
MANUSCRIPTS
A-G H-Z

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19th-Century Cookery “On the Fire” in the Household of a
Widely Active Lancashire Executive
(Mrs. Rawlinson's Manuscript Compilations)
(A Receipt Collection *&* a Social History). Rawlinson, Mary Ann. Manuscript on paper, in English. [Cookery]. Burnley, Lancashire: [ca. 1884]. 2 vols (16.1 cm, 6.34"; 15.7 cm, 6.18"). I: [32] ff. II: [24] ff.
$1250.00
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Two notebooks of recipes compiled by Mary Ann Rawlinson of Burnley, Lancashire. Rawlinson (1841–1912) was the wife of Joshua Rawlinson (1841–1896), a prominent figure in the Burnley community — having trained at his father's cotton mill, he went on to become an accountant and successfully directed or managed a jaw-dropping number of businesses and business concerns in the area, including the Burnley Paper Works, the Burnley Carriage Company, the Burnley Ironworks, the Nelson Room and Power Company, etc. He also became a well-known authority on the cotton trade, founding or serving in various positions in the Burnley Cotton Spinners' and Manufacturers' Association, the Todmorden Cotton Spinners' and Manufacturers' Association, the Padiham Masters' Association, the Colne and District Coloured Goods Manufacturers' Association, and many other organizations; his obituary in The Accountant periodical noted his widespread influence in trade matters, and his position as “one of the best-known men on the Manchester Exchange . . . well known and respected throughout commercial circles in Lancashire.” In addition, he was one of the founding members of the Victoria Hospital, assisted in that capacity by Mary Ann.
Mrs. Rawlinson recorded these recipes in standard format with ingredients listed first, and although her page-filling, uninterrupted, and only lightly punctuated paragraphs sometimes obscure that convention, her strong, slanting handwriting is very decipherable. The dishes she chose to preserve here (unseparated by any categorization) include British classics as well as dishes showing overseas influences; among them are Genoise pudding, maccaroni cheese [sic], curry, baked haddock, marmalade pudding, ragout of rabbit, milk rolls, lobster cutlets, beef olives, amber pudding (using apples, dried cherries, and lemon rind), Charlotte Russe, stewed steak, potato croquettes, Mulligatawny soup, lentil purée, beef hash pie, orange fritters, stewed kidney, kedgeree, German pudding, oyster patties, and many others. In the middle of one volume are a few pages bearing dessert recipes given in several different hands, one recipe being attributed to Mrs. Carr and one dated 1884.
This gathering of recipes provides
a great deal of information regarding the dietary habits and preferences of the prosperous couple, as well as the culinary techniques available to Mrs. Rawlinson — everything here was prepared “on the fire,” as Burnley did not have electricity until 1893.
Contemporary oilcloth limp wrappers, now housed in a plain box with printed paper label on lid; box extremities lightly rubbed, wrappers rubbed and worn, text block all but detached from spine in smaller volume; Mrs. Rawlinson's name inscribed in each volume. Larger volume with offsetting to first and last pages; a very few instances of spotting, pages overall very clean.
Interesting provenance/context, and interesting content. (41147)
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One American Merchant Writes Another on the
American Revolution
News of a
FIERCE Sea Battle Waged after Yorktown
(AMERICAN NEWS). Crawford, James. A.L.S. to John Brown (“Care of Governor Hancock, Boston”). Philadelphia: 16 April 1782. Small 4to (9" x 7.5'). 1 p., with integral address leaf.
$3500.00
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Crawford was a Philadelphia merchant and in this letter to a corresponding merchant in Boston, he begins by discussing an insurance matter that requires Brown's attention. Then he writes:
nothing new since my last, except
Capt. Barney in the ship Hyder Aly taking the King ship Monk of 10 nine pounders, in an action of 30 minutes. The Hyder Aly mounted 6 nines & 10 sixes, there never was more execution done by the same force in the same time. The Monk had every officer except two, killed or wounded, amongst the latter was the Capt. She had in all 21 kill'd & 32 wounded. The Hyder Aly had 4 kill'd & 11 wounded, from such slaughter no doubt you'd conclude one of them boarded, but it was not the case, a fair action within pistol shot.
Although the land battles of the American Revolution had ended with the surrender at Yorktown, sea battles continued until receipt of the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The account above refers to Comm. Joshua Barney's capture on 8 April off Cape May, NJ, of the sloop of war General Monk. In a wonderful twist of fate, the intrepid Barney had only arrived in Philadelphia in March — having been occupied since the previous May with his escape, recapture, and second escape from Portsmouth prison! into which stronghold he had been clapped by the British for his previous maritime (infr)actions.
Having, then, been given command of the Hyder Ally (a.k.a., Hyder Ali) only a few weeks previously, and having been charged with clearing the Delaware River and Bay of privateers, Barney had met the General Monk while pursuing that task — and, in a Revolutionary War naval action eclipsed only by that of the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis, took on and thoroughly defeated a King's ship of superior firepower in a bloody, 26-minute battle.
