Antiquarian and Collectors’ Books

MOVABLE BOOK. – Lothar MEGGENDORFER. Look at Me! A New Movable Toybook. London: H. Grevel & Co., [1891.] Oblong folio (254 x 342mm.) 8 full-page colour movable illustrations with tabs and text leaf to each. (Browned to margins, two tabs replaced and one repaired, small marginal repair to tear to first illustration and last has a small movable piece missing.) Original red cloth-backed boards with mounted colour illustration (lightly bumped, browned). Note: seven of the eight movables are in full working order. Considered to be the greatest paper engineer and maker of movable books, the Movable Book Society awards a pop-up book prize every year in his name. Maurice Sendak has written of Meggendorfer, that he ‘turned the mechanical toy book into a work of art. He was the supreme master of animation, every gesture, both animal and human, coarse and subtle, amazingly was conveyed via the primitive but, in his hands, versatile technique of movable paper parts’.

POP-UP BOOK. – L.L. WEEDON. The Land of Long Ago. A Visit to Fairyland With Humpty Dumpty. London & New York: Ernest Nister and E.P. Dutton, [1898.] Oblong folio, (262 x 310mm.) 6 chromolithographed full-page pop-up scenes, illustrations in the text. (Text leaves browned, lower panels of pop-ups with marginal creases.) Original red cloth-backed pictorial boards (minor scratches and stain to lower cover). Note: all pop-ups in original working order. Provenance: ‘Kathleen’ (gift inscribed to on the front-free endpaper).

MOVABLE BOOK. – H.M. BURNSIDE. The Fairy Ring. London: Ernest Nister, [circa 1898.] 4to (223 x 218mm.) 6 spherical chromolithographed movable (‘dissolving’) plates with ribbons. (Browning, slight chipping to edges of two leaves, one ribbon replaced.) Original cloth-backed paper-covered pictorial boards (extremities lightly rubbed). Note: all parts in original working order.

VINE PRESS (publisher). – Victor NEUBURG. Songs of the Groves: Records of the Ancient World. Sussex, Steyning: Vine Press, 1921. Limited edition, this being number 6 of 40 De Luxe copies on hand-made paper from the edition of 590, signed and inscribed by Victor Neuburg for Dennis West, large 8vo (230 x 151mm.) Woodcut illustrations by Dennis West. (Toning, petal offsetting on pp.56-57, browning to front-free endpaper.) Original green cloth-backed pictorial paper-covered boards (minor staining to lower cover, extremities rubbed). Note: the inscription reads: ‘For Dennis West, the Artist, with the Author’s sincere thanks. Victor B. Neuburg, Steyning, Sussex, 13.8.21’.

VINE PRESS (publisher). – Victor NEUBURG. Swift Wings: Songs in Sussex. Steyning: The Vine Press, 1921. Limited edition, this being number 25 of the 40 De Luxe copies on hand-made paper from an edition of 590 copies, signed and inscribed by Victor Neuburg for Dennis West, large 8vo (229 x 151mm.) Hand-coloured woodcut illustration by Dennis West, woodcut initials, errata slip bound-in. (Some finger-marking to title, minor spotting to some margins.) Original brown cloth-backed pictorial paper-covered boards designed by Beatrice Linda Stanbrough (extremities bumped, browned to edges). Note: one of Neuburg’s flamboyant rhyming inscriptions, it reads: ‘To Dennis West/ Unquestionable best/ Compositions in Steyning/The colleague-penning/ of Victor B./Neuburg, the/Twenty-forth of December:/Remember!/Blow it:/ The poet/Nineteen-twenty-one/My song is done:/ Yes!-/ At the Vine Press’.

VINE PRESS (publisher). – Victor NEUBURG (editor). Larkspur: A Lyric Garland. Steyning: The Vine Press, 1922. Limited edition, this being number 7 of 40 De Luxe copies made from hand-made paper from an edition of 590, signed and inscribed by the author, 8vo (227 x 149mm.) Hand-coloured woodcut illustrations by Dennis West. (Mild toning.) Original red cloth-backed pictorial boards, gilt lettering to spine (fading to spine, damp-stain to lower cover, browned to edges). Note: the inscription reads: ‘The Artist: from the Editor, fraternally, May 19, 1923, Steyning, Sussex, Victor Neuburg’, also signed in ink under the portrait frontispiece. Provenance: Dennis West (ink inscription from Victor Neuburg on the front-free endpaper). – And a further volume published by the Vine Press (Rupert Croft-Cooke’s ‘Songs of a Sussex Tramp’, 1922, 8vo) (2).

