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1. ‘BERGER, Louis, astrologue’. Almanach historique, nommé le Postillion de la paix et de la guerre, calculé selon le stile nouveau, pour l’an de grâce MDCCLXIII contenant les propriétés & la température des quatre saisons & des douze mois, l’accroissement & le déclin de la lune avec les autres observations astrologiques … avec une description des événemens les plus mémorables, arrivés en Europe, Asie, Afrique & Amérique. Publié pour la trente huitième fois. Basel: Jean Henry Decker, [1762 or 3]. £600 Small 4to (200 × 150 mm), pp. [58], including wrappers (the first with a full page woodcut) and 3 further full page woodcuts (one folding), small calendrical woodcuts depicting the occupations of the month, title and calendar partly printed in red. Stitched with paper backstrip. Lightly browned, leaves at front and rear quite fragile at lower corners with a few short tears, usually without loss. A VERY RARE SWISS ALMANAC , INCLUDING FOUR LARGE WOODCUTS AND NEWS REPORTS FROM ALL OVER EUROPE . The Postillion was issued simultaneously in French and German issues: Der Kriegs und Friedens Postillion , but both are very rare, recorded in only a handful of copies each of any yearly issue. The woodcut on the first leaf depicts the postillion riding through an emblematic landscape, the three others are: a spectacular sea battle between a French and English ship; the deathbed of Elisabeth II or Russia (folding, c. 185 × 320 mm); and two murders (one from a tragic account from Ireland), each with accompanying descriptions in the text. The news reports have been gleaned from a wide variety of sources. Added them are the familiar elements of an amanac: calendars, astronomical, astrological and meteorological data, with typically charming woodcut vignettes.
2. BOND, William. The Supernatural Philosopher: or, the Mysteries of Magick,... All exemplified in the History of the Life and surprizing Adventures of Mr. Duncan Campbell, a Scots gentleman; who, though deaf and dumb, writes down any Stranger’s Name at first Sight, with their future Contingencies of Fortune... The Second Edition. London: for E. Curll, 1728. £800 8vo (194 × 120 mm), pp. ix, [5], 33, 320, [1], plus 16 pages of Curll’s adverts. Engraved frontispiece and 3 engraved plates. Contemporary sprinkled calf, spine with 5 raised bands, label renewed to style. Rubbed, joints starting, head of spine chipped and mostly absent, traces of an old armorial bookplate removed. A very good copy. THE LIFE STORY OF A DEAF -MUTE SCOTS SOOTHSAYER . The Supernatural Philosopher is a reissue of The History of the Life and Adventures of Mr. Duncan Campbell (1720) with the addition of ‘Verses to Mr. Campbell. On the History of his Life and Adventures’ and ‘A remarkable passage of an apparition. 1665’. The author evidently lodged for a while in the same London house as the Scots born soothsayer Duncan Campbell (d. 1730), who was a well known figure in the city. Deaf and mute, he was probably educated at Glasgow using the finger system devised by John Wallis in the seventeenth century. The History of the Life was persistently attributed, until relatively recently, to Defoe.
3. BRUCE, George. Poems, Ballads, and Songs, on various Occasions. Edinburgh: printed by Oliver & Boyd, and sold by all the booksellers there; also by William Turnbull, Glasgow; and A.K. Newman & Co. London, 1813. £300 8vo (207 × 120 mm), pp. xvi, [1], 10 215, [1] (prelims mispaginated). Woodcut ornaments. Closed tear (no loss) to gutter of pp. 147 8. Contemporary half morocco. Joints and corners rubbed. Bookplate and shelf mark of Archibald Earl of Eglinton. A very good copy. FIRST EDITION , the second of two verse collections by a successful Edinburgh miniature and silhouette painter. Several poems are in Scots dialect and at least two are on artistic subjects: ‘Song, The Enamoured Painter’ and ‘Epistle to a Friend, on the Decay of Taste for the Fine Arts in Scotland, 1812’. This is a subscriber’s copy, one of two copies ordered by Archibald, twelfth Earl of Eglinton (restorer of Eglinton Castle). Painter Henry Raeburn is among the other subscribers. Not in Jackson, English Verse, 1770 1835.
4. CAREY, David. Craig Phadrig, Visions of Sensibility, with legendary Tales, and occasional Pieces, [Inverness: J. Young] for the author, and sold by J. Young, L. Grant & Co. and Smith & Clark, Inverness; I. Forsyth, and W. Young, Elgin; Arc[hibal]d Constable & Co. and W. Creech, Edinburgh; and Vernor, Hood, & Sharpe, London, 1811. £300 8vo (210 × 122 mm), pp. 8, [2], [9 ] 225, [1]. Slightly dusty and thumbed. Early half calf, rebacked to style. Boards soiled, corners a little worn. Early Bookplate and ownership inscription (McCrae), the latter trimmed. A good copy. FIRST EDITION — Highland poetry inspired by the mountain landscape of Craig Phadrig, which is topped by an ancient Pictish hillfort. Carey muses on the legends of Macbeth (including the Weird Sisters), on the parallel between Macbeth and Napoleon Bonaparte), and Scottish history up to Culloden. Jackson, p. 348; Johnson, Provincial Poetry , 163; Aubin, p. 373.
5. (CHANSONS). Recueil des ariettes. [France or Flanders]. 1787 and after. £750 Manuscript, small 4to (180 × 118 mm), pp. [2], 65, [14], [numerous blanks], [10]. Single leaf with additional contemprary song inserted in pocket at rear. Mainly in French with some Flemish. Original parchment wallet binding. Soiled, wants original tie, but very attractive. THE MARSEILLAISE AND A GASTRONOMIC PARODY . A manuscript chanson notebook of the French Revolutionary era. It is typical of many such manuscripts, only partially completed, but is of special interest for containing an early manuscript copy of the Marseillaise , plus a spoof drinking song on the same song, and (on a folded sheet found in the rear pocket) the song ‘Louise seize aux François’ (‘O mon peuple! que vous ai je’), all from the 1790s.
The earlier chansons from the 1780s are typical popular songs, but the 1790s additions are by far the most interesting. The Marseillaise , originally composed in 1792 by Rouget de Lisle became the French national anthem in 1795. Opening with the lines: ‘Allons enfans de la patrie / Le jour de gloire est arrivé’; it is here paired with a line for line parody sung to the same tune, expressing only the patriotism of the stomach, opening:
‘Allons enfants de La Courtille, Le jour de boire est arrivé, C'est pour nous que le boudin grille, C'est pour nous qu’on l’a conservé (bis) Ne vois tu pas dans la cuisine Rôtir des Dindons et Gigots! Ma foi, nous serions bien nigauds Si nous leur faisions triste mine.’
