DAGLEY, Richard; GASPEY, Thomas

Takings; or, the Life of a Collegian

London: John Warren, 1821. Dedicated To The Eye Of The Connoiseur DAGLEY, Richard (illustrator). [GASPEY, Thomas. author]. Takings; Or, The Life of a Collegian. A Poem. Illustrated by Twenty-Six Etchings, from Designs by R. Dagley. London: John Warren, 1821. First edition. Octavo (10 1/8 x 6 3/8 ins; 258 x 162 mm.) xxxix, [9], 184 pp. Twenty-six hand-colored plates. Publisher's original drab boards, expertly rebacked. Printed paper spine label. Untrimmed. Bookplate of John P. Kane. A fine copy. Rare, the last copy to come to auction was in 1999. The poem was anonymously written by Thomas Gaspey (1788-1871). "To the Admirers of those hasty Productions of the Pencil called Sketches, Gentlemen, In offering these subjects to your attention, I feel assured of every allowance on your part for their style of execution; and also that in your comments upon what the generality may call blots or scratches, you will lean to the favourable side, and pronounce them meaning and design. To those who are not gifted with your taste and feeling, I am aware the 'Takings' may not appear with all the advantage that I could wish; I must, therefore, request such persons to suspend their judgment till they have acquired that improved perception which finds an intentional grace, where ordinary vision sees only accident or deformity. The eye of the Connoisseur can penetrate the obscurity of redundant lines, separate their entanglements, and distinguish the latent shapes od beauty and vigour. In a scanty performance he can nevertheless discern the excellence which the artist contemplated" (Dagley, Dedication). "Richard Dagley (d. 1841), genre painter and engraver, was an orphan and was educated at Christ's Hospital, London. Having an interest in art, and being delicate, he was apprenticed to Thomas Cousens, a jeweller, watchmaker, and sometime painter of ornaments and miniatures, whose daughter Elizabeth (b. 1755) he married on 2 November 1785 at St James's, Westminster. The couple had two sons, Edward (b. 1790) and Richard (b. 1791). Dagley was a friend of Henry Bone, with whom he worked enamelling views on the backs of watches and mythological compositions on bracelets, and painting eyes for rings and brooches, as was then the fashion. He exhibited irregularly at the Royal Academy from 1785 until 1833, mostly genre pictures. His career was similarly erratic. He made several medals and took to watercolour drawing. About 1805 he was working as a drawing-master in a lady's school in Doncaster, but was back in London from 1815. "In 1818 he published A Compendium of the Theory and Practice of Drawing and Painting. Dagley reviewed books on art and, after the publication of his first book, Gems Selected from the Antique in 1804, with plates designed and engraved by him, he worked as an illustrator, most notably on Flim-Flams, a collection of anecdotes by Isaac D'Israeli, and for Takings, a humorous poem by Thomas Gaspey (1821). He also published books of his own engravings ‘illustrated' in poetry or prose by others; his second volume on gems (1822) had poetry by Dr G. Croly and Death's Doings (1826) was a meditation on the arrival of death. Dagley's engraved work is often slight. As explained in the preface to Death's Doings: ‘I have endeavoured to show the way a certain class of writing may be embellished without incurring the expense of those laboured and highly finished engravings which make a work prohibitively expensive'. Dagley died in 1841" (Oxford DNB). Not in Tooley, Abbey, Hardie or Bobins. .

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Book number: 02287

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: GASPEY, Thomas Color-Plate Books Caricatures Nineteenth-Century Literature

DAGLEY, Richard

Takings; or, the Life of a Collegian

London: John Warren , 1821. The Humorous Trials of College Life In 26 Hand-Colored Etchings DAGLEY, Richard. Takings; Or, The Life of a Collegian. A Poem. Illustrated by Twenty-Six Etchings, from Designs by R. Dagley. London: John Warren and G. and W.B. Whittaker, 1821. First edition. Octavo (9 1/4 x 5 5/8 in; 234 x 143 mm). xxxix, [3], 36-184. Twenty-six hand-colored etchings. Bound by Root & Son in later full calf with triple fillets, gilt-ruled and ornamented compartments with crimson morocco spine labels. Gilt dentelles. All edges gilt. With the bookplate of George Seton Veitch. A fine copy. Though well-represented in institutional holdings, the last copy of Takings seen at auction was fifteen years ago, in 1999. "Richard Dagley (c. 1765-1841) was an English subject painter. He was brought up at Christ's Hospital, and at first made designs for jewellery. From 1784 to 1806 he exhibited domestic subjects at the Royal Academy. He then turned his attention to teaching drawing, but again appeared at the Academy from 1815 to 1833. As a medallist he obtained some success, and he published works on gems in 1804 and 1822. His life was a continued struggle against poverty. He died in London in 1841" ( Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers). Not in Tooley, Abbey, Hardie, or Bobins. .

