[‘E. S.’, sometimes attributed to Elizabeth SANDHAM].

A Cup of Sweets, that can never cloy: or, delightful Tales for good Children....

London: Printed for J. Harris, Successor to E. Newbery … 1807.

‘Third edition’, scarce with the frontispiece; first published 1804. A typically moralistic collection, with one very gruesome tale pertaining to animal welfare. Straying unwarily into the kitchen one day, the unfortunate dog Fido is horribly scalded by a falling pan of boiling water, losing an eye...

£150

[BLOCQUEL, Simon-François].

MANUEL CONSOLATEUR DES COCUS. Code pacifique des ménages, ouvrage éminemment uBle; suivi 1. D’un...

A Cornopolis, chez tous les marchands de nouveautés. Imprimerie de l’Encorné. [c. 1837].

First edition, very rare, of this satirical defence and exploration of cuckoldry in European and global culture, written by the Lille printer and bookseller Simon-François Blocquel (1780–1863) under one of his many pseudonyms.

£550

JUSSIEU, Laurent Pierre de.

Antoine et Maurice. Ouvrage qui a obtenu le prix proposé par la Société Royale pour l’amélioration...

Paris, L. Colas, 1821.

First edition, rare, of this unsurprisingly moralising novel by the writer, geologist, and natural historian Laurent Pierre de Jussieu (1792-1866), written in response to a competition held by the Royal Society of the Improvement of Prisons to find the best book to circulate amongst inmates.

£250

FERRARI, Silvio.

Votometro per elezioni e referendum. Pavia, Bruni, 1909.

Large 8vo (162 x 230 mm), pp. 8; marginal light...

Pavia, Bruni, 1909.

Two unrecorded pieces of ephemera, witnesses to one of the earliest attempts to mechanize the voting system in Italy at the turn of the twentieth century.

The main aim of Ferrari’s invention was to simplify the way the vote was cast, by introducing balls or dice in the voting machine, and therefore...

£250

[TODESCHI, Claudio.]

Lettere filosofiche dirette alla nobil donna la signora baronessa Laura Astalli Piccolomini sotto il nome di Clori.

Rome, Giovanni Zempel, 1783.

Extremely rare first edition of these four verse letters by Claudio Todeschi (b. 1737) addressed to baroness Laura Astalli Piccolomini, his fellow member of the Accademia degli Arcadi. Known as 'Clori', Laura was a soprano and one of the last surviving members of the noble Roman family the Astallis;...

£475

[WILLIAMS, Sidney Herbert.]

Sampson. A tragedy. [London?, c. 1920?].

Large 4to, pp. 42; decorative headpiece and initial...

[c. 1946]

A privately printed and seemingly unrecorded play by Lewis Carroll’s first bibliographer, submitted to the BBC for consideration as a radio drama, with its accompanying rejection letter and notes on how to write for radio; an amusing testament to the trials and tribulations of the amateur playwright,...

£350

HÔNE, Hubert.

Archive of original drawings for the Liège Trocadéro.

Liège, circa 1966-1979.

A substantial collection of set-designs for the famous Liège Trocadéro theatre, ‘the most Parisian of the Belgian theatres’, and the last one to feature revue shows in Wallonia.

£550

[COLOMBIA.]

Resolucion del rey. Comunicada por el excelentisimo senor Don Miguel de Muzquiz a la direccion general de rentas, en...

[Madrid, 1776].

Very rare resolution issued by Charles III of Spain granting the right of free trade to the province of Santa Marta, in modern-day northern Colombia, then in the Spanish Virreinato de Nueva Granada. Stating his express desire to encourage commerce among his subjects, the king grants comercio libre to...

£275

[BOULAINVILLIERS, Henri de.]

Lettre d'Hypocrate à Damagette. Traduction.

'Cologne, chez Jacques le Sage', 1700.

Rare second edition (following the first of 1699, of which we have traced only one copy, at the Wellcome Library) of this important clandestine tract, attributed to the historian and political writer Henri de Boulainvilliers (1658-1722).

£450

[WILLIAMS, John.]

The History of the Gunpowder-Treason, collected from approved Authors, as well popish as protestant.

London, Richard Chiswel, 1678.

