Literature
A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle.
Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1926. [Scottish Poetry] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.viii; 108. Including an extensive Glossary. Publisher's navy cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper, light blue typographic dust-jacket, priced at 7/6 to spine. Jacket toned to grey, and heavily rubbed to spine. A number..... More
The Far Eastern Trilogy: The Pagoda Tree; The Midnight Gun; Hour of the Dog.
London: Collins, 1979; 1981; 1982. [Historical Fiction] INSCRIBED FIRST EDITIONS WITH LETTERS. Three volumes. Octavo (22 x 14cm), pp.322; pp.336; pp.346. Volume I signed by the author in blue ink to Eileen M. Cond's distinctive bookplate to fly-leaf, and with a loose autograph letter signed by the author on headed..... More
A New Lease of Death. [The Sins of the Fathers].
London: John Long, 1967. [Crime Mystery] SIGNED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.184. SIGNED by the author in black ink to title page. Publisher's dark brown material over boards with gilt titles to spine. With the dust-jacket illustrated by William Randell, priced at 21s. A lovely crisp, clean copy..... More
Time Was Away. A notebook in Corsica.
London: John Lehmann Ltd, 1948. [Travel book] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (25 x 18cm), pp.189; [3]. Publisher's yellow cloth with green titles to spine, with usual state of dust-jacket designed by John Minton, printed price 21s to flap. Internally a clean and crisp copy. Slight bumping to upper, central and lower..... More
The Vox Edition of the Works of Jane Austen.
London: J. M. Dent and Sons, 1933-4. [Classic Literature] FIRST VOX ILLUSTRATED EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13 x 21cm), 7 volumes. With colour plates and in-text black and white illustrations by Maximilien Vox. Prefatory letter, in French by Maximilien Vox and an introduction by Emile Legouis. Publisher's patterned grey cloth..... More
[Navarre Society Illustrated Classics]. The Works of Mr. Francis Rabelais, Doctor in Physick. Containing Five Books of the Lives, Heroick Deeds and Sayings of Gargantua and His Sonne Pantagruel, Together with the Pantagrueline Prognostication, the Oracle of the Divine Bacbuc, and response of the bottle, Hereunto are annexed the Navigations unto the Sounding Isle and the Isle of the Apedefts: as likewise the Philosophical cream with a Limosin Epistle. [and] The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio. [and] The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, Prince of Adventurers and the most indomitable of Lovers. [and] The Heptameron of the Tales of Margaret, Queen of Navarre, Translated into English from the Authentic Text of M. le Roux de Lincy, with an Essay upon the Heptameron by George Saintsbury, M.A., also the Original Seventy-three full-page Engravings Designed by S. Freudenberg, and One hundred and fifty head and tail pieces by Dunker. [and] The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha Translated from the Spanish of Miguel de Cervantes by Thomas Shelton, reprinted from the First Edition, 1612-1620, with a new preface by F.J. Harvey Darton, and Illustrated with two portraits, eighteen plates and facsimiles of the original engraved titles. [and] The Ten Pleasures of Marriage and The Confession of the New Married Couple.
London: Privately Printed for the Navarre Society, 1921-1923. [Private Press Classics] SIX LIMITED EDITION TITLES, collected in fourteen volumes. Octavo (24 x 16 x 65cm). All text in English. Each volume with various engraved illustrations, title pages printed in two colours. Each set strictly limited and printed on fine laid..... More
The Bodley Head Scott Fitzgerald, with an Introduction by J.B. Priestley. Being a compilation of novels and shorter pieces, including: The Great Gatsby, The Last Tycoon, Tender is The Night, This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and The Damned, The Rich Boy, Letters and Short Stories, etc.
London: The Bodley Head, 1958-63. [Modern Literature Set] FIRST BODLEY HEAD EDITION. Complete in 6 volumes. Octavo. Publisher's red cloth in pale grey/cream dust-jackets printed in black and red. Some minor dustiness. Both the books and jackets are in clean, fresh condition without the often-seen toning to the spines. A...... More
The Spy Who Loved Me.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1962 [actually issued October 1961]. [Spy thriller] UNCORRECTED PROOF copy of the First Edition. Octavo (18 x 11cm), pp.221. Publisher's green wraps, with titles printed in black. Housed in a custom-made, fleece-lined, leather-spined clamshell box. Spine slightly toned and rolled, joints rubbed, publication details pencilled to upper;..... More
The Odessa File.
London: Hutchinson, 1972. [Thriller] INSCRIBED PROOF COPY. Octavo (22 x 14cm), pp.x; 310. INSCRIBED by the author in black ink to dedication page, dated 31.5.72. Publisher's orange card covers titled to spine and upper. Thumbing and spotting to edges. Covers worn, with some chips to spine and corners. Spine slightly..... More
No Dust in the Attic. [with Original Artwork].
London: Published for the Crime Club by Collins, 1962. [Crime Thriller] FIRST EDITION with the ORIGINAL DUST-JACKET ARTWORK. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.192. Publisher's orange cloth with black titles to spine. With the deep pink dust-jacket illustrated by John Rose, priced at 12/6. Together with two separate original artworks by..... More
Winner Take Nothing.
New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933. [Modern Literature] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 14cm), pp.[10]; 244; [2]. Publisher's black cloth with gilt title panels, top edge tinted red, and the illustrated dust-jacket priced at $2.00. Some overall toning, bookplate to pastedown, top edge a little sunned, jacket with some..... More
Last Poems.
