"Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it."
— P.J. O'Rourke

London: Faber and Faber, 1936. INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR. Fifth impression, octavo, pp. 351. Five folding maps. Blue cloth with gilt titles to spine, in dustwrapper. Some occasional light spotting, some spotting to the edges. Slight wear and marking to the cloth with some bubbling to the rear of the..... More
London: Macmillan, 1926. INSCRIBED FROM STEPHEN SPENDER TO E.R. CURTIUS. Reprint edition. Octavo, pp.525; [1], blank; [2], adverts. With a gift note to the flyleaf; For E.R Curtius / With Best Wishes / From Stephen Spender. // Bonn-am-Rhein / December 1930 (underline). Blackwell's ticket to pastedown, some trivial marking to..... More
Boston, MA: James R Osgood and Co., 1882. [Literature] FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE Square octavo (22 x 18cm), pp.411; [1] blank. Bound in recent full green morocco, with raised bands and gilt titles to spine, inner gilt dentelles, top edge gilt, black endpapers, original cloth bound in at rear. Illustrated..... More
London: J. White of Fleet Street, 1802. FIRST COLLECTED EDITION. Octavo, pp. vii; 392; 300. Bound in original brown card boards, spine in green cloth, red title label to spine, blank endpapers. In very good condition, considering age, with general age toning and discolouration to boards and leather, some 'bubbling'..... More
London: Printed for Charles Bathurst for T. Woodward [etc.], 1751. [Classic Satire]. EARLY EDITION, the sixth edition. Octavo (17 x 11cm), pp.viii; 296. With four engraved maps. In contemporary speckled brown calf with raised bands and a faint gilt number '12' stamped to spine. Black ink ownership inscriptions to front..... More
[various publishers in North America], n.d. [c.1870's - 1910's]. [Book history] RARE PUBLISHERS' SAMPLES. Five volumes, octavo (largest volume 22 x 15cm). Each in publisher's cloth, all slim volumes lacking titles to spines. Each sample is unique, some containing lined paper at the back for the salesman to record subscribers..... More
London: W.R. Chambers, 1925. 8 magazine issue in orange paper wraps, very good to very good indeed, minor edgewear, some very little chipping to spine ends, no significant loss or wear. Bright, sharp and handsome. All 8 installments of John Macnab in its first appearance. Also present in the Chambers..... More
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
London: Harmsworth Bros, Dec. 1898. First appearance of Churchill's short story 'Man Overboard'. Small quarto magazine format in original publisher's illustrated paper covers. Very minor edgewear and very slight chipping to spine ends otherwise bright, clean and strong. Quarter inch of loss to tail of spine panel. Staples faintly rusting..... More
London: S. and J. Bentley, Wilson, and Fley. 1842. Only Printing. Octavo, pp.l; 314. Bound in contemporary textured brown cloth with paper title square to spine. Very slight lean to the the text block, some spotting and dustiness to edges. Some bumping to extremities of the covers, some rubbing with..... More
London: John Murray, 1959. [Family history and retrospective]. FIRST EDITION. Quarto (35 x 28cm), pp.[2] 136 [4]. Filled with reproductions of black and white photographs, letters and other clippings. In publisher's red cloth with silver titles to spine and silver family crest to upper board. Textured cream endpapers. With original..... More
London: H Fisher, Son, and P Jackson, 1828. Fourth Edition. Octavo. Bound in calf, with extensive gilt and blind panelling to boards, and decorative gilt to spine with red label and gilt titles. Includes frontispiece portrait of Ellis, two maps and eight plates, and bookplate. Maps in fine condition, bright..... More
Boston: Ticknor, Reed and Fields 1853. FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. Slim octavo, pp.160. text printed in two columns. Elegantly bound in period-style half speckled brown calf with red and green labels, gilt decoration to raised bands, marbled sides. Bound without ads or half-title, cheap paper suffers from inevitable browning and spotting;..... More
London: Printed for G. Wilkie, 1781. [English Law and Politics]. ORIGINAL PAMPHLET. Octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.[4] 139 [3]. Sewn but lacking original covers; loosely housed in brown paper-covered board with brown cloth hinge. Red pencil inscription to top left corner of title page; a little grubbiness to title page..... More
London: Methuen and Company, 1938. RARE FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp.[10], 278. With 24 photographic plates including a frontispiece. In publisher's orange cloth with gilt titles to spine. With rare original dust-jacket. Maps printed to endpapers. Some damage to head of spine. Jacket spine sunned, with loss to head and tail..... More
New York, G.W. Dillingham. [1913]. US First Edition. 8vo. Fine in publisher's red cloth titled and decorated in gilt to spine and front board. Fresh, bright and crisp. In a fine dustwrapper, illustrated by J. Hodson Redman, possibly supplied from an institutional copy or somesuch, as the jacket is a...... More
London: G. Bell and Sons. 1931. First edition. 8vo. 368pp. Fine in publisher's brown cloth titled in gilt to spine. In a fine unclipped example of the buff paper dustwrapper. Internally bright and clean, a splendid copy. A labour of love 20th century translation of the 18th century German work..... More
London: Printed for Robson and Clarke, 1789. [English Topography]. FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 14cm), pp.viii, 602 [4]. In contemporary speckled tan calf boards, recently re-backed to-style with original green title label pasted to spine. Pencil ownership inscriptions of A. FitzAlan to pastedowns, dated 1899. Thumbing and chipping to edges..... More
London: Jonathan Cape, 1939. First Edition. Octavo. Bound in publisher's red cloth with gilt titles to spine; top edge stained red. Dust wrapper has titles in black to front cover and spine, rear cover blank. With an introduction by Winston Churchill, fold-out maps and photographic illustrations. Binding is lightly rubbed..... More
London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1893. 13 volumes. Octavo. Portrait frontispiece to Vanity Fair and frontispiece illustration to a few other volumes. Contemporary green half calf with maroon and brown title labels, extra gilt to spines, marbled boards edges and endpapers. Very light rubbing to extremeties, spines pleasignly sunned. A...... More
Hamburg: Rowohlt Verlag, n.d. [1956]. FIRST EDITION. Quarto (27 x 20cm), unpaginated. Black and white photographs printed on clay paper with occasional German text. In publisher's black cloth with white titles to spine. With original photographic dust-jacket. Some rubbing to jacket edges and corners. Very good. More
Manchester: The co-operative Printing Society, February 1923. [Manchester Printing and Binding History]. FINE ILLUMINATED DOCUMENT IN A FINE CONTEMPORARY BINDING. Two sheets of vellum hand-illuminated in red, blue, green and gilt, announcing the retirement of the General Manager, James Booth. A token of the high esteem in which he was..... More
New York, NY: Harper and Brothers, 1945. [Children's classic]. FIRST EDITION. Crown octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.122 [2]. With 87 in-text illustrations by Garth Williams. In publisher's pale green cloth with darker green and pale orange titles and an illustration to spine and upper board. With original colour illustrated dust-jacket..... More
London: Samuel French Ltd, 26 Southampton St., n.d. [c.1900]. French's Acting Edition, 'The Dramatic Works of Oscar Wilde' No.1. pp.52. Publisher's decorative pale green paper covers printed in black with 'Gothic' title in two lines (some show the title over three lines, priority unknown). Original price 1d,.6s. Some trivial handling..... More
London: Henry Colburn, 1835. NEW EDITON. In two volumes. Large Quarto, pp.[2] xlii, 358 [2]; pp.[4] x, 464 [2]. With 38 copper engraved portraits, including a frontispiece of Barrington to vol. I, and two plates preceeding the title page in vol. II. Also with three facsimile letters and an index..... More