GEORGIAN

A bibliographical landmark: the first issue of the first volume in Pickering's series of 'Diamond Classics' 32mo: [ii] + 185 + [i] + [i]. Engraved frontispiece portrait of 'Horace' by R. Grave, facing engraved titlepage, which precedes the letterpress titlepage. On the reverse of the leaf with p.185 on its recto is a portrait of Sir Francis Bacon, captioned 'Advancement of Learning.' On the page facing this are the 'Corrigenda.' Tight copy, on aged paper, with a few dogeared pages, in contemporary black russia binding with boards and spine ornamented in gilt and title 'HORATIUS'.

12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium with address on second leaf. Twenty-five lines. Text clear and complete. On aged, spotted and repaired paper. A significant letter, confirming Bowles's hitherto-tentative authorship of the 'Letters of the Ghost of Alfred', which was printed by Wright in 1798. Bowles informs Wright that he will 'receive some Copies of ye. Ghost of Alfred' the following morning. 'The price [I conceive] should be only 2/6 in boards there being but about 130 pages including thhe advertisements'.

The work of a cultured and witty man, but not by the author of 'Sandford and Merton', who died in 1789. While possible authors include the 'Mr. Thomas Day, solicitor, Woburn, Bedfordshire', whose death at the age of 47 on 18 February 1824 was reported in The Times (5 March 1824), and the Thomas Day who lived around this time at Montague Street, Russell Square, the most likely candidate, considering the references to 'Romney' and 'Wyatt' is the Thomas of 'DAY William, and Thomas Day, of No. 95, Gracechurch-street, in the city of London, oilmen', who went bankrupt in 1841.

On one side of a piece of paper roughly 8 x 12.5 cm. Good, lightly aged. Reads ' Henry Colburn | 13 Gt Marlborough Street | Martin Arthur Shee | Peter North 22 Soho Square | Dominic Colnaghi'. Fragment of docketed manuscript record of the case on the reverse: '<...> 830 | <...>nes O'Connor | <...>ent Case | <...>y 12th. 1841'.

12mo, 1 p. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Thanking them for the cheque, and returning the 'form of permission to reprint the four poems, signed' (not present).

Sitwell and Renishaw collaborated on the play 'Gentle Caesar' (published in 1942), and the last two letters would appear to concern a possible film adaptation. All three items very good on lightly aged paper. Letter One ('Friday Renishaw'): 12mo, 2 pp. 18 lines of text. Apparently written around the time of the play's composition. Sitwell is 'delighted' that Minney is 'already immersed in Pares's book. I have just read the Czar and Empress Marie's Letters.' He has 'marked (in the preface mostly) what I thought helpful for atmosphere, or amusing'.

Paper dimensions 25.5 x 19 cm. Plate dimensions 22 x 16 cm. The head-and-shoulders portrait itself is oval, 7 cm high and 5.5 cm wide, contained in a square 11 x 9.5 cm, and with the caption beneath it. Printed on aged paper, with the image itself and the caption are clean and crisp, but the paper carries a crease to the margin, and there is light staining intruding into the surrounding square. Dibdin gives an account of Miller, whose son was the noted bookseller William Miller of Albemarle Street, in his 'Bibliomania' (1811 ed., pp.630-31).

On one side of a piece of wove paper 19 x 14.5 cm, and with the image extending almost to the edges. Lightly aged and creased, but good overall. An usual design, with the coat of arms within a fleece held up by two figures of Hercules, both on pedestals, the one of the left marked 'HUMUS' and that on the right 'SUMUS'. The fleece folds over the left-hand Hercules's right shoulder and reads 'LE CULTE EN' with 'DIFFICULTE' over the left-hand Hercules's left shoulder. Topping the whole design, above a coronet, is a harpy, and at the foot of the paper is 'Hereson de Brecksel'.

8vo: xvi + 400 + [xxiv] pp. (Part I ends at p.142 and Part II begins, after a half title, at p.127.) The last twenty-four pages consist of an index and three pages of 'BOOKS Lately Published'. Frontispiece portrait of Butler by J. Van der Gucht. Hogarth's seven illustrations (including three that fold out) face pp. 1, 75 (fold out), 88 (f. o.), 100, 122, 130 (f. o.), 131 and 182 (f. o.). Internally tight on spotted and aged paper. Good impressions of illustrations, with a little light foxing.

BM 13489. Landscape. On a piece of wove paper, roughly 215 x 305 mm. Good, on heavily-aged paper and with strip of blue paper mount adhering to the blank reverse. The title 'BERNADOTTE' is at the head, and the publication details and caption at the foot. Shows Bernadotte in martial pose and uniform, riding his white horse over a fearsome serpent. He wears a sash on which are written the words 'Leipsic' and 'Victory'.

