots, Osbert Lancaster-designed dustjacket price-clipped with
marginal toning and some light areas of foxing to borders, good (Goldstone & Payne A36b)
£50
74
Antiquarian & modern
A dissident association copy
369. Stoppard (Tom) Every Good Boy Deserves a Favour & Professional Foul.
[First reprint.] Faber and Faber, 1978, tiny faint foxspot to half-title, pp.
93, foolscap 8vo, original printed wrappers, very good £230
A notable dramatic association copy, signed on the half-title by both
Stoppard and Vaclav Havel, to whom ‘Professional Foul’ is dedicated. Havel
was himself a playwright, whose work Stoppard would go on to translate. At
the time of the dedication, Havel was a high-profile dissident reacting to the
the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, and would later - following the
Velvet Revolution - become its president, a period documented in Stoppard’s
2006 play ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’. Both of the plays in this volume are on dissident
themes, with the Czech-born Stoppard communicating - for the first time
in his work - his concern over the effects of the Soviet regime dominating
Central and Eastern Europe.
370. Sturge Moore (T.) The Powers of the Air. Grant Richards, 1920, FIRST EDITION, pp. 77, crown 8vo,
original quarter black cloth, backstrip with buff printed label, a little light rubbing to extremities, faint
browning to free endpapers, very good £30
371. Thomas (Edward) Words into Wood. Eighteen Poems, Eighteen Wood-Engravings. St Lawrence:
Edward Thomas Fellowship, 2010, 48/50 COPIES (from an edition of 250 copies), title-page printed in
black and copper, pp. [xiv], [39], crown 4to, original quarter brown leather with green cloth, backstrip
lettered in gilt, tail edge roughtrimmed, matching slipcase, new £150
Printed by the Evergreen Press in Gloucestershire. The artists featured are Simon Brett, Robin Guthrie, Linda
Holmes, Cordelia Jones, Paul L. Kershaw, Sarah Van Niekirk, Howard Phipps, Sue Scullard, Yvonne Skargon,
Ian Stephens, and Geri Waddington.
372. Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Letters. A selection edited by Humphrey Carpenter, with the assistance of
Christopher Tolkien. George Allen & Unwin, 1981, FIRST EDITION, frontispiece facsimile of letter, pp.
[vi], 463, 8vo, original brown boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, top edge brown, dustjacket with the
merest hint of rubbing at corners, near fine (Hammond & Anderson Di1)
£30
373. Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Return of the King. Being the Third Part of The Lord of the Rings. Allen & Unwin,
1955, FIRST EDITION, first state with signature mark ‘4’ on page 49, the folding-map tipped-in at the
end, as usual, pp. 416, 8vo, original red cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt and a touch faded at ends,
small pale mark at head of lower board, a little dustsoiling to joints, top edge pink and slightly faded,
contemporary ownership inscription to flyleaf, dustjacket with backstrip panel a little sunned and
slightly frayed at extremities, lightest of chipping to corners and a small amount of creasing around
head, very good (Hammond & Anderson A5iii(1))
£900
374. Trevor (William) The Boarding-House. Bodley Head, 1965, FIRST EDITION, pp.287, crown 8vo, original
brown boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, dustjacket with darkened backstrip panel and a couple of
nicks, foxing to top edge, contemporary ownership inscription to flyleaf, good £80
An activist and science-fiction association copy
375. Vercors [i.e., Bruller (Jean)]. Borderline. Translated by Rita Barisse. Macmillan, 1954, FIRST ENGLISH
EDITION, pp. [vi], 231, crown 8vo, original red cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, dustjacket very bright
with just a couple of tiny nicks at head of backstrip panel and lightest of rubbing to extremities, near
fine £125
An interesting science fiction book by an author who came to prominence as part of the French Resistance before then known as an illustrator, Bruller co-founded the underground publisher Les Editions de Minuit,
and wrote its first book (as ‘Vercors’), ‘Le Silence de la mer’. ‘Borderline’ was first published in French as ‘Les
75
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
Animaux dénaturés’, then in America as ‘You Shall Know Them’. A Hollywood adaptation, ‘Skullduggery’, was
released in 1970.
