7414 risultati
1870rif. 13079Paris: Unique. ca 1870. Original frame / Modern frame. Very good. Framed oblong scene of women harlequins and dancers rendered in subtle color lithography. Each of the figures is applied to the background in relief thereby producing a three dimensional effect for the viewer. Accompanying this is another framed "family scene" of nobility. Man woman and children composed of color lithographic figures with applied metallic highlights; gold braided tassle applied to the cushion at one corner as an embellishment. A anonymous unique composition of what appears to be a company of dancers or actors. Each is posed in a coquettish manner interacting as a group and looking at the viewer. Each is gayly attired in elaborate harlequin costumes in the manner of tinsel prints see Speaight Juvenile Drama . Chap. 11 with complicated silk ruffles and ties. The figures were produced through color lithography and mounted in relief to give the impression of depth to the scene. The item measures appx. 30 1/4 x 25 3/4 inches without the frame. There is no information available as to its origin. But given the quality of the lithography and subject matter a guess would be French. This is offered with a "noble family scene" of the same collage mode of representation. This is in a modern frame and measures appx. 12.5 x 16 inches without the frame. The relief effect is accomplished in the same manner. See Natl. Galleries of Scotland Collage #18 & #40. Unique. unknown books
1850rif. 5790American ca. 1850. Unique. Very good. An accomplished 19th century color gouache meas. 7.5 x 12 inches of a raging river waterfall. An ink notation on the verso of the backing board locates the scene as being : ' obscured Falls New York ' . This is incorrect. The place is actually on the Rhine and the drawing depicts the Schaffhausen Falls. There is another later notation stating that the signature of A B Durand has been obliterated. The painting is not by Durand. It is executed on thick paper that had at one time been mounted to a backing board around its edges wet and shrunk to fit a common method of preparation. The painting shows a high degree of skill in its execution. It is an evocative scene. unknown books
2008rif. 48605London.: Susan Allix. 2008. Full burgundy crushed morocco excised sections with curvilinear edges reveal a checkerboard pattern of gilt pink and café crème paper front board with three applied sections of white paper with monochrome drawings and four colour paintings see below mounted to squares or rectangles of burgundy crushed morocco with magnetic fastenings single painting mounted to rectangle of burgundy morocco affixed to centre of rear board smooth spine with tooled title in black cream handmade patterned paper doublures bronze free endpapers burgundy velvet-lined oatmeal drop-back box with morocco label to spine with title in black. Folio. 290 x 230 mm. Printed text in various types and illustration in various media all on various paper stock in various formats final leaf with justification and colophon. The édition de tête in the deluxe magnetic binding of one of Susan Allix's most extraordinary inventive capricious and whimsical artist books.From the edition limited to 24 numbered copies signed and numbered by Allix in pencil with this one of 8 from the édition de tête in the deluxe binding.Allix's detail regarding the book taken from the colophon is instructive: 'Authors: old or unknown. / Typefaces: various but including Grotesque Gill Granby and Gallia with Caslon ENgravers Roman & altered and un-altered wood letter. / Papers: various including Arches Somerset Zerkall. / Printing: by hand by letterpress; with new intaglio plates and lino-cuts and old printer's blocks.'Also included inserted loose is the prospectus for the book a sheet folded in three 210 x 98 mm folded with printed text recto only together with the price list which also gives detail of the price for 'Pagoda Memories'. 'On a nonsensical scale this book is not deeply nonsensical. It looks like a book; it has pages that turn conventionally and its contents are not gibberish. Most of the words have been around for many years some so long their authors have been forgotten. But they are set in a variety of arrangements using more typefaces than are usually expected in one book. There is a new piece of punctuation I invented some woodletter I altered and some old printers' blocks reprinted . The initial idea . was for the reader to be able to do more than turn the pages; to be able to move or change images. Small pictures on the binding would be turned or re-located over others by the use of magnets. As the results of this were not intended to be serious they would be accompanied by some nonsensical words . The different sizes shapes and tones of the various papers used sustain a vitality in the flow of pages while the limited colour scheme of terracotta red and cream unifies the collection of odd puzzling or humorous verses and extracts.' From Susan Allix's text from the prospectus for the book. (Susan Allix). unknown
rif. 76833London 1904. . Printed in blue and brown on white cotton. In very good condition. Following the return of David Livingstone from Africa in 1857 a coalition of groups from the Universities of Oxford Cambridge Durham and Dublin established the The Universities' Mission the first missionary society representing the high church end of the Anglican Church. The Mission existed from 1859 to 1909. This map covering British Central Africa German East Africa and Portuguese East Africa parts of modern South Africa Zimbabwe Zambia Mozambique and Tanzania is presumed to have been produced as part of the fund-raising activities of the society. A highly unusual and interesting map. BLMC Maps 66115.1. [London, 1904]. unknown
