Literary criticism & biography
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FLEMING, Ian - FLEMING, Fergus. The Man With the Golden Typewriter.London : 2015
First edition, first impression, signed by the editor Fergus Fleming (Ian Fleming's nephew) on the title page. Fleming's collected letters are, aside from their literary merit, a crucial reference work for the publication history of the James Bond novels and for Fleming's relationships with his circle. Learn More£100.00Stock Code: 147178
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WOTTON, Sir Henry. A Parallell betweene Robert late Earle of Essex, and George late Duke of Buckingham.London : 1641
First edition. "These notices of Wotton's two chief Patrons are his most valuable contribution to the History of his own Times" (Hannah, p. xvii).
The author and diplomat Sir Henry Wotton (1568-1639) entered, in 1594, the service of Robert Devereux (1565-1601), second Earl of Essex, as his agent and secretary, supplying intelligence of affairs... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 140752
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SACKVILLE-WEST, Vita. Nursery Rhymes.London : 1947
First edition, signed limited issue, number 10 of 25 signed and specially bound copies; from a total edition of 550 copies. Learn More£2,500.00Stock Code: 146136
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WOOLF, Virginia. The Common Reader.London : 1925
First edition, first impression, of the first of the two volumes of Woolf's Common Reader, collecting critical essays, articles, and book reviews that had previously appeared in various publications. Learn More£400.00Stock Code: 146658
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WOOLF, Virginia. Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown.London : 1924
First edition, first impression. This essay, on writing, reading, and modernity, was published by Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press on 30 October 1924. The first instalment of the first series of Hogarth Essays, it is one of 1,000 copies. Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 145961
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WOOLF, Virginia. Reviewing.London : 1939
First edition, first impression. This essay, published on 2 November 1939, was the fourth instalment of the Hogarth Sixpenny Pamphlets series. It is one of 5,140 copies printed. Learn More£75.00Stock Code: 145970
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WOOLF, Virginia. Beau Brummell.New York : 1930
Signed limited edition, number 91 of 550 copies only, signed by the author in her customary purple ink on the half-title verso. This essay was first published in Nation and Athenaeum, 28 September 1929. Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 145936
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GAY SUNSHINE PRESS: GINSBERG, Allen, & Peter Orlovsky. Straight Hearts' Delight.San Francisco : 1980
First edition, first printing, letter O of 26 specially bound copies signed by Ginsberg and Orlovsky. This is publisher and editor Winston Leyland's own copy of the deluxe issue, additionally signed by him on the title page, and with two unpublished autograph letters signed from Ginsberg to Leyland laid in. The first letter, dated 26 November 1982,... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 123246
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GAY SUNSHINE PRESS. Gay Roots.San Francisco : 1991-3
First edition, first printing, Winston Leyland's own copy of the deluxe signed limited issue, letters B and Z of 26 specially bound copies signed by Leyland, these volumes additionally signed by Leyland on the title pages and deriving from his personal collection. There were also 300 unsigned cloth copies, the vast majority of which were sold to libraries.
Winston... Learn More£1,000.00Stock Code: 123228
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BORGES, Jorge Luis. Inquisiciones.Buenos Aires : 1925
First edition, first impression, a superlative presentation copy of the author's first work of prose. One of 505 copies printed, this is a uniquely untrimmed, unnumbered, and specially bound presentation copy inscribed by Borges on the first blank to his fellow Argentine author, and muse, Norah Lange (1905-1972).
Borges's inscription, using the... Learn More£27,500.00Stock Code: 145266
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WILDE, Oscar. The Chameleon.London : [1894]
The first and only number of The Chameleon to be published, noted as number 25 of 100 copies in manuscript to the front wrapper, containing the first appearance of Wilde's "Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young", two poems by Lord Alfred Douglas, and the editor John Francis Bloxam's anonymous and controversial homoerotic drama "The Priest... Learn More£12,500.00Stock Code: 144072
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BEATTIE, James - FORBES, Sir William. An Account of the Life and Writings of James Beattie, LL.D.Edinburgh : 1806
First edition of Forbes's principal work, an excellent association copy, inscribed on the front free endpaper to the author's son, "William Forbes Esqr. from the author"; together with a small group of related contemporary autograph material laid in which reflects the strong ties between the Forbes and Beattie families.
