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[ACKERMANN] SHOBERL, Frederic (Editor). The World in Miniature: China. Containing illustrations of the manners, customs, character and costumes of the people of that Empire. London: R. Ackermann, Repository of Art, 1821. [18911]
2 volumes; 6mo (140 x 90mm). Contemporary half brown calf, decorative tooling and title labels to spine, marbled boards, speckled edges. With 30 hand-coloured engravings. Slight wear to extremities, upper hinge starting on vol.1; plates clean, some offsetting onto text, light foxing to end papers. A lovely set. £550
ALLOM, Thomas; WRIGHT, The Rev. G.N. The Chinese Empire Illustrated: Being a Series of Views from Original Sketches, displaying the Scenery, Architecture, Social Habits, etc. of that Ancient and Exclusive Nation, by Thomas Allom. With Historical and Descriptive Letterpress, by the Rev. G.N. Wright. The Work will also contain a succinct Account of the History of China; a Narrative of British Connexion with that Nation, the Opium War of 1840, and full detailsof the Causes and Events of the present War. London: The London Printing and Publishing Company (Limited), n.d. (c. 1845). [27854]
2 volumes in 1; 4to. Contemporary full black morocco with gilt titles and extra gilt to spine; gilt panelling to boards; all edges gilt; brown end papers. Illustrated with 3 hand-coloured Tallis maps, 164 steel engraved plates, and 5 vignettes. Binding rubbed; inner joints starting but strong; minor occasional foxing; dampstain to first five plates, and to upper inner corner of remainder.
In addition to the main titles this work also includes ‘The Overland Route to China and India,’ as well as ‘The History of China, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time’.
A very good copy indeed.
£1,250
ANON. [DeMille, James.] A Strange Manuscript Found In A Copper Cylinder. New York, Harpers. 1888. [27681]
True first edition, omitting any mention of the author. 8vo. 291pp + 2pp ads. Slight bump to front lower corner and some trivial shelfwear, bright clean and striking. Where does one start? This gem of melodramatic adventure encompasses lost races living in remote, lush regions of Antarctica, subterranean sea tunnels ocupied by monsters, giant pterodactyl type oddities utilised as transport, dinosaurs, lashings of toga wearing enigmatic elder beings whose strange ways are confounded by the arrival in their midst of our stalwart rifle wielding hero who (shock) finds enduring love with one of their (resolutely anglo-saxon, shorter toga wearing) maidens and seeks to escape from the clutches of a priesthood which...and so on. Makes Rider Haggard look like Barbara Cartland, and in fact was written prior to King Solomon’s Mines but failed to be published in serial form in Harper’s Monthly until after the author’s death. Cracking. £125
ASHTON SMITH, Clark. Genius Loci, And Other Tales. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1948 [27199]
First Edition.8vo. Bound in the trademark Arkham black cloth titled in gilt. Wrapper slightly sunned to spine (as usual, which is a recurring source of pain every time I find a copy).Otherwise a fine copy of a collection of stories of the weird by Smith, a man who often succeeded in out Lovecrafting Lovecraft. The wrapper incidentally was illustarted in fine style by Frank Wakefield, who later went on to marry Clark Ashton Smith’s widow. Another pre-meditated act of splendour from Arkham House. £275
ASQUITH, Cynthia. This Mortal Coil. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1947 [28339]
First Edition. 8vo. 245pp. A fine copy in fine Ronald Clyne dustwrapper, merest hint of toning to rear panel. Limited to 2609 copies (the August Derleth definition of limited being somewhat flexible). Lady Cynthia Asquith was one of the British writers of the supernatural that Derleth courted in order to make up for a dearth of home grown material. This set of stories was subsequently (with some editorial freebootery) published in the UK under the title ‘What Dreams May Come’. A super copy. £120
Jaffery TAHC 25.
AUDEN, W.H. The Dyer’s Hand and Other Essays. New York: Random House, n.d. (c. 1962). [28910]
First Edition. Large 8vo. Publisher’s turquoise cloth with black and gilt title label to very slightly yellowed spine, Near Fine, top edge tinted, in a bright dustwrapper with a little darkening to spine and folds, and small chip to top of upper panel. Top edge tinted. Inscribed in pen to the journalist Goran Bengston on the title page with Author’s name SIGNED in full, dated Sept. 1969. A lovely copy. £600
AUSTEN, Jane [CHAPMAN, R.W.]. The Novels & Letters of Jane Austen. Including: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey and Emma. The text based on Collation of the Early Editions by W.R. Chapman.
With Notes, Indexes, and Illustrations from Contemporary Sources. Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, 1926. [29187]
Second Oxford Edition. Complete in 5 volumes. Beautiful in recent burgundy half morocco with raised bands, gilt titles and gilt to spines; publisher’s original burgundy cloth boards with gilt decorative stamp to uppers; top edges gilt. £875
BAGNOLD, Enid National Velvet. London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1935. [29201]
First Edition, 8vo. Bound in full recent tan morocco, titles and decoration in gilt to spine with gilt to top edge, marbled endpapers. 7 pages of advertisements to rear of text. Includes several small line drawings throughout the book, by Laurian Jones. An attractive copy, light toning to pages with one or two little smudges. Very good indeed. £210
[BEATLES] NORMAN, Philip Shout. The True Story of The Beatles. London, Hamish Hamilton / Elm Tree Books 1981 [27955]
FIRST EDITION, advance format in self-wraps. SIGNED by GEORGE HARRISON. Octavo, with photographic plates. Covers featuring the Robert Freeman ‘With The Beatles’ LP photograph. Some creasing to spine, light rubbing else fine. Signed to title by Beatle George, who has cheekily crossed through printed title ‘True Story’ inscribed ‘False’. Sunday Times Correspondent Philip Norman’s Shout was a ground-breaking biography of the Beatles and a bestseller in both Britain and the US. Norman had a close personal relationship with each of the protagonists, having interviewed them many times as a journalist since 1965; he observed at first hand the events that led to the split during 1969-70 and his resulting book contains unique insights into the rise of the Beatles, their final years, the chaos of Apple and the collapse of hippy idealism. Although he resists classification as a ‘rock biographer’, a musical theme pervades almost all of Philip Norman's work and he has also written the definitive lives of Sir Elton John and Buddy Holly. £1,450
Book Collector No.287 (p32-62) ‘The Sixties’.
BELL, Currer. [BRONTE, Charlotte]. Jane Eyre. An Autobiography London: George Routledge and Sons 1900. [28902]
‘New Edition’. Octavo, pp 468 plus 2 adverts to rear, including an exquisite full-colour illustration. A fine late-Victorian edition bound in original burgundy cloth, titled in gilt to spine,with decorative gilt panel to upper, elaborately tooled in blind. Minor wear to cloth, small decorative stamp to flyleaf. A near fine copy. £150
BELL, Currer, Ellis and Acton. [Bronte, Anne, Emily and Charlotte]. Poems. London. Smith, Elder and Co. 1846 [1848]. [28067]
FIRST EDITION, Second Issue. small 8vo. Original publisher’s dark green cloth, with blindstamped border to covers, titled in gilt to spine, coated yellow endpapers, expertly rebacked. Some uniform sunning to backstrip, small bookplate to pastedown, discreet ink name to title, else a crisp, clean and handsome little volume. A striking copy of the second issue of this work, the first being of legendary scarcity. Aylott and Jones, the first issue publishers seem to have had no success at all distributing the work, only two copies being sold over the counter and a number of other copies being distributed as courtesy copies to contemporary authors the Bronte sisters respected. Smith Elder bought up the remaining stock and re-issued it with a different title page in 1848. It is interesting to note that Aylott’s printed 1000 copies in 1846, and 961 of them were sold to Smith Elder, leaving a maximum of 39 copies of the first issue. £1,850
BELLOW, Saul. To Jerusalem and Back. A Personal Account. New York: The Voking Press, 1976. [28918]
First Edition. Warmly inscribed to the journalist Goran Bengston ‘To Mr. Bengston, who / asks excellent questions / Chicago, Nov. 76’ and signed in full by the Author on f.f.e.p. Publisher’s light blue cloth spine with silver titles, grey cloth boards, top edge tinted, Near Fine; in a Near Fine, bright dustwrapper with age toning only along extremities and folds. *Signed in the year Saul Bellow was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. £275
BERRY, William. Encyclopedia Heraldica; or, Complete Dictionary of Heraldry. The complete works, including: 2 volumes of Dictionary of Heraldry, 1 volume of Plates, and 1 volume of the Supplement. London: Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, n.d. (c. 1830). [29274]
4 volumes; 4to. Contemporary dark brown half morocco with gilt titles and extra gilt to spines, brown cloth boards, marbled edges; engraved title pages. Foxing to end papers, first couple of pages and title page of each volume and to plates; binding lightly rubbed. A sound and internally clean set.
The Earl of Derby’s set with his bookplate. £650
BLACKSTONE, William. Commentaries on the Laws of England. Oxford: At the Clarendon Press; Printed for Strahan, Cadell, and Prince, 1778. [29293]
Eigth Edition. 4 volumes; 8vo. Contemporary tan half calf with raised bands, recent black and burgundy title labels, and gilt to spines; marbled boards; edges tinted. With engraved protrait frontispiece and tables. Binding rubbed, content a bit dusty. A sound set of this classic legal work. £850
BLATTY, William, Peter. The Exorcist. London, Blond & Briggs. 1971. [29015]
UK FIRST EDITION, PRE-PUBLICATION / ADVANCE COPY with review slip. Octavo. Publisher’s black cloth, with gothic style lettering to spine, black endpapers; in photographic dustwrapper. A lightly used copy with a little rubbing and marking; shows well. With rare publisher’s slip with printed release date. Uncommon in this advance state. Filmed in 1973, Blatty’s influential ‘The Exorcist’ probably still remains the most famous horror film of all time, and certainly one of the most disturbing; in it’s wake came a thousand Catholic Fear horror stories and movies. £150
Book Collector No.270 (p25) ‘The Devil’s Library’. Listed in Jones & Newman; 100 Best Horror Novels.
BLATTY, William, Peter. Which Way To Mecca, Jack? From Brooklyn to Beirut: The adventures of an American Sheik London, Anthony Gibbs and Phillips 1961. [29007]
A comedy. UK FIRST EDITION, Octavo. Publisher’s blue cloth, with gilt lettering to spine, in a cartoon-illustrated dustwrapper. Very lightly handled; a fine copy of ‘a whacky true tale of his own Arabian nights’ . An unsual, off-beat first novel from thae author who would later terrify a generation with ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘Legion’.
£65
Book Collector No.270 (p25) ‘The Devil’s Library’. Listed in Jones & Newman; 100 Best Horror Novels.
BLOCH, Robert. WELLMAN, Manly Wade.DRAKE, Leah Bodine.DERLETH, August. Weird Tales. May 1951. New York, Weird Tales. 1951 [28288]
4to. Original paper wraps, very slight wear to extremities.Cover edges trimmed flush with pagblock. Lee Brown Coye cover design (typically loony). Contains the Keeper of The Key by Derleth, The Bradley Vampire by Roger Thomas and The Last Grave of Lill Warren by Manly Wade Wellman; vampires, werewolves and silver blades forged by St.Dunstan (well of course!). Great stuff. £50
BOOTHBY, Guy. A Crime Of The Under Seas. London, Ward Lock. 1905 [27020]
First edition. 8vo. Tight and clean in publisher’s decorated dark blue cloth, attractively embellished in gilt (gilded fish no less) and green. Some rippling of the cloth to the lower front board and wear to spine ends. Some light spotting to interior and page edges. A series of short stories from the man who invented Dr.Nicola (and his cat), including the title story involving a sunken steamer, a murdered jewel courier and a variety of copper-helmeted diving suit shenanigans.
£150
Eric Quayle; Detective Fiction. Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [347]
Nikola The Anti-HeroBOOTHBY, Guy. Farewell Nikola. (Author of Dr. Nikola etc.) London, Ward, Lock & Co. Ltd. 1901. [28108]
FIRST EDITION, 8vo. Publisher’s dark blue cloth with pictorial panel to upper, edges untrimmed. Pp315 + 4 pages of advertisements. A lightly used copy with pencil inscription, some toning to flyleaves, white panel to spine a little flaked as usual. Very good. The final appearance of Dr.Nikola, one of the best rivals to Sherlock Holmes. 8 beautiful illustrations by Harold Piffard, including frontispiece with tissue-guard. Some bumping to the spine and corners with a small area of knocks to the back. Good pages with slight intermittent foxing, mainly to the beginning and end of the text and page edges. An interesting and attractive book, very good.
