"Books are a hardbound drug with no danger of overdose. I am the happy victim of books."
— Karl Lagerfeld
History & Biography
Out of Africa.
London: Putnam, 1937. [Memoir] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 16cm), pp.ix; [1]; 416; [2]. Publisher's dark red cloth, gilt titles to spine. A lovely clean copy internally, slight lean to the textblock, edges a little toned. Boards slightly bowed. Cloth very lightly handled to extremities but bright and unfaded. An..... 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
The Character of Queen Elizabeth. Or, a Full and Clear Account of Her Policies, and the Methods of Her Government both in Church and State. Her Virtues and Defects. Together with the Characters of Her Principal Ministers of State. And the greatest part of the Affairs and Events that Happened in Her Times.
London: Printed for Richard Chiswell, 1693. [English History] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.[32]; 376 [2]. With a copper engraved frontispiece by John Sturt showing Elizabeth and Mary. Contemporary speckled calf, recently re-backed with the original spine leather laid over. Raised bands; no external title labels. Ownership marks in..... 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 Malta Grand Harbour and its Dockyard.
Zabbar: Privately printed for the authors by the Gutenberg Press, 1994. [Maltese Naval Architecture] SIGNED FIRST EDITION. Quarto (31 x 22cm), pp.480. Heavily illustrated throughout with black and white photographs. SIGNED in blue ink to the half-title, and dated 19/08/97. Publisher's blue leatherette with blue titles to spine. With the..... 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 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 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
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 Clinton Tapes. Wrestling History with the President.
London: Simon and Schuster, 2009. [American Politics] EX LIBRIS LORD MOYNIHAN, First Edition. Octavo (24 x 17cm), pp.xii; 707; [1]. Publisher's black cloth with silver titles to spine. With pictorial dust-jacket. Recent bookplate detailing provenance affixed to flyleaf. Bottom of spine bumped else a fine copy. From the Library of..... 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
Peking: A Historical and Intimate Description of its Chief Places of Interest.
Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh, 1931. [China] REVISED THIRD EDITION. Octavo (23 x 16cm), pp.xvi; 571 [3]. With 29 black and white photographic plates, including a frontispiece, and seven folding maps and plans. An appendix and index at rear. Publisher's yellow cloth with gilt titles to spine. Fore and lower edges..... More
The Autogiro and How to Fly It.
London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, 1933. First Edition. Octavo, pp. xiii, 82, 24 of adverts. In publisher's blue cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper board. Numerous illustrations; both photographic and line drawings. With a foreword by Juan de la Cierva, the Spanish engineer who built autogiros in..... More
A History of English Costume.
London: Methuen, 1937. [Historical Costume]. FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.xii; 227 [1]. With numerous in-text illustrations by the author. Publisher's red cloth with blue titles to spine. With the white illustrated dust-jacket. Light spotting throughout. Slight reading lean. Chipping to jacket edges; light toning to jacket spine. Very..... More
Beasts in Heraldry.
Brattleboro, VT: The Stephen Greene Press, 1974. [Heraldry] FIRST EDITION. Square octavo (22 x 22cm), pp.96. Containing twenty colour illustrations by Marie Angel (1923-2010). Publisher's cream vegetable parchment with gilt titles to spine, presented in the original blue paper-covered box, with a cream insert and a tri-fold flier for the..... More
The Story of Africa and its Explorers. With Two Hundred Original Illustrations.
London: Cassell and Company, no date [1892-95]. [Colonial Exploration] COMPLETE FIRST EDITIONS. Four volumes bound as two. Large octavo (27 x 20cm), pp.viii; 312; pp.viii; 312; pp.viii; 312; pp.viii; 312. With frequent half-tone vignette illustrations, as well as occasional maps and full-page illustrations. Contemporary red half morocco with raised bands..... More
Charterhouse Past and Present: A brief history of the Hospital founded in Charterhouse by Thomas Sutton, and more particularly of the school belonging thereto.
Godalming: H. Stedman, 1879. [Public School History] INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.xvi; 239 [3]. With 20 illustrations, including a frontispiece and plans of the school. INSCRIBED by the author in black ink to first blank: 'Cecil James Gladdish Hulkes | from Dr. Haig Brown | for History..... More
Chaucer's England.
London: Hurst and Blackett, 1869. [Literature / History] FIRST EDITION. Two volumes, octavo (20 x 14cm). Illustrated. Elegantly bound in full tan polished calf by Riviere and Son, with twin red and green title labels, full gilt backs, top edge gilt, swirled marble endpapers, inner gilt dentelles, publisher's cloth bound..... More
Scenes and Sights in the East.
London: Smith, Elder & Co., no date [1856]. [India and Egypt] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 12cm), pp.[8] 252 [4]. In contemporary red full morocco by SETON AND MACKENZIE of Edinburgh, with raised bands, gilt titles and decoration to spine. All edges gilt, and white silk-effect doublures with gilt-tooled turn-ins..... More
A History of the Great Massacre by the Sioux Indians, in Minnesota, including the personal narratives of many who escaped.
Cincinnati, OH: Rickey and Carroll, 1864. [Americana] SECOND EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.[2] 504 [10]. With seven wood engraved plates, including a frontispiece portrait of Little Crow. Publisher's green blind-decorated cloth with gilt titles to spine. Printed advertisements to pastedowns. Spotting throughout, textblock a little shaken with some gathers..... More
The African Colony. Studies in the Reconstruction.
Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1903. [History] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (24 x 17cm), pp.xviii; 404. Publisher's blue cloth, gilt titles to spine, edges untrimmed, two folding maps printed in colour, blue coated endpapers. Reading lean, textblock generally bright and clean with just the occasional mark, some tearing and..... More
Augustus.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1937. [Ancient History] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (23 x 17cm), pp.356. With four photogravure plates including a frontispiece, and and folding map and genealogical table. Publisher's green cloth with gilt titles to spine and gilt device to upper board. Top edge gilt. Light spotting to edges. Slightly..... More
The History of the South African Forces in France.
London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, Ltd., no date [1920]. [First World War] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.404. Publisher's blue cloth, titles in gilt to spine, gilt motif to upper board, light brown endpapers, fore and tail edges untrimmed. Illustrated with a colour frontispiece, seventeen further plates, and twenty..... More