Books

Owned by the Earl of Portsmouth, Two Large and Beautiful Volumes,The History of the Life of King Henry IInd.

And of the age in which he lived, in five books,: to which is prefixed, a history of the revolutions of England from the death of Edward the Confessor to the birth of Henry the Second / by George Lord Lyttelton Printed for W. Sandby and J. Dodsley, 1767 [second printing] 2 impressive and original leather bound volumes, from the personal library of the Earl of Portsmouth. Three books of the set are contained in these two, beautiful, large volumes. George Lyttelton, studied at Eton (1725) and Oxford (1726) before touring the Continent (1728-31) before becoming intimate with Pope's circle at Twickenham. He was secretary to the Prince of Wales (1732-44), member of Parliament from Okehampton (1735-56); succeeded as 5th baron Lyttleton 1751, and was lord of the treasury (1744-54) and Chancellor of the Exchequer (1755-56). As an opposition politician, Lyttleton was allied to the Prince of Wales; as a poet he was associated with his near-neighbor at Hagley Park, William Shenstone.

His life was detailed by Samuel Johnson's Lives of the Poets series, published in 3 volumes between 1779 and 1781. In it Dr Johnson states 'His last literary production was his "History of Henry the Second," elaborated by the searches and deliberations of twenty years, and published with such anxiety as only vanity can dictate. The story of this publication is remarkable. The whole work was printed twice over, a great part of it three times, and many sheets four or five times. The booksellers paid for the first impression; but the changes and repeated operations of the press were at the expense of the author, whose ambitious accuracy is known to have cost him at least a thousand pounds. He began to print in 1755. Three volumes appeared in 1764, a second edition of them in 1767, a third edition in 1768, and the conclusion in 1771.

Andrew Reid, a man not without considerable abilities and not unacquainted with letters or with life, undertook to persuade Lyttelton, as he had persuaded himself, that he was master of the secret of punctuation; and, as fear begets credulity, he was employed, I know not at what price, to point the pages of "Henry the Second." The book was at last pointed and printed, and sent into the world. Lyttelton took money for his copy, of which, when he had paid the pointer, he probably gave the rest away; for he was very liberal to the indigent. When time brought the History to a third edition, Reid was either dead or discarded; and the superintendence of typography and punctuation was committed to a man originally a comb-maker, but then known by the style of Doctor. Something uncommon was probably expected, and something uncommon was at last done; for to the Doctor's edition is appended, what the world had hardly seen before, a list of errors in nineteen pages. Each volume is 11.5 inches x 9.25 inches x 2 inches  read more

Code: 22555

The Lanes Armoury & Bookshop. Military Based Books, Historical, Biographical, Reference, & Fictional. From Ancient to Modern 1st Editions & Autographed. We Are Now The Last, Original, Antique Bookshop in Brighton.

Since the very sad closure, after too many decades to recall, of our friend and colleague’s antique and secondhand bookshop Colin Page, just around the corner in Duke St. we are one of last of our kind, selling antique and modern books locally.
Although, fortunately, there are still just a few new, vintage and as new bookshops [and one comic shop] still remaining. We specialise in Ist Editions by such as Charles Dickens, Winston Churchill, Charles Darwin, John Le Carre, Ian Fleming, and Rudyard Kipling.
With or without dust jackets, autographed copies especially desired. We have £25,000 awaiting for another Signed Ist Edition Charles Dickens Christmas Carol. We regularly stock thousands of books, but as they are our largest individual selling item, many under just £10 to £50, they come and go so fast that individual listing is too impractical. But we do list on this website a good selection of our 1st Editions and specialist books.

If you require a military, or historical book, either antique or modern, please email a request, stating; title, author, and publisher [if known].