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Book number: 02586

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: Color-Plate Books Nineteenth-Century Literature Poetry

DAHL, Roald

Kiss Kiss

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1960. Delicately, the Naive Punish the Wicked, But Also the Other Way Around.. DAHL, Roald. Kiss Kiss. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1960. First edition. Octavo (7 9/16 x 5 1/8 inches; 192 x 130 mm.). [x], [1]-308, [2] pp. Publisher's violet cloth , front cover with decoration in pink and black, lower cover with Borzoi monogram in black.Spine with pink panel, lettered in black, top edge stained pink, others uncut. Pictorial dust jacket, unclipped with price $3.95 at top of front flap. A near fine copy. First New York edition preceding the Toronto and London editions. Kiss Kiss is a collection of eleven short stories including The Landlady, Royal Jelly, Georgy Porgy, and The Champion of the World (a condensed version of the story that would become Dahl's 1975 children's book Danny the Champion of the World). These are some of Dahl's most macabre stories. Delicately, the naive punish the wicked, but also the other way around. Most of the stories are presented as typical narratives, albeit with imaginative characters. The horror of each story is built around implication, and many horrific endings, involving death or unpleasant situations, can only be inferred, since nothing is directly stated. The British film director Alfred Hitchcock adapted half a dozen of Dahl's tales for his own television show in the late '50s and '60s. All six can be found between the two short story collections, Someone Like You and Kiss, Kiss: This volume contains The Landlady, Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat, and Royal Jelly. Roald Dahl (1916-1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide. Dahl has been called "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century.

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 05723

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: Modern Firsts Horror Science Fiction

DAHL, Roald

Someone Like You

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1953. Certainly the Most Distinguished Book of Short Stories of 1953" DAHL, Roald. Someone Like You. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1953. First edition. Octavo (7 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches; 191 x 133 mm.). [x], [1]-359, [1, Printers note] pp. Publisher's cream cloth , front cover with decoration in pink and black, lower cover with Borzoi monogram in black.Spine with pink panel, lettered in black, top edge stained pink, others uncut. Pictorial dust jacket, unclipped with price $3.50 at top of front flap. A near fine copy. First New York edition preceding the London edition of 1954. Someone Like You is a collection of eighteen short stories including Taste, Lamb to the Slaughter, The Soldier, Skin, The Wish and Nunc Dimittis (Now lettest thou depart). The American book critic Edward Groff Conklin called Someone Like You "certainly the most distinguished book of short stories of 1953 .. all superb". Science fiction editors Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas praised the collection's "subtly devastating murder stories [as well as] two biting science-fantasties, plus a few unclassifiable gems" and concluded the volume "belong[ed] on your shelves somewhere in the Beerbohm/Collier/Saki section". Van Morrison's song Someone Like You is named after this collection. The British film director Alfred Hitchcock adapted half a dozen of Dahl's tales for his own television show in the late '50s and '60s. All six can be found between the two short story collections, Someone Like You and Kiss, Kiss: This volume contains Dip in the Pool, Lamb to the Slaughter, and Man from the South. Two of the stories in this collection Poison & The Rat Catcher were adapted by American filmmaker Wes Anderson as short films for Netflix. Roald Dahl (1916-1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide. Dahl has been called "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century.

