Rare books from Donald Heald Rare Books

Philadelphia: Frederick W. Greenough (vol.I) and Daniel Rice & James G. Clark (vols.II & III), 1844. 3 volumes, folio. (19 3/8 x 13 1/4 inches). 120 hand-coloured lithographic plates after Karl Bodmer, Charles Bird King, James Otto Lewis, P.Rhindesbacher and R.M.Sully, drawn on stone by A.Newsam, A. Hoffy, Ralph Trembley, Henry Dacre and others, printed and coloured by J.T. Bowen and others, vol.III with 2 lithographed maps and one table, 17pp. of lithographic facsimile signatures of the original subscribers. Expertly bound to style in black half morocco over original cloth-covered boards, spines gilt in seven compartments with raised bands, lettered in the second and fourth compartments, the others with repeat decoration in gilt made up from various small tools First edition of "One of the most costly and important [works] ever published on the American Indians"(Field), "a landmark in American culture" (Horan) and an invaluable contemporary record of a vanished way of life, including some of the… Read More

[Canton, 1800. Large 4to. (15 x 12 1/2 inches). 141 watercolours, on thin paper, nearly all captioned in ink in Chinese in the lower right corner, each tipped to a sheet of wove paper. Mid-nineteenth century citron half morocco over marbled paper covered boards, spine with raised bands in six compartments, lettered in gilt in the second compartment, the others with a repeat decoration in gilt, marbled edges Provenance: Lady Anne Cowdray, Dunecht House, Aberdeenshire (armorial bookplate) An extraordinary album of early Chinese export watercolours of the highest quality. Beginning in the late 18th century, centred on the treaty port of Canton, there existed a thriving trade in ethnographical watercolours executed by local Chinese artists and sold to the western merchants and travellers. The best known result of this trade is William Mason's Costume of China, first published in London in 1800, which is illustrated with 60 hand-coloured aquatints adapted from a series of original watercolours by… Read More

London: C. and J. Adlard for George Catlin, Egyptian Hall, 1844. Folio. (23 x 16 1/2 inches). [Pp.1-2] letterpress title (verso blank); [pp. 3-4] To the Reader; pp.[5-]20 text. 25 hand-colored lithographs, on thick paper, after Catlin, drawn on stone by Catlin (2) or McGahey (23), printed by Day and Haghe. Publisher's half brown morocco and brown cloth boards, upper cover lettered in gilt, pale green endpapers, within a chemise in a modern red quarter morocco clamshell box First edition, hand-colored issue, of Catlin's Portfolio, a key work for any serious collection of Western Americana. Catlin published the first two issues of the North American Indian Portfolio simultaneously in late November 1844. The first issue was hand-colored, and the second had tinted plates. Catlin originally envisaged publishing a series of linked but separate portfolios, each with its own theme: religious rites, dances, costumes, etc. The first series was the only one that was ever published, and its production proved… Read More

Naples: François Morelli, 1776. 4 volumes, folio. (18 3/4 x 14 1/2 inches). Text in English and French. Hand-coloured, engraved titles in English and French, 5 engraved dedication plates, 436 engraved plates (183 hand-coloured, 73 double-page, 4 folding), plus engraved headpieces, tailpieces and initials (printed in colours in vol. 4). Contemporary mottled calf, rebacked and restored at edges, marbled endpapers Provenance: British Museum (initials M. B. in gilt on the upper covers, inked accession stamp on verso of English titles, and with duplicate release stamps dated 1804); Benjamin Gott (armorial bookplates) The most important 18th century work on antiquities and among the most beautiful books with hand-coloured plates: the book which launched a style. Sir William Hamilton was the British ambassador to Naples during the city's golden age, from 1764 to 1800. An avid antiquarian, Hamilton assembled one of the world's finest collections of Greek and Roman antiquities. The core of his collection… Read More

[London]: Dickinson & Co, 1848. Folio. (21 x 14 1/4 inches). Letterpress title (verso blank), pp.[1-]5 letterpress text Sketch of the Journey. 20 hand-coloured lithographed views on 16 sheets, by Dickinson and Co., after Warre, 1 lithographic map, hand-coloured in outline with routes marked in red and blue. Very minor foxing to a few plates. Contemporary purple cloth, rebacked and retipped with dark purple morocco, spine with raised bands in seven compartments, ruled in gilt and blind on either side of each band, lettered in gilt in the second compartment Provenance: William Rathbone (booklabel); Lester E. Bauer (Parke-Bernet, 3 December 1958, lot 508); Frank T. Siebert (Sotheby's New York, 28 October 1999, lot 860) First edition, original hand-coloured issue of a work which contains the "only western color plates comparable in beauty to those by Bodmer" (Howes). An important record of the American west before it was touched by western civilization. Captain Warre and Lieutenant Mervin Vavasour, of… Read More

