"Outside of a dog, man's best friend is a book. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
— Groucho Marx
Collected Works & Sets
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
London: Printed for W. Strahan; and T. Cadell, 1782; 1787; 1787; 1788; 1788; 1788. [Late Antiquity] FINELY BOUND QUARTO EDITIONS, first three volumes New Edition, final three volumes First Edition. Complete in six volumes. Quarto (29 x 23 x 31cm), pp.xx; 704; pp.[12] 640; pp.[12] 640; pp.[4] xvi; 620; pp.[12]..... More
The Leather - Stocking Tales. Comprising: The Last of the Mohicans, The Pioneers, The Deerslayer, The Pathfinder, and The Prairie. With Illustrations by H.M. Brock and an Introduction by Mowbray Morris.
London: Macmillan and Co., 1900-1901. [Literature] ALL FIRST BROCK-ILLUSTRATED EDITIONS. 5 volumes, octavo (19 x 13 x 19cm). Abundantly illustrated with line drawing black and white full page plates. Finely bound in mid-green half calf with raised bands, gilt decoration, twin red title labels to spines; cloth boards; top edges..... More
Poems: by William Cowper.
London: W. Kent & Co., 1859. [Poetical Works] FINELY BOUND, a later edition thus. Two volumes. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.vii-lxxii; 274 [2]; pp.viii; 336 [2]. With 75 in-text engravings after Gilbert. Contemporary brown full morocco for Hatchard's, with raised bands, gilt titles and decoration to spine, and panelled decoration..... More
![The Novels and Letters of Jane Austen [set of works, comprises 5 volumes of the novels]: Sense...](/pictures/thumb/58588.jpg?v=1608140163)
The Novels and Letters of Jane Austen [set of works, comprises 5 volumes of the novels]: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey and Emma, and 2 volumes of Letters. The text based on Collation of the Early Editions by W.R. Chapman. With Notes, Indexes, and Illustrations from Contemporary Sources.
Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, 1923, 1932. First Oxford Edition. Large Paper. Limited to 1000 sets. Seven volumes. Coloured frontispieces. Beautifully bound in recent half blue oasis morocco with gilt titles and ornate gilt tooling to spines, blind rule to boards, cloth sides, top edge gilt others untrimmed. Internally clean..... 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
The Bodley Head Scott Fitzgerald, with an Introduction by J.B. Priestley. Being a compilation of novels and shorter pieces, including: The Great Gatsby, The Last Tycoon, Tender is The Night, This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and The Damned, The Rich Boy, Letters and Short Stories, etc.
London: The Bodley Head, 1958-63. FIRST BODLEY HEAD EDITION. Complete in 6 volumes. Octavo. Publisher's red cloth in pale grey/cream dust wrappers printed in black and red. Both the books and jackets are in clean, fresh condition without the often-seen toning to the spines. A striking set. The only collected..... More
The Family Shakespeare. In which nothing is added to the original text, but those words and expressions are omitted which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family.
London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1874. [Plays of Shakespeare] FINELY BOUND CENSORED PLAYS. Large octavo (24 x 17cm), pp.[4] x; 910 [2]. Very small print set in two columns. With an engraved head piece for each play. Contemporary black full morocco with raised bands, gilt title to spine, and heavy..... More
The Plays of William Shakespeare. The Comedies; The Histories; The Tragedies.
London: Cassell & Company, no date [circa 1880s]. [Drama] FINELY BOUND AND ILLUSTRATED, a later printing. Three volumes. Quarto (32 x 25cm), pp.[12] 712 [2]; pp.[10] 596 [2]; pp.[2] xlii [10] 775 [3]. With numerous in-text and full page engravings by Selous, a facsimile and transcript of Shakespeare's Will, and..... More
![Works of Charles Dickens, including:] Pickwick Papers, The Old Curiosity Shop, Great...](/pictures/thumb/58220.jpg?v=1603993263)
[Works of Charles Dickens, including:] Pickwick Papers, The Old Curiosity Shop, Great Expectations, Bleak House, A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, etc. The "Charles Dickens" Edition.
London: Chapman and Hall, no date [circa 1880]. [Literature] FINELY BOUND SET. Nineteen volumes bound as thirteen. Octavo (18 x 13 x 42cm). Each title with eight illustrated plates. Contemporary tan half calf with gilt titles to contrasting red and green labels, further gilt decoration to spines, and marbled paper..... More
The James Bond Collection. Licence Renewed; For Special Services; Icebreaker; Role of Honour; Nobody Lives For Ever.
