History & Biography
Scarne on Cards Tricks.
New York: Crown Publishers, 1950. [Sleight of hand, cheating, gambling] INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION, fourth printing. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.308. Publisher's red cloth in pictorial jacket. With author's signed presentation to free endpaper; Best Wishes / John Scarne / 10/18/50. A fine copy of the book; jacket sunned to spine..... More
Tonbridge Legends, Etc.
London: Kent and Co, Tonbridge: Richard Ware, n.d. [1866]. FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp.232. With seven engraved plates. Green cloth with ornate gilt margins to boards, gilt titles and decoration to spine and upper board. All edges gilt. Spine has at some point been professionally rebacked. Bookbinders label of Hanbury and..... More
Thoughts and Adventures.
London: Thornton Butterworth, 1932. [Political Autobiography] LEATHER-BOUND FIRST EDITION, First Impression. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.320. With a black and white photographic portrait of the author at work on a painting, and a handful of in-text illustrations. Recently rebound in navy half morocco, with raised bands, gilt titles and lions..... More
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
London: Printed for Cadell & Davies [et al.], 1807. [Late Antiquity] EARLY OCTAVO EDITION. Complete in twelve volumes. Octavo (22 x 14 x 37cm). With an engraved portrait of the author to volume I, and two large folding maps. Contemporary full marbled calf, with gilt decoration and twin black title..... More
The Coinage of the British Empire: An Outline of the Progress of the Coinage in Great Britain and Her Dependencies, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time.
London: David Bogue, 1855. [Numismatics] PAPIER MACHÉ BINDING, the second edition. Large octavo (26 x 18cm), pp.160. With 12 plates done in gold, silver and copper, including a frontispiece, and 11 supplemental plates at rear. Recently rebound in tough black buckram with gilt titles to spine, and the original black..... More
India and Its Native Princes. Travels in Central India and in the Presidencies of Bombay and Bengal. Carefully Revised and Edited by Lieut.-Col. Buckle.
London: Bickers and Son, 1878. [Indian Colonial Travel] NEW EDITION. Quarto (35 x 28cm), pp.[2] xviii; 579 [1]. With 317 engraved illustrations after photographs by Rousselet, including a frontispiece, and six maps. Recently re-backed using the original publisher's red cloth, heavily decorated and titled in gilt and black to spine..... More
Traveller's Prelude; Beyond the Euphrates; The Coast of Incense; Dust in the Lion's Paw. [A Complete set of Freya Stark's four-volume Autobiography].
London: John Murray, 1950; 1951; 1953; 1961. [Travel writing] COMPLETE LEATHER-BOUND FIRST EDITIONS. Octavo (23 x 16 x 14cm), pp.xii; 346; pp.xiii; 341; pp.xiii; 287; pp.xii; 297. Recently re-bound in green half morocco, with raised bands, gilt titles to spine, and the original green cloth over boards, with facsimile signatures..... More
Reports from the Commissioners, appointed by His Majesty to execute the measures recommended in an address of the House of Commons, respecting the Public Records of Ireland: with Supplements and Appendixes. 1810-1815.
London: [Hansard], ordered to be printed 13th July 1819. ORIGINAL REPORT. Large Folio (47 x 30cm), pp.[2]; 571; [5]. With 21 plates featuring facsimile reproductions of Irish charters, some coloured, as well as a number of large folding engraved illustrations of buildings in Dublin, all with tissue guards. In recent..... More
Traveller's Prelude; Beyond the Euphrates; The Coast of Incense; Dust in the Lion's Paw. [A Complete set of Freya Stark's four-volume Autobiography].
London: John Murray, 1950; 1951; 1953; 1961. [Travel writing] COMPLETE LEATHER-BOUND FIRST EDITIONS. Octavo (23 x 16 x 14cm), pp.xii; 346; pp.xiii; 341; pp.xiii; 287; pp.xii; 297. Recently re-bound in green half morocco, with raised bands, gilt titles to spine, and matching cloth over boards. All edges lightly trimmed. Crisp..... More
A Mirror for the Female Sex: Historical Beauties for Young Ladies. Intended to Lead the Female Mind to the Love and Practice of Moral Goodness. Designed principally for the Use of Ladies' Schools. Ornamented with Thirty-Four Engravings, Beautifully Cut on Wood.
London: Printed for Vernor and Hood in the Poultry; and sold by E. Newbery, 1798. [Historical Female Biography] FIRST EDITION. Duodecimo (17 x 11cm), pp.[4] xxiv; 226 [6]. Including a leaf of advertisements at rear. With an engraved frontispiece and many head and tail pieces in the style of Bewick..... More
The Downing Street Years.
London: Harper Collins, 1993. [Politics] SIGNED ASSOCIATION COPY, FIRST EDITION. Octavo (24 x 17cm), pp.xiv; 914. Publisher's blue cloth, gilt titles to spine, in photographic dust-jacket. Signed by Baroness Thatcher in her characteristic blue pen to a tipped in blank after the half title page, from the library of Lord..... 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
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples.
