Gift Ideas
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CHOPPIN, Henri.
La cavalerie française … illustrée de nombreux dessins et de 16 gravures hors texte en couleurs.
Paris, Garnier brothers, 1893.
First edition of a well illustrated history of the French cavalry. A cavalry captain, Henri Choppin (1831–1916) published widely on the French military: the first of several works devoted to the cavalry, La cavalerie française is handsomely illustrated throughout and accompanied by sixteen...
£175
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BIRKETT, Dorothy Nina Forbes (editor).
Hunting Lays and Hunting Ways: An Anthology of the Chase … with fourteen Illustrations...
London, John Lane at the Bodley Head, 1924.
First edition of Lady Birkett’s collection of poetry and prose relating to fox-hunting, handsomely printed and generously illustrated.
£75
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BERKELEY, Grantley F., and John LEECH and G.H. JALLAND (illustrators).
Reminiscences of a Huntsman … a new...
London and New York, R. & R. Clark for Edward Arnold, 1897.
Second edition, with John Leech’s original four illustrations and a further ten by G.H. Jalland. Hunting anecdotes by the controversial Grantley Firtzhardinge Berkeley (1800–1881), first published two years after his early retirement from politics following defeat at the general election of 1852.
£120
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BERENGER, Charles Random de.
Helps and Hints how to protect Life and Property, with Instructions in Rifle and Pistol Shooting, &c.
London, J. & C. Adlard for T. Hurst ‘for the Proprietor … at the Stadium, Chelsea’, 1835.
First edition, with advice on riding and driving, illustrated by George and Robert Cruikshank. A marksman and inventor with an ‘inclination to self-publicity and aggrandisement’ (Credland), Charles Random de Berenger (1772–1845) in 1830 established ‘the Stadium’ or ‘British National...
£180
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[SURTEES, Robert Smith,] and John LEECH (illustrator).
Handley Cross series.
London, Bradbury, Agnew, & Co., 1899-1900.
Limited ‘Master of Foxhounds’ edition, finely printed at the Whitefriars Press. Having published the first editions of several of Surtees’s sporting novels, Bradbury, Agnew, & Co. gathered and reprinted the six most successful as the ‘Handley Cross series’ as luxury sets. Publisher’s...
£1200
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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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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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[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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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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[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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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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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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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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[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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[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