A SHORT LIST FOR THE YORK BOOK FAIR
PRESENTED
BY
THOMAS FOWELL BUXTON TO HIS DAUGHTER
1. LEAR, Edward. Views in Rome and its environs: Drawn from Nature and on Stone by Edward Lear.
London: T.M’Lean 1841
First edition. Folio. 540x365mm. Twenty five lithographed plates, lacking list of subscribers. Original quarter red morocco with green watered silk, title in gilt to upper cover and spine. Corners worn and some tears and fading to the silk. Spine rubbed and with a small tear. Some foxing and splitting with the occasional loose leaf. Overall though a nice copy with the lithographs in very good condition. Front pastedown has the armorial bookplate of Philip Hamond and there is a gift inscription to “Richenda Buxton from T. Fowell Buxton. Dec 25th 1841”. Thomas Fowell Buxton (1786-1845) was an MP who was best known for his work on the abolition of slavery in British colonies.
"Beginning in 1837 Lear spent several winters in Italy. Views in Rome records his first impressions of the land that was to become a second home to him. In these panoramic lithographs he is more concerned with the dramatic scenery around Rome than with the Holy City itself. Their freshness and ample size combine to make them his most successful topographical prints..." (Gordon Norton Ray, The Illustrator and the Book in England from 1790 to 1914, p. 59)
[4326]
PRESENTATION COPY WITH TWO DRAWINGS
2. WELLS, H[erbert] G[eorge]. The Invisible Man. A Grotesque Romance
London: C. Arthur Pearson Limited. 1897
£2,750
Second edition, published the same year as the first and with a variant ending and with the first appearance of the Epilogue. 8vo. 184x120mm. pp. vi, 250. The first page is numbered “2” as with the first edition. The front free endpaper has two small drawings by Wells and the inscription: “Bertie Williams from Bertie Wells”. Wells was known as Bertie by his family and, indeed, Williams is a cousin, making this a particularly personal gift. Bound in the original publisher’s red cloth, lettered in gilt and with the image of the “invisible man” stamped in black on upper cover. Some soiling and fading to the spine and bumping to head and foot. Boards faded in places and with some slight marking. Internally there is cracking to the hinge with the upper board but the text block is very good although with some toning. Overall a nice copy of a rare book with Wells’s drawings and inscription.
The Invisible Man appeared in four distinct editions in 1897: serialised in Pearson’s Weekly between June and August, the first edition in book form in September, the second edition in November and then, the same month, the first American edition. All four have a different ending and this second edition contains the Epilogue which Wells had written for the first edition but not included. The second edition is considerably rarer than the first. We have located only one copy, in Trinity College Dublin, and we have traced none at auction.
[4246]
£12,500
3. GRAY, ALASDAIR Lanark. A Life in 4 Books
Edinburgh: Canongate Publishing 1985
Limited edition, signed by Alasdair Gray and numbered 603/1000. 233x155mm. pp. [6], 560, [2]. Original black cloth lettered in gilt “Endure You are not alone” on the boards and with the title, author and imprint on the spine. Original illustrated dust jacket. Slight fading to jacket but otherwise in immaculate condition throughout. A beautiful copy of what is regarded as the “definitive” edition of Gray’s experimental, dystopian masterpiece.
[4332] £225
THE
WORLD AFTER THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA
4. CARY, John Cary's New Universal Atlas Containing Distinct Maps of all the Principal States and Kingdoms throughout the World. From the latest and best authorities extant and shewing the whole of the new divisions according to the Congress of Vienna.
London: Printed for J. Cary 1828
Sixty-one coloured maps of the world (excluding Australia and New Zealand). 561x385mm. Bound in half calf, marbled paper covered boards, spine decorated and lettered in gilt. A table of the maps on the front pastedown. Corners worn, spine faded and a little torn in places, joints cracked but overall very good and the maps are in excellent condition, very clean and fresh.
[4325]
£4,500
FIRST OCTAVO EDITION IN CONTEMPORARY MOTTLED CALF
5. HUME, David. The History of England from The Invasion of Julius Caesar to The Revolution in 1688 in eight volumes. A new edition, Corrected To which is added, a complete index.