Sir William Forbes, 6th... Learn More£2,500.00Stock Code: 118450
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LEWIS, Wyndham. Blasting and Bombarding.London : 1937
First edition, first impression, first issue (in stiff boards). Blasting and Bombarding was the first of two autobiographical books written by Lewis (followed by Rude Assignment, 1950), and covers the period from 1914 to 1926, tracking Lewis's progress through the First World War and the literary and artistic upheavals of Modernism. Learn More£500.00Stock Code: 143803
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COWARD, Noël. Present Indicative.London : 1937
First edition, first impression. Presentation copy from the author, inscribed on the front free endpaper, "For Dennis Wheatley, from Nöel Coward"; with Wheatley's bookplate to the front pastedown. Present Indicative is Coward's "entertaining and often revealing memoirs" (Philip Hoare in ODNB). Learn More£900.00Stock Code: 114439
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SENNETT, Mack, & Cameron Shipp. King of Comedy.Garden City, NY : 1954
First edition, first printing. Presentation copy signed by Sennett and inscribed by Shipp on the front free endpaper, "For Wally and Joan Meier, keep laughing! Mack Sennett, Cameron Shipp". Mack Sennett (1880-1960) was a Canadian-American actor and director, an Academy Award winner and the innovator of slapstick comedy in Hollywood. Learn More£650.00Stock Code: 81753
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PICASSO, Pablo - SABARTÉS, Jaime. Picasso: Toreros.New York & Monte Carlo : 1961
First edition in English, first printing, published simultaneously with the French edition, with four lithographs executed by Picasso for this work entitled; La Pique, Le Picador II, Jeu de la Cape, Les Banderilles. Sabartés (1881-1968) was an artist, poet, and writer, as well as a close personal friend of Picasso's, "the friendship of Picasso and... Learn More£2,000.00Stock Code: 132543
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WILDE, Oscar, & James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Wilde v Whistler,London : 1906
First edition, first impression, one of 400 trade issue copies; a further 100 demy octavo copies were also issued.
Despite beginning as friends, the relationship between Wilde and Whistler descended into a bitter dispute as each sought to assert himself as spokesman for the aesthetic movement. Following the accusations of plagiarism,... Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 144070
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TROLLOPE, Anthony. Ayala's Angel.London : 1881
First edition of a difficult title to find in acceptable condition. Sadleir notes that "the serial rights of this story were sold to the National Press Agency on November 9, 1880" but that he had been "unable to discover what used was made of these rights". Learn More£1,000.00Stock Code: 128307
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ROWSE, A. L. Extempore Memorial.[Oxford : 1933]
Rare first and sole edition. A touching elegy for Charles Henderson (1900-1933), fellow historian and Cornishman, privately printed following his sudden death in Rome. In 1935 Rowse co-edited with Henderson's wife, Isobel Munro, Henderson's Essays in Cornish History (1935). An online search of institutional libraries cites copies at just five locations:... Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 140179
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LAWRENCE, D. H. - MAGNUS, Maurice. Memoirs of the Foreign Legion.London : 1924
First edition, first impression, one of 2,000 copies. Magnus's memoir of his time with, and subsequent desertion of, the French Foreign Legion was left unpublished upon his death by suicide in 1920; it is here published for the first time, together with a lengthy introduction and biographical sketch by Lawrence, his erstwhile friend. Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 144610
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BRITTAIN, Vera. Testament of Youth.London : 1933
First edition, first impression, of this powerful feminist classic; notably rare in the dust jacket, especially so in such nice unrestored condition this is the first we have handled. Lengel notes that this was "one of the most important pieces of literature to emerge from the war".
