The History of England, from the invasion of Julius Cæsar to the revolution in 1688. In eight volumes, illustrated with plates. A new edition, with the author?s last corrections and improvements. To which is prefixed, a short account of his life, written by himself. And Continue to the Death of George the Second in five volumes by T Smollet. ( 13 leather bounded volumes) by David Hume; Tobias Smollett

London: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1900. First edition, first printing. Hardcover. This is the British first edition, first printing of Churchill's fifth published book. Ian Hamilton's March was the second of Churchill's two books based on his newspaper despatches sent from the front in South Africa during the Boer War. In October 1899, the second Boer War erupted between the descendants of Dutch settlers in South Africa and the British. Churchill, an adventure-seeking young cavalry officer and war correspondent, swiftly found himself in South Africa with the 21st Lancers and an assignment as press correspondent to the Morning Post. Not long thereafter, on 15 November 1899, Churchill was captured during a Boer ambush of an armored train. His daring escape less than a month later rendered him a celebrity and helped launch his political career. Churchill's first book of Boer War despatches, London to Ladysmith via Pretoria was published in England in mid-May 1900 and sold well. Ian Hamilton's March… Read More

London: Printed By Ellerton and Henderson, 1821. Small Octavo. iv, 42 pages. This rare pamphlet gives an account in detail of the sexual practices on vessels both in port and in foreign countries. There were hundreds of prostitutes along with sailors wives (and children) were also inside the closed quarters with each bunk or hammock measuring 24" sexual activity began to take place. The Lords describe the various encounters in the narrow hammocks, the stench, the drunkeness, and the crude blasphemies and mockeries of the Lord's Prayer and Apostle's Creed. Of course, the problem of venereal disease was overwhelming and many of the ship's surgeons resigned if they had any other opportunity to avoid service on these ships. The outroar came when George Charles Smith whose ministry was on behalf of sailors and their families (see DNB) who wrote a series of pamphlets for the laymen in the seaports of England. Harvard University Library has many of his bound pamphlets under the title Prose and Poetry (not… Read More

Collection of 96 engraved plates by Smith after original drawings by members of the Society of Antiquaries. Engraved title-page and 96 plates, of which 3 tinted (One duplicated plate bound in.) Plates include portraits of King Lud, King Richard II, King James I, Sir Thomas Gresham, William Earl of Craven, historian John Stowe, famous London buildings such as Bruce Castle, Sion College, Lincoln's Inn Gate, Bloody Tower, Newgate, Savoy Prison, Lollards Prison, old Tudor houses, ruins, gravestones, etc. The engraver John Thomas Smith was Keeper of Drawings at the British Museum, and this series of prints earned him the nickname Antiquity Smith.Condition: Leather spine with five-raised bands and gilt lettering, marble boards, scuffed and worn. Engraved plates mostly clean and bright with slight spotting and foxing to a few. Damp stain to lower edge of first 15 plates outside the plate area.

Very good + copy of Strutt's classic study of medieval English games, sports, festival recreations and performances. First published in 1801 and reprinted many times in both quarto and octavo editions. First quarto edition with hand-coloured lithographs of the annotated edition by William Hone of 1830.Profusely illustrated with charming figures excerpted from illuminated manuscripts in the British Museum, the Bodleian, Harleian and Royal libraries, etc.Joseph Strutt (1749-1802) was an English engraver, artist, antiquary and writer famous for his work on the history of English costume and sports.William Hone (1780-1842), was an English writer, satirist and bookseller.Contains all forms of mental and physical recreation, from archery to bell-ringing, football to apple-bobbing, chess to bear-baiting, acrobatics to golf, jousting to gambling, opera to maypole dancing.With 140 b/w engravings in the text, and the same 140 illustrations reproduced on 40 finely hand-coloured, lithographed plates (frontispiece… Read More

FOX, Charles JamesA history of the early part of the reign of James the Second, with an introductory chapter.London, Large 4to, First edition. Printed for William Miller. 1808. Pp. xl, 293, [ii], cli. Contemporary Tree Calf, with extensive gilding on the covers and the spine (photos). FINE copy, text block is clean, bright, tight, and without any markings or inscriptions. End papers are marbled with the book plate of John Clerk Brodie. This attractive copy is in exceptional condition.

