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76 GROSSMITH, George & Weedon. The Diary of a Nobody. Bristol & London: J. W. Arrowsmith; Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent and Co. Limited, [1892] ONE OF THE GREAT WORKS OF COMIC FICTION First edition in book form, first issue; this copy with the signature of George Grossmith tipped in at the front pastedown. Upon publication The Diary of a Nobody was “at once recognized as one of the most amusing novels in the English language” ( ODNB ). Initially serialized in Punch in 1888–9, the story was expanded for book publication, including new material and illustrations. The first issue can be distinguished by the absence of a blank leaf at the
Pliny’ and the ‘professor of earthquakes’ . . . Vesuvius erupted several times during Hamilton’s years in Naples, especially in 1767, 1779, and 1794, and on each occasion he made careful observations” ( ODNB ). He made more than 65 summits of Vesuvius, often accompanied by Grand Tourists. The Observations formed the basis for an expanded three-volume work on volcanology, Campi phlegraei: Observations on the Volcanoes of the Two Sicilies , published in 1776. Both works were popular and did much to establish a visit to Vesuvius as a necessary stage on the Grand Tour, as well as encouraging the systematic and scientific study of volcanoes. Octavo (188 × 118 mm). Contemporary calf, rebacked with new endpapers, pink spine label, red edges. With 5 engraved plates, and folding map of the Bay of Naples and surrounding country. Plates with early pencilled notes complaining of the inaccuracy (i.e., “the crater is in the side, not at the top of the mountain”, perhaps by a Grand Tourist who had seen them in person). Light wear at extremities, folding map with neat repair in gutter, slight offsetting from plates, terminal leaf affixed to earlier free endpaper. A very good copy. ¶ ESTC T70123. £975 [154310]
front and the final leaf of advertisements being used as the rear pastedown. Octavo. Original brown cloth, spine lettered in gilt, front cover lettered and decorated in black and blue, decoration extending onto spine, publisher’s advertisements to rear endpapers, edges untrimmed. Tissue-guarded double portrait frontispiece of the authors from photographs, 13 full-page and numerous in-text illustrations from line drawings by Weedon Grossmith. Ownership signature of one Rowe on front pastedown. Spine cocked and lightly toned, fraying at foot, a little soiling on sides and rubbing at lower edges, book block edges toned, front inner hinge cracked and repaired with tissue reinforcement, rear inner hinge starting, book block sound, contents clean overall. An attractive copy. ¶ Wolff 2818 (describing a later issue). £1,000 [154877] 77 HAMILTON, Sir William. Observations on Mount Vesuvius, Mount Etna, and Other Volcanos. London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1772 First edition of this pioneering treatise on volcanology, expanding Hamilton’s letters originally published in the Royal Society’s Philosophical Transactions from 1768 to 1772 with further observations and notes. Hamilton served as British Ambassador to the Kingdom of Naples from 1764 to 1800. While there, he “developed a great interest in volcanoes, earning a contemporary European reputation as ‘the modern
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All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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