Gift Ideas
Rare books from Peter Harrington make the perfect gifts for loved ones or valuable customers & clients. We’ve picked the most sought after, interesting, luxurious and unusual books from our shelves - signed/autographed copies, first editions and other rarities, available with free delivery.
For any enquiries concerning any of the books listed or for help in finding a particular book, please email us via mail@peterharrington.co.uk
-
MCCABE, Joseph, Lucy Harrison Taylor, and Allison Hardy. The Story of the World's Oldest Profession; The Autobiography of a Pimp; The Autobiography of a "Madame".Girard, KS : 1932-6
First editions, first printings. Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 111860
-
WILDE, Oscar. The Works.London : 1908-22
First collected edition of Wilde's works, limited to 1,000 sets on handmade paper, including For Love of the King: a Burmese Masque, a play supposedly by Wilde but in fact forged by the Irish author Mabel Cosgrove.
The texts for this edition were mostly taken from the last editions to be supervised by the author. Copyright in The Picture of... Learn More£5,750.00Stock Code: 103391
-
SEUSS, Dr. The Cat in the Hat.New York : 1957
First edition, first issue, with the price listed on the dust jacket as 200/200 and the boards not laminated as in later issues. Learn More£3,000.00Stock Code: 99962
-
FLEMING, Ian. Live and Let Die.London : 1954
First edition, first impression, in the first issue jacket without the design credit slug to the front flap. The earliest dust jackets issued made no mention of Kenneth Lewis and at some point the need was recognised to credit his work. A stamp was made and as a stopgap existing jackets were overstamped beneath the blurb on the front flap. This slightly... Learn More£16,500.00Stock Code: 98869
-
CHEVANES, Jacques de. L'Incredulité scavante, et la credulité ignorante:Lyons : 1671
First edition, a reply to Gabriel Naudé's sceptical Apologie pour tous les grands personnages, qui ont été faussement soupçonnés de magie, recently republished in 1669.
Jacques de Chevanes (c.1608-1678) of Autun had personal experience of a witch-hunt in Burgundy in 1648/9, and the present work includes extracts from a 1670 interview with... Learn More£2,000.00Stock Code: 84955
-
BICKERSTETH, J. B. History of the 6th Cavalry Brigade 1914-1919.London : [1919]
First edition, first impression. Presentation copy from the author, inscribed on a preliminary blank: "From the Author, 14 Jan: 20".
Also present: the signed ("D. Haig") original typescript of Haig's Foreword (2 leaves, dated 15th August 1919, on GHQ letterhead); an autograph letter signed from Haig's private secretary Lieutenant-Colonel J.... Learn More£350.00Stock Code: 106246
-
YEATS, W. B. Some Passages from the Letters of AE to W. B. Yeats.Dublin : 1936
First edition, first impression; one of 300 copies. Letters to Yeats from his lifelong friend "AE" (Dublin-based mystical poet and painter George Russell: 1867 - 1935), between 1896 and 1932, collected and published in the year after his death. This copy bears some scholarly annotations in pencil. Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 83423
-
HARING, Keith; PINCUS-WITTEN, Robert; Jeffrey Deitch; David Shapiro. Keith Haring.New York : 1982
First and limited edition, first printing, one of 2,000 copies of the Tony Shafrazi Gallery's exhibition catalogue for one of Keith Haring's early exhibitions with the gallery, which took place in 1982. It includes excerpts from "Questions for Keith Haring" as well as essays upon the artist and his works by Jeffrey Deitch, Robert Pincus-Witten and David... Learn More£2,000.00Stock Code: 123544
-
YATES, Elizabeth Upham. Glimpses into Chinese Homes.Boston : 1887
First edition, inscribed by the author to a fellow Maine suffragist on the front free endpaper, "Mrs. Ann Greely, with kind regards, the author, Dec. 25 1890", with Greely's book label to front pastedown. This edition is now uncommon, especially inscribed, the present copy in notably attractive condition.
