Joseph Thornton
1808 - 1891


the old bookshop till 2002
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Thornton's Bookshop
 ( W A & J S Meeuws ) 
( ABA, BA, ILAB )
Established in Oxford in  1835
the Old Barn - Walnut Court
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174 years in Oxford

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Catalogue of Rare and interesting titles
Note: Payment for amounts over £100 by bank transfer only
PAGE TWO

Auden, W.H.,. Poems, 1928. Reproduced in facsimile.. Privately printed for sale at the Ilkley Literature Festival by the Janus Press April 23-28, 1973. 12mo., pp. 37 facsimile, with scarce erratum slip, of the original edition partly printed by Stephen Spender at his home in Frognal, Hampstead and after page 23, when his patience ran out, finished by the Holywell Press, Oxford and bound in red wrapper. In the original green folder on which the date of the festival is different: April 24, 1973 and with the Janus Press device to the rear. Exact facsimile of the Durham University Library copy of 'Poems,' Auden's earliest book. The printing of the original edition, thought to number only some 30 copies, was undertaken in the summer of 1928 by Stephen Spender, whom Auden had met during his second year at Oxford. Auden excluded most of these poems from his " Collected Shorter Poems, 1927-1957. Auden's holograph corrections to the text are clearly evident throughout. Loosely inserted is B.C. Bloomfield's separate five-page Foreword to this facsimile edition, briefly outlining the history of the original edition and providing a census of the 15 copies known to be extant. Very good condition, £65

..
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Zabelin, I., (1820 - 1908 )
Moskva v eia proshlom i nastoiashchem. Roskoshno-illiyustrirovannoe izd., posviyashchennoe pamiyati I.E. Zabelina
V izdani prinimaiut uchastie D. N. Anuchin i dr. Redaktsiia G. Balitskogo volumes I (1-2); II (1-2); IV (also marked 7) ; VIII, IX, X, XI, XII  in  fine new half leather bindings with new title labels, some original wrappers opreserved.  [ 12 volumes were published between 1910 and 1912 ] Moskva : Obrazovanie, 1910-12. : Vols. 1-7 were also numbered as chast? 1-4. Elaborately illustrated with mezzotint engravings printed by Bruckmann in Munich, colour plates, tipped in photographs and other illustrations and decorative motifs . 2 of the front covers are by Afanasiev. Note: Zabelin, Ivan, 1820-1909. We so found that most libraries only have the odd volume, Leeds university library has all 12. £2500

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Quinctiliani, M. Fabii (Quintilian) DE INSTITUTIONE ORATORIA 
Liber septimus; liber octavus; liber nonus; liber decimus; liber undecimus; liber duodecimus pp. 578 - 1114; [2] followed by  Henrici Dodwelli: Annales quintilianei seu vita M. Fabii Quimtiliani per Annales disposita. Pp 1117 - 1171;[ Lugduni Batavorum. 1720) ]followed by annalium Quintilianeorum synopsus chronologica. Pp. 1172 -1178; followed by Addenda [25 lvs] Listed in the HBZ Verbundkatalog as : M. Fabii Quinctiliani de institutione oratoria / libri duodecim ; cum notis et animadversionibus virorum doctorum . summa cura redogniti ac emendati per Petrum Burmannum .Lugduni Batavorum (Leiden)  de Vivie , 1720 , 1178pp., ill. ; 4-o  [Quinctilianus ex edit[ione] P. Burmanni] ; [1] Iriginal full calf  with gilt decorations and red title label on the spine. Wormholed throughout binding and text, spine, hinges, boards worh, scuffed, pages browned/damp stained esp. at beginning and end, no impressum of publisher , half of f.e.p. missing, previous owner's handwritten names on  prelims one of which is Man. Calderon de la Barca. £75 
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J.R.R. Tolkien
The Hobbit, both 3rd Impressions 1942
Both editions without d/j's namely: 
one of the 1500 copies of the Allen & Unwin edition 1942 
and 
one of the 3000 extra copies printed for the 
Children's Book Club of the London bookseller
Foyles. Although the impression is dated 1942, 
publication was delayed till 1943. For full details 
see pages 15/16 of Hammond/Anderson. 
No dust jackets, Bindings soiled, o/w/ good, 
texts good. each £375
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King, Leonard W., & S. Smith
A History of Babylonia and Assyria. 
3 Volumes

