There is at least one other variant of the first piece, also printed in 1700, “For A.H.” according to its colophon. It seems likely that the two speeches were in the present case issued together — the paper and type match, and the second speech is paginated “(2)” — although these examples were later separated and existing cataloguing records are inconsistent regarding the number of leaves that should be present. Sets of the two pieces together are scarce.

•  ESTC R182313 / R33479; Goldsmiths’-Kress 03732; Wing Q160. Removed from a nonce volume, now in a Mylar folder. Leaves darkened and creased, both lower margins irregularly torn with loss of approximately 20 words. First speech with nick affecting two letters of the title.

Single-click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  Goldsmiths’-Kress 8461 (for first ed.); not in Garrison & Morton. Contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title-label; leather rubbed at edges and joints, spine a bit scuffed, joints just starting at front foot and back head. Front fly-leaf with student’s inked ownership inscription dated 1768. Some instances of light spotting and age-toning, pages mostly clean. All edges marbled.

•  Not in Shaw & Shoemaker. Removed from a nonce volume; stapled and respined with archival tissue. Six-digit number stamped on title-page.

The main question at hand is the appointing of a new attorney/solicitor (i.e., procurador) for the California missions. He says, “quiero que ahora y siempre que ocurra [la necesidad de un nuevo procurador], se haga el nombramiento por la Provincia misma despues de haber oido al Presidente de las Misiones, el cual es mi voluntad que en cuanto sea posible camine con acuerdo de la mayor parte a lo menos de los demas misioneros, antes de hacer su propuesta a la Prov[inci]a.”

He also makes appointments to the positions of “Depositarios del Deposito” and the names of the four appointees are given.

•  Written in a clear large hand and with the paper and wax closure in evidence.  (25329)

Signed Binding: Contemporary red straight-grain morocco, covers framed in substantial gilt and blind-tooled rolls with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, surrounding central gilt-stamped medallions of the French imperial eagle. Spines gilt extra in arabesque and foliate motifs with additional blind-tooling; board edges gilt-stamped and turn-ins with wide gilt rolls. All edges gilt. Bindings signed by Charles Hering — one of the most prominent English binders of the early 19th century.

The editor's advertisement, type-signed by Sophia Raffles (Sir Thomas's second wife), notes that the plates from the first edition and some additional plates were published in “a separate quarto volume, detached entirely from the present work” (p. xi). This did not actually appear until 1844 and so is not present here.

•  Brunet, IV, 1088; Graesse, VI, 17; Lowndes 2037. On Raffles, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Contemporary calf, covers framed in blind triple fillets with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spines with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels and with gilt-stamped and blind-tooled compartment decorations; board edges with blind roll. Binding rubbed at joints/edges and with small scuffs, portions of boards variously stained/sunned; still quite attractive. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate and inked call number on each front pastedown, title-pages pressure- and lightly rubber-stamped; no other markings. Fore-edge of vol. I shows signs of old water exposure, without actual waterstaining to pages themselves save in a few cases where upper or outer margins are touched; pages clean. A pleasant old pair of books.  (26379)

•  ESTC T147963; despite the internal absence of publication information, the collation of this volume matches that given by ESTC. Contemporary sprinkled calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title label and gilt-stamped floral devices in compartments, overall somewhat worn. Small inked ownership inscription to top of title-page. Some foxing, not severe; last leaves dog-eared. One text leaf torn out (being the middle part of one of the epithalamia), as also one preliminary leaf; and so a “busted bibliophile’s copy” — despite its real interest and attractions!

Click the images for enlargements.

•  Singerman, Judaica Americana, 1409.   Publisher's brown cloth, covers blind-stamped, spines with gilt-stamped title; bindings slightly cocked, corners worn, spine heads chipped, spines each with band of dark cloth tape immediately above title. Ex–social club library: front pastedowns each with 19th-century bookplate and inked numerals, front free endpapers lacking, title-pages lightly rubber-stamped. No other markings. Back fly-leaf of vol. I with pencilled doodles, back pastedown and free endpaper of vol. II waterstained. Pages clean.  (26365)

Provenance: Front pastedown with elegant gilt-stamped green morocco bookplate of an unusual shape, dated 15 November 1859, bearing the names of J.W. (John Wesley) and M.E. (Mary Elizabeth Smalley) Sarles. The Rev. Sarles was pastor first of the Central Baptist Church of Brooklyn and then of the Piscataway Baptist Church of Stelton, New Jersey.

Binding: Contemporary green calf, front cover with central gilt-stamped village church vignette surrounded by flowers and vines; this further framed with an elegant frame of beading, trefoiled arabesques, and foliate decorations. Back cover with identical framing surrounding a gilt-stamped lyre vignette. Spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. (Our exterior image, above, shows the spine and both covers.)  Board edges with gilt roll, turn-ins blind-tooled with a different roll, all edges marbled. The style of the covers, their sensibility, and one tool used can be associated with the Philadelphia firm whose work is illustrated by Willman Spawn as #46 in his catalogue of the Maser Collection at Bryn Mawr.

