London: Printed for R. Dodsley in Pall-mall, and sold by M. Cooper in Pater-noster-row, MDCCLI [1751]. Six parts in one volume. 4to: xvi,31,[1]; 31,[1]; 31,[1]; 32; 32; 27,[9]pp, each book with separate title page, frontispiece, and pagination, the seven full-page plates engraved by Boitard after drawings by Boitard & J.... more
![[Canterbury Tales] The works of Geoffrey Chaucer, compared with the former editions, and many valuable Mss. Out of which, Three Tales are added which were never before Printed; By John Urry, Student of Christ-Church, Oxon. Deceased: March, 17, 1714/9. Together with a Glossary, By a Student of the same College. Jim Thomas. To the Whole is prefixed The Author’s Life, newly written, and a Preface, giving an Account of this Edition. Geoffrey CHAUCER, c.](/pictures/thumb/BB1407.JPG?v=1503506338)
London: printed for Bernard Lintot, between the Temple-Gates, MDCCXXI. [1721]. First Edition thus. Mottled Calf. First Urry Edition. Folio: [52],626,81pp, with engraved frontispiece portrait of Urry by Nicolas Pigne and title-page vignette of Chaucer's tomb, full-page portrait of Chaucer, illustration of the pilgrims leaving the Tabard Inn, and 26 equestrian... more
![[Sammelband of five plays, comprising] Xerxes. A tragedy. As it is acted at the Theatre Royal in Lincoln’s-Inn-Fields; The tragical history of King Richard III. As it is acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane. Alter’d from Shakespear by C. Cibber; Perolla and Izadora. A tragedy. Acted at the Theatre Royal, by Her Majesty’s servants; Ximena: Or, The heroick daughter. A tragedy. As it is acted at the Theatre-Royal by His Majesty’s servants; [and] Cæsar in Ægypt. A tragedy. At [sic] it is acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane, by His Majesty’s servants. Colley CIBBER.](/pictures/thumb/BB0905.jpg?v=1499796703)
London. Early Reprints. Paper-Covered Boards. Collection of five plays by Cibber, of various editions, dates and publishers, each with copper-engraved frontispiece and title page printed in red and black (except Perolla and Izadora). 12mo: 72; 71[1]; 70,[2]; xxxvi,[2],58; 83,[1]pp. Xerxes: printed for W. Feales, at Rowe’s-Head, over-against St. Clement’s Church... more
![The Village Minstrel, and Other Poems. Volumes 1 & 2. [and] Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery. John CLARE.](/pictures/thumb/BB1318.JPG?v=1499796755)
London: Printed for Taylor and Hessey, Fleet Street; and E. Drury, Stamford. [through 1821], 1820. Half-Calf. Three volumes in one: First Edition of Village Minstrel (vols. 1 & 2); Second Edition of Poems. 12mo: xxviii,216; [8],211,[1]; viii,xxiv,220pp, with copper-engraved frontispiece portrait of John Clare by E. Scriven. Early half calf... more
London: Printed for J. and R. Tonson, H. Woodfall, W. Strahan, R. Baldwin, T. Caslon, T. Longman [and 4 others in London], 1767. In 2 volumes, complete. 12mo; [4], 260; [4], 272pp, with a copper-engraved frontispiece and 8 engraved plates after P. Fourdrinier. T 8vo. (7" X 4.5"). Finely bound... more
![The Shepherd's Week. In Six Pastorals [Provenance]. John GAY.](/pictures/thumb/BB0887.jpg?v=1499796702)
London: Jacob Tonson, 1721. Third Edition. Small, slim 8vo: [16],60,[4]pp, with frontispiece, six full-page copper-engraved plates, woodcut head- and tail pieces. Later polished calf, flat spine (rebacked) lettered in gilt, speckled boards framed with French fillet, gilt turn-ins, all edges gilt, marbled end papers (end papers and fly leaves renewed)... more
![Trivia: or the Art of Walking the Streets of London [Large-Paper Copy]. John GAY.](/pictures/thumb/BB1482.jpg?v=1503506913)
London: printed for Bernard Lintott, at the Cross-Keys between the Temple-Gates in Fleetstreet, [1716]. First Edition. Morocco. First Issue, large-paper copy (engraved headpiece on p. 1 depicts a street scene, not a phoenix, with elaborate engraved ornaments, not printer's ornaments, on pp. 21 and 53.) of John Gay's mock imitation... more
