Biblioteca Scelta di Opere Italiane Antiche Moderne
Vols. XCI - XCIX
Niccolò Machiavelli

Not sure if rare, but there doesn’t seem to be all too much info on them in a web scrape, so I’m assuming so.

I haven't been able to find any information on these copies anywhere. They're really cool! Does anyone else here have copies like these?

I run an antiquarian bookshop in Paris and occasionally share finds here when the object has enough layers to be worth unpacking. This one does.

The book is "En visite chez l'Oncle Sam New-York et Chicago" engravings by Crafty and Martin-Chablis

Mandat-Grancey (1842–1911) was a French naval officer turned travel writer one of those sharp-tongued aristocrats who travelled the world and came back with opinions. He visited New York and Chicago in the early 1880s, wrote a series of articles for Le Correspondant, and compiled them into this book. The first edition appeared in 1885 and sold fast enough to warrant a second edition the same year then this 1891 reissue, which itself went through two printings rapidly.

His take on America is fascinating by today's standards: he's genuinely charmed by ordinary Americans while being deeply suspicious of what he called their government's impérialisme rampant. He describes the Brooklyn Bridge (then barely eight years old), the Elevated Railroad at 23rd Street, Coney Island, and the dining rooms of the great transatlantic steamers...

At the turn of the century, Mandat-Grancey became associated with the royalism of Charles Maurras and the Action Française, making him one of the more politically charged travel writers of the Belle Époque. Reading his American impressions with that knowledge adds an interesting retrospective irony.

This copy is in a handsome period binding executed shortly after publication:

Half dark blue morocco over marbled boards (snail-shell swirl pattern, burgundy/black/gold a classic late 19th-century French style)

Four raised bands on the spine, gilt-lettered title and author label.

The spine carries an additional heraldic identifier: a small red leather piece stamped in gold with a comital crown and the letter T. This is the owner's library mark, applied by the binder to make identification possible on a shelf without opening the book. It's the 19th-century equivalent of a spine label, but considerably more elegant.

The provenance, and where it gets interesting

The previous owner was Gaston Perrot de Thannberg (1840–1906), comte, former cavalry captain, son of the Inspector-General of the French National Stud Farms. He marked this volume in three separate ways:

Engraved armorial ex-libris, pasted to the front pastedown, full heraldic achievement with supporters, comital crown, motto (Semper ad Altum), beautifully printed

Autograph signature in ink on the half-title: Comte Gaston de Thannberg

Autograph signature repeated on the title page

Triple-marking was not unusual for serious collectors who feared dispersal. The irony is that it didn't help: in 1904, his library was sold, apparently under financial pressure, the Archives commerciales de la France of May 28, 1904 lists him and his wife in what reads as a liquidation proceeding, at their address on the avenue de la Bourdonnais, 7th arrondissement. He died two years later, in December 1906, at Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

His books now surface regularly in the antiquarian trade, all identically bound, all triple-signed. The library of a careful man, dispersed by circumstance.

A small bibliographic note worth raising

The first edition (1885) is the one collectors usually seek. But the 1891 "deuxième édition" has an interesting publishing history detail: the BnF copy digitised on Gallica is from 1885, yet the title page of that copy also reads Deuxième Édition, suggesting the second edition appeared almost simultaneously with the first, within the same year, before the 1891 reissue. Plon seems to have been unusually coy about edition statements on this title.

Why I find this object worth sharing:

It's not a spectacular rarity. It's a well-made, well-preserved copy of a popular travel book, in a good period binding, with clean provenance. But that's precisely what makes it interesting to me: the combination of an identifiable collector, a documented dispersal event, a binding made specifically to mark ownership, and a text that captures a very specific cultural moment, a French aristocrat trying to make sense of America six years before the automobile, twelve years before the Wright brothers, feels like more than the sum of its parts.

The motto on the ex-libris says Semper ad Altum. Ever upward. The library was sold at auction. The book survived.