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Book number: 05724

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: Modern Firsts Horror Science Fiction

DICKENS, Charles; CRUIKSHANK, George, illustrator

Oliver Twist

London: Richard Bentley, 1838. Charles Dickens Unromantic Portrayal of Criminals and Their Sordid Lives DICKENS, Charles. Oliver Twist. By Charles Dickens. Author of "The Pickwick Papers" In Three Volumes. Vol. I. [II. III. ] London: Richard Bentley, 1838. First edition of Dickens' second novel. The "Charles Dickens" issue, with the title-page authorship credit to Charles Dickens instead of "Boz" and with the "Church" version of the final plate. First state of volume III with "pilaster" instead of "pier" or "pedestal" on page 164. Almost all the internal flaws according to Smith present. Three octavo volumes (7 15/16 x 4 7/8 inches; 202 x 124 mm.). Volumes I and III in twelves, volume II in eights. [iv], [1]2-331, [1, blank], [4, advertisements]; [iv], [1]2-307, [1, blank]; [iv], [1]2-315, [1, blank] pp. No half-title called for in Volume III. Twenty-four engraved plates by George Cruikshank. Small piece (3/4 x 3/8 inch) torn away from upper corner of second plate in volume II, repaired tear to top margin of following pages (61/62; E7). Original (Smith primary binding; Carter binding variant B) reddish brown fine-diaper cloth, front and back covers stamped in blind with an arabesque design, spines ruled in blind and lettered in gilt, original pale yellow coated endpapers. Some light foxing to plates as usual, some light occasional marginal soiling. Spine ends and inner hinges of volume three expertly and almost invisibly repaired, spines very slightly faded but gilt still bright. Armorial bookplate of Adrian Hoffman Joline on front paste-downs (bookplate for volume two removed). Housed in a quarter brown morocco clamshell case. An excellent and very attractive set. For this novel, Dickens's first in the standard three-volume form, Bentley divided the printing task between two firms: Volume I was printed in a twelvemo format by Samuel Bentley; Volume II in octavo format by Whiting; and Volume III preliminaries and signatures A-F and probably G by Whiting with the remaining text by Samuel Bentley, again in twelvemo format. The three-decker publication date was 9 November 1839, and within a week, at Dickens's insistence, the title-pages were changed to include his name, and the "Church" version of the final plate was substituted for the "Fireside" version. Smith I, 4. Oliver Twist, is the second novel by Charles Dickens, and was first published as a serial 1837-39. The story is of the orphan Oliver Twist, who starts his life in a workhouse and is then sold into apprenticeship with an undertaker. He escapes from there and travels to London, where he meets the Artful Dodger, a member of a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal Fagin. Oliver Twist is notable for its unromantic portrayal by Dickens of criminals and their sordid lives, as well as for exposing the cruel treatment of the many orphans in London in the mid-19th century. "My dear child,' said the old gentleman, moved by the warmth of Oliver's sudden appeal, 'you need not be afraid of my deserting you, unless you give me cause.' I never, never will, sir,' interposed Oliver." In this early example of the social novel, Dickens satirizes the hypocrisies of his time, including child labor, the recruitment of children as criminals, and the presence of street children. The novel may have been inspired by the story A Memoir of of Robert Blincoe, (1832), an orphan whose account of working as a child laborer in a cotton mill was widely read in the 1830s. It is likely that Dickens's own youthful experiences contributed as well. Oliver Twist has been the subject of numerous adaptations for various media, including a highly successful musical play, Oliver!, and the multiple Academy Award-winning 1968 motion picture which featured Mark Lester as Oliver, Jack Wild as the Artful Dodger, Ron Moody as Fagin and Oliver Reed as Bill Sykes. .

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Book number: 03743

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: CRUIKSHANK, George, illustrator Illustrated Books Nineteenth-Century Literature Cruikshankiana

DOYLE, Arthur Conan; WOLLEN, William Barnes, illustrator

Adventures of Gerard

London: George Newnes, Limited, [1903]. Tales of a Napoleonic Soldier DOYLE, A[rthur] Conan. Adventures of Gerard. London: George Newnes, [n.d. 1903]. First English edition. Octavo (7 5/16 x 4 7/8 inches; 166 x 124 mm.). vii, [3], 374 pp. Sixteen tipped-in plates by William Barnes Wollen. Publisher's dark blue cloth decoratively stamped (with a fleur-de-lis design) and lettered in gilt on front cover and spine, white endpapers. Some light foxing, mostly to edges. Minimal marginal foxing, neat early ink signature on front flyleaf, minimal rubbing to extremities. Otherwise a near fine and bright copy. 10,000 copies were published on 22nd September 1903 priced 6/-. Eight additional tales of Etienne Gerard, a cavalry officer in Napoleon's army, a sequel to The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard (1896). "The author was very fond of these stories, which he found easy to write. He felt that they were accurate as a portrayal of the French soldiers of the period even down to the smallest details of the costumes and of the historical background" (Green and Gibson, p. 93, note to The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard). Green and Gibson A27a; Wolff 1897. .

