Current Stock - S, T (last online update: 11th May 2010)

Willems 412 (the first and best of the reprints of 1634).

Doughty, Tullis Press, 17. Formerly in Edinburgh University Library, with their cancelled stamps to title and p.51.

Handsomely printed Arabic dialect grammar, with vocabularies and dialogues, edited by the renowned orientalist Louis Langlès, who appended his parallel-text Recit de Sindebad le Marin and La Ruse des Femmes. These tales were reprinted as a separate publication in 1814.

Chuo 370. Scott's major philosophical work. The most intellectually distinguished figure active in Aberdeen at the turn of the nineteenth century, his teaching career began in 1788 when he was appointed assistant to his maternal grandfather, the regent Thomas Gordon, at King's College, and he taught the whole of the cursus philosophicus. He succeeded Gordon as regent in 1796, and in 1800, when King's came to adopt the professorial system, he was named the first Professor of Moral Philosophy and continued in this position until his death. As well as being a prominent figure at King's, Scott served as Provost of Aberdeen from 1801 to 1808, he was a founder and major benefactor of the Fund for the Relief of Sick Labourers, and he had broad literary tastes and abilities. He derived the basics of his account of the intellectual and active powers of the human mind from the works of fellow-Aberdonians James Beattie, George Campbell, and especially Thomas Reid. He also owed an intellectual debt to Dugald Stewart: his ambition to provide a system of psychology was inspired by Stewart's example, and in addition he turned to Stewart for details of his discussion of the faculties of memory, conception, abstraction and imagination, as well as his explanation of the state of sleep and dreaming.

Hayward 214; Ruff 25; Tinker 1861; Todd & Bowden 14Ab; Van Antwerp 5.
Preceded only by the early translations from German, the three short poems printed in Lewis's Tales of Wonder, and the imitations of ancient ballads in the Minstrelsy, this is Scott's first work of original poetry and his first of any length. It is easily the scarcest of his quarto poems: 750 copies were printed. It made Scott, at a stroke, the most popular poet in Britain, succeeding so brilliantly as to determine his future career.

Edited by J.G. Lockhart, and including many pieces hitherto uncollected or printed under Scott's name. The present set is unusual, with the frontispiece/title plates proofs before letters; curiously, however, volumes 25-26 are dated 1838, volume 21 1838, volume 16 1840, volumes 4-5, 7, 17, 22 & 24 1843 and volumes 27-28 1844; the remainder are dated between 1834 and 1836 as usual. We do not pretend to account for these peculiarities; presumably the set was made up from original sheets with some cancel titles, but this does not account for the proof state of the plates.
Includes Scott's monumental Life of Napoleon, biographies of Dryden, Swift, Smollett, Johnson, Goldsmith, Sterne, Le Sage, Mackenzie, Defoe, Charlotte Smith, Byron, John Leyden and others; his essays on chivalry, the romance and the drama; the Tales of a Grandfather and other historical essays; five volumes of periodical criticism, such as his reviews of Jane Austen's novels, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and works by Godwin; the "Malagrowther" letters on the currency; and other essays and reviews on a wide variety of subjects.

Todd & Bowden 269Aa, 272A, 275A, 278 (1833 second octavo edition, omitted by Todd & Bowden), 281A & 284A: comprising the first editions of the large octavo collected series except the fourth series (St. Ronan's Well to Woodstock), here as reprinted in 1833. This is Scott "presented in the grandest manner, with large paper and type," for "the more affluent readers of his novels." (Todd & Bowden)