Volume 1: Leonard W.  KING: A History of Sumer and Akkad. An Account of the Early Races of Babylonia from Prehistoric Times to the Foundation of the Babylonian Monarchy. London: Chatto and Windus, 1910, First Edition.. xxii, (2), 380pp.,  34 plates incl. frontispiece, 1 folding map, 69 illustrations I the text, 12 maps, and plans. Some occasional  very light brown spots in the text. 
Volume 2: Leonard W.  KING:  A History of Babylon from the Foundation of the Monarchy to the Persian Conquest. London: Chatto & Windus 1915. First edition. With map, plans, and illustr. XXI , 340 pp. With frontispiece, 31 plates, 1 fold. map and numerous text-illustrations. Some occasional  very light brown spots in the text , leaf between f.e.p. and half title and half title with heavier foxing/browning as is the page preceding l.e.p. 
Volume 3: Sidney  SMITH: Early History of Assyria: To 1000 B.C.. London: Chatto & Windus,1928.8`+ XV, 418pp.  folding map. [ Smith completed this work since King died ]  text very good. The volumes 1 and 2 have ex-library Heythrop college library stamps on top right corners of 2nd lves and small stamp top corner of title page, volume 2 has an additional library stamp in the centre of the title. In a  very attractive new brown cloth binding, with original gilt embossed designs taken from the original bindings on the 3 front boards, title labels. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. A rare complete set.  £250
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DE SAINT EXUPERY, ANTOINE Pilote de Guerre
New York, Editions Ed La Maison Francaise, on reverse title page: Copyright 1942 by Reynal & Hitchcock , 253 [3]pp., grea wrappers, title in red and black on front cover and spine. one corner knocked, text sl. yellowed, cover discoloured, spine sl. sunned, WITH DEDICATION: Pour Monsieur et Madame Seznec Avec toute mon amitié. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. (Seznec was professor of French at Oxford) Loosely inserted is a one page handwritten letter of 9 lines in pencil, undated but signed in full : Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. ¶ SAINT EXUPERY, ANTOINE DE (1900-44). French writer and aviator. From 1926 he was a commercial and test pilot. Killed during a reconnaissance flight over North Africa in World War II. Best remembered for writing his beloved aviation themed book, The Little Prince. £2500
 Cranach-Presse- Homer Die Odyssee. Neu ins Deutsche übertragen von Rudolf Alexander Schröder. 2 Volumes.
Volume I: Erster bis zwölfter Gesang. Des Gesamtwerks erste Abteilung. - Volume II: Dreizehnter bis vierundzwanzigster Gesang. Weimar and Leipzig, Cranach-Presse for Insel Verlag, 1907 - 1910, printed by R.Wagner & Sohn. 2 volumes, 4to. [3] 179pp., [3] 170pp., With two title illustrations and 3 chapter heading woodcuts by Aristide Maillol, Titles and initials by Eric Gill. some of his earliest in fact. Original half vellum bindings with imit. vellum corners, the boards are covered with decorative coloured paper designed by Mariano Fortuny after an old-Cretan design. Text printed in red and black. The edition was planned by Harry Count Kessler and Anton Kippenberg of the Insel Verlag. Originally both the Odyssey and the Iliad were planned, but the Iliad never appeared. Volume 1 came out in May 1910 and volume 2 in January 1911. R.A. Schroeder's translation took longer than expected, however when it was finally published it was praised, e.g. by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. See: Müller-Krumbach 17 and 17a. Sarkowski 784. Schauer II, One of the 300 copies for sale of which this is number 322, numbered by hand  in both volumes. The paper covered boards sl. faded, small dent of 2 mm in front of volume 2, minimal damage to top of board of volume 1.See:  Wilpert/Gühring 23 (Schröder); Sarkowski 784; Müller-Krumbach 17 und 17a . Many sets consists of volumes with different numbers, our set has the identical number 322 written in both volumes £1500
Mazzolini, Sylvestro,  (1456-1523 )
Summae Sylvestrinae, quae summa summarum merito nuncupatur pars prima [-pars secunda] ab R. P. Sylvestro Prierate,... edita, nunc recens diligentissime correcta. Additionibus autem, ex sacro Concilio Trident. et catechismo, Pii V,... jussu edito, hac in editione in fine appositio Petro Vendramaeus... authore, locupletata et illustrata.  Lugduni: Sumptibus Petri Landry, 1594. 4to. 2 vols. in 1. [4] 515[3] one blank sheet; 541 pp followed by Additiones ad primam et secundam partem Summae Sylvestrine….Petro Vendramaeno 27 unnumbered pp., followed by Index omnium dictionum, seu titulorum..5 unnumbered pp.,   ¶  Sylvester Mazzolini, in Italian Silvestro Mazzolini da Prierio, in Latin Sylvester Prierias. (1456/57-1523) was a theologian born at Priero, Piedmont; he died at Rome. At the age of fifteen he entered the Dominican Order. Passing brilliantly through a course of studies he taught theology at Bologna, Pavia (by invitation of the senate of Venice), and in Rome, whither he was called by Julius II in 1511. In 1515 he was appointed Master of the Sacred Palace, filling that office until his death. His writings cover a vast range, including treatises on the planets, the power of the demons, history, homiletics, the works of St. Thomas Aquinas and the primacy of the popes. He is credited with being the first theologian who by his writings attacked publicly the doctrines of Martin Luther. Johann Tetzel's productions against the arch-reformer are called by Jacques Echard scattered