"If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all. "
— Oscar Wilde
New Arrivals
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. From the Little White Bird. A New Edition.
London: Hodder and Stoughton Limited, no date [1912]. [Children's illustrated] REVISED 'BEST' EDITION. Quarto (29 x 22cm), pp.[8]; 126 [2]. With 50 chromolithographic plates by Rackham, as well as further occasional wood engravings. Exquisitely bound in full native red oasis morocco, gilt, by Sangorski and Sutcliffe, with gilt character tools... More
Andersen's Fairy Tales. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham.
London, George G. Harrap and Co. Ltd., 1932. [Fairy tales] FIRST RACKHAM EDITION, SIGNED LIMITED deluxe issue. Large octavo (26 x 19cm), pp.288. With twelve full-page coloured plates with tissue guards and many full page and in-text black and white illustrations. Publisher's gilt-stamped parchment over boards, top edge gilt, others... More
Siegfried and The Twilight of the Gods. With Illustrations by Arthur Rackham. Translated by Margaret Armour.
London: William Heinemann, 1911. [Norse Saga] FIRST RACKHAM ILLUSTRATED EDITION. Quarto (26 x 20cm), pp.184. Illustrated with tipped-in colour plates. Publisher's light brown cloth with gilt titles to spine, titles and decoration in gilt to upper, pictorial endpapers; top edge tinted brown. Discreet ownership blindstamp, a little spotting, occasional toning... More
Casino Royale.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1953. [Spy novel] FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. Octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.218; [2], blank. Publisher's black cloth-effect paper over boards with red titles and 'heart' design to upper, tail edge untrimmed, pictorial dust-wrapper priced at 10/6. Small mark to top edge else a near fine copy of... More
Killer Queen.
Guildford: Genesis Publications, 2003. LIMITED COLLECTOR EDITION. Folio (36 x 26cm). No. 637 of 2500 copies, SIGNED by guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor and photographer Mick Rock (some later copies in the limitation were not signed by Roger Taylor), together with a gilt-stamped purple 'seal' type label, noting the... More
'James Bond and the Book Collector' within The Book Collector. Spring 2014.
London: The Collector Limited, 2014. [Literary Journal] Vol. 63, No.1, Spring 2014. Octavo, pp.168. Illustrated, in green card wrappers, with accompanying loose index for previous volume. Includes the article 'Bond and the Book Collector' by Nicolas Barker OBE, being a lengthy review of Jon Gilbert's Ian Fleming Bibliography, SIGNED by... More
The Hound of The Baskervilles.
London: George Newnes, 1902. [Sherlock Holmes] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.[6]; 359; [1]. Publisher's red cloth blocked in gilt and black to upper board and in gilt to spine to a design by Alfred Garth Jones. Illustrated with sixteen plates by Paget. Housed in a black morocco-spined clamshell... More
The Works. Comprises: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, Mansfield Park, and Emma. Illustrated by Charles E. Brock and Hugh Thomson.
London: Macmillan and Co., 1896. [Classic English Literature] FIRST EDITIONS THUS - each being the first edition illustrated by either Brock or Thomson. Five volumes, octavos (20 x 13 x 18cm). With an introduction by Austin Dobson in each volume, profusely illustrated throughout by Charles Brock for Pride and Prejudice... More
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. The further adventures of Charlie Bucket and Willy Wonka chocolate-maker extraordinary.
New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1972. [Children's classic] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (25 x 17cm), pp.[12]; 164. Publisher's blue quarter cloth over grey paper covered boards, titles in pink to spine, blocked in blue to upper, grey endpapers, dust-jacket illustrated by Schindelman with printed price of $3.95. Illustrated throughout. Occasional... More
Birthday Letters.
London: Faber and Faber, 1998. [Poetry] SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. First edition, second impression. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.ix; [1]; 198. Publisher's light blue paper covered boards, titles in cream to spine, dust-jacket featuring a painting by Frieda Hughes with printed price of £14.99. Signed by the author to the... More
The Complete Hornblower Novels. The Happy Return (1937); A Ship of the Line (1938); Flying Colours (1938); The Commodore (1945); Lord Hornblower (1946); Mr Midshipman Hornblower (1950); Lieutenant Hornblower (1952); Hornblower and the Atropos (1953); Hornblower in the West Indies (1958); Hornblower and the Hotspur (1962); Hornblower and the Crisis (1967)
London: Michael Joseph, 1937-67. [Naval fiction / Historical Fiction] ALL FIRST EDITIONS. Eleven volumes, octavos (19 x 13 x 33cm). The full series, bound uniformly in recent blue half morocco, gilt titles to spines with gilt ship and anchor motif, blue marbled paper-covered boards, top edges gilt. Light and occasional... More
Count Karlstein, or, the Ride of the Demon Huntsman. Illustrations By Diana Bryan.
