Rare books from Martin Frost

1790. Fine. 14 22 3.5. THIS BOOK IS UNIQUE. Hidden scene on the fore page edges (under the gilding) on both volumes. Tan calf bindings. Gilt embossed edges and centre panel on all sides. Black title plates and gilt banding and titles on the spine. Gilt on all page edges. Dimensions are for one volume. Supplied in a newly made protective box. Magnificent Fore Edge Edition Fore-edge painting: With a double concealed fore-edge painting revealing two scenes. In very good condition. The first known example of a disappearing fore-edge painting (where the painting is not visible when the book is closed) dates to 1649. Around 1750, the subject matter of fore-edge paintings changed from simply decorative or heraldic designs to landscapes, portraits and religious scenes, usually painted in full colour. The technique was popularised in the 18th century by John Brindley (1732-1756), publisher and bookbinder to the Prince of Wales and Edwards of Halifax, a distinguished family of bookbinders and booksellers. The… Read More

1640. Fine. 26 34 . Brown leather with gilt title and decoration on the spine. Gilt "Cambridge panel" design on both boards. Presented in a black protective box.
F.B.A. provides an in-depth photographic presentation of this item to stimulate your feel and touch. More traditional book descriptions are immediately available.
A very clean example inclusive of First Edition parts
An early rebound compilation of Jonson’s work.
Any serious buyer should request further information along with photographs.
Cosmetic blemishes aside, a very good and well margined copy in a contemporary binding. "This book. is a handsome specimen of typography. It reflects great credit upon its printer, Stansby, who was an apprentice and then successor to John Windet, and himself a master printer. Such work entitles him to a front rank among the printers of the reign of James I. Jonson is said to have prepared the plays for the press, himself, and one or two matters of editing, certainly, appear to show the author's hand. At… Read More

1802. New edition. Fine. 11 18 3. Half tan Niger goatskin with Italian hand-marbled paper. Clean throughout. Professionally restored.

F.B.A. provides an in-depth photographic presentation of this item to stimulate your feel and touch. More traditional book descriptions are immediately available.

This is a first edition of the revised English edition

L'An 2440, rêve s'il en fut jamais (literally, in English, The Year 2440: A Dream If Ever There Was One; but the title has been rendered into English as Memoirs of the Year Two Thousand Five Hundred or Memoirs of the Year 2500, and also as Astraea's Return, or The Halcyon Days of France in the Year 2440: A Dream) is a 1771 novel by Louis-Sébastien Mercier.

It has been described as one of the most popular and controversial novels of the 18th century, one of the earliest works of science fiction, and the first work of utopian fiction set in the future rather than at a distant place in the present.

The novel describes the adventures of… Read More

First full book edition
These three volumes published by Richard Bentley, the owner of Bentley's Miscellany, under the Dicken's pseudonym, "Boz"
Oliver Twist: or, the Parish Boy's Progress, Charles Dickens's second novel, was published as a serial from 1837 to 1839, and as a three-volume book in 1838. Born in a workhouse, the orphan Oliver Twist is sold into apprenticeship with an undertaker. After escaping, Oliver travels to London, where he meets the "Artful Dodger", a member of a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal Fagin.
Oliver Twist portrays unromantically the sordid lives of criminals and exposes the cruel treatment of the many orphans in London in the mid-19th century. The alternative title, The Parish Boy's Progress, alludes to Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, as well as the 18th-century caricature series by painter William Hogarth, A Rake's Progress and A Harlot's Progress.
In this early example of the social novel, Dickens satirises child labour, domestic violence, the… Read More

Brown leather spine with green and red title plate, raised and gilt banding with gilt title on the spine. Brown marbled boards. Seven volumes. Supplied in a fitted box. Dimensions are per volume.
Originally purchased and owned by a Scarborough resident, lately magnificently rebound.
William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. They also continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married… Read More

1876. first edition. Fine. 13 19 1.5. Green grained leather binding by Lauriat CC Boston. Gilt design on outside edges, title and spine. Presentation copy.

in a newly made protective box.

