"There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. "
— Oscar Wilde
Literature
The Poetical Works of William Cowper.
Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1854. [Poetical Works] FINELY BOUND FIRST THUS. Two volumes. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.[2] xxx; 416 [2]; pp.[2] xxviii; 428 [2]. Reasonably-sized print on good paper. Very fine contemporary green full morocco by J. WRIGHT, with raised bands, gilt titles and decoration to spine, and very fine..... More
The Works of William Cowper: His Life, Letters, and Poems. Now First Completed by the Introduction of Cowper's Private Correspondence.
London: William Tegg and Co., 1849. [Poetical Works] FINELY BOUND. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.xx; 736; [2]. With six steel engraved plates by various artists including a frontispiece, as well as an engraved vignette title page. Contemporary full morocco with raised bands, gilt titles to spine and extensive gilt decoration..... More
Poems by William Cowper, Of the Inner Temple, Esq.
London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1787. [Poetry] THIRD EDITION. Two volumes. Octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.[4] 367 [1]; pp.[8] 359 [1]. Contemporary full tan calf, recently rebacked with the original spines laid over. Gilt titles to red labels on spines. Armorial bookplate of Michael Pepper to front pastedown of each..... More
![Mad Morgan's Murder Sanctum [and] Danger! Dead Men! Detour! [in] Detective Story Magazine. Vol....](/pictures/thumb/46817.jpg?v=1500288490)
Mad Morgan's Murder Sanctum [and] Danger! Dead Men! Detour! [in] Detective Story Magazine. Vol. IX, No. 5.
London: Atlas Publishing and Distributing Co., Ltd., May 1954. [Crime Fiction] ORIGINAL MAGAZINE. Octavo (25 x 17cm), pp.64. Publisher's colour-illustrated paper covers, stapled twice and priced at 9d. Spotlessly clean, with some very light handling. Almost as-new. This gripping collection of short stories is made only more appealing by its..... More
By Love Possessed.
New York, NY: Hardcourt, Brace and Co., 1957. First Edition. Octavo, pp. 570. In publisher's blue cloth with gilt titles to spine. With original white dust jacket, featuring a clock and red titles. Text block slightly age toned; jacket spine sunned to brown; chips from jacket spine and corners; one..... More
S.S. San Pedro.
New York, NY: Hardcourt, Brace and Co., 1931. First Edition. Small Octavo, pp. 136. In publisher's blue cloth with silver titles to spine. With original pictorial dust jacket, featuring an ocean liner sinking in a storm. Purple stamp of Bertrand Smith's "Acres of Books", Ohio, to front paste-down. Even age..... More
![The Baby's Opera [and] The Baby's Bouquet. A Book of Old Rhymes with New Dresses, the Music by...](/pictures/thumb/56383.jpg?v=1603207203)
The Baby's Opera [and] The Baby's Bouquet. A Book of Old Rhymes with New Dresses, the Music by the Earliest Masters [and] A Fresh Bunch of Old Rhymes & Tunes: A Companion to the "Baby's Opera" The Tunes Collected & Arranged by L.C.
London: George Routledge and Sons [and] Frederick Warne and Co., no dates [circa 1878 and 1900]. [Nursery Rhymes] FINE COLOUR PRINTING, early printings. Two volumes. Small quarto (19 x 19cm), pp.56; pp.56. Both volumes with fine colour illustrations designed by Crane and printed by Evans, accompanying printed music and words..... More
Legends for Lionel: in Pen and Pencil.
London: Cassell & Company, 1887. [Children's Illustrated] FIRST EDITION. Small quarto (26 x 19cm), pp.[4] 40 [2]. High quality colour illustrations by the author printed to one side of each leaf only. Fore-edge untrimmed. Publisher's brown quarter cloth with grey paper over boards, illustrated and titled in black and brown..... More
The Plague of Silence.
London: Hutchinson Library Services / John Long, 1974. [Germ Warfare Spy Thriller] VINTAGE COPY, a new edition. Octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.188. Publisher's navy cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the photographic dust-jacket priced at £1.85. Light rubbing and a few marks to jacket. Near fine. A terrorist organisation..... More
The winter of the Birds.
London: Faber and Faber, 1975. [Children's fiction]. INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.204. Publisher's black cloth, silver titles to spine, pictorial dust-jacket designed by Anthony Maitland. Signed and inscribed to flyleaf: "For Caroline | with very best | wishes | Helen Cresswell | Old Church Farm | 1978"..... More
A Memoir Of Elizabeth Fry By Her Daughter.
London: Piper, Stephenson and Spence, 1856. Signed. Octavo. Abridged edition. Bound in contemporary red morocco, with triple ruled gilt panelling and decorative gilt tooling to boards, raised bands, gilt title and gilt decoration to spine; all edges gilt, gilt dentelles, pale yellow endpapers. With bookplate, and author's signature. Cresswell's initials..... More
Robin Hood.
