Achilles Tatius: (Saumaise, Claude, ed.:) (Greek letter) Erotikon [...]
Sive de Clitophontis & Leucippes Amoribus libri VIII ex Editione Cl. Salmasii. Lugd. Batavor. [Leiden]: Apud Franciscum Hegerum 1640.
24mo., pp. [xxiv] 752 [xxx], including engraved title. Initial and final blanks removed, one simply-repaired horizontal tear to 2nd leaf of preface (not affecting legibility). Some faint browning and spotting (esp. to edges of title), a few blank edges worn, small waterstain to lower margin of first leaves, one or two small pencil marginal notes. Early blind-ruled calf, recently rebacked with gilt ruling and stamp, green morocco label with gilt, sides lightly rubbed and boards marked. Later ink inscription of J. Powell(?) to title. Claude Saumaise’s (1588-1653) edition of this Greek Romance. Saumaise (or Salmasius) was in 1631 appointed Chair of History at Leiden, a position which had lain empty since Scaliger’s death 22 years earlier (Sandys II 309). Willems 1611. Graesse I 13. Ref: 23203show full image..
Adam, William: The Law and Custom of Slavery in British India,
in a Series of Letters to Thomas Fowell Buxton, Esq. London: Smith, Elder and Co. 1840.
8vo., pp. 279 [i]. Textblock nearly split between pp. 36-7 (one cord holding). Light age-browning, some spotting. Original green cloth, paper label to spine, edges untrimmed, spine cocked, sides and corners bumped, just a little discolouration and wear (with small loss to cloth at head of spine), loss to spine-label, f.f.e.p. corner clipped (and worn in one spot). Bookplate of Baptist Missionary Society to upper pastedown, with old shelfmark label to spine. These letters about the laws and practices of slavery in India are from the missionary William Adam (1796-1881) to the politician and abolitionist Thomas Fowell Buxton (1786–1845), later first baronet. A notice in this book records that the letters were originally planned for publication in the United States, but “circumstances having brought the Author temporarily to England” (most likely referring to the World Anti-Slavery Convention in June 1840), they first appeared in the UK; a Boston edition did follow sometime in the same year. Ref: 22983show full image..
Aimoinus Monachus [Aimoin, of Fleury]: Historiae Francorum Lib. V.
Ex Veterib. exemplaribus multo emendatiores. Cum indice copiosissimo, qui etiam locorum communium ac epitomes vicem supplet. Parisiis [Paris]: apud Andream Wechelum 1567.
8vo., pp. [viii]. 795. [xxxv]. Lacking final blank. Upper margin trimmed closely, just touching running title on one or two leaves. Some light browning and a few spots, some pencil underlining, small marginal waterstain to a few leaves of index. 18th-cent. marbled calf, spine in six compartments with raised bands, gilt decoration and title, gilt sides, edges and endpapers marbled, slight rubbing to corners and joints. Ownership inscription of Abraham Girard dated 1663 to title. The chief work of Aimoin (c.960-c.1010), a French chronicler and monk in the monastery of Fleury. The book covers history up until the 12th century, with Aimoin’s contribution ending in the time of Clovis II (died c.657) and remainder completed by other hands. Adams A 398. Ref: 22606
Airy, Osmund: Charles II.
London: Goupil & Co. 1901.
4to. pp. v, 282 + frontispiece and 40 plates, each with tissue guard. A few spots. Recent blue buckram with gilt lettering to spine, t.e.g., spine faded and bumped at head and tail, hinges cracking, cloth a little scuffed and marked. ‘There have been printed of this work one thousand two hundred and fifty copies on fine paper [...] No. 605’ (limitation statement from verso of half-title). Ref: 23405
Alberti, Michael: (Thomasius, C., pref.:) Systema Jurisprudentiae Medicae,
quo casus forenses, a JCtis et medicis decidendi, explicantur omniumque facultatum sententiis confirmantur, in partem dogmaticam et practicam partitum, casibus, relationibus, judiciis, responsis et defensionibus juridicis et medicis forensibus illust Halae, impensis Orphanotrophei 1736.
