Oh! You pretty things. Some beautiful bindings

OH! YOU PRETTY THINGS

SOME BEAUTIFUL BINDINGS

GOLD AND GLASS BY HENRI MERCHER

London: Privately published 1959

One of five copies privately published “for the pleasure of Felix, Jean, Michael, Felicia, Stéphane”. 187x125mm. pp. 71 [1bl] with five blank leaves at the beginning and end. Bound by Henri Mercher in 1960, signed to foot of front pastedown. Boards are made of gold inlayed

1. GOLMANN, Stephane Ballades et Chansons de Gestes (Ballads and Tales) by Stephane Golmann followed by a note on Skiffle Music.

Plexiglas, the gold spelling out “Jean”. Black morocco spine lettered in gilt. With the original slipcase. A striking binding in immaculate condition and an excellent example of Mercher’s innovative design and technique in which he used unorthodox materials. Henri Mercher (1912-1976) trained with Robert Bonfils at the École Estienne. Mercher said that he was one of the worst students but on the evidence of this stylish, minimalist work this seems unlikely Presumably Stephane Golmann had the other four copies of this work bound in a similar fashion but we have found no record of them. Golmann was a fascinating figure: a singer songwriter in the French chanson tradition (the works in this book were recorded in 1966), he also led a shadowy double life working for the British Foreign Office and the United Nations before disappearing for a few years when, it was rumoured, he lived as a tramp. Cool bloke with an eye for a cool binding.

[3945] £4,000

2. Görtz-Wrisberg, Moritz Grafen von Wörterbuch über die Schwierigkeiten der deutschen Sprache. Oder bequemes Nachschlagebuch um sich in schwierigen Fällen sowol hinsichtlich der Sprachlehre, als auch der Rechtschreibung und der Fremd- und sinnverwandten Wörter Raths zu holen.

Quedlingburg und Leipzig: Druck und Verlag von Gottfr. Basse. 1835

A GORGEOUS SELENCKA BINDING FOR PRINCE AUGUSTUS FREDERICK

8vo. 217x131mm. pp. xxii, [4], 362. Gorgeously bound by Johann Jacob Selencka. Binder’s ticket “Gebunden bei J.J.Selencka Braunschweig” on front pastedown. Red calf, richly decorated in gilt. Upper and lower covers with corner pieces using heart-shaped patterns, volutes, quatrefoils and acanthus leaves. At the centre of both covers is a crowned shield framed by acanthus leaves and emblazoned with the monogram “A”. Spine lettered in gilt and richly decorated with a variety of motifs. In excellent condition with only very minor shelfwear to the corners and foot of spine. All edges gilt, green endpapers. Title page has a armorial library stamp with a crown and garter on which is inscribed “Honi soit qui mal y pense” and inside which is the monogram “AF”. This is the stamp of Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, the creator of perhaps the finest British Royal private library.

Selencka (1801-1871) joined the Brunswick Guild of Bookbinders in 1824 and, in 1839, was appointed the court binder to Duke William of Brunswick and Luneburg. The Duke was a celebrated bibliophile, amassing a huge collection of books many of which were bound by Selencka who is generally regarded as the finest German binder of the time. By Selencka’s standards this is a relatively restrained binding but it is, nonetheless, a beautiful piece of work. If, which is our view, this book was a gift from William to Augustus Frederick then it is an early example of Selencka’s royal bindings as Augustus died in 1843. It is quite possible that the book was given around the time of the marriage of Augustus’s niece Victoria to her (and Augustus’s) cousin Albert, Duke William no doubt thinking that this union would necessitate a secure grounding in the “difficulties of the German language”.

HIGH RELIEF PANEL WORK BY BARRITT

3. HOLY BIBLE. The Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testaments translated out of the original tongues; and with the former translations diligently compared and revised, by His Majesty’s Special Command. Appointed to be read in Churches.

