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TAINE, Hippolyte-Adolphe (1828-1893), French critic and historian.
A collection of eleven autograph letters, signed, regarding...
Various places, 1860s to 1880s.
An interesting group of letters by Taine, written following his return to teaching in 1863. Discriminatory treatment from the authorities of the Second Empire led to his withdrawal from teaching from 1852 to 1863, when he was appointed an examiner at Saint-Cyr. The following year he became a lecturer...
£850
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THIERS, Adolphe (1797–1877), French politician and historian.
Three autograph letters signed (‘A Thiers’) to Nassau Senior.
Paris, 22 December 1852, 11 July 1854, 18 June 1855.
A set of interesting letters from Thiers to the English economist Nassau Senior. Thiers was a French politician and historian who served as prime minister under Louis Phillipe. Following the overthrow of the Second Empire he again came to prominence as the French leader who suppressed the revolutionary...
£200
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THORNTON, William Thomas (1813-1880), economist and civil servant.
Autograph letter signed (‘W. T. Thornton’) in French to...
8 Marlborough Hill, St John’s Wood, 17 June 1853.
Thornton here replies to Guillaumin’s request for information about him, giving his place and date of birth, stating that he has worked for the East India Company in London since 1836, and listing his publications as Overpopulation and its remedy (1846) and A plea for peasant proprietors (1848).
£250
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FREEMAN, Arthur.
Julia Alpinula, Pseudo-Heroine of Helvetia: How a Forged Renaissance Epitaph Fostered a National Myth.
London, The Author, 2015.
Julia Alpinula is a legendary Swiss heroine, whose pathetic fate in AD 69 inspired popular historians, dramatists, artists, and poets – including an infatuated Byron – over a period of more than two hundred years. Her very existence, however, was based entirely on a funerary inscription first published...
£15
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[BALLAD.]
RUSTY DUSTY MILLER (The). A New Song.
[London, c.1780]
Another unrecorded ballad, even cruder than the last and so execrably printed as to verge on nonsense: ‘It’s did you never hear of a Rusty Dusty Miller …’ Said miller promises a young maiden that he will ‘grind your grits so free, and welcome your desire’. On her way to the mill,
£600
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DAY, Thomas.
The History of Sandford and Merton; a Work intended for the Use of Children …
London: Printed for B. Crosby … Darton and Harvey … and T. Ostell … 1803.
First edition thus of Thomas Day’s wildly popular story for children, here in ‘a more reduced form’ as ‘the price of the original work may be incommodious to … young readers’. This was was not the same text as the ‘Abridged’ version first published by Wallis and Newbery (and by Darton...
£150
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HOLCROFT, Thomas.
The Adventures of Hugh Trevor …
London: Printed for Shepperson and Reynolds 1794 [Vols. 4-6: London: Printed for G. G. and J. Robinson … 1797].
First edition of one of the cardinal novels of the Godwinian school, by an author equal to Godwin ‘in influencing young intellectuals ...’ (Gary Kelly, The English Jacobin Novel 1780-1805, 1976, p. 167).
£1000
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HUGHES, John.
Poems on several Occasions. With some select Essays in Prose. In two Volumes …
London: Printed for J. Tonson and J. Watts. 1735.
First edition of the principal collection of the author’s works, published posthumously and edited, with a long biographical preface, by his brother-in-law, William Duncombe. John Hughes (1677–1720) was educated at a dissenting academy where Isaac Watts was his contemporary. From an early...
£850
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[KEENE, Marian].
The History of a tame Robin. Supposed to be written by Himself.
London: Printed for Darton, Harvey, and Darton … 1817.
First and only edition. The tame Robin recalls a life of adventure enriched by human and avian friendships. A childhood spent in a school-room helped him attain ‘a sufficient knowledge of literature to relate my adventures’. His life, though happy, is not without its vicissitudes: he loses...
£325
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LAMB, Charles.
John Woodvil a Tragedy ... to which are added, Fragments of Burton, the Author of the Anatomy of Melancholy.
London: Printed by T. Plummer ... for G. and J. Robinson ... 1802.
