King Jesus

The History of the Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards

FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH of Antonio Solis' exceedingly popular and quite romantic version of the conquest of Mexico. "It has been translated into the principal languages of Europe; and such is the charm of its composition, and its exquisite finish as a work of art, that it will doubtless be as imperishable as the language in which it is written..." – William H. Prescott. Folio. 18th century panelled calf, elaborately gilt spine in 7 compartments, red spine label. Armorial bookplates on front pastedown. Engraved portrait of Cortes by G. Vertue, 8 engraved plates and maps including the folding panorama of Mexico City. Sabin 86487.Joints cracked but firm; corners lightly bumped. Light paste-action in margins of first and last leaves; engraved portrait lightly toned. A fresh and appealing copy, clean throughout. Provenance: Henry Duke of Kent (bookplate); Thomas Philip Earl de Grey (bookplate).

$4,000

Observations upon the prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John

FIRST EDITION of Isaac Newton's posthumously published theological interpretation of the Biblical prophecies."It has generally been assumed that the work was a product of his old age, as the treatise published was. Nevertheless, references to the prophecies filled his early theological notebook. Already in the 1670s, he believed that the essence of the Bible was the prophecy of human history rather than the revelation of truths beyond human reason unto life eternal. Already at that time he believed what he asserted later about Revelation: 'There [is] no book in all the scriptures so much recommended & guarded by providence as this.' He put that belief into practice by composing his earliest theological study. It proved to be more than a passing interest. His first full discourse contains many insertions in later hands, showing that he referred to it frequently. He composed numerous revisions of it, one of which was probably the last thing on which he was at work when he died more than fifty years later." (Richard Westfall, The Life of Sir Isaac Newton). Quarto, period style boards. Uncut, a superb copy.

$5,000

Poema aureum eiusdemque epistole

SECOND (FIRST DATED) EDITION OF SIDONIUS, AN EXCELLENT COPY FROM ULRICH SCINZENELER'S MILAN PRESS. Sidonius, a diplomat, poet and bishop, is one of the key sources from 5th-century Gaul. Sidonius married the daughter of the Roman Emperor Avitus. The Golden Poems in this volume were written in honor of the Avitus. He was rewarded with a bronze statue in Tranjan's library. Chancery folio (283 x 194mm.), 144 leaves, 57 lines commentary surrounding text, Roman and Greek letter, woodcut initials. 18th century full-leather binding, expertly rebacked preserving original spine (except for lower spine panel which is done to style), gilt ornaments to boards, spine gilt, marbled endpapers. Bookplates at front pastedown. (Gerald P. Mander, Walter Goldwater). A clean copy with wide margins; light dampstains at lower margin of first 30 leaves, occasional dampstains throughout; repair at lower portion of title page (not affecting text).  This is the first edition with a commentary by Joannes Baptista Pius and the second printed edition, preceded by the exceedingly scarce 1474 edition. Hain Copinger 1287; Goff S 494.

$12,000

An Examination of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Chapters of Mr. Gibbon's History, BOUND WITH: Gibbon's A Vindication Bound w/Davis' "Reply"

FIRST EDITION. With 'Advertisement' after the title page. BOUND WITH: Davis, Henry Edwards.  A Reply to Mr. Gibbon's Vindication of Some Passages in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Chapters of "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." London: J.Dodsley, 1779. First edition. Octavo, bound in recent 3/4 calf over marbled boards preserving early spine. Internally clean and sound throughout; a very attractive volume of this rare edition. In 1778 three people, including Henry Edwards Davis, a tutor of Balliol College, Oxford, wrote treatises publicly attacking Gibbon in hysterical terms for the anti-Christian remarks in the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of his 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire', which contain remarks condemning the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire. The philosopher David Hume had warned Gibbon that this might happen. It gave Gibbon the opportunity to overmatch Davis with a public reply (here included) which was quite devastating in its superior learning, and its contrasting coolness. Gibbon had it printed in octavo so that it could not be bound with his (quarto) 'History'. Davis' further reply is also included here.

$3,500

Howl

AN EXCEPTIONAL INSCRIBED COPY: FIRST EDITION, one of only 1000 copies, SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY GINSBERG (with additional amusing commentary) and fellow Beat poet GREGORY CORSO.First inscribed by Corso on title "For Gergory, love Allen Ginsberg / S.F. -1956"; with Ginsberg's inscription beneath "This is Gregory Corso's Natural hand - A. Ginsberg 1977". Signed also by Ginsberg on title: "Allen Ginsberg Cambridge 1977 / This is Allen Ginsberg's Hand - Allen Ginsberg / 1977/ Dec 4". All surrounded with Ginsberg's characteristic flower and sun drawing (with "AH" in the "O" in "Howl"). On the verso of the title page Corso has written "Gregory. Here's one to harm [?] yr eyes / Allen Ginsberg / 1956"; with Ginsberg writing beneath "This is Gregory Corso's fake hand / Allen Ginsberg / Cambridge Dec 4, 77"."In October 1955 Ginsberg read the first part of his new poem ['Howl'] in public for the first time to tumultuous applause at the Six Gallery reading in San Francisco with the local poets Kenneth Rexroth, Gary Snyder, Michael McClure, Philip Whalen, and Philip LaMantia. Journalists were quick to herald the reading as a landmark event in American poetry, the birth of what they labeled the San Francisco Poetry Renaissance. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who ran the City Lights Book Store and the City Lights publishing house in North Beach, sent Ginsberg a telegram echoing Ralph Waldo Emerson's response to Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass: 'I greet you at the beginning of a great career. When do I get the manuscript?' Later Ginsberg wrote that 'in publishing 'Howl,' I was curious to leave behind after my generation an emotional time bomb that would continue exploding in U.S. consciousness in case our military-industrial-nationalist complex solidified into a repressive police bureaucracy' (Original Draft Facsimile Howl, p. xii). "Early in the following year Howl and Other Poems was published with an introduction by William Carlos Williams as number four in the City Lights Pocket Poets Series. In May 1956 copies of the small black-and-white stapled paperback were seized by the San Francisco police, who arrested Ferlinghetti and Shigeyoshi Murao, his shop manager, and charged them with publishing and selling an obscene and indecent book. The American Civil Liberties Union took up the defense of Ginsberg's poem in a highly publicized obscenity trial in San Francisco, which concluded in October 1957 when Judge Clayton Horn ruled that Howl had redeeming social value" (American National Biography). Introduction by William Carlos Williams. The Pocket Poets Series: Number Four. Small quarto, original printed wrappers; custom half-morocco box. Front wrapper spotted and toned, small damp stain to top last leaf. An outstanding signed and inscribed association copy.