pages (folia volitantia), and Mazzolini stands forth as the first champion of Roman Pontiffs against Luther. Luther replied to Mazzolini's arguments and the latter published rejoinders, and there was a regular controversy between them. The necessity of promptness in attack and defence will account for defects of style in some of his writings. Students of the Lutheran Reformation remember him for his charge that Martin Luther had a brain of brass and nose of iron. The Summa summarum is an alphabetical encyclopedia of theological questions, written largely to affirm Catholic theology at a time when that theology was under attack. First printed in Rome, 1516, it was  reprinted 40 times throughout the 16th century. His other principal works are: De juridica et irrefragabili veritate Romanæ Ecclesiæ Romanique Pontificis (Rome, 1520); Epitoma responsionis ad Lutherum (Perugia, 1519); Errata et argumenta M. Lutheri (Rome, 1520); Rosa aurea (Bologna, 1510) an exposition of the Gospels of the year; In theoricas planetarum (Venice, 1513). The first title page is rather worn and bottom corner and edges have been repaired/re-inforced  Previous owner's writing ibn ink on this title, first 12 pages and further scattered pages throughout the book  have sl. frayed edges, some like the pages 409-412 probably as they came off the press, small bottom corner torn off one bottom page in the unnumbered section; several sections of the book have sustained damp staining. the 2nd title page is very good. Recently re-bound in half calf with leather corners and gilt title on red leather title label. We have only traced holdings in the Swedish library catalogue;  Bibliotheque nationale;  Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München. £950
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 HOFMANNSTHAL, Hugo von,  Die Wege und die Begegnungen.
Bremen, Bremer Presse, 1913. [2] 21pp., With wood engraved initials and a woodcut in red and black in the text by R. A. Schröder. Binding also designed by this artisan. Original full red morocco, spine blind embossed and with 5 raised bands, all edges with gilt decoration, top edge gilt the binding is signed by the Bremer Binderei (Bremen bindery of Frieda Thiersch). This is number 47 of the limited edition of 200 numbered copies printed on Van Gelder hand-made paper. The first title of the Bremer Presse, Christmas 1913, and First edition of Hofmannsthals wonderful text. The endpapers have tiny brown stripes at the edges caused by the inside tooling of the morocco boards and there is a brown 2-3 cm wide brown stripe on the last endpaper, probably caused by a bit of paper inserted loose at some stage. Binding very slightly soiled at edges and corners. See: Lehnacker 1; Rodenberg 57, Wilpert-Gühring 47.
£995
Venette, Nicholas. (1633-1698 ). De la Génération de l'Homme ou Tableau de L'Amour. Claude Joly, Conjugal, Divisé en quatre Parties. 7. édition, reveuë, corrigée, augmentée & enrichie de figures par l'Auteur. A Cologne : Chez Claude Joly, 1696. (xii), (xl), (vi), 672, (xxx) pages. Original leather sewn binding rebound in new full calf. Early notations on f.e.p. Frontispiece, 9 plates (5 folding). but some of these appear twice in this volume. Engraved portrait of the author precedes text Includes index at end. Title page printed in red and black 3.5" X 6.5". small marginal tear in pp. 191/192, text sl. browned, some repairs made to plates, a few pp. soiled, SEE: Book-ends: The role of the eunuch and the hermaphrodite in Nicolas Venette's Tableau de l'amour considéré dans l'estat du mariage By Jane Rush ( Sage Publications, 2004 ) of which we add a resume: In his Tableau de l'amour considéré dans l'estat du mariage Nicolas Venette devotes the last section of his medical text to questions of sexual dysfunction or sexual malformation and the socio-legal implications that ensued for the afflicted. Like book-ends, the bodies of the eunuch and the hermaphrodite display the visible signs of sexual deformity yet, in Venette's view, these deformities, based largely on external and arbitrary signs, can be deceptive and should not prevent those who wish to marry or to take holy orders to do so. Rather than exclude from social discourse the sexually deficient, the non-productive couple and the impotent in general, Venette, through the spectacular plight of the eunuch and the hermaphrodite, makes a valiant attempt to moderate the powerful voices of church and state and bring into the social fold not only the severely deformed but all who suffer from sexual dysfunction and impotence.  The contents take a position somewhere between sexual education and pornography. In the first edition of this work author was referred to as 'Mons. Salocini Venetien', which is a conversion of the real name of the author: Nicolas Venette. The book provides a very interesting glimpse of seventeenth century sexual behaviour  £350
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WOLFENSTEIN, Alfred, Die gefährlichen Engel
Mährisch-Osterau und Leipzig, Verlag Julius Kittls Nachfolger, 1936, 154pp., [1] Original cloth binding with damaged dust jacket. First edition. 
With an autograph signed dedication in ink on the half title, dated Spring 1936 and a 2-page autograph letter written from Prague to a lady who he asks to promote this book amongst her friends. In this letter he also asks for the address of Lady Van der Elst, the opponent of the death penalty and one time eccentric owner of Harlaxton Manor. The letter is dated 7th June 1936. 