•  NSTC 2R4901.   Binding as above; see: Spawn, Bookbinding in America 1680–1910. Spine head pulled and bottom compartment scuffed, corners slightly rubbed, back cover with a few small scuffs and two small spots of faint discoloration, back joint just starting from top; all this much less distressing than it may sound. Hinges (inside) tender. Front free endpaper with early inked numeral; title-page and last index page institutionally pressure-stamped; first preface page with small inked annotation in inner margin. Back pastedown with abrasions. Pages slightly age-toned, otherwise clean. Beautiful.  (23930)

•  ESTC R32277; Wing (rev. ed.) R679; Smith, Anti-Quakeriana, 304; Whitley, Baptist Bibliography, 49-658.   Period-style calf, covers framed in blind double fillets, spine with gilt-ruled raised bands and gilt-stamped leather title-label. Pages age-toned and spotted; one leaf with outer and lower margins repaired some time ago as shown in last photo.  (26001)

Clicking on the righthand image above, and reading the last, italicized paragraph, is rewarding

OCLC and ESTC locate only six U.S. institutional holdings.

•  ESTC R40093; Wing (rev. ed.) R682; Smith, Anti-Quakeriana, 303.   Period-style calf, covers framed in blind double fillets, spine with gilt-ruled raised bands and gilt-stamped leather title-label. Title-page and first text page institutionally perforation-stamped, first text page with inked and rubber-stamped numerals in lower margin. Title-page with several tears repaired (with loss of a few letters from table of contents) and a sliver of the bottom edge replaced (with loss of lower portion of publication date); pages generally age-toned and soiled, first one with upper margin repaired. Edges trimmed closely and tattered. A “survivor.”  (26010)

The present volume isillustrated with a total of 18 plates: eight steel engravings, five mounted phototypes (by Strumper & Co. of Hamburg), and five maps (including two very large folding maps printed in color), as well as several in-text engravings.

•  Publisher's brown cloth, front cover stamped in red, white, and gilt with images of Japanese lanterns, back cover with publisher's stylized monogram in red, spine with gilt-stamped title and additional lantern image; rubbed, front cover with small dent to edge and cloth partially split at joint, spine with paper shelving label and cloth torn at head/foot (especially the latter at rear joint). Ex–social club library: call number on front fly-leaf, rubber-stamp on title-page and three other pages, no other markings. Large folding map of Japan with small tear from one edge. A few leaves uncut. Pages and plates clean. A significant work in a still-attractive copy, priced to reflect condition.  (26861)

•  See: Wood 553; Freeman 3166.   Publisher's tan cloth printed with publishing information on front cover and ads for various Harper Library series on the back. Strip of cloth tape at top of spine and slightly onto the covers; ex–social club library, with 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. A nice, clean little book.  (26731)

In this edition all leaves are engraved on one side of leaf only, the engraved pages facing each other: each top half is filled with a hand-colored copper engraving with engraved text below. “The first stanza of this is the traditional nursery rhyme Little Jack Horner. The rest of the text varies considerably from the ballad usually appended to this nursery rhyme. Each stanza is labelled at foot with the activity or quality it represents: Joy, Concern, Prudence, Distress, Benevolence, Hope, Compassion, Gratitude, Reward, Industry, Obedience, Refreshment, Surprise, Encouragement, Affection, Liberality” (UCLA cataloguer).

Provenance:  Signature of Henry Wheelwright inside front cover (and on it, though rubbed much away); ownership note of “Mary E. Basto 4 (or possibly 9) Yrs” to front free endpaper, with pencilled reiteration of that and the date 1844.

•  Cf. Osborne catalogue, I, 98; Cf. Opie N790.   Contemporary or near contemporary reddish wrappers with later oversewing. Lower inner margins of all leaves torn, sometimes into text. Portion of folio 3 missing, costing three words (knowable from the rhyme scheme) and touching two others with resultant loss of four letters. For a children's book whose edition was clearly read to death, this is far better than a good copy.  (26014)

Uncommon: No U.S. copy of this issue located via OCLC and ESTC locates only the Harvard copy. There were other, less complete editions of 40 pp., 58 pp., and 78 pp.

•  ESTC N15187.   Recent full calf, period style; spine with raised bands accented in gilt, oxblood leather gilt-lettered title, publication date and place in gilt at base; covers framed and paneled in gilt rules with gilt-stamped corner fleurons. Shallow chip to top outer corners of final two leaves. One word on p. 32 is blotted out in ink by an early owner with the correction supplied above it. Penned signature (partly cropped) at top edge of p. 79. Pp. 79–92 duplicated, nothing missing.  (23766)

•  Modern boards covered with old-style German sprinkled brown paper, with paper label on front cover. Title-page lightly soiled in top margin.

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Provenance:  Presentation leaf with inked inscription to Catharine Everdell from her husband William, dated 1836; front fly-leaf with early inked gift inscription from Mary L. Everdell to Bell Vandevere and with Vandevere's pencilled inscription.

•  Faxon 1493.   Contemporary half brown morocco and marbled paper–covered boards, leather edges gilt-ruled, spine with gilt-stamped title, gilt-dotted raised bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations; corners and sides showing moderate rubbing. Front fly-leaf with bookseller's pressure-stamp, title-page and two others institutionally pressure-stamped, table of contents with inked notation in gutter and rubber-stamped numeral in lower margin, back pastedown with traces of now-absent adhered leaf. One guard leaf partially torn away. Pages and plates faintly age-toned with occasional light spots, mostly clean.The devotedly feminine orientation of the Keepsake series is particularly observable here, both in the notable list of women involved in producing this year's “number” and, differently, in the series of inscriptions to be found in this copy.  (26175)