Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$165.00 + shipping
Description: First Ballantyne Press Edition, and one of 400 copies only on handmade paper. Beautifully decorated throughout with elaborate borders and large capitals in black and red, reminiscent of the designs by William Morris for the Kelmscott Press. 4to, publisher's original vellum over boards, the spine and upper cover lettered and decorated in gilt. [xii], 151, [1] pp. A very good copy, the text-block clean and crisp and bright, the binding very well preserved with only minor evidence of age. One of four ties remains, a pleasing copy of this handsome printing. FIRST BALLANTYNE PRESS EDITION, BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED AND DECORATED THROUGHOUT. The title is a quotation from the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen. Matthew 20 (King James Version) The "last" are the eleventh hour labourers, who are paid as if they had worked the entire day. Rather than discuss the contemporary religious interpretation of the parable, whereby the eleventh hour labourers would be death-bed converts, or the peoples of the world who come late to religion, Ruskin looks at the social and economic implications, discussing issues such as who should receive a living wage. This essay is very critical of the economists of the 18th and 19th centuries. In this sense, Ruskin is a precursor of social economy. Because the essay also attacks the destructive effects of industrialism upon the natural world. UNTO THIS LAST had a very important impact on Gandhi's philosophy. He discovered the book in March 1904 through Henry Polak, whom he had met in a vegetarian restaurant in South Africa. Polak was sub-editor of the Johannesburg paper The Critic. Gandhi decided immediately not only to change his own life according to Ruskin's teaching, but also to publish his own newspaper, Indian Opinion, from a farm where everybody would get the same salary, without distinction of function, race, or nationality. This, for that time, was quite revolutionary. Thus Gandhi created Phoenix Settlement. Gandhi translated UNTO THIS LAST into Gujarati in 1908 under the title of Sarvodaya (Well Being of All). Valji Govindji Desai translated it back to English in 1951 under the title of UNTO THIS LAST A Paraphrase. This last essay can be considered his program on economics, as in Unto This Last, Gandhi found an important part of his social and economic ideas
Seller: Buddenbrooks, Inc., Newburyport, MA, U.S.A.
Ruskin, John. OF KINGS' TREASURIES. George Allen, (London, 1902.
Price: US$180.00 + shipping
Description: small 8vo. full vellum with gilt stamp on front board, cloth ties. (iv), 99+(1) pages. First edition. Lacking all four ties, but else a fine copy. Each page of the book is exquisitely designed with an ornamental woodcut border by Christopher Dean and is printed on hand-made water-marked paper in black and red ink. The text is a considerably revised version of a lecture Ruskin gave in 1864 at the Rusholme Town Hall, near Manschester. In 1865, Ruskin published Sesame and Lilies, which contained this text and Of Queens' Gardens (Wise, i.116). Not until two years after Ruskin's death in 1900 were the two lectures published under separate cover. Printed at the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh. Includes index and colophon in back of text. Ruskin's seal in gilt on front board. full vellum with gilt stamp on front board, cloth ties
Seller: Oak Knoll Books, ABAA, ILAB, NEW CASTLE, DE, U.S.A.
Ruskin, John (1819-1900). Of queens' gardens / by John Ruskin. London : George Allen, 1902.
Price: US$214.90 + shipping
Description: Fine copy in the original full vellum with cloth tie-clasps (lacking lower set). An uncommonly good example; scans and additional bibliographic data on request, Physical description; 68 p. ; 21 cm. Notes; Sesame and Lilies. Lecture I. Sesame: Of Kings' Treasuries -- Sesame and Lilies. Lecture II. Lilies: Of Queens' Gardens. "Here ends Of queens' gardens by John Ruskin, printed at the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh, and published by George Allen, London, in the year 1902." -- colophon. Imprint taken from colophon. Text in black with engraved initials printed in red. Each page of text within ornamental woodcut border. Printer's device underneath colophon.Includes index. Subjects ;Women - Education. Men.Conduct of life. Other names; Allen, George 1832-1907 [publisher]. Ballantyne Press [printer]. Vale Press. Printer's device underneath colophon. 1 Kg.
Seller: MW Books Ltd., Galway, Ireland
Ruskin, John. Of King's Treasures. George Allen, London, 1902.
