//Hardcover
  • 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.
  • Vol. 1. Title : VOYAGES | ET MÉMOIRES | DE | MAURICE-AUGUSTE, | COMTE DE BENYOWSKY, | Magnat des Royaumes d’Hongrie et de | Pologne, etc. etc. | Contenant ses Opérations militaires en | Pologne, son exil au Kamtchatka, son Evasion | et son Voyage à travers l’Océan pacifique, au | Japon, à Formose, à Canton en Chine, et | les détails de l’Etablissement qu’il fut chargé | par le Ministère François de former à Mada- | gascar. | TOME PREMIER. | A PARIS, Chez F. Buisson, Imprimeur-Libraire, rue | Hautefeuille, no 20. | (1791.) Pagination : [2] – h.t. / blank, [2] – t.p. / blank, [i] ii-viii, [1] 2-466. Collation: 8vo; [π]2 a4, A-Ff8 Gg1. Vol. 2. Title: Similar, but TOME SECOND. Pagination: [2] – h.t. / blank, [2] – t.p. / blank, [1] 2-486. Collation: 8vo; [π]2 A-Gg8 Hh3, Hh3 unsigned. Binding: both volumes uniformly bound in half brown calf over speckled beige boards, crimson label with gilt lettering to flat spine, volume number in garland, florets in compartments. Bookplate to front pastedown: "C. De Oetting." Ink stamp to t.p.: "Oettingen-Wallersteinsche Bibliothek". Provenance:  Oettingen-Wallerstein library (Oettingen-Wallersteinsche Bibliothek) is the former library of the princes of Oettingen-Wallerstein, now part of the collection of Augsburg University library.
  • The Objectivist Newsletter, vol. 1 – 1962 (12 issues), vol. 2 – 1963 (12 issues), vol. 3 – 1964 (12 issues), vol. 4 – 1965 (12 issues) / 48 issues total (complete run). — New York: The Objectivist, Inc., 1962–1965. In green buckram publisher’s springback binder with stamped THE | OBJECTIVIST | NEWSLETTER to front board in the lower right corner, with remnants of gilt. Loose inserts: two order form pamphlets with a table of contents. Pagination: 8 pages table of contents, 56 + 50 + 52 + 62, total 228 pages (114 leaves). Size: Binder 29 x 24 cm, leaves 28 x 22 cm. Contributors: Rand, Ayn [O'Connor, Alice; Розенбаум, Алиса Зиновьевна] (Russian-American, 1905 – 1982) – editor, author. Branden [Blumenthal], Nathaniel (Canadian–American 1930 – 2014) – editor, author.
  • Title page: AVENTURES | DE | ROBINSON CRUSOE | PAR | DANIEL DEFOE | TRADUCTION NOUVELLE | ☙ |EDITION ILLUSTREE PAR GRANDVILLE | ❧ |PARIS | H. FOURNIER AINÉ, ÉDITEUR | 16 RUE DE SEINE | — | M DCCC XL || {sic: no accents in EDITION ILLUSTREE) Pagination: [4] [1]-610, [2] [1]-4., 620 pp. total plus 82 leaves of plates, unpaginated. Collation: 2 binder’s blank leaves, front publisher’s wrapper, h.t / imprint, 2 copies of engraved frontispiece on china paper, t.p. / blank, etc., … text..., back wrapper and spine bound in; 4to: π2 [1]-774 (310 leaves total) plus 40 x 2 plates extraneous to collation. Illustrations: 2 head- and 2 tailpieces, 2 initials, 159 vignettes, and 40 lettered plates each in two variants: one printed on a regular page, and one printed on India paper and pasted to a page. Page size: 24 x 15 cm. Frontispiece: Cut on wood by Louis-Henri Brevière after J. J. Grandville and Français. “Robinson sits on a throne-like chair framed by exotic palm trees. The sculptural and quasi-royal representation of Robinson is flanked by his faithful dog and parrot. The hero’s tools (the gun and the axe) are prominently displayed. He looks to the horizon away to the left, rather than to the tiny ship that can be seen on the horizon. His overcoming of life’s difficult events