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An attractive copy of a scarce English edition of the complete fairy tales by Madame d’Aulnoy. First published in 1697 as Contes des Fées, with another volume appearing in 1698 under the title Les Contes nouveau, she wrote some thirty stories in all, some of which, like ‘L’Oiseau bleu’ and ‘Le Chatte blanche’ have become classics. Numerous editions of her works have been published since with varying degrees of completeness. All eighteenth century editions in French and English (as of course the original late seventeenth century French editions) are now pretty scarce and as they were well read, they are seldom found in good condition. Despite a few minor scuffs, this is a handsome copy in contemporary tree calf.
'Comment concilier l'aventureuse existence de cette virago sans scrupules', asks René Herval, 'avec le délicieux talent de l'auteur des Contes de Fées … car il est indéniable que le même esprit qui médita la perte du baron d'Aulnoy a créé une oeuvre qui l'emporte même sur celle de Perrault' (qv. Dictionnaire des Lettres Françaises XVII, pp. 86-87).
There were a number of early editions of the English text of Aulnoy’s Contes des fées, which was first published in English in 1721 (ESTC lists NLW, Bodleian, Harvard, Miami and Clark). Editions followed in 1722 (Bodleian, Penn); 1728 (BL, Worcester Oxford, Newberry, Illinois, Michigan, Penn, Yale and National Library of Australia); 1737 (Edinburgh University, NLW, Harvard and New York University); 1749 (Cleveland Public, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, UCLA and Clark); 1749 (Princeton, Alberta, UCLA).

The third edition of the 1756 abridgement, in two volumes octavo. This is an honest copy, in a nice unrestored eighteenth century binding, but it has clearly been much loved and used and is consequently worn and fairly fragile.

An attractive set of the first seven volumes only of this meticulous work of historical scholarship. A fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Kerr was a surgeon by profession and spent much of his life practising at the Edinburgh Foundling Hospital. He also translated numerous scientific works into English, most notably Lavoisier’s Traité Elémentaire de Chimie, 1790. This monumental account of travels across the ages and throughout the world was his most ambitious project. Nine volumes were published in his lifetime and another nine followed after his death, with the final volume of the set being published in 1824.

Two scarce English translations of Italian devotional works, bound together in an attractive seventeenth century binding. Giovanni Bona was a Cistercian cardinal from Northern Italy known for his scholarship and simple manner of life. The first work in this volume is his Manuductio ad coelum, first published in 1658 and first translated into English in 1672. It has often been compared to Thomas a Kempis’ Imitation of Christ, on account of the simplicity of the style in which the doctrine is explained. It was a hugely popular work, seeing a dozen editions by the end of the century and being translated into Italian, French, German, Armenian and Spanish as well as English. The second work in the volume is a translation of Bona’s Principia et documenta vitae Christianae, a comparable work which focuses on the principles of Christian conduct. The translation is usually ascribed to Luke Beaulieu.
The first work has an additional title-page, engraved, ‘Manuductio ad coelum, or a guide to eternity’, by Frederick Hendrick van Hove (1629?-1698). The second work has an engraved frontispiece depicting Christ during his passion, also by F. H. van Hove.

First edition, in a modern binding, of this popular eye-witness account of the French revolution by the Scottish physician John Moore. After taking his medical degree in Glasgow, Moore served with the army in the Seven Years War. In 1792, he joined the household of the British Ambassador in Paris and it was from there that he witnessed some of the principal horrors of the revolution. His measured account of historical events quickly became a trusted source among historians and was much cited, among others, by Carlyle. It was popular immediately on publication and there were numerous editions in England, Ireland and America. With a hand-coloured folding map of General Dumourier’s campaign on the Meuse in 1792, with a leaf explaining the map bound after the text.

A reprint of two important travel accounts from the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century. Henry Maundrell’s work was first published at Oxford in 1703 and tells of a voyage undertaken from Aleppo to Jerusalem through Gallilee in the late 1690s. Clayton’s travelogue is an account of a pilgrimage of Italian missionaries to Mount Sinai and was first published in 1753. The first work is extensively illustrated with numerous double-page engravings.