Cambridge: Printed at the Pitt Press by John W. Parker 1844

Folio. 317x244mm. Unpaginated. Without Apocrypha (although it is mentioned in the table of contents). Bound by J L Barritt (stamped Barritt and Co. at foot of one of the blank preliminary leaves) in purple morocco over bevelled boards. Covers constructed of raised and sunk panels tooled in blind, gilt dotted lines and gilt roundels. Spine with five raised bands, compartments tooled in blind and gilt roundels, second compartment lettered in gilt. All edges gilt with intricate gauffering. Gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers. The borders of the pages are coloured bright blue so that with the leaves fanned (as when looking at a foreedge painting) the gilt gauffering disappears and a vivid blue emerges. Internally fine, the text in double columns with marginal references. The verso of the front free endpaper has the inscription: “Henry Edward Ffolkes, the gift of F.Hay Gurney

for having married the said Gurney to Margaret Ffolkes. July 1847” and on the page opposite is a record of the marriage of the said Henry Ffolkes to Sophia Everard and details of thei seven children. A very good example of Barritt’s distinctive and somewhat eccentric binding style of which examples are held by the British Library.

John Littler Barritt (1801-1863) was trained in the art of making dies to be used in gold engraving. His obituary (which refers to him as James, not John – the BL calls him John) in “The Bookseller” refers to “a series of accidents” which led to his becoming “largely engaged in bookselling” (we know the feeling - many of us have met with similar accidents) and, in particular, “the rise and progress of the Bible Trade”. Inspired by the embossed morocco bindings popular in France, Barritt began producing low-relief “Cathedral” bindings for Bibles and Prayer Books. He subsequently developed this technique further, producing the heavily embossed high-relief panel work that we see on this splendid Bible and which might be described as Barritt’s signature style.

The gift of this Bible to Henry Ffolkes (who was only 23 at the time so, presumably, not long ordained) celebrates the union of two important Norfolk families. The Gurneys were (still are) part of the East Anglian Quaker-ocracry and the Ffolkes were a landowning family (with links to William the Conquerer) with property in West Norfolk. [3946]

£1,500

EDWARD GIBBON’S COPY OF A SATIRICAL ATTACK ON THE CHURCH

4. [GOLE J. after C.Dusart (?)] Renversement de la Morale Chretienne Par les desordres du Monachisme. Enrichi de Figures. = Omstootinge Der Christelyke Zeden, Door de wan-schik en ongeregeltheden der Moniken. Verciert met Figuren.

Holland [Amsterdam?]: by Boek en Print Verkoopers. n.d. [1690s]

Edward Gibbon’s copy. First edition. Two parts in one volume. Small quarto. (188x150mm). pp. [8], 19 [1bl], 104, with 25 mezzotints; 7 [1bl], 25 mezzotints. Double page frontispiece by Roman de Hooghe. In part one, each illustration has four lines of French verse beneath it and is prefaced by a three page description. Part two has the four lines in French below the engraving and the first seven pages have the Dutch translation of the verse. Bound in eighteenth-century mottled calf, upper and lower covers with elaborately gilt tooled border with fleurons, framing a richly decorated centrepiece. Spine with five raised bands, compartments lavishly decorated in gilt, second and third compartments with labels lettered in gilt. Corners bumped and slightly worn.

Wear to head and foot of spine, repaired tear to one of the lettering pieces. Some foxing and marking but overall a very good copy of a celebrated anti-clerical satire with a celebrated anticlerical provenance. Front pastedown has the armorial bookplate of Edward Gibbon and the label of Viscount Mersey, Bignor Park. The following two blank preliminary pages have a neat handwritten note about the book in French.

Edward Gibbon famously attributed the decline and fall of the Roman Empire to the religion of “barefooted friars singing Vespers in the temple of Jupiter”. His lofty contempt for medieval Catholicism is one of the defining characteristics of the Enlightenment mind and it is easy to see why Gibbon would have wanted a copy of this scabrous attack on priests, monks, saints and Christian morality. Even if one could read no French or Dutch (Gibbon would have had both) the grotesque engravings leave one in no doubt as to the author’s disdain for the hypocrisy of the Church. It is hard to know whether the ironically detached Gibbon would have chuckled away at the fairly blunt satire on display but perhaps he did enjoy low humour. After all, Evelyn Waugh poked fun at the “false historian with the mind of a Cicero or a Tacitus and the soul of an animal”.

[3947]

AN EXQUISITE CAPÉ BINDING WITH AN ILLUMINATED GOTHIC REVIVAL LEAF

£4,500

5. [ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH] Paroissien Romain contenant les offices de tous les Dimanches et des principales Fetes de l'annee en Latin et en Francais extrait de Breviaire et du missel de Rome augmente du Commun des Saints approve par Monseigneur ‘Archeveque de Paris.

