| |
Dear Friend,
It’s 2 at a time this month. We’re pleased to present a pair of items signed by members of Captain Scott’s ill-fated expedition to the South Pole (1 survivor, 1 casualty) and there are 2 forgers among these offerings: the Sienese bookbinder Icilio Joni and an 18th century Englishwoman who cheated the hangman. Additionally we're offering 2 Russian items, 2 unrecorded almanacks and 2 inscriptions by John le Carre.
At the double, enjoy!
Best wishes,
Christian White
info@christianwhiterarebooks.com - 00 44 (0) 7811 455398 - 287 Leeds Road, Ilkley, Leeds, LS29 8LL, UK
[QUEEN ELIZABETH’S PRAYER BOOK] A Booke of Christian Praiers, Collected out of the Ancient Writers, and Best Learned in our Time, Worthy to be Read with an Earnest Mynde of all Christians, in these Daungerous and Troublesom Daies — Richard Day — 1608
Incomplete copy of this most loveable of Jacobean publications, bound in blind-stamped pig skin. Bound in an attractive limp pigskin binding adorned with faded gilt tooling and a blind double fillet. External straps along spine folds and new ties. The upper cover has been reinforced with a card lining that bears a bookplate from 1977 on the verso: ‘This book belongs to Hazel Agnes Formby’. The text lacks the first 8 leaves, including the general title page which precedes ‘The Preface or Preparat…… Read more
EARLY NEWSBOOK - Newes of the Present Miseries of Russia: Occasioned by the Late Warre in that Countrey — Henry Brereton — 1614
Scarce early newsbook account of the aftermath of the Russian ‘Time of Troubles’ which led to the accession of the House of Romanov. Recent quarter calf over marbled boards with raised spine bands and a morocco label. New endpapers with the bookplate of ‘Gerald E Aylmer’ to the front pastedown. The book collates complete [4] pp56. Loss of about 1cm, touching ‘Newes’ from the head of the title page; similar loss to the rest of the text which has lost about 1-2cm from the tail of each leaf, taking…… Read more
2 UNRECORDED ALMANACS AND A RARITY: 1761 — Almanac — 1761
Two unrecorded almanacs and one known from a single copy, all attractively bound in Dutch floral wrappers. 1761. January hath xxxi Days; no publisher given [pp] 18 but printed on a single slip and folded, concertina-fashion, to form the pages. Stab sewn Dutch floral wrappers, ink date to upper cover ‘1761’, wear to the spine fold. Stamp duty fold out slip above the first page, present but detached. Internally very good: the Calendar is followed by a table of monarchs, eclipses, Oxford and Cambri…… Read more
A WOMAN FORGER - Authentic Anecdotes, of the Life and Transactions of Mrs — Margaret Rudd - Mary Lovell — 1776
The scandalous case of the woman forger Margaret Rudd who was tried and acquitted of her crimes while her accomplices the Perreau twins were hanged at Newgate. Good looking contemporary full calf bindings, gilt spine decoration, green and red morocco labels. Armorial bookplate of George Strickland (1782-1874, Yorkshire MP) to the front pastedown with a later armorial of Charles Ino Shoppee opposite. In the first volumet the stub of a second flyleaf precedes Bartolozzi’s engraved portrait of Mrs…… Read more
A WARWICKSHIRE SHAKESPEARE - The Dramatic World of Shakspeare, in Six Volumes — William Shakespeare [notes by Joseph Rann] — 1786
Most attractive provincial binding on this set owned for 250 years by the Little family of Newbold Pacey Hall just a few miles from Shakespeare’s birthplace at Stratford upon Avon. Six volumes bound in half calf with vellum tips, two morocco spine labels to each volume, a mixture of green and black in colour, complementing the red upper labels. A little chipping to the leather at the head of the spines of these volumes but a very good set overall, robustly bound. Printed notes by Joseph Rann, Vi…… Read more
MEMOIRS OF THE CELEBRATED DWARF, Joseph Boruwlaski, A Polish Gentleman; Containing A Faithful and Curious Account of His Birth — Joseph Boruwlaski, [translated by] Mr Des Carrieres — 1788
