Rare books from Buddenbrooks, Inc.

Venice: Ex Typographia Remondiniana, [1761]. 2 volumes bound in one. First edition, first issue, large-paper copy and a copy with pleasing “old world” provenance. Fine woodcut head- and tailpieces, without the engraved portrait by Renard which is often lacking. Folio, 41 x 24.5 cm, full contemporary calf expertly rehinged at an early date, gilt tooled spine, red and green morocco lettering labels. xcvi, 298; 452 pp. A very good copy with wide margins, minor dampstain at the lower blank margin, most noticeable in the index and diminishing toward the end of this section, some wear to the corners of the covers. Bookplate and small title-page stamp of the Medical Society of Norwich and Norfolk. The Medical Society bookplate is pasted over the eighteenth-century bookplate of Johannes Manning, M.D., with the inscription on an early blank, "Presented by the executors of the late Dr. Manning." THE RARE FIRST EDITION OF ONE OF THE GREATEST BOOKS IN THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE, and “a… Read More

New York: Charles L. Webster, 1885. First edition. First Issue. With 174 black and white illustrations by E.W. Kemble. Large 8vo, original publisher's sheep binding with the red and black lettering labels on the spine. It is estimated that only 2500 copies were issued in this binding. 366 pp. A very pleasing and handsome copy. Light, expert and unobtrusive refurbishment to the joints. FIRST EDITION OF ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT AND GREATEST BOOKS IN AMERICAN LITERATURE. A very handsome copy with the following earliest setting states as listed by BAL: "Him and another Man" is listed at page 88, BAL's first state; page 57, eleventh line from the bottom reads "...with the was...," BAL's first state; page 155 with final 5 “stamped in” by hand (see Underhill), and matching the original font in the setting of the page number (no priority, occurring randomly in all three states independent of other major signs of first printing sheets, but this setting seems to appear least often); the… Read More

The book published in Cambridge: At the University Press for Members of the Limited Editions Club, 1954. Together two items. AN ORIGINAL WATERCOLOUR PAINTING, SIGNED by Dulac and reprinted as one of the illustrations for the publication of COMUS. With, a copy of the book itself, first edition thus from the L.E.C. in a printing of 1500 numbered copies. The painting is of a woman standing in field of flowers within the curve of a dragon’s tale. Behind her is a large tree laden with fruit and with additional floral and arboreal decorations in the background. The book contains the printed version of this work along with 5 other colourplates from original watercolours by Dulac. This was the last book to be illustrated by Dulac. With frame,16.5” 13.5” , the painting is now handsomely matted and presented in silver-leafed wooden frame. The book is in the publisher’s original parchment backed marbled boards, the spine lettered in gilt and housed in the original black slipcase lettered in… Read More

Edo [Tokyo]: Hyoshiya Ichirobe (Hayashi-shi Yoshinaga), First month, 1684 (But Third month, 1680). A large woodcut map of Edo (Tokyo) with fine handcolouring, on joined and folded paper. The map is breathtaking in its detail and features many paintings of important landmarks, temples, bridges and people, who are often pictured working or fishing from boats on the waterways running through Tokyo. A stunning and very rare woodblock map beautifully and unusually handcoloured. Roads, blocks, buildings, open areas, canals and waterways, are all vividly laid out on this huge and most impressive map. 123.5 by 149.5 cm., folded within paper covers, folds to 28 by 18 cm, now preserved in a fine clamshell box. A remarkably well preserved and very rare item, with some light rubbing due to age and as to be expected. A bit of old worming or light soiling and occasional small repairs, but in all quite astonishing in its quality and beautifully preserved with bright and vivid colour and detail. AN… Read More

Paris: L. Curmer, 1864. 3 volumes in two. First Edition. The plate volume with 413 exquisite chromolithographs of illuminated manuscripts of the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries, hand-coloured and often burnished in gold, the text volume with hundreds of woodcut engravings, a large photographic plate and 79 tipped in photographs mounted within fine engraved borders. 4to, the plate volume handsomely presented in magnificent full brown morocco signed by Hardy-Mennil, featuring ornate gilt red morocco doublures, fine gauffered edges beautifully gilt in a rich French style, red silk flies and endpapers, the spines with gilt lettering and fine raised bands, the text volume uniformly bound in matching half morocco, both in slipcases. xl, 361, v; xxiii, 154, 255, largely unpaginated. A very fine and beautiful copy of this superb production. CURMER’S MAGNIFICENT PRODUCTION, A MASTERPIECE OF COLOUR CHROMOLITHOGRAPHY. Curmer had photographed the ancient illuminations which where then colored on the… Read More

