The History of the Royal Society of London, for the Improving of Natural Knowledge. by Sprat, Thomas - 1667

Paris: Michel Bobin & Nicolas Le Gras, 1673. Hardcover. See Description. Third French Edition, revised and corrected. 4to. pp. [38], 754. Decorative initials and ornamental head pieces at the beginning of each chapter. Contemporary calf boards (rubbed, corners neatly restored) re-backed including new hand sewn headbands. Original end papers are preserved but worn at the edges. Two names are written in a contemporary hand at the top of the title page (1 name is crossed out). Another name (also crossed out) is inscribed beneath the imprint; a small shelf number is written in the upper right corner. Pages are generally clean with occasional minor soiling and spotting. A narrow piece is missing from the upper margins of pp. 311-320 (4 cm. long x 5-7 mm. deep) - either from rough opening or from a manufacturing error; brown ink spot on fore-edge of text block; leaf T2 marked S2. Leaves remain untrimmed after last re-sewing. Descartes's "Meditations metaphysiques" was first published in… Read More

London: The Liberal Publication Department, 1904. 1st Edition. Paperback. Here is the extremely rare 1904 leaflet publication of Churchill's letter in opposition to the Aliens Bill. Churchill's letter of 30 May 1904 was printed in the Manchester Guardian and published soon after by the Liberal Publication Department as this single-sheet, double-sided "Leaflet No. 2006". The fight against the Aliens Bill was an important one for Churchill - providing opportunity for his first speech from the Liberal Opposition benches, burnishing his Liberal credentials as a champion of the disenfranchised, and ultimately scoring a political victory against the Conservative Party he had so recently abandoned when the Aliens Bill was defeated. The Aliens Bill of 1904 was a thinly disguised effort at anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant electioneering by the Conservative British Government. "A series of pogroms in Tsarist Russia over the previous twenty-five years had brought to England a large and increasing number of… Read More

Cantabrigiae [Cambridge] : John White, 1622 A fair to good copy of the scarce 1st edition with map, in contemporary full leather binding. The binding has wear to spine joints, the top and bottom of the spine and edges, but is of good quality leather and would repair well. Page edges red. Internally there is an armorial bookplate of the Kinnaird family to the front pastedown and a signature of James West, clearly an early owner, on the fep.James has made some notes about the elections to Parliament for the County of Leicester in 1775. The fep has a tear at the top. With decorative title page (small repair to side margin); dedication 2pp; To the Reader 6pp; double page map; text pp 1-332; Catalogue 6pp; finis; table added in ms 3pp. The shields have been carefully coloured in (including one on the title page)- possibly by or for an early owner as there has been occasional offsetting from the colouring over time. There is also some scholarly annotation and an additional coat of arms has been added in the… Read More

1682 Office of English Sheriffs Michael Dalton England LAW Judges Police Crime
The first English treatise on sheriffs!
Michael Dalton was a 16th-century English legal writer who was known for only two works on British government practices. One of these was his 1623 treatise 'The Office and Authority of Sheriffs', in which Dalton discusses the statutes concerning sheriffs and police, judges and court cases, and laws relating to sheriffs. According to the Holdsworth in the 'History of English Law', "this book continued to be the standard authority until the beginning of the 18th-century."
Item number: #15695
Price: $950
DALTON, Michael
Officium vicecomitum = The office and authority of sheriffs : gathered out of the Statutes, and books of the common laws of this kingdom
London : printed by the assigns of Richard Atkins and Edward Atkins, 1682.

