The copper-engraved, oversized frontispiece map shows Baffin's Bay, Barrow's Straits, Prince Regent's Inlet, and the North Georgian Islands, as well as the bay named after Parry's two ships.

•  Arctic Bibliography 13145; Hill (2nd ed.) 1311; Sabin 58860. Recent quarter calf over marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels, and gilt-stamped anchor decorations in compartments. Title-page and a few others, plus reverse of 1 map, lightly stamped by a now-defunct institution. Pages gently age-toned, with occasional offsetting from engraving and the odd spot or smudge. One map with small portion of inner margin reinforced; final two leaves with inner margins reinforced; one plate with tears into image and mounted. Final advertisement leaf bound in before final text leaf. All edges marbled.

microscope

Publishers' advertisements at back offer other useful volumes, and tout this one as, “not by any means a clap-trap book, though it exposes many clap-traps.”

•  Publisher's black pebbled cloth, covers blind-stamped, spine with blind-stamped title; limited fading and rubbing, sewing starting to loosen. Front pastedown with inked inscription, front free endpaper with intriguing “Fraters Florere” rubber-stamp. Pages faintly age-toned, otherwise clean.  (26631)

•  Wellcome Catalogue, IV, 412; Graesse, Trésor de Livres rares, V, 398; Alden & Landis 725/158; not in Sabin; ESTC T111989; Pritzel 7258n; Junersforgg & Hasenkamp, Coffee, 1177– 1179.   Recent full calf antique-style with gilt concentric panels on covers and gilt corner devices on same; round spine with raised bands, each accented by gilt rules. Some plates closely trimmed at foremargin. A very pleasing copy.  (21774)

"Porta's system . . . leads him constantly to conclusions of analogies between plants, animals and men. Similar humours are found in various apparently unrelated organisms. Plants and animals that correspond in shape are interrelated. A leaf formed like a stag horn shares the character of the deer. The horse is a noble animal, therefore it is a sign of nobility to walk erect with the head held high. Men who resemble a donkey are like that animal: timid, stupid, nervous. He who looks like an ostrich is akin to it in character: he is timid, elegant, vicious, stolid. A man who reminds us of a swine is a swine, eating greedily and having all the other characteristics, such as rudeness, irascibility, lack of discipline, sordidness, lack of intelligence [and] modesty. In a similar way, men who look like ravens are impudent; those who resemble oxen are stubborn, lazy, irascible; men who have lips shaped like those of a lion are hearty, magnanimous, courageous; others who make us think of a ram are timid, malicious and humble. When practising medicine, Porta had many occasions to observe his patients, and to study their character and complexion; the results of this studious inquiry are laid down in his book." (Seligmann)

This work was written in Latin and first published in 1586 under the title De humana physiognomia. It saw 19 editions before 1701, and has been translated into Italian (1598; translation by Salvatore Scarano), German (1651), French (1655), and English (1817). This tenth Italian edition is replete with a large number of intriguing (and humorous) woodcuts. The first is a portrait of Porta, and, while some of the rest show anatomical figures, the vast majority contrast the shapes of faces and bodies of animals and men. The title-page vignette is of Aesculapius, the Greco-Roman god of healing.

Appended to Della fisionomia humana are the Fisionomia naturale of Giovanni Ingegneri († 1600), the Physionomia of Polemon (ca. a.d. 88 – a.d. 145) in an Italian translation, Porta’s Della celeste fisionomia (a repudiation of astrology), and two short related treatises by Livius Agrippa and Luigi Settala (1552–1633). Della celeste fisionomia has a number of interesting woodcuts showing pagan gods and constellations.

•  Seligmann, The History of Magic, 319. On physiognomy, see: Thorndike, History of Magic and Experimental Science, VII, 448 & following. On Porta, see: Webster’s New Biographical Dictionary 811. Vellum over paste boards, soiled and cockled with a little chipping and front joint opening. Ex-library: paper labels on spine and rubber-stamps, including one on title-page. Pages cockled with traces of soiling on top edges; a few edges bumped. Plates in very clear, strong impressions.

•  Goldsmiths'-Kress 27353.19; this vol. not in American Imprints.   Publisher's quarter red cloth and tan paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label; binding lightly worn and faded, with paper chipped, spots of soiling, head of spine chipped and band of cloth tape extending across it. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page. No other markings. Uncut copy; pages generally clean.  (26262)

In addition to the dedication page, and prefaces to the first, third, and fourth editions, these volumes also include “additional notes and essays, a collection of new tables, a history of the sinking fund, a state of the public debts in January 1783, and a postscript on the population of the kingdom.” First published in 1771.

•  ESTC T12986; Goldsmiths-Kress 12495.   Contemporary speckled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, edges of boards tooled in gilt. Joints cracked and weakly holding. Covers darkened along top and outer edges; leather lost on corners. Light foxing to a few early and later leaves, including title-pages; offsetting from leather affecting only first three and final three leaves, at edges. Each volume pressure-stamped on the title-page and one other page. Title-page rectos marked with small inked initials in upper right corner, versos rubber-stamped with a five-digit number. Penciled notation at bottom margin of p. xxx (vol. I). Now housed in a blue cloth clamshell box with gilt-stamped leather labels.  (24415)

So many and various are these illustrations that we SIMPLY couldn't decide which to photograph!

