{"title":"Appartitions \u0026 Oddities","description":"\u003cp\u003eFind the spookiest of rare books this All Hallows' Eve, including ghost stories, skeletons, dissections, folklore, and psychological horrors.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"albertus-seba-southern-common-opossum-1735-dutch-apothecary-tab-xxxix-locupletissimi-rerum-natualium-thesauri-accurata-descriptio-et-iconibus-artificiosissimis-expressio-per-universam-physices-historiam-91084","title":"[Southern Common Opossum]","description":"Seba, a wealthy Dutch apothecary and member of the Dutch East India Company, was one of the prototypical collectors of natural curiosities and exotic species. His collection ranged from the beautiful to the odd and bizarre. It included birds, reptiles such as lizards and snakes, butterflies and other insects, shells and exotic sea life, unusual mammals such as bats and anteaters, as well as exotic plants. The collection also included some fakes, intended to attract attention and interest, such as a seven-headed hydra.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eCopper engraved plate on chainlink paper.  \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"[SEBA, Albertus]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45547041161521,"sku":"91084","price":500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/91084_1e20ea92-c51c-4ee8-a84c-91f3e502c765.jpg?v=1791537476"},{"product_id":"robert-benson-light-invisible-first-edition-96531","title":"The Light Invisible.","description":"The author's first book. Fifteen weird tales, including the ghost story \"The Traveller.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFirst edition, 8vo; title printed in red \u0026amp; black with woodcut device, 10pp. advertisements, foxing to terminal ff., publisher's decorative cloth, blocked and lettered in white to upper cover, spine lettered in gilt, an attractive copy.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"BENSON, Robert.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45547094081841,"sku":"96531","price":400.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/96531_6fd3dce4-05f4-4daf-b6ee-e777e980ead9.jpg?v=1791546984"},{"product_id":"fergus-hume-the-mystery-of-a-hansom-cab-early-issue-100648","title":"The Mystery of a Hansom Cab.","description":"An attractive early issue of this classic of Victorian detective fiction, further enhanced by a letter from the author to a Mr O'Donnell, writing to him from a hotel in St Ives, thanking him for an invitation and hoping to take him up on an offer to meet the editor of \u003cem\u003eThe Cornishman\u003c\/em\u003e in the future. It seems highly plausible that Mr O'Donnell is the ghost hunter and prolific writer on the paranormal, Elliott O'Donnell, who lived in St Ives at that time, and would certainly not have been shy of contacting a celebrated author such as Hume if he were in the area. Hume features in an article in \u003cem\u003eThe Cornishman \u003c\/em\u003eon 21st December 1905.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eEarly issue, 'two hundred and twenty-fifth thousand'; advertisements at front and end, one advertisment leaf loose, some browning\/foxing to leaves at front and end; publisher's pictorial wrappers worn and soiled, some repair work to around spine but original printed backstrip present; together with a loose typed letter signed from Hume to a Mr O'Donnell dated 10th November 1905, both housed in a modern slip-case, reproducing the top and rear boards of the book.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"HUME, Fergus W.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45547156701489,"sku":"100648","price":850.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/100648_5f970efb-e624-408c-a2a2-f2ae841023d1.jpg?v=1791540786"},{"product_id":"sabine-baring-gould-margery-of-quether-first-edition-100676","title":"Margery of Quether and Other Stories.","description":"The eponymous \u003cem\u003eMargery of Quether\u003c\/em\u003e is discovered by a bell-ringer, George Rosedhu on Christmas Eve. She explains she was once a living woman, now a dried up old crone who cannot die. George is so moved by her story that he takes her in his arms and carries her home. She drives her one remaining tooth into his flesh and clasps him so tightly with her claws that he is unable to remove her until she lets go of her own accord...\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould was an English hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist and eclectic scholar. He is remembered particularly as a writer of hymns, the best-known being\u003cem\u003e Onward, Christian Soldiers\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eNow the Day is Over\u003c\/em\u003e. He also translated the carol \u003cem\u003eGabriel's Message\u003c\/em\u003e from Basque to English. He often wrote standing up and his first book of songs, \u003cem\u003eSongs and Ballads of the West (1889-91)\u003c\/em\u003e, was the first collection published for the mass market. He wrote many novels including \u003cem\u003eA Book of Ghosts\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Lives of the Saints\u003c\/em\u003e. His folkloric studies resulted in \u003cem\u003eThe Book of Were-Wolves\u003c\/em\u003e (1865), one of the most frequently cited studies of lycanthropy. Reputedly, this last title and Margery of Quether, gave Bram Stoker his inspiration for\u003cem\u003e Dracula\u003c\/em\u003e, published six years later.