Search Results: Titles starting with P from Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books and Medieval Manuscripts

Paris: De l'imprimerie de Plassan, 1821-22. 212 x 133 mm. (8 3/8 x 5 1/4"). Two volumes.. Very attractive quarter calf blind-stamped in "cathedral" style over marbled boards by Thouvenin (stamp-signed in gilt at foot of spine), corners tipped with green vellum, spine blindstamped with a design of gothic-arched windows, gilt titling, marbled endpapers and edges. Half title with ink inscription in French stating that this book was purchased at the sale of the library of the Duc de Coigny at Chateau de Franquetot on 24 April [19]12. ◆Occasional insignificant smudges or spots of foxing, the paper a little on the inexpensive side, otherwise an appealing copy with virtually no signs of use. This is an early 19th century French edition of Richardson's first major work, offered here in a well-preserved unusual contemporary binding and with intriguing provenance. Samuel Richardson (1679-1761) was a printer who loved to write letters and who, at the age of 50, began writing novels using the epistolary… Read More

Birmingham: Printed by John Baskerville for J. and R. Tonson in London, 1759. Second Baskerville Quarto Edition. 250 x 180 mm. (10 x 7 1/2"). Two volumes. From the Text of Thomas Newton, D.D., with his Life of Milton. Recent retrospective calf, covers panelled in blind, raised bands, spine panels with elaborate blind-stamped ornament, black morocco label in the second panel of each volume. Frontispiece portrait engraved by J. Miller. Verso of title pages with early ink signature of "Le[onard](?) Kennedy." Gaskell 6, 7; Coleridge 122, 202; Straus & Dent, p. 69; Wickenheiser 697, 698; Howe's, Cat. 240, #188, 189 (1989); ESTC T133905, T134634. ◆Occasional minor browning and foxing (a small handful of leaves more noticeably affected), but a clean and pleasant copy in an attractive new sympathetic binding. According to Howes, this is the "largest paper edition of Baskerville's Milton," and the best obtainable Baskerville edition. The text used here is that edited by English cleric Thomas Newton and… Read More

River House, Hammersmith: [Printed at the Chiswick Press for] Hammersmith Publishing Company, 1903. FIRST EDITION. 218 x 152 mm. (8 1/2 x 6"). 34 pp., [2] leaves. Original vellum backed tan paper boards, title printed in black on smooth spine, UNOPENED. With a typed letter laid in, SIGNED by Emery Walker on his firm's stationary (responding to a letter mistakenly delivered to him); front pastedown with remnants of glue from a removed bookplate. ◆Negligible light stain on lower cover, occasional dusting of light foxing internally (a little heavier on rear endpapers), otherwise an excellent copy. Attractively printed with deep impressions of the type on fine quality laid paper, the text here comes from an address delivered at the William Morris Labour Church in 1902, describing Morris' transition from Liberalism to Socialism. It was written by Morris' friend and biographer, John William Mackail (1859-1945), who was also a distinguished classical scholar, a poet, and a literary critic. As the… Read More

Paris: Société des Beaux Arts, ca, 1890. ONE OF 20 LETTERED COPIES OF THE EDITION DE DEUX MONDES (this copy out of sequence, lettered with a star stamped in red). 270 x 200 mm. (10 5/8 x 7 7/8"). 1 p.l., 328 pp. SUMPTUOUS AZURE CRUSHED MOROCCO, LAVISHLY GILT AND INLAID in the Art Nouveau style, covers with large central fleur-de-lys in gilt and maroon morocco within an elaborate frame of lily bouquets and garlands inlaid in maroon, orange, and white; raised bands, spine gilt in compartments, the smaller ones at head and tail with an inlaid maroon fleur-de-lys, large central compartment with a spray of lilies in maroon and white, and two compartments with gilt titling; very wide turn-ins with elaborate gilt floral and foliate decoration enclosing BURNT ORANGE MOROCCO DOUBLURES, front doublure featuring an oval inset of white kidskin (or perhaps vellum) with a hand-colored engraving of a female nude, ivory watered silk endleaves, blue marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed, leaves… Read More

Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1840. FIRST EDITION, First Issue (with imprint of Fagan and Collins at center of p. [2]; no copyright notice). 180 x 110 mm. (7 x 4 1/8"). Two volumes.. Attractive late 19th century scarlet crushed morocco, gilt, covers with gilt-rule frame accentuated with bow-arrow-tomahawk tool at corners, raised bands, spines gilt in compartments with bow tool or crossed rifles at center, foliate spray at corners, gilt titling, turn-ins with frame of plain and dotted rules, foliate tool at corners, leather hinges, emerald green watered silk endleaves, all edges gilt. BAL 3892. ◆Just the slightest hint of wear to joints and corners, occasional trivial foxing, but AN EXTREMELY FINE COPY, the binding lustrous and the text especially fresh and clean. This is a decoratively bound first printing of the further adventures of Natty Bumppo, the hero of "Last of the Mohicans." The first American writer to gain widespread international recognition, Cooper (1789-1851) is the only author… Read More

Paris: [Printed by Ch. Unsinger for] Alphonse Le Merre, 1878. No. 12 OF 50 COPIES on Whatman paper (and 50 copies on paper de Chine). 225 x 140 mm. (8 7/8 x 5 5/8"). 2 p.l., 240 pp., [2] leaves.With notice of the author's life and notes on the text by Anatole France. FINE DARK BLUE JANSENIST CRUSHED MOROCCO BY MARIUS MICHEL (stamp-signed in gilt on front doublure), raised bands, gilt titling, CITRON MOROCCO DOUBLURES, GILT AND INLAID, diagonal gilt fillets intersecting to form lozenge-shaped compartments, each containing an inlaid dark purple violet bud or flower on a slender gilt stem, the intersection of the fillets inlaid with a small or large violet leaf, the panel enclosed by a frame of repeated curling leaf tools, leather hinges, pale green patterned silk endleaves, marbled flyleaves, all edges gilt, fore edges untrimmed. With original printed paper wrappers bound in. Portrait frontispiece and six etchings, all before letters, by P. E. A. Hédouin. A Large Paper Copy. Text framed in red. Tail… Read More

ATTRACTIVE STRAIGHT-GRAINED RED MOROCCO BY HATCHARDS (stamp-signed in gilt on front turn-in), covers with French fillet border, raised bands, compartments ruled in gilt, gilt lettering, upper edge gilt (fore-edge untrimmed, lower edge trimmed on the rough). With frontispiece portrait of Captain Barclay "in his Walking dress." Front pastedown with armorial bookplate. ◆Frontispiece a little browned, with offsetting to title, occasional small spot or stain elsewhere, but A FINE COPY--particularly clean and bright, with extremely comfortable margins, and in an unworn, lustrous binding.This work celebrates the 19th century phenomenon known as "pedestrianism" (also referred to as competitive walking or pedestrian racing), in which contestants would walk extraordinary distances over hours or even days. Pedestrian matches often took place in front of large groups of spectators for huge sums of money, causing intense rivalries, dramatic feats, and much gambling. The text primarily focuses on the remarkable… Read More

New York: Printed [by the De Vinne Press] for the Grolier Club, 1887. ONE OF 250 COPIES on Holland paper and two on vellum. 180 x 110 mm. (7 1/8 x 4 1/2"). Two volumes.. GRACEFUL BROWN CRUSHED MOROCCO, GILT, BY SANGORSKI & SUTCLIFFE (stamp-signed on rear turn-in), upper cover framed by multiple gilt fillets interlaced at corners, center panel with gilt lettering at head and foot, and a six-petalled gilt ornament with inlaid green morocco dot at center, raised bands, gilt-ruled spine compartments and titling, gilt-ruled turn-ins, top edges gilt, other edges untrimmed. Each volume WITH AN ORIGINAL WATERCOLOR PORTRAIT of a main character from the novel by Alfred Brennan, dated 1907. ◆Small stain at head edge of free endpaper and flyleaf in volume I, otherwise AN ESPECIALLY FINE SET with no signs of use inside or out. With an original watercolor by a noted American illustrator and a binding by one of Edwardian England's top workshops, this is surely the ultimate copy of the Grolier Club's limited… Read More

