Lot 242
James, Sir Henry
Notes on the Great Pyramid of Egypt
Auction: From the Library of Professor Roland Paxton | 01 October 2026 from 10am | Lots 221 to 252
Description
and the Cubits used in its Design. Southampton: Thomas G. Gutch & Co., 1869. First edition, presentation copy, inscribed ‘Lady Matheson, with Sir H. James’s compts' on the title-page, 4to, original blue cloth, 4 photozincographic plates including frontispiece, 2 further plates, manuscript marginalia correcting the text, a few marks to cloth;
Holderness, Mary. New Russia. Journey from Riga to the Crimea, by way of Kiev. London: Sherwood, Jones and Co., 1823. First edition, 8vo, contemporary cloth-backed boards, viii 316 pp., 3 hand-coloured lithographic costume plates, 2 further lithographic plates (including a folding view), library plate (Howarth's Circulating Library, Radcliffe, Lancashire);
Taylor, John. Considerations on the Practicability and Advantages of a More Speedy Communication between Great Britain and her Possessions in India. London: J. Murray and S. Highley, 1795. First edition, 4to, modern quarter calf, half-title [ESTC T146368; Goldsmiths' 16408];
Perry, John. The State of Russia, under the Present Czar. London: Benjamin Tooke, 1716. First edition, 8vo, contemporary panelled calf, later spine-label (possibly 19th century), engraved folding map by Herman Moll (with short handling tear, repaired on verso) [ESTC T105640; Goldsmiths' 5287];
‘A Scots Gentleman in the Swedish Service’. The History of the Wars, of his late Majesty Charles XII. King of Sweden, from his First Landing in Denmark, to his Return from Turkey to Pomerania. London: for A. Bell [and others], 1720. Second edition ('with a continuation to the time of his death'), 8vo, contemporary calf, engraved portrait frontispiece, advertisement leaf to rear [ESTC T65953];
Polack, J. S. Manners and Customs of the New Zealanders. London: James Madden & Co., 1840. First edition, 2 volumes, large 12mo, original vertical-ribbed cloth green cloth, spines lettered and decorated in gilt, engraved folding with (with old repair), 3 wood-engraved plates (including 2 portraits of Maori leaders), wood-engravings throughout the text, spines rolled, lacking front free endpapers, pastedowns renewed at an early date, rear inner hinges cracked;
Mountaine, William. The Seaman's Vade-Mecum, and Defensive War by Sea. London: for J. Mount, T. Page, and W. Mount, 1776. Seventh edition (published in the year of the American Declaration of Independence), 12mo, contemporary sprinkled sheep, [10] 270 pp., 3 engraved folding plates, full-page woodcut diagram [ESTC N21422, citing one copy in UK libraries, at Cambridge, and xii preliminary leaves not present in our copy];
and 11 others, travel, 19th century (these not collated, including Kinglake, Eothen, 1845, third edition, original cloth, William Robertson, An Historical Disqusition concerning the Knowledge which the Ancients had of India, 1804, fourth edition, contemporary, marbled calf, engraved folding maps; and similar) (19)
Provenance
From the collection of the late Professor Roland Paxton MBE FICE FRSE (1932-2025), 'Britain's foremost historian of civil engineering' (Telegraph, obituary, 12th November 2025); Professor Paxton was also a leading conservationist of Britain's engineering heritage, and led successful campaigns to restore two of the world's most important railway structures, the Laigh Milton Viaduct in Ayrshire, the world's oldest surviving railway bridge, and the Union Chain Bridge, the world's oldest suspension bridge still carrying road traffic.