/Collection
  • Small iron tsuba (tantō size) of aoi form with the design of paulownia leaves and blossoms in copper and brass flat inlay (hira-zōgan). Brass sekigane. Open kozuka hitsu-ana.

    Early Edo period, 17th century.

    Size: 53.4 x 40.7 x 4.4 mm; weight: 47.4 g

  • Hardcover volume, 8vo, 24.3 x 16.5 cm, bound in contemporary full marbled calf, spine with raised bands, gilt floral tools in compartments, gilt title lettering, marbled end-papers and all edges, printed on laid paper 23.9 x 5.5 cm with a watermark, entirely engraved (frontispiece, title, nine plates, and text), gatherings not indicated. Title-page (engraved, vignette, tall 's') LE | TEMPLE | DE | GNIDE | Nouvelle Edition, | Avec Figures | Gravées par N. LE MIRE, | des Acad. De Vienne en Autriche et de Rouen, | D’apres les Dessins de Ch. Eisen. | Le Texte Gravé par Droüet. | — | {3 lines quotation from Gallien} | A PARIS | Chez le Mire Graveur | Rue St. Etienne des Gres. | AVEC PRIVELEGE DU ROI. | 1772. || Frontispiece (engraved, vignette): Portrait medallion inscribed "CHARLES SECONDAT DE MONTESQUIEU — N. Le Mire del et sc", signed beneath "N. le Mire sculp 1771"; under the plate: "Dessiné par Ch. Eisen, et Gravé par N. le Mire." Pagination: frontispiece, t.p. / explication, dedication, [i] ii-vii [viii blank] 1-104 [105-6 blanks]; engraved throughout, plus 9 plates by Le Mire after Eisen.
    Catalogue Raisonné: Cohen-de Ricci 726-27; Ray, French Illustrated Book, №32/p. 61-2.
    Ref.: MFA (Boston): Accession Number 37.1726.
    Charles Eisen (French, 1720 – 1778) – artist. Noël Le Mire (French, 1724 – 1801) – engraver, publisher. Droüet (French, 18th century) – text engraver. Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (French, 1689 – 1755) – author.
  • 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. Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, fl. C. 1845 – 1847), seal: San [三] (Marks 11-001 | 127c). Block carver: Matsushima Fusajirō [松嶋房次郎] (Japanese, fl. 1843 – 1850); seal [彫工房] – Hori kō Fusa. Double nanushi censor seal: Kunigasa & Watanabe (1849-50). Actor: 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. Play: Yukari no Hana Iro mo Yoshiwara [紫花色吉原], performed at the Kawarazaki Theater (Edo) from the 5th day of the 5th lunar month of Kaei 3 (1850) (see Kabuki Playbill at MFA (Boston) № 11.27996). Sano Jirōzaemon [佐野次郎左衛門] – provincial commoner who killed a famous Yoshiwara courtesan named ManjiyaYatsuhashi [万字屋 八ツ橋] (on the second sheet of the pair):

    SVJP-0298.2019: Ichikawa Ebizō V as Sano Jirōzaemon.