rif. 113795Continental Europe 13th-14th century. . Hebrew manuscript on vellum in old black ink; sheet size: 32 x 21.5 cm mount size: 45 x 35 cm; browning staining creases and marginal tears; mounted. Fragment from the Writings' Book of Psalms with Masorah containing Psalms 112 to 114. Psalm 113 also known in the Christian Latin liturgy as 'Laudate pueri Dominum' beginning in the King James' version: 'Praise ye the Lord O ye servants of the Lord'. In Judaism it is the first of the six Psalms comprising the Hallel prayer which is recited on 'Rosh Chodesh' the first day of the Hebrew month and on Jewish holidays. In Roman Catholicism it is one of the Psalms included in the Vespers service the evening prayer. It has been set to music often notably by Claudio Monteverdi in his 'Vespro della Beata Vergine' in 1610. In Hebrew the psalm has several famous melodies typical to each community's place of settlement which were passed trough generations in Sephardi Mizrachi and Ashkenazi communities and dating back to the middle ages and possibly prior. It seems that this leaf was used in what is known in Hebrew as 'Gnizat Krichot' the use of the leaves from old books' for binding newer books at a time when bookmaking materials were scarce. Many Jewish books that were confiscated by the Catholic Church during the Inquisition were also repurposed as binding material. [Continental Europe], [13th-14th century]. hardcover
1780rif. 5309N.p.: N.p. 1780. A fascinating manual of astronomy particularly as it relates to the form of the motions of the heavens. The manuscript is in three parts: the first part covers the elementary parts of 'spherical astronomy' the second and third parts are more advanced covering sections of the Principia dealing with lunar theory and the inverse-square law of attraction. . EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY MANUSCRIPT NOTEBOOK ON ASTRONOMY. A fascinating manual of astronomy particularly as it relates to the form of the motions of the heavens dating from the period 1780-1825 probably from the beginning of that range. It is in a single hand with the exception of one page though with some variations indicating that different parts of the MS were written at different times. The MS could have been prepared for personal use or as part of public tuition probably the former. The writer summarizes the subject matter of the manual on the first leaf: 'Astronomy is that part of Natural Philosophy which treats of the Phenomena of the heavenly Bodies. It is divided into 2 Parts Physical and Plain: by the latter we discover their Motions from the Apparent Motions; by the former the Causes of these real Motions.' The MS is in three parts which are distinct in terms of subject matter. The first part covers the motion of the Earth around the Sun and its rotation about its axis with the consequences for the apparent motions of the Sun and the heavens; with the Moon and its phases and motion; and with lunar and solar eclipses. There are several references to John Keill's An Introduction to the True Astronomy London 1721 and subsequent editions. The second part principally consists of a discussion of section 11 of Newton's Principia 1713 or later editions in particular as it relates to the motion of the moon. This part ends with a short section on algebra particularly polynomials which seems to have been composed more haphazardly than the remainder of the text. The third part which runs backwards starting from the end of the notebook gives demonstrations of various results in Book I of Principia notably the theorem that the orbits of the bodies in the solar system do not precess if and only if the central attractive force operating on them is exactly inverse-square. This is an important result not only for Newton's system of universal gravitation but also for the observational astronomy of the solar system which is discussed in the opening section of the book. Between the end of the second part and that of the third there are a few blank leaves and others have been torn out but the text appears complete. The MS appears to be a working through of at least two different texts beginning with Keill's on astronomy. The first part of the MS refers particularly to the material in chapters 7-14 of Keill. It begins with the geometry of the sphere of the Earth and its orbit great circles and poles the plane of the ecliptic equinoctial points and the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Then comes a section on the different systems of the world Ptolemaic Tychonic and Copernican illustrated by a diagram. The arguments supporting each system are given including the aberration of the fixed stars discovered by James Bradley in 1729 which supports Copernicus. It is noted that the Sun's apparent diameter varies according to the time of year which is explained by the fact that the Earth's distance from the Sun is not constant. Kepler's laws are stated with a long discussion of the area law and a statement that the Earth's orbit is an ellipse. The consequences of the fact that the plane of the Earth's orbit is inclined at an angle to the plane of the ecliptic are discussed the seasons. There is a section devoted to the precession of the equinoxes - the author notes that "Sir Isaac Newton has demonstrated that it arises from the broad spheroidal figure of the Earth." The author then turns to sunspots and the