Blake, Marion Elizabeth & Van Deman, Esther Boise. Ancient Roman Construction In Italy From The Prehistoric Period To Augustus. $110.00
Hardcover. Quarto. English Book xxii, 421 p. plates. Washington, 1947
A standard work on this subject. Chapters on Roman building materials, stone walls in Italy, squared-stone construction in Rome and vicinity , arch and vault construction, sun-dried and semi-baked bricks, brick and tile construction, mortar and similar mixtures, concrete and other subjects. Profusion of plates .
Blevins, Bruce. MAPPING WYOMING. $125.00
Hardbound. Quarto. Iii, 387 pages. 518 Illustrations. This new publication provides the historical story on the mapping of Wyoming for both the Government and private sector. Mapping Wyoming covers the period from the discovery of America through to the 1930s with maps from 1796 to 1991. Emphasis is on the initial exploration of the territory, with a concentration on the period from 1806 to 1909, the most comprehensive period of concentration being 1814 to 1890. The book illustrations 518 maps dated from 1796 to 1991. Maps are consecutively numbered and indexed for reference. One of the few books on the subject.
Cloth, Octavo. viii.560. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958. Reprinted by arrangement.
Cloth, 8vo. [8], 92 pp. Wien, 1924. ISBN 1-888262-24-9.
Bolton, Henry Carrington. A Select Bibliography of Chemistry 1492-1892. $135.
Oversized octavo. xiii, 1212 p. City of Washington, Smithsonian Institution, 1893
Henry Carrington Bolton (1843—1903) was truly a Renaissance man, a chemist, world traveler, academic, alpine climber, folklorist, bibliographer, historian and bibliophile. The Bolton Society, an organization of chemical bibliophiles sponsored by the Chemical Heritage Foundation, is named for him.
Of the many contributions which grew out of Bolton's many and varied interests, the most lasting has proved to be his exhaustive works in bibliography, works which are not likely to be surpassed. A Select Bibliography of Chemistry, 1452-1892 published in 1893, contains 12,031 titles.
A sampling of topics covered by Bolton's more than 300 monographs, journal articles and addresses shows the breadth of his interests: action of light on uranium, counting-out rhymes for children, Russian transliteration, Chinese alchemy, glaciers, the early medical practice of women, microscopic crystals found in the vertebrae of toads, Bolton family genealogy, humor in chemistry, index to the literature of uranium, fortune telling, Hawaiian pastimes, evolution of the thermometer, divination with mirrors, physics and faith, language used in talking to domesticated animals, and musical notes emitted by certain beach sands when stepped on. His collection of 600 early books on alchemy and chemistry was one of the finest of its kind at the time. It seems that he was equally at home in all subjects. This title remains a standard work to this day. Published in conjunction with the Bolten Society. #1209
Bonar, James (Edited by). Letters of David Ricardo to Thomas Robert Malthus, 1810-1823. $55.00
Hardbound. Octavo. xxiv, 251. Oxford, Clarendon Press: 1887.
The letters in this collection were written between 1810 and 1823, the last ones dating only a few days before Ricardo's death. The letters are mostly devoted to discussing the many questions in political economy on which the two authors disagreed. Malthus' letters to Ricardo are lost, so we have only Ricardo's response to Malthus. The two men were personal friends, and were often in each other's company, but on economic themes they differed widely. The book is well edited and it contains much information, both in the text and in the notes, about Ricardo and Malthus themselves, and also about other political economists of the period. Inventory # 1268
8vo. xi, 335 pp. Cloth. ISBN 1-888262-39-7.New York 1962. Reprint 1994.
1229 . Boyd, Clarence Eugene. Public Libraries and Literary Culture In Ancient Rome . $ 45.00
Octavo. vii, 77 p. Chicago, Ill., University of Chicago Press, 1915.
One of the few works on Public Libraries in Ancient Rome. The idea of founding public libraries in the capital of the Roman Empire originated with Julius Caesar and was effected by Augustus.
This is a history of the nine public libraries that existed in Rome in the fourth century of the Empire, and that could be identified by name and of this, the seven that could be identified by location. Scarce.