London: Privately printed [by the Chiswick Press] for Beatrice Lowry and Her Friends, Minneapolis, 1910. ONE OF 100 COPIES (according to Howes). 215 x 147 mm. (8 1/2 x 5 7/8"). 31, [1] pp., [1] leaf (colophon). With a foreword by Mrs. Lowry. PLEASING EMERALD GREEN CRUSHED MOROCCO, GILT IN AN ARTS & CRAFTS STYLE, BY SANGORSKI & SUTCLIFFE (stamp-signed on rear turn-in), upper cover framed by multiple rules, entwined heart and trefoil tooling at corners, gilt lettering accented with floral tool above and below the central panel, which has three dots at each corner, raised bands, spine in gilt-ruled compartments, gilt titling, gilt-ruled turn-ins, pale green endpapers, top edge gilt. In contemporary green cloth drop-front box lined with felt. With a frontispiece portrait of Lowry. Howes L-541. ◆Trivial offsetting to free endleaves from turn-ins, a couple of tiny spots of foxing, otherwise in nearly pristine condition, with no signs of use inside or out. This is an exceptionally well-preserved copy of… Read More

Hammersmith: Doves Press, 1910 [i.e., 1911]. ONE OF 150 COPIES on paper (and 12 on vellum). 235 x 170 mm. (9 1/4 x 6 5/8"). 1 p.l., 7, [1] (blank) pp.From the text as edited, rearranged, and supplemented by J. W. Mackail. Original limp vellum by the Doves Bindery (stamp-signed on rear pastedown), flat spine lettered in gilt. Printed in red and black. Front pastedown with bookplates of Mary Priscilla Smith and Brooklyn Public Library. Tidcombe DP-21; Tomkinson, p. 56. ◆Vellum a little rumpled, with (naturally occurring) discoloration and mild soiling, but still a fine copy, clean, fresh, and bright internally, in a binding with few signs of wear. Attractively printed (as always) by the Doves Press, this short Latin poem of unknown origin is a hymn to love and springtime, celebrating the rites of the goddess of procreation Venus Genetrix, as observed over a three-day holiday in a Sicilian village. According to the Oxford Companion to Classical Literature, "it dates perhaps from the time of Hadrian… Read More

London: Smith, Elder and Co, 1845. 241 x 165 mm. (9 1/2 x 6 1/2"). x, 420 pp. Handsome contemporary brown pebble-grain half morocco, marbled sides and endpapers, raised bands, spine heavily and attractively gilt in six compartments with repeated motif of center lozenge surrounded by volute border, top edge gilt. Engraved frontispiece. ◆Joints and extremities with minor rubbing, frontispiece somewhat foxed, otherwise an excellent copy, fine internally. Philip Augustus (Philippe II, 1165-1223) was one of the great early French kings, doing much during his reign of 43 years to achieve national unity and to remove the English. The present work is a romance focusing on the king's declining years and is the fourth novel by George Payne Rainsford James (1799-1860), a prolific writer of romances, historical works, and biographies. His other works included "Richelieu," "Darnley," and "Memoirs of the Black Prince.".

Gouda: P. Rammazenius, 1638. FIRST EDITION of the "Philosophia Moysaica," bound with the First Latin Edition of the "Responsum.. 318 x 196 mm. (12 5/8 x 7 3/4"). 4 p.l., 96 leaves, 97-[112] pp., 113-152 leaves; 30, [1] leaves. Modern binding using part of a 16th century antiphonary leaf, flat spine. With two large copper-plate engravings, four copper-plates in text, and 26 woodcut figures in the text. Biblotheca Osleriana 2629; Gardner 237; Wheeler Gift 112; Ferguson I, 284; Wellcome I, 2331-32; Caillet 4036. See also: DSB, pp. 47-49. ◆Leaves faintly browned, occasional minor marginal stains or smudges, a few tiny rust spots, but AN EXCELLENT COPY of a book difficult to find this good--the leaves generally clean and very fresh, and in an unworn binding. Illustrated with abstruse and mysterious diagrams, this volume contains two separate books by an author who, while nominally part of the scientific community, had his feet firmly planted in the realm of the metaphysical. The bulk of the present… Read More

