ONLINE LIST :: Recent Acquisitions

1.    AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES, & Rev. John Bachman. The viviparous quadrupeds of North America. New York: V. G. Audubon, 1854-56.   $8,500

3 volumes, 8vo, 155 hand-colored lithograph plates; publisher's full brown blindstamped morocco, gilt lettering on gilt-decorated spines, elaborate gilt frame on upper covers, a.e.g., marbled endpapers; the extremities a little scuffed, the upper joints rubbed, spine of volume III ever so slightly discolored; otherwise a very good, and remarkably clean set, unrestored, and in a publisher's binding. Volume I is dated "MDLIVI" (sic), volume II is dated "MDLIV," and volume III is undated. For the first octavo edition of 1849-54 see Bennett, American Color Plate Books, p. 5; Nissen 163; Reese, Nineteenth Century Color Plate Books, 38; Sabin 2367.

Viscount Sydney’s copy

2.    [AUSTRALIA.] [Garth, Samuel, Sir.]. The dispensary: a poem. In six canto's. The fourth edition, corrected by the author. London: printed and sold by John Nutt, 1700.      $750

8vo, pp. [22], 96; contemporary full paneled calf, maroon morocco label on gilt-paneled spine, neatly rebacked; minor wear; good and sound, or better. With the engraved bookplate of Viscount Sydney, i.e. Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney (1733 - 1800), a British politician who held several important Cabinet posts in the second half of the 18th century whose most enduring legacy is that the cities of Sydney in Nova Scotia, Canada, and Sydney in New South Wales, Australia are named in his honor, in 1785 and 1788 respectively.

Garth (1661-1719) was both a physician and a poet, and a fellow of the College of Physicians. On the last page of the Harveian oration at the College of Physicians, Garth "alludes to a scheme, which had been discussed in the college from 1687, for establishing a dispensary where poor people could obtain advice and prescriptions from the best physicians. While a large majority of the fellows of the college supported this scheme, a minority allied themselves with the apothecaries of the city, who tried to defeat the plan, chiefly by charging exorbitant prices for the drugs prescribed. In 1699 Garth published The Dispensary, a Poem, which is a record of the first attempt to establish those out-patient rooms now universal in the large towns of England. The Dispensary ridicules the apothecaries and their allies among the fellows. It was circulated in manuscript, and in a few weeks was printed and sold by John Nutt, near Stationers' Hall. A second and a third edition appeared in the same year, to which were added a dedication to Anthony Henley, an introduction explaining the controversy in the College of Physicians, and copies of commendatory verses. A fourth edition appeared in 1700, a sixth in 1706, a seventh in 1714, and a tenth in 1741. The poem continued to be generally read for fifty years, and some of its phrases are still quoted. It describes a mock Homeric battle between the physicians and the apothecaries, Harvey being finally summoned from the Elysian fields to prescribe a reform" (DNB). Wing G275.

Gorgeous copy – a triumph of German book production

3.    [BIBLE IN GERMAN.] Die heilige Schrift. Alten und neuen Testamentes ... mit zweihundert und dreissig Bildern von Gustav Doré. Stuttgart, Leipzig, Berlin & Wein: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, n.d., [ca. 1884].    $3,500

Sixth and last of the 19th century German Doré editions, and, with the first five German editions, the largest of all editions of the Doré Bible in any language.

2 volumes, folio, 230 full-p. woodengravings by Gustave Dore; elaborate publisher's decorative red morocco stamped in gilt and blind, a.e.g.; a stunning example of German book production in the late 19th century.

Doré's Bible was first published in French in 1866, and in German a year later. It was also issued in English (1867), Dutch (1870), Italian (1870), Spanish (1871), Russian (?1876), Swedish (1877), Hebrew & English (1884), Finnish (1886), Czech (1888), and later in Polish, Hungarian, Greek, and Serbo-Croatian. It ran to hundreds of editions and was one of the most popular books on the 19th century.

See Malan, pp. 81-91, and 239-241.

