Forest Books

London: Printed by Benjamin Meredith [and others], 1812-29. First edition, 6 vols., large 8vo (233 x 144 mm), engraved portrait frontispiece, complete with 611 hand-coloured engraved plates, each with a letterpress description (numbered 1-609: including 33 and 184 bis; 22 folding; plate 231 misnumbered 131), index at rear of each volume, volume 6 with ‘Systematic, Stratigraphical, and Alphabetical Indexes to the First Six Volumes... To which is added a Short Account of the Life of the Author’ (with separate title-page dated 1834) at rear, the stratigraphical indexes apparently each headed ‘Supplementary Index’ and bound separately into the relevant volumes, volume 2 with addenda leaf (’Additional Localities to Shells Described in Vols. I. and II’, volumes 4-6 each with corrigenda leaf, volumes 5-6 without the ‘Supplementary Index’ or the ‘Life of the Author’ (these not found in other copies examined), neat repair to pp. 45/6 of volume one, some occasional lig…Read more

London: The British Library, 2011. 2 Vols., folio (450 x 360 mm), introduction volume: 31pp., orig. printed wrappers, facimile volume: 822 pages of coloured facsimiles, orig. cloth, slip-case, some light spotting. The facsimile is an enormous and extremely heavy book. Codex Sinaiticus is one of the world’s most remarkable books. Written in Greek in the fourth century, it is the oldest surviving complete New Testament, and one of the two oldest manuscripts of the whole Bible. No other early manuscript of the Christian Bible has been so extensively corrected, and the significance of the Codex Sinaiticus for the reconstruction of the Christian Bible’s original text, the history of the Bible and the history of western book making is immense. This magnificent printed facsimile reunites the text, now divided between the British Library, the National Library of Russia, St Catherine’s Monastery, Mt Sinai and Leipzig University Library.

London: Printed [by [W. Strahan] for S. Bladon, 1772. First edition, 2 vols., 12mo (164 x 99 mm), [14], 268; [6], 280pp., without half-titles, title page and prelims to vol. I with faint waterstain, title page to vol. I mounted on a stub, rebound in nineteenth-century quarter red roan, marbled boards, spines lettered direct. A scarce novel, attributable to Richard Johnson, a jobbing writer and press corrector. “Richard Johnson's only excursion into adult or semi-adult fiction, in which the principal agent of the story, a Birmingham Shilling, is endowed with the faculties of hearing, seeing, and admonishing.”—Weedon. Johnson's Day Book records "1771 Nov. 27. Mr. Strahan began printing the Birmingham Counterfeit, for which he is responsible in Eight or Ten Guineas, according as he shall dispose of it when printed". ESTC records just one copy in the UK (British Library) and 6 copies in North America; Garside, Raven & Schöwerling, 1772: 2; Block, p. 22; Weedon, Richar…Read more

[Mullingar: Printed by R. Purdue,] 1843. First edition, small folio (310 x 195 mm), [2], 8, 36 leaves of botanical drying paper containing 48 mounted specimens, each with two letterpress labels, the smaller beneath the specimen, the larger (with a detailed description printed within a greek-key decorative border) on the verso facing the specimen, collated complete with all specimens (though some are in the wrong order, i.e. no. 48 is between no. 3 and no. 4 plus a couple of similar instances), half sheep, rebacked, contemporary patterned paper boards, paper overlay over a damp patch on upper board, internally in excellent condition, with only slight signs of foxing and all specimens intact, new printed paper label to spine. The rare first edition of this most appealing publication. Privately published by John Moore the Curator of the Royal Dublin Society’s Botanic Garden, Glasnevin. The second and third editions have a commercial imprint and don’t look nearly as attractive and are also much more …Read more

Dublin: Printed by Graisberry and Campbell, 1814-19. First edition, 3 vols., 8vo (206 x 130 mm), xxxii, [2], 652; [4], lxxxvii, [1], 560; xlix, [5], 716pp., complete with 39 engraved plates or maps (of which 24 are either double-page or folding), recent half calf, marbled boards, endpapers renewed, lettering labels to spine, a very good clean set. The survey provides a detailed look into the social and economic conditions of Ireland at that time. It provides a comprehensive, parish-by-parish record of life in Ireland during a period of significant social and economic change. It was encouraged by Sir Robert Peel, then Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Provenance: With near contemporary book label of ‘J. C. F. Kenny, Esq. Kilclogher,Monivea, Co. Galway’; later woodcut bookplate of John Haughton Steele.

