Those who pass by our Fulham Road shop on a regular enough basis will already be aware that our window display changes frequently. Just in case you won’t have the chance to see it for yourself, we thought we’d keep you up-to-date on the books, prints and curiosities making an appearance each time a reshuffle takes place.
Below you’ll find listings for each of the items featured; Should you wish to enquire further, you can simply email mail@peterharrington.co.uk or call us on 020 7591 0220.
CARY, Joyce. An American Visitor. London: Ernest Benn Limited, 1933
Octavo. Original black cloth, titles gilt to spine. Some spotting to edges and endpapers, but an excellent copy in the lightly rubbed jacket, tanned to spine panel and with a mark to rear panel.
First edition, first impression.
THE FIRST MICKEY MOUSE BOOK
DISNEY, Walt. The Adventures of Mickey Mouse. Story and Illustrations by Staff of Walt Disney Studio. Book I. London: George G. Harrap, 1931
Octavo. Original colour pictorial printed boards, pictorial endpapers. With the colour printed dust jacket. 32 colour illustrations, one to each page including title recto and verso. Mild rubbing to ends of spine and corners, inscription to verso of front endpaper, occasional light spotting to pages, in the dust jacket with a hint of fading to spine, shallow chipping to ends of spine. An excellent copy.
First edition, first UK printing, of the first Mickey Mouse book, rare in this condition.
(EMBERLEY, Ed.) SCHACKBURG, Dr. Richard. Yankee Doodle. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1966
Oblong quarto. Original blue cloth boards, illustration blocked to front board in black, titles to spine black, illustrated endpapers. With the dust jacket. Woodcuts by Ed Emberley. Mild rubbing to ends of spine in the dust jacket with light soiling to panels. An excellent copy.
Second printing. Presentation copy with an original illustration of a solider playing a flute on the verso of front endpaper, “For Mary for her help. Ed Emberley 1967.” The recipient, Mary C. Rife, was a noted children’s librarian for more than 50 years, spending her last 30 years co-ordinating Children’s Library Services for the Kalamazoo Public Library.“She was passionate about the needs of children and worked all her life to help children appreciate literature, through book selection, children’s services and outreach. Mary touched many lives through storytelling and was the ultimate “Mother Goose.” Many children’s authors and illustrators were encouraged and supported by her efforts. She was instrumental in bringing many of them to Kalamazoo during annual fall National Children’s Book Week celebrations over the last 30 years.” ( Obituary 2010) A wonderful association copy with an original drawing by a Caldecott Award winning illustrator.
EVANS, Walker. American Photographs. With an Essay by Lincoln Kirstein. New York, The Museum of Modern Art,
Quarto. Original black cloth, titles to spine gilt. With the dust jacket. 87 monochrome plates. Spine bumped, white dust jacket age toned and rubbed to edges, corners lightly nicked.
Second edition. Inscibed on the front free endpaper by the photographer “To Florence Homolka, affectionately, Walker Evans, July 1962”. Florence Meyer Homolka (1911–1962) was a successful portrait photographer and socialite; she died later the same year the book was inscribed.
First edition: Parr & Badger I, 114–5; Roth, p. 98.
FORESTA, Merry A. American Photographs, The First Century: From the Isaacs Collection in the National Museum of American Art. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996
Quarto. Original brown cloth, spine and front board lettered in gilt. With the dust jacket. Richly illustrated throughout with photographic plates. A fine copy.
First edition, first printing. Presentation copy, inscribed on the half-title, “For Carl Mautz whose dedication and research are one of the field’s invaluable assets. With thanks, Merry Foresta.” Drawn from the collection of Charles Isaacs in the National Museum of American Art, this attractive book presents a vivid snapshot of life in 19th-century America.
FRANK, Robert. The Americans. Introduction by Jack Kerouac. New York: Grove Press, 1959
Oblong quarto. Original black cloth, spine lettered in gilt. With the dust jacket. Photographs throughout by Frank. Gift inscription to front free endpaper. Cloth a little faded at head of spine but an excellent copy, in the jacket with toned spine and some nicks and chips to extremities.
First US edition, first printing. First published in France in 1958, the Swiss-born photographer’s work proved to be a highly influential book in post-war American photography. The introduction to this edition was furnished by Jack Kerouac after a chance encounter with Frank on the sidewalk outside a party.
Parr & Badger I, 247; Roth, p. 150.
GROOM, Winston. Forest Gump. New York: Doubleday & Co., 1986
Octavo. Original yellow boards, brown cloth backstrip. With the dust jacket. A bright copy in the dust jacket with a touch of wear to corners, price sticker to rear panel. A very good copy.
First edition, first printing. Basis for the Oscar winning film.
HELLER, Joseph. Catch-22. A Novel. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1961
Octavo. Original blue cloth, titles to spine in white, top edge dyed red. With the dust jacket. Top-stain faded. An excellent copy in the rubbed and lightly toned jacket with a few short closed tears and small chips to the ends of the spine panel.
First edition, first printing.
