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1. Homer lliad'
Price: $500 Buy now

Published by Clarendoniano 1811-2 Vols. In Original Greek. Original bindings in pig- skin with decorations to the covers and spine. These are very rare volumns. The books are in very fine condition. High collectable in the original Greek.

3. Renaissance of Italy'
Price $75 Buy now

Italian Literature in 2 Vols. By John Addington Symonds. Published by Smith, Elder-1898. Original dark-green bindings with gild decorations to the front covers and gilt lettering to the spines. The 2 Vols are in very fine condition and are highly sought after.

4. MCLEAN, JOHN,
The Indians: Their Manners and Customs
Price : $150 Buy now

 Publisher;-Toronto, William Briggs 1889, First Edition No Jacket Cloth Very Good Red cloth with black and gilt decoration to the front board and the spine. Illustrated throughout in black and white. Book a bit faded on the spine, with some scuffing to the cloth. Cloth to the outer extremities of the boards and the spine a little worn, some general light soiling to the cloth and the outer page edges. Still a beautiful collectable book. I offer this book for $150. John Mclean;-1851-1928 Methodist missionary, writer. Born in Kilmarnock, Scotland, he came to Canada in 1873 and was educated at Victoria University (BA 1882, MA 1887) and Illinois Wesleyan University (PhD 1888). He served as a missionary to the Blood Indians in Alberta and held various charges in the West until he retired from the ministry in 1911. In 1895 he was president of the Manitoba and North West Conference of the Methodist Church. He founded the McLean Mission in Winnipeg, and from 1921 to 1928 was librarian of Wesley College. He wrote extensively on the Indians of the Northwest, publishing books such as The Indians, Their Manners and Customs (1889), Canadian Savage Folk: The Native Tribes of Canada (1896), and The Warden of the Plains and Other Stories (1896). He also wrote many biographies of prominent Methodist pioneer churchmen in the West, and as “Robin Rustler” contributed children’s fiction to many periodicals. He was an ardent opponent of the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919. His diary and extensive papers are in the Victoria University Archives, Toronto.

5. Contes Du Lundi'
Price : $100 Buy now

Published by Alphonse Daudet. Published by Editions du Pantheon, Paris 1949. Dix Illustration en couleurs de C. Chopy. 1st. Edition in French. Stunning coloured illustration throughout. Original paper-dust-jacket, with coloured illustration to the front cover, and black lettering along th espine, the book is highly collectable and in fine condition. Rare in this condition.

6. The Duchess of Malfi
Price : SOLD

(Publisher series: Temple Dramatists.) Webster, John (Edited and Annotated by C. Vaughan.) 1907, 3rd edition. (12mo) Very good, no dust jacket. 153pp. Green cloth with gilt lettering on the spine. Top edge gilt, ribbon marker, frontispiece with a tissue guard, decorated title page, glossary, notes. There is a previous owner's name, and there is a small stain on the top of the front cover near the spine. Publisher series: Temple Dramatists. Edited and Annotated by C. Vaughan. (Drama, Drama). What makes this book special is that it was Annotated by the Playwriter;- Edmund Blunden I offer this book with the signature of E. Blunden on the opening page. Its in a beautiful condition. The Annotates are in Blunden’s hand;- so very Rare.
Edmund Blunden (1896-1974) was the longest serving First World War poet, and saw continuous action in the front line, between 1916-18. His life-long friend Siegfried Sassoon maintained that Blunden was the ‘poet of the war most lastingly obsessed by it.’ His prose account of the war, Undertones of War is still in print. It is accompanied by a supplement of poems, some written while he was still at the front. His pioneering literary work on John Clare, Wilfred Owen, Leigh Hunt and Ivor Gurney made these poets available to the twentieth century reader for the first time. The war remained a backdrop to his prolific writing which leaves a continuing testimony to the after-effects of war on the human mind. He worked between 1919 and 1970 as a poet, literary editor, journalist, biographer and lecturer, travelling and teaching in England, Japan and Hong Kong. His connections with the Far East spanned from 1924 - 1964. He was elected Professor of Poetry at Oxford University in 1966.