A pair of Baghdad broadsides – one in Arabic

4.    Proclamation. To the People of Wilayat of Baghdad ... F. S. Maude, Lieutenant-General, Commanding the British Forces in Iraq. [Baghdad: March 8, 1918.].  $4,500

Together with the same, with text in Iraqi Arabic. Together 2 broadsides with (presumably) identical text, each approximately 17½ x 11¼ inches, (444 x 287 mm), different royal seals at the top of each, approximately 40 lines of type (27 in the Arabic version) under the running head, 10 floriated initials in the English version; previous folds, very minor short tears; very good condition.

Remarkably well-preserved copies of these rare (unique?) regionally-printed broadsides (we've been unable to locate any holdings of any edition, except that at The Imperial War Museum which has a different English printing in a smaller format and with a different title). The printer's slug at the bottom ("S.P.G.B. - 1996 - 6,000 - 8-3-18") seems to indicate that 6,000 were ordered printed.

With the utter failure of Sir John Nixon's command of Mesopotamian forces from April 1915 to January 1916, culminating in the surrender of Sir Charles Townshend's force at Kut on 29 April 1916, Lieut.-Gen. F. S. Maude was made commander of the frontline Tigris Corps in July 1916. The following month he was given responsibility for the entire front. He immediately set about reorganizing and resupplying British and Indian forces in the region.

Maude led his forces in a series of victories up the Tigris, starting with the Second Battle of Kut, until the capture of Baghdad on 11 March, 1917. British operations were widened to meet Turkish threats on the Euphrates, Diyala, and Tigris Rivers, and during the ensuing months, Maude claimed victories at Samarrah, Ramadi, and Tirkit before he died suddenly of virulent cholera on November 18.

On March 19, however, Maude had issued this proclamation declaring, among other tenets: "People of Baghdad, remember for 26 generations you have suffered under strange tyrants who have ever endeavoured to set one Arab house against another in order that they might profit by your dissensions. This policy is abhorrent to Great Britain and her Allies for there can be neither peace nor prosperity where there is enmity or misgovernment ... Our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators."

This notion - the army as liberator - was apparently the inspiration of Sir Mark Sykes (his papers contain a draft of the proclamation), was used, and has been used ever since, as a principle to justify invasions, particularly in the Middle East, and most recently in Iraq and Afghanistan by the United States.

Comparison with the English text cited in various histories, records, and government documents shows a number of differences throughout, including changes in proper names, punctuation, paragraph breaks, and the addition or deletion of words. OCLC locates neither the Arabic nor the English text in broadside form, and cites only its inclusion in The King of Hedjaz and Arab Independence, pp. 12-16, London, 1917.

5. BROWNING, ROBERT. One page A.L.s. to Miss Edwards. [London?]: June 28, [18]79.   $950

12mo, 12 lines, approximately 55 words; previous fold, traces of mounting on verso of integral leaf; all else very good or better.

"I assure you I feel real pain at having been quite unable to reach Miss North's in time for the party yesterday. I hoped to do so, but found it impossible - to my great regret, do believe - and believe that I am, dear Miss Edwards, yours truly ever, Robert Browning."

6. [CAODAISM.] Gobron, Gabriel. History and philosophy of Caodaism. Reformed Buddhism, Vietnamese spiritualism. New religion in Eurasia. Translated from the French by Pham-xuan-Thai. [Saigon: Tu-Hai, 1950.] $100

First edition in English, 8vo, pp. 189, [1], [10] ads; 28 photographic illustrations on plates; pages a little toned, mild dampstaining to the covers, but generally a very good copy in original pictorial wrappers.

7.    COOPER, C[hristopher]. Grammatica linguae Anglicanae. Peregrinis eam addiscendi cupidis pernecessaria, nec non Anglis præcipue scholis, plurimum profutura. Cum praefatione & indice ... London: Typis J. Richardson, Impensis Benj. Tooke , 1685.     $1,250

First edition, first issue, 16mo, pp. [32], 200 (i.e. 216 - pp. 33-48 are repeated); without the rare folding table; recent quarter brown calf antique, red and green morocco labels on gilt-decorated spine; some wear at the page corners, leaf C2 with slight loss in the margin affecting 1 letter in the shoulder note, C5 trimmed unevenly in the fore-margin affecting several letters in the shoulder notes, C6 with corner torn affecting 1 numeral in the pagination, I2 with corner torn and loss of pagination, moderate toning and spotting, a few other insignificant tears without loss; overall a good copy in a nice new binding.

