ca. 1930.]. Vertical folding chromolithograph card playing board, 520 x 220mm folding into four 130 x 220mm, together with accompanying printed rule sheet 210 x 135m, light wear to folding joints of playing board, with some minor scuffing and soiling, text leaf lightly browned with a couple of minor nicks and evidence of previous folds; as often, now without the original box, set of coloured ‘tiddlywink’ counters, & wooden bowl; still an appealing example. A vibrantly coloured ‘grand jeu de la puce’ or game of ‘tiddlywinks’, with accompanying rules, celebrating the first East to West aeronautic crossing of the Atlantic undertaken by Dieudonné Costes and Maurice Bellonte flying the ‘Point d’Interrogation’, a Brequet Super Bidon long-ranged aircraft designed specifically for the attempt. The crossing took 37 hours in total, leaving from Le Bourget on September 1st 1930 and arriving at Curtiss Field in New York.
A game for 2, 4 or 6 players, the board is marked with 12 destinations: Toulouse, Casablanca, Dakar, the Ocean, ‘Açores’, ‘Bermudes’, ‘Terre-Neuve’, Halifax, Boston, Washington and New York (numbered 1, 3, 6, 10, 14, 15 and 16). Following a hopscotch style progression, players must land their counter on the chosen destination. Once at Dakar, there is a choice of two routes: one via Newfoundland and Boston, the other via Bermuda and Washington. Any player whose chip lands in the ocean is out of the race. Maximum points could be achieved by taking a direct flight from Paris to New York.
The game was originally presented in a decorative box, and would have come with counters, and a wooden shaker - to be placed in the New York square - the players having to get the counter into the bowl.

but 1904.]. Oblong 4to, pp. [3]-59, [3], including 14 pages of chromolithograph figures to be cut out (with blank versos); small neat tear at bottom of p. 11, head of p. 46 with tear just touching border, pp. 44 and 47 with larger nicks with some loss, though not touching text; paper somewhat browned throughout, due to quality, but in the original green linen backed pictorial boards, with polychrome illustration on upper cover, head and tail of spine slightly worn, rear cover cracked with neat paper repair, some minor soiling and staining to boards, corners a little worn; a good copy. First edition, and unusual in that the present copy has been unused. One of a series of cut-out costume books illustrated by the noted French artist and children’s illustrator ‘Job’, with text by Aristide Fabre (180-1936) the present volume describes and illustrates ‘Warriors and Great Lords’ throughout French history, from the Gauls to the students of Saint-Cyr.
Jacques Marie Gaston Onfroy de Bréville (1858-1931) known by the pen name ‘Job’ after his initials contributed to numerous works, though is best remembered for his illustrations for children’s books. Having served for some time in the French army, during his artistic career he maintained a keen interest in military, patriotic, and nationalistic subjects, as reflected here, which displays his keen eye for detail, reproducing the uniforms with great precision.

1850.]. Boxed set of three puzzles together with accompanying 8vo; comprising three hand coloured and gummed lithograph sheets each depicting 10 Revolutionary figures, laid down on thick card/ply and then dissected, puzzles interleaved with card trays edged on right side with silk pull tie (all a little fragile and one torn) ; together with 8vo text, pp. 16; text a little soiled, with small nick affecting upper fore-edge throughout; puzzles with some occasional light foxing and soiling, paper peeling away at corners of a couple of pieces, with small loss to one blank piece of Gensonné portrait; text stitched as issued in the original yellow printed wrappers, covers lightly soiled, small nick affecting rear wrapper at fore-edge; all housed within the original decorative box 280 x 418 x 28mm, upper cover with chromolithograph sheet by Antoine Bourgerie laid down, finished by hand and gouache, depicting proud Marianne (the personification of liberty, equality, fraternity) surrounded by the main figures of the Revolution, with embossed and gilt ribbon edging, small label with ms accession number adhered to inside lid, internal box lined with yellow glazed paper, left hand corners split but holding, upper cover somewhat soiled and darkened, some wear and rubbing to extremities, gilt edging somewhat faded; still an appealing set. A rare and most attractive boxed jigsaw puzzle set depicting some of the great figures of the early days of the French Revolution, though not, as the title would suggest, confined purely to the Girondins.
The present game, published by the noted Parisian manufacturer Lion, appears to have drawn inspiration from Alphonse De Lamartines (1790-1869) popular eight volume work of the same name, published in 1847. Whilst many of that famous republican political group are depicted, the portraits included are in fact not limited to the Girondists, with other prominent figures depicted, notably Mirabeau and Robespierre. In all thirty characters are represented, ten on each puzzle: Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, Mirabeau, La Fayette, Bailly, Philippe-Égalité, Roland, Madame Roland, Dumouriez, Péthion / Vergniaud, Gensonné, Brissot, Guadet, Barbaroux, Charlotte Corday, Marat, Danton, Camille-Desmoulins, Santerre / Robespierre, Couthon, Saint-Just, Billaud-Varennes, Collot d'Herbois, Carnot, Cambon, Fouquier-Tinville, Tallien, Barras.
The Girondins played a leading role between 1791-1793 and included lawyers, intellectuals, businessmen, merchants and financiers. Their most prominent spokesman was Jacques-Pierre Brissot, and for a time some of the group held government positions, notably Jean-Marie Roland. His wife Marie-Jeanne held regular salons that were important meeting places for the group. At the time, they had the support of Thomas Paine. Through the summer of 1792, they vacillated their position towards the existing monarchy under Louis XVI, which was coming under serious attack. The storming of the Tuileries Palace on August 10th, which overthrew the monarchy, took place without their participation and marked the beginning of their decline, as more radical groups such as the Montagnards and Jacobins came to direct the course of the Revolution, and by the end of 1793 many had been denounced and executed or committed suicide, including Brissot, Gensonné, Guadet, Vergniaud and Madame Roland, and Charlotte Corday (after her assassination of the Jacobin leader Jean Paul Marat). Never an official organised political party, the name itself was originally bestowed by the Montagnards - many of the leading figures having been deputies of the department of Gironde. Contemporaries called them Brissotins, or Rolandins, but the term Girondins became standard after Lamartine’s publication.
The earliest examples of what we now call jigsaw puzzles were dissected maps, originally intended as educational games. John Spilsbury (1739-69) is associated with some of the earliest examples of dissected maps for teaching geography produced during the 1760s, and he is regarded as one of the first commercial producers of puzzles. Other early manufacturers of ‘jigsaws’ include William Darton & Son, and John Wallis & Sons in England, and Martin Engelbrecht in Germany. Throughout the Victorian period the number of puzzle makers increased, with names such as John Betts, Arthur Parks and William Spooner coming to the fore. Lion, operated in Paris between 1851-1885 and produced a wide variety of games, including historical and geographical lotteries, chess sets, and puzzles. Other puzzles produced included a History of France, and the History of Napoleon. Though undated, it may well be that the 1848 Revolution, which saw the collapse of the July Monarchy and the foundation of the Second French Republic, inspired the makers to celebrate some of their Republican forebears.

