"You can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me."
— C. S. Lewis
Poetry & Drama
The Burning Perch.
London: Faber and Faber, 1963. [Poetry] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.58 ;[2]. Publisher's Purple cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the pink dust-jacket titled in blue and red, priced at 12/6. A bump to rear board. Jacket lightly toned to spine and edges; minor black ink spatter..... More
The Member of the Wedding.
New York, NY: James Laughlin, 1951. INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. Octavo. pp. [6] 118. With a black and white frontispiece illustration. Inscribed by the author in black ink to front free end-paper: 'For Monique and Valentin with enduring love always, Carson.' In publisher's orange cloth with orange titles to spine. With..... More
Songs of the Sierras.
London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1871. TRUE FIRST EDITION. Crown octavo, pp.[2] xiv, 301 [3]. In publisher's green cloth with gilt titles to spine and gilt decoration to upper board. Light brown endpapers. All edges untrimmed. Armorial bookplate of Horatio Noble Pym to front pastedown. Reading lean; spine darkened..... More
The Little Pot Boiler.
London: Dobson Books Limited, 1963. FIRST EDITION. Spike Milligan's third book. Octavo, pp. 88. Bound in publisher's red cloth with title and author's name to spine in gilt, in cartoon-like typeface. In a dustjacket mimicking a final demand for income tax, addressed to Milligan. Cloth boards in excellent condition with..... More
Startling Verse for all the family.
London: Michael Joseph, 1987. [Poetry] SIGNED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 17cm), pp.[6]; 74. Publisher's black cloth, titles in silver to spine, dust-jacket. Inscribed by the author to flyleaf: "To Paul | Spike Milligan". Illustrated throughout. Textblock lightly toned, some offsetting to endpapers. Cloth and price clipped wrapper lightly handled..... More
![The Poetical Works of John Milton [PARADISE LOST]. With Notes and a Life of the Author by John...](/pictures/thumb/32314.jpg?v=1493310831)
The Poetical Works of John Milton [PARADISE LOST]. With Notes and a Life of the Author by John Mitford.
Boston: Phillips, Sampson, and Co., 1852. BOSTON EDITION. Quarto, pp. cxxix; 371; 478; [6], advertisements. Two volumes bound in one. With a portait frontispsiece. In publisher's red cloth with decorative gilt titles as well as Milton's portrait and a muse playing lyre in gilt to spine; embossed boards. Text framed..... More
The Poetical Works of John Milton. Printed from the original editions with a life of the author by the Rev. John Mitford.
London: Bickers and Son, no date [1873]. [Poetical Works] FINELY PRINTED EDITION, with the colophon of the Chiswick Press. Two volumes. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.viii; v-ccii; 270 [2]; pp.x; 417 [1]. With an engraved frontispiece of the author to volume I, and dichromatic title pages. Publisher's green cloth with..... More
![Paradise Lost. A Poem, in Twelve Books [and] Paradise Regain'd. A Poem. In Four Books. To which...](/pictures/thumb/54246.jpg?v=1567527114)
Paradise Lost. A Poem, in Twelve Books [and] Paradise Regain'd. A Poem. In Four Books. To which is added Samson Agonistes. And Poems upon several Occasions. Compos'd at several Times.
London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, 1707 and 1727. [Epic Poetry] FINELY BOUND EARLY EDITIONS, the thirteenth and fifth respectively. Two volumes. Octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.xxxvi; 514 [34]; pp.[2] 457 [5]. Page 514 in 'Paradise Lost' misnumbered 524. With the copper engraved frontispiece by George Vertue to 'Paradise Lost.' Also..... More
Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes.
London: John Baskerville, for J and R. Tonson, 1758. First Baskerville edition. 2 volumes. Octavo (23 x 15cm). Full red English calf with full gilt backs, twin labels, elaborate gilt border to sides, Dutch marbled endpapers, gilt turn-ins, all edges gilt. Contents clean, bindings nicely aged, spines a little chipped..... More
The Poetical Works. With Notes of Various Authors.
London: C. and J. Rivington, J. Cuthell, J. Nunn, J. and W.T. Clarke, Longman and Co., T. Cadell, Jeffery and Son, J. Richardson, Carpenter and Son, J. Mawman, Baldwin and Co., J. Booker, J. Bohn, J. Duncan, Black and Co., G.B. Whittaker, J. Bain, W. [Poetry]. FINELY BOUND. Six volumes..... More
The Play's the Thing.
New York, NY: Brentano's, 1927. [Hungarian Drama] FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.[8] 139 [1]. Publisher's brown cloth with titles blocked with designs in blue and green to spine and upper board. Fore-edge untrimmed. With the green dust-jacket titled in a darker green. Lightly browned throughout. Dust-jacket..... More
Strange Meetings.
London: The Poetry Bookshop, 1917. Second Thousand. Octavo. Flexible paper binding, edges uncut, with black titles to front cover and illustration in modernist style of emaciated figure rising out of crowd, in turn rising out of a fallen skeleton, in black. Edges are bumped, slight rubbing to front hinge, otherwise..... More
Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life.
