Art & Architecture

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 1411
CARVALHO, Joao Jorge de.

CARVALHO, Joao Jorge de. ~ Gaticanea, ou, Cruelissima guerra entre os caes, e os gatos, decidida em huma sanguinolenta batalha na grande praca da Real Villa de Mafra...

Lisbon: Francisco Luiz Ameno,   1781.
First edition of this marvellously illustrated mock epic, a battle of the sexes between cats (women) and dogs (men) in the Portuguese town of Mafra. The author includes numerous contemporary political and society figures. The two large folding plates by Manuel da Silva Godinho are fine evocations of the battle and one is set before the enormous baroque palace of Mafra, the folly of royal extravagance that had nearly bankrupted the Portuguese kingdom earlier in the century. There were two issues of the first edition, one (as here) with a directions to binder leaf at end, the other without, but no precedence has been established. It was reprinted in 1816 and 1828.   view more...
£1400.00
US$2722.57*
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 1415
D[AVIES], J[ohn].

D[AVIES], J[ohn]. ~ The ancient rites, and monuments of the monastical, & cathedral church of Durham. Collected out of ancient manuscripts, about the time of the suppression. Published by J.D. of Kidwelly.

London: for W. Hensman,  1672.
First edition, prepared by John Davies of Kidwelly, putatively from a Latin manuscript dating from the "Suppression". It is a detailed antiquarian survey of the church and particularly of the shrine of St Cuthbert, which is described in quite sumptuous detail. It includes (not from the original manuscript, if it existed) an explanation of the tradition forbidding women from entering into the presence of the relics of St Cuthbert. The saint had once lived as a hermit at Corwen and was falsely accused of deflowering the local King's daughter. When challenged by King and daughter, Cuthbert prayed to God, to the effect that the ground opened with a hissing sound, promptly conveying the lying princess to Hell. Through Cuthbert's generous intercession the Princess was returned to life, on the condition that no woman should ever resort to him again.   view more...
£300.00
US$583.41*
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 1286
[DALRYMPLE, David, Sir.]

[DALRYMPLE, David, Sir.] ~ Proposals for carrying on a certain public work in the city of Edinburgh.

[Edinburgh,  1752.]
First edition of a humorous and scatological skit on Sir Gilbert Elliot, Lord Minto's Proposals for carrying on certain public works in the city of Edinburgh which had appeared in the same year: the pioneering work of Enlightenment urban improvement which persuaded the town council to begin its celebrated building projects. Dalrymple's rather ungenerous pamphlet is concerned principally with sewers and the public "necessary-house" and it has recently been argued that while satirical in tone it was actually meant seriously. Dalrymple demonstrated a longstanding and enlightened interest in public health and hygiene as part of the regeneration of human societies (Patrick Cadell sub. Dalrymple, Oxford DNB).   view more...
£550.00
US$1069.58*
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 1434
DENNIS, George.

DENNIS, George. ~ The cities and cemeteries of Etruria.

London: John Murray,  1848.
First edition of the first detailed and accurate archaeological account in English of the Etruscans. "[In] 1848, when it at last appeared, The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, in two volumes, consisted of 114 plus 1085 pages of text, and gave the most detailed descriptions that had yet appeared in any language of all recorded Etruscan sites. It was heavily illustrated with Dennis's own drawings" (Oxford DNB). The author's achievment is no less remarkable for the fact that he was an autodidact who had received almost no formal schooling.   view more...
£350.00
US$680.64*
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 1466
 

(ENGLAND). BLACK, Adam and Charles, publishers. ~ Black's Guide to England and Wales containing plans of the principal cities, charts, maps, and views, and a list of hotels.

Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black,  1870.
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£45.00
US$87.51*
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 1223
 

(EXHIBITION CATALOGUE - PARIS SALON). ~ Explication des peintures, sculptures, et gravures de messieurs de l'académie royale dont l'exposition a été ordonnée suivant l'intention de sa Majesté par le comte de La Billardrie d'Angiviller.

Paris: la veuve Herissant,  1777.
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£120.00
US$233.36*
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 1516
FRANCISI [or FINX], Erasmus.

