Antiquarian and Collectors’ Books

NATURAL HISTORY. – Oliver GOLDSMITH. A History of the Earth and Animated Nature. London and Edinburgh: A. Fullarton & Co., [1853.] 2 vols., 8vo (251 x 162mm.) 72 hand-coloured plates, 2 hand-coloured vignettes on additional titles. (Toning, occasional light spotting, crease to front-free endpaper of volume 1.) Contemporary half calf, black morocco lettering pieces to the spines (some loss to lettering piece of volume 1, extremities rubbed). – And a further fourteen volumes (including John Burnet’s ‘Practical Hints on Composition in Painting’, 1822-1827, 3 vols. in 1, 4to, and Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Bells, and Other Poems’, illustrated by Edmund Dulac’, [1912], 4to) (16).

JONES, Owen (illuminator). The Psalms of David Illuminated. [London: Day & Son, 1861.] Folio (427 x 313mm.) Chromolithographed title and dedication (on two leaves), 50 thick card chromolithographed leaves illuminated in gold and colours. (Slight toning to margins.) Near contemporary brown full morocco bound by Mansell with foliate and dentelle borders, g.e. (staining to upper cover, minor scuffing). Provenance: E.G. Chalk (prize inscription to front-free endpaper); Corpus Christi College, Oxford (gilt insignia to upper cover).

FLINT, William Russell. The Lisping Goddess, A Figurehead Fantasy. Worcester: Stanbrook Abbey Press, 1968. Limited edition, this being one of 275 copies signed by the artist, folio (347 x 203mm.) Numerous plates. (Mild toning.) Original blue morocco-backed white buckram, t.e.g. (light spotting to upper cover). – And two related volumes (William Russell Flint’s ‘Breakfast in Périgord’, limited edition number 6 of 525, signed by the artist, 1968, folio, and Flint’s ‘In Pursuit, an Autobiography’, limited edition number 999 of 1050 copies, signed by Francis Russell Flint’, 1970, folio) (3).

EVELYN, John. Silva: or, A Discourse of Forest-Trees, and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesty’s Dominions. London: for J. Walthoe, J. Knapton, D. Midwinter, A. Bettesworth et al., 1729. Fifth edition, with mounted clipped signature of W.J. Evelyn, folio (321 x 197mm.) Title in red and black, 11pp. ‘Appendix’, with ‘Terra. A Philosophical Discourse of Earth’ and ‘Pomona’ and ‘Kalendarium Hortense’ with 5pp. ‘Table to Terra and the Other Tracts’, extra-illustrated with 3 engraved plates relating to the Evelyn family and 2 mounted newspaper clippings, several blank blue leaves bound-in at front and rear with water-mark ‘E. Towgood, 1857’. (Toning, marginal damp-stain to last leaves.) Contemporary calf, brown morocco lettering piece to spine (extremities scuffed and rubbed). Note: William John Evelyn, descendant of John Evelyn, was conservative M.P. for West Surrey in 1849 and 1852, and M.P. for Deptford in 1885.

BATH. – [Julius Caesar] IBBETSON and J. LAPORTE and J. HASSELL. A Picturesque Guide to Bath, Bristol Hot-Wells, The River Avon, and the Adjacent Country; Illustrated with a Set of Views, Taken in the Summer of 1792. London: for Hookham and Carpenter, 1793. First edition, 4to (262 x 198mm.) 16 hand-coloured aquatint plates, tissue-guards, errata leaf to rear with publisher’s advertisement verso. (Lacking half-title, browning to title, occasional light spotting, marginal paper repair verso one plate, minor marginal finger-marks, soiling verso last plate.) Near contemporary green half morocco over marbled paper-covered boards (extremities lightly rubbed, upper cover corner heavily rubbed). Provenance: G.F. de[?] Wilde (ink name inscribed to title). [Tooley 277]. – And a further four volumes (including Richard Fenton’s ‘A Historical Tour Through Pembrokeshire’, 1811, 4to, and Giraldus de Barri’s ‘The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin Through Wales A.D. MCLXXXVIII’, vol. 2 [only], 1806, 4to) (5).

ANATOMY. – W.S. FURNEAUX. Philips’ Popular Manikin; or, Model of the Human Body. London: George Philip & Son, Ltd., [circa 1890.] Tall folio (494 x 198mm.) 2 chromolithographed anatomical overlays over a further chromolithographed figure with smaller overlays, black and white illustrations within 16pp. letterpress text. (Toning, small corner creases.) Original cloth-backed chromolithographed covers (spotting and small tear to upper cover). – And a further two manikins (‘Philips’ Anatomical Model of the Female Human Body’, edited by W.S. Furneaux, [circa 1904], tall folio, and a later printing of ‘Philips’ Popular Manikin’, [circa 1950], tall folio) (3).