MONTAIGNE, Michel. Essais… avec les Notes de tous les Commentateurs. Paris: Lefèvre, 1823. 5 vols., 8vo (203 x 125mm.) Engraved portrait frontispiece. (Spotting and browning throughout.) Contemporary maroon full calf, armorial gilt to upper covers (heavily sunned spines and lower covers, all covers scuffed and rubbed). Provenance: General Lambert Loveday (bookplates to front pastedowns); William Paton Ker, Scottish literary scholar (bookplate to front-free endpaper of vol. 1); Frederic Thesiger, Lieutenant General (gift-plate inscribed on a front-free endpaper). – And a further ten literary volumes (including ‘Oeuvres de Molière’, 5 vols., 1823, 8vo, and James Stephen’s ‘Essays in Ecclesiastical Biography’, 2 vols., 1849, 8vo). Provenance: by descent, from the estate of Frederic Thesiger, Lieutenant General, Viceroy and Governor-General of India 1916-21(15).

DUMAS, Alexander. Les Trois Mousquetaires. Paris: M.M. J. -B. Fellens et L.- P. Dufour, 1846. First illustrated edition, 8vo (237 x 151mm.) Half-title, wood-engraved portrait frontispiece, 32 wood-engraved plates by A. Gusman, G. Lecestre and others after Beauce and others, tissue-guards, illustrated initials and tail-pieces. (Spotting to preliminaries, light to moderate spotting throughout including marginal damp-staining.) Contemporary black morocco, gilt lettering to spine (rebacked, lightly rubbed extremities). – And a further illustrated volume by Dumas (‘Vingt ans Après’, 1846, 8vo) (2).

WELLS, H.G. Floor Games. London: Frank Palmer, 1911. First edition, 8vo (215 x 166mm.) Photographic plates, marginal drawings by J.R. Sinclair. (Spotting throughout.) Original blue cloth with mounted colour illustration to upper cover (lightly bumped spine ends). – And a further two volumes by H.G. Wells (‘Little Wars, A Game For Boys’, 1931, oblong 8vo, and ‘The Adventures of Tommy’, 1929, 4to) (3).

WHITMAN, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Philadelphia: David McKay, 1891-92. ‘Deathbed Edition’, second issue, 8vo (212 x 135mm.) Engraved frontispiece with tissue-guard at p.29, 2 mounted photographs of Walt Whitman to initial blank, extra portrait plate mounted to front pastedown. (Toning, some leaves to rear trimmed, some spotting to last leaf.) Original green cloth, gilt lettering to spine, t.e.g. (extremities lightly bumped, gilt fading). Note: with Whitman’s 7-line recommendation to the copyright page indicating this be the definitive text for future publication. BAL’s binding C. The inscription, written a year after Whitman’s death, reads: ‘To Albert J. D., from Fred M., March 2nd 1893. ‘For the love of Comrades’. (Written with W.W.’s pen)’. Provenance: ‘Fred M.’ (gift inscribed from in ink to the second blank); ‘Albert J. D.’ (gift inscribed to on the second blank).

WHITMAN, Walt. Complete Prose Works. Boston: Small, Maynard & Company, 1898. First edition, 8vo (205 x 129mm.) 6 plates. (Toning, occasional spotting.) Original green cloth, spine gilt, t.e.g. (spine ends bumped). – And a further thirteen volumes related to Whitman (including ‘In Re Walt Whitman: Edited by His Literary Executors’, [limited edition, being one of 1000 copies], 1893, 8vo, and Horace Traubel’s ‘With Walt Whitman in Camden’, 1906, 8vo, and Edward Carpenter’s ‘Days With Walt Whitman’, 1906, 8vo) (14).

THEATRE. – Nicholas ROWE. The Tragedy of Jane Shore. Written in Imitation of Shakespear’s Style. London: Henry Lintot, 1758. 3pp. publisher’s advertisement to rear. (Occasional scattered spotting.) [Bound with:] Nicholas ROWE. The Royal Convert, A Tragedy. London: J. and R. Tonson, 1757. Title in red and black, engraved frontispiece. (Toning.) [Bound with:] [Thomas OTWAY]. Friendship in Fashion, A Comedy. London: J. Tonson, 1733. Engraved frontispiece. (Browning.) [Bound with:] Susanna CENTLIVRE. The Gamester, A Comedy. London: J. Knapton, 1756. (Toning.) 12mo (168 x 97mm.) Contemporary calf (extremities rubbed). – And a further twenty-nine volumes, mostly related to theatre (including ‘Bell’s British Theatre’, 11 vols., [vols. 3-17, being 3,5,6,8,9,10,11,13,15-17], 1776-1777, 8vo) (30).