London: Printed and Sold by R. Sayer and J. Bennett, 1775. Folio. (21 1/4 x 15 1/8 inches). Mounted on guards throughout. Letterpress title and index leaf, otherwise engraved. 22 engraved maps, on 29 sheets (28 folding or double-page), all hand-colored in outline. Expertly bound to style in eighteenth-century half Russia over contemporary marbled boards, the flat spine richly gilt in eight compartments divided by filets, Greek-key and rope-twist roll-tools, lettered in the second, the others with elaborate rococo repeat pattern. "The American Atlas" is the most important 18th-century atlas for America. Ristow describes it as a "geographical description of the whole continent of America, as portrayed in the best available maps in the latter half of the eighteenth century. A major cartographic reference work it was, very likely, consulted by American, English, and French civilian administrators and military officers during the Revolution." As a collection, the American Atlas stands as the most… Read More

London: Taylor & Francis for the Author, 1854. Folio. (21 5/8 x 14 3/4 inches). 51 hand-coloured lithographic plates by Gould and Henry Constantine Richter, one uncolored lithographic plate by G. Scharf, all printed by Hullmandel & Walton. Publisher's full dark green morocco, covers elaborately tooled in blind and gilt. A very fine copy of the second, revised and expanded, edition of Gould's first great ornithological monograph in the publisher's deluxe binding. The chief glories of this work are the wonderful plates worked up by Richter from Gould's masterful sketches. The resulting images ably capture the vibrant colours and ready intelligence that many of these birds exhibit. The first edition of this work, published in 1834-1835, marked the first attempt to picture and describe the whole Toucan family. The range of these extraordinary birds is limited to Mexico, Central and South America and some of the West Indies. The first time a Toucan was described in print was by Gonzalo Fernandez de… Read More

London: Thomas Martyn, 10 Great Marlborough Street, 1796. 3 volumes. Folio. (13 1/2 x 10 5/8 inches). 102 watercolors over etched line. 90 distinct watercolors with 12 variants. 1795 Volume: Unpaginated, 86 pp. Manuscript title page and 42 watercolors over etched line. 1796 Volume I: Unpaginated, 130 pp. Manuscript title and 30 watercolors over etched line, each with manuscript description on preceding leaf. 1796 Volume II: Unpaginated, 68 pp. 29 watercolors over etched lines with 3 ink manuscript leaves with descriptions. All finely bound in contemporary straight-grained red Morocco, 1795 Volume with gilt fillet, 1796 Volumes with gilt fillets and Greek key pattern borders on covers, all spines gilt in compartments, 1796 Volumes with drawer-handle motifs, all titled in gilt in second compartment [MARTYN'S PLANTS], 1795 Volume with marbled black and red endpapers, 1796 Volumes with marbled cobalt endpapers. 1795 Volume and 1796 Volume I with binder's ticket of Charles Hering (1763-1815) of 10 St.… Read More

Philadelphia: Edward C. Biddle, 1836; Daniel Rice, 1838; and James G. Clark, 1844. Folio; 3 vols. (20 1/16 x 14 1/4 inches). 120 hand-colored lithograph plates, map, and 17-page subscriber list present. State "A" of volumes one and three, state "B" (issued with part 16) of volume two. 19th-century half-Morocco to style over marbled boards, spines gilt. Within individual chemises and slipcases. First edition of this Americana highspot, a profusely illustrated record of prominent nineteenth-century Native Americans, which was "the grandest color-plate book issued in the United States up to the time of its publication." (Reese) Thomas McKenney, a Quaker, was Superintendent of Indian Affairs from 1816-1822. While in this post he became concerned for the survival of Western tribes after observing unscrupulous people taking advantage of Native Americans for profit. McKenney decided to create an archive to preserve the artifacts and history of Native Americans whose culture was disappearing due to… Read More

New York: Eliphalet M. Brown Jr., 1856. Elephant folio. 6 lithographic plates, printed in colours and finished by hand, by G.W. Lewis (1), J. Sarony & Co (4) and Boell & Michelin (1), all after Heine. Without the lithographed title (as usual). Magnificent and very rare complete set of Heine's elephant folio-sized lithographic record of Perry in Japan: in scale, scope, and quality of execution, this work includes what is arguably the finest lithographic work ever produced in the United States. William Heine was the official artist on Commodore Matthew C. Perry's expedition to Japan in 1853-54. On returning to the United States he produced several series of prints commemorating the trip, the first, the greatest and the rarest of which is the present group consisting of a title and six plates. These were overseen by the expedition's daguerreotypist Eliphalet Brown, who was also an excellent artist and lithographer. The total number of sets of printed is not known, but, it is recorded that Brown gave… Read More

