Lot 57
Alexander, Sir James Edward (1803-1885)
Alexander's own copies of his travel accounts & other works
Auction: The Library of General Sir James Alexander | Wed 25 February from 10am | Lots 31 to 62
Description
Sketches in Portugal, during the Civil War of 1834. London: James Cochrane and Co., 1835. First edition, 8vo, contemporary half calf with ‘Captain J. E. Alexander 42 R. H.’ gilt-stamped to foot of spine, hand-coloured aquatint frontispiece, engraved plan, ownership inscription ‘Sir J. E. Alexander 1838’ to the front free endpaper, half-title possibly discarded, plan offset;
Life of Field Marshal, His Grace the Duke of Wellington. Edited by Sir James Edw. Alexander. London: Henry Colburn, 1840. First edition, 2 volumes, 8vo, original vertical-ribbed pink cloth stamped in blind, 16 plates, maps and plans (one lithographic, the rest engraved or etched, a few folding), ownership inscription ‘James Edwrd Alexander, 14 Regt’ to front free endpaper of volume 1, volume 2 partly unopened, sunning to spines and sections of boards, short splits to joints-ends;
Military Examination for Junior Officers of Infantry. Dublin: W. Franzer & Son, 1860. Second edition, 8vo, contemporary red half calf, Alexander's ownership inscriptions to the initial blank and the retained original front free endpaper, both dated Curragh Camp, 1860, with an autograph letter signed to Alexander from General Sir George Wetherall (4 pp.), the volume bulked out with blanks at front and rear;
Incidents of the Maori War in New Zealand in 1860-61. London: Richard Bentley, 1863. First edition, 8vo, contemporary green half calf, tinted lithographic frontispiece, engraved plan;
Standing Orders of the 2nd Battalion, Fourteenth Regiment. Auckland, New Zealand: W. C. Wilson, ‘New-Zealander’ Office, 1862. 8vo, contemporary red cloth-backed marbled boards with printed paper label to spine, 3 lithographic plates from sketches by Alexander (showing arrangements of kit), Alexander's ownership inscription (dated New Zealand, 1862) to initial blank, autograph transcriptions by Alexander of favourable reviews of the work from other senior officers to rear blank, short split to foot of each joint;
Bush Fighting. Illustrated by Remarkable Actions and Incidents of the Maori War in New Zealand. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low and Searle, 1873. First edition, 8vo, contemporary green half calf, gilt spine, ownership inscription ‘J. E. Alexander, Westerton’ to initial blank, extra-illustrated with an albumen-print photographic portrait of Alexander mounted to blank leaf facing the title-page, folding lithographic map, 15 plates and plans (respectively wood-engraved and lithographic);
Cleopatra's Needle. The Obelisk of Alexandria, its Acquisition and Removal to England Described. London: Chatto & Windus, 1879. First edition, presentation copy to the author's wife, inscribed by him ‘Eveline M. Alexander, from the author, J. E. A., Westerton, 5th Sept 1879' on the half-title, with the additional inscription ‘When read, please return, my only copy & out of print, J.E.A.’ below, 8vo, original red cloth, wood-engraved frontispiece, map, cloth cockled and damp-stained;
and others, including Alexander's Transatlantic Sketches (1833, 2 volumes), inscribed by Alexander to his father in volume 1 and with his ownership inscription to the half-title of volume 1 (volume 1 binding worn, volume 2 backstrip perished, front board and half-title loose), and 7 bound copies of Alexander's journal articles for Colburn's United Services Magazine, with similar markings of ownership, one volume, containing his article 'Lord Seaton at Waterloo', 1868, containing a tipped-in sketch-map in pen and ink (17)
Provenance
THE LIBRARY OF GENERAL SIR JAMES EDWARD ALEXANDER (1803-1885)