"Books are a hardbound drug with no danger of overdose. I am the happy victim of books."
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Kingsley Amis | First Editions
1922 - 1995
Sir Kingsley William Amis, CBE (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. Amis produced more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, various short stories, radio and television scripts, and also dabbled in social and literary criticism.
Amis' biographer,, Zachary Leader, has described the author as "the finest English comic novelist of the second half of the twentieth century." Moreover, Amis lectured in science fiction (a passion since boyhood), and is responsible for coining the term "comic inferno" to describe 'humorous dystopias'. Amis is the focus of international literary acclaim; in 2008, The Times ranked Kingsley Amis ninth on their list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945.
See below our stock of Kingsley Amis First Editions, fine bindings, and signed copies.
Results 1 - 15 (of 15)
The Darkwater Hall Mystery.
Edinburgh: The Tragara Press, 1978. Limited edition. Number 67 of 165 copies. 8vo. Illustrated by Elspeth Sojka. Bound in publisher's original marbled card wraps. Fine with trifling edgewear. Internally clean and bright, a very pretty copy of a scarce piece of Sherlockiana. More
The Book Of Bond, Or Every Man His Own 007 (Writing as Bill Tanner)
London: Jonathan Cape, 1965. FIRST EDITION. Small octavo (18 x 14cm). Publisher's black cloth, gilt endpapers. Illustrated throughout. With Raymond Hawkey-designed 'reversible' book-jacket for work in the field; the pictorial dust-wrapper can be rapidly disguised as a bible. A near fine copy in similar jacket. An unusual piece of Bondiana... More
Jake's Thing.
London: Hutchinson and Co., 1978. [Modern Literature] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.285 [3]. Publisher's blue cloth with silver titles to spine, dust jacket illustrated by Quentin Blake. Jacket spine just very slightly faded; near-fine. More
The James Bond Dossier
London: Jonathan Cape. 1965. FIRST EDITION. THE AUTHOR'S COPY, in a bespoke quarter leather binding of half red morocco, gilt, commissioned by the publisher for presentation to Amis. Obviously a unique copy, this was likely bound by Ian Fleming's own binder Arthur Last, the style matching closely the author's copies... More
The Alteration.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1976. [Alternative history novel]. FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.208. Publisher's green cloth, gilt titles to spine, top edge green, pictorial dust-jacket designed by Tom Adams. Textblock slightly toned. Near fine. More
The Alteration.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1976. [Alternative history novel] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.208. Publisher's green cloth, gilt titles to spine, top edge green, pictorial dust-jacket designed by Tom Adams. Textblock slightly toned, slight reading lean. Near fine. More
The Anti-Death League. A Novel.
London: Victor Gollancz, 1966. [Modern Literature] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.352. Publisher's brown cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the dust-jacket designed by Raymond Hawkey, priced at 30/- net. Some spotting to preliminaries and offset toning to endpapers. Some spotting to top edge, edges toned. Light sunning... More
The Green Man.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1969. [Strange tale] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.252. Publisher's hardback in pictorial dust-wrapper priced at 30s. A gently used copy with a sunned spine; near fine. A pub landlord starts seeing ghosts, in a particularly literate tale that must have inspired John Cleese's Basil Fawlty... More
The James Bond Dossier.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1965. UNCORRECTED PROOF COPY IN RARE JACKET. Publisher's paper covers, with pictorial proof dust-wrapper, based on the familiar 'trompe l'oeil' designs which decorated the Ian Fleming first editions. Very bright jacket with inevitable wear to the unsupported oversize area, otherwise a fine copy, housed in a custom-made... More
My Enemy's Enemy, Stories.
London: Victor Gollancz. 1962. First Edition. Octavo, pp. 224. Red publisher's cloth with gilt titles to spine, in strikingly restrained yellow dustwrapper. Top and fore edge slightly browned, slight bumping to head and tail caps. Some wear to the top and bottom edges of the dustjacket with some marking and... More
Colonel Sun.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1968. FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 14cm), pp.255; [1]. Publisher's hardback cloth in pictorial dust-wrapper priced at 21s. Wraparound art by Tom Adams. Book is very clean, jacket with two short tears and a tiny amount of rubbing to crown. A particularly bright copy. The first post-... More
Colonel Sun.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1968. [Spy thriller] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.255; [1], blank. Illustrated map endpapers. The rarer variant with a dropped quad mark to the date on the copyright page (rather in the same manner as 'The Spy Who Loved Me' variant- see Gilbert). Publisher's hardcovers in... More
Colonel Sun.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1968. [Spy thriller] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.255; [1], blank. Illustrated map endpapers. The rarer variant with a dropped quad mark to the date on the copyright page (rather in the same manner as 'The Spy Who Loved Me' variant- see Gilbert). Publisher's hardcovers in... More
The Book Of Bond, Or Every Man His Own 007 (Writing as Bill Tanner).
New York, NY: Viking Press, 1965. FIRST US EDITION, SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. Small octavo. Publisher's white cloth with 'Walther' device in black, red endpapers, illustrated jacket by Raymond Hawkey. A lovely fine copy. An unusual piece of Bondiana, rarely seen signed. Bill Tanner is a fictional character in the... More
Results 1 - 15 (of 15)