Foster, Vere [Henry Louis / Lewis] / [Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire / Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire].

The Two Duchesses – Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire / Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire – Family Correspondence of and Relating to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire / Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire, Earl of Bristol (Bishop of Derby), The Countess of Bristol, Lord and Lady Byron, The Earl of Aberdeen, Sir Augustus Foster Bart, and Others, 1777-1859. First Edition. With 17 illustrations.

London / Glasgow and Dublin, Blackie & Son Limited, 1898. Octavo (16 cm x 22,5 cm). XII, 497 pages with 16 full-page-illustrations and one small vignette, showing the Two Duchesses in cordial embrace. Hardcover / Original, green publisher’s cloth with gilt lettering and ornament to spine and armorial supralibro to cover with the Motto of the “British chivalric Order of the Garter”: “Honi soit qui mal y pense” [″shame on anyone who thinks evil of it”]. Very good condition with some minor signs of wear only. “Presentation Copy of “The Two Duchesses” with Autograph / Manuscript – Letter by Vere Foster to his niece, Emily Albinia “Alba” Foster. With a stunning, unpublished, two-page manuscript letter, revealing several important details about the immediately favorable reviews and reception of the book “Two Duchesses” [″in the Daily Telegraph”] and Vere Foster’s disdain about some criticism from one J.Donohue [which led to an alteration in the second edition of the book]. Vere Foster is also expecting a review to appear in the “Athenaeum” but reports: “the Athenaeum has nothing yet”. Vere Foster apologizes to his niece for the delay in sending the book and explains that he had left 12 “parcels” with Blackie’s agent and gave instructions to send them, but a few days later found they had been “untouched”. One of the most important finds of Vere Foster – Material in recent years with no sign of similar material on offer in the past years on the international market.

Foster, Vere [Henry Louis / Lewis] / [Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire / Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire].

The Two Duchesses – Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire / Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire – Family Correspondence of and Relating to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire / Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire, Earl of Bristol (Bishop of Derby), The Countess of Bristol, Lord and Lady Byron, The Earl of Aberdeen, Sir Augustus Foster Bart, and Others, 1777-1859. Second Edition [Revised] Unique version of the second edition, with a multitude of additional, uncalled-for illustrations (Portraits) and an original engraving of Harper’s Ferry (Virginia).

One Volume bound in two Volumes due to added images (complete set). London / Glasgow and Dublin, Blackie & Son Limited, 1898. Octavo (15 cm x 22 cm). Pagination: Volume I: An extra-illustrated edition, with 96 plates instead of the only 18 plates which were called for according to the inventory pages of the set. Hardcover / Two stunning, privately commissioned, red morocco bindings with five raised bands as well as gilt lettering and ornament to spine, boards and inner pastedown-borders. Excellent condition with some minor signs of wear only. Both Volumes firm and endpapers intact. Interior beautiful and clean with a plethora of illustrations added into this rare second edition with the portraits reflecting personalities touched upon in the letters published by Vere Foster. The often rare portraits of contemporaries to the Duchess of Devonshire and Vere Foster’s father, Sir Augustus Foster, are of significance since many of them are now scarce as well.

Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles.

A Complete Guide to Heraldry. [With a chapter: “The Status and the Meaning of a Coat of Arms in Great Britain”]. Illustrated by Nearly 800 Designs, Mainly from Drawings by Graham Johnston, Herald Painter to the Lyon Court.

Revised Edition. London and Edinburgh, T. Nelson & Sons, Ltd. / T.C. & E.C. Jack, Ltd., no year [c.1925]. 18 cm x 24 cm. Frontispiece, XII, 647 pages. With 779 illustrations and 9 plates including frontispiece. Hardcover [publisher’s original tanned cloth] with lettering on spine and front board. Large heraldic device on front board. With rare illustrated dustjacket in protective mylar. Deckled fore and tail-edges. Gilt top edges. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Dustjacket chipped and torn. Some minor foxing to endpapers and edges. Some untrimmed pages. Unmarked interior.