1680. 8vo, pp. 56; with appealing woodcut initial, and head- and tailpieces throughout; title-page a little dampstained, with some light foxing throughout; later ownership note at head of title-page in ms ‘Perugia, 23 Luglio 1894, Cant. 36’; recently bound to style using older marbled paper. Rare first edition of this collection of laudatory and elegiac compositions commemorating the death of the celebrated castrato singer Baldassare Ferri (1610-1680), considered to be one of the first great castrati singers. According to contemporary accounts he possessed a phenomenal voice and he performed at many of the Royal Courts across Europe. By the time of his death he had amassed a large fortune, and he was widely mourned, as the present compilation illustrates.
The collection was compiled by Ferri’s nephew Giovanni Angelo Guidarelli (1647-1720), and includes 43 poems and sonnets in Latin and Italian by many leading writers of the time, including members of the Arcadia. The various poems in ‘The cry of the swans on the death of the phoenix of music’, whilst exhibiting many familiar tropes of the genre, also provides a chronicle of Ferri’s life, in an attempt to preserve a sense of his incomparable and angelic music for future generations. Contributors include Calo Sabbatini, Batolomeo Colonna, Antonio Cinaronio, Domenico Anselmo, Fioravante Lancellotto, Nicola Barsanti, Marco Antonio Farina, Antonio Ferri, Camillo Boccaccio, Carlo Amadio, Carlo Battisti, Carlo Doni, Carlo Vuetti, Domenico Antisari, Vincenzo Alvitreti, Girolamo Ammiani, Iacomo Rangoni, and Ottaviano Ercolani.

1776. 8vo, pp. [xxiv], 594, [14]; without the four page dedication, which is sometimes present; with 109 naive woodcuts within text, and large woodcut vignette on final verso; lower corner of page 84 torn with loss of paper not text, and with neat discrete paper repairs to pp. 341-42, 359-60, 413-14 and 541-42, stain affecting pp. 433-437, the whole text lightly foxed and browned, with some occasional minor marginal dampstaining, otherwise clean; in contemporary half calf over marbled boards, spine in compartments with raised bands, ruled in gilt, with orange paper lettering label, spine slightly cracked, with both joints starting but holding firm, with slight loss to rear joint, covers a little scuffed, and recornered to style; with the bookplate of Lennart Ragnemark on front pastedown; a good copy. Second edition of this ‘introduction to the knowledge of animals’ by Magnus Orrelius (1717-1794), of particular appeal for the numerous charming woodcuts, which though perhaps not all original, are believed to have been done by the author himself. The work was first published anonymously in 1750-1751 in weekly parts as Historia animalium, and is considered to be Sweden’s first vernacular zoological handbook.
The Royal Swedish Academy was founded in 1739, on the initiative of Linnaeus amongst others. One of the aims was to promote the economic benefits of the natural sciences, a principle which naturally favoured botanical and zoological research, with the hope that the discovery of new animal and plant species could be of use to man. Up to this time, little had been written about the plant and animal kingdom, with most published being in Latin, and so a number of manuals and textbooks were published to fill this void, and disseminate knowledge more widely. Linnaeus himself, famously published his Fauna Svecica, the first Swedish natural fauna, in 1746, though this was once again published in Latin, and whilst ground-breaking, was not really a handbook for general use.
In October 1749, advertisements appeared in Stockholm for a work on the history of animals written ‘in the Swedish tongue’, to be published by subscription in parts to make it more affordable and cheaper to print. The anonymous author borrowed the title Historia Animalium from Conrad Gessner’s famous work. According to Martin Biinsow, when Linnaeus saw the advertisement he was greatly perturbed, fearing plagiarism of his popular lecture notes. ‘In a letter to the Academy of Sciences' secretary, Wargentin, Linné writes that, if there is plagiarism, he will withdraw not only from the fauna, but from all work. However, the great man could breathe a sigh of relief when the work started to come out. There was no question of any plagiarism, even if the author had picked up a lot of facts from Linné’ (Biinsow, I Var Herres Hage, Svensk zoologi i Kunskapskallan, p. 5 a google translation). Indeed, for this second edition, a letter of recommendation by Wargentin himself is included on the verso of the title-page – a sign of Academy approval no doubt.
The author, in fact, was Magnus Orrelius (1717-94), a member of the Moravian Brethren in Sweden, active as a writer, translator and woodcutter, though not part of traditional academic circles. From an impoverished background, and born as Mans Fanberg, he funded himself to study at Uppsala, at which point he changed his name. His poor financial situation meant that his studies were fragmented and he never took his degree. He worked as a personal tutor, and then as an accountant, but made most of his living as a writer, as well as penning a number of pamphlets and articles on social issues such as child-rearing, and population decline.
The Historia Animalium was his first work, and whilst it claimed to describe all animals existing on the globe, was confined principally to mammals, including man, Orrelius adopting Linnaeus’ classification and system. This second edition has been substantially revised and enlarged when it comes to the number of species described, but for cost reasons the descriptions were kept shorter and are limited, as previously, to mammals. As acknowledged in the preface, the work draws upon a number of sources, including Pliny, Aristotle, Olaus Magnus, as well Linnaeus. Whilst clearly aiming to be a serious scientific treatise, Orrelius often trying to distance himself from some earlier myths and legends, (notably the unicorn an Aristotelian invention according to Orrelius), the information provided is often of varying reliability. Far from being an objective commentator, his own moral judgements and opinions pervade the work, which often make for entertaining reading. His theological leanings ensure too, that in line with fellow 18^th century scholars, his work very much recognises and celebrates the wonders of Creation, stressing how an appreciation of the beauties of nature can lead to a greater understanding of God.
Focusing more upon behavioural traits than anatomical descriptions, Orrelius often imparts human qualities to the animals under discussion, seeing animals as images of human characteristics. About the ‘natt-människan, homo nocturnus, troglodytes’ (the orangutan, p. 41), Orrelius notes that ‘they speak in a whispering manner, think and draw conclusions like rational creatures, imagining that the whole globe was created for their sake, and that they once will come to his former power over the inhabitants of the earth’. He describes the ‘lurfwige bawianen’ of Sumatra (p. 51), as whilst not ugly, ‘is nevertheless terrifying in appearance, after that he always grinds his teeth, and gives signs of anger. It is sometimes the meanest and rudest of all animals’. Mammals from all corners of the globe are described, from Africa to America, including elephants, rhinocerus, whales, lions, camels, sloths, porcupines, domestic beasts such as dogs and cattle, as well as the walrus (p. 94) and the racoon (p. 262). The animals are frequently described as being greedy, or ferocious, or blood-thirsty, and though perhaps not believing in unicorns, he does subscribe to various traditional ‘forest’ myths, superstitions and beliefs.
The work includes 109 charming if somewhat naive woodcuts of mammals, believed to be the work of Orrelius himself. In discussing the first edition, Biinsow notes that a number of the woodcuts appear to have been copied for earlier works by Olaus Magnus, as well as Albrecht Dürer (notably his 1515 woodcut of a rhinocerus), and some from Johnston’s Historiae naturalis (1650-1654). It is interesting to note that all appear to have been revised and re-engraved for the present second edition, the similarities not nearly so obvious. Much less refined, they have a charming, naive quality. An important, if less well known contribution, to the zoological canon.

