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 922
 

(LONDON). MORLEY, Henry. ~ The journal of a London playgoer from 1851 to 1866.

London: George Routledge & Sons,  1866.
First edition.   view more...
£30.00
US$58.34*
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 1488
(DICTIONARY, English-Dutch). SEWEL, William.

(DICTIONARY, English-Dutch). SEWEL, William. ~ A large dictionary, English and Dutch, in two parts: Wherein each language is set in its proper form; the various significations of the words being exactly noted, and abundance of choice phrases and proverbs intermixt. To which is added a grammar, for both languages... The fifth edition corrected and enlarged [title also in Dutch].

Amsterdam: Jacob ter Beek,  1754.
Fifth edition (first published in Amsterdam in 1691) of one of the most important early English-Dutch dictionaries. Sewel, translator, lexicographer, and historian of Quakerism, visited England only once but he was in constant contact with the English speaking community in Amsterdam and corresponded widely with English associates (including fellow-Quaker William Penn).   view more...
£650.00
US$1264.05*
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 1490
(DICTIONARY, German-English).

(DICTIONARY, German-English). ~ The new and complete dictionary of the German and English languages composed chiefly after the German dictionaries of Mr. Adelung and of Mr. Schwan. Every German Word being rendered into proper English and thoroughly enriched with phrases and terms of Arts and Sciences: A work, which will be useful and even indispensible, and therefore welcome to all such as have a mind to translate or read the works of either of the two languages, elaborated by John Ebers.

Leipzig: for Breitkopf and Haertel,  1796-1798.
First editions of a very extensive German-Dictionary with detailed definitions of a large range of technical, popular and slang words. Little is known of the career of Johann Ebers (1742-1818) save that he was a professor Professor at Halle.    view more...
£800.00
US$1555.76*
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 1150
 

SENDIVOGIUS, Michael. ~ A new light of alchymy: taken out of the fountain of nature and manual experience, to which is added a treatise of sulphur. Written by Micheel Sandivogius. i.e. anagrammatically, divi leschi genus amo. Also nine books of the nature of things, written by Paracelsus, viz. Of the generations, growths, conservations, life, death, renewing, transmutation, separation, signatures of natural things. Also a chymical dictionary explaining hard places and words met withal in the writings of Paracelsus and other obscure authors. All which are faithfully translated out of the Latin into the English tongue, by J. F. MD.

London: A. Clark for Thomas Williams,  1674.
Sendivogius was regarded by contemporary alchemists as being the true possessor of the philosopher's stone, and in orthodox scientific terms his work is important for his observations on the components of air, leading to an argument that "contains the first idea of the existence of air" (DSB XII, 307).De lapide philosophorum was first printed at Prague in 1604 and thereafter became known as Novum lumen chymicum. The Tractatus de sulphure altero naturae principio, which frequently appeared with it (as here) first appeared at Cologne in 1616. This English translation by "J.F." (either John French or John Freke) appears with an English version of De rerum naturae, the classical Paracelsian text and an alchemical dictionary. It had been first printed in English in 1650, making our edition the second.   view more...
£1650.00
US$3208.75*
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 1442
[FENN, Ellenor]. [Mrs.] LOVECHILD.

[FENN, Ellenor]. [Mrs.] LOVECHILD. ~ First lessons in English grammar with questions and exercises adapted to the capacities of young children.

Paris: Truchy's French and English Library,   1836.
Presumably, this is a later edition of The Child's Grammar (1798), though our title is not listed in Carol Percy's bibliography of Ellenor Fenn's works. Many of Fenn's works published under the psuedonyms of "Mrs Teachwell"and "Mrs Lovechild" were directed towards young girls and women. She wrote an entire series entitled "Mrs. Teachwell's Library for Young Ladies" and most of these works focus on how to teach and outline Fenn's idea of proper reading materials for the young.   view more...
£95.00
US$184.75*
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 1278
STUART, Gilbert.

STUART, Gilbert. ~ An historical dissertation concerning the antiquity of the English constitution.

Edinburgh: printed for A. Kincaid & J. Bell; and for W. Sanby, J. Dodsley, E. Dilly, and T. Cadell, London,  1768.
First edition of this influential Scottish Enlightenment contribution to the debate over the origins of English liberty. "Published in 1768, the work summarizes the history of English liberty from the time of the first Britons to the Norman invasion. Implicit in this whiggish perspective was a challenge to David Hume, whose History of England had put a relativist historiographical agenda at the forefront of the debate on the nature of British liberty. In this ambitious attempt to synthesize the conjectural method of such writers as Kames and Adam Ferguson with the controversial approach of his relative Thomas Ruddiman, Stuart applied the legal scholarship of Montesquieu and John Dalrymple" (Zachs, Oxford DNB). The title-page bears a quote from Montesquieu on the origins of the British political system concluding "Ce beau systême a été trouvé dans le bois."   view more...
£850.00
US$1652.99*
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 1205
 

COTTU, Charles. ~ On the administration of criminal justice in England; and the spirit of English government... translated from the French.

London: for Richard Stevens and Charles Reader,  1822.
First complete edition in English (a much abbreviated version had appeared in the Pamphleteer in 1821). An important sympathetic account of the English system of criminal law, especially trial by jury. In 1821, Cottu, a French magistrate and founder of the Societé de l'Amèlioration de Prisons, was commissioned by the French government to study English criminal justice. The resulting work was not only an attempt to reform the "barbarous" French system but was also an expert first-hand account of English justice. It was widely read and translated.    view more...
£400.00
US$777.88*
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 1298
WALKER, William.

WALKER, William. ~ [A dictionarie of English and Latine idiomes wherein phrases of the English tongue answering in parallels each to the other are ranked under severall heads alphabetically set...] Idiomatologia Anglo-Latina, sive Dictionarium idiomaticum Anglo-Latinum: in quo phrases, tam Latinæ quam Anglicanæ linguæ sibi mutuò respondentes, sub certis quibusdam capitibus secundum alphabeti ordinem è regione collocantur. In usum tam peregrinorum, qui sermonem nostru Anglicanum, quàm nostratium, qui Latinum idioma callere student. Quarta editio. Cui acessit istiusmodi phrasium & idiomatum additio in utraque lingua ad minus trium millium.

London: E. Horton for T Sawbridg,  1685.
Walker's excellent Latin-English phrase book was first published in 1670 and was popular enough to run to six editions before the century's close. Arranged alphabetically beneath English word headings it provides short Latin phrases (usually with the classical source identified) and a corresponding English translation. Intended as an aid to polished Latin composition, it is not without a gentle humour. Phrases such as "They bring a company of girls with them" (ancillarem gregem ducunt seum) and "He might compare with Neptune himself for fishing" (Ipse Neptuno non cederet de piscatu) may well have appealed to the contemporary schoolboy. Walker, best known for his more common Treatise of English Particles, was a Lincolnshire schoolmaster who became rector of Colsterworth, the birthplace of Isaac Newton. He was also headmaster of Grantham Free grammar school, but after Newton's time. The two became acquainted at Colsterworth and one hopes that Walker's facility with Latin had some influence on Newton's own highly-accomplished Latin.This copy belonged early to Anthony Grey Earl of Kent and was later in the collection of the English catholic poet and writer Maurice Baring and bears two examples of his very individual bookplate designed by Hilaire Belloc in 1897 with the text "Here goes a ship with a cargo of books to the city of dreams."   view more...
£900.00
US$1750.23*
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 1443
EDGEWORTH, Maria.

