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The famous man-midwife coloured etching of 1793 that became the frontispiece to John Blunt’s fierce critique of male midwives, Man-Midwifery dissected. A single sheet (27x22cm) with Cruickshank’s etching, published by Samuel William Fores, deliciously hand-coloured. This example is from the distinct issue separate from the book and ‘sold by the pub… Read more…

The first edition of Geoffrey Hill's second collection of verse, inscribed with affection to a long-standing Leeds University colleague. Original brown boards with gilt lettering; internally the book is near fine, a couple of brown spots to the paper, offsetting to title page from a piece of paper previously laid in. with no ownership signatures or… Read more…

A group of poems which would subsequently appear in Hill’s most overtly religious collection of poetry, Tenebrae, here found photocopied from their very first publication in the journal Agenda, inscribed by Hill, and presented to a long-standing Leeds University colleague and friend. Seven octavo-sized pages, held with a staple, and inscribed at th… Read more…

First edition, red cloth-effect boards with unclipped dustjacket. Unmarked text, a little browning to paper stock. A very good plus copy in a near fine jacket with good colour, a little creasing at the top of the spine of the jacket where the book has been read. From the collection of a literature academic with a page of his notes laid in. Read more…

Manuscript copy of a major 17th century work of English history, and the foundational text in the history of Kingston upon Hull, written by the antiquary, Abraham de la Pryme and found here in an 18th century copy much-expanded from the three other known manuscripts in Hull and the British Library. Chronicling the history of Hull from the ancient w… Read more…

A lovely example of the second edition with dozens of pencilled annotations by an early owner that read like an inchoate wail of fury at Darwin’s whole project, labelling him as ‘dirty both in thought and conduct’ (a charge more usually made against the The Descent of Man) for his preoccupation with sex. His theses are labelled ‘beyond the pale of… Read more…

A lovely clean copy of this uncommon Yorkshire-published poetry anthology which contains two poems each by Anne and Emily Bronte, and a single poem by Charlotte Bronte. Publisher’s red- stamped cloth with gilt decoration and black roan spine. Bookplate of the Lancashire collector Robert Hayhurst, with several additional poems from 19th century impr… Read more…

Mid 19th century Scottish, folio-sized herbarium and sea-weed album gathered in the village of Bolton, about 20 miles east of Edinburgh - the village where Robert Burns’ mother and brother lived later in life. Bound in vellum over boards. Manuscript title page following some stubs. Opposite is a reference to ‘Passages in the life of Jenny Kettlee’(… Read more…

The New Edition in good plus condition in a later and unusual quarter leather binding over cream cloth with handsome raised bands to the spine panel; the original green leather fading and shifting towards brown at the spine. A very sound and square copy. Front free reveals a 1932 ownership inscription, ‘H.H. Foxon’ and some written, most probably a… Read more…

First Edition in near very good condition in later half calf over cloth covered boards with a handsome 6 panelled spine titled in gilt over red ground. Corners rubbed; marbled endpapers very fresh; text block age toned as expected; a square and very sound volume. Several interesting previous ownership inscriptions in contemporary hands reveal thems… Read more…

Typed first draft manuscript of 465 pages offering several thousand manuscript corrections and alterations made during its composition by the author Maurice Baring. Alongside his novel ‘C’, Adeane was Baring’s most popular and influential novel, telling the story of a complex and unfaithful marriage between a London barrister and his wife, Fanny, w… Read more…

Parts 1, 2 and 3 bound as one in a good sturdy half binding of calf over cloth boards embossed and titled in gilt over red ground to handsome 6 panelled spine with the second volume of The Asteroidea and Ophiuroidea. Vol I Corners bumped; remnants of a home repair along spine hinge on upper board. Cracking over gutters front and rear; endpapers cle… Read more…