Amsterdam: Ex Officinâ Elseviriana, 1674. 12mo (131 x 73 mm), 7 parts in one, 176; 86; 60; 200, [2, blank]; 120; 24; 103, [5, blank]pp., first part with general title, printer's woodcut device to title expertly replaced, all leaves neatly ruled in a contemporary brown ink, text very clean and bright, bound in a blue morocco, floral border to both boards, spine with five raised bands, exquisite gold tooling to compartments, gilt turn ins, al edges gilt, a very fine binding which resembles bindings from the Samblanx bindery, but is not signed. The most important bookseller's catalogue of the seventeenth century, listing about 20,000 books from the stock of Daniel Elzevier. Divided into seven parts over the following subjects: theology, law, medicine, miscellaneous subjects and books in the French, Italian, Spanish, English and German languages. "No prices were given but these were presumably quoted in request. Included are, of course,the books published by the Elzeviers still in print, and a vast number of oth…Read more

London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1822. First edition, vi, 442, [2]pp., large folding frontispiece of "a ground plan of the antient Roman Bath" (foxed and partially offset onto title), presentation inscription on upper blank margin of title "W. Godwin with the author's best regards.", original boards, uncut, rebacked.

London: Published by J. Sowerby, Jun. 1832. First and only edition, small 4to, [8]pp., 5 fine hand-coloured plates, orig. drab wrappers with printed title label on upper cover, a very good copy in unsophisticated original condition. The engravings feature illustrations of four types of mushroom from the genus Agaricus - Campestris (the true edible mushroom), Georgii (St. George's mushroom, or, white caps), Pratensis (the true champignon) and Virosus (which closely resembles it) - all of which also appear in the third and final part of James Sowerby's "Coloured Figures of English Fungi or Mushrooms" published in 1815. James de Carle Sowerby assisted his father in several works and the appearance and composition of the illustrations of the respective mushroom types in each work are similar, though not identical. Nissen, BBI 1876; Freeman, 3503. Scarce, with Copac showing only 3 copies in the UK (BL, Oxford and Natural History Museum).

Whitby: Printed by T. Webster, Sold by the Author; and W. Tesseyman, Bookseller, York. 1794. First edition, large folio (520 x 355 mm), [32]pp., with a list of subscribers, and an initial leaf stating "Entered at stationers' Hall", 11 engraved plates (some lightly offset), each with explanatory leaf, with an original watercolour sketch for a heating device loosely inserted, occasional lightly foxing, orig. quarter calf, marbled boards, a very nice copy in original condition. Little is known of James Shaw, other than he was head gardener at Mulgrave Castle, North Yorkshire, and this appears to be his only published work. He dedicates the book to his Patron and employee the Right Honourable Henry, Lord Mulgrave and states in his advertisement "Gardening at this period, is an object of general pursuit, from its useful and admirable effects. The most elegant and superior branch of it, is that of forcing fruit, which are natives of warmer climates; and the perfection of them, in some measure,…Read more

Liverpool: Printed by M. Galway & Co. 1814. First (only?) edition, 12, [1, list of instruments with prices], [1, blank]pp., recent paper wrappers. John Dicas was a scientific instrument maker, active in Liverpool, between 1774 and 1797. He was succeeded by his daughters Mary and Ann, who continued to operate the business until some time after 1837 when it was then taken over by Joseph Long. In 1780 John Dicas was awarded UK patent 1,259 for "constructing hydrometers with sliding-rules to ascertain spirit strength". (Hopp, 'Slide Rules. Their History, Models, and Makers'. 1999). A printed thirteen-line "Caution" on verso of the title-page warns against instruments on sale in London and Dublin stamped "Dicas" which are not of of her [Mary Arstall] manufacture. Not traced in Copac or OCLC.