A host of detective masterminds and gentleman adventurers followed in the the footsteps of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. Guy Boothby’s series, one of the more successful, was gritty and atmospheric; Victorian crime with a dark edge. £75
Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [326]
BOOTHBY, Guy. The Kidnapped President. London, Ward Lock. 1902 [27877]
First Edition. 8vo. 308pp + 6pp ads. Publisher’s dark blue cloth titled in gilt to spine and front board, decorated with red geometrical shapes from which much of the red paint has chipped. The gilt is bright and crisp. Slight darkening to spine with some bumping to the head and tail. Internally clean and fresh. Pretty much does what it says it’s going to; kidnapped Presidents, evil swarthy types who unfeelingly coerce defenseless (and it has to be said, not terribly bright) women into doing their fiendish (and similarly not terribly well thought out) bidding, a legion of stooges who can be despatched with a punishing right to the jaw, a service revolver or two and an imperial ton of pluck wielded by the type of chaps that other chaps of the time seem to have absolutely worshipped. I’m only bitter because they’d have had me guarding the steamboat in the quite accurate assumption that I’d lack the sand for such an expedition. £150
Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [191]
BOOTHBY, Guy. Pharos The Egyptian. London, Ward Lock. 1899 [28998]
First edition. 8vo.376pp + 4pp ads. Publisher’s dark blue cloth titled in gilt and emblazoned with ancient Egyptian devices. Neat owner name to half-title, eps. toned, gilt shows some rubbing, light wear to joints. A used, but sound copy. Very good. £95
One of Mr. Boothby’s better known works, this one of a decidedly supernatural bent concentrating on the eerie machinations of the repugnant old man of the title. It’s clear from the start that he’s a bad ‘un, he’s introduced standing below Cleopatra’s Needle mocking the frantic struggles of drowning people in the Thames. After such a rib tickling afternoon he probably headed home, passing the time by stealing sweets off toddlers, kicking nuns and swiping the crutches of sniffling slum children injured in carriage accidents. He has the obligatory not overly enterprising young lady in his evil clutches and a variety of plans for releasing plagues and suchlike unpleasantness on to the world. Clearly he’s in need of setting straight. Never fear, this is late-Victorian Britain, and the gross national product just happens to be gimlet eyed, broad shouldered heroic types who gladly throw themselves in front of any peril in order to preserve the eternal wonders that are crinolined women with the mental agility of a pickled pig’s foot, cricket, Devonshire cream teas and the time honoured tradition of wearing a dinner jacket to any occasion be it a dance, a gentleman’s club supper or the apocalypse. Chuck in some benevolent ancient gods and a small dog and one has a circus. Sheer genius.
Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [328]
BOOTHBY, Guy. A Prince of Swindlers. London, Ward Lock. 1900 [27879]
First Edition. 8vo. 292pp + 6pp ads. Publisher’s blue cloth titled in gilt with blindstamped decoration. Slight scuffing to extremities and bumped at head of spine. Solid and respectable.Browning to prelims, some pages uncut all edges untrimmed. Another Boothby adventure express with master criminal in pursuit of swindling the whole of London society and making out like a bandit. Disguises, fake identities, vapid yet strangely fascinating women who need to be rescued from his clutches and a guest appearance by someone who bears an uncanny resemblance to an unfeasibly intelligent conculting detective cocaine fiend of our acquaintance. For sheer rock and roll story telling in the vein of Doyle, Buchan and Verne, Boothby should be dragged out of obscurity and restored to his rightful position as one of the most compelling writers of fiction embodying a period when to be a real man you had to be honest, intelligent and brave as a lion, rather than merely rich and self centred, which is all you require to qualify today. £120
BOOTHBY, Guy. A Two-Fold Inheritance. London, Ward Lock. 1903 [27875]
First Edition. 8vo. 328pp. Publisher’s gilt titled blue cloth decorated in a light blue dot pattern. Bumped to the head and tail of the spine but nevertheless clean, bright and fresh. Text block solid and clean, some slight foxing to flyleaf. Another mystery from a man who has to be one of the most prolific successors to Doyle and Holmes. He created the fiendish, urbane and curiously considerate Dr. Nikola (accompanied by a cat called Apollyon, sort of a more enigmatic version of Dr. Watson only with more fur and the ability to lick himself clean, which as far as we are aware was not a quality possessed by Holmes’s assistant), and penned a steady stream of adventurous mystery novels and short stories. A splendid bit of pre pulp shocker. £100
Eric Quayle; Detective Fiction.
Bowles, Paul. The Spider’s House New York, Random House. 1955 [29230]
FIRST EDITION. Publisher’s black cloth boards and original dust-jacket. A near fine copy with some minor wear to the wrapper- appears unread. The dilemma of the outsider in an alien society, and the gap in understanding between cultures, recurrent themes of Paul Bowles's writings, are dramatized with brutal honesty in this novel set in Fez, Morocco, during that country's 1954 nationalist uprising. Richly descriptive of its setting, and uncompromising in its characterizations, ‘The Spider's House’ is perhaps Bowles’s best and most beautifully subtle novel. £250
BRERETON, Captain F.S. The Great Aeroplane. A Thrilling Tale Of Adventure. London, Blackie and Son. n.d. circa 1911 [27676]
8vo. Publishers decorated red cloth depicting erm, a great aeroplane, flying over the minarets of Istanbul. Lightly rubbed to extremities and a trifle bumped to the head of the spine. Gift inscription to front pastedown with a scar to said pastedown caused by the careless removal of something adhesive, or possibly welded. A stirring companion volume to ‘The Great Airship‘ featuring similar acts of post-Henty Imperialist man-worshipping campery. A veritable frenzy of steely eyes, lantern jaws and swarthy untrustworthy foreigners. £60
BRONTE, Charlotte, Anne, and Emily [GASKELL, Mrs.]. The Life and Works of Charlotte Bronte and her Sisters. Including: Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Shirley, Villette, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, The Professor, Agnes Grey.
With Introductions to the Works by Mrs. Humphry Ward and an Introduction and Notes to the Life by Clement K. Shorter. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1899-90. [29186]
The Haworth Edition, complete in 7 volumes, 8vo. With Portraits and Illustrations. A superb set finely bound in recent brown half morocco with raised bands, gilt and two green title labels to spines; brown cloth boards; top edges gilt. £975
BUCHAN, John. Greenmantle. London, Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. 1916. [28194]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo., pp. x; 307. Publisher’s dark green cloth, gilt titles to spine. Light rubbing and handling, neat ownership to flyleaf, gilt dulled, text block shaken within the binding. Very good. The second novel to feature John Buchan’s most enduring character, the adventurous government agent Richard Hannay, partnered again by Sandy Arbuthnot, having previously appeared in the ‘The Thirty Nine Steps’.
£125
Blanchard A38. Steinbrunner and Penzler p51-2. Haining p192-4,198.
BUCHAN, John. The Island of Sheep. [A Richard Hannay novel] London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1936 [28196]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. Publisher’s green cloth with gilt titles to spine, author’s mongram initials in gilt to upper, illustrated map endpapers. A lightly used copy showing mild handling and rubbing, neat owner name to half-title. Near fine, without the dustwrapper. The final novel to feature the adventurous government agent (Sir) Richard Hannay, the author’s most enduring character first introduced in ‘The Thirty Nine Steps’. £50
Blanchard A115. See also Haining; Crime Fiction p193-4.
BUCHAN, John. The Moon Endureth. Tales and Fancies. William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London 1912 [28940]
A curious collection of strange tales from the acclaimed thriller writer and creator of gentleman spy Richard Hannay. FIRST EDITION, octavo, pp324 +4(ads) +64-page catalogue dated 3/12. Publisher’s slate grey cloth titled in gilt with silver moon to spine and similar monogram motif to upper. Cloth is clean and bright, a tad dulled to spine. Edges foxed, text is clean. A near fine copy. £295
See Haining; Crime Fiction p193-4. Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [324]
BUCHAN, John. Mr. Standfast. London, Hodder & Stoughton. 1919 [28158]
FIRST EDITION, Octavo, pp412. Publisher’s light blue cloth, ruled and lettered in navy. A lightly used example, a trifle bumped and marked, some toning to edges, small brown spot to flyleaf. Very good indeed. An attractive example of the scarce third Richard Hannay adventure (following The Thirty Nine Steps and Greenmantle). £175
BURROUGHS, William. The Naked Lunch. Olympia Press, Paris 1959 [27882]
FIRST EDITION, with NF18 price-stamp on rear. 8vo., pp. 225. Green printed paper wraps, in illustrated dustjacket. Trivial edgewear. Jacket with a shallow chip to top of spine, not affecting lettering. A fine copy, in near fine wrapper. £1,200
Callil & Toibin; Modern Library. (200 Best Novels in English since 1950)
CARLYLE, Thomas. The French Revolution. James Fraser, London, 1837, [29249]
3 volumes, 8vo. Half-titles, pps. (vii) + 404, (vii) + 421, (vii) + 448. Bound in recent dark brown half calf with raised bands, rburgundy and green title labels and gilt to spines; marbled boards. Internally clean and sound. First Editions. £450
Pair Of “Alice” First Editions In Superb Bayntun BindingsCARROLL, Lewis (DODGSON, C.) [TENNIEL]. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland (Alice in Wonderland). Together with: Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. London, MacMillan and Co., 1866, and 1872. [27562]
FIRST EDITIONS. 2 volumes. 8vo. Numerous illustrations by John Tenniel. Internally clean. Superbly bound in full bright red crushed levant, gilt, by Bayntun-Rivere, with White Rabbit and Queen characters in gilt to upper covers. A superb set. Alice is the First Published Edition; Looking-Glass is the First Issue. Bindings as new- a very fine older-style Bayntun treatment of the Lewis Carroll classics. First Edition, First Issue of ‘Through the Looking Glass’ (with ‘wade’ for ‘wabe’ p.21).
First Published edition of ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ Lewis Carroll disliked the edition published in 1865 so much that he had them all recalled and shipped out to the U.S.A. where the title pages were removed and new American ones stuck in. Carroll’s annoyance was with the typography and general look of the book. The illustrator, Tenniel also complained, saying that his illustrations were not being done justice. It is estimated that no more than 20 of these 1865 issues escaped. They are all now held in institutional collections.
£6,750
Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature. Williams & Madan [33], [67]. Book Collector No.271, ‘The Great Illustrators’.
CHRISTIE, Agatha. The Man In The Brown Suit. Bodley Head, London 1924 [28828]
First Edition. Scarce; The fourth of Christie’s 66 original crime novels, and the first to feature the secret service agent Johnny Race. Bound in publisher’s light brown cloth, patterned and lettered in dark brown. Neat ink ownership to flyleaf, internally clean, binding very carefully handled showing mild wear only. A near fine copy. £1,250
Cooper & Pike; Detective Fiction
CHRISTIE, Agatha. The Moving Finger. For The Crime Club, by Collins, London, 1943. [28829]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. Publisher’s cloth in pictorial dustwrapper. A clean bright, near fine example; book has a little minor pushing to corners etc, jacket carefully handled showing some acceptable edgewear, two tears to head of spine and a couple of associated creases., priced at 7/6 (as issued). Much fresher than usually encountered. This cheaply produced book on wartime stock is notoriously difficult to fine in such a bright state. Christie’s third Miss Marple novel £750
Cooper & Pike; Detective Fiction p82-89
CHRISTIE, Agatha. Towards Zero. London: Published by The Crime Club by Collins, 1944. [28831]
FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp160. Publisher’s orange cloth with black titles to spine, internally clean, cloth a little toned to spine through jacket, no inscriptions. Atkinson-designed wrapper is clean and bright with some browning to spine and a few small nicks to extremities, price-clipped to flap. Shows extremely well. A very good copy indeed. ‘Towards Zero’ marks the fifth and final appearance of Hercule Poirot’s trusty ally Superintendant Battle, who must work hard to solve the murder of Lady Tresillian. £375
Wagstaff & Poole p196. Cooper & Pike; Detective Fiction.
Inscribed ChurchillCHURCHILL, Sir Winston Spencer. Thoughts and Adventures. London, Thornton Butterworth. 1933 [29306]
First Keystone Library Edition. INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR. 8vo. 320pp. Publisher’s bottle green ribbed cloth titled in gilt to spine and front board (gilt to front board being a variant binding). Inscribed by Churchill to front flyleaf and dated ‘Feb. 1934’. Some light foxing to prelims otherwise fresh and clean. Dustwrapper solid and bright with some light soiling and wear to the extremities, darkening to the spine panel and light fraying to spine ends. Nevertheless an attractive example, made more distinctive by a strong example of Churchill’s signature. The Keystone Library editions were a 5 shilling middle range edition, the print run for this edition would have been around 3000 copies. £2,750
Langworth A37 ab
CHURCHILL, W. S. A History of the English-Speaking Peoples London, Cassell & Co., 1956-58 [29324]
FIRST EDITIONS. 4 volumes, octavo. Elegantly bound in contemporary full red oasis morocco by Zaehnsdorf, light fading to spine gilt-lettered in six compartments with raised bands, all edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. Illustrated with maps and tables. Internally fresh and bright, a beautiful set in attractive contemporary leather bindings. Published shortly after Sir Winston Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, this is the author's last great work, only available some twenty years after he wrote the first draft, which then lay dormant whilst he attended to National and Parliamentary matters. In his preface he remarks that the book 'slumbered peacefully, until 1956, 'when things had quietened down'. Reading reports of the last decade of his life, one is struck by the central interest his history represented in his final years, and how rapidly he sank into decline and depression after the final volume was published. £1,250
Woods A138(a). Langworth 315.