EDGEWORTH, Maria. ~ The orange man or the honest boy and the thief.

Paris: Truchy's French and English Library,  1835.
An English-language chapbook from Truchy's French and English Library series. A moral tale for young children it originally appeared in the first (1796) edition of The Parent's Assistant. Scarce.   view more...
£100.00
US$194.47*
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 1377
WORLIDGE, John.

WORLIDGE, John. ~ Vinetum Britannicum: or, A treatise of cider, and such other wines and drinks that are extracted from all manner of fruits growing in this kingdom. Together with the method of propagating all sorts of vinous fruit-trees. And a description of the new-invented ingenio or mill, for the more expeditious and better making of cider. And also the right method of making metheglin and birch-wine. With copper-plates. By J.W. Gent.

London: by J[ames]. C[ottrell]. for Tho. Dring,  1676.
First edition of a celebrated English wine and cider book, considering many aspects of the production of drinks from fruit and the cultivation of fruit in general. The first chapter "Of drinks in general" is a brief attempt at a survey of drinking habits across the world, with references to drinks popular in Europe, Africa, the Indes and America (Caribbean, Brazil, Peru, Chile) which include tea, coffee and chocolate. The main body of the work is devoted to the cultivation of apples and vines in England, the preparation of the fruit and the making of cider and wines. The latter includes various fruit wines and specialities such as metheglin. The final "Catalogue of fruits" presents a marvellous litany of old-English apple names: Pearmains, Pippins, Russetts, Marigold, Gilliflower, Famagusta, Cat's head, Gennet-Moyle... let's have some more... Non-such, Angel's bit, Oaken-pin, Sodome-Apple ("esteemed a good apple").   view more...
£1500.00
US$2917.04*
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 1131
BERTHOLLET, Claude Louis.

BERTHOLLET, Claude Louis. ~ Elements of the art of dyeing... translated from the French by William Hamilton...

London: by Stephen Couchman, and sold by J. Johnson,  1791.
First edition in English, very scarce, of Berthollet's important scientific contribution to the burgeoning European textile industry. Having collaborated with Lavoisier on the latter's pioneering chemical nomenclature and presented some seventeen memoirs to the Academy, the author was already an influential chemist when appointed inspector of dye works and director of the Manufacture Nationale des Gobelins in 1784. The Gobelins had their origins in the workshops of Flemish weavers brought to Paris by Henri IV in 1602 and were formally established by Colbert in 1667 as the "Royal Manufactury of Furnishings to the Crown". They became the pre-eminent centre for tapestry weaving in EuropeIn the Éléments de l'art de la teinture Berthollet "endeavored to place the ancient craft of dyeing on a scientific basis by a systematic discussion of its procedures, coupled with an attempt to find an adequate set of theoretical principles to explain the chemical actions involved. His explanation was that, depending on the variable physical conditions of temperature, quantity of solvent employed, and so forth, when a cloth was dyed the reciprocal affinities of the particles of the dye, the mordants, and the cloth itself were responsible for the kind and quality of dyeing. The colors produced were due to the oxidation of the mordant by the atmosphere" (DSB).The British edition appeared in the same year as the French, reflecting the market for such a treatise in a country where textile production was becoming one of the most important national industries. A second British edition appeared at Edinburgh the following year and several reprints appeared in the nineteenth century, presumably a measure of the popularity and utility of this scientific manual of dyeing in the British industrial revolution.   view more...
£1300.00
US$2528.10*
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 1257
(NEWTON). PEMBERTON, Henry.

(NEWTON). PEMBERTON, Henry. ~ Elémens de la philosophie newtonienne... traduit de l'Anglois [by Elias de Joncourt]..

Amsterdam and Leipzig: Arkstée & Merkus,  1755.
First edition in French of perhaps the mostly widely-read early work on Newton, the View of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy (first published in England in 1728). Pemberton's explanation of Newton's thought for a lay audience is valuable for having been written from the point of view of a friend and contains a good number of anecdotes. Pemberton had been as close to Newton as any other scientist and had superintended the editing of the definitive third edition of the Principia mathematica. The View was read in part to the dying Newton. It is often cited as evidence that Newton did not need to see an apple drop to formulate his theory of gravitation: Pemberton tells us simply that the idea came to him while sitting alone in a garden. Though the English edition was very popular and is not now especially rare, the continental translations are very scarce indeed. They are, however, important. Newton's acceptance in Europe was famously slow and it is through works such as Pemberton's that his thought became more widely understood. In addition to the French translation by de Joncourt there is an earlier Italian translation of 1733.   view more...
£875.00
US$1701.61*
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 1291
RONQUILLO, Pedro.

RONQUILLO, Pedro. ~ The idea of the court of France, and the method of their proceedings, from the time of the Peace of Nijmeguen, until the spring of the year 1684. Supposed to be written by Don Pedro Ronquillo, the Embassador of Spain at the Court of England. Done out of Spanish into English.

London: for A. and J. Churchil,  1704.
First edition in English of this diplomatic memoir by the Spanish ambassador to England. The anonymous editor suggests that the work was actually written in England but that it was first printed (in Spanish) in 1684 in Cologne. That first edition appears very rare.   view more...
£200.00
US$388.94*
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 1444
FÉNELON, François de Salignac de La Mothe-,

FÉNELON, François de Salignac de La Mothe-, ~ Instructions for the education of a daughter, by the author of Telemachus. To which is added a small tract of instructions for the Conduct of Young Ladies of the Highest Rank. With Suitable Devotions Annexed. Done into English, and revised by Dr. George Hickes. The second edition.

London: for Jonah Bowyer,  1708.
Second edition, first published the previous year. Fénelon's treatise on the education of daughters in French polite society was translated for the use of the English by an anonymous friend of Bishop George Hickes for the specific use of a noble lady, her name disguised in the text as 'Antiope', and her daughters and published by Hickes. Chapters include "The use of Histories for Children", "Beauty and Ornaments", "Wit and Delicacy", "Housewifery and neatness", "Care of Health" and "Reading and Choice of Books."   view more...
£225.00
US$437.56*
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 1540
 

[GRACIAN, Baltasar.] SAVAGE, [John], translator.  ~ The art of prudence: or, A companion for a man of sense Written originally in Spanish by that celebrated author Balthazar Gracian; now made English from the best edition of the original, and illustrated with the Sieur Amelot de la Houssaie's notes, by Mr. Savage.

