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[Paston letters] (Fenn, John, ed.:) (Frere, Serjeant:) Original Letters, written during the Reigns of Henry VI, Edward IV, and Richard III, by various Persons of Rank or Consequence [...] with Notes, Historical and Explanatory; and Authenticated by Engravings of Autographs, Fac Similes, Paper-Marks and Seals. London: London, printed for G.G.J. and J. Robinson, 1787, 1789, 1823. 5 vols., extra-illustrated. Vols. I-II second editions with additions and corrections, vols. III-V first editions. 4to., pp. lxxxvii, [i], 301, [i]; [iv], 363, [i]; [iv], xvi, xxxvi, 451, [i]; [vi], xxxii, 478, [ii]; lxxvi, 472 + additional engraved vignette title and coloured engraved frontispiece to each vol. + 34 facsimile plates + 34 further plates. Extra illustrated with additional coloured engraved plates (landscapes etc), including folding map of England and Wales. With half-titles. Parallel medieval and modern texts. Vol. I preliminary blanks, title and pages facing tissue guards toned; small closed tear to map, occasional foxing, a few ink spots. Vol. II occasional foxing and toning, some neat pencil notes. Vol. IV, Some leaves a little toned, also some toning and light damp staining to plates. Some vols. bearing evidence of a bookplate having been removed. Contemporary calf panelled boards rebacked in mottled calf, spines gilt, raised bands, red and black spine labels, all edges faintly blue, marbled endpapers. A few chips to spine, board leather dry and rubbed, corners very worn, but good sound copies. To front paste-down each volume, crimson leather and gilt book label of W.A. Foyle of Beeleigh Abbey and ms inscription at head of ffep verso, Liverpool, Kirkham Abbey [illegible] 1907. Vol. I with pencilled note to front endpaper, 'Duke of York's copy'. John Fenn's edition of the Paston Letters was the first printing of this invaluable collection shedding light on the life of an aristocratic family (the Pastons, later Earls of Yarmouth) in the fifteenth century. The editor obtained the documents from the executors of a chemist in Diss, Norfolk, and later presented the originals for volumes I and II to George III, receiving a knighthood soon after. The work was nevertheless suspected for years to be a forgery, until the material (including what he had given to the King) resurfaced in various country houses in the later part of the nineteenth century. The fifth volume was sent to the press posthumously by Serjeant Frere, Fenn's nephew (Ency. Brit., 11th edn.) Lowndes 788: "Two editions of Vols. 1 & 2 were printed in 1787, but there is no perceptible difference between them." ESTC N010147 & T149304.   Ref: 54569  show full image..
£1500
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Pennant, Thomas: A Tour from Alston-Moor to Harrowgate, and Brimham Crags. London: printed by C. Mercier and Co., Northumberland-Court, Strand, for John Scott, no.447, Strand, 1804. First edition. 4to., pp.[x], 130 + 9 plates as called for. Half-title. Title-page repaired at top fore-edge corner, some toning transferred from plates onto facing pages. Half green sheep, gilt title to spine, marbled paper boards, edges sprinkled brown, marbled paste-downs but free endpapers replaced with plain blue. Joints worn, boards quite toned, corners a bit frayed, still very good. Edited by Pennant's son David and published posthumously. 'Pennant's travels and natural history are distinguished by his personal energy, a keen observational sense, and by methodological organization and attention to facts. In such ways, and in his friendship and widespread correspondence with others of like interests throughout Britain and Europe, he may be said to exemplify those gentleman scholars of nature in the later eighteenth century whose interests in natural knowledge aimed at national improvement through intellectual enquiry. While he is perhaps better remembered for his Scottish tours, his British Zoology and Arctic Zoology in particular were important pioneering works and established him in the eyes of contemporaries as a leading European natural historian. For one modern scholar Pennant should be considered 'the leading British zoologist after Ray and before Darwin' (Beer, vi).' (Withers, ODNB)   Ref: 54602  show full image..
£200
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Pennant, Thomas: A Tour in Scotland; MDCCLXIX. Warrington: printed by W. Eyres, 1774. 1774. Third edition. 8vo., pp. viii, 316; viii, 172 + 18 plates to the first part and 21 plates to the second part. Additional engraved title-page with vignette dated 1774, followed by printed title-page dated 1771. Title-page to 'Additions to the 4to Edition [?]' dated 1774 after p.316. Some illustrations in the text. Occasional small ink spots, eider duck plate neatly repaired, 2G8 bottom corner of fore-edge margin lost not affecting text. Modern half calf olive green, raised bands and black gilt labels to spine, marbled boards, edges very lightly sprinkled blue, endpapers renewed. A little rubbed, a few light scuffs to spine, very good. To the second, printed title an ownership inscription possibly of C. Stuart (the end of the surname trimmed) dated 28th December 17(??). 'In 1769 Pennant undertook a tour of Scotland, chiefly of the highlands, a region then little known by outsiders yet of interest for its natural history. He again drew upon local specialist knowledge? men such as the Revd Dr John Walker, who had travelled extensively in the highlands and Hebrides in 1764 and 1766, and, in Aberdeen, the natural historian David Skene, who showed Pennant his cabinet of natural history and advised him on zoological and botanical specimens. Pennant's A Tour in Scotland, 1769, was published in 1771. It is of interest for its descriptions andfor its method: Pennant circulated 'Queries, addressed to the Gentlemen and Clergy of North-Britain' [Scotland] with standard questions about natural history and the past and present state of the parish in order to allow locals to give 'a fuller and more satisfactory Account of their Country, than it is the Power of a Stranger and transient Visitant to give' (Pennant, Tour in Scotland, 287). In that regard Pennant has much in common with the earlier use of circulated queries by natural philosophers such as Robert Boyle and, in Scotland, by the natural historian and geographer Sir Robert Sibbald, and Pennant importantly prefigures the parish-based assessment of Scotland published by Sir John Sinclair in the 1790s.' (Withers, ODNB)   Ref: 54605  show full image..
