{"title":"Boston Antiquarian Book Fair 2026","description":"\u003cp\u003e6–8 November 2026. Our selection for the 48th Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair, where we exhibited at Booth 325. \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/Boston_Book_Fair_2026.pdf?v=1792586474\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Boston Antiquarian Book Fair Catalogue 2026\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003eDownload the catalogue (PDF)\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"desiderius-erasmus-moriae-ecomium-scarce-early-edition-93719","title":"Moriae Encomium.","description":"The scarce first dated edition of Erasmus' \u003cem\u003eMoriae Encomium\u003c\/em\u003e, an important work of humanist rhetoric which satirised the corruption and religious hypocrisy of Europe's elite.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePrinted two months after the undated Paris edition by Gilles de Gourmont, of which only a handful of copies survive, all of them in institutional libraries. The present edition, almost as rare, is not merely a reprint of the Paris edition, but contains additional material including an address and laudatory letter to Erasmus\u003cstrong\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003eby his fellow humanist Jakob Wimpfeling. All early editions are exceedingly scarce, with only three appearing at auction in the last 100 years that we could trace. The first English translation was not published until 1549, although there had been Czech, French and German editions prior to this.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn excellent example of a classic work of paradoxical satire, in which folly is personified and holds up a mirror to mankind. An extremely significant work both in its own right and for its influence on the Protestant Reformation in general. Sir Thomas More's own magnum opus \u003cem\u003eUtopia\u003c\/em\u003e was at least in part written as a response to \u003cem\u003eMoriae Encomium\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003e'The Praise of Folly\u003c\/em\u003e was written when Erasmus was staying in the house of Thomas More in the winter of 1509–10. Its title is a delicate and complimentary play on the name of his host: its subject matter is a brilliant, biting satire on the folly to be found in all walks of life. The book stemmed from the decision which Erasmus had taken when he left Rome to come to England, that no form of preferment could be obtained at the sacrifice of his freedom to read, think and write what he liked. The work was first secretly printed in Paris, and, as in other cases, its immediate success safeguarded him from the consequences of his audacity. Whenever tyranny or absolute power threatened, \u003cem\u003eThe Praise of Folly \u003c\/em\u003ewas re-read and reprinted. It is a sign of what was in the air that Milton found it in every hand at Cambridge in 1628. His inherent scepticism has led people to call Erasmus the father of eighteenth-century rationalism, but his rationalist attitude is that of perfect common sense, to which tyranny and fanaticism were alike abhorrent' (PMM 43).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDespite the risky nature of the work and its explicit and implicit attacks on established religion and authority figures of the time, its rapid popularity ensured that the author and the work were left unmolested by church and state, at least until Erasmus' death in 1536, after which his previously untainted reputation was diminished. By 1559, all of his works had been proscribed under the insidious \u003cem\u003eIndex Auctorum et Librorum Prohibitorum\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe can trace copies in just 12 institutional collections worldwide: 3 in the British Isles (BL, University of Cambridge, and Bodleian Library), 2 in France (BnF and Université de Strasbourg), 4 in the USA (Folger Shakespeare Library, Harvard University Divinity School, and Ohio State University), 3 in Germany (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Universitaet Goettingen, and Wurttembergische Landesbibliotherk), and 1 in Denmark (Det Kgl. Bibliotek).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSecond, first dated edition; small 4to (leaves measuring 19.4 x 13.8 cm); occasional minor coeval underlining and marginalia to earlier part of text, very light stain to lower margin at gutter throughout (not affecting text), bibliographical clippings tipped onto front endpapers; bound in antique style calf; [96]pp; A8, B4, C8, D4, E8, F4, G-H6, with the final blank leaf (H6) present ff.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBezzel 1298; cf.PMM 43; Vander Haeghen 122.","brand":"ERASMUS, Desiderius.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45547069014321,"sku":"93719","price":50000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/93719_d7020090-26b0-485c-b7f4-d22cd65d4223.jpg?v=1791665671"},{"product_id":"madras-manuscript-panorama-98267","title":"Manuscript Panorama of Madras.","description":"One of the earliest accurate views of Chennai (Madras) and possibly the first from the mainland.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLarge and rare representation of Chennai and Fort St. George from the first half of the eighteenth century. In the foreground lies the now extinct Elambore river, originally the key for Fort St. George's establishment, and the Island of Chennai. The Cooum River, although not visible, had already been joined with Elambore to create the Island which housed the stables and artillery range and still survives today. We have been unable to fine any earlier depictions of Chennai and Fort St. George from this perspective. By 1746 an additional bastion had been created on the Island, causing the river to flow through the Fort, which is only just starting to be built in this view ('new fortifications'), placing it likely just a few years before.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis view was likely produced by a French naval officer ('lieutenant') who was unhindered by the need of Britain and the East India Company to present Fort St. George as an impregnable outpost. In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries Britain had struggled to expand its interest in India beyond the trade posts along the eastern coast, with heavy French influence in the south surrounding their stronghold Pondicherry and the Maratha Confederacy still dominating northern India. They repeatedly had to fall back on Fort St. George as a last redoubt against both Indian and French attacks, actually being overrun in 1746 by France who ceded Chennai back in 1749, and so all views and depictions of the town emphasised the Fort and its heavy defences, reducing the size of the 'Black Town' by varying degrees and not depicting the further suburbs at all. This panorama shows both, aided by the seaward perspective, which makes it a highly important contemporary record of the city.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs well as the clear distinctions between the 'White Town' and 'Black Town', all of the contemporary landmarks of Chennai are present. The Governor's house, the British temple, the Church of Capuchins, the Armenian Church, as well as the 'tombs of the Moors' amongst the palms to the east, are all accurately rendered. The artist's military leanings come out in the labelling of important defensive structures including the barracks, the powder magazine, the stables, the bridge, and of course the 'new fortifications'. Perhaps this panorama was even produced for the purpose of exposing the fort's weaknesses, after all the French did successfully lay siege to Fort St. George just a few years after this was drawn.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePen \u0026amp; ink drawing; panorama in three glued sheets (149 x 24 cm), mounted; neat repairs to small tears; signed B. Lt Charlo in the bottom right hand corner; captions in French.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"[MADRAS].","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45547120165169,"sku":"98267","price":50000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/98267_8b6e0b31-72d8-4181-954e-e72bfc478fa4.jpg?v=1791665896"},{"product_id":"arthur-symons-casanova-venice-original-manuscript-106670","title":"Casanova and Venice.","description":"The manuscript commences at the start of section II, with the first leaf numbered '5'. The pagination of the succeeding leaves indicates the original drafting began with at that point since each leaf is repaginated. The typescript appears with a 3pp introductory chapter which presumably was composed between the first draft and the typed version. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe essay in which Symons discusses Casanova and his memoirs, and his arrest (\u003cem\u003eCasanova and Venice)\u003c\/em\u003e was first published in the Anglo Dublin Review (July 1918) and then reprinted under the title \u003cem\u003eMemoirs of Casanova\u003c\/em\u003e in Vanity Fair. Symons wrote an introduction to Machen's 12 volume translation of the Works of Casanova published in the 1920s.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe manuscript (exactly as it is now) was lot 9914 in the Anderson Galleries sale of John Quinn's library in 1924.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHolograph manuscript, black ink, 22 sides on 21 leaves of lined paper, many corrections and deletions with several additions. one section pasted in, [together with] 16pp typescript in blue on laid paper, some light authorial corrections throughout, enclosed together in a blue cloth folding case and blue quarter morocco slipcase. Typescript folded once, some foxing and minor edgewear to the manuscript leaves.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"SYMONS, Arthur.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45547339907377,"sku":"106670","price":3750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/106670_2511e8d8-1eb7-4f42-bb19-607bdf12d58d.jpg?v=1791537907"},{"product_id":"dobuzhinsky-veselaia-azbuka-1925-108085","title":"Veselaia Azbuka [The Merry Alphabet].","description":"A scarce and humorous ABC from one of the most celebrated members of the \u003cem\u003eMir Iskusstva\u003c\/em\u003e [World of Art] group. Dobuzhinsky began working on his \u003cem\u003eVeselaia Azbuka \u003c\/em\u003ein the summer of 1924, when he was living in Lithuania having permanently left the Soviet Union. The letters of the alphabet take on amusing characters and are surrounded by a decorative border of said letter in different typographical forms. A charming addition at the end of the work is a vignette of three letters which were axed in the orthographical reform of the revolution, placed in a glass cloche and dated 1917.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWorldCat lists copies two copies in institutions, Princeton and the University of Michigan.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition; 4to (26 x 19.5 cm); 32pp. including title page, illustrations in colour throughout after Dobuzhsinky; original printed wrappers, right margin trimmed, some scattered staining, foot of each page slightly soiled, skilful reinforcement to spine otherwise a very good copy. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRats Collection 112.","brand":"DOBUZHINSKY, Mstislav.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45547489591601,"sku":"108085","price":4500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/108085_0f1e876d-ec21-4099-835a-43c34035f4d6.jpg?v=1791540163"},{"product_id":"china-watercolour-album-circa-1830-107536","title":"Watercolour Album.","description":"A remarkable collection of sixty-four fine large-format Chinese watercolours with subjects depicting tradesmen, flowers, and images combining both birds and flowers, in an exceptional green morocco binding elaborately tooled in gilt and blind with a Celtic Cross design by the Irish bookbinder George Mullen. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDesigned for the export market, the watercolours offer a fascinating glimpse into Chinese cultural life during the Imperial Qing Dynasty. Trades and occupations depicted include wok mender, fortune teller, fishmonger, tailor, woman and monkey performer, tobacco cutter, meat vendor, clog maker, silk spinner, puppet show, metal worker, lantern maker, medicine vendor, rice grinder, umbrella maker, toy maker, grocer, and embroiderer. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSimilar paintings by the Canton (Guangzhou) artist Pu-Qúa (fl.1780-1810) formed the basis of the 60 engravings illustrating George Henry Mason's \u003cem\u003eThe Costume of China\u003c\/em\u003e published in 1804, and John Dadley produced stipple engravings after Pu-Qúa's originals which were published by William Miller in 1799. The remainder of the album is given over to the flora and avian fauna of the far east, including Chinese golden pheasants framed within a naturalistic setting, blossom-headed parakeets, woodcocks, varieties of orchid, rose, and jasmine. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn an exceptional green morocco binding by George Mullen (fl.1800-1850) who was one of the most pre-eminent booksellers, publishers and binders operating in Ireland at the turn of the nineteenth century. From his Dublin studio he experimented with a variety of styles, using gilt and blind tooling to great effect on morocco, russia, and calf. Records show he ran a business of considerable size, counting the Marquess of Sligo among his clients. His work is identifiable here by his ticket which is neatly pasted to the upper left corner of the front free endpaper verso. Later he was joined in business by his son George, and John and Thomas Mullen are also listed as Dublin bookbinders in the directories of the time. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eWatercolour album; folio (55 x 37.5 cm); 64 watercolour illustrations heightened in white featuring tradesmen (23), flowers (17), and bird and flower (24) subjects, on pith paper (sheet size: approx. 41 x 31.5 cm each) laid down on thick grey paper, tissue guards, endpapers watermarked 'B E \u0026amp; S 1815'; an exceptional green morocco binding by George Mullen of Dublin with his ticket, the panels elaborately tooled in gilt and blind in a Celtic Cross design, spine gilt in six compartments, all edges gilt, inside dentelles gilt, endpapers with gilt vine borders, minor rubbing to joints and extremities, internally clean throughout.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"[CHINA.