/Collection
  •

    Iron tsuba with spider motif by Yatsushiro Jingo, Higo school. Late Edo period, ca. 1840.

    Very fine iron plate well hammered and turned, tapering and rolling to the rounded edge. Tsuba of a cross-form mokko shape (juji-mokko-gata) decorated with spider web inlaid in gold on both sides. The face is carved with a silver-damascened spider holding a gold-damascened butterfly (nunome-zōgan). Kozuka and kogai hitsu-ana of inome (boar's eye) form. The udenuki ana may be of purely decorative purpose.

    Signed: Yatsushiro [八代] Jingo Saku [甚吾作], a signature of Chisokutei Amatsune, one of the last Jingo masters.

    Late Edo period, Tenpō era, 1830-1844.

    Size: Height: 77.5 mm; Width: 72.8 mm; Thickness: 4.1 mm; Weight: 141 g.

    In a custom wooden box.

    Here is what Markus Sesko wrights in his book The Japanese toso-kinko Schools, 2012, on page 374:
    An artist who worked in the style of the Shimizu-Jingo school was Chisokutei Amatsune (知足亭天常). He was actually a samurai from Yatsushiro who made tsuba as a sideline. An extant old hakogaki of one of his pieces mentions that he died in Edo in the sixth month of An'ei eight (1779) at the age of 73. But the era of An'ei is probably wrong because Chikokutei (sic) is today dated by most experts around Tenpō (1830-1844). His relationships with the Shimizu school or under which Jingo master he had studied are unknown. From the point of view of production time and the finishing of nakago-ana, he is rather associated with the 5th and last gen. Shigenaga who died in the seventh year of Kaei (1854). A peculiarity of  Chisokutei was that he signed his Jingo copies with  "Yatsushiro Jingo Saku" ([八代甚吾作) but added the small syllable "chi" (チ) or the character "Chi" (知) for "Chisokutei" to identify them as copies.
    No longer available.
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  • 6.5″ Pro-tech Walter Brend custom amber jigged bone switchblade knife.

    Pro-tech Walter Brend custom switchblade knife with solid 416 stainless steel frame, amber jigged bone inlays, mirror polished 154-CM blade.

    Size: 94 mm (closed); 168 mm (opned); 74 mm blade)

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  • Netsuke of Kimi no Eguchi on a recumbent elephant, by Toun. Circa 1850.

    Netsuke of Kimi no Eguchi on a recumbent elephant.  Signed: Toun. Circa 1850. 33.7 x 30.8 x 22.7 mm. The Courtesan Eguchi no kimi as Fugen, Bodhisattva of Universal Wisdom (Eguchi no kimi mitate Fugen Bosatsu). The imagery satirizes the Buddhist bodhisattva Fugen, whose iconographic mount is an elephant, by replacing the deity with a beautifully coiffed modern courtesan. Such a visual pun (mitate) was an artistic trope, popular in the Edo period. Provenance: Charles Ephrussi (1849-1905) acquired in the 1870s; a wedding gift in 1898 to his cousin Ritter Viktor von Ephrussi (1860-1945) and Baroness Emilie (Emmy) Schey von Koromla (1879-1938); retrieved post-war by their daughter Elizabeth de Waal (1899-1991); given by her to her brother Ignaz (Iggie) Ephrussi (1906-1994), Tokyo; bequeathed by him to his great-nephew Edmund de Waal (born 1964), London, author of "The Hare with Amber Eyes: a hidden inheritance". London / New York: Chatto & Windus / Farrar, Straus & Giroux. ISBN 978-0099539551. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Ephrussi. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephrussi_family. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_de_Waal.
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  • The Political and Historical Works of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (2 Vol.) — London: Illustrated London Library, [1852].