Paris: Morizot, Libraire-Editeur. n.d. [1860s]

Small 8vo. 140x90mm. pp. [iv], 668. Chromolithography frontispiece and twelve engraved plates. Beautifully bound by Charles Francois Capé in blue morocco, lavishly decorated in gilt with the monogram “A.M.” at each corner of the covers, spine with five raised bands, compartments richly decorated and second compartment lettered in gilt, cream silk endpapers, all edges gilt. On front free endpaper is stamped in gilt “M.J.F. 27 Juin 1861”. The following leaf has the inscription “A Madlle (i.e. mademoiselle).

Marie Fontaine, Souvenir de relieur, Capé 31 December 1859”. Bound in before the title page is an exquisite Gothic Revival illuminated manuscript on vellum recording the marriage of Marie Rose JeanFontaine to Ludovic Haverna on 11 May 1869. This is written in red and black with decoration drawn in blue and red highlights in thickly applied gold leaf. A

gorgeous little prayer book and missal in immaculate condition.

Capé (1806-1867) began his working life as a porter at the Louvre while learning the art of bookbinding in the museum library. In 1848, he established his bindery in Rue Dauphine where he carried out for work for distinguished clients as well as building his own fine book collection. This charming work was clearly done for friends given the warm inscription. And the insertion of the beautiful illuminated leaf shows that the book was, unsurprisingly, much treasured by Marie Fontaine throughout her life. [3957]

RICHLY DECORATED RED MOROCCO FROM AMSTERDAM

6. Petri Francii [Petrus Francius] Specimen eloquentiae exterioris ad orationem

M.T.Ciceronis pro A.L[icin]. ARCHIA [accommodatum]

Amsterdami: Henr. Wetstenium. 1697

8vo. 162x97mm. pp. [48], 192. Prettily bound in contemporary red morocco, both covers delicately tooled in gilt with a floral border framing an inner border of drawer-handle and flower motifs and small gilt dots, with arabesque cornerpieces. A central panel is decorated with drawer-handles, arabesque cornerpieces, leafy sprays and rococo patterns constructed with tiny dotted lines. All edges gilt, turn-ins tooled in gilt, marbled endpapers. Slight bumping and rubbing to corners and joints but otherwise a beautiful little binding in excellent condition. Internally very good but with a small portion of the title page repaired with later paper, affecting a few letters. Slightly browned in places but overall a very good copy. Title page has inscribed ownership initials “W.J.K” and on the verso of the front free endpaper is the surname beginning with “K” which possibly reads “Kenyon” but is unclear. Contemporary annotations through the first half of the book presumably by “W.J.K”. Some copies of the Specimen eloquentiae exterioris include the text of two of Petrus Francius’s own orations but these are not called for and are not in all copies (for example the copy at the BnF does not have them while that at the Bodleian does).

Petrus Francius (Pieter de Frans – 1645-1704) trained as a lawyer but made his career as a professor of Rhetoric, History and Greek in Amsterdam. His teaching methods were demanding – he expected his students to develop their rhetorical skills by reciting the speeches of Cicero and Demosthenes from memory. He was famous for his lectures and his own public speeches and for the recitations of his poetry which drew on his favourite classical authors, Horace, Pindar and especially Ovid. The present book begins with the text of Cicero’s speech Pro Archia (62BC) in defence of the Roman poet Archias who had become entangled in a political dispute. Francius takes this speech as the starting point for a set of detailed rules governing the ideal “rhetorical performance”. The first part contains thirty nine regulae circa pronuntiationem and fifty six regulae circa actionem. [3958] £1,750

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

VENICE FROM THE LIBRARY OF JOHN SAKS

7. BOOK OF HOURS. Officium Beatæ Mariæ Virginis S. Pii V Pontificis Maximi jussu editum, et Urbani VIII. Auctoritate recognitum. Con l'Uffizio de'Morti, Sette Salmi ed altre diverse Orazioni.