London, Doubleday, 2002. [Gothic Fantasy] SIGNED FIRST PRINTING thus; originally published in 1982, this edition is newly illustrated. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. Publisher's cloth, fine, in very lightly edge-worn wrapper. Probably read once. By the prize-winning author of 'His Dark Materials' trilogy. Author's signature to the title page in blue... More
The Diamond Smugglers.
London: Ian Fleming Publications Limited, 2009. SIGNED FIRST THUS, a new edition. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.116. SIGNED by Fergus Fleming in black ink to the title page. Publisher's green cloth with silver titles to spine. With the pictorial dust-jacket, priced at £15. A fine as-new copy. Fleming's first non-Bond... More
The Rape of Venice.
London: Hutchinson, 1959. [Fiction] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 12cm), pp.446; [1], list of countries; [1], blank. Publisher's black cloth with blocking to spine in gilt and lime green, in pictorial dust-jacket designed by Sax with printed price of 15s net, endpapers showing a view of Venice in the 18th... More
Magic Island.
London: Frederick Warne and Co. Ltd., 1956. [Children's illustrated] FIRST EDITION. Slim octavo (22 x 20cm), pp.53; [1]. Publisher's yellow cloth blocked in red, black, and blue, illustrated endpapers, dust-jacket with printed price of 8/6 net. With twenty-four full page colour illustrations. Internally fine, edges slightly toned, cloth unmarked and... More
Nigger at Eton.
London: Leslie Frewin, 1972. [Biography] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.239; [1] blank. Publisher's grey cloth, gilt titles to spine, dust-jacket designed by Brian Hampton and Ian St. John with printed price of £2.70. Illustrated with a suite of black and white photographic plates. Neat ownership to pastedown, faint... More
The Son. Translated from the French by Daphne Woodward.
London: Hamish Hamilton, 1958. [Suspense] FIRST UK EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.191; [1], blank. Publisher's red cloth with gilt titles to spine, illustrated dust-jacket designed by Peter Probyn, priced at 11/6. Some toning and dustiness, single ink name to flyleaf, jacket with moderate wear and soiling. Very good. A.... More
The Looking-Glass War.
London: Heinemann, 1965. [Spy Thriller] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.[10] 246. Publisher's black cloth with silver titles to spine. With the yellow and orange dust-jacket. A lovely fine copy of the book in bright, price-clipped wrapper with the inevitable sunning to the spine. Follow-up to the Edgar-winning novel... More
Biggles Goes to School. The Story of Biggles' Early Life and School Days
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1951. [Children's adventure novel] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.193; [1], blank. With sepia illustrations by Leslie Stead. Publisher's red cloth blocked in black, dust-jacket also illustrated by Stead Very good indeed in price clipped jacket. More
The Golden Fluid.
London: Ward Lock and Co., 1935. [Strange Tale] FIRST EDITION, later state. Octavo (18 x 12cm), pp.319; [1]. In the secondary binding of red cloth, lettered in black, in original jacket clipped and repriced at 4/6 and with publisher's book number overprinted to spine. A very good, used copy, jacket... More
A History of Sarawak under its Two White Rajahs 1839-1908.
London: Henry Sotheran and Co., 1909. [Malaysian History] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (23 x 16cm), pp.xxiv; 464. With 74 half-tone plates, including two frontispiece illustrations, as well as a large coloured folding map at rear. Publisher's maroon cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper. All edges untrimmed. Bookplate to front... More
The Day's Alarm.
London: Hamish Hamilton, 1949. [Poetry] SIGNED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.53; [3]. SIGNED by the author in blue ink to title page. Publisher's blue quarter cloth with gilt titles to spine, and red and cream patterned paper over boards. With the cream decorated dust-jacket with red titles, priced... More
Inkspell.
Frome: The Chicken House, 2005. [Children's Literature] SIGNED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 16cm), pp.[2]; 682; [6]. With occasional vignette illustrations by the author, as well as a map and chapter head illustrations by Carol Lawson. SIGNED by the author in blue ink to half-title. Publisher's green cloth with gilt... More
Inkheart.
Frome: The Chicken House, 2003. [Children's Literature] SIGNED FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. Octavo (21 x 16cm), pp.544. With occasional vignette illustrations. SIGNED by the author in black ink to title page. Publisher's purple cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the red dust-jacket illustrated by Carol Lawson and designed by... More
Sunset at Blandings.
London: Chatto and Windus, 1977. [Classic humour] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp. 213; [3], blank. Publisher's blue cloth lettered in gilt, in a pictorial dust-jacket designed by Ionicus, priced at. Splashmark to top edge otherwise fine in jacket. Wodehouse's final unfinished novel, with an extensive appendix based on... More