Antiquarian and Collectors’ Books

THEATRE. ‘The Spotlight’ Casting Directory For Stage and Screen. London: ‘The Spotlight’ Ltd., Autumn 1937. No. 41, 4to (282 x 195mm.) Numerous photographic portraits of actors and actresses of the day, including Laurence Olivier, sectional dividers, numerous advertisements. (Toning, title detached, minor creasing.) Original card covers (extremities rubbed). – And a related volume (‘Variety International Show Business Reference, 1983’, 1983, 8vo) (2).

WARHAMMER. – Alan BLIGH and John FRENCH. The Horus Heresy. Nottingham: Forge World, 2012-2014. 6 vols. [Vols. 1-3 and Supplementary vols.], 4to (309 x 228mm.) Numerous colour illustrations. Original black faux leather, colour illustrations mounted to upper covers, silvered corners, g.e., original slipcase. Note: comprises vols. 1-3 of ‘The Horus Heresy’: ‘Betrayal’, ‘Massacre’ and ‘Extermination’ and also the volumes ‘Legiones Astartes: Crusade Army List’, 2014, and ‘Legiones Astartes: Isstvan Campaign Legions’, 2014, and ‘The Horus Heresy Illuminations’. – And a further six related volumes (including ‘The Horus Heresy: Collected Visions’, 2011, 4to) (12).

WILLIAMSON, Henry. [The Flax of Dreams.] London: Faber & Faber and Jonathan Cape, 1929-1931. 3 vols. (of 4), limited edition, being one of 200 copies signed by the author, 8vo (228 x 146mm.) Original buckram (spines faded, stain to upper cover of vol. 1). Note: comprises books, 1, 3 and 4. ‘The Beautiful Years’ is no. 112 of 200, ‘The Dream of Fair Women’ is unnumbered, ‘The Pathway’ is no. 97, all signed by Henry Williamson. – And together with an original framed portrait of Henry Williamson’s dog ‘Billjohn’. On the back of the portrait Williamson has written: ‘FACTS, Please. This Portrait of my dog BILLJOHN was painted by Mrs. F.T. Nicholson (Royal Academy Exhibition for many years) for Lieut. H. Williamson 1st Bedfordshire Regt, during the great WAR. It was done as a souvenir, for he was ordered to INDIA. The war ceased- and he went not four months later (March 1919) came the crashing of The Beloved Illusion, Henry Williamson’.

KITTON, Frederic G. Charles Dickens By Pen and Pencil, Including Anecdotes and Reminiscences Collected From His Friends & Contemporaries. London: Frank T. Sabin and John F. Dexter, 1889-1890. 13 vols. [12 Parts and 3 Supplements in 1], first edition, folio (394 x 291mm.) Numerous engraved plates, portraits, facsimiles and illustrations in the text. (Mild toning.) Original printed wrappers (toning, occasional chipping to margins, repair verso wrapper to the ‘Supplement’) (13).

PROHIBITED BOOKS. [Index Librorum Prohibitorum et Expurgatorum… D. Bernardi de Sandoval & Roxus… |De consillio supremi senatus s. generalis inquisitionis Hispaniarum. Geneva: J. Crispinus, 1620.] 4to (233 x 165mm.) Half-title, 2 parts in 1, woodcut initials and head and tail-pieces, text in Latin, some sections headed in Spanish, last leaf errata at kkkii. (Browning, light spotting throughout, lacking title and pp.1-4 and pp.13-16.) Contemporary vellum, manuscript lettering to the spine (dust-soiled, small splits to spine ends). Note: first published in 1536, this list of prohibited works was revised by the Council of Trent and regularly updated until it was itself suppressed after the Vatican II in 1966. Provenance: C. Stratford (ink name to the half-title); Douai Bibliothèque Publique (stamps to the half-title); Gavin Henderson (manuscript plate to front pastedown).

CICERO, Marcus Tullius. Familiarium Epistollarum Libri XVI. Venice: 1552. 8vo (296 x 203mm.) Woodcut printer’s device to title, woodcut initials and headpieces, mostly triple-column text. (Title has part of the woodcut device excised to remove the nude figure, title and *ii loosened, marginal spotting and damp-staining until leaf E, last leaf li iiii2 [p.253] and lacking all after, 2 rear blanks replaced.) Contemporary vellum (dust-soiled, rubbed, lacking small area of spine panel). Provenance: ‘Monasterii Sanctae Mariae Novae Montis Regalis’ (name-plate verso title).

