Antiquarian and Collectors’ Books

RAILWAYS. – Joseph GIBBS (engineer). Plan & Section of the London and Brighton Railway. [London: n.d. circa 1836.] Oblong folio (483 x 665mm.) Title, 22 plates drawn and engraved by J.R. Jobbins. (Title and first plate with corner damp-staining, marginal soiling, corner creases, scattered spotting, plates loose.) Original marbled paper card covers (unstitched, covers detached, creasing). Note: rare. There are no copies in institutions and only one appearance in auction records.

ASTRONOMY. – J.J. AUBERTIN. By Order of the Sun to Chile to See His Total Eclipse April 16, 1893. London: Kegan Paul, Trench et al., 1894. First edition, signed by the author, 8vo (192 x 126mm.) Engraved portrait frontispiece of Professor J.M. Schaeberle, 4 photographic plates. (Toning.) Original blue cloth, pictorial silver and gilt (mark to spine). Provenance: Margaret Lambert (inscribed to from the author on half-title); Francis D. Cooper (mounted card to front pastedown). – And a further twenty-eight volumes related to astronomy (including J.P. Nichol’s ‘Thoughts on Some Important Points Relating to the System of the World’, 1846, 8vo, and Michael Faraday’s ‘On the Various Forces of Nature and Their Relations to Each Other’, [1874], 8vo, and David Brewster’s ‘The Kaleidoscope’, second edition, 1858, 8vo) (29).

MAPS. – [Johann Friedrich HAHN. Kurze Erlauterung einer in Kupfer gestochenen Vorstellung des Erdbodens. Berlin: circa 1780.] (120 x 111mm.) 20 hand-coloured copper-engraved maps of Europe, America and Africa. (Lacking text, tape repair verso ‘Netherlands’, occasional finger-mark.) Contemporary calf (rubbed, wear to base of spine). Note: an early school atlas bound separately from the text. Provenance: Rudolph Heathcote (ink name to front endpaper, dated 1791).

BINDINGS. – Alexander Dumas. [The Novels.] London: George Routledge and Sons., 1878-1879. 12 vols., [only]. 8vo (183 x 116mm.) Plates. (Toning, occasional spotting.) Contemporary green half calf, two red morocco lettering pieces (rubbed, ‘The Three Musketeers’ rebacked, inner hinge of ‘The Count of Monte-Cristo’ weakened) (12).

[LACROIX, Paul.] – ‘Pierre Dafour’. Histoire de la Prostitution chez tous les Peuples du Monde depuis L’ Antiquité la Plus Reculée Jusquá nos Jours par Pierre Dufour. Bruxelles: Librairie Universelle de J. Rozez, [1851]- 1854. First edition, 8 vols., (173 x 119mm.) Engraved frontispiece, engraved plates. (Toning, occasional spotting.) Contemporary black half calf, red morocco lettering pieces to the spines (extremities rubbed, residue to front pastedowns). Provenance: Tamara Lo (name-plate to front pastedowns). Note: an early history of prostitution with rather gothic and macabre plates. It’s pseudonymously written but attributed to Paul Lacroix, writer and librarian. He is also thought to have published ‘La Danse Macabre’ in 1832 (8).

AUSTEN, Jane. [The Novels.] London: Macmillan and Co. Ltd., 1904-1909. 5 vols., 8vo (185 x 121mm.) Illustrations by Hugh Thomson and Charles E. Brock. (Toning, spotting to endpapers and fore-edges.) Contemporary green half calf, t.e.g. (spines sunned, mark to upper cover of ‘Emma’, extremities rubbed) (5).

COLLINS, Wilkie. [The Novels.] London: Chatto & Windus, 1889-1904. 29 vols., The Library Edition, 8vo (189 x 122mm.) Frontispieces, publisher’s catalogues to rear. (Spotting to preliminaries, half-title loose to ‘The Moonstone’ and initial blank of ‘The Black Robe’, pencil squiggle to p.19 of ‘Poor Miss Finch’.) Original maroon blind-stamped cloth (spine sunned to ‘Poor Miss Finch’, some fraying to spine ends, a few hinges weakened). Note: complete (29).

