antiquarian bookseller - Peter Harrington

Peter Harrington Antiquarian Bookseller
268.RAMAGE, Craufurd Tait.
136
The Nooks and By-Ways of Italy.
Wanderings in Search of its Ancient
Remains and Modern Superstitions.
Liverpool, Edward Howell, 1868 [39724] £875
8vo. Original royal blue cloth, gilt. Some foxing and browning,
hinges tender, cloth rubbed and splitting on the joints, about
very good.
FIRST EDITION. Educated at Edinburgh University, after
leaving College, “Ramage became tutor in the family
of Sir Henry Lushington, and spent three years with his
pupils in Naples (1825–8), afterwards making a tour of
the kingdom of the Two Sicilies between April and June
1828” (ODNB). He was also a contributor to Encyclopaedia
Britannica, Penny Cyclopaedia and Notes and Queries. An
abridged edition with an introduction by Harold Acton
was produced in 1965. “The original contained too much
classical detail to attract a wide public, but half a century
ago it was ‘rediscovered’ by Norman Douglas, who perceived
that its real interest lay in the second half of its sub-title:
‘Wanderings in Search of Ancient Remains and Modern
Superstitions…’” (from the Geographical Journal review).
This copy inscribed on the front free endpaper to “The Rev.
Dr. Bennet with the Author’s kind regards”, subsequently
inscribed “To Norman Douglas from Charles Lacaita, July,
13th 1915.” and with Lacaita’s bookplate to the front
pastedown. Lacaita, Liberal MP for Dundee, was the son
and biographer of Sir James Philip Lacaita, Risorgimento
politician and Dante scholar. Tipped onto the front free
endpaper is a MS map with notes verso, “vide Ramage
p.202” of the Battle of Cannae, dated 1879 and signed
by George Dempster. With a lengthy series of page
references pencilled on verso of the rear free endpaper in
Douglas’s hand.
269.(ROME: Views) Raccolta
di num. 320 vedute si antiche che
moderne della cittá di Roma e di
alcuni luoghi suburbani incise a
bulino in n. 80 rami.
Rome: Agapito Franzetti al Corso [ca. 1780?] [39745]
£2500
Oblong folio (210 × 277 mm). Contemporary red half
morocco, spine gilt with urns, vases, etc., red paper boards.
Engraved title and 320 engraved views on 80 sheets. Binding a
little rubbed at extremities, putative publication date written
at foot of title in neat blue ink perhaps by Norman Douglas,
else a fine copy.
Though without mark of ownership, this copy is from the
library of the travel writer Norman Douglas.
270.ROSCOE, Thomas, &
David Roberts.
Jennings’ Landscape Annual for
1835 [ -36, -37, -38], or The Tourist
In Spain. [Granada, Andalusia,
Biscay and the Castiles, Spain and
Morocco.]
London, Robert Jennings, 1835–8 [37231] £1500
4 volumes, 8vo. Original full green morocco, boards tooled in
blind and gilt, titles and strapwork to spines gilt, all edges gilt.
Illustrated from drawings by David Roberts. Some browning
to contents as usual, light shelf-wear, but a particularly nice
set in the deluxe publisher’s binding.
FIRST EDITIONS. “Roberts was quick to see the potential
of reproducing his sketches as prints, to reach a wider
audience. He reworked sketches made on visits to Scotland
for a set of etchings that he hoped to publish. Following a
Rhine tour in 1830 he worked on illustrations that formed
the basis of Bulwer Lytton’s Pilgrims of the Rhine [and]
also made illustrations for various editions of works by Sir
Walter Scott (1832–4). An extended visit to Spain in 1832–
3 resulted in a quantity of drawings that were reproduced
as prints in illustrated volumes of the Landscape Annual
(1835–8), and Picturesque Sketches in Spain (1837). The
prints (both authorized and pirated copies) brought him
widespread fame and popularity, and are still sold as
souvenirs to this day” (ODNB). An attractive set.
Catalogue 57: Travel Section 6: Europe, including Constantinople
Eternal
souvenirs
137