Search Results: Authors starting with B from Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books and Medieval Manuscripts

Paris: [Jean Bignan] apud Ambroise Girault, 1535. 163 x 108 mm. (6 1/2 x 4 1/4"). 68 pp., [5] leaves.Edited by Charles Estienne. Old (17th century?) stiff vellum, flat spine title in ink. Front pastedown with book plate of the Macclesfield South Library, first two leaves with very small Macclesfield embossed stamp. Colas USTC 204573. See Renouard, "Estienne," p. 42, #16. ◆Vellum on rear cover roughened, small water spot to front cover, but the binding entirely sound, and quite fresh and clean internally. Abridged and edited for schoolchildren by the scholar, physician, and printer Charles Estienne, this is a treatise on the customary dress and fashions in ancient Rome. It is among the best-known works of the distinguished humanist and diplomat Lazare de Baïf (1485-1547), who also produced respected translations of the Greek dramatists and published treatises on other aspects of ancient life, including vases and ships. Charles Estienne (1504 or 1505-64) for a time served as tutor to Baïf's son… Read More

London: Printed for D. Midwinter et al., 1737. FIRST EDITION. 210 x 127 mm. (8 1/4 x 5"). Two volumes.. Early 19th century sprinkled calf, flat spines divided into panels by double gilt rules, gilt rampant lion stamp of Sir William Gordon Cumming in head panels, red and black morocco labels. Front pastedown of volume II with ink ownership inscription of "W. Cecil Simpson / Glasgow Oct. 1889." Case 413 (1)(b) and 413 (2)(b). ◆Light wear to front joints, small holes (from worming?) at head and tail of one joint and head of another, half a dozen small patches of lost patina from insect activity, extremities a little rubbed, but the bindings quite solid and still lustrous, and a fine copy internally, clean, crisp, and rather bright. This selection of Latin poems accompanied by English verse translations is arranged by topics ranging from Absence to Justice and from Kisses to Zephyr. An index facilitates the location of verses on various subjects. Author Henry Baker (1698-1774) is better known for his… Read More

London: Constable and Company Limited, 1920. No. 48 OF 50 COPIES SIGNED BY THE ILLUSTRATOR. 315 x 225 mm. (12 1/4 x 9"). [80] leaves. Translated by Edward FitzGerald. Original gold and black linen backed with black buckram, upper cover and smooth spine with bold gilt lettering. With 17 black & white plates, 14 black & white plates with color highlights, six color plates, and an extra hand-watercolored plate, all tipped onto Japanese vellum, and 39 illustrations of naughty nymphs in the text, all by Ronald Balfour. Printed on Japanese vellum. ◆Extremities rather worn, a few scratches on boards, leaves faintly browned at edges, but still a very good copy of this special limited edition. The exotic and erotic illustrations in this printing of FitzGerald's 1859 version of the Rubaiyat combine the black & white Decadent style of Beardsley with the richly colored Art Deco fashion illustrations of Georges Barbier, bringing the poem's stately quatrains into the Jazz Age. This edition launched the career… Read More

London: Printed at the Chiswick Press for Constable and Company Limited, 1920. No. 45 OF 50 COPIES SIGNED BY THE ARTIST. 315 x 225 mm. (12 1/4 x 9"). [80] leaves. Translated by Edward FitzGerald. Original gold and black linen backed with black buckram, upper cover and smooth spine with bold gilt lettering. With 17 black & white plates, 14 black & white plates with color highlights, six color plates, and an extra hand-watercolored plate, all tipped onto Japanese vellum, and 39 illustrations of naughty nymphs in the text, all by Ronald Balfour. Printed on Japanese vellum. ◆Upper corners a bit bumped, otherwise AN EXCEPTIONALLY FINE COPY of an edition difficult to find in agreeable condition. The exotic and erotic illustrations in this printing of FitzGerald's 1859 version of the Rubaiyat combine the black & white Decadent style of Beardsley with the richly colored Art Deco fashion illustrations of Georges Barbier, bringing the poem's stately quatrains into the Jazz Age. This edition launched the… Read More