London: Printed for A.Millar. 1763
First octavo edition. Eight volumes. 8vo. 202x122mm. pp. [vi], 503, [1 advert]; [iv], 515; [viii], 472; [viii], 480; [vi], 577, [1bl]; [vi], 480; [viii], 526; [iv], 327, [184 index]. Lacking half title to volume one but present in volumes six and seven (not called for in the other volumes). This appears to be a variant of the first octavo as the title page adds the words “To which is added, a complete index” which do not appear in the edition noted by Jessop (p.30) and in the Chuo University Annotated Catalogue. Also, volume eight is bound in half sheets. Beautifully bound in contemporary mottled calf, spine with five raised bands, compartments decorated in gilt, second compartment with red morocco label lettered in gilt. Marbled endpapers. Front pastedown has the label of the Bibliotheque de Champvieux. Very slight rubbing to foot of volumes 5, 6 and 7 but otherwise in immaculate condition. Internally, there is some browning but otherwise a very nice, clean copy of a lovely edition of one of the great English histories. [4327]
£1,250
AN ENLIGHTENMENT ENCYCLOPAEDIA
6. WOLFF, Christian Compendium Elementorium matheseos universae; in usum studiosæ juventutis adornatum, a Christiano Wolffio Lausanne & Geneva Marci-Michaelis Bousquet 1742
Two volumes. First edition. 8vo. 167x100mm. pp. xxx, 466; [2], 1-432, 443-499, [2, 1bl]. Title page of volume one printed in black and red. Collates complete despite the pagination. 44 folding plates with an extensive array of diagrams. Eighteenth century calf with double fillet borders to the covers. Spine with five raised bands, compartments lavishly decorated in gilt, morocco labels lettered in gilt. All edges red. Some slight rubbing and fading to spines. A few marginal tears not affecting the text and some browning but otherwise a very good set indeed with the plates in particularly good condition. With the Macclesfield Library bookplate and embossed stamps.
Christian Wolff (1679-1754) was one of the great scientists and philosophers of the German enlightenment. He wrote on a vast range of subjects including economics and mathematics (which he applied, somewhat eccentrically to the study of theology). He was also a successful public administrator and was keen to stress the practical application of his more theoretical studies to everyday life and the management of the state. Compendium Elementorium is an extraordinary encyclopaedic “summa”, aimed at young students, taking in geometry, astronomy, geography, military and civil architecture, mechanics, optics, perspective and pyrotechnics all illustrated with fascinating little engravings.
[4330] £575
7. ALLATIUS, Leo De Mensura Temporum antiquorum & praecipue Graecorum exercitatio Coloniæ Agrippinæ [Cologne] Apud Ioducum Kalcovium [Jost Kalkhoven] 1645
First edition. 8vo. 188x122mm. pp. [8], 239 [1bl]. Attractively bound in eighteenth century mottled calf, spine with five raised bands, compartments decorated with a floral motif, second compartment with red morocco label lettered in gilt. Edges of boards, tooled in gilt, all edges red. Internally there is some browning and foxing but otherwise in excellent condition throughout. Front pastedown has the bookplate of the Macclesfield Library. Allatius (1586-1669) was a Greek scientist, theologian and keeper of the Vatican Library. This is the attractive Macclesfield copy of Allatius’s important work on time, its divisions and historical dimension.
[4328]
£475
COOKING AT SEA. A RARE BOOK OF NAUTICAL CUISINE
8. ADKINS, Thos. Francis. Alphabetical Guide to Sailors' Cookery for the use of stewards & cooks on cargo-carrying vessels
East Ham: Wilson and Whitworth Limited 1899
First edition. 8vo. 184x120mm. pp. [iv], 133 [3 adverts]. Red half cloth, beige paper covered boards, title and author printed in red on the upper cover and stamped in black on the spine. Soiling and marking to covers. Hinge with upper cover slightly cracked and there is some foxing, heavy in places. Considering that this book was almost certainly used in a ship’s galley, it is in remarkably good condition. It is also remarkably rare. No copies appear at auction and Worldcat records only four copies worldwide. Adkins was the Instructor of Nautical Cookery at the Sailors’ Home and won a silver medal at the Universal Food and Cookery Exhibition in 1896. The recipes in this book are for standard English fare but Adkins deliberately uses only a limited number of ingredients given the impossibility of “just popping out to the shops”. As Adkins says: “I have endeavoured to show what a variety of dishes may be made from the same materials, so that a monotonous diet may be avoided”.
