Books Pre-1900

 

 

Anon. Antigua Shipping Naval List. A small group of documents relating to ships and sailors in Antigua, 1810-11, including an account of ships and vessels on station in March 1811, giving names of fifty-one ships, with manuscript details in the printed columns for rate, number of guns, company, arrival time in port, sales, when last refitted and stored, general condition, together with a group of fourteen somewhat brittled folio leaves with columns printed in red and giving ms details of sailors on the yard, with all 197 men named, all folio. RARE. Click for Image

Anon. A Compleat View of The Present Politicks of Great Britain. In a Letter From a German Nobleman, to His Friend at Vienna. Translated from the French Original, Lately Printed at Brussels. London: T. Cooper, at the Globe in Pater-noster Row, 1743. An unusual and engaging foreign commentary on domestic British politics during the War of Austrian Succession, at a time when Great Britain was rapidly transforming itself into the world's greatest economic and military power. "To speak freely, I should have a very mean opinion of any man, who would value his penetration highly on finding out, that the love of liberty is predominant among Britons. It shows itself in their language, in their behaviour, on trivial as well as important occasions: it appears in the actions of their childhood, and if I might be allowed the expression, I should say this passion even out lives them, at least I am very sure that it frequently dictates their last wills. It has been too, their lasting passion, and in this they, with great justice, pride themselves." RARE. £75 Click for Image

Anon. 95 pages disbound, paperwraps. Good. Click for Image.

Anon. The Weekly Entertainer. Monday, Nov. 1788. 22 p. pamphlet. Includes an account of the landing of King William III at Torbay in 1688, The defence of reason against the charge that the reason is merely a multiplicity of instincts, The Negroes Complaint (anti- slavery poem) etc. etc. Very good. £25. Click for Image.

 

Anon. Telugu. First book. Madras: The Christian Vernacular Education Society, 1894. 48 pages. Original pink paperwraps. Good. £30 Click for Image.

Aspland, Robert. The Unitarian's Creed: From Mr Aspland's "Plea for Unitarian Dissenters." London: Roland Hunter. 1827. Second Edition. Eight Pages Uncut. VG. £50 Click for Image.

 

 

 

Bagehot, Walter. Lombard Street: a Description of the Money Market. London: Henry S. King & Co 1873. 2nd edition. 8vo, viii, 360, 30 publisher's catalogue pp, Half-title. Some light spotting. Original cloth gilt lettering to spine and front board. Slightly thumbed at the ends of the spine. Original bottle green endpapers. Published in the same year as the first edition, and before the U.S. first edition. VG. Born in Langport Somersetshire, Walter Bagehot 1826-1877, was an important political analyst, economist, and editor of The Economist 1860-77 who, among other concerns, sought to bring a scientific analysis of the affairs of economics and politics. In this, his best-known work, he seeks to explain the nature of panics and business cycles, forecast tendencies, analyse market weaknesses and recommend actions for their cure on the basis that economic laws could indeed provide a guide to future events but only within the context of private property rights and the free movement of labour. £450 Click for Image

 

Bastiat,Frederic. Essays On Political Economy. I. Capital and Interest. II. That Which Is Seen, and that Which Is Not Seen. III. Government. What Is Money? IV. The Law.London: W. & F. G. Cash, 1853. FIRST ENGLISH EDITION.Pp. [iv], 48, 72, 56, 65, [i], 24 (publishers advertisements). Pp. [iv], 48, 72, 56, 65, [i], 24 (publishers advertisements). Very lightly foxed, original green blind-stamped publishers cloth, gilt lettering to spine. VG. Compilation of four economic pamphlets. Frederic, Bastiat (1801-1850) a French economist, statesman and author, worked in Paris during the 1848 revolution. As a deputy of the Legislative Assembly he was one of Europe's leading opponents of socialism, his logical analysis of the error of interventionist economic policies revealing a deeper philosophical understanding: 'Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place.' A very presentable collection of four of the most important papers in rational economic theory. £1200 Click for Image

 

Bastiat,Frederic. Harmonies of Political Economy. London: John Murray, 1860. Bastiat's most successful work unfinished at the time of his death; various editions appeared with additional chapters based on Bastiat's notes but the present English edition does not include these additional chapters as Stirling, the translator and author of the 'Life' which precedes the work, considers it more valuable 'in the exact shape in which the lamented author saw fit to present the book to his countrymen'. A good copy of one of the greatest books in the history of Political Economy. £1200 Click for Image

Bentley, Thomas Richard. A Few Cursory Remarks upon The State Parties, during The Administration of The Right Honourable Henry Addington, By a near Observer. London: J. Hatchard, 1803. Fourth Edition Corrected. 84 pages. VG. £40 Click for Image.

Bourasse, Abbe J.J. Translated by Lang, Andrew . The Miracles of Madame Katherine of Fierbois. London David Nutt 1897. Chicago; Way and Williams, First Edition no 210 of 300 on hand made paper reserved for distribution in London. Title tail piece and initials by Selwyn Image. Produced as a companion to the translator's Aucassin and Nicolette. VG. £130 Click for Image.