    SVJP-0297.2019: Iwai Kumesaburō III as Manjiya Yatsuhashi

    Another Kunisada's print with the same characters in the same play and same performance can be seen at MFA (Boston) № 11.40190. One more example can be seen at the two upper images in Waseda University Cultural Resources Database, № 006-2707:  
  • [François Marie Arouet de Voltaire]. La Pucelle d'Orléans, poëme, divisé en vingt chants, avec des notes. Nouvelle édition, corrigée, augmentée & collationnée sur le manuscript de l'auteur. – [Geneva: Gabriel Cramer], 1762. Half-title: LA PUCELLE. Title: LA | PUCELLE D'ORLÉANS, | POËME, | DIVISÉ EN VINGT CHANTS, | AVEC DES NOTES. | Nouvelle Edtition, corrigée, augumentée & colla- | tionnée sur le Manuscript de l'Auteur. | MDCCLXII || Pagination: [2] – blank leaf, [2] – h.t. / blank, [2] – t.p. / blank, [i] ii-viii, [1] 2-358 [2]– blank leaf; after p. 272 the following p. 277, collation and key words correct; 20 plates, one before every chant, by Gravelot, woodcut cul-de-lamps. Collation: 8vo; [π7] A-Y8 Z2 Binding: Hardcover; contemporary full mottled calf, re-backed, flat spine, ruled in gilt, remains of gilt lettering and decorations, marbled end-papers and all margins red. Catalogue raisonné: Cohen-de Ricci 1029: "Première édition avouée par l'auteur". Dimensions: book 20.2 x 12.5 cm; page 19.5 x 11.6 cm. Author: Voltair, François Marie Arouet de (French, 1694 – 1778). Printer: Gabriel Cramer (Swiss, 1723–1793). Artist: Gravelot, Hubert François (French, 1699 – 1773). Another copy in this collection: LIB-2504.2020.
  • Green, mottled (white, yellow, brown) glazed earthenware jar or a circular box with a cover, on an unglazed foot decorated with florets. The cover has a small knop. Ivory glaze inside. China, the Tang dynasty [唐朝] (618 – 907). Diameter: 10 cm; Height: 10 cm.
  • 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.
  • Title: НАУЧНО-ПОПУЛЯРНАЯ БИБЛИОТЕКА СОЛДАТА | [—] | ЛАУРЕАТ СТАЛИНСКОЙ ПРЕМИИ, ДЕЙСТВИТЕЛЬНЫЙ ЧЛЕН АКАДЕМИИ МЕДИЦИНСКИХ НАУК СССР О. Б. Лепешинская. | ПРОИСХОЖДЕНИЕ КЛЕТОК | ИЗ ЖИВОГО ВЕЩЕСТВА | [—•—] | ВОЕННОЕ ИЗДАТЕЛЬСТВО | ВОЕННОГО МИНИСТЕРСТВА СОЮЗА ССР | Москва — 1952 || Pagination: original pictorial wrappers with portrait in a frame, [1-4] – t.p. / contents, b/w portrait /blank, 5-75 [76] ; in-text illustrations.
  • 20 x 14.5 cm, owner’s burgundy buckram, upper original pictorial wrapper preserved, in black and yellow. Title: ДЖОЗЕФ КОНРАД | ТАЙНЫЙ АГЕНТ | (The secret agent) | Перевод с английского | М. МАТВЕЕВОЙ | под редакцией | В. А. АЗОВА | {device} | Издательство “ПЕТРОГРАД” | ЛЕНИНГРАД — МОСКВА | 1925. Pagination: ffl, [2] orig. wrapper/blank, [1, 2] t.p./imprint, 3-245 [3 advert.] Collation: 8vo; [1]8 2-158 164. Print run: 5.000 copies. Редактор перевода: В. А. Азов Contributors: Joseph Conrad (Polish-British, 1857 – 1924) – author. Владимир Александрович Ашкинази [Азов] (Russian-French, 1873 – 1941) – translator/editor. Марианна Николаевна Матвеева (Russian, 20th century) – translator. Original title: [LIB-2762.2021] Joseph Conrad. The secret agent: a simple tale. — London: Methuen & Co., [1907]; [LIB-3213.2023] Joseph Conrad. The secret agent: A drama in three acts. — London, T. Werner Laurie., 1923.  
  • Pagination: [2] – letterpress title / blank, t.p. contents / to readers, [1] 2-368 [4 index], + 6 b/w (one folding) and 28 coloured plates (total 34). 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. 5 aquatints by Thomas Rowlandson (British, 1757 – 1827): Table D'Hote; Consulting the Prophet; The Prophet discovering himself and exposing the deception; The Arrival in Paris; Liberality to infirm beggars on leaving Yrvi. 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. 167 [LIB-2622.2021].
  • 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).  
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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)
  • 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 CottenAlida ValliOrson 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.
  • 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].
