"Outside of a dog, man's best friend is a book. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
— Groucho Marx
Gift Books & Fine Bindings
A Narrative of the Campaign of the British Army in Spain, Commanded by His Excellency Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, K. B. etc. etc. etc. Authenticated by Official Papers and Original Letters.
London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1809. THIRD EDITION, First in octavo. Octavo, pp.[2]; xx; 388; 136; [2]. With two folding maps, each with hand-coloured marches and battle positions, as well as a large appendix with letters, etc. In later horizontal-grained brown calf boards, recently re-backed in brown calf with gilt..... More
The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore. Reprinted from the Early Editions, with Explanatory Notes, etc. The Chandos Poets.
London: Frederick Warne and Co., no date [circa 1880s]. [Poetical Works] FINELY BOUND AND ILLUSTRATED. Octavo (20 x 15cm), pp.xii [2]; 653 [3]. With 12 engraved plates, and a frontispiece engraving of the author. Contemporary red full morocco, with raised bands, gilt titles and decoration to spine, and blind ruling..... More
The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems.
London: John Lane The Bodley Head, 1904. [Pre-Raphaelite Poetry] FIRST KING-ILLUSTRATED EDITION. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.[2] 310. With 96 illustrations by King, including a frontispiece, decorated title page, and numerous in-text illustrations and full-page plates. Publisher's red cloth with gilt titles and decoration to spine and boards. Top edge..... More
Heroes of Discovery: Livingstone, Park, Franklin, Cook, Magellan.
Edinburgh: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, 1886. [Travel and Exploration] FINELY BOUND, a new edition. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.[10] 349 [3]. With an engraved portrait of each explorer. Contemporary red full calf for Beaconsfield School by RELFE BROS of London, with gilt titles to black label and further gilt decoration..... More
New Treasure Seekers. Illustrated by Gordon Browne and Lewis Baumer.
London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1904. [Adventure story] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.328. Illustrations throughout. Elegantly bound in full crimson morocco by Baytun-Riviere, with gilt titles, all edges gilt, combed marble endpapers, inner gilt dentelles, publisher's cloth bound in at rear. A fine copy, inside and out. The third..... More
The British Encyclopedia, or Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. Comprising an Accurate and Popular View of the Present Improved State of Human Knowledge.
London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1809. FINE ENGRAVINGS. In six volumes. Octavo. With about 150 fine copper engravings. In contemporary brown half calf with raised bands, gilt titles to spines and marbled boards and endpapers. Lacking the following plates to volume II: Conics IV and V; Misc. IV. Lacking..... More
Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York: Wardrobe Accounts of Edward the Fourth. With a Memoir of Elizabeth of York, and Notes.
London: William Pickering, 1830. FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp.[8] civ, 265 [3]. In near-contemporary navy half calf with raised bands, gilt titles to red label on spine and further gilt decoration to spine. Textured red cloth boards; endpapers marbled; top edge gilt. Two large armorial bookplates to front pastedown, one of..... More
The English Sense of Humour. An Essay.
London: The Dropmore Press, 1946. [Essay on Humour] LIMITED FIRST EDITION. Quarto (27 x 21cm), pp.[4] 70 [6]. Number 202 of 550 copies thus, letterpress printed on handmade paper by J. Barcham Green of Maidstone. Publisher's blue cloth with gilt titles to spine and gilt device to upper. All edges..... More
The Metamorphoses of Publius Ovidius Naso in English Blank Verse.
London: Printed for the Author, & Sold by John Hatchard, 1807. [Roman Mythology] FIRST HOWARD EDITION. Complete in two volumes. Octavo (22 x 14cm), pp.[4] 285 [3]; pp.[2] 342 [2]. With an engraved vignette title page to each volume, and an engraved frontispiece to volume I. Contemporary tree calf, with..... More
Isagogicorum in Institutiones Imperiales, libri IV Digesta, seu Pandectas, libri L Codicem, libri XII Decretales, libri V.
