Rare books from Attic Books

London: B. T. Batsford, [1912]. Hardcover. Very good. nd. xlv, 234 p. 25 cm. 130 collotype plates from photos chiefly by W. Galsworthy Davie, as well as 200 b&w figures in the text. Green cloth with gold lettering. Respined with original spine attached. Front board a bit warped. Ink stamp for J. C. B. Horwood on front endpaper and Introduction page. Horwood's signature on title page. Thumbing. Topics include: the primitive fireplace; Roman method of heating; Saxon fireplace; smoke louver; reredos; wall fireplace; evolution of the hood and chimney; early foreign influence; Elizabethan Renaissance; overmantels of stucco; fireplace accessories; introduction of coal; Inigo Jones; Christopher Wren; Adam period, etc. Appendix and index. This copy signed by John C. B. Horwood, founding member of the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto, as well as a member of the Toronto Society of Architects, the Toronto Architectural 18 Club and the Toronto Architectural Sketch Club. He was a proponent of developing a… Read More

London: Various Publishers, 1715-1741. Leatherbound. Very good. 15 volumes. 20 cm (quarto) full leather bindings with contemporary mottled calf boards. Respined in matching mottled calf. Minor repairs and staining in endpapers. Hinges secure but some are cracked on the interior. A touch of foxing, but most pages crisp and clean. This set is composed of rare editions printed during the author's lifetime. Most are first quarto printings. Set contains Pope's prose works as well as translations of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Please contact us for more detailed cataloguing of each volume.

Edinburgh: John Hamilton, ca. 1831. Leatherbound. Very good +. 16, 288, 4 p. 49 cm. 68 hand-coloured maps, many fold-out, and one fold-out of Mountain Chains with b&w engraving. Plate 32 missing as stipulated in Contents. Scales differ. Rebound in half leather by Keith Felton. Gilt trim. Original boards. Occasional dampstains and thumbing. Tear in fold of plate 61. Repairs to edges and corners of Contents page. Earlier repairs to edges of Table of Mountain Chains, Chart of the World, fold-out map of the Russian Empire. Title continues: "Comprehending A Sketch of the History of Geography; A View of the Principles of Mathematical, Physical, Civil, and Political Geography; An Account of the Geography, Statistics, and History of Each Continent, State, and Kingdom, Delineated. And a Tabular View of the Principal Mountain Chains in the World. Engraved on Sixty-nine Copperplates, and Compiled from Materials Drawn from the Newest and most Authentic Sources." This magnificent atlas was published about 1831… Read More

Venice: [Boneto Locatello], 1504. Vellum. Very good. Third printed edition after those of Bologna (1489) and Venice (1498). 141 leaves with double columns of 66 lines each in 3 sizes of gothic letters. 32 cm. 18th-century vellum binding with leather spine label and yapp edges. Five words added in ink on title page "de Florentia, Cartusiensis" and at the bottom "Venetiis 1504". Turisanus (ca. 1275 - ca. 1350) studied medicine first in Bologna, where he was considered to be Taddeo Alderotti's best pupil, and then in Paris, before returning to Bologna to teach and finally become a monk. His most famous work is this "more than commentary" on Galen of Pergamum's Art of Medicine, which incorporates much philosophical learning but also displays a measure of scientific originality. The method is scholastic, but this did not prevent the text from playing a central role in medical education for over 200 years, appearing in print until 1557. Latin text.

Edinburgh: Printed for John Thomson & Co. for Baldwin, Craddick & Joy, London, & John Cumming, Dublin, ca. 1819-1825. Second Edition. Hardcover. Very good. xxviii, Plates, 18 p. 38 cm. Frontispiece Mountains table, title page vignette, engraving p. viii, 8 in-text illustrations before plates (6 colour, 2 tables), 44 engraved hand-coloured plates, most with small vignettes. Bound in half leather with marbled paper boards. New endpapers. Signed by previous owner William Hossack (1829) on front and rear endpapers. Foxing. Repaired edges to plates 36 & 37. An attractive atlas engraved by N. R. Hewitt from maps drawn by James Wyld the Elder (1790-1836). One of the foremost geographers of his time, Wyld is credited with introducing lithography to map printing during the Peninsula Campaign in 1812. A prolific publisher, he is reputed to have died of overwork. The detailed maps in this atlas emphasize Europe but there are several maps showing the Americas and Australia. Most maps feature a vignette… Read More

