London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1916. First Impression. Original Wrappers. First Separate Edition, with double-page woodcut by Noel Brooke, one of 2900 copies issued. Foolscap 8vo (170 x 124mm): 14pp. Stitched in publisher's stiff grey paper wrappers printed in black. Bottom edge of upper wrapper lightly spotted, one corner bumped, but..... 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]. Full Calf. "Best edition" (Lowndes), with Grey's annotations and Hogarth's plates, of the most celebrated satire..... more
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
![Item #BB0905 [Sammelband of five plays, comprising] Xerxes. A tragedy. As it is acted at the...](/pictures/thumb/BB0905.jpg?v=1499796703)
London. Early Reprints. Paper-Covered Boards. Collection of five plays by Cibber, of various editions, dates, and imprints, 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
London: Printed for Obadiah Blagrave at the Sign of the Bear in St. Paul s Church-Yard, near the Little North Door, 1677. First Edition. Full Calf. Best edition of Cleveland's works, "Purged from the many false & spurious ones which had usurped his name, and from innumerable errours and corruptions..... more
London: printed for S. Illidge, under Serle’s Gate Lincolns-Inn New-Square, 1723. Quarter-Calf. The Third Edition, "illustrated with several new copper cuts," of Brathwait’s most famous work, a mischievous doggerel featuring perhaps "the world’s most celebrated pub crawl.” (Bowes). Foolscap 8vo (149 x 89mm): [20],175,[11]pp, with frontispiece (reproducing the original engraved..... more
![Item #BB2770 The Borough : a poem, in twenty-four letters [Peter Grimes]. Rev. G. CRABBE, George](/pictures/thumb/BB2770.jpeg?v=1656712682)
London: Printed for J. Hatchard, Bookseller to Her Majesty, 190, Opposite Albany, Piccadilly, 1810. Full Calf. First Edition of Crabbe's best known work, dedicated to the Duke of Rutland, a series of twenty-four verse letters including Peter Grimes, the poem that Benjamin Britten used in 1945 as basis for his..... more
![Item #BB1779 [Cranford Series] The Story of Rosina and Other Verses. Austin DOBSON, Hugh Thomson,...](/pictures/thumb/BB1779.jpeg?v=1634330226)
London: Kegan Paul,Trench,Trubner, MDCCCXCV [1895]. First Edition thus. Decorative Cloth. Crown 8vo (179 x 115mm): xiii,[5],120pp, with 49 illustrations by Hugh Thomson. Publisher's forest green cloth and end papers, gilt lettering and vignettes to spine and upper cover, all edges gilt. Book label of Wiston Old Rectory (a Grade II..... more
![Item #BB1750 [Political Tract] The Medall. A Satyre Against Sedition. By the Authour of Absalom...](/pictures/thumb/BB1750.jpeg?v=1632267542)
London: printed for Jacob Tonson at the Judge’s Head in Chancery-lane, near Fleet-street, 1682. First Edition. Marbled Wrappers. Presumed second issue (two lines of Latin verse on final page) of this satirical poem lampooning the Earl of Shaftesbury. Small 4to: [12],20pp. There are at least two issues: the first (Macdonald..... more
![Item #BB2525 [De Arte Graphica] The Art of Painting : with Remarks: Translated into English, with...](/pictures/thumb/BB2525_01.jpeg?v=1629976083)
London: printed for Bernard Lintott, between the Temple Gates, in Fleetstreet, 1716. Cambridge-style Calf. Second Edition, revised and enlarged, of Dryden's prose translation of du Fresnoy's poem on the art of painting, prefaced by Dryden's Parallel of Poetry and Painting and with Richard Graham's biographical chronology of painters, "A short..... more
![Item #BB2256 Poems on various subjects by R. Fergusson. In two parts [Charles Whibley's copy]....](/pictures/thumb/BB2256.jpeg?v=1634394303)
Perth: Printed by R. Morison, Junr. For R. Romison and Son, Booksellers; and Sold by J. Murray, No. 32, Fleet-street, London, M,DCC,LXXXVIII [1788]-89. First Edition thus. Full Leather. First Printing of this uncommon edition (published for Morison's Edition of Scottish Poets), with no copies currently on the market and Rare..... more
