Rare books from Renaissance Books

London: Edward Arnold & Co.. Very Good with no dust jacket. 1926. First Edition. Hardcover. Some spotting to page edges. Moderate dust stains to top page edges. 4" repaired tear to stub of folding map, not affecting printed area. No signatures or stamps. Hinges intact. Cloth covers clean and bright. No tears to cloth. No bumps to corners of boards. Cloth boards protected in loose mylar jacket. A nice copy. ; xv, [1], 328 pages + frontispiece + plates + folding colour map at rear. Charcoal grey cloth covers with gilt lettering on spine and pale blue-grey lettering on front board. Dimensions: 8 7/8" by 5 3/4". ; 8vo .

Paris: Firmin Didot, Pere Et Fils. Good with no dust jacket. 1827. First Edition. Hardcover. Ex-library, with library labels removed from tail of spine and front pastedowns. Minimal library markings. Heavy rubbing to marbled papered boards. Loss of marbled paper along edges of boards. Small loss of leather at head of spine on four of the five bound volumes. Moderate rubbing to leather spines. No splitting to gutters at endpapers. Moderate foxing throughout. 1/2" loss to strip along blank fore margin of half-title page to Volume Two. All half-title leaves present. Heavy creasing to one leaf in Volume Seven.; Published 1827-1839. Title continues: "historiens et gens de lettres de la France, ainsi que des littérateurs étrangers qui ont écrit en Français, plus particuliérement pendant les XVIIIe et XIXe siécles". xxix, [1], 582; 756; 562; 646; 668; 647; 574; 606; 597; 575 pages. 10 volumes in 5. Quarter leather and marbled boards. Page… Read More

Venice: Giambatista Pasquali. Good with no dust jacket. 1767-1771. First Edition. Disbound. Lacking front board. Rear pastepaper board present, with remnant of early marbled paper covering. Some dampstains to margins of leaves. Some waviness and wrinkles to leaves. Some leaves detached from sewing. Complete. ; Two titles bound together as one. Both titles collated and complete. First title ("Trattato"): xii, 81, [1] pages. 47 leaves. Includes 8 full page plates within the pagination. Folio. Page dimensions: 340 x 250mm. Bound with ""Osservazioni di Antonio Visentini architetto Veneto che servono di continuazione al tratto di Teofil Gallaccini sopra gli errori degli architetti" by Antonio Visentini. Venice: Giambatista Pasquali, 1771. vii, [1], 141 pages + 1 plate "La Perfezione" following the title leaf. 76 leaves (last leaf blank) + frontispiece. Includes 61 full page plates within the pagination. Folio. Page dimensions: 340 x 250mm. Text is in Italian.… Read More

Cambridge: University Press. Very Good with no dust jacket. 1922. First Edition. Hardcover. Owner's inscription dated 1923. A few spots of foxing to endpapers. No tears to the folding map. A 3/8" tear at lower end of gutter at rear endpaper. Hinges weak. Some minor rubbing to cloth boards and to ends of spine. Slight bruising to lower corners of boards. A nice copy of an important background book for the political history of Tibet in the first half of the twentieth century. Uncommon in this condition.; First printing. xxiii, [1], 248 pages + 64 b&w photographic plates + 8 maps (including 1 large folding colour map in pocket at rear). Publisher's green cloth boards with gilt lettering and publisher's emblem on spine. Page dimensions: 241 x 164 mm. "It having been found impossible to reconcile the conflicting boundary claims of China and Tibet at the tripartite conference held in India in 1914, the Tibetan question dragged on unsettled through the years of the… Read More

Calcutta: Printed and Sold By Manuel Cantopher. Very Good with no dust jacket. 1790. First Edition. Hardcover. Professionally rebacked by Barbara Schmelzer, preserving original endpapers, and with remnant of original leather spine laid down. Moderate chips and scrapes to leather boards, with moderate losses of leather at corners of boards. Corners of boards strengthened by conservator with Japanese tissue paper. A 1" tear to the folding plate of the Hindoo Lunar Mansions. Pages 268-269 are transposed with pages 272-273. ; The second volume only of "Asiatick Researches" (the name later changed to "Asiatic Researches"). The scarce Calcutta first edition, preceding the London editions. [iv], 502, [2] pages + 14 plates (5 folding). Pages 501-502 have a list of the Society's members at the end of the year 1790. The final leaf has "Corrections" on the recto, and is blank on the verso. Quarto size. Page dimensions: 288 x 220mm. Signature on front endpaper of… Read More

