FORE-EDGE PAINTING; The "DOVER PAINTER", artist; PALEY, William

Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy, the

Edinburgh: Printed for Adam Black, 1814. With Two Superb Fore-Edge Paintings by the "Dover Painter" FORE-EDGE PAINTING. [The "DOVER PAINTER"], artist. PALEY, William. The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy. The Twenty-First Edition. Edinburgh: Printed for Adam Black, 1814. With two superb fore-edge paintings executed ca. 1930 by the "Dover Painter" depicting views of "Edinburgh Castle from Grass Market" and "St. Giles Cripplegate, Fore St." The distinctive treatment of the clouds and pointillistic brush strokes for detail are hallmarks of the style of the extremely skillful artist known as the "Dover Painter," the name given by Jeff Weber to the artist who produced very high quality painted fore-edges in the 1920s and 1930s. Two octavo volumes (8 3/8 x 5 1/4 inches; 213 x 133 mm.). [i-v], vi-xxviii, [1]-374; [viii], [1]-452 pp. Bound ca. 1814 in full dark blue straight-grain morocco, covers decoratively paneled in gilt and blind, spines with four 'double' raised bands, decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments, gilt board edges and turn-ins, light brown end-papers, all edges gilt. Near fine. With the circular blind-stamp of "The Library of Saint Mary-Of-The-Woods College" [Indiana] on the title-page of volume one. Two early family ink inscriptions on front blank dated January 6th, 1844 and November 3rd, 1882. Old booksellers description affixed to front blank. The "Dover Painter" an unknown English artist - probably worked on commission exclusively ca. 1920-1930 for Marks & Co, the London booksellers. By 1928 Dawson's Book Shop in Los Angeles, headed by Ernest Dawson, began a relationship with Marks & Co. ["a reciprocal agency agreement"] that included sending crates of books to America via the Panama Canal. Several hundred fore-edges came to Dawson's. Sesslers' in Philadelphia bought and sold examples of the "Dover" painter's work, as fore-edges by this and other artists turned up in the B. George Ulizio collection at Kent State University. Other fore-edge paintings were imported via J.W. Robinson Company [department stores], Los Angeles. The Robinson Co. books came with added new Sangorski & Sutcliffe slipcases made especially for them and sometimes included a typed identifying slip mounted on the end-leaves..more fore-edges by the "Dover Painter" can be seen at the Huntington Library.. and Stanford University." A similar example is cited by Jeff Weber in his Annotated Dictionary of Fore-Edge Painting.. "Paley, William. The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy. London: Printed for J. Faulder, 1810, two volumes, 8vo, full contemporary red straight-grain morocco, with an ornamental gilt border on sides, richly gilt backs, gilt edges. In a cloth slip case. Fore-edges: [1] view of New York in 1753; [2] Philadelphia in 1753. Boston Public Library [LF109.D9 1814x]". (Weber. pp. 98-102). William Paley (1743-1805) was an English clergyman, Christian apologist, philosopher, and utilitarian. He is best known for his natural theology exposition of the teleological argument for the existence of God in his work Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, which made use of the watchmaker analogy. "In 1782, Edmund Law - the Bishop of Carlisle, otherwise the mildest of men, was most particular that Paley should add a book on political philosophy to the moral philosophy, which Paley was reluctant to write. The book was published in 1785 under the title of The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy, and was made a part of the examinations at the University of Cambridge the next year. It passed through fifteen editions in the author's lifetime. Paley strenuously supported the abolition of the slave trade, and his attack on slavery in the book was instrumental in drawing greater public attention to the practice. In 1789, a speech he gave on the subject in Carlisle was published. .