Other songs reflect a fervent Royalist patriotism, none more so than the 9 verse ‘Louis seize aux François’ tucked into the rear pocket. The song first appeared at the time of the execution of Louis in January 1793 and was (according to contemporary commentators) sung all over Paris. Opening ‘My people, what have you done...’ it was widely published both in France and abroad.
6. (CHURCH OF SCOTLAND). LEE, Robert. The reform of the Church of Scotland in Worship, Government, & Doctrine. Part I. Worship. Edinburgh: Edmonstone and Douglas, 1866. pp. x, [2], 182, [2] (advert). £50 [bound with :] ― The clerical Profession some of its Difficulties and Hindrances an Address delivered at the opening of the Theological Classes in the University of Edinburgh, November 8, 1866. Edinburgh: Edmonstone & Douglas, 1866. pp. 32.
[and: ] ― Thou art Peter. A Discourse on Papal Infallibility and the causes of the late Conversions to Romanism. Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1851. pp. vi, [2], 118.
[and: ] ERSKINE, Thomas. The Purpose of God in the Creation of man. Edinburgh: Edmonstone and Douglas, 1870. pp. 15.
Four works bound together, 8vo (165 × 105 mm.). Half calf, spine gilt, red morocco label. Sprinkled edges. Bookplate, neat later inscription. Rubbed, minor wear to corners, upper joint cracked but firm. Good. A collection of nineteenth century Scottish ecclesiastical pamphlets, principally by Robert Lee, the reforming Church of Scotland minister. Lee’s contribution was primarily in the reform of worship rather than theological debate, believing that worship should comprise three elements: word, prayer and praise. His controversial stance on a variety of topics led him to frequent clashes with conservative clergy and in 1859 he was unsuccessfully charged with unlawful innovations in worship.
7. DARWIN, Charles. [and Francis DARWIN]. The Power of Movement in Plants. London: John Murray, 1880. £950 8vo (188 × 122 mm), pp. x, 592, plus 32 pages of ‘Mr Murray’s General List of Work’. Including numerous printed illustrations. Original green cloth, spine gilt. Expert and unobtrusive repairs to spine and corners. Bookplates (W.H. Smith & Sons circulating library, Newark Stock Library), numerical stamps to half title and title, small blindstamp (Faversham Institute) to upper forecorner of title and 4 following leaves, pencil notes to recto of rear free endpapers. A very good copy. FIRST EDITION , FIRST ISSUE , with 32 pp. inserted adverts dated May 1878 and with two lines of errata at the foot of page x. One of Darwin’s last books, on the subject of phototropism, complete with illustrations and diagrams. It was widely reviewed and gained much interest from the general public, referred to as ‘the scientific report that most clearly marks the beginning of the modern study of plant growth.’ (Pickard, pp. v–xviii, preface to the 1966 edition). This copy, with very minor recent restoration, has survived well, given its passage from Smith’s circulating library, to Newark Stock Library and the Faversham Institute (the latter closed in 1979 and its library dispersed). Freeman 1325.
8. DUNBAR, William. Select Poems of Wil. Dunbar. Part First [all published in this form] from the M.S. of George Bannatyne published 1568. Perth: R. Morison, Junr. For R. Morison & Son, and sold by J. Murray, London, and C. Elliot, Edinburgh, 1788. £125 12mo (145 × 80 mm), pp. lxi, [1], 100, plus engraved frontispiece. Bound with a Morison edition of Ramsay’s Gentle Shepherd (1788). Contemporary calf. Rubbed. Morison’s pocket edition of Dunbar commences with a Life of Gavin Douglas, from a manuscript then in the possession of the Literary and Antqiuarian Society of Perth. Not in Jackson or Johnson.
9. DURDENT, [René-Jean]. Époques et faits mémorables de l’histoire de France: depuis l’origine de la monarchie jusqu’a l’arrivé de Louis XVIII dans sa capitale... Paris: [Imbert for] Alexis Eymery, 1814. £350 12mo (165 × 95 mm), pp. 1 288, 299 428 (complete despite mispagination, with half title) plus 8 engraved plates, all hand coloured. Some light browning. Contemporary tree sheep, gilt panelled spine, green morocco label. Very slightly rubbed. Contemporary stencilled manuscript bookplate: ‘Camille Villars’. An excellent copy. FIRST EDITION of a popular Royalist history of France , issued against the background of the first Restoration of the French monarchy — Louis XVIII (dubbed Louis ‘Le desiré’ by his followers) had taken the throne in May 1814. Several editions followed, but the first is notably rare. The frontispiece depicts Louis receiving the Order of the Garter from British Prince Regent as he prepared to return to France from his exile in England. The text includes supplementary accounts of literature and the arts.
10. (ENGRAVING). Le Recu[e]il des secret pour graver à leau forte de brun... se fair le xx xbre mil six cent quatre vingt douze... [France, ?vicinity of Marseille, 1692 3]. £2000 Manuscript, oblong 4to (162 × 230 mm). 50 leaves, of which the first 9 (paginated ‘a’ ’u’) and the last 2 bear text (mostly on both sides), the remainder blank save for original pagination. Text in French, usually legible. Original limp vellum over stiff paper reused from an earlier legal document, with title in manuscript to upper cover, arms to lower cover (plus several other markings and inscriptions, faint or deliberately obliterated). Soiled and cockled, old stitched repair to upper forecorner of upper cover. A MANUSCRIPT NOTEBOOK COMPRISING EXCERPTS (‘SECRETS ’) ON THE ART OF ETCHING AND ENGRAVING from Abraham Bosse’s Traité des manieres de graver en taille douce (first published in 1645), several other technical instructions, two medical recipes and a short account book of its owner, who evidently practised as an engraver, for the year 1693. There are 9 selections from the opening of Bosse’s treatise, all concerning the preparation of the varnishes, acids and their application to the plate, plus the preparation of tools and points for etching, including an échoppe (or etching needle) and techniques for controlling them on the plate:
‘La manière de faire le vernis dur pour graver a leau forte sur le Cuivre;... de faire la mistion du suif et huille pour couvrir les planches...;... pour faire la ditte eau forte;... dapliquer le vernis sur la planche;... de faire saicher le vernis sur la planche avec le feu;... de faire les pointe[s] et les eschopes pour graver au verny mol et deur;... de gouverner les pointes sur la planche; de faire le verny mol ensemble le moyen de sen servir et autre particularitez;... dapliquer le verny sur la planche;... de faire le vernix dur & mol seront blanc...’
Added to this are recipes for two further varnishes, preparations of gold, silver and bronze (‘larain albon’) and a method for transferring prints to glass. The medical recipes are for urine retention and inflamed eyes (‘mal des hieux’).
The book has also been used, briefly, as an account book, with c. 3 pages of interesting entries for 1693, noting several agreements made for engraving or other aritistic work, apparently in the vicinity of Marseilles. For example, the writer paid 2 livres 2 sous to a Mademoiselle de Sieubert for four pictures (including one of children at play and a Saint Jerome); several figures are noted for plates either made or bought. In another entry over 200 livres are paid for a picture of Christ in the Garden by Bedeau (probably Pierre Bedeau, peintre ordinaire du roi, who died at Marseille in 1707).
