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Dear Friend,
Following the cancellation of the Pasadena book fair we will be showing at the ABAA Virtual Book Fair: California Edition, 6-8 February. Among our highlights is novelist George Grossmith's copy of The Hound of the Baskervilles; an illustrated manuscript magazine written by a leading architect's kids, and 50 books from the library of the Arts and Crafts tycoon Ambrose Heal. Not to forget Eric Morecambe's 1977 appointments diary, stuffed with insights like his comic note to self: 'I was an overnight failure.'
Best wishes,
Christian
GREAT SEAL OF CHARLES I FROM THE FIRST DECADE OF HIS REIGN — [Charles I] — 1631
Latin deed written in a Chancery hand on vellum (26x43cm), rubbed especially along an inner fold. Signature below and Great Seal of Charles I c1631 appended. The 10cm seal is cracked and worn with surface detail to the kingly image on the obverse worn away; Charles I’s coat of arms and ‘CR’ to obverse.
‘GIVEN BY DR WILLIAM STANDFAST’ - Musarum Anglicanarum Analecta — Joseph Addison [Dr William Standfast] — 1692
Addison’s Latin poems published in their first Oxford edition of 1692 with compelling provenance ‘to the Library in the Charity School Chamber in Nottingham given by Dr William Standfast’. Standfast’s private library was created with a view to providing for a public library which came into being in 1818 when it was moved to the Bluecoat School in Nottingham and then became part of the city’s Subscription Library. A little over a century later almost the whole of the collection was dispersed via…… Read more
UNRECORDED ILLUSTRATED BROADSIDE OF The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe — [Daniel Defoe] — 1815
Striking and unrecorded broadside, configured as a writing blank for school use, and illustrated with a splendid headpiece, six side vignettes and a tailpiece illustrating the life of Robinson Crusoe and his complex colonial master-servant relationship with Friday. Large format (48x38cm) with old fold lines, browning, pin marks to the corners where it has been displayed (rightly!), with a few short marginal closed tears. The broadside remains complete as issued and clearly a rare survival since…… Read more
MANUSCRIPT WELSH SERMONS perhaps by the Methodist Minister Rev William Roberts — Rev William Roberts — c. 1830
A book of sermons written in Welsh which are likely from the hand of the Rev William Roberts who preached in Holyhead and went on to form the first Welsh Church in Dublin and subsequently becoming minister to the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist church in New York city. Whilst there he edited the first Welsh Bible published (1858) by the American Bible Society. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:Calf bound boards incorporating embossed decoration to edges, front and rear in fair condition. Bumped to corners, showi…… Read more
ETHNOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE OF LETTERS HOME AND EPHEMERA FROM A WOMAN MISSIONARY IN 1860S FIJI — Anne Elizabeth Tookey [later] Mrs Henry Lawson — 1860
A unique ethnographic record of life in 1860s Fiji contained within the letters home sent by a British Wesleyan missionary Anne Elizabeth Tookey who became a friend of the self-proclaimed King of Fiji, Chief Cakobau and his daughter Lady Asneath. In addition to the 40 letters written by Tookey - and mounted in a letter-book by her father - the collection includes a letter in Lady Asneath’s hand (seemingly rescued from the waters of the Pacific ocean) as well as Tookey’s own watercolour of the sc…… Read more
FINE TRADE BINDING The Poetical works of Edward Young — Edward Young — c.1870
A very elaborately bound hardcover edition of The Poetical works of Edward Young. Clean cloth covered green boards typical of the Victorian period circa. 1870 in good condition displaying a highly decorative combination of gilt and black text and decoration to front and spine panel. Small chip to top right front panel. Gilt text block edges in good condition. Corners and spine ends lightly bumped showing shelf wear, otherwise very sound. End boards clean. Small tear approx. 1cm square to top gut…… Read more
GEOLOGISTS AT PLAY: 1889 Photograph album containing c. 40 Albumen Photographs of the Activities of Leeds & Hull Geologists — Leeds and Hull Geological Societies — 1889
Well produced photo-album recording the activities of two scholarly Yorkshire geological societies in the 1880s. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Original Victorian album in good condition. Paper boards tied to spine with decorative string containing c. 40 thick card leaves. Boards blind ruled to spine edge, a little worn to edges and lightly bumped to corners. Cloth spine faded to top and bottom. Remnants of ribbon tie to fore edge of front and rear boards. Front paste down unmarked, a little worn away to…… Read more
Edward Williams of Glan yr Afon yr Afon’s BOOK OF MATHEMATICAL CALCULATIONS — Edward Williams — 1850