  • Vol. 1: Title page (red and black): THE | COMIC HISTORY OF ENGLAND • | BY GILBERT ABBOTT A'BECKETT. | {vignette with one line caption} | WITH TEN COLOURED ETCHINGS AND ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY | WOODCUTS, | BY JOHN LEECH. | VOL. I. | PUBLISHED AT THE PUNCH OFFICE, 85, FLEET STREET. | MDCCCXLVII. || Pagination: [iii-iv] – t.p. / imprint., [v]-vi – preface, [vii]-viii – contents, [ix]-xii – list of ills. [1] 2-320, lacking half-title otherwise as called for by Tooley (1935) p. 161. Collation: 8vo; π3 b2 B-X8 plus 10 plates, incl. frontispiece, of hand-coloured steel engravings and 120 in-text woodcuts by John Leech. Vol. 2: Title page: similar but “VOL. II.” And “MDCCCXLVIII”; typeface “with ten coloured…” is different (sans serif). Pagination: [iii-iv] – t.p. / imprint., [v]-vi – advert., [vii]-viii – contents, [ix]-xii – list of ills. [1] 2-304, lacking half-title otherwise as called for by Tooley (1935) p. 161. Collation: 8vo; π3 b2 B-U8 X2 plus 10 plates, incl. frontispiece, of hand-coloured steel engravings and 120 in-text woodcuts by John Leech. Binding: two volumes 22 x 14.5 cm each uniformly bound in full tan calf with gilt double-fillet border, spine gilt in compartments with red and green morocco labels lettered in gilt, blind-stamped dentelle inside, blue marbled endpapers, all edges marbled, additional flyleafs at the front and end. Catalogue raisonné: Hardie p. 210-11; Abbey, Life № 434, p. 362; Tooley (1935) p. 161 Contributors: Gilbert Abbott à Beckett (British, 1811 – 1856) – author. John Leech (British, 1817 – 1864) – artist. Bradbury & Evans (Whitefriars); William Bradbury (British, 1799 – 1869); Frederick Mullett Evans (British, 1804 – 1870) – printer. Punch – publisher.
  • Front wrapper: LES MŒURS DU SIECLE - № 1 | Les | six étages | par | GERARD BAUER | illustré de vingt gravures à l’eau-forte | par VERTÈS | {publisher’s device, “PARIS | 17, avenue de Friedland”} | ÉDITIONS DE L’ÉTOILE || Title-page: essais pour servir a1 l’histoire contemporaine | de la galanterie et du plaisir | I | Les six étages | par | GERARD BAUER | illustré de vingt gravures à l’eau-forte | par VERTÈS | | {publisher’s device, “ÉDITIONS DE L’ÉTOILE | 17, avenue de Friedland”} | PARIS […] MCMXXV || Pagination: front wrapper with lettering, [1-8] incl. 1st bank leaf, h.t. / limitation, t.p. / blank, dedication to Abel Hermant / blank, 9-169 [170] [6] incl. table, colophon, and last blank leaf, 17 etchings by Vertès within pagination; advert. of the other books of the series to the back wrapper. Edition: 15 copies on Japon Impérial (№ 1-15), 35 on Hollande Van Gelder Zonen (№ 16-50), 400 on Vélin de Rives BFK (№ 51-450) and 3 on blue paper not for sale. This copy is № 369. Printed on November 10, 1925 by L. Petitbarat in Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône (text) and by Vernant in Paris (etchings). Edition directed by Roger Allard. Binding: 19 x 12.5 cm, French flapped pink wrappers, lettered to front, back, and spine. Contributors: Gérard Bauër (French, 1888 – 1967) – author. Marcel Vertès [Marcell Vértes] (Jewish-Hungarian-French, 1895 – 1961) – artist. Abel Hermant (French, 1862 – 1950) – dedicatee. Roger Allard (French, 1885 – 1961) – editor. L. Petitbarat (Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône) – printer. Éditions de l’Étoile (Paris) – publisher. Other names: Marcel Vertès, Marcel Vertes, Marcell Vértes
  • Front wrapper and title-page (in red and black): LE COFFRET DU BIBLIOPHILE ILLUSTRE | Pamphlets et Tableaux de mœurs intimes | CORRESPONDANCE | DE | Madame Gourdan | dite La Comtesse | INTRODUCTION ET NOTES PAR J. HERVEZ. | POINTES SÈCHES DE | P.-E. BECAT | {device} | PARIS | BIBLIOTHÈQUE DES CURIEUX | 4, rue de Furstenberg, 4 | Édition réservée aux souscripteurs || Limitation: L'édition illustrée du "Coffret | du bibliophile" est tirée à 750 | exemplaires, sur vergé de Rives, | numérotés de 1 à 750 | № 353 || Limited edition of 750 copies on Rives laid paper, of which this is copy № 353. Collation: fep, 3 blanks, front wrapper, 3 blanks vergé, [2] h.t. / limit., [2] t.p., [5] 6-188, blank, back wrapper, 3 blanks, fep., plus 12 plates, dry-points by P.-É. Bécat, extraneous to collation, incl. frontispiece. Binding: 16 x 10.3 cm, red crushed morocco, gilt lettering to spine, marbled endpapers, printed on laid paper, original wrappers preserved. Contributors: Marguerite Gourdan [Marguerite Alexandrine Ernestine Stock] (French, c. 1730 –1783) – fictional author. Jean Hervez (French, 1864 – ?) – author (preface). Charles Théveneau de Morande (French, 1741 – 1805) – presumable author of the text. Paul-Émile Bécat (French, 1885 – 1960) – artist. Bibliothèque des curieux [Georges & Robert Briffaut], Georges Briffaut (French, 1886 – 1973) – publisher. Previous editions: First published 1783, under the title: "Le portefeuille de Madame Gourdan" in London by Jean Nourse. Bibliothèque des curieux, 1910. Bibliothèque des curieux, 1924.