2023 Toronto Antiquarian Book Fair

The 2023 Toronto Antiquarian Book Fair runs October 20-22 at the beautiful Art Gallery of Ontario. Free with gallery admission, the fair is open to the curious public, all book lovers, and collectors. We will be at the event all weekend with some of our most exciting books on display!

About the Toronto Antiquarian Book Fair 

Canada’s premier rare book fair features thousands of beautiful, fascinating, and significant books offered by leading antiquarian dealers from Canada and abroad.

Fair Hours:

Friday: 5:00pm – 9:00pm

Saturday: 10:30am – 5:30pm

Sunday: 12:00pm – 5:00pm

Directions to the Art Gallery of Ontario 

 

Below is a sample of what we’ll have available for sale at the fair, in no particular order!

 

First Edition

Lyell, Sir Charles. The Geological Evidences of The Antiquity of Man With Remarks on Theories of The Origin of Species by Variation. London: John Murray, 1863. First edition. pp. xii, 520, 32 (ads). 8vo. Embossed teal cloth with gilt lettering to spine, and gilt illustration to front board. Illustrated with figures, and woodcuts including a frontispiece and maps.

Lyell was an influential geologist, incluencing Darwin et al though initially uncomfortable with the theory of natural selection on account of his religious beliefs; herein he responds to Darwin’s theory, tentatively accepting it; Lyell was “responsible for the general acceptance of the view that all features of the Earth’s surface are produced by physical, chemical, and biological processes through long periods of geological time.” – Britannica

 

Cree Prayers & Language Manual

Lacombe, Albert . Katolik ayamihewimasinahigan nehiyawewinik: Livre de prières en langue crise /with/ Petit manuel pour apprendre à lire la langue crise: Small manual to learn the reading in the Cree language. Montreal [Moniyak]: C.O. Beauchemin & Fils, 1886. pp. 295, 43. 12mo. Green cloth with gilt lettering to spine and embossed decorations to boards. Red page edges, patterned endpapers. Edgewear, some spotting to covers, one-inch tear to edge of title page and p. 23 of second title, a few grubby fingerprint marks, spine sound; very good-.

An anonymously printed, undated, unrecorded according to my searches, but likely early 20th century reprint of the 1886 edition, with the same contents and pagination but a different title page and paper stock. Peel 1622 (1822 ed): “Catholic prayers and hymns, with a catechism and texts for religious instruction. Petit manuel pour apprendre à lire la langue crise (43 pages at end) has a separate title-page and was also published separately… Initial 295 pages in Cree with some French text; terminal 43 pages in Cree, French, and English. Picture captions in Ojibway and French.”

 

First Edition, recovery memoir

Clapp, Charles . The Big Bender. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1938. First edition. pp. vii, 171. 8vo. Black cloth with gilt lettering to spine. With drawings by Oscar Howard. Minor scuffing to edges, ink name, offsetting to rear endpaper (from glue used in production). Lacks jacket.

In this scarce and early recovery memoir, Clapp relates his struggles with alcoholism, and his experience getting sober, which he did with the help of Bill Wilson, founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. Clapp was a member of the Oxford Group, a Christian movement and one of the sources of A. A. This book predated the publication of the Big Book and was influential in recovery circles, leading to its sustained collectability.

 

First Edition

Webb, Charles. The Graduate. New York: New American Library, 1963. First edition. pp. 238. 8vo. Navy cloth spine, over striped boards. Publisher’s red topstain. Spine slant, front board slightly bowed, ffep excised, scuff to half-title. Unclipped jacket shows a sunned spine and minor rubbing.

Webb “wrote the 1963 novel “The Graduate,” the basis for the hit 1967 film, and then spent decades running from its success” – NYT Obit. The sardonic, hilarious story was based on Webb’s relationship with his wife, and her mother’s disapproval of him.

