White Fox Rare Books and Antiques Llc

WHITE FOX RARE BOOKS AND ANTIQUES LLC

BOSTON ANTIQUARIAN BOOK FAIR 2016

HYNES CONVENTION CENTER

October 28th thru the 30th

BOOTH 101

Color Plate and Other Illustrated Books

Illustrated Albums and Sketchbooks

Leporellos

Fine Bindings

Faux Books

Ephemera

Peter F. Blackman 001 (802) 291-4113

974 CEMETERY ROAD, WEST WINDSOR, VERMONT 05089 U.S.A.

[1]

This list includes some, but not all, ephemera items. All items below are subject to prior sale.

1. Adams, John. An Analysis of Horsemanship; Teaching the Whole Art of Riding, in the Manege, Military, Hunting, Racing, and Travelling System. Together with the Method of Breaking Horses, for Every Purpose to which Those Noble Animals are Adapted. (Three Volumes). London: James Cundee, 1805. Second Edition. 8vo. 23 by 14. 5 cm. With many engravings, the most novel one in the second volume, opposite p. 137, with actual string for reins and a movable head on the horse. Huth p. 64. Podeschi 82. Full navy blue morocco bindings by Bayntun-Riviere. Occasional fox marks, but overall clean and bright. Modern binding highly attractive with classic equine devices on spine. A beautiful set. Fine. Full Morocco. (#004921) $1,500.00

1. The Adventures of Punch and Judy Including the Baby and the Dog. London: Jarrold & Sons. Scarce shaped book (no recorded copies found on OCLC First Search), and politically incorrect with verve. N.d., circa 1890. 31 by 25 cm, at tallest and widest. 16 pp., including cover. Bright chromolithographic illustrations throughout, a half of which qualify as color plates depicting the puppet show stage. Closed tear along joint by one staple, causing some looseness. Rubbing along this joint. Some light soiling internally but generally coming off as clean and bright. Very Good. Wraps. Stapled.. (#004915) $850.00

1. Album with green felt binding and silver foil onlays and original artwork within. Salzburg, Austria, 1813-1815. Oblong, 9 by 14 cm. 12 leaves, a few with content on both sides, and each having an artwork of some kind. Five of these are watercolors applied directly to the paper (we would say original watercolors, although two are common images and so might well be copies), one pencil drawing, four hand-colored prints, one cut-out silhouette, and arguably the most interesting of all, embroidery into the paper, with the image thus on both sides of the paper (we are counting this as one piece). We would describe the album as a fairly typical example of a Germanic album amicorum of the period -- the Napoleonic era, or more loosely, the Biedermeier period -- with the textual entries written invariably in neat yet now inscrutable hands -- the style of cursive writing is now obscure. The original pictorial content is also of a high quality, not that that is also not fairly typical of the genre. Again, we would consider the embroidered specimen, which is of folk art-ish flowers and a hummingbird and sun, as the most unique. Other imagery is of flowers, a bucolic landscape, a funereal landscape with an urned monument at its center, as the norm. In fact, the silhouette is also a roughly similar funereal landscape. The other special aspect of this album is the green felt binding. The centerpieces are of a Roman chariots made of silver foil -- there is a slight variation to the image between the front and the rear cover, and around the perimeter of both sides is a silver foil tracery of flowers contained within a narrow band. The slipcase, which is also period, has also restrained classical decoration, in this case the center pictorial cameo is of seraphs. The slipcase is moderately soiled, and there is wear to the album itself. Minor loss to the silver foil. Very Good. Felt. Decorated paper slipcase.. (#005128) $600.00

1. Alken, Henry. British Proverbs. London: E. & C. McLean, 1824. First Edition. Oblong 4to. 26 by 35 cm. Six hand-colored plates, each with four or five proverbs and then the ironic, sarcastic or absurdist burlesque pictorial illustration of the saying. As with a whole genre of Alken caricature books and folios, especially ones produced for McLean, the illustrations have a collage effect with plates at once offering one unified pictorial and four or five discreet ones, the number of the latter depending on the eye of the beholder. The hand-coloring throughout this copy is vivid and bright. And in our view, the marriage between the visual humor and the captions holds up better than generally the case with similar Alken titles. Expressions include "What your glass tells you you will not be told by counsel", "Happy is he who knows his follies in his youth", "They are poor hearts that never rejoice", and "Many speak much which cannot speak well", surely maxims to live by still, and other expressions that may now be a tad obscure or obsolete, such as "He giveth twice who gives in a trice." Uncommon Alken title, seldom in commerce. Beautifully bound in full calf by Riviere & Son. Two decorative bookplates on FEP. Decoratively stamped with a floral border and gilt turn-ins. Two prevous owners bookplates on FEP. Front hinge starting but sound. Joints and extremities with some rubbing. Slipcase has "Alken", title and date written in a gold watercolor and by a free hand on the long edge. Some light marginal finger soiling, and light foxing to blank prelim page, but overall clean and bright. Very Good. Full Calf. Cloth slipcase. (#004730) $2,850.00