Alfred Wolfenstein ( Halle / Saale, 28 December 1888  - 22. January 1945 in Paris) was an expressionist poet, play write and translator. He married Henriette Hardenberg in 1916. He is famous for the publication of Die Erhebung (2 volumes, 1919/1920) the most important theoretical collection of the expressionist movement . In 1930 he received the first German prize for translations. In 1933, the year of the burning of the books Wolfenstein left the former Weimar Republic and settled in Prague. In 1938 he moved to  Paris. He hid under a false name when the nazis conquered France and committed suicide in Paris on 22nd January 1945. 
£450
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Stevenson, Robert Louis A Child's Garden Of Verses -  UK and US first editions
Longmans, Green, and Co. 1885 First edition, 12mo, [167 x 108 x 20 mm]. X,101,[1]pp.  Very rare first edition of this children's classic. Only 1000 copies were issued and printed on high-quality paper. Original blue cloth, titles to spine gilt, publisher's trade mark to top left corner of front board gilt, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed, With the preliminary leaf with the list of works by the same author, the half-title. 39 of the poems in this edition appeared earlier in in 1883 in a collection of 48 of his poems under the title of Penny Whistles . the binding is  rubbed, the spine faded and somewhat creased, the gilt titling on the spine very faint, top and bottom of spine bumpedpage 33 has some minor soiling towards the right hand edge
OFFERED TOGETHER WITH  the New York edition published by Scribner's also in 1885.  First American edition, [1[103[3]pp., blue cloth spine with gilt lettering and greenish printed paper covered boards, boards and spine  sl. Soiled, corners bent, top and bottom of spine bumped, text browned throughout,  previous owner's signature in ink on f.e.p together with a small oval label on which a printed name. Offered together in a black paper covered slip case with 2 compartments both of which made to measure the height of the books. £550