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 05488

Catalogue: Fine Bindings

Keywords: The "DOVER PAINTER", artist PALEY, William Fore-Edge Paintings Philosophy Scottish Literature

ROWLANDSON, Thomas

World in Miniature, the

London: R. Ackermann, 1816. From the Original Parts, With All Wrappers ROWLANDSON, Thomas. The World in Miniature, Consisting of a Group of Figures for the Illustration of Landscape, Scenery. Drawn and Etched by T. Rowlandson. London: R. Ackermann, 1816. First edition, from the original eight parts without title-page as issued. Quarto (11 1/4 x 8 1/2 in; 288 x 216 mm). Forty etched plates numbered 1-40 mounted into windowed sheets, with interleaves, with most trimmed within plate mark to plate number or imprint. Bound by Samuel Tout (stamp-signed) c. 1867-69 in later full crushed crimson morocco with triple fillets and gilt corner pieces. Gilt ruled and decorated compartments. Broad turn-ins with elegant gilt decoration. Gilt-rolled edges. Top edge gilt. Joints very lightly rubbed. Original green printed wrappers to each part tipped-in at rear. Copies in the original parts are excessively scarce; the book edition bound from the parts and issued with letterpress title dated 1817 is more readily seen. Victorian binder Samuel Tout worked out of Nassau Street in Soho, London 1868-79. He then partnered with William Coward in a bindery in Whitechapel but in 1880 continued on his own in the same location. Cf. Tooley 437. .

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 02632

Catalogue: Fine Bindings

Keywords: Caricatures

FORE-EDGE PAINTING; SCOTT, Sir Walter

Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field. .

Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Company, 1811. Day set on Norham's castled steep. And Tweed's fair river, broad and deep.. " Bound by Taylor & Hessey and with a Fine Fore-Edge Painting by the "Double-Line Painter" [FORE-EDGE PAINTING]. [TAYLOR & HESSEY, binder]. [DOUBLE-LINE PAINTER, artist]. SCOTT, Sir Walter. Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field.. The eighth edition. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Company, 1811. With a very fine early twentieth century fore-edge painting by the "Double-Line Painter" showing a view of Norham Castle in Northumberland depicting the opening lines of the poem. Octavo (8 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches; 210 x 133 mm.). [viii], [1]-377, [1, blank], [i]-cxxviii pp. Additional engraved vignette title-page and nine engraved plates. The title-page and plates with old water stain at top left corner, some occasional and light spotting, otherwise near fine. Handsomely bound ca. 1811 by Taylor and Hessey, Booksellers, London. Stamp-signed in gilt on the fore-edge of the front board "Bound by Taylor & Hessey". Full dark blue straight-grain morocco, covers elaborately paneled in gilt, spine with five raised bands, three of them double, elaborately decorated and lettered in gilt in compartments, decorative gilt board-edges and turn-ins, ochre watered silk liners and endleaves, all edges gilt. With the engraved bookplate of Isabel Beckwith Closson on front blank. A lovely example. The "Double-Line Painter" was an English artist, name unknown, possibly active in the 1920s. The most identifiable feature of this artist's work is the label for the painting. The artist labels his own paintings on the the front fly-leaf. If you look carefully you will see a neat light penciled double-line above and below the written title (like an architect would do). The painting title itself is also neatly written in tiny letters. This artist is highly skilled painter with high productivity." (Jeff Weber. Annotated Dictionary of Fore-Edge Painting Artists & Binders, pp. 95-96). Jeff Weber cites eight example of the "Double-Line" artist in his book on pp. 96-97. 'Norham Castle' is in Northumberland, England, overlooking the River Tweed, on the border between England and Scotland. In the nineteenth century, Norham Castle became well known far and wide from the paintings of J. M. W. Turner. He first painted the castle in 1797, but returned to paint it many times. "Taylor & Hessey were busy throughout these fifteen years [1808-1823], not only in publishing and in binding, but also in re-binding books published by others. They issued, among other works, Pope's translation of the Iliad and Thomson's Seasons; but they also put fine bindings upon books by Milton, Crabbe, Cowper, Scott, and others, published by Johnson, or by Sharpe, or by Hatchard, or by Reeves, or by Longman.. Taylor & Hessey usually bound their fine books in morocco—red, blue, brown, crimson, green—and "signed" their bindings by stamping their name in gilt in the fore-edge of the binding (not the leaves, note), whenever the boards inside the leather were thick enough to carry the name of the firm.. (C.J. Weber, Fore-Edge Painting, pp. 106-7). Provenance: Isabel Beckwith Closson (1907-2004); Weber. 1001 Fore-Edge Paintings. Maine, 1949. P. 152; Randall Moscovitz. .