My girlfriend has a first edition, first pressing she bought a long time ago. She no longer wants it and I am trying to help her price it to sell but at a fair price. There are two listings on eBay, $3,500 and $5,000. A few book sites have it listed for as much as $9,000. I can’t find anything about an actual sale price though. I am a record collector so I know eBay fantasy list prices never ever equal actual value.

It has the dust jacket and the binding is solid. Definitely worn and yellowed but I would consider it more aged than abused. If it was a record sleeve of this vintage, I would say VG (which matches the book grading I looked up).

Two questions:

Is G or VG more commonly used with books that would be G if modern but might be more generously graded when this old?

What is a fair price to expect and is there a better place to put it up for auction than eBay?

Thanks for the help! I’ll owe you some great advice on selling records.

I love buying odd books - in the resale market I would much rather compete on scarceness than on price. Here a few of the odd little books I’ve listed of late. The only truly rare book may be the poetry collection Spirit Hand but it is also the most obscure. So….i thought you bookhounds might enjoy some of these.

Found this book and curious if any one knows anything about it. It seems like it could be first edition and first print? A lot of the ones I see online are first edition second print or another print in 1950. Lots of cool idaho history.

Sometimes a set of books stops you cold, not because of the binding or the rarity, but because of what they actually are.

This is the complete Balincourt/Sémenoff series (Paris, Challamel, 1908–1913), four volumes in a uniform period binding, each signed in violet ink in 1909 by a French naval officer from Brest named Léon de Kerros who almost certainly read them as professional documents, four years after the events they describe.

The four titles form a continuous eyewitness narrative of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, from the siege of Port-Arthur through the catastrophic naval battle of Tsushima (27 May 1905) the largest sea battle since Trafalgar, in which the Japanese fleet under Admiral Togo annihilated the Russian Baltic Squadron in less than 48 hours. Of 38 Russian warships, 21 were sunk, 7 captured, 6 disarmed. Nearly 5,000 men died. It remains one of the most complete destructions of a modern fleet in history.

The author, Vladimir Ivanovitch Semenov, was a captain in the Russian Imperial Navy who served aboard the flagship Amiral Souvaroff through the entire campaign. He survived Port-Arthur, survived the extraordinary 18,000-mile voyage of the Baltic Squadron around Africa and across the Indian Ocean, and was on the bridge of the Souvaroff when she was hit by over 30 shells, caught fire, lost her rudder, and was finally finished by Japanese torpedoes.

He was pulled from the water. He survived.

The anecdote that should be attached to every copy of these books:

Semenov wrote the bulk of these notebooks while a prisoner of war in Japan. The Japanese, who had just killed all his companions treated him with extraordinary courtesy, and Admiral Togo, the man who had annihilated his fleet, received him personally. Semenov later wrote that Togo expressed admiration for the courage of the Russian crews. These books, written in the immediate aftermath of catastrophe exist because the victor allowed the survivor to write.

L'Agonie d'un Cuirassé (The Agony of a Battleship) covers a single day: 27 May 1905. Written by a man who lived through it. The title page names the ship whose sinking he witnessed from her own deck.

The fourth volume, Le Novik, is the posthumous journal of Lieutenant André Pétrovitch Steer, who served on the cruiser Novick, one of the few ships that attempted to break out after Port-Arthur fell. The Novick fought its way east, trying to reach Vladivostok by circumnavigating Japan, was intercepted near Sakhalin, and fought until she had to be scuttled. Steer did not survive. His journal did.

Léon de Kerros, signing them in 1909 in his careful violet hand, knew exactly what he was holding.

It’s one of 25 copies printed, according to the last page of text. Published by the Pelican Press of Klamath Falls, Oregon. There appears to be very little information about Pelican Press, however I have not abandoned the search just yet. It was found at a thrift store in Eugene on Memorial Day.

Does anyone have more info on this book or know roughly what its value is?