One of the great female travelogues of the eighteenth century, by the feisty Lady Craven, dramatist, writer, traveller and socialite, said to have been the first woman ever to have descended into the Grotto of Antiparos which is strikingly illustrated on one of the engraved plates. This vivid account of her travels through France, Austria, Poland, Russia, Turkey and Greece are presented in a series of letters to her future husband, the Margrave of Anspach. While in Constantinople, she stayed with the author and collector Choiseul-Gouffier and recounts details of her stay there: ‘the Comte de Choiseul’s collectoin is, perhaps, the only thing in the world of the kind, and he means, when he returns to Paris, to have all the ruins and temples executed in plaster of Paris, or some materials which will copy the marble, in small models; to be place in galleries upon tables’ (Letter XLVI). Her account is also particularly interesting for her commentary as to the behaviour and dress of the women in the different places she visits.

With a large folding map and six delightful plates depicting the source of the River Kaarasou in the Crimea, a Turkish boat, a Turkish burial ground, the Grotto of the Antiparos, Siphanto and the Convent of Panacrado from the Bay of Gabrio. This copy has a detached front cover.

A scarce broadside written in response to ‘An act for the encouraging industry in the kingdom, by removing certain disabilities and restraints contained in several former Acts’. The author laments the decline of trade in his West Country town, which he blames on the restrictive practices of the corporation and the apprenticeship rules of the various trades. He argues strongly for the abolition of privileges of corporations, companies, apprenticeships whose restrictions do such harm to local communities.
‘The Effect of the Statute of Queen Elizabeth, which forbids all Persons to employ themselves in various Trades, who have not been Apprentices to them, is plainly this; that none learn any of those Trades, but Boys; and that none exercise them during their Lives, but such as chanced to begin with them. Now... particular Trades usually depend on such a variety of Circumstances, both in our own and foreign Nations, that it is scarce possible for them to continue many Years without Increase or Decrease. And whenever there is either a larger or less Demand, than has been usual, for any kind of Manufacture; that Manufacture must, under this Regulation, either want Hands, or be over-burdened with them. But it is equally detrimental to the Nation, that there should be Work without Workmen, or Workmen without Work’.

The first appearance of the collected poems of Josiah Relph, including his poems in the Cumberland dialect. The collection was posthumously published and was edited by Thomas Sanderson, who supplied the biography of Relph in the preface (pp. viii-xvi). A lengthy glossary is also included as well as a contents leaf at the end. With a long list of over 30 pages of subscribers, including a final page listing ‘Names of Subscribers come to hand since printing the above List’.
‘Relph’s poetical works were published posthumously in 1747 and 1798. A wider, national circulation of a few of his poems was achieved by their inclusion in Thomas West’s A Guide to the Lakes, 1784, which was read by Wordsworth, Southey, and early nineteenth century poets. Similarly, in the twentieth century, his dialect poetry is included in anthologies of Lakeland verse, such as those of the poet Norman Nicholson (The Lake District: an anthology, 1977). Relph’s best verses are in the dialect of his native county; they are on pastoral subjects, with classical allusions’ (ODNB).

A scarce edition, sadly rebound, of this entertaining autobiographical account of Rear Admiral Donald Campbell’s adventures, travels across Europe and the Middle East, his shipwreck off the coast of India, his imprisonment by Hyder Ali and the death of his fellow traveller, Mr Hall, in prison. This is a reading copy of a highly readable narrative.

A very attractive pair of critical texts on Shakespeare’s characters, uniformly bound (numbered as volumes one and two) and in very fresh condition, from the library of the Marquess of Headfort.

A once lovely uncut copy: internally a pleasure to read but externally rather damaged.

