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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. -
White jade Bi of three concentrical circles: double helix outer, intertwined serpents in the middle and a dragon in centre, carved in openwork and low-relief. China, the Ming Dynasty [大明] (1368 – 1644). Diameter: 15.9 cm; Height: 0.5 cm. -
Title: CONTES FANTASTIQUES | DE | HOFFMANN | TRADUCTION NOUVELLE ; PRÉCÉDÉS | DE SOUVENIRS INTIMES SUR LA VIE DE L’AUTEUR | PAR P. CHRISTIAN. | ILLUSTRÉS PAR GAVARNI. | {Publisher’s device} | — PARIS, | LAVIGNE, LIBRAIRE-ÉDITEUR, | 1 RUE DU PAON SAINT-ANDRÉ. | MDCCCXLIII. || Pagination: ffl, [i-vi] –h.t. / colopon, t.p. /blank, dedication /blank, [vii] viii-xix [xx][1,-3] 4-522, bfl, + woodcut illustrations by Brévière et Novionafter Gavarni: 10 full page plates, initials, tail pieces, and in text. Collation: [a]-b4 c2, 1-654 661. Binding: Quarter brown morocco over marbled boards, raised bands with gilt double fillets, gilt arabesque in compartments, title lettering. Catalogue raisonné: L. Carteret (1927), p. 295. -
Two-volume set. MÉMOIRES | DE | JACQUES | CASANOVA | DE SEINGALT | 1734 — Extraits — 1755 | COLLIGÉS PAR | RÉNE GROOS | ILLUSTRATIONS | DE | BRUNELLESCHI | {vignette} | GIBERT JEUNE | LIBRAIRIE D’AMATEURS | 61, BOULEVARD DE SAINT-MICHEL, 61 | PARIS || Pagination: [6], 1-345 [346], [8]; frontispiece and 15 colour plates (collotype), b/w tail-pieces and vignettes (offset). MÉMOIRES | DE | JACQUES | CASANOVA | DE SEINGALT | 1755 — Extraits — 1772 | COLLIGÉS PAR | RÉNE GROOS | ILLUSTRATIONS | DE | BRUNELLESCHI | {vignette} | GIBERT JEUNE | LIBRAIRIE D’AMATEURS | 61, BOULEVARD DE SAINT-MICHEL, 61 | PARIS || Pagination: [6] 1-337 [348] [8]; frontispiece and 15 colour plates (collotype), b/w tail-pieces and vignettes (offset). Limited edition, №2507 of 3000. Binding: original tan pictorial wrappers, in a slipcase. -
Title: MEMOIRS | OF | VIDOCQ. |THE | Principal Agent of the French Police. | WRITTEN BY HIMSELF, | AND TRANSLATED FROM THE | ORIGINAL FRENCH, EXPRESSLY FOR THIS EDITION. | WITH ILLUSTRATIVE ENGRAVINGS, | FROM | ORIGINAL DESIGNS BY CRUIKSHANK. | PHILADELPHIA: | T. B. PETERSON AND BROTHERS, | 306 CHESTNUT STREET. || Pagination: ffl, engraved frontispiece w/guard, engraved t.p., [2] t.p. / copyright, 19-580, [12], [2] 3-17 [18-30], bfl + 4 plates. Collation: 8vo; [1]8 2-358 362 + 22 leaves of advert., + frontis., t.p., 4 plates. Correct collation despite pagination starts at p. 19. Binding: Publisher's brown pebbled cloth, front stamped in blind, gilt spine lettering, yellow endpapers. Owner's ink inscription to ffl, dated 1936. Ref.: HathiTrust and OCLC identify the plates as 'by George Cruikshank' though none is signed. Authorship of Eugène-François Vidocq (French, 1775 – 1857) is doubtful too. The translator is not stated. -
Title: NOUVELLE | LISTE | DES JOLIES FEMMES | DE PARIS ; | LEURS NOMS ET LEUR DEMEURE. | PRIX TROIS FRANCS. | Se trouve A Paris , au Palais des plaisirs. | — | An 1808. || Pagination : [1-6] 7-70 [2 blank] Collation : 9vo, [A]9 B-D9. Binding: Original blue wrappers, 15 x 9 cm. Ref: OCLC finds only one copy, at the British Library. The BnF has a work of the same title, with the same pagination, dated 1803. The stated publisher seems to be fictitious. Quaritch description: 12mo, pp. 70; a little dusty, a few spots and marks; a very good uncut copy in original blue/grey wrappers; somewhat worn and stained. Very rare guide to Parisian prostitutes providing an extraordinary snapshot of the state of prostitution in the city during the First French Empire. The anonymous compiler begins with a brief history of prostitution in the capital, and its regulation, under Charlemagne and Louis VIII, describes a brothel established by Joanna I of Naples at Avignon and discusses Pierre-Jean Grosley’s estimate of the number of prostitutes in London. He then provides his liste, divided into categories including ‘houses of the first order’, ‘bawdy houses’, ‘actresses’, ‘washerwomen’, and ‘procuresses’, giving the name of each prostitute, an indication of their age, and