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition in book form; 8vo; one spot to first three leaves, else fine; publisher's maroon cloth gilt, spine faded and ends bumped, corners rubbed, offsetting to both free endpapers and near contemporary ink ownership to front free one, otherwise very good. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"BARING-GOULD, Sabine.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45547157356849,"sku":"100676","price":875.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/100676_83f85f40-ee86-4e18-9ff5-153a09216b40.jpg?v=1791824298"},{"product_id":"yeats-cathleen-hoolihan-1902-104756","title":"Cathleen ni Hoolihan.","description":"A very good example of this uncommon title, decorated, engraved, printed, and bound by H.D \u0026amp; H.G. Webb at the Caradoc Press. The play first appeared in the Irish theatrical periodical, \u003cem\u003eSamhain\u003c\/em\u003e. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFirst edition in book form, one of circa 300 copies; 12mo; printed in black \u0026amp; red, title-page and colophon with decorations, bookplate to front pastedown; publisher's roan-backed boards with title printed in gaelic font to upper cover, a little spotted and rubbed; housed in later morocco-backed marbled board solander.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWade 40.","brand":"YEATS, W.B.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45547273355569,"sku":"104756","price":675.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/104756_858c394c-179c-4223-9596-04ab3a313f6d.jpg?v=1791549195"},{"product_id":"david-shrigley-web-dots-from-untitled-childlike-figures-woodcut-99716","title":"Web","description":"\"I'm actually trying to make things that are accessible and enjoyable to others,\" Shrigley has said. Like a compulsive doodler with an infectiously mordant sense of humor, the Glasgow-based artist makes deceptively simple-looking drawings and, to a lesser extent, paintings. Complete with childlike stick figures and crudely scrawled texts, they speak to the paranoid fantasies and everyday pathos of adulthood.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShrigley, who is highly prolific, has compiled many of his images into artist's books and other printed formats that can circulate to large audiences—such as series of etchings and, most recently, these woodcuts. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I liked the physicality of cutting the [wood] plates,\" the artist has said. \"It was very brutal and slightly haphazard, perhaps a little crude, which I think makes the images sit comfortably alongside my drawings.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePublication excerpt from The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA Highlights since 1980, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2007, p. 247.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eWoodcut, 2005, on wove paper, signed with initials, dated and numbered from the edition of 20 in pencil, published by Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen, 59.7 x 39.7 cm. 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Featuring the first drawing by Robert Gregory used by the press, 'showing the four aces of a pack of playing-cards spread over the four provinces of Ireland - the four green fields of Irish folklore.' (Genet, p62)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFirst edition, one of 500 copies; 8vo; woodcut to contents page, minor age-toning, slight offsetting to endpapers, else unmarked internally, partly unopened; publisher's cloth-backed blue boards, paper label to spine printed in black, black lettering to upper cover, blue endpapers, spine and extremities slightly toned, corners slightly bumped, else very good.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"YEATS, W.B.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47444656849201,"sku":"110281","price":675.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/110281_f0ce8128-30bc-4e42-a35f-0adc4429c79b.jpg?v=1791548773"},{"product_id":"bastian-schmid-vergleichenda-anatomie-rana-esculenta-frog-113131","title":"Vergleichende Anatomie der Wirbeltiere: \u003cem\u003eRana esculenta\u003c\/em\u003e. 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To the left a female, on the right a male animal, both natural size with the brain and spinal cord enlarged. In the female we see the entire intestines, the respiratory system, the heart with its anterior chambers, the aortic arch...'