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 04998

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: WOLLEN, William Barnes, illustrator Literature Naval and Military

DOYLE, Arthur Conan

Land of Mist, the

London: Hutchinson & Co. Ltd. 1926. Another Professor Challenger Story.. DOYLE, Arthur Conan. The Land of Mist. London: Hutchinson & Co. Ltd. [1926]. First English edition. Octavo. [i]-viii, 9-294, [295, advertisement], [1, blank], [-296 ad], [24, Hutchinson catalog for Spring of 1926] pp. Publisher's dark green cloth, front cover bordered and lettered in light green, spine lettered in light green, white endpapers. Top and bottom of spine, and lower joint worn. A good copy. This book was originally to be titled The Psychic Adventures of Edward Malone. Doyle wrote to the editor of the Strand Magazine on 23rd October 1924 to tell him about his latest book: "I have for years had a big psychic novel in me which shall deal realistically with every phase of the question, pro and con. I waited, I knew it would come. Now it has come, with a full head of steam, and I can hardly hold onto my pen it goes so fast - about 12 or 15,000 words in three days." Malone, as an inquiring newspaper man, and [Professor] Challenger as an outside sceptic are two of the main characters but every type will be drawn. I don't think it has ever been done by anyone who had the subject thoroughly at his fingers' ends before." "The book can be grouped with the other semi-autobiographical novel The Stark Munro Letters. It gives a detailed picture of the author's later years as a spiritualist, as the earlier one does of his years as a doctor. The characters and events in the book are drawn from life" (Green and Gibson). Approximately 3,000 copies were published on 19th March 1925 priced 7/6. Green and Gibson A45. .

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 05015

Catalogue: English Literature

DOYLE, Arthur Conan; WYETH, N.C. illustrator; ROUNTREE, Harry, illustrator

Last Galley, the

London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1911. From Historical Romance to Swashbuckling Pirate Adventure.. DOYLE, Arthur Conan. The Last Galley. Impressions and Tales by Arthur Conan Doyle. With Illustrations. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1911. First English edition. Octavo (7 1/2 x 4 7/8 inches; 190 x 124 mm.). [viii], [1-3]-298, [299-312, publisher's catalog] pp. With a frontispiece by N.C. Wyeth and one plate by Harry Rountree. Publisher's dark red cloth, front cover blocked and titled in gilt, spine lettered in gilt, white endpapers. With a neat early ink inscription dated 1911 on front pastedown. Some very light, mainly marginal foxing to first few leaves only. Minimal rubbing to extremities, an excellent copy. 6,000 copies were published on 26th April 1911 priced 6/-. The Last Galley is a short story written by Arthur Conan Doyle that was first published in The London Magazine in November 1910 and then in the 1911 collection of short stories, The Last Galley; Impressions And Tales". This fantastic collection includes stories spanning a multitude of genres. From historical romance to swashbuckling pirate adventure, this volume has got it all, and will appeal to a wide range of readers. Between 1910 and 1922, N.C. Wyeth did nineteen illustrations for Arthur Conan Doyle's fiction novels - The White Company (1922) having thirteen of them. Green & Gibson A35a. .

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 04996

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: WYETH, N.C. illustrator ROUNTREE, Harry, illustrator Illustrated Books