Venezia: Agostino Zani, 1511. A Very Early Folio Illustrated Edition incorporating incunabular plates, of Caesar's Commentaries, a core classical text of the Roman period. Illustrated with incunabular woodcuts from plates used for the 1493 edition of Livy. The title page is printed in red and there is a very fine, large woodcut to the title leaf (92 x 120 mm) within an elaborate border printed in red and repeated on the first leaf of text, within an altogether different woodcut border printed in black. There is a woodcut of approximately the same size at f. 51; twelve smaller woodcuts (each approx. 56 x 74 mm) are placed at the beginning of each chapter. Folio (mm 314x210), contemporary Italian half goatskin over wooden boards, goatskin on the sides with blind-ruled geometric designs, a pair of scallop-shaped brass fore-edge catches on front cover, vellum half pastedowns cut from a 14th-century theological manuscript. A very handsome copy of this rare illustrated work. VERY RARE. ONE OF… Read More

Basel: Heinrich Peter [Heinrich Petri], 1537. VERY RARE. First edition in German. With 66 fine and impressive large woodcuts, woodcut initials throughout. Small Folio, bound in an early vellum manuscript leaf, likely from an antiphonal written in black and ruled in red, page edges died red. [vii], 157 pp. A handsome copy, the text very clean and fresh, some very minor marginal wormholes. SEBASTIAN MÜNSTER'S IMPORTANT WORK ON SUNDIALS AND HOROLOGY, illustrated with many very impressive woodcuts, some attributed to Holbein the Younger. The work displays not only Münster's mathematical and scientific abilities but also those of a master-craftsman. The many fine woodcuts include sundials, quadrants and various other measuring devices, some of which are attributed to Hans Holbein the Younger. The work was original published in Latin in 1531. This edition appeared several years prior to Muenster's famed 'Cosmographia' and is far scarcer.

Paris: Editions du Sagittaire, Chez Simon Kr, 1924. First Edition of Breton's first Surrealist Manifesto. This copy is an RARE INSCRIBED PRESENTATION COPY from Breton to the author Pierre Ličvre, noted French writer and biographer of the period, WITH "sympathique hommage". 8vo, in the publisher's original orange paper wrappers printed in black on the upper cover and spine. 190 pp. A beautifully preserved copy, just a bit mellowed at the edges and corners and with very minor toning mostly at the prelims. AN IMPORTANT FIRST EDITION PRESENTATION COPY OF THE FIRST OF BRETON'S SURREALIST MANIFESTOS, issued in 1924 during the Surrealist movement. Leading up to 1924, two rival surrealist groups had formed, each claiming to be true successors of the revolution launched by Guillaume Apollinaire. One group was led by Yvan Goll, and the other, led by Breton, included Louis Aragon, Robert Desnos, Paul Éluard, Jacques Baron, Jacques-André Boiffard, Jean Carrive, René Crevel and Georges Malkine,… Read More

New York: Williams & Whiting, 1810. 3 volumes. First edition of the collected WORKS and only the third printing of the FEDERALIST according to Sabin. Of the other works included, these are generally the first obtainable editions. With engraved frontispiece portraits in each volume. 8vo, in very handsome contemporary tree calf, the spines with gilt ruled flat bands and with black morocco labels gilt ruled and lettered, gilt volume numbers with leather labels. vii,325; iv,368; iv, 368 pp. The rare and handsome contemporary calf only very lightly worn at the edges and extremities, overall near-fine, the text with some light tonging and foxing, but much less than is expected on such early American imprints. Ex-libris on front paste-down, contemporary ownership inscription on title-pages, some notes in text also, all in pencil, a few instances of authorship emendations made in ink by a contemporary hand. AN EXTREMELY EARLY PRINTING OF THE FEDERALIST AND QUITE SCARCE, and very much so in… Read More

Washington: Government Printing Office, 1891-1895. In the original 36 parts. FIRST EDITION. With 175 numbered double-page lithographed color maps and plates on 178 sheets by Bien. Large elephant folio, presented in the original 36 large folio fascicles with their original printed paper wrappers, now housed together in a blue cloth portfolio case with string ties, the spine of the case is lettered in gilt. A handsome and impressive set in fully original condition, overall, very excellent and especially well preserved. The original wrappers show some occasional minor wear along the edges and spines, occasional small tears at folds or minor creasing or separation. Sets in the original fascicles with wrappers intact are very rare and very elusive in the open market. This is a very fine example of the most rare state of the first edition. SCARCE IN ORIGINAL FOLIO PARTS AND AN EXTREMELY IMPRESSIVE ATLAS PRODUCED BY THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE TO ILLUSTRATE THE OFFICIAL… Read More

