Booksellers' Catalogues.—August.
Mr. Andrew Baxendine's Edinburgh Catalogue 133 contains Cheyne and Black's 'Encyclopædia Biblica,' 4 vols., half morocco, 2l. 2s. Under Burns are the first London edition, 1787, a tall and spotless copy, 4l. 10s. 6d., and the Memorial Catalogue of the Burns Exhibition of 1896, 2l. 2s. A copy of 'The Cambridge Modern History,' 14 vols., as new, is priced 1l. 10s. 6d. There is a good list under Dickens. A handsome copy of the poems of Dunbar, "the darling of the Scottish Muse," Edinburgh, 1834, maybe had for 2l. 5s. 6d. The Swanston Edition of Stevenson, 25 vols., is 8l. 12s. 6d.; and the Library Edition of Thackeray, 22 vols., half calf, 1869, 6l. 6s.
Mr. William Brown of Edinburgh sends his 207th List. This opens with an interesting American item, being the Charter granted by William and Mary to the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay, in 1 vol., small folio, original calf, Boston, 1726, 10l. 10s. There are chromo-lithographs of the Arundel Society. A beautiful example of English binding, Middleton's 'Life of Cicero,' 1741, 3 vols., morocco super-extra, delicate dentelle borders, is 10l. 10s. Admirers of Borrow will find a collection of his works, all first editions, 20 vols., uniformly bound in calf by Riviere, 68l. There is a fine set of the Centenary Edition of Browning, 10 vols., half levant, 10l. 15s. Under Burns is Allan Cunningham's edition, 8 vols., 21. 5s. The first edition of both parts of Fergusson's 'Poems,' original half calf, a fine tall copy, 1779, is 18l. 18s. Under Freeman is a set of his Historical Works, 50 vols., half levant by Riviere, 45l.; while the first edition of 'The Christian Year,' 2 vols., levant by Riviere, 1827, with the original paper covers bound in at the end, is 11l. 15s. Under Naval is Rolfe's 'Chronology,' 3 vols., original boards, uncut, with 57 beautifully coloured plates of naval battles, 35l. Under Scott is the first edition of 'Guy Mannering,' 3 vols., 1815, 15l. 15s. The first edition of Swinburne's 'Atalanta,' a presentation copy, Moxon, is priced 15l. 15s. A choice Byron item is a letter (apparently unpublished), 8 Jan., 1807, to Dr. Falkner, respecting his 'Hours of Idleness,' 48l. There is also under Burns the autograph of the last six lines of 'The Whistle.'
Mr. Henry Gray of Acton has a Personalia Catalogue, No. 1, First Series. The opening item is a manuscript volume of arms of the families of Denmark and Norway, folio, 4l. 4s. There are genealogical collections relating to the Actons, Adairs, Adamses, Alderleys, Barclays, and many others, besides numerous Vanity Fair cartoons and parchment deeds.
Mr. E. Joseph's Catalogue 19 contains two copies of The Times edition of 'The Encyclopædia Britannica': one, half morocco, 6l. (Times price was 69l.); the other, three-quarter levant, 7l. (Times price was 79l.). There are lists under America and Australia. Under Arctic is Nansen's 'Farthest North,' 2 vols., 8s. 6d.; and under Antarctic, Shackleton's 'Heart of the Antarctic,' 2 vols., 16s. A copy of Couche's 'Galerie du Palais Royal,' proofs before letters of the 354 engravings, 3 vols., large folio, Paris, 1786, is 8l. 8s.; and Pierce Egan's 'Life in London,' red morocco extra, 1821, 8l. 18s. 6d. The original edition of Diderot and D'Aleinbert's 'Dictionnaire Raisonné,' 35 vols., folio, calf, Paris, 1751-65, is 10l. 10s. Works on Hawking include Salvin and Brodrick, 1855, 5l. 10s. The list under India and the East includes works from the library of Sir George Birdwood. Under Oxford is Loggan's 'Oxonia Illustrata,' folio, 1675, 8l. 18s. 6d. There is a small collection of engravings.
Catalogue 150 from Herr Ludwig Rosenthal of Munich consists of Part II. of his 'Bibliotheca Liturgica,' and contains between 3,000 and 4,000 items of high and varied interest. So far as historical association alone is concerned, perhaps the most notable book is the MS. volume of 212 pp. paper, adorned with borders and miniatures, written in 1747 for the use of Maria Theresa, 'Exercitia quotidiana pietatis,' 1.000m. There are several fine specimens of Spanish and allied typography, among which we may cite the 'Forma de los novicios, 7 otros tratados,' of S. Bonaventura, printed at Seville in 1497, 3,500m.; the 'Suma de Confession' of Antoninus, Archbishop of Florence, printed in the same year at Saragossa (Pablo Hurus), 3,000m.; the 'Tractatus de spirituali ascensione' of Gerard de Zutphania, printed at Montserrat (Juan Luschner), 1499, 3,000m.; and the first product of a Balearic press, Gerson's 'Tractatus de regulis mandatorum,' printed at Mallorca, 1485, 5,000m. There is a considerable number of 'Litteræ Indulgentiarum,' the best of which are those of Sixtus IV., for the war against the Turks, 1482, 750m.; those of Julius II. for a crusade "contra ferocissimos Ruthenos hæreticos pro tutela partiuna Livonie," 120m.; those granted by Leo X. to the faithful in sundry German and Scandinavian cities for the repair of St. Peter's, c. 1516, 300m; and, again, the Indulgences by which Sixtus IV. and Alexander VI. confirmed the privileges and dispensations granted by their predecessors to the Carmelites, and added yet others thereto. These are two MSS. on parchment, dated respectively Rome, 1477, and Avignon, 1498, stuck together and adorned in the margins with miniatures, 2,500m. The examples of German printing are numerous and important, but we have space to mention only a fine copy, with the 104 woodcuts uncoloured, of the 'Buch der Kunst, dadurch der weltlich mensch mag geystlich werden,' which was printed by Johannes Bämler at Augspurg in 1477, a work dedicated to the Empress Eleanor, and remarkable also for containing what is probably the earliest hunting-scene to be found among incunabula, 10,000m.
[Notices of other Catalogues held over.]
Notices to Correspondents.
On all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith.
We cannot undertake to answer queries privately, nor can we advise correspondents as to the value of old books and other objects or as to the means of disposing of them.
L. A. Holman, Boston, U.S.—Forwarded.
C. F. B.—For James Lawrence v. 'D.N.B.'
