Antiquarian and Collectors’ Books

[LONGUEVILLE, Peter.] The Hermit: Or, the Unparalled Sufferings and Surprising Adventures of Mr. Philip Quarll, an Englishman. Westminster: by J. Cluer and A. Campbell, for T. Warner and B. Creake, 1727. First edition, 8vo (193 x 115mm.) Engraved frontispiece of Philip Quarll and his monkey companion Beaufidell, engraved map of the island, engraved plate of the shipwreck. (Browned and damp-stained throughout, minor soiling, lacking front blank.) Contemporary calf (heavily rubbed and scuffed). Note: scarce. An early imitation of Robinson Crusoe. Philip Quarll, born in London and apprenticed to a locksmith, becomes a Bristol merchant but marries three wives and is convicted of bigamy. Pardoned by Charles II, he is shipwrecked on an island off the coast of Mexico and when found by the narrator ‘Ed Dorrington’, he refuses to return to England. The ‘Preface’ ends with the initials ‘P.L.’. [ESTC: T36149].

THEOLOGY. – Ralph ERSKINE. A Paraphrase, or Large Explicatory Poem Upon the Song of Solomon. Edinburgh: Thomas Lumisden and Jo. Robertson for James Beugo, 1736. First edition, small 4to (150 x 88mm.) (Some damp-staining to first leaves, browned, spotting.) Contemporary full calf (covers detached). Note: rare. Ralph Erskine was a Scottish clergyman who, along with his brother Ebenezer, founded the Scottish Secession Church. Provenance: William Fuller Maitland (armorial bookplate to front pastedown).

VAUGHAN, Henry. Olor Iscanus. A Collection of Some Select Poems. London: Peter Parker, at the Leg and Star in Cornhil, against the Royal Exchange, 1679. Second issue. Title dated 1679, ‘Ad Posteros’ leaf of Latin verse, additional engraved title by Robert Vaughan, errata leaf to rear, with sectional titles for ‘The Benefit Wee may get by our Enemies…’ and ‘Of the Diseases of the Mind And the Body…’ and ‘Of the Diseases of the Mind And the Body, and which of them is most pernicious’ and ‘The Praise and Happinesse of the Countrie-Life; Written Originally in Spanish by Don Antonio de Guevara’, all dated 1651 and with continuous pagination. (Browned, a few leaves trimmed.) 8vo (1349 x 85mm.) (Lacking covers). Note: rare. This second issue was bound from the same sheets as the first issue which was published in 1651.

SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe. The Poetical Works… Edited, with a Memoir by H. Buxton Forman. London: George Bell & Sons, 1892. 5 vols., Aldine Edition, 8vo (172 x 102mm.) Engraved portrait frontispiece, half-titles. (Browning to endpapers.) Original green cloth, spines gilt, t.e.g., green cloth-covered box, decorative gilt (fading gilt, hinge weakened, a few stains) (5).

SHAKESPEARE, William. The Plays of Shakespeare. London: William Pickering, 1825. 9 vols., Pickering ‘Diamond’ Classics, 32mo in 8s. (82 x 45mm.) 38 engraved plates, including portrait frontispiece. (Occasional browning.) Near contemporary red full morocco, gilt turn-ins, g.e. (light rubbing), within a later walnut case. Note: Pickering issued this edition in two formats, with and without plates (9).

WENTWORTH, Patricia. Through the Wall. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1952. First U.K. edition, 8vo (183 x 121mm.) (Toning, endpapers browned.) Original red cloth, dust-jacket (spotting to inner flaps, spine ends bumped). – And a further seven novels by Patricia Wentworth, all U.K. first editions (including ‘The Brading Collection’, 1952, and ‘The Silent Pool’, 1956, and ‘Ladies Bane’, 1954, and ‘Anna, Where Are You?’, 1953, and ‘Out of the Past’, 1955, and ‘The Benevent Treasure’, 1956, and one American first edition ‘She Came Back’, 1945) (8).

GRAHAM, Winston. Ross Poldark. London: Ward, Lock and Co. Limited, 1945. First edition, 8vo (184 x 117mm.) (Toning, marginal crease to three leaves.) Original cloth (sunned to spine). – And a further five volumes of the ‘Poldark’ series, all first editions (‘The Forgotten Story’, 1945, and ‘Demelza’, 1946, and ‘Jeremy Poldark’, 1950, and ‘Warleggan’, 1953, and ‘The Black Moon’, signed by the author, 1973) (6).

COMICS. The Beano. London: D.C. Thomson & Co., Ltd., 1949-1962. 45 issues, 4to (297 x 183mm.) Comic strip illustrations. (Browned). Original wrappers (occasional chipping, browning). Note: includes 2 issues from 1949, 6 from 1950, 1 from 1956, 3 from 1957, 2 from 1958, 2 from 1959, 2 from 1962, 1 from 1963, 2 from 1964, 1 from 1965, 1 from 1967, 2 from 1969, 1 from 1975, 1 from 1977, 18 from the 1980’s. – And a further fifty-six comics (‘The Dandy’, 56 issues, 1946-1977) (101).

COMICS. – Adam HUGHES. The Details are a Tad Sketchy. [New York:] Atom Hues Ent., 2008. First edition, signed by Adam Hughes, 8vo (216 x 139mm.) Illustrations by Adam Hughes. Illustrated card wrappers, signed to the upper wrapper. – And a further four comics by Adam Hughes, all signed (including ‘Oh, Wow!’, 2009, and ‘Faust Impressions’, 2011, and ‘Slayboy’, 2010, and ‘Thongs You Know By Heart’, 2007) (5).

HUXLEY, Aldous. Brave New World. London: Chatto & Windus, 1932. First edition, third impression, 8vo (189 x 121mm.) (Toning, spotting to fore-edge.) Original blue cloth (spine ends bumped). – And a further nine volumes (including Andrew Lang’s ‘The True Story Book’, limited edition being number 81 of 150 large paper copies, 1893, 4to, and Andrew Lang’s ‘The Blue Poetry Book’, limited edition being number 102 of 150 large paper copies, 1891, 4to, and Telford Groesbeck’s ‘The Incas, the Children of the Sun’, 1896, 4to) (10).

SHAKESPEARE, William. The Works of William Shakespeare. Edinburgh: Bell & Bradfute et al., 1795. 8 vols., 12mo (177 x 96mm). Half-titles. (Browning throughout, pp. 89-92 of vol. 6 detached, occasional spotting.) Near contemporary half calf (heavily rubbed, text-blocks of vols. 4 and 6 cracked and repaired). Provenance: Cornelius H.[?] (manuscript label to front pastedown of vol. 1) (8).

CRIME. The Criminal Recorder; or, Biographical Sketches of Notorious Public Characters; including Murderers, Traitors, Pirates, Mutineers… London: James Cundee, 1804-1809. 4 vols., 12mo (129 x 79mm.) 35 stipple-engraved portraits of criminals and their punishments. (Lacking pp.95-98 from vol. 1, occasional spotting, a few pencil marks to margins.) Near contemporary half calf over marbled paper-covered boards, gilt spines, black morocco lettering pieces (some loss to lettering pieces, abrasions to spines, rubbing to extremities). Note: scarce (4).

TRYDELL, John. Two Essays on the Theory and Practice of Music. Dublin: for the Editor by Boulter Grierson, 1766. First edition, 8vo (212 x 128mm.) Engraved diagram to title, 8pp. ‘List of Subscribers’. (Browning, lacking engraved music, lacking blanks, occasional spotting.) Mid-19th century red half calf (rebacked, endpapers replaced). Note: scarce. Provenance: C. Nugent (ink name to title-page). – And two related volumes ('The New Musical and Vocal Cabinet, Comprising a Selection of the most Favourite English, Scotch, & Irish Melodies Arranged for the Voice, Violin, Flute’, 2 vols., 1820, 12mo) (3).

The Royal Lady’s Magazine. London: W. Sams and S. Robinson, July-December 1833. New Series, vol. 1., 8vo (205 x 131mm.) Title dated 1834, 11 hand-coloured plates of late-Georgian fashion and flowers, 6 engraved plates, 4 wood-engraved plates, tissue-guards. (Toning, browned to margins.) 21st century paper-covered boards, printed paper label to spine (endpapers replaced). Note: scarce. – And a further four related volumes (‘The Ladies Cabinet of Fashion, Music & Romance’, [26 hand-coloured plates], vol. VI, New Series, 1846, 8vo, and ‘The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine’, [19 hand-coloured plates], vol. VI, New Series, 1863, 8vo, and Fréderic Loliée’s ‘Les Femmes du Second Empire’, 2 vols., 1906, 8vo) (5).

BILSON, Thomas. The True Difference Betweene Christian Subjection and Unchristian Rebellion: Wherein the Princes Lawful power to command for truth, and indepriueable right to beare the sword, are defended against the Popes censures and the Jesuits Sophismes. London: John Jackson and Edmund Bollifant, 1586. Second edition, 8vo (158 x 99mm.) Title, black letter, woodcut royal arms armorial verso the title, woodcut initials, e8 blank, 3 blanks leaves. (Text-block broken in three places, marginal insect-damage, damp-staining from Z1-Ll3, blanks detached) Contemporary calf (covers detached, worn). Note: one blank leaf with leaf with signature mark, text complete. Thomas Bilson, Bishop of Worcestor, oversaw the final edit and printing of the King James Bible. Provenance: Sam Symonds (ink name to title, dated 1656); Pierrepont Cromp (armorial bookplate to front pastedown).

