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Amber-glazed marbled pottery tripod censer, standing on unglazed beast's paws. The clay itself is not marbled, only the glaze. China, the Tang dynasty [唐朝] (618 – 907). Diameter: 16 cm; Height: 14 cm.
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Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代 歌川 豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). An untrimmed fan print titled Fuji Tsukuba aiaigasa, shows the actors Ichikawa Ebizo V [市川海老蔵] and the onnagata actor Iwai Shijaku I [岩井紫若] sharing an umbrella against the wind. Tsukuba, about 50 kilometres from Edo, was an area where both Fuji and Mount Tsukuba could be viewed together. Mount Fuji being the female and Mount Tsukuba the male. An aizuri-e background (common to all the designs in this set). A play on images and words. Actors: Ichikawa Danjūrō VII [市川団十郎] (Japanese, 1791 – 1859); other names: Ichikawa Ebizō V [市川海老蔵], Ichikawa Hakuen II, Ichikawa Shinnosuke I. Iwai Matsunosuke I [岩井松之助] (Japanese, 1804 – 1845); other names: Iwai Hanshirō VII, Iwai Shijaku I [岩井紫若], Iwai Komurasaki I. Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburo [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, fl. c. 1845 – 1847). The publisher’s seal is on the umbrella. Date: circa 1832. Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga in a red double-gourd cartouche. From the series of fan prints:
Kabuki actors Onoe Kikugorō III and Iwai Kumesaburo II. Year: c. 1832; Publisher: No seal; Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga From Kunisada Project. Kabuki actors Bandō Minosuke II and Iwai Shijaku I. Year: c. 1832; Publisher: No seal; Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga From Kunisada Project. -
Pagination: [2] – letterpress title / blank, [2] – t.p. contents / to readers, [1] 2-368 [4 index], + 9 b/w and 27 coloured plates. Collation: 4to; letterpress title, [A]1 B-Z4 Aa-Zz4 3A-3B4 3C3. Binding: 25 x 16 cm; gilt-ruled half-calf over marbled boards, flat spine, gilt-ruled compartments, gilt lettering; front board almost detached. References: Martin Hardie (1906), p.310 [LIB-2623.2021]; R. V. Tooley (1935), p. 26 [LIB-2641.2021]; J. R. Abbey (1953), Cat. № 212, p. 166 [LIB-2622.2021].
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Title: THE | FABLES OF ÆSOP, | AND OTHERS, | WITH DESIGNS ON WOOD, | BY | THOMAS BEWICK. | “The wisest of the Ancients delivered their Conceptions of the Deity, and their Lessons of Morality, in Fables and Parables.” | {vignette} | NEWCASTLE: | PRINTED BY E. WALKER, FOR T. BEWICK AND SON. | SOLD BY THEM, LONGMAN AND CO. LONDON, AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. | 1818. || Pagination: [2] – blank / receipt with thumbprint, [i, ii] – t.p. / blank, [iii] iv-xvi – introduction with “Auld Clouty” vignette, [xvii] xviii-xxiv – table of contents, [1] 2-376; 188 wood-engraved head-pieces to the fables and 136 other vignettes, tail-pieces, etc. Collation: demy 8vo( octavo in fours); π1 (receipt), a-c4, B-3B4; A and 2P2 unsigned. Binding: Original blue boards, rebacked, original spine laid down, with original paper spine label ("Demy Paper/Price 15 s."); wove paper, top edge trimmed, the others are not; round book-plate to front paste-down “TWM, The Whitehead Library”; in a clamshell case, also book-plated inside. Size: case: 24.2 x 16.2 cm; boards: 22.8 x 14.2 cm; 22 x 14 cm. Note from seller: First copy in boards to ever appear at auction. Edition: First edition (one of 1,000 copies printed in demy 8vo), with Bewick's thumbprint and signature in facsimile, “Demy” and “15” in manuscript on receipt (page facing title-page), variant A (with "Auld Clouty" wood-engraving at bottom of p. XVI, and with the last line in p. 248 reading "road of honour and honesty"). "According to Roscoe, demy 8vo copies were apparently the first to be issued". There is 1 copy at the University Library, Cambridge and 1 at Liverpool public libraries. Catalogue raisonné: Roscoe: pp. 155-165, 45c for Variant A [see LIB-2714.2021]; Hugo (I vol.): p. 261; Ray: p. 35; Steedman: №№ 99-104, pp. 34-35 (№ 103 for Variant A).
