CATALOGUE OF THE LIBRARY OF Edwin N. Lapham OF CHICAGO, ILL. A REMARKABLE COLLECTION, PRINCIPALLY OF ENGLISH AUTHORS OF THE GEORGIAN 1. All bids to be per Lot as numbered in the Catalogue. 2. The highest bidder to be the buyer; in all cases of disputed bids the lot shall be resold, but the Auctioneer will use his judgment as to the good faith of all claims and his decision shall be final. 3. Buyers to give their names and addresses and to make such cash payments on account as may be required, in default of which the lots purchased to be immediately resold. 4. Goods bought to be removed at the close of each sale. If not so removed they will be at the sole risk of the purchaser and this Company will not be responsible if such goods are lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed. 5. Terms Cash. If accounts are not paid at the conclusion of each Sale, or, in the case of absent buyers, when bills are rendered, this Company reserves the right to recatalogue the goods for immediate sale without notice to the defaulting buyer, and all costs of such resale will be charged to the defaulter. This condition is without prejudice to the rights of the Company to enforce the sale contract and collect the amount due without such resale at its own option. 6. All goods are sold as catalogued, and are assumed to be in good second-hand condition. If material defects are found, not mentioned in the catalogue, the lot may be returned. Notice of such defects must be given promptly and the goods returned within ten days from the date of the sale. No exceptions will be made to this rule. 7. Bids. We make no charge for executing orders for our customers. We use all bids competitively and buy at the lowest price permitted by other bids. The Edwin N. Lapham Library PREFACE. The THE collection of books here offered for sale has occupied the leisure hours of a busy life for many years. owner feels that he is parting with tried and trusted friends, but is consoled by the conviction that books such as these can appeal only to those who will equally appreciate and value them. "The criterion of literature is the touch-stone of time," and it is believed that there are very few books in this collection that have not passed the test and will not be accepted by collectors as "pure gold." Special attention has been paid not only to procuring the rarest books, but the best obtainable copies of such books. Mainly of the Tennysonian Period, the collection also includes the standard authors of the Johnsonian Era. Of the books issued during the latter period there will be found Dr. Johnson's rare "Prince of Abissinia" and the "Vanity of Human Wishes," and some particularly rare editions of Goldsmith, including the "Vicar of Wakefield" and "Retaliation." The latter charming and pleasantly satirical poem-the last work of Goldsmith, published two weeks after his death-is one of his books that should be most cherished by his admirers. It was a reply to Garrick's humorous epitaph on Goldsmith, written on the spur of the moment in a company of friends: "Here lies Nolly Goldsmith, for shortness call'd Noll Who wrote like an angel, but talked like poor Poll.” Goldsmith in his "Retaliation" poked pleasant fun at all the wits of the town, and the last lines ever penned by him are the two in that poem referring to Sir Joshua Reynolds: "When they talked of their Raphaels, Correggios and stuff, The works of both Smollett and Fielding are First Editions, and only those who have endeavored to obtain them can appreciate the difficulty of securing them in this state. "The Critic, "She Stoops to Conquer," "The School for Scandal" and other pieces by Sheridan are the First and rare editions. A little later in the Eighteenth Century come those authors who really extend into and influence the early Tennysonian Era-Shelley, Keats, Coleridge and Wordsworth. Of the first named there are "Adonais," "Laon and Cythna," "The Cenci," "Rosalind and Helen," "The Revolt of Islam," and others equally rare; and the three "slender volumes" of Keats exquisitely bound by Bedford. There is also the "Lyrical Ballads" of Wordsworth, 1798, containing the first appearance of the "Ancient Mariner," and a copy in the original boards, uncut, of the two-volume edition of the "Poems," 1807. Coleridge's "Sibylline Leaves" is entirely uncut and his "Remorse," 1813, for which Charles Lamb wrote the Prologue, is the edition of which the sanguine author wrote to the Gentle Elia that he would make over £400 by it, but confessed later that the edition would probably last for years. The reader of Wordsworth and Coleridge is also a reader of Charles Lamb, and of the latter there is a large collection, beginning with his first attempts at poetry in the little volume published by Charles Lloyd and Coleridge in 1796, and his own first separate publication, "A Tale of Rosamund Gray," is in the original (half leather) binding and there are others in boards, all as issued. It is scarcely necessary to point out the rarity of first editions of "Tales from Shakespeare," "John Woodvil" and the "Essays of Elia," not omitting the mention of Talfourd's own copy of Charles Lamb's Letters, interleaved with his MS. annotations and additions of parts omitted from the published version, and some original Lamb letters. The Walter Savage Landor collection is probably the most complete ever offered. It includes a unique copy of "Imaginary Conversations," with proof sheets of additional conversations bound in and four letters of Landor to Lady Blessington. The writings of Leigh Hunt and Hazlitt are in the first editions. The works of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning include the "Poems," 1844, which is a presentation copy from Mrs. Browning; and her husband's "Bells and Pomegranates" is the copy he gave to Miss Chorley, the sister of the well 1 known musical critic. A Manuscript Poem and Letters add to the interest of this division, and other rarities include the (Reading) edition of the "Sonnets," the "Runaway Slave"the first book to which Mrs. Browning signed her married name; her "Essay on Mind," written when only seventeen; "Prometheus Bound," which she later suppressed; a presentation copy of Browning's "Sordello," and the rare separate issues of the "Statue and the Bust," "Cleon" and "Gold Hair." I feel a justifiable pride in the Tennyson, Dickens, Thackeray, Fitzgerald, Rossetti and Swinburne collections. The First Issue of "Pickwick," in the original parts, uncut, is, I believe, unequalled, and only the experienced collector will appreciate the time and labor required to make up the complete set with every part in the right state. The other Dickens items are also in the best states and earliest issues, and, of the books of Thackeray, "Vanity Fair," in the original parts, is very difficult to obtain. The "Second Funeral of Napoleon" is well known to Thackeray collectors, though exceedingly rare in the original wrappers. Thackeray's other writings include both his earlier and later works and the books illustrated by him when he believed his forte to be drawing, not fiction. Contemporary with these writers is a host of others whose work time has stamped with the mark of permanence. George Eliot, Charles Lever, "Father Prout" (who should be included for his "Bells of Shandon"), George Borrow, Charles Reade, R. H. Barham, the Brontë Sisters (including the first issue of the "Poems," 1846, with the Aylott & Jones imprint and "Jane Eyre"), and others that want of space prevents enumerating. Attention should also be called to a few special rarities. Among the Tennysons will be found the privately printed "Helen's Tower," to which has been added the original manuscript of Browning's Poem on the tower written at Lord Dufferin's request; the first edition of "Poems by Two Brothers"; "Poems," 1830; the privately printed edition of "The Cup," and others; "The Germ," "Sister Helen," and the privately printed "Verses," 1881, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti; and also two manuscripts, his translations of Burger's "Lenore," and "William and Helen." There is a wonderful collection of first editions of Swinburne, Morris, Oscar |