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[JEFFREYS, George, first Baron Jeffreys].
The Life and Character of the late Lord Chancellor Jefferys [sic] ...
London: Printed by A. Moore ... 1725.
First edition of an uncomplimentary life of the notorious Judge Jeffreys, who presided at the trial of Titus Oates. The author, according to the introduction, was a ‘Practicer at the Bar’ recently deceased, who had lived to a good age and was ‘well acquainted with all the Chancellor’s Proceedings,...
£400
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JENKINS, Edward.
The Devil’s Chain … Twentieth Thousand. With twelve Illustrations by Barnard and Thomson.
William Mullan & Son … London … Belfast, 1877.
A reissue of the illustrated edition from a different publishing house.
£100
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JENKINS, Edward.
The Devil’s Chain … Twenty-sixth Thousand. With twelve Illustrations by Barnard and Thomson.
William Mullan & Son … London … Belfast, 1877.
25th Thousand, according to the binding, but ‘Twenty-sixth Thousand’ on the title-page.
£100
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[JOHNSON, Charles].
Caelia: or, the perjur’d Lover. A Play. As it is acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane, by His Majesty’s...
London: Printed for J. Watts … 1733.
First edition. Caelia, Johnson’s last theatrical production, is an attack on the fashionable libertinism of the day. As the Preface explains, however, he refused to take Barton Booth’s advice and expunge the vivid brothel scenes, and a fastidious audience answered with their pockets. The play,...
£200
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JOURNEY TO EMMAUS (A).
A sacred Dialogue ...
Dublin: Printed and sold by Oliver Nelson ... 1751.
First edition, dedicated to Frederick, Prince of Wales, as Chancellor of Trinity College.
£650
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KETT, Henry.
The Flowers of Wit, or a Choice Collection of Bon Mots, both antient and modern; with biographical and critical Remarks...
London: Printed for Lackington, Allen, and Co. … at the Weybridge Press, by S. Hamilton. 1814.
First edition, scarce, of a compilation of witty anecdotes and clever ripostes ordered alphabetically by author (including Cervantes, Queen Elizabeth, Samuel Johnson, ‘The Spartans’, Swift, Voltaire), and then by subject, with an appendix of ‘Puns’ and ‘Bulls’.
£150
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KINNAIRD, Douglas.
The Merchant of Bruges; or, Beggar’s Bush. With considerable Alterations and Additions. Now performing, with...
London: Printed for Whittingham and Arliss ... 1815
First edition of the only literary work by the intimate friend and banker of Lord Byron, who dedicated Hebrew Melodies to him in 1815. The play was produced at Drury Lane where both served on the Committee, dedicated to Lady Caroline Lamb’s brother-in-law (who contributed three songs), and has...
£250
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KIPLING, Rudyard.
Under the Deodars …
Published by Messrs. A. H. Wheeler & Co., Allahabad, [1888].
First edition, ‘reprinted in chief from the Week’s News’. Under the Deodars, No. 4 in Wheeler’s Indian Railway Library, contains six stories from Kipling’s time as a journalist, dealing with ‘things that are not pretty and uglinesses that hurt’. Adultery is a common theme, though...
£450
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[LANDOR, Walter Savage].
Count Julian: a Tragedy.
London: Printed for John Murray … by James Moyes … 1812.
First edition of Landor’s first play, unacted, but a succès d’éstime, published in ‘a small edition’ (Oxford DNB). The episode in Spanish history which it treats – the vengeance taken by Don Julián, 8th-century ruler of Ceuta, against Roderigo, King of the Goths, who has dishonoured...
£450
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[LANGHORNE, John].
Letters supposed to have passed between M. de St. Evremond and Mr. Waller. Now first collected and published....
London: Printed in the Year, 1770.
Unacknowledged second edition; first published in two volumes in 1769. These supposed letters between the poet Edmund Waller and his contemporary, the French essayist Saint-Evremond are in fact by the poet and translator John Langhorne; they range widely over literary matters, including anecdotes about...
£175
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LE SAGE, Alain René.
