Search Results: Authors starting with R from McNaughtan's Bookshop

Glasgow: Printed by A. Foulis, and sold by D. Allan, 1788. 4to, pp. [iv], x, [ii], 111, [3], 17, [1], 18 (engraved music) + frontispiece and 12 plates (all aquatint). Modern quarter calf, marbled boards, red morocco label to spine. Some soiling and light spotting throughout. The first illustrated Foulis edition of Ramsay’s classic, the first Scottish opera. The plates are by David Allan (1744-1796), sometimes called the ‘Scottish Hogarth’. Gaskell 688; ESTC T60190.

Edinburgh: Printed by Mr. Thomas Ruddiman, for and sold by the Author, 1727. 12mo, pp. xvi, 88, 93-164, 173-196, 201-242, 245-260, 265-346, 365-382, [2] + frontispiece. Irregular pagination as issued (see below). Original sprinkled calf, spine gilt in compartments, red morocco label. Some spotting and light soiling, small wormhole to lower margin at beginning. Rubbed, a bit worn and scratched, joints just cracking at ends, label defective. Ramsay, originally apprenticed as a wigmaker, transitioned into bookselling over the course of the 1710s, also publishing his own poetry. In 1720 he produced a title-page, ‘Poems, by Allan Ramsay’, to accompany gatherings-up of stock of individual poems which he had been publishing separately for some time. The experiment was evidently a success as he continued the process through several more editions, tacking gently in the direction of regularising the contents: the first versions had separate pagination for most poems, then parts were… Read More

Edinburgh: Printed by Mr. Thomas Ruddiman for the Publisher, 1724. FIRST EDITION, 2 vols., small 8vo, pp. xii, 272; [ii], 288. Contemporary sprinkled calf, spine gilt in compartments, third compartments numbered in gilt direct. Some toning and spotting. Rubbed, a little worn at extremities, head of spine of vol. 1 defective and of vol. 2 chipped, joints cracking but sound, pastedowns lifted and vol. 1 endpapers partially excised. Ownership inscriptions of John Boyd dated 1750 in several places, bookplates of the Baggrave Library to inside front boards, an accounting in an early hand to rear endpapers of vol. 1. An unsophisticated copy of the first edition of Ramsay’s important collection of early Scots verse, following the success of his ‘Tea-table miscellany’. Ramsay was a a boldly interventionist editor, ‘freely altering his material for an eighteenth-century audience, in particular changing versification and spelling... He altered William Dunbar's… Read More

London: William Pickering, 1843. 8vo, pp. viii, 272, [2] + 1 plate. Contemporary half calf, marbled boards, spine divided by raised bands between double gilt rules, black morocco label. Foxed and spotted. Binding rubbed and somewhat worn and scratched, spine sunned. gift inscription to flyleaf ‘With Mr Blake’s kind regards to the Rev. Alan Macgregor’ dated 1846, ownership inscription of Charles Saroléa to title-page, gift note ‘Hermann Palsson from O.K. Schram’ tipped in to flyleaf. The first English translation of the first grammar of Icelandic, produced by polyglot scholar and philologist Rasmus Rask (1787-1832). By his early twenties he had systematically studied half a dozen languages and published this work in Danish in 1811. The translator George Webbe Dasent (1817-1896) was encouraged in his study of Scandinavian literature by Jakob Grimm, and later published the first English translation of Njal’s saga. From the library… Read More

London: Printed for T.C. and are to be sold by Iohn Wright, 1655. 12mo, pp. [xxii], 153, [1]. Half-title discarded. Contemporary sheep, boards bordered with double blind rules. Somewhat toned. Resewn and front joint renewed, a couple more small repairs, old leather marked and worn in places. Monastic library inscriptions to inside front board and verso of title-page, remnants of paper label to spine, ownership inscriptions of Matthew Almod to flyleaf and PG to title-page. An English translation of a manual for success at court, first published in 1652 and taken from a work which first saw print in French anonymously in 1616. The Walsingham of the title is Sir Francis (c.1532-1590), to whom this work was falsely attributed by its translator Edward Walsingham (d. 1663), a distant relation. It was reprinted in 1694 and 1728, and was sufficiently popular for Pepys to refer in his diary to a trip ‘calling for Walsingham’s Manuals at my bookseller’s to read but not to… Read More

