Antiquarian and Collectors’ Books

KÁLIDÁSA. – Horace Hayman WILSON (translator). The Mégha Dúta; or, Cloud Messenger: A Poem, in the Sanscrit Language. Calcutta: P. Pereira, at the Hindoostanee Press, 1813. First edition in English, 4to (297 x 232mm.) Half-title, text in English and Sanskrit, 2pp. ‘Errata’, 3pp. publisher’s ‘Advertisement’ to rear. (Spotting to endpapers.) Contemporary navy blue straight-grain morocco, Greek key gilt borders (extremities rubbed, some scuffing). Note: considered to be Kálidása’s greatest poem, it recounts how a yaksa (a nature spirit) is banished into exile for a year. The yaksa convinces a passing cloud to take a message to his wife. It began the tradition of the ‘messenger poem’.

[REMI, Georges.] ‘Hergé’. Les Aventures de Tintin. Au Pays des Soviets. Belgium: Studios Hergé, December 1980. Limited edition of 1500 copies only, signed by Hergé, 16mo (96 x 69mm.) In French. Original colour boards (slight spine lean). Note: an abridged version of ‘Tintin in the land of the Soviets’ that was published on the 50th anniversary of its first publication. – And two related items (a signed picture of the author, and an 18-line typed letter, signed in ink by Hergé, on ‘Studios Hergé’ headed paper, dated September 1969. The letter reads: ‘Cher ami, Merci de votre gentille letter. Je réponds d’abord à vos questions faciles: - mon prochain livre n’est pas fini, et, officiellement, il n’a pas encore de titre définitif. Je ne puis malheureusement pas vous procurer Tintin au Congo et Tintin au pays des Soviets. Personne, à ma connaissance, ne se prepare à traduire Tintin en Russe. Puis vous le souhaitex, je vous envoie une photo dédicacée. Ais vous me demandez aussi des ‘informations’ concernant ‘mes autres livres’ ainsi que ‘mon studio’… C’est Presque tout un roman que je devrais écrire pour vous satisfaire- et je n’ai pas le temps d’ etre romancier. A tout hazard, so vous réussissiez à encore mettre la main sur un numéro du Times Literary Supplement du 5 December 1958, vous y trouveriez beaucoup de choses qui nourrirait votre curiosité ‘tintiniste’! Bien amicalement, Herge’ (3).

[REMI, Georges.] ‘Hergé.  [The Black Island- in Japanese]. Tokyo: Shufunotomo Co. Ltd., 1968. Oblong 8vo (148 x 210mm.) Colour illustrations. (Lacking coupon to rear.) Original card covers printed in red, dust-jacket (tear at top of spine panel, minor chipping). – And a related item (a photograph of Georges Remi, inscribed in blue ink ‘To Mark Holford, with best wishes Hergé’) (2).

[REMI, Georges.] ‘Hergé’. The Adventures of Tintin: The Castafiore Emerald. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1963. First U.K. edition, 4to (296 x 228mm.) Colour illustrations. (Toning.) Original red cloth-backed pictorial paper-covered boards (extremities rubbed, tape to corners). – And a further eleven volumes of ‘The Adventures of Tintin’ (‘The Black Island’, first U.K. edition, 1966, and ‘Flight 714’, first U.K. edition, 1968, and ‘The Crab with the Golden Claws’, 1964, ‘Explorers on the Moon’, 1965, ‘Destination Moon’, 1965, ‘The Red Sea Sharks’, 1965, ‘Red Rackham’s Treasure’, 1965, ‘The Secret of the Unicorn’, 1965, and ‘King Ottokar’s Sceptre’, 1964, ‘The Shooting Star’, 1965, and ‘Tintin in Tibet’, 1965, ‘The Seven Crystal Balls’, 1965, and ‘Prisoners of the Sun’, 1965) (12).

SIGNED. – [Georges REMI.] ‘Hergé’. [A folding calendar for the year 1983 signed in black ink by Hergé. N.p.: 1982.] Single sheet (70 x 21cm.) Signed to the lower section. (Slight crease to corner of ‘Janvier’.) In original envelope (torn).

SIGNED. – [Georges REMI.] ‘Hergé’. Archives Hergé. Tournai: Casterman, 1976. Fourth edition, 4to (296 x 216mm.) Illustrations, text in French. (Toning.) Original cloth, dust-jacket (minor creasing to extremities). – And a quantity of signed ephemera relating to Hergé (including the Hergé stamp sheet signed ‘Hergé and thousand thanks!’ with original envelope, and two Christmas cards signed ‘Hergé’, one with original envelope, a ‘1982’ birthday card signed ‘Hergé’, a Tintin illustrated postage stamp card from 1979 signed ‘Hergé’ and with original envelope, and a New Years Greeting card from 1976, with the tipped in ‘La Bataille de Zileheroum’ plate, signed twice by Hergé with original envelope, and a printed and framed Tintin illustration also with signature in ink, a Tintin jigsaw, postcard, two ‘Les Aventures de Tintin’ vinyl L.P.’s, a packet of ‘View-Master’ reels, and three further books) (quantity). Provenance: Mark Holford (name inscribed to ‘Archives’).

