Rare books from Timeless Tales Rare Books

A very rare signed edition of privately printed 100 copies of Captain Francis W Dawson's memoir by The News and Courier Book Press. Blue-gray cloth binding decorated with red stamped C.S.A and embellishments. 240 x 150 mm. (9 3/8 x 5 7/8"). 180 pp.
Author signed: "Mr. W.L. Daggett, from F.W. Dawson, Jan 1883". The author inscribed this book to William L. Daggett (1824-1889), a printer working for the Charleston's News and Courier with Dawson. Presumably Mr. Daggett was responsible for printing this book, making this a presentation copy.
This very rare book is a remarkable account of an Englishman traveling to the American South to join the Southern Confederacy. His book includes 18 wartime letters to his friends and family in England.
Note: A few pages (pp 9-16) inside are loosening from spine (not completely detached, there is also no loss to text or tear), hence we have adequately reduced the price. Overall this book is in great condition and would be a beautiful addition to the library of someone… Read More

Volume I--(Second Edition) The Fables of Aesop Paraphras'd in Verse: Adorn'd with Sculpture. London: Printed by Thomas Roycroft for the Author, 1668. Second edition with new title page, a re-issue of the 1665 edition sheets. This volume contains the frontispiece, engraved vignettes and initials, (missing Ogilby portrait), and has all eighty-one full-paged plates in fabulous condition. Light yellowing/browning of initial few pages as regular. Volume II--(Second Edition) Aesopics, or a Second Collection of Fables, illustrated with sixty-eight full-paged plates in early issue before captions were added. Pages are remarkably clean without any browning. Large folio volumes, both illustrated throughout; Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) engraved eighty-eight of the illustrations for these works, the others were executed by Dirck Stoop (c. 1610-1686) and Francis Barlow (c. 1626-1704). Both volumes are uniformly re-bound with original leather panels inset in full brick morocco bindings with gilt titles.

Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, 3 vol., first 'Jesuit's' edition, titles in red and black with engraved vignette, illustrations and diagrams, in quarto (4to)
Usual minor damp-staining and foxing, old ink stamp to titles, contemporary sheep, original hardcover, spines gilt, worn, Geneva, 1739-42.
The Jesuit edition is based on the third edition of Newton's Principia (1687), by the minim frias Thomas Le Seur (1703-1770), François Jacquier (1711-1788), both of whom were French priests, and Jean-Louis Calandrini (1703-1758), a Swiss mathematician. This edition includes several commentaries, explanations and addendums to the Principia that did not originate with Newton. The editors of the "Jesuit Edition", made use of the formalism developed by Leonhard Euler (1707-1783), outlined in his work Mechanica (1736), to rewrite Principia's propositions into differential equations.Notably, the commentators "1) explain Newton's propositions in a clearer manner than Newton did; 2) translate the… Read More

First edition in English, translated by Thomas Bedingfeld, small folio, title page printed within woodcut compartment, older inscriptions to title, (marginal paper reinforcements to verso of title, ink stains), water staining to contents, some marginal paper reinforcement to several other leaves, bound in 19th century half calf with marbled paper boards; ex libris a member of the Rogers family, with engraved armorial bookplate pasted inside front board, trimmed, lacking final blank Y4, 10 9/16 x 7 1/4 in.

Extremely rare Second quarto edition of 1691, uniquely bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe; Although Julius Caesar appeared in the First Folio of 1623, it did not appear separately in a quarto edition until 1684, almost impossible to find now. This second quarto edition offered was published in 1691; four undated later editions were subsequently published around 1695, without priority, before the turn of the century; some foxing to text leaves, paper flaw to lower outer corner of H2 without loss of text, complete with initial blank A1, a tall copy with headlines and bottom lines intact, 8 5/8 x 6 1/2 in.
Provenance-bookplate of Kenneth Rapoport, American bibliophile renowned for his library of rare scientific works.
London: Printed for Henry Herringman & Richard Bentley, 1691.

