#maggs bros

Maggs Bros. Ltd. W1J. A very pleasingly voluminous antiquarian specialist right in the heart of Mayfair. A bamboozling array of titles combined with a dedicated team of no less than 20 make them a very serious prospect when it comes to sourcing unique private requests. Autographs to Japanese photography; it’s all covered here. Suddenly that fantasy personal library seems a step closer. https://www.maggs.com/

A corner of the old Maggs basement at no.50 Berkeley Square, complete with secret tunnel!

The end of another week draws near! Finis Friday looking decidedly definite in this engraving by Joan Hassall. From “The Parson’s Daughter and Other Stories” by Anthony Trollope, first edition thus (The Folio Society, 1949), inscribed by the illustrator.

A solitary, serious porcine creature keeping watch over the continental stock.

J. A. Carnes’ “Journal of a Voyage from Boston to the West Coast of Africa: with a full description of the manner of trading with the natives on the coast”. First edition, 1852.

An American trading voyage which called at several points along the coast from Cape Verde to Principe. Carnes is an astute observer and his narrative provides some fascinating details, whilst he also provides some powerful arguments against slavery. The appendix contains a lengthy consideration of West African peoples, in particular their skill as hunters and craftsmen.

Today Winnie-the-Pooh was voted the UK’s best loved childhood book character. The survey, which was commissioned by the Reading Agency, saw Pooh triumph over stiff competition from Harry Potter, Bilbo Baggins, George (from The Famous Five) Matilda (Roald Dahl), and Lucy Pevensie (from C. S. Lewis’ Narnia books), among others!
Fly high Pooh-bear!

Here are some images of (and from) the A. A. Milne books we have in the shop currently: Winnie-the-Pooh; The House at Pooh Corner; When We Were Very Young; Now We Are Six. All illustrated masterfully by E. H. Shepard. All first editions, with dust jackets. Some of the best children’s books ever written.
❤️

Happy World Chocolate Day!
Today we will be tucking in to some Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight while reading “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, illustrated by Faith Jacques (1967)! (Although, we’ll have to be extra assiduous not to get chocolatey fingers on the pages!)

✨ Happy 4th of July! ✨
Here we have the second edition printing of the Declaration of Independence; the most accurate and beautiful early printing of the founding document of the United States.

The copper plate for this printing was commissioned in 1820 by William Stone under the sponsorship of the Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, who was keen to create a facsimile of the original engrossed document, which was already beginning to show signs of deterioration. This was a sagacious course of action, as the engrossed copy continued to suffer through wear, exposure to sunlight and poor restoration, so much so that it is now barely legible.

Stone’s copper plate was completed in 1823 and 200 copies were printed on vellum. This exact facsimile is the source for most subsequent reproductions of the Declaration.

In 1833 Peter Force received authorisation from Congress to reuse the plate to produce this printing of the Declaration as part of his “American Archives” which published, often for the first time, texts from the founding of the nation.

The multi-talented Force, was an archivist, editor, historian and politician. He also served in the War of 1812. He is best known for “American Archives”, which he operated for twenty years, until it was cancelled in 1853 by then Secretary of State William Marcy. Force’s collection was subsequently sold to the Library of Congress.

W. C. Harris’ “The Highlands of Æthiopia.. described, during eighteen months’ residence of a British Embassy at the Christian Court of Shoa” (1844). With the chromolithograph dedication page, illustrated with a sovereign figure, defenders, Angels, lions, a goat and a dragon. Also with a fold-out map. First edition, three volumes.
“Harris and several other British officers and diplomats were sent to open trade relations with the then virtually unknown kingdom of Shoa. The journey through the hinterland of the country is described in great detail, as are the cultures of the various cities that were visited… [A]n epic of travel and explorations” (Czech, p.72).

A gorgeous copy, in pristine condition, of “Hero and Leander”, the first book from the Vale Press (1894). One of 220 copies. Illustrated with woodcuts, initials and borders by Charles Ricketts and Charles Shannon.

One of the highpoints of the Fin de Siècle – John Gray’s “Silverpoints” (1893). Cover, initials, colophon and typographical design by Charles Ricketts. One of 250 numbered copies.