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePainted anatomical relief in wooden frame (24 x 30 cm); printed paper label to the back, a few very minor scratches and spots to the frame; housed in the original box with the stamp of the publisher's archive and two manuscript labels, one giving the name of the display and the other reading \"F21\", and with the original tissue-covered cellulose insert to protect the relief, some wear to the box and the tissue covering for the cotton padding, very good condition.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"SCHMID, Bastian.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49693457908017,"sku":"113131","price":850.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/113131_a8b2979d-b799-4d6f-b6ad-f1339908e210.jpg?v=1791538317"},{"product_id":"samuel-hibbert-philosophy-of-apparitions-first-edition-1824-113162","title":"Sketches of the Philosophy of Apparitions;","description":"First edition of a key work attributing ghost sightings to the human mind, an early examination of the unconscious. Rare in commerce, with no copies in recent auction records.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Two of the most influential studies upon the nature and origin of hallucinations in the early nineteenth century centred their examination upon the supposed sighting of apparitions and phantoms of the dead. In these works, John Ferriar and Samuel Hibbert — both medical physicians — outlined the theory of spectral illusions — the argument that apparitions were to be traced to disorders and diseases of the bodily apparatus, rather than to insanity, revelation, or post-mortem haunting... Hibbert enlarged upon Ferriar's writings and outlined the similar thesis that \"apparitions are nothing more than ideas, or the recollected images of the mind, which have been rendered as vivid as actual impressions\". Agreeing with Ferrier that ghosts could be understood as waking dreams, Hibbert used analogies with the chemical world to illustrate the changeable nature of the individual's mental state such as the intoxications of dangerous miasmas and the \"visonary world\" induced by exposure to nitrous oxide. A recurring reference-point in Hibbert's text was that the \"renovation of past feelings\" through association to a certain level of intensity could produce apparitions in the mind... Though stressing the optical sense in their theories of spectral illusions, Ferriar and Hibbert supported those who argued that such visual phenomena had a peripheral origin in the brain. They stressed that people experienced spectral illusions were neither insane nor ghost-seers, but merely peripherally affected by abnormal impressions and could be treated by such down-to-earth methods as bleeding and the application of active purgatives' (McCorristine, \u003cem\u003eSpectres of the Self\u003c\/em\u003e, pp45-46).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Hibbert concluded that whatever their exciting cause, apparitions... resulted from the recall of forgoten memories... No feelings or ideas he maintained were ever lost even if forgotten and could be revived into consciousness by an appropriate stimulus... It is surprising to find so early in nineteenth century psychiatry this basic assumption of an unconscious and its elation to conscious mind\" (Hunter \u0026amp; Macalpine).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA previous owner of this copy, William Schroeder, was a Brooklyn physician whose scrapbooks are now at the Center for Brooklyn History.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFirst edition; 8vo (17.5 x 10 cm); folding chart and tables within the text, offsetting and a little scattered spotting to the contents, ownership signature and ink stamp to front free endpaper, tiny catalogue note tipped-in on the rear free endpaper; contemporary calf rebacked to style, gilt titles, raised bands, blind stamps to compartments, top edge dyed red, binding rubbed and scuffed, very good condition; 459pp.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"HIBBERT, Samuel.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49818941522225,"sku":"113162","price":2750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/113162_b1c1a17e-5531-4c15-ae50-7d4ebd9c56a9.jpg?v=1791752403"},{"product_id":"james-benignus-winslow-anatomical-exposition-human-body-1734-114395","title":"An Anatomical Exposition of the Structure of the Human Body.","description":"Reissue of the 1733 first English language edition with cancel title dated 1734, originally published in French as\u003cem\u003e Exposition anatomique de la structure du corps humain\u003c\/em\u003e in 1732. Illustrated with four attractive folding plates based on the works of Eustachius.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJacques-Bénigne Winslow (1669-1760), 'one of the most brilliant anatomists of the eighteenth century', was born in Denmark but spent his career in France, serving as a professor of anatomy at the Jardin du Roi between 1742 and 1758. 