Rare books from G.Gosen Rare Books & Old Paper, ABAA, ILAB

London: Fisher, Son, & Co.,Angel Street,St. Martin's-Le-Grand, London: Rue St. Honoré, Paris, [1845].. First edition. Hardcover. Fine. George Cruikshank. Small 8vo. First edition, [initial blank; frontispiece with interlining leaf; title page, dedication page; iii, iv; 254 pages, original red cloth wrapper, original spine, original red cloth back, final blank]. This copy lacks the page of advertisements described by Cohn. Four full-page etchings by Geo. Cruikshank. Cohn 356. Full gilt orange straight-grain calf binding signed by [George] "Bayntun Binder Bath Eng.", with gilt page edges all around. Monogram bookplate, (CEM?) in gilt-decorated morocco. In 1939 the Bayntun and Rivière binderies were incorporated into a new set of premises on Manvers Street (Bath). A very fine example of a master bookbinder's art. �

London: Printed for R. Bonwicke, W. Freeman, Tim. Goodwin, J. Walthoe, M. Wotton, S. Manship, B. Tooke, J. Nicholson, R. Parker, and R. Smith, 1715. Tenth. Hardcover. Fine. Gucht. 8vo; 126 pages, collation is correct, but A3&4 have been mistakenly signed as B3&4. Four full-page engravings by Gucht. The mock-poem on the fourth book has its own (second) title-page, p. 55 (D4). New endpapers, Booktag of Subun-So Book Store Tokyo Kanda. Signed binding by R. Wallis. Full polished green calf with gold fillet, 5 raised bands, gilt lettering on the spine, now slightly faded. Slight wear at the head. A beautifully bound fine copy of this popular title. With its own green paper slipcase.

London: Printed for J. Watts, at the Printing Office in Wild-Court near Lincolns-Inn Fields, MDCCXXIX. Hardcover. Cibber, Colley. Love in a Riddle. A Pastoral. As it is Acted at the Theatre Royal, By His Majestys Servants. London: Printed for J. Watts, at the Printing Office in Wild-Court near Lincolns-Inn Fields, MDCCXIX [1729?]. Price of 1S. 6d. in square brackets. ESTC Citation No. T38640. 8vo, [iv; 96 pages]. Decorated headpieces, epilogue with engraved musical air and 22 pages of engraved music (tunes to the songs sung in the play). Rebound in modern full pebble grain morocco with earlier labels preserved on the spine. Gilt-edged all around. A near-pristine, very fine copy. Love in a Riddle is a ballad-opera, Cibbers attempt to emulate John Gays Beggars Opera. His attempt did not meet with critical success, in fact, his effort was condemned. However, he rescued its comic subplot for his Damon and Phillida.

London: Printed for Edward Jeffery, No. 11, Pall Mall, 1811. Quarto, [three introductory blanks; iv; Glossary 56 pages unpaginated; Local Proverbs p. 57- 124; five concluding blanks]. 26 ½ cm x 21 cm. Full gilt-trimmed tan calf. Binder's tag from Lubbock in New Castle. Book plate of John Stafford Reid Byers (1903-1984), who was in the Ministry of Economic Warfare in 1939 and New Castle solicitor, Armorer Donkin (1779 1851), who signed his book plate. A fine wide-margined copy, bright, crisp. Re-backed. "Scrat" is defined as "an hermaphrodite, used of men and animals, and, groovers as miners." Crones are defined as "old ewes who have lost their teeth." Under Herefordshire one finds: "Blessed is the eye, / That is between Severn and Wye." This proverb, Fuller supposes to refer not only to the beautiful and fertile country so situated, but also to allude to the safety from hostile invasions arising from the protection of those two rivers.

Gay, Mr. [John], Trivia: or, the Art of Walking the Streets of London. London, Bernard Lintott, [1716]. First edition, first issue, one of 250 fine paper copies. 8 5/8 in x 5 1/2 in. [initial blank; title-page A1; advertisement A2; 80 pages; index G1-6; concluding blank] Foxon G82. Rebacked, original backstrip preserved, gilt-trimmed all around, full tan calf. Signed binding of J. Larkins. Large, magnificent book plate of Arthur & Magdalen F. Bruan 1870, with the motto: "Non sine industria." Hard slipcase. An untrimmed copy.

