LAMB, CharlesBiblio.com
639 résultats
1899192038London: Macmillan & Co. 1899-1900. A different pictorial onlay on each volume First collected Ainger edition one of 675 sets this very ornately bound in the so-called "Kelliegram" style. The front board of all 12 volumes is features a scene from Lamb's work executed with multicolour leather onlays heightened with paintwork detail. The much-imitated "Kelliegram" binding style was one of the many innovations of the English commercial binding firm Kelly & Sons. The Kelly family's bindery was an established part of the London trade. It was founded in 1770 by John Kellie as the name was then spelled and carried on by successive family members into the 1930s. The leading binderies of the early 20th centuries of which Birdsall was one of the largest provincial ones adopted this style. Alfred Ainger 1837-1904 was a foremost authority on Lamb. Livingston notes that this edition saw "further considerable additions" to the letters p. 278. 12 vols octavo 225 x 150 mm. Portrait frontispiece with tissue guard to the Life. Finely bound in near-contemporary red crushed morocco by Birdsall spines with two raised bands lettered and decorated with floral pattern in gilt single gilt fillet to boards each front board with a different onlaid rectangular panel illustrating a scene from Lamb's work each executed in multicoloured morocco and onlays some painted gilt inner dentelles red silk endpapers top edges gilt other edges untrimmed. Housed in custom red cloth slipcases. A fine set. Luther S. Livingston A Bibliography of the First Editions in Book Form of the Writings of Charles and Mary Lamb 1903. hardcover
1885320703Edinburgh: William Paterson 1885. Extra-illustrated. 2 vols. 4to. Blue morocco gilt with Cosway style miniature on the front pastedown of each volume "designed and bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe London. Extra-illustrated. 2 vols. 4to. The miniature portraits are of Charles Lamb in Volume One and of Mary Lamb in Volume Two Last Essays. William Paterson unknown
1807168764London: printed for Thomas Hodgkins at the Juvenile Library 1807. A child's copy of the first great Shakespeare book for children First edition in a contemporary binding. Charles and Mary Lamb's retellings of Shakespeare's plays for children stand as "the first work for children of British authorship never to have been out of print. Its success established the retelling of classics of English literature to children as a worthy task" Grolier. Shakespeare's stories were adapted for a young audience from at least the 1790s but this work was the first to enjoy a great commercial success establishing "children's Shakespeare" as a subgenre. Though only Charles is credited as the author on the title page the collection was the result of a collaboration with Mary contributing fourteen adaptations and Charles the remaining six. The Tales are beautifully illustrated with engravings generally attributed to the Irish painter William Mulready 1786-1863. This was the copy of Angoulême Moira Forbes 1796-1810 the fourth son of George Forbes 6th Earl of Ganard with both title pages inscribed with his name and the date 1807. Angoulême Moira was 11 at the time and it seems likely that he received the books as a gift; the confident handwriting suggests that they were inscribed on his behalf. On the front pastedown of volume II is the later inscription of another member of the family one C. S. Forbes. This copy has Wise's points of first issue with the imprint of the printer T. Davison on the verso of p. 235 in volume and with the Hanway Street address in the final adverts. 2 vols duodecimo 160 x 99 mm. With 20 engraved plates. Contemporary black straight-grain half roan smooth spines divided by gilt fillets and lettered in gilt marbled sides and edges vol. II only retaining red silk bookmarker loosely inserted. Bound without last leaf of advertisements in vol. II. Shelf wear to board edges front inner hinge of vol. II partially cracked at foot the binding firm light foxing and marks to endpapers and occasionally to contents else clean. A very good set. Ashley III pp. 42-3; Grolier Children's 100 24. unknown
