B A U M A N R A R E B O O K S Holiday 2022
BaumanRareBooks.com 1-800-97-bauman (1-800-972-2862) or 212-751-0011 [email protected] all books are shipped on approval and are fully guaranteed. Any items may be returned within ten days for any reason (please notify us before returning). All reimbursements are limited to original purchase price. We accept all major credit cards. Shipping and insurance charges are additional. Packages will be shipped by UPS or Federal Express unless another carrier is requested. Next-day or second-day air service is available upon request. New York 535 Madison Avenue (Between 54th & 55th Streets) New York, NY 10022 800-972-2862 or 212-751-0011 Mon-Sat: 10am to 6pm and by appointment Las Vegas Grand Canal Shoppes The Venetian | The Palazzo 3327 Las Vegas Blvd., South, Suite 2856 Las Vegas, NV 89109 888-982-2862 or 702-948-1617 Daily: 10am to 9pm Philadelphia 1608 Walnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19103 215-546-6466 | (fax) 215-546-9064 by appointment www.baumanrarebooks.com twitter.com/baumanrarebooks facebook.com/baumanrarebooks Cover image: Item no. 64. On this page: Item no. 73.
Table of Contents Select Items: Page 4 Literature: Page 14 Travel & Exploration: Page 71 Art & Architecture: Page 66 Religion & Philosophy: Page 88 History: Page 78 2 11 48 73 65 80 Americana: Page 44 Science & Medicine: Page 95 85 97
Select Items Holiday 2022 - 4 - “I Have Long Earnestly Wished For A New Edition Of The Origin In The United States”: Exceptionally Rare 1869 Four-Page Autograph Letter Written And Signed By Charles Darwin Concerning D. Appleton’s Publication Of The Second American Edition Of Origin Of Species And The Future Publication Of His Descent Of Man, Accompanied By The Second American Edition Of Origin Of Species 1. DARWIN, Charles. Autograph letter signed. WITH: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life. Kent, United Kingdom and New York, 1869-70. Single sheet of unlined paper, measuring 5 by 8 inches folded; pp. 4, custom cloth portfolio. WITH: Octavo, original purple cloth, custom clamshell box. $125,000. Very rare and desirable signed autograph letter from Charles Darwin to American publisher D. Appleton’s London agent, Charles Layton, agreeing to a second American edition of the Origin of Species, with a slightly raised price, but requiring that Appleton also commit to an American edition of The Descent of Man. Accompanied by the second American edition of Origin of Species in original cloth. According to the Darwin Correspondent Project at Cambridge, the recipient of this letter was Charles Layton, the American publisher D. Appleton’s London agent. This letter refers to details regarding the publication of a new American edition of the Origin of Species. Darwin begins by clarifying that the proposal was for a stereotyped American edition as Darwin had been resistant to stereotyping his work in England. Darwin may have seen the first U.S. edition, published in 1860 from stereotypes of the British second edition. That would have made him aware of the decline in quality compared to conventional typesetting. In England, Darwin still wanted the best printing possible, while the overseas printing was of slightly less concern. In letter dated April 1869, Darwin had, in fact, approached Orange, Judd, & Co., who published the American version of Variation, about publishing a new American edition of the Origin. Here, however, Darwin only mentions potential correspondence with Asa Gray, a Harvard botanist with whom Darwin exchanged hundreds of letters. Darwin’s fame in America largely rested on Gray’s positive review of Origin in The Atlantic and his subsequent pro-evolution debates with zoologist Louis Agassiz, which Gray won handily. Darwin’s decision to mention Gray here was likely meant to emphasize Darwin’s influence in the American scientific community and to underline the scientific prominence of Darwin’s American supporters. This letter indicates Darwin’s willingness to go along with Appleton Select Items
Select Items - 5 - Bauman Rare Books publication proposal despite that inquiry, for both this work and for his upcoming book, The Descent of Man. The Murray notice that Darwin refers to was an advance advertisement for Descent published in October of 1869. Descent, delayed as Darwin indicates, was not actually published until early in 1871. Appleton managed to publish the second U.S. edition, based on a corrected and expanded version of the fifth English edition, by 1870, before their publication of Descent in 1871. Darwin kept a proprietorial hand on all of his work: other editions were also receiving tweaks at the same time he was considering the Appleton proposal. For instance, Darwin mentions sending several corrections to the fifth English edition of Origin to improve its upcoming publication in French and German. This letter is accompanied by the second American edition of On the Origin of Species, the subject of the letter. “This, the most important single work in science, brought man to his true place in nature” (Heralds of Science 199). Darwin “was intent upon carrying Lyell’s demonstration of the uniformity of natural causes over into the organic world… In accomplishing this Darwin not only drew an entirely new picture of the workings of organic nature; he revolutionized our methods of thinking and our outlook on the natural order of things. The recognition that constant change is the order of the universe had been finally established and a vast step forward in the uniformity of nature had been taken” (PMM 344). Excerpts of this letter were published in Darwin’s Correspondence, Volume 17. The book is labeled “Fifth Edition, With Additions And Corrections” on the title page, alluding to the fifth British edition as explained above. The first American edition was published in 1860, using the British text, and was subsequently revised over a number of printings not technically considered editions. Thus, this publication is generally known as the second American edition. Contemporary owner signature and owner stamps (including on half title and title page) of author and Egyptologist Orlando P. Schmidt, later Smith. Tiny marginal chip to corner, original mailing creases to about-fine letter. Book extremely good, with toning to cloth and wear to spine ends. Fascinating and highly desirable.
