Search Results: Titles starting with O from Rootenberg Rare Books & Manuscripts

Two volumes. 8vo. xxxi, [i], 440; [ii], 482 pp. With 3 engraved plates (2 of which are frontispieces) a large folding map, and 24 text woodcuts. Contemporary half morocco and marbled boards; foxing limited to endpapers, overall in excellent shape.
First edition of this account of Richardson's first expedition to Africa. The idea, to reach the "celebrated Oasis of Ghadames . . . amidst the most appalling desolations of the Great Saharan Wilderness," came to Richardson via the accidental reading of a brochure on a table in the Algiers public library. This glance resulted in a journey from Tunis and Tripoli in Libya to Ghadames and Ghat in the middle of the Sahara, chronicled in his Travels in the treat desert of Sahara. Readers travel with Richardson and his group through cities, trader routes and more oases, learning the language, the culture, and the religion of the people whom they encounter. It is as fascinating and rich as any nineteen th-century travel narrative.
A review in the Journal of… Read More

Written on blue paper. Original vellum.An unpublished play about an artist who is afraid to make love. Braham (1824-1877) was an instructor of musketry in the Royal Berks Milita. He was the youngest son of John Braham (1774-1856), considered the greatest English tenor and composer of all time. Noted for his splendid voice and keen business sense, he made his debut at the Royalty Theatre in 1787 with great success. In Covent Garden at the Drury Lane Company, he produced many of his own operas, and built the St. James Theatre. Braham was the brother of Countess Frances Elizabeth Waldegrave (1821-1879), wife of Lord Chichester Fortescue, Baron Carlingford (1823-1898), who with his wife inherited Strawberry Hill. Braham was also a close friend of Edward Lear (See Letters of Edward Lear to Chichester Fortescue, Lord Carlingford and Frances Countess Waldegrave, and Later letters, edited by Lady Strachey (1907 &1911).

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1932. FIRST EDITION. Dust jacket in good condition, one edge frayed and separated from flap, but all parts are present (flaps price clipped as called for by publisher due to late price change). Internally fresh. One tear to front flyleaf. Overall, a good copy.

Amsterdam: R. & J. Westensios, 1727. Printer's device to title. Eighteenth century vellum over pasteboards, some soiling, small portion of vellum missing at foot of spine. Portion of fly-leaf torn away at head, small stain at upper fore-edge of first few signatures, some occasional text browning. From the Marist College main library, Brookland, D.C. with their ownership stamp to title. Wesseling (1692-1764) is remembered today chiefly for his major edition of Diodorus Siculus. The present miscellaneous work includes the author's thoughts on Greek and Roman writers and on numismatics. The writer e.g. emends Asconius Pedianus, Gellius, Hesychius, Isaeus, Plato and Sophocles; defends Petronius and explicates Scipio and euphorion; discusses several Roman republican coins.

Tiguri: apud Heideggerum & Soc., 1745. editio altera. All blanks present. Portrait of the author, woodcut head- and tailpieces, full-page engraving. Contemporary vellum, sprinkled edges; an excellent copy. Later edition (editio altera) of Wepfer's comprehensive treatise on brain diseases, first printed posthumously in 1727. This edition includes an excellent biography of the author. Wepfer (620-1695), one of the most prominent Swiss physicians of the seventeenth century, "was appointed city physician at Schaffhausen and some years later became personal physician to the Duke of Würtemberg. He also served as physician to the Marquis de Dourlach, Charles the Elector Palatine, and the army of Emperor Leopold. Wepfer's scientific works were characterized by keen insight, wide knowledge, and careful observation" (Heirs of Hippocrates, 534).

London: R. Blamire, 1792. THIRD EDITION. With 30 aquatint plates. Contemporary tree calf with gilt border, gilt spine re-backed in later calf, marbled endpapers; a good, clean copy. Third edition of this significant work by Gilpin that considerably influenced the development of the concept of "picturesque moment." This travelogue and observations on the beauty of the Scottish landscape, particularly in Cumberland and Westmoreland, was written fifteen years prior to the publication of the first edition in 1789. The two volume set is part of a larger collection of Gilpin's travel journals and sketches of the British landscape. Gilpin shows his talent for picturesque description in words, paying particular attention to British ruins and thus establishing a romantic appreciation for such British landmarks such as Scaleby Castle. "With this work, and the others in his Observations series, he successfully laid the initial ground work for aesthetic perception for the next generation of picturesque artists… Read More

Giesen: Eberh. Henr. Lammers, 1742. FIRST EDITION. With woodcut head- and tailpiece. Disbound, with manuscript index on recto of last leaf. Some spotting on preliminaries. First edition. This rare dissertation on the structure of the human skeleton contains a detailed physical description of all the bones, starting with the torso and working out to the extremities.

New York: C.S. Van Winkle, 1813. FIRST EDITION. Disbound, some staining and soiling; uncut and unopened. FIRST EDITION. Austin, 973.

Boston: William V. Spencer, 1865. FIRST EDITION. Original printed wrappers, lightly soiled, crease to rear wrapper. A near fine copy of this scarce pamphlet. First edition of this poem, one of 250 copies printed. Samuel Greene Wheeler Benjamin (1837-1914) was a prolific writer and artist. He was appointed ambassador to Persia and served there between 1883-1885. Monaghan 399.