7. Edward F. Strange, 
Chinese Lacquer.
Price $450 Buy now 

Publisher: Ernest Benn, London. 1926;- First edition. Quarto. pp xii, 72 + 54 plates, several in colour and with captioned guards. Black cloth with gilt vignette to front. 600 copies printed. The author had been Keeper of Woodwork at the Victoria and Albert Museum.Fine in near-fine ;- Scarce in such brilliant condition.

8. The Badmington Library;-Cricket
by A.G.Steel & Hon. R. H. Lyttelton; -
Price $750 Buy now

Published by Longmans, Green, & Co. 1888. With numerous illustrations throughout. 1st. Edition of a very Rare Book on Cricket. With contributions by W. G. Grace, one of the Greats in Cricket. There are no 1st. Edition on the world-wide net. So I offer this Rare collectable sports book. The Development Of Cricket by the Hon. R. H. Lyttelton; Cambridge Memories by A. G. Steel; Personal Recollections Of W. G. Grace by Lord Harris; Allan Gibson "AG" Steel (registered at birth as Alan Gibson Steel) (24 September 1858 in West Derby, Liverpool – 15 June 1914 in London) was a Lancashire and England cricketer, who was reckoned by many in his day to be the equal of the legendary W G Grace. The son of Joseph Steel of Liverpool, and Kirkwood in Scotland, he was one of seven cricketing brothers and three of his brothers Ernest (EE), Douglas (DQ) and Harold (HB), also played first-class cricket for Lancashire. After his schooldays at Marlborough College, where he played cricket superbly, he proceeded to Trinity Hall, Cambridge.[1] He was an instant star in the Cambridge University side of 1878 where he topped the bowling averages for the whole of England as a freshman. According to HS Altham, "it was unquestionably A.G. Steel's bowling that made the difference between a good and a great eleven". Steel played in the first ever Test Match in England at the Oval in 1880, then in the famous Test which England narrowly lost in 1882. The mock obituary was published in the Sporting Times saying "R.I.P. English Cricket...the body will be cremated and the Ashes will be taken to Australia." Soon after Steel set off for Australia with his Cambridge University friends Ivo Bligh and the Studd brothers George and Charles, and a team they had put together. They toured Australia in 1882-1883 and won the agreed series 2-1, thus being given a small urn. They are commemorated by the poem inscribed on the side of the urn: When Ivo goes back with the urn, the urn; Studds, Steel, Read and Tylecote return, return; The welkin will ring loud, The great crowd will feel proud, Seeing Barlow and Bates with the urn, the urn; And the rest coming home with the urn. Steel scored 135 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in a Fourth Test match arranged as an "extra" on that tour, in 1883. Over the whole tour he topped both the batting and the bowling averages. Steel, who was known by his initials to differentiate him from his brothers, then made his highest Test score, of 148, in 1884 which was the first ever Test match century scored at Lord's. His name still heads the Honours Board. He captained England in 1886 winning all three times - whitewashing the Australians 3-0. His last Test was in 1888, again as captain but losing this one. He was president of the Marylebone Cricket Club for 1902. His son Allan Ivo Steel played a handful of first-class matches for MCC and Middlesex but was killed in the First World War.