    [Bonaparte, Louis Napoleon]. The Political and Historical Works of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, President of the French Republic, Now First Collected With An Original Memoir of His Life, Brought Down to the Promulgation of the Constitution of 1852; and Occasional Notes, Complete in Two Volumes. London: Illustrated London Library, MDCCCLII [1852]. Collation: Vol. 1: [i-v] vi [vii-viii (blank)] [1] 2-462 [463,464 (blank)]; Vol. 2: [1-3] 4-439 [440]. Size: 22.8 x 14.8 cm (8vo), each. Binding: hardcover; half red morocco and cloth boards, five raised bands, gilt title and decoration, top edge gilt. Frontispiece portrait of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte in Vol. 1. Condition: Very good, rubbing to outer joints, leather corners, faint foxing to endpapers, ownership signature on half-title. Internally bright and unmarked. In binding by Brentano's, New York.
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  • Utagawa Toyokuni I. Eleventh lunar month, from the series ‘Fashionable Twelve Months’ / Fan print, 1822.

    Title: Eleventh lunar month (Chuto no zu); Series: Fashionable Twelve Months (Imayo juni-kagetsu). Another version of translation: Modern Beauties of Twelve Months. Artist: Utagawa Toyokuni I [歌川豊国] (1769–1825). Pubisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, 1815 – 1869), seal: Dansendō [伊場仙]. Signed: Toyokuni ga and sealed with toshidama. Date-kiwame seal: Ushi (ox), Bunsei 5 (1822). Size: double-sheet uncut fan print ( aiban uchiwa-e), 219 x 295 mm.
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  • James. De bien jolies bottes, ces Prussiens, etc., 1870

    James. De bien jolies bottes, ces Prussiens… – Paris: Deforet & Cesar, 1870.

    Artist: James (nothing else is known). According to Maurice Quentin-Bouchart (p. 95), this is sheet №2 of only two known caricatures by James except for Collection Wentzell (publisher) of 14 sheets. Text: De bien jolies bottes, ces Prussiens, mais quelle odeur!..... [What beautiful boots these Prussians have, but what an odour!.....] Two women from the bourgeoisie stand in front of a line of Prussian officers. One covers her nose with a handkerchief and hides what she is saying from the men with her fan.
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  • [RASPE, Rudolf Erich]. The Travels and Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen. / Illustrated with 37 curious engravings, from the Baron's own designs, and five woodcuts, by G. Cruikshank. — London: William Tegg, 1869. — xii + [10] + 268 pp.

    [Rudolf Erich Raspe]. The travels and surprising adventures of baron Munchausen / George Cruikshank (illustrator). — London: William Tegg, 1869.

    Half-title: BARON MUNCHAUSEN Title: THE TRAVELS | AND | SURPRISING ADVENTURES | OF | BARON MUNCHAUSEN. | ILLUSTRATED WITH | THIRTY-SEVEN CURIOUS ENGRAVINGS, | FROM | THE BARON'S OWN DESIGNS, | AND FIVE WOODCUTS, | BY G. CRUIKSHANK. | [device] | LONDON : WILLIAM TEGG. | 1869.|| [RASPE, Rudolf Erich]. The Travels and Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen. / Illustrated with 37 curious engravings, from the Baron's own designs, and five woodcuts, by G. Cruikshank. — London: William Tegg, 1869. Pagination: xii + [10] + 268 pp, 23 plates: hand-coloured engraved frontispiece, 5 woodcuts by Cruikshank, other b/w etchings, two folding plates. Binding: 19 x 13 cm; hardbound, 8vo, early 20th century 3/4 dark plum morocco gilt-ruled, raised bands, title label, gilt lettering, gilt in compartments, top edge gilt. Catalogue raisonné: A. Cohn: #584, p. 172. This edition is an identical re-issue of the 1867 edition.
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  • Flambé glazed nine-mouth vase. China, Qianlong period (1711 – 1799).

    Porcelaneous stoneware vase glazed in purple-red with blue and beige splashes outside and dark blue inside, with one tube in the centre surrounded with eight peripheral tubes. Base unglazed. China, the Qianlong period (1711 – 1799) of the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1912). Diameter: 19 cm; Height: 24 cm.
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  • [James Macpherson]. The Poems of Ossian / 2 volumes. — London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1790.

