Literature & History (all items)
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HAMMETT, Dashiell.
Red Harvest. 1929
£47,500
First edition, first printing of the author's landmark first book. With the author's signed presentation inscription to the front free endpaper, "To Betty affectionately, Dashiell...
Octavo. Original red cloth, skull decoration to upper board in yellow with black border, titles and decoration to spine in yellow and black. With the dust jacket... Read more
COLLINS, Wilkie.
The Woman in White. 1860
£45,000
First edition, published on or around 15 August 1860 (preceding the New York edition by two weeks), of the classic early mystery novel, Collins's "best-known novel" and his "greatest...
3 volumes, octavo. Original violet-blue close bead-grain cloth, spines lettered and decorated in gilt, sides with decorative panel blocked in blind, cream endpapers,... Read more
ORWELL, George.
Animal Farm. 1945
£45,000
First edition, first impression. Signed the author "Geo. Orwell" on the front free endpaper. From the library of Michael Meyer with his ownership inscription to the front free...
Octavo. Original green cloth, titles to spine in white. With the supplied dust jacket. In a quarter green morocco drop down box. Light vertical crease to the front... Read more
LAWRENCE, D. H.
The Rainbow. 1915
£42,500
First edition, first impression. This book was suppressed shortly after publication with the result that half of the print run was destroyed. One of a handful of copies in the dust...
Octavo. Original turquoise cloth, titles to spine gilt and to upper board in blind. With the dust jacket. In a red cloth solander case. A stunning copy in the bright... Read more
[BRONTË, Charlotte]
Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. Edited by Currer Bell. 1847
£39,500
First edition of one of the keystone books for any collection of 19th-century literature, Charlotte Brontë's first novel and the first published novel of any of the Brontë...
3 volumes, octavo. Contemporary blond half calf, double green morocco labels, spines gilt in compartments with flower-head tools and lattice work, matching... Read more
JOYCE, James.
Ulysses. 1922
£37,500
First edition. From a total edition of 1000 copies this is copy number 619 of the last 750 on handmade paper. There were also 100 signed copies on thicker paper and 150 large paper...
Small quarto. Original blue wrappers, titles to cover in white. In a blue quarter morocco solander case with marbled sides and blue chemise. Lightly rubbed, spine... Read more
BECKETT, Samuel.
More Pricks Than Kicks. 1934
£37,500
First edition, first impression of the author's first published book of fiction (preceded only by the poem Whoroscope and his essay Proust). This is certainly Beckett's scarcest...
Octavo. Original tan cloth, titles to spine in blue, top edge stained tan. With the dust jacket. Housed in a quarter green morocco folding case. Pages just a little... Read more
SWIFT, Jonathan.
Travels Into Several Remote Nations of the World. 1726
£35,000
First Edition, Teerink's A edition with all the necessary points to distinguish it from the two later printings (Teerink AA and B) dated 1726. The first five editions of Gulliver's...
2 volumes, octavo. Recent period-style full red morocco. Frontispiece portrait of Gulliver (state B, as called for), 4 maps and 2 plans. Read more
STEINBECK, John.
The Grapes of Wrath. 1939
£35,000
First edition, first printing. Presentation copy inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "For Elizabeth Eulass, John Steinbeck" with a small drawing of a duck. Eulass was...
Octavo. Original oatmeal cloth, titles to spine and pictorial decoration to boards in brown, music endpapers. With the dust jacket. In a tan morocco solander case.... Read more
JOYCE, James.
Exiles. A Play In Three Acts. 1918
£32,500
First Edition, First Impression. With the author's signed presentation inscription to the half title page, "To Jacques Benoist-Mechin James Joyce 3. xi. 921 Paris". The recipient was...
Octavo. Bound by Douarin in contemporary three quarter blue morocco, marbled paper boards, titles to spine gilt, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers. Joints very lightly... Read more
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. 1956–58
£32,500
First editions, first impressions. Each volume inscribed at time of publication on the front free endpaper to his first child Diana: volume I, "Diana from Papa 4 March 1956"; volume...
4 volumes, octavo. Original dark red cloth, titles gilt to spines, mulberry top-stain. With the dust jackets. Housed within green cloth chemises in two green quarter... Read more
WELLS, H. G.
The Island of Dr. Moreau. 1896
£30,000
First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author "M. C. Robbins from H. G. Wells" with a drawing in the author's hand – a characteristic Wells "picshua" – of three...
Octavo. Original tan boards, titles and illustration to upper board in red and black, titles to spine in black. Housed in a red quarter morocco solander box made by... Read more
HARDY, Thomas.
The Trumpet Major. A tale. 1880
£30,000
First edition in book form of Hardy's great novel of the Napoleonic war, written to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Trafalgar. Purdy notes that the novel was published "in an...
