Rare books from Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books and Medieval Manuscripts

Paris: Philippe Gonin, 1951. ONE OF 200 COPIES. 327 x 248 mm. (12 7/8 x 9 3/4"). 111, [2] pp., [1] leaf (colophon).Translated by L'Abbé Delille [pseudonym of the Chevalier de Langeac]. Loose as issued in publisher's cream-colored wrappers and vellum-backed portfolio, black titling on spine. In a later patterned paper slipcase. With 80 wood engravings by Lucile Passavant. First preliminary leaf warmly inscribed "To Ed and Mary [Thom?]" from "[Denise?] and Louis"; second preliminary leaf inscribed by the artist to the Thoms; a greeting card illustrated and inscribed by the artist to Mr. and Mrs. Thom laid in at front. ◆A hint of soil to spine, corners worn to boards, faint freckling to covers, the text with isolated trivial foxing, but an excellent copy, the text clean and fresh, and the binding a good deal more than good enough. This is a finely printed and illustrated edition of Virgil's first century B.C. pastoral poems, with intriguing provenance. These evocative and mysterious eclogues (or… Read More

Boston: R. H. Hinckley Company, [ca. 1900]. Edmonton Edition. No. 56 OF 100 COPIES on Japanese vellum. 240 x 150 mm. (9 3/8 x 5 7/8"). 12 volumes.. HANDSOME DARK PURPLE CRUSHED MOROCCO, GILT, triple gilt-ruled border with sprays of flowers in each corner and along the sides, raised bands, compartments with gilt lettering and tooling, top edge gilt, RED MOROCCO DOUBLURES bordered in purple border, featuring several gilt rules and scrolling gilt tools in panel corners, red watered silk endpapers. With portrait frontispieces and numerous gravure plates. Limitation statement of first volume with the initials of the printer, D. B. Updike of the Merrymount Press; flyleaf of each volume with morocco ex-libris of Francis Kettaneh. ◆Extremities with the occasional tiny nick, spines slightly sunned, covers with a few negligible scratches, a few pages with light thumbing in the margins, but all of these blemishes trivial. A FINE SET INSIDE AND OUT. This finely bound, finely printed, and strictly limited set… Read More

London: Chatto & Windus, 1899. A New Edition. 187 x 120 mm. (7 1/2 x 4 3/4"). ix, [1] (blank), 338, [2] pp. VERY PRETTY DARK BROWN MOROCCO, GILT IN AN ARTS & CRAFTS DESIGN, FOR BUMPUS (stamp-signed on front turn-in) BY RIVIERE & SON, front cover with frame of graceful long-stemmed tulips enclosing a field with 11 rows of five gilt dots, raised bands accented with five gilt dots, spine panels with spray of three tulips, anular dots between the blooms, gilt titling, turn-ins framed by multiple gilt rules, corners with three tulips and double rows of dots, all edges gilt, with delicate scalloped gauffering. In a later brown cloth slipcase. Front pastedown with bookplate of Gwendolen Bourke engraved by C. W. Sherborn. ◆Spine evenly sunned to hazel brown, one corner lightly bumped, occasional minor foxing, but A FINE COPY, clean, fresh, and bright, in a gleaming binding with few signs of wear. Handsomely bound in the innovative Art & Crafts style for Oxford Street booksellers John and Edward Bumpus,… Read More

Hammersmith: Doves Press, 1900. ONE OF 225 COPIES on paper (and five copies on vellum). 233 x 167 mm. (9 1/4 x 6 5/8"). 2 p.l. (first blank), xxxii pp., [1] leaf.Edited by J. W. Mackail. Original limp vellum by the Doves Bindery (stamp-signed on rear pastedown), flat spine with gilt titling. In (original?) vellum-lipped slipcase lined with chamois. Front pastedown with armorial ex-libris of W. H. E. Baron van der Borch van Verwolde and with pencilled bibliographical note in German. Tidcombe DP-1; Tomkinson, p. 52. ◆Spine a little dust-soiled, naturally occurring variations in the grain of the vellum, faint spot of foxing to title page, otherwise a very fine copy, the slipcase preventing the usual rumpling or splaying to the vellum boards, and the text quite clean, fresh, and bright. This beautifully preserved volume represents the beginning of the work undertaken by the visionary and fanatical Cobden-Sanderson at his Doves Press. The elegant simplicity that would characterize all Doves books is… Read More

