Antiquarian and Collectors’ Books

JAPAN. – R.A.B. PONSONBY-FANE. Kyoto, The Old Capital of Japan (794-1869). Japan, Kyoto: The Ponsonby Memorial Society, 1956. 8vo (210 x 146mm.) Photographic plates. (Mild toning.) Original red cloth (slight fading.) – And a further twenty-two volumes related to Japanese society and culture (including Hikoichi Aida’s ‘Kodokan Judo’, [1956], 8vo, and Mark R. Peattie’s ‘Ishiwara Kanji and Japan’s Confrontation with the West’, inscribed by the author, 1975, 8vo, and Michael Cooper, S.J.’s ‘Rodrigues The Interpreter’, 1974, 8vo, and Shusaku Endo’s ‘Silence’, 1972, 8vo) (22).

JAPAN. – Kenzaburo OE. The Silent Cry… translated by John Bester. Tokyo: Kodansha International Ltd., 1974. First edition, 8vo (213 x 143mm.) (Toning.) Original black cloth, silver lettering, dust-jacket (extremities rubbed). – And a further thirty-eight volumes related to Japanese literature (including Isshu Miura and Ruth Fuller Sasaki’s ‘The Zen Koan’, 1965, 8vo) (39).

JAPAN. – R.A.B. PONSONBY-FANE. The Vicissitudes of Shinto. Kyoto: The Ponsonby Memorial Society, 1963. First edition, 8vo (208 x 145mm.) (Mild toning.) Original red cloth (extremities bumped). – And a further forty-three volumes related to Japanese society and culture (including Lady Murasaki’s ‘The Tale of Genji’, 1965, 8vo, and Naoko Matsubara’s ‘Tutze-Chun’, 1965, 8vo, and Mock Joya’s ‘Things Japanese’, 1963, 8vo) (44).

HERBERT, A.P. The Secret Battle. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1919. First edition, 8vo (187 x 116mm.) Half-title, 32pp. publisher’s catalogue to rear. (Browning to half-title.) Original red cloth (slight sunning to spine, minor discolouring to lower cover). Note: scarce. Based on his experience in the First World War, Herbert’s first novel was one of the first descriptions of the Battle of Gallipoli. – And approximately seventy-three further volumes by or about A.P. Herbert, mostly first editions (including ‘The House by the River’, [first U.S edition], 1921, 8vo, and ‘Why Waterloo?’, signed by the author, 1952, 8vo, and ‘The Ayes Have It’, signed by the author, 1937, 8vo, and ‘Holy Deadlock’, signed by the author, 1934, 8vo, and ‘What a Word!’, signed by the author, 1935, 8vo, and ‘The Right to Marry’, 1954, 8vo, and ‘Full Enjoyment’, signed by the author, 1952, 8vo) (74).

POETRY. – Allen GINSBERG 1947-1980. London: Viking, 1985. First U.K. edition, 8vo (234 x 152mm.) (Spotting to fore-edge, toning.) Original black cloth, dust-jacket (creasing to extremities). – And a further twenty-four related volumes (including Seamus Heaney’s ‘The Spirit Level’, first impression, 1996, 8vo, and Ezra Pound’s ‘Guide to Kulchur’, 1978, 8vo, and Roger McGough’s ‘That Awkward Age’, signed by the author, 2009, 8vo) (25).

WISDEN, John (publisher). Cricketer’s Almanack. London: John Wisden and Co. and Sporting Handbooks, 1928-2022. 95 vols., 8vo (158 x 93mm.) Advertisements, numerous illustrations. (Toning, occasional browning and corner creasing, lacking pp.3-4 of ‘1945’, text-block of ‘1931’ cracked.) Original card covers for 1928, 1930-1952, brown cloth for 1929, 1953-2022 (lacking upper cover for ‘1930’, creasing to spines and some fraying to spine ends, fading), dust-jackets (tear to ’1974’, heavy spotting or staining to four spine panels, tearing to ‘1983’). Note: a complete run from 1928 to 2022. – And a softcover duplicate for the year 2022 (96).