ALMANAC. Rider’s British Merlin: For the Year of Our Lord God 1786. Being the Second after Bissextile, or Leap Year. Adorned with many delightful and useful Verities fitting all Capacities in the Islands of Great Britain’s Monarchy. With Notes of Husbandry, Fairs, Marts, High Roads, and Tables for many necessary Uses. Compiled… by Cardanus Rider. London: for the Company of Stationers, 1786. 12mo (133 x 76mm.) Title in red and black with duty ink stamp, several blank leaves to front and rear. (Toning, pencil notes on initial blank leaves.) Original scarlet wallet-style morocco with Greek key gilt borders and gilt foliate tooling with stars, birds, volutes and sliver clasp (marbled endpapers replaced, lightly rubbed).

HARRIS, John (publisher). Marmaduke’s Multiply’s Merry Method of Making Minor Mathematicians; or, the Multiplication Table, Illustrated by Sixty-Nine Appropriate Engravings. London: J. Harris and Son, [circa 1826.] 12mo (133 x 113mm.) 69 hand-coloured stipple-engraved plates, rhyming couplet to each, on paper with 1825 water-mark. (Occasional spotting, finger-mark, text-block broken at plate 4.) Original roan-backed boards (spine broken, front endpaper replaced). Note: complete with all plates.

ALMANAC. – Cardanus RIDER. Rider’s British Merlin: For the Year of Our Lord God 1796. London: for the Company of Stationers, [1795.] Title and text in red and black, Duty Stamp to title. (Upper margin of title excised, toning.) [Bound with:] The Royal Kalendar… for the Year 1796. London: J. Debrett et al., [1795.] (Browning.) 8vo (151 x 79mm.) Contemporary red morocco, sawtooth gilt borders, g.e. (rubbing to extremities, inner hinge weakened).

CAREY, Edith F. – Henry. B. WIMBUSH (illustrator). The Channel Islands. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1904. Limited edition de-luxe, this being number 168 of 300 copies signed by Henry B. Wimbush, 4to (263 x 208mm.) 76 coloured plates, captioned tissue-guards. (Toning, spotting to tissue-guards.) Original decorative cloth (spine ends worn, finger-marked). – And a further twenty-one volumes relating to the Channel Islands (including Gustave Dupont’s ‘Histoire du Cotentin et de Ses Iles’, inscribed by the author, 4 vols., 1870-1885, and M. Pégot-Ogier’s ‘Histoire des Iles de la Manche’, 1881, 8vo, and Joan Stevens’ ‘Old Jersey Houses’, 2 vols., 1965-1977, large 8vo, and Pitre-Chevalier’s ‘La Bretagne Ancienne et Moderne’, [circa 1844], large 8vo, and Richard Warner’s ‘Collections for the History of Hampshire’, vols. 4-5 (only, of 6), 4to) (22).

LEWIS, Wyndham (editor). Blast. Review of the Great English Vortex. London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, July 1915. Vol. 2 [only, of 2]. 4to (298 x 243mm.) Numerous monochrome illustrations from linocuts and woodcuts including C.R.W. Nevinson’s ‘On the Way to the Trenches’ and a tipped-in plate after Gaudier-Brzeska, 6pp. publisher’s advertisements to rear. (Mild toning, occasional finger-mark.) Original printed  card covers (upper cover detached, tears to spine panel). Note: includes the first printing of T.S. Eliot’s ‘Rhapsody on a Windy Night’.

ULLMANN, Anne (editor). The Wood-Engravings of Tirzah Ravilious. London: Gordon Fraser, 1987. Limited edition, this being number 156 of 1000 copies, 4to (299 x 208mm.) Numerous full-page illustrations. Original card covers, floral patterned dust-jacket (browning to spine and edges).

SIGNED BOOK. – Melein COSMAN. Musical Sketchbook… edited by Hans Keller and Donald Mitchell. Oxford: Bruno Cassirer, 1957. Signed by the artist and with an original illustration mounted to half-title, 8vo (238 x 174mm.) Illustrations by Melein Cosman. (Toning, panel of dust-jacket mounted to pastedown.) Original vermilion cloth. Note: includes two Christmas cards with hand-written messages from Melein Cosman, a drawing with original hand-colouring mounted on the half-title and a signed illustration verso the half-title. Provenance: Philip Thompson (inscribed to from the artist).

OLYMPICS. The Official Report of the Xth Olympiad Los Angeles 1932… edited by Captain F.A.M. Webster. London: The British Olympic Association, 1932. 8vo (230 x 141mm.) Photographic illustrations. (Mild toning.) Original printed card covers (browned, small stain). – And a further eight books related to the Olympics (including the ‘Official Report of the XIth Olympiad 1936’, 1936, 8vo, and ‘Olympia 1936, Eine Nationale Aufgabe’, 1935, 8vo, and the souvenir ‘XV Olympiad Helsinki 1952’, oblong, 4to, and Harold Abrahams’ ‘Track & Field Olympic Records’, 1948, 8vo, and Ferenc Mezö’s ‘The Modern Olympic Games’, 1956, 8vo) (9).

