Antiquarian and Collectors’ Books

[CROMWELL, Thomas Kitson.] Excursions in the County of Kent. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme etc., 1822. 8vo (156 x 90mm.) Additional engraved title, 2 engraved folding maps, 45 engraved views. (Occasional light browning and marginal spotting to plates.) Near contemporary blue full diced morocco, gilt borders. – And a further eleven topographical volumes (including W. Hutton’s ‘A History of Birmingham’, 1809, 8vo, and Alice Balfour’s ‘Twelve Hundred Miles in a Wagon’, 1896, 8vo, and ‘Leigh’s New Pocket Road-Book of England, Wales, and Part of Scotland’, 1826, 12mo, and Henry Besley’s (publisher) ‘The Route Book of Devon’, [circa 1850], 12mo) (12).

BINDING. The Ballad Book… Edited by William Allingham. London: Macmillan and Co., 1879. 8vo (151 x 92mm.) (Mild toning.) Mid-twentieth century green full morocco, triple gilt borders, two red morocco lettering pieces to the spine, g.e. – And a further seven volumes (including Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’, illustrated by Arthur Rackham’, 1915, 4to, and a first impression of A.A. Milne’s ‘The House at Pooh Corner’, 1928, 8vo) (8).

BINDINGS. – William SHAKESPEARE. Comedies, Histories, Tragedies, and Poems. London: Whittaker and Co., 1858. 6 vols., 8vo (214 x 131mm.) (Toning.) Contemporary full tree calf, red and black morocco lettering pieces to the spines (minor rubbing to extremities, upper joint of vol. 5 splitting, tape reinforcement to some hinges) (6).

CICERO. De Officiis. London: Arthur L. Humphreys, 1902. 4to (214 x 164mm.) Half-title, title in red. (Toning, occasional light spotting.) Contemporary full morocco in Arts and Craft style, gilt borders, g.e. (spine sunned, minor scratches).

COOKERY. – Irma S. ROMBAUER. The Joy of Cooking. A Compilation of Reliable Recipes with a Casual Culinary Chat. New York: Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1936. First trade edition, 8vo (230 x 152mm.) Illustrations by Marion Rombauer Becker, ‘Index’. (Toning.) Original blue and white plaid cloth (wear to spine ends, hinges weakened). Note: possibly the most successful American Cookbook. Rombauer originally published the book privately in 1931, a year after the suicide of her husband. Edgar Rombauer took his life three months after the stock market crash tiggered the Great Depression. Although not known as an especially good cook, Irma decided to support herself by writing a cookbook. It wasn’t so much the recipes that proved so winning but rather the ‘casual culinary chat’ of the title that buyers responded to. Her text is peppered with stories about herself, her family, and friendly advice. It sold over 18 million copies. Provenance: Berta Trywick(?) (ink name to front-free endpaper, dated 1938).

RACKHAM, Arthur (illustrator) and J.M. BARRIE. Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. London: Hodder and Stoughton, [1912.] 8vo (203 x 147mm) 24 colour plates with captioned tissue-guards. (Moderate spotting throughout text, 2 plates loose, gift-plate mounted verso ‘Illustrations’ leaf.) Original green cloth, pictorial gilt to upper cover (spine ends rubbed). – And a further four volumes (including, illustrated by Arthur Rackham, Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland… with a Proem by Austin Dobson’, [1907], [13 colour plates], first trade edition, 8vo, and Eden Phillpott’s ‘A Dish of Apples’, illustrated by Arthur Rackham, [1921], 8vo) (5).

BEER. – W.T. MARCHANT. In Praise of Ale or Songs, Ballads, Epigrams, & Anecdotes Relating to Beer, Malt, and Hops. London: George Redway, 1888. First edition, 8vo (191 x 123mm.) Half-title. (Toning, illegible name to half-title.) Original brown cloth (extremities rubbed). Provenance: Mervyn Cutten (embossed stamp to preliminaries). – And a related volume (Andrew Steinmetz’s ‘The Smoker’s Guide, Philosopher and Friend’, 1877, 16mo) (2).