A classic First Edition

 The Hunting of the Snark, subtitled An Agony in 8 Fits, is a poem by the English writer Lewis Carroll. It is typically categorised as a nonsense poem. Written between 1874 and 1876, it borrows the setting, some creatures, and eight portmanteau words from Carroll's earlier poem "Jabberwocky" in his children's novel Through the Looking-Glass (1871).

The narrative follows a crew of ten trying to hunt the Snark, a creature which may turn out to be a highly dangerous Boojum. The only crewmember to find the Snark quietly vanishes, leading the narrator to explain that the Snark was a Boojum after all. The poem is dedicated to young Gertrude Chataway, whom Carroll met at the English seaside town Sandown in the Isle of Wight in 1875. Included with many copies of the first edition… Read More

Circa 1670. Fine. 16 23 6. A truly unique 17th Century Book with great historic significance.
Professionally rebound in brown calf with red and green title plates, gilt decoration, banding and title on the spine. In a protective box. Dimensions are for the box.
“AFTER SHAKESPEARE AND CHAUCER, JOHN MILTON IS THE MOST EMINENT POET IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE”: SCARCE 1673 EDITION OF MILTON’S POEMS, ISSUED ONLY ONE YEAR BEFORE HIS DEATH.
This copy includes a First Edition of Paradise Regained along with the prominent work of Samson Agonistes accompanied by Poemata.
This book is lovingly restored by Brian Cole from papers found in an old repository in Hull, Yorkshire.The interior pages are restored with light expert cleaning; along with expert restoration to board extremities.
BELOW FLOWS A BRIEF OUTLINE OF MILTON’S LIFE & MAJOR WORKS
John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem Paradise Lost, written in blank verse and including… Read More

Brown calf binding with raised banding and gilt title on the spine. Embossed decorative border on both boards. In a newly made fitted box.
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In researching the history of 'Novum Testamentum' there are some established facts and then matters of repute - drilling down on repute I am having difficulty in converting repute to fact.
Facts

The book was printed by Charlotte Guillard who inherited France's then most prestigious Print shop. Her history and that of the print works along with their production of 'Novum Testamentum' is recorded.
The book was given by the French ambassador, Antoine, 1st comte de Noailles, to Queen Mary in July 1554 to mark her marriage to Philip.
The Novum Testamentum has handwriting within which is identified with that of Queen Mary Tudor, there are also extensive symbols which are associated with the Jesuits.
The Novum Testamentum was removed from the library of Traquair House,… Read More

1936. Fine. 15 20 3. Half calf binding with tan cloth boards. Gilt R K stamped on front board. Red title plates with gilt lettering and banding on the spine. Presentation copy.

H.G. Wells personal signed copy with production notes etc.

The Man Who Could Work Miracles is a black-and-white 1937 British fantasy-comedy film directed by the German-born American director Lothar Mendes. Reputedly the best-known of Mendes' 20 films, it's a greatly expanded version of H. G. Wells's 1898 short story of the same name and stars Roland Young with a cast of supporting players including Sir Ralph Richardson, in a London Films production from the famous Hungarian-born British producer, Sir Alexander Korda. H. G. Wells himself worked on the adaptation, revising the plot to reflect his socialist frustrations with the British upper class, and the growing threat of Communism, Fascism and Nazism in Europe at the time, something which Mendes, Korda and Wells were all committed to combating in their… Read More

1716 -1746. Fine. 13 19 2.5. Tan leather binding with red and brown title plates, gilt banding and lettering on the spine.

The Jacobite Rebellion. Seven tracts bound as one volume.

A unique compilation from Jacobite supporters of the 1715 and 1745 rebellions

An extraordinary set of First Editions worthy of the best of museums.

This copy is reputed to have come from the library of Traquair, Scotland’s Oldest Inhabited House. Visited by 27 Scottish Kings and Queens Traquair dates back to 1107 and has been lived in by the Stuart family since 1491. Originally a royal hunting lodge, Traquair played host to Mary Queen of Scots and later as staunch Catholics they supported the Jacobite cause without counting the cost.

James II and VII (14 October 1633. – 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685 until he was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. He was… Read More

1695. first edition. Very good. 21 32 3. Full leather binding. Red title plate with Gilt lettering on the spine.

