arabian tale unpublished manuscript notes (10 Ergebnisse)

8vo (192 x 120mm), pp. vii, [i], 334; with woodcut illustrations on p. 316; short tear in pp. 31-2 and longer one in pp. 165-6, but repaired and without loss; MS marks on pp. 25 and 98, but not with much visible meaning; bound in early 19th century half calf over marbled boards. First edition of Beckford's Vathek. As is well known, Beckford wrote his 'Arabian tale' first in French, in 1782, but this English version was its first actual publication. The translator was Samuel Henley, who also supplied the 120pp of notes at the end; Henley had spent the early 1770s in Williamsburg at the College of William & Mary, where he taught the future Presidents Madison and Monroe, and became friends with another, Thomas Jefferson. On his return to Britain in 1775, he taught at Harrow and established himself as an antiquarian scholar. In a letter of 9 February 1786, Beckford strictly enjoined Henley not to publish the English version before the French, but it seems that the translator feared indefinite postponement, and the English text appeared in late May or early June, followed by the French, at Lausanne, in December the same year (but dated 1787). Kenneth W. Graham's article of 1975, quoting from the correspondence between Beckford and Henley, showed conclusively that the English translation which differs in many details from the French was a collaboration between the two, not an unauthorised and unfaithful version of the original. Graham also put to rest the suggestion that the French version was a retranslation from the English text, and concluded: 'In Vathek, then, we have a literary rarity: a work published in two languages, with both versions bearing the authority of the author's own revisions'. Chapman & Hodgkin 3 (A) (i); Garside, Raven and Schöwerling 1786:15; Rothschild 352. See Kenneth W. Graham, 'Vathek in English and French', in Studies in Bibliography 28 (1975), pp. 153-166. There seem to have been large paper copies: the Rothschild copy is about 225 x 145mm, but the measurements given by Chapman are so confusing as to be meaningless. This copy has p. 48 misnumbered '84'. Provenance. This copy has a most interesting early provenance, in that it appears to have been given by Beckford to his daughter's sister-in-law, Lady Anne Hamilton (d. 1846). She was a sister of the 10th Duke of Hamilton, who in 1810 had married Susan Euphemia Beckford. Various inscriptions on the flyleaf give this line of descent: 1. According to a note by George Atkinson, 'Serjeant-at-Law, executor of Lady Anne Hamilton' the book was given to her by Beckford. 2. She is said to have given it to Atkinson, who then states, in a note dated 24 July 1876, that he gave it to 3. Mrs Walter Scott, 'as a mark of high esteem'. 4. A further inscription relates that the book later belonged to Sir James Brind (1808-88), and descended through members of the family to Hardy Marcus Brind, in November 1930. 5. Roger Senhouse (1899-1970), book collector and associate of the Bloomsbury Group, with his booklabel.

8vo, pp. vii, [1], 334; the occasional mark, a few leaves slightly spotted, small marginal loss to title-page; but a very good copy, top-edge gilt, fore- and tail-edge uncut, in late nineteenth-century half brown morocco; bookplates of Robert Woods Bliss and Mildred Bliss of Dumbarton Oaks to front pastedown.Scarce second edition in fact a reissue comprising the remainder sheets of the first edition of 1786 with a cancel title-page (printed by S. Gosnell) of Henley's English translation of Beckford's Gothic masterpiece, first published against the author's wishes and predating publication of the French original. Beckford wrote Vathek in French in 1782, completing the first draft in 'three days and two nights' in January, following a 'voluptuous' Christmas house party at Fonthill where the trappings of an Egyptian Hall with its 'infinitely varied apartments' provided inspiration for the Halls of Eblis. By May the novel was finished. Beckford encouraged first his tutor John Lettice and then his friend the Rev. Samuel Henley to prepare a version in English, but expressly forbade publication before the French text appeared. Henley nonetheless sent his translation to the press, and when it appeared in 1786 it was obvious that he had compounded his disobedience by implying that Vathek was translated from an Arabic source, with no mention of the author. Beckford, who was in Lausanne, was furious. He 'retaliated as best he could', hastily publishing the French original 'from a manuscript which he must have had with him, in a slightly earlier state than that translated by Henley' (Roger Lonsdale, citing the textual studies of Professor André Parreaux, who disproved the old theory that the Lausanne edition was retranslated from the English). Despite continuing close attentions to Vathek in French, Beckford produced no English version himself, although he finally consented to make some corrections to the third edition of Henley's translation. 'One can only assume that, failing satisfaction from Henley, Thomas Wildman, Beckford's solicitor, attacked Johnson the publisher, and at least secured for his client the balance of the [unsold sheets of the] original edition' (Chapman & Hodgkin). This explains the relative scarcity of this reissue: OCLC and Library Hub together record fourteen copies, at Yale, Georgetown, Northwestern, Southern Illinois, NYU, Columbia, Kentucky, UCLA, St Louis, McMaster, Toronto, Aberdeen, Cambridge, and the British Library. Provenance: With the bookplates of Mildred Bliss (née Barnes) and her husband, the diplomat, philanthropist, and art collector Robert Woods Bliss (18751962); the Blisses resided at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., where they established the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, which they gave to Harvard in 1940. Chapman & Hodgkin 3(A)(ii). Language: English.

