Rare books from Boston Book Company

1888. HERTZ, H[einrich]. UBER STRAHLEN ELEKTRISCHER KRAFT. (Berlin: Gedruckt in der Reichsdruckerei, 1888.) Offprint from Sitzungsberichte der Koniglich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 1888, No. 50, pp. 1297 - 1307. The text of a lecture on electric waves delivered 13 December 1888, it relates qualitative experiments undertaken by Hertz, at the Karlsruhe Polytechnic, on the analogy between electric and light waves. Passing electric waves through huge prisms of hard pitch, he showed that they refract exactly as light waves do. He polarized electric waves by directing them through a grating of parallel wires, and he diffracted them by interrupting them with a screen with a hole in it. He reflected them from the walls of the room, obtaining interference between the original and the reflected waves. He focused them with huge concave mirrors, casting electric shadows with conducting obstacles. This is the first print appearance, preceding its appearance in Annalen der Physik (36, p.… Read More

1884. GREENE, W. T. PARROTS IN CAPTIVITY, 3 VOLUMES. London: George Bell and Sons, 1884 - 1887. First editions. Three different 8vo. green cloth bindings, the third volume being about 1/2 inch taller. x + 144 pp/xiv + 114 pp/viii + 144 pp. Volume 3 lacks the last three plates. Light soil and wear to cloth, corners bumped. Gilt slightly faded on Vol. 1 and 2's spines; Vol. 3 has a printed paper spine label. Hinges cracked in first 2 volumes, third sound with light foxing to endpapers. Light pale foxing to edges of frontispiece in Volumes 1 and 3; else the plates are fine. Total of 78 beautiful chromolithograph plates.

1871. MACDONALD, George. THE PRINCESS AND THE GOBLIN. New York: George Routledge and Sons, 1871. First American edition of MacDonald's second full-length fairy tale, following At the Back of the North Wind, which had appeared in the preceding year. 30 wood-engraved illustrations by Arthur Hughes. Octavo. iv,315 pp. Publisher's green cloth binding with pictorial decorations on spine and front cover, based on text illustrations by Hughes, in gilt and black. Off-white coated endpapers. All edges gilt. Binder's ticket ('Bound by Burns & Co.') on rear pastedown. The decoration of the American binding is almost identical with the Strahan & Co. first-edition binding, including the crescent moon and flaming torch in gilt outside of the front cover circle, and with the publisher's name gilt-stamped at the base of the spine - only in this case it is Routledge. The difference occurs on the spine where the entire title is gilt-stamped, as opposed to the Strahan copies on which the the word 'goblin' is printed in… Read More

1726. [SWIFT, Jonathan]. TRAVELS INTO SEVERAL REMOTE NATIONS OF THE WORLD. In FOUR PARTS. By LEMUEL GULLIVER, First a SURGEON, and then a CAPTAIN of several SHIPS. Vol. I.[II.] London: Printed for Benj. Motte, at the Middle Temple-Gate in Fleet-street, 1726[-1727]. Mixed first and second edition. Four parts bound in two octavo volumes: xii,148,[vi],164; [vi],155,[1 blank],199,[1 blank]. Engraved frontisportrait of Gulliver in Vol. I in the usual second state, with the inscription "Captain Lemuel Gulliver of..." on the oval and a Latin inscription on the tablet. Also illustrated with four maps, two plans, and numerous wood-engraved head- and tail-pieces. Contemporary calf boards, expertly rebacked with later matching calf spines and leather labels, all edges stained red. Early ink ownership on front fly-leaf of Vol. I. Boards have gently rounded fore-corners and abraded surfaces. The lower joint of Vol II is starting. Rear endpapers in both volumes are replacements and are slightly toned. Occasional… Read More

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

1581. CONTI, Natale. MYTHOLOGIAE, sive Explicationum Fabularum Libri X. In quibus omnia prope Naturalis & Moralis Philosophia dogmata contenta fuisse demonstantur. Nuper ab ipso autore pluribus sexcentis locis aucti & locupletati... Quibus accedunt libri quattuor venationum carmine ab eodem conscripti. Venice [Comin da Tradino] 1581. 8vo. [xvi]730[44]pp. Second edition, enlarged and enriched by the author. First published in 1551, Conti's collection of myths and fables, gathered from hundreds of Classical texts, was extremely popular throughout Europe. Thematically arranged, the ten books were titled "why Lucina was the Goddess of childbirth," "The origin of the Olympic Games and other competitions," "How outstanding men sought fame," etc. An attractively printed book, with woodcut fountain of Cupid on title, ornamental initials, and final pages of sections printed in chalice or arrowhead shapes. General index, and indexes of places, plants, and animals appearing in the text. Conti's long poem on… Read More