 

Rackham Illustrations

Swinburne, Algernon Charles; Edmund Gosse. The Springtide of Life Poems of Childhood. London: William Heinemann, 1918. pp. 132. 4to. Bound in green cloth with gilt lettering and decoration to spine and front board. Decorated endpapers. Black and white Arthum Rackham illustrations and colour plates. Light shelfwear, some scuffing and spots to extremities, ink inscription to front pastedown, single instance of underlining; very good.

 

 

 

 

Signed

Vonnegut, Kurt. Bluebeard. New York: Delacorte Press, 1987. 8vo. Bound in 1/4 black cloth over blue boards with gilt lettering and decoration. Light shelfwear, slight spine slant; very good. Unclipped dustjacket shows a few faint spots, else clean and bright.

SIGNED by Vonnegut on title page.

 

 

 

 

Wilson, Bill [Alcoholics Anonymous]. Alcoholics Anonymous The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism. New York: Works Publishing Inc., 1950. 13th printing. pp. viii, 400. 8vo. Navy cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Rear board bumped at bottom edge, surface creasing to cloth over spine, internally clean and crisp. Dustjacket shows a one-inch open tear to top edge of front panel, two closed tears, small chips to edges, some general rubbing and age-toning.

13th printing of the first edition, in original dustjacket 

 

 

 

First Edition

O’Connor, Flannery. The Violent Bear it Away. New York: Farrar, Straus & Cudahy, 1960. First edition. 8vo. Grey spine over red boards. Corners bumped, top of spine slightly sunned; very good-. Dustjacket shows a clipped front flap, some sunning, rubbing to rear panel, a few small chips to edges.

 

 

 

 

 

First Edition

Greene, Graham. The Third Man and The Fallen Idol. London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1950. First edition. pp. 188. 8vo. Black cloth with silver lettering to spine. Very slight shelfwear, tiny ink dot to bottom page edge, internally clean, binding sound; remarkably crisp. Unclipped dustjacket shows rubbing, a few small chips and tears at edges, and a tide mark to verso.

Cinematic jacket shows black and white photo stills and red and white graphic lettering.

 

 

 

Ojibway Prayer Book

[Belcourt, Rev. George Antoine, also Bellecourt]. Anamihe-Masinahigan. Jesus Ot Ijittwawin gaye anamie-nakamunan takobihikatewan. Mik’ Ejittwawad Ketolik-Anamihadjik. Kebekong [Quebec] otenang: Cote et Cie Masinahiganikkewinini Endad, 1859. Second edition. pp. vi, 209. 12mo. Plain brown cloth binding, page edges speckled. Minor rubbing to boards, binding sound, contents clean; remarkably nice condition.

See Pilling p. 39. Sabin 4406, for the 1839 Frechette edition. OCLC 53771267. Rare in any edition. Catholic Prayer book in Ojibwa. Belcourt was a missionary, who, when first transferred from Quebec to Red River, begged to be excused. His request denied, he went, learned Chippewa, published a Sauteux Grammar in 1839; and went on to champion the cause of the Métis people. At Red River in 1846, he wrote a petition to the crown, setting out the position of the Indigenous peoples setting out their right to a say in their government. Accompanied by nearly a thousand signatures, his petition resulted in an extensive inquiry into the position of the HBC. – DCB.

 

Le Jeune, J. M. R. [Jean-Marie Raphael]. [Polyglott Manual, Parts 11, 1, 2, 3, & 4] Sheshel Manual or Prayers, Hymns and Catechism In the Sechel Language /with/ English Manual or Prayers and Catechism in English Typography; Prayers and Catechism in English (Phonography); Chinook Manual or Prayers, Hymns and Catechism in Chinook; Latin Manual or Hymns and Chants in Use by the Indians of British Columbian. Kamloops, BC, 1896. pp. 61-109; [1-7] 8-183. 12mo. Red cloth with gilt lettering to cover. Photoengraved. Near fine.

Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 11 of Father Le Jeune’s Polyglott manual. The twelve parts of the manual were issued separately. Each part herein begins with a separate title page; part 11 appears first, followed by 1-4 which are paginated continuously. Excepting title pages, text is in Duployan shorthand. Lowther p. 132-133. [RESERVED]

 

Cree Prayers & Language Manual

Lacombe, Albert . Katolik ayamihewimasinahigan nehiyawewinik: Livre de prières en langue crise /with/ Petit manuel pour apprendre à lire la langue crise: Small manual to learn the reading in the Cree language. Montreal [Moniyak]: C.O. Beauchemin & Fils, 1886. pp. 295, 43. 12mo. Green cloth with gilt lettering to spine and embossed decorations to boards. Red page edges, patterned endpapers. Edgewear, some spotting to covers, one-inch tear to edge of title page and p. 23 of second title, a few grubby fingerprint marks, spine sound; very good-.

Peel 1622: “Catholic prayers and hymns, with a catechism and texts for religious instruction. Petit manuel pour apprendre à lire la langue crise (43 pages at end) has a separate title-page and was also published separately… Initial 295 pages in Cree with some French text; terminal 43 pages in Cree, French, and English. Picture captions in Ojibway and French.” Scarce: the last copy to appear at auction sold in 1972. Pilling Algonquian p. 284.

 

Macrobius [Macrobii]. In Somnium Scipionis ex Ciceronis VI Libro de Rep. Eruditissima explanatio. Eiusdem Saturnaliorum VII. Censoribus De die natali, additis ex vetusto exemplari nonnullis, que desiderabantur. Venice [Venetiis]: in Aedibus aldi et Andreaz Asulani Soceri [Aldus, Aldine]

Aldus, 1528. 8vo. 157mm x 97mm. Bound in later full vellum with title and date stamped in black on the spine. Page edges stained red. Title page is a tasteful 19th century facsimile. Collated against the printer’s register and Kallendorf and Wells’s “Aldine Press Books: A Descriptive Catalogue”: accordingly believed complete but for 2 leaves-leaf: X8, from the preliminaries; and R4, the last leaf in the book: both leaves according to Kallendorf and Wells are blank. Binding tight, faint early marginalia, some staining to first and last several pages, overall very good condition.

“Macrobius was a Roman scholar who wrote a lengthy commentary on Cicero’s Somnium Scipionis in c. 400 AD. Macrobius’s commentary included an exploration of the nature of dreams based on the Greek dream-theory of Artemidorus from the second century AD … Macrobius’s commentary became the foundation of much early medieval dream-theory, although medieval writers were often more concerned with decoding dreams rather than classifying them.” -British Library

 

Bell, Currer [Charlotte Bronte]. Shirley. A Tale [Three Volumes] A Tale. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1849. First edition. pp. 303; 308; 320. Bound without half-titles, and Vol. I without the ads; but including the ads at the end of Vol. III. 8vo. 1/2 vellum over waxed-paper-covered boards; bound by Holder & Son, Kirkdale, Sydenham, with label to front pastedowns. Gilt lettering to spines. Bookplate to front pastedowns, some spotting (wax drips, fingerprints, and the like, occasionally and throughout), creases from dog earing, a few pencil marks, expected age-toning. The contents show heavier use than the bindings, suggesting to me that the books were voraciously read at perhaps indiscriminate times (like breakfast), and the story loved well enough to deserve a lovely (re-)binding, ca. 1900. With bookseller’s catalogue description of a like set, taped to front pastedown of Vol. I.

Simpson, Sir George. An Overland Journey Round the World, during the years 1841 and 1842 / 2 volumes. Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1847. pp. xiv, 273; 17-230. 8vo. Gilt-lettered leather spines, over speckled boards. 20th century rebind (originally published as two parts in one volume). Edges rubbed, a few rubber stamps to each volume. First hundred pages of Vol II show moisture soiling to top margin. Contents generally clean and unmarked, bindings sound. Sabin 81344. Title page shows ownership signature of Simon James Dawson, famed Canadian engineer/explorer/politician: “S J Dawson, 4th Aug’t 1847”. Verified against the printed signature on the absurdly large folding map in Dawson’s book “Report on the Exploration of the Country…”.

l’Abbé L. Provancher. Flore Canadienne ou Description de toutes les plantes des forets, champs, jardins et eaux du Canada: 2 volumes in 1. Quebec: Joseph Darveau, 1862. pp. 842, ads. 8vo. Red cloth decorated in blind, spine gilt faded. Illustrated. Spine sunned, small worm-holoe at top of front joint, a few spots to binding, contents clean, binding sound. “ornée de plus de quatre cents gravures sur bois.’

Huxley, Aldous. The Doors of Perception. London: Chatto & Windus, 1954. Third printing. pp. 62. 12mo. Blue cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Boards quite spotted: does not extend past the cloth, and the book has no odour, so while it looks like damage from moisure exposure, the usual attendant issues are absent. Text is clean and unmarked, binding sound. Dustjacket shows some corresponding spots, chiefly to verso, as well as a few small chips at edges, and a cup ring and two tape repairs to rear panel. Not clipped.  Huxley’s famous essay about his experience with psychedelics and the implications extrapolated therefrom.

Walsh, Meeka [Ed.]. The Winnipeg Alphabestiary. Winnipeg, Manitoba: aBorderCrossingBook, 2008. pp. 101. 4to. Burgundy cloth over illustrated boards with silver lettering to spine. Colour illustrations. Olive ribbon page marker. Light shelfwear, ink inscription to title page; very good. SIGNED by Walsh. Foreword by William Wegman. The 26 works featured in this book were created for the 25th anniversary of the Winnipeg-based art publication ‘Border Crossings.’ The project was a fundraiser for a magazine that features Winnipeg artists as well as focuses on national and international culture.

Grotii, Hvgonis [Hugo Grotius]. De Ivre Belli Ac Pacis Libri Tres /with/ Commentatio in Epistolam Pavli Apostoli ad Philemonem /and/ De Mari Libero In Quibus Jus Naturae & Gentium, Item Juris Publici Praecipua Explicantur. Amstelaedami [Amsterdam]: Joannem Blaev [Johann Blaeu], 1670. Editio Nova cum Annotatis. pp. viii, 620, + Index ; 21; 28 + conts. list. 8vo. Bound in brown leather with gilt lettering and decorations, and 5 raised bands, to spine. Red speckling to page edges. Vignette title, title page in red and black, engraved portrait, Formerly the property of Queen’s College Library, Kingston, as shown by a bookplate to front pastedown and blind stamps to ffep and title page. Loss to spine ends, joints splitting, leather dry with surface cracking over spine, pink ink letters to front pastedown, gift inscription to ffep (dated 1885), ink inscriptions to title page, occasional spotting throughout. Binding still tight and sound, and contents very clean. Text in Latin, with some Greek. Includes a commentary by Grotius on Paul the Apostle’s Epistle to Philemon, as well as Grotius’ dissertation on free access to the ocean, ‘De Mari Libero’.

Carver, Jonathan. Voyage dans les Parties Intérieures de l’amérique Septentrionale, Pendant les années 1766, 1767 & 1768. Paris: Chez Pissot, 1784. 1st French edition. pp. xxviii, 451. 12mo. 1/4 leather with red title labels, over speckled boards. Folding map at rear remains remarkably crisp and clean. Woodcut head- and tail pieces. Joints tender, spine and boards partially darkened, tidy ink correction to title page. With Vocabulaires des Langues Chippewaye & Nadoessie. “The book gives a vivid picture of the rich lands and Indian inhabitants of the upper Mississippi River valley. Carver, however, did not live to enjoy any financial reward from it. He died a broken old man and was buried in a potter’s field.” – Britannica. Sabin 11188.