Search Results: Authors starting with P from Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books and Medieval Manuscripts

Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1783, 1784. 140 x 83 mm. (5 1/2 x 3 1/4"). [216], [48] unnumbered leaves. VERY APPEALING CONTEMPORARY VELLUM OVER BOARDS, ALMOST CERTAINLY BY EDWARDS OF HALIFAX, covers bordered by a Neoclassical pentaglyph and metope roll against a blue wash, center of each board with large gilt-bordered medallion containing the gilt monogram "M L C" on a blue background, flat spine divided into panels by gilt pentaglyph and metope border (the one at the bottom over blue wash), panels with classical urn centerpiece and volute cornerpieces, second panel with gilt titling on a blue background, turn-ins with gilt chain roll, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. WITH A FINE FORE-EDGE PAINTING, VERY PROBABLY BY EDWARDS, depicting Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire. IN THE ORIGINAL (rubbed and soiled, but quite intact) soft green LEATHER SLIPCASE. Title page with ink ownership inscription of M: L: Carey. Griffiths 1783/6. ◆Spine decoration a bit faded in places, rear turn-in lifting just a little… Read More

London: Seeley & Company, 1889. No. 67 OF 135 LARGE PAPER COPIES. 382 x 271 mm. (15 x 10 3/4"). xx, 124 pp. Publisher's stiff vellum, upper cover with gilt lettering and figure of a shepherd, smooth spine with gilt lettering, edges untrimmed. WITH 12 PHOTOGRAVURE PLATES AFTER DRAWINGS BY SAMUEL PALMER. Ray, "England" 223. ◆Head of spine lightly bumped, paper separating along part of the front hinge, light foxing to flyleaves and to margins of plates, other trivial imperfections, but a fine copy in every other way--bright and fresh internally with vast margins, in a well-preserved binding remarkably free of the soiling and splaying that plague vellum bindings. Normally found in a soiled and splayed binding and with considerable foxing, this is a remarkably clean and pleasing copy of the limited Large Paper edition of a posthumously published volume containing 12 beautiful reproductions of some of Samuel Palmer's best drawings, set to the words of his favorite poet. Palmer (1805-81) was a poetical… Read More

France, ca. 1300. 160 x 205 mm. (6 1/4 x 7 5/8"). Single column, 35 extant lines in a gothic hand. With several marginal doodles and pen trials, probably done in a later hand. ◆Previously used in a binding and thus with several small wormholes and creases, verso with some staining and scraping (but most of the text still legible), and overall a very good specimen. Written in a distinctive and rather pretty hand, this specimen probably comes from a biblical commentary or a collection of sermons. The passage preserved here delves into Genesis 27:27, where Jacob succeeds in deceiving his old, blind father Isaac into blessing him, instead of Esau, the favored son. The ruse is accomplished partly through scent, as Jacob is wearing Esau's garments, and this element of the story leads to a detailed exploration of various types and the significance of odors. Though this fragment has been previously used as binding waste, the extant text is very well preserved and almost entirely legible..

[Paris or Leyden], 1656-57; related material 1657-58. 235 x 165 mm. (9 1/4 x 6 1/2"). With 16 (of 18) letters (lacking letters IV and XVIII as well as general title and "Advertisement" leaf). 17 of 19 individually issued parts (including the "Refutation de la Réponse à la Douzième Lettre").. The original parts bound up in pleasing modern tan crushed morocco, blind-ruled border, raised bands, gilt titling, new endpapers. PMM 140; Tchemerzine V, 62-63. ◆Light brown stain to head margin of the last quarter of the leaves, occasional faint browning or foxing elsewhere, more conspicuous on final gathering, minor worming in bottom margin of a few leaves, otherwise a very good copy internally, with nothing approaching a serious defect, and in a pleasing unworn binding. In addition to related material normally not included, this volume contains 17 of the rare original(?) 19 separately issued letters, or "Provinciales," by the French polymath Blaise Pascal (1623-62), a series characterized by PMM as… Read More