arguments for and against their being on the surface of the Sun. Then comes a long discussion of the planets: the planes and periods of their orbits phases conjunctions retrograde motions apparent brightness and their distances from the Sun. Special attention is given to the phases of Venus the varying appearances of Mars and Saturn's rings. This is followed by an extensive discussion of the Moon: its phases and motion and the fact that the same face is always turned to the Earth which implies that the Moon turns on its axis in the same time as it takes to orbit the Earth. This first part concludes with a fairly detailed account of lunar and solar eclipses. The second and third parts are notably more mathematical in nature than the first. The second works through Section 11 Prop. 66 of Principia and its corollaries which presents the perturbations of a remote body on a two-body system such as the Sun on the Earth-Moon system. This is one of the most difficult parts of Principia and one with which Newton was never completely happy and which is not entirely correct. The language used by the author of the notebook is reminiscent of the Principia but is primarily directed at following through Newton's working. There is a reference to a numbered figure '80' which does not appear to be numbered in any edition of the Principia. But it seems likely that the language and form of this discussion derives from familiarity with Robert Thorp's edition of Book 1 of the Principia 1777; cf. the notes published in Latin in 1765: pp. 266-90 in 1777 although Thorp is not referenced explicitly as Keill is. Thorp does have a figure 80 but it is not clear that he is the author being used at that particular point. There is then a discussion of algebra and the solution of equations which is fragmentary and incomplete followed by a number of blank and torn-out pages. The third part of the manuscript consists of a reading of various sections of Newton's Principia 1713 or later editions. Again it appears to take the form of working through and in some cases repeating the proofs of Newton's work rather than representing a translation or paraphrase. It is not based on Motte's translation nor does it correspond with the partial translation and edition of Thorp. It does not appear to be based on any other intermediary between Newton and the writer e.g. Pemberton but to rely on Newton's Latin original here rendered in places pretty exactly into English. It renders propositions 43 to 59 of section 9 of book 1 of the Principia which concern the motion of bodies in moveable orbits and the motion of the apsides. This is a topic which is still of some considerable interest to astronomers and historians of astronomy. Here Newton introduces what has come to be called Newton's 'rotating ellipse proposition' in which a rotating or precessing ellipse is described by a body for which the central force includes a term proportional to the cube of the distance from the focus; this rotating ellipse is compared with a similar stationary ellipse in which another similar body rotates about the same centre of force. Careful analysis leads to expressions for the extra inverse cube force depending on the number of upper and lower apses found in the moving ellipse. This part of the notebook includes the demonstration of the important proposition that the extra inverse cube force is absent i.e. the central force is exactly inverse-square if and only if the orbits of the bodies in the solar system do not precess. From the hand which seems constant throughout the book although with some considerable variation which might indicate a second writer or more likely the same writer at a different time or with a different pen and the paper we can with some confidence date the notebook to the period 1750-1825. If our supposition that it was Thorp's edition of Principia which was being used we might be able to narrow its date down to 1780-1825. The section of the planets in the first part does not mention Uranus Georgium sidus discovered by William Herschel in 1781 which appears to place this as an upper bound. This would therefore suggest a composition date in the late 1770s. We are indebted to Scott Mandelbrote for his assistance with the description of this notebook. 4to 196 x 162 mm manuscript in ink on Dutch paper with Maid of Dort watermark without countermark. 101 and 26 leaves of text and diagrams 39 blank leaves in the middle last 26 leaves reversed illustrated with several astronomical and mathematical diagrams including one of a solar system. Late 18th century half calf marbled sides. N.p. unknown
1676rif. 180541676 noted. Contemporary vellum. Very good; recased; some finger soiling throughout; binding darkened with signs of use. Folio appx. 350 pp. At least three distinct hands in the text. German Gothic script. A comprehensive and contiguous journal of cures and analysis e.g. several pages are given over to urine analysis by color running from 1676 into the eighteenth century. The text seems to be arranged by symptom or subject e.g. women pregnancy elements of insanity etc. The journal appears to be the work of successive generations of apothecaries. There are only a handful of mentions of other physicians in the body of the text. An early compilation and therefore an uncommon survival. hardcover books
