28003. ARCHITECTURAL DRAWINGS. JOHN CHARLES ROGERS.: A Pair of Pencil Drawings, designs for cottages in Church Square, Winchelsea, East Sussex. Dated May 22 1910. Pair of pencil drawings, size: 225 x 140 mm, in very good state, unsigned but offered with a facsimile of the manuscript title page of the original sketch book of J C Rogers from which they were removed. The excellent work of this early 20th Century London architect, trained at the Regent Street Polytechnic has recently come to light through several, presumably family, sales. These examples, though minor, demonstrate Rogers' interest in the vernacular English Queen Ann style, which closely matches 'New' Winchelsea's layout and building design from period of the 18th Century, especially the area known as 'Church Square.' £100.00
28151. BEDFORD, JOHN THOMAS - CHARLES KEENE [ILLUSTRATOR].: Robert, Or Notes from the Diary of a City Waiter. London, Bardbury, Agnew and co, [1885]. Small 8vo, pp vi, 122, text illustrations by Charles Keene, original pictorial grey wrappers, small chip to head of spine, but a very good well-preserved copy, FIRST EDITION, issued as a one shilling paperback, no-doubt for railway reading. This collection of short humorous stories detailing the life of of a London waiter, as reprinted from the pages of Punch with comic illustrations by Charles Keene. It evidently gained some popularity as a second series was issued three years later, but copies in clean original wrappers are necessarily scarce. £40.00
28121. BINDING. THOMSON AND GRAY.: The Poetical Works of Thomson and Gray. London, Thomas Nelson, 1858. Small 8vo, pp 425, with frontispiece portrait and plates, finely bound in contemporary full red morocco, richly gilt to sides and spine, edges gilt, inner gilt dentelles, a fine bright copy, FIRST EDITION THUS, an inconsequential mid Victorian edition of these poets, in a period trade binding of quality; an excellent example. £25.00
28081. BRILLAT SAVARIN.: Physiologie du Goût precedee d'une Notice par Alp Karr dessins de Bertall. Paris, Furne et Cie, 1864. 4to, pp [6], 459, [1], with frontispiece, 6 etched plates printed on india paper, numerous text drawings throughout, by Bertall, untrimmed in slightly later half red morocco by Bruno Scheer, Berlin, in the 'romantic' style to the spine, with elaborate Rococo gilt ornaments, glazed endpapers and board infills, original pictorial cream wrappers including spine bound in beginning and end, rubbing and light wear to the joints and spine ends, occasional minor marginal foxing, but a very good copy overall in an attractive binding by one of the great Berlin bookbinders from the pre-war period. This sumptuous edition of what by 1864 was already considered a great gastronomic classic, employs the illustrated art of Bertall as originally published in the edition of 1848 here presented in new and finely executed form. £175.00
28181. BURNS, JAMES [PUBLISHER].: Poems and pictures : a collection of ballads, songs, and other poems. /With one hundred illustrations on wood by English artists. London : James Burns, 1846. 4to, pp [12], 241, [1], half title, extra pictorial title, text within wood-engraved borders and illustrations within text throughout, wood-engraved by Linton after a variety of artists, bound in publisher's full red morocco, richly decorated in gilt to sides and spine, edges gilt, endpapers neatly replaced, half title and extra title slightly trimmed at edges, elsewhere with just slight foxing beginning and end and occasionally elsewhere but generally a sound clean and well restored copy, SECOND EDITION, a tour de force of English book-illustrations of the period, incorporating pictorial designs of leading artists within bordered ballad texts. The title was evidently popular to reach a second printing in first year of publication [and a reprint in 1860], but this copy is remarkable in being bound in a fine red morocco casing rather than the usual cloth encountered on most copies, e.g. the NAL copy from the Harrod Collection. The binding appears to be unique to this de luxe issue, the recasing probably necessary replacement of an original gutta-percha binding. £75.00
28082. COLLINGWOOD, W GERSHOM.: The Limestone Alps of Savoy: a Study in Physical Geology...with an Introduction by John Ruskin. Orpington, George Allen, 1884. 8vo, pp xxiii, [1], 206, 16 diagrammatic illustrations of rock formations, bound in slightly later [1899] full deep grained goatskin morocco, richly gilt decorated to spine and upper board with the owner's monogram, heavy skiver endpapers with embossed bookplate of Henry Arthur Johnstone dated 1899, an excellent copy, FIRST EDITION. Ruskin had long wanted to write a study on the art aesthetic of Alpine rock formations, but never got around to it. Instead his pupil W G Collingwood wrote this book under his teacher's patronage, published in Ruskin's corpus of works as 'Deucalion - First Supplement' though in fact only the introduction is actually by Ruskin himself. This copy is in one of the remarkable red morocco bindings from the library of Henry Arthur Johnstone, a late Victorian collector remembered for nothing else but his library of matching morocco bindings from the end of the 19th Century, binder unspecified. The collection was sold off to a London bookseller during the First World War, and examples still come on the market time to time. This one would almost certainly have formed part of a set of Ruskin's works, though it is of course a completely independent publication. Collingwood would go on to write a memorable saga on Lake District mythology which, in turn, would influence the young Arthur Ransome in his books for children. £85.00
