Search Results: Titles starting with E from Michael Laird Rare Books LLC

Boston in New-England: Ad 1: Printed by B. Green, and J. Allen; Ad 2: B. Green, 1722. First Edition and Second Edition. Ad 1: 16mo. Lacks pp. 1-14 (including title), and pp. 199-208, [2] at end. Bound in contemporary American sheep over scale-board (VERY WORN: SEE IMAGES). Preserved in a cloth protective case with 4-flap lig-free chemise. Ad 2: 40 pp. (lacks title-page). Stitched as issued (text stained). Preserved in a mylar L-sleeve. FIRST EDITION. Very rare early American Judaica, the last copy on the market appearing ninety-three years ago in a 1929 Goodspeed's catalogue (untraced). Seventeenth-century American books on the Jewish Conversion Question are almost unobtainable in any condition. This 1700 first edition of "The Fountain Opened" is distinguished by the fact that only SEVEN American Judaica books preceded it. The work is #8 in A.S.W. Rosenbach's "Books and Pamphlets by Jews or Relating to Them, Printed in the United States, From the Establishment of the Press." Whereas our copy is… Read More

Boston: printed and sold by John W. Folsom, 1794. Fourth Edition. Good. 12mo in 6's. 140 x 87 mm. A-H6 = 48 ff, COMPLETE AND UNSOPHISTICATED. Paper-covered scaleboard binding with sheep spine, hinges cracked, paper almost completely removed from covers, wood chipped away at corners, leather chipped at head of spine, leather rubbed along spine. Front binder's blank slightly detatched, pages browned, small water stain on bottom edge of back pastedown, inscription on p. 18. Ownership inscription of Joseph Gould on verso of final binder's blank (see below). A scarce 18th-century American scaleboard binding on a popular work by Noah Webster. Despite the modesty of the present binding, its first owner, Joseph Gould, was clearly a discerning bibliophile: on page 18 he has written: "If any should chance this book to red (sic) let keep his fingers clean." Scaleboard (a.k.a. scabbard or scabboard) was made from very thin sheets of wood that had been split (going towards the grain) instead of being sawed.… Read More

Boston: John Weston, 1824. Very Good. 12mo. [2], i-xiii, 14-216, [2] pp. Contemporary American mottled tree calf (or sheep?), red spine label, modest gilt rolls on the spine. Staining to outer margins at front and back as offsetting from the leather turn-ins, some browning as seems to be true in all copies. Very useful for instructional purposes, this early, "ordinary" American Law Book trade binding preserved in original unsophisticated condition. Provenance: E. Wilkinson, 1830 (inscriptionon the title page) -- J. Daggett, Attleboro [Mass.] (inscription on the front first endleaf, accompanied by Doggett / Daggett bookplate on the front pastedown). ¶ John Daggett (1805-1885) was an attourney in Attleboro, MA and wrote "A Sketch of the History of Attleborough, From Its Settlement to Its Division," published in 1898. He is also a direct descendent of Governor Thomas Mayhew (1593-1682), an English Crown governor and the original patentee and owner of Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and all the Elizabeth… Read More

Philadelphia: Published by Johnson & Warner, No. 147, Market-Street, Brown & Merritt, printers, 24, Church-alley), 1821. Very good. Square 12mo. 16 pp. With 8 plates including frontispiece (dated 1821) which has been mounted inside front wrapper as per most copies (one plate loose; final page partially pasted onto the inside of lower cover; plates browned as is always the case on account of the inferior paper stock). Original salmon stiff wrappers. ¶ First American Edition, second issue, ONE OF THE FIRST BOOKS PRINTED IN AMERICA WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF DOGS. The poem makes oblique references to the Dog Tax proposed in Britain in 1796. As a Pro-Union diatribe against government oppression, "The Council of Dogs" is hardly suitable for children. First published in London by Harris in 1808, its bitter satire much darker than most "childrens books" of the time. Unlike the typical whimsical chapbook illustrations that intermix human and animal parts, the pictures in "The Council of Dogs" are carefully… Read More

Paris: G.-P. Maisonneuve & Larose, 1962. Very good. 4 vols. 8vo. [8], ccxxviii pp., 2 ff., 320 pp., 1 f.; lxxvii pp., 1 f., 453 pp., 1 f.; xi, 516 pp., 1 f.; xliii, 395 pp., some illustrations in the text. Original blue publisher's cloth (minor shelf-wear). Facsimile reprint of the 1885-1906 edition, limited to 325 copies. Legrand's "Bibliographie hellenique" has never been surpassed for its comprehensive analysis of pre-1600 books printed in Greece, or by Greek printers active elsewhere. The work is accompanied by extensive biographical notes, chronological tables, notes, documents and indexes. ¶ From the famed bibliographical library of B.H. Breslauer (sale of the Bibliotheca Bibliographica Breslaueriana, 2005, lot 1620). Besterman (4th ed.) 2749.