Galashiels: Alex Walker & Son, 1906. FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY, 8vo, pp, 148, [28, ads]. Numerous photographic plates and a map included in pagination. Original brick red cloth, front board lettered in gilt. Just a little soiling. Corners a little bumped, boards a touch marked. Inscribed to flyleaf: ‘To D. Deuchars Esqre. from A. D. Reid’. A small guidebook produced to promote the Clovenfords Hotel, base of Sir Walter Scott when he was appointed Sheriff of Selkirkshire in 1779. As well as pointing out local areas of interest the guide contains two chapters on cycling tours of the district, and a chapter on angling in local streams. Library Hub records 7 copies, most in Scotland: Aberdeen, BL, Cambridge, Edinburgh, NLS, NMS and Strathclyde.

Kirkwall: The Kirkwall Press, 1957. FIRST EDITION, INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR, 8vo, pp. 47, [1]. Original olive-green cloth, spine lettered in gilt, pea-green dustjacket printed in black. Boards just a touch marked, dustjacket a little bumped to to edge and slightly discoloured to spine-panel. Presentation inscription to flyleaf: ‘To Robin Richardson with kindest regards from Robert Rendall, 1957’. The third and final book of poetry by Orcadian poet and naturalist Robert Rendall (1898-1967), friend and early champion of fellow Orkney poet George Mackay Brown. This copy was presented to BBC producer Robin Richardson.

Aberdeen: Lewis Smith, 1868. FIRST EDITION, 8vo, pp. viii, 129, [1] + engraved title page and 22 plates (2 of them maps), plus double-page inscription printed in red and black. Other illustrations included in pagination. Original green cloth, boards bordered in blind, spine lettered vertically in gilt. Some light spotting, plates lightly mottled, one bifolium partly sprung. Some rubbing to extremities.

[Glasgow?]: [s.n.], 1793. 8vo, pp. 7, [1]. Disbound. First leaf lightly soiled. A scarce pamphlet, described as a ‘satirical exposition of the differences between the French and British nations, with regard to the causes of the French Revolution’ in ESTC, which records 6 copies: BL and NLS in the UK, and Cornell, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Yale in the US. ESTC N24429.

Bruxelles [Brussels]: Chez le Secretaire des Commandements de Mgr. l’Archevêque de Paris, 1789. 8vo, pp. 32. Later marbled card wrappers, titled in ink to label on front wrapper. Some scattered toning and spotting, first few leaves dampmarked. Spine creased, one corner of marbled paper torn away exposing card. Bookseller’s ticket of Raymond Clavreuil, Paris to pastedown. The fictitious and grandiloquent confession of Charles, Count of Artois, later King Charles X, supposedly given to a Spanish priest. Charles’ attempt to overthrow finance minister Jacques Necker provoked the storming of the Bastille in 1789, following which Charles did leave France, but he did not go to Lisbon nor confess his sins in tears at his own wickedness as suggested here, but travelled in exile around Europe (including a stay in Holyroodhouse), returning to France following the restoration of his brother as King Louis XVIII.

