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AGRIPPA VON NETTESHEIM, Heinrich Cornelius. [ZILBOORG, Gregory] De Incertitudine & Vanitate Scientiarum & Artium: henrici Cornelii AgrIppæ ab Nettersheym, sple[n]didissime nobilitatis Viri, & armatæ militæ Equitis aurati, ac LL. Doctoris, sacre Cæsaree Maiestatis a co[n]siliis, & archius Indiciarii, de Incertitudine & Vanitate Scientiaru[m] & Artium, atque excellentia Verbi Dei, declamatio. Apud Florentissimam Antuerpiam 1531. Antwerp: [Johannes Grapheus?], 1531. [24923]
Small octavo (150 x 95mm). ff. 159. Bound in 17th Century full calf, rebacked with original spine laid on. Raised bands, extra gilt with red and black title labels, retaining early marbled endpapers. GREGORY ZILBOORG’S COPY, with his Alfred Basel designed symbolic bookplate to front paste down. Some woodcut initials. Title page extended (restored to inner margin), repair to fore-edge and small loss to lower corner, also to following leaf. Small repairs to final printed leaf, with a little loss to text of colophon. Cropped at fore-edge with some side-notes just touched. Pages clean with just light toning. First published in Antwerp in 1530, Agrippa’s Vanity and Uncertainty of Arts and Sciences, was controversial from the beginning. He argued that the human grasping of knowledge, such as magic, mathematics, rhetoric, agriculture, theology etc. would always be inferior to the ultimate knowledge of God. His suggestion of a return to a simpler, purer, Early Church religion made him a target of the Inquisition. All copies published after 1543 were censored. Gregory Zilboorg (1890-1959), was a psychiatrist with a great interest in the history of mental pathology. In his "Medical Man and the Witch During the Renaissance" (Johns Hopkins Press, 1935) he suggested that the infamous witch hunter’s bible, the Malleus Maleficarum, could be used as a clinical guide to psychiatric illness during the 15th century. This copy appears to be an exact reprint of the Paris 1531 second edition, with a new title page, but the original colophon. Although not recorded in most of the usual bibliographies, it appears to be identical to the Wellcome copy and also the Lenkiewicz copy sold at Sotheby’s London in 2003. £875
Wellcome [77]; not in Bibliotheca Esoterica, Caillet or Coumont

ALBERTUS MAGNUS LES ADMIRABLES SECRETS D’ALBERT LE GRAND. Contenant Plusieurs Traités sur la Conception des Femmes, des Vertus des Herbes, des Pierres précieuses et des Animaux. Augmenté d'un Abrégé curieux de la Phisionomie et d'un Préservatif contre la peste, les Fiévres malignes, les Poisons et l'Infection de l'Air. Tirés et traduits sur d’anciens Manuscrits de l'Auteur, qui n'avoient pas encore paru, ce qu'on verra plus amplement dans la Table, et dans ce qui aura été ajouté dans cette derniére Edition. DIVISES EN QUATRE LIVRES. [Book of Secrets] A Lion (Lyon): Chés les Héritiers de Beringos Fratres, à l’Enseigne d’Agrippa, 1755. [25046]
A WONDERFUL WIDE MARGINED COPY WITH UNTRIMMED EDGES. Duodecimo (150 x 90mm). pp. [14], 312, [8 index]. Later deep red marbled paper over boards, paper label to spine with manuscript title in black ink, white endpapers. Title page printed in red and black, engraved frontispiece and four plates with woodcut head- and tail-pieces throughout. A little rubbing to corners and joints, chipped title label and light fading to spine. Small, faint ink stamped name to back of frontispiece, neat repair to leaf f6, not affecting text. The red from the boards has bled into the front and rear pastedowns resulting in a couple of light red spots on the last page of the index. Text block a little shaken with a split at the first and the final gathering, and occasional small tears to the inner margin. However none of this detracts from what is essentially a very attractive copy with the pages in a fresh and original untrimmed state. This famous and popular Book of Secrets, originally in Latin, was first published in French circa 1520 and went through many editions, particularly from the 18th Century onwards. This 1755 edition is well regarded for the quality of its printing and the impression of the plates - Caillet states: "Cette édition est l’une des plus rares, c'est d'ailleurs la mieux imprimée". £575
Caillet [132]; Coumont [A21.109]

The Science and Method Of Globe Making.ANDREAE, Johan Ludwig. Mathematische und Historische Beschreibung des gantzen Welt-Gebaudes, Zum nutzlichem Gebrauch Zweyer auf eine neue Art Verfertigten Himels-und Erd-Kugeln... Muremburg, Verlegung Paul Lochners Buchhandlers. 1718 [26228]
First and Only Edition. v + 44pp. + 96pp + 120pp + iv including errata. 16 numbered engravings on 12 folding plates. Bound in contemporary half vellum and speckled paper covered boards. Title in ink on spine. Neat contemporary ink ownership to pastedown and title page. Small stain to page 13 some isolated browning otherwise excellent. Speckled page edges.
The only edition of this sumptuously illustrated treatise on terrestrial and celestial globes with additional technical detail on the production process provided by Johann Andreae of Nuremburg, a prominent globemaker. In the first section he discusses the component features of each globe; longitude, latitude, Tropics of Cancer and of Capricorn as well as theoretical and mathematical principles behind these. The second section consists of a catalogue of 1,686 fixed stars arranged according to their constellations based on data from Coronelli. A prose description of the Earths physical and political geography follows, drawn from the work of Nicholas de Fer. The fourth section is devoted entirely to the Americas (Neu Yorck, Philadelphia, James-Town and Germanopolis, are all mentioned), presumably as fresh areas of interest to the globe aficionado. Andreae seems to imply that all the information his readers need to create their own globes can be found in these pages (but of course, should they fail, they could always buy one of his).
The concluding section present a series of practical exercises enabling aspiring geographers and astronomers to become familiar with their globes. A highlight of the appendices is the introduction of an instrument created by Liebniz’s instructor Erhard Weigel; “The Astrodicticum” which enabled several people to similtaneously view the same star. The volume is further illustrated by plates depicting amongst other things, an elaborate windrose, 4 globes in various stands, a series of examples of projections and engravings of various instruments.
Andreae produced numerous globes for important german collectors and institutions between 1715-1724. During his career he was hailed in Nuremburg as “The German Archimedes”. POA

The Fount and Foundation Of Naval Law.ANON. Libro di Consolato Novamente Stampato et Ricorretto, nel quale sono scritti capitoli et Statuti et buone ordinationi, che li antichi ordinarono per li casi di mercantia et di mare et mercanti et marinari et patroni di navili. Venice; Giovanni Padovano for Giovanni Battista Pedrezano. 1539 [26227]
Revised Edition in very early imprint. Large 8vo. 122pp. Three-quarter leaf woodcut on title page depicting two Venetian ships at sea protected by the four patron saints of shipping (Antonio, Nicola, Helme and Chiara). Large and quite beautiful printer’s device to verso of last leaf. Bound in attractive and solid old vellum, later endpapers. Slight worming confined to the gutter, very light occasional soiling, otherwise good, clean and attractive.
A rare and early revised edition of the “Consulate of The Sea” an Italian language text book of maritime laws and traditions, basically a compact codification of the behaviours of merchants and sailors and a vital document as regards the history of Venice as a trading and shipping capital. A beautifully condensed expression of the specific importance maritime economic interests, entrepreneurial instincts and sea-going administration affected and defined the expansion of Europe in the Sixteenth Century. Intermittent conflict and a widespread dissolution and resolution of national boundaries and borders resulted in a fragmented whole united solely by its mobile representatives and their travelling code of ethics and practice; page 122 for example contains a list of all the major European ports adhering to the maritime conventions outlined in this volume, including most but by no means all of the principal harbours of the time. The rules you followed determined to a very real extent the territory your trading could encompass.
The volume is in the form of 227 short chapters, each dealing with a specific question of maritime law or convention; what preliminaries (legal and social) must be completed before commencement of a voyage, procedures for payment, shares of profit, liability of individual members in case of wreck or piracy, and what should happen to a sailor’s individual share should mishap occur etc.
One of the rarest survivals of any genre of travel literature, the earlier examples are especially rare because they were invalidated by later editions, to say nothing of constant exposure to one of the world’s deadliest enemies - water. The first Italian language Consolato we have located was published in Rome in 1519 under the title “Capituli et Ordinationi de mare at di Mercantile”. The edition offered here is the next edition listed in the NUC. Copies found in Venetian bibliographies like Cicogna are substantially later reprints of this work, all copies however may be considered rare. POA

The First Jewish Cookery Book in EnglishANONYMOUS [MONTEFIORE, Lady Judith Cohen.] The Jewish Manual; Or Practical Information in Jewish and Modern Cookery, With a Collection of Valuable Recipes and Hints Relating to the Toilette. Edited by a Lady. London: T. and W. Boone, 1846. [25803]
FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST JEWISH COOKERY BOOK IN ENGLISH. Octavo (185 x 115mm) pp.xxi, 244. Publisher’s green, blind-stamped cloth, gilt tiles to spine with pale yellow endpapers. Housed in a recent brown cloth drop-over box, with gilt tiles to spine. Some soiling and discolouring to boards, corners and spine ends rubbed and a little frayed. Front hinge starting, though book remains tight. Closed tear to the bottom edge of front free endpaper and small chip to the top edge of the first two leaves of the preface, not affecting text. Pages generally clean and in good condition, with occasional marks in pencil and in blue ink in the index. A very good copy of a rare and important book in Jewish social history. This book was not reprinted until a chance discovery in the Jewish Division of New York Public Library, led to a facsimile printing in 1983, when research also identified the anonymous author. From the Jewish Publication Society‘s Guide to Jewish Women: “Judith Cohen Montefiore was known for her social influence and generosity throughout the Jewish community. She married Moses Montefiore in 1812, and together they became two of the most well known members of the Jewish elite. While they participated in the upper-class Christian society in London, they also spent much of their time and earnings on Jewish causes. The Montefiores helped to fund the first settlement for farming in Israel. The couple traveled to Israel several times and were always well received on their visits there. Judith herself was acknowledged even by the most observant of rabbis and was honored by taking part in Shabbat services - an act that most women were not permitted to do. Judith was also a member of the board of the Jews' Orphan Society and the Ladies' Loan and Visiting Society, and she was given the title Lady Montefiore when her husband, Moses, was knighted by Queen Victoria. Judith Cohen Montefiore died in 1862, and in her honor, Moses Montefiore opened the Judith Lady Montefiore College at Ramsgate, England. She is remembered as a generous and inspiring leader among the Jewish community, and especially within the State of Israel.” £4,500

AUSTEN, Jane. The Novels of Jane Austen. [set of works/writings including; Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Emma, and Letters]. Edinburgh: John Grant, 1905. [26212]
THE WINCHESTER EDITION. 10 volumes. 8vo. Elegantly bound in half burgundy oasis morocco leather with full gilt backs with four raised bands, top edges gilt, others trimmed. Engraved frontispiece. A little occasional foxing. This is considered to be the best collected edition of Austen’s works. £1,500

AUSTEN, Jane. Sense And Sensibility. London, MacMillan & Co. 1896. [26085]
FIRST HUGH THOMSON EDITION, 8vo. Near fine in publisher’s deep red patterned cloth with gilt titles to spine and front board. Lightly sunned to the spine and slightly bumped.Edges untrimmed. Includes 6 pages of advertisements to the rear of the text. Black and white illustrations throughout by Hugh Thomson, including a frontispiece with tissue guard. A lovely copy. £395

AUSTEN, Jane. [BROCK, C.E. and H.M.] The Novels and Letters [Works] of Jane Austen. Edited by R. Brimley Johnson; with an Introduction by Prof. William Lyon Phelps. New York: Frank S. Holby, 1906. [26211]
12 volumes; large 8vo. Fine in publisher’s original brown cloth with red and black entitled paper title label to spines; top edges gilt, others untrimmed. With full-page illustrations in colour by C. and H. Brock. The Chawtorn Edition, Limited to 1250 copies of which this No 795 . Clean and tight. A splendid set. Rare thus. £1,250

BAILEY, H.C. Mr. Fortune Explains. London: Ward, Lock, and Co., Limited, 1930. [25832]
First Edition. Signed freely by the Author on the title page. Fine, sharp in publisher’s green cloth with titles in black to spine and upper. In near fine dustwarpper rubbed to extremities, a little frayed to head of spine. Includes also a letter handwritten by the Author, addressed to a Mr. Hastings, dated 12/8/1931, telling him that he is away from home at present and will send him an autographed book in about a month - most probably this copy. Remnant traces of a rusty paper clip to top of letter and to first blank and half title page where it was held. A bright copy of this early crime detective novel. £1,450

BERESFORD, J [ohn], D[avys]. The Hampdenshire Wonder. London; Sidgwick and Jackson 1911 [25846]
FIRST EDITION of the author’s important first novel; a blend of mystery, sociology and fantasy and a most influential work of fiction.
Publisher’s blue cloth titled in gilt to spine and upper. In pale blue dustwrapper, printed in navy. Book is just about fine, with some minimal toning to flyleaves (which is different paper stock from the text). Jacket is very bright and clean, with a couple of trivial chips and marks to the rear panel. A lovely example of a book that wears easily. £2,750
“[The Hampdenshire Wonder is] the study of a child with super intelligence; regarded by some as the best superman novel before Stapledon’s Odd John” [Locke, p.32]
Bleiler; Fantastic Fiction (1972) p.48.

