Rare books from Michael R. Thompson, Booksellers, ABAA/ILAB

[Santa Cruz, California:] Moving Parts Press, 2005 One of twelve copies hand-painted by the artist, out of a total edition of ninety-six copies. The remaining copies were colored by pochoir. Signed by the printer and the translator and initialed "rR." The illustrator, Ray Rice, died in 2001. [36] leaves, printed on Fabriano Artistico paper, on one side only, and folded accordion style, in white pictorial wrappers, with glassine. Parallel English and French texts. Pochoir colored illustrations on each page and on the cover. Folio (10 x 15"). . As new in publisher's plain paper slipcase. Yves Peyré, in addition to being a leading French poet, is Director of the Bibliothèque littéraire Jacques Doucet, the French government's library of first editions, manuscripts, and publications of modern French literature. Artist Ray Rice is the father of the printer, Felicia Rice. He spent over fifty years on the modern American art scene as a painter, mosaicist and animator of experimental films.

London: James Fraser, 1837 First edition. Late nineteenth-century polished tan calf. Covers and spine ruled in gilt, top edges gilt, fore- and bottom edges untrimmed. Binding by Bickers & Sons, with their stamp in each volume. Three volumes, octavo. A fine set. Of the three great political upheavals which have altered the face of the world …. only the French Revolution has stimulated literary masterpieces which, in turn, have made their impact, direct and indirect, upon millions of readers … They are Carlyle's book and the History of the French Revolution by Michelet.

London: Printed for John Dunton, 1694 First edition of a book that has become scarce in commerce. Contemporary speckled sheep, lacking spine label. . Octavo. Lacking the initial blank. Woodcut diagram on p. 145. Dedication to John Locke. Binding extremities rubbed, contemporary armorial bookplate on front pastedown partly torn away, nineteenth-century book label of Rev. John James partly superimposed. A very good copy. Burthogge (bap. 1638, d. 1705) "dedicated two philosophical works to Locke, evidently seen as a prestigious ally, An Essay upon Reason and the Nature of Spirits begins with an effective restatement of his idealism, emphasizing the role of categorical concepts and making some use of Lockean argument. There are interesting suggestions as to the nature of consciousness, leading into a somewhat Spinozistic, 'harmoniously' speculative panpsychism, which ws further defended in 1699. In the last years of both their lives Burthogge corresponded with Locke, whose commentary on St. Paul adopts… Read More

New York: Pageant Books, 1961 Full red morocco, signed "Alpha B.B. Co., New York." Blindstamped diamond-shaped decoration on front covers with the initials "J.G." in the center. Spines lettered in gilt, all edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. . Two volumes, large folio. Printed on all-rag paper, the text pages printed in lithography and the illuminated pages—about a hundred in number—in sheet-fed gravure. Back joint of Volume 2 rubbed. Otherwise a fine, clean copy in crimson cloth open-end slipcases. With the bookplate of noted Leonardo da Vinci collector Elmer Belt (1893-1980). A complete facsimile of the Gutenberg Bible. The reproduction derives from the Insel Verlag edition, which was based on the copy in the Königslichen Bibliothek in Berlin and the copy in the Standischen Landesbibliothek in Fulda, considered to be the most beautifully illuminated of the extant copies. The colophon states that at the time of publication there were 47 copies known to exist. According to the Gutenberg Museum, there… Read More

Amsterdam: Chez Jean Schreuder , 1765 First collected edition of Leibniz's works and first edition of his "Nouveaux essais sur l'entendement humain" (pp. [1]-496). Contemporary quarter sheep over sprinkled boards with vellum tips. Spine ruled in gilt in compartments with two olive morocco gilt labels. Edges stained red. . Quarto. Title printed in red and black with engraved vignette by O. de Fries. Decorative woodcut head- and tail-pieces and initials. Occasional light foxing, marginal dampstain to final two leaves, short tear in the upper margin of the final leaf. Small circular ownership stamp on title. A superb copy. "Leibniz was moved by the publication in 1704 of Coste's French translation of Locke's Essay on Human Understanding to lay his thoughts in detail alongside those of Locke. Leibniz' New Essays (Nouveaux Essais sur l'entendement humain) was not a systematic criticism of Locke's philosophy. It contains occasional discussions of Locke's views, but in general Leibniz expounded his own… Read More

