"Everything in the world exists in order to end up as a book"
— Stephan Mallarme
History & Biography
Those Three. Forty-Four Cartoons.
London: George G. Harrap and Co. Ltd., no date [1942]. [Second World War] FIRST EDITION. Oblong octavo (14 x 21cm), pp.[48] unpaginated. Publisher's wraps printed in red and black with printed price of 1' net. Stapled twice to spine. Three page introduction followed by forty-four full page cartoons with captions..... More
The History of Gambling in England.
Chicago, MI: Herbert S. Stone & Company, 1899. [Gambling] FIRST US EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.[8] viii, 286 [8]. In contemporary maroon half morocco by the Eagle Art Bindery, with raised bands, gilt titles to spine and marbled paper over boards. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed; marbled endpapers. Text..... More
Histoire des Diables de Loudun, Ou de la Possession des Religieuses Ursulines, Et de la condamnation et du suplice D'Urbain Grandier, Cure de la meme Ville. Cruels effets de la vengeance du Cardinal de Richelieu.
Amsterdam: Aux Depens de la Compagnie, 1740. [Huguenot History] EARLY EDITION. Octavo (16 x 10cm), pp.[8] 378 [4]. With a copper engraved frontispiece. All text in French. Contemporary speckled calf with raised bands, gilt titles and gilt decoration to spine. Marbled endpapers; edges speckled red. Recent repairs to head and..... More
Pigsticking, or Hog-Hunting. A Complete Account for Sportsmen and others.
London: Harrison and Sons, 1889. FIRST EDITION. Large octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.211; [1], imprint; [16], advertisements. Bound in publisher's blue-black cloth, titled and decorated in gilt to spine and front board, sepia floral endpapers, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Illustrated throughout by the author, depicting the techniques and tribulations..... More
Birds And Beasts In Africa, and The Angler In South Africa.
London: Macmillan and Co, and Johannesburg: Hortors Ltd, 1938 and 1923. Pair of Baden-Powell association copies, with a letter of authenticity from the scout association: 1) The Angler In South Africa. Inscribed "To The Chief Scout" by H.V. Marsh, the Assistant Commissioner of Natal during Baden-Powell's trip to South Africa..... More
History of the Wars of the French Revolution, from the Breaking Out of the War in 1792, to the Restoration of a General Peace in 1815; comprehending the Civil History of Great Britain and France, during that Period.
London: printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1817. [European History] FIRST EDITION. Two volumes bound as one. Quarto (27 x 22 x 9cm), pp.[4]; 539; [1]; pp.[4]; 595; [1]. With a number of maps, some folding, and copper engraved portraits, including a frontispiece to each volume. Contemporary full..... More
Modern Egypt.
London: Macmillan and Co., 1908. [Near Eastern History] FIRST EDITION. In two volumes. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.xviii; 594 [2]; pp.xiv; 600. With a frontispiece of the author and a folding map to volume I. Publisher's green cloth with gilt titles to spines. Fore edges untrimmed. Black ink ownership to..... More
Historic Memoirs of Ireland; comprising Secret Records of the National Convention, the Rebellion, and the Union; with Delineations of the Principal Characters connected with these transactions.
London: Henry Colburn, 1835. NEW EDITON. In two volumes. Large Quarto, pp.[2] xlii, 358 [2]; pp.[4] x, 464 [2]. With 38 copper engraved portraits, including a frontispiece of Barrington to vol. I, and two plates preceeding the title page in vol. II. Also with three facsimile letters and an index..... More
The Antiquities of Richborough and Reculver. Abridged from the Latin of Mr. Archdeacon Battely.
London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1774. [Kent Topography and Archaeology] FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.[6] x; 152 [2]. With an engraved map of Kent, and one engraved plate showing archaeological finds at rear. In contemporary or slightly later half vellum, with gilt titles to a burgundy..... More
Cecil Beaton's Diaries: The Happy Years, Diaries 1944-48.
London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1972. [Photographer's Memoirs] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.[10] 248 [2]. With eight double-sided black and white photographic plates. Publisher's purple cloth with gilt titles to spine. Top edge pink. With the pink and green photographic dust-jacket, priced at £2.25. Blue ink ownership to front..... More
It Gives Me Great Pleasure.
London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1955. [Biography] INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.[8]; 214; [2] blank. Publisher's green cloth, gilt titles to spine, dust-jacket designed by Beaton with printed price of 16s net. Photographic frontispiece and occasional in-text illustrations. Inscribed by the author to the flyleaf: "To dearest Enid..... More
Teems of Times and Happy Returns.
London: Heinemann, 1961. [Literary Autobiography] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.[12] 234 [2]. With two double-sided black and white photographic plates and a frontispiece sketch of the author. Publisher's purple cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the brown dust-jacket designed by Leslie Needham, priced at 18s. A lovely..... More
Barefoot Soldier: A Story of Extreme Valour.
London: Sphere, 2006. [Military Autobiography] SIGNED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.[10] 370 [4]. With two suites of four double-sided photographic plates. SIGNED by Johnson Beharry, VC, in black ink to title page. Publisher's red cloth with black titles to spine, and black endpapers. With the photographic dust-jacket, priced..... More
The Uneven Road.