Paris: Philippe Gonin, 1951. ONE OF 200 COPIES. 327 x 248 mm. (12 7/8 x 9 3/4"). 111, [2] pp., [1] leaf (colophon).Translated by L'Abbé Delille [pseudonym of the Chevalier de Langeac]. Loose as issued in publisher's cream-colored wrappers and vellum-backed portfolio, black titling on spine. In a later patterned paper slipcase. With 80 wood engravings by Lucile Passavant. First preliminary leaf warmly inscribed "To Ed and Mary [Thom?]" from "[Denise?] and Louis"; second preliminary leaf inscribed by the artist to the Thoms; a greeting card illustrated and inscribed by the artist to Mr. and Mrs. Thom laid in at front. ◆A hint of soil to spine, corners worn to boards, faint freckling to covers, the text with isolated trivial foxing, but an excellent copy, the text clean and fresh, and the binding a good deal more than good enough. This is a finely printed and illustrated edition of Virgil's first century B.C. pastoral poems, with intriguing provenance. These evocative and mysterious eclogues (or… Read More

Parma: Franco Maria Ricci, 1967. ONE OF 700 COPIES. 438 x 292 mm. (17 1/4 x 11 1/2"). Two volumes. Preface and introduction by U Thant. Publisher's excellent red straight-grain morocco, covers with gilt frame and central coat of arms, raised bands flanked by decorative gilt rules, panels with gilt lettering or central fleuron. In original morocco-lipped marbled paper slipcase. ◆In mint condition. Produced in conjunction with the Museo Bodoni, these volumes commemorate the 1965 visit by Pope Paul VI to the United Nations. "Allocutio Pro Pace" ["Address for Peace"] presents the Pope's speech (in French) to the United Nations General Assembly, with a preface and introduction in English by UN Secretary General U Thant. The companion volume is a facsimile of a work produced in 1806 by the great Italian printer Giambattista Bodoni in honor of the visit of Pope Pius VII to the coronation of Napoleon in Paris. In this second work, we see Bodoni's printing of the Lord's Prayer in 155 languages from Asia,… Read More

Venice: Guilelmus Anima Mia, Tridinensis, 11 August, 1486. 327 x 216 mm. (12 7/8 x 8 1/2"). Textually Complete. 116 (of 118) leaves, lacking initial and terminal blanks (two additional leaves tipped in at the back containing a manuscript table of contents in a late 15th or early 16th century hand). Double column, 70 lines of text in gothic type. Original oak boards backed by modern white pigskin, raised bands, remnants of clasps. Lacking original pastedowns. In a marbled paper folding box backed with green morocco. Neat, brief contemporary marginalia by two hands in red and black, mostly confined to the first 50 leaves (one of these hands probably by the creator of the "Tabula" at the back); 19th century English ink ownership inscriptions by John W. Puricelle (or Duricelle) at front and back, the latter translating (with errors) the colophon and documenting the purchase of this volume in Paris on Quai des Augustins on 9 October 1869. Goff P-214; BMC V, 410; ESTC ip00214000. ◆Rear board with thin… Read More

New York: Heritage Press, 1942. 203 x 133 mm. (8 x 5 1/4"). Two volumes. Transcribed by the Rev. Mynors Bright from the shorthand manuscript in the Pepysian Library. Edited by Henry B. Wheatley. VERY FINE BLACK MOROCCO, HANDSOMELY GILT, BY BAYNTUN-RIVIERE, signed at foot of front pastedown, covers framed with gilt rules connecting interlacing cornerpieces, gilt pictorial centerpiece with Pepys' monogram on crossed anchors and twining rope, the whole surmounted by his motto on a scroll, raised bands, spines gilt in compartments repeating motif of cover frames and with centered "S P" monogram, wide inner gilt dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. More than 200 illustrations by William Sharp (including first and last openings with pictorial endpapers from the original publisher's binding). Front pastedowns with the bookplate of Robert Marceau. ◆A few trivial imperfections internally, but an extremely fine copy in a most attractive binding. In a handsome binding by a leading English workshop,… Read More