Select Items Holiday 2022 - 6 - “One Of The Finest Ornithological Works Ever Printed”: Audubon’s Birds Of America, Royal Octavo Edition With 500 Hand-Colored Plates 2. AUDUBON, John James. The Birds of America. New York, 1856-57. Seven volumes. Royal octavo, publisher’s full blind-stamped brown morocco. $58,500. Second octavo edition of this ornithology and illustration landmark, the first edition with fully colored backgrounds, containing 500 superb hand-colored plates. One of the most spectacular series of ornithological prints ever produced and a landmark attempt to document the birds of North America. This edition is identical to the first octavo edition, printed in 1840-44, except that the prints have tinted lithographic-wash backgrounds. The royal octavo edition, which Audubon referred to as the “petit edition,” contained new species of birds and plants not included in the folio edition, with the birds grouped in an orderly scientific manner. “The Birds of America exemplifies man’s ability to accomplish an almost impossible task through sacrifice and persistence. Audubon set out to paint and publish an example of every bird on the North American continent…He was the first artist-naturalist to illustrate American birds, life-size, in natural poses; the backgrounds, or habitats, are more natural looking than those of his predecessors” (Handbook of Audubon Prints, 17-18). “The most splendid book ever produced in relation to America, and certainly one of the finest ornithological works ever printed” (Great Books and Book Collectors, 21013). Without half titles in last two volumes. Nissen IVB 52. Sabin 2364. Bookplates, early gift inscriptions. Some foxing to text, as often, plates bright and lovely, with only occasional instances of very faint foxing, a few volumes with expert repairs to text blocks and inner hinges. A beautiful set.
Select Items - 7 - Bauman Rare Books First Edition Of Beyer’s Splendid Album Of Virginia, 1858, With 40 Large Folio Tinted Lithographic Plates 3. (VIRGINIA) BEYER, Edward. Album of Virginia. Richmond, 1858. Large oblong folio, period-style three-quarter calf gilt. $45,000. First edition of one of the greatest American view books of the 19th century, with beautiful lithographic vignette title page and 40 extraordinary tinted lithographic plates of Virginia, handsomely bound. This copy from the prominent Wickham family of Virginia, with the contemporary owner signature ofWilliamFanningWickham. When distinguished German artist Edward Beyer visited the United Stated in the early 1850s, he was quick to recognize the almost unparalleled beauty of Virginia and it was there that he concentrated his work. The extraordinary tinted lithographic views depict stunning natural scenes, Harpers Ferry, White Sulphur Springs, railroad bridges and tunnels, views in Weyer’s Cave, and scenes at many of the fashionable resorts. “He was taken by the beauty of the Virginia landscape, particularly by the elegant settings of some of the region’s watering places… There was probably no Virginia county that Beyer left unvisited in his zeal to present what is, in fact, an affectionate family album of an entire state” (Deák, 721). “The 40 very beautiful scenic plates which adorn this famous book were actually made in Dresden and Berlin. This is a major outstanding item, the rarity of which is by no means fully appreciated” (Bennett). Originally issued in five parts; the titles/contents from the original paper wrappers of each part have been clipped and mounted to the front pastedown in this copy. Howes B413b. Sabin 5125. Original owner signature of William Fanning Wickham, Hanover Co., Virginia, dated 1859, on title page. Wickham [1793-1880] owned a large plantation known as Hickory Hill in Virginia. His father was John Wickham, the constitutional lawyer, and his grandfather was Gen. Thomas Nelson, Jr., one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and a Governor of Virginia during the Revolutionary War. Wickham’s son, Williams Carter Wickham, was an important Confederate cavalry general who fought in the Virginia campaigns during the Civil War. Plates expertly cleaned, with some evidence of foxing. An excellent copy with distinguished Virginian provenance.
Select Items Holiday 2022 - 8 - “The Horror! The Horror!”: Very Rare Inscribed Presentation First Edition, First Issue, Of Conrad’s Youth, Containing The First Book Appearance Of Heart Of Darkness 4. CONRAD, Joseph. Youth: A Narrative and Two Other Stories. Edinburgh and London, 1902. Octavo, original green cloth, custom cloth clamshell box. $95,000. Very rare presentation-association first edition, first issue, containing the first appearance in book form of Heart of Darkness—“one of the most powerful short novels in the English language” (Farrow, 14), inscribed by Conrad to his friend and adviser: “To Marguerite Poradowska, with the author’s dear love. 20th Nov 1902.” “Youth” and “Heart of Darkness” were the first of Conrad’s stories to attract wider attention. Conrad’s “account of a superman running an ivory business in the heart of the Congo… is a masterpiece of sinister deterioration” (Connolly, Modern Movement 14). “The influence of Heart of Darkness can be traced in writers as diverse as T.S. Eliot, Andre Gide, H.G. Wells, Chinua Achebe, William Golding, Graham Greene, V.S. Naipaul, and George Steiner, while Francis Coppola’s film Apocalypse Now taps some of its rich imaginative possibilities by transposing it to the Vietnam War” (Stringer, 292). Also containing Conrad’s story “The End of the Tether.” The recipient Marguerite Poradowska (1848-1937) was related to Conrad by her 1874 marriage to his cousin Aleksandr Poradowski, whom she met in Belgium. The couple lived in Ukraine for ten years before returning to Belgium, where she began a career as a writer, eventually authoring eight novels as well as novellas and short stories. She met Conrad in 1890 and the two began a correspondence that lasted for many years. First issue, with 32 pages of publisher’s advertisements dated “10/02.” Cagle A7a.1. Wise 10. Booklabel in clamshell box. Interior clean, slightest toning to spine, far less than often found, very minor bumping to corners. A beautiful copy, scarce and desirable in this condition and especially so inscribed by Conrad.