London: Daniel Brown, J. Walthoe and T. Benskin,  1702.
First edition of this translation. Gracian's Oraculo manual y arte de prudencia is a classic seventeenth-century Spanish work of moral instruction and is one of the original self-help books. It was first published in 1647 and previous English translations had appeared in 1685 and 1694; Savage's edition was probably translated from a French version. The enduringly popular work is composed of a series of 300 maxims covering moral topics such as 'The way to live long', 'in prosperity to prepare for adversity' and 'To speak with the vulgar but to think with the wise'.   view more...
£175.00
US$340.32*
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 1559
 

EDIE, George. ~ The art of English shooting; under the following heads: of the knowledge of a good fowling-piece. The ordering and managing the fowling-piece. The appendages of the fowling-piece. The choice of powder, shot, and flints. Of partridge shooting, and the choice and ordering of pointers. Of pheasant shooting, with the ordering and managing of spaniels. Of woodcock shooting. Of snipe shooting. Of water and fen-fowl shooting; and the use of proper dogs. Of upland winter shooting. With necessary observations for the young sportsman, when out and on returning home. Also abstracts of the late acts of Parliament for the preservation of game; for granting licences for shooting, &c. Together with an abstract of the acts of Parliament for preventing the stealing of dogs, &c...

London: J. Cooke,  [c. 1780].
Apparently unrecorded edition of the Edie; first edition of Best's Treatise. A desirable pairing of two important English sporting books. George Edie's exceptionally scarce treatise is notable as only the third English book on shooting birds in flight, preceded by George Markland's verse Pteryflygia, or the Art of Shooting-flying, 1727, and Thomas Page's The Art of Shooting Flying, 1766, which treats the fowling piece and shooting game birds and wild fowl in much the same manner as Edie's work. The first edition of Edie's work appeared in 1772 as A Treatise on English Shooting, retitled about 1780 as The Art of English Shooting. Our copy is an apparently unrecorded later edition of this work. ESTC and Schwerdt list the first edition which concurs with our copy in that the title is undated, but has 29 pages plus an additional page of adverts, whereas our copy has 31 pages plus adverts. ESTC records two other editions with the latter pagination, but with title-pages dated 1775 and 1777 respectively. In any edition this present work is scarce in trade. According to ABPC no edition of the work has appeared at auction in the past 30 years.Best's Treatise on Angling was a very popular book in its day; eleven editions were published in the succeeding 40 years. It is in two parts, the first including descriptions of different fish and the types of angling equipment, and the second concerning fly fishing and with a description of all the fishing rivers of England, particularly the Thames.   view more...
£2000.00
US$3889.39*
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 1333
 

(THEATRE). COLMAN, George, the Elder. ~ The English merchant, a comedy. As it is acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane.

London: for T. Becket and P.A. De Hondt; and R. Baldwin,  1767.
First edition. Based on Le café ou l'ecossaise by Voltaire and with an epilogue written by David Garrick.   view more...
£80.00
US$155.58*
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 1229
 

(JESUITS). OLIVER, George, the Reverend. ~ Collections towards illustrating the biography of the Scotch, English, and Irish members of the Society of Jesus.

London: Charles Dolman,  1845.
First edition, one of 250 copies of this valuable biographical dictionary.   view more...
£150.00
US$291.70*
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 1151
BOERHAAVE, Herman.

BOERHAAVE, Herman. ~ A method of studying physick. Containing what a physician ought to know in relation to the nature of bodies, the laws of motion: staticks, hydrostaticks, hydraulicks, and the properties of fluids: chymistry, pharmacy, and botany: osteology, myology, splanchnology, angiology and dissection: the theory and practice of physick: physiology, pathology, surgery, diet, etc. And the whole Praxis medica interna; with the names and characters of the most excellent authors on all these subjects in every age: systematicks, observators, operators, &c. their best editions, and the method of reading them. Written in Latin... Translated into English by Mr. Samber.

London: by H.P for C. Rivington, B. Creake and J.Sackfield,  1719.
First edition in English of Institutiones medicae, the hugely influential series of medical lectures given at Leyden by one of the most important clinicians and teachers of the eighteenth-century. Boerhaave's university lectures were given in Latin and attracted an enthusiastic audience of scholars from all over Europe. He is credited (with Thomas Sydenham) with the rediscovery of Hippocrates and he introduced the modern method of clinical instruction which has remained the basis of medical education until the present day. A method of studying physick is important not just for its instruction in clinical theory but for its bibliographical throroughness, introducing students to the medical literature of the past and present through detailed citations of the works of great figures of European science.Boerhaave's influence in the British Isles was considerable: the medical faculty at Edinburgh was re-founded by Alexander Monro after the model of his teacher at Leyden and the best account of Boerhaave's life was written by Samuel Johnson (published in the Gentleman's Magazine 1739). The present translation from the original Latin text of 1708 is by Robert Samber.    view more...
£950.00
US$1847.46*
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 1345
 

(THEATRE). DIBDIN, Thomas. ~ The English fleet in 1342: an historical comic opera, in three acts: as performed at the Theatre-Royal, Covent-Garden.

London: for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme,  1805.
First edition of the libretto. The opera had been performed in 1803 and the songs and duets had appeared in print that year.   view more...
£75.00
US$145.85*
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 1311
CHARLETON, Walter.

CHARLETON, Walter. ~ Oeconomia animalis, novis in medicina hypothesibus superstructa, & mechanicè explicata...

London: Roger Daniel and John Redmayne,  1659.
First edition on Latin (issued simultaneously in English) of this important work in the history of physiology. "In 1659 Charleton published a mechanistic account of physiology in Latin (Oeconomia animalis) and English (Natural History of Nutrition, Life, and Voluntary Motion), which included the suggestion that there was no increase in volume when a muscle contracted. Charleton was here rejecting the Cartesian account which attributed muscle shortening to its inflation by animal spirit. Charleton's assessment was confirmed experimentally by Jonathan Goddard in 1669" (Oxford DNB).    view more...
£1200.00
US$2333.64*
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 1560
 

LA FONTAINE, Jean de. ~ La Fontaine's Fables. Now first translated from the French; whit [sic] Elegant Engraved Figures. By Robert Thomson.

Paris: [G. Doyen] "at all the booksellers,"  n.d. [c. 1820.]
A very rare English edition and an interesting example of opportunistic publishing. This English La Fontaine was first printed by Brochot in 1805 and by Chenu in 1806, apparently both with and without illustrations (probably 16 plates). This edition uses the sheets of one of those editions (wtih their copious decorative tailpieces) and adds new titles on different paper and obviously different typography. The advertised "Elegant Engraved Figures" consist of 4 plates from the earlier edition, each marked "vol. 2" at the head bound as a frontispiece to each volume. This copy is as issued, with the original printed labels.   view more...
£800.00
US$1555.76*
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 1324
 

(THEATRE). BEAZLEY, Samuel. ~ Jealous on all sides, or, The landlord in jeopardy! A comedy in two acts. First performed at the Theatre Royal, English Opera on Wednesday, August 19, 1818. The music composed by Mr. [John Marks] Jolly.

London: William Fearman Library,  1818.
First edition. A comic opera (this the libretto only) performed to music by Jolly, fittingly. Beazley was a prolific actor and playwright, but perhaps made his greatest contribution as a theatrical architect, remodelling no less than 7 London theatres.   view more...
£150.00
US$291.70*
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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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 1319
GOWER, John.

GOWER, John. ~ De Confessione Amantis.