Click the images present, for enlargements.

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription dated 1943 and with rubber-stamp of Kanter's Magic Shop, a famed but now-defunct emporium in Philadelphia.

•  Publisher's gray-brown cloth without dust-jacket, front cover with black-stamped title and dummy vignette; spine very slightly darkened, edges and extremities with minor shelfwear. Front free endpaper as above. Pages age-toned. A nice copy.  (26622)

•  Bitting 384; Cagle & Stafford 621; Lowenstein 460.   Publisher's brown fine-grained cloth, covers framed in blind, spine with gilt-stamped title; worn, covers with areas of discoloration. Front pastedown with recent pencilled annotations; front free endpaper lacking; back fly-leaf with early pencilled home remedy for poison ivy. Light to moderate foxing. A well-used copy but not a “sad case”; a pleasure of a cookbook.  (26760)

Provenance: The first work's title-page has “Ex dono Autoris” inscribed in the upper margin in an early hand.

•  Pycroft: ESTC T144698; Allibone 1712. Addenbrooke: ESTC T88427.   Recent marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Pycroft half-title lacking; title-page with annotation as above. Pages slightly age-toned, with light spotting to final leaves of Enquiry and throughout Essay. (20760)

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.

Garrison and Morton say of the first edition in English: “Sir Frederick Still considered this work 'the most progressive which had yet been written;' it gave an impetus to research which influenced the future course of paediatrics.”

Translator Murray (1740–91) was a Swedish student of Linnaeus and later a professor of botany and medicine at Göttingen.

Provenance:  Bookplate of Adamus Elias Schmidt, dated 1784.  Early 19th-century signature of a Philadelphia doctor (erased) at top of title-page.

•  G&M 6323.   Contemporary half calf, well worn: leather dry and gone to red with joint leather lost, cords holding, paper of covers worn through to boards in some places. Text with age-toning. Not a pretty copy but complete, and solid for now. Housed in a red cloth clamshell case.  (22256)

Rare.

•  Stapled in wrappers as issued. Four small spots on front wrapper. (20870)

Click the images for enlargements.

Provenance:  Pencilled ownership inscriptions of James A. Hoffman, Kutztown (PA), 1877. “Thou shalt not steal.”

•  Sabin 74200; Howes R516.   Contemporary green publisher's cloth with light wear and one spot to back cover. An article, “A Lesson in Pronunciation for Germans” has been affixed to the rear pastedown. A nice clean copy.  (3043)

physician

Provenance:  Ink signatures of “Mesange de St. Andre,” dated 1784, appear on front free endpaper and at top margin of title-page; gift inscription on front fly-leaf reads “Henri de Mesange St. Andre offr. au regt. de Barrois.” Later from the library of Helen de Guerry Simpson.

•  Pichon 2075; Coumont, Demonology and Witchcraft, S3.1.   Contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt extra and with gilt-stamped label; spine chipped at head and foot, joints open. Marbled endpapers. Ribbon placemarker. Edges stained red. Faint waterstain at lower margin of some leaves. Chip at lower outer corner of pp. 145/146. Slight loss of paper at lower edge of pp. 289/290. Ownership markings include a bookplate on the front pastedown and early ink inscriptions on the front free endpaper, front fly-leaf, and in the blank area of the top margin of the title-page.  (24562)

A famous work of medical Western Americana.

Provenance:  Bookplate (late 19th-, early 20th-century) of “H.P. Engle, M.D.”, probably the Iowan of that name.

•  Sabin 76909; Cushing S73; Heirs of Hippocrates 1321; Cordasco 40-1154.   Publisher's sheep: worn, joints open and boards soon to detach. Foxing as usual. Now with a paper dust wrapper, image of the title-page gracing its front, and housed in a red cloth clamshell case with two neat leather spine labels.  (25101)

Quite rare: Via OCLC we locate only three copies in the U.S.

•  Medina, Mexico, 1680.   Contemporary stiff vellum; binding stained and lacking ties, and a little bowed. Text starting to loosen. Waterstaining to early and late sections, paper yet strong. Withal, a good+ copy of a scarce and important early Mexican medical-related item.  (14649)

The volume is illustrated with an additional engraved title-page and eight other steel-engraved plates, as well as several in-text engravings of dramatic moments in soldiers' lives.

•  Sabin 82457.   Publisher's dark red/plum cloth, covers blind-stamped, spine with gilt-stamped title; spine sunned, corners and spine extremities moderately rubbed. Ex–social club library; front fly-leaf with inked numerals covered over with paper, rubber-stamps on frontispiece recto, title-page, and several other pages. Paper slightly embrittled; occasional short edge tears. Title-page and five plates with very faintest waterstaining in lower margins, other pages seemingly untouched.  (26273)

plague’s symptoms are poetically described in all their horrific agony

•  ESTC N11495; Foxon S663; NCBEL, II, 485. On Sprat, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, LIII, 419–23. Uncut copy. Removed from a nonce volume, with sewing mostly gone, now in a Mylar folder. Some age-toning and spotting ranging from mild to moderate.