ZEPPELIN. LZ 127 ‘Graf Zeppelin’ nach 15 Originalphotographien vom Bau des Luftschiffes. Stuttgart: A. Weber, [circa 1929.] Loose-leaf (245 x 321mm.) 15 mounted photographs on card related to the construction of the LZ 127. (Slight rub to corners.) Original cloth-backed portfolio, white lettering to upper cover (fading). – And a small quantity of items related to airships and aeroplanes (including ‘Silhouettes of Aeroplanes’, 1915, 8vo, and a cigarette card book ‘Zeppelin-Weltfahrten’, 1932, oblong 4to, and a 15pp. typescript by Lord Ventry on ‘The Small Airship and National Defence’, 1953, and a further 13pp. typescript on ‘The Airship Bournemouth’, plus a few small format photographs related to airship construction) (small quantity).

WESLEY, Samuel. – Robert Southey. The Life of Wesley and Rise and Progress of Methodism. London: Longman, Brown et al., 1858. 2 vols., including 5 manuscript letters relating to the Wesley family, 8vo (183 x 118mm.) (Toning.) Original green cloth (extremities rubbed, staining to covers). Note: comprises a later copy of John Wesley’s well-known letter to his wife regarding her duties, a 4pp. segment of an original letter dated ‘July 1807’ and signed ‘J. Wesley’, near contemporary copy of a letter from school from the grandson of Charles Wesley (‘Dear Aunt..’), an original letter signed ‘S. Wesley’ and dated 1807, most likely from Sarah Wesley (daughter of Charles and Sarah Wesley) to a sibling, and also an original 4pp. letter from Samuel Wesley, organist and composer, signed and dated ‘18th January 1797’ relating the terrible state of his marriage and the necessity of divorce from his wife, Charlotte (‘alas! What a poor mistaken creature she is! Where has she an enemy but in her own diabolical ungovernable, ferocious, ungrateful disposition… that she is incurable among Lunaticks we have long ago agreed… I am a dozen years older in constitution than I was before…she or I must drop’.) The letter is addressed to a ‘Mr. Kenton’, possibly a legal friend or associate. Samuel Wesley married Charlotte Louise Martin in 1793 and they had three children. The cause of all the tumult was Charlotte’s discovery of his affair with Sarah Suter, their teenage housekeeper. Samuel and Sarah went on to have four children together. – And a few other items related to the Wesley family (a framed original pencil portrait of Frances Martha Edlin (née Voysey), a ‘Centenary of Wesleyan Methodism’ medal, 1839, plus a manuscript legal contract relating to the removal of sand from a river, [1730], signed by ‘John Bainbridge’ and others (small quantity).

AMIS, Martin. Dead Babies. London: Jonathan Cape, 1975. First edition, first impression, 8vo (197 x 118mm.) (Mild toning.) Original black cloth (faintly bumped at top of spine), dust-jacket (slight rub to extremities). – And a further twenty volumes by Martin Amis, all first editions, four signed by Amis. Note: the signed volumes are ‘Time’s Arrow’, ‘London Fields’, ‘The Information’ and ‘Heavy Water and Other Stories’. ‘Visiting Mrs. Nabokov’ is a second impression (21).

STOREY, David. This Sporting Life. London: Longmans, 1960. First edition, first impression, 8vo (183 x 122mm.) (Toning, slight erasure to half-title.) Original grey cloth, dust-jacket (slight chipping to spine ends, toned to edges). Note: made into a film in 1963 by Lindsay Anderson and starring Richard Harris. – And a further six novels by David Storey, all first editions (7).

ISHIGURO, Kazuo. The Unconsoled. London: Faber and Faber, 1995. First edition, first impression, signed by the author, 8vo (232 x 149mm.) Original black cloth, dust-jacket (slight lift to upper panel). – And a further four volumes by Kazuo Ishiguro, all first editions, first impressions (including ‘The Remains of the Day’, 1989, 8vo, and ‘An Artist of the Floating World’, [second state], 1986, 8vo, and ‘When We Were Orphans’, 2000, 8vo, and ‘Never Let Me Go’, 2005, 8vo) (5).

SIGNED BOOKS. – David NIVEN. Bring on the Empty Horses. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1975. First edition, second impression, signed by David Niven, 8vo (213 x 131mm.) Photographic illustrations. (Mild toning.) Original pink cloth, dust-jacket (sunning to spine). Provenance: John Coldstream, author and editor (ink inscribed to from the author). – And a further three volumes, all signed (Kenneth More’s ‘Happy Go Lucky’, 1959, 8vo, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. ‘The Salad Days’, [inscribed to ‘Boo’, actress and singer Evelyn Laye], 1988, 8vo, and ‘Musical Comedy, a Story in Pictures’ by Raymond Mander and Joe Mitchenson, inscribed by Judi Dench [the dedicatee of the book], 1969, 4to) (4).