London: Printed for J. Murray, 1775. 8vo, pp. [iv], 203, [1]. Modern quarter calf, marbled boards, spine divided by double blind rules, brown morocco label. Just a touch of spotting. A few scattered marginal notes in pencil. A study of 4 major Shakespearian characters: Macbeth, Hamlet, Jacques (from ‘As You Like It’) and Imogen (from ‘Cymbelene’), by polymath scholar William Richardson (1743-1814). Richardson was made Professor of Humanity in Glasgow in 1773 and published the first edition of this work the following year. This second edition is rare this side of the Atlantic, with ESTC recording 13 copies but only Royal Holloway in the UK, the rest save Bibliothèque Mazarine and Pretoria State Library being in US institutions. The psychological approach won him many plaudits, including from Edmund Burke, who singled out the chapter on Macbeth for praise in a letter to Richardson, writing ‘your tracing that progress of corruption [...] is… Read More

Deya, Majorca: The Seizin Press, 1930. FIRST EDITION, NO. 182 OF 200 COPIES SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR, folio, pp. [iv], 29, [1]. Original quarter buckram, decorated paper boards by Len Lye, spine lettered in gilt. A few marks to cloth, outline sellotape stains to corners of endpapers.

Perugia: Nella Stamperia di Piergiovanni Costantini, 1764. 5 vols., 4to, pp. xlviii, 431, [1] + frontispiece and 1 other plate; [iv], 447, [1]; [iv], 495, [1]; [iv], 471, [1]; [iv], 460. Hundreds of engravings contained within text. Untrimmed in original carta rustica, manuscript paper labels to spines. Foxed and spotted, a few gatherings showing signs of damp or marginal worming (from when the book was in sheets), one or two edge tears. Bindings soiled and stitching loosening, spine of vol. 1 partially defective, several flyleaves excised. Index in each vol. supplemented with numerous additional entries (and sometimess sections) in a neat contemporary hand. One of the fullest editions of this important emblem book, first published (without illustrations) in 1593 and much expanded by the author and subsequent editors thereafter. This edition, featuring over 370 engravings, was produced by the writer and historian Cesare Orlandi (1734-1779).

Palma de Mallorca: [s.n.], 1955. FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, SIGNED BY THE TRANSLATOR, 8vo, pp. xvi [misprinted as xiv], 115, [1] + 12 double sided leaves of black and white plates. Title-page printed in red and black. Original green and white patterned paper boards with black illustration to front board, dustjacket printed in blue and black, pale green patterned endpapers. One tiny edge tear to a single leaf. Dustjacket a little rubbed and creased to extremities. Signed by the translator (later in life) to title-page along with the ink stamp of Valldemosa. The first published work of English writer Alan Sillitoe (1928-2010), his translation of Luis Ripoll’s account of Frédéric Chopin’s stay in Majorca with George Sand in Valldemosa, a recently abandoned monastery, where he composed some of his famous preludes. The stamp of the monastery on the title-page here may indicate that this copy was purchased at the private museum dedicated to Chopin and Sand, which… Read More

London: Printed for Harvey and Darton, 1829. 12mo, pp. vi, [ii], 395, [1] + engraved frontispiece. Contemporary calf, spine divided by raised bands between gilt rules, black morocco label, other compartments tooled in gilt with decorative corner pieces. Some spotting, offsetting from frontispiece. Binding a little rubbed and marked, spine label chipped. Ink ownership inscriptions of Ann Maria Schwartz (dated 1834) and John Schwartz (dated 1850) to flyleaf and pastedown. A second edition of Mary Roberts’s (1788-1864) first published work, which draws on Thomas Gibbon’s ‘Memoirs of Eminently Pious Women’ as cited by the author in her introduction. This edition has two entries not in the first (Miss Hannah Sinclair and Mrs ___ of N____ Hall), though two other entries have been omitted (the Dairyman’s Daughter and Miss Ann Kemp Ward). This copy belonged to a brother and sister, with the brother inheriting the book after his sister died in 1850. Darton G816.

