A Short List for Long Nights

A SHORT LIST FOR LONG NIGHTS. SOME RECENT PURCHASES.

Guns and gardens, cookery and casinos and manuscript poems All enquiries to andrew@voewood.com

1.

FLEMING, Ian. Casino Royale.

London: Jonathan Cape 1953 First edition, first printing. 8vo, 190x125mm. pp 218. Original black cloth with red heart on upper cover and lettered in red to spine. First issue illustrated dust jacket designed by Ian Fleming. Very small (c.5mm) nick to head of spine. Dust jacket has chip (c. 1.5cm) to foot of spine, closed tear to bottom right corner at fold with the front flap, minor chipping to head of spine and top edges and a small tear to bottom left corner at fold with rear flap. Some browning and creasing to lower cover of dust jacket. Light staining to fore-edge but otherwise internally very good. The First Bond.

[3590]

£18,000

A FEMALE POET ON A SCANDALOUS PAINTING

2.

PHILLIPS, Susan Katherine (née Holdsworth). The Awakened Conscience. n.p. c1854 An unpublished manuscript poem by the poet Susan Phillips. It is headed “The awakened Conscience. Painted by H.H. Hunt”. In fact the correct title of the painting is “The Awakening Conscience” and the artist was William Holman Hunt. Hunt’s painting is dated 1853 and was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1854 which is the date on the poem. Four pages: a single folded sheet of pale blue laid paper with watermark and an oval blindstamp to head of first page of “The Athenaeum” - a male friend or relation must have smuggled it out of the club.

At the end of the poem, on the final page is inscribed in pencil “Mrs H. Phillips”. In 1856, Susan married the painter Henry Wyndham Phillips, so she may still have been Susan Holdsworth when she wrote this poem. The work is in seven verses of eight lines each. It is an ekphrasis, describing Hunt’s famously scandalous painting in detail: “She started from his clasp/The Clasp so careless now/Her long rich tresses rippling gold/ Flung backward from her brow”. The poem captures the emotional intensity and the moral message of the painting, the last two lines referring to “the deep heart’s tragedy/Which Hunt has pictured there”. Susan Phillips’s first published work was in 1865.

Three later collections were printed in the 1870s and 1880s. She was the daughter of a Yorkshire vicar and spent much of her life in that county with her husband through whom she mixed in artistic circles. As this poem, on one of the most celebrated paintings of the age, demonstrates, she clearly had an acute and finely attuned visual sense and it is interesting to see how a woman writer responded to this painting which explores the fragile position of the unmarried woman in Victorian England. Phillips demonstrates a real sympathy for the plight of the woman and a contempt for the selfish man who “will not soothe one tear of thine”.

Sold with an autograph manuscript note by the artist Lady Elizabeth Butler (1846-1933) on one side of a single sheet of notepaper, with the embossed address Plas Newydd, Nr Ruthin, N. Wales. The note states: “These are chiefly drawings done after joining the School of Art in 1866 & before. Some alluded to in my autobiography. E.B.” As her autobiography was published in 1923, the note is from after that date.

[3554]

£375

UNREQUITED. AN OLD MAN’S DECLARATION OF LOVE

3.

ARMSTRONG, Reverend William Archibald. Original Epigrams Epigrammatic trifles Extracts - Madrigals Epitaphs and Short pieces of various descriptions. Composed and collected For the entertainment of M.B. - by her friend W.A.A [Ramsgate] n.p. 1832 Manuscript book containing 500 autograph manuscript poems and epigrams by various authors but many composed by the compiler of the book, the Reverend William Archibald Armstrong (1770-1837), Rector and Clerk of Ramsgate. 225x185mm. pp. 180. Green half morocco, marbled-paper covered boards. Spine and corners rubbed and worn. Tears to head and foot of spine and to edges of boards.

All edges gilt. Internally fine, very clean and fresh.

The 500 poems are all numbered and written in Armstrong’s neat hand. There is a mixture of work by established writers (Byron, Voltaire, Crabbe, Cowper, Milton all feature), anonymous pieces and Armstrong’s own verses and epigrams, signed W.A.A, many of which are strongly expressive love poems. The book is dedicated to a young woman called Melba Beevor. The first leaf contains a dedicatory letter to Miss M. Beevor, dated 5 August 1832 and written from Forley House Ramsgate, in which he writes “My dear Melba, I have transcribed from a variety of manuscripts a number of poetic trifles for your amusement”...”there are some [poems] bearing my own mark and signature - these have the least merit - but still they claim the privilege of friendship”. Armstrong’s feelings, however, appear stronger than just friendship. In one couplet “To X.X.” he writes: “What on my tomb inscribed shall be/ Mxx! - That I was loved by thee!”. The book ends with a final dedicatory verse to Melba.

Melba was the daughter of Major General Robert Beevor who lived in Ramsgate and moved in the same social circles as Armstrong (they were both subscribers to a collection of Sermons by the Curate of the Chapel of Ease in Ramsgate dated 1836). She was born in 1810 so was twenty-two to Beevor’s sixty-two when this manuscript was written. Ten years after this, in 1842, Melba married Samuel Allenby. By this time, Armstrong had been dead for five years, so he was spared having his heart broken.