London: John Wolfe, 1593. FIRST EDITION. 193 x 145 mm. (7 5/8 x 5 3/4"). 4 p.l., 464 pp., [1] leaf (lacking final blank). Contemporary limp vellum, flat spine with faded ink titling, yapp edges, pastedowns lifting to reveal remnants of green silk ties. In a modern blue linen clamshell box. Printer's device on title page, woodcut initials. Front flyleaf with early ink signature of George Whitgift (see below), with a slightly later "ex dono" added before his name in a different hand, which has also inscribed the motto "Sum columbini et amicorum" twice. STC 1352; ESTC S100667. ◆Vellum somewhat soiled, with a few creases to edges, persistent but small and pale stains to tail edge of leaves (never offensive), occasional rust spots or insignificant small stains, otherwise quite a fine copy--clean, fresh, and rather bright, with generous margins, in a sound, unsophisticated contemporary binding. This is an important anti-Puritan work defending the Church of England's ecclesiastical hierarchy, written by… Read More

London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1895. 10th Edition. No. 437 OF 550 COPIES. 263 x 177 mm. (10 1/4 x 7"). xii, 232 pp. Publisher's dark blue cloth, smooth spine with gilt titling. With title page vignette and 17 full-page engraved plates by William Hole with lettered tissue guards. Front pastedown with bookplate of Peter Kerr of Portland, Oregon. ◆Three corners somewhat bumped, extremities a little rubbed, small black stain to lower front board, endpapers with offsetting from binder's glue, but the binding sound and A FINE COPY INTERNALLY, clean, fresh, and bright with ample margins. First published in book form in 1888, this work marked Barrie's first major success as an author. Like many of his early writings, the present work is deeply nostalgic and whimsical, capturing the magic of childhood and life in his native Kirriemuir, Scotland. It is embellished by wonderfully descriptive and entertaining plates by William Hole, an etcher especially adept with Scottish subjects, whose output included… Read More

Birmingham: John Baskerville, 1757, 1761, 1770, 1772, 1773. First Baskerville Quarto Editions. 303 x 228 mm. (11 7/8 x 9"). Seven volumes.. EXCELLENT CONTEMPORARY RED STRAIGHT-GRAIN MOROCCO BY BRADEL L'AÎNÉ (his ticket on verso of front free endpaper of Juvenal), covers with gilt fillet frame, raised bands flanked by gilt rules, turn-ins with gilt chain roll, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Horace with engraved vignette on title page, frontispiece and four charming plates by Gravelot. Front pastedown of Virgil with morocco bookplate of Jules Janin. Gaskell 1, 15, 39, 43, 44, 46, 51. ◆Spines uniformly darkened to a pleasing burgundy, a couple of corners a little bumped, trivial blemishes to half a dozen boards, first and last pages of each volume with minor offsetting from turn-in glue, isolated mild browning or foxing, other trivial imperfections, but AN EXTREMELY FINE SET, the text (often found very browned in these volumes) clean, smooth, and mostly bright, the bindings handsome on the… Read More

Birmingham: Printed by John Baskerville for J. and R. Tonson in London, 1758. One of 1,500 copies. 230 x 145 mm. (9 x 5 5/8"). With subscribers' list in first volume. Two volumes. Edited by Thomas Newton. EXCEPTIONALLY PRETTY OLIVE GREEN STRAIGHT GRAIN MOROCCO, HANDSOMELY GILT, for Sotheran ("H. Sotheran & Co." printed in gilt on front turn-in), covers panelled with multiple straight and stippled borders, scrolling floral cornerpieces, six mounds of massed tools on the inner side of the central frame (two on each side, and one at head and foot), raised bands, spine compartments elaborately gilt in antique style with scrolled foliate cornerpieces between double ruled borders and centerpiece star of small tools, very ornate inner dentelles, all edges gilt. Gaskell 4, 5; Brunet III, 1730; Graesse IV, 529. ◆Backstrips faded to an attractive brown (as usual with green morocco), otherwise only very trivial imperfections: AN EXTREMELY FINE COPY, VIRTUALLY IMMACULATE INTERNALLY, AND IN AN UNWORN,… Read More

