"Books are a hardbound drug with no danger of overdose. I am the happy victim of books."
— Karl Lagerfeld
Literature
The Green Man.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1969. [Strange tale] UNCORRECTED PROOF of the FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.253. Publisher's green softcovers in proof-only pictorial dust-wrapper priced at 30s. A fine, unread copy of the book in near fine, lightly rubbed oversized jacket. A ghostly tale set in an english medieval coaching..... 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
The Disputed Crown. A Novel of Eleventh Century England.
London: Chatto and Windus, 1982. [Historical Fiction] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.xxii; 297; [1]. Publisher's brown cloth with silver titles to spine. With the brown dust-jacket reproducing an image from the Bayeux tapestry. Some spotting to top edge and a very slight reading lean. A crisp, clean near..... More
Gildenford.
London: Chatto and Windus, 1978. [Historical Fiction] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.[10]; 323; [3]. Publisher's red cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the dust-jacket illustrated by Walter Hodges. Some spotting to top edge, otherwise a crisp, clean, near fine copy. The author's first novel, set in the..... More
Stories from Hans Andersen. With Illustrations by Edmund Dulac.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1911. [Illustrated children's classic]. FIRST DULAC ILLUSTRATED EDITION. Quarto (29 x 23cm), pp.viii; 250; [2]. Publisher's green cloth blocked in gilt to spine and upper board, illustrated endpapers. With twenty eight tipped in colour plates. Some light spotting to endpapers, preliminaries, and edges, a couple of..... More
Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales with Pictures that Spring to Life. Bookano Series.
London: Strand Publications, no date [circa 1938]. [Pop-Up Fairy Tales] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 18cm), pp.[62]. With four colour-illustrated pop-up scenes, a colour frontispiece and vignette title page, and several line-drawn illustrations, all by Wickham, and design and arrangement by Giraud. Publisher's colour illustrated paper-covered boards, with endpapers illustrated..... More
Fairy Tales by Hans Andersen. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham.
London: George G. Harrap and Co., 1932. [Children's Illustrated] FIRST RACKHAM ILLUSTRATED EDITION. Large octavo (26 x 20cm), pp.288. With 12 very fine colour plates, including a frontispiece, each with a captioned tissue guard, as well as numerous in-text illustrations. Publisher's red cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper..... More
Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales.
Nottingham: Hodder and Stoughton for Boots Pure Drug Co., no date [circa 1930s]. [Illustrated Fairy Tales] FINE COLOUR PLATES, a later edition. Small quarto (26 x 16cm), pp.319 [1]. With 16 chromolithographic plates by Heath Robinson, including a frontispiece. Publisher's brown cloth with gilt titles and decoration to spine and..... More
Family Secrets. or hints to those who would make home happy.
London: Fisher, Son and Co., no date [1843]. [Literature] ILLUSTRATED Three volumes, octavo (21 x 14 x 8cm). Brown half calf over brown cloth sides, gilt titles on darker brown calf squares to spine. Each volume with an engraved frontispiece and half title page plus another twenty-five plates spread between..... More
L'Historien Vertueux ou le Modele de l'Adolescence et de la Jeunesse. Dedie au jeune age.
Paris: Louis Janet, 1822. Sextodecimo. Bound in beige paper boards, all edges gilt. Binding shows wear, particularly to corners and spine ends. Text shows some spotting, including to illustrations. A calendar is printed at the rear. The title of one notable and worringly un-ironic plate is, roughly translated, "The charity..... More
A Panoramic View From Bunker Hill Monument.
Boston, MA: Luther Stevens, c.1848. LARGE FOLD-OUT. Octavo (24 x 18cm), pp. 16; [1], panoramic fold-out. Bound in publisher's dark green card boards, cloth spine, Victorian lettering and presentation of publisher's details printed in black to front cover, matching decorative border to rear. Some discolouration to front board and noticeable..... More
The Metropolis. And the Second Part of the Metropolis.
Dublin: John Barlow, 1805 and 1806. SECOND EDITION. Duodecimo. pp. 69, 87. In recent marbled paper-covered boards with navy titles to cream paper label on spine. Top right corner of title page to part two damaged and repaired. Text unaffected. Otherwise a near-fine example in an attractive new binding. An..... More
Streetwalker.
London: The Bodley Head, 1959. [Social history] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 13 cm), pp.191; [1]. Publisher's black cloth with gilt titles to spine, dust-wrapper with printed price of 12s 6d. Slight toning to edges of textblock, minor rubbing at head and tail of spine, dust-wrapper is slightly chipped with..... More
The Man Who Killed Hitler.