1830WRCLIT57659London: Edward Moxon 1830. vii11501pp. Small octavo. Full olive green straight-grain morocco gilt extra a.e.g. by Tuckett "Binder to the Queen." Pictorial vignette on title. Some occasional modest foxing joints and extremities rubbed with small crack at top of upper joint otherwise a very good copy enclosed in a silk-lined full morocco clamshell box a bit rubbed. First edition of this collection among the first books to appear under Moxon's imprint. A delightful association copy inscribed on the blank prelim: "To Miss E. Hamilton as a parting token of Friendship from Wm. Wordsworth 16th August 1830 Rydal Mount." With the ownership signature in the top margin of the title of "A. Hamilton." It would seem probable that the recipient was the Irish poet Elizabeth Mary Hamilton sister of Wordsworth's close friend mathematician and astronomer William Rowan Hamilton. Elizabeth visited Wordsworth in her brother's company during the summer months of that year. Elizabeth Hamilton is recipient of meaningful praise as a poet in O'Donoghue. With the bookplate of Frank Bemis. LIVINGSTON p. 169ff. O'DONOGHUE p. 94. Edward Moxon unknown books
18074086<p>London: Printed for Thomas Hodgkins at the Juvenile Library. 1807. First edition first issue. Two volumes. 12mo. 165x100mm. Vol. I. ix i.bl 2 235 1 with T. Davison imprint. 10 engravings. Vol. II. 4 261 3pp. adverts with the Hanway Street address. 10 engravings. Contemporary calf spines with red morocco labels lettered in gilt and small round black labels numbered in gilt. At head of spine in gilt is the Pelican of Mercy and the motto "Pandite Coelestes Fortae". This is the crest of James Gibson of Ingliston Writer to the Signet whose armorial bookplate is on the front pastedowns. Also with the label of Donald and Mary Hyde who formed one of the great libraries of eighteenth-century literature and whose Samuel Johnson collection was donated to the Houghton Library at Harvard. Slight split to the head of joint with upper boards and corners a little bumped. Housed in a custom-made box. Internally very good but with some foxing heavy to a few leaves in volume two. The illustrations although unsigned and unattributed they are almost certainly by the Irish artist William Mulready. An extremely nice copy of the rare first issue in a smart contemporary binding. With Mary providing the adaptations of the comedies and Charles the tragedies the history plays and Roman plays were not adapted Tales from Shakespear was one of the most popular books of the nineteenth century and the first to present Shakespeare's plays in a form suitable for children. Its popularity did much to broaden Shakespeare's appeal and ensure the flowering of his Victorian cult. The title page shows Charles Lamb as the sole author Mary's contribution going unacknowledged until the seventh edition in 1838. A strange omission given that the book was published by William Godwin Thomas Hodgkins was employed to run The Juvenile Library whose strong-minded wife must one would imagine have lobbied for Mary's work to have been recognised.</p> London: Printed for Thomas Hodgkins at the Juvenile Library. 1807 hardcover
180740066London: Thomas Hodgkins 1807. First edition first issue with the T. Davison imprint on the verso of p. 235 of Volume 1 and the earlier address of Hanway Street on the ads in Volume 2. 20 engraved plates by Blake after drawings by Mulready including frontispieces; 3 pp. of ads at rear of second volume. 2 vols. 12mo. Full crushed blue by Rivière gilt fillet borders spines in 6 compartments richly gilt and lettered gilt dentelles blue marbled endpapers a.e.g. Fine set. First edition first issue with the T. Davison imprint on the verso of p. 235 of Volume 1 and the earlier address of Hanway Street on the ads in Volume 2. 20 engraved plates by Blake after drawings by Mulready including frontispieces; 3 pp. of ads at rear of second volume. 2 vols. 12mo. " . made Shakespeare a familiar and popular author . " Beautiful set of the classic which the Lambs set about writing at the suggestion and encouragement of of William Godwin who hired Thomas Hodgkins to run The Juvenile Library on his behalf. The Lambs' prose adaptations Charles did the tragedies Mary the comedies were written primarily for the benefit of girls for as they state in the Preface "boys are generally permitted the use of their fathers' libraries at a much earlier age than girls are they frequently have the best of Shakespear by heart before their sisters are permitted to look into this manly book.'<br/><br/>The result was according to the Cambridge History of English Literature "the first book which appealing to a general audience and to a rising generation made Shakespeare a familiar and popular author . " Roff/Livingston pp. 61ff Thomas Hodgkins unknown books