1819rif. 25026Berlin 1918 - 1922. Not bound. As issued; some age toning; vertical margins untrimmed. Overall very good. Twenty individual news-sheets broadsides and announcements. The sheet size for each is appx. 305 x 230 mm. Some printed recto & verso. A remarkably well preserved archive of printed communications issued by the Kommunistische Partei Deutschland - Spartakusbund 5 - INCLUDING THE NOTICE OF LIEBKNECHT AND LUXEMBURG'S MURDER; Freie Sozialistische Jugend 1; Kommunistische Arbeiter-Partei 11; Allgemeine Arbeiter Union 2 . Each was meant to be posted or distributed in the street. As a group they provide proof of the ideologically riven "Left" in Berlin in the immediate aftermath of WWI. The city was eventually engulfed in bloody street combat in an attempt by these groups and affliates to establish workers' councils as a basis for a new government for Germany. Several large cities in Germany followed - all the rebellions were quickly put-down by a reactionary alliance of conservatives and military associations. The archive also includes a broadside advertisement for a Gorki play Die Feinde about the failed 1905 revolution in Russia. The best account of the KPD in post WWI Germany is H Weber Die Wandlung des Deutschen Kommunismus. unknown books
1901rif. 014451Calcutta: Geological Survey Office 1901. Geological Survey of India. New Series. 17 volumes. Books measure 36.5x27.5.cm. Published between 1901-1944. Volume 1. 1357378pp 29 plates. Volume 2 40pp x plates 154pp viii plates 58iipp ix plates 183ppxx plates. Volume 3 xix 83pp viii plates 254pp xxi plates 74pp vii plates. Volume 4 29pp v plates 83pp xxx plates 10pp III plates 57pp viii plates. Volume 5 iii1133pp xiii plates 135pp xi plates iii52pp xvi plates. Volume 6 vii 98pp xii plates v 134pp xvi plates iii 69pp viii plates viii 134pp x plates. Volume 7 ii 41pp vii plates 24pp vii plates 78pp xxxii plates 13pp iii plates. Volume 8 iii 73pp iv plates 59pp vii plates 28pp I plate 65pp xx plates. Volume 9 29pp vii 945pp cxxx plates. Volume 10 291pp xx plates vi631pp iv plates 728-73pp xi plates75pp ix plates. Volumes 12 & 13 ii 42pp iv plates 2 maps 4 39pp iv plates. Volumes 1416 & 17 24pp I plate 37pp iv plates ii 56pp viii plates. Volume 15 222pp xxii plates. Volumes 18 & 19 iii 232pp x plates iii 391pp iv plates. Volume 20 ii 79pp xiii plates 19pp ii plates19pp iii plates 39pp vi plates ii 27pp ii plates 34pp I plate. Volume 21 74pp xxiv plates 38pp ii plates x 130pp vii plates 49pp vi plates. Volume 23 xiv 596pp lxv plates. Bound in cloth with gilt lettering. Cloth rubbed worn some joints split library labels and stamps. Generally bindings in good condition. Internally occasional library stamp or mark about 10 in each volume . Pages and plates clean. . Cloth. Very Good. Small Folio. Geological Survey Office Hardcover
1615rif. 629L18Parisiis: Rolinum Thierry; Eustachium Foucault 1615. Cloth. Very Good. 13.5" by 9.5". None. A very scarce and well preserved Roman Pontifical being the Clement VIII version. A lovely folio work which is a piece of Catholic history. In the original Latin. The Roman Pontifical contains the rites of Bishops and is a Catholic liturgical book. Under Clement VIII 1536-1605 a standard version of this work was issued for the use of the entire Roman Rite for the first time. Therefore this is an early edition of this text. This work is in red and black across two columns per page. There are several psalms to which is printed the sheet music. In a lovely condition. Has been rebound without the endpapers. Rebound in a full calf binding. Externally generally smart. Damp staining to the boards. Internally firmly bound. Prior owner's contemporary inscription to the head of title page. Internally firmly bound. Pages are slightly cockled. Pages are bright. Small worm hole to pages 70-236 only affecting the margin. Very Good Rolinum Thierry; Eustachium Foucault hardcover
1900rif. 3524Paris London and New York: Societé des Bibliophiles and Merrill and Baker 1900. Limited Edition. Leather Bound. Very Good. Limited Edition. Leather Bound. 20 vols. Anon: Courtiers and Favourities of Royalty. Limited Edition of fifty sets of which this is no. 42. Illustrated throughout. Including letter and autograph of Marmontel in volume 1 dated September 1784. Bound in 3/4 autumn leaf levant Morocco leather with marbled boards and endpapers. Gilt borders on covers and frames with floral embellishments and inlays on spine panel compartments. Gilt lettering on spine top edges gilt. Published Paris London and New York: Societé des Bibliophiles and Merrill and Baker. H: 9" W: 6 1/4" D: 1 1/2". Societé des Bibliophiles and Merrill and Baker unknown
1870rif. 26016UK ca1870. Half leather with elaborately decorated boards and reverse embossed floral borders in relief. All "face-edges" of the binding covers are sealed with a narrow band of gold colored foil. Near fine; occasional spot. 4to the portfolio measuring appx. 240 x 215 mm. The accomplished central watercolor illustration front cover only; measuring appx. 150 x 110 mm is taken directly from Gould's Mammals of Australia 1863 and is of the Red-tailed phasogale Phasogale calura an arboreal marsupial. The portfolio contains a 4to size blank notebook made up of 28 pp. of laid paper bound in a decorated paper wrapper. The border on the front cover and central medallion design and border of the rear cover were produced by minute cutwork and reverse embossing with modest highlights in monochromatic ink on a single sheet that was affixed to stiff boards to form the binding covers. A most attractive and remarkable survival of Victorian decorative arts; most likely from the workshop of a bookbinder with the addition of a well executed watercolor of an Australian marsupial providing a whimsical flair. The whole is executed with great skill and sophistication. There is no identification of the maker. What appears to be designed as a desk portfolio also contains a blank 4to size notebook made up of laid paper in color patterned paper wrappers. There is nothing akin to it in the 2 volume Maggs English bindings catalog of 1987or other binding references consulted. hardcover books