Buenos Aires: Secrit, 1991. Near Fine. 8vo. [10], 54 pp. [5], pp. Original blue stiff wrappers. Extremely detailed catalogue of a small selection of important 16th-century Spanish books in the colleciton of Jorge M. Furt (1902-1971), an Argentine humanist and author. The extent of the cataloguing is attested by the 3-page collation of just ONE book, namely the 1533 Venice edition of the "Amadis de Gaula" (acquired from the antiquarian bookseller Rothstein in 1949 (see pp. 27-30; see also David Hook, The Arthur of the Iberians: The Arthurian Legends in the Spanish and Portuguese Worlds, 2015, footnote 1). The "Biblioteca y Archivo Furt" on the "Los Talas" ranch and estate near Luján, Argentina, is one of the most significant private libraries in South America, containing valuable early printed editions and archival material, especially on Juan Bautista Alberdi. Altogether it has been estimated that the library contains some 40,000 books. ¶ See especially: Domingo Buonocore's "Contribucion a la… Read More

Washington DC: Printed by William Duane & Son, 1804. First Edition. Very good. 8vo. (213 x 135 mm). [2], [1]-8, [11]-13 [1], [3]-22 pp., 1 blank f. (pagination irregular but the text is complete). Modern sympathetic wrappers. Sig. A with pronounced foxing, considerably less so in sigs. B and C. Stab holes in gutter margin; first eight pages with contemporary ink notations shaved (some still readable), unimportant ink stain on final blank. With ink signature of Connecticut Congressman Samuel W. Dana on title page, as well as Eberstadt pricing notes ($50 in 1929) and codes in pencil on title and final blank. Overall, a crisp copy with an interesting provenance. Moses Austin's report on the lead mines in Missouri is one of the earliest selections in Becker's fourth edition of Wagner-Camp's Plains & Rockies: no. 2d (!) -- Our copy was owned by Congressman Samuel W. Dana (1760-1830), who was almost certainly in attendance when Jefferson read THIS State of the Union Address "to Both Houses of the… Read More

Cambridge: University Press, 1931. First Edition. Very good. Large 4to. Engraved frontispiece ("La belle ecriture demande un esprit gai"), xl, 226 pp. 81 plates. Original light-brown quarter cloth over decorated ("marbled") cloth boards (very small abrasion at tail of spine). Top edges gilt, others untrimmed. Dust-wrapper soiled and defective, inside lined with brown paper. Text, plates, and binding are in splendid state; a lovely copy. First edition, limited to 300 copies signed by the author, of the essential reference work on the history of English writing manuals -- still unsurpassed. Ours is copy 146 and is preserved in very fresh, unmarked condition. This ORIGINAL EDITION is a fine specimen of Cambridge bookmaking and is much preferred over the ugly facsimile reprint (Olms, 1962) which disgraced the beauty of the 23 portraits of the writing-masters and the 58 plates of their copy-books and trade-cards (some of the plates present more than one example). The value of the present volume lies… Read More

London: John Bill and Christopher Barker, 1663. 8vo. Engraved title + A-4K8 [unpaginated]. 8vo. Bound by "Owen" in contemporary full black morocco, richly gilt all over with floral and leaf motifs, onlaid red and citron morocco pieces to covers and spines, a.e.g., fore-ege painted with flowers and "Search [the Scriptures]" two working silver clasps, joints beautifully repaired, fore-edge painting dulled and worn from clasps, some foxing throughout. Preserved in a protective cloth case. Suitable for exhibition and study. OF SIGNAL IMPORTANCE IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH RESTORATION BOOKBINDING: AN UNRECORDED AND UNPUBLISHED BINDING BY "OWEN" WHOSE WORK IS KNOWN FROM ONLY ONE OTHER EXAMPLE. In terms of 17th-century English bindings, this one in particular is of particular significance: the only other binding by "Owen" is in the Henry Davis Gift (British Library). Howard Nixon (English Restoration Bookbindings, p. 37 and plate 78) describes it in some detail: "It has been stated earlier that signatures… Read More

