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1. "THE TRIAL OF HENRY LORD VISCOUNT MELVILLE" 1806
Price : $450 Buy Now

BEFORE THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE HOUSE OF PEERS, IN WESTMINSTER HALL, IN FULL PARLIAMENT, FOR HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, UPON AN IMPEACHMENT, BY THE KNIGHTS, CITIZENS AND BURGESSES IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED, IN THE NAME OF THEMSELVES, AND OF ALL THE COMMONS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, BEGUN THE 29TH DAY OF APRIL, 1806, AND FROM THENCE CONTINUED, BY SEVERAL ADJOURNMENTS, UNTIL THE 12TH DAY OF JUNE, 1806. PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE HOUSE OF PEERS."                     

The Trial of Henry Lord Viscount Melville in Westminster Hall.

The last major trial to take place in Westminster Hall was Viscount Melville 1806 

"Printed for Joseph Gurney and William Brodie Gurney. Sold by M. Gurney, Bookseller, Holborn-Hill, 1st.ed., Original Brown leather binding, with gilt lettering and designs to the spine;- (large Folio). The Gurney family were experts in short-hand and attended all the major trials and Courts-martial of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Lord Melville, Henry Dundas, first Viscount Melville, (1742-1811) was educated in Edinburgh and held various high positions in Scotland before moving south to London. He carried the resolution that Warren Hastings should  be recalled from India in 1782, and in 1782-3 he was Privy Councillor and Treasurer of the Navy. He was an obstinate defender of the war with America, and in 1786 defended Hasting’s Rohilla War. He went on to hold several high officers in both England and Scotland including Home Secretary 1791-1794; and President of the Board of Control 1793-1801. In 1793 he spoke in support of the East India Company and between 1794 and 1801 he was also Secretary of War. Dundas planned and carried out the Egyptian campaign of 1801 against the opinion of Pitt and the King, and was created Viscount Melville of Melville and Baron Dunira in 1802. Between 1804 and 1805 Melville served as First Lord of the Admiralty and here his troubles began. He was erased from the Roll of the Privy Council in 1805 and impeached in 1806 for gross malversation and breech of duty as Treasurer of the Navy. The great trial before his peers lasted a fortnight and he was found guilty of negligence but they acquitted him of all charges involving his honour and he was restored to the Privy Council in 1807. Thereafter he lived mostly at Dunira, his seat near Comrie and died a few years later in 1811. Impeachment was, and is, an unusual event and only evoked in the most serious circumstances such as treason, etc. Two of the most famous cases in history are those of Warren Hastings and Lord Melville. This contemporary account, published in large folio, provides a day-by-day, blow-by-blow account of the trial over 16 days. Tables at the rear show how each Peer voted on each of the ten charges brought against Lord Melville. Numbers were cast up at the Woolpack and, as another table shows, the majority on every charge returned a ‘Not Guilty’ verdict. On the fourth charge not one of the Peers returned a ‘Guilty’ verdict. The Peers included Lord Ellenborough (who returned ‘Guilty’ on six out of the ten charges); and Lord Barham (who returned ‘Not Guilty’ on all ten charges) - an interesting contrast ! Several contemporary accounts were published: that by Hurst, Rees & Orme being the most common. The Gurney account is considered to be the best and is generally scarce. CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNT OF THE 1806 TRIAL OF LORD MELVILLE, TREASURER OF THE NAVY."

2. Succession de el rey D. Phelipe V, 
nuestro Señor en la corona de España
Price : $4,000 Buy now

diario de sus viages desde Versalles a Madrid, el que executó para su feliz casamiento, jornada a Napoles, a Milan, y a su exercito, successos de la campaña, y su buelta a Madrid
lo escribió de su real orden Don Antonio de Ubilla y Medina, marquès de Ribas ...