1833311178London: Thomas Davison for Taylor and Hessey vol. 1; Bradbury and Evans for Edward Moxon vol. 2 1833. First edition of the first and First English edition of the second. 2 vols. 8vo. Uncut in publisher's vol. 1 and original cloth-backed boards vol. 2 printed paper spine labels. Light expert restoration to vol. I joints labels chipped. In full red morocco pull-off cases by Riviere & Sons. First edition of the first and First English edition of the second. 2 vols. 8vo. IN ORIGINAL BOARDS. The celebrated essays of Charles Lamb 1775-1834 in original condition with distinguished Philadelphia provenance. Grolier English 74; Tinker 1457 & 1458; Ashley III pp. 50 53; Livingston/Roff pp. 149ff 185ff. Provenance: Moncure Biddle armorial bookplate in each volume; his sale Parke-Bernet 30 April 1952 lot 601 with original description laid in Thomas Davison for Taylor and Hessey (vol. 1); Bradbury and Evans for Edward Moxon (vol. 2) unknown books
180753689London: Thomas Hodgkins 1807. First Edition. Full leather. Fine. 2 volumes 235pp. 261pp. plus 3pp. of advertisements at the end of volume II. Illustrated with 20 copper-engraved plates all present. First issue with the T. Davison imprint on the verso of the title page in volume I and the Hanway Street address listed in the advertisement at the end of volume II. Bound in handsome late 19th century full blue crushed morocco by Riviere with gilt frames gilt compartments all edges gilt and marbled endpapers. A handsome early 20th century bookplate is present in each volume though both of these at some point became detached from the paste-downs and are laid-in with only mild residue evident on the paste-downs. A few tiny abrasions to the raised bands on the spines but still an about fine set internally clean but for a few faint marginal stains and only the faintest foxing to a few of the plates. Fine. Hardcover. <br /> <br />The publisher Hodgkins was tasked by William Godwin and his wife Mary to adapt Shakespeare's plays for a juvenile audience a job they hired out to Charles and Mary Lamb. Though only Charles is credited on the title pages his sister Mary adapted fourteen of the twenty plays adapted herein all of the comedies. Her work was only credited to her after the seventh edition. <br /> <br />Of the countless editions of Shakespeare this is among the most significant being the first successful attempt to adapt his brilliant complicated stories to a young audience. <br /> <br />A very handsome set in pleasing condition and bound by one of the great 19th century English bookbinders. 53689 <br />$4500.00 <br/><br/> Thomas Hodgkins hardcover
1814003120London: J Johnson 1814 Bound in later signed 3/4 green morocco over marbled boards aeg 368 pp. 5 plates fine.Magnificent copy quite unlikely to come up at auction again.Rare Book Hub records the last copy at auction in 1945.This copy with some spine fade and touch of wear at tips. J Johnson hardcover
18528889Santiago: Imp. y LitografÃa de J. Rey Romero 1852. Second edition. Hardcover — Tapa dura. 212x153mm. 8¼x6". Santiago de Compostela Imp. y LitografÃa de J. Rey Romero 1852. En 4º menor 212 x 153mm. Frontispicio xviii-101 pp. 1 h. 10 láminas 8 de ellas plegadas. Encuadernación en holandesa de época cubiertas originales ilustradas en papel amarillo. Segunda edición del viaje de Antonio MarÃa de Orleans y MarÃa Fernanda de Borbón a Galicia en 1852 comenzando en Ferrol pasando por La Coruña Santiago Pontevedra MarÃn y Vigo desde donde saldrÃan hacia Lisboa recorriendo el territorio y disfrutando de sus gentes sus paisajes y sus costumbres. Imp. y Litografía de J. Rey Romero hardcover
