Antiquarian and Collectors’ Books

FOLIO SOCIETY. – Ian FLEMING. [James Bond Novels.] London: The Folio Society, 2015-2021. 12 vols., 8vo (222 x 149mm.) Illustrations by Fay Dalton. (Faint crease to preliminaries of ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.) Original cloth, pictorial slipcases. Note: all first printings, but for ‘Casino Royale’ which is a second. Provenance: David Baglin (name inscribed to half-titles) (12).

PEAR TREE PRESS. – Laurence HOUSMAN. Hop-O’-Me-Heart, a Grown-Up Fairy-Tale. Flansham, Bognor Regis: Pear Tree Press, 1938. Limited edition, this being number 99 of 160 copies only, 8vo (224 x 138mm.) Illustrations by John Guthrie printed in blue. (Slight toning.) Original boards, illustrated label mounted to upper cover (small loss to spine ends, toned to edges), glassine wrapper (chipped to extremities). Provenance: Sussex County Council (labels to front pastedown and initial blank and spine). – And a further two volumes published by The Pear Tree Press (W.J. Ibbett’s ‘Ten Lyrics’, limited edition, being number 14 of 100 copies only, 1924, 4to, and Seamus O’ Sullivan’s ‘Twenty-Five Lyrics’, limited edition being number 144 of 150 copies only, 1933, 4to) (3).

PEAR TREE PRESS. – James GUTHRIE (editor). These Things the Poets Said. A Collection of Poems in Memory of Edward Thomas. Flansham, Bognor Regis: Pear Tree Press, 1935. Limited edition, this being number 148 of 150 copies, this one signed by James Guthrie to last leaf, 8vo (216 x 141mm.) Additional title, decorations. (Mild toning.) Original grey paper-covered boards, illustrated paper label to upper cover (spine worn). Provenance: West Sussex County Council (labels to front pastedown and to front-free endpaper and label to spine). – And a further five volumes published by The Pear Tree Press (including David Graves’ ‘Twelve Madrigals’, limited edition being number 6 of 50 copies signed by David Graves’, 1925, 8vo, and, edited by James Guthrie, ‘Root and Branch’, vol. 2, no. 3, March 1918, 8vo, and ‘The Beatitudes’, by Percy J. Smith and James Guthrie, limited edition being number 11 of 200 copies, 1905, 12mo, and A.M. Davidson’s ‘The Weaver’s Loom’, 1931, 8vo, and L.V. Hodgkin’s ‘Holy Poverty’,1905, 8vo) (6).

BINDINGS. – Augustine BIRRELL. A Rogue’s Memoirs Etc. London: Arthur L. Humphreys, 1912. 16mo (141 x 117mm.) 6 mounted head and tail-pieces. (Toning.) Contemporary red morocco by Hatchards, gilt dot corner-pieces and to spine, g.e. – And a further ten volumes (including, also published by Arthur L. Humphreys, ‘Letters of Passion’, 1911, 16mo, and Hans Andersen’s ‘Fairy Tales and Legends’, illustrated by Rex Whistler, 1935, 8vo, and Francis Brett Young’s ‘Black Roses’, limited edition being number 9 of 525 signed copies, 1929, 8vo, and Stonehenge’s [John Henry Walsh] ‘The Greyhound: Being a Treatise on the Art of Breeding, Rearing, and Training Greyhounds’, 1853, 8vo, and a faux book with double ink-well (lacking quill) [3 vols.], circa 1900, 8vo) (11).

SIGNED BOOKS. – H.E. BATES. Day’s End and Other Stories. London: Jonathan Cape, 1928. First edition, signed by H.E. Bates and inscribed with a 5-line quotation from the book, 8vo (191 x 122mm.) (Toning, minor spotting to title.) Original green cloth (sunned to spine, slight staining). Note: Bates has quoted a line from his story ‘The Idiot’ on p. 276. It reads: ‘There, too, was a smell of ferns, of pine-needles and many leaves and sometimes a strange pungent whiff as of old smoke’. – And a further two works signed by H.E. Bates (‘The Tinkers of Elstow’, signed by H.E. Bates and the illustrator Randolph Schwabe, limited edition being number 239 of 300 copies, 8vo, and ‘The Two Sisters’, 1926, 8vo) (3).