London: Thomas Berthelet,  1532.
Second edition of Gower's great Middle English poem, completed about 1390 and dedicated to Richard II. Gower is chiefly remembered as a friend of Geoffrey Chaucer and his Confessio Amantis is frequently cited as the origin of William Shakespeare's play Pericles (who's story is taken from book 8 of the Confessio) but he should be accepted in his own right as one of the great pioneers of English literature.The plan of the Confessio was doubtless borrowed from the Roman de la Rose, and consists of a dialogue first between the poet, in the character of a lover, and Venus, and afterwards between the poet, in the character of a penitent, and Genius, whom Venus assigns to him as a confessor. In the conversation between the penitent and the confessor the seven deadly sins are discussed and illustrated from Gower's encyclopaedic knowledge of Ovid, Josephus, Vincent de Beauvais, Statius, the Gesta Romanorum, the Bible, and other sources. In the eighth book, having described the duty of a king and prayed for England, the poet bids farewell to earthly love. The work is a profound meditation on human love and morality and in Gower's own words in the Prologue it was "a boke for Englondes sake".The work survives in numerous early manuscripts (attesting to its immediate popularity) and was first printed by Caxton in 1474. Thomas Berthelet's edition of 1532 is considered textually superior to Caxton. Pforzheimer notes that the "edition was printed from a manuscript, resembling MS. Bodley 294, but inferior in correctness, collated with Caxton's edition from which several passages lacking in the manuscript were supplied. In the prefatory note 'To the reader' Berthelet included the alternative form of the introductory lines Prologue 24-92, also from Caxton's edition, so that on the whole this edition is textually an improvement over the earlier one. It is also a good example of workmanlike printing much above the average English work of the period" (Pforzheimer). The third edition of 1554 is merely a paginary reprint of the present.The early ownership inscription of William Sotheby is dated 1532. This copy is handsomely bound in the style of Mackinley for the Earl of Stafford, among the richest men in England at the opening of the nineteenth-century. The Earl was himself a latter-day member of the Gower family (he claimed descent in the male line from Sir Alan Gower of Stittenham, supposedly sheriff of York at the time of the conquest). Several antiquaries had previously suggested that the poet's origins lay in the same place, so this would have been a fitting acquisition for the Earl.   view more...
£15000.00
US$29170.44*
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 1299
 

SIRET, Pierre-Louis. ~ Elémens de la langue angloise, ou Méthode pratique pour apprendre facilement cette langue, par M. Siret. Nouvelle édition revue, corrigée et augmentée.

Paris, T. Barrois fils,  1802.
Siret's method for learning the English language first appeared in 1780 and was widely reprinted.   view more...
£40.00
US$77.79*
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 1506
BACON, Francis, Sir.

BACON, Francis, Sir. ~ Essays, or counsels, civil and moral. By Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban, And Lord High Chancellor of England.

Glasgow: R. Urie,  1752.
A nice eighteenth-century Glasgow edition of the most read work by the father of the English renaissance.   view more...
£190.00
US$369.49*
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 1372
[LA GRANGE, Nicolas de, translator.]

[LA GRANGE, Nicolas de, translator.] ~ Histoire de Miss Indiana Danby, traduite de l'anglois. Par M. de L***. G***.

"Londres, et se trouve à Paris, chez Ch. J. Panckoucke" [probably Low Countries],  1767.
First edition in French of this epistolary novel first published anonymously in English by "a lady" in 1765, rare both in its English and French forms. The French translation was apparently issued with both a "Londres et Paris" and also an "Amsterdam et Paris" imprint. Barbier lists the latter only. A further 2 volumes appeared to complete the English set (1767) but were apparently never issued in translation.   view more...
£450.00
US$875.11*
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 1406
(ROESSLIN, Eucharius.) BALLANTYNE, John William.

(ROESSLIN, Eucharius.) BALLANTYNE, John William. ~ The "Byrth of Mankynde": its author, editions and contents... two communications made to the Edinburgh Obstetrical Society... Reprinted from the "Journal of Obstetrics and Gynæcology of the British Empire," ...

London: Sherratt and Hughes,  [1907.]
First edition, presentation copy. A study and bibliography of this celebrated rarity of obstetrics, the first book in English on midwifery (1540).   view more...
£100.00
US$194.47*
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 1113
 

OVIDIUS NASO, Publius. ~ Metamorphoses [in Latin, edited with commentary by Thomas Farnaby.]

'Amsterdam: Joannem Blaeu' [but probably Paris,]  1668.
An attractive 'faux Elzevir' edition, with the notes by the English grammarian Thomas Farnaby (which first appeared in the London edition of 1637).   view more...
£200.00
US$388.94*
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 1414
 

LA CHAPELLE, Jean de. ~ Les carosses d'Orleans. Comédie. Par le Sieur D.L.C.

Paris: Jean Ribou,  1681.
First edition of this comedy first acted at the Théâtre de Guénégaud, 9 August 1680. It was adapted as a farce for the English stage (Drury Lane) by George Farquhar as The stage-coach in 1709 and appeared in several English and Dutch editions. La Chapelle was born at Bourges in 1655 and was for some time in the service of the Princes of Conti.   view more...
£300.00
US$583.41*
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 1398
VIDOCQ, Eugène François.

VIDOCQ, Eugène François. ~ Memoirs of Vidocq, principal agent of the French police. Written by himself. Translated from the French. In four volumes...

London: Whittaker and Co.,   n.d. [c. 1828-1830s?]
Vidocq is recognised as the first detective novel, though it is loosely based on the real career of criminal-turned-investigator Vidocq. It first appeared in French in 1828-9 and in English in the same years. The first English edition was published by Hunt and Clarke and carried the additional name of Whittaker only in the two later volumes. It also contained a frontispiece portrait, not present here. Our issue, apparently using the sheets of the first English edition contains titles obviously tipped-in as cancels, bearing the name "Whittaker and Co." in all volumes. We have been unable to find records for this undated imprint in any of the catalogues consulted, though Whittaker also issued a dated edition of all four volumes in 1830, apparently without a portrait, as here.   view more...
£400.00
US$777.88*
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 1502
CASTIGLIONE, Baldassare, Count.

CASTIGLIONE, Baldassare, Count. ~ The Courtier. Written in Italian by Balthasar, Count Castiglione. In four books. I. Of the Form and Manner of a Court Life. II. Of the Qualifications of a Courtier. III. Of the Accomplishments of a Court Lady. And, IV. Of the Duty of a Prince. Hic est Ille. Translated from the original.

London: printed for A. Bettesworth, E. Curll, J. Battley, J. Clarke, and T. Payne,   1724.
First edition of this translation by Robert Samber of the classic Renaissance manual of etiquette and deportment. "Many of [Samber's] works, such as The Courtier, translated from the original by Castiglione, demonstrate that he was a very competent translator—having French, Latin, and Italian—and that he was highly interested in the problems posed by editing and translating. In the preface to The Courtier he shows an intimate knowledge of the English publishing history of Castiglione, and discusses past and present English versions" (J. & F. Blom in ODNB). Samber incorrectly states that the first English edition (that of Thomas Hoby) was printed in 1588, since it had first appeared as early as 1561. He also dismisses that version thus: "It is certain the Sir Thomas did not understand his Author, or at least his Language is such, that I do not understand Him..."   view more...
£700.00
US$1361.29*
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 1317
 

DORAN, Dr. ~ Table traits with something on them.

