Search Results: Summer Miscellany 2024 from Reginald C. Williams Rare Books

866 pages. Large 8vo, 10 x 7 inches, publisher's midnight brown embossed full leather, gilt spine, very good, minimal wear to binding, some foxing to contents throughout, occasionally heavily so but for the most part mildly. 861 pp, illustrated. A much nicer copy than usually found. First published in 1857, this preferred 1860 printing includes all of the original text, with additional info up until 1860, including John Brown and the Insurrection at Harper's Ferry, the Dred Scott decision, and the 36th Congress in 1859 & the Impending Crisis. An exhaustive academic text up through 1860 with a focus on Slavery and the Slave Trade in the United States, as well as its political components. Also included is a history of slavery outside of the United States, from ancient times, up to Sierra Leone, Liberia and the West Indies, in the 1850's.

FIRST EDITION. In-8, XXXIX-543 pp, Red canvas decorated in gilt from the publisher on the spine AND cover (Most copies are blind-stamped ). Original edition of this treaty relating to the amulets and superstitions of ancient peoples such as the Babylonians or the Egyptians as well as their various religious and mystical rituals. It is illustrated with 22 plates in black and 300 illustrations in the text, also in black. It contains reproductions and translations of the original texts. He is interested in the cabal, astrology and religious signs such as the cross (Christian and pagan) and the swastika. Orientalist and Egyptologist, Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge (1857-1934) was in charge of the Egyptian and Assyrian collections of the British Museum, he notably acquired the copy of the Museum's Book of the Dead. He is the author of many books, many of them on religion in Egypt, such as his translation of the Book of the Dead, which in the society adept of the occultist who was his had a notable… Read More

Octavo, original green cloth. A very good copy with only minimal wear to binding and some usual shelf wear at the tips. Rear hinge slightly cracked. Presentation inscription to title page dated Nov, 1873. FIRST EDITION, second issue (with errata), of one of the classic texts by arguably the greatest nineteenth-century English philosopher. Despite what he called the uneventfulness of his career, few lives have been more closely scrutinized than that of John Stuart Mill. This attention has stemmed partly from the unusual circumstances of his upbringing and marriage, partly from the detailed narrative of his own mental development that Mill left in his Autobiography, and partly from the continuing interest in his political, philosophical, and popular writings still widely felt by readers in many countries at the end of the twentieth century. Mill's Autobiography, composed mainly during the 1850s, but not published until after his death in 1873, was a pioneering essay in the literary genre of… Read More

Prima edizione November 1957. 8vo., 566 pag - First authorized Russian trade edition - from the archive of Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore . Publisher's original olive paper-covered boards stamped in black on the cover with the publisher's emblem stamped to the spine. Likely bound without the front free endpaper. Publishers stamp at the bottom right of the title page. A remarkable copy of a scarce item. In 1957, Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli arranged for the novel to be smuggled out of the Soviet Union by Sergio D'Angelo. Despite desperate efforts by the Union of Soviet Writers to prevent its publication, Feltrinelli published an Italian translation of the book in November 1957. So great was the demand that Feltrinelli was able to license translation rights into eighteen different languages well in advance of the novel's publication. The Communist Party of Italy expelled Feltrinelli from their membership in retaliation for his role in the publication of a novel they felt was critical of… Read More

8vo., Publisher s black cloth and dustwrapper. No inscriptions. Slightly cocked. Tight, clean fine copy in a near-fine dust-wrapper. First printing, of the zoologist's accessible collection of essays surveying contemporary issues in science, of which four appear here for the first time. Huxley was a proponent of science education, asserting that "one of the duties of scientific men. is to make available to the lay public the facts and theories of their science" (preface). Huxley was well-known for his writings on biology, ecology, and wildlife conservation. "Among his many awards Huxley received the Kalinga prize for the popularization of science (1953), the Lasker award for his contributions to planned parenthood (1959), the Darwin medal of the Royal Society for his contributions to the theory of evolution (1956), and a gold medal from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and the World Wildlife Fund for his research relating to conservation (1970). He had been elected to the Royal… Read More

8vo., 8 plates; First edition, second issue, published 2 months after the first edition "with minor Corrections"; Hardback: green cloth lettered in gilt on spine. Dust-wrapper, price-clipped, with sunning (darkening) to spine, is otherwise bright and clean, with some slight edgewear and minor chipping to top and base of spine panel. Dust-wrapper held in removable protective archival mylar sleeve. Green cloth binding has faded to top edges, but otherwise bright and fresh, in fine condition -- tight, square, sharp-cornered. Pages all clean, no ownership inscription or other markings. Original bookseller's label to base of front paste-down. An excellent copy and one if the nicest you'll ever see.

Original publisher's cloth. small 8vo. 399, [1] pp. 1949 1st Edition, 1st printing. The first publication of any of Heidegger's works in English. His most famous work "Being & Time" did not appear on English until 1962. With an introduction by Werner Brock, Dr. Phil. 399 pages. A collection containing four of Heidegger's most famous essays including "What is Metaphysics?" Previous owner's name on ffep. Brown cloth, gilt titles on spine. Brown and beign DJ. A near-fine copy.