Select Items - 9 - Bauman Rare Books Of Considerable Rarity: 1814 First Edition Of The First Hebrew Bible Published In America 5. HEBREW BIBLE. Biblia Hebraica. Philadelphia, 1814. Two volumes. Octavo, modern full dark brown calf. $28,000. Very rare first edition of the first Hebrew Bible published in America, of major importance in the field of American Judaica, handsomely bound. The publisher of this edition, Thomas Dobson, explained: “In the year 1812, Mr. [Jonathan] Horowitz had proposed the publication of an edition of the Hebrew Bible, being the first proposal of the kind ever offered in the United States. The undertaking was strongly recommended by many clergymen… and a considerable number of subscriptions for the work were obtained by him… Horowitz, recently arrived fromAmsterdamwith a font of Hebrew type, made his proposal, but he was not alone.” Facing competition from several others hoping to publish an edition before his, Horowitz decided early in 1813 to transfer his right to the edition to Philadelphia publisher Thomas Dobson; he sold his type to William Fry. Dobson’s edition, printed by Fry and published in 1814, precedes all others. Bound with half titles. Darlow and Moule 5168a. Shaw & Shoemaker 30857. Occasional light spotting, early ink stain along lower edge of Volume I text block (not affecting text), bindings fine and handsome. Rare.
Select Items Holiday 2022 - 10 - First Edition Of One Of The Rarest Of American Classics, Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird 6. LEE, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Philadelphia and New York, 1960. Octavo, original half green cloth, dust jacket, custom clamshell box. $28,000. First edition, first printing, of Harper Lee’s masterpiece, in rare first-issue dust jacket. Harper Lee’s portrayal of life in a small Alabama town captured the essence of the South at one of its most trying times. To Kill a Mockingbird became an immediate bestseller and won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It is “an authentic and nostalgic story which in rare fashion at once puts together the tenderness and the tragedy of the South. They are the inseparable ingredients of a region much reported but seldom so well understood” (Jonathan Daniels). First printing, without listing of subsequent impressions, in first-issue dust jacket with photo of Lee by Truman Capote on back panel. Book with mild toning to spine; dust jacket with light wear to spine extremities, a bit of creasing at top edge of front panel. A near-fine copy. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
Literature - 11 - Bauman Rare Books “All Grown-Ups Were Once Children—Although Few Of Them Remember It”: Signed Limited First Edition Of The Little Prince 7. SAINT-EXUPERY, Antoine de. The Little Prince. New York, 1943. Small quarto, modern full brown morocco. $17,500. Signed limited first edition, one of only 525 copies signed by Saint-Exupery, bound in full morocco replicating the original dust jacket design. The name of Saint-Exupery endures “because of a rather strange little book he wrote just before he died. Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince)… has something of Hans Christian Andersen in it, something of Lewis Carroll and even, it may perhaps be said, a bit of John Bunyan. It is often lyrical… sometimes profound… However it is classified, The Little Prince has entered children’s literature, in the manner of quite a few other such hard-to-define works in the preceding centuries” (Pierpont Morgan Library 224). Because the author disappeared in a reconnaissance flight over the Mediterranean in 1944, signed copies of this, the last work published during his lifetime, are most desirable. Reid, 564. Occasional inoffensive soiling, foxing and creasing to text. A beautifully bound copy in wonderful condition. “It is very simple: one sees well only with the heart. The essential is invisible to the eyes.”
Select Items Holiday 2022 - 12 - Unique Christmas Ornaments With Moishe The Wild Thing And The Nutcracker Hand-Drawn On Them By Maurice Sendak 8. SENDAK, Maurice. Christmas ornament [“Moishe the Wild Thing” and “The Nutcracker”]. No place, circa 1978. Two round, white Christmas ornaments, each measuring approximately 2-1/2 inches in diameter, hand-decorated in black, yellow and red marker. $35,000. A wonderful and unique item: a pair of white Christmas ornaments, one with a drawing of Moishe Wild Thing on it and the other with the Nutcracker on it, executed in red, black and yellow markers by Maurice Sendak for a neighbor and close friend. According to the original owner, a neighbor and close friend of Sendak, Sendak decorated these items for him around 1978. Sendak chose to cover the entire surface of the balls in marker, one with an image of Moishe the Wild Thing from his classic children’s book Where the Wild Things Are and the other with the Nutcracker from Sendak’s eponymous book and, later, opera. Sendak’s version of the Nutcracker was based on Mozart, with whom Sendak had a lifetime preoccupation. Sendak bought a home and studio in Ridgefield, Connecticut in 1972 with his longtime partner, Eugene Glynn, and lived there until his death. The owner of these ornaments first encountered Sendak in 1975 during one of his daily dog walks. He was immediately taken with Sendak, who reminded him of his recently deceased father. One day, he called Sendak at home and asked if he could join him on his walks. The two embarked on a 37-year friendship that also included the original owner’s mother, Betty, as well as his brother. Sendak went on long walks and hikes with him and his family regularly, discussing general life events, opera, and books. He also invited them into his studio to show off works in progress. Betty, the mother, was an avid reader and collector and she and Sendak would talk late into the night about books. Sendak offered Betty advice about how to find and authenticate rare children’s books, which she used to build her collection. Additionally, Sendak frequently bartered for autographs (i.e. a cake for an inscribed drawing). The many inscribed drawings, along with first editions, signed books, limited edition books, and other valuable items grew into one of the country’s premier Sendak collections. Fine condition. Wonderful and unique.