•  NSTC 2S40115. On Stewart, see: Dictionary of National Biography, XVIII, 1169–73.   Contemporary treed calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped decorations; rubbed with front joint opening and top spine compartment showing old shelving notations. Ex–social club library: Front pastedown with old inked numeral and 19th-century bookplate affixed over an older one; front free endpaper with inked call number offsetting to bookplate. No other markings; pages gently age-toned.  (26443)

Click the images for enlargements.

The second edition's “Postscript” promises “additional facts connected with this interesting subject, equally wonderful,” or even “more so.”

William Leete Stone (1792–1844) was a journalist, editor of the “Commercial Advertiser,” advocate of slave emancipation and Greek independence, historian of colonial New York and New England, and first superintendent of public schools in New York City.

Very scarce.

•  NSTC 2S41964; Sabin 92135. See: Dicitonary of American Biography for much on Stone.   Removed from a nonce volume; mildest foxing to first and final leaves with crescent of lost paper to foremargin (only) of one leaf not nearing text. A very good copy.  (11023)

The oversized, folding maps of France and the world featurehand-colored provincial and continental borders; two additional oversized, steel-engraved plates depict the gods atop Mt. Olympus and the seven wonders of the world.

Early editions of this work are uncommon.

•  Quérard, La France littéraire, 341.   Contemporary marbled paper–covered boards, spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels; bindings faded and with some soiling/rubbing (most notably to spines). rubbed. Half-title of vol. I, pp. vii/viii of preface, and printed volume labels all bound in at back of vol. II; some signatures of vol. I unopened. Title-pages with traces of mostly effaced inscriptions; first and last few leaves of both volumes very lightly waterstained. One plate with two short tears from lower edge, not touching image. Solid and interesting.  (27048)

Single-click the interior image for an enlargement.

The publisher’s authentifying signature is present on the final leaf, the “Avis des Éditeurs.”

•  Not in Garrison & Morton. 19th-century quarter cloth with paper-covered sides, spine with inked paper label; spine sunned and with call number label, edges and sides slightly rubbed. Original front pastedown and free endpaper bound in, endpaper with inked presentation inscription dated 1865. Title-page and first page of preface rubber-stamped by a now-defunct institution. Pages clean.

The state of the Russian military forces is here described at length. The commerce section includes chapters on viniculture, sericulture, and apiculture, as well as mining and salt harvesting; at the back of the third volume are extensive tables of Russian imports and exports, merchant ships arrived and sailed, duties and taxes, and names of the most active St. Petersburg merchants. Coins and measures are also examined.

Binding:  Contemporary treed calf, flat spines with gilt tooling of several sorts creating compartments, each with a large device; gilt-stamped green leather title and volume labels.

•  ESTC T109837; Allibone 2434. On Tooke, see: Dictionary of National Biography online.   Bound as above, two volumes with front covers off and all other joints weak; covers showing some gouges and spines some chips, the set apparently having been exposed not only to normal wear/rubbing but sometime long past to something (heat? “repairs”?) that darkened and roughened them irregularly. Ex–social club library: front pastedowns each with 19th-century bookplate and inked numerals, title-pages pressure-stamped. Intermittent light foxing and light to moderate offsetting throughout; vol. III with waterstaining in upper margins. Map lightly foxed but otherwise in excellent condition. A set of booksstill striking, and priced to permit the next owner to contemplate repairs.  (26366)

Provenance:  Old signature, “Hall Harrison,” on title-page.

•  Evans 32952, 34688, & 36479; ESTC W11750; Sabin 15502, 15503, & 15504. Contemporary treed calf, rebacked with calf, spine with gilt-stamped bands and gilt-stamped leather title and publication labels; leather of boards (but not spine) crackled, chipped/chipping, and discolored from a fire, with rear board most affected and with one corner lost (3/4" up and across from the point, this showing in our extra photograph). Front pastedown with old institutional bookplate; title-page with early inked ownership inscription as above and old institutional rubber-stamp. Offsetting from binding at beginning and end, intermittent mild offsetting and faint spotting generally, a few leaves towards the back browned, with pages otherwise clean; the fire that affected the boards did not reach the interior, here.  (25667)

•  Good in printed paper wrappers, lacking back cover, light waterstaining to front cover and first and last few leaves.  (927)

•  Sabin 51791; NSTC 2USA3337.   Removed from a nonce volume. Original printed wrappers, chipped. Two instances of blue crayon marking, in top right corners of front wrapper and top right corner of title-page. Now in a mylar folder. (8963)

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.

•  Removed from a volume of pamphlets and in later wrappers.

•  NSTC 2W25743.   Removed from a volume. Very good condition. (8451)

•  Whaton & Kelly 6655; Cagle & Stafford, American Books on Food and Drink, 840.   Publisher's ribbed brown cloth, covers elaborately embossed in blind. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, lacking the front free endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. A rather handsome book, and one in nice condition.  (26509)