London: Lithographed, Printed, and Published by Day & Son, Lithographers to the Queen, 1855-57 First quarto edition of Roberts' monumental work, which was first published as a six volume elephant folio in forty-two fort-nightly parts (1842-9). The six volumes here are a new edition, in smaller format, of the two great three-volume works (The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, & Nubia and Egypt & Nubia) collectively known as Roberts's Holy Land. An advertisement in the Monthly Literary Advertiser for June 1855 states that "to ensure positive identity between this and the original edition, the whole of the plates have been reduced to the required size by means of photography. Original blue cloth ruled and stamped decoratively in gilt with a gilt-lettered and gilt-decorated spine. All edges gilt. Six volumes in three; quarto. . Illustrated with 250 plates, including six title vignettes and three maps. Binding extremities worn with a few minor chips, tears, and bumps to all volumes. Preliminary… Read More

[ Moscow: 1912 [ Facsimile reproduction of the Archangel Gospels. 600 copies were planned for publication by the Rumiantsev Museum (now the Lenin Public Library) in Moscow for the commemoration of their 50th anniversary in 1912. It is reported that only 200 were actually produced at the high price of 100 rubles. Bound in thick wooden boards, inner boards overlaid with paper that reproduces the appearance of the original medieval binding, uncovered spine with vellum straps and sewing cords exposed. All of the original manuscripts flaws are reproduced here (wormholes, stains, etc.). A few leaves with very minor chips to edges. Eight-page pamphlet in Russian by Grigorii Petrovich Georgievsky (1866-1948), Curator of the Rumiantsev Museum, that describes the book and the facsimile production, laid in. . Small quarto. Printed in three colors on paper imitating the original vellum. A fine copy. The Archangel Gospels is a lectionary written in Old Church Slavonic. It is the fourth oldest Russian manuscript… Read More

London: Printed for J. Tonson in the Strand, 1728 First edition of what is regarded to be the first book on consciousness and an important source book in eighteenth-century aesthetics. This book is generally attributed to Zachary Mayne (1631-94), an Oxford-educated clergyman and religious writer who would have written it shortly after the publication of Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), though it wasn't published until some thirty years later. Recent scholars believe it could be the work of Congreve's friend, Charles Mayne (d. 1737). . Full modern period-style calf. Covers and spine ruled in blind, five raised bands, gilt black morocco spine label, new endpapers. Octavo. First and last few leaves lightly browned around the edges, a little light foxing. Overall a very good, attractive copy. "Two Dissertations comprises careful accounts of sense, imagination, reason and their respective contributions to cognition. The author is primarily interested in defeating what he was convinced… Read More

Leipzig: Hermann Mendelssohn, 1853 First edition. Original brown cloth, decoratively stamped in gilt and blind. . Quarto. Engraved title vignette of the Colorado River after Möllhausen. Seven chromolithographed plates, mounted on card and six tinted lithographed plates after Möllhausen, folding map after Henry Lange, ten wood-engravings in text. Introduction by Alexandeer von Humboldt. Front hinge neatly repaired. Occasional light foxing and toning, but a very good or better copy, bright and clean. Balduin Möllhsudrn (1825-1905), a Berlin-born artist, first visited the American frontier in 1847-1852. After returning to Germany he secured the recommendation of Alexander von Humboldt for the post of artist and topographer with Lt. A.W. Whipple's Pacific Railroad expedition, scouting possible transcontinental railroad routes at the 35th parallel. They traveled through central New Mexico and Arizona to the Colorado River, and across the Mojave Desert to California, reaching the coast at San Pedro.… Read More

Oxford: Iohannes Lichfield & Iacobus Short, 1621 First edition. Contemporary paneled calf, neatly rebacked in modern calf. Gilt spine with red calf label. . Small quarto. Woodcut diagrams throughout, decorative initial letters and headbands. Printed in Roman, italic, and Greek types. Old armorial bookplate on front pastedown, with library withdrawal rubberstamp. Some light toning, offsetting to margins of first and last few leaves from the binding, tear in upper margin of Kk3. A very good copy. Sir Henry Savile (1549-1622), warden of Merton College, Oxford, was one of the foremost scholars of his day and a patron and donor to the library established by his friend Thomas Bodley. The Praelectiones are a series of lectures on Euclid's Elements delivered to inaugurate the Savilian professorships in Geometry and Astronomy, which he founded. Euclid was a life-long interest of Savile's. He stated at one point that he could forget to eat or sleep when absorbed by his study of the Elements. His lectures are… Read More