Select Items - 13 - Bauman Rare Books “I Shall Meet Bram Stoker & Must Make Sure About That Photo With Irving’s Autograph”: Extraordinary 26-Page Signed Autograph Letter From Mark To His Wife, Concerning A Christmas Party With Bram Stoker, Negotiations In Chicago Over Paige’s Automatic Typesetting Machine, And His Trip Home On A Luxury Train Car 9. TWAIN, Mark. Autograph letter signed. The Players, New York, 1893. Thirteen sheets of unlined stationery, each measuring 5-1/2 by 8-1/4 inches; pp. 26, with original hand-addressed mailing envelope, custom chemise and full morocco slipcase. $29,500. Splendid 26-page signed autograph letter, written entirely in Mark Twain’s hand, from Twain to his wife, Livy, regarding Twain’s plans for Christmas including meeting Bram Stoker; his meetings in Chicago over Paige’s automatic typesetting machine (which would eventually bankrupt him); and his train trip back to Chicago in a luxury train car, with original hand-addressed envelope to “Mrs. S.L. Clemens.” This 26-page, four-part letter was written to Twain’s wife, Livy, as an apology for Twain’s failure to write for three days. Over the course of their 17-month courtship, Twain wrote Livy 180 letters. Better-educated and more religious than her husband, Livy was a moderating force—both at home and as his primary editor—on the oft-wild Twain, who she nicknamed “Youth.” This letter is a poignant example of their correspondence, reflecting Twain’s love of Livy and their children, as well as his reliance on Livy’s counsel. The letter, written entirely in Twain’s hand (and informally divided into four parts by him), reads in very small part: “The Players, Xmas, 1893. Merry Xmas, my darling, & all my darlings! I arrived from Chicago close upon midnight last night, & wrote & sent down my Xmas cablegram before undressing: ‘Merry Xmas! Promising progress made in Chicago.’ It would go to the telegraph office toward 8 this morning & reach you at luncheon… It is now half-past 10 Xmas morning; I have had my coffee & bread, & shan’t get out of bed till it is time to dress for Mrs. Laffan’s Xmas dinner this evening—where I shall meet Bram Stoker & must make sure about that photo with Irving’s autograph. I will get the picture & he will attend to the rest. In order to remember, & not forget—well, I will go there with my dress coat wrong-side out; it will cause remark & then I shall remember… I tell you it was interesting! The Chicago campaign, I mean. On the way out Mr. Rogers would plan-out the campaign while I walked the floor & smoked and assented. Then he would close it up with a snap & drop it & we would totally change the subject & take up the scenery, etc.…. We had nice trips, going & coming. Mr. Rogers had telegraphed the Pennsylvania Railroad for a couple of sections for us in the fast train leaving at 2 p.m. the 22nd. The Vice President telegraphed back that every berth was engaged (which was not true—it goes without saying) but that he was sending his own car for us. It was mighty nice & comfortable…We insisted on leaving the car at Philadelphia so our waiter & cook (to whomMr. R gave $10 a piece), could have their Christmas-eve at home. Mr. Rogers’s carriage was waiting for us in Jersey City & deposited me at The Players. There—that’s all… I love, dear-heart, I love you all. [signed] Samuel.” Expected postal markings and rough opening to envelope with stamp and possibly return address excised. Autograph address correction to envelope in an unidentified hand. Later pencil notations on envelope. A few pencil markings to letter in an unknown hand.
Literature Holiday 2022 - 14 - “If We Shadows Have Offended”: Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Extracted From The Third Folio, 1664, Splendidly Bound 10. SHAKESPEARE. A Midsommer Nights Dreame. London, 1664. Folio, period-style full red morocco gilt. $19,500. Nine original leaves from the rare and important Third Folio, containing the complete text of Shakespeare’s festive, fantasy-filled comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, splendidly bound in period-style elaborately gilt-decorated morocco. The four folios of Shakespeare are the first four editions of Shakespeare’s collected plays. These were the only collected editions printed in the 17th century (a 1619 attempt at a collected edition in quarto form was never completed). The 1664 second issue of the Third Folio (from which this play was taken), is the first to include Pericles (along with six other spurious plays) and is therefore the first complete edition of Shakespeare’s plays. The Third Folio is believed to be the scarcest of the four great 17th-century folio editions, a large part of the edition presumed destroyed in the Great London Fire of 1666. “The folios are incomparably the most important work in the English language” (W.A. Jackson, Pforzheimer Catalogue). Leaves N-O3 contain A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Likely written in 1595-96, A Midsummer Night’s Dream “is a labyrinth, in which we are delighted to be lost… The Dream remains a unique literary work, with a highly individual place within the Shakespeare canon… Whose dream is it? Partly Bottom’s, partly ours… Nothing in literature is so exquisitely sustained as this is. Had Shakespeare written only this superb marriage-song, his greatness would have been established forever after” (Bloom, xi-xii). With facsimile title page and frontispiece portrait, the facsimile title page reproduces the title page and frontis of the second issue of the Third Folio, bearing the date 1664 in the imprint rather than 1663. A splendidly bound volume in fine condition. Literature
Literature - 15 - Bauman Rare Books “If You Prick Us, Do We Not Bleed?”: Shakespeare’s The Merchant Of Venice, Extracted From The Third Folio, 1664, Splendidly Bound 11. SHAKESPEARE. The Merchant of Venice. London, 1664. Folio, periodstyle full black Morocco gilt. $17,500. Eleven original leaves from the rare and important Third Folio, containing the complete text of Shakespeare’s landmark comedy, The Merchant of Venice, splendidly bound in period-style elaborately gilt-decorated morocco. The four folios of Shakespeare are the first four editions of Shakespeare’s collected plays. These were the only collected editions printed in the 17th century (a 1619 attempt at a collected edition in quarto form was never completed). The 1664 second issue of the Third Folio (from which this play was taken), is the first to include Pericles (along with six other spurious plays) and is therefore the first complete edition of Shakespeare’s plays. The Third Folio is believed to be the scarcest of the four great 17th-century folio editions, a large part of the edition presumed destroyed in the Great London Fire of 1666. “The folios are incomparably the most important work in the English language” (W.A. Jackson, Pforzheimer Catalogue). Leaves [O4]-Q2 contain The Merchant of Venice. Likely written between 1596 and 1598, The Merchant of Venice continues to be regularly staged, despite its controversial Jewish villain, Shylock. “The Merchant of Venice’s stage Jew, Shylock, is intended as a comic villain… Shakespeare at once confounds our expectation and yet does not forsake his universality” (Bloom, The Western Canon, 51). With facsimile title page and frontispiece portrait, he facsimile title page reproduces the title page and frontis of the second issue of the Third Folio, bearing the date 1664 in the imprint rather than 1663. First two leaves with minor marginal paper repairs along lower edge; occasional foxing to generally clean text. A splendidly bound volume in about-fine condition.