New York: Harper and Brothers, 1949. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good +/Good. Unpaginated. 31 cm. B&w line drawings on each page. Yellow cloth with black print in mylar-covered pictorial dustjacket. Small chips to spine ends and corners. Dampstains to spine. Light shelf wear to jacket edges. Some light soiling to front panel of jacket. Front flap price clipped. Cloth has faint discolouration on front board. Small smudges on both covers. Tucked inside are two front covers of The New Yorker magazine illustrated by Steinberg, one from Nov. 11 1967 and one from Dec. 4 1971, the latter with an edge tear. Cartoons on 1) The Art of Living, 2) The Important People, 3) The Domestic Animals, 4) The Arts & 5) The Women.

London: Burgess and Hill, 1819. Hardcover. Very good +. 126 p. 22 cm. Bound in full leather with blank and gold impressing and burgundy spine label. Marbled endpapers. Binder's label on rear pastedown. Checkmark in top corner of title page. last page has slightly chipped top corner with a few ink marks in upper margin. The first medical book about Upper Canada and one of only two medical works relating to the War of 1812. Douglas's Medical Topography is an extremely important and scarce work, for which we can find no British or American auction records for 50 years. The author, Dr. John Douglas (1788-1861), was an Assistant Surgeon with the 8th Regiment on the Niagara Frontier, present at the battles of Chipawa, Fort Erie, and Lundy's Lane, as well as spending considerable time at the military hospital at Fort York. On p. 3 the author gives the contents of the work: "I. Of the topography of the country. II. Of the soil and climate. III. Of the services of the troops. IV. Of the diseases which… Read More

Oxford: Printed by John Baskett, Printer to the King's most Excellent Majesty, for Great Britain; and to the University, 1717. Vinegar Bible", First edition, third issue. Hardcover. Very good. Unpaginated. 52 cm folio volume in 58 cm specially designed brown cloth box. Frontispiece, title page vignette, 59 engravings at beginning and end of books, plus decorations. Black and red title pages and headings in Table of Lessons and Kalendar. Full leather incised binding by Keith Felton of Georgetown in period style. New endpapers. Occasional darkened pages, dampstains to margins, small chips. Professional repairs to bottom corners in I Kings, Chapters II to XVI, with some loss of text. Edge repairs to first pages. A magnificent edition of the Bible, printed in large type. Includes beautiful vignettes engraved on steel by Baroque artists such as James Thornhill (the first English artist to be knighted), Gerard and Michael Vandergucht, Louis Cheron and Louis du Guernier. Preliminary matter includes Table… Read More

Toronto: Page & Smith, 1875. Hardcover. Very good. xviii, 31, xxxiii, 34-35, xxxvi-xxxvii, 38-39, xl-xli, 42-43, xliv, [1], 46-47, [3], 50-63 p. 44 cm. Title page coat of arms, 32 pages of tinted maps, 15 pages of scenery and views, 10 portraits of local men. Rebound in leather using original cloth boards by Keith Felton of Georgetown. Gold print and blind impressing to covers. Some spots to cloth. Dampstained tvitle page, thumbing, small tears to a few edges, repaired final leaf. "Dedicated by Special Permission to His Excellency The Earl of Dufferin K.P. K.C.B. Governor General. Compiled, Drawn and Published from Personal Examinations and Surveys." One of the scarcest of original county atlases, Wentworth contains much information about Hamilton and surrounding area. The historical sketch is written by Robert Kirkland Kernighan, a Canadian journalist and poet who apprenticed on the Hamilton Spectator. The volume also contains a history of Hamilton, biographies of prominent men, scenes of local… Read More

London: Printed for G. G. J. and J. Robinson, 1793. First Edition. Hardcover. Good +. ix, [3], 317 p. 19 cm. Portrait vignette on title page. Full tree leather. Corners bumped, ring mark on front, front hinge cracking at top, spine ends chipped, some wear to edges. Ink signature at top of title page. Chip in margin of p. 33. Some foxing and thumbing but most pages bright and clean. Larger than usual mark to p. 157 bottom. Contents: Life of Dr. Franklin as written by himself; Continuation of his Life by Dr. Stuber; Extracts from his Will. Preface by Richard Price. Direction to the Binder rear of Contents page.