An attractive copy of Samuel Derrick’s selection of English poetry, arranged according to subject, from ‘Abbey’ to ‘Zimri’, through ‘Folly’, ‘Genius’, ‘Gentlewoman’ (and, later, ‘Woman’), ‘Kensington Garden’, ‘Marriage’ and ‘Pleasure’. Derrick was an actor turned writer from Dublin whose most interesting works include a translation of Cyrano de Bergerac’s A Voyage to the Moon, 1753 and an edition of Dryden’s works published in 1760. After the failure of his acting career he continued to work closely with the theatre, making various verse and prose contributions and publishing a successful commentary, The dramatic censor; being remarks upon the conduct, characters, and catastrophe of our most celebrated plays, London 1752. On first arriving in London, he made the acquaintance of Boswell, who later regretted his earlier friendship with ‘this creature... a little blackguard pimping dog’ (Boswell’s London Journal, ed. Potten, 1950, p. 228). Johnson, when asked who was the finer poet, Derrick or Christopher Smart, famously replied, ‘Sir, there is no settling the point of precedency between a louse and a flea’ (Boswell, Life of Johnson, ed. Hill and Powell, 1934, IV, 192 - 193).
In the preface, Derrick argues that as English boasts the greatest poetry of any modern language, it is an injustice to the nation to neglect it and he believes that the lack of this sort of anthology proves that it has been neglected. He allows that some similar works have been published, for example Byshe’s Art of Poetry, but these have tended to concentrate on translations from the classics: ‘but these are not the perfections of Dryden and Pope: it is Homer and Virgil we compliment in our admiration; the only merits of our great countrymen that occur, are classical knowledge, and talents for smooth versification. It is in their original works, their imitations of nature, and not of men, that we must look for that excellence in our most celebrated writers, which reflects honour upon the nation, and helps to exemplify its literary character’ (p. ix-x).
‘The various topics in these volumes are arranged in alphabetical order; so that they may be easily found, and the authors name is affixed to each. Here the man of knowledge and erudition will find an index to refresh his memory; the preceptor proper themes to exercise and enrich the mind of his pupil; and knowledge, supported by ornament, will be insensibly conveyed to the young gentleman’s heart, who shall reap instruction from the amusement... The editor hopes the work may be also an agreeable present to the ladies, many of whom boast a more refined taste than the generality of the other sex’ (p. x - xi).

A popular eye-witness account of 1790s France, sometimes erroneously attributed to Helen Maria Williams but now thought to be the work of (Rachel) Charlotte Biggs, née Williams. With all these Williams attributions, it is tempting to think that this is a family owned copy, with the contemporary inscription of James Williams. There is also a school of thought that attributes the work to the so-called editor, John Richards Green, who changed his name to John Gifford at the age of 23. A political writer, active Tory and ardent monarchist, Gifford was involved at this time in writing a number of histories of France and the French Revolution. Whatever the truth of the authorship, the subject matter, the epistolary nature of the composition and the attribution to an ‘English Lady’ are clearly influenced by Helen Maria Williams’ series of Letters written in France, the first of which was published in 1790: the author and publisher of the present work were also quite possibly trying to benefit from the reflected marketing.

‘I am every day more confirmed in the opinion I communicated to you on my arrival’, the text begins, ‘that the first ardour of the revolution is abated. - The bridal days are indeed past,and I think I perceive something like indifference approaching. Perhaps the French themselves are not sensible of this change; but I who have been absent two years, and have made as it were a sudden transition from enthusiasm to coldness, without passing through the intermediate gradations, am forcibly struck with it. When I was here in 1790, parties could be scarcely said to exist - the popular triumph was too complete and too recent for intolerance and persecution, and the Noblesse and Clergy either submitted in silence, or appeared to rejoice in their own defeat. In fact, it was the confusion of a decisive conquest - the victors and the vanquished were mingled together; and the one had not leisure to exercise cruelty, nor the other to meditate revenge. Politics had not yet divided society; nor the weakness and pride of the great, with the malice and insolence of the litte, thinned the public places. The politics of the women went no farther than a few couplets in praise of liberty, and the patriotism of the men was confined to an habit de garde nationale, the device of a button, or a nocturnal revel, which they called mounting guard’.

A popular travel account first published in 1773. After leaving St. Andrews University, Brydone went abroad as a tutor and travelling companion to William Beckford of Somerley, cousin of the more famous Wiliam Beckford, and two other gentlemen. The present journal is the record of his visit to the islands of Sicily and Malta. It captured the public imagination and was extraordinarily popular, running to numerous editions well into the nineteenth century.

Apart from an atrocious attempt to repair the spine, this is a good, working copy in a solid early eighteenth century binding with signs of early provenance and complete with the three large folding charts. This is the official account of Anson’s voyage, prepared by Benjamin Robins from the journals compiled by the chaplain, Richard Walter. A masterpiece of descriptive travel writing, it was probably the most popular book of maritime adventure published in the eighteenth century. First published in quarto earlier in 1748, ESTC notes: ‘William Bowyer printed 2000 copies of eight sheets 8vo for Knapton for this work in 1748, presumably for one of the three editions (or printings, or issues); it cannot be determined which’.