London: Sidgwick & Jackson, Ltd, 1915. FIRST EDITION. One of 1,000 copies. 192 x 130 mm. (7 3/4 x 5 1/4"). 63, [1] pp. Publisher's black cloth, paper label on smooth spine. With frontispiece portrait of the poet. Front pastedown with ink owner's inscription of S. J. A. Evans, 1915. ◆Spine a little faded, paper label a bit rubbed and with a chipped corner, a couple of corners gently bumped, minor browning to endleaves (from pastedown glue), occasional mild foxing, but an excellent copy, the text clean and fresh, and the binding in appealing condition. The only significant poet of his generation to sustain an heroic and romantic notion of soldiering, Brooke (1887-1915) died of blood poisoning en route to the Dardanelles in 1915, too early to experience the wholesale slaughter of trench warfare, or the bloodbath awaiting his shipmates at Gallipolli. Published posthumously, this is Brooke's second and last book of poems, containing his epitaph for a generation decimated by the Great War: "If I should… Read More

London: Chatto & Windus, 1904. Second Edition. 185 x 123mm. (7 1/4 x 5"). ix, [1], 213, [1] pp., [1] leaf. A VERY PLEASING VELLUCENT BINDING BY CEDRIC CHIVERS (signed on rear turn-in), front cover and smooth spine painted in an Art Nouveau style featuring twining vines, center panel of front cover with painted gilt-strung lyre at bottom and round mother-of-pearl inlay within a wreath at top, doublures of glazed vellum enclosed by a paper frame, all edges gilt. Printer's device on final leaf. ◆Binding with a touch of soil, spine just a shade darker than the covers, a few very minor spots internally, otherwise a fine, virtually unworn copy. This is a charming example of Chivers' "vellucent" bindings, a painting-under-vellum technique inspired by Cyril Davenport's lecture on the 18th century painted vellum bindings of Edwards of Halifax, given at the Paris Exhibition of 1878. On returning to England after his life-changing visit to the exposition, Chivers (1853-1929) established binding premises in… Read More

Lugd[uni] Batavorum [Leyden]: Ex Officina Elzeviriana, 1629. First Elzevir Edition. 120 x 71 mm. (4 3/4 x 2 3/4"). Three volumes. Edited by Daniel Heinsius. VERY CHARMING 18TH CENTURY RED MOROCCO, GILT, covers with French fillet border, raised bands with gilt lettering, spine compartments with central floral sprig framed with curling brackets terminating in ivy leaves, spray of daisies on either side, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Title page of first volume with engraved ornate frame containing a tondo portrait of Ovid at head, woodcut printer's device, and decorative initials. A few leaves printed in red and black. Willems 317; Rahir 288; Dibdin II, 266-67; Brunet IV, 272 ("bonne édition"); Graesse V, 70. ◆Spine of first two volumes a bit sunned and very lightly rubbed, boards with trivial soiling and chafing, but the very prettily decorated unrestored bindings bright with gilt and still altogether pleasing. First volume with tiny hole to first leaf of text, volumes I and II… Read More

East Aurora, New York: The Roycrofters, 1908. ONE OF 600 COPIES. 213 x 162 mm. (8 3/8 x 6 1/2"). 157, [3] pp. ATTRACTIVE ETCHED LEATHER BINDING, unsigned but likely by the Roycroft Bindery, upper cover with curving stalks of wheat and titling, raised bands, compartments also with titling, all of the lettering in the distinctive Roycroft style designed by Dard Hunter. With frontispiece portrait of Alice Hubbard by Jules Gaspard; title page, initials, and ornaments designed by Dard Hunter. Rear flyleaf with a (binding?) ticket engraved with decorative frame and the Roycroft insignia, the number "30" written within it in pencil. ◆Light offsetting from ribbon on preface opening, otherwise in virtually mint condition with only the most trivial imperfections. This manifesto on the equality of women and men and the necessity of their working together as equals was written by the wife of Roycroft founder Elbert Hubbard, and produced by that Arts & Crafts community. Alice Moore Hubbard (1861-1915) was… Read More

