•  Pilling, Iroquoian, 75. Not in Newberry Library, Indian Linguistics in the Edward E. Ayer Collection; not in Pilling, Proof-sheets.   Publisher's brown textured cloth framed in blind, spine with gilt-stamped title; corners a little rubbed, spine with chip at top and somewhat sunned. Ex–social club library: call number on front fly-leaf, half-title and title-page pressure-stamped. No other markings. Signatures unopened and uncut.  (26506)

Provenance: Early inked ownership inscriptions reading “P.N. Spofford” on the front fly-leaf and the title-page.

•  Original printed paper–covered boards, front cover detached, with paper cracked over the spine and back joint, and some light staining to the covers. A few verses with pencilled notes; pages with occasional small, light spots. A binder's bad day: The pages from 157–68 are bound in twice in this copy, with the pagination skipped from 169–80; the text headers go from “rose, bridal” to “rose-bud, red.”

•  Publisher's paper boards. Covers rubbed and soiled, spine chipped. Light foxing. Complete. (6087)

•  Contemporary speckled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title label; spine and edges lightly rubbed. Occasional pencilled marginalia and emphasis marks, confined to the first half of the work. (12103)

•  Original red cloth, black-lettered on the front. Traces of soiling on covers. Small ink stain on title-page. Author's rubber-stamp on inner margin of p. [5]. Very good. (15956)

Provenance: Bookplate and signature of Theodore S. Comstock.

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  Not in Library Company, Afro-Americana; Wright, II, 1543.   Publisher's olive cloth; spine with gilt vignette of Professor Hannibal and title in gold; boards stamped in blind; covers lightly soiled/stained and corners bumped/rubbed. Ownership inscription on front free endpaper and bookplate on front pastedown. Paper with a very little foxing; old, faint crescents of waterstaining along top edge of last leaves. A clean and complete copy. (21475)

This sample promises over 100 biographies, with photographic portraits, to be delivered; it contains, itself, a great many portraits and “bioblurbs.” Tipped-in colored-paper slips offer selling points; one notes that “Complete books will be available immediately after the Democratic National Convention . . .”

Bindings offered: Volume in original pictorial light blue cloth stamped in silver, gold, and black; sample spine for this variant stamped on outside rear cover. Sample red leatherette spine mounted on rear pastedown, with rubber-stamped notice: “This strip is paper and only represents the color and stamping on the leather of our half morocco book.”

•  Arbour 1270 (noting an imprint of Plymouth Publishing Co.).   Cloth lightly sunned and a little soiled and worn. A very good copy.  (23487)

•  Howes H279; McLean 40; Sabin 30803; Shoemaker 33495.   Period-style quarter tan cloth and light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Light to moderate foxing throughout. Sealed leaves opened as above, one leaf with short tear above seal, not touching text. A good copy.  (25241)

Provenance:  Inscribed to a Philadelphia social club “from the President & Fellows of Harvard University,” signed by Josiah Quincy.

•  American Imprints 1772 & 7465; Sabin 30729 (vols. 1–3) & 30730 (maps).   Publisher's quarter cloth and tan paper–covered sides, spines with printed paper labels; worn and soiled/stained but sound, with spines sunned and front lower outer corner of vol. I chipped. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplates, endpapers with call number, rubber-stamp on title-pages and a few others, no other markings. Front free endpaper of vol. I with inked inscription as above.  (26904)

Included herein is a summary of the state of the U.S. Navy at the time.

Uncommon: We trace only three U.S. library copies.

•  NSTC 2H12871. Recent speckled brown wrappers. Lightly age-toned with traces of soiling. Inked numeral in margin of title-page.

•  BAL 7841.   Publisher's tan cloth, front cover with affixed color-printed paper illustration; binding somewhat darkened (especially spine), corners and spine extremities rubbed, a few small spots of discoloration to front and back covers. Front pastedown with pencilled gift inscription, front free endpaper with bookseller's small ticket. Pages clean. A very nice book. (20839)

Thomas's monograph describes earwigs, cockroaches, devils-horses, walking-sticks, grasshoppers (this category including locusts), and crickets, and is illustrated with a few in-text wood engravings in addition to the lithographed plate (done by W.H. Holmes) showing 17 different U.S. insects. This copy is uncut and unopened.