Inverness: Printed, and sold by Young and Imray, 1802. FIRST EDITION, 8vo, pp. 320. Contemporary marbled calf by J. Forsyth of Elgin, spine divided by double gilt rules. A little minor spotting. Rubbed, extremities worn and endbands lost, joints cracking but sound. Binder’s ticket to front pastedown, gilt crest of Sir William Cumming Gordon-Cumming of Altyre, 2nd Baronet (1787-1854) to head of spine. The scarce first edition, in a local binding, of the first handbook specifically for ministers of the Church of Scotland, providing ‘forms’ or sample texts for sermons, prayers, and celebrations of marriage and baptism. The Presbyterian tradition discouraging reading from the pulpit, it became clear that not all ministers were gifted at extemporary speech and a number of versions of this sort of guide were produced throughout the nineteenth century amidst arguments over how prayer was best conducted. The ‘Scotch Minister’s Assistant’ is… Read More

London: Printed for Thomas Boys, 1822. 3 vols., 12mo, pp. [vi], 198, [iv], 180; [vi], 179, [1], [iv], 180; [vi], 178, [vi], 180 + 6 frontispieces. Contemporary half black calf, marbled boards, red morocco labels, other compartments tooled centrally in gilt. Some offsetting from plates. Somewhat rubbed, a touch of wear to extremities, labels slightly chipped. Ownership inscriptions of J. Richardson to flyleaves of first and second volumes. A reissue of a set first published the previous year as part of a projected series of ‘Lives of Eminent Scotsmen’, of which this constituted the section on poets. No further volumes appear to have been produced however, or at least none under this series title, which presumably precipitated this reissue with a new title-page expunging almost all mention of the more ambitious project. The one remaining reference is on the first page of each of the six parts as a subheading.

[Edinburgh: Printed by the artist, 2016. ONE OF 7 COPIES, 16.3 x 13.7 cm and approximately 240cm across fully open. Two intersecting accordion-folded panoramic sheets, one an aquatinted etching on 300gsm Hahnemuhle paper with laser cutouts, the other black 300gsm paper with laser cutouts. Bound between cloth-covered boards with endpapers of embossed Fabriano Rosapina Avorio paper (285gsm), with a paper wrap-around band printed in black. Housed in a custom cloth drop-back box blocked in silver together with a full-colour 12pp. booklet about the book and containing a certificate of authenticity signed and numbered by the artist. A wordless retelling of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ using a combination of old and new technologies: intaglio printmaking and laser cutting. The result is a panoramic piece of book art that visually narrates the story and draws inspiration from the imagery of the text. Inspired by artists and illustrators such as William Hogarth, Lotte Reiniger… Read More

London: W. Kent and Co., 1877. PRESENTATION COPY, 8vo, pp. xi, [i], 174. Contemporary pebble-grain green morocco, boards bordered in blind, spine lettered in gilt between raised bands and blind rules, board edges and turn-ins gilt, edges gilt. Paper lightly age-toned, one or two minor spots. Spine lightly sunned, joints, endcaps and bands a little rubbed. Inscribed on the second front flyleaf ‘Alex. Mackintosh Esqr with the affectionate regards of the Author. Wm. Fredk. Rock, 15/7/79’. The second edition of Rock’s poems; the first having been privately printed for presentation a decade earlier, the author writes that he had ‘since had many solicitations for further copies, and I almost feel bound to meet this complimentary applications by a reprint’ (Preface). Rock (1802-1890) left banking to become a publisher, selling steel engravings and fancy stationery, making enough money to found the Barnstaple Literary and Scientific Institution and the… Read More

London: Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1809. FIRST EDITION, 4to, pp. [ii], xxxvi, 215, [1], 67, [1], lxxx, [2]. Contemporary sprinkled calf, spine divided by gilt rolls, black morocco label, other compartments with central gilt sunburst tools. First and last leaves foxed. Rubbed and worn around the edges, label chipped, joints cracked and reglued, hinges relined. Label removed from front pastedown. History was one of the side interests pursued by George Rose (1744-1818) outside his parliamentary business. This criticism of Fox’s history of James II drew on the Marchmont papers, which Rose held as executor for the third Earl of Marchmont and inheritor of his library.