There was another issue printed the same year with "typis exc. J. Richardson" in the imprint, together with revisions in the introductory matter.

"Cooper published an English translation of the first two parts of the Grammatica in 1687 entitled The English Teacher. But since this is virtually a new work, and contains nothing on grammar, it will be fully entered in the volume dealing with pronunciation" (Alston).

This landmark in seventeenth century linguistics is the last Early Modern English grammar written in Latin and one of the keys to our present day understanding of Early English pronunciation. The focus of the book was teaching English to both schoolchildren and foreigners and was influenced by John Wallis' grammar of the same name (editions from 1653 to 1674). Unlike other English grammars of the time, it is also thought to have been influenced John Wilkins' An Essay Toward a Real Character, and a Philosophical Language (1668). Cooper was "motivated by the desire to cultivate the mother tongue..." and was " ...not only interested in a theoretical presentation of pronunciation, orthography, word formation, and syntax, but also aimed at describing the actual language data." (Dons 2004: 16). While this work made little impact on scholarly grammatical discourse of the time, Cooper is now considered one of the greatest seventeenth century phoneticians. His detailed and exacting descriptions of sounds and pronunciation distinguish it from the work of his contemporary peers and make it an invaluable resource for linguists and historians.

Cooper was headmaster of a grammar school at Bishop Stortford in East Herefordshire until 1686, after which he served as the vicar of St. Michael's until his death in 1698. This work is dedicated to Seth Ward (1617-1689), the noted astronomer, mathematician, and Bishop of Salisbury. It is through the Bishop's support that Cooper was able to pursue his studies at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge.

OCLC finds only the Yale, Princeton, and UCLA copies in the U.S.; Alston I, 29; Kennedy, 5733; Tremblay V 1, 1068; Watanabe, 911; Wing C-6052 (adding Folger and Union Theological). Also reproduced in facsimile as part of Alston's "English linguistics, 1500-1800" series (Menston, Scolar Press, 1968, no. 86).

8.    DAVY, HUMPHREY, Sir. Elements of agricultural chemistry in a course of lectures... London: printed by W. Bulmer & Co., for Longman, Hurst [et al.], 1813.  $450

First edition, 4to, pp. viii, 323, [1], lxiii, [5]; 10 coper-engraved plates (1 folding); occasional spotting and offsetting, but in all a very good, sound copy in later half brown niger morocco over marbled boards, gilt-lettered spine.

9.    DICKENS, CHARLES. [Christmas Books:] A Christmas carol. The chimes. The cricket on the hearth. The battle of life. The haunted man and the ghost's bargain. London: Chapman and Hall [and] Bradbury and Evans, 1844-48.        $2,500

All first editions, all later states or issues, together 5 volumes, 12mo, matching full straight-grain maroon morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, double gilt rules on covers enclosing a facsimile 'Charles Dickens' signature in gilt central, floral ornaments in the corners, smooth gilt-decorated spines in 6 compartments, gilt lettered in 2, except on the Christmas Carol where an additional panel reads: 'With an original autograph letter inserted,' a.e.g. A rubbed and worn set, one spine unevenly faded, some cracking of the spine extremities, some hinges tender; not a great set. And don't you hate these kinds of bindings anyway?

But the inserted letter has good content, one-and-a-half pages, on Office of All the Year Round stationery, and written to a Dr. John Murray, regarding proofs for his article on the Childrens' Hospital in East London, and announcing the publication date "in these pages on Wednesday, December 16." 16mo (approx. 4¾" x 3¾"), 26 lines, approx. 125 words, the letter with its integral leaf neatly inlaid into a flyleaf. In part: "In the meantime I had written my paper on the East London's Childrens' Hospital, and had sent the proof to Mr. and Mrs. Heckford. Looking over your notes (re-enclosed) I do not think anything would be gained, for my point of view, by extending the pages beyond those which I actually saw with you ... Thinking that you may like to read my pages in proof, I send it for your perusal."

