Authors starting with B from Stuart Bennett Rare Books

London: Printed for Henry Colburn, 1818. 121, [1]pp., sm. 8vo. Engraved frontispiece by Hopwood after Hilton, woodcut title and other vignettes, with the half-title. Contemporary calf, spine gilt; upper cover barely holding. Attractive engraved ticket of B.E. Lloyd & Son Booksellers, Harley Street on front pastedown. First edition in this form, a heavily revised text, with the addition of “occasional poems” of the first published book by an author whose gently satiric novel The Heroine w... more information

Bath: Binns and Goodwin, [1851]. viii, 86, [14]pp., 16mo. With a publishers' catalogue at end, the last leaf containing an advertisement to authors for a scheme of "Mutual and Equitable Publishing." Original red cloth gilt, g.e.; extremities worn, but sound. First edition of a fascinating book on saving children from the frightening rates of mortality prevalent in England in the mid-nineteenth century. The author includes statistics: one in every six children dies in its first year. Hi... more information

Bath: Printed by Mary Meyler, Abbey Church-Yard, 1829. [iv], 80pp., 4to. Title-page inscribed “Mrs. D. . . from the Author.” A fine, fresh, and entirely untrimmed copy in the original drab boards, printed paper spine label mostly present; some wear to edges and backstrip. First edition, privately printed, as confirmed in a prefatory note: “These songs are all published with Music, but being the Property of various Persons, the Author has not the power of publishing them collectively. Th... more information

Edinburgh: Printed by John Moir, 1810. 7, [1]pp., 8vo. Small blank corner chewed from the upper inner corner, well clear of text. Disbound. First and only edition, the result of a fierce literary battle between two distinguished Edinburgh physicians. James Gregory was notorious for his public feuds. His sorties were usually sarcastic and very personal and, as the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography puts it, “although considered by many to be a waste of his talents they were often a source o... more information

Naples: Printed by Fibreno, 1834. 2 vols. in one, 8vo. With an errata leaf in each volume, and each also containing three fine tinted lithographed plates, some from drawings by Bell and all with Italian captions and the credit “Napoli Lit. Fergola.” Contemporary half calf; handsomely rebacked. “Second edition, corrected and enlarged.” The first edition appeared in Edinburgh in 1825; this one draws on a translation “into elegant Italian” in order to add some of the transl... more information

1802]. with integral blank leaf incorporating the address panel and postmarks “Two Penny Post Lamb’s Cd. St.” and “13 Dec 1802.” Obviously written in haste and with a few ink-smudges perhaps from rain, this is an attractive letter from one literary friend to another, regretting that the illness of “our charming Miss Gregory” keeps Eliza from calling the next day - “she has not yet arrived at the crisis” - and asking if she may come instead any evening “s... more information

London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley, 1759. [iv], 34; [2], 39, [1]pp., 8vo. Small piece off lower corner of title, well clear of text, small old institutional blind-stamp in the margin of a few leaves (deacquisition confirmed). Antique-style grey wrappers, with facsimile title on upper cover. First edition. The first, 34-page, section is Bentham’s reflections on the two orations by Thucydides and Plato; these are translated, respectively, by William Smith, Dean of Chester, and by Gilbert West. ... more information

London: Printed by Henry Fenwick, Little Moorfields Printer to the Honourable City of London, [circa 1805]. 24pp., sm. 8vo. A fine and attractive copy in modern half calf, spine gilt-lettered. One of several editions under this title, adapted from A Present for an Apprentice usually attributed to Sir John Bernard. It seems likely that this edition was printed for freemen of the City of London to give away. All editions are rare. ... more information

Montrose: Printed by Da. Buchanan, 1798. vi, 350pp., 12mo. Fine and dramatic engraved frontispiece by M. Brown; a little minor browning. Contemporary roan; neatly rebacked with a gilt label. “The Third edition,” so stated, presumably taken from one of the series of London translations that began around 1786, with the out-of-the-way Scottish imprint testifying to how popular these tales by Berquin had become by the end of the 1790s. Of this edition OCLC records two copies: Aberdeen, and Miam... more information

Halesworth: Printed and Sold by T. Tippell, 1819. xvi, [ii], 116pp., 8vo. With the half-title and a list of subscribers, including “T.S. Gooch, Esq. M.P. Bramfield Hall.” Elegantly bound, presumably for the author’s presentation, in full rose calf, elaborately stamped in gilt and blind, spine fully gilt with double morocco labels; a couple of minor spots and traces of rubbing, but a lovely copy. Ownership inscription “Thomas Sherlock Gooch” on front free endpaper, and a later ... more information

