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October 2, 2010

THE SPLENDID COMBINATION OF POE AND RACKHAM

1st ed.  PRINTED 1935 in a Handsome Sangorski and Sutcliffe Solander Box

Edgar Allan Poe; Arthur Rackham.Tales of mystery & imagination London : G.G. Harrap, 1935. Ill. on lining papers. Cover title: Poe’s tales of mystery & imagination. 317 p., [29] leaves of plates : ill.(some col.) ; 26 cm. FIRST RACKHAM EDITION.  FINE COPY in Rare Original Dust Jacket with minor ships and repairs to head of spine of jacket. In a fine Black Morocco Solander Box by famed bindery, Sangorski and Sutcliffe.  $750.00

October 2, 2010

Printed 1800: THE FIRST COLLECTED EDITION OF ROBERT BURNS

SPLENDID COPY IN CONTEMPORARY TREE CALF

[Robert Burns]; [James CURRIE, M.D.]The Works of Robert Burns; with an account of his life, and a criticism on his writings. To which are prefixed, some observations on the character and condition of the Scottish peasantry. [By James Currie.]. Printed by J. M’Creery: Liverpool; for T. Cadell, Jun. & W. Davies: London, 1800.  4 Vol.  a  COMPLETE AND VERY HANDSOME COPY in full polished tree calf, some bumping to corners, foxing  and browning as usual,  partial loss to blank flyleaf in Vol I. and partial marginal loss and creasing  to half-title of Vol III not affecting text.  Frontis. portrait; and four different woodcut vignette on the  title-pages by the eminent Thomas Bewick.  RARE.    $950.00

This is the FIRST PUBLISHED COLLECTED EDITION OF BURNS, edited by the prominent Scottish physician James Currie and issued soon after Burns’ death.  It contains previously unpublished songs and poem, including “Auld Land Syne”, that now popular song sung at the stroke of midnight of every New Year as “Should Old Acquaintance be forgot”, here formally attributed to Burns for the first time.

“Soon after Burns’s death it was decided that a collected edition of his works should be undertaken, but it was difficult to find anyone to shoulder the task, which eventually fell to Dr. James Currie, a native of Dumfriesshire who practiced medicine in Liverpool. His main objective was to raise money for the poet’s family, and so he felt he must not offend any of the people whom Burns had known or met. For this reason Currie deliberately omitted material from his biography that would have resulted in a more rounded portrait of his subject. The edition immediately became the standard biography and text for the poems and letters of the poet. This inaccurate biography and mangled text gave the world a woefully biased picture of Burns (for instance that he was a drunkard, when his letters and contemporary reports about him shed quite a different light on him), a picture which persisted well into this century” [See: http://www.sc.edu/library/spcoll/britlit/burns/burns1.html]

August 24, 2010

16th CENTURY MINING IN CONTEMPORARY BLIND-TOOLED PIGSKIN.

PRINTED 1548-1571: A SAMMELBAND OF 5 RARE TITLES

[16th Century Mining and Metallurgy.] [Ordinances and Statues] [Maximilian II (31 July 1527 – 12 October 1576) ] [Ferdinand I (10 March 1503 – 25 July 1564)]
1. Abschiedt der Römischen Kayserlichen Majestat, und gemeiner Stände auff dem Reichstag zu Speyr, Anno MDLXX auffgerichtet.
Gedruckt in der Churfürstlichen Stat, Meintz : durch Franciscum Behem, 1571.  [2; (of 4)]; 103 lvs.., lacking t.p.;. BOUND WITH… 2. [L. Fronsperger, Baron von Mindelheim]. Besatzung. Ein kurtzer bericht, wie Stätt, Schlösser oder Flecken mit kriegs volck soll besetzt sein, dass sie sich für dem Feinde erhalten mögen. Mit einer ausstheylung, was einem Menschen einen jeden tag an Brot und Fleysch, dergleichen was einem jeden Pferd allen tag an Habern soll gegeben werden, dass sie sich nach notturfft erhalten künden. Frankfurt an Main, Feyerabend and Huter, 1563 [2]-16, [2] colophon and final blank present, lacking t.p.; BOUND WITH…. 3. Bergkordnung des freyen Königlichen Bergwercks Sanct Joachimthal, sambt anderen umbligenden und eingeleibten Silberbergkwercken, auffs neue gebessert, Anno domini 1548. Zwickau, 1548. [81] of [82] lvs., with errata and final blank, lacking t.p.. BOUND WITH…. 4. Römischer auch zu Hungern und Behem etc. Kü. Mai. geordente und gebesserte Zinbergkwercks Ordnung der Bergstedt Schlackenwalden, Schönfelden, Lautterpach, sampt derselben zugehörenden gepirgen ; Römischer auch zu Hungern und Behem etc. Kü. Mai. Zinbergkwercks Ordnung auff die Bergkwerck Hengst, Perninger, Lichtenstadt, Platten, Gotsgab, Kaff, Mückenbergk und andern derselbigen orten und enden… BOUND WITH… 5. [Ferdinands I.] Geordente und gGebesserte Zinbergkwercks-Ordnung der Bergkstedt Schlackenu’alden, Schönfelden, Lautterpach, sampt derselben zugehörenden Gepirgen. :[Zwickau:, Wolffgang Meyerpeck, 1548] [22] lvs. t.p., crudely remargined, coat of arms on title page. Ornamental initials and head- and tailpieces. Very Rare. Condition: Handsome contemporary blind-tooled German Pigskin over wooden boards, brass catches, some dampstaining, browning,
marginal repairs, several inserted blanks for notes and annotations as well as contemporary manuscript pages, facsimile bookplate.  [$8500]