Venetiis: Apud Nicolaum Pezzana. 1758

8vo. (180x106mm) pp. [8], 405, [3]. Six engraved plates, one signed M. Heylbrouck and an engraved vignette to title page. Text in Latin and Italian. Contemporary Italian sheep, covers with elaborately tooled gilt borders, fan sprays at the inner corners. Centre of the boards have leaf motifs and two gilt oval frames with green morocco onlays bearing initials “G.P” (upper cover) and “A.P” (lower cover). Flat spine decorated in gilt with leaf motifs, with three green morocco onlays lettered and decorated in gilt. Edges to boards tooled in gilt. All edges gilt and gauffered with a delicate leaf pattern. Attractive green endpapers. In very good condition with one or two small worn spots. Internally excellent with a little foxing in places. Book label of John Saks loosely inserted along with a slip of paper from Christie’s reading “Lot No. 191/1 10 Jun 1981” when a number of Saks’s books were sold.

Saks (the grandson of the founder of the eponymous shop and a vice president of the family firm) was a Fellow of the Morgan Library and a member of the Grolier Club. His celebrated library was particularly strong in the private presses of Ashendene, Kelmscott and Doves but he also built up a fine collection of eighteenth century Venetian books of which this beautifully bound Book of Hours is a lovely example.

FOR THE LAST HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR AND THE FIRST KING

OF

LOMBARDY-VENETIA

8. [FRANCIS I, Emperor of Austria] Indice del Codice Civile Generale Austriaco secondo l'ordine de' paragrafi

Milano: Dall’ Imperiale regia stamperia. 1825

8vo. 225x145mm. pp. [2], 204. Handsomely bound in contemporary red morocco, gilt. Both covers ornately decorated with fillet borders and delicately tooled lace-like cornerpieces, with the arms of Francis I, Emperor of Austria, King of Lombardy-Venetia to the centre. Spine with five raised bands, compartments decorated with a fine net pattern, second and fourth compartments lettered in gilt. Emerald green silk doublures with borders tooled with gilt acanthus leaf motif, turn-ins decorated with flowing leaf motif. Front pastedown has armorial ex libris of W.A.Foyle, Beeleigh Abbey. All edges gilt. Slight rubbing to extremities and wear to bottom corners but overall a beautiful imperial binding in very good condition.

The Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia was founded in 1815 at the Congress of Vienna. The previous year Napoleon had given up the throne of Italy prompting the Habsburg monarchy to reassert its claim to the Duchy of Milan and the Republic of Venice. Thus, until 1859, a large swathe of northern Italy was under the control of the Emperor of Austria. Francis I (who had been the last Holy Roman Emperor before the dissolution of the Empire by Napoleon in 1806) was the first King of Lombardy-Venetia. This index of the Austrian Civil Code, the laws which governed the Francis’s Empire, was published in Italy (and Italian) for the first time in 1815 with subsequent printings made to incorporate amendments to the law. Few can have been bound so grandly, a quality recognised by William Foyle, one of the great booksellers and collectors of the twentieth century.

[3950] £950

THE ANCIEN REGIME - part one

9. ALMANACH ROYAL Almanach Royal, Année M.DCC.LXX présenté a sa Majesté pour la premiere fois en 1699.

Paris: Chez Le Breton. 1770

8vo. 212x136mm. pp. 572. Sixteen blank leaves with red borders have been inserted for notes. Contemporary brick-red morocco,both covers ornately decorated in gilt with leaf motifs, fleur-de-lys, fleurons, small dots and circles and stars. The stars echo those on the coat of arms of at the centre of the covers which is that of the Crozat family indicating that this was probably from the library of Louis-Antoine Crozat, Baron de Thiers. Flat spine decorated in compartments with flower motif, second and third compartment lettered in gilt. Edges of boards and turn-ins decorated in gilt. All edges gilt, blue silk doublures. A smart aristocratic binding in near fine condition. Internally very good but with some minor marking in places and a marginal repair to title page affecting the text to verso but no loss. There are examples of these annually published French Royal Almanacs bound by the Royal Binder Pierre Paul Dubuisson and although there is no external evidence to indicate that this is the work of Dubuisson, there are elements of the tooling, particularly on the spine that suggest, the work of his atelier.

A handsomely bound example of the Almanac issued each year giving details of almost everything you could possibly want to know about the French state and the people who made it run - Royalty, the Church, the army, Parliament, diplomats, Royal librarians, doctors, lawyers and most importantly, inspectors of the vines.