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Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞], a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代 歌川 豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Signed: Toyokuni ga [豊国 画] in a red toshidama cartouche Block carver: Yokokawa Takejirō [横川竹二郎] (Japanese, fl. 1845 – 1863); seal: Hori Take [彫竹]. Publisher: Iseya Magobei [伊勢屋孫兵衛] (Japanese, fl. c. 1794 – 1868); seal: Hanmoto, Masu [板元, 益] (Marks 19-039 | 150d). Date-aratame seal: Ansei 2 (1855). Title: Time in Fukagawa, Iyo Province (Fukagawa Iyo setsu). Ref.: [LIB-3008.2022] Andreas Marks. Japanese woodblock prints: Artists, publishers and masterworks, 1680 – 1900. — Tuttle Publishing, 2010; p. 221. –> 1855 Kunisada. "Iyo Province-time at Fukagawa" (Fukagawa Iyo setsu). Fan print. Japan Ukiyo-e Museum, Matsumoto.
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The thin iron plate of round form and black colour carved in sukidashi-bori with the design of rocks, waves, bridge, mountain pavilion and 5-storey pagoda under the moon, on both sides, alluding to Todai-ji temple in Nara. Slightly rounded rectangular hitsu-ana probably pierced later. Very narrow raised rim as usual in katsushi tsuba. In a modern wooden box.
Late Muromachi period, 16th century. Dimensions: 81.1 x 79.5 x 3. mm (seppa-dai), 2.2 mm (base plate), 4.4. (rim).Reference: “Art of the Samurai” on page 232, №140: ”Kamakura tsuba with Sangatsu-do tower and bridge. Muromachi period, 16th century. 83 mm x 80 mm. Unsigned. Tokyo National Museum. The mountain pavilion and bridge carved in sunken relief on the iron tsuba – both part of Tōdai-ji, a temple in Nara – are detailed in fine kebori (line) engraving. As a result of the chiselling used to create the relief, the ground of the piece is relatively thin”. Also page 41 in Tsuba Kanshoki. Kazutaro Torogoye, 1975 [LIB-1480.2018].
This tsuba is very much similar to TSU-0384. -
Title page: THE THIRD MAN | and | THE FALLEN IDOL | by | GRAHAM GREENE | {publisher’s device with lettering} |WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD | MELBOURNE : : LONDON : : TORONTO || Title verso: FIRST PUBLISHED 1950 | PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN | AT THE WINDMILL PRESS | KINGSWOOD, SURREY || Pagination:[6] [1, 2] 3-188 [2] blank. Binding: publisher’s black cloth, silver lettering to spine, blind-stamped publisher’s device to back cover in the lower-right corner without lettering; publisher's pictorial dust jacket with lettering (white and read on b/w photo): The | THIRD | MAN | and | THE FALLEN IDOL | The entertainments by | GRAHAM | GREENE | With forewords by the author ||, price clipped. Size: 19 x 13 cm. Edition: 1st edition, 1st printing. Contributors: Graham Greene (British, 1904 – 1991) – author. William Henry Heinemann (British-Jewish, 1863 – 1920); William Heinemann Limited – publisher. The Windmill Press (Kingswood, Surrey) – printer.
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Serial title: THE | LIBRARY OF ROMANCE. | EDITED | BY LEITCH RITCHIE. | VOL. II. | — | SCHINDERHANNES, | THE ROBBER OF THE RHINE. | BY THE EDITOR. | — | LONDON: | SMITH, ELDER, AND CO., 65, CORNHILL. | — | 1833. || Title page: SCHINDERHANNES, | THE ROBBER OF THE RHINE. | BY | LEITCH RITCHIE, | AUTHOR OF “HEATH’S PICTURESQUE ANNUAL,” “ROMANCE OF FRENCH | HISTORY,” “TURNER’S ANNUAL TOUR,” &c. | — | LONDON: | SMITH, ELDER, AND CO., 65, CORNHILL. | — | 1833. || Pagination: [1] 2 – prospectus, [i, ii] – serial title / imprint, [iii-iv] – t.p. / blank, [v] vi (mispaged iv) – advert. [vii] viii – contents, [2] f.t. / blank; [1] 2-314 – text, [2] – advert. vol. I and III; total number of pages 12+314+2=328 Collation: 8vo; π6 B-U8 X4 Y2, total number of leaves 164. Binding: 18 x 11.5 cm, dark green buckram (faux morocco), gilt lettering and design elements to spine, printer’s imprint to π4: Bradbury and Evans, moiré endpapers. Cat. raisonné: Sadleir (v.2) 3760a, p. 171. Contributors: Leitch Ritchie (British-Scottish, 1800 – 1865) – author. Schinderhannes [Johannes Bückler] (German, c.1778 – 1803) – character. Bradbury & Evans (est.1830) – printer. Smith, Elder, and Company (1816 - 1917) – publisher. George Smith (British-Scottish, 1789 – 1846) – publisher. George Murray Smith (British, 1824 – 1901) – publisher. Alexander Elder (British, 1790 – 1876) – publisher.