Captain Bowen. Statement of Facts, in Answer to Mrs. Gunning's Letter Addressed to His Grace the Duke of Argyll. London: J Debrett. Second Edition. 1792. 60 pages disbound, + advertisements. Good. Mrs. Susannah 'Minifie' Gunning [1740-1800], wife of *John Gunning, was a popular romantic novelist whose creative talents extended a little too far beyond the unsual constraints of fashion and even legality when she fabricated letters from the marquess of Blandford, heir of the Duke of Marlborough, to her daughter Elizabeth. According to the Dictionary of National Biography. "Elizabeth was rumoured to be engaged to her cousin the marquess of Lorne, heir to the duke of Argyll. By summer of 1790 rumours were rife of an even grander suitor for Elizabeth: the marquess of Blandford…doubts were cast on this story; letters from Blandford were produced, denied, then identified as forgeries. Either Elizabeth or her mother was generally supposed to have committed this grave (indeed, capital) offence in pursuit of a brilliant marriage...In February 1791 John Gunning, apparently in righteous anger, turned his wife and daughter out of his house… Susannah Gunning published an emotional but unspecific defence of her daughter and attack on her husband and his cousin Captain Essex Bowen, in the form of a letter to the duke of Argyll…Bowen retaliated in print."

[*John Gunning fought in the American Revolution, rising to the rank of general.] £50 Click for Image.

Bradford, Samuel. The Discourse Concerning Baptismal And Spiritual Regeneration. London: John Rivington, 1771. Fifth Edition. 46 Pages + Advertisements. VG. Disbound. £50 Click for Image.

 

John Bright Letter

Bright, John. ALS to the Reverend A C Wilson, 3 pages 12mo, 132 Piccadilly, 8 May 1878. Bright, John (1811-1889). Statesman. Discussing the possibility of peace, stating that he is sure that the country is against war, but that many politicians are taking a belligerant stance only to show their support for the government. £250

Bright advocated neutrality in the Russian-Turkish hostilities, in opposition to Disraeli's government, who wished to intervene. A 'pacificator' and advocate of free-trade, Bright was to oppose intervention in Egypt, denounce the Afghan war and plead for friendly relations with Russia. '... I do not think we shall have war - the risk is too great, & without an ally, except perhaps the Irish, Russia cannot be attacked with any success. ... In a better world, we may hope, there will be no division & no sects - only “one fold & one Shepherd”. ...' Click for Image

Brome, R. (Altered by Mr. Roome). The Jovial Crew. A Comic Opera. As It Is Acted at The Theatre Royal in Drury Lane And Covent Garden. 1780. 17 pages. VG. Disbound. £50 Click for Image

Brougham, Henry, Lord. Immediate Emancipation, the Speech of Lord in the House of Lords on Tues Feb 20th 1838 on Slavery and the Slave Trade. London: John Haddon.1838. 24pp, Printed for the Central Emancipation Committee. Blue paper wraps. Henry Peter, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778-1868), British political leader and Whig, born and educated at the University of Edinburgh. He helped to found the Edinburgh Review and defended Caroline of Brunswick in divorce proceedings brought against her by the government on behalf of her husband, King George IV. Elected to Parliament in 1810, Brougham became an effective advocate of liberal causes, such as the abolition of slavery and of the Corn Laws. He helped to found the University of London and the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. As lord chancellor (1830-34), Brougham was largely responsible for passage of the 1832 Reform Bill by the House of Lords. The brougham, a closed four-wheel carriage, is named after him. In this eloquent pamphlet he denounces the iniquitous and unprofitable practice of slavery as "not a trade, but a crime". £90 Click for Image

Brougham, Lord. Letter to the Queen on the State of the Monarchy. London: Henry Smith. 16 pages. Disbound loose first page. Possibly a fugitive article intended to discredit Brougham during the unpopular divorce proceedings brought against her, by the government, on behalf of her husband King George IV. £30 Click for Image

 

 

Mr Chetwood. The Lovers Opera. As It Is Acted at The Theatre Royal in Drury Lane And Covent Garden. London: Harrison And Co, 1781. 9 pages. VG. Disbound. £100 Click for Image.

Cholmondely-Pennell, H. Edited by His Grace the Duke of Beaufort Assisted by Alfred E.T. Watson. The Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes Fishing. Salmon and Trout. London: Longmans, Green, and Co 1885. This copy reserved by the publisher. Frontis by Charles Whymper, dedication to the Prince of Wales. Numerous illustrations. 472pp. VG. £125 Click for Image

 

 

Clarkson Emancipation Pamphlet

 

Ordained as a deacon in 1785, Clarkson [1760-1846] played a central role in changing the British public's perception of slavery. His An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species (1786) rapidly secured his reputation as a pioneer in the abolitionist movement, engaging the support of Fox, Burke and Pitt the Younger. One of the founders of the abolition society (1787) his personal intervention caused Wilberforce to take up the abolitionist cause in Parliament which subsequently passed a bill prohibiting the transportation of slaves in 1807, the same year as Clarkson's History of the Slave Trade. When the Anti-Slavery Society was founded (1823), to promote world-wide abolition, Clarkson was chosen as vice president.