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45624600265009,"sku":"107536","price":45000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/107536_13d93eb1-5402-45e8-a0dc-edf7c7bf29a2.jpg?v=1791539413"},{"product_id":"samuel-beckett-radio-script-words-music-1962-109267","title":"Pre-publication radio script for 'Words and Music'.","description":"Rare unrecorded Samuel Beckett item. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA pre-publication script for Beckett's \u003cem\u003eWords and Music\u003c\/em\u003e, a radio play in one act for two voices, produced by Michael Bakewell, with music by John Beckett, the author's cousin. The script references dates between Saturday, 8th September 1962 and Monday, 10th September 1962 for rehearsals and recording at Studio Langham. The two-man cast was headlined by Patrick Magee as Words and Felix Felton as Croak.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe play was originally recorded and broadcast on the BBC Third Programme on 13th November 1962, first appearing in print in the November-December 1962 issue of Evergreen Review. It was considered by Beckett critic Hugh Kenner as arguably the most moving work ever done for radio, and Vivian Mercier praised it as one of Beckett's most powerful works along with \u003cem\u003eCascando\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTypescript; 6 foolscap sheets, stapled once at top left corner, printed on both recto and verso; light spotting to edges, 3 horizontal folds; very good.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"BECKETT, Samuel.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45855847481649,"sku":"109267","price":6500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/109267_66c3fefd-b980-432b-9b32-12dbc63e1da5.jpg?v=1791547411"},{"product_id":"john-mandeville-travels-venice-1505-112964","title":"Tractato dele più maravigliose cose e più notabile che si trovino in le parte del mondo","description":"Rare 16th-century Italian edition of the world's first best-selling travel book. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlthough largely fictitious, the journeys are based upon travellers' tales extant in the fourteenth century and as such are of considerable interest. Purchas considered Sir John Mandeville to be akin to Marco Polo in terms of importance 'the greatest Asian Traveller that ever the World had' (Pilgrimes III, p65). His travels take the reader through Turkey, Armenia, Persia, Tartary, Arabia, India and China, and gave many Europeans their first taste of the Near and Middle East, as well as the East Indies. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLittle is known of Mandeville himself, however he claims to have been an English Knight who travelled between 1322 and 1356, serving under both the Sultan of Egypt and the Great Khan. Although traditionally attributed to Mandeville, in reality the work was an English version of a text known as \u003cem\u003eItinerarium\u003c\/em\u003e, of which the original, ascribed to Jean d'Outremeuse, was probably written in Anglo-Norman French. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll pre-1725 editions of Mandeville are scarce, and editions such as this, in a vernacular language, particularly so. We can trace only 4 copies in institutional collections worldwide: 1 in the British Isles (BL), 1 in North America (Houghton Library, Harvard), and 2 in Italy (Biblioteca Regionale Universitaria, Messina, and Biblioteca Comunale Augusta, Perugia.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e8vo; title within decorative woodcut border, 4-line decorative woodcut initial to A2, 2-line initials elsewhere, some toning and soiling, small repair to fore-edge of title, bookplate to front pastedown; later full vellum, gilt lettering to spine on brown morocco title-piece, minor worming to extremities and endpapers; collation: A-EE4; ff. [112].\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUSTC 839970.","brand":"MANDEVILLE, Sir John.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49818940997937,"sku":"112964","price":18500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/112964_f9dd9e67-af21-43bd-aaf3-ac6b02b12222.jpg?v=1791752180"},{"product_id":"leach-sowerby-malacostraca-podophthalmata-britanniae-first-edition-114424","title":"Malacostraca Podophthalmata Britanniæ;","description":"The complete set of 'one of the most beautiful publications devoted to Crustacea' (Biodiversity Heritage Library), with the original wrappers for each part bound in.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThough trained in medicine, William Elford Leach (1791-1836) never worked as a physician, but instead joined the British Museum as a naturalist. 'Although Leach's interests ranged over many groups of animals, he soon developed a passion for entomology and malacology. He was an enthusiastic collector of British insects who greatly enriched the entomological collections at the British Museum, and whose knowledge of the \u003cem\u003eCrustacea\u003c\/em\u003e was regarded as superior to that of any other naturalist of his time' (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe artist James Sowerby (1787-1871) was both a naturalist and the leading natural history artist of the period and, 'although responsible for the description of many taxa, his main contribution to natural history had been \"the portraits of natural objects he has left behind him... delineated faithfully from... acquaintance with their form and structure\" (W. Sowerby, cited in Simpkins, 393), \"which no pencil or burin, but those of a scientific artist could possibly accomplish\"' (Buckland, cited in the \u003cem\u003eOxford Dictionary of National Biography\u003c\/em\u003e).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst editions; folio (30.5 x 24 cm); 54 hand-coloured plates of which 4 are folding, original blue wrappers of each part bound in at the rear, a little light toning and spotting to the contents; late 19th century brown, morocco-patterned roan, spine gilt in compartments with circular tools, marbled sides and endpapers, binding rubbed with wear at the extremities, very good condition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"LEACH, William Elford \u0026 SOWERBY, James (illustrator).","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54787721888119,"sku":"114424","price":7500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/114424_10bab208-2268-4ea8-a4e0-dddcf813ad56.jpg?v=1791544307"},{"product_id":"goncharova-bezotvetnoe-1913-114089","title":"Bezotvetnoe [Unanswered].","description":"A highly uncommon and obscure book designed by Goncharova. Not found in WorldCat.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eBezotvetnoe\u003c\/em\u003e [Unanswered] was the first and only book to be published by Arkady Gurev, a poet and singer of the Russian Silver Age. Not much is known about Gurev's fate after the Revolution but he was a close friend of Pasternak and as this work demonstrates he mixed in Moscow's artistic circles of the time. Pasternak wrote in \u003cem\u003eLiudi i Polozheniia \u003c\/em\u003ethat he had a round head like an onion and behaved incredibly eccentrically, pretending that he couldn't move his heel off the pavement as the devil had pinned him down.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGoncharova's cover design in black and white is similar in style to her illustrations for Churilin's poetry which appeared a year earlier. The inscription on the title page reads 'Oblozhka Natalii Goncharovoi. Knigoizdatel'stvo \"Osen'\" | Moskva MCMXIII' and dated in the corner. There are also a couple of corrections in the text and although we don't know who the owner was it may have well been someone connected to the work.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, 8vo (22.7 x 16 cm); contemporary ink inscription to title-page, a few corrections in pencil and ink; original wrappers designed by Goncharova, faint spotting and minor repairs to wrappers, spine strengthened, small contemporary bookseller's stamp to lower wrapper, a very good copy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"GONCHAROVA, Natalia; GUR'EV, Arkadii.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54805736030583,"sku":"114089","price":2250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/114089_b0f9d727-7efe-47d6-92c7-bb1f8567ed21.jpg?v=1791541327"},{"product_id":"rousseau-dictionary-east-indies-1805-second-112680","title":"A Dictionary of Words used in the East Indies,","description":"One of the earliest attempts to produce a compendium and dictionary of legal terms used in India by one of the pioneers in Arabic printing in Europe. One of the earliest texts printed in England with nastaliq script, which Samuel Russeau had initially commissioned for \u003cem\u003eThe Flowers of Persian Literature\u003c\/em\u003e (1801). \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSamuel Russeau (1763–1820) established the Arabic Press in London, published some of the first English translations of several important Arabic and Persian works, and compiled some of the earliest Arabic-English and Persian-English language texts, of which this is one. His works contributed significantly to early study in Persian texts and his dictionaries were vital to the East India Company and their officers acting in India.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis volume was evidently in the hands of an English traveller in India, to be used as a working dictionary for their time spent there. It is adorned throughout in near-contemporary annotations which pertain to the use of certain words in context or alternative meanings, as well as notes for their personal use relating to the East India Company.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eSecond edition; 8vo (175 x 115 mm); printed in English and Farsi, considerable near-contemporary manuscript notes to margins and spaces in first and last few leaves as well as intermittent in text, title page a little frayed with small marginal repair, inner hinges strengthened; contemporary calf rebacked and recornered, gilt lettering piece to spine, well annotated otherwise a very good restored copy; lxiv, (13)-267pp.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"[ROUSSEAU, Samuel].","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55241903440247,"sku":"112680","price":6500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/112680_0936aaae-7ab6-4970-8d47-19ed698243ef.jpg?v=1791824290"},{"product_id":"116901","title":"Bukvar dlia vzroslykh [Alphabet for Adults].","description":"Extremely rare edition, a lucky survivor in the original state: the 6 carton leaves at the back of the block was intended for cut-outs of the letters for learning purposes. Only known copy is held at the Russian National Library. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe \u003cem\u003ebukvar\u003c\/em\u003e was published during the Civil War as part of an initiative aimed at eradicating illiteracy while promoting communist ideology. Printed in Kharkiv, where Soviet power had been established since late 1919 (following the entry of Red Army troops on December 12, 1919, and the formation of the Southwestern Front on January 10, 1920), the primer is notable for its agitational content. The first 23 pages feature revolutionary slogans such as 'We were slaves', 'We are not slaves, 'We won', 'Victory brought freedom', and 'We will build a new world', presented in both printed and cursive forms. Each slogan is accompanied by a woodcut illustration.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAdditionally, the primer contains significant political information addressing topics like 'Where does the capitalist extract profits?' and 'What is Soviet power?'. The book concludes with all six separate cardboard sheets of the cut-out alphabet still intact. Each page features 24 poster-like woodcuts by an anonymous artist. The style of these illustrations resemble the works of Dmitrii Moor at the time, as well as Kharkiv-based Vasyl Yermilov. These woodcuts are important examples of a very short-lived style in Bolshevik book design: the Socialist lubok.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, 8vo (21.2 x 16.6 cm); [2], 38 p., 6 leaves of the thicker paper, restoration to title-page; in later plain covers, strengthened with mica paper, small stain on the title page, a very good copy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"[UTOPIAN ABC].","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55628760220023,"sku":"116901","price":4500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/116901_0f799842-c0fd-4c1a-9264-e51496b45c1a.jpg?v=1791536508"},{"product_id":"oronce-fine-protomathesis-first-collected-edition-1532-120891","title":"Protomathesis:","description":"First collected edition. A magnificent, large copy of this beautifully illustrated publication encompassing arithmetic, geometry, cosmography, and sundials. It contains the first printings of many of Finé's texts and more than two hundred fine woodcuts. In a handsome, contemporary binding likely produced in Spain.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFiné (1494-1555) was Regius Professor of mathematics at the Collége Royal, recently founded by Francis I of France, to whom this volume is dedicated. He was also a talented artist and map-maker whose work 'is closely related to his major fields of mathematics, astronomy, and geography, and his contribution to book production is particularly interesting in extending beyond the illustration to the ornamentation of scientific texts' (Mortimer 225). \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe present volume is the most important and lavish example of his design work, beginning with a fine architectural title page border with a lunette of Hercules defeating the Lernean Hydra, followed by a full-page woodcut representing the goddess of astronomy, Urania, lecturing the author, who holds a book and an astrolabe beneath a spherical model of the solar system. The other woodcuts include geometric figures, polyhedra, depictions of the Ptolemaic solar system, diagrams of planetary orbits, Finé's 'octant mesh' for mapping an eighth of the globe, and detailed renderings of instruments including quadrants, cross-staves, sundials, geometrical squares, astronomical rings, astrolables, and the hydraulic astronomical clock.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe text is in four parts, the first two dealing with arithmetic and geometry, the third with cosmography, and the fourth with gnomonics, the art of designing and using sundials. The text is didactic and practical in nature, encompassing fields such as navigation and surveying, with Finé explaining in the preface that his aim is to 'show the importance of mathematics, and to place practical mathematics on a sure theoretical footing... Given Finé's interest in instruments, and his statements about the need to ground practical mathematics in theoretical understanding, it is perhaps no surprise that the fourth book 'Concerning sundials and quadrants' includes descriptions of how to make and use a variety of sundials' (Eagleton, \u003cem\u003eThe Worlds of Oronce Finé\u003c\/em\u003e, p. 85).