27867. CRUIKSHANK, GEORGE/ VICTOR HUGO.: Hans of Iceland. London, J Robins and co, 1825. Small 8vo, pp [4], 225, [1], frontispiece and 3 etched plates by George Cruikshank, untrimmed in near contemporary half green morocco, spine gilt with raised bands, slightly rubbed, an excellent clean copy almost free of the usual foxing, FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH, an abridgement of Victor Hugo's first published novel of two years earlier. A supremely imaginative fantasy 'it has all the ingredients of a Gothic novel: dreadful murders by the hand of a human monster, a young hero in love with the destitute heroine, royal court intrigues and rebellious uprising, all set in dungeons, dark towers and the untamed nature of Norway...' Ctuikshank rose to the occasion with some of his more fantastic images, especially for the frontispiece, recalling his contemporary work illustrating Grimm's Fairy Tales. This book was, no doubt, aimed at a similar audience. £150.00
28083. FERGUSSON, JAMES.: An Historical Inquiry into the True Principles of Beauty in Art, more especially with reference to Architecture...Part the First. London, Longman etc, 1849. Part one only [all published], small folio, pp xvi, 537, colour lithographed frontispiece, 5 engraved plates including 2 double-page, bound in contemporary half maroon morocco, spine gilt with raised bands, slightly rubbed but a very good sound and well bound copy, FIRST EDITION; an important but unfinished work of the famous Scottish architect and historian, whose studies of the aesthetic influence of ancient architecture, with special reference to that of India, was highly influential in mid Victorian England. This present work which includes some interesting autobiographical detail, has been called a 'metaphysical study' , while the author, describing it as his best, claimed to have sold only 4 copies, though he is known to have given most copies away. It remains a key aesthetic study of early architectural practices amongst the ancients. £150.00
28204. GRETRY, ANDRE [COMPOSER].: A Fine Mezzotint portrait of the composer Andre Gretry as a young man. ?After Moreau le Jeune, circa 1800. Plate size 17 x 13 cm approx, plus good margins, a sepia mezzotint on this paper, lightly foxed, else in good state. A pencil inscription below the image states ' After the portrait of Meaur le Jeune'. Although we have been unable to trace the original painting, nor this vividly dramatic mezzotint rendition of it, the portrait clearly is of Andre Gretry [1741-1813] in his younger days. It contrasts with familiar portraits of a somewhat middle-aged composer as depicted in profile in numerous engravings after Moreau whilst this image is three quarter and certainly romanticised. £45.00
28094. KING, JESSIE M [ILLUSTRATOR]. SPENSER, EDMUND.: Poems of Spenser Selected and with an Introduction by W B Yeats. Edinburgh, T C & E C Jack, [1906]. Small square 8vo, pp xlvii, [1], 290, half title, portrait frontispiece and vignette title, 8 plates by Jessie M King heightened in pink, uncut in original blue decorated cloth, a little faded to spine and darkened to lower board, and with light rubbing, else a very good tight clean copy, FIRST EDITION THUS, later reprinted by Caxton Press, a charming example of neat Edwardian book production, with characteristic Glasgow School illustrations of an elaborate Art Nouveau nature by Jessie M King, plus long introduction and [presumably] notes by W B Yeats writen in equally characteristic high-flown prose ' Allegory and, to a much greater degree, symbolism are a natural language by which the soul when entranced...communes with God and the angels...', This may, in fact, have been designed as a rather upmarket school text of the period [the private and public school system could well support such publications when poetry was quite major on the curriculum] or at least a suitable gift for a young student of English poetry. £75.00
28170. LAMY, BERNARD [TRANS. RICHARD BUNDY].: Apparatus Biblicus: or, an Introduction to the Holy Scriptures. In Three Books...Origin, History, and Antiquities of the Jews...Canon...False Gods... London, James Bettenham for James and John Knapton, 1728. 2 volumes, 8vo, pp xxiii, 356; [6], 364, [46], with 30 engraved plates and maps, many folding, and including a frontispiece, bound in contemporary full calf, sides with gilt fillet borders, spines with raised bands and red labels, minor rubbing and light cracks to joints, but a remarkably fine clean set, SECON EDITION IN ENGLISH, previously issued as a single quarto volume in 1722, translated from a French version of Lamy's original Latin text by Richard Bundy, who dedicated the work to the Queen. A celebrated account of the background topography, customs, natural history etc of the Bible lands, it was popular in its time, but rare to find such an excellent clean set in original state. £300.00