Following this capture of the General Monk, Congress voted Barney a sword for his gallantry and offered him command of his prize after renaming her General Washington. In November, 1782, he was ordered to sail to France in the Washington with dispatches for Benjamin Franklin who was negotiating the Treaty of Paris. He returned with news of the signing of the preliminary peace treaty and with money from the French.
Barney was an American Hornblower!
On Barney, see: Dictionary of American Biography and Appleton's Cyclopedia. Very good condition. Small blank portion of the integral address leaf torn with loss where the sealing wax was attached. Old dealer's (Sessler's) coding in pencil at base of letter. (31069)
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A Series of Medieval LEAVES
(Medieval Manuscript Leaves). A selection
eminently suitable for use in the teaching and practicing of paleography.
ALL INDIVIDUALLY PRICED
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Some examples are recovered from bindings; some show significant damage while some are pristine and
simply lovely. Most represent scribal work of the 13th to early 16th century and most are from books of devotion.
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Certifying the Use of a Coat of Arms & the
Concomitant Privileges & Exemptions
Alonso Usatigui Barcena y Rodriguez de los Rios, Francisco. Polychromatic genealogical/heraldic manuscript, on paper, in Spanish. Madrid: 1722 (5 December). 4to (31 cm, 12"). [24] ff.
$1200.00
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Francisco Alonso Usatigui Barcena y Rodriguez de los Rios was descended from the noble families of Alonso, Usatigui, Barcena, and Rodriguez and held office as a Lieutenant-Colonel of the Spanish Royal Infantry Guard in the early 18th century, during and after the War of Spanish Succession.
Here Don Juan Antonio de Hoces Sarmiento, the Royal Chronicler, certifies that he has examined the many volumes in the royal archives relating to the noble families of Spain and their achievements, royal favors, and coats of arms, and he has found that Col. Alonso Usatigui is entitled to use the coat of arms that serves as the frontispiece of this manuscript.
He also gives lengthy synopses of the histories of the Alonso, Usatigui, Barcena, and Rodriguez families and explains the elements of the coat of arms and their significance.
Included here, and a most uncommon element of such documents, is the listing of all 26 exemptions and privileges that hidalgos enjoy by right of their status.
The text is written in a competent but not notable semi-calligraphic hand, 22 lines to a page, using sepia ink (sometimes pale though always legible), with rubrics in red outlined in brown and the first line of text in majuscules in red and brown. The coat of arms bears a bearded man’s head above a castle with a lion rampant sinister and a wolf rampant dexter. The border of the shield is set with the heads of men in the four cardinal directions and ladders sinister and dexter.
The whole is accomplished in red, blue, silver. purple, and green, but curiously not gold. There is a contemporary orange silk guard protecting the leaf of arms, and the volume ends with endorsements on the last leaf, with the paper seal of the city of Madrid.
Provenance: 20th-century stamp on front free endpaper of the Argentine private library of the Moctezuma family.
An intriguing aspect of the binding is that faintly visible beneath the pastedowns is 15th-century manuscript waste.
Contemporary parchment over pasteboards with inked summary of contents and a large tulip-like flower on front cover; evidence of silk ties now missing. Text with some small holes from the very occasional inkburn, else in good and presentable condition. (40295)

Illuminated, with Full-Page Miniature, on Vellum, Great Binding
Archconfraternity of the Stigmata of St. Francis. Illuminated manuscript on vellum, in Latin. “Franciscus Tituli S. Petri & Marcellini S.R.E. Cardinalis Pignattellus ... Dilectis nobis in Christo Confratribus Confraternibus Sacror. Stigmatum & S. Antonii de Padua in Ecclia. Parrochili S. Conini Loci Cicognoli Cremonen. ... Rome: 1706. 8vo (22.7 cm, 9.5'), [10] ff.
$3500.00
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The parish church in the municipality of Cicognolo in the province of Cremona in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about 90 kilometres (56 mi.) southeast of Milan and about 14 kilometres (9 mi.) northeast of Cremona, has
petitioned to establish a chapter of the archconfraternity of the Stigmata of St. Francis.
Approval has been granted and this is the official document establishing the archconfraternity there. It is written in roman hand in brownish-black ink with
extensive variously sized headings indited in gold, and has a full-page portrait of St. Francis, a medallion vignette of his hands receiving the stigmata, and a large triple-bordered decorated initial “D,” all accomplished
in colors and gold and incorporating or surrounded by generous flourishes of flowers painted variously in shades of rose, yellow, and blue. All leaves have borders in black and gold (and sometimes green) except one initial blank.
On the verso of the last leaf are the signatures of “custodians” of the archconfraternity in Rome below which are two paper and wax seals (one lacking the paper) with the seals' owners' names below, attesting to the completion of the application process and the grant ing of the petition.
Binding: Contemporary crimson morocco, covers lavishly gilt-tooled. The center panel is richly filled with floral motifs and small stars surrounding a center emblem of the hands of St. Francis within a circular border of flames. Surrounding the center panel are four outer frames created by variety of large and small rolls. Marbled paper pastedowns in an unusual “patchwork” style.
