Children’s Books from the Collection of Norman and Florence Blitch Lots 325-358
325 AESOP (ca 620-560 B.C.). Aesopi Phrygis Fabulae Graece et Latine, cum aliis opusculis, quorum Index proxima refertur pagella. Tübingen: Ulrichus Morhardum, 1546. 8vo (151 x 95 mm). Title printed within woodcut border with hand-coloring, 17 woodcut decorative initials. (Abrasion with minor loss to border on title, some browning or staining.) Later half calf gilt, marbled boards, edges stained red (some overall wear). Provenance: Unidentified inscription on title-page; F. J. Pith? (early signature, annotations); unidentified stamp; Crosby Gaige (1883-1949) (bookplate). A rare 16th-century edition of Aesop’s Fables, printed in Greek and Latin, here printed with an index. Also included, are Homer, Ranarum & Murium Pugna (24pp. printed in Greek and Latin); Musaeus, Deero et Leandro (26pp. printed in Greek and Latin); Agapeto, Exposito Capitum Damonitoriorum.... (44pp. printed in Greek and Latin); Hipp. Ivsivrandum (4pp.); and 17pp. in Greek. From the collection of Broadway producer Crosby Gaige. Brunet II 99. [Bound with:] CLENARDUS, Nicolaus. Institutiones absolutissimae in Graecam linguam. Cologne: Martinus Gymnicus, 1546. Text in Greek and Latin. Copies of either work are exceedingly scarce on the market at auction. $600 – 800
326 AESOP (ca 620-560 B. C.). -- BEWICK, Thomas (1753-1828). The Fables of Aesop, and Others, with Designs on Wood. Newcastle: E. Walker for T. Bewick and Son, 1818. Demy 8vo (202 x 121 mm). Engraved frontispiece printed in red and black with Bewick’s engraved thumbprint and facsimile signature, engraved printer’s device on title-page, profusely illustrated with woodengravings by Bewick. (Some spotting, some toning.) 19th-century blue morocco gilt, edges gilt, (some chipping). Provenance: Mr. Jife (signature); R.W. Martin (bookplate, Longbenton, [Northumberland]). FIRST EDITION, one of 1,000 copies printed, variant A with “Auld Clouty” wood-engraving at bottom of page XVI, and with last line in page 248 reading “road of honour and honesty.” Engraver Thomas Bewick is credited for reviving wood-engraving during the 18th-century and illustrated several editions of Aesop’s Fables throughout his career. He worked on the present work in 1812 before it was published in 1818. This present work is part of Bewick’s third edition of Aesop’s fables, and highlight’s his pioneering method of “white-line” engraving (Uglow, p. xiii). Roscoe 45c; Uglow, Nature’s Engraver: A Life of Thomas Bewick, 2006. $300 - 400
106 F I N E B O O K S & M A N U S C R I P T S I N C L U D I N G A M E R I C A N A
