Antiquarian and Collectors’ Books

IRELAND. – [Jonathan SWIFT.] Some Remarks on the Barrier Treaty, Between Her Majesty and the States-General. By the Author of the Conduct of the Allies. London: John Morphew, 1712. 48pp. (Some corner creasing.) [Bound with:] Cotejo de la Conducta De S.M. con la de el Rey Britanico/ The Conduct of His Catholick Majesty Compared with that of the British King. London: J. Brett, [1739.] 39pp. (Crease to Spanish title.) [Bound with:] The Convention between the Crowns of Great Britain and Spain, concluded at the Pardo on the 14th of January 1739, N.S. London: Samuel Buckley, 1739. 28pp. (Title browned and dust-soiled, corner creasing, browned.) [Bound with:] The Convention Vindicated from the Misrepresentations of the Enemies of Our Peace. London: J. Roberts, 1739. 29pp., blank leaf to rear. (Damp-stained.) [Bound with:] An Appeal to the Unprejudiced, Concerning the present Discontents Occasioned by the late Convention with Spain. London: T. Cooper, 1739. 32pp. (Damp-stained.) 4to (210 x 128mm to 238 x 179mm.) String-bound. Note: bound with a further copy of ‘An Appeal to the Unprejudiced…’, 1739. Provenance: Sam Marsden (ink name to title of ‘An Appeal to the Unprejudiced…’).

CRIME. The Proceedings at the Sessions of the Peace, and Oyer and Terminer, for the City of London, and County of Middlesex. London: J. Wilford, 1733. Number I, Part II. 4to (226 x 179mm.) 48pp., double-column. (Last leaf detached, creased, dust-soiled.) String-bound. – And a further ten issues of the same series, from 1734-1741 (11).

[WALPOLE, Robert.] Observations Upon the Treaty Between the Crowns of Great-Britain, France, and Spain, Concluded at Seville on the Ninth of November, 1729, N.S. London: J. Roberts, 1729. 29pp. (One leaf dust-soiled.) [Bound with:] The Treaty of Peace, Union, Friendship, and Mutual Defence, Between the Crowns of Great-Britain, France and Spain, Concluded at Seville on the 9th November, N.S. 1729. [London:] 1729. ‘Taken from the Daily Post-Boy of January 8, 1729’. 23pp. String-bound. – And a further six tracts (including [James Burgh]’s ‘Britain’s Remembrancer’, fourth edition, 1747, 4to, and [Owen Ruffhead?]’s ‘A Letter to a Late Noble Commander of the British Forces in Germany’, second edition, 1759, 4to, and [Israel Maudit]’s ‘Considerations on the Present German War’, fourth edition, 1761, 4to, and ‘A Full and Candid Answer to a Pamphlet, entitled, Considerations on the Present German War’, third edition, 1761, 4to, and a defective copy of Guillaume Thomas François Raynal’s ‘The Revolution of America’, 1781, 8vo, and one other) (7).

BINDING. – Thomas Campbell EYTON. A History of the Rarer British Birds. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown et al., 1836. First edition, 4to (222 x 128mm.) In 2 parts, includes ‘A Catalogue of British Birds, with Synonyms’, woodcut illustrations in the text. (Toning.) Near contemporary brown full calf, gilt borders and spine, morocco lettering piece, g.e. (minor scuff to lower cover). Note: published as a supplement to Bewick’s Birds. Provenance: George Stewart Nicholson (bookplate to front pastedown).

RUSSEL, Richard. A Dissertation on the Use of Sea Water in the Diseases of the Glands. Particularly the scurvy, Jaundice, King’s-Evil, Leprosy, and the Glandular Consumption. London: W. Owen, 1760. Fourth edition, 12mo (164 x 95mm.) Engraved frontispiece, 2 plates on 1 sheet. (Light browning.) Contemporary calf, later morocco lettering piece (rebacked, wear to extremities). Provenance: Denis Gibbs (bookplate to front pastedown). – And a related volume (Robert Jackson’s ‘An Exposition of the Practice of Affusing Cold Water on the Surface of the Body, as a Remedy for the Cure of Fever’, 1808, 8vo) (2).

