Rare books from Herman H. J. Lynge & Son

1855. London, 1855. 8vo. Entire volume 16, second series of "The Annals..." present, bound in a very nice red half morocco with richly gilt spine. A nice, clean, fresh, and sturdy copy. A vague stamp to title-page (London Institution) and a blindstamped marking to top of first leaf of contents (Cranbrook Institute of Science). Pp. 184-196. [Entire volume: VII, 472 pp. + 11 plates]. Exceedingly scarce first printing of Wallace's very first publication on the theory of evolution, predating any publication on the subject by Darwin. This milestone paper in the history of the theory of evolution - "A stunning scientific debut" (Nature vol. 496, p. 162) - formulates what is now known as the "Sarawak Law", which is in essence half of the theory of evolution by natural selection, which Wallace would later (1858) so famously publicize together with Darwin. From as early as 1845, Wallace had been convinced of the idea that species arise through natural laws rather than by divine fiat and he invested all in… Read More

1545. Paris, Simon de Colines, 1545. Folio. 17th century full mottled calf, neatly rebacked preserving the old spine. Title-page a bit dusty and strengthened at inner margin, on blank verso. A small closed tear to inner margin of 2nd leaf, no loss. Last leeaf with a repair to lower corner, no loss of text. Last three pages a bit dusty. A few repaired marginal tears, no loss. Light age yellowing and here and there some soiling and spotting (presumably due to medical use). All in all a good, well-margined copy. (24), 375, (1) pp. Printer's device to title-page, lovely woodcut initials, 62 full-page anatomical woodcuts, and ab. 100 sall medical illustrations to the text. With the 16t century autograph owner signature of Robert Westhawe to title-page and the manuscript ex libris of William Paschall (dated October 1646) to verso of last leaf. Wit Paschall's occasional marginalia. The very rare first edition of one of the most important works in the history of medicine, being the first published work to… Read More

1822. Paris, Firmin Didot, 1822. 8vo. Uncut in the original printed wrappers. Front wrapper slightly soiled and a bit of light dampstaining throughout. Upper corner worn. Six leaves with contemporary neat annotations, scholarly notes and drawings have been inserted at the front and the back - one double-leaf in front of the title-page (with one page of annotations with references to other works by Champollion), two leaves between plates III and IV (with two and a half pages of Greek-ancient Greek-Latin correspondence alphabet) and three leaves at the end, before the final blank (with five pages of an alphabet of the first Egyptian letters - very neatly drawn - and an alphabet-correspondence at the end). A very charming and interesting copy in the exceedingly rare original wrappers. Housed in a half morocco slipcase with gilt lettering to spine. (4), 52 pp. + 4 folded plates + 1 blank leaf. The scarce first edition, in the even scarcer original printed wrappers, of Champollion's milestone work,… Read More

1867. Hamburg, Otto Meisner, 1867. 8vo. Nice contemporary black half calf with gilt spine. Minor wear to hinges and capitals, which have tiny, barely noticeable professional restorations. Inner hinges re-enforced. Contemporary owner's names (Emil Kirchner and Karl Kirchner (1887)) to front free end-paper. Contemporary book-plate to inside of front board (Ernst Ferdinand Kirchner). A very nice copy with just the slightest of occasional brownspotting. Housed in a very nice custom-made black full morocco box with gilt llettering to spine. XII, 784 pp. Scarce first edition of Marx' immensely influential main work, arguably the greatest revolutionary work of the nineteenth century. With its attack on capitalists and capitalist mode of production, this cornerstone of 19th century thought came to determine the trajectory of economics and politics of the Western world. Marx' groundbreaking "Das Kapital" originally appeared in German in 1867, and only the first part of the work appeared in Marx' lifetime. PMM 358.

1758. Paris, Durand, 1758. Large 4to. Large-paper copy bound in a beautiful contemporary full calf binding with five raised bands to richly gilt spine. Triple gilt line-borders to boards, all edges of boards gilt and inner gilt dentelles. All edges gilt. A stunning, bright, clean, and fresh copy, with minimal wear and no restorations of any kind. Presentation-inscriptions to front free end-paper and to verso of title-page (see description in note below). Large woodcut title-vignette and many smaller vignettes throughout. (4), XXII, 643, (1) pp. + 40 ff. (i.e. the original, uncorrected leaves: pp. 1-16; 35-38; 59-62; 67-70; 75-78; 139-142; 145-154; 169-176; 187-190; 233-34; 227-230; 459-462; 547-550; 603-606 + 2 extra leaves that were printed incorrectly, namely p. 160 - reset & p. 239 - different vignette). Extremely rare first edition, first issue, with manuscript dedication-inscription from the author, of this monumental work of the French Enlightenment. This magnum opus of modern thought is… Read More