BIERCE, Ambrose, STEADMAN, Ralph The Devil’s Dictionary. London, Bloomsbury. 2003 [26118]
FIRST EDITION THUS, with an original painting by the artist. Steadman’s interpretations of Bierce’s famous work, with a ink painting of a devil to the half-title, suitably splashed and signed by Ralph Steadman. Both book and wrapper in fine condition. £300

BIRD, J.Malcolm. [DOYLE, A.Conan] My Psychic Adventures. London, George Allen & Unwin 1923 [25953]
FIRST EDITION. An account of the American Bird’s investigations into spiritualism, who, together with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, held seances with some of the best-known English mediums of the time.
Publisher’s cloth in original dust jacket, edges lightly spotted else fine, in very good jacket, a little nicked and marked with some tanning and a rectangular sticker neatly removed from upper panel. With the original bookseller’s ticket of John M.Watkins, Publisher and Bookseller, 21 Cecil Court, London W.C.2; Watkins are likely the oldest surviving bookshop in the world specifically specialising in the Occult & the Mystical - also known as esoterica, mind body &spirit, new age, metaphysics and related subjects. £95

‘With mother standing over you...’BLOCH, Robert Psycho. London, Robert Hale. 1960 [25990]
First Edition.8vo. pp.185.Fine in publisher’s black cloth with green and white titles and decoration to spine. lovely wrapper, clean and bright with some slight edgewear and a small closed tear to the bottom edge of the rear panel. Previous owner’s signature to front free endpaper. A lovely clean, bright copy. FIRST EDITION. £750
‘An Inner Sanctum Mystery,’ famously filmed (twice!).

Account of The Order Of The Knights Of St. John of Jerusalem.BOISGELIN, Chevalier Louis De. Ancient And Modern Malta: Containing A Description Of The Ports And Cities Of The Islands Of Malta And Goza...As Also, The History Of The Knights Of St. John Of Jerusalem. London, G. and J. Robinson. 1804. [25502]
First Edition. 4to. 3 Vols. pp. (xlviii) 326,(xxxi) 258,(x) 315. 22 plates (several folding) and one large folding linen-backed map to front of volume I. Half titles and erratas present. Bound in contemporary full speckled calf, gilt ruling to boards. Black and green title labels. Volume I expertly rebacked some time ago, some slight uniform edgewear to all 3 vols (slight bumping to corners, minor chipping at head and tail of spine). Bindings solid, handsome and strong.Plain endpapers with ex libris bookplate to front pastedown and front free endpapers in all volumes. Page edges speckled in light blue. There is some sign of water or condensation staining, only really noticeable to the prelims of volume III where there is some crinkling of the paper and to the frontis of volume II. Light marginal foxing throughout, although not generally present on the plates and diagrams which seem to have been printed on superior stock. All superficial defects aside this is a solid and attractive set of a scarce and important work. £3,000

BRONTE [Charlotte, Emily, and Anne]. The Novels of the Sisters Bronte. [Set of works / writings including Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Shirley, Villette, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall] Edited by Temple Scott. Edinburgh: John Grant, 1905. [26129]
The Thornton Edition. 12 Volumes. 8vo (8½ x 17 inches). Very decorative contemporary dark blue half morocco by Bayntun with raised bands, gilt titles and gilt to spines faded to a uniform brown; blue cloth boards; top edges gilt; marbled end papers. Numerous plates, consisting of photographic reproductions of Bronte country. Very light general wear; small, neat owner’s name to vol.I. A very decorative set of Bronte’s works, unusual in a handsome old leather binding. £2,100

CARROLL, Lewis. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. London, Macmillan and Co. 1907 and 1908 [26013]
Small 8vo. 2 vols.First Edition Thus. “Miniature Edition” Finely bound in recent half red morocco with marbled boards. This edition was simply a slightly smaller (16cm by 11cm) version of the standard Macmillan format. Both volumes are uniformly bound, illustrated with the original Tenniel drawings and presented in a tailor made red cloth slipcase. An attractive and distinctive edition of an oft reprinted classic. £295

CHESTERTON, G.K. The Poet and The Lunatics. Episodes in The Life of Gabriel Gale. London, Cassell. 1929 [26149]
First Edition. 8vo. Near fine copy in publisher’s black ribbed cloth, titled in bright gilt to the spine. Slightly bumped at the head of the spine.
Dustwrapper worn at head and tail of spine with trifling loss, a little chipped to the extremties, bright and unfaded, there is a little darkening to the spine chiefly noticeable from the result of the removal of a label at the base of the spine that has resulted in a noticeably cleaner spot. Light spotting to page edges, internally clean. £750

CHRISTIE, Agatha. The Body In The Library. The Crime Club, London, 1942, [26257]
8vo. Publisher’s red cloth, lightly sunned at extremities, some edge spotting, very good. In the striking Stead designed dustwrapper, very good indeed with a couple of minor chips and tears, slight soiling to rear at foot. A superior example of a fragile wartime production. Dustwrapper shows title cleverly picked out book spines arranged on three of the library shelves. Overall an attractive, unrestored copy. FIRST EDITION. Agatha Christie’s second Miss Marple novel.
£975
Cooper & Pike; Detective Fiction

CHURCHILL, W.S. The Collected Essays. London, Library of Imperial History n.d. (1976) [25966]
4 volumes. Fine, publisher’s vellum, gilt coat of arms to upper board, all edges gilt, marbled end-papers. Each volume contained in a green slipcase with gilt crest. Centenary Edition. FIRST EDITION in book form. The first collected edition of Churchill’s essays and articles. Not available in any other form. £750
The Centenary Edition, the major collected works of Churchill, was initially published in 34 volumes. These further volumes were subsequently published, identically bound, and can stand alone as a set of essays, or complete the Centenary Edition to its full 38 volumes.
Langworth 354.

CHURCHILL, W.S. The Second World War. London, Cassell & Co. Ltd, 1948- 1954. [26233]
ALL FIRST EDITIONS. 6 vols., 8vo. Elegantly bound in recent half brown morocco with light brown cloth covered boards, raised bands, gilt titles and decoration to spines, gilt rule to boards, plain end papers; top edge gilt. With several maps. A fine set. £650
Woods A123(b). Langworth 264.

“Inscribed by Churchill to his friend and literary assistant F.W.Deakin.”CHURCHILL, Winston S. The World Crisis 1911-1918. London, Macmillan. 1941 [26112]
First Macmillan Edition. Large 8vo. 831pp. One folding map. A very good copy in publisher’s gilt titled blue cloth. Slightly rubbed to extremities, bumped to head and tail of spine, otherwise clean and solid. Wrapper rubbed and worn, mainly to the spine with a half centimetre square of loss to the tail. There are a couple of very small holes worn through the soft wrapper at the extremity of the front hinge.Other than these small damages the wrapper is solid and throoughly respectable. Some creasing to the overlapping edge of the folding map bound in at rear. This copy is inscribed by Churchill to the half title:
“From / Winston S. Churchill / 1946” This copy belonged to Sir Frederick William Deakin (1913-2005), a close personal friend of Churchill’s and a literary collaborator on several of Churchill’s major works including the masterpiece “A History of The Second World War.”Deakin later became Churchill’s literary assistant (1936-1940 and 1945-1955). Martin Gilbert in his biography of Churchill cites Deakin as being "at the centre of the web of all Churchill's literary efforts." During the gap in his literary duties imposed by the Second World War Deakin worked with The Special Operations Executive on a number of hazardous and secret missions including being a member of the first military mission to support Tito’s partisans in Yugoslavia. He was awarded the DSO for his work and his evaluation of the situation in Yugoslavia had a profound bearing upon all subsequent British military decision making regarding the region. He was in fact wounded with Tito by the same bomb that killed his colleague Captain W.F.Stuart. He was renowned for his patience and attention to detail, and was feted as an excellent lecturer and teacher. One can only assume that a combination of the patience of a saint and the ability to stay cool under heavy fire would have been invaluable to anyone willing to take on the duties of being Churchill’s literary assistant. A lovely association. £2,750

World's greatest blues guitarist - ‘Clapton Is God’CLAPTON, Eric. BLAKE, Peter, Derek TAYLOR [BEATLES] 24 Nights / Twenty Four Nights. Genesis Press, Guildford 1991 [26142]
Slim Quarto. Colour plates and illustrations. Book and scrapbook, with additional material. Original green morocco boards, gilt edges, together with a laminated stage pass, guitar picks, and a pack of guitar strings, plus limited double c.d ‘24 Nights’, the whole contained in custom-made clamshell box with card tray. A fine production, as expected from Genesis, the pioneers of high quality art-rock publications. 24 Nights is a unique collaboration between Eric Clapton, Peter Blake, Derek and Derek Taylor. Issued to commemorate Eric Clapton's record 24-night performance at the Royal Albert Hall in 1991.
Peter Blake's scrapbook is a collection of pencil sketches, charcoal drawings and montages showing Eric and the band during rehearsals and performances. Blake was the Associate Artist of the National Gallery and is probably best known for his graphic cover of The Beatles' 'Sergeant Pepper' album cover. A vast selection of original memorabilia from the concert tour including back stage passes, hotel room lists, polaroid photographs, seating plans, set lists, laminates and sheet music are reproduced in the scrapbook, many of them tipp-ins pasted in by hand.
The scrapbook is accompanied by a commentary book by Derek Taylor. Taylor attended rehearsals in Dublin, performances at the Royal Albert Hall and the after-show party. His account provides a unique insight into the backstage and on-the-road world of Eric Clapton and his band. A former publicist for the Beatles’ Apple Corps (as well as the Mamas and Papas, The Beach Boys and The Byrds), Taylor was one of the most influential music industry professionals of the time. His commentary offers the reader a rare opportunity to experience an insider's perspective on the man who is universally recognised as the world's greatest blues guitarist, labelled ‘God’ during his time with John Mayall, Cream, and Blind Faith in the mid to late sixties. £975

ENGLISH CIVIL WARCLARENDON, Edward Earl of. The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. With the Precedent Passages, and Actions, that Contributed There Unto, and the Happy End and Conclusion Thereof by the King’s Blessed Restoration, and Return Upon the 29th of May, in the Year 1660. Oxford: Printed at the Theater, 1702, 1703, 1704. [26284]
First Editions. 3 Folio volumes (18 x 11 inches). With fine engraved portrait frontispiece to each volume, vignettes on title-pages, half-titles, letter pieces. Bound to style in recent full speckled calf with panelled boards, red and green title labels and raised bands to spines. Minimal, light and unobtrusive damp marks to lower margin of a few leaves of vol.II. Clean and bright. Large Paper copies. Scarce thus (Lowndes states 50 copies printed - p.467) .
“larendon’s History of the Rebellion is one of the noblest historical works of the English nation.” Edinburgh Review.
“...Printed under the supervision of Clarendon’s son... it remains a classic work... It is also an important contribution to the art of biography and autobiography, and memorable for its portraits of figures as varied as Falkland, Godolphin, Laud, and Strafford.” The Oxford Companion to English Literature, p.202. £2,100

CLARKE, Arthur C. Rendezvous With Rama. London, Gollancz. 1973 [25882]
First Edition. 8vo. 256pp. Near fine in publisher’s dark green cloth, two tiny spots of fading or bleaching to the bottom front corners of the boards and some trivial bumping to the head and tail of spine otherwise clean and unmarked. Wrapper clean and fine. Winner of five major sci-fi awards including the Hugo, one of Clarke’s most intriguing novels, the theme of the floating alien derelict has been oft repeated in the annals of sci-fi, but never so convincingly. £275

Cobbett on Revolutionary America in Original BoardsCOBBETT, William [Porcupine]. Porcupine’s Works; Containing Various Writings and Selections, Exhibiting a faithful picture of the United States of America; Of their governments, laws, politics, and resources; of the characters of their presidents, governors, legislators, magistrates and military men; and of the customs, manners, morals, religion, virtues and vices of the people: Comprising also a complete series of historical documents and remarks from the end of the war, in 1783 to the election of the president, in March, 1801. London, printed for Cobbett & Morgan. 1801. [26079]
12 vols., 8vo. Finely bound in recent brown half calf with raised bands, gilt titles and gilt to spines; marbled boards. Dusty untrimmed edges; occasional Chelsea library’s small discreet stamps; light foxing to some pages. The only collected edition of the works. Scarce.
“Cobbett in these volumes, has left a picture of the politics and leading politians of America, which (with caution) must be studied by all who would understand the party questions which agitated America, and the violence with which they were discussed.” [Kent]
£1,450
Sabin, 14009 [vol. III p. 187]

[CONAN DOYLE, Arthur] [NANSEN, Fridtjof] contibutes to...‘THE STRAND MAGAZINE’ . No.36 ORIGINAL ISSUE IN WRAPPERS. ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes- The Final Problem’, plus ‘Towards The North Pole’. George Newnes Ltd., London, December 1893 [26269]
This Double issue contains the FIRST APPEARANCE of the notorious ‘The Adventure of The Final Problem’ by A.C Doyle, illustrated by Sidney Paget, later published as the last story in ‘The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes’. The frontispiece is the legendary ‘Death of Sherlock Holmes’ plate showing Holmes and Moriarty at the Riechenbach Falls; this is one of the most famous and controversial Holmes stories in which our hero was killed off by Doyle, who was desperate to break from the phenomenon he’d created, and was particulalry keen to write more historical fiction. The disappointment of the public (not to mention the staff at ‘The Strand’) knew no bounds when the news of Holmes death became known. The author was subjected to abuse and ‘Tit Bits’ announced the setting-up of a Sherlock Holmes Memorial Prize. This desirable issue also contains ‘Toward the North Pole’ by the explorer Nansen, fully illustrated with rare photos and written especially for this publication.


