London

Third edition. 
Bradel binding in full green cloth, boards with blind-ruled frames, top edge gilt, publisher's binding.
Work illustrated with numerous photographs and drawings, rare.

Third and best edition of this apology for polygamy, the first dated from 1674 and comprised 96 p., the second was expanded in 1676 to 174 p., this final edition making 565 p. Most major libraries do not possess it, such as the BNF. Graesse, I, 68. Rare.

Contemporary full vellum binding, title in manuscript. Joint cracked at head.

Lyser (1631-1684) devoted his life and fortune in the hope of founding a sect of polygamists, he thus visited Europe, seeking followers and preaching that polygamy is most often a requirement. The book was condemned and numerous copies were burned.

New edition, after the first, rare, published in 1784.

In original wrappers. Title page with marginal dampstain and soiling.

Linguet (1736-1794) French writer, lawyer and journalist, he wrote numerous works in various fields, particularly law and political philosophy, his positions and his talents as a polemicist would lead to his imprisonment and eventual execution by guillotine. It was during a period of incarceration that Linguet conceived this work, the fruit of earlier research. Linguet bases himself essentially on Newton to develop his own reflections in the field.

First edition, the only one published.
Bound in red half long-grain morocco in the Romantic style, flat spine with two vertical Romantic tools. Two small wormholes along the upper joint. Minor rubbing as usual, but a handsome copy, notably well-preserved.


NB: This item is available at the bookshop on request within 48 hours.

First edition. A frontispiece-portrait by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin.
Full marbled calf binding. Smooth spine decorated. Red morocco title-label. Gilt fillets framing the boards. Fine Louis XV binding. Good copy.
The historical eulogy, which extends to p. 70, continues with the thoughts and witticisms of Saint-Foix. Saint Foix served until age 36 with the musketeers, and was famous for his duels. He was royal historiographer and playwright. His most celebrated work remains the Historical Essays on Paris.
Engraved armorial bookplate, the arms are those of the de Bréda family. Motto: Dominus protector vitae mea a quo trepidabo.
Label beneath the bookplate: Former library of the...

First edition, RBH records no copy sold since 1980, complete with its appendices at the end of the volume.  

Half anthracite calf bindings, bordered with blind-tooled rolls, spine with five false raised bands, numerous gilt fillets and rolls forming a border, blind-tooled ornament in the compartments, burgundy calf title-pieces, marbled paper boards, marbled paper endpapers and pastedowns, all edges marbled, unnoticeable repears to joints.

Illustrated with a folding colour map of Haiti.

Rare copy of this fictionalised biography of Toussaint L'Ouverture, who, under the pen of the abolitionist Harriet Martineau...

First English edition — of a recognised theological work — based on the 1906 first edition written in German.
Contemporary Bradel publisher's khaki binding, smooth spine lettered with the title and author's name in gilt at head and with the publisher's name in gilt at foot, as well as gilt fillets at extremities, two blind-stamped fillets framing the boards. Autograph inscription by Albert Schweitzer in ink on the front free endpaper to Adèle Herrenschmidt, a friend he nicknamed "Tata" — and possibly lover according to some scholars — thirty-two years his senior, with whom he maintained a close relationship for nearly a quarter of a century and whom he...

Rare edition presenting the bilingual text in two facing columns (French–Piedmontese).

No copy recorded in the CCF.

A scarce version in the Piedmontese dialect (then the vehicular language for much of the population of the former duchy), issued by one of the Protestant Bible societies, likely intended for the Waldensian and related communities still well established in the valleys.

Contemporary full black shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands ruled in blind, rubbing to the spine, triple blind-ruled panels on the covers, yellow endpapers and pastedowns, inner hinge split, all edges gilt, corners lightly worn.

Copy presented to Wilbraham Taylor by The...

First pressing of the Red China record, retaining all its original characteristics (blank A- and B-side labels).

Rare autograph inscription signed by Joe Strummer, the singer and frontman of the punk band, to journalist Bruno Charoy, photographer and rock guitarist.

Complete with its original printed sleeve, illustrated with images of the band and the record title in Chinese ideograms, together with its plain paper inner sleeve.

Expected light creasing to the sleeve corners, upper and lower edges partially unglued, not affecting overall condition.

First edition illustrated with in-text engravings and 15 plates, including a folding map and 2 hand-coloured plates.

Full polished calf binding, attractively marbled in shades of tan, the spine expertly restored and decorated in gilt with floral and foliate tools and gilt fillets, red morocco title label, gilt rolls at head and tail, double gilt fillets framing the covers, gilt fillet borders, marbled edges, contemporary binding.

Tears and losses to leaves 281–82 and 283–84 (with loss of text) have been carefully repaired; a few scattered spots.

John Davy (1790–1868), military physician and chemist, served with the British forces stationed in India as Inspector-General...

First UK edition of Hemingway's masterpiece, in its unclipped original dust jacket (printed price: 18s. net). The first US edition preceded this publication by only a few weeks.

Publisher’s full brown cloth, dust jacket with inevitable and minute corner tears; neat repairs to the verso of the dust jacket at head and tail of spine. Ownership inscription on title page.