3 volumes, octavo. Original red diagonal-fine-ribbed cloth, front covers with pictorial design in black (encampment and mill, from a drawing by the author) and... Read more
FITZGERALD, F. Scott.
Flappers and Philosophers. 1920
£30,000
First edition, first printing. With the author's signed presentation inscription to the front free endpaper, "For George W. with many congratulations and good wishes F. Scott...
Octavo. Original green cloth, titles to upper board in blind and to spine gilt. With a supplied fifth printing dust jacket. Housed in a dark green quarter morocco... Read more
SHELLEY, Mary.
Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus. 1823
£30,000
Second edition, the first in which Mary Shelley is named as the author; not merely a reprint of the first edition of 1818 as some have supposed. E. B. Murray notes that there are a...
2 volumes, duodecimo. Uncut in original blue paper boards, drab paper backstrips, printed spine labels. Custom blue morocco-backed slipcase and chemise. Head of vol.... Read more
FAULKNER, William.
Big Woods. 1955
£30,000
First edition, first printing. Presentation copy inscribed by the author to his mother on the front free endpaper: "To Mother with love William Faulkner." Additionally inscribed on...
Octavo. Original green cloth. With the dust jacket. In a quarter morocco slipcase. Slightly rubbed at the extremities. Read more
DONNE, John.
Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Authors Death. 1633
£29,500
First edition of the principal collection of Donne's poetical works, issued two years after his death, together with his Juvenilia. This copy has the two inserted leaves with "The...
2 works bound in one, quarto (186 × 137 mm). Contemporary calf, skilfully rebacked and relined to style, covers with three-line blind rules, edges speckled red.... Read more
AUSTEN, Jane.
Mansfield Park: 1814
£27,500
First edition, complete with the half-titles which were habitually discarded by Regency binders. The third of Jane Austen's novels to be published was begun about the same time Sense...
3 volumes, duodecimo. Contemporary half calf, smooth spines gilt-lettered direct, compartments decorated in blind, gilt rules, marbled paper sides, endpapers and... Read more
AUSTEN, Jane.
Sense and Sensibility: a novel. In three volumes. By a Lady. 1811
£27,500
First edition of the author's first published novel. Begun in the mid-1790s, Sense and Sensibility, like Pride and Prejudice, went through two versions before publication, but the...
3 volumes, duodecimo (172 ×100 mm). Contemporary black half calf, marbled boards, recently rebacked to style with spines gilt in compartments. Corners and edges... Read more
WOOLF, Virginia.
Jacob's Room. 1922
£27,500
First edition, first impression. One of 40 "A" subscribers' copies with the part-printed limitation label to the front free endpaper completed in ink by Virginia Woolf and signed by...
Octavo. Original yellow cloth, white paper title label to spine printed in black. Contents a little spotted and rather shaken, spine label lightly rubbed. Very good. Read more
MELVILLE, Herman.
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. 1851
£25,000
First American edition, in the first binding with orange endpapers and the publisher's device stamped centrally on the sides. The American edition was the first to appear under the...
12mo. Original purple-brown cloth, publisher's devices to each board in blind, titles to spine gilt, orange coated endpapers. Housed in a blue half morocco slipcase... Read more
WOOLF, Virginia.
Jacob's Room. 1922
£25,000
First edition, first impression. One of probably 40 "A" subscribers' copies with the part-printed limitation label to the front free endpaper completed in ink by Virginia Woolf and...
Octavo. Original yellow cloth, white paper title label to spine printed in black. Housed in a quarter black morocco box. Some foxing early and late, endpapers lightly... Read more
FLEMING, Ian.
Diamonds are Forever. 1956
£25,000
First edition, first impression. The fourth in the James Bond series. Inscribed by the author "To Darling Caroline from Darling Ian" on the front free endpaper. Caroline was a...
Octavo. Original black boards, diamond grid to upper board in blind with diamond device in silver, titles to spine in silver. With the dust jacket. Housed in a full... Read more
ORWELL, George.
Coming Up For Air. 1940
£25,000
First edition, first impression. Signed by the author "Geo. Orwell" on the front free endpaper. From the library of Michael Meyer with his 1945 ownership inscription to the front...
Octavo. Original blue cloth titles to spine in blue. Spine rolled and a little faded, cloth a little rubbed. Very good. Read more
ROWLING, J. K.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. 1997
£25,000
First edition, first impression, the preferred case-bound issue, with all the requisite points of first printing: Bloomsbury imprint, 10-down-to-1 number line, and the list of...
Octavo. Original matt laminated printed boards. Without dust jacket as issued. Head of spine and lower corners bumped, 'The Pushkin Schools' Prize' bookplate to... Read more
