/Collection
  • An uncut fan print shows a young woman holding a basket on a landscape background with hills and pines under a rising sun. Haruo Shirane: "Under the luni-solar calendar, the New Year coincided with the beginning of spring, making it the most important observance of the year for the aristocracy. In the Heian period, New Year ceremonies extended from New Year’s Day (Ganjitsu) to the Day of the Rat (Nenohi), which usually fell on the seventh day of the First Month, when courtiers went out to the fields (no), pulled up small pines, and gathered new herbs (wakana) as a prayer for long life. This ritual gradually spread to the provinces and to commoners, eventually resulting in the New Year practice of the gate pine (kadomatsu), in which a pair of small pines was placed at the gate of a house. A popular Heian-period painting topic representing the First Month was “prayers on the Day of the Rat” (Nenohi no asobi), which depicted the auspicious scene of pulling up small pines in a spring field. Both young herbs and gathering young herbs, particularly at Kasuga Field, became major poetic topics for the First Month, appearing in both the spring and celebration (ga) books of the Kokinshū (Collection of Japanese Poems Old and New, ca. 905). By the Kamakura period, the observance of the Day of the Rat had been abandoned at the imperial court, but the custom of gathering and eating young greens continued as the annual ceremony known as the Seven Grasses (Nanakusa). Note: The Heian-period ritual of pulling up the roots of small pines (komatsu ) on the first Day of the Rat derives from the homonyms ne (rat) and ne (root). Pulling up roots was auspicious, since it implied lengthening the year.  The rising sun (hinode) was considered an auspicious sight, particularly at the beginning of the year". [Haruo Shirane, Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons. Nature, Literature, and the Arts. — Columbia University, NY, 2012]. Title: Gathering of the young herbs on the Day of the Rat [子の日乃若菜] (Nenohi no wakana). Series: Three elegant sources of light [風流三光の内] (fūryū sankō no uchi); meaning the sun, the moon and the stars). 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 yellow toshidama cartouche. Publisher’s seal: Izuzen (Marks: seal 06-029 | U103b) Date and double nanushi censor seals: Mera and Watanabe, Kaei 6 (1853). A similar theme can be found in Kunisadai's triptych published in about 1844 (HARA SHOBO):

    豊国三代「豊歳子日若菜摘ノ図」

  • Pictorial title (coloured): Collection Artistique Guillaume et Cie |—| ALPHONSE DAUDET  | Trente ans | de Paris | PARIS | C. MARPON ET E. FLAMMARION | 26, RUE RACINE, 26 | 1888 || Title page: Collection Artistique Guillaume et Cie |—| ALPHONSE DAUDET | Trente ans de Paris | À TRAVERS MA VIE ET MES LIVRES | Illustré | PAR BIELER, MONTÉGUT, MYRBACH, PICARD ET ROSSI | Gravure de Guillaume Frères et Cie | PARIS | C. MARPON ET E. FLAMMARION | 26, RUE RACINE, 26 | 1888 | Tous droits réservés. || Pagination: [12] [1] 2-344 [6], total 362 pp., in-text illustration, head- and tailpieces, photomechanical reproductions. Collation: 12mo; π6, 1-2812 +1; total 181 leaves. Binding: 19 x 12.5 cm; red cloth, gilt lettering to spine, gilt lettering and vignette to front board and gilt device to back board; bookplate to front pastedown: Ex Libris Dr. Vodoz = Egg; Gift inscription to flyleaf in German, dated 30/12/87. Contributors: Alphonse Daudet (French, 1840 – 1897) – author. Ernest Biéler (Swiss, 1863 – 1948) – artist. Louis Montégut (French, 1855 – 1906) – artist. Felician Myrbach (Austrian, 1853 – 1940) – artist. Georges Picard (French, 1857 – 1943) – artist. Luigi Rossi (Swiss, 1853 – 1923) – artist. Ernest Flammarion (French, 1846 – 1936) – publisher. Charles Marpon (French, 1838 – 1890) – publisher. Alexis Lahure (French, 1849 – 1928) – printer. Guillaume Frères et Cie – engravers.
