Antiquarian and Collectors’ Books

MANUSCRIPT. - Ronald SEARLE (illustrator) and Geoffrey WILLANS. Down With Skool! [N.p.: n.d. but circa 1953]. 98pp. original typed manuscript, loose leaf (257 x 198mm.) containing original Ronald Searle drawings in ink on approximately two thirds of the manuscript pages. (Red crayon cancel lines through all the leaves, browning, corner creases.) Tie-bound to top corner. Note: 'Down With Skool' is the first of the four 'Nigel Molesworth' novels that Searle illustrated for Geoffrey Willans. - And a further book by Ronald Searle and 'Timothy Shy' (a 'dummy' copy of 'The Terror of St. Trinians', 1952, 8vo) (2).

MOTORING. - Arthur SEVERN (illustrator) and Marie CORELLI. The Devil's Motor, a Fantasy. London: Hodder & Stoughton, [n.d. but 1910]. 6 tipped-in colour plates by Severn. (First 8 leaves loose, all leaves brittle.) Original half-vellum over red buckram boards, gilt lettering to upper cover and spine. Note: the publisher smoked all the leaves of this edition of the book so it resembled the smell of motor oil, which they still do. However, it has rendered them somewhat fragile.

AFRICA. - Abel CHAPMAN. On Safari. London: Edward Arnold, 1908. First edition, 8vo (224 x 138mm.) Photogravure frontispiece with tissue-guard, 32 plates, numerous illustrations in the text, 16pp. of publisher's advertisements to rear. (Browning, upper joint splitting, bookplate to front pastedown.) Original brown pictorial cloth (rubbing to extremities, fading, spotting to upper cover). - And six further volumes relating to hunting (including Lord Cranworth's 'Profit and Sport in British East Africa', 1919, 8vo) (7).

AFRICA. - Charles DUNDAS. Kilimanjaro and Its People. London: H.F. & G. Witherby, 1924. First edition, 8vo (216 x 130mm.) Frontispiece with tissue-guard, folding map, 30 photographic illustrations on 15 leaves. (One plate loose, some cropped, browning, occasional spotting.) Original blue cloth (soiling, rubbed, endpapers replaced). - And eight further volumes relating to Africa (including Eva Stuart-Watt's 'Africa's Dome of Mystery', [n.d. but 1930], 8vo) (9).

AFRICA. - Samuel White BAKER. The Albert N'yanza, Great Basin of the Nile, and Explorations of the Nile Sources. London: Macmillan and Co., 1866. 2 vols., first edition, 8vo (223 x 135mm.) Frontispiece to volume 1, tinted frontispiece to volume 2, 1 large folding map, another map, 13 wood-engraved plates, numerous wood-engraved illustrations within text. (Spotting to preliminaries of volume 2, toning to margins.) Original green cloth, gilt vignettes of paddle-boats to upper covers, gilt lettering to spine (rubbing to extremities, joints of volume two splitting). Note: Baker's book about the source of the Nile, proving that it flowed through the lake Albert Nyanza. - And four further volumes about the River Nile (including Harry Johnston's 'The Nile Quest', [n.d. but circa 1905], 8vo) (6).

AFRICA. - C.R.S. PITMAN. A Game Warden Among His Charges. London: Nisbet & Co. Ltd., 1931. First edition, 8vo (223 x 132mm.) Frontispiece, 47 photographic illustrations, folding map to rear. (Mild toning.) Original green cloth, gilt lettering to spine (sunning to spine). - And fourteen further volumes relating to Africa and hunting (including Theodore Roosevelt's 'African Game Trails', 1910, 8vo) (15).

AFRICA. - John Hanning SPEKE. Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1863. First edition, 8vo (216 x 128mm.) Engraved portrait frontispiece, numerous illustrations. (Lacking map, browning and spotting to the title.) Contemporary black half-morocco (surface rubbing and to extremities). - And nineteen further volumes relating to Africa (including Henry M. Stanley's 'Through the Dark Continent', 1899, 8vo) (20).

MCBRYDE, James. The Story of a Troll-Hunt. Cambridge: the University Press, 1904. Limited edition, being one of 100 copies, 4to (279 x 214mm.) Numerous illustrations by the author, 4pp. introduction by M.R. James. (Toning to margins.) Original vellum-backed boards (some loss to the vellum, soiling, some rubbing). Note: rare. This book was put together by the ghost story writer M.R. James after the death, at age twenty-four, of his friend James McBryde. Between 1899 and 1901 they travelled several times to Denmark and Sweden and this inspired McBryde to write this children's story involving three men making expeditions to Jutland to bring back monsters and strange creatures to put into the Fitzwilliam Museum - of which, by that time, M.R. James was the director.

JOHNSON, Samuel. A Dictionary of the English Language. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1827. 3 vols., second edition, 4to (277 x 208mm.) Engraved portrait frontispiece. (Mild toning, offsetting to title-page.) Near contemporary diced calf with black and burgundy morocco lettering pieces to the spines (surface rubbing to spines and spine ends). Provenance: Bernard Hartley (bookplates to the front pastedowns).