CHURCHILL, W. S. Ian Hamilton’s March. Together with Extracts from the Diary of Lieutenant H. Frankland a Prisoner of War at Pretoria. Longman's, Green, and Co., London, 1900, [28896]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. Publisher’s red cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper, black end papers; corners very slightly rubbed, upper inner hinge starting, cloth a bit worn along hinges; markings to boards. Internally clean and sound. An attractive copy in a protective sleeve entitled in gilt to spine. Illustrated with portrait, 10 maps and plans (some folding). £450
Woods [A5] Langworth [p58]
CHURCHILL, W. S. Post-War Speeches (1948-1961). Comprising: The Sinews of Peace (1948), Europe Unite (1950), In the Balance (1951), Stemming the Tide (1953) and The Unwritten Alliance (1961). London: Cassell and Company Ltd., 1948-61. [28999]
5 volumes, 8vo. ALL FIRST EDITIONS. The complete Post-War speeches in first edition; all were printed in a single impression, and The Unwritten Alliance (London, 1961) was not published in the United States. Finly bound in recent dark blue half morocco with raised bands and gilt titles to spines; dark blue cloth boards; top edges gilt. Clean and sound. Quite a difficult set to assemble; far more elusive than the war speeches. £875
CHURCHILL, W. S. War Speeches. [Half Leather] Cassell and Company, Ltd., London, 1941-46, [28477]
ALL FIRST EDITIONS. 7 octavo volumes bound as 6. Finely bound in recent half brown morocco, with gilt lion rampant device to spine, raised bands, cloth boards, top edge gilt. A fine set. Never in the field of bookselling have so few books contained so many famous words. £950
[CHURCHILL, W.S.] JAMES, Robert Rhodes (Ed.) Winston S. Churchill : His Complete Speeches 1897-1963. Chelsea House Publishers, NY and London, 1974. [29184]
FIRST EDITIONS. 8 volumes; large 8vo. Finely bound in recent burgundy half morocco with raised bands, gilt titles and lion decoration to spine, burgundy cloth boards. A fine and extremely handsome set. The only complete set of all of Churchill’s Speeches. £2,750
CLOUSTON, J. Storer. Carrington’s Cases. London, William Blackwood and Sons. 1920 [27312]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. Publisher’s bright red cloth titled and decorated in black to forn board and spine. A trifle rubbed here and there but otherwise bright and clean. Light toning to page edges, internally clean. A lovely copy of this Queen’s Quorum mystery featuring the cases of F.T. Carrington ‘Inquiry Agent’.
[Carrington’s Cases is] One of the most sought-after collections of detective short stories - Eric Quayle. £450
Eric Quayle; Detective Fiction p.105.
COLLINS, Wilkie. The Novels of Wilkie Collins. The works include: The Woman in White, The Moonstone, After Dark, etc. London, Chatto and Windus. 1896. [29313]
The Library Edition. 8vo. Complete in 29 volumes uniformly and most attractively bound in a contemporary tan half calf binding by Morell (signed to inner dentelle), with green and red title labels, lavish gilt decoration to spine and top edge gilt to all volumes. Marbled endpapers, many volumes illustrated. Some very light wear to extremties of some volumes, very gentle toning to spines of some volumes, all volumes solid, robust and attractive. This pretty set contains all of Collins’ best known works (The Moonstone, The Woman in White, After Dark etc.) and a multitude of other work in the field of the novel. A most attractive and distinguished set of works by a man who at his height rivalled Dickens for the title of Victorian England’s favourite novelist. £4,500
Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature. Graham Greene & Dorothy Glover; Victorian Detective Fiction (1966).
COLLINS, Wilkie. The Novels of Wilkie Collins. The works include: The Woman in White, The Moonstone, After Dark, etc. London, Chatto and Windus. 1899. [29546]
Complete in 29 volumes; 8vo. Finely bound in recent half brown morocco with raised bands, red and green title labels and gilt to spines; marbled boards, top edges gilt. Illustrations to a few volumes. Marginal tear to the half title of one volume; a spot of foxing or two to a few volume. A clean and sound set in a very attractive recent binding.
This set contains all of Collins’ best known works (The Moonstone, The Woman in White, After Dark etc.) and a multitude of other work in the field of the novel. A most attractive and distinguished set of works by a man who at his height rivalled Dickens for the title of Victorian England’s favourite novelist. £3,500
Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature. Graham Greene & Dorothy Glover; Victorian Detective Fiction (1966).
COLLINS, Wilkie. The Woman In White. London, Sampson Low. 1860. [29421]
First edition. 3 vols. 8vo. 316pp + 360pp + 368pp. Bound in original publisher’s pale purple embossed pebble grain cloth. Worn to extremities, scuffed and with patches of fading to the spines of all three volumes. Volume one has had the cloth of the spine re-glued at some point. Some softening to spine ends and bumping to corners, slight cocking, nevertheless and attractively robust and capable set scarce in original cloth. All edges untrimmed, yellow endpapers, internally bright and fresh. Bone and Son label to rear pastedown of volume one. All three books bear the bookplate of T.H.G. Fermor (a notable Victorian photographer), and discreet Easton Neston shelf labels; a fact primarily significant in that it places this set as completely uniform and contemporaneous rather than three randomly collected volumes. A very attractive first edition set of an important novel. Collins’s epistolary novel is considered to be amongst the earliest pieces of mystery fiction, and is certainly a fine piece of ‘shocker’ writing. You can’t go wrong with a sinister warning from a seemingly mad woman encountered in Hampstead (a daily event these days), a bit of a mismatched love story and a shady character who goes by the truly fantastic name of Sir Percival Glyde. Admittedly in later years it has been overshadowed by the horrific spectre that is Andrew Lloyd Webber, but despite such attacks the original tale holds up remarkably well. £4,500
Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [548]. Book Collector No.273, p34. Graham Greene & Dorothy Glover; Victorian Detective Fiction (1966).
CONAN DOYLE, Arthur. The Maracot Deep. And Other Stories.- The Disintegration Machine, The Story Of Spedegue’s Dropper and When The World Screamed. London, John Murray 1929. [28124]
FIRST EDITION, 8vo. Publisher’s deep pink cloth, titles in gilt to the front board and spine. Including a list of Conan Doyle’s works, printed opposite title page, plus 10 pages of advertisements to the back of the text Generally very good; a little toning to text block, backstrip a trifle sunned, gilt a touch dull. Shows well.
A collection of scientific fiction stories, two of which feature Professor George Challenger, who first appeared in ‘The Lost World’. Along with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Professor Challenger stands in the front rank of the immortal characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. These are scientific stories rather than science fiction; the stories are based solidly on scientific facts, not possibilities.
A nice association copy; Formerly the property of Rene de Chochor, director of the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose main responsibility was to negotiate all the many contracts for cinema and ensure that copyrights were respected.
£180
Green and Gibson; A Bibliography of Arthur Conan Doyle. Provenance; Ex-Christies 4074, lot 272 (part).
CONAN DOYLE, Arthur. The Valley of Fear. A Sherlock Holmes Story. London, Smith Elder. 1915. [29222]
FIRST UK EDITION 306pp. plus 3 pages of ads, with illustrated frontispiece. Publisher’s red cloth, titled in gilt to spine and upper. Some minor wear and handling, corners a touch rubbed, but generally a bright, clean copy in near fine condition. Housed in a three quarter red morocco clamshell box. The fourth and final full-length Sherlock Holmes novels, a retrospective or ‘flashback’ adventure set in Pennsylvania, 1888. ‘The Valley of Fear’ is also notable for the involvement of Holmes arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty. £975
Green & Gibson [A39a] Cooper & Pike; Detective Fiction [p115-119]. Harold Locke Bibliography p.64-65.
COOPER, (James) Fenimore [BROCK, H.M. and C.E.]. The Leather Stocking Novels. Include: The Last of the Mohicans, The Deerslayer, The Prairie, The Pioneers, The Pathfinder. Illustrated by the Charles and Henry Brock. London: Macmillan & Co. Limited, 1900-1901. [27975]
All First Brock illustrated Editions. 5 volumes; 8vo. Finely bound in recent half brown morocco with raised bands, gilt and two, red and green, title labels to spines; marbled boards; top edges gilt, others untrimmed. Each volume contains 25 line drawing plates by the brothers Brock. Pages sometimes roughly cut; occasional finger marking. A superb set of these classic tales in a protective felt-lined slipcase. £1,250
Book Collector No.271, ‘The Great Illustrators’.
CROWLEY, Aleister. The Diary of a Drug Fiend. London: W. Collins Sons and Co. Ltd., 1922. [28073]
FIRST EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION. Octavo pp. x, 368, [6 ads.] Publisher’s blue cloth titled in red. Light rubbing to edges and corners, a little heavier to head and foot of spine. Pages clean with only a little light foxing to half-title, and a couple of light tape marks to the front and rear pastedowns. This has been a poular copy since there are three seperate bookplates: F. Ivan Bright’s to pastedown, the armorial bookplate of Ian Richard Monins to flyleaf and finally the Baphomet bookplate of Sandy Robertson (author of The Aleister Crowley Scrapbook) to verso of flyleaf. A very good copy of Crowley’s first published novel. £475
Yorke [50(a)]
CROWLEY, Aleister. Liber CCCXXXIII The Book of Lies. Which is Also Falsely Called Breaks. The Wanderings or Falsifications of the One Thought of Frater Perdurabo Which Thought is itself Untrue. London: Wieland and Co., 1913. [27881]
FIRST EDITION. Small octavo (140 x 80mm) pp. [2], 7-130, [1] Publisher’s black buckram, gilt titles within Egyptian design to upper, gilt title to spine, white endpapers. Errata slip, between pages 60 and 61 as called for. Illustrated with two photogravure portraits, one of Crowley on an ass in the Himalayas and a fantastic ritualistic image of Leila Waddell. Light rubbing to extremities and very faint soiling to front edge of upper board, gilt design still bright. Small label to front pastedown, otherwise clean internally, with a little browning to endpapers With the magical motto and name of Dent Myers to the flyleaf. Myers was an associate of Karl Germer and an O.T.O. member. Germer became the head of the O.T.O. after Crowley’s death in 1947. A near fine copy of an undoubted highlight in the Crowley canon. In his own words: ‘This book deals with many matters on all planes of the very highest importance. It is an official publication for Babes of the Abyss, but is recommended even to beginners as highly suggestive.’ Full of in jokes, cryptic poetry and mystical musings, there is much to meditate upon and digest of a Kabbalistic and Thelemic nature among its pages. Also included at the end is a brilliantly self-deprecating list of his books to date, ‘The Excreta of Mr. Aleister Crowley’, filled with real and self penned critiques of his works. £975
Yorke [58]
CROWLEY, Aleister. Songs of the Spirit. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co., 1898. [28079]
FIRST EDITION, one of 200 copies. Publisher’s blue/grey cloth, titles in red to upper and spine. All edges untrimmed with plain endpapers, title page printed in red and black. A sharp, near fine copy with just some browning to spine and minimal foxing to the otherwise clean pages. Crowley’s first regularly published book, since The Tale of Archais, number 3 in Yorke’s bibliography; Songs of the Spirit is number 4, was actually issued in January 1899. (See ‘Perdurabo’ by Richard Kaczynski [2002] note 6 of chapter 3) £975
Yorke [4(a)]
Dear Wheatley...CROWLEY, Aleister. [WHEATLEY, Dennis] Mortadello or the Angel of Venice. A Comedy. [Together With] A Three Page Signed Autograph Letter. London: Wieland and Company (Barabbas and Company), 1912. [28519]
FIRST EDITION. RARE, PREVIOUSLY UNRECORDED ISSUE WITH TWO TITLE PAGES. LONG INSCRIPTION TO DENNIS WHEATLEY, WITH HIS BOOKPLATE. Octavo (210 x 167mm) pp. xvi, 2-110, 111-122 The Works of Mr Aleister Crowley. Bound in original grey cloth, untitled. Occasional light spotting, otherwise the pages are clean. The second title page, with an imprint of Barabbas and Company, has the lower corner cut to denote a cancel leaf, and is bound after the dedication page. Wheatley’s fabulous allegorical bookplate to front pastedown. Twelve line inscription to Dennis Wheatley to the verso of regular title page, apparently as a reciprocal gift having received a first edition from Wheatley: ‘May 14 ‘34 e.v. | Dear Wheatley | Most ingenious, but really a | little Ely Cuthbertson, to advertise your | love of rare editions in a thriller | blurb! | At least my (underlined) heart was touched, | and I hope you will appreciate this | ‘sample’ copy with the double title. | I don’t know how many were printed like | this: I have a vague idea that there were | six. But where the others are no man - except the ‘Occult Committee’ of the | ‘Magic Circle’- knows. | Yours Aleister Crowley’ The autograph letter to Wheatley is on blue Claridge's Hotel headed note-paper dated 16 June (no year). Crowley has crossed out Claridges and written his address at 21 Upper Montague Street (for a few days). The letter is ‘mourning’ Wheatley’s absence at a recent lunch and informing him that ‘Liveright is interested in Black August - in case you haven't placed it in U.S.A..’. Wheatley's third novel Black August, which first introduced the character of Gregory Sallust, was published by Hutchinson in London and by Dutton in New York in 1934. A truly rare Crowley item with a wonderful association. £7,500
Yorke [49]
CUVIER, Baron George; GRIFFITH, Edward. The Animal Kingdom, arranged in conformity with its Organization, by the Baron Cuvier. With Additional Descriptions of all the Species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith.
Includes: Mammalia; Aves; Reptilia; Pisces; Fossil Remains; Mollusca and Radiata; Annelida, Crustacea, and Arachnida; Insecta; and Index and Synopsis. London: Prinited for Geo. B. Whittaker, 1827-1835. [28118]
First Edition in English. Complete in 16 volumes; large 8vo. Contemporary full calf by Riviere, richly gilt to spines with twin, red and green, title labels; gilt rule to boards; marbled end papers and edges. Contains 797 engraved plates of which 661 are hand coloured. Browning throughout in various degree, generally light; offsetting of plates on to text, a few plates only with light text offset. The engravings are still sharp, the colours vivid. Impressive binding a little rubbed and scuffed. A beautiful set of this important work.
None of Cuvier's works attained a higher reputation than his Règne Animal distribué d'après son Organisation...
The whole of the work was his own, with the exception of the section on Insecta, in which he was assisted by his friend Latreille. It was translated into English many times, often with substantial notes and supplementary material updating the book in accordance with the expansion of knowledge. £3,750
DAHL Roald. [Quentin Blake] Rhyme Stew. Illustrated by Quentin Blake. London, Jonathan Cape Ltd. 1989. [29036]
First Edition, slim 4to. INSCRIBED by Roald Dahl to flyleaf; Anne, love Roald Dahl.. Publisher’s navy blue cloth with titles in gilt to the spine. Colourful dust jacket in that amusing “Blake” style. A fine copy. Another fantastic collaboration between Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake; ‘Rhyme Stew’ contains a selection of hilarious absurd rhymes.