is at the core of the representation. The massive plinth reinforces the aura of the hero, as do the tiny people admiring the sculpture and learning about the heroic figure. Friday is discreetly represented in a medallion on the plinth along with other decorations including goats and a «savage»". [Sitzia, E. (2020). Lost in Intersemiotic Translation? J.J. Grandville’s Illustration of Robinson Crusoe. Journal for Literary and Intermedial Crossings, 5(2). https://clic.research.vub.be/sites/default/files/atoms/files/SITZIA_FIN.pdf] The monument has an inscription: “ FERNAND | SUEZ” which we deciphered as either a tribute to Juan Fernández (Spanish, c. 1536 – c. 1604) or as a mention of the place where Crusoe’s adventures took place: Archipiélago Juan Fernández to which Isla Róbinson Crusoe belongs. Binding: 24.8 x 16.4 cm, by Emile Mercier, half green crushed morocco over marbled boards, gilt-ruled, spine ornately gilt, sunned to orange tone, marbled endpapers, publisher's pale yellow wrappers bound in; only the top edge trimmed. Contributors: Daniel Defoe (British, 1660 – 1731) – author. J. J. Grandville [Gèrard, Isidore-Adolphe] (French, 1803 – 1847) – artist. François-Louis Français (French, 1814 – 1897) – artist (frontispiece, landscapes). Engravers:  John Quartley (British, fl. 1835 – 1867) Matthew Urlwin Sears (British, 1799 – 1870) Adolphe Best (French, 1808 – 1860) One of the Guillaumots: Eugène Guillaumot (French, Paris 1813–1869), or Auguste Etienne Guillaumot (French,1844 – 1890), or his father Auguste-Alexandre Guillaumot (French, 1815 – 1892) Laisné [Alfred, Adèle, and Aglaé] (French, active 1835–1868) Antoine-Alphée Piaud (French, 1813 – 1867) Louis Dujardin (French, 1808 – 1859) A. Hans (nothing is known) Jean Louis Joseph Camille Lacoste (French, 1809 – 1866) Louis-Henri Brevière (French, 1797 – 1869) – vignettes. Provenance: Bishop, Cortlandt Field (American, 1870 – 1935) – bookplate; Mary S. Collins – bookplate by J. H. Fincken Robin F. Satinsky (American, 1919 – 2008) – Robin Collection bookplate. Catalogue raisonné: Brivois (1883) p. 155; Ray (French): № 193, p. 272; Carteret (1927): p. 241. All indicated in-8vo, which doesn't correspond to our in-4to copy.
  • Title-page (in red and black, with tall “s”): LES | AVANTURES | DE | TELEMAQUE, | FILS D'ULYSSE, | Par seu Messire | François de Salignac, | De La Motte-Fenelon, | Precepteur de Messeigneurs les Enfans de | France, & depuis Archevêque-Duc de | Cambray, Prince du Saint Empire. | NOUVELLE EDITION, | CONFORME AU MANUSCRIT ORIGINAL, ET | ENRICHIE DE FIGURES. | {device} | A AMSTERDAM, | Chez D. J. CHANGUION. | MDCCXXV. || Pagination: fep, 1 bank leaves, frontis., [ii] title, [iii] iv-cvi, [1] 2-490 2 blank leaves, fep, total 496 pages. Collation: 12mo; 1*-4*12 5*5, A-V12 X8 (total 248 leaves) plus frontispiece and 9 plates designed and engraved by Simon Fokke (signed: “S. Fokke in et fec 1753”), and folding map (not signed). Binding: Red quarter roan over contemporary marbled vellum, only top margin trimmed. Edition: 2nd edition with these etchings after the 1st by Jan Daniel Beman in Rotterdam in 1755 (see British Museum 1887,0722.88 and 1887,0722.90 and others.) Catalogue raisonné: Not in Cohen-DeRicci, not in Lewine. Contributors: François Fénelon [François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon]  (French, 1651 – 1715) – author. Simon Fokke (Dutch, 1712 – 1784) – artist, engarver.  