Published in 1704 by Juan Garcia Infonzon ;- in Madrid;- Written in Spanish;- The Succession of King D. Philip V Our Lord to the Crown of Spain, Journal of his travels from Versailles to Madrid which were  for his happy marriage, journey to Naples, Milan, and his army; successful Campaign and its Buelta to Madrid. - Madrid, Juan Garcia Infanzon, 1704. In folio. Beautiful engraved frontispiece, title page in two colors in typographic rectangle,  380 p., 3 large folded plates. Bound brown leather, with six raised bands and gilt lettering and decorations on the outer edges of the covers. First edition of this popular book contains descriptions of the trips made Philip V of Spain and Italy on arrival to the throne. "The complete specimens are rare." Extravaganza for the quality of the prints that illustrate it. The frontispiece is a beautiful portrait of Philip V on a horse drawn and engraved by Theodore Ardemans by Edelink. The large sheets are folded Palota invention and are recorded by Berterham, representing among other reasons the shipment of the King in Barcelona, his arrival in Naples, the journey from Milan to Cremona, the passage through the river Po, etc. The first trip was made in 1701 from Versailles to Madrid to take possession of the crown of Spain after the death of Charles II, last of the Austrian kings, thus beginning the dynasty in our country. The second trip is described which performed the same year of 1701 from Madrid to Barcelona with the intention of leaving for Italy for his wedding; broadly described the shipment at the port of Barcelona, arriving in Naples, travel to Milan and Cremona, walks along the Po, and so on. The third is the return trip from Italy to Madrid. The work also describes the journey from Barcelona to Zaragoza made in 1701 by Luis Maria Gabriela de Saboya.Antonio of Ubilla (1643-1726) had various responsibilities within the state administration. It was the first deputy of the Kingdom of Valencia and then Officer on the Secretary of State, Secretary of the Royal Disclaimers and Secretary of the Chamber Council of the Indies by Peru. Acompaó the new king Felipe V in his journey through Catalonia and Italy here descrito.Palau says: "It deals with the celebrations of Barcelona in the reception of Philip V, his trip to Montserrat, Catalonia and other parts of Italy. It is difficult to get any copies of this book: Rare, with frontispiece of Philip V on a horse, and three huge engraved foldouts. The book is in very fine condition, its still very RARE /SCARCE, and highly collectable because of the engraved plates.  ​

3. Three Tracts Relative to the 
Battle of Birmingham. A.D. 1643
Price : $550 Buy now      

Birmingham: Reprinted for T. Beilby and T. Knott by Thomas Knott jun, 1815. ;- 32pages;- original printed paper covers. One hundred and fifty copies printed. Contains 1. A true relation of Prince Rupert's barbarous cruelty against the towne of Brumingham; 2. A letter written from Walshall by a worthy gentleman to his friend in Oxford, concerning Burmingham; 3. Prince Rupert's burning love to England, discovered in Birmingham's flames. The book is Rare, in the Original wrappers. The condition is very fine with little or no faults. Stunning, no other copy of this very fine copy to be found. $550

4. The Birmingham Riots of 1791  
 Price : $350 Buy now

a Closely Copied Reprint of a Pamphlet Published Immediately after Their Occurrence : with an Introduction:

Published in Birmingham : Corns And Bartleet 1867 -  The Birmingham Riots of 1791. Very good copy in the original title-printed, stiff-card wrappers; edges very slightly dust-dulled. Remains particularly and surprisingly well-preserved; With Original red cloth tape to the spine. A RARE and unusual copy of History

5. Fides Christiana Patriarcharum AC Prophetarum;-
Price : $2,500 Buy now

Exhibita Dissertationibus Novem Philologico-Exegeticis Ad Selectos Textus (1730)

         by Fabricius, Franciscus

This Book Is In Latin. Due to the very old age and scarcity of this book;- Original parchment covers, with black handwritten name to the top of the spine. Good clean book VERY RARE;-

Published: Lugduni Batavorum : Apud Samuelem Luchtmans, 1730. 
 668, [28] p. ; 4to.Notes:"Francisci Fabricii Oratio de scholis prophetarum. ..." and "Francisci Fabricii Oratio de scriba edocto in regno coelorum. ..." have divisional half-titles on p. [601] and p. [633] respectively.
Title page printed in red and black; with woodcut printer's device.
Final leaf blank.
Includes index.