(HEMINGWAY, Ernest) BAHR, Jerome. All Good Americans. With a Preface by Ernest Hemingway. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1937
Octavo. Original blue cloth, titles to spine and upper board in blue on silver ground, blue top-stain. With the dust jacket. Minor bump to lower corner, partial tanning to free endpapers. A superb copy in the price-clipped and rubbed jacket with two short closed tears to the head of the faded spine panel.
First edition, first impression.
(HEYWARD, DuBose.) ALPERT, Hollis. The Life and Times of Porgy and Bess. The Story of an American Classic. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990
Large octavo. Original brown boards, light red cloth backstrip, titles to spine gilt on black ground, rules and leaf design to upper board gilt, reddish brown endpapers. With the dust jacket. Frontispiece and illustrations throughout. An excellent copy in the jacket with faded spine panel and just a hint of rubbing.
First edition, first printing, Advance review copy with the publisher’s slip laid in. The complete history of Porgy and Bess, from its publication as a book by DuBose Heyward through its transformation into a play and then a musical by George Gershwin, as well as its social and cultural context and reception by contemporary and modern audiences.
JAMES, Henry. The American Scene. London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd, 1907
Large octavo. Original red cloth, titles to spine and upper board gilt. Bookplate. Spine a little faded, rubbing and loss of size affecting cloth, top corner bumped, chips to ends of spine, endpapers toned. A very good copy.
Second impression, on thicker paper and without the gilt top edge.
Edel & Laurence A63.
JOSEPHSON, Matthew. Portrait of the Artist as American. New York, Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1930
Octavo. Original green boards, titles to spine gilt. With the price-clipped dust jacket. Some minor loss to gilt, an excellent copy in the dust jacket.
First edition, first printing. With the author’s signed presentation inscription to the front free endpaper “To ‘Cap Pearce’ the best editor an author could have – these many years! Faithfully Matthew Josephson.”
(KENT, Rockwell.) MELVILLE, Herman. Moby Dick or The Whale. Illustrated by Rockwell Kent. New York: Random House, 1930
Octavo. Original black cloth, titles and illustrations to spine and upper board in silver. With the dust jacket Illustrations throughout by Rockwell Kent. A bright copy in the lightly toned dust jacket with closed tear at lower front edge repaired with tape on verso, front flap fold with shallow chipping and small piece of tape. A very attractive copy.
First Rockwell Kent trade edition, first printing. First published the same year by the Lakeside Press of Chicago in a three-volume limited edition, this trade edition proved immensely popular. It has been credited with contributing greatly to the rediscovery of Moby Dick as a classic.
LENNART, Isobel. Funny Girl. A New Musical. From an original story by Miss Lennart. Music by Jule Styne. Lyrics by Bob Merrill. New York: Random House, 1964
Octavo. Original black cloth backed terracotta boards, titles to spine gilt, top edge dyed blue. With the dust jacket. An excellent copy.
First musical theatre edition, first impression. The Broadway production of Funny Girl opened to great acclaim in March 1964 with Barbara Streisand in the lead role. This edition includes illustrations from photographs of this production.
LOMAX, John A. Adventures of a Ballad Hunter. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1947
Octavo. Original red cloth, title in blue, guitar device to the upper board. With the dust jacket. Chapter headers by Ken Chamberlain. Slight lean, else very good in slightly rubbed jacket with some minor chipping and splitting to the edges, internal; repairs with archival tape.
First edition, first impression. This copy inscribed on the half-title; “Yours sincerely, John A. Lomax, Dallax, Tex., March 1, 1947”. Entertaining autobiography of the pioneering American folklorist and musicologist, the man who “discovered “ Lead Belly, from hard-scrabble Texas farm to the Library of Congress. The book was optioned for a movie to star Bing Crosby as Lomax and Josh White as Huddie Ledbetter, but never went into production. An uncommon book inscribed, Lomax died of a stroke just 10 months after publication.
MCMURTRY, Larry. Streets of Laredo. A Novel. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993
Octavo. Original dark blue cloth-backed beige paper boards, title to spine gilt. With the dust jacket. Faint damp stain to spine and verso of jacket’s spine panel. An excellent copy in the jacket, which is very faintly creased at the head and tail of the spine panel.
First edition, first printing. Presentation copy inscribed by the author to Cybill Shepherd’s daughter: “For Clem, with love, L.” Cybill Shepherd played Jacy Farrow in the 1971 film adaptation of McMurtry’s novel 1966 The Last Picture Show.
MORRISON, Toni. Sula. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1974
Octavo. Original orange cloth, titles to spine and upper board gilt, green top-stain. With the dust jacket. Ownership signature to front free endpaper. Boards a little bowed. A very good copy in the rubbed and creased jacket with a few short closed tears.
First edition, first printing. Signed by the author on the title page.
(RACKHAM, Arthur) IRVING, Washington. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., 1928
Tall quarto. Original full vellum, titles to spine and front board gilt, pictorial endpapers, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Tipped-in colour frontispiece and 7 similar plates by Arthur Rackham. Boards midly bowed, mild spotting and soiling to boards, bookplate to verso of front endpaper. A lovely copy.