Roald Dahl received the World Fantasy Award [Lifetime Achievement] in 1983.
£975
Book Collector No.271, ‘The Great Illustrators’.
“THE MOST IMPORTANT BIOLOGICAL WORK EVER WRITTEN”DARWIN, Charles. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. London, John Murray, 1859. [27540]
First Edition, First Issue (With two reviews to half title and ‘speceies’ on page 20) 8vo., pp. (ix), [1], 502. Illustrated with folding diagram. Beautifully bound in early twentieth century full green calf by Bayntun’s of Bath with gilt ruling to boards, black and red title labels and extra gilt decoration to spine. All edges gilt. Internally clean and bright. A sumptuous binding and a very high quality copy of a great book, the importance of which cannot be understated. First Edition of the single most important biological book ever published. £25,000
Freeman 373; Dibner 199; Garrison and Morton 220; Horblit 23b; Norman catalogue 593; Printing and the Mind of Man 344b.
[DARWIN] WALLACE, Alfred Russel. Darwinism. An Exposition of the Theory of Natural Selection with some of its Applications. London: Macmillan and Co., 1889. [29136]
First Edition. Publisher’s green cloth with gilt titles to spine. Rubbed to extremities; head of spine lightly frayed; some darkening to edges; neat owner’s name to paste down and half title. With map and illustrations. A sound copy, internally clean. Veru good indeed. £210
FINE SET OF DAVY’S RARE COLLECTED WORKSDAVY, Sir Humphry. The Collected Works of Davy. Edited by his brother, John Davy. London, Smith, Elder and Co. 1839. [28801]
First Collected Edition of the works of this important chemist / scientist. 9 volumes, 8vo. Finely bound in recent half speckled calf with gilt decorated raised bands, red title label and gilt titles to spines, marbled boards. With illustrations throughout. Some light foxing and minimal marking. A superb set. The final volume includes the lesser known fantasy writing ‘Consolations In Travel; or, The Last Days of A Philosopher’ (written in 1830), mentioned in Bleiler.
Humphry Davy (1778-1829) became well known due to his experiments with the physiological action of some gases, including laughing gas (nitrous oxide) - to which he was addicted, once stating that its properties bestowed all of the benefits of alcohol but was devoid of its flaws. Davy later damaged his eyesight in a laboratory accident with nitrogen trichloride. In 1801 he was nominated professor at the Royal Institution of Great Britain and Fellow of the Royal Society, over which he would later preside. He later invented the Davy lamp which was a great and well known success (Wikipedia). £2,100
Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [281]
DE MORGAN, William. When Ghost Meets Ghost. London, Heinemann. 1914 [28172]
First edition. 8vo. 892pp + 16pp ads. Publisher’s green cloth titled and decorated in black to spine and front board. Slight sunning to spine and a trifle bumped. Bookplate to front pastedown. A lovely, bright copy. Not in fact a ghost story, but a long and charming tale nevertheless. William De Morgan was a hugely talented and influential designer of ceramics, from the stable of William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites. His literary achievements were in the manner of a hobby, and only real took off after his retirement. A charming and amusing tale. £125
DEFOE, Daniel. The Novels and Miscellaneous Works of Daniel Defoe. Including: Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, Roxana. With a Biographical Account of Defoe. London: George Bell and Sons, 1893. [28011]
Complete in 7 volumes; 8vo. Contemporary dark brown half calf with raised bands, gilt titles and decoration to spines; beige cloth boards; marbled end papers; top edges gilt. Light foxing to edges; binding showing a little wear although sound and tight. Very good. £450
DERLETH, August. Someone In The Dark. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1941 [28341]
First edition, first impression as against the later Derleth ‘pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.’ additional 300 copies. Fine in publisher’s black cloth, In a splendid Utpatel jacket with some meagre repaired fraying to the head of the very slightly faded spine. A lovely copy of the second Arkham House publication, a small octavo as against the giant paper brick which preceded it. A collection of Derleth’s fantastic short stories, but the highlight has to be the surely self-penned biography on the rear panel of the wrapper portraying Derleth as half way between Leonardo da Vinci and the Nostradamus of supernatural fiction; ‘August Derleth is perhaps the most versatile and prolific author alive today...his Sac Prairie saga may be the most ambitious literary venture since Proust’s A la Recherche du Temps Perdu...’ Just marvellous. £600
DICK, Philip K. Time Out of Joint. Novel of Menace. Philadelphia and New York; J.B.Lippincott. 1959 [29047]
FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp221. Publisher’s hardback cloth binding in pictorial dustjacket. Neat bookseller stamp to rear. A lightly used copy showing some acceptable dustiness and handling, with some minor edgewear, toned to extrenmities and spine. A very good copy of a scarce fantasy title. £750
DICKENS, Charles. Bleak House. London, Bradbury and Evans. 1853 [29232]
FIRST EDITION bound from the parts. 8vo. 624pp. Beautifully bound in contemporary full tan calf with some abrasion to extremities. Gilt ruling to boards, green and red title labels to spine and extra gilt decoration to spine compartments. All edges gilt. Internally clean with minor spots of foxing limited to the plates, a sharp copy. A very distinguished copy in a lovely binding containing all the necessary requirements of a good Dickens novel; gin, comedy rich people, comedy poor people, speech impediments and spontaneous human combustion. On a more serious note it is also a viable contender for the crown of first detective novel. £375
Queen’s Quorum. Book Collector No.273, p34. Graham Greene & Dorothy Glover; Victorian Detective Fiction (1966).
DICKENS, Charles. Nicholas Nickleby. Lonodn, Chapman and Hall. n.d. [1890’s] [29303]
Reprint edition. Beautifully bound in contemporary full red calf with dark green title labels and lavish gilt decoration to spine. Gilt ruling to boards. Marbled endpapers. Very light wear and one notable scratch to the vulnerable calf binding otherwise a sumptuous and attractive copy. All edges marbled. Marbled endpapers. Portrait frontispiece. Internally bright and clean, illustrated throughout in fine Chapman and Hall style with a multitude of images of urchins in pain, vicious florid-cheeked fat people and jolly accomodating comedy characters with hilarious names. All in a day’s work for the man who made thieving children, alchoholism, squalor, neglect and murder fit for The Muppets. £95
DICKENS, Charles. [BROWNE]. A Tale of Two Cities. With Illustrations by H. K. Browne. Chapman and Hall, London, 1859. [28848]
8vo., pp. (viii) + 254. Publisher’s embossed red cloth, gilt titles. A Very good, sound copy. Covers are rubbed, soiling to lower board, hinges starting. Occasional very light foxing. Scarce in original cloth. Housed in protective box with burgundy leather spine. FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. This is the earliest state, with p. 213 incorrectly numbered 113, which was corrected in later issues. £4,750
‘According to Kitton (pp. 111-12), Watts Phillips, a dramatist, developed the same plot as A Tale of Two Cities for a play titled “The Dead Heart”, which had a great success and appeared before Dickens was midway through the usual length of one of his novels. Because the plot of the novel was revealed by the play, and the public became aware of this revelation, Dickens ended the novel rather abruptly.’
Eckel [pp.86-90], Kitton.
DICKENS, Charles [COLLINS, Wilkie; LEVER, Charles; READE, Charles; BULER-LYTTON, Sir Edward; GASKELL, Elizabeth, et al]. All The Year Round. A Weekly Journal. Conducted by Charles Dickens. With which is incorporated Household Words. Include the very first appearance of Dickens’s ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ and ‘Great Expectations’; Wilkie Collins’s ‘The Woman in White’, ‘No Name’ and ‘The Moonstone’; Charles Lever’s ‘A Day’s Ride: A Life’s Romance’; Bulwer-Lytton’s ‘A Strange Story’; Gaskell’s ‘The Grey Woman’; Reade’s ‘Very Hard Cash’; and Sala’s ‘Quite Alone’. London: 1859-1868. [28052]
20 volumes. Continuous from number 1 to 501. Contemporary binding by Riley and Son in tan half calf with twin, tan and burgundy, title labels, gilt raised bands and gilt box design to spines; marbled boards, end papers and edges. Pages lightly toned; binding rubbed to extremities with light shelfwear. Bookplate with coat of arms of John Croft Deverell to paste downs. A superb, very decorative set of this important periodical publication, edited by Dickens, in effect the continuation to Household Words.
Charles Dickens owned All The Year Round with W.H. Wills. He remained its editor until his death in 1870. His son, Charles Dickens Jr., inherited his father’s 75 per-cent stake in the business and, in January 1871, bought out Wills’s 25 per-cent share, following the latter’s understandable objection to Charley’s decision to award himself both the editor’s and sub-editor’s salary. The journal continued under Charles Dickens Jr.’s editorship until 1888, and finally ceased publication in 1893. (Drew 12). £3,000
Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [662]. Graham Greene & Dorothy Glover; Victorian Detective Fiction (1966). Grolier Club Exhibition Catalogue [p136-139]. Collins; Dickens and Crime (1962).
DINESEN, Isak. Out of Africa. New York: Random House, 1938. [28895]
First US Edition. 8vo. Publisher’s black spine with gilt titles and decoration, orange cloth boards with a flamingo stamped in gilt to upper; top edge tinted; a little browning to inner hinges. In its original decorative dustwrapper, rubbed and lightly frayed to extremities, spine a touch darker. Shows extremely well. £450
DISCH, Thomas M. and STINE, Hank. The Prisoner. Together with: The Prisoner 2: A Day in the Life. London: Dennis Dobson, 1969 and 1970. [28979]
2 volumes. First - and only Hardback - Editions of these 2 novels. Both near fine copies in publisher’s cloth with dustwrapper, the first a bit less so with slight rubbing along the top edge and a small tear. ‘A novel of eerie intrigue based on the gripping T.V. Show starring Patrick McGoohan’. £195
[DOORS, ROLLING STONES] MORRISON, Jim. Ode to LA while thinking of Brian Jones, deceased. Los Angeles; Western Lithograph Co. [?] for J.D.Morrison. [July] 1969 [28177]
FIRST EDITION (and the only separate edition). 500 copies only, privately distributed to concert-goers. Bifolium, 4-page pamphlet, (unpaginated). Pale yellow textured paper, printed in dark green, unbound as issued. Approx. dimensions 9.5 x 6 inches. With Linweave Textra watermark, ‘Made in USA’. A near fine copy, with soft vertical fold and annotations to rear from original owner listing the The Doors’ opening songs that evening ‘Back Door Man / Break on Through / Soul Kitchen.’ £2,500
The third of four self-published poetry titles by Jim Morrison [1943-1971], after ‘The Lords: Notes on Vision’ (April 1969), ‘The New Creatures’ (April 1969), and followed by ‘An American Prayer’ (1970), and is his only work that was devoted to a single poem. The edition comprised ‘vermutlich 500’ copies (Gerstenmeyer), which were handed out at the two performances The Doors gave at the Aquarius Theatre, Hollywood (both 21st July 1969). By one account the theatre floor was littered with these leaflets after the show (Humphreys), so most would have been swept up and thrown out with the garbage; in fact the present copy only escaped as it’s recipient tossed it in her handbag instead of the floor. Extremely scarce thus.
‘Brian Jones’ is a chilling meditation on the recent death of Lewis Brian Hopkin-Jones (Brian Jones) [1942-1969], founder and deposed loader of the Rolling Stones’ and the ‘first martyr of rock and roll’, who, two weeks earlier, had been found dead in his swimming pool at Cotchford Farm, Sussex, former home of A.A.Milne. The circumstances of his death remain one of rock’s greatest mysteries. Two years later, aged 27 (the same age as Jones lived to), Morrison himself would become an infamous rock’n’roll fatality.
Heinz Gerstenmeyer; The Doors.de [No.4], Kerry Humphreys; The Doors Collector Magazine ‘most fans trashed their gift without even reading it... many who attended confirm that these sheets littered the floor and filled almost every trash bin’.
PROVENANCE; Originally the property of Michelle Straubing, attendee and journalist for ‘Creem’ music magazine.
DOYLE, Arthur Conan. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; The Sign of Four; The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. London: George Newnes, Limited, 1901-1902. [28930]
Sixpenny Novels: 3 titles bound in 1, in contemporary half black cloth with gilt titles to spine; marbled boards; with the upper wrapper of the first title bound in. Illustration to each title page. Light rubbing to extremities; owner’s name and a couple of library numbers in ink to title pages; german newspaper cut-out pasted down to verso of f.f.e.p.; age toning to pages. A quaint and curious compilation of 3 Sixpenny books of Sherlock Holmes short stories. £250
DeWaal.
DOYLE, Arthur Conan. His Last Bow. Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes. London; John Murray, 1917. [27995]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo; pp. 305 + 6 ads. Bound in the publisher’s original red cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper. Moderate handling, some dustiness to edges, cloth sunned at spine, gilt dulled, some wear to joints, creased to upper Still shows well. A very good, presentable copy. His Last Bow marked the end of Holmes’ career, though not the end of his adventures... £350
Green & Gibson [A40a]
DOYLE, Arthur Conan. The Hound of the Baskervilles. Another Adventure of Sherlock Holmes. George Newnes, Limited, London, 1902, [29221]
FIRST EDITION. A curious ASSOCIATION COPY, formerly belonging to the great Sherlockian authority Vincent Starrett, with his ownership signature to half-title and bearing his pirate-themed bookplate to pastedown. In addition to the usual 16 plates this copy also has four additional illustrations (from the US edition) inserted by Starrett at logical intervals. In collating the plates we noticed the plate entitled ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ listed as facing page 310, but is actually printed with ‘p.321’ on its margin. This occurs in every copy we have subsequently checked, the only variable being whether the binder chooses to affix the plate according to the directions, or according to the page number shown on the actual plate! (as in the present example).