Brittain's memoir was an instant best-seller. Published on... Learn More£5,000.00Stock Code: 121385
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SCHOFF, Wilfred H. (trans.) The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.New York : 1912
First edition, first printing, of this translation of "the first record of organized trading with the nations of the East, in vessels built and commanded by subjects of the Western World, comparable to the journals of Marco Polo and Columbus and Vespucci" (introduction). Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 143761
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BRONTË, Charlotte - GASKELL, Elizabeth. The Life of Charlotte Brontë.London : 1857
First edition of Elizabeth Gaskell's pioneering, landmark biography of her close friend, "creating a new, feminine form which linked emotional and domestic life and suffering to creativity" (ODNB). The biography was hugely controversial at the time, and remains so today, for different reasons.
Gaskell was asked to write it by Patrick Brontë... Learn More£975.00Stock Code: 138990
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HUXLEY, Aldous. Proper Studies.London : 1927
First edition, first impression, of Huxley's third collection of essays. Learn More£100.00Stock Code: 143891
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STRACHEY, Lytton. Landmarks in French Literature.London : 1923
First edition thus (second overall), first impression, presentation copy inscribed on the front free endpaper "To Dadie from Lytton", and with the recipient's pictorial book plate to the front pastedown, and with a couple of minor corrections in ink by either one of them.
George Humphrey Wolferstan "Dadie" Rylands (1902-1999), became one of Leonard... Learn More£975.00Stock Code: 143674
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FRAZER, R. W. A Literary History of India.London : 1898
First edition, presentation copy from the author, with a full-page inscription on the front free endpaper: "I wrote this book in six months time and have repented ever since that I wrote it. It is however a pleasure to know that it has found an honoured home in the Library of Mr. J. Carleton Young. I now sign it in token of kindest regards and sincerest... Learn More£295.00Stock Code: 141343
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DE TORRE, Guillermo. Literaturas europeas de vanguardia.Madrid : 1925
First edition, first printing, of de Torre's famous defence of the avant-garde movement, which contains a detailed account of the origins and development of surrealism.
The Spanish writer and Dadaist, Guillermo de Torre (1900-1971), was a member of the group of avant-garde artists, collectively known as the "Generation of '27". Although the... Learn More£350.00Stock Code: 143311
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ORWELL, George. The Orwell Reader.New York : 1956
First edition, first printing. A beautiful copy of a collection of Orwell's writings, this edition was never published in the UK. Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 143817
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WILSON, Edmund. Axel's Castle.New York and London : 1931
First edition, first printing (Scribner's "A"), scarce in the jacket. Axel's Castle, which is numbered among Connolly's 100 Books of the Modern Movement, was an influential study on the roots of Modernism in the Symbolist Movement, with chapters on W. B. Yeats, Paul Valéry, T. S. Eliot, Proust, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, and Rimbaud. The title relates... Learn More£450.00Stock Code: 143829
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CASE, Frank. Tales of a Wayward Inn: Algonquin.New York : 1938
First edition, first printing of this memoir by the owner and manager of the Algonquin Hotel, during the heyday of the Algonquin Round Table. Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 143730
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HORNBY, Nick. Fever Pitch.London : 1992
First edition, first impression, inscribed on the title page "Best wishes, Nick Hornby". Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 142960
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GILL, Eric. Sacred and Secular in Art and Industry.Rhode Island : 1939
First edition, first printing, one of 400 copies only. In his lecture, Gill explores the relationship and the ratio of power between art and industry, skill and labour, personality and impersonality, and of course, sacred and secular. Learn More£150.00Stock Code: 142937
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WOOLF, Virginia (contrib.) Atalanta's Garland.Edinburgh : 1926
First edition, first impression, and first appearance of Virginia Woolf's essay "A Woman's College from Outside". This literary and artistic "miscellany" produced to celebrate and fund the Edinburgh University Women's Union in its 21st year.