Price On Request

Ralph 124C 41+

SCARCE FIRST EDITION, SIGNED BY GERNSBACK, of one of the foundational texts in science fiction."In April 1911 'Modern Electrics' began serializing Gernsback's Ralph 124C 41+, written to exemplify (Gernsback's) contention that fiction could serve to teach science... Thoroughly deficient as fiction, the story nevertheless predicts radar, microfilm and microfiche, tape recorders, television, wireless transmission of power, planet hormones, and weather control" (American National Biography).Ralph 124C 41+ was published when many other magazines were struggling, and it led Gernsback to almost single-handedly establish a place for science fiction stories, as he allowed contemporary writers space in his science magazines. The success of these stories may have induced Gernsback to create the first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories, which started publication the year after Ralph 124C 41+ was printed in book form. The Hugo Awards, science fiction's most prestigious prize, were named in honor of Hugo Gernsback.Signed on the front free endpaper. Octavo, original blue cloth
with gilt lettering, original dust jacket. Bookplate of Roy V. Hunt, editor and artist for the science fiction magazine The Alchemist on front pastedown. Book fine with cloth exceptionally bright; original dust jacket with some tape reinforcement at verso edges; closed tear at top of front panel and very minor edgewear. Rare signed. 

$9,500

The Golden Notebook

FIRST EDITION of Lessing's masterpiece. With review slip from publisher Michael Joseph laid in. "The Golden Notebook became an epiphany for an entire generation of women. In this, Lessing's most experimental novel, battle is joined between the will to create and the desire to love. Obstacles are mapped for a woman seeking both independence and intimacy, since her freedom is paradoxically incomplete without the love that in turn undermines it. Lessing shows how conventions and other pitfalls along the way impede sensitive and passionate women from living authentically and fully..." (2007 Nobel Prize Presentation Speech). Lessing won the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature, with The Golden Notebook specifically cited in the Presentation Speech. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket; custom half-leather box. Book near-fine with a little toning to endpapers; dust jacket in excellent condition with only some light scattered soiling.

$1,900

Poems Chosen out of the Works

FIRST KELMSCOTT PRESS EDITION, ONE OF ONLY 250 COPIES ON PAPER (from an edition of 258). The Kelmscott Press "was far and away the most splendid of all private presses... quite without a peer." -Colin Franklin, The Private Presses Beautifully printed in red and black in Golden type. Exquisitely illustrated by William Morris with woodcut title page, first page (borders), and decorated initials throughout. Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1895 [issued 1896]. Small quarto, original limp vellum, yapp edges, gilt spine title, green silk ties; uncut. One tie loose, else fine.

$3,500

Outlines from the Figures and Compositions upon the Greek, Roman and Etruscan Vases

1804 edition of Hamilton's celebrated Outlines from the Figures and Compositions upon the Greek, Roman and Etruscan Vases, illustrated with 62 engraved plates.  Quarto. Half-title, 62 engraved plates by Kirk (uncoloured). Handsomely bound in quarter calf over vellum boards. Text and plates clean, small split at half-title (holding). Nice copy. 

$950

Opera Omnia

THE STEPHANUS EDITION OF CICERO. The text of this folio edition is based on the 1543-1544 octavo edition by Robert Estienne. 4 volumes bound in 2. Folio. 18th century calf recently rebacked; double gilt fillets round sides, gilt dentelles; marbled endpapers, armorial bookplate (Edward Wake). Large woodcut device on titles (small device on titles of volumes III & IV), small woodcut arms of the Cardinal of Lorraine, the dedicatee, on title of volume II, with the final errata leaf in volumes II and IV. Title of vol. II repaired at inner margin; occasional light dampstaining. Provenance: Edward Wake (eighteenth-century armorial bookplate). Adams C1647.

$5,500

Admiranda Romanarum antiquitatum ac veteris sculpturae vestigia

SECOND EDITION. Oblong folio, 19th-century quarter-roan over boards. Complete with 84 engraved plates including title and dedication. Skillful repair at head of spine, minor rubbing at spine bottom. Uncut, clean throughout. A beautiful copy.

$5,000

Nouveaux voyages de Mr. le Baron de Lahontan, dans l'Amerique Septentrionale

FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. 4 engraved frontispieces, titles printed in red & black with woodcut vignette on each, 3 engraved maps, including 2 folding, 22 folding plates, later bookplate, contemporary speckled calf, spine gilt compartments within raised gilt bands, a few small abrasions and cracks. 12mo. Two volumes bound in one.

$12,000