K.D. Duval, Scott & His Scotland 971. Comprising:
i. [Scott] A Bannatyne Garland, Quhairin the President Speaketh. [Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne & Co.?1823], pp.[ii blank]+6+[2 blank]. Ruff 177; Todd & Bowden 169A; Van Antwerp 21. ONE OF SCOTT'S GREAT RARITIES.
ii. [Tytler (Patrick Fraser)] The Bannatyne Garland. Number Second. [Ane Ballat, Brevit be ane Learnit Councillar In the Kingis Chekar.] [Edinburgh: Ballantyne? 1824?], pp.7+[1].
iii. [Anon.] Ane Richt pithie and pleasant Ballat of Bannatyne, Eftir the maner of ane Garland, followis, jocund and mirrie. Enprintit at Athenis, upoun Sanct Ronan's day, in the yeir of God ane thousand aucht hunder ane scoir an four yeiris, In Ballantyne's greit Hows [1824], pp.[8]. The "Sanct Ronan" of the imprint is clearly a reference to the latest Waverley Novel, St. Ronan's Wells, and Club members were undoubtedly in on the secret of authorship.
iv. [Tytler] A Bannatyne Garland. Edinburgh, [Ballantyne,] November xxiii, Mdcccxxiv, pp.[6], lacking final blank
v. [Tytler] Ane Bannatyne Garlande, Brevit be Maister Patrick, of the Kingis Chekar. Dunedin: [Ballantyne] 1826, pp.6+[2].
vi. [Jamieson (Dr. John)] A New Bannatyne Garland; Compylit be Doctor Jehan of the Hall Ryal. Imprentit at Sanct Paulis Wark, at Yule, in the present yeir, 1828, pp.[8].
vii. [Tytler] Ane New Bannatyne Garland. [Edinburgh:] 1829, pp.7+[1].
viii [Pitcairn (Robert)] Ane plesand Garland, Being ane lytill and Merrie Conceited Geste callit Ye Coirne-clyppis, Schawing howe ane young clerke mett with ane maidene, and ye misadventuris quhilk befell unto thaime thairthrow. Being profitabill to be read, for ye mair sikkar eschewing of ye lyke mischaunces in tymes to cum. Sanct Androis, Imprentit be Robert Lekprevik [Edinburgh: 1830?], pp.[2]+10.
ix. [Scott] Two Bannatyne Garlands from Abbotsford. [Edinburgh: Ballantyne and Hughes, 1848], pp.15+[1]+10, lacking initial and terminal blanks. Centenary Catalogue 376.
x. [Lauder (G[eorge]) Tears on the Death of Evander Occasioned by the Lamentable losse of the truelie Noble and Generous, Sir John Svynton Knight, Collonel of an Regiment of 2000 Nederlanders, going to Venize, who was cast away by storme on the coast of England upon Goodwin sands the 13 of Octob. 1630. Hagh Anno Dni. 1630 [i.e. Edinburgh, Printed by Robert Hardie & Co., 1848], pp.14+[2]. Edited and presented to the Club by W.B.D.D. Turnbull; reprinted from the unique copy of the original, now in the Huntington Library.
xi. Bannatyne (George) The Poems of George Bannatyne, MDLXVIII. Edinburgh, [Ballantyne], 1824, pp.21+[3 blank]. Bound at the front of the volume. Edited, with extensive commentary, by David Laing.
Numbers i-iv are printed on Alexander Cowan's fine wove paper with blank protective leaves from other distinguished mills (such as Whatman's); the remainder are printed on Cowan's laid, specially manufactured and watermarked for Bannatyne Club use.
Scott's facetious reference to the Roxburghe Club, "that Society of select Bibliomaniacs," in the prefatory letter to Peveril of the Peak, led to the Author of Waverley's invitation to join the Club, which Scott, while still playing the "Great Unknown," accepted. At the same time he was taking the leading part in the founding of the Bannatyne Club, named after George Bannatyne (1545-1606?), whose rich collection of Scottish poetry, collected during his youth and compiled during the pestilence of 1568, preserved a mass of Scottish manuscript poetry that would otherwise have been lost. In Sir Walter's own words, Bannatyne accomplished nothing less than "saving the literature of a whole nation." The new club, modelled on the Roxburghe example, was instituted "to print works illustrative of the history, antiquities and literature of Scotland," as organised and financed by the members under expert editorship: an object it accomplished, by its final demise in 1867, to a far greater extent than had been contemplated by its original members. Scott was its founding president, and presided until his death; other founding members included the Chief Commissioner William Adam, Archibald Constable, Lord Eldin, James Maidment, Robert Pitcairn, Patrick Fraser Tytler, and David Laing, the Club's faithful and tireless Secretary from first to last.
The first dinner, on March 9th 1823, was marked by the song which Scott composed for the occasion (item i). He was also closely connected with the ninth and tenth Garlands (issued together: item ix). The Reever's Penance, written by Robert Surtees of Mainsforth, Durham, had been printed at Scott's expense on Club paper c.1830, but never circulated. Sir Walter added "Quod ane Gude Squyer of Northumberland. - R.S. of M." The other, Captain Ward and the Rainbow, was sent from Abbotsford to Laing on 17th September 1831, partly written in Scott's own hand and with an introductory note by him, shortly before he set out on his final journey in search of health. The printed copies of The Reever's Penance were eventually received by Laing in 1848 and were attached to copies to Captain Ward and the Rainbow, with a preface and notes by Laing. This pair of Garlands were given "to those Members of the Bannatyne Club who propose dining together next Thursday [23rd February 1848], to celebrate the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Club, of which [Scott] was the Founder and President." (Laing's Preface)
Of the other garlands, four are by Tytler, one by Jamieson, and one by Pitcairn (for all of whom see DNB): one is unascribed, and the last is by the seventeenth century poet George Lauder. All but the last are therefore original works. Most Club publications were limited to editions of about 100 copies, limited by the maximum number of Club members; the Garlands were however issued in even smaller numbers - probably no more than forty copies of any of them, limited to the numbers who would be able to attend the dinners at which they were distributed - over a period of twenty-five years. Largely because of their ephemeral nature, individual Garlands are scarce: Van Antwerp wrote of his copy of Scott's: "IT HAS NEVER BEEN OFFERED AT AUCTION AND MINE IS THE ONLY ONE I HAVE SEEN." Complete sets are rare. This one is appropriately accompanied by Bannatyne's own Poems, extracted from his manuscript collection, with a full commentary by David Laing. This is another scarce work, with no more than forty copies privately distributed.

