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[FORTIN, Daniel-René]. ~ Armée du Rhin. Campagnes d’Allemagne sous le Général Moreau, simples notes d’un conscrit cavalier au 13e Régiment, 1re Compagnie, 2e Division du Centre. An 7-An 10. [cover title]. [ 1899].

A rare lithographic curiosity — a complete facsimile of a soldier’s pocket notebook kept during the Rhine campaigns of the French Revolutionary wars (1798-1800). more...

Fortin had been named a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur in 1807.. see full details

£600

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NAPIER, Theodore. ~ The Royal House of Stuart. A Plea for its Restoration being an Appeal to loyal Scotsmen. [Edindburgh: Lorimer and Gillies] for [the author] in Edinburgh: ‘Balmanno’ and London: R. Stewart Meade, 1898.

First edition, dedication copy, inscribed by the author to ‘The Queen’, that is, the Jacobite claimant of the British Crown, Maria Theresa of Austria-Este (1849-1919). more...

Theodore Napier (1845-1924), Australian-born of Scottish emigrant parentage, became one of the most colourful Scottish patriots and advocates of the Jacobite succession. Adopting full Highland dress and sporting an extravagant white beard he raised eyebrows in Melbourne and Edinburgh alike and he issued a stream of pamphlets advocating Scottish home rule and the Jacobite succession. The frontispiece here depicts Maria Theresa, with the caption: ‘Who, but for the Act of Settlement, would now be reigning as Queen Mary III. of Scotland, and IV. of England and Ireland.’ The pamphlet was issued as number 17 of the publications of the Legitimist Jacobite League of Great Britain and Ireland, but appears here as an offprint (without reference to the series) on thick paper.

Maria Theresa was the niece and heir of the childless Francis V, Duke of Modena who had been, at the time of his death, the Jacobite heir-general to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland; as such, she became the heir after his death in 1875. Neither she, nor any of her Jacobite forebears since 1807, ever seriously pursued this claim.. see full details

£600

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JACOB, Edward. ~ The history of the town and port of Faversham, in the county of Kent. By Edward Jacob, Esq. F.S.A. Illustrated with copper plates. London: for the author, by J. March; and sold by B. White, In Fleet-Street; L. Hawes, and Co. In Pater-Noster-Row; S. Patterson, In Essex-Street; and by S. Doorne, in Faversham, 1774.

First edition. more...

Edward Jacob ‘antiquary and naturalist, was born in Canterbury, the eldest son of Edward Jacob (d. 1756), surgeon and alderman, who served as mayor of Canterbury in 1727–8, and Jane, daughter of Strangford Violl, vicar of Upminster. About 1735 he moved to Feversham [sic] where he lived at 78 Preston Street and practised as a surgeon, following in his father's and grandfather's footsteps. Among his patients was Lord Sondes of Lees Court, Sheldwich. The Jacobs were a long-established east Kent family and several members had served as mayors and magistrates in Sandwich and Dover. Actively interested in local affairs, Jacob was four times mayor of Faversham—in 1749, 1754, 1765, and 1775...

Jacob interested himself in the history of Faversham soon after he had moved there, ‘having an early propensity to the study of antiquities’. He was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries on 5 June 1755, and in 1774 published The History of the Town and Port of Faversham, dedicated to Lord Sondes’ (Oxford DNB).

This is one of the standard copies with 15 plates, some having an 4 additional plates.. see full details

£500

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BLAIR, Hugh. [André Samuel Michel] CANTWELL, translator. ~ Leçons de rhétorique et de belles lettres. Paris: [Pougin for] Gide, 1797.

First edition in French of Blair’s influential Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles-Lettres. more...