Very Good. London: Printed by P. Spilsbury and Son, for J. Walker, Paternoster-Row; J. Bell; J. Ladley, Mount-Street, Berkeley-Square; and Mr. Jeffrey, Pall-Mall. M.DCC.XCIV. [1794] Quarter vellum on marbled boards, now scuffed. Quarto, 242 pages, 28 cm. First edition. An early twentieth century owner wrote an interesting entry on the front fly-leaf about the various available editions and the booksellers who had them, i.e., Tregaskis, Dobell, Heffer. A second note explains this owners donations of his various collected works of Pindar to Princeton Universitys Library and to his friend S. H. Monk. The black vernacular of AZID, or the Song of the Captive Negro gives the reader an idea of John Wolcots skills: Poor Mora eye be wet wid tear,/And heart like lead sink down wid woe;/ She seem her mournful friends to hear,/ And see der eye like fountain flow./ No more she give me song so gay,/ But sigh, Adieu, der Domahay. This very good copy was purchased from Heffer in Cambridge, Cat. 222, No. 2377.

Good. Lugd[uni] Batavorum, Ex Officinâ Elseviriorum, 1640. 12mo. [xxiv; 1-289 ; 300-414 ; xxviii] Numbers 290-299 not used in pagination. Printers device on the title page. (Dedication to Ioanni de Laet by Bonaventure and Abraham Elzevier, Lugd-Batav.Kal.Sept. MDCXL. Praefatio, C. Plinii Caecilii Secundi Vita per Ioannem Mariam Catanaeum composita. Eiusdem Vita ex epistola collecta. Ex Onuphrii Panuini Commentariis in fastos, ad annum DCCCLIII. Nomenclator.) Black gilt morocco, raised bands with armorial back strip. Bookplates of M. A. G-du Plessis and P. de La Moranderie. Hinges worn but holding. Verso of front flyleaf has a shelf mark, "a/3." With the annotation " au chiffre du duc de Sardes-Bovannes " (sp ?). There is a prior bookseller's comment on the edition in ink. Willems 506. Copinger 3646.

Very Good +. Oxford, printed for R. Clements, 1753. In-12, [ii; xii; half-title, verso blank; prologue; pages 13 -108; 2 final blanks]. Brackets drawn on a few lines on pages 55 and 67. Complete. Contemporary calf with gilt decoration, marbled end-papers. The first three books of tooth-lesse satires, attacking institutions, were published in 1597, with reprints in 1598 and 1602, and the last three of byting satires, attacking individuals under pseudonyms which were probably no disguise to Halls contemporaries, in 1598 and 1599. Hall claimed these were the first satires in the English language to have taken Juvenal for a model. They gave much offense, and an attempt was made to have them all burned. The British Library copy of this title has a manuscript note saying the editor of this (1753) edition was William Thompson of Queens College, Oxford. Bookplates of Frances (with coronet and shelf mark) and Stuart Bennett. Ownership signature of Sam. Gillam. Eighteenth century mottled calf, marbled endpapers.

George Cruikshank. The Constitutional Apple Pie: or, Rhythmical Red-Book. By Master Jacky Jingle. With Thirteen Cuts. London: Published by T. Hughes, 35, Ludgate Street, 1820. W. N. Jones, Printer, Old Bailey, London. First edition, 8vo; 24 unnumbered pages. Hand-colored illustrations. Cohn 158. With an illustrated title-page with the motto, Ineptè garrit (Silly Lark), and the caption, "He talketh like an old Apple Woman." Printer's name given at the en and on the verso of the title-page. Three stab-stitch perforations. Slight occasional spotting, otherwise very good.

Mayhew (the Brothers), The Greatest Plague of Life: or The Adventures of a Lady in Search of a Good Servant. By one who has been "Almost Worried to Death." Edited by the Brothers Mayhew. Illustrated by George Cruikshank. London, David Bogue, 86 Fleet Street, N.D. [1847]. First edition in book form. Stamp-signed Bayntun binding, Bath. Twelve etchings by George Cruikshank and a glyphograph by him on the title-page. [ii; 286] List of plates on the verso of the last paginated leaf (p. 285). Original cloth wrapper bound in at the end. Cohn 544. 18 cm; 8vo. Bound in brown calf with gilt-ruled covers and spine, morocco title and author labels on the spine are chipped, top page edge gilt, back repaired, original back strip preserved. A good copy, bright and fresh. Wear at extremities of spine.