Dunedin: Caveman Press. Very Good with no dust jacket. (1974). First Edition. Hardcover. Corrected page proofs for Hone Tuwhare's fourth collection of poetry, "Something Nothing". This title was published in Dunedin by the Caveman Press in 1974. Loose long leaves, dimensions: 456 x 152mm. The leaves are printed on one side only, with 2 pages printed on one side of the leaf. The leaves are held loosely within cloth boards with ties and a printed paper label on the front board: "page proofs (1974) 'SOMETHING NOTHING' / BY / HONE TUWHARE". The manuscript corrections consist of the removal of the comma from "Something, Nothing" at each occurrence, and changes to the page numbering. There are also a few handwritten notes (presumably made by Caveman Press publisher Trevor Reeves) on the first leaf. The proofs do not have the contents page or the copyright page, but there is a note that the contents page is to be made in the same style as that used in… Read More

Budapest: Kiadja Rath Mor. Good with no dust jacket. 1892. First Edition. Hardcover. Hinges broken on volume one. Rubbing and loss of cloth to ends of spine on volume one. Some light foxing.; Two volumes. Volume One: [vi], 520 pages + frontis. Illustrated. Volume two: [ii], 546 pages + frontis. Illustrated. Blue cloth boards with gilt decorations and brown spine and front board labels. Page dimensions: 220mm x 150mm. Hungarian edition. The author was Hungarian. This edition was preceded by a German edition published in Vienna. ; 8vo .

London: by J. Tonson in the Strand, J. Knapton and D. Midwinter . . .. Very Good- with no dust jacket. 1714. First Thus. Hardcover. 1/4" missing to leather at head of spine. 1/2" chip to leather at tail of spine. Leather split along 2/3 of rear joint. Spine lettering piece rubbed and worn. Headbands lacking. Small 1/4" loss of leather at tips of corners of boards. Some small abrasions to leather on rear board. Owner's signature scribbled out on title page. Some foxing to preliminary leaves. ; The first duodecimo format printing of Shakespeare's Sonnets. [4], lvi, iv, 41, [5], 45-406 pages + 2 copperplate engravings. Contemporary full calf binding. Gilt borders to boards and gilt tooled decoration to spine. Red leather lettering piece on spine. Page dimensions: 163 x 95mm. Red speckling to page edges. Several woodcut inhabited initials, woodcut headpieces and tailpieces. In 1714 Rowe added Curll's 1710 edition of the poems to his 8 volume edition of Shakespeare to… Read More

London: William Tegg and Co.. Very Good- with no dust jacket. 1850. Hardcover. Moderate rubbing to leather at joints and edges and corners of boards. Gutter split at front hinge. The portrait frontispiece has moderate foxing and a vertical crease to the inner margin. Provenance: An owner's inscription on front fly leaf - "Sophia Eleanor Mercer - A precious heirloom, not to go out of the family - left by me to my grandson John Lawrence Anderson and not to go out of the family "Nellie Mercer" nee Wray mentioned in note by Richard Bate - who illustrated this book when over 70 years old". ; Second edition. [1-4] i-viii (IX-XVI, hand-numbered additional manuscript leaves listing 95 plates, pp. XIV-XVI blank except for hand-numbering) (9)-394 pages. Portrait frontispiece. Extra-illustrated with 95 additional pen, ink and wash drawings by Richard Bate. These are the original ink and wash drawings, i.e. not mechanically reproduced. The illustrations are presumably all based… Read More

London: John Murray. Very Good- with No dust jacket as issued. 1824. First Edition. Hardcover. Moderate rubbing to joints. Small loss of leather at tips of corners of front board. (<1/2"). Small 1" tidemark to blank lower corner of first dozen plates. Small ink number added to top left corner of margin of plates. Plate 41 "Alcazar, Toledo", with accompanying letterpress leaf, is bound in preceding Plate 37 "Alcazar, ditto [Segovia]", which threw the annotator [they numbered both plates 41 and 37 as 37in the top corner, then skipped a number, so that from plate 43 onwards the numbering of the 60 plates again matches the numbering in the Contents list ("Views in Spain").] Title leaf with some foxing, minor staining and small abrasion to lower corner. Split to gutter at the rear hinge. Small 1/4" wide by 1/2" high chip to leather at tail end of upper joint. Minor rubbing and marks to leather boards. Plates generally very good with minimal… Read More