Binding as above, manuscript recased, without the original ties. Some text rubbed and illegible, clean cracks in fourth leaf, crudely repaired hole in last leaf causing text loss. Curious green tarnishing of the gold. A most attractive binding, a beautifully painted manuscript, an interesting artifact of Catholic social history, and
a great tool for teaching about conservation concerns. (39295)

Armenian Perpetual Calendar
Recognizing Leap Year — MS. on Vellum
Armenian Apostolic Church. Manuscript in Armenian, on parchment. Armenian Perpetual Calendar, i.e., “Parzatowmar.” No place [Constantinople?]: 1648 [as per colophon]. 12mo (11 x 8.5 cm, 4.375" x 3.25"). [83 of 84] ff.
[SOLD]
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The palm-size format of this 1648 manuscript suggests it was intended for intimate use by a single individual. It is a
personal, perpetual calendar that serves as a simple and concise manual for navigating the holidays and feasts to be celebrated in the Armenian Apostolic Church; and, most unusually, it is
constructed so that it can be used for a leap year, which 1648 in fact was. The first quire also contains a series of charts listing the 12 signs of the zodiac in tabular form (ff. 3v–11r).
The opening shared by f. 13v and f. 14r opens the text of the calendar and displays the most traditional elements of Armenian manuscript painting. On fol. 13v, a single figure fills the gold-lined frame. Although badly damaged — likely signs of rubbing and kissing, rather than intentional damage — it is possible to tell that the figure, whose head is topped with a golden halo, wears a mantle of red and blue and stands in a field of flowers. Facing the full-page miniature is an ornate headpiece outlined in gold and painted in deeply saturated blues and greens, characterized by interlaced ornamentation and topped with floral elements. The text opens under the arch of the headpiece in red, identifying the text as a parzatowmar. The first letter is a decorated initial — an Armenian bird letter, or t‛rrch‛nagir. In the margins, a vine of multicolored flowers springs from a vase.
While the colophon gives no indication of the location of the volume's production, its distinct floral marginalia give some insight: A number of luxurious devotional manuscripts painted in workshops in Constantinople in the 16th and 17th centuries bear similar floral arrangements in their margins, situating this manuscript within a larger, regional tradition within the Ottoman capital.
Although small, the presence of gold across this illustrated opening bears witness to sumptuous tastes and the production of luxury manuscripts of personal devotion.
Principal divisions of this parzatowmar are marked by red lettering, and the first letter of each month begins with a red incipit; written generally in red, incipits are occasionally in blue ink. The text is written in a single column measuring 8 cm x 5 ¾ cm in 17 lines each, in uniform bolorgir.
Binding: Contemporary calf over pasteboards; front and back covers decorated all over with a border of stamped floriate and geometric motifs within a blind-ruled border and a blind-ruled diamond-shaped central area. Spine plain, textblock untrimmed.
Provenance: “Rec'd from my friend J.H. Mikassian, 1926" on fol. 84v. Later owned by John Howell, Bookseller, San Francisco, as per his bookseller's label on the rear pastedown. In the Howell Bible Collection of the Pacific School of Religion. Collection sold in 2013.
We gladly acknowledge the help in cataloguing this manuscript that Erin Piñon, a doctoral candidate at Princeton University, gave us. Bound as above, recased and resewn with new endbands; leaf [68] lacking. Rubbing, sometimes severe, occasional yellowing of parchment, etc., as described above. Overall, good. (41407)

Much Marginalia & Interlinear Notes — A PMM Incunable Title
Augustinus Aurelius (St. Augustine, of Hippo). Augustinus De ciuitate Dei cum commento. [Freiburg im Breisgau : Kilianus Piscator (Fischer), 1494]. Folio in 6s (30.5 cm, 12"). [256] ff.
$18,750.00
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The City of God is St. Augustine's fifth-century response to assertions that Christianity had caused the decline of Rome: In defending Christianity, this Church Father delves deeply into many profound questions of theology, including the suffering of the righteous, the existence of evil, the conflict between free will and divine omniscience, and the doctrine of original sin. It is considered one of the saint's most important works, a cornerstone of Western thought, and a long-established work in the traditional canon of the “great books.”
The text of this
Freiburg, Fischer incunable is printed in double-column format in gothic type, surrounded by the commentary of Thomas Wallensis (1287? –1350?) and Nicholas Trivet (1258?–1328). Its capital spaces have guide letters and a few of those spaces have been completed. The imprint is from the colophon (leaf T25) and the printer is as given by Goff.