[Teofilo Folengo] Opus Merlini Cocaii Poetae Mantuani Macaronicorum. Venetiis, apud Nicolaum Bevilacquam, 1613. In-12. 14.5 cm. Contemporary lap-edged polished vellum, titled on the spine by hand, possibly by Simon Abbes Gabbema. Woodcut printer's device with motto "sciencia immutabilis" on the title page. [iv (blanks); 1 – 541; viii; i (blank)] Verso of p. 541 blank; Twenty-seven woodcut illustrations at: A1b; A12b; C11; D7b; E4; E12b; F8b; G5b; H2b; H11; I6b; K3; K11; L6b; M3; M11; N8; O3; P2; P8b; Q4b; Q12b; S2b; T3b; T8; V3b; V10. Signed and dated in 1650 by noted Frisian historian, Simon Abbes Gabbema (1628 – 1688), the official historian of Frisland, promoter of the Frisian language and a sometime owner of the Codex Roorda. There is a second manuscript motto on the title page and another note on the front flyleaf.

First edition published 1517, Delepierre says this edition was printed in Germany not in Italy, as the paper and the wretched woodcuts (chétives figures) indicate, citing David… Read More

Theophrasti, Eresi Characteres ethici, siue morum descriptiones. Graecè & Latinè. Cum notis & Monitis Ioannis Angelii Werdenhagen I.C.C., Lugduni Batauorum, Ex Officinâ Ioannis Maire, 1632. 90 mm x 47 mm, in-32, 2 pt, three parts in one volume : Greek text printed in Greek, followed by the Latin translation by the Calvinist theologian Isaac Casaubon. The third part is the commentary of Johann Angelius von Werdenhagen. [Initial blank(s) missing; 71 pages (verso blank); 98 pages; 3 blanks; 237 pages, errata of 2 pages; 2 concluding blanks]. Title page signed by I. J. Brownlee and Peter Wilson. Original vellum over paper boards, darkened and worn from use. The numeral "19" is inked on the back at the head. Notation on the verso of the final blank: "VP. 1746".
Peter Wilson (1746–1825) was born in Ordiquhill, Banffshire, Scotland, and studied at the University of Aberdeen. After moving to New York City in 1763, he worked as a teacher and then as principal of the Hackensack Academy before becoming… Read More

Thew, Robert. Fanny Kemble (Butler) as Isabella, "Merciful Heaven!" New York: Johnson, Fry & Co., 1859. Engraving, portrait print by Robert Thew of Frances Anne "Fanny" Kemble Butler (1809-1893) in costume as Isabella in William Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. The sheet measures 10 in x 7 ¼ in, with a vignette-decorated border of scenes from the play around an oval image, showing Fanny Kemble Butler in a full-figure pose. Once an illustration in a book, now disbound, with original tissue guard still attached, now torn. Slight chipping of the upper right-hand corner of the sheet, with no image loss.

Robert Douglas THE PEERAGE OF SCOTLAND 1764 Signed by Sir John Halkett and Elizabeth GC Menzies with the Bookplate of Pitfirrane Castle. Douglas, Robert, Sir 1694 – 1770. The Peerage of Scotland, Containing An Historical and Genealogical Account of the Nobility of that Kingdom, from their Origin to the Present Generation: Collected from the Public Records, and Ancient Chartuleries of this Nation, the Charters, and Other Writings of the Nobility, and the Works of our Best Historians. Illustrated wth Copper-Plates. By Robert Douglas, Esq. Edinburgh: Printed by R. Fleming, and Sold by him, and the Other Booksellers in Edinburgh; and at London by A. Miller, R. Baldwin, D. Wilson, and T. Durham. M, DCC, LXIV. [1764] Imperial quarto, 14 ¾ in x 9 ½ in; 37.5 cm x 23.3 cm. [xi (verso of xi blank); 740 pages]; 10 full-page plates of coats of arms, 12 to a plate. ESTC T148734. Bound with six raised bands, with a leather spine on contemporary marbled paper-covered pasteboard covers, with a gilt lettered… Read More

Cruikshank, Robert and Robert Seymour, Charles Dibdin and John Taylor. The publisher's front cover label is: The Comic Coronal, with Numerous Engravings on Wood by Robert Cruikshank and Robert Seymour. Eight Shillings and Sixpence. Inside, the full title: The Comic Coronal, or, Book of Merriment. With Numerous Illustrations on Wood by Robert Cruikshank and Robert Seymour. London: William Kidd, 228, Regent Street, and Sold by All Booksellers. Bound in the publisher's original brown cloth with a paper label on the front cover. Stamped gilt lettering on the spine. Front hinge cracked but still internally strong. 16 cm. 6mo. Interiors of the six volumes are in fine condition.
The title page for the first of six separately paginated volumes is: Walks About Town; a Poem, in Two Cantos, with Notes, and a Memoir of the Authors; by the Antiquated Trio. Illustrated with Three Engravings on Wood, after the Designs of Robert Cruikshank. Second Edition. London: Effingham Wilson, Royal Exchange. 1830. Please… Read More