  • Title page: {vignette} | The | MANIAC | ILLUSTRATED BY G. CHRISTOPHER HUDSON | NEW YORK   BOOKS FOR THE FEW   MCMXLI || Pagination: [1-6] 7-245 [246], full-page plates and in-text vignettes after Mahlon Blaine drawings. Edition: Limited edition of 1050 copies, this one unnumbered. Text – a reprint of the 1909 edition by Rebman (London); 1st edition, thus. Binding: 24 x 16 cm, black moire cloth, green label with black lettering “THE | MANIAC” to spine. Ink stamp “Charles M. Collins, Jr” to front pastedown. Contributors: E. Thelmar (British, fl. c. 1909) – author; a British journalist, who had been committed to an asylum in 1905; nothing else is known. G. Christopher Hudson [Mahlon Blaine] (American, 1894 – 1969) – artist. Books for the Few (NY) – publisher. Ref: TAYLOR, NICK. “Mahlon Blaine, John Steinbeck, and ‘The Maniac’ (1941).” The Steinbeck Review 9, no. 1 (2012): 73–84. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41582924.
  • Title page (in a blue frame): The | Robert J. Wickenheiser Collection | of | John Milton | at the | University of South Carolina | A Descriptive Account | with Illustrations | Robert J. Wickenheiser | {publisher’s device} | The University of South Carolina Press | Published in Cooperation with the | Thomas Cooper Library, University of South Carolina || Pagination: [i-ix] x-xvi, [1] 2-839 [840]; 856 pages total. Binding: 28.5 x 22 cm; full crimson faux morocco, gilt lettering to front cover in a blind-stamped frame, gilt lettering to spine. Contributor: Wickenheiser, Robert J. (American, 1942 – 2015)
  • Title page: The Art of the | French Illustrated Book | 1700 to 1914 | VOLUME I (II) | Gordon N. Ray | The Pierpont Morgan Library | Cornell University Press || Pagination: vol.1: [8] ix-xxxii, [2] 3-245 [3], illustr.; vol.2: [8] 247-557 [5], illustr. Both volumes paginater through out. Binding: 30.5 x 23.5 cm, two volumes uniformly bound in red cloth, gilt vignette to front cover, gilt lettering to spine; bookplate to front pastedown, ex-lib (Sweet Briar College Library) Contributors: Ray, Gordon Norton (American, 1915 – 1986) – author. Lange, Thomas V. – formal bibliographical description. Passela, Charles V. – photography. The Pierpont Morgan Library – Copyright © 1982
  • Title page (in red and black): FRENCH ROCOCO | BOOK ILLUSTRATION | OWEN E. HOLLOWAY | {vignette} | LONDON/ALEC TIRANTI/1969 || Series: Pagination: [2 blanks], [i-iv] v-vi, 1-115 [116 blank], plus 65 leaves of plates (283 illustrations). Binding: 25.5 x 19 cm; publisher's navy buckram, gilt lettering to spine, pictorial dust jacket, unclipped.
  • Vol. 1: Front cover and title page: LES CONTES | DE BOCCACE | ☙ DECAMERON ❧ | TRADUIT DE L'ITALIEN | PAR | ANTOINE LE MAÇON | LES CINQ | PREMIÈRES JOURNÉES | ILLUSTRATIONS DE | BRUNELLESCHI | {vignette} | GIBERT JEUNE | LIBRAIRIE D'AMATEURS | 61, BOULEVARD SAINT-MICHEL, 61 | PARIS || Pagination: [6] 1-342 [343-4] [10], 16 colour plates and 70 b/w head- and tailpieces after Umberto Brunelleschi. Vol. 2: Front cover and title page: LES CONTES | DE BOCCACE | ☙ DECAMERON ❧ | TRADUIT DE L'ITALIEN | PAR | ANTOINE LE MAÇON | LES CINQ | DERNIÈRES JOURNÉES | ILLUSTRATIONS DE | BRUNELLESCHI | {vignette} | GIBERT JEUNE | LIBRAIRIE D'AMATEURS | 61, BOULEVARD SAINT-MICHEL, 61 | PARIS || Pagination: [6] 1-281 [282] [10], 16 colour plates and 68 b/w head- and tailpieces after Umberto Brunelleschi. Edition: Limited to 2,500 copies, of which this is № 1. Edition supplemented with two full extra sets of plates, 32 in black and white, and 32 in colour. Printed on June 25, 1934. Binding: 26.5 x 20.5 cm; cream flapped wrappers (French softcover) with green and black lettering and vignettes to front cover and spine, publisher’s device on the back; uncut copy. Paper: Vélin de Navarre (wove paper), size: 260 x 200 mm. Contributors: Giovanni Boccaccio (Italian, 1313 – 1375) – author. Antoine Le Maçon (French, c. 1500 – 1559) – translator. Umberto Brunelleschi (Italian, 1879 – 1949) – artist. Malexis, Louis (French, 20 century) – mise en page. Coulouma, Robert (French, 1887 – 1976), Imprimerie Coulouma (Argenteuil) – printer, H. Barthélemy – director. Dantan, A. – engraver (probably from the family of Edouard Joseph Dantan (French, 1848 – 1897) Charpentier, E. – colour au pochoir. Compare this copy with a small one-volume reprint of 1941: [LIB-2773.2021]. Description of the stensil (au pochoir) technique.
