"Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it."
— P.J. O'Rourke
History & Biography
Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah.
London: Longman, 1855-56. FIRST EDITION. In three volumes. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.[2]; xvi; 388; pp.[2]; iv; 426; pp.[2]; x; 448. With four maps and plans, three folding; and 13 lithographic plates, five coloured. Recently re-bound without adverts in burgundy full morocco with raised bands and gilt titles to spines..... More
Sindh, and the Races That Inhabit the Valley of the Indus.
London: William H. Allen and Co., 1851. FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp.vii; 422. With fold-out frontispiece map on pale blue paper as issued. In an exquisite later binding of half polished calf with full gilt back over marbled sides, edges untrimmed. Some expected toning to paper and uncut edges, light and..... More
The City of the Saints, and Across the Rocky Mountains to California.
London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1862. [American Travel]. SECOND EDITION, identical to the First. Octavo (23 x 16cm), pp.xii; 707. With 10 wood engraved plates including a frontispiece and two folding maps. Nine further illustrations in-text. In publisher's blue pebble grained cloth, re-backed during the twentieth century, with original..... More
Winchester Cathedral 1079-1979.
Southampton: Paul Cave Publications Ltd., 1979. [History] SIGNED FIRST EDITION. Quarto (26 x 21cm), pp.xvi; 352. Publisher's red cloth, gilt titles to spine and upper, brown endpapers, dust-jacket with printed price of £10. With a foreword by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Profusely illustrated throughout, predominately in black and white..... More
Pathological Studies of the Past: Curious Bypaths of History, being Medico-Historical Studies and Observations.
Paris: Libraire des Bibliophiles, 1898. [History of Medicine] LIMITED EDITION. Large octavo (26 x 18cm), pp.[2] xxiv; 366 [4]. With a frontispiece after Daniel Vierge, engraved on copper by F. Masse. Number 464 of just 500 copies in this edition, printed on Van Gelder's vellum paper. Publisher's black cloth with..... More
What's it all about? An Autobiography.
New York: Turtle Bay Books, 1992. First (US) Edition. SIGNED by Michael Caine to half title. Publisher's blue cloth spine with gilt titles, blue paper boards with author's initials in gilt to upper. Fine. In Fine dustwrapper. More
The Discovery of Australia.
London: Dean and Son, 1902. [Australian History] SECOND EDITION. Large octavo (25 x 19cm), pp.xii; 184 [8]. With 60 illustrated plates, largely maps, including a frontispiece. Publisher's green cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper board. All edges gilt. Bookplate of Lancaster, Massachusetts Town Library to front pastedown, with..... More
Annales rerum Anglicarum et Hibernicarum Regnante Elizabetha. [Annals of England and Ireland in the Reign of Elizabeth]. Tribus Voluminibus comprehensi. E Codice praeclaro Smithiano, propria Auctoris manu correcto, Multisque magni momenti Additionibus locupletato, Eruit ediditque Tho. Hearnius, Qui et alium Codicem e Bibliotheca Rawlinsoniana adhibuit.
[Oxford], 1717. [English History] FIRST THUS, a later edition. Three volumes. Octavo (21 x 13cm), pp.[6] ccviii; 200 [2]; pp.[2] 201-588 [2]; pp.[2] 589-1012 [2]. With two copper engraved portraits of Elizabeth to volume I. Text largely in Latin, with occasional small passages in English (blackletter type). Contemporary full speckled..... More
For the Record.
London: William Collins, 2019. [Politics] SIGNED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (25 x 17cm), pp.xix; [1]; 732. Publisher's blue cloth, gilt titles to spine, photographic dust-jacket priced at £25. With two photographic suites. Signed by David Cameron to a tipped in 'Limited Signed Edition' page preceding the half title page. With two..... More
The Martyr of Erromanga. Or, the Philosophy of Missions, Illustrated from the Labours, Death and Character of the Late Rev. John Williams.
London: John Snow, 1842. [South Pacific Missionary] FINELY BOUND, the Second Edition. Octavo (21 x 13cm), pp.[4] xii; 526 [2]. With a hand coloured frontispiece and a wood engraved title page vignette. Contemporary brown full calf with raised bands and gilt titles to black label, and further gilt decoration to..... More
![Sir Malcolm and Donald Campbell Photographic Archive and Long-Play Record, including] World Water...](/pictures/thumb/57118.jpg?v=1598632743)
[Sir Malcolm and Donald Campbell Photographic Archive and Long-Play Record, including] World Water Speed Record 1956: Donald Campbell's Southward Run on Coniston Water [and] See Sir Malcolm Campbell Breaking the World's Water Speed Record Using Castrol Motor Oil [Flick Book].
London: His Master's Voice, 1937, 1956, and 1984. [Land and Water Speed Records] ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS, SIGNATURES, FLICK BOOK, NEWSPAPER, AND LONG-PLAY RECORD, LEO VILLA ASSOCIATION. Two ink signatures by Malcolm Campbell on separate scraps of paper, one with a small newspaper photograph cut out and laid on, dated 22/07/1935. One..... More
Reminiscences of an Ex-Detective.
London: Hutchinson and Co., no date [1927]. [Detection] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.256. With 16 black and white photographic plates, including a frontispiece. Publisher's black cloth with gilt titles to spine. Rebacked in matching black cloth, with the original spine laid over. A very distinct red offset mark..... More
A Screw Loose: My story so far.
