- Peter Harrington

Catalogue 97
Peter Harrington
london
Exceptional books
& manuscripts
1
Catalogue 97
We are exhibiting at the following book fairs in 2014
1–2 February
san francisco
San Francisco Antiquarian Book Print & Paper Fair
Fort Mason Festival Pavilion
www.sfbookandpaperfair.com
7–9 February
pasadena
47th California Internation Antiquarian Book Fair
Pasadena Convention Center
www.cabookfair.com
Peter Harrington
london
Catalogue 97
Spring 2014
3–6 April
new york
54th Annual New York Antiquarian Book Fair
Park Avenue Armory NYC
nyantiquarianbookfair.com
11–13 April
paris
Salon du Livre Ancien Paris
Grand Palais, Paris
www.salondulivreancienparis.fr
22–24 May
london
London International Antiquarian Book Fair
National Hall, Olympia
www.olympiabookfair.com
Full details of all these are available at www.peterharrington.co.uk/bookfairs,
where there is also a form to request us to bring items for your inspection at
the fairs
Illustrations on front and back cover taken from Aesop’s Appologi sive Mythologi cum quibusdam Carminum et Fabularum additionibus Sebastiani Brant, item 1.
Full descriptions and additional images of all items are available on our website
Orders to:
Peter Harrington
100 Fulham Road
London
sw3 6hs
United Kingdom
Tel + 44 (0)20 7591 0220
books@peterharrington.co.uk
www.peterharrington.co.uk
The items in this catalogue are offered for sale. The condition is guaranteed as described. Items ordered without prior inspection are understood to be sent on approval and may be returned for any reason within 10 days of receipt. Postage and insurance
are inclusive. We accept all major credit cards, as well as direct payment. Deferred billing may be arranged for institutions on request. Prices are given in UK pounds sterling: payment in other currencies may be arranged at the prevailing rate of exchange.
VAT no. gb 701 5578 50
3
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
Fine copy of the first Sebastian Brant edition, greatly expanded from earlier editions,
with woodcuts throughout
1
AESOP. Appologi sive Mythologi cum quibusdam
Carminum et Fabularum additionibus Sebastiani Brant.
Basel: Jacob Wolff of Pforzheim, 1501
One volume in two parts with distinct register, bound in two, folio (294
× 205 mm). Early 19th-century English straight-grained blue morocco
tooled in gilt and blind, each volume to a slightly different design, green
endpapers, vellum and paper endleaves, gilt edges; modern cloth folding box. Collation: a8 b–p8.6 q–s6 A–B8 C–D6 E–K8.6 L4 M6 (sigs. s6 and
M6 blank and genuine): 204 leaves, unnumbered, including 2 blanks:
complete. Gothic type. 335 woodcuts: full-page woodcut of Aesop and
193 woodcut illustrations in part I; woodcut portrait of Brant with his
coat-of-arms and 140 woodcut illustrations in part II. Calligraphic initials in type, woodcut white-on-black initials. Small wormholes, mostly
repaired, at beginning and end, small marginal section of first leaf repaired, 4 woodcuts lightly censored (as often, according to Davies) with
pale wash, causing a small hole in one, occasional neat repaired tears,
blank section of C3 renewed. An exceptionally fine copy.
first edition, edited and with verses, fables and
commentary by sebastian brant (1458–1521). An extremely fine copy from the Sussex–Huth–Jeudwine–Abrams–Arcana
4
collections, and rare on the market: only a handful of copies—
most imperfect—have come on the market in the past century.
Brant’s substantial additions expand Aesop into a significantly
more extensive compendium of fable and story bridging the
centuries from antiquity to the Renaissance. The German humanist and author of the Ship of Fools founded his edition of
Aesop on that printed at Ulm in 1476, noted not only for its
Latin translation by Heinrich Steinhöwel but for its extensive
and influential series of woodcuts. Brant expanded that work
with other fable literature which features in later incunable editions, such as the Fabulae Extravagantes (17 fables derived from
ancient sources), the 4/5th-century compilation of 42 fables by
Avian, and the Fabulae Collectae, short tales about human folly
derived from Petrus Alfonsi and Poggio Bracciolini. Brant gives
these texts a new treatment, amending their translations and
adding his own verse commentary. The second part of Brant’s
edition is an entirely new work: 140 chapters of fables, exempla, riddles, contemporary accounts of miracles and wonders
of nature, brought together from folk tradition, contemporary
reports, and sources reaching back to antiquity. They are told
with Brant’s characteristic combination of wit and style.
The book itself is a typographic masterpiece. Its unified design presents each woodcut followed by verse, then prose. The
woodcuts illustrating the Aesop corpus are enlarged, reversed
copies of the Ulm series, first used in Wolff ’s Basel edition of
c. 1489 (Goff A-115). To these are added 145 new woodcuts from
a Strassburg Master, most illustrating the second part and four
in part one replacing earlier versions. (Cf. B. Schneider, Brant
Fabeln, 1999.)
provenance: a) 1526 purchase inscription washed from first
leaf (emptus 1526 per christopher[i] … ), early MS pagination
in volume I; b) Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (1773–1843,
son of George III, bookplate; sale Evans, part IV, 22 April 1845,
lots 216 and 217); c) Henry Huth (1815–1878; sale Sotheby’s, 15
November 1911, lot 55, £106 to Quaritch); d) W. R. H. Jeudwine
(booklabel; sale Bloomsbury, 18 September 1984, lot 29); e)
George Abrams (booklabel; sale Sotheby’s, 16 November 1989,
lot 131); f ) Ladislaus von Hoffman, the Arcana Collection, sale
Christie’s, 27 October 2010, lot 1.
Adams A-291; Davies, Murray German, 20; VD-16 A-435.
£200,000
[81908]
5
Peter Harrington
2
One of the first technological books of the modern era, with superb woodcuts
AGRICOLA, Georgius. De re metallica, libri XII: quibus
Officia, Instrumenta, Machinae, ac omnia denique
ad Metallicam spectantia, non modo luculentissimè
describuntur, sed & per effigies, suis locis insertas,
adiunctis Latinis, Germanicisque appellationibus ita ob
oculos ponuntur, ut clarius tradi non possint. Eiusdem
De animantibus subterraneis Liber, ab Autore recognitus:
cum Indicibus diversis, quicquid in opere tractatum est,
pulchrè demonstrantibus. Basel: Hieronymus Froben and
Nicolaus Bischoff, March 1556
Folio (317 × 219 mm) in sixes, complete with blank leaf [alpha]6.
Seventeenth-century calf, skilfully rebacked with original spine laid
down, relined, spine gilt in compartments, red morocco label, double
gilt rules. Woodcut title device, repeated on Bb6v, 2 woodcut plates
(edges folded in), woodcut illustrations and diagrams in the text,
white-on-black initials. Roman, Greek, and gothic types. Binding
rubbed and with light scoring, early manuscript notes at head of title;
an excellent copy, clean and well-margined, of an important book not
uncommonly found in poor state.
first edition. “The first systematic treatise on mining and
metallurgy and one of the first technological books of modern
times” (PMM). The book is extensively illustrated with a fine series of almost 300 woodcuts, some signed with the monogram
“RMD”, generally attributed to Hans Rudolf Manuel Deutsch
6
Catalogue 97
3
(fl. 1525–1572) or, less commonly, Blasius Weffring. Preparation
of the woodcuts delayed publication until four months after
the author’s death.
Mining as an industry underwent dramatic changes in medieval
Europe, with the centre of technological development being
central Europe. From his base in Saxony, the prodigiously scholarly Georgius Agricola (the Latinized name of Georg Pawer) was
ideally placed to discuss the technologies used, the chemistry
behind the processes of mineral extraction, and—reflecting his
role as town physician at Joachimsthal, a centre of mining and
smelting works—the health and daily routine of mine workers.
One of the prime issues confronting medieval miners (and one
which Agricola explains in detail) was the removal of water from
mining shafts. Written over a 20-year period between 1530 and
1550, the 12 books have an earlier treatise on subterranean zoology, De animantibus subterraneis (first published Basel, 1549), appended, and “embrace everything connected with the mining
industry and metallurgical processes, including administration,
prospecting, the duties of officials and companies, and the manufacture of glass, sulphur and alum” (PMM).
Adams A-349; Brunet I, 113; Dibner Heralds 88; Duveen pp. 4–5; Grolier Science
2b; Hoover 17; Norman 20; Printing and the Mind of Man 79.
£45,000
[80925]
The most important Greek epic of the 3rd century bc, the tale of Jason and the Argonauts
APOLLONIUS RHODIUS. Argonautica [in Greek, with
the scholia of Lucillus, Sophocles, and Theon. Edited by
Joannes Laskaris.] Florence: [Laurentius (Francisci) de Alopa,
Venetus,] 1496
Median quarto (228 × 162 mm). Eighteenth-century Italian vellum
over pasteboard, unlettered, boards ruled round in blind with a twoline fillet, marbled pastedowns, sprinkled edges. Housed in a custom
brown morocco folding case. 172 leaves, including the final blank.
Greek types 114 (two sets of capitals designed by Laskaris, one large
for headings and initials letters, one small for the text). Commentary
(10–33 lines) in miniscule surrounding text (3–31 lines) in majuscule.
Small wormhole in text from v5 to end, occasionally affecting a few
letters; intermittent light foxing; an excellent copy.
editio princeps of the most important Greek epic of the 3rd
century bc, the definitive telling of the story of Jason and his
Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. The Argonautica is the only epic before Virgil’s Aeneid that can be compared
with Homer in subject and extent and it is the first epic to give
a prominent place to love. With the effect this had on subsequent writing it holds a significant place in the history of European literature.
Apollonius was sometime Alexandrian librarian before retiring
to Rhodes. The manuscript source of this first printing was a
10th-century version discovered by Giovanni Aurispa during his
book-buying trip in the Orient in 1421–3 (now Codex Laurentius
XXXXII 9, also containing plays by Sophocles and Aeschylus).
The editor Laskaris “was not only the moving spirit in the
second Florentine Greek press, that of Lorenzo di Alopa, but
himself designed the majuscule fount which distinguishes the
books issued from that press from any others. Born in 1445, he
began his career in Italy as a protégé of Bessarion, who sent
him to study under Chalkondulas at Padova. Left without resources, like so many of his countrymen, by the death of his
patron in 1472, he followed Chalkondulas to Florence; gained
there a great reputation by his lectures, and the favour of Lorenzo the Magnificent, who appointed him his librarian, and
sent him on two journeys in the East to buy manuscripts …
While he was absent on his second voyage Lorenzo died, and
on his return to Florence Laskaris undertook the editing of the
Anthology and other Greek classics for Lorenzo di Alopa … He
died in 1535, at the age of ninety” (Robert Proctor, The Printing
of Greek in the Fifteenth Century, pp. 78–82).
HC 1292*; Pell 912; CIBN A-478; Arnoult 109; Polain (B) 283; IGI 753; Sallander
2042; Madsen 282; Voull (B) 2990; Walsh 2964, 2965; Oates 2439, 2440;
Sheppard 5189, 5199; Rhodes (Oxford Colleges) 115; Pr 6407; BMC VI 667; GW
2271; Goff A-924.
£37,500
[87390]
7
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
The 24 original watercolours by Charles Brock for Jane Austen’s Emma
4
(AUSTEN, Jane.) BROCK, Charles Edmund. Complete
set of illustrations for Emma, 1909
24 sheets (348 × 247 mm) of original pen-and-ink watercolour illustrations, each in a wash-line mount. Some light marks to margins (often
by the artist) throughout the set, but all in excellent condition.
the complete suite of original signed illustrations, including the illustrated title page, for the edition of
Emma published in 1909 as part of the Series of English Idylls
by J. M. Dent & Co. The costumes and interior decors depicted
in these illustrations are remarkably accurate to the Regency
period, as Charles Brock and his brother Henry collected antique furniture and clothing in order to dress their friends and
relations whom they used as models in their Cambridge studio. Other than the engravers of the single frontispieces used
by Bentley in his Standard Novels edition of Jane Austen (1833
et seq.), Brock was the first illustrator of Jane Austen’s novels.
£60,000
8
[75928]
9
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
6
BRAHE, Tycho. Astronomiae
instauratae
progymnasmata.
Quorum haec prima pars De restitution motuum solis & lunae,
stellarum inerrantium tractat.
Et praeterea de admiranda nova
stella anno 1572. exorta luculenter agit. [De mundi Aetherei
recentioribus phaenomenis …
; Epistolarum astronomicarum
libri … ] Frankfurt: for Gottfried
Tampach, 1610
Based on Tycho Brahe’s observations, the first astronomical work to be conceived as a true atlas
5
BAYER, Johann. Uranometria, omnium asterismorum
continens schemata, nova methodo delineata, aereis
laminis expressa. Ulm: Johann Gorlini, 1661
engraved title-page shows the title flanked by the figure of Atlas and Hercules, incorporating a view of Augsburg where the
book had first been published in 1605.
Folio (327 × 230 mm). Contemporary vellum over stiff boards, dark
green morocco spine label at head. Engraved title, 51 double-page
plates of the constellations mounted on stubs. Ownership inscription
of G. Witchell to front pastedown. Spine neatly repaired at head, some
marginal browning, overall a very good copy.
With the ownership inscription of the English mathematician
George Witchell (1728–1785), dated 29 May 1781, and a few minor notations in his hand. Witchell published a map of the passage of the moon’s shadow over England during the eclipse of 1
April 1764, and in the same year the board of longitude engaged
him to compute the difference in longitude between the Royal
Naval Academy at Portsmouth and Nevil Maskelyne’s observatory in Barbados. His paper on the duration of the eclipses of
Jupiter’s satellites, published in the Philosophical Transactions of
1767, led to his election as fellow of the Royal Society in July
that year, a few months after his appointment as head mathematical master of the Royal Naval Academy.
Bayer’s was the first star atlas based on Tycho Brahe’s Astronomiae instauratae mechanica, and the first astronomical work to be
conceived as a true atlas, namely a collection of maps rather
than symbolic pictures. Bayer’s atlas added 12 new constellations, in the southern sky, to the 48 of Ptolemy. Another major innovation, although partially anticipated by Piccolomini a
few years early, was Bayer’s assignment of a Greek letter to each
star in order of magnitude. The Bayer designation identifies a
specific star by a Greek letter, followed by the genitive form of
its parent constellation’s Latin name, e.g. Alpha Centauri. This
brightness-based nomenclature gained general acceptance after the publication of this edition and is still in use today. The
10
£17,500
[80635]
3 parts in 2 volumes, quarto (235 × 176
mm). Contemporary mottled calf, gilt
supralibros of the Jesuit College, Paris,
centrally on covers, with that of the
Society of Writers to the Signet, Edinburgh, above, skilfully rebacked to
match, corners repaired. First title in
red and black, engraved portrait bound
at beginning of part 3; illustrated with
woodcuts, diagrams, map, and tables
throughout. Ex-libris the Jesuit College
in Paris, with their 17th-century bookplate and inscription on the title page in
both volumes; the Signet Society, with
withdrawn stamps in both volumes.
Some browning and spotting as usual,
due to the quality of the paper stock
used, some tears not affecting text to
lower margin of two leaves towards end
of volume II, a very good set of this important collected edition.
Three important texts, collectively reissued using the original sheets
first edition thus, collecting the Progymnasmata and De
mundi Aetherei, the first two parts of a projected but never completed trilogy, together with Epistolarum astronomicarum, the only
published selection from Brahe’s vast scientific correspondence. This collected reissue is largely comprised of the original
first edition sheets of each of the three works, with titles and
prelims reset; the second and third works retain their original
colophon leaves with the imprints of Uraniborg, 1558 and 1596
respectively. All three parts have distinct titles, pagination, and
register, and are often found listed and bound as individual titles; the set is rarely found complete as issued.
The Progymnasmata describes Brahe’s observations of the supernova in Cassiopeia of 1572–4 and his revisions of the theories of
solar and lunar movement, together with a catalogue of the positions of 777 fixed stars. An edition of the work was begun at
Hven but never issued and was only published posthumously,
edited by Johann Kepler, at Prague in 1602. The Prague sheets
are reused here, with the first quire and first text leaf reset, and
the errata corrected up to p. 786.
De mundi Aetherei records Brahe’s observations of the comet of 1577,
and a description of his geo-heliocentrical theory of the universe.
It was first published at Uraniborg in 1588, printed at Brahe’s pri-
vate press in his observatory, on paper made at the observatory
paper mill, and this issue retains the original colophon.
The second volume is completed by Epistolarum astronomicarum
libri, here in its first edition, third issue. Only the title-page and
some preliminary leaves were changed by Tampach for this
issue; again, the work retains the 1596 Uraniborg colophon. The
letters comprise the scientific correspondence between Tycho
Brahe, Landgrave William IV of Hesse, and the latter’s court
astronomer Christopher Rothmann. “This correspondence
covered all aspects of contemporary astronomy: instruments
and methods of observing, the Copernican system (which
Rothmann supported against Tycho’s system), comets, and
auroras” (DSB). Appended to the letters is a short description
of the Uraniborg observatory—site of “the last of the pretelescope observations” (Dibner)—illustrated with woodcuts
which include a map of the island of Hven and would be reused
in the 1598 Astronomiae instauratae mechanica. This is one of the
first such descriptions of an astronomical observatory, and is
the precursor to the more detailed report of the Mechanica.
Dreyer, Brahe, pp. 368–9; Houzeau & Lancaster 2700 & 7824.
£15,000
[80636]
11
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
The first appearance of his blind detective
7
8
BRAMAH, Ernest. Max Carrados. London: Methuen & Co.
Ltd, 1914
BROOKE, E. Adveno. The Gardens of England. London:
T. Maclean, [1857]
Octavo. Original cloth, with titles and foliate decoration in gilt to
spine and front board. With the dust jacket. Bookplate of Charles Boddy Fisher. A superb copy, only faintly spotted at the edges, in somewhat dust-soiled jacket, rubbed and a little creased, with chips to ends
and corners, and a split running half way up the front joint.
Folio (536 × 375 mm). Recently bound by Aquarius in green half morocco, spine gilt decorated, red morocco label. Title-page and 25 lithographed plates printed in colours and finished by hand, heightened
with gum arabic, lithographed dedication leaf, letterpress text, 16 lithographed vignettes on india paper pasted into text. Excellent condition.
first edition, first impression. The first book in
Bramah’s series of stories with Max Carrados, “a detective of
a totally new and unexpected type, for he is blind; but the alluring peculiarity of his case is that his blindness is more than
counterbalanced by an enormously enhanced perception of the
other senses” (from the dust jacket). Rare in the jacket.
first edition. A rare large format work providing superb depictions of English country house gardens in Victorian times,
and giving an insight into the taste of the great estate owners.
