James Cummins Bookseller

Item 300889The Ring and the Book.

Browning, Robert.

Price: $7,500

London: Smith, Elder and Co, 1872. Second edition. Browning’s Masterpiece, Inscribed. Inscribed by Browning to Ernest Benzon on the first flyleaf, “Ernst Benzon Esq, from his very affectionately Robert Browning." German-born Ernst Benzon, a partner in the steel manufacture Vickers Sons & Company, was a patron or friend of Browning..... Read More Item Details for The Ring and the Book Add to Wish List

Item #300889

Item 301618The Government of India.

(CHINA) Malcolm, John.

Price: $850

London: John Murray, 1833. First edition. FROM THE CANTON READING ROOMS. A copy from the Canton Reading Rooms, the library of the 13 factories at Canton, China which existed until the factories were destroyed during the Second Opium War. With bookplate of the Newburyport Public Library stating that the book..... Read More Item Details for The Government of India Add to Wish List

Item #301618

Item 300923King George's Middy.

Gilbert, William.

Price: $2,500

Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1871. First American edition. Inscribed by Alger to his Pupil George Seligman. Inscribed to George (Washington) Seligman (b. 1858), son of the prominent financier Joseph Seligman: "George Seligman, from his affectionate friend, Horatio Alger Jr. Jan. 6 1871." Alger was hired by the senior Seligman to tutor..... Read More Item Details for King George's Middy Add to Wish List

Item #300923

Item 300925Ever Since Darwin. Reflections in Natural History.

Gould, Stephen Jay.

Price: $4,000

New York: Norton, [1977]. First edition. GOULD'S FIRST BOOK, WITH THANK YOU LETTER FOR BLURB. First book by Gould, with the ownership signature of Ashley Montagu on the front flyleaf. Montagu’s blurb is at the top of the back cover: “Stephen Jay Gould is one of the most brilliant of..... Read More Item Details for Ever Since Darwin. Reflections in Natural History Add to Wish List

Item #300925

Item 267200Selections from the Poetry of Robert Herrick.

Herrick, Robert.

Price: $2,500

London: Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, [1882]. Abbey, Edwin A. In a unique binding and inscribed and signed by Abbey, "For Mrs. Alma Tadema - with the sincere regards of Edwin A. Abbey, March 1889." The sweet little bust portrait of her on the cover shows her in a...... Read More Item Details for Selections from the Poetry of Robert Herrick Add to Wish List

Item #267200

Item 301872La fata galanti [unpublished manuscript translation into English].

[Meli, Giovanni & W.W. Barker, translator].

Price: $1,500

[?Messina]: n.p., ca. 1815. Unpublished Manuscript Translation of Giovanni Meli. An unpublished manuscript English translation of Sicilian poet Giovanni Meli's La fata galanti (The courteous fairy, 1762). Meli (1740-1815) was a physician and poet who wrote in his native dialect of Palermo and promoted and collected Sicilian literature. The Courteous..... Read More Item Details for La fata galanti [unpublished manuscript translation into English] Add to Wish List

Item #301872

Item 300934Commentarii una cum Quaestionibus in 1 & 2a Diui Thomae a quaestione 1a De Ultimo fine hominis.

Menacho, Juan Perez de.

Price: $17,500

Lima: 1608-09. A rare survival: a manuscript commentary on Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae by an eminent Peruvian Jesuit. The work forms a discussion of the First Part of the Second Part, Questions 1-5 – namely, “De ultimo fine hominis” which focuses on the question of human happiness (“beatitude”) Clearly a...... Read More Item Details for Commentarii una cum Quaestionibus in 1 & 2a Diui Thomae a quaestione 1a De Ultimo fine hominis Add to Wish List

Item #300934

Item 301674Autograph Letter Signed (“George Meredith”), to George Gissing, thanking him for “the delightful book on The Ionian Sea"

Meredith, George.

Price: $2,000

Box Hill, Dorking, [Surrey]: 21 November 1901. Meredith to Gissing: ‘for you to take your place among our best’. Novelist George Meredith (1828-1909) writes his friend George Gissing (1857-1903), acknowledging his latest book, and asking about Gissing‘s health, reading (in part): “The title of your present abode indicates the open..... Read More Item Details for Autograph Letter Signed (“George Meredith”), to George Gissing, thanking him for “the delightful book on The Ionian Sea" Add to Wish List

Item #301674

Item 300928Eight albumen photographs of Polynesia.

Miot, Paul Emile.

Price: $2,500

c.1870. French naval officer Paul Émile Miot was the first person to take photographs of the Pacific Islands during a voyage to the Marquesas islands and Tahiti in 1869. Born in Trinidad and educated in Ireland, Miot was something of a photographic pioneer, being possibly the first to use photographs..... Read More Item Details for Eight albumen photographs of Polynesia Add to Wish List

Item #300928

Item 300214Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates. Compiled by Merle Johnson.

PYLE, Howard.

Price: $7,500

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1921. First edition, no. 21 of 50 copies only on Japan vellum stock, signed by Merle Johnson on the limitation page. With 7 Merle Johnson Watercolors of Piratical Scenes. The deluxe edition on Japan vellum of this collection of pirate tales and illustrations by Howard..... Read More Item Details for Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates. Compiled by Merle Johnson Add to Wish List

Item #300214

Item 301863The Christian Year … [with] STANLEY, Henry Morton. Single sheet message to General Ponsonby to pass thanks on to Queen...

[Stanley, Henry Morton].

Price: $3,000

London: Suttaby & Co, [1880]. A WEDDING GIFT FROM ONE OF STANLEY'S SENIOR OFFICERS. A wonderful souvenir from Stanley's wedding with a significant association. The inscription reads in part: "To Henry M Stanley Esq / Dear Sir, / Accept this book on this your nuptial day as a souvenir from..... Read More Item Details for The Christian Year … [with] STANLEY, Henry Morton. Single sheet message to General Ponsonby to pass thanks on to Queen Victoria for her message. December 6 1889 Add to Wish List

Item #301863

Item 301660Arabian Sands.

Thesiger, Wilfred.

Price: $3,500

London: Longmans, 1959. First edition. "I went to Southern Arabia only just in time." Rare signed copy in the dust jacket. Arabian Sands is Thesiger's first and most important work, recounting his crossing of the Empty Quarter under the aegis of the Middle East Anti-Locust Unit in 1946-7. Although brief..... Read More Item Details for Arabian Sands Add to Wish List

Item #301660

Item 266001Les Instruments à Archet.

Vidal, Antoine.

Price: $2,000

Paris: Imprimerie de J. Claye, 1876-8. First edition, one of 500 copies. A beautiful, uncut set of this landmark work on the history of the violin. “This is, beyond the possibility of doubt, the greatest work ever published, or which is ever likely to be published, on the violin” (Fidiculus..... Read More Item Details for Les Instruments à Archet Add to Wish List

Item #266001