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An exercise or model book for dentelle au crochet (crocheted lace) including numerous decorative borders, various roundels and a number of tubular designs for use as cuffs or sleeves. The patterns imitate those of cushion lace, but were created with coarser threads and with a crochet hook rather than bobbins. The patterns and execution are impressive, even if crocheted lace was considered less refined than ‘true’ lace. This album, with very few clues to its maker or provenance and on paper of the coarsest grade, appears as a rather remarkable survival of the craft in its most vernacular setting.

A satirical address to drinkers on on the joys and perils of wine, addressed to ‘The Knights of the Round Table’, or the drinkers assembled at the hôtel Saint Valery. The playful false imprint disguises its origin at the press of Chalopin in Caen. Hélot, La Bibliothèque bleue en Normandie, 7.

A rare (probably otherwise unrecorded) handbill for an artisan cork maker in the rue de la Huchette, Paris. Monsieur Liégard, doing business in Liége, in Spain, Portugal and elsewhere, offers corks of all sorts and all forms of fittings for the outirage or ‘racking’ of wine (transfer technique carried out to eliminate the lees and other particles that have settled at the bottom of a cask). From the oenological collection of Bernard Chwarz, bound in appropriate folding boards of natural cork paper.

First edition in French of La città del sole, the seventeenth-century utopian work in which Campanella described a just society where goods, women and children are held in common and work is evenly distributed. It was understandably of great interest to early socialist and communist thinkers, though did not appear in French until this translation by the French Fourierist, François Villegardelle, who also translated More’s Utopia. Despite its influence on emergent French socialism, this is now a rare book. WorldCat locates copies at: International Labour Office (DC), MacMaster and Stanford only outside continental Europe. LibraryHub locates copies at BL and London Library.

First edition, one of 204 copies, numbered and initialled by the publisher. The classic meditation on book collecting and the relationship between the collector and their library. L’Amour des Livres rapidly acquired an almost legendary status amongst French collectors. Janin himself described the volume as the work of ‘a bibliomaniac, for the use of a few madmen of his own species,’ a characterisation that perfectly captures the mixture of humour, erudition, self-awareness, and devotion that runs throughout the text. The book occupies an important position in the literature of bibliophily, appearing during the great age of French book collecting and at a moment when the cult of the rare book was becoming inseparable from the formation of major private libraries. Its influence extended well beyond its modest size, helping to shape the romantic image of the collector that continued to dominate bibliophilic culture into the twentieth century. Carteret called it ‘La Bible du bibliophile.’

An attractive and representative taufbrief or baptismal certificate traditionally given by godparents to a child at baptism, This example is for one Johanne Christiane Henriette Wahrbinder, baptised in 1828. The folding exterior has four evangelists, each both seated and standing, together with a larger baptismal scene showing mother, father and child at the font with a priest an (in this case) a godmother. Other examples by this printer have variations (presumably according to the intended recipient). The interior bears a variant of a traditional baptismal prayer beginning:
‘Du bist, mein Pathchen, nun geweiht,
Dich künftig Christ zu nennen...’
With eight folds making the sheet into a small square package, taufbrief were sometime given with coins or religious objects enclosed, sealed in with wax. This example has no trace of wax sealing.

A very rare chapbook collection of letter-writing models, marketed to women readers (and writers) but actually including romantic sample letters for male writers. It’s an interesting piece of opportunistic publishing, which comprises reissued sheets of a much earlier, similarly-titled letter collection, Le Secrétaire des Dames (first issued by Garnier at Troyes with a privilege dated 1759). Baudot’s Troyes publication included the whole of that earlier work (24 pages, including original title), but adding his own 8 pages of additional letters (all romantic letters) at the beginning and his wrapper with a new, variant title and his adverts.
Speculative and undeclared re-issues were quite typical of the unregulated productions (’Bibliothèque bleu’) of popular provincial printers in France, but it’s unusual to find the grafting of one book to another in this way. Though the title-page of earlier Le Secrétaire des Dames is undated, the privilege is dated 1759, and the typography feels to be of the eighteenth rather than nineteenth century. The wrapper and additional eight pages of Le Petit Secrétaire des Dames, also undated are clearly of the first half of the nineteenth century. The rear cover advertises no less than seventy-eight titles offered by Baudot, including saints’ lives, chivalric romances, popular religious manuals and fairy tales. Charles-Louis Baudot (1795-1849) had been apprenticed to the Parisian printing house Firmin-Didot for seven years before settling in Troyes, he purchased the business and stock of Garnier of Troyes in 31 May 1830 and was licensed as a printer and bookseller on 1 Dec. 1830.
Le Secrétaire des Dames is noted by Roger Chartier in his essay on the culture of writing manuals of this genre (’Secrétaires for the People?’) in which he comments: ‘The book’s title was remarkably ill-chosen, given that none of the letters had been penned by a woman and only two were addressed to one’. cf. Morin, 1030. Roger Chartier, ’Secrétaires for the People?’ in Correspondence: Models of Letter-writing from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth Century (1997). p. 84.