Many of the gardens were begun in earlier times, but most
feature later additions, sometimes in the Italian style, which
proved a major attraction for Brooke. The magnificent gardens
depicted include those at Trentham Park (laid out by Capability
Brown with additions by Charles Barry in the 1840s), Enville Hall
(gardens extended in the mid-19th century and celebrated for its
fountains, its floral display, and its domed and turreted oriental
palace of a conservatory), Bowood House (originally laid out by
Brown but with later Italianate terraces added), Alton Towers
(“The work of a morbid imagination joined to the command of
£15,000
12
[86236]
English country house gardens illustrated by hand-finished colour lithographs
unlimited resources”—J. C. Loudon), Elvaston Castle (famous
for its splendid arboretum), Shrublands Hall (Italianate terraces
by Barry), Woburn Abbey (a Repton masterpiece), Holkham
House (William Kent–Capability Brown, with extensive 1850s
additions including a parterre with the Earl of Leicester’s initials
in box, and a pair of flower beds in a Louis XIV pattern accompanying a fountain representing St. George and the dragon), Cas-
tle Howard (whose modern additions included a new parterre
using yew hedges to frame the lawns and the Triton Fountain
taken from the Great Exhibition), and many others. Brooke was
an exhibitor at the Royal Academy and British Institution in the
period between 1853 and 1864.
Abbey, Scenery 392.
£27,500
[83411]
13
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
The defeat of the Spanish Armada
9
[CECIL, William, Baron Burghley.] The copie of a
letter sent out of England to Don Bernardin Mendoza
ambassadour in France for the King of Spaine, declaring
the state of England, contrary to the opinion of Don
Bernardin, and of all his partizans Spaniardes and others.
This Letter, although it was sent to Don Bernardin
Mendoza, yet, by good hap, the Copies therof aswell in
English as in French, were found in the chamber of one
Richard Leigh a Seminarie Priest, who was lately executed
for high treason committed in the time that the Spanish
Armada was on the seas. Whereunto are adioyned
certaine late Advertisements, concerning the losses and
distresses happened to the Spanish Navie, aswell in fight
with the English Navie in the narrow seas of England, as
also by tempests, and contrarie winds, upon the West,
and North coasts of Ireland, in their returne from the
Northerne Isles beyond Scotland. London: by I. Vautrollier
for Richard Field, 1588
Small quarto (169 × 122 mm). Nineteenth-century polished calf, red
and brown morocco labels, double fillet gilt around board edges, mar14
bled endpapers. Housed in brown quarter morocco solander box by
the Chelsea Bindery. With last leaf table of additional ships. “Certaine
advertisements out of Ireland” has separate dated title page and register; printer’s mark on both title pages. Title leaf with minor paper repairs not affecting text at inner margin, side-notes generally trimmed
by one or two letters at the line ends but the sense easily guessed, last
leaf of text with small hole about 9 lines down affecting one word and
lower outer corner repaired with loss of a few letters; these flaws all
minor, overall a good copy.
first edition of this contemporary account of the defeat of
the Spanish Armada, a masterly piece of propaganda by Cecil,
among whose papers the manuscript was found. There are several variant settings of the text. This copy has the second part
(“Certaine late advertisements”, relating to battles in the Irish
Seas), and collates A–E4 F2 A–B4 [C]2, with the final line of text
“Totall 17. ships of men 5394” on [C]1v, and [C]2 with table of
additional ships. The work is listed in STC under the name of
the English priest Richard Leigh (c. 1561–1588) who was supposed to have sent the letter.
STC 15412.
£17,500
[79383]
The celebrated Ibarra edition in highly decorative contemporary Spanish calf
10
CERVANTES, Miguel de. El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don
Quixote de la Mancha. Madrid: Joaquín Ibarra, 1780
4 volumes, quarto (292 × 215 mm). Contemporary Spanish binding
of full calf; spines divided in seven compartments by raised bands,
five compartments gilt with floral tools in centre, leaf sprays in corners and sides, red morocco lettering-pieces, spines gilt-numbered
direct in third compartmeht; sides with gilt decorative roll around
edges enclosing a central hexagonal panel with inlaid pale calf with
diagonal bands dyed green, the panel outlined with a wave-roll in gilt,
marbled endpapers, gilt edges. Engraved portrait, 4 extra engraved
titles, 31 engraved plates by Antonio Carnicero, Joseph Castillo, Bernardo Barranco, Joseph Brunete, Gerónimo Gil, and Gregorio Ferro,
engraved head- and tailpieces, ornamental initials, engraved map. A
little rubbed in places, one or two trivial marks internally, a fine set in
a handsome Spanish binding.
to be a supreme example of Spanish craftsmanship lavished
on the nation’s greatest literary work. This edition excels in
beauty of type, design, paper, illustration and printing, as well
as incorporating a carefully edited and corrected text. The illustrations and ornaments were designed by the best Spanish
artists of the day, the paper was milled expressly for this edition, and the type was specially cut. It contains the first map
depicting the route taken by Don Quixote and Sancho Panza
through Spain.
Palau 52024.
£25,000
[76518]
first printing of the celebrated ibarra edition.
Printed for La Real Academia Española (the Spanish Royal
Academy) by Joaquín Ibarra y Marín, this edition was intended
15
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
Draft typescript for an article on the League of Nations and disarmament,
with Churchill’s own corrections
11
CHURCHILL, Winston S. Corrected draft typescript,
signed, of an article on disarmament. 31 January 1931
10 pages, large post quarto (10 × 8 ins; 255 × 203 mm). Typescript,
numerous inked emendations in Churchill’s hand, signed and dated
by him at the foot of the last page; docketed with author byline and
agent’s return address in pencil to the first page; pages numbered in
blue pencil. Single hole punched through top left-hand corner, treasury tag. Light browning, some marginal finger-soiling, three lateral
soft creases from old folds, overall very good.
extensively corrected typescript for one of a series
of articles on foreign affairs commissioned from Churchill
by Hearst newspapers and syndicated throughout the United
States (Gilbert V, p. 407). Every page of the draft has proof16
ing, editorial and authorial corrections, emendations, and
interpolations. Churchill takes as his theme the recent report
of the Preparatory Commission on Disarmament presented
to the League of Nations. “Over the lacerated face of Europe
the League of Nations has drawn a discreet veil. Behind that
veil stir the passions, the revenges and the fears which are the
legacy of the ‘war to end war’”.
A fuller description is available on our website or on request.
£30,000
[80695]
Draft typescript for an article on the Soviet threat, with Churchill’s own corrections
12
CHURCHILL, Winston S. Corrected draft typescript,
signed, on the Soviet threat. 1931
8 pages, large post quarto (10 × 8 ins; 255 × 203 mm). Top copy typescript with extensive autograph emendations, and signed, in red ink.
Light browning, soft vertical crease from old fold, otherwise very
good.
extensively corrected typescript of one of the articles
on European affairs commissioned from Churchill during 1931
for syndication in Hearst newspapers, an astute commentary
on European Realpolitik, anticipating the Soviet bloc and the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. On publication in the Milwaukee
Sentinel, 23 August 1931, the piece was headlined “Winston
Churchill sees Soviet Russia as Gigantic Menace to the Peace
of Europe”, which gives a fair sense of Churchill’s handling of
his chosen theme.
A fuller description is available on our website or on request.
£30,000
[80696]
17
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
His first book and his only collaboration with Walt Disney, special deluxe binding,
signed by many dignitaries
Rare unabridged edition of Fanny Hill in contemporary calf
14
13
[CLELAND, John.] Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure.
London: Printed for G. Fenton in the Strand, 1781
2 volumes bound in one, duodecimo (171 × 102 mm), pp. 172; 187.
Contemporary calf, smooth spine divided in compartments by decorative gilt rolls, black morocco label, gilt initials “W.H.” at foot, sides
with decorative gilt roll, marbled endpapers. Housed in a black quarter morocco solander box by the Chelsea Bindery. Printed title pages
without ornaments or rules, un-illustrated as issued. Early ownership
inscription lightly abraded from head of first title. Binding rubbed, especially at the joints, corners worn, spine creased, short tear at lower
inner corner of first title without loss, intermittent pale brown marginal stain at lower inner corner throughout, tiny hole in v. 1 C2 costing one letter on verso, small hole at foot of v. 1 E5 touching one letter
on verso, occasional short closed tears in inner margin (v. 1 D6–8; v. 2
D8 and F6), small hole at foot of v. 2 B6 touching two letters on verso,
some marginal tears with loss to edge of text area but no loss of text (v.
1 D8 and F3; v. 2 E7–8, F12, H7, the latter with old paper repair), these
flaws minor only; overall, a very good copy in an unrestored contemporary binding.
extremely rare early edition of Cleland’s Memoirs of a
Woman of Pleasure, or Fanny Hill, “the first original English prose
pornography, and the first to break away from the dialogue
form into the style of the novel” (Foxon, Libertine Literature in
18
England, 1660–1745). First published under the same imprint in
an edition dated 1749, the imprint is fictitious, though to what
extent is unclear. Under questioning, Ralph Griffiths claimed
that the clandestine publication was a joint enterprise with his
brother Fenton Griffiths (“G. Fenton” being a disguised version of the latter’s name), but it is by no means certain that
the brother actually existed. ESTC, locating only one copy of
this edition at the Biblioteka Uniwersytecka, Warsaw, Poland,
wrongly characterises this as an abridgement: the text here is
in the fully explicit original version—set in two letters, rather
than the eleven letters of the abridged and bowdlerized Memoirs
of Fanny Hill (1750)—with the only omission the brief homosexual passage in volume II that was omitted from all 18th-century
editions after the first. All 18th-century editions are rare, this
edition particularly so: no copy appears in auction records going back to at least 1975, and the Warsaw copy is the only one
located in institutional records, including the Private Case of
the British Library.
Ashbee Volume 3, p. 66 no. 3; not in the British Library.
£22,500
[86257]
DAHL, Roald. The Gremlins. From the Walt Disney
Production. A Royal Air Force Story. London and Glasgow:
Collins, [1944]
Quarto (274 × 217 mm). Deluxe binding of blue calf, front cover titled
in gilt and with a gremlin stamped in blind, cloud-effect blue endpapers. Illustrated throughout in colour and black and white. Extremities rubbed, internally bright and clean, a very good copy.
first uk edition, special deluxe copy, signed by 32 assorted dignitaries, probably at a special dinner in London in
aid of the RAF Benevolent Fund. The eclectic group of signatories include Air Marshall Richard Peck, Assistant Chief of
Air Staff, London, and Dahl’s superior, to whom Dahl wrote
about his time in Hollywood “wangling the script” into Disney and boasting about the imminent book publication; Sir
Charles Johns Mole, British architect who served in the Ministry of Works, eventually becoming its director-general; the Labour parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Works, George
Hicks MP; and the great jockey Gordon Richards.
partly because the studio could not establish firm copyright in
the “gremlin” characters (Dahl claimed to have invented them,
though they had been common currency in the RAF and had
appeared in print at least once before) and partly because the
British Air Ministry wanted final approval of the script and production. It was eventually agreed that royalties would be split
between the RAF Benevolent Fund and Dahl. The book is still
described on the title and the front cover as being “From the
Walt Disney Production”, although the Disney studio had written to Dahl in August 1943 cancelling any further preproduction work. The US edition published the previous year is much
sought-after by Dahl collectors but is not especially scarce—
the print run was 50,000 copies. The British edition was not so
large and is much less often encountered.
£12,500
[83206]
Roald Dahl’s first book and his only collaboration with Walt
Disney, The Gremlins was written as a promotional device for
a feature-length Disney animation that was never produced,
19
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
Colour lithographs for three previously unpublished de Sade plays
15
DALÍ, Salvador. 25 Lithographs of Original Gouaches
Based on Three Plays by the Marquis de Sade …
Misfortune’s Mistake; The Twins or a Difficult Choice;
Tancred. Translated by Matila Simon. New York: Shorewood
Publishers Incorporated, for Samuel Shore–Marquis de Sade
Associates, 1969
25 coloured lithographs on Japan paper, with letterpress title leaf and
play text on 13 sheets (all approx. 65.5 × 50.2 cm). All housed in the
original purple cloth and silk lined box, titles to cover in red and yellow. Box a little marked, repaired at corners and lacking clasp.
signed limited edition of 26 hors commerce on Japan paper,
each print signed in pencil lower right by Dalí, and initialled 9/J
lower left. The publication constitutes the first edition, first printing of these Marquis de Sade plays, then recently discovered.
Field 69-1; Michler & Lopsinger 1232–1256(d).
£25,000
20
[87352]
21
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
The deluxe edition, with two suites of illustrations, complete with original packing material
16
(DALÍ, Salvador.) [DODGSON, Charles Lutwidge.]
CARROLL, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
New York: Maecenas Press and Random House, 1969
Large folio. Unbound, the sheets contained within two black silk
portfolios, titles to portfolios embossed in gilt. All housed in a morocco solander box, titles to spine gilt by Cartonnages Adine, Paris.
With all the original packaging material, including the shipping
box. 12 heliogravures and a four-colour etched frontispiece on Rives
paper. Together with a second suite of 12 plates on Japon Nacre paper. A fine set.
deluxe limited edition, number XV of 200 sets, each
signed on the frontispiece by Dalí. This portfolio contains not
only the 12 heliogravures reproducing the original gouaches—
one for each chapter of the book—with Dalí’s remarque on
each and the original four-colour signed etching facing the
frontispiece issued with the regular edition, but also a second
suite of the plates on nacreous japon. A superb set, in fine condition in the complete original packing materials, including
the shipping box.
Surrealism’s objective was to make accessible to art the realms
of the unconscious, irrational and imaginary, a project that
had in many ways been anticipated by Lewis Carroll’s classic
children’s story (first published 1865); this suite represented a
natural match between text and artist.
£17,500
22
[87504]
23
Peter Harrington
17
Catalogue 97
The Voyage of the Beagle
DARWIN, Charles; Robert Fitzroy; Philip Parker King.
Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships
Adventure and Beagle, between the Years 1826 and 1836,
describing their Examination of the Southern Shores of
South America, and the Beagle’s Circumnavigation of the
Globe. London: Henry Colburn, 1839
Octavo (223 × 143 mm). 3 volumes in 4 (volumes I–III and Appendix
to volume II). Contemporary dark green half morocco, matching
boards, by J. Rowbotham “Patent Bookbinder” (his tickets to front
pastedowns), title gilt direct to spines, flat bands with single fleuronended fillet gilt, double rules gilt to spine and corner edges, marbled
edges and endpapers, each volume with a map-pocket to front board,
green silk ribbons to help extract the folding maps all still intact. 9
folding engraved maps by J. Gardner and J. and C. Walker; 47 etched
plates after P. King, A. Earle, C. Martens, R. Fitzroy and others by T.
Landseer, S. Bull, T. Prior and others, bound without half-titles. Just a
little rubbed, neat professional repairs to the hinges of volumes I and
II; some foxing to, and offsetting from, the plates as usual; otherwise
text-blocks just lightly toned, and, as often in early issues, the loose
map “Southern Portion of South America” to Volume III is replaced
with a duplicate of “Chiloe” from the previous volume; overall a very
good and handsomely presented set.
24
18
first edition. “The five years of the voyage were the most
important event in Darwin’s intellectual life and in the history
of biological science” (DSB). Volume I contains King’s account
of the expedition in the Adventure made between 1826 and 1830,
surveying the coasts of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. In Volume II (and its appendix volume) Capt. Fitzroy described the
narrative of the Beagle’s second voyage, between 1831 and 1836
to South America, the Galapagos Islands, Tahiti, New Zealand
and Australia, and other countries. In this set, the Darwin volume, “Journal and Remarks 1832–1836”, is the first issue, printed before the end of January 1839, the month he was elected
to the Royal Society, and so without the letters FRS after his
name on the second title. A very good set, here in an attractively functional binding by Rowbotham, who was an early adopter
of the technique of gutta-percha binding.
Freeman 10; Hill I, pp. 104–5; Sabin 37826.
£27,500
[86805]
Oliver Twist, the first issue fine in original cloth
[DICKENS, Charles.] Oliver Twist; or, the Parish Boy’s
Progress. By “Boz.” London: Richard Bentley, 1838
be known as “Boz”. These changes were made between publication date, 9 November, and the 16th.
3 volumes, octavo. Original reddish brown fine-diaper cloth, spine
in compartments with gilt titles, sides stamped in blind with an
arabesque cartouche, yellow coated endpapers. 24 etched plates by
George Cruikshank including the “Fireside” plate (facing p. 313 in volume III). Slightest touch of fading to spines, sprinkle of spotting to
top edge not extending into the text, a very few instances of the beginning of separation between one or two gatherings, but an exceptional
copy in bright cloth, hinges entirely uncracked, text and plates clean
and fresh: a fine copy.
Smith 1, 4.
£20,000
[87185]
first edition, first issue with the Fireside plate. Bentley
wanted to rush Oliver Twist out as a book before serialization
was complete, forcing Cruikshank to hurry through the last
few plates. Dickens saw these only on the eve of publication
and objected to the sentimentality of the final plate, showing
Rose Maylie and Oliver sitting by the fireside. Dickens had
Cruikshank design a new plate, the Church plate. The new
plate was not completed in time for incorporation into early
copies of the book, but it replaced the Fireside plate in later
copies. Dickens had also decided that he no longer wished to
25
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
Signed and dated in the Athenaeum for Spencer Hall, brother of his publisher
19
DICKENS, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Martin
Chuzzlewit. With illustrations by Phiz. London: Chapman
and Hall, 1844
Octavo (212 × 128 mm). Bound from parts (some stab-holes visible)
in contemporary brown half russia, skilfully rebacked with original
spine laid down, gilt-lettered direct, low raised bands with gilt rules,
brown cloth sides, spot-marbled endpapers and edges. Frontispiece,
engraved title, and 38 plates by H. K. Browne. Vignette title signed
“Phiz” with “£100” on the sign post, the first figure “1” blurred, and
six studs in the trunk: as Smith points out, there are three variants of
the title, but no first state or priority between them. Rubbed, cloth a
little stained on front cover, inner hinges reinforced with green cloth,
some spotting and oxidisation of plates, overall a very good copy.
first edition, signed and dated by the author on the
front blank, “Charles Dickens, Fourth May 1848”. On the same
Thursday that he inscribed this copy, Dickens was at the Athenaeum club in London (see his letter to Rev. James White, written from the club that day). The librarian of the Athenaeum
was Spencer Hall (1806–1875), who had taken a “kind interest”
in Dickens’s election to the club in 1838 (Letters of Charles Dickens,
1.399, n.5). Spencer was the younger brother of Dickens’s late
publisher, William Hall (1800/01–1847), of Chapman and Hall.
Inserted in the volume is an autograph letter from William
Hall’s widow, Lydia, 12 Clifton Terrace, Margate, dated 22 November 1893, sending this copy on her nephew’s behalf to one
26
Edward Strand. Dickens knew and admired Lydia Hall. After
attending William Hall’s funeral at Highgate cemetery “to pay
that last mark of respect”, he wrote afterwards to H. K. Browne
that Hall “had a good little wife, if ever a man had ... accounts
of her tending of him at the last, are deeply affecting” (Letters,
5.36). Lydia Hall’s nephew was Thomas Andrews, an architect
and surveyor in Margate, with whom she shared the house at 12
Clifton Terrace in her later years. Thomas would have inherited
this signed and dated copy from his bibliophile uncle, Spencer
Hall, who died childless.
