| |
Dear Friend,
One of the pleasures of book selling lies in squirrelling things for a future date. Such as this week's Edinburgh Book Fair where, of course, there will be manuscripts - a lavishly illustrated Game Book from the Lowlands, the records of Aberdeen's Town Clerk and a typescript novel set on a Hebridean Island. Then there must be association copies - books annotated by Alasdair Gray and Maldwyn Haldane (at Glencorse Barracks), and presented by the Scots-baronial architect Charles Kinnear. There will be Scottish imprints, and of course topography - notably 900 spectacular photographs of the West Highland Railway Line. Finally, into the mix, goes a dollop of 19th century Glaswegian true crime.
Best wishes,
Christian
The Answers of the Commons Assembled in Parliament to the Scots Commissioners Papers of the 20th And their Letter of the 24th of October Last. — H. Elsynge — 1646
Negotiations with Scotland over the future of Charles I, first printed in 1646 for Edward Husband, collated and complete. DESCRIPTION: In very good condition in a very pleasing, later half binding of brown calf over very lightly rubbed marbled boards. Titled in gilt over red ground to the spine; very lightly bumped to corners; endpapers clean; a little age toned as expected; paper stamped and watermarked ‘VR’. Previous ownership inscription in a contemporary hand fills the front pastedown and re…… Read more
NO INSTITUTIONAL COPIES - A Cloud of Witnesses for the Royal Prerogatives of Jesus Christ or, the last Speeches and Testimonies of those who have suffered for the TRUTH in SCOTLAND Since the Year 1680s Together with an appendix containing the Queen's-Ferry paper, Torwood excommunication, a relation concerning Mr. R. Cameron, Mr. D. Cargil and H. Hall ; and an account of those who were killed without process of law, and banished to foreign lands: with a short view of some of oppressive exactions. — John Henderson Thomson - attributed — c. 1754
Fifth edition - with no institutional copies located - of an original Scottish text with a rather grim frontispiece which documents the final speeches, letters, and testimonies of martyrs executed for their faith between 1660 and the late 1680s, serving as a primary record of religious persecution during the reign of King Charles II and James VII. It is considered a cornerstone text for understanding the Presbyterian resistance movement (Covenanters) in Scotland during the ‘Killing Time’. PHYSIC…… Read more
7 Swiss Songs, Scottish & Italian Songs: 31 Musical imprints Bound Together — I. Moscheles; F. Stockhausen; W. Ball; John Parry; George Linley; JT. Craven; Michael Kelly; Mrs Philip Millard; Mrs. Bemans; Herbert Rodwell; Henry R Bishop; Signor Mayer; Signor Rosfini; Felice Blangini; Signor Cavaliere Alfonso di Michereux — 1810 - 1820
A bound collection of 31 pieces of engraved sheet music including a collection of 7 songs, several sung by Madame Stockhausen, relating to Switzerland. Handsomely half bound in brown calf over marbled boards measuring 35 cm x 25 cm. Binding square and firm. Hand numbered 229 pp. Hand written index to front flyleaf. All in very good condition throughout, comprising: 1. The Swiss Boy, a Ballad (No.1 of The Tyrolese Melodies). Sung by Mrs Waylett. Words by W Ball. Music arranged by I Moscheles. Lon…… Read more
Letters From Scotland by An English Commercial Traveller. Written During a Journey to Scotland in the Summer of 1815 — Anonymous Author — 1817
Scarce first edition recording through 26 letters a journey from London to Edinburgh & Glasgow via Yorkshire and Northumberland on the journey North and returning via Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire. About two thirds of the book is devoted to describing Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Scottish lowlands. Written by an opiniated, educated but unidentified English Commercial Traveller who as well as describing the locations and scenery gives a commentary of the political, economic, and social con…… Read more
