Antiquarian and Collectors’ Books

LEE, Christopher. Tall, Dark and Gruesome. London: Victor Gollancz, 1997. Revised edition, signed by Christopher Lee, 8vo (232 x 153mm.) Photographic illustrations. Original black cloth, dust-jacket. Note: signed on the title-page and dated ’31.10.97’.

BURMA. – Larry COLLINS and Dominique LAPIERRE. Freedom at Midnight. London: Collins, 1975. First edition, inscribed by Mountbatten of Burma for Dame Vera Lynn, 8vo (214 x 131mm.) Photographic illustrations. (Mild toning.) Original grey cloth (some loss to top of spine), dust-jacket (price-clipped, crease to inner flap, wear to top of spine panel). Note: the inscription reads: ‘Dame Vera Lynn, in affectionate exchange for her vocal refrain which I ‘sung’ at the R.B.L. Lunch Party:- ‘There is no-one like our Dame/ No-one in our world/ There is no-one you can name/ Who is anything like our Dame’, Mountbatten of Burma’. Provenance: Dame Vera Lynn (gift inscribed to on the half-title).

WALKER, Gerald. Cruising. London: W.H. Allen, 1971. First U.K. edition, 8vo (216 x 132mm.) (Toning, ink name and initials on front pastedown, dated 1971.) Original blue cloth, dust-jacket (browning to lower panel, lightly rubbed spine ends). Note: written by New York Times reporter Gerald Walker, the novel is considered one of the earliest examples of gay crime fiction.

MANTELL, Gideon Algernon. The Fossils of the South Downs; or, Illustrations of the Geology of Sussex. London: Lupton Relfe, 1822. First edition, signed by Gideon Mantell and being one of only 25 fully coloured copies, 4to (309 x 236mm.) Half-title, title, dedication, 40 engraved hand-coloured plates, including 2 folding, bound-in to rear a 3pp. map in manuscript with hand-colouring relating to Leicestershire and a sectional chart relating to Charnwood Forest, 7pp. ‘Index’ and 1p. publisher’s advertisement. (Lacking geological map and plates 3 and 4, circular stamps to margin of nine plates, blanks replaced.) Later green morocco-backed green cloth, gilt lettering and reference to spine (endpapers replaced). Note: 500 copies of the first edition were printed and only 25 were fully hand-coloured. They were sold for three and six guineas respectively. Inscribed in a calligraphic hand in 1826 to Hannah Matilda, the Mantell’s daughter, who was aged four at the time. It reads ‘Hannah Matilda Mantell, Castle Place, Lewes, November 1826’ and a has a five-line quote in manuscript from Byron’s ‘Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage’. Hannah died from tuberculosis in 1840, aged 17. After her death, Mantell inscribed this copy to J. Foster. Provenance: Hannah Matilda Mantell (ink inscription, dated November 1826); Gideon Mantell (gift inscribed from the half-title to J. Foster); Worthing Public Library (labels to pastedowns). [Dean, 52.]

POGANY, Willy (illustrator). – S.T. COLERIDGE. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. London: George Harrap & Co., 1910. 4to (315 x 232mm.) Illustrated title and half-title, 20 mounted colour plates, illustrations and decorations by Pogany. (Toning, occasional light spotting and finger-mark.) Original burgundy suede, decorative gilt and lettering to upper cover, t.e.g. (minor marks).

GRIGGS, F.L. Campden. XXIV Engravings After Pen Drawings. Oxford: at the Shakespeare Head Press, 1940. Folio (346 x 249mm.) 24 wood-engraved plates after drawings by Griggs. Original cloth portfolio, black ties (rubbed, scuffed and wear to upper cover).

BLAKE, William. – Laurence BINYON. Illustrations of the Book of Job. London: Methuen & Co., 1906. Vol. 1 [all published.] 4to (313 x 249mm.) 22 plates, tissue-guards, introduction by Laurence Binyon. (Toning, tissues with corner loss.) Original green cloth, gilt lettering (spine browned, pastedowns spotted, fading to cover edges).    Provenance: F.A. Lyon (name inscribed to front-free endpaper).

VIRGIL. – Samuel PALMER. An English Version of the Eclogues of Virgil. London: Seeley & Company, 1884. Second edition, folio (322 x 211mm.) Title and half-title in red and black, 14 etched plates including 5 original etchings by Samuel Palmer, tissue-guards. (Toning, faint spotting to half-title, finger-mark to margin of one plate, small ownership label residue to front-free endpaper.) Original green cloth, pictorial gilt and lettering to upper cover (minor scuffing and small stains to upper cover, extremities bumped).