A rare copy of Hemingway's famous autobiographical account of his early years in Paris between 1921 and 1926, published posthumously nearly forty years after the events described. 

New collected edition of the works of Montesquieu.

Illustrated with a fine frontispiece portrait by de Sève and engraved by Littret, appearing here for the first time in its first state, along with two folding maps in the first volume.

Contemporary full marbled calf bindings, spines with raised bands with gilt compartments, floral gilt tooling, and guilloché tooling on the bands, red morocco title labels and green morocco volume labels, boards framed in gilt with floral cornerpieces, gilt tooling on board edges, marbled edges; rubbing to edges and corners, one corner of vol. I worn, some scuffing, small wormtrack with a lack of leather on the front board of vol. I, minor...

First UK edition.

Publisher’s binding in full grey cloth, flat spine, a fine copy complete with the illustrated dust jacket featuring a photographic portrait of the author by Yousuf Karsh.

Illustrated with maps on the endpapers and pastedowns, and 37 photographs.

First edition of the English translation by Michael Glenny, who first came to prominence with his translation of Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita in 1967. No deluxe paper copies issued.

Publisher’s binding in full black cloth, flat spine which shows some inherent creasing due to the laminated covering.

A handsome copy, with illustrations.

Very rare inscribed copy dated 27 April 1990 and signed by Boris Yeltsin.

From the library of Sam Yossman (Sam Jones) of the BBC Russian Service.

First edition illustrated with photographic portraits.
Fragile dust jacket preserved, our copy is also complete with its soft red shagreen slipcase.

First edition, with seven folding plates engraved by Hallmandel after G. Schärf.
Beige full calf binding, spine with five raised bands framed in gilt, gilt lettered morocco title label lengthwise, stamped arms of the Society of Writers to the Signet in the center of the boards. Restored spine and corners, brittle spine ends, spalls and stains to boards.

A very rare and important publication by the British Consul General in Egypt in 1815, Henry Salt (1780-1827),involved in the excavation of several historical sites and the collection of numerous antiquities. The most remarkable of these is the colossal bust of Ramses II found at Thebes and housed in the British Museum, which is...

Complete first edition in its metal case with integrated magnifying glass.

Publisher's binding in red morocco, title gilt on spine and upper board, gilt advertisement ("SAVON PEARS' SOAP") on lower board, silver interior to metal case.

Some browning to head and foot of spine, old circular imprint from the magnifying glass on upper board, marginal scuffing to boards, light wear to case.

First English edition of 1950 (the first edition, published the same year, is American) on ordinary paper, complete with its original illustrated unclipped dust jacket with gondola motif.

Publisher's binding in turquoise green cloth, to spine, a mock title label on red ground with palladium lettering and publisher's device also in palladium to foot, red central medallion to upper board echoing the gondola of the dust jacket, bottom edge untrimmed.

Pirate edition from the same year as the first edition of this bible of chess strategy, published by Philidor at the age of twenty-two.

Full olive morocco binding, dentelle boards framed by a gilt roulette motif, central gilt decoration in mandorla shape composed of a quatrefoil formed by basket-handle motifs richly decorated in gilt inside the lobes, gilt edges, top spine-end slightly rubbed, corners bumped, some rare spots of foxing, binding attributable to René-François Fétil, pupil of the great Padeloup, based on numerous tools found on bindings bearing Fétil’s ticket and listed...

Exceedingly rare first edition. A sole copy in the U.S. (Newberry), out of only five listed on OCLC with the correct first edition pagination (British Library, BnF, Allard Pierson, Lucerne).

True first edition of Philidor’s chess book housed in a contemporary armorial binding of a noble chess player: Charles Theodore, Elector Palatine of the Rhine.

Later forming part of the library of famous chess player Lothar Schmid, chess grandmaster and arbiter of the 20th century, who assembled the largest and most prestigious private...

Pirate edition of 1812, imprint dated 1796. It features the exact pagination of the genuine 1796 edition, as well as the 13 plates and 2 frontispieces by Monnet, Mlle Gérard and Fragonard fils engraved by Baquoy, Duplessi-Bertaux, Dupréel, Godefroy, Langlois, Lemire, Lingée, Masquelier, Patas, Pauquet, Simonet and Trière. The pirate edition is identified by the letters “R. p. D.” in the plates' lower margins, as they have been retouched by Delvaux. In addition, the fillet preceding the date on the title-page is wavy, and the title is presented in seven lines rather than eight.

Bound in full morocco, slight rubbing on the corners, all edges gilt, splendid binding signed by...

First edition. One of the 1250 copies printed. 15 engravings and 38 tables in the text. Complete with the index and the publisher's catalogue at rear.

Publisher's green cloth binding by Simpson & Renshaw, expertly restored and retinted, spine decorated and lettered in gilt, boards decorated in blind, dark brown endpapers slightly faded. Some scattered foxing. Slight damp mark to the upper margin of the first hundred leaves. Some pencil annotations.

Rare and precious autograph inscription by Charles Darwin on the title page: “With the compliments of the author.”

Charles Darwin wrote three major books on plant reproduction. The...