Hardcover. Zustand: Fine. First Edition. Recent full period calf (5" x 8") with marbled endpapers and likely original gilt-lettered burgundy morocco spine label; vii, [i], 334 pages with page 48 misnumbered "84" and with errata leaf and final blank (often missing). Contrary to Beckford's wishes this edition of his influential Gothic novel, originally written in French and translated and edited by his friend Rev. Samuel Henley, preceded the first French edition which was published in December 1786. The title character is a power-hungry Caliph who conspires with his occult-leaning mother to master the evil forces of hell. The book influenced many writers including Byron, Poe, Lovecraft, and H. G. Wells. Armorial bookplate of British botanist R. C. A. Prior on front pastedown and poet Witter Bynner on front endpaper.

8vo, pp. [ii], 'vii', [i], 334; with woodcut illustrations on p. 316; in slightly later calf, with blind roll-tooled borders and spine also decorated in blind, lettered in gilt; bright orange endpapers, gilt edges. Reissue of the first edition, with the title page and next two leaves cancelled, replaced with a new title page, falsely claiming this to be a 'new edition'. Most copies retain the two leaves after the title page ([A]2-3), but they may have been deliberately omitted from this copy. Chapman & Hodgkin 3 A (ii); Garside, Raven and Schöwerling 1786:15, referring to this just as a 'further edition'. This copy with p. 48 also misnumbered '84'. Provenance. Contemporary bookplate of Sir Godfrey Webster, bart. This is almost certainly the 5th baronet, who was born in 1789 as the eldest son of the 4th (also Sir Godfrey), and his then wife Elizabeth Vassall. The couple were divorced in 1797, with Elizabeth going on to marry Lord Holland and becoming, as Lady Holland, a notable whig hostess. The young Sir Godfrey meanwhile (his father had shot himself in 1800) was a wastrel and a man of few morals: he had a long and messy affair with Lady Caroline Lamb (just before her liaison with Lord Byron), which resulted in her portrayal of him as the arrogant Buchanan in Glenarvon. He was known as 'one of the greatest blackguards in London', and spent lavishly from an already depleted inheritance, attempting to build a political career, but dying almost bankrupt in 1836. He is certainly not the sort of man whom Beckford would have countenanced, or found admirable, at any stage of his career but they were both tainted by scandal, and both derived their wealth from slave plantations in the West Indies.