(New York): Redfield,   1855
First American edition. Published one year after the English first but suprisingly much scarcer with no copies listed in copac. The volume provides a miscellany of anecdotes on food, drink, dining, coffeehouses, and cafes.   view more...
£140.00
US$272.26*
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 1322
HAEBERLIN, Franz Dominicus.

HAEBERLIN, Franz Dominicus. ~ Analecta medii ævi ad illustranda jura et res Germanicus.

Nuremberg & Leipzig,  1764.
First edition. A digest of the laws, customs and charters relating to the privileges of the Hanseatic League, the alliance of trading guilds that established and maintained a trade monopoly over the Baltic and North Seas in the medieval period. Nearly half of the work relates to representation of the League in England and the charters granted by English kings.   view more...
£150.00
US$291.70*
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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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 1204
[BERRY, Mary.]

[BERRY, Mary.] ~ A comparative view of the social life of England and France, from the restoration of Charles the second, to the French Revolution.

London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green,  1828.
First editions. Berry, Horace Walpole's protegée and later editor, here provides a richly detailed account of English society from Mid-Georgian to mid-Victorian and of France in the same period. There are especially valuable accounts of Napoleon, Mme de Sta'l, and Princess Caroline. Both works are scarce.    view more...
£450.00
US$875.11*
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 1097
YONGE, Charlotte.

YONGE, Charlotte. ~ The Armourer's Prentices.

London: Macmillan and Co.,  1884.
First edition. "I have attempted here to sketch citizen life in the early Tudor days, aided therein by Stowe's Survey of London, supplemented by Mr. Loftie's excellent history, and Dr. Burton's English Merchants" (from the Preface).   view more...
£85.00
US$165.30*
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 1384
SETTLE, Elkanah.

SETTLE, Elkanah. ~ Eusebia triumphans. The Hannover succession to the imperial crown of England, an heroick poem.

London: for John Nutt,  1702.
First edition of the Restoration dramatist's celebratory poem in rhymed heroic verse on the future of the Hanoverian succession, bound like many of his works in a presentation binding under the instruction of the author, or even (as has been suggested) by the author himself. This example is without the armorial centrepiece found on many of his bindings: Settle habitually presented copies of his works to potential noble patrons and added their arms. Settle was a very prolific playwright whose reputation has perhaps been unjustly coloured by the attacks of contemporaries such as Dryden, who wrote of Settle's work: "free from all meaning, whether good or bad, / And, in one word, heroically mad" (Absalom and Achitophel). Certainly his language is extravagant, even bombastic, but this reflects Settle's genius for spectacle. In 1680 he had been engaged by the Earl of Shaftesbury to create a pageant for one of his anti-Catholic Pope-burning events in the City of London, a spectacle which was said to have cost £1000 to produce.   view more...
£800.00
US$1555.76*
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 1410
(REYNARD the FOX).

(REYNARD the FOX). ~ Reineke Fuchs, Das ist, Ein sehr Nützliches, Lust- und Sinn-reiches Büchlein Darein auf verbluemete, jedoch Löbliche schreibart, unter den Nahmen dess Löwen, Bähren, Fuchses, Wolfes u. Das Hofe, wie auch aller Stande der Welt Leben und Wesen, so sohl nach ihren Tugenden, als auch insonderheit nah denen darein vorfallenden Lastern, merklich beschrieben, und gleichsam mit lebendigen Farben bezeichnet wird; Auff das Neue mit allerhand jetziger Zeit üblichen Reim-arten, als vier, fünff, neun, zehen, zwölff, dreyzehen, u. langkurtzen, kurtzlangen, lang-gekürtzten, gekürtzlangen, bald eingesprengten, bald reinen: Wie auch abwallenden kurtzschliessenden u. aufgezierat ; Mit etzlichen hundert Verssen bereichet, mit underschiedlichen Sitten und Lehr-Sätzen verbessert Und in drey Theile abgetheilet.

Rostock: Joachym Wilde,   1662.
A scarce and very attractive German baroque woodcut-illustrated Reynard the Fox. It had apparently first appeared with these illustrations in 1650 (also Rostock). The cuts are derived ultimately from those of Virgil Solis in the High-German edition published at Frankfurt in 1564 but the text is rewritten (by an anonymous editor) in verse with a new meter (an index of which is given at the end of the book).    view more...
£1500.00
US$2917.04*
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 1269
STUART, Robert.

STUART, Robert. ~ Histoire descriptive de la machine a vapeur, traduite de l'Anglais de R. Stuart; précédée d'une introduction exposant la théorie des vapeurs; suivie de la description des perfectionnements faits en France, et des considérations générales sur l'emploi de ces machines.

Paris: Malher et Compagnie,  1827.
First edition in French of Stuart's pioneering early history of the steam engine, translated (with additional notes by the French editor) from the third English edition of 1825. The work describes the major inventions from Hero of Alexandria, through Caus, Branca, the Marquis of Worcester, Moreland, Papin, Newcomen, and Hulls, to Watt, Hornblower and Trevithick. The final 60 pages contain an appendix not found in the English editions designed to demonstrate the developments in steam engineering in France since 1815. Brunel is rightly claimed as a Frenchman. The title formed part of Malher et Compagnie's Bibliothéque industrielle and is very scarce.   view more...
£400.00
US$777.88*
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 1387
 

[SCOTLAND.] [CROKER, John].  ~ Silver medal struck to commemorate the 1707 Act of Union between England and Scotland.

  1707.
One of three medals struck on the occasion of the Act of Union, which received the royal assent on the 6th of March, 1707 and came into operation on the 1st of May of that year. The Union is indicated here by the impaling of the English and Scottish arms on the British shield, by the conjunction of the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew upon the shield held by the unicorn, and by a rose and thistle growing on the same stalk upon the lion's shield.The engraver John Croker (born Dresden became assistant to the chief engraver at the Royal Mint in 1697, producing his first English medal in the same year. He succeeded as chief engraver in 1705, designing dies for all the gold and silver coins during the reigns of Anne and George I, plus many similar commemorative medals.   view more...
£950.00
US$1847.46*
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 1393
BARLOW, Joel.

BARLOW, Joel. ~ The vision of Columbus: A poem in nine books.

London: C. Dilly and J. Stockdale, "Hartford N.E. printed London re-printed,"  1787.
First London edition and first edition respectively. Barlow's ambitious philosophical poem, dedicated to the king of France and sponsored by George Washington, received great acclaim on publication and he was proclaimed a genius both by his peers and the public at large. As the imprint here notes, it was first printed in Barlow's native America (also in 1787).Five pieces of runic poetry represents the first translation of any Icelandic-Eddic literature into English and is among the earliest of Percy's many translations of ancient and exotic poetry. His greatest later success was the Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765).   view more...
£625.00
US$1215.43*
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 1457
[JAMES II, King of England.]