Corson 208. Pirated edition of Hogg's personal memories of his friend and contemporary, originally published in the United States two months previously as Familar Anecdotes of Sir Walter Scott and here with the addition of 15 footnotes (presumably by the American editor, S. De Witt Bloodgood). With all its faults, inaccuracies, plenty of Hogg's egotism, and plenty to appall Lockhart, it is a delightful read, important as a reflection of Hogg as well as of Scott.

From the Gladstone library at Fasque, with bookplates.
Like the Anecdotes which preceded it (5 volumes, 1795-97), a justly popular work.

Jaggard p.508. Published in thirty-eight two-shilling numbers, with the plates (and with the separate titles superscribed "Harding's Edition"), or in twelve-volume sets, unillustrated. This is a pretty set of the completed part-issues, with the preliminaries as issued in 1800. It includes the life by Rowe, Johnson's preface, Farmer's essay, and brief preliminary observations on each play.

Collier's excellent edition of 1842-44, supplemented by the fraudulent ninth volume which cost him his reputation: see the fine article on him in the Oxford DNB.

Jaggard p.548 "edited from the text of Delius by Prof. Edward Dowden."
This is one of fifty sets on large paper, signed in each volume by the printers, Charles Whittingham & Co. It is also extra-illustrated with 24 engraved plates after Robert Smirke: six each illustrative of The Tempest, Taming of the Shrew, Merry Wives of Windsor, and Twelfth Night. They derive from Smirke's Illustrations to Shakespeare, published by Rodwell & Martin in 1821-29.

The original edition of 1823 consisted of only 30 copies; for the present edition David Laing utilised Sharpe's own annotated copy and added further material of his own.