PENNANT, Thomas. Some Account of London: Robert Faulder, 1793. Third edition, 4to (239 x 178mm.) Engraved portrait frontispiece of Charles I, engraved vignette to title, multi-folding engraved map of London and Westminster, 13 engraved plates, 2 folding. (Spotting to frontispiece and to some plates, occasional offsetting.) Contemporary calf, red morocco lettering piece to the spine (some loss at top of spine panel, scuffing, extremities rubbed). – And a further seven volumes (including Thomas Salmon’s ‘The Chronological Historian: Containing a Regular Account Of all Material Transactions and Occurrences, Ecclesiastical, Civil, and Military, Relating to the English Affairs, from the Invasion of the Romans, to the Present Time’, 1723, 8vo, and John Chamberlayne’s ‘Magnae Britanniae Notitia: or, the Present State of Great Britain’, 1737, 8vo, and J.T. Bannister’s ‘A Survey of the Holy Land; its Geography, History, and Destiny’, 1844, 8vo, and Robert K. Dent’s ‘Old and New Birmingham’, 1880, large 8vo) (8).

CORRY, John and George PERRY (editors). The History of Liverpool, from the Earliest Authenticated Period down to the Present Time. Liverpool: William Robinson, 1810. First edition, 4to (262 x 203mm.) Half-title, wood-engraved frontispiece and 68 wood-engraved plates. (Heavy spotting to one plate and text leaf, lacking 1 plate, lacking 2 maps, toning, occasional marginal tear.) Contemporary half calf, black morocco lettering piece to spine (wear to spine ends, extremities rubbed, fading to covers). Provenance: E. Worthington (ink name to initial blank); Edward Griffin (bookplate to front pastedown). – And a further three volumes related to Liverpool (including ‘Report on the Health of the City of Liverpool During 1906’, 1907, 8vo, and John Thompson’s ‘Liverpool & Neighbourhood in Ye Olden Time’, 1894, 8vo, and R. Postance’s ‘Old Liverpool’, [1889], 8vo) (4).

OCCULT. – Rollo AHMED. The Black Art… with an Introduction by Dennis Wheatley. London: John Long Ltd., 1936. First edition, second impression, 8vo (213 x 136mm.) Photographic portrait frontispiece, illustration, 8pp. publisher’s advertisements to rear. (Toning, spotting to front and rear leaves.) Original red cloth (sunned to spine). Note: scarce. Ahmed was of Egyptian and Afro-Guyanese descent and lived in Hastings in the 1950’s. An acquaintance of Crowley, he was known in occult circles for his knowledge of African and Burmese sorcery and magical practices.

BAKER, T. Thorne. Wireless Pictures and Television. London: Constable & Company Ltd., 1926. First edition, 8vo (186 x 118mm.) Photographic illustrations. (Toning.) Original blue cloth, dust-jacket (extremities chipped, tape repair verso spine panel). Note: Alfred Dinsdale’s ‘Television. Seeing by Wireless’, published in 1926, was the first book about television. T. Thorne Baker’s book was the second such book. – And a further two related volumes (including Alfred Dinsdale’s ‘Television’, 1928, 8vo) (3).

DICKENS, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. London: Chapman and Hall, 1859. First edition, early issue, 8vo (213 x 128mm.) 16 etched plates by H.K. Browne. (Plates toned, occasional light spotting.) Contemporary half morocco over pebbled cloth, g.e. (fading to cloth, small stain to lower cover). Note: of the eight internal flaws identified by Smith, the first three have been corrected. Provenance: John Thomas White (armorial bookplate to front pastedown). [Smith, I, p.96]. – And a further six volumes by Charles Dickens (‘The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club’, first edition, early issue, 1837, 8vo, and ‘Dombey and Son’, first edition, early issue, 1848, 8vo, and ‘The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby’, first edition, early issue, 1839, 8vo, and ‘Little Dorrit’, first edition, early issue, 1857, 8vo, and ‘Bleak House’, first edition, early issue, 1853, 8vo, and ‘The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit’, first edition, early issue, 1844, 8vo) (7).

SIGNED BOOK. – Anna SEWARD. Elegy on Captain Cook. To Which Is Added, an Ode to the Sun. Lichfield: J. Jackson, and J. Dodsley, 1784. Fourth edition, signed by Anna Seward to lower margin of last text leaf, 4to (281 x 213mm.) Half-title. (Chipping and minor loss to corners and lower edges of most leaves, browning, corner crease to last leaf, lacking blanks.) Later blue cloth (endpapers replaced). Note: Anna Seward was known as the ‘Swan of Lichfield’ because of the numerous poetic odes and eulogies she wrote for the recently departed. Her elegy for Captain Cook was especially popular. Provenance: C.A.O. Fox (bookplate to rear pastedown); Denis Gibbs (bookplate to front pastedown).