Martin Chuzzlewit was not published in book form until 16 July
1844, by which time Dickens had moved his entire household
to Genoa, having decided to live abroad for a year. As a result
of his absence from England Dickens did not inscribe presentation copies of this title. Even the dedicatee Angela BurdettCoutts’s copy, though bound for presentation in the usual
manner by Hayday, was not inscribed by the author. None of
the great Dickens collectors (Suzannet, Starling, Self, etc.) had
any form of this novel signed or inscribed, and we can trace no
other signed, inscribed, or presentation copy of this title ever
having appearing in commerce.
Smith I, 7.
£95,000
[88001]
27
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
The “Appleton Alice”, with the original printed sheets, in original cloth
21
The Great Exhibition of 1851, illustrated in chromolithography by David Roberts and others
20
(DICKINSON BROTHERS, publishers.) Dickinsons’
Comprehensive Pictures of the Great Exhibition of 1851.
From the Originals Painted for H.R.H. Prince Albert, by
Messrs Nash, Hague, and Roberts, R.A. London: Dickinson,
Brothers, 1854
first edition, a fine collection of views from the largest industrial manufacturing spectacular yet staged. The paintings show
in great detail the layout of products, natural or man-made, of
each country involved, as well as their stage-like presentation.
2 volumes in one, large folio (585 × 427 mm). Contemporary half morocco, gilt borders, red cloth boards, edges gilt. 55 chromolithographic
plates, including the 2 frontispieces, all with guard paper, by Dickinson
Brothers after Joseph Nash, Louis Haghe, and David Roberts, finished
by hand and heightened with gum arabic. Internally clean, very good.
£25,000
28
Abbey, Scenery 251.
[81536]
[DODGSON, Charles Lutwidge.] CARROLL, Lewis.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. With Forty-Two
Illustrations by John Tenniel. New York: D. Appleton and
Co., 1866
Octavo. Original red cloth, spine lettered in gilt, triple gilt rules at
head and tail of spine and on covers, covers with round devices in gilt
at centre, Alice on the front, the Cheshire cat on the back, dark green
endpapers, gilt edges. Housed in a red morocco slipcase and chemise.
Frontispiece and 42 illustrations by John Tenniel. Cloth rubbed with
some minor wear at extremities, dark dampstain to lower quarter of
rear board, a few other small spots to cloth, front hinge professionally
repaired, occasional light spots to contents. A very good copy.
first edition, second issue: the first practically obtainable issue of the original sheets, with the Appleton cancel ti-
tle page. Macmillan printed around 2,000 copies of the book
in late June 1865, but Tenniel was unhappy with the quality of
the reproduction of his illustrations and Dodgson insisted it
was reprinted. Only two dozen or so copies of the 1865 first
issue remain extant: Macmillan sold the rest of the print run
to Appleton in New York who published the American edition
in May 1866 using a new title page but with the first printing
sheets from the London edition. Meanwhile Macmillan had
published the second edition in London, postdated 1866, but
actually published in November 1865.
Williams–Madan–Green–Crutch 44.
£15,000
[85363]
29
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
First edition of his Poems, the most important
work of the Metaphysical Poets
22
23
DONNE, John. Poems. With Elegies on the Authors
Death. London: printed by M. F[lesher] for John Marriot, 1633
(EINSTEIN, Albert.) TYCKO, Aaron. Photographic
portrait. Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles: Aaron Tycko [1932]
Small quarto (182 × 133 mm). Contemporary sprinkled calf, spine
in compartments with gilt rolls and red morocco title label, sides
bordered with French fillets in blind, red sprinkled edges. Ownership inscription of William R. Morfill, 1853, who was Oxford (and
Britain’s first) professor of Russian. Without first and last blanks,
later rebacked with the original spine laid down, covers scratched and
marked with 8 wormholes to the rear cover, corners bumped and extremities rubbed, spine darkened and creased, faint tanning to paper
with the occasional minor mark or spot, but overall a good copy.
Original photograph (185 × 238 mm), signed by the photographer on
the print. Silver gelatin print on linen-textured paper. Mounted. Photographer’s stamps to mount. Excellent condition.
first edition of the principal collection of Donne’s poetical
works, issued two years after his death. This copy has the two
inserted leaves with “The Printer to the Understanders” and
the publisher John Mariot’s Hexastichon Bibliopolae, not always
present, and the leaf Nn1 in the earlier uncorrected state with
35 lines of text on p. 273 instead of 30 or 31, with omission of
the usual running headline. The editor of this first edition evidently made use of more than one group of surviving manuscripts. While he made a number of minor changes on his own
authority, the 1633 Poems remains the best early text of the most
important of all metaphysical poetry collections.
Grolier L–W 286; Keynes 78; STC 7045.
£25,000
30
[82696]
original photographic print, inscribed by einstein
on the mount, “Der getreuen Helferin Harriet Hamilton zum
Andenken (To my faithful helper Harriet Hamilton as a souvenir)”, and also signed by the photographer in the lower
right corner of the print. The photograph was taken during
Einstein’s visit to California in December 1932 and the early
months of 1933. According to the Albert Einstein Archives at
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the recipient, Harriet F.
Hamilton, was a German-speaking secretary who lived in Pasadena and may have worked at CalTech. During Einstein’s visit
to CalTech in the early months of 1933 she typed some letters
for the physicist and his wife, and the Einstein Archive holds
one letter on which her signature appears. This photograph
was one of several taken by Aaron Tycko, who had a studio in
the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, but may have photographed Einstein at CalTech.
£17,500
[82360]
Fine photographic portrait, inscribed by him in gratitude to a German-speaking secretary at CalTech
31
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
A remarkable copy in dust jacket of the most important poetical work of the Modern Movement
25
24
ELIOT, T. S. The Waste Land. New York: Boni & Liveright, 1922
Octavo. Original flexible black cloth, titles to spine and front board
gilt, all edges untrimmed. With both the original inner glassine and
the outer printed dust jacket. Housed in a black quarter morocco solander box by the Chelsea Bindery. Cloth at edges of boards rubbed
and a little abraded, partially affecting publisher’s imprint at base of
spine. An excellent copy in dust jacket with slightly faded spine panel
and small chips at the corner of the upper panel and the ends of the
spine panel.
first edition, first printing, first issue, one of 1,000
numbered copies. With Gallup’s three points indicative of first
issue: numbered within the first 500 or so copies (this copy
32
Presentation copy to Ezra Pound, his erstwhile mentor
number 179); in flexible boards; and with the stamped numbers in the colophon 5mm high. The text is in the state lacking
the “a” in “mountain” on page 41, but this has no bearing on
priority of issue.
ELIOT, T. S. The Cocktail Party. A Comedy. London: Faber
and Faber Ltd, 1950
The presence of the original glassine, which was issued underneath the printed dust jacket, is a good indication that the
jacket has not been supplied from another copy, or even from a
copy of the second edition.
first edition, first impression. a major association
copy with the author’s presentation inscription to
ezra pound on the front free endpaper, “Ez from O. Possum
6. iii. 50.” This remarkable survival from the chaotic years of
Pound’s incarceration at St Elizabeth’s hospital in Washington
DC was part of a small group of books which passed through
the hands of Eileen Lane Kinney, a member of the inner circle of modernist artists and writers based in Paris in the 1920s
Gallup A6a.
£35,000
[83180]
Octavo. Original green cloth, titles to spine gilt. With the dust jacket.
An excellent copy in a frayed and slightly chipped dust jacket.
and 1930s. She had been Brancusi’s lover before returning
to America as the Second World War loomed. She settled in
Washington DC and worked on a number of translations of
political studies from French into English. When in 1946 her
old acquaintance Ezra Pound was moved to St Elizabeth’s, she
wasted little time in contacting him and arranging visits. The
correspondence seems to indicate that regular contact ceased
in about 1950, but from the sequence of inscriptions by Pound
in her copy of Pisan Cantos it is clear that he made one final and
telling gesture of gratitude and friendship at the point of his
departure for Italy in June 1958. It was at this latter date we believe this book to have been given by Pound to Kinney.
£65,000
[82319]
33
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
His first novel, presentation copy to Whitney Darrow Sr., co-founder of the Princeton University Press
27
26
FITZGERALD, F. Scott. This Side of Paradise. New York:
Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1920
Octavo. Original green cloth, titles gilt to spine and blind to front
board. Housed in a quarter blue morocco slipcase. Contents a little
tanned and slightly shaken, cloth somewhat dull. Very good.
first edition, first printing, presentation copy,
inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “Compliments & luck to Whitney Darrow from F Scott Fitzgerald April
2nd 1920 New York City” (publication date was 26 March). The
inscription is in two parts, Fitzgerald having evidently signed
and dated the copy first, before inserting the salutation to
Darrow above. The recipient was the elder of the two Whitney
Darrows (father and son) with both of whom Fitzgerald held a
34
Presentation copy from the Oak Hall Hotel, Tryon, NC
long acquaintance. They were Princeton men and each played
key roles in the literary establishment at the college. Darrow
senior graduated in 1905 and was instrumental in establishing
the Princeton University Press. He ran the press from 1905 to
1917 in a kind of loose partnership with Scribners and, upon
giving up the Princeton job, he joined the firm in an advisory
role. Fitzgerald was quite cool in his relations with Darrow but
regarded him sufficiently highly to present this very early copy
of his landmark first novel.
Bruccoli A5.1.a.
£32,500
[82011]
FITZGERALD, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: The
Modern Library, 1934
Octavo. Original brown cloth, titles to spine gilt, top edge dyed red,
patterned endpapers. With the dust jacket. An excellent copy in a
frayed dust jacket with a repaired split at one fold.
first edition, fourth printing, presentation copy,
inscribed by the author “With best wishes from F. Scott Fitzgerald to his neighbor in Tryon.” Additionally annotated in ink by
the author at the upper margin of his own introduction, first
published in this edition: “Very bad introduction.” With the
recipient’s ink inscription on the half-title, “Marion B. Greene.
Tryon – 1935.” Marion Bristow Greene hailed originally from
Providence, Rhode Island, and was in all likelihood staying at
the Oak Hall Hotel or very nearby in Tryon, North Carolina, at
the same time as Fitzgerald in February 1935, only five months
or so after the publication of this edition. Tryon’s climate drew
visitors who suffered from or feared tuberculosis. This copy is
bound in brown cloth, one of several variant colours, and lacks
the remainder stamp (“discontinued title”) often or even usually found, a poignant reminder of how far the author’s reputation and popularity had fallen in such a short time. Bruccoli
characterizes this Modern Library edition as the first of the
“later printings within the first edition”.
Bruccoli A11.1.e.
£37,500
[82106]
35
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
With Fleming’s rueful inscription
to his friend Richard Hughes
His scarcest book, a gift book
for the Pinafore Library
28
29
(FLEMING, Ian.) CONNOLLY, Cyril. “Bond Strikes
Camp.” London: The London Magazine, 1963
[FORD] HUEFFER, Ford Madox. Christina’s Fairy Book.
London: Alston Rivers, Ltd., [1906]
Octavo. Original green wrappers printed in black. Some minor rubbing but very good indeed.
Sextodecimo. Original blue cloth-backed pictorial wrappers, titles to
spine in black, pictorial endpapers. Ownership form completed in a
child’s hand, few marginal nicks, wrappers a little chafed. Excellent.
first printing, with fleming’s superb presentation
inscription to richard hughes, “Dikko – ouch! Ian”.
Hughes was a good friend of Fleming’s and the dedicatee of You
Only Live Twice, for which in April 1963 he was aiding Fleming’s
researches. We know of no other presentation copy by Fleming
of this publication. The story, in which M orders Bond to dress
up as a woman, ostensibly for purposes of espionage, and then
tries to get him into bed, was subsequently published separately in a privately printed edition of 50 copies by the Shenval
Press and included in Connolly’s collection Previous Convictions,
both the same year.
£12,500
[81452]
first edition, first impression, of Ford’s scarcest book,
issued in the so-called Pinafore Library, a series of small gift
books written by well-regarded literary authors such as Arthur
Ransome, Lady Sackville, and Ford himself. The rather eccentric publishing habits of Alston Rivers leave one to conjecture
what happened to this edition since it is a genuine rarity in the
canon. Only a handful of copies including this one are known,
with no copy recorded at auction in the past 35 years at least.
Harvey never saw a copy of this or the American edition, and
until this neither had we. Copac records only three copies and
OCLC shows none in America, although there is a copy at
Princeton added after the Naumburg collection check-list was
published in the Princeton University Library Chronicle.
£12,500
36
[81785]
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, first edition throughout
30
GIBBON, Edward. The History of the Decline and Fall
of the Roman Empire. London: for A. Strahan; and T. Cadell,
1776–88
6 volumes, quarto (272 × 219 mm). Early 19th-century blind panelled
calf, neatly rebacked with original spines laid down, spines elaborately gilt tooled in compartments, red and brown morocco labels,
single-line rules to boards gilt. Engraved portrait frontispiece, 2 folding engraved maps in volume II, folding map in volume III; all halftitles present, errata leaves in volumes I, II, III, and VI. Bookplate of
William Binns Cowper to each volume. Small pencilled annotations
and marks to contents. Calf a little rubbed with the occasional bump
or scuff, some spotting and toning to contents, frontispiece maps
to volumes II and III with short closed tears at mounts, volume I pp.
388/389 tanned from inserted material, closed repaired tear to volume
II p. 603 and volume IV p. 53; volume III, the page numeral indicating
637/638 has been professionally repaired; these flaws minor only, an
excellent set.
first editions. As usual, the portrait of Gibbon “engraved
by Joseph Hall from an original picture painted by Sir Joshua
Reynolds” published by Strahan and Cadell in 1780 and issued
with the second volume, has been moved by the binder to the
appropriate place, at the beginning of volume I. That volume
is in the second of two variant states, without the cancels X4
and a4. The publishers Strahan and Cadell, who were having a
good year (three weeks after this, they published Smith’s Wealth
of Nations), decided on the strength of Strahan’s last minute
hunch to double the print run of the first volume from 500 to
1,000 copies. This afforded the opportunity of making corrections and eliminating the need for cancels in the extra copies.
This does not, however, indicate precedence; all 1,000 copies
were published at the same time.
Printing and the Mind of Man 222; Rothschild 942.
£18,750
[87361]
37
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
His rare first novel, in original cloth, publisher’s presentation to the radical atheist MP Charles
Bradlaugh, leading to an unfair review; and with an inserted autograph letter
31
GISSING, George. Workers in the Dawn. A Novel. In
three volumes. By George R. Gissing. London: Remington
and Co., 1880
3 volumes, octavo. Original olive cloth, spines lettered in gilt, spine
and covers with ornamental patterns stamped in black, dark blue
38
endpapers, all edges cut. Housed in a red morocco-backed solander
box, spine lettered in gilt. No half-titles, as issued. Inscribed by the
publisher’s clerk at the head of the first title, “Charles Bradlaugh,
Esq., M.P., with the Publishers’ Compliments”. Bookplates, as noted
below. Rubbed in places, traces of shelf-labels removed from centre
of spines, rear hinge of volume I cracked, a very good copy of this notable rarity.
first edition of Gissing’s first published novel, publisher’s
presentation copy to Charles Bradlaugh, the radical atheist MP
whose stubborn refusal to take the parliamentary oath was an
inspiration for freethinkers throughout the 1880s, and with
an inserted autograph letter signed to C. W. Tinckam, dated
28 October 1895. Gissing admired Bradlaugh and the publishers evidently hoped for a favourable review in his National Reformer. But Bradlaugh passed it on to his friend Annie Besant,
who merely used it as an opportunity to exercise her wit: “It
is named ‘The Workers in the Dawn,’ but who the workers
are, what they work for, and how they are concerned with the
dawn, is a riddle whose answer remains within the breast of
Mr. George R. Gissing.”
“Despite some obvious flaws Workers offers a notable picture
of lower-class London life as seen by a young déclassé idealist divided between social and artistic commitments. Because
publishers spurned his manuscript, he had to bring it out at his
own expense, a bold venture made possible by a small legacy
from a great-aunt” (ODNB). The legacy provided enough to pay
for 277 copies only, the first bound copies likely reaching Gissing on 27 May 1880. By early October, 29 copies were sold, and
only 20 more at the end of the year. It was remaindered as a
single volume in blue cloth. As a result of its very small print
run and complete commercial failure, Workers in the Dawn is one
of the rarest of Victorian three-deckers.
This is a famous association copy with a notable provenance:
(1) inscribed to Bradlaugh at the head of the titles, and with
his posthumous bookplate, dated 1891; (2) with the bookplates
of the English designer and collector Pickford Waller (1849–
1930), subsequently sold twice at Sotheby’s, 2 July 1929 (to Halliday), and 20 February 1933 (to Moore); (3) a later collector’s
bookplates (Halsey?); (4) sold at auction, Jolly’s of Bath, 16 September 1976.
The letter inserted in the book is a two-page autograph letter signed to C. W. Tinckam, Gissing’s landlord in his Brixton
days, dated “Oct. 28. 95” (not 1891 as the Sotheby’s catalogues
twice had it) from Eversley, Worple Road, Epsom. In it Gissing
tenders his former landlord sympathy for “the sad trouble you
have been going through” and practical advice: “Get as much
variety into your life as health and circumstances permit … do
not neglect meals.”
Coustillas A1a (p. 5 for a note on this copy).
£15,000
[82939]
39
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
The Confidential Agent, one of his key prewar mystery novels, in dust jacket
His masterpiece, a superb copy in dust jacket
33
32
GREENE, Graham. The Confidential Agent. London:
William Heinemann Limited, 1939
Octavo. Original blue cloth, titles to spine in red, buff endpapers.
With the dust jacket. Contents browned as usual, spine gently rolled
but an excellent copy in a somewhat marked and frayed dust jacket
with very small loss at the overlapping top edge. A very good copy.
40
first edition, first impression. One of the author’s key
prewar mystery novels, written in only six weeks, and exceptionally scarce in dust jacket.
£27,500
[82223]
HAMMETT, Dashiell. The Maltese Falcon. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1930
Octavo. Original grey cloth, falcon motif to front board in blue, titles
and geometric design to spine in black and blue, top edge dyed blue.
With the pictorial dust jacket. Housed in a blue quarter morocco folding case. Hollywood bookseller’s ticket to front pastedown, a superb
copy in a very lightly tanned and marked dust jacket with very minor
loss at the tips. In common with all issued copies the jacket is price-
clipped by the publishers who apparently revised the price at the time
of publication. Only a couple of examples of unclipped jacket are extant and both would seem to be file or proof copies.
first edition, first printing. An exceptionally pleasing
copy of one of the greatest thrillers ever written.
