uses romance motifs (the stag hunt, the wild wood versus the court, the outlaw versus the king, prophecy and its fulfilment, the king’s confrontation with the lady of the lake) to treat a theme that became much more pronounced in his novels, the conflict between contiguous societies in different stages of development” ( ODNB ). Numerous editions, this copy being the third, swiftly followed the phenomenally successful first, published in quarto earlier the same year on 8 May. Octavo (213 × 128 mm). Contemporary blue straight-grain morocco, spine lettered and ruled in gilt, gilt fillets on covers enclosing circular corners, board edges and turn-ins ruled in gilt, green endpapers, edges gilt, contemporary colour fore- edge painting depicting Loch Katrine. Housed in custom blue cloth folding box. Engraved title page and 6 captioned plates after Richard Westall. Bound without half-title. Tipped-in notice of the painting, identified as Loch Katrine in an early hand on front free endpaper verso; bookseller’s ticket of J. W. Robinson & Co. tipped-in to to rear free endpaper recto; modern bookplate with juvenile signature. A little rubbing to extremities and wear to corners, inner hinges split but sound, offsetting from plates, small ink spillage on, p. 402, not affecting legibility, otherwise clean, fore-edge painting bright. A very good copy indeed. ¶ John Sutherland, The Life of Walter Scott , 1997. £1,250 [159404] 65 FORSTER, E. M. A Passage to India. London: Edward Arnold & Co., 1924 “i want to see the real india” First edition, an exceptionally bright copy. A Passage to India was Forster’s “masterpiece and his finest achievement” (Furbank, p. 123). The novel was adapted into the Academy award-winning film of 1984 of the same name, starring Peggy Ashcroft, Judy David, James Fox, and Alex Guinness.
authors, each entry comprising a few biographical notes and a short list of works. Naturally, Galileo, the foremost scientist of the time, was included. The original manuscript, preserved at the Vatican Library (Vat. lat. 7075), shows that Allacci reworked Galileo’s entry multiple times, progressively adding more information gathered from the astronomer’s friends. The final draft brought by the author to the press in 1632 was to all intents a panegyric. It listed numerous treatises, including the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632), mentioned Galileo’s works in progress, and contained quotes from contemporary authors praising the scientist, including lines from the laudatory poem Adulatio perniciosa (1620), composed by Urban VIII, then still a cardinal. Galileo was summoned to Rome and subsequently sentenced for heresy in June 1633, just as Allacci obtained his licence to publish the work. Already in print, the book suddenly became a controversial text. Allacci had no choice but to remove all notes in praise of Galileo and any references to his works supporting the Copernican theory. Allacci went further and inserted critical remarks on Galileo’s “iniuriae” (faults) and “errores” (mistakes) on page 69, in the entry on Christoph Scheiner, an opponent of Galileo and a supporter of the heliocentric system. One positive note remains in the text, however, and hints at Galileo’s international fame. At page 119, Allacci records that the Genevan lawyer Élie Diodati once came all the way from France to Florence just to meet Galileo and spent 13 days with him. Diodati became Galileo’s friend and contributed to the dissemination of Galileo’s theories across Europe. The work is scarce in commerce, with only three copies traced at auction in modern times.
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67 GALILEI, Galileo – ALLACCI, Leone. Apes Urbanae, sive De Viris Illustribus, qui ab Anno mdcxxx. per totum mdcxxxii. Romae adfuerunt, ac Typis aliquid evulgarunt. Rome: Ludovico Grignani, 1633 a heavily censored contemporary account of galileo, published in the immediate aftermath of his trial First edition of this bio-bibliographical compendium of the most prominent intellectuals residing in Rome between 1630 and 1632, a celebration of the academic excellence of the city under Urban VIII’s pontificate. Containing one of the earliest bibliographies of Galileo’s works, both the book and its intriguing publishing history are intertwined with the astronomer’s infamous trial by the Inquisition. Leone Allacci (1586–1669) was a prominent Greek scholar of Chios. Appointed scriptor Graecus (“Greek scribe”) at the Vatican Library in 1618, he was entrusted with the delicate task of transferring the Palatine Library of Heidelberg to Rome in 1623. After the death of his protector, Gregory XV, Allacci composed Apes Urbanae hoping to ingratiate himself with the new pope, Urban VIII Barberini, with whom he had previously had some disagreements. The “bees of Urban” of the title are the savants of Rome, with a playful reference to the Barberini family’s heraldic animal. The work is an alphabetical catalogue of
64 FORE-EDGE PAINTING – SCOTT, Sir Walter. The Lady of the Lake. Edinburgh & London: John Ballantyne and Co., and Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, by James Ballantyne and Co., 1810 with loch katrine painted on the fore edge A handsomely bound copy featuring a contemporary fore-edge painting of Loch Katrine, the poem’s setting. The Lady of the Lake “pioneered a tie-in industry of ancillary decoration of the poetry of Walter Scott” (Sutherland, p. 140), for example, in albums of unauthorized illustrations or, as seen here, with fore-edge paintings, commonly depicting picturesque rural views. “This is a poem in which the author-narrator exhibits his command, and consciously and obviously
Octavo. Original red cloth, spine and front board lettered in black. Housed in a custom purple card slipcase. Newcastle bookseller’s inscription pencilled to front free endpaper. A little rubbing to extremities, spine gently bumped at ends, light foxing to edges and a few leaves of contents, otherwise clean. A very good, vivid copy, with no sunning to the spine. ¶ Kirkpatrick A10a. P. N. Furbank, E. M. Forster: A Life , II, p. 123. £1,250 [159761] 66 FRIEDMAN, Milton. A Theory of the Consumption Function. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957 friedman refutes keynes First edition of perhaps Friedman’s most significant academic work, in which he argued against the Keynesian use of government policy to regulate the economy, and his rejection of the viability of Keynes’s “multiplier effect”. “Friedman’s study of consumption, while it had many critics, made a deep impression on the economics profession and continued to be a staple of policy discussions in the decades that followed” ( ANB ). Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt. With dust jacket. Graphs and charts throughout. A few very minor pencilled annotations to text, else a fine copy, in near-fine jacket, slight creasing around spine panel and rubbing at extremities, small chip at foot of front fold, price intact. £3,000 [157467]
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Octavo (164 × 108 mm). Contemporary scholar binding in vellum, early paper reinforcement laid down along three quarters of spine, raised bands, relined, edges sprinkled red. Large engraved vignette to title page depicting the arms of the dedicatee, Cardinal Antonio Barberini, woodcut floriated initials, head- and tailpieces, including an illustration of a bee at the end of the dedication. Spine lightly soiled, sides remaining quite bright, short split at tail of rear joint, couple of chips at extremities, front inner hinge sometime neatly repaired with paper, occasional foxing and toning to contents, mainly to a couple of initial and final gatherings, early repair in margin of, p. 13, small paper flaw to, p. 47, both without loss of text, internally crisp and clean. An attractive copy. ¶ Bibliografia Galileiana 134; Favaro, La libreria di Galileo Galilei , no. 464; USTC 4012462. T. Cerbu and M. P. Lerner, “La disgrâce de Galilée dans les Apes Urbanae : sur la fabrique du texte de Leone Allacci”, Nuncius 15, 2000, pp. 589–610; S. Gattei, On the Life of Galileo , 2019. £5,000 [158286]
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All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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