Gift Ideas

  1. BURNE-JONES, Edward.

    The Little Holland House Album … with an Introduction & Notes by John Christian.

    The Roxburghe Club, 2024

    The Little Holland House Album was compiled by Edward Burne-Jones in about 1858-9 for Sophia, Mrs Dalrymple, the youngest of the seven celebrated Pattle sisters who played such an important role in mid-Victorian cultural life. Their centre was Little Holland House in Kensington where another of the...

    £75

  2. [ANTIPHONAL.]

    Very large historiated initial ‘H’, probably for the antiphon Hodie nata est beata virgo Maria for the Nativity...

    Italy (Siena), c. 1300.

    A very fine large initial painted in a style associated with the Master of the Gradual of Cortona, an artist named for a Franciscan gradual produced c. 1290 for the church of San Francesco in Cortona (now Vatican City, BAV, MS Ross. 612).

    £6750

  3. CAMPBELL, Duncan. 

    A Poem upon Tea.  Wherein its Antiquity, its several Virtues and Influences are set forth; and the Wisdom...

    London, Mrs. Dodd, J. Roberts, J. Wilcox et al., 1735. 

    First and only edition, very scarce, of a series of poetical sketches in praise of tea over alcohol, dedicated ‘To the Fair Sex’ and with an unusual double preface to the masculine and then the feminine reader.  Tea had arrived in Britain in the 1650s, but its expense made it very exclusive;...

    £2500

  4. BRADLEY Gertrude M., illustrator.

    An archive of drawings for Just Forty Winks.

    [c. 1897].

    Fifty-eight delightful preliminary pencil sketches by the illustrator Gertrude M. Bradley for Just Forty Winks, Hendry’s tale for children, offered with a copy of the first and only edition, rare in the dustjacket.

    £850

  5. NIEUHOF, Jean, and Jean LE CARPENTIER (translator). 

    L’ambassade de la compagnie orientale des provinces unies...

    Leiden, Jacob de Meurs, 1665. 

    Lavishly illustrated first French edition of Nieuhof’s travels through China from 1655 to 1657. 

    £3500

  6. BROWN, Arthur Henry.

    Autograph manuscript notebook mainly of Christmas carols.

    [Brentwood?, 1864–87].

    An autograph manuscript notebook composed primarily of Christmas carols, compiled carefully over some twenty-five years from various sources including manuscripts in the British Museum, early printed books, and contemporary books and periodicals.

    £450

  7. VERLAINE, Paul, and Léon LEBÈGUE (illustrator).

    Fêtes gallantes.

    Paris, F. Ferroud for the Librairie des Amateurs, 30 July 1913.

    Limited edition on vélin teinté d’Arches, numbered 430 of 500 copies, with etchings by Lebègue. First published in 1869, Verlaine’s Fêtes gallantes are here exquisitely printed and illustrated by Léon Lebègue (1863 – 1944) and finely bound by Flammarion.

    £750

  8. MIRANDULA (or MIRANDOLA), Ottaviano. 

    Illustrium poetarum flores. 

    Antwerp, Joannes Bellerus, 1563. 

    A remarkable copy, with numerous and eloquent contemporary annotations and additions in a French hand, of a scarce edition of an extremely popular collection of quotes and passages from classics of poetry, published by the renowned Flemish printer and composer Joannes Bellerus (Jean Bellère,...

    £1950

  9. LE CLERC, Sébastien, the Elder. 

    Figures de la passion D. N. S. Iesus Christ presentées à Madame Madame de Maintenon, par...

    Paris, chez G. Audran graveur ordinaire du Roy, [early 1700s]. 

    Scarce later issue of this wonderful suite of engravings depicting the Passion of Christ by the noted engraver Sébastien Le Clerc (1637–1714), running from Christ’s arrival in the Garden of Olives to the Holy Spirit descending upon the Apostles. 

    £675

  10. HUGO, Victor.

    Notre-Dame de Paris. Par Victor Hugo. Troisième edition … Tome premier [– deuxième].

    Paris, Charles Gosselin, 1831.

    First edition, third issue, of Victor Hugo’s great historical novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, one of 275 copies printed.

    £7500

  11. HORACE.

    Quinti Horatii Flacci Opera cum novo commentario ad modum Joannis Bond.

    Paris, Didot, 1855.

    The deluxe issue of Didot’s Horace, a fine early photographically-illustrated work, complete with all the photographic plates, headpieces and maps, and printed on fine paper.

    £900

  12. ECKARTSHAUSEN, Karl von. 

    Dieu est l’amour le plus pur, ma prière et ma contemplation.  Par Eckartshausen.  Paris, chez L. 

    Duprat-Duverger, rue des Grands-Augustins, no. 21, [1805-1813]. 

    Scarce edition of a French translation of Gott ist die reinste Liebe by the German Catholic mystic Karl von Eckartshausen (1752–1803), this copy formerly in the possession of the long-term lover of Queen Victoria’s father. 

    £475

  13. COLONNA, Fabio. 

    Φυτοβασανος, sive Plantarum aliquot historia … 

    Naples, Orazio Salviani, 1592. 

    First edition, a landmark in botanical illustration, ‘the first strictly botanical book with intaglio prints’ (Blunt). 

    £4000

  14. BOUDIER DE VILLEMERT, Pierre-Joseph. 

    L’Andrometrie, ou examen philosophique de l’homme.  Par Monsieur l’Abbé de Villemaire. 

    Paris, chez Brunet, 1753. 

    First editions of two scarce works by the philosopher, moralist and Parisian avocat Boudier de Villemert (1716–1801), best known as the author of L’Ami des Femmes. 

    £2500

  15. [KAFKA, Franz, et al.]

    Vom jüngsten Tag. Ein Almanach neuer Dichtung.

    Leipzig, [W. Drugulin for] Kurt Wolff, 1916.

    First edition of the first collective publication of the younger generation of German writers Wolff had assembled under the rubric of Der jüngste Tag.

    £250

  16. POUND, Ezra.

    How to Read …

    London, Desmond Harmsworth, [1931].

    First edition, a fine association copy. Agnes Bedford (1892-1969) was a lifelong friend of Pound (they first met in 1919 and corresponded until 1963 when he unexpectedly severed contact) and through him of Wyndham Lewis, with whom she had an affair in the 1920s. A vocal coach and accompanist,...

    £750

  17. SPENCER, Eleanor P. 

    The Sobieski Hours: A Manuscript in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. 

    London, [Rampant Lion Press for] Academic Press, 1977. 

    Limited edition, dedicated and presented to the Roxburghe Club by Robin Mackworth-Young, a member’s copy presented to Adrian McLaughlin. 

    £475

  18. [JOHNSON, Richard.]

    The History of France, from the earliest Period, comprehending every interesting and remarkable Occurrence...

    London, E. Newbery, 1792.

    Second edition of this history of France for children, revised from the first edition of 1786 to include the events of the French Revolution.

    £300

  19. CESAROTTI, Melchiorre, librettist.

    Adria consolata festa teatrale nel solenne giorno natalizio della sacra R.I. Maesta’...

    Venice, Vincenzo Rizzi, [1803].

    First edition, very rare, of this libretto of Adria consolata, performed at Venice’s Teatro La Fenice on 12 February 1803 in honour of the birthday of Holy Roman Emperor Francis II (1768–1835).

    £275