Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - July - 2022 Issue

A Variety of Antiquarian Books from Amanda Hall Rare Books

Catalogue 45 from Amanda Hall Rare Books.

Amanda Hall Rare Books has issued their Catalogue 45. This is a thick catalogue with detailed descriptions and illustrations for each item. These are readily classified as antiquarian books, mostly 18th century and older, often by a few centuries. Many of the books are in French though other languages (including English) are well-represented. The subjects of the material are widely varied, but they are presented in groups for convenience. They are: America, art, children's books, devotional works, education, English novels, fables & emblem books, French fiction, fine & private printing, history, how-to books, literary translations, love and all that, natural history & nature, philosophy, poetry, Robinsonades & imaginary voyages, satire, sermons, theological controversy, toys and games for children & adults, and travel. Did they miss anything? These are a few samples of the often uncommon material to be found.

 

We begin with an Italian book, Gli Ornamenti Delle Donne, a guide to feminine beauty by Giovanni Marinelli. The concept might initially appear condescending, a male telling women how to be beautiful or even focusing on physical appearance for women, but that would be unfair. Marinelli was quite progressive for his time, which was almost five centuries ago. The book was published in 1574. He was a physician who wrote about health and beauty, taking women seriously, which was hardly the norm in his time. His daughter, of whom he was evidently quite proud, was a feminist and wrote a book whose title translates to “the nobility and excellence of women and the defects and vices of men.” It was an answer to a book that promoted the superiority of men to women. Marinelli advocated education for women, uncommon in the 16th century. The book includes tips for hygiene, dieting either to lose or gain weight, and various beauty secrets, including 26 recipes for hair dye (dying your hair blond was popular in Italy at the time). Item 69. Priced at $3,800.

 

Next is a book for those who enjoy fables from two figures tied closely to the art form: Recueil de Fables d’Ésope, et autres Mythologistes; les mêmes, mises en vers par La Fontaine, ornées de gravures par Augustin Legrand... In English, that is “Collection of Fables of Aesop and other Mythologists; the same, put into verse by La Fontaine, decorated with engravings by Augustin Legrand...” It was published in 1799. Each fable has an illustration and the prose story on the left-hand page, while La Fontaine's verse is opposite on the right page. Legrand was an engraver and artist who, unlike Aesop and La Fontaine, never made a notable impact despite his skills. This book was intended to be read by children and youth, and like all such books in its day (and to a large extent still), were there to teach morals to the young. Item 40. $2,250.

 

Christian Ernst Graf (or Graaf) took La Fontaine's fables a step farther. Graf was a choir leader in the Netherlands and a music composer. Item 42 is his Vingt Cent Fables dans le gout de M. de la Fontaine, en musique pour le Chant et Clavecin, composés par C.E. Graaf (Twenty Hundred Fables in the Style of M. de la Fontaine, in Music for Voice and Harpsichord, Composed by C.E. Graaf), published circa 1780-83. He composed music for the Dutch court in the The Hague and also for this book. Graf has taken La Fontaine's verse fables and set them to music. The musical notations are provided so you should be able to play or sing these fables in a manner probably not heard in many years. $1,800.

 

Asparagus aren't always the easiest vegetable to grow, but for those with the touch, they can be quite prolific, poking their heads out of the soil everywhere. Here is a man who knew all about them, Jean-Jacques Fillassier. His epic on the subject is entitled Culture de la Grosse Asperge, dite de Holland, la plus précoce, la plus hâtive, la plus fécond & la plus durable que l’on connoisse (Cultivation of the Large Asparagus, known as Holland, the earliest, earliest, most fertile & most durable that we know), a second edition published in Amsterdam in 1784. Fillasier was a writer, not just about gardening but also a few other other subjects, was an admirer of Rousseau, and operated a nursery. Hall describes this work as “a comprehensive treatise on asparagus cultivation.” It was a popular book published several times as late as 1815. Along with lots of valuable information on the cultivation and care of asparagus, he notes the need to often travel long distances to find the plants as a means of promoting the sale of his plants near Paris. Item 88. $600.

 

This is a book that surely had a very small run and considering that was over two centuries ago, it must be very rare. It is also quite sad. It is a woman's tribute to her sister who died at the age of 21. She evidently loved her sister immensely, even if she didn't think very much of her poetry. The book is Lines. Written on Several Occasions. By the Late Honble. Charlotte Penelope Monckton. No printer or place of printing is mentioned but it is dated 1806. Charlotte Monckton's poems were printed in this volume, though the young lady had no intention of ever printing them herself. Her sister did so as a family remembrance for someone they loved dearly. Charlotte must have had some inklings of death because that is a subject of several of her poems. The lead-off one concerns the death of her mother in 1801. Two are about the death of her brother, Augustus, in 1802. The last poem is entitled Inscription on a Stone erected in Selby Wood, to the memory of a Favourite Dog. It is dated March 1806, a month before she died. The dedication cautions “the following artless and unstudied Lines, evidently the momentary Effusions of an elegant and accomplished Mind, possessed of the greatest Sensibility, were doubtless Intended by the Beloved Writer to be transient, but are now committed to the Press, for the Purpose of Presenting a few select friends with a memorial of a dear and ever to be lamented SISTER...” Charlotte's sister had the memento bound in blue morocco with gilt edges and marbled endpapers. Item 60. $3,500.

 

Here is a book that didn't impress the critics any more than did Charlotte Monckton's poetry. The book is Chit-Chat: Or Natural Characters; And the Manners of Real Life, Represented in a Series of Interesting Adventures, attributed to John Collet, a first Dublin edition published in 1755. It's the tale of an unsophisticated 19-year-old young lady whose mother dies. Her father tries to find her a companion, but that lady turns out to be a woman who is outwardly polished but “specious and insincere.” She falls in love with Welford, a friend of her father, and they suffer through several misadventures. Among them, young Charlotte Byersley contracts smallpox, survived but is scarred and believes Welford will no longer love her. But, he comes through. Despite the title, the critic from The Monthly Review did not find it “interesting” at all. “To say the best of this performance, it contains nothing indecent or offensive to the chaste and modest ear; but, at the same time, it must be confessed, the reader of taste will here find nothing to excite and keep up his curiosity, engage his attention, or interest his heart. The author has involved about half a dozen couple of insipids, in certain uninteresting adventures and difficulities, out of which they are extricated at last; -- and all is conducted in the modern way, without energy, humour, or spirit.” Really makes you want to read it to see if it can really be that bad, after which it will be a fine collectible. Item 33. $2,250.

 

Amanda Hall Rare Books is located in Shaftesbury, Wiltshire, England, and may be reached at 44 (0) 1747 898330 or amanda@amandahall.co.uk.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas
  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD

Review Search

Archived Reviews

Ask Questions