Details:
· Collation: Complete with all pages
o [4], 564, [28]
· References: Wing P 153; History of English Law IV, 119;
· Language:… Read More

First French edition, three volumes, 1787, Paris. Old full leather bindings with decorative gilt spines. Sparrman accompanied Cook on his second voyage as a naturalist and physician. This is an account of that trip and his observations of Africa which appears to have intrigued him more than than the Antarctic. Paginates: V.1: xxxii, map, 388, 3 plates; V.2: [2], 366, 5 plates; V.3: [2], 363, 8 plates. Vol. 1 has modern marbled blanks nearly matching the originals, other volumes with original marbled blanks. Complete with 16 plates, 1 large map. Overall condition is Very Good: hinges have been conserved, new blanks v.1, no interior writing or markings of any kind. One plate edge conserved with Japanese paper, small hinge tear on map conserved. Minimal foxing and staining. All paper edges marbled. Spine ends of volumes 1 & 2 somewhat diminished. Binding is sound. It has the more plates than all but the first edition in Swedish (which is excruciatingly rare). See Howes S828, Hill 1616, Howgego S154,… Read More

London: Darton & Harvey, 1805. Book. Very Good. Hardback. First Edition. 4to. pp. Additional engraved titles and 84 plates by J. Tookey after Ibbetson. Contemporary full leather bindings, rebacked preserving original spine, very good with a little general wear and rubbing, corners worn. Contents clean and tight, minimal foxing. A very good tight copy. Nissen 886.

Roma: Nella stamparia di Domenico Antonio Ercole, 1698. First Edition. Hardcover. xxviii, 495pp. Contemporary full calf, spine and edges decorated in gold, leather label lettered in gold, marbled pastedowns, edges sprinkled in red. Engraved title, title vignette, thirty engraved plates (mostly of coins and medallions), three engraved foldout plates, several engravings in the text, vignettes, initials and tail-pieces. Engravings by Pietro Sante Bartoli, Francesco Andreoni and others. In this work, Buonarroti describes the numismatic collection of Cardinal Gaspare Carpegna, for whom he worked as a museum and library curator. Gamba describes this as a "stimatissima opera, e una delle migliori che s'abbiano in questo genere." (Highly esteemed work, and one of the best in its genre). Several tiny worm holes to the spine panel, label partially missing (but there is a new green calf label laid in), rubbing to extremities, minor worm holes to endpapers and flyleaf. Internally very clean, with very light… Read More

Holmiae: Laurentii Salvii, 1764. Title page printed in red and black, pp xx, 580, [42], + 1 leaf of errata & emendada, a little general age-toning of the pages but remarkably clean and sound internally, marbled endpapers, contemporary speckled calf, lined in gilt, dentelles in gilt, a litlte worn ( mainly at the corners), spine ornate gilt with raised bands, rubbed and a bit more worn, black leather title label lacking a corner, joints cracking but still holding well. With the large folding portrait, a bit creased, which Soulsby mentions is only found in some copies. [Soulsby 305.]. Full-Leather. Good.

London: George Sawbridge, 1668. 1668. Illustrated with six plates plus woodcut illustrations within the text, small octavo, pp (ii), 102, some browning and thumbing throughout with general signs of use, the occasional very early small manuscript note, the last two pages with slight wear to the margins and minor neat paper repairs, early manuscript figures and small scribbles on the blank surface of the final page. Lacking a large corner of pages 65/66, and replaced with a paper repair; the text has been copied in manuscript, and the missing portion of the maze parterre has been very carefully copied and is barely noticeable apart from the different paper colour (see images). Neatly bound in a fairly modern full calf, small raised bands and red morocco label. [When first published in 1617/1618 this was the first gardening book intended for the conditions of the North of England, and the Country Housewife's Garden the first English gardening book for women.]. Full-Leather. Good.

Paternoster Row, London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green , 1826. First edition. Illustrated with 60 hand-coloured plates (of which one is double-page), each with two pages of description, all edges gilt, octavo, in an unusual decorated calf binding, possibly late Victorian or early twentieth century, rather worn and marked but still very sound, later re-backed with a new morocco spine, the remains of the original spine laid down, endpapers retained but the free endpapers have been thickened and strengthened, new blank pages at front and rear. The plates are very fine, they are magnificently coloured and have great depth and luminosity, particularly in the foliage which is finely observed. Plate 1 is slightly age-toned, and eight others have the slightest of marks - these are really very very tiny. One of the most desirable of all nineteenth century colour plate books. RARE. [Little seems to be known of Richard Morris, who was a surveyor and landscape designer and flourished in the… Read More