London: Robt. Sayer, 1768. Second edition. Very good. Folio (341 x 230 mm). Complete with 12 leaves (including title-page). Engraved throughout. Early (original?) drab blue wrappers (a little soiled), bound by Riviere in later red half morocco over comb-marbled boards, comb-marbled pastedowns and endleaves, one or possibly two labels removed from inside front cover leaving a tape residue. Each plate carefully numbered in pencil. In VERY FRESH STATE, WITH FINE IMPRESSIONS OF ALL THE PLATES. MATTHIAS LOCK WAS THE FIRST ENGLISH DESIGNER TO CAPTURE THE SPIRIT OF THE FRENCH HIGH ROCOCO; HE INSPIRED THOMAS CHIPPENDALE AND WAS LIKELY TO HAVE BEEN HIS MENTOR. These imaginative and exuberant designs are indicative of Lock's seemingly effortless style. "His scrolls, dragons, flowers, masks, birds and Chinese men are all handled with a zest and freedom rare in the English product, with a strong dash of asymmetry. [...] This evidence of an ability to teach design, combined with Lock's activity as a Rococo… Read More

India, 18th or 19th century (?). Very good. Three matted paintings (matte size: 323 x 266; leaf size: 215 x 145 mm; visible image: 170 x 115 mm), hinged to clear Plexiglas so that the manuscript texts on the versos are perfectly legible. Leaves with some soiling, edges slightly frayed along inner gutter margins. A remarkable assemblage of three erotic Indian paintings, all of have been executed on the same unidentified Urdu manuscript. The settings are intriguing, and the subjects are set within brooding, fantastical landscapes, alongside a stream (or lake) festooned with lily pads and lotus flowers. They depict: 1. A woman holding a large ejaculating phallus; 2. A flying phallus carrying a basket of four phalluses, accompanied by a winged vagina; 3. A man holding a bowl couples with a four-armed goddess, presumably a devotee of Kali: in her hands she holds a sword, a spear, and an ax, in the fourth a lotus flower. All three paintings were finely rendered by an artist of considerable skill. This… Read More

India, Early 20th century (?). Very good. Large painting on a manuscript leaf (in Arabic) from the "Sharh al-Wiqayah" by Burhan al-Shariah, Mahmud ibn Ubayd Allah (SEE BELOW), 353 x 216 mm, hinged onto plexiglas mount with clear tape so that the text of the manuscript is visible from the back; matted (matte size: 500 x 360). A remarkable erotic Indian painting of an uncommon type, which we describe as "zoomorphic erotica." The painting depicts a camel within a frame, surrounded by an antilope, a lion, a horse, a gazelle, and a bull; within each animal is a depiction of an orgy comprised of six (or in the case of the camel) seven men and women, all finely rendered by an artist of considerable skill. This is a very high quality piece. THE MANUSCRIPT on which the painting was applied belongs to a rare text: is an excerpt from the "Sharḥ al-Wiqāyah," a commentary on a work of Hanafi fiqh (law) by Burhān al-Sharīʻah, Maḥmūd ibn ʻUbayd Allāh (d. 1274 or 1275), specifically from the chapter… Read More

Amsterdam: Reinier Leers, 1681. First Edition. Very good. [4], 5-43, [1] pp. (age toned, paper stock a little weak, some fraying to outer edges, lower gutter margin with evidence of dampstaining - SEE IMAGES). Preceded by two early binder's blanks (outer edge fraying, browned and brittle): blank fol. 1 (recto and verso) has pencil annotations for an index to the 1681 edition of Rochefort's "Histoire naturelle et morale des iles Antilles de l'Amerique" (likewise published by Leers), as does the final unnumbered page [44]. Recent neat quarter morocco over marbled boards (unobtrusive stain on front board). Front flyleaf inscribed in ink by former owner John Poindexter Landers. EXTREMELY EARLY EMIGRANTS' GUIDE TO AMERICA. First edition of the important Supplement to Rochefort's "Histoire naturelle et morale des iles Antilles de l'Amerique" from which it was also sold separately (Alden-Landis). It contains essential practical information for potential emigrants to Virginia, Pennsylvania, the Carolinas,… Read More

Paris: Librairie Ch. Chadenat, 1898. First Edition. Together 21 catalogues in two volumes, numbered 2-22 (no. 1 "does not exist" - see below), all original wrappers bound in (mostly folded vertically in half, some chipped or a little soiled). Contemporary blue half calf over blue cloth boards (extremities rubbed but the bindings are perfectly sound), inner margins of certain catalogues are very tight. In vol. 1, the verso of the final binder's leaf bears a contemporary inscription in pencil: "Dec. 29, 1898" (presumably when the catalogues were bound). SIGNIFICANT, UNBROKEN RUN OF ORIGINAL CHADENAT "BIBLIOPHILE AMERICAIN" CATALOGUES, rare in private ownership. It is with good reason that Chadenat's name is very frequently found alongside that of Sabin in superior catalogue descriptions of Americana and European Americana, despite the fact that Chadenat's catalogues almost never come up for sale. Our set is distinguished by the fact that it contains NINE catalogues that are not in the BnF. Indeed,… Read More