1820333195Lisboa: Na Typografia Lacerdina 1820. First edition. 72 pp. 16mo. Stitched lacking the wrappers. Title page and final page are unevenly tanned and lightly soiled. First edition. 72 pp. 16mo. Magic and Other Superstitions Unmasked procedes as both a catalogue of superstitions and popular beliefs including witches astrology spells and enchantments and Jacobinism. The bulk of the text is a history of magic starting with the pagans then the early Christians the belief in miracles and divination through papal decrees treating diabolical pacts the Holy Office of the Inquisition in Portugal and the damage it wrought against the Portuguese citizenry.<br /> <br /> Manuel Borges Carneiro 1774-1833 was a major legal and political figure in Portugal. Published in the year of the Liberal Revolution of 1820 the upheaval of which brought the Portuguese Imperial Court back from Brazil where they had fled from Napoleon this book is an enlightened scientific treatise against the belief and practice of magic and its works.<br /> <br /> Issued as 'A Magia.' complete as issued; a 'Part 2' was separately published as an appendix Appendice sobre as operações da Santa Inquisição Portugueza ou parte segunda do discurso sobre a Magia e mais superstições desmascaradas Lisboa concerning magic and superstitions during the Holy Inquisition in Portugal. Silva I.F. da. Diccionario bib. portuguez V p. 380; OCLC lists 6 holdings 2 in the US U Penn Brown Na Typografia Lacerdina unknown
19006329London: J.M. Dent & Co 1900. Second edition. Fine. Two volumes bound in one small octavo 6 15/16 x 4 1/16 inches; 177 x 103 mm. xxii 294 1 imprint 1 blank; xii 254 1 imprint 1 blank pp. Two engraved frontispieces and one hundred and sixty-two black & white illustrations including decorative head and tailpieces all by Charles E. Brock. Bound ca. 1906 in a fine pastel "vellucent" binding by Cedric Chivers stamp-signed in gilt on rear lower turn-in with a delicately hand-painted 'Art Nouveau' floral design. This binding is No. LXXXV on page 34 of the Cedric Chivers catalog "Books in Beautiful Bindings." The front cover with three red flowers and a green vine design enclosing the title "The Essays And The Last Essays of Elia. Charles Lamb". Lower cover with a similar design but with just one red flower. Smooth spine similarly decorated and lettered in watercolor and gilt gilt ruled turn-ins mottled pale-green liners and end-papers all edges gilt. Neat ink inscription dated "Xmas 1906" on front blank. A very fine example housed in the original fleece-lined green cloth slipcase missing the movable spine panel.<br /> <br /> Patented in 1898 Chivers's "vellucent" bindings departed from traditional methods of creating hand-painted vellum bindings. The usual approach was to merely bind a book in vellum and then paint on a design but this is prone to rubbing and flaking and such examples are often now found chipped and deteriorated. In the 18th century Chivers's great predecessor Edwards of Halifax painted in reverse on the underside of translucent vellum thereby providing a layer of protection for the design. His technique was not widely copied and almost vanished with his death and it was not until the 1890s that Chivers developed his own similar method for protecting the design underneath the vellum itself - the backing sheet of the vellum was painted which was then covered in vellum which had been shaved to transparency. The vellum was then tooled in gilt on occasion incorporating additional mother-of-pearl and onlays. The books which Chivers thus bound have always been a favorite of collectors and usually still present well the vellum having served its purpose of protecting the design for many decades as Chivers intended. Chivers was also known to have employed a great many craftswomen at his bindery in Portway: "forty women for folding sewing mending and collating work and in addition five more women worked in a separate department to design illuminate and colour vellum for book decoration and to work on embossed leather. These five were Dorothy Carleton Smyth Alice Shepherd Miss J.D. Dunn Muriel Taylor and Agatha Gales" Tidcombe.<br /> <br /> This book brings together Charles Lamb's Essays of Elia first published in 1823 with the subsequent volume Last Essays of Elia issues in 1833. The accessible and conversational essays were published under the pseudonym Elia inspired by an Italian man that Lamb had known at the South Sea House and had appeared serially in The London Magazine between 1820 and 1825. Despite his struggles with mental illness Charles Lamb 1775-1834 would be celebrated for his literary contributions producing a range of material from essays to poems. Lamb belonged to an active literary circle which included Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron. Fine. J.M. Dent & Co unknown