BINDINGS. – Oliver GOLDSMITH. The Roman History, from the Foundation of the City of Rome, to the Destruction of the Western Empire. London: S. Baker et al., 1775. 2 vols., third edition, 8vo (197 x 116mm.) (Scattered spotting, occasional staining.) Contemporary full calf, red and black morocco lettering pieces to the spines (spine chipped, lightly rubbed). – And a further two volumes ([William Stanley’s] ‘The Faith and Practice of a Church of England-Man’, 1688, 12mo, and ‘[The Ladies Cabinet]’, No. 1, vol. VI, July 1834, 8vo) (4).

ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., 1999. De Luxe edition, first edition, first impression, 8vo (233 x 148mm.) Armorial design to half-title. Original red cloth, mounted illustration to upper cover, g.e., original shrink-wrap (split). – And a further eight volumes, including four more of the Collector’s De Luxe Edition of the Harry Potter series, all in original shrink-wrap (‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’, first edition, first impression, 1999; ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’, first edition, first impression, 2000; ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’, first edition, first impression, 2003; ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’, first edition, second impression, 1999, and also J.K. Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’, 1997, fifteenth impression, 8vo, and ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’, first edition, eighteenth impression, 8vo, and two first editions of ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’, 2003, 8vo) (9).

BOOK Of HOURS. [A hand-written and illustrated Book of Hours. N.p.: Rouen[?], circa 1500.] 122pp., 61ff., manuscript, 8vo (204 x 122mm.) Text in Latin, Calendar in French (f.2-4), textualis script in brown ink on parchment, 25 lines per leaf with lines faintly ruled in red ink, with 1-line initials alternating in red and blue with liquid gold, and also 2-line initials with red or gold panels and blue, red and grey infills and white flourishing, sectional 3-line initials with gold panels and red, grey, blue infills and white flourishing; 16 hand-coloured miniatures, being 5 eight-lines in length and 11 thirteen-lines in length (f.5r, f.12r, f.17r, f.23r, f.26v, f.28v, f.30v, f.33r, f.35r, f.38r, f.48r) and 1 full-page having acanthus leaf borders in red, blue, green and brown and six diamond-shaped beige panels and flowering foliage; paragraph marks in red and blue, heightened with gold. (A few small stains and creases, f.33 with smudging, the demon on f.48 has been rubbed, nearly erased.) Mid-20th century vellum, hand-painted lettering and decoration to spine (endpapers replaced). Note: text: f.1 [blank]; f.2-4v Calendar; f.5-7v Gospel Extracts John, Matthew, Mark, Luke; f.8-11 Obresco te and O Intemerata; f.11v ‘Les Dix Comandemes de la loy’ in rhyming couplets; f.12-38 Hours of the Virgin and Hours of the Holy Cross; f.38-43 Seven Penitential Psalms; f.44v-46 Litany of Saints; f.48-61 Office of the Dead. The text ends on f.61 after the 9th reading from Job 10:18-22. The miniatures are: 1) f.5r Saint John on Patmos with his eagle 2) f.6r Saint Luke with his winged ox 3) f.6v Saint Matthew with an angel 4) f.7v Saint Mark with his hybrid lion 5) f.8r Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus 6) f.10r Virgin Mary holding the child Christ 7) f.12r the Annunciation 8) f.17r the Visitation showing Virgin Mary meeting Elizabeth 9) f.23r the Crucifixion 10) f.26r the Annunciation to the Shepherds 11) f.28v Adoration of the Magi 12) f.30v Presentation of Christ 13) f.33r Flight into Egypt 14) f.35r Coronation of the Virgin Mary 15) f.38r David in Prayer 16) f.48r Job on the dung-heap attacked by a demon. The Calendar has ‘Les Reliques’ as a feast day for December 3rd, and also Saint Leu and Saint Mellon in March and Saint Romanus all suggest that the book was most likely made in Rouen. Provenance: Linsdall Richardson, geologist; F.G. Littlejohns. Linsdall Richardson gifted the book to F.G. Littlejohns in 1946.

LE CARRE, John. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2011. Limited edition, this being number 122 of 250 copies signed by John le Carré, 8vo (232 x 153mm.) Original red cloth, dust-jacket designed by Paul Smith (lightly scuffed to lower panel). Note: to coincide with the release of the film version that starred Gary Oldman as George Smiley, the designer Paul Smith was commissioned to design this special edition.