9. 16th. Century Islamic 
Mamluk Gold Illustrated Manuscript Quran;
Price  SOLD

The Manuscript is Handwritten Quran Jouz;- 

It is the 6th. Jouz from the Holy Quran;-Ir beautiful bound in Light brown leather with Islamic leather scroll to front and back.. it’s beautiful..Its gold borders throughout. A very Rare Quran for $4,500. The exquiste illuminations, calligraphy, and bindings of Mamluk Korans are unequaled in any other Islamic tradition of bookmaking. The technical and artistic virtousity found in these manuscipts is representative of the Mamluks, who, embracing Islam with the fervor of converts, endowed elaborate religious complexes and supplied each major foundation with its set of Korans. Following the Ayyubid state in 1250 AD, the Mamluk sultans established a formidable empire, ruling Egypt, Syria, and Palestine for more than two hundred and fifty years, their frontiers extending from southeatern Anatolia to the Hijaz and incorporating parts of Sudan and Libya. Soon after coming to power, they defeated the mongols and explled the last of the Crusaders from the Near East. Trade and agriculture flourshied under Mamluk rule, and Cairo, their capital, became one of the wealthiest cities in the Near East and the center of artistic and intellectual activity. It also became the seat of the caliphate and, thus, the most prestegious capital in the Islamic world. It was the greatest Islamic empire of the middle ages, occupying lands from Egypt along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean to Syria and across the Red Sea. In Arabic, Mamluk means 'owned', and was used to describe non-Muslim slaves brought to Egypt to serve as soldiers in struggles between Islamic rulers, in part to avoid the religious prohibition of Muslim fighting Muslim. Many Mamluks converted and, slaves no longer, were able to attain high positions. Eventually Mamluks took power in Egypt. After defeating the Mongol armies in 1260, they annexed strongholds across the eastern Mediterranean and took control of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Cairo, the Mamluk capital, became the economic and cultural hub of the Islamic world. Architecture, manuscript illumination, textiles and glass-making evolved rich Mamluk styles that were influential even in Europe.

10. William Nicholson
 ' A Dictionary of Chemistry'
Price : $1,550 Buy now

A Dictionary of Chemistry, exhibiting the present state of the theory and practice of that science, its application to natural philosophy, the processes of manufactures, metallurgy, and numerous other arts dependent on the properties and habitudes of bodies, in the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms. By William Nicholson;-  Published in London;-  by G.G. and J. Robinson, 1795.
    1st. Edition of Nicholson’s 2 volume large dictionary of chemistry, the first dictionary of chemistry by an Englishman. Beautifully rebound in three quarter dark brown leather with marbled brown speckled paper to both front and back of both volumes, gilt lettering and date of 1795 to both volumes to labels to the spine, with leather tooling to the edging of both spines. Both Volumes have 1,132 pages including 4 full page engravings, with two of the engraving as large fold-out plans. Slight foxing to the engraved plates, old repair sellotape to page 363, back of 364, but no loss of text. The alphabet is used from volume one starting with ABS for Absorbent to Zaf- Zin for Zaffre— followed by a one page Appendix and then Table of Binary Compounds, followed by Additions, Acids, of Tartar, Empyreumatic.  Then Index of Names..Four Engraved plates.. all to the back of Volume 2. 
    William Nicholson was at the time a renowned  man of science and inventor, an English Chemist and writer on "natural philosophy" and chemistry, as well as a translator, journalist, publisher, scientist, inventor, patent agent and civil engineer. William Nicholson gave much attention to the construction of various machines for comb-cutting, file-making, cylinder printing and other uses, he also invented an areometer. William Nicholson invented a machine for printing on linen, cotton, woollen, and other articles, by means of ‘blocks, types, plates, and originals, which were to be firmly imposed upon a cylindrical surface in the same manner as common letter is imposed upon a flat stone.’ ‘From the mention of “colouring cylinder” and “paper-hangings, floorcloths, cottons, linens, woollens, leather, skin, and every other flexible material” mentioned in the specification, it would appear,’ writes Dr. Smiles, ‘as if Nicholson's invention were adapted for calico-printing and paper-hangings, as well as for the printing of books. But it was never used for any of these purposes. It contained merely the register of an idea, and that was all.’ The scheme was never in practical operation; Nicholson's patent with produced an entire revolution in the mechanism of the art. Nicholson's next published‘A Dictionary of Chemistry, exhibiting the Present State of the Theory and Practice of that Science, its Application to Natural Philosophy, the Processes of Manufactures … with a number of Tables,’ 2 vols. 4to, London, 1795; and two years afterwards he commenced his well-known ‘Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and the Arts.