Biner, Joseph  S.J. (1697 - 1766 ) Catholische Anmerckung uber die neueste uncatholische Controvers-Schreiber, 4 Parts Bound in One
Catholische Anmerckung uber die neueste uncatholische Controvers-Schreiber, absonderlich den so genannten Urim und Thummim zu Zürich samt einem kurzen Begriff der heutigen Controversien  und Catholischen Glaubens-Wahrheit. Erster Theil: 1. Kurtze Abbildung der Protestantischen Bücher-Schreiber zu Druck gegeben von P.Josepho Biner der Gesellschat Jesu Priestern Mit Erlaubnis der  Oberen. Augsburg verlegts  Mathias Wolffs seel. Wittib 1739, [26] 196pp.,  AND:  Catholische Anmerckung über die neueste uncatholische Controvers-Schreiber absonderelich  den sogenannt. URIM und THUMIM zu Zürich/ Sambt Einem kurzen Begriff der heutigen Controversien  Und Catholischen Glaubens-Wahrheit. Zweyter Theil Von dem Wort Gottes. zu Druck gegeben von P.Josepho Biner, S.J. Zweyte Auflag. Mit Erlaubnis der Oberen. Augspurg verlegts  Mathias Wolffs seel. Wittib 1740.254pp.,  AND Protestantische Glaubens- Bekantnuss  eines nacher Zu?rich flu?chtigen Ordens-Geistlichen, in einem kurtzen Begriff der heutigen Glaubens Strittigkeiten Widerlegt von P. Josepho Biner, S.J. Cum Facultate Superiorum. Augspurg, Verlegts Matth. Wolff seel. Wittib. Anno 1740, [3]153 [3]pp., AND Catholische Anmerckung uber die neueste uncatholische Controvers-Schreiber, absonderlich den sogenannten Urim und Thummim zu Zu?rich, samt einem kurtzen Begriff der heutigen Controversien  Und Catholischen Glaubens-Wahrheit. Dritter Theil Von der Kirchen unfehlbaren und  sichtbaren Besta?ndigkeit vorgestellt von P. Josepho Biner S.J.. Augspurg, Zu finden bei Mathia Wolffs seel. Wittib und Sohn, 1744,[30] 620 [2] pp., AND Catholische Anmerckungen ub?er die neueste Un-Catholische Controvers-Schreiber, absonderlich den so genannten Urim und Thumim zu Zu?rich, sambt einem kurtzen Begriff der heutigen Controversien, und Catholischen Glaubens-Wahrheit. Vierter Theil.  Von der Kirchen Einigkeit Wohl zu bedencken vorgestellt von Sosepho Biner S.J. Mit Erlaubnuss der Oberen.Aaugspurg,  In Verlag Martin Wagners, Buch-haendlers in Oberammergau in Bayren, 1745, [4]1856 [14] the latter 14 pages being the  index and corrigenda for part IV.   Full vellum binding,  vertical crack through spine, brown/gilt title label, rear hinge partly cracked,spine overall worn, Text very good in general. Rare set of all 4 parts. 
¶ ****Joseph Biner was a Roman Catholic canonist, historian, and theologian. His fame rests principally on his erudition. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1715 and received the usual training of its members. He was later professor of canon law in the universities of Ingolstadt, Dilingen and Innsbruck. He entered zealously into all the controversies with the sectaries of his time, especially with the Swiss Protestants. As a consequence, all his works have a polemical tinge. £395
 