Printed by Ticknor and Fields in Boston, dated 1860. After some research, it would seem to be the first year they began printing this book in the United States. I’ve found online that approximately 20,000 copies were sold in the first year after its publication (Sep. of 1859 specifically), so this copy would fall within that 20,000. I’m struggling to find how many copies Ticknor and Fields published in 1860, or find any similar copies online anywhere.

I’ve been rebuilding my book collection and started with thrift stores. Ive found quite a few books that were on my list but this one wasn’t. I got it for $1.49 at goodwill. Any info is greatly appreciated.

Found this today at a thrift store for $40, I don't think it's first edition but it's from 1871 and in pretty good condition. I'm thrilled! The valuation I think is around $7,500?

I’ve probably posted it before so apologies if you’ve already seen it…

I’m from India and I’ve been trying to find original signed copies of books by Keigo Higashino for my collection.

If anyone has leads on trusted sellers, collector groups, auctions, or bookstores that might have authentic signed copies, please let me know.

Even Japanese signed editions are okay.

Found thrifting. In good shape first edition third printing

Catalog notes:

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616). Mr. William Shakespear's Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. Published according to the true Original Copies. Unto which is added, SEVEN PLAYS, Never before Printed in Folio. London: Printed [by Robert Roberts, Robert Everingham, and John Macock] for H[enry]. Herringman, and are to be sold by Joseph Knight and Francis Saunders, at the Anchor in the Lower Walk of the New Exchange, 1685.

Folio in 6s (356 x 222 mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait by Martin Droeshout with Ben Jonson's verses below, title-page with type ornament, woodcut initials. (Title-page and frontispiece lightly toned (possibly washed?), title with some creases, staining to A6 and B1; two short closed tears in text, touching a few letters, repaired on E3; tiny scorch mark affecting a single letter on E5 and Ee3; closed tear near border of L2; manuscript numeral and letter below last line on Ee3; small marginal tear to Mm2, not affecting letters; tiny marginal mend to 3E4r, 3Z5v, and 4C; fore-edge of text block with small stain, occasional spotting and light staining, a few leaves browned). 20th century black morocco antique, covers gilt framed with intricate side pieces and floral tools at corners, a large central lozenge within, spine in 6 compartments with raised bands, gilt-lettered in the second, others with floral tools, marbled endpapers.

FOURTH FOLIO EDITION, third setting of the title-page (a cancel), printed by John Macock. The edition was set from the second issue of the Third Folio. The Fourth Folio is the last edition of Shakespeare's plays published in the 17th century and was regarded by 18th-century editors, readers, and collectors as textually the best edition, until Samuel Johnson and especially Edward Capell demonstrated the superiority of the First Folio.

The most immediately striking aspect of the Fourth Folio is its height. Herringman and his co-publishers decided on a larger paper size to increase the number of lines per page and reduce the book's bulk; thus, including the added plays, the number of sheets in the Fourth Folio is almost exactly the same as that in the First and Second. The first issue of the imprint lists Herringman, Edward Brewster, and Richard Bentley as publishers; the second adds a fourth publisher, Richard Chiswell. The third issue of the imprint, on the cancel title-page as here, names Herringman as the sole publisher, but specifies that the work is "sold by Joseph Knight and Francis Saunders."

Greg surmises that this second title was "designed for those copies that Herringman chose to issue through his own booksellers," while Pforzheimer notes that "it is probable that the two settings were simultaneously issued and both titles were available on the same day." Up until recently, this copy was unrecorded in the Shakespeare Census. ESTC R24524; Greg III, 1119-21; Pforzheimer 910; Shakespeare Census 8273.3; Wing S-2916.

My most recent thrift store find! It was written by William Fagg who was an archaeologist for the British Museum in Africa throughout the 19th century. This was produced and hand bound in indigo dyed Adire cloth from abeokuto Nigeria. I would love to learn more about it! There is not much online!