First American Edition. Hardcover. 8vo., xxvi, 313 pages, 26 photographic plates & numerous text tables. Bound in contemporary three-quarter brown Morocco over marbled boards. A beautiful copy, with a bit of mottling to the spine keeping it from being graded very fine. This comprehensive work defines the different genres of criminals, focusing on physical and psychological characteristics and other anomalies specific to female criminals.

FIRST EDITION, 8vo., 5 3/4 x 8 5/8" 292 pages plus 20 pages of publisher's list dated 1938 (Only some copies of the first edition sheets were bound and issued upon publication. Slow sales of these copies delayed the binding and distribution of the remaining sheets, which were instead bound in stages over the next several years, as demand required. These copies had new publisher's catalogues inserted, distinguishing them from the first issued copies without such catalogues). Edited by R. B. Braitwaite with a preface by G. E. Moore. part of the International Library of Psychology Philosophy and Scientific Method series. This copy with the bookplate on inside front cover of Marcus G. Singer plus his signature dated 1949 on first page. Singer, was a noted philosopher and former professor at University of Wisconsin Madison. slight bowing to rear cover and a couple of light smudges to cloth cover. first impression, of the posthumous collection of essays by the Wittgenstein-influenced philosopher Frank… Read More

First UK Edition. Cloth-bound. Hardcover. Octavo (225 x 145 x 35 mm). Pp. ix, 214. English text. Bound in original black cloth with blue lettering to the spine. Illustrated with 16 plates. References and index to rear. Binding tight, secure and square. Offsetting to both sets of endpapers; a previous owner's neat name to the FFEP; foxing to the page block which has crept into the text in places; dusty top edge. Still a really clean copy. In the VERY RARE dust wrapper priced 8/6 net to the spine (as called for). The D/W is darkened to the spine with just a slither of loss at the head and tail. A nice copy of an uncommon book. The author traces the existence of the Horned God of the Witches from the Paleolithic period through the Bronze and Iron Ages until the introduction of Christianity reduced this most ancient of gods to the position of the devil. This book was a Best Seller in its Day. This copy is undated, but our reference works suggest that it is nonetheless the first edition (circa 1933), and… Read More

Three volume set, octavo: Vol. I. xxxi, [5 advs., explanation, directions to binder, errata], 540pp., 2 maps, one folding. Vol. II. [4], 562pp., folding map. Vol. III. [4], 483pp., 3 maps, one folding. Maps have some foxing but otherwise very good internally. One volume bashed on bottom corner. Original cloth backed boards, paper labels. A very presentable set which is seldom found in the Publisher's cloth. The translator, Samuel Thomas Bloomfield (19 January 1783 � 28 September 1869) was an English clergyman and Biblical textual critic. His Greek New Testament was widely used in England and the United States. Bloomfield published Recensio Synoptica, and doctrinal Annotations on the New Testament (in 8 volumes, 1826). He also edited a Greek and English lexicon to the New Testament, revised and enlarged from Robinson's lexicon (1829). An excellent set now Mylar protected and housed in a custom slipcase. Uncommon in the publisher's boards.

1st edition. Publisher's Cloth, a near-fine set in the very scarce dust wrappers. 2 octavo volumes, xvi+328pp, xvi+424pp, b/w frontis to each volume, folding chart, grand total of 31 b/w plates showing 54 images, b/w illustrations, index to both volumes, scattered foxing mainly to the preliminary & final pages, fore edges foxed, dustjackets worn with some loss along the edges, a nice set. A comprehensive history of the First 18 Dynasties of Ancient Egypt, by Arthur Weigall [ 1880 - 1934], English Egyptologist, writer & journalist who worked under noted Egyptologist Flinders Petrie, and who was present at the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922.

2 volumes, 8vo, pp xviii, 336: xviii, 397, [3, advert], uncut, bound in original blind-stamped black cloth, minor wear to upper joints and spine heads, but a near-fine bright set throughout, FIRST EDITION, the sole printing of this detailed economic study of trade in Ancient Greece and the Dutch Republic by the Irish historian and politician William Torrens McCullagh who was actively involved in promoting the repeal of the Corn Laws and wrote this history as a kind of manifesto for the historical basis of free trade economies. As such it forms an interesting 19th Century adjunct to Smith's Wealth of Nations. A remarkable, hardly read copy.

Paris, Henri Plon, 1871. In-12, 211 pp., dark blue leathery half-sorrow, smooth back decorated with golden nets and florets, preserved cover (dusty cover, small gaps at the foot of the cover, some small spots). Second partly original edition of this collection of prophecies of the end of the world by Jacques Collin de Plancy. It brings together predictions from Cazotte, Torquatus or Nostradamus. It is illustrated with black thumbnails engraved on wood throughout the text. The first edition was published in 1840 without an author's name and did not include the introduction or the prophecy of Jean de Vatiguerro. Quite uncommon. Dorbon-Ainé, Bibliotheca esoterica, p. 92; Caillet, I, 2454. OCLC records just one copy in America (Ohio State) and 5 in Europe; Caillet 2462.