their physical attributes, character, and particular talents. Rosanne, for example, chez Madame l’Évêque at the Palais du Tribunat, offers ‘unspeakably voluptuous pleasures to the nether regions’; Honorine prefers women; Scholastique likes wine with her lovemaking; Nanette has a penchant for soldiers; Genevieve favours the priapic; Dorsay enjoys S&M, and Madame Laperriere promises rejuvenation to the elderly. One Ducroisy is poetically described as possessing ‘a tuft as black as a crow above two alabaster columns’, while Félicité has skin ‘soft and white, sprinkled with golden freckles, like gold in Maraschino liqueur’. The author hopes that his listed will bring business to the ladies and pleasure to their clients, beseeching both to look after their health so that his guide might ‘serve Love, not Asclepius’. -
Title: CURIOSA | An | Exhibition | of | Illustrated | Erotic | Books | HOBART & MACLEAN || Pagination: 16 unpaginated pages with bibliography of 49 editions with prices and 51 images. Stapled softcover, original green wrappers with lettering to front and illustration to back. Size: 21 x 15 cm. -
Title vol. 1: XIX CENTURY FICTION | A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL RECORD | BASED ON HIS OWN COLLECTION | BY | MICHAEL SADLEIR | IN TWO VOLUMES | VOLUME I | PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE | AND PUBLISHED | in Great Britain by | / CONSTABLE & CO LTD | 10–12 ORANGE STREET | LONDON W.C.2 / in the U.S.A. by the | CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY | PRESS | LOS ANGELES, CAL.|| DJ vol. 1: XIX CENTURY FICTION | A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL RECORD | BASED ON HIS OWN COLLECTION | BY | MICHAEL SADLEIR | IN TWO VOLUMES | VOLUME ONE | Passages from the Autobiography of a Bibliomaniac | Explanatory Guide – Acknowledgements | FIRST EDITIONS IN AN AUTHOR-ALPHABET | COMPARATIVE SCARCITIES || Pagination: [4 blanks] ix-xxxiii, [2] 3-398 [399] [2 blanks] Collation: 4to; π2 [a]-d4 [1]-504. Title vol. 2: XIX CENTURY FICTION | A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL RECORD | BASED ON HIS OWN COLLECTION | BY | MICHAEL SADLEIR | IN TWO VOLUMES | VOLUME II | PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE | AND PUBLISHED | in Great Britain by | / CONSTABLE & CO LTD | 10–12 ORANGE STREET | LONDON W.C.2 / in the U.S.A. by the | CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY | PRESS | LOS ANGELES, CAL.|| DJ vol. 2: XIX CENTURY FICTION | A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL RECORD | BASED ON HIS OWN COLLECTION | BY | MICHAEL SADLEIR | IN TWO VOLUMES | VOLUME TWO | “YELLOW-BACK” COLLECTION | FICTION SERIES || Pagination: [2 blanks] [8] [2] 3-195 [196 blank] [2 blanks]. Collation: 4to; π4 1-234 246. Binding: burgundy cloth, gilt vertical lettering to spine, Verity Hewitt (Canberra, AU) bookshop sticker to front pastedown; laid paper; cream DJ with lettering to front and spine. Edition: First limited edition of 1025 of which 1000 for sale. Unnumbered. -
Title: SONGS, | NAVAL AND NATIONAL, | OF THE LATE | CHARLES DIBDIN; | WITH A MEMOIR | AND | ADDENDA. | COLLECTED AND ARRANGED BY | THOMAS DIBDIN, | AUTHOR OF “THE ENGLISH FLEET,” CABINET,” &c. &c. | WITH CHARACTERISTIC SKETCHES BY | GEORGE CRUIKSHANK. | LONDON: | JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. | (PUBLISHED TO THE ADMIRALTY) | 1841.|| Pagination: [4 binder's blanks] [i-vi] vii-xv [xvi advert.], [1] 2-336 [4 binder's blanks], engraved frontispiece and 11 plates by George Cruikshank. Collation: 8vo; [A] – Y8. Binding: brown ¾ morocco, ruled in gilt over marbled boards, marbled endpapers, raised bands, gilt in compartments, top margin gilt, title lettering and year to spine, by V. Krafft. Bookplate to front pastedown “Ex Libris Robert Hoe”. Provenance: HOE, Robert III (American, 1839-1909) – American businessman and producer of printing press equipment. Catalogue raisonné: Albert M. Cohn (1924): № 231, p. 75. Makers: Charles Dibdin the younger (British, 1768—1833) – author. Thomas John Dibdin (British, 1771—1841) – author. William Clowes (British, 1779—1847), printer. John Murray III (British, 1808—1892), publisher. George Cruikshank (British, 1792—1878), artist, emgraver. -