Bosgoed, Dierk Mulder. BIBLIOTHECA ICHTHYOLOGICA ET PISCATORIA: Catalogue de Livres et d'écrits sur L'Histoire Naturelle des Poisons et des Cétacées, La Pisciculture, Les Pêches, La Legislation des Pêches ...$85.
Cloth. Octavo. pp. [iii].xxvi. 474. Haarle: De Erven Loosjes, 1873.
Writing in The Literature of Sea and River Fishing [1883] Manley states that "of the continental contributors…, D. Mulder Bosgoed, librarian of the Rotterdam Library, stands foremost. He published Bibliotheca Ichthyologia et Piscatoria in 1874 [Sic 1873], a work of great comprehensiveness and accuracy, which, up to this date, is a very complete bibliography of angling, and contains notices of books on every conceivable subject connected with fish and fishing, and especially of those published on the Continent." [page 2]. This bibliography is almost impossible to find, and does not appear to have been reprinted previously. In all 6436 works are cited, making this one of the most comprehensive angling and fishing bibliographies in Besterman [2203].
Bourke, John C. Scatalogic Rites of All Nation. $25.00
PAPERBACK. Octavo. xii, 496 pages. Washington: W.H. Lowdermilk & Co, 1891.
John C. Bourke was Captain of the U.S. Third Cavalry, and an author of several books. Perhaps he is most famous for On the Border with Crook, published in 1891. Scatalogic Rites of All Nations is a curious and fascinating treatise on the employment of excrementitious agentsin religion, therapeutics, divination, and witchcraft in all parts of the world. Included are such exotic chapters as "The Urine Dance of the Zunis," "The employment of Excrement in Food by Savage Tribes," "Posture in Latrines," and dozens of othertitles. Though once reprinted in 1968, there are no copies currently available. The original edition bears the warning "Not for General Perusal.".
Bradshaw Collection. A CATALOGUE OF THE BRADSHAW COLLECTION OF IRISH BOOKS IN THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. $225
.
The Catalogue was compiled by Charles Edward Sayle. It includes books printed in Ireland, books written by Irishmen, and books relating to Ireland. In all 8800 books are fully described. The set comprises three volumes. The first volume includes books printed in Dublin, of which the printers are known. This contains at the end a separate index of Dublin Printers.The second volume contains books printed in Dublin of which the printer is not known, Irish Provincial Printing, the works of Irish authors printed elsewhere, books printed elsewhere which relate to Ireland, as well as several valuable indexes and appendices. To our knowledge this title has not been previously reprinted. Besterman 5140.
Bragge, William, 1823-1884. BIBLIOTHECA NICOTIANA: A CATALOGUE OF BOOKS ABOUT TOBACCO, TOGETHER WITH A CATALOGUE OF OBJECTS CONNECTED TO THE USE OF TOBACCO IN ALL ITS FORMS $70.00
Large Octavo. Hardcover. 3 p. l., ii, [5]-248, Birmingham, Priv. print. [Hudson and son] 1880.
It took Bragge twenty years to put together this collection of books and objects relating to tobacco. Included is a chronological list of 409 titles of books, and a classified catalogue (with separate t.-p.) of about 13,000 objects connected with the use of tobacco ("an ethnographic collection ... pipes, snuff mills and snuff rasps ... snuff bottles," fire strikers, tinder boxes, etc. Very scarce in the original. Original edition is limited to 200 copies.
Bretschneider, E. Notices of the Mediæval Geography And History Of Central And Western Asia. $60.00
Oversized octavo. Book iv, [1] leaf, 233 p., [2] folded leaves of plates ; London : Trübner & Co., 1876 Bretschneider work is an account of the ancient historical and geographical accounts of the Chinese, as far as they treat of nations, countries and events spoken of also by western writers. These observations are in turn compared with the writings of western authors from the middle ages.
The narratives are written by travelers to western Asia in the Mongel period and were originally written in the 13th century.
The paper into various chapters, including the following
1. Writings of eastern and western authors to Mongolia.
2. An account of the Kara-khitai, an interesting nation originating in eastern Asia that in the 12th century dominated over the whole of central Asia.