NOYES, Alfred. The Loom of Years. London: Grant Richards, 1902. First edition, signed with dedication poem in manuscript, 8vo (174 x 114mm.) 9-line verse dedication in manuscript from Alfred Noyes to John Mavrogordato to the front-free endpaper, additionally loosely inserted a 1p. draft in manuscript of the poem, dated 1902. (Spotting and browning to pastedowns.) Original vellum-backed boards (spotting to vellum, dust-soiling to boards). – And a further two volumes by Alfred Noyes, both signed (‘The Flower of Old Japan’, 1903, 8vo, and ‘Poems’, 1906, 8vo), and a small quantity of ephemera related to Alfred Noyes. Note: the ephemera includes 3 typed and signed letters from Noyes to John Mavrogordato and written in 1954 from his home on the Isle of Wight. Mavrogordato was Professor of Byzantine and Modern Greek Language and Literature at Oxford when the men met in 1951. After the death of his first wife, Noyes married Mary Angela née Mayne, the widow of Richard Shireburn Weld-Blundell, who was from an old recusant Catholic family. Noyes had himself converted to the catholic faith of Mary Angela and had written about his conversion in ‘The Unknown God’, 1934. This book had been called ‘the spiritual biography of a generation’. For this reason, in one of the typed letters, Noyes writes about having received a letter from ‘a Mr A.W. Ashby… asking if I can give any information about one of the catholic recusants’, suggesting he was thought of as an authority on this. Also includes an invitation to a dinner at the Hyde Park Hotel to celebrate Noyes’ 70th birthday, and the menu of that dinner. Provenance: John Nicholas Mavrogordato (inscribed to from the author) (3).

AUSTEN, Jane. Mansfield Park. London: Richard Bentley, 1870. New edition, 8vo (184 x 119mm.) Title. (Toning, lacking blanks.) Original green blind-stamped cloth, gilt lettering to spine (extremities rubbed, spine ends repaired, crease to spine, endpapers replaced). Provenance: John Jordan (name-plate to front-free endpaper).

[BRONTË, Charlotte.] ‘Currer Bell’. Jane Eyre: an Autobiography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1850. Fourth edition, 8vo (172 x 119mm.) (Toning, scattered mostly marginal spotting, spotting to blanks and margin of title, lacking 8pp. publisher’s catalogue to rear.) Contemporary half calf, green morocco lettering piece to spine (extremities rubbed). Note: first published in 3 volumes in 1847. Provenance: Edward W. Watkin, M.P. and railway entrepreneur (book-plate to front pastedown).

AUSTEN, Jane. The Novels… the text based on Collation of the Early Editions by R.W. Chapman. Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, 1926. 5 vols., second edition, 8vo (194 x 131mm.) Plates. (Mild toning.) Near contemporary green half morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, t.e.g. (some sunning to spines, slight splitting to upper joint of vol. 5) (5).

RELIGION. The Primer; or, Office of the B. Virgin Mary, with a New and Approv’d Version of the Church-Hymns. [London:] T. Meighan, 1732. 12mo (158 x 93mm.) Title in red and black with engraved vignette, 4pp. ‘Table of Contents’ to rear, contemporary ink record of births and deaths to margins of first and last leaves. (Browning and damp-staining throughout, blanks replaced.) 19th century black straight-grain morocco (scuffed and rubbed). Provenance: Mary Thornton (contemporary ink name to title); Thomas Swinburne (book-plate to front pastedown). – And a further twenty-one volumes (including William Cobbett’s ‘The English Gardener’, 1829, 12mo, and Jehoshaphat Aspin’s ‘A Picture of the Manners, Customs, Sports and Pastimes, of the Inhabitants of England’, 1825, 12mo, and [Daniel Defoe’s] ‘The History of the Devil, Ancient and Modern’, [circa 1800], 8vo) (22).

BINDINGS. – John RUSKIN. Lectures on Architecture and Painting. London: George Allen, 1891. New edition, 8vo (178 x 113mm.) Illustrations. (Mild toning.) Contemporary full blue morocco, two brown morocco lettering pieces to the spine (extremities rubbed). – And a further eight volumes (including Henry van Dyke’s ‘The Story of the Other Wise Man’, bound by Bumpus, 1899, tall 8vo) (9).

RELIGION. A Book of the Valuations of all the Ecclesiasticall Preferments in England and Wales. [N.p.:] 1680. 12mo (149 x 81mm.) Title. (Light browning.) Near contemporary speckled calf, red morocco lettering piece to the spine (extremities heavily rubbed).          [ii, [4], 383, ii].

[GARNET, Richard.] The Book of Oath: And the fever all forms thereof, both Antient and Modern. Faithfully Collected out of sundry Authenticke Books and Record, not heretofore extant, compiled in one Volume. London: for W. Lee, M. Walbancke et al., 1649. First edition, 12mo (149 x 81mm.) Title, 10pp. ‘Table’. (Heavily browned, N8-N9 adhering, R2-R11 quire loose.) Near contemporary calf (rebacked, old tape repairs, extremities heavily rubbed). Provenance: Sutton Sharpe (bookplate to front pastedown).