ARDIZZONE, Edward (illustrator). – Sheridan LE FANU. In a Glass Darkly. London: Peter Davies, 1929. 8vo (217 x 134mm.) Numerous illustrations by Edward Ardizzone. (Spotting to pastedowns, toning.) Original black cloth (spine ends bumped, small mark to lower cover). Note: a collection of five stories first published in 1872, a year before Le Fanu’s death. – And a further nine volumes illustrated by Edward Ardizzone (including Maurice Gorham’s ‘Back to the Local’, 1949, 8vo, and Edith Nesbit’s ‘Long Ago When I Was Young’, 1966, 8vo) (10).

CONJURING. – Harlan TARBELL. The Tarbell Course in Magic. New York: Louis Tannen, 1943-1948. 4 vols. [of 8]. Mixed editions, 8vo (222 x 142mm.) Photographic frontispieces, illustrations. (Toning.) Original cloths (lightly bumped spine ends). Provenance: Adrian Harris (ownership stamps verso frontispieces of volumes 3 and 4); L. Davenport & Co. (stamp to front-free endpaper of volume 5). – And a further two volumes (being duplicate copies of volumes 3 and 4) (6).

CONJURING. – Ellis STANYON (editor). Magic. London: Pollock & Co., February 1901-May 1920. Vol. 1 no. 5- Vol. 15 no. 8. 108 issues (only). 4to (277 x 215mm.) Numerous illustrations. (Toning.) Staple-bound. Note: Ellis Stanyon was a magician and the proprietor of ‘Stanyon & Co.’, a magic shop in Hampstead, London. The magazine was not published during the war (108).

AFRICA. – Edgar George Dion LARDNER. Soldiering and Sport in Uganda 1909-1910. London & Felling on Tyne: Walter Scott Publishing, 1912. First edition, 8vo (219 x 134mm.) Folding map to rear, numerous photographic plates. (Spotting to first leaves, marginal stain to one plate, toning.) Original blue cloth, pictorial gilt and to spine (extremities bumped, minor damp-spotting to lower cover). – And a further seventeen volumes related to Africa (including Wilhelm Junker’s ‘Travels in Africa During the Years 1882-1886’, 1892, 8vo, and Charles F. Harford-Battersby’s ‘Pilkington of Uganda’, [1898], 8vo, and Harry Johnston’s ‘The Uganda Protectorate’, 2 vols., 1902, 4to, and William Vincent’s ‘The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea’, 1800, 4to) (18).

AFRICA. – C.T. ATKINSON. The South Wales Borderers 24th Foot 1689-1937. Cambridge: for the Regimental History Committee at the University Press, 1937. Subscriber’s Edition, 4to (248 x 184mm.) 4 folding maps to rear, 52 plates, including 23 in colour, illustrations, mounted colour map. (Toning.) Original green full morocco, regimental gilt to upper cover and spine, t.e.g. (rubbing to spine, fading to lower cover, extremities rubbed). Note: includes 44 pages on the Kaffir and Zulu War.

SIGNED BOOK. – H.C. WYLLY (compiler). The 1st and 2nd Battalions The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) In the Great War. London, Portsmouth and Aldershot: Gale & Polden, Ltd., [1926.] Signed by Gen. Horace Smith-Dorrien on the portrait frontispiece, 8vo (244 x 178mm.) 8 folding maps, including 4 in the rear pocket, numerous photographic plates. (Toning, occasional finger-mark, lacking 4 maps.) Original green and maroon cloth (some discolouring to cloth, hinges slightly weakened). Note: Horace Smith-Dorrien commanded II Corps at the Battle of Mons in the First World War. He also fought a successful defensive action at the Battle of Le Cateau, contrary to the orders of Commander-in-Chief John French. He played himself in the 1926 film ‘The Battle of Mons’.

SIGNED BOOK. – Henry F. NORBURY. The Naval Brigade in South Africa. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington. First edition, inscribed by the author to his wife verso the front-free endpaper, 8vo (189 x 128mm.) Half-title, wood-engraved frontispiece, notes in manuscript hand mounted to rear pastedown. (Text-block cracked at last leaf, toning.) Original blue cloth, gilt to upper cover (hinges weakened, joints splitting, extremities rubbed). Note: the inscription reads: ‘Mina Norbury, from her affectionate husband on her Birthday, December 1880’. The notes to the rear pastedown are in the hand of L. Norbury and relate to the Naval Brigade in the Zulu wars. Provenance: Mina Norbury (inscribed to from the author); L. Norbury (ink name to the half-title). – And a related volume (Stephen Kay’s ‘Travels and Researches in Caffraria’, 1834, 8vo) (2).