London: Swordfish, an imprint of Orion Publishing Group, 2011. [Spy novels] BOX SET. Quality hardback re-issues of the first Jonathan Cape editions (1981-6) featuring the same dust-jacket artwork. FIRST EDITIONS thus, with a full strike-line number sequence. Octavo, five volumes in publisher's illustrated red card slip-case, showing original printed price..... More
The Works of Joseph Conrad. Including: Almayer's Folly, Tales of Unrest, Typhoon, Nostromo, Lord Jim, An Outcast of the Islands, The Secret Agent, Under Western Eyes, Chance, Allmayer's Folly, Victory, The Rescue, The Inheritors, Romance, The Mirror of the Sea, The Arrow of Gold, The Shadow Line, etc.
Edinburgh: John Grant, 1925. [Literature] THE WORKS. Complete in 20 volumes. Octavo (22 x 14cm). Frontispiece photogravure to each volume. Facsimile signature of the author printed to first and final leaves. Handsomely bound in half dark blue oasis morocco with gilt titles and gilt raised bands to spines, blue cloth..... More
The Writings of Mark Twain. The works include: Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, The Celebrated Jumping Frog, Pudd'nhead Wilson, The Prince and the Pauper, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, The American Claimant, etc.
New York and London: Harper and Brothers / Hartford, Conn: The American Publishing Company, 1906. The Hillcrest Edition, complete in 25 volumes; Octavos (20 x 14cm). Elegantly hand-bound in half brown calf over marbled paper-covered sides, with contrasting orange title labels, gilt decoration to spines, top edge gilt, others untrimmed..... More
The James Bond Novels. PENGUIN LTD EDITION. Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, Diamonds Are Forever, From Russia With Love, Dr. No, Goldfinger, For Your Eyes Only, Thunderball, The Spy Who loved Me, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, You Only Live Twice, The Man with the Golden Gun and Octopussy and The Living Daylights.
London: Penguin Books / Past Times, 2002. [Spy series] THE COMPLETE JAMES BOND SERIES, LIMITED EDITION. 14 volumes, small octavo (19 x 12 x 27cm). Softcovers with photographic cover art by Toby MacFarlan Pond. This is the paperback version of Penguin's Anniversary edition. Limited to 2000 numbered sets, of which..... More
The Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. (Reprinted from the Revised American Edition) with Explanatory Notes. The "Albion" Edition.
London: Frederick Warne and Co., no date [circa 1900]. [Poetical Works] FINELY BOUND. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.x; 630 [2]. With an engraved frontispiece portrait of the author. Contemporary navy full calf with raised bands, gilt titles to red label, and further gilt decoration to spine. All edges and endpapers..... More
The Collected Works of Yeats, in Verse and Prose. Being the Writings, Plays and Poems.
Stratford-on-Avon: Shakespeare Head Press, 1908. FIRST COMPLETE WORKS. 8 volumes. octavo. Portrait frontispiece (including a Sargent charcoal drawing that makes Yeats look like Dr. Nikola without his cat) to four volumes (alternate: vol.I, III, V, and VII), title-page printed in red and black. Publisher's pale green linen spines with titles..... More
![A Series of Unfortunate Events [1-11]. The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, The Wide Window, The...](/pictures/thumb/57570.jpg?v=1596298989)
A Series of Unfortunate Events [1-11]. The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, The Wide Window, The Miserable Mill, The Austere Academy, The Ersatz Elevator, The Vile Village, The Hostile Hospital, The Carnivorous Carnival, The Slippery Slope, The Grim Grotto, and The Unauthorized Autobiography.
London: Egmont [and] New York, NY: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2001-2004. [Children's Fantasy] MIXED COLLECTION. 12 volumes. Octavo (19 x 13 x 28cm). With in-text illustrations by Helquist. Including volumes 1-11 of the series (lacking volumes 12 and 13), as well as the autobiography. All UK first editions, except volumes 6 and 7..... More
The Works of Alfred Tennyson. Poet Laureate.
London: Macmillan and Co., 1904. [Complete Works] FINELY BOUND, a later printing thus. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.[4] viii; 900 [6]. With an engraved frontispiece portrait of the author. Very fine contemporary brown full crushed morocco, possibly by Zaehnsdorf or similar, with raised bands and gilt titles to spine. All..... More
The Poetical Works of Wordsworth. A New Edition.