Extracting metals from the ground has clearly been a fundamental technology that helped pave the way for advances in human civilization. Besides wealth creation, mining required men and smelters,which led to the founding of many villages and communities that formed a backbone of medieval society. This sammelband of 5 separate and rare works, dated from 1548-1571, is therefore of great scholarly importance to both 16th century German law and the history of technology. It addresses the competing rights and claims of kings, landlords, landowners, as well as the individual miners. Additionally it discusses material covered by Agricola, specifically how a mine can be divided into shares and the roles of various other officials in regulating mines and taxing the production. It should be noted that the two large woodcut illustrations were executed a full eight years before the 1556 edition of Agricola’s De re metallica .

August 22, 2010

WITH THE RARE THUMBPRINT- THE FIRST RECOGNITION OF A FINGERPRINT AS A UNIQUE MARK OF IDENTIFICATION

PRINTED 1818: BEAUTIFUL ROYAL ISSUE FIRST EDITION OF BEWICK’S GREAT AESOP FABLES

The Book:

[Thomas Bewick] [Aesop.] The fables of Aesop, and others : with designs on wood. Newcastle : Printed by E. Walker, for T. Bewick and Son, sold by them, Longman and Co., London, and all booksellers, 1818. FIRST EDITION, ROYAL ISSUE, the paper watermarked 1817, additional portrait preceding t.p., “To the youth of the British Isles”–Pref. Includes index of fables. 1st ed. The leaf preceding t.p. has the “thumb mark” receipt of Thomas Bewick, signed by Thomas Bewick and Robert Elliot Bewick and dated 1st October 1818. [2], xxiv, 376 p. : ill. (wood-engravings) ; 23.5 cm., Splendid straight-grained Morocco, signed Zaehnsdorf binding. Occasional minor spotting, A Very Fine copy.  [SOLD]

Bewick’s art is considered the pinnacle of its medium. “Bewick is also noteworthy for having used his fingerprint as a form of signature, in conjunction with his written name to denote individuality in his publications. The significance of this happening nearly 200 years ago lead some to believe that Bewick is among the first to recognize the uniqueness of each individual human fingerprint. [Ref: Lee, Henry C and Robert E.Gaensslen. Advances in fingerprint technology ]

August 22, 2010

PRINTED 1606: HIGHLY IMPORTANT ITALIAN BOTANICAL

109 BEAUTIFUL  FULL PLATE ETCHINGS

The Book:

COLONNA, Fabio (1567-?1650). Minus cognitarum stirpium aliquot ac etiam rariorum nostro coelo orientium [in Greek: Ekphrasis], Rome: Faciotti, 1606. 4to., 215 x 163mm., title in red and black with woodcut printer’s device, engraved portrait of Colonna on verso, woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, 109 etched full-page plates of 114 of which 97 are botanical and 12 are molluscs, marine creatures and a hippopotamus set in type ornament borders. 19th century Italian boards with vellum spine,  old repair to t.p., some marginal dampstaining, some marginal tears and occasional old repair, some occasional staining, wanting signatures p4, q4 (i.e. 297-312) and 1 leaf, kkk4 of index.),  needless to say a Rare and an Attractive Copy; the etchings struck with fine plate-tone.  Ref: Brunet II, 173; Nissen BBI 385   [$6000]

The  Minus cognitarum stirpium is not only an important book in the history of botany, but also typifies the furious pace of scientific advancement in  17th century Rome, despite the historical setback of Galileo’s censorship. “Fabio Colonna, a leading botanist and botanical illustrator, was a member of the Accademia dei Lincei, founded in Rome by Prince Federico Cesi whose own botanical interest Colonna encouraged. Colonna’s interest in describing and illustrating hitherto unknown plants extended to local as well as exotic specimens.   The new scientific society Accademia dei Lincei (“academy of the lynx- eyed,” so-called from the keenness of sight of its members) gave a powerful example of collective study of scientific problems– the beginning of something like modern laboratory work.”
[Ref: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/vatican/nature.html]

Interestingly,  it is recorded that Colonna suffered from epilepsy and his interest in botany was peaked by his desperate search for a cure, eventually discovering the therapeutic herb Valerian through Dioscorides. That pharmaceutical intent encouraged a very careful scientific approach to his undertaking, with Colonna collecting mostly wild specimens for study- a Kunst und Wunderkammer with clear scientific purpose.  A very high standard  of illustration was thus reached with this publication, depicting details of plant parts decades before their taxonomic importance was recognized.  Colonna is believed to have executed all the etchings himself;  the original drawings for which are preserved in the Biblioteca Nazionale, Naples.

Price Ref. of the 1616 2nd edition:  Christies, June 4, 1997.  $7475.00    [Ref: http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?from=searchresults&intObjectID=228261&sid=2a257c48-0d49-4272-9e56-e59ba2148e2f]