Octavo, pp359. Publisher’s gilt decorated cloth. A used copy which is internally clean but for a few thumbed pages, gauze-cloth joint to inside rear gutter just showing, browned to the endleaves, flyleaf has an owner signature dated 1924; cloth is generally handled and dulled, with some fraying to the spine ends. Housed in a protective three-quarter red leather clamshell box. This Starrett copy was formerly sold by the respected Sherlockian bookdealer Nigel Williams (London) perhaps 15 years ago, with his pencil note to flyleaf, and remained in one private collection until now. Mystery and supernatural novelist Vincent Starrett [1886-1974] first wrote as a cub reporter for the Chicago Inter-Ocean in 1905. When the newspaper folded two years later, he joined the Chicago Daily News as a crime reporter, a feature writer and finally a war correspondent in Mexico from 1914 to 1915. Starrett turned to writing mystery and supernatural fiction for the pulp magazines and in 1920 wrote a Sherlock Holmes pastiche entitled ‘The Adventure of the Unique Hamlet’ which involved the great detective with a lost 1604 edition of Shakespeare's play, which included an inscription by the playwright. Starrett's most famous work, ‘The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes’, was published in 1933. He retired from The Chicago Tribune in 1965 where he had written a book column for 20 years. Starrett was a co-founder of the famous ‘Baker Street Irregulars’ which remains the primary Holmes appreciation society.
£3,850
Green & Gibson [A26a] Cooper & Pike; Detective Fiction [p115-119]. Harold Locke Bibliography p.51-53. Provenance; Ex-Christies 4074, lot 292.
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], [28856]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo., pp. (vii) + 319. With photographic portrait frontispiece of members of the expedition, plates and map. Bound in the publisher’s pictorial mid-blue cloth with gilt titles to spine and gilt illustration of Challenger to upper, titled and bordered in white. Neat pencil notes to endpapers, some light marking to edges, clean tear to inner gutter, cloth a little rubbed and worn as usual. A very good copy. The first Challenger novel, in which our hero travels to a Lost World in the Amazon forest where dinosaurs, Pterodactyls and ape men could still exist.
£395
Green & Gibson A37. Harold Locke Bibliography p.61-63. Provenance; Ex-Christies 4074, lot 270.
DOYLE, Arthur Conan. The Parasite. London, Constable. 1894 [28152]
First edition. Small 8vo. 125pp. Publisher’s ribbed, glossy blue cloth, titled and decorated in gilt. Slight wear to extremities, scuffing to head and tail of spine and with some inoffensive creasing to the cloth as if some previous owner has sought to keep the book closed with an elastic band. An interesting little curio, very pretty indeed, Doyle’s own unique attempt at a vampire novel, albeit with his vampire a spirit sucking entity rather than the more conventional blood. The parallels with the vampire legend were made even more explicit in 1897 when Constable published Dracula, and immediately re-issued The Parasite in matching yellow cloth with red titles. £125
Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [143]
DOYLE, Arthur Conan. The Return of Sherlock Holmes. Illustrated by Sydney Paget. London: George Newnes Ltd., 1905. [28139]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo., With full page black and white illustrations throughout. Pp. 403, +4 of adverts. Elegantly bound in recent full blue oasis with gilt titles and decoration to spine, gilt rule to boards, author’s signature tooled in gilt to upper, marbled end papers, top edge gilt, others trimmed, original cloth bound in at rear. Internally clean and fresh. A superb copy. A collection of thirteen Holmes stories, among them some of the most interesting in the whole series - ‘The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton’ is a good example (which Doyle first called ‘The Adventure of the Worst Man in London’). £795
Green & Gibson [A29a]. Book Collector No.271, ‘The Great Illustrators’.
DOYLE, Arthur Conan. The Return of Sherlock Holmes. London, George Newnes Ltd, [c.1910] [29138]
Slim quarto, pp.156, with advertisement leaves to front and rear. Publisher’s fragile paper covers printed in full colour with a striking image of Holmes playing the violin. Issued as a ‘Newnes Sixpenny Copyright novel’, and the first edition thus. Some minor handling, covers a little creased, small loss to head and tail of spine, cheap paper toned as usual. A very good copy of a most attractive edition. An extremely rare survival of this scarce printing. A collection of thirteen Holmes stories, among them some of the most interesting in the whole series - ‘The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton’ is a good example (which Doyle first called ‘The Adventure of the Worst Man in London’).
Four of the stories (‘The Empty House’, ‘The Dancing Men’, ‘The Priory School’ and ‘The Second Stain’), were listed by Doyle in 1927 as being among his favourite Holmes episodes.
£180
De Waal. See also Cooper & Pike [p115-119], Eric Quayle; Detective Fiction.
DOYLE, Arthur Conan. The Sherlock Holmes The Long Stories (A Study In Scarlet, Sign of Four, Hound of the Baskervilles and Valley of Fear). John Murray, London, 1929. [28148]
FIRST EDITION of this omnibus volume; the first collected edition of the original four Holmes novels, with a brand new preface from Conan Doyle. Publisher’s hardback cloth binding in pictorial dustjacket. Book has a slight lean, cloth is a little worn and marked, jacket shows some dustiness, sunned to backlstrip. A very good copy, uncommon in the dustwrapper. £395
‘A Study In Scarlet’ listed in ‘100 Books That Shaped World History’ [Raftery, 2002].
“You said you wanted a spicy title. I shall give Sherlock Holmes of A Study In Scarlet something else to unravel.”DOYLE, Arthur Conan
The Sign of Four. Spencer Blacket, London, 1890. [27970]
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. 8vo. Frontispiece illustration, pp. 283 + 32 (ads). Superbly bound by BAYNTUN-RIVIERE in full burgundy oasis with raised bands, gilt titles and panelled spine, gilt rule to boards, a.e.g.. Publisher’s original pictorial cloth bound in at end. Internally clean. A superb copy in fine later binding. Second Holmes novel. Rare. First issue, with the correct points as called for: mispinting of page 138 on contents page, w shed for wished p.56. £4,750
Green & Gibson [A7a] Cooper & Pike; Detective Fiction [p115-119], Eric Quayle; Detective Fiction. Graham Greene and Dorothy Glover; Victorian Detective Fiction [130], (1966).
DOYLE, Arthur Conan. The Speckled Band. London, Samuel French. 1912 [29403]
First Edition. Variant of First Issue, with W.C.2. added to French’s address on front wrap. Small 8vo. 124pp.+ 2pp ads. Bound in publisher’s original yapp-edged grey paper wraps, light wear. Titled in black to spine and front panel, theatrical ads taking up the space on the remaining three panels. Light spotting to flyleaf and title, a little scuffing to upper otherwise internally clean and sharp. An exceptionally rare and fragile object, housed in a tailor made black cloth case. 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. Protected by a tailor made black and grey leather covered clamshell case. A fascinating piece of theatrical Holmesiana. In their expansive bibliography, Green & Gibson describe four impressions of the first edition of ‘The Speckled Band’ as follows;
First Impression with imprint ‘New York/Samuel French/Publisher/28-30, West 38th Street (vertical rule) London/Samuel French, Ltd/26, Southampton Street/ Strand. The covers are light green paper with a thick floral band and gothic style printed title, rear panel is blank. Price 1/6
Second Impression is on thinner paper, the covers are now dark green paper.
Third Impression features an amended imprint where the London adrress is now to the left of the upright, and the New York address to the right. There are subtle differences to London address with extra word ‘Publishers’ now present, and the comma is lacking between number and street. The New York address has completely changed to 25 West 45th Street. The covers are now brown paper with a new ruled frame design, no floral band or gothic type, rear panel lists seven plays. Price 2/6.
Fourth Impression with same (third impression) title page imprint, added ‘publisher’s note’ and extra advert. Brown covers as thrid impression but rear lists five plays.
This Quayle copy would appear to be a variant; the title page imprint corresponds to the first impression, but with the addition of ‘W.C.2’ after ‘Strand’. In all other respects the collation of the text, directions, adverts and blanks is the same as the first issue, and the paper is not thin. The covers, however, are similar in style to the third/fourth impression but are grey paper, and list seventeen earlier plays from French’s Acting series. Such wrappers are not noted in the bibliography. £2,500
Green and Gibson A36a. Harold Locke p.22. Book Collector; Top 200 Crime Novels (No.272).
[DOYLE, Arthur Conan] GILLETTE, William. Sherlock Holmes. A Drama in Four Acts. London, Samuel French Ltd.. 1922 [29140]
First Edition [French’s Acting Edition, No.489]. Pp123 +1 (advert). Includes diagrams for stage direction. Publisher’s fragile paper covers printed in colour with the striking image of Gillette portraying Holmes, titled to spine and upper, priced 2s.6d. net. Some trivial handling, browned to extremities,spine a little rolled. A very good copy of a fascinating piece of theatrical Holmesiana.
Although credited to Doyle this play was actually written entirely by actor William Gillette; The bibliography places the book in the ‘Misattributions’ section, although it adds that Doyle was consulted via cable by Gillette, and that Sir Arthur had such confidence in Gillette he gave him free licence with his character. £275
Green and Gibson Appendix V.5.
[DOYLE, Arthur Conan, pastiche] John Kendrick Bangs. R Holmes and Co. Being the Remarkable Adventures of Raffles Holmes, Esq., Detective and Amateur Cracksman by Birth. New York, Harper and Bros. 1906 [28960]
FIRST EDITION, small octavo, pp231. A scarce early Sherlockian pastiche, with printed dedication ‘With Apologies to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Mr E.W. Hornung’. Bound in publisher’s prictorial blue cloth with gilt titles to spine. Light general wear, mildly rubbed etc., inner gutters started, with small bookseller ticket to pastedown. A very good copy. £195
DOYLE, Arthur Conan; WELLS, H.G. [NEWNES, George; Editor] [PAGET, Sidney. The Strand Magazine. An Illustrated Monthly. Vol. XX, XXI, XXII, and XXIII. Containing the Complete First Appearance of the serialised Novels: The Hound of the Baskervilles and The First Men in the Moon. London: George Newnes Limited, 1900, 1901, 1902. [28752]
4 half year volumes; 4to. Contemporary half black morocco with gilt titles to spines; black cloth boards. Illustrated throughout. Extremities rubbed. A sound set. Also contains other an Interview and writings by A.C. Doyle, an article on Mr. William Gillette as Sherlock Holmes, other articles on government offices by John Mills, and many other stories, by Wells, Nesbit, etc., as well as news and curiosities of the time. £475
Bleiler. Green and Gibson. Harold Locke Bibliography p.15, 51. BMC No.271, ‘The Great Illustrators’. BMC No.261, p62-73 ‘Collecting The Strand’.
Original Serial Parts.[DOYLE, Arthur Conan, WODEHOUSE, P.G.] The Lost World [in The Strand Magazine]. George Newnes Ltd., London, 1912, Vols. 43-44. [27014]
FIRST APPEARANCE of the first Professor Challenger adventure, with illustrations by Harry Rowntree (not included in book-form, Oct.1912), plus a further Doyle story later appearing in ‘Danger!’ (1918). Also contains ‘The Prince & Betty’ novel and two further Wodehouse short stories later appearing in ‘The Man Upstairs’ and ‘My Man Jeeves’ collections, as well as contributions from H.Rider Haggard and E.Nesbit. 8 original Strand magazine issues, as published in light blue paper wraps. Some minor abrasions visible to spine ends on some issues, June 1912 has a three inch closed tear to the rear spine hinge. Otherwise all issues clean and tight. The definitive version of the original and best dinosaur romp, with faithful natives, treacherous half Portuguese types, Pterodactyls, diamonds, ape men and death by bamboo assisted decelaration trauma. Packed to the primitive breathing apparatus with dramatic and stirring images of the expedition never seen elsewhere, not to mention the wealth of advertisements regularly found in Strand magazines, including a full page ad for The Edison Phonograph. £2,500
Green & Gibson A37, A41, McIlvaine D133.20. BMC No.261, p62-73 ‘Collecting The Strand’.
DOYLE, Sir Arthur Conan. The Tragedy of The Korosko. London, Smith, Elder and Co. 1898 [29301]
First Edition. Finely bound in recent bright red half morocco binding, retaining original red, gilt decorated boards. Internally fresh and clean, attractive in all respects. Ilustrated throughout. A nice example of Doyle’s tale of Imperialist Westerners on holiday meeting Eastern erm... gentlemen of opportunity going about their business. Hilarity ensues, obviously. Later dramatized as ‘The Fires of Fate’. £95
Harold Locke Bibliography p.47
‘One of the finest mystery stories of all time, although it was not written as one.’
DU MAURIER, Daphne. Rebecca. Victor Gollancz, London. 1938. [27290]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. Publisher’s black cloth, titled in gilt to spine and front board. Lightly rubbed, clean, tight and bright. Yellow Gollancz dustwrapper (which might have been designed to fade) has dropped back from its original daffodill to a sort of pleasing, uniform custard colour with no loss or chips (although there are signs of expert archival restoration here and there, most notably to the spine ends), but slight cosmetic rubbing to extremities. A superb copy of this classic gothic mystery which was the source for Hitchcock’s haunting film. Part of Queen’s Quorum, and a Haycraft-Queen cornerstone mystery.
£1,875
Callil & Toibin; Modern Library. (200 Best Novels in English since 1950), Howard Haycraft; Murder For Pleasure. Book Collector No.273, p34. Book Collector No.285, p30-40.
