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First edition with Falké’s illustrations, number 2 of 15 copies with all the wood engravings present in a signed suite on chine.

Fayard’s Livres de Demain brought examples of the current revival in woodcut and wood engraving to a wide audience at a reasonable price. Accordingly, the illustrations of the regular volumes were printed in large numbers from phototype metal blocks made from the prints, with just 15 copies of each (as here) presented with an additional suite of the original woodcuts specially printed on fine paper. The series was very popular and ran for several years, with some titles reprinted in successive editions.

First edition with the illustrations by Roubille, one of 15 copies with all the wood engravings present in a signed suite on chine.

Fayard’s Livres de Demain brought examples of the current revival in woodcut and wood engraving to a wide audience at a reasonable price. Accordingly, the illustrations of the regular volumes were printed in large numbers from phototype metal blocks made from the prints, with just 15 copies of each (as here) presented with an additional suite of the original woodcuts specially printed on fine paper. The series was very popular and ran for several years, with some titles reprinted in successive editions.

First edition of the first of Fayard’s important Livre de Demain series, one of 15 copies with the illustrations in an additional suite on chine, signed. Benjamin’s Prix Goncourt novel of 1915 was written in hospital while recovering from injuries sustained at Verdun in September 1914 (and first published by Fayard). The wood engravings are among Renefer’s most evocative war illustrations.

Fayard’s Livres de Demain brought examples of the current revival in woodcut and wood engraving to a wide audience at a reasonable price. Accordingly, the illustrations of the regular volumes were printed in large numbers from phototype metal blocks made from the prints, with just 15 copies of each (as here) presented with an additional suite of the original woodcuts specially printed on fine paper. The series was very popular and ran for several years, with some titles reprinted in successive editions.

First edition with the illustrations by Hallo, number 2 of 15 copies with the suite of all 23 wood engravings on chine, all initialled by the artist. Fayard’s Livres de demain brought examples of the current revival in woodcut and wood engraving to a wide audience at a reasonable price. Accordingly, the illustrations of the regular volumes were printed in large numbers from phototype metal blocks made from the prints, with just 15 copies of each (as here) presented with an additional suite of the original woodcuts specially printed on fine paper.

First edition with Renefer’s illustrations, number 2 of 15 copies with the suite of all 22 wood engravings on chine, all signed by the artist. Elder’s novel of the sea had won the 1913 Prix Goncourt (against both Proust and Alain Fournier). Renefer had made his name as a war artist during the Great War. Fayard’s Livres de demain brought examples of the current revival in woodcut and wood engraving to a wide audience at a reasonable price. Accordingly, the illustrations of the regular volumes were printed in large numbers from phototype metal blocks made from the prints, with just 15 copies of each (as here) presented with an additional suite of the original woodcuts specially printed on fine paper.

First edition with the Falké illustrations, number 2 of 15 copies only with the woodcuts on chine, numbered and initialled by the artist. A colonialist novel in which a young Senegalese fisherman finds himself enlisted in the army, fighting with the French in the trenches of the Great War. It first appeared in 1922. Fayard’s Livres de demain brought examples of the current revival in woodcut and wood engraving to a wide audience at a reasonable price. Accordingly, the illustrations of the regular volumes were printed in large numbers from phototype metal blocks made from the prints, with just 15 copies of each (as here) presented with an additional suite of the original woodcuts specially printed on fine paper.

14 rare belle époque cards, including: ‘Au Pompe-Dard — Pumping Fashion’; ‘Position du tireur debout — Standing fashion’; ‘Enviander les Brancards — Between the Shafts’, etc.

A series of witty and finely executed erotic miniatures, presumably a Paris souvenir made with an anglophone audience in mind, most likely the American servicemen in Paris after 1945.

First edition in English. This copy in an attractive Regency binding with an interesting English Catholic provenance: the Hornyold family of Worcestershire. The Blackmore Park estate had been in the hands of the Hornyold family since the sixteenth century, and in 1844 Thomas Charles Hornyold donated land for the building of a new Catholic church. The church, with an attached monastery for monks of the Redemptorist order, was paid for by John Vincent Gandolfi, a Genoese silk merchant who had married into the Hornyold family and would inherit the Blackmore Estate in 1859. ESTC: BL, London Oratory, Bodley (several copies), Newberry Library and Clark Library (UCLA).

An eighteenth-century homemade binding of a portion of a popular literary and satirical miscellany, a reminder that not all reading from perfect copies. The New Foundling Hospital for Wit appeared from 1768-7) and was a vehicle for John Wilkes and his radical bookseller John Almon, each issue audacious satirical engravings. This one includes, as a frontispiece, ‘A Citizen of the World searching for a Wise Prince’ in which blindfolded man walks an empty street carrying a lantern and wearing a long, furred civic gown. On a sign board overhead is a portrait of Augusta, Princess Dowager of Wales and a jackboot, the emblem of the Earl of Bute. Below is a quote from Shakespeare: ‘Who says ‘Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye than twenty of their swords (Romeo and Juliet).

Among the various verses we find Richard Berenger’s ‘On the Birth-Day of Shakespeare’ originally included in The World.