Original issue magazine format, approx. 9.5 x 6.5 inches with pictorial covers, illustrated throughout. Very good; text block with a couple of tiny spots else internally clean. Covers with minor edgewear, spine a touch wrinkled with loss to the final inch or so. Without the loose colour seasonal extra (as usual). Shows very well indeed. Whilst the hardbound six-monthly volumes survive comparatively well, these fragile single issues were not intended to be kept for posterity and are scarce. George Newnes' Strand Magazine (January 1891-March 1950) was the most popular and important British periodical of its time. Geared to the English Victorian middle class, the success of the Strand was intertwined with the writing of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and P.G.Wodehouse. The combination of fiction, current events, informative articles and the promised 'picture on every page' proved a winning formula for the magazine, which proved a popular source for the best in current fiction, featuring the works of some of the greatest authors of the 19th and 20th centuries including H.G Wells, Jules Verne, Leo Tolstoy, H Rider Haggard, Rudyard Kipling, D.H. Lawrence, E.Nesbit, Winston Churchill, Graham Greene, J.B. Priestley, C.S.Lewis, W.E. Johns, and, of course, major contributors Doyle and Wodehouse.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was to prove one of the Strand's most popular (and prolific) writers. Right until his death in 1930, he was a regular and frequent contributor to the magazine, which featured not only his classic 'Sherlock Holmes' investigations but also a wealth of his other short fiction and serialized novels including the hugely successful 'Professor Challenger' stories, his historical fiction, spiritualism and military journalism.
Continuing the tradition started by Doyle, the Strand became a source for new detective and adventure fiction from authors such as Agatha Christie (with Hercule Poirot), G.K. Chesterton (Father Brown), Margery Allingham (Mr. Campion), E.C. Bentley (Trent) 'Sapper' (Bulldog Drummond, Ronald Standish), Edgar Wallace, Leslie Charteris (the Saint), E.Phillips Oppenheim, Dorothy L. Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey), Georges Simenon (Inspector Maigret), Eric Ambler and Carter Dickson. There were even detective stories from established authors otherwise unknown for their crime writing; notably W. Somerset Maugham and Aldous Huxley. £475
DeWaal 68. Green & Gibson A14.

[CONAN DOYLE, Arthur], [WELLS, H.G] contibutes to...‘THE STRAND MAGAZINE’ . No.156, ORIGINAL ISSUE IN WRAPPERS. ‘The Return of Sherlock Holmes- The Adventure of the Dancing Men’ George Newnes Ltd., London, December 1903 [26272]
This issue contains the FIRST APPEARANCE of ‘The Adventure of The Dancing Men’ by A.C Doyle, illustrated by Sidney Paget, later published as the third story in ‘The Return of Sherlock Holmes’. Several of the illustrations are exclusive to the serial parts. Also contains the remarkable forecast of the military tank ‘The Land Ironclads’ by H.G.Wells, which was later republished by ‘The Strand’ during the Great War Years, such was its prediction.
Original issue magazine format, approx. 9.5 x 6.5 inches with colour pictorial covers, illustrated throughout. Internally fine, but covers are fair only, with some chips and tears to upper, loss to lower third of spine and rear, corners torn to final two advert leaves, taped to spine and similarly to inside joints. Still a rare survival. Whilst the hardbound six-monthly volumes survive comparatively well, these fragile single issues were not intended to be kept for posterity and are scarce.


George Newnes' Strand Magazine (January 1891-March 1950) was the most popular and important British periodical of its time. Geared to the English Victorian middle class, the success of the Strand was intertwined with the writing of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and P.G.Wodehouse. The combination of fiction, current events, informative articles and the promised 'picture on every page' proved a winning formula for the magazine, which proved a popular source for the best in current fiction, featuring the works of some of the greatest authors of the 19th and 20th centuries including H.G Wells, Jules Verne, Leo Tolstoy, H Rider Haggard, Rudyard Kipling, D.H. Lawrence, E.Nesbit, Winston Churchill, Graham Greene, J.B. Priestley, C.S.Lewis, W.E. Johns, and, of course, major contributors Doyle and Wodehouse.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was to prove one of the Strand's most popular (and prolific) writers. Right until his death in 1930, he was a regular and frequent contributor to the magazine, which featured not only his classic 'Sherlock Holmes' investigations but also a wealth of his other short fiction and serialized novels including the hugely successful 'Professor Challenger' stories, his historical fiction, spiritualism and military journalism.
Continuing the tradition started by Doyle, the Strand became a source for new detective and adventure fiction from authors such as Agatha Christie (with Hercule Poirot), G.K. Chesterton (Father Brown), Margery Allingham (Mr. Campion), E.C. Bentley (Trent) 'Sapper' (Bulldog Drummond, Ronald Standish), Edgar Wallace, Leslie Charteris (the Saint), E.Phillips Oppenheim, Dorothy L. Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey), Georges Simenon (Inspector Maigret), Eric Ambler and Carter Dickson. There were even detective stories from established authors otherwise unknown for their crime writing; notably W. Somerset Maugham and Aldous Huxley. £145
DeWaal 47. Green & Gibson A29.

CONRAD, Joseph. Typhoon. London, Heinemann. 1903 [25903]
First Edition. First Issue. 8vo. 2pp. ads +304pp. +32pp. ads at rear. Very good indeed in publisher’s slate grey cloth.Gilt ‘lifebelt’ motif to front board, gilt titles to spine. Some light bumping and edgewear otherwise a super copy. £375

CORNWELL, Bernard. Sharpe’s Sword. Richard Sharpe and the Salamanca Campaign, June and July, 1812. London, Collins, 1983. [26258]
FIRST EDITION. By far the most scarce Sharpe title, with a very small first print run of around 500 copies. Rare. Publisher’s cloth in jacket. Minimal wear; near fine. £1,250

CROWLEY, Aleister. The Equinox. The Official Organ of the A.’.A.’. The Official Organ of the O. T. O. The Review of Scientific Illuminism. The Method of Science; the Aim of Religion. Vol. III. No. I. [Blue Equinox] Detroit: The Universal Publishing Company, 1919. [25925]
FIRST EDITION. Quarto (250 x 190mm) pp. 307, 132 [10 ads.] Publisher’s blue cloth with red design and titles to upper and spine, white endpapers and edges untrimmed. Title printed in red and black, colour portrait frontispiece and 6 further plates one of which also in colour. Rubbing to extremities and light browning to spine; red title remain bright. Internally clean and fresh, with all text printed tissue guards present. Small booksellers ticket to foot of first blank. An important publication, the “Blue Equinox” contains among other items: Hymn to Pan; a manifesto of the A.·.A.·. and reading list for prospective students; The Sevenfold Sacrament; The Book of the Heart Girt with the Serpent; The Gnostic Mass and the supplement is H. P. Blavatsky’s The Voice of Silence, with a commentary by Crowley. An excellent copy. £450
Yorke [63C.1]

“Borrowed Plumes”CROWLEY, Aleister. [GARDNER, F. Leigh.] 777. Vel Prolegomena Symbolica Ad Systemam Sceptico-Mysticae Viae Explicandae, Fundamentum Hieroglyphicum Sanctissimorum Scientiae Summae. London: The Walter Scott Publishing Co., Ltd., 1909. [24968]
FIRST EDITION. Limited to 500 copies. Slim octavo (220 x 140mm). pp. x, 54. Publisher’s scarlet buckram over bevelled boards, 777 in gilt to upper, white endpapers, edges untrimmed. A little bumping to corners, light water staining to top of front board and spine, not affecting pages, small 777 written in black ink to spine. Browning to endpapers, otherwise pages are clean. Lacking the perforated Equinox subscription form at rear, the remaining stub has been cut out, with an early processed copy of the errata slip with the Tree of Life diagram looselt inserted. A very good copy of Crowley’s extensive tables of magical correspondences, based on Allan Bennett’s notes from material gathered by Macgregor Mathers, and assisted by George Cecil Jones. F. LEIGH GARDNER’S COPY, WITH HIS PERTINENT INSCRIPTION TO FRONT PASTEDOWN: “Borrowed Plumes (underlined) | a valuable book written by | a Renegade Frater, who passed | off & posed as a Hierophant. | F. L. Gardner.” Gardner (De Profundis Ad Lucem) was a member of the Isis-Urania Temple of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, joining in 1894. He contributed to the writing of rituals and also sponsored the research of MacGregor Mathers’ (Deo Duce Comite Ferro) translation of The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, published in 1898, the same year that Crowley (Perdurabo) also joined the Golden Dawn. Gardner however sided with the majority of members against Mathers and Crowley in the split of 1900. He was also a confidante of W. Wynn Westcott’s (Sapere Aude), a founding member of the Order, who supplied introductions to Gardner’s three occult bibliographies on Rosicrucian, Astrological and Masonic books. £1,250
Yorke [57]

DAHL, Roald. [Blake, Quentin] Rhyme Stew. London, Jonathan Cape. 1989 [25927]
First Edition. 4to. 80pp. A fine copy in like dustwrapper. Signed by both Dahl and Blake to the title page. Very scarce to find a copy signed by both author and illustrator. £975

DAHL, Roald. BLAKE, Quentin The Twits London, Johnathan Cape 1980 [25926]
FIRST EDITION: 8vo. Publisher’s red cloth boards and pictorial dust-jacket. This copy is hard to fault especially as it is signed by both the inimitable Mr.Dahl and the immensely popular Mr.Quentin Blake:
On front free endpaper: “To Gerry/ With Love/ Roald dahl / 14th march 1981.”
and on the half title: “Best Wishes / To Gerry / Quentin Blake.”
Rare to have it signed by Dahl, not easy to have it signed by Blake, rarer than Golden Tickets to have it signed by both. £1,650

DARWIN, Charles. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. John Murray, London, 1871. [26110]
2 volumes. 8vo. Publisher’s green cloth with gilt titles to rubbed spines with small chips, boards bumped to extremities and corners slightly worn. Some pages creased, foxing to catalogues on vol.I and II. In-text black and white illustrations throughout. FIRST EDITIONS, FIRST ISSUE. £1,250

DEFOE, Daniel. The Works of Daniel Defoe. With the Author’s Prefaces, and Introductions by G.H. Maynadier. New York: George D. Sproul, 1905. [26321]
The Hand-Made Edition, Limited to 150 copies. 16 volumes; 8vo. Finely bound in recent full green morocco with twin red title labels and gilt box design to spines; gilt rule to boards; top edges gilt; marbled end papers. Coloured frontispieces and numerous full-page black and white illustrations with entitled tissue guards. A clean, beautful set. £1,850

DICKENS, Charles. A Christmas Carol. London: Chapman and Hall, 1844 [1843]. [26170]
First Edition, First Issue, 8vo; pp. 166 + [1] ads. First Issue publisher’s ribbed brown cloth binding with 15mm margin between blindstamping and gilt vignette. Expert restoration work to the spine. All edges gilt. Four coloured Leech plates and four in text etchings. Some slight toning to “Mr. Fezziwig’s Ball.” Some light sporadic spotting to pages. Glazed yellow endpapers. A lovely copy of a rare title from the author who defines Victorian England in the eyes of many. £6,000

DICKENS, Charles. Oliver Twist. London, Bradbury and Evans. 1846 [25930]
First Octavo, One Volume Edition. Beautifully bound by Riviere in rich polished calf with gilt ruling to boards and extra gilt titles and decorations to spine. Marbled endpapers, very slight scuffing to extremities, otherwise lovely. Page edges untrimmed. top edge gilt. Internally bright, clean and incredibly, unfoxed. The Cruickshank illustrations wonderfully clear and unmarred when so many similar copies are browned or heavily foxed. £695

DOYLE, Arthur Conan. The Complete Sherlock Holmes; The Short Stories (His Adventures, Memoirs, Return, Last Bow and Case-Book). Together with The Long Stories (A Study In Scarlet, Sign of Four, Hound of the Baskervilles and Valley of Fear). John Murray, London, 1928, 1929. [26146]
BOTH FIRST EDITIONS, each with a brand new preface from Conan Doyle. 8vo., 2 volumes, collecting the entire Sherlock Holmes adventures and novels. Elegantly bound in recent red half morocco with raised bands, gilt titles to spine, cloth boards, top edge gilt, housed in a fleece-lined slipcase. Slight browning to half-title of Long Stories, else a fine set. £600

DOYLE, Arthur Conan, The Croxley Master. New York, McLure, Phillips and Co. 1907 [25944]
First Separate Edition (previously only published as part of a collection). Bound in half red morocco with red cloth boards. Gilt ruling to boards. Gilt titles and ruling to spine. Black title labels, marbled endpapers.Colour frontispiece with tissue guard. A smart copy, peels to advantage. £145

Challenger Embarks.DOYLE, Arthur Conan. The Lost World. Being an account of the recent amazing adventures of Professor George E. Challenger, Lord John Roxton, Professor Summerlee, and Mr. E. D. Malone of the “Daily Gazette”. London: Hodder and Stoughton, [1912], [25848]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo., pp. (vii) + 319. With photographic portrait frontispiece of members of the expedition, plates and map. Elegantly hand-bound in full blue oasis morocco leather, spine gilt-lettered in six compartments with raised bands, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt. Internally clean. A fine copy in attractive recent binding. £475

DOYLE, Arthur Conan. Memories and Adventures. London, Hodder and Stoughton. October 1924 [26113]
Second printing misrepresented as second edition by the publisher. Large 8vo. 408pp. +2pps ads. Publisher’s blue gilt titled cloth boards. A lovely copy with slight bumping, a little scuffing and wear to the extremities, solid, clean and distinguished. Signed by Conan Doyle to the title page. Signed copies of this printing were given away by Newnes’s Strand Magazine as prizes. A fascintaing autobiographical account of Conan Doyle’s life, also contains the first appearance of “The Adventure of The Two Collaborators” a Sherlock Holmes pastiche created by Doyle’s friend and fellow author J.M.Barrie describing Holmes death ata a time when Doyle was feeling increasingly put upon by the success of his creation. £750

DOYLE, Arthur Conan. The Sign of Four. [A Sherlock Holmes Story] London, George Newnes Limited 1892. [26094]
SECOND EDITION. Exceptionally fine in publisher’s brown ribbed cloth, slightly bumped to the head of the spine and with a very small crease to the cloth on the top corner of the front board. No fading of the coloured decoration to the front board and the gilt is a sbright as the day it was laid. Patterned endpapers. Quite simply a beautiful copy. A fine copy of the second printing of the second Sherlock Holmes novel, now reasonably difficult to uncover... £1,500

DOYLE, Arthur Conan. The Speckled Band. London, Samuel French. 1912 [26111]
First Edition, First Issue. Small 8vo. 124pp.+ 2pp ads. Blue cloth boards with black leathert title label lettered in gilt. A fine unblemished copy. Slightly dusty top edge all edges speckled in red. The first and rarest of four possible issues of this classic tale in play form, the play was first performed at the Adelphi London on 4th June 1910 and then continued to tour after its transfer to the Globe Theatre on the 8th August. A fascinating piece of theatrical Holmesiana. £2,500
Green and Gibson A36a.