[JAMES II, King of England.] ~ Declaration du Roy de la Grande Bretagne. A tous ses fidèles sujets pour leur commander de l'assister contre le Prince d'Orange & ses Adherants.

Paris,  1692.
A translation of His Majesties most gratious declaration to all his loving subjects, commanding their assistance against the Prince of Orange and his adherents (St. Germain, 1692). It is probably the first edition in French, though we find at least 2 issues among the few copies located by the CCFr, one with the date 1692, the other undated. Following his exile at the Glorious Revolution, James made several abortive attempts to regain the English throne. In April 1692 a full-blown invasion of England was planned and a series of pamphlets were issued from his 'court' at St Germain asking his subjects (and interested Frenchmen) to assist the expedition. His hopes were thwarted by the English defeat of the French at the naval battle of La Hogue in May.   view more...
£400.00
US$777.88*
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 1524
(CARADOC, Saint, of Llancafarn.)

(CARADOC, Saint, of Llancafarn.) ~ Die Historie van Walles, in sich haltend derer Printzen von Walles Leben und Thaten, von Cadwalader ... biss auf Lhewelinum ... Vormahls geschrieben in Brittischer Sprache von Caradoco Lhancarvanensi; nachmahls von D. Powel in Englisher publiciret, und von Mr. Wynne vermehret; ietzo aber aus dieser ins Teutsche gebracht.

Coburg: Paul Gunther Pforenhauer,   1725.
First edition in German of the Welsh medieval Chronicle of the Princes, commonly known as the Chronicle of Caradoc of Llancarfan. The German version is taken from the English translation by H. Lhoyd, edited by David Powel, first printed in 1584 and later augmented by William Wynne. The German translation is by Philipp Georg Huebner and is dedicated to Anton Ulrich, Duke of Saxony.Sabin notes of the first English edition that "a special interest in this work for the American collector consists in its relation of the most ancient 'Voyage and Discovery of the West Indies, performed by Madoc, the sonne of Owen Guined, prince of North Wales, anno 1170'" (Sabin 40914). This episode is found also in the German edition.   view more...
£800.00
US$1555.76*
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 1130
[BRÉGHOT DU LUT, Claude, Antoine PERICAUD and Pierre-Alexandre GRATET-DUPLESSIS.]

[BRÉGHOT DU LUT, Claude, Antoine PERICAUD and Pierre-Alexandre GRATET-DUPLESSIS.] ~ Recueil de la chevauchée, faicte en la ville de Lyon: La dixseptiesme de Novembre 1578. Avec tout l'Ordre tenu en icelle.

Lyon: [J.M. Barret], [1829].  
One of 100 copies on papier vélin of this critical edition of a sixteenth-century verse account of what, in English, would be called a 'skimmington ride' (a spontaneous and noisy procession to ridicule an erring husband or wife). The text had first been printed in the Collection de pièces relatives à l'histoire de France, but this version contains an interesting introduction with a brief survey of the appearance of the skimmington ride in English literature: Butler's Hudibras, the Tour of Doctor Syntax ("encore peu connu en France, mais qui a eu beaucoup de succès dans son pays natal") and Scott's Fortunes of Nigel.   view more...
£50.00
US$97.23*
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 1313
FIELDING, H[enry.]

FIELDING, H[enry.] ~ Les avantures de Joseph Andrews, et du ministre Abraham Adams, publiées en anglois, en 1742... et traduits en François, à Londres, par une Dame Angloise, sur la troisiéme edition.

"Londres" (but France), A. Millar,  1743.
A very scarce edition in French dated the same year as the first, translated by Pierre François Guyot Desfontaines (not by the "Dame Anglaise" given in the title). Desfontaines was a key figure in establishing the popularity of the English novel in France. ESTC distinguishes 2 issues with the false Millar imprint with differing collations and probably different printers. Ours concords with the second which may be later. Both are very scarce.   view more...
£500.00
US$972.35*
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 1391
HOBBES, Thomas, translated by Paul Heinrich Dietrich von HOLBACH.

HOBBES, Thomas, translated by Paul Heinrich Dietrich von HOLBACH. ~ De la nature humaine, ou exposition des facultés, des actions & des passions de l'ame, ... Par Thomas Hobbes: ouvrage traduit de l'anglois.

'Londres' [i.e. Amsterdam], [s.n.],  1772.
First edition in French of Humane Nature: or, The fundamental elements of policie. Being a discoverie of the faculties, acts, and passions of the soul of man, from their original causes... Holbach considered the essay, which first appeared in English in 1650 (he incorrectly states 1640 in his introduction) as one of Hobbes best works. The Londres imprint is false and work was published in Amsterdam by Marc-Michel Rey.   view more...
£1250.00
US$2430.87*
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 1395
BARTH, Christian Gottlob.

BARTH, Christian Gottlob. ~ [Title in Hindi] Brief history of the Church of Christ... translated into Hindi by John Parsons, missionary, Monghir.

Calcutta: J. Thomas, Baptist Mission Press,  1849.
First edition in Hindi, probably translated from the English version of Barth's Christliche Kirchengeschichte, a fundamental text for the protestant mission in India. The work was also translated into Oriya and Singhalese. Barth was a major figure in the production of texts for the Lutheran missions outside Europe. John Parsons, the Hindi translator, lived for a long time at Monhir, dying there 1869. He is best remembered as a translator of the New Testament into Hindi.   view more...
£250.00
US$486.17*
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 1456
PAINE, Thomas.

PAINE, Thomas. ~ Reasons for wishing to preserve the life of Louis Capet. As delivered to the National Convention...

[London:] for James Ridgway,  [1793].
One of two 1793 issues (differing slightly in pagination from each other). Perhaps surprisingly for such an ardent anti-monarchist, Paine argued vociferously for Louis' life to be spared: he saw no benefit in such an execution. He believed that it would provide a pretext for the English (under their own tyrant-king, George III) to declare war on France and would be badly viewed in America, France's foremost ally.   view more...
£400.00
US$777.88*
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 1182
DRUMMOND, Henry, editor.

DRUMMOND, Henry, editor. ~ On the condition of the agricultural classes of Great Britain and Ireland. With extracts from the parliamentary reports and evidence, from 1833 to 1840. And remarks by the French editor, published at Vienna...

London: John Murray,  1842.
First edition in English, very scarce, of this translation of De l'agriculture et de la condition des agriculteurs en Irlande et dans la Grande Bretagne (1840), based on the parliamentary commission of 1833-6. The first volume is entirely devoted to Ireland and the second to Great Britain. The second volume contains much of banking interest in addition to the agricultural materials.   view more...
£450.00
US$875.11*
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 1553
 

BARNES, Joshua. ~ Gerania: a new discovery of a little sort of people anciently discoursed of, called pygmies· With a lively description of their stature, habit, manners, buildings, knowledge, and government, being very delightful and profitable. By Joshua Barnes, of Emanuel College, Cambridge.