Philadelphia, PA: David McKay, Publisher, 1917. [Children's Illustrated] FIRST WYETH EDITION. Large Octavo (25 x 18cm), pp.362. With eight colour plates and a colour-illustrated title page, all by N.C. Wyeth. Publisher's green cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper board, as well as a handsome coloured plate also to..... More
The Lost World.
New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995. [Science Fiction] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (24 x 17cm), pp.[4] xii; 393 [7]. Publisher's quarter black cloth with silver titles to spine and grey cloth over boards. Fore-edge untrimmed; sketch-map to endpapers. With the dust-jacket designed by Chip Kidd, priced at $25.95. Light spotting..... More
Moonrise.
London: Bloomsbury, 2018. [Children's Literature] SIGNED FIRST PAPERBACK EDITION. Octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.[6] 385 [9]. SIGNED by the author in black ink to title page. Publisher's yellow and blue soft covers, priced at £7.99. 'Signed by the Author' sticker to front cover. A fine, as-new copy. More
A Nice Place to Die.
London: Published for the Crime Club by Collins, 1965. [Crime Fiction] FIRST EDITION, EX LIBRIS ANTHONY LEJEUNE. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.192. With a bookplate detailing provenance loose to preliminaries. Publisher's red cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the pink, white and green dust-jacket, priced at 15s. Light offsetting..... More
Vixen 03.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1978. [Thriller] FIRST UK EDITION. Octavo (21 x 13cm), pp.318; [2], blank. Publisher's black cloth, lettered in gilt to spine, pictorial dust-jacket by Terry Hadler priced at £4.95. A near fine copy of the book, in lightly edge worn jacket, sunned to spine. The author's fourth..... More
Quarrels of Authors; or, Some Memoirs for our Literary History, Including Specimens of Controversy to the Reign of Elizabeth.
London: John Murray, 1814. FIRST EDITION. In three volumes. Crown Octavo. pp. xv, 308; i, 316; i, 320. With a contents page and index to each vol. In publisher's original quarter oatmeal cloth with grey paper boards. Blue paper pasted over spines and hand-written titles to labels on each spine..... More
The BFG.
London: Puffin, 2016. [Children's Classic] FIRST THUS, Blake's original illustrations. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.x, 197 [1]. With line drawings by Blake throughout, and a new foreword. One of 5000 copies thus. Publisher's blue and white illustrated paper-covered boards, and similarly decorated endpapers. With the blue illustrated dust-jacket, priced at..... More
James And The Giant Peach. A Children's Story.
New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, [circa 1972]. [Children's Classic] VINTAGE COPY, a later issue showing ISBN, and mentioning 'Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.' Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.[8] 119 [1]. Illustrated with plain and coloured lithographs by Burkert. Publisher's orange cloth with gilt titles to spine and blind..... More
Two Fables.
London: Viking, 1986. FIRST EDITION, slim octavo (23 x 14cm), pp.64. Publisher's black cloth, titles in gilt to spine, in striking red and black dust jacket designed by Bet Ayer. Somewhat bleak illustrations by Graham Dean, including one disturbing colour print as a frontispiece. Minor edgewear; near fine. Two adult..... More
My Uncle Oswald.
London: Michael Joseph Ltd, 1979. [Modern Literature] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 14cm), pp.221. Publisher's dark blue cloth in pictorial dust-jacket designed by Dave Senior, priced at £5.50. Neat ink ownership else a lovely fine copy. Slightly risque, adult romp from the regular 'Playboy' contributor. Roald Dahl received the World..... More
Virginia Woolf.
London: Editions Poetry London, 1945. [Literary Biography] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.151 [1]. With a black and white photographic frontispiece portrait of Woolf. Publisher's blue cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the red typographic dust-jacket, priced at 7/6. Gently toned to wartime economy paper. Bumping to corners..... More
![The Wrong Corpse [and] Let's Have Some Murder [in] Thrilling Detective Magazine. Vol. V, No. 2....](/pictures/thumb/46808.jpg?v=1500288490)
The Wrong Corpse [and] Let's Have Some Murder [in] Thrilling Detective Magazine. Vol. V, No. 2.
London: Atlas Publishing and Distributing Co., Ltd., October 1949. [Crime Fiction] ORIGINAL MAGAZINE. Octavo (25 x 17cm), pp.64. With occasional in-text illustrations. Publisher's colour-illustrated paper covers, stapled twice and priced at 9d. Spotlessly clean, with some very light handling. Almost as-new. This gripping collection of short stories is made only..... More
Wild Decembers: a Play in Three Acts.
London: William Heinemann, 1932. SIGNED PRODUCTION COPY. Octavo, pp.97. In publisher's maroon cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper board. Flyer for the Apollo Theatre production pasted to front paste-down. SIGNED by the author and nineteen members of the cast and crew from the May production of the following..... More
Love in a Mist.
London: Methuen & Co., 1921. [Scottish Romance] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.[2] vi; 317 [11]. Publisher's deep pink cloth with grey titles to spine and upper. Fore and lower edges untrimmed. Black ink ownership of 'Bagenal' to fly-leaf, and a label removed from the front pastedown. Repairs to..... More