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Legendre (Sidney J.) Land of the White Parasol
£175
and the Million Elephants
London, Rich & Cowan, [1936].
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 12/6.
A fascinating account of a journey through the jungles of Indo-China. The photographic illustrations are by Gertrude Legendre née Sanford, an American woman of rather remarkable qualities: socialite, spy, explorer big game hunters, environmentalist and plantation owner, to name a few. She met Sidney Legendre during an expedition in Abyssinia.
In stock
Internally VG; lettering to spine partly ablated; jacket toned at spine and with some small closed tears, but otherwise VG.
Map endpapers, photographic illustrations by Gertrude Legendre.
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South Africa 1929
n.p., International Geological Congress, [1929].
Index, introduction (fold-out black and white colour maps) + 22 booklets (incomplete, lacking 1 issue 'C19'), with additional general programme (32 pages + pull-out map). 8vo. Loose as issued, housed in original grey cloth slip-case with French title and the Congress logo to spine.
An important series of pamphlets published for the International Geological Congress of 1929, including contributions by noted geologists such as du Toit, Rogers, Haughton, Hall & Wagner and others, being guides to accompany delegates on excursions all over South Africa to various geologically noteworthy sites. Places include Chapman's Peak & the peninsula, Kimberley, Pilanesberg, Pretoria salt-pan and iron ore deposits, Vredefort, the Eastern Escarpment, Port Elizabeth, southern & northern Rhodesia, among others. Rare.
Travel
[Beckford (William)] Recollections of an Excursion to the Monasteries of Alcobaça and Batalha.
By the author of "Vathek"
London, Richard Bentley, 1835.
First edition. 8vo. Engraved mezzotint portrait frontispiece, half-title, xi, 228pp. Later full tan morocco gilt, by Riviere.
An attractive association copy of Vathek author William Beckford's memoir of his travels in Portugal. Beckford first travelled to Portugal in 1787, mostly staying in the environs of Lisbon and Sintra; he returned in 1793, taking up residence in a coastal villa overlooking the Tagus estuary, from where he planned this excursion to the nearby monasteries. Although he found Alcobaça gloomy and "Saxon", Batalha intrigued and enchanted him. It was also said to have had a significant influence on various aspects of his famous, constantly evolving designs for Fonthill Abbey.
This copy is from the library of Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, with his bookplate and Epsom library bookstamp - many of the books from "The Durdans" were sold at auction in 1933, including eighty-six Beckford titles, which is presumably when this book came onto the market. The Rosebery family has a long association with Beckford, bibliographically, the first Lord Rosebery buying prodigiously from the auction of Beckford's library at the Hamilton Palace sales in the 1880s. Further books and manuscripts from the Rosebery family collection, housed in Barnbougle Castle in Scotland, were sold at auction in 2009.
Second impression, Stanley Paul, [1930]. The wrapper is unpriced but identical to first (which is priced 7/6 on spine) and list of titles on back panel. The lack of a price may imply it was a copy intended for export.