RIP VAN WINKLE by IRVING, Washington

New York: David McKay, 1919. A fine copy of the first edition in scarce dust wrapper with some soiling and wear. All of the first issue points except gilt titles on the cover. All other points match Nudelman A53. The pictorial pastedown on the front cover is most often found with scratches and other problems. This copy is exceptionally nice.

FE. DUYCKINCK, Evert A. NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY OF EMINENT AMERICANS. From Original Full Length Paintings by Alonzo Chappel. With Biographical and Historical Narratives, by Evert A. Duyckinck. In two volumes. New York: Johnson, Fry & Company, (1861-1864). 4to, half leather and a.e.g, gilt rules, raised bands, gilt spine lettering, beveled brown pebbled cloth boards stamped in gilt. Rubbed, cloth stained, joints tender, inner hinges starting. Cloth frayed at bottom corner of top board, Vol. I. The 119 plates are, with very few exceptions, extremely clean and sharp. Very good overall.

1919. BIANCO, Pamela. FLORA: A BOOK OF DRAWINGS. With Illustrative Poems by Walter de la Mare. London: William Heinemann, (1919). First edition of Bianco's first book; it is inscribed by her on the ffep.: "For Harriet Sprague, with love from Pamela Bianco." Illustrated with 8 color plates and many line illustrations. [8],43 pp. Quarto, illustrated paper boards. A little minor wear to boards, else a fine copy in a very good illustrated dust-wrapper, which has some occasional light soiling, is starting at spine folds, and has shallow loss at heel and crown. Pamela Bianco, born in 1906, was a drawing prodigy; and this book is a result of her first exhibition at the Leicester Galleries, in 1919, when she was thirteen. Walter de la Mare, a visitor to the show, was moved by her exquisite drawings to write the poems that accompany them in this volume. Bianco went on to illustrated books written by others, including her mother, Margery Williams Bianco, as well as books that she wrote. (National Book League,… Read More

1904. WAIN, Louis. IN ANIMAL LAND WITH LOUIS WAIN. London: S. W. Partridge & Co. [1904]. [52] pp. + 4 pp. advertisements. 4to., red and green paper covered boards, front board with color illustration by Wain. Very good, spine with moderate tiny chipping, slightly affecting title. Corners slightly worn. Hinges cracked. B/w advertising pages, 2 or 3 ads to a page, some with illustrations, at front and rear. Tipped-in color frontispiece has a small crease to bottom right corner, not affecting image. A few of the age-toned text pages have small closed tears in the margins, with no loss. text and illustrations printed in sepia, green, or blue. Four color plates in fine condition, with only the frontispiece having the small crease. Mostly cats; one color plate illustrates a lane of promenading dogs. Wain's anthropomorphized creatures are not always sweet or friendly!

1822. [COMBE, William]. THE HISTORY OF JOHNNY QUAE GENUS, THE LITTLE FOUNDLING OF THE LATE DOCTOR SYNTAX: A POEM. By the author of the three Tours. London: R. Ackermann, 1822. First edition. Illustrated with 24 color aquatint plates by Thomas Rowlandson. Octavo. [4],267,[1] pp. Bound in full morocco, gilt title and double-rule frames in spine compartments, gilt double-rule borders and inner dentelles, a.e.g. Leather has faded from a deep purple to brown on spine and top-edge of boards. Text and plates are clean and bright despite occasional offsetting from some plates to facing text leaves. Originally published in monthly parts, the original stab-holes are evident in the borders of a few plates. This is Combe's own sequel to his very popular series of "Tours" of Doctor Syntax (published respectively in 1812, 1820 and 1821) which had inspired many parodies and imitations. Like the earlier titles in the series, it too is illustrated by Rowlandson. (CBEL II, 357; Tooley 413).

