Authors starting with M from Stuart Bennett Rare Books

London: Printed for W. Strahan; and T. Cadell, inteh Strand, 1777. 2 vols., 12mo. Without the half-titles or the terminal advertisement leaf in Vol. II, but a fresh and pleasant copy in contemporary calf-backed marbled boards; spines (especially that of Vol. II) worn in places, labels missing, but sound. First edition, the last of Mackenzie’s three novels of sensibility and, as at least one recent critic has argued, perhaps the best, offering “a subtler understanding of the processes by which... more information

[Edinburgh?:] Printed May 27th, Anno 1703. 7, [1]pp., 4to. Paper slightly damaged from damp at the extreme outer fore-edge, well clear of text, otherwise a very good untrimmed copy, disbound. Two issues of this pamphlet exist, the earlier dated May 26th; presumably there was an overnight stop-press change of date. The pamphlet is rather crudely printed, perhaps befitting its then-subversive assertion that at least half the population of Scotland wanted the Episcopal and other denominations tolerated a... more information

London: Printed for J. Harris. . . and Darton and Harvey, 1810. viii, 182, 2pp., 12mo. Engraved frontispiece, with the half-title and terminal leaf of advertisements, and with an eight-page, privately-printed “Memoir of the Author” dated 1877 inserted at the end; some spotting, adhesion damage to pp. 32-33 resulting in some letters being stuck to the opposite page, all present and the text essentially intelligible. Original roan-backed boards; rubbed but sound. First edition, the author’... more information

Edinburgh: Published by William Oliphant, 1826. 228pp., 18mo. Additional engraved title and three plates, all elegantly (but possibly amateurishly) hand-colored. Contemporary marbled boards; clumsily rebacked with plain cloth, new endpapers added. First edition in English of these improving short stoires, which include “The Lost Child,” “Nothing is gained by Bad Humour,” “Harry the Vagabond,” “Louisa,” “The Happiness of being Able to Read,” and “T... more information

London: Printed for Whittaker & Co., 1834. 3 vols., large 12mo. Contemporary half russia, spines gilt; Vol. I spine a bit worn. First English edition, originally published by Harper’s in New York. Virtually nothing is known of John Henry Mancur apart from his novels; he is now best-remembered for a series of them on the American Revolution. The New York edition of this novel is comparatively common, but this London one is rare, with OCLC locating only two copies in North America, at Colorado... more information

London: Printed for C. Davis, 1741. [ii], v-xvi, 368pp., 8vo. Title leaf a cancel, replacing the original issue’s bifolium with an initial advertisement leaf, a couple of leaves with marginal spotting to fore-edge, one of which (pp. 47-48) has a couple of minor marginal tears - this probably an effect of twenty years in a warehouse before binding, as the remainder of the volume is unaffected. Contemporary half calf; covers chafed, expertly rebacked and gilt by Philip Dusel. First edition of one o... more information

London: Printed for John Booth, G. G. and J. Robinson, and B. and J. White, 1794. [viii], 152pp., 8vo. With the initial blank leaf and the half-title, manuscript corrections to pp. 10, 90, and 151 in the hand of the author’s daughter Catharine Octavia Tollemache, who has inscribed the initial blank “Miss Helen Foote, with affectionate Regards from her Attached Friend Catharine Octavia Tollemache.” Early, probably circa 1830, cloth, morocco spine label. First octavo edition, following th... more information

London: Printed for Arthur Hall, [1853]. [ii], 241, [1]pp., 8vo. Handsome colour-printed lithographed frontispiece by Kronheim & Co., without the two leaves of publisher’s advertisements at end. Attractively bound in contemporary half brown morocco, spine blocked in black with a gilt title, g.e., by Mansell. First edition, a novel based on the life of the French potter. Wolff 4467.... more information

London: Arthur Hall, Virtue, and Co., 1861. [viii], 261, [3]pp., 8vo. With the half-title and terminal leaf of advertisements. A couple of leaves with insignificant foxing, one tiny blemish at the center of the spine, otherwise a wonderfully fine copy in the original forest green cloth, covers blindstamped with a gothic pattern, spine gilt. First edition. The author’s preface comments, “I think there are certain young people who will hereafter thank their Aunt Anne for having secured them ... more information

Southampton: Printed by T. Skelton. . . for Law and Whittaker, Ave-Maria-Lane, London, 1815. 136pp., 12mo. Engraved frontispiece by S. Springsguth after H. Corbould (this rather foxed), with a printed errata slip long ago pinned to the front free endpaper and still happily present. Original red roan-backed marbled boards; spine head worn. First edition. A contemporary reviewer in the Literary Panorama remarked that this story was “too short,” in that the conversion of the spoiled, ill-educ... more information