DOYLE, Arthur Conan; ROUNTREE, Harry, illustrator

Poison Belt, the

London: Hodder and Stoughton, [1913]. Humanity is Shocked into Placing a Higher Value on Life" DOYLE, Arthur Conan. The Poison Belt. Being an account of another adventure of Prof. George E. Challenger, Lord John Roxton, Prof. Summerlee, and Mr. E.D. Malone, the discoverers of "The Lost World". With 16 Illustrations by Harry Rountree. London: Hodder and Stoughton, [1913]. First English edition. Octavo (7 3/8 x 4 7/8 inches; 188 x 124 mm.). [viii], [1-2]-199, [1, blank] pp. Frontispiece and fifteen plates tipped-in. Publisher's light blue cloth front cover blocked and titled in black, spine blocked in black and lettered in gilt, white endpapers, all edges untrimmed. Lower joint with small 1 1/2 inch split, spine slightly faded, corners and spine extremities a little rubbed. Still a much better than usually seen copy. 10,000 copies were published on 13th August 1913 priced 3/6d. The Poison Belt is a science fiction novel by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle, the second book about Professor Challenger. Written in 1913, much of it takes place in a single room in Challenger's house in Sussex. This would be the last story written about Challenger until the 1920s, by which time Doyle's spiritualist beliefs had begun to influence his writing. Challenger sends telegrams asking his three companions from The Lost World— Edward Malone, Lord John Roxton, and Professor Summerlee— to join him at his home outside London, and instructs each of them to 'bring oxygen'. During their journey there, they see people's behaviour become excitable and erratic. On arrival they are ushered into a sealed room, along with Challenger and his wife. In the course of his researches into various phenomena, Challenger has predicted that the Earth is moving into a belt of poisonous ether which, based on its effect on the people of Sumatra earlier in the day, he expects to stifle humanity. Challenger seals them in the room with cylinders of oxygen, which he (correctly) believes will counter the effect of the ether. The five wait out the Earth's passage through the poison belt as they watch the world outside, human and animal, die and machines run amok. (According to Victorian values—or to Doyle's understanding of them—Challenger's servants are left outside the sealed room, and they continue to perform their duties until the ether overtakes them.) Finally, the last of the oxygen cylinders is emptied, and they open a window, ready to face death. To their surprise, they do not die, and conclude the Earth has now passed through the poison belt. They journey through the dead countryside in Challenger's car, finally arriving in London. They encounter only one survivor, an elderly, bed-ridden woman prescribed oxygen for her health. After returning to Challenger's house, they discover that the effect of the ether is temporary, and the world reawakens with no knowledge that they have lost any time at all. Eventually Challenger and his companions manage to convince the world what happened— a task made easier by the tremendous amount of death and destruction caused by runaway machines and fires that took place while the world was asleep—and humanity is shocked into placing a higher value on life. (Wikipedia). Green & Gibson A38a. .

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Book number: 04995

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: ROUNTREE, Harry, illustrator Illustrated Books Science Fiction

DOYLE, Arthur Conan; PAGET, Sidney, illustrator

Rodney Stone

London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1896. Arthur Conan Doyle's Boxing Novel, "Rodney Stone," with Eight Plates by Sidney Paget DOYLE, A[rthur] Conan. [PAGET, Sidney, illustrator]. Rodney Stone. With Illustrations. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1896. First English edition. Octavo (7 9/16 x 5 inches; 192 x 127 mm. ). [8], 366, [10, publisher's advertisements] pp. Eight plates by Sidney Paget (including frontispiece, with tissue guard). Publisher's black diamond-grain cloth decoratively stamped and lettered in gilt on front cover and spine. Dark brown coated endpapers. Front joint neatly repaired, otherwise a very good copy. 20,000 copies were published on 13th November 1896 priced 6/-. "‘They say that every form of knowledge comes useful [sic] sooner or later. Certainly my own experience in boxing and my very large acquaintance with the history of the prize-ring found their scope when I wrote ‘Rodney Stone.' No one but a fighting man would ever, I think, quite understand or appreciate some of the detail.'—Memories and Adventures (p. 273). "The author's knowledge and experience of boxing went back to his youth. In September 1894 he decided to use it in a ‘boxing play' which he hoped to write in conjunction with his brother-in-law, E.W. Hornung..He also envisioned a novel..During the summer of 1895 while at Upper Engadine and Caux he began the novel, having put the play aside, and it was finished in September..The book was very successful financially..The subject of boxing in the Regency period had already been touched on in ‘The Brigadier in England', and there are many subsequent stories. ‘An Impression of the Regency' is the one of most interest in connection with this book. It was the preliminary sketch which the author wrote to get the feel of the period, and although not intended for publication, it was published later. "The author believed that he was a pioneer, the first to get the ‘focus of the Regency as the subject of Romance'. He believed that his book was an important element in the surge of interest in the sport after the turn of the century and especially during the 1920, a belief supported by the number of newspapers and magazines which reprinted the story. The author placed Rodney Stone as the first volume of the Crowborough Edition, implying that he rated it, at least at the end of his life, on a par with The White Company" (Green and Gibson, pp. 97-98). Rodney Stone was serialized in The Strand Magazine, January-December 1896, with illustrations by Sidney Paget. Green and Gibson A20a. .