The recipient, Ann Jarvis Greely (1831-1914),... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 141614
-
SUTCLIFF, Rosemary. The Chronicles of Robin Hood.Oxford : 1950
First edition, first impression, of the author's first published book.
Rosemary Sutcliff (19201992) was an English novelist best known for children's books, especially historical fiction and retellings of myths and legends. She spent most of her life in a wheelchair, and "most of Sutcliff's intellectual stimulus had come from books read aloud... Learn More£500.00Stock Code: 135706
-
FRENCH LITERATURE. Fables, lettres, et variétés historiques.Londres : 1777
Second edition (first published by Elmsly alone in 1771) of this compendium of passages for students of French, here handsomely bound in red morocco, an English binding making considerable effort to match the generally higher standards of contemporary French binders. Peter Elmsly, or Elmsley, was principally involved in importing foreign books and was... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 100358
-
LESSING, Doris. The Golden Notebook.London : 1962
First edition, first impression, of the Nobel laureate's masterpiece. Learn More£950.00Stock Code: 98139
-
HEMINGWAY, Ernest. Green Hills of Africa.New York : 1935
First edition, first printing. His second major venture into non-fiction (after Death in the Afternoon, 1932), Green Hills of Africa is Ernest Hemingway's lyrical journal of a month on safari in the great game country of East Africa, where he and his wife Pauline journeyed in December of 1933. Hemingway's well-known interest in - and fascination with... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 77576
-
BAUM, L. Frank. The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus.Indianapolis : 1902
First edition, first printing. Baum is best known for the Wizard of Oz books, in two of which Santa Claus features as a guest of Oz. Learn More£3,950.00Stock Code: 107961
-
(CARROLL, Lewis.) WILLIAMS, Sidney Herbert (ed.) Some Rare Carrolliana.London : 1924
First and sole edition, number 24 of 75 copies signed by the editor on Abbey Mills antique paper; a further 4 copies signed on hand made paper were also issued. Williams was a renowned Carroll scholar and author of the first major bibliography of Carroll, The Lewis Carroll Handbook (1924). Learn More£500.00Stock Code: 140563
-
DARWIN, Bernard. The Golf Courses of the British Isles.London : 1910
First edition, first impression, in the first issue binding with the illustrator's name misspelled "Rowntree" on the front; this copy with promotional insert pasted to front free endpaper. An essential part of any golfing library, written by one of the great writers on the sport. Donovan & Murdoch note that the golf courses of Ireland were "eliminated"... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 136294
-
TEILHET, Darwin. The Talking Sparrow Murders.London : 1934
First UK edition, first impression of this mystery novel set in Nazi Germany. It was first published in the US earlier the same year. The publisher's retained copy with their stamp to the front panel of the dust jacket and the front pastedown. Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 93824
-
SHAKESPEARE, William. The Taming of the Shrew.1940
Limited issue, one of 1,950 copies. Learn More£650.00Stock Code: 87005
-
STEADMAN, Ralph (illus.); DURRELL, Lawrence; Sylvia Plath; and others. Steam Press Portfolio 2.London : 1974
First edition, number 48 of only 50 numbered copies, with each broadside numbered and signed by Steadman. All the poems are further signed by their respective authors, including Lyman Andrews, Asa Benveniste, Ruth Fainlight, and Alan Sillitoe, excepting Plath's for obvious reasons.
Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 100028
-
WHITE, Patrick. The Living and The Dead.London : 1941
First UK edition. The author's second novel and one of the great rarities of 20th century Australian literature. Learn More£2,250.00Stock Code: 120928
-
![[Complete detective novels:] Red Harvest; The Dain Curse; The Maltese Falcon; The Glass Key; The Thin Man.](https://d3dzzbbvj9im7s.cloudfront.net/media/catalog/product/cache/ae0834d12b7cf129fc73bcc000ea526a/1/1/116919.jpg)
HAMMETT, Dashiell. [Complete detective novels:] Red Harvest; The Dain Curse; The Maltese Falcon; The Glass Key; The Thin Man.New York & London : 1929-34
First editions, first printings, of the complete series of Hammett's seminal full-length detective novels. As usual The Glass Key is the first American edition; the first impression was printed in London in the same year during Knopf's ill-fated attempt to break into the British market and is scarce. Learn More£12,500.00Stock Code: 116919
-
HAWTHORNE, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter,Boston : 1850
First edition, first issue: with the advertisements dated "March 1, 1850" and the misprint "reduplicate" for "repudiate" at line 20 page 21.