Evidence of readership: Chiefly one, but clearly at least three, early readers have added
marginalia on more than 125 leaves of the text, chiefly in books 1 through 9 (i.e., those dealing with the polytheism of Rome [books 1–5] and Greek philosophy [books 6–10]); and one reader with a micro-mini script has added red-inked interlinear comments, additions, and/or corrections to the saint's text in those same books. Opposite the title-page is an information tree (illustration available). And on the title-page, one of the above-mentioned annotators, most likely an Augustinian friar, has added a lengthy quotation from Cassiodorus (<https://www.hs-augsburg.de/~harsch/Chronologia/Lspost06/Cassiodorus/cas_i133.html>), but at the end attributed it to the saint (“Explicit oratio Dni Augustini”). We thank Sara Trevisan for help in identifying the quoted text.
Provenance: 16th-century ownership indicia on title-page of the Augustinian Abbey of Neustift bei Brixen (Novacella). Pasted to the front pastedown, a partially removed Spanish dealer's description; a German bookseller's description of this copy, probably pre-1928 as it doesn't cite GKV; below that a post-1964 Anglo-American dealer's description (citing Goff); the bookplate of Walter Goldwater (and sold at his sale, Swann Galleries, 1 December 1983). Acquired by Dr. Wolfgang Scholz at the Goldwater sale, and sold by his widow via an agent to PRB&M in 2019.
Goff A1246; Hain-Copinger 2068*; GKW 2890; BMC, III, p. 695 (IB. 14206); ISTC ia01246000; Printing & the Mind of Man 3 (for the first edition, 1467). Late 19th- or early 20th-century half brown leather with tan paper paper sides and endpapers; binding lightly worn and covers with a bit of loss to paper. Fore- and part of upper margins of the first eight leaves damaged with loss and repaired many years ago. Some soiling to the text, chiefly in the margins; old waterstaining; pin-hole worming. Not a rare edition of this text but a nice copy of it with
considerable added scholarly importance . (40533)
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Explaining the
Northern Lights before the Discovery of Solar Winds
(Aurora Borealis). Manuscript in English on paper: Aurora borealis, a lecture. April 1830. United States: 1830. Folio (30.5 cm, 12.25" ). [6] pp. on 2 sheets of conjugate paper, last sheet of the second conjugate mostly blank].
[SOLD]
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The author did not put her/his name on this well-written and -reasoned scientific lecture which focuses on
electricity as the cause of the atmospheric phenomenon of the auroras borealis and australis. The writer cites various experiments using electricity to duplicate the colors and shapes associated with the light shows and also reports anecdotal information on events observed in New Hampshire during a snow storm.
The manuscript has about 50 lines per page, with cross-outs, corrections, and other revisions. It is clear that the writer was well educated and was addressing a similarly educated but not academic audience.
The “vibe” here is of presentation to a Chautauqua assembly or a serious reading/study club.
In good condition with an intermittent longitudinal fold tear in one of the conjugate sheets, that conjugate having its last leaf blank except for “Aurora Borealis, A Lecture, April 18, 1830.” All sheets folded four times to form a narrow (19 x 6 cm, 7.5" x 2.5") bundle for pigeon-holing.
A view not only of what the popular scientific take on this subject was, in 1830, but on how it was shared. (41024)
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Signatures of the
Famous & Obscure
(Autographs in Abundance). Collection of signatures of notable and lesser Mexicans of the colonial era and first three quarters of the 19th century. Mexico: 1646 to ca. 1880. Various small sizes.
$2250.00
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The collection contains approximately 400 clipped signatures of historical, political, and literary figures, including: José María Fagoaga (signer of the Act of Independence), Manuel Sotarriva (signer of the Act of Independence), Miguel Cervantes (i.e., Marques de Salvatierra. signer of the Act of Independence), Juan de Solorzano Pereira (jurist and major writer on the law of the Indies), Juan Cervantes y Padilla (signer of the Act of Independence), Jose Maria Heredia (poet), Jose Fernandez de Jauregui (printer), Jose Maria Guridi y Alcocer (signer of the Act of Independence), Valentín Canalizo (general, supporter and confidante of Santa Anna), Marques de San Juan de Rayas (signer of the Act of Independence), Santiago de Irissarri ((Independence-era military figure), Jose Bustamante (signer of the Act of Independence), Enrique White (governor of East Florida), Ignacio Barbachano (leader of the 1841 Yucatecan-break-away protonation), Vicente de la Concha (Queretaro politician), Juan Hierro Maldonado (Minister of Fomento, Colonización é Industria, and great politician), El Marques de Selva Nevada, Jacobo Ugarte y Loyola (governor of province of Coahuila y Tejas in the 1790s), El Conde de Alcazar, Ignacio de Bustamante (many times governor of Sonora), José Ignacio de Berasueta (intendent of Puebla in 1811), José Mariano de Arce (chief of revenue for pulque and alcabala), Francisco Javier Miranda (one of the delegation that offered Mexico to Maximilian!), Urbano Tovar (conservative politician, governor of Jalisco), Ramon Gutierrez del Mayo, Francisco Robledo, Francisco Jose de Urrutia, Victoriano Lopez Gonzalo (bishop of Puebla), Esteban Lorenzo de Tristán y Esmenota (bishop of Durango), Manuel José Rubio y Salinas (archbishop of Mexico), Mariano Riva Palacio (politician), Rafael Mangino (politician who crowned Emperor Agustin I), José Agustín Domínguez y Díaz (bishop of Oaxaca), Ignacio Alas (railroad entrepreneur), Juan Faustino Mazihcatzin (Indian leader of Tlaxcala), Pedro Saenz de la Guardia (naval commander of the San Blas region), Vicente Filisola (general, second in command to Santa Anna in the Texas Campaign), Esteban Moctezuma (general defeated by Bustamante at Gallinero), Jose Mariano Beristain (the great bibliographer), Manuel Payno (novelist and playwright), and many more.