Second edition entirely rewritten. Volume 1. Complete set of 5 plates. Publisher’s red cloth binding in fair plus condition, decoratively embossed to upper board and spine in gilt tooling. Spine panel cracking along hinge to lower board; text block a little shaken; just cracking over endpapers front and rear. Text block otherwise sound. Front free… Read more…

An uncommon pocket sized edition printed and bound by Nicholson & Sons Wakefield. Eye catching red roan boards decorated and titled in black with gilt to spine in very good condition; a little shelf worn to corners and spine ends. Binding entirely sound; a little spine slant evident. Endpapers clean front and rear. Inscription to front free reads ‘… Read more…

1911 edition in very good publisher’s blue cloth illustrated beautifully in green, red and black to upper and spine. Colours remain vibrant and boards show just minor shelf wear. A crest in gilt to the lower board is that of the Harvey Grammar School in Kent indicating once a probable school prize. Square and sound. Dark blue endpapers reveal an al… Read more…

The first volume of the first edition of Shakespeare’s works to appear after the four Folio Editions of the seventeenth century and the very first illustrated edition (lacking 5 of 9 original plates) which has been described by a recent scholar as an 'inaugurating moment'. The publisher Jacob Tonson and the book’s editor Nicholas Rowe achieve their… Read more…

Second edition, tenth thousand: memoirs of an Edinburgh book dealer. Bound including original illustrated wrappers within a later addition, very good, blue rexine boards and pale blue endpapers. A good plus volume, the binding square and firm with age toning to front wrapper and browning to text block edges. Portions of text underlined. 119 pp. col… Read more…

Contemporary half calf over marbled boards containing 5 bound in pamphlets and texts. Front board attached but fragile over gutters. Lower board present but no longer attached. Spine panel good, titled ‘Pamphlets’ over red ground. Text block binding square and sound. Endpapers clean. Contents in good condition with expected age toning throughout. B… Read more…

Officer’s log book of a merchant West Indiaman engaged in supplying horses and mules to the enslaved African and African-American servicemen of Britain’s West India Regiments - and on the homeward journey bringing back a cargo of sugar manufactured by their enslaved cousins in the plantations of the Caribbean. Both Atlantic crossings were fraught w… Read more…

An artist’s tour journal of his exploration of Belgium and Holland in 1850. Robert Taylor Pritchett (1828-1907) would later become a favourite artist of Queen Victoria and illustrate Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle but in these images we accompany the young traveller from Dover (seen looking up from the port) via Calais and into the Low Countries whi… Read more…

A beautifully unsophisticated example of this very scarce English dancing manual found here in the publisher’s original paper covered boards with printed spine label. Printed on high quality wove paper, the text and plates are in excellent condition, many leaves unopened. Publisher’s binding of brown paper over boards, chipping to the paper coverin… Read more…

Unpublished records of a secretive early 19th century precursor of the modern credit ratings industry. The Society of Mutual Communication for the Protection of Trade was founded in order to allow London business men to spot deadbeat clients, share information between businesses as well as managing debt recovery from failed transactions. This vellu… Read more…

Lavishly illustrated tour of Scotland undertaken by two young men in 1892 including a long description of climbing Ben Nevis in the fog, arriving at the summit for a slap-up meal in the famous Observatory Hotel: ‘Plain teas 2/6, Ham and Eggs 4/” Two of the former were called, & the quality of two mountain appetites tested with very satisfactory res… Read more…

A very smart set of early editions of J R R Tolkien's Lord of the Rings with jackets in bright, very good plus condition. All dating from 1960 these are the eighth, seventh and sixth impression of the first edition of the three novels, acquired together and with one careful owner since they were first bought - her signature appears on each of the t… Read more…

Publisher’s dummy for this award-winning if controversial children’s book in which Babette Cole ‘unleashes her endearingly loony sense of humor on the subject of the birds and the bees, and the result is, as expected, hilarious’ (Publisher’s Weekly). In the book a couple of parents attempt to explain the facts of life to their two children, who res… Read more…