Trajecti ad Rhenum [Utrecht]: Typis Rudolphi a Zyll, Bibliopolae, 1680. [Roman Law] REVISED EDITION. Octavo (21 x 13cm), pp.[34] 854 [26]. In a mid-nineteenth-century binding of quarter brown calf, with raised bands, gilt titles to an orange label, and further gilt decoration to bands. Brown grained cloth over boards, marbled..... More
Reliques of Ancient English Poetry: Consisting of Old Heroic Ballads, Songs and Other Pieces of our Earlier Poets; together with some few of Later Date. Reprinted entire from the Author's Last Edition.
Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1867. [English Ballads] FINELY BOUND. Complete in three volumes. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.xcvi; 290 [2]; pp.viii; 318 [4]; pp.xxxvi; 340 [2]. Contemporary red full morocco, with raised bands, gilt titles to spines and upper boards, and elaborate blind tooling all over. All edges gilt; dark brown..... More
An Historical Review of the State of Ireland, from the Invasion of that Country under Henry II to its Union with Great Britain on the 1st of Janurary, 1801.
London: Printed by C. Roworth for T. Egerton, Military Library, 1803. FIRST EDITION. In two volumes, bound as three. Quarto, pp.[4] xxxii, 630, 373 [25]; pp.[4] xxiv, 686 [22]; pp.[4] xxii, 687-1076, 404, [14], 45 [5]. With a mezzotint fontispiece portrait of the author to vol. I. Both volumes with..... More
Plutarch's Lives, Translated from the Original Greek; with Notes, Critical and Historical, and a Life of Plutarch.
London: Printed for J. Mawman [etc.], 1819. [Ancient History and Biography] FINELY BOUND THIRD EDITION. Complete in six volumes. Octavo (24 x 16 x 18cm), pp.[8] lxxxx; 425 [3]; pp.[4] 540; pp.[4] 505 [3]; pp.[4] 449 [3]; pp.[4] 512; pp.[4] 542 [2]. With an etched frontispiece by W. Ridley to..... More
The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe. The Virginia Edition.
New York, NY: Thomas Y. Cromwell, 1902. [Strange Tales and Mysteries]. FINELY BOUND COMPLETE WORKS. Seventeen volumes. Crown octavo (16 x 11 x 39cm). With frontispiece engravings. Contemporary tan half calf with raised bands, gilt titles to contrasting green and brown labels to spines, gilt decoration to spines and marbled..... More
Gazetteer of England and Wales: containing the Statistics, Agriculture, and Mineralogy, of the Counties; the History, Antiquities, Curiosities, Manufactures, Trade, Commerce, Fairs, Markets, Charitable and other Institutions, Population, and Elective Franchises, of the Cities, Towns, and Boroughs; including a complete Index Villaris, with the Bearings and Distance of each Village and Mansion from the Nearest Market Town. Illustrated by two large maps, descriptive of the Roads, and Inland Navigation.
London: Printed for F.C. and J. Rivington [etc.], 1810. [Gazetteer] FINELY BOUND. Two volumes. Octavo (23 x 14cm), unpaginated. With the large folding map to volume I, but lacking the map in volume II. Contemporary full marbled calf, with gilt titles to twin black labels on spines. All edges speckled..... More
The Complete Works of William Hickling Prescott. Edited, with the Author's Latest Corrections, by John Foster Kirk.
London: George Routledge and Sons, Ltd., no date [circa 1890s]. [History] FINELY BOUND. Twelve volumes, octavo (23 x 16 x 45cm). Beautifully bound by Bayntun for Lauriat Booksellers in tan half calf over marbled boards, gilt titles on contrasting morocco squares and extra gilt to spines, top edges gilt, marbled..... More
Observations upon the Topography and Climate of Crowborough Hill, Sussex.