1800rif. 18002Ephrata: Joseph Bauman ca1800. Edition not known. Not bound. Good; irregular marginal trimming; old folds. Broadside appx. 280 x 220 mm embellished with a hand-colored woodcut of Concordia appx. 140 x 70 mm "One of the most unusual of the German ballads ." The tale is of a girl who visits paradise and returns after what she believes is a few hours but in reality is over a century. According to Yoder this ballad was read or sung to the tune of the hymn "Mein Gemüt erfreut sich". The story of the human bride-of-Christ can be found as early as the 13th century and has many variants. The broadside has 29 verses Yoder translates the entire tale for his book and is decorated with a superb hand colored woodcut of the subject. The ballad has 21 identified variant settings issued by different printers in the first four decades of the nineteenth century. The version offered here has one location at the Free Library of Philadelphia; it is absent from American Imprints. See Yoder PA German Broadside pp. 63 - 66; PSU copy defective is a much later variant. [Joseph Bauman?] unknown books
1860rif. 24066Baltimore ca1860. Framed. Very good; some minor spotting to the periphary. Color pen & ink drawing meas. appx. 315 x 445 mm in the original contemporary frame; on glazed cotton. An unusual "cartoon" that features what appears to be Franklin Pierce astride a game-cock directing a spear pointed quill at a prostrate figure in the grasp of the animal. The election of 1852 was preceded by a contentious Democratic party convention in Baltimore - the origin of this cartoon when it surfaced at an estate sale in 1995. Until that time it had been folded and kept undisturbed. The result is its retention of the depth of the original color and very good condition. Although the attribution to the Pierce campaign cannot be certain it appears the most likely - especially with the game-cock. Pierce faced days of votes to secure his candidacy that was not by any means popular. Here he is shown subduing one of his opponents for the nomination. unknown books
rif. 72611ca. 1800. . Gouache mounted on card. Image size: 36 cm x 51 cm. Overall size: 49.5 cm x 64 cm. Attractive early American topographical view with a family and others in the foreground painted in fresh thick colours. ca. 1800]. unknown
1667rif. 704L23Anon: Anon 1667. First edition. Leather. Near Fine. 7.5" by 6". None. A very scarce first edition copy of this critical work on the economics of England and the monies devoted to the Church of England. The title page quotes Francis Bacon and states 'The treasure and moneys in a state be not gathered into a few hands for otherwise a state may have a great Stock and yet starve' in addition to 'Money is like muck not good except it be spread'. ESTC reference no: R218579. Only seen once at auction in the last fifty years in 1976. This critical pamphlet discusses the cause of impoverishing the nation as being the 'pomp pride luxury exaction and oppression of the prelates'. There are many statistics of different clergymen their revenues and all sources of income concluding that 'the money that before ran currant in trading is damned up in their coffers'. A sequel was written by Slingsby Bethel which was released the following year. Bethel was an MP with republican sympathies. A very scarce and important work giving opinions against the Church and the landscape of England's economic climate in the seventeenth century. Rebound in a quarter calf binding with paper covered boards. Externally excellent with minor shelfwear. Internally firmly bound. Pages are slightly age toned. Small contemporary ink mark to the title page. Just the odd spot to pages. Near Fine Anon hardcover
rif. 23049Unknown date and place French/Spanish. Carefully stitched to a cloth covered mounting board. Overall excellent but with some superficial darkening in small areas because of hair oil residue. Twisted metal-wire collar measuring appx. 60 x 47.5 cm. A complex finely woven twisted metal wire lace-work collar of indeterminate age and origin. The lace-work for want of a better descriptive term is minutely detailed and modelled after the examples from 16th century continental textile pattern books. It is decorated with elaborate three dimensional "rosettes" in a field of roundels varying in size and gauge of the wire utilized. Rebatos or collars included in early 17th century or late 16th century portraits of women seem close in style to the one offered here but the twisted wrapped wire construction argues for a later period . It was apparently worn at some time and then removed from the garment and preserved. See F Speelberg Met. Museum of Art Bulletin Fall 2015 Fashion & Virtue. hardcover books