1839. (Edinburgh, 1839-41). Elephant-folio. In the two original half-calf-folders with green leather-spines and pattern-stamped cloth boards; gilt title and author to front boards. Remains of the original green cloth-ties. Some wear to spines, especially at capitals. 12 magnificent hand-coloured plates with one leaf of text for each, the first, 8th and 11th text-leaves with an engraved illustration measuring 22x13,5 cm. (depicting "Stake Nets of the Solway Firth", "Poke Nets of the Solway Firth", and "Young States of S. Truttafrom Mr. Shaw's Ponds" - the last beautifully hand-coloured); all leaves laid in loose, as originally published, and all plates with the original tissue-guards. Plates and text-leaves measuring ab. 64,5 x 49 cm The exceedingly scarce first printing of this monumental work on British salmon, one of the finest books on fishes ever produced. The work is generally considered the Audubon of salmons; the quality of the plates is considered unsurpassed and the scientific research… Read More

1553. Paris, Charles Estienne, 1553. Small 4to. Bound in a lovely 19th century red morocco binding with five raised bands and gilt ornamentations to spine. Boards with blindstamped frame-borders and gilt ornamental centre-pieces. All edges of boards gilt and inner gilt dentelles. All edges gilt. "E. THOMAS" discreetly printed to top of front free end-paper. Front free end-paper with woodcut armorial book-plate (Bibliotheque du Plessis Villoutreys). First and last leaves with a bit of brownspotting, otherwise very nice and clean throughout. The last three leaves with neat restorations - neatly closed tear, with no loss and a couple of small restorations to top margin (far from affecting text). (8), 148 pp. Estienne's printer's device to title-page and woodcut initials. The extremely rare first translation printed in any language, being the first printed French translation, of one of the most important and influential works in the history of mankind, Machiavelli's "The Prince". After the original… Read More

1789. Paris, Chez Baudouin, Imprimeur de l'Assamblée Nationale, 1789. 8vo. Bound in an exquisite later red half morocco with gilt spine. Top edge gilt. (1) f. (title-page), 8 pp. ("Déclaration des droits de l'Homme en société"), 6 pp. ("Articles de Constitution"), (1) f. ("Réponse du Roi"), (1) f. (blank). Woodcut head-pieces. Title-page slightly bowned, otherwise in excellent condition. A truly excellent copy. The exceedingly scarce true first printing, in an incredibly rare form of off-print/separate printing, of one of the most important and influential documents in the history of mankind, namely the French Human Rights Declaration, containing also the articles for the first French Constitution. This groundbreaking publication constitutes a monumental change in the structure of the human world, providing all citizens with individual rights that we now take for granted. This monument of humanist thought appeared in the "Procès verbal de l'Assemblée Nationale", copies of which are also… Read More

1837. Kjöbenhavn, 1837-1847. Bound in one nice contemporary half calf binding with blindstamped and gilt ornamentation to spine. Gilding vague, also the gilt title. Minor bumping to corners. Internally a bit of scattered brownspotting, but overall unusually nice, clean, and fresh. A truly excellent copy. See collation below. A magnificent set - unusually nice and clean and bound together in a contemporary binding, which is almost never the case - of the first edition of this exceedingly rare collection of Andersen's earliest fairy tales. This legendary fairy tale-collection that created the fairy tale-genre and brought Andersen international fame, consists in six parts that together make up two volumes. As with most of the other few existing copies, the present set is a mixture of issues (though here, merely two of the parts are in second issue). "With the passing of each year, Andersen's genious brought forth new "wonder stories", and the fame he had so desperately craved and striven for became… Read More

1748. (Sankt Petersburg, 1748). 8vo. Bound with five other tragedies/dramas in a slightly later (late 18th century) full calf binding with gilt line-borders to boards and richly gilt spine with red and blue title- and tome-labels. Spine with some wear and corners bumped. Upper capital worn. Internally generally nice and clean and on good paper, but "Hamlet" - which has clearly been well red and presumably used for a stage set-up - has some light pencil-annotations and pencil-crossovers, occasional brownspotting, a few paper restorations - no loss of text, a tear to one leaf - no loss, and one leaf slighly loosening at the bottom. Hamlet: 68, (2) pp. - separately paginated. 26pp. + 79, (1) pp. + 62 pp. + 68, (2) pp. + 78 pp. + 1 f. blank + 29 pp. Extremely rare first edition of the first Russian translation/adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet. The first edition is incredibly scarce and deemed virtually unobtainable. A second appearance, which is also of the utmost scarcity, came out in 1786, in a… Read More