[4321]
£250
INSCRIBED BY AN “ADORING” D.H.LAWRENCE
9. BROWNING, Robert. Love Poems with Biographical Introduction by Hannaford Bennett. London: John Long 1908
Inscribed by D.H.Lawrence. 16mo. 150x100mm. pp112. Original red cloth, extremities a little rubbed and bumped. Hinges starting to crack but overall a sound copy of what is essentially a cheap edition of Browning’s Love Poems but lifted out of the ordinary here by its having been given by D.H.Lawrence to his friend Margaret (Peg) Brinton. The two had met when Peg, with her sister Irene were staying at a boarding house called Compton House in Bournemouth where Lawrence was also a guest. They had clearly formed a strong early bond as it seems that they had only met in January 1912 which is the date of this gift. Lawrence was convalescing by the sea following a life-threatening bout of pneumonia. The full inscription is heartfelt: “To Peg, these lessons in love. Hoping she may profit by them from her adoring Baby alias David Herbert Richards Lawrence. Compton House Bournemouth Jan 1912”. It is extremely rare to find a gift inscription from Lawrence where he uses his full name.
Two photographs of Lawrence have been pasted in, one of them captioned "D. H. Lawrence & Meg Brinton at Kew Gardens", the other simply captioned with his name and a newspaper photograph of Lawrence is tipped in on the front pastedown. Lawrence’s biography informs us that around the 25th April 1912, Lawrence visited Kew Gardens with Margaret and Irene. The precise nature of the relationship between Lawrence and Margaret seems unclear but it was clearly sufficiently close for her to destroy all his letters to her when she married. And, it must be said, you would not inscribe a book of celebrated love poems so fulsomely if you were not inclined to follow up your words with at least some sort of action. Which all makes this little book with its rather wonderful inscription an intriguing piece of evidence in an otherwise mysterious episode in Lawrence’s life. [4320]
£3,750
OF MODERN BOXING
10. BRADLEY, J. Frank ("Chronos") The Boxing Referee An exhaustive treatise on the duties of a Referee and an explanation of the Queensbury Rules relating to Boxing Contests and Competitions.
London: The Queenhithe Printing and Publishing Co. Ltd. 1910
First edition. 8vo. 217x135mm. pp [1-15], 16-92. With a beautiful illuminated manuscript leaf bound in after the front free endpaper, protected by a tissue guard. In a fine gothic script, it notes “To the Right Honourable The Earl of Lonsdale as a slight appreciation of the great services he has rendered to The Art of Boxing by the extension of his patronage and the keen interest he has always shown therein; This book is respectfully Presented by” and then signed “J. Frank Bradley”, National Sporting Club, London, August 1910. The font pastedown has the armorial bookplate of The Earl of Lonsdale. Bound in full brown calf, gilt borders to covers and upper cover lettered in gilt. Spine with five raised bands. Gilt turn-ins and marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. Some scuffing and marking to upper cover. Internally, there is some foxing but overall a very good copy of a rare book of which Worldcat locates only two copies (BL and Cologne Library).