The owner/maker’s name has been rubbed away from the cover, though the arms on the lower cover may be helpful in indentifying him. A note to the front pastedown, probably in a different hand gives the name of a Monsieur de Magny, rue de la Bucherie, Paris.
11. FALCONER, William. The Shipwreck, a Poem. London: for Joseph Wenman, 1783. £150 12mo (120 × 71 mm), pp. 106, including initial blank, engraved frontispiece (with small contemporary manuscript corrections to caption). Contemporary sheep, spine gilt ruled, red morocco label. Head of spine slightly torn, without loss. Ownership inscription: W. Danley, 1783’. A pretty copy. A DIMINUTIVE JUVENILE EDITION , one of three by Wenman (1781, 1783, 1787, all rare). First published in 1762, The Shipwreck proved extremely popular and was thereafter expanded and republished several times. Falconer, himself a seaman, had died at sea in 1769. ESTC: BL, Senate House and Southwestern University.
12. GAVARNI, Henri MONNIER and Tony JOHANNOT, illustrators . Album Types Anglais [Paris: Imprimerie Blondeau, rue de Petit Carreau, c. 1840]. £250 Oblong folio (212 × 320 mm), 14 leaves; title and 13 plates, the former with woodcut vignette, the latter with 2 vignettes each, tissue guards preserved. Some light spotting. Original green and gold printed wrappers, slightly soiled and with a few short tears to spine and margins. A good copy. FIRST EDITION of this very scarce collection of French caricatures of English ‘types’, men and women, including: an Oxford student, an auctioneer, a bus driver, a barmaid, a dressmaker, a chamber maid, a beggar and an invalid. Libraryhub locates only the Bodleain copy in the UK.
13. GENLIS, Stéphanie Félicité Brulart, comtesse de . Le Comte de Corke, surnomme ́ le Grand, ou, La Seductioń sans artifice, suivi de six Nouvelles Paris: Maradan, An III, 1805. £900 12mo (180 × 105 mm), pp. xii, 264; [iv], 244, [2], complete with half titles and final advert leaf. Worm hole inner upper margin in vol. 1, becoming a track/group of tracks on 15 leaves towards the end of vol. 1. Uncut in original pink wrappers with printed labels, paper split at joints but secure, vol. 2 with later inscription: ‘Genlis’. FIRST EDITION IN BOOK FORM , rare, of no less than seven novellas by Genlis, which had appeared serially in the Mercure , headed by a tale of Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork (1566 1643) the Elizabethan adventurer colonist in Ireland. Contents: 1. Le Comte de Corke (preceded by a Notice historique); Trait de la vie de Henri IV; La jeune Pénitente; 2. Les Amans sans amour; Zumelinde; Le Tulipier, conte oriental; Les Savinies, ou, Les deux jumelles Worldcat: Toronto only outside continental Europe. Several editions followed quickly, including at least one of the same year. COPAC/JISC adds a copy at Swansea.
14. [GRANT, Anne]. Essays on the Superstitions of the Highlanders of Scotland: to which are added, Translations from the Gaelic; and Letters connected with those formerly published. In two Volumes... London: [J. Hay & Co. Edinburgh] for Longman, Hurst [and others] and John Anderson in Edinburgh, 1811. £220 2 vols., 12mo (177 × 104 mm), pp. viii, 304; iv, 365, [1] errata. Some light browning and spotting. Contemporary half calf, flat panelled spines tooled in gilt and blind. Head and foot of vol. I chipped, and lower joint starting, but firm. Bookplates of John Swire Scott, and 19th century presentation inscriptions. A good copy. FIRST EDITION . Essays on the Superstitions of the Highlanders found favour among readers with a taste for the poetry of Burns and Scot, as well as among Romantics who looked to the Scottish Highlands for evidence of a society uncorrupted by the vices of modern society. Anne Grant was born in Glasgow, but spent her childhood in America and is best known for her Memoirs of an American Lady (1808).
15. GREENWOOD, William. A Poem written during a shooting Excursion on the Moors: by the Revd. William Greenwood, Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge; And Rector Of Bignor, In Sussex. Bath: Printed by R. Cruttwell; and sold by J. Marshall... also by R. Baldwin... London, [1787.] £1200 4to (230 × 190 mm), pp. [6], 25, [1], including half title, wood engraved head and tailpieces; modern wrappers. FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST PUBLISHED WORK ON GROUSE SHOOTING . It was well known to Wordsworth, who quoted it in his poem An Evening Walk. Jackson, p. 133; Schwerdt I, p. 218 (‘Exceedingly Rare’); ESTC: Brighton Central Library, BL, Cambridge (UL and St John’s), Longleat, Bodley, NT (Dunham Massey), Huntington, Princeton, UC Berkeley and Yale.
16. HOGG, James. The Queen’s Wake: a legendary Poem. Edinburgh: by Andrew Balfour, for George Goldie in Edinburgh and Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown in London, 1813. £450 8vo (210 × 125 mm), pp. [8], 353, [1]. Contemporary sprinkled calf, panelled spine tooled in blind, red morocco label. Slightly rubbed, joints cracked but cords secure. Early ownership inscription; John Tawse, York Place [Edinburgh]. A good copy. FIRST EDITION of the ‘Ettrick Shepherd’s’ first major success, the work which placed him on a par with Scott and Byron as fashionable poets of the 1810s. In dialect throughout, the poem imagines a return to Scotland of Mary Queen of Scots, and a poetical contest (the ‘Wake’) held in her honour at Holyrood. Jackson, p. 371.
17. (JAPONISANTE BINDINGS). HOLMES, Oliver Wendell and William D. Howells, [Essays and Novels]. Edinburgh: [University Press], David Douglas, 1882 5. £900 10 works bound in 6 vols, 16mo (128 × 90 mm). Bound in contemporary French relures japonisantes, gilt, morocco spine labels. Spines slightly darkened with some chips, the sides fine and bright. A GROUP RELIURES JAPONISANTES ON A SERIES OF EDINBURGH -PRINTED ‘A UTHOR ’S EDITION ’ COPIES OF THESE TWO AMERICAN AUTHORS . This style of binding, with characteristic embossed gilt paper covers in Japanese style became a bibliophilic vogue in the 1880s, reflecting the tremendous enthusiasm for all things Japanese in contemporary Paris. It is most unusual to find them in this context, on a group of popular American titles:
HOLMES, Oliver Wendell. The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. 1883. pp. xlviii, 212; 256, (without half titles) [and:] HOWELLS, William D. Their Wedding Journey and A Chance Acquaintance. 1882, pp. 320; 303, [1] ; The Undiscovered Country, 1882, pp. 250; 4 pages of ads, 269, [1]; The Lady of Aroostook. 1882, pp. 204 191, [1] ; The Rise of Silas Lapham. 1885, pp. 330; 320, [2]; A Forgone Conclusion. A Counterfeit Presentment and The Parlour Car. 1882, pp. 316; 228 .
