History & Biography
Dark Destroyer. My Story.
London: Blake Publishing Ltd, 1999. [Autobiography] INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.xii; 276. With three suites of four double-sided photographic plates. INSCRIBED by the author in black ink to title page: 'To "Father Derek" | Enjoy the "read" | Nigel Benn'. Publisher's black cloth, silver titles to spine..... More
Church-of-Englandism and its Catechism examined: Preceded by Strictures on the Exclusionary System, as pursued in the National Society's Schools: Interspersed with Parallel Views of the English and Scottish Established and Non-Established Churches: and Concluding with Remedies Proposed for Abuses Indicated: and an Examination of the Parliamentary System of Church Reform lately pursued, and still pursuing: including the Proposed New Churches.
London: Effingham Wilson, Printed, 1817: Published, 1818. [Religion and Education] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.lvi; ix-xliv; 248; 456. Recently re-backed in brown calf, with raised bands, gilt titles to red morocco label on spine, and original speckled calf boards. All edges speckled brown. Pencil notes to margin of..... More
The Boke of Saint Albans. Containing Treatises on Hawking, Hunting, and Cote Armour: Printed at Saint Albans by the Schoolmaster-Printer in 1486, Reproduced in Facsimile. With an Introduction by William Blades.
London: Elliot Stock, 1881. [Hawking, Hunting and Heraldry] FACSIMILE EDITION, first impression. Quarto (30 x 24cm), pp.34; [176]. Printed on fine hand-made paper. Publisher's full vellum, with gilt titles and decoration to spine, and blind decoration to boards. All edges untrimmed. Internally crisp and clean, with some offsetting to endpapers..... More
Social Life in England and France, From the French Revolution in 1789, to That of July 1830. By the editor of Madame du Deffand's Letters.
London: Printed for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, 1831. [Social Studies] PRESENTATION COPY. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.vii; [1]; 214; [4]. INSCRIBED to Lord Henry Peter Brougham by Berry in brown ink to title page: 'To | The Lord Chancellor Brougham | from the author | MB.' Advertisements to..... More
An Introduction to Heraldry, Containing the Rudiments of the Science in General, and other Necessary Particulars Connected with the Subject.
London: Printed for T. Egerton, and White and Cochrane, 1810. FIRST EDITION, augmented with cuttings and a hand-painted illumination. Octavo, pp.[4]; 158; [2]. With 12 engraved plates, one chromolithographic plate, and one folding table of tinctures. Many heraldry-themed newspaper cuttings from the 1930s pasted and loose to all endpapers, and..... More
The Interest of the Princes and States of Europe.
London: Printed by J.M. for John Wickins, 1681. [European Power Politics] SECOND EDITION. Octavo (19 x 11cm), pp.[16] 357 [3]. In contemporary speckled calf, with raised bands and gilt titles and decoration to spine. All edges speckled red. Loss to lower edge of title page due to a production fault..... More
The Veiled Wanderer. Letters to the Duc de Guiche and Unpublished Papers.
London: The Falcon Press, 1949. [Letters] FIRST EDITION. Crown octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.88. With all 12 collotype plates. Title page lettered in red and black. Publisher's light blue cloth, gilt titles to spine. With the typographic dust-jacket priced at 7s 6d to front flap. Internally bright and clean, minor..... More
State of the Nation: British Theatre since 1945.
London: Faber and Faber, 2007. [Theatre] INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.viii; 435; [5]. With a suite of four double-sided colour photographic plates. INSCRIBED by the author in blue ink to title page: "For Edward | Best Wishes | Michael Billington | 19th November 2007". Publisher's orange cloth..... More
The Debt We Owe: The Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund 1919-1989.
Shrewsbury: Airlife Publishing, 1989. INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp.[8], 216. With a colour frontispiece portrait of Viscount Trenchard, and 12 double-sided black and white plates. INSCRIBED by the author to Guy Huntrods, a prominent Tunbridge Wells based veteran, for his 75th birthday, in bright blue ink to title page. Also..... More
The Romance of St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
London: Raphael Tuck and Sons, 1933. [Architecture]. INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 14cm), pp.78 [2]. With 12 photogravure illustrations and a chromolithographic frontispiece. INSCRIBED by the author in black ink to front free endpaper: 'F. M. Bridge / from / H. W. Blackburne. / august 1933.' Publisher's blue cloth..... More
Guerilla Warfare. Restricted.
London: Ministry of Defence, 1957. [Warfare] WRITTEN WITH ACCESS TO OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. Octavo (25 x 16cm), pp.[x]; 201. Publisher's green cloth, gilt titles on red label to spine, 'Restricted' in gilt to boards, with sixteen folding maps and diagrams, erratum slip for p.91. Internally clean. Wearing to boards, more so..... More
China Under the Empress Dowager, Being the History of the Life and Times of Tzu Hsi. Compiled from State Papers and the Private Diary of the Comptroller of Her Household.
London: William Heinemann, 1911. [China] VINTAGE COPY, a later impression. Octavo (26 x 17cm), pp.xxviii; 525 [3]. With 26 black and white photographic plates, including a frontispiece, and a map of Peking. Publisher's green cloth with gilt titles to spine, and black titles and a red device to upper. Fore..... More
The Orient Flight L.Z. 127-Graf Zeppelin.
Maryland: Germany Philatelic Society Inc., 1980. [German Postage] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.135, illustrated. Publisher's blue leather-effect boards with gilt titles to the spine and upper. A fine copy. One of only 1000 copies published. An unusual diversion from the master thriller writer; a collaboration between Deighton (writing..... More
The Farewell Years: The Final Historical Records of The Buffs Royal East Kent Regiment (3rd Foot) Formerly Designated The Holland Regiment and Prince George of Denmark's Regiment 1948-1967.