1880. PRANG, Louis, et al. SELECTION OF AMERICAN PRANG VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS CARDS AND COLLECTOR'S SCRAPBOOK. 28 original Prang (and other) Christmas and holiday cards from the Victorian era, together with scrapbook pages, collector's manuscript notes and articles from various periodicals and newspapers about holiday cards. The cards are all in very good condition, a few with slight creasing or wear to corners, or label adhesion to reverse. There are 20 small Christmas cards, 4.5 x 5 inches or smaller; three large Christmas cards, 5.5 x 6 inches or larger; one large fringed Christmas card, 4.25 x 5.5 inches; one large fringed Easter card, 4 x 5.25 inches (this card has a faint horizontal crease); two small New Year's cards, 2.25 x 3.5 inches or larger; and one large 3-D folding Valentine (not by Prang), 8.75 x 6 inches, with light creasing at the top. All sizes are approximate, and except for the Valentine, all are square or rectangular. One of the large Christmas cards has a light dusting of white… Read More

1950. WARE, Henry Eliot, Jr. EXCAVATIONS IN MESOPOTAMIA AND WESTERN IRAN, SITES OF 4000-500 B.C. Art work by Theresa Garrett Eliot. Cambridge (MA): The Museum, 1950. Special publication of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University. [18] ff. housed loose, as issued, in original cloth-backed portfolio with title information printed on upper board. 33 plates of black & white line drawings, maps, and plans. 44 x 58 cm. One plate, a map, has been trimmed close and shows evidence of having been mounted on the reverse; otherwise the plates are clean. The portfolio shows edgewear, has a few bumps, and lacks the ribbon ties. Complete and in very good condition overall.

1721. RUYSCH, Frederik. OPERA OMNIA ANATOMICO-MEDICO-CHIRURGICA. Huc usque edita. Quorum Elenchus pagina sequenti exhibetur. Cum figuris aeneis. Amstelodami, apud Janssonio-Waesbergios, 1721 [i.e. c. 1733]. 4 quarto volumes. Engraved title-page and portrait, 9 text illustrations, + 135 sheets of engraved illustrations. (The illustrations of jars and tableaux of skeletons in the Thesaurus anatomicus by Cornelius Huyberts are worthy of special note for their surreal combination of flowers, fishes, reptiles, seashells and delicate body parts.) This is a four-volume collection of separately published works by Ruysch or of works addressed to him by others; it also includes a life of Ruysch by J. F. Schreiber, a four-page table of contents (which lists only a portion of the works that comprise this set), and an index, dated 1725. The forty-four component works, in varying editions, were all printed by Jansson & Waesberge at Amsterdam from 1720-1733; each has a separate title-page and pagination. It… Read More

1805. BARRY, Rev. George. THE HISTORY OF THE ORKNEY ISLANDS: IN WHICH IS COMPREHENDED AN ACCOUNT OF THEIR PRESENT AS WELL AS THEIR ANCIENT STATE; TOGETHER WITH THE ADVANTAGES THEY POSSESS FOR SEVERAL BRANCHES OF INDUSTRY, AND THE MEANS BY WHICH THEY MAY BE IMPROVED. Edinburgh: Printed for the Author by D. Willison/London: Longman Hurst Rees & Orme, 1805. First edition. viii + 509 pp. + [1] + 2 pp. publisher's advertisements. 4to., half diced calf with raised bands, gilt rules and tooling, gilt spine title, green paper covered boards. Moderate wear to spine, which is bright, speckled edges. Lovely blue marbled endpapers. Ink ownership to title page. Occasional spot of foxing here and there, mostly clean, tight and bright. Includes list of subscribers following dedication page. Lovely plates, elegant contemporary binding.

