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The author, the cultural critic Philippe Mairet (1886–1975), was hardly the raving Bolshevik of the Kaiser’s complaints. In later life he described his allegiances as “Anglican and Royalist”. He commented on the drafts of T. S. Eliot’s Notes Towards the Definition of Culture (1948), which Eliot later dedicated to Mairet “in gratitude and admiration”. But over his long career he espoused a number of extremely varied causes, including C. H. Douglas’s theory of social credit. The firm of C. W. Daniel published many books that promoted vegetarian, pacifist, Tolstoyan ideals. Most of these books were published on a subsidy basis, with the author underwriting the costs of publication, or guaranteeing to buy a set number of copies. Tall octavo. Original black quarter cloth, spine lettered in gilt, red cloth sides, edges uncut. Together with four black and white snapshots of the Kaiser and his wife by Lady Ottoline Morrell, taken in Holland, 1932, details to versos, each 8 × 11 cm. Numerous marginal pencil marks and comments in English in the neat and legible hand of the Kaiser. A little spotting, heaviest to title and advert leaf at rear, inner hinges cracked, some separation between gatherings, a good copy. £3,000 [122974] 143 WILSON, Harold – EDELMAN, Maurice. The Minister. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1961 First edition, first impression, presentation copy to future prime minister Harold Wilson, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper: “To Harold – this Westminster Masque – with warm good wishes Maurice Edelman October 27 ‘61”. Maurice Edelman (1911–1975) was a Welsh Labour MP, representing Coventry constituencies in the House of Commons for over 30 years; he was a friend and supporter of Wilson, backing him against Hugh Gaitskell for the Labour leadership in 1960. The Minister is one of his political novels, revolving around the enmity between the commonwealth minister and the chancellor of the exchequer, as they feud over the succession to the dying prime minister.
Octavo. Original green cloth, spine lettered in gilt. With dust jacket. Spine creased and bumped, contents toned, a good copy in like jacket, toned and chipped at extremities. £400 [138184] 144 XENOPHON. Omnia quae extant operis. [Venice: Heirs of Aldus Manutius and Andrea Torresano, 1525] the aldine xenophon First Aldine edition of the collected works of Xenophon, including the Anabasis , recounting his leadership of the Ten Thousand against the Persian Empire, and the Cyropaedia , his partly fictionalized biography of Cyrus the Great, which became a model for medieval writers of the mirror-for-princes genre. The edition is almost complete, with the only absent Xenophon text being the Apology . The edition marks the first printing of Xenophon’s De Atheniensium re publica and De vectigalibus , alongside the Hellenica (which the Aldine press had published in October 1503) and the Agesilao , which had previously been erroneously attributed to Plutarch. The text was edited by Aldus’s brother-in-law Gian Francesco d’Asola, who in his preface makes disparaging comments about the 1516 Filippo Giunta edition, showing the rivalry between the two great Venetian printing houses. This edition is universally recognized as superior. Provenance: library of the College of Santa Maria Coronata, Pavia (ownership inscription “Biblioth. Collegij S. Mariae Coronatae Papie[nsis]”, and old small stamp on title page). Folio (306 × 209 mm). 17th-century sprinkled calf, spine lettered and tooled in gilt, red speckled edges. Woodcut Aldine device on title and on verso of final leaf. Complete with blank leaves L8 and a1. Some early annotations in margins in Greek. Spine ends and head of front joint repaired with new calf, very minor insect damage to rear cover, a few instances of light finger- soiling yet contents generally clean and crisp. A very good copy. ¶ Adams X4; Ahmanson-Murphy 229; Cataldi Palau 94; Renouard 100.1; STC Italian 738. £12,500 [133029]
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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