Paris: Chez Le Rouge, Rue des Grands Augustins, 1789. 21 cahiers in 4 vols. Folio. (11 x 8 inches). First edition. Complete. Volume I: Cahiers 1-5: "Traite des edifices, meubles, habits, machines et ustensiles des Chinois, graves sur les originaux dessines a la Chine," 30 pp., 128 copper-plate engravings. Volume 2: Cahiers 6-10: 113 plates. Volume 3: Cahiers 11-15: 111 plates. Volume 4: Cahiers 16-21: 139 plates. 491 plates total with 30 pp. of text as in Royet. On both blue and white laid paper, varying throughout. Contemporary calf, covers bordered in blind, flat spine divided into six gilt compartments, red Morocco lettering piece in the second, volume number in the fifth, in two clamshell boxes backed in brown Morocco with gilt lettering and felt interiors with felt-lined dividers Provenance: Didier Wirth, founder of the European Institute of Gardens and Landscapes An exceptionally rare complete set of Le Rouge's monumental work on garden design and decoration: "The most important engraved work… Read More

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas: George Catlin, 1832. Watercolor. Watercolor over graphite, heightened with white gouache on cream wove paper, inscribed "Chief of the Ottoes" in the bottom right-hand corner, and numbered "117" in the top right-hand corner. Image: (9 5/8 x 6 3/8 inches). Framed: (18 x 14 1/2 inches). An early, previously unrecorded watercolor study of a Native American chief for a George Catlin oil painting now held in the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian. "[I] painted thus many of my pictures in water colors during my 8 years travels, and most, though not all of them, I enlarged onto canvas, wishing my collection to be all in oil painting." - George Catlin During the 1830s, Catlin, a self-taught artist from Philadelphia, traveled through the Great Plains of the American West, absorbing the ways of the Native American tribes he found flourishing there. Over the next decade, Catlin embarked on a journey to create a faithful visual study of the members, customs, and surroundings… Read More

London: Sold by the Proprietors S[amuel] Harding on the Pavement in St. Martins Lane, and W[illiam] H[enry] Toms, Engraver in Union Court near Hatton Garden Holborn, 1734. Folio. (21 x 15 inches). Engraved folding key map in Babinski State 4, showing the track line of Spanish Galleons. Large engraved wall map on 15 double-page and 5 full-page map sheets, numbered in plate and in contemporary ink manuscript, in Babinski State 7, with Harding and Toms's imprint on map sheet 17, on laid paper with Strasbourg Lily watermarks. Ink manuscript sheet key opposite key map, which also carries ink manuscript configuration guidance. Finely bound to style in period diced quarter calf with tips on marbled paper boards, six raised bands forming seven gilt-ruled compartments with gilt-titling in second. A bound example of the largest eighteenth-century wall map of the Thirteen Colonies, and the first to name all thirteen. Popple's was the first detailed map of British, French, and Spanish colonial possessions in… Read More

New York: John James Audubon [Victor Audubon], 1848. Three volumes. Elephant folio. (27 1/4 x 21 1/4 inches). First edition. Three lithograph title-pages, three leaves of letterpress contents. 150 hand-colored lithograph plates by John T. Bown of Philadelphia after John James Audubon and John Woodhouse Audubon, the backgrounds after Victor Audubon. Expertly bound to style in purple half morocco over period purple cloth boards, spine with raised bands lettered in the second and third compartments, the others decorated in gilt, marbled edges and endpapers. Within grey cloth clamshell cases with red morocco lettering-pieces in gilt. [With:] The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. New York: John James Audubon, 1846-1851-1854. 3 volumes, small 4to (10 x 7 inches). Half-titles, list of subscribers. 6 hand-colored lithograph plates. Expertly bound to style uniform to the above in purple half morocco over period purple cloth boards, marbled endpapers. A beautiful set of the first elephant folio edition… Read More

Frankfurt: A. Kempner [part 2, E. Kempner], 1612. 2 parts in one volume, folio. (14 1/8 x 9 1/8 inches). Engraved allegorical title, engraved portrait of the author, 110 contemporary hand-coloured engraved plates, title heightened in gold. Title mounted. Copper engravings, with expert modern hand-colouring. Contemporary red morocco, the covers panelled in gilt with foliate center- and corner-pieces, spine densely tooled gilt in seven compartments, lettered in one Provenance: Thomas Herbert, eighth Earl of Pembroke (1656-1733), first Lord of the Admiralty, president of the Royal Society, dedicatee of Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Thomas Greenhill's Art of Embalming, and a prolific bibliophile A true masterpiece of botanical illustration. Sweert was a Dutch horticulturalist, painter, draughtsman, and engraver who was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1552. He is known for his botanical illustrations and is considered one of the leading botanical artists of the late 16th and early 17th… Read More