BINDINGS. – Samuel PEPYS. Diary and Correspondence. London: George Bell & Sons, 1884. 4 vols., new edition, 8vo (179 x 108mm.) (Toning.) Contemporary maroon half calf over marbled paper-covered boards (spines sunned, lightly rubbed). – And a further two sets of bindings (Percy Bysshe Shelley’s ‘Poetical Works... Edited by Mrs. Shelley’, 3 vols., 1857, 8vo, and William Shakespeare’s ‘Dramatic Works… with Notes by S.W. Singer, F.S.A.’, 9 vols. [of 10], 8vo) (16).

[WATKINS-PITCHFORD, Denys.] ‘B.B.’ Tide’s Ending. London: Hollis & Carter, 1950. First edition, signed by the author, 4to (246 x 185mm.) Colour plates. (Mild toning, gift inscribed to front pastedown.) Original grey cloth (bumped to spine ends), dust-jacket (torn at top of spine). – And a further six volumes by Denys Watkins-Pitchford, three of them signed (‘Dark Estuary’, signed by the author, 1953, 4to, and ‘Wild Lone’, inscribed by the author with an a.l.s. mounted to front pastedown, 1951, 8vo, and ‘The White Road Westwards’, signed by the author, 1961, 8vo) (7).

GEOLOGY. – Richard OWEN. Palaeontology or a Systematic Summary of Extinct Animals and Their Geological Relations. Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1860. First edition, 8vo (216 x 137mm.) Half-title, folding plate, illustrations in the text, 32pp. publisher’s catalogue to rear. (Browning, some damp-staining to first and last leaves.) Later burnt red full morocco (endpapers and blanks replaced). – And a further six related volumes (including Roderick Impey Murchison’s ‘Siluria, a History of the Oldest Rocks in the British Isles and Other Countries’, fourth edition, 1867, 8vo, and Alexander von Humboldt’s ‘Views of Nature’, 1850, 8vo) (7).

COOK, John. An Anatomical and Mechanical Essay on the Whole Animal Oeconomy, in One View. London: for W. Meadows, 1730. Vol. 1 [only, of 2.] First edition, 8vo (197 x 117mm.) Half-title, 1p. publisher’s advertisement verso half-title. (Toning.) Contemporary full brown calf (extremities rubbed, scuffed). Note: scarce. Provenance: William Sandy, dated 1768 (ink name to half-title). – And a further twelve volumes (including John Locke’s ‘An Essay Concerning Human Understanding’, 2 vols., 1741, 8vo, and [Soame Jenyns’] ‘Disquisitions on Several Subjects’, 1782, 12mo, and J.S. Forsyth’s ‘The Antiquary’s Portfolio, or Cabinet Selection of Historical & Literary Curiosities’, 2 vols., 1825, 8vo, and Peter Mark Roget’s ‘Animal and Vegetable Physiology Considered with Reference to Natural Theology’, 2 vols., 1834, 8vo, and ‘Arabian Nights Entertainments: Consisting of One Thousand and One Stories’, 6 vols. in 3 [of 12], 1745, 12mo, and ‘The Form and Manner of Making, Ordaining, and Consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, According to the Order of the Church of England’, 1787, 8vo) (13).

SIGNED BOOK. – William Montgomery MCGOVERN. To Lhasa In Disguise, a Secret Expedition Through Mysterious Tibet. New York and London: The Century Co., 1924. First edition, signed by William Montgomery McGovern, 8vo (223 x 144mm.) Photographic illustrations. (Mild toning.) Original blue pictorial cloth (slight fading). Note: signed by McGovern to the lower edge of the frontispiece: ‘With best wishes, and in pleasant memories of Boston, love W.M. McGovern, 1926’. Thought to be the inspiration for Indiana Jones, McGovern was, perhaps, even more impressive. He was reputed to speak twelve languages. He was a war correspondent during the Second Sino-Japanese war, did secret work for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Second World War, he was an adventurer and a writer- having studied in Berlin, Oxford and at the Serbonne- and was an academic for many years.

