Search Results: Authors starting with A from Alembic Rare Books

Edinburgh: William Whyte and Co., 1837. Hardcover. Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. Octavo. Original red cloth, titles to spine gilt. Contemporary ownership inscription to front pastedown. Cloth partially faded and a little rubbed, with small worn spots at the ends of the spine and corners, just a little light spotting to contents. A very good copy. The title page states that this is the fifth edition, however, we have been unable to trace any earlier editions in the usual institutional catalogues. This small book on moral intelligence contains the ownership inscription of a young woman, Anne Elizabeth Le Mesurier, most likely the same Anne Elizabeth who genealogical records indicate was born to Thomas and Margaret Le Mesurier in 1814. Books on morality were an important part of the education of most middle and upper-class young people during the 19th-century. This text, however, seems directed more towards boys and men, with a focus on mental and emotional discipline, intellectual life, and… Read More

London: Joseph Johnson, 1787. Duodecimo (155 x 95mm). Contemporary tree calf, spine gilt in compartments, marbled endpapers. 1810 ownership inscription to the verso of the front free endpaper, pencilled notes of a similar date to the verso of the rear blank. Binding lightly rubbed at the extremities, the corner of B6 torn, not affecting the text, light spotting to the contents. Very good condition. Third edition of this charming little book on the changing of the seasons from month to month by the "physician and man of letters" John Aiken (1747-1822) (Hahn, The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature). Aiken charming combines practical knowledge of nature and gardening with literary references. For April he writes: "This month gives the most perfect image of Spring; for its vicissitudes of warm gleams of sunshine, and gentle showers, have the most wonderful effects in hastening that universal springing of the vegetable tribes, from whence the season derives its appellation. April generally… Read More

Cheltenhem, c. 1837. Trade card (90 x 61 mm). Elaborate copperplate engraved text and illustrations of a bust Hippocrates and staff of Asclepius. A few tiny, light spots, adhesive marks to verso. An attractive trade card for the chemists Hingston & Company of Cheltenham, "opposite the Plough Hotel. Prescriptions accurately prepared with drugs and Chemicals from Apothecaries Hall". The text is elaborately engraved and the card features a well-executed bust of Hippocrates and staff of Asclepius. The Science Museum in London has a copy of the same trade card, and the National Archives hold the company's day book and bankruptcy papers from 1837-1839.

Cheltenham, c. 1825-1835. Trade card (98 x 65 mm). Elaborate copperplate engraved text in an architectural border with the British crest, an alembic, and a mortar and pestle. Fine condition. An attractive trade card for the chemists Wickes & Co. of Cheltenham, in fine condition and featuring elaborate copperplate engraving including illustrations of an alembic and a mortar and pestle. Both the Science Museum of London and the Society of Apothecaries hold copies of this trade card.

Cincinnati, OH: The American Products Company, May, 1925. Perfect bound (355 x 280 mm). Original brown wrappers printed in blue and cream, brown cloth backstrip. 78 pages, of which 16 are in full colour and the rest being uncoloured lithographs on single-colour backgrounds. With the original order form loosely inserted. Light rubbing at the extremities, small chips at the ends of the spine. A fresh copy in excellent condition. A beautiful, 78 page chromolithographic catalogue for the American Products Company's Zanol line of cosmetics, food products, and home goods, including 16 pages in full colour. A superb example of Art Deco marketing design. The American Products Company was founded in 1907 by three brothers, Albert, Edgar and Clarence Mihalovitch (Albert later changed his surname to Mills), of Cincinnati, who hoped to capture the growing Midwestern consumer market (see "Cosmetics by the American products Company", Collecting Vintage Compacts blog, January 2012). This catalogue promotes… Read More

Paris: Librairie Centraledes Beaux-Arts, [c. 1904]. Folio. Half title and 50 tinted collotype prints after photographs, 4-page title and publisher's prospectus printed in green and brown. In the original linen-backed card portfolio with linen ties. Bernard Quaritch ink stamp to the title, ink stamp of the Birmingham Assay office Library to the inside of the cover. Portfolio browned and rubbed with some wear at the corners and slight creasing to the upper cover, linen ties browned but intact, title and prospectus toned and a little rubbed at the extremities, plates very faintly toned at the edges. Portfolio professionally cleaned and spine caps repaired by Bainbridge Conservation. Very good condition. A striking Art Nouveau design portfolio, unusual for using photography to depict geometric floral arrangements. This portfolio is usually attributed to the French designer and commercial artist Maurice Pillard Verneuil (1869-1942), a student of Eugène Grasset whose career successfully spanned the Art… Read More

c. 1900. Carved boxwood desk seal. 850 x 350mm. No monograph to the base. A couple of very minor nicks in the wood, slight wear at the base. Excellent condition. A lovely Art Nouveau desk seal in carved boxwood depicting a spray of flowers. We have been unable to determine the maker, and have never encountered a similar seal.

London: Spring Books, [1956]. Folio. Original buff, heavy-grain cloth, titles to spine and Stegosaurus design to upper board in brown. With the dust jacket. 60 lithographic plates of which 31 are in colour. Lower corner of the binding knocked, which has also slightly creased the corner of the text block and the jacket, spine rolled. A very good copy in the bright jacket that is lightly rubbed at the extremities with a few nicks and short closed splits. First English language edition, first impression of this vibrantly illustrated work, originally published in Prague under the title Tiere der Urzeit in the same year. Rare in the dust jacket in such nice condition. Between the 1930s and 1960s "the foremost painter of dinosaur restorations was Zden k Burian (1905-1981). His canvasses were used to illustrate a number of popular books on prehistoric life by Joseph Augusta, and in the late 1950s and 1960s these were translated into English and widely circulated. So the Burian illustrations offered an… Read More

Chicago, IL: Max Rigo, 1911. Folding panoramic postcard (290 x 195 mm). Professionally mounted, gazed, and framed using archival materials. Composite photographic image depicting the Chicago lakefront and early planes. The sender's and receiver's details filled out in black ink, and four landmarks noted on the image in the same hand. Marks from stamp, some toning and spotting of the verso, creasing and wear, particularly near the original folds (which are fragile) and at the corners and slightly affecting the image, small tape repair to one corner on the verso. Very good condition. A striking, oversized panoramic postcard photomontage depicting one of the most important aviation events prior to the First World War, the August 1911 International Aviation Meet at Grant Park in Chicago. The Chicago meet was the largest airshow held up to that time, only eight years after the first powered flight by the Wright Brothers. Over the course of nine days thirty-three amateur and professional aviators… Read More