18. JOHNSTON, John. Historia Civilis & Ecclesiastica. Ab orbe condito ad annum 1633. Editio postrema emendata. Amsterdam: Elzevir, 1644. £200 Small 8vo (95 × 40 mm), pp. [viii], 309, [7] (including engraved title and three final blank leaves). Early underlining to a few pages at opening. Some light dampstaining and occasional thumbing. Contemporary vellum with overlapping fore edges. Lightly soiled. A very nice copy. Aberdeen born scholar and poet John Johnston (c.1565–1611) spent over a decade in continental Europe (‘an admirable example of the cosmopolitan Scottish scholar, ODNB ) matriculating at the University of Rostock and being appointed regent at the university of Heidelberg in 1587. He returned to Scotland in 1591 and lived at St Andrews for the rest of his life. Historia Civilis & Ecclesiastica was first published, posthumously, in 1633. Worldcat lists non Continental copies at U London, Bodley, NLS, Glasgow, Penn and Morgan only. Willems 1011.
19. KAMISAKA SEKKA. Koromogae. Kyoto, Unsodo, Meiji 34 [1901]. £2500 Oblong 4to (175 × 240 mm), concertina bound, with 100 woodblock printed designs in colours and silver. Some spotting and foxing, occasionally heavy, but confined to certain openings, one plate with cracked with paper repair to verso. Original marbled boards with orange labels. Rubbed, old (Japanese) library labels and stamps. A good copy. FIRST EDITION (presumed first issue, being bound concertina style). A VERY RARE AND INFLUENTIAL KIMONO DESIGN BOOK by the Rinpa master, Kamisake Sekka. Koromogae (literally ‘change of clothes’) consists of 100 striking modernist fabric designs for kimonos, on double leaves. Sekka was an influential advocate for the wearing and design of the kimono among early twentieth century Japanese women, encouraging the modernisation of its decoration and a closer liaison between producer and consumer.
Sekka is important for having fused traditional Japanese design with European modernism, the latter experience first hand in his visit to the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1901. At the age of 36, Sekka travelled to Europe on behalf of the Kyoto local government to attend the Glasgow Exhibition. He stayed in Europe about six months researching European craft and design before returning to Kyoto where he served as an instructor at the School of Art and Design. ‘Kamisaka Sekka (1866 1942) was one of Japan’s leading artists, designers and art instructors. His bold, visually dynamic designs and innovative approach to production made him one of the great visionaries of modern Japanese art and design’ ( Kamisaka Sekka: Dawn of modern Japanese Design , 2012). Libraryhub (formerly COPAC) lists the BL copy only (and a copy of vol. 1 only at Manchester). Worldcat adds National Diet Libryyr (Tokyo) and University of Cincinnati only.
20. [KENNEDY, Grace]. Dunallan ou Connaissez ce que vous jugez, par l’auteur de Décision, du P. Clément, etc... Paris; [Pochard for:] Ambroise Dupont et C[ompagn]ie, 1828 £350 4 vols, 12mo (165 × 95 mm), pp. [4], 235, [1]; [4], 245, [1]; [4], 164; [4], 162. Rather spotted. Contemporary (?German) half calf, spines with pale blue and orange labels, marbled boards, yellow edges. Rubbed, but still attractive. FIRST EDITION IN FRENCH of Dunallan ; or, Know what you judge (1825); the last published (but first written) work of this once much read Presbyterian Scottish novelist (1782 1825). ‘Grace Kennedy's novels (at least eight) were all published anonymously and rapidly in the early 1820s, and met with considerable success, being reissued late into the nineteenth century...’ ( Oxford DNB ). Worldcat: NLS, Queen’s Public Library (NY) and Penn only outside continental Europe.
21. LUDLOW, William Andrew. Bengal Troops on the Line of March. A Panoramic Sketch by an Officer of that Army. London: Day and Haghe, [1835]. £4000* Panorama (114 × 8820 mm) being 18 joined zincographed plates (each 114 × 490 mm), all with original hand colour, plus explanation plate and a letterpress review from the United Service Journal, April 1835. Original cylindrical box with lid, around which is mounted the original title plate/label (now rubbed and soiled), the lid with a gold band. Some light thumbing throughout, one or two plates slightly clumsily joined (obscuring a very narrow sliver of the image). Occasional expert marginal repairs. A remarkable survival, in rolled format, complete with all requisite parts.
FIRST EDITION OF A SPECTACULAR PANORAMA made from drawings by a British serviceman in India on the long sea voyage home to England. It depicts members of the Bengal Native Infantry on the march with horses, camels and elephants and includes a Hindu priest, native officers, water carriers, laundry men, sepoys, a coffee party, a ‘cart in which Native Females ride and ‘Fakeers denouncing their flying Friends’. The Bengal Native Infantry, comprising mainly indigenous troops, originated with the East India Company’s Bengal Army and was central to British power in India; it was only disbanded after the Indian Mutiny (1857). William Ludlow was one of their British officers, apparently with numerous postings over a relatively long period, notably in the suppression of ‘Thuggee’ violence against British interests in Bengal.
This is also a very early British example of ‘zincography’, perhaps one of the earliest substantial projects in this media. In 1834, the Frenchman Breugnot obtained a 15 year patent for a new lithographic process in which zinc plates replace the more traditional lithographic stones. The Literary Gazette of 1834 contains a brief notice of specimen by Day and Haghe of this new process, the publishers of Ludlow’s remarkable large scale prints the following year.
Abbey, Life 530. Copies are also known as folding plates in a cloth binding, or as loose plates sometimes mounted in albums, the rolled version, especially with the original box, appear very rare. Of all versions Worldcat lists copies at Brown, University of Minnesota, Zurich, National Library of Australia. The BL and the Lewis Walpole Library have a copies, in 6 original plates (each with 3 scenes, the Walpole copy uncoloured).
22. LYDIS, Mariette. Orientalisches Traumbuch. Potsdam: [Dr. Selle & Co for] Müller & Co, [1925], £800 8vo (175 × 115 mm), pp. 167, [3], including 27 plates/decorative titles printed in gold and colours on stiff paper, plus a similar frontispiece with a moveable volvelle inserted in a pocket at front. Text within red and brown decorative borders. Original decorative paper covered boards, red endpapers with pocket. Loss to 1 cm at head of spine, and small tear to foot, hinges cracked and one or two openings separating, but all secure. Author’s inscription to front free endpaper. FIRST EDITION of Lydis’s charming astrological dream dictionary, inscribed by the author: ‘To Mimi in remembrance of dreamy summer days with love Mariette Lydis 1926’, complete with the moveable volvelle horoscope and striking plates printed in colours and gold.