MOUNT EVEREST. – Sven HEDIN and Ferdinand Freiherr von RICHTHOFEN. Meister und Schüler. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer, 1933. First edition, signed by Sven Hedin to the upper cover, 8vo (228 x 161mm.) Text in German, newspaper obituary of Hedin pinned to the title-page, photographic portraits. (Toning.) Original card covers (crease to spine, light rubbing, finger-marked). Note: inscribed ‘To Sir Sidney Burrard, from his friend Sven Hedin’. The connection between Hedin and Burrard centred around Mount Everest. Hedin had argued that a local, indigenous name should be used for the mountain (‘Chomolungma’), while Burrard argued in a 1931 publication titled ‘Mount Everest and Its Tibetan Names’ that historical precedent mattered and that Hedin’s suggested local name was too imprecise. Provenance: Sidney Burrard, Surveyor General of India (ink inscription to upper cover).

SIGNED BOOK. – Diana STRICKLAND. Through the Belgian Congo. London: Hurst and Blackett, [1924.] First edition, signed by the author to the frontispiece, 8vo (224 x 146mm.) Photographic portrait frontispiece, photographic plates. (Toning, spotting to fore-edge.) Original red cloth (finger-marks to spine and lower cover). Note: Strickland writes of the ‘uplifting experience of finding oneself in command of an expedition’. She is fully involved in the hunting and skinning of animals and makes soap from hippopotamus fat. She is also fully aware of the brutality of the colonial Belgians in the Congo. Provenance: ‘W.H.W.’ (ink note to title page: ‘given to W.H.W. by the author’).

OPERA. – Charles GOUNOD (composer). Romeo et Juliette, Opera en 5 Actes de J. Barbier et M. Carré. Paris: Choudens Père & Fils, [circa 1890.] Signed by Charles Gounod to soprano Adelina Patti, 4to (273 x 177mm.) Musical score for piano and three voices. (Browned.) Original buckram, gilt initials of ‘A.P.N.’ [Adelina Patti Nicolatti] to upper cover (rebacked with original spine partially laid-down, extremities rubbed). Note: the inscription reads: ‘á Juliette Adelina Patti-Nicolini, esquisse de grace et touchante de sentiment’. Charles Gounod’s ‘Romeo et Juliette’ premiered in Paris in April 1867. Adelina Patti had first sung the role of Juliette at the London premiere in Covent Graden the same year. When she reprised the role in 1888 in Paris, Adelina was the most famous soprano in the world. In her prime she had been able to command $5,000 a night for a performance. In 1888 she was performing with Jean de Reszké in the role of Romeo. Gounod has inscribed this copy to ‘Adelina Patti-Nicolini’ because in 1886 she had married the tenor Ernesto Nicolini, who had accompanied and sung with her around the world. Provenance: Adelina Patti (initials to upper cover and gift inscribed to on second blank). – And a related item (a framed and glazed ‘Souvenir of the State Performance at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden’, July 1893) (2).

OPERA. – Jules MASSENET (composer). Chérubin. Comédie chantée en Trois Actes. Paris: Ménestrel, Heugel & Cie, 1905. First edition, signed by Jules Massenet to soprano Mary Garden, 4to (272 x 186mm.). Musical score. (Toned.) Original green cloth (rubbing to spine ends). Note: the inscription reads: ‘A Chérubin [printed] en personne/ à Mm. Mary Garden! En profonde reconnaissance/ J. Massenet, Monte-Carlo’. Jules Massenet had written the leading role in ‘Chérubin’ specifically for Mary Garden. She had risen to fame as a soprano through her work with Debussy, especially as ‘Mélisande’ in ‘Pelléas et Mélisande’. She also worked with Richard Strauss and found fame in America with Oscar Hammerstein in New York and soon became a household name. The premiere of Chérubin was in Monte-Carlo in 1905, where this inscription was written.