6. Finden's Views of the Ports, Harbours & Watering Places, Picturesque Scenery of Great Britain,
​by W.H. Bartlett, J.D. Harding, 1842
Price : $750 Buy now

 Finden's Views of the Ports, Harbours & Watering Places, and picturesque Scenery of Great Britain. Illustrated by views taken on the spot, by W.H. Bartlett, J.D. Harding and Others. With Descriptions Historical and Topographical by William Beattie;- 1842;- 1st. Edition 2 Volumes set, Ireland was not covered in the 1st. Edition, as this two volume set is the true 1st. Edition, with numerous engravings Publishers and Engraved by James S. Virtue, London 1842;-  62 large engraved plates in volume 1. Volume 2, also has 62 large engraved plates to volume 2, 124 full plate engravings with their tissue guards. Naturally there is some foxing throughout the two volume set, due to the paper makers of the time. This stunning work was first published in 1842, but with only 64 engraved plates in volume I and 64 engraved plates in volume 2. All the engraved plates are present as called for, in later editions more engraved plates were added, 1843, 1844, etc..etc..Original dark cloth bindings to both volumes, with embossed ships to both volumes front and back, the front embossed ships are in gilt, as are the edgings to both volumes. Lavishly embossing designs to both volumes front and back, very attractive. The two volumes are in good collectable condition.,Two frontispieces to both volumes, This well-known work, among the best of the great nineteenth-century collections of steel-engravings, is never found in such crisp, clean state. 
    Ireland was not covered in the 1st. Edition. Finden’s celebrated engravings of the coast of the British Isles takes in Lighthouses, Ports and Harbour scenes, romantic and dramatic scenery with ragged coastlines, Abbeys, Castles, Bridges. There are Dock scenes, views of early Paddle-Steamers and Sailing Vessels. The 2 volumes include Tynemouth, Harwich, Yarmouth, Cromer, Hull, Flamborough Head, Whitby, Hartlepool, Newcastle, Cullercoats, Bamborough, Berwick, Leith, Dundee, Montrose, London, Catham, Brighton, Cowes, Cardiff, Bristol, Liverpool Weymouth, Hollyhead, Manai Bridge, Brixham, and much more.

7. Harmsworth Natural History.
1910/1911-3VOLS.
Price : $225 Buy now

A Complete Survey of the Animal Kingdom. With thousands of photographs from Life, and an unrivalled series of colour plates. 

Chief contributors Richard Lydekker, F.R.S., Sir Harry Johnston, Professor J. R. Ainsworth-Davis, M.A.

Published in London: At Carmelite House. 1910. (Hardcover set) Good to very good, no dust jacket. 2018pp. 3 volume set. About 150 colour plates and hundreds of black and white illustrations by Kuhnert. Index. Three quarter red leather binding with re leather corners, red cloth to the covers. Five raised bands  to the spines, gilt lettering and designs to the spines of the three books. Stunning condition. With thousands of photographs from life, and an unrivalled series of colour plates. Illustrations by William Kuhnert. Highly collectable in the very fine condition   

8. The Book of Decorative Furniture 1900-2VOLS.
      by Edwin Foley
Price : $200 Buy now

its form, colour, & history with 100 and reproductions in full-colour facsimile of drawings by the author, and 1000 text illustrations; correlated charts of British woodwork styles and contemporaries; decorative Furnishing                     

Published in London;- by T.C. & E.C. Jack, Ltd. N.d. c.[1900]. - folio, 30cm, in 2 volumes, xv,427 & xii,420pp., with 100 tipped in colour plates, 1000 illustrations, bibliography, glossary, in the original brown fine grain british book cloth, blind stamped decorations and borders on the boards, gilt spine titles & decoration on the spines, a fine bright set () -A classic study of antique decorative furniture from prehistory to 1810 and the Georgian Period. With striking colour plates painted by the author. An important reference work

9. Practical Surgery: 
With one hundred and fifty engravings on wood
by Robert Liston.
Price : $400 Buy now

 Published by Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co, Philadelphia 1842. Hardcover. Very Good. 8vo. [22] 599pp. Hardcover. With One hundred and fifty engravings on wood. Newly rebound in half tan leather spine and four corners, marbled paper to the covers. Original black gilt lettering label to the top of the spine. RARE Medical Book with many Illustration throughout. Index to the back go the book;- 588 pages;- 

Liston was noted for his skill and speed in an era prior to Anaesthetics,  when speed made a difference in terms of pain and survival.In Florence Nightingale's notes on Nursing,  she states "there are many physical operations where ceteris paribus the danger is in a direct ratio to the time the operation lasts; and ceteris paribus the operator's success will be in direct ratio to his quickness".