London: John Murray, 1955. [Military history] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.viii; 335; [1]. Publisher's yellow cloth, titles in dark brown to spine, pictorial dust-jacket with printed price of 21s. net. Illustrated with two maps and six double sided photographic plates. Internally fine, light offsetting to endpapers and spotting..... More
Church-of-Englandism and its Catechism examined: Preceded by Strictures on the Exclusionary System, as pursued in the National Society's Schools: Interspersed with Parallel Views of the English and Scottish Established and Non-Established Churches: and Concluding with Remedies Proposed for Abuses Indicated: and an Examination of the Parliamentary System of Church Reform lately pursued, and still pursuing: including the Proposed New Churches.
London: Effingham Wilson, Printed, 1817: Published, 1818. [Religion and Education] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.lvi; ix-xliv; 248; 456. Recently re-backed in brown calf, with raised bands, gilt titles to red morocco label on spine, and original speckled calf boards. All edges speckled brown. Pencil notes to margin of..... More
A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
London: Hutchinson, 2007. [American Politics] EX-LIBRIS LORD MOYNIHAN, First UK Edition. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.viii; 628; [4]. With four double-sided black and white plates. In publisher's black cloth with gilt titles to spine. With original pictorial dust-jacket. Black endpapers. Recent bookplate detailing provenance affixed to flyleaf. A fine copy..... More
An Introduction to Heraldry, Containing the Rudiments of the Science in General, and other Necessary Particulars Connected with the Subject.
London: Printed for T. Egerton, and White and Cochrane, 1810. FIRST EDITION, augmented with cuttings and a hand-painted illumination. Octavo, pp.[4]; 158; [2]. With 12 engraved plates, one chromolithographic plate, and one folding table of tinctures. Many heraldry-themed newspaper cuttings from the 1930s pasted and loose to all endpapers, and..... More
The Interest of the Princes and States of Europe.
London: Printed by J.M. for John Wickins, 1681. [European Power Politics] SECOND EDITION. Octavo (19 x 11cm), pp.[16] 357 [3]. In contemporary speckled calf, with raised bands and gilt titles and decoration to spine. All edges speckled red. Loss to lower edge of title page due to a production fault..... More
State of the Nation: British Theatre since 1945.
London: Faber and Faber, 2007. [Theatre] INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.viii; 435; [5]. With a suite of four double-sided colour photographic plates. INSCRIBED by the author in blue ink to title page: "For Edward | Best Wishes | Michael Billington | 19th November 2007". Publisher's orange cloth..... More
The Debt We Owe: The Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund 1919-1989.
Shrewsbury: Airlife Publishing, 1989. INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp.[8], 216. With a colour frontispiece portrait of Viscount Trenchard, and 12 double-sided black and white plates. INSCRIBED by the author to Guy Huntrods, a prominent Tunbridge Wells based veteran, for his 75th birthday, in bright blue ink to title page. Also..... More
Autobiography of Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak, or Black Hawk, Embracing the Traditions of his Nation, Various Wars in which he has been Engaged, and his Account of the Cause and General History of the Black Hawk War of 1832, his Surrender, and Travels through the United States, Dictated by Himself. Rock Island, Illinois, 1833. Also Life, Death and Burial of the Old Chief, together with A History of the Black Hawk War, by J.B. Patterson, Oquawka, Ill. 1882.
St. Louis, MO: Printed by Continental Printing Co. for J.B. Patterson, 1882. [Native Americans] NEW EDITION. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.[2] 208 [2]. With a frontispiece illustration. Publisher's brown cloth with gilt titles and decoration to spine and upper. Hinges starting, and quite heavily toned throughout, but crisp and clean..... More
The Romance of St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
London: Raphael Tuck and Sons, 1933. [Architecture]. INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 14cm), pp.78 [2]. With 12 photogravure illustrations and a chromolithographic frontispiece. INSCRIBED by the author in black ink to front free endpaper: 'F. M. Bridge / from / H. W. Blackburne. / august 1933.' Publisher's blue cloth..... More
British Military Firearms 1650-1850.
London: Herbert Jenkins, 1961. [Military History] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.296. With 36 double-sided black and white photographic plates, as well as occasional in-text diagrams. Publisher's blue cloth with gilt titles to spine and a gilt device to upper. With the photographic dust-jacket, priced at 50s. A large..... More
China Under the Empress Dowager, Being the History of the Life and Times of Tzu Hsi. Compiled from State Papers and the Private Diary of the Comptroller of Her Household.
London: William Heinemann, 1911. [China] VINTAGE COPY, a later impression. Octavo (26 x 17cm), pp.xxviii; 525 [3]. With 26 black and white photographic plates, including a frontispiece, and a map of Peking. Publisher's green cloth with gilt titles to spine, and black titles and a red device to upper. Fore..... More
The Orient Flight L.Z. 127-Graf Zeppelin.
Maryland: Germany Philatelic Society, Inc. 1980. [German Postage] SIGNED FIRST EDITION. Octavo. pp.135, illustrated. SIGNED 'From Len Deighton' in blue ink to half-title. Publisher's blue leather-effect boards with gilt titles to the spine and upper. A fine copy, but for a little sunning to the extremities. A collaboration between Deighton..... More