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 05168

Catalogue: Fine Bindings

Keywords: SCOTT, Sir Walter Fore-Edge Paintings Nineteenth-Century Literature Poetry Scottish Literature

COSWAY BINDING; RIVIÈRE & SON, binders; MISS C.B. CURRIE, artist; ANONYMOUS

The Book of Costume: Or, Annals of Fashion

London: Henry Colburn, 1847. An Exceptionally Fine Cosway Binding With a Superb Hand Painted Portrait Miniature of Queen Elizabeth I By Miss C.B. Currie [COSWAY BINDING]. [ANONYMOUS]. The Book of Costume: or, Annals of Fashion, From the Earliest Period to the Present Time. By a Lady of Rank. Illustrated with upwards of 200 engravings on wood by the most eminent artists. London: Henry Colburn, 1847. New edition 1847 stated on title page (first printed the previous year in 1846). Large octavo (9 3/8 x 5 3/4 inches; 238 x 146 mm.). Colored lithograph frontispiece, xii, [1]-482 pp. Handsomely bound in full blue crushed levant morocco ca. 1929 by Rivière and Sons, binders stamp on the lower front turn-in, and that of Mrs. C.B. Currie on the rear turn-in. Front cover elaborately decorated in gilt with two sunken panels above and below a large oval miniature of Queen Elizabeth I, hand painted by Miss C.B. Currie, inset under slightly convex glass. Rear cover with a simple design of gilt rules, rolls and corner-pieces. Spine with five raised bands elaborately decorated and lettered in gilt in compartments, gilt ruled board edges. decorative gilt turn-ins, cream silk liners and end-leaves, top edge gilt. Housed in the original full dark brown morocco pull-off slip-case by Rivière & Son. An exceptional example of a Cosway Binding in absolutely perfect condition in its original full morocco case. With a gift note tipped onto the recto of a front blank "A.H.C.F. [Adelaide H.C. Frick] from H.C.F. [Helen Clay Frick] Xmas 1914." Adelaide Frick was the wife of Henry Frick and mother of Helen Clay Frick. Also a loosely inserted hand-written note with the title & a very brief description of the binding - most likely in the hand of an employee of Sotheran's of Sackville Street, London. "Miss C.B. Currie" (December 12, 1849 - April 2, 1940) was the miniaturist artist of all the genuine Cosway bindings. Born in Cornwall, England, Caroline Billin Curry was also one of the most prominent fore-edge artists in the twentieth-century. A master of the art of miniature painting, she excelled as a copyist working for Henry Sotheran Booksellers, London. She became famous for her miniature paintings applied to two art forms. First, mounted on Rivière bindings and named by her employer as "Cosway" bindings. Later she expanded her work into the art of painting on the fanned edge of a book - called a fore-edge painting. She would often take the idea for a painting from an illustration in the nook - in this case she has taken the idea from a woodacut illustration of Queen Elizabeth I (see page 101). Provenance: Helen Clay Frick's copy, with her wood-engraved bookplate on the verso of a front blank, depicting her father reading in the Living Hall of his New York residence, designed and engraved by Timothy Cole, 1929. .

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 05711

Catalogue: Fine Bindings

Keywords: RIVIÈRE & SON, binders MISS C.B. CURRIE, artist ANONYMOUS Costume Cosway Bindings History