Clarkson, Thomas. Thoughts on the Necessity of Improving the Condition of the Slaves in the British Colonies with a View to Their Ultimate Emancipation. And on the Practicability, the Safety, and the Advantages of the Latter Measure. London: J. Harchard and Son 1823. 2nd edn. (corrected); title & 1 leaf of prelims; 58pp. Preface and contents list. One leaf of booklist. Untrimmed and unopened. Printed for the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Aboliton of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions.
An important pamphlet in which Clarkson addresses the problem facing freed slaves. As the abolitionists gained the upper hand in their struggle against the advocates of the status quo, one major problem remained: the question of whether those brought up under the condition of slavery would be capable of providing for their own welfare once liberated. Clarkson approaches the issue directly, " self-interest is a leading principle with all who are brought into the world; and why is the Negro slave in our colonies to be denied this common feeling of our nature?" He then proceeds to describe seven specific cases in which emancipation led not to a general rebellion but the flourishing of independence and commerce, concluding thus: "The observations and the facts which we have now laid before the reader, form the groundwork of the [emancipation] argument." An uncompromising pamphlet, by turns, both logical and passionate.
VG. Rare uncut.. £450
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Clarkson, Thomas. Thoughts on the Necessity of Improving the Condition of the Slaves in the British Colonies with a View to Their Ultimate Emancipation. And on the Practicability, the Safety, and the Advantages of the Latter Measure. 19th reprint £25 Click for Image

 

Cobden, Richard. Speeches on questions of public policy by Richard Cobden M.P. Edited by John Bright and James E. Thorold Rogers. London, Macmillan and Co. 1870 Two vols..

" I shall perhaps leave a name which will sometimes be pronounced with expressions of goodwill by those whose lot in this world is to labour, who, in the sweat of their brow, eat their daily bread, and who may remember me when they renew their strength with food, at once abundant and untaxed, which will be better relished because no longer embittered by any feeling of injustice." Sir Robert Peel on Cobden's role in the repeal of the Corn Laws.

 

Rev. S. G. Dodd. Memorial of a Centenarian. A discourse delivered at the funeral of Mrs Anna Pope of Spencer, July 16, 1859. Boston: 1859. Thirty-page oration in the original gilt stamped wraps. Very good.
"One of the earliest recollections was that of sitting on the knee of a soldier returned from [the French and India] war and asking him if he had killed an Indian..."
"When speaking of the world famed destruction of an obnoxious article of import in Boston Harbour, I inquired, did you not feel sorry that so much of so costly substance was destroyed? Straightening herself up in her chair, and looking at me with earnest eyes, from week the spirit of Boston '76 shone, she replied, emphatically, bringing down her cane upon the floor, -- No, Sir! We had lost our appetites!". £75
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Free Communication with All Parts of the Empire Is Good:
Free Trade with All Parts of the World Is Still Better
A slogan of the Anti-Corn Law League.

Dunckley, Henry. The Charter of the Nations or, Free Trade and Its Results. An essay on the recent commercial policy of the United Kingodm to which The Council of the National Anti-Corn Law League awarded their first prize London: W. & F.G. Cash 1854. First Edition. Bookplate of the Anti Corn Law League. xx + 454pp + ads. booklist. Contemporary diced calf gilt. Some wear to extremities. Dunckley was a campaigning Lancashire journalist author of The Glory and Shame of Britain: an Analysis of the Living Conditions of the Working-Class. In this prize-winning book he makes the case for free trade. £95. Click for Image

 

The History of the Bucaniers of America

Exquemelin, Alexandre Olivier. The History of the Bucaniers of America. 3 parts in 1, 15 folding engraved maps, portraits and plates [25], 9 engraved maps in text only (of 10), most full-page, woodcut illustrations, browned and stained, cropped with slight loss to caption of one folding plate, another plate torn and repaired, some marginal defects, Charles Dickens's copy with his bookplate and label of Gadshill Place library, contemporary red morocco, gilt, g.e., spine gilt, [Wing E3899; Sabin 23483], 8vo, for Tho.Newborough, John Nicholson and Benj.Tooke, 1699. 25 copper plates. Click for Image

Fischel, Eduard. The Duke of Coburg's Pamphlet on Russia. Despots As Revolutionists. London Robert Hardwicke, 1860. Second Edition. 31 Pages.VG. Disbound. £150.00. Click for Image.

Fox, Charles James. A Letter from the Right Honourable Charles James Fox to the Worthy And Independent Electors Of the City And Liberty Of Westminster. London: J. Debrett, 1793. Sixteenth edition. 43 pages + 5 pages of advertisements. Good, disbound.
In which Fox seeks to explain his House Of Commons address calling for parliamentary amendments against the peremptory deployment of militias in the light of the threat of insurrection resulting from " French opinion" Robespierre had just guillotined Louis XVI " a revolting act of cruelty and injustice." The pamphlet is an explanation of his support for high-level ministerial contact with the French Revolutionary Government, where Fox rebuts comparison between the American War of Independence, which he supported at the cost of his early political career being "of the opinion that a gratuitous and preliminary acknowledgement of [American ] independence was most consonant to the principle of magnanimity and policy...". £50.00.
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The Conduct Of the American War

Galloway, Joseph. A View Of the Evidence Relative to the Conduct Of the American War under Sir William Howe Lord Viscount Howe, And General Burgoyne; As Given before a Committee Of the House Of Commons Last Session Of Parliament. To Which Is Added a Collection Of the Celebrated Fugitive Pieces That Are Said to Have Given Rise to That Important Inquiry. London: Richardson and Urquhart. 1779. 154 pages. First issue of the Second Edition and the first to feature the Fugitive Pieces. A fascinating and highly detailed account of the American War of Independence giving details of troops strengths, estimates of the proportion of the population remaining loyal to the Crown, accounts of many of the most important battles thus far, including Bunker Hill, battle losses etc... (Coming soon.) Click for Image.

Gay, John. The Shepherd's Week. In Six Pastorals. London: J. and R. Tonson, 5th edition, 1742. Illustrated with seven engravings including frontispiece and index. 60 pages, disbound. A VG copy disbound. £50 Click for Image.

