[OXFORD UNIVERSITY.]

Pietas Universitatis Oxoniensis in obitum serenissimi Regis Georgii II. et gratulatio in augustissimi Regis...

Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1761.

First edition, one of fifty copies on large paper, an exceptional survival in the most luxurious (and fragile) of presentation bindings: full purple velvet with gold-fringed purple silk ties, typically reserved for a handful or fewer of royal copies.

£10000

HURTADO, Eugenio, scribe.

[Missal for feast days.]

Madrid, 1827.

An extraordinary and enormous liturgical manuscript with painted and stencilled decorations, in a remarkable binding on wheels for ease of movement

£9500

THEOCRITUS et al.

Theocriti aliorumque poetarum Idyllia. Eiusdem Epigrammata …

[Geneva], Henri Estienne, 1579.

An outstanding volume uniting the Estienne Greek bucolic poets (Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus) and the Estienne Greek Psalms in an Henri Estienne presentation binding.

£9000

MEFFRET, Johann.

Sermones Meffreth alias Ortulus regine de tempore. Pars hyemalis.

[Basel, Nicolaus Kesler, not after 1485.]

A volume of sermons with early English annotations, in a binding featuring tools attributed to an early Cambridge workshop known as the Unicorn Binder.

£6500

BIBLE.

Biblia cum concordantiis veteris et novi testamenti et sacrorum canonum: necnon & additionibus in marginibus varietatis...

[(Colophon:) Lyons, Jean Marion, for Anton II Koberger in Nuremberg, 19 August 1520.]

A handsomely printed Bible in a contemporary Silesian or Bohemian binding, richly annotated by a Protestant scholar and with numerous woodcuts in contemporary colouring.

£5500

[BIBLE.]

The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments … diligently compared and revised …

Oxford, T. Wright and W. Gill, 1769.

First quarto edition of the Oxford ‘standard’ Bible, as revised by Benjamin Blayney of Hertford College, Oxford (1728–1801), later Regius Professor of Hebrew. The quarto and folio editions of 1769, of which this was the first to be finished, were printed from the same setting of type differently...

£5250

PRIOR, Matthew.

Poems on several Occasions.

London, printed for Jacob Tonson and John Barber, 1718.

First edition, a subscriber’s copy on large paper, of one of the most imposing volumes of verse of the eighteenth century, in a strictly contemporary binding, with endleaves on the same paper stock as the text, our copy in a strictly contemporary binding and presented to the Scottish poet and songwriter...

£5000

[PRIMER.]

Preces privatae, in studiosorum gratia[m] collectae & Regia authoritate approbatae …

London, William Seres, 1568.

Second edition of this rare ‘private’ prayer book, first printed in 1564, with a calendar, a Latin catechism for children, selected psalms, and a Latin–English list of English islands, counties, cathedral cities, bishoprics, rivers, and ports.

£4250

[WALLPAPER BINDING.]

‘Chassereau des Biens et Rentes deves a joseph Paul Roegier et marie margu te [sic] Bourdeau son espouse,...

Hainaut, 1750–1773.

A manuscript account book compiled by Joseph Paul Roegier and his son, recording receipts over a quarter-century, in an attractive and unusual binding reusing a large fragment of gilt leather wallpaper.

£3500

[ALMANACK.]

L’Esprit des chansonniers, extrain [sic?] des meilleurs poëtes.

Paris, Le Fuel, [1826?].

A very rare enamelled metal binding with an enchanting design of birds and squirrels, from the collection of the bookbinder, collector, and bibliographer Léon Gruel.

£2750

LUCAN.

Pharsalia cum annotationibus in margine adiectis, quae brevis commentarii vice esse possint.

Antwerp, Michael Hillenius, 1528.

An uncommon edition of Lucan’s poem on the Civil War between Caesar and Pompey, with extensive Breton provenance and contemporary annotations, in a contemporary binding.

£2500

[ALMANACK.]

Les étrennes à la rose, ou le rosier d’amour.

Paris, Janet, [1804?].

A charming literary almanack, or ‘rosebush of love’, collecting amatory poems using the motif of the rose, here bound in red silk strikingly embroidered in silver and dated with the French Revolutionary year ‘An XII’ (1804).

£2500

[ALMANACK.]

étrennes mignones [sic], curieuses et utiles, pour l’année mil sept cent quatre-vingt-dix.

Paris, [Jean-François-Hubert] Guillot, 1790.

Very rare almanack for 1790, in a handsome contemporary binding of silk and sequins featuring lyres surmounted by hearts and torches, issued on the eve of the French Revolution with much material on the storming of the Bastille and revolts throughout France.

£1950

[ALMANACK.]

Calendarium Tyrnaviense ad annum Jesu Chris[ti] M. DCC. XXXI[.] …

[Tyrnau (Trnava), 1731.]

A remarkable almanack binding of part-printed, part-manuscript vellum, prepared for presentation at the Habsburg court in Vienna to the Genoese diplomat Clemente Doria.

£1850

ZACHARIÄ, Just Friedrich Wilhelm.

Les quatre parties du jour, poëme traduit de l’allemand de M. Zacharie.

Paris, J. B. G. Musier fils, 1769.

First edition in French of this proto-Romantic poem on the times of day, splendidly bound with the arms of its dedicatee, the mentally ill Christian VII of Denmark and Norway.

£1500

[ALMANACK.]

Étrennes mignones [sic], curieuses et utiles, avec plusieurs augmentations & corrections, pour l’année mil sept...

Paris, Claude-Jacques-Charles [Durand] and Pierre-François Durand, 1775.

A very rare Parisian almanack for 1775, our copy in a handsome binding embroidered in gold and silver threads and with emblematic mottoes and charming illustrations depicting putti fanning smoke from a burning candle and holding a flaming heart.

£1500

[ALMANACK.]

Les perfidies supposées ou les médisances pardonables. Almanach orné des jolies gravures.

Paris, Janet, ‘Successeur du Sr Jubert’, 1800.

A seemingly unrecorded almanack for 1800, issued by the prolific publisher of almanacks Pierre-étienne Janet (1746–1830), with suggestive engravings accompanied by explanatory poems, songs, and music, our copy in a handsome binding of contemporary painted white sheep with designs of hearts, garlands,...

£1450

PLINY the Elder.

Historiae mundi libri XXXVII, cum castigationibus et adnotationibus doctiss. & variis praeterea lectionibus ex...

Frankfurt, Claude de Marne and heirs of Jean Aubry, 1608.

First Frankfurt edition of Pliny’s Natural History, here bound as an enormous single volume with strikingly decorated edges featuring acorns and scrolls.

£1400

[SHANGHAI.]

Shanghai of To-day. A Souvenir Album of fifty Vandyke Gravure Prints of “the Model Settlement”. Introduction by...

Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore, Kelly and Walsh, 1930.

Third edition, revised and enlarged (first 1927 with only thirty-eight plates), of this photobook showing the landmarks of Shanghai, our copy in a deluxe binding (likely for presentation) and with contemporary Shanghai provenance.

£1250

[BASKERVILLE PRESS.]

The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church,...

Third and final edition of Baskerville’s octavo prayer book. The prayers for the Royal Family on cancels B8, C6, and D3 include the name of Queen Charlotte, whom George III married in 1761. This copy also includes the ‘occasional prayers’ which were only printed for part of the edition and are...

£1200