First Edition

Blackmore had a passion for writing epics. Prince Arthur, an Heroick Poem in X Books appeared in 1695. He supported the Glorious Revolution, and Prince Arthur was a celebration of William III. The poem was based on the form of Virgil's The Aeneid and the subject matter of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae. It told of the Celtic King Arthur opposing the invading Saxons and taking London, which was a transparent encoding of William III opposing the "Saxon" James II and taking London. John Dennis derided the poem as being "servile" in its treatment of Geoffrey of Monmouth and having an inconsequential and fearful hero. Nevertheless, it went through three editions and William made Blackmore physician-in-ordinary (a position he would hold with Queen Anne as well), gave him a gold medal, and knighted him in 1697. William also assigned… Read More

1905. Fine. 16 23 4.5. Navy leather spine with textured boards. Gilt shipping engraving on both front boards. Gilt banded rectangles and lettering on the spine. Gilt top edges.

Historic: A very distinctive and well bound edition

 THE BOOK THAT SHAPED TODAYS WORLD

Alfred Thayer Mahan (September 27, 1840 – December 1, 1914) was a United States naval officer and historian, whom John Keegan called "the most important American strategist of the nineteenth century." His book The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660–1783 (1890) won immediate recognition, especially in Europe, and with its successor, The Influence of Sea Power Upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793–1812 (1892), made him world-famous and perhaps the most influential American author of the nineteenth century

Mahan's views were shaped by 17th-century conflicts between the Dutch Republic, England, France and Spain, and by the nineteenth-century naval wars between France and Great Britain. British naval… Read More

Tan leather binding with red title plate, gilt decoration and title on the spine. Gilt 'Cambridge panel' decoration on the boards. In Latin. Rebacked many years ago.
Chacón, A., Historia utriusque belli Dacici a Traiano Caesare gesti. With 2 coppers on 1 l. and 132 ( 2 multiple folding) copper plates. Rome, J. Mascardi 1616. Please download the enclosed selected photographs - upon application all 132+ photographs can be forwarded to interested parties. Naturally, galleries and museums can benefit from a discounted price as it is preferred that this precious volume remains intact.


This is a great book, a magnificent work of art perfected on a series of coppers on Trajan's Column in Rome by the best the world has seen.


The First Edition (1576) was crafted by Giulio Pippi (after Raphael)


This 1616 book (the second edition) is one of the most remarkable Renaissance series of illustrations. These coppers were made by Francesco Villamena, who followed the models & workings of Raphael and his students… Read More

Professionally rebound with navy calf spine, black title plates and gilt banding and lettering. Blue and green design cloth boards matching marbled edges. In A fitted box.
(Price is for the seven volumes).
A very fine set of seven Bronte related books printed in the 1870's & 1880's and meticulously rebound by the craftsman Brian Cole in blue leather with gold lettering.
The titles are Jane Eyre; Tennant of Wildfell Hall; Villette; Shirley; The Professor – Poems; Wuthering Heights – Agnes Grey; and the Life of Charlotte Bronte.
Wuthering Heights is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their turbulent relationships with Earnshaw's foster son, Heathcliff. The novel was influenced by Romanticism and Gothic fiction. Wuthering Heights is now widely considered to be one of the greatest novels ever written in English, but contemporaneous… Read More

Rebound with brown antique calf binding with red title plate, gilt banding and title on the spine. Some tanning.
Embossed 'Cambridge panel' on both boards.
(A New and Complete Illustration of the Celestial Science of Astrology.
This book (a grimoire) is expertly restored and rebound by the craftsman bookbinder, Mr Brian Cole. In the traditional sense Volumes 1, 2. & 3 are orthodoxly intact (vol 3 in particular pertaining to the USA). There is NO separate Volume 4, though as was the want of the publication, matters that relate to Volume 4 are inserted back into the previous three volumes. This book has an interesting history, being held in a masonic library for many years of its life. The book was then given to a Yorkshire Reference Library from which the book was purchased, prior to its restoration by Mr. Brian Cole.
In Britain, grimoires continued to be produced throughout the 18th century, such as Ebenezer Sibly's A New and Complete Illustration of the Celestial Science of Astrology. In the last… Read More