Sermons For Children by a Lady Vol 1 - An Address To Such An Inquiry What Must We Do To Be Saved - Christ Is All - A New Selection of Hymns For the Use of Schools — Rebecca Wilkinson; Fletcher Rev. J. W; Wilcox, Rev. T.; — 1821-1827
Seemingly unrecorded Edinburgh edition of Rebecca Wilkinson’s Sermons for Children, bound with three other works, including one other Edinburgh imprint. A pleasing binding in good condition comprising 4 small 48 mo octavo religious books. Quarter bound in cloth over faded marbled boards which show wear and are nicked along edges and spine tips. Internally just a little tender over front and rear gutters but otherwise very sound. Each volume in good condition, age toned as expected. Collated and…… Read more
Sir Andrew Wylie of that Ilk — John Galt — 1822
A beautiful contemporary binding on this 1822 second edition, three-volume novel by Scottish author John Galt, published by William Blackwood in Edinburgh. The novel is a picaresque story about a Scottish laird's ambition, intelligence, and eventual downfall. Lovely binding in high quality roan over marbled boards in excellent condition; beautifully detailed to edges; embossed and titled in gilt to spines. Endpapers clean throughout, lightly spotted and age toned as expected. Text blocks entirel…… Read more
Letter to the Electors of Glasgow under the Reform Bill for Scotland: 12 Great Reform Act Pamphlets and Broadside — Alexander Richmond etc — 1831; 1832
Bound volume of a dozen mostly Scottish pamphlets concerned with the passing of the Great Reform act in the early 1830s, and two trial narratives. Recently smartly bound in half calf over marbled boards in very good condition. Titled ‘Tracts’ in gilt over red ground to six panelled spine. Endpapers unmarked; various degrees of age toning and spotting throughout as expected. Text block square and entirely sound. All collated and complete. Bound in are: 1 ‘Debate in the House of Lords on the Secon…… Read more
OWNED BY A PROMINENT VICTORIAN PSYCHIATRIST: The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare, with Remarks on his Life and Writings — William Shakespeare; Thomas Campbell — 1838
A handsome volume containing the works of William Shakespeare, presented by Kings College London to John Thomas Arlidge who studied medicine there and went on to specialise in asylum psychiatry, publishing extensively on the subject. The book bears the College’s gilt crest to the upper board, dated 1829, the year the college was founded and the ownership inscription ‘John Thomas Arlidge 1846’ to the front free endpaper. Attractively embossed calf boards in near very good condition, tooled to edg…… Read more
PRESENTATION COPY Lives of Eminent Men of Fife — James Bruce — 1846
A volume of biographies of eminent Scotsmen including Michael Scot, Arnold Blair, Andrew Wynton, Sir Andrew Wood, Robert Henryson, Cardinal Beaton and Sir David Lindsay. Bound in contemporary half calf over brown marbled boards, pretty gilt and embossed decoration to the spine, red spine label and marbled edges. This is a handsome little book, the leather is rubbed to edges and spine but the marbled boards are bright, some spotting to end papers. There is an inscription to the front end paper "G…… Read more
Life of Thomas Stothard, R.A. — Thomas Stothard — 1851
Beautifully bound in a blind-stamped Victorian leather binding. Five raised spine bands with gilt lettering; central decorative panel to upper and lower boards; all edges gilt and silk bookmark. Marbled endpapers and bookseller’s ticket of A Holden, Exeter. The book’s first owner has recorded on the verso of the first flyleaf that the book was published at £1 1 shilling but that this decorative binding cost an additional 16 shillings. Sporadic brown patches through the text.