THE ANCIEN REGIME - part two

10. ALMANACH ROYAL Almanach Royal, Année Bissextile M.DCC. LXXVI presenté a sa Majesté pour la premiere fois en 1699 Paris: Par le Breton. 1776

8vo. 215x140mm. pp. 655 [1bl]. The calendar at the front of the book has twelve blank leaves with black borders interleaved for making notes. Contemporary red morocco, both covers with French fillet border with simple fleuron motifs at the corners. At the inner corners of the borders are delicate flower and leaf motifs in gilt. At the centres of the covers are the coat of arms of Armand Thomas Hue, Marquis de Miromesnil. Flat spine decorated in compartments with flower motif, second and third compartment lettered in gilt. Edges of boards and turn-ins decorated in gilt. All edges gilt, blue silk doublures. Some slight rubbing to extremities but overall a smart aristocratic binding excellent condition. Internally very good but with some minor marking in places.

Published annually this Royal Almanac tells us who was who in the Ancien Regime. Miromesnil, who appears on page 274 was someone: the Keeper of the Seals under Louis XVI between 1774 and 1787, making him the deputy to the Chancellor of France, so the country’s second most important lawyer. A big wig, as evidenced by the superb bust by Jean-Antoine Houdon in the Frick Collection.

A GORGEOUS LOUIS QUINZE BINDING

11. BELLEGARDE, Monsieur L'Abbé de L'Office de la Semaine-Sainte A L'Usage du Roy. Conformement aux Breviaires & Messels Romain & Parisiens. En Latin & en François. Avec l’explication de Cérémonies de l’Eglise, Et des Instructions, Prieres & courtes Réflextions sur les Mystéres & Offices que l’on célébre dans cette Sainte Semaine.

Paris: De l’Imprimerie de Jacques Collombat 1741

8vo. 212x133mm. pp. xvi, 632, [4]. Engraved frontispiece and half-title and engraved sectional title pages for Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Woodcut head-pieces and decorated initials. Handsomely bound in red morocco, covers decorated with lavish strapwork and foliage motifs in gilt surrounded by a gilt border of leaf and flower motifs. At the centre of each cover is the coat of arms of Louis XV. Spine with five raised bands, compartments decorated with strapwork with the royal fleur de lys in the centre. Second compartment lettered in gilt. All edges gilt. Corners slightly bumped, light rubbing to joints but overall a beautiful Royal binding in excellent condition. Internally very good with some foxing and some slight marginal staining to the frontispiece and half title. Printed for the Royal household (Collombat taught Louis XV to print), this Prayer Book and Missal sets out the services, prayers and devotions for Holy Week and the first week of Easter, beginning on Palm Sunday and ending on Quasimodo Sunday. [3920]

FROM THE BIBLIOTHECA COLBERTINA

Norimbergae [Nuremberg]:

1662

Quarto, 190x152mm. pp. [26], 832, 68. Red morocco, gilt with the arms of Jean-Baptiste Colbert at the centre of the upper and lower covers, spine with five raised bands, compartments with crowned monogram “JBC”. Colbert was Louis XIV’s Minister of Finance and the creator of one the finest private libraries of the seventeenth century, containing about 23,000 books and over 5,000 manuscripts. Title page has inscription “Bibliotheca Colbertina”. Front pastdown has armorial book-label of Harriman, Lecomte du

12. RICHTERI, Georgii JC. Eiusque Familiarium, Epistolae Selectiores, Ad Viros Nobilissimos Clarissimosq[ue] datae, ac redditae. [etc]

Michaelis Endteri.

Nouy. This is Mary Harriman, the widow of the scientist Pierre Lecomte du Nouy. Edges sprinkled red. Some rubbing to joints and to the foot of the spine, corners and edge of lower board bumped but otherwise a nice copy. Internally excellent with some browning and foxing and a worm track to leaf N2.

George Richter (1592-1651) was a lawyer from Nuremberg and later the Vice-Chancellor of Altdorf University. He corresponded with many of the leading intellectuals of the time and his letters provide a fascinating and detailed insight into the cultural life of seventeenth century Germany, an insight that Colbert would have found invaluable. [3960] £1,250

A HANDSOME PORTUGUESE MISSAL

13. Roman Catholic Church Missale Romanum ex decreto sacrosanctum Concilii Tridentini Restitum, S.Pii Pont. Max. Jussu Editum, Et Clementis VIII Primum, Nunc Denuo Urbani Papæ VIII. Auctoritate Recognitum, Et novis Missis...fuis locis accuratè ponuntur.

Bound with Missæ Propriæ Sanctorum Trium Ordinum Fratrum Minorum S.P.N.Francisci.

