Search Results: English Language, Grammar and Dictionaries from Alcuin Books, ABAA-ILAB

Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1926. First Edition. Small Quarto. 304 pages. Illustrated. Not only has the author assiduously noted the order of the earliest English language books on the law, but he has tabulated the libraries where they can be found. As the leading professor of Law at Harvard in the first half of the 20th Century, he sought to uncover the roots of Anglo-American law by looking at the earliest books. The appendices show images referred to in the heart of the book and also the distinguishing printers mark. A very useful work on the study of early English law and printing through the year 1550. Whether it the well-known printers such as Caxton, Wynkyn de Worde, he also has included the lesser known printers who are often overlooked. Bound in brown cloth, spine lettering gilt, corners lightly bumped. A very good copy.

London: L. Wayland, 1792. Large Octavo. Frontispiece, [12] 284, [250] 58 pages. Nice large type. One of the better unofficial printings done at the end of the 18th century. The border resembles Didot. The use of the singular for the sacraments is an error (see Griffiths). Both the British Library and the Huntington have copies with this variation. Special full black straight grained morocco, both boards centrally inlaid red, green and gilt insignia with the name Thos. Harrison above insignia and dated 1823 below, boards trimmed in a decorative gilt roll, binding by Thomas Harrison with 1825 on front cover with red insignia. Very clean text, engravings have foxing with tissue guards. [ESTC T082266; David M. Griffiths, The Bibliography of the Book of Common Prayer, p. 205.].

Cambridge: Joseph Bentham, 1766. Octavo. A unique issue of the Book of Common Prayer (cf. Griffiths, Book of Common Prayer which shows only 1764 and 1765 versions). As is typical on editions printed before 1852, the Thanksgiving for deliverance from the Gunpowder Plot and the Restoration of Charles II is present. The fifty-five engravings are chiefly from the gospels (the Engraving on the Parable of the Good Samaritan lacks 25% of its image). This copy notes the previous owner as "Martha Mirriam Home, Her Book, 1799". She married Thomas Beacall in Shropshire in 1805. In his will, read in 1846, he was noted as a "Gentleman of Shrewsbury, Shropshire." In the back is pasted in a note that the book now belonged to their daughter Mary Leake who was born in 1811. While the book was trimmed for the fine leather binding, no text appears to be lacking. Also the Psalms in meter are bound in the back with a separate title page (Cambridge, 1758). Bound in a near contemporary full red calf decorated… Read More

Leicester and Nottingham: Frank Murray Derby, 1892. First Edition. Cloth. Very Good/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. 8vo., 142pp. Literary criticism in London at the beginning of the last century. In red cloth with gilt spine letters (spine faded to bron). The book is clean and tight.

Cambridge, England: Cambridge at the University Press, 1889. First Edition. Cloth. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. 723 pp. Very slight wear at extremties, binding tight with small 1/2" area of faint rubbing. Beautiful volume and fine example of 19th century textual scholarship.

Edinburgh: William Tait, 1846. Octavo. Frontispiece, vi-xvi, 775 pages. Abridged from the dictionary and supplement, in four volumes in quarto. John Jamieson (1759-1838) began his work on the uniqueness of the Scottish language in his work the Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language. As a Scot living in London, he realized how different his native language was from the Augustan language of early 19th century England. His use of examples makes this a very useful volume in considering Scotticisms versus the English as spoke in London. A very handsome copy bound in full tan polished calf, boards doubled ruled in gilt, raised bands, red morocco spine label gilt, all other compartments fully gilt decorated, all edges marbled with matching marbled endpapers, from the library of Lillian Drake Whitehouse with her bookplate. A clean bright copy.

Edinbugrh: Wm. Blackwood, 1906. Cloth. Very Good/No Dust Jacket. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. 393p. index. some pages uncut but a very clean copy with original maroon cloth cover and gilt lettering. The Battle of Fontenory was one of the three major battles in the War of the Austrain Succession. Folding map at end of text showing the campaigns of 1744 and 1745. Several of the illustrations of uniforms are in color.