DRUMMOND, Henry. [Fore-edge] The Lowell Lectures on The Ascent of Man. London, Hodder and Stoughton. 1894 [26217]
Twentieth thousand. 8vo. Publisher’s dark brown morocco, gilt titles and decoration to spine, gilt ruling to boards and prize giving announcement in gilt to front board. Neat ink awar inscription to verso of ffep. Marbled endpapers, gilt inner dentelles. Trivial wear to extremities, otherwise clean, bright and attractive. In keeping with the subject matter of the book, it has been decorated with an unusual vertical fore-edge painting of the interior of the Nartural History Museum in Kensington, London complete with dinosaur skeletons, though without hordes of rampaging schoolchildren. £495

FITZGERALD, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1925. [26310]
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. Octavo pp. 218. Recent full green oasis morocco leather with traditional raised bands, gilt titles to spine, facsimile of author’s signature tooled in gilt to upper with gilt border to boards, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers, publisher’s original boards bound in at the rear. A beautiful copy. £2,100
Bruccoli [A11]

Bond In HarlemFLEMING, Ian Live and Let Die. (a James Bond novel) Jonathan Cape, London, 1954. [25878]
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. Publisher’s black, gilt embossed cloth in dustwrapper without the credit to artist Kenneth Lewis to front flap. Light general wear and some dustiness else a fine, unclipped copy. £6,000
Biondi/Pickard

BLOFELD’S COPY!!!FLEMING, Ian. You Only Live Twice (a James Bond novel) Jonathan Cape, London, 1964 [26047]
FIRST EDITION, ASSOCIATION COPY from the Blofeld family. This is the final novel of the ‘Blofeld’ trilogy, which began with ‘Thunderball’ (1961) and was followed by ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ (1963).
Publisher’s cloth in pictorial dustwrapper. Some edge-spotting, slightly cocked, small circle of browning to rear panel. A very good copy, which belonged to Ian Fleming’s friend John Blofeld (with ownership details inscribed to flyleaf, additionally signed by Henry Blofeld); Fleming named Bond’s nemesis after John Blofeld, a fellow diner at the Gentleman’s club ‘Boodles’ in St. James, London (which became the ‘Blades’ club of the novels). Blofeld’s son Henry later became part of the Fleming ‘set’ when he befriended the author as well as writer Noel Coward (who was also Fleming’s neighbour in Jamaica). Henry Blofeld later found fame as the pithy raconteur and commentator for BBC Sports’ ‘Test Match Special’. An interesting association. Published in 1963, this is the second part of a collection of James Bond books that has become known as the ‘Blofeld’ trilogy, sitting between Thunderball (1961) and You Only Live Twice (1964).
The title was filmed by Eon Productions in 1969, starring George Lazenby as 007, Diana Rigg as Tracy and Telly Savalas as Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Directed by Peter Hunt, with a terrific storyline and slick script from the ever-reliable screenwriter Richard Maibaum, O.H.M.S.S. features superb action, spectacular locations, a marvelous John Barry score, and, in Contessa Teresa de Vicenzo (aka Tracy, aka Mrs James Bond), probably the greatest Bond Girl of all time. The movie, unlike most in the series, was faithful to the original Ian Fleming novel and is a fine thriller; one of the grittiest movies of the series.
£875

[FLEMING, Ian.] BOND, Mary Wickham .(Mrs. James Bond). How 007 Got His Name. London, Collins. 1966. [26007]
FIRST EDITION. An interesting account of the ornithologist James Bond, whose name Fleming took for his legendary fictional spy and thus becoming one of the most famous names in literary history. Also includes a short piece on the solitary meeting between Fleming and the ‘real’ James Bond. Octavo. Publisher’s mint green cloth in pictorial dustwrapper in a typical Bond style (by Barbosa, after Chopping). Contains 2 black and white photographs and small illustrations of birds at the beginning of each chapter. Jacket shows trivial wear. A beautiful fine copy of this essential piece of Bondiana. £100

[FLEMING, Ian] WOOD, Christopher. James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me. Jonathan Cape, London, 1977 [26069]
FIRST EDITION. Octavo. Publisher’s black cloth with gilt titles to spine. A lovely fine copy in a fine, price-clipped dust wrapper. Many copies of the hardback went to libraries and are thus ink stamped and worn. This is the original story / novel of the 1977 James Bond film ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ written under licence from Ian Fleming’s copyright holders Glidrose. When Fleming sold the film rights to his novels he would not consent to this title and Moonraker being filmed as written; he felt ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ was an experimental novel (with female perspective and narrative), and ‘Moonraker’ was somewhat dated; therefore both would need re-writing and Christopher wood was brought in by director Lewis Gilbert to produce a screenplay and subsequent novel, a task he repeated for the next film ‘Moonraker’. £1,000

FLUDD, Robert. Philosophia Moysaica. In qua Sapientia et scientia creationis et creaturarum Sacra veréque Christiana (ut pote cujus basis sive Fundamentun est unicus ille Lapis Angularis Iesus Christus) ab amussin et enucleaté explicatur. Authore, Rob. Flud, alias De Fluctibus, Armigero et in Medicina Doctore Oxoniensi. [together with] Responsum ad Hoplocrisma-Spongum M. Fosteri Presbiteri... Gouda, Petrus Rammazenius 1638. [24521]
FIRST EDITIONS. Two works in one volume. Small folio. pp.153, 30, [2 errata]. Modern full vellum, yapp edges, with ink titles to spine. Engraved title, image repeated as separate plate and again for the divisional title of second part, and other small woodcuts within the text. Some decorative initials and tail-pieces. Some browning to vellum as usual. Repair to bottom corner of first 4 leaves, with a little loss to the date numerals on the title page, occasional light contemporary underlining, otherwise a fresh clean copy with wide margins and strong bold type. Housed in a cloth drop-over box with leather title label to spine. Robert Fludd (1574-1637) was a doctor, alchemist and the foremost Rosicrucian apologist in 17th Century England. He published a series of folios, describing his mystical and alchemical cosmology. In the Philosophia Moysaica, his last work, we find a culmination of his theories of creation via the separation of the three principles of Light, Dark and Water (influenced by the Paracelsian theory of Mercury, Sulphur and Salt), by the divine alchemy of God. The second work is a reply to William Foster’s Hoplocrisma-Spongus: Or, a Sponge to Wipe Away the Weapon Salve, in which he accused Fludd and others who practiced this cure (the wound was kept clean but untreated, and the weapon was anointed with the patient’s blood or a mixture containing it) of witchcraft. An excellent copy of Fludd’s last work. £5,000
Craven [pp. 249, 251]; Gardner Rosic. [187, 186]

[FORE-EDGE] [TAYLOR, John, and HESSEY, James] ROGERS, Samuel. Poems. London: Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies, by T. Bensley, 1814. [26206]
8vo. Contemporary full straight grain dark blue morocco with gilt raised bands, gilt titles and delicate extra gilt tooling to spine; gilt and blank panelling to boards; inner dentelle; grey end papers. Stamped in gilt to the fore edge of each board are ‘Taylor and Hessey’, and ‘Booksellers London’. The fore-edge painting shows a castle atop in the distance, its presence heightened by lush trees and houses placed in the foreground framing it. A truly beautiful book with an original and contemporary fore-edge painting by Taylor and Hussey, followers of Edwards of Halifax, in the early part of the 19th century.
“Taylor & Hessey usually bound their fine books in morocco - red, blue, brown, crimson, green - and ‘signed’ their bindings by stamping their name in gilt in the fore-edge of the binding (not of the leaves, note), whenever the boards inside the leather were thick enough to carry the name of the firm... But their water-color artist who worked on the fore-edge of the leaves did not follow the same practice, and we are therefore unable to name that artist. This is regrettable, for he was an extremely able fore-edge decorator.”
“... All the Taylor & Hessey edges are decorated with pictures of buildings or landscapes. the former predominate...”.
Carl Weber, Fore-edge Painting, p.107. £2,100

FORSTER, E.M. Abinger Harvest. London: Arnold, 1936. [26292]
First Edition. First Issue. Publisher’s blue cloth with gilt titles to spine, lightly rubbed to extremities, slight toning to edges of the pages, in a very bright dustwrapper, a little frayed to head and foot of spine, and a touch sunned to spine. Shows extremely well. A collection of essays on writers including T.E. Lawrence, Ibsen, Eliot, Austen, Proust, etc., and places such as India, France, England etc.
E.M.Forster was awarded the 1924 James Tait Black Memorial Prize, founded in memory of a partner in the publishing house of A. & C. Black Ltd., and one of the oldest and most prestigious book awards in Britain. £450
Kirkpatrick [A18a]

FRANKLIN, Benjamin. The Works of B. Franklin.[set of writings/essays/papers]. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, The Knickerbocker Press, 1904. [26210]
The Federal Edition, Limited to 1000 sets of which this is No 283. Large 8vo; 12 volumes. Engraved portrait frontispieces. Finely bound in recent mid-brown half morocco with raised bands, two dark brown title labels and gilt to spines; light brown cloth boards; top edges gilt, others rough trimmed. A superb set. £1,750

GEBER (HAYYAN Jabir Ibn) [PSEUDO-GEBER] Gebri Arabis. Chimicæ Cum Correctione et Medulla G: Horni M. d. Nor. Gebri Arabis Chimia sive Traditio summæ Perfectionis et Investigatio Magisterii innumeris locis emendata, à Caspare Hornio Medico Reip. Noribergensis Accessit ejusdem Medulla Alchimiæ Gebricæ Omnia Edita à Georgio Hornio. Lugduni Batauorum (Leiden): Arnoldo Doude, 1668. [24929]
Duodecimo (137 x 70mm). pp. 279 (241-279 mispaginated as 141-179). Later full limp vellum, orange label with gilt titles to spine, plain endpapers. Engraved title, woodcut head- and tail-pieces and initials. A little soiling to vellum, rubbed to top corner of lower board and small split to upper board. Title label rubbed and chipped to edges. Bookplate of the Bibliotech Rosales Bernate to front pastedown, but no other library markings. Small ink stain to page 63, not affecting text, otherwise clean internally. Many works were attributed to Geber (Jabir ibn Hayyan c.721 - 800) divided between the earlier, more authentic Greek influenced Arabic writings and the later spurious Pseudo-Geber, 13th and 14th Century Latin works. It is these latter works that are contained in this volume, particularly the famous Sum of Perfection, a concise and clearly written summary of alchemical theory and practice. The editor of this edition was Caspar Horn and he also contributed the Medulla Alchimiæ Gebricæ, a summation of Geber’s works in 100 aphorisms, which is printed here for the first time. This edition was not published until after his death by Georg Horn. £975
Caillet [4419]; Duveen [239]; Ferguson/Young [299]

GLANVIL, Joseph. Saducismus Triumphatus: Or, Full and Plain Evidence Concerning Witches and Apparitions. In Two Parts. The First Treating of their Possibility. The Second of their Real Existence. By Joseph Glanvil, late Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty, and fellow of the Royal Society. The Second Edition. The Advantages Whereof Above the Former, the Reader may Understand out of Dr. H. More’s Account Prefixed Thereunto. With Two Authentick, but Wonderful Stories of Certain Swedish Witches; done into English by Anth. Horneck D. D. London: Printed by Tho. Newcomb, for S. Lownds at his Shop by the Savoy Gate, 1682. [25570]
SECOND EDITION. Small octavo (173 x 100mm) pp. [Title, 17]; 52; [Title, 11]; 162; [Title, 5]; 78; [Title, 11]; 273; [blank]; [Title, blank]; 3-67; [blank]; [Title, blank]; 5-45; [blank]; [Title, blank]; [16]; 3-24; [Errata, blank] Recent period style quarter calf with marbled boards. Raised bands, blind-stamped centres, gilt titles to red label, gilt date to foot of spine, plain endpapers. Illustrated with frontispiece and engraved title showing six images, both neatly remargined and strengthened, 3 small woodcuts within the text and 1 plate to the end of the last section. Small, older repairs to main title page with no loss of text, trimmed, particularly to top edge, touching a couple of headlines. A little browning and spotting, but most pages clean. A very good copy of this famous treatise seeking to prove the actual existence of real witchcraft. Joseph Glanvill (1636-1680) first published: Some Philosophical Considerations Touching the Being of Witches and Witchcraft in 1667. The credulousness of Glanvill, along with Meric Causabon and Henry More was derided by John Webster in his Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft of 1677. Henry More responded by republishing Glanvill’s work, adding much of his own material, in 1681, quickly followed by various other editions. The book strongly influenced Cotton Mather and was refered to at the Salem witch trials. His own Wonders of the Invisible World (1693) was largely modelled after this book and its arguments. The book is also famous for the telling of the Demon Drummer of Tedworth, an early poltergeist story. £975
Coumont [G38.5]

GRAHAM, Thomas J. [Fore-edge] Modern Domestic Medicine. A Popular Treatise. London, Simkin and Marshall. 1835 [26218]
Sixth Edition (“Very Considerably Enlarged.” for which there should be a remedy in here somewhere). Publisher’s full dark green morocoo leather, titled and decorated in gilt to spine and front boards. Slight scuffing to the extremities and the fron inner hingle is frail but tenacious. Plain yellow endpapers. A fascinating compendium of recipes and prescriptions for common and rather more uncommon ailments (Superior Goulard Water being one to avoid as the active ingredient would appear to be “Extract of Lead”), further decorated by a splendid split fore-edge of Dr. Jenner performing a vaccination on the one side, with an austere Greek gentleman of classical mien offering earlier and less progressive medical advice on the other. £750