London: Smith, Elder and Co, 1845. 241 x 165 mm. (9 1/2 x 6 1/2"). x, 420 pp. Handsome contemporary brown pebble-grain half morocco, marbled sides and endpapers, raised bands, spine heavily and attractively gilt in six compartments with repeated motif of center lozenge surrounded by volute border, top edge gilt. Engraved frontispiece. ◆Joints and extremities with minor rubbing, frontispiece somewhat foxed, otherwise an excellent copy, fine internally. Philip Augustus (Philippe II, 1165-1223) was one of the great early French kings, doing much during his reign of 43 years to achieve national unity and to remove the English. The present work is a romance focusing on the king's declining years and is the fourth novel by George Payne Rainsford James (1799-1860), a prolific writer of romances, historical works, and biographies. His other works included "Richelieu," "Darnley," and "Memoirs of the Black Prince.".

London: Privately printed [by the Chiswick Press] for Alvin Langdon Coburn and Edmund D. Brooks & Their Friends, 1914. FIRST EDITION. 220 x 155 mm. (8 3/4 x 6"). 19 pp., [10] leaves. Original linen-backed cream-colored boards, black lettering on upper cover and flat spine, ENTIRELY UNOPENED. In the (slightly frayed and chipped) original plain dust jacket. WITH 10 PHOTOGRAVURES OF LONDON mounted on leaves. ◆Minor offsetting to free endpapers from binder's glue, otherwise A PRISTINE COPY in an excellent dust jacket. This is an under-appreciated combination of fine letterpress printing and striking photogravure prints by one of the most celebrated masters of the craft. The essay by G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936), one of the era's largest (literally and figuratively) wothies in literature, describes London around the framework of the underground stations. It is a meditation on how an outsider might view these stops and the locales around them. The atmospheric quality of the writing matches perfectly… Read More

Paris: Charles Mendel, [1901]. FIRST EDITION. 232 x 154 mm. (9 1/8 x 6"). 228 pp., [6] leaves of advertisements. Original brown printed paper wrappers, spine and parts of upper cover expertly repaired. WITH EIGHT SILVER BROMIDE PHOTOGRAPHS mounted on heavy stock, a few plates (included in pagination) and other photographic illustrations in the text. ◆Wrappers a bit soiled, leaves a little yellowed with age, ads at end rather browned, but an excellent, very expertly restored, copy of an item difficult to find in any condition, the interior clean and fresh, with well-preserved photographs. This is a fascinating work at the intersection of science and photography in which Donnadieu demonstrates how photographing anatomical specimens under water improves the clarity of the image. Adolphe-Louis Donnadieu (1840-1911) was a professor of Natural Science at the University of Lyon and an early adopter of photography in his scientific pursuits. The present work describes the "physiographe universel"… Read More

Los Alamos, New Mexico: Meridel Rubenstein, 1995. No. 3 OF 25 COPIES. 615 x 510 mm. (24 1/4 x 20"). [2] leaves of text. Original linen portfolio, with gray paper folder, cover with paper label, linen ribbon ties. Eight photocollage plates, numbered and signed in pencil on verso by Rubenstein, all with tissue guards. With pencilled signature and inscription: "For Arnold [Horwitch] with admiration and gratitude 7/15/95." ◆The tiniest bit of soiling to label on portfolio, otherwise in mint condition. This is a very rare portfolio based on Rubenstein's photo/text/video installation "Critical Mass," created between 1989 and 1993 in collaboration with Ellen Zweig, with technical assistance from Steina and Woody Vasulka. According to the Exhibition description at the MIT List Visual Arts Center, "The 50th anniversary of the atomic bomb, developed at the Los Alamos Laboratory and first detonated in the southern New Mexico desert on July 16, 1943, inspired artists Meridel Rubenstein, Woody and Steina… Read More

