FREDERICK MARRYAT FIRST EDITIONS AT
ASH RARE BOOKS
43 HURON ROAD
LONDON SW17 8RE
UNITED KINGDOM

London : Saunders & Otley, 1836. First edition. Marryat’s amiable and abidingly popular tale of the making of a seaman – although as one modern critic has it, “there’s something here to offend almost everyone”. Contemporary critics found it “a work of great power and surpassing beauty, sufficient of itself to have established his reputation as a man of genius” (London Courier, 19th December 1836).
Three volumes. Demy 12mo (186 x 112mm). (viii),(292); (viii),306; viii,314pp. Bound, without half-titles and advertisement leaves, in a neat contemporary half tan calf, banded and gilt; red labels; marbled sides, edges and endleaves; just a touch sunned; a few faint signs of age and use, but a very good and sound set. With the contemporary armorial bookplates of John Wingfield (1769-1862) of Onslow, Sheriff of Shropshire and Mayor of Shrewsbury, in each volume – and the more recent nautical bookplate of the notable collector Robert James Hayhurst (1929-2016).

SOLD

London : Henry Colburn, 1839. First edition. Marryat’s celebrated tale of the Flying Dutchman, ghost ships, holy relics, Arabian magic, demon pilots, and the Inquisition, which also manages to incorporate the story of the White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains, often separately anthologised and credited as “the first significant werewolf tale in English, and still one of the best” (Bleiler).
Three volumes. Post 8vo. [iv],300; [ii],(290); [ii],266pp. Bound, with the half-title in vol.i, but without the advertisements in vol.iii, in a handsome, later (early twentieth-century) half red crushed morocco, banded and prettily gilt by Riviere & Son; top edges gilt; marbled endleaves; spines a touch dulled; some light rubbing and wear to joints and tips; internally a few minor marks, spots and creases, but otherwise a very attractive set.

SOLD

London : Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1843. First edition : the second issue, with the variant title. “A vigorous, dashing sketch of the prairies of California, the wildernesses of the Rocky Mountains, and the swamps of Texas” (Court Journal). Originally issued a little earlier as “Narrative of the Travels and Adventures of Monsieur Violet in California, Sonora and Western Texas”, Sadleir suggests that the book was relaunched with a more exciting title specifically for the gift-books for boys market. Scarce in either incarnation, Marryat’s novel, full of factual information drawn from (unacknowledged) contemporary sources and his own visit to the Americas, is perhaps the earliest children’s book with an American Wild West setting. It is certainly the first work of fiction to contain Mormon characters and remains an important source of information on the pre Gold Rush California of the 1830s.
Three volumes. Demy 12mo (195 x 115mm). viii,312; [ii],318; [ii],(300)pp. Folding lithographic map by William Lake of the Pacific coast and territories of the Shoshones, Umbiquas, Cayuses, Nez Perces, Flatheads, etc. Bound, without half-titles (if actually called for in this issue) and final imprint leaf in vol.ii, in a smart later (early twentieth-century) half tan calf, by Henry Young & Sons of Liverpool, banded and richly gilt; contrasting maroon and tan labels; marbled sides and endpapers; top edges gilt; a few minor marks, spots and small flaws, but a very good set. Sadleir 1586b. Wolff 4525a.

£500

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