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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Title: GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE | FERNAND FLEURET LOUIS PERCEAU | L'Enfer | DE LA | BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE | ICONO-BIO-BIBLIOGRAPHIE | DESCRIPTIVE, CRITIQUE ET RAISONNÉE, | COMPLÈTE A CE JOUR | DE TOUS LES OUVRAGES COMPOSANT CETTE CÉLÈBRE COLLECTION | AVEC UN INDEX ALPHABÉTIQUE | DES TITRES ET NOMS D'AUTEURS | PARIS | MERCVRE DE FRANCE | XXVI, RVE DE CONDÉ, XXVI | MCMXII || Pagination: ffl, [1-5] 6-415 [416], bfl. Collation: [1]8 2-268. Binding: Original tan wrappers, lettering to covers and spine. Edition: First edition of which this is №952. Ref.: BnF -
Title: TYPOGRAPHIA : | A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE | ORIGIN, RISE, AND PROGRESS | OF THE | TYPOGRAPHIC ART; | WITH | PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS FOR CONDUCTING | EVERY DEPARTMENT IN AN OFFICE. | BY THOMAS F. ADAMS, TYPOGRAPHER. | {vignette} | PHILADELPHIA: | PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE COMPILER, | N. W. CORNER OF THIRD AND CHESNUT STS. | 1837. || Pagination: Engraved frontispiece w/guard, t.p. / blank, [1-3] 4-372 [8], incl. Index and Directions to binder. Collation: 12mo; 1-31(6). Binding: contemporary full brown speckled calf, flat spine bands with gilt double-fillets, dark brown lettering label. Note: Plagiarism of John Johnson's (British, 1777 – 1848) book Typographia, or, The printers' instructor published in London by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green in 1824. . -
Title (black and red in pictorial frame): The Fairy Tales | of the | Brothers Grimm | Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. | Translated by | Mrs. Edgar Lucas | Doubleday, Page & Co | New York 1909. Pagination: [i-iv] – h.t., t.p., frontis., v-xv [xvi], 1-325 [326] colophon., [1 blank sheet], bfl; 40 tipped-in color plates (offset chromolithograph) with lettered guards, numerous in-text woodcuts. Collation: 4to; a-b4, A-2S4. Edition: 1st deluxe American large-paper edition, limited to 50 copies, Rackham’s facsimile signature to h.t. verso. Binding: Original full limp suede binding with yapp edges, gilt-ornamented and lettered spine. Top edge gilt, other uncut. Moiré endpapers. Printed on laid paper. Marbled endpapers. -
Softcover, 242 x 165 mm, French flapped wrappers with black and red lettering to front and spine, top edge trimmed, pages uncut, printed on wove paper watermarked BFK Rives in italic script; illustrations in colour. Title: JEAN DE LA FONTAINE | LES AMOURS | DE | PSYCHÉ ET DE CUPIDON | ÉDITION CONFORME AUX TEXTES ORIGINAUX | ÉTABLIE PAR | LOUIS PERCEAU | ET ORNÉE D’ILLUSTRATIONS EN COULEURS | PAR | CARLÈGLE | LE LIVRE DU BIBLIOPHILE | GEORGES BRIFFAUT, ÉDITEUR | 4, RUE DE FURSTENBERG, PARIS | 1932 || Limited edition: 1230 copies of which this ic copy № 247. Collated 8vo: π4 1-24 3-48 58 *58 6-168 χ2, total 134 leaves, incl. frontispiece. Pagination: [8] 1-253 [254] [6]. Colophon: Le volume des Amours de Psyché et de Cupidon de La Fontaine a été achevé d'imprimer le quinze juin mil neuf cent trente-deux sur les presses du maitre imprimeur Coulouma, a Argenteul, H. Barthélemy étant directeur. Coloris de E. Charpentier, Paris. -
Title: L'ADAM | LASCIF | OU | LETTRES A LA MARQUISE |{fleuron}| AVEC | des figures finement gravées | pour animer par ces billets | fort galamment troussés | AU CARQUOIS D’ARGENT || Edition: Limited numbered edition of 252 copies, artist’s copy on Marais paper with watermark, final state. Pagination: [2] blanks, [2] h.t./tirage, [2] blank / exemplaire, [2] t.p. / blank, i-iii [iv], f.t. / blank; 13-183 [184] [2] blanks, [2] ex-libris / blank; frontispiece, 9 vignettes and 9 plates by Gaston Barret, dry point, sanguine; woodcut vignettes at the faux-title of each chapter. Binding: Unbound, in publisher's blue velour paper folder with gilt device to front