Rare books from Barter Books Ltd

Paris: In Casa Delautore. In overall very good condition. Some blemishes and soiling on cover with carefully blended hinge strengthening. New endpapers and professional repair of a few damaged pages. 1588. First Edition. 18th century white tooled leather cover with metal clasps. 320mm x 240mm (13" x 9"). xxx, 338pp, 338pp. 195 engraved plates (20 double page). Text in French and Italian. One of the most important books on the science and technology of machines in the Renaissance. With the publication of this book Ramelli "demonstrated for the world, the unlimited possibilities of machines" [Norman]. The superb engravings depict all manner of machinery from pumps and hydraulics to cranes and siege machinery. One of the best known and often reproduced plates shows an elaborate 'bookwheel' or reading machine. .

London: Richard Royston & Richard Marriot. Cover heavily rubbed and scuffed with edge-wear. Hinges weak. Sporadic foxing. Page edges darkened. Occasional closed tears, edge-chips, stains and annotations, occasionally impinging. Some mispagination. Leaf 159/160 missing, with slight loss to 161/162. 1640. First Edition. Brown hardback leather cover. 350mm x 240mm (14" x 9"). [xxviii], 826pp, [xxiv]. A number of wood cut engraved motifs. Heraldic bookplate of John Clayton to paste-down. Inscribed by previous owner 'W Rooke' on title page with other annotations within contents. Hand written inscription of previous owner ' Joseph Worrall 1657' on page 497. Title page has been backed to prevent further damage. Dedication to Charles I by John Donne slightly rubbed and chipped. Table of contents. Sermons. Tables of such places of Scriptures are illustrated and expounded in this Booke. Table of Authors as are cited illustrated or reselled in this booke [Index] 2 pages attached. An… Read More

London: Vizetelly & Co. G: in Good condition without dust jacket. Boards lightly rubbed and bumped, with slight lean to spine. Tissue guard missing from frontispiece. Rear endpaper missing. 1888. Reprint, unexpergated edition. Brown decorated hardback cloth cover with gilt titles. 190mm x 130mm (7" x 5"). 392pp. This seemingly insignificant book is from the Mermaid Series of Best Plays of the Old Dramatists belonged to Aubrey Beardsley. On the ffep a hand drawn bookplate by Aubrey Beardsley is pasted, dated Xmas, 1888. On the half title page there is the signature A V Beardsley, Xmas 1888. On the reverse of the frontispiece in the top corner is an ink stamp BEARDSLEY. .

Edinburgh: William Blackwood. G : in Good condition. Cover rubbed with minor abrasions. Some backstrips rubbed with cracking with minor loss to volumes 1, 3 and 13. Volume I upper board becoming detached but holding. Volume 4 rebacked using original backstrip. Some staining and light foxing but overall tight and G+. Heraldic bookplate of Coulthart of Coulthart and Collyn 'Virtue non Verbis'. 1830. First Edition. Leather cover. 270mm x 210mm (11" x 8"). 13,885pp. 525 engraved plates and 13 maps. Heavy item - shipping supplement may apply for overseas. .

New York: Wilfred Funk Inc. G : in good condition without dust jacket. Tape marks to prelims. Ex Newbattle Lothian College Library. 1940. First Edition. Maroon hardback cloth cover. 210mm x 140mm (8" x 6"). xxx, 252pp. Signed and dedicated by the author to the Marquis of Lothian [British Ambassador to the United States at the time]. .

London: William Heinemann Ltd. VG : in very good condition without dust jacket as issued. Boards rubbed and slightly bowed and darkened. Light foxing to endpapers. Heraldic plate to front pastedown. 1905. Limited Edition [58/250]. Cream gilt-illustrated vellum cover. 290mm x 230mm (11" x 9"). viii, 57pp + plates. 50 tipped-in colour plates illustrated by Rackham all with captioned tissue-guards bound into the rear. The first book entirely illustrated by Rackham to be issued as a Limited Edition. Signed by Arthur Rackham on the Limitation page. Heavy item - shipping supplement may apply for overseas. .