18355756London: Edward Moxon 1835. Bound in Full Calf by Charles Lewis. These three volumes are George Daniel's custom bound copies of Lamb's prose works. George Daniel was a famous collector of Elizabethan books including Shakespeare folios. These volumes measure approximately 7.75" x 5" with 356 340 and 295 numbered pages respectively.<br /> <br /> Finely bound in full calf by Charles Lewis the renowned London bookbinder. Leather bookplate of famous Samuel Johnson collector R. B. Adam. All edges gilt. With marbled endsheets.<br /> <br /> The volumes are in very good condition. Minor wear and staining to the leather bindings. Vol I has a cracked front hinge. Interior pages are bright and clean. Volume I likely signed by George Daniel - Esquire of Canonbury. Newspaper clippings affixed to front endpapers. Volume II with a signed letter from the poet Bernard Barton who was a close friend of Charles Lamb. Each volume has a bookplate from R. B. Adam on the front pastedown who was a famous Buffalo rare book collector. <br /> <br /> Please view the many other rare titles available for purchase at our store. We are always interested in purchasing individual or collections of fine books. Edward Moxon unknown
1816D16976London: Henry Colburn 1816. Hardcover. Good. Three volumes. First Edition; a rare set in the original boards spines quite worn with pages uncut. Housed in a modern slipcase. Complete with the half-titles as called for. Lambs notorious fictionalized account of her affair with Byron was published anonymously with Byron intended as Glenarvon Lord Ruthven and Lamb as Calantha Lady Avondale. <br/><br/> Henry Colburn hardcover books
182894790Philadelphia: Carey Lea and Carey 1828. Hardcover. Very Good. First American editions and the true first complete edition of the second series of essays the second series wasn't published in England until 1833 as The Last Essays of Elia. Two volumes. 12mos. Linen and original printed glazed papercovered boards with paper spine labels. Each volume bears on the front pastedown the bookplate of James Fenimore Cooper Jr. grandson of the American author. Laid in are an old bookseller's description and a letter dated 1916 to Mrs. James Fenimore Cooper Jr. sending the books along and discussing some of the bibliographical niceties. Front joint professionally and neatly repaired and the spine label partly perished on First Series small stains on the boards chip on the unprinted front fly in Second Series. Still a nice set in the uncommon original boards in better condition than one might reasonably expect of these famous autobiographical essays and with an interesting association. In 1820 Lamb invented the pseudonym Elia for his first essay about the work place of his brother by taking the name of a clerk no longer employed there. The pseudonym stuck however and it allowed Lamb to develop a persona with which he examined a variety of subjects with his celebrated humor and style. Probably Lamb's best work though he is also remembered for his children's versions of Shakespeare and Homer which he wrote with his sister Mary who became his charge after her bout with insanity in 1796 when she killed their mother. Carey, Lea, and Carey hardcover
1802100380London: Printed by T. Plummer for G. and J. Robinson 1802. First edition. 8vo. Uncut in publisher's pink boards; fine in a custom green cloth chemise Fine first edition in boards of Lambs first play a presentation copy from Fanny Holcroft to fellow author Catherine Hutton. Holcroft 1780-1844 a translator and novelist and friend of Charles and Mary Lamb was the author of the anti-slavery poem The Negro and such novels as Fortitude and Frailty and The Wife and the Lover. Her father was the dramatist and radical Thomas Holcroft 1745-1809 who published several of her translations in his Theatrical Recorder. Catherine Hutton 17561846 was a novelist The Miser Married The Welsh Mountaineer Oakwood Hall and prolific letter-writer.A letter from T. Harral editor of the periodical La Belle Assemblée to Catherine Hutton May 20 1827 records a gift of a Lamb title presumably the present volume: "Miss Holcroft has given me a little volume for you the production of a particular friend of hers Mr. Charles Lamb whom you will probably recollect as the author of some admirable paper signed 'Elia' in the London Magazine " Reminiscences of a Gentlewoman of the Last Century: Letters of Catherine Hutton 1891 pp. 194-5.Following the blank-verse tragedy John Woodvil which was rejected by Drury Lane and never performed are several short works and the poem Helen Mary Lambs first appearance in print.PROVENANCE: Catherine Hutton contemporary presentation inscription from Fanny Holcroft on title-page; Robert S Pirie book-plateREFERENCE: Roff pp. 47-52 Printed by T. Plummer for G. and J. Robinson hardcover