3. Accounts found in Chinese and Mongol medieval works with respect to the Mohommedans.
4. The Record of military doings of the Mongols in the far west.
5. An explanation of an ancient Chinese map of western and central Asia, dating from the first half of the 14th century.
Extremely rare book, only six copies appearing in library holdings in the United States. To our knowledge not previous reprinted.
Octavo. Cloth. 306 + 200 + 179 + 254 + 158 + indexes and prices realized. Five parts bound in two volumes. Hartford: Case Lockwood & Brainard Company 1879-1893
Folio [9 X 12]. 158 p. illus., ports. Hilversum, Holland, Paper Publications Society, 1952 . Useful publication by the Paper Publications Society of Hilversum Holland. Limited to an original edition of 400 copies, this is the first reprint of this title.
Included are Indexes to Briquet's Les Filigranes in German, English and Italian. There are also articles by paper scholars on Briquet and on papermaking in general.
Contributors include Dard Hunter, E.J. Labarre, Armin Renker, Henri Alibaux and others. Reprinted by Krown & Spellman by arrangement.
Briquet, Charles Moise. LES FILIGRANES. DICTIONNAIRE HISTORIQUE DES MARQUES DU PAPIER DES LEUR APPARITION VERS 1282 JUSQU'EN 1600. $275.
Hardbound. Oversized Quarto. Hardcover. 141p. London: Clayton & Co, [1872] .Extremely scarce government report on Richard Burton's troubled tenure and recall as Consul in Damascus. Published for Foreign office use, and not to be distributed. No copies located in U.S. libraries. Burton's appointment to Damascus as Consul had been immediately controversial. Many of the behind-the-scenes negotiations among his enemies were supposedly unknown to him until later. Even before he had arrived from South America, Sir Henry Elliot, the British ambassador at Constantinople, had written to the Home Office that among the ruling circles in Damascus Burton's appointment was viewed with apprehension and that “undesirable consequences” were feared. In fact, Burton did encounter problems and was recalled. This Foreign Office publications is a record of his tenure and recall as Consul. Extremely scarce. Penzer p. 216
8vo. 8 vols. in four. Over 4,000p. Cloth. ISBN 1-57898-012-6. London 1903-1940. Reprint 1992.
4to. ix, 357 pp. Cloth. Illustrated. ISBN 1-888262-40-0. Florence 1927. Reprint 1994.
Cloth. Quarto. xiv, 132 p. illus., maps, facsimiles, plans. Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1959This hard to find work is one of the few books written on the cartography of the Ohio River and its valley. Its basin covers 200,000 square miles, and the river runs for 987 miles.
Brown's carto-bibliography describes 52 printed and manuscript maps of the region. The first manuscript map is Marquettes map of 1673. The first printed map is Coronelli's America Settentrionale of 1688. The author provides excellent annotations for each of the 52 maps selected. For each map the following information is provided: Engraver, full title, date, size and an average of 3-5 paragraphs of descriptive annotations. The latter feature is arguably the most significant contribution of all.
Also described are maps by Hennepin, LaHontan, Coxe, Wells, Popple, Mercer, Rhode, Mithcell, Stobo and numerous others. All maps date from 1673 to 1783.
All maps are illustrated. A difficult book to find. Not previously reprinted. Ristow, Guide to the Literature of Cartography #60
Bruel, Georges. BIBLIOGRAPHIE DE L'AFRIQUE ÉQUATORIALE FRANCAISE. $65.00.
Cloth. Oversized Octavo. pp. [iii]. iv.326. Paris: Emile Larose, 1914.French Equatorial Africa is the former French federation in West Central Africa. It consisted of four constituent territories: Gabon, Middle Congo, Chad and Ubangi-Shari (now the Central African Republic). The capital was Brazzaville. The federation was formed in large part through the efforts of Savorgnan de Brazza, who forged the link between French possessions in the Congo basin and those in West Africa. French Equatorial Africa (originally called French Congo) was officially established in 1910.