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Book number: 05008

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: PAGET, Sidney, illustrator Boxing Nineteenth-Century Literature Illustrated Books English Literature Illustrated Books Nineteenth-Century Literature Sports

DOYLE, Arthur Conan; CASTAIGNE, A, illustrator

Round the Fire Stories

London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1908. A Collection of Short Stories to be Read Round the Fire on a Winter's Night "Concerned with the Grotesque and with the Terrible" DOYLE, Arthur Conan. Round the Fire Stories. With a frontispiece by A. Castaigne. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1908. First English edition. Octavo (7 1/2 x 4 7/8 inches; 191 x 124 mm.). [viii], [1]-372, [373-376, publisher's catalog] pp. With a tipped-in frontispiece by A. Castaigne. Publisher's dark red cloth, front cover blocked and titled in gilt, spine lettered in gilt, white endpapers, lower edges uncut. Minimal darkening to spine, a few slight marginal smudges, otherwise near fine. 6,000 copies were published on 24th September 1908 priced 6/-. "In a previous volume, "The Green Flag," I have assembled a number of my stories which deal with warfare or with sport. In the present collection those have been brought together which are concerned with the grotesque and with the terrible - such tales as might well be read "round the fire" upon a winter's night. This would be my ideal atmosphere for such stories, if an author might choose his time and place as an artist does the light and hanging of his picture. However, if they have the good fortune to give pleasure to any one, at any time or place, their author will be very satisfied." (Preface). Green & Gibson A33a. .

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Book number: 04997

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: CASTAIGNE, A, illustrator Horror

DOYLE, Arthur Conan

Three of Them

London: John Murray, 1923. This little book is an attempt to catch some of the fleeting phases of childhood.." (Introduction) DOYLE, Arthur Conan. Three of Them. A Reminiscence.. With a Frontispiece. London: John Murray, 1923. First English edition. Small octavo (6 3/4 x 4 3/4 inches; 172 x 120 mm.). viii, 99, 1, blank], [4, advertisements] pp. Sepia toned frontispiece on leaded paper tipped-in. Publisher's red linen spine over gray boards. Spine with printed paper label. Original pictorial dust jacket, minimal wear to extremities. Some light offset from publisher's glue on endpapers, otherwise a fine copy. Three of them is a series of five short stories that were first published in The Strand Magazine from April to December 1918. On 2nd November 1923, John Murray added two other short stories Billy Bones (1922) and The Forbidden Subject (1923) to the five, making a total of seven, with an introduction written by Doyle. .

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 05003

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: Children's Books Modern Firsts

EGERTON, Michael

A Day's Journal of a Sponge

London: Published for the Proprietor, by Rowney & Forster, 1824. The Misadventures of a Regency Free-Loader Told in Six Beautifully Hand-Colored Aquatint Plates [EGERTON, Michael]. [A Day's Journal of a Sponge. By Peter Pasquin. London: Published for the Proprietor, by Rowney & Forster, 1824]. First edition. Oblong folio (10 3/8 x 14 inches; 264 x 351 mm.). Six bright and beautifully hand-colored aquatint plates with interleaves. The plates are unsigned, with imprint: London, Published by W. Egerton, 1824. Bound without the lithographed title. Watermark: J Whatman Turkey Mill 1826. Bound by Rivière and Son in later red half crushed morocco over red cloth boards. Raised bands. Gilt-lettered compartments. Expertly rebacked with the original spine laid down. An excellent copy. A work of profound rarity with or without the title; OCLC notes only four copies in institutional holdings. Abbey's copy, as this one, also lacked the titlepage. These satiric plates with their lengthy droll and witty captions depict the comic misadventures of a pretentious, social striving man about town free-loader, moocher, muzzler, cadger, touch-artist; a Regency Period slacker who is thick as a brick but convinced otherwise. This work has been attributed by Abbey and Houfe to M[ichael]. Egerton, a social caricaturist who worked in London in the 1820s in the manner of George Cruikshank. The Plates, untitled but each with three-five lines of text that begin: 1. Was stirring with the lark.. 2. Feeling one of those pangs.. 3. Having returned, & hired a Chaise.. 4. Former fears confirmed.. 5. Sauntering down Bond Street.. 6. Being recovered from the effects.. Abbey, Life, 289. Houfe, p. 294. Prideaux, p. 347. .