London: T. Werner Laurie, 1939. [Anti-Nazi Novel] UK FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 14cm), pp.113, [1]; [14] publisher's advertisements. Publisher's black cloth with titles in yellow, in yellow typographic dust-jacket showing printed price of 3/6 net to the spine. Binding is tight, printing crisp with no spotting. Dust-wrapper is bright..... More
The Club Cricketer. Hints by "Cricketer" of the Manchester Guardian.
Manchester: Manchester Guardian, n.d. FIRST PUBLICATION OF CARDUS. Slim octavo, pp.3 [ads]; 54. Bound in publisher's orange paper covers with illustration of cricketer to front panel. Includes diagrams and charming contemporary advertisements for golfing trousers, etc. Shows very well, excepting one crease to rear of pamphlet which continues into contents..... More
Literary Characters.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1954. [Literary Offprint] ORIGINAL PAMPHLET. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.32. INSCRIBED in black ink to inside of cover on behalf of the publisher. Publisher's plain paper covers with woodcut illustrations, bound with thick brown string. Lightly toned and spotted. Browning to spine and outer edges, with some..... More
The Pirate's Treasure.
Glasgow: Cameron & Ferguson, no date [1884]. [Scottish Chapbook] RARE CHAPBOOK. Octavo pamphlet (18 x 12cm), pp.24. With the publisher's colour-illustrated paper covers, sewn. Fairly light handling; covers bright. Spine partially split, but sewing firm. Pencil note at rear dated 1884. Near fine. A short seafaring adventure which sets sail..... More
Sam Sheridan: The Secret Service Special, or, the jamboree at "Early Bird" bar. The Aldine "Boys' First-Rate Pocket Library." No. 178.
London: Aldine Publishing Company, n.d. [1893]. ORIGINAL PAMPHLET. Octavo, pp.32. In original colour illustrated paper covers. text heavily browned and extremely brittle. Some chips to leaf edges. Covers much less brittle, also chipped in places. Spine reinforced with archival tape. Good considering paper stock. More
Tales of the Classics: A New Delineation of the Most Popular Fables, Legends, and Allegories commemorated in the works of Poets, Painters, and Sculptors. Selected and Written by a Lady, for the amusement and instruction of her own daughters.
London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1830. [Greek Mythology] FINELY BOUND FIRST EDITION. Complete in three volumes. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.[4] xxiv; 302 [4]; pp.[4] iv; 302 [4]; pp.[4] iv; 370 [4]. Contemporary black half calf with raised bands, gilt titles to burgundy labels, further gilt decoration to spines..... More
The Talking Horse and Other Stories.
London: Smith, Elder, and co., 1893. Presentation Copy, "New Edition". Octavo. Bound in publisher's red cloth, with panelling embossed in black to boards, titles to front board, and titles in gilt to spine. Binding is rubbed, with noticable fading to spine; somewhat shaken, linen visible in joint at p.1, and..... More
The Brass Bottle. Daily Mail Sixpenny Novels No. 84.
London: The Amalgamated Press, with Smith, Elder and Co., for the Daily Mail, no date [circa 1915]. [Strange Tales] SIXPENNY NOVEL. Octavo (21 x 15cm), pp.144. With a frontispiece, decorated title page, and two further illustrated plates by Brock. Publisher's colour-illustrated paper covers. Quite heavily browned throughout. Final leaf of..... More
Tell Tale.
London: Macmillan, 2017. [Short Stories] SIGNED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.[12] 233 [3]; 39 [3]. With an excerpt from 'Heads You Win' (2018) at rear. SIGNED by the author in black ink to preliminary leaf. Publisher's burgundy cloth with blue metallic titles to spine. With the photographic dust-jacket..... More
Dead Man's Bay.
London: Published for the Crime Club by Collins, 1959. [Mystery Thriller] FIRST UK EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.160. Publisher's red cloth with black titles to spine. With the green and black dust-jacket priced at 10/6. Light offsetting to endpapers and some browning to edges. Jacket toned and chipped to..... More
The Secret Trail A Jimmie Rezaire Story.
London, Methuen 1928. A Secret Service thriller. FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp256. Publisher's hardcover in dustwrapper. A very good copy with owner name, loss to jacket at base of spine affecting imprint, faded beneath at same, one or two other minor nicks or tears (one taped at rear) spine sunned. A...... More