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Engraved title: The | Costume | of the | Empire of Russia | {copper horseman vignette} | signed under: Printed for E. Harding at the Crown and Mitre Pall Mall || English title: COSTUME | OF THE | RUSSIAN EMPIRE, | ILLUSTRATED BY UPWARDS OF | SEVENTY RICHLY COLOURED ENGRAVINGS. | DEDICATED BY PERMISSION TO | HER ROYAL HIGHNESS | THE | PRINCESS ELIZABETH. | LONDON: | PRINTED BY T. BENSLEY, BOLT COURT, FLEET STREET; | FOR JOHN STOCKDALE, PICCADILLY. | 1811. || Paper: thick wove paper, the leaf with “Copper Horseman” watermarked J. Whatman 1808; the French title – Edmeads & Co 1809, E2 – E & P 1807, plates are not watermarked [NYPL: An “1803” copy of The Costumes of the Russian Empire has watermarks from 1796 (W Elgar), 1809 (Edmeads & Co), 1811, 1813 (J. Whatman), 1818, and 1829]. Collation: 4to; (1) engraved title by E. Harding (“Copper Horseman” monument of Peter the Great), (2) English title, (3) French title, (4) Dedication to her Royal Highness the Princess Elizabeth by E. Harding (1803), (5) Contents —> π5 a2 B-S4 T2, all second leaves in all quires but C and T signed “2”, 77 leaves total, unpaginated, plus 72 plates (34.5 x 25.5 cm), stipple and line engravings, hand-coloured, by John Dadley after William Alexander. Binding: 36 x 27 cm, straight-grain green morocco, blind-stamped palmette border withing gilt-stamped palmette border to boards, raised bands decorated in gilt, gilt in compartments, two brown morocco labels with gilt lettering, brown endpapers, 2 additional flyleaves at front and back, AEG. Authorship and artistic work are attributed to Alexander and Dadley, but not signed. 1st edition in 1803 was published by William Richard Beckford Miller (British, 1769 – 1844). Catalogue raisonné: Tooley (1906): p. 151. Contributors: William Alexander (British, 1767 – 1816) – artist, author. John Dadley (British, 1767 – 1817) – engraver. Thomas Bensley (British, 1759 – 1835) – printer. John Stockdale (British, 1750 – 1814) – publisher. Edward Harding (British, 1755 – 1840) – publisher of 1803 edition (author of dedication) Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom (British, 1770 – 1840) – dedicatee.
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Title-page: THE HUMAN | FACTOR | Graham Greene | {citation from Joseph Conrad, 3 lines} | {publisher’s device} | THE BODLEY HEAD | LONDON SYDNEY | TORONTO || Green publisher’s cloth with gilt lettering to spine, cream dust jacket, lettered on front, back and spine, designed by Michael Harvey, unclipped (£4.50 NET | IN U.K. ONLY), [1-8] 9-338 [339] [340 blank]. Previous owners' inscriptions to FFEP. Printed by William Clowes & Sons Ltd. (Beccles). © Graham Greene 1978. Graham Greene (British, 1904 – 1991).
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Etching and drypoint on wove paper, depicting a woman with a face mask on her buttocks. Monogrammed in the plate 'FR'. Owner's stamp 'LvM' on verso.
Dimensions: Papaer: 22.2 x 18.5 cm; Plate: 17.5 x 13.3 cm; Image: 15.5 x 12 cm.
Catalogue raisonné: Arthur Hubschmid (1977): 448; Graphics irreverent and erotic (1968): 106; Rouir 648.
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Upper right: Galignani's | PLAN OF PARIS | 1827 || in oval frame: Sauve sculpt. Bottom, under the frame: le Plan écrit par Lallemand. […] Gravé par E. Collin. Rue de la Harpe № 45. Dimensions: 36.5 x 46.5 cm. Armand Joseph Lallemand (French, c. 1810 - 1871) – cartographer. Charles-Étienne Collin (French, 1770 – 1840) – engraver. Étienne Collin II (French,1790 – 1852) – engraver. John Anthony Galignani (Italian, 1796 – 1873) – publisher. William Galignani (Italian, 1798 – 1882) – publisher.