Ulyssipone [Lisbon]: Michaelem Manescal da costa. 1765

and with: Missæ Sanctorum novæ et propriæ a summis pontificibus approbatæ et concessæ pro regno Portug. Brasil. et Algarb. Olisipone: Ex typographia Rollandiana. 1824

and with: Missæ Speciales pro Patriarchatu Lisbonensi (n.d.) Ulyssipone [Lisbon]: Michaelem Manescal da costa 1764

Folio in 6s. 293x210mm. pp.[60], 658 [i.e.672], cxliv, [4].

Missæ Propriæ Sanctorum: pp. [10], 58. Missæ Sanctorum novæ: pp. 40. Missæ Speciales pro Patriarchatu Lisbonensi: pp. 8. Engraved plates of the Annunciation, Crucifixion and the Resurrection. Beautifully printed in red and black Contemporary red morocco, gilt. Both covers with richly tooled borders framing a further central border with ornate cornerpieces inside which is a lozenge formed of drawer-handle tooling and leaf motifs and small circles. Spine with five raised bands, compartments decorated in gilt with fleurons. Marbled endpapers, all edges gilt and gauffered. Brass clasps. Corners bumped and bottom edges worn and some small wormholes on upper cover, otherwise in very good condition given that this missal was clearly used daily at the altar. Internally, there is some marginal damage to leaves Aaiii, iv (closed tear), v and to Bb iv (no loss of text) which are part of the text of the Mass and so would have been the most heavily used section of the book, pages being turned backwards and forwards each day. Some foxing and marking (slightly heavier to gathering CC) but overall in excellent condition. Tiny hooped bookmarks have been attached to the fore-edge of ten leaves to enable easy page-turning during the service.

A handsome altar missal printed by the pre-eminent Lisbon printer of the second half of the eighteenth century. Miguel Manescal da Costa ran the Portuguese National Printing Office from its founding in 1769 until his death in 1801. This missal just predates his appointment but it is clear from the quality of the printing on display here why he was chosen.

BODONI IN CONTEMPORARY RED MOROCCO

14. PARINI, Giuseppe Odi dell’Abate Giuseppe Parini gia’ divolgate. Parma [Bodoni]: Nel Regal Palazzo. 1791

152x102mm. pp. [2], viii, 180. Contemporary red morocco, gilt. Upper and lower covers with double fillet borders framing corner-pieces combining rococo and baroque designs and an elegant rococo centrepiece. Spine richly decorated and lettered in gilt. All edges gilt. Some slight marking to upper cover, corners lightly worn and a tiny worm hole at the top of the upper joint. Internally very good save for two tiny (and barely visible) worm holes on the inner margin at the gutter and some worming to the bottom margin of the last eleven leaves. Overall an excellent copy in a stylishly restrained rococo binding.

Beautifully printed by the Bodoni Press, this edition of Parini’s Odes appeared in the same year as the first edition published in Milan. Giuseppe Parini made his name as a satirist of the Milanese aristocracy (he had been badly treated by the Duke of San Gabrio while tutor to his son) but he also wrote a libretto (Ascanio in Alba) set by the sixteen year old Mozart. He was a priest (hence “dell’Abate”) and, briefly, a reluctant politician. His classical Odi are firmly in the Horatian mould, musings on arcadian themes leavened with social and moral apercus.

[3956]

[3954] £1,000

A SMART GERMAN EMIGRÉ BINDING

15. SKELTON, John Pithy Pleasaunt and Profitable Workes of Maister Skelton, Poete Laureate. To King Henry the VIIIth.

London: Printed for C. Davis. 1736

12mo.,68 x 94 mms., pp. engraved frontispiece portrait, xiv, 294, [2pp adverts]. Red morocco, both covers with single fillet border and a central panel of a single fillet and curved tulip bulb motif. Spine with five raised bands, compartments richly decorated in gilt, second and fifth compartment lettered in gilt. All edges gilt, turn-ins tooled in gilt. A handwritten note on the verso of the front free endpaper reads “Bound by Hering”, one of the late 18th-early 19th century German emigré binders working in London and who was best known for his work for the Bibliotheca Spenceriana. Waterstaining to top part of boards and some slight internal staining but otherwise a very good copy of the works of the poet described by Erasmus as “the one light and glory of British letters”.