Robert Liston was a pioneering Scottish Surgeon, and the son of the Scottish minister and inventor Henry Liston.

 Richard Gordon describes Liston as "the fastest knife in the West End. He could amputate a leg in 21⁄2 minutes". Indeed, he is reputed to have been able to complete operations in a matter of seconds, at a time when speed was essential to reduce pain and improve the odds of survival of a patient; he is said to have been able to perform the removal of a limb in an amputation in 28 seconds.

Gordon described the scene thus:

He was six foot two, and operated in a bottle-green coat with wellington boots. He sprung across the blood-stained boards upon his swooning, sweating, strapped-down patient like a duelist, calling, 'Time me gentlemen, time me!' to students craning with pocket watches from the iron-railinged galleries. Everyone swore that the first flash of his knife was followed so swiftly by the rasp of saw on bone that sight and sound seemed simultaneous. To free both hands, he would clasp the bloody knife between his teeth.

Gordon's talent for prose is more than just caricature. He describes how the link between surgical hygiene and iatrogenic infection was poorly understood at that time. At an address by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes  to the Boston Society for Medical Improvement on 13 February 1843, his suggestions for hygiene improvement to reduce obstetric infections and mortality from Puerperal Fever outraged obstetricians, particularly in Philadelphia". In those days, "surgeons operated in blood-stiffened frock coats – the stiffer the coat, the prouder the busy surgeon", "pus was as inseparable from surgery as blood", and "Cleanliness was next to prudishness". He quotes Sir Frederick Treves on that era: "There was no object in being clean...Indeed, cleanliness was out of place. It was considered to be finicking and affected. An executioner might as well manicure his nails before chopping off a head".  Indeed, the connection between surgical hygiene, infection, and maternal mortality rates at Vienna general Hospital was only made in 1847 by Vienna physician  Dr. Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis after a close colleague of his died. He instituted the very hygiene practices exhorted by Holmes, and the mortality rate fell.

Such was the era in which Liston lived. Gordon states that Liston was "an abrupt, abrasive, argumentative man, unfailingly charitable to the poor and tender to the sick (who) was vilely unpopular to his fellow surgeons at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. He relished operating successfully in the reeking tenements of the Grassmarket and Lawnmarket on patients they had discharged as hopelessly incurable. They conspired to bar him from the wards, banished him south, where he became professor of surgery at University College Hospital and made a fortune".

In writings on Liston, he is portrayed as a man of strong character and ethics, which was the source of some of his confrontational style. In one case, he confronted a medical colleague Dr. Robert Knox over the treatment of an attractive young woman (Mary Paterson) who it later transpired was murdered Burke and Hare Murders,  with Knox thought complicit in the murder. She was in Knox's dissecting rooms within four hours of her death, and kept in whiskey for three months before dissection, during which time she was essentially on voyeuristic display. Liston's response is documented in a letter from him

According to Liston, he saw Mary Paterson's body in Knox's rooms and immediately suspected foul play. He knocked Know down after an altercation in front of his students - Liston assumed some students had slept with her when she was alive, and that they should dissect her body offended her sense of decency. he removed her body for burial.

