Rare books from Patrick McGahern Books, Inc. (ABAC)

London. John Churchill. 1855. 12mo., l9.62cm, The First Edition, xxxviii,[-2],3-224p., with 4 plates from engravings (2 plates inc frontis & 2 maps), with the original dark blue/green fine ribbed cloth, gilt spine titles, wide blind decorated borders on the boards, printed coated yellow endpapers with ads for "Works by Dr. King, M.D.", front and back, hinges expertly restored and frontis guarded at the gutter, a fine copy. Author's Signed Presentation Copy on the head of the title page, Inscribed "~ ~ ~ with the Kind Regards of the Author, Richard King" in slipcase bound in quarter dark blue calf, gilt ruled raised bands, blind decoration in the panels, double crimson red leather labels, gilt titles, dark grey cloth boards ~ long considered one of the rarest Franklin search books. Arctic Bib. 8706. Plimer Franklin Search Catalgoue #205. Sabin 37797. T.P.L. 3571 . Correspondence between the author and the British Admiralty and Colonial Office, regarding Dr. King's offers to aid, and his views on the… Read More

Manuscript. N.d. [1838]. Hardcover. folio. 32cm, unpaginated c.[220]pp.), manuscript, fine closely written script, quarter brown contemporary cloth backed marbled boards, gilt spine title, several leaves torn not affecting text, in fine condition. (cgc) WorldCat, no results. - A neatly handwritten world gazetteer (without maps) , based on longitudes and latitudes, by French author, Leonie D'Aunet (1820-1879). Signed on title page and in gilt on lower spine "Leonie L.L.D." She is noted as taking part in the Gaimard expedition to Spitsbergen, with her husband artist Francois Biard, in 1838. She later described this expedition in "Voyage d'une femme au Spitzberg" (1854). Leonie later received notoriety when her affair with Victor Hugo was exposed for which she was imprisoned. The author describes the Arctic pole, the Esquimaux, the area north of Hudson Bay, about Greenland, gives location and how to arrive through Davis Strait and Baffin Baie, about the naming of Greenland, the climate, what the people… Read More

Philadelphia. Published by Rice, & A.N. Hart. 1855. 4to, 27.3x 18.5cm, in three volumes, plus 121 hand-coloured plates, (with tissue guards), after the original oil painting by Charles Bird King, in the original brown morocco publisher's bindings, raised black ruled bands, gilt titles in the panels, extra blind and black stamped decorations on the boards and in the panels, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt, a fine set the plates are strong clear strikes. Howes M129. Sabin 43411. Field 992. The royal octavo edition followed the great folio volumes of 1836-44. The brilliantly coloured plates, in excellent condition in this set, are fine examples of American lithography of the period. "Mostly the work of [Charles Bird] King, these are the most colourful portraits of Indians ever executed. Originally issued in twenty parts (in nineteen); but few sets were retained in that impractical form. The original oil paintings of which the plates were copies were all destroyed in the 1865 Smithsonian fire".… Read More

Pittsburgh. Printed for David M'Keehan & London, Re-Printed for J. Budd, Bookseller to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, Pall-Mall. 1808. 8vo, 21.8cm, the First London edition. iv.381,16p., (ads., for Longman's catalogue, dated June l, 1808), in the original quarter-vellum backed light blue fine grain linen over boards, black stamped spine title, slight shelf wear on the boards, vellum slightly dust worn (maybe less than normal), all edges untrimmed (deckled), small brown stain (2.5cm) on the front cover, contemporary manuscript notes on front free endpaper, old signature at upper comer of front paste-down. as well as later signature of W[ilberforce] Eames, eminent bibliographer, librarian, and collector of Americana. This first English edition is scarcer that the first American edition of the previous year, with better typography and on better paper. With wide margins this is a tall copy and totally uncut. (cgc). WCB 6:2. Graff I517. Howes G-77 ("best edition"). Sabin 26741. Beckham, Eric, et… Read More

Leipzig, Johann Georg Fleisher, 1774. [with]: Geographie und Verfassung von Kamtschatka aus verschiedenen schriftlichen und mundlichen Nachrichten gasammlet zu J akuk, 1737. 8vo; pp. [8], 24, [4] (index), 384; 71, [l] (instructions to the binder); in blackletter. Signatures: a-b8, [2] (index), A-2A8, A*-D*8, E*4; title vignette; two folding maps; 12 leaves of copper-engraved plates, folded, with 14 engravings; one table; other illustrations and musical notation throughout the text, early mottled half calf?, crushed crimson morocco label, marbled boards, elaborate head and tailpieces, all edges stained red in contemporary style, some slight foxing on the title page, small oval library stamp on the verso of the title, fine condition, very rare. (). Lada-Mocarski 21. Wickersham 5827. Georg Wilhelm Steller was born in Germany and educated at Wittenberg as a physician, he accompanied wounded troops to their Russian homeland in I 734 and there met the naturalist and geographer Daniel Gottlieb Messerschmidt… Read More

