"Outside of a dog, man's best friend is a book. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
— Groucho Marx
SALE
Sybil Thorndike.
London; Thornton Butterworth. 1929. First edition. Large 8vo. Publisher's tremendously flashy orange and red cloth titled in black (using a bizarre pseudo Spartan typeface) to spine and front boards. A fine copy in a very good example indeed of the dustwrapper with some light marginal wear and a little scuffing..... More
Tales of the Castle. Or a Course of Morality for the Improvement of the Youthful Mind.
London: James Cundee, 1806. UNCOMMON EDITION. Four volumes, 6mo, pp.xlviii; 232; [11 of notes, 1 of adverts]; pp.221; [25 of notes, 6 of adverts]; pp.217; [35 of notes]; pp. 198; [46 of notes, 4 of adverts]. Frontispiece engraving to each volume. Bound in contemporary dark brown mottled calf, gilt titles..... More
Edmund Dulac's Picture Book.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, for The Daily Telegraph, no date [1915]. [Children's illustrated] FIRST EDITION. Quarto (28 x 22cm), pp.135; [1] advert. Twenty tipped-in colour plates, one tipped-in photograph of Dulac by E.O. Hoppé. Half dark green oasis, gilt titles and decoration to spine, raised bands, matching cloth sides, top..... More
Huntsmen Past and Present. Illustrated from contemporary prints and from original watercolour drawings by the Author.
London, Eyre and Spottiswoode, New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1929. Quarto, with 21 plates in colour and black and white, pp. [14], 91. Publisher's vellum spine with buckram boards, t.e.g. Fine. SIGNED LIMITED EDITION. Limited Edition of only 150 copies of which this is no.45. More
In Queer Street.
London: F.V. White and Co., 1913. Inscribed First Edition. Octavo, pp.312. Bound in publisher's red cloth, with gilt titles to upper, gilt titles and publisher's imprint to spine, bottom edge uncut. Quite clean inside, inscribed by the author "To Mrs Graham / with kind regards / Fergus Hume / Thundersley..... More
A Child's Book of Hours.
London: Humphrey Milford, n.d. [1921]. FIRST EDITION. Folio (37 x 25cm), unpaginated, printed on 16 thick card leaves with 12 fine chromolithographic plates. In publisher's quarter tan cloth with tan paper-covered boards. Titles and clock illustration printed in colour to upper board. With rare original dust-jacket, mirroring upper board. Very..... More
Prayers and Meditations.
London: Printed for T. Cadell Jr. and W. Davies, 1796. THIRD EDITION, with additional prayers. Octavo, pp.[2] xxxii, 230 [2]. In contemporary mottled calf boards, recently re-backed in brown calf with raised bands and gilt titles to green label on spine. All edges marbled. Paper repair to top 1cm of..... More
The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments: Translated out of the Original Tongues: and with the Former Translations Diligently Compared and Revised, by His Majesty's Command. Appointed to be Read in Churches.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, n.d. [c.1871]. FINELY BOUND FAMILY BIBLE. Quarto (30 x 24cm), unpaginated. In contemporary black full morocco with raised bands, gilt titles to spine and black endpapers. All edges gilt. Registers of Birth, Marriages and Deaths to prelims filled out in black ink by the Lamb family..... More
The New Testament, Of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. With Engravings on Wood from Designs of Fra Angelico, Pietro Perugino, Francesco Francia, Lorenzo Di Credi, Fra Bartolommeo, Titian, Raphael, Gaudenzio Ferrari, Daniel Di Volterra, and Others.
London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1865. BOUND BY FAZAKERLEY. Post Quarto. pp. xvi, 540. With 60 wood engravings by the named artists, as well as ubiquitous marginal ornamentation. In full black morocco with raised bands and gilt titles to spine. Blind decoration to spine and boards. All 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
Madame de Sable. Etudes sur les femmes illustres et la societe du XVIIe siecle.
Paris: Didier, 1854. Signed presentation copy. Octavo. Bound in half brown calf over marbled paper, with raised bands highlighted with gilt, and brown and gilt label to spine. Signed by the author, and presented to Viscount Mahon, later Earl Stanhope, MP, prominent historian and biographer.Binding is rubbed, both leather and..... More
Modern Weapons of War: By Land, Sea and Air.
London: Blackie and Son, 1916. First Edition. Octavo. pp. 192. With 34 photographic plates and a colour frontispiece. In publisher's explosive pictorial tan cloth, with titles to spine and upper board. With rare original monochrome dust jacket. Grey end-papers. Large red stain to jacket back cover, and some slight wear..... More
Biggles Scores A Bull.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1965. First Edition. Octavo, pp. 160. Red cloth with gilt titles to spine, in pictorial dustwrapper designed by 'Studio Stead' depicting Biggles swooping throughout the sky in a helicopter with a somewhat indifferent looking Bovine overlaid by concentric circles. Textblock is clean and bright apart from..... More
The New London Family Cook.