London: Robert Jennings, 1826. FIRST EDITION. 305 x 241 mm. (12 x 9 1/2"). 5 p.l. (including engraved title), [60] leaves. Handsome contemporary dark green half morocco over moss green straight-grain buckram, wide raised bands decorated with plain and decorative gilt rules, spine lavishly gilt in compartments with leafy volute cornerpieces and a large and intricate central ornament composed of lilies, leaves, and small tools radiating from a central circlet, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt (joints and morocco corners artfully renewed). WITH 62 EXCELLENT ENGRAVED SCENIC PLATES PRINTED ON CHINA PAPER and mounted, the engravings after drawings by Batty and featuring city views, river vistas, and ruins. Descriptive text leaves printed in English (on the recto facing the engravings) and in French (on the verso). Hunnisett, p. 133; Houfe, p. 228. ◆Spine just slightly sunned, title page and four other plates somewhat foxed (mainly in the margins), occasional minor foxing elsewhere, a hint of offsetting… Read More

Westminster: Beaumont Press, 1921-22. FIRST EDITIONS. EACH ONE OF 75 COPIES ON JAPANESE VELLUM OF THE EDITION DE LUXE SIGNED BY THE PUBLISHER AND ARTIST (of a total of 475 copies). 222 x 152 mm. (8 3/4 x 6"). Two separately issued but companion volumes.. Original vellum-backed decorative paper boards. Reading with vignette on title in orange and green, two plates in the same colors, one facsimile of writing in text, device on final page, stylized illustration of a tree on front and rear endpapers; "Berneval" with woodcuts of Naples and Paris printed in blue on the front and rear endpapers, two-color title page woodcut, one plate, a facsimile of a Wilde letter, and printer's woodcut device; our special deluxe version WITH THREE ADDITIONAL WOODCUTS at the back of each volume, all the woodcuts as well as the cover design by Randolph Schwabe. Ransom, p. 211; Tomkinson, p. 17. ◆Berneval spine just a bit darkened, otherwise FINE, UNWORN COPIES that have obviously been little used, as they open stiffly… Read More

Strassburg: Johann Mentelin, 1473. Second Edition. 435 x 308 mm. (17 1/8 x 12"). Double column, 62 lines in roman type. Attractively matted. Capitals struck with yellow, paragraph marks and underlining in red, headlines in red or blue, five three-line initials painted in red or blue. Top edge and fore edge stained in red. Goff V-283; BMC I, 57; ISTC iv00283000. ◆Thin stain along edge of inner margin, one tiny marginal wormhole, but A VERY FINE LEAF--the paper extremely smooth, bright and clean--from this major Medieval encyclopedia, the present edition published the same year as the first. .

London: Longmans, Green, and Co, 1865. FIRST EDITION. 222 x 146 mm. (8 3/4 x 5 3/4"). Three volumes extended to six. Edited by Lady Theresa Lewis. EXCEPTIONALLY PRETTY CRIMSON CRUSHED MOROCCO, HANDSOMELY GILT, BY MORRELL (signed on front inner dentelles), covers bordered with double rules, raised bands, spines gilt in compartments featuring drawer pull and cinquefoil cornerpieces and elegant floral centerpiece, elaborately gilt inner dentelles, top edge gilt, other edges rough trimmed. EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED WITH MORE THAN 275 ENGRAVED PLATES (30 of them views, the rest portraits, four of the plates folding, and eight in color). ◆One plate with small, skillfully repaired tear at fore edge, a few leaves and a dozen plates with sprinkled foxing, isolated light offsetting and minor stains and soiling in the text, but AN EXTREMELY FINE SET, THE LOVELY BINDINGS UNUSUALLY BRIGHT AND VIRTUALLY UNWORN, and internally very fresh and clean. This lavishly illustrated and handsomely bound set documents the very… Read More