1891. 8vo, pp. 72; with three fine stipple engravings (each retaining tissue guard) and one map printed in red and black; text lightly browned due to paper quality, upper corner slightly furled throughout; stitched as issued in the original grey printed wrappers, spine somewhat chipped, with slight loss at head and tail, and central tear with 1 cm loss, with some cracking to upper joint but holding firm, covers slightly foxed and spotted; still a good copy. Scarce and attractively printed brochure promoting the noted sub-alpine hydropathic spa and health resort of Schöneck, beautifully situated close to Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. The spa was founded in 1863 by Herrn Kuhn-Munzinger, before being purchased by C. Borsinger from Baden in 1874. Dr Henri Pezet von Corval was for many years the Chief Medical Officer, but the role was taken on by Dr Hermann Wunderlich in about 1890. One of the most important Swiss hydropathic institutions, the spa was renowned for offering an array of therapeutic facilities for the chronically ill, including dietetic cures, water treatments, therapeutic gymnastics, compressed air cabinets, oxygen chambers, and electric treatments.
This attractively produced brochure, includes three striking stipple engraved plates, and provides a brief outline of the location and view, the climate, a history and description of the institution, a discussion of the treatment and cure methods.

1890. 8vo, pp. 48; with additional loosely inserted pp. 4 pamphlet; with steel engraved image of the hydropathic establishment on final page; title page and final verso somewhat browned, with further light browning throughout due to paper quality; advertisement on rear inside cover; in the original green decorative wrappers, front wrapper with discrete tape and paper repairs visible on inside cover, rear joint with 4cm split at tail, covers a little browned; preserved within protective dust-jacket; a good copy. Scarce brochure promoting the various uses of the health drink ‘Hunyadi János’, a ‘bittersalzquelle’ tonic derived from a spring of bitter waters found in Budapest, Hungary. The spring been discovered by Andreas Saxlehner in 1862, and which he named the ‘Hunyadi Spring’. He was given permission by the Municipal Council of Buda to bottle and sell the waters, creating the trading name of ‘Hunyadi János’ (after the renown 15th century General and Hungarian Governor). Other competitors soon began selling similar products, however, adopting the epithet ‘Hunyadi’, and which quickly became a generic term applied to bitter waters. Though Saxlehner died in 1889, his wife retained the business, and in 1895 the Hungarian courts granted him exclusive use of the word. The tonic was sold world-wide, and indeed in 1900 the firm brought a case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1900, seeking compensation for a trade infringement against the wholesale importer Eisner & Mendelson Co.
The present short treatise is the work of Plinio Schivardi (1833-1908), at the time the Medical Director of the Recoaro Thermal Spa in the Italian province of Vincenza. A pupil of Duchenne, Plinio is best known for having brought to Italy his knowledge of electrotherapy, collecting these experiences in his 1872 work Manuale teorico pratico di elettroterapia. Divided into twelve short chapters, Plinio discusses in turn the benefits of natural purgative water over those from pharmacies; the particular benefits of ‘Acqua di Hunyadi János’; provides general instructions on its appropriate use; the particular benefits for those suffering from constipation, obesity, for those with liver complaints, for tropical diseases, those suffering from nervous and mental complaints, and on use by women and children. Published only a year after Saxlehner’s death, and in the light of competition from other rivals, the work was no doubt an attempt to cement the tonic’s priority over those of other tonics.
A small additional four page pamphlet is loosely inserted by Dr. Riccardo Curti, on Liver Diseases and Mineral Waters, and which had first appeared in ‘Italia Termale’ on March 16th 1890.

1930. Large 8vo, pp. pp. viii, 566, [2] publisher’s advertisement, with numerous illustrations and diagrams within the text, including a double-page diagram in red and black at pp. 472-3; some occasional light foxing and soiling, with a number of scrap paper inserts covered in calculations from a previous owner; with a number of ex-libris stamps from the ‘Commune de Saint-Gilles, Bibliothèque Centrale Pédagogique’ to half-title, and on pp. 1, 65, 93, 129, 205, 225, 273, 381, 533; uncut in the original printed red card wrappers, spine a little cracked and worn, with split to upper joint and some wear at tail, covers a little stained and soiled, with further faint library stamps visible; still a good copy. First edition of this noted collection of mathematical games and puzzles, by the Belgian mathematician Maurice Kraitchik. ‘With a patience very rare in our time, M. Kraitchik has brought together several hundred of these amusing problems of the most diverse nature and origin: some drawn from Greek, Arab, Hindu and Chinese authors and collections from the Middle Ages, others less ancient mentioned by Bachet de Méziriac, others finally treated or imagined by modern mathematicians and by the author himself. We can, with Mr. Kraitchik, divide these problems or games into two groups: calculation games, studied in the first part of the book, and positional games, treated in the second. (translation of a review by D. Mirimanoff, in L’Enseignement Mathématique, Band 29, pp. 370-1, 1930.) The games touch upon elementary arithmetic, algebra, geometry, probability theory, and magic squares, in so doing the reader gaining an understanding of important mathematical concepts in a fun and entertaining way. Mirimanoff highly recommended the book for all those interested in mathematical education.

