Search Results: Authors starting with A from McNaughtan's Bookshop

London: J. T. Hayes, 1855. 8vo, pp. 16. Extracted from a volume. Title-page a little worn to top edge. A few marginal pencil marks. An unrecorded pamphlet seeking to rehabilitate the reputation of the late Tsar Nicholas I and in doing so lessen support for the Crimean War. The preface, signed ‘A.S.G.’, claims the pamphlet was ‘originally written in the Russian language, translated from it into the German, and again translated into English by a lady, for private circulation.’ While this circuitous origin is possible, it seems more likely that this was, along with its anonymous publication, a way of obfuscating the text’s origin: the preface’s date of 8th November 1855 places it near the end of the Royal Navy’s campaign in the Sea of Azov, and its sympathetic portrayal of a military leader of an enemy combatant country may have been seen as seditious. The writer of the preface seems alive to this possibility when they refer to the… Read More

London: T. Bensley [for R. Ackermann], 1808. FIRST EDITION, 3 vols., 4to, pp. [vi], iv, [3]-231, [1]; [ii], vi, [ii], 239, [1]; [ii], iv, [ii], 280, [6] + engraved dedication leaf in each vol. and 104 aquatint plates. Contemporary marbled calf. Three plates in vol. 1 with tears at platemark repaired on verso, otherwise just some spotting and toning, offsetting from plates to facing pages. Rebacked, corners and edges neatly renewed, hinges relined, old leather a bit scratched and marked. Bookplate removed from pastedowns, ownership inscription dated 1813 rubbed out from flyleaf of vol. 1. An early issue of this essential colour-plate work, complete with half-titles in each volume. Four of Abbey’s ‘key plates’ are in the first state, and all the visible watermarks are between 1806 and 1808. Abbey Scenery 212.

London: Hamish Hamilton, 1985. FIRST EDITION, SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR, 8vo, pp.[vi], 217, [1]. Original brown buckram, spine lettered in gilt, colour-printed dustjacket. A little toned. Blue offsetting to endpapers and front dustjacket flap from paper bag, now removed. Ackroyd’s postmodern occult detective story was winner of Best Novel at the 1985 Whitbread Book Awards. This first printing is signed and dated to the title-page, Edinburgh, September 5 1990.

Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1867. 7 vols., 4to, pp. [vi], 822; [vi], 786; [vi], 833, [1]; [vi], 815, [1]; [iv], 874; vi, 1017, [1]; [iv], 468, [2]. Original textured purple cloth (vol. iv in brown cloth), printed paper labels to spines. Rear joint of vol. 1 mostly split and board almost loose, otherwise spines somewhat sunned, a little wear to corners and spine ends, labels browned (apart from on vol. 4) and a bit chipped at edges (more so on vol. 6), vol. 6 with a small triangular tear to cloth of lower board. The last and greatest catalogue of the Library of the Faculty of Advocates produced before the creation of the National Library of Scotland (which took over the non-legal material and copyright deposit function) - an ambitious record of a major collection. Begun under Samuel Halkett continued by Thomas Hill Jamieson, and finished by Jón Andréson Hjaltalín, it initially included biographical notices of authors before it became clear that this level… Read More

London: Printed for T. Egerton, Military Library, 1804. 12mo, pp. [xvi], 277, [11, ads]. Untrimmed in modern quarter calf, marbled boards, spine divided by double blind rules, red morocco label. A little soiled and marked internally. Presentation inscription to flyleaf: ‘James Carruthers, Edinb. June 1st 1843, To George Carruthers, Waterhead’. A rare Napoleonic gunner’s manual, first published in 1801 and reaching a 7th edition by 1813. Captain Adye was himself a gunner in the Royal Artillery and gathered ‘this small collection of military memorandums [...] only for the compiler’s own pocket; to assist him in the execution of his duty: but it occurred to him, that many of his military friends stood in equal need of such an aid, and would willingly give a few shillings for what they would not be at the trouble of collecting.’ Intended for battlefield use and compact enough to fit a soldier’s pocket, few copies of any printing have… Read More

Norwich: Printed by J. Crouse, 1777. FIRST EDITION, 4to, pp. xxviii, [8], 519, [1]. Contemporary sprinked calf, spine gilt in compartments. Lightly toned and offset, a few light marginal stains, first few leaves foxed. Rebacked and recornered in a lighter shade of leather (but preserving original backstrip), somewhat rubbed and scratched, spine ends worn, a small wormtrack to inside of front board and flyleaves. This translation by the Norfolk clergyman Robert Potter marks the first complete English-language version of the surviving plays of Aeschylus, who had been largely neglected in English until that point (the first published translation of any individual play appeared only in 1773). Potter’s work ‘was published to great acclaim in 1777 and brought him to the notice of London literary society’ (ODNB); a London edition followed within two years of this first printing, and Potter’s translations were still being reprinted as a standard version as late as… Read More