DUMAS, Alexandre. The Three Musketeers. London; George Routledge and Sons. n.d [ca.1910] [28815]
THE ARAMIS EDITION. 2 Volumes, octavos, with two colour plates by Edward Read, plus ten other illustrations. Bound in original green cloth. both volumes in the scarce die-cut printed pale blue jackets with glassine windows (now unfortunately perished/lacking). Apart from this, the set is in superb condition with just some trivial toning to the spine panel and a couple of short tears to the vulnerable parts. A remarkable survival. The dramatic, stirring, and romantic story of D’Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, and their famous code of ‘one for all and all for one,’ remains an unsurpassed tale of adventure and heroism.
£295
Listed in ‘The Novel 100’ (Burt, 2004).
[DYLAN, Bob] Landy, Elliott Dylan In Woodstock UK, Genesis Publications. 2000 [29133]
LIMITED EDITION, SIGNED by Photographer Elliott Landy. Folio, bound in quarter brown suede over printed photographic boards of Dylan by Landy, the same shot that was used for 1969’s Nashville Skyline LP, contained in a handsome slipcase silk-screened with an additional image Dylan. With accompanying text by landy. A superb production, Limited to 1750 copies. Mint copy. Bob Dylan was among the first musicians to discover the sleepy Catskills town of Woodstock, a name later synonymous with the most famous rock festival ever. Dylan first visited as early as 1963, but it was after his 1966 motorcycle crash that he retreated to this upstate New York hideaway. Here, newly married and freed from the demands of touring which had so nearly killed him, he settled into a more relaxed pace, enjoying family life and making startling music. So began an extraordinary phase of his career, one whose astonishing creativity and air of mystery has always intrigued his fans, the period that spawned the legendary Basement Tapes, John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline albums.
Elliott Landy was there to capture probably the most striking and intimate photographs of Bob Dylan ever taken, including the iconic cover shot for Nashville Skyline and numerous out-takes from that session, which featured shoots at several different locations including the local bakery. Elliott was invited to photograph Dylan at his home, and created unique informal images of his subject - seated at the piano, bouncing on a trampoline, playing guitar on a garden bench, sitting out on the porch, or just throwing out the trash in the back yard. Dylan's Woodstock musical partners The Band were also the subject of many photo sessions with Elliott, who took the remarkable images that graced their ground-breaking albums Music From Big Pink and The Band, as well as shots of The Band in and around their Woodstock house, named Big Pink - where the Basement Tapes sessions were recorded with Dylan. This book features the best of Elliott's shots of The Band, to accompany the legendary photographs of Dylan, which form the main content of the volume.
Having initially relocated to Woodstock to recover, Dylan embraced the tranquil life the area offered him and settled upstate, both he and Landy not moving back to New York for another 4 years!
£250
ELIOT, George. Middlemarch. A Study of Provincial Life. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1871-2. [29112]
FIRST EDITION. 4 volumes, 8vo. Bound with the half-titles, in recent half brown speckled calf with raised bands, red and green title labels to spines; marbled sides. Internally clean, but for a little foxing to first and final leaves. Altogether a lovely copy in a very attractive binding. Set in the 1830s in Middlemarch, a fictional provincial town in England, which was based on the midlands’ Coventry. Widely seen as Eliot's greatest work, it is almost unanimously acclaimed as one of the great novels of the Victorian era
£1,650
Listed in ‘The Novel 100’ (Burt, 2004).
ELLIS, Henry. Journal of the Proceedings of the late Embassy to China; comprising a correct Narrative of the Public Transactions of the Embassy, of the Voyage to and from China, and of the Journey from the Nouth of the Pei-Ho to the Return to Canton. London: John Murray, 1818. [25688]
Second Edition. 2 volumes; 8vo. A superb set in English half calf with four wide gilt ribs, floral gilt rolls to spine, large gilt centre tools incorporating four ‘drawer handle’ devices, author’s name gilt-lettered to date panel, marbled boards and end papers. Complete with 2 folding maps. Joints worn but holding tight; light general rubbing; very occasional and sparse foxing. A crisp, sound copy. An uncommon example of a decorative Regency half binding. £475
FLEMING, Ian. From Russia With Love. (a James Bond novel) London; Jonathan Cape 1957. [28214]
FIRST EDITION. Octavo, 253 pp. Publisher’s black cloth, titled in red and silver, in the classic ‘Smith & Wesson’ dustwrapper designed by Richard Chopping. Both book and wrapper show a little handling and dustiness; jacket edgeworn with a few small chips to crown of spine, rear panel toned. No inscriptions or price-clipping; a very good copy indeed. This fifth book in the legendary James Bond series is an absolute classic; 007 does battle with SMERSH, the Soviet organisation of vengeance, interrogation, torture and death, and in particular their fearsome agent Red Grant. £1,350
Eric Quayle; Detective Fiction. Firsts Vol 8 No4. Penzler; Ian Fleming’s James Bond. Campbell; Ian Fleming- A Catalogue of a Collection.
FLEMING, Ian. Goldfinger. (a James Bond novel) Jonathan Cape, London, 1959. [28891]
UNCORRECTED PROOF COPY of the FIRST EDITION. Publisher’s softback with green card covers with printed titles and repeated Publisher’s motif. A used copy, shows some general handling, spine cocked, rubbed to joints, but with no significant defects. Particularly scarce in this advanced format. ‘The most famous spy in literature’, ‘One of Bond’s most fantastic adventures’ -Steinbrunner & Penzler.
£1,500
Penzler; Ian Fleming’s James Bond (1999). Biondi/Pickard; Firsts Vol 8 No4 (1998). Campbell; Ian Fleming- A Catalogue of a Collection (1978), Steinbrunner & Penzler; Ency.of Mystery & Detection (1976). Eric Quayle; Detective Fiction (1972).
Q’s Copy of Live and Let Die.FLEMING, Ian Live and Let Die. (a James Bond novel) Jonathan Cape, London, 1956. [27807]
FIRST EDITION, Third Impression. Publisher’s black, gilt embossed cloth in dustwrapper crediting artist Kenneth Lewis. General wear to book, edges spotted. Dustwrapper with some slight wear to the head of the spine. Shows remarkably well. This copy contains the flyleaf ownership signature of Geoffrey Boothroyd the ‘Armourer to 007’ as Fleming named him; the man who supplied both the weapons and the technical advice that Fleming utilised in the writing of his Bond novels. In gratitude for his contribution Fleming immortalised Boothroyd in print, and indirectly in film as ‘Q’ , the man responsible for all of 007’s guns, cars and gadgets. £1,350
Biondi/Pickard
FLEMING, Ian. Octopussy and the Living Daylights. (James Bond short stories) Jonathan Cape, London, 1966, [29094]
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. 8vo. Publisher’s cloth in earliest state wrapper (without price sticker). A beautiful, unread exampl in super condition. First published in Britain on 23rd June 1966, this is the final original James Bond book from his creator Ian Fleming, containing two short adventures; the title novella plus 'The Living Daylights'. These were later successfully fimed by EON productions with Bond played by Roger Moore (Octopussy, 1983) and Timothy Dalton (The Living Daylights, 1987).
£135
Biondi/Pickard (Firsts, 1998).
FLEMING, Ian. The Spy Who Loved Me. (a James Bond novel) Jonathan Cape, London 1962. [28921]
FIRST EDITION, VARIANT ISSUE WITH MISPRINT. Publisher’s cloth in Richard Chopping-designed dust jacket. Lightly handled; some gentle toning to edges else a clean and tidy example. This copy with the famous ‘dropped quad’ printing error to title page, where, during the initial print run a spacer between the type dropped down to make an impression on the title page (between the letters ‘E’ and ‘M’ of ‘FLEMING’). Without priority (the proof does not feature the error) but noted in the bibliography as ‘very rarely the title page shows a quad mark’. In our considerable experience this occurs in as few as one in four or five copies. Highly uncommon and desirable thus. £875
FLEMING, Ian. You Only Live Twice. (a James Bond novel) Jonathan Cape, London 1964. [28926]
FIRST EDITION. UNRECORDED VARIANT COPY. Extremely scarce; this is a regular copy of the book with ‘First Published 1964’ text on copyright page, housed in a dustwrapper from the UNCORRECTED PROOF. Clearly this wrapper had never been anywhere near the softback though The dimensions vary, and therefore the folds would differ) and has always travelled with this hardback.
This proof wrapper, printed on very heavy paper/soft card, has a number of significant changes from the trade version, the most obvious being the rear panel which states ‘copyright Ian Fleming, 1964’ as the last line- trade issues have ‘copyright Richard Chopping, 1964’, now in a tiny font size. The proof’s spacing for the previous titles is subtly different and proof wrappers feature numerous minor punctuation changes; ‘Dr No’ has a period (Dr.), a colon is missing after the italicised ‘Non-fiction’, ‘Mr.Stanyhursts’ features a period (later removed) and lacks the apostrophe (later added). The square corners are totally unclipped (it was standard Cape practice to trim each corner of every wrapper produced to a neat 45 degree angle presumably for decorative purposes) and the Chopping bamboo illustration is not ‘blended in’ on the proof wrapper and is separated from the white area of the flap by a pronounced cut-off line- this is more apparent on the front flap. The flap has not been stamped with the provisional publication date and perhaps that is why it escaped and found its way round a first edition; alternatively, it is possible there were more proof wrappers printed than there were softback proof books and the wrappers were paired up with the regular copies instead of going to waste. Whatever the reason, this is a rare find. A particularly uncommon if not unique piece of Bondiana! £3,750
Biondi/Pickard (Firsts, 1998)
FLEMING, Professor Sir Alexander (Ed.) Penicillin Its Practical Application. London, Butterworth & Co., Ltd. 1946. [28034]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo., pp. 380. Publisher’s turquoise cloth. Illustrated. Book Production War Economy Standard. Light wear, slightly bumped, backstrip sunned. Very good indeed. A collection of scientific studies, edited by the Nobel Prize winning Bacteriologist.
In September 1928, Fleming made the world-famous observation which was to lead in time to the new antibiotic era … It was a chance observation which he followed up as a bacteriologist, and his previous experience…[which led to the discovery of the antiseptic qualities of penicillin]… Fleming in his original paper, published in the British Journal of Experimental Pathology (June 1929), described most of the properties of penicillin which became universally known. £125
FORESTER, C. S. Mr Midshipman Hornblower. Michael Joseph, London, 1950. [29267]
FIRST EDITION. Publisher’s green cloth in pictorial Biro-designed dustwrapper. Both book and wrapper are lightly used and handled, small owner stamp to flyleaf, jacket a touch edgeworn, but essentially a clean bright, near fine copy. Additionally SIGNED by illustrator Val Biro; signature in black ink to lower portion of inside flap. It’s 1793, and ‘Midshipman Hornblower’ concerns the gallant young officer's first command, when England fought to rule the sea.
£135
C.S. Forester was awarded the 1938 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for both the Hornblower novels ‘A Ship of the Line’ and ‘Flying Colours’. The Prize was founded in memory of a partner in the publishing house of A. & C. Black Ltd., and is one of the oldest and most prestigious book awards in Britain.
FRANK, Anne. The Diary of A Young Girl. London, Constellation Books. 1952 [29265]
ADVANCE PROOF of the first UK edition. 8vo. Bound in plain paper covers, stamped ‘Rough Proof’ to upper (and similarly stamped to title). Some general wear and handling, marginal damp to frontis, spine rolled. Very good. A scarce pre-publication copy of this somewhat harrowing work. £450
Listed in ‘100 Books That Shaped World History’ [Raftery, 2002].
FREUD, Sigmund. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Freud. Translated from the German under the General Editorship of James Strachey, in collaboration with Anna Freud, assisted by Alix Strachey and Alan Tyson. London: The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1953-1974. [28873]
24 volumes, 8vo. The FIRST COLLECTED EDITION, in which “the primary aim was ... to be the rendering of his (Freud’s) meaning with the greatest possible accuracy.” Volumes IV, V, and VII were the first to be published in 1953, followed by X, XVIII, XIII, II, XVII in 1955; then two volumes came out per year from 1957 to 1964; volume I was published in 1966 and the Index, the last volume (XXIV), was finally issued in 1974. Near fine to fine books, a few dust jackets lightly foxed, some clipped, all with uniform toning to spines. An attractive copy of this important set. £2,750
GARDNER, G. B. (Gerald Brosseau). The Meaning of Witchcraft. London: The Aquarian Press, 1959. [29161]
FIRST EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION. Octavo pp. 288. Publisher’s black cloth with silver titles to spine, in the original white dust jacket, printed in green and black. Frontispiece photographic portrait of the author and 5 further black and white plates. A little dusty to edges, with previous owner’s ink-stamp to front pastedown. The fantastic Lanta Spurrier designed unclipped dust jacket is a little rubbed to corners and has some tiny chips to the head and foot of the spine. There is a small hole to the top of the rear panel, which is a little soiled, but overall the jacket shows very well. A very good plus copy of Gardner’s last book, in the uncommon dust jacket. £125
Coumont [G9.6]
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. [28022]
SECOND EDITION. Small octavo (180 x 110mm) pp. [Title, blank 16]; 52; [Title, blank, 10]; 162; [Title, blank, 4]; 78; [2 blank]; [Title, 10, blank]; 273; [blank]; [Title, blank]; 3-67; [blank]; [Title, blank]; 5-45; [blank]; [Title, blank, 16]; 3-24; [Errata, blank] Contemporary calf boards, later respine to style with four raised bands, no titles. All edges marbled with plain endpapers. Illustrated with frontispiece and engraved title showing six images, 3 small woodcuts within the text and 1 plate to the end of the last section. A contemporary ink note to verso of flyleaf, small ink name to title and occasional small ink pointers to margins. Old staining to the bottom corners of the last few leaves, otherwise the pages and plates are clean and undamaged. An excellent 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 referred 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. £1,250
Coumont [G38.5]
GREENE, Graham. The Third Man. And, The Fallen Idol. William Heinemann Ltd., London, 1950, [28065]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. Publisher’s black cloth in pictoral dustwrapper. Both book and wrapper show mild use; bookplate to pastedown, jacket a little edgeworn, rubbed at joints, toned to spine which is chipped to both head and tail. Shows well. Greene’s legendary thriller, set in Vienna following World War II, basis for the classic 1949 film noir, starring Orson Welles as Harry Lime.