A fragile book, this is among the early works by Austrian born Lydis (1887 1970), who settled in Paris in 1926. She became known for her daring prints celebrating same sex and bisexual love (notably her 1926 portfolio, Lesbiennes ) and illustrated deluxe editions of Boccaccio, Louÿs, Baudelaire, Mirbeau and Valéry. Lydis had no formal artistic training, or at least her education is obscure, but her work was no doubt inspired by the freedom of twentieth century Paris. She escaped the Nazis during the occupation, living briefly with her partner Erica Marx in England, before the couple emigrated to Buenos Airies.
23. MCLEOD, Norman. Epitome of the History of Japan... with Illustrations of the principal historical Personages, taken from ancient Pictures. Nagasaki: ‘Printed for the Author at the Rising Sun Office, Nagasaki, and Engraved at Osaka, Japan’, 1879. £400 Small 8vo (137 × 92 mm), pp. [4], 153 plus 15 engraved portraits. Minor waterstain to foremargins of first three plates, lightly browned throughout. Original decorated silk brocade covered wrappers. Spine worn, with silk cords frayed. Inscription to front free endpaper: ‘To C.H. Cundall Esq. With the Author’s compts. Yokohama 16/6/68’. PRESENTATION COPY OF ONE OF THE ODDER CONTRIBUTIONS TO FAR EASTERN ETHNOGRAPHY : a self-published thesis on the origins of the Japanese people among the lost tribes of Israel by a Scot resident in Japan . The opening of Japan in the later nineteenth century after centuries of isolation encouraged numerous Western attempts to account for the specific features of Japanese race and culture. Among these was a notable desire to explain their origins in familiar terms. ‘Residing for several years in Japan, McLeod ventured to offer a full theory on the common ancestry of Japanese and Jews. Like his predecessors, he was astonished to find “many Jewish faces similar to those I saw on the continent”, and even the Emperor much resembled, he discovered, “the noble Jewish family of von Epstein”. Facial resemblance led to further analogies. Japanese shrines are built of cedar, he remarked, as was the Jewish Temple, and Jews carried the Ark of God as the Japanese do with their mikoshi (portable shrine). McLeod believed the Jews crossed Asia, conquered China, Korea, and later, headed by a Jewish–Korean leader known as Emperor Jimmu, they crossed the sea and took over the Japanese archipelago’. (‘Lighter than yellow, but not enough’: Western Discourse on the Japanese Race’, 1854 1904)’, Rotem Kowner in T he Historical Journal , 43, 1, 2000.
The author, a Scots born businessman turned missionary, self published this work in Japan, with a first edition of 1878 and several later editions with modifications. This 1879 edition with 153 pages has its last page printed in differing type and its final sentence left incomplete (the verso is blank) in common with other examples. The plates common to both editions are evidently etched or engraved: a most unusual example of Japanese printed copper plates at this period. McLeod had also produced a larger collection of plates: Illustrations to the Epitome of the ancient History of Japan: including illustrations to Guide Book (1877).
24. MOFFAT, James. Vexation and Strife. Calcutta, 1797. £1100* Etched and aquatint plate, (sheet size 290 × 380 mm, plate area 274 × 348 mm). Slight crease to lower left hand corner, light stains (from mounting) to upper margin. A very good example. A RARE CARICATURE OF DOMESTIC STRIFE , CALCUTTA -PRINTED BY SCOTTISH PRINTMAKER JAMES MOFFAT (1775 1815), better known for his Indian topographical views popular among British colonial residents in India. A woman, dressed in a short shift, angrily pulls a bottle from the hand of a drunken man, who sits with his right fist raised and a cigar hanging from his mouth as smoke billows around his head. He holds onto a bottle with his left hand, a glass and pile of cigars at his elbow. The woman points with her left hand to a clock on the wall which shows the time as five past five. In the background on the left, a dark faced, cloaked figure stands before the curtained doorway on the left.
‘Moffat was a Scotsman who arrived in India aged only 14, living in Calcutta from 1789 to 1815. He appears to have learnt his profession of drawing and engraving in India. According to Wynyard Wilkinson (‘The Makers of Indian Colonial Silver’, London, 1987, p. 137) he was apprenticed as an engraver to the silversmith John Ludvig Jacobi in 1789, and then worked from 1794 1804 for another silversmith John Mair and his successor firms, while engraving and publishing his own views. An advertisement in the ‘Calcutta Gazette’ in 1797 offering to produce ‘Picturesque copper plate engravings’ led to a series of views of Calcutta and its environs.’
Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. The only copy we have located being in the Lewis Walpole Library, which holds this and one other, the only institutional holdings we have found for any of Moffat’s Calcutta caricatures. The BL (only) holds 7 satirical prints by Moffat, all published later in London by William Holland (1811 1813), and four original satirical drawings, undated but circa 1796. Moffat’s career in Calcutta is discussed by Hermione De Almeida and George H. Gilpin, Indian Renaissance: British Romantic Art and the Prospect of India (2005), pp. 249 50. 25. MOORE, Edward. Fables for the Female Sex... the third edition. London: for R. Francklin, 1749. £600 8vo (190 × 118 mm), pp. [4], 173, [3], including final advert leaf. Engraved frontispiece and 16 plates by Grignion, Ravenet and others after Hayman, title in red and black with engraved vignette Small wormtrack/hole to gutter towards the rear, lightly browned. Contemporary panelled calf, gilt, panelled spine with green morocco label and urn tools. Slightly rubbed. Inscription of W[illia]m Danby to front free endpaper and note of purchase (‘Bought of Mr Dyer, Exeter. March 1805’.) A particularly nice copy. First published anonymously in May 1744, Moore’s Fables for the Female Sex had at least seventeen other editions in the eighteenth century, four of which were American; it was translated into French in 1764 and German in 1772. Three of the fables are by Henry Brooke. Hayman’s illustrations incorporate numerous elements from Francis Barlow’s sequence of the previous century; his original drawings of 1744 are preserved in the Rothschild collections at Waddesdon. Foxon, M428.
