Antiquarian and Collectors’ Books

ORIGINAL ARTWORK. – John Ross MACDONALD. Find a Victim. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1958. Reprint, to include the original artwork for the covers of this book, 8vo (177 x 111mm.) (Browning.) Original card covers designed by Boldeno (creasing to spine). Note: this novel was the 5th in the Lew Archer detective series. It was first published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. – And a further four pieces of original artwork for book cover designs (including the hardback of Peter Hartley’s ‘Escape to Captivity’ painted by ‘J.A.’ and unused work for Lloyd C. Douglas’ ‘The Robe’ and for Nigel Morland’s ‘Strangely She Died’ and the original work for the hardback of Arthur Catherall’s ‘Vibrant Brass’, to include the book) (5).

ORIGINAL ARTWORK. – Renwick of OTLEY (publisher). Our Boys’ Tip Top. London: Renwick of Otley, [1947.] First edition, including the original artwork for the covers of this book, 4to (243 x 180mm.) Original cloth-backed pictorial covers (lightly rubbed). – And a further eighteen pieces of original artwork, mainly for children’s books (including another ‘Our Boys’ Tip Top’ design by E. Kearon and ‘Our Kiddies Tip Top’ design by E.M. Overnell, another ‘Our Kiddies Tip Top’ design by Cora E.M. Paterson and another in the same series [unknown], a work by Janet and Anne Grahame Johnston ‘The Wizard’s Apprentice’, another work, framed, by Janet and Anne Grahame Johnston for their book ‘Dean’s Gift Book of Nursery Rhymes’, [1965], including the book, two works by Eric Kincaid for ‘Playland’, nos. 128 and 209, and original work on card for Dean & Sons ‘ABC’ [circa 1960], and three works by Roger Hall, including for Kathleen Farrell’s ‘When Love Is Diagnosed’ and for Iris Bromige’s ‘The House of Conflict’) (19).

ORIGINAL ARTWORK. – [Raymond H. SAWKINS]. ‘Colin Forbes’. The Snow Leopard. London: Pan Books, 1976. Reprint, includes the original artwork by Eric Tenney for the covers of this book, 8vo (177 x 111mm.) (Toning.) Original card covers designed by Eric Tenney (creasing to spine). Note: first published by William Collins in 1975. – And a further two pieces of original artwork for two sci-fi book cover designs (Richard Saxon’s ‘The Stars Came Down’ and ‘Path into the Unknown, the Best of Soviet Sci-Fi’ with cover design by W.F. Philips) (3).

SHAKESPEARE, William. – John Moyr SMITH (illustrator). A Midsommer Nights Dreame. London: Bernard Quaritch, 1892. Limited edition, this being number 182 of 375 copies signed by the illustrator, folio (383 x 274mm.) Half-title, 15 tinted engraved plates by John Moyr Smith, tissue-guards. (Toning and light spotting to plate margins, occasional minor soiling.) Original blue cloth, decorative gilt to upper cover, t.e.g. (rubbing to extremities, spine ends worn, fading and marks to covers). Note: John Moyr Smith was a Scottish architect and artist who designed tiles for Minton, including tiles depicting scenes from Shakespeare. Provenance: L. Harrington (typed name-plate to front-free endpaper).

TWAIN, Mark and Charles Dudley WARNER. The Gilded Age. London: George Routledge and Sons., 1883. 8vo (185 x 121mm.) Numerous illustrations in the text, 2pp. publisher’s advertisements to rear. (Moderate spotting throughout.) Original red pictorial cloth (minor finger-marking to lower cover). Note: the novel that gave the era its name and the only novel that Twain wrote with a collaborator. – And a further thirty-three volumes by or about Mark Twain (including ‘A Yankee at the Court of King Arthur’, 1889, 8vo, and ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’, 1904, 8vo) (34).

ADAMS, Douglas. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. London: Arthur Barker, 1979. First hardback edition, 8vo (213 x 129mm.) (Toning, lacking initial blank, hinges cracked, covers weakened.) Original blue cloth (spine ends bumped), dust-jacket (corners rubbed, stained to lower panel). Note: the first issue was in paperback. Provenance: Leicestershire Libraries (stamp verso title-page). – And a further eleven volumes of fiction (including John Steinbeck’s ‘The Moon is Down’, 1942, 8vo, and William Gibson’s ‘Virtual Light’, 1993, 8vo) (12).

[LEWIS, Angelo J.] ‘Professor HOFFMANN’. Home Gymnastics, for Young and Old. London: George Routledge and Sons, Limited, 1892. First edition, 8vo (184 x 116mm.) 2 folding lithographed plates, numerous illustrations in the text. (Browning, light spotting verso the plates, address in pencil verso frontispiece.) Original green pictorial cloth (minor stain to lower cover, light rubbing to extremities). Provenance: P.T. Broadway (stamp verso the frontispiece). – And a further thirty-one miscellaneous volumes (including ‘Arnold Meckel Presents Hindu Dancers of Seraikella’, [circa 1920], 4to, and Mortimer Menpes’ ‘The People of India’, 1910, 4to) (32).