'Among his numerous contributions in the field of human anatomy, the \u003cem\u003eExposition anatomique de la structure du corps humain\u003c\/em\u003e (1732) had a great influence on anatomical literature for over a century' (Olry, 'Winslow's contribution...', \u003cem\u003eJournal of the History of Neuroscience\u003c\/em\u003e, August 1996). A copy of the 1756 London edition was one of the books sold by Thomas Jefferson to the Library of Congress in 1815.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eReissue of the 1733 first edition with cancel title dated 1734; 2 vols in 1 plus appendix, 4to, (24.5 x 19.5 cm); 4 engraved folding plates, second title printed in red and black, single leaf bookseller's ad at end of vol. I; contemporary ownership signature to the front pastedown, faint spotting to the title and early leaves, light partial offsetting to late leaves from turn-in, overall contents fresh; contemporary speckled calf, spine elaborately gilt in compartments with floral tools, red morocco label, double gilt fillets, red speckled edges, some rubbing and scuffing of the calf, upper joint worn but firm, very good condition; 182, 210, \u0026amp; 145pp.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"WINSLOW, James Benignus [Jacques-Bénigne]; DOUGLAS, G. 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In the opinion of many the foremost modern writer of supernatural fiction' (Bleiler, \u003cem\u003eThe Guide to Supernatural Fiction\u003c\/em\u003e, p279). \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Let us, then, be introduced to the actors in a placid way', wrote James in 1924: '...let us see them going about their ordinary business, undisturbed by forebodings...and into this calm environment let the ominous thing put out its head, unobtrusively at first, and then more insistently, until it holds the stage.' Like Lewis Carroll and Tolkien, James viewed fiction as an essential diversion from the mundane necessities of work and study, consequently many of his stories originated as tales to be read by candlelight to fellow dons and senior pupils at Cambridge. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIncreasingly scarce, especially in such good order.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition; 8vo; frontispiece and 3 plates by James McBride, without advertisements, some very light scattered spotting, very light browning to endpapers, armorial bookplate to front pastedown, bookplate to front free endpaper; publisher's buckram, titles to spine and upper cover in black, ruled in red, yapp edges, very light toning and a faint splash mark to spine; a very good example.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCurrey p.261; Lovecraft (Supernatural Horror in Literature), pp.100-105; Tymn 3-125.","brand":"JAMES, M.R.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55196755394935,"sku":"116521","price":4500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/116521_dbe2929f-d0b7-4c0b-9f98-989c7f4afe19.jpg?v=1791579721"},{"product_id":"redgrove-god-glass-first-edition-1979-118686","title":"The God of Glass.","description":"First edition of\u003cem\u003e The God of Glass\u003c\/em\u003e by Peter Redgrove. 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Using the mercury injection method (which he perfected) and a tubular needle bent at a right angle, he observed, named and described almost all the lymph glands and vessels in the human body, concluding that the lymphatic system originates from all internal and external cavities and surfaces of the body, and that it is related to the absorbing function. He demonstrated the connection between the lymphs and serous vessels, and disproved Boerhaave's theory of arterial and venous lymphatics by showing that they did not exist. The spectacular copperplates by Ciro Santi in this work depict vessels in some of the finest detail present in anatomical illustrations before the advent of photography' (Hook \u0026amp; Norman, The Norman Library of Science and Medicine 1450).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFirst edition; double folio (57 x 43 cm); 41 engraved plates, wide-margined, some spotting to contents, minor dampstain in the lower corner; early 19th century quarter vellum, drab paste paper boards, morocco label to spine, edges speckled blue, old repairs to corners, a little wear and some markings to the binding, very good condition; 138pp.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGarrison \u0026amp; Morton (A Medical Bibliography) 1104; Hook \u0026amp; Norman (The Norman Library of Science and Medicine) 1450; Heirs of Hippocrates 1099; Choulant pp.315-316.","brand":"MASCAGNI, Paulo.