Beyond its simple charm as
a signature gallery both representing and evoking a long era of Mexican history, this is a most useful archive of “sample” signatures.
All items glued to
both sides of sheets of paper (approximately 25 x 21.5 cm; .75 x 8.5" h x w) with multiple clipped signatures per sheet, 21 sheets total. Glue stains, and some early colonial ones with sealing-wax stains. (34167)
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UNexpurgated by the Mexican Inquisition
MS Notes in NAHUATL/AZTEC in Addition
Avila, Francisco de. Arte de la lengua mexicana, breves platicas de los mysterios de n. santa fee catholica, y otras para exortacion de su obligacion a los indios. Mexico: Por los herederos de la Viuda de Miguel de Ribera Calderon, 1717. 12mo. [13], 36, [1] ff.
$9975.00
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Mexico saw a major rebirth of scholarly interest in Nahuatl during the first half of the 18th century, and Fr. Avila was a contributor to it. In his introduction here (“Al pio lector”), he explains why, despite the existence of the works of Molina, Carochi, Ribera, and Manuel Perez (whose enthusiastic endorsement [“Sentir”] is part of the preliminaries), he has decided to write and publish this grammar: “solo quitar algunas dificultades, que he reconosido [sic] en los que aprenden por el discurso de veinte anos.” The work achieves this aim well. Moreover, Fr. Avila's extremely notable introduction has much to say about the physical and spiritual condition of the Indians at the beginning of 18th century and about the economic and social debt of the Spanish population to them. Sra. Leon-Portilla points out that among the “chats” (i.e, “platicas”) that form the appendix, “las destinadas a lograr una buena confesion” are of
“gran importancia.”
This copy
escaped the Inquisition censors who after its publication insisted that the section on folio 34r-v, “Instruccion para ensenar lo que se resive [sic] en la Hostia” be lined through.
Evidence of Readership? Or, frugal management of paper? Or, something else entirely?? A singular quality of this among all the copies that we have ever seen is the presence of
two additional leaves (four pages) at the end containing
18th-century manuscript notes in Nahuatl for a sermon on the theme of “they who acquired divine happiness” and on conducting a confession.
Provenance: Sold by the Linga Library of Hamburg as a duplicate. Pencil notes of a Spanish bookseller.
Medina, Mexico, 2478; Garcia Icazbalceta, Lenguas, 9; Vinaza 271; Newberry Library, Ayer Indians, Nahuatl 18 (incomplete, lacking title-leaf); H. de León-Portilla, Tepuztlahcuilolli, 240. Recased in modern vellum with button and loop ties, some few leaves strengthened at inner margins. Last leaf of text torn in lower margin and expertly repaired, costing small portion of two letters; a bit of staining at some edges, particularly in early part of volume. Small round old stamp “BS” to front free endpaper, leaves filled with manuscript annotation at end as above.
Very good, and very interesting. (34576)

“When Pleasure Reaches Some Divine Extreme”
Bates, Charlotte Fiske. Autograph Manuscript Signed. “The Venice of Life.” On paper. No place (Boston?): no date (ca. 1900?). 12mo (8" x 6"). 1 p.
$150.00
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Bates (1838–1916) was born in New York but grew up and was educated in and near Boston. A teacher and author, she published her first book, Risks and Other Poems, in 1879. The present poem is written in blue ink reaching for purple and boldly signed at the bottom.
Provenance: Ex–Allyn K. Ford Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, recently deaccessioned.
Very good condition; slight smearing of two words, not impairing legibility. (33356)
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HEAVILY ANNOTATED — The Gospels & Acts in an Important Edition
Bible. N.T. Greek & Latin. 1588. Testamentum Novum, sive novum foedus Iesu Christi, D.N. Cuius Graeco contextui respondent interpretationes duae: vna, vetus altera, Theodori Bezae, nunc quartò diligenter ab eo recognita... [Genevae]: [Henricus Stephanus], 1588. Folio (33 cm; 13"). [6] ff., 555, [1 (blank)] pp., [8] ff. (lacks final blank leaf); lacks vol. II (Epistles, Revelation).
$2500.00
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An interleaved and heavily annotated copy of the Gospels and Acts of “Beza's third major edition [of the Greek New Testament]. The text follows that of the second major edition (1582) with only five exceptions” (Darlow and Moule).
One should note that the title-page proclaims this “quarta editio,” and that this is Estienne's third folio printing of Beza's N.T.