John  Abernethy

       Surgical Observations on Injuries of the Head; and on Miscellaneous Subjects

       . BOUND WITH: Surgical Observations on Tumors, and on Lumbar Abscesses. 267pp. Brown Leather spine-backed marbled boards and corners.  London: Longman, Hurst, 1825;- fourth edition.  and Published in London: by  Longman, Hurst, 1825. Rare early Medical book, with one large Illustration in the centre of the book. beautiful condition

He was born in Coleman Street in the City of London,  where his father was a merchant. He was apprenticed in 1779 to Sir Charles Blicke (1745–1815), a surgeon at St. Bart's Hospital London. He attended the anatomical lectures of Sir William Blizard (1743–1835) at the London Hospital,   and was employed to assist as demonstrator; he also attended  Percivall Pott's surgical lectures at St Bartholomew's Hospital, as well as the lectures of  John Hunter. On Pott's resignation of the office of surgeon of St Bartholomew's, Sir Charles Blicke, who was assistant-surgeon, succeeded him, and Abernethy was elected assistant-surgeon in 1787.

In this capacity he began to give lectures at his house in Bartholomew Close, which were so well attended that the governors of the hospital built a theatre (1790–1791), and Abernethy thus became the founder of the medical school of St Bartholomew's. He held the office of assistant-surgeon for twenty-eight years, till, in 1815, he was elected principal surgeon. He had before that time been appointed lecturer in anatomy to the  Royal College of Surgeons (1814). Abernethy was not a great operator, though his name is associated with the treatment of  aneurysm by ligature of the  external lilac artery.

John Abernathy is referenced in Edgar Allan Poe's , The Purloined letter, 1844.

His Surgical Observations on the Constitutional Origin and Treatment of Local Diseases (1809) — known as "My Book", from the great frequency with which he referred his patients to it, and to page 72 of it in particular, under that name — was one of the earliest popular works on medical science. So great was his zeal in encouraging patients to read the book that he earned the nickname "Doctor My-Book". He taught that local diseases were frequently the results of disordered states of the digestive organs, and were to be treated by purging and attention to diet. As a lecturer he was exceedingly attractive, and his success in teaching was largely attributable to the persuasiveness with which he enunciated his views. It has been said, however, that the influence he exerted on those who attended his lectures was not beneficial in this respect, that his opinions were delivered so dogmatically, and all who differed from him were disparaged and denounced so contemptuously, as to repress instead of stimulating inquiry. The celebrity he attained in his practice was due not only to his great professional skill, but also in part to his eccentricity. He was very blunt with his patients, treating them often brusquely and sometimes even rudely. He resigned his position at St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1827, and died at his residence at Enfield.

10.Surgical Observations 1826
         on Diseases Resembling Syphilis and on Diseases of the Urethra
  by John Abernethy
Price : $300 Buy now

Brown Leather spine-backed marbled boards and corners.  London: Longman, Hurst, 1826;-  fifth edition.  and Published in London: by  Longman, Hurst, 1825. Rare early Medical book, with one large Illustration in the centre of the book. beautiful condition 

                    11. Observationes Medicinales Haud Triviales
                      by
                Augustin Thoner 1651
                           1567 - 1655   
                          Price : $750 Buy now

THONER, Augustin (1567-1655). Observationum medicinalium,  Published in Ulm:  by J. Gerlin, 1651, 4° old vellum covers.
 Foxing throughout, no copies to be found on the world-wide web. A very RARE  Early Medical book. Printed in Latin. Index to the back of the book.Ink stamps of the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland to title page and occasionally to text. Austin Thoner practising Physician and Director of the College at Ulm. Unpublished until well into his Seventies. This work compriseS Four Books of Medical Observations and two of Specific Consolations. RARE.

12.The Works of Francis Bacon. 1778
Baron of Verulam, Viscount of St. Alban, and Lord High Chancellor of England.
In Five Volumes.
Price : $4,000 Buy now