Learn More£2,000.00Stock Code: 117377
-
SALOMÉ, Lou Andreas. Die Stunde ohne GottJena : 1922
First edition, first printing, of this collection of Salomé's short stories, scarce: two copies only in British and Irish institutional libraries (BL, Scotland) and KVK adds around 15 worldwide, it is certainly uncommon in commerce. Lou Andreas Salomé (1861-1937) was the remarkable Russian-born psychoanalyst and author, friend of Nietzsche, Rilke,... Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 105758
-
BLOCH, Robert. Psycho.New York : 1959
First edition, first printing. The work was the basis for Hitchcock's seminal film of the same title, released a year after the book was published. Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 101725
-
FORESTER, C. S. The African Queen.London : 1935
First edition, first impression. Learn More£1,650.00Stock Code: 98902
-
WILDE, Oscar. Lady Windermere's Fan.London : 1893
First edition, first impression. Wilde's first light comedy, Lady Windermere's Fan was produced at the St. James's Theatre on 20 February 1892. Learn More£3,750.00Stock Code: 91613
-
O'HARA, John. Appointment in Samarra.New York : 1934
First edition, first printing in lovely fine binding. Learn More£2,500.00Stock Code: 86667
-
AMBLER, Eric. The Mask of Dimitrios.London : 1939
First edition, first impression, of this Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone in detective fiction. Learn More£2,000.00Stock Code: 78304
-
KAFKA, Franz. The Castle.London : 1930
First edition in English, first impression. The Castle will never attain the fame of its sister The Trial, but in literary terms it is more than a match. This was the first publication in English of any of Kafka's books, preceding English editions of The Trial and Metamorphosis by some seven years. It is far scarcer than either. Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 83324
-
HARTLEY, L. P. Night Fears and Other Stories.London & New York : 1924
First edition, first impression, of the author's first published work. Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 75396
-
RACKHAM, Arthur (illus.); IRVING, Washington. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.Philadelphia : 1928.
Limited edition, one of 125 copies issued for the US, this copy out of series (there were also 250 issued for the UK). Learn More£2,950.00Stock Code: 77874
-
THOMPSON, Hunter S. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.New York : 1971
First edition in book form, first printing. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was first published in November 1971 as a two part series in Rolling Stone magazine, for which Thompson wrote until his death in 2005. It was adapted into a film of the same name by Terry Gilliam in 1998, featuring Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro in the lead roles. Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 77905
-
CONRAD, Joseph. The Secret Agent.1907
First edition, first impression. One of Conrad's very best works - a stunning novel of detection, espionage and revolution. "The Secret Agent depicts the atmosphere of Edwardian London in a psychological thriller of the anarchist underworld. Conrad's wit and chivalrous magnanimity are at their airiest in this novel." (Connolly) Learn More£2,000.00Stock Code: 70386
-
FORSTER, E. M. A Passage to India.1924
First edition, first impression. Learn More£1,375.00Stock Code: 71077
-
GREEN, Henry. Living.London & Toronto : 1929
First edition, first impression. Learn More£1,675.00Stock Code: 71598
-
SHAKESPEARE, William. Venus and Adonis.Oxford : 1905
Limited edition of 1,000 numbered copies, in a superb binding by the Chelsea Bindery, of this Oxford University facsimile reprint of the earliest surviving editions of Venus and Adonis, Lucrece, the Sonnets, The Passionate Pilgrim, and the play Pericles, as a supplement to the reproduction of the First Folio issued by the Oxford University Press in... Learn More£1,800.00Stock Code: 65822
-