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56429962592631,"sku":"121473","price":7500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/121473_10_1a06207d-3403-47f1-a32d-44801bdfcf6e.jpg?v=1791752325"},{"product_id":"charles-owen-natural-history-serpents-first-edition-1742-121334","title":"An Essay Towards a Natural History of Serpents: In Two Parts.","description":"First edition of this attractive work on the biology, cultural relevance, and mythology of snakes, illustrated with seven engraved plates. This copy with evidence of use, including a few manuscript annotations and a short note bound in at page 115 on the snakes of Barbary, from Jackson's \u003cem\u003eAccount of the Empire of Marocco\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A compendium of 18th-century perceptions, the work draws on classical, biblical and mythological sources in its depiction of snakes, turtles, wasps and scorpions, as well as such mythical creatures as griffins and dragons, all of which are classified under the title \"serpent.\" Owen also includes a section on poison and antidotes, and describes the folklore associated with such animals in all countries of the world' (National Library of Medicine 335).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFirst edition; 4to (24 x 18.5 cm); 7 engraved plates, floral head and tailpieces, some manuscript notes in ink within the text and a half-page leaf of contemporary manuscript notes bound in at page 115, original blanks lacking, occasional small spots to the contents, a few small closed tears in the margins; recently rebound to style in tan half calf, spine gilt in compartments with red morocco label, marbled sides, blue speckled edges, endpapers renewed, an excellent copy; 240pp, 12pp index.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNational Library of Medicine 335, Nissen ZBI 3033.","brand":"OWEN, Charles.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56958915838327,"sku":"121334","price":1500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/121334_9a24a1c5-58bf-49a6-8a91-95d35f438f7c.jpg?v=1791539311"},{"product_id":"book-fate-new-york-1823-121671","title":"The Book of Fate,","description":"Very rare. OCLC records just one copy in institutional collections worldwide at the American Antiquarian Society Library.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe chapters deal with 'oneirocritica', or 'the science of fortunetelling future events by dreams', 'naeviology', that is predicitng fortunes through marks on the skin, 'zodiaology', the signs of the Zodiac, physiognomy, 'chartology', i.e. card reading, and palmistry, with the final chapter on miscellaneous ways of telling fortune from coffee-grounds to lemon peels.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e12mo (14 x 8 cm); in-text illustrations, toned with moderate spotting throughout with intermittent dampstaining, a little frayed with the occasional tear just into text at the fore-edge, lacking frontispiece and final f. of text? (pagination collates as recorded on OCLC), loss to foot of final 3ff, filled-in blank; contemporary sheepskin, rebacked, corners repaired, contrasting red morocco lettering-piece to spine, later free endpapers, slightly rubbed and abraded; [5], 8-210pp.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"[FORTUNE-TELLING].","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57142115369335,"sku":"121671","price":1500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/121671_63cd3388-425b-42d3-930b-bda034da7f2a.jpg?v=1791751997"},{"product_id":"dante-alighieri-vision-london-1831-123618","title":"[The Divine Comedy]. The Vision; or Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, of Dante Alighieri.","description":"The third edition of this translation of the Florentine poet Dante Alighieri's (c.1265-1321) \u003cem\u003eDivine Comedy\u003c\/em\u003e, here rendered into blank verse as \u003cem\u003eThe Vision, or Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe translator Henry Francis Cary (1772-1844) began working on the poem in 1797. He completed his translation of the \u003cem\u003eInferno\u003c\/em\u003e in 1805, publishing this separately with parallel text in the original Italian the same year. The full translation was not completed until 1812, and not published until 1814 when it appeared in a small sextodecimo format that was almost illegible.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThird edition; 3 vols; 12mo (170 x 110 mm); half-titles to vols I \u0026amp; III, contemporary ownership inscription in pen to title-page of vol. I, slightly toned; contemporary half brown calf, marbled paper covers ruled in gilt, contrasting black morocco lettering-pieces to spines, top-edges gilt, a little rubbed with occasional minor loss, very good; [10], li, [1], 280; iii-xi, [1], 286; [4], 271, [29]pp.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"DANTE ALIGHIERI; CARY, Henry Francis (translator).","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57214633378167,"sku":"123618","price":950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/123618_54246780-45e5-46aa-b65c-b50505264cb0.jpg?v=1791896010"},{"product_id":"william-cheselden-anatomical-tables-early-american-printing-1796-123464","title":"Anatomical Tables of the Human Body.","description":"A rare, early American abridged edition of this classic anatomical guide for students. No copies are recorded at auction since 2000.