First edition, very rare first print of the first issue; 4 folio volumes, 412x262 mm, of this extraordinary work, considered to be one of the finest illustrated books ever produced in France. Coeval binding, red morocco plates framed by golden roulette, smooth caramel-coloured spine with gold friezes and two inserts with title and volume number in gold, gold edges, marbled paper endpapers, cases lined with marbled paper. Vol. I: Frontispiece, Full-page portrait, pages XXX, XVIII, 124, 70 Plates; Vol. II: pp. [4], II, 135, 1 blank, 68 Plates; Vol. III: pp. [4], IV, 146, 68 Plates;Vol. IV: pp. [4], II, 188, 69 Plates. All volumes with half-title and title pages unnumbered. Vignette in the title, engraved headpieces and finials, 209 woodcuts in the text. Splendid allegorical frontispiece with the bust of La Fontaine of Oudry, finished by Dupuis and engraved by Cochin, a portrait of Oudry engraved by Tardieu based on a design by Largillière (rarely found only in some cases) and 275 plates engraved in… Read More

Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, third edition, half-title, engraved portrait frontispiece, title in red and black, woodcut illustrations and diagrams, some foxing and soiling, contemporary calf, joints and corners worn, 4to, William & John Innys, 1726.This edition was edited by Henry Pemberton and Sir Isaac Newton wrote a preface with new edits, just one year before he passed away in 1727. This third edition printed in London is the very basis of all subsequent printings of the Principia and a true history existing through time.One out of 1250 copies printed and with complete pagination, this copy is a remarkable and rare book in the history of science.

The Third Octavo Edition of Audubon's Masterpiece- The Birds of America, from Drawings made in the United States and their Territories.
7 vol., 500 hand-coloured lithograph plates after Audubon by W.E. Hitchock, R. Trembly and others re-issued by J. W. Audubon, tissue guards, wood-engraved anatomical diagrams, occasional light off-setting, plates clean and bright, publisher's original morocco, ornately blind-stamped.
This third octavo edition differed most notably from the first octavo in the addition of tinted lithographic-wash backgrounds to the plates.
8vo, New York, Roe Lockwood & Son, 1861.

Personal copy of Prince Gholam Mohammed Sultan of Calcutta, with his calling card (bookplate) fixed to pastedown of front cover. Prince Gholam Mohammed was the only legitimate son of Tipoo Sultan.
8vo, full brown morocco gilt, inner dentelles, binding signed by W.H. Dalton, all edges gilt, 4 engraved plates (3 hand-colored). Corners lightly bumped, very slight edge wear, some offsetting from illustrations.
The inside of the front cover has a larger card inscribed, "This Book was presented to me by His Highness Prince Gholam Mahumed son of Tippoo Sultan on the occasion of my visit to him, 9 June A.D. 1859. British Hotel, Cockspur Street, London."
A very unique copy with historic provenance!

First edition of the lavishly illustrated presentation of the Spanish classic of Don Quixote! London: J. and R. Tonson and R. Dodsley, 1742. 4to, 2 volume set. 10.75" x 9". With engraved portrait of Cervantes and 68 fine engraved copperplates by Gerard Vander Gucht after drawings of John Vanderbank. xxiv, [8], xxv-xxxii, vi, [2], 90, [14], 355, [1]; xii, 388 pp.
Includes the reimpression of the Life of Cervantes, with title dated 1738. Bound here in modern 1/4 calf over marbled boards. The first edition of this translation by Jervas, here with the scarce 8-page "Supplement to the Translator's Preface" inserted between pages xxiv and xxv (not found in all copies; some call this a second issue-point). A handsome edition, presented in a large quarto format with finely engraved plates. The translation was by Charles Jervas, whose name was consistently misspelled on editions of his translation as "Jarvis." ESTC T59882.
The portrait of Cervantes by G. Kent, engraved by George Vertue, is opposite to the… Read More