[Washington]: GPO, 1866. First Edition. Very good. 8vo. 47, [1] pp. (final page blank), textblock browned. Modern sympathetic wrappers, upper cover with title in manuscript. SECOND FRENCH INTERVENTION OF MEXICO, A MAGNIFICENT FAILURE. This fascinating document contains abundant diplomatic correspondence and translations of strictly contemporary foreign newspaper reports; in it United States Government reports its enormous concern about French troops permanently occupying Mexico. These troops were but a few months away from withdrawing and returning to France, with the inevitable defeat of the Second Mexican Empire and the execution of Maximilian in June 1867. The position of Andrew Johnson and his Secretary of State William Seward was made perfectly clear: "The U.S. government considers it necessary for France to stop insisting on imposing imperialism on our sister republic of Mexico..." [...] "Also, warn Austria that she should not continue to sponsor the government of Prince Maximilian, who… Read More

Amsterdam: Chez l'honore et fils, libraires, 1748. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. 2 vols. in one. 8vo. I: [10], cxix, [7], 208 pp. + 1 f. ("Errata" for Tom. 1). II: [2], 231 pp. + 1 f. ("Addition") + 1 f. ("Errata" for Tom 1 [sic]). First title page with unobtrusive paper defect on lower margin, not affecting text; this copy is lacking half-title and Errata leaf for Tom. 2. Very attractive 19th-century French red glazed boards, red morocco spine, lettered in gilt directly (two insignificant worm-holes on lower hinge, leading nowhere; trifle wear to binding extremities. Completely unsophisticated. First printing of "Telliamed," in every way a remarkable book. Disguised as an Oriental fantasy, it contains perhaps the earliest appearance of one of the most important of all evolution speculations, namely the so-called ultra-neptunian theory: that the entire Earth was, and is, a marine deposit, and that all life on land originated from creatures of the sea. Maillet hypothesized that the earth was… Read More

London: Roxburghe Club, 1998. First Edition. Very good. Large 4to. 22 pp., photocopy of the title-page of the Roxburghe publication loosely inserted. Original green wrappers (faintly creased on lower wrapper; ink inscription on p. 1). Bernard Breslauer's perceptive analysis of the masterpiece of Florentine woodcut books, Frezzi's "Quadriregio" (The Four Realms) of 1508, which is in its own way equal to the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (Venice: Aldus Manutius, 1499). This strange and wonderful novel and its illustrated are contextualized here with BHB's thoughtful assessment of the history of Florentine book illustration; a discussion on Piero Pacini (the publisher); and the amazed reception of "Il Quariregio" over a period of 500 years. That Breslauer's article is too-little known is due to the fact that very limited press-run of Roxburghe Club publications.

Great Britain: The British Museum, 1965. Softcover. Very good. Octavo, 32 numbered pages plus an appendix of 16 black and white illustrations. Four illustrations in color. ¶ One in a series of booklets intended to highlight the most notable holdings of the British Museum. With illustrations from their collection.

London: Farrand Press, 1990. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Octavo, 374 pages, frontispiece and 282 figures illustrating the text. Original cloth, gilt. ¶ The definitive statement on the subject, meticulously researched by the acknowledged authority of book illustration processes. Herein the author seeks to introduce a little-known area of book design and production, while contributing to a greater understanding of printing and publishing history." It is useful to enumerate the Contents of this masterwork in full. Besides the Introduction, there are chapters on: Lithographic incunables; Military Manuals; The Presses at Chatham and Metz; The Lithographic Publications of Sir Thomas Phillipps; Books on Accounting and Other 'Difficult Composition'; Music Method Books; Non-Latin scripts; Lithography and Phonography: The Books of Isaac Pitman; Books with Pictures; Reprints of Books and Facsimiles of Old Documents; Facsimiles of Autographs; Photolithographed Facsimiles and Reprints, and much more,… Read More

Toronto, Buffalo, London: University of Toronto Press, 1993. Softcover. Very Good. Octavo, 275 pages, illustrated in black and white. Ownership mark inside front cover. ¶ In his dedicated investigation into the early history of the book, Carlson provides insight in changing technology during the transition from fifteenth to sixteenth century and its interaction with contemporary humanist culture. Black and white illustrations throughout.