Lewes: Farncombe & Co., 1898. [Sussex Topography] SECOND EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.[4] 312. With three plates depicting snow flakes, a photographic plate of hailstones, two other in-text illustrations, and a frontispiece engraving of the author's house. Contemporary half vellum by BARBER of Lewes, with gilt titles to red..... More
Legends and Lyrics. A Book of Verses. New Edition with Additional Poems.
London: George Bell and Sons, 1895. [Victorian Poetry] FINELY BOUND AND ILLUSTRATED. Octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.[2] xxiv; 383 [3]. With 10 black and white illustrated plates by Lovering, including a frontispiece. Contemporary red full morocco, with raised bands and gilt titles to spine. Top edge gilt, with machine-marbled endpapers..... More
In Powder and Crinoline.
London: Hodder & Stoughton, no date [1913]. [Children's Illustrated] FIRST EDITION. Quarto (32 x 26cm), pp.164. With 24 mounted colour plates, including a frontispiece, each with a captioned tissue guard. Re-bound later in the twentieth century in tan quarter cloth with grey paper over boards and green titles to plain..... More
Five Books of the Lives, Heroic Deeds and Sayings of Gargantua and His Son Pantagruel.
London: Lawrence and Bullen, 1892. [Satirical Novels] FINELY BOUND AND ILLUSTRATED. Complete in two volumes. Quarto (29 x 20cm), pp.[4] xlvi [2]; 341 [7]; pp.[4] xiv; 455 [5]. With 15 photogravure illustrated plates, including a frontispiece to volume I, with tissue guards. Number 247 of 1000 copies thus. Contemporary green..... More
Mother Goose. The Old Nursery Rhymes. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham.
New York: The Century Co., 1913. FIRST US EDITION, with larger plates and format than the UK edition. Contains 13 colour plates and numerous black and white illustrations. Publisher's dark blue cloth, colour illustration pasted down to upper, gilt titles to spine. A fine copy, in chipped but bright dustwrapper..... More
Antiquarian, Architectural, and Landscape Illustrations of the History of Java.
London: Henry G. Bohn, 1844. [Javanese History] FIRST THUS, Ex Libris ADMIRAL SIR JAMES ALEXANDER GORDON. Quarto (34 x 27cm), with 92 illustrated plates, including 10 fine hand-coloured aquatints and a very large folding map. No text. Recently re-backed in red cloth to match the original publisher's red cloth over..... More
The Last Fight of the Revenge. With an Introduction by Henry Newbolt.
London: Gibbings and Company, 1908. [Maritime history] Quarto (26 x 17cm), pp.132. Contemporary binding by Onrock and Son in full red crushed morocco with raised bands, gilt titles and decoration to spine; period three-masted tall ship made from brown and white leather onlays to centre of upper with elaborate gilt-stamped..... More
Complete Swallows and Amazons Series. Swallows and Amazons; Swallowdale; Peter Duck; Winter Holiday; Coot Club; Pigeon Post; We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea; Secret Water; The Big Six; Missee Lee; The Picts and the Martyrs: or Not Welcome At All; Great Northern?
London: Jonathan Cape, 1930-1947. [Children's Adventure] COMPLETE FIRST EDITIONS, FINELY BOUND. 12 volumes. Octavo (20 x 14 x 42cm). With occasional illustrations, and an engraved frontispiece to each volume. Uniformly bound in recent green full morocco by BAYNTUN-RIVIERE of Bath, with raised bands, gilt titles and decoration to spine, and..... More
Antiente Epitaphes (from A.D. 1250 to A.D. 1800). Collected and sett forth in Chronological order.
London: Joseph Masters and Co., 1878. [Headstone epitaphs] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 14cm), pp.[10]; 196; [2]. With a folding facsimile frontispiece. Contemporary blue half calf with gilt titles to maroon label on spine. Marbled paper over boards; all edges speckled red; grey endpapers. A small, neat repair to frontispiece..... More