  • Six shot 11-millimetre Lefaucheux Brevete M-1854 single-action pin-fire revolver, serial #34755. French large calibre revolver features octagon to round barrel, non-fluted cylinder, walnut grips with the heavy pommel.

    Manufactured in Paris.

    Dimensions: L: 29.5 cm; H: 15.5 cm; Barrel: 16 cm.
  • Serial number 8697, barrel 14.5 cm, calibre 9 mm Lefaucheux M-1858 double-action pin-fire revolver manufactured in the late 1860-s. Produced in France with no retailers marking but having French proofs on front of the cylinder and right side of barrel trunnion. The metal remains in the white with small gold wire inlays. Fluted 2 piece ebony grips. This pattern has been observed in civil war photographs and excavated from battlefields and camps in the United States. Dimensions: L: 25 cm; H: 13 cm; Barrel: 14.5 cm.
  • Nevers faience footed plate with a hunter and his dog on a mound, in blue over white. Dimensions: Diameter 22.3 cm; H: 3.5 cm. Seller's description: Plat rond en faïence à décor en camaïeu bleu d'un personnage et son chien sur un tertre feuillagé dans un médaillon, frise d'entrelacs. Fin XVIIème.
  • Title page: A DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE | OF THE | MILTON COLLECTION | IN THE ALEXANDER | TURNBULL LIBRARY, | WELLINGTON, | NEW ZEALAND |Describing works printed before 1801 | held in the Library at December 1975 | COMPILED BY | K. A. COLERIDGE | Published for the Alexander Turnbull Library, | National Library of New Zealand, | by OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS | 1980. Pagination: [i-v] vi-xxv [xxvi blank], [1] 2-536, plus 27 leaves with 60 plates. Printer: Printed in Great Britain at the Pitman Press, Bath. Size: 22.5 x 14.5 cm. Binding: Black cloth, gilt lettering to spine, lettered maroon dust-jacket, unclipped (£35.00 net in UK). Contributor: Kathleen A. Coleridge (New Zealand, b. 1944).
  • Publisher’s grey pictorial wrappers with lettering in red: PARIS | Bibliothèque érotique | Gérard Nordmann | Seconde partie | Jeudy 14 et vendredi 15 décembre 2006 | CHRISTIE'S || Red spine with white lettering from top to bottom, multiple illustrations in colour, 27 x 21 cm. Pagination: [1-3] 4-305, 567 lots. The 2nd part of the auction of the library of Gérard Nordmann (Swiss, 1930 – 1992), held by Christie's in Paris on the 14th and 15th of December 2006. The 1st part took place on the 27th of April 2006, see [LIB-2828.2021].
  • Title page: ЛОНГ | ДАФНИС И ХЛОЯ | Вступительная статья, | перевод и комментарии | С. П. Кондратьева | ACADEMIA | 1935 || Opposite title: АНТИЧНАЯ ЛИТЕРАТУРА | под общей редакцией | Д. А. Горбова, В. О. Нилендера | и П. Ф. Преображенского | ЛОНГ | (III—IV век н. э.) | ACADEMIA | Москва—Ленинград || Title verso: ΛΌΓΓΟΥ | Ποιμενικών των κατά Δάφνιν και Χλόην | Λόγοι τέτταρες | LONGI | Pastoralium de Daphnide et Chloë | libri quattuor | Рисунки, заставки, концовки, переплет и супер-обложка В. Г. Бехтеева || Pagination: [i-vi] vii-xx [2], [1, 2] 3-196 [2], 220 pages total, plus frontispiece in colour extra to collation; and 13 b/w plates within collation, headpieces after Бехтеев, Владимир Георгиевич (Russian, 1878 – 1971). Collation: i8 ii3, 1-128 133 = 110 leaves plus 1 plate. Binding: 17.5 x 13 cm, grey cloth, vignette to front board, lettering to spine, pictorial dust-jacket. Print run: 5,300 copies. Catalogue raisonné: В. В. Крылов, Е. В. Кичатова (2004): № 744, p. 265. Contributors: Longus [Лонг, Λόγγος] (Greek, 2nd century AD) – author. Кондратьев, Сергей Петрович (Russian, 1872 – 1964) – translator. Бехтеев, Владимир Георгиевич (Russian, 1878 – 1971) – artist. Other titles: Daphnis and Chloe (en), Daphnis et Chloé (fr), Daphnis und Chloe (de), Dafnis y Cloe (es),  Gli amori pastorali di Dafni e Cloe (it).    