Price: US$243.82 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Hardback, full vellum with ties. 21 x 15cm. [4], 99pp, [1]. Printed at the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh. Elaborate printed borders and decorative initials in red. Vellum binding slightly spotted, contents clean and unmarked.
Seller: Besleys Books PBFA, Diss, United Kingdom
Ruskin, John (1819-1900). Of queens' gardens / by John Ruskin. London : George Allen, 1902.
Price: US$244.00 + shipping
Description: Fine copy in the original full vellum with cloth tie-clasps (lacking lower set). An uncommonly good example; scans and additional bibliographic data on request, Physical description; 68 p. ; 21 cm. Notes; Sesame and Lilies. Lecture I. Sesame: Of Kings' Treasuries -- Sesame and Lilies. Lecture II. Lilies: Of Queens' Gardens. "Here ends Of queens' gardens by John Ruskin, printed at the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh, and published by George Allen, London, in the year 1902." -- colophon. Imprint taken from colophon. Text in black with engraved initials printed in red. Each page of text within ornamental woodcut border. Printer's device underneath colophon.Includes index. Subjects ;Women - Education. Men.Conduct of life. Other names; Allen, George 1832-1907 [publisher]. Ballantyne Press [printer]. Vale Press. Printer's device underneath colophon. 1 Kg.
Seller: MW Books, New York, NY, U.S.A.
John Ruskin. Of Queens' Gardens / Of Kings' Treasuries (2 vols). George Allen, 1902.
Price: US$256.65 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 1902, 6 x 8.5 inches approx, 68 pages (queens') and 99 pages (kings'), vellum binding with gilt lettering and cloth ties; handmade paper; fine printing from Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh, black and red with floral borders| sound, square volumes free of name, notes etc; minimal foxing to endpapers and text block edges; grey spotting to board covers (more noticeable on 'Kings' - please see images ) | carefully packaged and dispatched from UK within two working days
Seller: *bibliosophy*, Exeter, United Kingdom
Price: US$359.31 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Two volumes. 68; 99 pp. Full vellum with gilt lettering to spines. Cloth ties to fore-edge, one missing and one detached. Boards bowed. Printed on hand-made paper. Decorative borders to each page. Red-letter initials. Printed at the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh. Two lectures delivered by Ruskin in 1864 and published as 'Sesame and Lilies.' In VG to Near Fine condition. 8vo.
Seller: Foster Books - Stephen Foster - ABA, ILAB, & PBFA, London, United Kingdom
Price: US$425.00 + shipping
Description: Full vellum, fine paper & printing, Near fine,; Linen ties lost, boards very slightly warped & light soil.
Seller: T. A. Borden Books, Olney, MD, U.S.A.
Price: US$526.10 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Octavo. Full vellum covers, gilt spine lettering. Printed in black with red initial letters and surrounded with a floral border, much in the Kelmscott style. Pp. 99 (includes Index). Lacks the ribbon ties at the fore-edge, covers bowed as usual, otherwise exceptionally clean, bright, and crisp. INCLUDES a handwritten, signed note from the author to William Ward, his friend, assistant, student-turned-teacher, artist. Written on Joynson Superfine laid paper, no letterhead, no date other than "Thursday" : "Dear Ward, I do hope to be at the National Gallery by two o'clock tomorrow - but if its pitch dark I won't come - and in that case, will be early then on Monday, which dark or light must befriend. Every affectionately yours, J. Ruskin." By King's Treasuries, Ruskin means the best books written by the most brilliant authors and not other material things. The whole of the lecture is about books and the way to read them.
Seller: Karol Krysik Books ABAC/ILAB, IOBA, PBFA, Toronto, ON, Canada
Price: US$672.00 + shipping
Description: A pleasing two volume set of lectures Ruskin delivered in 1864, and previously published as part of his Sesames and Lilies work. Bound in full vellum, with text printed in red and black, with 6- and 10-line bordered initials printed in red mimicking the Kelmscott Press style. One of 350 copies on hand-made paper. 8vo. 2 vols. 68pp.; 99pp. Very good with one tie lacking, partially unopened, covers a bit soiled, and vellum bowed as usual.
Seller: Nelson Rare Books, ABAA, Haddonfield, NJ, U.S.A.