Georges Bruel was Administrateur en Chef des Colonies for France. Bruel's bibliography is modeled after Grandidier's classic Bibliographie de Madagascar. All the books, articles and pamphlets of each author are described. 7029 items are described. There is a subject index as well. Besterman 175. Scarce. We found no copies for sale over the last year.
Brun, Robert. LE LIVRE ILLUSTRÉ EN FRANCE AU XVIE SIÈCLE, AVEC 32 PLANCHES HORS TEXTE. $75. Oversized Octavo. [iii].336. Paris: F. Alcan, 1930. 32 illustrations. Includes 156 illustrations. Brun provides t en chapters followed by an annotated bibliographical catalogue of the principal books illustrated in France during the sixteenth century. Illustrated and indexed. In all 1250 books are described. Never reprinted, this remains a difficult title to find. Includes 32 illustrations, mostly of title pages. Besterman 3010.
Brun, Karl. Schweizerisches Künstler-Lexikon. $395.00
Octavo. German. Four volumes: xvi,648; vi,711; vi,584; vi,712. Frauenfeld, Huber, 1905-1917.
Still the standard work on Swiss Art. Scholarly entries on painters, printmakers, sculptors, and architects, as well as decorative artists from about the 14th c. through the 19th. Provides lists of works and bibliographic data for the more important figures. V.4 is a supplement containing new information gathered since the set was begun. “Prints are by Swiss artists only. Selective Catalogues are provided for some printmakers but not all. Some Catalogues are extensive, and may possibly be complete.” Riggs, The Print Council Index to Oeuvre-Catalogues of Prints by European and American Artists, page xxxvii-xxxviii.
Brunet, Pierre Gustave. RECHERCHES SUR LES IMPRIMERIES IMAGINAIRES, CLANDSTINES ET PARTICULIERES.$55.
Cloth. Oversized Octavo. pp.viii. 113. Bruxelles: Gay et Douce, 1879.This scholarly bibliography is concerned with books that were, for whatever reason, given false or imaginary imprints. The reason was most likely fear of retaliation from offended parties. Mostly the offended parties were governments who did not approve of the political views expressed in these works, or religious leaders who opposed what they believed to be the heretical views. In either case, false imprints served to disguise the true author and origin of the book and thereby attempt to evade retribution.
Another reason for a false imprint was piracy. False imprints could disguise the identity and location of those attempting to pirate the work of others.
Brunet's work is an important and rare contribution to the literature of false or fictitious imprints. He describes 500 books in ample detail, including all the basic information, plus useful annotations.
Though once reprinted in 1969, no copies have been available for quite some time. Besterman 2272.
Burrage, Henry S; John Larkin Lincoln.Brown University in the Civil War: A memorial.
Hardbound. Octavo. English. xii p., 1 l., 380 p. Providence [Providence Press Co., printers] 1868 Reprint of the original edition.
Contents: The University in Relation to the Rebellion by H.S. Burrage. Biographies of Students who Died in the Service; The Memorial Tablet in Manning Hall, by J.L. Lincoln; Roll of Students, Graduates and non-graduates Who Served in the Army or Navy of the United States during the War of the Rebellion, compiled by H.S. Burrage. Listin in Nevins, Civil War Books [II:144], the book has become rare because what was high quality paper in 1868 is now brittle and flaking. Bookseller Inventory # 1250
Bury, J. B. A History of The Eastern Roman Empire From The Fall Of Irene to the Accession Of Basil I. (A.D. 802-867). $85.00
Oversized octavo. Book xv, 530 p. London, Macmillan and Co., 1912 John Bagnell Bury was born in county Monaghan Ireland and studied at Trinity College Dublin, holding academic posts there and at Cambridge. He was both a classicist and a byzantinist and, for much of his career, a strong believer in the 19th century ideas of rationalism and progress. Bury was without doubt one of the most outstanding Byzantinists of his age. He was a scholar of great range and unusual learning, with a marked capacity for penetrating and critical analysis and a characteristically disciplined and austere approach. According to Bury, history must follow the methods of the natural sciences, stressing the exact determination of facts, rather than functioning as a branch of literature.This title is one of the most comprehensive on the 65 year period from the Fall of Irene to the Accession of Basil I.This is one of his more important works.