Unsophisticated copy with a letter from the author to his friend and host, the organist of Durham Cathedral. First edition, translated from French, bound in original quarter beige paper over blue paper covered boards. Good condition with loss to top of spine and reinforcement to bottom quarter of spine. Small circular indentation to upper board. Several faint white markings and some soiling to boards. Wrinkling to bottom left corner of lower board. Some foxing to end papers. The French version c…… Read more
Tabart’s Collection of Popular Stories for the Nursery From the French, Italian and Old English Writers.. — Mary Jane Godwin; Benjamin Tabart — 1804
An early edition of the stories of Dick Whittington and Robin Hood, edited by Mary Shelley’s stepmother. Prettily bound in half crushed red morocco over marbled boards, gilt spine lettering. New endpapers. The text collates complete with a frontispiece and 5 further plates; [4] pp187 [1] adverts. A little browning to the paper stock but a very good copy. The stories here appear as (1) Whittington and his Cat, (2) The Children in the Wood, (3) Peronella, (4) Fortunatus, (5) Griselda, (6) The Whit…… Read more
ATTRACTIVE 1830S COMMONPLACE BOOK — Stephen Bassett — 1829
Beautifully bound commonplace book and verse miscellany of ‘Stephen Bassett’. Medium quarto in straight-grained red morocco with gilt decoration to boards and spine, slight marking to boards, light rubbing to ends of spine; marbled end-papers; all edges gilt. 150 leaves (300pp) watermarked 1826 with 208pp blank and 92pp of handwritten entries including some ten entries in verse, dated 1829 - 1841 in a dozen different hands with occasional hand-drawn pencil or pen and ink illustrations and title…… Read more
ST PETERSBURG SKETCHBOOK OF AN ENGLISH MERCHANT FAMILY — Louisa Ellen Hubbard — 1835
Sketchbook containing scenes of the area around St Petersburg by the wife of an English merchant in Russia during the early 19th century. Landscape format sketchbook (approx 11" x 7") containing 35 tissue-guarded sketches. Bound in contemporary half red roan over faded marbled boards with a working clasp. Bookseller’s ticket of ‘H.W. Burgess No 134 Sloane Street, Chelsea’ on the front pastedown and below, written in pencil, ‘Louisa Ellen Hubbard 19th May’. The 6 sketches of St Petersburg include…… Read more
‘RENAISSANCE BINDING’ by the Sienese Forger — Icilio Federico Joni — 1890
Finely executed tempera and gilt imitation of a Sienese ‘tavoletta di bicherna’ by the Sienese art leader, restorer and forger, Icilio Joni. Joni has reused a vellum bookbinding (33x23cm) apparently taken from an apparently unknown title, ‘Langii Nova Polyanthae’, which he has decorated with figurative panels, the upper showing a young man holding a scroll and carved armorial shields in relief to the lower cover. A little chipping to the paint otherwise a very good example of Joni’s work which w…… Read more
CAPE TO CAIRO PHOTOGRAPHS - Imbault’s Photos of Zambisi Bridg — George Camille Imbault (Chief Site Construction Engineer) — 1905
24 original photographs taken by the Chief Site Construction Engineer of the building of the Victoria Falls Bridge, part of Cecil Rhodes’s Cape to Cairo scheme. Professionally produced album for ‘Photographs’ bound in textured gun metal grey cloth over thick bevel-edged boards (19x16cm) On the front pastedown is written in English in red chalk: ‘Imbault’s Photos of Zambisi Bridge’. The twenty four photographs are window-mounted, recto and verso, on the twelve thick card leaves, 113x88mm in size.…… Read more
BOER WAR MEMORIAL - Proceedings of the Halifax Committee for The Soldiers Memorial for the Boer/South African War; Minute Book — William Brear; Herbert Tate — 1902
Official record of the commissioning and fund raising for Halifax’s memorial to the last war of the 19th century. Minute book bound in quarter leather binding in very good condition with rubbing to edges and top and tail of spine. Marbled end papers and all edges. This offers a manuscript record of the proceedings of the committee for the soldiers’ memorial in Halifax to the 73 lives lost in the town to the South African/Boer Wars. Minutes were taken for meetings dating from the committee’s esta…… Read more