Paris: Audot. G : in Good condition without dust jackets. Covers rubbed. Some foxing. 1821. First Edition. Red hardback board covers. 310mm x 240mm (12" x 9"). 94pp; 178pp; Plates. 87 hand-coloured plates. Heavy item - shipping supplement may apply for overseas. .

Edinburgh and London: Thomas Brown and William Faden. Morocco case with flap worn. Maps with some light scattered browning, mainly on linen backing. 1800. Improved Edition. Contemporary Morocco case. 300mm x 180mm (12" x 7"). The large folding map comprises 9 separate linen backed hand coloured sheets, each sheet measuring 642mm x 579mm. Heavy item - shipping supplement may apply for overseas. .

London: Benjamin Motte. G : in good condition. Covers rubbed with some professional restoration and new title panels. Occasional light foxing and marks. Heavy staining to margins of early pages of volume 2, not impinging on text. Title page of volume 2 is a facsimile. Minor extinct worming to last few pages of volume I. 1729. First English Edition. Brown hardback leather covers. 200mm x 130mm (8" x 5"). [xxxvi], 320pp; 392pp, [xiv], viii, 73pp + plates. 51 b/w plates and charts, many folding. To which is added: The Laws of the Moon's Motion, According to Gravity, by John Machin. .

London: William Pickering. VG: in very good condition. Rebound with new eps. Thumbing and slight browning to page edges. Plates 14, 16, 21, and 31 have traces of pencilled sketches. Some plates missing tissue guard. Minor rippling to plate 49, slightly impinging on content. Some hinges reinforced. 1838. [First Edition]. Quarter brown cloth hardback with marbled boards. 390mm x 290mm (15" x 11"). Plates. 60 (of 60) hand-coloured plates; title page included. Plates 53 and 54, ('An Armoury'), form a double page. Heavy item - shipping supplement may apply for overseas. .

Basel: Johannes Hervagius. G: in good condition. Cover rubbed and marked. Wear to spine. Ties at fore-edge broken. Lacking the first 3 initial leaves [with Melanchthon's preface]. Occasional edge-tearing. Tearing to top edge of pages 295-300 & to inner margins of pages 301-310 (some loss to content). Occasional ink annotations. Sporadic foxing, marking, & staining. Minor worming to top corner of pages 113-128. Some mispagination. 1537. Basel Edition. Later limp vellum with yapped edges. 290mm x 210mm (11" x 8"). ii, 587pp. Woodcut printer's device on title page and ep, woodcut initials, headpieces and diagrams. Text in Latin. .

London: Ernest Benn Ltd. G : in good condition without dust jacket. Boards bellied. Spine rubbed and darkened. Some foxing. Previous owner inscription to fep. 1927. Limited Edition [1/50]. Cream hardback vellum cover. 250mm x 200mm (10" x 8"). 256pp + plates. 12 colour plates. Signed by Dulac on limitation page. .

London: Wiley & Putnam. G : in good condition. Cover rubbed and marked. Spine faded. Some foxing. 1846. First UK Edition. Green hardback cloth cover. 190mm x 130mm (7" x 5"). 228pp. Includes 'The Fall of the House of Usher' and The Murders in the Rue Morgue', &c. .

Glasgow: T & R Annan & Sons. VG : in very good condition. Some light scratching to cover. Front inner hinge cracked. 1900. Limited Edition [100]. Navy blue hardback cloth cover. 390mm x 290mm (15" x 11"). [53pp]. 50 plates. Annan printed this album in three editions in 1871, 1877, and 1900 respectively according to Fisher. The 1871 process was calotype, 1877, carbon, and 1900 a gravure process. The City Improvement Trust was the body which was charged with the task of cleaning up the squalid living conditions that existed in the city in the second half of the nineteenth century. Learning from visits to Paris, to see the work of Baron Haussmann, the trustees were very successful in adapting the traditional tenement house style to rehouse many thousands of people. This edition was limited to 100 copies. .

London: David Bogue. G : in good condition. Rebacked using original spine. Front inner hinge reinforced. Some foxing, mostly marginal. 1846. First Edition. Brown hardback half-leather cover. 550mm x 380mm (22" x 15"). iv, 58pp + plates. 36 superb black/white/wash 21" x 14" plates. .