Large quantity book purchases [over 30 volumes] can attract discounts wherever possible. We specialise in hardbacks, both for reference or the study of history, and 'coffee table' books. We also specialise in rare medieval books, leaves from the versions of illustrated Book of Hours, signed Ist Editions, autographed books and manuscripts, and Incunabula [ volumes printed before 1501]

During lockdown we offered a unique drop off and sell and drop in and collect no contact service at our farm. It was incredibly popular many driving from as far north as Birmingham. It was easily our most popular trade during those months, showing just how eager those isolated could reward themselves with an ample supply of well needed reading material. Some buying or selling up to 50 books at a time.  read more

Code: 22457

A Most Rare, Circa 1822, Brown Calf & Morocco Leather Bound Volume of 'The Stranger in Brighton' & Baxter's Directory. Compiled and Published by by J.Baxter of North Street Brighton

These fabulous English Georgian period pocket directories are a wonderful snapshot of the inhabitants of the town, and it brings to life the characters and history of this extraordinary resort, made famous just a few years earlier by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. Baxter’s Stranger in Brighton and directory : comprising a brief, yet comprehensive historical and topographical account of the town, and immediate neighbourhood ...Published circa 1822 by Baxter & Co. North St, Brighton [Only a few hundred yards from our shop in the Lanes]. Finely bound in light brown calf with calf spine and red Morocco leather and gilt title. The directory contains I. An alphabetical arrangement of inhabitant householders. II. An alphabetical arrangement of the professions. III. A list of coaches, waggons, carts, etc. Plus interesting tales of Brighton and its history and sights and places of interest. A wonderful and informative volume. According to J.H.Farrant Directories are an important source of information for studying the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth. For the family historian they help to identify the residence of individual people within narrow time limits; for the social historian they can indicate the internal structures of communities; for the economic historian the relative and changing importance of occupations and industries may be revealed, whilst the historical geographer can plot the spatial distribution of those activities. In few instances are directories undoubtedly better in quality of information than other sources: census enumerator’s tallies are more comprehensive and probably more accurate for identifying individuals; rate books can be much preferable for discovering the distribution of occupations and businesses; and so on. But directories have the indisputable advantage of being printed and published books.
Brighton is a seaside resort on the south coast of England which is now part of the city of Brighton and Hove, in the county of East Sussex, in England.
We are likely Brighton’s oldest gallery owners & family traders. And or over 100 years we have been based in the world famous area Of 'The Lanes' of Brighton, which is located in he very centre of Old Brighthelmstone [Later re-named Brighton]

Brighthelmstone, was recorded in the Domesday Book, the Norman detailed record of almost 1000 years past, of every city, town village and hamlet in England.
A town considered so important by our South Easterly neighbours, the French, that they sailed over the channel and burnt us to the ground.… at least twice.

Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age, Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods. The ancient settlement of "Brighthelmstone" was documented in the Domesday Book (1086). The town's importance grew in the Middle Ages as the Old Town developed, but it languished in the early modern period, affected by foreign attacks, storms, a suffering economy and a declining population. Brighton began to attract more visitors following improved road transport to London and becoming a boarding point for boats travelling to France. The town also developed in popularity as a health resort for sea bathing as a purported cure for illnesses.

In the Georgian era, Brighton developed as a fashionable seaside resort, encouraged by the patronage of the Prince Regent, later King George IV, who spent much time in the town and constructed the Royal Pavilion in the Regency era.
4.75 inches x 7.25 inches. It mentions in the title page a map and three engravings, but in this deluxe calf leather binding [they were initially sold in simple grey board] there are no engravings or any indication they have been removed.  read more

Code: 21263

LA CAMPAGNE D'ITALIE DE 1859. CHRONIQUES DE LA GUERRE. Par le Baron de BAZANCOURT, appele par ordre de L'Empereur a la armee d'Italie. avec le plan du champ de bataille Magenta Vol 1

From the Library of the Royal Artillery Shoeburyness

French book with fine leather binding with gilt tooling. With page foxing throughout, and a fold out map of the battle [photo of map to be added].

The Battle of Magenta was fought on 4 June 1859 during the Second Italian War of Independence, resulting in a French-Sardinian victory under Napoleon III against the Austrians under Marshal Ferencz Gyulai.

