Rare books from G.Gosen Rare Books & Old Paper, ABAA, ILAB

Kipling, Rudyard, Soldiers Three: a Collection of Stories Setting Forth Certain Passages in the Lives and Adventures of Privates Terence Mulvaney, Stanley Ortheris, and John Learoyd, London: Simpson, Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, Limited, St. Dunstan's House, Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.C., 1890. 93 pages, plus "opinion of the Press" and "L'Envoi," followed by a page of advertisements for A.H. Wheeler & Co.'s Indian Railway Library. Remains of original wrappers conserved and bound in. A clipped signature of Kipling pasted down on the title-page. Bound in full red twentieth century calf. Except for the now-conserved worn original Indian Railway Library wrappers, this is a fine copy.

Denis, Charles, Select Fables. By Mr. Charles Denis. London: Printed for J. and R. Tonson and S. Draper, MDCCLIV. [1754] In-8, 21 cm. [frontispiece by C. Grignion; title-page; dedication to the Prince of Wales (ii); preface (xvii); contents (ix); 448 pages]. Rebound in quarter brown calf, five raised bands, gilt-decorated label, on twentieth century marbled boards. Occasional slight spotting.Following in the tradition of LaFontaine, Aesop, and -- if Quintilian is to be believed -- Hesiod, Charles Denis wrote fables that survive the Classical definition: A fable is no more than a moral instruction disguised under the allegory of an action. De La Motte said a fable was an epic poem in miniature, but with more freedom of subject and in the choice of actors. There are 120 fables in Denis's collection, the last was dedicated to His Grace, Thomas, the Archbishop of Canterbury titled "The Phoenix and the Owl." First edition. ESTC Cit. No. T101633.

[Waldo, Francis] Willis, Wm. Journals of the Rev. Thomas Smith and the Rev. Samuel Deane, Pastors of the First Church in Portland: with Notes and Biographical Notices: as a Summary History of Portland. By Wm. Willis. Portland: Joseph S. Bailey, 1849. [vi; 483 pages] 8vo; 22.5 cm. Second edition. Frontispiece of Thomas Smith, illustrated with 8 engravings: Interlined portraits and text illustrations. One engraving is of Harvard Hall, Cambridge, built in 1682, destroyed in 1764. Also a map of Portland at the time of the fire of 1775. Embossed black publisher's cloth with gilt lettering on the spine, this copy is signed by Francis W. Waldo: "Francis W. Waldo from his uncle Francis Waldo." Francis W. Waldo was a descendent of Samuel Waldo, the founder of Waldoboro, Maine. This copy is also signed by Elizabeth G.C. Menzies, and dated by her August 1974, the noted Princeton photographer and author. Book tag of Charles E. Tuttle & Company, Old and Rare Books, Rutland, Vermont. Some spotting of introductory… Read More

Westmacott, Charles, POINTS OF MISERY; or FABLES FOR MANKIND: Prose and Verse, Chiefly Original, by Charles Westmacott. Illustrated with Twenty Designs by Robert Cruikshank. London: Published by Sherwood, Jones and Co. Paternoster-Row, 1823. Large paper copy with original wrapper bound in. Presentation copy, with "From the Author" on the initial blank following the original wrapper front cover. Imperial 8vo. 25cm, untrimmed. Some tissue guards for the engravings are still in place. 97 pages followed by the back cover of the original wrapper, with the advertisements for Bernard Blackmantle's The English Spy. The Spy at Eton. Some foxing, mostly in the wide margins. Bound in quarter green morocco on marbled boards.

Seymour, Robert (1798 – 1826). Sketches by Seymour. London: Published by G. S. Tregear, 96 Cheapside, [1835-36]. Five volumes: each volume consists of an illustrated lithographed title page and 36 numbered plates, printed on colored papers; 185 humourous, numbered lithographed plates in total. Now bound in one volume, recent brown morocco spine with gilt lettering and five raised bands, on modern marbled boards, gilt page edges all around. 22.5 cm. First edition. Some of the plates have been trimmed slightly. Plate 1 of Vol 4, mis-numbered in the plate as No. 4. Generally very good, occasional browning on a few plates.

A Modest Enquiry Concerning the Election of the Sheriffs of London. And the Right of Chusing Demonstrated To belong unto, and to have been always adjudged to reside in the Lord Mayor, the Court of Aldermen, and the Common-Hall.
London, printed for Henry Mead, 1682. Second edition. STC R17026. M 2365. [ii; 46 pages] Quarto. 19 cm x 14.5 cm. Rebound in modern marbled boards with a maroon goatskin spine. Generally good condition, some slight spotting in the margins.
Anticipating the death of Charles II (1630 – 1685), reign (1660 – 1685), this publication was written during the Exclusion Crisis (1679 – 1681), during which the Duke of York, James, King Charles's brother and heir presumptive, converted to Roman Catholicism. The fear among Protestants was that when Charles died, James would embroil England in a war allied with France against the Dutch Republic. Printed in this text is "A Bill depending in the House of Lords last Parliament at Westminster, and committed, with several Judges to assist,… Read More

Collier, Jeremy, M.A., Essays Upon Several Moral Subjects. In Two Parts. The Fifth Edition. London: Printed for Richard Sare at Grays-Inn-Gate in Holborn, M DCC III. [1703] Parts I and II paginated separately as follows: Part I [viii; 246 pages; 1 leaf with advertisements recto and verso]; Part II with title page stating "Printed by W.B. for H. Rhodes, at the Star, the Corner of Brides-Lane, Fleet Street; and T. Newborough, at the Golden-Bull in St. Paul's Church Yard. 1705." [viii; 200 pages] Page 124 in numbered incorrectly as 224 in Part II. Bound with Part III, In-8, "Printed by W.B. for H. Rhodes, at the Star, the Corner of Brides-Lane, Fleet Street; and T. Newborough, at the Golden-Bull in St. Paul's Church Yard. 1705." [title-page; v (preface); i (Errata and Table on the verso of v); 279 pages]. Parts I and II, ESTC Cit. No. T110889, Part III, ESTC Cit. No. T110888. Parts I and II appeared first in 1694 and 1695 respectively. Re-backed, 5 raised bands; original stamped paneled tan calf covers… Read More

The Tales of Algernon Blackwood. London: Martin Secker, Publisher to the Richards Press, 8 Charles Street, St. James's Square, 1938. Signed on the portrait frontispiece, from a photograph by Douglas Ltd., by Algernon Blackwood (1869-1961). 25 cm. Blue cloth, no dust jacket. The spine is creased and sunned but not broken. The book block is solid and secure. 8vo. [xv; 684 pages; 2 blanks] A collection of twenty-two of Blackwood's ghost stories printed between 1906 and 1910, printed here in chronological sequence, with an introspective introduction by the author.