Search Results: Comedy, Satire, Burlesque from Rodger Friedman Rare Book Studio

Paris: H. Simonis Empis, [1893]. First edition, limited to 75 copies on Chine, this being #14, signed in pencil by the artist.. Hard Cover. Good. Folio (42 cm); [4] leaves and [50] printed plates of Fourain's cartoons. Original hand-tinted wraps bound in. Upper wrap loose. Many plates with English translation of caption supplied in ink (in Hoe's hand?). Pervasive damp stain at juncture of gutter and top edge. Bound in half levant morocco over marbled boards, by David. Bookplate of Robert Hoe, later bookplate (by E.D. French) of Colonel C.L.F. Robinson. Reference: Hoe sale III, 1194 (this copy). The Hoe-Robinson copy of a collection of cartoons that affectionately satirize Parisian sexual-social customs. Forain was a friend and protégé of Degas, and a follower of Daumier. The preface is by the French novelist Alphonse Daudet, who writes, "The whole of Paris is there, modern Paris, from top to bottom, Paris and its terrors, its joys, its vices... explored by two sharp black eyes prying… Read More

Paris: Didot, 1812. Second edition. Bound in contemporary mottled pink paper-covered boards, worn. . Very Good. 31cm; xiii, [i], 85 pages. Title and text in French and Italian on facing pages. Bridgewater arms stamped in red on both title pages; Egerton arms stamped in red at head of appendix (a survey of critcism on Comus). A 16-page genealogy in French of the Bridgewater family dated 1810 bound in, stamped with Bridgewater arms. Scattered light foxing only. The British eccentric Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater (1756-1829) commissioned this translation into French and Italian of Milton's Comus in part to honor his own ancestor, John Egerton, who was present at the first performance of it. First issued in 1806, Egerton chose to reprint the corrected text with the celebrated firm of Didot. A third issue of the Italian text was printed later the same year.

Amsterdam: Chez Henry Desbordes, 1685. Nouvelle éd. enrichie de tailles-douces. . Leather. Very Good. 12mo (17cm); 2 volumes in one. Engraved frontispiece, 58 half-page etchings by Romeyn de Hooghe. Woodcut ornaments. Bound in contemporary dark green grained morocco, rebacked a hundred years ago. Original spine intact. Old repairs recently strengthened and reinforced. Marbled endleaves; gilt edges. Covers somewhat worn but sound and entire. First two guarded and expertly integrated into text block. Stock somewhat toned, but unblemished. References: Brunet III, 758; Landwehr Romeyn de Hooghe 62; Hofer, Baroque Book Illustration, #145; Hollstein IX, 591-648. First illustrated edition of La Fontaine's collection of naughty and bawdy tales in verse, first published in a somewhat different form and without illustrations in 1665. Romeyn de Hooghe's vivid engravings, which are as famous and iconic as the tales themselves, influenced book illustration in France and the Low Countries through the following… Read More

London: Punch, 1845. First Edition in book form. Good. Octavo (24 cm); viii, 284 pages, Extra pictorial title page, and 12 full-page steel engravings. Many in-text woodcuts. Edited by Gilbert Abbott a'Beckett. In first binding. Enpapers renewed. Few plates repaired at margins. Front joint tender and starting. Occasional foxing and stains. Plates bound out of order. Some plates frayed at edges, one with crude repair.

Paris: Beauger et Cie; Lith Coulon et Cie, n.d. (about 1850). Acceptable. 35 cm; Lithographed title page and 40 full-page lithographed plates with captions. Bound in plain black morocco with leather backstrip decorated in gilt. Head and tail worn with loss. Corners and edges worn with some fraying. Light scattered foxing. One of the great masters of lithography," says Gordon N. Ray.

