Bauman Rare Books – Catalogue June 2011

Catalogue June 2011

A Bauman Rare Books editou mais um dos seus excelentes catálogos – A Catalogue of Fine Books Including Many New Acquisitions: June, 2011.

Deste catálogo destacam-se algumas primeiras edições de Charles Dickens, várias como primeiras tiragens para o público nos seus fascículos originais, com capas ilustradas e os respectivos, e indispensáveis, anúncios, incluindo alguns dos romances mais estimados do autor: A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, Nicholas Nickleby e Little Dorrit (páginas 48-52).

Mas antes, veja-se:

7. (PACIFIC VOYAGES) (COOK, James). Cook’s Three Voyages. Comprising: HAWKESWORTH, John. An Account of the Voyages undertaken… for making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere. Three volumes. WITH: COOK, James. A Voyage towards the South Pole, and Round the World. Two volumes. WITH: COOK, James and KING, James. A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean… for making Discoveries in the Northern Hemisphere. Four volumes (three quarto volumes plus atlas folio). London, 1773, 1777, 1784. Nine volumes altogether. Quarto (atlas volume large folio, measures 17 by 22 inches), uniform period-style three-quarter speckled brown calf gilt.

19. (NUREMBERG CHRONICLE) SCHEDEL, Hartmann. Liber Chronicarum. Nuremberg, 12 July 1493. Tall folio, 20th-century full period-style blind-stamped brown morocco; 326 leaves (of 328, without blanks only).

43. CONAN DOYLE, Sir Arthur. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. London, 1894. Octavo, original gilt-stamped pictorial blue cloth.

First edition of the second collection of Sherlock Holmes short stories, including his (apparent) death in “The Final Problem,” illustrated throughout by Sidney Paget. In the last of these 11 stories, “The Final Problem,” Sherlock Holmes apparently meets his death in a struggle with “the Napoleon of crime,” Professor Moriarty. Fearing posterity would remember him only as Holmes’ creator, Conan Doyle had resolved to kill off his star detective; an acquaintance later recalled the author remarking, “If I don’t… he’ll kill me.” “Doyle attempted to exterminate [Holmes]… but the clamor of his admirers forced [Doyle] to resurrect Holmes for several further volumes, and his popularity has waned little since” (Benet, 273). Green & Gibson A14a. Interior generally clean. Expert repairs to inner paper hinges and spine ends. An exceptionally nice copy.

45. (MEXICO) (DE BRY, Theodor, publisher) BENZONI, Girolamo. Americae pars Quinta. Frankfurt, 1595. Folio, periodstyle full brown calf.

Early Latin edition—the first De Bry edition, second issue—of Benzoni’s important account of his 15 years in South America, with double-page folding map of New Spain (Mexico) and illustrated with 22 fine engraved plates, many depicting abuses inflicted upon the natives by the conquistadors.

Originally published in 1565, Girolamo Benzoni’s history is valuable “as an early record of the establishment of Europeans in America, written from a non-Spanish standpoint.” Benzoni traveled to South America with the “primary concern to assess the commercial possibilities of the Americas… Much of his time was spent keenly observing the manners and customs of the native inhabitants” (Howgego, 107). De Bry’s illustrated collection of Voyages “brought to the European public the first realistic visualization of the exotic world opened up across the Atlantic by the explorers, conquerors and settlers” (Alexander). De Bry published Benzoni’s chronicle in three portions, comprising Parts IV-VI of his Grands Voyages; this is the second portion. Second issue, with “Hia” added to line five and “Invictis” corrected in the antepenultimate line of the title pages. Church 156. Sabin 8784. Early owner signature to engraved title page. Double-page folding map mounted, repaired at lower right corner with some loss. A bit of edge-wear to a few leaves and some light embrowning. A very good copy, handsomely bound.

E chega-se às obras de Charles Dickens. De facto, trata-se dum conjunto excepcional de obras quer pela sua qualidade quer pela raridade da edição.

Não resisto a mostrar as páginas do catálogo que apresentam estes livros, pois que estão efectivamente presentes algumas das suas obras mais procuradas, com destaque para A Tale of Two Cities, uma das que tem maior procura e cotação bibliófila.

Saliento que estes preços estão dentro da cotação habitual do mercado, como já referi anteriormente a propósito dalguns dos livros deste escritor, (a nossa bolsa é que é sempre um pouco curta para as nossas paixões!)

O catálogo contém uma secção intitulada Egyptomania, que nos oferece belos exemplares sobre esta temática.

74. (EGYPT & NEAR EAST) FRITH, Francis. Egypt and Palestine Photographed and Described. London, 1858-59. Two volumes. Folio (13 by 17-1/2 inches), contemporary full brown pebbled morocco gilt rebacked with original spines and covers preserved.

First edition, with 69 (of 76) original mounted albumen prints from wet-collodion negatives of Egyptian and Palestinian antiquities, preserving their integrity from “the corroding tooth of Time, and the ceaseless drifting of the remorseless sand.” Photographs fine and free of foxing, in handsome contemporary morocco-gilt bindings.

Por fim refira-se algumas folhas de iluminuras, como por exemplo esta:

96. ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT. Illuminated leaf from a Book of Hours. Northern France, circa 1450. One vellum leaf, measuring 5-1/2 by 7-1/2 inches, matted; entire piece measures 10 by 12-1/2 inches.

Lovely illuminated leaf from a mid-15th century French Book of Hours, depicting the Annunciation of Christ’s Nativity to the Shepherds, surrounded by an elaborately decorative leafy border.

Claro que os escritores americanos tem um destaque sempre especial, com os preços próprios do mercado americano, mas isso será, e tem sido por vezes, objecto para reflexão de todos nós

Saudações bibliófilas.