London: printed for T. Wotton, at the three Daggers, and Queen’s-Head; J. Lacy, at the Ship; J. Shuckburgh, at the Sun; and C. Motte, at the Middle Temple-Gate, all in Fleet-Street, M.DCC.XXVI. [1726]. First Edition thus. Half-Calf. The first edition of the key to interpreting Garth's famous and widely reprinted..... 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
![Item #BB0887 The Shepherd's Week. In Six Pastorals [Provenance]. John GAY](/pictures/thumb/BB0887.jpeg?v=1650565922)
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
![Item #BB1482 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 erroneous catchword "Careless" for "Thus" on p. 9) of one of the most influential poems of the eighteenth century. 4to: vii,[1]-23[1]pp, with half-title (bulked at end with 22 blank leaves)..... more
London: printed for J. and R. Tonson, 1758. First Edition thus. Full Calf. First Annotated Edition, 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). 4to: xlii,(68, including glossary),673,[1];..... more
![Item #BB2782 Killarney: A Poem; [bound with:] The Fleece, A Poem. In Four Books [Ravensdale...](/pictures/thumb/BB2782.jpeg?v=1679235482)
Dublin / London: Printed for William Wilson / Printed for R. and J. Dodsley in Pall-Mall, 1772 / 1757. Full Calf. First Editions of these two eighteenth-century poems in handsome contemporary binding with distinguished provenance. 4to (262 x 208mm): [8],50,2]; [4],156pp, with title page vignettes, list of subscribers, preliminary advertisement..... more
![Item #BB2345 [Original Cloth] The poetry of geography: a journey round the globe. In which a...](/pictures/thumb/BB2345.jpeg?v=1657392253)
London: Groombridge and Sons, Paternoster Row, 1853. Decorative Cloth. First Edition of this scarce and unusual geography primer. Foolscap 8vo (161 x 98mm): x,100pp, with engraved folding frontispiece depicting the globe's hemispheres. Original publisher's burgundy cloth stamped in gilt and blind, citron yellow end papers. Spine sunned, first few leaves..... more
London: printed for Lawton Gilliver at Homer's Head against St. Dunstan's church, in Fleetstreet, MDCCXXXI [1731]. Marbled Wrappers. Scarce First Edition, written in 56 stanzas of rhyming verse, of this satirical poem. Foxson's second state (no known priority): correct catchword on p. 57 and p. 58 correctly numbered. Crown 8vo..... more
![Item #BB1877 The Earthly Paradise : A Poem [3 volume set] : Vol. I: Parts I and II; Vol. II: Part...](/pictures/thumb/BB1877.jpg?v=1535676173)
Boston: Roberts Brothers [through 1871], 1870. First Edition thus. Decorative Cloth. First and Early Printings of the first American edition of this Victorian reworking of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, four parts in three volumes (as issued), the complete Author's Edition, with title pages dated as follows: Volume I (1870); Volume II..... 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
London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, within Grays-Inn Gate next Grays-Inn Lane, 1708. Half-Calf. First Edition (ordinary issue) of this verse account of the culture of the apple tree and the manufacture of cider, with pp. 44 and 46 signed with asterisks, catchword "when" on p. 68, p. 74 correctly numbered..... more
![Item #BB0625 Callipaedia [Callipædia]: or, the art of getting pretty children. In four books....](/pictures/thumb/BB0625.jpg?v=1499796679)
London: Printed for Bernard Lintott at the Cross Keys between the Two Temple Gates in Fleetstreet, 1710. First Edition. Sheep. First Edition in English of this neo-Latin poem on procreation, pregnancy, and the raising of children, the translation of which (from the French) is attributed in subsequent editions to William..... more
![Item #BB1572 [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