zoom

The Story of the Glittering Plain
William Morris. Kelmscott Press, 1891.

One of 200 copies on Flower paper, printed in Golden type, wood-engraved border and initials designed by Morris, engraved bookplate of Freeman Bass, original vellum with washleather ties, yapp edges, spine titled in gilt, uncut.

___________________________
“Now must it be told of Hallblithe that he rode fiercely down to the sea-shore, and from the top of the beach he gazed about him, and there below him was the Ship-stead and Rollers of his kindred, whereon lay the three long-ships, the Seamew, and the Osprey and the Erne. Heavy and huge they seemed to him as they lay there, black-sided, icy-cold with the washing of the March waves, their golden dragon-heads looking seaward wistfully. ” Opening of Ch. IV

zoom

Aventures d’Alice au Pays des Merveilles. Traduit de l’Anglais par Henri Bué.
Lewis Carroll. London, Macmillan and Co., 1869.

First French edition. Contemporary full-grained dark blue morocco, spine ribbed and gilt, with gilt triple fillet borders on sides with gilt medallion portrait of the White Rabbit in centre on front cover, and of the Cheshire Cat on back cover, richly gilt inner borders, gilt edges (NOULHAC), and with the original publisher’s gilt blue cloth preserved, including the spine. With 42 wood-engraved plates and illustrations by John Tenniel.
______________________________________________
“First came ten soldiers carrying clubs; these were all shaped like the three gardeners, oblong and flat, with their hands and feet at the corners: next the ten courtiers; these were ornamented all over with diamonds, and walked two and two, as the soldiers did. After these came the royal children; there were ten of them, and the little dears came jumping merrily along hand in hand, in couples: they were all ornamented with hearts. Next came the guests, mostly Kings and Queens, and among them Alice recognised the White Rabbit: it was talking in a hurried nervous manner, smiling at everything that was said, and went by without noticing her. Then followed the Knave of Hearts, carrying the King’s crown on a crimson velvet cushion; and, last of all this grand procession, came THE KING AND QUEEN OF HEARTS.

zoom

The wonders of the heavens, being a popular view of astronomy, including a full illustration of the mechanism of the heavens; embracing the sun, moon, stars, with descriptions of planets, comets, fixed stars, double stars, the constellations, the galaxy or milky-way, the zodiacal light, aurora borealis, or northern lights, meteors, clouds, falling stars, aërolites, &c.
Duncan Bradford. Boston, American Stationers Co., 1837

First edition of a popular American astronomical guide with exquisite plates with views on the moon, and stellar constellations adorned with the zodiacal symbols.). It contains an engraved frontispiece with Herschel’s telescope, an engraved title with zodiac, 6 full-page engraved plates with telescopic views of the moon in different phases and planets, and 6 hand-coloured folding engraved plates with celestial charts.

B-A Note: Old scientific books can have such long, elaborate titles!

zoom

Costumi della corte pontificia
Rome, ca. 1850

This charming Vatican souvenir illustrates the costumes of court officials, including bishops (Roman, Greek, Armenian, Syrian), the Swiss Guard, and, of course, the Pope on various occasions, in 30 brightly hand-colored plates with captions in Italian. The contents unfold accordion-style in one long strip comprised of seven pieces neatly joined together in a Leporello binding.

zoom

L’Art de Juger du Caractère des Hommes sur leur Écriture
[Hocquart (Edouard)] , Paris, 1816 

Half-title, hand-coloured aquatint frontispiece, 24 engraved plates of handwriting samples, water-staining to upper corner of a few ff., occasional spotting, contemporary calf-backed marbled boards, spine richly gilt.

zoom

Smokiana. Historical & Ethnographical
R.T. Pritchett. Bernard Quaritch, 1890.

Lithographed throughout in facsimile of the author’s handwriting, pictorial title, colour & plain illustrations of smoking implements, title with slight marginal staining, otherwise a good copy, modern half morocco, spine gilt, small 4to,

zoom

Medicinal Plants, Being Descriptions with Original Figures of the Principal Plants Employed in Medicine
Bentley, Robert & Henry Trimen. London, J. & A. Churchill, 1880.

4 volumes. 306 hand-colored lithograph plates, including several double page. (8vo) 23.2x16.5 cm. (9¼x6½”), newly bound in full black morocco, black and red labels on spines.
Bentley (1821-1896) and Trimen (1821-1893) produced a comprehensive account of the major plants used in the medicine of the day. Each plant entry (306 in all) consists of several sections, including: a physical description of the plant and its parts, its habitats, botanical classification, commerce and medicinal uses, varieties, chemical composition, and an explanation of the plates. Nissen 137.

zoom

Journal Des Dames et Des Modes - Tome LXXVI - LXXXVII
Lemaire, J.P. Frankfurt, January 1836 - December 1841

12 volumes, each containing 6 months of the weekly issues. 360 hand-colored plates. (8vo) 19.5x13.5 cm. (7¾x5¼”), period half calf and marbled boards, red and black labels.

A nice run of 6 consecutive years of this leading fashion journal of the mid 19th century.

zoom

Ehon Futami-Gata (Erotic Book of Conjugal Eddies)
Katsushika Hokusai, ca.1802-4

3 volumes, 8° (215 x 152mm). 21 double-page and 6 full-page colour-printed woodblock illustrations. Original blue paper wrappers with minor gilt decoration, printed title slips pasted to upper covers (lightly creased and worn).