Four paginated pages of small type in a quarto (25 x 20 cm) bifolium. Attractively printed on paper watermarked 'T EDMONDS | 1834'. Unbound. Good: lightly aged and creased. On the first page the author announces the publication of the second part, 'with great regret for the delay which has unavoidably intervened in the publication, from causes impossible for him to have forseen'. The succeeding three pages consist of the double-column list of subscribers, headed by 'Patron.

12mo: iv + 164 pp. In original green cloth, with the title in gilt on the front cover. All edges gilt. Slightly foxed. Good and tight, in lightly worn cloth. A curious collection, with the index of first lines containing such entries as 'Sweet Edgbaston bells' [this poem dated 1844], 'Dear Varinka', ' 'Twas a boy in a cut-off jacket' and 'They call me little Trottie'. All three series are excessively scarce. The only copy of this third series on COPAC is in the British Library, and the only copy on WorldCat in California.

On a piece of paper cut from a letter, roughly 3.5 x 9.5 cm. On lightly aged and slightly grubby paper. Good firm signature, beneath which, in a contemporary hand, 'I knew his daughter Stepny'. Gulston's wife Bridgetta (1749/50–1780) was the second daughter of Sir Thomas Stepney.

Both issues 8vo (roughly 30.5 x 19.5 cm), 6 pp (each a loose leaf in a bifolium). Both printed on brittle watermarked laid paper. Both unbound, and stabbed as issued, and both on aged and chipped paper, but with the text clear and entire. Each issue with the title in an expansive calligraphic design. The full slug, at the bottom of the last page of both issues, reads: 'Printed and Published by ETHERINGTON, at No 25, opposite the South Door of St. Paul's (where Letters, post-paid, to the LITERARY FLY will be received).

4to, 8 pp. Unbound and unstitched. Grubby, worn and stained, but with text clear and entire, except for words on a couple of lines of the heavily-stained final leaf. The reverse of the title reproduces 'The Church-Wardens Oaths. On Coming into Office.' and 'In Delivering Presentments.' Mainly consisting of two sections (both clear and entire): 'Concerning Churches and Chapels; the Fabrick, Furniture, and Ornaments thereunto belonging.' (pp.3-4) and 'Concerning the Church-Yard, and the Houses, Glebe, Tithes, and other Dues belonging to the Church.' (pp.4-6).

On one side of a leaf (roughly 11 x 16 mm), removed from an autograph album. Good, on lightly aged paper, with some show-through from amusing drawing on reverse by L. E. H. Phipson. Bold signature reads 'Yours Sincerely | Marie Novello'. Drawing on reverse depicts a monocled old fogey protesting his love to a pretty young thing regarding herself in a handmirror. Captioned 'I'd rather be a young man's slave!' Signed by the illustrator 'L. E. H. Phipson | 6/12/1917'. Docketed in pencil.

8vo: 8 pp. Unbound. Stabbed as issued. Very good, on rough-edged wove paper. The seven-page advertisement, signed in type by Cobbett, is succeeded by a page headed 'New Books, published by COBBETT and MORGAN'. (Eight titles are listed.) The advertisement is a personal address from Cobbett, the second paragraph casting valuable light on his motives and intentions: 'When I first undertook the Register, I was fully persuaded, that the plan, which, indeed, I had long thought of, was well calculated to ensure a wide circulation, and to produce an extensive as well as a lasting effect.

BM 12195. Landscape. On a piece of wove paper. Originally a rectangle roughly 240 x 340 mm, but with an arc cut away beginning in the top left-hand corner and ending at bottom right. This loss has no effect on the text, and only the merest effect on the image, only trimming the outer edge of some very lightly-painted clouds. Apart from this good, on lightly spotted paper, with a thin strip from blue paper mount adhering to the blank reverse.

305 mm high and 225 mm wide. The print has been trimmed, with the top corners cut away to give the print the appearance of an arched window. A strip, 35 mm high, at the foot contains the caption, with the bottom right-hand corner damaged (not affecting print) by removal from backing. A good crisp impression, on lightly-aged paper, the only faults being loss to the sky above the Emperor as a result of the trimming of the top corners, and a couple of spots of glue to the sky.

BM 12202. On piece of wove paper roughly 410 x 280 mm. On lightly aged and spotted paper, with slight wear and small closed tears to extremities. Closely trimmed at head and foot. Repair to blank reverse, which carries a strip of cloth from previous mount. Text and image clear and entire. Image roughly 190 x 120 cm.