1832. 8vo, pp. [221], [3] blank; with three hand-coloured engraved plates, one folding; plates a little browned due to paper quality; some occasional light foxing and soiling, but otherwise text clean and bright; in contemporary green morocco backed ribbed boards, spine ruled and lettered in gilt, very small worm-hole affecting upper lower joint, some minor surface wear, corners slightly nicked and worn; with contemporary book-seller label on front paste-down; a presentation copy from the author’s signed on verso of front fly-leaf ‘To A. Ergerot Esqr. with the respectful acknowledgements of the undersigned’; a good copy. Uncommon and attractive first edition of this little-known work in the history of semaphore telegraphy and communications, describing in detail a signalling system recently adopted by both the English and French merchant navies. The authors of the work, two Englishmen, Edmund and Matthew Luscombe, worked for Lloyd’s of London and were based in Le Havre. Whilst making no claims to having had invented the system, the two men nevertheless seem to have been instrumental in its promotion and adoption. A numerical based system, different flags and pennants were numbered 1-10, and could thus be combined using the flaghoist system to communicate between ships. Important instructions, phrases and commands were assigned a number, thus leading to a system, independent of language, and which could be understood by all. Already adopted by the English fleet it had, on the orders of the Marquis de Clermont-Tonnerre, the French Minister for the Navy, similarly been taken up by French vessels. As the Luscombes’ note, it was their hope that it could eventually be applied to all the navies of the world, both merchant and military, though ultimately a universal system would not be implemented until 1855, when the first International Code was drafted by a Committee set up by the British Board of Trade. Containing 70,000 signals using eighteen flags, the code was published in 1857 and was adopted by most seafaring nations
The present work is accompanied by three hand-coloured engraved plates (one folding), illustrating the flags and pennants to be used. It is then divided into six parts beginning with a list of the names of the ships in both the English and French Navies. This is followed in section two by an extensive list of English, French and other merchant vessels, with the third list referring to notable ports, capes, headlands, and rock formations, etc. The fourth section brings together an extensive selection of common phrases and questions used between merchant vessels, which is followed in section five by a vocabulary of marine terms. The work concludes with a further extensive vocabulary of words useful in general maritime correspondence. Each have a number assigned to them, to enable the raising of the correct flags.
The use of flags for signalling was by no means new. In 1738, a numerical flag code using ten coloured flags was proposed by Bertrand-François Mahé de la Bourdonnais (1699-1753), who proposed hoisting flags in groups of three, making a thousand possible messages that could be transmitted by reference to a code book. Though not instantly taken up as an idea, it was to inspire the noted French engineer Claude Chappe (1763-1805) and his brother Ignace (1760-1829), who developed the world’s first land-based optical semaphore telegraph network during the 1790s, carrying messages across 19th century France faster than ever before, and which used a numerical code book with many thousands of messages.
In England, Captain Sir Home Popham was one of the first to produce a numerical flag code in his 1803 work ‘Telegraphic Signals of Marine Vocabulary’. It was his code which was famously used for the “England expects that every man will do his duty” signal at Trafalgar by Nelson. The first general system for signalling for merchant vessels rather than military, was that of Captain Frederick Marryat (1792-1848) in his 1817 A Code of Signals for the Merchant Service. Whilst making no apparent reference to him in the present work, it seems almost certain that the Luscombe’s have drawn heavily from his innovations, although the order of their six numbered lists varies slightly. It is interesting to note, that in the revised edition of 1840, Marryat is indeed referred to in the introductory paragraph.
Louis-Marie Bajot, at the time head of the law office in the French maritime ministry, provides a fascinating and complementary review of the work in the Annales maritimes et colonisation, (pp. 501-503 T. II, 1822). As he notes, one of the many benefits of peace has been to establish a happy and free exchange of discoveries and ideas working towards the common good. ‘It was in the order of things that from the moment friendly relations were established between France and England, these two peoples would help each other in everything in the maritime arts. But either because the French generally travel less or because we pay less attention in France to what exists abroad, it is certain that the English have drawn from us more often than we have from them. So, not to stray from our subject, we saw very shortly after the establishment of M Chappe's telegraph the English appropriate this admirable machine which they regard as the last term of telegraphic simplicity. The English are therefore giving us today with regard to the means of corresponding by sea the example that they followed by adopting our means of corresponding by land. In this mutual exchange, we repeat, of useful practices, national pride cannot be hurt, is it not better, as an ancient said, to imitate what others have imagined good than to be jealous of it? The universal telegraphic language therefore deserves all the attention of navigators it also deserved to be adopted by the two governments of France and England and transmitted by their order to the officers of the two royal navies’ (p. 501, online translation). ‘A French captain can make himself heard not only by the ships and stations of his nation but also by foreigners equipped with this system or an English system because each word, each sentence and finally the entire code is expressed in both languages by the same figures represented then by the same signs. The system applying to communications with land as well as those which take place between ships at sea has fulfilled all the conditions of the problem and leaves nothing to be desired. France, by adopting it, contributes to its propagation’ (ibid). A brevet for the system is noted by Christian in ‘Description des machines et procédés spécifiés dans les brevets d’invention, de perfectionnement et d’importation’ (p. 294, T. XII, 1826).
Provenance: the copy has been inscribed by the two authors to Alphonse Bergerot (1782-1833), a Le Havre councillor and leading merchant of the town. We have located a previous copy sold at auction, in a presentation bound for the Marquis de Clermont-Tonnerre, the French Minister for the Navy. The auction makes a note that the work was ‘non mise dans le commerce’, though we have been unable to verify this.

1803. 8vo, pp. [viii], xxxii, 156, [2], with one folding engraved plate signed by C.G. Geissler and dated 1803, with woodcut illustration of Pythagoras' theorem on title-page; copy no. 399 signed by the author on authentication leaf; some occasional light foxing and soiling, but otherwise clean and crisp; in contemporary half green roan over paper boards, spine attractively lettered and tooled in gilt, head and tail of spine a little bumped, some light scuffing to upper joint, covers lightly soiled, extremities a little bumped and rubbed; the Erwin Tomash copy with his book-plate on front paste-down; a good copy. First edition of this rare contribution to the geometrical problem of ‘squaring the circle’, by the Italian Gaetan Rossi de Catanzaro (1767-1826). Describing himself as a ‘man of letters and law’ (p. iv) and resident of Geneva, as becomes apparent from his florid and rather pompous introduction, Rossi was clearly an enthusiastic amateur mathematician, who like many before him, believed that through ‘assiduous and methodical work’ (ibid) that he had found a solution to the problem of the quadrature of the circle, and believes that in publishing his essay and demonstrating his solution and invention, that he will convince fellow mathematicians to correct their false theories. It is a discovery of the greatest importance not only for science and literature, but for humanity in general. The proportional compass referred to in the title is discussed in theoretical terms and is not illustrated. The final fifty pages contain an alphabetical listing of the mathematical terms used in the work.
This was not his only published contribution to the subject, his preface revealing that he had previously published a circular announcing his solution, and which it appears he distributed to a number of European Societies. Indeed the Royal Green Observatory appears to hold a copy of this ‘Equisse’ in a volume of pamphlets submitted to the Board of Longitude and which is dated May 20th 1803: ‘Esquisse sur la quadrature du crecle, addressée a tous les savans ge2ométres, et à toutes les sociétés, politiques, commerçantes, et littéraires, qui existent sur la surface de la terre’ (in RGO 14/54 Papers of the Board of Longitude). OCLC also locates a tract of 1804, penned in Italian but with a London imprint: Soluzione esatta e regolare del difficilissimo problema della quadrature del circolo’, which appeared in a second edition, a seeming testment to his self-confidence in his theory.
Provenance : Erwin Tomash (1921-2022), an American engineer recognised for his early pioneering work with computer equipment peripherals.