10. DICKENS, CHARLES. One-and-a-half page A.L.s. to Charles Manly, Esq. [London?]: Thursday Evening, November 2, 1848.    $1,750

12mo, 19 lines, approximately 85 words; previous folds, on mourning stationery; very good.

"What I have underlined in the enclosed advertisement is, I have no doubt, a mistake. I am sure I have only to point it out to you and to say that it is one which annoys me very much, to ensure its speedy correction. If you should have no later engagement on Sunday next than to dine here at 6 (sharp) will you give us that pleasure?"

In 1848 Dickens grieved over the loss of his elder sister Fanny, the likely reason for the mourning stationery.

11.   THE ELIZABETHAN UNDERWORLD. A collection of Tudor and early Stuart tracts and ballads telling of the lives and misdoings of vagabonds, thieves, rogues ... The text prepared with notes and an Introduction by A. V. Judges... London: George Routledge & Sons, 1930. $100

First edition, large 8vo, pp. lxiv, 543; 20 plates; very good copy in original blue cloth, gilt-lettered spine.

12.   HENRY, ALEXANDER, & David Thompson. New light on the early history of the greater Northwest: the manuscript journals of Alexander Henry, fur trader of the Northwest Company and of David Thompson, official geographer and explorer of the same company, 1799-1814. Exploration and adventure among the Indians on the Red, Saskatchewan, Missouri, and Columbia Rivers. Edited with copious critical commentary by Elliott Coues. New York: Francis P. Harper, 1897.     $850

First edition limited to 1100 copies, this being copy no. 945 on "Fine Book Paper," 3 volumes, 8vo, portrait, 4 maps in pocket at the end of the last volume; original green cloth, gilt lettered spines; a fine set. Howes H-419

13.   [JAPANESE PRINT.] Alphabet. Shinpan jinbutsu koamotegata. Yamaguchiya han. n.p.: n.d. [ca. late 1860s or early 1870s].    $1,250

Anonymous color woodblock print of the Roman alphabet formed with human figures within letters, approximately 14½ x 9½ inches, printed in red, yellow, purple, and blue against a green background, with 4 oval vignettes showing 2 western men and a Japanese man and a woman. Note that the alphabet proceeds in Japanese manner, from right to left. Very attractive and rare.

14.   [JAPANESE PRINT.] Baido Giboku [i.e. Utagawa Kunimasa IV, 1848-1920]. Kodomo asobi. Chikara kurabe. [Children at play. Comparing strength (Tug o' War).] n.p.: Meiji 10, [1877].     $950

Color woodblock diptych of children playing at Tug o' War, notable for the inclusion of two western children, each part of the diptych approximately 14½ x 9¾ inches (14½ x 19½ overall), printed in red, yellow, green, blue, gray and black, showing 5 figures on each side of the battle, one waving a Japanese flag, and two western "overseers."

15.   [Japanese Print.] Baido Kunimasa, [i.e. Utagawa Kunimasa IV (1848-1920). [Circus.] n.p.: Meiji 17, [1884]. $1,750

Color woodblock triptych, each part of the triptych approximately 14 x 9½ inches (approximately 14 x 28½ inches over all), of a circus. Baido Kunimasa was a name Utagawa used at one point in his career, prior to the death of his teacher. The image depicts an unidentified theatrical performance of a circus. Figures are identified by the name of the role within the play, together with name of actors performing the role. This is a very rare and unusual print, showing a man on a crutch, a clown, an animal trainer with whips, an elephant, and a horse.