Paris: Levavasseur, 1830. FIRST EDITION. 197 x 127 mm. (7 3/4 x 5"). Two volumes.. Appealing rose-colored morocco by Fletcher Battershall (stamp-signed on front turn-in with his distinctive bat device), covers with mitered frame of double gilt rules, topiary cornerpieces, raised bands, spine compartments framed in gilt with leaf cornerpieces, gilt titling, turn-ins with gilt rules and leaves at corners, top edges gilt. Front pastedowns with large wood-engraved bookplate of the binder. Vicaire I, 181. ◆A dozen leaves spotted (four of these noticeably so), scarcely perceptible uniform fading to spines, but IN FINE CONDITION, the text otherwise clean, bright, and fresh, and the bindings with lustrous leather, glittering gilt, and virtually no wear. This is a pleasing copy of an early work in Balzac's celebrated multi-volume "Comédie Humaine," offered here in excellent amateur bindings by scholar, collector, connoisseur, and binder Fletcher W. Battershall. A lawyer by trade, Battershall (1866-1929)… Read More

London: R. Ackermann, 1821. FIRST EDITION. 346 x 273 mm. (13 5/8 x 10 3/4"). 1 p.l. (title), viii, 177, [1] pp. Publisher's red buckram, covers with blindstamped frame, upper cover with gilt titling, flat spine stamped with gilt strapwork panels and with gilt titling, all edges gilt. With engraved color vignette on title page, unsigned aquatint vignette at foot of last page, engraved color map, and 24 FINE HAND-COLORED AQUATINT PLATES by Augustus Pugin and John Gendall. Front pastedown with presentation bookplate to "Master E. Cockayne, / as the reward of merit, / by Mr. Bowling, / Milk Street Academy. / Sheffield, June 23rd, 1848." Abbey, "Travel" 90; Tooley 445. ◆Binding a little soiled, joints and extremities a bit worn, just the slightest offsetting from some plates onto text (one plate with offsetting from text, and half a dozen others with just a hint of the same), other trivial imperfections, but still A VERY DESIRABLE COPY, the binding sturdy and without any major defects, and the… Read More

Argenteuil: Printed at the Coulouma Press under the artistic supervision of J. E. Pouterman for the Blackamore Press, London, 1929. First Edition in English. No. 245 OF 375 COPIES for sale, 25 of these on Japanese vellum, and 35 hors commerce. 187 x 254 mm. (7 3/8 x 10"). 120 pp, [2] leaves.Translated from the French by C. Bruerton. Original blue buckram backed with vellum, smooth spine. With the dust jacket and slipcase. With 12 wood engravings in color by René Ben Sussan. Inscribed in ink on limitations page: "pour Charles Peignot / amicalement / J. E. Pouterman." ◆Vellum a little soiled, buckram lightened by glue along edge of vellum, a little rubbed at extremities, but the binding entirely satisfactory, and fine internally. This attractively printed and illustrated volume is the result of an international effort. A mystery told from several points of view and set in the U.S. state of Virginia, it was written--originally in French--by an American who was the first non-French national elected… Read More

New York: Éditions de la Maison Française, 1942. FIRST EDITION (preceeding the French edition). No. 431 OF 450 COPIES on Corsican paper (from a total edition of 526). 223 x 183 mm. (8 3/4 x 7 1/8"). 253, [1] (blank) pp. Original tan printed paper wrappers, ENTIRELY UNOPENED. With a small leaf marked "431" in red loosely inserted. ◆Wrapper with two negligible edge tears, but an exceptionally fine copy of a very fragile book, with everything clean and fresh inside and out. This is an unusually attractive, obviously unread copy of the true first edition (preceding the Paris printing by nine months) of Saint-Exupéry's account of his exploits when flying reconnaissance for the Armée de l'Air during the 1940 battle for France. Of his time as a pilot, Saint-Exupéry says that it was hazardous work: of the 23 crews in his unit, 17 were sacrificed in the early days of the battle, "like glasses of water thrown onto a forest fire." Such turns of phrase moved Robert McFarlane, in an essay for "The… Read More