•  Schmeckebier, Catalogue & Index of the Publications of the Hayden, King, Powell, & Wheeler Surveys, 21.   Period-style quarter tan cloth with light blue paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper label. Title-page institutionally rubber-stamped; title-page and half-title with outer margins repaired. Page edges untrimmed, signatures unopened. Spots of staining to outer margins of a few leaves. In fact a nice copy.  (25282)

•  Publisher’s cloth, covers framed in blind, spine with gilt-stamped title; front cover with discoloration to upper edge and small bump to outer edge, cloth rubbed along edges and joints, spine scuffed. Front pastedown institutionally rubber-stamped. Pages and plates clean, and the large volume quite solid.

The added title-page is printed in red and black and has a wood-engraved vignette of friends-and-family spectators rapt before a home stage.

Provenance:  The German Society of Pennsylvania.

•  Publisher's blue textured cloth stamped in blind; light discoloration to edges. Ex–social club library, as above: call number in a neat 19th-century hand on endpapers and fly-leaf, rubber- and pressure-stamp on title-page and rubber-stamp on a very few other pages. No other markings. Faint waterstain at front in some lower margins. With the handsome added title-page but without the printed “main” one. Withal, a good copy.  (26283)

Click the images for enlargements.

Present here is an early U.S. edition of the first series; two series were published, the first in 1847–49 and the second in 1859. Much of the second volume of this series is dedicated to the question of slavery.

•  Allibone 818. On Helps, see: Dictionary of National Biography online.   Publisher's blind-stamped brown cloth, spines with gilt-stamped title; moderate rubbing most noticeable at vol. I spine head, and vol. II with strip of dark cloth tape at head of spine extending onto sides. Ex–social club library: front pastedowns with 19th-century bookplate and call-number sticker, front free endpapers lacking, title-pages pressure-stamped, no other markings. Pages age-toned, with intermittent spots of staining and light pencilled bracketing.  (26412)

•  Original paper-covered boards, spine reinforced with cloth tape, front and back covers faintly pressure-stamped by a now-defunct library, spine with inked title and paper shelving label. Front pastedown with bookplate; title-page and several others perforation-stamped. A rough copy that's definitely been tumbled — very interesting contents, however! (3939)

•  Laced together with a silk ribbon. Some small spots of browning on drawing and elsewhere adjacent to ribbon; a little soiling exterior and along edges; and a few tiny tears in edges.

•  Laced together with a silk ribbon. Some browning, especially adjacent to ribbon and wafer; and a few tiny tears in edges. Short closed tears along the folds, without loss.

For more of PHILADELPHIA
        interest,  click here.

•  Laced together with a silk ribbon. Some browning, especially adjacent to ribbon and wafer.

For INVENTIONS,  click here.

•  Original cloth over cardboard, front cover with printed and illustrated paper label; lightly faded, some discoloration and soiling. Sewing loosening but holding. Text clean. A delight.  (26798)

Many of the 52 lithographed plates are in duotone; some were done by Ackerman Lithography and some by P.S. Duval & Co., after views of scenery, buildings, and natives drawn by Lieut. Gibbon.

Two volumes of maps, not present here, were issued separately.

•  Sabin 31524; Palau 113897. Publisher’s textured cloth, covers blind-stamped, spine with gilt-stamped title; vol. I with spine sunned and cloth chipped at spine extremities; vol. II with corners bumped, cloth peeling away from spine and chipped at spine extremities, spine with gilt dimmed and small area of unobtrusive discoloration from now-absent label. Front pastedowns each with pencilled owner’s name and institutional rubber stamp (no other markings); front free endpaper of vol. II starting to tear along inner margin. Mild to moderate foxing and spotting; a few text gatherings unopened. One plate in vol. I with short tear from outer margin, turning into a narrow scrape extending about halfway into the upper portion of the image; one leaf in vol. II with tiny portion (less than one word) affixed to opposing plate. Not a perfect set, but a perfectly fascinating one.

•  Publisher's orange cloth, front cover pictorially stamped in green and gilt, spine with gilt-stamped title; edges and extremities lightly rubbed, sides with small areas of minor discoloration, spine sunned. Ex–social club library: call number in 19th-century hand on front pastedown, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Pages and plates clean and fresh.  (26364)

Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplate of Burton W.F. Trafton, Jr.’s library at Old Fields in South Berwick, ME; pastedown also with binder’s ticket from Crawford & Stockbridge of Concord, NH. Front fly-leaf with inked gift inscription dated Christmas, 1887.

•  Publisher’s brown cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title and dark brown–stamped decorative bands, bottom band labelled “Christmas 1887"; corners and spine extremities rubbed, binding showing very little wear otherwise. First two signatures with sewing loosening; pages very slightly age-toned but otherwise clean.