London: Printed by Henry Baldwin for Charles Dilly, in the Poultry, 1791. 2 volumes. First Edition, First Issue, with 'gve' on p.135 of the first volume; Mm4 and Nn1 in Volume I and E3, Qq3, and Eee2 in Volume II are cancels as called for. With round robin plate, signatures page, portrait frontispiece. 4to (275 x 210 mm.), full contemporary mottled calf, the spines with raised bands separating the compartments, the bands ruled in gilt, two compartments with terra-cotta-red morocco lettering labels gilt, the covers with double gilt fillet rules at the borders, gilt tooled edges, original endleaves. xii, (16), 516; 588 pp. A handsome and fine set with the bindings in excellent condition, sometime expertly and very sympathetically renewed at the spines to style. A very pleasing set quite clean and crisp throughout. IMPORTANT FIRST EDITION, FIRST STATE IN PLEASING CONDITION. Celebrated for its intimacy and vividness, Boswell's Life of Johnson "is one of the best books in the world. It is… Read More

London: Adam Islip, 1601. 2 volumes bound in one. First Edition in English. First Issue with the Original Title-Page and Adam Islip as Printer. With handsome engraved title-pages to each volume. Folio, contemporary full calf, sometime rebacked, the spine panel with raised bands, one compartment lettered in gilt, the original covers refurbished with new leather along the edges as required, portions of the original clasps are still present, end-leaves replaced. Initial blank, Title,preface & table of contents 60 pp., 614, 42 index; [10, Second Title, To the Reader, Explanation of Words], 632, index, errata, final blank. Complete. A handsome and pleasing copy of this rare first edition, the endleaves renewed and the original binding refurbished at the edges and at the back, the first few leaves and the last few with some aging or toning and rubbing or time-wear to the edges, the textblock quite clean throughout, unpressed, sturdy and quite fresh, the binding with some general restoration as noted.… Read More

Firenze: Tartini & Franchi, 1718. 3 volumes. Rare first three volume collection, the second issuance of certain parts of the OPERE and the first printing of many of the works of Galileo or pieces heretofore unpublished in any form including the GIORNATA SESTA DEI DISCORSI E DIMOSTRAZIONI MATEMATICHE INTORNO ALLE NUOVE SCIENZE. With a very finely engraved vignette title-page printed in black and red to volume one, also an engraved portrait of Galileo, engraved folding plan, folding plate of the compass, many woodcut plates, astronomical renderings, mathematical tables and diagrams throughout, a number of fine woodcut initials. 4to, [241mm x 180 mm], handsomely bound in contemporary bindings of fine full mottled calf, handsomely decorated in gilt on the spines with gilt panels incorporating a floral motif between gilt-tooled raised bands, two compartments featuring fine gilt ruled and lettered red morocco labels. cxii, 628, 2 page errata; [viii], 722, errata; [vi], 484, [50pp of errata, index,… Read More

Camden, NJ.: (printed for Whitman), 1876. THE AUTHOR'S EDITION, was the fifth overall, third printing, second issue,with integral title-page (600 copies). A SIGNED, INSCRIBED, PRESENTATION COPY FROM WALT WHITMAN TO CHARLES OSCAR GRIDLEY. For the Author's Edition, Whitman signed his name beautifully in ink on the title-page. In this copy he has inscribed the book to "Charles Oscar Gridley / From the Author." Gridley's handsome engraved bookplate is opposite on the front pastedown. In an 1885 letter to Herbert Gilchrist, Whitman referred to Gridley as a "friend of L of G. and W. W." With the engraved Samuel Hollyer portrait of Walt Whitman and the W.J. Linton engraved portrait of Walt Whitman from the G. C. Potter photograph, both on inserted plates. 8vo, in the original binding designed and executed for Whitman by James Arnold of Philadelphia, this being three-quarter tan calf over marbled boards, the spine blind-tooled in a hatch grillwork motif and a single brown morocco label gilt lettered… Read More

Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854. First Edition, First Printing of this cornerstone work of American literature, the ads dated "June 1854" with no bibliographical significance as noted by BAL, though these were printed prior to the July 1854 publication of the book. Illustrated with the map of Walden Pond printed on a separate leaf and inserted at p. 306, and with a vignette illustration to the title-page showing Thoreau's house in the woods at Walden Pond. 8vo, in the publisher’s original ribbed brown cloth lettered in gilt and ruled in blind on spine, bordered and decorated in blind on all covers with small floral designs coming in from the corners towards a large central floral scrollwork, pale yellow flies and endpapers. Now housed in a light brown cloth-covered folding case and with wrap around chemise, the spine of the case with a dark brown morocco label lettered in green. 357, [8 ads (dated June 1854)] pp. A especially handsome copy indeed, one of the nicest we've seen in quite some… Read More