 

 

Abercromby, John,  A Trip Through the Eastern Caucasus With a Chapter  on the Languages of the Country. 
Edward Stanford,  1889. 1st edition.  8vo. xvi, 376 pp., partly uncut. Frontispiece, 6 plates & 15 engraved illustrations  in the text and on one folding plate, 2 folding maps and 1 coloured. Complete.  Original blue cloth with gilt lettering on the spine. Lightly rubbed cloth covers  with a hint of wear to spine ends and corners. There is a thinning in the  right lower corner of the title page due to the deletion of a stamp. Partly  deleted inscription on the f.e.p. Otherwise book is in good to very good  condition. Pages are clean, no foxing. ¶ £750

** The author had a  particular interest in local dialects so there is a chapter on the structure and affinities of the seven main languages of the area, but the book is a general  account of the countryside and its inhabitants.  John Abercromby, 5th Baron Abercromby 
of Aboukir and Tullibody (1841-1924) Archaeologist  Second son of the 3rd Baron, he succeeded his brother to the title in 1917. He entered the army in 1858, retiring in 1870 with the rank of Lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade. He served as Vice-President of the Folklore Society and President of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. His publications included "A trip through the Eastern Caucasus" (1889); "Pre- and Proto-historic Finns", (2 vols, 1898); and "A study of the Bronze Age Pottery of Great Britain and Ireland" (2 vols, 1912). Dying without male heirs, he endowed the Abercromby Chair of Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh and bequeathed ca 2,500 volumes, 400 pamphlets on archaeology, ethnology and linguistics, and a substantial body of correspondence and papers, to the University Library. 
 
 

YOUNGHUSBAND, G.J. (Captain and Brevet-Major).
Indian Frontier Warfare. Forming the third volume of The Wolseley Series, edited by Captain Walter H. James
First edition.Kegan Paul, Trench and Trubner, 1898, with 5 maps and 2 larger folding maps in pocket at rear. , XVI,254pp. 8vo, gilt-stamped red cloth binding, black endpapers, uncut text edges , text unopened towards the end,gilt embossed titling on spine and front board, small creases in  lower corners of f.e.p. and pp. I - VI, small ink stain right lower corner of front board,, spine sl. faded, top/bottom spine sl. nbent. Alltogether a very good to fine copy ¶ ** Second Anglo-Afghan war 1878 - 1880, £ 350

 

