Early Guide Book (11 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Fair. 4th Edition. Cheltenham: H. Davies, Montpellier Library, n.d. [1843]. Fourth edition. vi,220pp.,(+[4]pp. ads.). Illustrated with a frontispiece, nine plates (two of these hand-coloured, both folding, being a Plan of the Town, and a Geological Section of Surrounding Hills), and thirty-eight textual vignettes. §Copies at Bodleian, Cambridge, V&A, Leicester, and National Library of Scotland, but seemingly not BL. Original straight-grained mauve cloth, gilt lettering, gilt-&-blind decoration, edges untrimmed. One inch paper repair to verso of Plan at one fold. A well-used copy, spine sunned to a shade of brown & frayed with loss, lower hinge partly cracked but still sound, with the armorial bookplate of William Nash Skillicorne (1807-1887), first mayor of Cheltenham, to front pastedown.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. 2nd Edition. Cheltenham: H. Davies, Montpellier Library, n.d. [1842]. Third edition. xvii,[i],208pp. With frontispiece, folding map, and seven plates. Map in crisp condition, some foxing to plates. Former owner's name-stamp to head of title; same pencilled name, dated 1849, to half-title. Original paper boards, top edge rough, others untrimmed. Paper spine, with home made-labels, now disintegrating but covers tight, and in all other respects a good, sound copy.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Cheltenham: Printed for G.A Williams; S. Bettison, Duffield and Weller, E. Roberts, S.C. Harper, E. Matthews, and W. Porter; Bath: Meyler and Collings; London: Longman and Co. and G.B. Whittaker, n.d. [c.1830]. 210,[2]pp. Illustrated with tissue-guarded folding map frontispiece & nine plates (two of these folding. §Printed by J.J. Hadley, Minerva Press. §BL holds a similar version, but with a seemingly slightly differing pagination. Frontispiece & folding plates professionally laid down on canvas. Map following title dated 1824. Neatly rebound c.1880 in quarter calf, contrasting label, gilt lettering & decoration, top edge gilt, matching polished marbled boards & endpapers. Handsome monogram bookplate of one J.T.S. to front pastedown, along with Nottingham bookseller's ticket. Tipped on preliminary blank (1 cm. circular show-through from glue to verso) is a sheet of paper with hand-printed presentation inscription to the Cheltenham bookseller & sometime director of the Cheltenham Festival of Literature Alan Hancox & his second wife Sheelagh from Roger Black(?). A few scattered leaves printed on inferior paper & showing slight browning. 2 cm. x 1 cm. paper repair to upper margin of one textual leaf, clear of text. A very good copy.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. 1st Edition. Cheltenham: H. Davies, Montpellier Library; G.A. Williams, J. Lee, Ebers and Col. and J. Lovesy, High Street; London: Messrs. Baldwin & Cradock, n.d. [1832?]. 12mo. (measures 7.9 x 6 inches, approx.). viii, 171,[1]pp. Extra engraved title-page, folding map, and 8 engraved plates.§Preface signed H[enry] D[avies]. The work reached a "new and much improved" third edition, [1842]; the copy offered seems to be the undated first edition. An unsophisticated copy in original pictorial paper boards, the upper board and extra engraved title bearing the same design. Covers browned with slight wear to spine; upper hinge partly cracked but sound. Some browning to gutter; occasional light foxing. Neat label of the Cheltenham bookseller Alan Hancox to foot of front pastedown. A good copy overall, surviving well for this fragile binding style.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. New Edition. Bath: Printed by Wood and Co. at the Bath and Cheltenham Gazette Office; and Sold by the Booksellers of Cheltenham, &c. No date [1815]. New Edition. 12mo. (measures 6.7" x 4.2" approx.). 143,[1]pp. Folding frontispiece map and 4 plates. §Slightly expanded from the earlier (1810?) edition; no further editions appear to have been issued. Neatly bound in contemporary polished calf, gilt lettering & decoration, marbled edges. Spine lettering a little hard to discern. Tiny hole at head of lower joint but covers perfectly sound. The odd slight rub or mark to covers, but overall a very good copy.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. Thomas Robins the elder (illustrator). Cheltenham: H. Ruff, 1803. First edition. 