"If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all. "
— Oscar Wilde
Literature
The Christmas Books. A Christmas Carol; The Chimes; The Cricket on the Hearth; The Battle of Life; The Haunted Man.
London: Chapman and Hall, 1843-1848. [Festive Ghost Stories] ALL FIRST EDITIONS, each with an associated letter tipped-in. Five volumes, octavo (19 x 13 x 10cm). Publisher's red cloth covers (brown cloth for 'Carol') with gilt blocking and gilt edges. [1] A Christmas Carol: FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, FIRST STATE, with..... More
Live and Let Die (a James Bond novel).
London: Jonathan Cape, 1954. [James Bond] FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.240. Publisher's black cloth-effect paper over boards, embossed in gilt, with purple dust-wrapper showing the original price of 10/6 to both flaps. With 'author'sskill' text incorrectly spaced to the rear panel, as described in the bibliography..... More
The Road to Wigan Pier.
London: Victor Gollancz, 1937. FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15 cm), pp.viii; 264. With 32 black and white photographic plates. Not including the foreword, which appeared in the first Left Book Club edition. In publisher's blue cloth with yellow titles to spine. With original light yellow dust-jacket with titles to..... More
The Portrait of a Lady
London: Macmillan and Co., 1881. [English Literature] FIRST EDITION. Three volumes, octavo (19 x 13 x 9cm), pp.266, 253, 248. With all half-titles present, publisher's 24-page catalogue (dated April 1881) to rear of the final volume. Handsomely bound in half brown polished morocco, gilt, by Trevor Lloyd M.B.E., with raised..... More
Six Modern One-Act Plays.
London: University of London Press, 1950. SIGNED FIRST EDITION, thus. Octavo, pp.160. Publisher's softcovers. SIGNED BY JOHN LENNON. An interesting school text-book borrowed by Lennon whilst a student at Quarry Bank School, Liverpool. Lennon has signed the lending stamp to the inside cover 'J[ohn] W[inston] Lennon, IVC', and dated this..... More
The Bombay Edition of the Works of Rudyard Kipling. [Set of writings / novels / poems including: The Jungle Book, Kim, Wee Willie Winkie, Just So Stories, Captain Courageous, Rewards and Fairies, Stalky and Co, Puck of Pook's Hill, Rewards and Fairies, etc.]
London: Macmillan and Company, 1913-1938. LIMITED EDITION, SIGNED by the author in volume I to half title. Complete in 31 volumes; large octavo (25 x 132cm). Finely bound in deep red half morocco, raised bands and gilt rules to spines, matching cloth sides, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Printed from..... More
The Collected Works of Mervyn Peake.
London: Queen Anne Press, 2011. FINELY BOUND. Ten volumes bound by Shepherds, Sangorski and Sutcliffe in black full goatskin, gilt titles to spine and various onlays. Red endpapers and gilt top edges, each volume housed in a custom, lined slipcase with leather trim. The set housed in a black cloth..... More
![Rogue Male [aka Man Hunt]. Geoffrey HOUSEHOLD](/pictures/thumb/49232.jpg?v=1574440566)
Rogue Male [aka Man Hunt].
London: Chatto and Windus, 1939. [Classic man-hunt adventure] FIRST EDITION, PROOF COPY, with an original 4-page advert/order form. Octavo, pp.[vii]; 271; [1], imprint. Publisher's brown card softcovers, with printed label to upper, handwritten details to spine. Contents clean, some wrinkling and lean to spine, covers lightly handled. A very good..... More
A Dictionary of the English Language; In Which the Words are Deduced From Their Originals; and Illustrated in Their Different Significations, by Examples From the Best Writers. To Which are Prefixed A History of the Language, and an English Grammar. In Two Volumes.
London: Printed by W. Strahan, 1755. [Dictionary] FIRST EDITIONS. 2 volumes; Folio (42 x 27cm). Complete. Titles printed in black and red. Bound to style in full brown calf with red and green title labels, raised bands to spine, decorated in gilt and blind. Some expected spotting/toning from use; more-so..... More
Love Among The Chickens.
London: George Newnes, 1906. [Humour] FIRST EDITION. A significant ASSOCIATION COPY. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.x; 312. Complete with four full-page black and white plates by H.M Brock [the frontispiece is positioned within the text, following binder's instructions]. Publisher's stone-coloured cloth, pictorially blocked in green, black and orange. With a...... More
The Works of Joseph Conrad. Including: The Nigger of the Narcissus, Nostromo, The Secret Agent, Lord Jim, Youth, etc.
New York, NY: Doubleday, Page and Company, 1920. [Literature] SIGNED LIMITED EDITION. Complete in 24 volumes. Octavo (22 x 16cm). Frontispiece photogravure to volume one, vignette 'Sundial' illustration to title page of each volume, which features text printed in two colours. Handsomely bound in half dark blue oasis morocco with..... More
Casino Royale.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1953. [Spy thriller] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.218; [2], blank. Publisher's black cloth-effect paper over boards with red titles and 'Heart' design to upper, tail edge untrimmed. Book is near fine, clean inside, endpaper expertly replaced with stock of a similar tone and weight, covers..... More
The Unique Hamlet: A Hitherto Unchronicled Adventure of Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
Chicago, IL: Privately Printed for the Friends of Walter M. Hill, Christmas 1920. [Crime fiction] FIRST EDITION. Slim octavo (20 x 15cm), pp.39; [1], blank. Bound in publisher's mustard-coloured textured paper over boards with printed title label to spine, Japanese vellum endpapers, edges uncut, original off-white tissue jacket. Internally fine..... More
Uncommon Danger.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1937. [Intrigue] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.314; [6], advertisements. Publisher's pale blue cloth lettered in black, mid-blue endpapers, pictorial jacket by Gibbs, priced 7/6. Trivial toning to edge of text block, jacket with very light rubbing/wear to extremities. Overall a lovely fine copy of..... More
A Family Without a Name.
