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  1. HOLCROFT, Thomas.

    The Family Picture; or, domestic Dialogues on amiable and interesting Subjects: illustrated by Histories, Allegories,...

    London: Printed for Lockyer Davis … Printer to the Royal Society. 1783

    First edition of an early work by the radical playwright and novelist Thomas Holcroft. The Egerton family gather in the library every evening to tell stories for their mutual instruction and amusement. The novel takes the form of twenty dialogues, and each includes a number of shorter tales. Several...

    £950

  2. [BROWN, Thomas, M.D.].

    The Bower of Spring, with other Poems … Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co. and Longman,...

    Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co. and Longman, Hurst Rees, Orme and Brown, London. 1817

    First edition. Brown was professor of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh and a prolific versifier (‘among the few Classical Writers of this scribbling generation’ according to the Edinburgh Review – for which Brown was a regular contributor).

    £225

  3. TRIMMER, Mrs.

    [Sarah]. An Explanation of the Office for the public Baptism of Infants; and of the Order for the Confirmation of...

    London: Printed for T. Longman, and G. G. J. and J. Robinson … and J. Johnson … 1791

    First edition, dedicated with the Queen’s permission to the royal princess, Princess Mary. According to the Analytical Review there were two versions of his work with the same imprint, this one (not in ESTC), which sold for 1 s., and one with added catechistical questions for teachers (BL. Bodley,...

    £650

  4. WALKER, John.

    An economical History of the Hebrides and Highlands of Scotland ... in two Volumes ... Edinburgh: Printed at the...

    Edinburgh: Printed at the University Press; 1808

    First edition. The eminent naturalist John Walker (1731-1803), professor of natural history in the University of Edinburgh (Smollett was one of his students) and keeper of the university museum, made six long journeys into the Highlands and Islands from 1760 to 1786. He was commissioned by the General...

    £450

  5. BURLINGTON FINE ARTS CLUB.

    List of Books in the Library of the Burlington Fine Arts Club. London: Printed for the Burlington Fine...

    London: Printed for the Burlington Fine Arts Club … 1887

    First edition, ‘printed for circulation among the Members of the Club … to direct their attention to the fact that the nucleus of an Art Library exists’ and to encourage donation of books and subscriptions to the library fund.

    £450

  6. WILMOT, John, Esq.

    Memoirs of the Life of the Right Honourable Sir John Eardley Wilmot, Knt. Late Lord Chief Justice of the Court...

    ‘Second edition’, expanded; first published in quarto in 1802. The Memoirs of John Eardley Wilmot (1709-1792) were authored by his son John Wilmot (1748-1815), likewise a lawyer. This copy belonged to John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon (1751-1838), who records this copy as having been given by Wilmot’s...

    £450

  7. ANDERSEN, Hans Christian.

    The Improvisatore: or, Life in Italy. From the Danish … Translated by Mary Howitt. In two Volumes …...

    London: Richard Bentley … 1845

    First edition in English of Andersen’s autobiographical novel reflecting his travels in Italy. The poet and novelist Caroline Norton (1808-1877) obviously valued it highly, and there are pencilled marginal scorings and underlings throughout. She was a granddaughter of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and...

    £550

  8. BATTY, John.

    London: George Redway … 1883. [Bound with:]
     
    KERSLAKE, Thomas. The Liberty of independent historical...

     
    First edition of The Liberty of independent historical research, second edition of The Scope and Charm of Antiquarian Study.
     
    ‘What is the use of bothering your head about the past?’ asks John Batty, a Yorkshire antiquary; he provides an answer in this beguilingly written guide...

    £150

  9. MILL, James.

    Elements of political economy … Second edition, revised and corrected.

    London, Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, 1824.

    Second edition of what Palgrave terms ‘Mill’s masterpiece’, extensively revised with alterations ‘too numerous to be specified’. This copy with a presentation inscription to Thomas Love Peacock signed ‘the author’.