Graham Greene was awarded the 1949 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. £295
R.A Wobbe; Graham Greene-A Bibliography & Guide to Research [A23a], see also Haining; Crime Fiction p200.
HAGGARD, H. Rider. Mr. Meeson’s Will. London, Spencer Blackett. 1888 [28338]
First Edition, First Issue. Large 8vo. Publisher’s red cloth titled in black and gilt, decorated in black to front board. Bumping and fraying to spine ends, fading to cloth of spine, top of front hinge starting, a couple of small dampspots and minor edgewear. A trifle shaken, all edges untrimmed, nevertheless a respectable copy. Black endpapers, internally clean, illustrated throughout (including an image of a bunch of salty sea dog types tattooing a rather disturbed looking young woman with the aforementioned last will and testament, paper presumably being in short supply at the time of writing. One imagines small children writing shopping lists on each other whilst their parents shave the family pets in order to have somewhere to do their household accounts). A solid copy of one of Haggard’s lesser known novels. £150
Whatmore; A Bibliography of Henry Rider Haggard.
HAGGARD, Rider. H[enry]. The Ancient Allan. London, Cassell. 1920 [27285]
FIRST EDITION. Illustrated. Publisher’s variant (perhaps colonial) brown cloth, slightly rubbed to extremites and spine ends otherwise clean and sharp. Bookseller’s stamp from Bombay (which may explain the variant cloth) to front pastedown. Darker cloth has elaborate floral decorations stamped and lettered in black. Regular issue is lettered in gilt, with a small illustration laid to upper.
The story itself is a bizarre little concoction of hallucinogens, reincarnation, somewhat over-romanticised Egyptian history and some downright mentalism on the part of Haggard, including one episode where the Quatermain reincarnated as Egyptian noble character is sentenced to death by flies, milk and honey which sounds sticky and undignified, but probably gives you a fair amount of breathing space to think your way out.
£100
Whatmore F48. Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [298].
HAGGARD, Rider. H[enry]. Black Heart and White Heart. And Other Stories. London, Longmans Green and Co. 1900 [28109]
Three short adventures; FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE in book form, the title story and ‘Elissa, or The Doom of Zimbabwe’ previously serialised in magazines, and ‘The Wizard’ had appeared in a periodical and also published separately as a shiling paperback, Christmas 1896.
Octavo, pp425, with the error ‘18’ for ‘16’ p[xi] line 7. With 34 plates including frontispiece illustration. Bound in publisher’s gilt-titled blue cloth over bevelled edges, black coated endpapers. A very good copy with some light handling and wear, minor spine lean. Shows well. £100
Whatmore F23. Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [426].
HAGGARD, Rider. H[enry]. People of the Mist London; Longmans 1894 [28112]
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE with p. vi misnumbered as ‘ii’, p.1 line 21; ‘auctoineers’ for ‘auctioneers’. Ads dated 9/94. [10023 copies published 15 Oct. 1894]. 8vo, with 16 full page illustrations by Arthur Layard half-title, pp. (viii) + 343 + 24 [ads]. Bound in publisher’s blue cloth over bevelled edges, titled in gilt, black endpapers. A carefully handled copy showing nominal wear and a slight spine lean; a fine copy. Fantasy tale from the popular Victorian writer of adventure novels set in locations considered exotic by readers in his native England. £180
Whatmore; A Bibliography of Henry Rider Haggard. [F17]. Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [343].
HANSARD, George Agar [BROOKE, W.H.]. The Book of Archery, being the Complete History and Practice of the Art, Ancient and Modern, Interspersed with Numerous Interesting Anecdotes, and An Account of the existing Toxophilite Societies. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1845. [29198]
Large 8vo. Publisher’s decorative green embossed cloth with elaborate gilt titles and decoration to spine and pioctrorial illustration stamped in gilt to centre of upper. Embellished with an engraved frontispiece, engraved title page and 13 engravings in text; with a further 24 ‘Illustrative Etchings, relative to the use and management of the Bow from the earliest authentic period of antiquity’ by W.H. Brooke. Corners and head and foot of spine frayed; binding generally rubbed and nicked; inner joints starting but holding strong; owner’s name stamped in ink to f.f.e.p. A sound copy of this thorough study on Archery. £245
“Cut Some Capers Man! Play With Your Bladder!”HARDY, Robin. SCHAFFER, Anthony. The Wicker Man. London, Hamlyn Books. 1979. [29096]
First Edition. 8vo. Fine in publisher’s gilt titled shiny black boards with a similarly unspoiled dustwrapper. A surprisingly scarce book, considering the cult (no pun intended) following the film has. One of the best- and most literate- novelisations ever, unusually appearing some five years after the film. Proof positive that men in Aran sweaters cannot be trusted, and that one should keep a weather eye out for phallic topiary when visiting the Western Isles of Scotland. Strait-laced Sergeant Howie visits remote Summerisle investigating a disappearance, encounters all kinds of pagan shenanigens, and ends up ensuring the endurance of the community for at least another year (not to mention becoming the posthumous mascot of the Summerisle wicker-weavers association). Notorious at least in Britain for it’s almost seduction scene in which Britt Ekland (the woman who put the tic in erotic, though in this case the body and singing voice belonged to someone else) dances (badly) naked around the upper floor of a bed and breakfast whilst Edward Woodward sweats next door. Apart from attracting untold numbers to paganism (which has always been famous as the belief system where people get their kit off most often, blessed be) it also proved once and for all that there’s no profit in false piety, because you’ll just end up burned alive in a giant man basket with some sheep and a bunch of pigeons whilst grubby looking agricultural types gambol around joyfully waiting to plough you into the earth. As a secondary moral ‘don’t mess with Christopher Lee’ might also be considered. £200
Book Collector No.270 (p35)
HARVEY, WILLIAM FRYER. The Beast With Five Fingers. And Other Stories. London, J.M. Dent. New York, E.P. Dutton & Co. 1928. [28249]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. A near fine copy in publisher’s glossy black cloth with strikingly bright white titles and “disembodied hand” motif to front board and spine. In chipped and slightly browned dustwrapper with some loss, most notably to the upper half of the spine where damage has been reinforced asnd repaired through the cunning addition of an expertly painted insert.Not an ideal thing to have to describe, but it shows very well, and it is a dustwrapper present and visible on a book which rarely has anything at all with which to cover itself. Front inner flap starting. Regardless a striking copy of a rarity that has influenced in some way every camp classic of the horror genre from the original Peter Lorre film through to Romero’s Dawn of The Dead, Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead” and “Waxworks.” £875
Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [228].
HAWTHORNE, Nathaniel. The Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Including: Scarlet Letter, House of Seven Gables, Tanglewood Tales, etc. Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1871. [28008]
21 volumes; 8vo (H: 7 x L: 57 inches). Contemporary grey half calf with gilt titles and extra gilt to spines; marbled boards, end papers and edges. Clean and sound. The spines have a hint of light brown tone due to age, giving a delightful richness to the binding. A superb and very decorative set. £850
HEAPHY, Thomas. A Wonderful Ghost Story. Being Mr.H’s Own Narrative, With Unpublished Letters from Charles Dickens Respecting It. London, Griffith and Farran. 1882 [28444]
First Edition. Small 8vo. 87pp + 2pp ads. Bound in later red buckram around original pictorial wraps. Fresh, bright and clean, minor shelfwear very light and occasional internal spotting. A ghost story recounted by Mr.Heaphy, a prominent portrait painter of the time. He subsequently submitted the story to Charles Dickens’ All Year Round magazine amidst a veritable storm of controversy that his original story had been hijacked and bowdlerised. This edition, published at the request of Mr.Heaphy’s wife after his death, also contains a digest of the correspondance between Mr.Dickens and Mr Heaphy. The story itself centres around a portrait painting session where the model turns out to be a ghost. A lovely little book. £175
HEMINGWAY, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1929. [27902]
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE (no disclaimer). Fine. Elegantly bound in recent full black oasis morocco leather, gilt, raised bands, marbled endpapers, with original cloth bound in at rear. An attractive copy. Ernest Hemingway's celebrated novel about a young lieutenant and an English nurse who fall in love during The Great War was brought to the screen by David O. Selznick's in 1957, starring Rock Hudson and Selznick’s wife Jennifer Jones. Selznick The MGM epic would be his final film production. £450
Hanneman [A8]. Listed in Modern Library’s Top 100 Novels [1998].
HEMINGWAY, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1952. [27903]
FIRST EDITION. Finely bound in recent full mid blue morocco leather with gilt titles and gilt decoration to spine, raised bands to same, gilt rule to boards; marbled end papers; top edge gilt. With publisher’s original powder blue cloth cover and silver-titled spine bound in at rear. A very clean copy. Fine throughout.
Pulitzer Prize winning novel for 1953. £750
Hanneman. Callil & Toibin; Modern Library. (200 Best Novels in English since 1950)
RARE AMERICAN 19TH CENTURY ALCHEMYHITCHCOCK, Ethan Allen. Remarks upon Alchymists, and the Supposed Object of their Pursuit: Showing that the Philosopher's Stone, is a Mere Symbol, Signifying Something Which Could not be Expressed Openly Without Incurring the Danger of an Auto de Fé. By an Officer of the United States Army. Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Printed for Private Circulation at the Herald Office, 1855. [29325]
FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. Pamphlet pp. 40. Sewn with yellow paper wraps, title page reproduced in black within a decorative border to upper cover. Slight creasing and small chip to spine, small brown spot to lower cover, fading through the last few leaves. Corners sharp without folding or creasing. Internally very clean with no writing or other marks; a remarkable survival. Hitchcock's first printed work and one of the earliest original publications on the subject in the United States. Ethan Allen Hitchcock (1798 - 1870), the son of a lawyer, fought in the Mexican and US Civil Wars, rising to the rank of Major General. He was interested in Hermetic Philosophy and after leaving the army he dedicated himself to writing and collecting books on Hermeticism and Alchemy, forming probably the largest library on these subjects in the USA at that time, which was sold at auction in 1892. He expanded his ideas, the central argument of which was a more spiritual interpretation of alchemical symbolism, in Remarks on Alchemy and the Alchemists (Boston, 1857). The latter book is scarce; the 1855 publication is truly rare. It is noted in Pritchard's Alchemy, A Bibliography of English-Language Writings, but he could not locate a copy to examine. It appears in none of the other major bibliographies or collections. £1,450
Pritchcard [548]
HITLER, Adolf. Mein Kampf. Unexpurgated Edition. Profusely Illustrated. London: Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers), Ltd. in association with Hurst & Blackett, Ltd., Publishers, 1939-1940. [28464]
18 parts, illustrated throughout with a great many photographs. All covers present and complete. Some very occasional rubbing, slight spotting and soiling ; slight yellowing to page edges. A fresh, bright looking set housed in a modern black half morocco solander box. A book that should be read by all in order to fully hone their ability to recognise the rhetoric of the frothing hate filled megalomaniacs of the world before they rise to power and start making bonfires out of people who disagree with them. £350
HOCKING, Silas. Tales of a Tin Mine. London, Horace Marshall and Son. 1898 [28327]
First Edition. 8vo. 127pp. Publisher’s bright red cloth titled in gilt to spine and front board. Front board with embossed decoration in black. A fine copy, unfeasibly bright and fresh with the tiniest nick to the head of the spine, minor darkening of cloth to extremities. A beautiful copy. A selection of Cornish mining tales (mainly of death, hardship and suffering obviously, otherwise it wouldn’t be truly Victorian) narrated by the mine doctor. Hocking was a kind of methodist John Grisham of the Victorian era, the first author to sell a million copies in his lifetime. He is now largely forgotten, except for the occasional stage revival of ‘Her Benny’ a tale of destitute Liverpudlian urchins. £150
Signed and Inscribed by William Hope HodgsonHODGSON, William Hope. Captain Gault. Being the exceedingly private log of a sea captain. London, Eveleigh Nash. 1917 [29450]
First edition. 8vo. Publisher’s terracotta cloth, faded to spine, bumped to spine ends and with slight rubbing to extremities.Browning to paper stock. A very good copy of an extremely scarce book. All defects are however rendered unimportant in the face of the fact that this copy is both signed and inscribed by Hodgson to the front pastedown and flyleaf a scant eight months before he died in an artillery bombardment. Signed on the pastedown “W.H.Hodgson-” and poignantly inscribed to the fly:
“To/ Lieut: Frank Thomas,/ from/ The Author-/ Sept. 28th/17 W H H./”
“Good Luck.”
A tentative provenance (based upon other items purchased from the same source) suggests that this copy may have been either Hodgson’s own copy (he had a habit of writing his name in his books, although more usually the WHH initial form) or one given to the library of the officer’s mess of 4B Reserve Brigade of the R.F.A (along with a copy of The Luck of The Strong), and then subsequently inscribed to Lieutenant Thomas, although that does not explain the pastedown signature. Other than the copy of Luck of the Strong with 4B Brigade Mess stamps in it I of course have no proof of this, although the timeline would be about right for Hodgson to have been with the 4B Reserve after recovery from his head injury, awaiting embarkation back to the front. They were at the time stationed in Boyton, near Warminster in Wiltshire. Unfortunately I have been unable to discover who Lieutenant Frank Thomas was, and whether or not he survived.