DICKENS, Charles. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. London: Chapman and Hall, 1837. First edition in book form, early printing, 8vo (215 x 119mm.) 43 plates by 'Phiz' and Robert Seymour. (Browning to plates, preliminaries loosening.) Contemporary red morocco, blind-tooled to covers, gilt titling to spine, g.e. (minor rubbing). Note: with 'Weller' on the additional title, 'E' on p.25 and p.27, second plate listed first, and 'Chapter 28' on both p.282 and p.299. Provenance: 'Cedric' (gift inscription on front pastedown).

BINDING. - Paul LACROIX. The Arts in the Middle Ages, and At the Period of the Renaissance. London: Chapman and Hall, 1870. 4to (252 x 163mm.) 19 chromolithographed plates by F. Kellerhoven, numerous illustrations. (Toning to margins.) Later brown morocco with gilt and brown decorative design to covers, five raised bands, lettering to the second and third compartments, repeating gilt fleurons to the rest, g.e. (light rubbing to extremities).

MANUSCRIPT. - [A bound collection of Dutch engravings showing Biblical scenes. N.p: n.d. but mid-17th century]. 4to (258 x 195mm.) A hand-written introduction to the plates, 115 engraved plates showing scenes of the Old Testament and 60 plates relating to the New Testament, a hand-written title to the NT section, captioned in Dutch to the plate margins. (Some browning, minor soiling, old marginal repairs to some leaves.) Near contemporary boards (worn). Note: contains 18th century notes and letters regarding the provenance. Provenance: Johannes Baptista Heinzelius (referred to in hand-written introduction); P. Aubertin (recipient of letter); David Thomas Powell (ink name inscribed on front pastedown).

CARNE, John. Syria, the Holy Land, Asia Minor… in a series of Views Drawn From Nature by W.H. Bartlett, William Purser &c. London, Paris & New York: Fisher, Son, & Co., [n.d. but circa 1837-1838. 2 vols. (second and third), 4to (277 x 208mm.) 2 engraved maps of Syria and Asia Minor), 83 engraved plates after Bartett, Purser, and Thomas Allom. (Occasional spotting to plate margins, bookplate remains to third volume pastedown.) Original green cloth with elaborate gilt and blind-stamped decoration to covers and spines, g.e. (wear to spines, bumped, surface wear) (2).

BINDING. - Edward GIBBON. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire with Notes and a Memoir by F.A. Guizot. London: George Virtue, [n.d. but circa 1850]. 2 vols., 8vo (249 x 164mm.) Additional engraved title to volume 1, frontispieces, numerous plates and maps, some folding. (Some spotting to plate margins and preliminaries.) Near contemporary black morocco, multi-gilt borders surrounding the gilt insignia of Sidney College, Cambridge to upper and lower covers, g.e. (light rubbing to extremities). Provenance: James D. Tremblett (bookplate to front pastedowns).

RAILWAYS. - Robert GRATTON. The Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway. Gwynned: RCL Publications, 2005. First edition, 4to (273 x 208mm.) Numerous illustrations. Original brown cloth, dust-jacket. Note: the Leek valley railway opened in 1904 and closed thirty years later, before railway preservation was a concern.

LLOYDS. Lloyd's Register of Shipping… Rules and Regulations for the Construction and Classification of Steel Vessels. London: Lloyds, Fenchurch St., 1925. 4to (284 x 239mm.) Includes a 'Notice' of emendations in red for this edition. (Mild toning.) Original cloth blind-stamped with gilt lettering and insignia to upper cover (lightly bumped).

EVOLUTION. - Charles WHITE. An Account of the Regular Gradation in Man and in Different Animals and Vegetables; and From the Former to the Latter. London: for C. Dilly, 1799. 4to (297 x 237mm.) Title, dedication, 3pp. introduction', 4 plates, including 3 folding, appendix. (Minor creasing, browning, marginal damp-stain to 1 plate.) Contemporary boards (some loss to spine, heavily rubbed). Note: scarce. A curious book that compares white European people to other races, their skulls, brains, teeth, penises, differences in mastication and also a section comparing the ease of parturition. However, in the introduction White is keen to ensure that he is not construed 'as to give the smallest countenance to the pernicious practice of enslaving mankind, which he wishes to see abolished throughout the world'.

DUGDALE, William. The Baronage of England, or an Historical Account of the Lives and Most Memorable Actions of Our English Nobility in the Saxons Time, to the Norman Conquest. London: by Tho. Newcomb, for Abel Roper, John Martin, Henry Herringman., 1675. 3 vols. in 2, folio (366 x 221mm.) Titles to first two volumes in red and black, 5 folding genealogical tables. (Browning, occasional spotting, damp-stain to margins of first leaves of volume 1, and to rear leaves of volume 2.) Later panelled calf, red and green morocco lettering pieces to the spines (rubbing to extremities). Provenance: C.H. Tremlett (bookplates to front pastedowns).

DALLAWAY, James, and Edmund CARTWRIGHT. A History of the Western Division of the County of Sussex. London: T. Bensley and J.B. Nichols and Son, 1815-1830. 2 vols. in 3, folio (351 x 263mm.) Titles in red and black, 68 plates and genealogies (6 double-page, 6 with hand-colouring, 3 folding), 6 maps (3 folding, some with hand-colouring. (Browning, occasional soiling and creasing, first leaves loose in volume 2, part 2.) Contemporary red morocco, modern red cloth (two boards detached, rubbing). Provenance: West Sussex County Library (labels to initial blanks). - And two further volumes relating to Sussex (including Alexander Hay's 'History of Chichester', 1804, 8vo) (5).