Several collections of original Alkens below:

1. Alken, Henry. A Collection of Seven Drawings. London, 1815-1830. A handsome modern binding of seven original Alken drawings. Elephantine oblong, 35 by 50 cm. The drawings themselves are laid in a heavy board frame within the binding, and this frame has a window of 25 by 36 cm. The drawings themselves are laid on paper, and this paper is exposed, creating a margin all around, of not quite 2 cm. The drawings are titled: "Swell and the Surrey, No. 1", "Swell and the Surrey No. 2", "Drawing the Long Bow", "Drawing a Horse", "A Cabbage Leaf Galloper", "In Such a Scene as This", and "Rider Unshipped". Most relate to riding and equestrian sports, but "Drawing the Long Bow" depicts men drinking and playing cards. Generally the scenes have a touch of humor and levity, although one can not say they are all caricature or intended to be funny. While one can find some sketchiness here and there, overall the drawings come off as satisfying works that can stand on their own -- in other words, they are closer to being finished than tentative works in progress. Bringing coherence to the group is an esprit of quintessential Alken. The modern binding is handsome and worthy of the contents. Leather title label on front board. Fine. Half Calf. Paper pastedown on boards. . (#004992) $3,875.00

1. Alken, Henry. A Set of Six Plates on Horse Riding. London: Thomas McLean, 1821. First Edition. A handsome modern binding of six hand-colored plates which were issued separately, or as a folio, and not in book-form, in 1821. Elephantine oblong, 33 by 54 cm. The plates themselves are laid in a heavy board frame within the binding, and this frame has a window of 24 by 30 cm, which exposes about 4 cm of margin all around the images. The plates are titled: "Delighted", "Dissatisfied", "Perfectly Satisfied", "Displeased", "Surprised" and "Terrified". They are humorous takes on two gentlemen riding, not necessarily foxhunting. The men are opposites in their riding style, both exemplifying ineptitude and inexperience, though. The suite is very much in the vein of Alken stylistically, and also in the vein of such print series issued in profusion at the time. Obviously, such series usually ended up decorating walls, and so it is quite unusual and nice to have the suite survive intact and to have it bound so handsomely. With also a title page. Leather title label on front board. Fine. Half Calf. Paper pastedown on boards. . (#004991) $2,400.00

1. Alken, Henry. Six Drawings of Sporting Notions. London, 1815-1830. A handsome modern binding of six original Alken drawings. Elephantine oblong, 35 by 50 cm. The drawings themselves are laid in a heavy board frame within the binding, and this frame has a window of 19 by 26 cm. The drawings themselves are laid on paper, and this paper is exposed, creating a margin all around, of about 1 cm. The drawings are titled: "I have a notion that I am not quite up to this riding in Surry [sic]", "A gad I had no notion that picking up a fox was such sharp work", "I have a strong notion that this is a coal hole", "I have a very strong notion I should not like stag hunting", "I have a strong notion that this bit of timber will impede my progress excessively", and "I have a notion that this may be called riding to the hounds at a smashing pace". All the drawings relate to foxhunting and its perils and sources of anxiety. The drawings served as the basis for some of the plates in one of the rarest of Alken's color plate books, "Sporting Notions", which was published in 1833 (with plates watermarked 1831 to 1833). Humor, along with a touch of pathos, pervades the artwork. The modern binding is handsome and worthy of the contents. Leather title label on front board. Fine. Half Calf. Paper pastedown on boards. . (#004998) $3,875.00

1. Alphabet en Figures. Paris: J. Langlumé et Peltier, 1835. First Edition. 12mo. 17.5 by 10.5 cm. 46 pp. 24 hand-colored plates, plus hand-colored title page. Scarce French ABC, with only copies found at Princeton, Indiana, and the BNF. (Not including digital versions.) Unusual Abecedaire as well, with entries one might not expect to presented to the young, such as "Odalisque" for "O", "Grec en guerre" for "G", or "Turk fumant" for "T", especially given the pietistic nature of some of the other entries such as "Pape" for "P" or "Confession" for "C". The religious tenor of the ABC is in keeping with the Restoration Period in France, when the Catholic Church was welcomed again into civic society. Other entries are more generic French patriotic fare, such as Napoleon and Henri IV. Le Men 274. With Romantic cartonnage paper pastedown cover. The paper pastedown is chipped along the joints, with considerable loss at the spine base, and with numerous small spots of rubbing on the boards, but with its floral Medieval Revival diaper, quite unusual and still handsome. Foxing, heavy-ish at times, on the text leaves, lighter and less frequent on the plates, which are of a heavier paper stock as well. Child's scrawl of particular letter on plate (the letter corresponding with the plate) in pencil is erasable, and mostly erased, but one can see a slight depression in the paper where the scrawl was. Good. Hardcover. Paper pastedown. (#004683) $1,200.00