London: B and T Publishers, 1977. Signed First Edition. Octavo. Bound in wine cloth with gilt titles to spine. Red dust wrapper bears titles in red and white to spine and front and rear covers. The binding is tight. The text is clean, and shows no signs of spotting. The..... More
Unknown Mongolia. A Record of Travel and Exploration in North-West Mongolia and Dzungaria. With Three Chapters on Sport by J. H. Miller, F.Z.S,
London: Hutchinson and Co. 1913. [Travel and sport]. FIRST EDITION. Two volumes, quarto (24 x 18 x 10cm), pp.659. With 168 illustrations, panoramas and diagrams. Six maps. Blue buckram titled in gilt, top edge gilt. A little toning/spotting to edges, occasional foxing within, cloth rubbed to spine tips and corners..... More
The First 100 Years: The Story of the Tunbridge Wells Golf Club.
Tunbridge Wells: Tunbridge Wells Golf Club, n.d., [c. 1989]. RARE PRIVATE PRINTING. Demy Octavo. pp. 58. With b/w photographic illustrations. In publisher's blue cloth with gilt titles to spine. With original blue dust jacket; gilt titles. Slight wear to jacket edges; near-fine. More
![The Young Melbourne and the Story of His Marriage with Caroline Lamb [and] Lord M. or the Later...](/pictures/thumb/55938.jpg?v=1588004826)
The Young Melbourne and the Story of His Marriage with Caroline Lamb [and] Lord M. or the Later Life of Lord Melbourne.
London: Constable, 1954. [Political Biography] MATCHING PAIR, first volume a re-print, second volume a first edition. Two volumes. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.xiv; 234 [eight black and white plates including frontispiece]; pp.xiv; 348 [eight black and white plates including a frontispiece]. Both volumes in publisher's grey cloth with gilt titles..... More
A Documentary History of Chelsea (USA). Including the Boston Precincts of Winnisimmet, Rumney Marsh, and Pullen Point; 1624 - 1824.
Boston: The Massachusetts Historical Society, 1908. 2 volumes, 8vo. Ex-library copy (Chelsea, England). Very good in publisher's burgundy cloth with discreet library numbering in white to foot of spines; bookplates; small library ink stamp to verso of title pages and some blind library stamping. Illustrated throughout; a few other photographic..... More
History of the Rebellion of 1745-6.
London and Edinburgh: W. and R. Chambers, n.d. [1869]. [Jacobite History]. FINELY BOUND, seventh edition. Octavo (19 x 15cm), pp.[2] 525 [3]. With a steel engraved vignette title page. In contemporary tan full calf by SETON AND MACKENZIE, with gilt titles to burgundy label on spine, further gilt decoration to..... More
The Romance of Soho. Being an Account of the District, its Past Distinguished Inhabitants, its Historic Houses, and its Place in the Social Annals of London.
London: Country Life Ltd., 1931. [London] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.xii; 276. Publisher's orange cloth, gilt titles to a green square to spine, marbled endpapers, dust-jacket with printed price of 12s. 6d. net. Illustrated with sixteen plates. Booksellers ticket to pastedown, internally fine, some dustiness to edges. Cloth..... More
The Literature of Roguery.
Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1907. First Edition. Two volumes. Octavo (19 x 14cm). Publisher's embossed green cloth, gilt titles to spines, top edges tinted green. Very light rubbing to extremities, signs of label removal to spines. Blind stamp to title page and first page of text of each volume..... More
![BASILIKA. The Workes [works] of King Charles the Martyr: with a Collection of Declarations,...](/pictures/thumb/53425.jpg?v=1553873645)
BASILIKA. The Workes [works] of King Charles the Martyr: with a Collection of Declarations, Treaties, And other Papers Concerning the Differences Betwixt His Said Majesty and His Two Houses of Parliament.
London: Printed by James Flesher for R. Royston, 1662. [English History] FIRST EDITION. Two volumes bound as one. Folio (35 x 24cm), pp.[12] 118; [10] 458 [2]; 733 [7]. Complete with the frontispiece, engraved title page, and three further double-page-spread engraved plates. Also with the title page and preliminaries to..... More
The Ports, Harbours, Watering-Places, and Picturesque Scenery of Great Britain. Illustrated by Views Taken on the Spot by W. H. Bartlett; with Descriptions by William Beattie.
London: George Virtue, 1842. [British Coastal Topography] FINE STEEL ENGRAVINGS. In two volumes. Quarto (28 x 22cm), unpaginated. With 96 of the original 126 steel-engraved plates, including frontispieces and title page vignettes after various artists, engraved by the Finden brothers and Bartlett. One leaf of text faces each engraving, to..... More
The Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer.
London: Bell and Daldy, n.d. (ca.1880). FINELY BOUND. Six volumes, octavo (17 x 11 x 13cm). New and Revised edition of the Aldine Poets, with a memoir by Sir Harry Nicolas. Original red calf, twin title labels, full gilt backs, marbled sides, edges and endpapers. School prize label to pastedown..... More
Velocette Race Shop Memoirs.
No place: Published by the Velocette Owners' Club, 2002. [Motorcycles] FIRST EDITION IN BOOK FORM. Octavo pamphlet (21 x 15cm), pp.[3] 65. With two double-sided colour photographic plates, as well as numerous black and white illustrations. Publisher's black card covers with gold titles to spine, stapled twice. Light handling. Near..... More
![ECONOMICS] A Statistical View of the Population of Massachussetts, from 1765 to 1840. Jesse...](/pictures/thumb/15200.jpg?v=1493310809)
[ECONOMICS] A Statistical View of the Population of Massachussetts, from 1765 to 1840.
Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846. Small 4to. Publisher's grey paper wrappers with printed titles to spine and upper. Little nicks to head and tail of spine and to corners. Boston Library label to inner cover and small ink stamp to bottom of title page. Clean and strong..... More