Edinburgi [Edinburgh]: Apud W. Ruddiman, J. Richardson, Socios, sumptibus A Kincaid & W. Sands, 1767. 8vo, pp. iv, 140, 140. Contemporary sheep, spine divided by raised bands and gilt rules, red morocco label lettered in gilt. Some spotting, red pencil trials to final leaf and front pastedown. Binding a touch worn, particularly at head of spine, flyleaves excised. Ink ownership inscription to front pastedown. A scarce Scottish schoolbook Greek and Latin edition of Aesop’s fables, with ESTC citing only half a dozen copies in UK institutions, as well as four in the US. ESTC T83888.

Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus, 1864. 8vo, pp. [iv], 86, iv, [3]-120, 4 [ads] + frontispiece. Original textured dark green cloth, boards blocked in blind, spine lettered direct in gilt. First and last leaves somewhat toned. Binding a little soiled. Ownership inscription to flyleaf of Fr. H. Urquhart, Portpatrick, dated October 1877. A reprint of German schoolmaster Johann Franz Ahn’s popular language textbook, with a ‘Caution’ printed to the verso of the half-title advising against spurious, unauthorised editions of his work. Ahn also adapted his new, practical easy method to produce guides to Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese. This edition is unknown to Library Hub and Worldcat, both of which record multiple similar editions from the 1850s to 1870s, usually in single copies.

Hamilton: Printed by W. M. Borthwick and Co., 1821. 8vo signed in 4s, pp. [ii], 131, [1] + folding frontispiece. Near-contemporary half black roan, marbled boards, spine lettered vertically in gilt, edges sprinkled red. Some spotting and toning, worm-trails to top margin. Somewhat soiled, worn to extremities, hinges starting. Purchase inscription to half-title ‘J. Mowbray, Hartwood. Paid 1 June 1837.’ A large part of sheriff and agriculturalist William Aiton’s (1760-1847) book is devoted to separation of fact and fiction in Scott’s Old Mortality, published in 1816. Aiton has a grudging respect for Scott’s treatment of the historical record, writing in his introduction that ‘he has not been able to charge the Writer of that Novel with any material distortion of the true characters of the men or the parties he has brought upon the stage,’ but lamenting that ‘he has blended the occurrences of that violent period, with some… Read More

[Scotland]: Printed and Published for Subscribers at Frog Terrace, 1856. FIRST EDITION, 8vo, pp. [ii], 114, [2] + frontispiece, engraved title-page and 7 plates. Original green cloth, boards blocked with a blind frame, front board lettered in gilt. Lightly toned and a little spotted. Binding a little shaken, spine slightly cocked and discoloured, extremities bumped. Indistinct ownership inscription to flyleaf, binder’s ticket of Ferguson of Glasgow to rear pastedown. A scarce, pseudonymous Dumbarton social satire, its roots in a series of columns in the Dumbarton Chronicle, which was inspired by (and is sometimes mistaken for) a contemporary Glaswegian work of the same title by John Smith. Both of them satirise town council politics of the time, with cryptic character names and anonymous authors. This Chronicles of Gotham is presented in mock-biblical form and language, with numbered verses, and apocrypha to the rear. Library Hub records 2 copies, NLS, and Glasgow, the latter of which… Read More

Edinburgh: Printed by Oliver & Boyd, and the other proprietors, 1821. 12mo, pp. viii, 406, 80. Original limp sheep with wallet-style fold-over front flap, spine lettered in gilt, rear cover with a sheet of card tucked under the head and tail turn-ins forming a pocket. A little browned and soiled. Rubbed and worn, particularly at spine ends, lower edge, and flap, no front endpapers.

London: Punch Office, 1860. 16mo, pp. [ii], 139, [4], 142-192 + engraved title-page, folding hand-coloured frontispiece and 5 plates. Original diced black limp morocco with wallet flap, edges gilt. Small tear to edge of folding frontispiece. Somewhat rubbed, flap torn to either side of tongue, hinges cracking but sound. Diary sections neatly filled in by contemporary hand, small sticker to rear board. A yearly pocket book owned by a Suffolk tradesman, to judge from his diary entries, which were made almost daily. They record business trips to London and Norwich, details of concerts attended and piano hire and observations of the weather.