ROOT & SON, binders; HARRISON, Frederick

Choice of Books and Other Literary Pieces, the

London: MacMillan & Co. Limited, 1925. Any book is a good book if you get good out of it" 'The Choice of Books' Handsomely Bound by W. Root & Son ROOT & SON, binders. HARRISON, Frederick. The Choice of Books and other Literary Pieces. London: MacMillan & Co. Limited, 1925. Octavo (7 1/4 x 4 5/8 inches; 184 x 118 mm.). xii, 447, [1, blank], [4, advertisements] pp. Early neat ink inscription on front blank dated 1932, some neat marginal pencil annotations throughout, otherwise fine. Bound by Root & Son ca. 1932 in elaborate paneled full brown speckled calf. Covers with double gilt rules surrounding a wide panel of decoratively tooled orange calf, decoratively bordered in gilt, spine with five raised bands elaborately tooled in compartments, two green morocco gilt lettered labels, gilt board edges, decorative gilt turn-ins, marbled end-papers, all edges gilt. A fine example housed in the original red cloth slip-case. The London bindery of W. Root & Son consistently turned-out excellent work, both on fine bindings as here, and on trade bindings and sets. Packer lists the firm in business in Red Lion Square in 1899-1901, and the December 1942 issue of The Rotarian notes with regret that W. Root had been bombed out (uprooted?) of their premises on Paternaster Row during the 1941 Blitz. The Choice of Books, and other Literary Pieces, by Frederic Harrison (1831-1923) was first published in 1886. The title essay of this volume is a discourse on Reading, its benefits and its perils. In the first section, ‘How to Read,' an eloquent plea is made for the right of rejection; for the avoidance of books that one "comes across," and even of the habit of one-sided reading. The essayist pleads that the choice of books "is really a choice of education, of a moral and intellectual ideal, of the whole duty of man." He warns readers that pleasure in the reading of great books is a faculty to be acquired, not a natural gift,—at least not to those who are spoiled by our current education and habits of life. And he offers as a touchstone of taste and energy of mind, the names of certain immortal books, which if one have no stomach for, he should fall on his knees and pray for a cleaner and quieter spirit. The second division is given to the ‘Poets of the Old World,' the third to the ‘Poets of the Modern World,' and the last to the ‘Misuse of Books.' The essay is full of instruction and of warning, most agreeably offered; and the penitent reader concludes with the writer, that the art of printing has not been a gift wholly unmixed with evil, and may easily be made a clog on the progress of the human mind. An extract is given in the LIBRARY, under Mr. Harrison's name; and the other side of the shield is shown in Mr. Arthur J. Balfour's answer, also given under his name. Fourteen other essays, partly critical, partly historical, partly æsthetic, fill the volume; the ablest and one of the most delightful among them being perhaps the famous paper, ‘A Few Words about the Eighteenth Century.'. .

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 04464

Catalogue: Fine Bindings

Keywords: HARRISON, Frederick Literature

COSWAY BINDING; RIVIÈRE & SON, binders; [MISS C.B. CURRIE], miniaturist; WATSON, Francis