£3,000
HODGSON, William Hope. The House On The Borderland. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1946 [27143]
First US Edition. Large 8vo.639pp. Near fine in publisher’s gilt titled and decorated black cloth, light edgewear one small bump to the point of the bottom front corner. Gorgeous crisp unfaded, though lamentably priceclipped, 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. Hodgson’s adventure-philosopher is projected into a vastly distant Dying Earth future, in a story that is one of the most important influences on H.P. Lovecraft.
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 that’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
Listed in Jones & Newman’s 100 Best Horror Novels.
HODGSON, William Hope. Men Of The Deep Waters. London, Eveleigh Nash. 1914 [27754]
First Edition, First Issue in red cloth. 8vo. 303pp. + 1 leaf of ads for ‘Carnacki’ and ‘The Night Land’. Publisher’s deep red cloth, bumped at corners and head of spine, slight toning to spine, nevertheless a most sea worthy copy of a rare book. A stirring collection of Hodgson’s nautical meanderings, ranging from poetry inspired by whalesong (probably a first) to haunted derelicts floating the Sargasso with nary a soul at the helm. Messages in bottles and strange sights off to larboard are very much the order of the day in Hodgson’s ocean going universe. £700
Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [304].
HODGSON, William Hope. The Night Land. London, Eveleigh Nash. 1912 [28247]
First Edition. 8vo. 583pp. Publisher’s original red cloth titled and decorated in gilt to spine and front board. Cloth heavily faded, spine darkened and the boards sunned from the original red to a washed out pink, no doubt by the scouring action of cosmic winds. Internally clean, dusty top edge, light edgewear. Light spotting to the prelims and final leaf, but otherwise strong, solid and with no intention of giving up the ghost. Were the cloth a couple of shades darker red, the price would be considerably more in line with the current Hodgson trend. It is a great shame, because this copy of arguably Hodgson’s greatest work (alright, it’s not easy train journey reading, and the linguistic liberties would make Tolkien homicidal, but it is astonishing), came from the library of the late Eric Quayle, containing his pencil notations to the front pastedown. Ex libris bookplate of Percival Hinton, anitquarian book and manuscript collector late of Sutton Coldfield (whose collection Mr.Quayle took over) to front pastedown. A solid copy of a rare and marvellous work, highly regarded by many others in the field including the notoriously difficult to impress Mr. H.P.Lovecraft and his cabal. Protected by a tailor made half red leather clamshell box titled in gilt to the spine. This copy formerly belonging to Eric Quayle [1921-2001], the noted collector and bibliographer of Victorian and Edwardian adventure fiction, with his pencil notes to first blank. Most of his collection was sold at auction through Bonhams in March and April 2004 [sale 14473], which attracted a great deal of interest from collectors and dealers alike. Mr. Quayle may have gone, but the books that he spent his lifetime preserving and describing are still circulating, and will do so for a very long time. £1,650
Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [584].
HUME, Fergus W. The Mystery of a Hansom Cab. London, Hansom Cab Publishing Co. [1887] [28150]
FIRST UK EDITION. [Second Edition]. Two Hundredth Thousand (12th Impression, Feb.1888, see below). 8vo. Original publisher’s cream wraps titled and decorated in black, slightly worn and spotted around the edges with two small patches of rust where the staples have bled a tad. A modicum of shallow worming to the first three leaves, tastefully and considerately stopping short of the contents page. The spine is worn and flaky to the ends, but its advertisment for ‘Warner’s Safe Cure’ remains intact. A solid and clean example of a notoriously fragile object. ‘Ranks as the most successful Detective Story of all time’ (Everyman’s Dictionary of Literary Biography, 1960)- critically overlooked under the stunningly professional assumption that colonials can’t write. This book has a rather complex publishing history which is effectively charted by E.S.Bell in Greene and Glover’s Victorian Detective Fiction (1966). A hugely popular title which had sold over half a million copies by 1910 through various publishing houses; the entire first edition was published by Kemp and Boyce of Melbourne before The Hansom Cab Pub.Co. printing followed in London; producing around 25,000 copies per month; The Second Edition (being the FIRST UK EDITION) comprised Hansom’s entire print run from July 1887- Aug 1888, before the Trischler and Co. took over publication in 1889. £450
Book Collector No.273, p43. Graham Greene and Dorothy Glover; Victorian Detective Fiction [Appendix], (1966).
HUTCHINSON, Horace G. [HODGE, Thomas; FURNISS, Harry; Ill.]. Golf. With contributions by Lord Wellwood; Sir Walter Simpson, Bart.; Right Hon. A.J. Balfour; M.P. Andrew Lang; H.S.C. Everard; and others. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1890. [29116]
First Edition. 8vo. Beautifully bound in recent dark green half morocco with raised bands, gilt titles and gilt golf subjects to spine; green cloth boards; top edge gilt; marbled end papers. With numerous illustrations by Thomas Hodge and Harry Furniss. Faint water stain to lower corner of some pages and occasional light spotting, but shows well. £375
[IGGY POP] Ian Dickson. The Idiot. Original Photographs. 5th March 1977. (Brighton): Self-published, 2006 [29030]
SIGNED by the photographer. From Ian Dickson’s ‘Collector's Series’; a range of handmade box sets, each title containing seven hand-printed images in signed mounts; offered in Standard, Digital or DeLuxe (best) edition.
‘The Idiot’ comprises seven silver gelatine prints of Iggy Pop live in concert; this is the superior DeLuxe edition which uses fibre-based prints (instead of resin-coated), in hinged archival mounts (instead of standard mounts). The DeLuxe is the only issue to be signed both on the mount and the reverse of print. This is copy no.3 of an unspecified edition number (perhaps fewer than 10 examples), the series now having been discontinued by the publisher due to production costs and time constraints.
The mounted photographs are contained in archival quality polyester sleeves with a frame dimension of 11 x 14 inches. Housed in a custom-made, illustrated clamshell box with a numbered certificate affixed to the underside of the lid. The highly individual cover art is by famed cartoonist/illustrator Ray Lowry and a short but entertaining biography of the photographer ‘Hired Gun’ (also with Lowry-designed cover) completes the attractive package. A fine copy. After the second breakup of the the proto-punk band ‘The Stooges’, frontman Iggy Pop was unable to control addictions and checked himself into a mental institution to clean up; David Bowie was one of his few visitors and he continued to support his friend and collaborator; in 1976, Bowie took him on the ‘Station to Station’ tour, Pop’s first exposure to large-scale professional touring, and he was impressed, particularly with Bowie's work rate. The pair relocated to West Berlin in an effort to kick drugs; Pop signed to RCA and Bowie helped write and produce ‘The Idiot’ and ‘Lust for Life’ (both 1977), Pop's two most acclaimed albums as a solo artist. Pop took ‘The Idiot’ on the road in March-April ‘77, with Bowie on keyboards and backing vocals. In return, Pop contributed vocals to ‘Low’, the first LP of Bowie’s Eno-produced ‘Berlin Trilogy’. The present photographs were taken on the first of two shows at London’s famed ‘Rainbow Theatre’ venue, being the last ‘Idiot’ UK dates- the tour then moved to Canada and America.
Ian Dickson has been photographing rock stars since 1972 and his work has appeared in Disc, Record Mirror, New Musical Express, Sounds, Vox, Mojo, Q, Rolling Stone and elsewhere. His first exhibition was in London in 1992 and several successful European shows followed. In 1994, a selection of his work was shown at the MTV Awards in Berlin, at the Brit Awards at Alexandra Palace, and at the World Music Awards in Monte Carlo and Copenhagen.
A feature on his portfolio was published in the March 1995 issue of Q magazine and in August that year, he was recognised by the 'Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum' who included his famous Rod Stewart 'pyjama' portrait; this was followed by an Eric Clapton and a Muddy Waters portrait, added in February 2000. £750
JACOBI, Carl. Revelations In Black. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1947 [28340]
First edition. 8vo. Fine in publisher’s black cloth. Fine Ronald Clyne wrapper. Limited to 3082 copies. A collection of splendid supernatural tales, kicked off by the marvellous (ie: it has old books in it) vampire tale of the title.A splendid copy. £175
JAMES, M.R. The Mezzotint. [In Pearson’s Magazine of May 1932]. Pearson’s Magazine 1932 May [28832]
4to. Original publisher’s wraps. The May 1932 edition of Pearson’s containing James’ The Mezzotint, amongst other enjoyments including a poem by Kipling (His Apologies) regarding puppies and an account of the transport of Cleopatra’s Needle from Egypt to its current home. Slight cracking to spine panels, very minor edgewear otherwise a fine, bright, clean copy of this issue. Splendid illustrations by Abbey illustrating the classic antiquarian horror. £50
Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature.
JAMES, Montague Rhodes. More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary. Containing seven short horror stories. London: Edward Arnold, 1911. [28153]
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, some flaking to the lettering at head of spine. A clean, tight copy. A fabulous book, containing further turbulent darkness from the head of Mr James, including the seminal “Casting The Runes”. £195
Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [274].
P.D.JAMES’ SECOND THRILLERJAMES. P.D. A Mind To Murder. London, Faber & Faber. 1963 [29146]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. The author’s scarce second crime novel, set in a psychiatric hospital. Red cloth hardcovers, titled in gilt to spine, in original pictorial dustwrapper, with a paper slip INSCRIBED and SIGNED by the author, loosely inserted. An attractive copy, recased with new endpapers, jacket has some unfortunate soiling/watermark to top half of spine area otherwise fresh and with strong pink colouring. Presents well- a particularly uncommon title. £1,750
Book Collector; Top 200 Crime Novels (No.272).
JOHNSON, Samuel [HARRISON]. 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 Grammer. Harrison’s Edition, with his Life of the Author. London: Printed for Harrison and Co., 1786. [29272]
The last Folio edition and the only single volume Folio published. Finely bound in full speckled calf with gilt raised bands and red title label to spine; gilt rule to boards; edges tinted red. Portrait frontispiece of the Author engraved by Heath. Some foxing, mostly to page edges. Quite a beautiful copy. £2,500
JOYCE, James. Ulysses. Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1922. [27123]
FIRST EDITION, LIMITED to 1000 copies; this being one of 750 copies printed on handmade paper, copy no. 346. One of 900 copies published. Bound in contemporary half dark blue morocco by Riviere with blue cloth boards. All edges untrimmed. Very light and occasional marking to the binding and some light browning. Bookplate to front pastedown. A super copy of a supremely important book.
Long considered the most collectable edition of Ulysses, it is certainly the most readable. Limitation notice reads ‘This edition limited to 1000 copies: 100 copies (signed) on Dutch handmade paper numbered from 1-100; 150 copies on verge d’Arches numbered from 101-250; 750 copies on handmade paper numbered from 251-1000 (present copy no.346). The experimentalist novel constructed as a modern-day retelling of Homer’s Odyssey, with events taking place within a single day, introduced Joyce’s now infamous use of complex stream-of-consciousness interior monologues and, love or loathe the work, has recently been chosen as the most important novel in the English language. £12,500
Slocum & Cahoon [A17]. Listed in Modern Library’s Top 100 Novels [1998].
[KENT, Rockwell] VOLTAIRE, Jean Francois Marie Arouet de. Candide. Illustrated by Rockwell Kent. New York: Random House, 1928. [29172]
Limited Edition to 1470 of which this is No312, SIGNED by R. Kent. Publisher’s sand coloured cloth with gilt titles to spine and to upper with gilt design; original monogramed end papers; top edge gilt others untrimmed. Illustrations to every page. Binding dusty; internally clean and tight. A beautiful copy. £245
KERNAHAN, Coulson. The Jackal. London, Ward Lock. 1905 [28328]
First Edition. 8vo. 352pp. Publisher’s black embossed cloth titled and decorated in gilt with applied pictorial paper label to front board (depicting a woman with what appears to be a turkey on her head falling through some ice). Light edgewear, bumping to head and tail of spine and a small dent halfway down the fore edge of the front board. Bright and clean, light spotting to page edges and some sporadic marginal foxing within. A tale of vanishing women, in the ‘abducted by fiendish bounder’ sense rather than the ‘stage magician’ or ‘spilled invisibility potion’ variations on the theme. It must also be noted that Coulson Kernahan was a friend of none other than the luminous Lieutenant William Hope Hodgson, and supported him throughout his struggles to get published in the early part of the twentieth century. For this, as well as for his own work he should be saluted. £95
KIPLING, Rudyard. The Jungle Book; with The Second Jungle Book. [set] London, Macmillan & Co., 1894 and 1895. [29331]
FIRST EDITIONS. 2 vols., 8vo. Illustrated. Original publisher’s blue cloth with gilt titles and decoration to spines, illustration in gilt to uppers with gilt borders; all edges gilt. Minor shelf wear, text lightly shaken within the cases, neat owner name to first volume, occasional spotting, cloth rubbed at jointys and extremities, frayed to spine ends. Shows very well- much better than it describes. A very good pair. The ‘Jungle Books’ is a collection of short stories, the best-known being the three tales revolving around the adventures of the abandoned ‘man cub’ Mowgli who is raised by wolves in the Indian jungle. The most famous of the other stories are probably ‘Rikki-Tikki-Tavi’, the story of a heroic mongoose, and ‘Toomai of the Elephants’, the tale of a young elephant-handler £1,250
Stewart [123, 132]
KIPLING, Rudyard. With The Night Mail. A story of 2000AD. New York, Doubleday, Page and Co. 1909 [