First published in English in 1783, it ‘included discussions of the principles of taste and criticism, the rise and development of language, style, and various types of eloquence, both written and oral. Blair's book immediately became the new standard for the study of rhetoric and literary criticism’ (Oxford DNB). Son of an Irish emigré physician, André Cantwell (1744-1802) was a prolific translator of British works: besides Blair, he translated Gibbon, Priestley, Radcliffe, Moore and Ferguson.. see full details

£300

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PITOU, Louis-Ange. ~ L’Urne des Stuarts et des Bourbons, ou, le Fond de ma conscience sur les causes et les effets des vingt-un Janvier, des XVIe., XVIIIe. et XIXe. siècles, chez les deux peuples, précédé d’une notice historique sur les grands événemens des 21 juin, 10 août et 2 septembre 1792… Paris: chez L.A. Pitou, Libraire de S.A.R. Madame la duchesse d’Orléans, 31 August, 1815.

First edition. more...

Royalist conter-revolutionary journalist Pitou was arrested no less than 18 times during the revolutionary period before being deported to Cayenne for his royalist sympathies. L’Urne des Stuarts et des Bourbons was written on his escape and return to France.. see full details

£300

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[LOCRÉ, Jean-Guillaume] ~ Les grandes et incomparables Aventures de Milord Ptit, de Herr Rodomont-Mic-Mak, de quelques autres preux chevaliers de leurs dames, de leurs écuyers, ensemble des rois pour lesquels ils se sont battus ou fait battre. Histoire admirable traduite de l’anglais et du napolitain. Paris: Desenne et Debray, An VII, [ 1798].

Sole edition of a substantial political satire on the calamity of the Revolution, a roman-a-clef with Pitt and the Austrian General Mack as major protagonists, masquerading as a novel translated from the English and ‘Naplotain’ (presumably ‘Napoleonic’ rather than Neapolitan). more...

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£600

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HAIN, Armand. ~ L’Esprit anglais. Satire. Paris: [Bonaventure et Ducessois for] Hourseau, 1847.

First edition. more...

A rather virulent and persistent verse satire against the English, chastising the immorality brought by empire and industrial revolution.. see full details

£200

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‘POSTERITAS’ [unidentified pseudonym]. ~ Le Siège de Londres… traduit de l’anglais. Paris: C. Marpon et E. Flammarion, [? 1885].

A very rare translation of the pseudonymous Siege of London (1885), probably the first edition in French (a condensed French edition also appeared in 1885). more...

An excellent example of the many British speculative novels spawned by the fear of invasion, from the 1871 Siege of Dorking to Erskine Childers’s Riddle of the Sands (1903). In Posteritas’ account, the invasion is set against the background of a collapsed Gladstone Liberal government and crisis in the Middle East. The French invade via Portsmouth and later Dover and Scotland, with the aid of the perfidious Irish, and the novel culminates with the bombardment of Westminster and the Battle of Hyde Park.. see full details

£800

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MILLHOUSE, John. ~ Dialogues anglais et français… troisième edition enrichie d’un Voyage à Londres par H. Hamilton. Milan: ‘a spese dell’autore’, Silvestri, Dumolard, Meiners [and sold by numerous others[, 1851.

A scarce little language tutor, first published some time before 1847, this edition with the account of a journey to London presented as dialogues and other useful examples. more...

Millhouse was a tutor at Milan and produced a popular Englihs-Italian dictionary.. see full details

£60

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(MARIANI). ROBIDA, Albert and Émilie ROBIDA, illustrator. ~ Le Château de la Grippe… illustré de quarante compositions en noir et en couleurs. Paris: [Mesnil-sur-l’Estrée: Firmin-Didot for] Henri Floury, 1904.

First edition, number 20 of 25 copies on japon of a total edition of 300. more...

One of Mariani’s annuals extolling the virtues of his coca wine. This one is interesting for being lavishly illustrated by Albert Robida’s daughter, Émilie (born 1882). The final pages give a bibliographically-useful account of Mariani’s other publications.. see full details

£450

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(MARIANI). ‘BERTHEROY, Jean’ [pseudonym of Berthe-Corinne LE BARILLIER. Augustin POUPART, illustrator. ~ Cypsélos l’invincible. Conte grec. Paris: [Mesnil-sur-l’Estrée: Firmin-Didot for] Henri Floury, 1904.