GREENE, Graham. The Bear Fell Free. London, Grayson and Grayson. 1935 [25934]
Signed Ltd. Edition. 8vo. One of the titles in “The Grayson Books” series, a collection of signed limited editions by notable authors. Fine in publisher’s gilt decrated brown cloth, decorated endpapers, clad in a cream and blue wrapper with some light toning and edgewear and a one centimetre closed tear to the bottom of the front hinge. Tiny signs of wear to the top of the spine. This particular copy is numbered 10 of 285 and is signed by Greene to the limititation page. A scarce object. £1,250

GREENE, Graham. The Ministry of Fear. An Entertainment. William Heinemann Ltd., London, 1943. [26095]
8vo., pp. 236. Publisher’s cream cloth, a little marked else fine. In a particularly bright example of the scarce dustwrapper, a little spotted to rear, with one chip and closed tear to top of spine, price clipped. Conforming with wartime economy, the wrapper has been printed twice, the verso showing the fine pictoral design for Margery Allingham’s Traitor’s Purse, this too being a scarce wrapper. Shows extremely well. FIRST EDITION. Rare in dustwrapper.
The binding is Wobbe’s variant, as opposed to the bright yellow cloth usually seen. Miller notes a similar copy at the Lilly Library, described in their catalogue as a first issue binding. £3,750
Wobbe [A18a]; Miller [22]

GREENE, Graham. The Return of A.J. Raffles. London: The Bodley Head, 1975. [26147]
A very fine copy in near fine wrapper. 250 copies of the first edition were hard bound and SIGNED by the author. Only nos. 81-250 were for sale. This is copy number 33.A. J. Raffles, the amateur cracksman, was the creation of E W Hornung, brother in law to Arthur Conan Doyle. Raffles was meant to be a counterpart to Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, and in Edwardian England he became a popular character. The idea for this play occured to Greene after seeing the RSC production of Sherlock Holmes in 1974. For Greene, who was an expert on Victorian and edwardian Crime Fiction, Raffles seems almost natural subject matter. £395
Wobbe A62

GROTE, George. A History of Greece. From the Earliest Period to the Close of the Generation Contemporary with Alexander the Great. London: John Murray, 1883. [26053]
12 volumes, small 8vo (7 x 13 inches). Superb in contemporary half tan calf with raised bands, twin ( red and black) title labels and extra gilt to spines; marbled boards, end papers and edges. With Portrait and Plans. A fine set, corners very lightly rubbed and bumped, in an old traditional leather binding. £875

HIGHSMITH, Patricia. The Talented Mr.Ripley. London, Cresset Press. 1957 [25986]
First UK Edition. Near fine in publisher’s red cloth, some spotting to edges and a slight dulling of the gilt. Very good, clean price-clipped dustwrapper, faded to spine as always and a trifle edgeworn, slight fraying to the head of spine. A very respectable copy, unlike its eponymous anti-hero who strives for respectability but unfortunately doesn’t know what it is. Ripley’s only virtue is an abstract one; that he’s far more like a real person than any other character you are likely to encounter in a crime novel. £975

HODGSON, William Hope. The House On The Borderland. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1946 [26319]
First US Edition. Large 8vo.639pp. Near fine in publisher’s gilt tiled and decorated black cloth, light edgewear one small bump to the point of the bottom front corner. Gorgeous crisp unfaded Hannes Bok dustwrapper featuring a host of rainbow hued unspeakables and an almost unheard of clean, white rear panel. Maybe the slightest toning to the page edges, but barely perceptible. Not merely containing the House On The Borderland, which the word ‘seminal’ only begins to describe, but also The Night Land (which makes the vision of Lovecraft look all cramped and unambitious by comparison) in convoy with The Ghost Pirates and The Boats Of Glen Carrig, tales packed to the top-sails with giant octopods, Sargasso weed and ghostly ships that pass in the night. Hyperbole aside (I believe it’s also a place invented by Robert E. Howard), William Hope Hodgson has to rate as one of the best and most underrated writers of the weird and bizarre. His short but eventful life contained much in the way of adventure and invention, and the greater part of that leaps from his tales like the spray from a following sea. A gorgeous copy of a book that seems almost designed to fade and droop. £450

HOUSEHOLD, Geoffrey. Rogue Male. Boston, Little, Brown and Co. 1939 [26281]
First US edition. Publisher’s green cloth, titled in darker green to the spine and front board.Slight bumping to head and tail of spine otherwise clean and fresh, very slight traces of waterstain to rear panel and base of spine. Structurally solid dustwrapper with staining to spine and rear panel, nicks and chips to the top edge including some shallow inoffensive loss to the head and tail of spine. Not an overly clean and pristine wrapper, but sound. Signed by Mr.Household in a rare burst of enthusiasm to the front free endpaper. A nice copy of a splendid bit of thriller writing. £450

Thoroughly ModernHUXLEY, Aldous. Brave New World. Chatto & Windus, London. 1932. [25889]
FIRST EDITION. Publisher’s cloth in original dustwrapper, with a few minor nicks and spots to the top edge of the wrapper.Most attractive copy, crisp and lovely. Scarce in this condition. A modern highlight, and a landmark of 20th century fiction suggesting that a future of boundless materialist happiness, designer narcosis and no strings attached sex might not be all its cracked up to be. I still say we should give it a fair crack of the whip though. £2,750
Eschelbac & Shober 10

INNES, Hammond. Attack Alarm. London, Collins. 1941 [26275]
First Edition. 8vo. Publisher’s grey cloth slightly rubbed to extremities, bumped and slightly browned at tail of spine, slightly soiled top-edge otherwise strong and sharp. Red titles to spine. The magnificent pictorial price-clipped dustwrapper is slightly worn to extremities, wear in the main limitied to the front corners and lightly, uniformly faded on the spine. A lovely copy of a stirring piece of wartime propaganda. £875

JAMES, Henry. The Wings of the Dove. London: Archibald Constable Ltd., 1902. [26280]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo., pp: half-title, 576 + 16 (publishers catalogue). Publisher’s blue patterned cloth, gilt. A lovely bright copy, showing only light spotting and the starting of the rear inner hinge. Light bumping to tail of spine. Publisher’s presentation blind stamp to title page. £750

JAMES, Henry. The Works of Henry James: The Bodley Head Edition. With an Introduction by Leon Edel. London: The Bodley Head, 1967. [26162]
First Edition thus. Fine and bright in publisher’s original bright blue cloth with gilt titles to spines; clean, fine dustwrappers. A superb set. The Bodley Head edition contains all the major novels of Henry James. £850

JAMES, John Thomas. Journal of a Tour in Germany, Sweden, Russia, Poland, during the Years 1813 and 1814. London: John Murray, 1816. [26304]
First Edition. 4to. Expertly bound in recent half speckled calf with raised bands, gilt titles and gilt to spine; marbled boards. With 12 aquatints and 6 etchings from sketches by the Author, most with tissue guard still present.. Some occasional browning and offsetting of plates on to text. A very attractive copy. “An entertaining work, containing much useful and important matter, particularly relative to Russia.” Lowndes, p.1188. £550
Lowndes, p.1188;

JAMES, Montague Rhodes. More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary. Containing seven short horror stories. London: Edward Arnold, 1911. [25945]
FIRST EDITION. Large 8vo. Publisher’s grey cloth with black titles to spine and upper; edges untrimmed. Slight rubbing to extremities and a little darkening and wear to the head of the spine. A fabulous book, containing further turbulent darkness from the head of Mr James, including the seminal “Casting The Runes”. £375

JOHNSON’S DICTIONARY IN FIRST EDITIONJOHNSON, Samuel. [DICTIONARY] A Dictionary of the English Language; In Which the Words are Deduced From Their Originals; and Illustrated in Their Different Significations, by Examples From the Best Writers. To Which are Prefixed A History of the Language, and an English Grammar. In Two Volumes. London: Printed by W. Strahan, 1755. [26301]
FIRST EDITIONS. 2 volumes; Folio. Complete. Expertly bound in period style using eighteenth century leather and boards full speckled calf with twin - marroon and green - title labels, raised bands and extra gilt tooling to spines; gilt rule to boards. Gentle, expert paper repair to the outer margin of the first two pages of the Preface, to the inner margins of the last two pages, and to a couple of closed tears in vol.I, with minimal creases to title page and small, neat contemporary owner’s name in ink. Straightened creases to lower corner of the title page and to a few following leaves of vol.II. Very occasional, sparse browning. This is an attractive and complete copy of this cornerstone of the English language. £12,500
Dr. Johnson performed with his dictionary the most amazing, enduring and endearing one-man feat in the field of lexicography. Adam Smith in one of the earliest reviews of the book in the 'Edinburgh Review’ 1755, compared it favourably with the best international dictionaries of modern languages then available, those of the French Academy and those of the Accademiadella Crusca, both of which ‘were composed by a numerous society of learned men and took up a longer time in the composition than the life of a single person could have well afforded’; whereas the English dictionary was ‘the work of a single person and composed in a period of time very inconsiderable when compared with the extent of the work’. In fact, it took Johnson less than ten years from writing his first prospectus in 1746 to publication day , 14th June 1755 , when the two folios went on sale at £4.10s.
The dictionary was originally the project of a group of publishers and booksellers and the great Scottish printer William Strahan. They recognised that the time was ripe to bring to fruition the idea of a standard English dictionary which the Royal Society had entertained as far back as 1644. In that year it appointed a committee for the improvement of the English language, for which John Evelyn, after a visit to Florence, wrote a report on the activities of the Crusca in 1655.
Johnson’s Dictionary is divided into four parts: the preface, in which he expounds the aims and problems of lexicography; a history and a grammar of the English language, both sections being of interest only in that they show the vast ignorance of eighteenth century philologists before Sir William Jones and his successors in this field; and finally the dictionary proper. The preface ranks among Johnson’s finest writings; the history and the grammar, which did not interest him in the least, are dull rehashes of older compilations. It is the dictionary itself which justifies Noah Webster’s statement that ‘Johnson’s writing had, in philology, the effect which Newton’s discoveries had in mathematics’. Johnson introduced into English lexicography principles which had already been accepted in Europe but which were quite novel in mid-eighteenth-century England. He codified the spelling of English words; he gave full and lucid definitions of their meanings (often entertainingly coloured by his High Church and Tory propensities); and he adduced extensive and apt illustrations from a wide range of authoritative writers.
In the field of English lexicography Johnson’s greatest followers were the American, Webster, and the compilers of the ‘Oxford English Dictionary’’ but despite the progress of the past two centuries in historical and comparative philology, Johnson’s book may still be consulted for instruction as well as pleasure.
[ From: PRINTING IN THE MIND OF MAN 201]

The words which Johnson included in his dictionary were mostly obtained from the dictionaries of his predecessors. Others were added ‘by fortuitous and unguided excursions into books, and gleaned as industry should find, or chance should offer it, in the boundless chaos of a living speech’. Many words ‘stand supported only by the name of Bailey, Ainsworth, Philips or the contracted Dict.’. But he omitted a great number of words given in these dictionaries and never found by him in any book. Others he inserted upon his own attestation, claiming the same privilege with his predecessors ‘of being sometimes credited without proof’.
Johnson ‘s purpose was to exclude the testimony of living authors, and he had omitted them save when ‘some performance of uncommon excellence excited my veneration, when my memory supplied me from late books with an example that was wanting, or when my heart, in the tenderness of friendship, solicited admission for a favourite name’. He had studiously endeavoured to collect his examples from writers before the Restoration, as after that date ‘the original Teutonick character’ had been ‘deviating towards the Gallick structure and phraseology’.
[From: COURTNEY & SMITH: A Bibliography of Samuel Johnson]
Courtney & Nicol Smith p39-72

KEROUAC, Jack. The Dharma Bums. New York, Viking Press. 1958 [25991]
First Edition. 244pp. Near fine in publisher’s black cloth titled in bright silver gilt and green. Wrapper a little scuffed to extremities, but whole and clean and solid. Shows extremely well. Published a year after “On The Road”, another exercise in Kerouacian existentialism and jumping freight trains in search of truth. £795

KEYNES, John Maynard. A Treatise On Probability. London, Macmillan. 1921 [26249]
First Edition. 8vo. 466pp. + 2pp ads. Publisher’s brown cloth binding, some shelfwear to extremities, small bleaching spots to top edge of cloth and to the spine. Slight fraying at tail of spine. Rear inner hinge superficially cracked. Internally clean except for light offsetting to endpapers and possessing the scarce errata slip tipped in at the contents page. A clean and solid copy of an important book. £450

KINGLAKE, A.W. The Invasion of the Crimea. Its Origin, and an Account of its Progress down to the Death of Lord Raglan. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1877. [26150]
6 volumes; 8vo (7 x 8½ inches). Very decorative in contemporary black half calf with gilt raised bands, red and black title labels, and fine extra gilt tooling to spines; marbled boards, end papers and edges. Very light rubbing to boards. A beautiful set in a fine old leather binding. £375

LACHAMBRE, Henri. MACHURON, Alexis. Andree And His Balloon. London, Archibald Constable and Co. 1898 [25933]
First Edition. 8vo. Very good in publisher’s gilt decorated blue cloth, slightly bumped and worn to extremities. Title in gilt to front board with gilt balloon decoration. Spine similarly embellished. Front inner hinge starting. Coulour frontis accompanied by forty-four full page illustrations “from photographs”. A difficult book giving eyewitnes accounts of what was a great polar mystery: what happened to Solomon Andree and his crew on their attempt to reach the North Pole by balloon? They disappeared in 1897 and it wasn’t until 33 years later that their remains were discovered deep in the Arctic, all three crew members having died under tragic circumstances. A strange tale, made all the stranger by the fact that today, Andree and his men are largely forgotten. £250

LASSER, David. The Conquest Of Space. London, Hurst and Blackett. [1931] [25896]
First UK Edition. 8vo. 288pp. Near fine in publisher’s powder blue cloth titled in black, just a little bumping to the head and tail of the spine. Clad in a fabulous unfaded purple wrapper depicting a rather shaky looking rocket ship traversing a star studded, deep purple expanse of space. The scarce wrapper has suffered from unskilled removal of a label resulting in some abrasion and three small holes to the lower third of the wrapper spine, otherwise there is only trivial wear. Lasser was a founder member of the American Interplanetary Society and his work a great influence upon people like Arthur C. Clarke (who in fact wrote the introduction to reprints of this work). As a well informed and way ahead of its time feasibility study of the use of rockets in space travel this book is not only rare, but remarkable. £1,250

LE FANU, J. Sheridan. In a Glass Darkly. London, Richard Bentley and Son. 1886 [26148]
Early Edition. Publisher’s patterned dark blue cloth titled and decorated in gilt to the spine. Patterned endpapers. Bumped at head and tail of spine, a little rubbed to the extremties, bound in soft cloth that has developed a slight lean over the last 120 years. Clean, tight and attractive copy of an early single volume edition, the first single volume edition having made an appearance in 1884. £250

LEDIARD, Thomas. The Naval History of England, In all its Branches; From the Norman Conquest In the Year 1066 to the Conclusion of 1734. Collected from the most Approved Historians, English and Foreign, Authentick Records and Manuscripts, Scarce Tracts, Original Journals, &c. With many Facts and Observations, never before made Publick. London, Printed for John Wilcox, 1735. [25869]
FIRST EDITION. 2 volumes; Folio. Contemporary full speckled calf, rebacked with original spines with raised bands, twin black and tan title labels and extra gilt laid back on; corners repaired; marbled end papers. A little wear to old binding; internally crisp and clean. A very good copy indeed. £1,250
Bibliotheca Nautica 249, Lowndes 1330.