London: W.G. for Obadiah Blagrave,  1675.
First edition: the first book in English on pygmies. It's author was a contemporary of Milton's at Cambridge and became a prominent Hellenist. Although pure fantasy, Gerania was influential and is believed to have influenced Swift's invention of Lilliput: "[Swift] may have read Joshua Barnes's description of a race of "Pygmies" in his Gerania of 1675" (Ency. Brit.)Gerania is one of the best examples of English seventeenth-century utopian literature. Linking history, classical antiquity and pseudo-ethnology, Barnes gives a fanciful account of an expedition to the head of the Ganges to find the 'blameless pygmies' mentioned in Homer's Iliad, painting a delightful, if idealised, vision of their Eden-like existence: "Their Habit was of the woolly Moss of Trees, most artificially cemented with Gum, and interspersed with delectable Posies; about their Necks they wore pleasant chains of odiferous Flower, the smell of which was their chiefest aliment…" "Barnes... leapt into the project of connecting classical and biblical antiquity, beginning with Gerania (1675), an English prose account of an expedition to visit the 'blameless pygmies' mentioned in Homer's Iliad. Their harmonious community resembled Francis Bacon's New Atlantis, but its laws had been established by Homer himself, a wandering sage versed in Greek, Persian, and Hebrew philosophy, as well as Christianity avant la lettre" (Haugen in ODNB).   view more...
£1500.00
US$2917.04*
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 1283
 

WALLACE, Robert. ~ Various prospects of mankind, nature, and providence.

London: for A. Millar,  1761.
First edition of the work considered the origin of Malthus's population calculus as used in his Essay on the Principle of Population (1798). Wallace had first introduced a geometrical account of population-growth in his Dissertation on the Numbers of Mankind (1753). "In his Various Prospects of Mankind, [Wallace] had at first suggested community of goods as a solution of the social problem and then pointed out that the increase of population, which would result from communism, was a fatal flaw in his own solution" (Cambridge History of English and American Literature, sub. Malthus).   view more...
£600.00
US$1166.82*
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 1334
 

(THEATRE). MACLAREN, Archibald.  ~ Britons to arms! or, The consul in England. A musical drama.

London: printed and sold for A. Maclaren by A. Macpherson,   1803.
First edition. Libretto only. Maclaren, a Scottish highlander, was both a soldier and playwright. He served in the American War of Independence under Howe and Clinton and returned to Scotland in 1783, joining a group of itinerant players, where he found some success with Scottish and Irish roles. His interpretation of English characters was said to be hampered by a broad Scottish accent. He re-enlisted with the Dumbartonshire Highlanders in 1794 and played a part in the suppressing the Irish Rebellion. Thereafter he lived in London, adapting his military experiences for the stage.   view more...
£125.00
US$243.09*
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 1401
SIMON, André L.

SIMON, André L.  ~ The history of the wine trade in England.

London: The Holland Press,  1964.
Facsimile edition of the original (1905-1906) edition with the addition of an index. An essential reference work that covers the history of the English wine trade from the earliest times to the end of the seventeenth century. Simon believed that "a man dies too young if he leaves any wine in his cellar." In keeping with this philosophy, he reputedly left only two magnums of claret when he died at the age of ninety-three.    view more...
£175.00
US$340.32*
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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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 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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 1153
(LOUIS XIII). [FANCAN, François Dorval-Langlois, sieur de.]

(LOUIS XIII). [FANCAN, François Dorval-Langlois, sieur de.] ~ La chronique des favoris [drop-head title].

[N.p.]:  [n.d., 1621.]
First edition of this satire directed against Charles Philippe d'Albert, duc de Luynes and his brothers, favourites of Louis XIII. Charles actually died as this pamphlet was published, but had become hugely unpopular as Constable of France, directing military operations against the Protestants. The satire ends with an earnest entreaty to Louis XIII to rule with a Council rather than through favourites, and to make peace with his exiled mother Marie de Medici.The satire was rapidly translated into English as The favovrites chronicle (also 1621, STC 15203).   view more...
£125.00
US$243.09*
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 1172
[LA VIEUVILLE D'ORVILLE, Adrien de, comte de Vignacourt.]

[LA VIEUVILLE D'ORVILLE, Adrien de, comte de Vignacourt.] ~ La comtesse de Vergi, nouvelle historique, galante & tragique. Par Mr L. C. D. V .

Paris: Jean Musier,  1722.
First edition, this issue giving the printer's name Jean Musier. Jones lists 3 variants of the imprint: Robinot, Musier or Pepingué. All issues are otherwise identical and were evidently issued simultaneously by agreement between these three printers. A historical novel set in the reign of Philippe Auguste (1165-1223). It appeared in English as The tragical history of the Chevalier de Vaudray and the Countess de Vergi (1726) while the French text was later reprinted as part of the Bibliothèque de campagne.   view more...
£250.00
US$486.17*
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 1231
(BOEHME, Jacob.)

(BOEHME, Jacob.) ~ A compendious view of the grounds of the Teutonick philosophy. With considerations by way of enquiry into the subject matter, and scope of the writings of Jacob Behmen, commonly called the Teutonick Philosopher. Also several extracts from his writings. And some words used by him explained. Published by a Gentleman retired from business.

London: by M. Lewis and sold by Bathurst, Baker, Whiston ,White, Richardson and Roberts, C. Dilly, Davis and Heard in London, Woodyer and Merril at Cambridge, Kendal at Colchester, Mills at Bath, Binns at Halifax, Binns, Ogle and Copperthwaite at Leeds, Megget and Stringer at Wakefield, Brook at Huthersfield, Mercer at Maidstone and Burden at Winchester,  1770.
First edition of this Behmenite collection, serving as an introduction to Boehme's theosophical system. It includes A treatise of eternal nature by the seventeenth-century English disciple John Pordage. It is a scarce edition, with an interesting provincial circulation, but is an example of one of many late eighteenth-century popular works on Boehme, reflecting a heightened interest (especially in artisan and radical context) in his visionary teachings. It is significant that many of Boehme's formulations prefigure the transcendent writings of William Blake, who was steeped in the Behmenist tradition.   view more...
£450.00
US$875.11*
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 1225
(CURIOSA). [THOREL de CAMPIGNEULLES, Charles Claude Florent de.]

(CURIOSA). [THOREL de CAMPIGNEULLES, Charles Claude Florent de.] ~ Cléon, rhéteur Cyrénéen, ou apologie d'une partie de l'histoire naturelle. Traduit de l'Italien.

Amsterdam:  1750.
First edition of this licentious roman philosophique. The manuscript key, probably added in the nineteenth-century and written in mirror image, explains that most of the names of the characters are actually filthy anagrams: Cléon (le con), Cassone (connasse), Rubego (bougre) and so on. The work was reprinted in 1757.This copy is from the library of the English connoisseur Lord Northwick, friend of Gibbon, Nelson, Richard Payne Knight, Canova and Sir William Hamilton. He was hailed as a "collector of very high intelligence and discrimination" (Oxford DNB).   view more...
£375.00
US$729.26*
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 1094
CARROLL, Lewis.

CARROLL, Lewis. ~ Alice's adventures in Wonderland.

London: Macmillan and Co.,  1866.
First editions of arguably the best-loved children's books in the English language. The issue points (and the inscription, dated Christmas 1865) of the first work indicate that this is the correct first issue, containing the misprint of '3' to page '30' and with the light blue endpapers instead of the more common dark green endpapers of the later issues. Though bearing the publication date of 1866 Alice's adventures in Wonderland was issued in time for Christmas the previous year, as nicely illustrated in this copy, given as a gift with an inscription dated 1865.   view more...
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 1413
WILKINS, John.