First edition, number 2 of 25 copies on japon (of a total edition of 300) this copy for Prince Rolande Bonaparte, with an additional watercolour inserted. more...

Part of the Mariani collection extolling the virtues of his coca wine. Rolande Bonaparte was a grandson of Lucien Bonaparte, Emperor Napoleon I's brother.

Author ‘Jean Bertheroy’ was in fact female writer Berthe-Corinne Le Barillier (1868-1927). She had become the first secretary to the jury of the Femina literary prize established also in 1904. This album contains a fine and striking engraved portrait of her.. see full details

£750

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CAREW, Bampfylde-Moore. ~ The Life and Adventures of Bampfylde-Moore Carew, commonly called the King of the Beggars. Being an impartial Account of his Life, from his leaving Tiverton School at the Age of fifteen and entering into a Society of Gipsies; wherein the Motives of his Conduct are related and explained: The great Number of Characters and Shapes he has appeared in through Great Britain, Ireland, and several other Places of Europe: with his Travels twice through great Part of America: Giving a particular Account of the Origin, Government, Laws, and Customs of the Gipsies, with the Method of electing their King. And a Dictionary of the Cant Language used by the Mendicants. London: for J. Buckland, C. Bathurst and T. Davies, 1793.

The celebrated life of a colourful swindler and impostor, first published in 1745 and reprinted numerous times. more...

This is one of two editions printed for Buckland, Bathurst and Davies in 1793. The final 5 pages contain a notable cant dictionary.

Carew fell in with a band of gypsies as a wayward young boy. “After a year and a half Carew returned home for a time, but soon after resumed a career of swindling and imposture, which saw him deceive people to whom he had previously been well known. Eventually he embarked for Newfoundland, but stayed only a short time. On his return to England he passed as the mate of a vessel, and eloped with the daughter of a respectable apothecary from Newcastle upon Tyne, whom he later married.

Carew soon returned to the nomadic life, and when Clause Patch, a Gypsy king or chief, died Carew was elected his successor. He was convicted of being an idle vagrant, and sentenced to be transported to Maryland. On his arrival he attempted to escape, but was captured and made to wear a heavy iron collar; he escaped again, and encountered some Native Americans, who removed his shackles. On departure he travelled to Pennsylvania. He was then said to have swum the Delaware River, after which he adopted the guise of a Quaker, and made his way to Philadelphia, then to New York, and finally to Boston, where he embarked for England. He escaped impressment on board a man-of-war by pricking his hands and face, and rubbing in bay salt and gunpowder, so as to simulate smallpox” (John Ashton, rev. Heather Shore in Oxford DNB).

This biography is variously attributed to Bampfylde Moore Carew himself, to Robert Goadby and also to his wife, Mrs. Goadby. . see full details

£250

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(JAPAN). KANSHU TEI. ~ Seiyo-Ji Kitei Koku-han. [n.p., but Japan, c. 1850s].

‘How to read a western clock’. more...

This rare and ephemeral booklet comprises one printed page of text followed by 13 full-page diagrams of cherub decorated Western clock faces with Japanese zodiac symbol notations. Each clock face is left blank besides the numerals, presumably for completion in manuscript by the student. It wasn’t until 1872 that the Japanese government officially adopted Western style timekeeping practices, including equal hours that do not vary with the seasons, (and, also the Gregorian calendar). Previously the Japanese had used an (unequal) temporal hour system that varied with the seasons; the daylight hours being longer in summer and shorter in winter. This system was abolished at the start of the, 1868, The Meiji Restoration, an event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan under Emperor Meiji. The Meiji Emperor announced in his 1868 Charter Oath that “Knowledge shall be sought all over the world, and thereby the foundations of imperial rule shall be strengthened.” This modernisation led to the emergence of a western-style clock industry replacing the typical Japanese clock which only had six numbered hours, from 9 to 4, which counted backwards from noon until midnight; (the hour numbers 1 through 3 were not used for religious reasons, being the numbers of strokes that were used by Buddhists to call to prayer). The count ran backwards because the earliest Japanese artificial timekeepers used the burning of incense to count down the time.. see full details

£1650

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RUSKIN, John. [Alexander WEDDERBURN and Edward Tyas COOK, editors]. ~ Works. [Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh] for George Allen in London. 1903-12.