This is the second edition of John Skelton’s works under this title, the first appearing in 1568. This second edition is essentially the earliest obtainable edition of Skelton as the first is vanishingly rare, only two, badly defective, copies appearing at auction since 1931. Engraved frontispiece portrait inserted. A pencil note on the front-free endpaper reads "Evans sale 1820 P. Cooke Esq". Below this in pencil is the name "Henry Broadley". Beneath this is a note in ink "In the great scarcity of Skelton's doggerel rhymes in B.L. it may be some consolation to a collector of our early poetry to know that this is a very faithful re-print". ESTC: T147425

A RARE LITTLE ALMANAC

16. GOLDSMITH An Almanack for the Year of our Lord God, MDCCLXIV. Being Bissextile or LEAP-YEAR. Wherein are contain’d, NECESSARY RULES, and Useful Tables; With a new Alphabetical Chronology of remarkable Events; to which are now added, The proper Days and Hours for transferring Stocks and receiving Dividends; as also a List of Holidays kept at the public Offices. Calculated by John Goldsmith.

London: Printed by R. Hett, Junior, for the Company of Stationers 1764

10 blank leaves, title page, 24 printed leaves with 11 blanks interleaved and 6 further blank leaves at the end. Contemporary red morocco, decorative gilt-roll floral border to covers, spine decorated in gilt, silver clasps lacking hinged catches, all edges gilt, rubbing to corners. An attractive binding. Internally very good, with some soiling and cropping with slight loss of text. Handwritten notes on some of the blank pages.

The first blank leaf has a note about a legal agreement dated 1699 with the following two leaves containing a list of names and weights under the heading “Weighed at Swalarde (?) Aug 5 1763”. Here we learn that Lord Strathmore weighed 12st 4lb with Lady Strathmore coming in at 9st 4lb with Mr Lidden tipping the scales at an impressive 16st. 6lb. Sir Thomas Clavering is listed at 15st 12. The Claverings are a Durham family and only a few years after this Almanack he was elected MP for County Durham. The list of names and weights is a mystery unless the owner of this pretty little book ran a very upmarket chapter of Weight Watchers. Goldsmith’s first almanac appeared in 1663, this edition of 1764 appearing to be very rare with only the BL copy recorded in ESTC and Worldcat.

[3857]

£200

1782. AN ARRAY OF ALMANACKS IN A BEAUTIFUL BINDING

17. Various A Collection of Seven Almanacks for 1782

London: Printed for the Company of Stationers 1782

Seven almanacks for 1782 bound in one volume. 8vo. 165x90mm. Each alamanack has 48 pages. They are as follows:

1. The Celestial Atlas, or a new ephemeris by Robert White (ESTC T59986). 2. Vox Stellarum or a Loyal Almanack by Francis Moore (ESTC T16924). 3. Merlinus Liberatus by John Partridge (ESTC T17078). 4. The Gentleman’s Diary or the Mathematical Repository (ESTC T57503). 5. The Ladies’ Diary or Woman’s Almanack (ESTC T58286).

6. Speculum Anni or Season on the Seasons by Henry Season (ESTC N49012). 7. Old Poor Robin. An Almanack by Poor Robin, Knight of the Burnt-Islands (ESTC T17664). All are rare, ESTC recording less than nine of each save for The Ladies’ Diary of which sixteen are noted. Beautifully bound in contemporary red morocco with arabesques and floral and foliate motifs in gilt to upper and lower covers, framed by a gilt border in a Greek key design. Rebacked with original spine laid down, compartments decorated with flower and leaf motifs, second compartment lettered in gilt. All edges gilt, marbled endpapers. Ownership inscription of “Thomas Hill 1841”. Front free endpaper a little loose but otherwise internally in very good condition.

The idea of binding together a set of almanacs from the same year is a good one. Although they all contain the standard information one expects from an almanac - calendars, astrological and astronomical observations, they each have their own particular interests. Some contain mathematical problems and quizzes, some provide a list of Bishops and Judges while others offer religious reflections and historical notes. Last of all is Old Poor Robin who offers his readers “A Variety of Subjects...Part in Prose, Part in Verse, Part in Narrative, Part Contemplative, Part Serious. Part Comic for the Entertainment and Improvement of the human Mind and adapted to the meanest Capacity”. A fascinating little book in an attractive binding.

