zoom

L’Ange du Bizarre
Edgar Allan Poe. Paris. Marcel Sautier. 1947.

Complete with 28 engraved illustrations by Edouard Goerg. Limited edition of 275 copies - this copy # 149. A fine example of Goerg’s talent for illustrating classic literature, his rather macabre and gothic imagination lending itself sublimely to Poe’s mysterious writing. Unbound, as issued, in printed card wraps, plain boards with decorated spine, and slipcase. Apart from a hint of spotting to boards, a fine copy.

Story initially published in 1844 in Columbian Magazine.

________________________________________
*My dreams were terrifically disturbed by visions of the Angel of the Odd. Methought he stood at the foot of the couch, drew aside the curtains, and, in the hollow, detestable tones of a rum puncheon, menaced me with the bitterest vengeance for the contempt with which I had treated him. He concluded a long harangue by taking off his funnel-cap, inserting the tube into my gullet, and thus deluging me with an ocean of Kirschenwässer, which he poured, in a continuous flood, from one of the long[[-]]necked bottles that stood him instead of an arm. My agony was at length insufferable, and I awoke just in time to perceive that a rat had run off with the lighted candle from the stand, but not in season to prevent his making his escape with it through the hole. “

zoom

EURIPIDES
Tragoediae octodecim [in Greek] Basel, J. Hervagium, 1537

2 parts in one vol., some light dampstaining (mostly towards margins), ink annotations and notes to approximately 20 leaves, early inscription in Greek (dated 1541) and two further ownership inscriptions (“Ja. Hales”, and “Rob. Lambe, Joh. Coll., Cant, 1729/30”) on title, modern crushed morocco [Wing E1031], 8vo,

zoom

Stenography; or, Short-hand Improved
John Angell [c.1787].

Fourth edition, advertisement leaf at beginning, engraved title with decorative border and 21 plates, lightly soiled and browned, old library label on front pastedown, contemporary calf, a little worn, upper cover detached, 8vo.

zoom

The makers of Venice: Doges, conquerors, painters, and men of letters.
Margaret Oliphant. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [ca. 1900–1910].

Binding: Striking medieval-style vellum, front cover with inset chromolithographic illustration in jewel tones in raised, stamped and gilt frame; hand-painted foliate decorations in pink, green, blue, and yellow with stamped and gilt “studs” laid on, artfully scattered. Calligraphic title incorporating onlaid raised decorative capitals; spine with painted foliate decoration; back cover with fully-filling reverse-painted griffin in blue-green and gilt. Studs and other raised elements appear to be clay or ceramic; upper edges gilt and gauffered.

First published in 1887, this evocative study of medieval and Renaissance Venetian history comes from a Scottish-born novelist and historical writer who also published similarly titled works on Florence, Rome, and Jerusalem. Here it appears in a remarkable hand-painted, medieval-inspired binding with raised and gilt details.

zoom

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson. Centipede Press, 2012 
Limited Edition Hardcover.

The classic novel of personality transference is an acknowledged masterpiece and one of the most influential novels ever written. Now with a new introduction by Patrick McGrath, a stunning suite of fifteen wood engravings by Barry Moser, a front cover by James Bama, gorgeous endpapers by Aeron Alfrey, a back cover by Basil Gogos, a fascinating typographical treatment that destabilizes the text, a handful of Stevenson’s best horror short stories, and a fantastic cover gallery of old film posters in full color. The book is presented in our oversize format, 8 × 12 inches, the same as the other books in our Gothic series.

The wood engravings by Barry Moser are exquisite. They were originally published in small size by the University of Nebraska Press. Mr Moser personally retouched all of the engravings for this edition, and he also created three new wood engravings just for this new edition. One of America’s most renowned artists, Mr Moser’s work has graced some of the finest and most collectible limited editions ever published, including books from the Arion Press and Moser’s own acclaimed Pennyroyal Press.

Each numbered copy is signed by Patrick McGrath, Barry Moser and Aeron Alfrey. The edition is limited to 200 copies for sale. The books are bound in cloth with printed front and rear panels with printed endpapers, ribbon marker, and a slipcase.

Image and Text from Miskatonic Books

zoom

The Desperadoes; An Heroick History
Marini (Giovanni Ambrigio) 1733.

8 engraved plates, margins trimmed, slightly browned, new endpapers, modern antique style gilt panelled calf, g.e., 12mo, T. Astley, J. Isted and others.