This copy inscribed by the author on the half-title: ‘à Gladys Bendit avec le souvenir affectueux de Vercors’,
and additionally inscribed below by the translator - ‘and fondest love from Rita’. Australian-born Bendit, née
Williams, and between 1907 and 1943 known by her married name of Skelton, wrote in a variety of genres
(including science fiction) under the name of John Presland. She was also an activist involved with the Save the
Children’s Fund, the Inter-Aid Committee, and the Refugee Children’s Movement.
376. Walters (Minette) Acid Row. Macmillan, 2001, FIRST EDITION, full-page diagram, pp. [viii], 344, 8vo,
original black boards, backstrip lettered in silver, dustjacket, fine £45
Inscribed by the author on the title-page: ‘For Mike, With all my love as ever - Minette xxx’.
377. Walters (Minette) The Breaker. Macmillan, 1998, FIRST EDITION, location photographs and map
preceding text, pp. [x], 356, 8vo, original black boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, dustjacket, fine £40
Signed by the author on the title-page.
378. Waugh (Evelyn) Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold. A Conversation Piece. Chapman & Hall, 1957, FIRST
EDITION, pp.vii, 184, crown 8vo, original dark blue cloth with slight lean to spine, backstrip lettered
in gilt with slight lean to spine, top edge blue, dustjacket designed by Biro with some internal tape
reinforcement to edges and a couple of spots of restoration at foot of backstrip panel, browning to
borders, good £50
379. Waugh (Evelyn) Put Out More Flags. Chapman & Hall, 1942, FIRST EDITION, occasional foxing most
pronounced to initial and ultimate pages, pp.256, crown 8vo, orignal grey cloth, backstrip lettered
in dark blue with a couple of spots and slight lean to spine, top edge blue, fore-edge toned with a few
foxspots to tail, good £45
380. Waugh (Evelyn) A Tourist in Africa. Chapman & Hall, 1960, FIRST EDITION, 19 illustrations on 10
plates, pp.167, crown 8vo, original blue boards, backstrip lettered in gilt with very slight lean to spine,
minor bump to bottom corners and a small black mark at head of lower board, dustjacket priceclipped, very good £40
The special, with a loosely inserted etching by Richard
Kennedy
381. (Whittington Press.) THE GARDEN OF THE NIGHT.
Twenty-Six Sufi Poems translated by Iftikhar Azmi, with
Illustrations by Richard Kennedy. Andoversford, 1979,
XVIII/35 COPIES (from an edition of 240 copies) signed
by the translator and the illustrator, printed on Rives
mouldmade paper, 26 drawings by Richard Kennedy and a
signed and numbered etching by the same loosely inserted,
the illustrations and the calligraphy by Noor Shafiqi and
Faizul Hasan Deobandi printed in blue, pp. [66], 4to,
original blue Nigerian goatskin with Kennedy design
gilt-blocked to upper board, backstrip lettered in gilt and
lightly faded, t.e.g., others untrimmed, marbled endpapers,
slipcase, very good (Butcher 41)
£350
With the original prospectus and an obituary of Kennedy laid
in.
76
Antiquarian & modern
382. (Whittington Press.) MATRIX 14. Risbury, 1994, ONE OF 880 COPIES (from an edition of 975 copies)
printed on Sommerville Laid, Zerkall and Americana mouldmade papers, text illustrations, several
plates of photographs, some in colour, examples of papers and original ephemeral pieces of printing,
pp. [vi], 237, imperial 8vo, original stiff thistle-coloured wrappers over orange card with a superb
linocut on front cover by Margaret Wells printed in brown, untrimmed, order-slip for Matrix 15 loosely
inserted, near fine £110
With an ‘Offprint from Matrix 14’ in original orange wrappers with pasted label to front, a little fading to
corner of rear cover, containing the first 10 pages of the above, Cave’s article ‘One Day in Alpignano’.