1. [ELLIS, Philip]. The first Sermon preach’d before Their Majesties in English at Windsor, on the first Sunday of October 1685. London: Henry Hills, 1686, pp. [4], 31, [1]. Upper forecorner of title neatly cut away (just touching one letter). Wing E595.

2. -- -- Second Sermon preach’d before the King and Queen, and Queen Dowager, in Their Majesties Chappel at St. James’s, upon All-Saints Day, November 1. 1685. London: Henry Hills, 1686, pp. [2], 32, [2] (advert). Wing E597.

3. -- -- The third Sermon preach’d before the King and Queen, in Their Majesties chappel at St. James’s, on the third Sunday in Advent, Decemb. 13. 1685. London: Henry Hills, 1686, pp. [2], 29, [1]. Small hole affecting a few words on recto and verso of final leaf. Wing E603.

4. CARTWRIGHT, Thomas. A Sermon preached upon the anniversary Solemnity of the happy Inauguration of our dread Soveraign Lord King James II. In the Collegiate Church of Ripon, February the 6th. 1685/6. The Second Edition. London: printed by J. Leake, and are to be sold by Walter Davis, 1686, pp. [6], 38. Title page and final leaf slightly inky with various pen tests, blots and stains. Wing C707.

5. ELLIS, Phillip. Sixth Sermon preach’d before the King and Queen, in Their Majesties chappel at St. James’s, upon the first Wednesday in Lent, Febr. 24. 1685. London: Henry Hills, 1686, pp. [2], 31, [3] (adverts). Wing E602.

6. BETHAM, John. A Sermon preach’d before the King and Queen, in Their Majesties Chappel at St. James’s, upon the Annunciation of our Blessed Lady, March 25. 1686. London: Henry Hills... sold by Matthew Turner, 1686, pp. [2], 32, [2] (advert). Wing B2060.

7. J. G., D.D. A Sermon of the Passion of our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ. Preached on Good-Friday. In his Excellencies the Spanish Ambassador’s Chappel. London: for Matthew Turner, 1686, pp. [4] (including initial blank), 34, [2]. Wing G40.

8. [DORMER, John]. A Sermon preach’d before Their Majesties in their Chappel at St. James’s the 25th. Sunday after Pentecost, November 17th. 1686. London: by Nat. Thompson, 1687, pp. [2], 30. Wing D1928.

9. ELLIS, Philip. A Sermon preach’d before the King and Queen, upon the second Sunday in Advent, being the fifth of December, 1686. London: Henry Hills, 1686, pp. [2], 33, [1]. Wing E599.

10. [DORMER, John]. A Sermon of judgement, preached before the Queen Dowager, in Her Majesties Chappel at Somerset-House; on the first Sunday in Advent. Being the 27th. of Novemb. 1686. London: Nat. Thompson, 1687, pp. [2], 32. Wing D1927.

First editions (save for 4. Cartrwright) of ten sermons delivered to the Royal Family at the Catholic Court of James II. Five are by James’s favorite, Philip Ellis, whose reputation as an orator began while still at Westminster School, where he was reputed to speak ‘ex cathedra like an angel’ and where he was referred to as ‘Jolly Phil’. He had converted to Catholicism while still at school and trod the path to Douai, entering the Benedictine priory of St Gregory. ‘After being ordained priest Ellis was appointed preacher-general in 1685 and sent to work in England. His abilities recommended him to the notice of James II, who appointed him one of his chaplains-in-ordinary and preachers. He was attached to the chapels royal at Whitehall, St James's, Somerset House, and Windsor, where he became known as 'the great pulpit man' of the Catholics, and a number of his sermons delivered between 1685 and 1687 were published...’ (Geoffrey Scott in Oxford DNB).

Also included is the powerful sermon on repentance preached to Charles II’s widow, Catherine of Braganza (’Queen Dowager’) by John Dormer, another Royal favorite.

Two rare and decorative Spanish ABCs for use in the schoolroom, each with decorative woodcut squares for the letters of the alphabet. The dated example (1868) depicts men and women in a range of roles and occupations (a bagpiper, children, drummer, florist, calendar seller, etc) within attractive roundels with palms,the captions of each are divided into syllables. This sheet is numbered ‘13, pliego 2’, indicating it was probably part of a series of educational plates (unidentified). The undated example is not numbered and has a different sequence of decorative squares illustrating a range of contemporary occupations: including a shoemaker, carpenter, dentist, barber, grape seller, doctor, organist and acrobat. In each case the letter of the alphabet is given with a corresponding number.

J. M. Marés was a prolific publisher of juvenile literature and chapbooks in Madrid. Worldcat lists a number of large-format woodcut sheets, but neither of these titles, nor any other ABCs.

First edition. Reports from Tonkin, Cochinchina (parts of modern Vietnam) and China by missionaries of the the Séminaire des Missions étrangères de Paris, whose directors were then in exile in London. These letters (all dated) are first hand accounts by the bishops and other missionaries in the Far Eastern provinces and include numerous descriptions of local religion and custom, as a well as (sometimes violent) measures taken by Westerners against them. Printer James Coghlan (?1731-1800), originally a book binder, became the pre-eminent Catholic printer, publisher and bookseller in London in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, having taken over the stock of Thomas Meighan in 1774. ESTC: Cornell only in North America. CCFr: Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient, Paris only.