27173. MACKAIL. J.W.: The Parting of the Ways. An Address London, Hammersmith Publishing Society, 1903. Square 8vo, pp 34, [4], uncut in original vellum backed boards, a fine copy, FIRST EDITION; beautifully printed at the Chiswick Press. £60.00
27172. MORRIS, WILLIAM. .MACKAIL. J.W.: An Address delivered the XIth November MDCCCC at Kelmscott House, Hammersmith before the Hammmersmith Socialist Society London, Hammersmith Publishing Society, 1902. Square 8vo, pp [40, including blanks], uncut in original vellum backed boards, a fine copy in slightly torn original transparent wrapper, FIRST EDITION; beautifully printed at the Chiswick Press who reprinted it in 1905. £75.00
26506. NICHOLSON, FRANCIS.: The Practice of Drawing and Painting Landscape from Nature in Water Colours; exemplified in a series of instructions calculated to facilitate the progress of the learner...with Observations on the study of nature. London, Printed for the author by J Booth, 1820. 4to, pp [4], iv, 91, [1], folding coloured aquatint plate, 2 sepia aquatint plates with 2 images on each, 2 engraved plates, one folding, uncut in original drab boards, plainly rebacked in matching paper, worn to corners, slight paper loss to boards, internally fine, FIRST EDITION; very scarce in original uncut state. The much commoner second edition replaces these original aquatints with lithographs. Bookplate of Walter Henry James [Baron Northbourne, politician], the Langley Hall copy. £150.00
28014. PERRAULT -. DE BEAUMONT, EDUARD DE [ILLUSTRATOR].: La Barbe Bleue [WITH :La Belle au Bois Dormant]. [Colophon: Asnières-sur-Seine, Boussod Valadon et Cie., 1887] Large folio, 2 parts in one volume [as issued], 42 heavy stub-mounted leaves printed on tectos only, except for the final colophon each one with text and etched colour illustrations reproducing water-colours by Eduard de Beaumont, well bound in contemporary half dark blue heavy grained morocco, spine gilt with fleur de lis decoration and raised bands, rubbed to joints and corners, marbled infill and matching endpapers, all edges gilt, internally fine and clean throughout, FIRST EDITION, This magnificent and grandeoise version of two of Perrauld's famous fairy tales was the second of two such collections published based upon the delicate watercolour art of Eduard de Beaumont. 38 examples of his work are reproduced here by the finest technique of colour printing then known in France. This was by no means a book for every child's bookshelf, indeed it is one of the largest fairy tale books of its period - and its original audience was more likely than not an adult one. £250.00
28010. PURTON, WILLIAM.: The Dunce's Dessert. Or Horatian Trifles and Homeric Cream. Oxford, T & G Shrimpton [Whtiaker, Cambridge], [1861]. 2 parts in one [as issued], 4to, pictorial title page, tinted frontispiece and dated title page to first part, dedication leaf, 28 plates with Homeric captions [in Latin] beneath; part 2 with title page, contents leaf, blank, 28 caricature plates with English captions, contemporary half calf, spine chipped at ends, upper board detached, internally a sound clean copy for rebacking, FIRST EDITION; William Purton's only published collection of drawings. A good account of him is given by Chris Beetles in his 2015 Illustrators catalogue ['an amateur draftsman of some skill and flair'], in which he illustrates Purton's unpublished illustrations for Tennyson's Idylls of the King. A scarce collection of drawings; The Bodleian suggests that the title page is worded 'Ice Cream' [referring to the second part] and four parts were originally intended, though only 2 published - suggesting there was, perhaps, more than one issue. £60.00
28026. RUSKIN , JOHN.: Ariadne Florentina : six lectures on wood and metal engraving, given before the university of Oxford, in Michaelmas term, 1872 Orpington : George Allen 1876 Large 8vo, pp vi, 266, with 17 heliograph plates, finely bound by Mansell in contemporary bevel edged gilt panelled red morocco, spine gilt decorated with raised bands, all edges gilt, a little rubbed joints and with slight insect damage to joints at head of spine, else a fine clean copy throughout, FIRST COMBINED EDITION IN PARTS, originally issued in parts by Allen between 1872 and 1876, with a collective edition issued in New York the previous year; this, however is the authorised edition with all the plates, also issued as volume 7 of the ongoing edition of Ruskin's works put out by Allen over many years. The lectures were, of course, intended to stimulate a scholarly interest in the early history of wood and metal engraved art, especially in Germany and Italy during the period of Ruskin's Slade professorship at Oxford. The introduction to the first lecture is, and perhaps intentionally, an amusing account of finding the series subscribed by only four students, three of whom ' ought not...by rights to be at Oxford at all' and a fourth left over from the previous year. Ruskin, of course, was ever the crusader for woeful neglect of taste amongst the English. £60.00