Literature Holiday 2022 - 16 - “Completely Altered The Course Of English Painting”: Monumental 1802 Boydell Illustrated Shakespeare, In Splendid Morocco-Gilt 12. SHAKESPEARE, William. The Dramatic Works of Shakspeare. Revised by George Steevens. London, 1802. Nine volumes. Large thick folio (each volume measures approximately 13 by 17 inches), contemporary full burgundy morocco gilt. $21,000. The monumental 1802 Boydell-Steevens edition of Shakespeare’s Works, complete with two engraved frontispieces and the full complement of 94 fine full-page copper engravings after paintings by the leading English artists of the time. Edited by Boydell and revised by renowned 18th-century Shakespearean scholar George Steevens, beautifully bound in full contemporary morocco-gilt. “Boydell’s gallery completely altered the course of English painting. Most painters earned their livings by painting portraits for the wealthy nobility, but when Boydell began to commission works from the best artists in England, theywere free to explore other topics and themes, drawn first fromShakespeare’s plays” (Friedman, 2). Contributors include Reynolds, Fuseli, Smirke, Northcote, Porter, Stothard, Hamilton, Bunbury, Opie and Westall. According to Boydell’s prospectus of 1786, a type foundry, an ink factory, and a printing house were all specially erected for the production of this edition. He began issuing the work in 1791 in 18 eventual parts, then published a nine-volume folio edition in 1802 (this set), and finally a two-volume elephant folio of all the engravings in 1803. “There can be no doubt that Boydell’s Shakespeare… was the most splendid of bibliophile editions undertaken in the 18th century or at any other time… no Printing Press, which has hitherto existed, ever produced a work… so uniformly beautiful” (Franklin, 47-48). “During the last decade or two, [circa 1890-1910] complete surviving sets have greatly decreased in number” (Jaggard, 506, 508). This set with 1802 general title page for each volume, all half titles, and a complete complement of 96 folio plates, including the second frontispiece bust of Shakespeare not listed in the Directions to the Binder (not bound in this copy), which calls for 95 plates. Includes the important prefaces of Pope and Johnson. Two leaves in Volume II from Much Ado About Nothing supplied from a smaller copy. Scattered foxing, a few instances of faint dampstaining, magnificent contemporary binding with modest wear to boards. A beautiful copy of a historic edition of Shakespeare.
Literature - 17 - Bauman Rare Books “’Twas The Night Before Christmas…”: Presentation Copy, Inscribed By Clement Moore, Of The First Collected Edition Of His Poems, Featuring The First Appearance In A Book By Him Of “A Visit From St. Nicholas” 13. MOORE, Clement C. Poems. New York, 1844. Small octavo, contemporary three-quarter brown morocco gilt. $12,000. Rare first edition, presentation copy, of the volume containing the first appearance in a book by Moore of his immortal poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (pages 124-27), inscribed: “Mr. Miller, from the author. Dec. 1849.” “Moore, a professor of Hebrew, wrote this poemin 1822 as a Christmas gift for his children. A house guest copied it in the fall of 1823 and later sent her copy to the editor of the Troy Sentinel, where it was first published, anonymously, December 23, 1823… ‘Santa Claus as we (and the world, for that matter) now know him is almost one hundred percent American. Not until St. Nicholas passed through the crucible of Doctor Clement Clarke Moore’s mind and imagination did the patron saint of childhood ever ride in a sleigh, or have eight tiny reindeer with bells joyfully to convey him… nor was he dressed in furs, nor did he smoke a pipe, nor did he ever get into the homes of good little boys and girls by going down chimneys’” (Grolier American 100 52). Numerous newspaper printings followed the poem’s initial appearance in the Sentinel. The earliest known separate printing was an illustrated broadsheet published circa 1830 (BAL 14346). Its earliest located formal book publication (and its first appearance under Moore’s name) was in The New-York Book of Poetry (BAL 14347), edited by Charles Fenno Hoffman, which contained verse by Moore and many others. The present volume contains the first appearance of “A Visit from St. Nicholas” in a collection of Moore’s own work. BAL 14348. Occasional marginal soiling, light foxing to endpapers and flyleaves, mild rubbing to contemporary binding. An extremely good inscribed copy.