    £1250

  10. [SHAKESPEARE]; ‘HAMILTON, N.E.S.A.’ [i.e. COLLIER, John Payne].

    An inquiry into the genuineness of the manuscript corrections...

    London, Richard Bentley, 1860.

    First edition, the result of research by the Keeper and Assistant Keeper of manuscripts at the British Library, Frederic Madden and Nicholas Hamilton.

    £75

  11. BRYDONE, P[atrick]. 

    A Tour through Sicily and Malta.  In a series of letters to William Beckford, Esq., of Somerly in Suffolk...

    London, W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1775. 

    Fourth edition of ‘one of the most successful works on Italian travel written in the eighteenth century and … the first important book on Sicily’ (Pine-Coffin). 

    £250

  12. LEGOUVÉ, Gabriel.

    Le mérite des femmes, poëme …

    Paris, chez Ant. Aug. Renouard, 1818.

    Scarce edition of this poem on womanly virtues by the poet, playwright, and member of the Académie française Gabriel Legouvé (1764–1812), published by Antoine-Augustin Renouard (1765–1853), the noted industrialist, political activist, publisher, bibliographer, and collector.

    £100

  13. LEGGE, James. 

    The Chinese Classics: with a translation, critical and exegetical notes, prolegomena, and copious indexes … In...

    Hong Kong, at the author’s; London, Trübner & Co., 1861 [– 1865]. 

    First editions of the first four volumes of Legge’s monumental Chinese Classics, with parallel Chinese and English texts, detailed introductions, notes, and indexes. 

    £3750

  14. [ANON.]

    Quia Amore Langueo.

    [Colophon:] Chiswick, Caradoc Press, 1902.

    One of 250 copies on paper (there were also 20 on vellum), printed from a fifteenth-century manuscript at Lambeth Palace Library.

    £75

  15. STEVENSON, Robert Louis.

    Poems …

    London, [Florence Press for] Chatto & Windus, 1913.

    £100

  16. [ANON.] 

    Le moine galant, ou la vie de Don F… Bernardin, ecrite par lui-même. 

    [S.l., s.n.,] 1756. 

    Scarce first edition of this satirical ‘autobiography’ of a pleasure-driven law student turned monk, replete with amorous adventures. 

    £450

  17. [BRITISH LIBRARY.] 

    The Eighteenth Century Short Title Catalogue. 

    [London,] British Library, 1983. 

    First and only microfiche edition of ESTC, subsequently expanded into the English Short-Title Catalogue and made obsolete by digitisation. 

    £175

  18. [SMITH, John William.] 

    A Catalogue of the Books, Manuscripts and Prints, belonging to [John William Smith] … 

    London, Letts, Son & Co, [1870s-90s]. 

    A manuscript book catalogue employing a printed form.  John William Smith, of Clifton Terrace, Westbourne Terrace, and then Queens Gate, had a relatively predictable library of largely nineteenth-century material including history, classics, and literature (much Dickens and Tennyson), plus a smattering...

    £300

  19. [VALLI, Francesco di Andrea.] 

    Manuscript receipt book. 

    Villa di Vaglie, Cortona, 1735-1767. 

    An interesting manuscript receipt book recording the affairs and transactions of Francesco di Andrea Valli (or Vagli) and his sons Pietro and Egidio, landowners and farmers from Villa di Vaglie near Cortona, over the course of four decades. 

    £375

  20. BUONACCORSI, Biagio, and Niccolò VALORI. 

    Diario de’ successi piu importanti seguiti in Italia, & particolarmente in...

    Florence, Filippo & Jacopo Giunta, 1568. 

    First edition of an insider account of Medici politics by Biagio Buonaccorsi (1472–1522), colleague and confidant of Machiavelli, bound with the first edition of Malespini’s history of Florence and owned by Claude-Enoch Virey, secretary to Henri II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé. 

    £1000