London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1891 [1890]. [Historical Fiction] FIRST UK EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.viii; 172; 134 [34]. Publisher's catalogue dated October 1890. With 79 of the 80 wood engraved plates by Tiret-Bognet, including a frontispiece. Publisher's burgundy cloth with gilt titles and black, white and..... More
The Picture of Dorian Gray.
London: Ward, Lock, and Co., [1891]. [Literature] FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. Octavo (20 x14cm), pp.334. First issue showing the correct imprint (later Ward Lock and Bowden), plus the misprinting 'nd' on page 208, line 23. Bound in original grey paper-covered bevelled boards with titles and ornate gilt decoration to upper..... More
The Works of Charles Darwin. Edited by Paul H. Barrett and R. B. Freeman.
London: William Pickering, 1986-1989. [Science / Evolution] THE COMPLETE WORKS, Pickering Masters Series. Octavo, 29 volumes. Handsomely bound in dark green half morocco over green cloth boards, raised bands and gilt titles to spine, top edges gilt. The complete works in 29 volumes edited by Paul H. Barrett and R...... More
The Crowborough Edition of the Works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Include the Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger stories, as well as Brigadier Gerard adventures and more.
Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., 1930. [Literature] The Crowborough Edition, Limited to 760 sets of which this is number 214, SIGNED by the Author in the first volume. 24 volumes. Publisher's brown paper covered boards with the author's facsimile signature in gilt to uppers; oatmeal-coloured buckram spines..... More
Live and Let Die (a James Bond novel).
London: Jonathan Cape, 1954. [James Bond] FIRST ISSUE, Second State. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.240. Publisher's black cloth-effect paper-covered boards, titled and decorated in gilt, with dust-wrapper, priced twice as issued, at 10/6. With 'author's skill' text incorrectly spaced to the rear panel, as described in the bibliography, page 61..... More
The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, The Tales of Canterbury, Boece, Troilus and Criseyde, The House of Fame, The Legende of Good Women, The Romaunt of the Rose
Oxford: Printed at the Shakespeare Head Press Stratford-Upon-Avon and Published for the Press by Basil Blackwell, 1928-1929. [Literature] FINELY BOUND LIMITED EDITION. The Shakespeare Head Press edition. Eight volumes, quartos (29 x 21 x 26cm). Liberally strewn with hand-coloured illustrations. Beautifully bound by James MacDonald of New York in brown..... More
![The Possessed. A Novel in Three Parts [Demons; Devils]. The Novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky Volume...](/pictures/thumb/56891.jpg?v=1591354264)
The Possessed. A Novel in Three Parts [Demons; Devils]. The Novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky Volume III.
London: William Heinemann, 1913. [Russian Literature] FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.viii; 637 [1]. Publisher's red cloth with gilt titles and decoration to spine, and a blind device to upper. Small blue bookseller's ticket to front pastedown. A black ink ownership, and a blue ink Convent school..... More
Washington Square. The Pension Beaurepas. A Bundle of Letters.
London: Macmillan and Co., 1881. [Literature] FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, Hybrid issue. Two volumes, Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.265; 271. With a 24-page catalogue at the rear of volume II, dated January 1881. Publisher's blue-green cloth, lettered in gilt to spine, coated brown endpapers. Contents clean. A used set with some..... More
![War and Peace. [1] Before Tilsit. [2] The Invasion. [3] The French at Moscow. Lev TOLSTOY,...](/pictures/thumb/53590.jpg?v=1584533242)
War and Peace. [1] Before Tilsit. [2] The Invasion. [3] The French at Moscow.
London: Vizetelly and Co., 1887. [Literature] VIZETELLY'S SECOND EDITION, the first edition is virtually unobtainable. Octavo (19 x 13 x 8 cm) pp.429; 360; 387. With half titles, no advertisements. Elegantly bound by Mudie in scarlet half calf over marbled sides, morocco title-piece to spine, gilt rope decoration over raised..... More
The Complete Works of Walt Whitman. The Collector's Camden Edition.
New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1902. [Complete Works] FINELY BOUND LIMITED EDITION. Ten volumes, octavo (24 x 17 x 40cm). With 40 lithographic illustrations. Number 10 of just 300 sets signed and numbered by the publisher. Recent blue half morocco with raised bands, gilt titles and decoration to spines..... More
Mr Standfast.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1919. [Spy thriller] FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp.412. Publisher's mid-blue cloth, titled and ruled in dark blue, pictorial wrapper priced at 7shillings. A lightly used copy with minor edge spotting and bumping, jacket lightly edgeworn with a few minor tears. Overall a lovely bright copy. An attractive..... More