“IT IS ONLY BY RARE GOOD CHANCE THAT A SHUNGA AS RARE, OR AS CLOSELY GUARDED, AS EHON FUTAMI-GATA, IS LIKELY TO BE SEEN AT ALL’ (Hillier p.507). Only attributed to Hokusai by Hayashi Yoshikazu and Hillier in 1981 and 1987 respectively, the present work is now seen as key to the development of Hokusai’s erotic art from his early works of the Shunro period to his later masterpieces.” (J. Hillier, The Art of the Japanese Book, p.507)

zoom

The Queen of the Pirate Isle
Bret Harte. Illustrated by Kate Greenaway. Engraved and Printed by Edmund Evans. London: Chatto and Windus, 1886.

First edition, binding A. Presentation Copy from the Author to Lady Alfred Paget signed and dated London December 2d, 1886. Octavo (8 1/2 x 6 1/4 in; 216 x 159 mm). 58 pp. Color frontispiece and twenty-seven text illustrations in color by Kate Greenaway. All edges gilt. Publisher’s original tan cloth, covers pictorially decorated in colors (the front cover with the illustration from page 13, the lower cover with the illustration from page 16), all edges gilt.

—————————————————-
“I first knew her as the Queen of the Pirate Isle. To the best of my recollection she had no reasonable right to that title. She was only nine years old, inclined to plumpness and good humour, deprecated violence and had never been to sea. Need it be added that she did not live in an island and that her name was “Polly.”

zoom

Pierrot! A Story
by Stacpoole, Henry de Vere. John Lane, London, 1896.
Illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley.

Original ivory-coloured pictorial cloth depicting a Pierrot clown selecting books in a library in red; red spine titles; red pictorial device to rear. Decorative endpapers; 163pp + 16pp rear catalogue (most of catalogue is uncut and unopened), all edges untrimmed.

A scarce novel of the supernatural involving a blurring of sexual boundaries. John Lane obviously liked this book immensely because it launched his ‘Pierrot Library’ series which also included Stacpoole’s other novel of weird decadent supernaturalism, ‘Death, The Knight & The Lady’. The author was a gifted novelist and although his later works sold in significantly greater numbers, his two early novels are for me wonderful examples of beguiling ‘fin-de-siecle’ supernaturalism.

zoom

Three Vassar Girls Abroad
Elizabeth Williams Champney, Boston: Estes and Lauriat, 1883.

First edition, original pictorial boards, 4to, (front board creased, rear board lacking one corner, scattered soiling, extremity wear).

From the Vassar College Encyclopedia:
“Two years later, Champney finished the first of what would become a long series of “Three Vassar Girls” novels. Three Vassar Girls Abroad, illustrated throughout by Champ, recounts a lively tale of three Vassar students – Maud Van Vechten, the wealthy society girl; Barbara Atchison, the equally wealthy yet slightly eccentric West coaster; and Cecilia Boylston, the starving artist from Boston – on a leisurely romp across Europe. Over the next fourteen years, Champney produced ten more “Three Vassar Girls” volumes, situated everywhere from England to Switzerland to the Holy Land. Employing a “conversational” writing style, Champney managed both to entertain her young readers and to whet their intellectual appetites. In a typical “Three Vassar Girls” novel, the main characters tackle pertinent issues like bigotry and career development, while swooning over cute boys and attending garden parties.”

zoom

Le Clavecin Bien Tempéré Ou Preludes Et Fugues Dans Tous Les Tons Et Demitons
(The Well-Tempered Clavier)
Johann Sebastian Bach. Vienna: Hoffmeister & Comp (And Leipzig: Bureau De Musique), [1801]

…I […Ii] Parthie, (The “48”, Books 1 & 2); Bwv 846-893), 2 volumes, 87 & 97 pages, oblong 4to, engraved throughout, plate numbers 53 and 91, contemporary green half calf, green-gilt titles to covers and spine, early ownership inscription (“Bischoff”), some foxing, [Hoboken 96 & 99; RISM B 501]

B-A Note:
Per Northern Arizona University:

The Well-Tempered Clavier, by J. S. Bach, is one of the world’s great intellectual treasures. Each of its two volumes contains a prelude and fugue in every major and minor key of the chromatic scale. Book I, which was completed in 1722, was the first cycle of compositions in this conception. Book I begins with a prelude in C Major, followed by a fugue in the same key. These are followed by a prelude and fugue in C minor, C#/Db major/minor, D major/minor, etc. Each pair moves up the chromatic scale until every key has been represented. In Book II, which was completed in 1744, Bach effects another complete transversal of the chromatic cycle. One of Bach’s primary purposes in composing these cycles was to demonstrate the feasibility of the “well tempered” tuning system that would allow for composition in every key.

NAU has a very cool interactive player, where you can hear each piece, see a visual representation of the composition, and read informative text about it. Uses Shockwave. May take a few minutes to install but worth it.

zoom

Stone, Herbert Stuart, ed. Essays from the Chap-Book [and] New stories from the Chap-Book being a miscellany of curious and interesting tales, histories, &c.; newly composed by many celebrated writers and very delightful to read. Chicago: Herbert S. Stone & Co., 1896 & 1898. 8vo (17.8 cm, 7”). I: vi, [2], [5]–262, [19 (adv.)] pp. II: [6], 260, [2] pp.

Bindings: Both volumes in publisher’s pinkish-tan cloth, all edges gilt. Vol. I’s spine in dark blue, each cover with A.E. Borie’s Art Nouveau design of a woman walking down the street while reading, stamped in black, green, yellow, and blue. Vol. II’s spine in red, covers each with striking black and red reproduction of Claude Bragdon’s Chap-Book poster of the “Sandwich Man”: a vignette of a bowler-hatted man in triplicate, wearing Chap-Book sandwich boards.