26. NAPIER, Theodore. The Royal House of Stuart. A Plea for its Restoration being an Appeal to loyal Scotsmen. [Edinburgh: Lorimer and Gillies] for [the author] in Edinburgh: ‘Balmanno’ and London: R. Stewart Meade, 1898. £600 4to in half sheets (235 × 200 mm), pp. 31, [1], plus portrait. Ornaments to text. Printed on thick laid paper. Original limp red roan, upper cover lettered in gilt. Small paper shelf label. Inscribed: ‘To Her Most Gracious Majesty The Queen from Her loyal Subject the Author’, additional inscription by the recipient: ‘Matia Theresa’. A fine copy. FIRST EDITION , DEDICATION COPY , INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR TO ‘T HE QUEEN ’, NOT VICTORIA , BUT THE JACOBITE CLAIMANT OF THE BRITISH CROWN , MARIA THERESA OF AUSTRIA - ESTE (1849 1919). Theodore Napier (1845 1924), Australian born of Scottish emigrant parentage, became one of the most colourful Scottish patriots and advocates of the Jacobite succession. Adopting full Highland dress and sporting an extravagant white beard he raised eyebrows in Melbourne and Edinburgh alike and he issued a stream of pamphlets advocating Scottish home rule and the Jacobite succession. The frontispiece here depicts Maria Theresa, with the caption: ‘Who, but for the Act of Settlement, would now be reigning as Queen Mary III. of Scotland, and IV. of England and Ireland.’ The pamphlet was issued as number 17 of the publications of the Legitimist Jacobite League of Great Britain and Ireland, but appears here as an offprint (without reference to the series) on thick paper.
Maria Theresa was the niece and heir of the childless Francis V, Duke of Modena who had been, at the time of his death, the Jacobite heir general to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland; as such, she became the heir after his death in 1875. Neither she, nor any of her Jacobite forebears since 1807, ever seriously pursued this claim.
27. NODIER, Charles. Promenade de Dieppe aux montagnes d’Ecosse. Paris: [Didot for] Barba, 1821. £200 8vo, pp. 331, [1], plus three hand coloured engraved plates and folding map. Slightly spotted. Original wrappers (the upper repaired at corners and laid down) preserved in later quarter cloth. Bookplate of Pierre Munier. From the books of the late Martin Stone (1946 2016). FIRST EDITION . Novelist Nodier spent 50 days travelling the length of Britain to Scotland, where he took in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dumbarton, Loch Lomond, Loch Katrine and Loch Long and was impressed by the romantic and gothic aspects of landscape and architecture. In England he visited Brighton, London, Richmond and Oxford taking in sights and museums. He was probably the first (of many) Frenchmen to take notice of the paintings of John Constable, having seen the The Hay Wain at the 1821 academy exhibition, including a rhapsodic report here (pp. 84 9).
28. PIGAULT-LEBRUN. [Charles-Antoine-Guillaume Pigault de l’Espinoy]. Monsieur Botte. Paris: Barba, An XI, 1803. £750 12mo (182 × 100 mm), 4 vols, pp. [iv], 223, [1]; [iv], 207, [1]; [iv], 220; [iv], 236, [8] complete with half titles, plus engraved frontispieces by G. Texier after Huot. Bookseller’s list on verso of half titles. Uncut in original blue wrappers, printed spine labels. Spines creased, minor fraying a few trivial stains, but a very nice unsophisticated copy. FIRST EDITION . ‘... born at Calais, author of lively, licentious novels, widely read about 1800 (the favourite reading of Miss Crawley in Thackeray’s Vanity Fair )... During a riotous, dissipated youth this author returned to Calais on one occasion to find that his disgusted father had published notice of his death’ ( Oxford Companion to French Literature ).
Monsieur Botte was reprinted several times and seems to have found favour in 1803 adapted for the stage as M. Botte; ou, Le négociant anglais comédie en trois actes et en prose, imitée du roman de Pigault Lebrun by Servières and Sutton de Clonard. The Critical Review describes an English edition of 1804 published by William Lane (of the Minerva Press), but if it was indeed published by Lane, we can find no trace of it in the usual catalogues.
29. PITOU, Louis-Ange. L’Urne des Stuarts et des Bourbons, ou, le Fond de ma conscience sur les causes et les effets des vingt un Janvier, des XVIe., XVIIIe. et XIXe. siecles,̀ chez les deux peuples, precé dé ́ d’une notice historique sur les grands evé nemenś des 21 juin, 10 aout̂ et 2 septembre 1792... Paris: chez L.A. Pitou, Libraire de S.A.R. Madame la duchesse d’Orléans, 31 August, 1815. £200 8vo (200 × 120 mm), pp. xxiv, 430 [actually 432], [2], pp. xxi xxiv bound after half title and title, complete with engraved frontispiece. Contemporary quarter sheep. Rubbed. A very good copy. FIRST EDITION . Royalist conter revolutionary journalist Pitou was arrested no less than 18 times during the revolutionary period before being deported to Cayenne for his royalist sympathies. L’Urne des Stuarts et des Bourbons was written on his escape and return to France.
30. [POURRET DES GAUDS, A.] Le Pelerinagé d’Holy-Rood, ou, Le recit́ et le reve...̂ Paris: G. A. Dentu, 1832. £600 8vo (230 × 138 mm), pp. [4], 70, plus lithographed frontispiece. Uncut in original printed pink wrappers. A few small chips and creases, but a nice unsophisticated copy. FIRST EDITION . An account of the author’s ‘pilgrimage’ to the Palace of Holyrood in Edinburgh, where French monarch Charles X had taken refuge (for the second time) following his deposition by the July Revolution in 1830. The object of his pilgrimage was not so much Charles himself, but his young nephew Henri, son of the Duke and Duchess de Berri, named regent of French in exile. A detailed report of this extraordinary young man is given, together with the striking lithograph portrait. The ‘Récit’ of the meeting is followed by various reflections on the author’s return journey through London, and then by a ‘rêve’ in which he dreams of a return to Paris and restoration of the monarchy under the young Henri.
31. (SCOTLAND). (Petitions). [Edinburgh, 1757 1768]. £1800 7 works bound together, small 4to (230 × 154 mm). Some soiling and minor fraying (last line of one page slightly affected). Later manuscript abstracts pasted to final verso of each item. Later drab wrappers, captioned in manuscript. Bookplate/stamp of Cecil R. Humphrey Smith to upper cover. 1. Memorial for His Grace John Duke of Roxburgh and his Curators, Defenders; against John Hay of Lawfield, William Hay of Charterfield and William Sandihills, all Heretors of Eastbarns, Pursuers . [Edinburgh: August 2, 1757], pp. 15, [1]. Not in ESTC.
2. Unto the Right Honourable the Lords of Council and Session, the Petition of Alexander Earl of Home. [Edinburgh: 31 January, 1764], pp. 28. Not in ESTC.
3. Unto the Right Honourable the Lords of Council and Sessions, the Petition of Captain Shaw Grosett, and Miss Lilias Grosett... [Edinburgh: February 3, 1768], pp. 16. Not in ESTC.
4. Unto the Right Honourable the Lords of Council and Session, the Petition of Alexander Hamilton of Blantyre farm, and Miss Lilias Grosett. [Edinburgh: February 17, 1768], pp. 8 . Not in ESTC.
5. Information for Alexander Drummond Esq; late his Majesty’s Consul at Aleppo in Syrai, now residing in Canongate, in the Competition of the Creditors of Mrs. Marion Drummond. [Edinburgh: January 22, 1768], pp. 8. ESTC: Bodley only.