A BBC ‘LADYKILLER’ AS FEATURED BY LUCY WORSLEY: Report of the Trial of Madeleine Smith before the High Court of Justiciary at Edinburgh... for the Alleged Poisoning — Pierre Emile L’Angelier, Alexander Forbes Irvine [Madeleine Smith] — 1857
Court report on the trial of a young woman in high society Glasgow who was accused of murdering her secret lover, Alexander Forbes Irvine. Publisher’s brown textured cloth with a printed spine label, worn to head and tail of spine. Early ownership inscription, possibly American of a ‘Lesset Stephen’(?) beneath a paper ‘55c’ price. Two hand-tinted engravings of the scene of the crime, Blythswood Square. Internally clean. A very good copy. At the end of the trial Smith (1835-1928) was acquitted of…… Read more
PRESENTED BY EDINBURGH ARCHITECT CHARLES KINNEAR Geology and Mineralogy Considered with Reference to Natural Theology — William Buckland - Francis T Buckland — 1858
Presentation copies inscribed in both volumes by the leading Scots baronial-style architect, and pioneering Edinburgh photographer, ‘Charles Kinnear, Esq. Kinloch. 1863’ to his friend James Pottie. Original maroon pebbled cloth, spines lettered in gilt and relaid with some loss to original cloth showing through. Original yellow coated endpapers with Kinnear’s inscriptions and Pottie’s ‘JP’ monogram top left. A slight whiff of tobacco hangs around these volumes. Issued as Treatise VI of the Bridg…… Read more
Palaeontology or A Systematic Summary of Extinct Animals and their Geological Relations — Richard Owen — 1860
First edition in its original Edinburgh publisher’s burgundy-grained cloth binding. A very good example in robust condition, with replacement endpapers,; though retaining the original binder’s ticket of Burn of Kirby Street. The folding plate is present, with tape reinforcement to lower part of hinge and the book collates correctly: xvi, pp420. There is a whiff of tobacco when the book is opened. Richard Owen (1804-1892) coined the term ‘dinosaur’ and this book is his considered catalogue of fos…… Read more
Edinburgh and its Neighbourhood Geological and Historical — Hugh Miller, edited by Lydia Miller — 1864
Bound in publisher’s green cloth, gilt lettering to the spine; lightly bumped. Brown coated endpapers, reinforced with brown tape to the inner hinge with the upper board. Booksellers ticket of Parker and Son, Oxford; frontispiece and two plates; pp314; 24pp adverts. A faint whiff of tobacco smoke hangs about the book when opened. An attractive copy of this geological and historical study of Edinburgh.… Read more
Life of Rev James Grant & Grant Family of Aberdeenshire: Family Scrapbook & Archive 1750-1902 — Reverend James Grant and Descendants; Lucy Gwendoline Duff — 1750 1902
A rich family album compiled by Lucy Gwendoline Duff, grand daughter of the Rev James Grant, in the early 20th century preserving family documents, printed obituaries and tributes and a fine selection of photographs which together trace the achievements and history of the Grant family dating, back to the mid 1700s in the Glenbuchat, Badenoch and Towie ares of Aberdeenshire. Much of the album is dedicated to the line of the Rev. James Grant 1822 -1902, (great grandson of the Laird and Miss Olipha…… Read more
‘THIS BOOK BELONGS TO JOHN ANGUS TOWN CLERK, ABERDEEN’: Poole’s Gentleman’s Pocket Memorandum Book for 1872 — John Angus — 1872
Owned and extensively annotated by the influential Town Clerk of Aberdeen whose portrait was painted by Sir George Reid three years after he filled this Memorandum book with his notes and records. John Angus (1841-1913) held a key position at the heart of Aberdeen civic life during the city’s most wealthy period as an industrial and economic powerhouse in Scotland and beyond. He has used around 110 of the memorandum book’s pages to record his appointments and events on the verso of each sheet, a…… Read more
UNRECORDED RUSKINIANA: New-Year’s Address and Messages to Blackfriars Bible class, Aberdeen — John Ruskin, W E Gladstone, Dean Farrar etc — 1873
Three seemingly unrecorded New-Year’s messages written by John Ruskin and other grandees for students in Aberdeen. Dated respectively 1873, 1874 & 1878, within each issue Ruskin has offered his new year message in letter form. The volume is housed within a hinged clam shell box containing the bookplate of ‘JM’ - John Morgan of Rubislaw House, a master builder who constructed many of Aberdeen’s great granite buildings. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Contemporary clam shell box in good condition. Blue calf…… Read more
