Search Results: Titles starting with B from Bruce McKittrick Rare Books

Breslau (Wrocław): J.F. Korn d.Ä, 1798. Original blue wrappers (slightly soiled), uncut. Only Edition of the inventor's only book. For his new table lamp, Heinrich gives the technical specifications, illustrates each part, details their assembly and demonstrates the finished product's superiority to the competition. No (other) copy in the U.S. In good condition. ¶Engelmann, Bibliotheca mechanico-technologica 145; VD18 11746750.

Munich: C.T.F. Sauer at J. Lindauer's Bookshop, 1830. Original decorative printed wrappers. Only Edition, based on the author's experiments. This analyzes residential cast iron and earthen stoves and ovens, the best materials for thermal conductivity, fuels (cost and heat output), construction specifications and improvements to existing stoves. It also describes a device to eliminate smoky interiors. The plates illustrate the stoves from above and in profile. Lindauer advertises his stock in technology and home economy on the front and rear wrappers and on the final leaf. I have not located a copy outside Germany. In original condition, contemporary inscription. ¶Engelmann, Bibliotheca mechanico-technologica 275.

Leiden: [A. Elzevier for] J. de Vivie, 1682. Contemporary blind-ruled vellum over stiff paper boards (lightly soiled), later gilt-lettered red (title) and green (date) spine labels, edges sprinkled red. "ONE OF THE MOST FREQUENTLY CONSULTED CATALOGUES OF ITS KIND" (Breslauer & Folter). With some 20,000 volumes it was "the most extensive private collection in Europe assembled for the study of classical antiquity...almost a universal short-title catalogue" (Sibbald). The lots are divided into twelve subjects areas, then internally arranged by size. Polymath and book scout for the Queen of Sweden, Heinsius (1620-81) built a fine personal library of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, incunables, books on vellum and classical texts annotated in manuscript by, i.a., his father, Gronovius, Junius and J.J. Scaliger.      Heinsius' nephew Johan Goes van Absmade (d. 1690) gave this copy - no doubt with the manuscript prices already supplied - to David Knibbe (1639-1701), the Leiden pastor and prolific… Read More

The Hague: J. Swart and P. de Hondt, 1730. Mid-18th-century sheep-backed marbled boards (worn, front hinge of Vol. I repaired), flat spines gilt with rules, crosses and gilt-lettered labels (rubbed). A wonderful collection of books" (Dibdin). The forty thousand titles are offered by format, subject matter and language - as they were shelved? They include illuminated manuscripts, incunables on vellum, English books (3000 lots), Spanish books (1200 lots) and library catalogs (c. 400 lots). Huls had many of his books elegantly bound in morocco by the most fashionable local binders. A good set (browned, more so in some quires), bookplates of Dr. E.S. Flamm. ¶Foot, "An Eighteenth-Century Dutch Patron of Bookbinding" in Quaerendo 41 (2011) 193-207; Dibdin, Bibliomania 82; Taylor, Book Catalogues ed. Barlow 246.

France: s.n., 1857. VELLUM BROADSIDE (355 x 449 mm.) completed in manuscript in a single cursive hand, thirteen lines of letterpress in a white-line ornamental frame, metalcut royal arms, signed at the bottom and stamped Bureau de l'Imprimerie et de la Librairie.             To become a printer in Angoulême (southeast of La Rochelle), Frugier here pledged fealty to Napoleon III, to the French Constitution and to the laws of the realm. The tight control of the printing trades, instituted in the 1530s, remained in force until 29 July 1881 (art. 1): "L'imprimerie et la librairie sont libres". In good condition (trace of old folds).

Bruxelles: G. Scheybel, 1641. 19th-century half-calf and tan boards (front hinge repaired), gilt spine label, old blue edges. Only Edition, the nineteen-year-old poet's first book. The first suite explores unrequited love, the second reciprocated love, and the third the good life - drinking, eating, laughing, smoking (three poems praise tobacco). The illustrations include a suitor on his knees pleading with his hard-hearted mistress who literally shows him the door, negotiations with a prostitute, Death claiming Cupid even as he draws his bow.... A QUATRAIN ON THE MONA LISA begins the volume. No copies in U.S. libraries. In good condition (eight leaves trimmed askew, one headline shaved, one quire slightly stained), a couple of margins uncut; signature of bibliophile and champion of early Flemish literature C.-P. Serrure (Catalogue (1872) I: 841 "Rare...figures curieuses"). ¶Praz, Studies in 17th-Century Imagery 281; Funck, Le Livre belge à gravures 261 & 282 "très rare"; Scheurleer, Nederlandsche… Read More