London: Chapman and Hall, 1845. 2 vols., 8vo. Without the half-titles; some copies also have an inserted prospectus for another work, also not present here. Handsome contemporary half calf, spines fully gilt; very slightly rubbed. First edition of the author’s fourth novel, a tale of political and class struggles set around the time of the French Revolution. There is romance and, once the author’s sympathy with the struggling old aristocrats is made clear, a happy ending. Sadleir, XIX Cent... more information

London : Printed for Jo. Hindmarsh, 1685. [viii], 55, [1]pp., 4to. Prefatory leaf “The Publisher to the Right Worshipful” with a contemporary manuscript addition “Sr. Thomas Player Chamberlaine of London.” Browned throughout from the poor paper quality, a couple of slight marginal tears well clear of text, but a large copy with some untrimmed edges. Nineteenth-century wrappers. Second edition, first published in 1662 with the agreeably false imprint “Bellositi Dubonorum”... more information

London: Charles Knight & Co., 1838. vii, [i], 238, [2]pp., large 12mo. A little spotting. Original blind-stamped green cloth; rebacked with the original gilt spine. First edition, intended to excite “the love of observation . . . by teaching ‘How to Observe.’” There is a long chapter on the philosophical requisites for observation, followed by “hints for travellers and students.” ... more information

[Greenwich, Mass.: John Howe, 1803]. 12pp., 12mo. Drop-head title. A fine copy, stitched as issued, untrimmed and unopened. First and only edition, a melancholy little book by an otherwise unknown author, with three poems on the deaths of children from one family: an eighteen year-old struck down by “The Putred fever,” a baby killed by “Meazles,” and “blooming” Daniel, aged nine, cause not specified. A final poem, “An Address to Christian Parents in affliction,”... more information

London: Printed for T. Becket, 1799. [iv], 86, [2]pp., 8vo. With the half-title and a terminal leaf of advertisements for other works by the same author. A nice large copy in recent marbled boards. First edition, ostensibly a satire on Grattan who was in residence near Pope’s former house at Twickenham, but in fact a wide-ranging and often vitriolic invective, with the prose notes far outweighing the poetry. Especially notable are the near ten full pages devoted to “William and Mary [Godwin... more information

Oxford: Printed for the Author; and sold by J. and J. Fletcher, [1775]. [iv], 12pp., 4to. A excellent copy, disbound. First editon, and the first publication of a hugely prolific author perhaps best remembered for his studies of Indian antiquities. The poem is thoroughly gothic, but its sentiments are familiar to every student, ancient and modern: Meanwhile, the Paedagogue throughout the Dome His fiery Eyeballs, like two blazing Stars, Portentous rolls, on some unthinking... more information

London: Printed for J. Harris, (Successor to E. Newbery), 1806. [viii], 172pp., 18mo. Engraved frontispiece. A fresh and bright copy in the original green roan-backed marbled boards; paper label all but gone and the boards now a bit soft. Second edition, the pagination identical to that of the 1801 first edition as is the dated 1801 frontispiece. The title declares Mavor as the compiler for the first time. The work is intended for children between the age “of infantine simplicity and the com... more information

London: Thomas Cadell, 1836. xxvi, 256pp., sm. 8vo. With a subscribers’ list. Largely unopened in the original blue cloth, spine gilt; joints and spine ends worn, but sound. First complete edition, first published in a shorter version in 1808, and here revised, enlarged, and with a new fifth canto. There is also a long preface discussing the reception of the poem, and the author’s possible influence on Robert Burns.... more information

London: Printed for Geo. B. Whittaker, 1825. [iii]-xiii, [i], 326, [2]pp., 8vo. Apparently bound without the half-title. Contemporary half calf, spine gilt; rubbed and with the spine head a bit chipped. First edition in English, published in France earlier the same year, and the first of Mérimée’s literary hoaxes: “Clara Gazul, the Spanish Comedian” did not exist. After writing what one critic calls “these highly Romantic works, he turned to writing the short novels ... more information

London: Printed for A. Millar, 1756. vii, [i], 96pp., 4to. Title and last leaf somewhat soiled, a few minor spots and stains, but a large copy, neatly bound in early twentieth-century cloth-backed boards, spine gilt-lettered. First separate edition of Richard Baron’s version; the same type-setting, differently paginated, was also used in Baron’s edition of Milton’s Prose Works dated 1753. Baron’s editorial labors and the printing of his text were both underwritten by Thomas Hollis,... more information