BANKS, Ian. The Wasp Factory. London: Macmillan, 1984. First edition, 8vo (215 x 132mm.) (Mild toning.) Original brown cloth, dust-jacket. – And a further ten first edition novels by Ian Banks, including two signed (‘Whit’, 1995, and ‘Dead Air’, 2002) (11).

FLEMING, Ian. The Spy Who Loved Me. London: Jonathan Cape, 1962. First edition, first impression, 8vo (188 x 120mm.) (Mild toning.) Original black cloth with dagger blocked in blind and silver to upper cover (spine ends bumped), dust-jacket (spine ends chipped, price-clipped, small stain to spine panel). – And a further eleven volumes related to Ian Fleming (including ‘You Only Live Twice’, 1964, 8vo, and John Gardner’s ‘License Renewed’, 1981, 8vo, and ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’, 1964, 4to, and four first issue softbacks: two copies of ‘Thunderball’, 1963, and ‘For Your Eyes Only’, 1962, and ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’, 1967, and ‘You Only Live Twice’ [second issue], 1966) (12).

SIGNED BOOKS. – Larry FORRESTER. Fly For Your Life, The Story of the ‘Immortal Tuck’. London: Collins, 1961. Signed by Robert Stanford Tuck, 8vo (199 x 133mm.) Photographic illustrations. (Mild toning, lacking initial blank.) Original grey cloth, dust-jacket (creased at extremities). – And a further twenty related volumes, all signed (including Douglas Bader’s ‘Fight For the Sky’, 1973, 8vo, and Geoffrey Page’s ‘Tale of a Guinea Pig’, 1981, 8vo, and Duncan Smith’s ‘Spitfire into Battle’, 1981, 8vo). Provenance: from the estate of the late David Sadler (21).

SIGNED BOOKS. – Adrian STEWART. They Flew Hurricanes. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books, 2005. First edition, signed by 10 Battle of Britain pilots, 8vo (233 x 152mm.) Photographic illustrations. (Mild toning.) Original black cloth, dust-jacket. – And a further seventeen volumes, all multi-signed (including ‘Tommy Leader’ with Clive Williams, 2007, and Norman Franks’ ‘Frank ‘Chorta’ Carey’, 2006, and Hugh Dundas’ ‘Flying Start’, 1988, and Alfred Price’s ‘Battle of Britain: The Hardest Day’, 1979) (18).

SIGNED BOOKS. – P.R. REID. Colditz, The Full Story. London: Macmillan, 1984. First edition, with mounted signatures of Airey Neave and P.R. Reid, 8vo (215 x 131mm.) Photographic illustrations. Original red cloth, dust-jacket. Note: signed by Airey Neave and P.R. Reid on mounted R.A.F. commemorative covers. – And a further eight volumes related to Colditz, five of them multi-signed on mounted bookplates (including Eric Williams’ ‘The Wooden Horse’, signed by Williams and Oliver Philpot on a mounted RAF commemorative cover, 1950, 8vo). Provenance: from the estate of the late David Sadler (9).

WAR. – E.W.C. SANDES. In Kut and Captivity with the Sixth Indian Division. London: John Murray, 1919. First edition, 8vo (216 x 134mm.) Half-title, 15 photographic illustrations on 12 plates, including portrait frontispiece of Major General Townshend, 13 maps, 9 folding. (Browning to half-title, toning.) Original green cloth, gilt lettering to spine (upper joint splitting). – And a further fifteen volumes related to war and captivity (including C.L. Woolley’s ‘From Kastamuni to Kedos’, 1921, 4to, and E.W.C. Sandes’ ‘Tales of Turkey’, 1924, 8vo) (15).

MILITARY. – E.P. STEBBING. At the Serbian Front in Macedonia. London and New York: John Lane at the Bodley Head, 1917. First edition, 8vo (189 x 125mm.) Photographic plates, 1 folding map, 2pp. publisher’s advertisements to rear. (Toning, occasional marginal spotting.) Original blue cloth, dust-jacket (chipped to extremities, slightly dust-soiled). – And a further thirteen volumes related to war, escape and captivity (including Joseph Lee’s ‘A Captive at Carlsruhe, and Other German Prison Camps’, 1920, 8vo, and Antoinette Tierce’s ‘Between Two Fires’, 1931, 8vo, and E.O. Mousley’s ‘The Secrets of a Kuttite’, 1922, 8vo) (14).