FOLIO SOCIETY. – James JOYCE. Ulysses. London: The Folio Society, 1998. 8vo (232 x 161mm.) Preface by Stephen James Joyce, etchings by Mimmo Paladino, introduction by Jacques Aubert. Original blue cloth, gilt portrait to upper cover, slipcase. – And a further twenty-six volumes published by The Folio Society (including ‘John Keats: The Complete Poems’, 2001, 8vo, and James Morris’ ‘Pax Brittanica’, 3 vols., 1993, 8vo) (27).

AFRICA. – H.H. AUSTIN. Among Swamps and Giants in Equatorial Africa. London: C. Arthur Pearson, Limited, 1902. First edition, 8vo (215 x 137mm.) 2 large folding maps in colour, photographic plates. (Lacking initial blank and front-free endpaper.) Original blue cloth (discoloured and stained, extremities frayed). Note: scarce. – And a further thirty-six volumes related to Africa (including René Bazin’s ‘Charles de Foucauld, Hermit and Explorer’, 1923, 8vo, and H. Rider Haggard’s ‘Maiwa’s Revenge’, 1888, 8vo) (37).

SUSSEX. Kelly’s Directory of Worthing and Neighbourhood. London: Kelly’s Directories Ltd., 1960-1975. 12 vols., 8vo (182 x 122mm.) Advertisements, some in colour, 3 folding maps. (Browning, some creasing, lacking 9 maps.) Original boards (5), original card covers (7) (some creasing, wear to spine ends, label residue to spines). – And a further forty-five volumes of Kelly’s Directories for Sussex, Worthing and Horsham, [1915-1975] (57).

ARCHITECTURE. Pevsner Architectural Guides. Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1951-1974. 46 vols. First series, first editions, 8vo (182 x 114mm.) Photographic illustrations. (Toning, occasional bookplate, or name inscribed, minor spotting.) Original cream or black cloth (36), and original card covers (10), dust-jackets (minor chipping, loss to spine panel of ‘Yorkshire and North Riding’). – And a further forty-seven volumes of the Pevsner Architectural Guides (being the Second Series ‘Buildings of Scotland’, 15 vols. [complete], first editions, 1978-2016, and the Third Series ‘Buildings of Wales’, 7 vols. [of 7], first editions, 1979-2009, and the Fourth Series ‘Buildings of Ireland’, 6 vols. [of 6, unfinished], first editions, 1979-2020, and the Revised Buildings of England series, 10 vols., 1983-2006, five duplicate volumes, and a further nine related volumes. Note: the first few volumes were published in paperback, the first hardback was ‘Middlesex’ (1952) while ‘Derbyshire’ (1953) was the first to appear simultaneously in both forms (98).

ART REFERENCE. – Georgiana BURNE-JONES. Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones. London: Lund Humphries, 1993. 2 vols., 8vo (216 x 134mm.) Photographic illustrations, introduction by John Christian. (Mild toning.) Original black cloth, dust-jackets (slight creasing to spine ends). – And a further fifty-five volumes related to Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites (including Penelope Fitzgerald’s ‘Edward Burne-Jones: A Biography’, 1975, 8vo, and ‘Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Jane Morris: Their Correspondence’, 1976, 8vo, and Stephen Wildman and John Christian’s ‘Edward Burne-Jones, Victorian Artist-Dreamer’, 1998, large 8vo) (57).

CORONELLI, Vincenzo Maria. A Chronological Description of the most Noble Achievements of his Most Sacred Majesty William the III. King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland. London: 1696. Single leaf (518 x 381mm.) Engraved portrait of William III with text surround in English, French and Italian translated by F. Colfoni. (Crease to middle, small marginal tears and repairs). Note: William III’s reign reached its point of greatest instability in 1696 with the attempted assassination on him by the Jacobites. It gave him a surge in popularity. Vincenzo Coronelli, the Italian cartographer and geographer, was on an extended period of European travel during the year 1696 (single leaf).