POLAR EXPLORER EDWARD A WILSON’S COPY - Bestimmung Der Schwerkraft Auf dem Atlantischen Ozean — O Hecker — 1902
A copy used by the polar explorer Edward A Wilson who loaned it to a friend, inserting into the book the following handwritten request: ‘Please return this when done with, either to me, E[dward] A Wilson - 19 Holland Street Kensington W. or to the Owner Sir George Darwin Cambridge.’ Small folio bound in publisher’s green cloth with black lettering, a near fine copy. Floral endpapers, the number ‘5217’ in pencil to the first flyleaf and traces of a removed label or bookplate. The signature of the…… Read more
INSCRIBED BY ‘Wm M ROSSETTI’ - The Poetical Works of Christina Georgina Rossetti with Memoir and Notes by William Michael Rossetti — Christina Rossetti [edited by] William Michael Rossetti — 1914
A presentation copy inscribed by the author’s brother, the book’s editor and, in this volume, memoirist of his sister. Green textured cloth binding, a couple oF marks and some rubbing to the cloth over the outer hinges. Rossetti’s inscription appears on the first flyleaf ‘To Miss Annie Barlow Wm. M Rossetti April 1917.’ Opposite is a stamp of ‘The Bolton School Girls’ Division Library’ and a small red star paper label and two numbers. There is some browning to the margin of the title page and Ro…… Read more
AN EXHIBITION OF THE ELEMENTS OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE Organised by the MARS (Modern Architectural Research) Group, 1938 — George Bernard Shaw [foreword], Ashley Havinden [Designer] — 1938
Modernist architecture comes to London in this exhibition catalogue of the 1938 MARS group including work by Le Corbusier, Mendelsohn & Chermayeff, Marcel Breuer and Alvar Aalto. Printed card wrappers, a little browned, a name - ‘N Durrell’ - in ink to the upper cover. Short closed tear to the backstrip 2cm from the top of the spine. A very good copy, fully illustrated with black and white half tone photographs throughout and a separately printed list of photographs and models loosely inserted.…… Read more
AUTHOR’S NOTES for her Biography of Catherine of Aragon — Francesca Claremont [Ermengarde Greville Nugent; Henry Hake, Pierre Ladoue etc] — 1939
Working notebook containing letters and photographs compiled by the writer Francesca Claremont for her full length biography of Catherine of Aragon, published in 1939 by Robert Hale. Quarto sized notebook (22.5 × 17cm) containing about 100 pages of postcards, handwritten notes, and expert correspondence about Henry VIII’s first queen. Chipping to the backstrip but the binding remains intact. The letters were written to Claremont from experts on Queen Catherine’s life from libraries and museums s…… Read more
INSCRIBED - WITH A NOTE South with Scott — Admiral Sir Edward Evans — 1943
Presentation copy from Captain Scott’s second in command to an Irish woman who had sent him a ‘gift parcel of steak’ during the second world war. Evans’ book is bound in soft, textured cloth, stamped with an image of him on skis in blue to the upper board and blue spine lettering. Slight toning to the extremities of the binding which is otherwise very good. Blue decorative endpapers, a map tipped onto the verso of the final free endpaper, very good text. Evans has inscribed the book on the front…… Read more
AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT & DEDICATION COPY- The Days Dividing — Neil Bell — 1935
Autograph novel manuscript bound in two volumes by Neil Bell, AKA Stephen Southwold, together with the dedication copy of the printed work, inscribed on the dedication page with Bell’s nickname ‘Bunty’. Large quarto format in a custom binding with gilt labelling to the upper boards and spine. Bell has recorded the manuscript’s provenance on the 2nd flyleaf: ‘Original manuscript of “The Days Dividing” written at Green Gables, Seaford, Sussex during the spring of 1935 and published by Messrs Colli…… Read more
The Noel Coward Song Book — Noel Coward, [illustrated by] Gladys Calthrop — 1953