ART NOUVEAU. – J. FOORD. Decorative Flower Studies, for the Use of Artists, Designers, Students and Others. London: B.T. Batsford, 1901. Folio (375 x 268mm.) Half-title, 40 colour lithographed plates. (Light spotting to half-title, toning, occasional finger-mark.) Original pictorial green cloth, t.e.g. (some staining to lower cover, wear to spine ends, fading and finger-marking to upper cover). Provenance: ‘Mee’ (ink name inscribed to initial blank, dated May 1901).

AVIATION. – J.E. HODGSON. The History of Aeronautics in Great Britain. London: Humphrey Milford at the Oxford University Press, 1924. Limited edition, being one of 1000 copies, small folio (279 x 183mm.) Colour and black and white plates, illustrations, newspaper cutting to rear pastedown. (Toning.) Original cloth, gilt to upper cover, t.e.g., (slight fading), dust-jacket (extremities chipped, some loss at top of spine). Note: scarce in the dust-jacket. Provenance: British Gliding Association (presentation plate to front pastedown).

LEWES. – T. HACKMAN. A Historical Catechism, Containing the Most Interesting Events, Recorded in English History, From the Invasion of Julius Caesar, to the Present Period. Lewes: John Baxter, 1818. 12mo (158 x 94mm.) Title, 2 blanks to front and 1 to rear, 2 later blank leaves to front. (Stamps verso title and marginal tape and paper repairs to title.) Later calf-backed maroon cloth, gilt lettering to spine (endpapers replaced). Note: scarce. Only one copy recorded in JISC/Copac. Provenance: West Sussex County Council (label to front pastedown, stamp verso title). – And a further three volumes related to Sussex (‘Three Discourses, 1. On the Use of Books. 2. On the Result and Effects of Study. 3. On the Elements of Literary Taste. Delivered at the Anniversary Meetings of the Library Society at Chichester, Jan. 1800,1801,1802’, 1802, 8vo, and Samuel Potter’s ‘An Epitome of the Law of Landlord and Tenant’, published in Worthing, 1825, 8vo, and a 12pp. Parliamentary Act relating to Littlehampton Harbour, 1733, folio) (4).

GEOLOGY. – William Perceval HUNTER. Geological Notes. Comprising a Description of the Limestone Quarries and Petrifying Spring at Pounceford, in Sussex, with Preliminary Remarks on the Wealden Rocks. Hythe: for the Author by William Tiffen, 1835. Small 4to (185 x 117mm.) Half-title, folding frontispiece illustration supplied from a newspaper, 9 plates to rear. (Stamp to frontispiece and verso title, occasional creasing, red mark to title.) Later green cloth, gilt reference to spine. Note: scarce. Hunter is the forgotten scholar of English geology. He led an itinerant life, publishing his works privately, obscurely, and sometimes abroad. He made early conjectures towards the idea of dinosaurs and was the first to suggest the Isle of Wight as a source of fossils. Provenance: Worthing Public Library (endpapers replaced, labels to pastedowns).  – And a further thirteen volumes (including Charles Williams’ ‘Pickings on the Sea-Shore; or, Cliffs, Sands, Plants, and Animals… and the Vivarium at Home’, 1857, 8vo, and ‘Report of the Commissioners Upon the Subject of Harbours of Refuge’, [extra-illustrated with 5 hand-drawn folding maps bound-in], 1845, tall 4to) (14).

BINDINGS. – Samuel Taylor COLERIDGE. The Poetical and Dramatic Works. London: John James Chidley, 1845. New edition, 12mo (163 x 98mm.) Additional title with vignette, frontispiece. (Toning.) Contemporary black morocco, decorative gilt to covers and spine, g.e. (extremities rubbed, upper joints splitting). – And a further twenty-two volumes, mainly literary and historical (including ‘The Poetical Works of Robert Browning’, 1924, 2 vols., 8vo, and ‘The Life and Work of Robert Burns’, 1856, 4 vols. in 2, 8vo, and Mrs. J.B. [Annie] Webb’s ‘Naomi, or the Last Days of Jerusalem’, 1872, 8vo, and ‘The Works of Flavius Josephus’, translated by William Whiston, 1833, 8vo) (23).

AMERICA. – John G. NICOLAY and John HAY. Abraham Lincoln, a History. New York & London: The Century Co. and T. Fisher Unwin, 1890. 10 vols., first edition, 8vo (232 x 148mm.) Half-titles, frontispieces, plates. (Toning, pencil annotation verso rear endpapers.) Original blue cloth, gilt lettering to spines (scuffing to several spine panels) (10).