A book justly celebrated for its design by Charles Ricketts. It is instantly recognisable by its format, which is roughly that of a large cheque book. Its cover design consists of a field of feather or willow leaf devices, arranged on a background of wavy gilt rules: while the arrangement is regular, the angles at which they are placed is irregular, giving an appearance of lightness and of motion. The text pages are a miracle of margins, in which Gray‘s rather slight poems, heavily influence by Verlaine, Mallarmé and Dowson appear almost as an afterthought. Gray came from a lower middle-class South East London background to become the darling of Chelsea’s salons, lending his name to Wilde’s Dorian Gray, before throwing it in for a life of Catholic chastity in Edinburgh.
An exceptionally good copy with only two very small ink dots (the size of a needle point) on the spine to mar its perfection. Attractive small pencil monogram and small booklabel of John Gere, at one time keeper of prints and drawings at the British Museum and nephew of C.M. Gere, artist, and with the earlier armorial bookplate of one George Herbert Wailes, apparently a phycologist.

This gem of a book will be coming with us to the Olympia Book Fair, which opens tomorrow, a highlight from Maggs’ Modern Department.

A detail from one of our highlights going to the Olympia Book Fair - remarkable original artworks, depicting an expedition in Central Africa. A detail of some of the original drawings and watercolours for the Charles S. L. Bateman’s book ’The First Ascent of the Kasai: being some Records of service Under the Lone Star’.

The First Ascent of the Kasai … was published in 1889 — a handsomely illustrated volume that recorded the author’s part in an expedition to determine where the waters of the Kasai River emptied themselves.

Charles Somerville LaTrobe Bateman joined the so-called ‘German Expedition’ (despatched by the Geographical Society of Berlin under the commission of Leopold II) on the return-leg of the river-voyage, which had succeeded in its initial aim of descending the Kasai to the Congo at Kwamouth; thereby confirming the Kasai as a tributary to the great river. Bateman and the expedition leader, Dr. Wolf, were tasked with ascending the Kasai in order to return the Bashilange-Baluba people (who had acted as guides for the descent) to their homeland at the headwaters of the river. Once there they had a second objective to fulfil: to establish a station at the confluence of the Lulua with Luebo, as a port for the station of Luluaburg.

In addition to his primary duties as second-in-command to Wolf, Bateman found time to create a remarkable visual record of the expedition, that passed through the territories of the Chiplumba, Basongo-Meno, Bakuba and Bakete tribes. His drawings, watercolours and etchings of the native peoples, flora and fauna and river scenes, recorded things never before depicted (and in some cases seen) by Europeans. They subsequently provided the basis for the excellent plates in his book, which illustrate, inter alia, Hippopotami on the southern shore of Stanley Pool, Bakuba cups and knives, Lulua fish and Bakete hunters.

Keats’ “Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St Agnes and Other Poems”, illustrated with wood-engravings by Robert Gibbings. Number 18 of 500 numbered copies. The Golden Cockerel Press, 1928.
An excellent copy. Probably Gibbings’ best work for the press, which he owned at the time. In addition to the poems of the title the book includes three of Keats’ most loved poems, “Ode to a Nightingale”, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” and “To Autumn.”

BEARDSLEY (Aubrey).
Keynotes Series.
Lithographic poster advertising the first 10 novels in the “Keynotes” series. Sheet size 46 cm by 33 cm. Framed and glazed. Probably May 1895.

Lasner “A Selective Checklist of the Published Work of Aubrey Beardsley” records two states, of which this, without Beardsley‘s name at the foot, is presumed to be earlier (the facsimile editions published by Anthony d’Offay are quite easily distinguishable by their imprint at foot). Two horizontal folds and some fairly light creasing, but in generally good condition, unfaded and clean.

Every day is World Book Day!

Beautiful vellum bindings in our shop.

Throwback Thursday - the Maggs Bros Travel Department as it was at no.50 Berkeley Square

Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” was first published on this day, 19 December, in 1843.
Here we have the first American edition, published in Philadelphia by Carey & Hart in 1844. Illustrated with four hand-coloured, lithographed plates by P. S. Duval after John Leech. Original gilt-stamped cream cloth, title page in red and blue, and with yellow endpapers. Gilt-stamped pattern repeated in blind on back. Slight soiling to covers, original pale endpapers spectacularly oxidised, extremities skilfully restored, still a near-fine copy of one of the rarest issues of this famous Christmas story. Currently in our shop at 46 Curzon Street.

Details from some of the plates that accompany and surround the first scientific map of the Philippines, by Murillo Velarde, 1848. Engraved in the Phillipines. A rare, important and beautifully executed item.

Flashback photograph to the wonderful organised chaos in one of the rooms at 50 Berkeley Square. Photo taken many years ago. Maggs Bros have been in 50 Berkeley Square for 78 years.