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst collected edition; folio (37.5 x 26.5 cm); title in elaborate woodcut architectural border by Lassere, 2 full-page woodcuts depicting Urania and the author beneath a celestial sphere, 280 fine woodcut illustrations and diagrams within the text, historiated initials and head and tail-pieces, tables in the text, without the blank leaves F8 and N6 or the errata leaf, leaf 193 misprinted as 194, leaf 209 misprinted 207, 17th or 18th century notes to title and front pastedown, some short closed tears in the margins of the title and early leaves professionally repaired with tissue, occasional small manuscript notes, marks, and spots within the text but overall contents fresh; contemporary limp calf, likely Spanish, elaborately panelled in blind with floral tools and roll featuring portrait heads, 7 raised bands, gilt and gauffered edges, edges, corners, and ends of spine repaired, some scuffs and marks to the calf, very good condition; 207 leaves.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSmith, Rara Arithmetica, pp. 160-161; Stillwell, The Awakening Interest in Science 838; Mortimer, French 16th Century Books 225","brand":"FINÉ, Oronce.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56217759023479,"sku":"120891","price":50000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/120891_01_5ba62bc2-eb62-4f9b-a818-71c5ea8785d4.jpg?v=1791752308"},{"product_id":"john-french-art-distillation-third-edition-1664-116355","title":"The Art of Distillation:","description":"Third edition, enlarged from the first edition of 1651, of this work on the distillation of pharmaceuticals by the English physician John French (1616-1657). With numerous attractive woodcuts in the text.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'In an era in which conventional approaches to the study and practice of medicine were under considerable attack, French seems to have aligned himself firmly with the cause of reform. In particular, he was a keen advocate of the chemical methods pioneered by Paracelsus and Van Helmont, whose ideas, and those of their followers, he attempted to popularize in the 1650s through original works and translations. From the late 1640s he was also closely associated with the circle of Samuel Hartlib, and was well respected by many, including Robert Boyle, for his expertise in the practical side of chemistry and mineralogy. According to Hartlib, French knew \"all the places for Minerals in England, and hath a great store of all manner of Oares\" (Ephemerides of Samuel Hartlib, 1648, Hartlib MS 31\/22\/32A). Such was French's devotion to the new science of chemistry that in his \u003cem\u003eThe Art of Distillation\u003c\/em\u003e (1651) he dubbed it the 'true naturall philosophy' which, he suggested, ought to replace 'that empty naturall philosophy which is read in the Universities' (French, \u003cem\u003eArt of Distillation\u003c\/em\u003e, sigs. A2v–A3r) (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThird edition; 4to (17.75 x 12.75 cm); woodcuts throughout the text, short contemporary manuscript word to the front blank, small piece torn from title slightly affecting the text, contents trimmed closely, grazing some headings in the second book, textblock a little cockled; recent half roan, marbled sides, red morocco label, 5 raised bands, marbled endpapers, edges dyed red, binding a little rubbed and scuffed, very good condition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"FRENCH, John.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56406211133815,"sku":"116355","price":3600.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/116355_01_03b4dac9-6ba8-4cec-9b0d-096cb69d53ef.jpg?v=1791752174"},{"product_id":"rudyard-kipling-jungle-book-london-1894-1895-121314","title":"The Jungle Book [with] The Second Jungle Book.","description":"A handsome set of the first editions, first printings of Kipling's classic two-novel series \u003cem\u003eThe Jungle Book\u003c\/em\u003e, and its sequel \u003cem\u003eThe Second Jungle Book\u003c\/em\u003e, bound by Riviere \u0026amp; Son in onlaid pictorial blue morocco gilt, with a tipped-in typewritten letter signed by Kipling.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst editions, first printing; 2 vols, 8vo (18.5 x 13 cm); richly illustrated with historiated initials, head and tail-piece vignettes and full page plates, tipped-in typewritten letter signed by Kipling, publisher's ads to rear of second work, previous ownership in pen to front free endpaper and to title of first work, a little toned and slightly soiled; 20th-century blue morocco gilt by Riviere \u0026amp; Son, pictorial onlaid morocco vignettes to upper covers within gilt arabesque borders, gilt spines in 6 compartments, rebacked preserving the original spines, original publisher's blue cloth covers and spines bound in at rear of each vol., silk doublures frayed with areas of loss, spines and extremities rubbed with slight loss, housed in a custom-made blue cloth felt-lined slipcase; vi, [2], 212; [6], 238, [2 ads]pp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"KIPLING, Rudyard.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56612142219639,"sku":"121314","price":4500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/121314_3501e437-7ae1-4b54-8025-5e835b128fe6.jpg?v=1791896263"},{"product_id":"huxley-evidence-mans-place-nature-first-edition-1863-121714","title":"Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature.","description":"First edition of the first book to apply Darwinian evolution to human beings, preceding Darwin's own account in \u003cem\u003eThe Descent of Man\u003c\/em\u003e. The first issue point identified by Hook and Norman, the frontispiece printed on [A]2v, forming an integral part of the preliminaries, and a likely issue point, the catalogue dated February, 1863.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Huxley earned the nickname \"Darwin's bulldog\" for his outspoken defence of the theory of evolution through natural selection, particularly as it pertained to man. The present work grew out of the famous\u003cem\u003e Hippocampus minor\u003c\/em\u003e controversy of the early 1860s, in which Huxley publicly challenged the taxonomist Richard Owen's claim that man's brain differed qualitatively from those of all other mammals. Through a series of dissections of primate brains, Huxley disproved Owen's assertions that only man's brain possessed a Hippocampus minor, and demonstrated that the differences between men and apes were smaller than those between apes and the lower primates' (Hook and Norman,\u003cem\u003e The Norman Library of Science and Medicine\u003c\/em\u003e 1132).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Written to be accessible, [\u003cem\u003eMan's Place in Nature\u003c\/em\u003e] was ignored by the highbrows and abominated by the religious press, but acquired a cachet among the middle-class public no less than among National Reformer secularists and Russian and German socialists' (\u003cem\u003eOxford Dictionary of National Biography\u003c\/em\u003e).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, first issue; 8vo; engraved frontispiece and illustrations within the text, 8-page publisher's catalogue dated February, 1863 at rear; occasional light spots and marks to the contents but generally clean; original green morocco-grained cloth, titles to spine gilt, borders to boards blocked in blind, red coated endpapers printed with publisher's catalogue, some marks, dampstain, and loss of size affecting the cloth, corners and ends of spine a little bumped and worn, small knock to the edge of the upper board, very good condition; 159pp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFreeman (British Natural History Books), 1855; Hook \u0026amp; Norman (The Norman Library of Science \u0026amp; Medicine), 1132.","brand":"HUXLEY, T.H.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56654964851063,"sku":"121714","price":2000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/121714_de293023-bb88-4d38-806a-8c66f7fdf069.jpg?v=1791896097"},{"product_id":"lebedev-azbuka-1925-121596","title":"Azbuka [ABC].","description":"First and only printing of this famous Constructivist ABC book by the master of Soviet children's book design, Vladimir Lebedev. Of the utmost rarity and especially so in such fine condition. OCLC locates copies at Yale, Harvard, the Morgan, Princeton and the University of Amsterdam.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, 4to (24 x 19 cm); illustrations without text, central leaf disbound where paper has worn away from original staples, very minor age toning to right margin; original printed wrappers, a fine copy; 32pp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"LEBEDEV, Vladimir.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56744012841335,"sku":"121596","price":11500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/121596_491eef3e-c9ad-43c5-9101-317ac64e5b2d.jpg?v=1791544320"},{"product_id":"eleazar-albin-natural-history-birds-first-editions-1731-121336","title":"A Natural History of Birds.","description":"First editions in contemporary calf. The first British bird book illustrated with hand-coloured plates.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Little is known of Albin's [c.1680-c.1742] early life, though he was probably born in Germany to a family named Weiss. By 1708 he had changed his surname to Albin and was living in London with his family. His profession of art teacher led him to the close observation of the natural world, reinforced by painting work which he undertook for the naturalist Joseph Dandridge (1665–1747), who collected insects and observed their metamorphosis from egg to fly. He also drew natural-history subjects for Sir Hans Sloane, before gaining the patronage of the Dowager Duchess of Beaufort', who encouraged him to publish a book on insects (Royal Collection trust).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'For the most part Albin delineated one bird per plate. The birds are placed on a branch or on the ground, each part coloured. The proportions of the birds are a distinct improvement on those in Willoughby and Ray... Albin produced his paints in a rather strange manner according to Petiver's account. For his reds he washed and dried vermilion pigment in four waters and then proceeded to \"grind it in boys urine three times, yn [then] gum arabic it and grind it in Brandy wine.\" Whatever his methods and however singular the contribution by his sons, this very first effort at colouring plates depicting birds is highly commendable and the results were gratifying, for the book was popular' (Jackson, \u003cem\u003eBird Etchings\u003c\/em\u003e).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst editions; 3 vols, 8vo (28.5 x 22 cm); 306 hand-coloured engraved plates, variable spotting \u0026amp; offsetting, first plate of vol. II repaired with tape and slight loss from the lower edge of the image, plates 32 \u0026amp; 60 of vol. II trimmed just into the image, plates 36-39 with small stain in a blank portion, repaired closed tear to plates 103 \u0026amp; 104, light marginal dampstain to a few leaves of text, in vol. III plate trimmed just into the caption and a few others trimmed closely; contemporary mottled calf rebacked to style, red \u0026amp; green morocco labels, spines gilt in compartments, double gilt fillets, marbled endpapers, red speckled edges, bindings rubbed with some wear at the corners, very good condition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnker, 4 \u0026amp; 5; Jackson (Bird Etchings) pp 65-75; Mullens \u0026amp; Swann p8; Nissen (IVB), 14.","brand":"ALBIN, Eleazar.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56744726954359,"sku":"121336","price":23500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/121336_01_c5aaa246-7777-4873-9fa6-e232c474db10.jpg?v=1791824040"},{"product_id":"alice-adventures-underground-carroll-signed-121402","title":"Alice's Adventures Under Ground.","description":"A wonderful copy of the perennial children's classic, inscribed by Lewis Carroll on the half-title. This edition was released twenty-one years after the first copy was published and is a facsimile of the author's original manuscript - the only know copy of which resides in the British Library. It contains thirty-seven of Carroll's drawings to accompany the text, which decorated the manuscript. Subsequently, Carroll asked \u003cem\u003ePunch\u003c\/em\u003e cartoonist, John Tenniel to recreate these drawings to go alongside \u003cem\u003eAlice in Wonderland\u003c\/em\u003e when it was published in 1865.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe story was born from a journey Carroll took with the three daughters of his close friends. As he rowed them down the river in Oxford he began to make up stories of their expedition and named it 'Alice's Adventures Underground' in his diary later that day - Alice Liddell being the name of one of the girls. Alice pleaded with Carroll to take this story down on paper and the author obliged, presenting her with the manuscript roughly two years later wherein he received feedback from her and other children to make edits which would please young minds.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe book, alongside its sequel, \u003cem\u003eThrough the Looking-Glass\u003c\/em\u003e, cemented Carroll's position as a seminal writer of the Victorian period, particularly in the genre of nonsense writing. Alice's journey into the fantasy world of magic and royalty and anthropomorphic creatures would go on to influence writing for over a century after his death. The edition is unusual due to its form and illustrations - mimicking Carroll's handwriting - and it being significantly shorter than the final version of the novel, as the original manuscript did not include scenes such as the Mad-Hatter's Tea Party as they were added in later. Finally, this particular copy is inscribed 'Mary James | From the author | Dec 3 \/93' crafting a bond between the reader and the eminent Lewis Carroll.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, first printing, first issue with black coated endpapers, inscribed by the author; 8vo (190 x 135 mm); thirty-seven engravings based on illustrations, in-line drawings and full-page plates, inscription in ink to half-title; publisher's red cloth triple ruled in gilt, gilt-embossed vignette depicting mock-turtle to lower board, all edges gilt, toned spine, minor marks to boards, otherwise very good indeed; [viii], 96pp, [1], [2]ads.