FRANCISI [or FINX], Erasmus. ~ Der Wunder-reiche Uberzug unserer Nider- Welt, Oder Erd-umgebende Lufft-Kreys, Nach seinem natürlichen Wesen, manchfaltigen Eigenschafften, Nutzen, und Würckungen, natür- und unnatürlichen, feuer- und wässerigen Erscheinungen.

Nuremberg: Wolffgang Moritz Endter,  1680.
First edition of a rather extraordinary illustrated book, devoted chiefly to the subject of extreme weather conditions and natural wonders. The 27 fine engraved plates depict a variety of exceptional meteorological occurrences: storms of rats, frogs, fish and snakes; storms at sea (with images of ships); a hurricane; thunderstorms and deluges. There are also striking plates showing will-o-the -wisps and mirages.Francisi (born Finx) was a polymath in the vein of Athanasius Kircher whose exceptionally wide learning was gleaned through a combination of formal education, travel and his work as an editor and proofreader for Endter at Nuremberg (who published this book). He is concerned here with natural science in the strict sense (he refers freely to Copernicus, Cardanus, Hevelius, Scaliger, Varenius and many others) and in a cultural sense. Much of his text describes human relations with the environment and his work is a valuable compendium of customs, beliefs and ceremonies across the known world concerning the weather. He also records numerous examples of freak conditions.His writing has been criticised for its floridity and pomposity, but Francisi was clearly more concerned with amplitude of description rather than economy of style.   view more...
£6000.00
US$11668.18*
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 1475
 

HOLT, Ardern. ~ Fancy dresses described; or what to wear at fancy balls... third and greatly enlarged edition. With additional coloured illustrations.

London: Debenham & Freebody, Wyman & sons,  [1882].
You're going to fancy dress party in 1882. You want to go as a nun? A Burmese peasant? Marie Antoinette? Salome? A watercress gatherer? Perhaps a carrier pigeon? This book tells you how. It did first in the edition of 1879, but without the full complement of coloured plates found here.   view more...
£60.00
US$116.68*
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 1220
 

KNIGHT, Richard Payne. ~ An analytical inquiry into the principles of taste.

London: C. Mercier for T. Payne,  1805.
First edition of an important work in the history of aesthetics, by one of the respected arbiters of eighteenth-century taste. It is also an important work in the philosophy of sensory perception, following Hume's formulation "Beauty is no quality in things themselves: it exists merely in the mind, which contemplates them, and each mind perceives a different beauty." There are excellent discussions of Burke, Hume and Reynolds, among others. A noted collector, Knight was a member of Society of Dilettanti and devoted a great deal of study to classical Greece.   view more...
£500.00
US$972.35*
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 1472
 

(LONDON). ~ Hardwicke's shilling handy book of London, an easy and comprehensive guide to everything worth seeing and hearing in and around the metropolis. Compiled from authentic sources and personal inquiry. New edition, illustrated.

London: Robert Hardwicke, n.d.,  [c. 1872].
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£15.00
US$29.17*
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 1471
(LONDON). HERBERT, Henry, publisher.

(LONDON). HERBERT, Henry, publisher. ~ London (illustrated). A complete guide to the places of amusement, objects of interest, parks, clubs, markets, docks, principal railway routes, leading hotels, and also a directory, in a concise form, of first class reliable houses in the various branches of trade. Seventh year of publication.

London: Henry Herbert & Co,  1878.
A very attractive and scarce Victorian guide to London, copiously decorated and illustrated and especially interesting for the series of photographic illustrations by Elliot and Fry, mainly depicting current luminaries of the London stage (Mesdames Albani and Marie Roze, the Bateman sisters, J.B. Buckstone, D. James and T. Thorne, Henry Neville, Miss Ada Swanborough, the Vokes sisters, the Girards, Miss Heath, Lydia Thompson, Edward Righton and Moore & Burgess (managers of the Saint James Minstrel troupe).   view more...
£250.00
US$486.17*
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 1479
 

(LONDON). KELLY, publisher. ~ Kelly's map of the suburbs of London.

London: Kelly's Directories Ltd, n.d.  [c.1870].
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£60.00
US$116.68*
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 1468
 

(LONDON). LEIGH, Samuel, publisher. ~ Leigh's new picture of London, or, A view of the political, religious, medical,literary, municipal, commercial and moral state of the British metropolis presenting a luminous guide to the stranger on all subjects connected with general information, business, or amusement to with are subjoined a description of the environs, and a plan for viewing London in eight days.