Young Anglesey man’s meticulously and decoratively laid out, hand written mathematical manuscript: full of calculations, rules and answers divided into sections titled Rule of Three in Decimals, Interest, Commission, Purchasing of Stocks, Compound Interest, Discount, Equation of Payments, Barter and Fellowship. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Half bound marbled boards with brown calf to spine and corners in fair condition, a little stained, slightly frayed to fore edge and bumped to corners. Measuring 24c…… Read more
RARE 1880s POPULAR FICTION FROM MANCHESTER AND THE NORTH WEST — William Ralston; William Cameron; Benjamin Brierley; Wilhelm Busch; John Strathesk; John Oldmixon; H W Dulcken etc — 1880
Bursting with character, a bound collection of six late Victorian popular stories, most relating to Manchester and Cheshire, all with their illustrated paper front covers bound in. A combination of both humorous and literary pamphlets, these were collected together in one volume and bound in Warrington in Lancashire and contain cumulatively c150 illustrations throughout including those by artists William Ballingall, William Ralston and Wilhelm Busch: 1 William Ralston, ‘Sketches of Highland Char…… Read more
LAVISHLY ILLUSTRATED VICTORIAN MANUSCRIPT MAGAZINE WRITTEN BY A LONDON ARCHITECT’S CHILDREN — A M Verity; ‘Rufus’, ‘Bee’, ‘Telma’, ;’Medusa’ etc — 1886
1880s home-made Victorian manuscript magazine written in London’s South Kensington by the children of the Victorian theatre architect - and designer of the Pavilion at Lords Cricket Ground - Thomas Verity and their young friends. The journal runs to three substantial volumes and around six hundred pages, offering a mixture of well-written serialised stories, topical articles, puzzles, notices, numerous watercolour illustrations and accomplished cartoons. The three volumes date to 1886, 1889 and…… Read more
BOYS’ WALKING TOUR ACROSS CORNWALL, DEVON AND DORSET: Photographs and Itinerary — J H Evans; H Marchant — 1889
Late Victorian album recording a walk undertaken by two friends from Land’s End to Weymouth. J H Evans and H Marchant set off on Monday July 1st 1889 and arrived at their destination on Saturday July 13th 1889, having departed Paddington at 1145 am on Saturday June 29th arriving in Penzance and overnighting before heading to Land’s End. The album contains daily written updates which record the weather, distances walked, food and accommodation along the way. Fairfax Hotel, Dartmouth is rated very…… Read more
GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN - IN THE 1890S: Oakland’s Mills College in Original Photographs — Mills College Students — 1891
Richly varied photo album depicting student life at Mills College in Oakland shortly after it was chartered as the first women’s college west of the Rockies. Filled with rewardingly large-format photographs, the overriding impression is of a group of young women liberated from parents and family and allowed to express themselves in an environment of relative freedom. Almost all these images seem to be previously unknown, most being candid shots of the women students that can only have been taken…… Read more
50 IMPRINTS INCLUDING PRESENTATION COPIES, ANNOTATED BOOK AND UNRECORDED ITEMS FROM THE LIBRARY OF SIR AMBROSE HEAL — [SIR AMBROSE HEAL, FURNITURE DESIGNER] Frank Pick; Clough Williams Ellis;John D Sedding;TJ Cobden Sanderson; William Richard Lethaby; Herbert Read; Douglas C McMurtie — 1900
50 books and pamphlets from the personal library of the furniture designer and high-end London shop-keeper Sir Ambrose Heal which reflect his love for the Arts and Crafts movement and his passion as a pioneer and champion of design. The collection reveals Heal’s connections with many of the leading figures of the time with inscribed copies from his fellow furniture designer Hamilton Smith, review copies of works by William Lethaby and his own copies of early publications by the Designs and Indus…… Read more
NOVELIST & ACTOR, GEORGE GROSSMITH’S COPY The Hound of the Baskervilles — Arthur Conan Doyle — 1902
First edition owned by the popular novelist, comedian and near contemporary of Arthur Conan Doyle, George Grossmith. He has noted the gift of the book from his (second) wife on the title page: ‘Geo: Grossmith (from Mrs G.[eorge] G[rossmith] Oct. 1902). Grossmith was one of the most successful solo performers of the age; he created nine characters in the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan - including the Major-General - and won lasting fame with The Diary of a Nobody. Grossmith’s copy of the Th…… Read more
ANNOTATED WITH LOCATIONS OF GREAT WAR HOSPITALS BY FLORENCE BELL: Bacon’s Motoring and Cycling Road Map: Middlesborough District — [Lady Florence Bell] — 1914