  • 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].
  • Title page: A | BIBLIOGRAPHY | OF | THE WRITINGS OF | JOSEPH CONRAD (1895–1920) | BY THOMAS J. WISE | ❦ | LONDON: | PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY | By Richard Clay & Sons, Ltd. | 1920 || Pagination: [i-viii] ix-xiii [xiv-xvi], [1, 2] 3-105 [106-112], frontispiece with tissue guard in collation; 128 pages total. Collation: 8vo; [A]-H8, 64 leaves total. Binding: 22.5 x 18 cm; terracotta paper boards, black lettering to front and spine; uncut. The device on the recto of the last leaf inscribed: The Ashley library. Privately printed. 1920. Insert: ALS from Thomas J. Wise dated 22/3/21 on watermarked paper (King of Kent | Extra Fine) with letterhead “Kirkstead”, 25 Heath Drive, Hampstead, N.W.3. The letter is a response to a request for two copies of Volume II of Wise’s Swinburne bibliography, which Wise promises to supply the next day to Stevens & Brown (founded in 1864, Literary and Fine Arts Agents). Limitation: 150 copies, private printing. Contributors: Joseph Conrad [Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski] (British-Polish, 1857 – 1924) Wise, Thomas James (British, 1859 – 1937) – compiler, bibliographer. R. Clay & Sons Ltd. (London); Clay, Richard (British, 1789 – 1877) – publisher. The Ashley Library (London) – printer.
  • A set of 12 photomechanically reproduced illustrations after gouaches by Umberto Brunelleschi (Italian, 1879 – 1949), in colour; b/w photographs reproductions on verso, in a paper folder without the outer wrappers (b/w with birds, insects, and flowers). Text on the folder by French novelist Francis de Miomandre (French, 1880 – 1959); published by Grands Magasins Dufayel (1856 – 1930), a Parisian department store, run by Georges Dufayel (French, 1855 – 1916). Size: 29 x 24 cm. Images printed on cream paper within a beige frame, lettered above the frame in beige: "Societé Anonyme des Administrations et Grands Magasins DUFAYEL — Paris —", under the frame: "Palais de la Nouveauté ~ Palais du MobilierEntrée principale 7 Bould BARBES"; at the bottom of the frame lettered black on each image: Le Style Chinois, Le Style Empire, Le Style Japonais, Le Style Louis XIV, Le Style Louis XV, Le Style Louis XVI, Le Style Moderne (2), Le Style Moyen Age, Le Style Renaissance, Le Style Vénitien, Le Style Persian.
  • 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.
  • Title: JACK KAHANE | ★ | Memoirs of a | Booklegger | [space] | {publisher’s device} | MICHAEL  JOSEPH LTD. | 26, Bloomsbury Street, London, W.C.I || Pagination: [1-6] 7-287 [288 blank]; total 288 pages. Collation: 8vo; [A]8 B-S8; total 144 leaves. Binding: 21.5 x 15 cm, by James Burn, publisher’s blue cloth, silver lettering to spine, yellow endpapers; cream dust-jacket with black and red lettering and reproduced photo portrait of the author. Contributors: Jack Kahane (British, 1887 – 1939) – author. Michael Joseph (British, 1897 – 1958); Michael Joseph Ltd. (London) – publisher. William Brendon & Son, Ltd.; Mayflower Press (Plymouth) – printer. John Dickinson & Co.; John Dickinson (British, 1782 – 1869) – paper maker. Frederick E. Kahane – dedicatee (brother of Jack).