London. Printed for T. Jefferys at Charing-Cross. 1760. folio, 35.8cm, Two parts in one. First edition, first issue. 4ff, pp. 132, *129-*138, 133-168; 4 ff, pp. 246pp., with 18 folding engraved maps and plans; titles in red and black; in the second part pp. 54-55 are misnumbered 55-54, and pp. 86-87 misnumbered 90-91; in contemporary full calf boards expertly rebacked, gilt ruled raised bands, crush crimson morocco label, some occasional slight transfer from maps, complete with the 5 requisite additional leaves and with the correction slip pasted-over on p. 80 of the second part, a fine copy, rare. T.P.L. 319, Lande 471, Gagnon I-1778, Dionne II-635; Howes J-76, Streeter I:128, JCB 1260, Sabin 35964, Beinecke, Lesser Antilles, 228; Bell J35. The starred leaves *129-*138 were inserted to describe the siege and capture of Quebec in 1759; there was a second issue the same year, and another edition in 1761. The correction slip on p. 80 of the second part contains the revised list of 22 parishes of… Read More

Paris, chez Rolin Fils. 1744. 4to, 25.5cm, The First Edition, in 3 volumes. viii,xxvi,664 & lxi, (3);2 ff,pp. xv, (1), 582, & 56; 2ff, pp. xix, (1), xiv, 543pp., with 28 maps and plans (26 folding), and 44 engraved plates on 22 folding sheets; titles in red and black, each with vignette, in fine speckled half calf, raised bands, full gilt decorations and borders in the panels, double dark crimson and black crushed morocco labels, marbled bards, an attractive example of antique style fine binding, complete with half titles, text is tight and clean, a fine attractively bound set. (cgc). Provenance: The Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, with their stamp on the title pages.It was the first scholarly, or learned, society in Canada; founded in 1824 by George Ramsay, Earl of Dalhousie and governor of British North America. Its headquarters are still located in Quebec City. There are no institutional markings on any of the plates or maps, which are quite clean and crisp. T.P.L. 4697. Lande 125.… Read More

London. Imprinted at London by George Bishop, Ralph Newberie, and Robert Barker, Anno 1599, 1599, 1600. small folio, 27.5cm, (trimmed), 3 volumes in Two, Second issue of vol. I. First edition of volume 2 & 3. (Collation below), printed in black letter; historiated and foliated woodcut initials throughout, decorative head and tail-pieces, light stain on rear of Vol. III, faint remains of small stamp on title of volume III and last leaf of volumes. II & III., Vol. I: title-page expertly restored, with no affect to text, running title shaved on some leaves, small amount of browning, mainly in upper margins, one leaf has small tear, Vol. II: worming in lower gutter of some leaves, restored, small hole in one leaf, loss of three letters, light water-staining in lower margin of three leaves, three leaves of printed marginalia cropped, loss of few letters, tear in margin of two leaves, loss of a few letters of marginalia ~ in later half dark blue morocco, gilt decorated raised bands, gilt ruled borders and… Read More

London. Thomas Jefferys, November 29th, 1772. copper-engraved map, four sheets joined, approx. 104.5 x 98cm, [ 41" x 38.5"]., original outline colour; minute loss at few folds; with two detailed insets, one of the city of Boston and the other of Boston Harbour; with the large cartouche depicting the Pilgrims arriving at Plymouth Rock in 1630. A lovely example of this scarce map, some detail wear on the frame, beautifully matted and framed but, rare. Cumming. British Maps of Colonial America, pp45-47. McCorkle. New England in Early Printed Maps, 774-4. Stevens & Tree. Comparative Cartography, 33 (e). This is the fifth state of this work, which was first published in 1755 and updated periodically thereafter; this map was in Jefferys' posthumous (and notoriously scarce) American Atlas of 1775. Thomas Jefferys (1719-71) was a leading British cartographer and publisher; Braddock Mead c.1688-1757, a.k.a., John Green, was an Irishman who was imprisoned in Ireland on grounds of fraud, took on his alias when… Read More

Impresa en M‚xico, en Ia Imprenta de Don Felipe de Zuniga y Ontiveros, calle del Espiritu Santo, ano de 1787. 4to., (in4's)., 19.3x 15cm, Signatures: [4], *10, [1]-43 4. First edition, second issue (as usual), [xxviii],344pp., engraved frontis portrait of Fr. Junipero Serra,(at p1)., rear engraved folding map of California (second issue), dated 1787. woodcut initials; head and tail-pieces; In contemporary full limp vellum, top and bottom spine edges chipped, two small punctures on the gutter title edge, title in contemporary ms. ink, tie down stubs present but wanting ties, upper cover edge worn, text block slightly loose in two places, minor worming in lower margins of three signatures and two leaves; small archival repair at the gutter edge of the map and one fold is slightly over folded (common details on contemporary copies), overall text is clean, clear and sound, a very good to fine contemporary antique copy, as issued copy, rare thus. (cgc). Second issue, with "pro" rather than "car" at end… Read More