CALLIGRAPHY. – [George BICKHAM. The Young Clerk’s Assistant or Penmanship Made Easy. London: Richard Ware, 1733.] 45 engraved plates showing a variety of calligraphic writing styles. (Lacking title and 16 plates, browned, chipped, some soiling, marginal tears.) [Bound with:] Bernard PICART. A New Drawing Book of Modes. London: Richard Ware, 1733. Engraved title, 12 engraved plates showing styles of hat-wearing and posture. (One of the plates is mounted to the front pastedown, chipping, corner creasing, browning and minor soiling, marginal lose to three plates.) 8vo (173 x 112mm). Late 18th century half calf (upper cover detached, worn). Note: the Picart ‘’Drawing Book’ seems to be more of a style or etiquette book, showing different postures and how to angle a hat and style your hair.

THEOLOGY. – Johann Henrico HOTTINGER. Historiae Ecclesiasticae Novi Testamenti. Zurich: M. Schufelberger, 1655. Vol. 1 only (of 2). 8vo (155 x 98mm.) Title, text in Latin, 26pp. ‘Index’ to rear, errata leaf. (Scattered spotting, occasional browning, initial blanks with marginal chipping.) Near contemporary mottled calf, mounted paper label with manuscript lettering (extremities lightly rubbed). Note: Hottinger was a Swiss theologian and was the first to use Islamic sources in his history of the Christian Church in the Near East.

MEDICAL. – Samuel COOPER. A Dictionary of Practical Surgery: Containing A Complete Exhibition of the Present State of the Principles and Practice of Surgery. London: John Murray, 1809. First edition, 8vo (214 x 129mm.) Half-title, text in double column, 1p. publisher’s advertisement to rear. (Occasional browning, some corner creases, scattered spotting, several leaves with marginal loss.) Contemporary half calf over marbled paper-covered boards, red morocco lettering piece to the spine (extremities rubbed, joints splitting).

SPENSER, Edmund. The Shepherd’s Calendar, Containing Twelve Aeglogues, Proportionable to the Twelve Months. London: John Ball, 1732. 8vo (196 x 119mm.) Engraved portrait frontispiece, 12 engraved plates, English and Latin parallel titles and text, 8pp. ‘Glossary’ to rear. (Toning, occasional spotting, leaf R1 mis-numbered p.245.) Contemporary panelled calf (extremities heavily rubbed, lacking lettering piece). Provenance: R. Hoblyn (ink name inscribed to front-free endpaper). – And a further two volumes (Paul Scarron’s ‘Le Virgile Travesty en Vers Burlesques, Reveu & Corrige’, 2 vols., 1668, 12mo) (3).

BERRY, James. My Experiences as an Executioner… edited by H. Snowden Ward. London: Percy Lund & Co., [1892.] First edition, 8vo (178 x 120mm.) Photographic frontispiece, 5 wood-engraved plates, numerous wood-engraved illustrations in the text. (Toning, p.74 with a 4cm tear, occasional mark.) Original card covers (some loss to spine ends, finger-marked). Note: Berry was in the gallows trade from 1884 to 1892. He wrote in such detail about his work that after publication the Official Secrets Act was amended to forbid the publication of any more executioner memoirs. However, after sending over 130 men and women to their end, Berry had a change of heart. He resigned his post, converted to Christianity and became a prominent campaigner for the abolition of the death penalty.

SIGNED BOOKS. – [Ronald FELTON.] ‘Ronald Welch’. The Black Car Mystery. London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., 1950. First edition, signed and inscribed by the author, 8vo (186 x 115mm.) (Mild toning, stain to fore-edge.) Original cream cloth (stain to spine), dust-jacket (partially lacking spine panel, lower panel detached, some loss). Note: scarce. Provenance: Heather Heath (inscribed to by the author on the front-free endpaper). – And a further novel by Ronald Welch, also signed (‘The Gauntlet’, 1951, 8vo) (2).

MANUSCRIPT. – Rudyard KIPLING. [A hand-written transcription of Kipling’s poem ‘When Earth’s Last Picture Is Painted. N.p.: circa 1900.] 4to (223 x 170mm.) 6pp. of the three verses of Kipling’s poem in calligraphic black ink, with initials heightened in gold, 3 initials with scenic vignettes in water-colour, decorative surround and 2 verses with illustrated water-coloured scenes as headpieces, with title-page in red, ‘L’Envoi’. (Toning.) Contemporary brown full morocco, four silver mounts to covers, g.e. (some fading to covers). Note: Kipling first published the poem in the New York Sun in 1892. He then used it as the ‘L’Envoi’ at the start of ‘The Seven Seas’, which was published in 1896.

MANUSCRIPT. – FIRST WORLD WAR. [A hand-written book of poetry made and presented as a personal gift from ‘G.D.S’ to his friend ‘D.H’. N.p.:] Christmas Day, 1914. 32pp., manuscript, 4to (258 x 147mm.) 16 leaves in a single legible near-calligraphic hand, brown ink, dedication leaf, introduction, and mostly 19th century poems transcribed recto with titles on the preceding leaf, including poems by P.B. Shelley, Robert Browning, Christina Rosetti and Mary Coleridge. (Mild toning.) Original calf-backed brown cloth (spine worn). Note: the introduction reads: ‘Dear Friend, this is Christmas Day. But there is little joy in the land: there is mourning and great heaving of heart; and yet out of the sadness of it all there will arise a new joy which shall be the spirit of LOVE’. Provenance: ‘D.H.’ (gift inscribed on the dedication leaf from ‘G.D.S. In Memory of Many a Happy Day’).