383. (Whittington Press.) MATRIX 7. Andoversford, 1987, ONE OF 850 COPIES (from an edition of 960
copies) printed in black on Sommerville and Zerkall mouldmade papers, numerous inserts, including
reproductions of photographs, examples of printing and illustrations, including folding plates, (some
colourprinted) pp. [viii], 166, imperial 8vo, original stiff yellow wrappers over orange patterned white
card, untrimmed, order slip for Matrix 8 loosely inserted, very good £120
384. (Whittington Press.) MATRIX 8. Andoversford, 1988, ONE OF 800 COPIES (from an edition of 900
copies) printed in black and cinnamon on Sommerville and Zerkall papers, text illustrations, including
6 examples of illustrations coloured by the Pochoir process, several plates of photographs, original
examples of Chinese papers and examples of original printing, pp. [vi], 191, imperial 8vo, original
linen-coloured wrappers over patterned white and tan card, backstrip panel very slightly faded, nick to
leading edge of lower board, a little creasing around corners, untrimmed, order from for Matrix 9 and
Christopher Skelton prospectus loosely inserted, good £80
385. Williams (Charles) Divorce. Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1920, FIRST EDITION, pp.
120, crown 8vo, original green cloth stamped in gilt to upper board, backstrip lettered in gilt and a
shade darkened with a short split at foot, a few light marks to rear panel, edges toned, small bookseller
stamp at foot of rear pastedown, very good (Glenn I-A-i-3)
£100
386. Williams (Charles) Poems of Conformity. Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1917, FIRST
EDITION, foxing to title-page and the occasional faint spot further in, pp.128, crown 8vo, original green
cloth, backstrip and upper board lettered in gilt, second issue with 'Oxford' at foot of backstrip, lean
to spine, light dustsoiling to top edge, ownership inscription to flyleaf, free endpapers foxed, small
bookseller sticker at foot of pastedown, good (Glenn I-A-i-2)
£70
The author's second book.
387. Williams (Charles) The Region of the Summer Stars. Editions Poetry London, 1944, FIRST EDITION, pp.
55, crown 8vo, original pale blue cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt and a touch rubbed at tips, ownership
inscription at head of flyleaf, small waterstain at head of lower board, dustjacket rubbed, chipped and
creased with a few small tears, good (Glenn I-A-i-7)
£40
388. Williams (Charles) Religion and Love in Dante. The Theology of Romantic Love. Dacre Press, 1941,
FIRST EDITION, faint foxspots to title, pp. 40, 16mo, original wrappers, very good (Glenn I-C-47)
£40
389. Williams (Charles) Seed of Adam and other Plays. With an Introduction by Anne Ridler. Oxford
University Press, 1948, FIRST EDITION, pp. xi, 96, crown 8vo, original blue cloth, backstrip lettered in
silver, minor rubbing to extremities, light dustsoiling to top edge, dustjacket with darkened backstrip
panel, a few short closed tears and faint spots, good (Glenn I-A-iii-8)
£30
‘Seed of Adam’ is a Nativity play; the other plays are ‘The Death of Good Fortune’, ‘The House by the Stable’,
‘Grab and Grace’.
77
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
390. (Willoughby.) FRANK (Leonhard) Carl and Anna & Breath. Translated by Cyrus Brooks. With
illustrations by Vera Willoughby. Peter Davies, 1931, FIRST EDITION THUS, 7 monochrome plates, pp.
137, crown 8vo, original beige cloth, backstrip lettered in red with slight lean to spine, light handling
marks, a touch of wear to one corner, top edge red, faint spotting to free endpapers with ownership
inscription to flyleaf, good £30
391. Woolf (Virginia) Between the Acts. Hogarth Press, 1941, FIRST EDITION, pp. 256, crown 8vo, original
blue cloth with slight discolouration around foot, backstrip lettered in gilt, edges lightly toned, small
waterstain at head of pastedown (concealed by flap), dustjacket with light dustsoiling overall, some
faint waterstaining around head, a few short closed tears, light chipping at head of backstrip panel with
heavier chipping and creasing at head of rear panel, good (Kirkpatrick A26a)
£250
392. Woolf (Virginia) Kew Gardens. Decorated by Vanessa Bell. Hogarth Press, 1927, 60/500 COPIES, printed
on rectos only with border decorations by Vanessa Bell, light foxing to prelims and one or two faint
foxspots to text, pp. [48], crown 4to, original illustrated boards with rubbing to edges and some light
dustsoiling, backstrip toned and softened at tips, edges untrimmed and toned with free endpapers a
little browned, protective glassine jacket, good (Kirkpatrick A3c)
£1,200
A very nice example of a notoriously fragile book.