It took place near the town of Magenta in the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, a crown land of the Austrian Empire, on 4 June 1859. Napoleon III's army crossed the Ticino River and outflanked the Austrian right forcing the Austrian army under Gyulai to retreat. The confined nature of the country, a vast spread of orchards cut up by streams and irrigation canals, precluded elaborate manoeuvre. The Austrians turned every house into a miniature fortress. The brunt of the fighting was borne by 5,000 grenadiers of the French Imperial Guard, still mostly in their First Empire style of uniforms. The battle of Magenta was not a particularly large battle, but it was a decisive victory for the Franco-Sardinian alliance. Patrice de MacMahon was created Duc de Magenta for his role in this battle, and would later go on to serve as President of the French Third Republic.
LA CAMPAGNE D'ITALIE DE 1859. CHRONIQUES DE LA GUERRE. Par le Baron de BAZANCOURT, appele par ordre de L'Empereur a la armee d'Italie. avec le plan du champ de bataille Magenta

Review published by the New York times on April 17, 1860
This work has just been completed It is a complete, clear, and admirable history of the Italian campaign of last year, -- written with special regard to military accuracy, and yet with great spirit and literary ability. It is by far the best history of this remarkable chapter of current events which has yet been written. The author in his preface disavows all pretensions to write a history, -- and professes to give merely a report of events, leaving the estimate of their importance, and their bearings upon the fortunes of the several countries most directly interested, to be made by others. He aims solely to rehearse incidents, -- to "present those great military exploits still fresh and alive with the noble emotion of the engagement, -- to trace the living drama on the fields of battle, -- to accompany, day by day, hour by hour, step by step, those intrepid battalions thrown so suddenly upon the field of battle in the name of the holiest of causes." He has performed his task with fidelity and ability, and claims as its special merit that he has not made a single statement without having for it the most unquestionable authority. Indeed, he has introduced throughout citations from official documents, and has collected in the appendix all the dispatches relating to the war.
New York Times April 17, 1860
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The Battle; An overwhelming majority of the French-Piedmontese coalition soldiers were French (1,100 were Piedmontese and 58,000 were French).

The Battle of Magenta was fought on 4 June 1859 during the Second Italian War of Independence, resulting in a French-Sardinian victory under Napoleon III against the Austrians under Marshal Ferencz Gyulai.

It took place near the town of Magenta in the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, a crown land of the Austrian Empire, on 4 June 1859. Napoleon III's army crossed the Ticino River and outflanked the Austrian right forcing the Austrian army under Gyulai to retreat. The confined nature of the country, a vast spread of orchards cut up by streams and irrigation canals, precluded elaborate manoeuvre. The Austrians turned every house into a miniature fortress. The brunt of the fighting was borne by 5,000 grenadiers of the French Imperial Guard, still mostly in their First Empire style of uniforms. The battle of Magenta was not a particularly large battle, but it was a decisive victory for the Franco-Sardinian alliance. Patrice de MacMahon was created Duc de Magenta for his role in this battle, and would later go on to serve as President of the French Third Republic.
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Code: 24591

A Wonderful Collection of Cowper's Evocative Poetry. Stunningly Bound

A wonderful size pocket edition. If there was ever a single poet who should be read by every higher education student Cowper is the one. Poems by William Cowper of the Inner Temple. In two books, within this single volume of 480 pages. Printed for Longman and Co. Paper Ex Libris label of L E WEIR. George Cowper was an English poet and hymnodist. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. In many ways, he was one of the forerunners of Romantic poetry. Samuel Taylor Coleridge called him "the best modern poet", whilst William Wordsworth particularly admired his poem Yardley-Oak. He was a nephew of the poet Judith Madan. The stages of William Cowper's life: forced into a career in the law that he did not want, forbidden from marrying the woman he loved, and insensed by certain religious and political views of his cousin, can be found within the lines of his verse. His words very much encapsulate the zeitgeist of the late 1700s. The religious tone of The Task, its domesticity, and its treatment of such topics as slavery and consideration for animals, are all anticipated themes associated with the evangelical revival which began in the late 1780s. The clash between Cowper's horror at his cousin's theories and his sense of family and personal obligations unleashed a great burst of creative energy. In the four months from December 1780 to March 1781 Cowper composed 2700 lines of verse, moral satires, in pentameter couplets. This portrait of a man divided particularly demonstrates the conflicting nature of the era. In decorative full calf bindings. Externally beautiful with most handsome tooling with only a little wear to the extremities. Generally very bright and clean with just occasional light spotting on the last two pages. 5.25 x 3 x1 inches approx.  read more

Code: 19925

Zeppelin-Weltfahrten Picture Card Book

A fascinating piece of German aeronautical history ephemera. rom the first airship in 1899 to the trips of the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin. 264 black and white images.