Beza's New Testament Greek text is here accompanied by his Latin and the Vulgate (i.e., Catholic Latin) translations, the trio appearing in parallel columns on each page with
extensive notes that often fill as much as one-third to one-half of a page and with parallel references additionally set in the margins. The volume's title-page is printed in red and black and bears Henri Estienne's printer's device; a different finely wrought woodcut headpiece opens each book, with each column on those pages bearing a woodcut initial at its head, and a few of the books of the N.T. end with woodcut tailpieces.
Evidence of readership: An interleaved copy with
the vast majority of the leaves bearing an early 19th-century reader's notes and annotations. The notes cite references published as late as 1809 and it is clear that the natively German-speaking scholar was comfortable in Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and English.
Provenance: Ownership signature on title-page of Leon St. Vincent. Later in The Howell Bible Collection, Pacific School of Religion (properly released; no markings).
The paper stock used for the interleaving has the classic ProPatria watermark and that and its countermark match Churchill's 151, which has a starting date of 1799.
Darlow & Moule 4650; Adams B1711. On the interleaves' watermarks, see: Churchill, Watermarks in paper in Holland, England, France, etc., in the XVII and XVIII centuries. 19th-century half vellum with German pastepaper over boards, spine with tinted and tooled label, text recased and new endpapers; vol. I (only) of this production, without the Epistles and Revelation. Title-page creased and dust-soiled, all leaves before pp. 9/10 rodent-gnawed in lower outside corner with loss of paper but not of text or manuscript annotation, and a bit of light waterstaining to rearmost leaves only.
An important edition and a singular copy. (37032)

Marginalia to
the Max & Other Notes
Bible. O.T. Psalms. Hebrew. 1880. [two lines in Hebrew, then] Liber psalmorum. Textum masoreticum acuratissime expressit ... notis criticis confirmavit S. Baer. Praefatus est edendi operis adjutor Franciscus Delitzsch. Lipsiae: Ex officina Bernhardi Tauchnitz, 1880. 8vo (22.4 cm, 8.8"). [1] f., 82 pp.; manuscript notes bound in.
$1000.00
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This “textum masoreticum” book of psalms, i.e., the traditional Hebrew text, was edited by masoretic scholar Seligman Baer (1825–97) and theologian Franz Delitzsch (1813–90) as part of their Masoretic Bible series, published by Tauchnitz between 1869 and 1895. A truly
unique copy, this particular volume is thickly interleaved with variously sized sheets and tabs containing the fastidious manuscript notes of published author
Walter Robert Betteridge, D.D. (1863–1916), a notable faculty member in the Old Testament Department of the Rochester Theological Seminary who swathed page after page in minute inked marginalia, and added yet more bulk with clippings from related texts — annotated, of course.Among the doctor's publications was an article on “The Accuracy of the Authorized Version of the Old Testament” (1911), including the Hebrew psalms.
Provenance: Donated by Mrs. Betteridge to the seminary library, with institutional bookplate noting this on rear pastedown.
Recent black moiré silk, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Ex-library with bookplate on rear pastedown as above, pressure-stamp on title-page, call number in lower margin of second leaf; paper brittle, dust- or sometimes soot-soiled(?) at edges, and prone to chipping. Replete with scholia, this is
a stunning testament to one scholar's study of the O.T. (31077)
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A Volume EXTRA ILLUSTRATED & Then Some!
Brown University. Celebration of the one hundreth anniversary of the founding of Brown University, September 6th, 1864. Providence: Sidney S. Rider & Bro., 1865. 4to (26.5 cm; 10.25"). [4] ff., 178 pp., [1] f.
$10,000.00
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An extra-illustrated copy. Noted 19th-century book collector, devoted Baptist, and political and civic activist Horatio Gates Jones, an honored participant in the centennial celebration at Brown, created this extra-illustrated copy of the official publication. Added as embellishments are an original copy of the broadside publication of the theses for the first commencement of the College of Rhode Island (the first name of Brown University), 19 autograph letters signed, 14 engravings (views, portraits), 15 photographs (including cartes de visite), eight clipped signatures, and 5 other items including a partially printed document from 1738.
Provenance: Horatio Gates Jones, Jr. (American, 1822–93); donated to the Crozer Theological Seminary; later deaccessioned.
In a late 19th-century black half leather binding with red morocco spine label. Occasional library pressure-stamps. Very good condition. (25981)
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The Beatus vir . . . Gorgeously Produced, Beautifully Framed
Catholic Church. Liturgy & Ritual. Psalter. Manuscript leaf. Northern Italy: ca. 1490. Folio. [1] f. (56 x 42 cm; 22" x 16").
$8750.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
From a
large, magnificent Benedictine Psalter, this is the start of Psalm 1, “Beatus vir . . .” (“Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off: and all [whatsoever he shall do shall prosper]. . . . ”).