MANUSCRIPT LEAF. [A late 15th- early 16th century leaf from a choir psalter, in Latin, from Spain.] Single leaf (618 x 470mm.) Elaborate penwork initial in red and blue, staves in red and black, and 4-line text in Latin, singled-sided with wide-margins. (A few small holes to the vellum, dust-soiled to margins).

MANUSCRIPT LEAF. [A 15th– 16th century leaf from a choir psalter, in Latin, possibly from Spain.] Single leaf (538 x 376mm.) Elaborate penwork initial in red, blue and yellow, staves in red and black, text in Latin, double-sided with 2 smaller initials in red and blue. (Dust-soiled to margins).

CRICKET. – Horace G. HUTCHINSON (editor). Cricket Illustrated. London: at the Offices of ‘Country Life’, 1903. First edition, 8vo (223 x 141mm.) Half-title, numerous photographic illustrations. (Mild toning, browning to endpapers.) Original red cloth, gilt lettering to spine (slight fading to spine and lower cover). – And a further twelve volumes, mostly relating to cricket (including ‘Cricket Clubs Annual, 1931’, [1930], 8vo, and John Nyren’s ‘The Young Cricketer’s Tutor’, 1902, 12mo) (13).

WESTWOOD, J.O. The Butterflies of Great Britain with Their Transformations Delineated and Described. London: George Routledge and Sons., 1887. First edition, 4to (237 x 168mm.) 20 hand-coloured lithographic plates, including frontispiece, tissue-guards, 2 black and white plates. (Two plates heavily browned.) Original brown cloth (extremities rubbed, hinges weakened). – And a further fourteen miscellaneous volumes (including William Harnett Blanch’s ‘The Blue-Coat Boys; or, School Life in Christ’s Hospital’, 1877, 12mo, and Roderic Hill’s ‘The Baghdad Air Mail’, 1929, 8vo) (15).

ART & ANTIQUE REFERENCE. – Hirotaro OTA (editor). Japanese Architecture and Gardens. Tokyo: Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai, 1966. First edition, 4to (343 x 286mm.) Numerous photographic illustrations and mounted plates. (Toning.) Original grey cloth (inner hinge slightly weakened). Provenance: Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai, Kyoto Chapter (gift inscribed from in ink on the front-free endpaper). – And a further thirty-one volumes related mostly to Japanese art and culture (32).

ART & ANTIQUE REFERENCE. – R.W. SYMONDS. Furniture Making in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century England. London: The Connoisseur, 1955. Second, revised edition, folio (350 x 246mm.) Photographic illustrations. (Mild toning.) Original blue cloth, dust-jacket (some loss to spine ends, chipping). – And a further twenty volumes related mostly to furniture (including Ralph Edwards’ ‘The Dictionary of English Furniture’, 3 vols., 1954, folio, and also ‘The Complete Works of William Hogarth’, [circa 1880], 4to, and E.W. Cooke’s ‘Landscapes, British and Foreign’, engraved by Charles G. Lewis, 1874, oblong folio) (21).

ARCHITECTURE. – Nikolaus PEVSNER. Studies in Art, Architecture and Design. London: Thames and Hudson, 1968. First edition, 4to (286 x 224mm.) Photographic illustrations. (Toning.) Original green cloth, dust-jacket. – And a further thirty-eight volumes related to architecture and Nikolaus Pevsner (including Julian Flannery’s ‘Fifty English Steeples’, signed by the author, 2016, large 8vo, and Nathaniel Lloyd’s ‘A History of English Brickwork’, Cecil A. Hewett’s ‘English Historic Carpentry’, 1980, 8vo, and ‘Pevsner: The Complete Broadcast Talks’, edited by Stephen Games, 2014, 8vo) (39).