[Vathek] An Arabian Tale from an Unpublished Manuscript with Notes Critical and Explanatory [by Samuel Henley] by Anonymous [William Beckford]

London: James R. Osgood McIlvaine, 1891.. Small quarto. Gilt green cloth backed cream cloth over boards, elaborately decorated in gilt and red. Plates, illustrations and decorated endsheets. Binding a bit darkened, with some pale discolorations at edge, 1895 ownership signature on preliminary blank, corners a trifle worn, the plates by Shannon somewhat faded (as usual) but still legible, a few small nicks and a short tear to the edges of the front free endsheet but a good, sound copy, a few leaves unopened. First edition. Design, illustrations and decorations by C. Ricketts and C. Shannon, with plates by the latter. One of one thousand copies printed. Mason/Millard gives an account of the circumstances which led to the faint state of the Shannon plates. Contains four short stories: "The Young King" (which first appeared in THE LADY'S PICTORIAL, Christmas Number, 1888), "The Birthday of the Infanta" (which first appeared in PARIS ILLUSTRÉ, March 30, 1889), "The Fisherman and His Soul," and "The… Read More

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1922. Signed and Numbered First. Hardcover. Very Good with no dust jacket/No Dustjacket. From the signed, limited, numbered first printing, this is number 266, signed by the author at the limitation page opposite the full title. The pages are bright saving some toning around the deckled edges and quite clean except for a very few scattered spots of foxing; no owners' marks; the quarter cloth binding leans gently to the right but remains tight; the paper boards and paper title plate at the spine show some chipping around the edges, with a pressure mark at the bottom right front corner, a small inward turn and surface scuff at the top left rear corner, and some surface creasing at the corners and right edge of the title plate; some fading is also evident along the head edges of the paper and along the right rear, and the title plate is age-toned; nonetheless, a remarkably clean and attractive book, well-preserved. 459pp.; an extra copy of the title plate is tipped in at the… Read More

Basilae: Per Ioanem Oporinum [ 1558 ], 1558. Hardcover. See Description. 8vo. pp. 499, [13]. Bound in later full red morocco with gilt border fillets on front and rear covers. All edges of the book block are gilt. The binding contains areas of rubbing and wear; minor careful restoration is present to the head cap of the spine and to the corner tips of the boards. The upper corner tip of the front blank fly leaf is restored. Interior pages show some light age-toning and scattered mild foxing but are generally clean. This is a Latin translation from the Greek of the seven tragedies of Sophocles - Ajax Flagellifer, Electra, Oedipus Tyrannus, Antigone, Oedipus Coloneus, Trachiniae, Philoctetes. The translation and notes are by Thomas Kirchmeyer (Naogeorgus) 1508-1563, was an influential dramatist, humanist and Lutheran theologian. The preliminaries include a dedication to Johannes Jacob Fugger and also contain short verses by the educator Johannes Sturm, the Latin poet and theologian Johann Seckervitz… Read More

Longmans, Green, and Co. London and Bombay. 1902. FIRST EDITION. Colonial Issue. 8vo. (7.4 x 5.3 inches). Illustrated with sixteen mono plates by Sidney Paget. Tisue guard to the frontispiece. A few of the plates are bound in different places than listed on the contents page but all are present. 4 pages of publishers adverts for the colonial library at the rear of the book. The text and illustrations are fine, clean and bright throughout and look unread. Publishers decorative green cloth which has dark blue illustration to the front board and spine. Gilt lettering to the spine. Decorative light blue and white floral endpapers with ship and swan designs. There are a couple of small closed tears to the spine and the cloth is a bit rubbed and bumped and has a few small marks but is generally in very good condition with the gilt on the spine still quite bright. Previous owner's small typed name label on the plain verso of the front free endpaper, reading H. B. Rattray. This is almost certainly Captain… Read More

Richard Bentley. London. 1847. Bentley's Standard Novels and Romances, volume 25. Reprint of the 1833 edition. 8vo. (7 x 4.5 inches). Illustrated frontis engraving by Pickering. Publishers dark brown morocco grained cloth with elaborate blind stamped decorative border to the boards. Spine lettered and decorated in gilt. Yellow endpapers with lists of other titles published by Bentley. Neat previous owner bookplate to the top of the front paste down endpaper. Some staining to the bottom of the frontispiece, not affecting the image or type, otherwise a very clean and fresh copy. The cloth is clean and tidy, with sharp corners, and the gilt on the spine still bright and fresh. A little rubbing to the extremities but this is a superior copy. Scarce in such nice condition.