rif. 7716Seven double-page one of which has flaps & folds out into a four-panel scene and two single-page woodcuts all finely color-printed and nine double-page black & white woodcuts. One color-printed title-page pasted down on inner upper wrapper 24 folding leaves. Small 8vo orig. color-printed upper wrapper with embossing decorated lower wrapper new stitching. Edo: Preface dated 1864. First edition and very rare; we find no copy in WorldCat. The Preface was written by Tanekiyo Ryusuitei 1823-1907 using his pen name "Insuitei." Following one of the frequent fires in the famous pleasure quarters of Yoshiwara often started by the prostitutes in an effort to free themselves many brothels temporarily re-established themselves in other locations throughout Edo. This book was issued as sort of a guide to the newly relocated brothels and very much reflects the changes that shunga books were going through during the end of the Edo period. The first double-page woodcut depicts the exterior of a thriving brothel in Edo with many prostitutes within looking out to the numerous passing men and women on the bustling street. This opens up into a four-panel image of the interior of the brothel showing men being entertained and engaging in several sexual activities. The following six double-page woodcuts depict the "star" prostitutes all engaged in sex with the names of the brothels where they worked. All the rooms shown are very luxuriously furnished with silk screens ornate fabrics and beautiful furniture. These woodcuts are all printed in richly saturated colors including silver and gold pigments and with complex embossing. The cult of sex organs where phalluses are objects of veneration and worship is also exhibited here in a most uncommon image. The final color-printed woodcut - single-page - depicts an altar inside the brothel where a phallus is the center of worship. Envelopes containing cash left by clients are piled in front. See Suzuki Kenko's most fascinating "Popular Cults of Sex Organs in Japan: Guardian Deities Auspicious Objects and Votive Paintings" in Timothy Clark et al. eds. Shunga. Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art British Museum: 2013 pp. 364-67. The text section contains nine very interesting double-page black-and-white woodcuts showing elaborate scenes of entertainment men and women having "intimate moments" the aftermath of sex with copious dribbling secretions used napkin wipes on the floor etc. These scenes can be described as "action-packed." Fine and fresh copy. One black-and-white woodcut has two small holes. unknown
rif. 7716Seven double-page one of which has flaps & folds out into a four-panel scene and two single-page woodcuts all finely color-printed and nine double-page black & white woodcuts. One color-printed title-page pasted down on inner upper wrapper 24 folding leaves. Small 8vo orig. color-printed upper wrapper with embossing decorated lower wrapper new stitching. Edo: Preface dated 1864. First edition and very rare; we find no copy in WorldCat. The Preface was written by Tanekiyo Ryusuitei 1823-1907 using his pen name "Insuitei." Following one of the frequent fires in the famous pleasure quarters of Yoshiwara often started by the prostitutes in an effort to free themselves many brothels temporarily re-established themselves in other locations throughout Edo. This book was issued as sort of a guide to the newly relocated brothels and very much reflects the changes that shunga books were going through during the end of the Edo period. The first double-page woodcut depicts the exterior of a thriving brothel in Edo with many prostitutes within looking out to the numerous passing men and women on the bustling street. This opens up into a four-panel image of the interior of the brothel showing men being entertained and engaging in several sexual activities. The following six double-page woodcuts depict the "star" prostitutes all engaged in sex with the names of the brothels where they worked. All the rooms shown are very luxuriously furnished with silk screens ornate fabrics and beautiful furniture. These woodcuts are all printed in richly saturated colors including silver and gold pigments and with complex embossing. The cult of sex organs where phalluses are objects of veneration and worship is also exhibited here in a most uncommon image. The final color-printed woodcut - single-page - depicts an altar inside the brothel where a phallus is the center of worship. Envelopes containing cash left by clients are piled in front. See Suzuki Kenko's most fascinating "Popular Cults of Sex Organs in Japan: Guardian Deities Auspicious Objects and Votive Paintings" in Timothy Clark et al. eds. Shunga. Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art British Museum: 2013 pp. 364-67. The text section contains nine very interesting double-page black-and-white woodcuts showing elaborate scenes of entertainment men and women having "intimate moments" the aftermath of sex with copious dribbling secretions used napkin wipes on the floor etc. These scenes can be described as "action-packed." Fine and fresh copy. One black-and-white woodcut has two small holes. unknown books
1899rif. 014450Calcutta: Geological Survey Office 1899. Survey of india. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India. Series 15. 9 volumes. Books measure 36x27.cm. Published between 1899-1915. Volume 1 part 1 101001pp xvi plates. Volume 1 part 2 695pp viii plates. Volume 1 part 5 iv 2043pp ix plates. Volume 2 viii 181pp xxiii plates 4120pp xxxi plates. Volume 3 iii 157pp xxii plates iii76pp xii plates. Volume 4 text starts at page 133-511pp civ plates. Volume 5 7 201pp xvii plates 140pp xvii plates 157pp xxiv plates. Volume 6 ii 186pp xxxi plates 39pp v plates. Volume 7 70pp vi plates 168pp xx plates. Bound in cloth with gilt lettering. Cloth rubbed minor abrasion wear some hinge joints spilt but boards holding library stamp on spine and top boards. Generally bindings in good clean condition. Internally occasional library stamp or mark about 10 to each volume a few pages repaired on margins. Pages and plates in very good clean condition. . Cloth. Very Good. Small Folio. Geological Survey Office Hardcover