Christchurch: Printed by the Lyttelton Times Company. Very Good- with No dust jacket as issued. 1882. First Edition. Hardcover. Boards with moderate rubbing, foxing, and dust stains. Vertical creasing to spine cloth. Small 1/4" loss of paper at tips of corners of boards. Some patchy foxing to a few text pages. Hinges weak with the gutters split at the endpapers. Overall though a nice copy of this title. The plates, including the albumen "Moriori" photograph are all in very good condition, with tissue guards present. Provenance: Early Christchurch bookseller's blindstamp on front endpaper "A. Simpson Late J. Hughes". Early owner's signature on front endpaper "John D. [Enys?]" (1837-1894?) - "Enys developed a close friendship with Julius Haast, the provincial geologist, whom he had met soon after his arrival in Canterbury, and accompanied Haast on a number of expeditions. He was active in promoting the objects of the Philosophical Institute of… Read More

London: Printed by W. B. for T. Ward, in the Inner-Temple-Lane. Very Good- with no dust jacket. 1725. First Edition. Hardcover. Some splitting to leather at ends of joints. Boards rubbed. Overall a nice set. Provenance: Ex libris Thomas Percival Esquire, engraved bookplate with horse on a scroll surrounded by books. ; Volume One: frontispiece + [2 (title)], [5 (Dedication)], [1 (blank)], [7 (Preface)], [1 (blank)], [4 (Subscribers)], [6 (Contents)], 461, [1 (blank)], [10 (Index)] pages. Volume Two: [2 (title)], [8 (Contents)], 492, [15 (Index)], [1 (blank)] pages. Volume Three: [2 (title), [10 (Contents)], 507, [1 (blank)], [17 (Index), [1 (blank)] pages.Title continues: "Comprehending likewise the Negotiations of Sir Henry Neville, Sir Charles Cornwallis, Sir Dudley Carleton, Sir Thomas Edmondes, Mr. Trumbull, Mr. Cottington and others, At the Courts of France and Spain, and in Holland, Venice, &c. Wherein the Principal Transactions of those Times Are faithfully related, and the… Read More

[London]: The House of Commons. Good+ with No dust jacket as issued. 1812. First Edition. Hardcover. Binding poor. Front board detached. Spine leather worn with 75mm loss, and 65mm piece of spine detached and loose. Text block very good. Ex-library, General Assembly Library New Zealand. Gilt library stamps on spine and front board. Library bookplate on front endpaper, with rubber stamp "Withdrawn from Parliamentary Library". Rubber stamp on title page "General Assembly Library APR 1899". ; 117, [1 (blank)] pages. Half morocco binding, with front board detached and spine poor. Folio. Page dimensions: 333 x 202mm. Without original blue wrappers. Page edges sprinkled red. [References: Wantrup 38, pp. 108-9 - "The first important document from the Macquarie era is a Parliamentary Paper of major significance in the early history of Australia. [. . .] In its 118 foolscap folio pages this report includes a transcript of the evidence given by many notable witnesses. Among… Read More

Po Neke [Wellington]: Tamati Mekenehi / Government Printer. Very Good+ with No dust jacket as issued. 1871-1877. First Edition. Hardcover. Ex-library, General Assembly Library, New Zealand. Library label on front endpapers, with rubber stamp "Withdrawn from Parliamentary Library". Library stamps on spines of all volumes, and on front boards of the first 4 volumes. ; Very scarce complete run of 131 issues. A complete run of this publication is not easily obtainable on the market. 162; 190; 326; 322; 300; 196 pages + 3 title leaves + [1, (1 (blank)] page supplement to Vol. 13 No. 1 + 1 folding map "Map of the seat of War" (Russo-Turkish War). 6 volumes bound in 5 (Volumes 12 and 13, 1876-1877, are bound as one volume.) The first four volumes in khaki cloth boards, the fifth volume in light brown cloth boards. Page dimensions: 314 x 196mm. This set lacks the second of the two supplements, being 1 printed page / 1 sheet from Vol. 13 No. 10 (5 June 1877). The first… Read More

London: Cassell and Company. Good in Good+ dust jacket. (1944). First Edition. Hardcover. Front free endpaper cut out. The half-title leaf which has the Churchill inscription and the frontispiece have been detached and re-glued. A little bruising to corners of boards. Foxing to page edges. Some foxing to endpapers and preliminary leaves. 75mm tear across head of dust-jacket spine. Some chips and tears to corners of dust-jacket and ends of dust-jacket spine. Gummed paper repair at head of dust-jacket spine on reverse side. Dust-jacket protected in archival mylar cover. ; This copy inscribed and signed by Winston S. Churchill on half-title page. "To F. W. Doidge / from / Winston S. Churchill / 1945". Also loosely included is a typed signed letter dated July 6 1945 from Churchill's aide-de-camp C. R. "Tommy" Thompson, on letterhead paper of the Prime Minister, to the recipient of the book F. W. Doidge. The letter reads, "Dear Mr. Doidge, You will remember when you… Read More