Bookplate bearing the initials JDFT around a powder flask surmounting a keg. This bookplate is almost invariably found in unusual copies of the books they adorn, and is clearly that of an informed bibliophile. The present copy of the Etchings contains numerous bibliographical notes, some on the headed paper of Botleys Park Hospital Management Committee (one suggesting W.K.R. Bedford or David Laing as the author of the biographical memoir) and two extra illustrations. The first is a portrait of the author, which the collector notes was Sharpe in 1829, age 48, "engraved in mezzotint by Thos. Dick in 1851 after the painting by Thomas Frazer." The second is a large version of one of Sharpe's most brilliant satirical works, "Queen Elizabeth Dancing," fully 435x318mm, folded and tipped-in on a guard. An early and much smaller pen-and-ink version had been given to Scott early on in their friendship, in 1808, Lockhart recording that it caused "inextinguishable laughter;" the present etched version is signed by the artist with the date 1836. It depicts the queen dancing "high and disposedly" before the Scots envoy, Sir James Melville, who had excited her jealousy by commendations of the exquisite grace with which Mary Queen of Scots led the dancing at Holyrood.
C.K. Sharpe (1781-1851) became famous for his watercolour portraits of the Dean and his fellow students whilst at Christ Church. On leaving Oxford he returned to Scotland and lived in Edinburgh, where he became one of the foremost antiquaries, with a keen appreciation of the best in contemporary art. He was an accomplished amateur in literature, art and music, particularly talented as an artist and etcher. He was also a great eccentric, with a fund of anecdotes and gossip, much of it scandalous.

With the editor's learned notes.

Wing S.3727; Aldis 2491; Nissen 3847.
Sibbald was the leading Scottish physician, antiquary and naturalist of his time, and Scotia Illustrata is his best-known and most elaborate work, "Scotland's natural history in the widest sense, from natural phenomena, through the plant and animal kingdoms, to human disease." (Oxford DNB) It comprises: i. Nuncius Scoto-Britannus, sive Admonitio de Atlante Scotico seu Descriptione Scotiæ Antiquæ et Modernæ; ii. Prodromi Naturalis Historiæ Scotiæ; iii. De Plantis Scotiæ tam indigenis quam Hortensibus; iv. De Animalibus Scotiæ tam feris quam domesticis et de Mineralibus Metallis et Marinis Scotiæ. The third part includes a short chapter on the Edinburgh physic garden, the first botanical garden in Scotland (and the second in the British Isles, after Oxford), which owed its inception to Sibbald and Andrew Balfour. Sibbald was also chiefly instrumental in founding the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, whose arms are sometimes found before the title.

Goldsmiths' Library 13065. Complete with the separately-published Appendix to the History (1789), which preceded the third part but is here bound after it, at the back of volume ii.
From the Gladstone library at Fasque, with Thomas Gladstone's "TG" ticket on the front pastedowns.
The "first extensive financial history." (Williams) It is "full of detail without neglect of general principles, plentifully illustrated with tables, and ample in its treatment of later periods, though rather inisufficient, in the light of modern knowledge, for the earliest periods." (Palgrave) It is encouraging to note that Sinclair, though writing during an economic downturn, viewed the future with optimism.

Terry 108. Presented to the Bannatyne Club by James Skene of Rubislaw (whose bookplate is on the front pastedown), with a preface by his son, William Forbes Skene.
The tracts are Ane Breve Descriptioun of the Pest, the earliest Scottish medical work, printed in type-facsimile from the only known copy of the first edition (1568), and Ane Breif descriptioun of the qualiteis and effectis of the well of the woman hill besyde Abirdene (1580), the earliest Scottish topographical work (which also happens to be medical), attributed to Skeyne and also provided in type-facsimile.

Published two years posthumously. Includes such gems as "Tullochgorum," which Burns called the "best Scotch Song ever Scotland saw."

Wing S.3993. Slezer's is the first book of town prospects published in Britain. A native of Germany, he settled in Scotland in 1671, and combined the professional duties of Chief Engineer for Scotland (also Surveyor of His Majesties Stores and Magazines, and subsequently Lieutenant of Artillery as well), with the ambition of delineating the towns and great buildings of the country. "The book was a lavish volume of...plates accompanied by written descriptions, and constitutes the first systematic illustrated record of Scotland, showing - as no other documents do - what the country looked like 300 years ago." (Cavers) It was reprinted several times, the latest in 1814, but the first edition was the only one produced under Slezer's direct supervision and the only one to print the coats of arms; it also provides the finest strikes of the plates. The text was written with the full collaboration of Sir Robert Sibbald. This is one of 100 "fine-paper" copies, and a further 25 copies were printed on "larger and finer paper," which Cavers describes as simply "effectively thicker." For a more detailed account, see Keith Cavers, A Vision of Scotland (H.M.S.O., 1993).