A Lausanne. chez Jules Henri Potts et Comp. 1779. 4to., 26cm, the First Edition, xxiv,258p., plus 2 very large rear 2 folding engraved maps on heavy paper, copper-engraving on first page of Dedication lead, and title-vignette, complete with half-title, original plain wraps backed in paper, with printer's paper sheets laid down on the inside of the wrappers, sewing shaken, the spine backstrip is a later paper, a very good, very large, uncut copy ~ in fold over green cloth shelve in slipcase of quarter dark green crushed morocco and green cloth boards, blind ruled raised bands, gilt spine titles, in fine condition, very rare. (cgc). Howes E-149. Cowan p195. Sabin 22569. Lada-Mocarski 18. Decker calls this "An important work in that the author carries on the Buache-Delisle, Mller-Bering controversy concerning the discovery of the Northwest Coast of America. Engel censures Mller, stating that the latter was 'wishing to curry favor with the Russian government' by exaggerating certain maps.… Read More

Imprinted at London by Felix Kingston, 1623. (in 8's)., 17.2cm, Third edition. [xiv],97,[5],15p., wanting A2, which lists some of his sponsors, closely cropped, affecting several running-titles, side-notes, and page numbers, in full calf rebacked, with early spine relayed, raised bands, full gilt decorations in the panels, crushed crimson morocco labels, gilt ruled borders on the boards, gilt decorated wide inner dentelles, French marbled endpapers, inner linen hinges, all edges gilt, some rubbed on the original spine edges, upper outer hinge shaken, first leaf darkened (by something once laid in?) ~ with the bookplates of Boies Penrose, and his nephew Boies Penrose II; signed binding "Bound by Bedford for H. Stevens". A very good copy of a very rare book.(cgc). HUB lists only 2 copies, 1960 and 1859. A third copy was seriously defective. JCB II, p182, (commenting that the JCB and the Huntingdon copies, lack part of sig. A); we located another copy listed on Worldcat that was also missing leaf A2… Read More

The Hague, P. Gosse & J. Neaulme. 1729. folio, 35.5cm, The First Edition in French, in Two Volumes, lii,217,[1]; & 76,67-313,[1],36,39-73,[1],73-96pp., engraved title vignettes, engraved headpiece on first page of dedication, extra engraved title to vol. I, and with 45 engraved plates and maps, mostly folding; titles printed in red and black (rubricated), in contemporary full calf, real raised bands, gilt decorations and borders in the panels, new endpapers; neat early repair to the head of spine on vol. I , some damp staining to extra title; leaves of vol. I were guarded long ago, causing browning at gutter edge; pl. IV trimmed to neatline, pl. VII trimmed to neatline and laid down, and pl. VIII (large folding map of Japan) trimmed at head affecting upper portion of running title but not the map image itself; vol. II is extremely clean, an attractive set in contemporary binding. (cgc). Brunet III: 638. Cox I- p333. Cordier Japonica, 416. "Kaempfer was a well-known German physician and naturalist… Read More

London. Printed for T. Cadell, Jun. & W. Davies; Cobbett & Morgan; and W. Creech at Edinburgh. 1801. Full 4to., 28.5cm, tall copy, untrimmed, The First Edition. 2ff, pp. viii,cxxxii,412, (errata); engraved frontis portrait; 3 large, engraved, folding maps; few small, old repairs to maps, not affecting image; light foxing/toning. of text and usual offsetting from portrait to title-page; later full diced-calf, wide margins, gilt decorated raised bands, full gilt decorations in the panels, double crimson and green crushed morocco labels, gilt titles, wide decorated gilt decorated borders on the diced calf boards, gilt roll decoration on the board edges, blind decorated inner dentelles, matched marbled endpapers, complete with the half title, portrait and errata leaf (often wanting), some toning on the half title from tranfer from the verso of the free marbled endpaper, also some normal transfer on the title page, otherwise a spectacular tall untrimmed copy. (Cgc). Sabin 43414. T.P. L. 658; Streeter… Read More

London: Richard Bentley. 1836. 12mo, 18.6cm, The First Edition, in 2 volumes, v-xv,312 & iii-viii,321pp. , with 3 engraved plates (including 2 as frontis's), 1 engraved map, complete with half title in volume 1, in full period-style tan calf by Courtland Benson, gilt decorated raised bands, gilt border and center decorations in the panels, crushed red morocco label, gilt titles, gilt ruled borders on the boards, marbled endpapers, light owner's contemporary inscription on the title pages, a fine clean copy of one of the rarest Arctic books, few copies survive. (cgc). Arctic Bibliography 8708. Lande S1171. T.P.L. 1899. Sabin 37831. Fitzgerald 384. Holland p209. Hill 928. King was surgeon and naturalist on this expedition led by George Back, which was sponsored by public subscription to search for John Ross' missing Northwest Passage expedition. He here accuses Back of appropriating his researches. "... expedition descended the Back River to the Arctic coast of Canada and includes much material similar… Read More