Poetry & Drama
Nicola Bayley's Book of Nursery Rhymes.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1975. [Illustrated Nursery Rhymes] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (25 x 19cm), pp.[32]. With colour illustrations by Bayley to every page. Publisher's blue illustrated glossy paper-covered boards, priced at £1.95. A water stain to top edge, with some minor marks to endpapers. Spine head pulled, with bumping to corners..... More
Waiting For Godot. A Tragicomedy in Two Acts.
London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1959. [Drama] FIRST SOFTCOVER EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.94 [2]. Publisher's orange wraps priced at 4s 6d to inner cover. Lightly annotated in pencil throughout. Some faint spotting/mottling to edges. Spine sunned, minor edgewear. Loose leaf of type inserted. Very good. Beckett's monumental drama..... More
The History Boys.
London: faber and faber, 2004. [Drama] SIGNED COPY, the second impression. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.xxxiv; 109 [1]. SIGNED by the author in black ink to the title page. Publisher's black paper-covered boards, with red endpapers. With the photographic dust-jacket priced at £12.99, and a National Theatre Bookshop bookmark. A...... More
Keeping On Keeping On.
London: Faber and Faber, 2016. [Diaries] SIGNED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 13cm), pp.xiv; 721 [1]. Publisher's blue cloth with white titles blocked to spine, and patterned endpapers. With the photographic dust-jacket, priced at £25. A fine, unread copy. More
The Lady with a Lamp.
London: Victor Gollancz, 1929. [Drama] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 12cm), pp.136. Publisher's black cloth with red paper title label to spine. With the plain dust-jacket, priced at 3/6 for paper, or 5s for cloth. A small blue ink gift inscription to fly-leaf. Quite heavy spotting and offsetting to endpapers..... More
Love and Fame.
London: Faber & Faber, 1972. [American Poetry] FIRST UK EDITION. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.96. Publisher's red cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the typographic dust-jacket, priced at £1.40. Very slight toning to jacket spine, with some light rubbing and a few small closed tears to edges. Near fine..... More
Poems in the Porch.
London: S.P.C.K., 1957. [Poetry] ILLUSTRATED EDITION, a later printing. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.[28]. With in-text illustrations by Piper. Publisher's soft covers titled in blue and red, stapled twice and priced at 2s. Blue ink gift inscription to half-title. Covers toned with some light handling. Very good. Some blank verse..... More
Poems in the Porch.
London: S.P.C.K., 1955. [Poetry] SIGNED ILLUSTRATED EDITION, a later printing. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.[28]. With in-text illustrations by Piper. Publisher's soft covers titled in blue and red, stapled twice and priced at 2s to back cover. Author's signature to half-title page in black ink. Spotting throughout, sunning to covers..... More
Summoned By Bells. With Drawings by Michael Tree.
London: John Murray, 1960. [Verse Autobiography] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (23 x 18cm), pp.[8] 111 [1]. With engraved head-pieces by Tree. Publisher's blind stamped green cloth with gilt titles to spine and decorative endpapers. With the typographic dust-jacket printed in red and black, priced at 16s. Blue ink ownership to verso..... More
Summoned By Bells. With Drawings by Michael Tree.
London: John Murray, 1960. [Verse Autobiography] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (23 x 18cm), pp.[8] 111 [1]. With engraved head-pieces by Tree. Publisher's blind stamped green cloth with gilt titles to spine and decorative endpapers. With the typographic dust-jacket printed in red and black, priced at 16s. Near fine in like wrapper..... More
Continual Dew. A Little Book of Bourgeois Verse.
London: John Murray, 1977. [Poetry] FACSIMILE EDITION. Octavo (21 x 15cm), pp.[10] 45 [1]. With in-text illustrations by various artists. Publisher's cyan cloth with gilt titles to upper. With the dust-jacket designed by E. McKnight Kauffer, priced at £2.95. Jacket toned and rubbed to spine, with a few small closed..... More
Continual Dew. A Little Book of Bourgeois Verse.
London: John Murray, 1937. [Poetry] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 15cm), pp.[10] 45 [1]. With in-text illustrations by various artists. Publisher's black cloth with gilt titles to upper. All edges gilt. With the dust-jacket designed by E. McKnight Kauffer, priced at 7/6. Light spotting to endpapers. Rubbing to cloth, with..... More
A Few Late Chrysanthemums.
