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•  Palau 236209. Removed from a nonce volume. Pages creased, with small areas of light waterstaining to upper and lower inner margins; title-page with early inked numeral and shadow of pencilled numeral in upper margin.

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•  Palau 236212. Removed from a nonce volume. Title-page with small early inked numeral and shadow of pencilled numeral in upper margin; publication authorization leaf with small hole just touching letters, without loss of sense.

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There is also some Americana interest when the author discusses in several places the drinking of chocolate.

•  Bitting 117 (second ed.); Cagle 1132 (first ed. of Davini only); Hünersdorff, Coffee, I, 395; Osler, Biblotheca Osleriana, 2428 (first ed.); Vicaire 250 (second ed.); Alden & Landis, European Americana, 727/231.  Contemporary vellum, darkened, with a few pinholes of insect damage and some minor spots of staining. Title-page with inked ownership inscription in Latin, dated 1728. Pages a bit cockled, with edges darkened; most mildly to moderately foxed.

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

The present example is a fictitious imprint, printed in Amsterdam and counterfeiting the Parisian edition of the same year (actual place of printing from NUC Pre-1956 628:472, cf. E. Weller, Die falschen und fingierten Druckorte, II, 57). The volume’s two folding, engraved plates (unsigned) depict antiquarian coins and medals, while the mythologically inspired frontispiece includes a portrait of de Valois.

•  Later half sheep with speckled paper–covered boards, rebacked with speckled calf preserving original gilt-stamped leather title-label; sides and edges scuffed, with leather chipped at corners. Front pastedown with 19th-century private collector’s bookplate, partially chipped; preface with numeral inked in lower margin. Pages crisp and clean. All edges stained red.

The Exposicion de los evangelios con sermones begins with a visually complex title-page printed in black and red and featuringa large woodcut of the Crucifixion, which in this copy has the wounds of Christ additionally touched in a penman's red; and it then proceeds to present 57 sermons, each centered on a moral state or quality (laziness, adversity, sin, patience, charity, love), a doctrinal topic (the trinity, confession, the Passion of Christ, prayer, false prophets, forgiveness of sins), or some aspect of the Gospels. Each sermon is printed in roman type with sidenotes in gothic and begins with two readings, one from one of the four Gospels and the other from another part of the Bible. The work continues with the “Segunda parte de la exposicion de los eva[n]gelios de sanctos en particular, y del comun, con sermones sacados de diversos autores catholicos,” which has its own sectional title-page, signatures, and foliation. It has a four-element woodcut border anda small woodcut of the Annunciation.

All of Valtanás’s writings are scarce. The Catálogo Colectivo del Patrimonio Bibliográfico locates only 9 titles (one catalogued under Baltanas) as held by Spanish libraries and one of those titles is not for a true work but rather for the just mentioned “Segunda parte.” The OPAC of the Spanish National Library shows one additional title not found via the CCPB. This title is not traced via WorldCat, COPAC, Catálogo Colectivo del Patrimonio Bibliográfico, or the OPAC of the Spanish National Library.

•  Palau 349174 (giving incorrect date of publication, as per Nicolás Antonio, and saying it is printed in gothic type when it is in roman). Not in Adams; not in Index Aurel., although one book is listed there under “Baltanas.”  Late 17th- or early 18th-century dark Spanish sheep, gilt spine extra and with a red leather gilt label. Light to occasionally moderate waterstaining, mostly in margins, variously occurring throughout the volume; lacking an initial blank leaf and one text leaf (i.e., lxx) in the “Segunda parte.” A darned good copy of a very rare book.  (26174)

•  Goldsmiths’-Kress 7892.2; DeBacker-Sommervogel, VIII, 444. Contemporary speckled calf, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title-label; binding scuffed and rubbed, with leather cracking over joints and spine extremities chipped. All edges speckled red. Front free endpaper and fly-leaf partially affixed to front pastedown; front pastedown with inked initials. Pages beautifully clean.

Scarce: OCLC, RLIN, and NUC-Pre1956 locate only six U.S. holdings.

•  Brunet, V, 1118. Contemporary limp paste paper–covered wrappers, spine with hand-inked label; paper chipped at edges and front joint open; spine label darkened and peeling. Front pastedown with bookseller’s ticket and institutional bookplate; front free endpaper and title-page with institutional stamp; front free endpaper with ownership inscriptions dated 1829. Pages untrimmed.