The text appears here in sepia ink in a large Renaissance rotunda hand, set forth to the point of our bracket above, illuminated and featuring
a large miniature of King David filling the center of a large initial B. Along the bottom margin in three medallions are
Saints Mark, Benedict (center bottom), and Laurence; the right margin has two additional medallion portraits of unidentified female figures. The margins are garnished with gilt and bright-colored flowers, among which hides
the small image of a deer “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God”?
Matted and under glass in an elegant 20th-century gilt frame, ready for hanging. We have not opened this to discover whether Psalm 1 continues (or Job concludes) on the other side of the leaf, but the suspicion must be, given the beauty and quality of the side showing, that this is a leaf that would benefit from double-glazing showcasing both sides. (33296)
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With BOTH the Author's & the Subject's
Signatures
Cecil, Richard. Memoirs of John Bacon, esq. R.A. with reflections drawn from a review of his moral and religious character. London: Pr. for F. & C. Rivington by R. Noble, 1801. 8vo (17.5 cm, 6.9"). Frontis., iv, 118, [2 (1 adv.)] pp.
$1800.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Uncommon first edition of this life of the prominent sculptor, remembered for his memorial busts and statues in Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, and elsewhere. The author was an eminent Church of England clergyman and one of the founders of the Eclectic Society. Joseph Collyer steel-engraved the frontispiece portrait, which shows Bacon at work on a classical head, after John Russell.
WorldCat locates only seven U.S. institutional holdings.
Provenance: This copy is inscribed by the author on a front fly-leaf: “Mrs. Bacon wth the author's affect. respects.” In addition, a
three-page autograph letter signed by Bacon is tipped in; the letter pertains to Bacon family heraldic and heritage matters and includes mention of a deposition. The front pastedown bears the pictorial bookplate and small ticket of Robert Heysham Sayre of Bethlehem, PA.
NSTC C1166. 19th-century half brown morocco with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and blind-tooled trefoil decorations in compartments; joints refurbished, spine bands and extremities slightly worn. Pages age-toned; six leaves browned from an old stain and a few more with small marginal areas browned; frontispiece and title-page with spots of foxing. Manuscript letter with outer edges creased, some creases partially slit, one small strip detached along an edge fold and laid in. An attractive copy of an interesting text with excellent and interesting additional material. (33598)
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The Development of a
Hacienda in the YUCATAN — 1626–1866
(Chalmuch Hacienda, Yucatan, Mexico). Manuscript cahiers on paper of land transfers and inventories, in
MAYA and Spanish. Chalmuch, Merida, elsewhere in Yucatan: 1626–1866. Folio (31 cm, 12.5"). 132 ff. (14 blank).
$5500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Law suits between Yucatan hacienda owners (one a woman), and hacienda owners and Indians; estate inventories and land transfers (three in Maya); materials showing usefully characteristic environmental effects — from the early 17th century and continuing through the middle of the 19th, these documents chronicle the development of the Chalmuch hacienda, situated approximately 12 kilometers west of the center of Merida.
In the Yucatan — for geographic, geologic. ecologic, and economic reasons, particularly the quality of the soil and the lack of water for irrigation — haciendas had a later appearance than in other parts of Mexico, especially in the center and north, where their development began in the decade after the fall of the Aztec Empire. It was not until the 17th century that haciendas began to be established in the Yucatan Peninsula.
The earliest document in these five sewn-files is dated 18 May 1626 and concerns the settlement of a law suit between Bernardo de Sosa Velazquez and the Indians of the towns of Santiago, Cauqall, and Vac regarding unused lands and hills. The suit was settled in favor of Sosa with the provisos that he occupy the lands, build on and populate them, and bring in cattle within one year. The addition of new land to this original sitio is the substance of the remaining documents. Among them are two estate inventories and three documents of the first third of the 18th century in Maya (land transfers).
In the 1850s and ‘60s there was a land dispute between Doña Pastora Castillo, owner of the Oxcun hacienda, and Bernardo Cano, owner of the Chalmuch hacienda (represented by Sr. José Vicente Solís, his agent), concerning the need for a survey of boundaries. The dispute dragged on and in 1866, during the attempted reforms of Maximilian's Empire, these documents were presented before the state's Land Inspection Section and were certified by the Chief of Inspection with his stamp. The Land Inspection Section was responsible for the preparation and revision of plans, the comparison of land documents, and the measurement of land held by each hacienda, as well as certification of location, boundaries, and owners.
Provenance: From the private archive of the Chalmuch hacienda.
Documents such as these showing the growth and development of haciendas in the central part of Mexico are fairly common but extremely uncommon for the Yucatan. Similarly colonial-era documents in Nahuatl are fairly commonly available in the marketplace but comparable ones in Maya are rare.
This is the first gathering of land documents for the Yucatan and the first manuscripts in Maya that PRB&M has had in its decades of dealing in Mexican colonial-era manuscripts see images below for the latter.