1844. I. Fours volumes, 4to; I. pp. xv,[i] blank, 177, [1] blank, [2] errata and blank, without frontispiece and portrait of Paolo Mascagni, with 2 coloured lithograph plates ‘Notions Preliminaries’ depicting the male and female form, and 44 coloured lithograph plates, each retaining tissue guard (though some quite torn); title-page with section excised at centre with tissue repair on verso, volume with prominent dampstain at tail with some heavy foxing; II. pp. iv, 191, [1] errata, with frontispiece portrait of William Harvey, and 44 hand-coloured lithograph plates numbered 45-89 (all retaining tissue guards), plates 45 and 46 folding; with some occasional staining and soiling throughout; III. pp. [iv], 182, [1] errata, ‘System de Lavater’ [184] - 206; with portrait of Lavater (at p. 184) and 50 hand-coloured lithograph plates, numbered 91-131 (missing plates 90 (folding plate of skeleton) and 94 (image of skull)), and nos 1 - 10 relating to the System of Lavater (all retaining original tissue guards); with prominent dampstaining affecting upper and lower margins almost continuously, and further foxing and soiling; IV. pp. [iv], 196, with hand-coloured frontispiece portrait of Gall, and 45 hand-coloured lithograph plates, numbered 132 - 136, plate 132 folding (missing final plate 177 of the Siamese twins), with prominent dampstaining to upper and lower margins throughout and some further soiling; in all three portraits and 185 engraved plates, all hand-coloured; with the library stamp of the ‘Bibliothèque Médicale Hôpital Notre-Dame’ on each title-page and often first leaf and sporadically throughout, with book-plate on each front paste-down; in contemporary black morocco backed marbled boards, spines lettered and tooled in gilt, inner hinges strengthened, wear with loss at head and tail of spines of Vols I and II, with further wear and rubbing to all joints and extremities, old accession numbers penned in white ink at tail; a working copy only. II. Four volumes bound in two, 4to; I. pp. xv,[i] blank, 177, [1] blank, [2] errata and blank, with lithograph frontispiece, portrait of Paolo Mascagni, 2 lithograph plates ‘Notions Preliminaries’ depicting the male and female form, and 44 lithograph plates; II. pp. iv, 191, [1] errata, with frontispiece portrait of William Harvey, and 44 lithograph plates numbered 45-89 (45 and 46 folding); with some occasional staining and soiling throughout; III. pp. [iv], 182, [1] errata, ‘System de Lavater’ [184] - 206; with portrait of Lavater (at p. 184) and 52 lithograph plates, numbered 90-131 (90, 101, 113 folding), and nos 1 - 10 relating to the System of Lavater; IV. pp. [ii] blank, [iv], 196, with portrait of Gall at p. 153 ‘Système de Gall’, and 46 lithograph plates, numbered 132 - 177, (plate 132 folding); in all 193 lithographs (one frontispiece, four portraits and 188 plates); all four volumes somewhat browned and foxed due to paper quality, more prominent in places and foxing sometimes affecting plates, with occasional marginal dampstaining; contemporary bookseller’s label on both front pastedowns; in contemporary black calf-backed marbled boards, spines ruled, lettered and numbered in gilt, head of both spines chipped and worn with loss, with slight loss at tail, joints lightly rubbed, extremities worn, with lower rear corner of volume two torn and missing. We are pleased to offer an unusual opportunity to acquire for comparative study, a copy of the rare first edition, though sadly incomplete (perhaps unsurprisingly), of a stunning and copiously illustrated introduction to the ‘body of man’, together with a complete uncoloured copy of the equally scarce second edition (idential to that of the first). The first edition presented here contains 188 of the 193 striking lithographs, almost all of which however, are coloured, seemingly by hand and mechanically, with several enhanced with gum arabic. The second edition is complete, and though uncoloured, is no less visually striking. Though the title page calls for 200 ‘planches’, it collates exactly to that of the first edition, and there are in all 193 plates (interleaved within the text) numbered 1-177, together with an additional section of 10 plates illustrating Gall and Lavater’s system. There are portraits of Paolo Mascagni, William Harvey, Franz Joseph Gall and Johann Casper Lavater, with two further unnumbered plates illustrating the male and female form, and the opening frontispiece.
Dr Jules Galet was a clinical head at the Montpellier Faculty of Medicine, and published the present popular work on anatomy and physiology in parts (each ‘livraision’ 24 pages and six plates) between 1835-1841, through which he hoped to make the place the subject ‘within the reach of all classes of society’. The volumes deal in turn with I. the Digestive, absorbent and respiratory apparatus, digestive function, absorption and breathing; II. Respiratory system and blood circulation; III. the musculoskeletal system (osteology, arthrology and myology), locomotion and the mechanism of voluntary movements; Lavater’s system; and IV. the nervous system, generation, innervation, Gall’s system, and embryology.
Contemporary reviews of the work reveal that it was possible to buy copies either uncoloured (75c) or coloured (1 fr 75c), though coloured copies, are particularly scarce. As Monique Kornell notes in her work Flesh and Bones, the Art of Anatomy (p. 198), the majority of the illustrations were in fact drawn from a variety of sources, such as Antonio Scarpa’s 1794 Tabulae neurologicae, although Galet has signed them all as being designed and lithographed by himself, each signed ‘Galet, D.M. pinx et lith’, and which were then printed by the famous Parisian lithography firm of Lemercier, being signed ‘Lith de Lemercier’, with the later volumes including a number signed ‘Imp de Lemercier, Benard et Cie’. Joseph Rose Lemercer (1803-1887) was an early adapter of lithography after it arrived in France, and went on to establish one of the most famous printing firms in France. He formed a partnership with Jean Benard in arround 1829 which lasted for about 10 years.
The first edition on offer does not include the allegorical frontispiece, the portrait of Paolo Mascagni, the striking folding plate of the skeleton (white printed on a black background), that of the skull (similarly white on black), and the final plate teratological plate. These are provided in photocopy.
A further edition was published in 1854, and it was translated into Spanish by Dr. José Trullas y Gea and Dr. Mariano Garcia Huerta.
OCLC locates copies of the first edition at the National Library of Medicine, Washington, the British Library and Cambridge University, with a small number of European locations, with copies of the second edition at the New York Academy of Medicine and Chicago (both citing the title-page number of plates), and the Getty (noting 192, seemingly missing a portrait).

1877. 8vo, pp. 31, [1]; paper lightly browned throughout due to paper quality, small vertical tear at head of first couple of leaves without loss, with some further minor edgewear, and some light creasing in places; stitched as issued in the original printed wrappers, small tear at upper margin of upper cover, with some staining affecting the lower margin, further light soiling, and extremities very lightly nicked and worn. Uncommon first edition of this short historical treatise highlighting the life and work of some famous women, both ancient and modern, in the fields of medicine and science. Franceso Scalzi (1821-1889), described as ‘Ispettore Medico nel mosocomio di santo spirito in Roma’, dedicates his work to Contessa Elena Borghese, and presents a brief A-Z, beginning with Abella of Salerno, concluding with Vittorio, and including the Scottish herbalist Elizabeth Blackwell, the French midwife Louise Bourgeois, the sixteenth-century alchemist Isabella Cortese and ‘Miss Nightingale’. The most detailed biography is given over to Anna Manzolini, who held the Chair of Anatomy at the University of Bologna in the eighteenth century.
The brief entry for ‘Nightingale (miss)’ reads: ‘She dedicated her whole life and her vast wealth to the benefit of the poor. She distinguished herself as a nurse during the Crimean war. She later founded the Barak Hospital [sic] in London, a vast institution capable of accommodating over three thousand patients’ (online translation).

