Selections from the 40th California International
Antiquarian Book Fair
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Ellis
(Sarah Stickney,
Mrs.)
English Woman’s Family Library. A Collection of Four Titles:
Women of England, Daughters of England, Wives of England, and Mothers
of England. London: Fisher, Son, & Co., 1839-1843.
4 vols. 8vo. Uniformly bound in full dark green morocco, ornately
decorated in gilt on front and back panels, the spines similarly
decorated with six compartments. There is a steel engraved frontispiece
in The Daughters of England (Vol. II). All edges are gilt. All four
volumes are in fine condition and are contained in a contemporary
brown wooden box with hinged glass front, surmounted by a gilt-lettered
pediment reading “Englishwoman’s Family Library”.
First edition as a complete set, with the handsome box making a
very charming object. Volumes I and II were originally published
in 1839 and 1842 (included here are later editions, presumably printed
for this set). The preface in Vol. I is dated 1839, the preface
in Vol. II is dated 1842. Volumes III and IV are first editions.
The preface in Vol. III is dated 1843, the title-page of Volume
IV is dated 1843 as is the preface. Sarah Stickney Ellis, 1799-1872,
is best known for the Women of England and her her other conduct
manuals. Her books disseminated the Victorian ideal of womanhood.
The Wives of England, their Relative duties, was dedicated by permission
to the Queen. The volumes are not numbered-we have followed the
chronological sequence as recorded in XIX Century Fiction by Sadleir
p. 125, 821, a-d.
Price: $ 5,000
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John Abbot and Sir James
Edward Smith.
The Natural History of the Rarer Lepidopterous Insects of Georgia...
London: T. Bensley for J. Edwards, Cadell and Davies, and J White,
1797.
2 vols, folio. 408 x 310mm, (16 1/16” x 12 1/8”). 104
hand colored engraved plates occasionally heightened with gum arabic.
Parallel text in English and French, with Latin index as well. Contemporary
green morocco stamped in blind and gilt on covers and spine. Plates
watermarked as late as 1822, though some are marked 1794, 1820, 1821.
All text is watermarked 1794. Plate 23 and 62 slightly short but not
affecting plate mark, occasional very light offsetting, mostly plate
to text, A few small scuffs to rear cover of volume one. A very attractive
copy, with delicate coloring and the overwhelming majority of plates
very clean, in a handsome contemporary binding, the whole with no
sophistications or repairs.
First edition of this beautiful book of Butterflies, including caterpillars
and the plants they eat and live amongst. “Abbot was a most
assiduous collector, and an admirable draftsman of insects. “[This]
work is one of the most beautiful that this or any other country can
boast of” (Swainson, quoted by Sabin). Born in Turnham Green,
London in 1751, Abbot went to Virginia in 1773, then travelled south
to Georgia in 1775, where he spent much of his long life compiling
a scientific record of local birds and insects. In order to publish
in London, the entomologist needed the co-operation and support of
Sir James Smith, co-founder and first president of the Linnean Society.
Smith was a friend of Sir Joseph Banks who was offered the entire
collection of books, manuscripts and specimens of the Swedish natural
historian and botanist Carolus Linnaeus, following the death of his
son Carolus Linnaeus the Younger. Banks declined the purchase but
Smith bought the collection for the bargain price of £1,000.
The collection arrived in London in 1784 and in 1786 Smith was elected
Fellow of the Royal Society. Smith, in the preface, praises Abbot
highly as the first author since the celebrated, though not very accurate,
Merian, to illustrate and describe the lepidoptera of the American
continent scientifically, including both representations of the caterpillars
and ‘the plants on which each insect chiefly feeds.’
Dunthorne 287; Sabin 25.
Price: $ 65,000 |
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Izaak Walton
and Charles Cotton.
The Compleat Angler. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington,
1888.
2 vols. 4to, full polished dark green morocco decorated with the
intertwined initials of the authors (in imitation of the emblem
on the fishing cottage they shared) and other inlaid and gilt figures
of fish and flies, gilt titles, marbled endpapers, by Morrell. Skillful
repairs to joints, still a fine copy.
This is the Lea and Dove 100th edition of The Compleat Angler, extra-illustrated
and containing Westwood and Satchell’s Chronicle of the Compleat
Angler. Number 98 of 250 copies signed by editor R. B. Marston of
The Fishing Gazette. An absolutely stunning binding and extremely
important edition.
Price: $ 25,000 |
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Alexis [C.
H. M. Clérel] de. Tocqueville
De la démocratie en Amérique... Paris: Librairie de
Charles Gosselin, 1835.
2 vols., 8vo. [4], xxiv, 367, folding color map; [4], 459pp. Original
yellow printed wrappers. A little dusty, with some foxing, bottom
of spine of second volume rubbed off, extremities with some signs
of age, but a very presentable and entirely unsophisticated copy.
A classic of political literature, very rare in original wrappers.
This is the first edition of the important work on the budding American
democracy, very popular to this day, still relevant because of its
original insight and vision, it discusses the shortcomings and advantages
of the democratic political and social system, justifying democracy
and predicting its survival and success. His observations were made
during a government mission to the U. S. to study the penal system.
Five hundred copies were printed of this edition.
Howes T-279. Sabin 96060.
Price: $ 50,000 |
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Benjamin
Franklin. [Jared Sparks, editor]
The Works...Containing several political and historical tracts not
included in any former edition, and many letters official and private
not hitherto published; with Notes and a Life of the Author by Jared
Sparks. Boston: Hilliard Gray, and Company, 1840.
10 vols, 8vo. Contemporary 3/4 green pebbled morocco gilt, over
marbled boards, t.e.g., others uncut. Illustrated with 22 plates,
some folding. Light scuff to cover of volume one, occasional very
subtle signs of age, some light foxing, withal a very attractive
set.
A handsome set of Benjamin Franklin’s works, with an interesting
provenance: The volumes bear the bookplate and some ownerhip signatures
of one Edgar S. Van Winkle, apparently a lawyer. A letter dated
November 12th, 1836 from Edgar Allan Poe, solicits Van Winkle’s
contribution to the Southern Literary Mesenger. (the text of this
letter was found on the website of the E. A. Poe Society of Baltimore
website.)
Price: $ 4,500 |
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