Venezia [Venice]: Stampata da Giambattista Albrizzi, 1745. First Edition with these Illustrations. 465 x 325 mm. (18 1/4 x 12 3/4"). 14 p.l. (including two frontispieces), 253, (i.e., 252), [1] leaves, followed by the final plate (complete). SPLENDID CONTEMPORARY MARBLED CALF, VERY PROBABLY A PRESENTATION BINDING BY THE PUBLISHER, expertly restored incorporating original sides and backstrip, covers quite ornately gilt with wide frame composed of two intricate rolls and gilt rules, central panel with elaborate cornerpieces of curling leaves, volutes, and floral tools, very large oval centerpiece composed of two concentric Baroque-style frames heavy with plumes, scallop shells, flowers, volutes, and many small tools encircling a similarly framed center oval topped with a coronet; raised bands, spine attractively gilt in compartments with large central fleuron and lavishly scrolling cornerpieces, two red morocco labels, densely gilt turn-ins, Albrizzi's special daubed endpapers, all edges gilt. WITH 84… Read More

Amsterdam: Printed for the Wetsteins and Smith, 1732. First Printing of this Edition. 480 x 305 mm. (19 x 12"). 13 p.l., 247, [1] (blank) pp.; 1 p.l., 249-524 pp., [2] leaves. Two volumes, continuously paginated, bound in one. Translated by John Dryden, John Addison, Alexander Pope, and other "eminent hands," with explications by Abbé Banier. Contemporary dark brown calf, sturdily rebacked to style, raised bands flanked by gilt rules, gilt lettering, hinges neatly reinforced. Engraved printer's device on title pages, arms of the Countess of Pembroke on dedication page, woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials, full-page engraved allegorical frontispiece, plus 130 HALF-PAGE COPPER-ENGRAVED PLATES BY BERNARD PICART, CHARLES LE BRUN, AND OTHERS. Parallel text in Latin and English. Front pastedown with book label of Newell's Library and with engraved bookplates of American travel writer James Hale Bates (1845-1901) and of John Peachey, Esq. Cohen-de Ricci 768; Brueggeman, pp. 624-25; Brunet IV, 285;… Read More

London: William Pickering, 1878. FIRST EDITION. 180 x 115 mm. (7 x 4 1/2"). xi, 222 pp. Attractive late 19th century brown crushed morocco, gilt, covers framed by plain and decorative rules, raised bands, spine compartments with central star ornament, gilt titling, turn-ins with multiple plain and decorative rules, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Printer's device on title page. Front pastedown with pictorial copper-engraved bookplate of "J. J. H." by W. F. Hopson, dated 1898 (see below); front flyleaf with pencilled note, "May 1, 1880." ◆A breath of rubbing to extremities, a touch of yellowing to edges of leaves, otherwise A VERY FINE COPY, with few signs of use inside or out. This is a handsome copy of the first work of Scottish poet F. Wyville Home (b. 1851), which anthologist Alfred Henry Miles tells us "was received with expressions of commendation such as seldom greet the appearance of an initial volume." However, "The Spectator," his "uncommon gift of melody," feared the "deadly… Read More

Paris, ca. 1835. Second Paris Edition. 505 x 720 mm. (20 x 28 1/4"). Plate 39 from volume II of "Le Antichità Romane," with a 375 x 500 mm. (14 3/4 x 19 1/2") etching of an external view of the remains of a columbarium tomb which possibly belonged to the Augusto family. Focillon 263; Wilton-Ely 398. ◆Scattered mild foxing to the (generous) margins, faint vertical crease to center, but a fine specimen, clean, fresh, and rather bright, with a rich impression of the plate. This is a handsome etching showing an external view of burial chambers within a mausoleum believed to belong to the family of the Roman emperor Augustus, from the second Paris edition of Piranesi's masterful "Roman Antiquities." Gaius Octavius Augustus (63 B.C. - 14 A.D.) became the first emperor of Rome in 27 B.C. and soon undertook an ambitious building program, constructing a forum, temples, a mausoleum, triumphal arches, and other monuments. Many of these buildings, including the mausoleum, were ransacked and damaged by the… Read More