cover, original wrappers with blue silhouette and grey medallions, in publisher's grey slipcase. Ref: (1) Jean-Pierre Dutel, Bibliographie des ouvrages érotiques publiés clandestinement en français entre 1920 et 1970, № 951, Inconnu à Pia. (2) Curiosa: An exhibition of illustrated erotic books 1987 — London: Hobart & Maclean, 1987, № 8. (3) Honesterotica (793). Note: Most sources reference black prints, not sanguine. The publishing year was established by Jean-Pierre Dutel; in any case, it was published before the jury hearings at Cour d'Assises in Paris on May 29, 1956. The fact of hearings was not independently confirmed. -
Seller's description: "pottery jar presenting a circular, concave base, an apple-form body, a cylindrical neck, and an annular flared rim. Boasting a lustrous burnish, the gorgeous vessel displays three narrow vertical panels in a hue of cream over mottled shades of chocolate brown and mocha on its body and a caramel-coloured neck and rim. The discoid lid features a lovely natural woodgrain surface incised with three decorative concentric circles around a petite knob-like handle. Note the beautiful globules of glaze that decorate the periphery of the base! This type of vessel is known as Seto ware." Size: Dia: 13 cm, H: 14 cm. -
A two-volume set. Vol. 1:Title: LA | GERUSALEMME | LIBERATA | DI | TORQUATO TASSO | Tomo Primo | {vignette} | IN PARIGI | M.DCC.LXXI | Appreßo { Agostino Delalain. | Pietro Durand. | Gio: Claudio Molini. | Droüet ∫crip.
Pagination: ffl [1] 2-331 [332] bfl; illustrations after Gravelot: frontis. by Henriquez, t.p. vignette by Patas, engraved dedication by Le Roy, 10 head- and 7 tailpieces by Le Roy, 5 full-page vignettes by Le Roy, and 10 plates by: Baquoy, Duclos (3), Le Roy, Lingée, Née, Rousseau, and Simonet (2).
Collation: 8vo; A-V8 X6.
Vol. 2: Title: LA | GERUSALEMME | LIBERATA | DI | TORQUATO TASSO | Tomo Secondo | {vignette} | IN PARIGI | M.DCC.LXXI | Appreßo { Agostino Delalain. | Pietro Durand. | Gio: Claudio Molini. | Droüet ∫crip. Pagination: ffl [1] 2-340 bfl; illustrations after Gravelot: frontis. by Henriquez, t.p. vignette by Mesnil, 10 head- and 6 tailpieces by Le Roy, 4 full-page vignettes by Le Roy, tailpiece by Ponce, and 10 plates by: Duclos, Henriquez, Leveau, Lingée, Massard, Née, Patas, Ponce, Rousseau, and Simonet. Collation: 8vo; A-X8 Y2. Size: 21.5 x 14.5 cm. Size of the copy sold at Sotheby's in 2015: 23.3 x 14.0 cm; Christie's in 2008: 23.2 x 14.4 cm Page size: 21 x 13.5 cm. In referenced sources, the page size is bigger than that. N. Ray gives 11 ½ x 8 7⁄8 inches or 9 x 5½ inches. Cohen and De Ricci do not bother to give sizes, considering that octavo is octavo. MFA: 30.3 x 23.1 x 4 cm (11 15/16 x 9 1/8 x 1 9/16 in.) Binding: Two volumes uniformly bound in full marbled calf, ruled in gilt, flat spine with gilt decorations and monogram, cream lettered label. Geoffrey Lord Cross of Chelsea [Geoffrey Cross, Baron Cross of Chelsea] (British, 1904 – 1989) bookplate to front pastedown. Catalogue raisonné: N. Ray №22, p. 48; Cohen De Ricci 974-975 According to MFA printing by: François-Augustin Quillau (French, 1743–1804). This edition was illustrated by Hubert François Gravelot (French, 1699–1773) and engraved by the following engravers: Jean Charles Baquoy (French, 1721–1777) Antoine Jean Duclos (French, 1742–1795) Benoît Louis Henriquez (French, 1732–1806) Jean Jacques André Le Veau (French, 1729–1785) Charles Louis Lingée (French, 1748–1819) Jacques Le Roy (French, born in 1739) Jean Massard (1740–1822) Elie du Mesnil (French, born about 1728) François Denis Née (French, 1735–1818) Charles Emmanuel Jean Baptiste Patas (French, 1744–1802) Nicholas Ponce (French, 1746–1831) Jean François Rousseau (French, born in 1740) Jean Baptiste Simonet (French, 1742–1813) Droüet (French, 18th century) -
Agate snuff bottle of flattened rounded rectangular form, round neck, and flat base, semitransparent milky white body with dark brown inclusions of geometric form. Green jadeite stopper with a copper alloy spoon and collar. Qing dynasty [清] (1644-1912) Size: 7.2 x 4.3 x 2.2 cm