First editions of two influential early Hebrew grammars. William Robertson was one of the earliest writers to attempt to teach Hebrew through English to a broad readership, the title, remarkably for the period, stressing that Hebrew can be learned by ‘any ordinary capacity of either sexe’ or ‘any knowing Christian, Man or Woman. The first part, The First Gate, or the Outward Door to the Holy Tongue, Opened in English is a reissue with cancel title of A Gate or Door to the Holy Tongue (1653) intended as the first part of a projected course of Hebrew instruction and was issued here with its continuation, the first edition of The Second Gate, or the Inner Door to the Holy Tongue (1655). The first part combines a Hebrew grammar with explanations of the Hebrew text of Obadiah and of the the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments), while the much larger second part consists of a Hebrew lexicon or dictionary.
The book was published during the English Commonwealth, when interest in Hebrew studies was unusually intense among Protestant intellectuals. Many believed that recovering the original languages of Scripture was essential to religious reform, allowing ordinary people direct access to Hebrew scripture without clerical interpretation Some circles also connected Hebrew studies with hopes for the conversion of the Jews and millenarian expectations.
Robertson was born in Edinburgh and graduated MA there by 1651 before moving to London and establishing himself as a teacher of Hebrew. ‘Robertson found patrons in the puritan establishment: the member of parliament John Sadler... the lord chief baron of the exchequer, William Steele... and, most notably, his distinguished pupil and benefactor Lady Ranelagh, née Katharine Boyle, the beloved elder sister of Robert Boyle (Oxford DNB).
The first Gate has the original title page of the 1653 edition cancelled by a bifolium, as called for, with the second leaf of the bifolium bearing an endorsement of the work signed on verso by James Cranford and 21 others (all London pastors) together with the called-for additional bifolium (here bound before A2) bearing a dedication to the author's ‘respected friend’ (another reissue, Wing R1611, lacks this bifolium). cf. Wing R 1611 (alternative issue without additional bifolium) and R 1618.

Abridged from Bryan Edwards’s work of the same title (1793) and his Historical Survey of the French Colony in the Island of St Domingo (1797). Together, these works became the standard British histories of the region, with valuable accounts of the operation of the slave trade. In 1791, Edwards had been part of the British relief expedition to the French colony of Saint Domingue. Son of a Jamaica slave-owner, Edwards had been leading member of the colonial assembly of Jamaica, but in a few years returned to England trading as a West India merchant. He supported the Atlantic slave trade, but was open to the improvement of the conditions for enslaved people in the region. He was described by abolitionist William Wilberforce as a powerful opponent.

A scarce regency juvenile title, aimed at young girls, with early female ownership inscriptions. The tale contrasts two distinct moral paths. Mary is clever but vain, whereas Sophia is diligent and kind. Following their father's death, Sophia's virtue is ultimately rewarded with a substantial inheritance. Opie A 1108. Worldcat: UCLA, Indiana and Toronto. Another issue of the same year gives and additional Sidmouth bookseller in the imprint.

A rare imprint from Lumsden’s Toy Book Manufactory in Glasgow. Includes seven tales, each with an illustration: The story of Prince Lupin; Zalmandor and Amandina; Miranda and the Royal Ram; Story of Fortunio; Zamea and Almanzon; Zalmayda and Alinzor and The Princess Frutilla. Abridged from the original version originally published by F. Newbery circa. 1773; tales 1, 3, 4 and 7 are based on tales by Madame d’Aulnoy; while tales 2, 5 and 6 are based on Madame d’ Auneuil’s Les Chevaliers errans. Roscoe & Brimmell, Lumsden, 103; Worldcat: Morgan, UCLA (defective with 5 plates only) and McGill only, not found in JISC.