Literature Holiday 2022 - 18 - Inscribed By Emerson In The Year Of Publication To His Close Friend And Longtime Adviser, Abel Adams 14. EMERSON, Ralph Waldo. Essays: Second Series. Boston, 1844. Octavo, contemporary three-quarter brown morocco, custom clamshell box. $17,500. First edition, presentation copy, of the second series of Emerson’s essays including such important works as “Experience,” “The Poet,” and “Nature,” usual mixed first and second printing but composed almost entirely of first printing sheets, inscribed in the year of publication to his close friend and trusted adviser: “Abel Adams from his friend, R.W.E. 15 October, 1844.” “Timeless, and without a trace of ‘dating,’ these essays are as readable, and to a considerable extent as much read, today as a hundred years ago. Their ethical inspiration and stimulation, their occasional startling phrase, their individualistic idealism… speaks with the same simple power and force in the midst of modern complexities” (Grolier, 100 American 47). “Copies composed exclusively of first or second printing sheets are scarce” (Myerson A16.1.b). This copy, however, has an unusually large number of first printing sheets (19 verified first printing points), with the only divergent second printing points found at 60.23 (“I turn”); 309.5 (“‘There’s a”); and 313.4 (“and”). This copy also bears the following reading at 200.4-5: “continua-’[blank]”, noted by Myerson in some copies, but not linked to either printing. Myerson A16.1.a-b. BAL 5198. This copy is inscribed by Emerson to Abel Adams, one of Emerson’s closest friends. “At the time of his first marriage and during the few years of his ministry in Boston, Mr. Emerson and his young wife found a home in Chardon Street with his parishioner, Mr. Abel Adams, a merchant of integrity and success. All through his life Mr. Adams was a valued and helpful friend and adviser” (Rusk, The Letters of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 93, note 1). Later, when Adams steered Emerson towards a bad investment in railroad stock, he assumed the college expenses of Emerson’s son. He also included the Emerson family in his will. After Adams’ death, Emerson wrote that Adams was: “[o]ne of the best of my friends, whose hospitable house was always open to me by day or night for so many years… We cannot love him better than we did.” Occasional foxing, inner paper hinges split, wear to binding. A very good copy.
Literature - 19 - Bauman Rare Books A “Sensitive Portrait of Black Families in The Civil War Era”: Scarce First Edition Of Twain’s A True Story, And The Recent Carnival Of Crime, 1877 15. TWAIN, Mark. A True Story, and the Recent Carnival of Crime. Boston, 1877. 16mo, original black- and gilt-stamped red cloth, custom chemise and half morocco slipcase. $9800. First edition, in first-state binding (with JRO & Co Monogram on front cover). “ATrue Story…”was the first of Twain’s works accepted for publication by the Atlantic Monthly (November 1874) and remained one of his favorites. “One of Twain’s finest dialect tales… ‘A True Story’ has won praise for its faithful rendering of dialect, which Twain edited painstakingly, its sensitive portrait of black families in the Civil War era, including the role of black soldiers in the Union army, and its anticipation of Huckleberry Finn’s narrative techniques and themes” (Le Master and Wilson, 751-2). “[I]n the surprisingly autobiographical [‘Recent Carnival of Crime’] Twain gave his first strong fictional image of a man divided against himself… [It] is the seminal and comic fictional expression of what grew to become Twain’s most dark and dominant theme” (ibid, 278). This is the first book form appearance of “The Recent Carnival of Crime”; “A True Story” had been included in Sketches, New and Old (1875). BAL 3373. Bookplate of noted Americana collector Benjamin DeForest Curtiss. Interior fine, very minor wear to cloth extremities. A nearly fine copy.
Literature Holiday 2022 - 20 - First Edition, First State, Of Joel Chandler’s Harris’ First Uncle Remus Book, In Original Gilt-Stamped Cloth 16. HARRIS, Joel Chandler. Uncle Remus. New York, 1881. Octavo, original gilt- and black-stamped pictorial green cloth. $8500. First edition, first state, of the first and most beloved Uncle Remus book by Harris, with eight plates and numerous text illustrations by Church and Moser, in original cloth-gilt. “Harris’ main concern in setting [the stories] down was to preserve the remnants of a folklore which he was sufficiently farseeing to know would one day perish fromtheearthunless someonewhounderstood the racial psychology and social philosophy behind it acted as amanuensis to its surviving narrators” (Twenty-three Books, Winterich, 102). “Of all the American writers of [the Reconstruction] period, Joel Chandler Harris has made the most permanent contribution” (Braithwaite, in The New Negro, 32). “It will live as long as Aesop’s fables” (John Bigelow). First state, with “presumptive” in the last line of page 9 and no mention of Uncle Remus in the publisher’s advertisements. BAL notes four cloth variants and three endpaper variants, no priority. BAL 7100. Booklabel. Owner signature. A few finger smudges to interior, only light rubbing to extremities, gilt bright. A near-fine copy. “Watch out w’en you'er gittin all you want. Fattenin' hogs ain't in luck.”
Literature - 21 - Bauman Rare Books Among The Most Important Novels In World Literature: Tolstoy’s Epic War And Peace, Exceptional 1886 First Complete Edition In English, In Bright Gilt-Stamped Original Cloth 17. TOLSTOY, Leo. War and Peace. New York, 1886. Six volumes. Small octavo, original decorative gilt-stamped brown cloth. $22,000. First complete edition in English of one of the most important novels in world literature, six volumes, in beautiful original cloth-gilt binding. Seven years in the writing, War and Peace is undeniably the greatest literary work relating to the Napoleonic wars. The juxtaposition of historical, social, and personal themes and the monumental size and scope of the novel combine to present an accurate and vibrant portrait of the Russian nation. German novelist Thomas Mann noted of War and Peace, “The pure narrative power of his work is unequalled. Seldom did art work so much like nature.” Originally published in 1865-69, the novel was not translated into English until almost 20 years later. A London edition of War and Peace was also published in 1886, but omits several philosophical passages and the second epilogue; this Gottsberger edition is complete. A third edition, published by Harper and Brothers, also appeared in 1886. No priority is given among these editions. Line 104. Contemporary owner signature dated 1887 in final volume. Interior fine, Volume I recased, original cloth fine, gilt bright and crisp. A beautiful copy.