£75,000
[80717]
41
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
The best edition, this edition specifically the key source for Shakespeare’s histories
34
HOLINSHED, Raphael. The first and second Volumes of
Chronicles [The Third Volume] … now newlie augmented
and continued … to the yeare 1586. [Colophon:] Finished
in Januarie 1587 … at the expenses of John Harison,
George Bishop, Rafe Newberie, Henrie Denham, and
Thomas Woodcocke. London: [by Henry Denham, 1587]
3 volumes bound in 2, folio (358 × 237 mm). Bound c. 1890 in full brown
crushed goatskin by Zaehnsdorf (signed in gilt at foot of front turnins and with exhibition-standard stamp at foot of rear turn-ins); sides
with decorative blindstamped panels incorporating Tudor rose emblems, spines gilt-lettered direct in compartments, others decorated
in blind, double raised bands, marbled endpapers, edges gilt on the
rough. Black letter, double column; bound without the blanks at the
beginning and end of volume I and the end of volumes II and III, else
complete as issued. Of the leaves ordered to be cancelled by the Privy
Council (the so-called “castrated” leaves), this copy has all the cancels
printed in 1587 to comply with the order, except for volume III, 6M3–4
(the trial and execution of Edmund Campion and the Duke of Anjou’s progress from London to Antwerp) where the originals survive.
Engraved bookplates of Richard Jones, 1707, on titles verso; MoneyCoutts family bookplates dated 1889 signed J.D.B., i.e. John Dickson
Batten (1860–1932). Bindings rubbed in places, the occasional minor
paper repair not affecting text, an excellent copy.
35
second, heavily revised and augmented edition of
one of the most important English books of the Elizabethan
era. The importance of this edition has long been predicated
on its value as a Shakespeare source—all the conventional
English histories, as well as King Lear, Macbeth, and Cymbeline
demonstrably depend upon this specific edition—but modern scholars also recognise the book as a key product of the
emergent English nationalism at the end of the 16th century.
Published under royal privilege, and produced with extraordinary care by the best printers and editors available, with contributors including Abraham Fleming, Francis Thynne, and
John Stow, it was seen as a national project to reflect English
prestige, and carefully edited under political control by the
Privy Council (hence the so-called “castrated” leaves). The second edition is vastly expanded, and a huge improvement on
the first edition—it is the preferred edition of the book. The
ODNB describes it as “a secular equivalent to John Foxe’s Acts
and Monuments”.
STC 13569.
£25,000
[86296]
The official publication of the founding legislation of the colony, from the Foreign Office library,
apparently the only copies recorded
(HONG KONG.) Laws of the Colony of Hong Kong.
1841–54; Ordinances of Hong Kong, 1844–54; Rules
of Court; Ordinances of Hong Kong, 1854–1864. [Hong
Kong: no imprint, 1855–64]
2 volumes, small folio (323 × 195 mm). Almost entirely on blue paperstock, volume I, pp. viii, 490; volume II, 16-page manuscript table of
contents, 126 ordinances on 193 leaves, some blanks, unpaginated.
Original brown cloth, rebacked, volume I zig-zag grained with ornate
blind panels to boards and Royal Arms in gilt to front board, volume
II plain slub-grained cloth. A quantity of contemporary manuscript
emendations throughout. Somewhat rubbed and soiled, Foreign Office blindstamps to all boards, and Foreign and Commonwealth Office Library withdrawn stamps to the front free endpapers, bookplate
of the British North Borneo Company to the front free endpaper of
the first volume which is somewhat chipped at the fore edge, contents
variably toned and spotted in places, but clean and sound.
first official publication of the founding legislation of hong kong, apparently unrecorded, with no copy
on OCLC or KVK, nor in the Judiciary Library of Hong Kong,
and no copy traced at auction. There is no place of publication,
publisher or printer given, but internal evidence clearly suggests that this was officially produced in Hong Kong in 1855:
the paper-stock is watermarked 1852.
With the ownership inscription of Julian (later Sir Julian)
Pauncefote, probably Hong Kong’s most prominent early legal
administrator. Pauncefote was wiped out in England by a bank
crash in 1860 and he went to Hong Kong to restore his fortune.
In 1866 he was appointed attorney-general, a post which left
him free to continue his private practice and accumulate a
moderate fortune (which, however, he lost in a second crash
in 1874). Over the next seven years he worked with Governor
Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell to reform the police and improve the administration of justice, being himself responsible
for preparation of the colony’s code of civil procedure. As attorney-general Pauncefote also deputized for the chief justice
of the supreme court while the latter was on leave. The title
page of the first volume has the pencil inscription “The Chief
Justice”. Pauncefote left Hong Kong in December 1873, and
was knighted for his services. His later career as a diplomat
climaxed in 1889 with his appointment as minister (de facto
ambassador) to the United States. On Pauncefote’s death in
1902 President Roosevelt broke with precedent by flying the
American flag at half-mast on the White House and personally
attended the official funeral ceremony organized by the American government.
A fuller description is available on our website or on request.
£16,500
42
[80787]
43
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
The first published part of his first great work
36
HUME, David. A Treatise of Humane Nature: Being
An Attempt to introduce the experimental Method of
Reasoning into Moral Subjects. London: John Noon, 1739
Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751). As a result of this
broken-backed publication history, the three volumes of the
Treatise are rarely found together.
2 volumes, octavo (210 × 128 mm). Contemporary sprinkled half calf,
flat spines ruled in gilt, red morocco labels, marbled sides. Ownership
inscription of J. M. Herries dated 1842 on the first title. Later bookplate of Haskell F. Norman to front pastedown. Extremities rubbed, a
very good copy, the paper clean and strong.
Jessop, p. 13.
first edition of the first published part of Hume’s first great
work. Hume composed the first two books before he was 25
during his three years in France. He returned to London with
the finished manuscript by mid-September 1737, but he did
not sign articles of agreement with a publisher, John Noon, for
another twelve months, and the two volumes finally appeared,
anonymously, at the end of January 1739. Already fearing that
they would not be well received, Hume had meanwhile begun
a third volume, Of Morals, in part a restatement of the arguments of these first two books, which was not published until
5 November 1740, by a different publisher, Thomas Longman.
Hume treated the third volume as a discrete work in its own
right in so far as he later “cast anew” its contents alone as An
37
44
£32,500
[87210]
JOYCE, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
New York: B. W. Huebsch, 1916
Octavo. Original blue linen, titles to front board in blind and to spine
in gilt. With the printed dust jacket. In a blue morocco-backed box.
An exceptional copy in a slightly tanned and frayed dust jacket with
a single piece of internal strengthening and minor loss at the ends of
the spine panel and one corner.
first edition in book form, first printing. A superb
example of one of the legendary rarities of modern literature.
Due at least in part to the adverse reception of the Egoist serialization of A Portrait of the Artist, no English printer would print
His first novel, first issue, rare in dust jacket
the book for fear of prosecution under the obscenity laws. So
it was Huebsch who undertook the first publication, with an
agreement that Harriet Weaver would take 750 copies from
him for publication in England. With this agreement in place
by October, the novel appeared on 29 December 1916 in New
York and on 22 January 1917 in London. While the number of
copies issued in America is not recorded, it cannot have been
large since Huebsch had sold out by March and called for a second printing issued in April. Although by no means scarce in
poor condition in cloth, copies in any example of the original
printed dust jacket are rare.
Slocum 11.
£65,000
[68607]
45
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
One of 150 large paper copies, additionally signed by Joyce for James Whitall
38
JOYCE, James. Ulysses. Paris: Shakespeare and Company,
1922
Quarto (259 × 202 mm). Contemporary purple sheep, dated 1922 in
gilt at the foot of the front turn-in, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt,
others uncut; original printed wrappers bound in. Sheep with small
areas of wear, purple dye a little sunned and faded on front board,
inscribed half-title slightly toned, an excellent copy.
first edition, first printing, large paper issue, one
of 150 copies on verge d’Arches, this copy number 136, one of
three copies of this issue recorded in Sylvia Beach’s notebook
as sent to James Whitall on 28 March 1922; this copy additionally signed and dated by Joyce on the half-title, “James Joyce,
Paris, 27.vi.[1]929”.
Brought up as a Quaker in Philadelphia, James Whitall (1888–
1954) came to England just before the war, cushioned by an
independent income. Through John Cournos, whom he had
46
known in the United States, he met the Aldingtons in August
1914. His literary tastes were fairly conservative, but he became
particularly friendly with Hilda Aldington (HD), whose lover
Bryher was a key financial supporter of Sylvia Beach’s bookshop. Whitall never completed any original poetry or prose,
but came to make his career as a translator of French and later,
for a period, as a reader at Heinemann’s. He gives an affectionate account of his friendship with the Aldingtons in English Years
(London: Jonathan Cape, 1936). No correspondence between
him and Joyce survives, and the book was probably signed for
him by Joyce through Sylvia Beach’s agency. Though without
bookplate, this copy was latterly in the library of John and Janet Jameson, who likely acquired this copy in the 1950s, after
Whitall’s death.
Slocum & Cahoon A17; Horowitz, Census, page 120.
£67,500
[84094]
His first book, in original wrappers
39
KAFKA, Franz. Betrachtung [Contemplation]. Leipzig:
Ernst Rowohlt, 1913
Octavo. Original red wrappers printed in black. Housed in a black
quarter morocco solander box by the Chelsea Bindery. Wrappers
rubbed, dulled, and marked, ends of spine chipped, occasional spotting and toning to contents. A very good copy.
first edition, first impression of Kafka’s first book, a collection of 18 short stories printed on large paper in the largest
possible type, as specified by Kafka itself. Number 193 of 800
numbered copies, being one of the fewer than 300 copies sold
in the year of publication. The remaining 500 stayed with the
publisher until 1915, when Kurt Wolff, who had parted from
Rowohlt, reissued them with new title pages with the imprint
“Kurt Wolff Verlag”.
Dietz 17; Raabe 146.1; Wilpert/Gühring 1.
£12,500
[87425]
47
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
Original watercolours, sketches, and photographs of his exploration of southern Brazil
40
KELLER-LEUZINGER, Franz. Archive of original
artwork and photographs from his exploration into
southern Brazil, 1867–8
Near-contemporary green hard-grain morocco portfolio (380 × 280
mm) with grey card flaps decorated with a foliate design in sepia;
both boards elaborately blind-tooled, the front titled in gilt within gilt
foliate panel. Contains 9 watercolour sketches, the majority c.290 ×
210 cm, 2 mounted to form a panorama, all with considerable explicatory annotation in Keller’s hand; 20 pencil drawings mounted on
14 sheets, all with detailed captioning in Keller’s hand, sheet size 355
× 255 mm; 5 original photographs of Curitiba (3 full plate and 2 half
plate) mounted on card and captioned by Keller in pencil. Portfolio
a little rubbed, flaps with some chipping, the mounting sheets show
some light foxing and browning, but the drawings are all in very good
condition, one of the photographs somewhat faded, but the others
fairly strong, overall condition is very good.
A remarkable tranche of visual documentation, comprising
watercolour drawings, pencil sketches, and a handful of extremely rare photographic images of Curitiba, drawn from an
expedition into southern Brazil made by the explorer, engineer,
and artist Franz Keller-Leuzinger on behalf of the German Colonial Union. This is probably a unique opportunity to own
such an integrated group of documents relating to the work
of this largely unrecognized hero of the exploration of South
48
America. Keller spent some 20 years in Brazil, having first travelled there in 1855 with his father, also an engineer, to assist
in the Brazilian–German collaboration for the development
of infrastructure there. Both were first employed on road construction in the provinces of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais;
later they made an extensive survey of the rivers of Brazil, plotting their courses and assessing navigability. These trips into
barely known regions, inhabited only by indigenous tribes,
were usually made by rowing boat. The remarkable extent of
the work undertaken by Keller and his father has remained
almost unknown as the numerous reports, memoranda, and
assessments made by them were published only in Brazil, and
then on a very limited scale; the various maps, plans and drawings produced belonged partly to the Brazilian government
and partly to the emperor Dom Pedro II himself.
The images assembled here all relate to these southern states
and are most likely drawn from explorations of the area’s rivers in 1866 (the dates given on the portfolio, June–September
1886, are clearly incorrect as Keller had returned to Germany
by 1873). The following year Keller and his father undertook a
survey of the rivers close to the border with Bolivia as part of
the research towards a negotiated settlement between the two
countries. This resulted in Keller’s only substantial published
work Vom Amazonas und Madeira: Skizzen und Beschreibungen aus
dem Tagebuche einer Explorationsreise, published in 1874 after his
return to Germany. It was subsequently translated into English
and French, and exerted considerable influence on Jules Verne,
in particular on his novel La Jangada of 1881 (published in English as Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon).
The quality of Keller’s artwork is undeniable; he sketches
freely and expressively, but with considerable topographical
accuracy, which was clearly essential as these drawings were
intended to be a record for reference purposes. Even his technical sketches exhibit an attractive fluency. Taken together,
they provide a wonderful record of the German “colonies” of
southern Brazil, many of them now major cities, at a very early
stage in their development.
The photographic component of the group holds great interest
both in the history of the development of Brazil, and also in the
history of Brazilian photography. Keller married the daughter
of the Swiss-born typographer and printer George Leuzinger,
who in 1861 had extended his office supply and printing house
Casa Leuzinger to include a photographic studio and gallery.
Leuzinger instructed Keller in the art of photography, and in
turn Keller taught Leuzinger’s young apprentice Marc Ferrez,
“the principles of photography … At the age of twenty-one Fer-
rez opened his own studio, whence he set forth to photograph
the landscapes and sights of 19th-century Brazil” (Fabian &
Adam, Masters of Early Travel Photography, p. 348). He is now considered one of Brazil’s greatest photographers.
The Keller images gathered here are of the utmost rarity and
show the city of Curitiba, capital of Paraná, and now eighth
largest city in Brazil, at the earliest stage of its development.
No more than a handful of images from this period are known.
Some of Keller’s materials were exhibited at the National Library in Rio de Janeiro in 1881 as part of the National History
Exhibition. The first exhibition of his photographs “was held
in Curitiba and Paris in 1986 but recent years have seen renewed interest in his work with the staging of no fewer than
nine exhibitions between 1997 and 2001” (Howgego). A paper
on Keller’s work, “Franz Keller-Leuzinger: text and image in
the 19th-century Brazilian Amazon”, was presented by Moema
Vergara of the Brazilian Museu de Astronomia e Ciências Afins
at the 24th International Congress of History of Science, Technology and Medicine in Manchester, July 2013.
Howgego IV, K8. A full description of this item, including a detailed list of all
drawings and photographs, is available on our website or on request.
£25,000
[83652]
49
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
The Kelmscott Chaucer, the crowning achievement of the Press, in original holland-backed boards
41
(KELMSCOTT PRESS.) CHAUCER, Geoffrey. The
Works, now newly imprinted. Hammersmith: printed by
William Morris at the Kelmscott Press, 1896
Large folio. Original holland-backed blue paper boards. Early blue
levant folding case, spine lettered in gilt (some wear, lower joint of
tray splitting). Printed in black and red in Chaucer type, the titles of
longer poems printed in Troy type. Double columns. With 87 woodcut illustrations after Sir Edward Burne-Jones, redrawn by Robert
Catterson-Smith and cut by W. H. Hooper, woodcut title-page, 14
variously repeated woodcut borders, 18 variously repeated woodcut
frames around illustrations, 27 nineteen-line woodcut initial words,
numerous three-, six-, and ten-line woodcut initial letters, and woodcut printer’s device, all designed by William Morris, and cut by C.
E. Keates, W. H. Hooper, and W. Spielmeyer. Bookplates of George
Clinton Ward and Louise Ward Watkins. Text block starting after first
gathering (between the title and facing opening page of text) revealing
cords, otherwise firm, linen backstrip a little darkened, label browned
and with minor chips, a very good copy.
50
One of only 425 paper copies, out of a total edition of 438 copies. The most ambitious and magnificent book of the Press, it
was four years in the making. Morris designed the watermark
for the paper, which was copied from an Italian incunable in
Morris’s collection and made entirely of linen by Batchelor.
It took several requests before Clarendon Press granted permission to use Skeat’s new edition of Chaucer. Burne-Jones
called the book “a pocket cathedral it is so full of design”, and
“the finest book ever printed; if W. M. had done nothing else
it would be enough.” Burne-Jones devoted all his Sundays for
almost three years to the work, and Morris came to talk with
him as he drew. As the artist worked he increased the number
of proposed illustrations from 48 to 60 to 72 to 87, and Morris
accepted each change. The process of adapting the drawings
to the woodblock, and engraving them, was entrusted to W.
H. Hooper and R. Catterson-Smith, with Burne-Jones closely supervising every detail. Of these lovely pictures, those
for the Canterbury Tales, the Romaunt of the Rose, Troilus
and Criseyde, and the Legende of Goode Wimmen are bet-
ter known than those for Chaucer’s translation of Boethius,
his prayer to the Virgin, the Parlement of Foules, A Treatise
on the Astrolabe, and the surrealistic House of Fame. All are
equally beautiful, and all contain images which remind one
strongly of his paintings.
“The Kelmscott Chaucer is not only the most important of the
Kelmscott Press’s productions; it is also one of the great books
of the world. Its splendour can hardly be matched among the
books of the time.” (Ray, The Illustrator and the Book in England).
Clark Library, Kelmscott and Doves, pp. 46–48; The Artist & the Book 45; Peterson
A40; Ransom, Private Presses, p. 329, no. 40; Ray, The Illustrator and the Book in
England, 258; Sparling 40; Tomkinson, p. 117, no. 40; Walsdorf 40.
£65,000
[81099]
51
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
His most enduring work, boldly inscribed to prot0-conservationist Pieter Whitney Fosburgh
and children’s author Liza Fosburgh
His Pulitzer-winning book, inscribed by JFK to the last leader of Tammany Hall
42
KENNEDY, John F. Profiles in Courage. New York: Harper
& Brothers, 1956
Octavo. Original black cloth-backed blue boards, titles to spine gilt.
With the dust jacket. Housed in a blue quarter calf solander case.
Lightly rubbed at extremities. An excellent copy in a lightly rubbed
and toned jacket with some nicks and short splits.
first edition, first printing, presentation copy inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “To Carmine
DeSapio, with the very highest regards of the author, John Kennedy”. DeSapio was an important New York politician, the head
of the Tammany Hall machine which played an outsized role in
52
43
politics throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries providing
a structure for immigrants, such as the Irish and Italians, to enter politics at the local, state, and national levels. DeSapio was
the last leader of Tammany Hall and had close ties to Kennedy.
He endorsed Lyndon B. Johnson as Kennedy’s running mate,
believing that the Texas senator would be crucial to winning
the southern vote. A superb association.
£16,500
[86394]
KEROUAC, Jack. On the Road. New York: The Viking Press,
1957
Octavo. Original black boards, titles to spine and front board in white.
With the dust jacket. Housed in a quarter red morocco box. Spine a little rolled but an excellent copy in a slightly creased and lightly frayed
dust jacket.
first edition, first printing, presentation copy to
Pieter W. Fosburgh and his wife Liza, inscribed by the author
in red crayon, “To Peter [sic] and Liza Fosburgh, Writing in red
crayon in memory of the Red House, Jack Kérouac [sic] (Idiot)
(St. Jack of the Germs)” [the last five words in pencil]. A fas-
cinating presentation. Pieter Whitney Fosburgh (1915–1978),
author of the proto-conservationist book, The Natural Thing: the
Land and its Citizens (New York: Macmillan, 1959), was editor of
New York State’s Department of Conservation magazine. As his
middle name indicates he was descended through his mother
from the socially prominent Whitney family of Massachusetts.