Paris: Librairie L. Conquet, 1895 The Robert Hoe Copy, specially made for him and so stated on the limitation page in ink: "Exemplaire offert/à Monsieur Robert Hoe/ L. Conquet." Limited to 150 copies, of which this is number 68.This copy is distinguished as having two separate (and identical) suites of illustrations, interspersed within the text. Of the thousands of books in the Robert Hoe collection, this is one of only a few in which he commissioned a special product from the publisher. In a superb contemporary embroidered binding on silk, consisting of elaborate floral motifs, ribbon patterns, and buds, all in colored silk embroidery on cream-colored silk padded covers. Gilt lettering on spine, marbled endpapers with leather bookplate of Robert Hoe. . Octavo. Frontisportrait and eight etchings, plus etched headbands and tail-pieces. Printed on Imperial Japan Vellum. Tear along front joint, a little fraying at foot of spine. A very good copy. Robert Hoe III (1839-1909) was an American businessman,… Read More

n.p., France: n.d., ca. 1880], Full dark brown crushed morocco, title in gilt on spine, front cover with onlaid gilt metal device. Gilt decorated turn-ins, plum colored silk doublures and endleaves. All edges gilt, multi-colored silk ribbon market. . 7" x 5 5/8." . Text in gothic style letters, with elaborate borders, initials, and miniatures in watercolor and gold, in a style reminiscent of the late Middle Ages. A fine and very interesting manuscript, featuring very delicate work of a rather varied nature. Pencil presentation inscription in French to a woman named Marie, in memory of the presenter's mother, who had once owned the book. We know nothing about either the donor or the donee, and can only guess whether they had a relation to the producer(s) of this manuscript.

London: Printed for James Rivington and James Fletcher, 1759 First edition in English of the first history of California, which "gave the English-speaking world its earliest thorough account of the little-known areas of the west coast of North America," (Hill). The original Spanish edition was published in 1757. . Contemporary tree calf neatly rebacked to style preserving the original red and green spine labels. Spine stamped in gilt and with raised bands. Two volumes, octavo. With four engraved plates (including both frontispieces) and a folding map of Baja California. The plates in volume one are "Women of California" and "Men of California" (frontispiece); plus "The Cayote or Fox" and "The Taye or California Deer." The plates in volume two are "The Manner of Curing the Sick in California" and "Sorcerers of California" (frontispiece); plus "The Martyrdom of Father Carranco" and "The Martyrdom of Father Tamaral." Some rubbing to extremities and some light chipping to lower board of volume two.… Read More

Berkeley: Peter Koch, 1998 One of seventy numbered copies, signed by Wagener. Designed and printed on Zerkall paper by Peter Koch and Richard Wagnener. Folio. 8 1/2 x 14 1/2." . Twenty-six full-page wood-engravings, one for each letter of the alphabet, with short prose statements on facing pages. Twenty-six smaller woodcut section titles in red. Fine in brown board chemise and red silk slipcase with printed paper label. This beautiful letterpress production is an alpha-bestiary, with woodcuts of animals to accompany each of the twenty-six letters. The subjects range from Armadillo

Boston: The Stratford Co., 1924 First edition. Part of the Knights of Columbus Racial Contribution Series. Publisher's blue cloth titled in gilt. . Octavo. Binding is bright and attractive aside from some slight darkening to spine and minor rubbing to corners. Minor marginal toning. A fresh, near-fine copy of a historical work that detailed the contributions of Black people to the United States from the first colonies to the present. In 1899, W.E. Burghardt Du Bois (1868 – 1963) published The Philadelphia Negro, his first major study of Black life in the United States. The monumental study was the result of over eight hundred hours of interviews in 2,500 households in Philadelphia's seventh ward. Du Bois' work in Philadelphia "prefigured much of the politically engaged scholarship that Du Bois pursued in the years that followed and…reflected the two main strands of his intellectual engagement during this formative period: the scientific study of the so-called Negro Problem and the appropriate… Read More