Canterbury: The Queen's Own Buffs Office, 1967. [Regimental History] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.xviii; 231. With five maps, 14 double-sided black and white photographic plates, and a frontispiece. Publisher's blue cloth, with gilt titles to spine, and the Regimental crest stamped in gilt to upper. With the photographic..... More
The Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture. With an explanation of technical terms, and a centenary of ancient terms.
London: David Bogue, 1846. [Gothic Architecture] VINTAGE EDITION, the eighth, with illustrations. Octavo (18 x 12cm), pp.xii; 330 [2]. With an eight-page publisher's catalogue tipped onto the flyleaf. With 228 in-text wood engravings. Publisher's blind-decorated green cloth with gilt titles to spine. All edges untrimmed; yellow-coated endpapers. Rear hinge split;..... More
Thomas Hardy.
London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1941. [Literary biography] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.ix; [1]; 286. Publisher's red cloth to boards, gilt titles to spine. Blind ruling to upper. Top edge purple, the rest untrimmed. Interior lightly toned, endpapers slightly spotted. Edges toned and foxed, a spot of splashing..... More
Liddell Hart; A Study of his Military Thought.
Aldershot: Gregg Revivals. 1991. Reprint with new preface. Octavo, pp. x, 289, 3 of adverts. Grey cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper board. Slight yellowing to the edges, a fine copy. More
The Life of Samuel Johnson. Including a Journal of his Tour to the Hebrides.
Philadelphia, PA: J.B. Lippincott and Co., 1865. [Biography] FINELY BOUND, a New Edition, with notes etc. In four volumes. Octavo (19 x 14 x 12cm), pp.xxxvi; 25-468 [2]; pp.[2] 479 [3]; pp.[2] 452 [6]; pp.[2] 452 [6]. With an engraved frontispiece to volumes I and II. Contemporary tan half calf..... More
The Life of Samuel Johnson. The Temple Bar Edition, Including 'Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides'.
New York, NY: Gabriel Wells, 1922. FINELY BOUND. In ten volumes. Medium Octavo. With a frontispiece engraving of Johnson and other engraved plates. No. 115 of 750 sets originally for sale. With a bibliographical introduction by Clement Shorter and an introduction to each vol. by the following: Aleyn Lyell Reade;..... More
The History of the Valiant Knight Arthur of Little Britain. A Romance of Chivalry. Originally Translated from the French by John Bourchier, Lord Berners. A New Edition. With a Series of Plates, from the Illuminated Drawings contained in a valuable Ms. of the Original Romance.
London: Printed for White, Cochrane and Co., 1814. Limited Edition to 175 regular copies. Quarto; pp: half title page, frontispiece, title page, (12), (1), vi - xxvii, (1), iv, 544. Illustrated with black and white plates based on drawings from the original manuscript. Complete. This edition is edited by Edward..... More
The Niger Explored.
London: Oxford University Press, 1968. [African Colonial Exploration] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 14cm), pp.xii; 263 [1]. With six black and white plates, and numerous maps. Publisher's orange cloth with gilt titles to a blue background on spine. With the dust-jacket illustrated with a detail from a painting by Captain..... More
[Archive of Letters and Inscribed Books]. The Recollections of Rifleman Bowlby: Italy 1944; Order of the Day; Countdown to Cassino: The Battle of Mignano Gap, 1943; Pedigree of the Family of Bowlby from 1552 to 1915, Compiled by Charles Cotsford Bowlby and entered in the records of the College of Arms in January, 1915.
London: Leo Cooper, 1915; 1969; 1974; 1995. [Literary Archive] INSCRIBED FIRST EDITIONS AND LETTERS, including an MS letter from LAURIE LEE. Three octavo books (22 x 15cm; 19 x 13cm; 24 x 16cm), a folding family tree (26 x 19cm), and 10 letters addressed to the author, relating to his..... More
The Art of the Illustrator. W. Hatherell; Bernard Partridge; Lawson Wood; Bert Thomas; Cyrus Cuneo; Frank Reynolds; Balliol Salmon; Harry Rountree; W. Heath-Robinson; C.A. Shepperson; E.J. Sullivan; F.H. Townsend; H.M. Bateman; C.E. Brock; Spencer Pryse; Warwick Reynolds.
London: The Press Art School, no date [1918]. [Art Reference] ORIGINAL PORTFOLIOS. Fifteen parts out of twenty. Folio (41 x 28cm), each part having a letter-press text of six leaves, including a half-tone photographic portrait of the illustrator tipped in as a frontispiece, as well as six mounted half-tone illustrated..... More
Clavis Calendaria; or, a Compendious Analysis of the Calendar: Illustrated with Ecclesiastical, Historical, and Classical Anecdotes.
London: Printed for the Author, and sold by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown [etc.], 1815. [Chronology]. FINELY BOUND, third edition. In two volumes. Octavo (22 x 14cm), pp.[4]; x; 404 [4]; pp.[6]; 406 [4]. With a frontispiece woodcut of an Anglo-Saxon 'Almonaght' and occasional in-text wood engravings and tables..... More
The History of Surrey, by Edward Wedlake Brayley. Assisted by John Britton and E.W. Brayley, Junior. The Geological Section by Gideon Mantell.
Dorking: Robert Best Ede, 1841-48. FIRST EDITIONS. 5 volumes as 10 parts. Octavo (26 x 17 x 28cm). Publisher's original embossed purple cloth with gilt titles to evenly faded spines, yellow endpapers, edges untrimmed. Illustrated with 127 full page steel engraved plates by Thomas Allom, Thompson and others (some folding)..... More