    Vol. 1: THE | POEMS | OF | OSSIAN. | TRANSLATED | By JAMES MACPHERSON, Esq; | IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. | A NEW EDITION. | LONDON: | PRINTED FOR W. STRAHAN ; AND T. CADELL, | IN THE STRAND. | M DCC XC.|| Pagination: 2 blank leaves, [2] - t.p. / blank, [v] vi-xiv, [2] - contents / cont., [1, 2] 3-404, one blank leaf. Collation: 8vo; π1 A-Z8 Aa-Cc8 Dd2 Vol. 2: THE | POEMS | OF | OSSIAN. | TRANSLATED | By JAMES MACPHERSON, Esq; |  VOL. II. | A NEW EDITION. | LONDON: | PRINTED FOR W. STRAHAN ; AND T. CADELL, | IN THE STRAND. |M DCC XC.|| Pagination: 2 blank leaves, [2] - t.p. / blank, [2] - contents / blank, [1, 2] 3-436, [2] advert. / advert., two blank leaves. Collation: 8vo; π4 B-Z8 Aa-Ee8 Ff2 A1. Two volumes, 21.5 x 14 cm; hardcover; full tree calf gilt-tooled with stylized meander ruled boards inside and outside, flat spite tooled in gilt with meander and pineapples in compartments, two crimson lettered labels. margins speckled blue; peacock marbled endpapers, owner's karks to front pastedown: Owen J. Williams sticker and H. A. Lonis armorial bookplate with an earl's crown, hand-written inscription H. A. and H. C.  Williams Wynn and ink stamp of Arthur J. Frank. James Macpherson (British, 1736–1796) was a Scottish writer, poet, literary collector and politician, known as the "translator" of the Ossian cycle of epic poems. Publishing Year: 1790 Publisher: W. Strahan and T. Cadell
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  • Matthew Welch, Yuiko Kimura-Tilford. Worldly pleasures, earthly delights: Japanese prints from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. — Minneapolis: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2011.

    Hardcover, 32 x 23.5 cm, publisher's blue cloth, blind-stamped to cover, gilt lettering to spine, pictorial DJ; pp.: [1-6] 7-375 [376 blank], ill.
    This catalogue features the top ten percent of the collection ... presented in an exhibition ['Great ukiyo-e masters : common pleasures, uncommon prints : Japanese woodcuts from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts', sponsored by Asano Laboratories] that opened in Tokyo at the Shoto Museum of Art on October 2, 2007, and traveled to the Nara Prefectural Museum of Art and the Sanritz Hattori Museum of Arts"--Foreword. "This [2011] publication ... coincides with a special exhibition, 'Edo Pop: Japanese Master Prints from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts' (October 16, 2011, through January 8, 2012), which will [also] be shown at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta ..."--Foreword. "With contributions by Shūgō Asano, Akane Fujisawa, Murasaki Fujisawa, Yuriko Iwakiri, Yōsuke Katō, Junko Mutō, Noriko Yamamoto. Contents: Foreword / Kaywin Feldman Acknowledgments / Matthew Welch, Yuiko Kimura-Tilford Seductive beauty : coveting and collecting Ukiyo-e / Matthew Welch Time line of the artists Catalogue of selected prints Object list in English and Japanese
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  • H. L. Rosegger. Von Königen und Jakobinern / Vollbildern und Buchschmuck von Marquis F. von Bayros. — Köstritz, Leipzig: C. Seifert, 1913.