1871. High Holborn, for the Council by Edward Truelove, 1871. Small 8vo. Near contemporary quarter cloth with silver lettering to front board. Binding with signs of use, but overall good. One closed marginal tear and title-page with a few brownspots, otherwise very nice and clean. 35 pp. Exceedingly rare first edition (with the names of Lucraft and Odger still present under "The General Council") of one of Marx' most important works, his seminal defense of the Paris Commune and exposition of the struggle of the Communards, written for all proletarians of the world. While living in London, Marx had joined the International Working Men's Association in 1864 - "a society founded largely by members of Britain's growing trade unions and designed to foster international working class solidarity and mutual assistance. Marx accepted the International's invitation to represent Germany and became the most active member of its governing General Council, which met every Tuesday evening, first at 18 Greek… Read More

1852. New-York, 1852. Bound in a later (ab. 1900) red full cloth binding with silver lettering to front board. A bit of wear to capitals, corners, and extremities. Front free end-paper with small repairs and strengthening. A couple of closed tears to blank outer margin of title-page (no loss and not affecting printing)Inner blank margins of the first few leaves strengthened (far from affecting text). Occasionally a few marginal notes. and underlinings. A near contemporary notice in Russian about the work has been inserted between the title-page and the preface. All in all a good copy with no major flaws. IV, (4), 62 pp. The exceedingly scarce first edition of one of the absolutely most important writings by Marx - his seminal essay on the French coup of 1851, which not only constitutes our principal source for the understanding of Marx' theory of the Capitalist state (together with "The Civil War in France"), but which is also the work in which Marx formulates for the first time his view of the… Read More

1537. Augsburg, Alexander Weissenhorn, 1537. Folio. Bound in a late medieval liturgical manuscript-leaf of vellum with handpainted capitals in blue and red, over cardboard-binding, and housed in a vellum-box. Title-page with a small paper-restoration to the blank, outer margin, far from affecting printing or illustration. Light brownspotting throughout, but overall a truly excellent copy with no significant flaws. The woodcuts are all clear bright. (6), CII ff. Large woodcut title-illustration and 18 large woodcut illustrations in the text (measuring 10,8x14,3 cm.). Extremely scarce first edition, first printing (with the 1537-title-page), of the very first translation of the Odyssey into any vernacular language. This monumental work represents a milestone in the history of classical literature and marks the beginning of the dissemination of the Homeric works to a wider Renaissance-audience. Not only is this the first German translation, in the exceedingly scarce first printing, and the first… Read More

1470. (Venice, 1470'ies - 80'ies). 4to. 210x240 mm. In a lovely, strictly contemporary Italian binding. Original wooden boards with beveled edges. Top outer edge of front board chipped and a small split at bottom outer edge. Boards with remnants of the original leather previously partially covering boards, revealing the leather cords, and with an exposed spine revealing four strips of Medieval parchment that hold the quires together (along with a bit of restoration glue, barely noticeable). The top strip with red paint and the other three with fourteenth-century Gothic script. Original brass clasps to front board. An excellent, solid, contemporary binding. 70 ff. (f.70 blank), complete (i-v 12, vi 10), 29 lines to a page, mostly with ruling, occasionally only with frame ruling (150 x 77 mm). Vertical catchwords at the bottom of verso of the last folio of each of quire (i.e. ff. 12, 24, 36, 48, 60), surrounded by wave lines. Written in an easily legible, experienced Italian humanist miniscule. Space… Read More

1598. Wandesburg (i.e. Wandsbeck, for the author by Philip Ohrs), 1598. Small folio. In the original blue silk binding with richly gilt ornamentation to boards. Professionally recased in the 1970'es with 90% of the original silk boards preserved over new blue silk. Green silk ties. A small, neat restoration to the border of the title-page, barely noticeable. A4 and H2 restored and at margins with newer paper margins in perceftly matching paper. The restoration touches the outer borders, most significantly on H2, where the inner border is almost covered by the new paper. The lower blank border of A4 cropped. Otherwise in splendid condition. 42 ff. With 22 magnificent full-page illustrations, of which 4 are engraved and the rest are woodcut. Title printed in red and black and all pages, including the title-page, printed within woodcut ornamental border. Large woodcut device to title-page, with spere and compass, and allegorical woodcut to colophon. Title-page (which is printed in red and black) is… Read More