1830ST15812London: Edward Moxon 1830. FIRST EDITION. 188 x 118 mm. 7 3/8 x 4 5/8". vii 1 150 pp. 1 leaf ads. <br/> SUPERB NAVY BLUE CRUSHED MOROCCO GILT AND INLAID BY DE SAMBLANX-WECKESSER stamp-signed on front turn-in covers with intricate gilt frame of trumpet vines bearing 36 inlaid scarlet flowers and buds raised bands spine gilt in compartments with inlaid trumpet flower at center gilt titling turn-ins framed with gilt vine navy blue moiré silk endleaves marbled flyleaves all edges gilt. In a slightly worn marbled paper slipcase. Title page with engraving of a putto composing verses. Front flyleaves with bookplates of Edwin Holden dated 1894 and John Whipple Frothingham. Wise Ashley Cat. III 52; Thomson p. 76. A hint of rubbing to front joint occasional mild browning due to paper quality but A FINE COPY clean and fresh internally and in a lustrous binding.<br/> <br/> In a lovely Art Nouveau binding by a Belle Époque master this is a collection of poems assembled by essayist Charles Lamb 1775-1834 to launch the publishing career of his friend and future son-in-law Edward Moxon 1801-58 to whom he dedicated the work. Composed of rather slight verses composed for the amusement of Lamb's friends and of more substantial works previously printed in periodicals this first book bearing Moxon's imprint did well enough to attract the business of other prestigious poets many of them friends of Lamb. Moxon who married Lamb's adopted daughter Emma Isola in 1833 went on to print the works of Wordsworth Shelley Tennyson and other luminaries of the Victorian era. The graceful binding is by Belgian master craftsman Charles de Samblancx or Samblanx 1855-1943 who began his binding career at age 11 as an apprentice to Coppens. He eventually established his own firm though from 1889-1909 his gilder Jacques Weckesser was in partnership with him. His binding career extended over several decades and he worked in a variety of period styles sensitively reproducing the bindings of previous centuries. His work often involving great complexity of design is invariably executed with the highest degree of skill. Our copy was once owned by American bibliophile and Grolier Club president Edwin Holden 1861-1906. Edward Moxon unknown
185658090New York: Derby & Jackson 1856. Signed on the first free end page in pencil with his ownership signature "J. A. Garfield Hiram Ohio Sept. 1856." Garfield's personal bookplate "Inter Folia Fructus Library of James A. Garfield" is affixed to the front pastedown. Housed in a custom half morocco chemise case. Rare and desirable from the library of the 20th President of the United States. At Geauga Academy which he attended from 1848 to 1850 Garfield learned academic subjects he had not previously had time for. He shone as a student and was especially interested in languages and elocution. Later Garfield graduated from Williams College in August 1856 as salutatorian giving an address at the commencement. Garfield biographer Ira Rutkow pointed out that the future president's years at Williams gave Garfield the opportunity to know and respect those of different social backgrounds and despite his origin as an unsophisticated Westerner he was liked and respected by socially conscious New Englanders. "In short" as Rutkow later wrote "Garfield had an extensive and positive first experience with the world outside the Western Reserve of Ohio." On his return to Ohio the degree from a prestigious Eastern school made Garfield a man of distinction. He returned to Hiram to teach at the Institute and in 1857 was made its president. He did not see education as a field that would realize his full potential. At Williams he had become more politically aware in the intensely anti-slavery atmosphere of the Massachusetts school and began to consider politics as a career. Derby & Jackson unknown books