London: for Leigh and Son, and Baldwin and Craddock,  1834.
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£150.00
US$291.70*
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 1480
 

(LONDON). MACQUEEN-POPE, W[alter]. ~ Haymarket: theatre of perfection.

London: W.H. Allen,  1948.
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£10.00
US$19.45*
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 1477
 

(LONDON). NEVILL, Ralph and Charles Edward JERNINGHAM. ~ Piccadilly to Pall Mall, manners, morals, and man.

London: Duckworth & Co.,  1908.
First edition.   view more...
£35.00
US$68.06*
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 1469
 

(LONDON). TIMBS, John. ~ Curiosities of London exhibiting the most rare and remarkable objects of interest in the metropolis with nearly sixty years' personal recollections... a new edition, corrected and enlarged.

London: Virtue & Co.,   1876.
First published in 1855 Timbs's Curiosities is a wonderful catalogye of London facts and eccentricities: alchemists, coffee houses, Chelsea buns, fogs, law courts, railway termini, prisons - they're all here.   view more...
£75.00
US$145.85*
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 1478
 

(LONDON). WHEATLEY, Henry B. ~ Round about Piccadilly and Pall Mall; or a ramble from the Haymarket to Hyde Park. Consisting of a retrospect of the various changes that have occurred in the court end of London.

London: Smith, Elder & Co,  1870.
First edition.   view more...
£75.00
US$145.85*
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 1122
 

M'CULLA, V.[igors], ~ The Bank Note, or, engraver carv'd; in answer to Onesimus, the ecclesiastical state tinker...

London: [R. Wilks] for the author, "And sold at Nethaneel Chapel, on Tuesday and Thursday Evenings; at the Rev. J. Carter's Meeting, Portsea; by I. Miller, Bookseller, 72, Chancery Lane; Mr. Biddle, No. 11, Cleveland Street, Fitzroy Square; T. Ball, Whittlesea, Isle of Ely; and J. Fitzjohn, King's Cliff, Northamptonshire",  1806.
First and only edition of this virulent sectarian attack on the antinomian artist/engraver Garnet Terry ('Onesimus') by a dissenting 'Minister of the Gospel at Nethaneel chapel, Eden Street, Tottenham Court Road'. The 'minister of darkness', Terry, and his 'religious and political principles', promulgated from 'his haunt in Clare Court, Drury Lane' are roundly dismissed in seven letters. M'Culla refers repeatedly to a book by Onesimus put into his hands by a bookseller, which we have been unable to identify from library catalogues: Terry's earlier publications appear to have been on the subject of engraving or were simply short pamphlets. The work referred to by M'Culla ran to over 200 pages, if we can trust his references.The imprint and final advert provide a useful insight into the dissemination of non-conformist writings.   view more...
£120.00
US$233.36*
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 1247
 

(MAYER, Joseph.) GATTY, Charles Tindall. ~ Catalogue of the engraved gems and rings in the collection of Joseph Mayer F.S.A.

London: for the author by Bradbury, Agnew & Co.,   1879.
First edition. Joseph Mayer, the Liverpool goldsmith, became a major civic figure in Victorian Britain, mainly for his numerous philanthropic loans and gifts to museums from his enormous personal collections of early decorative arts. His gifts remain a major component of the Liverpool museum collections.    view more...
£125.00
US$243.09*
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 1156
NICHOLSON, William.

NICHOLSON, William. ~ The British Encyclopaedia, or dictionary of arts and sciences. Comprising an accurate and popular view of the present improved state of human knowledge...

London: by C. Whittingham, for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, J.Johnson, R. Baldwin, F. and C. Rivington [and numerous other in London],  1809.
First edition of the major scientific dictionary of the early nineteenth-century. It was nominally edited by Nicholson, but was mainly compiled by the dissenting scholar Jeremiah Joyce and published by a large 'conger' syndicate of London booksellers. It includes excellent accounts of new industrial technologies, notably the steam engine.   view more...
£400.00
US$777.88*
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 1429
PASSERI, Giovanni Battista.

