Edmund Brumfitt

@ebrumfitt.bsky.social

686 Followers 1069 Following

Dealer in rare books, mainly before 1820, mainly European. Plus other distractions.

Several piles of brown boxes leaning not too precariously against a metal wall.
A catalogue on revolutions, in tricolour wrappers.
A sonnet with the heading SUA MAESTA Mantiene RELIGIOSI NEGLI SPEDALI, Che instruiscano nella FEDE CATTOLICA i Priogioneri di guerrilla Eretici.
The forlorn snipped corner of the cover of an old UK EU passport.
A heron sits on a roof with a spring evening sky behind.
The cover of my new catalogue, with a very bulbous fish wondering how it got there.
A pile of lists for the California Book Fair sit on a table
A broadside with a German poem at the foot and a coloured woodcut of a bell, within which is shown a scene of the crucifixion.
A large, dark, malevolent landmass (Vesuvius) hovers over little white ship.
From instructions for a Vaillant boiler timer: "Caution! It may not be possible to operate the timer if the wrong language is selected. If you select a language that you do not understand, you can no longer read the text in the timer's display and you can no longer operate it. Only select a language that you understand."
A dachshund's nose reluctantly pokes out from a grey woolen blanket.
Screenshot of a Facebook page showing a Wolseley with badge and headlights illuminated.
The Guardian Building in the sunshine, trying and failing to hide behind a lamp-post.
Title page: L'ESTRO SACRO AL PANARO componimento per musica da cantarsi nella ducal corte di Modena In occasione, che, sostenendo le veci della santita’ di nostro signore Benedetto XIV, L’Eminentissimo, e Reverendissimo signor cardinale Armando di Rohan Vescovo, e Principe d’Argentina, assiste alle ceremonie battesimali del serenissimo Principe d’Este Secondogenito di Sui Altezza Serenissima Francesco Terzo Duca di Modena, Reggio, Mirandola, ec. (printed in Modena by Soliani, 1740)
A collage of views of 9 18th-century books.
Title page of Manuel des Habitans de la Campagne, by Mme Gacon-Dufour, Paris 1825.
Two pages of an 18th-century opera libretto, the left detailing those responsible: the music by Filippo Finazzi, the set by Marco Bianchi, the 'Balli' by Antonio Bianchi, and the costumes by Natale Canziani.
Schnitzelsemmel, a sachet of mayonnaise and a small bottle of Austrian Sekt on a train tray table.
Screenshot of an email: A technical issue was identified during boarding and our engineers required additional time to resolve this as quickly as possible. Etc
The boot of a blue hatchback with a black case, rucksack, duffel bag, and a Blackwell's Rare Books tote bag, as a reminder that the photographer should get some of his own.
The opening of The Aventures of Telemachus, with English and French texts on alternate lines and, at the foot, a phonetic version of the E glass for the French reader. "ZHI EDVENTIEURZ OF TELEMACOSS, SONNE OF YOULISSES. Kélipso coude note bi commfortedd for zhi dipartieurr of Youlissess. Inn herr griffe chi faounnde hercelf ounnhapy bahi biing immortall. Herr groto no lannguer icôde ouiss zhi source miouzic of herr vohice". And so on.
Entrance ticket for the Musée Beaux-Arts de Nancy, specifying "CANICULE Gratuit".
Menu of the dinner to celebrate the 50th meeting of the St Andrews University Linguistic Circle. 27th February 1959. Smoked trout, roast duckling and orange salad, fillet steak garni, cauliflower, green peas, roast and boiled potatoes, endive salad, fresh fruit salad and cream, biscuits and cheese. All washed down with Liebfraumilch, Alone Corton, and Port.
A tabby sprawls over a black suv on a South London terraced street.
A collage of title-pages and bindings of 18th- and early 19th-century books.
Wall, and windows, of the nave of Metz cathedral, bathed in sunlight.
Chicken perched on a garden chair in the perfect English country garden.
Formal photography of the Secretary (A.G. Hine), President (W.D. Howarth) and Treasurer (J.H. Brumfitt) of the Taberdars' Room Committee of Queen's College Oxford, Trinity Term 1946. All three looking stern in very accommodating suits.