8vo (measures 8.5 x 5.3" approx.). xvi,358pp. With folding frontispiece and two engraved plates (latter offset). Title-page vignette. § 'Based on Simeon Moreau's "Tour to Cheltenham". With a preface by H. Ruff implying that he is the compiler, but in fact compiled by T. F. Dibden [sic]', BL. The folding frontispiece, by Thomas Robins the elder (1716-1770), is apparently the c.1860 version probably printed at the Middle Hill Press - the private press of the book collector Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872) - and so clearly a later addition. Ownership name clipped from head of title. A good copy, stoutly rebound in twentieth-century maroon leather, contrasting label (attributing the authorship to the publisher), marbled endpapers. Robins plate also in good condition with a 1 cm. repair in archival tape to verso of one fold.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 4th Edition. Cheltenham: H. Davies, Montpellier Library, n.d. [1843]. Fourth edition. vi,220pp.,(+[4]pp. ads.). Illustrated with hand-coloured frontispiece, eight further hand-coloured plates (two of these folding, being a Plan of the Town, and a Geological Section of Surrounding Hills), one black-and-white plate, and thirty-eight textual vignettes. §This hand-coloured version is scarce. Copies (presumably uncoloured) at Bodleian, Cambridge, V&A, Leicester, and National Library of Scotland, but seemingly not BL. Sometime professionally rebound in orange buckram, with original cloth spine laid down, edges untrimmed. Small repair to verso of map at one fold. A very good copy.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. 1st Edition. Cheltenham: Printed [by S.Y. Griffith] at the Chronicle Office, Portland Passage; and Sold by T. Henney, and Other Booksellers., n.d. [1815?]. First edition. Small 8vo (measures 7.1" x 4.5" approx.). [iv],1-70,[2],71-194pp. Illustrated with folding map frontispiece, 1 plate and a textual vignette. §BL, Bodleian, & National Library of Scotland copies within British Isles. First few leaves slightly dog-eared at fore-edge. Occasional slight browning, more sp to fore-edge. Neatly rebound, c.1900, in textured brown cloth, gilt lettering & decoration. A few marks to boards. In all other respects a very good copy.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. 2nd Edition. Cheltenham: Printed [by S.Y. Griffith] at the Chronicle Office, Portland Passage; and Sold at the Libraries, n.d. [1818?]. Second edition. 12mo. (measures 6.5" x 4.6" approx.). 217,[3]pp., +[32]pp. of plates. Illustrated with folding map frontispiece & section of 17 handsome engravings to rear depicting tradesmen's cards and business premises. Contemporary half-calf, contrasting label, gilt lettering & decoration, marbled boards. Covers rubbed, upper board cracked but holding well, lower board with 1" inch crack also holding well. Three illegible words to title in a contemporary ink hand, possibly an ownership name. Modern ownership name 'Hooper' to head of front free endpaper in ballpoint pen. In all other respects a very good copy.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. 1st Edition. Cheltenham: Printed for H. Ruff, 1806. First edition. 12mo. (measures 6.8" x 4.3" approx.). vi,220pp. With engraved frontispiece (slight creasing) depicting a nymph raising a beaker of the spa town's medicinal waters above quotation from Dr. John Armstrong. §Sole edition. Rare: BL copy only. Several leaves soiled. Closed tear to Q4 and T2. Short tears to fore-edge of M2, clear of text. Contemporary ink ownership name of H.C. Montgomery(?) to head of contents leaf. An unsophisticated copy in contemporary quarter-calf, paper boards, spine unlettered. Loss to headcaps, covers rubbed but perfectly sound. A good, sound copy.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. 2nd Edition. Cheltenham: H. Davies, Montpellier Library, n.d. [1834]. Second edition. xii,209,[1],xii pp. Extra engraved title-page. Illustrated with two folding maps, hand-coloured folding plan, and a total of 32 further plates. Of the 32 plates, 15 are on thinner paper and are as issued by the publisher; a further 12 (on thicker paper, some with the publisher Davis's imprint) may have been issued with the book but could equally be later additions; and 5 (including ad hoc frontispieces facing letterpress and extra-engraved titles) are definitely additions - apparently contemporaneously (sometimes amateurishly) so. One folding map with 1cm. repair to verso in archival tape; folding plan with neat old paper repair to one joint at verso. Occasional minor browning. Neatly rebound in the last century in orange buckram with contrasting leather label to spine, fore-edge untrimmed. A good copy with contemporary ink ownership signature of Lydia Addenbrooke to letterpress title-page, & her brief ink notes on five occasions (including to border of some illustrations - see examples in listing) recording when she visited a particular place or attraction & with whom.