North Yorkshire map annotated during the Great War by Lady Florence Bell, President of the North Riding of Yorkshire Red Cross, to identify military hospitals that she oversaw across north Yorkshire. The map is made up of 40 panels printed on paper, backed onto linen with cloth covered card wraps and Lady Bell’s ownership inscription on the verso of the top right panel: ‘Florence Bell 1915. Rounton Grange Hospital’. Florence Bell has added to the printed map by inserting a system of symbols (wit…… Read more
ARCHIVE RELATING TO THE PUBLICATION OF THE PSEUDONYMOUSLY CO-AUTHORED SCI-FI ‘RESURRECTION’ NOVEL, FIRE AND WATER (1920); — Marwin Delcarol (pseudonym of Margot Glyn & Winnaretta Singer); Gerald Duckworth — 1917
A fascinating archival collection relating to the development and publication of Marwin Delcarol’s ‘resurrection’ romance, Fire and Water (London: Duckworth, 1920), pseudonymously co-authored by close high-society woman friends, Margot Glyn and Winnaretta Singer. The collection includes affectionate hand-written and typed letters, synopses, and a typed proof. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION TYPED PROOFS: ‘Progress’ by Marwin Delcarol. Three foolscap ‘Debecey Patented Files,’ sage green cardboard wrappers,…… Read more
LETTER TO THE FRENCH MUSICIAN RAYMOND BONHEUR FROM WRITER ANDRE GIDE — Andre Gide — c. 1920
Son of the painter Auguste Bonheur and nephew of the painter and sculptor Rosa Bonheur, the French composer Raymond Bonheur lived in Magny les Hameaux, France. This letter addressed to him is from the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature Andre Gide. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Handwritten envelope and notelet within, both mounted on front and rear of black card. Envelope is addressed to Monsieur Raymond Bonheur, Magny les Hameaux, pres Chevreuse. Stamped and franked with a vintage France Republique…… Read more
PEGGY GUGGENHEIM’S COPY: The Diary of a Superfluous Man — Ivan Turgenev — 1920
The hand written ownership signature on the front free end paper reads ‘Peggy Vail’, the surname taken by the renowned patron of modern art, Peggy Guggenheim, on her first marriage to Laurence Vail, a Dada sculptor and writer whom she divorced in 1928. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION 1920 Large Type Fine Paper Edition. Dark green cloth covered boards, titled, blind ruled and embossed to front in good condition, a little bumped to corners. Brown cloth spine lettered in gilt incorporating embossed decoration…… Read more
ANIMA VENUSTATIS: An unpublished personally compiled selection of poetry spanning the early Greek lyrical poets through to the 1930s — Anonymous Compiler — c.1920
Crammed full of culturally important poems, each typed in black, one per leaf on Dickinson Croxley paper throughout the book. 128 pp. Commencing with the 6th century BC Greek lyric poet Anacreon, the Roman Rufinus and moving through the courtly poets of France, 16th and 17th century English lyrical poets, 18th and 19th century Italian and German poets, war poets and important female poets including the French romantic poet Marceline Desbordes Valmore, Alice Meynell and Lady Margaret Sackville as…… Read more
ALVIN LANGDON COBURN PHOTOGRAPHS: The Story of the Bale — LLoyds Packing Warehouses Ltd; Alvin Langdon Coburn — 1926
Scarce volume of commercial photographs by a key twentieth century photographer. Bound in quarter vellum over paper covered boards with a leather label to the upper board. Vellum to spine slightly browned and a little spotted. Boards browned to edges and slightly chipped. Very slight browning to decorative end papers. Otherwise in sound condition throughout. Thirteen full page photographs by Coburn and a double page map, all in fine condition. Soon after the publication of this work Coburn becam…… Read more
BOOKPLATE DESIGNS AND CHRISTMAS CARDS: An Illustrator’s Scrapbook — Arthur Crossingham Sprules — 1908 -1928
An extensive collection of this Kentish artist’s work in designing bookplates and greetings cards. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Black paper covered boards with brown paper covered spine in fair condition. Spine tips and edges rubbed. Corners bumped. Chafed to front and rear. Embossed ‘Scraps’ to front board. Internally gutters tender over end papers, still holding. Leaves age toned, scattered foxing throughout. 22 pp. 31 cm x 24 cm. Contents include: BOOKPLATES 10 accomplished b/w bookplates designed b…… Read more
SOPRANO ISOBEL BAILLIE’S COPY: Serenade to Music: The Words from Shakespeare — Ralph Vaughan Williams [Isobel Baillie; William Shakespeare] — 1938
A performance copy owned and annotated by the lead soprano of the sixteen singers who gave the premier performance under the baton of the work’s dedicatee, Sir Henry Wood, and signed by ten of those soloists. Isobel Baillie whose name appears in pencil above the title sang at the premier on 5 October 1938 and to honour her involvement in premiering this remarkable piece of music has persuaded 9 (of the 16) of her fellow singers on that occasion to sign this copy alongside her ownership signature…… Read more