Published by The Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, Ordnance Survey Office, 1867. 1st Edition . Hardcover. Fair. Published by The Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, Ordnance Survey Office, 1867. 1st Edition . Fair. Complete in 3 Parts. Elephant folio, approx. 22'' by 16''. Original quarter leather with blue cloth binding, titles & Royal crest in gilt on front cover & emblem on back cover. All parts show shelf wear, particularly at corners/edges/spine. All absent outer spine. Upper edge gilt. Occasional foxing/marks throughout, particularly at front of parts II & III. Inner books generally in good condition for their age. Part I (1867), scrape to front cover, xviii + 43pp with 78 manuscripts illustrated on 41 plates. Part II (1870), Xxii + 68pp, 84 facsimiles, Part III (1871), Xvi + 108 facsimiles & accompanying text. This set covers all the major events in Scotland's history from 900 AD, royal marriages, deaths, battles, letters, charters etc to the Treaty of Union (1706).… Read More

London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1910. Paperback. This is the 1910 vintage pulp paperback, the so-called "First Cheap Edition." My African Journey is Churchill's travelogue on Britain's possessions in East Africa, written while he was serving as Undersecretary of State for the Colonies. This book is notable, among other things, for being the only one of his many books to contain photographs ostensibly taken by the author. In the summer of 1907 Churchill left England for five months, making his way after working stops in southern Europe to Africa for "a tour of the east African domains." In early November, Churchill would kill a rhinoceros, the basis of the striking illustration on the front cover of the British first edition of his eventual book. By now a seasoned and financially shrewd author, Churchill arranged to profit doubly from the trip, first by serializing articles in The Strand Magazine and then by publishing a book based substantially upon them. In November 1908 Hodder and Stoughton… Read More

London: London: printed by M. Flesher, for Walter Kettilby, at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1684. 1st Edition . Full leather. Near Fine. First edition, quarto; [12], 288, [52], 305-472, [12]pp., complete with imprimatur leaf preceding title-page and separate dated title-page to "An historical account of the College's proceedings against empiricks" on leaf 2P1 recto. In period style 20th century full leather by J.May of London (with only the lightest of wear), blind double fillets to board margins, five raised spine bands with gilt lettered spine label to second compartment, all page edges gilt, small single marginal wormhole to a few rear leaves not affecting text, first and last leaves marginally stained by leather turn-ins, occasional very feint spots and unobtrusive light paper browning, overall a clean copy of these important early accounts of the Royal College of Physicians undertaken, probably at the request of the College, by Charle Goodall, later to become its President. A… Read More

London: E. Parker and T. Ward 1st edition., 1714. Hardcover. Very Good-. Copperplate headpieces & figural initial letters by Lud. Du Guernier + several woodcut decorated tailpieces.. Large octavo blind-tooled calf, handsome panelled covers, spine on 6 raised bands, compartments with blind floral tooling & red gilt title label (corners worn, lower cover bit marked, splitting to top hinges but entirely sound) All edges rouge, marbled endpapers. Title in double ruled surround printed in red and black +[14]pp dedication + lxxxii Preface by John Fortescue-Aland +[4]pp Table +148pp +[4]pp Authors quoted and Anglo-Saxon alphabet, collated complete. Two blank leaves preceding title have some marks of former damp in gutter, first endpaper with top corner cut off, all pages otherwise crisp and clean throughout. *Remarkable mediaeval constitutional treatise, first published here in 1714 by a descendant of the author (ESTC T140210).

London: Printed by M[ary] C[larke] for Jos. Hindmarsh, Bookseller to his Royal Highness., 1684. Hardcover. Very Good-. Octavo (11x17cm) speckled brown leather on 4 raised bands with orange gilt spine title label (neat small repair to head of spine, tips rubbed) All edges marbled but darkened, [14]pp (titlepage, dedication & contents) + 272pp + errata leaf tipped in, collated complete except lacks blank leaf A8. Side notes and good margins, monogram engraved bookplate by W.G.R., pages crisp and clean throughout. *Supports the succession to Charles II of his brother James Duke of York, in spite of (p 236) "the moral impossibility of introducing the Romish Religion, tho the Prince were of that Persuasion". Very rare (Wing W2921, ESTC R27078).