[London, 1830s-40s (and a few earlier)]. All measuring about 240 x 150 mm. (9 1/2 x 6"), in various mat sizes. Attractively matted, mostly with color-coordinated matboard. Colored by contemporary hands. Many accompanied by the original text leaf. ◆One plate with a slight crease, otherwise in fine, fresh condition.This attractive group of engravings comes from a long-running botanical journal known for its beautiful hand-colored plates. "The Botanical Register" was founded in 1815 with plates provided by botanical artist Sydenham Edwards; in 1829 the publication became known as "Edwards's Botanical Register" under the leadership of John Lindley, and eventually ceased publication in 1847. The present plates feature vibrant yet delicate hand coloring, and are pleasing seen in their matching mats. The plants pictures here include: Toad-skinned Gongora (no. 2), Van Houtte's Phlox (no. 5), Finely-cut Amphicome, Tree Lupine (no. 32), Gouty-jointed Spiderwort (no. 42), Mr. Schomburgk's Epidendrum (no. 53),… Read More

Wausau, Wisconsin: Printed by Van Vechten & Ellis for The Philosopher Press, 1901. No. 91 OF 100 COPIES PRINTED, A UNIQUE ILLUMINATED COPY. 314 x 250 mm. (12 3/8 x 9 7/8"). [14] French-fold leaves.Translated by Edward FitzGerald. Attractive three-quarter maroon morocco over marbled boards, raised bands, two compartments with gilt lettering, others with central gilt tool. Housed in a maroon cloth slipcase (slightly worn and faded). Each text page with an elaborate decorative border colored by hand, and AN ORIGINAL SIGNED WATERCOLOR ON VELLUM by Plein tipped-in before title. Title page with watercolor inscription: "Iluminated [sic] by / Charles M. Plein / Omaha Neb. / Oct 1915"; two glossy leaves with examples of the border decoration laid in. ◆Final French-fold leaf cleanly torn along part of the fold at the top (not affecting contents on either side), free endpaper in front and back with just a hint of darkening at edges (apparently from binder's glue), but A FINE COPY--clean and bright throughout… Read More

Paris: Éditions de la Pléiade, J. Schiffrin et Cie, 1925. No. 73 OF 390 COPIES on vergé paper, signed by the publisher, from a total edition of 445 copies, 430 for sale. 311 x 241 mm. (12 1/4 x 9 1/2"). 124, [1] pp., [1] leaf (colophon).Translated by J. Schiffrin. Publisher's original dun-colored printed wrappers. With decorative head- and tailpieces and 18 color pochoir plates by Vassili Choukhaeff [Shukhayev]. ◆Spine with vertical crack and some looseness (though the insubstantial volume still intact), the expected minor wear at extremities, but clean inside and out, and with richly colored plates. This is an attractively illustrated edition of a major play by the man Britannica calls Russia's "greatest poet and the founder of modern Russian literature." Written in 1825 and first published in 1831, Pushkin's historical drama is based on the life of Boris Godunov, who served as regent and then as tsar following the death of Ivan the Terrible in 1584. He was widely suspected of having a hand… Read More

Paris: Devambez, 1918. No. 287 OF 475 COPIES, from a total issue of 500. 470 x 375 mm. (18 1/2 x 14 3/4"). 1 p.l. followed by plates. Loose as issued within original wrappers and housed in publisher's paper board folio (spine repaired with shipping tape), upper cover with hand-colored lithograph vignette, original (somewhat worn but intact) tri-color silk ribbon ties. With illustrated title page and 10 HAND-COLORED PLATES IN POCHOIR. Rear board with "can't dupl." in black marking pen. ◆Corners and edges somewhat worn, just a hint of soiling to boards, but a very desirable copy, the inelegantly repaired portfolio with obvious condition issues, but the richly colored plates--the important part of this item--especially clean, fresh, and well preserved in general. This is a copy of French caricaturist and illustrator Guy Arnoux's vivid homage to those musical instruments and musicians leading the French into battle from the Revolution through World War I. Arnoux (1886-1951) illustrated almost 80… Read More