The History of Vanillo Gonzales, surnamed the merry Batchelor. In two Volumes. From the French …
London: Printed for G. G. and J. Robinson … 1797
First complete translation of Le Sage’s Histoire d’Estevanille Gonzalez, surnommé le garcon de bonne humeur (1734), itself a loose French adaptation of Vida y hechos de Estebanillo Gonzalez (1646), preserving only a few episodes of the Spanish original. Authorship of Vida y hechos...
£1250
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LEE, Henry.
[Cover title:] The White Whale …
London, R. K. Burt & Co. … 1878.
First edition, an account of the white Beluga whale by Henry Lee of the Royal Aquarium in Brighton, specifically of the first such whale successfully transported to England, exhibited for four days in 1877 before its death from pneumonia; and of four further whales transported the following year....
£225
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[MARANA, Giovanni Paolo (attr.).]
Letters on the French Nation, by a Sicilian Gentleman resident in Paris, to his Friend...
London: Printed for T. Lownds ... 1749.
First edition of this translation, very rare, of a work first printed in French in Paris in 1700 (see below) and, in a different translation, in English in 1704 as An agreeable Criticism of the City of Paris.
£1250
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[CARTOUCHE.]
The Life and Actions of Lewis Dominique Cartouche: who was broke alive upon the Wheel at Paris, Nov. 28. 1721. N.S....
London: Printed for J. Roberts … 1722.
First edition in English, published in the same year as the French original. Louis Dominique Bourguignon, alias ‘Cartouche’ (1693-1721), began his life of crime stealing fruit from women at the gates of his Jesuit school and books from his wealthy classmates. To avoid punishment for theft he fled...
£1750
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ALFIERI, Vittorio. LLOYD, Charles, translator.
The Tragedies of Vittorio Alfieri; translated from the Italian … In three Volumes …
London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown … 1815.
First edition of this translation, which Lloyd undertook ‘on the suggestion of a friend whose judgement I highly respect’. This friend was likely Southey, who he addresses as his ‘sponsor’ in the ‘Dedicatory Sonnet’. He held Southey in high esteem, and benefited from his friendship through...
£450
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[LONDON.]
Indenture tripartite concerning ‘two severall mesuages or tenements scituate lying and being in or neere fleetstreete...
[London], 20 May 1659
In 1641 Richard Baskerville, described as gentleman, acquired five messuages (houses) in or near Fleet Street from Katherine, the widow of Sir Simon Baskerville, the King’s physician who died that year and was buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral. By an indenture dated 5 August 1651 he granted a 500-year...
£650
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[LYTTELTON, George, Lord Lyttelton, attributed author].
The Court-Secret: a melancholy Truth. Now first translated from the original...
London: Printed for T. Cooper … 1741
First edition of a political satire in the guise of an oriental fable, criticizing the peace policy and wasteful expenditures of the Vizier [Walpole] in perpetuating ‘his ill-got Power’ in the prelude to the war with Spain, and implicating him in the death of Achmet [the Earl of Scarborough], the...
£350
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MABLY, Gabriel Bonnot, Abbé de.
Observations on the Romans. Written originally in French …
London: Printed for R. Griffiths … 1751.
First English edition of this Roman history (first published in the same year in Geneva as Observations sur les Romains). Mably studies episodes from the pre-imperial era (the seven kings, Gracchi and Punic wars), before skimming the vast majority of imperial dynastic rule to finish with a chapter...
£875
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MACAULEY, Auley.
A Sermon on the peculiar Advantages of Sunday Schools: preached in the Parish Church of St. Paul, Bedford, on...
London, Printed for C. Dilly … and sold by the Booksellers of Bedford, Northampton, and Leicester, for the Benefit of the Institution. [1792].
First edition of a rare sermon to promote Sunday Schools by the uncle of Thomas Babington Macaulay and brother of the abolitionist Zachary Macaulay.
£250
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MACFARLANE, Patrick.
A new and copious English and Gaelic Vocabulary, with the different Parts of Speech; in alphabetical Order....
Edinburgh: Printed [by R. Menzies] for the Author, and Sold by A. Constable and Co. Edinburgh. 1815.
First edition of this early English-Gaelic dictionary. The English-Gaelic Vocabulary was published alone, as here, at 5s.6d., or together with the Gaelic-English part at 12s.6d. The Gaelic scholar complied it because the ‘want of an English and Gaelic Vocabulary has long been a desideratum...
£175