8vo (190 x 120mm), pp. vii, [i], 334; with woodcut illustrations on p. 316; slight offsetting (or just possibly the remains of an erased inscription) on title page; else a very good copy, in mottled calf gilt by Riviere & son, neatly rebacked preserving the original spine; marbled endpapers, gilt edges. First edition of Beckford's Vathek. As is well known, Beckford wrote his 'Arabian tale' first in French, in 1782, but this English version was its first actual publication. The translator was Samuel Henley, who also supplied the 120pp of notes at the end; Henley had spent the early 1770s in Williamsburg at the College of William & Mary, where he taught the future Presidents Madison and Monroe, and became friends with another, Thomas Jefferson. On his return to Britain in 1775, he taught at Harrow and established himself as an antiquarian scholar. In a letter of 9 February 1786, Beckford strictly enjoined Henley not to publish the English version before the French, but it seems that the translator feared indefinite postponement, and the English text appeared in late May or early June, followed by the French, at Lausanne, in December the same year (but dated 1787). Kenneth W. Graham's article of 1975, quoting from the correspondence between Beckford and Henley, showed conclusively that the English translation which differs in many details from the French was a collaboration between the two, not an unauthorised and unfaithful version of the original. Graham also put to rest the suggestion that the French version was a retranslation from the English text, and concluded: 'In Vathek, then, we have a literary rarity: a work published in two languages, with both versions bearing the authority of the author's own revisions'. Roger Lonsdale, who once owned this copy, edited Vathek for the Oxford English Novels series (1970), no doubt using this copy, and his own copies of the later editions, for the work. Chapman & Hodgkin 3 (A) (i); Garside, Raven and Schöwerling 1786:15; Rothschild 352. See Kenneth W. Graham, 'Vathek in English and French', in Studies in Bibliography 28 (1975), pp. 153-166. There seem to have been large paper copies: the Rothschild copy is about 225 x 145mm, but the measurements given by Chapman are so confusing as to be meaningless. This copy has p. 48 misnumbered '84'. Provenance. Modern inscription 'J. Edwards' on endpaper.

8vo. VII, (1), 334 pp., final blank leaf (p. 48 misnumbered "84"). With woodcut illustrations on p. 316 (X6v, showing ostrich and peacock-feather fans). Sumptuous 19th century red grained morocco binding, spine gilt, gilt cover rules and inner dentelle, leading edges gilt. All edges gilt. The unauthorized first edition, first issue (with misnumbered page 48). This original edition, claiming to be translated directly from Arabic, appeared without the name of the author, also omitting from the title the name under which the work would later be known internationally. - Although often classified as an early Gothic novel, "Vathek" is more truly an oriental tale, describing the experience and rewards of succumbing to temptation, and closely reflecting the "foolish, fantastic, egotistical life" of the author who began writing the story in French in January 1782. Despite the fact that Samuel Henley's translation, and the elaborate notes which he provided for the book, were undertaken with his friend Beckford's approval, its publication was contrary to the author's express wishes: Beckford had clearly intended to bring out the French edition first, but his wife had died in Switzerland on 18 May 1786, and though the book was published by Joseph Johnson on 7 June, he was still unaware of its existence by late August. Copies were priced at 4 shillings or 7s. 6d. on large paper, and have the running title of "The History of the Caliph Vathek". Even though Beckford published French editions in Lausanne (December 1786, dated "1787") and Paris (1787), the novel only became well known some thirty years later when Byron declared it to be his Bible. - Provenance: From the library of John Bigham, 1st Viscount Mersey (1840-1929), at Bignor Park, Sussex (his bookplate to front pastedown and ink ownership to flyleaf). Subsequently in the library of the American publisher and collector A(lfred) Edward Newton (1864-1940), whose collection was auctioned by Parke-Bernet in 1941 (bookplate). Later acquired by the American lawyer and collector Robert S. Pirie (1934-2015), a prominent member of the Grolier Club, whose library was dispersed by Sotheby's in December 2015 (his bookplate to front flyleaf). - With the final blank Y8, which is often absent. Occasional light brownstains, but in all an excellent copy, beautifully bound and with fine provenance. - ESTC T62055. Rothschild 352. G. Chapman, Bibliography of William Beckford, pp. 22f, i. Summers 543. Garside/Raven/Schöwerling 1786:15. OCLC 1636740.