1890. Large 8vo, pp. vii, 636; with twelve plates, of which 11 are mounted Woodbury types, and one engraved plate, together with numerous figures within the text; plate 3 without tissue guard; paper a little browned throughout due to quality, some light marginal dampstaining to preface and table of contents from p. 626, with further occasional light spotting and soiling including ink staining on p. 48; in contemporary half roan over marbled boards, spine in compartments with raised bands, slightly faded and sunned, head of spine lightly worn, with some scuffing to upper cover, extremities lightly rubbed and bumped; a presentation copy from the author and inscribed on the half-title to ‘Monsieur le Docteur Widal’. First edition, and a presentation copy, of this noted work on epilepsy, including 11 mounted Woodbury types, highlighting physical pathologies associated with epilepsy and epileptic seizures. The lithograph plate shows histological lesions of the cerebral cortex.
‘In 1890, for the first time, a monograph was published which addressed epilepsies in the plural... a classification appeared to be required to provide structure to the increasingly heterogeneous field. Féré distinguished primarily partial and generalised paroxysms and subdivided the latter into: 1) the complete attack; 2) the incomplete attack; 3) abnormal attacks; and 4) isolated symptoms’ (Peter Wolf, History of epilepsy: nosological concepts and classification, in Epileptic Disorders: International Epileptic Journals, Sept 2014; I6 (3): 261-9). ‘A monumental undertaking by an important member of the Charcot circle, this volume is a synopsis of all that was understood and documented on neurologic disorders up to the time of its publication in 1890. Féré cites case histories and observations from over 800 physicians and presents his own classification of hystero-epileptic disorders’ (Mark Rowley, artandmedicine.com). He goes on to suggest that the photographs may have been taken by Albert Londe (1858-1917), who had established a photographic laboratory at the Salpêtrière during Charcot’s tenure, and would no doubt have been known to Féré.
Féré began his medical studies at Rouen and completed them in 1882 at Paris. He interned in surgery but whilst assisting Jean-Martin Charcot at the Salpêtrière, changed to neuropathology. In 1887 he was appointed chief medical officer at the Bicêtre, where he remained for the rest of his career. A specialist of ‘hystero-epilepsy’, he published extensively with studies on the anatomy of the nervous system, sexuality, hypnosis, Darwinism, and criminology.
The work is inscribed to ‘Monsieur le Docteur Widal’ - either Henri Victor Widal (1826-1894), the military physician and member of the Academy of Medicine, or perhaps more likely to his son Georges-Ferdinand (1862-1929), the noted pathological anatomist, who published essays on the nervous system, and most notably on infectious diseases.

1750. Small 8vo, pp. [xvi], 72; each page within typographic border, and with numerous woodcut head- and tail pieces; with running headling ‘Lucine affranchie des loix du concours’; small stain affecting fore-edge of pp. 3-16 (possibly candle-wax) and ink stain to final verso, with some very minor and occasional soiling and staining, otherwise clean and crisp; an attractive copy in contemporary half-calf over block printed decorative boards, with red sprinkled edges, spine in compartments with raised bands, ruled in blind, with small paper label at head of spine numbered in manuscript, head of spine chipped with loss, covers a little soiled, extremities and corners lightly bumped. An charming copy of this translation, with substantial additions, by Etienne Sainte-Colombe, of Hill’s famous scientific spoof Lucina sine concubitu. A letter... to the Royal Society London 1750, 4th edition of the same year. The additions are not found in the earlier translation attributed to J. P. Moët of which several editions were printed in 1750.
Written at the peak of philosophical discussions on generation and the preformation of eggs and spermatozoa, this amusing satire, “mockingly” addressed to the Royal Society is based on an idea first posed by William Wollaston in his ‘Religion of Nature Delineated’, “that human seed, or spermatozoa, floated everywhere in the air... [Hill] affected to have invented a machine for trapping the seminal animacules borne on the West wind. ‘Accordingly after much Exercise of my Invention, I contrived a wonderful cylindrical, caloptrical, rotundo-concavo-convex Machine... which, being hermetically sealed at one End, and electrified according to the nicest Laws of Electricity, I erected a convenient Attitude to the West, as a kind of Trap to intercept the floating Animaculae in that prolific quarter of the Heavens. The Event answered my Expectation; and when I had caught a sufficient number of these small original unexpanded Minims of Existence, I spread them out carefully like Silk-worm’s Eggs upon White-paper, and then applying my best Microscope, plainly discerned them to be little Men and Women, exact in all their Lineaments and Limbs, and ready to offer themselves little Candidates for Life, whenever they should happen to be imbibed with Air or Nutriment, and conveyed down into the Vessels of Generation’” (Needham, History of Embryology, pp. 186-87). Having trapped these airborne ‘minims of existence’ Hill offered to administer them ‘as a dose of physick’. His discovery he believes, that the world had been in error in the matter of conception for six thousand years, should be seen as being of more benefit than the discoveries of Newton. It could restore the honour of many women who throughout history had been unable to explain their pregnancy, remove guilt over fornication, the eradication of venereal disease, and even the need for marriage, a tie ‘inconsistent with all the Articles of modern pleasure’,.
Composer, actor, author and botanist, Hill (1714-1775), wrote the work as a hoax on the Royal Society, apparently in revenge for his rejection as a candidate for membership, in recognition he hoped, for his botanical research. His susbsequent monumental 26 volume illustrated ‘The Vegetable System’ was one of the first to adopt the nomenclature of Carl Linnaeus, and indeed he was later created a knight of the Order of Vasa in 1774 by Gustav III of Sweden, after which he adopted the title of ‘Sir John Hill’. The work was quickly taken up as a piece of popular sexology, with a least four more English printings in 1750, and was immediately translated into other languages. ‘This French translation has a new commentary on the text and new material, such as the account of a widow made pregnant by a married woman; experiments on the semen of various animals; a dissertation on human semen and the prodigious numbers of tiny animals it contains; and the disputes and havoc that this wicked little book has begun to create among husbands and wives’ (Gaskell Catalogue 29, item 51).

ca. 1880-1900.]. Chromolithograph decorative lidded box, 405 x 320 x 50mm; interior divided into three compartments, the larger containing three large chromolithograph playing boards, each with a sliding graduating scale on which the bear can slide, the two side compartments containing a pink cotton drawstring bag of bone tokens, two card ‘faux crocodile skin’ die shakers and two bone die; some signs of wear to all three playing boards, with some minor loss of paper in places, all three somewhat browned and aged; with mounted rules on the inside lid; in the original decorative box, with chromolithograph scene mounted on upper lid depicting the Jardin de Plantes, with a large group of spectators looking down into bear pit, lid a little darkened and soiled, with some darkening and soiling around the edges, some slight scuffing and loss of paper to base, some edge-wear as to be expected; an appealing complete example of a rare and fragile item. A striking game of chance, though very much of its time, ‘celebrating’ the famous bears of the Paris Jardin du Roi. A speed race comprised of three playing boards, each player chooses a bear - either Martin, Coco, or Lebernois, and taking turns to throw the dice moves their bear up the graduated ‘pole’ according to the numbers thrown. Like all games of chance, players risk landing on forfeit squares, printed in red and green, which will force either a return to the start, or to slide several places back down the pole. The first to the top (40) wins and claims the stake pot.
The game is similar in style to another Saussine production, ‘Jeu du Mat de Cocagne’ another race game, this time carnival based and racing three male climbers up a greased pole. The present game was reissued during the 1920s.
The Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris was famed not only for its collections, but for its ménagerie located within the botanical gardens of the Jardin du Roi. Formalised in 1794 after the revolution, guide books for the museum and the gardens soon became popular, published regularly, and which took visitors on a walking tour of the various notable attractions, including cages of ‘ferocious beasts’, an aviary, a monkey gallery, the famous rotunda housing large herbivores, including giraffes and elephants. Bear pits were first created in 1805, and early residents were confiscated from bear trainers, and soon gained a reputation for their ferocity, after two visitors (in 1814 and 1820) were killed having rashly entered the enclosure. Indeed the latter incident prompted something of a public outcry, the first ‘Martin Bear’ (‘L’ours Martin’ so named after Saint-Martin, protector of the poor and ‘bear hunter’) effectively put on trial for his crime. This ‘homicide’, whilst treated by some as a legitimate crime, also became the focus of various parodic pamphlets, putting humanity itself on defence for wrongly ‘oppressing’ others of Martin’s kind, who were only acting according to nature. These tragic incidents nevertheless helped to create public sympathy for the bears, and they became a popular attraction, entertaining generations of families through both their antics and ferociousness. As the present end of the century games suggests, they were still a major attraction, the animal collection seen as a positive way to broaden the horizons of Parisians and those from further afield.