Trajecti ad Rhenum [Utrecht, Netherlands]: Apud Guilielmum Kroon, 1729. FIRST EDITION. Title in red and black with engraved vignette, woodcut initials and tailpiece. Contemporary vellum, spine worn; interior excellent. . A SERMON FOR EACH SUNDAY. First edition of this fascinating group of sermons. The book contains outlines for a year-long cycle of sermons (52 Sundays) dealing with questions regarding the Heidelberg Catechism. "The Heidelberg Catechism (also known as the Palatinate Catechism) was composed in Heidelberg at the request of Elector Frederick III, who ruled the Palatinate, an influential German province, from 1559 to 1576. An old tradition credits Zacharius Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus with being coauthors of the new catechism. Both were certainly involved in its composition, although one of them may have had primary responsibility. All that is certain is reported by the Elector in his preface of January 19, 1563. It was, he writes, 'with the advice and cooperation of our entire… Read More

[Washington]: [U.S. Government Printing Office], 1946. Original blue-gray printed boards. Signed by the author on the fly-leaf, ownership inscription to front paste-down. Limited edition, first state, with the second blank conjugate to the colophon. This is the lecture given by Maugham when he presented the manuscript of his novel Of human bondage to the Library of Congress. Limited to 800 copies, this is one of 500 signed by the author, and given as souvenirs to those who were at the ceremony. Rothschild & Whiteman, V, 256; Stott, A65a; NCBEL, 4, 663.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995. FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. Maroon cloth with gilt lettering on spine, dustjacket in pristine condition; a beautiful uncut copy, as if never opened.

London: For Richard Royston, 1647. FIRST EDITION. Title in red and black with woodcut vignette, woodcut headpieces and initials, portions of text in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Full calf, bound in a period style with gilt rule; page 117 trimmed on fore-edge with no loss to text, some waterstains and browning throughout. Signature of Robt. F. Colem dated 1858. First edition of this anonymous tract in which the author engages in controversial critical interpretations on church policy and authority. Citing Matthew 16:19 ("And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven"), the book responds to the attempts to restructure the Church by Parliament during the Westminster Assembly, of which Hammond was a member. Hammond was critical of the dilution of authority that Parliament had overseen. He reminds his audience that Jesus granted to the apostles the sole (and… Read More

1946. FIRST PRINTINGS. 16 offprints.

Auckland: Robert J. Creighton & Alfred Scales, 1863. FIRST NEW ZEALAND EDITION. Later brown cloth; occasional foxing, 2 leaves slightly torn and mended (p. 113-116). Inscribed in ink on fly-leaf: Mary Caroline Barke, a small token of affection from her brother James F. Barke, Invercargill, New Zealand, June 30th 1863. First New Zealand edition. "Pakeha" is the Maori term for "foreigner," and this book is an autobiographical work by Frederick Maning, an Anglo-Irishman who settled in New Zealand in 1833. According to the Oxford DNB, "Using some of the literary devices of Laurence Sterne, Maning produced a racy, often very funny tour de force of autobiography, description, and discussion of Maori history and customs," and adds that it has become "a classic of New Zealand literature."Maning was born in Dublin in 1811 or 1812. In 1823 his family emigrated to Tasmania, and in 1833 Maning moved to New Zealand. He married a Maori wife and lived for some time as part of her Maori family. He eventually became… Read More

New York: Paul B. Hoeber Inc, 1929. FIRST EDITION. With half-title, 11 photographic plates, numerous in-text diagrams and tables, and decorative headpieces and historiated initials. Purple cloth, title stamped on cover, gilt spine; exteriors clean, spine slightly faded. Text is remarkably clean. An excellent copy. First edition of an interesting and comprehensive work on attitudes towards aging, senility, and death. Warthin travels through all stages of human life, beginning with birth, continuing with the different stages of maturity, and concluding with the stages of old age, resulting in death. He describes many of the physiological and pathological changes that take place during the aging process. Warthin (1866-1931) was an acclaimed professor of pathology at the University of Michigan and director of the university's pathological library. He worked in a variety of fields and wrote numerous papers and books and made thorough studies on syphilis. During the period from 1893-1900, he spent… Read More

London: R.H. Evans, 1810. Third edition. Contemporary green blind-stamped cloth, spines lettered in gilt, front hinge to Volume I loose; apart from very light scattered foxing, a lovely uncut copy from the library of Charles Tyler Prouty, with his bookplate in each volume, small ex-libris stamps to contents pages. New edition of this classic set of songs and ballads by the famous London bookseller. This, the third edition, was revised and enlarged by his son, R.H. Evans, also a noted bookseller and auctioneer.

Paris: Jean Boussod, Manzi, Joynat, & Co, 1899. FIRST EDITION. Title in red and black with printer's device, full color frontispiece and 31 black and white plates, chapter headings with engraved portraits surrounded by red decorated headpieces, all tissue guards with red printed captions present. Half-morocco and cloth, spine with raised bands and title in gilt, upper fore-edge gilt; some minor browning and spotting on the fore-edge, otherwise a very good copy.

Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1894. FIRST EDITION. Frontispiece. Original green cloth, decorated in gilt; an exceptionally fine, clean copy with the small ownership inscription of Eliz. L. Gould dated Christmas, 1894, to the fly-leaf. First edition of this posthumously printed work. Contains a different selection of Holmes' works for each day of the year. BAL, 9216; C&T, p. 247.

London: [n.p.], 1845. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. Unbound, in a protective wrapper. First and only edition of this very scarce article by Huxley, in which he identifies "Huxley's layer" and "membrane" of the root sheath of hair follicles. G&M, 412.