Frank Bradley was the editor of a sporting magazine that began as “The Mirror of Life” which, reflecting his primary interest in boxing, became “The Mirror of Life and Boxing”. It is fitting that Bradley should have given this lavishly decorated copy of his book on the rules of boxing to Lord Lonsdale for few men have done more for the status of boxing. In 1909, he introduced, on behalf of the National Sporting Club, the Lonsdale Belt which is the oldest championship award in British boxing. Lonsdale (1857-1944) was a wild and eccentric figure born 100 years too late. He was really the archetype of the hard living, hard hunting, hard fighting eighteenth century aristocrat. Aside from his interest in boxing, he was master of two of the country’s smartest and oldest packs of foxhounds, President of Bertram Mills Circus and Arsenal Football Club and Chief Steward of the Jockey Club. He invited the Kaiser to shoot at his estate in Cumberland which led to his being granted a knighthood of the first class of the Order of the Prussian Crown. He also managed to wreck the family estate which resulted in the largest country house sale of the twentieth century.
This splendid little book is sold with “The Yellow Earl, The life of Hugh Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale 1857-1944” by Douglas Sutherland. [4324]
£950
THE GOSPELS IN SANSKRIT
11. [MILL, William Hodge] English introduction to the Christa-Sangita or the Sacred history of our Lord Jesus Christ, in Sanskrit verse.
Calcutta: Bishop’s College Press. 1842
Second edition. 8vo in 4s with some of the Sanskrit text bound in 2s. 200x130mm. pp. lxxxiii, ibl, 1-128; 1-168; 1-156; 1-220.
Bound in red morocco with a lavishly tooled gilt border. Spine wit five raised bands, compartments decorated and lettered in gilt. Gilt turn-ins and marbled endpapers. All edges gauffred. Joints rubbed and a little cracked and some fading to spine but otherwise in very good condition and internally near fine. Rare institutionally, Worldcat locating twelve copies worldwide, and in commerce, no copies of this edition appearing in the auction records.
William Hodge Mill (1792-1853) was educated at Cambridge and took holy orders in 1817. In 1820, he became the first principal of Bishop’s College, Calcutta. It was here that he began the study of Sanskrit. In 1823, he published a translation of the Ten Commandments. A little later, the Creeds followed and then in 1831, he published the Christa-Sangita, a translation into Sanskrit of the story of the Gospels. This second edition (which is in fact a completion of the full text and so, in a sense the first complete edition) appeared in 1842. It is an extraordinary work which tells the story of Christ in the idiom of Hindu classical poetry in order to create a synthesis between Christianity and Hinduism. It is formed of four books, combining history and a deep spirituality, concluding with Christ’s glorification and a translation “into varied lyric measure” of the Te Deum. He returned to England due to ill health and was appointed Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge. On his death he was buried in Ely Cathedral where he had been a Canon and where there is a splendid memorial to him. [4297] £450
BCP IN MARA’THI’
12. DIXON, The Rev. J. The Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England. Translated into Mara'thi'
Bombay: Published for the Church Missionary Society. Printed at the American Mission Press 1835
First edition. 8vo in 4s. 213x130mm. pp 711 [1bl]. Text in Mara’thi’. Contemporary purple full calf, spine decorated in gilt and blind. Maroon morocco label to spine, lettered in gilt. Some rubbing and scuffing and corners bumped and worn. Internally very good. Front pastedown has the bookplate of the SPCK. A nice copy of a rare book, Worldcat locating only two copies (BL and Yale).
Mara’thi’ is an Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in India and is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. Dixon studied at the Church Missionary Society College in Islington. He was posted to India and was based at Nazikh, an important centre of Brahman influence in the Deccan Plateau where Mara’thi’ is spoken. He was also one of the translators of the Old Testament into Marathi, which was finished in 1851 and appeared, in three volumes, after Dickson’s death.
[4318]
ENGLISH-MARATHI DICTIONARY. A BOMBAY PRINTING
£750
13. TALEKAR, Shrikrishna Raghunath Shastri A School Dictionary, English and Marathi. Bombay: Government Central Book Depot. 1870
Third edition, Revised and Enlarged. 8vo. 190x115mm. pp. viii, 488. Full sheep, red morocco label to spine, lettered in gilt. In excellent condition. Internally very good. Front free endpaper has ownership inscription I.S.White. Marathi is the language spoken in the state of Maharashtra of which Bombay/Mumbai is the capital. An attractive book, published for the Educational Department.
[3892]
£250