185658090New York: Derby & Jackson 1856. Signed on the first free end page in pencil with his ownership signature "J. A. Garfield Hiram Ohio Sept. 1856." Garfield's personal bookplate "Inter Folia Fructus Library of James A. Garfield" is affixed to the front pastedown. Housed in a custom half morocco chemise case. Rare and desirable from the library of the 20th President of the United States. At Geauga Academy which he attended from 1848 to 1850 Garfield learned academic subjects he had not previously had time for. He shone as a student and was especially interested in languages and elocution. Later Garfield graduated from Williams College in August 1856 as salutatorian giving an address at the commencement. Garfield biographer Ira Rutkow pointed out that the future president's years at Williams gave Garfield the opportunity to know and respect those of different social backgrounds and despite his origin as an unsophisticated Westerner he was liked and respected by socially conscious New Englanders. "In short" as Rutkow later wrote "Garfield had an extensive and positive first experience with the world outside the Western Reserve of Ohio." On his return to Ohio the degree from a prestigious Eastern school made Garfield a man of distinction. He returned to Hiram to teach at the Institute and in 1857 was made its president. He did not see education as a field that would realize his full potential. At Williams he had become more politically aware in the intensely anti-slavery atmosphere of the Massachusetts school and began to consider politics as a career. Derby & Jackson unknown
180755702London: Thomas Hodgkins At The Juvenile Press 1807. Two Volumes. 12mos beautiful gilt-worked red full-morocco leather bindings by Riviere & Sons. First edition earliest printing. These 20 tales are illustrated with 20 engraved illustrations by William Mulready. First edition first impression with the imprint of the printer T. Davison on the verso of p. 235 vol. I and with the Hanway Street address in the final advertisements. The "Tales" are the work of Lamb and his sister Mary who had severe bouts of mental illness. Charles wrote the tragedies and Mary wrote the comedies. The book is designed to make the stories of Shakespeare's plays familiar to the young. According to the Cambridge History of English Literature "the first book which appealing to a general audience and to a rising generation made Shakespeare a familiar and popular author." Originally the "Tales" were to be anonymous but Godwin the publisher persuaded an unreluctant Charles to have his name on the title page. Mary did not get her name on the title page until the seventh edition in 1838. "Tales from Shakespeare" has been republished many times in various editions and using various illustrators including Arthur Rackham. Very Good covers nice some scattered foxing; rubbing & abrasions to front pastedowns from bookplates formerly removed. <br/><br/> Thomas Hodgkins At The Juvenile Press hardcover books
1816D16976London: Henry Colburn 1816. Hardcover. Good. Three volumes. First Edition; a rare set in the original boards spines quite worn with pages uncut. Housed in a modern slipcase. Complete with the half-titles as called for. Lambs notorious fictionalized account of her affair with Byron was published anonymously with Byron intended as Glenarvon Lord Ruthven and Lamb as Calantha Lady Avondale. <br /> <br/><br/> Henry Colburn hardcover
1833100377London: Edward Moxon 1835; 1833. Elia: "a new edition"; Last Essays: first edition. 2 vols. 8vo. Paper-covered boards uncut hand-lettered on spines; corners bumped a few repairs to bindings in custom red morocco-backed clamshell box. These two volumes were owned by John Matthew Gutch 1776-1861 Lamb's contemporary schoolfellow and lifelong friend and proprietor of "Felix Farley's Bristol Journal" in which some Lamb writing appeared. In Elia Gutch has transcribed on the verso of the title-page two poems each titled "To Elia" in praise of Lamb by Bernard Barton 1784-1849 known as the Quaker Poet and chiefly remembered as Lamb's friend. In Last Essays Gutch has annotated the Preface and Contents in pencil; laid in are four pages of his penciled notes "Notices of Elia in London Magazine" consisting of volume and page references to various works "Christ Hospital" "The Two Races of Men" "A Character of the Late Elia" etc. A fine association.PROVENANCE: John Matthew Gutch his annotations; Robert S Pirie bookplateREFERENCES: Roff 185 Edward Moxon hardcover
