Garden City, N.Y. Doubleday, 1970. First Edition (so stated). Hardcover. First Printing of the polymath's idiosyncratic guide to the Bard's plays and narrative poems, complete in two volumes. Thick royal 8vo (233 x 145mm): xiv,723,[1]; xiv,843,[1]pp, with 40 full-page maps by Raphael Palacios and 16 charts. Publisher's brown finely woven..... 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
![Sammelband of five plays, comprising] Xerxes. A tragedy. As it is acted at the Theatre Royal in...](/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 J. Johnson, St. Paul's Churchyard, by T. Bensley, Bolt Court, Fleet Street, 1803. Full Calf. First Edition of the author's final work, published posthumously, with plates after drawings by Henry Fuseli. 4to (267 x 206mm): [4],174,[2],124pp, with frontispiece and three further full-page engravings, including The Creation of..... more
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
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
![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 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:...](/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....](/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
![Fakes & Forgeries] Fingal, an Epic Poem, in Six Books: Together with several other Poems,...](/pictures/thumb/BB1716.jpg?v=1565289071)
London: Printed for T. Becket and P. A. de Hondt, in the Strand, MDCCLXII. [1762]. Full Calf. First Edition, Large-Paper Issue, of this internationally popular cycle of epic poems that helped launch both the Romantic movement and the Gaelic revival. Supposedly translated from ancient Gaelic but actually written by Scottish..... 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=1551832082)
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 in 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. Translated by James Gardiner. Crown 8vo (192 x 115mm): liii,[1],200,[10], with frontispiece portrait of Gardiner in wiufg and gown engraved by Vertue after a painting by Johann Verelst, folding copper-engraved parterre, and full-page..... more
![Cyrano de Bergerac [Presentation Copy] ; Translated by Howard Thayer Kingsbury: Accepted and...](/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](/pictures/thumb/BB1897.jpg?v=1551832266)
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
![The seasons. By Mr. Thomson [Subscribers Edition]. James THOMSON](/pictures/thumb/BB1652.jpg?v=1551965347)
London: [none given], Printed in the Year M.DCC.XXX [1730]. First Edition thus. Full Calf. Subscribers Edition of 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..... more