Literature Holiday 2022 - 22 - “It Is My Business To Know What Other People Don’t Know”: Handsomely Bound First Editions Of The Adventures And Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes 18. CONAN DOYLE, Arthur. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. WITH: The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. London, 1892, 1894. Two volumes. Octavo, modern full crushed blue morocco gilt, custom slipcase. $9500. First editions in book form of these classic stories starring literature’s most famous detective, illustrated by Sidney Paget, handsomely bound in full morocco-gilt by Bayntun-Rivière. Sherlock Holmes first appeared in the novel A Study in Scarlet (1887), but his adventures in the Strand Magazine would bring both him and his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, lasting fame. “The initial 12 tales were collected between covers as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, published in England and America in 1892; and 11 of the second 12… as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, published in 1894. If any reader be prepared to name two other books that have givenmore innocent but solid pleasure, let him speak now—or hold his peace!” (Haycraft, 50). These volumes contain such famous and memorable tales as “A Scandal in Bohemia” and “The Adventure of the Speckled Band.” Of special note is the last case in the Memoirs, “The Final Problem,” in which Holmes apparently meets his death in a struggle with “the Napoleon of crime,” Professor Moriarty. With Sidney Paget’s original, iconic illustrations: “Paget’s spirited illustrations… greatly assisted to popularize those stories” (DNB). Original cloth covers and spine bound in at rear of each volume, including first-state cover of Adventures, with blank street sign on front cover illustration. Green & Gibson A10a, A14a. Fine condition, a handsome set.
Literature - 23 - Bauman Rare Books “Not Such A Hound As Mortal Eyes Have Ever Seen” 19. CONAN DOYLE, Arthur. The Hound of the Baskervilles. London, 1902. Octavo, original black- and giltstamped pictorial red cloth. $9500. First edition, first issue, of the third Sherlock Holmes novel, widely regarded as the best of the series and “one of the most gripping stories in the English language,” with 16 illustrations by Sidney Paget. With a presentation note on Conan Doyle’s Windlesham stationery: “With Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s compliments—3 June 1924,” penned by Conan Doyle’s secretary Alfred H. Wood. Although Conan Doyle had killed off his most famous character by sending him over the Reichenbach Falls while grappling with Professor Moriarty in “The Final Problem” (December 1893), his readership demanded the sleuth’s return. The author obliged with this, the third—and still considered by many the best—Sherlock Holmes novel, carefully positioned on the title page as “another adventure” of Holmes. The Hound of the Baskervilles remains “one of the most gripping books in the language” (Crime & Mystery 100 Best 6). “The supernatural is handled with great effect and no letdown. The plot and subplots are thoroughly integrated and the false clues put in and removed with a master hand. The criminal is superb… and the secondary figures each contribute to the total effect of brilliancy and grandeur combined. One wishes one could be reading it for the first time” (Barzun & Taylor 1142). First issue, with “you” for “your” on page 13, line 3 and the illustration facing page 76 reversed (as it was originally in the Strand Magazine, October 1901). Without extremely scarce dust jacket. Green & Gibson A26. Pencil gift inscription, dated 1950. Presentation note with splits along folds, annotations on verso. Foxing to endpapers, a few minor smudges to text. Bump to spine, some slight toning to cloth, gilt bright. An exceptionally good copy.
Literature Holiday 2022 - 24 - “…But You Must Make It Interesting. That Is Essential—All The Rest Is Detail”: Handsomely Bound “Author’s Edition” Of Conan Doyle’s Works, Signed By Him 20. CONAN DOYLE, Sir Arthur. Works. London, 1903. Twelve volumes. Octavo, early three-quarter red morocco gilt. $16,500. “Author’s Edition”—first American edition, first English issue—of Conan Doyle’s tales and novels, including four of his famous Sherlock Holmes books, one of 1000 sets signed by the author, handsomely bound. Arthur Conan Doyle’s literary career took him far beyond the confines of Sherlock Holmes’ sitting room at 221-B Baker Street. In all his varied fiction, he strove (as he states in his preface) to fulfill “the chief end of man in leaving others a little happier than he found them.” Conan Doyle took great pride in his works of historical fiction, including The White Company (1891), a romance of the Hundred Years’ War, and The Refugees (1893), a transatlantic tale of Huguenot persecution. Round the Red Lamp (1894) presents his often shocking stories of medical science; The Stark Munro Letters (1895) is a semi-autobiographical epistolary novel; and A Duet (1899), his only “novel of manners,” offers a tender depiction of courtship and marriage—its author reserved for it “a special and particular sort of affection he had for no other book” (Dickson Carr). Yet none of his creations could ultimately compete with literature’s most famous consulting detective for the reading public’s affection, and this set includes four of the famous Holmes books: A Study in Scarlet (1887), The Sign of Four (1890) and the Adventures (1892) and the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894). “The author considered this edition of his works to be of great importance: he revised parts and added notes and a number of special introductions… Because of the author’s friendship with Reginald Smith, he agreed to sign the thousand copies of the English issue. He was not, however, prepared to do the same for the American publisher… The English issue also has the further attraction of having two illustrations in each volume rather than one” (Green & Gibson, A60). Illustrated with 25 engraved plates. Armorial bookplates. Fine condition.
