SCOTT'S KENILWORTH FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL BOARDS
SCOTT, SIR WALTER.: Kenilworth. A Romance, by the Author of 'Waverley, Ivanhoe etc'.
Edinburgh, Archibald Constable and John Ballanyne, 1821.
3 volumes, 8vo, pp [4], 320; [4], 339; [4], 348, [4, adverts]. with half-titles in all three volumes and advert slip for Helen de
Tournon in volume one, uncut in original two-one boards with paper labels to spines, rubbed and with slight corner wear, paper chipping to spines,
especially to foot of volume one, but basically sound and clean internally with usual usage to the bindings which are holding well.
FIRST EDITION, one of Scott's more successful novels, based upon the visit of Elizabeth I to Kenilworth in the 1570's, a particularly
well documented event at the time, as Scott surely knew. A large print run of about 10000 copies has ensured plentiful sets in existence today,
however, those still in the original boards such as this make a reasonable premium.
£200.00
London : printed for Thomas Bennet, at the sign of the Half-Moon in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1690. Small 4to, pp [16], 60, later flush marbled wrappers, a neat clean copy without the browning often encountered in Brown's tracts, FIRST EDITION. The title continues: 'As also the fable of the bat and the birds. Licensed, January 8. 1689.' Second of three satirical tracts by Brown aimed principally at John Dryden, the first 'The reasons of Mr. Bays changing his religion' having been published the previous year, with a third 'The reasons of Mr. Joseph Hains, the player's conversion and reconversion' in 1690. Satire by Thomas Brown on Dryden's conversion. Macdonald, Drydeniana [249] comments 'This text wanders over a variety of subjects....ends with 'The Fable of the Bat and the Birds'... The Bat [Dryden] being beset by a host of poetic birds...' £185.00 REF 31509
Privately Printed [not for sale], 1827 [but actually circa 1881]. Small 8vo, pp [2], vi, [9-90, bound in contemporary half polished calf, spine gilt, marbled sides and endpapers, a little rubbed but a very good clean sound copy; one of the several spurious Victorian editions of these erotic and often bawdy poems by Burns and his circle. A printing of 1799 only just survives, but notoriety bred dissemination in the 19th Century, and these 'imitation' editions falsely dated 1827 became widely read for less than scholarly purposes..
£85.00 REF30905
London: Taylor and Hessey, 1820, Small 8vo, pp xxxii, 222, with half title but no errata slip or adverts, etched frontispiece of Clare's Cottage, bound in contemporary half calf, red label, the spine cracked in middle and to upper joint, both restored, rubbed and a bit worn at corners, title page a little foxed else internally clean and tight, FIRST EDITION, Clare's first book of poetry, and a copy lacking external beauty, but internally with the curious feature of a frontispiece often, if at all, encountered in Clare's later collections. Its presence here from at least an early date, if not actually contemporaneous, confirmed by evident light offsetting onto the title page. £550.00 REF 30903
Bristol : printed by G. Routh, in the Maiden-Tavern, 1775. 4to, pp x,16,[2, advert for 'The Philosopher in Bristol Part 2], half title with small ink mark and minor creases, disbound, one short clean marginal tear, else a very good copy, FIRST EDITION; appropriate, perhaps that this first poetical effort by the creator of 'Syntax' should have been issued from the Maiden Tavern in his home town of Bristol. By 1775 Combe had expended the family fortune, and was now on hard times; a writing career, even as a publishers' hack, seemed the only way out. But before leaving Bristol he wrote a novel and this poem of praise to Clifton, dedicated to his sometime patron, Lady Draper, though anonymously. He would remain busily writing until his death nearly fifty years later, though without much more financial success. This early example of his unremarkable poetic abilities is quite rare in commerce. £250.00 REF 31470
Reading, R Blackwell , 1837 32mo, pp viii, 72, original green patterned cloth, edges gilt, a very good sound tight copy, FIRST EDITION; dedicated [no doubt hopefully] to T N Talford, M.P., this little pocket volume was printed in Reading, and surely for the author. His preface would suggest that the lead poem 'Death Unveiled' had been previously published, but we find no record of this, and the present volume in the Bodleian only. [and Johnson didn't even note that one]. £100.00 REF 31480
London, printed for G. Kearsley, 1785. ...To which is added, Johnsoniana; or, A Selection Of Dr. Johnson's 12mo, pp 209,[3, adverts], with a portrait frontispiece and a folding facsimile handwriting plate at the end, bound in contemporary half calf, marbled sides, red label, the boards neatly reattached to the spine, the corners worn, front free endpaper replaced, the rear free endpaper removed, minor spotting but text generally clean throughout, SECOND EDITION, and rather more desirable than the first of the same year for its additional material. This short biography was rushed out soon after Johnson's death and is attributed to the Irish hack writer William Cook [or Cooke], though it could be more accurately described as a typical Kearsley confection aimed at the popular market. The portrait had been published in Johnson's lifetime, his own famous comment of it as ugly but faithful to the original. Other material under the heading Johnsoniana was probably based on Kearsley's anthologised 'Beauties' but a point of interest is the bibliography at the end of Johnson's writings expended from the first edition to 11 pages, with the Dodd trial material added after. ESC makes no mention of the folding facsimile at the end though it is clearly referred to on the title page. £200.00 REF30900