Newcastle: Sol. Hodgson, for Beilby & Bewick, 1797 [1798], 1804, 1821. Second Edition of "Land Birds"; FIRST EDITIONS of "Water Birds" and the Supplements, ALL PRINTED ON IMPERIAL PAPER. 280 x 178 mm. (11 x 7"). Three volumes.. VERY FINE HUNTER GREEN STRAIGHT-GRAIN MOROCCO BY ZAEHNSDORF (stamp-signed on front turn-in), covers with double gilt-rule frame, central panel of inlaid pea green pebble-grain morocco with scrolls and thistle at head and foot, panel framed by gilt motto "Ride Thro. Be Trew" and with the initials "R. T. H. B." at corners, inner panel with gilt cross of feedbags, two embossed ciphers of "R. T. H. B." at center, surrounded by the words "By It We Live," horse heads at corners of panel, raised bands, spine compartments with gilt rule frame, central oval containing a rampant lion with word "Fuimus" ("We have been") above it, gilt lettering, gilt ruled turn-ins, light green silk endleaves, top edges gilt, other edges UNTRIMMED. Supplement to match but with smooth spine and vertical… Read More

Newcastle: Printed by S. Hodgson, for Emerson Charnley, and Balwin, Cradock, and Joy, 1820. FIRST EDITION, IMPERIAL PAPER COPY. 278 x 174 mm. (10 7/8 x 6 3/4"). 1 p.l., xl, 332 pp. HANDSOME LATE 19TH CENTURY DEEP PURPLE MOROCCO, ELABORATELY GILT, BY TOUT (stamp-signed in gilt on front turn-in), covers with gilt-ruled border and scrolling foliate corner decoration, raised bands, spine compartments with elaborate gilt scrolled tooling surrounding a central flower motif, gilt lettering, thick turn-ins with multiple gilt rules, rolls, and scrolling, all edges gilt. Frontispiece portrait of Thomas Bewick and NEARLY 350 WOOD ENGRAVED VIGNETTES BY JOHN AND THOMAS BEWICK. Front free endpaper with book label of Archer Ryland, dated 1942 in pencil, and an old catalogue cutting tipped on. Ray, England, 52; Hugo 428; Lowndes I, 168. ◆Lower corners very slightly bumped, a hint of wear to extremities, contents with occasional faint offsetting and trivial marginal imperfections, one leaf with marginal tear… Read More

Amsterdam: Petrus Shenk, 1735-38. First Edition in Dutch. 415 x 264 mm. (16 3/8 x 10 3/8"). Entirely complete (with continuous pagination, but with a jump in page numbering from the end of book XIII to the beginning of XIV, as usual). 15 parts in eight volumes. Translated by Florentius H. J. van Halen. HANDSOME CONTEMPORARY VELLUM, covers with large gilt entrelac centerpiece framed with gilt floral rule with bouquet-like cornerpieces, gilt floral border, raised bands, compartments richly gilt, titles and volume numbers handwritten in ink on spines, all edges gilt. With head- and tailpieces, 15 engraved titles printed in red and black with engraved vignettes, and complete with frontispiece, two engraved portraits of the author and the engraver (the latter with shorter margins, probably tipped-in), and 760 OFTEN STRIKING COPPER ENGRAVINGS (on 758 plates), one with partial hand coloring, a few double-page. Front pastedown of first volume with handwritten note in French on lined paper; with additional… Read More

London: T. Bensley for T. Macklin [final volume Bensley for T. Cadell & W. Davies], 1800. First Printing of this Edition. 484 x 390 mm. (19 x 15 1/4"). Seven volumes.. Once splendid contemporary black straight-grain morocco, gilt, covers framed by Greek key roll, palmette roll, and multiple gilt rules, double raised bands, spine compartments densely gilt with rows of alternating star and circlet tools, gilt titling, turn-ins with gilt chain roll, purple endpapers, all edges gilt (some inexpert but not obvious repairs to joints and backstrips). With more than 100 allegorical headpieces and tailpieces and some 70 SPLENDID LARGE-FOLIO SIZE COPPER PLATES after Fuseli, Reynolds, West, and others. Herbert 1442 and 1651. ◆Extremities rather rubbed, boards a bit scuffed, but the decorative contemporaneous bindings solid and not without appeal. Plates somewhat foxed (mostly to margins), mild to moderate offsetting from plates, occasional mild offsetting in the text bed, but still a fresh, wide-margined… Read More