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWilliam Cheselden (1688-1752) was one of the leading surgeons of the 18th century, and developed his own sophisticated techniques for procedures such as lithotomy (bladder stone extraction) and eye surgery. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, appointed surgeon to Queen Caroline, and attended Isaac Newton during his final illness. Alexander Pope described him as 'the most noted and deserving man in the whole of the profession of Chirurgery: and has saved the lives of thousands by his manner of cutting for the stone' (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Anatomy of the Human Body\u003c\/em\u003e, first published in 1713, was 'a student's manual with plates, basic physiology, and operative surgery. It proved extremely popular, achieving thirteen London editions, lastly in 1792; from the fourth edition onwards an appendix of clinical information was added' (ODNB). The present abridged version contains 40 plates based on those in the original publication, covering every major organ system: the skeleton, muscles, digestive system, circulatory system, and reproductive organs, with the inclusion of several brief case histories.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEarly US edition; 8vo (21 x 12.5 cm); 40 engraved plates, ownership ink stamp to the front free endpaper, contents foxed with some offsetting from the plates, splash marks to the early leaves, free endpapers and front blank slightly loose; contemporary calf, red morocco label, double gilt fillets to spine compartments, boards scuffed, very good condition; 46pp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"CHESELDEN, William.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57366749577591,"sku":"123464","price":1250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/123464_01_8d5a34c5-68cb-4c9f-bf5e-83f90f395cc4.jpg?v=1791548890"},{"product_id":"goya-caprichos-madrid-1799-110154","title":"Los Caprichos.","description":"The complete set of eighty etchings with burnished aquatint, drypoint and engraving, 1797-1798, on laid paper. A very good set from the first edition, published by the artist in an edition of approximately three hundred copies. With \u003cem\u003eLos Caprichos\u003c\/em\u003e, Goya for the first time made his vision of the more sinister side of Spanish society – and the human soul in general – accessible to a wider audience, beyond his small group of friends and patrons. Goya was commercially ambitious, and set himself an enormous undertaking, prepared over several years and based on hundreds of drawings. Harris has estimated that he produced 300 sets (i.e. 24,000 impressions) of the \u003cem\u003eCaprichos\u003c\/em\u003e, making it at the time the largest series of prints ever conceived by a single artist. But the bitter reality was that perhaps only some thirty sets of this first and only lifetime edition were sold. In 1803, the artist gave the plates and the remaining impressions to the King, presumably to escape the wrath of the Inquisition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn hindsight \u003cem\u003eLos Caprichos \u003c\/em\u003eis the pivotal work of Goya's entire oeuvre. In one grandiose, dark symphony he unleashes both his unsparing satirical sense and his wild imagination, plate after plate, tied loosely together by related motifs and laconic, often mysterious titles. The only plate without an engraved title is perhaps the most famous of all: the artist, overcome by sleep, with his head resting on a table, is surrounded by creatures of the night: owls, bats, a cat and a lynx. On the front of the table the following words appear vaguely out of the aquatint surface: El sueño de la razon produce monstruos. The phrase is ultimately untranslatable, as sueño can mean both 'sleep' and 'dream'. This ambiguity – does Reason dream up monsters or do monsters arise as Reason sleeps? – is characteristic of the entire series. Having first conceived it as the title page, Goya changed his mind and placed it as plate 43 right in the middle of the series, dividing the series roughly into two parts. The first part is largely devoted to satires of courtship and prostitution, mocking the vanities and pretensions of the young and old. It is in the nightmarish second part that the monsters arise, witches and demons fly, and goblins awake. Beyond the mere evocation and critique of superstition and witchcraft, the precise meaning of these later plates is even more cryptic. Concealed through visual puns, word play and allusions to proverbs, they often ridicule the idle and ruling classes, the clerics and the nobility.