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"CARROLL, Lewis.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56760210227575,"sku":"121402","price":11500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/121402_dfa3488f-ebc0-4304-9ab4-4ba755b14fb7.jpg?v=1791895911"},{"product_id":"hrebinka-shevchenko-lastovka-1841-121989","title":"Lastovka: sochinenii na malorusskim iazyke [Lastovka: works in the Little Russian language].","description":"Incredibly rare and important Ukrainian literary anthology which includes the work of Taras Shevchenko and Ivan Kotliarevsky.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Lastovka' is one of the most interesting almanacs of the first half of the 19th century and marked an important step in the development of Ukrainian language literary works. The initial idea for the publication came from the writer Hryhorii Kvitka-Osnovianenko and work began on collecting material in 1838. The same year the editor, Yehven Hrebinka (who also worked on the publication of Kobzar in 1840) entered into talks with Krayevsky, the publisher of the major literary St Petersburg magazine 'Otechestvennye Zapiski'. However, Vissarion Belinsky who had overall say in the artistic direction of the magazine at the time was totally against printing Ukrainian works as he thought it was unnecessary and even harmful to publish literature in a language other than Russian.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHrebinka was left with the portfolio of collected material and didn't want it to go unpublished. Working with Shevchenko, he managed to print it under the title 'Lastovka' [Swallow] in 1841, bringing together some of the brightest Ukrainian voices of the time. The almanac proved immensely popular and cemented Shevchenko's position as one of the greatest writers. Hrebinka was equally passionate about Shevchenko, in a note for 'Haidamaky' he wrote, 'last year Shevchenko delighted us with \"Kobzar\", and now he has written again the poem \"Haidamaky.\" It's a beautiful thing, very beautiful, as delicious, they say, as a beautiful watermelon on a hot day after lunch!'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe full list of contributors are: Levko Borovykovsky, Hrebinka, Hryhorii Kvitka-Osnovianenko, Viktor Zabila, Porfyrii Korenytsky, Panteleimon Kulish, P. Pysarevsky, Oleksander Afanasiev-Chuzhbynsky, as well Shevchenko and Kotliarevsky.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOCLC locates just four copies: University of Manitoba, Harvard, University of Illinois and the Royal Danish Library. This copy is in an attractive morocco binding from the library of prominent Russian bibliophile and collector Pavel Gubar.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, 16mo (15.4 x 12 cm); some scattered foxing, more so to preliminary leaves otherwise fairly fresh, some wear to title with some loss to lower corner repaired, small damp stain to upper right corner to title and p1; Soviet bookseller's label and stamp to lower pastedown; early 20th-century half light tan morocco over marbled boards, original pink lower wrapper bound in, spine in parts with raised bands, title in gilt to second part, a very good copy, title, 382pp.,[2] pp. table of contents.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"HREBINKA, Yehven (editor).","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56993413529975,"sku":"121989","price":25000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/121989_3c0eb86a-f696-47ab-a58b-8afd68e39cd7.jpg?v=1791542501"},{"product_id":"shevchenko-kobzar-1876-122267","title":"Kobzar.","description":"The 'Prague' edition of Shevchenko's \u003cem\u003eKobzar\u003c\/em\u003e, published by Oleksandr Rusov on behalf of the Kyiv Hromada.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePublished in exile after Tsar Alexander II signed the Ems Decree in 1876 at the expense of the Kyiv Hromada it's first uncensored edition of \u003cem\u003eKobzar\u003c\/em\u003e. Members of the Hromada bought the publication rights from Shevchenko's two brothers, Mykyta and Yosyp in Kyiv in 1874 for a huge sun of 5000 rubles. There were in fact two separate volumes published in Prague, a larger volume with 414pp (which we have here) and a slimmer volume with 275pp. The second volume was published in a much smaller edition and included 18 poems from Shevchenko's 'Big Book', it is much scarcer than this first volume and they are seldom seen together (if ever). The present volume, which includes Turgenev's fond recollections of time spent with Shevchenko is also rare, with only four copies located in OCLC (Ohio State, the University of Illinois, National Library of Poland and the British Library).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst uncensored edition, 8vo, (22.6 x 15.2 cm); frontispiece portrait, with forewords from Ivan Turgenev and Iakov Polanskiy, 19th-century ownership to title, foreword and p.1, closed tear to p.31, minor staining including some small marginal damp stains to frontispiece; near contemporary brown leather binding, blindstamped with vine design and decorative corners to upper cover, fleuron to lower cover, upper cover gilt ruled, a very good copy; xxii, 414pp., errata leaf.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"SHEVCHENKO, Taras.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56993414250871,"sku":"122267","price":4250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/122267_19e658fd-1586-4db5-8267-f84c75c3e686.jpg?v=1791547750"},{"product_id":"story-doctor-dolittle-lofting-manuscript-page-121585","title":"The Story of Doctor Dolittle [together with] A page of the original manuscript for 'Doctor Dolittle and the Secret Lake' [and] TLS.","description":"First edition of the first Doctor Dolittle book, together with a page of original manuscript\u003cem\u003e,\u003c\/em\u003e and typed letter signed by the author.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe manuscript is the first page of 'The End of a Dream', chapter 5 in part one of \u003cem\u003eDoctor Dolittle and the Secret Lake\u003c\/em\u003e, in which the doctor gives up his dream of lengthening human life. The book was published posthumously in 1948.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLoosely inserted is 1pp TLS to one Benjamin Weil in its original envelope, dated January 24th 1930, in which Lofting talks about his books: 'It was very kind of you to write and tell me you like my books. I am very busy writing a new one now but it is not about Doctor Dolittle. I hope you will like it as well as the stories about him. Maybe there will be a new book about Doctor Dolittle next year'.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the library of Leslie Bricusse, the multiple Academy Award-nominated and two-time Oscar-winning composer, who wrote the screenplay and songs for the 1967 film adaptation of Doctor Dolittle, including the celebrated 'Talk to the Animals'. He also wrote the book, music and lyrics for the stage musical of the same name, which premiered in 1998.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, first printing, with 1pp of original manuscript, together with 1pp TLS; 8vo; illustrations by the author, including colour frontispiece, near-contemporary ownership inscription to front free endpaper; publisher's orange cloth, titles to spine in blue, titles and border decoration to upper cover in blue with duplicate of colour frontispiece laid on, titles to spine rubbed, light rubbing to extremities, else very good.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"LOFTING, Hugh.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56998087491959,"sku":"121585","price":7500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/121585_f37a5dae-740e-4cfc-8a40-5ab8bf3fb9a3.jpg?v=1791896284"},{"product_id":"bible-new-testament-arabic-watts-122656","title":"Kitab al-Ahad al-Jadid ya'ni Injil al-Muqaddas","description":"A rare survival of the 1820 Bible in Arabic printed in London by Richard Watts, containing the text to the New Testament with the Arabic translation taken from the 1671 Biblia Arabica printed in Rome. The work was printed at the bequest of the British and Foreign Bible Society, at the suggestion of the Syrian Archbishop of Jerusalem (Darlow and Moule, 1666). \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRichard Watts was the printer for the University of Cambridge between 1802 and 1809, before setting up his own printing workshop in Hertfordshire until 1816, when he moved to Temple Bar in London where he set up the Oriental-Type Foundry. During this period at Temple Bar Watts became known as the cutter and founder of his own oriental types, amassing an impressive collection for his press and making him the printer of choice for oriental language translations for the Bible Society, Church Missionary Society, Prayer Book Society and Homily Society among others. Furthermore, Watts trained a few notable apprentices in his Oriental-Type Foundry including Mirza Salih (appointed around 1819) and Sulllivan Law Hyder (appointed around 1820), who went on to become a printed in Calcutta around 1831 likely taking some of the type from this foundry with him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOnly two institutional copies of this work have been traced, both of which are in the British Isles, at the University of Edinburgh Libraries and at the University of Glasgow Library.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition thus, 8vo (215 x 138 mm); [4], 352pp., printed entirely in Arabic using a very elegant Arabic type, cut by the publisher Watts, a few early pencil markings to the marings else internally very clean and crisp, some minor foxing to preliminary and penultimate leaves (mostly affecting endpapers and blanks), twentieth-century pencil inscription to front free endpaper; fine contemporary panelled calf, spine in compartments, spine and edges very skillfully repaired, a very handsome example.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDarlow and Moule 1666.","brand":"[BIBLE]. [NEW TESTAMENT].","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57060682367351,"sku":"122656","price":5000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/122656_63f7db86-ee26-4f21-a239-7fd03e8bbca3.jpg?v=1791823954"},{"product_id":"pliny-elder-philemon-holland-natural-history-first-english-edition-121437","title":"The Historie of the World.","description":"'Over and over again it will be found that the source of some ancient piece of wisdom is Pliny.' (\u003cem\u003ePMM\u003c\/em\u003e 5)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA handsome first edition, first issue of Philemon Holland's renowned English translation of Pliny's \u003cem\u003eNatural History\u003c\/em\u003e. The most popular of Holland's translations, it had never before been printed in English, and would not be attempted again for another 250 years.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne of the greatest translators of the Elizabethan age, Holland's Pliny was an important source for Shakespeare. 'In Othello's allusion to the Pontic Sea, Shakespeare was clearly drawing upon Pliny's Historie as translated by Holland… Similarly Pliny has also been cited as a source for Othello's reference to the \"medicinal gum\" of \"the Arabian trees\"' (Payne, \u003cem\u003eSearch for Meaning\u003c\/em\u003e, 63), and many trace Caliban in \u003cem\u003eThe Tempest\u003c\/em\u003e to Holland's Pliny.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'The importance of Pliny lay not so much that he was an inexhaustible source for monsters, eclipses, and the stranger habits of all created things, but that in the pages of Philemon Holland's translation Shakespeare found that emphasis on Nature which he employed and re-interpreted in the tragedy' (Evans, \u003cem\u003eThe Language of Shakespeare's Plays\u003c\/em\u003e).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition in English, first issue (with the Islip imprint); 2 vols, folio (30.5 x 20.7 cm); 2 title pages each with woodcut allegorical device, woodcut head- and tailpieces, decorative initials, last leaf with errata on recto and colophon on verso, one or two instances of early marginalia; lacking first blank leaf in each volume, scattered light foxing and staining, a few marginal open and closed tears, scattered small rust holes costing a few letters, faint dampstaining to a few gatherings; late 18th-century half calf over marbled paper-covered boards, edges speckled red, sometime rebacked with original spines laid down, gilt tooling to spines, red morocco title labels to spines lettered in gilt; a handsome copy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSTC 20029.5; Pforzheimer 496; ESTC S115918; Brueggemann, 670; Lowndes, 1885; cf. PMM 5.","brand":"[PLINY THE ELDER] PLINIUS SECUNDUS, Gaius; HOLLAND, Philemon (translator).","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57071652438391,"sku":"121437","price":15000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/121437_01_1a50223b-db56-475d-a025-2e158272aa2a.jpg?v=1791752347"},{"product_id":"neumann-elephant-hunting-1898-first-edition-122976","title":"Elephant-Hunting in East Equatorial Africa.","description":"Neumann's 'Elephant Hunting...' is one of the most important, and also one of the scarcest, books on elephants. Czech observes that the coloured butterfly plate was 'highly prized by entomologists, and was often removed'.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition; 8vo (23 x 17.5 cm); folding map in rear cover pocket, 2 plates (one coloured plate of butterflies), 62 illustrations in the text (15 full page, 30 photographic); publisher's original red cloth gilt, lettered in black to upper cover, zebra skin patterned endpapers, light discolouration and fading to cloth, a very good copy; xx, 456, [8, ads.] pp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCzech (Africa) p.122","brand":"NEUMANN, Arthur H.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57075807846775,"sku":"122976","price":1500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/122976_345e56fd-55f8-43d1-bee5-2472281079b1.jpg?v=1791545427"},{"product_id":"hijrani-arabic-qazani-press-xinjiang-1929-110728","title":"Hashiyya al-Hijrani,","description":"Ma Liangjun (1871-1957) was a renowned Hui Muslim Akhund in the Northwest and a famous Islamic scholar ('Hui' referring to an ethno-religious group of Chinese speaking Muslims mostly based in North-west China). The author's name is only given in Arabic in this publication, but 'Ma Liangjun' and 'Muhammad Yusuf Hijrani' are the same person; 'Ma' being synonymous with the Arabic 'Muhammad' among the Hui population and 'Hijrani' being the Arabic name Ma Liangjun appointed himself. He was a prominent local figure that advocated peace and national unity in Xinjiang and was responsible for much of the modernisation and development in the local Islamic education systems. He authored many books and articles in Arabic, Persian and Chinese, many of these were Islamic in nature. As well as making a significant literary contribution to Islamic studies in Xinjiang, he was also a progressive figure in China Hui cultural developments. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe first part of this text deals primarily in Islamic theology, with commentaries by the author on a number of Islamic scholars including al-Taftazani. The second part of the text comprises a number of shorter extracts on astronomy, includes maps of the world and touches on global affairs including the Serbian Campaign of 1914. Examples of Arabic printing in China are rare and the variations in transliteration make it difficult to find comparables on Western databases, but no other copies of this author's works have been traced on OCLC.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTwo parts in 1 vol., type-set printed in Arabic with 16 woobdblock printed diagrams, complete, 331pp., 215 x 165 mm; typographic black ink Arabic text, with cosmological diagrams with captions in Arabic and Chinese scripts, some very light age-toning to paper else clean internal condition; contemporary leather-backed marbled boards, spine ends and extremities worn, covers scuffed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"MA LIANGJUN [AL-HIJRANI, Muhammad Yusuf].","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57139717833079,"sku":"110728","price":17500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/110728_7a4782d9-14d5-424e-8653-d5edcdea43e3.jpg?v=1791665772"},{"product_id":"bible-osmanli-1827-121550","title":"[Kitab'i Mukaddes].","description":"Scarce complete first Ottoman Turkish edition of the Bible, published in paris.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBased on the translation of Wojciech Bobowski (known as Ali Bey 1610–1675) and referred to as the 'Kitab'i Mukaddes' (Holy Bible), this text was the first complete Turkish translation of the Bible, including both the Old and New Testaments, and became the basis for later Turkish translations used by Armenian and Greek Christians. The text was printed in Arabic character with full vocalisation in an edition of 5000 copies of the complete Bible and 2000 issues of the New Testament printed separately. The aesthetic and elegant type are notably those used by the Imprimerie Royale in Paris, reminiscent of many important early Arabic and Turkish publications from Napoleonic Egypt at the turn of the nineteenth-century.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1820 J.D. Kieffer became the first Agent of the B.F.B.S. in France, and in the same year he began a thorough revision of Ali Bey's translation of the Bible comparing it with the original texts, as well as with the standard English, French, and German versions. The translation of this edition of the New Testament was carefully revised in view of the criticism passed on the 1819 edition of the same (apparently the earliest Arab-Turkish edition of the New Testament in Osmanli). For more information on see Darlow and Moule 9456.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, two parts in one vol., the complete Bible (996 pp. Old Testament, 7pp. errata; 318 pp. New Testament, 3pp. errata), large 4to (26 x 21 cm); text printed entirely in Ottoman Turkish (Osmanli) in vocalised Arabic typeface, bookplates removed from lower board, internally clean and crisp condition; contemporary blind-tooled calf, edges and spine ends skillfully repaired, overall a very handsome copy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"[BIBLE].","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57142114943351,"sku":"121550","price":6500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/121550_0091dc63-7d63-4929-9795-fbc7c7383dd1.jpg?v=1791538512"},{"product_id":"rothschild-extinct-birds-first-edition-limited-signed-1907-123544","title":"Extinct Birds.","description":"First edition, number 19 of a limited edition of 300 numbered and signed copies. A classic work, finely illustrated. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRothschild divided the extinct species into two categories: 'those known externally as well as internally, and those of which we know bones and egg-shells only' (introduction). The available information on the former varies from very full literature on some to partial and unreliable information provided by 'old writers' whose main interest was limited to 'the culinary properties of the various birds.' Rothschild goes on to identify various causes for the destruction of the species: the need for food, sport, the introduction of animals of prey and new diseases, and the destruction of their habitat. Zimmer notes that the plates are excellent and are after many of the greatest ornithological artists working in Great Britain at the time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, number 19 of 300 numbered and signed copies; 4to (37.5 x 27.5 cm); 49 plates, of which 45 are coloured collotypes and 4 are uncoloured, after J.G. Keulemans, G.E. Lodge, H. Grönvald, J. Smit and F.W. Frohawk, light, scattered spotting; contemporary dark green half morocco, spine gilt in compartments, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, spine just a little faded, touch of rubbing to extremities, a near-fine copy; 244pp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnker 430; Nissen IVB 795; Errol Fuller Extinct Birds (2001) p.391; Wood p.543; Zimmer p.533.","brand":"ROTHSCHILD, Lionel Walter, Baron.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57147811856759,"sku":"123544","price":15000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/123544_878e6b58-fbdf-42d5-a02c-ca6ce458e436.jpg?v=1791547222"},{"product_id":"giambattista-morandi-historia-botanica-practica-first-edition-1744-122626","title":"Historia Botanica Practica:","description":"The uncommon first edition of this important work, 'one of the most beautiful and important Italian herbals of the eighteenth century' (Heirs of Hippocrates 818), splendidly illustrated with 68 engraved plates depicting 544 species. This copy with distinguished provenance, the binding bearing the gilt arms of the German-born Danish politician and diplomat Adam Gottlob von Moltke (1710-1792), a favourite of King Frederick V of Denmark-Norway, as well as the bookplate of the prominent Swedish collector Christian Hammer (1818-1905).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition; folio (42 x 26.5 cm); engraved half-title, vignette title, and 68 plates, bookplates, a little light spotting, mainly at the edges, and some mild spots of dampstain affecting late leaves; contemporary speckled calf rebacked with the original spine laid down, spine elaborately gilt in compartments with floral tools, red morocco label, heraldic crest to boards gilt, marbled endpapers, edges dyed red, free endpapers lacking, corners and edges of boards repaired\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNissen BBI 1406; Hunt 1744; Heirs of Hippocrates 818.","brand":"MORANDI, Giambattista.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57157424644471,"sku":"122626","price":5000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/122626_2_8f300ded-5b45-49a9-84b9-a764e65b1acb.jpg?v=1791541258"},{"product_id":"synthese-du-costume-theatral-gladky-116866","title":"Synthese du costume theatral.","description":"Rare album of striking colourful designs by the Cubist and Art Deco Ukrainian artist, Serge Gladky (Serhii Hladky), in the original wrappers. We could trace only two copies in public institutions, at the Toledo Lucas County Public Library and Stanford.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSerge Gladky's biography is rather vague. Born in the 1880s in the Poltava region of Ukraine, he studied in St Petersburg and in 1924-26 published the magazine 'Umeni Slovanu' ['Slavic Art'] whilst based in Czechoslovakia. From 1924, he lived in France where he became a prominent figure in the Art Deco movement as a designer and graphic artist. During or just before World War II, he returned to Ukraine and thereafter his fate is unknown. According to some sources, he was sent to the Gulag in 1945 for 'anti-Soviet activities' and died in the far North in 1952.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGladky published his works using the pochoir (stencil) technique popular in France at the time, employing ornamental and geometric patterns often inspired by nature and animals. Such colourful pochoir prints had to be produced in a limited number of copies in order to maintain the brightness of colour. The present edition, for instance, had only 170 copies (the present one is no. 11) with 30 full-page dynamic designs by the artist, taken from theatre and dance – at a time when the Ballets Russes was an established and recognised innovation force.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe album's preface is by the poet, novelist and art critic André Salmon (1881-1969) who, together with his close friends Pablo Picasso and Guillaume Apollinaire, was one of the early proponents of Cubism. Salmon calls Gladky's plates 'inventions merveilles, miraculeuses', praising the artist's ability to capture the essence of Russian culture through geometric forms: 'Oh! je sais; la révolution cubiste de 1906 a facilité la tâche de M. Serge Gladky. Sachant de ce cubisme tout ce qu'on peut en connaître, j'admire d'autant plus l'artiste russe d'en avoir su recevoir tout ce qui lui permet de recréer, dans le temps et l'espace, dans l'heure et dans l'éternel, sa lointaine patrie, composant des costumes qui sont autant d'absolus décoratifs'.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFirst edition, no. 11 of 170 numbered copies; 4to (33.5 x 25.5 cm); 33 pochoir plates (including frontispiece), some with gold or silver, on laid paper, some light foxing to a few plates; original colour wrappers, very minor staining to wrappers, otherwise a very good copy.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"GLADKY, Serge (HLADKY, Serhii); SALMON, André.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57165650002295,"sku":"116866","price":9500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/116866_d5f48d87-6b81-4ea4-84cd-ad8b6d0cf57b.jpg?v=1791548102"},{"product_id":"nikos-kazantzakis-toda-raba-first-edition-inscribed-123337","title":"Toda-Raba.","description":"'I am a mariner of Odysseus with heart of fire but with mind ruthless and clear.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe true first edition of the author's first traditional novel, inscribed by the author in Greek on the title page: 'To my dear nephew \/ Manolis M. Saklambanis \/ to remember the good times we \/ spent in Aegina. \/ Aegina, 24-25 June 1936 \/ N. Kazantzakis'. Familial association copies of Kazantzakis' works are of the utmost scarcity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eToda-Raba\u003c\/em\u003e was written in French at Gottesgab in 1929 under the initial title \u003cem\u003eMoscou a crié \u003c\/em\u003e[Moscow Shouted], and an abridged version was then serialised in the French magazine \u003cem\u003eRevue des Vivants \u003c\/em\u003e(Paris 1931). It would not be published in Greek until 1956 when it was translated by Yannis Maglis for Difros Publications.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, sole printing, inscribed by the author; 8vo; slight toning to textblock (as always), occasional marginal scoring in pencil; original red and black illustrated wrappers, minor wear to spine and creasing to upper cover, small section of loss to top fore-corner (not affecting titles); a very good copy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"[KAZANTZAKIS, Nikos] KAZAN, Nicolaï.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57221054529911,"sku":"123337","price":2500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/123337_9ea8a2b4-f263-4cc9-995a-27aeec56926f.jpg?v=1791545490"},{"product_id":"william-wotton-shabbath-eruvin-london-1718-107128","title":"Shabbath and Eruvin;","description":"A work interpreting the Jewish Mishnah (Misna) laws of the Shabbath for the Christian reader. The work divided into two parts: 'Misna: or the Traditional Laws relating to the Sabbath' and 'Eruvin: or the Traditional Laws relating to Sabbatic Mixtures'. The work includes two fold-out woodcut illustrations by Joseph Lord: Table I - Manner of labour forbidden on Sabbath, e.g. cooking, and carrying from domain to domain. Table II - Eruvin, or city limits. Beautifully ornate head and tailpieces throughout.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWilliam Wotton, D.D. (1666-1727) was a linguist and classical scholar, specialising in Latin, Greek and Hebrew. He studied at Catherine Hall, Cambridge, taking his degree in 1679, and later obtaining a fellowship at St. John's College, Oxford. He became chaplain to the Earl of Nottingham, who, in 1693, presented him with the rectory of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. He published works on the subjects of education, history and religion.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, 8vo; 2 large folding engraved illustrations, with head \u0026amp; tailpieces throughout; modern black cloth boards, pages browned, text in English, Greek, Latin and Hebrew. [24], 279, [17] pp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFürst (Bibliotheca Judaica), III, p.536.","brand":"WOTTON, W[illiam].","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57237932114295,"sku":"107128","price":1250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/107128_6cd6b7d0-e7b8-41d3-b2fe-c90b56c70325.jpg?v=1791549033"},{"product_id":"barnie-winkelman-ten-years-wall-street-philadelphia-1932-123603","title":"Ten Years of Wall Street.","description":"The first edition of this retrospective on the New York Stock Exchange in the decade preceding the crash of 1929, inscribed by the author in pen: 'To Fred, sincerely, Barnie F. Winkelman, June 25, 1941'.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA choice example in the scarce dustjacket of this account by a Wall Street insider and member of the Bar emphasising a legal perspective. Featured in the University of Toledo's Hess Collection, and recommended by Barton Biggs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, first impression; 8vo (22 x 15 cm); inscribed by the author in pen to the front free endpaper recto, frontispiece; publisher's black cloth, upper cover and spine lettered in gilt, in the scarce dustjacket printed in orange and white, old tape repairs to verso, a little chipped and frayed at extremities, but overall a very pleasing example; vi, [2], 3-381, [1]pp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"WINKELMAN, Barnie F.