A Paris Chez Panckoucke, 1784

267 intaglio engraved plates signed Bernard many of which are on double pages. Complete in itself. 4pp prelims, which includes title page and itemises the plates in sections of the work between H and M. 267 plates. Begins, as issued, at plate 29 - Watchmaking [ second part] then covers printing, mathematical instruments, musical instruments, lead rolling, eyeglass maker, violin maker, masonry, stone cutting, marble work, paper marbler, farrier, carpenter, miller, mirror maker, coinage etc. Each section separately numbered. 4to. 310 x 25 0mm. As issued in original boards, sewn. Spine mostly lost – remnant spine label present. Plates very bright throughout. Stain at the bottom edge of first 30 or so but images unaffected. Charles Joseph Panckouke 1736-1798 in Paris was a publisher and booksellers. He was a major figure in the publication of the Encyclopédie méthodique after the original work by Diderot and d'Alembert. He bought the rights to Diderot' work. The Encyclopédie méthodique, known as the "Panckoucke Encyclopaedia", is monumental based on the Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers by Diderot and d'Alembert with the aim of improving and completing it. Unlike the latter, it is divided into subjects spread over 40 scientific dictionaries. It was intended to remedy the fragmentation of Diderot's work.

York: William Blanchard 1798

Frontis + xii + 352 + [8]pp, plus two engraved maps, one folding, and three plates 'engraved from drawings by Mr Hornsey', following pages 144, 266 and 282. 3 inserted blanks with additional pasted-in images, apparently tourist engravings of the town's sites, make this an interesting extra-illustrated copy. 4to. Nicely rebound in 19th-century quarter calf, with marbled boards and edges; a note on the fep reads 'M. A. Naylor, Scarborough. Rebound 1874'. A few pages have some very slight offsetting, and there are minor age marks to the prelims and pages 197-202, 235-58 and 320-30. Overall a nice copy in vg condition. A wealthy former mariner, Hinderwell (1744-1825) was also an antiquary and a keen social reformer who was a friend of William Wilberforce. This volume, the fruit of extensive research and a love of his native town, was the first history of Scarborough. It remains a model of topographical and urban history and is an invaluable resource for the history of the town and the surrounding area.

nd c1880-1890

Hand written title page in ink "Isles of Scilly". 40 large format photographs, some 8x10 inches(203mm x 254mm) and others 6x8 inches(152mm x 203mm). + 5pp snapshots All sepia. Foxing to mounts and some browning to these all but the first two images unaffected by foxing. Late nineteenth century album rebound in modern cloth preserving original album spine. New end papers. Overall 80% of images are sharp, 20% have some fading but in all cases the interest and quality of the compositions is very good. The images comprise the house and gardens at Tresco Abbey including 2 striking 8x10 inch (203mm x 254mm) interiors of the house, further interiors and exteriors of one of the green houses, the ornamental grounds with subtropical plants including Yucca's and setting. Yet other images document social history aspects of the island. These document working life, daffodil fields, commercial flowers and fishing. Others concentrate on leisure pursuits including tennis + rowing. The sea is always present. 18 of the images are attributable to the the Gibsons and 8 to John Valentine but others have no attribution. The album includes two images of the contemporary ferry, possibly the Little Western. As well as an image of Cromwell's Castle, built after the 1651 conquest of the Scilly Isles it is one of the few surviving Cromwellian fortifications in Britain. Also excellent images record the unique coastal geology of Peninnis Head (Southern most point of saint Mary's) and Round Island Lighthouse designed by William Tregathen Douglas for Trinity House, completed in 1887. These images also give a fascinating insight into period dress. A rare insight into the social history, architecture, geology and horticulture of a unique island at at time when the proprietors of the Scilly's was Thomas Algernon Smith-Dorrien-Smith of Tresco Abbey.

London Sampson Low & Marston 1905

vol 1, 600pp, vol 2, 760pp including index and typographical errata etc. numerous bw illustrations, 15 bw plates, tissue guarded frontis piece of the author in volume one, 4to. 33x25cm Red cloth, teg. Cloth edges a little bumped and spine faded a little else good copy. Exhaustive study of organ building. George Ashdown Audsley (1838-1925) was born in Scotland and originally apprenticed to architects A & W Reid in his birth town of Elgin. Audsley along with his brother is mostly remembered for publications on architecture and decoration. Throughout his working life he was interested in design of organs and his book is a massive study which is still considered the foundation of 20th century designs for organs, ranging between pipe organs and smaller types. Hard to find.