[BECKFORD, William].

Vathek, conte Arabe.

A Paris, Chez Poinçot ... 1787.

First Paris edition of Beckford’s gothic masterpiece in the original French, so considerably revised from the Lausanne edition (also 1787) as to amount to ‘almost a new version’ (Chapman & Hodgkin, p. 127). Beckford also took the opportunity to expand the notes from one to twenty-four pages.

£3250

[DUCRAY-DUMINIL, François Guillaume].

Ambrose and Eleanor; or, the Adventures of two Children deserted on an uninhabited Island....

London: Printed for R. and L. Peacock, at the Juvenile Library … and sold by Hookham and Carpenter … and C. Law … 1797

Second English edition (first 1796), a translation of Lolotte et Fanfan (1788). Lucy Peacock kept a shop on Oxford Street which stocked her own and other juvenile tales. Lolotte et Fanfan (1788) evidently appealed for its didactic potential, but required significant editing: ‘many characters...

£425

CARDONNEL, Adam de.

Picturesque Antiquities of Scotland [I–II] …

London: Printed for the Author, and sold by Edwards … also by Edwards’s, in Halifax. 1788.

First edition, the very rare issue with the plates in sepia, printed directly onto thick wove paper.

£975

PRESENT FOR THE YOUNG (A).

London: Printed for The Religious Tract Society … and sold at their Depository … also by J. Nisbet...

[c. 1827]

First edition. A finely illustrated anthology of religious verse, contemplations, and prayers for children. Pieces include poems on the seasons and stories about a Welsh Shepherd, and ‘The Hill and the Valley’, all with heavily metaphorical content.

£175

[KEENE, Marian].

The History of a tame Robin. Supposed to be written by Himself.

London: Printed for Darton, Harvey, and Darton … 1817.

First and only edition. The tame Robin recalls a life of adventure enriched by human and avian friendships. A childhood spent in a school-room helped him attain ‘a sufficient knowledge of literature to relate my adventures’. His life, though happy, is not without its vicissitudes: he loses a close...

£325

[COWPER, Ashley, editor].

The Norfolk poetical Miscellany. To which are added some select Essays and Letters in Prose. Never printed...

London: Printed for the Author, and sold by J. Stagg … 1744.

First edition. This lively miscellany, containing a large number of amusing short poems (but nothing for the libertine), was assembled by William Cowper’s uncle, the father of Theodora, later Lady Hesketh, with whom the poet fell in love. The dedication to the young Lady Caroline [Cowper] is subscribed...

£1250

SHENSTONE, William.

The Works, in Verse and Prose… in three Volumes … Fifth Edition …

London: Printed for J. Dodsley … 1777.

Fifth edition of the Works (1764), the first edition of which was planned by Shenstone but published after his death, with Robert Dodsley’s description of Shenstone’s important garden at The Leasowes, one of the first natural landscape gardens in England and one of the most influential, and with...

£325

SCOTT, Sir Walter.

The Lady of the Lake … with all his Introductions and Notes, various Readings, and the Editor’s Notes.

Edinburgh, Robert Cadell, 1851.

£750

MILTON, John. Paolo ROLLI, translator.

Del Paradiso perduto Poema inglese.

Londra, Presso Carlo Bennet, 1736.

First edition of the first complete Italian translation of Milton’s Paradise Lost, the second issue, with a cancel title-page dated 1736 and further enumerating Rolli’s academic titles. Rolli started to work on this translation in 1719, publishing the first six books in London in 1729. Still...

£1250

HARRISON, William.

The lazy Lays, and Prose Imaginings …

A. D. 1877 (Popular Chronology;) A. M. 5877 (Torquemada;) A. M. 50,800,077 (Huxley.) … London.

First edition, a presentation copy, of this eccentric collection of verse and prose by the photographer, spiritualist and journalist William Henry Harrison.

£850

[WATTS, John].

The Musical Miscellany; being a Collection of choice Songs [and lyrick Poems], set to the Violin and Flute [or With...

London: Printed by and for John Watts … 1729 [–1731]

First edition of an influential collection of over 450 songs and ballads, published in the years of the brief flowering of English ballad opera subsequent to The Beggar’s Opera (1728). For each song, Watts prints the melody (and from volume III on a bass continuo), the lyrics, and a flute or...

£3850

LAWRENCE, Thomas Edward.

The Mint. A Day-Book of the R.A.F. Depot between August and December 1922 with Later Notes, by 352087...

London: The Alden Press for Jonathan Cape, 1955.

First British edition, the trade issue. 'One of Lawrence’s avowed purposes in joining the RAF, though not the only one, was to write of the ranks from the inside. He began immediately making notes when he enlisted in 1922. With his dismissal in January 1923, because of unfavourable publicity, the project...

£120

KERSHMAN, Andrew.

Book Lovers’ London.

London, Metro Publications, 2015.

Fifth edition. Book Lovers’ London has established itself as an essential reference tool for those wanting to enjoy the literary delights of the capital. It contains reviews of over six hundred bookshops, including Quaritch.

£13

MONETA, José Manuel, and Robert Keith HEADLAND, ed..

Four Antarctic Years in the South Orkney Islands: an Annotated Translation...

London, Bernard Quaritch Ltd, 2017.

One man’s fascinating record of four winters in the Antarctic during the 1920s, the period of transition from the isolation of the Heroic Age to the beginnings of radio communication with the world outside.

£50

[POETRY.]

Anthology of manuscript floriographic poetry,

dated June 1853.

A collection of twenty-six apparently unpublished poems in manuscript, presented as an alphabetical acrostic. The poems express the perfection and the language of flowers – that is, the meaning embodied by each variety. Examples given here include ox-eye for patience, quince blossom for temptation,...

£250

MARINI, Giovanni Ambrogio.

The Desperadoes; an heroick History. Translated from the Italian of the celebrated Marini (the Original...

London: Printed by W. R. and sold by T. Asltey … J. Isted … and T. Worrall … 1733.

First and only edition in English of Le gare de’ disperati (1644), the second of three romances by Marini (1596-1668). Inevitably, ‘It was necessary to omit many Things that were contrary to our Morals; to Decency, and to the Purity of the English Tongue …’. But the general scheme of events...

£1000

‘CARROLL, Lewis’ [i.e. Charles Lutwidge DODGSON].

Sylvie and Bruno … London, Macmillan and Co. 1889. [With:] Sylvie and Bruno...

London, Macmillan and Co. 1880-1893.

First editions, presentation copies inscribed ‘Lizzie Wilcox from her affte Cousin the Author / Dec. 12. 1889’ and ‘Lizzie Wilcox, from her affectionate Cousin the Author / Dec. 27, 1893’ (two days before publication), a fine association:

£2750

THOMAS, Dylan, and Sir Peter Blake, illustrator.

Under Milk Wood: A Play for Voices.

London: Apple Litho (Bristol) Ltd. for Enitharmon Editions and Queen Anne Press, 2013.

De Luxe edition, number 61 of 100 copies with a signed print by Blake. This finely-produced edition was published to mark the centenary of Dylan Thomas’s birth and celebrates the culmination of over twenty-five years of work by Peter Blake, one of the founding fathers of British Pop Art. The...

£975

WOOD, John George.

The Principles and Practise of Sketching Landscape Scenery from Nature, systematically arranged and illustrated...

London, printed for the author, 1813 [-1815].

First edition of J. G. Wood’s last and most ambitious drawing book. Wood was a landscape painter speciallising in watercolour and exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1793 and 1811. Here his drawing lessons deal with sketching cottage scenery, trees and woods, village streets, and general views incorporating...

£2250

ALEKSANDROVA, Zinaida and Dmitry GORLOV.

Мишкины соседи [Little Bear’s neighbours].

Moscow, VLKSM Izdatelstvo Detskoi Literaturi, 1936.

First edition. A very nice copy of this collection of verses for young children, composed by one of the most prolific Soviet children’s poets, and illustrated by one of the most prolific of Soviet children’s artists. The tales tell of the lives of a selection of farm and wild animals, including a...

£350