Provenance:  Augustinian monastic library of Morelia (marca de fuego on upper edge of closed book; on verso of title-page in an 18th-century hand: “pertenece al convento de San Augustin de Valladolid”); private use of Fr. Manuel Aigustin Farias (noted on the verso of title-page in an 18th-century hand, prelim. p. 12, first p. 1); later owned by José Martín de Infanzón (prelim. p. 9).

•  Medina, Mexico, 1684; Palau 361217; Sabin 99386; Andrade 1073; Tovar de Teresa, Bibliografía novohispana de arte, 105; Wagner, Spanish Southwest, 68.   Early vellum over boards, rebacked; new endpapers and title-page backed for strength. Stray stains and ink markings variously, the latter in margins; minor worming in some lower margins, with waterstaining notable in the final section and a brown stain perhaps of another nature in upper gutter-ward areas of the same section, sometimes into text. Final six leaves with loss of lower outer corner, including some text; paper replaced and text in excellent facsimile. Volume now housed in a quarter blue morocco tray case with gilt spine.  (26824)

Like the first, this second edition of Vettori’s criticism of Cicero is in Latin with quotations and examples in Greek. It is self-described on the title-page as “quae corrupta, mutila, & praeposterè sita admiserat prima editio, haec 2. sedulò castigauit, suóque loco restituit.” The volume begins with the printer’s device on the title-page bearing the motto “Et fugit interea fugit irreparabile tempus,” and prints the text in a clear roman type accented with historiated and portrait woodcut initials and woodcut head-pieces. A handsome production.

Provenance: 17th-century near-calligraphic ownership inscriptions on title-page of the Jesuit College at Tudela, Spain; and of G.M. Desmarsall.

•  Adams V687. Recent deep walnut full calf old style, by Grace Bindings (signed in blind at inner area of rear cover, lower turn-in): Round spine with raised bands accented in gilt and with blind-tooled devices in compartments; oxblood leather label, gilt-lettered; fillets extending onto covers from each band to terminate in trefoils and covers framed in blind double fillets. Lacks one internal blank leaf (only). All edges marbled. A very good copy.

The volumes are from the famous press of the widow of José Bernardo de Hogal, the Baskerville of Mexico, and they retain all of the fine characteristics that are associated with the Hogal name, including handsome black and red title-pages, great typography (here in double-column format), and use of good quality paper.

The author was general accountant of the Treasury's office of mercury accounting (the element was important in silver refining) and one of the most illustrious Cosmographers of New Spain. He wrote this treatise at the insistence of the viceroy, who was greatly pleased by it.

•  Sabin 99686; Medina, Mexico, 3802; Tovar de Teresa, Bibliografía novohispana de arte, II, 86/87.   Recent full dark brown calf, round spines, raised bands accented with gilt rules; green and red leather spine labels; gilt center devices. Covers with elaborate gilt roll at edges, concentric center compartments and gilt corner devices. Lacking the engraved title, only. Present are intermittent touches of limited worming and, in vol. II, the occasional old stain to a top margin's edge. This is a clean and indeedBEAUTIFUL SET.  (26378)

Many sources, including OCLC, attribute this work to de Jouy himself, but the Monthly Review of May, 1825 admits that the “similarity of title, of decorum, of form, and of manner,” as well as the title-page’s claim that this is a continuation of de Jouy’s work, all misled their reviewer and a number of others into that incorrect and much-perpetuated citation. The travelogue has more recently been attributed to Louet de Chaumont, among others, while Barbier and Quérard suggest that it may have been compiled by de Villemarest from de Chaumont’s notes and manuscripts.

•  NSTC 2H18614. Publisher’s plain paper-covered boards, sometime rebacked with speckled paper and old printed paper labels laid on, the set now in a recent case with sides covered in blue cloth and speckled paper; extremities rubbed, covers with spots of discoloration, retained spine labels chipped and darkened. Front pastedowns each with institutional bookplate (no other markings). Hinges (inside) reinforced some time ago. Vol. II with one signature separated. Pages untrimmed and clean save for scattered small spots of foxing. A strong, agreeable set.

Binding:  Contemporary quarter garnet red morocco with fawn brocade–covered sides, spine gilt extra with title and arabesque motifs. Original green wrappers bound in.