London: Faber and Faber, 1993. [Literary Biography] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (24 x 17cm), pp.xx; 570 [2]. With 12 double-sided black and white photographic plates divided into three suites. Publisher's navy cloth with white titles to spine. With the photographic dust-jacket priced at £20.00. Light external rubbing. Jacket sunned to spine..... More
The Hights of Macchu Picchu.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1966. [Latin-American Poetry] FIRST UK EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.47 [1]. Publisher's brown cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the black and white dust-jacket. Blue ink gift inscription to front free endpaper, dated 1974. Some small chips and closed tears to jacket edges, and light..... More
Byron. The Last Journey, April 1823 - April 1824.
London: Constable and Co., 1924. [Biography] INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.[2]; xiv; 288. Incribed "Irene Cooper Willis | from H.N." to verso of the front free endpaper. Maps to endpapers. Publisher's dark brown cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper board. All edges untrimmed. Some spotting..... More
Nenagh Minstrelsy: A Volume of Original Poems, Songs, and Translations, Compiled, Revised, and Published by John O'Shea.
Nenagh: Printed at the Office of the Guardian, 1838-39. [Irish Poetry and Songs] ONLY EDITION. Duodecimo in half-sheets (18 x 12cm), pp.xii; 7-126 [2]; pp.64 [2]; pp.56 [2]; pp.11 [1]. Complete with the two separate title pages dated 1838. Contemporary green diced cloth with gilt titles to spine and yellow..... More
The Entertainer.
London: Faber and Faber, 1957. [Drama]. FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.89. Publisher's green cloth, in photographic dustwrapper (showing Olivier as Archie) by Anthony Armstrong Jones (Lord Snowdon). Some stage directions to acts 3-4, long gift inscription to pastedown, else fine, in a near fine wrapper, toned to spine..... More
Luther. A Play.
London: Faber and Faber, 1961. [Drama]. FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 13cm), pp.102 [2]. Publisher's purple cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the black and white illustrated dust-jacket. Black ink ownership inscription to front free endpaper. A few marks to jacket, small surface loss to upper panel, and one..... More
The World of Paul Slickey.
London: Faber and Faber, 1959. FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21x13cm), pp.96. Publisher's brown cloth, in photographic dust-wrapper by Alec Murray. A lightly used copy with a little edgewear, dustiness and toning. Very good. John Osborne was an anti-Establishment writer, one of the 'angry young men' and leading playwright of England's post-war..... More
![Ovid's Festivalls, or Roman Calendar [Fasti], Translated into English verse equinumerally, by...](/pictures/thumb/51572.jpg?v=1536329251)
Ovid's Festivalls, or Roman Calendar [Fasti], Translated into English verse equinumerally, by John Gower Master of Arts, and sometimes of Jesus College in Cambridge.
Cambridge: Printed by Roger Daniel, printer to the University of Cambridge: and are to be sold by M[ichael]. S[parke]. junior, in the little Old-Baily in London, 1640. [Latin Literature] FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. Small octavo (15 x 10cm), pp.[44] 146 [4]. With supplied endpapers and fly-leaves - lacking the first..... More
![The Theological Works. The Age of Reason [and] Miscellaneous Poems. Thomas PAINE](/pictures/thumb/54426.jpg?v=1567697630)
The Theological Works. The Age of Reason [and] Miscellaneous Poems.
London: R. Carlile, 1819-1826. [Collected Essays] FIRST COLLECTED EDITION, a mixed issue. Part one of The Age of Reason dated 1826; all other parts dated 1819. Octavo (22 x 14cm), pp.[4] 52; pp.96; pp.61 [1]; pp.71 [1]; pp.[4] 24; 25-28. Containing all four parts of The Age of Reason. Followed..... More
The Bernini Bust.
London: Victor Gollancz, 1992. [Crime Fiction] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.192. Red cloth lettered in gilt to spine, illustrated dust-wrapper. Price clipped, otherwise a clean, fine copy. The third of seven acclaimed mysteries for detective art historian Jonathan Argyll, from the award-winning novelist Iain Pears... More
The Poetry of Sport. With a Chapter on Classical Allusions to Sport by Andrew Lang, and a Special Preface to the Badminton Library by A. E. T. Watson.
London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1896. LIMITED LARGE PAPER EDITION. Quarto, pp.xl, 484. With frequent engravings and lithographic plates by Thorburn,, Davis, Brock et al. Number 60 of just 250 copies printed on large paper. In publisher's navy half morocco with gilt title to spine and orange cloth boards. Top..... More
A Shropshire Garland: Being a Garland of Sonnets.
Lydbury North: Grail Press, no date [circa 2000]. [Poetry] LIMITED INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 16cm), 36 leaves, unpaginated. Wood engravings by Keay to every page. Number 46 of just 200 copies INSCRIBED by both author and illustrator to title page to 'Jo'. Publisher's black cloth with gilt titles..... More
Marpessa.
London: John Lane, 1901. [Poetry]. EARLY ILLUSTRATED EDITION. Octavo (15 x 12cm), pp.47 [1]. With seven wood engravings by Philip Connard, including a frontispiece and a tailpiece. In publisher's green limp latticed morocco-covered card covers, with gilt titles to spine and upper board. Top edge gilt. Black ink ownership inscription..... More