1581. BUNEL, Pierre, and MANUZIO, Paulo. PETRI BUNELLI, GALLI, PRAECEPTORIS, & PAULAE MANUTII, DISCIPULI, EPISTOLAE CICERONIANO STYLO SCRIPTAE. Aliorum Gallorum Pariter et Italorum Epistolae eodem Stylo Scriptae. Geneva (Henri Estienne) 1581. Octavo. (vii)240(1)319pp. First and only authorized edition. A piracy may have been published in the same year. Estienne woodcut device on title (a philosopher standing at the foot of the Tree of Knowledge, and the motto "noli altum sapere.") The idea for this book stemmed from a conversation between the printer, Henri Estienne, who was known for his erudition, and King Henri III, the dedicatee. The King had asked why Italy, rather than France, claimed the most and best Ciceronian Latinists. Estienne went away and stewed a while, then described the conversation in Latin verse (quoted by Renouard), and published this comparison of letters written in Ciceronian Latin by Pierre Bunel (1499-1546) and by the great editor of Cicero, Paulus Manutius, son and successor… Read More

1758. [HELVETIUS, Claude-Adrien]. DE L'ESPRIT. Nouvelle edition. Revue et corrigee sur un Exemplaire non chatre de la premiere Edition. Paris: Chez Durand, libraire, 1758. Two octavo volumes. Vol. I: [4],xiv,318 pp.; Vol. II: xiii,334 pp. Contemporary bindings; full calf, gilt labels and decoration at spine, all edges speckled red. Large armorial bookplate at front pastedown of each volume. Except for occasional light foxing, the volumes are clean internally. Bookblocks are lightly foxed at exposed edges and are dust-soiled at top-edges. The bindings are a bit edgeworn, with shallow loss at spinal ends. The top joint of volume one and the lower joint of volume two are cracked (though the boards are still attached); and the other boards have been professionally re-hinged. One spine label is missing and another is nicked. The leather was varnished at one point and the finish has rubbed off in some places. Very good overall. Helvetius (French, 1715-71) was one of the encyclopedistes and De l'esprit is… Read More

ALDIN, Cecil. PICKLES. London: Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton [n.d. ca. 1909]. 48 text pages (versos numbered to XXIV); title page and 24 litho plates. The 24 lithographs are printed on an olive green ground in black white and several colors; the title page is printed in green and black on a white ground. 4to., reddish brown cloth spine stamped in gilt, green cloth boards stamped in gilt and red. Moderate shelfwear, spine sunned, a few small dark spots to front board. Overopened at lightly foxed half-title. Front flyleaf has a few small closed tears; edges of most plates with tiny nick to fore-edge, light foxing to edges of text pages. Delightful Aldin illustrations, all clean and bright, without foxing or any blemishes. Pickles, a boundlessly energetic white puppy, gets into a lot of mischief. Quite scarce.

1804. GIBBON, Edward. THE HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. Includes MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF EDWARD GIBBON, ESQ. COMP0SED BY HIMSELF. In eight volumes. Philadelphia: William W. Birch & Abraham Small, 1804-1805. First American edition. 8vo., Frontis in volume one, three fold-out maps. Contemporary full calf with maroon labels with edge decorations. Ink signature of Samuel Trask on each flyleaf. All bindings are somewhat rubbed, several have small nicks to the top of the spine, spines a bit dry, some hinges a bit tender; overall a very good, appealing set of the first American edition of a of a landmark historical work in its original presentation. Shaw & Shoemaker 6381, Norton 48; p.102.

1793. [EHON]. TOBA-E SANGOKU-SHI. 3 Vols., Osaka, Kawachiya Kihei and Kawachiya Eisuke, Kansei 5 [1793]. 25.8 x 18.5 cm. Original dark blue covers, string-bound Japanese style, fukuro toji, with the pink printed paper title labels. A nice 18th century edition of this work in good impression. Originally published in the 1720's. Though the artist is unnamed, several candidates have been mentioned, including O^oka Shumboku. 18th century editions of Toba-e books are becoming increasingly uncommon. In a custom clasped chitsu case. The covers are worn, but overall a good copy of this book. An excellent example of the somewhat madcap humor of the Toba-e genre. With a bookseller's advertisement at the end which indicates this edition of the book was part of a series of Toba-ehon brought out by the same publisher - SANGOKUSHI, O^GI NO MATO and TO^BA GURUMA.