London: Cassell and Company, 1956-1958. [English History] FIRST EDITIONS. Octavo (25 x 17 x 15cm), pp.[2]; xxii; 416; pp.[2]; xii; 344; [2]; pp.[2]; xii; 332; [6]; pp.[2]; xii; 322. With occasional in-text maps and plans. In publisher's red cloth with gilt titles to spines, top edges red, pictorial dust-jackets priced..... 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
I Survived.
London: Evans Brothers, 1954. [WWII novel] SIGNED FIRST EDITION, First Impression. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.224. SIGNED by the author in black ink to title page. With ten photographic halftone illustrations. Publisher's red cloth, gilt titles to spine. With the pictorial dust-jacket priced at 12/6 to front flap. Interior lightly..... More
Robert Kennedy and His Times.
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1978. [American Political Biography] INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION, Ex Libris William Averell Harriman, with his annotations. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.xx; 1066 [2]. INSCRIBED by the author in black marker to fly-leaf: 'For Averell and Pam | with love over | the years | Arthur.' Publisher's grey..... More
Memoirs of India: Comprising a brief Geographical Account of The East Indies; a succinct History of Hindostan, from the Most Early Ages, to the end of the Marquis of Hastings' Administration in 1823. Designed for the Use of Young Men Going Out to India.
London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, 1824. [Indian Colonial History] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 14cm), pp.[6] xii; 504 [4]. In a slightly later full calf binding for Glasgow Highschool, by CARRS & GOY of Glasgow (binder's label to verso of fly-leaf). with blind tooling to..... More
Plane Tales from the Skies.
London: Cassell and Company, 1918. FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp.x; 182. Publisher's red cloth with black titles to spine and upper board, in pictorial dust-jacket designed by G.H. Tavis. A collection of fact-based short stories about early aerial combat in WWI, mostly on the Western Front. Faint ghost of a stamp..... More
The Narrative of Robert Adams, A Sailor, who was Wrecked on the Western Coast of Africa, in the year 1810, was Detained Three Years in Slavery by the Arabs of the Great Desert, and Resided several months in the city of Tombuctoo. With a Map, Notes, and an Appendix.
London: Printed for John Murray by William Bulmer and Co., 1816. [African Travel] FIRST EDITION. Quarto (27 x 22cm), pp.xl; 231 [1]. With a large folding map. Rebound in the mid twentieth century in tan half morocco, with raised bands, gilt titles and decoration to spine, and marbled paper over..... More
The Road To Oxiana.
London: Macmillan and Co., 1937. [Travel literature] First Edition. Octavo, pp.341 [2]. publisher's light blue cloth (presumed second binding), with gilt titles to spine. Illustrated with maps and photographs. Age toned to spine. Very good indeed. Byron, who died young in the Second World War, was one of the Brideshead..... More
Such is the Antarctic.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1935. [Polar Exploration] FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH, second state binding. Octavo (23 x 16cm), pp.265; [3]. With 45 photogravure illustrations including a frontispiece and maps and plans, some folding. Publisher's blue cloth with black titles to spine, and maps to endpapers. With the illustrated dust-jacket. Spotting..... More
Travels In North-Western Arabia and Nejd.
Published for the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society by Edward Stanford, 1884. [Arabia] FIRST PUBLISHED APPEARANCE of Doughty's own account of his travels in Arabia, read at the evening meeting of the RGS, November 26th 1883. Pp.381-408, Extracted from the above Proceedings, with large fold-out map printed in colour..... More
Pompeiana: The Topography, Edifices, and Ornaments of Pompeii.
London: Printed for Rodwell and Martin, 1817-1819. [Ancient History and Architecture] FIRST EDITION. Parts one and two complete, bound as one volume. Octavo (26 x 17cm), pp.xxxii; 273 [3]. Including a leaf with emendations and instructions to the binder. Complete with 77 engraved plates, some folding, each with a tissue..... More
The Trial of Charles Random de Berenger, Sir Thomas Cochrane, commonly called Lord Cochrane, the Hon. Andrew Cochrane Johnstone, Richard Gathorne Butt, Ralph Sandom, Alexander M'Rae, John Peter Holloway, and Henry Lyte; for a Conspiracy, in the Court of King's Bench, Guildhall, on Wednesday the 8th, and Thursday the 9th of June, 1814: With the Subsequent Proceedings in the Court of King's Bench: Taken in Short Hand by William Brodie Gurney, Short Hand Writer to Both Houses of Parliament.
London: J. Butterworth and Son, 1814. [Court Transcript] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 14cm), pp.[2] 604 [6]. Folded chart to page 184. Black calf to boards with gilt roll-tooled ruling to borders. Spine re-backed in brown calf with gilt titles, tooling, and raised bands. Inside gilt dentelles. Edges speckled. Toning..... More
A Treatise on Electricity, Wherein its various phaenomena are accounted for, and the cause of the attraction and gravitation of solids, assigned. To which is added a short account, how the electrical effluvia act upon the animal frame, and in what disorders the same may probably be applied with success and in what not.
Oxford: Sackville Parker, 1752. Octavo. p.40. Bound in quarter brown calf over marbled paper boards, wtih gilt titles to spine; all edges red speckled. With owner's stamp and bookplate. Binding is rubbed, worn to board edges, bumping to corners and spine ends. Internally clean, with one illustrative diagram (p.32) of..... More