Life and Times of Catherine de' Medici, the

London: Hutchinson & Co, [1934]. Happiness is the one Thing we Queens can never have." (Catherine de' Medici) A Superb Cosway Binding with a Fine Portrait by Miss C.B. Currie of Catherine de' Medici COSWAY BINDING. RIVIÈRE & SON, binders. [MISS C.B. CURRIE], miniaturist. WATSON, Francis. The Life and Times of Catherine de' Medici. With 16 Illustrations. London: Hutchinson & Co, [1934]. First edition. Octavo (8 7/8 x 5 3/4 inches; 226 x 146 mm.). [1]-287, [1, blank] pp. Photogravure frontispiece with original tissue guard and fifteen photogravure plates. Limitation statement at front "This is No. 912 of the Cosway Bindings invented by J. H. Stonehouse, with Miniatures on Ivory by Miss Currie. Signed (in blue & black ink) 'J.H. Stonehouse' Inventor. 'C.B. Currie' Artist." Bound by Rivière & Son in full maroon crushed levant morocco. Covers with gilt double-rule border, the front cover set with superb large oval portrait miniature set under glass (measuring 4 3/4 x 3 3/4 inches; 121 x 95 mm.) of Catherine de' Medici by Miss C.B. Currie within an elaborate gilt scroll design. Rear cover with double-rule borders and broken gilt fillet border with gilt rococo corner ornaments. Spine with five raised bands elaborately tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments. Double gilt-ruled board edges, decorative gilt turn-ins, light blue moiré silk liners and endleaves, All edges gilt. Stamp-signed by the binders on front turn-in: "Bound by Rivière & Son." Stamped-signed by the artist on rear liner: Miniatures by C.B. Currie." Additionally signed on the upper and lower board edges: "Cosway Binding" and "Invented by J.H. Stonehouse." Housed in a felt-lined quarter red morocco over red cloth boards clamshell case by Zaehnsdorf, spine with five raised bands, lettered in gilt in compartments. A very fine example of a real Cosway Binding from the library of Paul Edward Chevalier with his circular red leather bookplate on front blank. This book appeared in the Chevalier Collection of English Twentieth-Century Bookbindings. Christie's New York, Friday November 9th, 1990, lot #72. Cosway Bindings: In the first decade of the twentieth century, the London bookselling firm of Henry Sotheran & Co. introduced a type of binding that was decorative, had historic associations, and catered to the level of quality expected by connoisseurs at the time. Between 1902 and 1903, John Harrison Stonehouse (1864-1937), managing director of Sotheran's, created what came to be referred to as "Cosway bindings." These were named after the celebrated eighteenth-century English portrait miniaturist Richard Cosway (1742-1821). Cosway bindings are distinguished by their attractive, finely painted miniatures that are protected by glass and inset into the covers or doublures (inside covers) of elegantly tooled books. Stonehouse's success with the bindings was due in part to his employment of skilled miniaturist, Miss C. B. Currie. It has been estimated that Miss Currie painted several thousand miniatures, recognized for their delicate rendering and precision, for over nine hundred bindings before her death circa 1940. For many of the more lavish Cosway bindings, Currie painted multiple portraits. Occasionally, landscapes and other subjects adorn the covers or doublures. To enhance Currie's miniatures, Stonehouse arranged for the London firm of Rivière & Son to produce a variety of high-quality single-volume bindings. One of the best large-scale binderies active in the first quarter of the twentieth century, Rivière & Son integrated the miniatures into bindings for both previously published editions and new works. Stonehouse marketed Sotheran's finished Cosway-bound volumes primarily to booksellers in the United States or to American agents. Before Sotheran's 1911 catalogue, in which they identified the miniature artist as Miss Currie, the miniatures are attributable only by their recognizable style. By 1913, many of the bindings were distinguished by a limitation statement on a colophon leaf (where a publisher's emblem or trademark is placed), which provides the number of the Cosway binding with facsimile signatures of Stonehouse and Miss Currie. The customary gilt-stamped signature on the turn-in is generally lettered: "Bound by Rivière & Son from Designs by J. H. Stonehouse" and "Miniatures by C. B. Currie." "Miss C.B. Currie" (December 12, 1849 - April 2, 1940) was the miniaturist artist of all the genuine Cosway bindings. Born in Cornwall, England, Caroline Billin Curry was also one of the most prominent fore-edge artists in the twentieth-century. A master of the art of miniature painting, she excelled as a copyist working for Henry Sotheran Booksellers, London. She became famous for her miniature paintings applied to two art forms. First, mounted on Rivière bindings and named by her employer as "Cosway" bindings. Later she expanded her work into the art of painting on the fanned edge of a book - called a fore-edge painting. Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589) was an Italian noblewoman. She also was queen consort of France from 1547 until 1559, by marriage to King Henry II, and mother of kings Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III. The years during which her sons reigned have been called "the age of Catherine de' Medici" as she had extensive, if at times varying, influence in the political life of France. .

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 05209

Catalogue: Fine Bindings

Keywords: RIVIÈRE & SON, binders [MISS C.B. CURRIE], miniaturist WATSON, Francis Cosway Bindings English History

SANGORSKI & SUTCLIFFE, binders; RUBÁIYÁT OF OMAR KHAYYÁM; VEDDER, Elihu, illustrator; FITZGERALD, Edward, Translator and Editor

