Michel de Montaigne (1533 – 1592) the father of Modern Skepticism, was the most influential writer of the French Renaissance. He is primarily known for the creation of the essay as a literary genre, and his effortless ability to merge serious intellectual speculation with casual anecdotes. His massive volume Essais contains to this day some of the most widely influential essays ever written.

Description: THE 1910 EMERSON EDITION of the The Works of Michel De Montaigne, COMPLETE IN TEN VOLUMES. An out of sequence copy in a LIMITED EDITION of 1050 printed copies. Translated by Charles Cotton. Revised with a preface by William Carew Hazlett. Introductory essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson. All ten volumes are bound in 1/4 blue leather and French paper. Each spine edge has five raised bands, decorated with 4 gilt fleurs-de-lis, and gilt title. Top edges gilt. Red & black lettering on title pages. Each volume has both a b&w tissue-guarded frontispiece and then a hand colored tissue-guarded color frontispiece of the same engraving following it. There are many additional b&w tissue-guarded illustrative plates throughout each volume. Some minor chipping to heads of volume 1 and 10. Some minor rubbing to edges and corners. The front board of volume 1 disbound, but present. Hinges weak but holding well. Text blocks clean and square.

Bookseller Inventory # 25080

$1250

The Works of Michel De Montaigne
Montaigne, Michel de; Emerson, Ralph Waldo

Publisher: Edwin C. Hill
Publication Date: 1910
Binding: 10 volumes bound in 1/4 Leather
Book Condition: Very Good
Edition: Limited Edition

· Category: Antiquarian & Leather Bound ·

Alexander Anderson has long been considered the father of wood engraving in America, being the first in this country to adopt the technique developed in England by Thomas Bewick. Wood engraving produces a finer image than the standard woodcut by working on the denser end-grain section of the wood. Anderson acknowledged his debt to Bewick in 1804 by creating an American edition of Bewick’s A General History of Quadrupeds (1790) with his own re-engraved blocks, adding “some American animals not hitherto described.” A General History of Quadrupeds was really the result of an increasing popular interest in natural history towards the end of the 18th century. Evidence of this interest can be seen by other notable publications at the time such as Gilbert Whiteís Natural History of Selborne (1789) and the wonderful works of Thomas Pennant, whose own General History of Quadrupeds in two volumes, illustrated with fine copper engravings, had first appeared in 1781.

Description: Hard bound in full leather. Stated “First American edition, with an appendix containing some American Animals not hitherto described”. Printed by G. & R Waite, No. 64, Maiden – Lane. 1804.  531 pages with hundreds of woodcuts by Anderson. Wear and deterioration to leather. Front board detached, but present. Missing front free end pages to title page. Minor foxing throughout. Head and tail chipped, with text block and binding tight. A scarce copy of a classic of natural history, and wood block illustration.

Bookseller Inventory # 24322

$650

A General History of Quadrupeds:
The Figures Engraved on Wood, Chiefly Copied from
the Original of T. Bewick, By A. Anderson
Anderson, A.

Publication Date: 1804
Binding: Hardcover
Book Condition: Fair
Edition: First American Edition

· Category: Antiquarian & Leather Bound ·

The Baron Von Ketteler was the German Ambassador to China in the late 1800′s, his murder set off the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. On on the 20th of June the conservative faction of the Imperial Court induced the Empress Dowager to declare war on the foreign powers in Beijing. Diplomats, foreign civilians, soldiers and some Chinese Christians retreated to the Legation Quarter where they held out for fifty-five days until the Eight-Nation Alliance brought 20,000 troops to their rescue. The Ketteler Monument was erected in everlasting commemoration of his name, and as an eternal token of the Emperor’s wrath, and as a warning to all!

Description: Original leather binding with gilt titles, raised bands & lovely marbled endpapers. Gold hand tooling to spine edge. Fold out engraved print pasted in. Text in French. An anecdotal overview of China, Japan, Siam, Tonkin, Burma, and Laos by the French author Jean Castillon (1718-1799). BOOKPLATE FROM THE BARONESS MAUD “MATILDA” VON KETTELER affixed to front fixed end page. Hinges tender but holding, wear to edges of boards with some loss of leather. Interior shows some minor foxing, otherwise very good.

Bookseller Inventory # 25400

$450

Anecdotes Chinoises
Castillon, Jean

Publisher: Chez Vincent, Paris
Publication Date: 1774
Binding: Hard Bound
Book Condition: Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket, As Issued
Edition: First Edition

· Category: Antiquarian & Leather Bound ·

Don Quixote is often cited as the best literary work ever written! The History Of The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote Of La Mancha is a novel written by Miguel de Cervantes, published in two volumes a decade apart, in 1605 and again in 1615. Don Quixote is considered the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature, and one of the earliest canonical novels, it regularly appears high on lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published.  At it’s core, it’s the tale of the adventures of the self-created knight-errant Don Quixote of La Mancha, along with his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, as they travel through sixteenth-century Spain.

Description: Library edition in complete in 4 volumes, in publishers matching box. Hard bound with original brown cloth with paper labels printed in red and black on the spines. No dust jackets, as issued. Un-trimmed page edges and gilt top stain. Richly illustrated throughout with 37 engravings designed and etched by Ad. Lalauze. A scarce edition edited by J.G. Lockhart who also wrote the included essay on the Life of Cervantes. Motteux, the translator, possesses a native humor which no other translator has yet approached. His translation is one of the most famous of the period. Wear to boards and spine labels. Interiors & engravings clean. Publishers box shows damage with cracks wear and several tears, still overall a good set of working copies with beautiful etchings.

Bookseller Inventory# 28859

$125

The History Of The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote Of La Mancha
Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de

Publisher: John Grant, Edinburgh
Publication Date: 1908
Binding: Hard Cover
Illustrator: Lalauze
Book Condition:  Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Dust Jacket, as issued

· Category: Antiquarian & Leather Bound ·

Count Vittorio Alfieri (1749–1803) was an Italian dramatist, considered by many to be the founder of modern Italian drama. His successors have regarded his bold, austere and rapid manner as the genuine model of tragic composition. Alfieri was a fervent adversary of political tyranny. His defense of freedom, the keystone of all his works, made him the idol of Italian patriots. Many see Alfieri as the inspiration for the great Italian independence movement, Risorgimento.

Description: Complete in 6 volumes (1820 & 1821) illustrated with an engraved frontispiece, one to each volume. The complete tragedies of the father of Italian drama. Lovely leather bindings, signed & stamped “J. Wright, 1853″. Marbled boards & end pages. Raised bands & gilt details on spine edges. Some wear to the leather with several hinges tender but holding. Overall very nice set that presents well.

Bookseller Inventory #

$450

Tragedie Di Vittorio Alfieri
Alfieri, Vittorio

Publisher: Presso Leonardo Ciardetti
Binding: Hard Bound
Book Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket, As Issued

· Category: Antiquarian & Leather Bound ·