First edition of an anti-popish history of the Gunpowder Plot. A well informed account drawing on both Anglican and Catholic sources, The History of the Gunpowder-Treason was published anonymously by John Williams (1633/6–1709), later Bishop of Chichester, amid renewed interest in the subject during...

£750

SKARBEK, Fryderyk.

Gospodarstwo narodowe. Elementarne zasady gospodarstwa narodowego.

Warsaw, N. Glucksberg, 1820.

First edition. The work is amongst the first to differentiate between the principles of individual wealth and the wealth of nations. Divided into two parts, the first discusses production, exchange, revenue and consumption. The second is a general examination of the wealth of nations in which the author...

£1500

BISHOP, Isabella Lucy (née BIRD).

The Hawaiian Archipelago: Six Months Amongst the Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, and Volcanoes of...

for John Murray, ‘1890’ [but c. 1894].

Seventh edition. As Bishop states in her preface, ‘I was travelling for health, when circumstances induced me to land on the group, and the benefit which I derived from the climate tempted me to remain for nearly seven months. During that time the necessity of leading a life of open air and exercise...

£200

RONDINELLI, Francesco.

Relazione del contagio stato in Firenze l’anno 1630 e 1633 con un breve ragguaglio della miracolosa immagine...

Florence, Gio. Batista Landini, 1634.

First edition of this official account of the Florentine plague of 1630 and 1633, commissioned by Ferdinando II de’ Medici, grand duke of Tuscany, and composed by his librarian Rondinelli from official records and interviews with survivors. Plague had been brought to Italy in 1629 by troops fighting...

£950

GUASP Y PUJOL, Manuel.

Apuntes de Economia Política. Cursos de 1866 a 1867 – 1867 a 1868 en la Universidad de Barcelona.

[Barcelona], 1868.

Unique witness to the lectures of political economy taught by Manuel Guasp y Pujol at Barcelona in the mid-1860s: a ponderous manuscript, endowed with the depth of numerous corrections and additions, amounting to an unpublished full-blown treatise on political economy, with topics such as labour, capital,...

£850

TULLOCH, James Dundas Gregorie.

Small archive relating to his military career.

1826-1854.

An interesting set of documents tracing the military career of James Dundas Gregorie Tulloch (1804-1879), from his initial struggles to obtain a commission to his promotion to Major under Queen Victoria. Tulloch was the younger brother of the statistician Major-General Sir Alexander Murray Tulloch (1803-1864),...

£2000

[NAPLES.]

Manuale della contribuzione fondiaria compilato per disposizione di S. E. il ministro segretario di stato delle finanze....

Naples, Tipografia Flautina, 1835.

First edition. In two parts, the first of which sets out the basis of property taxation, while the second treats the collection and transmission of sums owing, this manual prints the legislation in force in the nearer Neapolitan part (always described as ‘This side of the Lighthouse’, whereas Sicily...

£200

ANTWERP, William C. van.

The Stock Exchange from Within. Illustrated from photographs.

New York, Doubleday, Page & Company, 1913.

First edition of this historical account of the New York Stock Exchange.

£50

BARBIERI, Lodovico.

Trattato di psicologia nel quale si ragiona della natura dell’anime umane, e degli altri spiriti, della loro...

Venice, Pietro Valvasense, 1756.

First edition of the polymath Barbieri’s treatise in which he argues that the soul is an ‘active power’. Barbieri’s text tackles the interrelation of the body and soul, the nature of space, will and freedom, argues for the superiority of the spiritual over the corporeal and against the...

£350

BODEMER, Heinrich.

Die Wirkungen der Creditpapiere in Bezug die Vehmehrung der Banken in Deutschland.

Leipzig, Heinrich Hubner, 1853.

First edition of a rare German treatise on banking, money, paper money and credit. Bodemer argues for a bettering and widening of credit in Prussia at a crucial time of its economic development, where both production and trade required ever more more advanced, unified and modern financial tools.

£125

VERTOT, Abbé de.

The History of the Revolutions of Portugal. By M. l’Abbe de Vertot, member of the Royal Academy of Inscriptions...

Glasgow, printed by R. Urie for D. Baxter, 1750.

Uncommon first Glasgow edition of this English translation of the Histoire des révolutions de Portugal, a classic account of the Portuguese Restoration War against Spain (1640-1668) by the French historian René-Aubert Vertot (1655–1735).

£150