Search Results: New arrivals October 2021 from Reginald C. Williams Rare Books

Octavo, original gilt-stamped navy cloth, top edge gilt, uncut. Text is very good, gilt on spine faded, lightest rubbing to gilt-stamped cloth cover, wear and rubbing to the tips. A good to very good copy. First edition of Dr. Sinclair's powerful 1905 indictment of America's history of slavery, the failures and hypocrisy of Reconstruction, the war on black suffrage, and the terror of ongoing public lynchings and burnings, asking "How long are these things to go on?" A rare copy in the original cloth. Born enslaved in 1858, Dr. Sinclair graduated from Howard University and earned his medical degree from Meharry Medical College before becoming a practicing physician. Serving as "the financial secretary of Howard University from 1888 to 1903, he participated in Du Bois' Niagara Movement, helped to launch the NAACP in 1909, and became a leading anti-Bookerite. Sinclair's Aftermath of Slavery broke with standard white interpretations, as he condemned slavery and the hypocrisy of Reconstruction and strongly… Read More

8vo, two volumes. Bound in recent stained half calf with marbled boards and marbled sides and edges, red morocco titles to spines and raised bands. FIRST EDITION of this great work Written by James Mill, the father of John Stuart Mill, Analysis of the Phenomena of the Human Mind theorizes that the human mind is a store of associations of ideas derived from experience (for example, between burn and fire ). Reasoning, remembering and other mental phenomena consist of calling up and recombining these associations (ODNB). Mill was greatly influenced by Hobbes, Locke, Hume and by the French writers, such as Condillac, Helvetius and Cabanis; but his chief master was Hartley, whose theory of association he applied and extended. The book marks a distinct stage in the development of the empirical school, and many of J.S. Mill s logical and ethical doctrines are evidently suggested by the attempt to solve problems to which his father s answers appeared unsatisfactory (DNB). In Analysis, his magnum opus, Mill… Read More

FIRST EDITION. Octavo. 8vo. viii + 312pp. Frontispiece, 41 plates. Publisher s Original decorative blue cloth. Some minor bumping to spine ends else a fine copy. In the original dustjacket which is slightly chipped at the head of the spine and with a repaired small hole to the front. A Near Fine copy in the very scarce very good dustwrapper of this classic. Tom Reece (1873-1953) was an English professional billiards player, who was six times runner up in the professional billiards championship. In 1907, he used the cradle cannon technique to make the unofficial world's highest billiards break before the technique was banned; his highest break recognized by officials was 901 in 1916.

First edition of "the most complete record available" of the controversial Pennsylvania case on fugitive slaves, establishing a "precedent set in federal and state courts… and important cause célèbre for the antislavery movement," crucial in asserting a clear path for the following year's Dred Scott decision, and provoking a "legal crisis… that led to the Civil War," elusive in original cloth. An overall clean text with soiling on top of pages 1-16, & pgs. 161-191 and contemporary ink marginalia by Strawbridge on a few pages. John Strawbridge is inscribed in old ink on page prior to title page. A book which has become difficult to find in the original cloth.

Octavo, 5 x 8 in. xvi, 295 pp. Original publisher's green cloth boards with paper spine label, uncut with many pages unopened. First American edition. Text gathered by Jared Sparks, president of Harvard at the time. Scarce. Condition is VERY GOOD ; corners and spine ends slightly bumped, mild shelf wear. Small vertical slit to cloth at rear outer joint that doesn't affect the binding. Binding tight and text bright and unmarked. Some pages have light to moderate foxing. Unusually, only a few of the pages have been cut. Letters. RGR. First edition of this collection of Franklin letters and papers gathered by Jared Sparks in the course of his historical researches. An uncommon copy in the publisher s original cloth now Mylar protected.

8vo., x, 417; 463, [1]; 406, [42]p., contemporary mottled calf, slightly worn, tastefully rebacked by The Heritage Bindery. Some slight internal stains and foxing but quite an attractive set now housed in a custom brown slipcase. This eminent work of Scottish critical theory gave rise to Dr. Johnson's famous jibe in a jocular quarrel about the achievements of Scotland: Boswell: 'But, Sir, we have Lord Kames.' Johnson: "You have Lord Kames. Keep him; ha, ha, ha! We don't envy you him." On other occasions however, Johnson was at least cautiously complimentary toward Elements of Criticism, calling it 'a pretty essay, and deserves to be held in some estimation, though much of it is chimerical" and telling Arthur Murphy in 1769 that "[Kames] has told us old things in a new way". ESTC T32597.

8vo, pp [4], cxxvii, [1], 195, [1, adverts], with advert leaf before title, bound in contemporary diamond dyed paneled calf, spine with raised bands and old but perhaps slightly later olive label, spine a little rubbed at joints and spine ends, but a fine clean copy, FIRST EDITION; Middleton was himself a well-established classical scholar at Cambridge, previously involved in conspicuous controversy with Bentley, when he entered into debate on authenticity of letters to Brutus, disputed by Tunstall. Middleton would later prove to be in large part right in accepting them into the Cicero canon of letters, and in this work provided for a first time a [parallel] English translation, which would remain the standard one long after. His defense of the book, however, occupies half of it, and is a model of English classical scholarship in the 18th Century. A very pleasing copy of this significant text.

