CATALOGUE OF THE LIBRARY OF Henry W. Poor PART II Masterpieces of Printing; ILLUMINATED and other MANUSCRIPTS; AMERICANA; AUTOGRAPHS AND PRIVATE BOOK-CLUB 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 Henry W. Poor Library. PART II. PREFATORY NOTE. THE second portion of the catalogue of the Poor Library contains so many items of rarity and great excellence that, as in the case of Part I., it is very difficult to select those worthy of special mention. Among those which may be depended upon to interest the Booklover and Collector are briefly noted as follows: INCUNABULA, MANUSCRIPTS AND EARLY PRESSES: Part II of Mr. Poor's collection will be found to contain some thirty or forty specimens of Incunabula, including the Aristophanes of 1498, the Martial of 1501, and Melanchthon's copy of Nicolas Perotti's "Cornucopia," 1513, from the Aldine Press; the Rerum Venetarum" of Sabellicus, the rare first edition of the oldest official'chronicle of Venice, printed by Andreas de Asula in 1487; Dante, with Landino's Commentary and three Botticelli plates; a choice collection of examples from the Elzevir Press; a manuscript Bible dated 1425; several very fine Hours of the Virgin, with miniatures, including one of French execution of the Fif teenth Century, with ten miniatures, and another of the same period, with eight miniatures. AMERICANA AND AMERICAN AUTHORS: A quaint and interesting book and the first book of original poetry written in America is Hayman's "Quodlibets," 1628, addressed to the early voyagers to Newfoundland, Sir George Calvert, Sir Richard Whitbourne, Sir Wm. Vaughan, Sir. Wm. Alexander, and dedicated to the "Emperoure of South and North Virginia." Other items are Audubon's "Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America," a fine copy with the Atlas of Colored Plates; De Bry's "Great Voyages," the first edition of the first three parts of the German Translation (Vol. 1 being Hariot's "Virginia," Vol. 2 " Laudonnières's Voyage to Florida, Vol. 3, Hans Stade's account of the early voyages to Brazil); Bryant's "White-Footed Deer," in the original wrappers, and others of his works; Franklin's "Way to Wealth"; the works of Hawthorne, including his "Gentle Boy," "Celestial Railroad," etc.; first editions of Lowell, including the first issue of "Il Pesceballo," Cambridge, 1862; the works of Longfellow, Emerson, Holmes, Eugene Field; the writings of W. L. Andrews, etc. EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE: This division includes Bunyan's "Seasonable Counsel," first edition, 1684, of great rarity, issued almost at the same time as the second part of the "Pilgrim's Progress"; Roger Ascham's "Scholemaster," 1571, nearly as rare as the first edition; Chalkill's "Thealma and Clearchus," 1683, which many authorities believe to have been written by Izaak Walton; Chapman's "Iliad," a first edition of great rarity; the first edition of his" Cæsar and Pompey "; the "Summa Totalis" of John Davies of Hereford, the poet, writing master and friend of Shakespeare, Fletcher and the early Dramatists of that period; several scarce editions of Michael Drayton, including the "Poems," 1630, with the leaves of "Idea," usually lacking, and Mitford's copy of the 1637 edition; Dryden's "The Medall," 1682; "Annus Mirabilis," 1688; and "Britannia Rediviva," 1688; three of the rare works of Thomas Heywood; a fine copy of the first edition of the works of Killigrew, with the rare portrait, 1644; Marlowe's "Dr. Faustus," 1663; and the first or Shakespeare edition of Florio's "Montaigne," 1603, with the leaves of errors and omissions. BINDING: There are many interesting examples of Binding, including Suetonius, with the Arms of the husband of Madame de Pompadour; a Bible in the Pointillé style of Le Gascon; specimens of Roger Payne, Padeloup, and others. The gem of the collection of American Bindings is a copy of the First Bible printed in New York City, 1792, remarkable for its elaborate contemporary binding, the earliest and handsomest specimen of American art known. [See frontispiece.] |