1887rif. 5556Hartford : Calhoun Print Co. ca. 1887. Unique. Very good with remnants of the print glued to the rear surface of the board. Folio. A carved woodblock for printing an advertising broadside. The block meas. appx. 20 x 24 inches. The original hand carved woodblock for printing an illustrated advertising broadside for F H Burnett's book Little Lord Fauntleroy. The author and title of the book are cut in large block type design across the bottom margin below a central field of two large figures in the foyer of a mansion a similar illus. is used on the front cover of the original book. The surface of the carved block is excellent. The two central figures are carved in great detail. The block is identified by the use of a small carved seal on a blank portion of the printing surface identifying it as originating with Calhoun Print Hartford. Calhoun Print Co. unknown books
1700rif. nm 952C. 1700 1700. Bound Period Manuscript. French text on painting at the time of Lancret Boucher & Fragonard. c. 1725-1800. 11 pages. accompanied by photocopy of same. Also with 2 copies of "Mid-Eighteenth Century French Apprentice Painter's Note-Book" by Keck & Williams offprinted from the Metropolitan Museum's Technical Studies Journal of Oct.1940. 8p. This article includes an English transcription/translation of the orginal MS. Orignial dealer's description from catalogue: "Manuscrit comt. du XVIII siecle 11 pages in-8 fort curieux:: couleurs a employer pour la couleur du bois le tronc des arbres le blue qui set aux draperies les eaux et les diademes. On lit avec interet et profit ces secrets." A unique item. . Hardcover. Near Fine. C. 1700 Hardcover
1839rif. 88235London UK: Henry Smith 44 Drury Lane 1839-1840. First Thus. 12mo. 14.5cm. Disbound retaining buff rear wrap stitched possibly at some point removed from a sammelband. 36pp. Clean and bright with a 1" closed tear to the lower spine edge of the title page; internally fresh lacking the frontispiece plate depicting "The Marquis and His Molls at The Union and Mother Emerson's". A very good clean copy indeed of a vanishingly scarce publication. Published under two identifiable imprints; one by "John Wilson" of Long Acre actually the rather shady Edward Duncombe and this volume by "Henry Smith" who was actually notorious smut peddler William Dugdale. Wilson's imprint is the one from the Madeline Kripke Collection currently residing at the Lilly Library in Bloomington Indiana and was long thought to be the only surviving copy. Another copy of the Wilson/Duncombe surfaced in trade in a catalog from the luminous and erudite Karen Thomson in the mid 20-teens and presumably disappeared into a private collection. This copy is the only traceable copy of the Henry Smith imprint with no visibility in OCLC at all. Precedence is undeniably difficult to establish; Dugdale was trading at 94 Drury Lane in 1837-1838 and was next door or more likely downstairs at 94 ½ Drury Lane in late 1839 after a brief few months over on Wych Street. He was verifiably printing and publishing work under the "Henry Smith" shingle in 1838 and was presumably still using it in 1839 but in 1840 he was over on Holywell St. off The Strand. Duncombe on the other hand can be placed at 78 Long Acre having taken a rental on a shop in what was most likely late 1839 it is recorded that in 1841 he hung the name "John Wilson" over the door apparently to the surprise of his landlord who testified in court that there was no such person at that address although there is scant evidence to suggest he wasn't publishing under Wilson prior to that. Purely for amusement purposes it should be noted that during the time this work was printed neither of these two piratical gentlemen was further than 4 minutes walk from each other. Ms. Kripke stuck to a date of 1840 for her "Wilson" copy and a date of 1840 can be applied to the Smith imprint via a periodical advertisement discovered by the publisher of "The Penny Bibliography"; Mr. John Adcock https://john-adcock.blogspot.com/2009/03/penny-bibliography.html. The fact that it bears the 94 Drury Lane address suggests a printing date of late 1839 although seeing as both Dugdale and Duncombe were perpetually in and out of court and jail for various crimes against decency throughout their entire careers any accuracy in the timeline can be ascribed to accident rather than intention. This copy rather sadly lacks the frontispiece which presumably would have looked much like the one Duncombe/Wilson used in his publication although his has a rather proprietorial publisher's imprint across it depicting a virile young rake cavorting through a number of the establishments mentioned within. A significant link in a long chain of bawdy guides rake's progressions and "Gentlemen's Kalendars" that owes much to Harris's Lists of half a century earlier; "Larks of London" occupies a clearly rather cramped space alongside "The Swell's Night Guide Through The Metropolis" by "F.L.G." and the "Man of Pleasure's Illustrated Pocket Book" and their ilk. Stopping short of active descriptions of sexual acts but making no bones about their availability and the addresses where they could or should be purchased it also expands into discussions of the relative quality of food drink and gaming facilities whether the company can be construed to be "Low" or of a more elevated nature and a certain strategic interest in how to get the very best from a night on the most irredeemably vice-ridden town in the Empire. Henry Smith, 44 Drury Lane unknown
