book-aesthete
Archive/RSS/Ask/Submit
"May blessings be upon the head of Cadmus, the Phoenicians, or whoever it was that invented books." -Thomas Carlyle
Welcome to my virtual book collection. Since collecting actual books is somewhat cost-prohibitive, I've begun to amass all of the books I would love to have if I had the means. Some are new, lots are old, all are unique or beautiful or unusual or in some other way have captured my fancy. Enjoy browsing!
Special Collections: Fine Bindings ~ Fairies and Fairy Tales ~ Terror and Madness ~ Poetry ~ Food, Drink and Apothecary ~ Science Fiction ~ Illuminations, Lettering and Hand-Coloring ~ Magic ~ Supernatural and Occult ~ Alchemy ~ Science and Technical ~ Maritime ~ Costumes ~ Humor ~ Children's books ~ Legend of King Arthur ~ Americana ~ 18th Century ~ 19th Century Authors and illustrators: Edgar Allan Poe ~ Jules Verne ~ Edmund Dulac ~ Kay Nielsen ~ Arthur Rackham ~ Edward Gorey ~ Charles Dickens ~ H.P. Lovecraft ~ William Hope Hodgson ~ Mark Twain ~ Lewis Carroll ~ Salvador Dali ~ George Cruikshank ~ Emily Dickinson ~ Geoffrey Chaucer ~ H.G. Wells
Brown’s kleurvisioenen met een woord ter aanwijzing en verklaring
J.H. Brown. Leeuwarden, Hugo Suringar, 1866.
Original illustrated green cloth-backed boards, flyleaves with publishers advertisements. With 16 numbered lithographed plates (13 hand-coloured) lithographed by Morriën & Amand, Amsterdam. [8] pp.
Rare first edition of the Dutch translation of J.H. Brown’s Spectropia, or surprising spectral illusions (1864), using the 19th-century knowledge of optics to explain how people see ghosts. A second edition was published ca. 1870.
As described in the (original) introduction: ” To see the spectres, it is only necessary to look steadily at the dot, or asterisk, which is to be found on each of the plates, for about a quarter of a minute,.. Then turning the eyes to the ceiling… of a darkened room (not totally dark), and looking rather steadily at any one point, the spectre will soon being to make its appearance, increasing in intensity, and then gradually vanishing, to reappear and vanish again.”
B-A Note: A translation of the popular Spectropia, which I posted here a few months back. Serendipity is fun!
11 months ago on May 24, 2012 at 12:00pm
![GEJAAGD DOOR DE WIND [GONE WITH THE WIND]
Mitchell, Margaret. Anton Piek. Haag: Zuid-Hollandsche Uitgevers Maatschappij(S. Holland Pub. Co) [1937].
First Dutch edition. A translation of Margaret Mitchell’s classic GONE WITH THE WIND in three volumes: “Vuur Over Land [Land on Fire)”; “Als Een Vlam in de Storm [Like a Flame in a Storm]”; “Het Zaad Ontikiemt [The Seed Sprouts].” Translated by W. J. A. Roldanus Jr. Illustrated by renowned artist Anton Pieck with over 25 paintings and drawings. Each frontispieces matches the respective dust jacket illustration. Tan boards over green cloth stamped with red and black on spine; intricate emblem on front board in red and gilt. Volume one’s dust jacket has a thin closed tear down the left edge of the spine and Volume two’s has a tear along the bottom of the spine. All three have some minor damp staining to the base of the spine with only volume two’s extending to some of the back pages. Otherwise in very good condition in heavy paper dust jackets with duplicates of color frontis pictures attached to front covers. As best we can determine the set is scarce but the original jackets are much scarcer, perhaps rare.
Books 2 and 3:](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lwo3uilEZs1qabm59o1_500.jpg)
GEJAAGD DOOR DE WIND [GONE WITH THE WIND]
Mitchell, Margaret. Anton Piek. Haag: Zuid-Hollandsche Uitgevers Maatschappij(S. Holland Pub. Co) [1937].
First Dutch edition. A translation of Margaret Mitchell’s classic GONE WITH THE WIND in three volumes: “Vuur Over Land [Land on Fire)”; “Als Een Vlam in de Storm [Like a Flame in a Storm]”; “Het Zaad Ontikiemt [The Seed Sprouts].” Translated by W. J. A. Roldanus Jr. Illustrated by renowned artist Anton Pieck with over 25 paintings and drawings. Each frontispieces matches the respective dust jacket illustration. Tan boards over green cloth stamped with red and black on spine; intricate emblem on front board in red and gilt. Volume one’s dust jacket has a thin closed tear down the left edge of the spine and Volume two’s has a tear along the bottom of the spine. All three have some minor damp staining to the base of the spine with only volume two’s extending to some of the back pages. Otherwise in very good condition in heavy paper dust jackets with duplicates of color frontis pictures attached to front covers. As best we can determine the set is scarce but the original jackets are much scarcer, perhaps rare.
Books 2 and 3:
via
qbbooks.com
1 year ago on December 23, 2011 at 12:46pm
Ghost Stories to Combat Superstition (approx.)
Geestverschijningen en spokerijen ontsluijerd, ter bestrijding van bijgeloof.
A. Fokke Simonsz, Amst., H. Moolenijzer, 1833.
First edition of a popular book by Arend Fokke Simonsz. (1755-1812). Adapted from the German, the book was intended to unmask and fully explain ghosts and haunting in order to fight superstition and fear for the supernatural. Still, the book probably was popular more for the horror stories and descriptions of haunting experiences it contained than for its educational value.
1 year ago on July 27, 2011 at 05:29pm
Journael ofte gedenckwaerdige beschrijvinge van de Oost-Indische reyse
Willem Ysbrantsz Bontekoe.. Amsterdam, Joost Hartgers, 1648
One of the most compelling and entertaining travel accounts of Dutch literature. Bontekoe details his eventful 8-year voyage to the East Indies. The vivid description of his ship accidently exploding in the Sunda Strait, killing almost a third of the crew, no doubt made a huge impression on his readers.
With 2 title-pages, both with large woodcut title vignette with two ships on both titles, and double-page engraved plate with 6 views of the ship at fire and in a storm, the islands St. Mary, Samatra and Princes eyland, and an image of flying fishes
1 year ago on June 04, 2011 at 09:21pm
