A WIDE RANGE OF MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE VELLUM MANUSCRIPT MATERIAL, INCLUDING THREE COMPLETE MANUSCRIPTS AND A GREAT MANY SINGLE LEAVES. (from the ninth to the 16th century) The manuscripts highlighted by a stunning Book of Hours, in sparkling condition, with 13 miniatures of various sizes, and (outside the Medieval realm) by an apparently unpublished late 18th century cabalistic treatise in English; the single folios--at prices from $35 to $25,000--including a diverse group ranging from a ninth century leaf from Bede's homilies to fine decorative 15th century horae leaves (many with lovely miniatures) to an attractive group of large musical sheets from 16th century Spanish antiphonaries. Prices vary

A COLLECTION OF MORE THAN 300 EASTON PRESS AND FRANKLIN MINT BOOKS, ALL IN FINE CONDITION. Including some complete series (for example, Easton's "100 Greatest Books Ever Written" and the 51 "Masterpieces of American Literature"). $9,500 net (ST11462b-352)

A COLLECTION OF MORE THAN 100 HARDCOVER WORKS ON BIG GAME HUNTING AND AFRICA.An impressive group of consistently interesting and significant works, including "Stalking Big Game with a Camera" (1/550 signed) and "W. N. McMillan's Expeditions and Big Game Hunting." $8,500 net (ST11462b-247)

A COLLECTION OF SOME 174 BOOKS ON JAZZ AND THE BLUES. INCLUDING BIOGRAPHIES, REFERENCE WORKS, AND COFFEE TABLE BOOKS. With first editions of Billie Holiday's "Lady Sings the Blues," Sidney Bechet's "Treat It Gentle," and a great many sought-after volumes now difficult to obtain cheaply. $5,000 net (ST11462b-287)

ANGELUS, JOHANNES. ASTROLABIUM. (1488) 240 x 170 mm. (9 1/2 x 6 3/4"). FIRST EDITION. Old (perhaps 18th century) pigskin dyed brown over probably original bevelled wooden boards, very expertly rebacked (in the 19th century?), covers with simple panelling formed by intersecting blind rules, each board with the initials "HL" surmounted by a crown at center, double raised bands (over original cords?), brass clasp at center of fore edge with leather portion renewed. A number of four- to 13-line white-on-black woodcut initials, and MORE THAN 400 FREQUENTLY VERY DELIGHTFUL WOODCUTS, 19 OF THEM LARGE, the initials and cuts ALL COLORED BY AN EARLY HAND. This is the first printing of a significant work of astrology by Johannes Angelus (Johann Engel, 1463-1512) as well as a rare incunable of considerable charm in any state, but especially with its woodcuts hand colored, as they are here. In Stillwell's words, the book is "an important astrological work containing tables of the sign and degree of the ascendent for each hour and minute [along with] . . . equations of the astrological houses . . . and illustrations showing the potential occupations and types of persons born under given auspices." Stillwell indicates that the work was not only important, but also somehow unconventional or threatening enough to incur a partial condemnation by the Faculty of Theology of Paris. Painted in our copy in autumnal shades of chestnut, gold, green, and brown, the 19 large woodcuts, showing the seven planets in their chariots and the 12 signs of the zodiac, were reused from Ratdolt's 1482 publication of Hyginus. Similarly colored, the smaller woodcuts appear to be original with this work. These illustrate the 96 pages devoted to predicting a person's character by birthdate. At the beginning of each section, we have at the middle of the page a small zodiacal sign, above which are three figures representing the three ten-day periods governed by the sign. For Sagittarius, for example, we learn from the superscriptions at the top of the page that the first third is under the influence of Mercury and is warlike, the second is under the Moon and timid, and the third is under Saturn and willful. Following each zodiac sign are 30 emblematic characters (360 such characters in all) representing horoscopes, each surrounded by 12 triangles marked by zodiac signs, the triangles fitting together to form a square frame around each emblematic figure. The figures are dressed in late Medieval garb and often are shown going about their daily business, churning butter, eating bread, or harvesting. For each there is a short Latin phrase describing the figure, and another interpreting its significance for the person whose horoscope is represented. Johann Engel was born in Bavaria and studied in Vienna under a leading astronomer, Regiomontanus. He settled in Augsburg, where he spent time practicing medicine and casting horoscopes. He was learned in astronomy as well as astrology (although without the insights of his contemporary, Copernicus) and edited the first printing of Albumasar's "De Magnis Coniunctionibus." Nearly as delightful as, and more revealing than, the colored woodcuts are the translations made by our Boston astrologer Thomas Lister in the top and bottom margins. Quite a number of horoscopes predict laziness, and some carry more dire predictions; in Lister's words, one unfortunate person born at the wrong time "will be a thief," another "will be unfortunate on the water," and a third will be "a quarrelsome man and spiteful as a dog." At the same time, a good many horoscopes predict happiness in varying degrees. We have not been able to identify our self-styled(?) astrologer, though we believe his handwriting to be American, suggesting that his stated hometown of Boston is in Massachusetts, not in Lincolnshire. Lister is perhaps more adept as an astrologer than as a Latinist, for, although he usually translates the Latin correctly, he not infrequently takes liberties, and occasionally he is just plain at odds with linguistic reality. In addition to ours, ABPC lists just three complete copies of "Astrolabium" at auction since 1979, and only one colored copy in the last 30 years. $42,000 (ST10903)