LEE, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1960. [26263]
First UK Edition, 8vo. Publisher’s maroon cloth, titles in silver to spine. Pictorial dust jacket designed by Fratini. A lovely clean copy with excellent pages, slight toning to edges, a little dust to the top. Minimal bumping to spine and corners, very near fine. Dust jacket showing a little wear to spine area and folds, including 4 small tears to lower edge with 3 folds to lower back. Clear bright colours, just a hint of fading to the spine, extremely good. £495

LEIBER, Fritz. Night’s Black Agents. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1947 [26325]
First edition. 8vo. 237pp. Publisher’s black gilt decorated cloth, slight bumping to head and tail of spine. Dusty top-edge. Clean, crisp and unfaded dustwrapper with almost non-existent shelf wear to the lower edge. A lovely copy made even more interesting by the addition of an inscription from Mr.Leiber:
“For Byron Warner / who, I know, is / well acquainted / with the mysterious / terrors of the / upper air. / Fritz Leiber Jr.”
As we always do when receiving a book with an inscription, we did a quick check to see if we could track down Mr. Byron Warner. In this case we have arrived at two possibilities: he is either a voice-over actor from Nashville or a gentleman who makes biltong in Florida. In any case we are very pleased to have acquired his book in such lovely condition.

£350

LENNON, John. ONO, Yoko. Grapefruit. London, Sphere Books. 1971 [25939]
First Edition. Small octavo, paperback. Very slight edgewear and a half centimetre grease spot to front cover, otherwise a nice clean copy. Some signs of the ubiquitous fading to spine. Signed by both Lennon and Ono to the front free endpaper in blue and black pen respectively. A lovely example of a significant and fragile book. £2,500

Lovecraft. H.P. The Dunwich Horror. Sauk City, Arkham House, 1963. [26242]
First Edition, first printing.Near fine in publisher’s black gilt titled cloth.Gorgeous Lee Brown Coye dustwrapper (depicting what appears to be a bizarre hybrid between a racecourse bookie and a vampire bat) with the slightest toning to the spine, otherwise a spotless and beautiful copy that has clearly never even been read. An indispensible collection of Lovecraft’s greatest tales including “The Call of Cthulhu”, “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” (don’t make deals with the things beyond the reef) and the delicious “Pickman’s Model” (‘ That nauseous wizard had waked the fires of hell in pigment, and his brush had been a nightmare spawning wand. Give me that decanter Eliot!’). Mr. Lovecraft we salute you. £250

Lovecraft, H.P. The Shuttered Room and Other Pieces. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1959 [26312]
First edition.8vo. 313pp. Publisher’s gilt titled black cloth, small bump to tail of spine otherwise spotless, shrouded in a Richard Taylor dustwrappper of surpassing loveliness. A beautiful copy untouched by any taint, netherworldly or otherwise. Copies of this book in the main tend to have some splashes of ichor, staining from ill advised rituals etc. This copy has escaped such punishment, presumably through judicious use of the last passage of the Hlaat manuscript. Failing that it has just been very well looked after. As well as the title story, a couple of Lovecraft/Derleth posthumous collaborations and a spot of juvenilia, this volume also contains a wealth of little details about Lovecraft, his life, his loves and his friends. Indispensable should you want to build your own Howard Phillips Homonculus. Glorious. £300

LOVECRAFT, H.P. [Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, Colin Wilson et al.] Tales of The Cthulhu Mythos. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1969 [26124]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. 407pp. A lovely copy in publisher’s black, gilt titles cloth, slightest hints of bumping to head and tail. Grey endpapers. Fabulous Lee brown Coye dustwrapper (a man who stands out even amongst this weird company as being a veritable lighthouse of the odd) with miniscule hints of wear to the extremities and the tiniest suggestion of tanning to the fore-edges and spine.This edition limited to four thousand copies, is really a compass rose of the cthulhu mythos, giving an indispensable foretaste of where the mythos was going, even in 1969, before people like Brian Lumley actually got into stride. Contains amongst other gems Frank Belknap Long’s “The Hounds of Tindalos” which has a tendency to nail itself into a corner of your mind and stay there (“...they are lean and athirst!”). £200

MASKELYNE, John Nevil. Modern Spiritualism. A Short Account of its Rise and Progress, With Some Exposures of So-Called Spirit Media. By John Nevil Maskelyne, Illusionist and Anti-Spiritualist. London: Frederick Warne and Co., n.d. [1875]. [25165]
FIRST EDITION. Small octavo (160 x 100mm). pp. viii, 182, [2 ads, for a performance of Maskelyne and Cooke at the Egyptian Hall]. Original yellow pictorial paper over boards, respined with black cloth, later plain endpapers. Illustrated with some examples of “automatic writing” and engraved head- and tail-pieces. Rubbing to board edges and some small abrasions to upper, with small loss to image, as usual with the fragile Victorian “Yellow-back” style books. Light spotting to edges and occasional pages, small red flower in red ink to front free endpaper, otherwise internally in good condition. A very good copy of an uncommon and important book in the history of Spiritualism. John Nevil Maskelyne (1839-1917) was one of Britain’s greatest magicians. For more than 30 years, between 1873 and 1904, Maskelyne and his partner, George A. Cooke, performed a double act at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly in London. Billing themselves as “Royal Illusionists and Anti-Spiritualists”, they demonstrated the tricks and methods of so called Mediums and Spiritualists, uncovering frauds and disreputable practitioners. Many of these cases are described here in detail, with extensive notes on the methods used. £375

MELVILLE, Herman. The Romances of H. Melville. Including: Typee, Omoo, Mardi, Moby-Dick, White-Jacket, Israel Potter, Redburn. London: Jonathan Cape, 1923. [25955]
The Library Edition. 7 volumes. A beautiful presentation in recent full black morocco leather with raised bands, gilt titles and decoration to spines; top edges gilt; marbled end papers with dentelle. £1,450

MEYRICK, Samuel Rush. A Critical Inquiry into Antient Armour, as it Existed in Europe, but Particularly in England, from the Norman Conquest to the Reign of King Charles II, with a Glossary of Military Terms of the Middle Ages. London: For Robert Jennings, 1824. [25850]
First Edition. 3 volumes; Folio. Contemporary full diced calf boards with elaborate gilt and blank tooled borders, respined to style with gilt flat raised bands, gilt titles and extra gilt decoration; all edges gilt. Each volume with half-title, engraved title and full title. Bookplates. Minor foxing to title pages with offset; corners repaired. 80 fine aquatint plates, 70 of which are superbly hand-coloured, together with 27 fine historical initials illuminated by hand. Internally clean; vibrant colouring to plates. A sumptuous set of books on ancient armour in a splendid contemporary leather binding. “This most superb archæological work is animated with numerous novelties, curious and historical disquisitions, and brilliant and recondite learning - Learning going to Court in the full, rich costume of the Order of the Garter. Plates as fine as the monuments of Westminster Abbey. Really and truly the work admirably executed and deserves every eulogy”; Edinburgh Review quoted in Lowndes. “This laborious work, practically the first on the subject, remains an authority”; D.N.B. £3,000
Lowndes. DNB.

MILLIGAN, Spike. A Book Of Milliganimals. London, Dennis Dobson. 1968 [26005]
First edition. 8vo.88pp. Fine in publisher’s gilt titled blue cloth. Clad in a vibrant, elephant adorned purple dustwrapper showing only the slightest hint of wear, it’s all very unfaded and lovely. To top it all off, it’s inscribed by Mr.Milligan to the children of the redoubtable Mr.Frank Muir, mainstay of easy listening television for what seems like centuries and a creation only Britain could spawn:
“To / Sally, and if needs / be Jamie./ From / Spike.” £875

MILNE, A. A. [SHEPARD, E.H.] Winnie The Pooh. With Decorations by Ernest H. Shepard. London, Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1926. [25980]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo., pp. 158, numerous black and white illustrations within the text. Elegantly bound in recent half dark blue oasis morocco with traditional raised bands, gilt titles, blue boards, top edge gilt. Very good. An attractive copy. £600

MOORCOCK, Michael. The Stealer Of Souls. London, Neville Spearman. 1963 [25885]
First edition. 8vo. 215pp. Beautifully bright and clean in publisher’s orange cloth binding with a dent to the bottom edge of the front board with corresponding closed tear to the bottom edge of the wrapper, the dustwrapper itself very slightly scuffed to the extremities, a trifle soiled to the white rear panel and possessed of a patch at the bottom right hand corner of the rear panel where a label has been removed carelessly (or possibly lustfully) resulting in a removal of the wrapper coating. Nevertheless a very nice copy that has straightened its grimy lace and brushed off its coat and is prepared to be seen in all its tawdry finery. This is of course the first appearance of one of fantasy literatures most enduring characters, Elric Of Melnibone albino prince in exile of the dark kingdom of Melnibone, wielder of Stormbringer (a black sword that sucks the souls from its foes and frequently operates independantly, with disasterous results for anyone who happens to be standing within three feet of Elric at the time). As one of the first fantasy heroes to not have hairy feet, a mushroom fixation, gigantic muscles or a mile eating stride, Elric came as something of a relief to a genre glutted with a surfeit of Cimmerians. He was skinny, pale (duh) and consumptive, had a habit of stabbing his own mates (very Mancunian), was a consummate nutter and had companions with names like Moonglum of Elwher. Along with Dorian Hawkmoon, Duke Von Koln (tales of whom allowed Mr.Moorcock to fiddle about with a vision of a Medieval bestial, mechanised fascist Britain dominating a downtrodden Europe, a series of tales most notable for finally unmasking Croydon as a place of evil and despair), and Prince Corum (a reworking of Celtic myth cycles with bell bottomed flares) and a whole host of others (most of whom had the initials JC), Elric was one of the incarnations of The Eternal Champion, a character whose doom it was to appear in all universes and eras in order to keep balance between Order and Chaos (or so I figured out when I was twelve). Prolific enough to make Georges Simenon look like someone who penned a couple of odd stories in his spare time, and clearly mad enough to live inside Mervyn Peake’s head, Mr.Moorcock should be this year’s nomination for Greatest Living Englishman, provided the whole award ceremony is being organised by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill. £200

NAIPAUL, V.S. In A Free State. London, Andre Deutsch, 1971. [25923]
Puiblisher’s cloth, very good copy indeed in priceclipped dustwrapper, very slight shelfwear, pencil score to front free endpaper. Inscribed by V.S.Naipaul (an event in itself) to the title page:
“V.S. Naipaul / To Laurence and Suzanne / Prague, 9th may 1990.” FIRST EDITION.1971 Booker Prize Winner. £1,350

Rare Naipaul Signature.NAIPAUL, V.S. The Mystic Masseur. London, Andre Deutsch Ltd, 1957. [25509]
FIRST EDITION of the author’s first novel. Fine in similar dust-jacket, with a small nick to top of spine. An attractive copy of the author’s first book. This copy SIGNED BY V S NAIPAUL. Signed copies are exceedingly scarce. £1,875

NARAYAN, R.K. The English Teacher. London, Eyre and Spottiswoode. 1945 [25931]
First Edition. 8vo. Near fine in publisher’s light blue cloth, slightly bumped to the head of the spine with some darkening to the upper margin to the boards, clean dustwrapper with very light shelfwear, priceclipped. Altogether a lovely copy of a now almost forgotten author described in his time as “The Indian Tchekov”. £295

NAUDÆUS, G. (NAUDÉ, Gabriel). A History of Magick. by way of Apology, for all the Wise Men who have unjustly been reputed Magicians, from the Creation, to the present Age. Written in French, by G. Naudæus late Library-Keeper to Cardinal Mazarin. Englished by J. Davies. London: Printed for John Streater, 1657. [24849]
FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. Octavo. pp. [14], 306, [2 ads]. Recent full brown panelled calf in contemporary style, raised bands, gilt rules and gilt titles on label to spine, white endpapers. A little chipping to top and browning to edges of title page, cropped to top edge, just touching a couple of headlines, light toning to pages. A very good copy. Gabriel Naudé’s (1600 - 1653) famous work was first published in Paris in 1625. Dame Frances Yates, in her excellent Rosicrucian Enlightenment ( Routledge, 1972), writes: “...he states there are four kinds of magic, divine magic, theurgy which is religious magic, freeing the soul from the contamination of the body, goetia which is witchcraft, and natural magic which is natural science. Only the third, goetia, is wicked, and of this the great men have been innocent. Amongst great men whom he defends as free from evil magic are Zoroaster, Orpheus, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Ramon Lull, Paracelsus, Henry Cornelius Agrippa (who has a whole chapter to himself), Pico della Mirandola - in short the Neoplatonists and the Renaissance tradition descended from them, particularly Agrippa, the main representative of Renaissance magic. He urges greater care in prosecutions for magic, lest good people should be confused with evil magicians.” £1,750
Coumont [N5.10]; L’Art Ancien [1265]; Lowndes [1654]; Wellcome [IV p. 215]