London: George G. Harrap & Co, 1935. No. 36 OF 460 COPIES SIGNED BY THE ILLUSTRATOR, 450 of which were for sale. 272 x 197 mm. (10 5/8 x 7 3/4"). 317, [1] pp. Publisher's special binding of gilt-decorated vellum over boards, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed and about one-third UNOPENED. In the original (somewhat scuffed and worn) blue paperboard slipcase with paper title label to spine. Half title and title vignettes in gold, 11 illustrations in the text, and 29 plates (12 in color and mounted) by Arthur Rackham. Latimore & Haskell, pp. 72-73; Houfe, p. 424; Hudson, p. 172. ◆One corner rather bumped, otherwise A LOVELY COPY--clean, fresh, and bright internally, in a binding remarkably free of the soiling and splaying that usually affects vellum books like this one. While Rackham did illustrations for a great many books, Houfe observes that he concentrated "particularly [on] those of a mystical, magic, or legendary background," a fact that makes his work on Poe's "Tales of Mystery and… Read More

New York: The Grolier Club, 1885. No. 137 OF 150 COPIES. 235 x 155 mm. (9 1/4 x 6 1/8"). xx, [ii], 62 pp., [1] leaf.Edward FitzGerald. HANDSOME BLUE CRUSHED MOROCCO, GILT, BY BRADSTREET (stamp-signed in gilt on front turn-in), covers with the Grolier Club emblem surrounded by a wreath, gilt-ruled panel with foliate cornerpieces, French fillet border, raised bands, compartments each with a floral device flanked by two vines and surrounded by gilt dots, gilt lettering, gilt-ruled and rolled turn-ins with foliate decorations in each corner and along each edge, textured endleaves, top edge gilt (others plain). Original decorative paper wrappers bound in. With color emblem of Grolier Club on title, and three large color headpieces in the Moorish style after Owen Jones. Printed on Japon. Front pastedown with bookplate of Samuel F. Barger. Potter 211. ◆Small patch of loss to front textured endpaper (from bookplate removal?), otherwise a lovely book in exemplary condition. This is a handsomely bound copy… Read More

London: William Heinemann, 1912. No. 1,035 of 1,450 Copies SIGNED by Rackham. 280 x 222 mm. (11 x 8 3/4"). xxix, [1], 223, [1] pp.A New Translation by V. S. Vernon Jones. Introduction by G. K. Chesterton. VERY ATTRACTIVE GREEN CRUSHED MOROCCO, GILT, BY BAYTUN-RIVIERE (stamp-signed on rear turn-in), covers bordered by gilt fillet, front cover with gilt ornament replicating the title page vignette, raised bands, spine compartments with gilt fillet frame, gilt lettering, gilt-ruled turn-ins, marbled endpapers all edges gilt. With 20 full-page black and white illustrations, numerous illustrations in the text, and 13 COLOR PLATES, as called for, each mounted on heavy brown stock and protected by lettered tissue guard. Printed on Large Paper. Hudson, p. 169; Latimore and Haskell, pp. 38-39. ◆Front cover with one-inch irregularity in leather (scarcely noticeable and apparently part of the original skin), faint browning or very light foxing to pages adjacent to (acidic) stock used for plate mounts, a few… Read More