DULAC, Edmund (illus.) Lyrics Pathetic & Humorous from A to Z.London : 1908
First edition of this humorously poetic alphabet. Learn More£3,250.00Stock Code: 66581
-
BRONTË, Charlotte, Emily & Anne. The Brontës Their Lives, Friendships and Correspondence in Four Volumes.Oxford : 1932
The Shakespeare Head Brontë. A handsomely bound set. Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 68435
-
KENT, Rockwell. Voyaging Southward from The Strait of Magellan.New York : 1926
Presentation copy from the author, inscribed in pencil at the head of the dedication page, "To my friend Nat Horwitt this 'voyage' (so far the only one we've sailed together on) is inscribed by me Rockwell Kent Au Sable Forks, March 1929". The recipient was the celebrated industrial designer Nathan G. Horwitt (1889-1990), "Horwitt is best known for... Learn More£1,925.00Stock Code: 60017
-
MURDOCH, Iris. Under The Net.London : 1954
First edition, first impression, of the author's first novel. Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 48515
-
JOYCE, James. Ulysses.London : 1936
First UK edition. The entire edition was limited to 1,000 copies only, of which this is one of 900 numbered copies. This was the first issue to be entirely produced in Britain, with an appendix with documents relating to the legal history of Ulysses and with a bibliography. Learn More£3,750.00Stock Code: 47333
-
GREENE, Graham. Brighton Rock.London : 1938
First UK edition, first impression. Originally published in the US earlier the same year. Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 48052
-
KINGSLEY, Charles; Warwick Goble (illus.) The Water Babies.London : 1909
First Goble Edition. "Goble moved into the big time in 1909 when he became the resident gift book illustrator for the large publishing firm of Macmillan. The first of his classic de luxe volume in the Macmillan series was The Water Babies, by Charles Kingsley. Containing 32 fine mounted colour plates by Goble, this ranks as one of the most beautiful... Learn More£1,750.00Stock Code: 38875
-
POLOVTSOFF, Pierre. Monte Carlo Casino.1937
First Edition, First Impression, preceding the American edition published the following year. The classic work by the then president of the International Sporting Club. Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 40081
-
![[The Sword of Honour trilogy:] Men at Arms; Officers and Gentlemen; Unconditional Surrender.](https://d3dzzbbvj9im7s.cloudfront.net/media/catalog/product/cache/ae0834d12b7cf129fc73bcc000ea526a/4/1/41544.jpg)
WAUGH, Evelyn. [The Sword of Honour trilogy:] Men at Arms; Officers and Gentlemen; Unconditional Surrender.1952-61
All first editions, first impressions. Learn More£3,025.00Stock Code: 41544
-
FAULKNER, William. Sartoris.New York : 1929
First edition, first printing. Sartoris is a revised version of Faulkner's Flags in the Dust, the full text of which was not published until 1973. It was the first of Faulkner's tales set in Yoknapatawpha County, and introduces many of the characters that appear in his later works Learn More£1,375.00Stock Code: 29322
-
FAULKNER, William. Go Down, Moses and other stories.New York : 1942
First edition, first printing of Faulkner's third collection of short stories. Learn More£1,375.00Stock Code: 36186
-
FAULKNER, William. Pylon.New York : 1935
First edition, first printing, limited issue. Number 310 of 310 copies only signed by the author; one of Faulkner's smallest limitations. Learn More£1,925.00Stock Code: 26303
-
CHRISTIE, Agatha. The Mysterious Mr. Quin.London : 1930
First edition, first impression. A collection of short stories featuring the characters of Mr Satterthwaite, a socialite, and the eponymous Mr Quin. Learn More£1,575.00Stock Code: 27137
-
AUSTIN, Alexander Berry (ed.) An Angler's Anthology.London & New York : 1930
First edition, first impression, deluxe issue with an original etching numbered and signed by the artist, number 7 of 100 copies signed by both Austin and Wilkinson on the limitation page. Uncommon, especially in the original box.