1900ST14309Boston: R. H. Hinckley Company ca. 1900. Edmonton Edition. No. 56 OF 100 COPIES on Japanese vellum. 240 x 150 mm. 9 3/8 x 5 7/8". 12 volumes. <br/> HANDSOME DARK PURPLE CRUSHED MOROCCO GILT triple gilt-ruled border with sprays of flowers in each corner and along the sides raised bands compartments with gilt lettering and tooling top edge gilt RED MOROCCO DOUBLURES bordered in purple border featuring several gilt rules and scrolling gilt tools in panel corners red watered silk endpapers. With portrait frontispieces and numerous gravure plates. Limitation statement of first volume with the initials of the printer D. B. Updike of the Merrymount Press; flyleaf of each volume with morocco ex-libris of Francis Kettaneh. Extremities with the occasional tiny nick spines slightly sunned covers with a few negligible scratches a few pages with light thumbing in the margins but all of these blemishes trivial. A FINE SET INSIDE AND OUT.<br/> <br/> This finely bound finely printed and strictly limited set includes the biography prose letters essays and poetry of "the prince of English essayists." According to Day Charles Lamb contributed to the essay form by concentrating on feeling rather than thought by projecting a fuller sense of self into the work and by imbuing his text with a poetic or lyrical quality. Lamb was also an accomplished poet writing in both rhyming and blank verse as well as a friend to many of the leading literary figures of the Romantic period--his correspondents include Wordsworth Southey Hazlitt and Coleridge whom he had known since childhood. Lamb's letters by turns witty and meditative reveal a life of intense reading and writing at a time when British literature was undergoing a radical transformation. Charles Lamb 1775-1834 was educated at Christ's Hospital and at 17 joined the East India House where he worked from 1792-1825. In 1796 Lamb's sister Mary stabbed and killed their mother with scissors in a fit of insanity. Charles took on her care as well as serving as sole support for a dying aunt and a prematurely senile father. Nonetheless Lamb and his sister were devoted to one another and lived long and productive lives publishing together the wildly popular "Tales from Shakespeare" 1807 and "Mrs. Leicester's School" 1809 both of which are included here. Though unsigned the bindings are extremely attractive and fittingly luxurious for the limited-edition contents--the thick gilt tooling luxurious doublures and red silk endpapers housing tactilely pleasing Japanese vellum make this set a delight both to have and to hold. R. H. Hinckley Company unknown
1888151609Troy New York: Pafraets Book Company 1888. A handsome set The Edmonton Edition number 90 of 250 sets all attractively printed on hand-made paper and here handsomely bound. 12 vols octavo 231 x 148 mm. Illustrated throughout. Contemporary green morocco spines lettered in gilt gilt ornaments in compartments wide gilt frame to covers red morocco onlay to floral cornerpieces front covers with gilt supralibos of dragon above banner lettered "Tenebo" gilt turn-ins marbled endpapers top edges gilt others untrimmed. Spines sunned to brown some tips a little bumped else a fine set. unknown
1828304322Philadelphia: Carey Lea and Carey 1828. First edition. The American precedes the English issue of the Second Series. 230 2 pp. 2 vols. 12mo. Original printed yellow-coated boards pink linen spine with fine paper labeluncut. Scattered foxing throughout. Half crimson morocco slipcase and chemise. First edition. The American precedes the English issue of the Second Series. 230 2 pp. 2 vols. 12mo. This is an unauthorized edition. The true "Second Series" was not published in England until 1833 under the title of "The Last Essays of Elia." The editor of this present edition mistakenly included two essays by Bryan Waller Proctor and one by Allan Cunningham Roff. With a copy of the second American edition of the First Series. Roff p. 157; American Imprints 33813 CSmH; PPL. Provenance: Mrs. J. Insley Blair Blairhame bookplate; Sotheby's New York 3 December 2004; Robert S Pirie bookplate Carey, Lea and Carey unknown
