Antiquarian and Collectors’ Books

MARTINEAU, Harriet. Society in America. London: Saunders and Otley, 1837. 3 vols., first edition, 8vo (187 x 111mm.) (Toning.) 21st century half calf over marbled paper-covered boards, black and tan morocco lettering pieces to spines (endpapers replaced). Note: one of the earliest and most comprehensive accounts of American life and culture, including observations on economics, politics and slavery (3).

HALL, Basil. Travels in North America, in the Years 1827 and 1828. Edinburgh: Cadell and Co., 1829. 3 vols., first edition, 8vo (189 x 114mm.) Folding hand-coloured engraved map of the United States and Canada, 1 folding table. (Toning, lacking half-titles, a 3-inch tear to map.) 21st century half calf over marbled paper-covered boards, two red morocco lettering pieces to the spines (3).

UNITED STATES. – James STUART. Three Years in North America. Edinburgh: Robert Cadell, 1833. 2 vols., first edition, 8vo (190 x 113mm.) Large folding engraved map. (Toning, browning to titles, blanks replaced.) 21st century brown half calf, grey morocco lettering pieces to the spines (endpapers replaced). Note: an account of travels around Eastern America via North Carolina. – And a related volume (Francis Lieber’s ‘The Stranger in America’, the first British edition, [1835], 8vo) (3).

AMERICA. – James BUCHANAN. Mr. Buchanan’s Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1866. First edition, 8vo (233 x 140mm.) Appendix, 6pp. publisher’s advertisements to rear. (Toning.) 21st century brown half morocco, black morocco lettering piece to the spine (endpapers replaced).

CAREY, Henry Charles and Isaac LEA. The Geography, History and Statistics of America and the West Indies; Exhibiting a Correct Account of the Discovery, Settlement, and Progress of the Various Kingdoms, States and Provinces of the Western Hemisphere, to the Year 1822. London: Sherwood, Jones, and Co., 1823. First U.K. edition, 8vo (206 x 124mm.) Half-title, large engraved folding hand-coloured map of North America, 12 hand-coloured maps and charts, 4 folding engraved views, 1 folding engraved uncoloured map, 1 folding letterpress chart. (Toning, occasional light spotting or offsetting, blanks replaced.) 21st century brown half morocco, green morocco lettering piece to the spine (endpapers replaced). Note: includes maps or views of Quebec, Philadelphia, Cuba, Mexico, West Indies and Brazil.

BURKE, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. London: J. Dodsley, 1790. Second edition. (Toning to title, lacking blanks.) [Bound with:] Capel LOFFT. Remarks on the Letter of the Rt. Hon. Edmund Burke, Concerning the Revolution in France. London: J. Johnson, 1790.  Errata leaf to rear. (Light spotting and browning.) [Bound with:] Joseph PRIESTLEY. Letters to the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Occasioned by His Reflections on the Revolution in France, &c. Birmingham: Thomas Pearson, 1791. (Occasional spotting.) 8vo (199 x 116mm.) 21st century full calf, red and black morocco lettering pieces to the spine (endpapers replaced).

LEIGHTON, Clare. The Farmer’s Year, A Calendar of English Husbandry. London: Collins, 1933. First edition, a loosely inserted slip with Clare Leighton’s ink signature, oblong folio (280 x 353mm.) 12 full-page wood-engraved illustrations and 7 vignettes by Leighton. (Toning, occasional faint spotting.) Original green cloth, dust-jacket (light spotting, price-clipped, some tears with tape repair verso).

FARJEON, Eleanor. – Clare LEIGHTON (illustrator). Perkin the Pedlar. London: Faber and Faber, 1932. First edition, with a loosely inserted slip with Clare Leighton’s ink signature, 8vo (221 x 150mm.) Colour plates and illustrations in the text by Leighton. Original pictorial cloth, dust-jacket (slightly chipped spine ends). – And a further twelve volumes, all related to Clare Leighton (including ‘Tempestuous Petticoat’, with a loosely inserted slip with the signature of the author, 1947, 8vo, and Helen Douglas Irvine’s ‘Fray Mario’, with a loosely inserted signature by the illustrator, 1939, 8vo, and Thornton Wilder’s ‘The Bridge of San Luis Rey’, also with a loosely inserted signature by the illustrator, 1929, 8vo) (13).

PLANTIN PRESS. – CATULLUS, TIBULLUS & PROPERTIUS. Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius, Cor. Galli Fragmenta. Antwerp: Christopher Plantin, 1560. 16mo in 8s (112 x 68mm.) Woodcut printer’s device within wide decorative border, woodcut initials. (Marginal loss to last two text leaves T1-T2, browning, occasional light spotting.) Late 18th century calf, red morocco lettering piece to the spine (endpapers replaced, surface abrasions). Note: this was the first Plantin edition of these three poets. Provenance: William Milbourne (name-plate to front pastedown). – And a further volume (Caius Suetonius’s ‘Tranquillus cum annotate diversforum’, 1645, 16mo) (2).

BINDING. The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments. Cambridge: John W. Parker, 1842. 2 vols., 16mo (92 x 51mm.) Including ‘The Book of Common Prayer’. (Mild toning, first quire of ‘Common Prayer’ loose.) Near contemporary calf, black morocco lettering pieces to spines, gilt fleur-de-lis to covers, g.e. (some loss to top of spine of volume 1, creasing to spines) (2).