London: Edward Moxon, 1845. [Poetical Works] FINELY BOUND. Large octavo (24 x 17cm), pp.[6] xxiv; 619 [7]. With an engraved frontispiece and vignette title page by William Finden. Text printed in two columns. Contemporary red full morocco, with raised bands, gilt titles and decoration to spine, and gilt symbols of..... More
![Bell's Shakespeare]. [Romeo and Juliet; All's Well that Ends Well; The Winter's Tale; Love's...](/pictures/thumb/57101.jpg?v=1593449283)
[Bell's Shakespeare]. [Romeo and Juliet; All's Well that Ends Well; The Winter's Tale; Love's Labour's Lost; Tempest; Titus Andronicus; As You Like It; Measure for Measure; Antony and Cleopatra; Midsummer-Night's Dream; King Lear; Othello; Cymbeline; Much Ado about Nothing; Julius Caesar; Comedy of Errors; Timon of Athens; King John; Merry Wives of Windsor; Richard II; Richard III; King Henry VIII; Hamlet; Taming of the Shrew; Two Gentlemen of Verona; Twelfth-Night, or, What You Will; Troilus and Cressida; Macbeth; Coriolanus; Henry V; Henry IV, parts I and II; Henry VI, parts I, II and III; Names of the Original Actors in the Plays of Shakspeare, by Will. Shakspeare: Printed complete from the Text of Sam. Johnson and Geo. Steevens, and revised from the last Editions.
London: John Bell [and] John Cawthorn, 1784-1807. [Shakespeare] JOHN BELL EDITION, later printings, mixed issue. 36 of 38 volumes. Duodecimo in half-sheets (16 x 10cm). Most volumes dated 1788 or 1803, with just a few intersectional exceptions. All volumes with two engraved title pages of varying dates ranging from 1784..... More
![Complete Strega Borgia Chronicles]. Pure Dead Magic; Pure Dead Wicked; Pure Dead Brilliant; Deep...](/pictures/thumb/56744.jpg?v=1591116129)
[Complete Strega Borgia Chronicles]. Pure Dead Magic; Pure Dead Wicked; Pure Dead Brilliant; Deep Trouble; Deep Water; Deep Fear.
London: Doubleday, 2001-2006. [Children's Fantasy Humour] COMPLETE SIGNED FIRST EDITIONS. Six volumes. Octavo (22 x 15 x 17cm), pp.220 [4]; pp.253 [3]; pp.316 [5]; pp.304; pp.335 [1]; pp.332 [4]. With chapter headings illustrated by the author. Each volume SIGNED by the author to title page in ink matching the colour..... More
Longfellow's Poetical Works. Author's Complete Copyright Edition.
London: George Routledge and Sons, 1883. [Poetry] FINELY BOUND. Octavo (20 x 15cm), pp.[2] viii; 680; [2]. With 14 engraved plates. Contemporary red full morocco with raised bands and gilt titles to spine. Elaborate gilt decoration to spine and boards. Gilt textured endpapers; all edges gilt. Spotting to preliminaries and..... More
The Works of Alfred Tennyson. Poet Laureate.
London: C. Kegan Paul and Co., 1878. [Poetical Works] FINELY BOUND. Large octavo (25 x 18cm), pp.iv; 665 [3]. With an engraved frontispiece portrait of the author. Bound for Hatchards in contemporary blue full calf with straight grain panels to boards, gilt titles and decoration to spine, and gilt decoration..... More
Poems of Felicia Hemans. A new edition. Chronologically arranged, with illustrative notes and a selection of contemporary criticisms.
Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1849. [Poetry] FINELY BOUND. Octavo (24 x 17cm), pp.xii; 652 [2]. Small print in two columns. With an engraved frontispiece of the author and a vignette title page. Contemporary green full morocco, with raised bands, gilt titles to spine, and elaborate gilt decoration stamped all..... More
Ian Fleming's James Bond Novels, as published by MJF Books. Comprising: Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, Diamonds Are Forever, From Russia With Love, Dr. No, Goldfinger, For Your Eyes Only (short stories inc. From A View To A Kill, Quantum of Solace), Thunderball, The Spy Who Loved Me, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, You Only Live Twice,
New York, NY: MJF Books, 1994. [James Bond] COMPLETE MJF BOOKS EDITIONS. 12 volumes, octavo (21 x 14 x 29cm). Publisher's hardbacks in illustrated dust-wrappers. A fine/as new set, housed in a custom-made felt-lined cloth slipcase with ribbon pull. A handsome collection. The entire run as published in America by..... More
![His Dark Materials; 1. Northern Lights [Golden Compass] 2. The Subtle Knife 3. The Amber...](/pictures/thumb/41780.jpg?v=1584802503)
His Dark Materials; 1. Northern Lights [Golden Compass] 2. The Subtle Knife 3. The Amber Spyglass.
London: Scholastic Press, 1995-2000. ALL FIRST EDITIONS. 3 volumes, octavos. Publisher's cloth in original pictorial dust-jackets. The set housed in a custom felt lined slipcase. A fine set. Lyra's quest weaves fantasy, horror and the play of ideas into a truly great contemporary children's book. 'Northern Lights' was listed in..... More