London: Henry Brome at the Gun in St Pauls Church-yard, 1676. Bound in recent full calf preserving an old morocco label. One leaf (A2) is lacking. This is the engraved title page. The previous page (A1) explaining the symbolism of the illustration is present, as is the regular title page. A century of observations has separate dated title page on leaf L1r; pagination and register are continuous. "The lives and characters of the physicians of Bathe" has separate title page dated 1677 on leaf M8r; pagination and register are continuous. This copy conforms to the first edition of ESTC R10888 apart from the lack of engraved title. This copy has an additional plate at page 23. The binding is holding firmly and is in very good condition, with just some light wear to surface / extremities from handling. Contents are holding firmly and are generally in good condition if a little toned, with some light scattered foxing, occasional creases or dust marking though nothing too disfiguring, a few early ink inscriptions including at head of title, occasional ink marks, folding map of Bath with small perforation and a few nicks to edges, pp. 69 with old repair to for edge, sig G4 with loss to lower margin at gutter, final leaf with two small perforations, one just touching into inner edge of letterpress on one side of the leaf. Recent plain end papers. A good copy overall, lacking frontispiece / engraved title. Pp.[30], 200. Conforms to Wing G2192 & ESTC R10888

London: Jonathan Cape, 1966. First edition in dust wrapper. Wrapper is clean, with a touch of nicking and edgewear and with a 1cm closed tear to the head of the spine. Now in protective archival film. Hardback in clean and neat green cloth with just a touch of bumping. Book is in good clean condition throughout. What is interesting about this copy, is that there is a gift inscription to the verso of the half title, stating that the book was taken from the Iranian Embassy shortly after the SAS had ended the embassy siege in 1980. The annotation claims that it was taken from the embassy an hour after the siege, but apart from this seeming unlikely (with security concerns at the time) the date given is actually 3 weeks after the end of the siege. There is no evidence that this is true but a strange thing to make up and we offer it as an interesting oddity! 414 pages. 220 by 150mm (8¾ by 6 inches). Première édition sous couverture anti-poussière. L'emballage est propre, avec une touche d'entaille et d'usure des bords et avec une déchirure fermée de 1 cm à la tête de la colonne vertébrale. Maintenant dans un film d'archives protecteur. Couverture cartonnée en toile verte propre et soignée avec juste une touche de bosse. Le livre est en bon état de propreté partout. Ce qui est intéressant à propos de cet exemplaire, c'est qu'il y a une inscription cadeau au verso du faux titre, indiquant que le livre a été pris à l'ambassade d'Iran peu de temps après que le SAS eut mis fin au siège de l'ambassade en 1980. L'annotation prétend qu'il a été prise de l'ambassade une heure après le siège, mais à part cela qui semble peu probable (avec des problèmes de sécurité à l'époque), la date indiquée est en fait 3 semaines après la fin du siège. Il n'y a aucune preuve que cela soit vrai mais une chose étrange à inventer et nous l'offrons comme une bizarrerie intéressante ! 414 pages. 220 par 150 mm

Nuremberg: P.Schenk, 1740. Copper engraving, with contemporary hand colouring. Though now understood to have been the work of Matthias Seutter, this was published anonymously. A rare map of the land of plenty, fools paradise or Pays de Cocaigne.

Schlaraffenland was the Utopia of German legend. In the children's version of this, sausages grow on trees and tables set themselves. This cartographic version is a much darker version, with a "Kingdom of Extravagance", and "Empire of Fat Stomachs", "Tobacco Island" and the "Land of Gluttony". All of this is surrounded by the seas of Drunkenness and Lust. The cartouche has a scene of debauchery and carnal excess.

The map is in fairly good condition. The colouring is typical of the German style of colouring. The shading is quite pale / in pastel tones, and I suspect it may have faded over time. The bottom edge of the map has been trimmed quite closely to the engraving (but there is no loss). The rear of the map shows support / restoration,and there are some small areas of loss to the image, but on the whole, the map is in good condition, with a clear impression. Measures: 480 x 570 mm (19 x 22½ inches).

This map originally appeared in Schenk's "Atlas contractus sive mapparum geographicarum Sansoniarum auctarum et correctarum nova congeries".

