Rare books from Voewood Rare Books

Venetiis: Apud Franciscum de Franciscis Senensem 1591, 1591. First edition. ll. [xii], 150, 25 (index). Text in Latin. Roman and italic types, woodcut initials, publisher's woodcut device on title, five text woodcuts, two of which are full-page. Bound in eighteenth century calf, rebacked. Five raised bands, with decorative blind stamping to the panels save for the second panel which contains a burgundy label with the title in gilt and gilt decoration. Marbled endpapers. � An important work on the practice of medicine in Egypt. Alpinus (1553-1617) was a Venetian physician who spent several years in Egypt. One of the earliest European studies of non-Western medicine. Alpinus's work dealt primarily with contemporary (i.e. Turkish) practices observed during a three-year sojourn in Egypt. These included moxibustion--the production of counter-irritation by placing burning or heated material on the skin--which Alpinus introduced into European medicine. Alpinus's work also contains the… Read More

Leipzig und Wien: Franz Deuticke. 1905. First edition. Large 8vo. (238x150mm). pp. [ii], 84. Uncut. Original blue-grey paper wrappers, lettered in black on front and rear wrapper. Slight shelf wear, some restoration to spine. An excellent copy. One of the foundation texts of the twentieth century. Along with his first book, The Interpretation of Dreams, the lectures on Pyscho-Analysis and the late Civilization and its Discontents, this text changed forever our conception of the child. No longer Rousseau's innocent child of Nature, he or she became a mass of unfocussed and unspecified sexuality which needed to be socially conditioned. A major cultural document.

Paris: Éditions arts et métiers graphiques 1933, 1933. Twenty loose leaves (title page and nineteen black and white photographs) in a cream coloured board folder, spine in cream linen with a black and white photograph of a woman on the upper cover. Housed in a blue purpose made box lettered in gilt on the spine. There is some rubbing and wear to the folder itself and to the photograph on the cover. Plate 8 has a small closed tear to the left edge, plate 13 has a small tear to the upper left corner and a crease along the left edge and plate 20 has a small tear to the lower right corner and a crease the bottom edge. Otherwise, the plates are in very good condition. Sasha Stone (1895-1940) was born Alexander Steinsapir in Russia. Having settled in America in 1913, he served in the US Army during WWI. After his discharge, he worked as a sculptor in Paris and then a painter before turning to photography. His images demonstrate the eye of a sculptor and these examples of the female form have a classical… Read More

n.p. n.p. c1880. An unpublished manuscript in five volumes on the history of Freemasonry written by an English Freemason in the late nineteenth century. Five volumes. 221x148mm. Written in a neat italic hand on the verso only with some notes, additions and amendments on the page opposite (the recto of the previous leaf). Each leaf is numbered. Vol. I, ll. [2], [5bl], 1-118, 117-209; Vol. II, [4], [4bl], 221; Vol. III, [4], [4bl], 184. The last four leaves (8pp recto and verso) have two newspaper reports pasted down. These are reports of the Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge of English Freemasons dated 5th December 1877 and 6th March 1878. Vol. IV, [4], [5bl], 266; Vol. V, [3], [4bl], 160. Black half calf, buckram covered boards. Spine with five raised bands, four compartments with diced calf. Lettered in gilt, author's name, "Alfred Pratt" lettered in gilt at foot of spine. Some slight scuffing to upper cover of volume five. Internally fine with very slight foxing in places. Front pastedowns… Read More

London: Printed for the author by T. Egerton. 1795. First edition. 8vo in 4s. (208x130mm). pp. [2], xxv, 3-88. K4 blank. Loosely inserted is a letter of 1993 from the Bodleian Library confirming that K4 in their copy is blank and setting out the full collation, this copy conforming to that. Contemporary red full grain morocco in fine condition. Decorative gilt borders to the upper and lower covers. Spine lavishly decorated in gilt, Greek-key design turn-ins. All edges gilt. Very slight rubbing at the head and foot of the spine. Marble endpapers. A very handsome binding. Internally near fine with only minimal spotting in places. Front pastedown has the royal armorial bookplate of "E D C". This is Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, later King of Hanover, one of the sons of George III. He was created Duke of Cumberland in 1799 and this book would have been bound for him at about that time. ESTC records copies in the BL, Bodleian and The Codrington Library together with five copies in the US. Sir… Read More