His brothers James and Hugh were also naturalists, art critics,
writers, and artists. After Pieter’s death his widow Liza lived in
Cherry Plain, New York, and wrote children’s books. The reference to the Red House has not been traced.
£80,000
[81414]
53
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
First complete edition in English of his highly important circumnavigation, uncut in original boards
44
LA PÉROUSE, Jean François Galaup de. A Voyage round
the World, performed in the Years 1785, 1786, 1787 and
1788 by the Boussole and Astrolabe. London: A. Hamilton
for G. G. and J. Robinson, J. Edwards and T. Payne, 1799
3 volumes, 2 quarto text volumes (318 × 247 mm), and folio atlas (455
× 310 mm), all uncut in original boards, volume numbers inked to
the spines. Text with engraved portrait of La Pérouse by Heath, atlas
with engraved allegorical title dated 1798 and 69 plates, maps, charts
and views, some double-page, including one large folding map, several plates of natural history subjects and many fine views; errata
leaf at end of volume II. The boards are superficially rubbed, corners
bumped, head and tails of spines of the text volumes crumpled but
not chipped, some minor splitting on the joints, but hinges sound,
the spine of the atlas volume has some splits and a few minor repairs,
splitting on the joints, head and tail of the front, tail of the rear, but
again hinges sound; light browning and some sporadic, largely light
foxing to the text volumes, title and contents leaf of the atlas somewhat browned, and some marginal foxing throughout, a number of
plates with more pervasive and slightly heavier foxing, but overall a
remarkable set in largely unrestored contemporary condition.
first unabridged translation into english, preceded
by two editions of 1798, both of them “abridged in some particular or other”, accompanied by an atlas with the full complement of maps and plates. This is therefore the edition “usually
considered to be the best one in English … now an extremely
54
rare work” (Hill). The expedition was “one of the most important scientific expeditions ever undertaken to the Pacific and
west coast of North America”. The atlas volume contains magnificent maps of Russian Asia, Japan, the Pacific northwest
coast, San Francisco, Monterey, and also Necker Island. The
most significant results of La Pérouse’s voyage are the charts
of the then imperfectly known Asiatic side of the Pacific and
the details of “the peculiarities he observed in the natives of
the northwest coast of North America, [which] are especially
valuable” (Sabin). En route to Kamchatka, La Pérouse was the
first to navigate safely and chart the Japan Sea and the strait
between the island of Sakhalin and the northernmost island
of Japan, which bears his name. At Kamchatka he received instructions to proceed to Australia to assess the extent of British
plans in New South Wales. Travelling via Samoa, where he discovered the islands of Savaii, Manono and Apolima in December 1787, and through the Tongan group, he arrived at Botany
Bay in January 1788, just hours after Captain Phillip had arrived
with the First Fleet. La Pérouse’s habit of forwarding despatches whenever the opportunity offered ensured their survival; the
final despatches were sent from Botany Bay, after which the expedition was never seen again.
Ferguson, 288; Forbes, 311; Hill, 975; Howes L93; Sabin 38962.
£17,500
[85057]
55
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
An exceptional copy, inscribed by Lawrence and signed by the “masterly” printer
45
LAWRENCE, T. E. Seven Pillars of Wisdom. A Triumph.
London: Privately printed for the author by Manning Pike and H.
J. Hodgson, 1926
Quarto (250 × 190 mm). Original tan morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, title lettered in gilt to spine and front board, spine with five
double bands, compartments with broad gilt rule either side, similarly broad single fillet panel to boards enclosing double panel with
checquered corners, five large dots gilt to the head- and tailcap, board
edges and turn-ins ruled in gilt, all edges gilt, pictorial endpapers by
Eric Kennington. Housed in a simple plush-lined, terracotta cloth
drop-back box. 66 plates printed by Whittingham & Griggs, including frontispiece portrait of Feisal by Augustus John, many coloured or
tinted, 4 double-page, by Eric Kennington, William Roberts, Augustus John, William Nicholson, Paul Nash and others, 4 folding colourprinted maps, that is 2 maps duplicated, rather than the 3 called for by
O’Brien, folds reinforced with linen verso, 58 illustrations in text, one
coloured, by Roberts, Nash, Kenning, Blair Hughes-Stanton, Gertrude Hermes and others, historiated initials by Edward Wadsworth
printed in red and black. A superb copy, in exceptional condition both
internally and externally.
line illustrations of Seven Pillars were printed with great skill”
(Wilson, Lawrence of Arabia). After the completion of Seven Pillars, Hodgson joined the Gregynog Press, remaining there for
nine years. In her history of the press Harrop remarks on his
“masterly touch” and reports the opinion of Robert Maynard,
Controller of the Press, that Hodgson was “probably the best
pressman in the country at that time”.
O’Brien A040.
£75,000
[88379]
the cranwell or subscriber’s edition of 211 copies, this
one of 170 “complete copies”, inscribed by Lawrence on p. XIX,
“Complete copy. 1.XII.26 TES”, and in the usual state with a
manuscript correction to the illustration list, a “K” identifying
Kennington rather than Roberts as the artist responsible for
“The gad-fly”; page XV mispaginated as VIII; and with neither
the two Paul Nash illustrations called for on pages 92 and 208,
nor the Blair Hughes-Stanton wood engraving illustrating the
dedicatory poem, which is found in only five copies. However,
it does include the “Prickly Pear” plate, not called for in the list
of illustrations.
This one of a very few copies signed by the printer Herbert
Hodgson at the conclusion of the text. When Manning Pike
had begun to struggle with the complexities of printing Seven
Pillars, Lawrence approached St. John Hornby of the Ashendene Press who suggested Hodgson: “The printing of Seven Pillars began to run more smoothly when Hornby found an experienced pressman, Herbert Hodgson, to help Pike with the work.
Hodgson’s first act was to have an electric motor fitted to the
press, and he proved to be as good a craftsman with presswork
as Pike was with typesetting. As a result the text and delicate
56
57
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
One of 50 copies to establish copyright, originally priced at half a million dollars
46
LAWRENCE, T. E. The Mint. A Day-book of the R.A.F.
Depot between August and December 1922, and at Cadet
College in 1925 by 35207 A/c Ross. Garden City, New York:
Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1936
Quarto. Original half japon, black morocco spine label, blue sides and
endpapers, top edge gilt, others uncut. Title printed in black and red.
Spine very slightly rubbed, an excellent copy.
true first edition, one of an edition of 50 copies only
published to establish copyright, 10 of which were for sale, priced
at $500,000; this copy numbered “10 (U.K.)” “One of Lawrence’s
avowed purposes in joining the RAF … was to write of the ranks
from the inside. He began immediately making notes when he
enlisted in 1922. With his dismissal in January 1923, because of
unfavourable publicity, the project was set aside, not to be taken
up again until he was posted to India in 1927 … In March 1928
he sent a clean copy of the revised text to Edward Garnett [who]
had copies typed which were circulated to a small circle, among
them Air Marshal Trenchard … Trenchard’s concerned response
led Lawrence to guarantee that it would not be published at least
until 1950” (O’Brien). In 1936 the manuscript found its way to
America and “in order to control publication, it was found necessary to have a copyright edition published”.
58
This copy is one of those retained by Lawrence’s brother Arnold,
with his inscription “The property of A. W. Lawrence” inked to
the verso of the front pastedown. Pencilled inscriptions indicate
that this copy was later presented by Arnold to Edward Eliot “on
permanent loan”, and, on his death in 1950, retained by his son
Peter, who notes that, “A. W. Lawrence told Peter Eliot in July
1950 that he might keep this Book”. The Hon. Edward Eliot was
Lawrence’s trusted legal adviser: in a letter to Liddell Hart in
1934 Lawrence described him as “a very balanced solicitor” (Letters, p. 802). He was one of three trustees for the funds raised by
the publication of Revolt in the Desert. The prohibitive price placed
on this edition by Lawrence is equivalent to—at a conservative
estimate—around $8m in current purchasing power.
O’Brien A166; Wilson 284.
£12,500
[80429]
Exceptionally rare and important first edition discussing the Mississippi bubble and John Law
47
[MARMONT DU HAUTCHAMP, Berthelemi.] Histoire
generale et particuliere de visa fait en France. Pour la
réduction & l’extinction de tous les papiers royaux &
des actions de la Compagnie des Indes, que le systeme
des finances avoit enfantez. On y a joint un etat des
actionaires & des Mississipiens compris au rôle des taxes
du 15. septembre 1722, avec des remarques sur leurs
fortunes présentes. The Hague: F. H. Scheurleer, 1743
4 volumes, duodecimo (155 × 95 mm). Contemporary mottled calf, flat
spines ruled gilt, red and green labels, sprinkled edges. Title-pages
printed in red and black, with engraved vignettes. A few small single
wormholes to the spines, contents unaffected. A highly attractive set.
first edition of one of the rarest texts in economics: the detailed account of the operation of the Visa, which
was brought into operation after the downfall of John Law to
investigate the profiteers of the Mississippi bubble, to improve
the financial position of the state and to penalize the financier
class. The Visa was similar to the Chambre de Justice. This is
the first book to print the name of Cantillon and to give details
of his financial activities in the Mississippi bubble and his dealings with John Law.
59
Peter Harrington
The Visa was established by decree on 26 January 1721, and
Pâris Duverney was entrusted with its execution. The aim of
the Visa was to make an inventory of the property of all those
who, either directly or indirectly, had shared in the profits of
the Système, and to tax them retrospectively. “The decree of
26th January 1721 ordered that all the contracts for income
from the state—both perpetual and life annuities—the shares
of the India Company, all the certificates of bank accounts, accounts of deposits, all the bonds, contracts for annuities, as
well as the notes of the royal bank, as such all the proofs of
personal property created by the Système, should within two
months, a time which might be extended to the 30th June, be
presented before a commission to be appointed by the king.
The accounts which were rendered from the 1st to the 15th of
July were, as a commencement, to be reduced by a third; those
which were rendered from the 16th to the 31st of July by twothirds. If not presented before the last date mentioned they
lost all value … To crown the work of Pâris Duverney, and to
reach those who had hitherto been able to escape, the council
of state, on 15th September 1722, issued a decree enforcing an
additional poll-tax, namely the levy of a fine on all immovable
property belonging to the hommes nouveaux, which produced
187,893,661 livres” (Palgrave III, 630–1).
Catalogue 97
The last section shows this special “wealth tax” on the property of those who had gained the most in the system, the hommes
nouveaux. Cantillon is listed among them (II, 170) and, according to the figures given, only 22 people had made more money
than him. His capital gains were estimated at 20 million livres,
and the tax levied 2.4 million. Cantillon had left France fearing
the results of the Visa and the tax payments it would entail, and
presumably had his agents working to have his name omitted
from it. This he did not achieve, but he was listed as “inconnu”,
which was clearly untrue, since his bank was still in business
(being only gradually wound down), and was listed in the Almanach royal of that year (see Antoin E. Murphy, Richard Cantillon:
Entrepreneur and Economist, p. 196).
Volumes III and IV are two additional—particularly rare—
parts containing the relevant decrets and arrêts, beginning
with the Chambre de Justice of 1716 and leading up to 1722.
Marmont du Hautchamp (c. 1682–c. 1760), born in Orléans, was
fermier des domaines of Flanders. His other works are an Histoire du système des finances … pendant les années 1719 & 1720 (The
Hague, 1739), and three novels, Rhétima (1723), Mizivida (1738),
and Rispia (1754).
Alden 743/149; Einaudi 3729; Goldsmiths’ 7992; INED 1554; Kress 4663; Masui,
p. 405; Quérard V, 547.
£15,000
60
[84108]
First edition of his great epic poem, with the first state title-page
48
MILTON, John. Paradise lost. A Poem Written in Ten
Books By John Milton. London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons],
and are to be sold by Peter Parker, Robert Boulter, and Matthias
Walker, 1667
Quarto (181 × 133 mm). Early 20th-century full crushed red morocco
by Riviere & Sons, sides with double frame in gilt and blind enclosing
central gilt cartouche, spine lettered gilt in two compartments, others
with gilt motifs, blind and gilt rules either side of raised bands gilt,
marbled endpapers, gilt edges. Red morocco-backed folding case.
Without initial blank. The C. W. Clark–Silver–Webster copy, with the
book label of Paul Francis Webster. Joints expertly restored, front free
endpaper reattached at inner margin. Ownership inscription washed
from head of title, title leaf with very slight loss at outer top edge not
affecting printed area, text faintly and evenly toned throughout, a very
good copy.
first edition, first state title-page. The contract for
the publication of Paradise Lost between Milton and the stationer Samuel Simmons is the earliest agreement between an
author and a publisher for which there exists documentary
evidence. Sealed on 27 April 1667, it specifies a first edition
of 1,300 copies. The first edition did not finally sell out until
the spring of 1669, and six successive title-pages were used
to promote its sale in that time. These are traditionally described as six distinct issues, though there is no discernible
relationship between the states of the titles and the settings
of the preliminaries, and so “issue” is over-specific. The present is the first state title-page, dated in the year of publication: Simmons registered for his copy on 20 August 1667 and
the book was published late in October or early in November.
(Hugh Amory’s ingenious proposal to give priority to one of
the 1668 title pages is not now generally accepted.) This copy
has the earliest setting of the preliminaries, without the note
The Printer to the Reader.
Grolier English 33; Grolier W–P 599; Hayward 72; Pforzheimer 716; Wing M2138.
£50,000
[73484]
61
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
The new science of economics – an extension of Quesnay’s Tableau économique
“Of real importance in the history of financial theory” – thesis and anti-thesis in one volume
50
49
[MIRABEAU, Victor de Riquetti, Marquis de, & François
QUESNAY.] Philosophie rurale, ou Économie générale et
politique de l’agriculture, réduite à l’ordre immuable des
loix physiques & morales, qui assurent la prospérité des
empires. Amsterdam: Chez les Libraires Associés, 1763
Quarto (255 × 195 mm). Contemporary French pale calf, blind rule
border on covers, spine decorated gilt in compartments, morocco label, marbled endpapers, edges dyed red. Woodcut printer’s device on
title and vignette to the first leaf of text. 3 engraved plates of the Tableau Économique and tables in the text. A little worming to the joints
and spine, contents unaffected, short split to the upper joint skilfully
mended and corners restored. Private library ownership stamp to the
title-page. A very good copy.
rare first edition of Mirabeau’s “magisterial account of
the views of the physiocratic school” (Higgs), containing for
the first time Quesnay’s masterful explanation of his Tableau
économique, “one of those works in the history of economics
which have often been regarded as an anticipation of modern
theories” (Schumpeter, p. 242). There have been no copies at
auction in the last 35 years and only a handful of copies traded
privately in this time.
Originally printed as a 16-page pamphlet in 1758 in a minute number of copies, Quesnay’s Tableau économique was first
revealed to the public as the final part of Mirabeau’s L’Ami
des Hommes, in 1760. In the Philosophie rurale, Quesnay for the
62
first time gives a full explanation of his system. The tableau
économique is credited as the “first precise formulation” of interdependent systems in economics and the origin of the theory of the multiplier in economics. An analogous table is used in
the theory of money creation under fractional-reserve banking
by relending of deposits, leading to the money multiplier.
“The Tableau has been considered a first rough presentation of
Keynes’s multiplier and as a sort of general equilibrium system of a Walrasian type (Schumpeter, 1954, p. 242). For others, the Tableau is an input-output table. Because of the Tableau,
Quesnay has been regarded as an early econometrician. The
Tableau has also been interpreted as the first classical system
of price determination, thus anticipating Marx’s reproduction
schemes and Sraffa’s price system” (The New Palgrave).
“In 1763 appeared the Philosophie rurale … which presents perhaps the most complete and magisterial account of the views
of the physiocratic school” (Higgs). “Quesnay collaborated
very substantially in preparing this last major work, contributing the final chapter with further explanations and manipulations of his Tableau économique analysis” (The New Palgrave).
Schumpeter calls the work “the first of the four text-books of
physiocrat orthodoxy” (p. 225).
Goldsmiths’ 9836; Higgs 2881; INED 3204; Kress 6120.
£35,000
[84112]
[MIRABEAU, Victor Riquetti, Marquis de.] Theorie
de l’Impot. No place: no printer, 1760; [bound with:]
[PESSELIER, Charles.] Doutes proposés à l’auteur de la
Théorie de l’impôt. No place: no printer, 1761
2 works bound together in 1 volume, quarto (255 × 193 mm). Contemporary French mottled calf, spine decorated gilt in compartments, red
morocco label, marbled endpapers. Engraved armorial bookplate to
front pastedown. Lower edge a little rubbed, with corners worn, very
occasional spotting. Excellent copies.
first edition of each work. The Théorie de l’impôt is a spirited
and able attack upon the financial administration of France,
and especially upon the “fermiers généraux”, whom Mirabeau
regarded as parasites preying upon the vitals of the nation.
The work highlights the problems and injustices of the French
system of taxation, and added fuel to the fire of the coming
revolution. The king disapproved of the work; Mirabeau was
imprisoned on 16 December 1760, but through the efforts of
Madame de Pompadour and others, was released on Christmas
Eve, under orders to leave Paris for his estate at Bignon.
Higgs notes that the book is “of real importance in the history
of financial theory” (The Physiocrats, p. 57).
Pesselier was one of the most forceful critics of the physiocrats,
and he here attacks Mirabeau’s Théorie, the year after its publication. His work is notable for its terse affirmation of the
characteristically physiocratic doctrine that agriculture holds a
privileged place in the economic system. Of the products of the
soil Pesselier writes, “Elles procurent un profit net et durable
puisqu’elles sont à l’abri de l’imitation” (“They provide a net
and sustainable profit since they are immune to imitation”).
Mirabeau: Einaudi 3946; Goldsmiths’ 9602; Higgs 2297; INED 3209; Kress
5883. Pesselier: Brunet I, 1118; Einaudi 4409; Goldsmiths’ 9695; Higgs 2534;
INED 3524; Kress 5964.
£14,500
[84111]
The work proposes a reorganization of financial administrative
machinery, the abolition of the “Fermes”, a reduction in the
taxation upon salt, with the object of increasing the total yield,
and a special tax upon tobacco farms. The domaine, the post,
and the mint were to be further sources of revenue. The author ranks as one of the earliest important writers on taxation.
63
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
The founder of modern science in Ireland, the first treatise on dioptrics published in English
51
MOLYNEUX, William. Dioptrica nova. A Treatise of
Dioptricks, In Two Parts. Wherein the Various Effects
and Appearances of Spherick Glasses, both Convex
and Concave, Single and Combined, in Telescopes and
Microscopes, Together with Their Usefulness in many
Concerns of humane life, are explained. London: for Benj.