Plymouth Dock J. Congdon: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown: 1821. A lovely copy of this First Edition. Two volume work (three volumes bound as two). Complete with all the plates etc. as called for (plus a couple of engravings not called for). Half leather brown fine leather binding, with brown cloth boards. Each volume has a frontis and additional engraved title. There is also a dedication engraving. Vol. 1. has 9 engraved plates and the 25 heraldic engraved plates. Vol. II. has the 37 plates called for plus an additional 2 plates (see notes). There is also a folding plate showing the exports of the Cornish tin mines.
A very nice copy of this work. The binding is fairly recent, and is clean and tidy. There is a touch of fading to the spine. There are also a couple of areas of staining to the spine. Internally, the books are both on the whole clean and tidy. There are a number of pages and plates with light water damage to the top portion, but not too dark. P681/2 there is a small area of loss to the bottom of the page - not affecting text. P683/4 there is an area of loss to the side of the page, with a small area of loss of text to both sides.
The work is complete, but also has two additional plates not mentioned in the binders instructions. (1) The tomb of Sir J. Arundell & monument to W. Achim and (2) and engraving of Tehidy Park.
Collation: [vi], viii, [ii], 1-71, [i], [vi], [ii], 73-592, 1-220. (end vol. I) [iv], 221-370, [ii], 373-962, [xx]. pp

Philadelphia: Childs and Peterson, 1856. First American edition of the Grinnel expeditions in search of Sir John Franklin. Two volumes. Full leather binding. Illustrated in over three hundred engravings from sketches by the author: the steel plates executed by the superintendence of J.M. Butler, the wood engravings by Van Ingen & Snyder. These are both in text and full page with tissue guards. Absolutely fascinating book with glossary of terms, (who knew there were so many words for how the sea looks against the sky)? Includes illustrations of ice formations, polar bears, indigenous peoples etc. 464 + 467pp. 220 x 150 mm (8¾ x 6 inches).
There is rubbing to the binding, a starting of a split to the spine of one volume. The bindings are a little shaken. Internally darkened / soiled, with some marks. The first gather of Volume 1 is a little loose. There is possibly a title page lacking, as there is only the engraved title to Vol. 1. One of the plates in Volume 1 (Bear Hunt) has some areas of loss. Overall in good / fair condition.
Elisha Kent Kane was an American explorer, and a medical officer in the United States Navy during the first half of the 19th century. He was a member of two Arctic expeditions to rescue the explorer Sir John Franklin.

Bruxelles: P.J. De Mat: 1827. Original half calf, with marbled boards. Half title, title with small vignette. Discours Preliminaire, Espose preliminaire etc. Engraved page Les Fastes Napoleens de 1796 a 1821. 36 double page engraved plates. Each is hand coloured. Double page II is placed after page XVI. Plates are dated 1825 - 1827. The binding is somewhat rubbed, but still holding well. The pages are in very nice, clean condition, with just a touch of marking. The colouring is clean and bright. A number of the plates have been reinforced to the spine with archival tape. The pages themselves are in good condition. There is about an inch missing to the base of the spine. Still holding well though. [xii], [ii], 36 double plates with blank versos. 570 by 390mm (22½ by 15¼ inches). Demi-veau d'origine, à plats marbrés. Faux-titre, titre avec petite vignette. Discours Préliminaire, Espose préliminaire etc. Page gravée Les Fastes Napoleens de 1796 à 1821. 36 planches gravées double page. Chacun est coloré à la main. La double page II est placée après la page XVI. Les planches sont datées de 1825 - 1827. La reliure est un peu frottée, mais tient toujours bien. Les pages sont en très bon état, propre, avec juste une touche de marquage. La coloration est nette et lumineuse. Un certain nombre de planches ont été renforcées jusqu'au dos avec du ruban adhésif d'archives. Les pages elles-mêmes sont en bon état. Il manque environ un pouce à la base de la colonne vertébrale. Tiens toujours bien quand même. [xii], [ii], 36 planches doubles avec verso vierges. 570 x 390 mm (22½ x 15¼ pouces).

Paris: 1749. Copper engraving of the Chinese city Ningbo with surrounding islands. Dimensions: approx. 22 x 32 cm. Map of the city Ningbo (depicted just above the map) and the region east of Ningbo with Zhoushan in the province Zhejiang. The west on top. In the cartouche bottom left the French title and the scale. Very good. Several horizontal and vertical folds. Margin bottom left narrow (map image complete), remainder sufficient. Verso: blank. Gravure sur cuivre de la ville chinoise de Ningbo avec les îles environnantes. Dimensions : env. 22x32cm. Carte de la ville de Ningbo (représentée juste au-dessus de la carte) et de la région à l'est de Ningbo avec Zhoushan dans la province du Zhejiang. L'ouest en haut. Dans le cartouche en bas à gauche le titre français et l'échelle. Très bien. Plusieurs plis horizontaux et verticaux. Marge en bas à gauche étroite (image de carte complète), reste suffisant. Verso : vierge.