On one side of a piece of wove paper roughly 275 x 230 mm. Printed and manuscript text clear and entirely legible on worn, creased and grubby paper with one small strip of paper repairing reverse. Crest of City of London at head. Two sets of four columns, side by side. The four columns are: 'Ships at Market', 'QUALITY', 'Ships sold' and 'PRICE'. The whole of the 'QUALITY' column in the first set is headed 'NEWCASTLE', containing 45 entries from 'Adair's' to 'Walls End Walker'.

On both sides of a piece of wove paper, dimensions roughly 8.5 x 20 cm. Cruikshank's signature is approximately 9 cm long, with the final letter of his Christian name in superscript. Paper aged and creased, with central vertical fold, and wear to one edge (not affecting text). Recto reads '<...> in the interim - | That 2 door Mats be ordered for the use of the Society | Adjourned till Thursday 7th June - | [signed] Geoe Cruikshank | Monday June 4. | General Meeting of the Society | Mr Parsonage in the Chair.

From a collection of material relating to William Bragg, Printer, of Cheapside, Taunton, Devon. Printed on one side of a piece of wove paper, 22 x 27.5 cm. Grubby and lightly creased, with central spike hole, slight wear and loss to extremities, and 5 cm closed tear. Text clear and entire. Twelve lines of printed text, in a variety of types and point sizes, reading 'A Sermon, on behalf of the Home Missionary Society, will be preached at Paul's Meeting, Taunton, On Friday Evening, April 14, 1826. By The Rev. John Thomas, Minister of the New Chapel, Highgate.

12mo: 3 pp. Good, on lightly aged paper. Small spike hole through both leaves of the bifolium. Text clear and entire. Execrable hand. Begins 'I certainly shall not secede from my conditional Promise'. Paragraph describing the weather ('The Heat of the Weather here is intolerable.') 'I agree entirely with respect to the Character of our worthy departed friend. It is a great loss to this Part of the Country.'

On both sides of a piece of wove paper, roughly 23 x 18 cm. On lightly discoloured and creased paper, with central spike hole affecting two words. Two manuscript changes in ink on the recto: 'TAUNTON' amended to 'Wivelscombe' and the twenty-one names of the Society's officers cancelled. A handful of changes, in ink and pencil, on reverse. Mainly taken up with ten 'Principles and Regulations'. Seven-line footnote in small print on recto, concerning a 'FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE'. BBTI lists William Bragg as active in Taunton before 1830.

8vo: iv + 48 + [ii] pp. Last leaf carries advertisements for works by Fairburn. In marbled wraps. Text clear and entire. On aged paper with slight wear and fraying, small holes and light stains to first four leaves. Title continues '[...] to which are added, The Q-'s last letter to the K-, Written a few Days before Her M-'s Death, and other Authentic Documents, never before published. | [quotation] I am the Viper that has been secretly wounding you both.

Printed on one side of a piece of rough wove paper, approximately 24 x 10.5 cm. Text clear and entire on aged, creased paper. A production in favour of the Prince Regent, with no trace of sarcasm apparent. Consists of six four-line stanzas, each followed by the chorus 'Hearts of Oak, &c.' First stanza reads 'Come cheer up my lads, we'll no longer repine, | United, we'll triumph - OUR CAUSE is divine!

Printed on one side of a piece of rough laid paper, approximately 24.5 x 8.5 cm. Crude circular woodcut of pedlar at head, diameter 3.5 cm. Good, on aged paper with a little creasing at head and foot. Consists of four four-line stanzas with refrain 'Doodle, doodle, doo.' First stanza, heavy with double-entendre, reads 'HEAV'N bless my dearest little dear, | The wind is not quite fair, | From Portland Road I write this here - | Oh! bless your little hair. | Doodle, doodle, doo.' Clearly refers to a high society Regency scandal, possibly that concerning the Duke of York and Mary Anne Clarke.

Printed on one side of a piece of rough wove paper, 25 x 9 cm. At the head is a crude woodcut of lady playing keyboard, dimensions 2 x 3 cm. On aged, creased paper with wear to extremities. Text clear and entire, but not properly centred, with the result that the last two letters of the word 'Gre' in the address cropped. The poem consists of six stanzas of six lines each. First stanza 'YOU have heard of Mrs.

NOT in George. Dimensions of paper 27.5 x 41 cm. Dimensions of image 20.5 x 31.5. On aged, grubby paper with wear to extremities. Image entire, but with one closed tear intruding from right across 3 cm of the blue background, and three closed tears (the longest 4cm) horizontally across a central vertical crease. A splendid full-length figure of Wellington (entirely undamaged), in full military uniform, with boots, red coat with gold epaulettes, white breeches, gloves, and sword, flees, hands in air and plumed hat falling to the ground, from a giant pig with three human heads.