Amsterdam: H. Keyzer, H. Gartman en W. Vermandel, 1790. 555 x 345 mm. (21 7/8 x 13 3/4"). 2 p.l., 62 folding plates. Attractive late 19th or early 20th century retrospective polished brown calf by L. Guétant (stamp-signed in gilt on tail of spine), double gilt-ruled border, floral cornerpieces, raised bands, spine panels with scrolling floral borders and central flower ornament, gilt titling. With title vignette and 62 ENGRAVED FOLDING PLATES, ALL WITH BEAUTIFUL HAND COLORING AND HIGHLIGHTED WITH GOLD, depicting Bible scenes from the Old and New Testament, 61 of which are by Jan Luyken. A Large Paper Copy. For earlier editions: Graesse IV, p. 308; Brunet III, 1245-46; Klaversma & Hannema 159-164. ◆Light rubbing to joints and edges, boards just a little marked, trivial foxing and faint spots here and there, but A REMARKABLY FINE COPY, the binding lustrous and showing little wear, the paper extremely bright and fresh, the margins immense, and the paint and gold unusually vibrant. The marvelous… Read More

Munich: Idion Verlag, 1977-79. No. 631 of 895 COPIES for sale, (of a total of 955 copies printed). 457 x 330 mm. (18 x 13"). Two facsimile volumes, with a volume of commentary in German.. VERY ORNATE BLIND-STAMPED CALF OVER THICK WOODEN BOARDS by Ernst Ammering, covers panelled with central diapered field, multiple blind rules forming several compartments on covers and spines containing nearly 500 individual stamps (mostly ornamental, but a charming stamp of a lute player on either side of the central panel on each cover), large brass corner and center bosses, double raised bands, spine panels with decoration in blind similar to the covers, leather thongs with brass clasps, brass catches. Initials, chapter numbers, and headlines printed in red and blue, APPROXIMATELY 100 ILLUMINATED INITIALS, some with marginal extension, the openings of each of the books of the Bible with large illuminated initials (MANY OF THESE CONTAINING MINIATURES) IN SEVERAL COLORS AND GOLD AND WITH ELABORATE FANCIFUL MARGINAL… Read More

Oxonnii [Oxford]: Typis Joannis Baskerville, E Typographeo Clarendoniano, Sumptibus Academiae, 1763. One of 2,000 Copies of the Royal Octavo Edition. 240 x 145 mm. (9 1/2 x 5 3/4"). 2 p.l., 676 pp. Period stiff vellum, gilt, covers with chain border, flat spine in panels with central fleuron, titling panel painted (now faded) brown, marbled endpapers and edges. Front pastedown with engraved bookplate of Frankland; front flyleaf with ink inscription: "Wm. Henry Gill / E Dono amicitiae / 1809." Gaskell, Appendix Add. 2 (p. 71); Darlowe & Moule 4756. ◆Vellum a little soiled, two-thirds of titling panel torn away, half-inch crack to head of front joint, but a sound original binding, and exceptionally clean and fresh internally. Baskerville designed this Greek type especially for Oxford University's Clarendon Press; it was used only for this Bible and the quarto edition published the same year. Although DNB reports that printers and classical scholars of the day found the type a "disappointment," it… Read More

Amsterdam: Jan Klooster, 1754. Second Edition. 195 x 153 mm. (7 5/8 x 6"). 2 p.l., 120 pp.; 1 p.l., 120 pp. Contemporary stiff vellum, smooth spine with (faded) ink titling. WITH 240 WOODCUTS (120 for the Old and 120 for the New Testaments) by Christoffel van Sichem. See Lehmann-Haupt, "An Introduction to the Woodcut of the 17th Century," p. 49. ◆Slightly splayed, vellum a little soiled and with minor wear, but the unpretentious binding solid and perfectly okay. Faint browning and foxing because of quality of paper, but surprisingly fresh and clean for a book one would normally expect to show obvious signs of use. This is a very pleasing copy of a Dutch children's Bible, first issued in 1743, in which illustrations and rhyming verses acquaint young readers with key stories from Scripture in a format that is as pleasant as it is educational. The title here literally translates as "Biblical Pleasure Garden," and the contents bring this appellation to life. The volume's richly detailed and… Read More