PRESENTATION COPY TO THE WIDOW OF ONE OF THE BOOK’S WRITERS County of London Plan Prepared for the London County Council — [Wesley & Patricia Dougill] J H Forshaw; Patrick Abercrombie — 1943
Presentation copy of the 2nd impression lavishly inscribed to Patricia Dougill, recent and sudden widow of the architect Wesley Dougill, who led the Planning Group that helped prepare this report who died shortly before its publication. Both authors have signed the title page and tipped onto the title there is a most affectionate letter from Patrick Abercrombie - ‘nothing we could say or do could express our loss.... And we were always planning things to do after the war.’ Two further letters of…… Read more
Great Opera Houses A Traveller’s Guide to their History and Traditions. Full of paper cuttings, postcards and ephemera — Spike Hughes — 1957
An opera lover’s copy of this unique account of the different characters and traditions of twenty famous opera houses in 14 European cities. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1957 Second impression. Pale blue cloth covered boards in fair to good condition. Gilt title over red ground to spine which is damp stained. Dust jacket in good condition, nicked to spine ends and protected by clear adhesive cover. Internally in very sound condition. Endpapers clean. ‘Allen’s copy Feb 1960’ is hand written on the front…… Read more
1963 RADA script for a production of The Castle based on Franz Kafka’s novel, written by Max Brod, translated by James Clark — Franz Kafka; Max Brod; James Clark; kenneth Tynan — 1963;1970
Max Brod’s dramatization of Kafka’s novel The Castle with associated ephemera including contemporary paper cuttings and correspondence given its first English production by RADA students in June 1963 at the Vanbrugh Theatre leading to its becoming known in the English-speaking world. The John Fernald Company of the Meadow Brook Theatre in Michigan staged the same dramatization by Max Brod in 1970 directed by Milo Sperber. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTIONS: RADA script, 96 pp. bound in blue card wrappers sec…… Read more
THE AUTHOR’S COPY A Chronology of Printing — Colin Clair — 1969
FIRST EDITION. THE AUTHOR’S PERSONAL COPY: A compendium of information on matters connected with printing, its first introduction into Europe and its spread throughout the world. The work spans the reputed invention of paper in China in 105 through until the death of Stanley Morrison, typographer, scholar and historian of printing in 1967. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Illustrated dust jacket in good condition protected by a transparent adhesive cover, a little shelf worn to top and bottom edges Green c…… Read more
HADRIAN THE SEVENTH: HOLLYWOOD PRODUCTION ARCHIVE — Elliott Kastner,Frederick Rolfe, Peter Luke, Richard Attenborough, Peter Schaffer,Voytek Szendzikowski, John-Claude Carrierre, Peter Hall, John Briley, John Mortimer etc — 1969 -1982
Hollywood producer Elliott Kastner’s film production archive from the late 1970s relating to the unmade feature film Hadrian VII. Elliott Kastner (1930-2010) was a larger than life American film producer, whose best known credits include Where Eagles Dare and The Long Goodbye. This collection is the product of Kastner’s efforts to make a film based on the play of Peter Luke and the fantasy-autobiography of Fr.Rolfe also known as Baron Corvo. The archive includes: 5 X draft screenplay scripts in…… Read more
A LIMITED EDITION Jasperware Wedgwood Centenary Portrait Medallion — Josiah Wedgwood — 1974
The medallion comes in its original presentation case and is numbered 732 in a limited edition of only 1000 produced. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Dark blue solid presentation case embossed ‘Wedgwood’ in gilt with dark blue velvet base internally and cream padded lid which is slightly spotted towards hinge but overall, in very good condition. Within sits a pale blue and white Jasperware by Wedgwood oval medallion (cameo or plaque) of Sir Winston Churchill produced to commemorate the one hundredth anniv…… Read more
ERIC MORECAMBE’S PRIVATE APPOINTMENTS DIARY detailing the Shooting of the 1977 Christmas Special, meetings with Elton John and his Frenetic Showbiz Lifestyle — Eric Morecambe — 1977
Eric Morecambe’s Diary for 1977, the last year that the he and Ernie Wise created their last BBC Christmas Special which would become the most watched TV comedy programme in British television history. Writing in a BBC standard issue pocket diary, the preparation, filming, editing and BBC Xmas party are all recorded here, as is the preliminary meeting with Elton John who would appear in the show - Eric has also written Elton’s Windsor telephone numbers at the back of the diary. Most excitingly,…… Read more
Dr. Christian White
Christian White Rare Books
287 Leeds Road, Ilkley, LS29 8LL
07811 455398
info@christianwhiterarebooks.com
www.christianwhiterarebooks.com
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