1. Armorial Album. . Beautiful album of original watercolored coat-of-arms! N.d., circa 1800. Folio, 38 by 25 cm. 21 pages of these escutcheons for families whose surnames begin with "A" or "B". The names are all English names, so we can safely assume this manuscript was created in England or other parts of Britain. On most pages there are twelve coat-of-arms, but a few pages have fewer, with one page at the end devoted to a single armorial drawing, rendered in a substantially larger size. This one is the only one that is mounted, as opposed to directly painted onto the page. There are 184 designs in all, almost all the same size, with a half-dozen a larger format. Of these, there are four smaller designs that are in some way incomplete. However one tallies the designs, however, there are easily over 175 fully realized ones, richly colored, and meticulously detailed with various animal heads, weaponry, helmets, crockets, stripes, fleur-de-lys, and all the usual armorial iconology. Given the systematic alphabetical arrangement of the designs, we would conjecture that the album was created by someone in a professional capacity, but there is really no way of knowing. As there are about the same number of leaves left blank at the end, we have to think that the artist intended to carry the project further. Regardless, what we have is visually splendid, and we would posit of great appeal, even to those with no interest in heraldry and family pedigree accoutrements. Light wear to the album. Generally clean and bright within. Very Good. Half Calf, Marbled Boards. (#004953) $1,250.00

Russian and Prussian Royalty keepsake:

1. Armorial Album Created for the "Magic of the White Rose" Festival. Potsdam, 1829. Beautiful album of original watercolored coat-of-arms! 16mo, 11 by 9 cm. 49 watercolored coat-of-arms following two decorative leaves, one with the date, 13 July, 1829. This diminutive album was created in connection with a festival dedicated to the Russian Empress, Alexandra Feodorovna (1798-1860), born Princess Charlotte of Prussia (daughter of Kaiser Friedrich Wilhelm III), who became the wife of Nicholas I. The Empress was fond of balls and other festivities in her youth. This particular festival, created by Charlotte's brothers, sought to recreate medieval tournaments between knights. The white rose was Charlotte's favorite flower and her emblem ever since she became enormored as a child with the character of Blanchefleur from the novel, "The Magic Ring, by Baron Friedrich de la Motte-Fouque. This notebook was one of six commissioned by the Empress and presented to her sisters and sisters-in-lw on July 13th. In this notebook each of the "knights" was asked to draw his knightly autograph in the shape of a personal shield and motto. These vignettes are thoroughly winsome. They are suggestive of heraldic escutcheons, except they are just a touch less elaborate, formal, and rigid. Here we find an seraph shooting an arrow at a bird carrying off a laurel, with the caption: "La couronne de l'amour". The red morocco binding is complementary, with a gilted rose centered in a gilt shield, on both the front and back boards. To clasp the notebook closed there is a brass pen. Near Fine. Full Morocco. (#005187) $1,975.00

1. Ascoli, Joseph. Illustrated Calligraphy Notebook. 1859. A thoroughly delightful illustrated vacation notebook on a miscellany of topics. 4to. 30.5 by 23 cm. 15 pp. with calligraphy and watercolored vignettes on each of these pages. Vignettes are of Noah's Ark, dueling swords, a apiary, farm implements arranged in a trophy, a clock, etc., always complementing the topic of the apercu on the particular page. The calligraphy is full of flamboyant swirls and loops. The work was presumably done on a vacation by Ascoli, as indicated on the final leaf, which has a larger illustration of a peacock. Blue textured notebook cover. Light scattered foxing. Very Good. Wraps. (#005172) $1,250.00