[3553]

£250

4.

[WHITWORTH, Joseph and George Wallis. The Industry of the United States in Machinery, Manufactures, and Useful and Ornamental Arts. compiled from the reports of Messrs. Whitworth and Wallis.

London and New York: George Routledge & Co. 1854 First edition. 8vo. 159x95mm. pp. xx, 172. Blue-green bubble grained cloth, tan calf backstrip lettered in gilt with a gilt double fillet border. Backstrip damaged with loss of 40mm. Slight bumping to corners. Internally very good save for staining on pp62-63. Library label of The Institution of Civil Engineers on front pastedown and front free endpaper has inscription “Science Museum” in blue biro. Library stamp on the verso of the title page and on the final page. Rare in commerce.

This book is the result of the tour of the United States made by Joseph Whitworth and George Wallis in 1853. They had been appointed British Commissioners for the New York International Exhibition and were also instructed to investigate the development of industry, manufacturing and the applied arts in America. They covered 5000 miles visiting factories and schools of design. The book contains chapters on the production of all types of everything from wheels for trains to ploughs to buttons. There are chapters on the manufacturing of textiles and on art education. It is essentially a civil servant’s report but it provides a fascinating picture of the state and extent of American manufacturing industry in the midnineteenth century.

Sir Joseph Whitworth was an engineer and inventor. He is perhaps best known now as the creator of the standard measurement for screw threads and the inventor of the Whitworth rifle. He also worked on the manufacture of Charles Babbage’s calculating machine. George Wallis was an artist and teacher who was the first keeper of the Fine Art Collection at what is now the V&A. He was a deputy commissioner for the Great Exhibition of 1851 following the success of which he was he was sent to America with Whitworth.

[3555]

£195

BOG STANDARD POETRY

5.

WISEACRE, Sir Wilful. New invented patent Water Closets with a Screen for the Ladies.

A manuscript poem. n.p. n.d. [c1780] A manuscript poem on one side of a single leaf. Five verses of four lines each written in a neat italic hand. It has been folded in three for posting (there is the mark of a seal and, on the verso, the name of the addressee, Chas Blatchley Esq, Bury. A strip has been torn on the left edge no doubt when the letter was opened but there is no loss of text. Otherwise it is in very good condition with nice clear text.

This poem by Sir Wilful Wiseacre is in praise of the recently invented Water Closet. The first patent for a flushing lavatory was given in 1775 to the Scottish watchmaker Alexander Cummings. In jaunty, amusing, mildly risqué verse, Wiseacre makes plain the advantages of this important invention: “No more her L[ad]y[shi]p shall go Trembling her Secrets to deposite Through Heat or Cold through Frost or Snow When shelter’d by our Water Closet”.

[3556]

£375

THE WHIG INTERPRETATION OF COOKERY

6.

CARTER, Charles. The London and Country Cook: or Accomplished Housewife Containing Practical Directions and the best Receipts In all the Branches of Cookery and Housekeeping; such as Boiling, Roasting...&c Interspersed with Many sovereign and approved Medicines used by Private Families in most Distempers; And illustrated with Forty-nine large Copper Plates. The third edition, revised and much improved by a gentlewoman; many years housekeeper to an eminent merchant in the City of London.

By, Charles Carter, Cook to his Grace the Duke of Argyle, &c London: Printed for Charles Hitch. 1749 Third edition. 8vo. 197x123mm. pp. vii, [1], 363, [1 publishers’ adverts]. Engraved frontispiece, forty-nine plates including four folding. Contemporary calf, double fillet border in gilt to boards. Rebacked with red morocco label, lettered in gilt. Joints, hinges and corners

strengthened. Some very slight marking. Internally very good with some browning towards the end. Overall a very nice copy of this scarce book of receipts of which ESTC records only two in the UK (BL and All Souls) and seven in the US. Charles Carter made his name as a chef to the British generals who fought in the seemingly endless series of wars of the early eighteenth century, the Duke of Argyll most preeminent among them.

Aside from the social advantages that such connections would have brought him, these continental adventures meant that Carter encountered more exotic ingredients and recipes than he would have done at home. He then brings these continental influences into his English dishes in a somewhat bravura manner. By all accounts, Carter was a conceited man but, as he seems to have been the in-house chef to leading members of the Whig supremacy, he probably felt that he had much to be conceited about.

[3568]

7.

£475

GRAY, John. A Treatise of Gunnery.

London: Printed for William Innys. 1731 First edition. 8vo. 200x120mm. pp. [4], xliii, [1], 94, [2pp adverts], one folding plate.