Norman Wilkinson (1878-1971) was a British artist and marine painter. Also an illustrator, poster artist, and wartime... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 140837
-
SHELLEY, Mary. Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus.London : 1888
A lovely example of Routledge's Pocket Library edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Shelley's pioneering work was first published in 1818. The definitive, expanded, text, which includes a new chapter and the celebrated Preface in which she describes the novel's genesis in the nocturnal storytelling session at the Villa Diodati, was published in 1831,... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 143253
-
FAULKNER, William. Pylon.New York : 1935
First edition, first printing, in uncommonly bright condition. Faulkner began work on what would become Pylon as soon as he returned from a trip to New Orleans to see the Pan-American air races two months after he received his pilot's license. The novel reflects "all the enthusiasm and fascination for aeronautica of the newly-fledged pilot" (Harrison,... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 143250
-
![[The Second World War, in Dutch:] Memoires over de tweede wereldoorlog.](https://d3dzzbbvj9im7s.cloudfront.net/media/catalog/product/cache/ae0834d12b7cf129fc73bcc000ea526a/3/4/34995detail.jpg)
CHURCHILL, Winston S. [The Second World War, in Dutch:] Memoires over de tweede wereldoorlog.Amsterdam/Brussels : 1948-54
First Dutch trade edition, inscribed by the author, volume 1 "Inscribed for Emery Reves by Winston S. Churchill, 1948", volumes 2 and 3 signed and dated 1949, volume 5 signed "WSChurchill", the others unsigned; from the library of Emery Reves, Churchill's literary agent.
Reves had been instrumental in promoting Churchill's pre-war international... Learn More£6,750.00Stock Code: 34995
-
O'FLAHERTY, Liam. The Informer.London : 1925
First edition, first impression. Learn More£1,375.00Stock Code: 70385
-
BECKETT, Samuel - FRASER, G. S. They Also Serve.London : Friday February 1956
Review article from The Times Literary Supplement on Waiting for Godot. Learn More£225.00Stock Code: 98646
-
MANNING, Frederic. Scenes & Portraits.London : 1909
First edition, first impression. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author to Eva Fowler, to whom he had been introduced the previous year, on the front free endpaper: "To Mrs Alfred Fowler, from the author. 17.5.1909" and with the bookplate of the recipient's husband to both front pastedown and front free endpaper. Eva Fowler (1872-1921) was a minor... Learn More£1,750.00Stock Code: 94483
-
BARBIER, George (illus.) Livre de Madame.Paris : 1918
First edition, first printing, of this rare lady's almanac, issued for the first American department store: Wanamaker's, and illustrated by George Barbier (1882-1932), a painter and artist who produced many illustrations for fashion and theatre costumes and set. Uncommon, the only copy listed institutionally is located by World Cat at the Morgan Library... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 141690
-
FITZGERALD, F. Scott. Tender is the Night.New York : 1934
First edition, first printing, in the first issue dust jacket with the T. S. Eliot review to the front flap. Tender is the Night was Fitzgerald's fourth novel, appearing some nine years after The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald set out to write an important and in many ways revolutionary work of fiction. Structurally complex, topically dangerous and personally... Learn More£17,500.00Stock Code: 124269
-
SMITH, Adam. Theorie der sittlichen Gefühle.Leipzig : 1791-1795
First complete German translation of Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments, the second German translation overall, volume two providing a translation of the additional material contained in the English 6th edition, published shortly before Smith's death in 1790. The first German translation of 1770 was made from the third edition of 1767. "The Kosegarten... Learn More£3,750.00Stock Code: 104689
-
CHATWIN, Bruce, & Paul Theroux. Patagonia Revisited.Wilton, Salisbury, Wiltshire : 1985
First edition, first impression, limited to 250 copies signed by both authors on the limitation leaf, of which this is number 163. Learn More£475.00Stock Code: 107573