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWickedly satirical and subversive as the caprichos are in their imagery and content, they also represent a technical revolution. Having previously created a number of competent yet ultimately conventional etchings after Velazquez, Goya in this series suddenly and completely mastered the aquatint method. In particular through his use of blank paper for glowing highlights among dense shades of grey and black, he created images of dramatic and disturbing beauty. What makes \u003cem\u003eLos Caprichos\u003c\/em\u003e one of the greatest unified series of images ever produced, is not just his extraordinary draughtsmanship or his technical mastery, nor his sharp satirical wit, but the intensity of his imagination and the depth of his humanity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFirst edition, one of approximately 300 copies; quarter broadsheets (311 x 205mm); 80 plates on a single uniform stock of unwatermarked laid paper; etchings with burnished aquatint, many with drypoint and\/or burin (fine impressions printed in sepia, printing with great contrasts and bright highlights, the aquatint just beginning to show a little wear on some plates, with the scratch on plate 45, with wide margins, some pale spotting mainly on the first few pages, otherwise in very good condition; black morocco binding by Lebrun, signed on the spine and dated Paris 1844 on the rear cover, tooled in gilt with the Self-Portrait of plate 1 and the name of the artist on the front cover, the motif and title of plate 32 on the back cover, marbled endpapers; within a matching red morocco box, with the name of the artist, the title and the name of the binder on the spine, the inside with a black and gilt morocco inlay showing all the tools used for the binding.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"GOYA Y LUCIENTES, Francisco de.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57418209362295,"sku":"110154","price":200000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/110154_ec45f65b-f291-41f4-87ff-f7056f001f49.jpg?v=1791541379"},{"product_id":"robert-bloch-psycho-psycho-ii-first-editions-signed-124480","title":"Psycho [with] Psycho II.","description":"First UK edition of Bloch's classic psychological horror novel, together with the signed limited edition of its sequel, signed by the author and the designer Stuart Schiff.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFirst UK edition, first impression; 8vo; bookseller's ticket to front pastedown, tape residue to front free endpaper slightly offsetting to title, light foxing early and late; publisher's black cloth, titles to spine green, with the price-clipped pictorial dustjacket; a very good copy in the near-fine dustjacket with minor creasing to extremities; [with:] First edition, first impression, number 127 of 750 copies, signed by the author \u0026amp; designer, from a total edition of 3300; 8vo; publisher's red cloth, titles to spine and upper cover black, red topstain bright, with the unclipped pictorial dustjacket; a fine copy in the original red cloth slipcase.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"BLOCH, Robert.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57478936854903,"sku":"124480","price":1500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/124480_01_5981fb04-934d-4aea-9d12-2992037aecf1.jpg?v=1791896250"},{"product_id":"bram-stoker-dracula-first-edition-1897-122617","title":"Dracula.","description":"The first edition of Bram Stoker's vampire classic, a genre-defining masterpiece inspiring numerous reprints, variations, pastiches, stage \u0026amp; screen versions over the years. The gothic tale of Jonathan Harker's perilous struggle to destroy the diabolical Dracula, putting the lives of his friends and loved ones at terrible risk, not least his fiancée Mina who develops a psychic link with the vampire Count. The book, written in largely epistolary format, has been critically lauded since its publication, occasionally with intriguing or surprising interpretations of subtext or author's motives. Now a cornerstone of gothic and horror literature, the cultural impact of Dracula can still be felt well over a century later. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePoints for the first edition of \u003cem\u003eDracula\u003c\/em\u003e are complex but most experts agree that the earliest printing of \u003cem\u003eDracula\u003c\/em\u003e was issued on thick paper, contained a blank final leaf, and no terminal publisher's advertisements. Later issues of the first edition were printed on thinner paper, contained an advertisement for 'Shoulder of Shasta' on the rear flyleaf, and included a 16-page publisher's catalogue. Richard Dalby, in his 1983 bibliography of Stoker, states that 'later issues of the first edition carry an advertisement for The Shoulder of Shasta on the rear flyleaf [392]' and that the 'publishers cannot confirm any other points regarding status of the first issue, nor the exact publishing date'. In the revised and expanded version of his bibliography published in 2004, he incorporated a variant (as this copy) that contains the points of thicker paper, a blank final leaf, and an eight-page terminal catalogue beginning with an advertisement for \u003cem\u003eThe Amazing Marriage\u003c\/em\u003e by George Meredith, ending with one for \u003cem\u003eThe Whitehall Shakespeare\u003c\/em\u003e, and carrying no mention of \u003cem\u003eDracula\u003c\/em\u003e. This copy has the appropriate paper thickness, a blank final leaf (391\/392), and does not contain the 16 page publisher's catalogue but has the 8 page terminal catalogue mentioned above. 