Paris: Librairie Archeologique de Victor Didron. � 1857, 1857. First edition. 4to. 272x225mm. pp. 58 [2, advertisements]. Three leaves of engraved plates and a plan of the layout of the capitals of the Doge's Palace. Original brown paper wrappers, worn and chipped at extremities, tears to spine with some loss, staining to covers. Internally, there is foxing and spotting but overall it is in very good condition. Some pages unopened. �� This is the first published book by William Burges, one of the most inventive architects and designers of the nineteenth century. The son of a rich engineer, Burges trained with Edward Blore (the surveyor to Westminster Abbey) and Matthew Wyatt who was Special Commissioner to the 1851 Great Exhibition. Burges worked closely with Wyatt in assessing designs and entries for the Exhibition, particularly for Pugin's hugely influential Medieval Court. This was to determine the course of Burges's career: from the early 1850s he travelled widely throughout Europe… Read More

ORIGINAL SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH. Book: New Hampshire: Addison House 1977. First edition. 275x188mm. Unpaginated, illustrated throughout. Photographic card wrappers, protected by a transparent plastic cover. In excellent condition with only a little light shelfwear to the extremities Internally very good. Signed by Kroll on the frontispiece. A nice copy of an important sociological study. Offered with an original vintage print signed by Eric Kroll on the back and from his own collection. Part of the mount is cut out to show the signature. In very good condition. The photograph is reproduced in the book where the model is identified as 'Shelley [who] worked in a nude model studio in Baltimore, Maryland. The studio also offered "nude or semi-nude wrestling or boxing"'. Kroll photographs her in a relaxed, quasi-classical pose, in the manner of a Titian Venus or Ingres's Odalisque. The reference is deliberate and the meaning and implication clear. Kroll toured America photographing and interviewing young… Read More

London: The Studio 1893, 1893. A set of The Studio from the Volume 1, Number 1 issued in April 1893 to Volume 100 (ending in December 1930). All 1st eds, all 4to. Almost all, including the first six issues making up Volume One, are in the rare original paper wrappers. Seventeen volumes are in the green cloth. Of the complete set of one hundred volumes, five are missing (4, 76, 77, 83 and 85) and the set lacks a further eleven individual numbers in the monthly magazine format but this is a very good, near complete set in, for the most part, its original form. Many of the magazines have the text jointly in English and French. All are in very good condition but with some minor tears to some of those in paper wrapper. Further information and images are available on request. Founded by Charles Holme, a businessman who "was able to take the pulse of a culture and provide exactly what was wanted at a certain historical moment", The Studio appeared at a time when the public were starting to… Read More

1972, 1972. Photo silkscreen on graph paper (900x735mm). Inscribed in pencil in the bottom margin "For Francesco - [Signed] Robert Mapplethorpe '73". An early work from an important stage in the development of Mapplethorpe's career. When he graduated from the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn in 1969, Mapplethorpe was making mixed-media collages using images torn from magazines. In 1971, he befriended John McKendry, curator of photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. McKendry allowed Mapplethorpe access to the Museum's photography archives and later that year gave him his first Polaroid camera. Mapplethorpe initially used this camera to make material for use in his assemblages but he quickly began making self-portraits and exploring the possibilities photography offered as a medium in its own right, particularly after he met Sam Wagstaff in 1972. Wagstaff probably did more than anyone to ensure that photography began to be taken seriously as an art form in America. This triptych of… Read More

London: Bradbury & Evans 1863-65, 1863. Eight pamphlets under three titles. Privately printed by M.P.W. Boulton between 1863 and 1865, the three titles concern a dispute about the origins and invention of photography and are a refutation by Boulton of claims made in 1863 by F.P. Smith. Further details of this are given below. Each title has more than one version. Boulton issued each pamphlet and then added further notes to it to build up his argument. This means that each title has a final complete form but these represent an expanded version of the first issued pamphlet. The final form of each title is here in this collection of eight different versions of the three works (items 2,6 and 8 below) but we can see from the other pamphlets how, and at what point, Boulton introduces new evidence and develops further strands in his detailed discussion. There is an overlap between the variants within each title but no two pamphlets are exactly the same. All of these pamphlets are rare institutionally and… Read More

