Illustrated (all items)
First editions and rare illustrated books where the primary appeal is the illustrations, including early printed books with woodcut engravings, colour plate and aquatint, photographically illustrated books, and deluxe illustrated gift books by Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Kay Nielsen, Harry Clarke, and others.
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LINNAEUS, Carolus.
Hortus Cliffortianus 1737
£15,000
First edition of the most sumptuously produced of Linnaeus' works, a detailed description of the Hartecamp gardens at Heemstede, a masterpiece of early botanical literature. It was...
Folio (approx 445 × 260 mm). Contemporary sprinkled paper boards, neatly rebacked with black cloth, edges uncut. Engraved frontispiece and 36 numbered engraved... Read more
KAEMPFER, Engelbert.
The History of Japan, 1727
£15,000
First edition. Born in Westphalia, Kaempfer graduated in 1676 with a doctorate in languages, history and medicine from Cracow, spending the following four years at Königsberg...
2 volumes, folio (340 × 217 mm). Contemporary sprinkled calf, double gilt fillet panels to the boards, Volume I rebacked with the original spine laid down, later... Read more
(CRAIG, Edward Gordon) SHAKESPEARE, William.
The Tragedie of Hamlet Prince of Denmarke. 1930
£15,000
First English edition, first impression, preceded by the German language edition published by Kessler in 1929. One of 300 copies. This volume combines the magisterial scholarship of...
Folio (355 × 240 mm). Original japon vellum-backed Kessler binding, beige paper to covers, vellum tips, titles gilt to spine and upper board, top edge gilt. With... Read more
HOLBEIN, Hans, the younger.
Imitations of Original Drawings by Hans Holbein, 1792-1800
£15,000
First edition, "surely the finest early example of English colour printing" (Ray). These plates by various engravers after Bartolozzi's copies of Holbein's originals were issued in...
Folio (540 × 403 mm). Contemporary calf, title gilt directly to the spine, flat bands with gilt roundel and Greek key rolls, compartments gilt with floral and... Read more
(BLAKE, William) YOUNG, Edward.
The Complaint, and The Consolation; or, Night Thoughts. 1797
£12,500
First edition of Blake's designs for Young's Night Thoughts, first published in 1742–6. "With his usual attention to what he called 'minute particulars' (Blake, 194), Blake...
Large quarto (411 × 317 mm). Contemporary red straight-grained morocco, probably for the publisher, spine divided in six compartments by wide low bands,... Read more
JENKINS, James.
The Naval Achievements of Great Britain. 1817
£12,500
First Edition, First Issue, with uncoloured title-page vignette and plates watermarked no later than 1816. This magnificent publication, illustrating the high-water mark of Britain's...
Folio (321 × 262 mm). Recently rebound in green half morocco by J. May of London, spine richly gilt, side-panels decorated in blind, marbled endpapers, old... Read more
[NIELSEN, Kay]
East of the Sun and West of the Moon. [1914]
£12,500
First Edition Limited Issue. One of 500 copies. Signed by Kay Nielsen on the limitation page.
Quarto. Original vellum, decoration and titles to spine gilt, decoration to boards gilt with bright blue trim. With 25 tipped in colour illustrations and many other... Read more
![[Decamerone, in English] The Modell of Wit, Mirth, Eloquence, and Conversation.](/content/store/products/9094/2/10502.jpg)
BOCCACCIO, Giovanni.
[Decamerone, in English] The Modell of Wit, Mirth, Eloquence, and Conversation. 1625
£12,500
The Decameron in English: second edition in English of volume I; first edition of volume II, as often. Boccaccio's Decamerone, composed between 1348 and 1351, a collection of one...
2 volumes bound in one, folio (274 × 170 mm), first volume gathered in sixes, second volume in fours. Contemporary dark calf, rebacked with original gilt spine... Read more
JENKINS, James.
The Naval Achievements of Great Britain. From the Year 1793 to 1817. [after 1817]
£12,500
An extremely handsome copy of this magnificent publication, illustrating the high-water mark of Britain's maritime hegemony, and the apogee of the coloured aquatint. As Roger Quarm,...
Folio (358 × 285 mm). Twentieth-century royal blue crushed morocco by Birdsall, title gilt to spine, raised bands, double gilt ruled panels to the compartments,... Read more
![A History of the University of Oxford, its Colleges, Halls, and Public Buildings; [together with:] A History of the University of Cambridge, Its Colleges, Halls, and Public Buildings.](/content/store/products/522/2/35118.jpg)
(ACKERMANN, Rudolph)
A History of the University of Oxford, its Colleges, Halls, and Public Buildings; [together with:] A History of the University of Cambridge, Its Colleges, Halls, and Public Buildings. 1814 & 1815
£12,500
'These two books are among the finest ever executed. A. Pugin, F. Nash, F. Mackenzie and W. Westall were associated in the drawings, which are worthy even of the splendid...
[Oxford] 2 volumes, large quarto (13 1/4 x 10 13/16 inches; 336 x 275 mm.), pp. xiv + [4] + xxv + [1] blank + 275 + [1] blank + [6] index; [4] + 262 + [6] index.... Read more
APIANUS, Petrus, & Gemma Frisius.
Cosmographia … 1574
£12,500
An excellent copy of one of the most important geographical-astronomical texts of the Renaissance and, in the augmented edition of the Flemish mathematician Gemma Frisius, one of the...
Quarto (226 × 170 mm). Contemporary paper wrappers, manuscript titles to spine. Housed in a flat back cloth solander box. Printed title with large engraved... Read more
LAMB, Charles.
Beauty and The Beast [c. 1811]
£12,500
First edition, the "surprize" issue (page 7, line 11). The title is printed on the front wrapper; the back wrapper has the cut depicting a scene from Homer, with the printed...