[Froissart, Sir John] Bourchier, John (2nd Baron Berners) / [Provenance: Edward Hume Townsend / Henrietta Murray Townsend].

The Antient [Ancient] Chronicles of Sir John Froissart, of England, France, Spain, Portugal, Scotland, Brittany and Flanders, And The Adjoining Countries; Translated From the Original French, at The Command of King Henry The Eighth by John Bourchier, Lord Berners. With The Names of Places and Persons Carefully Corrected, And The Obsolete Words Modernized. With A Copious Index.

In Four Volumes [complete set]. London, For J.Davis, Military Chronicle Office, 1814 – 1816. Octavo (15,5 cm wide x 24 cm high). Pagination: Volume I: VIII, 693 pages / Volume II: 651 pages / Volume III: III, 663 pages / Volume IV: 615 pages. Hardcover / Original 19th century full-leather with gilt lettering and ornament to spine. Some of the original leather – spine detaching. The bindings firm and overall in very good condition with only minor signs of wear. Exlibris of E.H.Townsend [Edward Hume Townsend (1803 – 1880) and the manuscript-name in ink, of his daughter Henrietta Murray Townsend (died 1869) inside the cover of all four Volumes. Edward Townsend was educated in Clonakilty and later worked for the East India Company. There is plenty of information on the interesting life of Edward and his daughter Henrietta available within “The Townsend Family Records” [online].

Gardiner, Richard / [Richard Gardiner of Hereford].

[Specimen Oratorium] Richardi Gardiner Herefordensis, Aedis Christi Oxon. haud ita Canonici, Sub-Decani, Specimen Oratorium. Recusum & Declamationibus quorundam tunc temporis ibidem Art. Bac. Necnon Additamentis Studentium Heterogeniis adornatum.

[Second Edition]. Oxoniae [Oxford], Excudebat H.Hall Academiae Typographus, Impensis Richardi Davis, 1657. Duodecimo (9 cm x 15 cm). [4], 174 pages with three further titlepages after page33 (″Aede Christi”), after page 135 (″Epistolae Nonnullae”), after page 151 (″Alumnorum Versiculi”) and after page 161 (″Lector Candide Coronidis”). Hardcover / Modern half-leather with gilt lettering and spinelable. Bound to style of the 17th century by an english masterbindery, which made sure to preserve the original endpapers and pastedowns. An excellent restoration with preserved patina of this scarce work. The titlepage with a professional repair. Although no sign of it, this book came from the library of Daniel Conner (Manch House). Name of another former owner to pastedown: “Thomas Davis – his book , October 21, 1790”. Extremely rare !

George VI. / Edward VIII. / Queen Elizabeth.

Collection of three important vintage magazines on: 1. The Illustrated London News – No. 5096 – Volume 189: ‘Accession Number’ and ‘The Abdication of King Edward VIII.’ / 2. The Illustrated London News No.5116 – Volume 190: Coronation Week Double Number – ‘The Presentation Plate of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth’ / 3. The Illustrated London News – No. 5117 – Volume 190: Original Coronation Ceremony Number.

Three Volumes. London, Publishing Office of “The Illustrated London News”, 1936 – 1937. Folio. 61, XVI, 79, XXIV, 71 pages with hundreds of illustrations (many in colour) throughout all three editions. Original, illustrated Softcover. Unusually excellent condition with only minor signs of external wear. Rare set !

Gillon, Captain Stair.

The Story of the 29th Division – A Record of Gallant Deeds. Compliled from Narratives supplied by the Three Divisonal Commanders and Others.

London, Edinburgh, and New York, Thomas Nelson and Sons, no year (c.1925) 15.5 cm x 23 cm. Frontispiece, XV, 276 pages. 3 portrait plates and 12 colour maps. Hardcover [publisher’s original brown cloth] with lettering on spine and front board. Red Design (Divisional insignia) to both spine and board also. Deckled fore- and tail edges. In protective Collector’s Mylar. Excellent condition with only minor signs of external wear. Top edge dust-toned with age. Occasional foxing to and otherwise clean and bright interior.