n.p. n.d. [c1780], 1780. Two volumes, being volumes III and IV of a four volume Political History of Europe. Manuscript on thick laid paper. 285x210mm. Paginated on verso with even numbers only. The text is on the recto of each leaf with occasional notes and references set out opposite. Vol. III: Germany [1] - 142; Switzerland: [143]-[215], 216-220 bl; Italy: [221]-372, [373]-376 bl; Turky (sic) [377]-[415]. Error in pagination at pp 114/115 but text is continuous and complete. Vol. IV. Title [1]-2; Russia: [3]-[39], 40-44 bl; Poland: [45]-[73], 74-78 bl; Sweden: [79]-[101], 102-108 bl; Denmark: [109]-[121], 122-126 bl; Holland: [127]-[159], 160-164 bl; England, [165]-[189], 190-196 bl; General Recapitulation: [197]-[205] Volume III, contemporary half calf, marbled paper covered boards, recently rebacked, spine lettered in gilt. Volume IV, contemporary quarter calf, marbled paper covered boards, spine lettered in gilt, rubbing and wear to corners and edges, cracking to joint with upper cover and… Read More

London: Deputies of Christopher Barker 1589, 1589. First edition. Folio (274x185mm). ll. [23], 496, [5]. *4 A-Y6 2A-2Y6 3A-3Y6 4A-4V6 4X4. Text in parallel columns, 56 lines to the full column: Rheims New Testament printed in roman type on the left, the Bishops' version in italics on the right, both divided in verses, all arguments, marginal notes, and other annotations of the Rheims NT printed at the end, interspersed with the confutations, title within woodcut border, woodcut initials, head and tailpieces. In excellent condition throughout with only one small marginal repair to the foot of 4A2 (not affecting the text) and some slight foxing. Modern calf decorated in blind to covers and spine. brown morocco labels to spine lettered in gilt. Front pastedown has label of Brian E. Fortune. A very good copy of the first edition of William Fulke's refutation of the arguments and accusations contained in the Rheims New Testament of 1582 (see previous item). Fulke was described by a contemporary as "that… Read More

London: Printed by M[iles].F[lesher]. for Iohn Marriot 1633, 1633. First edition. Small 4to. 190x140mm. pp. [12], 406. Attractively bound by Ramage in maroon full morocco. Triple filet border in gilt and blind with frame also in gilt and blind with gilt fleurons at the corners. Spine has five raised bands with double filet in gilt. Compartments with single filet border and fleuron, second and third compartment lettered in gilt. Doublures decorated in gilt filets and fleurons. Vellum endpapers. Spine slightly faded but overall a very smart binding. Slight soiling to F1 and small tear to head of Oo4, not affecting the text, otherwise near fine internally. Lacking final blank. The Printer to the Understanders (A1 and A2) and Infinitati Sacrum (A3 and A4) bound after title page and NnI is cancellandum, with running titles but omitting last 2 lines of text, which instead appear on the verso. Although attempts are made to ascribe "states" or "editions" to these variations, Keynes felt that such efforts… Read More

Rhemes: John Fogny 1582, 1582. The editio princeps of the translation of the New Testament made in accordance with Roman Catholic doctrine. Quarto. 227x165mm. pp. [28], 745, [27]. Handsome modern panelled speckled calf, decorated in blind, spine with raised bands, brown morocco label in second compartment, lettered and decorated in gilt. Title page has been remargined and the next two preliminary and the final three leaves repaired. Very small marginal worm track at the gutter between Yiii and Ddii, otherwise internally very good. Woodcut vignettes and historiated initials throughout. Some (illegible) contemporary manuscript annotations on the final two leaves. p378 has a hand-drawn Patriarchal Cross (Cross of Lorraine) in the margin next to the paragraph defining the doctrine of the Catholic Church concerning good works. An excellent copy of a theologically important translation with combative doctrinal notes and commentaries marking a significant English contribution to the Counter-Reformation.… Read More

London: C&J Ollier 1817, 1817. First edition. 8vo in 4s. (158x97mm). pp. [6], 121. Contemporary half calf, marbled paper covered boards, recently and expertly repaired by Aquarius, rebacked to style with gilt floral decoration and red label lettered in gilt. Original binder's ticket of G.Cannon of Great Marlow on front pastedown. Tiny chip to fore-edge of title page and dedication leaf (A3-4) and small repaired closed tear to B1 which has also been slightly cropped but otherwise internally very good. A handsome copy of a Keats's first book. Verso of the front free endpaper is inscribed A.M.B from H.H.M.B., June 29th 1897, Great Malvern. These are the brothers Arthur Middlemore Bartleet and Hubert Humphrey Middlemore Bartleet. Hubert was vicar of Great Malvern. His son Robert befriended Evelyn Waugh when Waugh was living in Malvern learning to ride at Captain Hance's Riding Academy and getting to know the Lygons at Madresfield. Robert had contributed accomplished drawings to… Read More