"There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. "
— Oscar Wilde

Milan: All'Insegna del Pesce d'Oro [at the sign of the Goldfish], 1956. [Italian Novella] LIMITED EDITION. Octavo (18 x 13cm), pp.[2] 82 [4]. Number 22 of just 1000 hand-numbered copies. Publisher's plain soft covers with the light blue jacket and original plastic over-jacket. Toned throughout, especially to margins. Light handling..... More
London: Calder and Boyars, 1966. [Modern Literature] FIRST THUS. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.[4] 418 [2]. Publisher's blue cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the photographic dust-jacket priced at 35s. Three related clippings from The Independent, including an obituary, loose to rear. Black ink ownership to fly-leaf. Neat pink..... More
London: George G. Harrap & Co., 1931. [Children's Illustrated] FIRST EDITION. Small octavo (17 x 12cm), pp.56. With four colour plates including a frontispiece, as well as frequent in-text illustrations by Appleton. Publisher's brown paper-covered boards, with a colour illustration and titles laid over upper. Illustrated endpapers. School prize plate..... More
London: Hodder and Stoughton, no date [1933]. [Jeeves and Wooster Short Story] FIRST SEPARATE EDITION. Very small octavo (12 x 8cm), pp.64. Publisher's red leatherette with gilt titles to upper and machine-marbled endpapers. Crisp and clean internally, with some rubbing to outer edges and a chip from tail of spine..... More
Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1952. [Architecture]. FIRST EDITION. Paperback with jacket. Octavo (18 x 12cm), pp.351 [1]. With 40 double-sided photographic plates and a folding map to rear. Publisher's brown card covers with titles to spine and front cover. With the orange illustrated dust-jacket. Browned, as expected. Spine spotted with a...... More
New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1927. [Modern Literature] FIRST EDITION, with a complete number '3' to p.3. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.[12]; 232; [8]. Recent full black morocco with gilt titles and decoration to spine, and the author's signature blocked in gilt to the to upper board, with marbled..... More
London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1996. [Spy Fiction] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.410. Publisher's grey quarter cloth with gilt titles to spine and purple paper-covered boards. Illustrated endpapers. With the photographic dust-jacket, priced at £16.99. Gently toned to edges, with some minor water staining to spine, boards and jacket..... More
London: Scholastic, 2008. [Children's Fantasy] SIGNED LIMITED EDITION. Octavo (20 x 15cm), pp.[10] 403 [19]. One of 3000 copies SIGNED by the author in blue ink to title page. Publisher's purple cloth with silver titles to spine. With the black and white dust-jacket illustrated by Lawrence, as well as the..... More
New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975. [Spy thriller] FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.282. Publisher's brown and orange hardback binding, top edge orange, in pictorial dust-jacket. The jacket artwork is by Raymond Hawkey, who designed the classic 1960s James Bond British paperbacks for Pan Books. Edges dusty..... More
London: Jonathan Cape, 1975. [Spy thriller] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.224. Publisher's hardback cloth binding in pictorial dust-jacket. The jacket artwork is by Raymond Hawkey, who designed the classic 1960s James Bond paperbacks for Pan Books. Price clipped jacket slightly sunned; near fine. With comparisons to Graham Greene..... More
London: Jonathan Cape, 1954. [James Bond] FIRST ISSUE, Second State. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.240. Publisher's black cloth-effect paper-covered boards, titled and decorated in gilt, with dust-wrapper, priced twice as issued, at 10/6. With 'author's skill' text incorrectly spaced to the rear panel, as described in the bibliography, page 61..... More
London: Jonathan Cape, 1963. [Travel] UNCORRECTED PROOF COPY of the First Edition. Octavo (23 x 16cm), with plates. Publisher's green softcovers printed in black. Housed in a grey cloth clamshell with gilt-titled red leather label to spine. Some light wear and soiling, joints a little rubbed; a near fine copy..... More