393. Woolf (Virginia) Monday or Tuesday. With Woodcuts by Vanessa Bell. Hogarth Press, 1921, FIRST
EDITION, 4 woodcuts with usual faint off-setting to facing recto, pp. 91, [1], crown 8vo, original quarter
brown cloth, with Vanessa Bell design to upper board, light dustsoiling overall and a few small foxspots
to top edge, edges toned, free endpapers with adhesive browning, contemporary ownership inscription
to flyleaf, protective glassine jacket, very good (Kirkpatrick A5a)
£2,000
One of 1,000 copies in the first edition.
78
Antiquarian & modern
394. Woolf (Virginia) A Room of One’s Own. Hogarth Press,
1929, FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, pp. 172, foolscap 8vo, original
cinnamon cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, faint spotting to top
edge, free endpapers with strip of adhesive browning to inner
margin, dustjacket with Vanessa Bell illustration, a few small
spots, a faint mark and a little light dustsoiling, light chipping
to corners and a couple of nicks at tips of backstrip panel, very
good (Kirkpatrick A12b)
£4,000
With a small promotional pamphlet announcing volumes available
and forthcoming in the ‘Uniform Edition’ laid in at front.
395. Woolf (Virginia) Three Guineas. Hogarth Press, 1938,
FIRST EDITION, 5 plates, pp. 329, crown 8vo, original yellow
cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, a few spots of dustsoiling to
extremities, edges toned, usual browning to endpapers with
faded ownership inscription to flyleaf, dustjacket with Vanessa
Bell design, faded backstrip panel with light chipping at tips,
light chipping to corners and one or two foxspots, very good
(Kirkpatrick A23a)
£500
396. Woolf (Virginia) To the Lighthouse. New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1927, FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, one
or two small foxspots at head of prelims and initial pages, pp. 310, crown 8vo, original green cloth
stamped in blue to front, backstrip lettered in blue, top edge blue, fore-edge rough-trimmed with one or
two small foxspots, erased inscription to flyleaf, dustjacket lightly toned overall with very light chipping
to corners and one or two small waterspots, very good (Kirkpatrick A10b)
£3,500
397. (Workshop Press.) ARMAN (Mark) A Specimen of Printers’ Flowers, Types and Decorations. Thaxted,
1992, 106/180 COPIES signed by the author, printed on Goatskin Parchment paper in various colours,
19 specimen pages of which 5 are tipped-in and folded, other illustrations within text, ‘Part Two:
Specimen of Printers’ Flowers’ has over 370 designs including some by Bruce Rogers, pp. [vii], 34,
[28], 8vo, original quarter charcoal cloth with patterned paper sides, printed label to upper board and
backstrip, near fine £70
398. Yeats (W.B.) Poems. Fisher Unwin & Boston: Copeland and Day, 1895, FIRST AMERICAN EDITION,
tissue-guard present, the title-page and cover designs are by H. G[ranville] F[ell], with the addition
of the publisher’s name ‘Copeland and Day’ on the title-page and at the foot of the backstrip, pp. xii,
288, crown 8vo, original cream cloth with an overall gilt blocked design incorporating the lettering,
backstrip darkened, with the head and tail chipped at usual, t.e.g., others untrimmed, good (Wade 16)
£1,500
399. Yeats (W.B.) Stories of Red Hanrahan. Dundrum: Dun Emer Press, 1904,
FIRST EDITION, ONE OF 500 COPIES, limitation and author’s statements
printed in red, one or two instances of very faint spotting to borders of
pages, pp. 6-7 not opened cleanly, pp. [vi], 57, crown 8vo, original quarter
buff cloth with blue boards, printed paper label to upper board and to
backstrip, backstrip a little darkened with a small amount of chipping
around lower tip of label, light browning to borders, edges untrimmed
with a single foxspot at head of fore-edge, top edge a trifle dustsoiled, light
adhesive browning to free endpapers with bookplate to flyleaf, very good
(Wade 59)
£400
The fourth book published at the Dun Emer Press.
79
BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
400. Yeats (W.B.) Wheels and Butterflies. Macmillan, 1934, FIRST EDITION, title-vignette by Edmund Dulac
repeated in gilt on the front cover, flyleaves darkened in part, pp. [ii], x, 182, [2], foolscap 8vo, original
lime-green cloth, backstrip lettering and the front cover design all gilt blocked, faint free endpaper and
edge foxing, roughtrimmed, dustjacket chipped at head of darkened backstrip panel, very good (Wade
175)
£150
At one time the poet Anne Ridler’s copy, with her address embossed on the front free endpaper.
80
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81
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82