(ATLAS - MINIATURE). GIBSON, JOHN, Engraver. BOWEN, EMANUEL. ATLAS MINIMUS, OR A NEW SET OF POCKET MAPS OF THE SEVERAL EMPIRES, KINGDOMS AND STATES OF THE KNOWN WORLD. WITH HISTORICAL EXTRACTS RELATIVE TO EACH. (1758) 114 x 88 mm. (4 1/2 x 3 1/2"). FIRST EDITION, Second Issue. APPEALING CONTEMPORARY POLISHED CALF, raised bands, original red morocco title label. ENGRAVED THROUGHOUT, with frontispiece (featuring three cherubs around a large globe), title, preface leaf, index leaf, and 52 CHARMING MAPS HAND COLORED IN OUTLINE (as called for in the index). This delightful book of maps, about the size of a pack of cards, enabled an 18th century reader, probably an adolescent, to carry the world in his pocket. It opens with a twin-hemispherical world map, followed by five continental maps, and then maps of the countries and regions within the continents. Of special interest are the maps of the European settlements in the New World--there are 16 maps of the Americas in all--as well as those of exotic locales, including "Negroland" (i.e., West Africa). The preface informs us that the volume comprises "a comprehensive view of the several parts of the globe, with historical extracts on each map," these "extracts" being accounts, amounting to about 50 words each, that include information about the population, government, natural resources, and religion of the region. The publishers also state that they anticipate a commercial acceptance of the work because "no other epitome of this kind has been offered to the publick [in a form] so convenient for the pocket." (This may not have been strictly true, since in 1747, Lobeck issued a miniature atlas engraved by Lotter, and it remained popular for many years, being used, just as ours no doubt was, by pupils learning basic geography.) John Gibson (fl. 1750-92) was an important 18th century British cartographer and engraver who produced thousands of maps, but the "Atlas Minimus" was his magnum opus. He is also of interest to us today as the engraver who produced the four-sheet map of North America after the Treaty of Paris. Gibson worked with Emanuel Bowen (1693/4–1767) on both our atlas and the Treaty of Paris Map. According to DNB, Bowen made a substantial "contribution to 18th century world and British atlases" as well as "engraved charts for some of the leading hydrographers of his day," and he produced a considerable amount of material for periodicals. He also had "the distinction of being geographer to George II from about 1747 and, according to many sources (particularly Chubb), geographer to Louis XV of France." The descriptive extracts described above are characteristic of his work. While copies of the present item appear in the marketplace from time to time, one would be hard pressed to find a copy in better condition than what is seen here. $11,500 (ST11498)

BIBLE IN ENGLISH. (GENEVA - TOMSON VERSION). THE NEVVE TESTAMENT. bound with THE WHOLE BOOKE OF PSALMES.
(1583 [1582 on title page of the New Testament]) 263 x 200 mm. (10 1/4 x 8"). Two volumes bound in one. Handsome recent retrospective blindstamped calf by Sean Richards, covers panelled with plain and decorative rules, outer frame with a series of rosette stamps, center panel in diapered compartments with central fleur-de-lys, five brass bosses on each board, raised bands flanked with blind decorative rules, new endpapers. New Testament with woodcut vignette on title page, woodcut headpieces and numerous foliated initials, printer's "Tigre Reo" device at the end of the epistle, royal arms on the last page of St. John and of Revelations; the Psalms with elaborate woodcut border on title page featuring mythological figures, text beginning with large historiated initial. This is a rare copy of a mainstream 16th century English New Testament that is entirely complete and in excellent condition. It is an early printing of Laurence Tomson's revision of the New Testament, first issued in 1576, the version that "became the final and popular form of the Geneva Testament," which "maintained its supremacy as the Bible of the people . . . for three generations." (Herbert) Tomson (1539-1608) altered the text here mainly in accordance with the 1565 Latin version of Theodore Beza (1519-1605), eminent scholar and humanist and head of the congregation after the death of Calvin in 1564. Beza's Latin and Greek versions of the scriptures were well known and widely used, and his influence is especially marked on the English Geneva version of 1560 and the King James version of 1611. Secretary to Sir Francis Walsingham, Tomson was a well-travelled man of extensive learning who knew 12 languages, wrote a number of works on political and economic issues, and translated Calvin and other religious writers. Like other reformers, he had a Geneva connection, lecturing there on Hebrew for a time. The family history recorded on the back leaves, where the date and hour of births and deaths in the Hilliard family are set forth, spans the years 1709-52. Not only do these entries (one of which mentions London's Kentish Town) lend the usual intriguing connection with the past, but they also clearly indicate that the present New Testament was still being actively used many generations after its publication date, even though a number of more recent biblical revisions would have been available. The present modern binding has been handcrafted with considerable skill, and is reminiscent (without being a replica) of blindstamped bindings of the period. ABPC seems to list just two copies of our New Testament at auction since 1975, the last one (the Betts copy in modern calf) selling at Bonham's in 2007 for the hammer price equivalent of $4,656. $6,900 (ST11510)