  • Description: Three volumes, 17 x 14 cm each, uniformly bound in quarter crimson morocco over marbled boards, spine with raised bands tooled gilt with gilt lettering and fleuron, marbled endpapers, publisher’s wrappers preserved (moire-waffle in light pink (vol. 1), cream (vol. 2) and blue (vol. 3), engraved), printed on wove paper, outer and bottom margin untrimmed, illustrated with etched/aquatint front wrapper, frontispiece, tail- and headpieces, and full-page plates in sepia, presumably after Zyg Brunner. Title-page (red and black): LE DIABLE | AU | CORPS | ŒUVRE POSTHUME | DU TRÈS RECOMMANDABLE DOCTEUR | CAZZONÉ | (ANDRÉA DE NERCIAT) | Membre extraordinaire de la joyeuse Faculté | phallo-coîro-pygo-glottonomique | TOME PREMIER (DEUXIÈME; TROISIÈME) | ALENÇON | 1930 || Vol. 1: front wrapper, blank leaf, h.t./limitation, t.p., [1] 2-180, 2 blank leaves, back wrapper; frontispiece, 7 full-page plates (incl. frontispiece), and 13 tail- and headpieces. Vol. 2: front wrapper, blank leaf, h.t./limitation, t.p., [1] 2-193 [194 blank], blank leaf, back wrapper; 8 full-page plates (incl. frontispiece), and 12 tail- and headpieces. Vol. 3: front wrapper, blank leaf, h.t./limitation, t.p., [1] 2-180 [181 colophon], [182 blank], blank leaf, back wrapper; frontispiece, 8 full-page plates (incl. frontispiece), and 13 tail- and headpieces. Limitation: 30 copies (№ 1-30) on Japon Impérial, 300 copies (№ 31-331) on Vélin d’Arches. This copy is № 109. Colophon: Printed on May 25, 1930, 350 copies on Vélin d’Arches with numbers from 31 to 380 [sic!] Catalogue raisonné: Dutel (1920-1970) № 1394, p. 129. Contributors: André-Robert Andréa de Nerciat (French, 1739 – 1800) – author. Zyg [Zygismund; Sigismond Leopold] Brunner (Polish, 1878 – 1961) – artist.
  • Description: Hardbound 24 x 16 x 5 cm, green cloth with gilt lettering to spine, in pictorial dust jacket. A revised re-print of L'Œuvre de Gavarni par J. Armelhault et E. Bocher. — Paris: Librairie des bibliophiles, 1873, with essays in English. Title-page: GAVARNI | CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ | OF THE GRAPHIC WORK | BY | J. ARMELHAULT & E. BOCHER | A REVISION OF THE 1873 EDITION | WITH ESSAYS IN ENGLISH | BY GORDON N. RAY | AND ROBERT J. WICKENDEN | AND SIXTY-ONE NEW PLATES | SAN FRANCISCO | ALAN WOFSY FINE ARTS | – | 2004 || Pagination: [1-4] 5-104, [i-v] vi-xiii [3] 1-627 [628]; total 374 leaves. Contributors: Paul Gavarni [Sulpice Guillaume Chevalier] (French, 1804 – 1866) Marie Joseph François Mahérault [J. Armelhault] (French, 1795 – 1879) Emmanuel Bocher (French, 1835 – 1919) Gordon Norton Ray (American, 1915 – 1986) Robert John Wickenden (British-American, 1861 – 1931)
  • Two volumes, 168 x 106 mm each, uniformly bound in faux mottled calf ruled in gilt, marbled endpapers. Vol. 1: 3 blank leaves of wove paper, 3 blank leaves of laid paper, half-title/blank, blank/frontispiece, ‘engraved’ t.p./blank, both printed on laid paper watermarked “ARCHES A LA | MAIN”; ‘letterpress’ t.p.,/blank, pp.: [1] 2-115 [116 blank], 3 blank leaves of laid paper, 3 blank leaves of wove paper; collated 12mo: π2 A-I6 K4; total 60 leaves plus 16 ‘engraved’ plates, incl. t.p. and frontis. Vol. 2: 3 blank leaves of wove paper, 3 blank leaves of laid