Tooke, 1692
Quarto (240 × 183 mm). Contemporary blind-panelled calf, sometime
rebacked with gilt spine, red morocco label, relined to style. Complete
with initial imprimatur leaf and final advert leaf. 43 engraved plates
(most folded), diagrams, tables in the text. Short closed tear at foot of
imprimatur leaf with old repair, wormhole (mostly single, becoming
double) at lower outer corner through to quire O, mostly beyond the
text, very occasional minor damping at fore-edge margin, 4 plates to
the appendix on browned paper; overall, a very good copy.
first edition of the first treatise on the subject to
be published in english. Molyneux, who has a claim to be
considered the founder of modern science in Ireland, based his
book on his discourses to the Dublin Philosophical Society delivered between 1683 and 1686 on the illusion of the different
magnitudes of the horizontal and meridional moon, on double vision, and on why four glasses in a telescope show objects
erect. The first part presents 59 propositions on geometrical
optics, providing a thorough treatment of the nature of sight
and the properties of lenses, telescopes, microscopes, and
magic lanterns. The second part consists of a series of chapters
on topics including refraction and light, glasses for defective
eyes, and telescopic instruments. A second edition was pub-
64
lished in 1709. The first edition is notably rare in commerce,
having appeared at auction only twice in the past 46 years.
The manuscript was seen through the press by Edmond Halley,
who allowed Molyneux to include as an appendix his theorem
for finding the focus of a spherical lens. Although Molyneux
also acknowledged his obligation to John Flamsteed, who had
lent him instruments, and gave the solutions of Flamsteed for
certain propositions in addition to his own, the publication led
to their falling out, probably because Flamsteed resented that
the manuscript was not shown to him before publication but
entrusted instead to his rival Halley.
The book brought Molyneux to the attention of Leibniz—whose
refutation of Descartes’s explanation of refraction and doctrine
of final causes were both warmly approved by Molyneux—and
Huygens, then the foremost authority on optics. It also led to
a key friendship with John Locke, who took Molyneux’s criticisms and suggestions into account in the second edition of his
Essay on Human Understanding, notably “the so-called Molyneux
problem, included as an addition to the chapter on perception.
The question posed was whether a blind man who had learned
to distinguish by touch between a cube and a sphere would be
able, on gaining his sight, to differentiate the objects without
touching them. Molyneux thought not and Locke agreed. The
problem had profound philosophical implications and became
a key topic in British philosophy” (ODNB).
Taylor, Mathematical Practitioners, 489; Wing M2405.
£15,000
[80630]
John Locke’s copy of a masterpiece of mercantalist literature
52
MUN, Thomas. England’s Treasure by Forraign Trade.
Or, The Ballance of our Forraign Trade is the Rule of our
Treasure. London: Printed by J. Flesher for Robert Horne, 1669
Octavo (162 × 102 mm). Contemporary sheep, rebacked and relined, with
window cut in front pastedown to show Locke’s signature, lately rebacked
a second time, preserving the spine of an early 20th-century rebacking,
two corners repaired, two corners worn, still a very good copy.
second edition, john locke’s copy of Mun’s masterpiece
of mercantile literature, with his ownership inscription to the
original front pastedown and his usual markings to the date on
the title and to the page number on the final leaf, without his
price code to page 11.
“For those who want to read a single example of mercantilist
writing, it is difficult to better Thomas Mun’s England’s Treasure by Forraign Trade, completed in 1628 and published posthumously in 1664. Adam Smith at any rate regarded it as perfectly
representative of a vast body of similar literature: ‘The title of
Mun’s book,’ he said, ‘became a fundamental maxim in the political economy, not of England only, but of all other commercial countries’” (Blaug, Great Economists Before Keynes).
Carpenter IV (2); Goldsmiths’ 1905; Harrison & Laslett 2063; Kress 1244; Wing
M 3074; cf. PMM 146 for the first edition.
£37,500
[84051]
65
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
An exceptional piece of printing in red and black for the incunable era, a guide for readers of Homer
53
MUSURUS, Marcus (ed.) Etymologicum magnum
graecum. Venice: Zacharias Callierges for Nicolaus Blastos &
Anna Notaras, 8 July 1499
Medium folio (388 × 257 mm), 224 leaves. Eighteenth-century diced russia, sometime rebacked (apparently 19th century) with brown goatskin,
six raised bands with double gilt rules either side, red and tan morocco
labels, marbled endpapers. Prefatory poem by Musurus and Johannes
Gregoropoulos. Double column, greek type. 23 woodcut headpieces for
each section of the alphabet except theta (3 blocks in 12, 10 and 1 impressions), woodcut devices of Blastos and of Kallierges, 10- and 5-line
woodcut initials. All woodcuts, headings, brackets, capital to each entry and signatures in first quire printed in red, the red printed before
the black. Sixteenth-century ownership inscription of Prospero Podiani (Perugia) on first and second leaves, one or two instances of early
Greek marginalia in red; small monogrammed bookplate. Rubbed,
lower corners just worn, sprinkle of worm at head of spine not affecting
contents, minor browning to top edge of alpha1–2, small brown stain
to omicron8, tiny hole to alpha1 affecting single letter on verso, very
occasional minor marginal foxing, an excellent copy.
first edition, an important landmark in the history of Greek
printing, intended as a guide for readers of Homer; a superb
66
First English edition of his second English book, in the rare dust jacket
production and an exceptional piece of printing for the incunable era, splendidly achieved in red and black.
“It is justly said by De Bure, ‘that the present is one of the most
magnificent publications which ever issued from the press.’
Whether the appearance of it damped the ardour, or rendered
useless, the exertions of Aldus, we cannot perhaps accurately
determine; but it is certain that his promise of publishing the
Etymologicon magnum was never carried into execution … Even if
it had been executed under the care of Aldus himself, it would
not have been more correctly, or perhaps so beautifully, printed;
since, with all his zeal for the cause of literature … Aldus never
produced any thing, for solidity and skill of workmanship, at all
comparable with the Ammonius and Simplicius … the Therapeutica of Galen … and the Etymologicum magnum; each printed by
Callierges in the XVth century. The frequent and successful introduction of the red letter, gives a splendour as well as peculiarity to the efforts of the printer whose work is now under consideration” (Dibdin, Bibliotheca Spenceriana III, p. 65).
Callierges spent five years developing the Greek type which was
first used to print the Etymologicum. In contrast to the Aldine
Greek type, it was cast in one piece with its accents. Callierges,
Blastos and Musurus were all fellow-Cretans. Anna Notaras
was a leading figure among Byzantine expatriates in Venice.
Musurus’s prefatory poem is one of the most substantial early
treatises on the technicalities of type-casting (see Proctor, The
Printing of Greek in the Fifteenth Century, 1900, pp. 120–24).
BMC V 580; Goff E112; GW 9426; HC *6691; Pellechet 4629; Proctor 5644.
£35,000
[81008]
54
(NABOKOV, Vladimir.) NABOKOFF-SIRIN, Vladimir.
Despair. Translated from the Russian by the author.
London: John Long, Limited, 1937
Octavo. Original black cloth, titles to front board and spine gilt. With
the pictorial dust jacket. Housed in a black morocco-backed solander box by the Chelsea Bindery. Endpapers somewhat browned, spine
very gently rolled but an excellent copy in a frayed and rubbed dust
jacket with loss at the ends of the spine panel and a small triangular
chip from the centre of the spine panel, with some neat professional
repair to the folds.
first uk edition, first impression, first issue in the
black cloth. Nabokov’s second English publication was put
out by the small imprint John Long which specialized in unconventional, quirky books, especially mystery, fantasy, and
crime novels. They had previously published Nabokov’s Camera
Obscura with very little success and fared no better with this.
Both titles were remaindered in cheaper bindings and copies
of either in dust jacket are rare. Of Despair there are thought to
be a mere handful extant.
With the ownership signature of Karin de Laval, dated 1937.
Laval was a Swedish writer who notably translated works by
Tolstoy, Moravia, and others. There are very light pencil annotations to one page which would appear to be explication of
idiomatic phrases.
£15,000
[76068]
67
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
First US edition of his controversial masterpiece, inscribed to Véra, with a note in Russian and a butterfly
55
NABOKOV, Vladimir. Lolita. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons,
1955
Octavo. Original paper-covered boards, black cloth backstrip lettered
in gilt. With the dust jacket. Custom red morocco-backed slipcase and
chemise. A very good copy in dust jacket.
first american edition, annotated presentation
copy to Véra, inscribed to her by the author on the half-title
in Russian, noting this copy as “Véra’s duplicate”, and signed
by him with his first initial, below one of his characteristic butterflies (genus Macusia) drawn in pencil with an eyespot, complete with eyelashes in each of the four wing sections, in blue
and green with red highlights in the two top sections. Nabokov
has labelled the front cover in heavy black marker, “Vé, corrected”, reflecting the nine emendations made throughout the
text, listed by page number on the front endpaper in pencil and
68
black ink, along with the note: “NB The locking of rooms in
Part II, ch. 35 should be revised in accordance with Russian version.” With additional markings by him to four pages.
Putnam’s first American edition, publishing the first complete
appearance of Lolita in the United States, was preceded by the
first edition published in Paris by the Olympia Press (1955).
Nabokov’s afterword, On a Book entitled Lolita, explains the difficulties he had in trying to publish Lolita in the United States.
This is “Véra’s duplicate” copy, because Nabokov inscribed
two copies to her. The other copy was in the library of Roger
Rechler, sold at Christie’s New York, 11 October 2002, lot 234,
for $163,500 including buyer’s premium.
Juliar A28.2.
£165,000
[82629]
69
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
The Principia, “the greatest work in the history of science”, in contemporary sheep
56
NEWTON, Isaac. Philosophiae naturalis principia
mathematica. London: Joseph Streater for the Royal Society,
sold by Sam. Smith and other booksellers, 1687
Quarto (234 × 178 mm). Contemporary sheep, perhaps Dutch, rebacked with original gilt spine laid down, gilt-lettered direct in second compartment, sprinkled edges. Custom brown morocco folding
case. With folding engraved plate illustrating a comet and numerous
woodcut diagrams in text; complete with errata leaf and terminal
blank; with cancel P4. Ex-library Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, with
in-filled perforated stamp on title leaf and another ink stamp covered
at foot of sig. [A]2r; early ink price notation on title verso. Inner hinges relined, paper restoration to fore edge of front free endpaper, short
tear at head of sig. X1 just touching page numeral either side, but no
text loss; small hole in sig. Yy2, about 20 × 5 mm, with loss on recto of
one word and partly affecting two other words, and loss of one word
on verso. The binding with professional restoration, but a good copy,
the text generally fresh and clean.
first edition, with the rare cancel title with three-line imprint, the so-called export issue, of “the greatest work in the history of science” (Printing and the Mind of Man). The Principia is the
foundation work on dynamics and gravitation and the first successful scientific model of the mechanisms of the universe. The
70
Newtonian laws of gravitation and planetary motion established
a concept of the universe unchallenged until Einstein.
A. N. L. Munby (“The two title pages of the distribution of the
first edition of Newton’s Principia”, Notes and Records of the Royal
Society 10, Oct. 1952) surmised that the whole edition size was
300 to 400 copies, the higher number being the more likely.
The three-line imprint, which includes the name of the bookseller, Samuel Smith, reflects Halley’s decision to turn over a
portion of the edition to Smith, probably for foreign distribution. Copies with the three-line imprint, which Munby concludes were published simultaneously with the two-line, are
much rarer, estimated to comprise no more than between 17
and 33 per cent of the whole edition, that is, roughly anywhere
between 70 and 135 copies. The vast majority of surviving contemporary bindings on copies of the three-line imprint are not
English, supporting the notion that this issue was for export.
Babson 10; Dibner 11; Evans 19; Horblit 78; Norman 1586; PMM 171; Parkinson
pp. 125–6; Sparrow 151; Wing N1049.
£185,000
[84669]
71
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
First edition in English, complete with the engraved portrait frontispiece
57
NOSTRADAMUS, Michel. The True Prophecies or
Prognostications of Michael Nostradamus, Physician to
Henry II. Francis II. and Charles IX. Kings of France, And
one of the best Astronomers that ever were. A Work full
of Curiosity and Learning. Translated and Commented
by Theophilus de Garencieres, Doctor in Physick Colleg.
Lond. London: by Thomas Ratcliffe, and Nathaniel Thompson,
and are to be sold by John Martin [& 7 others], 1672
Folio (300 × 195 mm). Near-contemporary calf, skilfully rebacked,
spine in compartments with red morocco label, sides with blind ruled
border and blind tooled cornerpieces, gilt-roll to board edges, marbled edges. Engraved frontispiece incorporating portraits of the author and translator, title printed in red and black, woodcut initials and
head- and tailpieces. Bookplate, dated 1727, of Sir George Cooke of the
Inner Temple, London, chief prothonotary of the court of common
pleas, Westminster, one of a long line of prothonotaries of the same
name, which include his great-grandson Sir George Cooke (1768–
1837), major-general at the Battle of Waterloo; recent bookplate, dated
72
1977, of Homeric scholar and linguist Roberto Salinas Price (noted for
his claim that the real Troy was not in Turkey but in Bosnia), Biblioteca Huicalco, Mexico. Light rubbing to extremities, some internal
spots and tanning but on the whole in very good condition.
first edition in english. The prophecies of Nostradamus (1503–1566) were first published in part as Les Propheties in
1555; the complete collection of 942 verses was posthumously
published in 1568. Theophilus Garencières (1610–c. 1680) was
a French physician who came to England with the French ambassador in the 1650s and settled here, leaving the Catholic
church, and publishing books mostly on medical matters. His
edition of Nostradamus gives the French text of each quatrain
followed by the English translation and some usually short but
useful notes.
Caillet 8073; Wing N1399.
£11,000
[87238]
First edition of this celebrated collection by England’s finest 20th-century essayist, scarce in the dust jacket
58
ORWELL, George. Inside the Whale and Other Essays.
London: Gollancz, 1940
Octavo. Original black cloth, titles to spine gilt. With the dust jacket. Housed in a green quarter morocco solander box by the Chelsea
Bindery. Pages very lightly tanned as usual, attractive bookplate to the
front pastedown, but an exceptionally nice copy in a lightly marked
and somewhat faded dust jacket.
first edition, first impression, one of 1,000 copies
printed. Orwell may well have been the finest essayist England
produced in the 20th century. Besides the title essay, this book
prints his notable studies of Charles Dickens and boy’s weeklies.
A scarce book in any condition, copies as nice as this are rare.
£12,500
[81858]
73
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
“Pareto’s aim in the Cours was ‘to provide an outline of economic science considered as a natural science based exclusively on
facts’” (IESS). The main economic contribution of the work
was its exposition of ‘Pareto’s Law’, “the idea of a definite proportion required among the factors of production in order to
insure economically successful results … Pareto’s name is also
associated with a law of the inequality of the distribution of
wealth, based upon statistical data which show that the larger
the fortune the smaller the number of those who possess it”
(Haney). “The work’s resonance was impressive:‘the large literature evoked by this publication … testifies conclusively to
its importance and to its stimulating influence’” (Schumpeter,
p. 859n).
Einaudi 4294; IESS (1896–1897).
£12,500
[84058]
First edition of his great geographical compilation,
a continuation and enlargement of Hakluyt
60
PURCHAS, Samuel. Purchas his Pilgrimes. In five bookes
… [Purchas his Pilgrimage … ] London: William Stansby for
Henrie Fetherstone, 1625–6
Presentation copy of the first edition of his first
major work
59
PARETO, Vilfredo. Cours d’économie politique. Professé
a l’Université de Lausanne. Lausanne: F. Rouge, Éditeur,
Librairie de l’Université, 1896–97
2 volumes, octavo (221 × 140 mm). Contemporary quarter calf on marbled boards, spines decorated gilt in compartments, edges sprinkled.
Diagrams and tables to the text. Light browning, joints a little rubbed,
a very good copy.
first edition, presentation copy, of Pareto’s first major
work, inscribed by the author; “A Mr, le Dr Sülzer, Hommage
amical, Vilfredo Pareto” to the title of each volume. The recipient, Dr. Georg Sülzer, was the author of Die wirtschaftlichen
Grundgesetze in der Gegenwartsphase ihrer Entwicklung, published
in Zürich in 1895, a work which, according to Lionel Robbins
“ranks with Wicksteed’s [Common sense of political economy] as the
forerunner of a school of thought which has come into prominence only in the last few years.”
74
Together 5 volumes (the supplemental Pilgrimage comprising the fifth
volume), folio (334 × 212 mm). Late 19th-century full blue smooth
calf, sides bordered with decorative rolls in gilt and blind, spines gilt
in compartments, contrasting red morocco labels and date label at
foot, marbled endpapers, turn-ins gilt, edges gilt on the rough. With
88 engraved maps (7 double-page or folding, 81 half-page in the text);
numerous illustrations, mostly woodcut, but some engraved; without
blanks and without engraved additional title to volume I, as often.
Engraved bookplates of Richard Jones, 1707, on volumes III and V titles verso; bookplates of the Money-Coutts family designed by J. D.
Batten, 1889, on each front pastedown. Spines a little sunned, labels
rubbed; the 7 folding maps skilfully backed with linen, 2 misbound
into volume V, New France map with small areas of paper loss not affecting main engraved area, Smith’s map of Virginia in Burden’s state
10, as usual, just shaved at head outside the map; volume II table misbound immediately after title leaf in that volume; skilful repairs to
paper flaws in 5 leaves in volume III (sigs. 3T6 and 3U1, 3U5, 3U6, and
4A4), with some slight loss of text on the affected leaves, a few minor
repairs elsewhere; overall a good tall copy.
first edition of Purchas his Pilgrimes, together with the fourth
edition of the Pilgrimage, issued concurrently as a supplement,
in the usual issue with the first quire reset, the title beginning
Purchas (the other setting has Purchase), and the added dedication to King Charles. The fourth edition of the Pilgrimage is usually considered the best; first published in 1613, it gives Purchas’s account of the various religions encountered throughout
the world. Together this is the desired state of the complete
set of Purchas’s important collection of travel and exploration
narratives from ancient times up to and including the recent
accounts of Virginia by John Smith.
“This great geographical collection is a continuation and enlargement of Hakluyt’s Principal Navigations. At the death of
Hakluyt there was left a large collection of voyages in manuscript which came into the hands of Purchas, who added to
them many more voyages and travels … Purchas followed the
general plan of Hakluyt, but he frequently put the accounts
into his own words … The main divisions of the work fall into
two parts: the first covering the world known to Ptolemy, the
second coming down to Purchas’ own day. This fine collection
includes the accounts of Cortés and Pizarro, Drake, Cavendish, John and Richard Hawkins, Quiros, Magellan, van Noort,
Spilbergen, and Barents, as well as the categories of Portuguese voyages to the East Indies, Jesuit voyages to China and
Japan, East India Company voyages, and the expeditions of the
Muscovy Company” (Hill).
Alden & Landis 625/173; Borba de Moraes II, pp. 692–3; Church 401A; Hill 1403;
Sabin 66682–6; STC 20509 & 20508.5.