First and only complete collected edition, a superb and handsome set completed with 2 volumes of Cook’s ‘Life of Ruskin’ (1911) uniformly bound (41 vols in all). more...

‘The edition was the outcome of twelve years work by Edward Tyas Cook and Alexander Wedderburn, although Cook completed the bulk of the editing. The aim of The Library Edition was to provide the complete works of Ruskin, both literary and artistic, in uniform volumes. The edition was undertaken by Messrs. George Allen, Ruskin's publishers. Illustrated by 820 wood blocks and 990 full-page plates with 120 facsimiles of MSS., the edition includes 269 plates of Ruskin's own drawings of which 200 had never before been published. Portraits of Ruskin are used as frontispieces to some of the volumes. The press work was carried out by Messrs. Ballantyne of Edinburgh, and the weight of type amounted to nine tons, whilst the printing ink weighed 1800lbs. Printed on hand-made, linen rag paper (about 87tons) with a double watermark of Ruskin's monogram and seal. The edition consisted of 2062 sets, of which 2000 were available for sale to subscribers for the full set. The first volume was published on 27 March 1903. George Allen did not live to see the completion of the edition dying on 5 September 1907, his children taking over the firm... Cook and Wedderburn provide the standard reference work for Ruskin studies.’ (from the University of Lancaster’s Preface to their electronic edition).

‘The apogee of Ruskin's immediate influence was marked by the decision to publish a monumental Library Edition of his complete works in thirty-nine volumes, edited by E. T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn, which appeared between 1903 and 1912. Although biographically reticent and presenting a liberal version of Ruskin (as did Cook’s entry in the Dictionary of National Biography), this became the foundation for future Ruskin scholarship’ (Oxford DNB).. see full details

£5000

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ETRENNES DIVERTISSANTES. ~ Etrennes Divertissantes ou Collection d’historiettes agréables; ornée de jolies gravures, qui ont rapport au sujet pour la présente année. Paris: Maillard de Bresson, [n.d., c. 1750-65].

Not found in any of the usual online or printed sources, a delightful juvenile almanac, containing ten moral verses each with a vignette, engraved throughout. more...

Though the publisher Maillard de Bresson produced several other almanacs, and this one is quite typical of the genre, it seems to have eluded bibliographers, including Grand-Carteret. The Journal historique et littéraire (January 1756) gives a useful account of the publisher’s business: ‘M. Maillard de Bressan continue a vendre des caractéres, des desseins & vignettes, des armes à jour, des papiers peints, des sentences, des devises, & forme avec succès la suite de ses fables morales, & instructives pour la jeunesse de l’un et l’autre sexe. It fait des envois auc Communautés Religieuses & à toutes personnes chargées de l’éducation des enfants, ou à des Marchands qui s’adressant à lui. Il demeure actuellement au Collége de Cambray, pres de la rue Saint Jacques, à Paris’.. see full details

£1500

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FARCOT, Eugène. ~ La Navigation atmosphérique. Paris: Librairie Nouvelle, A. Bourdillat et C[ompagni]e, 1859.

First edition of an important early proposal for the popularisation of air travel by powered balloon. more...