First edition of the rare illustrated description of Hindostan by the Belgian Painter Francois Balthazar Solvyns.
Folio (384 x 270 mm). Text in English and French; 60 hand-colored engraved plates by Scott or Vivares after Solvyns watermarked 1800, 1802, or 1804, occasionally with tissue guards. Contemporary red morocco-backed boards, red morocco corners, sides with central gilt "E A" cypher, smooth spine gilt, uncut (short vertical tear on spine panel, a few neat repairs to spine ends). The text is in English and French, there is very slight offsetting from plate to text.
Provenance: Eugène Rose de Beauharnais (1781-1824), French general in the Napoleonic Wars, and Viceroy of Italy (cypher on binding); Princess Augusta Amalia Ludovika Georgia of Bavaria (1788-1851), wife of Eugène Rose de Beauharnais and daughter of Napoleon's ally Maximilian I of Bavaria (cypher on binding); Eugene de Savitsch (bookplate dated 1948).
Solvyns was a Belgian painter and engraver who lived in Calcutta from 1791 to… Read More

Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Meccah. London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1855-1856., First Edition.
3 volumes. 4to. 14 plates, including 5 chromolithographic plates and 8 tinted lithographic plates, one folding engraved map, 3 plans (2 folding), 24 pp publisher's catalogue (dated September 1854) at end of volume I.
Publisher's blue cloth stamped in black on covers, gilt lettered on spine, terracotta printed endpapers, binder's ticket of Edmonds & Remnants on rear paste-down of volume III. Rubbed, corners bumped, partially removed library check-out list on front paste-down of volume III, very minor and scattered browning.First Edition of "one of the greatest works of travel ever published" (Penzer). Burton, the first English Christian to enter Mecca (performing the Hajj disguised as a Muslim), was also the first to travel between the Holy Cities of Islam by way of the Eastern route. Abbey Travel 368; Penzer, pp 49-50.

A Picturesque Tour along the Rivers Ganges and Jumna, in India. Author- Charles Forrest. London: R. Ackermann, July 1, 1824.
Folio (330 x 275 mm). 24 hand-colored aquatint plates byThomas Sutherland and G. Hunt after Forrest, folding engraved frontispiece map, hand-colored aquatint engraved vignettes on title-page and bottom of final page of text (p 191). Rebacked polished calf gilt, retaining contemporary spine and covers. Plates are almost spotless, brightly colored; minor offsetting of text inside; internally clean. Housed in a beautiful custom box.
Provenance: The Max and Peter Allen Collection. First Edition. This extraordinary work was one of Ackermann's first publications, beginning with a text on the history of India followed by finely detailed aquatint illustrations of scenes along the Ganges and Jumna. Abbey Travel 441; Tooley 227.

Monuments Anciens et Modernes de l'Hindoustan, First Edition, 1821, Paris.
2 volumes, folio (416 x 290mm).
Half-titles present, first volume with large engraved vignette by Henry Salt on title, double-page letterpress table - "Tableau des factoteries Européennes", 3 maps hand-coloured in outline and all 143 plates present, of which 16 are in colour or sepia (some foxing and browning, mainly to text leaves, not affecting images).
Original Marbled boards, title in gilt on red label, uncut copy; some wear and chips to spine, specially at the head.
Vol 1 needs recasing (ask if needed, additional charges will be required); otherwise the overall binding is in good condition.
Provenance: G. Botta (bookplates).
An uncut copy of this interesting illustrated work dedicated to India/Hindostan. The author, Langles, left his military career to study oriental cultures and this unfinished work is considered a rare masterpiece on ancient Indian monuments. The volumes explore the archaeological and aesthetic aspects… Read More

Complete 18th-century 9 volume set of the First Edition of John Latham's monumental work on scientific cataloging of birds, all illustrations hand-colored plate engravings in bright and vivid colors, including the 3-volume General Synopsis (1781-1785) bound in six, Supplement to the General Synopsis (1787, Leigh and Sotheby in one volume), and 2-volume Index Ornithologicus (1790).
The books are handsomely bound in full contemporary tan leather with gilt ruled boards, morocco spine labels, gilt lettering and decoration to spines.
A later supplement accompanying this 9-volume set was published in two volumes in 1801 and this compilation was republished later in 1821 as General History of Birds. The 1790 volumes of Index Ornithologicus present in this set is where Latham specified a binomial name for all the species which he had previously described. However, it was too late, as Johann Friedrich Gmelin had already published his own version of Linnaeus' Systema Naturæ in which he gave a scientific name… Read More