Zustand: Very Good +. First edition. Octavo (leaves measuring 195 x 115 mm). [viii], 334 pp. A Very Good copy, remarkably clean and fresh throughout. Appears to be lacking upper free endpaper, otherwise complete, with the errata leaf and the blanks. Unrestored contemporary tree calf with some edgewear, spine a bit rubbed, with upper joint beginning to separate at head (still holding firm). Early armorial bookplate of the Earl of Clare to upper pastedown and small ink ownership inscription (dated 1972) to preliminary blank. Leaf O3 with a tear, neatly repaired, with no loss of text. Overall a very appealing example. The first edition of William Beckford's Gothic novel Vathek, first written in French and here translated by Beckford's literary collaborator, Samuel Henley, who also supplied over a hundred pages of commentary. This edition predates the first appearance of the text in French, which was published in Lausanne in December of 1786 (but with a title-page dated 1787). The novel, which tells the story of the titular Caliph's corruption by a djinn and his journey into hell, stands as an early example of the Gothic genre, appearing between Walpole's Castle of Otranto (1765) and the works of Anne Radcliffe in the 1790s. Vathek went on to inspire Byron, Keats, Poe, and Lovecraft, the latter of whom called the novel, "Classic in merit, and markedly different from its fellows because of its foundation in the Oriental tale rather than the Walpolesque Gothic novel.Beckford, well read in Eastern romance, caught the atmosphere with unusual receptivity; and in his fantastic volume reflected very potently the haughty luxury, sly disillusion, bland cruelty, urbane treachery, and shadowy spectral horror.His seasoning of the ridiculous seldom mars the force of his sinister theme, and the tale marches onward with a phantasmagoric pomp in which the laughter is that of skeletons feasting under Arabesque domes" (Lovecraft, "Supernatural Horror in Literature"). See Kenneth W. Graham, "Vathek in English and French," in Studies in Bibliography 28 (1975) pp. 153-166. Very Good +.

First edition in any language, unrestored in the original boards, rare thus. This classic work of British Gothic fiction greatly influenced the Romantic poets. Byron described himself as its "strenuous and public admirer" and reveals this influence in his own "Turkish Tales". "European literature has no Oriental fiction which impresses the imagination so powerfully and permanently as 'Vathek'" (DNB). Beckford composed his manuscript in French in 1782. This English translation, executed by Samuel Henley, was published in June 1786 before the publication of the French text, despite the author's instructions that "I would not on any account have him precede the French edition" (Chapman & Hodkgin, p. 20). Though angered by Henley's move, Beckford still appreciated his expertise as an orientalist and retained his extensive notes in later editions. The first French edition was published in Lausanne the following December, but post-dated 1787. As the original manuscript was by that time lost, the Lausanne edition was in fact a hurried translation of the English. Beckford then corrected the Lausanne text, smoothing over Henley's lingering anglicisms, for the Paris edition of December 1787. Bleiler, Supernatural Fiction 119; Chapman & Hodkgin 3Ai; ESTC T62055; Rothschild 354; Summers, Gothic Bibliography, p. 543. Octavo, pp. viii, 334. Engraved illustrations of fans on p. 316. Uncut in publisher's brown quarter boards, spine mostly perished, chords exposed, remnant of original paper spine label on rear cover, blue board sides. Housed in a custom dark green quarter morocco folding box. Edges worn, fragile joints just holding, covers a little marked, small tear to upper outer corner of front free endpaper, contents bright. A good copy.

First edition, translated from the French by Rev. Samuel Henley. 8vo. vii, [1, blank], 334 pp. Near contemporary tree calf, flat spine with six compartments outlined in gilt, second compartment lettered in gilt to red morocco label. London, J. Johnson.  The first publication of Vathek in any language, being translated from the French by William Beckford?s friend Rev. Samuel Henley, and published contrary to Beckford?s instructions before the French publication. To add insult to injury, the English edition did not acknowledge Beckford?s authorship. Despite this, Henley?s translation is authoritative, in the months leading up to its publication Henley and Beckford had been collaborating over the translation, with Beckford offering corrections and praise over correspondence. The translation was later improved by Beckford in 1816, which remains the text predominantly read today.  Two near contemporary ownership inscriptions to front free endpaper, book plate of Allington to front paste-down. A very good copy, joints and spine rubbed, and corners softly bumped.  The Rothschild Library, 352. A Bibliography of William Beckford, Chapman & Hodgkin. 3. (A, i). Graham, Kenneth W. ??Vathek? in English and French.?   .

London 1786. 8x5", later tree calf (Mexican style binding), 334pp, inner front hinge cracked, p. 189-90 lacking corners affecting text, p 141/42 with small marginal chunck out, new end papers else ok. FIRST EDITION. (errata present).