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Catalogue
72
Books
from the Past
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100.
TOWNSON, ROBERT. Travels in Hungary, with a short account
of Vienna in the year 1793. London, G. G. and J. Robinson, 1797.
First edition. $2,500
4to; pp. xvii, [2], [4]-494, [2] (Advert), [495]-506; 16 engraved
plaes (many folding), folding table, and large, engraved, hand-coloured
folding map; contemporary full calf, somewhat worn at edges and
at spine; spine gilt, and covers gilt-ruled; marbled endpapers and
fore-edges; light foxing and some offsetting; overall, a very good
copy of a relatively scarce work.
Cox I, 168. Robert Townson was a mineralogist who travelled to Hungary
in 1793 to study the geology of the region. This work was considered
to be of utmost importance and was translated into French and German.
Much of the importance can be attributed to the emphasis on the
natural and economic history of the area, which is depicted in detail
on the accompanying map. Townson attributes the map to János
Mátyás Korabinszky (1740-1811), a teacher, writer,
publisher and cartographer, who created a statistical map of Hungary
using symbols and colours to illustrate the various data. "The
majority of the mineral symbols on the Townson map are taken from
the original Korabinszky map. Minor alterations, correcting errors
and introducing symbols for some of the lettering are Townson's
work. He also added post roads, taken from another map of Korabinszky,
to make the map more useful for those who want to travel in Hungary.
Townson's major addition to Korabinszky's map is applying colour
wash to indicate the distribution of various rocks. Thirteen categories
are distinguished in the legend .. which relect the actual extent
of rocks with surprising fidelity." (Kazmer, Miklos. An Early
Wernerian in Hungary. Debrecen, Kossuth Univer. Press, 1997). One
of the later sections includes a compendium of information about
the plants and insects he recorded on his journey, as well as a
list of journals in the Vienna post office, and letters from the
Austrian mineralogist Baron Ignaz von Born (1742-1791) on the properties
of rocks and minerals in the mines of Schemnitz.
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101.
UNITED STATES NAVY DEPARTMENT. Hydrographic Office. Sailing
Directions for Antarctica. 1943. Washington, 1943. First edition.
$450
Tall 4to; pp. 11, [1], f, pp. 312; photographic illustrations; extremely
large, folding map in rear pocket; also contains "Special Supplement"
of September 1949, which consists of 21 typewritten leaves, stapled.
Original binding of white coth, printed in blue; binding is somewhat
stained; text, plates, map, etc. in fine condition. Scarce.
An interesting work on navigational routes to and from the Antarctic,
with chapters on the Orkneys, Shetlands, Wilkes Land, etc.
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102.
VERNE, JULES (1828-1905). Aventures de Trois Russes et de
Trois Anglais dans l'Afrique Australe. Nouvelle édition.
Paris, J. Hetzel, [n.d.]. $350
8vo; pp. [4], 320; seven engraved illustrations, including frontis.,
one map. Full mottled calf; decorated gilt borders; blind dentelles;
gilt centrepiece arms of Episcopi Collegium de Lennoxville; marbled
endpapers and edges; spine gilt in compartments, with floral tooling;
gilt morocco label; front joint cracked, but otherwise a very nice
copy. "Collection Hetzel."
BNF. Jules Verne was born in Nantes, France. He studied law, but
his true vocation was in the field of literature. As a student,
he wrote plays, librettos, and adventure stories that had captivating
scientific details. In 1862, he met publisher Pierre Jules Hetzel,
an author of children's books. Their lifelong association produced
54 works of science fiction, including Voyage to the Centre of the
Earth, and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Aventures de Trois
Russes was initially serialized in Hetzel's bimonthly revue Le Magasin
d'éducation et de récréation in 1871-1872,
and was published in book form in 1872 (BNF). The engravings are
by French painter Jules-Descartes Férat (b. 1829) and Belgian
printmaker Adolphe François Pannemaker (b. 1822).
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103.
WHITE, Rev. GILBERT (1720-1793). The Natural History of Selborne,
by the late Rev. Gilbert White, A.M. ... To which are added, The
Naturalist's Calendar, Miscellaneous Observations, and Poems. London,
Printed for J. and A. Arch et al, 1822. Two volumes. $750
8vo; pp. viii, 351; pp. [iv], 364; 32 plates, 29 of which are hand-coloured;
extra-illustrated with three portraits bound-in (Thomas Pennant,
John Ray and Daines Barrington); full polished calf; gilt border
on front and back; t.e.g., others untrimmed; inner dentelles gilt
and spines gilt in compartments (bindings by Wallis); gilt morocco
labels; marbled endpapers; ornate leather ex-libris on front paste-downs;
sporadic light spotting; front joint of v. I cracked; small nick
in top of joint of vol. II; tear at upper corner of one leaf, no
loss of text; overall a very good set.
This edition not in Nissen and only briefly noted in Sitwell and
Freeman; Martin, p. 106ff.; vide Grolier/English 62 (1st ed. of
1789). Gilbert White was born in Selborne and educated at Oxford.
After having been ordained a priest, he served as curate at several
locations before returning to his native parish. White was a skillful
observer and assiduous recorder; he was in close contact with other
important naturalists of his day, such as Pennant, Barrington and
Ray, with all of whom he exchanged correpondence. "White's
Selborne is the only work on natural history which has attained
the rank of an English classic" (DNB).
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104. [BASAN, PIERRE-FRANÇOIS]. [CHOISEUL, ETIENNE-FRANÇOIS,
duc de]. Recueil d'estampes gravées d'après les
tableaux du Cabinet de Monseigneur le duc de Choiseul par les soins
du Sr. Basan. Paris, chez l'auteur, 1771 [but 1774?]. $2,250
4to; engraved title, with engraved Dedication on verso; engraved
frontispiece portrait of Choiseul; 12 engraved pages (descriptions
of the plates); 128 engraved subjects, numbered 1 to 123, with Nos.
68, 69, 76, 78, and 101 duplicated in the numbering and marked by
an asterisk; plate 74 is double-page; plates 4 & 5, 44 &
45, and 93 & 94 are engraved on the same sheets, i.e., six on
three sheets; contemporary full burgundy hard-grain morocco, gilt-
and blind-stamped; a.e.g.; spine ornately gilt; some light foxing
and some spotting of plates; binding rubbed, mostly at edges. As
in the Cohen-de Ricci copy, plate 113 has a date of 1772. A scarce
work.
Cohen-de Ricci 115: "Très belle collection bien gravée,
d'après les magnifiques tableaux que le duc de Choiseul vendit
après sa disgrâce en 1772." The collection consists
of works after Rembrandt, Van Dyke, Breughel, Titian, Ruijsdael,
etc. by engravers such as Dunker, Daudet, Lienard and others. Choiseul
was exiled from France after a falling-out with Louis XV, and returned
only after the king's death in 1774, but never regained his former
political power.
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