£200
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Pennant, Thomas: A Tour in Wales. London: printed for Benjamin White, 1784. Second edition. 2 vols., 4to., pp. [viii], 488, [viii] + 29 plates; ii, [ii], 487, [vii], [ix] + 35 plates. Engraved title-page with vignette to each vol., plus additional title-page 'The Journey to Snowdon' to vol. 2. Plates as called for, vol.I plates XXIV and XXV misbound. Dampstaining to vol. I front endpapers and title, occasional light toning. Contemporary green straight-grain Morocco, spines gilt, plain gilt borders and dentelles, a.e.g., marbled endpapers. Spines browned, joints a little rubbed, vol.I dampstained to lower half of each board, but good sound copies. Armorial bookplate to front paste-down each volume. Vol I.: A Tour in Wales. Vol. II. The Journey to Snowdon, plus Corrections and Additions to the first volume. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. Pennant (1726?1798) undertook several tours throughout Wales in the early 1770s where his Welsh-speaking friend, the Revd John Lloyd of Caerwys gave his assistance with translations. ESTC T213985   Ref: 54601  show full image..
£450
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Pennant, Thomas: The History of the Parishes of Whiteford and Holywell. [London:] printed for B. and J. White, 1796. 4to., pp. [viii], 172, [ii], 185-328 + 22 plates, as called for. Engraved title-page with vignette of a house titled 'Bychon'. Separate title-page for Holywell, with vignette. First leaf and title foxed, some further light foxing, occasional toning generally to leaves near plates. Recently rebound, speckled tan half calf, red morocco gilt label, brown cloth boards, endpapers renewed. A few marks to cloth, very good. 'Two of the three publications written towards the end of Pennant's life exemplify both his energy and the range of his writings. The History of the Parishes of Whiteford and Holywell (1796) offers a detailed local history and genealogical information on the Pennant family. [?] The title of the third, The Literary Life of the Late Thomas Pennant Esq., by himself (1793), hints at Pennant's sense of humour. It is signed only by dotted lines to indicate the death of the author: it is for that reason that his History of the Parishes is signed 'RESURGAM', with its implication of literary resurrection.' (Withers, ODNB) ESTC T113878   Ref: 54603  show full image..
£150
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Pennant, Thomas: The Literary Life of the Late Thomas Pennant, Esq. by Himself. London: sold by Benjamin and John White, Fleet-Street, and Robert Faulder, New Bond-Street, 1793. 4to., pp. [vi], 144 + the standard 2 plates called for (portrait frontispiece and Fountains Abbey). Darlington Public Library inkstamps to ffep, portrait frontispiece (both sides, including a larger one dated 1937 to verso), title-page, p.1, Fountains Abbey plate. Frontispiece a little foxed, a few faint stains. Contemporary boards neatly rebacked, tan half calf, gilt title to spine, marbled paper boards, edges sprinkled blue, endpapers renewed and reinforced at hinges. Lightly rubbed, edges worn, corners repaired, evidence of a bookplate having been removed from the front paste-down. 'The title of [?] "The Literary Life of the Late Thomas Pennant Esq., by Himself" (1793), hints at Pennant's sense of humour. It is signed only by dotted lines to indicate the death of the author: it is for that reason that his "History of the Parishes" is signed "RESURGAM", with its implication of literary resurrection. Pennant's "Literary Life", which has several of his shorter works collected as appendices, makes clear his immense industry and the fact that his natural history writing and travelling were undertaken while fulfilling other responsibilities: he was high sheriff of Flintshire in 1761; author of pamphlets on road management and the militia laws; chairman in 1792 of the Flintshire Loyalist Association; and from 1763 improver of his own estates. Reflecting "upon the multiplicity of my publications", he attributed his output to "the riding exercise of my extensive tours, to my manner of living, and to my temperance" (Pennant, Literary Life, 35).' (Withers, ODNB)   Ref: 54604  show full image..