Antwerp: ex Officina Plantiniana, apud viduam & Ioannem Moretum, [1592]. 260 x 185 mm. (10 1/4 x 7 1/8"). 5 p.l., 7-407, [23] pp., [1] leaf (blank).Edited and with commentary by Laevinus Torrentius. IMPRESSIVE CONTEMPORARY BLIND-TOOLED PIGSKIN over thick paper boards, covers each with a central panel, that on the upper board depicting Judith holding the head of Holofernes, with text of Psalm 144:19 beneath it (NUSK P 000 417), that on the lower board showing Jael killing Sisera (NUSK P 000 429), the text beneath from Judges 5:31, both panels framed with half-figures of Lucretia, Prudentia, Venus and Judith (EBDB r002982, dated 1560; NUSK V 000 195), all within a border of palmettes, raised bands, bluish edges. Engraved title framed by medallion portraits of the Twelve Caesars, and numerous woodcut illustrations of coins in text. Occasional marginal notations in a contemporary hand. Imhof S-55; Adams S-2052; USTC 402226. For the binding: NUSK Database (The archive of Bohumil Nuska) workshop NUSK 98,… Read More

Flanders, Southern Netherlands, or Rhineland(?), ca. 1250-75. 176 x 135 mm. (7 x 5 1/4"). Single column, 20 lines in a bold gothic book hand. First line of recto with lettering in gilt on blue and pink ground with white highlights, versal initials in blue with red penwork or burnished gold with blue penwork, ten line fillers in geometric designs of red, blue, and burnished gold, recto WITH TWO PENWORK LINE FILLERS IN THE SHAPE OF CREATURES, one being a fish, and the other the head of a beast, the latter biting the tail of a large gilt bird whose neck and beak extend into the right margin, AND WITH A THREE-LINE INITIAL DEPICTING A PROPHET HOLDING A SCROLL, the initial with a long tail extending into the lower margin. See: Kidd, "The McCarthy Collection," vol. II, no. 20. ◆Bottom marginal decoration (including the anthropomorphic tail of the initial) trimmed away (despite ample margin above the decoration), gold a bit worn, but a specimen of great interest nonetheless, and the decoration still very… Read More

Birmingham: Printed by John Baskerville for J. and R. Tonson in London, 1759. Second Baskerville Quarto Edition. 250 x 180 mm. (10 x 7 1/2"). Two volumes. From the Text of Thomas Newton, D.D., with his Life of Milton. Recent retrospective calf, covers panelled in blind, raised bands, spine panels with elaborate blind-stamped ornament, black morocco label in the second panel of each volume. Frontispiece portrait engraved by J. Miller. Verso of title pages with early ink signature of "Le[onard](?) Kennedy." Gaskell 6, 7; Coleridge 122, 202; Straus & Dent, p. 69; Wickenheiser 697, 698; Howe's, Cat. 240, #188, 189 (1989); ESTC T133905, T134634. ◆Occasional minor browning and foxing (a small handful of leaves more noticeably affected), but a clean and pleasant copy in an attractive new sympathetic binding. According to Howes, this is the "largest paper edition of Baskerville's Milton," and the best obtainable Baskerville edition. The text used here is that edited by English cleric Thomas Newton and… Read More

Paris: apud Andreas Wechel, 1567. 162 x 108 mm. (6 1/2 x 4"). 4 p.l., 795, [37] pp. Contemporary limp vellum, yapp edges, covers with four small holes for ties (lacking), flat spine with old ink titling. Front flyleaf with blue ink library stamp of Notre-Dame de Mont-Roland Free School (in the city of Dole located in eastern France on the border of Switzerland, active from 1850-1910); title page with early ink inscription: "Ad usum fr: Minorum Cappucinorum Convent[us] Cadillaci Catalogo Inscript[us]." A few short 16th or 17th century annotations. Adams A-398; Brunet I, 119; Graesse I, 48; BMC French 6; USTC 158196. ◆Vellum with one-and-one-half-inch diagonal tear to head of rear cover, binding with minor soiling, two quires lightly browned, but an excellent copy over all--internally fresh and clean, and in a solid, lustrous binding. This history of the Franks to 653 A.D. is the major work of French Benedictine Aimoin de Fleury (ca. 965 - after 1008). At the suggestion of his abbot at the Abbey of… Read More