London: Albion Press, Printed for James Cundee, 1808. [Cookery]. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.634. Full tan diced calf, respined to style with a red title label, marbled endpapers. With a portrait frontispiece and ten further plates. Textblock is nice and clean with just occasional light spotting, embossed library stamps to..... More
More Goon Cartoons.
London: M. and J. Hobbs, in association with Michael Joseph, 1983. INSCRIBED First edition. Illustrated by Michael Clarke. Quarto. Publisher's illustrated boards. Inscribed by Milligan to copyright page with a charming doodle of a flower. Near fine, very minor edgewear. Internally clean. More
A Narrative of the Campaign of the British Army in Spain, Commanded by His Excellency Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, K. B. etc. etc. etc. Authenticated by Official Papers and Original Letters.
London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1809. THIRD EDITION, First in octavo. Octavo, pp.[2]; xx; 388; 136; [2]. With two folding maps, each with hand-coloured marches and battle positions, as well as a large appendix with letters, etc. In later horizontal-grained brown calf boards, recently re-backed in brown calf with gilt..... More
The British Encyclopedia, or Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. Comprising an Accurate and Popular View of the Present Improved State of Human Knowledge.
London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1809. FINE ENGRAVINGS. In six volumes. Octavo. With over 150 fine copper engravings. In contemporary brown half calf with raised bands, gilt titles to spines and marbled boards and endpapers. Upper joint to vol. I split through; very weak. Black ink gift inscriptions to..... More
Historical View of the Literature of the South of Europe.
London: Henry G. Bohn. 1846. Second edition. 2 vols. 8vo. Bound in light brown half calf over marbled boards, titled in gilt to spines. Minor edgewear, slight scuffing and rubbing to extremities, a little bumped here and there but solid, strong and durable. Edges speckled red, top edges dusty. Internally..... More
The State Policy of Modern Europe, from the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century to the Present Time.
London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts, 1857. INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. In two volumes. Octavo, pp.xvi, 334; x, 392. INSCRIBED by the author in black ink to front free end-paper, dedicated to Sir Edward Shepherd CREASY, author of 'Fifteen Decisive Battle of the World' (1851). In publisher's light tan embossed..... More
General View of the Government and Administration of Siam, 1926.
Bangkok: Times Press, 1926. SCARCE ITEM. Small quarto. Organised in 14 individually paginated segments, including: Government, Guide book to chief monuments (with an introduction to Siamese history and religion), Public health/philanthropic institutions, Education, Resources, Natural features, Forests, Rice industry, Irrigation, Lac cultivation and trade, Mining, Aquatic resources and fisheries, Aviation..... More
Meridiana, or Adventures in South Africa. The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa.
New York, Scribner, Armstrong and Co. 1874. FIRST AUTHORIZED US EDITION, FIRST STATE. Octavo. Excellent, full page black and white illustrations throughout, including frontispiece. Publisher's tan cloth. Titles beautifully set out in gilt to the front board and spine with two strips of blind tooling travelling from the back to..... More
The Autobiography of Francis Arago. The Traveller's Library 78.
London: Longman, Brown, and Longmans, 1855. FIRST EDITION, with rare original covers. Crown octavo, pp.[6], 122. In publisher's original cream paper wraps with black titles printed to spine and covers. Covers lightly browned; more heavily to spine. Some loss to tail of spine. Very good indeed, especially considering the rarity..... More
Sonnets from the Portuguese, by E.B. Browning. To which is prefaced a 'Little Journey' to the Home of the Author, written by E. Hubbard.
East Aurora, NY: The Roycroft Shop, 1898. Limited Edition to 480 copies of which this is No.217. SIGNED by Elbert Hubbard. Publisher's quarter white cloth with gilt titles to upper, grey paper boards and end papers; edges untrimmed. Hand coloured stylised capitals throughout the text; superb printing on thick pages..... More
The Spy in Black.
Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1917. First Edition. Publisher's red cloth with titles in gilt to spine and upper. Faded spine, dusty edges, extremities lightly rubbed. A sound and tight copy of this scarce title. A Great War espionage tale from the author of 'Carrington's Cases', etc. More
Atlas to the Memoirs of John Duke of Marlborough; Containing Armorial Bearings, Fac Similes, Maps, and Military Plans.
London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1820. FINE COPPER ENGRAVED MAPS. Quarto, unpaginated. Containing 22 large coats of arms, facsimile letters and folding maps, being a supplement to the Octavo edition of the 'Memoirs'. Some maps with coloured battle positions. In original pink leather-effect cloth boards, recently re-backed in..... More