NEVILL, Ralph and JERNINGHAM, Charles Edward. A Set of First Editions of the Works of Nevill and Jerningham. London: Duckworth & Co.. 1908-30 [25862]
19 volumes, all First Editions. Exquisite contemporary blue half morocco by Bayntun of Bath with gilt box design, raised bands, and gilt titles to spines; cloth boards with gilt rule; top edges gilt. Photogravure illustrations throughout. Bookplate to each volume. Clean and tight. A splendid set of books in a highly decorative older leather binding. An eclectic collection of historical and social anecdotes on the life in England, primarily London, but includes also Paris; descriptive of the aristocratic and artistic society of the late 18th to the early 20th centuries, £1,800

O’BRIAN, Patrick. The Ionian Mission. London: Collins, 1981. [26134]
First Edition. Fine and sound copy in Near Fine+ dustwrapper with minimal spotting to inner flaps. £750

O’DONNELL, Elliot. Dangerous Ghosts. London, Rider and Company, 1954. [25901]
First Edition. 8vo. 208pp. Very good copy in publisher’s black cloth titled in gilt. Pictorial Wrapper has suffered some waterstaining to the back panel and a centimetre square corner of loss to the head of the spine. Nevertheless bright and unfaded, some light spotting. A collection of real life ghost stories from a man described as “Britain’s No.1 Ghost Hunter.”Any information on how many people were wrestling for the title is tactfully omitted. £75

THE FIRST ARMCHAIR DETECTIVEORCZY, Baroness. The Old Man In the Corner. London; Greening & Co., 1909. [26259]
FIRST EDITION. Illustrated by H.M.Brock. 8vo., pp.340. Publisher’s blue pictorial cloth, printed in gilt and colours. A little dusting to top edge, some minor toning to spine else a clean, bright copy; near fine. Scarce title, part of the first Golden Era in Queen’s Quorum; ‘one of the truly conspicuous contributions to detective fiction’. The first great ‘Armchair’ detective, who returned in ‘Unravelled Knots’ (1926). £575
Howard Haycraft/Ellery Queen. Cooper & Pike; Detective Fiction.

ORCZY, Baroness. The Scarlet Pimpernel. Hodder and Stoughton n.d. [26177]
Small 8vo. Publisher’s pink cloth, titles in black to spine with HS design in blind to front board. Inscribed by Emmuska Orczy to publisher and friend Grant Richards in 1947, the year she died. Protected in an attractive fold-over book-box, burgundy lined in pink, titles in gilt to spine. A rather fragile copy with some bumping and marks to extremities. Faded to spine with very light staining to back board. General browning to pages, small hole to p.59 marring 2 letters, dust to top edge. A fairly good copy. £250
The first title in the famous adventure series set during the French Revolution.

[PINK FLOYD / Syd BARRETT] ROCK, Mick. Psychedelic Renegades. With Photographs of Syd Barrett. UK, Genesis Publications Limited. 2001 [26288]
LIMITED to 950 copies, SIGNED by the author. Folio size, pp160 with approximately 120 monochrome and colour images, some folding plates. Quarter-bound in orange leather and luxurious turquoise blue linen over heavyweight boards, gilt-lettered with all edges gilt. Housed in a sumptuous Italian orange pictorial cloth slipcase. As New. £275
Comprising the entire Syd Barrett archive of legendary music photographer Mick Rock; this finely produced volume covers the period 1969-71 and features the photo session in and around Syd's London flat which culminated in the cover for Syd's first solo album The Madcap Laughs, and a further session at Syd's family home in Cambridge. Includes some of the most famous images of Syd Barrett, plus a wealth of previously unpublished images. Accompanying these extraordinary pictures is a fascinating text providing insights into one of the world's truly cult figures, a 'mad bohemian poet' in the words of Mick Rock. For Pink Floyd founder Barrett continues to intrigue past and present generations alike and has been the subject of a tremendous rock mythology ever since his withdrawal from the music world in the early Seventies. It was Mick Rock who undertook the last ever interview with Syd for Rolling Stone magazine in 1971, and his original version of this memorable article is reproduced here, in full, for the first time.

POE, Edgar Allan [STEDMAN, E.C. and WOODNERRY, G.E., Editors]. The Works of E.A. Poe. Edited by Edmund Clarence Stedman and George Edward Woodberry. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1914. [26173]
10 volumes; 8vo. Finely bound in recent dark green half morocco with gilt titles and floral decoration to spines in five compartments divided by gilt raised bands; green cloth boards with gilt rule; top edges gilt, others rough cut; marbled end papers. Illustrated with photogravures with tissue guard. Very light toning to edges. Pages mostly uncut. A fine set in a splendid leather binding. £2,750

[POGANY, Willy] COLERIDGE, Samuel Taylor. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. In Seven Parts. Presented by Willy Pogany. George G. Harrap & Co., London, n.d., [26285]
First Pogany Edition, 4to. Publisher’s pale green cloth with bevelled edges. Beautifully decorated in gilt to front board and spine, gilt to top edge. Stunning illustrations throughout, including several colour plates, all carefully tipped in. Beautiful ornate writing. A gorgeous book. Some bumping to the spine and corners, 4 faint creases to the back board. Lovely fresh, clean pages, just a light fold to the fore-edge affecting a small section of the book. Extremely good. £475

Beautiful Account Of The Journey Of The Most Important Traveller Of All Time, From The Library Of The Founder Of The “School For Explorers.”POLO, Marco. [Marsden, William] The Travels Of Marco Polo. A Venetian, in the Thirteenth Century: Being a Description, by that Early Traveller, of Remarkable Places and Things, in the Eastern Parts of the World. Translated from the Italian, with Notes, by William Marsden, F.R.S. &c. With a Map. London, Printed For The Author by Cox and Baylis. 1818 [25524]
First Complete Edition In English. Quarto. Bound in superb recent dark tan diced calf with gilt ruling and decorations to the boards and stylish gilt titles and decorations to the spine. Binder unknown, but clearly someone of considerable skill and flair. All Edges Gilt. Marbled endpapers.Bears the armorial bookplate of Sir John Barrow and inscribed on the half title:
“To Sir John Barrow Esq./ From The Author With His Compliments.”
Above a further inscription
“Sir George Barrow, Bart./ From His Affectionate Mother./ 15th May 1850.” Barrow, Sir John, 1764–1848, British geographer, promoter of arctic exploration. Responsible for widespread use of the British Navy (overmanned and underused at the end of the Napoleonic conflict) as explorers in the service of Britain. Ross, Parry, Back, Park and a whole host of others were desptached to the Arctic, Africa and The Middle East to fill in the blank spaces of Barrow’s maps. Some returned, others disappeared without trace, but these members of ‘Barrow’s Boys’ mapped and explored much of the world that the late nineteenth century became familiar with.

His early travels as secretary to Earl Macartney (who was ambassador to China and governor of the Cape of Good Hope colony) were recorded in Travels in China (1804) and Travels into … Southern Africa (1806). As second secretary of the admiralty (1804–6, 1807–48), he promoted numerous voyages to further knowledge of geography and navigation. He instigated many arctic expeditions, notably those of John Ross and William Parry. He was a principal founder of the Royal Geographical Society in 1830. Point Barrow, Cape Barrow, and Barrow Strait were named in his honor. He wrote Voyages of Discovery and Research in the Arctic Regions (1846). £5,000

POTTER, Beatrix. The Pie and the Patty-Pan London, Frederick Warne & Co., 1905. [25994]
Small 4to., 145 x 182 mm, with 10 colour plates, and numerous illustrations in text. Very good in publisher’s blue paper covered boards decorated in and titled in white with ‘medallion’ laid on cat illustration. Some toning to the extremities and the spine and darkening to the spine. Internally clean, a very pretty copy. £750
First Edition,

POTTER, Beatrix. The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Frederick Warne and Co., London, [1902] [25948]
FIRST ISSUE of the FIRST PUBLISHED EDITION, and first colour plate edition. Text on p. 51, line 1 “wept big tears,” later issues have “shed big tears.” 16mo. Publisher’s dark grey paper covered boards, colour illustration laid down to upper. Patterned endpapers. Housed in protective box with brown leather spine. Illustrated with 30 colour plates. Minor signs of handling by careful previous owner with some rubbing; two small chips to tail of spine. Internally spotless. A beautiful, fine copy. Scarce. £4,500
Previously privately published by Beatrix Potter with black and white line drawings.
Quinby [2] no.2. Linder, A History of the Writings of Beatrix Potter.

PROUST, Marcel. The Works of Marcel Proust: Remembrance of Things Past. Translated into English by C.K. Scott Moncrief. London: Chatto & Windus, 1922-31. [26164]
11 volumes. All First English Editions. Finely bound in recent dark blue morocco with two burgundy title labels and gilt to spines in five compartments; blue cloth boards; top edges tinted, others untrimmed. Edges yellowed. A very elegant set of this classic work, now so difficult to find in first English translation. £2,750

LEGENDS OF KING ARTHUR, illustrated by HOWARD PYLEPYLE, Howard. The Story of King Arthur and His Knights. [With:] The Story of the Champions of the Round Table. [And:] The Story of Sir Lancelot and His Companions. [And:] The Story of the Grail and the Passing of Arthur. Written and Illustrated by Howard Pyle. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1903, 1905, 1907, and 1910 respectively. [26219]
FIRST EDITIONS. 4 volumes; large 8vo. Finely bound in recent half red morocco with raised bands, gilt titles and gilt to spines, top edges gilt. Publisher’s original decorative upper and spine bound in at rear of each volume. Housed in a buckram slipcase. Pictorial title pages. Illustrated with numerous black and white plates with tissue guard, and lovely head and tail pieces. A superb, complete set of Arthurian Tales both written and illustrated by Howard Pyle. £1,450

[RACKHAM] FOUQUÉ, De La Motte. Undine. Adapted from the German by W. L. Courtney and Illustrated by Arthur Rackham . William Heinemann, London, 1909, [26159]
First Trade edition. Large 8vo., pps. (viii), 136. With 15 mounted colour plates, captioned tissues, with many other illustrations in the text. Sumptuously bound for Hatchards in contemporary bottle green morocco leather with gilt ruling, titling and decoration to boards and spine. Neat ink ownership to ffep. All edges gilt, internally clean, a beautiful copy. £300

RAND, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. Random House, New York, 1957. [26311]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. Finely bound in recent full dark green oasis morocco with raised bands, gilt titles and gilt to spine, gilt border to boards, marbled endpapers; top edge tinted black. Publisher’s original spine and upper board bound in at rear. £595

RAND, Ayn. The Fountainhead. Indianapolis/New York, The Bobbs -Merrill Company. 1943. [26145]
FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING. Octavo. pp. 754. Elegantly bound in recent full red oasis morocco with five raised bands and decoration to spine. The first issue original red covers (later green) have been preserved at rear. With the elusive "First Edition" stated on the copyright page. A wonderful presentation of this classic American novel. £2,500
Perinn [A3a]

Inscribed Presentation copy to Ursula GrevilleREGARDIE, Israel. The Golden Dawn. An Account of the Teachings, Rites and Ceremonies of the Order of the Golden Dawn. Chicago: The Aries Press, 1937-40. [25686]
FIRST EDITIONS. Four volumes, octavo pp. 227; 300; 276; 368. Publisher's black buckram cloth, gilt titles to spine, white endpapers, lacking the uncommon dust jackets. Colour frontispiece and three other colour plates, two of them folding, in volume one. Many black and white illustrations, tables and diagrams throughout the four volumes. INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR: “To my dear Ursula | with lasting love | Regardie | July 31st, 1937” to front free endpaper of volume 1., with her name written on the front pastedown of volume 3. Some soiling of the boards and fading of gilt titles to first volume, fading to the spine gilt of volume 2, others are near fine. Later owner’s name in red dated 1966, to front pastedown of volume 1, which also has underlining and occasional notes in red and some highlighting in yellow. Repair to one of the folding plates and a closed tear to the fold of the other. The other volumes are clean internally and without underlining or other marks. Ursula Greville (1894-1991), a classical soprano, sometime editior of The Sackbut magazine and student of Taoism and Eastern philosophy, was a close friend of Regardie’s; indeed he dedicated his 1983 edition and commentary on Crowley’s poem AHA! to her with the words: “loving, generous, devoted friend of many long years who, like Aleister Crowley, changed the entire course of my life”. Arguably the most important work on magic to be published in the 20th Century. £750
Pritchard [2502]

Rev. Lal Behari Day. [Warwick Goble] Folk Tales of Bengal. London, MacMillan and Co. 1912. [26286]
Deluxe Edition, Quarto. 150 copies only. Publisher’s vellum with detailed gilt decorations and titles to front board and spine, gilt to top edge. Gold ribbon tie included, although detached. 32 beautiful colour plates, all delicately tipped on to coffee coloured card and protected with tissue guards. Minimal wear to extremities with a little expected smudging to boards. Fresh pages, just the odd spot here and there with minimal toning to front and back free endpapers. A lovely copy. £950

[ROCKWELL KENT] MELVILLE, Herman. Moby Dick. Or The Whale. Random House, New York. 1930. [25984]
FIRST KENT ILLUSTRATED EDITION. 8vo., pp. 826. Publisher’s original black cloth with silver titles and design of a whale to spine and upper. Minimal bumping and wear to corners of dustwrapper (supplied), edges dusty.Very slight soiling to the margins of the back panel. A superb, near fine copy, signed by Rockwell Kent to the flyleaf. Magnificently illustrated with numerous wood cuts. £600