Pretty much a working copy of this popular and often-reprinted novel, but one that, interestingly, has been marked up throughout, with close attention to spelling and printing errors. This is one of eight editions published in the same year as the novel’s first appearance and it is quite possible that this is a copy marked up by the printer.

Famously, one of the characters in this novel - a rather desperate figure addicted to gambling - was said to be based on Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. She was said to have been so horrified when she learnt this that it was a contributory factor to her early death on 30th March 1806. That in turn, no doubt, helped sales and explains the multiple editions following so quickly on one another. French and German editions also followed as well as an American printing, in Baltimore, in 1808.

First edition of this popular pocket-sized guide to the most celebrated painters, including brief biographical portraits as well as a critical discussion of their major works. Piles himself was a painter and engraver as well as a diplomat, having acquired his extensive knowledge of art and contemporary painters during his time as tutor and secretary to Michel Amelot de Gournay, who he followed during his appointments as French Ambassador in Venice, Portugal, Switzerland and Spain. He also used his connections in the art world - he travelled extensively as a buyer for Louis XIV - as a cover for confidential political missions. The present work was written during his three year imprisonment in the Netherlands in the 1690s, after he was captured as a French secret agent. It was an extremely successful work which ran to numerous editions. Among his many accomplishments and achievements, Piles is remembered for having coined the term ‘clair-obscur’, or Chiaroscuro.

A scarce collection of moral tales for children set on the ‘ornamented farm’ of Mr Byron, in ‘a romantic valley’ in Lancashire, near the magnificent Lake Windermere. Once a year, Mr Mereworth, a curate and an old friend of Mr Byron, comes to visit, to the delight of Byron’s children who remember his many stories with great fondness. Mr. Mereworth, a keen educator, alerts them to the value of the story ‘which was intended to impress upon the minds of those who heard it, many salutary lessons; which would remind them of the uncertainty of all human prospects, and of the facility with which the greatest advantages may be lost’. The main part of the book tells the story of Musul, third son of a wealthy grandee of Persia, who inherited nothing from his father but a ring, a gem and a cloak: the story shows how, after much suffering, his use of these gifts and his virtuous choices bring him happiness. After several other tales and verses - including a humorous short story, ‘The Prince that had a long nose’ - a final section, ‘The Lessons of Adversity’, reinforces the moral purpose of Kendall’s tales and includes a number of anthropomorphic stories about animals, birds and plants.
Edward Augustus Kendall was a key figure in changing the way animals were represented in children’s fiction, moving away from the allegorical towards the naturalistic, giving the animals themselves a voice. Other well known writers such as Dorothy Kilner, Anna Laetitia Barbauld and Sarah Trimmer also made important contributions to this change in taste, but it was Kendall who was the principal pioneer, developing new techniques of narrative form to present the thought processes of animals. His Keeper’s Travels in Search of his Master, Crested Wren and Burford Cottage and its Robin Red Breast are seen as important predecessors of The Water Babies and The Wind in the Willows. Kendall is also remembered as a philanthropist and social campaigner, author of the important topographical dictionary, Travels through the Northern Parts of the United States, 1809 and of The English Boy at the Cape, one of the first novels to be set in South Africa.

A pocket-size student’s edition, in a lovely, honest, contemporary English binding, with printer’s waste from a sixteenth century edition of the Corpus Juris Civilis at rear. Aelianus was a Roman author who wrote extensively in Greek. His Variae Historiae is a collection of anecdotes, biographies and ‘mirabilia’ gathered from antiquity - a mixture of history and mythology ideal to entertain young students of classics. First published in 1545, Fleming’s English translation was published in 1576 but there were no further English editions until Stanley’s translation was published in 1665. The wide variety of subjects miscellany - from moralising tales, to food, wine, clothing and fly-fishing - made it a popular educational work. In the few decades after its printing, this copy belonged to three English schoolboys, one of whom wrote a few marginalia on the interpretation of the ‘fabulae’ presented in the anecdotes.