London: Printed for W. Griffin, at Garrick's Head, in Catharine street, Strand, MDCCLXX [1770]. First Edition. Morocco. First Issue, with the erroneous catchword "Careless" for "Thus" on p. 9. 4to: vii,[1]-23[1]pp, with half-title (bulked at end with 22 blank leaves). Title page with engraved vignette by Isaac Taylor, "The Sad... more
London: printed for C. Hitch, G. Hawkins, C. Bathurst, J. Tonson, J. Worral, R. Baldwin, T. Longman, J. Bathoe, C. Corbett, T. Lownds, G. Kearsly, T. Becket, W. Nichol, and M. Richardson, MDCCLXIV. [1764]. Second Edition. Full Calf. "Best edition" (Lowndes), with Grey's annotations and Hogarth's plates. Complete in two... more
London: Printed by G. Miller for I. Parker, 1634. Early Reprint. Folio: [18],423,[9]pp, with copper-engraved title page featuring oval portraits of Ariosto and Harington and 46 magnificent full-page copper engravings (each with decorative border), elaborate cartouches, historiated initials, and tail-pieces. Printed in double columns. This copy bound without Harington's Epigrams... more
![Spenser’s Faerie queene. A new edition with a glossary, and notes explanatory and critical by John Upton . . . In two volumes [Extra-Illustrated]. John Upton, Edmund SPENSER, 1552?-1599.](/pictures/thumb/BB1494.jpg?v=1503767711)
London: printed for J. and R. Tonson, 1758. First Edition thus. Full Calf. First Annotated Edition, perhaps a unique copy, illustrated (grangerized) with the full suite of 32 double-page plates by William Kent for the 1751 edition of Spenser’s Faerie Queene, published by Stephen Wright and John Brindley (ESTC T35152)... more
![The Earthly Paradise : A Poem [3 volume set] : Vol I: Parts I and II; Vol II: Part III; Vol III: Part IV. William MORRIS.](/pictures/thumb/BB1877.jpg?v=1535676173)
Boston: Roberts Brothers [through 1871], 1870. First Edition thus. Decorative Cloth. Early printings, four parts in three volumes (as issued), the complete Author's Edition, with title pages dated as follows: Volume I (1870); Volume II (1871); Volume III (1871). otherwise light wear. Uniformly bound in publisher's emerald green cloth, spines... more
![Needwood Forest. Written in the year 1776. Never published; [bound with] The Fall of Needwood. Francis Noel Clarke MUNDY, 1738 /.](/pictures/thumb/BB1557.jpg?v=1535597171)
Derby: Re-printed {Printed] at the Office of J. Drewry, 1811 / 1808. First Edition. Diced Russia. 4to: 46; 46pp, with engraved frontispiece facing each title page, engraved by John Landseer (father of the better-known painter Edwin Landseer) after drawings by Mary Emmas Sneyd. Contemporary diced russia, covers stamped in blind... more
London: printed for E. Curll, in Covent-Garden, MDCCXLIV. [1744]. Full Calf. 12mo: xxx,42;72pp, with frontispiece portrait of the poet, frontispiece to the separately paginated Cyder, woodcut head- and tailpieces. Contemporary speckled calf, covers framed with double fillets in gilt, spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt, recent red morocco... more
![The dunciad, variorum. With the prolegomena of Scriblerus [Large Paper?]. Alexander POPE,](/pictures/thumb/BB1618.jpg?v=1503637678)
London: Printed for A. Dod, 1729. First Edition. Full Calf. First Edition thus. 4to: 16,[2],6,9-29,[3],118,cxix-cxxiv,[2]pp, with engraved title page showing an ass chewing thistles and laden with books, an owl perched on top (No. 1 of four versions of the image) and head-pieces and woodcut tail-pieces. (Pagination of the "Prolegomena"... more
London: Printed for Bernard Lintott at the Cross Keys between the Two Temple Gates in Fleetstreet, 1710. First Edition. Full Calf. Small 8vo: [16],72,[8]pp,complete with all five full-page engravings by Elisha Kirkall (often lacking, as ikn the B.M. copy: Foxon speculates the plates were not ready when the poem was... more