 

Gordon, Thomas. Translator. The Works of Sallust. Translated into English with political discourses upon the author, to Which is Added a translation of Cicero's Four Orations Against Catiline" London: Printed for T. Woodward & J. Peele, 1744. 550pp. Xvi ded, xviii intro. 202; xiv ded. 336 + [x] index. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. The Works of Sallust dedicated "To His Royal Highness, The Duke of Cumberland" Cicero's Four Orations Against Catiline dedicated to the Duke of Kingston. Full leather 5 raised bands, internally bright with no noticeable foxing. £500 Click for Image.

Hare, Francis. The Negotiations for a Treaty of Peace From The Breaking of Other Conferences at The Hague to The End of Those at Gertruydenberg Considered in A Fourth Letter to a Tory Member. Part II. London: A. Baldwin, 1711. 72 p. plus two pages of advertisements. First edition. VG, disbound. £70 Click for Image

Hare, Francis. The Allies And The Late Ministry Defended against France, And The Present Friends of France. In Answer to a Pamphlet, Entitled, The Conduct of The Allies. London: A. Baldwin, 1711. 46 pp. good, disbound. £50 Click for Image.

Mr Henley. Apotheosis: a Funeral Oration Sacred to The Memory of The Most Noble John, Duke of Marlborough. Edinburgh: Charles Dallas, 1722. 12 p. pamphlet. Good. Disbound. £50 Click for Image.

Hervey, Thomas. A Letter From The Honourable Thomas Hervey, to Sir Thomas Hanmer, Bart. London: J. H. 60 p. pamphlet. VG, disbound. £40 Click for Image.

 

Les Miserables- Signed by Hugo

Hugo, Victor. Les Miserables. Bruxelles: A. Lacroix, Verboeckhoven & Ce., 1862. Ten volumes bound in quarter leather 19th c. cloth. First Edition in book form. Hugo's inscription bearing his sgnature and address at Hautville House: "Those who give to the poor, lend to God" bound in. Excllent condition. This Belgian edition would have been published a few days before the French. Complete with full set of half-titles. Carteret Romantic I, 421; Clouzot 91-92; Vicar IV, 328. Click for Image. Click for Image Click for Image Click for Image Click for Image. Click for Image.

 

 

 

 

Hugo, Victor. Ninety-three. Harpers & Co. First US Edition 1874. Click for Image Click for Image. Click for Image Click for Image Click for Image SOLD

Hugo, Victor. The Toilers of the Sea. London and New York: George Routledge and Sons, 1888. Illustrated by Chifflart, D. Vierge and Victor Hugo with 150 plates. First thus. 2 volumes. Original olive-green cloth and pasted paper labels . Very good. Light foxing to prelims and endpapers. Internally clean and free from foxing. SOLD Click for Image.

Hugo, Victor. William Shakespeare quarter leather. Click for Image

Hume, Fergus. The Mystery of Landy Court. London: Jarrold & Sons, 1894. Second edition . 214pp+ ads. pink cloth gilt, spine sunned Previous Owner Inscription.VG. £25 Click for Image

Jewitt, Llewellynn . The Reliquary. A Depository for Precious Relics - Legendary Biographical and Historical, Illustrative of the Habits Customs and Pursuits of our Forefathers. London, John Russell Smith 1861. 34 vols. RARE.Morocco boards and half calf, marbled endpapers.
Many plates and illustrations, hundreds of text and wood engravings. Articles on a wide variety of topics including runes, Shaddingfield Lodge Great Yarmouth and Brynygynog N. Wales, Elduir by Jacob Thompson, Burnham Beaches, Horn tenures, The Market House Winster, Green Dale oak, Melbourne Church Derbyshire, Borrowdale Grange, the Garden at Melbourne Hall, Pinxton China works Debdale Derbyshire, Monk Bretton Priory Yorkshire, Mother Shipton, Anglo-Saxon crosses, the Old Skin House Horton Yorkshire, Horton Old Hall Yorks, Porch of Adel Church, a Ramble in London.1750 Naval List of James I, The Battle of the Boyne, Kirkstall Abbey, Expenditure of the House of Commons 1701 [126 pounds], Devils Arrows a stone monument at Borrow Bridge, Lever family diary, King Johns Palace, Great Plumstead Church Norfolk, Heddon Churc, Columbus, Hindolvestone Church Norfolk, Meteorolgy by Merle 1337 etc., etc.. £1500
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James, Henry. Terminations. London: Heinemann 1895. Turquoise cloth embossed with irises on the front panel and again on spine with author and publisher. 260 + ads . Includes The Death of the Nile, the Coxon, the Middle Years, and the Altar of the Dead. First appearance in book form (precedes the American edition) the first two tales originally appearing in The Yellow Book, The Middle Years originally appearing in Scribners Magazine. VG. £95 Click for Image.

Lediard, Thomas. The Naval History of England, in all its Branches; from the Norman Conquest in the Year 1066 to the Conclusion of 1734, 2 vols. in one, first edition, London John Wilcox & Oliver Payne 1735. Engraved frontispiece to vol. 1 contemporary calf. £500. Click for Image

 

Logan, James (?1794-1872). The Clans of the Scottish Highlands, Illustrated by appropriate Figures, Displaying their Dress, Tartans, Arms, Armorial Insignia, and Social Occupations. London: Willis and Sotheran, 1857. 2° (365 x 260mm). From the library of Edward Joicey, Whinney House. 2 plates of the clans printed in colours and gold, 72 hand-coloured lithographed plates after Robert Ronald Mc Ian. (Some very light mainly marginal spotting.) Contemporary red morocco, elaborately decorated in gilt. £6000. Click for Image.