PASSERI, Giovanni Battista. ~ Lucernae fictiles Musei Passerii.

Pesaro: [Niccolo] Gavelli,  1739 [-1743-1751.]
First edition of this celebrated illustrated account of Passeri's collection of oil-lamps. The collection was feted in its day as the best of its kind, but scholars have subsequently proved Passeri to have been the most gullible of collectors and that his collection consisted almost entirely of fakes. The work is thus a rather remakable testimony to the unfortunate fervour of an eighteenth-century collector. The frontispiece in volume 1 is a portrait of the Archbishop Friderico Lantio de Ruvere, engraved by Carlo Gregori after Giuseppe Menabuoni; emblematic title vignette by Giovanni Battista Passeri, engraved by Vincenzo Franceschini. The plates and head- and tail-pieces, are engraved after Giuseppe Menabuoni, mainly by Vincenzo Franceschini.   view more...
£1800.00
US$3500.45*
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 1160
[RAGUENET, François, Abbé.]

[RAGUENET, François, Abbé.] ~ Défense du parallèle des italiens et des français, en ce qui regarde la musique & les Opéra...

Paris: the widow of Claude Barbin,  1705.
First edition of this bitter polemic by a champion of Italian opera over its French rival, intended as a defence of the author's earlier Parallèle des Italiens et des Français. Raguenet, a scholarly French priest, had published the Parallèle in 1702 "which caused a lively controversy because of its author's manifest preference for Italian music. The Parallèle was the object of much discussion and created a small body of literature. An English translation... appeared in 1709, one German version... in 1722, and another...in 1759 and 1760. Le Cerf de la Viéville, a staunch supporter of Lully, answered in 1705 with a Comparaison de la musique italienne et de la musique française, which in turn elicited a rebuttal, Défense du Parallèle, from Raguenet in the same year" (Musical Quarterly). The spirited Défense pursues a page-by-page demolition of his critic's work, and inlcudes a defence of Raguenet's biography of Oliver Cromwell. Both the Parallèle and the Défense are important documents of eighteenth-century aesthetics, but both are rare in their first editions.The Stanford copy contains an engraved frontispiece, but none of the other library records or the bibliographies make mention of a frontispiece. There is no sign that one has ever been present or removed from our copy.   view more...
£650.00
US$1264.05*
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 1148
SILTZER, Frank.

SILTZER, Frank. ~ The story of British sporting prints.

London: Halton & Truscott Smith, Ltd.,  1929.
Revised and enlarged second edition, limited to 1000 copies.   view more...
£75.00
US$145.85*
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 1461
STRUTT, Joseph. Antoine Marie Henri BOULARD, translator.

STRUTT, Joseph. Antoine Marie Henri BOULARD, translator.  ~ Angleterre ancien, ou, Tableau des mœurs, usages, armes, habillemens, &c. des anciens habitans de l'Angleterre; c'est-à-dire, des anciens Bretons, des Anglo-Saxons, des Danois & des Normands. Ouvrage traduit de l'anglois de M. Joseph Strutt, par M. B***, & pouvant servir de suite aux Recueils de Montsaucon & de Caylus.

Paris: [widow Herissant for]: Maradin,  1789.
First editon in French of Strutt's antiquarian work, Horda Angel-cynnan: or, A compleat view of the manners, customs, arms, habits, &c. of the inhabitants of England (published in three volumes between 1774 and 1776). The illustrations in the French edition are re-engraved from those of the English edition which were mainly copied from a wide range of manuscript sources consulted by Strutt from the British Museum, Lambeth Palace Library, the Bodleian Library, and Oxford and Cambridge college libraries. The majority are from the Chronicle of Matthew Paris."Strutt may justifiably be regarded as the first serious historian of dress in England, and his pioneering works of scholarship were heavily drawn upon by nineteenth-century costume historians. Unlike many of his contemporaries, who doubted the reliability of artistic sources as historical evidence, he employed a comparative analysis of the manuscripts, showing that they were reliable indicators of changes not just in matters of dress but also of the 'manners and customs' of the time. He was one of the first to realize the potential value of visual material as a historical source rather than as simply serving an illustrative purpose. He showed an early appreciation of the intrinsic merit of medieval art and was unusual in producing near-facsimile engraved reproductions of the originals" (Harris in Oxford DNB).   view more...
£750.00
US$1458.52*
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 1552
(TEXTILES). Notebook of instructions, patterns and recipes for making linen and paper flowers for use on textiles.