(BIBLE IN ENGLISH - ILLUSTRATIONS). THOMASON, SIR EDWARD. ENAMELLED IMPRESSIONS STRUCK OFF FROM THE SPLENDID SERIES OF MEDAL DIES, ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES, ENGRAVED BY BRITISH ARTISTS IN THE EMPLOY OF THE AUTHOR. (1830]) 286 x 222 mm. (11 1/4 x 8 3/4"). Two volumes. FIRST EDITION. Contents bound, as issued, into the publisher's two wooden boxes, made in the shape of books and covered with maroon straight-grain morocco, boards elaboratedly blind tooled, flat spines with gilt rules, ornaments, and titling, edges covered with gilt foil incised with a marbled pattern, the lids of the boxes held close by two metal hooks (virtually invisible repairs along two joints). WITH 60 FINE INLAID ENAMELLED PAPER MEDALLIONS (approximately 74 mm. in diameter) SHOWING SCRIPTURAL SCENES, each facing an accompanying leaf of narrative text. This is a biblical item like nothing else we have ever advertised for sale. It comprises a series of medallions in high relief, the impressions being made on thick paper and then covered with enamelling, making them hard and shiny. Representing scenes from the Bible in considerable detail, these medallions are arranged chronologically, each one being labelled--with remarkably confident accuracy--according to how many years the scene takes place before or after the birth of Christ (Medal #6, for example, showing Noah's Ark, is fixed at "2,348 years before Christ"). As the title page indicates, the images on the medals in this collection embody the work of Domenichino, Raphael, Caracci, Leonardo da Vinci, Rubens, Guido, Michelangelo, Titian, Rembrandt, Paul Veronese, Carlo Dolci, Coreggio, and others. Edward Thomason (ca. 1772-1849) was a dynamic businessman from Birmingham whose fertile mind embraced several avenues of commercial enterprise, and he invented a great many diverse things, none more important to us today than a new corkscrew, the design for which he patented in 1802 and which prevails, basically unchanged, even now. Like so much of Birmingham industrial society, he was heavily into the manufacture of metal objects. After experimenting with various methods of medal manufacture, he produced in 1830 the present group of 60 biblical images, which he used to make silver medals. "Developing his usual practice of presenting medals to important figures, he sent examples of the biblical series to all European monarchs, as well as to the president of the United States and the emperor of China (who returned his). In return for these, and also for his work as vice-consul for Birmingham for several countries, he received several orders and decorations." (DNB) The present item is an uncommonly seen version of these medals meant for public consumption. Our full morocco boxes seem to represent a deluxe form of the set: ABPC lists (just) four examples sold since 1975, three of them in half morocco. $3,500 (ST11265)

(BIBLE IN HEBREW AND ENGLISH). (ELIOT, JOHN). [TITLE IN HEBREW]. [SEFER TEHILLIM]. THE BOOK OF PSALMES WITH THE NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION PUBLISHED BY JOHN LEUSDEN. (1688) 135 x 80 mm. (5 3/8 x 3 1/8"). First Printing of this Edition. Excellent contemporary stiff vellum, spine titling in an old hand. Woodcut printer's device on title page. This is a book of modest size, but it resonates with importance as a rare and desirable Bible, piece of Judaica, and early Americanum. The work was produced by Johannes Leusden (1624-99), celebrated professor of Oriental languages and Hebrew at the University of Utrecht, who had a strong American connection as a correspondent of Increase Mather, the Boston minister and Rector of Harvard College. Leusden was greatly concerned about the progress of proselytizing among the American Indians, and, in fact, his two dedications here are, first, to John Eliot and then to 24 Indian converts ("lately Gentiles") who had begun ministering to their Native American brethren. The first--and more important--dedication here salutes "the very Reverend and pious John Eliot, the indefatigable and faithful minister of the church of Ripen, (being now in the Eighty fourth year of his age) and Venerable Apostle of the Indians in America . . . who hath translated into, and published in, the American tongue, by an Antlaean Labour, the Bible and several English practical tractats." Born in England and educated at Cambridge University, Eliot (1604-90) came to Boston in 1631, preached to the Indians in their own language, established villages of more than 1,000 "Praying Indians," and issued a series of pamphlets known as "Eliot's Indian Tracts," which led to the formation in England of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 1649. The society financed the printing of Eliot's Bible, the first complete version to be issued in the English colonies, produced in 1661-63 at the Cambridge press of Samuel Green. In addition to the Utrecht imprint, our same book was issued in London under the name of Samuel Smith (although all copies were probably printed in Holland); the work is quite rare in any form, with the Utrecht printing being located by ESTC in just two American libraries, and with only one such copy appearing in ABPC since 1975. $9,500 (ST116501)