 Michael Burghers (c. 1653 - 1727) 
Map of Oxfordshire. Framed behind glass
To the Right Reverend Father in God John by divine permission Ld. Bishop of OXON The Map of Oxfordshire being his Lordship's Diocess newley delineated, and after a new manner...Copper engraving . Large copperplate map is from Robert Plot's The Natural History of Oxfordshire….. Dr. Plot, a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford and the first keeper of the Ashmolean, planned to produce a series of county histories, but only two materialized - Oxfordshire and Staffordshire. The map was engraved by Michael Burghers, who assisted in the engraving of David Loggan's Oxonia Illustrata. The Plot map is the most decorative map of the county, with a boarder of 172 coats of arms, including the coats of arms of 148 the county's gentry, each armorial being keyed to a number residence on the map. The top boarder contains the coats of arms of the eighteen Oxford colleges, the City, the University, and four county townsThere are no hundreds illustrated, rivers, towns, villages, and churches are clearly marked and named. £450
John, Augustus.  Fifty-two drawings with an Introduction by Lord David Cecil.
London: George Rainbird, 1957. Number 95 of a limited edition of 150 copies. Signed by the artist and the author. Folio (43 x 30 cm.), pp. 15, 52 plates (some bled to edge, others tipped-in, some in colour) on Royal Maastricht Cartridge by Van Leer, Amsterdam; frontis. self-portrait and text on Abbey Mills Suede Text Antique Laid by Curwen Press, bound by Zaehnsdorf half vellum, paper boards, illus. Laid down on front cover, in original slipcase. A fine copy. A strip of 5 cm of the front of the the slipcase  is slightly discoloured (sunned ) £550
Azimi, Iftikhar [ translated by ] illustrated by Richard Kennedy
The Garden of the Night - a selection of 26 Sufi poems
The Whittington Press , 1979, approximately 70 unnumbered pages illustrated with numerous line drawings Limited Edition of 240 copies of which this is number  XXVI of the 35 copies full bound in Nigerian goatskin by Weatherby Woolnough, with Whittington marbled endpapers. Accompanied by a loosely inserted signed etchicng by Richard Kennedy. The eddition is signed by Kennedy and Azimi. Hand-set in 24-point Caslon and printed at the press by John and Rosaliond Randle and Miriam Macgregor on B.F.K. mouldmade paper. The calligraphy is drawn by Noor Shafiqi and Faizal Hasan Deobandi, and the calligraphy and illustrations printed at the Senecio press. The front board has a Kennedy design embossed and the spsine has the title in gilt lettering. A splendid book, the leather of the spine slightly  discoloured and the edges of the loose etching a bit browned. In slip-case. Now very rare. £350
Wallace, A.R .. The Malay Archipelago. The Land of the Orang-Utan and the Bird of Paradise. Macmillan & Co. 1872 As indicated on the title page this copy is the 3rd edition. On the spine however it reads fifth edition. We have not been able to find out if this was a binder's error at the time of publication. binding strong, boards straight, The binding is spotted all over and the end papers are split at the inner hinges, boards still firmly attached, gilt decorated cover a little faded and corners sl. rubbed, but contents complete & beautiful with only very sl. foxing. A Narrative of Travel With Studies of Man and Nature. "A great landowner may legally convert his whole property into a forest or a hunting-ground, and expel every human being who has hitherto lived upon it. In a thickly populated countrey like England, where every acre has its owner and its occupier, this is a power of legally destroying his fellow-creatures; and that such a power should exist, and be exercised by individuals, in however small a degree, indicates that, as regards true social science, we are still in a state of barbarism."A magnificent combination of interesting sketches of travel and vivid pictures of natural history, together with a discussion of the great generalizations of evolutionary biology", as well as being a fascinating and grippingly-written work in its own right. The author spent eight years away from England, "but as I travelled about fourteen thousand miles within the Archipelago, and made sixty or seventy separate journeys, each involving some preparation and loss of time, I do not think that more than six years were really occupied in collecting." (Preface). The author goes on to say that his collections comprised 125,660 speciments of natural history. "On the basis of artistic format, literary style, and scientific merit, it is clearly one of the finest scientific travel books ever written." (Dictionary of Scientific Biography). cf. Norman 2176. 
£275  order via e-mail
Yeats, W.B.,. Plays for an Irish Theatre. with Designs by Gordon Craig.. Deirdre, The Green Helmut, On Baile's Strand, The King's Threshold, The Shadowy Waters, The Hour-Glass, Cathleen Ni Houlihan Contains seven of William Butler Yeats' best known plays at the time: London: A. H. Bullen, the Shakespeare Head Press, 1911 Original white quarter cloth with title label, brown paper covered boards. . Very Good+. 8vo - over 73/4" - 93/4" tall. spine slightly soiled. Edges untrimmed. Text fine, four b&w full-page plates by Gordon Craig with tissue guards, the frontispiece shows impression of "The Heroic Age - Morning".  [091701] 
£135.00  order via e-mail
Wanderer, [pseud for Elim H. D'Avigdor ]  Notes on the Caucasus
Macmillan, London, 1883.  Hardcover. 8vo. viii, 280 pp. In publishers original olive green cloth  decorated with black multi-lined border pattern across spine and front cover, Title in gilt on spine. Black endpapers. Boards  rubbed at the edges and corners, sl. corners  bumped. Previous owners name in ink on half title. Text very slightly  discoloured at the top of the pages. Occasional small pencil  notes like question marks in margins. Rear hinge  repaired.  Overall a very good copy,  Walter Tschudi Lyall, was a  governmental official  who wrote under the pseudonym 'The Wanderer', he reported on the Turko-Russian Campaign of 1877.  This work is also attributed to Elim Henry D'Avigdor (1841-1895), who used the same pseudonym. £ 750