The Works of Francis Bacon. 1778Baron of Verulam, Viscount of St. Alban, and Lord High Chancellor of England. In Five Volumes. Printed for J. Rivington and Sons; et al., London 1778 - Five volumes. 4to. Original brown leather binding, with all 5 VOLS. rebacked to spine. Gilt lettering and date to spines.  nicely rebacked in matching calf and with new leather lettering labels in red and black, gilt. Simple gilt rules on the boards. Marbled edges; marbled endpapers. Volumes I-IV have engraved frontispieces Title pages in red and black. Corners and edges worn, some of the rules have flaked, boards scuffed else a very good set with fine text blocks. Contains: Philosophical works: Of the proficience and advancement of learning, divine and human. Sylva sylvarum; or, A natural history, in ten centuries. Physiological remains. Medical remains. Medical receipts. Works moral: A fragment of the colours of good and evil. Essays or counsels civil and moral. A collection of apophthgems, new and old.--v. 2. Works political. Law tracts: Maxims of the law.--v. 3. Writings historical. Theological works. Letters. Letters, speeches, charges, advices, etc., first published by Dr. Birch in one volume in octavo in 1763.--v. 4. Opera philosophica: Instavrationis magnæ, pars I-IV.--v. 5. Opera philosophica: Historia densi et rari; necnon coitionis et expansionis materia per spatia. Historia gravis et levis. Historia sympathiæ et antipathia rerum. Historia sylphuris, mercurii, et salis. Historia et inquisitio prima de sono et auditu. Articuli quæstionum circa mineralia. Cogitationes de natura rerum. Instavrationis magnæ, pars V.(cont.) Opuscula philosophica. Descripto globi intellectualis. Opera civilia et moralia. Historia regni Henri Septimi. Sermo...Very RARE, Highly Collectable.

13. WILLIAM CAMDEN,
The Visitation of the County of Warwick in the Year 1619: Taken by William Camden, Clarenceaux King of Arms
(Harleian Society. Publications).
Price : $100 Buy now

 Published in London, by Harleian Society, 1877.First Edition, Hardcover;- A Volume from the Harleian Society Private Library; Edited by 

John Fetherston;- Original binding in three quarter dark brown leather, with marbled paper;- Gilt lettering to the spine..The front cover slightly loose, otherwise a fine copy.

The Harleian Society is a registered charity, established in 1869 and incorporated in 1902*. Its official objects are "the transcribing, printing and publishing of the heraldic visitations of counties, parish registers or any manuscripts relating to genealogy, family history and heraldry".

The Society is known for the quality and scholarship of its publications, particularly its editions of the Heralds' Visitations in the possession of the College of Arms;-

14. Hoyle
Hoyle's Games, 1854
Containing Laws on
Chess, Draughts, Backgammon,
Billiards, Cricket, and Games of Cards;-
Price : $100 Buy now

A New Edition, Improved;-

Published by Thomas Allman & Son;- in London 1854;- Two engraved frontispieces, 160 pages, original red cloth covers with gilt embossed illustration to the front cover and gilt lettering along the spine. A highly collectable book on Games common during the Victorian times. Highly collectable in this Edition. Hoyle

Hoyle's Games, 1854

Containing Laws on

Chess, Draughts, Backgammon, 

Billiards, Cricket, and Games of Cards;-

A New Edition, Improved;-

Published by Thomas Allman & Son;- in London 1854;- Two engraved frontispieces, 160 pages, original red cloth covers with gilt embossed illustration to the front cover and gilt lettering along the spine. A highly collectable book on Games common during the Victorian times. Highly collectable in this Edition.

15. Stanhope, Philip Dormer, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
The Economy of Human Life. 
Translated from an Indian Manuscript, 
Written By an Ancient Bramin. 
En Two Parts
Price : $250 Buy now

   Published in London: by Whittingham and Arliss , 1816.  original tan leatehr binding with gilt decorations to the front & back covers, gilt lettering to the top of the spine;-Very rare and hard-to-find! 110 historical pages nicely enhanced by black and white illustrations! by Thomas Beswick;- Wonderfully well-preserved for the age! Extremely scarce! "My Lord, In the last letter which I had the honour of writing to your Lordship, dated Dec. 23, 1748, I think I concluded all I had to say in regard to the topography and natural history of this great empire. I purpose, in this and some succeeding ones, to set down such observations as I have been able to make on the laws, government, religion, and manners of the people....." ---- from the Preface (To the Earl of Chesterfield. Pekin, May 12, 1749-).. First Edition / First Printing. Leather Bound. Fair. 24mo - over 5" - 5¾" tall. Hardcover. Rare/Scarce

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