CROWLEY, Aleister. Collected Works. [Illinois:] Yogi Publication Society, [1974.] 3 vols., 8vo (207 x 131mm.) Photographic frontispieces. (Mild toning.) Original red leatherette. – And a further ten volumes by Aleister Crowley, all reprints (including ‘Oeahma: The Holy Books of Thelema’, 1983, 8vo, and ‘Magick Without Tears’, 1983, 8vo, and ‘Energized Enthusiasm’, [1976], 8vo, and ‘The God-Eater: A Tragedy of Satire’, [1970], 8vo, and ‘The Dangers of Mysticism & Liber HHH’, [1970], 8vo, and ‘The Soldier and the Hunchback’, [1970], 8vo, and ‘Liber I vel Magi & Liber Israfel & Liber Stellae Rubae’, [1970], 8vo) (13).

Report from… the House of Commons on the Channel Tunnel. London: Henry Hansard and Son, 10th July 1883. Large 4to (327 x 203mm.) Folding plate of John Fowler’s Ferry Boats. (Toning, pencil annotation to margins, endpapers spotted.) Contemporary half sheep over pebbled green cloth (extremities rubbed). Provenance: W. T. Perkins (pencil name to front endpaper); Michael G. Max (sticker to front endpaper).

POMOLOGY. – Hugh RONALDS. Pyrus Malus Brenfordiensis: or, a Concise Description of Selected Apples… with a Figure of each Sort Drawn From Nature on Stone By His Daughter. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, et al., 1831. 4to (314 x 242mm.) Half-title, 42 uncoloured lithographs of apples, 2pp. ‘Index’ and 5pp. ‘List of the Best Sorts of Apples’ to rear. (Toning, spotting to blanks and one plate.) Contemporary half morocco (wear to spine ends, extremities rubbed).

MANUSCRIPT. – Martin de GRUCHY. In this Book, No. 1, Are contained Copies of Petitions, Orders, Writs, memorials, mandates, &c. To or From any Court Or Persons in Relation to Causes Committed to my Care: Beginning From 25th September MDCCXII. [N.p.:] 1712-15 and 1717-1719. 2 vols., 415pp. and 298pp., manuscript, folio (314 x 201mm.) 415pp. and 298pp., in English, several mostly legible hands, manuscript copies of documents relating to Martin de Gruchy’s legal practice in Jersey, being petitions and writs and legal cases relating to the Channel Islands, signed by the solicitors, 21pp. tabulated index to rear of first volume and 12pp. to rear of second volume. (Browning.) Original full vellum (stained, slightly dust-soiled). Note: a compendium of the debts, grievances, and petty crimes that occurred in the Channel Islands during these years. Martin de Gruchy was the first notary in Jersey. He was a significant figure in the legal history of the Channel Islands, known for his disputes with the Jersey Royal Court over the recognition of English notarial authority. A few names referenced here, ones that recur several times, are Robert Hales, James Vernon, Daniel de Beauvoir, Eleazar le Marchant, James de Havillard and Edward Southwell (2).

MANUSCRIPT. – William JOURNEAUX. [The working journal of a young midshipman or ‘Master’s Mate’ from Jersey. N.p.:] 1820-1821. 187pp., manuscript, folio (321 x 201mm.) Comprising 187pp. in a single legible hand, the first 123pp. in English and the rest in French, including 27pp. on ‘A Journal of a Voyage from Jersey to New York in the Tough of Jersey’, being entirely navigational detail, including weather, wind and meridian lines, and a further 20pp. on ‘A Journal of a Voyage from London to Madeira and Tenerife in the Snug of Jersey’, includes 4 hand-drawn maps with outline hand-colouring, a hand-drawn globe with meridian lines, a ‘List of Men’, and many mathematical, geometric exercises relating to navigation, 6pp. blank to rear. (Toning, occasional spotting, finger-marks.) Contemporary boards (spine lacking, stained, rubbed). Note: the lessons in navigation are accompanied by many diagrams and calculations. They are titled ‘Geometrical Problems Useful in Navigation’ (4pp.), ‘Trigonometry’ (15pp.), ‘Plane Traverse Sailing’ (6pp.), ‘Middle latitude Sailing’ (1p.), ‘Mercator’s Trav. Sailing’ (4pp.), ‘Mercator’s Sailing’ (5pp.), ‘To Find a Leap Year’ (2pp.), ‘To Find the Latitude of a Place by an Observation of the Sun’ (8pp.), the four maps are of the West Indies, the French-English coastlines, the Canaries, and the French-Spanish coastlines, there are also calculations relating to the rising and setting of the sun, a compass and to the rear, in French, there are exercises on ‘Des Ligne Proportionnelles Consideres dans Les Cercle’, and ‘Definitions Astronomie’ (8pp.).