London: Printed for Sam. Buckley. . . and Sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster, 1711. [iv], iv, 113, [1]pp. 8vo. With the half-title, disbound. First edition, a variant printing with p. iv misnumbered vi. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography calls this “a physio-theological poem about the effects of climate on man's intellectual faculties, and a tribute to English prosperity and constitutional freedom.” Book I narrows the geographical and climatic possibilities for t... more information

London: Printed for J. Johnson. . . by whom only the Genuine and Complete Edition is published, 1795. lx, 436, [8]pp, 12mo. Engraved frontispiece and three plates by William Blake (1), Sharp (1) and Heath (2) from designs by Thomas Stothard, with a publisher’s catalogue of “Books for the Use of Children and Young Persons” at end. Contemporary sheep; neatly rebacked. Although Enfield’s popular book was first published (unillustrated) in 1774, the plates were not added until 1780. A... more information

London: Printed for T. Becket and P.A. Dehondt, 1772. 2 vols., sm. 8vo. With the half-titles. Contemporary tan calf, spines fully gilt with green morocco labels; spines cracked with a small piece of leather chipped from the spine head of Vol. II, but a fresh and attractive copy. First edition of the newly-married Mrs. Bonhote’s second novel. A moralizing tale influenced by Laurence Sterne’s Sentimental Journey (1768), it describes how Frankly learns contentment from observing the lives of v... more information

London: Printed for G. Auld for W. Cavell, . . . Ridgeway, T. Axtell, T. Wigg, W.T. Swift, and A. Lunan, [1786?]. xii, 348pp., 12mo. Engraved frontispiece, the dedication leaf dated Dec. 22, 1786, published in six parts each consisting of four duodecimo sheets, with the register including “Vol. I” and with “End of the Volume” on the last page. Contemporary sheep, spine gilt-ruled and with a morocco label; worn and cracked, but firm. First and only edition, published in parts and ev... more information

London: Printed for J. Dodsley, 1769. 4 vols., 12mo. With the half-titles and the terminal leaf of errata in Vol. IV. A fine copy in contemporary, certainly publisher’s, unlettered tan calf, gilt rules and volume numbers on spines; two small chips to headcaps. Contemporary engraved, apparently Continental, bookplate in each volume. First edition of the first English novel set in Canada. After publishing Lady Julia Mandeville in 1763, Frances Brooke sailed for Quebec to join her husband and stay... more information

Glasgow: John Symington & Company, 1838. iv, 156pp., 8vo. Corner clipped from front free endpaper to remove an inscription, a few very minor spots, but a pleasant copy in the original green cloth, paper spine label (chafed but largely legible). First and only edition, by an Ayrshire poet and clearly a staunch Presbyterian. “The Covenanters” takes up the first eighty pages, followed by poems such as “On John Knox Preaching in the Old Baronial Tower at Galston”: The ow... more information

London: Printed for Sam. Briscoe, 1702. [xxxii], 374pp., 8vo. Title printed in red and black, with the half-title, and a preliminary advertisement leaf. A nice fresh copy in contemporary panelled calf; joints partly cracked. First edition. Although the letters appear to be taken from distinguished authors, from Cicero and Aristaenetus to Fontanelle and de Pay, the "adapted to the Humour of the Present Age" statement in the title is the kicker. All the letters, not just Brown's acknowle... more information

London: Printed in the Year, 1703. [xvi], 215, [1], 24pp., 8vo. A little minor browning, a couple of leaves with mild stains, but a good large copy in contemporary panelled calf; rather plainly rebacked. Repeated contemporary ownership inscriptions of Robert and William Baldwin on endpapers, with William’s name on the title lined through and replaced by “Thomas Bancks.” First edition. Brown’s Letters from the Dead to the Living, had gone through several editions, and this is a fai... more information

London: Printed, and are to be Sold by Randal Taylor, 1691. 16, [17-32]pp., 4to, the last sixteen pages irregularly paginated, presumably the result of more than one compositor at work; one prefatory leaf printed off-centre with its headline cropped, a little staining but a perfectly sound and complete copy. Disbound. First edition, replying to Tom Brown’s “The Weesils,” which attacked Rev. William Sherlock for his hesitation to take the oath of allegiance to William and Mary. Brown... more information

London: Printed for J. Peele [et al.], 1720. [ii],xvi,389,[1]p., Engraved frontispiece by Van der Gucht after Cheron; some mild staining, especially at the edges of the first few leaves. A large copy, neatly bound in calf-backed marbled boards antique, spine gilt. First edition, a different version of the first book alone had been published separately in 1717. Foxon, English Verse 1701-1750, B562... more information