Antiquarian and Collectors’ Books

CULPEPER, Nicholas. Culpeper’s Complete Herbal, to which is Now Added, Upwards of One Hundred Additional Herbs. London: Richard Evans, 1814. 4to (263 x 204mm.) Engraved portrait frontispiece, 32 hand-coloured engraved plates. (Browning throughout, some spotting, small stamps to plates, blanks replaced.) Contemporary half calf, later green morocco lettering piece to the spine (rebacked, endpapers replaced, gilt reference to spine). Provenance: Worthing Public Library (labels to front pastedown, stamps to plates). – And a further fourteen volumes (including Frederick Dixon’s ‘The Geology of Sussex’, 1878, 4to, and William Topley’s ‘The Geology of the Weald’, 1875, 8vo) (15).

DIXON, Frederick. The Geology and Fossils of the Tertiary and Cretaceous Formations of Sussex. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1850. First edition, 4to (307 x 239mm.) Half-title, coloured lithographic frontispiece, 43 engraved and lithographic plates, including 2 in colour and 2 double-paged, ‘Corrigenda’ leaf to rear. (Toning, all preliminaries spotted, plates with stamp to all upper margins and some scattered spotting, stamps and labels verso title, blanks replaced.) Later tan morocco-backed cloth, gilt lettering and reference to spine (extremities rubbed). Provenance: West Sussex County Council (labels to front and rear pastedowns). – And a further two volumes by Frederick Dixon, (‘The Geology of Sussex; or the Geology and Fossils of the Tertiary and Cretaceous Formations of Sussex’, new edition, 1878, 4to, and a further copy of the 1850 first edition) (3).

MILNE, A.A. Winnie-the-Pooh. London: Methuen, 1926. Second edition, 8vo (187 x 120mm.) Numerous illustrations by E.H. Shepard. (Mild toning, slight discolouring to pastedowns, small illegible name to front-free endpaper.) Original green cloth, pictorial gilt to upper cover, t.e.g. (thin mark to spine panel, lightly bumped spine ends), later dust-jacket (sunned to spine). – And a further twenty-six volumes, poetry and illustrated (including Eleanor and Herbert Farjeon’s ‘Kings and Queens’, 1932, 4to, and A.A. Milne’s ‘Now We Are Six’, first edition, 1927, 8vo, and ‘Banksy’s ‘Existencilism’, 2002, 8vo) (27).

PHOTOGRAPHY. – Bill BRANDT. Perspective of Nudes. London: The Bodley Head, 1961. First edition, 4to (274 x 236mm.) Preface by Lawrence Durrell, photographic illustrations. (Mild toning.) Original boards (spine ends browned and bumped), dust-jacket (loss at top of spine and to extremities). Provenance: John Blakemore, photographer (ink name to front pastedown, dated 1967).

BRANAGH, Kenneth. Belfast. [London:] TKBC Ltd., 2021. Limited edition, this being number 416 of 1000 copies signed by Kenneth Branagh, 4to (321 x 236mm.) Photographic illustrations. (Mild toning.) Original pictorial boards. Provenance: ‘Zoe’ (gift inscribed to on the half-title by Kenneth Branagh). – And a further signed volume (Johnny Marr’s ‘Marr’s Guitars’, 2023, 4to) (2).

FOOTBALL. – Alan SHEARER. My Illustrated Career. London: Cassell, 2007. Special edition, limited to 500 copies signed by Alan Shearer, 4to (325 x 231mm.) Photographic illustrations, separate set of 6 prints signed by Shearer. Original cloth, dust-jacket, original box and cellophane.

[BOWLES, Thomas Gibson.] Vanity Fair: A Weekly Show of Political, Social, & Literary Wares. London: ‘Vanity Fair’ Office, 1868-1870. 4 vols., folio (350 x 228mm.) Numerous colour lithographic plates, advertisements. (Toning, title of vol. 3 loose, crease to title of vol. 2.) Original green cloth, gilt lettering to upper covers, g.e. (upper hinge of vol. 3 weakened and with tape repair, extremities rubbed and covers scuffed). – And a related volume (Roy T. Matthews and Peter Mellini’s ‘In ‘Vanity Fair’’, 2000, 4to) (5).

GOSTLING, William. A Walk in and About the City of Canterbury, with Many Observations not to be found in any Description hitherto published. Canterbury: Simmons and Kirkby, 1777. Second edition, 8vo (210 x 125mm.) Engraved portrait frontispiece, large folding city plan, folding reference table, 22 engraved plates, ‘Subscribers List’, ‘Index’, near contemporary marginal annotation to a few leaves and memorial inscription in manuscript to title to ‘Rev. George Gilbert’. (Toning, some offsetting from plates, a 2-inch crease-tear to city plan, plates numbered in manuscript.) Contemporary brown full diced morocco, black morocco lettering piece to the spine (lightly rubbed extremities). – And a further ten topographical volumes (including ‘The History of Stamford, in the County of Lincoln’, 1822, 8vo, and William Lionel Wyllie and M.A. Wyllie’s ‘London to the Nore’, signed limited edition, 1905, 4to, and J.W. Clark’s ‘Cambridge, Brief Historical & Descriptive Notes’, 1881, folio) (11).

SCOTT, Walter. The Waverley Novels. Edinburgh: Robert Cadell, 1830-1834. 48 vols., 8vo (163 x 94mm.) Engraved frontispieces and vignettes to titles. (Browning to titles, occasional spotting.) Near contemporary maroon half morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, gilt lettering to spines (extremities bumped, minor scuffing) (48).