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57255234077047,"sku":"123603","price":1500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/123603_59cd2b36-dc9b-4d28-8e03-ecc42f25c70e.jpg?v=1791538282"},{"product_id":"kazan-quran-1821-112688","title":"Kazan Qur'an.","description":"One of the cornerstones of Islamic and Tatar publishing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe 'Asian Printing House' was founded in Kazan in 1800 and became the first Muslim publisher in the world to print Islamic texts. A Qur'an had previously been published in St Petersburg in Arabic in 1787 by Catherine the Great but Paul I decreed that the fonts and printing equipment would be transported from the capital to Kazan. In Kazan it came under the stewardship of Gabdulgaziz Burashev who took on the cost himself and the proofreader and typesetter travelled along with the equipment. The printing house was initially housed in the city's lycée but then moved to the university in 1829. The press was the only in the Russian Empire permitted to publish Islamic material.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Kazan Qur'an or the 'Kazan Basma' as it is also known was disseminated throughout the Muslim population of the Empire but remained incredibly scarce both in the Middle East and in Europe. Throughout Persia and the Ottoman Empire manuscript copies were widespread and printed editions had appeared in Western Europe but the Kazan Qur'an remains a rare piece of the history in the printing of the Qur'an. The first edition appeared in 1803 this fine example was published in 1821, according to the colophon under patronage of Yusef Ismail Oglu. Kazan Qur'ans are extremely scarce on the market but this example is particularly early and of exceptional quality.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e4to (21.2 x 17 cm); type-set printed text in Arabic naskh script, eleven lines per page, vignettes to title page, printed on both blue and white paper stocks, marbled endpapers, 764pp.; 19th century half dark blue calf over blue cloth, spine gilt ruled with raised bands, red morocco label to second part with 'Alcoranus Arabice' in gilt, top and tail of spine and corners rubbed and bumped, a very good copy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"[QUR'AN].","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57274207994231,"sku":"112688","price":12500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/112688_a8a38a21-9558-4116-989a-5f630a4d4cf3.jpg?v=1791752211"},{"product_id":"beschi-grammar-tamil-1822-first-edition-122367","title":"A Grammar of the High Dialect of the Tamil Language, termed Shen-Tamil:","description":"The first printed edition of the first grammar of High Tamil, never published alongside Constanzo Beschi's groundbreaking \u003cem\u003eGrammatica Latino-tamulica\u003c\/em\u003e of 1738, his grammar of 'Low' Tamil.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe manuscript was in Latin, as were most of the language texts produced by the Dutch missionaries at Tranquebar, but has been translated here into English by Benjamin Guy Babington (1794-1866) for its first printing. Babington is better known for his later contributions to epidemiology, but was working for the Government at Madras when he translated and published this work.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eConstantine Joseph Beschi (1680-1747), an Italian Jesuit priest at the Madura Mission, was a pioneer of the study of Tamil and the first to pay attention to the rich landscape of Tamil literature, rather than simply knowing the language to help spread the word of God, and his corpus of translations underpin the history of modern Tamil poetry and prose. What makes this present work different to a typical grammar is that he extensively uses poetical verse as examples for his grammatical explanations, and is intended as a guide to translating Tamil literature as sympathetically as possible.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eScarce, just 6 copies held in UK institutions (BL, Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, RAS, Society of Antiquaries).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition; 4to (31 x 23 cm); contemporary half calf, marbled boards, all edges speckled blue, rebacked with original spine laid down, boards rubbed, bookplate to pastedown, a very good copy; [ii], xii, v, 117 pp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"BESCHI, Constanzo Joseph; BABINGTON, Benjamin Guy (translated).","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57307077149047,"sku":"122367","price":3500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/122367_1e653638-f701-4e02-9603-e75ee7e93253.jpg?v=1791538475"},{"product_id":"derozario-monumental-register-calcutta-1815-first-edition-123523","title":"The Complete Monumental Register:","description":"One of the first attempts to record the graves and gravestone inscriptions of burials around the area of Calcutta. Notable not just as an early Calcutta printing but also for its inclusion of Urdu script. There are a number of Derozarios, or D'Rozarios living in Calcutta in the early nineteenth century, suggesting that the author's interest was as a local and intimate, rather than taking information from second hand sources.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe desire to preserve memorials in South Asia would eventually manifest itself in the form of the British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia which would go on to continue the preservation of memorial inscriptions started by this work.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eScarce, with none at auction in the last 100 years.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition; 8vo (21 x 13.5 cm); contemporary half calf, cloth boards, spine in six compartments with gilt black morocco lettering piece, spine chipped, upper joint repaired, title a little creased, bookplate to pastedown, ownership inscription to last leaf rubbed, internally very good; [xii], 230 pp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"DEROZARIO, M.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57307077640567,"sku":"123523","price":2500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/123523_cee6cf5c-9c8f-4397-9db6-db205554fad0.jpg?v=1791540086"},{"product_id":"fabricius-grammar-malabar-1789-second-edition-123936","title":"A Grammar for Learning the Principles of the Malabar Language,","description":"The second edition of the first Tamil English grammar ever printed by one of the key Tamil scholars of the early Lutheran Protestant missionary movement in India. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe extensive annotations appear to be transliterated Tamil words with reference numbers, perhaps referring to the Tamil English Dictionary also by Fabricius. Despite the absence of the original title page the second edition is identifiable by the different head and tailpiece of the text.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJohann Philipp Fabricius (1711-1791) was a German Lutheran Missionary at the Tranquebar Mission in Madras (Chennai). He had succeeded Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg, the first Lutheran missionary in India and the first to translate the part of the Bible into Tamil, as leader of the mission. Fabricius was no less assiduous in the promotion of the Mission's printing press and production of works in Tamil. When, in 1761, the English army under Sir Eyre Coote seized the French printing press in Pondicherry, it was Fabricius who convinced Coote to hand over the press to the Mission to boost their potential output.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe printing of the first Tamil Grammar in 1778 was one of the last works he directly oversaw: in 1779 he was imprisoned for financial mismanagement, although allowed to see his fellow missionaries regularly and keep up-to-date with the progress of the mission.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSecond edition; 8vo (19.5 x 12.5 cm); lacking title, supplied in facsimile, extensive contemporary annotations on 40 additional leaves, final leaf with inner margin repaired; nineteenth-century half calf, marbled boards, all edges marbled,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"[FABRICIUS, Johann Philip].","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57307889205623,"sku":"123936","price":4500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/123936_e4aeabb8-a65e-4719-8934-2cef18c578d9.jpg?v=1791540744"},{"product_id":"pogson-history-boondelas-1828-first-edition-123213","title":"A History of the Boondelas.","description":"A truly fine copy, in the original boards, of the first translation of Lal Kavi's \u003cem\u003eChhatraprakash\u003c\/em\u003e, his epic poem recounting the successes of his patron Maharaja Chhatrasal Bundela, and one of the first books to contain Indian printed lithographs. The uncut edges in this copy have preserved the usually trimmed plates in their full aspect including the publisher's imprint.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMaharaja Chhatrasal Bundela (1649-1731), founder of Panna State, was long renowned as one of the few successful opponents of the Mughal Empire who stretched his independent rule across most of Bundelkhand. Pogson (1787-1843) used additional sources to extend the account up to British occupation in 1803 and the siege of Kalinjur in 1812.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe ALP 'was the first commercially viable lithographic press in India and the premier lithographic press in Calcutta during the 1820s, producing more works than any other press, and in an impressive variety'. This is probably the 4th or 5th book to ever include Indian printed lithographs, and the combination of both typography and lithography from two separate presses is testament to the burgeoning interest in printing in India.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRare. The subscriber's list shows only 135 copies were produced, and only 6 are extant in UK institutions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition; 4to (28.5 x 22.5 cm); 6 lithographed plates on india paper, one of which double-page, 1 large folding lithographed map, 2 lithograph plans, 1 lithographed folding table, lithographed vignette title, discreet bookplates to pastedown, previous ownership inscription to front free endpaper; publisher's original boards, original printed label to spine rubbed, all edges uncut, a fine copy; vii, 174, [2](subscriber's list), [1](errata)pp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"KAVI, Lal; POGSON, Wredenhall Robert (translator).","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57307889762679,"sku":"123213","price":8500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/123213_f7c9bc04-4329-43c3-81ff-d540ba46b95e.jpg?v=1791579798"},{"product_id":"henry-butler-family-aquarium-first-edition-1858-123462","title":"The Family Aquarium; or, Aqua Vivarium.","description":"First edition, with the charming hand-coloured frontispiece. \u003cem\u003eThe Family Aquarium\u003c\/em\u003e was one of the first two popular aquarium manuals published in the United States, appearing in the same year as \u003cem\u003eLife Beneath the Waters\u003c\/em\u003e by Arthur M. Edwards, both following close on the heels of the 1854 British work \u003cem\u003eThe Aquarium \u003c\/em\u003eby P.H. Gosse.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHenry Butler was an important promoter of aquaria in the United States. Together with John Greenwood Jr., he was co-owner of Barnum's American Museum in New York, and was responsible for the development of its aquarium in 1857. He went on to open other public aquariums on the east coast, and was part of the first successful attempt to collect salt water tropical fish for display in aquariums (Finley, 'Barnum and the American Museum - VARIA', The Museum of Aquarium \u0026amp; Pet History, May 11, 2026). This volume was likely produced at least in part as an advertisement for the Barnum aquarium, which is mentioned several times within.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition; 8vo; hand-coloured frontispiece, frontispiece tanned, engravings within the text,8-page publisher's ads at rear, spotting to contents, minor creasing to corners of a few leaves; original blue cloth blocked in gilt and blind, cloth rubbed and dulled, a very good copy; 121pp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"BUTLER, Henry D.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57311189795191,"sku":"123462","price":500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/123462_cb7b1c56-129d-476f-ad3d-782732f487a9.jpg?v=1791541791"},{"product_id":"giovanni-branca-machine-first-edition-1629-122965","title":"Le Machine.","description":"First edition of this key early work on engineering, containing 'the first published representation of an action-powered steam turbine' and copiously illustrated with seventy-seven woodcuts of machines (Hook \u0026amp; Norman, \u003cem\u003eThe Norman Library of Science\u003c\/em\u003e 333).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBranca (1571-1645) was an architect and engineer employed as superintendent of works at the Basilica della Santa Casa in Loreto. His 1629 \u003cem\u003eManuale d'Architettura\u003c\/em\u003e is considered the first 'pocket' architectural guide.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThough Leonardo had described a steam turbine in the Codex Leicester, this was not published until 1909.' It is unlikely that Branca's steam turbine was ever built, for the machine, as illustrated, would not have operated due to excessive friction and small original volume of energy. Nevertheless, Branca's illustration is of historical significance as it embodies fundamental principles of engineering' (Hook \u0026amp; Norman).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition; 4to (220 x 165 mm); engraved title within architectural border with figures of Archimedes and Vitruvius, 77 full-page woodcuts within the text, decorative initials, 19th-century bookplates of W.C. Mylne, near-contemporary ownership signatures and ink spots to the title, small paper repairs to title, a few short splits to the fore-edge of the title and following leaf, uneven tanning and spotting to contents; contemporary vellum, double blind fillets, remnants of old ink shelf number to spine, boards bowed, damp-stain to the lower boards, short split at the head of the spine.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDibner (Heralds of Science), 175; Riccardi I, 188-189; Hook \u0026amp; Norman (The Norman Library of Science), 333.","brand":"BRANCA, Giovanni.