Vol. I (of 7). 4to., pp. [xxxvi] 416 640 213 [xliii]. Latin and German. Title in red and black. 2nd leaf with engraved arms on recto. Library stamps to f.f.e.p. and title-page, small paper repair to title-page as well, light to medium browning and foxing, bound in contemporary half-vellum and paper boards, title inked on spine, edges mottled red. Vol. I of this important encyclopedia of legal medicine, first published in 1725. Michael Alberti (1682-1757) was a counsellor at the Prussian court and a professor at Halle. Ref: 20774
Albinovanus Pedo (pseudo-) [‘Severus, Cornelius’] [Bembo, Pietro] (Le Clerc, Jean, ed.:) Elegiae III,
et fragmenta [...] (Bound with) Aetna, & quae supersunt fragmenta [...] accessit Petri Bembi Aetna. Amstelaedami [Amsterdam], apud Davidem Mortier 1715.
2 works in 1 vol., 12mo., pp. [xlviii] 180 [xxviii]; [vi] 224 [xxiv]. Engraved frontispiece to first work, titles-pages to both works in red and black. First work also has three numismatic plates; second work also has a fold-out plate of Mount Etna erupting. First three leaves of second work, together, coming loose. Otherwise, age-yellowing, light spotting, but a good copy, bound in contemporary blind-panelled vellum boards, title faintly inked on spine. 20th-cent. pencil inscription along top margin of frontispiece, old purchase-note to f.f.e.p. recto. Latin poetical works accompanied by Latin prose paraphrases, including a pseudonymous set of three elegies, and a pseudo-Virgilian work on Mount Etna and the origin of volcanic activity (the ‘Aetna’), which has been attributed by different commentators to Virgil, Severus Cornelius and Lucilius Iunior, and was written before 79. These illustrated editions are reissues of ones of 1703, with new title-pages (Schweiger). The author of the ‘Aetna’ “argues that the controlling force behind eruptions is wind operating at high pressure in narrow subterranean channels, and that the volcanic fire, produced by friction, gets a nutritive material especially in the lava-stone” (OCD). The elegies were attributed to Albinovanus Pedo, a friend of Ovid, by the scholar Josephus Justus Scaliger, whose notes are included here; however, the third one “has been put down as late as the 15th century as the work of an Italian imitator, there being no MSS. and no trace of the poem before the publication of the editio princeps of Ovid in 1471” (Ency. Brit., 11th edn.). Schweiger III 704, II 571. Ref: 21359
Aldin, Cecil: Old Manor Houses.
London: William Heinemann, Ltd. n.d. [1923?]
Signed limited edition. 4to., pp. [vi] 109 [i] + frontispiece and 11 plates, each with tissue guard. Occasional spotting, first leaf faintly foxed. Original quarter vellum and paper boards with gilt to spine and upper board, t.e.g., others untrimmed. Covers soiled and toned, a little wear to corners. Signed by Aldin with a sketch of a dog on verso of half-title. ‘This edition, numbered and signed by the Artist, is limited to three hundred and eighty copies, of which three hundred and fifty are for sale, and thirty are for presentation. This is No. 45’ (limitation statement on verso of half-title). Ref: 23275
Alighieri, Dante: La Divina Commedia.
Londra [London]: Presso C Corrall; a spese di G. Pickering 1823; 1822.
2 vols., 32mo., pp. [iv] 191 [i]; [iii] 194-374 [iv] + engraved frontispiece and half-title in vol. 1. A few spots and one or two tiny marginal flaws. Original purple cloth, faded and a little soiled, neatly rebacked with spines laid down, paper labels rubbed, corners slightly worn. From William Pickering’s ‘Diamond Classics’ series of miniature books; the bindings measure 53mm x 90mm. Ref: 23226show full image..
Almedingen, E.M.: The Little Stairway.
London: Hutchinson & Co. 1960.
First edition, 8vo., pp. [xii] 13-224. Slight tanning to endpapers and faint foxing to edges. Dark red cloth, gilt and grey stamp to spine, grey paper dustjacket a bit dusty and foxed. Ref: 22473
Amphlett, John: An Index to Worcestershire Fines,
1649-1714. Oxford: Printed for the Worcestershire Historical Society, by James Parker and Co. 1896.
4to., pp. iv, 460. Bound in half green morocco with morocco-patterned red cloth, marbled endpapers, spine in six compartments with raised bands, gilt ruling and title, slight scuffing to leather at borders. Ref: 22171