6. Unto the Right Honourable the Lords of Council and Session, the Petition of Janet Rattray, Widow of John Scott, late Tacksman of Rashyhill, and of Andrew, James, Joseph, George, and Hary Scotts, their children. [Edinburgh: February 18, 1768], pp. 13, [1]. Not in ESTC.
7. Unto the Right Honourable the Lords of Council and Session, the Petition of Alexander Roberts in Nether Wardroppertown, and Katharine Straton his Spouse, eldest Daughter of the deceased Robert Straton of Wardroppertown. [February 20, 1768], pp. 12. Not in ESTC.
SEVEN EIGHTEENTH -CENTURY PLEADINGS IN EDINBURGH COURTS RELATING TO INHERITANCE , MOST INVOLVING FEMALE INHERITANCES . All are very rare.
32. [SCOTT, Sir Walter]. Les Puritains d’Écosse et le Nain mystérieux, Contes de mon hôte recueillis par Jedediah Cleisbotham, Paris: [Clo for] H. Nicolle and Ledoux et Tenré, 1817. £450 4 vols, 12mo (160 × 92 mm), pp. [4], viii, [9] 253, [3] (including additional half title to Le Nain Mystérieux at end); [4], 240; [4], 239, [1]; [4], 258, complete with half titles. Contemporary quarter sheep, mottled vellum corners, spines lettered direct. Spines dry and slightly rubbed. A very good unsophisticated copy. FIRST EDITIONS IN FRENCH of the two novels Old Mortality and The Black Dwarf (1816) from Scott’s Tales of my Landlord, only the second volume of Scott’s fictional works to appear in France (after Guy Mannering ). Pseudonymously issued, both in Britain and France, it was listed under the pseudonym ‘Cleisbotham’ in the Bibliographie de France . This is the first of Auguste Jean Baptiste Defauconpret’s translations and marks the beginning of Scott’s celebrity in France: ‘the first considerable success’ (Dargan). It is also one of the most influential of Scott’s works in France. ‘Defauconpret’s Les Puritains d’Ecosse gave Scott his first French success and first major European breakthrough. Although partially obscured by Ivanhoe and Quentin Durward , it remained for many Frenchmen the Scott novel Par excellence . Stendhal is among many to call Scott not ‘the author of Waverly ’ but ‘the author of Old Mortality ’ Often critical of Scott, Stendhal remained an unswerving admirer of Old Mortality ’ (Barnaby). It was also frequently alluded to by Balzac throughout La Comédie Humaine .
On the strength of its immediate success, the publisher, Nicolle (the predecessor of Gosselin) engaged Defauconpret to translate subsequent novels as they appeared. Bearing in mind its tremendous influence on French European literature, the French edition is remarkably rare. Worldcat lists copies at Bn, NLS, Universities of Edinburgh, Leipzig and Princeton. E. Preston Dargan, ‘Scott and the French Romantics’, PMLA , Vol. 49, No. 2 (Jun 1934), 2 & 3 (May 3); Paul Barnaby, ‘Another Tale of Old Mortality: The Translations of Auguste Jean Baptiste Defauconpret in the French Reception of Scott.’ in Pittock, ed ., The Reception of Sir Walter Scott in Europe , 2006; Garside, Raven and Schöwerling, The English Novel 1770 182 9, 1816: 53.
33. SCOTT, Sir Walter. La Dame du Lac. Paris: [Cosson] for Librairie de Henri Nicolle and Ladvocat, 1821. £600 2 vols, 12mo (160 × 100 mm), pp. [4], 3, [1], xi, [7], iii, [1], 238; [4], 125, [3], 128, [2] (errata), including title page for the ‘Oeuvres completes’ 6 & 7, plus lithograph frontispieces by Engelmann. Occasional light spotting. Contemporary quarter sheep, paper labels lettered in gilt, green paper covered boards. Spines chipped at head and tails, corners a little worn. A good copy. FIRST EDITION IN FRENCH of this translation (mainly in prose) of Scott’s narrative poem The Lady of the Lake (1810) which also contains Les Fiançailles de Trierman, a prose translation of Scott’s poem The Bridal of Trierman. It is by Amedée Pichot, and was preceded by a novelised treatment of the poem by Elisabeth le Bon (1813). Pichot is a significant figure in the translation of English works into French―in the course of his long career he translated Byron, Dickens, Sheridan, Thackeray and Lytton. The first volume contains a publisher’s statement disavowing a spurious work entitled Le Chateau de Pontefract which had recently appeared in Paris under Scott’s name. In common with most of the Scott titles first published in French in the 1820s, the first edition of La Dame du Lac was to form part of the growing ‘complete works’ series and contains half titles marked Oeuvres complètes . Rare: Worldcat lists copies at Texas only outside continental Europe. Libraryhub (formerly COPAC) locates no British copies.
34. SCOTT, Sir Walter. Quentin Durward , ou l’Écossais à la cour de Louis XI, par Sir Walter Scott, traduit de l’anglais par le traducteur des romans historiques de Sir Walter Scott... [A. J. B. Defauconpret.]. Paris: [Cosson for] Charles Gosselin and Ladvocat, 1823. £700 4 vols, 12mo (165 × 90 mm), pp. [3 4], lxiii, [1], [5] ‘205’ (actually 203), [1]; [4], 260; [4], 286; [4], 307, [1], without half title to vol. 1 but present in the other 3. Occasional light spotting. Contemporary quarter sheep, paper labels lettered in gilt, green paper covered boards. Spines chipped at head and tail with minor loss, several corners a little worn. A good copy. FIRST EDITION IN FRENCH of ‘the most influential’ of all Scott’s novels in France (Dargan), the tale of a Scottish archer in the service of the French King Louis XI (1423–1483). Issued separately, it also formed vols 69 72 of Oeuvres complètes de Walter Scott . Scott experience uncommon success in France, where his novels inspired a host of romantic and medievalist admirers (Hugo, Delavigne and Balzac among them). Quentin Durward , in particular, helped rekindle among novelists an interest in French history and the era of Louis XI, and Scott’s gothicism is rightly credited as one of the origins of a movement for the conservation and restoration of French national monuments culminating in the work of Viollet le duc.
The translations (usually by Defaucompret) were approved by Scott and appeared almost simultaneously with the British editions, with Cadell delivering advance sheets to the French publishers. E. Preston Dargan, ‘Scott and the French Romantics’, PMLA , Vol. 49, No. 2 (Jun 1934), 17 (May 31) and p. 605 ff.; Garside, Raven and Schöwerling, The English Novel 1770 182 9, 1823: 74. For all their celebrity, the French editions are rare aoutside Europe: OCLC lists copies at NLS, Aberdeen and University of Toronto only outside continental Europe.