11.John Wilkins, 
Mathematicall Magik 1648.
Price $5,000 Buy now

They were the nucleus of the future Royal Society: John Wallis, Jonathan Goddard, William Petty, Thomas Willis, Robert Boyle, Hooke, and many more. Wilkins was one of the founders of the Royal Society, and its first secretary.

Publisher: M.F. for S. Gellibrand;- In  London:1648

1st. Edition of 1648. complete with all the engrave plates. Very scarce and rare, very highly collectable;- Beautifully re-bound in three quarter dark brown leather with a red label with gilt lettering to the top of spine. Boxed in red lather box. Scarce & Rare.

John Wilkins (1 January 1614 – 19 November 1672) was an English clergyman, natural philosopher and author, as well as a founder of the Royal Society, and Bishop of Chester from 1668 until his death.

Wilkins is one of the few persons to have headed a college at both the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. He was a polymath, although not one of the most important scientific innovators of the period. His personal qualities were brought out, and obvious to his contemporaries, in reducing political tension in Interregnum Oxford, in founding the Royal Society on non-partisan lines, and in efforts to reach out to religious nonconformists. He was one of the founders of the new natural theology compatible with the science of the time.[1]

He is particularly known for An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language in which, amongst other things, he proposed a universal language and a decimal system of measure not unlike the modern metric system

12. Lexicon Technicum.

or, an Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences:

Explaining not only the Terms of Art, but the Arts Themselves

Harris, John.(1666-1719)
 Price: $15,000 Buy now 



​   Lexicon Technicum: Or, An Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences: Explaining not only the Terms of Art, but the Arts Themselves was in many respects the first alphabetical encyclopaedia written in English. Although the emphasis of the Lexicon Technicum was on mathematical subjects, its contents go beyond what would be called science or technology today, in conformity with the broad eighteenth-century understanding of the terms "arts" and "science," and it includes entries on the humanities and fine arts, notably on law, commerce, music, and heraldry. In contrast, the Lexicon Technicum neglects theology, antiquity, biography, and poetry.


The Lexicon Technicum was the work of a London clergyman,  John Harris.  Its professed advantage over French dictionaries of the arts and sciences was that it contained explanation not only of the terms used in the arts and sciences, but also of the arts and sciences themselves. Harris issued a three-page proposal for this work in 1702, and the first edition, in one  Folio volume, was published in London in 1704. A second edition appeared 1708. Volume 2, separately alphabetised, was published in 1710.


The first volume contains 1220 pages, 4 plates, and many additional diagrams and figures within the text. Like many early English encyclopedias, the pages are not numbered; numbering may have been thought unnecessary as readers could search by its alphabetical arrangement. In his preface, Harris stated that he got less help from previous dictionaries than one would expect. While acknowledging some borrowing, Harris insisted that "much the greater part of what [the reader] will find here is collected from no Dictionaries, but from the best Original Authors I could procure." Harris's preface justifiably touted his coverage of mathematical subjects. He admitted the imperfection of his data on stars, noting that Flamsteed had refused to assist him, but he vaunted his coverage of astronomy, especially his full coverage of Newton's theories of the moon and of comets. In botany he claimed to have given "a pretty exact botanick lexicon, which was what we really wanted before," using Dr. John Ray's  method. To describe the parts of a ship accurately, he supposedly "often" went on board himself. In law, he wrote, he abridged from the best writers and had the result "carefully examined and corrected by a Gentleman of known Ability in that Profession."


The specified aims of the book did not prevent Harris from including some highly opinionated asides, for example this definition conveying the poor view he took of lawyers: "Sollicitor, is a Man imploy'd to take care of, and follow Suits depending in Courts of Law, or Equity, formerly allowed only to Nobility, whose Menial Servants they were; but now too frequently used by others, to the damage of the People, and the increase of  Champerty and Maintenance.'




Harris wrote that he had wished to supply an index for each art and science as well as more plates on anatomy and ships, but the undertakers could not afford it, "the Book having swelled so very much beyond the Expectation."


A review of his work, extending to the unusual length of four pages, appeared in the Philosophical Transactions for 1704.