COMMONPLACE BOOK. [A manuscript commonplace book. N.p.:] 1807. 112pp., manuscript, 8vo (229 x 179mm.) 56 leaves of hand-written entries in a single mostly legible hand of numerous 18th and early 19th century poets including Charlotte Smith, Samuel Rogers and many sonnets by John Codrington Bampfylde. (Toning.) Contemporary half red morocco (extremities rubbed). Provenance: Mary Lismoose[?] (ink name to front endpaper, dated 1807). – And a further volume (a manuscript commonplace book which includes a copy of Lord Byron’s ‘English Bards and Scotch Reviewers’, [circa 1811], 8vo) (2).

MANUSCRIPT. – Charles Henry TAYLOR. [Four hand-written yachting journals written in a comical style by ‘C.H.T.’ with original water-colour illustrations and photographs. N.p.: 1906-1922.] 4 vols., 174pp., manuscript, oblong 4to and 8vo (177 x 251mm. to 259 x 193mm.) Comprising 3 separate manuscripts in the same clearly legible hand and a typescript; the 1906 journal is ‘The Log of the Twilight’, 40pp. with the text in a clearly legible single hand, the original ink and watercolour vignettes on every leaf signed with initials by ‘C.H.T.’ and ‘P.D.A.’; the 1907 journal is ‘The Log of the Sunshine’, 41pp. in the same hand with original watercolour and ink drawings signed ‘C.H.T.’, 4 mounted photographs of the crew to rear and some loosely inserted; the 1922-1934 ‘Log of the Pallieter’ is 53pp. of text only in the same clearly legible hand, 2 loosely inserted photographs of the ‘Pallieter’; the 1922 journal is 40pp. ‘Extracts from the Log of the Henriette’ is 40pp. carbon typescript with numerous mounted photographs, mainly concerning a boat trip round the Netherlands. (Toning.) Original beige cloth covers, marbled paper-covered boards for ‘Log of Pallieter’ (some spotting to covers, light rubbing). Note: the most joyful of these journals is the first, from 1906. Written in a light and playful style it conveys the happiness of C.H.T., his wife Kate, and their children Len and Elsie. A friend of the family, ‘Percy Ann’ is a regular crew member, too. Moored in Burnham, they make regular trips along the River Crouch, and to Felixstowe. There is much fishing, drinking and merriment. It includes an entry in a different hand ‘By the Passenger’ who was invited along for a few days. The typescript of the ‘Log of the Henriette’ is not authored by C.H.T. but he is mentioned as a crew member (4).

MANUSCRIPT. – William CROTCH.  [A hand-drawn book of mostly English landscape views by English composer and organist William Crotch. [N.p.:] 1839-1840. 91 leaves, manuscript, 4to (247 x 203mm.) 92 original drawings in chalk, crayon and water-colour, mostly of English landscape with several after William Newbery, many after John Malchair, two after Constable, several after prints including Piranesi, 8 of American scenes, 1 of Mount Vesuvius, 3 after ‘Tom’ [Tombleson?], several of Kensington, and a crayon drawing of ‘The Comet of 1811’, 1840, on the rear endpaper, all captioned in detail in ink to lower margins, one drawing ‘The United States Bank Philadelphia’ is captioned and signed fully by Crotch, most of the rest of the drawings are initialled. (Three quires loose, and some leaves loosening, some offsetting, occasional browning.) Original black calf, g.e. (extremities rubbed). Note: William Crotch was a friend of the Lock family and often stayed with them in Oxford.  The influence of John Malchair [P.S.G.?] and the artist William Newbery is clear from the captions which often state the date the original was drawn, and also the date the copies were made. It’s possible that Crotch took the habit of annotating sketches in detail from John Malchair when the two met in Oxford in the 1790’s and that he, in turn, passed on the habit to John Constable. Provenance: ‘Miss. Lock, Oxford’ (ink name to front pastedown, dated 6 Aug 1839).