HORSE-RACING. – John CHENY. An Historical List of All Horse-Matches Run, And of all Plates and Prizes Run For In England and Wales (of the value of Ten Pounds or upwards) in 1731. London: Printed in the Year 1731. 12mo (165 x 89mm.) Woodcut initial and head-piece, 18pp. ‘List of Subscribers’ and 3pp. ‘Alphabetical List of Places of Sport mention’d in the forgoing Book’ to rear. (Minor marginal loss to title, damp-staining to C4, marginal spotting to I4.) Contemporary calf, four later morocco lettering pieces to spine, t.e.g. (hinges weakened, extremities rubbed). Note: scarce. John Cheney published his first ‘Historical List’ of the racing calendar in 1727. It cost subscriber’s five shillings and was to appear ‘annually, in the midst of Winter’ and so will be ‘an agreeable Amusement in that dull unactive Season, rend[e]ring Gentlemen capable, even in their Chambers, of diverting themselves with a Prospect, as it were, of the Sport of each past Year’.

MUSIC. – Henry ROBERTS. Calliope or English Harmony. A Collection of the most Celebrated English and Scots Songs Neatly Engrav’d and Embellish’d with Designs. London: Henry Roberts, 1739. Vol. 1 [only, of 2.] First edition, 8vo (224 x 139mm.) Engraved title and frontispiece, engraved 4pp. ‘Index’, and 200pp. of engraved musical scores with engraved vignettes to each. (Toning, slight marginal loss to p.113, pp.78-81 misbound.) Contemporary calf (extremities rubbed, lacking lettering piece, slight losses to spine panel). Note: composers include Handel and Purcell. A second volume was issued but the first volume is often found alone. Provenance: Mary Coot (ink name inscribed verso frontispiece).

TRADE CATALOGUES. Toys Britain’s Ltd. London: Britain’s Ltd., [circa 1935.] 4to (258 x 222mm.) Section dividers for ‘Soldiers’, ‘Farms’, ‘Zoos’, ‘Gardening’ and ‘Miscellaneous’, 6pp. index to front, numerous illustrations. (Toning, minor creasing.) Original printed card covers, tipped-in inserts to upper cover (creasing to edges, some spotting and dust-soiling). – And two related volumes (‘Britain’s Limited’, [circa 1929], 4to, and a Meccano and Dinky catalogue for ‘E.J. Cox, 28 North End Road, Golders Green, N.W. 11’, 1938-39, oblong 8vo) (3).

DICKENS, Charles. The Complete Works of… introduction by G.K. Chesterton. London: British Books Limited, [circa 1925.] 25 vols., 16mo (152 x 97mm.) (Mild toning.) Original red cloth, gilt spines, dust-jackets (minor chipping to several volumes), contained within original red cloth-covered box, gilt signature of Dickens to lid (some staining to lid and corners split).

POP-UP BOOK. – L.L. WEEDON and E. Stuart HARDY. The Land of Long Ago, A Visit to Fairyland with Humpty Dumpty. London & New York: Ernest Nister and E.P. Dutton, [1898.] Oblong 4to (262 x 313mm.) 6 chromolithographed full-page pop-up scenes, illustrations in the text. (Browned to margins.) Original red cloth-backed pictorial boards (lightly rubbed, some staining and scratches to lower cover). Note: all pop-ups in original working order. Provenance: Theodore Fairfax Crowther (gift inscribed to in ink on the front-free endpaper). – And a further pop-up book (Clifton Bingham’s ‘The Soldier Panorama Book, a Novel Colour Book for Children’, with double-page pop-up panoramas [all in original working order], [1907], small folio) (2).

EVANS, Sebastian (translator). The High History of the Holy Graal, Translated from the French. London: J.M. Dent and Co., 1898. 2 vols., limited edition, being number 182 of 250 copies only, 8vo (169 x 100mm.) Half-titles, plates. (Toning, heavily browned endpapers.) Original half vellum paper-covered boards, gilt lettering to spines, t.e.g. (spotting and dust-soiling to covers, especially upper cover of vol. 2). Note: Jessie M. King illustrated this work in 1903. – And a further thirteen illustrated volumes (including ‘Joseph and His Brethren’, illustrated by Owen Jones, [26 plates, disbound], [1865], 4to, and John Henry Newman’s ‘The Dream of Gerontius’, 1907, 8vo) (15).

TUER, Andrew W. The History of the Horn-Book. London: The Leadenhall Press, 1896. 2 vols., first edition, 4to (252 x 190mm.) 7 facsimile horn-books and battledores in wood or card laid into front pockets of each volume, half-titles, 2 engraved frontispieces with tissue-guards, titles with hand-coloured vignettes, numerous black and white illustrations, plates, including 2 folding, publisher’s slip loosely inserted. (Spotting to frontispieces and tissue-guards, toning, light spotting to front pastedowns.) Original vellum, brown morocco lettering pieces to spines, t.e.g. (minor scuffing and pitting to covers). Provenance: John Warren (bookplates to front pastedowns) (2).