Bassano del Grappa: Remondini, ca 1710. Fine. 1 leaf, 34 x 22 cm. Two images, each within palm-frond borders, and each underscored with six-line legends in verse. "In Bassano, per il Remondini" in lower center frame. Matted and protected by mylar guard. References: Alberto Milano, "Le Ventole," in Remondini: Un editore del settecento, pp. 202-203, #7; From the house of Remondini in Bassano, a print that actually pairs two popular images: the "world upside down" and the "dance of death." From the cycle of the "world upside down," we see the donkey that drives a man who labors under the weight of two barrels. The "dance of death" image shows what may be a courtship scene, but the legend tells us that it shows a young man consulting an African fortune-teller while his true fortune--Death--stands at his shoulders. A relic.

Italia: n.p., 1835. Very Good. 19 cm; 20 pages (three blank), including 7 full-page illustrations with captions. Text and illustrations lithographed throughout. Bound in (later?) plain wraps. Not in Melzi. No copies located. Apparently unrecorded booklet with text and illustrations produced completely in lithograph. The text reproduces an italic calligraphy that must have been lettered in reverse on stone, or written out on transfer paper before being applied to the lithographic stone. The narrative concerns a lady who is handily juggling simultaneous affairs with a young man and with the young man's father.

Paris: Chez Aubert, 1839-40. First edition. 27 cm; 3 volumes in two. 150 lithographs, including 45 by Daumier (among them 27 from "Croquis d'expression") and 42 by Gavarni. Half titles present. Plates not colored in. Bound in recent green crushed morocco over marbled boards, ruled in gilt; spines titled in gilt. Marbled edges. Endleaves foxed; some scattered toning. Overall a clean copy. References: Ray, #164 ("one of the freshest and most attractive of romantic illustrated books"); Carteret III, 426-27. The great Parisian caricaturists of the mid-19th-century: Daumier, Gavarni, Grandville, Travies, and others, represented with original lithographs illustrating short prose pieces by Alhoy, Huart, and Philipon.

London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts, 1858. First edition thus. Very Good. 26 cm; xx, 196 pages, and 20 plates "drawn and etched by George Cruikshank." Bound in half polished brown morocco over marbled boards, with title and decorations stamped in gilt on spine and gilt rules on boards, by P.B. Sanford. Marble endleaves; top edge gilt. Occasional light scattered foxing, primarily in margins. Bindingly lightly scuffed at edges. Armorial bookplate (ca. 1914) of Isaac Rand Thomas engraved by Sydney Lawton Smith after the bookplate Paul Revere designed for Thomas's 18th-century ancestor.

London: Bradbury & Evans, [1849]. First edition. Good +. Oblong (280 x 225 cm); [42] leaves and 40 full-page illustrated plates. Title in red and black. In half red crushed morocco over blue marbled paper boards. Doyle's passerine monogram on spine and on upper board. Red leather title label on upper board. All edges gilt. Upper joint quite tender yet holding. Marbled paper a bit scratched and worn at edges. Little or no foxing, but occasional thumb marks present. Funny drawings of British people acting the part, accompanied by parodies of Pepys. The drawings originally appeared in Punch, and are collected here for the first time.

Paris: P. Jannet, 1853. Cloth. Good . 12mo; 17 cm., lv, 340, ads., Red cloth, stamped in blind, titled in gilt on spine., Water stains along bottom edge of casing; some spotting in text., One of the great wits of his age, Regnier wrote satires in alexandrines after the manner of Horace and Juvenal. No less an authority than Sainte Beuve compared them to Flemish paintings for their vigor, their precision and light. Includes an essay on the history of satire in France.

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1903. Very Good. 17 cm; 95, [1], 4, [4] pages (last 2 pages blank), and 3 plates. Bound in original green cloth stamped with an illustration of two figures riding a buggy. Price sticker removed from front free endpaper. Very slightly stoop-shouldered, with a bit of a sunburn on the spine, this is a very good copy. The author of the Virginian recalls his stint as a tutor in philosophy at Harvard. "'Skip Plato,' interrupted one of the boys. 'You gave us his points yesterday.'" First separate edition. Illustrated by Seymour M. Stone.

