[Rarebooks] fa: CRABB'S NEW BOOK OF TRADES ca. 1819 - w/ Charming Wood Engravings

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, May 26. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/ljpyb3g

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.

Crabb’s New Book of Trades, Containing an Account of the Origin and Present State of most of the trades practised in England. With Neat  Embellishments. London: Printed and published by T. Crabb, 15, John Street, Blackfriars Road, and No. 1, Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row. Sold also by J. Bysh, Paternoster Row; C. Penny, Wood Street; R. Hill, and Lingley and Belch, Borough; and all other Booksellers, [no date, but ca. 1819]. Presumed first (and only) edition. Quarter roan and marbled paper boards; 12mo; 82 + [2] pp.; with the terminal leaf of publisher's adverts and 12 full-page woodcut illustrations (complete).

What is presumably the original publisher's binding is somewhat rubbed and worn, split at the spine with the front board and frontispiece nearly detached. The contents, however, are quite nice: a touch of browning to the edges, occasional light toning and offsetting, a few  small spots. Original owner's signature of Margaret Daw on the title-page; later (1841) ink inscription on front free-endpaper. Front paste-down with the original bookseller's label of G. Harrison, Barnsley. Quite a scarce title, if not downright rare: OCLC WorldCat locates only a single copy anywhere in the world (at UCLA, a copy in similar or inferior condition); no copies in BL, LOC, Newberry.

Not as polished or as comprehensive as the more famous Book of Trades published by Tabart (see our other auctions for an example), and clearly an attempt to cash in on the popularity of that work, this is nevertheless a charming little book in its own right, with twelve handsome full-page wood engravings illustrating such early 19th-century trades and occupations as Blacksmith, Brewer, Cooper, Cutler, Fishmonger, Paper maker, etc., etc.