(BINDINGS - JEWELED). (SANGORSKI & SUTCLIFFE). SHELLEY, PERCY BYSSHE. POSTHUMOUS POEMS. (1824) 218 x 135 mm. (8 5/8 x 5 5/8"). FIRST EDITION. MAGNIFICENT EARLY 20TH CENTURY BLUE LEVANT MOROCCO, LAVISHLY GILT, BY SANGORSKI & SUTCLIFFE (with the firm's monogram on rear doublure), covers with double fillet border enclosing panels entirely covered with gilt in the form of swirling flowering vines on a stippled background, front cover featuring central round lozenge with beaded border enclosing monogram of "PSB" in onlaid violet, red, and dark green morocco on a pointillé ground, raised bands, spine elaborately gilt in compartments echoing the general design of the covers; wide inner dentelles with gilt borders reprising the vine design of the covers, tangent inner border of inlaid brown, ivory, and green morocco with gilt lily decoration, FRONT DOUBLURE WITH STIPPLING AND TWINING VINES BEARING 76 CABOCHON AMETHYST BLOSSOMS SURROUNDING AN OVAL COSWAY-STYLE MINIATURE OF SHELLEY PAINTED ON IVORY, REAR DOUBLURE FEATURING 76 AMETHYSTS SURROUNDING CENTRAL LOZENGE of brown, gray, and green onlaid morocco strapwork in a cruciform Celtic knot pattern, ALONG WITH 12 MOONSTONES AND FOUR TURQUOISES AND WITH A LARGER AMETHYST IN THE CENTER; chestnut brown morocco free endleaves with multiple gilt and onlaid green morocco borders and cornerpieces repeating the gilt floriated pattern, matching brown silk flyleaves, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed. These poems by Shelley were gathered from his manuscripts after his death and published by his wife Mary. Among the most notable longer poems is "Julian and Maddalo," set in Venice, in which the two characters--one an optimist, the other a pessimist--are said to represent Shelley and Byron. Also here is one of Shelley's most colorful and imaginative works, "The Witch of Atlas," which depicts a beneficent but sometimes impish sorceress. And our volume contains "The Triumph of Life," left incomplete by the poet's death but nevertheless considered one of his most profound poems. Inspired by Petrarch's "Trionfi," the poem depicts a parade of worthies as diverse as Plato and Napoleon, interpreted by the poet's guide, Rousseau, who also details the story of his own life. Our first edition is evidently an early issue, as it is missing the errata sheet inserted later. The exquisite binding is the work of Francis Sangorski and George Sutcliffe, who founded their own bindery in 1901 and continued in a successful partnership until 1912. During that year, Francis drowned, and his brother, Alberto, who had been a central figure in producing the firm's vellum illuminated manuscripts, went over to Rivière. Despite these losses, the firm grew and prospered, employing a staff of 80 by the mid-1920s and becoming perhaps the most successful English bindery of the 20th century. This item is among their later works, and represents the zenith of their design and craft. The covers are virtually encrusted with gold which has been applied in thousands—not hundreds, but thousands—of individual operations by the binder. And then, when we open the covers, we are treated to what approaches an orgy of additional adornment—leather free endleaves, multiple morocco onlays, much additional stippling, more than 160 jewels, and, finally, a painted miniature. It is not surprising that such a lovely objet d'art would have been owned by (and perhaps commissioned by?) a true connoisseur like the American industrialist and art collector and patron Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919). Frick, a "self-made man," left college after one year, determined to succeed in business, and resolved to be a millionaire before he was 30. He went into business with two cousins in western Pennsylvania, forming a company to produce coke from coal for steel manufacturing. With loans from family friend Andrew Mellon, he bought out his partners and formed H. C. Frick & Company, which by 1880 controlled 80 percent of the coal output of Pennsylvania. In 1881, Frick met Andrew Carnegie, and the men formed a partnership between Frick's company and Carnegie Steel that was the forerunner to United States Steel. Like many of the great industrialists of the Gilded Age, Frick was a serious art aficionado who was able to amass a very significant collection. His mansion at 70th and Fifth Avenue in New York City, which he built to "make Carnegie's place look like a miner's shack," now houses the world-famous Frick Collection. $48,000 (ST11467)

(BYRON, GEORGE GORDON, LORD). [BYRON, LADY ANNA ISABELLA MILBANKE]. REMARKS OCCASIONED BY MR. MOORE'S NOTICES OF LORD BYRON'S LIFE. (1830]) 235 x 155 mm. (9 1/4 x 6 1/4"). FIRST EDITION. UNBOUND, UNTRIMMED, AND UNOPENED. Housed in a sturdy red cloth folder with gilt titling on the (slightly sunned) spine. This pamphlet was written and privately printed by Lady Byron to inform a close circle of friends of the circumstances surrounding her separation from the poet after only a year of marriage, which she here attributes to fears, shared by his doctors, that he suffered from insanity. She was offended by Thomas Moore's insinuation that it was her parents' interference that had caused her to leave her husband, and that their slanders against the poet had ruined his life. She intended to send out only about a dozen copies to those for whose opinion she cared in order to correct Moore's inaccurate assertions, and had no wish for these private affairs to become public. Anna Isabella [Annabella] Milbanke Byron (1792-1860) married Lord Byron in 1815. According to the DNB, "On the first day [of their honeymoon] Byron received a love letter from his half-sister, Augusta Leigh, which he showed to his wife, saying he had married her out of revenge for her previous refusal" of his first proposal of marriage. When the couple returned to London, Augusta came to stay with them, hardly a desirable situation for the now-expecting young bride, and Byron's behavior became unstable and abusive. The DNB reports that Byron's "aunt and a cousin came to protect the pregnant Lady Byron from his threats." Shortly after the birth of their daughter, the future mathematician Ada Lovelace, "Lady Byron, at Byron's request, took the baby to her parents' home in Leicestershire, promising to return if his doctor advised it. Byron did not accept her parents' invitation to join his wife and they never met again." Lady Byron explains that on medical advice, she continued to write cheerful letters to her husband, although she continued to fear for her safety and that of her daughter if she met him. She is silent on the subject of Augusta Leigh and the rumors about her relations with her famous half-brother that resurfaced after the couple's separation which caused Byron to leave England, never to return. She makes no attempt to respond to Moore's attacks on her own character and supposed inadequacies, preferring not to sully her dead husband's reputation by defending herself. Our copy is one of the 15-page original edition, easily distinguished from the second printing, which had only 13 printed pages. It is a rarity both in libraries and in the marketplace: only two first editions are held by institutions (British Library and University of London) and only one has been recorded at auction by ABPC since at least 1975. Content and rarity make this already an especially desirable item; the bibliophile's state in which it is found here is an almost superfluous lucky bonus. $3,600 (ST11620)