35. SHARPE, Charles Kirkpatrick. Metrical Legends and other Poems. Oxford: [S. Collingwood], sold by J. Parker; and by Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, London, 1807. £250 8vo (220 × 125 mm), pp. [4], 107, [1], 16 (adverts). Uncut in original blue boards, drab paper spine with traces of old manuscript title. Joints cracked, with consequent wear, but secure. Small stamp (‘B.H. Inglis’) to title verso, later bookplates of Hansard Watt and Charles Ballantyne. A very good, unsophisticated copy, preserved in a later red morocco slipcase. FIRST EDITION . Scottish antiquarian and Sharpe ‘lived in and for the past’ ( Oxford DNB ) and this early collection is steeped in Scottish occult lore and witchcraft (in which Sharpe was an acknowledged expert). Inspired by Scott, who became a lifetime friend and correspondent, the author spent a short spell at Oxford, but returned to Edinburgh in 1813, where he lived until his death in 1851. He left one of the most extensive collections of antiquities ever accumulated by a private individual in Scotland. Jackson, p. 310.
36. SILLAR, David. Poems... Kilmarnock: Printed by John Wilson, 1789. £800 8vo (224 × 137 mm), pp. 247, [1]; quite browned and spotted; but uncut in the original blue boards; rubbed and soiled, rebacked to style. FIRST EDITION of the only collection by David Sillar, youthful friend of Robert Burns, published by John Wilson, who had previously published Burns’s collection at Kilmarnock in 1786. It includes the poem ’To the author’ (pp.[9] 11), signed ‘R. B’., [Robert Burns]. Jackson, p. 151.
37. SMITH, Charlotte. L. Antoine MARQUAND, translator . Le Proscrit par... Auteur d’Emmeline, D’Ethelinde, de Célestine, de Montalbert, des Promenades Champêtres, etc. etc. Traduit de l’anglais, sur le seconde édition... Paris: Le Normant, An XI, 1803. £1200 4 vols, 12mo (180 × 110 mm), pp. [4], xxxvi, 278; [4], 282; [4], 310; [4], 340, plus 4 engraved frontispieces by François Huot. Uncut in original pink wrappers with printer’s waste, printed labels preserved on 3 vols. Wrappers worn, one cover detached, but an appealing, unsophisticated copy. FIRST EDITION IN FRENCH OF THE BANISHED MAN (1794). Smith’s republican sympathies are well known, but this novel marked a shift in her enthusiasm for the Revolution — it opens in 1792 with the impact of the Revolutionary wars and covers the execution of King Louis XVI in January 1793 as well as the radical period of the Terror. The introduction to Marquand’s translation serves as a retrospective review of Smith’s remarkable popularity in France. Worldcat lists the copy at Illinois as the only copy outside continental Europe. The UK’s Libraryhub (formerly COPAC) adds a copy at Birmingham.
38. (TYPOGRAPHY). [MACPHERSON, James, and others ]. Poetry of Nature, comprising, a Selection of the most sublime and beautiful Apostrophes, Histories, Songs, Elegies, &c. from the Works of the Caledonian Bards. The typographical Execution in a Style entirely new, and decorated with the superb Ornaments, of the celebrated Caslon. [Colophon : Londini: Typis J.P. Cooke], [1789]. £1500 Small 4to (195 × 152 mm), pp. [8], x, 184, including subscribers’ list on pp. [3 8]; minor foxing; later half calf, neatly rebacked. FIRST EDITION of this Ossianic collection, published in Macpherson’s lifetime. It is one of the earliest (if not the earliest) book to employ William Caslon’s double pica script type , which was first introduced in his specimen book of 1785. The ‘Preliminary Address’ (dated 26 January 1789) calls attention to this new ‘species of Typographical Elegance’. A typographically daring production, the script type is used in conjunction with several other unusual types including a revived black letter, used in upper case.
The editor can be identified as Mary Potter from reference to ‘the posthumous publications of the late Mr. [T.] Potter her Father’, author of The Moralist, or Portraits of the human Mind exhibited in a series of Novelettes (1785). The subscribers include Warren Hastings, George Romney, General Paoli and Mrs Piozzi. Not in Jackson. ESTC lists four issues, all rare, none corresponding precisely with this copy, with (apparently) 4, 10 or 12 pages of subscribers, with viii or x numbered pages of preliminaries, and with or without a colophon. Birrell & Garnett, Catalogue of Typefounders’ Speciments [and] Books printed in Founts of Historic Importance (1928), 177.
39. WEST, Thomas. A Guide to the Lakes, in Cumberland, Westmorland, and Lancashire. By the author of The antiquities of Furness...The third edition, revised throughout and greatly enlarged. London: for B. Law, Ave Mary Lane; Richardson and Urquhart under the Royal Exchange; J. Robson, New Bond Street; and W. Pennington, Kendal, 1784. £250
8vo (208 × 118 mm), pp. [iii ] xii, 306,[2] (blank), plus engraved frontispiece and large folding map, bound without half title. Offsetting from frontis to title and to the map. Contemporary sprinkled smooth calf. Spine ruled in gilt, red morocco label, slightly rubbed. A very good copy. First published in 1778, this important Lakeland guide had reached no less than 11 editions by 1821. Its picturesque vision was hugely influential and can be credited, at least in part, with establishing the Romantics’ interest in the Lakes. ‘Drawing freely on the work of previous writers, notably Thomas Gray, Thomas Pennant, and John Brown, and very much reflecting the contemporary interest in what West himself calls ‘landscape studies’, the Guide is nevertheless a work of considerable individuality, displaying a real sensitivity to the visual qualities of the district. The recommended 'stations' for viewing the landscape were a significant innovation. The author's antiquarian passion and his curiosity about industrial activities are clearly evident. The Guide undoubtedly did much to popularize the district (Oxford DNB ).
40. WOODWARD, [George Moutard]. [ROWLANDSON, Thomas]. Genii of Caricature Bringing in Fresh Supplies. [London, 1808 21]. £600* Hand coloured etched plate (232 × 336 mm), closely cut at head and sides (plate number cropped). Corners mounted to old paper leaf, each torn, but without signifcant loss. The ‘Genii of Caricature’ haul in a net full of subjects (portraits, bon mots, manners, oddities, jokes etc) to Tegg’s Apollo Library, which advertises ‘The Largest Assortment of Caricatures in the World’, while the proprietor takes a pot shot at folly flying overhead. The caption is from Pope: ‘Eye Natures walks, shoot Folly as it flies, and catch the manners living as they rise’ (Essay on Man). The Apollo Library was at 111 Cheapside, at the corner of Honey Lane opposite St Mary Le Bow church. A famous caricature print, the tailpiece from The Caricature Magazine , vol. 3, published by Thomas Tegg, London, 1808–09, and the separate plate reissued several times to c. 1821.
finis