(TEXTILES). Notebook of instructions, patterns and recipes for making linen and paper flowers for use on textiles. ~ 

[Low Countries:  1743 and later.]
The work of an eighteenth-century nun, this exceptional manuscript brings together detailed instructions for the dyeing of linen cloth using natural and chemical dies, for making artificial flowers from the dyed cloth, for their application to ecclesiastical vestments, altar cloths and hangings, and for the correct combination of iconographic elements. The bold penwork and wash designs comprise sprays of flowers and foliage (sunflowers, panseys, tulips and carnations) are delightful expressions of a long-established tradition of work in Cambrai linen in the Low Countries. The technical data concerning dyes and their practical application is especially valuable since it is the work of a craftswoman with detailed experience of their use. There are numerous asides (sometimes in the form of added slips or addenda) ampliying or modiying the instructions given. As well as cloth, there are also instructions for colouring vellum and paper.The production of the manuscript in a bilingual context is interesting. The main text is in French, but there are translations of the names of dyes into Flemish and some of the later additions are also in Flemish. It was probably prepared at a convent of St Godelieve for the use of the nuns (a note in French and Flemish tells us that it is not to be given or lent to anyone outside). A prominent note "ora pro Sr. Marie Placida Bens" may provide the author/artist's name. The loosely inserted notes include more recipes for dyes and instructions for use (mainly in Flemish), several more coloured designs (beasts, fruit and flowers), and cuttings from the decorative borders of three medieval manuscripts.As a whole the manuscript provides a remarkable insight into contemporary craft practices and evidence for female participation in a well- established traditional industry.   view more...
£2750.00
US$5347.91*
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 1452
 

(TORONTO, MUSIC). ~ A collection of c. 30 handbills and programs for musical events in Toronto.

[Toronto: various printers,  1850-1861.]
An interesting assemblage illustrating musical life in Toronto in the mid-nineteenth century: it includes handbills for performances by the Toronto Vocal Music Society, Toronto Philharmonic Society, the Sons of Temperance and the Brantford Glee Club and several advertising performances at Bowmanville, Brampton, Yorkville, Georgetown and Greenwood.   view more...
£125.00
US$243.09*
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 1486
(TUSCANY). GALLUZZI, Riguccio.

(TUSCANY). GALLUZZI, Riguccio. ~ Istoria del Granducato do Toscana sotto il Governo della casa Medici... edizioni seconda.

Florence: Gaetano Cambiago,  1781.
Second edition, published in the same year as the first.   view more...
£350.00
US$680.64*
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 1485
(TUSCANY). PIGNOTTI, Lorenzo.

(TUSCANY). PIGNOTTI, Lorenzo. ~ Storia della Toscana sino al principato con diveri saggi sulle scienze, lettere e arti...

Pisa: Didot,  1813-14.
First edition. An important history of Tuscany which found considerable European success. It was published the year after Pignotti's death and includes an engraved plate of his monument. It was published in English in 1823. Pignotti was born in Figline Valdarno, Tuscany. A doctor and lecturer at Pisa University, his literary output includes the collection Favole e novelle (1782) a light-hearted satire on contemporary society, the pre-Romantic poem La tomba di Shakespeare (1779), and mock-heroic poem La treccia donata (1808).   view more...
£475.00
US$923.73*
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 1383
WILD, Charles.

WILD, Charles. ~ An illustration of the architecture and sculpture of the Cathedral Church of Worcester.

London: by W. Nicol for the author in London and Knibb and Langbridge, Worcester,  1823.
First edition. Wild was both a watercolourist and engraver who found fame as illustrator of the great English cathedrals at the beginning of the Gothic revival. He produced several series of cathedral views in this format, but this was to be his last. Thereafter, he was afflicted by failing eyesight. The interiors of the Worcester series are especially grandiose.   view more...
£200.00
US$388.94*
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* Given as a guide only. Based on an exchange rate of £1 = US$1.944696 for the day 16 May 2008 but liable to fluctuate.

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16 May 2008