Manuscripts from the Yucatan are notorious for having suffered environmental and ecological damage: damp and insect problems. These are no exception, but as such they are excellent for teaching purposes as well as traditional research. One cahier has extensive worm/insect damage, another has faded ink from exposure to long-term humidity, and others are just fine. Here is the opportunity to show (and for students to practice) how to use light sources of various wave-lengths for making faded writing jump off the page and how to carefully interleave a document with thin Mylar sheets to save leaves from further damage during reading and page-turning.
(We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the state archive of the Yucatan in explaining the significance of the stamps of the Land Inspection Section that appear in some of the documents. It is good to be assured that they are indication of private, not government, ownership.)
Each cahier is housed in a Mylar sleeve and the five are contained in a blue cloth clamshell box. Condition is extremely variable: as above, one cahier has extensive worm/insect damage, another has faded ink, and others are just fine. Stamps are present as mentioned above.
A rare surviving compilation and one that is instructive from multiple perspectives. (40308)

“I am anxious you should do a writing portrait . . . ”
Cook, Eliza. A.L.s. (“Eliza”) to “My dear Sec.” London: 6 June 1860. 12mo (7.25" x. 4.5"). 1 p.
$275.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Cook (1818–89) was
a Chartist poet, author, and proponent of political and sexual freedom for women. She writes, “I am again here for a few days . . . and want to know if you can receive me on Friday about eleven. I am anxious you should do a writing portrait to see which will afford you most satisfaction. I will bring the proofs of the sonnet with me.”
Provenance: Residue of the stock of Seven Gables Bookshop (1930–79), via the son of Michael Papantonio (2009).
Very good condition. Tipped onto a slightly larger sheet. With the integral blank. (25726)
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20th-Century Renaissance Man — Medievally Inspired MANUSCRIPT Memorial
Erie Railroad Company (Follansbee, Mitchell Davis). Manuscript on paper, in English. “In memoriam Mitchell D. Follansbee 1870 – 1941.” [Chicago: 1941]. 8vo (27.4 cm, 10.75"). [8 (1 blank)] ff.
$950.00
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Gorgeously rendered manuscript tribute to a prominent lawyer, financial advisor, and railroad executive remembered fondly for “his public spirit, his high personal character, his urbanity and his loyalty as a friend.” Follansbee was a Harvard graduate (and notably active alumnus, serving as president of the Associated Clubs of Harvard) who studied law at
Northwestern University prior to becoming a board member and director of the Erie Railroad Company.
This admiring hand-accomplished homage to Follansbee's life and career was commissioned by his fellow directors and
beautifully calligraphed and illuminated on vellum by the Harris Engrossing Studio of Chicago. The capitals are accomplished in whitework, gilt, purple, and green, and the text in an even, handsome modern Gothic hand, with a gilt border surrounding the text on each page. Each leaf is protected by a moiré-patterned tissue guard. The final page was signed by the chairman and the secretary of the board, and pressure-stamped with the Erie Railroad Company's seal.
Binding: Dark blue morocco framed in gilt double fillets and panelled in a dotted gilt roll with gilt-tooled corner fleurons; spine with gilt-ruled raised bands and gilt-framed compartments. Turn-ins tooled to echo covers, cream moiré silk endpapers, all edges gilt.
Binding as above, edges and extremities showing slight sunning and wear. Vellum (expectably) cockled.
Lovely, unique, beautifully bound, and an impressive showcase both of modern calligraphy and of Follansbee's impact. (38417)

Middlebury College's Early Financial Problems
Evarts, Jeremiah. Autograph Letter Signed to Henry Davis. Charlestown, MA: 20 January 1817. Small 4to (24.5 cm; 9.75"). 3 pp. plus integral address page.
$250.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Below a partially printed receipt form of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions — that Evarts has completed in manuscript acknowledging receipt of
$53.12 “as donations from Sunday Societies,” said money forwarded by the Rev. Dr. Henry Davis, president of Middlebury College — is a serious letter to President Davis.
Evarts writes that he regrets “the unfortunate issue of your attempt to get a philosophical apparatus for your College” and the school's difficulty in raising money. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions holds a note for $1000 that the college owes and Evarts, the organization's treasurer, asks that if the college cannot pay at least some part of the principal, can it at least pay the interest promptly and send a paper guaranteeing payment?
Provenance: Ex–Allyn K. Ford Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, recently deaccessioned.
Written in a clear hand. (33764)
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Speaking Engagement — Restoration Appeal
Farrar, Frederick William. Autograph Letter Signed to unidentified recipient. Westminster, England: 20 April [between 1876 and 1883]. 12mo (18 cm; 7"), 4 pp.
$40.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Farrar served as rector at St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, and later as Dean of Canterbury, and he was author of the once-famous novel for boys, Eric, or Little by Little. He writes this correspondent, a member of an unnamed society, that he believes he will be able to speak at a meeting, and asks aid in raising funds to restore St. Margaret's — which needs (and in his tenure got) substantial, expensive TLC.
On stationery imprinted “17, Dean’s Yard, Westminster, S.W.”
Provenance: Ex–Allyn K. Ford Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, recently deaccessioned.
Written in a clear hand, with some abbreviations. Evidence of old mounting. (33766)
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