Columbus, Ohio: Cartoon Books, 2004. One volume edition. Signed and numbered limited hardcover, no. 1763 of 2000. Hardcover. Fine. 1332, [9] p. 24 cm. Maps on endpapers and at rear. Black leatherette with pressed-on colour illustration and gold print. All edges gilt. Signed bookplate on half title. Bone is an American comic book series, written and illustrated by Jeff Smith, originally serialized in 55 irregularly-released issues from 1991 to 2004. Smith's black-and-white drawings, inspired by animated cartoons and comic strips, are singularly characterized by a mixture of both light-hearted comedy and dark fantasy. Three cartoon characters become lost in a fairy-tale valley for a year, where they spend a year, make friends and enemies, and become caught up in the trials and tribulations of the valley. As a simple comic tale becomes a sprawling epic, readers may find Bone rather "Tolkienesque."

London: Methuen & Co, 1920. First UK Edition. Hardcover. Good. xiii, [3], 138, [2], 8 p. 20 cm. 5 diagrams and frontispiece portrait of the author. Red cloth with blank impressing on front, black print on spine. Some soiling to covers, corners bumped, spine faded, small tears in spine head. Front pastedown has bookplate for Brenda Mary O'Keefe and small chip to edge. Offsetting to free endpapers. Front hinge cracking internally. A few stains within. 8 p. of Methuen publications listed at rear. First edition of the authorized translation into English of the "popular exposition" of Einstein's theory of relativity. Includes third appendix on "The Experimental Confirmation of the General Theory of Relativity," written by Einstein specially for this edition at the request of the translator. First published in German in 1916, "Relativity" gives readers an insight into the thought processes of one of the greatest minds of the 20th century.

New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1892. First Edition, Second State. Corrected spelling "Gorgias" on p. vi. Second list of ads at rear dated March 1892. Hardcover. Very good. xvii, 1079, [6], 8 p. 25 cm. 19 charts, 5 b&w figures. Publisher's original brown pebbled cloth and yellow endpapers. Gold printing on spine. Corners bumped, some rubbing to extremities, small tears in spine ends, small dark spot on front board. Ink stamp and signature on front endpapers. Front free endpaper and following leaf have small tears and chips to edges. Ink signature at top of p. 1. A little thumbing. Osler's textbook was the best English language work on medicine of its time. Besides being one of the greatest of all clinicians, Osler had a fine literary style and extensive knowledge of medical bibliography. This copy was in use at Memorial Hospital, St. Thomas, Ontario, built 1924. It belonged to Dr. Robert Kains (1849-1927 of that city. Golden & Roland 1378. Garrison-Morton 2231.

1939-41. Good. 2 vols.: [82]; [36] p. 18 x 34 and 17 x 34 cm. Mainly b&w photos, most labeled. Includes other items, such as correspondence, postcards, loose photos, news clippings, cartoons, air raid precautions, and two flying licences. One album black, the other brown. Moderate wear and soiling to covers. One page detached near end of second album. Another album with photocopies of what's contained in the others. Albums featuring the all-too-short career of pilot Sheldon H. F. Gunn before he was killed in an ariplane crash near Ville St. Laurent, Quebec, on May 20, 1942 at the age of 21. He and his wife Mary MacBride had been married only a few months. He had previously survived the sinking of the Athenia, a passenger liner of the Donaldson Atlantic Line, the first UK ship sunk by a German submarine in World War II. He is buried in his home town of North Bay. Photos and postcards include aircraft, aerial vews around North Bay and elsewhere, friends and family, airfields, scenes on board the… Read More

Boston: Geo. M. Smith & Co., 1873. First American edition, second issue, lacking "The End" on p. 303. "Edition of James B. Osgood & Co." on title. . Hardcover. Good. Title page states "Sold only by subscription". xiii, [6], 4-303 p., interspersed with plates. 21 cm. Frontispiece, small title vignette, 108 other full-page plates, 2 smaller illustrations at tops of first pages of both sections. Publisher's green cloth with black and gold impressing. Front cover shows Captain Nemo holding a sextant. All edges gilt. Brown endpapers. Mylar wrap, removed for photos. Some rubbing to rear cover. Shelf wear to edges. Chip to cloth near front pastedown. Small scuffs on rear pastedown and rear free endpaper slightly chipped on bottom corner. Some thumbing and stains to margins throughout. Classic early sci-fi novel following the adventures of three men as they track down a mysterious sea monster. During their pursuit they are captured by the enigmatic Captain Nemo and taken aboard his submarine, the Nautilus.… Read More