£75
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Petit, Pierre: De Amazonibus Dissertatio. Amstelodami [Amsterdam]: apud Johannem Wolters et Ysbrandum Haringa, 1687 12mo. pp. [12], 398, [12] + 1 folding map of the Mediterranean. Engraved titlepage with portrait of amazon, numerous small engravings of amazons or ancient coins and medals portraying amazons or their weapons. Engraved title a little dusty at margins, small hole (paper flaw) to outer blank margin of title, slight yellowing. Contermpoary Netherlandish vellum, yapp edges, title inked to spine. Modern bookplate of Robert J. Hayhurst to front pastedown. A very good, clean copy of the second edition of this curious treatise on the existence of Amazons, first published in 1685 by the French physician Pierre Petit (b. 1617). The first scholarly work entirely devoted to a subject which had elicited the interest of the likes of Th?vet and Mercuriale, it boasts a painstaking amount of information on all accessible evidence and observations from ancient and more recent sources. It discusses the nature of the Amazons' commonwealth, suggested identifications (e.g., with Scythian women), their territories and religion, the custom that Amazons should have their right-hand breast removed, and so on. The engraved statues, coins and medals provide a novel comparative stance of the iconography of Amazons - although some of the items portrayed were actually antique-style fakes. The work also features fascinating debates on the nature of men and women.   Ref: 53650  show full image..
£400
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Phaedrus, Gaius Julius: (Burmann, Pieter, ed.:) Fabularum Aesopiarum libri quinque. Cum novo commentario Petri Burmanni. Leidae [Leiden]: Apud Samuelem Luchtmans, 1727. Burman's 4th edition. 4to., pp. [lii], 263, xlix, 93, [i] + additional engraved title-page and folding portrait plate of the editor. Title-page in red and black with woodcut printer's device, head- and tail-pieces. Francis Hare's 93-page 'Epistola Critica' at rear, the presence of which indicates a large paper copy according to Lamb. Toned, with some leaves quite strongly affected. Light spotting. Small closed tear to middle of title-page (possibly a paper flaw), closed tear to lower margin leaf H3, final few sections with damp stain to lower fore-edge corner. Contemporary vellum, gilt spine with raised bands, gilt frame and borders, gilt centrepiece with the arms of Rotterdam to each board. Ties lost, boards a little splayed, top corner of upper board lightly bumped, few smudgy marks, good overall. Book label to front paste down, A. Roobol, and Cat '259' in blue ink. Plain endpaper with an inscription crossed through, illegible. 'To this day Burman's edition of 1727 is the only complete commentary on Phaedrus and has not been superceded. Unlike his variorum editions, the notes are Burman's own work. He uses conjecture sparingly and often discusses the emendations of other scholars at considerable length.' (Lamb, Annales Phaedriani, p.vi). Dibdin II (4th ed.) 281; Schweiger II 736; Lamb 167; Spoelder 661, Rotterdam 1.   Ref: 54429  show full image..
£300
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Phaedrus: (Gronovius, J.F; Gronovius, J.; Dispontinius, Nicolas, ed.s:) Fabularum Aesopiarum libri V cum notis perpetuis Jo. Fred. Gronovii, p. & emendationibus Jacobi Gronovii, f.. Accedunt Nicolai Dispontinii in Phaedrum Collectanea. Amstelaedami [Amsterdam]: apud Janssonio-Waesbergios, 1703 12mo., pp.[xxiv], 156, [ii], 157-218, 157-298, [ii]. Pagination as usual. Additional engraved title, title-page in red and black, woodcut initials and endpieces, errata to final leaf. Internally bright. Contemporary semi-limp vellum, title very faintly inked to spine, edges sprinkled red. Vellum a little grey, remains of two paper labels to spine, two thongs lost at upper joint but binding firm, endpapers renewed and ffep then removed, very good. Bookplate of the Dutch historian Jan Steffen Bartstra (1887-1962) to front pastedown. Contains the notes of both Johann Friedrich Gronovius (1611-1671) and his son Jakob Gronovius (1645 ? 1716). Schweiger II pt.ii, 733-4.   Ref: 54594  show full image..
£200
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(Phaedrus:) 'Aesop': (Desbillons, Francois-Joseph, ed.:) Fabulae Aesopae, curis posterioribus omnes fere emendatae: quibus accesserunt plus quam clxx novae [...]. Parisiis [Paris]: typis J. Barbou, via Mathurinensium, 1778. Sixth edition. 12mo., pp. xxxvi, 504 + engraved frontispiece. Printer's device to title-page, woodcut ornaments, very wide lower margins, very clean. Later dark green straight-grain morocco, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers. Spine and corners a bit rubbed but still very good indeed. Printed label 'From the collection of Charles Butler of Warren Wood, Hatfield' to front paste-down. Two invoices from Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodges dated May 29th and 30th 1911, one made out to W. Cairns and one to W. Strong, both from the sale of Captain Butler's library. Elegantly bound Latin edition of Aesop's "Fables" by the Jesuit poet Fran?ois-Joseph Desbillons (1711-89), author of several other collections of ancient and modern fables.   Ref: 54210  show full image..
£200
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