Antiquarian and Collectors’ Books

BEMELMANS, Ludwig. Madeline. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1939. First edition, first impression, 4to (303 x 222mm.) Illustrations and story by Bemelmans. (Mild toning, faint corner creaser to one leaf.) Pictorial boards (bumped to spine ends), dust-jacket (minor loss to spine ends, slight chipping, minor loss to rear panel). Note: has the '1939' date on the title and on copyright page and with the $2.00 price to the inner flap of dust-jacket. This was Bemelman's first 'Madeline' book and the most beloved. He published the second one of the series in 1953.

ARDIZZONE, Edward. Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain. London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1936. First edition, folio (328 x 221mm.) Numerous colour lithographed illustrations. (Mild toning, several finger-marks within, 1 small closed tear.) Original pictorial boards (rubbing to extremities).

SCOTT, Peter. Observations on Wildlife. Oxford: Phaidon, 1980. Limited edition, this being number 25 of 200 copies signed by Peter Scott, 8vo (279 x 212mm.) Numerous illustrations. Original green morocco-backed cloth, slipcase.

BLAMPIED, Edmund (illustrator). - J.M. BARRIE. Peter and Wendy. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1939. 4to (279 x 210mm.) 12 colour plates tipped-in with captioned tissue-guards, numerous illustrations in black and white. (Occasional finger-marks, one plate loose with chipped edge, browning to margins.) Original cloth (minor soiling). - And three more illustrated volumes (including Irving's 'Rip Van Winkle' illustrated by Arthur Rackham, 1905, 4to) (4).

RANSOME, Arthur. - Thomas MACKENZIE (illustrator). Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp in Rhyme. New York: Brentano's, [n.d. but circa 1919]. 4to (249 x 187mm.) 12 tipped-in colour plates by Mackenzie with captioned tissue-guards, decorative endpapers. (Mild toning.) Pictorial cloth (lightly bumped). - And nine more volumes by Arthur Ransome (including 'The Imp and the Elf and the Ogre', 1910, 12mo) (10).

ARMOUR, Margaret (translator). The Fall of the Nibelungs. London: J.M. Dent, 1897. 8vo (204 x 143mm.) Illustrated title, additional double-page decorative title by W.B. Macdougall, 16 further plates including 2 double-paged, decorative initials. (Light spotting to preliminaries, browning to margins.) Later cloth-backed decorative cloth boards (endpapers replaced). Provenance: S. Matthewman (bookplate to the front pastedown). - And ten more illustrated volumes (including 'The Legion Book', 1930, 4to) (11).

LEHMANN, R.C. Rowing. London: A.D. Inness & Co., 1897. The Isthmian Library, no. 4, 8vo (192 x 122mm.) 36 plates, tissue-guard to frontispiece, 16pp. publisher's advertisements to rear. (Spotting to pastedowns, toning.) Original green cloth with pictorial gilt to upper cover (bumped to spine ends). - And a further eleven volumes relating to rowing (including 'Steve Fairbairn on Rowing', 1951, 8vo) (12).

WIDGERY, Frederick J. (illustrator). Devon, its Moorlands, Streams and Coasts. London: Chatto and Windus, 1908. Limited edition, this being number 105 of 160 copies, 4to (252 x 183mm.) 60 colour plates with captioned tissue-guards. (Spotting to plate margins, browning.) Original vellum boards, pictorial gilt to upper cover (split to top of spine, minor soiling). - And ten more volumes relating to Devon (11).

MOORE, Thomas. The History of Devonshire… illustrated by a series of Views drawn and engraved under the direction of William Deeble. London: Robert Jennings, 1829. 2 vols., first edition, 8vo (213 x 125mm.) 2 engraved titles, 2 folding maps, 92 steel engraved plates. (Browning to plate margins, occasional spotting.) Near contemporary red half-morocco, five raised bands with gilt lettering to the second and fifth compartments, elaborate foliate gilt design to the rest (extremities rubbed) (2).

MUDIE, Robert. Hampshire: its Past and Present Condition, and Future Prospects. Winchester: James Robbins, [n.d. but 1838.] 3 vols., 8vo (240 x 138mm.) Additional decorative titles, 137 plates, 3 folding maps. (Spotting to plate margins, previous bookplates removed, or covered, browning to maps.) Near contemporary morocco, double fillet and scrolling gilt to covers, four raised bands to spine with black morocco lettering pieces to the second and fourth compartments (rubbing to extremities, some surface wear). Note: the third volume comprises parts on the Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands (3).

WATKINS-PITCHFORD, Denys. 'B.B'. Confessions of a Carp Fisher. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1950. First edition, 8vo (164 x 98mm.) Numerous illustrations. (Light spotting to fore-edge.) Original green cloth, dust-jacket. Note: 'tackel' for 'tackle' on p.2, line 7. - And thirty-one more volumes by or about Denys Watkins-Pitchford (including a copy of 'The Little Grey Men' signed by 'BB', 1977, 4to) (32).