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Book number: 02595

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: Color-Plate Books Caricatures Nineteenth-Century Literature

ELIOT, George; EVANS, Marion

Adam Bede

Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1859. George Eliot's First Full-Length Novel and her Earliest Popular Success ELIOT, George. Adam Bede. In Three Volumes. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1859. First edition. Three octavo volumes (7 1/8 x 4 1/2 inches; 181 x 114 mm.). [iii-viii], 325, [1, blank]; [iii-viii], 374; [iii-vi], 333, [1, blank] pp. Bound ca. 1865 in three quarter dark blue pebble-grain morocco over marbled boards, ruled in gilt. Spines with five raised bands decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments, matching marbled end-papers, all edges gilt. Bound without the half-titles. Some light foxing and staining throughout, moderate on preliminary leaves. A very good set in an attractive and near contemporary binding. George Eliot's first full-length novel and her earliest popular success. Adam Bede, the first novel written by George Eliot (the pen name of Mary Ann Evans), was published in 1859. It was published pseudonymously, even though Evans was a well-published and highly respected scholar of her time. The novel has remained in print ever since, and is used in university studies of 19th-century English literature. The plot is founded on a story told to George Eliot by her aunt Elizabeth Evans, a Methodist preacher, and the original of Dinah Morris of the novel, of a confession of child-murder, made to her by a girl in prison. The story's plot follows four characters' rural lives in the fictional community of Hayslope—a rural, pastoral and close-knit community in 1799. The novel revolves around a love "rectangle" among beautiful but self-absorbed Hetty Sorrel; Captain Arthur Donnithorne, the young squire who seduces her; Adam Bede, her unacknowledged suitor; and Dinah Morris, Hetty's cousin, a fervent, virtuous and beautiful Methodist lay preacher. (The real village where Adam Bede was set is Ellastone on the Staffordshire / Derbyshire border, a few miles from Uttoxeter and Ashbourne, and near to Alton Towers. Eliot's father lived in the village as a carpenter in a substantial house now known as Adam Bede's Cottage). Adam is a local carpenter much admired for his integrity and intelligence, in love with Hetty. She is attracted to Arthur, the charming local squire's grandson and heir, and falls in love with him. When Adam interrupts a tryst between them, Adam and Arthur fight. Arthur agrees to give up Hetty and leaves Hayslope to return to his militia. After he leaves, Hetty Sorrel agrees to marry Adam but shortly before their marriage, discovers she is pregnant. In desperation, she leaves in search of Arthur but she cannot find him. Unwilling to return to the village on account of the shame and ostracism she would have to endure, she delivers her baby with the assistance of a friendly woman she encounters. She subsequently abandons the infant in a field but not being able to bear the child's cries, she tries to retrieve the infant. However, she is too late, the infant having already died of exposure. Hetty is caught and tried for child murder. She is found guilty and sentenced to hang. Dinah enters the prison and pledges to stay with Hetty until the end. Her compassion brings about Hetty's contrite confession. When Arthur Donnithorne, on leave from the militia for his grandfather's funeral, hears of her impending execution, he races to the court and has the sentence commuted to transportation. Ultimately, Adam and Dinah, who gradually become aware of their mutual love, marry and live peacefully with his family. Sadleir 812; Parrish pp. 12/13; Wolff, 2056; Baker & Ross, A4.1. .

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Book number: 03724

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: EVANS, Marion Fine Bindings and Sets Nineteenth-Century Literature Women Scottish Literature