DOYLE, SIR ARTHUR CONAN. THE WORKS. (1930) 225 x 155 mm. (8 7/8 x 6 1/4"). 24 volumes. ONE OF 760 NUMBERED SETS of the "Crowborough Edition," of which 750 were for sale, all SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. (This is copy #460.) Original publisher's cream-colored half buckram over brown paper boards, upper cover with gilt facsimile signature of the author, flat spines with original paper title label, top edges gilt, other edges untrimmed, seven volumes with signatures unopened (FIVE VOLUMES ENTIRELY UNOPENED). With a photographic portrait frontispiece in the first volume. This is a scarcely used copy of the sought-after autographed "Crowborough Edition," named for the author's East Sussex home at Crowborough. Revised and issued with a new general introduction by Doyle in the year of his death, it was intended to be the complete and final edition of his fiction, and although illness prevented Doyle from completing the task as he had intended, this is the closest we have to a definitive edition of the Doyle canon. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) is, of course, best known for his tales of Sherlock Holmes, the great detective who overshadowed his creator's writing career. But included here also are Conan Doyle's less frequently seen--but still interesting--characters, such as Etienne Gerard, a fictional Hussar in the French Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Green & Gibson tells us that Doyle was especially fond of the Gerard stories because he felt they "were accurate as a portrayal of the French soldiers of the period even down to the smallest details of the costumes and of the historical background." This edition turns up for sale with some frequency, and sometimes in its original plain dust jackets (there are such copies available at present), but those jackets tend to be unsightly because torn and creased; the present set is intended to be unusually desirable because of its advantageous price. $6,000 (ST11462a-018)

(FRENCH ILLUSTRATED BOOKS). OVID. LES METAMORPHOSES. (1767-71) 255 x 195 mm. (10 x 7 3/4"). Four volumes. First Edition with these Illustrations. VERY FINE CONTEMPORARY MARBLED CALF, HANDSOMELY GILT, covers with thick and thin triple fillet border, raised bands, spine with scrolling floral bands at top and bottom and with charming gilt compartments featuring floral centerpiece and foliate sprays as cornerpieces, each spine with two brown morocco labels, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Large engraved vignette headpieces and decorative tailpieces, engraved vignette on each title page, Volume I with added engraved title page and engraved dedication leaf, and 139 VERY FINE ENGRAVED PLATES after Eisen, Monnet, J. M. Moreau, Boucher, Gravelot, Le Prince, Parizeau, and St. Gois, engraved by Lemire, Leveau, Massard, and others (the first plate as well as dedication, vignettes, and head- and tailpieces engraved by Choffard). This is a marvelous contemporary copy of what Ray says flatly "is the supreme anthology of French Rococo book illustrations." The plates were first intended for printing as a separate suite designed by "the best French painters" and engraved by the best engravers, but before they could be published separately, they were incorporated in this edition of Ovid. The result, says Ray, "is a high point among illustrated books of the 18th century." It is difficult to exaggerate the pleasure the illustrations give. They are executed with great delicacy; the effects of light and shadow are especially impressive; and the sharpness and detail of even background figures are unusually fine. The preliminary pictures were done by a number of different artists. "The veteran Boucher appears beside the young Moreau, with Eisen, Choffard, Monnet, and Gravelot also playing substantial roles," says Ray. He singles out for special praise the illustrations of Eisen and finds his four depictions of the seasons supreme, from Spring, a graceful maiden fingering flower garlands flown in by cupids, to old man Winter hovering over a fire at which the fat cupids also warm themselves. Ray also is enthusiastic about the headpieces of Choffard, calling them "images which baffle the mind while they set it dreaming." With such a number of plates, one could expect to find an occasional engraving that is noticeably inferior, but in this work, the illustrations maintain a remarkably consistent high level of excellence. The present copy is from the first issue with these plates, an issue Cohen-de Ricci describes as much superior to the second (which is identified as having volume IV dated 1770). $10,000 (ST11005)

(ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT - MODERN). (BIBLE IN LATIN). AN ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM WITH THE TEXT FROM THE BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES. LIBER ECCLESIASTES. (19th century) 170 x 130 mm. (6 3/4 x 5 1/8"). IN A PLEASING CONTEMPORARY NEO-GOTHIC BEVELLED BRASS BINDING with brown morocco spine, upper cover with four large bosses (approximately 20 x 15 mm.) of oval cabochon cloudy light blue-green semi-precious stones (either malachite or turquoise), rectangular centerpiece of lapis lazuli (measuring approximately 31 x 22 mm.), two brass clasps, each set with an oval cabochon stone matching those on the cover (though slightly darker). THE TEXT WITH FIVE LARGE AND NINE SMALLER FOLITATED INITIALS IN COLORS AND GOLD, AND THE TITLE PAGE WITH A THREE-QUARTER BORDER IN A SIMILAR STYLE, the border composed of an entablature atop two columns, the columns supported by two gold lions at the bottom of the page. This lovely modern manuscript contains the entire book of Ecclesisates, called "Kohelet" in Hebrew. It does not attempt to be an exact reproduction of a Gothic manuscript, but uses a script inspired by the earlier uncial hands and initials, but with a touch of the Art Nouveau. Our unknown calligrapher/illuminator did not complete his work: the second half of the manuscript contains two blank pages and several smaller blanks yet to be filled in with an initial, and one of the initials is half finished. The retrospective binding is reminiscent of jewelry from the early Middle Ages, being plain polished metal set with large colored stones. In all, this meticulously executed work is a worthy successor to those created by Medieval artisans, and it is a very uncommon thing: some modern illuminated manuscripts attempt to reproduce (with varying degrees of success) prayer books from the 15th century, we have never seen a modern illuminated manuscript in an uncial hand, the script most often used in books from the fourth to the eighth century. $6,500 (ST11596)

(LAKESIDE CLASSICS). A COMPLETE SET OF THE LAKESIDE CLASSIC COLLECTION FROM 1903 TO 2008. (1903 - 2008) 175 x 110 mm. (6 7/8 x 4 3/8"). 106 volumes. Publisher's original cloth in green (1903-27), red (1928-52), blue (1953-77), brown (1978-2002), or light green (2003-08), front covers with gilt Indian head insignia of the press, flat spines with gilt titling, top edges gilt. With frontispiece illustration. The Lakeside Classics were the brain child of Thomas E. Donnelly, president of R. R. Donnelly & Sons, who wrote in the introduction to the first issue: "If, in a modest way this volume conveys the idea that machine-made books are not a crime against art, and that books may be plain but good, and good though not costly, its mission has been accomplished." Beginning in 1903, a title was released every Christmas, reprinting important American writings, especially first person narratives that were long out-of-print and hard to obtain. While complete subsets of 25 volumes occasionally appear on the market--the first 25 but rarely--entire runs of the series are quite hard to come by. As the publisher observes, "collectors who own a complete set usually consider themselves most fortunate." $4,500 (ST11462a-397)

(LEWIS AND CLARK). HISTORY OF THE EXPEDITION UNDER THE COMMAND OF LEWIS AND CLARK. (1893) 248 x 165 mm. (9 3/4 x 6 1/2"). Four volumes. First Printing of this Edition. Original green cloth, spines lettered in gilt, rear hinge of first volume and front hinge of third almost invisibly reinforced with matching paper. Edges untrimmed, THE TEXT UNOPENED. With 14 maps and plates, including engraved frontispiece portraits of Lewis in the first volume and of Clark in the second, and three large folding maps in the pocket at the back of volume IV. This is an exceptionally fine copy of a famous edition giving the full account of the most important trans-Mississippi expedition in American history. In addition to surveying the lands acquired in the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark explorers sought to find a land route to the Pacific, to buttress American claims to the Oregon territory, and to gather information about the Indians and the country of the Far West. The results of the expedition were far-reaching. The present set represents a central work in any collection of books on Western exploration. These four volumes, with their 1,364 pages, comprise a great deal more information than what was included in the first account of the journey written by Lewis and Clark themselves, a book that appeared in 1814. Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) and William Clark (1770-1838) wrote a compelling story of the adventurous expedition they commanded 200 years ago, when they set out from Illinois, explored the Missouri River, crossed the Rockies, canoed down the Snake and the Columbia, and wintered at Fort Clatsop, which they constructed near the mouth of the Columbia in what was to become Oregon. The original printing will always have the greatest value, but our 1893 edition represents a very important contribution to the study of their enterprise, and Howes testifies that it is the most scholarly of the various editions dealing with the undertaking. It includes a critical commentary, a new biographical and bibliographical introduction, and an index. As described in the Eberstadt catalogue 111 of 1938, "this edition is in every respect commensurate with the literature of the subject and the importance of the expedition itself. The critical commentary was prepared after examination of unpublished official journals, and many other sources of information, including a diligent study of the original manuscript journals and field notes of the explorers. The new information brought to the augmentation of the text is remarkable for its amount, variety, minuteness, and accuracy." The editor, Elliott Coues (1843-99), himself lived an adventurous life. When only 20, he enlisted as a medical cadet in the Union army during the Civil War, and having completed his medical degree, he continued to serve as an army surgeon until 1881. His duties took him to the Wild West, and he was a dedicated ornithologist, publishing notable bird books such as "Birds of the Northwest." He also published other historical works dealing with Western exploration. $5,500 (ST10362)