Edinburgh: Printed for and sold by R. Fleming, 1766. 12mo, ff. 24, pp. 25-120. First three gatherings printed on alternate openings only. Contemporary vellum, boards bordered with double blind rules. A touch toned. Binding a little soiled, small patch of wear to front board. Clipping of signature of J. Millar pasted to pastedown, contemporary ink notes to flyleaves, red duty stamp to first page. An attractive pocket almanac, in which a previous owner has made some notes to the flyleaves, mostly relating to money debited and credited, and lent to a woman named Tiby Brown to buy shoes. Scarce, with Library Hub recording 3 copies, all in Scotland: NLS, NMS and St Andrews.

[Alnwick?]: [s.n.], 1790. Folio broadside (340 x 215mm). A few tiny spots. A scarce broadside concerning land disputes between the Duke of Northumberland and the borough of Alnwick. ESTC locates only one other copy, in the British Library, and suggests date and place.

London: Printed for R. Snagg, No. 129 in Fleet Street, R. Cruttwell in Bath & Hodgson & Johnso[n] in Salisbury, 1776. 8vo, pp. [2, engraved title-page], 336, [345]-376, 385-424, [433]-496, 505-552 + 12 plates (of 24). Lacking the final gathering of the September issue, the repeated gathering ‘3O’ in the November issue, and 12 of the 24 plates listed by Matyas. Bound from parts (stab holes visible) in contemporary quarter sprinkled calf, marbled boards, spine divided by raised bands, red morocco label. Engraved title-page and several leaves printed slightly askew and consequently trimmed at fore-edge with loss of a couple of characters, top inner corner of one leaf torn away causing loss to 3 lines of text, one or two other lesser paper flaws, some spotting and staining. Rubbed, spine creased, extremities a touch worn. Ownership inscription of J. Chaplin to title-page, a few pen trials elsewhere. A rare and early printing of the Declaration of Independence,… Read More

Parisiis [Paris]: Ex Typographia Frederici Leonard, 1684. 4to, pp. [xx], 455, [71], 148, [16] + engraved half-title. Eighteenth-century calf, boards bordered with a blind rule, spine gilt in compartments with double red morocco labels, marbled edges and endpapers. Some gatherings toned, some spotting and light dustsoiling. Extremities rubbed, head of spine chipped. Ownership inscription of John Campbell to title-page, along with booklabel of ‘Kilberry’, monogram ‘AK’ in gilt to foot of spine. The first Delphin edition of Juvenal and Persius - like many Delphin classics, the basis for a number of subsequent editions - edited by Louis Desprez. This copy, from the library of the Campbell family of Kilberry Castle, is in an attractive binding, probably French.

Edinburgi [Edinburgh]: Excudebant J. Ballantyne et Socii, 1806. 12mo, pp. [ii], xi, [i], 159, [1]. Contemporary sheep. Somewhat toned and soiled, some stains. Scratched and somewhat rubbed, hinges split but joints holding. ‘No. 15’ in ink to pastedown, prayer in pencil to flyleaf. A reasonably scarce Edinburgh printing of the Satires, with Library Hub recording 4 locations: Edinburgh, NLS, Manchester and Ushaw College.

Amstelodami [Amsterdam]: Apud Iudocum Hondium, 1625. 16mo, pp. 116. Title-page engraved. Red crushed morocco c. 1900 by Riviere, spine lettered in gilt direct, turn-ins gilt, marbled endpapers, edges gilt. A little toning and staining. Gift inscription to binder's blank dated 1935 (to Maurice Baring from Ronald Storrs, 'not to be lent'), bookplate of Maurice Baring to front pastedown, earlier ownership inscription to foot of title-page: 'Ex libris Catherine'. An Elzevir-imitating pocket edition of the satirists Juvenal and Persius, published by Jodocus Hondius II (or Joost de Hondt Jr), son of an important Flemish mapmaker. This copy was given by the British official Ronald Storrs (1881-1955), known for his erudition and refined taste, to the writer Maurice Baring (1874-1945).

Glasguae [Glasgow]: In aedibus academicis excudebant Robertus et Andreas Foulis, 1750. 8vo, pp. [iv], 134, [2, ads]. Contemporary sheep, spine divided by raised bands between gilt rules, red morocco label, other compartments with central sunburst tool gilt. Some spotting, first leaf of text soiled. Rubbed and scratched, head of spine a bit worn. Ownership inscriptions and pen trials of one Colin Campbell to front endpapers, later inscription of Joseph Finlayson to half-title. The second Foulis edition of Juvenal and Persius (each with their own title-page, though the pagination is continuous throughout), following one of 1742. Gaskell 158; ESTC T92158.

Londini [London]: Sumtibus Rodwell et Martin; [et al.], 1818. 12mo, pp. [iv], 420. Contemporary vellum, boards framed with double gilt rules, spine divided by double gilt rules, black morocco labels, other compartments with central decorative lozenge tools gilt, marbled edges and endpapers. A few minor spots. Boards slightly splayed, one or two small marks.