First edition in English of the Jesuit Crasset’s Histoire de l’Église du Japon (1689).

First edition of this translation of La Vida de Santa Teresa de Jesus by English Catholic convert, courtier and exile, Tobie Matthew. It is dedicated to the Queen of England, Henrietta Maria, who in 1642 was in the Hague attempting to raise money against the royal jewels for Charles’s cause in the recently erupted Civil War. A previous translation by Michael Walpole (1570-1625) appeared as The lyf of the mother Teresa of Iesus. (Antwerp, 1611). Wing T753; Clancy, English Catholic Books 1641-1700, 941.

First edition (presumed first issue, being bound concertina style). A very rare and influential kimono design book by the Rinpa master, Kamisake Sekka. Koromogae (literally ‘change of clothes’) consists of 100 striking modernist fabric designs for kimonos, on double leaves. Sekka was an influential advocate for the wearing and design of the kimono among early twentieth-century Japanese women, encouraging the modernisation of its decoration and a closer liaison between producer and consumer.

Sekka is important for having fused traditional Japanese design with European modernism, the latter experienced first hand in his visit to the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1901. At the age of 36, Sekka travelled to Europe on behalf of the Kyoto local government to attend the Glasgow Exhibition. He stayed in Europe about six months researching European craft and design before returning to Kyoto where he served as an instructor at the School of Art and Design. ‘Kamisaka Sekka (1866-1942) was one of Japan’s leading artists, designers and art instructors. His bold, visually dynamic designs and innovative approach to production made him one of the great visionaries of modern Japanese art and design’ (Kamisaka Sekka: Dawn of modern Japanese Design, 2012). Libraryhub (formerly COPAC) lists the BL copy only (and a copy of vol. 1 only at Manchester). Worldcat adds National Diet Libryyr (Tokyo) and University of Cincinnati only.

A rare caricature of domestic strife, Calcutta-printed by Scottish printmaker James Moffat (1775-1815), better known for his Indian topographical views popular among British colonial residents in India. A woman, dressed in a short shift, angrily pulls a bottle from the hand of a drunken man, who sits with his right fist raised and a cigar hanging from his mouth as smoke billows around his head. He holds onto a bottle with his left hand, a glass and pile of cigars at his elbow. The woman points with her left hand to a clock on the wall which shows the time as five past five. In the background on the left, a dark-faced, cloaked figure stands before the curtained doorway on the left.

‘Moffat was a Scotsman who arrived in India aged only 14, living in Calcutta from 1789 to 1815. He appears to have learnt his profession of drawing and engraving in India. According to Wynyard Wilkinson (‘The Makers of Indian Colonial Silver’, London, 1987, p. 137) he was apprenticed as an engraver to the silversmith John Ludvig Jacobi in 1789, and then worked from 1794-1804 for another silversmith John Mair and his successor firms, while engraving and publishing his own views. An advertisement in the ‘Calcutta Gazette’ in 1797 offering to produce ‘Picturesque copper-plate engravings’ led to a series of views of Calcutta and its environs.’ ?

First edition in French of The Banished Man (1794). Smith’s republican sympathies are well-known, but this novel marked a shift in her enthusiasm for the Revolution — it opens in 1792 with the impact of the Revolutionary wars and covers the execution of King Louis XVI in January 1793 as well as the radical period of the Terror. The introduction to Marquand’s translation serves as a retrospective review of Smith’s remarkable popularity in France. Worldcat lists the copy at Illinois as the only copy outside continental Europe. The UK’s Libraryhub (formerly COPAC) adds a copy at Birmingham.

First edition of this very scarce collection of French caricatures of English ‘types’, men and women, including: an Oxford student, an auctioneer, a bus driver, a barmaid, a dressmaker, a chamber maid, a beggar and an invalid. Libraryrhub lists Bodley as the only UK location.

Three superb preliminary drawings for lithograph caricatures on the Civil War: Saturn is pleased to see it is not just he who devours his own children, as the figure of America in feathered head-dress gobbles up one of her people; American game animals congratulate themselves on the chaos of the war, which leaves them safe and sound; while the figure of Europe falls asleep watching the spectacle of war, which has been going on the same for two years.

1. Le vieux Saturne voyant avec plaisir qu’il n’ya pas que lui qui dévore ses enfants (168 × 212 mm).
2. Le Gibier américaine se felicitant de la Guerre civile qui lui laisse la paix et la tranquilité (170 × 212 mm).
3. Finissant par s’endormir à force de leur voir faire toujours la même chose depuis deux ans (182 × 230 mm).

These three images, by the pre-eminent French caricaturist of the day, were published as lithographs in the Paris journal, Charivari. Cham (1818-79), worked very much in the spirit of Daumier and contributed to the the Charivari for some thirty years; he had also created first French comic book (‘bande dessinée’), Histoire de Mr. Lajaunisse in 1839.