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A Detection of the Actions of Mary, Queen of Scots, Concerning the Murther of her Husband, and Her Conspiracy, Adultery and Pretended Marriage with the Earl Bothwel.
Modern half calf [Wing B5282], Richard Janeway, 1689—

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It is to be confessed that in this History there is but a parcel,
and it tells you but of one circumstance, yet gives light to
a many considerable ones, which
that the common Reader may the better draw
out, I shall only briefly acquaint him that
James the fifth, a cruel and vain-glorious
‘Prince lost his two only Sons, (both in one
week] a little before he was slain at Flod-
den-field, and so left no other Heir, but
Mary, a Child of four days old, which he
never had seen. This Child was accepted
and at five years of age ( the Scots seeing
they were likely to make better merchandize
of her in France, than in England, tho’ they
then profer’d high sent her into France, and at
12 married her to the Dauphin………

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Chronicles of Fashion, from the Time of Elizabeth to the Early part of the Nineteenth Century
Elizabeth Stone. London: Richard Bentley, 1845

Two volumes gilt morocco extra by Bayntun, with approximately 100 extra plates, 8vo, (good).

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“Fashion, who had found a haven and a home in the Court of Charles the Second, fled from its precincts during the occupation of his successors, the stern and unattractive William and Mary, the homely and indolent Anne, and the heavy and uninteresting German Elector. They had not any of them a spark of that brilliancy whose coruscations in the chambers of Whitehall had dazzled the eyes of beholders, and almost blinded them to the real nature of the orgies carried on within. We have seen that virtuous and irreproachable as Mary’s personal character was, she won none to her circle; she beguiled none of the votarists of the very questionable code of manners of her uncle’s and father’s day to imitate the purity and propriety of her own. It was not because she was virtuous, but because she was cold and repulsive, that Fashion fled away.”

-opening paragraph of Volume 2

Ouch.

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Mémoires sur la Bastille, et la Détention de l’Auteur dans ce Château Royal, depuis le 27 Septembre 1780, jusqu’au 19 Mai 1781.
LINGUET, SIMON-NICOLAS-HENRI.

Engraved frontispiece. iv, 171 pages * [SERVAN, JOSEPH-MICHEL-ANTOINE.] Apologie de la Bastille. Pour servir de Réponse aux Mémoires de M. Linguet sur la Bastille … Par un Homme en Pleine Campagne. [iii]-vi, [6], 231 pages; lacks half-title. 2 volumes in one. 8vo, contemporary sheep, spine ends damaged, cover corners worn through, joints cracked, cords intact; scattered stains, outer margin of G7 restored in first work. “Londres: De l’Imprimerie de T. Spilsbury,” 1783; “Philadelphie,” 1784

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Woman: in All Ages and in All Countries, vol. 2-10 (of 10)
Philadelphia, Printed for Subscribers Only by George Barrie, [1907]

NUMBER 6 OF 7 COPIES “issued with watercolor vignettes on the sub titles”, from an overall edition of 1000 copies, Original watercolour vignette of a woman on each half-title, numerous plates, mostly printed in 4 states, without the additional portfolio of plates, publisher’s blue crushed morocco gilt, signed inside upper cover “bound by Barrie”, spines with peacock motifs in gilt and red morocco onlays, morocco doublures with elaborate borders of linked chains, peacock feathers and flower sprays in gilt and morocco onlays, the front doublure with central oval incorporating a hand-painted portrait of a woman in national dress, the lower one with central design of a naked woman standing on top of a globe, watered silk free endpapers, g.e., slipcases, 8vo,

B-A Note: Manybooks.com lists the ten volumes, and the texts are available for download there as well.

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The Pilgrim Fathers: A Journal of their coming in the Mayflower to New England and their Life and Adventures there
Theodore Besterman, editor. Inlaid Cartographic Binding by Denise Lubett. Golden Cockerel Press, 1939.

8 wood-engraved illustrations by Geoffrey Eales. 8vo, gray-green morocco with tan morocco onlays forming a map of Massachusetts Bay, by Lubett, with her monogram stamp on rear lower turn-in; contents clean; 1/4 morocco folding case, spine darkened. number 65 of 300 copies.

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Pompe Funebri di Tutte le Nationi del Mondo
Verona, Francesco Rossi, 1646

Second revised and corrected edition of a description of the various modes of burial with all sorts of different people of the world, including descriptions of the religious traditions on death and burial as well as wordly views on the matter.

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Depictions of Commemorative Tombstones
BOXHORN, Marcus Zuerius. Amsterdam, Joannes Janssonius, 1638.