•  Caillet, Manuel bibliographique des sciences psychiques ou occultes, 11198.   Binding as above, spine faintly sunned and with one small spot darkened; joints a bit rubbed and cloth corners/edges somewhat moreso, with instances of spotting/discoloration to cloth that should be mentioned but are not obtrusive. Front pastedown with attractive 20th-century bookplate. Some signatures unopened. A lovely book in quite a nice copy.  (26821)

The work was issued in quarto and octavo format, both handsomely printed by Bensley.

The first edition of 1615 is scarce, as is this second edition, of which at least two variant issues appeared in 1618. All have the same pagination but attribute their publication to Droüart, Cramoisy, or (as in this case) Laurent Sonnius; presumably at least one of the title-pages is a cancel. All are uncommon: OCLC locates only two U.S. institutional holdings of this Sonnius printing. The work bears a woodcut title vignette, headpieces, and initials, with copious printed shouldernotes to the text.

•  Starr, Baptist Bibliography, V551. On Visconti, see: Feller, Dictionnaire historique, 71.   Later quarter mottled calf and speckled paper–covered sides, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title-label, rebacked preserving most of original spine; edges and extremities rubbed, spine with area of discoloration from now-absent shelving label, original spine leather chipped and cracked. Title-page with institutional rubber-stamps, numeral, and pressure-stamp; one additional page pressure-stamped. Pages age-toned with occasional light spotting and title-page dust-soiled; one spot of pinhole worming to first quarter of volume, not touching text. Early inked inscription on title-page inked over, one instance of early inked underlining. Sound and handsome.  (25877)

•  Palau 95528. Original printed wrappers with a little tattering and a small chip from the base of the spine. Light waterstaining in the outside margins of some leaves and title-page with some staining in the inside margin, not affecting printed area. In fact, in very good condition.

Williams, a Welsh philosopher, was a founder of the Royal Literary Fund and a close friend of Oliver Goldsmith.

These collected translations are fairly widely held institutionally, but seldom seen on the market.

•  ESTC T51661; Lowndes 2792; Allibone 2736.   Recent period-style mottled calf, framed and panelled with gilt rules and gilt-stamped corner fleurons, panelling in contrasting calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels, raised spine bands set off by gilt double fillets. Frontispiece portrait lacking. Light foxing; one leaf with tear from lower margin, extending into five lines of text.  (23537)

This first edition has a title-page in black and red with the printer’s device of the Amsterdam Elzevirs, “Ne Extra Oleas”—showing Minerva with owl and shield next to an olive tree—and it is printed in two columns in roman, italic, Greek, and Hebrew, ornamented with woodcut initials.

•  Willems, Les Elzevier, 1295. On the Vossius, father and son, see: Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship, 307–309 and 322–23. Contemporary English calf ruled in blind, bumped and abraded with a little loss on corners and edges; joints fully open at base and some chipping at head and foot of spine. Paper, ink-lettered spine label; inked call number and date on title-page. Pastedowns entirely gone and remnants of a manuscript used as binder’s waste visible at gutters, inside covers; due to the pastedowns’ removal, much of the binder’s construction can readily be examined here. A little light waterstaining and browning to first and last leaves (only). All edges red.

•  Publisher's brown cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title and affixed color-printed illustration; spine and corners showing light wear, otherwise a beautiful copy.  (23636)

•  Wing (rev.) G523A; ESTC R10042; Allibone 2534. Contemporary speckled calf, framed and panelled in blind with blind-tooled corner fleurons, rebacked some time ago with speckled calf preserving original gilt-stamped leather spine label and rebacking extending into lower portion of front cover; corners rubbed, spine label cracked. Free endpapers lacking. Front pastedown with inked presentation inscription to a seminary and two small adhesions from a now-absent bookplate; title-page with early inked owner's name in upper margin. Pagination skips 169 through 172, with text and signature collation uninterrupted. Very minor small area of waterstaining to lower inner margins of about half of the volume, pages otherwise clean. (20831)

This variant reads “II. Bookes”on line 7 of the title-page; R4 is cancelled and not present here, as is the case in most copies. The second portion has a separate title-page printed in red and black, giving Anarchia Anglicana: Or, the History of Independency as the title and the pseudonymous Theodorus Verax as the author.