(MINIATURE BOOK). BIBLE IN ENGLISH. (1919) 47 x 31 mm. (1 7/8 x 1 3/4"), chained to a lectern 140 mm. high. EXCEPTIONALLY CHARMING ORIGINAL FLEXIBLE CALF, covers elaborately blindstamped to a Medieval design, upper cover with inside leather pocket containing a tiny leather-framed magnifying glass, the book attached by a six-inch chain to a wooden lectern approximately 5 1/2" high. All CONTAINED IN THE (slightly soiled, scuffed, and worn) ORIGINAL PUBLISHER'S BOX with large printed paper label on lid. With 28 full-page illustrations (including frontispiece) by C. B. Birch. This immensely delightful item is a reprint of the book (with attachments and accoutrements) issued by David Bryce & Sons, the renowned publisher of miniature books, in 1911 to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the publication of the celebrated "King James" or "Authorised" Version of the English Bible. Bondy, who does not often use so many "very's," described it as a "very great curiosity which has remained very popular with collectors to this very day." A paper label on the bottom of the lectern explains the history and tradition in English churches of anchoring books by a chain to some immovable surface--a practice that announced tacitly that this--very precious--book does not circulate! And the front cover of our original box repeats this text then adds a lengthy quotation from Plades' "Books in Chains" outlining the royal injunction that led to this practice. It is nothing short of astonishing that the entire Bible is present in this tiny space of not much more than a cubic inch, and that it is actually legible with the aid of its accompanying magnifying glass. This edition with lectern rarely appears in the marketplace, and while the lid to our publisher's thin cardboard box has splits at two corners, the presence of this original container in any reasonably intact condition is almost incredible. $1,950 (ST11588)

OROSIUS, PAULUS. HISTORIAE. (1475) 280 x 200 mm. (11 x 7 7/8"). Second Printing, First Printing of this Edition. Recent retrospective quarter pigskin over wooden boards, brass clasps at head, tail, and fore edge. Paragraph marks in red or blue, 4 two-line, 23 three-line, and 128 four-line initials in burnished gold on a ground of blue, magenta, or green enlivened by ornamental painted scrollwork in a contrasting color, first leaf of text with an armorial crest of the Caroli family of Bologna at the bottom (three gold stars surrounded by a laurel wreath), and SEVEN BEAUTIFUL HAND-PAINTED WHITE-VINE INITIALS IN SEVERAL COLORS AND BURNISHED GOLD, THE ONE ON THE FIRST PAGE OF TEXT 15 LINES TALL (the others: three seven-line, two six-line, and one four-line). This is an important early Christian book, offered here in a beautifully illuminated copy from an edition with a noteworthy place in printing history, as well as with fine modern provenance. Written in the wake of the Visigoths' sack of Rome in 410, Orosius' "Histories" is, in Britannica's words, "a pragmatical chronicle of the calamities that have happened to mankind from the Fall down to the Gothic period, . . . the first attempt to write the history of the world as a history of God guiding humanity. Its purpose gave it value in the eyes of the orthodox," and it remained influential for centuries. Orosius, a priest from Roman Spain, came to Hippo in North Africa in 413 to sit before St. Augustine, at whose suggestion the history was undertaken and to whom it is dedicated. Like Augustine in his great "City of God," Orosius attempts to counter the prevailing view among the pagans that their divinities had permitted the sack to punish the Romans for abandoning traditional worship in favor of Christianity. Through his narrative, Orosius demonstrates that the history of humankind has always been abundantly provided with a variety of horrors, shows that the dawn of the new religion did not measurably increase such catastrophes, and proffers the theme of a beleaguered Christianity triumphant, an emphasis that made the book understandably popular. Our second printing of Orosius (the original edition was issued in Vienna in 1471) is believed to be the first work produced at the press in Vicenza of Hermann Liechtenstein. BMC draws this conclusion because ours is the only Liechtenstein volume printed without signed gatherings, a feature that became less and less typical as the incunabular period progressed. Our editor, Aeneas Vulpes of Vicenza, describes himself as prior of Holy Cross, and subsequent printings relied on his edition. Liechtenstein, who came from Cologne, printed 12 books in Vicenza between 1475 and 1480. The Orosius is rare, and the present copy is particularly lovely because of its hand-illuminated initials, done in the white-vine style characteristic of Italian 15th century decoration. The gold for the initials is lavishly laid on, and the white vines embrace the letters in intricate loops, subtending a patchwork of blue, red, and green areas sowed with white dots clustered in threes. This copy comes from the celebrated Broxbourne library of Albert Ehrman (1890-1969), a diamond merchant who gathered a fine collection of books at his home at Broxbourne in Hertfordshire. He spent half a century collecting books, specializing in incunabula and early bindings (as well as early type specimens and bibliographies). Feather says that "his collecting was intelligent and scholarly, for he sought to illustrate the history of printing and the book trade, and the early development of trade binding." Ehrman also authored learned articles on fine bindings and the history of printing. $40,000 (ST11144)