Gilpin, William. [Castle-Freke Library Bookplates]

Collection of four Volumes (bound in two) by Gilpin – All from the historical library at Castle Freke (Castlefreke, West Cork / Ireland). The Volumes include: I. & II. Observations Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty, Made in the Year 1776, on Several Parts of Great Britain; particularly the High-Lands of Scotland. [Second Edition, with an “Account of the Prints” bound to the rear] / III. Observations on the River Wye and several Parts of South Wales &c. relative chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; Made in the summer of the Year 1770 (Third Edition). / IV. An Essay on Prints – [″The chief intention of the following work was to put the elegant amusement of collecting prints, on a more rational footing; by giving the unexperienced collector a few principles and cautions to assist him”] (Fourth Edition with the printed dedication “To the Honorable Horace Walpole in Deference to his Taste in the Polite Arts; and the Valuable Researches he has made to improve them; the following work is inscribed by his most obedient and very humble servant, William Gilpin”). [Volumes I & II with 40 original illustrations and vintage 18th century maps [correctly 39 illustrations and one table], for example of Loch Lomond and the Firth of Forth/ all illustrations are vintage mezzotint-plates].

Mixed Editions. Four Volumes (bound in two). London, Printed for R. Blamire, Strand, 1792. Octavo. Pagination: Volume I: XI, [1], 221 pages with 24 mezzotints / Volume II: 195, XVI pages with 16 mezzotints and an “Account of the Prints” as well as “Translations of Latin Passages” / [Volume III]: [River Wye]: XVI, 152 pages with 16 (of 17) full – page mezzotints / [Volume IV]: [An Essay on Prints]: XIII, [3], 174 pages plus XI pages Index and 1 page Errata. Hardcover / Early 19th century quarter – morocco with gilt lettering and ornament on spine. Both volumes bound in unison. Very good + condition with only minor signs of external wear. Pages 185 – 191 of Volume I with some stronger browning. Otherwise the interior very clean. All mezzotints in very good or even better condition. This is the original copy from the historical Castle-Freke Library in West Cork (Ireland), with two armorial bookplates to front and rear pastedown with the family’s motto ‘Pro Patria’. With two pages of manuscript annotations by a contemporary hand with a reference between the common name “Tarbet” in Scotland and a place-name in County Kerry in Ireland” (pages 13 of Volume II) / another entry is on page 12 of Volume II regarding the name-sake “Loch-Loung” for a Lake of ships in Scotland and Ireland.

[Green, Alice Stopford] Green, John Richard.

A Short History of the English People. To some extent re-written by Alice Stopford Green. With Maps and Tables.

London, Macmillan and Co., 1911. 19 cm. XXXIX, 847 pages. Illustrations, including maps, in colour and black and white. Original hardcover. Very good condition with only very minor signs of external wear. Some slight fading to frontcover and rubbing to spine. From the reference library of Hans Christian Andersen – Translator Erik Haugaard.

Gregory, G. [Reverend George Gregory].

Essays – Historical and Moral [including “Freedom of Speech and of the Press” and “Resistance to the Legislature” an ‘Essay on the Slavery of the Female Sex’ – ‘Of the Schemes asserting an Equality of the Sexes’ and ‘The History of the Female Sex’ and the ‘General State of the Controversy concerning the Inferiority of the Female Understanding’ / “Inquiry how far our commerce would be affected by the Abolition of the Slave Trade in respect of our West India Colonies”].

First Edition. London, Printed for J.Johnson, 1785. Octavo. VIII, 349 pages. Hardcover / Original, 18th century full calf with original spine-label. Front hinge weak but holding. Minor scuffing and rubbing. Overall in very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Halftitle present but front free endpaper missing. Text in excellent condition. Exlibris / Bookplate of Daniel Conner to pastedown. Extremely Rare and important publication with early remarks on Gender Equality and a lengthy section on the justification of Slavery.