A Regency counter or ‘staking’ board with original printed green label ‘Dunkartons Repository – For Fancy Articles. – 452 Strand, Wholesale and Retail’. Pope Joan was a card game popular in both the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the name a corruption of the French Nain jaune, the original form of the game. This example would originally have been mounted on a wooden spindle and stand (not now present) to allow it to revolve freely.
This example was offered by Dunkarton’s Repository, a fashionable shop operated by Mary Dunkarton and her husband, the notable mezzotint engraver Robert Dunkarton, at 452 Strand. Mary Dunkarton was recorded at this address as a milliner and haberdasher between 1781 and 1809, and the address in appears in the imprint of Dunakerton’s prints around the year 1810.
Though widely played before 1800 its first published rules appeared in Hoyle’s Games (edition of 1814), with the ‘staking board’ having eight compartments labelled: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Game, Pope, Matrimony and Intrigue. Each player receives a number of counters, or chips, whose value is determined by the players involved in the game. The 8 of diamonds is then removed from the pack to form a ‘stop sequence’. The aim of the game is to run out of cards before anyone else. The game features in Humphreys’ famous satirical print of 1796, ‘Lady Godina’s Rout’ depicting the Lady Georgiana Gordon, Duchess of Bedford at play in a state of dishabillée, while Dickens later portrays it as an innocuous family parlour game in the Pickwick Papers.

A very scarce Revolutionary imprint of this classic English apology for tyrannicide, issued against Robespierre during the Terror.
It is a translation by the abbé de Marigny, of Killing no Murder which had first appeared in English in Holland in 1657 and in French the following year (apparently to encourage the assassination of Cardinal Mazarin). ‘... about May 1657, there arrived in England copies of an apology for tyrannicide, entitled Killing Noe Murder, published by Sexby in Holland, evidently with the assistance of Silius Titus, under the name of Sexby’s former fellow agitator William Allen. Sexby argued that Cromwell was a tyrant on a par with Caligula and Nero. However stable, his reign was an abrogation of law which constituted the enslavement of the English people and threatened the outright corruption of English society. In such circumstances the private citizen was perfectly within his rights in seeking to exact the punishment for which responsibility ought normally to rest with God and the magistrate. Tyranny being the suspension of the normal course of law, tyrannicide could not be regarded as an act of murder’ (Oxford DNB). cf. Quérard, I, 271-272. Rochedieu, French Translations of English Works, 332. WorldCat lists only a small handful of copies of this 1793 reprint.

A popular satirical sermon on the joys and benefits of drinking, complete with a song, various, exemplary Latin quotations (’Bonum vinum loetificat cor hominis’, ‘Qui bene bibit bene dormit’ etc), an Ordonnance addressed to wives of drinkers and a mock dialogue between husband and wife. It is a version of the various sermons for drinkers printed in popular Bibliothèque bleu editions. The rear cover lists eighty titles supplied by Baudot including Art de tirer les cartes, Chansonnier des buveurs, Jardin d’amour, Magie naturelle and numerous fairy tales. Morin, Catalogue descriptif de la Bibliothèque bleue de Troyes, 1035

First edition of this survey of the fundamental changes made to female education in France between 1879 and 1887, France fundamentally reformed female education, moving from Catholic-dominated, basic instruction to a state-run, secular, and more academic system. Legislation such as the 1880 so-called Camille Sée law, established the first public secondary schools for girls (lycées) to produce educated ‘republican mothers,’ focusing on academic study rather than just needlework. The author was deputy director of the French ministry of public education. He dedicates the book to Camille Sée.

First edition of this rare practical programme for female secondary education. The so-called Duruy Reforms of 1865 instituted a new programme of secondary instruction geared towards practical careers in business and administration. While they also reformed primary education for girls, they did little for their secondary education, as noted in the foreword here by Madame Charles Sauvestre, instutrice. She concludes that the private initiatives are the only way of circumventing this, and the Guide pratique pour les écoles professionnelles de jeunes filles is a brief but complete guide to the practicalities and particularities of secondary schools for girls, starting with budget estimates for their foundation and maintenance. Much of detail is provided by the tables, which include three-year curricula with breakdowns of the necessary subjects, encompassing, letters, sciences, arts, and practical studies. ‘Letters’ comprise literacy in French and other living languages (not Latin), as well as history, geography, cosmography, domestic economy and ethics (religion is absent). ‘Sciences’ include mathematics (especially mental and commercial arithmetic), accounting, botany, zoology and mineralogy. ‘Arts’ include writing, drawing, geometry, ornament, industrial drawing, engraving, painting on porcelain and singing (formal music and panel painting notably absent). ‘Practical studies’ include couture (dressmaking), embroidery, tapestry, artificial flowers, lacemaking and paper crafts. Each of these subjects is broken down further into specific lessons with their place in a termly and weekly timetable divided into hours. A final chapters gives recommendations for the organisation of a library and a list of recommended books and authors. WorldCat: Library of Congress only outside Europe.