16.   [JAPANESE PRINT.] Ichimosai Yoshitora [i.e. Utagawa Yoshitora]. [Train schedule with foreigners.] n.p.: Meiji 5, [1872].      $1,250

Color woodblock print, approximately 14½ x 19½ inches, of a schedule for trains running between Shinagawa and Yokohama above an image of three westerners and a Japanese, with a train crossing a river and Mt. Fuji in the distance. This particular time table shows arrival / departure times at Kawasaki, a city midway on the route, in both directions. In addition to the times of day, the schedule gives fares for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class tickets. Better known as Utagawa Yoshitora, his birth and death dates are unclear, but he was active from about 1850-1880 and he is believed to have died sometime around 1888. Yoshitora made several prints of schedules for trains running between Shinagawa and Yokohama.

17.   [JAPANESE PRINT.] Oroshajin no zu. [Russian man on horseback.] n.p.: n.d. [ca. 1861].      $850

Anonymous color woodblock print, approximately 14¼ x 9¼ inches, of a Russian man on horseback. The Japanese text in the lower right reads, "14,300 ri [measurement of distance] across the ocean."

18.   [JAPANESE PRINT.] Ushitora. Igirisujin. [English couple.] n.p.: n.d. [1863]. $850

Color woodblock print, approximately 14½ x 10 inches, of an English couple beneath a running header of Japanese text. Ushitora did a number of prints of foreigners. Sometimes, as in this print, above the image, there is depicted is a list of foreign vocabulary. In top row are Japanese words, below which appears phonetic approximation of (in this case) the English pronunciation of the word.

19.   KENNEDY, ARTHUR G. A bibliography of writings on the English language from the beginning of printing to the end of 1922. Cambridge & New Haven: Harvard & Yale, 1927.      $100

First edition, large 8vo, pp. xvii, [1], 517; original blue cloth, spine faded, library rubberstamp on title page, small sticker on spine. Listing of better than 13,000 items, chronologically arranged by subject, and fully indexed. Standard reference.

20.   KUSAKABE, KIMBEI, Photographer. Studio album of 100 delicately hand-colored vintage albumen prints on original silk-edged studio mounts, most with printed titles in English on slips mounted beneath each image.Yokohama: ca. 1885-90.    $20,000

Oblong folio, 49 mounts, each approx. 10¾ x 13¾ inches, accordion-folded as issued, in the original black lacquered album (top cover separated at the fold, as are two other folds) with pictorial decoration in ivory and gold relief depicting three figures in a fishing boat, and preserved in the original embossed and gilt silk-lined and padded two-part box (one side of the bottom half and two sides of the top half lacking) with the photographer's printed label in English and Japanese mounted inside one of the panels. The studio address is given as "Yokohama, 36 and 27 Benten-dori Nichome," dating this album to the period between 1885-1890. The image size is approx. 8 x 10½ inches, with most original tissue guards intact.

These stunning photographs include images depicting crafts and trades; Sumo wrestlers and Samurai; rice cultivation; tea houses and geisha; gardens, temples, and city views including Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Yamato, Nagasaki, and Arima; a tattooed man; a "Rickisha;" a funeral; nude bathing; and numerous other subjects. The photographs are in excellent original condition. Many of the accordion folds have been neatly reinforced with silk strips. There are a few tiny nicks to the lacquered album covers, which are otherwise extremely attractive.

Kusakabe Kimbei (1841-1932) remains one of the most underrated Japanese photographers of the nineteenth century. Because of his concentration on producing souvenir albums containing hand-colored views and costumes for foreigners he is better known today in the West than he is in Japan. For today's collectors of early photograph albums, pride of place will always be given to Felix Beato and Raimund von Stillfried for their respective output in the 1860s and 1870s. However, from the 1880s onwards no studio comes close to matching Kusakabe's for the consistent quality and variety of its output" (Bennett, Photography in Japan).

21.   LE VAILLANT, M. [Francois]. New travels into the interior parts of Africa, by the way of the Cape of Good Hope, in the years 1783, 84 and 85. Translated from the French of Le Vaillant. London: G. G. and J. Robinson, 1796.  $2,250

First edition in English, 3 volumes, 8vo, pp. l, [2], 288;22 engraved plates (5 folding), engraved folding map (routes hand-colored); title-p. and prelims of vol. I wormed in the fore-margins, never touching the press; complete, with the half-titles, in a very nice modern binding of full speckled tan calf antique, red morocco labels and green morocco numbering pieces on gilt-decorated spines.