London: Printed for Benj. Barker and Sold By A. Bettesworth and C. Hitch. J Osborn and Ten Others, 1732. 12mo. 8th edition. Frontispiece, 72 pages. While some mistakenly attributed this to Dr. Samuel Johnson, it was first issued in 1704 and became popular in 18th Century England so some copies were also designed to be bound in with The Book of Common Prayer. Dr. Johnson did have a later issue in his personal library that he referred to. By the early 19th Century copies had become uncommon so W. Ford in his Curious and Valuable Collection of Books Catalogue (London, 1811) lists it along with other "curious and valuable books." The frontispiece is an unusual engraving of the Last Supper. The iconography that has John resting his head against Jesus is not unusual but here the disciple was treated as a young man but here he appears as a small boy. The previous owner was Hanna Hurst who notes it was the gift of Mrs. Hester Palmer, June 30, 1746. Bound in full black morocco, both boards decorated… Read More

N.V. Uitgeverij Wistik-Wassenaar, (1968). Octavo. 50 pages. In the great debate between Einstein and Bohr in the 1930's, Einstein, the realist, stressed the fact that quantum mechanics could not represent the real world. Bohr, the pragmatist, emphasized that physical experiments were the only true confirmation of the theory. Bound in pale gray cloth lettered in gilt, spine plain, with a few tiny spots of soiling.

New York: Doubleday, 1979. First Edition. Octavo. 834 pages, glossary of key terms used for the animals, birds, flowers, berries, nuts, and nature as the Native Americans saw nature. The story of an original people, a multigenerational saga which reveals for the first time an American Indian culture from the inside. The quarter of the research by Hill will not only be detailed on the archaic Dakotah/Lakotah dialect but her description of the miserable role of women of the Mahto band whose livers were filled with drudgery and subordination to the men who could take possession of them by the flip of a chip and when he tired of them simply pass them to someone lower in the power structure was the practice even if they had born him sons. There is much in this volume that is found nowhere else. A near fine copy bound in ¼ brown cloth over gold paper covered boards, spine lettering gilt, small white line (rub mark) to upper board, in a unclipped dust jacket with tiny chip near head and tiny closed edge… Read More

Paris; Nd(ca.1850): Freres. Small Quarto. French text. 302, 316 and 332pp. Illustrated with 12 color plates, all others in black and white. Notable for twelve splendid hand colored uniform plates by Guerin, Belange, de Moraine, Vernier. Bound in a 3/4 modern blue leather over light blue cloth, raised bands ruled in gilt, compartments lettered and stamped in gilt, scattered foxing throughout affecting the black and white plates but not affecting the color plates very much, mostly toning to edges. A good copy beautifully bound.

London: Printed for J. Nourse, 1756. Octavo. Second edition. [4], [2]pp. ads, [1]- 260 pages. Two parts in one volume with continuous pagination. Voltaire was becoming a major correspondent on European affairs and published Historie de la guerre de 1741 and then the work was translated into English in 1756. ESTC 137642 in their note specifically says "not a reissue of the 1st edition". The first edition which had 292 pages had several errors hence the corrected edition in the same year. Bound in full contemporary calf, handsomely rebacked to style ruled and lettered in gilt, corners worn, edges rubbed, some off-setting from binding glue to first and last few leaves but only margins not affecting text. No foxing, names or bookplates. A very nice copy.

London: Sidgwick & Jackson, Ltd, 1916. First Edition. xvi, 276 pages. This book was the dissertation written which won his fellowship to King's College, Cambridge in 1913, His poems include some written about the war just as Graves, Sassoon and Wilfred Owen did to become literary memorials to the cost of the Great War. He died while in military service in 1914 and was eulogized by Winston Churchill. This copy was published posthumously as a gift to the important writer of fantasy E.R. Eddison from C.H.G. dated x-mas 1916. The spare label from the publisher is still present at the end of page 276.