1835. Two volumes in one, 8vo, pp. [iv], 386; [iv], 370, (p. 191 erroneously numbered 126); some foxing throughout, more prominent in a few gatherings, and with some very occasional light marginal dampstaining, otherwise generally clean and crisp; in contemporary calf-backed marbled boards, with marbled edges, one section of fore-edge in blue, spine attractively tooled and lettered in gilt, retaining two green silk markers, some light rubbing and wear to extremities, but otherwise a very good copy. Rare first edition of this curious, and somewhat scurrilous literary work edited by Touchard-Lafosse and based upon the manuscript notes of Alexandrine Jullimier. ‘This spicy work was written on the notes of Mademoiselle Jullemier [by Touchard-Lafosse]. The first volume, almost in its entirety, contains little-known particulars on the obscure origin and elevation of the one of the most shameless industrialists of the time, the famous Giraudeau de Saint-Gervais, [charlatan and author of a treatise on venereal diseases]. The second volume contains anecdotes on the practice of Mademoiselle Jullemier, told with wit.’ (online translation of: Cet ouvrage piquant a été rédigé sur les notes de mademoiselle Jullemier [par Touchard-Lafosse]. Le premier volume, presque en entier, ne renferme que des particularités peu connues sur l'origine obscure et l'élévation de l'un des plus éhontés industriels de l'époque le fameux Giraudeau de Saint-Gervais, [charlatan et auteur d'un traité sur les maladies vénériennes]. Le second volume renferme des anecdotes sur la pratique de Mademoiselle Jullemier, racontée avec esprit.’ Quérard, Supercheries littéraires 2, 435).
Alexandrine Jullemier was a pupil of Madame La Chapelle, and opened a clinic in the rue de l’Odéon, making a speciality of clandestine deliveries. She was closely involved with the noted ‘quack’ Doctor Giraudeau, and according to Quérard was largely responsible for his success. He is represented in the present account as a man without scruples, and it is interesting to note, that in the second edition which appeared in the same year, most of the names were changed, Giraudeau de Saint-Gervais renamed as ‘Duroche’.

1931.]. Large 4to, pp. 60; with four ‘faux’ mounted colour paintings on dark green paper, 13 vibrant chromolithographs on seven leaves (including one double-page), and numerous heliogravures and graphs within the text; paper somewhat browned throughout, with occasional light soiling, though otherwise clean and crisp, gutters exposed in a couple of places but holding firm; with a number of later related newspaper cuttings loosely inserted; in the original striking silver gilt boards, lettered in black, and with depiction of the Paris Metro system in red, black, white and blue, with notable Art Deco inspired paste downs by Débatier, front inner hinge a little split and cracked but holding firm, with small tear to fore-edge of front endpaper, head and tail of spine rubbed and worn with loss of silver gilt, with further rubbing to joints, covers and scratched in places, extremities bumped and lightly rubbed; overall a good copy. Surprisingly uncommon and beautifully produced commemorative work, issued by the ‘Compagnie du chemin de fer Métropolitain de Paris’ (CMP) to coincide with the Colonial Exhibition of 1931. Clearly taking inspiration from the iconic 1927 film ‘Metropolis’, this vibrantly illustrated work provides a history of the Parisian underground railway from its inception in 1855, through the inauguration of the first line in 1900, up until the present day, with a look at the current state of the system and a glimpse of future developments. Copiously illustrated with black and white heliogravure photographs, vibrant colour maps and graphs, and with a further four ‘faux’ mounted artworks illustrating the ‘Viaduct d’Austerlitz’; the Viaduct B. Auguste Blanquè’; the ‘Station “Madeleine”’; and ‘une station de Métro’.
The atmospheric front paste-down, signed by Debadier, is very redolent of the time and most effective.