The fascination of the zeppelins, the silvery shimmering, sedate floating kings of the sky, has remained unbroken to this day. In the heyday of the Zeppelin era, during the 20s and 30s, the zeppelins opened up almost every continent on earth for well-heeled travelers. This is impressively demonstrated by this book published in 1932, into which extremely interesting photos on the subject of the Zeppelin could be glued.
The book which provides information about the technology and development of the zeppelins ... A picture album made with collectable photographs sold in the 1930's. 24cm x 34cm I card lacking.  read more

Code: 16729

All Now Sold +++Individual Illuminated Psalter Leaves, 12th to 13th Century

19 remaining Vellum leaves from a Psalter from the reign of King Philip Augustus (1179-1223), with burnished gold initials, from Northern France. Each leaf will be around £2,400 gbp. Twenty plus lines of the finest Gothic angular script on the recto and verso, decorated with initials adorned in gold leaf and pen work ornamentation
in red and blue tempera. Margins filled with floral scrolls, characters and stylized heads or grotesque. This was a way for the scribes of this period to add little individual touches to their work.
A part of the Psalm 73 to Psalm 76, then 79 to 84. Psalm 73 of the Book of Psalms is one of the "Psalms of Asaph"; it has been categorized as one of the Wisdom Psalms".
Probably produced in North-Eastern France, perhaps in the region around Soissons, Noyons, and Lyon, or at least certainly influenced by court productions of this area and manuscripts produced in Ile-de-France, especially those of Abbey St. Victor.
Although the original patron cannot be identified, the lavish use of gold leaf and high quality lead us to suspect that the work was possibly produced for a member of the court.
24 cm height x 16.75 cm width Sample example but generic photos. Email for further enquiries, we had 19 psalter pages remaining from the collection of 29 but all now sold.  read more

Code: 21616

A Super Collection of 300 20th Century Books of Military Interest Arrived This Week!!

Acquired from a former military officer and collector of historical reading matter. Please email us details of any out of print military based book, historical, reference et cetera et cetera, printed in the last century, that you have been looking for, and we may have it within the collection. We have been promised another 500 volumes, including over 30 various books signed personally by Winston Churchill, that he still retains, hopefully they should arrive with us after lockdown sometime in the New Year.

Every Customer Should Expect & Will Receive Our World Renown 5* Star Service, Day In, Day Out, 365 Days of the Year

We have received the greatest honour of being described by almost every visitor to our store in Brighton, as possibly, the very best and most remarkable specialist shop in the country, if not the world. Our standards of personal service, honed through the generations for over 100 years, we hope, are second to none, and every possible effort is made to create the best possible atmosphere and assistance, for every single customer, be it for a single item, or hundreds, in person, or via our website.
No stone is left unturned in order to ensure every single customer’s buying or selling experience is a pleasure and a joy. Thankfully, dozens of you confirm this to us every single day, these days electronically, and for that we cannot thank you enough. Stay Healthy, Stay Safe.  read more

Code: 23458

The Gun Report Volume III No 5 October 1957, Plus 200 Others All £15 Each

We have just acquired over two hundred archived copies of the Gun Report From the 1950's to 1980. All at £15 each or 10 for £100. They are simply wonderful reading, and fabulous reference works, with advertisements and reports that likely will never be seen again. A little bit of history with lots of information, photos and enjoyment, nicely bound. Contact for details on the other 200 issues we have. All sold for £15 each.
Aledo IL World-Wide Gun Report 1957 Soft cover. Very Good Example Magazine. Very good condition, light cover wear. Boutet Gun Designer by F Theodore Dexter, Specialization by Robert A Erlandson, Captain David L Payne by Chester C Heizer, Powder Horns by Chester Williams, Old Time Bullet Seaters by Richard H Chamberlain, 60070-60072, From Rodent Rifle to "Gangster's Gat" by James A Leftwich, Who's Who in the Gun World (Featuring John Roten, Wharton, TX) by Annie Lee Williams, A Restored Flintlock Pistol by Ronald Lister, The Story of the Alamo Part I by Paul C Janke. 48 pages. 11 1/2" X 8 1/2" format  read more

Code: 23062

History of the Prince of Wales Own Civil Service Rifles

Published in 1921 principally the detailed history of the regiment, the men who served and who died in the Great War. The original Westminster City Reference Library copy [offically withdrawn]. A superbly detailed work of one of the famous volunteer regiments of WW1.  read more

Code: 20053