    Cover (in blackletter): H. L. Rosegger. | Von Königen u. Jakobinern | {vignette by von Bayros} | Verlag C. Seifert | • Köstritz u Leipzig • || Title (blackletter): Von Königen | und Jakobinern | Von | Hans Ludwig Rosegger | mit vier Vollbildern und Buchschmuck | von Marquis F. von Bayros | {publisher’s device} | 1913 | C. Seifert Verlag, G.m.b.H. | Köstritz und Leipzig || Pagination: [2] – t.p. / blank, [2] – contents / blank, [1-3] 4-263 [264 vignette, colophon], 4 plates extraneous to collation, 2 vignettes. Collation: 8vo; 1-168 174. Binding: Hardcover, pictorial paper boards, lettering to spine, lettering and vignette by von Bayros to cover. Owner's inscription to ffl: "T. Lewe. März, 1919."
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  • Дезидерата русского библиофила : Desiderata of the Russian bibliophile. Редчайшие книги и их современная расценка. Сост. П.П.Шибанов. К докладу в Русском обществе друзей книги 15 апреля 1927 г. — М.: Mezhdunarodnaya kniga - Antiquarian Departament, 1927. — 15 стр. Гриф: "Не для продажи". Тираж 200 нум.экз. Экз. № 121.

    Дезидерата русского библиофила: Редчайшие книги и их современная расценка / Сост. П. П. Шибанов. — М.: Международная книга, 1927.

    Cover: Акц. О-во “МЕЖДУНАРОДНАЯ КНИГА” | МОСКВА, Кузнецкий Мост, 12. Тел. 1-20-21. | АНТИКВАРНЫЙ КНИЖНЫЙ МАГАЗИН | ДЕЗИДЕРАТА | РУССКОГО БИБЛИОФИЛА | DESIDERATA OF A RUSSIAN BIBLIOPHILE | MEZHDUNARODNAYA KNIGA | Antiquarian Departament | Moscow — Kuznetski Most, 12. || Title: DESIDERATA | РУССКОГО БИБЛИОФИЛА | РЕДЧАЙШИЕ КНИГИ И ИХ | СОВРЕМЕННАЯ РАСЦЕНКА | СОСТАВИЛ П. П. ШИБАНОВ | (К ДОКЛАДУ В РУССКОМ ОБЩЕСТВЕ | ДРУЗЕЙ КНИГИ 15 АПРЕЛЯ 1927 Г.) | МОСКВА — 1927 || Title verso: Корректурное издание в количестве 200 нумерованных экземпляров, из которых №№ 1–100 для членов Русского Общества Друзей Книгию Отпечатано в 13-й типографии Мосполиграф «Мысль Печатника» Главлит №85566. № 121. Back cover: "Не для продажи". Publisher’s lettered wrappers, 21.5 x 15 cm, pagination: [1-4] 5-15 [16 blank]; stamps and inscriptions to covers, markings inside. Limited edition of 200 copies, of which this copy is № 121. Шибанов, Павел Петрович (Russian, 1864 – 1935).
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  • Lucien de La Hodde. History of Secret Societies, and of the Republican Party of France from 1830 to 1848; Containing Sketches of Louis-Phillipe and the Revolution of February; Together with Portraits, Conspiracies, and Unpublished Facts. – Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott and Co., 1856.

    Lucien de La Hodde. History of Secret Societies, and of the Republican Party of France from 1830 to 1848. — Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott and Co., 1856.

    Title: HISTORY | OF | SECRET SOCIETIES, | AND OF THE | REPUBLICAN PARTY OF FRANCE | From 1830 to 1848; | CONTAINING SKETCHES OF | LOUIS-PHILLIPE AND THE REVOLUTION OF FEBRUARY; | TOGETHER WITH | PORTRAITS, CONSPIRACIES, AND UNPUBLISHED FACTS. | BY | LUCIEN DE LA HODDE. | Translated from the Paris Edition of 1850. | BY AN AMERICAN. | PHILADELPHIA: | J. B. LIPPINCOTT AND CO. | 1856. || Pagination: blank leaf, [i, ii] – ht / blind, [iii, iv] – t.p. / imprim., [v-vi] – preface / blind, [vii] viii-xv [xvi] [17] 18-479 [480], blank leaf. Collation: 8vo; [1]-308. Binding: 22.8 x 15 cm, publisher's purple blind-spamped cloth to boards, gilt lettering to spine. Lucien de la Hodde (French, 1808 – 1865). Original title: Histoire des sociétés secrètes et du parti républicain de 1830 à 1848 : Louis-Phillippe et le Révolution de février, portraits, scènes de conspirations, faits inconnus. — Paris: Julien, Lanier, 1850. Translated by John Wolcott Phelps (American, 1813 – 1885).  
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  • Quelques mémoires de Casanova de Seingalt écrits par lui-même / Aquarelles originales de Rojankowski. — Paris: Javal et Bourdeaux, 1932.