![[Foulis Press] The gentle shepherd. A pastoral comedy. Allan RAMSAY.](/pictures/thumb/BB1572.jpg?v=1535637830)
Glasgow: printed by A. Foulis, and sold by D. Allan, Dickson’s Closs, Edinburgh, also by J. Murray, No. 32. Fleet-Street, and C. Elliot, Strand, London, M.DCC LXXXVIII. [1788]. First Edition thus. First Illustrated Edition of this widely popular pastoral comedy in vernacular Scots, with glossary and evocative engravings by David... more
London: Printed for Bernard Lintot, at the Cross-Keys between the Temple Gates, Fleetstreet, M.DCC.XXVIII, 1728. Three-quarter Calf. The third edition, revised and finish'd. 8vo, liii, [1], 200, [10], with a frontispiece of Gardiner, one folding copperplate engraving of a parterre and 4 full-page engravings as frontispieces to the four books... more
![Cyrano de Bergerac [Presentation Copy] ; Translated by Howard Thayer Kingsbury: Accepted and Played by Richard Mansfield. Edmond ROSTAND.](/pictures/thumb/BB0526.jpg?v=1499796666)
Boston, New York, London: Lamson, Wolffe and Company, 1898. First Edition. Hardcover. First English Edition, inscribed in an elegant hand by the translator on front fly leaf: “Compliments of / Howard Thayer Kingsbury / November, 1898.” Small 8vo: 241,[1]pp. Publisher's original red cloth lettered and decorated in silver to spine... more
![Queen Mab : a philosophical poem [expurgated]. SHELLEY, sshe.](/images/noimage.png)
London: W. Clark, 1821. First Edition thus. Paper-Covered Boards. First commercially published edition of Shelley's first lengthy poem, printed without the author's permission by W. Clark with the assistance of Thomas Moses, the infamous book pirate (whose monogram appears in black letter below the imprint on the penultimate leaf). 8vo... more
![The chace [chase]. A poem. By William Somervile, Esq. William SOMERVILE.](/pictures/thumb/BB0636.JPG?v=1499796680)
London: Printed for G. Hawkins, and sold by T. Cooper at the Globe in Pater-Noster-Row, MDCCXXV [1735]. First Edition. Full Calf. 4to: [12],106,[2]pp, with frontispiece by Scotin after Gravelot of Apollo receiving his lyre and Diana, goddess of the hunt. Contemporary full mottled calf, spine in six compartments gilt, red... more
![[Binding] Panacea: a poem upon tea: in two canto's. Nahum TATE.](/pictures/thumb/BB1556.jpg?v=1535597224)
London: printed by and for J. Roberts, 1700. First Edition. Morocco. First edition of Tate's mock-heroic poem on the origins and virtues of tea-drinking. Crown 8vo: [16],34,[6]pp. Contemporary black morocco gilt cottage-roof binding, spine very richly gilt in six compartments between raised, period marbled end papers. Book label of bibliophile... more
![The seasons. By Mr. Thomson [Subscribers Edition]. James THOMSON.](/pictures/thumb/BB1652.jpg?v=1505267477)
London: [none given], Printed in the Year M.DCC.XXX [1730]. First Edition thus. Full Calf. Thomson's masterpiece, and perhaps the most popular English-language poem in blank verse (running to some 5500 lines in its final form) from Milton to the Romantics, as well as "one of the earliest, longest, and finest... more
![[Armorial Binding] Praedium Rusticum. Jacques VANIÈRE.](/pictures/thumb/BB1467.JPG?v=1499085302)
Paris [Lutetiae Parisiorum]: Apud Joannem Le Clerc, M. DCC. VII. [1707]. First Edition. Full Calf. 12mo: [6],268,[12], with engraved initials and head and tail pieces, and 10 charming full-page plates by Laurent Cars after Dumesnil, one at the beginning of each book. In Latin. Full speckled calf, contemporary to publication... more
London: printed for I. Tonson in Ye Strand, MDCCXXIX [1729]. First Edition. Full Calf. Large 4to: [18],450,xci,[1]pp, with engraved title page, four full-page copper-engraved plates (including frontispiece portrait of Waller engraved by Vertu after Kneller), and numerous superb head- and tailpieces and historiated initials. Contemporary cambridge-style calf, sides decorated in... more