Toronto Antiquarian Book Fair
Our selection in Toronto spans centuries of intellectual, scientific, and literary history, with a particular focus on Canadian history, Arctic exploration, and works by women writers and artists. From rare manuscripts and significant historical works to scientific and literary first editions, illustrated books, and fine bindings, the selection reflects a broad range of subjects and interests.
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GUILD OF WOMEN-BINDERS. The Bindings of To-Morrow.London : 1902
First edition, out-of-series from 500 copies only, this inscribed "the dedication copy" on the limitation page. The exhibition catalogue was dedicated to the Princess of Wales. The presentation binding, with its elaborate art nouveau onlays, is a particularly fine and untraced example of the Guild's style.
The Guild of Women-Binders was... Learn More -
GOETHE, Johann Wolfgang von. Faust. Ein Fragment. Ächte Ausgabe; [together with] -- Faust. Eine Tragödie; [and] -- Faust. Eine Tragödie. Zweyter Theil in fünf Acten.Leipzig; Tübingen; Stuttgart and Tübingen : 1790-1808-33
First separate issue of the Faust fragment, together with the first separate edition of Part I and the first separate issue of Part II, all in contemporary German bindings. The three publications trace the evolution of Goethe's tragedy from its first published form in 1790 to its posthumous completion.
Goethe began writing Faust in 1773,... Learn More -
ROSSETTI, William Michael (his copy) - PHILIPPS, Janetta. Poems.Oxford : 1811
First and only edition, bound within a sammelband assembled by William Michael Rossetti and bearing his ownership inscription and an autograph index in his hand. Janetta Philipps's collection appears as the third work in the assemblage, and Rossetti notes on the first blank that it "is a curiosity associated with Shelley".
Percy Bysshe... Learn More -
BLAKE, William. Illustrations of The Book of Job.London : 1825 [1826]
First edition, one of 100 sets on drawing paper, of the last series of engravings Blake completed. "The modest size of the central panels does not prevent them from ranking with the supreme masterpieces of graphic art" (Ray).
Blake's engravings represent the culmination of his long intellectual and artistic engagement with the Book of Job.... Learn More -
FORTUNE-TELLING. "The Original Norwood Gypsy" game.Early to mid-19th century
A beguiling broadside parlour game in which the blindfolded participant pricks a pin into the "Wheel of Fortune" and reads their fortune based on which picture they have pricked. It is themed around Margaret Finch, the "Norwood Gypsy", an 18th-century oracle who became a popular figure in contemporary folklore. This copy has several pinpricks from... Learn More -
LAURENCIN, Marie (illus.); CARROLL, Lewis. Alice in Wonderland.Paris : 1930
First Black Sun Press edition, number 2 of 370 copies for Europe (a further 420 were issued for America), and one of 50 copies on Japanese vellum. Regarded as one of the finest productions of the press, this edition is one of the few books illustrated by the celebrated avant-garde artist Marie Laurencin.
Laurencin (1883-1956) was closely... Learn More -
WOLLSTONECRAFT, Mary. An Historical and Moral View of the Origin and Progress of the French Revolution;London : 1794
First edition, written in France amid the turmoil of the early years of the First Republic. Wollstonecraft praises "the irresistible energy of the moral and political sentiments" and "illuminating rays of truth" (p. 12) that motivated the Revolution. However, she criticizes the disorganization, violence, and return to social conservatism that... Learn More -
KALIDASA. The Mégha Dúta; or, Cloud Messenger: A Poem, in the Sanscrit Language. By Cálidása.Calcutta : 1813
First edition in English, the first translation into a European language, of one of the most influential poems in the Sanskrit canon, by "probably the greatest Indian writer of any epoch" (Edwin Gerow in Ency. Brit.). This copy is attractively preserved in a contemporary morocco, complete with the half-title, errata, and advertisements.
The... Learn More -
WILDE, Oscar. Poems.London : 1882
Presentation copy, inscribed by the author facing the title page: "With the compliments of the author, to Mrs Russell Stephenson. Montreal. May 21st [1882]". A few days before presenting this copy, Wilde wrote to Stephenson: "Will you accept a copy of my poems in memory of the charming evening I had the privilege of passing at your... Learn More -
GUTENBERG, moveable-type printing before. A page from a book printed in 1422 with the Kyongja-Ja moveable bronze type.Los Angeles : 1966
Excellently preserved evidence of moveable-type printing in East Asia over 30 years before the Gutenberg Bible (1454-55). Pleasingly, the specimen is a full page. Copies of McGovern's catalogue sometimes only have a half-page sample, as his supply was limited.