LEICESTER WARREN, John, Lord de Tabley. - Charles RICKETTS (illustrator). Poems Dramatic and Lyrical. London: Elkin Matthews and John Lane, 1893. Limited edition, this being one of 100 copies, 8vo (192 x 124mm.) 6 engraved plates with tissue-guards. (Mild browning, tipped-in newspaper cutting to front free endpaper.) Vellum boards, double fillet gilt borders, diagonal rose petal design in gilt to spine and upper and lower covers, Ricketts's monogram to the corners. Provenance: Thomas Bates Blow (bookplate to front pastedown and front free endpaper; Reginald Hines (ink note to front free endpaper bequeathing the book to him). - And eight more volumes of poetical interest (including 'The Poems of Dante Gabriel Rossetti', 1904, 2 vols., 8vo) (9).

NIELSEN, Kay (illustrator). - Jacob and Wilhelm GRIMM. Hansel and Gretel. London: Hodder and Stoughton, [n.d. but 1925.] Limited edition, this being number 105 of 600 copies signed by Kay Nielsen, 4to (301 x 231mm.) 12 colour plates tipped-in with captioned tissue-guards, 10 black and white illustrations, decorative endpapers. (Mild toning, finger-marks to p.226.) Original cream cloth boards with pictorial blue and gilt, t.e.g. (browning to spine, minor soiling to lower cover).

WATERCOLOURS. - John C. ROGERS. A Holiday Ramble in Surrey, recorded in Fifteen Water-colour Sketches with Notes From a Diary. [N.p:] 1917. Oblong folio (337 x 232mm.) 15 original watercolour paintings mounted onto card with accompanying hand-written text on water-marked leaves, manuscript map to rear. (Browning to margins). Original brown cloth, black title in ink to upper cover (minor ripple to lower cover). Note: the watercolours include scenes of the Surrey towns and villages of Ripley, Shere, Guildford, Bramley, Elstead, and Chobham.

BECKETT, Samuel. - Louis LE BROCQUY (illustrator). Stirrings Still. London: John Calder, and New York: Blue Moon Books, 1988. Limited edition, this being number 60 of 200 copies signed by Samuel Beckett and Louis le Brocquy, 4to (342 x 220mm.) 9 lithographs, 1 in two tones, the rest in black, including a portrait of Beckett. Original vellum-backed boards with the portrait in gilt repeated to the upper cover, cloth-covered slipcase (small mark). Note: this was the elderly Beckett's last published work and was eagerly anticipated. His Paris-based publisher, John Calder, has spoken of arriving at Dover 'with the TV cameras waiting for me, the precious copies in my car'.

GOLDSTON, Will (editor). The Magician Annual 1910-1911. London: The Magician, Limited., 1911. 4to (287 x 218mm.) 4 colour plates, numerous illustrations. (Joints reinforced with tape, text-block cracked at p.4.) Original pictorial cloth (spine ends bumped). - And a broken run of sixteen copies of 'The Magic Wand and Magical Review' [1935-1946] and four copies of Goldston's 'Magical Quarterly' (21).

SHACKLETON, Ernest. South, the Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition 1914-1917. London: William Heinemann, 1919. New impression, 1919, with autograph letter signed by Shackleton, 8vo (248 x 149mm.) Colour frontispiece with tissue-guard, numerous plates, mostly photographic by Frank Hurley, large folding map to rear. (Moderate spotting, damp-mark to p.77-80, 130mm tear to map.) Original pictorial cloth (rubbing to extremities). Note: the letter is mounted onto the front pastedown and is hand-written on the 'Shackleton-Rowett Expedition' headed letter paper. The letter reads 'Dear Madam, I am grateful to you for your kind wishes and also for the St. Christopher's medal which I shall carry with me. I am confident I shall be [sic] to write another book on my life's work and I trust the pages will afford you as much interest as those of 'South'. I enclose a card and invite you to visit the 'Quest' any morning after Wednesday next… Again, thank you, E.H. Shackleton'. The letter is dated 21st Aug 1921. A few weeks after writing this letter Shackleton left on the Quest for his last expedition. He suffered a heart attack on-board and died on the 5th January 1922. There are also two hand-written a.l.s. from Leonard Hussey. He was the doctor and meteorologist and friend of Shackleton's who was also on the Quest. He helped transport Shackleton's body back to England. The two letters are loose within an envelope mounted onto the front free endpaper. Provenance: B. Robertson (name inscribed on the front free endpaper).

THEOCRITUS. - Vivien GRIBBLE (illustrator). Sixe Idillia, that is, Sixe Small, or Petty Poems, or Aeglogves, Chosen out of the Right Famous Sicilian Poet… and Translated into English Verse. London: Duckworth & Co., 1922. Limited edition, this being number 141 of 380 copies signed by the illustrator, 4to (298 x 206mm.) Numerous wood-engraved decorations by Gribble. (Heavily browned to front and rear free endpapers.) Original cloth-backed boards (surface wear and marks to upper cover). Provenance: Francis E. Bliss (bookplate to the front pastedown). - And seven more literary volumes, most illustrated (including Juvenal's 'Woman, a Satire', [n.d. but 1932], 4to) (8).

LAKE DISTRICT. - [Thomas OGLE]. Our English Lakes, Mountains and Waterfalls as Seen by William Wordsworth, Photographically Illustrated. London: A.W. Bennett, 1864. 4to (193 x 152mm.) 13 mounted albumen prints with tissue-guards of scenes relating to the life of Wordsworth. (Occasional spotting.) Original blind-stamped and decorative gilt to covers and spine (bumped to extremities). - And a related volume by J.B. Pyne, 'The Lake Scenery of England', [n.d. but 1859], 4to (2).