"Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it."
— P.J. O'Rourke
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The Autobiography of Francis Arago. The Traveller's Library 78.
London: Longman, Brown, and Longmans, 1855. FIRST EDITION, with rare original covers. Crown octavo, pp.[6], 122. In publisher's original cream paper wraps with black titles printed to spine and covers. Covers lightly browned; more heavily to spine. Some loss to tail of spine. Very good indeed, especially considering the rarity..... More
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
The Wreck of the Titanic: Descriptive Musical Sketch for the Piano.
London: The Lawrence Wright Music Co., 1912. [Sheet Music] ORIGINAL PRINTING. Folio (36 x 26), pp.8, including printed covers. Some rubbing to spine and edges; marks and thumbing to covers. A remarkable survival; very good. What better way to remember the tragedy of the Titanic than with this jaunty piano..... 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
Indian Memories. Recollections of Soldiering, Sport, Etc.
London: Herbert Jenkins, 1915. FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15cm) pp.xx; 363; [1], blank. With 24 colour plate illustrations and 100 in black and white (by the author). Publisher's pale blue cloth pictorially blocked in colours. Very light handling/wear. A clean, fine copy without the scarce jacket. 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
The Influence of the Gold Supply on Prices and Profits.
London:Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1913. [Economics] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (23 x15cm), pp.xii; 104. Publisher's burgundy cloth, blind ruled to boards, gilt titles to spine. Errata slip tipped in at page 58. Discreet ownership to rear pastedown, some spotting to preliminaries, to end matter, and to edges, else generally clean and..... 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
A Voyage to Cochinchina, in the Years 1792 and 1793: Containing a General View of the Valuable Productions and the Political Importance of this Flourishing Kingdom; and also of such European Settlements as were Visited on the Voyage: with Sketches of the Manners, Character, and Condition of their Several Inhabitants. To which is Annexed and Account of a Journey, made in the Years 1801 and 1802, to the Residence of the Chief of the Booshuana Nation, being the Remotest Point in the Interior of Southern Africa to which Europeans have hitherto Penetrated. The Facts and Descritions taken from a Manuscript Journal with a Chart of the Route. Illustrated and Embellished with several Engravings by Medland, Coloured after the Original Drawings by Mr. Alexander and Mr. Daniell.
London: Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1806. [Travel] FIRST EDITION. Quarto (28 x 23cm), pp.[2] xx; 447 [3]. With 21 coloured engraved plates, some folding. Bound without the half-title. Contemporary brown mottled calf boards with panelled decoration in gilt, carefully re-spined in the later nineteenth century in matching..... 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
Charicles, or, Illustrations of the Private Life of the Ancient Greeks, with Notes and Excursuses.
London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1899. [Domestic History] FINE PRIZE BINDING. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.[2] xxii; 512 [2]. With occasional illustrations, and footnotes. Contemporary tan full calf for Forest School, with gilt titles to burgundy label and further gilt tooling to spine, as well as the school crest stamped..... 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
Time and a Ticket.
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1964. [Travel Memoirs] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 15cm), pp.xvi; 239 [1]. Publisher's black cloth with silver titles to spine and blind titles to upper. Grey endpapers; fore-edge untrimmed. With the photographic dust-jacket, priced at $3.95. Small ownership label to fly-leaf; lightly toned throughout. Jacket..... 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
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
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