A second volume, 1st.  Edition of 1,419 pages and 4 plates appeared in 1710, with a list of about 1300 subscribers. A previously unpublished treatise on acids by Issac Newton was included, perhaps without the latter's permission or encouragement. A large part of the volume consists of mathematical and astronomical tables, since Harris intended his work to serve as a small mathematical library. John Harris provided tables of logarithms, sines, tangents, and secants, a two-page list of books, and an index of the articles in both volumes under 26 heads, filling 50 pages. The longest lists are for Law (1700 articles), Surgery, Anatomy, Geometry, Fortification, Botany, and Music.


The Lexicon Technicum was very popular, enduring through at least to 1744 as the main rival of  Ephraim Chambers's Cyclopaedia. A third edition was published in two folio volumes in 1716-23; a fourth edition was published in one folio volume in 1725; and a fifth edition was published in two folio volumes in 1736. Lastly, an anonymous one-volume supplement appeared in 1744, with 996 pages and 6 plates. This work was allegedly "not well received," being perceived by contemporaries as a mere "booksellers speculation."In any case, no new editions of the Lexicon Technicum were published thereafter.2 Vols. 1708 -2nd edition. 1708-1710


        John   Harris, Lexicon Technicum: Or, an Universal English Dictionary of aArts and Sciences: Explaining not only the terms of art, but the arts themselves. 2 vols., folio. Engraved portrait frontispiece of John Harris by G. White after R. White in Vol. I, 14 engraved plates, text woodcuts. London: Dan Brown, Tim. Goodwin, John Walthoe [etc.], 1708-1710. 320 x 205 mm. Panelled calf ca. 1708-10, re-backed spine, with gilt lettering within a red label, endpapers renewed. First Edition of the first English dictionary of arts and sciences, and the earliest modern encyclopedia of science. Harris was the first to make the distinction between "word-books" (dictionaries) and "subject-books (encyclopedias), and his Lexicon Technicum is the first English encyclopedia to be arranged in alphabetical order. Harris relied heavily on the writings of Isaac Newton as a source, quoting lengthy excerpts from them under such headings as "Attraction," "Colour," "Fluxions," "Gravity," "Light," and "Motion." The introduction to Vol. II contains the first printing (in Latin and English) of Newton's "De natura acidorum," his only published work on chemistry; and the articles "Quadrature" and "Curves" give the first English translations of the "Two treatises" from Newton's Opticks. The subscription list in Vol. II has Newton down for a large paper copy of the Lexicon. Complete sets Lexicon Technicum are Rare/Scarce….

13. John Locke;- 
The Works Of John Locke, ESQ;
In Three Volumes.
The Sixth Edition.
To Which Is Added The Life of the Author; and a Collection of Several of His Pieces Published by Mr. Desmaizeaux. 1759
Price  Sold

Published by D. Browne et al.,  In London;- 1759 - The last 18th century folio edition, and notable for having the typographic errors of earlier editions corrected. 3 Folio (14-1/4î tall). 3 vols.  Illustrated with an engraved frontispiece, portrait of Locke and the epitaph plate. Original blue marbled paper cover to all three volumes. This edition is rare because of the typographic collections of previous edition. An index of volume 3. Highly collectable Folios.

The "Conduct of the Understanding", originally intended to form a chapter of Locke's "Essay", was first published separately in 1754, and became one of his most popular works. Locke had refrained from publishing his scathing "Examination of P. Malebranche's Opinion" in his lifetime, believing that his ideas would soon crumble under the weight of their own contradictions. The "Discourse of Miracles" was written in response to Fleetwood's essay on the subject. The unfinished "Fourth Letter for Toleration" was his final contribution to the controversy with Jonas Proast, the Chaplain of All Souls, Oxford. The last essay i n this collection, originally written in French and published in Le Clerc's "Bibliothèque Universelle et Historique" in 1686, was in fact the first of Locke's works to be published.