Lyttleton, George Lord. Considerations upon The Present State of a Affairs at Home And Abroad. In a Letter to a Member of Parliament From a Friend in The Country. London: T. Cooper. Second Edition. 67 p. pamphlet. VG, disbound. £25 Click for Image.

Maccarthy, Conner. The Game Laws of Ireland with the Irish Game Statutes Codified and Notes on Reported Cases. Dublin: Figgis, 1891. Second edition enlarged and Carefully Revised. Green Cloth. 207pp. VG £100 Click for Image.

 

Menzel, Wolfgang. Europe in MDCCXL [1840]. Translated from the German of Wolfgang Menzel. Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1841 8vo., viii + (4) + 240pp., with the half-title, final leaf bound in back to front, original blind-stamped cloth, lettered in gilt on spine. A good uncut copy exlib Signet Library (in Edinburgh) with ownership marks on front pastedown and upper cover. First edition in English. RARE. £250 Click for Image

Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty. London: John W. Parker, 1859. First Edition. 8vo. pp. 207, [1]. original blind-stamped cloth, spine ends frayed, a very good copy).
A rare first edition of Mill's most important book, and one of the most famous books of the English Enlightenment. Mill's Principles of Political Economy, (1848) marked the theoretical end of British laissez-faire through his assault upon the wages-fund doctrine essential to the productivity theory of wages. From this point onwards, England's adoption of Socialist theory ensured her political and economic decline. Rare in original blind-stamped cloth. £1600
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O'Brien, Augustus Stafford. ( Edited by A. S. O'B., afterwards Augustus Stafford.) The Battle for Native Industry. The Debate upon the Corn Laws the Corn Importation and Customs' Duties and Bills and the Other Financial Measures of the Government in Session 1846. London: George Woodfall and Son 1846. 2 Vols pp 728, 790. Original green cloth paper spine labels. Printed for the Office of the Society for the Protection of Agriculture and British Industry. "The events to which the following pages refer must occupy too important a place in the history of our country to need recapitulation here. These volumes are merely reprints from HANSARD and are therefore of unquestionable accuracy and impartiality - they contain the whole of the debates in both houses of parliament on the principle and details of protection of agriculture and British industry. The antagonist principle of buying in cheap and selling in the dearest market, is already extending itself to the encouregement of slavery and to the risk of our West Indian colonies and will soon be found as disastrous to the welfare, as the means of its triumph were repugnant to the character of this honest and generous nation."
Corners bumped George Woodfall and Son 1846. 2 Vols 728 pp , 790 pp . Original green cloth, paper spine labels (chipped) £59
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Oldfield, Anne. Memoirs of the life of Mrs. Anne Oldfield. London: 1741.
86 page biography of one of the most celebrated comedy actress of the English theatre. Born in 1683 in Pall Mall, she first appeared on stage as Candiope in Dryden's Secret Love: or The Maiden Queen, before making her mark with the role of Betty Modish and embarking upon several love affairs including one with the Duke of Devonshire. Buried in Westminster Abbey, Anne Oldfield 1683-1730 - she did it her way. VG modern paperwraps disbound. £75
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Old Tom of Oxford. A verse-satire on Alderman Matthew Wood and Queen Caroline. Solomon Logwood, a Radical Tale. By Old Tom of Oxford. London: W. Wright, 1820, Second Edition. Frontispiece + illustrated title. 40 pages, disbound. Good. Uncommon verse atire on Queen Caroline and Alderman Matthew Wood . The author was perhaps the famous writer and hoaxer Theodore Hook (1788-1841), perpetrator of the celebrated Berners Street Hoax and editor of the John Bull, established in late 1820 to counteract the popular enthusiasm for Caroline. Hook resided albeit briefly at Oxford, at St Mary Hall. £35 Click for Image. .

Paine, Thomas. Common Sense: addressed to the inhabitants of America, on the following interesting subjects: I. Of the origin and design of government in general, with concise remarks on the English Constitution. I I. Of monarchy and hereditary succession. I I I. Thoughts on the present state of American affairs. I V. of the present state of America, with some miscellaneous reflections. A New Edition, with several additions including an Appendix and Addresse to the Quakers. London 1792. Very good. Recent paperwraps.
"The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. Many circumstances hath, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, and through which principles all lovers of mankind are affected, and in the event of which their affections are interested. The laying of the country desolate with fire and sword, declaring war against the natural rights of all mankind, and extirpating the defenders thereof from the face of the Earth, is the concern of every man to whom nature has given the power of feeling; of which class, regardless of party censure, is the AUTHOR."
This edition also contains the Appendix (a rebuttal to Sir John Dalrymple's "The Address of the People of England to the Inhabitants of America", and Paine's answer to Quaker pacificism contained in "The Ancient Testimony and Principles of the People Called Quakers Renewed, with Respect of King and Government, and Touching the Commotions now Prevailing in These and other Parts of America, Addressed to the People in General", not included in the first edition. £92
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Paine, Thomas. Letter Addressed to the Addressors of the Late Proclamation. London 1792. Very good. Recent paperwraps.
"Could I have commanded circumstances with a wish, I know not of any that would have more generally promoted the progress of knowledge, than the late proclamation, and the numerous rotten Borough and Corporation addresses thereon. They have not only served as advertisements, but they have excited the spirit of inquiry into principles of government and a desire to read the RIGHTS OF MAN, in places, where that spirit and that work were before unknown."
An answer to the proclamation of Stormont and Grenville in the Morning Chronicle 1st February 1791 confirming their support for the English Constitution (or in Paine's view their support for "sinecure" and nominal placement).
The proclamation was prompted in large part by the publication of The Rights Of Man. Without referring to Paine directly they sought to undermine Republican tendencies.
"It is a dangerous attempt in any government to say to a nation, thou shall not read. This is now done in Spain, and was formerly done under the old government of France; but served to procure the downfall of the latter, and is subverting that of the former; and it will have the same tendency in all countries; because thought, by some means or other, is got abroad in the world, and cannot be restrained, though reading may."
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Phillpotts, Rev. Henry. A Letter to The Right Honourable George Canning, on The Bill of 1825, for Removing The Disqualifications of His Majesty's Roman Catholic Subjects, And on His Speech in Support of The Same. London: John Murray, 1827. 167 pp. VG, disbound. £85. Click for Image.