Literature - 25 - Bauman Rare Books “The Thing In The Coffin Writhed; And A Hideous, Blood-Curdling Screech Came From The Opened Red Lips”: First Edition Of Bram Stoker’s Dracula 21. STOKER, Bram. Dracula. Westminster, 1897. Octavo, 20thcentury full yellow morocco reproducing the original cloth. $15,000. First edition, very early issue, of Stoker’s masterpiece of horror, handsomely bound by Chelsea Bindery in full morocco to match the original cloth binding. Contemporary reviews compared Stoker’s masterpiece favorably to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, and Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. Since then it has engendered “arguably the most potent literary myth of the 20th century” (Leatherdale, 11). “Bram Stoker has given us the most remarkable scenes of horror… Dracula is a panting engine of late Victorian sexuality, a sexuality that has been barely sublimated into violence” (Stephen King). First edition printed on thicker paper, very early issue with advertisement for The Shoulder of Shasta on verso of integral leaf (i.e. 391/392); later issues found with multiple leaves of publisher’s advertisements bound in. With half title. Dalby 10a. Contemporary owner inscription above title page dated “Dec. 19th 1898.” Text bright and pristine, faint toning line to front board. A beautiful about-fine copy. “Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!”
Literature Holiday 2022 - 26 - The Deluxe “Mellstock Edition” Of Hardy’s Works, Signed By Hardy, Handsomely Bound In 37 Volumes, With An Autograph Letter Signed By Hardy 22. HARDY, Thomas. Works. London, 1919-20. Thirty-seven volumes. Octavo, contemporary full navy morocco gilt. $22,000. Handsome “Mellstock Edition” of Hardy’s prose and poetry, one of only 500 sets signed by the author in Volume I, very handsomely bound by Bayntun, with an autograph letter signed by Hardy tipped into Volume I. “It was as a poet that he wished to be remembered… [and] if he had written only his earlier novels… it might be granted that his poems were his more valid contribution to English literature. Yet these novels are so instinct with the very soil of England, so penetrating in their psychology, so fresh and colorful, that they alone would have made any writer’s fame. But it is the two books which brought down on their author the foul abuse of every bigot and dullard of three continents that are Thomas Hardy’s great and unique achievement. Nowhere else in English fiction are to be found the profundity, the unification of feeling, the perfect presentation of great tragedy, that make Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure immortal” (Kunitz & Haycraft, 277). This distinguished edition, named after Hardy’s second anonymously published novel, Under the Greenwood Tree or The Mellstock Quire (1872), also includes such masterpieces as Far from the Madding Crowd, The Return of the Native and The Mayor of Casterbridge. The edition incorporates final changes made by Hardy to many of his texts (A Pair of Blue Eyes, for example, is significantly revised—“the people shadowed forth in the story being now all, alas, dead”). The autograph letter, reads in full: “Max Gate Dorchester, Eng. 20 September, 1913. Dear Mr. Duneka [of Harper’s Magazine]: You mentioned that you would like to have something from me for the magazine. I send some new verses of a dramatic kind that may suit, on the chance of your editor being able to print them before I bring them out in a volume of poetry in early spring of 1914. If the editor finds that he cannot issue them by, say, February, will he kindly let me have the copy back again, that I may print the poem in a periodical on this side? The verses are of course offered for serial publication only, and you know approximately my terms. In the event of your editor putting them into the magazine I undertake not to print them here till the volume comes out. Very truly yours, Thomas Hardy.” With finely etched frontispiece portrait of Hardy by William Strang in Volume I. Fine condition.
Literature - 27 - Bauman Rare Books “Who, If I Cried Out, Would Hear Me Among The Angels’ Hierarchies?”: First Edition Of Rilke’s Magnificent Duino Elegies, One Of Only 100 Copies Specially Bound In Publisher’s Full Morocco-Gilt 23. RILKE, Rainer Maria. Duineser Elegien. Leipzig, 1923. Tall quarto, publisher’s full crushed green morocco gilt, custom clamshell box. $12,000. Deluxe limited large-paper first edition of one of the greatest volumes of poetry of the 20th century, one of only 300 copies, this copy one of the first 100 copies specially bound in full green gilt-decorated morocco at the Wiener Werkstadt. Rilke spent the winter of 1911-12 at Duino Castle on the Adriatic Sea as a guest of his friend Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis-Hohenlohe, who later related Rilke’s account of the genesis of the Elegies. One windy night there, while pacing the cliffs above a raging sea, Rilke heard a voice from out of the storm: “Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angels’ hierarchies?” He quickly wrote down these words and some others that came to him and hurried back to his room where, that night, he completed the First Elegy. He wrote three others within the next year, another in 1915, and the rest in a great burst of creativity in February 1922. With this work as well as his Orphean Sonnets, Rilke “felt that he had fulfilled the demand made on him by his genius… Beyond all doubt is his standing as one of the great poets of the 20th century” (Garland, 753). Copies from the first edition not among the hundred bound in full morocco-gilt—unlike the present copy—were issued in three-quarter morocco or in paper-covered boards. Text in German. Without original plain paper dust jacket and cardboard slipcase, often not present. Interior fine, original deluxe binding with one faint scratch to rear board, very mild toning to spine. An about-fine copy.
Literature Holiday 2022 - 28 - Large-Paper Limited Edition Of The Novels And Letters Of Jane Austen, Attractively Bound And Illustrated 24. AUSTEN, Jane. The Novels and Letters. Oxford, 1923. Seven volumes. Octavo, modern three-quarter navy morocco gilt. $8500. Lovely large-paper limited edition of Austen’s novels and letters, one of only 1,000 sets produced, illustrated with over 40 plates, with frontispieces in color, very attractively bound. Includes Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, Emma and two volumes of her letters. This text of this edition is based on the collation of the early editions by R. W. Chapman. The Clarendon editions were the first to use “contemporary illustrations”: “An undated memorandum in the Press’s files states ‘The publishers are bitterly opposed to any imaginative illustrations, and would cheerfully have no illustrations at all. But they would be in favour of a few objective illustrations” (Gilson E150). Fine condition.
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