Geneva: Apud Eustache Vignon, 1596.. Hardcover. Good. Thick quarto. Four volumes bound in one. With no separate title-pages to volumes II-IV. I: [iv]ff., 436cols.; II: 958cols.; III: 636cols.; IV: 714cols.; Index and Privilege - 40ff. I: 4, A4-O4, P2; II : aa8-zz8, Aa8-Gg8; III: a8-v8; IV: Aa8-Yy8, Zz4 ; Index & Privilege: A8-E8. Last leaf, E8, is blank and lacking. Engraved title-page. In a contemporary vellum binding.

Milano: Aldo Martello Editore, 1965. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Edition published to celebrate the seven hundredth anniversary of Dante's birth and limited to 500 numbered copies. In three volumes. 361pp; 333pp; 345pp. Full deep green morocco ruled and lettered in gold on the spine, five raised bands, top edges gilt, others uncut, green endpapers; printed on special Ventura paper. The volumes come in sturdy green paper covered publisher's slipcases with leather inserts. With more than one hundred illustrations by fifty contemporary Italian artists including Giorgio de Chirico, Renato Guttuso, Emilio Greco, Aligi Sassu, Carlo Carrà, Remo Brindisi, Massimo Campigli, Carlo Corsi, Carlo Guarienti assembled for a special Quadriennale exhibition in 1960. Very mild wear to the spines but a superb set nonetheless. This copy, not numbered, is ad personam for Bruno Molajoli. ; Quarto.

Philadelphia: G. B. Zieber & Co, 1845. First Edition. Hardcover. iv, [5]-168pp. Brown quarter morocco and marbled boards, spine lettered and ruled in gold. With the armorial bookplate of E. Hubert Litchfield. Mild scattered foxing throughout. A near fine copy. Scarce. BAL 8085. In Van Winkle, p. 13. ; Twelvemo.

Parigi: Appresso Agostino Delalain, Pietro Durand, Gio: Claudio Molini, 1771. First Edition. Hardcover. Illustrated by Gravelot, Hubert-François. In two volumes. 331pp; 340pp. Contemporary full mottled calf, sides with triple gilt fillets, ornate gilt spines, gilt inside dentelles. All edges gilt, marbled endpapers. Frontispieces, titles, dedication, nineteen inserted plates, nine full-page illustrations, head-pieces, tail-pieces, all by Gravelot and engraved by Ponce, Leveau, Le Roy, Rousseau, Henriquez, and others. Rubbing and scuffs to sides and edges, three small old ink stains to bottom edge of volume one, short corner tear to one leaf. Lacks the plate for the eighteenth canto and there are some very minor markings in ink to some of the plates. From what transpires from the two old inscriptions on the front endpapers this set was donated by the Vicar of a church near Brescia to a noted scholar and professor at the University of Brescia. The ink in the markings appears to be the same as the… Read More

Longmans, Green, and Co. London and Bombay. 1902. FIRST EDITION. Colonial Issue. 8vo. (7.4 x 5.3 inches). Illustrated with sixteen mono plates by Sidney Paget. Tisue guard to the frontispiece. A few of the plates are bound in different places than listed on the contents page but all are present. 4 pages of publishers adverts for the colonial library at the rear of the book. The text and illustrations are fine, clean and bright throughout and look unread. Publishers decorative green cloth which has dark blue illustration to the front board and spine. Gilt lettering to the spine. Decorative light blue and white floral endpapers with ship and swan designs. There are a couple of small closed tears to the spine and the cloth is a bit rubbed and bumped and has a few small marks but is generally in very good condition with the gilt on the spine still quite bright. Previous owner's small typed name label on the plain verso of the front free endpaper, reading H. B. Rattray. This is almost certainly Captain… Read More