First edition. John Woodvil was Charles Lamb’s first play (or dramatic poem), regarded by him at one time as his ‘finest effort’, a ‘medley (as I intend it to be a medley) of laughter and tears, prose and verse, and in some places rhyme, songs, wit, pathos, humour, and, if possible, sublimity’...
£1250
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LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, François, Duc de.
The Memoirs of the Duke de La Rochefoucault. Containing the private Intrigues for obtaining...
London, Printed for James Partridge … 1683.
First edition in English, translated from Mémoires de M. D.L.R. sur les brigues à la mort de Louys XIII (1662). At court in his earlier years La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) took an active part in the cabals and rivalries that surrounded Richelieu and Louis XIII, and subsequently in the Fronde...
£650
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LLOYD, Mary.
Brighton a Poem. Descriptive of the Place and Parts adjacent. And other Poems …
London: Printed for the Author. Sold by J. Harding … and by all the Booksellers at Brighton, Worthing, and Eastborne. 1809.
First and only edition of Mary Lloyd’s paean to the attractions of ‘Beauty, and fashion’s ever favourite seat’. The poem vividly portrays Brighton’s dazzling social round: the races, dances at the Assembly Rooms, plays at the theatre, and acrobatic shows at the circus. Particular attention...
£350
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MARIVAUX, Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de.
Le Paysan parvenu: or, the fortunate Peasant. Being Memoirs of the Life of Mr. ––––....
London: Printed for John Brindley … Charles Corbett … and Richard Wellington … 1735
First edition in English, originally published in French in the Hague in 1734-5. This is the second of the two important novels by Marivaux, which broke new ground in the art of writing fiction. ‘Where La Vie de Marianne belongs to the moralizing and sentimental romance tradition, Le Paysan...
£650
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PRESENT FOR THE YOUNG (A).
London: Printed for The Religious Tract Society … and sold at their Depository … also by J. Nisbet...
[c. 1827]
First edition. A finely illustrated anthology of religious verse, contemplations, and prayers for children. Pieces include poems on the seasons and stories about a Welsh Shepherd, and ‘The Hill and the Valley’, all with heavily metaphorical content.
£175
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SHENSTONE, William.
The Works, in Verse and Prose… in three Volumes … Fifth Edition …
London: Printed for J. Dodsley … 1777.
Fifth edition of the Works (1764), the first edition of which was planned by Shenstone but published after his death, with Robert Dodsley’s description of Shenstone’s important garden at The Leasowes, one of the first natural landscape gardens in England and one of the most influential,...
£325
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BROME, Alexander.
Songs and other Poems … The second Edition corrected and enlarged.
London, Printed for Henry Brome … 1664.
Second edition, adding much new material including the poems ‘To his friend Thomas Stanley Esq. on his Odes’, ‘Cromwell’s Panegyrick’, and the salacious ‘Record in Rhyme’; eight songs; and some new commendatory verses in addition to the one by Isaak Walton. Also new is a commendatory letter...
£500
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CLEVELAND, John.
Clievelandi Vindiciae: or, Clieveland’s Genuine Poems, Orations, Epistles, &c. purged from the many false and...
London, Printed for Robert Harford ... 1677.
First edition, the issue with Robert Harford’s imprint. This ‘vindicatory’ text was prepared by Cleveland’s former students John Lake and Samuel Drake from authentic manuscripts to restore true readings to poems that had degenerated through six editions of The Character of a London-Diurnall...
£950
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FIELDING, Henry.
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. In six Volumes …
London: Printed for A. Millar … 1749.
Second edition, although not so designated, the errata corrected and the errata leaf in volume I omitted (the ‘Contents’ extended to c8 recto to fill the gap). The first edition (2000 copies) was almost completely subscribed before publication when this second edition (1500 copies) was ordered....
£1350
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SANDYS, George.
A Paraphrase upon the divine Poems …
London, At the Bell in St. Pauls Churchyard. 1638. [Colophon: London, Printed by John Legatt 1637.]
First edition, the issue with the Dedication to Charles I on the title-verso.
£900
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[SWIFT, Jonathan].
Miscellanies in Prose and Verse.
London: Printed for John Morphew ... 1711.
First edition, ordinary paper issue, the very rare first state, with G6-7 preserved (though slashed for cancellation); the cancellans was printed on A8, not here present.
£1250