Relations: ESTC R205117; Wing (rev.) W334A. Appendix: ESTC R233193; Wing (rev.) W321A. Anarchia: ESTC R27579; Wing (rev.) W317. High Court: ESTC R207365;Wing (rev.) W325. History, fourth part: ESTC R18043; Wing (rev.) M81B. Fourth part: Issued as part of Wing W324, “and possibly separately” as well according to ESTC. Contemporary calf, covers framed and panelled in blind with blind-tooled corner fleurons, sometime rebacked with first leaves tipped (back) in; spine with new gilt-stamped title, sides rubbed and abraded. Front free endpaper lacking. Front pastedown with old institutional bookplate and pencilled notations, title-page with faded rubber-stamp (and with author’s name added in an early hand), back pastedown and lower edges of closed book rubber-stamped. Two title-pages with one short tear from outer edge each, not touching text; title-page verso with shadows of pencilled numerals. Lower and outer margins trimmed closely, in some cases touching catchwords, signature marks, or shouldernotes.

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After a brief respite back in the U.S., where he was welcomed as a hero, Walker, the quintessential filibusterer, returned to Central America wanting to capture Honduras. He died there trying.

The map (14" x 16") is in four colors and is titled “Colton's Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, San Salvador & Costa Rica.

•  Publisher's brick colored textured cloth stamped in blind. Top and bottom of spine pulled and frayed. Some foxing at front and rear. Newspaper articles at front and rear of volume. Some added owner's notes about Walker on blanks. Clean.  (21372)

•  BAL 20798; Grolier, American 100, 82; Russo & Sullivan, Bibliographical Studies of Seven Authors of Crawfordsville,Indiana, 315–17; Wright, III, 5720.   Publisher's textured brown cloth with bevelled edges, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding slightly shaken, edges and extremities rubbed, sides with spots of discoloration. Hinges (inside) tender. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate on front pastedown, title-page pressure-stamped, dedication page with inked numeral, back free endpaper with slip. Front free endpaper with faint early inscription, front fly-leaf with inked ownership inscription. Pages age-toned; a few leaves with light staining, most clean.  (26381)

The present volume was the last to appear of four issues of this annual, which commenced its run in 1824. The binding style, which incorporates a wallet-pocket and pencil holder, is uncommon, though the first such American bindings date from the late 1790s.

•  Faxon 763 (for the 1826 edition); Shoemaker 26110. Green straight-grain morocco wallet binding, framed in wide gilt rolls; worn, with portions of binding faded to brown and hinges tender. Back pastedown with pencilled ownership inscription; some engagement pages filled in. Several leaves removed, some leaving traces. Some plates with spots of foxing. Clearly not only used but actually carried around on a regular basis; still appealing and intriguing.

Click the image for an enlargement.

• Wing (rev. ed.) W792; Thomason E.413[7]; Sabin 101330; ESTC R21688.   Removed from a nonce volume. Old two-digit number in upper outer corner of title-page. Sewing starting to separate. In modern wrappers. (20998)

Two pages of advertisements have been bound in at the end of vol. I, and 14 pages thereof at the end of vol. II.

Binding: Publisher’s black pebbled cloth embossed with stars and roundels set within x’s formed of a diamond-and-tear-drop pattern; spines gilt-stamped with author, title, and volume number inside double gilt fillets—an attractive, indeed excellent example of early U.S. embossed cloth binding.

•  Wright, American Fiction, 2666; BAL 21018. Binding as above, spines a little cocked and cloth a little faded with some abrading at head and foot. Light to moderate foxing, pages untrimmed. Pencilled ownership inscription on the front free endpaper of vol. I, and inked ownership inscription on the front free endpaper of vol. II.

Scarce. Only 11 institutions, all in the U.S., report holdings via OCLC.

•  Sabin 37866; American Imprints 22538.   Period-style quarter tan cloth with light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Frontispiece portrait lacking. Light to moderate foxing.  (23903)

Tipped in at the front here is asmall separate flyer that is both prospectus to the volume and an appeal to the public regarding the benefits of the proposed Manual Labour School and Male Orphan Asylum. This was written by Peter Wallace Gallaudet, who had served for a time as Washington's assistant and became the founder and moving spirit of the institution's society.