Rubáiyát of Omar KhayyáM

Boston: Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1894. Vedder's ‘Rubáiyát' set the standard for the artist-designed book in America and England." In a Superb Early Twentieth Century Inlaid Binding by Sangorski & Sutcliffe [BINDING]. SANGORSKI & SUTCLIFFE, binders. FITZGERALD, Edward, Translator and Editor. VEDDER, Elihu, Illustrator. KHAYYAM, Omar. Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám The Astronomer Poet of Persia. Rendered into English Verse by Edward Fitzgerald with an accompaniment of Drawings by Elihu Vedder. Boston: [Printed at the Riverside Press for] Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1894. Small quarto (8 1/4 x 6 inches; 209 x 152 mm.). 30 leaves, [1]-45, [2], [47]-61, [1, blank] pp. all printed on French-fold paper. With illustrated title, six pages of notes with decorative frames, frontispiece, and fifty plates illustrating the poem, inset with panels of text, all by Elihu Vedder. Elegantly bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe ca. 1910 (stamp­-signed on front turn-in) in full blue crushed morocco elaborately gilt and inlaid. Covers with wide, heavily stippled gilt frame inlaid with twining grape vines in brown, green, and purple morocco, spine with five raised bands, gilt pointille with similar inlaid grape vine weaving through the length of the spine, lettered in gilt in compartments. Gilt ruled board edges and wide turn-ins of blue morocco enclosing red silk liners framed by ivory morocco that is inlaid with green and brown, the turn-ins featuring very large corner ornaments of inlaid green grape leaves, red watered silk endleaves, top edge gilt. Joints expertly and invisible repaired. Original black and gold printed gray wrappers designed by Vedder bound in. Engraved bookplate of renowned collector William F. Gable, of Altoona on verso of front endpaper. A fine, fresh copy in an absolutely spectacular binding from the great house of Sangorski & Sutcliffe. Tipped onto the front flyleaf is a one-page autograph letter signed by Elihu Vedder and written to a Boston gallery owner named Doll regarding paintings the artist has and will have for sale. It is dated December 16, 1868, a time when Vedder had returned to America from his home base in Rome to persuade the reluctant (and wealthy) parents of Carrie Rosenkrans to allow him to marry their daughter. Happily, Vedder and Rosenkrans were able to wed; they honeymooned in Italy, which they made their home for the remainder of their lives. A beautifully bound copy of an important illustrated edition of FitzGerald's lush and lilting translation of the celebrated 11th century classic collection of evocative short verses, tinged with a sense of the vanity of all things. A work that appealed strongly to Victorian sensibilities, the "Rubáiyát," first printed anonymously in 1859, became immensely popular and went through a great many editions. Sangorski & Sutcliffe created a number of splendid bindings for copies of the "Rubáiyát," most famously the "Great Omar" that was lost on the Titanic. Here, they have apparently taken inspiration from a quotation in the frontispiece: "Better be jocund with the fruitful Grape / Than sadden after none or bitter Fruit." According to the Smithsonian, which owns the original designs, "from the moment of its publication [in 1884], Elihu Vedder's ‘Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam' achieved unparalleled success.. Critics rushed to acclaim it as a masterwork of American art, and Vedder (1836-1923) as the master American artist. Vedder's ‘Rubáiyát' set the standard for the artist-designed book in America and England." William F. Gable (1856-1921) founded the Gable's Department Store, in Altoona, PA, opening on March 1, 1884. The first incarnation of the store was a single room. In 1891, Gable built a Victorian Neoclassical style building, in downtown Altoona. It was in this building that the Gable's Department Store became the forerunner of the modern department store. By 1913, Gable's was the most complete department store in the state of Pennsylvania. It had come to be known as "the people's store." The renowned collection of the late William F. Gable, of Altoona, Pennsyvania was sold at auction by the American Art Association, Inc. on January 1st, 1923. .

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 05317

Catalogue: Fine Bindings

Keywords: RUBÁIYÁT OF OMAR KHAYYÁM VEDDER, Elihu, illustrator FITZGERALD, Edward, Translator and Editor Persian Literature Poetry

WOOD, Rev. J.G.

Natural History Rambles: Lane and Field

London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1906. The Perfect Gift for the Amateur Naturalist WOOD, Rev. J.G. Natural History Rambles: Lane and Field. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1906. Small octavo (6 1/4 x 4 1/8 inches; 159 x 104 mm.). x, 246 pp. Illustrated with many text engravings. Full contemporary tree calf, covers double gilt ruled, spine decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments, gilt board edges and turn-ins, marbled edges, marbled endpapers. School prize label (dated 1908) on front paste-down. Near fine. The Rev. J.G. Wood's "single object throughout [his career was] to popularize the study of natural history by rendering it interesting and intelligible to non-scientific minds. In this he was thoroughly successful; and to him was due the impulse that, coming at the right moment, turned public attention to the subject, while not a few naturalists.. owe their first inspiration to his writings" (DNB). .