14. David Brewster.
Price $100 Buy now

THE LIFE OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON

   London. John Murray. 1st Edn.. 1831. Small 8vo, 15x9.5 cms. Pp.,xvi,366. Engraved portrait frontispiece, engraved vignette title page. 16 text illustrations. Beautiful rebound in three quarter brown leather, with a red label with gilt letter within. A highly collectable book on Newton, all the illustrations are present.  A small sturdy book, and quite attractive

David Brewster is chiefly remembered today for his invention of the kaleidoscope (1816). “Its invention was a direct result of his studies of theory of polarization by multiple reflections....After the 1830's Brewster directed his attention to such subjects as photography, stereoscopy, and the physiology of vision. At the same time he began to emphasize his writing rather than his editing. His biographies of Newton, Galileo, Tycho Brahe, and Kepler; his numerous articles for the Encyclopaedia Britannica; and his hundred or more major essay reviews were, for the most part, written after 1830. His time for research was limited, and he had largely achieved his original research goals. Also, optics was increasingly dominated by an unwelcome theory, the undulatory theory of light. ” (D.S.B. II: 453). “In 1831 he published a short popular account of the philosopher's life in Murray's Family Library; but it was not until 1855 that he was able to issue the much fuller Memoirs of the Life, Writings and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton, a work which embodied the results of more than twenty years' investigation of original manuscripts and other available sources.

15. John Froissart, 
Chronicles of England, France, Spain.
Price : $250 SOLD

AND THE ADJOINING COUNTRIES FROM THE LATTER PART OF THE REIGN OF EDWARD II TO THE CORONATION OF HENRY IV 

Translation by Thomas Johnes.  Two Volumes.

Published in London - by William Smith, 1839;- two volumes;-  Bound in fullleather binding, with gilt lettering, & gilt  decoration to both volumes;- Hand-coloured full page illustration to volume 1;-  Complete in Two Volumes. The book are in a very fine condition. Very handsome books of a highly collectable volumes.

Translated from the French Editions, with Variations and Additions from many celebrated mss, by Thomas Johnes. With a Life of the Author, An Essay on his Works, and a Criticism of his History. With an elegant colour title page. With numerous in-text illustrations. Jean Froissart, c. 1337 c. 1405, often referred to in English as John Froissart, was one of the most important of the chroniclers of medieval France. Thomas Johnes, 1748 - 1816, was an agriculturist and translator of medieval French chronicles. In 1802 Johnes set up a printing press at Pwllpeiran, some distance from the main house. Encouraged by his many literary friends, including George Cumberland, Robert Anderson, and Lord Chancellor Thurlow, he embarked on a prolific career as a translator of the medieval French chronicles.

16. A Short Memoir of the Life of the late Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Price : $150 Buy now

including his Celebrated Speech. Against Warren Hastings 1788. Published by J. Booth 1816. This is a very Rare booklet. Rebound to protect the original paper covers. The book is fine and in very good condition, with original paper covers intact.

17. The Gentleman’s Magazine; and Historical Chronicle;- by Sylvanus Urban.
 Price : Sold Buy Now

Published by John Nichols 1824. Volume XC1V. From July to December 1824. These books came out twice a year. Many stunning illustration throughout this book, some are fold-outs, and tissue guards; In beautiful condition. Original marble-boards, with a brown strip to the spine, and a black name-label to the spine. The book is highly collectable, and rare.

18. Switzerland’ 
by Karl Baedeker;
$75 Buy now

Published by Baedeker, Leipzig; 1911. Switzerland and the adjacent portions of Italy, Savoy and Tyrol. With 75 fold-out maps and 12 Panoramas. Original red-cloth covers with gilt lettering both to the spine and front covers. All the maps & plans are intact. The Guide is in very fine condition and is highly collectable.

19. An Address to the Irish People’ 
by Percy Bysshe Shelley;
Price : $150 Buy now

Published by Reeves & Turner 1890, for the Shelley Society;- One of 200 copies printed. Printed from the original edition of 1812. Edited by Thomas J.Wise; with an introduction by T. W. Rolleston. .Original hard-covers, some slight wear & tears, otherwise a fine copy of a very Rare book.

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