Publisher's red cloth. 8vo., xvi, 370 pp., including half-title plus 4 pages of publisher's advertisements at the rear. Large folding map. Owner's name (Vance Thompson [1863-1925], American literary critic, novelist & poet on front free endpage. Marginalia and writing inside, spine darkened, light wear at the head of the spine, a very good copy. Lombroso believed that genius was closely related to madness, and his attempts to develop these notions while in Moscow and 1897 he traveled to Yasnaya Polyana to meet Leo Tolstoy, in hopes of elucidating and providing evidence of his theory of genius reverting, or degenerating into insanity. Lombroso argues that artistic genius was a form of hereditary insanity. In order to support this assertion, he began assembling a large collection of psychiatric art. He published an article on the subject in 1880 in which he isolated 13 typical features of the art of the insane, although his criteria are generally regarded as outdated today, his work inspired later… Read More

Publisher's original paper wrappers. Stapled binding. 32 pages. Complete and in very good condition, with some foxing to pages 1, 31 and 32. Foxing to edges. Brown marks on the spine edge of the cover. Clean internal pages generally. Preserved in a quarter morocco clamshell box with chemise. First edition, sixth impression, of the FIRST AUTHORIZED ENGLISH TRANSLATION of the Communist Manifesto. Engel's role in the translation was extensive; he personally chose the translator Samuel Moore (who had earlier translated Marx's Das Kapital), and also negotiated with the publisher. The preface is the longest and the most important of any that Engels wrote for the Manifesto, and this is the only translation edited by him with additional notes. The translation was edited by Engels, with a four-page preface specially written by him for this translation, as well as eight footnotes. It includes a large number of modifications of expression, omissions, and minor additions. First published by Reeves in March 1888,… Read More

Second edition revised & greatly enlarged. Small quarto. xxiv + 516pp + plates. Publisher's original deep maroon cloth with gilt tooling to the spine. The upper board is blind-stamped. unclipped dust jacket. Previous owner's library plate to FEP. (The bookplate has wrinkled the front endpaper) The very scarce DJ is lightly shelf worn; tanned and discoloured, notably the spine, with creasing at edges, and open tear to front cover at spine head. Board spine is faded and creased, corners bumped. Light foxing to pastedowns and endpapers, with very occasional blemishes within. However, pages are well bound, content clean and bright. Pull out image of the Rosetta Stone undamaged. The best edition of Budge's comprehensive guide to Egyptian funerary customs and beliefs.

First Edition. Hardcover. Small octavo. 192pp. Original blue cloth with gilt titling to spine, black borders. The first edition of this work by Dion Fortune described by the publisher as "based upon an esoteric interpretation of the Christian scriptures. and provides a series of broad-minded and tolerant considerations of the 'Mysteries of Jesus' as indicated in the Collects of the Orthodox Church. The mysticism which inspires the meditations, while Christian in tone, is of that universal order which recognizes the underlying truth of all religions." Original, scarce hardcover in jacket, this was Eya Fechin's personal copy (Nicolai Fechin's daughter) with her signature on endpaper. Book is FINE and beautifully printed on thick, textured paper. Jacket has a few soiled spots, with a few very small chips, tears to edges; light fading to boards, age-toning to pages with light, ordinary reference wear. Very nice in protective mylar sleeve.

Folio (36.2 x 26.2 cm). x, 143 pp.; 12 engraved plates with explanatory text leaves, a few text figures. Original quarter linen over limp boards. Printed label with title mounted on front board. = Written by Darwin's Bulldog, the zoologist Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895), who was a ship's assistant surgeon and naturalist on board of HMS Rattlesnake. The Rattlesnake charted the Great Barrier Reef and the seas northwards to New Guinea. Huxley's paper On the anatomy and the affinities of the family of Medusae' was published in 1849 by the Royal Society in its Philosophical Transactions. Huxley united the Hydroid and Sertularian polyps with the Medusae to form a class to which he subsequently gave the name of Hydrozoa. The connection he made was that all the members of the class consisted of two cell layers, enclosing a central cavity or stomach. This is characteristic of the phylum now called the Cnidaria. He compared this feature to the serous and mucous structures of embryos of higher animals. When at… Read More

First American Edition, a page-for-page and (with few exceptions) line-for-line reprint of the Galignani edition published in Paris in 1829, with the same tripartite engraved portrait frontispiece of the poets, bound in contemporary dark polished calf and marbled boards, the spine with five compartments separated by 4 gilt-ruled raised hubs, boards are rubbed with modest edge wear, hinges are tight & pages are clean & unmarked with occasional mild foxing, printed from the same plates of J. Howe derived from the Galignani edition with the same pagination and containing the memoirs by Mary Shelley and Leigh Hunt for Shelley and Keats respectively; this early edition, when published in 1829 in Paris, constituted the first collected edition of Keats's works & the second ever of Coleridge and Shelley, and here represents the first such appearances in America; an attractive nicely printed copy from the Earle Vonard Weller Collection of Occidental College with his small donation bookplate to the pastedown… Read More