VANCOUVER, GEORGE. A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY TO THE NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN, AND ROUND THE WORLD. (1801) 220 x 136 mm. (8 5/8 x 5 3/8"). Six volumes in three. Second Edition. Serviceable contemporary polished half calf over plum buckram, wide raised bands with scrollwork in gilt and blind, each spine with one red morocco label, marbled edges and endpapers (hinges of first volume reinforced with buckram, third volume rebacked, preserving original backstrip). With 17 folding plates, as called for, and two large folding maps, one of the folding maps ("A Chart shewing part of the Coast of N. W. America") in modern facsimile. Originally published in large format version in 1798, this is the first convenient octavo edition of the first-person account of Captain George Vancouver's voyage to the Pacific Coast of North America, a book (as the extended title tells us) "in which the coast of north-west America has been carefully examined and accurately surveyed . . . principally with a view to ascertain the existence of any navigable communication between the North Pacific and North Atlantic oceans." It is, in Hill's words, "one of the most important [voyages] ever made in the interests of geographical knowledge." Vancouver (1757-98) learned the art of nautical exploration from one of the best: he served under Captain James Cook aboard the "Resolution" during the 1772-75 voyage to explore the South Pacific in search of the legendary southern continent. According to DNB, while on board "he received training from the expedition's astronomer, William Wales, in astronomical observations, surveying, and drawing," lessons that were very useful to him when he served on Cook's expedition to chart the Northwest Passage. In 1790 he received a commission from the British crown to survey the Hawaiian Islands and the northwest coast of North America, and set out in command of the "Discovery." He spent the next five years exploring, surveying, and charting the coast from San Francisco all the way to Alaska, and the DNB tells us that his "remarkably accurate" survey was "for the greater part of the nineteenth century . . . the only reliable authority for navigating the remoter parts of British Columbia and Alaska . . . . Of all the men who served under Cook, Vancouver was the only one whose work as a hydrographic surveyor placed him in the same class as his mentor." Two of Vancouver's maps are included here, as are 17 folding panoramic views, engraved from sketches made "on the spot" by members of the expedition. These include depictions of Mount Rainier, native villages and their inhabitants, and one of the "Discovery" listing precipitously after running aground. The ANB declares that this work, while no longer of value for navigation, "continues to be valuable as a historical and anthropological record and as a literary work. Along with the surviving journals of some of his officers, it preserves a significant chapter in the history of the Age of Discovery." It seems likely that the present set has substantial association value. Despite the fact that the signatures "W. W. Woolen" in our three volumes contain just one "l," the books were surely the property of William Watson Woollen (1838-1921), an Indiana attorney and author of "The inside passage to Alaska, 1792-1920, with an account of the North Pacific coast from Cape Mendocino to Cook Inlet, from the accounts left by Vancouver and other early explorers, and from the author's journals of exploration and travel in that region," issued in 1924. Vancouver's "Voyage of Discovery" was obviously a work of considerable importance to Woollen in the preparation of his own book, which is now itself sought after. The extensive notations in the work as well as its less than pristine condition may suggest that this set accompanied Woollen on his travels to the Great Northwest. $6,000 (ST11462a-164)

WELLS, H. G. THE WORKS OF H. G. WELLS. (1924-27) 235 x 160 mm. (9 1/4 x 6 1/4"). 28 volumes. ONE OF 1,670 COPIES, OF WHICH THIS IS ONE OF 1,050 FOR AMERICA (1,000 of them for sale), SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR (this is copy #982). Original publisher's linen backed green paper boards, paper title labels on flat spines, edges rough trimmed. Half of the volumes UNOPENED, and all encased in the original (slightly worn) slipcases (one slipcase a modern replica). Photographic frontispiece in each volume. This is an attractively produced as well as textually important edition of the works of one of the most significant British authors at work during the final years of the 19th century and the first part of the 20th. Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) was prolific and durable, but he is most famous for his imaginative fiction from the 1890s. Works like "The Time Machine" (1895), "The Island of Dr. Moreau" (1896), "The Invisible Man" (1897), "War of the Worlds" (1898) and "When the Sleeper Awakes" (1899) established Wells as a master (along with Jules Verne) of science fiction. At the same time, his novels from the new century were of considerable interest and value as well. His "Anticipations" (1902) "showed his real gift for sociological speculation" (DNB), and his "Tongo-Bungay" (1909) -- which tells the story of a corporate mogul who makes his fortune selling a slightly injurious patent medicine and, when everything else fails, turns to building war munitions--is often considered Wells' masterpiece. In addition to the major works of fiction, our 28 volumes obviously also include a large number of short pieces of fiction and nonfiction. By the time Wells died, he had published more than 100 books and established his fame not only as a writer, but also as a minor prophet who accurately predicted war planes, tanks, the atomic bomb, and World War II. Wells was born to lower middle class parents, and his early work life was unsuccessful as a draper and chemist's assistant. With each failure, Wells would reside with his mother on the estate where she served as a domestic and there immerse himself in its fine library. Later he won a scholarship to the Normal School of Science, studying biology under Darwin’s major defender, T. H. Huxley (1825-95), meanwhile dabbling in contemporary ideas of socialism through free lectures at the Fabian Society. After earning a degree in zoology and geology, Wells taught and began publishing short stories, becoming a full-time writer after his major publishing success with "The Time Machine." Printed on pure rag deckle-edge paper, the text of the present edition was read and revised throughout by Wells, and he wrote a special preface to each volume as well as a general introduction to the edition as a whole. $3,500 (ST11462a-029)