22.   [LINGUISTICS, Vietnam.] Nordemann, Edmond. Quyen nho 214 bo chu han. Les 214 radicaux de l'ecriture chinoise groupé dans l'ordre actuellement adopté en Chine. Avec au verso de chaque caractère, la pronunciation annamite du nom chinois, la signification annamite et la traduction française. Deuxième édition. Hué, 1904.    $675

Tall, thin 12mo, pp. [4], ii, 127, [2]; printed in French, Chinese, and Vietnamese; later full red goat, gilt-lettered direct on spine; near fine.

A manual for Europeans, first printed in Hanoi in 1898, introducing the Chinese system of writing together with a guide for the pronunciation of Vietnamese. Nordmann was the founder of the Société Tonkinoise, and was the author of a number of other manuals on oriental languages.

OCLC locates only one copy of the first edition at the Bibliotech nationale.

23.   MURAT, JEAN ARNAUD. De l'influence de la nuit sur les maladies, ou traité des maladies nocturnes: ouvrage couronné par la Société de Médecine de Bruxelles, dans la séance du 2 Vendémiaire an 14. Bruxelles: de l'imprimerie de Weissenbruch [et al.], 1806. $750

First edition, 8vo, pp. [4], 176; orig. pink pastepaper wrappers; very good. An attempt to show the psychological influences of darkness on various maladies. The work is dedicated to M. le comte de Lacépède.

24.   [PARIS EXHIBITION.] Souvenir of the Bon Marche Paris. Founded by Aristide Boucicaut. Plan of Paris and plan of the Exhibition of 1889 [cover title]. [Paris: printed by E. Plon, Nourrit & Co., n.d., ca. 1889.].    $225

16mo, pp. 64; contents leaf mounted (as issued) on the verso of the front free endpaper; 2 portraits, 3 wood-engravings (1 double-page); tables in the text corresponding to a large color folding map of Paris to which is attached a pink ribbon (riveted through to the back cover) keyed with numbers (1-74) corresponding to the tables for the easy location of streets, buildings, quays, etc.; the verso of the ribbon is printed with an advertisement for the Bon Marche; original pictorial green cloth stamped in gilt on both covers; fine. Unusual. Not in OCLC.

25.   [PHOTOGRAPHY.] Cauchetier, Raymond. Saigon. Preface de Pierre-Jean Laspeyres. Ouvrage publie sous le patronage de L'Union Nationale des Officiers de Reserve. Paris: Albin Michel, [1955].     $50

First edition, 4to, pp. 96 plus 2 folding leaves with text on both recto and verso; photographically illustrated throughout; very good in a very good dust jacket.

26.   [PHOTOGRAPHY.] Devillers, Philipe. Face of North Vietnam. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, [1970].  $125

First edition, 4to, pp. [194]; photographs throughout by Marc Riboud; original black cloth, dust jacket dampstained along the bottom edge, back panel with slight offset, lightly worn; otherwise a very good copy.

27.   QUACKENBOS, GEORGE PAYNE. Elementary history [of] The United States... [title also in Japanese].[Tokyo]: N. H. Toda, n.d. [ca. 1890].      $125

First published by Appleton in New York in 1877, and in Tokyo in 1885 by Rikugokwan; there were 8 different Japanese editions in all, this likely being the last; small 8vo, 1 p.l. (title page printed on pink paper), pp. 4, 7, [1], 224, [6]; except for the cover and title page, text in Japanese throughout; original printed cream paper-covered boards backed in red cloth; near fine. This edition not in OCLC.

28. SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM. A midsummer night's dream ... Illustrated with 24 silhouettes by P. Konewka. London: Longmans, Green & Co. & Heidelberg: Fr. Bassermann, 1868.    $450

First edition thus; small folio, pp. [6], 88; 24 mounted silhouettes; later full red morocco by A. Chatelin, triple gilt rules on covers enclosing a double gilt-ruled panel with fleurons in the corners and at the sides, gilt-decorated spine in 6 compartments, gilt lettered direct in 1, a.e.g., text within ruled borders; a touch of slight rubbing, else a fine, handsome copy. Jaggard, p. 412.

29. SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM. The works ... edited by W. E. Henley. Edinburgh: Grant Richards, 1901-[04]. $1,750

Folio, 10 volumes expanded to 20; title pages in red and black, engraved portrait of Shakespeare by Walker & Cockerell after Droeshout, 9 other engraved frontispiece portraits; original three-quarter red morocco, gilt-decorated spines in 6 compartments, gilt lettered in one, a.e.g., Shakespeare's crest on sides; 3 or 4 minute scratches; generally a fine, handsome set. 

4to, pp. [18], [ix]-lvi, [1], [6], plus unpaginated lexicon in triple column; engraved frontispiece portrait by Scott after Stewart; recent blue cloth, gilt lettering on spine; very good. Includes both the half-title and the advertisement leaf, a preface, a lengthy prosodial grammar, and a 6-p. "Directions to Foreigners." The first edition is 1780; two octavo printings appeared in 1784 in Dublin, but they are abridged. This is the true second edition, and the first with a portrait. Alston V, 315; Vancil, p. 220.

Printed on thick paper, with the portrait

31.   SIMSON, ROBERT. Roberti Simson, M.D. matheseos nuper in Academia Glasguensi professoris Opera quaedam reliqua . . . Nunc primum post auctoris mortem in lucem edita; impensis quidem Philippi Comitis Stanhope, cura vero Jacobi Clow in eadem Academia professoris ... Glasgow: excudebant Robertus et Andreas Foulis Academiae typographi, 1776. $7,500

First edition, 4to, pp. [8], x, 594, [2], 34, [2], 33, [1], 23; without the blank leaves b2 and I6; engraved frontispiece portrait (slightly spotted and offset), numerous geometrical figures in the text (some with minor offsetting); contemporary full red straight-grain morocco, elaborate leafy gilt borders, smooth spine highly decorated in gilt, green morocco label (slightly toned), a.e.g., inner dentelles; minor rubbing, small Bodleian duplicate label on front pastedown, else near fine, and very handsome. Contained in a quarter blue morocco clamshell box.

The collected papers, published posthumously, of the foremost Scottish mathematician of the 18th century, edited by James Clow. His edition of Euclid, first published in 1756, was the basis of all subsequent printings until the beginning of the 20th century. Of particular interest in this collection is Part IV, which shows that Simpson was aware of the need to put Newton's Calculus on rigorous mathematical foundations. This copy on thick paper and with the frontispiece which does not appear in all copies.

Gaskell 600.

32.   SKEAT, WALTER W. An etymological dictionary of the English language. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882.      $325

First edition, 4to, pp. xviii, 799, [1]; text in double column; boards slightly rubbed, else a very good copy in original terracotta cloth, gilt lettering on spine.

33. SPENSER, EDMUND. The poetical works of Edmund Spenser. London: William Pickering, 1839.       $350

Small 8vo, 5 volumes, Pickering's vignette anchor & dolphin device on  title pages; early 20th century half brown morocco by Riviere, gilt paneled spines in 6 compartments, gilt lettered in 2, t.e.g.; fine set. Issued as part of the publisher's Aldine British Poets series. Contains a life of Spenser by the Rev. J. Mitford.

First edition, small 8vo, 4 p.l., plus 60 leaves folded and sewn in the Japanese manner, illustrated throughout with numerous copper plate engravings with (often amusing) English captions, and contained in the publisher's original box. Fine.
Rinnoji
Nikkosan, or Nikko, is site of the mausoleum of the Tokugawa family, de facto rulers of Japan from 1600-1868. Rinnoji is a Buddhist temple in the area. The illustrations depict scenes from the mausoleum and temple, and objects and people associated with them. 6 copies in OCLC, 4 in the U.S.