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Half-title: THE CONNOISSEURS LIBRARY | GENERAL EDITOR : CYRIL DAVENPORT | […] | ENGLISH COLOURED BOOKS || Title: ENGLISH | COLOURED BOOKS | BY | MARTIN HARDIE | [device: THE CONNOISSEURS LIBRARY] | METHUEN AND CO. | 36 ESSEX STREET | LONDON || Dedication: TO MY WIFE | LOVE’S LABOUR : LOVE’S GIFT Pagination: ffl [i, ii] – h.t. / blank, [2] – blank / frontis. In colour, [iii, iv] – t.p. / First Published in 1906, [v, vi] – dedication / blank, vii-xxiv; 1-339 [340] bfl; 27 sheets of plates, colour and b/w. Collation: 8vo; a8 b4 A-X8 Y2. Binding: Hardcover, 26.3 x 19 x 5.7 cm; red cloth, blind-stamped with repeated fleuron, gilt floral designs and lettering in the frame to front cover, elaborate gilt floral design and lettering to spine; top margin gilt, other untrimmed, some pages uncut; plates w/guards. Printed on laid paper. Printed in Scotland by T. and A. Constable, at the Edinburgh university press. Contributors: Martin Hardie (British, 1875 – 1952) – Author Cyril Davenport (British, 1848 – 1941) – Editor of the series Sir Algernon Methuen (British, 1856 – 1924) – Publisher Thomas Constable (British, 1812 – 1881); Archibald Constable (British, 1774 – 1827) – Founders of the Publishing House "T. and A. Constable".
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Engraved title:
Upper frame: ALMANACH | ICONOLOGIQUE, | OU | DES ARTS | pour l'année | 1764. | Orné de Figures | avec leurs explications | par | M. GRAVELOT. | avec Priv. du Roy | A PARIS
Lower frame: Chez Lattré Graveur rue S. Jacq. | à la Ville de Bordeaux.
Under the frame: H. Gravelot del. — L. Legrand sc.
28 leaves, of them: engraved t.p., engraved frontis., and 12 plates, text engraved. Pages numbered 1-12, and I-XII (incorrectly marked XVI), other unpaginated, unbound tissue guards. Size: 10.6 x 7.2 cm, full polished crimson calf w/veins, triple-ruled in gilt with florets in corners, flat spine, double-ruled in gilt, all edges gilt. Florets in compartments, black title label with gilt lettering “ALM | ICON ||”, peacock marbled endpapers, blue silk ribbon. Approbation dated 15 November 1763, as some plates.
Catalogue raisonné: Cohen, De Ricci 454.
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Iron tsuba in a form of an eight-petalled blossom (lotus) form, petals separated by linear low-relief carving, both hitsu-ana filled with gold plugs, the surface decorated with tsuchime-ji, rich grey-brownish patina, niku from 4 mm in the centre to 6 mm at the rim. Strong (futoji-mei) Nobuie [信家] signature to the left of nakago-ana. Attributed to the 2nd generation of Nobuie masters (Nidai Nobuie).
Size: outer diameter 84 mm, thickness at centre: 4 mm, at rim: 6 mm. Wight: 167 g.Signed: Nobuie [信家]
Probably the work of Nidai Nobuie (c. 1600).
The gold plugs are likely a later work. -
HUMAN PHYSIOGNOMY | EXPLAIN'D: | IN THE | Crounian LECTURES | ON MUSCULAR MOTION. | For the Year MDCCXLVI. | Read before the | ROYAL SOCIETY: | By James Parsons, M.D. and F.R.S. | Being a SUPPLEMENT to the Philosophical | Transactions for that Year. | {Citation in the Greek from Aristotle, 6 lines} | LONDON: | Printed for C. Davis, over against Gray's Inn Gate | in Holbourn; Printer to the Royal Society. | M. DCC. XLVII. || Pagination: [4] i-viii [8] 1-82 [4]; collation: 4to; [a]4 b4 c2 <inset> B-L4 M3, wanting 1 leaf with An Index For the Lectures of the Years 1744, and 1745; Inset: 5 folding plates engraved by J. Mynde after J. Parsons ('I. Ps. MD del.'). Page 22.5 x 16.5 cm; plates 22.5 x 34 cm. Printed on laid paper, with tall "s". Binding: 23 x 17 cm, modern hardcover in marbled paper, modern endpapers, white paper label with black lettering to spine. Crounian Lectures (i.e. Croonian Lectures), named after William Croone (British, 1633 – 1684). Contributors: James Parsons (British, 1705 – 1770). James Mynde (British, 1702 – 1771). Davis, Printer to the Royal Society of London (British, 1665 – 1775). Ref.: Royal Academy, The Royal Society, Wellcome Collection.
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Iron tsuba of mokko form decorated with arabesque (karakusa) in low relief carving. niku from 4.0 mm in the centre to 5.1 mm at the rim. Strong Nobuie [信家] signature (futoji-mei) to the left of nakago-ana. Hitsuana plugged with pewter.
Size: H: 88.2 mm, W: 83.6, Th(c): 4.0 mm, Th(r): 5.1 mm Weight: 167 g.Signed: Nobuie [信家]
Probably the work of Nidai Nobuie (c. 1600).
Tokubetsu hozon certificate № 229324 of the N.B.T.H.K., dated 22.12.2010 -
Footed bowl with deep, rounded sides decorated with cream and green splashes on amber background, inside and outside. Diameter: 13 cm; H: 7 cm.