CUBIST

PASTORAL IN A PAUL BONET BINDING

18. THEOCRITE (Theocritus, tr. Emile Chambry) Les Idylles

Paris: Teriade editeur. Editions Verve. 1945

Folio in 4s. 326x248mm. pp. 112 [12], [4bl]. Limited edition of 220 on vergé d’Arches, this is one of thirty copies (number 13) with a suite of thirty-eight illustrations on “chine” (i.e. japon pelure) bound in at the end. These are the illustrations from the book by Henri Laurens (who has signed the book), of which sixteen are full page, engraved on wood by Theo Schmied and printed in red ochre. Inspired by figure painting on Greek vases, these prints capture beautifully the classical and mythological spirit of the text. Bound in at the beginning of the book is an original pencil drawing of two crouching women, signed H.L. Frontispiece design after a drawing by Laurens with the image blind embossed on a gold ground. This edition of Theocritus’s Idylls, one of the foundational works of the European pastoral tradition, was the first of three works published by Teriade with illustrations by the cubist sculptor Henri Laurens.

Bound by Paul Bonet in 1955 (signed to front turn in and dated to rear turn in), the fifth of eight which he made for Les Idylles. Bound in black calf, both covers are decorated with a mosaic pattern constructed from intersecting quadrangles of calf coloured orange, tobacco brown and brick red on which is a modernist arabesque design made from white strips. The design on the covers is linked across part of the spine which is lettered in white with the title in orange inlay. Orange suede doublures with white calf borders. All edges gilt. Chemise of brick-red mottled paper covered card, black calf to spine (which is lettered in the same way as the spine on the book) and fore-edges, lined in tan calf. Card slipcase covered in brick-red mottled paper, edged with black calf. All in immaculate condition. Internally excellent with slight offsetting to title page and elsewhere. A superb book, beautifully illustrated and bound by perhaps the finest French binder of the twentieth century.

In his Carnets, Bonet explained the ideas behind his binding for Les Idylles: “The guiding principle behind the bindings of this series is to use those colours – black, white and shades of orange – that are found in the illustrations”. Bonet therefore responds not to the form of Laurens’s designs but aims at a free interpretation based on colour and structure with the intersecting quadrangles referencing Laurens’s “deconstructed” cubist work. The binding was executed by Rene Desmules and gilded by Mondage.

Paul Bonet (1889-1971) came to bookbinding in his thirties after a career in fashion. He was also a bibliophile. Disappointed by the quality of the binding on the books he bought for his own collection, he learnt the art of bookbinding. His work was exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Decorateurs and he quickly became established as one of the finest binders of the time. For Bonet a binding is more than just decorative: it must “express the spirit of the books without falling into the vulgar picturesque”. This is binding as art, not mere design. [3917] £17,500

WHEN IS A COSWAY BINDING NOT A COSWAY BINDING?

19. CIBBER, Mr [Colley] She wou'd, and She wou'd not, or the Kind Imposter A Comedy As it is Acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury Lane. By Her Majesties Servants.

London: Printed for William Turner 1703

First edition. 4to. (218x153mm). pp. [8], 74, [1, 1bl]. “Bound by Riviere & Son from designs by J.H.Stonehouse” stamped at foot of front turn in. Tan full morocco, upper cover decorated with lavish gilt frame at the centre of which is an art nouveau design. Below this frame is a smaller oblong panel with borders tooled in gilt, inside which is the title in gilt. Lower cover is simply decorated with a gilt double fillet with leaf motif cornerpieces. Spine with five raised bands, compartments richly decorated in gilt, second and third compartments lettered in gilt. Silk endpapers, all edges gilt. Housed in a slip case (also by Riviere) covered in dark green morocco. About two inches of this covering is missing from the top edge. The spine is lettered in gilt and indicates that this is a “Cosway Binding”. In fact, what has happened is that the “Cosway” portrait has been removed from the upper cover and replaced with the flowing art nouveau pattern. It is only on close inspection that one can see what has been done. It is all rather artful, very skilfully done and, depending on one’s view of Cosway Bindings, it might or might not be considered an improvement. An excellent binding and a real curiosity in superb condition. Internally in very good condition with occasional foxing and marking. With the final epilogue leaf. The printer’s ornament is three flowers, a variant having four. ESTC locates six copies in UK libraries and sixteen in the US.

[3948] £750