[Leipzig: Insel-Verlag, 1903].. Folio sheet (33.7 x 26.5 cm), with image size 17 x 12.5 cm. Somewhat crudely matted, otherwise about fine. One of an unspecified but small number of proof impressions of this illustration by Behmer for the 1903 edition of Wilde's SALOME, translated by Hedwig Lachmann, and published in an edition of only fifty copies on Japan vellum. Captioned in pencil beneath the image "Fuer Buchen M." Although untitled here, it is referred to as "The Page of Herodias" in the secondary literature, and kneeling figure in black before a burning censer, with a barren tree and a full moon dominating the foreground and background.

FE. DUYCKINCK, Evert A. NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY OF EMINENT AMERICANS. From Original Full Length Paintings by Alonzo Chappel. With Biographical and Historical Narratives, by Evert A. Duyckinck. In two volumes. New York: Johnson, Fry & Company, (1861-1864). 4to, half leather and a.e.g, gilt rules, raised bands, gilt spine lettering, beveled brown pebbled cloth boards stamped in gilt. Rubbed, cloth stained, joints tender, inner hinges starting. Cloth frayed at bottom corner of top board, Vol. I. The 119 plates are, with very few exceptions, extremely clean and sharp. Very good overall.

1919. BIANCO, Pamela. FLORA: A BOOK OF DRAWINGS. With Illustrative Poems by Walter de la Mare. London: William Heinemann, (1919). First edition of Bianco's first book; it is inscribed by her on the ffep.: "For Harriet Sprague, with love from Pamela Bianco." Illustrated with 8 color plates and many line illustrations. [8],43 pp. Quarto, illustrated paper boards. A little minor wear to boards, else a fine copy in a very good illustrated dust-wrapper, which has some occasional light soiling, is starting at spine folds, and has shallow loss at heel and crown. Pamela Bianco, born in 1906, was a drawing prodigy; and this book is a result of her first exhibition at the Leicester Galleries, in 1919, when she was thirteen. Walter de la Mare, a visitor to the show, was moved by her exquisite drawings to write the poems that accompany them in this volume. Bianco went on to illustrated books written by others, including her mother, Margery Williams Bianco, as well as books that she wrote. (National Book League,… Read More

1904. WAIN, Louis. IN ANIMAL LAND WITH LOUIS WAIN. London: S. W. Partridge & Co. [1904]. [52] pp. + 4 pp. advertisements. 4to., red and green paper covered boards, front board with color illustration by Wain. Very good, spine with moderate tiny chipping, slightly affecting title. Corners slightly worn. Hinges cracked. B/w advertising pages, 2 or 3 ads to a page, some with illustrations, at front and rear. Tipped-in color frontispiece has a small crease to bottom right corner, not affecting image. A few of the age-toned text pages have small closed tears in the margins, with no loss. text and illustrations printed in sepia, green, or blue. Four color plates in fine condition, with only the frontispiece having the small crease. Mostly cats; one color plate illustrates a lane of promenading dogs. Wain's anthropomorphized creatures are not always sweet or friendly!

1822. [COMBE, William]. THE HISTORY OF JOHNNY QUAE GENUS, THE LITTLE FOUNDLING OF THE LATE DOCTOR SYNTAX: A POEM. By the author of the three Tours. London: R. Ackermann, 1822. First edition. Illustrated with 24 color aquatint plates by Thomas Rowlandson. Octavo. [4],267,[1] pp. Bound in full morocco, gilt title and double-rule frames in spine compartments, gilt double-rule borders and inner dentelles, a.e.g. Leather has faded from a deep purple to brown on spine and top-edge of boards. Text and plates are clean and bright despite occasional offsetting from some plates to facing text leaves. Originally published in monthly parts, the original stab-holes are evident in the borders of a few plates. This is Combe's own sequel to his very popular series of "Tours" of Doctor Syntax (published respectively in 1812, 1820 and 1821) which had inspired many parodies and imitations. Like the earlier titles in the series, it too is illustrated by Rowlandson. (CBEL II, 357; Tooley 413).