7551. Duras, Claire Duchesse de.

Ourika.

Édition Originale. Paris, Chez Ladvocat, 1824. 18 x 11 cm. 172 pages. Relié plein cuir vert / Beautiful contemporary Hardcover. Intérieur bon état malgré légéres rousseurs éparses. Couverture défraichie et tachée. Provenance: Exlibris: A Debidour (Élie Louis Marie Marc Antonin Debidour) / Premiere edition dans le commerce après la rare édition originale publiée entre 25 et 40 exemplaires en décembre 1823 par l’Imprimerie royale pour les amis de l’auteur. Ce court récit fut rapidement écrit en 1820 lors d’une retraite de convalescence. Sollicitée par Chateaubriand, ami de la Duchesse de Duras depuis 1809, qui avait parti- culièrement aprécier le texte, l’auteur se décida à publier l’ouvrage anonymement. L’histoire de cette jeune sénégalaise, éduquée en France se rendant compte à l’âge de 12 ans des préjudices liés à sa couleur de peau, est considérée comme le premier roman de la littérature française à aborder les problèmes de racisme. / First published edition, following a private printing of 25 copies. A very good+ copy in contemporary paper-covered boards. An anonymously published novel by a French woman who was a close friend of Chateaubriand and who established a well-known salon in London. Her work has been compared to that of Richardson and Rousseau for obvious reasons, but she is perhaps more relevantly understood in the context of the early 19th-century French women’s writing that has only rather recently become a subject of study. Based on the true story of a Sengalese servan, unaware of her race until she overhears talk of it among the French family for whom she works, and thus begins her life as a black woman. In large part the tale recounts her hopeless love for a white man and her eventual retreat to a convent. This is the first European novel featuring a black female protagonist, and according to John Fowles who at least in part based his own The French Lieutenant’s Woman on the work, the first attempt by a European to enter the mind of a black character. An attractive copy of this cultural landmark.

7552. Strickland, Agnes / [and Elizabeth Strickland].

Lives of the Queens of England, From the Norman conquest. Now first published from official records and other authentic documents, private as well as public. A new edition, revised and greatly augmented, embellished with Portraits of every Queen.

8 Volumes (complete set). London, Colburn & Co., 1851. Octavo. Volume I: Frontispiece-Portrait of Agnes Strickland and engraved titlepage, XXII, 614 pages with 15 illustrations (including Froontispiece and Vignette on Title) / Volume II: Frontispiece-Portrait of Isabella of Valois, engraved titlepage, VIII, 704 pages with 16 illustrations (including Frontispiece and Vignette on Title) / Volume III: Frontispiece-Portrait of Jane Seymour, engraved titlepage, [4], 588 pages with 10 illustrations (including Frontispiece and Vignette on Title) / Volume IV: Frontispiece-Portrait of Queen Elizabeth, engraved titlepage, [4], 790 pages with 4 illustrations (including Frontispiece and Vignette on Title) / Volume V: Frontispiece-Portrait of Anne of Denmark, engraved titlepage, [4], 703 pages with 8 illustrations (including Frontispiece and Vignette on Title) / Volume VI: Frontispiece-Portrait of Mary of Modena, engraved titlepage, [2], 672 pages with 5 illustrations (including Frontispiece and Vignette on Title) / Volume VII: Frontispiece-Portrait of Mary II when Princess of Orange, engraved titlepage, [3], 466 pages with 4 illustrations (including Frontispiece and Vignette on Title) / Volume VIII: Frontispiece-Portrait of Queen Anne, engraved titlepage, [2], 556 pages with 3 illustrations (including Frontispiece and Vignette on Title) // Original, very decorative half-leather bindings with gilt lettering and ornaments on spines, marbled-paper-covered-boards and marbled edges. Excellent, firm condition with only minor signs of wear. The set comes frm the private library of Major General Cosmo Alexander Richard Nevill, with his armorial bookplate / Ex Libris to the pastedown of each Volume, bearing his family-motto: “Ne Vile Velis” [″Wish for nothing Vile”].

