1. Cooke, Arthur O.

At the Zoo. Pictures by Winifred Austen.

London, Edinburgh and New York, Thomas Nelson and Sons, no year. 22 cm x 29 cm. Frontispiece, 152 pages. 12 colour illustrations including frontispiece on separate plates. Numerous illustrations within text. Hardcover [publisher’s original cream cloth] with title and pictorial on front baord with tooled bordering. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Very minor foxing to an otherwise clean and bright interior.

2. [Halifax, 1st Marquess of] George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax.

The Lady’s New-year’s Gift : Or, Advice to a Daughter. Under these following Heads, Viz. Religion, Husband, House and Family. Servants, Behaviour and Conversation, Friendships, Censure, Vanity and Affectation, Pride, Diversions, Dancing.

The Second Edition Corrected by the Original. London, Printed for Matthew Gillyflower in Westminster-Hall and James Partridge at Charing-Cross, 1688. Duodecimo (7 cm wide x 12.5 cm high). [II], 164 pages (collation complete). Hardcover / 18th century full leather with gilt lettering and ornament on spine and boards. Very few pages with minor wormhole-damage only and some pages with some minor tears and fraying. The binding firm and with minor damage only. Some very few entries with ink by the pre-owner. Overall a very good condition with only minor signs of wear of this extremely rare and early edition of one of the rarest publications of advice on prudence and virtue, written by the Marquess of Halifax and published as an address to his daughter Elizabeth Stanhope, Countess of Chesterfield (1677 – 1708). Later editions are more common but this 17th century publication is the nicest version of this book we have ever handled.

3. Hoyle, Edmond.

Hoyle’s Games Improved : Being practical Treatises on the following fashionable Games, viz.: Whist, Quadrille, Piquet, Chess, Back-Gammon, Billiards, Cricket, Tennis, Quinze, Hazard, and Lansquenet. In Which Are Also Contained The Method of Betting at those Games upon equal or advantageous Terms. Including The Laws of the several Games, as settled and agreed to at Whites and Stapleton’s Chocolate Houses. Revised and corrected by Thomas Jones, Esq.

London, Printed for W. Wood in Fleet-Street, 1778. Small Octavo (9.5 cm x 15 cm). XI, 216 pages. Hardcover / Original 18th century full leather with gilt lettering and ornament on spine. Spine professionally repaired, original endpapers preserved. Name of preowner “Desproz” on titlepage. A little dusty but overall very desirable and very rare publication.

4. [Arabian Nights] Forster, Edward / [Provenance: Daniel Callaghan of Lotabeg].

The Arabian Nights, in Five Volumes. [Including “The History of Aladdin, or the Wonderful Lamp” / The History of Ali Baba and of the Forty Robbers, killed by one Slave” / etc.] Translated by The Reverend Edward Forster [based on the French version of Antoine Galland]. With [24] Engravings, from Pictures by Robert Smirke.

First Edition [Large Paper Quarto Edition]. Five Volumes (complete set with all engravings). London, Printed for William Miller, 1802. Quarto (21.5 cm x 27.5 cm). Volume I: LXI, (7), 385 pages with 5 copper-engravings including Errata-Leaf and “Directions for placing the Plates” for all four volumes / Volume: 432 pages with 5 copper-engravings / 405 pages with 5 copper-engravings / 461 pages with 5 copper-engravings / 474 pages with 5 copper-engravings. Hardcover / Original, early 19th century full leather with gilt lettering and date on lower spine [″London, 1802”]. Beautiful, richly ornamented master-bindings. All Volumes in strong, protective collector’s Mylar, which invites the reader/collector to use the work without fear of handling. Armorial Bookplates / ExLibris of Daniel Callaghan, Esquire of Lotabeg (MP for Cork City 1830-1849) to all five pastedowns (Motto: “Fidus et Audax”). Marbled endpapers a little dusty but beautiful. Volume 1, 2 and 5 with some weakening to the spine (slightly cracked), but holding and still firm overall. All plates present. As known and always found with this scarce edition, the original, titled tissue-guards all in place, have created stronger signs of foxing to the plates but in sharp contrast the text in all the five Volumes in bright and clean condition with only occasional faint staining. Endpapers with some minor browning. Very good+ condition overall with some rubbing and minor bumping to the Volumes but really only minor signs of external wear. Extremely sought after publication, not to be confused with the later, much more common Octavo Editions !