1. Bayfield, Gertrude. Nursery Rhymes. . With two manuscript albums of illustrated nursery rhymes, some of which we believe are completely original, while others were known ones at the time, all of which, though, are enriched with whimsical original illustrations rendered in pen and ink and watercolor. N.d., circa 1880 and 1910. The illustrations, generally one per page, owe a special debt to Kate Greenaway, whose style they often mimic. Here and there one can see the influence of other popular illustrators such as Edward Lear. Yet these similarities do not discredit the young amateur, as many professional illustrators were just as strongly influenced by the same precursors. The smaller of the two manuscripts is the earlier of the two. It is oblong, measuring 9 by 13 cm, and it is unpaginated, with about 75 pages. Original linen boards, with a title written with calligraphy on the cover. Within are sixty illustrations rendered in pen and ink and watercolors, each signed with the initials: G.L. We would consider approximately half of the nursery rhymes as either original or highly unusual or ones with which we were not acquainted. An example in this category would by "Little Tom Nody", which goes like this: "Little Tom Nody, he had no body,/ An odd looking fellow was he/ His legs grew out from under his chin/ A comical sight to see./ He grew thinner and thinner, / Could eat no dinner,/ Till out of his eyes ran tears,/ And now he jumps without any stumps,/ And has to walk on his ears." Or a second example: "A birdie say on a chimney pot/ And listened as if he could hear and know/ What was going on in the house below./ Perhaps he could, but he would not say,/ For when I asked him he flew away Verse rendered in a neat hand throughout. "Dedicated to my two Little Sisters Bella & Kellie". Front gutter margin professionally repaired. New rear endpapers. The second, later manuscript is also oblong, 11.5 by 8 cm, and about 50 pages. Original linen boards, with calligraphic title on front cover again. Illustrated with 68 pen and ink and watercolor vignettes, the first two initialled "K.S.", and recto of first leaf with pencilled ownership name "Gertrude Bayfield". Front endpapers renewed. Again, verse neatly written. This second manuscript emulates in many respects the first one, with a good amount of the content of the first reproduced in the second. The custom box makes for a very handsome presentation. It is of a half navy blue leather, bordered with a gilt rinceaux. The boards are of blue cloth. Each of the manuscript albums is housed within the box in a well fitting them exactly. Near Fine. Clamshell Box: Half Morocco, cloth boards. . (#004957) $3,750.00

1. Bell's Common Place Book, Form'd Generally Upon the Principles Recommended and Practised by Mr. Locke. London: J. Bell, 1790. First Edition. A beautiful green vellum binding with the original metal clasps and marbled fore-edge. Such a mostly unused eighteenth notebook, one sold commercially by a stationer, is quite an unusual survivor, we believe. 4to. 25 by 20 cm. Unpaginated, seven pages of text, two page alphabet indexing key meant to be filled out and/or used by the book owner, followed by several hundred blank pages, excepting a ruled vertical line meant to demarcate the margin. The indexing method was one first propounded by John Locke and was in common use for at least a century afterward. About fifteen of the first "blank leaves" have been torn out by a prior owner -- these were the only sheets that were used. While this can be seen easily when opening the book to the first blank sheet, the loss is otherwise undiscernible, and we would regard it as a trivial defect consequently. Oval surface loss, aobut dime-sized, to vellum on rear board, now colored and relatively inconspicuous. Typical warping of the vellum, in part shaped by the pressure from the closed clasps. small corner chip to the spine label. Near Fine. Full Green Vellum. (#005131) $1,750.00

1. Biedermeier Period Game Board of 84 European City Views. Germany. Lovely vignette views from the Biedermeier era. N.d., circa 1830. All the cities are in Europe, with Constantinople being the partial exception, as it has an Asian side. The backgrounds of the vignettes are alternately blue, orange, pink and white, and each of the cities are numbered, 1 being Contantinople, and 84, in the dead center, being Dresden. We do not have instructions for the game nor a box or sleeve, but one can surmise that players moved pieces along in a race to the center, and one can further surmise that the game is of Saxon origin and probably from Dresden. For many of the cities, the representative view is the same today, while for just as many, it is something no longer possible to experience, whether because of war or growth. Many of the views have tiny human figures in the foreground, just like typical larger print panoramas. The game board is a square, each side being 39.5 cm, and folds twice for compact storage. The city square vignettes face in all four directions, but nonetheless, the open board would make for an appealing framed wall hanging. The light soiling does not undermine the visual charm of the board. Very Good. (#005156) $450.00

1. Bohman, Hanus. Introduction by Dr. A. Gotz-Křížanovský. Kreatury "Nové Evropy". 12 politických karikatur. Prague: Akad. Mal. H. Bohmana, 1945. First Edition. Scarce, with only two copies found on OCLC First Search (Drew U., Czech National Library). Folio, 33.5 by 25 cm. with one text leaf (on card), followed by twelve caricature plates. Caricatures depict Hitler, Göring, Himmler, Goebbels, Reinhardt Heydrich, Mussolini, Dr. Robert Ley, Hirohito, Rommel and others. The plates are black and white, with splashes of red here and there. The imagery is stark, pointed, and memorable, stylized in a manner to suggest their violence, their militarism, their sinister natures. Moderate soiling of the outer folder. Two small close tears to edge. Light wear besides. Very Good. Folder. (#004948) $2,000.00

Early miniature emblem book: