Gift Ideas
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FUHRMANN, Ernst.
China. Erster Teil: Das Land der Mitte.
Hagen, Folkwang-Verlag, 1921.
First edition of two of the most celebrated works on Chinese religious architecture, published as volumes IV and V of Geist, Kunst und Leben Asiens, with hundreds of pictures of temples and Buddhist sculptures, some of which are now lost. The second volume deals in particular with the Lingyan...
£175
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ARIOSTO, Ludovico.
Le Rime … non piu viste, & nuovamente stampate a instantia di Iacopo Modanese, cio e sonetti. Madrigali. Canzoni....
Venice, [Coppa,] 1546.
First edition of Ludovico Ariosto’s collected verses, bound with a rare and early edition of his Herbolato, and the equally rare second complete edition of Pietro Aretino’s Marfisa: all three works published within three years in Venice.
£1000
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[ALMANAC.]
Le Parnasse des dames.
Paris, Janet, [1814].
An attractive copy of Janet’s Parnasse des dames, a pocket-book alamanac on art and literature aimed at a female readership. The little volume contains a broad miscellany of verse, some by female authors, prefaced by engraved copies of works by seventeenth-century French and Dutch painters...
£325
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HEBER, Reginald, and Nicolas BARKER (editor).
A Letter from India.
The Roxburghe Club, 2020.
'I do not expect that with fair prospects of eminence at home, you should go to the Ganges for a mitre,’ wrote Sir Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, President of the Board of Commissioners for Indian Affairs, in 1819 to Reginald Heber at Hodnet in Shropshire, but in vain. Despite a growing reputation...
£100
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[SOUTH OF FRANCE.]
‘Routes de Privas à Nîmes 1892’.
June-July 1892.
A nice sketchbook, by an anonymous artist, recording a trip to the South of France in 1892, capturing the beauty of the landscape, as well as some of the historic monuments in the départements of Ardèche, Gard, and Vaucluse.
£700
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PIRANESI, Giovanni Battista.
Veduta delle due Chiese, l’una detta della Madonna di Loreto l’altra del Nome di Maria presso...
[Rome, c. 1762].
A marvellous view of Rome by Piranesi, from an original edition printed in Rome, bearing the price (‘a paoli due e mezzo’), with wide margins and the ‘double encircled fleur-de-lys’ watermark.
£2200
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[PARIS UPRISING.]
Votez toujours. Je ferai le reste [Always vote. I’ll do the rest].
Paris, Comite d'initiative pour un movement revolutionnaire, Imprimerie Robert et Cie, 1968.
First edition. A striking image of General De Gaulle patting France on the head for obediently voting, a baton cunningly concealed behind him. 1968 was a year when passions were flying high in France. The communist and socialist parties had formed an alliance in February with a view to replacing...
£550
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GANF, Iulii Abramovich, and P. PISKUNOV, editor.
Да здравствует конституция страны социализма!...
Moscow, Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo izobrazitel’nogo iskusstva, 1953.
Typically Soviet poster illustrated by graphic artist Iuli Ganf, whose satirical work was published in magazines and newspapers such as Krokodil.
£700
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PARLIAMENTARY RECRUITING COMMITTEE.
Which? Have you a reason or only an excuse for not enlisting Now!
London, The Abbey Press, 1915.
A forthright call to the men of London, encouraging them to enlist for military service during World War One.
£250
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[CHINESE ARTS DEALER.] ISKANDRIAN-HUPEDEN, A.
[Cover title:] ‘My Treasure Box’ [Title-page:] ‘Some selected...
Shanghai, Spring 1938.
A charming and insightful trade catalogue compiled by a female Chinese arts dealer, covering porcelains, cast bronzes and irons, stone and wood sculpture, lacquered figures, furniture and screens, pottery and embroidery. The colours and dimensions are often described in the text, and the final...
£1600
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SCHULENBURG, Graf von der (compiler).
‘Poesies Francoises sur diverses sujets composée par plusieurs celebres...
Förste, 1742.
A charming manuscript compendium of French poetry in an attractive binding and slipcase, compiled at Förste in South Lower Saxony by a member of the distinguished von der Schulenburg family. The selection of love poems, spiritual and satirical verse, epitaphs, and songs (including one poem titled...
£1250
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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...
£350
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[THE OLD MAID.]
Six lithograph plates with verses below: ‘When I was a girl of eighteen years old …’.
Circa 1835?
Apparently unrecorded – an attractive illustrated edition of a popular slip-ballad, here reduced to 8 verses of the original 13.
£750
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VERLAINE, Paul, and Léon LEBÈGUE (illustrator).
Fêtes gallantes.
Paris, F. Ferroud for the Librairie des Amateurs, 30 July 1913.
Limited edition on vélin teinté d’Arches, numbered 430 of 500 copies, with etchings by Lebègue. First published in 1869, Verlaine’s Fêtes gallantes are here exquisitely printed and illustrated by Léon Lebègue (1863 – 1944) and finely bound by Flammarion.
£750
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[ARP.]
County of the Isle of Ely, Public Air Raid Warning.
County Air Raid Precautions Committee, [c. 1943].
A very rare survival from the Second World War. During the war, Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely were strategic positions as home to 28 airfields for both the RAF and the USAAF. The flat topography, proximity to the coast and continental Europe made it an ideal location for runways and bases.
£300
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FEDORCHENKO, Sophia and Afanasy KULIKOV.
На Крылышах [On little wings].
Moscow, Gosudarstvennoe izdatelstvo ‘Krasnyi Proletarni’, 1927.
First edition of this collection of verses for children on birds and butterflies, deftly illustrated by Kulikov.
£300
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‘CARROLL, Lewis’ [i.e. Charles Lutwidge DODGSON].
Sylvie and Bruno …
London, Macmillan and Co. 1889.
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
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[POETRY.]
Anthology of manuscript floriographic poetry.
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
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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,...
£120
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MONETA, José Manuel, and Robert Keith HEADLAND, (ed.).
Four Antarctic Years in the South Orkney Islands: an Annotated...
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