London: Duckworth & Co, 1898. No. 21 OF 60 COPIES on Japanese vellum, 50 of which were for sale. 228 x 175 mm. (9 x 6 7/8"). 4 p.l., 63, [1] pp. SUPERB BROWN CRUSHED MOROCCO, EXUBERANTLY GILT AND INLAID, BY THE HAMPSTEAD BINDERY (stamp-signed on front free endleaf), covers with central lozenge of inlaid stylized red and green morocco lilies, connected by delicate, gilt calligraphic flourishes, this enclosed by a frame of similar inlaid botanical shapes and gilt tooling, smooth spine with vertical offset gilt lettering intertwined with dotted gilt vine, ELABORATELY GILT BROWN MOROCCO DOUBLURES inlaid with a strapwork lozenge formed by purple morocco knots and citron morocco hexagons, all on a background with myriad stippled gilt vines terminating in gilt circlets, vellum endleaves, top edge gilt. In a green buckram drop-back box lined with fleece. With printer's device on title page, strapwork ornament on final page, and seven hand-colored plates by Leslie L. Brooke. Printed on Japon. See Day,… Read More

Stratford-upon-Avon: Shakespeare Head Press, [1923-27]. No. 11 OF 106 SIGNED SETS printed on Batchelor's Kelmscott paper, this being one of 100 copies for sale, from an overall edition limited to 606 copies, each volume signed by the editor Harley Granville-Barker, the art editor Albert Rutherston, and the volume's illustrator. 328 x 242 mm. (13 x 9 1/2"). Seven volumes.. Publisher's deluxe chocolate brown morocco by Riviere & Son (three volumes) or olive brown morocco by Zaehnsdorf (four volumes), sides tooled in gilt with a Grolieresque-style border containing dolphins, fleurs-de-lys, acanthus leaves, and flame tool, raised bands, spine panels with small gilt "X" tool, gilt titling, top edges gilt, other edges untrimmed. With a total of 42 color collotype plates and 99 woodcuts in the text by Albert Rutherston, Norman Wilkinson, Charles Ricketts, Thomas Lowinsky, Paul Nash, and Ernst Stern. Front pastedown with bookplate of John Herbert Bankes and Mary Priscilla Smith. Ransom, p. 12. ◆Spines… Read More

London: W. H. Allen & Co, 1882. First Collected Edition. 230 x 146 mm. (9 x 5 3/4"). Volume II lacking title page. Two volumes. Edited, prefaced, and annotated by Richard Herne Shepherd. Pleasing contemporary scarlet three-quarter morocco over buckram by Jeremiah Larkins (stamp-signed on verso of front free endpaper), raised bands, spines gilt in compartments with central starburst of lancet tools, curling cornerpieces, gilt lettering, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt, other edges untrimmed. Original blue cloth spine bound in. ◆Bindings lightly soiled, very minor wear to extremities, gutter open at final page of volume I (though without causing looseness), trivial foxing, but still quite appealing--entirely clean and fresh internally, and in well-preserved bindings. This is an attractively bound copy of the first collected edition of Dickens' plays and poems, which was immediately suppressed after its publication due to copyright infringement. The piece that caused the trouble was the play "No… Read More

[London]: Nonesuch Press, 1929. No. 667 of 1,600 copies. 208 x 134 mm. (8 1/8 x 5 1/4"). x, 138 pp., [1] leaf (colophon). Translated by John Glanvill, with a prologue by David Garnett. Publisher's flexible vellum, upper cover with gilt astrological design, flat spine with vertical titling, edges untrimmed and two-thirds of the leaves UNOPENED. In the original (slightly worn) green paper slipcase printed with gold stars. Eight astrological decorations designed by T. L. Poulton and stencilled at the Curwen Press in blue, gray, and gold. Front pastedown with neat pencilled signature of M. Slocum, Pasadena. Dreyfus 65. ◆A touch of browning to untrimmed edges, otherwise a very fine copy, virtually unchanged from the day it was issued. Described by press founder Francis Meynell as "a little peach of a book," this discussion on the heliocentric universe was one of the significant works of the Enlightenment. First published in 1686, it takes the form of a conversation between a philosopher and a marquise… Read More