ROME. – Guillaume DU CHOUL. Discours de la Religion des Anciens Romains [with:] Discours sur la Castrametation et Discipline Militaire des Anciens Romains. Lyon: Guillaume Roville, 1581. 4to (230 x 169mm.) 2 parts in 1, woodcut device to title of each part, numerous woodcut illustrations, including some full-page. (Lacking pp.11-14 and pp.27-30 of part 1 and pp.9-16 of part 2, browning and marginal spotting throughout, text-block nearly cracked at Cc2, paper repair to last leaf Ww2, marginal tear to z3.) Near contemporary speckled calf (spine lacking, hinges weakened, heavily rubbed). Note: over 500 woodcut illustrations, mainly of Roman coins and medallions.

POETRY. – Dylan THOMAS. Collected Poems 1934-1952. London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1952. First edition, first impression, 8vo (214 x 133mm.) (Mild toning.) Original blue cloth (lightly bumped spine ends), dust-jacket (extremities chipped). – And a further thirty-nine volumes of poetry (including Ezra Pound’s ‘Homage to Sextus Propertius’, 1934, 8vo, and Philip Larkin’s ‘The North Ship’, 1964, 8vo, and Hugh MacDiarmid’s ‘Poems and a Pibroch on His 80th Birthday by Alistair Keith Campsie’, 1972, folio) (40).

MACHEN, Arthur. The Terror. London: Duckworth, 1917. First edition, 8vo (183 x 122mm.) (Browning throughout, creasing to p.146, inner hinge cracked, spotting to blanks.) Original boards (extremities browned), dust-jacket (loss and tape repair at top of spine, dust-soiled). – And a further nineteen volumes by Arthur Machen (including ‘The Autobiography of Arthur Machen’, 1951, 8vo, and ‘The Green Round’, 1933, 8vo, and ‘Dreads and Drolls’, 1926, 8vo, and ‘The Bowmen’, 1915, 8vo) (20).

MOLIERE. Oeuvres de Moliere. Paris: Libraires Associés, 1778. 8 vols., 12mo (140 x 78mm.) Titles in red and black. (Toning, lacking blank to vol. 7, browning, illegible ink ownership to front blanks.) Contemporary cat’s paw calf, black and green morocco lettering pieces (extremities rubbed, some insect-damage to several covers, slight loss to spine ends). – And a further fourteen volumes of French literature (including Fontaine’s ‘Fables Choisies, Mises en Vers’, 2 vols., 1757, 12mo, and also Fontaine’s ‘Contes et Nouvelles en Vers’, 2 vols., 1743, 12mo) (22).

BRITAIN. – Francis GROSE. The Antiquities of England and Wales. London: Hooper & Wigstead, [1783]-1797. 8 vols., large paper copies, new edition, 4to (341 x 230mm.) Engraved folding map, numerous plates, plans, views and county maps. (Toning, light spotting to title of vol. 4.) Contemporary brown full calf, blind-tooled and gilt borders (five boards detached, lightly rubbed). – And a further six volumes of Grose’s ‘Antiquities’ in large paper editions, [six boards detached] (‘The Antiquities of Scotland’, 2 vols., 1797, 4to, and ‘The Antiquities of Ireland’, 2 vols., 1791, 4to, and ‘Military Antiquities Respecting a History of the English Army’, 2 vols., 1812). Provenance: John Deacon (bookplates to the front pastedowns) (14).

[WARD, Edward.] ‘N.E.’ [Female Policy Detected: or, The Arts of a Designing Woman Laid Open. London: B. Harris, 1704?] 8vo (149 x 88mm.) (Lacking title and several leaves to front and rear and pp.55-58 and pp. 61-63, last leaf being H7.) Near contemporary calf-backed boards (heavily rubbed). Note: scarce. – And a further twenty volumes (including Christopher Kelly’s ‘A Full and Circumstantial Account of the Memorable Battle of Waterloo’, [11 plates only], 1817, 4to, and Edward Young’s ‘Night Thoughts on Life, Death and Immortality’, 1817, 12mo, and ‘The Tales of the Genii. Translated from the Persian, by Sir Charles Morell’, 1824, 12mo) (21).