Five poems by Smart, with others by George Bally, William Hodson, J. Scott, Beilby Porteus, etc.

Goldsmiths' Library 18412; Kress B.4604. Neat blue stamp of a continental private library to preliminaries.
This admired translation became the standard French text, and Garnier's 112-page preface, containing a summary of the doctrines of Smith and a comparison between Smith and the French economists, was subsequently incorporated in translation into many of the better English editions. The fifth volume comprises Garnier's learned notes on the text.

Snelling's works "were highly valuable to collectors and are still useful to students....The coins illustrated by Snelling have proved trustworthy, the James IV half-unicorn eventually turning up in the 1951 Bute sale." (Oxford DNB)

A distinctly rare work, devoted to the problems of poverty and the reforms essential for its alleviation. There are numerous relevant extracts from Blackstone, Adam Smith and Poor Law reports but more than 300 pages are devoted to original material: accounts of Friendly Societies (with sample forms), Sunday Schools, work programmes and savings banks (with specimens of accounts); a report by the Society on its educational methods based, interestingly, on that of the Madras school, and occupational training. This substantial and forward-thinking provincial production was edited by one William Dixon, who signs himself a "Visitor of the Poor." No copy in America, and BL and Goldsmiths' Library copies only in the British Isles.

A biting satire, purportedly written just after the publication of Carte's Specimen, "for the Conviction of a young Gentleman, who was a great Admirer of Mr. Carte's Abilities as an Author; and it had so good an effect upon him, as to prevent him from throwing away twenty Guineas, as he had intended, towards the Encouragement of the New General History of England." The credulous Carte was widely ridiculed for his General History; Squire and Henry Fielding were his greatest antagonists.

Armorial bookplates of Alexander Fullarton Lindsay Carnegie of Spynie & Boysack.
The first, best, and most complete edition, the last three volumes containing material published here for the first time.

From the Gladstone library at Fasque, with bookplates, and with John Gladstone's inscription dated at Liverpool 1798 heading title-pages.

Sadleir 3167; Wolff 6636. Fine copy of this colour-illustrated hunting novel.

Abbey Scenery 492. Really a very good copy of this famous work, with relatively light foxing.

A complete suite of thirty highly artistic and accurate watercolours, each approximately 100 mm. (4 ins.) diameter, of Swiss ladies in traditional regional costume, representing all twenty-two cantons plus eight 'bis' paintings. All apparently captioned by the artist - certainly in the same continental hand as has signed the verso of the penultimate mount "30 Costumi JS."
The cantons represented, in order of appearance and as captioned: Zuric, Schwitz, Frybourg, Valais, Soulztgal Canton d'Argovie, Schwitz (bis), Appenzell, Berne, Obergasly Canton de Berne, Unterwalde, Tessin, Glaris, Argovie, Lucerne, Schaffhouse, Berne (bis), Bâle, Grison, Soleure, Neufchâtel, Tessin (bis), St. Galle, Vaud, Zug, Gouguisberg Canton de Berne, Soleure (bis), Ury, Frybourg (bis) and Thurgovie. The mounts are a thick wove post watermarked J. Whatman but undated, and each watercolour has a tissue-guard. They are all in fine state.
See front cover.

See the excellent essay on Shrewsbury in the Oxford DNB.

From the Gladstone library at Fasque, with bookplates. The author may have known the Gladstones in conjunction with his work in the Colonial Office (he oversaw the end of slavery in the West Indies); he was certainly to become acquainted with W.E. Gladstone as Prime Minister.
Taylor's only popular success, it brought him instant fame. Today, "only the preface is still read and then as a classic statement of the shift in taste from Romantic to Victorian, even though the play itself, among all Taylor's work, is most deserving of being remembered." (Oxford DNB)

Colquhoun of Luss copy, with armorial bookplate, in the usual fine state.

i. Not in Adams or BM German; Brunet v/791.
ii. Adams P.975; BM German p.691.
iii. Adams A1276; BM German p.36; Brunet i/342: "Une des meilleures éditions que l'on ait de ce rhéteur."

A well-known volume of fine views, here in an attractively embossed original publishers' binding: unsigned, but almost certainly by Remnant and Edmonds, the acknowledged masters of the technique.