[BOREMAN, Thomas.] A Description of Three Hundred Animals… with a Particular Account of Whale-Fishery. Dublin: George Abraham Grierson, 1755. 8vo (168 x 96mm.) Engraved frontispiece, numerous wood-engraved illustrations. (Marginal tape repairs to preliminaries, browning and minor soiling throughout, several marginal tears, lacking rear blank and rear endpaper damp-stained.) Contemporary calf, later paper label mounted to spine (light rubbing). Provenance: Susanna Bewley (ink name inscribed to initial blank). – And a further eight volumes (including, with a detached upper cover, ‘The Surprising Travels and Adventures of Baron Munchausen’, 1819, 12mo) (9).

THEATRE. ‘The Spotlight’ Casting Directory For Stage and Screen. London: ‘The Spotlight’ Ltd., December 1936. No.38, 4to (281 x 196mm.) Numerous photographic portraits of actors and actresses of the day, sectional dividers, numerous advertisements. (Toning, occasional crease.) Original card covers (marginal tear and creasing, wear to spine ends).

DE LA MARE, Walter. Desert Islands and Robinson Crusoe. London: Faber and Faber, 1930. First edition, signed and inscribed by Walter de la Mare and 14 typed letters from the author to G.E. Manwaring tipped-in, 8vo (254 x 155mm.) Illustrations by Rex Whistler. (Scattered light spotting.) Original cloth (worn). Note: The letters span the years 1929-1936 and are all typed on ‘Hill House, Taplow’ headed writing-paper. G.E. Manwaring was a librarian at the London Library and the first letter is de la Mare reminding Manwaring of his offer to read the proofs of his book ‘Desert Islands’. Later, he mentions that his son [Richard] works at Faber and Faber and that his book ‘owes all it looks to him’. Walter also asks for recommendations as he is researching a book on juvenilia. In April 1932, Walter invites George to tea and gives convoluted instructions on how to get to his home. He would be ‘delighted’ to pick him up from the station but, alas, he ‘can’t drive’. Later, he critiques some poems that Manwaring has sent him saying, soothingly, that this is ‘only a personal criticism’. Provenance: G.E. Manwaring (bookplate to the front pastedown and ink inscription from the author on the half-title). – And a further volume by Walter de la Mare (‘Behold, This Dreamer!’, 1939, 8vo) (2).

UKERS, William H. All About Tea. New York: The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal Company, 1935. 2 vols., first edition, 4to (260 x 182mm.) Colour frontispiece, numerous black and white illustrations. (Toning.) Original green cloth, gilt to upper covers (spine ends bumped) (2).

BEATON, Cecil. The Book of Beauty. London: Duckworth, 1930. First edition, 4to (278 x 216mm.) Colour frontispiece, 27 black and white photographic plates. (Mild toning.) Original pink cloth-backed boards (some soiling to extremities). Note: Beaton’s first book. – And a further twenty-six volumes (including Herbert Read’s ‘The Green Child’, 1945, 8vo, and Herbert Corey’s ‘Farewell, Mr. Gangster!’, 1936, 8vo) (27).

CROSS, Thomas. The Autobiography of a Coachman. London: Kegan Paul, Trench et al., 1904. 2 vols., limited edition of 500 copies only, large 8vo (263 x 171mm.) 40 hand-coloured engraved plates with tissue-guards. (Lacking 2 plates, toning, light spotting to half titles.) Original green cloth, pictorial gilt to upper covers (fading to spine gilt) (2).

RACKHAM, Arthur (illustrator). – Christina ROSSETTI. Goblin Market. London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., 1923. 4to (218 x 140mm.) 4 colour plates. (Toning, occasional minor spotting.) Original card wrappers (browned, lightly rubbed). – And a small quantity of children’s books (including R.M. Ballantyne’s ‘Mee-A-Ow! Or, Good Advice to Cats and Kittens’, 1859, 4to, and ‘Vieilles Chansons Pour Les Petits Enfants’ illustrated by M.B. de Monvel, [1927], oblong 4to) (small quantity).

TOMLINSON, H.M. – Clare LEIGHTON (illustrator). The Sea & The Jungle. London: Duckworth, 1930. Limited edition, this being number 25 of 515 copies signed by H.M. Tomlinson and a loosely inserted slip with Clare Leighton’s ink signature, 8vo (228 x 137mm.) 7 woodcut plates by Leighton and numerous decorations, a 7-line hand-written card by Leighton tipped-in. (Mild toning.) Original green cloth, dust-jacket (minor loss and tear at base of spine, creasing to upper panel), slipcase (sunned to margins). Note: the card reads: ‘Dear Dan Banner, Here is the Sea and Jungle signature- I’m glad you have this book. Forgive a scribble- some weeks ago I stupidly had an accident and broke my hip. I am recovering well, but it is a horrid nuisance and interruption. Cordially, Clare Leighton’. – And a further eight volumes related to Clare Leighton (including a copy of Bertha Damon’s ‘Sense of Humus’, signed by the author and a mounted signature by Clare Leighton, 1943, 8vo, and Elinor Parker’s ‘I was Just Thinking- A Book of Essays’ with a  mounted signature by Clare Leighton, 1959, 8vo, and ‘Imagination’s Other Place’ edited Helen Plotz, signed by Clare Leighton, 1955, 8vo, and Thomas Hardy’s ‘Under a Greenwood Tree’, 1940, 8vo, and Clare Leighton’s ‘The Wood that Came Back’, 1935, oblong 4to) (9).

HARDY, Thomas. – Clare LEIGHTON (illustrator). Return of the Native. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1929. Limited edition, this being number 1250 of 1500 copies signed by Clare Leighton, 4to (237 x 156mm.) Tipped-in plates and illustrations by Leighton. (Toning.) Original cream cloth-backed boards, paper label mounted to spine, dust-jacket (toned, slightly chipped extremities).