The first powered balloon flight had been achieved by Henri Giffard in 1852, but the major challenge facing early aeronautical engineers was the application of steam power to lighter-than-air craft. Named the Explorateur aerien, Farcot’s proposed craft was a fish-like airship of 15 tons carrying capacity with fins and double propellors and a 5 horsepower engine. He suggested its use for both pleasure and scientific experiment. Eugène Farcot (1830-96) was involved in the early flight experiments and was a member of the pioneering Société aérostatique et metéorologique; he rightly predicted the revolution in both travel and society which could be brought about by powered air travel, writing about it both in fiction and non-fiction and he later achieved celebrity as the pilot of the Louis-Blanc, one of the balloons which broke the Paris siege in 1870. A clock-maker by profession he was perhaps best known to his contemporaries for his sophisticated and expensive clock mechanisms. . see full details

£300

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MERRUAU, Paul. ~ Les Convicts en Australie. Paris: [Lahure for] L. Hachette [Bibliothèque des Chemins de Fer], 1853.

First edition, Bibliothèque des Chemins de Fer issue (of which it forms part of the second series). more...

A fictional account of the voyage to Sydney, the convict regime, the Australian interior and the gold mines. Merruau’s list of sources includes the ‘Report of the Commissioner of Inquiry into the State of the Colony of New South Wales’ as well as Rowcroft’s Tales of the Colonies and Haygarth’s Bush Life in Australia.. see full details

£150

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(BIBLIOGRAPHY). ~ Catalogue raisonné des ouvrages qui parurent en 1614 et 1615, a l’occasion des États. [?Paris], 1789

Sole edition of this bibliographical catalogue of 210 printed works issued at the time of the Estates General of 1614-15, comprising official documents, memoirs, counsels, petitions, harangues, discussions of the death of Henry IV, arrêts du Parlement, pasquinades and satires. more...

Each entry includes a line or two of commentary. An advisory body representing the three estates in France, the Estates General had met periodically from the middle ages to 1614, which proved to be its last assembly for over 150 years. As France headed towards revolution, the Estates General was summoned as a desperate measure in May 1789 on the model of the 1615 assembly—doubtless the occasion of this rare little bibliography.. see full details

£300

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MIRABEAU, Gabriel-Honoré de Riquetti, comte de. ~ Erotika Biblion… Nouvelle édition, corrigée sur un exemplaire revu par l’Auteur. Paris: Vatar-Jouannet, ‘chez tous les marchands de nouveautés’, ‘An IX’, 1801.

Written in prison and first published in 1783, Mirabeau’s learned but witty treatise on the varieties of sexuality in antiquity was immediately banned and issued in very few copies (traditionally only 14). more...

Later editions continued to provoke the censor and are also rare. In this Paris edition, a near-contemporary reader has inserted notes on the early publication of the text, the opinion that Mirabeau presents ‘des tableaux plus licentieux que ceux de l’Aretin’, and Greek transliterations of chapter headings, with definitions.

Pia’s A-342 conforms to this edition, save for the spelling of the first word of the title. Pia gives ‘Errotika’ as in all previous editions, while ours reads ‘Erotika’. This may therefore be Pia’s error, and may also suggest ours is the first edition to bear the modernised title spelling customary in all later editions.. see full details

£700

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LANCASTER, Joseph. ~ Méthode Lancastérienne, ou Systême d’éducation britannique: épitome complet des inventions et améliorations faites dans l’éducation de la jeunesse, et mises en pratique dans toutes les écoles publiques de la Grand-Bretagne… traduite par Th. F. A. Jouenne et J.R. Jones Brussels: P. J. De Mat, 1816.

A very rare French translation of Lancaster’s The British System of Education (1810). more...

In French, it is apparently preceded only by Système anglais dinstruction (1815) a translation by the duc de La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, also rare. Lancaster’s ‘monitorial system’, in which huge groups of 100 pupils were educated in factory-inspired classes was widely adopted in Britain and the United State; with Dickens its most effective detractor (via the Coketown schoolrooms of Hard Times). The plates of this Brussels edition reproduce those of the English editions, with plans of the schoolroom workstations and plate illustrating group reading from a board (saving the purchase of books).

Born in London in 1778 the Quaker Joseph Lancaster founded several schools there, before introducing the system to North and South America. He died in New York in 1838 afer being run over by a carriage.. see full details

£800

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