Signed first edition bound in quarter yellow publisher’s cloth laid over with grey publisher’s cloth. Gilt lettering to front board and spine. Near fine condition with slight bumping to top and tail of spine. Authors portrait frontispiece and signature to title page. Black and white line illustrations accompanying each song, with additional colour illustrations also. Dust jacket in near fine condition with three closed tears; to centre and lower edge of front cover and to top edge of the lower c…… Read more
TIBETAN ‘SHERPA’ ART — Tibetan Sherpa Artist [George Lowe] — 1960
Remarkable collection of Tibetan Sherpa art collected, and possibly commissioned, by a member of Sir Edward Hillary’s ‘Silver Hut’ expedition to Mount Makulu in the Himalayas, including an image of the mountaineers scaling the peak. This collection is introduced by its owner, an unidentified member of Hillary’s 1960 expedition (possibly George Lowe), in a two page pencilled text which he has written over the disbound opening pages of a large sketch pad (26x37cm). This seems to have been drafted…… Read more
SIGNED PHOTO OF JOHN LE CARRE & RICHARD BURTON — John le Carre; Richard Burton — 1964
‘I have never seen, till now, the photograph of myself & Burton’ - offered here is that photograph and a letter about signing the image from John le Carre. The photograph shows John le Carre in the company of the actor Richard Burton taken around the time that he played Alec Leamas in the movie adaptation of The Spy who Came in from the Cold, 1964-1965. The image, slightly smaller than the A4 paper stock of the letter, is a recent print of the 1960s image on Fujifilm Crystal Archive Paper which…… Read more
The Hill of Devi [SIGNED] — E M Forster — 1965
Signed by E M Forster in the final years of his life. The novelist has signed the pictorial front cover of the book, signing in biro next to his printed name which he has crossed through as was his usual practice. A near fine copy of this first Penguin edition, acquired recently in Cambridge where Forster lived for most of his long life. The Hill of Devi is E M Forster's memoir of his two visits to the state of Dewas Senior, in the west of India, first in 1912–13 and later in 1921, when he worke…… Read more
The Tailor of Panama — John Le Carre — 1996
Signed first edition hardback bound in blue publisher’s cloth in fine condition. Dust jacket in similarly fine condition. The book is encased in the original seller’s removable plastic wraparounds dating from when it was originally signed and first sold by Manchester Waterstones. Removable paper wraparound label printed with ‘Signed First Edition’. Absolutely fine.
SIGNED BY 52 INHABITANTS OF PITCAIRN ISLAND, 2002 - Pitcairn Island Refuge of the Bounty Mutineers — Maurice Allward — 2000
Signed by 52 Pitcairn islanders including 14 members of the Christian family, with photos and letters laid in. The book’s author Maurice Allward has had the book bound in blue buckram with gilt lettering, binder’s ticket to the front pastedown; Allward’s Pitcairn Island bookplate opposite. He sent the book to friends on the island who arranged to have it signed across the half title (see image) with Allward’s signature to the title page that follows. A quantity of ephemera relating to Pitcairn,…… Read more
SIGNED x 3 - In Tearing Haste: Letters between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor — Patrick Leigh Fermor, Deborah Devonshire, [edited by] Charlotte Mosley — 2008
Signed first edition hard back bound in blue paper on boards in near fine condition with very slight bumping to top and tail of spine. Dust jacket in near fine condition with closed tear and chip to lower cover. Not price clipped. These are the letters of the late, great Patrick Leigh Fermor and Deborah Devonshire, signed by Patrick Leigh Fermor, Deborah Devonshire and their editor Charlotte Mosley on a bookplate tipped in to the upper pastedown.
Dr. Christian White
Christian White Rare Books
287 Leeds Road, Ilkley, LS29 8LL
07811 455398
info@christianwhiterarebooks.com
www.christianwhiterarebooks.com
|
|