    Cover: QUELQUES MÉMOIRES | DE | CASANOVA | Aquarelles originales de Rojankowski (pasted) | {fleuron} | PARIS | — | Javal et Bourdeaux | 1932 || Title: QUELQUES | MÉMOIRES | de | CASANOVA | DE SEINGALT | ÉCRITS PAR LUI-MÊME | — | {fleuron} | PARIS | — | Javal et Bourdeaux | 44 bis, Rue de Villejust || Pagination: ffl [4] – t.p. / blank, h.t. with pasted crayon illustr. / Exemplaire № 660, [1] 2-307 [308 blank] bfl, 10 original watercolours (with glassine paper guards) by Feodor Rojankovsky, extraneous to collation. Binding: Softcover, publisher’s grey wrappers with black and red lettering to front cover and spine; in grey canvas over cardboard folder with purple cloth gilt-lettered spine; grey canvas over cardboard slipcase. Catalogue Raisonné: Not in J.-P. Dutel (his catalogue contains only clandestine editions). Comment by J.-P. Dutel: In this copy of the edition, 20 illustrations by Auguste Leroux were cancelled and replaced with 10 original watercolours by Feodor Rojankovsky. Only one such copy exists.
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  • Chinese small sancai-glazed pottery cup, Tang dynasty [唐朝] (618 – 907).

    Small stoneware cup with rounded sides raising from a short foot to an inverted rim; glazed inside with a cream and brown six-petal design on a green background with cream and brown stylized flowers. Amber glaze outside, blue bottom, foot unglazed. Dia: 10 cm; H: 4 cm.
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  • Thomas F. Dibdin. Reminiscences of a literary life / 2 vol. — London: J. Major, 1836.

    Two volumes uniformly bound by J. Mackenzie, in brown straight-grain morocco, boards with 7 gilt fillet border, fleuron corners, spine with raised bands, gilt in compartments, gilt-lettered DIBDIN’S | LITERARY | REMINISCENCES | I (or) II | 1836. All margins gilt, cream endpapers, armorial bookplate of William Henry Rossington to the front pastedown. Vol. 1: Title page: REMINISCENCES | OF | A LITERARY LIFE; | BY THE REVEREND | THOS. FROGNALL DIBDIN, D.D. | {vignette} | {one line citation | Richard de Bury} | LONDON: | JOHN MAJOR, 71, GREAT RUSSELL-STREET, | BLOOMSBURY. | MDCCCXXXVI. || Pagination: [4] two blank leaves, [i-v] vi-xxxii [4] list of plates, corrections, [1] 2-556 [4] two blank leaves. Collation: 8vo; [a]8 b8 [c]2, B-Z8, AA-MM8 NN6, 5 plates (incl. frontis. portrait by James Posselwhite after George Richmond) extraneous to collation, and a few vignettes in text. Vol. 2: Title page: REMINISCENCES | OF | A LITERARY LIFE; | WITH ANECDOTES OF BOOKS, | AND OF | BOOK COLLECTORS: | BY THE REVEREND | THOS. FROGNALL DIBDIN, D.D. | PART THE SECOND. | LONDON: | JOHN MAJOR, 71, GREAT RUSSELL-STREET, | BLOOMSBURY. | MDCCCXXXVI. || Pagination: [4] two blank leaves, [2] title/blank, 557-982, [1-3] 4-44 index, [4] two blank leaves. Collation: 8vo; [NN]2 OO-ZZ8 3A-3Q8 3R3, B-C8 D4, 5 plates (incl. frontis. “The Library, Eshton Hall”) extraneous to collation, and a few vignettes in text. Catalogue raisonné: Windle, Pippin (1999): A62 / pp. 171-177. Contributors: Author: Thomas Frognall Dibdin (British, 1776 – 1847) Artists: George Richmond (British, 1809 – 1896); Mary Dawson Turner [neé Mary Palgrave] (British, 1774 – 1850); Frederick Mackenzie (British, 1788? – 1854); C. J. Stewart (British, fl. 1830s). Copper engravers: James Posselwhite (British, 1798-1884); Philip Audinet (British, 1766 – 1837); William Henry Worthington. (British, c. 1790 – after 1839); Samuel Rawle (British, 1771 – 1860); Samuel Freeman (British, 1773 – 1857); James Thomson (British, 1788–1850). Wood engravings by John Byfield (British, 1788-1841) and his sister Mary Byfield (British, 1795 – 1871). Printer: William Wilcockson, Rolls Buildings, Fetter Lane. Publisher: John Major (British, 1782 – 1849) Binder: John Mackenzie (British, 1788 – c.1850) – held the office of bookbinder to both King George IV and King William IV. Bookplate: Colonel William Henry Rossington (American, 1848 – 1908)
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  • Graham Greene and Carol Reed. The third man / Film script. — New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968.

