"PUBLIC AFFAIRS ARE OFTEN FOUL AND FULL OF ORDURE, WHEREBY WITH THE LEAST TOUCH A MAN CONTAMINATES HIMSELF"
BALZAC, Jean-Louis Guez de. Aristippus… Being a Discourse Concerning the Court. London, 1659.
First edition in English of Aristippe, a treatise on wisdom in political administration, a collection of "sound, if somewhat pessimistic opinions (some of them commonplaces from ancient authors) on ethics, politics, and literature" (Harvey & Heseltine). $2600.
READ MORE
FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF RAYNAL'S REVOLUTION OF AMERICA, 1781, THAT PROMPTED PAINE'S FAMOUS 1782 LETTER… TO ABBÉ RAYNAL
RAYNAL, Abbé [Guillaume Thomas François]. Revolution of America. London, 1781.
First edition in English, simultaneous with the first French edition, of Raynal's provocative work that dismissed the American Revolution as a "temporary upheaval," triggering Paine's fierce reply in his Letter… to Abbé Raynal, where he heralded the American cause as "the first war to be based on principle in the history of the world." $2500.
READ MORE
"ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT FIELDS OF EXPLORATION IN THE WORLD"
(KARAKORAM) VISSER-HOOFT, Jenny. Among the Kara-Korum Glaciers. London, 1926.
First edition of Visser-Hooft's account of her and her husband's expedition to the Karakoram Mountains, richly illustrated with two maps (one folding), and 25 photographic plates. $950.
READ MORE