Gift Ideas

  1. [LABOURS OF THE MONTHS &c.] 

    Januarius.  Februarius.  Merz.  April … 

    Nuremberg, Joh. Andreae Endterische Handlung, [second half of eighteenth century]. 

    A scarce popular print depicting the labours of the months and signs of the zodiac, four continents, the four classical elements, and the four seasons. 

    £475

  2. [SCOTLAND.]

    Seventeen pamphlets relating mostly to legal cases in Scotland.

    Aberdeen and Edinburgh, 1772-1788.

    An interesting sammelband relating largely to Scottish legal cases, containing 12 items unrecorded on ESTC, COPAC and OCLC. The cases include those of a Kilbagie distiller convicted of bribery; of Sir William Erskine of Torrie against a London banking house; of a St Andrews minister convicted of perjury;...

    £750

  3. FREEMAN, Arthur.

    Bibliotheca Fictiva: A Collection of Books & Manuscripts Relating to Literary Forgery 400 BC – AD 2000.

    London, Bernard Quaritch Ltd, 2024.

    This fully revised and enlarged edition of Bibliotheca Fictiva – the descriptive inventory of a collection of books and manuscripts relating to literary forgery in the Western world over the last twenty-four centuries, now housed in the Sheridan Libraries of Johns Hopkins University – adds more than...

    £80

  4. MILBANK, Augustus Sussex.

    A Treatise upon the political & social Condition of Europe, from the Fall of the Roman Empire, down to...

    [Richmond, M. Bell for] London, Messrs Hatchard & Son, and Richmond, M. Bell, 1847.

    First and only edition of a rare Yorkshire-printed treatise of social history by an amateur historian and educational enthusiast, inscribed by the author to the Countess of Sandwich.

    £125

  5. [GREATTI, Giuseppe.] 

    L’Educazione. Poemetto in ottava rima. 

    Padua, 1796. 

    Only edition of this poem on the theme of education, dedicated to the Paduan noblewoman Arpalice Savorgnan di Brazzà, well-known in the city for her embrace of radicals and revolutionaries, which led her salon to be known as ‘l’unione dei giacobini’ (see di Brazzà, p. 714). 

    £350

  6. [BROUN, Richard, Sir.] 

    Memorabilia curliana Mabenensia. 

    Dumfries, John Sinclair, 1830. 

    Uncommon first edition of this charming work on the sport of curling by the eccentric Scottish baronet Sir Richard Broun (1801–1858), with a focus on his native Lochmaben, being one of the earliest books on the sport. 

    £450

  7. REID, Thomas.

    Essays on the powers of the human mind; to which are prefixed, an Essay on quantity, and an Analysis of Aristotle’s...

    [Edinburgh, W. Aitchison for] London, Ogle, Duncan & Co., and Edinburgh, J. Dick & Co. and W. Hunter, and Glasgow, M. Ogle, 1822.

    A beautiful set of this small format edition of the principal philosophical works of the Scottish enlightenment philosopher Thomas Reid (1710–1796).

    £750

  8. BROWN, Arthur Henry.

    Autograph manuscript notebook mainly of Christmas carols.

    [Brentwood?, 1864–87].

    An autograph manuscript notebook composed primarily of Christmas carols, compiled carefully over some twenty-five years from various sources including manuscripts in the British Museum, early printed books, and contemporary books and periodicals.

    £450

  9. KEATS, John.

    The Poems … arranged in chronological Order with a Preface by Sidney Colvin.

    London, The Florence Press for Chatto & Windus, 1915.

    No. 145 of 250 copies, in the deluxe vellum binding (for 45s); it could also be purchased in japon for a reduced price, and there was a trade edition on normal paper.

    £1200

  10. VALERIANI MOLINARI, Luigi.

    Discorsi concernenti la pubblica economia il gius pubblico e l’antico gius romano.

    Bologna, Masi, 1809.

    First edition of Valeriani’s (1758–1828) rare work of political economy presented as a science which stands as an organic complement to a nation’s set of legislation.

    £750

  11. [POEMS ON DRINKING.]

    Raccolta di brindisi per tutte le occasioni; apostrofi al vino; inni in lode di Bacco, canzoni da tavola;...

    Milan, Emilio Croci, 1875.

    First edition of this compact font of inspiration for all partygoers, containing odes to Bacchus, endless praise of the merits of wine, drinking songs, and toasts for every occasion, including a party of printers.

    £200

  12. YRVEN, Marcelle. 

    La comédienne et le féminisme. 

    Paris, L. Pichon, 1914. 

    First edition of this feminist work on the necessity of a thorough literary and cultural education for women in theatre, by the celebrated actress Marcelle Yrven, presented to the editor-in-chief of Le Figaro’s literary supplement. 

    £250

  13. NIEUHOF, Jean, and Jean LE CARPENTIER (translator). 

    L’ambassade de la compagnie orientale des provinces unies...

    Leiden, Jacob de Meurs, 1665. 

    Lavishly illustrated first French edition of Nieuhof’s travels through China from 1655 to 1657. 

    £3500

  14. [BRITISH LIBRARY.] 

    The Eighteenth Century Short Title Catalogue. 

    [London,] British Library, 1983. 

    First and only microfiche edition of ESTC, subsequently expanded into the English Short-Title Catalogue and made obsolete by digitisation. 

    £175

  15. STEVENSON, Robert Louis.

    Poems …

    London, [Florence Press for] Chatto & Windus, 1913.

    £100

  16. [ANON.]

    Quia Amore Langueo.

    [Colophon:] Chiswick, Caradoc Press, 1902.

    One of 250 copies on paper (there were also 20 on vellum), printed from a fifteenth-century manuscript at Lambeth Palace Library.

    £75

  17. HARDY, Thomas.

    Selected Poems … with Portrait & title page design engraved on the wood by William Nicholson.

    London, [Ricciardi Press, Chiswick Press, for] The Medici Society, 1921.

    No. 332 of 1025 copies. Also found bound in full vellum.

    £150

  18. AUDEN, Wystan Hugh, and Chester KALLMAN.

    The Magic Flute.

    London, Faber & Faber, [1957].

    First UK edition. Auden composed his translation of the Magic Flute libretto in 1956, in honour of the bicentenary of Mozart’s birth, working in conjunction with his friend and erstwhile lover, the American translator and librettist Chester Kallman (1921–1975). The dialogue is written in...

    £125

  19. DURRELL, Lawrence.

    Collected Poems.

    London, Faber and Faber, [1960].

    First edition, inscribed ‘For Geoff from Larry Durrell 1962 / “too much tape [?]” Eliot’.

    £400

  20. MYERS, Robin, Andrew BURNETT, and Renae SATTERLEY.

    ‘I do not eat the bread of idleness’: Dr Andrew Coltée Ducarel 1713–1785,...

    The Garendon Press, 2023.

    This volume brings together revised versions of four of Robin Myers’s papers on aspects of Ducarel’s life and work published between 1994 and 2002, and ‘The Life and Times of the Ducarel Brothers’, her recent introductory essay to Two Huguenot Brothers: Letters of Andrew and James Coltée...

    £45