KEARSLEY, George (publisher). The Copper Plate Magazine; or, Monthly Treasure, for the Admirers of the Imitative Arts. London: for George Kearsley, 1778. First edition, 4to (268 x 214mm.) Engraved title, 124 engraved plates after Sandby, Collier, Walker and Watts, letterpress text leaf with each, later printed notes about the book mounted to initial blank and rear pastedown. (One plate supplied in facsimile ‘The Story of Marsyas’, toning, occasional browning, tape repair to two text leaves.) 20th century half calf, purple morocco lettering piece to spine (endpapers replaced). Note: scarce. Originally issued in parts from 1774-1778. It comprises 42 portraits (Chaucer, Shakespeare etc.), 41 historical and mythological scenes and 42 views of landscapes and country houses after Paul Sandby. Provenance: Josceline Grove (bookplate verso front endpaper). – And a related volume (Henry Bromley’s ‘A Catalogue of Engraved British Portraits’, 1793, 4to) (2).

LONDON. – A.H. THOMAS and I.D. THORNLEY (editors). The Great Chronicle of London. London and Aylesbury: George W. Jones, 1938. Limited edition, this being number 116 of 500 copies only, this one inscribed by Lord Wakefield of Hythe, 4to (301 x 203mm.) Half-title, title in red and black, facsimile plates, loosely inserted ‘Order of Service’ for the funeral of Lord Wakefield. (Toning.) Original morocco by Zaehnsdorf, armorial gilt of Corporation of London to upper cover, t.e.g. (some loss to edge of upper cover). Note: inscribed on the front pastedown by Lord Wakefield, formerly Lord Mayor of London, who wrote the ‘Foreword’ to book. He also gave the original manuscript of the ‘Great Chronicle...’ to the Library Committee of the Corporation of the City of London. Provenance: A.C. Davis (presentation bookplate to the front pastedown).

MACKINNON, J.P. and Sydney SHADBOLT. The South African Campaign. 1879. London: Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, 1880. First edition, 4to (304 x 233mm.) Half-title, 2 folding maps, 61 oval mounted photographic portraits. (Toning to margins.) Original green cloth, gilt lettering to spine and upper cover, g.e. (rebacked with original spine laid-down, slight rubbing and minor scuffing). Provenance: Edward Charles Malet de Carteret (armorial bookplate to front pastedown).

BLAKE, William. – W.B. YEATS and Edward John ELLIS (editors). The Works of William Blake, Poetic, Symbolic, and Critical. London: Bernard Quaritch, 1893. 3 vols., one of 150 large paper copies, 8vo (279 x 183). Frontispieces with tissue-guards, 2 folding charts, numerous illustrations and lithographed facsimiles, bound-in errata slip. (Toning, occasional light spotting, damp-stain to rear endpaper of vol. 1 and small damp-stain to front-free endpaper of vol. 2). Original half morocco, pictorial gilt to spines, t.e.g. (extremities rubbed, especially spine panel of vol. 1, some staining to covers). Note: an important work that elucidated Blake’s esoteric system. Provenance: T.M.S. [Teresa Mary Sillars] (colour bookplates to front-free endpapers) (3).

THOMSON, Hugh (illustrator). – J.M. BARRIE. Quality Street. A Comedy in Four Acts. [London:] Hodder & Stoughton, [circa 1913.] Limited edition, this being number 694 of 1000 copies signed by Hugh Thomson, 4to (308 x 247mm.) 22 tipped-in colour plates by Hugh Thomson, captioned tissue-guards. (Toning, corner crease to p.161, minor dust-soiling to endpapers.) Original full pictorial vellum gilt, t.e.g. (upper hinge slightly weakened, lacking ties).

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).

TUER, Andrew W. History of the Horn-Book. London: The Leadenhall Press, 1897. Second edition, 4to (253 x 184mm.) Half-title, engraved frontispiece with tissue-guard, hand-coloured vignette to title, folding plate, numerous illustrations, 3 facsimile horn specimens of oak, ivory and card in pocket at rear of book, 2pp. publisher’s advertisements to rear. (Toning.) Original brown cloth, morocco label to spine (extremities rubbed, minor scuffing to lower cover). Note: a non-transferable ivory exemption certificate has been granted for the sale of this item.