Google AI summary for the search term 'gazzera jefferson': The search term "gazzera Jefferson" seems to be a misspelling of "Gazzera Jeffers". this name likely refers to the name of a person. It is possible that "Gazzera Jeffers" is related to the music scene, specifically the band "Jefferson Airplane" and the individuals involved. The band "Jefferson Airplane" is known for its music and the tensions that eventually led to its breakup, including the departure of Marty Balin. The band's official website also confirms their disbanding around 1973. It is possible that the search term is a variant of this name or associated with the band's history and evolution.
Title-page of After Virtue by Alasdair MacIntyre
A desk with a few books, a camera lens (for reasons unclear) and two screens, one showing a book database, the other the chimney of the Sistine Chapel.
The paste-downs of two volumes, and the title-page of one of Elogi Italiani, printed by Piero Marcuzzi in Venice in 1782. Each paste-down has a label stating 'Dono dell' Ab. Andrea Rubbi', with the one on the left having, in manuscript above the label, 'Del Cavaliere Conte Iamb. Giovio per' and below the date 1783, while the label on the other volume has, in the same hand but much more compact, 'Al. Can. Co. GB. Giovio 1784'
A frontispiece depicting two men standing over earth beds, one with a spade and one watering, while in the middle distance a woman picks vegetables and in the background, another man descends a ladder in front of an elaborate hedge topped with a flagpole, flying a flag with the Eye of Providence and topped with a Phrygian cap.
A copy of Francesco Guasco, Epicuro difeso (Venice, 1756) sits in an unseen Stilt cradle, an SLR poised above it, with lights to the side.
The fore edge of a 1777 German geographical primer, carefully sculpted (scalloped, perhaps?). It is tempting to think it is a representation of a ridge of hills described in the book, but alas it isn't that kind of geography. Not a roche moutonnée to be seen.
The Bibliothèque François Mitterand reflecting a grey day.
Screenshot of the British Airways app weather on arrival page for London, cheerily elaborating on a rain icon and temperatures of 3-5 degrees with "On arrival there will be showers during the day and it will be dreary at night".
Light at the end of the platform of Frankfurt Airport Fernbahnhof, where there are people but no trains.
Black and tan miniature dachshund staring intently at camera.
Title page of "Raccolta de' fatti, documenti, discorsi e cerimonie, il tutto relativo al cangiamento della Repubblica Italiana in Regno d'Italia. (Milan, 1805)
Layers: at top, a pinkish dusky sky, above a ridge of snow-capped mountains, above a wooded island out of which poke two churches and a campanile, bathed in evening sun. In the foreground, water.
A jetty, flanked by two boats, leads to the front of a building illuminated in the Italian tricolor, the whole reflected in the water in front.
A mini panettone sits on a train carriage table.
Android phone notification from the Dundee Courier: Ticket demand crashes site. Fife Santa's grotto compared to Oasis reunion.
The same book, open at pages 154 and, alas, 159, betraying the lack of pp155-8
Title-page of Caroline Ormsby; or the Real Lucilla: a tale for the female set (London, Henry Colburn, 1810)
Three floors of lights shinging out onto a paved courtyars
Handwritten invoice from the Libreria Mario Landi, complete with two postage stamps, dated December 13, 1935, found in the book it refers to, a bilingual 1786 Tasso.
Entrance to security at IAD. Glorious 1960s typography
A spacious railway carriage, with a tray table bearing a plastic cup of gin and tonic.
A solitary fox trots around the Oval outfield as Bangladesh fielders shiver and Surrey batters bat in early May 2010. The stands are empty. They call these "warm-up" matches...
Dustjacket of N'Heure Souris Rames: The Coucy Castle Manuscript
Imprint of a Milan-printed abridgment of Condillac, printed in year one of the Cisalpine Republic, with a figure holding a shield with the words "La liberté" and a phrygian cap on a pole.