‘FOR THE BENEFIT OF SCOTTISH KIN’ Manuscript Notebook of Scots & New Zealand Family History of the Murdochs and Yuilles of Darleith — William Young, John Wallace Murdoch, Yuille Family of Darleith — 1891
Unpublished manuscript containing 40 pages of Murdoch and Yuille of Darleith family history written by William Young c1900. It is the second section that is the more intriguing, deriving from ‘an old book kept at Darleith, and kindly lent by the present proprietor, Mr Andrew B Yuille, Bellevue, Bridge of Allan. The book is bound in parchment with a brass hasp intended for a padlock. On the outside is written:- “This book not to be opened but by my father himself, for it relates to none of my pre…… Read more
MALDWYN HALDANE’S COPIES: Science and Education; Discourses Biological and Geological — Thomas Henry Huxley — 1902
Two volumes of Huxley’s essays, owned and annotated at Glencorse Barracks in Midlothian by ‘Muldoon’ Haldane, nephew of the Secretary for War, the Scottish lawyer Viscount Haldane. At the time he acquired these books in 1902 Maldwyn Haldane had recently been commissioned in the Royal Scots Regiment following on from study at University College, London and Jesus College, Cambridge. He would go on to be the first graduate recruit to the Special Intelligence Service, MO5 - the predecessor organisat…… Read more
LAVISHLY ILLUSTRATED SCOTTISH LOWLANDS Game Register Frank H Young 1911-19 — Frank H Young — 1911
Illustrated with 20 full page watercolours, a beautifully bound Game Register from the Peebleshire Scottish estate in the village of Lyne with a further 15 pen and ink drawings. Following on from a manuscript title page Young has pictured Neidpath Castle, ‘De Heuston on the Twelfth’, groups of huntsman taking their repast: ‘Lunch on the 12th Lyne’, ‘Keepers Cottage Lyne 2nd Sept 1911’ (buidings still extant) as well as scenes from Middletown, a ‘Plan of Lyne Peebleshire’ with a Celtic overlay, ‘…… Read more
The Glasgow Herald Royal Visit Supplement — Glasgow Herald — 1914
Six Glasgow Herald Royal Visit photographic supplements dated July 7th - July 13th 1914, bound together to mark the Royal visit of George V and Queen Mary. Printed just weeks before WW1, bursting with 100s of wonderful images, a lasting photographic record of a seemingly prosperous united Britain before the Great War took its toll. The supplements document the final major royal engagement in Scotland, capturing a moment of peacetime just weeks before the outbreak of war. Each leaf is packed full…… Read more
Cities of Splendid Progress: The Royal Visit to Dundee and Perth, July 1914 — Dundee Advertiser — 1914
Very good copy of an original Royal Visit Supplement from the Dundee Advertiser dated July 9, 1914 marking the Royal visit of George V and Queen Mary to Dundee and Perth. Printed just weeks before WW1, a lasting record of a seemingly prosperous united Britain before the Great War took its toll. Each leaf is packed full of advertisements, articles of local interest, portraits of ladies to be presented to the their Majesties, plans of the royal routes and much more. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: An elabor…… Read more
King Lear's Wife And Other Plays - PROMPT COPY — Gordon Bottomley — 1922
Second ‘New’ Edition (with a new poem) in good plus condition inscribed, signed and annotated throughout by its author, the Scottish playwright and poet Gordon Bottomley for use as a prompt copy. Tthe volume represents his contribution to the revival of poetic drama. The volume contains the title play, King Lear’s Wife, a one-act work exploring the origins of Shakespeare’s tragedy plus The Crier by Night, The Riding to Lithend, Midsummer Eve and Laodice and Danaë. Orange cloth boards with gilt l…… Read more
AUTHORIAL TYPESCRIPT WITH CORRECTIONS OF A NOVEL OF THE SCOTTISH ISLANDS: Eilean More — Arthur Aitken Davidson — 1928