1839rif. 88235London UK: Henry Smith 44 Drury Lane 1839-1840. First Thus. 12mo. 14.5cm. Disbound retaining buff rear wrap stitched possibly at some point removed from a sammelband. 36pp. Clean and bright with a 1" closed tear to the lower spine edge of the title page; internally fresh lacking the frontispiece plate depicting "The Marquis and His Molls at The Union and Mother Emerson's". A very good clean copy indeed of a vanishingly scarce publication. Published under two identifiable imprints; one by "John Wilson" of Long Acre actually the rather shady Edward Duncombe and this volume by "Henry Smith" who was actually notorious smut peddler William Dugdale. Wilson's imprint is the one from the Madeline Kripke Collection currently residing at the Lilly Library in Bloomington Indiana and was long thought to be the only surviving copy. Another copy of the Wilson/Duncombe surfaced in trade in a catalog from the luminous and erudite Karen Thomson in the mid 20-teens and presumably disappeared into a private collection. This copy is the only traceable copy of the Henry Smith imprint with no visibility in OCLC at all. Precedence is undeniably difficult to establish; Dugdale was trading at 94 Drury Lane in 1837-1838 and was next door or more likely downstairs at 94 ½ Drury Lane in late 1839 after a brief few months over on Wych Street. He was verifiably printing and publishing work under the "Henry Smith" shingle in 1838 and was presumably still using it in 1839 but in 1840 he was over on Holywell St. off The Strand. Duncombe on the other hand can be placed at 78 Long Acre having taken a rental on a shop in what was most likely late 1839 it is recorded that in 1841 he hung the name "John Wilson" over the door apparently to the surprise of his landlord who testified in court that there was no such person at that address although there is scant evidence to suggest he wasn't publishing under Wilson prior to that. Purely for amusement purposes it should be noted that during the time this work was printed neither of these two piratical gentlemen was further than 4 minutes walk from each other. Ms. Kripke stuck to a date of 1840 for her "Wilson" copy and a date of 1840 can be applied to the Smith imprint via a periodical advertisement discovered by the publisher of "The Penny Bibliography"; Mr. John Adcock https://john-adcock.blogspot.com/2009/03/penny-bibliography.html. The fact that it bears the 94 Drury Lane address suggests a printing date of late 1839 although seeing as both Dugdale and Duncombe were perpetually in and out of court and jail for various crimes against decency throughout their entire careers any accuracy in the timeline can be ascribed to accident rather than intention. This copy rather sadly lacks the frontispiece which presumably would have looked much like the one Duncombe/Wilson used in his publication although his has a rather proprietorial publisher's imprint across it depicting a virile young rake cavorting through a number of the establishments mentioned within. A significant link in a long chain of bawdy guides rake's progressions and "Gentlemen's Kalendars" that owes much to Harris's Lists of half a century earlier; "Larks of London" occupies a clearly rather cramped space alongside "The Swell's Night Guide Through The Metropolis" by "F.L.G." and the "Man of Pleasure's Illustrated Pocket Book" and their ilk. Stopping short of active descriptions of sexual acts but making no bones about their availability and the addresses where they could or should be purchased it also expands into discussions of the relative quality of food drink and gaming facilities whether the company can be construed to be "Low" or of a more elevated nature and a certain strategic interest in how to get the very best from a night on the most irredeemably vice-ridden town in the Empire. Henry Smith, 44 Drury Lane unknown books
rif. 771516 double-page & four single-page color-printed woodcuts. 13; 11; 9 folding leaves. Three vols. Small 8vo orig. speckled semi-stiff boards boards rubbed orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers new stitching. Japan probably Edo: manuscript inscription dated "1832" at end of each volume. First edition and very rare; we do not find this book listed in WorldCat or in the Union Catalogue of Japanese Books. The Preface is signed by Akikei or Akikage Higashikuni. This work is an erotic version of Shiki no en an 18th-century group of songs on the four seasons of love from the Yamada ryu school of the Japanese harp koto. The poems of Haku Rakuten or Bai Letian 772-846 the Chinese poet of the mid-Tang dynasty are sources for the songs along with Japanese waka poems. Haku Rakuten "became the favorite poet of Heian times.He was the Chinese poet to whom allusions and from whom recollections were most frequent in Heian Japan. His verses were often used for kudai waka and he epitomized Chinese poetry."-Earl Miner et al. The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature p. 160. The first color-printed woodcut depicts a woman preparing to play the koto. There follows a series of erotic double-page woodcuts: kabuki actors young samurai Chinese characters and women of various social classes are shown engaged in sex through the changing seasons. It is fascinating to see the various rooms and their furnishings the participants' costumes and the landscapes in the background. The fine woodcuts were clearly created by a member of the Utagawa school however we are unable to establish their artistic authorship. Very good set but with some thumbing. The second and third volumes have some worming touching several of the woodcuts. unknown