London: Scott, Webster, & Geary, 1841. Very Good. 12mo (14 cm); xviii, 423 pages, engraved frontispiece and extra engraved title page. Half-title present. Bound in half green pebbled leather over marbled boards. Marbled edges. Edges a little scuffed, some discoloration to marbled boards. Contents clean and bright.

London: S. Prowett, 1828. Second edition. Leather. Good. 21 cm; [2], 141, [7] pages, frontispiece portrait of "Mr. Punch" and 23 plates by Cruikshank. Title page illustration and tail-pieces in text after Cruikshank. Bound in half morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, ruled in gilt. Spine titled and tooled in gilt. Moderate wear to corners and edges. Scattered light foxing affecting plates. Marginal paper repair at page 99-100, barely affecting text, corrected in manuscript. Bookplate of Howland Pell, of Pelham, NY. The text of the play, illustrated by Cruikshank, with introduction and notes by Collier.

Florence: G. Barbera,, 1863. Collezione Diamante. Very Good. in-48 (11cm); xvii, [1], 461, [3] pages, and steel engraved portrait frontispiece with tissue guard. Bound in original publisher's wraps. Bookplate. Shelf wear, corners bumped, but no frays, tears or stains. References: Annali bibliografici, #135; Parenti, Rarità bibliografiche, #52. The comic poet Francesco Berni is still underappreciated and largely unknown to anglophone readers. According to the Britannica (11th ed), "Berni stands at the head of Italian comic or burlesque poets. For lightness, sparkling wit, variety of form and fluent diction, his verses are unsurpassed." This edition was published in Gaspero Barbera's brilliant "Collezione Diamante" series of vest-pocket books printed in 7-point diamond type in a font based on Bodoni. 2000 copies were printed, and the edition sold out. The text, edited by Carlo Gargiolli, includes his poems, letters, plays, a literary essay in dialogue form, and Latin verse.

London: Printed by W. Bulmer and Co., for J. Wright, 1799. Good. 8vo (22 cm); 3, xlviii, 189 pages. Title page with engraved portrait vignette. Bound in contemporary full birdseye calf decorated in gilt. Marbled endpapers. Binding rather rubbed and worn, cracked at joints but holding. Spine ends perishing. Owner's autograph on title page (Sir Alex Bannerman, 1818), with few ink notes in text in 19th-century hand. Latin and English texts on facing pages.

Milano: Giovanni Silvestri, 1826. Very Good. 17 cm; 91, [1] pages, and engraved portrait of Gozzi by Ester Silvestri. Bound in original printed wraps. Unopened, untrimmed. Pages still bright and clean. Shelf wear only.

New York: December 9, 1939. Very Good. 28 cm; 1 page on Burgess's monogramed letterhead, to "Hughes," signed with monogram in ink. 43 lines, including salutations and four quatrains of verse. Usual folds, toned at edges. Two closed tears along top edge. Letter discussing the theoretical template for nonsense verse from the author of one of the most enduring nonsense quatrains, "I never saw a purple cow." The letter is certainly to Rupert Hughes (1872-1956), author, director and, incidentally, uncle of Howard Hughes. Burgess writes, "I have discovered a sure-fire formula for Nonsense Verses-especially the double couplet, much superior to the quatrain." Burgess supplies four delightful examples illustrating the secret, including "The public marvels, I suppose, that I paint pictures with my nose. If there is any mystery to it, It isn't How, it's Why I do it."

London: The Haymarket Press, 1928. Very Good. Quarto (26 cm); xxi, 79, [2] pages. Frontispiece drypoint etching by Arthur Ralph Middleton Todd (1891-1966), signed in pencil. Bound in original quarter-leather over marbled velvet cloth boards. Edition limited to 875 copies, numbered in ink (this copy #302). Minor wear to covers. Congreve's arch and still-funny sex comedy in a 20th-century hand-made edition that features a very good engraving by the notable British portrait artist.