Rare books from Lux Libri

Cambridge: George Nichols, 1848. 1st edition. (BAL 13069.) A verse parable based on the Arthurian legend of the Holy Grail. A popular poem by J.R. Lowell (1819-91), a leading American literary figure of the 19th century. An alternate telling of the Grail story, in which Sir Launfal does not join in the quest. 27 pages. Slim 12mo. 7.4 x 4.5 inches. Original pale yellow paper boards. Good condition. Lacking the backstrip, as is often the case with this delicately bound book. Front board loose at the lower joint. Text generally clean with occasional marginal spots. Small old ink initials on the front pastedown. Wear to the extremities and small section of paper missing from lower back corner. A sound copy overall in a clear archival jacket.

Self-published in Washington, DC, in 1889. 1st edition. [BAL 9371.] A scarce early title by Richard Hovey (1864-1900), noted American poet, composer and playwright. An ode in verse to Mary Day Lanier, the widow of Georgia poet Sidney Lanier (1842-81.) 16 + (1) pages. Printed recto only, with blank versos. Laurel leaf vignette to title page. Later plain gray paper wraps, bound with red ribbon through twin hole punches at the spine. A VG copy of an elusive title by Hovey, who is perhaps best remembered as author of the Dartmouth College alma mater, "Men of Dartmouth."

NY: Fleming H. Revell Company, (1912.) 1st edition. Signed and inscribed on the front free endpaper: "Greetings to a friend of my friend, / Zephine Humphrey Fahnestock / Dorset, [Vermont] 1941." A scarce biographical memoir of her mother, Harriet L. Sykes Humphrey (1832-1910), a social reformer and religious lecturer who was an early influence on future Nobel laureate Jane Addams. 292 pp. 8vo hardcover. Gray paper-covered boards with red lettering and decorative border. Fair to Good only. Front hinge cracked but holding. Binding weak along the front joint. Chipped at head of spine about one-quarter inch, not affecting the spine label. Text clean and unmarked. Protected by a new clear archival dust jacket. An imperfect but intact copy.

Dessineés par [Félix] Bracquemond. Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, Éditeur, 1872. 1st edition in a fine binding. A scarce, complete suite of 16 original etchings by Bracquemond to illustrate the Lemerre edition of the works of Françoise Rabelais (d. 1553.) No text, apart from a captioned leave in French preceding each etching. The first is a portrait of Rabelais, and the others depict scenes from The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel. 32 leaves, printed recto side only. 8vo. Handsomely bound in one-quarter red Morocco over marbled boards. Matching endpapers. Raised spine bands, gilt lettering and top page edge. Ribbon page marker. Original paper wraps bound in. Near Fine with minor rubbing. A bit of intermittent foxing in the blank margins and not affecting the images. Ownership signature and bookplate of Henri D'Arles (1870-1930), French-Canadian author and Dominican priest in New England. Small book label of A.G. McAleer.

Milano: Adelphi Edizione, (2009.) Signed, limited edition of 500 copies; this is no. 380. Signed by Roberto Calasso on the limitation page. Also signed and dated by him on the title page with a brief inscription "for Paul / a forest of images / Roberto." A special edition of Calasso's masterwork. A brilliant retelling of the Greek myths for a modern audience. With 384 illustrations of images from antiquity, the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili of 1499, and other sources. Text is in the original Italian. (Published in English as The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony.) 558 pp. Printed in Italy by Arti Grafiche Amiliare Pizzi on ivory Bodonia paper. A big, impressive folio. 12.5 x 8.5 inches. Buckram cloth with black spine lettering. Fine in Fine dust jacket with archival cover. A beautiful, unread copy of this classic work of mythography. Scarce in this signed edition.

NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2010. 1st edition, 1st printing. Signed on the first blank page by President Carter. Also included is the autograph of Vice President Walter Mondale on a blank index card that is laid in loose and not attached to the book. See images. Thick hardcover in dust jacket. xv, 570 pp + 24 pp of b&w photographs. Near Fine overall. A nice collectible copy with the signatures of both Carter and Mondale. Clean and securely bound. No owner signatures or bookplates. Jacket is unclipped and protected by a new, clear archival cover.

[Paris]: Chez l'Auteur, 1897. 1st edition. No. 172 of 500 copies on vellum paper. Issued for subscribers, with two portraits by Théophile Steinlen. Signed by Jehan Rictus on the half-title page in 1921 for Marcel Quentin. There is also a laid-in letter from Rictus dated 1918 with wartime and literary content. A collection of poems on the plight of the poor. Written in the common language of the streets and cafes of Paris amid the widening social disparities of the Belle Époque at the close of the 19th century. ***Bound with Huit Lithographies en Couleurs de Sunyer pour Les Soliloques du Pauvre de Jehan Rictus. Eight colored lithographs by [Joaquim] Sunyer. No. 4 of just 8 signed suites on Japan paper. Each lithograph with remarque and pencil signature of Sunyer (1874-1956.) Important early work by the Catalan painter, created soon after his arrival in Paris as a young artist. Originally published separately in portfolio format by Pierre Duffau in 1897 and now quite scarce, especially in this small… Read More

Leipzig: Weidmann's Erben und Reich, 1768. The scarce 1st edition of Wieland's verse romance, The Philosophy of the Graces. A narrative poem that advocates rational unity between the sensual and the spiritual. A classic of Enlightenment literature by Wieland (1733-1813), a key figure in Weimar Classicism along with Goethe, Herder, and Schiller. 96 pp. German text in fraktur. 12mo hardcover. Rebound in modern paper boards in an appropriate period style. New endpapers. Engraved title page vignette of two wrestlers. Binding is Near Fine. Good internally. Slight trimming at the lower margin of the title. Large, old paper repair to tears in the last leaf. In all, a sturdy and attractive copy.