    Title page: MODERN | FILM | SCRIPTS | THE THIRD MAN | a film by | Graham Greene | and Carol Reed | Simon and Schuster, New York. Pagination: [1-4] 5-134 [2] blank. Binding: publisher’s pictorial wrappers with the film still and lettering in blue and black to front, back, and spine. Size: 20.2 x 14 cm. The Third Man is a 1949 British film directed by Carol Reed, written by Graham Greene and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Contributors: Graham Greene (British, 1904 – 1991) – author. Carol Reed (British, 1906 – 1976) – film director. Simon & Schuster (NY) – publisher. Villiers Publications, Ltd. (London) – printer.
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  • Voltaire. Candide / Illustrations by Mahlon Blaine. — New York: Illustrated Editions Company, [c. 1930].

    Title (chain border): CANDIDE | VOLTAIRE | ILLUSTRATIONS BY | MAHLON BLAINE | {vignette} | NEW YORK | Illustrated Editions Company | 220 FOURTH AVENUE || Title verso: (top) COPYRIGHT, 1930, BY WILLIAMS, BELASCO & MEYERS || (bottom) PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA | BY J. J. LITTLE & IVES COMPANY, NEW YORK || Pagination:[1-7] 8-144, headpiece, frontispiece and 5 plates after Blaine’s pen drawings, within the pagination; tailpieces by A. Zaidenberg. Binding: 21 x 14 cm; quarter beige buckram over blue cloth, stamped-gilt and red lettering and vignette to front board and spine. Binding in a way similar to Sterne's A sentimental journey published by Three Sirens Press in c. 1930 [LIB-2784.2021]. Not only that: tailpieces in this Illustrated Editions Company edition are the same as in Cameo Classic edition, with the only difference – here the name of the artist is stated, whether in the Cameo Classic it is not; see [LIB-2777.2021]. Bear in mind that Cameo Classic does not belong to Williams, Belasco and Meyers, it is a Grosset and Dunlap series; a cream dust-jacket lettered in red and blue, and with a citation from W. Somerset Maugham; all edges red. Compare with LIB-2791.2021. Illustrations in the current copy are exactly the same. Compare Williams, Belasco and Meyers Candide and Illustrated Editions Company Candide title pages:

    Williams, Belasco and Meyers

    Illustrated Editions Company

      Arouet, François-Marie [Voltaire] (French, 1694 – 1778)– author. Woolf, Herman Irwell [Chambers, Dorset] (British, 1890 – 1958) – translator. Blaine, Mahlon [Hudson, G. Christopher] (American, 1894 – 1969) – illustrator. Zaidenberg, Arthur (American, 1902 – 1990) – illustrator. Williams, Belasco and Meyers (NY) – copyright holder. Illustrated Editions Company (1929-1942) – publisher. J. J. Little & Ives Company (NY) – printer. See the Cameo Classic reprint [LIB-2777.2021].
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