MILITARY. – Charles Gédéon de SINCLAIRE (translator). Reglement Pour La Cavalerie Prussienne. Frankfurt: Knoch et Eslinger, 1762. First edition, 8vo (164 x 89mm.) 3 folding engraved charts to rear, errata leaf. (Toning, light browning.) Contemporary calf, red morocco lettering piece to the spine (some loss to lettering piece, heavily rubbed extremities). – And a further three related volumes (including Jean Valdor’s ‘Les Triomphes de Louis le Juste XIII du Nom, Roi de France et de Navarre’, [with 22 engraved plates only], 1649, folio, and ‘Ordonnance du Roi, Pour Régler L’ Exercice de Ses Troupes D’ Infanterie du 1st Juin 1776’, 1776, folio, with ‘Planches Relatives À L’ Exercice de L’ Infanterie, Suivant l’ Ordonnance du Roi du 1st Juin 1776’, 1776 [disbound, 17 engraved plates], folio) (4).

MILITARY. – D.J. LAIRD and S.T. DARKE. Uniforms of the Security Forces of Rhodesia. Rhodesia, Salisbury: Muskateer Press, 1979. Limited edition, this being number 366 of 515 numbered copies signed by the authors, folio (423 x 291mm.) Numerous colour illustrations. (Large corner creases to the preliminaries, toning, occasional light spotting.) Original elephant hide with brass edging and mounted coat-of-arms to upper cover (slight fading to spine), original slipcase (lacking upper panel edge, worn).

JOHNSTON, A.K. and G.H. JOHNSTON. The Handy Royal Atlas of Modern Geography. Edinburgh and London: W. & A.K. Johnston, 1909. Folio (368 x 250mm.) Title, dedication, 61 double-paged colour plates, including 2 double-paged colour frontispieces of the North and South Pole, 83pp. Index to rear. (Toning, occasional marginal spotting, plate 6 with tear to crease.) Original green half morocco, g.e. (upper cover partially detached, inner hinge cracked).

DORÉ, Gustave (illustrator). – Samuel Taylor COLERIDGE. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. London: Doré Gallery, 1875. Folio (493 x 373mm.) Half-title, title in red and black with large vignette, 39 plates with tissue-guards. (Spotting to preliminaries and text leaves and to four plates, occasional finger-mark.) Original red cloth, pictorial gilt to upper cover (rebacked and tips repaired, heavily stained). – And a further five illustrated volumes (John Keats’ ‘Endymion’, illustrated by W. St. John Harper, [1888], 4to, and Goethe’s ‘Hermann und Dorothea’, 1881, 4to, and, edited by C.M. Dias, ‘História da Colonizacao Portuguesa do Brasil’, 3 vols., 1921-1924, 4to). Provenance: by descent, from the estate of Frederic Thesiger, Lieutenant General, Viceroy and Governor-General of India 1916-21 (6).

CHAUCER, Geoffrey. – Ronald KING (illustrator). The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. Surrey, Guildford: Circle Press Publications, 1978. Limited edition, this being number 95 of 250 signed copies with original screenprint initialled by Ronald King, folio (394 x 275mm.) 14 full-page colour screenprints by Ronald King. (Mild toning.) Original blue cloth, white lettering to the spine, original blue cloth slipcase (rubbing to extremities). Note: the print (‘Tapicer’, XII) is initialled in pencil and contained in a folder to the rear.

BOYS, Thomas Shotter. Original Views of London As It Is, drawn from nature expressly for this work… with Historical and Descriptive Notices of the Views by Charles Ollier, 1842 & James Laver, C.B.E., 1954. Guildford: Charles W. Traylen, 1954. 2 vols., facsimile edition, signed by James Laver, folio (503 x 368mm.) 26 coloured plates. (Mild toning.) Original red morocco-backed grey cloth with red morocco lettering pieces to upper covers (minor marks), original grey cloth-covered slipcase (soiling to spine, minor marks) (2).

ATLASES. – Samuel LEWIS. A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland. London: S. Lewis and Co., 1846. Supplementary volume, 4to (323 x 247mm.) Large scale map of Scotland on six sheets, hand-coloured in outline, engraved and folding, including the title. (Some browning and light spotting, small tears at creases.) Original brown blind-stamped cloth (sunning to spine, extremities rubbed). – And a further eight atlases (including Drioux et Ch. Leroy’s  ‘Atlas Universel et Classique de Géographie Ancienne, Romaine’, 1873, 4to, and ‘Quicksee Load Line, Zone and Weather Chart’, [1950], 4to, and vol. XXXIV of ‘The New Volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica’, 1903, 4to, and a further two related volumes: Samuel Lewis’ ‘A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland’, 2 vols., second edition, 1840, 4to) (11).