__________________________________
“A Series of the most surprising Adventures of the Princes Formidaur and Florian, the former being in love with Zelinda, whom he takes to be his own sister, and the latter having married Fidalme, whom he supposed to be his Father’s Daughter by a second Wife, and afterwards kills in Disguise in single Combat. With a Relation of the various amazing Accidents, and Misfortunes, which happen there-on, until the Whole concludes with making them all happy, by a most extraordinary and uncommon Revolution.”

zoom

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Philip K. Dick. New York, 1968.

First edition, ex-library copy, with stamp and ink numbering to title, and base of p. 210, library label to endpaper, hinges weak, original cloth, cocked, frayed and marked at head and base, dust-jacket, spine faded, spine ends bumped, creased, 8vo.

B-A Note: I really like this jacket artwork for some reason.

____________________________
“A merry little surge of electricity piped by automatic alarm from the mood organ beside his bed awakened Rick Deckard. Surprised - it always surprised him to find himself awake without prior notice - he rose from the bed, stood up in his multicolored pajamas, and stretched.” - Chapter 1

“You will be required to do wrong no matter where you go. It is the basic condition of life, to be required to violate your own identity.” - Mercer

zoom

Daemoniaci, hoc est: de obsessis a spiritibus daemoniorum hominibus liber unus
Petrus (Peter) Thyraeus. Cologne, M. Cholinus, 1598

Second edition, spotting and dampstaining throughout, 2 small tears to title, wormtrail not affecting text to inner margin continuing to p.140, defective endpapers, modern library stamp to second leaf, contemporary pigskin, stained and worn, small 4to,

zoom

Sunshine and Storm in the East, or Cruises to Cyprus and Constantinople.
Lady Annie Brassey. Longmans, Green, 1880.

FIRST EDITION, AUTHOR’S PRESENTATION COPY, inscribed “To Mrs Chandler with best wishes from the author, Christmas 1880. Normanhurst Court” on the half-title, 9 plates, 2 folding maps (one of Cyprus, one of the route with small loss at fold), illustrations in the text, occasional light spotting, publisher’s pictorial cloth gilt (designed by Gustave Doré)

zoom

BINDING - EARLY PAPER SHEETS[Italy, early sixteenth century]

An album of blank pages, ink numeration numeral in upper fore-corner of each, final leaf with notes, distinctive flower and two stem watermark, contemporary limp vellum, leaf band straps on spine (one with slight loss), early ink lettering “Debitori…” and central roundel enclosing the letter “A” on upper cover, preserved in purpose-made solander box lettered “Debitori” on spine, folio (286 x 200mm.),

zoom

Irish Melodies and Sacred Songs
Thomas Moore. Boston: Re-printed by Munroe & Francis, 1849.

12mo (18.5 cm, 7.3”). [4], [ix]–xxxi, [5], 184 pp. Later American edition of these celebrated Hibernian-themed lyrics from the author of “Lalla Rookh.” The front free endpaper bears a rather sweet early inked inscription: “For thee, A.E.” (with a small, difficult-to-decipher signature).

Signed binding: Publisher’s striped cloth, predominantly seen in the 1840s and never common: Brown ripple-textured cloth thinly striped in light blue, covers each with blind-stamped frame and gilt-stamped harp and shamrock vignette, spine with gilt-stamped title and strapwork; front free endpaper with pressure-stamp of the Benjamin Bradley company. All edges gilt.

——————————————-
Come, Send Round the Wine

Come, send round the wine, and leave points of belief
To simpleton sages, and reasoning fools’
This moment’s a flower too fair and brief
To be wither’d and stain’d by the dust of the schools.

Your glass may be purple, and mine may be blue,
But while they’re fill’d from the same bright bowl,
The fool, who would quarrel for difference of hue,
Deserves not the comfort they shed o’er the soul.

zoom

A Blow at Modern Sadducism… by a Member of the Royal Society,
Joseph Glanville. James Collins, 1668.

Fourth edition, lacks final advertisement leaf, contemporary calf, joints splitting [Wing G800], 8vo, James Collins, 1668

———————————-
“AND if any thing were to be much admired in an Age of Wonders, not only of Nature (which is a constant Prodigy) but of Men and Manners; it would be to (?) matter of Astonishment, that Men, otherwise witty and ingenious, are fallen into the conceit that there’s no such thing as a Witch or Apparition, but that these are the creatures of Melancholly and Superstition, foster’d by ignorance and design; which, comparing the confidence of their disbelief with the evidence of the things denied, and the weakness of their grounds, would almost suggest, that themselves are an argument of what they deny; and that so confident an Opinion could not be held upon such inducements, but by some kind of Witchcraft and Fascination in the Fancy.” -2nd paragraph