Binding:  Publisher's ribbon-embossed brown cloth of Krupp's style Ft9, both covers with decorative gilt-stamped title in a foliate medallion. Very representative of a type of binding now rapidly disappearing.

•  Sabin 101724; not in Amer. Imprints.   Binding as above, cloth with lighter/darker areas and splitting over joints; corners rubbed and one bumped/creased with damage to cloth; spine sunned and with remnants of an old label at head. Ex–social club library with 19th-century bookplate: Inked call number on pastedown, free endpaper, and small cover sticker; rubber-stamps on endpaper, fly-leaf, frontispiece, title-page, and plates. Last few leaves waterstained along upper inner portions. “Ex-library” for sure, but in fact a bit interesting for that — and not as distressed a thing in hand as full recital of its faults makes it sound.  (26328)

Valentina Wasson’s upbringing in mushroom-loving Russia inspired this work, although directly Russian-related material is scant compared to the masses of international lore compiled here. Befitting a labor of love, the volume was handsomely printed by the prestigious Stamperia Valdonega (following Hans Mardersteig’s design) on heavy paper with deckle edges. Its pochoir plates reproduce beautiful life-sized watercolor paintings of mushrooms done by naturalist Jean-Henri Fabre, and other numerous plates depict other works of interest such as Gainsborough’s “Mushroom Girl.”

Provenance: From the library of chef and culinary collector Louis I. Szathmary, with the laid in, retained carbon of a letter from him to Ralph Geoffrey Newman (the late, noted, Chicago bookseller); this thanks Newman for “the interesting information on the Mushroom book.” A duplicate copy of Newman’s purchase invoice, with Szathmary’s cheque photocopied onto it, is also present.

This is copy number 412 of a limited edition of 512.

•  Green publisher’s cloth, spines with gilt-stamped labels, housed in the original neat buckram-covered slipcase. Corners and spine extremities show slight traces of wear with bindings otherwise crisp and clean; slipcase likewise shows only the faintest of wear. (In our rather bad photograph, the slipcase looks a tad bowed; in real life, it is NOT.) Glassine wrappers present (somewhat yellowed, a bit short as issued, and one with a bit missing at top of that spine). Top edges gilt. Pages and plates clean. A lovely association copy of this significant and uncommon mycological text.

Click the images for enlargements.

Provenance:  Covers gilt-stamped with the device of Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere.

Binding:  Contemporary calf framed in gilt triple fillets and blind roll, rebacked preserving original spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title-label; covers gilt-stamped with supra-libros as above. All edges marbled.

Uncommon: OCLC and NUC Pre-1956 find only six U.S. locations.

•  Bound as above; spine leather with small chips and cracks, sides with small unobtrusive areas of rubbing and light discoloration. Binding overall solid and still attractive; interior clean and nice.  (25320)

The title-page is printed in red and black, and the text is decorated with foliate initials and woodcut head- and tail-pieces.

Uncommon: OCLC locates only seven U.S. institutional holdings, one of which has since been deaccessioned.

•  Pirenne, Bibliographie de l'histoire de Belgique, 2125.   Recent quarter calf with sides covered in German-style brown paper speckled with black, leather edges tooled in blind, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-dotted raised bands. All edges stained red. Pages lightly age-toned, with some mild offsetting; first and last few leaves foxed; clean.  (25854)

trade issues including the making and selling of usquebagh

•  NSTC C4545. Period-style calf, framed and panelled in gilt rolls, panels with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spine with gilt-stamped leather label and gilt-stamped shamrock devices in compartments. Title-page mounted; one leaf with paper flaw with absence of a few letters, one lower outer corner torn away; previous sewing holes visible. Pages with edges untrimmed, and margins/corners variously spotted/soiled for what seem to be various reasons; some leaves chipped or dog-earred, especially in last section, and one leaf in that part pulled away from sewing. Manuscript notes extending the roster of sheriffs added to the bottom of two pages.

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 14175; On Watts, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, LX, 670. Contemporary speckled calf, somewhat rubbed, corners bumped with a little loss of leather therefrom. Occasional spots of browning or foxing and some small dog ears. Bookplate on front pastedown. (5620)

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•  Publisher's vellum over boards, spine with raised bands and faux hand-inked title, in original red cloth slipcase. A beautiful, clean, unworn copy in a perfect slipcase.  (26750)