London; (1924): Prentice Hall. Small Octavo. In five volumes. The remarkable friendship between Robert Louis Stevenson and Sidney Colvin is one of the great friendships that began before RLS was published and when the rare engravings in Colvin's trust were stolen, RLS loaned him money (since he was now a successful published author on his own). When Stevenson thought, his illness would soon lead to his death he gave his unpublished letters and papers to Colvin who initially published them as the Vailima Letters. In this edition, the previously unpublished letters were included, and it was known as the Tusitla edition (this was the name the Samoan natives had given him). Bound in blue linen, spines lettered and decorated in gilt, some rubbing to bindings, off-setting to endpapers from binder's glue. A very good set.

Tempe, AZ: Medieval & Renaissance Text & Studies, 1998. First Edition. Cloth. Near Fine. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. 173pp. Text with footnotes. Facsimiles. Index. Bound in red cloth boards, with gold titles.

Tucson; (1968): University of Arizona. Small Octavo. 270 pages, map. Signed and inscribed by the author. A teacher who preferred to teaching in a one-room rural school instead of in town though the school was a hundred miles from the ranch which she had homesteaded and from which she drew her livlihood. Here she was free to teach in her own way with students of mixed ages and races. Her children were mostly of the vaqueros who worked on the large cattle ranches. Sister Bourne would read entire novels to the children and then they began to read and were able to write very good English. She began publication of The Little Cowpuncher which were stories written by the children. Some were sad to those on the outside who read them but the children said they were just everyday life, Pages 180-186 have some of those stories which leads us now living nearly a century later that our high school graduates could write as well. A fine copy bound in light brown cloth lettered in red, spine letteringred, in near… Read More

Quarto. A bound selection of plates (some hand colored) published by G. B. Sowerby II (and some other authors) between 1842-1887 as Thesaurus conchyliorum, or monographs of genera of shells. This collection was carefully written together with the earliest having handwritten descriptions and the later ones have typewritten pasted down. The earliest pages (I-V, VII, IX, XII, XV) of the Olivia are mostly hand colored as are Cypraea, I, IV, V, IX. Bound in ¾ black polished calf over blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt, the two lower corners only slightly bumped.

New York; ND[ca.1845]: George F. Cooledge & Brothers. Small Octavo. (5)pp. ads, blank, 168pp. (2)pp. ads, engraved frontispiece and vignette title page, about 160 original illustrations designed as head-pieces for each page engraved by W.P. Morgan and A. Anderson, bound in original leather backed boards with pink paper illustration to front and back of boards missing. Previous owner's name (child) Elizabeth Liebe. This is the last revised edition of Webster's spelling books which were highly praised by over 100 members of Congress and by several Colleges and Universities around the country. Scare.

New York: Garland Publishers, Inc, 1978. Cloth. Near Fine/No Dust Jacket as Issued. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. 212p. index The revival of interest in Anthony Trollope's novels underwent a revival in the mid-1920's but the last collection of critical assessments of his works was done in 1926. This work covers the fifty years beginning in 1925 and includes studies not known to the original author of the earlier work. There is a detailed index arranging items by author, subject and each particular Trollope work. Also included is an introduction outlining the development of his reputation and a chronology of his life.

Baton Rouge: Claitor's Publishing Division, 1971. Octavo. 404 and 398 pages, index. Originally published in 1891, this work now is in one volume complete with all 802 pages. It dealt with a long neglected study not only of the nine parishes deat with in Part I, but also an extenisve list of biographical sketches of the prominent citizens of the area. It also includes some material on the folklore and legend of the area as well as the story of Lafitte the Pirate (pp. 335-448). Bound in blue cloth lettered in gilt, spine lettering gilt, lower corners bumped, rubbing and finger soiling to covers, previous owner's bookplate. A very good copy.