AMERICA. – J.S. CAMPION. On the Frontier. Reminiscences of Wild Sports, Personal Adventures, and Strange Scenes. London: Chapman & Hall, 1878. First edition, 8vo (219 x 137mm.) Half-title, 8 woodburytype plates, 32pp. publishers’ catalogue to rear dated November 1877. (Toning, illegible contemporary signature to title, entry on p.13 of publisher’s catalogue excised.) Original boards, gilt lettering to spine (small stain to lower cover, lightly rubbed). – And a further fourteen books relating to America (including ‘Famous Adventures and Prison Escapes of the Civil War’, edited by G.W. Cable, 1898, 8vo) (15).

AFRICA. – Marguerite ROBY. My Adventures in the Congo. London: Edward Arnold, 1911. First edition, 8vo (224 x 139mm.) Engraved portrait frontispiece, tissue-guard, 16 photographic plates, folding map to rear, 24pp. publisher’s advertisements. (A few uncut leaves, scattered spotting throughout.) Original red cloth, pictorial gilt, white and black to upper cover (extremities rubbed, crease to spine). Note: scarce. Provenance: L. Bradshaw (ink name to front-free endpaper). – And a further twelve volumes relating to Africa (including Ben Burbridge’s ‘Gorilla’, 1928, 8vo, and Frederick Treves’ ‘Uganda For a Holiday’, 1910, 8vo, and T.T. Matthews’ ‘Thirty Years in Madagascar’, 1904, 8vo) (13).

Journal of the East Africa and Uganda Natural History Society. London, New York, Bombay etc.: Longmans, Green & Co., February 1918-July 1934. 30 vols. in 7, 8vo (211 x 143mm.) Numerous colour and photographic plates, some folding, illustrations in the text. (Toning.) Contemporary green cloth, gilt to spine (spine ends bumped, frayed to vol. 7, white mark to spines, labels to front pastedowns). Provenance: Colonial Office Library (presentation label to front pastedown); University of Nottingham Science Library (reference label to front pastedown). Note: being numbers 12, 16-18, 20-24, 27-28, 33-34, 36-52. – And a further 10 issues of the ‘Journal of the East Africa and Uganda Natural History Society’ (being numbers 14, 75-76, 85-88, 93, 113-114, and 12 volumes of ‘The East African Annual’, 1941-1965, 4to) (small quantity).

AFRICA. – Rupert FURNEAUX. The Murder of Lord Erroll. London: Stevens & Sons Limited, 1961. First edition, 8vo (214 x 132mm.) Photographic illustrations. (Toning.) Original black cloth, dust-jacket (price-clipped, browning and spotting verso). Note: as a glamorous member of the Kenyan ‘Happy Valley’ set, the murder of Lord Erroll provoked much speculation, and continues to do so. Not least, it inspired James Fox’s book ‘White Mischief’, which was adapted into the 1988 film directed by Michael Radford. – And a further fourteen volumes relating mostly to Africa (including Harry Dean’s ‘Umbala’, 1929, 8vo, and Dugald Campbell’s ‘Blazing Trails in Bantuland’, [1933], 8vo, and H.W. Lytle and John Dillon’s ‘From Dance Hall to White Slavery, the World’s Greatest Tragedy’, [1912], 8vo, and E. Alexander Powell’s ‘The Map That Is Half Unrolled’, 1925, 8vo) (15).

AFRICA. – Frank H. MELLAND and Edward H. CHOLMELEY. Through the Heart of Africa, Being an Account of a Journey on Bicycles and on Foot from Northern Rhodesia, past the Great Lakes, to Egypt, undertaken when proceeding home on leave in 1910. London: Constable & Company Ltd., 1912. First edition, 8vo (223 x 160mm.) Half-title, photographic frontispiece, numerous plates, folding map to rear. (Occasional faint spotting.) Original red cloth, pictorial gilt to upper cover, t.e.g. (some fading to spine and discolouring to lower cover). – And a further nine volumes related to Africa (including R.S.S. Baden-Powell’s ‘The Matabele Campaign’, 1901, 8vo, and F.C.’s ‘On Safari, Experiences of a Gunner in the East African Campaign’, 1917, 8vo, and Douglas Fraser’s ‘Through the Congo Basin’, 1927, and T. Alexander Barns’ ‘The Wonderland of the Eastern Congo’, 1922, 8vo) (10).