5. Illustration of Professions in French Children’s Books – [Magasin des Enfans].

Le Bureau Typographique: Livre élémentaire, À l’usage des Enfans. Orné de 24 Jolis Tableaux des Arts Et Métiers, Propres à Intéresser la Curiosité des Enfans, et à leur faire aimer la Lecture.

Premiere Edition. À Londres [London], Au Magasin des Enfans, chez Didier & Tebbett, 1808. Duodecimo (13.5 cm x 9 cm). IV, 108 pp. Reliure originale / Original Hardcover in modern, bespoke built solander-box with title-label. Collation complete. No endpapers. Includes all 24 engravings. One plate (″Epicier”) with small tear and paperloss (illustration not effected). Some pages loosened. Binding fragile and nearly detached. A little rough but very rare and still in collectable condition.

6. Beaulieu, Mad. Mallès de / [Robinson Crusoe].

Le Robinson de douze ans – Histoire intéressante d’un jeune Mousse Français abondonné dans une ile déserte. Ornée de Gravures par Mme Mallès de Beaulieu, Auteur des Coules d’une Mère à sa Fille.

Paris, P.-C. Lehuby, no date (approx. 1818). Small – Octavo. Engraved frontispiece, Titlevignette, 288 pages with two further engravings (4 in total). Hardcover. Original, blue paper-covered boards, extensively decorated with gilt floral motifs and an inset illustration of the young Robinson and his dog on a beach. Very good condition. Interior remarkably clean. Fine example of a so-called Robinsonade, a fashionable adaptation of the original Robinson Crusoe story, in this case based on another “Robinsonade”, this is a somewhat modified and inspired version of Johann David Wyss’ famous publication “The Swiss Family Robinson”, which he published initially “to teach his sons about family values, good husbandry, the uses of the natural world and self-reliance” (Wikipedia). In her publication “History and the Construction of the Child in Early British Children’s Literature”, Jackie C. Home writes that “The Bibliothèque Nationale de France online catalogue lists 35 French language editions of Mallès de Beaulieu’s novel, published between 1818 and 1923, suggesting that the novel was one of the most popular titles fro children in nineteenth-century France.”

7. Sandham, Miss [Elizabeth].

The Boys’ School; or, Traits of Character in Early Life – A Moral Tale.

London, Printed for John Souter, [1821]. Small Octavo. Engraved Frontispiece, IV, 152 pages. Hardcover / Original publisher’s boards with spinelabel. Binding firm but with lower corner of rear board missing. Overall a little stronger rubbed. Endpapers intact. Previous owner’s name in ink on titlepage, dated 1822. From the library of Richard Meade of Ballymartle, County Cork, Ireland, with a gift-inscription to rear pastedown: “the gift of M.J.Meade to H. Meade, April, 27th, 1821”. Frontispiece and text in very good condition. Pages 101 – 108 with clean tears and some paperloss (text not effected from loss). An extremely scarce publication !

8. Walker, George.

A Selection of Games at Chess, Actually Played by Philidor and his Contemporaries – Now first published from the original Manuscripts with Notes and Additions by George Walker.

First Edition. London, Sherwood, Gilbert & Piper, 1835. Duodecimo. Frontispiece, XVI, 110 pages plus 2 pages with advertising (List of Works by George Walker). Hardcover / Original cloth with original printed label to frontcover. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Front free endpaper missing. Very Rare !

9. [Gessner, Salomon / Collyer, Mary].

The Death of Abel in Five Books. From the German of Gessner.

Halifax, Printed fro William Milner, 1837. Duodecimo / Miniature book. Frontispiece, XX, 169 pages. Original Hardcover (dark green cloth with floral embossement and gilt lettering on spine. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Rare Halifax print !

10. Dickens, Charles.

Collection of six First Editions, all bound uniformely around 1850 and all in their original state. A stunning set with nearly all of the books in their First state of First Edition printing and with all plates complete. The collection includes: Bleak House / Little Dorrit / Nicholas Nickleby / Martin Chuzzlewit / Dombey and Son / David Copperfield. A very rare occasion in which a contemporary 19th-century lover of Dickens’ Literature had all Novels in their first edition bound to his/her liking. The mid-19th-century bindings beautiful in their simplicity and uniform style.

London, Chapman and Hall, 1839 – 1857. Octavo. Hardcover / Mid-19th-century Half-Leather with gilt lettering on spine. Original marbled endpapers. Very good condition with only few layers and illustrations loosened and the usual tanning to the illustrations. Very good condition with only minor signs of wear. [The David Copperfield Volume has a defect (see detailed description below)]. Perfect collection of first editions to start a Dickens-Collection in contemporary, 19th-century bindings.