First British edition. Near fine in the very scarce seldom seen dust jacket. Ownership signature on front end page of (presumably) Arie de Jong (1865-1957) Dutch enthusiast and reformer of the constructed language Volapük by Johann Martin Schleyer, with whose help the Volapük movement gained new strength in the Netherlands. Else clean, bright, and unmarked with a bit of foxing to edges and prelims. Jacket is well preserved for age with some chipping to corners and some amateur tape repairs made to reverse which are partially visible from outside. First UK edition, first impression, published the same year as the first US edition. James originally assembled an early version of the collection in 1906, choosing essays which were first published in journals. A year later he composed a separate list of essays for a proposed book under this title, which remained unrealized until 1912 when his colleague and biographer Ralph Barton Perry amalgamated James's choices with some of his own additions to create… Read More

Roy. 8vo. Orig. blind embossed cloth. (slightly rubbed). Gilt. (xii, 520, 32pp.). With engraved frontispiece, and numerous woodcut text-illustrations. A very good uncut copy, complete with half-title page and the orig. colored end-papers. 1st ed. Scarce. This work is becoming increasingly difficult to find in the original Publisher's cloth in presentable condition. an attractive unsophisticated copy now Housed in a green clamshell box with leather label.

FIRST EDITION IN FRENCH. Including half-titles. Two leather bound volumes, 8x10.5, are rubbed on the edges, spines show some wear on raised bands and head/tail. Nice bookplate of C. Gulbranson on inside covers, endpapers of handmade French marbled paper, some tanning and light foxing. The first French translation of Aristotle's descriptive zoology. Text in Greek and French on facing pages. History of Animals is a natural history text by the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, who had studied at Plato's Academy in Athens. It was written in the fourth century BC; Aristotle died in 322 BC. Generally seen as a pioneering work of zoology, Aristotle frames his text by explaining that he is investigating the what, the existing facts about animals, prior to establishing the why, their causes. The book is thus an attempt to apply philosophy to part of the natural world. His method is to identify differences, both between individuals and between groups. A group is established when it is seen that all members… Read More

4to. [290 x 225 x 50 mm]. [1]f, viii, [96] pp. Bound in contemporary (possibly publisher's) half olive goatskin with gilt fillet borders, marbled paper sides, smooth spine lettered in gilt, marbled endleaves, top edge gilt,the others untrimmed. Edges slightly rubbed as are all parts of the binding (which is still quite sound). The spine is currently being rebacked by the Heritage Bindery. Contents clean. An attractive bright very good copy. with a nice association with a Gift inscription in a small neat hand on blank leaf preceding title-page: "To my dearly beloved wife Lucy Ann Wetmore A Memorial of her life long affection from her husband Prosper M. Wetmore." Wetmore (1798-1876) was an author, legislator, and general in the New York State militia. He was one of the founders of the American Art Union and served as its president for three years as well as the Secretary of the New York Chamber of Commerce in 1843. Wetmore wrote for print frequently. He authored a book of poetry, Lexington with other… Read More

Octavo. Original white wrappers printed in black and brown, 436pp. TERMINAL LEAF SHOWS FOLLOWING LEGAL DEPOSIT INFO: "D.L. 2 TR. 1967.No 1997." AND "Imprime en France 5-67" ON REAR COVER. Writing and Difference, a collection of Jacques Derrida's essays written between 1959 and 1966, has become a landmark of contemporary French thought. In it we find Derrida at work on his systematic deconstruction of Western metaphysics. The book's first half, which includes the celebrated essay on Descartes and Foucault, shows the development of Derrida's method of deconstruction. In these essays, Derrida demonstrates the traditional nature of some purportedly nontraditional currents of modern thought one of his main targets being the way in which "structuralism" unwittingly repeats metaphysical concepts in its use of linguistic models. E-11.

12mo, original cloth with decorative floral design, spine sunned a little, decorative endpapers, [xii], (7)-265pp. The free front endpaper is ink inscribed "Compliments of Harriet H. Robinson Feb. 1883." There are other provenance markings from the Berkeley Massachusetts Public Library, which apparently received the book as a gift from Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts Hon. Roger Wolcott. KRICHMAR 1944. First Edition. A bright, clean very good copy now Mylar protected & housed in a custom slipcase. Very uncommon signed with a noted provenance. "In 1881 Harriet Hanson Robinson became one of the founders of the Massachusetts chapter of the National Woman Suffrage Association, becoming the recording secretary with her daughter Hattie as President (to Harriet's dismay; she had hoped to fill the position). It was during this time that Robinson would write her acclaimed book Massachusetts in the Woman Suffrage Movement (1881), a largely personal account of the struggle for woman suffrage which largely… Read More