White, J[oseph] (Translator) [1745- 1814]. Aegyptiaca: or, Observations on certain antiquities of Egypt : In two parts.
Part 1.. The history of Pompey's pillar elucidated. Part II. Abdollatif's account of the antiquities of Egypt, written in Arabic A.D. 1203. Translated into English, and with notes / By J. White, D.D. Professor of Arabic in the University of Oxford; editor of Timour's Institutes in the Persian; of the Philoxenian version of the New Testament in the Syriac; of Abdollatif's History of Egypt in the Arabic; Bampton Lecturer for the year 1784; and late publisher of a critical edition of the Gospels in Greek; and of a diatessaron in the same language, for the use of academical students. Part 1 only (part 2 was never published ) Oxford : At the University Press, for the author: sold by Messrs. Cadell and Davies, Strand, London; and by the booksellers in Oxford., 1801. First Edition,. [4], xiii, [3], 227 [i.e. 127], [1] p., [mispaginated '227'], 7 engraved plates (1 folding plan of Alexandria ). Lrge. 4to., 240 x 311 mm. Full tree calf, with new spine. Ex-library Windsor Castle with the library's ex-libris on inner front board and stamped aauthorisation to sell this copy in January 1948. Also some slight remnants of glue on this inside front board. Corners and edges bumped/ a bit worn. , edges Gilt titling , Includes bibliographical footnotes. No more published, Pp. 126-7 misnumbered 226-7. Signatures: pi2 a-b4 B-R4; Text in English with quotations and examples in Arabic and Greek *** First edition of White's detailed examination of Pompey's Pillar in Egypt. White consulted 18th century accounts of French and English travellers, displaying a marked anti-French sentiment. More importantly White researched among ancient sources in Greek, Latin and Arabic, which he quotes selectively in the original languages. In 1777 Joseph White had been appointed Laudian Professor or Arabic, a position he held until his death in 1814. Overall good copy with crisp text  [092561]
£395  order via e-mail
 MOLIERE ( = Jean Baptiste Poquelin ). Oeuvres avec des remarques grammaticales, des avertissements et des observations sur chaque pièce par M. Bret. 6 Volumes.. , Paris, La Compagnie des libraires associés, An 13 [1804] portrait, 6 title vignettes, and 33 copper Engraved frontispiece portrait by L.J. Cathelin after P. Mignard in Volume I and thirty-three engraved plates by J.B. Simonet, A.J. Duclos, D. Née, N. de Launay, L.J. Masquelier, E. de Ghendt, J.J. Leveau, C. Baquoy, L. Legrand, J.P. le Bas after J.M. Moreau le jeune. A later printing of the celebrated 1773 edtiion . Cohen-de-Ricci said of the 1773 edition: "Edition plus remarquable par sa beauté qu par sa bonté. La suite des figures de Moreau est une de plus estimées de d'une rareté extrême avant la lettre" (Cohen-de Ricci)."De toutes les édtions des oeuvres de Molière avec les notes de Bret, celle-ci est la plus belle et la plus recherchée" (Brunet).Brunet III, col. 1798. Cohen-de Ricci, cols. 716-719. Ray, The Art of the French Illustrated Book, 50. Tchemerzine VIII, p. 360 Bret's disparagemeny of later printings on the grounds that the plates are worn seems ungrounded and puzzling as these are [still] excellent. Prelims/first and last few pages sl. foxed, spotted, small stamp on f.e.p. vols. 2, 3, 5; sign. on f.e.p. vol. 4; stamped initials partly coverd in ink on f.e.p. of vol.4; small stamp reverse f.e.p. vol. 1, name on f.e.p. vol. 6; A beautifully printed ediition in new half leather binding with red and green title/volume number labels. 5 raised bands. the boards are covered in marbled paper matching the original marbling of the text edges. Silk page markers.  [008169]
£750

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BIBLE - Luther. Dr Martin Luthers Deutsche Bibel. Seven volumes. "Mit vier Nachbildungen Lutherischer Handschriften". Hermann Böhlaus Nachfolger, Weimar, 1906 to 1931; qto; Band 1, xxiv +640pp, Band 2, xxviii + 728pp, Band 3, lxii +580pp, Band 4, lviii + 592pp, Band 5, xxxix + 804pp, Band 6, xcvi + 639pp, & Band 7, xliv + 690pp; all with wood-engr. t.p.s & occas. head-pieces, Band 3 also illustrated with four plates of facsimilies (Zerbster Handschrift), Band 4 with a portrait & 2 facs., Band 6 with 8 facs. (incl. portrait t.p.), & Band 7 with 21 full-page woodcuts; Bands 1 & 3 bound in publisher's quarter morocco with gilt and blind decorations, and marbled edges; Bands 2, 4, 5, 6, & 7 in publ. half morocco (different style) with raised bands, lettering pieces, & richly gilt compartments; three head-bands torn (one deeply), other extremities sl.rubbed, 2 lettering pieces lost (one torn), occas. traces of light foxing within, otherwise the interiors are well-preserved. [031081]  £75.00 order via e-mail
   

 
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