Contemporary sprinkled calf, triple fillet border in gilt to upper and lower cover. Five raised bands, compartments decorated in gilt with crown, thistle and flower pattern. Second compartment with tan lettering piece, lettered in gilt. Some wear to boards, rubbing and rubbing to spine and joints. All edges red. Internally in fine condition. Diagrams throughout. Marbled endpapers. From the Library of the Earls of Macclesfield, the front pastedown has the bookplate from the South Library and embossed stamps with Macclesfield Coat of Arms to title and dedication. ESTC locates 11 copies in the UK and 10 in the US. John Gray (d1769) was a mathematician who taught at Marischal College (later Aberdeen University) where he was also Rector towards the end of his life. Accordingly, his Treatise on Gunnery is a

highly technical affair, complex but also rather beautiful in the way of serious mathematics.

The long preface is a fascinating history of gunnery and siege warfare which brings together classical Greece, China and medieval Germany.

ESTC. T120182 [3570]

£1,000

THE MAN WHO TAUGHT LOUIS XIV HOW TO PRUNE FRUIT TREES

8.

DE LA QUINTINYE, Monsieur [Jean-Baptiste] The Compleat Gardner; or Directions for Cultivating and Right Ordering of Fruit Gardens and Kitchen Gardens; with Divers Reflections on Several Parts of Husbandry. In Six Books. To which is added His Treatise of OrangeTrees, the Raising of Melons, omitted in the French Editions. Made English By John Evelyn Esquire, Illustrated with Copper Plates.

London: Printed for Matthew Gillyflower and James Partridge. 1693 First edition in English, translated by John Evelyn. Folio in 4s. 310x200mm. pp. [44], 106, 107-110 leaves, 111114pp, 115-118 (118 misnumbered 116) leaves, 119-184pp; [4], 116; 137204, [4], 4, 80. 11 engraved plates, two of which are folding. Frontispiece engraved portrait of de la Quintinye.

Title page in red and black. 18th century speckled calf, spine in six compartments decorated in gilt, brown morocco label lettered in gilt. Edges sprinkled red. Some repair to spine and joints strengthened, repairs to corners.

Repair to top left corner of upper cover. A small amount of scuffing to the covers and two small holes but otherwise in very good condition. Internally very good although there is worming, mostly very minor but slightly heavier in places but not affecting text, up to R4. Overall a very fresh copy of an important work of garden history and design. Qunitinye was a lawyer by training but after a visit to Italy where he was struck by the beauties of the gardens, he taught himself horticulture (using the classical Roman authors as his guide). Charles II invited him to oversee the management of the English Royal gardens but Quintinye returned home to France where, in 1661 he was appointed the manager of the Versailles vegetable garden by Louis XIV. In 1670 he was created Director of the Royal Fruit and Vegetable Gardens and began a process of horticultural experimentation and innovation. The Compleat Gardner is the result of this.

ESTC: R212118 [3575]

£1,850

A SIXTEENTH CENTURY LUTHER BIBLE PRINTED IN THE CRADLE OF THE REFORMATION

9.

LUTHER, Martin Biblia Dat Ys; De gantze hillige Schrifft/Sassisch/ D. Mart.

Luth.

Wittemberch [Wittenberg]: Lorentz Suberlich. 1599 and 1600.

4to. 195x155mm. ff. [58, register misbound at end but collates complete], 272, 191, [1], 128. Main title page printed in red and black with a woodcut portrait of Luther on the verso. New Testament title page dated 1600 with a charming woodcut of the Annunciation.

Other woodcuts and printers devices.

Nineteenth-century red quarter morocco, marbled-covered boards, spine decorated in gilt with a criss-cross net pattern, lettered in gilt at head and foot.

Rubbing to head and foot of spine and to joints and slight bumping to corners.

Front pastedown has the bookplate of the Gaddesden Library. Internally very good. Some light browning and foxing and worm trace to Dd. Overall a very nice copy of a 16th century Luther Bible printed in Wittenberg where he taught theology and where he published his 95 Theses (perhaps nailing them to the church door there) thus setting in train the events of the Protestant Reformation.

[3586]

£1,500

10.

HOLY BIBLE. Testamenti Veteris Biblia Sacra sive Libri Canonici priscaw iudæorum ecclesiae a deo traditi, Latini recens et Hebræo facti,...& ex Græco a Theodoro Beza in Latinum conversos.

London: Excudebat Henricus Midletonus, impensis. C.B [arker] 1585 Quarto in 8s. 228x170mm. pp. [16], 173, [3]; 230 [i.e. 234], [2]; 160; 251, [1]; 144, 209-224; [20], 424. In six parts with a general title page and five separately dated title pages, pagination and register. Some eccentric pagination and registration but collates complete and the text is continuous. Lacking first blank leaf. Contemporary calf, single fillet in gilt to borders of boards. Spine with five raised bands, lettered in gilt. Joints strengthened and some rubbing to spine. Gilt initials “T.C.” and a gilt flower device to centre of covers. Internally very good, occasional slight dampstaining, single small marginal wormhole towards the end. Tremellius’s and Beza’s versions of the New Testament are printed in parallel columns. Attractive decorative initials and woodcut printers’ devices throughout. A very good copy of a comparatively scarce Latin Bible, ESTC locating nine copies in the UK and four in the US. ESTC. 2060.3 [3588]

£1,500