London: John Murray, 1954. [Poetry] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 12cm), pp.viii; 95 [1]. Publisher's purple cloth, with printed titles to a plain paper label pasted to upper. With the plain yellow typographic dust-jacket, priced at 9/6. Blue ink ownership to fly-leaf. Spotting to jacket, with some toning also to..... More
New Bats in Old Belfries. Poems.
London: John Murray, 1945. [Poetry] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 12cm), pp.vi; 54. Publisher's red cloth, with printed titles to a plain paper label pasted to upper. With the plain typographic dust-jacket, priced at 6s. A small black ink ownership to fly-leaf, with some light spotting and bubbling to endpapers..... More
State of the Nation: British Theatre since 1945.
London: Faber and Faber, 2007. [Theatre] INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.viii; 435; [5]. With a suite of four double-sided colour photographic plates. INSCRIBED by the author in blue ink to title page: "For Edward | Best Wishes | Michael Billington | 19th November 2007". Publisher's orange cloth..... More
London Visions.
London: Elkin Mathews, 1908. [Poetry collection] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (18 x 12cm), pp.viii; 96. Publisher's green cloth, gilt titles to upper and spine. Fore and lower edges untrimmed. Faint, infrequent spotting to interior. Toning to textblock edges. Near fine. More
Songs of Innocence.
London: Ernest Benn, 1926. [Illustrated Poetry] FACSIMILE EDITION. Octavo (26 x 19cm), unpaginated. Publisher's black cloth with gilt tooling and gilt lettering to spine. Coloured illustrations throughout. Toning to edges of textblock, rolling to spine, bumping to corners and especially to front board's upper right corner. Very good. Reproduced in..... More
The Horkey.
London: Macmillan and Co., 1882. [Children's illustrated] ILLUSTRATED BY GEORGE CRUICKSHANK (the younger). Slim quarto (25 x 21cm), pp.48. Printed with colour illustrations to every page. Illustrated paper-covered boards, green cloth spine, all edges green. Blind stamp of W.H. Smith Library to flyleaf, some toning and light spotting. Boards rubbed..... More
Rural Tales, Ballads, and Songs.
London: Printed for Vernor and Hood, Longman and Rees, 1802. [Poetry] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (17 x 11cm), pp.xii [2] 120. With 11 woodcuts and a frontispiece portrait of the author. Contemporary brown half calf, marbled paper over boards. Spine in six compartments with gilt embellishment, and green label with gilt..... More
After the Bombing. And other short poems.
London: Macmillan and Co. Ltd., 1949. [Poetry] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.viii; 51; [1]. Publisher's red cloth, gilt titles to spine, dust-jacket with printed price of 6s. net. Internally fine, some toning to rear endpapers. Cloth lightly rubbed to bottom edge. Wrapper darkened to spine, some bruising along..... More
The Poems of Edmund Blunden.
London: Cobden-Sanderson, 1930. [Poetry] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.[2] xviii; 336. Publisher's cream cloth with gilt titles to spine. Top edge blue; others untrimmed. illustrated bookplate of Maud Budden (), poet and writer for the 'Curly Wee' annuals, to front pastedown, with some associated offsetting to flyleaf. Light..... More
The Background of Modern Poetry. An Inaugural Lecture Delivered on 10 May 1946 by C.M. Bowra, M.A., D.Litt., Professor of Poetry.
Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, 1946. [Literary Criticism] FIRST EDITION. Octavo pamphlet (23 x 15cm), pp.20. Publisher's grey typographic paper covers, sewn. Small black ink ownership of Colin C. Moore to title page. Some light wear and toning to extremities. Very good. More
Varied Verse.
London and Tunbridge Wells: The Reliance Press, no date [1925]. [Kent and Sussex Poetry] INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.63 [1]. INSCRIBED by the author in blue ink to title page: 'To Major Heron, with the author's | kindred regards & in remembrance | of many a hearty..... More
Hauspostille. Mit Anleitungen, Gesangs-Noten Und Einem Anhange.
Berlin: Propyläen Verlag, 1927. [Poetry] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.XII; 156; [4]. With one black and white plate, illustrated by Caspar Neher. Ten leaves of sheet music and publisher's catalogue to rear. Shell marbled paper over boards, brown label with white titles to upper and spine. Top edge..... More
Saraband & Satyricon: Poems and Verses, Orthodox and Heterodox.
Kineton: The Roundwood Press, 1970. [Poetry] SIGNED LIMITED EDITION. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.xvi; 235 [1]. Number 190 of 250 copies SIGNED by the author in black ink to title page. Publisher's white cloth with gilt titles to spine and green endpapers. With the light green typographic dust-jacket. A few..... More