•  Publisher's blue cloth, front cover with white-stamped title and pictorial vignette, spine with white-stamped title; joints and extremities showing moderate wear, covers with small spots of light discoloration. A solid, internally clean copy. A pleasure, in hand.  (26664)

Provenance: With a tipped-in, printed slip reading “With the kind regards of The Author.”

•  Publisher's purple cloth, front cover and spine gilt-stamped; spine and edges sunned, back cover with its double layer of cloth partially torn through the top layer (interesting, as to binding structure). Front pastedown with institutional bookplate, preliminary leaf with early inked ownership inscription and pressure-stamp of a religious institution, title-page with small rubber-stamp. Pages clean. (20829)

Presentation copy: This copy inscribed “To Sister Mary Jane / Best wishes / J. Edgar Hoover / Xmas 1958.”

•  Publisher's cloth, dust jacket in protective sleeve taped to covers; dust jacket with minor scuffing at corners and spine extremities, one crease to back, price clipped. Front pastedown with institutional bookplate; endpapers with offsetting from tape. Pages clean.  (24821)

•  BAL 9401. Green publisher's cloth, front cover stamped in white and gilt, spine with gilt-stamped title; clean and solid, with only very slight traces of wear to extremities. Front free endpaper with inked owner's name. (16665)

A New York printing was issued simultaneously.

•  Howes S218; Library Company, Afro-Americana, 4994; Sabin 33240.   Recent very handsome black moiré cloth, spine with printed paper label. Original printed paper front wrapper bound in. Wrapper, title-page, and last text page tattered (wrapper significantly, pages less so) and now mounted; wrapper with inked ownership inscription dated 1896. Pages age-toned, with intermittent foxing.  (25316)

•  Sabin 33370; Howes H739.   Publisher's cloth, vol. I (now) olive and vol. II brown, covers blind-stamped, spines with gilt-stamped title and gilt-stamped seal of Virginia (“Sic semper tyrannis”); corners and spine extremities rubbed, sides with areas of light discoloration, endpapers darkened. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate on front pastedowns, call number inked on front free endpaper of vol. I and front fly-leaf of vol. II, vol. II lacking front free endpaper. No other markings. Upper margins of vol. I with small areas of light waterstaining, extending to touch top lines of text at back of volume only; vol. II with similar light waterstaining never touching text. Vol. II with occasional lightly pencilled marginalia and marks of emphasis, many pertaining to the perceived value of the footnotes and references.  (26452)

Prize copy: Front free endpaper with inked inscription reading “Presented to Lydia Ann Beeson by Mt. Pleasant Sabbath School 1852.”

Click the images for enlargements.

•  Publisher's olive green rippled cloth (Krupp's style Rip1), covers panelled in blind with blind-stamped floral decorations, spine gilt extra; binding lightly rubbed, front cover with two small areas additionally of light discoloration. Front free endpaper as above. Occasional mild staining, pages mostly clean.  (26754)

•  Publisher's cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title; cloth lightly rubbed over edges and extremities, with two small creases over the front cover. One page with lower corner torn away. (14304)

The tales, many of which feature interesting animals, are illustrated with six full-page wood engravings and two vignettes. The title-page vignette is signed Butler.

Uncommon: OCLC and NUC Pre-1956 locate only three U.S. holdings of this printing.

•  Not in Sternick, 19th Century Children's Series Books.   Publisher's printed bright yellow paper wrappers; dust-soiled, front wrapper with tear from outer margin extending into image but not spoiling it, joints starting from foot. Light foxing.  (25344)

•  Removed from a nonce volume. Sewing holes in inner margins. (156)

Click the image to the left for an enlargement.

•  Ayer, Narratives of Indian Captivity, 142; Howes H813; Sabin 33921. Contemporary half morocco over cloth, rebacked using original spine with gilt-stamped title and decorations in compartments; leather worn and chipped. Hinges (inside) reinforced. Pages slightly age-toned, with occasional instances of small spots of staining, and a few stray pencil marks.

Provenance: Ownership stamp of “C. Witter . . . St. Louis, Mo.”

•  Amerine & Borg, Bibliography on Grapes, Wines, Other Alcoholic Beverages, & Temperance, 1851.   Publisher's dark green cloth, covers with blind-stamped grapevine borders, spine with gilt-stamped decorative title; spine extremities slightly rubbed, front cover with a few tiny spots of faint discoloration, otherwise a clean, fresh copy. Title-page with private owner's rubber-stamp in lower margin. Pages clean. A nice book. (20691)