What do Verne, Sayce and Capy have in common?
Copyright © 2010 Bruce Tober - All Rights Reserved  

They were all, in one way or another, involved in the creation of some of our great new acquisitions. Those include: 

Verne's Les Enfants Du Capitaine Grant. This is an adventure yarn by Jules Verne. It's something of a facsimile of the original Hetzel edition including the engraved frontis replicating the original title page and many inline b+w engravings throughout The full title reads: "Collection Hetzel: Les Voyages Extraordinaires, Couronnes par L'academie Francaise: Les Enfants Du Capitaine Grant: Voyage Autour Du Monde par Jules Verne: Illustrations par RIOU, gravees par Pannemaker."

Wikipedia says, this is an adventure novel originally published in 1867-1868. That edition, by Hetzel, contained a number of illustrations by Edouard Riou (as does this edition). This edition was published in either 1923 or 1928 (bibliographers differ and the book is undated), just a few years after Hachette bought Hetzel's company.

The book is as close to new as can be imagined in condition. The red buckram covers with their bright gilt and black titles and elaborate decoration to front board and spine and blind-stamped decoration to rear board shows very slight wear (except to rear board which is lightly soiled. Top Edges are Gilt. The end papers are pale blue. The Front Free End Paper has the remains of a typed label attached. Textblock is unblemished, an absolutely lovely copy. 

Then there is Lectures Upon the Assyrian Language and Syllabary: Delivered to the Students of the Archaic Classes by the Rev Archibald Henry Sayce.

This 1877, first edition classic, is by Sayce (1846 - 1933), a pioneer British Assyriologist and linguist. Sayce held a chair as Professor of Assyriology at Oxford from 1891 to 1919. The book contains nine lectures. This was/is one of the author's most influential books. In a lecture about Sayce, given by Sam Addison at the Gifford Lectures Online site, it is said, "Sayce is best known for his work on the Assyrians. His early works, "Assyrian Grammar" (1872), "Elementary Grammar with Reading-Book of the Assyrian Languages" (1875) and "Lectures upon the Assyrian Language and Syllabary" (1877), generated interest in the study of the Assyrians and legitimised it. He was offered the first Chair of Assyriology. Sayce’s work in Assyriology and related areas was not just philological in the narrow sense but in the rather wider sense in which he extensively covered history, religion, literature and the people themselves.... "

The book's covers are black buckram with gilt titles and library call numbers to the spine and blind-stamped rules to front and rear boards. It has rubbed and bumped corners, some edgewear, and the top of the spine is frayed. Attached to the Front Paste Down Page is an ornately decorated bookplate from "City of Liverpool Public Libraries" And attached to the Rear Paste Down Page is a label describing the book as belonging to the "City of Liverpool Public Libraries" Reference Library. This book was "Selected from the INTER-ALLIED BOOK CENTRE, London. August 1946", as shown by two rubber stamped statements to that effect, one below the bookplate on the FPDP and the other on the bottom of the title page.

And third is a unique item of ephemera, the programme for the XXII Foire Gastronomique held in Dijon France in about 1950.

This is a large (about the size of a "broad-sheet newspaper page) single newsprint sheet containing the catalogue for the "XXII Foire Gastronomique" (22nd Food Fair) in Dijon. Although undated there are two dates referenced, 1926, as in, "For our catalog of 1926 Marcel Capy had executed these designs....(wonderful cartoony illustrations reprinted on both sides of this item.) (my English translation)" And 1950, as in, "The competition is open from November 4 to November 30, 1950 (my translation from the French)."

It's a lovely item with the only blemishes being a bit a tanning to the sheet and a long horizontal crease at the top of the sheet and a small open tear at the centre of the top edge.

Our fourth item is a museum exhibition catalogue, Inscriptions Reveal: Documents from the Time of the Bible, the Mishna and the Talmud held at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

The book is divided into two sections. The first is the English language section reading from left to right. The second is the Hebrew language section, reading from right to left. It's the catalogue from an exhibition commemorating the 25th anniversary of Israel. It's illustrated with b+w photos of objects and inscriptions.

The covers are red cloth (possibly linen) with bright gilt titles to front and back boards and spine are immaculate as is textblock.

And so Star Dot Star Books presents a wonderful array of these and other great new acquisitions in the column to the right.