First edition, presentation copy, arguing for the proper provision of university education for women. The author surveys recent developments around the world, notably in the United States, where the women’s education movement has been most marked (and citing the Philadelphia medical school and the University of Michigan as examples) and in Great Britain (citing University College, London, Girton and Somerville Colleges at Cambridge and Oxford respectively). WorldCat locates a single copy: Università Bocconi, Milan.

First edition of one of the celebrated French clairvoyant’s earliest and rarest works, in which she reported an angelic appearance at Louis XVI’s tomb and revealed the contents of a tablet of prophecies for the era of the Restoration of the French monarchy. Like Le Normand’s later works it is couched in terms of dreams, predictions and angelic interventions. Marie-Anne Le Normand (1772–1843) was a celebrated (but also notorious) clairvoyant. Famed throughout Europe for her exclusive clientele, she popularised cartomancy and spawned an enormous wave of imitators. At the height of her career she claimed to have advised the likes of Robespierre, Talleyrand, Metternich, the Empress Josephine and the Russian Emperor Alexander; others argued that the whole thing was a sham, and she was frequently arrested, spending several weeks in prison. She is perhaps best remembered today for the cartomancy tarot decks named after her (’Lenormand cards’).
Le Normand was not only successful as a clairvoyant, but as a businesswoman, publisher and bookseller, with most of her works carrying her own imprint (as here) and sold at her shop in the rue de Tournon. At this early date she evidently operated her own press, with the half-title giving an address in nearby rue de Seine. Later works were generally printed for her by other presses. Caillet 6515. WorldCat: British Library only. While there are several copies in French libraries it is apparently absent from the Bibliothèque nationale. Arbour, Dictionnaire des femmes libraires en France, p. 343.

First edition of Le Norman’s predictions issued in the wake of the July Revolution of 1830 and the restoration of the monarchy under Louis Philippe, events welcomed by Le Normand, who saw the ghost of Louis XVI as her protector. Like her previous collections, it consists of accounts of her ‘visions intuitives’ and ‘Révélations politiques, symboliques, prophètiques, somnambulismes etc’. Throughout the nineteenth century, writers and pamphleteers repeated that tale of the ‘Little Red Man’ purported to be from an old folk tale dating back to the creation of the Tuileries Palace (1564) in which Le Petit Homme Rouge (a genie, or ghost) had appeared to the kings and queens living in the palace on the eve of great events, from Catherine de Medici to Napoleon. Here Le Normand uses him to recount the counsel given to Napoleon at Malmaison in 1793, that France could never be a democracy. Chapter five is set at the Scottish royal palace of Holyrood where the deposed Charles X had lived between 1796-1803
The title verso has an advert for eleven works hitherto published and still marketed by Le Normand at her shop in rue de Torunon, all priced, together with three fothcoming works ‘sous presse’ and a collected works in 10 volumes. Caillet 6514 (’Ouvrage peu commun’).

Presumed first or sole edition of this bilingual English-Japanese picture book showing the costumes of men and women of the various ranks of orders of Japanese society. It includes aristocratic and military subjects, as well as servants, scholars, labourers and craftspeople. The English preface states ‘These books are not only designed to please children, but to show the manners and customs of the ancient and modern people of Nippon. The fine illustrations afford an important aid in this respect. It is through the eye that understanding itself is most quickly reached’.
It was printed by the Poole Women’s College in Osaka. Arthur William Poole, after whom the Osaka Women’s School was renamed in 1890, was the first Anglican Bishop of Japan. The school had been founded as the Church Missionary Society school and its head teacher from 1890 to 1928 was the Durham-born missionary educator, Katherine Tristram, one of the early female graduates of the University of London. When she was appointed ‘there were at the school two other British women apart from Tristram, as well as eight Japanese teachers, including four women, and there were forty-nine pupils, of whom twenty-three were Christians’ (Oxford DNB).