'Although it was based in part on the crude \u003cem\u003eVarney, the Vampire\u003c\/em\u003e and the superior \u003cem\u003eCarmilla\u003c\/em\u003e by LeFanu, \u003cem\u003eDracula\u003c\/em\u003e remains the definitive treatment of the classical vampire, a work of great imagination and conviction... it is one of the great classics of supernatural fiction' (Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 1546).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, second issue; 8vo (20 x 14 cm); scarce early variant issue, conforms to the earliest printing\/first issue, printed on thick paper, without the advertisement for 'The Shoulder of Shasta' on p. [392] but with an eight-page terminal catalogue of adverts beginning with an advertisement for 'The Amazing Marriage' by George Meredith, ending with one for 'The Whitehall Shakespeare', and carrying no mention of Dracula, four titles listed to verso of half title, mark from old paperclip to half-title replicated on opposite page, blind impression left to a few leaves, slight spotting to margin of contents page, paperclip mark to p. [2-3], small mark to lower p. [16-17], small closed tear to lower edge of p. [31], light spotting to lower p. [40-1], small dirt marks to margins of p. [44], small chip to lower edge of p. [131], small spots to upper corner and lower margin with transfer onto opposite leaf p. [188-9], small marks to lower margin and lower centre of p. [276-7] not affecting legibility of text, spot to inner margin p. [290-1], overall very good condition given the age and scarcity of this issue; modern full yellow morocco by Sangorski and Sutcliffe after the original, blocked in red foil to front, back and spine, including red line borders front and back, protected in a yellow cloth slipcase with red leather entry; [x], 390pp, [2]pp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"STOKER, Bram.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57633380598135,"sku":"122617","price":17500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/122617_01.jpg?v=1792688175"},{"product_id":"robert-louis-stevenson-jekyll-hyde-1897-125330","title":"Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde with Other Fables.","description":"Robert Louis Stevenson's classic Gothic horror tale, after the first impression in book form in 1886.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eStrange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde \u003c\/em\u003ewas an immediate success and helped cement Stevenson's literary reputation as a household name. It has never been out of print since, inspiring countless stage productions and more than 100 films.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe book was in fact ready in December 1885 but because 'the bookstalls were already full of Christmas numbers, etc. and the trade would not look at it, publication was postponed until January 1886 and the date on the cover altered by the pen' (Mr. Charles Longman in Balfour's Life, ii, 14). 'Until 1886 [Stevenson] had never earned much...by his pen. But in that year came two successes that greatly increased his reputation and with it his power to earn. These were\u003cem\u003e The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eKidnapped\u003c\/em\u003e. The former, founded partly on a dream, is a striking apologue of the double-life of man. The success of these two tales, both with the critics and the public, established Stevenson's position at the head of the younger English writers of his day' (ODNB).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLater edition; 8vo; (19 x 13.5 cm); publisher's advertisement to rear, ownership stamp to half-title, occasional light spotting throughout, else clean; publisher's red boards with silver lettering to spine and upper board, some light rubbing to extremities, primarily to head of spine, else very good plus; 248pp, [32]pp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"STEVENSON, Robert Louis.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57633381777783,"sku":"125330","price":285.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/125330_01.jpg?v=1792688235"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/collections\/FIXED_CATAGORY_BUTTONS_4.jpg?v=1793097859","url":"https:\/\/shapero.com\/collections\/apparitions-oddities.oembed","provider":"Shapero Rare Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}