London: For The Crime Club by Collins, 1953.156. [Detective Fiction] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.191; [1]. Publisher's orange cloth with black titles to spine. With the red and black illustrated dust-jacket, priced at 10s 6d. Book is fresh and appears unread. Clean bright panels including the spine, some..... More
London: Viking, an imprint of Penguin Books, 2013. [Spy novel] FIRST EDITION, WATERSTONES EDITION with added content. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.xiv; 310; [1], Acknowledgements; [11], blank. With exclusive black and white portrait photograph as frontispiece, by Anton Corbijn. Publisher's black cloth with gilt titles to the spine, navy blue..... More
London: Faber and Faber, 1937. [Poetry and Travel] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.268. With 15 double-sided black and white photographic plates, as well as a frontispiece, seven charts and diagrams, and a folding map at rear. Publisher's green cloth with red and blue titles to spine. Top edge..... More
London: William Heinemann, 1912. [Children's Illustrated / Folklore] FIRST RACKHAM ILLUSTRATED EDITION. Small quarto (21 x 16cm), pp.[2]; xxx; 224. With 13 chromolithographic plates including and frontispiece, and 54 further wood engravings, in-text and individual plates. Elegantly bound in half mid green morocco over publisher's pictorial cloth, with five raised..... More
London: Published for the Crime Club by Collins, 1947. [Crime Short Stories] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.[2] 256 [2]. Elegantly bound in half mid-green calf with raised bands, gilt titles to spine and matching green cloth over boards. Contents clean, exterior as new. A fine copy in an..... More
London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1888-9. [Children's classics] Fifteenth thousand and Twelfth thousand respectively. THE PEOPLE'S EDITION. Two volumes, octavo (20 x 14cm). With illustrations by John Tenniel. Handsomely bound in modern half dark green morocco over original mid-green cloth covers pictorially stamped in black and red, with 'Mad Hatter'..... More
London: Hutchinson, 1983, 1984, 1985. [Cold War spy saga] FIRST EDITIONS. Three volumes, octavos (23 x 15 x10cm). Publisher's black cloth with red endpapers, illustrated dust-wrappers designed by Raymond Hawkey. First volume price clipped with neat contemporary gift inscription otherwise a near fine set. Bernard Samson is a middle-aged and..... More
London: Macmillan and Co., 1900-1901. [Literature] ALL FIRST BROCK-ILLUSTRATED EDITIONS. 5 volumes, octavo (19 x 13 x 19cm). Abundantly illustrated with line drawing black and white full page plates. Finely bound in mid-green half calf with raised bands, gilt decoration, twin red title labels to spines; cloth boards; top edges..... More
London: Jonathan Cape. 1961. [Spy novel] INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR. First edition, first Issue, Binding A, octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.254. With characteristic ballpoint inscription to the flyleaf; To/ Peter Werner/ from/ the Author. The recipient Peter Werner later became a prolific American film director. This is one of a...... More
London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1892. [Ancient History] FINE PRIZE BINDING, the second edition. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.xxx; 426 [4]. With 62 maps and illustrations, including a folding map of Palestine. Contemporary tree calf by BICKERS & SON of London for Tonbridge School, with gilt titles to brown label and..... More
London: Henry S. King & Co., 1874. [Fantasy Novel] FINELY BOUND SECOND EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.[2] xvi; 348 [6]. Including the calling card of Miss Edith Coleridge; the author's daughter, and publisher of 'The Memoir and Letters of Sara Coleridge' (1873). Contemporary tan full calf, with gilt titles..... More
London: George Routledge and Sons, 1890. [Military History] FINELY BOUND. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.[2] 528 [2]. With occasional engraved plates by Caton Woodville, including a frontispiece. Contemporary red full calf for Beaconsfield School by RELFE BROS of London, with gilt titles to black label and further gilt decoration to..... More
London: Andre Deutsch, 1960. [Poetry] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.59 [1]. With the tan paper-covered boards, titles in black to spine and upper. With the matching dust-jacket, priced at 10/6. Light handling, with a few marks and a touch of sunning to spine. Near fine. More