CONYBEARE, W.D. and William PHILLIPS. Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales. London: William Phillips, 1822. First edition, 8vo (191 x 124mm.) 3 folding plates, including hand-coloured engraved geological map and a multi-folding hand-coloured map of geological sections, all bound at rear. (Toning, occasional light browning.) Contemporary full calf, red morocco lettering piece to the spine (extremities rubbed, some loss to the lettering piece). Provenance: ‘Thornfaulcon’ (armorial bookplate to the front pastedown).

TRACTS. An Impartial Discussion of the Subject of Tithes: Containing a Parallel between the Tythes paid in England and those in Ireland. Dublin: P. Byrne, 1786. Title, 47pp. (Browning.) [Bound with:] An Address to the Nobility and Gentry of the Church of Ireland, as By Law Established. Dublin: Henry Watts, 1786. Title, 110pp. (Browning.) [Bound with:] Thoughts on the Present State of the College of Dublin; Addressed to the Gentlemen of the University. Dublin: 1782. Title, 50pp. (Browning.) [Bound with:] John TRUSLER. The Sublime Reader… With Remarks on the Service, and notes of General Use. London: for the Author, 1782. Title, 58pp. [1]. (Browning.) [Bound with:] Daniel THOMAS. Observations on the Pamphlets Published by The Bishop of Cloyne, Mr. Trant, and Theophilus, On One Side, and Those by Mr. O’ Leary, Mr. Barber, and Doctor Campbell, on the Other. Dublin: for the Author, 1787. Title, 81pp. (Browning, marginal hole to last leaf.) [Bound with:] Richard LANDAFF. A Letter to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury. Dublin: P. Byrne, 1783. New edition. Title, 78pp. (Staining to title, browning.) [Bound with:] All’s Well: A Reply to the Author of the Alarm. Dublin: Bernard Dornin, 1783. Title, 28pp. (Browning, damp-staining.) [Bound with:] Remarks on a Letter Lately Published, Signed Arthur O’ Leary… An Address to the Protestant Nobility and Gentry of Ireland, By A Friend to Truth and the Publick. Title, 13pp. (Toning.) [Bound with:] Robert LAW. An Affectionate Address to the Parishioners of Saint Mary’s, Dublin. Concerning the Neglect of Worship. Dublin: Pat Higly, 1783. Title, 18pp. (Toning.) [Bound with:] William RICHARDSON. The Usefulness and Necessity of Revelation: In Four Sermons Preach’d at St. Olave, Southwark. London: W. Innys, 1730. Title, dedication, woodcut initials and decorations, 103pp., 1p. publisher’s advertisement. (Browning, occasional spotting.) [Bound with:] Richard CLOYNE. The Present State of the Church of Ireland. Dublin: W. Sleater, 1787. Sixth edition. Title, 123pp., 1p. ‘Index’ to rear. (Staining to title, browning.) [Bound with:] The Gentleman’s and London Magazine for January, 1790. [London:] January, 1790. Folding plate of ‘Political Parade’. (Browning.)  [Bound with:] The Gentleman’s and London Magazine for November, 1789. [London:] November, 1789. (Browning.) [Bound with:] Universal Magazine and Review; or, Repository of Literature. For January, 1789. [London:] January, 1789. Engraved plate. (Insect-damage to several leaves, browning.) 8vo (203 x 124mm.) Contemporary half calf, morocco lettering piece to spine (extremities rubbed, some loss to spine panel).

ELIZABETH I. [Certain Sermons of Homilies Appointed to be Read in Churches at the time of Queen Elizabeth of famous Memory and now Thought to be Reprinted by Authority from the King’s most Excellent Majesty.] London: John Norton for Joyce Norton and Richard Whitaker, 1635. Folio (257 x 177mm.) 2 Parts in 1, separate title for second part also dated 1635, black letter, engraved initials and head and tail-pieces, the 2pp. ‘A Thanksgiving for the Suppression of the Rebellion’ at rear of second part. (Large loss to first title, second title torn with minor loss to text, heavily browned and marginal spotting throughout, lacking a1, slight insect-damage from Aaa3-Ddd3.) Contemporary calf (tape repair to spine, pastedowns torn, worn).

MANUSCRIPT. – Edith and Isabella HORNE. Sketches in Normandy, Paris, & Fontainebleau. [N.p.: 15th July-14th August, 1892.] 118pp., manuscript, folio (358 x 269mm.) 2 titles in ink, one with mounted plant and grass specimens, 58 mostly watercolour and ink sketches of Northern France on 59 card leaves, 28 mounted photographs, and 16pp. of hand-written narrative of the journey bound-in, also a loosely inserted 28pp. hand-written description (‘Round about Brittany’, Aug 14th- Sept. 2nd 1895), by Isabella Horne.(Toning, three leaves loose.) Contemporary half maroon morocco-backed boards (extremities rubbed, boards faded). Note: also includes typed and hand-written information related to the sisters and their family.