7553. Taylor, Tom / [Abraham Lincoln].

Exquisite collection of six (6) items/original, vintage and personal materials by/of Tom Taylor. The collection includes a 2 1/2 page, signed manuscript letter [MLS] by Tom Taylor to an unknown recipient , discussing a memorial he sent to Robert Browning’s patron, John Kenyon and mentioning former Prime Minister Lord Aberdeen [George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen]. The collection also includes two vintage 19th century cabinet photographs [Carte de Visite’s] of Tom Taylor, a later edition of Ballads and Songs of Brittany and two beautifully inscribed and signed presentation copies of his major works: 1. The first edition of Ballads of Brittany – London/Cambridge, MacMillan and Co.,1865 with many illustrations by Tissot, Tenniel etc. (This first edition is signed and inscribed by Tom Taylor to Emilia Ventana at Xmas 1864, before the publication of the book commenced) and 2. Tom Taylor’s Historical Dramas. London, Chatto & Windus, 1877. Signed and inscribed by Tom Taylor to Marie de Beauvoisier in March 1879.

London / Cambridge etc., Chatto & Windus / Routledge & Sons / etc., c. 1850-1879. Octavo. Ballads and Songs of Brittany (1865 edition): Frontispice, XXII, 239 pages / Ballads and Songs of Brittany (Later Routledge edition): XVI, 176 pages / Tom Taylor’s Historical Dramas: VIII, 466, 32 pages. / Manuscript Letter: 2 1/2 pages. Original Hardcover / The manuscript letter in a Folder, it includes an A4 manuscript leaf from a 19th century autograph-collector describing the letter by Taylor. / The two vintage cabinet photographs of Taylor included in the Folder with the autograph. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear.

7554. [Fermor, Patrick Leigh] Doughty, Charles M.

Travels in Arabia Deserta. With an Introduction by T. E. Lawrence. [Patrick Leigh Fermor’s personal copy] / [Also including all three Volumes of his autobiographical journey (one of them signed), on foot across Europe from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople in the years 1933 – 1934].

Second Impression of the ‘New and definitive Edition’. Two Volumes (complete set). London, Jonathan Cape, 1943. 20 cm x 26 cm. Volume I: Frontispice- Portrait of Doughty, 674 pages. Volume II: 696 pages. With both Volumes including each the beautiful large colour-fold-out-map in the rear showing “North Western Arabia and Negd”. Hardcover / Publisher’s original buckram with gilt lettering on spine and original dustjackets in protective collector’s Mylar. Deckled fore- and tail-edges. Coloured top edges. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Dustjackets slightly stained and price-clipped. Interior is bright and clean. Patrick Leigh Fermor’s personal copy with his name in ink on the endpaper of Volume II: “Patrick Leigh Fermor. London, July 1945.”. Leigh Fermor obviously rewarded himself with the purchase of Doughty’s masterpiece directly after World War Two. Stunning item, manifesting Doughty’s heavy influence on Patrick Leigh Fermor’s Travel writing. The set includes also three first editions in original dustjackets, of Patrick Leigh Fermor’s famous Travel writings: A Time of Gifts, Between the Woods and the Water [SIGNED], The Broken Road (with the second book, “Between the Woods and the Water” signed by Patrick Leigh Fermor.

7555. [Thom, Alexander] / [Famine Year / Famine Year Almanac].

Thom`s Irish Almanac & Official Directory for the Year 1845 [including “Peerage of Ireland with alphabetical Index”].

First Edition. Dublin, Alexander Thoma, 1845. Octavo (13 cm x 18.5 cm). VIII, 906 pages. Original Hardcover (Publisher’s blindstamped cloth with gilt lettering and ornament to spine). Very good and firm condition with some minor signs of wear only. This is one of the most important and rarest sources for Statistics in Ireland in 1845 and one year prior of The Great Famine [Gorta Mór / Irish Potato Famine].

7556. Ferrand, J.

Le charpentier-serrurier au XIXe siecle: Constructions en fer et en bois. Charpentes mixtes en fer, fonte & bois Charpentes decoratives pour ateliers, magasins, halles, hangars, pavillons, galeries, passerelles, terrasses, planchers, portes, etc. Avec 87 (sur cent) Planches en Couleurs et Texte.

Edition Originale !! Paris, Librairie Polytechnique de J. Baudry, no date / s.d. [1881]. Folio (36.5 cm x 28 cm). 32 pages texte plus 87 (sur 100) planches. [With 87 of 100 plates] Original Hardcover / Reliure originale. Reliure defraiche. / Binding broken and rubbed. Several planches with tears but overall in still very good condition ! A very rare work on early iron cast construction, architecture and design. Beautiful colour lithographs ! / Bel ouvrage d’architecture ! Bel ouvrage d’architecture décrivant les avancées techniques de la charpenterie de fer et fonte, quelques années avant l’érection de la Tour Eiffel, publié sous le patronage de M. Alphand, inspecteur général des Ponts et Chaussées, directeur des travaux de la ville de Paris. / Beautiful architectural work describing the technical progress of the iron and cast iron carpentry, a few years before the erection of the Eiffel Tower, published under the patronage of Mr. Alphand, inspector general of the Ponts et Chaussées, director of works of the city of Paris.