London: Grant Richards, November 1922. [Poetry] SIGNED COPY, the sixth impression. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.79 [1]. SIGNED by the author in black ink to half-title. Publisher's navy cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper. With the plain dust-jacket priced at 5s. Spotting to edges with a little offsetting..... More
Princess Badoura. A Tale from the Arabian Nights, Retold by Laurence Housman, illustrated by Edmund Dulac.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, no date [1913]. [Illustrated Folk Tales] FIRST DULAC EDITION, SIGNED LIMITED ISSUE. Quarto (29 x 23cm), pp.[8] 113 [3]. With 10 mounted colour plates by Dulac, including a frontispiece, each with a captioned tissue guard. Publisher's white cloth with elaborate pale blue and gilt decoration to..... More
The History of England, from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Abdication of James The Second. With the author's Last Corrections. Embellished with Portraits.
Edinburgh: Printed by Oliver & Co., 1803-4. [English History] FINE CONTEMPORARY BINDING. In eight volumes. Octavo (18 x 11 cm). With a short account of the author's life by himself, and a letter from Adam Smith to William Strahan. In contemporary marbled and polished brown calf with gilt decoration and..... More
The Collected Works of Henrik Ibsen. Copyright Edition.
London: William Heinemann, 1906-1910. [Literature] FINELY BOUND BY ZAEHNSDORF. Eleven volumes, octavo (19 x 14 x 37cm). Beautifully bound by Zaehnsdorf in contemporary deep blue half morocco over marbled boards, gilt and leather onlays to spines. Top edges gilt, marbled endpapers. Internally fine. Binding lightly handled. A sumptuous presentation of..... More
Albert Angelo.
London: Constable, 1964. [Modern Literature] INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.180 [4]. INSCRIBED by the author in black ink to fly-leaf: 'for Keith and Claire | in friendship: | Bryan | 5/7/64.' Publisher's dark brown cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the dust-jacket designed by Philip Thompson..... More
[Smiley vs Karla trilogy] Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, [together with]; The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1974, 1977, 1980 [November 1979]. [Espionage thriller] ALL FIRST EDITIONS. Three volumes complete, uniform octavos (22 x 14 x 11cm). Publisher's blue and black hardcovers lettered in gilt, purple topstain to first volume, peach-coloured endpapers to first volume, Hong Kong/China map endpapers to second volume (the..... More
The Achilles Affair.
London: Collins 1959. [Spy Thriller] FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY with superb, double-page inscription signed by the author. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.256. Publisher's hardback cloth binding in pictorial dust-jacket illustrated by John Rose, priced at 10/6. Inscribed by the author in blue ink to flyleaf:To Anne - and Jim /..... More
Force of Circumstance and Other Poems.
London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1962. [Poetry] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.x; 54. Publisher's typographic light green paper over boards. With the matching dust-jacket, priced at 12/6. An exceptionally crisp, bright copy, toned to jacket spine. Near fine. The poet's first published collection, which has never been included..... More
The Paddington Mystery.
London: Geoffrey Bles, 1925. [Modern Literature] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 14cm), pp.[8]; 305; [1], blank; [6], publisher's advertisements. Publisher's orange cloth lettered in black to spine and upper board. Toning to endpapers, water marks to upper board, some soiling to cloth, rolling to spine, wear to spine extremities. Very..... More
The Way We Live Now.
London: Chapman and Hall, 1875. [Classic Literature] FIRST EDITION. Two volumes. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.viii; 320; pp.viii; 319; [1]. With forty wood engraved plates after Linton, including a frontispiece to each volume. Publisher's green cloth with gilt titles to spines, and decorative ivy patterns stamped to upper boards in..... More
A Bibliographical Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany.
London: Printed for the author, by W. Bulmer and W. Nicol, Shakspeare Press, and Sold by Payne and Foss, Longman, Hurst and Co., 1821. [Bibliographical Travel] FIRST EDITION. Complete in three volumes. Octavo (27 x 18cm), pp.[6] xxxii; 462; lxxx [2]; pp.[6] 555 [3]; pp.[6] 622; lxii [2].With a total..... More
Under Milk Wood. A Play For Voices.
London: Queen Anne Press, Enitharmon Editions, 2013. [Modern classic] FIRST EDITION THUS, Deluxe Edition. Quarto (42 x 32cm in case), pp.173. Number 54 of 100 copies SIGNED BY THE ARTIST, with a separate signed and numbered original print entitled ''The Sailor's Arms''. Publisher's original green cloth with Blake illustration inlaid..... More
A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight. The Dark Lantern; Donkey Boy; Young Phillip Maddison; How Dear Is Life; A Fox Under My Cloak; The Golden Virgin; Love and the Loveless; A Test to Destruction; The Innocent Moon; It Was the Nightingale; The Power of the Dead; The Phoenix Generation; A Solitary War; Lucifer Before Sunrise; The Gale of the World.
London: Macdonald, 1951-1969. [Autobiographical Novel Series] COMPLETE FIRST EDITIONS, First Printings. Fifteen volumes. Octavo (20 x 14 x 52cm). Publisher's variously coloured cloth with gilt titles to spines. Each with the distinctive dust-jacket illustrated by Broom Lynne, and variously priced between 12/6 and 30s. Lovely crisp, clean copies, uniformly free..... More
Wolf Hall Trilogy: Wolf Hall; Bring Up the Bodies; The Mirror and the Light.
London: Fourth Estate, 2009; 2012; 2020. [Historical fiction] COMPLETE SIGNED LIMITED EDITIONS. Octavo (24 x 16 x 15cm). Publisher's quarter black cloth over red cloth sides, decorated in gilt to spines and uppers; coloured flipped for 'Bring Up the Bodies'. Each SIGNED by Hilary Mantel, priced at £30, £35, and..... More