1st Edition. xii+lxxvi+590+[2]pp. + errata slip tipped-in to last leaf. 4to. Contemporary calf with leather spine label and elaborately gilt spine. Joints cracked but firm, lightly foxed, duplicate leaves D3 (unsigned) and 3N errantly bound in after page x. An excellent and attractive copy.First edition of this collection of the Scottish philosopher's essays—on the works of Locke, Berkeley, Hartley, Priestly, and Darwin, and also on Beauty, the Sublime, and Taste.Stewart (1753-1828) wrote and lectured extensively on philosophy and political economy. "It was the practice of the Scottish professors of moral philosophy to include in their courses lectures on political economy. Stewart did so, and with great effect, exerted by his teaching of this, as of the other subjects he dealt with, a powerful influence on many hearers who afterwards became distinguished, as for example Lords Lauderdale, Palmerston, Lansdowne, Brougham, and Jeffrey, Francis Horner and Sydney Smith" (Palgrave III: 476).

1st edition. Large 8vo. ix+ (1) + 230pp. Publisher's green plain cloth covers, gilt lettering + cartouche on spine. Green boards with titles in gilt to spine. Slight bumping to top of spine. Some browning but a fine copy in a clipped Near Fine wrapper with a few small nicks, particularly at spine ends. A fresh copy showing no previous signs of ownership. The Tarner lectures for 1938. Dust-wrapper is now protected in a Mylar sleeve.

FIRST EDITION in English (French edition published on 1777). Full contemporary speckled calf, gilt title on red spine label, full gilt decoration to spine, & gilt decoration to board edges; A bright very good copy with front hinge slightly starting but strong, early ink owner name/date inside front cover, & later bookplate to fep; 242 pages + Errata. Size: 4.75"x8.25." An attractive copy."In 1777 Maury published the Essai sur l'éloquence de la chaire which, with many editions and revisions, was to be his chief bid for literary fame. Stressing nature and good sense, it was written for a 'philosophical' audience, and praised eloquence where the author found it, in Bossuet and the church fathers, in Rousseau and Voltaire. He was admitted ot the French Academy in 1785." - Paul H. Beik, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, October, 1951.Jean-Siffrein Maury (1746-1817), French Cardinal and statesman, sometime Archbishop of Nicea. Maury was held in high esteem by the French monarchy, and later… Read More

8vo, pp. (iii) ixx, 292. Lacking the half-title, cover hinge is cracking but holding firm, slightly browned text, otherwise an attractive very good copy. Full contemporary brown calf with antique-style red Morocco label. Housed in a grey clamshell case with a red Morocco label. First edition of this translation; the Prognostics had previously appeared in English in Clifton translation of 1734. The Prognostics is one of the most important of the Hippocratic writings, and the first book of the Prorrhetics is the oldest.

THE FIRST TRANSLATION OF PLATO S REPUBLIC INTO FRENCH WHICH PRECEDES THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY DECADES. Published by aux Frais & sous les Yeux Traducteur, 1726. Octavo [ 20 X 26 cm ], [1], xx, 319pp, with an initial leaf of quotation from Cicero. with an initial leaf of quotation from Cicero. Full contemporary brown calf, raised bands, contrasting label on spine, gilt decoration in boxed on spine, top and bottom of spine repaired, occasional minor marginal soiling and foxing, clean tear in blank outer margin of O2, armorial book plate, ordinary paper issue, Hoffmann 145, first edition in French.

xxviii, 304, (4), 33, (3) pages; Former owner's name neatly on halftitle and on recto (blank back) of frontispiece (A.S. Nash), otherwise clean and tigjt in original brick cloth binding with gilt lettering at spine, minor rubbing at extremities. Quite scarce, especially in this condition. Frontispiece of Ancient Logical Diagrams; publisher's catalogues (36pp) at rear dated December, 1879. First edition, first issue of this seminal work on logic. Quite scarce, especially in this condition. William Stanley Jevons was a noted logician, economist and statistician. Jevons' earlier books General Mathematical Theory of Political Economy (1862) and The Theory of Political Economy (1871) have been described as the beginning of applying mathematical method in economics. Jevons pursued his work in logic simultaneously with his work in political economy. In 1864 he published a small book Pure Logic; or, the Logic of Quality apart from Quantity, incorporating a critique of Boole's system of logic. In 1870 his… Read More

Octavo, original blue cloth, original dust jacket. First British edition of Eartha Kitt's intimate autobiography which was published a year earlier in New York. In Thursday s Child, Eartha Kitt recalls her poor childhood and early career as a performer whose trademark highly mannered singing style, colored with gargling growl added to her sultry brilliance as a distinctive singer and actress (New York Times). With 28 photographic images. A near-fine copy in a bright price-clipped dustwrapper with a stunning image of Kitt on the cover whch displays nicely.