7557. [Finger Ring Jewellery Design History ] – Beck, Reverend James.

A Manuscript Study on the History of Finger Rings / Finger Ring Jewellery Design written and researched by a scholarly Victorian clergyman in Suffolk.

[Suffolk], c.1872. 69, 11 pages. Hardcover / Half Morocco with gilt lettering to spine. Very good condition.

7558. First International Polar Year (1882-1883) – Wohlgemuth, Emil von.

Die österreichische Polarstation Jan Mayen – Ausgerüstet durch seine Excellenz Graf Hanns Wilczek. Geleitet von K.K. Corvetten-Capitän Emil Edlen von Wohlgemuth. Beobachtungs-Ergebnisse Herausgegeben von der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften. [Inklusive Ephemera] Band I – III (Komplett in vier Bänden mit dem eingebundenen Vorbericht zur Publikation welcher manchmal auch separat gebunden wurde: I. Band / II.Band 1. und 2. Abtheilung / III.Band).

Erste und einzige Ausgabe. Wien, K. und K. Hof-und Staatsdruckerei in Commission bei Karl Gerold’s Sohn, 1886. Quarto (24.5 cm x 31.5 cm). Collation: Band I: 118 Seiten mit vier Falttafeln (Beobachtungsstation im Wilczeck-Thale / Sternwarte / Helligkeitsgrad der Polarnacht / Kreuzung / [Route] des S.M.Dampfer “Pola” laengs der Eiskante bei der Insel Jan Mayen (farbig) / ), 26, 50, 202, 76, 16,18 Seiten / Band II,1: 232 Seiten / Band II,2: 175 Seiten / Band III: X, 132, 24, 20 Seiten [The set includes 85 text-illustrations, 61 plates (some folded) and four maps (original lithographs of which one is in colour)]. Original publisher’s Hardcover-Boards, now in protective collector’s Mylar. [Inclusive grossformatiger Werbung zu den Druckschriften der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien vom Jahre 1885] The boards of the thicker Volume One, as often, cleanly detached. All other Volumes in very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Minor signs of foxing only. Unopened, unread version of this rare publication !

7559. Twining, Elizabeth.

Illustrations of the Natural Orders of Plants With Groups and Descriptions. [With 160 full-page chromolithographic plates in colour].

Original Sampson Low Edition – Reduced from the Original Folio Edition. Two Volumes (complete set). London, Sampson Low, Son and Marston, 1868. Slim-Quarto (17 cm x 25 cm). Volume I: XII, 80 plates / Volume II: [6], 80 plates. Both Volumes include the tissue-guards for protecting the plates and all corresponding explanatory text and Index is present. Hardcover / Original publisher’s half-leather with gilt lettering and ornament on spine. One of the earliest and rarest publications with chromolithographic botanical illustrations. Excellent condition besides some mild, faded dampstains to some plates. Important: These bindings are usually broken, which is NOT the case here. While the book came from the library of Daniel Conner (Connerville / Manch House), the book belonged to Henrietta L. Conner [Inscribed by Sophia Perry Hornik to Henrietta L. Conner in 1890].

7560. Verheyen, Philippe.

Corporis Humani Anatomiae [Two Volumes in One – Bound with: Supplementum anatomicum sive anatomiae corporis humani liber secundus]. With 46 plates / medical engravings.

Editio secunda. Two Volumes in One (complete). Bruxelles / Brussels, Fratres t’Serstevens, 1710. Quarto (17 cm x 20 cm). Volume I: Frontispice, [30], 400 pages / Volume II: XV, 428, [12] pages. Hardcover / Original, contemporary parchment. Plates complete and with some general browning. Besides a minor discoloration to the frontboard, in very good condition of one of the most important anatomical compendiums of the 17th and 18th century, effectively replacing Bartholinus. with only minor signs of external wear. Three signs of previous owners through the centuries (Bookplate of H C Lohmann / Manuscript entry by Joh. Caspar Metzger on the titlepage and manuscript ownership-entry from the 18th century by one Christopher Harden to pastedown.