Bound in a very fine contemporary French black morocco mourning binding, spine ribbed and fully gilt with tear drops in compartments, sides with numerous tear-drops within triple gilt fillet and dentelle borders, large gilt coat-of-arms in centre, comprising lion rampant, three stars and three rosettes. With engraved frontispiece and 125 full-page engraved plates with grave-stones and tombs of famous Italian men, including Cicero, Ovidius, Lucretius, Virgilius, Dante Alighieri and many others.

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A Sentimental History of Chimney Sweeps in London & Westminster, Shewing the Necessity of putting them under Regulations to prevent the grossest Inhumanity to the Climbing Boys…,

Hanway (Jonas). First edition, engraved title and plate, title corner torn with loss, preliminaries small tears at head and slightly stained, contemporary sheep, gilt, a little rubbed, corners worn, rebacked, 8vo, 1785.

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Curiosities, Rarities & Wonders in England, Scotland, and Ireland
R.B. (Nathanael) Crouch, 1685.

Fourth edition enlarged, engraved frontispiece, 5 plates, 3pp. advertisements at end, contemporary ownership inscription to endpaper, frontispiece becoming loose, torn at top edge, lightly soiled, contemporary calf, chipped and rubbed, joints cracked, lower board becoming loose, 12mo, for Nath. Crouch at the Bell, [1685]. *** An account of earthquakes, tempests, fires, murders etc around the British Isles. Scarce, only 4 copies listed in libraries on ESTC.

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The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh
Sir Francis Bacon, 1622.

First edition, mixed issue, with errata partially corrected, engraved portrait frontispiece and title.

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Our First Century: Being a Popular Descriptive Portraiture of the One Hundred Great and Memorable Events of Perpetual Interest in the History of Our Country
R.M. Devens. Springfield MA, C.A. Nichols & Co, 1876.

First Edition. 1007 pp. Chromolithograph title page; woodcut illustrations throughout. (Large 8vo) original brown cloth stamped in gilt. A centennial history of the United States.

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Clarke, Lewis Garrard, & Milton Clarke. Narratives of the sufferings of Lewis and Milton Clarke, sons of a soldier of the Revolution, during a captivity of more than twenty years among the slaveholders of Kentucky, one of the so called Christian states of North America. Boston: Bela Marsh, 1846. 12mo (18.8 cm, 7.4”). 144 pp.; 2 plts.

Early edition, and the first to acknowledge both brothers in the title: The memoirs of two former slaves (sons of a Scottish-born soldier and a half-white slave) who escaped from brutal conditions in Kentucky. Lewis made his escape first, to Canada, and later returned to rescue his brother. His narrative was originally printed in 1845, while Milton’s name is added to the title for the first time here. Each narrative opens with a steel-engraved portrait of the author. Both narratives recount numerous harrowing stories of cruelty, along with many details of the business of slavery; and at the back is a question-and-answer session where Lewis provides answers to such inquiries as “How do slaves spend the Sabbath?,” “What is the clothing of a slave for a year?,” “How is it that masters kill their slaves, when they are worth so much money?,” “Do not slaves often say that they love their masters very much?,” and many others, offering an opportunity for Lewis to tell anecdotes he heard from other slaves. Also present at the back are a satirical “Order of Exercises for a Slaveholder’s Meeting,” and Whittier’s poem “Our Countrymen in Chains.”

The Narratives made Lewis Clarke a major figure in the abolition movement; Harriet Beecher Stowe cited him as an inspiration for the character George Harris, while Lydia Maria Child recorded one of his memorable speeches on the abolitionist lecture circuit.

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Charles II King of England.- [Coronation of Charles II], 1661

19 hand-coloured etched double-page plates, captions at head, all mounted on stubs.

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Ink & Blood. A Book of Drawings.
Szyk, Arthur. New York, Heritage Press, 1946.

Signed limited first edition, one of 1000 inscribed copies, of this striking collection of Szyk’s wartime propaganda work, with color frontispiece and 74 plates, six in color and mounted (the rest printed in sepia duotone), inscribed, “In memory of Ronnie Gaskin, Arthur Szyk.”

Polish-born Arthur Szyk considered his work to be “weapons of war.” Upon the German invasion of Poland in 1939, his life and career were altered forever. Syzk lived in London at the time, and, in an effort to sway American public opinion against the Nazis, British authorities dispatched him to New York City. There he was to assume the role of unofficial propagandist for the Allied powers, contributing a steady stream of anti-Nazi cartoons and caricatures for major U.S. publications, including Time, Collier’s, Esquire, The New York Times, the New York Post (where he eventually served as editorial cartoonist) and the Chicago Sun. For this mission, Szyk developed a new and different approach from his established style of “illumination,” creating caricatures that combined the precise detail and fine craftsmanship of his miniaturist illustrations with the barbed satire of political commentary.