Full length pre-publication typescript with extensive authorial corrections to this novel set on a remote Scottish Hebridean island off the coast of Wester Ross. The island - Eilian More - is the beautifully described backdrop to the machinations of its Chief, Evan Urquhart, whose castle is burned to the ground in the final chapter by his greatest rival on the island. Davidson (1889-1980) wrote two novels, both published by Longmans in London and New York. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: This is a profess…… Read more
FOUR DAYS IN STRATHMASHIE - STAG HUNTING IN THE HIGHLANDS - A Highland Book of Sport Volume IV — JWC Cameron — 1929
A richly hand written first person narrative detailing stag hunting trips in the Strathmashie area of the Scottish Highlands in the year 1929, written by young JWC Cameron. His account, written up in a lined text book, fills almost every leaf (circa 60 pp) and is illustrated with pasted in b/w photographs and cuttings. The text book is covered in brown paper and includes a colour image depicting a stalker which decorates the front. The hand written title page reads ‘A Book of Sport Vol IV’. The…… Read more
A Telegram from Pope Pius XI congratulating a Scottish couple on their Golden Wedding — Cardinal Pacelli; Pope Pius XI — 1935
How many receive a telegram with a special blessing from His Holy Father the Pope on the occasion of their golden wedding? Mr and Mrs Patrick Dempsay did. This original pencil written Post Office Telegram originating from Cita Del Vatican is stamped on receipt at Spean Bridge, a village in the parish of Kilmonivaig in the Highlands of Scotland and dated 5 Jan ‘35. The holy father (Pope Pius XI) ‘sends apostolic benediction pledge abriding grace’ and the telegram is signed off by Cardinal Pacelli…… Read more
SCOTTISH NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM in an Autograph Album — [Matt Busby, William Waddell, Billy Cotton, Harold Lloyd] — c. 1944/5
A pocket sized autograph book containing a sporting collection of over 55 signatures collected circa 1945 including those of the Scotland national football teams, cricketers and occasional entertainers of the day. Included within are: 1. A single pasted in sheet titled ‘Scotland (Wembley Feb 1944)’ signed by 13 of the Scottish players who lost 6-2 to England in a wartime international before 80,000 fans. Included are the signatures of Matt Busby the captain, Joe Crozier, Willie Kilmarnock, Jimmy…… Read more
900 ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE WEST HIGHLAND LINE - Unique Record of Scottish Railway History — Unknown Photographer — 1970 - 2002
An extraordinary photographic record and passion project presented in 4 huge, well-bound albums containing over 900 fine photographs taken, curated and annotated by an unidentified railway enthusiast and talented photographer. The albums span 4 decades recording trips to some of the most scenic and famous rail locations in the UK. The West Highland Line is returned to again and again over the decades and our photographer captures Scotland’s most dramatic landscapes and railways as the route pass…… Read more
‘TO ALASDAIR [GRAY] FROM PHILIP’ Essentials of Literary Criticism — Philip Hobsbaum — 1983
Alasdair Gray’s inscribed copy of this guide to the discussion of English literary texts, designed primarily for the first-year university student. A near fine paperback, covers and edges lightly soiled. Inscribed by the author to verso of front cover “To Alasdair love from Philip July 1983’. A near fine copy. Provenance: from the recent Glasgow dispersal sale of Alasdair Gray’s library. Gray (1934-2019) is acknowledged as one of the most innovative figures in Scottish literature and culture. Pa…… Read more
‘FOR ALASDAIR GRAY WHO UNDERSTANDS RLS WELL’ Dead Man's Chest: Travels After Robert Louis Stevenson — Nicholas Rankin — 1988
Writer Alasdair Gray’s copy, apologetically inscribed to him by the author Nicholas Rankin who followed in the footsteps of author and travel writer Robert Louis Stevenson from Edinburgh to the Pacific islands of Hawaii and Samoa. Very good paperback, covers bright, spine creased, edges lightly marked, text block browned but otherwise clean. Inscribed “20th September 1988 for Alasdair Gray who understands RLS well, with best wishes Nicholas Rankin. Sorry you’re misspelled in the index....”. Prov…… Read more
Dr. Christian White
Christian White Rare Books
287 Leeds Road, Ilkley, LS29 8LL
07811 455398
info@christianwhiterarebooks.com
www.christianwhiterarebooks.com
|
|