ca. 1854-5.]. Engraved Pictorial letter sheet 282 x 227mm with further single leaf of letter paper, effectively pp. [4], (presumed originally a single folded sheet now detached); printed on tinted (gray/blue?) paper, with thirteen engraved vignettes surrounding a central text panel in two columns with two songs, the blank verso and accompany leaf filled in manuscript with a letter home to England from a young miner, Thomas Cockburn and dated ‘San Francisco, Janry 31st 1855’; imprint at tail cropped close with some slight loss, the whole sheet condition is poor, heavily browned with a number of nicks and small tears, several small holes along folds, with further spotting and soiling, evidence of previous horizontal and vertical folds; despite wear, a scarce and poignant survivor. A somewhat dog-eared, but scarce surviving example of a gold rush inspired pictorial letter sheet, filled with a lengthy and evocative letter home to England from a young prospector, Thomas Cockburn, we believe from Tweedsmouth near Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland.
The sheet is illustrated with 13 wood-engraved vignettes: a large image dominates the top and which shows ‘The Miner’s Home’, with the following series of images depicting the life of a gold prospector, including daily chores, the joys and pains of mining, the interiors of living quarters, and how miners entertain themselves. The central panel contains two songs: ‘The One he Sung at Home’ expressing a miner’s happiness and optimism before setting out to California, followed by ‘The One he Sings Here’, a sadder and more pessimistic ode on the harsh realities of gold mining. Similar examples found at the Bancroft suggest that the sheets were first issued in around December 1854, which aligns with the date of the present letter.
Dated January 31st 1855 and penned in San Francisco, Cockburn is replying to a letter received from home on December 31st (though written on November 16th). Very much echoing the pictorial images (and which no doubt must have struck a chord), it provides a fascinating insight into the highs and lows for an early prospector, and how far from home they must have felt, although it becomes clear from his letter that he seems to have travelled with other men from Tweedsmouth to seek their fortune.
'Dear Mother, I take the Pleasure of riting a few lines to inform you that I am well at present hopping this will find you the same I recvied your letter on December 31 1854 Dated Nov. 16 1854 and was sorry to here of you and Robert being sick and Margrat misforton I think she wil be as old as Mother / Dear Mother I wil send you 4 pounds for your New Years Gift Pleas to give My ant Sara 10 Shillings for her new years gift you must give nice Jane a New Dres and Nephew George a New coat if he is a good boy to his Grandmother and delivers the tobacco / Pleas to send my nice Rebicca a New Dres and let her no that I am coming home next year to Marry her / I was sorry to here of Janes Misforton I should like to see her now I wounder if she is as spunkey as ever... ‘.
Of his working life, Cockburn notes: ‘I am working at present but work is very dul for this is winter it rains very much her in winter but this winter hase been a very good winter for work in the Citys and a very bad winter in the mines for want of rain to wash the dirt for the gold it is raining very hard at present the have been but very few days rain this winter I will be finished with my work in a day or two and I wil go up to the mines for to try my luck if I have good luck I wil come home to see My Mother and all my frinds’.
Though longing for home, Thomas was clearly amongst some colleagues from back home: ‘Alexander Young is here and he sends his Kind love to his father and Mother he is doueing very wel he sase he has ben here since 1849 I have met in with a nother young man from Tweedsmouth Hennry Adam Sidey he is in a flour mil working he hase ben very kind to me... Willam and the Children sends there kind love to his mother and all his Brothers and sisters and enquiring frinds he saes he wil rite to you in corse of a few weeks’.
The reliability of post appears have been something of an issue, and Thomas complains that he has not received ‘anney papers you sent me’ and suggests to his mother not to send any more. They do receive some news however: ‘wee git all the English papers here when the Mail comes in and wee are very anchis to here a bout the war let me no if Alexander hase gone to the war or where he is’. He concludes by appealing for more local news and his sense of longing is perceptible: ‘Please to rite as soon as you recive the money and let me no all the news I must conclude with wishing you all a happy New Yaer Brothers Sisters uncals and Ants and Cusines my to Ant Sara uncle George Cusine Joseph and wife recpts to David Bell John Roberson and all my enquiring frinds. Let me no where James Mathison is Your son truly Thomas Cockburn San Francisco California.'
George Holbrook Baker (1827-1906), of Barber & Baker, was a Massachusetts born artist, who was studying in New York when the gold rush broke out. He "dropped his brushes" and went west, arriving in San Francisco in late May 1849. He briefly tried his luck at prospecting, but soon found that it was easier to make a living using his artistic skills, and within three months, his first views of the town were being published in New York. He moved to the new state capital at Sacramento in 1852, where he started several businesses and two periodicals while also creating sought after views of northern California. He partnered with Edmond Barber (1834-1909) between 1854-56, where they had a wood engraving studio in the Union building in Sacramento. Barber soon returned to Minnesota before eventually settling in Manitoba. After a devastating flood ruined him, Baker moved back to San Francisco in 1862, were he started a noted lithography and publishing firm. He is regarded as one of the most noted artists and lithographers of the Gold Rush era, and his archives are held at California State Library. Barber and Baker are best known for their ‘Sacramento Illustrated’, an early history of the town based upon information supplied by some early pioneers, and their other popular pictorial letter sheets ‘The Miner’s Ten commandments’, ‘The miner’s creed’ and ‘Crossing the Plains’.
A full transcript of the letter is available upon request.

1900. 8vo, pp. [vi] including front blank, xxii, 799, [1] contents; with four lithograph plates (comprising chromolithograph frontispiece, one further chromolithograph, a folding plate and a large folding graph), and with numerous text illustrations and diagrams; lightly browned throughout due to paper quality, otherwise clean and crisp, with a few occasional nicks to fore-edge; in contemporary maroon morocco backed marbled boards, with the original printed wrappers bound in, upper wrapper with neat verso repair at tail, spine in compartments with raised bands ruled and lettered in gilt, retaining original green silk marker, head and tail of spine, and spine bands rubbed and worn, with further light scuffing to boards and extremities, corners a little bumped; with the ownership signature of Paul Duhem on half-title and title-page; a good copy. First edition of this attractively illustrated work by the philosopher, physicist, anthropologist, archaeologist and politician Clemence Augustine Royer (1830-1902).
Largely self-educated, Royer moved to Lausanne in 1857 (having previously taught as a governess in Wales for a brief period). Once in Lausanne she began her career of writing and public speaking, and began an educational course for women in logic. ‘Women speakers were fashionable then, and she continued in 1859-1860 with a course in natural philosophy. Because formal advanced education was not yet open to women even in Switzerland, a pioneer in this area of social progress, she had little competition and could attract considerable audiences. Her lecture program expanded, both in Lausanne and in other Swiss cities; later she went to Italy... her wide reading enabled her to cover many subjects; She liked to combine fields, drawing no separation between science and philosophy’ (Creese, II, p. 85). Royer is best remembered for her dissemination of Darwin in France, notably through her translation (the first) of the Origin of Species in 1862, though Darwin objected to some of her notes, and is known to have described her as ‘one of the cleverest and oddest women in Europe’ (Freeman). Publication of the work eventually led to her controversial election as a member of the Société d’Anthropologie de Paris in 1870, Royer becoming an active member of the society until her death in 1902.
In addition to her scientific interests, through her long-term relationship with the political activist Pascal Duprat (with whom she had a son out of wedlock) Royer had considerable visibility in Paris social and political circles and from 1870 when Duprat served in the National Assembly her writings focused on political problems, notably the condition of women, and she later became a major figure in the feminist movement.
Though elegantly produced and substantial in content, including two striking chromolithograph plates notably that depicting ‘Les Couleurs Spectrales et leur cheminement dans l’éther’, of the present work Creese notes that it ‘suffered sadly from her lack of scientific training’.

ca. 1715 but with later 20th century additions of cufflink]. Pair of round silver coloured metal disks (nickel?), 27 x 27mm, embossed with two different images showing the ‘treatment’ and ‘relief’, with cufflink attached on verso, one marked ‘sterling’ and so presumably added later (20th century?), both with some patination, a little soiled and darkened, with some minor scratching, otherwise good. A wonderful pair of cufflinks, inspired by, and indeed most probably depicting King Louis XIV of France (1638-1715) taking an enema, and vividly satirising the craze for ‘lavements’ which was prevalent amongst aristocratic circles in Paris, and indeed across Europe, at the time. Having handled a set previously, we believe that they were originally buttons which could be adapted, and have subsequently had added on cufflinks - possibly during the 20th century as one cufflink is lettered ‘sterling’.
The present set is comprised of two different images: the first depicting the enema being administered to the prostrate patient - a chamber-pot close at hand. The administrator seems to be taking some delight in the discomfort being inflicted! The second image shows the ‘after-effects’: the patient now seated on said chamber-pot relieving themselves. A close inspection of the first button reveals very small ‘fleur-de-lis’ in the background, leading to our assumption that these were produced in France.
The Sun King ruled from 1643 until his death, and was a particular devotee of the fashion for using enemas on a regular basis. Convinced that inner ‘lavements’ purified the complexion and produced good health, it was common amongst the fashionable to take as many as three or four enemas a day. Louis XIV is rumoured to have had over 2000 during his reign, sometimes holding court whilst the procedure was being carried out, and he was a fervent believer that the regular enemas were the reason behind his good health and long life. The phenomena became so ‘de rigeur’ that apparently during a court ball, whilst the Duchesse de Bourgogne was engaged in a conversation with Louis XIV himself, her maid slipped in under the Duchesses' elaborate ball gown and performed an enema right on the spot! Aristocratic enemas were often delicately tinted and scented with either rose, orange or angelica. Somewhat inevitably, the craze was often burlesqued on the stage, notably by Moliere, and it was a lively topic of elegant discourse in the salons.