paper, half-title/blank, blank/frontispiece, ‘engraved’ t.p./blank, no watermark, ‘letterpress’ t.p.,/blank, pp.: 1-77 [78 blank], 2 blank leaves of laid paper, 3 blank leaves of wove paper; collated 12mo: π2 A-F6 G3; total 41 leaves plus 24 ‘engraved’ plates, incl. t.p. and frontis. Dutel (I): A-1089, p. 325: in-8 (probably by size only, no formula suggested), pagination 115 and 77 as here, 2 frontispieces, 2 engraved titles dated 1873, “et 36 belles gravures de Binet”. Cohen-DeRicci: p. 734 bottom: in-12, no pagination, no formula. "Thérèse" was offered by a French seller user-75d14f4 on the online auction platform CATAWIKI in December 2021. The seller's description of this two-volume set was: "Re-edition, the date of which I was unable to determine. (London, no name, 1782) 2 duodecimo volumes of 115 and 77 pp., very lovely marbled sheepskin pastiche bindings, gilded triple fillets, adorned spines, black title labels. This classic of 18th-century clandestine erotica was written in 1748 by an author who has remained anonymous, attributed at the time to Montigny, which led to his internment in the Bastille. It is now attributed to the Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens. Edition illustrated with 37 very unrestrained figures, engraved in intaglio after Borel, unsigned." I should have paid more attention to the first phase, about the re-edition, but I didn't. After a few bidding rounds, I won the book when the hammer price was 2,200 Euros. On the 28th of December, 2021, I paid for this little beauty $2,760. The book arrived a few days later.  The paper's quality and texture, the watermark, the absence of the platemark, and the lack of embossing on the back (text and plates) made me suspect it was a fake. The pages were absolutely flat to the touch!  I established clear evidence of a high-resolution 'xerox' copy using Celestron Micro Capture Pro micro-photography.  I wrote to the seller and the auction platform, explaining my doubts regarding its authenticity. To prove my point, I include a few micro photos of the "Thérèse" and some books printed at the end of the 18th century. I explained why I considered it a fake and requested a return/refund. After two months of email exchanges, the seller and the platform refused to pay me back. Today is the 2nd anniversary of the purchase. I still have the book. To celebrate my carelessness, I included it in my library to warn fellow book collectors about buying from an unknown dealer via certain online auction platforms. Ref.: Bamber Gascoigne. How to Identify Prints: A Complete Guide to Manual and Mechanical Processes from Woodcut to Ink. — Thames and Hudson, 1995.

    Thérèse philosophe, 1783.

    Late 18th century books

    Books used for comparison: [LIB-2743.2021] Restif de la Bretonne. Les parisiennes, ou XL caractères généraux pris dans les mœurs actuelles, propres à servir à l’instruction des personnes-du-sexe / 4 vol. — Neufchâtel, et Paris: Guillot, 1787. [LIB-3027.2022] [Héliodore d’Emèse]. Amours de Théagènes et Chariclée: Histoire Éthiopique / 2 vol. — Londres [i.e. Paris]: [s.n.], 1743. [LIB-3252.2023] [Nicolas Chorier.] Le Meursius françois, ou entretiens galans d’Aloysia, orné de figures. — Cythere [i.e. Paris: Cazin], 1782. Below is a Xerox copy for comparison.