SHAKESPEARE, William. Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies Faithfully Reproduced in Facsimile From the Edition of 1623. London: Methuen & Co., 1910. Folio (362 x 231mm.) Half-title, title, facsimile title with engraved portrait, spare spine label tipped-in at rear. (Toning.) Original cloth-backed boards, paper label to spine (hinges cracked, spine worn, browned). – And a further two volumes (‘The Private Correspondence of David Garrick with the Most Celebrated Persons of His Time’, 2 vols., 1831-1832, 4to) (3).

AFRICA. – James BRUCE. Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, in the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773. Edinburgh: by J. Ruthen for G.G.J. and J. Robinson, 1790. 4 vols. [of 5, lacking vol. 5.] First edition, 4to (297 x 230mm.) Half-titles, titles with engraved vignettes, 15 engraved plates including 3 plans. (Damp-staining throughout vol. 2, large tear to Nn2 of Vol. 4, lacking the maps, lacking 43 plates, damp-staining to the plans.) Contemporary calf, two morocco labels to vol. 1, cloth-backed paper-covered boards to vols. 2-4 (vol. 1 rebacked, extremities rubbed, vols. 2-4 with some hinges weakened, fading, pastedowns damp-stained). Note: comprises a duplicate vol. 1 in cloth-backed boards. Provenance: William Fraser (armorial bookplate to pastedown of vol. 1); Bishop’s Library, St. David’s Church, Cardiff (bookplate to front pastedowns of vols. 2-4) (5).

BINDINGS. – J.F.S. GORDON. Scotichronicon: Comprising Bishop Keith’s Catalogue of Scottish Bishops, enlarged, with Reeves’ and Goodall’s treatises on the Culdees. Glasgow: J. Tweed, 1867. 4 vols., 4to (247 x 183mm.) Titles in red and black, engraved plates, illustrations. (Toning, occasional scattered spotting.) Near contemporary brown half morocco over marbled paper-covered boards (extremities rubbed). Provenance: Prinknash Abbey (bookplates verso front-free endpapers of vols. 1 and 2); ‘Mr. Topliss’ (ink name inscribed verso front-free endpaper of vol. 1). – And a further twenty-two volumes (including ‘The Pictorial Bible’, 3 vols., 1836, 4to, and Isaac Nordheimer’s ‘A Critical Grammar of the Hebrew Language’, [vol. 2 only, of 2], 1841, 8vo) (26).

MANUSCRIPT. – Charles T. QUELCH. [A First World War trench diary written by Private Charles Quelch of the ‘A’ Company, 3rd Hants. Regiment. N.p.:] January 1915-December 12th 1915, manuscript, 32mo (83 x 47mm.) 110pp. in a single mostly legible hand in various coloured inks, some entries being single word, all are brief, several blank leaves, numerous days with no entry. (Browned.) Original limp morocco (hinges weakened, covers rubbed). Note: Private Charles Quelch No. 14335 enlisted as a volunteer on 11th November 1914, aged 23. The diary records he was first in France at Le Havre on 19th January 1915. It begins slowly: ‘Milked a cow in the sheds’. By 26th April he writes: ‘Hell on earth, shelled all day laying on top of one another in trench’ and, two days later, ‘All night stretcher bearing. Last night carrying the wounded a mile and a half under heavy shell and rifle fire- it’s simply dreadful’. He elaborates on this in the rear leaves: ‘To make matters worse we were shelled with our own guns owing to wires being cut’. Charles Quelch was killed on 27th July 1917. He was mentioned three times in despatches and awarded the Military Medal for bravery in 1916. – And a large archive of First World War material relating to the Quelch family (including approximately 900 letters written between various family members- including the two soldier brothers Charles and Thomas Quelch and their cousin Percy- to their parents in Eastleigh, Hampshire, and to others- numerous family and military documents and ephemera, postcards and photographs, including folders of later typed transcripts of the letters (large quantity).

COMBE, Taylor. A Description of the Collection of Ancient Marbles in the British Museum. London: W. Bulmer and Co., 1812-1845. 7 vols. (of 11), 4to (358 x 290mm.) Engraved vignettes to titles, 229 engraved plates of Greek sculpture, some double-paged, 1 in colour. (Occasional spotting, sometimes moderate, stamps to all title-pages and plates.) Original paper-covered boards, paper labels mounted to five spines and all upper covers (rubbing, upper cover of volume 1 detached, spine wear and loss to volumes 1 and 3). Provenance: Grimsby Public Library (bookplates to front pastedowns, stamps to all pates). – And another, smaller variant of volume 1 (8).

LA FONTAINE, Jean de. Fables de la Fontaine Illustrée par Benjamin Rabier. Paris: Tallandier, [1906.] 4to (319 x 243mm.) Numerous colour and black and white illustrations. (Toning to margins, scattered spotting to many leaves.) Contemporary vellum (slightly dust-soiled). – And a quantity of approximately thirty-nine illustrated volumes (including twenty-five issues of ‘The Studio’, Oct 1897-Sept 1898, and an incomplete run Oct 1920-Nov 1929) (40).

FOLIO SOCIETY (publisher). The Folio Poets: John Donne. London: Folio Society, 2005. 8vo (272 x 175mm.) Introduction by Andrew Motion, illustrations. (Mild toning.) Original red morocco over pictorial cloth boards, slipcase. – And a further fifty-five volumes published by The Folio Society (including John Julius Norwich’s ‘The History of Venice’, 2007, 8vo) (56).

FOLIO SOCIETY (publisher). – John BUCHAN. [The Adventures of Richard Hannay.] London: Folio Society, 2003. 5 vols., 8vo (198 x 124mm.) Original pictorial cloth, slipcase. – And a further twenty-eight volumes published by The Folio Society (including Jane Austen’s ‘[The Novels]’, 1991, 8vo, and John Ruskin’s ‘The Stones of Venice’, 2001, 8vo) (33).