ROHMER, Sax. The Yellow Claw. Lippincott’s Magazine. 1915 [25893]
First appearance in print, bound from the parts. 8vo. Attractively bound in recent half green morocco leather with gilt titles to spine, black title label. Green cloth boards and plain endpapers. Bound from the parts extracted form the 1915 issues of Lippincott’s Magazine predating the first US edition in book form, the first appearance of one of Mr.Rohmer’s more melodramatic stories, which for the man who created Fu-Manchu, master of the Si-Fan, is saying something. As far as he was concerned if it didn’t have an opium den in there somewhere it just wasn’t a story. £475

[ROLLING STONES] Promotional Album. Fully Signed UK/USA, Decca/London Records 1969 [26080]
Released in October 1969, this is a FULLY SIGNED first (and only) UK PRESSING of this notoriously scarce 12 inch vinyl LP compilation covering the period 1964-9, with just 400 copies produced (200 copies for circulation here and 200 sent to the USA). UK copies contain a letter from Decca.
This example is complete, with the original UK mono inner and the scarce letter. The correct American-made (but UK designated) cover suffers from the typical spine wear associated with US sleeve construction (two-ply and paper slicks meaning weak seams, rather than the sturdy British flipback system) otherwise it is in excellent order, and features the contemporary signatures to rear (various inks) of all five Stones including Mick Taylor as second guitarist. The inner sleeve is very good, showing minor handling, and the letter is fine (folded condition). Visually vinyl is in excellent condition with a few minor marks and hairlines, audibly graded 'ex'; plays superbly with no distortion and virtually no lessening of sound quality. Housed in a custom-made gilt-titled box.
One of the top three Rolling Stones UK LP rarities; together with the 'demo' pressing of their first album and the 'Silk sleeve' copy of 'Satanic Majesty's..' , this disc is placed in the Record Collector's Top 100 Rarest Records. Coupled with a full set of autographs this is one of the scarcest Stones LPs to be found. £3,500
The Promotional album was designed to accompany the two US Greatest Hits packages (High Tide and Green Grass, 1966, and Through The Past, Darkly, 1969) and issued to Radio Stations only, giving DJ’s three albums to select cuts from and hopefully increase Stones airplay during the band’s fall ‘69 tour of the USA. According to discographer Miles, Decca pressed ‘up to 200 copies for the UK, most of which went to the press as there was no commercial radio in the UK at the time’. The letter from Decca (included) confirms this. The tracks were all previously released, except ‘Love In Vain’ which was to be included in the Stones next studio LP ‘Let It Bleed’ in December 1969; the mix chosen here, however, is noticebly different to the released version, and is otherwise unavailable. London records pressed the US vinyl in America, and both UK Decca and US London LPs were housed in American sleeves, although they differ slightly in company logo and the UK-destined versions are laminated. A further pressing followed in Australia, but this features the wording ‘Limited Collectors Edition’ and has a different track selection. It is also rumoured that a Canadian version exists, but we are unable to confirm this.
Miles. An Illustrated Discography of the Rolling Stones (1980). Record Collector Magazine.

ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince. London, Bloomsbury. 2005 [26083]
First Edition stated. 8vo. 607pp. Fine in publisher’s illustrated paper covered boards. Dustwrapper fine. Signed by J.K. Rowling to official Half-Blood Prince bookplate affixed to front free endpaper. The latest installment in the career of the world’s favourite teenager. Protected by a tailor made blue cloth box, titled in gilt to the spine. £975

THE KORAN IN ENGLISHSALE, George. THE KORAN, Commonly called the Alcoran of Mohammed, Translated into English immediately from the Original Arabic; With Explanatory Notes taken from the most approved Commentators. To which is prefixed A Preliminary Discourse. London: Printed by C. Ackers for J. Wilcox, 1734. [26374]
FIRST EDITION of Sale’s English translation from Arabic. Quarto; title page printed in black and red, pp. (4), iii-ix, (iii), 508, (xv). Folding map, view of the Temple of Mecca, and diagrams (some folding). Contemporary speckled calf rebacked with original gilt decorated spine laid back, recent title label; corners repaired; edges tinted red. Neat early owner’s name to top of title page; crease to first blank; 19th century armorial bookplate of the Marquess of Londonderry. Extremely light foxing to title and a couple of other pages. A lovely copy. £1,450

SALINGER, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston, Little, Brown & Company, 1951. [25947]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo., pp. 275. A clean fresh copy, finely bound in recent dark blue morocco, gilt titles, gilt ruled border to covers, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers, original spine bound in. A superb copy of this classic work. £2,500
“Salinger created a character who stays in the mind..., and whose story is likely to survive into the far future.” Callil & Toibin.
Callil & Toibin; Modern Library. (200 Best Novels in English since 1950), p.154.

SASSOON, Siegfried. Collected Poems. Faber & Faber Ltd. 1947. [25988]
FIRST EDITION.8vo., pp. 269.Fine, but for a few spots of light foxing, in like (priceclipped) dustwrapper, which has a slight crease along the top edge of the front panel. Inscribed by Sassoon to the front free endpaper:
“Erika Ratzkowski / With all good wishes from / Siegfried Sassoon. /November 27th 1948”
Accompanying the book is a one page letter from Sassoon dated 15.02.49 to the same Miss Ratzkowski congratulating her on her 21st birthday, recommending the works of Somerville and Ross, discussing Sherston’s Progress (“...rather heart rending isn’t it?”), commenting on problems with his staff, reminiscing about his friends in “The Sick Bay”and asking to be recommended to a number of people including “Sister Bolton - and that wonderful woman Mrs. Coleman.” It is in all respects a splendid letter, the likelihood is that Miss Ratzkowski was a young nurse Sassoon met during one of his visits to hospital with what he describes as “...my internal trouble...” £1,250

SASSOON, Siegfried. Memoirs Of A Fox-Hunting Man. London, Faber and Faber. 1929 [25911]
Signed Limited Illustrated Edition. Large 8vo. 296pp. Illustrated by William Nicholson. No. 236 of 300 copies signed by both Sassoon and Nicholson. Fine in publisher’s decorated vellum, in similarly fine dustwrapper. £1,800

SASSOON, Siegfried. (Illustrated by Barnett Freedman.) Memoirs of An Infantry Officer. London, Faber and Faber. 1931 [25909]
First Limited, Illustrated Edition. No.188 of 320 copies bound in decorated vellum with dustwrapper and slipcase. Signed by author and artist. Fine in like wrapper, slipcase somewhat worn. A beautiful book. £1,800

"From the sentimental point of view, it is the last great Polar journey that can be made. It will be a greater journey than the journey to the Pole and back, and I feel it is up to the British nation to accomplish this, for we have been beaten at the conquest of the North Pole and beaten at the first conquest of the South Pole. There now remains the largest and most striking of all journeys—the crossing of the Continent."SHACKLETON, Ernest. The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. London, Privately Printed for The Expedition. 1814 [26229]
First edition, First issue of prospectus. 32pp. Two mounted plates one of which is a map of Antarctica showing the proposed route, the other being a plan of The Endurance. Original wrappers with paper label and string tied hinge.. A few bits of isolated spotting and trivial wear to the corners otherwise an excellent example of an extremely rare object. In the last 30 years only three copies of this prospectus have appeared in auction records, none of these were the first state described here.
Approximately two hundred copies of the prospectus for Shackleton’s expedition to the South Pole were printed. This first issue with the biography of Captain John King Davis is particularly elusive. Davis took exception to Shackleton simply assuming that he would be eager to lead the expedition and Captain the “Endurance” and immediately withdrew in high dudgeon. The prospectus was hastily re-issued without the Davis biography. The expedition of course failed to achieve any of its aims, Endurance being crushed in the ice; the story of the 7-month drift across the ice amidst rapidly decaying personal relationships and the eventual horrendous journey by small boats to Elephant Island is ironically the tale that made Shackleton a legend despite the ultimate failure of the expedition to achieve its aims.
£12,500

SHAFFER, Anthony. Sleuth. New York, Dodd, Mead and Co. 1970 [25943]
First US Edition. (Precedes UK edition). Fine in publisher’s gilt titled, red decorated cloth. The dustwrapper is slightly faded at the spine and possible a little tanned around the extremities but near fine overall. This copy is primarily distinguished by the signature of none other than Michael Caine to the title page, an unusual reference to his role in the film production of this Broadway hit. £600

SHAKESPEARE, William. The Plays and Poems. Troy, N.Y., H.B. Nims and Co. 1878. [26274]
8vo, 15 vols in 8. Half-bound in contemporary light brown calf leather, titles in gilt on red and green labels to spine, added decoration in gilt with gilt to the top. Dark red marbled boards and endpapers. The text does vary in size a little. 170 beautiful illustrations throughout the set by several artists, all very detailed and delicately drawn. Each volume has an illustrated frontispiece protected with tissue guard with Shakespeare in vol.1 of course. A very attractive set, showing a little expected wear to extremities, including some scuffing and a few little stains. Clean pages with light age toning, varying slightly with each vol. Extremely good. £750

SHELLEY, Mary. W. [Lynd Ward] Frankenstein. .. or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. New York, Harrison Smith and Robert Haas. 1934. [26282]
First Lynd Ward Edition, lge.8vo. Half-bound in recent black morocco, titles in gilt to spine with 5 raised bands and plain black boards, also tinted in black to the top. Original front board and spine bound in to rear of text. Amazing wood engravings by Lynd Ward, capturing the darkness of the story. A handsome copy. £195

Twelve Fantastic Folio Plates
SPARE, Austin Osman. A Book of Automatic Drawing. London: Catalpa Press, 1972. [26236]
FIRST LIMITED EDITION of 200 numbered copies, this copy being out of series and not numbered. SIGNED by Spare twice by way of a personal cheque as called for. Twenty loose unpaginated folio sheets of hand made paper (310 x 440mm) printed on one side only comprising of: title; limitation; two page introduction by Ian Law; 1 plate; illustrated title; illustrated contents; 11 plates; illustrated sine curve calligraphy and illustrated final page. Housed in a recent green cloth, felt lined drop-over box with gilt titles to spine. All sheets in fine condition. A wonderful portfolio of beautifully printed drawings, with all the power of Spare’s magical imagery. Since this set is not numbered and does not have the original box, it would appear that not all of the 200 copies were issued at the time. Clive Harper, in his bibliography of Spare, notes that of the proposed 1000 copies of the cloth backed boards bound trade edition only about 100 were issued and only a further 500 issued in grey card wraps. £375
Harper [A6.a.]

SPARE, Austin Osman.; WALLACE, Dr W.; LETCHFORD, F. W.; NAYLOR, A. R. [Ed.] From the Inferno to Zos: The Writings and Images of Austin Osman Spare; The Artist’s Books (1905 - 1927); Michelangelo in a Teacup: Austin Osman Spare. Thame: Mandrake Press Ltd. for First Impressions, 1993-1995. [25863]
3 Vols. DELUXE EDITIONS, LIMITED TO 100 COPIES EACH. Numbers 30, 43 and 43. Folios pp. Vol. 1: Unpaginated. Vol. 2: xiii, 446. Vol. 3: 359. Publisher’s quarter black leather, with gilt titles and image to spine, over black cloth boards. Marbled endpapers, all edges gilt and black ribbon page-marker. Illustrated throughout in black and white. Volume 1 near fine with just a little bumping and rubbing to head and tail of spine, other two volumes are fine. A fantastic tribute to Spare; volume 1 reproduces his books and magazine contributions in facsimile, along with exhibition catalogues and notes toward a bibliography; volume 2 contains an analysis of his work and volume 3 a biography. Uncommon to find all three deluxe editions together. £475
Harper [A11]

STEVENSON, R.L. A Child’s Garden Of Verses. London, Longmans, Green and Co. 1885 [25940]
First Edition. Small 8vo. Limited to 1000 copies. Beautifully bound in dark blue, gilt decorated morocco leather. Gilt titles and rose decorations to spine. top edge gilt, all other edges untrimmed. Marbled endpapers. A gorgeous copy of Stevenson’s best loved collection of poems. £1,500

STEVENSON, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. London, Longmans, Green & Co., 1886. [26034]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. pp. 141. Contemporary half burgundy morocco. Gilt titles and traditional raised bands to spine. Marbled boards, plain end-papers. Bookplate to front pastedown. Light wear, scuffing to extremities.. A lovely copy in a solid contemporary binding. £975
Prideaux [17]

STOWE, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly. John P. Jewett & Company, Boston, 1852, [24571]
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. 2 volumes., 16mo., pps. I 312, II 322. Illustrated with plates throughout. Internally clean. In unsigned but fine, sumptuous recent ‘West End’ style binding of full crushed brown morocco, boards heavily embossed in blind, five raised bands to spine, ruled in gilt, marbled endpapers with generous tooled margins, all edge gilt. A lovely copy. £2,250
First Issue of ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ with Hobbart and Robbins being the printers.
BAL 19343.

SWINBURNE, Algernon, Charles. Songs Before Sunrise. London, Florence Press. 1909 [26160]
Limited Private Press Edition.Small 4to. Number 9 of 475. Beautifully bound in a deep red Arts and Crafts style binding for Hatchards of Piccadilly. Light wear to extremities. Printed on hand-made paper with page edges untrimmed. Embossed ‘tiling’ design to boards with gilt titles and characterictically late Victorian floreate borders. The boards are held shut through the use of plaited leather clasps. A delightful and extremely attractive copy. £350

THOMPSON, Hunter S. Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. A Savage Journey To The Heart Of The American Dream. New York, Random House. 1971 [25853]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. Publisher’s cloth in dust jacket. A fine copy showing trivial creasing to lower edge and one or two tiny marks. White area remains fresh and the red lettering is totally unfaded.
The interior of the book is of course a scintillating, festering, maggot-ridden tornado of s