Prynne, William. The Soveraigne Power of Parliaments and Kingdomes. 1 vol 4 parts, including appendix. London: Michael Sparke Senior, 1643. [Coming soon].

 

Ralfe, James. The Naval Chronology of Great Britain; or, An Historical Account of Naval and Maritime Events, from the commencement of the war in 1803, to the end of the year 1816 ..., 3 vols., Whitmore and Fenn, London 1820. First edition. Sixty uncoloured aquatint plates., by Sutherland, Havell, and others, List of Subscribers to first vol., title page to first vol. with small chip to extreme fore-edge, list of plates to rear of third vol., all edges gilt recent quarter dark blue morocco gilt dec, with old endpapers bound in at front of each volume. £3,500. Click for Image

 

 

Rand, Ayn. We The Living. New York. Macmillan. 1936. First Edition.

Rand, Ayn. We The Living. London; Cassell. 1936. First Edition.Ayn Rand. We, The Living. London, Cassell. Rare unrevised edition. November1940 7th. Edition. 553pp. All edges cut. VG navy-blue cloth. A very good tight bright copy, slightly rubbed, largely free of foxing.

THE author of this novel is a young Russian who has lived under the Soviets. With a mastery of the English language rare in a foreigner, she has written a vivid story of Bolshevik Russia. Objectively and dispassionately, without once imposing any preconceived ideas on the reader, she has recorded a panorama of what she herself has seen. It is up to the reader to draw his own conclusions.
Her book is a story of men and women and politics—real politics, the inexorable politics of day succeeding day, of work and hunger, of banners and slogans that bedeck reality and are interposed between a man and his own life, transforming each individual into a fragment of the masses.
We the Living is the story of Kira Argounova and the two men who loved her — Leo, an aristocrat, and Andrei, an ardent member of "the Party." It is the story of three human beings whose very lives are shaped and determined by the background against which they move.

A rare unrevised edition containing the original text omitted from all later US and UK editions:

Kira speaking to Andrei: "I loathe your ideals. I admire your methods. If one believes one's right, one shouldn't wait to convince millions of fools, one might just as well force them. Except that I don't know, however, whether I'd include blood in my methods."
"Why not? Anyone can sacrifice his own life for an idea. How many know the devotion that makes you capable of sacrificing other lives? Horrible, isn't it?"
"Not at all. Admirable. If you're right. But are you right?"

"Don't you know," he asked, "that we can't sacrifice millions for the sake of the few?"
"You can! You must. When those few are the best. Deny the best its right to the top-and you have no best left. What are your masses but mud to be ground underfoot, fuel to be burned for those who deserve it? What is the people but millions of puny, shriveled, helpless souls that have no thoughts of their own, no will of their own, who eat and sleep and chew helplessly the words others put into their mildewed brains? And for those you would sacrifice the few who know life, who are life?"
"I don't want to fight for the people, I don't want to fight against the people, I don't want to hear of the people. I want to be left alone-to live."

 

Rand, Ayn. We The Living. 60th Anniversary Edition. New York: Dutton,1995. First Dutton Printing, December, 1995. With an introduction by Leonard Peikoff. As new. Click for Image.

Rand, Ayn. Anthem. London Cassell, 1938. First edition. Small octavo. 147 pp. Aperiodic patterned mottled red mottled cloth with gilt spine and original black endpapers. London Cassell 1938. First edition. 147 pp. All edges cut, top edge stained black, original black endpapers/pastedowns. Spine gold stamped. Dustwrapper four reviews on each fold, 6s net to spine, 4s/6d sticker. One of 3500 issued in two states, the second stating Colonial edition printed on the front flap. This copy is the first state. RARE NRF/VG. £5000. Click for Image.

Rand, Ayn. Anthem. London Cassell, 1938. First edition. Small octavo. 147 pp. Aperiodic patterned mottled red mottled cloth with gilt spine and original black endpapers. Slight foxing to preliminary pages else NRF. £1000. Click for Image.

Rand, Ayn. Anthem. London Cassell, 1938. First edition. Small octavo. 147 pp. Aperiodic patterned mottled red mottled cloth with gilt spine and original black endpapers. Bookplate and repaied tear to first 4 pages. VG. £500. Click for Image.

Rand, Ayn Anthem. 50th. Anniversary Edition. New York August 1995. First thus. With a new introduction by Leonard Peikoff, and an appendix. As new. One of the most intriguing editions of Anthem featuring the full text plus a facsimile manuscript of the original English edition in full, with extensive hand-written corrections by the author for the first American edition. Click for Image

Rand, Ayn. Fountainhead. Cassell, London, 1947. First U.K Edition. 8vo, pp. 644. Original black cloth, titles and decoration to spine in gilt. NRF/NRF. £800. Click for Image.

Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. New York: Random House, 1967 Tenth Anniversary Edition. New York: Random House, 1967 Tenth Anniversary Edition; no 56 of 2000 numbered copies, signed by Rand. A fine copy with the original RARE glassine wrapper in a lightly marked else fine publisher's slipcase. The finest complete copy we have seen. £2500 Click for Image.

Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. New York: Random House, 1957. First Edition. New York: Random House, 1957. Hardcover in dustjacket, with original price of $6.95 and "10/5" on the inside flap. NRF/NRF in MINT clamshell box. £950. Click for Image.

Ayn Rand’s seminal dystopian novel set in an unspecified time when, unlikely as it seems, an ever-expanding US government is attempting to emulate the beneficent example of the Franco-German Sozialstaat and recreate the unending bliss that we have come to expect from the joyous welfarism of our own state-sanctioned earthly paradise. As the novel opens, the beautiful Dagny Taggart, executive of the railroad company Taggart Transcontinental, is struggling to keep her company afloat in the face of an archetypal encircling movement lead by power-lusting bureaucrats and graft-seeking businessmen. Assisted in her travails by the redoubtable steel magnate Hank Reardon, she battles against the ‘unforeseen’ consequences of collectivist politics and disastrous trade regulations until she finally uncovers the secret connection between the disappearance of the country’s most capable businessmen and the clandestine activities of the mysterious John Galt. Who is John Galt? - read this book and find out for yourself. Considered by many discerning readers to be the greatest novel of the 20th century this book has never been published in hardback by a UK publisher. "Atlas Shrugged was the climax and completion of the goal I had set for myself at the age of nine. It expressed everything that I wanted of fiction writing." -Ayn Rand

Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. New York: Random House, 1957. First Edition. New York: Random House, 1957. Hardcover in dustjacket, with original price of $6.95 and "10/5" on the inside flap. VG/VG moderately restoed dustwrapper, in MINT clamshell box. £750. Click for Image.

Conforms to all point references of the first ed.. 2nd. printing. NY, Random House. 1957. Green cloth. Spine rubbed and faded worn through at the foot, front panel watermarked, previous owner bookplate, small half inch tears to front end paper hinges, internally, a tight, clean book, pdf supplied for readers with impaired eyesight.


Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. New York: Random House, 1957. First Edition, second printing. New York: Random House, 1957. Hardcover in facsimile dustjacket, conforms to all first edition points.Spine rubbed and faded worn through at the foot, front panel watermarked, previous owner bookplate, 1cm. tears to front endpaper hinges, internally, a tight, clean book, pdf supplied for the visually impaired. G. £65
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Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. New York: Random House, 1957. First Edition, third printing. New York: Random House, 1957. Hardcover in facsimile dustjacket, conforms to all first edition points. Previous owner name to endpapapers tear, to front lower edge slightly bumped rear panel, internally clean, bright, tight and free of foxing, pdf supplied for the visually impaired. G. £65 Click for Image.

Rand, Ayn. For the New Intellectual. New York: Random House 1961. First edition. VG/NRF. Signed by the author. £800.

Rand, Ayn. Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. New York, the New American Library. (1962) . Octavo, 309 pp. 1 of 700 signed by the author. NRF in NRF slipcase. £900. Click for Image.

Rostand, Edmond. Cyrano de Bergerac. London: Heinemann 1898. NRF. A beautiful copy. Uncommon. £500. Click for Image

Say, Jean-Baptiste. Catechisme d'Economie Politique ou Instruction Familiere qui Montre de quelle Facon les Richesses sont Produites, Distribuees et Consommees dans la Societie. Paris et Londres, Bossange 1821. Second Edition. VIII (1) 264pp.Paperwraps,uncut slight sporadic foxing,page edges worn. £350. Click for Image

Algernon Sidney Whig Martyr

Sidney, Algernon. The Very Copy of a Paper Delivered to the Sheriffs, upon the Scaffold on Tower-hill on Friday Decemb. 7. 1683. By Algernoon Sydney, Esq; before his execution there. London, for R.H.J.B. and J.R. 1683 First edition, folio, drop head title, 3 (1) pp., disbound. Wing S3766. £250 SOLD Click for Image.

Stevenson, Francis Seymour. 'Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln; A contribution to the Religious, Political and Intellectual History of the Thirteenth Century.' London: Macmillan, 1899 . VG. £75. Click for Image.

Stoddart, John. Picturesque Views in Scotland. 33 hand-coloured aquatints on card with grey wash border, some marginal soiling and staining, loose as issued in original board portfolio, silk ties, printed label on upper cover, rebacked in leather, rubbed. London : Published by W. Miller, Old Bond Street, 1801. [Abbey, Scenery 484. c.1801]. Aquatints by Stoddart, John, 1773-1856, Merigot, J., engraver. Girtin, Thomas, 1775-1802, ill. Nattes, John Claude, 1765?-1822, ill.Williams, Hugh William, 1773-1829, ill. Wilson, Andrew, 1780-1848, ill.
Rare series of views. No British Library holdings. £3500
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Stronach, George. New Gleanings From Gladstone, Illustrated. London: William Blackwood and Sons circa 1859. Satirical pamphlet featuring mocking doggerel and 14 illustrations charting the somewhat pragmatic politician whose career is nicely summed up in the preface: "Did ever any public man perform so many parts in so short a time? It was said, indeed, of one much less estimable, that he, "in the course of one revolving moon, was chymist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon." VG modern paperwraps. £20 Click for Image.