Printed by Thomas Harper, and are to be sold by Nicholas Vavasour at his shop in the Inner Temple, 1639. 4 parts in one volume, 12mo, pp [12], 72, 69475, [7], 481-582, with an engraved frontispiece by William Marshall, title pages in typographical border to each part, text within rule, bound in contemporary plain calf, worn and abraded, especially at corners, the spine ends restored to the leather, internally a little worn and brown but sound and complete, a fair copy for this kind of publication, SECOND EDITION of this translation by Sir Thomas Hawkins of: 'Aelius Sejanus, histoire romaine' , intended as a satire on the fall of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. 'The translation differs from STC 17664 and 17665, but appears to be from the same French text as the former version.' [ESC]. The second part has a title page reading: "Vnhappy prosperity: or, Philippa the Catanian. Written in [sic] French by P. Mathieu; and translated into English by Sr. Th. Hawkins. Second edition" - the French original being: "Histoire des prosperitez malheureuses d'une femme cathenoise, grande seneschalle de Naples", based on a story from Giovanni Boccaccio. popular. The third title page reads: "Observations upon the fall of Seianus· Written in Italian by Gio. Baptista Manzini. And translated into English by Sr. T.H. Second edition" (T2r) and is a translation of: 'Della peripetia di fortuna.' The fourth and final part reads: "Considerations upon the life and services of Monsieur Villeroy. Translated out of French by Sr. T.H. Second edition" smf is a translation of "Remarques d'estat et d'histoire, sur la vie et les services de Monsieur de Villeroy", this part is indeed by by Matthieu. £350.00 REF 30906
London, Printed [by William Clowes], for Hatchard 1824 8vo, pp 74, [2, adverts], half title, later flush wrappers, minor soiling or foxing, but a very good copy, FIRST EDITION; sometimes confused with other Thomas Maudes this one graduated from University College, Oxford in 1822, and went on to pursue a clerical career in several parts of England. This, apparently his second publication [his first being 'A Legend of Ravenswood,' 1823] was based, for its title poem, upon his schoolboy experiences in Ovingham, 'a secluded village grammar school in the county of Northumberland...I am speaking of a remote village school...' Maude published several other poems later, including an expanded version of this one in 1836 entitled 'The School Boy' which has been described as 'a vivid and enchanting portrayal of boyhood and school life in the early 19th century..., Maude weaves a tapestry of youthful adventures, friendships, and the tender bonds of family.' This early version of 'The School Boy' is rare and an interesting evocation of childhood. £100.00 REF31503
Oxford : printed by W. Jackson: and sold by J. Bew, Paternoster-Row, London; and by the booksellers of Oxford and Cambridge, 1781. 4to, pp vii,[1],35,[3, adverts for the author's other poems], half title, disbound, a fine copy, FIRST EDITION. By 1781 aspiring poet Mickle was basking in success of his Luciad translation, having recently returned from Portugal to live near Oxford. At Forest Hill Manor he wrote and published Almada Hill recalling how in 1779 'the author was wandering among these ruins [of Lisborn Castle]... and formed the plan of the following poem....written in Portugal. The Descriptive parts are strictly local...' £250.00 REF31471
London, printed by John Grismond, 1659. 12mo, pp [36], 260, bound in contemporary plain sheep, rubbed and a bit worn at joints, the upper joint holding if a little fragile, internally clean and unpressed, an excellent unsophisticated copy overall, FIRST EDITION, one of several issues,; ESC reports a portrait in at least one issue [actually this one], but this is surely in error; no portrait of Osborne is known to exist, and there might be some confusion in the book being bound up with other works of his having portraits of English monarchs. This present copy in original binding is evidently quite complete. Osborne's work falls into that category of English literature of the 17th century between commonplace book, miscellany and essay of which several authors of greater renown and ability than Osborne made popular from the beginning of the 17th Century. This was one of several miscellaneous compilations of Osborne, whose natural tendency towards moral advice [especially to the young] made him a safe and popular writer. If writing in the spirit of Montaigne and Bacon his seems without either the wit or intellect and this little collection probably appealed more for its educational than entertainment value. fuller account of it, and Osborne's other writings may be found in the Cambridge Companion to the English Essay. £350.00 REF 30894
London, John Murray 1822. Sm.8vo, pp [2], 87, bound in contemporary polished calf, spine gilt with raised bands and red label, joints cracked but holding, internally sound, FIRST EDITION; this anonymously published novella was rigorously suppressed by its radical politician author, as an indiscretion of his youth when ' he had several times visited Portugal, where he met Wellington; and had also travelled to Elba to meet Napoleon. It as been called 'a late-Gothic romantic novella ' about a serving officer in the Peninsular War being nursed back to health by a nun after being wounded. They, of course, fall in love, and it is easy to say why Russell should want to suppress it. Summers, in his Gothic Bibliography, suggests he was 'buying up every copy at whatsoever price and destroying it'. Still, though rare, a reasonable number of copies have survived, this one presented by a father to his daughter in 1838 - coincidentally when Russell's radical star was in the ascendant. £200.00 REF 30904