£42,500
[86736]
75
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
Signed by Rackham on every plate, his personal selection from his Peter Pan illustrations re-presented
in their original sizes
62
(RACKHAM, Arthur.) BARRIE, J. M. Peter Pan Portfolio
(From “The Little White Bird”) A New Edition Illustrated
by Arthur Rackham. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1908
His illustrations for Hans Christian Andersen, presentation copy in publisher’s deluxe morocco, with
an original ink drawing
61
(RACKHAM, Arthur.) ANDERSEN, Hans Christian.
Fairy Tales. London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., 1932
Quarto. Publisher’s deluxe green morocco, titles and Rackham-designed tools to spine and boards gilt, pink pictorial endpapers, top
edge gilt, others untrimmed. Colour frontispiece and 11 plates, 9 fullpage line drawings, and numerous illustrations within the text. Contents fresh. Very lightly rubbed at the extremities. An excellent copy.
signed limited edition, one of 525 numbered copies signed
by Rackham on the limitation leaf, this an out of series copy
inscribed “presentation” and bound in the publisher’s deluxe
morocco. With an original ink drawing “The Ugly Duckling”
by Rackham on the front blank, signed by him and dated 1932.
Elephant folio. Original full cream japon, titles to front board gilt, new
cream silk ties. With the original printed card box. With 12 tipped-in
and mounted plates reproduced from the original artwork. New ribbons and ties, minor repair to box. An excellent copy.
limited to 100 signed copies, signed by the publisher and
engraver/printer on the limitation page and each plate signed
by Arthur Rackham. This was the only suite of Rackham’s
plates to be issued in an oversize portfolio format, with 12 of
the artist’s personal favourites from Rackham’s Peter Pan in
Kensington Gardens reproduced at their original size, published
to capitalize on the popularity of the stage production Peter Pan.
Of Rackham’s designs Barrie wrote, “I like best of all the Serpentine with the fairies, and the Peter in his night-gown sitting
in the tree. Next I would [sic] the flying Peters, the fairies going
to the ball (as in the ‘tiff ’ and the fairy on cobweb)—the fairies sewing the leaves with their sense of fun (the gayest thing
this) and your treatment of snow” (Ray 329). Perhaps Barrie’s
comments influenced Rackham’s selection, as this portfolio
includes all the images he mentioned.
£35,000
[81091]
Latimore & Haskell p. 68.
£10,000
76
[86264]
77
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
Franny and Zooey inscribed by the reclusive author
to the 23-year-old actress he hoped would star in his film
64
SALINGER, J. D. Franny and Zooey. Boston: Little, Brown
and Company, 1961
Octavo. Original grey cloth, spine lettered in gilt. With the original
printed dust jacket. Housed in a red cloth solander box. Mild fading
along upper edge of boards, mild toning to endpapers, else a nice
copy in dust jacket with shallow chipping to spine ends, short closed
tears to rear top panel edge and lower front panel edge, light soiling
to rear panel. A very presentable copy.
The hardback issue of the first Harry Potter book, a genuine rarity, in fine condition
63
ROWLING, J. K. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s
Stone. London: Bloomsbury, 1997
Octavo. Original matt laminated printed paper boards, without dust
jacket as issued. Housed in a red quarter morocco solander box by the
Chelsea Bindery. A fine and sharp copy.
first edition, first impression, the rare hardback issue, with all the requisite points of first printing: Bloomsbury
imprint, 10-down-to-1 number line, and the list of equipment
78
on p. 53 with “1 wand” appearing twice in the list. According to
Bloomsbury, only 500 copies of the first printing of Philosopher’s
Stone were issued in this hardback format. Apparently 300 of
these were taken by libraries and schools and subjected to the
usual disfigurations, leaving only 200 copies in potentially collectable condition.
£37,500
[86485]
first edition, inscribed and dated on the front free endpaper by the notably reclusive author in his autograph: “January 5th–6th, 1968. Overnight guest who is very attached to the
owner of this book. xxxx”, and with the ownership inscription
of Jan DeVries (1945–1997) at the head of the same leaf. Laid
in loosely is an undated autograph note to her from Salinger:
“Thanks for your card, dear old Jan. Love to you, to Katinka,
to Peter, to Derek and Johnny. Matthew is skiing, Peggy is boyfriending, and I’m typewriting, Love Jerry”. Jan DeVries was the
23-year-old daughter of Salinger’s close friend, comic writer
Peter DeVries (1910–1993). DeVries had been on the staff of
the New Yorker since 1944. His wife Katinka Loeser was a poet
and author: Derek and Jon were their other children. In the late
1960s, Salinger agreed to let producer-director-writer Peter
Tewksbury adapt “For Esme—With Love and Squalor” for the
screen, on condition that Jan DeVries, then a budding actress,
play the title role. Tewksbury declined to do so, thinking her
too old for the part, and the project never came to fruition.
Jan DeVries went on to a career as author, editor, and psychic
counsellor with interests in alternative medicine, shamanism,
the occult, and Native American lore. Inscribed copies of any of
Salinger’s few published works are famously rare, and no copy
of Franny and Zooey signed or inscribed by Salinger has ever appeared at auction.
£47,500
[87384]
79
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
A lavish illuminated manuscript on vellum, with a portrait of Keats,
two full-page miniatures and seven vignettes, finely bound
65
(SANGORSKI, Alberto, calligrapher & illuminator.)
KEATS, John. Illuminated manuscript on vellum, The
Eve of St. Agnes. London: Alberto Sangorski, 1924–5
Quarto (277 × 232 × 22 mm). Fine binding, unsigned but probably by
Alberto Sangorski, of turquoise levant morocco, covers with gilt fillet
and gilt dotted outer borders, front cover with an onlaid brown morocco strip border enclosing an inner panel border of continuous gilt
tooled flower and leaf spray tooling with small red morocco onlays
and gilt dots, gilt heart-shaped corner ornaments, a large inner panel
of identical tooling in blind with small white onlays and small dots,
rear cover undecorated save for the outer border; spine in six compartments with five raised bands, gilt lettered in one compartment, decorated gilt panel in the rest; board edges with single gilt fillet, turn-ins
with gilt fillets and gilt dotted line, doublures and free endpapers of
brown watered silk, interleaved with doubled white satin, gilt edges;
pale blue full morocco folding box, lettered in gilt.
Illuminated manuscript on thick vellum, 15 leaves plus one blank
flyleaf each at front and back (27 numbered pages plus colophon
page), on linen guards, written in an upright semi-gothic book hand
in black, title in red within a full ornamental border incorporating
an oval miniature portrait of Keats; 2 full-page miniatures and 7 vignettes, six of the illustrations signed by Sangorski with his AS cipher
and dated 1924 or 1925; a total of five pages with full-page borders, 17
illuminated initials (one historiated) incorporating elaborate borders
with penwork tracery, other verse-opening initials in alternating red,
blue, green or gold with penwork tracery; the full-page and smaller
80
borders in a variety of green, purple, blue, brown, red and other colours, all in stylized floral and foliate design and lavishly heightened
with gold. Bookplates of Frederick S. Peck and Paul Edward Chevalier (his sale, Christie’s NY, 9 Nov. 1990, lot 76). Colophon statement:
“This manuscript The Eve of St. Agnes by John Keats was designed,
written out, and illuminated by Alberto Sangorski. This manuscript
will not be duplicated [signed:] Alberto Sangorski”. An illuminated
manuscript of exceptional quality in fine condition.
Alberto Sangorski (1862–1932) was elder brother of Francis Sangorski, co-founder with George Sutcliffe of the London binders Sangorski & Sutcliffe. Around 1905, Alberto abandoned his
career as secretary to a goldsmith and took up the art of calligraphy, creating sumptuous illuminated manuscripts of the
very highest quality. Having illuminated Sangorski & Sutcliffe’s
masterpiece, the Great Omar, in its elaborate jewelled binding
(famously lost on the Titanic), Alberto fell out with his brother,
who would not let him sign his manuscripts, and in about 1910
took his talents to Sangorski & Sutcliffe’s rivals, Riviere & Son,
where he was free to sign his own work.
It is not known how long Alberto’s relationship with Riviere
lasted, but it seems that by the mid 1920s, Alberto, then in
his sixties, was producing work on his own account, lavishing
all the time and attention necessary to complete each book
himself. The Folger library (call no. W.b. 260) has a Sangorski illuminated manuscript in a similar binding to the present,
purchased by H. C. Folger in 1926 from Robson & Co. Ltd.,
London. The Times Literary Supplement for 23 December 1926 reported that, “For many years a Londoner of foreign descent,
Mr. Alberto Sangorski, has been ‘making’ beautiful books … .
He has just completed for Messrs. Robson and Co., of 7 Hanover Street, a richly illuminated manuscript of Shakespeare’s
Songs and Sonnets, [which] has been in hand for five years,
and every detail — designing, engrossing illumination, painting and binding has been done by Mr. Sangorski.”
Messrs Robson and Co. were a small bookselling firm run by
Philip Appleby Robson (1871–1951), son of the architect Edward
Robert Robson, who had connections with the Pre-Raphaelite
Brotherhood and who designed the handsome board school in
Hanover Street (now Noel Street, Islington). In the late 1890s the
firm had been in West End premises at 23 Coventry Street, off
Piccadilly Circus. There is no sign of their involvement in this
volume, but they were the most likely agents for its sale; perhaps
it was a commission for the Rhode Island collector Frederick S.
Peck (1868–1947), whose bookplate is in the volume.
A full listing of the illustrations is available on our website or on request.
£30,000
[85047]
Hand-coloured Italian botanical illustrations
in the English manner
66
SAVI, Gaetano. Flora Italiana. Ossia racolta delle piante
più belle che si coltivano nei giardini d’Italia. Pisa: Presso
Niccoló Capurro, 1818–22–24
3 volumes bound in 1, folio (430 × 300 mm). Contemporary half vellum, titles to spine gilt, red and black marbled boards, marbled endpapers, speckled edges. Oatmeal cloth folding case. 121 hand-coloured plates. Joints and hinges neatly repaired; volume I p. 45 repaired
in the gutter, staining to plate at p. 99, 5 plates trimmed a little at the
fore-edge not affecting the image; volume II dark mark to plate at p.
23, two plates slightly trimmed at the fore-edge; volume III repairs to
edges of plates at pp. 23, 27, 29, and 65; overall very good.
first edition. This richly illustrated work by the director of
Pisa’s Botanical Garden was conceived along the lines of the
most important English contributions to botanical literature,
in particular, The Botanist’s Repository by Henry Andrews and The
Botanical Magazine by William Curtis. The book presents a “collection” of plants selected “from the most beautiful specimens
cultivated in the gardens of Italy” in the form of Antonio Serantoni’s elegant illustrations.
Brunet, V 154.
£20,000
[81896]
81
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
The Second Folio, complete, in early 18th-century English panelled calf
67
SHAKESPEARE, William. Mr. William Shakespeares
Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. Published according
to the true Originall Copies. The second Impression.
London: Printed by Tho. Cotes, for Robert Allot, and are to be sold
at his shop, 1632
Folio (324 × 219 mm), 454 leaves, complete. Early 18th-century English
panelled calf, red morocco spine label lettered in gilt and with gilt leaf
sprays, circlets, etc., raised bands, pale red sprinkled edges. Housed
in a dark red morocco backed folding case and chemise. Title incorporating large engraved portrait of Shakespeare by Martin Droeshout,
woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials. Engraved bookplate of Sir
Christopher Willoughby, Bart (1748–1808). Early pen-trials on blank
recto of the To the Reader leaf including the date 1708; some early
pen marks to the Effigies leaf recto, not affecting text, at foot of last
leaf of text of The Tempest (B4r), including the name Thomas Thorp,
and at the end of the Comedies, Z6r, with the names Joanna White
and Richard Carrington; a scatter of tiny ink blots to B2 recto; a small
marginal ink cross on D1r. Extremities of binding skilfully restored,
front free endpaper extended in head margin. To the Reader leaf with
very minor repair to short tear at lower outer corner; short closed tear
at foot of title leaf not affecting text; K3 and K4 with short closed tears
at foot; N2 torn across lower outer corner, affecting 19 lines in outer
column, the whole corner neatly supplied from another genuine copy;
short closed tear at head of d2 just touching headline; longer tear at
foot of d6, affecting 26 lines but without loss, partly stitched and with
old paper reinforcement on verso below the text; small marginal paper flaw in h3; small hole in ee4 affecting a couple of letters either side
82
of the leaf; small tear across upper outer corner of ss3, outer corner of
frame supplied in facsimile; very minor paper restoration at head of
ccc3–4; minor restoration in gutter of final leaf; some minor spots or
small stains, but generally clean and fresh, a very good copy, tall and
well-margined, in a handsome early panelled calf binding.
second folio edition, todd’s first issue, the edition of
which William Prynne complained that it was printed on best
crown paper. It is estimated that the original edition was of
1,000 copies, shared between the five publishers listed in the
colophon, all of whom were proprietors of rights to one or
more of the plays. This copy is one of the copies printed for
Robert Allot, who took the lion’s share. The book is also notable for containing the first appearance in print of John Milton,
his lines printed on the Effigies leaf. This copy is Todd’s first issue, with the Effigies leaf in Smith’s state C (initial “S” against
a filigreed background). As Todd showed in 1953, copies of the
first issue of the Second Folio were printed and sold in the manner stated on the title page in 1632; later issues, although still
dated 1632, have the title and conjugate Effigies leaf on thicker
paper and were sold by Allot’s successors sometime between
1636 and 1641.
Pforzheimer 906; STC 22274. William B. Todd, “The Issues and States of the
Second Folio and Milton’s Epitaph on Shakespeare”, Studies in Bibliography,
volume 5, pp. 81–108.
£375,000
[79508]
83
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
Humanity illustrated in over 600 hand-coloured plates,
a superb Ackermann publication rarely found complete
69
First edition of her masterpiece of Gothic horror, an early polemic against the hubris of modern science
68
[SHELLEY, Mary.] Frankenstein; or, The Modern
Prometheus. In three volumes. London: for Lackington,
Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, 1818
3 volumes, duodecimo (177 × 107 mm). Bound to an attractive contemporary style in 20th-century tan full smooth morocco, spines giltruled in compartments with two black morocco title labels to each,
sides bordered with a double gilt rule, marbled endpapers, blindrolled turn-ins, speckled edges. Housed in a brown morocco-backed
bookform folding case. Half title to volume 2, advertisements at the
rear of volumes 2 and 3. Mild offset toning and some very light spotting, top edges somewhat dust-darkened, but an excellent copy, wellmargined for a later binding, which is appealingly done to style.
first edition. Written when Mary Shelley was only 19, Frankenstein is not the only memorable remnant of that “wet, ungenial summer” of 1816 at the Villa Diodati (Polidori’s Vampyre has
the same origin), but it is certainly the most famous. Frankenstein
effortlessly transcends the typical Gothic novel: ruined castles,
graveyards and charnel houses appear only briefly or in the dis84
tance, and diabolical agency is replaced by human, natural and
scientific powers. And unlike most Gothic novels Frankenstein
is modern rather than mock-medieval: Mary Shelley managed
to reconcile the Prometheus theme, then occupying both her
husband Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron, with the most
up-to-date scientific preoccupations, anticipating many of the
themes of science fiction. The book’s moral and philosophical
seriousness, sign-posted by its epigraph “Did I request thee,
Maker, from my clay | To mould me man? Did I solicit thee |
From darkness to promote me?” from Paradise Lost (which the
Shelleys were reading together in Bath, where much of Frankenstein was written), pitches it still further above the level of
gothic sensationalism. Her husband’s editorial hand has been
noted in various places, particularly in the unsigned preface
describing the circumstances of its origin and in the plangent
cadences of the closing paragraph.
SHOBERL, Frederic. The World in Miniature. London: R.
Ackermann, 1821-7
can be a very sharp critic, as forming “a valuable and dainty
series of costume plates”.
43 volumes, duodecimo (130 × 84 mm), uniformly bound in early
20th-century blue calf by Morrell (ink stamp on front free endpapers
verso), title gilt direct to spines, dotted roll to bands, dotted panel
with palmette corner-pieces to compartments, stylised floral centre
tools, double fillet gilt panel to boards with sexafoil cornerpieces, foliate edge-roll, elaborate floral roll to turn-ins, marbled endpapers,
all edges gilt. Complete with 644 hand-coloured plates, coloured
line- and stipple-engravings, and aquatints, 18 of them folding, one
uncoloured plate of music, and 2 coloured folding maps, as called for.
Spines uniformly sunned, a few nicks and knocks at the extremities,
a few of the plates with contemporary annotations verso, faded, light
toning, but overall a very pretty set indeed.
Afro-Americana, 1553–1906, 9397 for Africa; Abbey 6; Hardie pp. 114–15;
Lipperheide 959, Netherlands, 1217 Spain and Portugal, 1485 Tibet, 1580
Africa; Sabin 80556; Tooley 515.
£16,500
[83156]
first editions. A complete set of this wonderful early 19thcentury geographical multum in parvo: “The aim of this interesting series … was, in the words of the Advertisement … to
increase the store of the knowledge concerning ‘the various
branches of the great family of Man’, not only for adults, but
also keeping in view ‘the instruction and amusement of the juvenile student’” (Abbey). Commended by Martin Hardie, who
Ashley Library V 29; Tinker 1881; Wolff 6280.
£75,000
[88405]
85
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
The first edition of his first book, including his first mention of the “invisible hand”
A fine pair of miniature Speed atlases with Pieter van den Keere engraved maps
70
SMITH, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. London:
for A. Millar; and A. Kincaid and J. Bell, in Edinburgh, 1759
Octavo (200 × 120 mm). Contemporary calf, neatly rebacked to style
with raised bands, gilt rules and red morocco label, corners restored,
plain endpapers, red edges. Without the half-title, with the errata on
final leaf. Pp. 317-336 omitted, as issued; small adhesion to one opening with loss of a few letters, sense fully recoverable. Armorial bookplate of one George Mercer to front pastedown, with his ownership
inscription (crossed through) on the title-page. Boards a little rubbed
and marked, endpapers tanned at margins from turn-ins, contents
clean, a very good copy.
first edition of Adam Smith’s first book, the work that
established his reputation as a philosopher both in London
and on the Continent. “One of Adam Smith’s major claims to
fame, in some ways his greatest, is his development of a unified concept of an economic system with mutually interdependent parts. His development of this came well before the
Wealth of Nations; it is in the Theory of Moral Sentiments of 1759 and
the Lectures of 1762–3” (D. P. O’Brien, The Classical Economists,
1975, p. 29). Published in April 1759 with a recorded “print run
of 1,000 copies” (Sher, Early Editions of Adam’s Smith’s Books, 13).
Smith’s first book and his later Wealth of Nations demonstrate “a
86
great unifying principle … Smith’s ethics and his economics
are integrated by the same principle of self-command, or selfreliance, which manifests itself in economics in laissez faire”
(H. W. Spiegel, ed. The Growth of Economic Thought, 1991, p. 231).