First Rackham edition. Signed limited edition, number 65 of 250 copies signed by Rackham.
SEUSS, Dr. Happy Birthday To You! New York: Random House, 1959
Quarto. Original pictorial paper covered boards, pictorial endpapers. With the dust jacket. Illustrated throughout by the author. Inscription to front free endpaper, in the dust jacket with moderate creasing to spine, chipping to ends of spine, light wear to front panel. A very good copy.
First edition, first printing. With the first printing point of the 5 white dots on page 32.
Younger and Hirsch 78-80
SPEARE, Elizabeth George. The Sign of the Beaver. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1983
Octavo. Original yellow boards, green cloth backstrip. With the dust jacket. Price clipped dust jacket, else an excellent copy.
First edition, first printing. Title has won numerous awards including a 1984 Newbery Honor and a New York Times Best book of the year citation. Adventure story of young boy who becomes friends with a young Native American boy in the 1700’s.
STEADMAN, Ralph. America. Introduction by Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. San Francisco: Straight Arrow Books, 1974
Quarto. Original black boards, titles to spine in white. With the dust jacket. Illustrated by Ralph Steadman. Spine bumped, dust jacket rubbed to corners, a few small closed tears to edges
First edition, first printing. Inscribed by the artist on the copyright page “For Eduardo, Artist, Sculptor and Godfather from Ralph Steadman, 24 . 4 . 75.” The dedicatee is Eduardo Paolozzi and this book originates from his library.
STEINBECK, John. Travels With Charley: In Search of America. New York: The Viking Press, 1962
Octavo. Original cream speckled cloth, spine lettered in red and black, vignette to the front board in red, map endpapers. With the dust jacket. A superb copy in the bright jacket.
First edition, first printing. Based on Steinbeck’s road trip around the States in 1960 road trip accompanied by his poodle, Charley.
(STIEGLITZ, Alfred.) FRANK, Waldo; Lewis Mumford; Dorothy Norman; Paul Rosenfeld; Harold Rugg (eds.) America & Alfred Stieglitz. A Collective portrait. New York, Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc. 1934
Octavo. Original black boards, titles to spine in black with silver ground, top edge grey. With the dust jacket. Top edge faded, stamp to lower edge, spine lightly bumped, dust jacket creased and lightly chipped to edges.
First edition, first printing.
TERKEL, Studs. Division Street: America. New York: Pantheon Books, 1967
Octavo. Original maroon cloth, title in red, orange and silver to the spine, red top-stain. With the dust jacket. Very good in price-clipped jacket with one or two short splits.
Fourth impression, same year as the first. This copy inscribed on the front free endpaper to John Lewis of the MJQ: “To John Lewis, A Truly imaginative artist – in the full sense – Let Joy and Beauty Triumph – with deep admiration, Studs Terkel.”
THOMPSON, Hunter S. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream. New York: Random House, 1971
Octavo. Original black cloth-backed grey boards, spine lettered in silver, Ralph Steadman design decoration to front board in blind. With the pictorial dust jacket. Illustrated title page and 19 line drawings by Ralph Steadman. Spine rolled, boards slightly faded, small stain to p. 29 and minor stain to upper margins, not affecting text. A very good copy in the jacket that has a stain to upper edge and verso.
First edition, first printing of Thompson’s best-selling roman à clef.
THOREAU, Henry David. Cape Cod. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1865
Octavo. Original green diamond-patterned cloth, titles to spine gilt, brown coated endpapers, boards blocked in blind with eight-point cornerpieces and central wreath. With a later cloth protector. Contemporary pencilled ownership inscription to front blank. Spine rolled and a little rubbed at the ends, a few faint spots to upper board but cloth unusually fresh overall. An excellent copy.
First edition in binding variant A with Thoreau named as the author of Walden on the spine, and cloth type Z, one of several binding styles used on the first edition without precedence. Cape Cod, a collection of ten essays on the scenery and people of the region, was based on three trips that Thoreau made between 1849 and 1855. A lovely copy, Thoreau’s books are rarely found in such nice condition.
TWAIN, Mark. The American Claimant. New York, Charles L. Webster & Co., 1892
Octavo, pp. 277 + 8 (adverts). Finely bound in dark green full morocco, with gilt titles, gilt decoration and raised bands to spine, gilt rule to boards, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt. Original cloth spine and front board bound in at the back. With frontispiece and 23 illustrations by Dan Beard. A fine copy.
First Edition.
BENÉT, Stephen Vincent. America. London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1945
Octavo. Original blue cloth, titles to spine in white, tan endpapers. With the dust jacket. An excellent copy in the lightly rubbed jacket with a few small nicks and short closed tears.
First UK edition. first impression. A short interpretative history of the United States written in 1942 at the behest of the US Office of War Information and intended for translation and distribution world-wide.
This item is now sold.