WILKINS, John. ~ Mathematicall magick. Or, The wonders that may be performed by mechanicall geometry. In two books. Concerning mechanicall powers. motions. Being one of the most easie, pleasant, usefull, (and yet most neglected) part of mathematicks. Not before treated of in this language By J.W. M.A.

London: by M[iles]. F[lesher]. for Sa. Gellibrand at the brasen Serpent in Pauls Church-yard,  1648.
Second edition, issued in the same year as the first with a new title-page. It is "the first text on mechanics available in the English language. It is divided into two parts "Archimedes or Mechanical Powers" and "Daedalus or Mechanical Motions"- the latter part describing various machines, including strange devices and possibilities, such as a land vehicle powered by wind, submarines, flying automata, clocks, magnetic perpetuum mobile, etc. His sources were Guidobaldo's Mechanicorum liber and Mersenne's Cogitata physico-mathematica... One may see Wilkins' work as a popular version of Mersenne's work" (Biblioteca Mechanica). Wilkins was a leading figure in the English scientific renaissance, being, at various times influential at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and in the Royal Society (of which he was president from 1660-1661). He is known also for his conjectures on extra-terrestrial life (The discovery of a world in the moone, 1638).Both the first and second editions bear the date 1648.   view more...
£1900.00
US$3694.92*
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 1425
[JOHNSON, Samuel,

[JOHNSON, Samuel, "the Whig."] ~ Julien l'apostat ou abrege de sa vie. Dans lequel, on voit l'horreur que les meilleurs Chrétiens d'entre ses sujets témoignoient publiquement contre lui, en Paroles, en Actions & méme dans leurs Devotions publiques; avec une Comparison du Papisme & du Paganisme; et une autre idee Generale du Papisme, avec un Petit traité de l'Antechrist. Traduit de l'anglois.

[n.p.],  1688.
First edition in French of Johnson's polemic against the succession of the Duke of York (later James II). Published in English in 1682 "It was an overnight sensation... The tract drew an elaborate parallel between the fourth-century apostate emperor, Julian, and the Catholic successor to the crown, James, duke of York. The moral of the story was that, as the primitive Christians of the fourth century had openly resisted their pagan emperor, so the English might oppose a popish prince. The tract justified both the efforts of whigs to exclude the duke of York from the throne as well as active resistance to him. Julian Johnson, as Johnson soon became known, was praised and celebrated by fellow whigs" (Zook in Oxford DNB). The work was supressed and the remaining copies burnt. Johnson was imprisoned for seditious libel.The French edition, presumably aimed at a continental Protestant audience was issued in the year of James's effective abdication and escape to France. In certain French eyes, the thrust of its argument seems to have become quickly diverted towards their own monarch, since in 1696 it was issued under a false Cologne imprint under a new title La peste du genre humain, ou la vie de Julien l'Apostat. Mise en paralelle avec celle de Louis XIV.   view more...
£480.00
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 1521
ROBERTSON, Dionysius.

ROBERTSON, Dionysius. ~ Leichte und ganz neue Art Pferde zu Englisiren, nebst noch verschiedenen anderen Operationen an Pferden, und einem Anhange von einigen bewahrten Mitteln wider die leibige Vieh-Seuche.

Arnheim: Felix Grundlieb,  1770.
First edition of two rare equestrian veterinary titles. The first, by an English veterinarian in royal service in Germany, is entitled Easy and new art of Anglicising horses, including many operations on horses, and an appendix of proven remedies for livestock epidemics. Chapter one describes the operation of 'Anglicising' the tail of the horse by sectional cutting and raising the tail while the horse is in its stall, holding it aloft with weights and pulleys until it achieves a pleasing erect form. Chapter two gives directions for reducing the size of horses' ears by surgery. Both these operations are the subject of one of the large folding plates. Later chapters refer to the eyes and braiding the mane, treatment of infected eyes and diseases of the glands. The final chapter is devoted to the groin and to cures for injuries sustained. The appendix consists of Robertson's successful "English" cures and recipes for equine ailments.The second work is anonymous and is entitled On horse- breeding and various proven cures. It contains cures and recipes for common horse ailments such as coughing, worms, infections and wounds.Both works are rare.   view more...
£2000.00
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 1099
 

[RIDPATH, George.] ~ Parliamentary right maintain'd or the Hanover succession justify'd. Wherein The Hereditary Right to the Crown of England asserted &c. Is Consider'd, in III. Parts. The Ist Examins the Plea from Scripture. The II. That from the Laws & History of England, for Indefeasible Right, Nonresistance & Disposition of the Crown by Will. The III. Whether the Parliament, can repeal the Hanover Succession, as now Establish'd by the Treaty of Union. With Reflections on the Treasonable Schemes of the Party, as they occurr in their Book: & Particularly that of a new lurking pretender.

[London?],  1714.
First edition of this vigorous defence of the legality of the Hanover succession over the Stuarts and of parliamentary right by George Ridpath, whig polemicist, libellist and bigamist. Anonymously issued, it was written in exile in Scotland and Holland, its author having been convicted of libel: "the attorney-general said that he 'had for some years past outwent all his predecessors in scandal'" (DNB). It represents an attack on George Harbin's Hereditary right of the crown of England and reflects the popular sentiment that while George I was a German king who knew little of England and spoke little English, he was at least a Protestant and thus preferable to the hereditary catholic alternative, James Edward Stuart, the "new lurking pretender". In in letters to the English minister at the Hague Ridpath described the difficulties of distributing this work from his place in exile: "Copies were sent by various ships to different ports in England; but many were lost or thrown overboard by the captains, who dared not land them, or were returned because no one dared receive them" (DNB). This casts an interesting light on the assumption (expressed in the ESTC catalogue) that work was printed in London.   view more...
£300.00
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 1265
OWEN, John.

OWEN, John. ~ Epigrammatum Ioannis Oweni, Cambro-Britanni Oxoniensis, editio postrema correctissima posthumis quibusdam adaucta & instructa gemino indice, addita sunt in fine Exercitia Memoriae Poetica, in usum adolescentiae alicunde collecta.

Bratislava: Joh. Adam. Kästneri,  1680 [but probably 1683].
An exotic imprint of one of the bestsellers of continental Europe. Though he was a Welshman educated at Oxford, Owen's Epigrams were one of Britain's most succesful literary exports. "It was Owen, not Shakespeare, whom seventeenth-century Europeans knew and admired. Continental editions of Owen outnumber the English by a ratio of over three to one. Poole-Wilson has identified forty-five continental editions of Owen's Latin text before 1800" (Oxford DNB, citing "A best-seller abroad: the continental editions of John Owen" by Nicholas Poole-Wilson in Theatrum Orbis Librorum; liber amicorum presented to Nico Israel). The "Exercitia" section at end has separate pagination and part-title dated 1683. However, the register is continuous, suggesting that the edition was actually published in 1683.   view more...
£150.00
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