Experimentation with moveable type began in Asia in the 11th century. The oldest... Learn More -
HEPBURN, James Curtis. The Book of Psalms. English and Japanese.Yokohama : 1888
First edition, bound for presentation and with the contemporary book label of George Cochran, a Canadian missionary who served alongside Hepburn on the committee that produced the first complete edition of the Bible in Japanese. Hepburn's method for romanizing Japanese - devised in the 1860s - is the standard system used today.
Arriving in... Learn More -
PSEUDO-ARISTOTLE. Aristoteles Master-Piece:London : 1684
First edition of the first sex manual written in English, for centuries the most popular compendium on conception, pregnancy, and childbirth. Complete copies are rare in commerce; we traced only four in auction records.
Aristotle's Master-Piece "provided a kind of sex education to the masses long before the concept of sex education was... Learn More -
EMBROIDERED ALMANAC. Les Étrennes de l'amour sensitif, et de la raison qui égaye.Paris : [1772]
A musical almanac, absent from bibliographies and untraced in institutional holdings, here intricately bound. The amorous theme of the lyrics, intended for familiar melodies, and game for unmarried players, are echoed in the binding's motifs of love. An acrostic spelling "Louise" suggests the name of the beloved whom the title page declares was... Learn More -
ARCTIC. Album of original photographs recording Hudson's Bay Company activities along the Arctic coast.Canada : 1928-41
A wide-ranging collection, comprising many high-quality informal snapshot images of a Hudson's Bay Company expedition, with many images of crew, dogs, boats, and seaplanes, as well as fine portraits of Inuit people. It includes images of the St. Roch, the first vessel to traverse the North West Passage from west to east, and her skipper, Henry... Learn More -
RAE, John. Narrative of an Expedition to the Shores of the Arctic Sea in 1846 and 1847.London : 1850
First edition of this important contribution to the literature of Arctic exploration. Laid down on the dedication page is the signature of the author, clipped from a letter to the lawyer Edward Herbert Draper (1841-1911).
In 1844, Rae (1813-1893) was appointed by Sir George Simpson to command an expedition to map the remaining northern... Learn More -
KENNEDY, William. A Short Narrative of the Second Voyage of the Prince Albert, in Search of Sir John Franklin.London : 1853
First edition, association copy, with a contemporary gift inscription on the front free endpaper to Alfred Henry Alston, a mate on HMS North Star, which was despatched in 1849 to locate and resupply Sir James Clark Ross's search for Sir John. The author mentions the ship several times in his narrative and, on page 167, describes Alston as a "fine... Learn More -
CHETWOOD, Anna Maria. Blue-Stocking Hall.London : 1827
First edition, with a gift inscription on the second blanks of all three volumes, "J. Janet Erskine from her affec. friend F. Hamilton". Lady Jean Janet Erskine (1810-1861) was the author's niece, and the inscription is likely from one of her relatives. There are also multiple ink annotations in an early hand, editing and correcting the text in... Learn More -
HESSOVÁ, M. I. ročník náčrtník měřický ornament ("First-Year Surveyor's Sketchbook: Ornament").[c. 1920s]
This sketchbook, completed as part of a first-year student's studies, provides a window into the little-known State Teaching Institute for Women in Brno. llustrated is a wide range of ornamentation influenced by Czech cubism and folk art, with a large focus on textiles. Additionally, there is a timed exam piece.
Among the illustrations are... Learn More -
GERMAIN, Sophie. Considérations générales sur l'état des sciences et des lettres, aux différentes époques de leur culture.Paris : 1833
First edition of this essay arguing that the sciences and humanities are not separate disciplines, on account of their shared process of classification and systematization. "Her philosophy emphasized the unity of the physical and moral orders of things and anticipated many of the features of the positivism of Auguste Comte, by whom her work was... Learn More -
TAGORE, Rabindra Nath. Gitanjali (Song Offerings).London : 1912
First edition in English, one of 750 copies, of which just 250 were for sale. Tagore's seminal collection of poems was first published in Bengali in 1910, but it was his English translation which caught the world's attention. With the support of W. B. Yeats, who provided the introduction, and the artist William Rothenstein, to whom the work is... Learn More