Conversations Moral and Entertaining, Between an English Gentleman and a Knight of Malta. Containing a Lively Picture of the Heart of Man; his Passions, and Sources of Action. London: Jacob Robinson, 1743. 8vo (164x 92mm.) Title. (Ink name excised from initial blank, pencil drawing on initial blank.) Contemporary calf (scuffed, lightly rubbed). Note: scarce in commerce. – And a further five volumes (‘The Gentleman’s Magazine’, vol. XIII, Jan-June 1743, 8vo, and ‘The Annual Register’ for the years 1767, the fourth edition, 1777, the third edition, and 1778, the third edition, and ‘The Weekly Entertainer’, vol. XXII, July-December 1793, 8vo) (6).

ENGINEERING. – Thomas HANCOCK. Personal Narrative of the Origin and Progress of the Caoutchouc or India-Rubber Manufacture in England. London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans & Roberts, 1857. First edition, 8vo (220 x 136mm.) Title, 11 engraved plates, 1 folding, tissue-guards. (Mild toning.) Original grey blind-stamped cloth (some wear to spine ends). – And a further four related volumes (two copies of ‘The Mechanics’ Magazine, Museum, Register, Journal and Gazette, Oct. 1- March 31, 1837’, Vol. XXVI, 1837, 8vo, and ‘The Glasgow Mechanics’ Magazine and Annals of Philosophy’, vol. 1, New edition, [steam engines], 1830, 8vo, and ‘The Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature, and the Arts’, vol. VIII, 1820, 8vo) (5).

STEPEHENSON, BLAKE & CO. (publisher). Printing Types, Borders, Initials, Electros, Brass Rules, Spacing Material Ornaments. Sheffield: Stephenson, Blake & Co. Ltd., 1924. 4to (283 x 221mm.) Numerous colour and black and white illustrations of type specimens. (Toning.) Original brown cloth, gilt lettering, g.e. (extremities rubbed, some scuffing). – And a further nine volumes relating to printing and design (including ‘Modern Publicity, Commercial Art Annual 1932’, 4to, and ‘A Book of Typefaces’, published by W.S. Cowell, 1932, 4to, and ‘Modern Book Production’, published by The Studio, 1928, 4to) (10).

PRINTING. – Charles REED & SONS, Ltd. (publisher). Specimens of Printing Types, Borders, Ornaments, Brass Rule, &c. London: Charles Reed & Sons, 1902. 4to (246 x 181mm.) Numerous illustrations. (Some quires loose.) Original maroon cloth, gilt lettering (slight warp to covers, spine faded). – And a further eight volumes related to printing and design (including Paul Carlyle and Guy Oring’s ‘Design and Decoration’, 1939, oblong 4to, and Oldrich Hlavsa’s ‘A Book of Type and Design’, 1960, 8vo, and James Ward’s ‘Progressive Design for Students’, 1902, 8vo, and ‘Aesop’s Fables’, with designs by Phyllis A. Trery, [1925], 4to) (9).

RACKHAM, Arthur (illustrator). – Hans ANDERSEN. Fairy Tales. London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., 1932. First edition, 4to (237 x 177mm.) 12 colour plates, captioned tissue-guards. (Mild toning, frontispiece with small marginal tape repair.) Near contemporary red full morocco by Zaehnsdorf, gilt lettering to upper cover and spine, gilt turn-ins, g.e. Provenance: E. Joseph (inscribed to in gilt on front turn-in).

RACKHAM, Arthur (illustrator). – J.M. BARRIE. Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1906. First edition, 4to (249 x 180mm.) Half title, 50 tipped-in colour plates, captioned tissue-guards, endpaper plan by Rackham bound-in, original cloth cover bound-in to rear. (Toning, moderate spotting to preliminaries.) Later red half morocco over marbled paper-covered boards (endpapers replaced).

POGANY, Willy (illustrator). – T.W. ROLLESTON. Parsifal, or the Legend of the Holy Grail retold from Ancient Sources with acknowledgement to the ‘Parsifal’ of Richard Wagner. London: Harrap & Co., 1912. 4to (274 x 190mm.) Printed in colours, illustrations, 16 tipped-in colour plates. (Mild toning, 2 plates with corner creasing.) Original limp calf, gilt to upper cover and gilt lettering to spine (extremities lightly rubbed, minor scuffing to lower cover).

RACKHAM, Arthur (illustrator). – J.M. BARRIE. Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1906. First edition, 4to (247 x 184mm.) Half-title, 50 tipped-in colour plates with captioned tissue-guards. (Faint spotting to title and half-title.) Original red cloth, pictorial gilt (repair to spine ends, fading to lower cover). – And a further four illustrated volumes (including Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, illustrated by Arthur Rackham, 1914, 4to, and Edward Fitzgerald’s translation of ‘Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam’, illustrated by Edmund Dulac, [1909], 4to, and Richard Wagner’s ‘The Ring of the Niblung’, illustrated by Arthur Rackham, 2 vols., 1910-1911, 4to) (5).