Smith’s famous phrase is first used here that would be repeated
in the later work: that self-seeking men are often “led by an
invisible hand … without knowing it, without intending it, to
advance the interest of the society” (Part IV, Chapter 1).
“The fruit of his Glasgow years … The Theory of Moral Sentiments would be enough to assure the author a respected place
among Scottish moral philosophers, and Smith himself ranked
it above the Wealth of Nations … Its central idea is the concept,
closely related to conscience, of the impartial spectator who
helps man to distinguish right from wrong. For the same purpose, Immanuel Kant invented the categorical imperative and
Sigmund Freud the superego” (Niehans, A History of Economic
Theory, 1990, p. 62).
Goldsmiths’ 9537; Higgs 1890; Kress 5815; Vanderblue, p. 38.
£39,500
[84354]
71
SPEED, John. England Wales Scotland and Ireland
described and abridged with ye historie relation of things
worthy memory from a farr larger voulume [sic]. [London?:
s.n.,] 1666; [bound with:] — A Prospect of the Most Famous
Parts of the World. London: for Roger Rea, 1668
2 works bound in one, oblong octavo (108 × 165 mm). Contemporary
mottled calf, neatly rebacked in brown goatskin with original gilt
spine laid down, marbled edges. First work with 2 folding maps inserted as plates, other maps full page in the text throughout, 61 in the
first part, 20 in the second; all with hand-colouring to style. First work
with engraved title. Binding rubbed, first work R2 torn in fore-edge
margin without loss and T4 with marginal paper restoration not affecting text, one or two minor paper flaws elsewhere, but a very good
copy.
An attractive pairing of the miniature versions of the Speed atlases, the engraved maps in the Prospect signed by Pieter van
den Keere, brother-in-law of Jodocus Hondius, those of the
county atlas unsigned but attributed to the same engraver.
The publication history of the miniature Speeds is rather tortuous. At Speed’s death, the materials for the History and Theatre
were the property of Sudbury and Humble, and later passed to
the sole ownership of Humble. He added plates for the miniature county atlas. On his death in 1640, his son William inherited the stock and added the miniature edition of the Prospect.
In 1659 William Humble sold his rights in Speed’s books and
atlases to William Garrett, but Garrett swiftly resold them to
Roger Rea the Elder and Younger, who planned new editions.
Although the date 1662 appears on the title-pages for their first
miniature county atlas and for the folio Prospect, it is probable
that publication was not completed until 1665; the vast majority of those editions were destroyed in the Great Fire of London.
At about the same time, one of the Roger Reas died, leaving
the remaining partner to reprint the miniature atlases, as here.
After this, the plates were not used again until they reappeared
in the hands of Bassett and Chiswell in 1674/5.
Wing S4878 & S4884.
£12,500
[86275]
87
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
His first and rarest book, in the finest condition
His wickedly funny Fleet Street satire, deprecatingly inscribed to his military hero, Bob Laycock
73
72
STEINBECK, John. Cup of Gold. A life of Henry Morgan,
Buccaneer with Occasional Reference to History. New
York: Robert M. McBride & Company, 1929
Octavo. Publisher’s yellow cloth, titles to front board and spine in
black, top edge dyed blue. With the dust jacket. Housed in a green
solander box by the Chelsea Bindery. Some minor creasing to lower
edges of jacket. A superb copy.
88
first edition, first printing with the top-stain and final
blank. Steinbeck’s rarest book. Only 1,537 copies of the first printing were issued and this one, with fresh cloth and the top-stain
and jacket spine largely unfaded, is the best we have ever seen.
Goldstone A1a.
£50,000
[84781]
WAUGH, Evelyn. Scoop. A Novel About Journalists.
London: Chapman & Hall, 1938
Octavo. Original red and black snakeskin-patterned cloth, spine lettered in gilt. Housed in a red morocco-backed solander case. Cloth
very lightly rubbed at extremities, spotting to edges of text block, endpapers a little toned. An excellent, fresh copy.
first edition, first impression, presentation copy
inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “For Bob,
No journalist, from Evelyn, failed in that trade”, and with the
recipient Robert Laycock’s bookplate. Laycock was a Household Brigade officer with a rare combination of upper class
nonchalence and professional efficiency. In November 1940,
on his own initiative, Waugh secured a transfer to serve under
Laycock’s command (8 Commando, Royal Marines). Waugh
would later incorporate these experiences into Officers and Gentlemen (see item 74 below).
£10,000
[87398]
89
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
Uncorrected prepublication proof copy of his nostalgic masterpiece
One of 50 large paper copies for presentation,
inscribed to his fellow Catholic novelist, Graham Greene
74
WAUGH, Evelyn. Brideshead Revisited. The Sacred and
Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder. London:
Chapman and Hall, 1945
Octavo. Original grey wrappers printed in black. Housed in green
cloth slipcase. Name in ink to half title and ink correction to first
page, front wrap with some separation from block, spine with some
minor paper loss and glue residue, light fading to spine, front cover
lower corner with crease, else a very good copy.
uncorrected proof copy for the first trade edition. Brideshead Revisited was written from January to June 1944.
Waugh had an edition of 50 copies on handmade paper printed
90
for private circulation to his most trusted literary friends, who
were encouraged to return comments to him. That ur-text,
though dated 1945, was issued in December 1944. It was succeeded by the London trade edition, published by Chapman
and Hall on 28 May 1945, which sold out within the week. This
proof copy represents the intermediate stage between the two,
reflecting significant textual changes made by Waugh in response to comments from Nancy Mitford, Ronald Knox, and
others, but with other minor changes before publication yet to
be made.
£15,000
[87389]
75
WAUGH, Evelyn. Helena. London: Chapman and Hall, 1950
Octavo. Original white cloth, titles to spine gilt. Housed in a green
morocco-backed slipcase. Spine and edges of the boards somewhat
tanned. Very good.
first edition, first impression, large paper issue,
being one of about 50 copies specially bound and printed on
handmade paper. A major association copy with the author’s
signed presentation inscription to Graham Greene on the
front free endpaper, “for Graham from Evelyn Oct 1st, 1950”
With the estate label of Graham Greene to the front pastedown. On 16 November 1950 Waugh wrote to Greene, “Thanks
awfully for writing about Helena. I hardly hoped you would like
it. I am exhilarant to hear you do”. The copy is, however, almost entirely unopened (only the last 50 pages are slit at the
upper edge) suggesting that Greene merely read the ending
and wrote his appraisal from that.
£25,000
[87038]
91
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
One of the first books in English to discuss Chinese culture,
complete with the large folding map of China
77
The dedication copy of the second book in his Sword of Honour trilogy, inscribed to Bob Laycock
76
WAUGH, Evelyn. Officers and Gentlemen. London:
Chapman and Hall, 1955
Octavo. Specially bound for authorial presentation by Sangorski &
Sutcliffe in full navy blue morocco, titles to spine gilt, all edges gilt.
Trivial rubbing to the tips but an excellent copy.
first edition, first impression, the dedication copy.
Inscribed by the author on the dedication page to Robert Laycock: “For Bob from Evelyn July 1955”, and with Laycock’s armorial bookplate to the front pastedown. The book is dedicated to
Laycock “that every man in arms should wish to be” (echoing
the title of the first book, Men at Arms); the character of Tommy
Blackhouse in the Sword of Honour trilogy shares some points
of resemblance with Laycock. Waugh was Laycock’s personal
assistant during the defence of Crete in May and June 1941, and
the evacuation of Crete forms a central incident in the book.
£12,500
92
[87043]
WEBB, John. An Historical Essay Endeavoring a
Probability That the Language Of the Empire of China is
the Primitive Language. London: for Nath. Brook, 1669
Small octavo (165 × 103 mm). Later, probably 18th-century, half calf,
smooth spine, green morocco label, double gilt rules, sometime rebacked with original spine laid down, corners repaired. Large folding
engraved map of China (central fold reinforced on verso), title printed
in red and black, with the errata leaf at end but without final blank.
Contemporary ink signature of N. White on title, other ink inscriptions and notes on front free endpapers. Rubbed, some wear to board
edges, a little dampstaining at foot towards end, some light browning, still a very good copy.
first edition, an influential treatise proposing Chinese as
the original language, and one of the earliest books in English
discussing Chinese culture in any depth. The architect John
Webb, a pupil of Inigo Jones, argued that Noah could be identified with the legendary king Yao; that he had withdrawn from
the tribes whose languages were confounded at Babel long
before that point in biblical history, and that he had built the
Ark in China, landed it there, and bequeathed to China the
language spoken by Adam, preserved to Webb’s day in mod-
ern China as the language of the court. Webb’s view of Chinese
script was strongly influenced by not only Semedo but also the
Jesuit polymath and hermeticist Athanasius Kircher. Webb was
also inspired by John Wilkins’s recent publication on artificial
language, arguing that Wilkins, whether knowingly or not, had
based the idea of his artificial language on Chinese. Webb’s
proposed harmonisation of world history was taken seriously
by many; his work was a major spur to the construction of English sinology in the later decades of the 17th century. The work
precedes by almost two decades the Paris Jesuit edition of Confucius, published in 1687.
The rare folding map of China, often lacking, derives from that
included by Purchas in his Hakluytus Posthumus, 1625, an extract
of one obtained by a Captain Saris at Bantam. Purchas reports
that the original map was more than a yard square. The map is
changed in several respects for publication here, including the
addition of an inset of a king of China, and the crest and name
of Edmund Squib at the bottom left.
Alston III 781; Wing W1202.
£13,750
[83681]
93
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
Presentation copy of Salomé to William Archer, influential critic and champion of the New Drama,
resulting in a rave review
79
WILDE, Oscar. Salomé. Drame en un acte. Paris & London:
Librairie de l’Art Independant; Elkin Mathews & John Lane, 1893
His only novel, signed limited edition, one of 250 large paper copies
78
WILDE, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. London: Ward,
Lock & Co., 1891
Small quarto. Original half vellum, gilt-lettered bevelled grey paper
boards, olive endpapers, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Housed in
a purple morocco-backed slipcase and chemise. Corners and joints
professionally repaired, spine and boards toned, minor cracks to
hinges, a little light spotting to blanks but overall text clean and fresh.
An excellent copy.
signed limited edition, number 194 of 250 copies printed
on Van Gelder handmade paper and signed by Wilde, of his
only novel. Dorian Gray first appeared in Lippincott’s magazine,
simultaneously in Philadelphia and London, on 20 June 1890,
promptly followed by an unauthorized, pirated edition, pub94
lished 22 June 1890 in New York by M. J. Ivers & Co. Wilde
subsequently revised the work and added six new chapters.
This deluxe signed edition is of considerably greater rarity and
value than the unsigned first trade edition issued three months
earlier. The title page, half-title, and cover were designed by
Charles Ricketts, who also designed John Gray’s Silverpoints
(1893) and Wilde’s The Sphinx (1895). At least one contemporary review praised his design in particular: “the book, with its
unique and piquant binding and lettering, its characteristic title page and yet more characteristic preface, is a delight to eye
and hand” (Glasgow Herald).
Mason 329.
£30,000
[84170]
Octavo (200 × 143 mm). Contemporary purple hard-grain half morocco, spine lettered in gilt, gilt rules, marbled paper sides and endpapers, top edge gilt, original purple wrappers lettered in silver bound
in. A little rubbing to extremities, central vertical crease where originally folded by Archer, wrappers with inevitable marginal fading, an
excellent copy.
first edition, trade issue, one of 600 copies thus (there were
50 on handmade paper), presentation copy to the influential
drama critic William Archer (1856–1924): inscribed by Wilde
on the half-title “William Archer, with the author’s compliments, Feby 93.” A superb association. The play was published
on 22 February 1893, to be blasted the next day by The Times
as “morbid, bizarre, repulsive,” though admittedly “vigorously
written in some parts”. Archer, who championed Ibsen and the
New Drama, had been the only major critic, except for Shaw, to
attack the prior decision of the Examiner of Plays not to license
Salomé. Calling the Examiner “the Great Irresponsible”, Archer
defended the play as “a serious work of art” in a letter to the Pall
Mall Gazette (1 July 1892, reprinted in Letters of Oscar Wilde, ed.
Hart-Davis, p. 317; see Wilde’s letter of appreciation to Archer
in Letters, p. 319). Wilde wrote to Archer on publication date to
“hope you have received Salome in her Tyrian purple and fading
silver ”, but had to write to his publishers the following month
to give them a nudge that Archer, among other intended recipients, had not actually received his promised copy yet.
When Archer finally received his copy and put his review of
the play into print, in Black and White (11 May 1893), it was a
rave: “Salomé has all the qualities of a great historical picture—
pedantry and conventionality excepted. Its suppression by the
Censor was perfectly ridiculous, and absolutely inevitable …
Salomé is an oriental Hedda Gabler”.
Mason 348.
£27,500
[74770]
95
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
One of 15 copies only – Robbie Ross thwarts Bosie
by publishing the suppressed portion of De Profundis
80
WILDE, Oscar. The Suppressed Portion of “De Profundis”.
Now for the first time published by his literary executor
Robert Ross. New York: Paul R. Reynolds, 1913
Octavo. Original pale tan linen, front cover lettered in black. Housed
in a custom purple morocco pull-off case (rubbed) and chemise. Early typed description of the book tipped-in on front pastedown. Few
slight marks to cloth, slightly shaken, front inner hinge cracked at
foot, Ross’s marginal corrections throughout, correcting such things
as American spelling and faulty capitalization; a very good copy.
first edition, one of 15 copies only of the unpublished
portions of De Profundis, published by Ross in America to secure
copyright, registered 24 September 1913. Unsurprisingly, this
edition is extremely rare: we can trace only one copy sold at
auction, the Lord Esher copy twice sold at Sotheby’s, 20 Nov
1946 and 10 Mar 1952.
In the latter months of his prison sentence, Wilde was working on two projects: a long letter rebuking Lord Alfred Douglas
for his part in Wilde’s downfall, and a more literary essay inspired by his recent experiences. By the time he had finished,
the two had become intermingled. Wilde sent the manuscript
to Ross, instructing him to make copies and forward the original to Douglas. Instead Ross kept the original and sent a copy
to Douglas, who apparently destroyed it without reading much
beyond the first few pages.
In 1905 Ross published De Profundis (the title was his), an
abridged version that carefully omitted all elements of being a
direct letter to Douglas, though it was obvious that Wilde had
96
been addressing a specific person. In 1912 Arthur Ransome
(later of Swallows and Amazons fame) was commissioned by Martin Secker to write a critical study of Oscar Wilde. In discussing
De Profundis, Ransome made a vague reference to the hidden
identity of Wilde’s amour fatale, and Douglas promptly sued for
libel.
Ross supplied Ransome’s lawyers with a typescript of the unpublished portion of the original manuscript, which was read
out in the High Court on 17 and 18 April 1913 as the primary
exhibit in Ransome’s defence. This was sufficient to prove
that Douglas was undoubtedly the person addressed by Wilde.
Douglas lost his case.
One unintended consequence was that Douglas now had in
his possession a typescript of the unpublished portion, supplied to him in the course of the legal proceedings. As Ross
had prior claim to the British copyright by virtue of his 1905
edition, Douglas proposed to publish the suppressed portion
in America, annotated with his own comments and rebuttals.
Ross therefore had this edition of 15 copies published in New
York (copyrighted in the Library of Congress on 24 September
1913) to prevent Douglas securing American copyright. Ross
then deposited the original manuscript in the British Library
with instructions that it could not published until 1960. In the
event it was not until 1962 that it was finally published in full.
Mason 419.
£12,500
[80597]
The true first edition, signed as issued, and additionally inscribed to her friend Hugh Walpole
81
WOOLF, Virginia. Orlando. A Biography. New York: Crosby
Gaige, 1928
Octavo. Original black cloth, titles and decoration to spine, device to
front board, and top edge gilt. Housed in a green cloth slipcase. Frontispiece and 7 photographic illustrations including Virginia Woolf as
Orlando. Spine very slightly faded. An excellent copy.
first edition, first printing, preceding the UK edition
by 9 days, one of 861 numbered copies signed by the author
on the verso of the title page. This copy with an additional
presentation inscription by Woolf on the front free endpaper,
“Hugh Walpole, with gratitude again, for the second time,
from Virginia Woolf ”, and with Walpole’s bookplate to the
front pastedown. Walpole and Woolf became close friends in
their forties after each had become successful in their quite
different literary careers, Woolf as the modernist intellectual
and Walpole a popular writer of middlebrow fiction. Despite
their differences, and the tensions in the relationship, this became for Walpole “one of the happiest of all his friendships”
and he would describe Orlando in a review for the Morning Post
as “a masterpiece in English letters” (Wilson, “Virginia Woolf,
Hugh Walpole, the Hogarth Press, and the Book Society”, ELH
volume 79, no. 1, spring 2012).
£25,000
[82475]
97
Peter Harrington
Catalogue 97
Set of secret orders to the commander of a large landing craft for the Sicily and D-Day landings
82
(WORLD WAR II.) ROBERTSON, Ewart Gladstone.
Collection of Secret, Top Secret, and BIGOT
documentation relating to the services of LCH-187 in
landings for the invasion of Italy, and D-Day. 23 July 1943–
21 October, 1944
A large collection of original orders, with numerous charts bound
in, the majority large folding, c.328 × 202 mm; 35 separate folding
maps, mostly coloured, and traces; 6 photographic coastal profiles,
5 of these bound in contemporary buckram with original typed paper labels, 3 further coastal profiles as printed sketches, and 4 loose
photographic images. Typically showing some soiling and wear, rust
marks from original staples or ties, the ‘Infatuate’ orders in “salvage”
condition (LCH-187 was apparently holed below the waterline by an
88) but overall very good.
1917, retiring in 1920. He returned to the service during World
War II, in 1942 becoming executive officer of HMS Varbel at Port
Bannatyne on the Isle of Bute, the headquarters of midget submarine service, before transferring in 1943 to HMS Dinosaur at
Troon, the Combined Operations training establishment for
major landing craft officers and major landing craft gunnery
school. His final posting of the war was as commanding officer
at HMS Brontosaurus at Castle Toward, Dunoon, the initial training centre for landing craft officers and crew.
A full description of this item is available on our website or on request.
£22,500
[84055]
A remarkable cache of orders and papers issued to Ewart Gladstone Robertson, the commander of LCH-187, an Americanbuilt “landing craft infantry (large)” converted to serve as a
headquarters vessel. She saw service in the assault landings on
Sicily, at Salerno, and on D-Day, when she operated as headquarters vessel for Assault Convoy G6 at Gold Beach, being
used as a fire command centre, co-ordinating naval gunnery
with shore forces. She subsequently served in Operation Infatuate, was returned to US naval custody in May 1946, and sold by
the Maritime Commission in 1948.
Commander Robertson was born in Perth, Ontario, Canada
in 1898, and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant RN in
98
99
Peter Harrington
Peter Harrington, 100 Fulham Road, London, sw3 6hs, United Kingdom
Tel + 44 (0)20 7591 0220; books@peterharrington.co.uk www.peterharrington.co.uk
100