Could there be a better copy?

35.   TRANSTRÖMER, TOMAS. Mörkerseende. Göteborg: Författarförlaget, 1970.    $2,800

First edition, 12mo, pp. 47, [1]; original printed wrappers. Inscribed by the poet to Robert and Carol By: "For Robert and Carol, friends in the darkness, from Tomas." Within the inscription is a drawing by Tranströmer of a face with eyes wide open, referencing both the inscription, and the title of the book.

This copy very heavily annotated by Robert Bly, with ink translations from the Swedish into English of seven of the eleven poems in the book, a translation of the publisher's statement, together with a page and a half assessment of Tranströmer as a poet on the verso of the first leaf and the title page.

The poet Robert Bly was the person most responsible for promoting the future Nobel Prize winner to an English audience. In 1966 Bly translated Tranströmer for the first time (Three Poems, Lawrence, Kansas: Terrence Williams, 1966). In 1970 Bly also translated and published Twenty Poems (including two from Mörkerseende) by Tranströmer (Madison, Minnesota: Seventies Press), and a year later in 1971 he translated Mörkerseende [i.e. Night Vision, Northwood Narrows, N.H., Lillabulero Press] in full, which Tranströmer had published a year earlier in Sweden. This copy of the book was essentially Bly's working draft of that translation, once a mere present warmly given to him and his wife by the Nobel laureate.

36.   [TREATIES.] Convention franco-viêtnamienne du 16 août 1955 sur la nationalité et échange de lettres. Note explicative du Ministrère de la Justice. [Saigon: Vinh-Bao, 1955].        $450

8vo, pp. 38; near fine in original printed wrappers. Agreements relating to the nationality (dual and otherwise) of those in Vietnam in the wake of France's withdrawal from the country following their defeat at Dien Bien Phu in May, 1954. Not in OCLC.

37.   [VIETNAM.] Thái-Van-Kiem, et al. Vietnamese realities. Saigon: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1967.                $75.00

First edition in English (the book originally appeared in French in 1965); 4to, pp. 190; 4 color plates including 2 color maps. printed music, photographically illustrated throughout, a number full-page; original printed wrappers; near fine. Translated by Jane Pratt. Prepared for distribution by the Vietnam Embassy. With a 6-page bibliography at the back.

38.   WALDRON, GEORGE. The compleat works, in verse and prose, of George Waldron, Gent. late of Queen's College, Oxon. [London]: printed for the widow and orphans, 1731.  $3,250

First edition (and one of only 110 printed), folio, pp. xvi, 296, 191; engraved plate of supposed Manx coins, and woodcut typographical ornaments throughout; contemporary full calf, gilt-decorated spine, red morocco label; very good.

The work was published posthumously by the author's widow Theodosia, who wrote the dedication to the Earl of Inchiquin. It includes A Description of the Isle of Man (pp.91-191 of the second part), Waldron's most important work, which was first issued separately in 1726. It was re-published in 1744 under the title The history and description of the Isle of Man, and again in 1780. It was edited by William Harrison and re-printed in 1865 by The Manx Society. Sir Walter Scott used the work in his Peveril of the Peak and included numerous extracts from it in his notes to that work. "Most writers on the Isle of Man have given Waldron's legends a prominent place in their works" (DNB). The typographical ornaments are those of Henry Woodfall, named in the list of subscribers as a printer. Cubbon, A Bibliographical Account of the Works Relating to the Isle of Man, p. 463; Foxon, p. 848; Lowndes IV, 2808.

39.   [WORLD WAR II, Japan.] Collection of 28 Japanese postcards produced for the military during World War II.n.p., n.d.: likely Tokyo, ca. 1940s.   $850

28 color lithograph cards, each approx. 3½ x 5½ inches, depicting in cartoons the trials and tribulations, both humorous and sentimental, of being in the Japanese military, for use by Japanese soldiers, airmen, and sailors during World War II. Apparently standard issue. Ten appear to be from a series and are numbered 21-30.

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