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57328251339127,"sku":"122965","price":6000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/122965_01_b75d398f-5ccf-4c04-9cd9-4f4eed31f1f1.jpg?v=1791896063"},{"product_id":"nicholas-cusa-idiot-london-1650-121985","title":"The Idiot","description":"The first edition in English of this scarce collection of philosophical dialogues by the German humanist and Cardinal, Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464), also known as Cusanus and by his German name Khrypffs or Krebs, who was among the great church leaders and thinkers of the fifteenth century.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe\u003cem\u003e Idiota de Mente\u003c\/em\u003e was completed at Fabriano, then part of the Papal States, in December 1450. It consists of a series of four dialogues on the themes of wisdom (\u003cem\u003ede sapiente\u003c\/em\u003e), the mind (\u003cem\u003ede mente\u003c\/em\u003e), and the philosophy of nature (\u003cem\u003ede staticis experimentis\u003c\/em\u003e), which are set in Rome during the year of the jubilee (presumably that of 1450). The dialogues take place between an 'Orator', representing current humanist learning, a 'Philosopher' who takes the scholastic position, and an 'Idiot', or layman, usually identified with Nicholas himself, who functions as an embodiment of the \u003cem\u003edocta ignorantia\u003c\/em\u003e — that is the theory of\u003cem\u003e learned ignorance\u003c\/em\u003e developed in Christian mystical circles, which posits that the act of recognising our inability to acquire actual knowledge is a form of wisdom in and of itself. His philosophical doctrine was taken up and developed more than a hundred years later by Giordano Bruno who called him 'the divine Cusanus'.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOver the course of the first three books, Cusa shows the deficiencies in both humanist and scholastic reasoning and their claims to have acquired true wisdom. The fourth book, 'On Static Experiments', is important in the history of science, and on the strengths of which Sir William Osler characterised Cusa as 'one of the pioneers in modern mathematical physics' whose 'studies on measurement and specific gravity are of the first importance'. Before Galileo [Cusa] suggests timing the fall of bodies dropped from towers of equal height and takes the resistance offered by the air into account. And Osler noted that 'he recorded the famous experiment, antedating Hales two hundred years, of weighing earth and seeds, then the resulting plants, their ashes and the earth in which they had grown' (Thorndike).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA scarce work, and apparently the only edition to be printed of this translation, and indeed of any English edition of this work, until the twentieth century. ESTC records 22 copies in institutional collections, 12 in the British Isles (BL, Cambridge University Library, Carlisle Cathedral, Dr. William's Library, Longleat House, Corpus Christ, Oxford, Bodleian Library, Petyt Library, The National Trust, University College, London, University of York, and the Wellcome Institute) and 10 in North America (Sutro Library, California, Countway Library of Medicine, Folger Shakespeare Library, Huntington Library, Houghton Library, 2 copies at the Library of Congress, University of Pennsylvania, Beinecke, and the School of Medicine, Yale University).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition in English; 12mo (15 x 8 cm); woodcut initials and headpieces, printed black rules, a little tightly bound in places, text continuous despite erratic pagination, a little toned; contemporary sheepskin binding, spine ruled in gilt in 6 compartments later contrasting black morocco lettering-piece, joints neatly restored, endpapers renewed, very good; [2], 118, 117-209, 230-231, [1]pp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eESTC R202666; Wing K394; Thorndike IV, pp386-392; Waller 20039a.","brand":"[CUSANUS, Nicolas] CUSA, Nicholas of.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57354486022519,"sku":"121985","price":8000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/121985_c0d86369-d832-474b-8f7f-65036ab28d7d.jpg?v=1791665970"},{"product_id":"schreiber-woodcuts-from-the-fifteenth-century-123411","title":"Woodcuts from Books of the 15th Century","description":"One of the rarest and most-desirable plate-books of the early 20th century housing 55 incunable leaves, all with woodcut illustrations, and including 20 leaves in hand-colour.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is copy number 17 of 100 limited edition copies, and one of just 50 issued with the English text.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHighlights include hand-coloured plates from von Kaub's herbal\u003cem\u003e Gart de Desundheit\u003c\/em\u003e c.1499 depicting wall germander, the martyrdom of St Mark from the 1488 edition of \u003cem\u003eDer Heiligen Leben\u003c\/em\u003e, and city-scapes from the German-language edition of Schedel's \u003cem\u003eNuremberg Chronicles\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLimited edition number 17 of 100 copies, and one of 50 issued with the English text-book; large folio (50 x 38.5 cm); text of incunable leaves in German and Latin, each with woodcut illustrations or ornaments, 20 with hand colour, a few examples with rubrication in red or blue ink, accompanying illustrated text-book in English numbered in pen to limitation-page, publisher's cream wrappers, a little spotted, spine split at binding cords, incunable leaves tipped-in to mounts with title labels, occasional toning, all housed in the publisher's buckram clamshell box, lettered in black to upper cover.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"SCHREIBER, W.L. (compiler); BARBEY, André (translator)","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57362489049463,"sku":"123411","price":15000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/123411_44fe14a1-a516-460f-9119-7bab8b7041cb.jpg?v=1791896275"},{"product_id":"john-winthrop-two-lectures-comets-1759-123422","title":"Two Lectures on Comets,","description":"First edition of this uncommon popular work by 'arguably the best scientist in colonial America' (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography). The 1758\/59 appearance of Halley's comet was the first predicted by Edmund Halley, who discovered its periodicity, and it was therefore of great interest to both scientists and the general public.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAuthor John Winthrop (1714-1779), a descendant of the founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was elected Hollis professorship of mathematics and natural philosophy at Harvard aged only twenty-three. 'He explored the fields of astronomy, mathematics, and seismology with diligence and flair, publishing eleven articles in the \u003cem\u003ePhilosophical Transactions\u003c\/em\u003e of the Royal Society. His achievements in astronomy, particularly in the study of comets and the relationship between sunspots and the sun's aurora, have been especially celebrated. Winthrop was also a dedicated teacher, explaining the work of other scientists and his own to students and the public at large through lectures, demonstrations, and a host of newspaper and magazine articles' (ODNB).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition; tall quarto (20 x 12 cm); contemporary ownership signature to the title and manuscript date to the first leaf of the contents, lacking the half title, some spotting to contents; recent red cloth, title to spine gilt, new endpapers, spine a little faded, front pastedown slightly abraded from bookplate removal, a very good copy; 44 pp and xviii pp appendix.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"WINTHROP, John.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57366749512055,"sku":"123422","price":2500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/123422_01_f4c16af1-58e9-488b-94a3-ec5f299829b5.jpg?v=1791752189"},{"product_id":"eugenio-montale-la-casa-dei-doganieri-first-edition-inscribed-122833","title":"La Casa dei Doganieri e altri versi","description":"Presentation copy of the Nobel laureate Montale's collection of prize poems, one of 25 copies and signed by the contributing artists.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMontale's rarest and most desirable work, inscribed by the author in black ink on the half-title: 'alla deliziosa Miss Jane Herrmann'. The recipient was Jane Lowenstein (née Herrmann), friend and supporter of members of the St Ives group of artists, including Naum Gabo, Alfred Wallis (from whom she bought several works during the war), Ben Nicolson, and Barbara Hepworth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe book was published following the inauguration of a poetry competition in Florence in 1931, the \u003cem\u003ePremio dell'Antico Fattore\u003c\/em\u003e, which took its name from the weekly 'tavolate' held by painters, sculptors, poets and writers in the eponymous Florentine trattoria. Judged by artists rather than academics and writers, the prize was awarded to Montale's collection, and 150 copies were printed hors commerce, of which 25 were numbered in roman numerals. The present copy, inscribed by Montale to Lowenstein, is also signed by Gianni Vagnetti, Arturo Loria, Libero Andreotti, Felice Carena, Alberto Magnelli, F. Chiapelli, Giuseppe Cesetti, Ezio Giovanozzi and Elio Vittorini, four of whom contributed an illustration to the volume.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, sole printing, number XII of 25 copies numbered in Roman numerals (I-XXV), inscribed by the author \u0026amp; signed by the contributing artists, from a total edition of 150 hors commerce copies; large 8vo (25.3 x 17.4 cm); title page printed in red and black, 5 full-page illustrations, illustration by Alberto Magnelli signed in black ink at foot; original wrappers printed in red and black with illustration by Guido Peyron, light soiling and browned near edges, spine split where stapled but holding; an excellent example and entirely unrestored.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"MONTALE, Eugenio.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57370253394295,"sku":"122833","price":6750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/122833_493ac9eb-b890-4129-b1b6-6b4f7eed4568.jpg?v=1791540633"},{"product_id":"nanos-valaoritis-john-craxton-punishment-wizards-first-edition-inscribed-124441","title":"\u0026#274; Tim\u0026#333;ria t\u0026#333;n Mag\u0026#333;n [The Punishment of Wizards].","description":"First edition of the author's first book, inscribed by Valaoritis in Greek to the artist John Craxton, who contributed the illustrations to the volume: 'To the happy gentleman \/ painter and traveller \/ John Craxton \/ with all my gratitude \/ for the paintings \/ Nanos Valaoritis'.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEscaping German-occupied Greece in 1944, Valaoritis moved to London, where he quickly integrated into the British literary avant garde at the behest of George Seferis. He became closely associated with giants of modernist literature, including T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden, Stephen Spender, and Dylan Thomas. He collaborated with Lawrence Durrell, worked under Louis MacNeice at the BBC, and contributed heavily to defining literary journals like Cyril Connolly's \u003cem\u003eHorizon\u003c\/em\u003e and John Lehmann's \u003cem\u003eNew Writing\u003c\/em\u003e. It was Cyril Connolly who introduced Valaoritis to Craxton, resulting in this collaboration and helping cement Craxton's lifelong obsession with Greece.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, sole printing, number 156 of 450 copies, inscribed by the author; 8vo; linocut frontispiece and decorations by John Craxton, frontispiece signed in the plate; original cream wrappers printed in black, printer's ink flaw to front cover, lightly marked elsewhere, backstrip and edges of covers tanned, a couple of chips to edges with associated creasing; very good.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNB: Modern Greek polytonic orthography transliterated according to the Library of Congress standard.","brand":"VALAORITIS, Nanos; CRAXTON, John (illustrator).","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57393820336503,"sku":"124441","price":1500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/124441_01_c791abd1-e5e1-47e7-a79e-4fc614cc6849.jpg?v=1791545355"},{"product_id":"hanuman-rama-lakshmana-rajasthan-1850-121365","title":"Hanuman bowing before Rama and Lakshmana,","description":"A very attractive painting depicting Lord Hanuman taking a deep bow before Lord Rama and Lakshmana, visually representing the deep devotion and respect he has for his two protectors. The tranquil landscape forming the backdrop of this scene reflects the serenity of the moment with lotus flowers appearing in rivers on both sides of the figures, and a very elegantly depicted willow tree framing them. Likely painted in Rajasthan in the mid-nineteenth century.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSingle folio, ink \u0026amp; gouache on paper heightened in gold, depicting Lord Hanuman bowing down before Lord Rama and Lakshmana, under a willow tree in a green terrain with lotus-adorning rivers, full page 307 x 220 mm (miniature 222 x 132 mm); miniature framed within double rulings of green and blue borders, some light surface abrasion to upper edge of painting causing slight chips to pigment (with loss), else attractive copy, a few ink inscriptions to reverse, early gallery stamp of 'The Curious House Rega', good overall condition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"[INDIAN MINIATURE PAINTING].","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57412286579063,"sku":"121365","price":4000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/121365_01_eaabeee0-c96d-4c38-a744-d40f3a37498b.jpg?v=1791896069"},{"product_id":"wilfred-owen-poems-london-1920-124501","title":"Poems.","description":"The most important book of poetry from the First World War, exceptionally rare in the dust-jacket.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOnly 1000 copies of this monumental collection were printed, with a second impression coming out the following year. It is worth noting that jackets of the second impression are very similar to those on the first. The key, therefore, is to note the condition of the spine of the book itself. Crucially, to be correct it must be entirely unfaded, as in this example. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOwen is widely regarded as the best of all the Great War poets. He famously died in the very last days of the war having not published a book. Sassoon knew how good these poems were, and ensured they saw publication.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, first impression, one of 1000 copies; 4to (220 x 175 mm); portrait frontispiece with tissue guard, page stock just a little toned as usual, partial offsetting to the endpapers; publisher's red cloth, paper title label to spine, cloth slightly mottled, light spotting to top edge, with the dust-jacket, tape repairs to verso, loss at spine ends (costing some lettering) and bottom corner of front panel, light spotting, more so at verso, spine slightly darkened and rubbed, light creasing to extremities, otherwise it presents well.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"OWEN, Wilfred.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57414677528951,"sku":"124501","price":9750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/124501_01_5981ef80-7d64-48e5-9d79-dc09ef686f8e.jpg?v=1791896326"},{"product_id":"philip-larkin-high-windows-first-edition-inscribed-124500","title":"High Windows.","description":"One of Larkin's defining collections, inscribed by the author in black ink on the front free endpaper, 'For Brian, \/ my favourite editor, \/ affectionately \/ from \/ Philip'.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe recipient was Brian Cox, co-founder and editor of the \u003cem\u003eCritical Quarterly\u003c\/em\u003e, who published Larkin's poetry alongside that of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. The journal was initially based at the University of Hull, where Cox was a lecturer and where Larkin famously spent three decades working as the university's head librarian.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, first impression, inscribed by the author; 8vo; publisher's grey cloth, titles to spine gilt, with the unclipped dust-jacket, slightly toned, minor creasing to extremities; an excellent copy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"LARKIN, Philip.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57414679298423,"sku":"124500","price":7500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/124500_01_0f03449b-af6b-42d0-a2c8-5bb6d488eaa7.jpg?v=1791896230"},{"product_id":"ts-eliot-waste-land-first-english-edition-123762","title":"The Waste Land.","description":"The Hogarth edition of \u003cem\u003eThe Waste Land\u003c\/em\u003e was printed by hand by Leonard and Virginia Woolf in an edition of just 460 copies. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe marbled paper for the boards had been tried out for a handful of copies of the 1919 Eliot book \u003cem\u003ePoems\u003c\/em\u003e, which was also hand-printed. The problem endemic to the edition being that the paper is very thin and much given to sunning. Consequently, nearly every copy we have seen is browned at the spine and most have significant wear and often loss to the backstrip. The present example is tanned and has some typical minor wear but there is no loss to the backstrip whatsoever. Such copies are now extremely uncommon. A triumph of 20th-century English publishing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst English edition, one of only 460 copies, printed by hand; 8vo; scattered light foxing (as usual); publisher's blue marbled paper over boards, title label to upper cover in Gallup's first state with asterisks (one of three states issued simultaneously), fading to spine as usual, rubbed at extremities, typical repair at backstrip with no added paper; a very good copy, preserved in custom blue cloth solander box.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGallup A6c, State 1.","brand":"ELIOT, T.S.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57414679757175,"sku":"123762","price":15000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/123762_01.jpg?v=1791896305"},{"product_id":"churchill-authorgraph-letter-signed-1902-112970","title":"[Autograph Letter Signed to Sir Algernon West].","description":"Sir Algernon Edward West GCB PC (1832–1921), the recipient of this letter written by Churchill was an English civil servant, who acted as Principal Private Secretary to Prime Minister William Gladstone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy dear Sir Algernon, \/ Many thanks for 3 packets of papers of which I will take the greatest care \u0026amp; will diligently study. But when I come to the subject of The Abandoned Budget' I must have a long morning with you. \/ Do you know Knowles of the 19th Century: because he has hurt the feelings of a friend of mine - Ivor Guest; who took the greatest trouble to write an article on Registration reform - UK, as I know, was quite as good as usual that is printed - who has only received the curtest \u0026amp; most formal acknowledgement; \u0026amp; not article appears. \/ He is much discouraged and my labours in interesting him in politics as a democratic Tory, proportionately increased. \/ Can you assist matters? \/ Yours sincerely, \/ Winston S. Churchill.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe 'Abandoned Budget' referred to is that of his father, Lord Randolph Churchill (1849 -1895), who was a precociously influential figure in the Conservative Party and Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1886, at the age of 37, and seemed certain to be Prime Minister in due course. However, his own miscalculation in his first budget ended his political career before the year was over. In the budget he reduced the Military Services estimates, which was unacceptable to W.H. Smith, the Secretary of State for War. On December 20, 1886, Churchill sent Salisbury his resignation contingent on the Prime Minister's choice between the policies of the Exchequer and the War Office\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIvor Churchill Guest, 1st Viscount Wimborne, KP, PC (1873–1939), known as Lord Ashby St Ledgers from 1910 to 1914 and as Lord Wimborne from 1914 to 1918, was a British politician and one of the last Lords Lieutenant of Ireland, serving in that position at the time of the Easter Rising. He was elected to Parliament for Plymouth in a by-election in February 1900 (a seat he had unsuccessfully contested in 1898) as a Conservative, and retained his seat in the general election of 1900. In 1904, during the controversy within the Conservative Party over adopting protectionism, he and other members of his family followed Churchill into the Liberal Party in support of free trade.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAutograph letter signed in ink from Sir Winston Churchill to Sir Algernon West thanking him for the three parcels of papers he needs, for researching the biography of his father, Lord Randolph Churchill; 3pp., on headed paper, single sheet (200 x 252 mm) vertically folded (as was the format then), creased across centre resulting from previous fold for posting, small red pencil mark, possibly denoting a reply was sent, below date, toned, soiling to blank verso, small puncture, again probably from a paper-holding spike but not affecting text, otherwise very good.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"CHURCHILL, Sir Winston.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57443197452663,"sku":"112970","price":7500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/112970_d9cb8213-02e5-4988-8f74-06f7ad6175cd.jpg?v=1791539489"},{"product_id":"bishops-holie-bible-london-1568-124387","title":"The. holie. Bible.","description":"The editio princeps of the Bishop's Bible, the second authorised English translation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA rare, near complete example of the 'most sumptuous' and lavishly illustrated English pulpit Bible of the sixteenth century, with over 130 narrative woodcuts and maps, and three engraved portraits.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Bishop's Bible, so-named for the numerous bishops and Biblical scholars involved in its production, was the brainchild of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Parker (1504-1575). The translation was intended to counter the Calvinist influence of the Geneva Bible, which had come to prominence following the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558 and the return shortly thereafter of the Marian exile community into England, and supersede the earlier Great Bible as the official authorised version of the scriptures in the Church of England. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe text mainly follows that of the 1539 Great Bible, but both Hebrew and Greek originals were consulted, as well as the Geneva version. At least eleven bishops were involved in the revision, with Parker himself contributing the lion's share of the work, and the whole was completed by September 1568. 'In April 1571 the Convocation of the Province of Canterbury ordered that copies of this edition should be placed in every cathedral, and as far as possible in every church; and enjoined every ecclesiastical dignitary to exhibit a copy in a prominent place in his house for the use of his servants and guests' (Darlow \u0026amp; Moule). \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen Whitgift became Archbishop in 1583 he attempted, unsuccessfully, to enforce the sole use of the Bishop's Bible in churches and chapels across England. 'The Bishops' Bible was a success in that it replaced the Great Bible (last reprinted in 1569) in churches, to the exclusion of the Geneva version. But the latter continued to be read in Protestant homes and became the foundation of the Authorized Version' (ODNB). \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe woodcut illustrations were mostly copied from designs by the Nuremberg artist Virgil Solis (1514-1562) for a picture series\u003cem\u003e Biblische Figuren des Alten and Neuen Testaments\u003c\/em\u003e that was first published in Frankfurt in 1560. The three engraved portraits depict Queen Elizabeth, her favourite Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and the Secretary of State Sir William Cecil, and are attributed to Flemish artist Franciscus Hogenberg (1535-1590). 'While title-page portraits of the monarch were an established feature of English Bibles, contemporary portraits within the text were a startling departure. The engravings of Dudley and Cecil, prominently placed at the beginning of Parts 2 and 3 respectively, flatter by association with the immediately following books. Dudley, portrayed in armor, mirrors the warrior-hero Joshua. Cecil is position as a new David at the head of Psalms with an open book in one hand, other other grasping the large initials B of the psalm's opening line, \"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsell of the ungodly\"' (Luborsky \u0026amp; Ingram).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis edition is also sometimes known as the 'Treacle Bible' for the rendering of 'balm' as 'triacle' in Jeremiah 8:22.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA lovely example, with early annotations including a note in pen to the foot of the first book of Chronicles dated '1590' with a 19th-century transcription on tipped-in blue paper:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'As thou shalt understand oute of this testamente the tru godlynes and the salvasion of ouer soules both by hearing of it and laying up as a storehouse in the harte. With a true and sinsear loue and so take up the crose of Christe Jesus and folowe hime, that is to suffer afflictiones and fornes and scurges as Crist did when he suffered afflicksiones for ouer sines. 1590'.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith a further note in the same hand to the second book of Esdras.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, five parts in 1 vol.; large folio (40.5 x 29 cm); black letters, text in double columns in 57 lines, calendar printed in red and black, general title with xylographic word panel in woodcut architectural border and an engraved medallion portrait of Queen Elizabeth, the royal arms and allegorical figures, 2 further engraved portraits, comprising: Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (to the divisional title of Part 2), and Sir William Cecil (to the recto of A2 in Part 3), all attributed to Franciscus Hogenberg, woodcut New Testament Title, the text further illustrated with 131 narrative woodcuts (of 133, missing those on E2-3 in Part 1 which are lacking in this copy) after Virgil Solis, 5 woodcut maps and numerous diagrams, woodcut printers device to verso of final f., contemporary annotations in pen including note dated '1590' to recto of Q8 in Part 2 with 19th-century transcription on blue paper tipped-in at fore-edge, further note in same hand to foot of X3 recto also in Part 2, general title trimmed and mounted in the 18th-century with calligraphic dated ownership inscription in pen to verso, some early underlining and marginalia in pen throughout, tear to head of E6-7 in Part 1 repaired with glue with resultant residue to head of E7, pen marginalia to Part 1 K6, smoke damage to lower corner of N4-5 of same part, paper brittle with tear repaired in archival tape, small hole with loss of text to O6 also in Part 1, dampstaining to final 2ff causing minor loss to text, both ff with early paper repairs at gutter margin, as mentioned lacking ff E2-3 in Part 1 (numbered XXXXIV-V) comprising final chapter of Genesis and opening chapter of Exodus, lacking final blank f., otherwise complete with some ff possibly supplied form other copies; 20th-century gilt-panelled calf, the centre of the covers with jewelled cross formed of red, green and purple morocco onlays, modern endpapers, minor wear, very good; collation: A-Q\u003csup\u003e8\u003c\/sup\u003e[-E\u003csup\u003e2-3\u003c\/sup\u003e], A-Y\u003csup\u003e8\u003c\/sup\u003e Z\u003csup\u003e10\u003c\/sup\u003e, A-E\u003csup\u003e8\u003c\/sup\u003e F\u003csup\u003e6 \u003c\/sup\u003eG-Z\u003csup\u003e8\u003c\/sup\u003e 2A\u003csup\u003e8\u003c\/sup\u003e 2B\u003csup\u003e12\u003c\/sup\u003e, A-O\u003csup\u003e8\u003c\/sup\u003e P\u003csup\u003e6\u003c\/sup\u003e, A-T\u003csup\u003e8\u003c\/sup\u003e V\u003csup\u003e5\u003c\/sup\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eESTC S122070; STC 2099; Herbert 125; DM 89; Luborsky \u0026amp; Ingram B:2099.","brand":"[BISHOP'S BIBLE]; HOGENBERG, Franciscus \u0026 SOLIS, Virgil (illustrators).","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57444889952631,"sku":"124387","price":57500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/124387_01_f693f175-20a4-4a11-a58b-11f697451122.jpg?v=1791538553"}],"url":"https:\/\/shapero.com\/en-us\/collections\/boston-antiquarian-book-fair.oembed?page=3","provider":"Shapero Rare Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}