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London : for W. Bent, (1792). An interesting late eightenth-century edition of both parts of this popular devotional guide, constantly in print since its first appearance in the 1730s. The present copy was bound, almost certainly in Liverpool, for “Pudsey Dawson, Esqr. Bailiff, 1797”, whose name is unusually but prominently tooled in gilt on the upper cover. Dawson (1752-1816) was rather more than just a bailiff, serving as Mayor of Liverpool at one time (Pudsey Street is named after him and there is a portrait in the Liverpool Record Office). A man of notable piety as well as wealth, remembered as one of Liverpool’s “most active, enlightened and useful citizens”, he was also the founder of the first school for the blind in the country. An internal inscription records his gift of the book to his eldest daughter, Mary Dawson (1779-1855) on Christmas Eve, 1803.
Crown 12mo (160 x 94mm). [iv],[2],viii,142,144pp. Engraved frontispiece. Contemporary full blue-black goatskin, ruled and tooled in gilt; all edges gilt; marbled endleaves; lightly rubbed and a touch bruised; a few minor internal marks, spots and tiny flaws, but overall a very good copy of most attractive survival. Later armorial “Fac et Spera” bookplate on front pastedown.

£400

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London : W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 1831. First edition. An extended catechism, with a supplementary table of biblical texts pointing out various duties, sins to be avoided, threatenings to the wicked, blessings to the righteous, etc., compiled for the use of the Harewood Sunday School in Yorkshire, and prepared for publication by the local vicar, Richard Hale (1773-1854), evidently in memory of the compiler, his late wife, Mary Ann Hale, née Loft, and their short marriage of just five years.
Post 12mo (18cm). (96)pp. Original sheep-backed boards; a little rubbed and worn; some staining to boards; stitching slack and a few leaves loose; a serviceable copy of a very uncommon book. Contemporary (1833) pencilled ownership inscription of a member of the Pulford family. Only a single copy (Roderic Bowen Library) located in major libraries worldwide.

£75

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London : National Council of Evangelical Free Churches, 1907. First edition. Twenty-nine improving talks for the young, with metaphors from sports and hobbies – cricket, golf, cycling, photography, and much else – “We are the batsmen, and we have to keep our wicket up”, etc.
Crown 8vo (20cm). viii,(140)pp. Original pictorial cloth, gilt and enamelled; spine a touch dulled, but overall a very good copy.

£40

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London : John Murray, 1845. First Owen Jones edition. One of the highlights of early Victorian book production and early colour printing – the text with decorative borders and initials throughout, many in colour, interspersed with divisional titles chromolithographed in gold and glowing colours, and illustrations drawn from the great masters.
Royal 8vo (239 x 153mm). xl,484pp. Eight illuminated titles by Jones, with four less elaborate by Henry Warren and John C. Horsley; vignettes, initials, borders and ornaments by Jones; illustrations by George Scharf after Raphael, etc.; original publisher’s roan over bevelled boards, richly gilt; expertly rebacked and refurbished, retaining the original spine; all edges gilt; some light rubbing, sunning and wear; inner hinges reinforced; some occasional spotting, but still an attractive copy of a handsome book. Small ownership stamp of the old Williams’s Library of Cheltenham.

£250

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London : National Temperance Publication Depôt, [1882]. First edition. “To teach that Christ made, and the Bible approved, the social use of fermented intoxicating wine is, therefore, to teach that He made, and the Bible sanctioned the social use of, a narcotic poison, poisonous alike to body and to brain ...”. Gallant attempt to prove that all the wine in the Christian canon was non-alcoholic.
Crown 8vo (19cm). (174),[ii]pp. Original cloth gilt; lightly rubbed; a few spots, but a very good copy.

£20

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