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 03014

Catalogue: Fine Bindings

Keywords: Science and Technology Gift Books

WOOD, Rev. J.G.

Strange Dwellings

London: Longmans, Green, and Co. 1871. Popularizing the Study of Natural History WOOD, Rev. J.G. Strange Dwellings being a description of the habitations of animals abridged from 'Homes without hands'.. with designs by W.F. Keyl, J.B. Zwecker, and E. Smith. London: Longmans, Green, and Co. 1871. First edition thus. Octavo (7 3/16 x 4 3/4 inches: 183 x 121 mm.). xii, 411, [1] pp. Woodcut frontispiece, vignette title-page and over fifty wood engravings in the text. Bound by Rivingtons (stamp-signed on front blank) in contemporary full blue calf, covers with double gilt rules, spine with five raised bands, decoratively tooled in gilt in compartments with red morocco label lettered in gilt. Gilt board edges, all edges marbled, marbled endpapers. Homes without hands first appeared in 1865. The Rev. J.G. Wood's "single object throughout [his career was] to popularize the study of natural history by rendering it interesting and intelligible to non-scientific minds. In this he was thoroughly successful; and to him was due the impulse that, coming at the right moment, turned public attention to the subject, while not a few naturalists.. owe their first inspiration to his writings" (DNB). .

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 03008

Catalogue: Fine Bindings

Keywords: Science and Technology

ZAEHNSDORF, binders; SYMONDS, John Addington

Wine, Women, and Song

London: Chatto and Windus, 1884. Wine, Women, and Song" In a Fine, Near Contemporary 'Exhibition' Binding by Zaehnsdorf [ZAEHNSDORF, binder]. SYMONDS, John Addington. Wine, Women, and Song. Mediaeval Latin Students' Songs. Now First Translated into English Verse. With an Essay by John Addington Symonds. London: Chatto and Windus, 1884. First edition. One of Fifty Large-Paper Copies of which this is number 28. Quarto (10 7/8 x 7 7/8 inches; 276 x 201 mm.). [viii], 184 pp. Bound ca. 1900 by Zaehnsdorf in an 'Exhibition' binding of full red crushed levant morocco. Covers decoratively tooled in gilt with multi-line borders and floral decorations. Spine with five raised bands, decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt, gilt board edges and turn-ins, red silk liners and endpapers. With the small circular 'Exhibition' stamp in blind on rear turn-in. Slight darkening to spine, otherwise very fine. This is the first edition of John Addington Symonds' translations from the Carmina Burana, a Medieval Latin manuscript of 254 poems, songs and dramatic texts from the 11th-13th centuries, being the work of the Goliards, a group of clerical students from France, Germany Spain, Italy and England, who protested the growing contradictions within the Church and satirized it through song, poetry and dramatic performances. The original manuscript contains 55 songs of morals and mockery, 131 love songs and 40 drinking and gaming songs. Symonds' selection is dedicated to Robert Louis Stevenson and is prefaced by an essay on Goliardic literature. Carmina Burana is a scenic cantata composed by Carl Orff in 1935 and 1936, based on 24 poems from the medieval collection Carmina Burana. Its full Latin title is Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanæ cantoribus et choris cantandæ comitantibus instrumentis atque imaginibus magicis (Songs of Beuern: Secular songs for singers and choruses to be sung together with instruments and magic images). Carmina Burana is part of Trionfi, a musical triptych that also includes Catulli Carmina and Trionfo di Afrodite. The first and last movements of the piece are called "Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi" (Fortune, Empress of the World) and start with the very well known "O Fortuna". John Addington Symonds (1840-1893) was an English poet and literary critic. Although he married and had a family, he was an early advocate of male love (homosexuality), which he believed could include pederastic as well as egalitarian relationships. He referred to it as l'amour de l'impossible (love of the impossible). A cultural historian, he was known for his work on the Renaissance, as well as numerous biographies about writers and artists. He also wrote much poetry inspired by his homosexual affairs. .

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 03270

Catalogue: Fine Bindings

Keywords: SYMONDS, John Addington Literature Poetry Songs