London: Printed for John Watts, at the Printing Office in Wild-Court near Lincoln’s-Inn Fields. 1733. First Edition in English
12mo, A6, B-O12, P6, engraved front. by G. Van Gucht, title in red and black, (viii), 318, (6) pp, contemporary calf, re-backed, engraved bookplate “Library, Brocket Hall” on front pastedown and another, crowned “C” above “Panshanger” on front fly, a sound copy.
Tyssot de Patot, a firebrand Huguenot free-thinker, sets his imaginary voyag (or as P.D. Gove argues, rather an ‘extraordinary’ voyage; making the distinction between narratives which the authors admit to being fantasy and those which are passed off as genuine voyages), as had Vairesse before him), in Australia drawing for his description of the country on the accounts of real travellers such as Dellon and Lahontan. Massey and his companions are shipwrecked on an island in the South Seas and Tyssot describes them establishing a camp, building a raft and then recounts their discoveries of the flora and fauna of the island. They eventually discover, in the interior, an advanced civilisation living in a land of plenty, and the radical ideas and advanced free-thinking that are discussed with their hosts makes it unsurprising that the early editions in French often carried a false imprint.

Reference: ESTC T68558 Gove : Imaginary Voyage in Prose Fiction pp. 217 et seq.

London : Printed by Adam Islip, 1602. Second Speght Edition.
Folio, (330 x 215mm), [a]6, b-c6, A-Z, Aa-Zz, Aaa-Nnn6, Ooo4, Ppp-Ttt6, Uuu8, title within woodcut border, (Mck & F. 232), short mended tear and two inscriptions crossed out in upper margin, double column black letter with some roman, mended tear in foremargin of [a5] not affecting text, copper engraved “Progenie” plate incorporating a full length portrait of Chaucer on [a]6r, woodcut coat of arms on c4r, woodcut of the Knight at head of text, historiated and decorated woodcut initials throughout the text, 18th century sprinkled calf, head and tail of spine expertly [almost imperceptibly] repaired, mor. label. Old signature of “H. Benson” on title-page and “Progenie” plate. Armorial bookplate of Rainald Knightley of Fawsley, 1st Baron Knightley (1819-1895) on front pastedown. A complete, sound, clean and tall copy. (13 inches against Pforzheimer’s 121/2”) .

This is the second edition edited by Speght (1st. 1598). Some copies have a different setting of the title with George Bishop’s name in the imprint but there is no priority. The last line in col.2 on folio 88v was not printed and some copies have a pasted slip with the line ‘Han in this land as much lay see’. It is present in this copy.
“This edition was considerably revised mainly with the aid of Francis Thynne. It is the earliest in which thorough punctuation was attempted, and in many ways was a distinct improvement upon Speght’s first edition” - Pforzheimer catalogue.
ESTC S107210 STC 5080 Pforzheimer 178 Hetherington : Chaucer 1532-1602. Notes & Facsimile Texts. 1964. p.20

London: 1687. Eighth Edition
Folio, [-]2, A, a-c, B-Rrrr4, Ssss2, (c1 mis-signed “d” and bound after [c3]), eng. front., 17ff, 660pp, 12ff, 8-line cancel slip pasted to G1 verso, mainly black letter with some roman, contemporary calf, rebacked, old back laid on, corners renewed, new e-p’s. A tall clean copy (127/8” against Pforzheimer’s 121/4”). Armorial bookplates of “George Cockburn” and “Genl. J.G. Clay, K.G.”, and the modern one of Dr & Mrs H.R. Knohl on front pastedown.
This, the third edition to be edited by Thomas Speght, is a straight reprint of the 1602 edition, except that on the last leaf it carries an “advertisement” stating that a manuscript has just been discovered with endings for the Cook’s Tale and the Squire’s Tale which were thought lost. They consist of 12 lines to be added to the former and 10 to the latter. It is the last Black Letter edition.
Wing C 3736 Pforzheimer 179

Philadelphia : M. Carey and Son, Chest-nut Street. 1821. 8vo, [-]4, B-Z, Aa-Zz, 3A4, 26 engraved plates (numbered 1 to XX1V, XXV11 & XXV1), heavily foxed throughout as usual, cont. sheep, neatly rebacked, old label, corner repaired. A sound copy.
The fourth edition (first published 1795) of the first book on power grain milling and a landmark of early American technology. Writing in 1935 Bathe says of it “There is to this day, at least one mill owner known to the writer, who has a copy of Oliver Evans’ Mill-wright in his office to which he says quite frankly he refers often, considering it is still in many repects the most practical work for millers ever published”. As a practical handbook it is hardly surprising that copies, where they have survived, are usually in poor condition.
Reference: Bathe, G. & D. : Oliver Evans. A Chronicle of Early American Engineering. 1935 p.47

1960. Original watercolour drawing (330 x 270 mm) of Rip Van Winkle, on his return from his twenty years asleep in the Catskills, surrounded by curious villagers outside the General Washington Inn (formerly the King George III Inn!), signed bottom left “Arthur Rackham ‘05” Framed and glazed in the original Leicester Galleries frame with their ticket on the back. (see below)
“But the first work that greatly advanced his fame in the years immediately following his marriage was his edition of Rip Van Winkle...This lovely book decisively established Rackham as the leading decorative illustrator of the Edwardian period...” [Hudson p.57] An innovation which produced enormous advance publicity for the publishers was the exhibition of the original drawings at The Leicester Galleries; the deluxe edition of the book was fully subscribed before the exhibition closed.
This is much more than just a very fine Rackham watercolour; it is an iconic moment in one of the great stories of world literature. Rip van Winkle is known throughout the English-speaking world and beyond as the man who slept for twenty years. One day, to escape his nagging wife he wanders off into his native Catskill mountains in New York State and falls asleep. He awakes to discover shocking changes. His musket is rotting and rusty, his beard is a foot long, and his dog is nowhere to be found. Van Winkle returns to his village where he recognizes no one. He discovers that his wife has died and that his close friends have fallen in a war or moved away. He gets into trouble when he proclaims himself a loyal subject of King George III, not aware that the American Revolution has taken place. King George's portrait in the inn has been replaced with one of George Washington. And here he is, a bewildered Rip, sleep still in his eyes, outside what is now the General Washington Inn surrounded by villagers he doesn’t recognise.
Reference: Hudson, Derek : Arthur Rackham His Life and Work. N.Y. 1960