L'ESTRANGE, Roger

Observator, in Dialogue, the

London: Printed by J. Bennet, for WIlliam Abington, 1684. First Collected Edition of The Observator "A Feat of Literary Endurance" Roger L'Estrange's Newspaper, The Observator, Corroded the Foundations of Whiggery.. L'ESTRANGE, Roger. The Observator, in Dialogue. The First Volume..[Nos. 1 (Wednesday April 13, 1681)-470 (Wednesday, January 9, 1683)]. London: Printed by J. Bennet, for William Abington, 1684. Volume I (of 3) of the first collected edition of The Observator, Nos. 1-470. Folio (13 1/8 x 8 1/8 inches; 333 x 207 mm.). [2], [4, "To the Reader"], [8, "The Table"], [3, contents], [1, blank] pp. followed by The Observator Nos. 1-470 (unpaginated). Engraved frontispiece portrait of Roger L'Estrange, dated 1684, by R. White after G. Kneller. Handsomely rebound in 'antique Cambridge-style' paneled calf. Covers decoratively ruled and tooled in blind, spine richly tooled in gilt in compartments with six raised bands and red morocco gilt lettering label, board edges and turn-ins decoratively tooled in blind, marbled endpapers. An excellent copy. "The Reader will find in the First Number of This Collection, the True Intent, and Design of the Undertaking; And he will likewise find, in the very Date of it, (April 13. 1681.) the Absolute Neccessity of some Such Application, to Encounter the Notorious Falsehoods; the Malicious Scandals, and the Poysonous Doctrines of That Season" ("To the Reader"). The Observator was a newspaper written in the form of a dialogue by Roger L'Estrange, and published from April 13, 1681 to March 9, 1687. There were 470 issues in the first volume (as offered here), 215 issues in the second volume and 246 issues in the third and last volume. "Rumbustious and vitriolic, satiric and savage, week after week for six years and through two million words, Roger L'Estrange's newspaper, The Observator, corroded the foundations of Whiggery.. "The Observator was the work of a compulsive writer, a feat of literary endurance..L'Estrange was, said his enemies, the 'scribbler-general of Tory-land'..Its prose hectic, its thoughts haphazard, the Observator lay, its author admitted, somewhere 'betwixt fooling and philosophizing.' It transposed to print the Restoration's fondest verbal facility, raillery, delivering a cascade of libel and abuse, tempered by seriocomic moralizing, and philosophy and political theory reduced to epithets and exclamations.. "Its deliberate coarseness puts it at an arresting remove from the high eloquence of Dryden. Polite it was not. The Observator was Toryism at its most unbuttoned and vulgar. It was routinely scatological, or, more precisely, urological. The Whig newsmonger Langley Curtis is 'the common piss pot [for] the fanatical clubs about town." Henry Care, 'holds up his leg and pisses upon the government.. "The relentless repetitiveness of the Observator is half-redeemed by its inventiveness. The Whigs are not just a faction: they are a 'cabal,' 'consult,' consistory,' 'confederacy,' conspiracy..' This was politics by thesaurus" (Mark Goldie. Roger L'Estrange's Observator and the Exorcism of the Plot. In Roger L'Estrange and the Making of Restoration Culture, edited by Anne Duncan-Page and Beth Lynch, pp. 67-68). Roger L'Estrange (1616-1704) fought on the Royalist side in the English Civil War. In 1644 he led a conspiracy to deliver the town of Lynn to the king and was sentenced to death as a spy. He escaped and took refuge in Holland. In 1653, he returned to England. By 1659, however, he was making his presence as a Royalist known. He printed several pamphlets supporting a return of Charles II. As a reward for his propaganda, L'Estrange was appointed Surveyor of the Imprimery (Printing Press) in 1663. Thereafter, also appointed Licenser of the Press, he retained both positions until the lapse of the Licensing of the Press Act in 1679. As Licenser and Surveyor, L'Estrange was charged with the prevention of the publication of dissenting writings, and authorized to search the premises of printers and booksellers on the merest suspicion of dissension. L'Estrange excelled at this, hunting down hidden presses and enlisting peace officers and soldiers to suppress their activities. He soon came to be known as the "Bloodhound of the Press." He succeeded not only in checking allegedly seditious publications but also in limiting political controversy and reducing debate. Toward the end of 1680, he was forced to flee the country by the political opposition but on his return in 1681 he established The Observator, a single sheet printed in double columns on both sides. It was written in the form of a dialogue between a Whig and a Tory (later Trimmer and Observator), with the bias on the side of the latter. During the six years of its existence, L'Estrange wrote with a consistent fierceness, meeting his enemies with personal attacks characterized by sharp wit. The Glorious Revolution (1688-89), in which King James II lost the throne, cost L'Estrange his official post. Accomplished in languages, he afterward supported his wife and himself chiefly by translations of many standard authors, including the lively Fables of Aesop, and other Eminent Mythologists: with Morals and Reflexions (1692). .

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 00811

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: Early Books Early Books Literature Seventeenth-Century Literature