Search Results: Humour from G.Gosen Rare Books & Old Paper, ABAA, ILAB

Friswell, Hain, Editor, Blackwood's Comic Zadkiel; An Almanac at once Prophetical, Quizzical and Physical, Ombrological and Symbolical, Astronomically Comical, and Comically Astronomical, for the Year 1855: A Work Devoted to All the "Ologies" Except Tautology, and Containing Full Prophecies upon Everything which Nobody Wishes to Know; and Truthfully Foretelling Every Future Event, from the Winner of the Derby to the Next Revolution in the Wheel of Time. London, James Blackwood, 1855 (Printed by Stewart and Murray, Old Bailey). Fifteenth thousand. Fold-out hand-colored frontispiece mounted on linen by William McConnell, who did all the other illustrations. 8vo, 180 mm x 120 mm, 88 pages with 8 pages of James Blackwood's advertisements for Christmas presents and illustrated books. Cloth spine with gilt lettering: Blackwood's Comic Zadkiel 1855. The advertisements show slight foxing, two leaves slightly trimmed when the original paper boards were laid down on stiff pasteboard and the linen spine… Read More

George Cruikshank. The Constitutional Apple Pie: or, Rhythmical Red-Book. By Master Jacky Jingle. With Thirteen Cuts. London: Published by T. Hughes, 35, Ludgate Street, 1820. W. N. Jones, Printer, Old Bailey, London. First edition, 8vo; 24 unnumbered pages. Hand-colored illustrations. Cohn 158. With an illustrated title-page with the motto, Ineptè garrit (Silly Lark), and the caption, "He talketh like an old Apple Woman." Printer's name given at the en and on the verso of the title-page. Three stab-stitch perforations. Slight occasional spotting, otherwise very good.

George Colman. Eccentric Tales. In Verse. Ascribed to George Colman, the Younger, Esq. Forming a New Volume to His Broad Grins. The Second Edition. London: Printed for Thomas Tegg, 111, Cheapside; and William Allason, 31, New Bond Street, 1812. Fold-out hand-colored frontispiece J. A. Atkinson, del., published by S. Tipper, Leadenhall Street. [xi; 144 pages] Printed by J. Haddon, Tabernacle Walk, Finsbury. 17 cm. In-12. Bound in quarter speckled calf over marbled boards. Lower page edges were not trimmed. Frontispiece has starting fold-separations. Front hinge cracked but holding. Occasional slight spotting.
The tales are: Father Francis and Sister Bridget; The Monk of Cambray; The Three Minstrels, or Sir Robert and Fair Helena; The Pennance; Tom Shuttle and Blousalinda, a Dolorous Ditty; The Friars, the Merchant, and the Merchant's Wife; Saint Martin and the Devil; The Chase; The Retort, or, the King and the Exile; The Legend of Bernardo, Saint and Martyr; The Miser's Will; The King and the Arrows… Read More

Collier, Jeremy, M.A., Essays Upon Several Moral Subjects. In Two Parts. The Fifth Edition. London: Printed for Richard Sare at Grays-Inn-Gate in Holborn, M DCC III. [1703] Parts I and II paginated separately as follows: Part I [viii; 246 pages; 1 leaf with advertisements recto and verso]; Part II with title page stating "Printed by W.B. for H. Rhodes, at the Star, the Corner of Brides-Lane, Fleet Street; and T. Newborough, at the Golden-Bull in St. Paul's Church Yard. 1705." [viii; 200 pages] Page 124 in numbered incorrectly as 224 in Part II. Bound with Part III, In-8, "Printed by W.B. for H. Rhodes, at the Star, the Corner of Brides-Lane, Fleet Street; and T. Newborough, at the Golden-Bull in St. Paul's Church Yard. 1705." [title-page; v (preface); i (Errata and Table on the verso of v); 279 pages]. Parts I and II, ESTC Cit. No. T110889, Part III, ESTC Cit. No. T110888. Parts I and II appeared first in 1694 and 1695 respectively. Re-backed, 5 raised bands; original stamped paneled tan calf covers… Read More

Mayhew (the Brothers), The Greatest Plague of Life: or The Adventures of a Lady in Search of a Good Servant. By one who has been "Almost Worried to Death." Edited by the Brothers Mayhew. Illustrated by George Cruikshank. London, David Bogue, 86 Fleet Street, N.D. [1847]. First edition in book form. Stamp-signed Bayntun binding, Bath. Twelve etchings by George Cruikshank and a glyphograph by him on the title-page. [ii; 286] List of plates on the verso of the last paginated leaf (p. 285). Original cloth wrapper bound in at the end. Cohn 544. 18 cm; 8vo. Bound in brown calf with gilt-ruled covers and spine, morocco title and author labels on the spine are chipped, top page edge gilt, back repaired, original back strip preserved. A good copy, bright and fresh. Wear at extremities of spine.

[Nathaniel Ogle] Memoirs of Monkeys, &c, &c. London: Printed for Geo. B. Whittaker, Ave-Maria-Lane, 1825. First edition. 16mo; [iv; 152 pages]. Bound in quarter green calf over marbled boards, with binding stamp 2 of Sir Alexander James Beresford Beresford-Hope, four raised bands, with five compartments marked out in gold, with Beresford-Hope's crest of a broken globe surmounted by a rainbow with clouds at each end, measuring 16 mm x 9 mm, with his motto, "AT SPES NON FRACTA," above the rainbow. Sir Alexander James Beresford Beresford-Hope (1820 – 1887) was a British author and Conservative politician. Very good. A humorous satire of English and Continental society, its manners, habits and customs as tested by monkeys. Names are indicated but not spelled out. The progress of science is noted: "Two at Cadiz were nearly seized on by the Familiars of the Inquisition for being apparently disciples of Galileo. A military commander of high rank left his brass-mounted telescope at a window, from which he… Read More

The Oak, an Illustrated Monthly Magazine, Part I, May, 1868. London: Houlston & Wright, Paternoster Row, 1868. [xvi; double frontispiece: Disraeli and a George Cruikshank illustration "The Yokel and the Acorn" for "Aesop Revived"; 64 pages; vi] 22.5 cm. 8vo. Advertising on the verso of the covers, 16 pages of introductory advertising and 6 pages following the text. The portrait of Disraeli was drawn by Jack Dodds from a photograph by Southall. A biographical sketch of Disraeli is a featured article. This copy has not been opened. This is the first issue. One other copy is located at Yale. Covers detached. Internal condition near-pristine. First edition. Cohn 608.

