"Books are a hardbound drug with no danger of overdose. I am the happy victim of books."
— Karl Lagerfeld
Poetry & Drama
Incident at Vichy.
London: Secker and Warburg, 1966. [Drama] FIRST UK EDITION. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.[2] 89 [1]. Publisher's purple cloth with silver titles to spine. With the dust-jacket designed by Bill Botten. Associated newspaper clipping loose to preliminaries, with attendant offsetting to endpapers. Price-clipped jacket very slightly sunned to spine and..... 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
Streams.
Lindfield: Lemon Publications, 1975. [Poetry] INSCRIBED LIMITED EDITION. Octavo (21 x 15cm), pp.145; [1]; unpaginated blanks to rear. Publisher's printed wrappers. Signed and inscribed on the title page: "To Guy | Have a jolly jubilee | mate | Peter | The Bend | Lindfield. 77." With a foreword by Spike..... 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
Paradise Lost. An Illustrated Edition with an introduction by Philip Pullman.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. [Epic Poetry] FIRST THUS. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.[6] 374 [4]. Text printed in red and black. With facsimile plates of twelve engravings from the first illustrated edition. Publisher's black cloth, with gilt titles to spine and red endpapers. With the dust-jacket priced at £16.99..... 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
The Gazelles and Other Poems.
London: Duckworth and Co., 1904. [Poetry] FIRST EDITION. Octavo pamphlet in soft covers (20 x 15cm), pp.32. Publisher's grey paper covers with title to upper, priced at 1s. Rubbing and a couple of small chips to edges. Black ink ownership to half-title. Very good. More
Guenevere: Two Poems by William Morris; The Defence of Guenevere; and King Arthur's Tomb.
London: The Fanfrolico Press, May 1930. [Poetry] PRIVATE PRESS LIMITED EDITION. Octavo (24 x 18cm), pp.[48]. With eight in-text collographic illustrations after sketches by Rossetti. Number 249 of 450 copies finely printed in Weiss Antiqua on Barcham Green Vellum paper. Publisher's black cloth with brown paper over the centre of..... 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. Sexto (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 coated endpapers..... 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
Look Back In Anger.
London: Faber and Faber, 1957. [Drama] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 13cm), pp.96. Publisher's brown cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the photographic dust-jacket by Julie Hamilton, priced at 10/6. Contents clean, endpapers toned, jacket with a couple of short tears. Near fine. The play that launched a flotilla..... 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
A Patriot for Me.
London: Faber and Faber, 1966. [Drama] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 13cm), pp.128. Publisher's red cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the photographic dust-jacket by Dominic. Spotting to top edge. Price-clipped jacket rubbed to edges. Very good. A homosexual officer in the Austro-Hungarian army is blackmailed into spying for..... 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
The World of Paul Slickey.
London: Faber and Faber, 1959. [Drama] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 13cm), pp.96. Publisher's brown cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the photographic dust-jacket by Alec Murray. Roughly price-clipped jacket toned to spine, with rubbing and bruising to edges and some soiling to rear cover. Very good. John Osborne..... 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=1584533260)
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