Sextodecimo (115 x 96 mm), pp. 32. Brown crushed morocco gilt extra by Sangorski and Sutcliffe (signed on lower rear turn-in), gilt edges; original blue printed... Read more
CAESAR, Julius.
C. Julii Caesaris quae extant. Accuratissimè cum libris editis & MSS optimis collata, recognita & correcta. 1712
£12,500
First edition, deluxe issue on large and thick paper, of Samuel Clarke's Caesar, justly regarded as one of the finest examples of eighteenth-century English publishing: "The most...
Royal folio (488 × 326 mm). Contemporary panelled calf, neatly rebacked and recornered. Double-page engraved title dated 1712 (ESTC notes the existence of copies... Read more
PEAKE, Mervyn.
Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor. 1939
£12,500
First Edition, First Impression, with a fine original pencil sketch by Peake on the front free endpaper, showing Captain Slaughterboard sitting on a rock holding a piece of paper....
Quarto. Original decorated paper boards with green cloth spine. With the Peake designed dust jacket printed in colours. Housed in a green quarter morocco solander box.... Read more
DANIELL, Thomas & William.
A Picturesque Voyage to India; by the way of China. 1810
£10,000
First edition. Originally issued in ten parts, "the aquatints of India by Thomas and William Daniell have been continuously popular ever since their publication between 1795 and 1810...
Folio (348 × 250 mm). Nineteenth-century half calf on marbled boards, flat spine elaborately gilt in compartments, marbled edges and endpapers, neatly rebacked... Read more
GRAY, Henry.
Anatomy descriptive and surgical. 1858
£9,750
First edition of the medical text which has been more widely used by successive generations of medical students and doctors than any other. Publisher's presentation copy to Frederick...
Royal octavo. Original bead-grain brown cloth, neatly rebacked with original spine laid down, brick-red endpapers. Oatmeal cloth folding case. Paper book label "GOM"... Read more
(RACKHAM, Arthur) BARRIE, J. M.
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. [1912]
£9,500
The best Rackham edition, with additional illustrations. Presentation copy, with signed inscription on the front free endpaper: "To Mr. & Mrs. Spurrier, New Year 1913, with best...
Quarto. Original green cloth, titles and decoration to spine and upper board gilt, pictorial endpapers, top edge gilt. Housed in a green cloth solander box. 50... Read more
LEAR, Edward.
Views in the Seven Ionian Islands. 1863
£8,750
First edition. In 1854 Lear's close friend Franklin Lushington had been appointed judge at the supreme court of justice on Corfu, "and so Lear decided to join him and make a winter...
Folio. Original green pebble-grained cloth, rebacked, title gilt to the upper board and the spine, blind panelling to both boards. Lithographic title page with... Read more
MEARES, John.
Voyages Made in the Years 1788 and 1789, from China to the North West Coast of America. 1790
£8,750
First edition, with the extra plate of the Philippines which Streeter notes as missing in most copies. John Meares (?1756–1809) "was sent out in 1786 from Calcutta, by a group...
Large quarto (287 × 230 mm). Contemporary tree calf, skilfully rebacked and relined, smooth spine gilt in compartments, red morocco label, edges sprinkled blue.... Read more
POTTER, Beatrix.
The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies. 1909
£8,750
First edition, deluxe issue. Beatrix Potter showed an avid interest in the design of her books. When Warne issued The Tale of Peter Rabbit in paper boards and in cloth at a higher...
Sextodecimo. Original green fine-grain cloth, spine lettered in gilt, front cover with pictorial onlay within overall gilt design and lettering after a design by the... Read more
AUDUBON, John James, & John Bachman.
The Quadrupeds of North America. 1870
£8,750
Final edition. Having made his reputation with "The Birds of America", Audubon began an equally imposing project "The Quadrupeds of North America". Audubon travelled the entirety of...
3 volumes, octavo. Publisher's deluxe binding of brown full morocco, blind stamped decoration to spines, titles to spines gilt, blind stamped rules and decoration to... Read more
(POGANY, Willy) COLERIDGE, Samuel Taylor.
The Ancient Mariner. [1910]
£8,750
Signed Limited Edition. No. 23 of 25 copies only printed on Japanese vellum.
Quarto. Bound for the publishers by Morrell in full white vellum, elaborate gilt decorated spine and boards with highlighted colour. With 20 tipped in plates, design... Read more
(RACKHAM, Arthur) BARRIE, J. M.
The Peter Pan Portfolio … from "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens" … [1912]
£8,750
First edition, one of 500 copies signed by the publisher and the engraver. The only suite of Rackham's plates to be issued in an oversize portfolio format, with 12 of the artist's...
Elephant folio (19½ × 21½ ins). Original half japon laced at spine with later silk cord to style, green cloth boards, silk ties renewed to style. 12... Read more
KOLB, Peter.
Caput Bonae Spei Hodiernum Das ist: 1719
£8,750
First edition of this important early account of South Africa at the beginning of the eighteenth century, which was rapidly translated into Dutch, English and French, becoming the...
Folio (326 × 207 mm). Contemporary vellum, titles to spine gilt, edges stained green. Portrait frontispiece, folding map and 23 engraved plates. Ownership... Read more
(RACKHAM, Arthur)
Original watercolour, "The Dog it was that Died", from The Vicar of Wakefield. [c.1929]
£8,500
Original artwork in ink, pencil and water-colour. Approx. size 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches. A fine drawing of an Islington gentlemen looking down on a dead dog. Signed by Arthur Rackham to...
Original artwork in ink, pencil and water-colour. Approx. size 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches. A fine drawing of an Islington gentlemen looking down on a dead dog. Signed by... Read more