[Teofilo Folengo] Opus Merlini Cocaii Poetae Mantuani Macaronicorum. Venetiis, apud Nicolaum Bevilacquam, 1613. In-12. 14.5 cm. Contemporary lap-edged polished vellum, titled on the spine by hand, possibly by Simon Abbes Gabbema. Woodcut printer's device with motto "sciencia immutabilis" on the title page. [iv (blanks); 1 – 541; viii; i (blank)] Verso of p. 541 blank; Twenty-seven woodcut illustrations at: A1b; A12b; C11; D7b; E4; E12b; F8b; G5b; H2b; H11; I6b; K3; K11; L6b; M3; M11; N8; O3; P2; P8b; Q4b; Q12b; S2b; T3b; T8; V3b; V10. Signed and dated in 1650 by noted Frisian historian, Simon Abbes Gabbema (1628 – 1688), the official historian of Frisland, promoter of the Frisian language and a sometime owner of the Codex Roorda. There is a second manuscript motto on the title page and another note on the front flyleaf.

First edition published 1517, Delepierre says this edition was printed in Germany not in Italy, as the paper and the wretched woodcuts (chétives figures) indicate, citing David… Read More

Westmacott, Charles, POINTS OF MISERY; or FABLES FOR MANKIND: Prose and Verse, Chiefly Original, by Charles Westmacott. Illustrated with Twenty Designs by Robert Cruikshank. London: Published by Sherwood, Jones and Co. Paternoster-Row, 1823. Large paper copy with original wrapper bound in. Presentation copy, with "From the Author" on the initial blank following the original wrapper front cover. Imperial 8vo. 25cm, untrimmed. Some tissue guards for the engravings are still in place. 97 pages followed by the back cover of the original wrapper, with the advertisements for Bernard Blackmantle's The English Spy. The Spy at Eton. Some foxing, mostly in the wide margins. Bound in quarter green morocco on marbled boards.

London: Printed for Edward Jeffery, No. 11, Pall Mall, 1811. Quarto, [three introductory blanks; iv; Glossary 56 pages unpaginated; Local Proverbs p. 57- 124; five concluding blanks]. 26 ½ cm x 21 cm. Full gilt-trimmed tan calf. Binder's tag from Lubbock in New Castle. Book plate of John Stafford Reid Byers (1903-1984), who was in the Ministry of Economic Warfare in 1939 and New Castle solicitor, Armorer Donkin (1779 1851), who signed his book plate. A fine wide-margined copy, bright, crisp. Re-backed. "Scrat" is defined as "an hermaphrodite, used of men and animals, and, groovers as miners." Crones are defined as "old ewes who have lost their teeth." Under Herefordshire one finds: "Blessed is the eye, / That is between Severn and Wye." This proverb, Fuller supposes to refer not only to the beautiful and fertile country so situated, but also to allude to the safety from hostile invasions arising from the protection of those two rivers.

Seymour, Robert (1798 – 1826). Sketches by Seymour. London: Published by G. S. Tregear, 96 Cheapside, [1835-36]. Five volumes: each volume consists of an illustrated lithographed title page and 36 numbered plates, printed on colored papers; 185 humourous, numbered lithographed plates in total. Now bound in one volume, recent brown morocco spine with gilt lettering and five raised bands, on modern marbled boards, gilt page edges all around. 22.5 cm. First edition. Some of the plates have been trimmed slightly. Plate 1 of Vol 4, mis-numbered in the plate as No. 4. Generally very good, occasional browning on a few plates.

[Gérard, Jean-Ignace-Isidore (1803 – 1847)], Grandville. Scènes de la Vie Privée et Publique des Animaux Vignettes par Grandville. Études de Mœurs Contemporaines par MM. Balzac, George Sand, Charles Nodier, Stahl, J. Janin, P. Bernard, E. de La Bédollierre, L. Baude, Ed. Lemoine Etc. Paris : Maresq et Compagnie, Éditeurs, 5, rue du Pont-du-Lodi, 5 ; Gustave Havard, Librarie, 15, rue Guénégaud, 15, 1855. Imprimerie Simon Bacon et Comp. [ii; frontispiece ; 218 pages ; table de matières]. 31.5 cm x 22 cm. Carteret III : 552. A clean, tight and bright copy, bound in half burgundy morocco over marbled boards. Edgewear to covers. Interior bright and fresh.

Gay, Mr. [John], Trivia: or, the Art of Walking the Streets of London. London, Bernard Lintott, [1716]. First edition, first issue, one of 250 fine paper copies. 8 5/8 in x 5 1/2 in. [initial blank; title-page A1; advertisement A2; 80 pages; index G1-6; concluding blank] Foxon G82. Rebacked, original backstrip preserved, gilt-trimmed all around, full tan calf. Signed binding of J. Larkins. Large, magnificent book plate of Arthur & Magdalen F. Bruan 1870, with the motto: "Non sine industria." Hard slipcase. An untrimmed copy.