Swift, Theophilus. Letter to The King; in Which The Conduct of Mr Lenox And The Minister, in The Affair with His Royal Highness The Duke of York, Is Fully Considered. London: James Ridgway, 1789. 40 p. pamphlet. VG, disbound. £50 Click for Image.

 

Tickell, Richard. Anticipation: Containing The Substance of His Majesty's Most Gracious Speech to Both Houses of Parliament on The Opening of The Approaching Session, Together with a Full and Authentic Account of The Debate Which Will Take Place in The House of Commons on The Motion for The Address and The Amendment. London: T. Becket Sixth edition, 1778. 74 p. popular political satire dealing with the American War of Independence. Sort of 18th-century equivalent of "Yes Minister." VG, disbound. £70. Click for Image

 

Walpole, Robert. A Short History of The Parliament. London: T. Warner, 1713. 33 p. pamphlet. VG, modern paperwraps. £50 Click for Image

Wetherell, Charles. Speech of The Right Honourable Sir Charles Wetherell MP, His Majesty's Attorney General, in The House of Commons, on Wednesday 18th. March 1829, in The Adjourned Debate, on The Second Reading of The Roman Catholic Relief Bill. London R. Clay, 1829. 23 pages.VG. £30 Click for Image.

Woolston, Thomas. Origenis Adamantij Renati Epistola Ad Doctores Whitbeium Waterlandium, Whistonium. London: J. Roberts, 1720. 35 pages disbound, VG. Thomas Woolston (1669-1733), was an early deist who argued the case for an allegorical interpretation of the Bible and who used ridicule to assault religious authority. His outspokeness eventually earned him a year’s imprisonment and a fine of £100 for blasphemy having described Jesus as "a strolling fortune-teller" and "deceiver, imposter, and malefactor" for whom "no punishment could be too great" - see George H. Smith: Atheism, Ayn Rand, and Other Heresies. Being unable to pay this he remained in prison until his death four years later. £30 Click for Image.

Woolston, Thomas. Origenis Adamantij Epistola Secunda Ad Doctores Whitbeium. London: J. Roberts, 1720. 38 pages disbound, Origen, Saint Jerome.Thomas Woolston had been a fellow at Cambridge University, but he so mocked and ridiculed the scriptural miracles that he was sent to jail for blasphemy, where he died. He wrote hundreds of pages trying to show that Jesus never did the miracles the scriptures said he did, and said that Jesus’s miracles were "full of Absurditys, Improbabilities and Incredibilities." VG. £30 Click for Image.

Whig Historical Summary

Yates, Arthur C.. The Roll Call, a political record of the year 1775 to 1880. Manchester: Abel Heywood, 1880. Signed "with the author's compliments". Very good. "It is a great misfortune that the history of our own country that is nearest our own times young men are least acquainted with. It is not written in histories that are read in school and they are not old enough, as I am old enough, to remember almost every particular fact since the great Reform Bill of 1832. I wish you would read some history of the period."
68 page summary of political history from a liberal perspective:
"1775. -- in this year the Americans commenced that struggle for independence which ultimately led to their freedom from misrule and the formation of the present United States of America. During this unfortunate period Lord North was premier, receiving the support of the Tories, and the active opposition of the Whigs under Burke and Fox, in his disastrous method of treating what was formerly a truly loyal people." £30 .
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Zenger, John Peter. The Trial of John Peter Zenger of New York, Printer, Who Was Tried and Acquitted, for Printing and Publishing a Libel against the Government. With the Pleadings and Arguments on Both Sides. London: Printed for P. Brown, 1752. [4] , 74, [2] pp. Paperwraps, stamp of the Birmingham Law Society to title. Very good. A very rare and early English edition recording of one of the most important trials pertaining to jury nullification and the freedom of the press in the American colonies. £1250.

"PREFACE. AS some of our Readers may perhaps be unacquainted with the Form of Government in the Province of New-York, we must inform them, that in that Province, as well as most of the British Plantations in America, the Form of Government is the very same with that in England ; as it consists of a Governor, a Council, and an Assembly. The Governor is named by the King, and represents the Sovereign within the Province of which he is appointed Governor: The Council consists of a certain Number of Members, all of whom are named by the King, and resembles the House of Lords here in England, being for that Reason sometimes called the Upper-house of Assembly ; and the Assembly consists of a Number of Representatives chosen by the People in their several Parishes or Districts, resembling the House of Commons here in England, and for that Reason are often called the Lower-house of Assembly. These Three Branches of the Legislature have, within their Province, the same Powers and Privileges that the King, Lords and Commons have here at Home, and their Acts have the same Force, if not disapproved by his Majesty ; consequently a Resolution of either House of Assembly meets generally with the same Respect from the People within the Province, that a Resolution of either House of Parliament does here in England ; but in this Case of Zenger's, tho' the Council had by their Resolution declared the Papers published by him to be false, scandalous, malicious and seditious Libels, as the Jury upon his Trial were upon their Oaths, and thereby bound to deliver their own Opinion, and not that of the Council, they thought themselves obliged to acquit the Prisoner, by returning a Verdict, Not Guilty ; which is the Verdict every Jury-man is in Conscience bound to return, if he thinks that the Prisoner is not Guilty of the Crime charged in the Indictment or Information."

 

 

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