MANUSCRIPT. – FIRST WORLD WAR. [A hand-written liber amicorum compiled by the wounded soldiers on the 17th Ward of Norfolk War Hospital, Thorpe. N.p.:] 1915-1916. 139pp., manuscript, 8vo (227 x 176mm.) 70 leaves of random jottings, rhymes, quotes and jokes, in numerous legible hands, several pencil drawings of regimental badges, some entries dedicated to Sister S. Neave of the 17th ward, nearly all dated and signed by the soldiers. (One loose leaf, a quire nearly detached, toning.) Original red roan (spine ends worn, endpapers browned). Note: there is every tone of voice here. Some of the soldiers are directly appreciative: ‘I write these few lines to thank nurse Neave for her kind attentions to me’, others are more brusque (‘God made man/ Then he made woman/ He took pity on man/ And made tobacco’) some play jokes (like the soldier who writes on an over-slip: ‘Ladies are requested not to lift this cover’), others are more desperate: ‘Nothing in my hand I bring/Simply to my cross I cling’. Several entries describe the difficulty of saying anything, and drawing the badge serves well enough, or random thoughts intrude (‘VOTES FOR WOMEN’), but one puts it eloquently: ‘I’m Sargeant Smith of 10 ward/ A soldier bold am I/ The tales I have to tell you/ Are enough to make you cry/ I’m lying in this hospital/ With a wound quite near my thigh/ And so to while the time away/ I lie, and lie, and lie’. Provenance: Sister S. Neave (gift inscribed to on initial blank).

HOARE, Richard Colt. Monastic Remains of the Religious houses at Witham, Bruton, and Stavordale. Frome: Crockers, 1824. Limited edition, one of only 50 copies, and one of only  11(?) with an original drawing by Hoare bound-in, 4to (278 x 224mm.) Title in red and black, 15 engraved plates mounted on India paper, 2 genealogies, 1 original ink and pencil drawing of Horsley Priory seal bound-in. (Toning, initial blank and front-free endpaper loosened, spotting to plate margins.) Contemporary calf, gilt borders, g.e. (upper cover detached, extremities rubbed). Note: a pencil inscription on the front pastedown suggests that eleven copies of the 50 had an original drawing of Horsely Priory seal bound-in by Hoare, but only ever this copy with the drawing has surfaced at auction. It was owned by Hoare’s son, Harry, so it’s very likely this was the author’s own copy and that the drawing can be attributed to him. Provenance: Harry Hoare, cricketer, son of author (bookplate to the front-free endpaper); Hugh F. Hornby (bookplate to the front pastedown).

MANUSCRIPT. – MEDICINE. [A hand-written materia medica. N.p.: circa 1760.] 102pp., manuscript, 8vo (199 x 114mm.) 51 numbered leaves in a densely written legible hand relating numerous cures, remedies and medical advice and, often, outlining the theory behind the advice, and citing sources. (Lacking pp.9-10, several leaves loose, all leaves with some loss to outer margin, occasionally text affected, text-block detached from covers.) Contemporary calf (dried and stiff, browned, some loss to lower cover). Note: beings with the benefits of ‘green tea’ (‘hastens digestion, provokes urine, cleanses and purifies the blood’) and the health-giving properties of a variety of seeds (cardamon seeds being ‘an antidote against the plague’), there’s a long analysis on ‘blood’ (it being ‘the foundation of life, the treasure of life’) and blood-letting is often the cure. There are entries on ‘mad dog bites’ and ‘any mad animal’, the ‘plague’, nervous ailments, and also ways of dealing with ‘incubus, or nightmare’ (‘sleep on your side with head raised’), and even some comparative medicine (‘The Turks way of dealing with the plague may not be as learned as ours…’). Several times the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine’ from the early 1750’s is cited as a source.

MANUSCRIPT. – M. WALLIS. [A hand-written apothecary’s note-book. N.p.: 1729-1816-1824.] 72pp., manuscript, 12mo (129 x 66mm.) 42 leaves with 17pp. of hand-written recipes for household potions in a single legible hand, 54pp. for medical cures, mostly in a single hand, also a few notes from the original owner, dating from 1729, also 13pp. and title from ‘The Royal Almanack of Ireland, for the Year of Christ 1729’ mounted on leaves, with medical notes to the margins, a 3pp. manuscript index to rear. (Browning.) 18th century calf (lower cover nearly detached, annotations to pastedowns). Note: begins with an apothecary’s list of weight conversions, the household concoctions are for removing stains, blacking shoes, to clean plates, make ink etc., the medical ones are fairly extensive, involving laxatives, bowel pain, measles, asthma, worms, bile and different types of coughing.