Mémoires du Cardinal de Retz
From the Library of Marie Antoinette
Rare 1777-79 editions of the four-volume Mémoires of Cardinal de Retz and the 1771 two-volume Mémoires de Guy Joli and Madame la Duchesse de Nemours, possessing an exceedingly rare provenance in association with two of the most legendary figures in French history— Marie-Antoinette and Napoleon Bonaparte. Five volumes (I, III-VI) are from the library of Marie-Antoinette, bound in contemporary calf gilt and displaying her distinctive gilt-tooled armorial coat of arms on the boards, along with her gilt-stamped crowned cipher “CT” on the spines. Volume II, bound in contemporary mottled calf gilt, contains a lengthy gift inscription on the front free endpaper by Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon Bonaparte—“de la biblioteque [sic] de mon frere l’ Empereur Napoleon” (from the library of my brother the Emperor Napoleon)— to Baron Claude Francois Méneval, Napoleon’s trusted private secretary and his “only really close friend and confidant.” $38,000. | More...
The Life of Samuel Johnson
James Boswell
First edition, first state of "the most famous biography in any language, one of Western literature's most germinal achievements." The copy of politician, traveler, and writer John Cam Hobhouse, the Baron Broughton, most famous for his long-running and very close friendship with Lord Byron, with his engraved armorial bookplate. $27,000. | More...
History of the Life of Peter I. Emperor of Russia
John Mottley
First edition of Mottley's illustrated life of Peter I, who along with the Empress Catherine helped bring Russia into the modern world, with engraved frontispiece portraits in Volumes I and II, a large folding map of the Russian Empire, and 11 engraved plates (nine folding). $3800. | More...
The Collected Works
Winston Churchill
Centenary limited edition of Churchill's Complete Works, one of only 3000 sets produced, copiously illustrated with numerous photographic plates, maps, and charts. Beautifully bound in publisher’s gilt-stamped vellum and printed on 500-year archival paper. $11,800. | More...
The History of England
David Hume
First editions of Hume's monumental history of England, "a neglected masterpiece," the complete six volumes, in handsome contemporary calf. $12,800. | More...
An History of Early Opinions concerning Jesus Christ
Joseph Priestley
First edition of Priestley's "most widely known work," substantially triggering Britain's 1791 "Church-and-King" riots that set his home ablaze, prompting his exile in America where he was welcomed by Jefferson, who owned a personal copy of this four-volume work and deemed Priestley one of the "few lives precious to mankind," a rare uncut, largely unopened copy in original boards. $5800. | More...