It also features writing by, among others, Hilaire Belloc, W. H. Davies, Walter de la Mare, Fredegond... Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 142944
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WOOLF, Virginia (contrib.), and others. Atalanta's Garland.Edinburgh : 1926
First edition, first impression, and first appearance of Virginia Woolf's essay "A Woman's College from Outside". This literary and artistic "miscellany" produced to celebrate and fund the Edinburgh University Women's Union in its 21st year. Scarce in the jacket and in such good condition.
It also features writing by, among others, Hilaire Belloc,... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 143133
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GRAVES, Robert. Nine Hundred Iron Chariots.[Cambridge : 1963
First edition. One of 4,500 copies (3,000 of which were issued on 7 October 1963, and a further 1,500 later that month) produced from Graves's lecture at the M.I.T., which included lecturers such as Sir Edward V. Appleton, Secretary of the British Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.
This copy with an enigmatic annotation to the... Learn More£175.00Stock Code: 142891
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GRAVES, Robert. Oxford Addresses on Poetry.London : 1962
First edition, first impression. This book gathers the three annual lectures Graves gave in his first year as Professor of Poetry at Oxford University, as well as another three lectures given to University societies. Learn More£65.00Stock Code: 142778
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JAMES, W. P. Romantic Professions.London : 1894
First edition, first impression of this collection of essays, including the titular 'Romantic Professions', 'The Nemesis of Sentimentalism, 'Romance and Youth', and 'On the Naming of Novels'. Learn More£75.00Stock Code: 142754
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JOHNSON, Samuel - BOSWELL, James; George Birkbeck Hill (ed.) Boswell's Life of Johnson.Oxford : 1887
First Hill edition. By 1887 Hill was an established commentator of both Johnson and Boswell's works, having published Dr Johnson, his Friends and his Critics (1878) and an edition of Boswell's correspondence (1879). The Clarendon Press accepted Hill's proposal for a new edition of Boswell's Life in 1881, and the six volume text - the product of almost... Learn More£3,250.00Stock Code: 139100
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CHURCHILL, Winston S. Marlborough.London : 1933-1938
First editions, first impressions, in a handsome binding. "Marlborough: his Life and Times took its place at once among the classics of historical writing. As the story of his ancestor's leadership of a grand alliance to prevent the domination of the continent by a single power, it was also a source of inspiration to Churchill in his campaign against... Learn More£2,000.00Stock Code: 139225
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FREEMAN, Kathleen. The Work and Life of Solon.Cardiff : 1926
First edition, first impression. Presentation copy of the author's first book, inscribed by the author to her long-term partner, at the very start of their acquaintance, on the front free endpaper, "Lilian M.C. Clopet, from Kathleen Freeman July 14th, 1926". This work, "considered essential reading", is uncommonly found in the jacket or inscribed, this... Learn More£500.00Stock Code: 142281
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FERLINGHETTI, Lawrence, & Nancy J. Peters. Literary San Francisco.San Francisco : 1980
First edition, 84th printing, presentation copy inscribed to Beat icon, Carolyn Cassady, "For Carolyn in San Francisco on 'Literary San Francisco Day' 22 Sept 80", signed by both authors on the front free endpapers, and Cassady's annotations, on p. 179, correcting the text in her own entry, about her book Off the Road (1990).
The recipient, Carolyn... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 141947
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PAUL, Eden & Cedar. The Appreciation of Poetry.London : 1920
First edition, first impression. Presentation copy inscribed to the publisher Stanley Unwin on the front free endpaper: "To Stanley Unwin with the writers' kind wishes. October 30th, 1920." Learn More£65.00Stock Code: 140810
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![The White House Years: Mandate for Change 1953-1956 [and] Waging Peace 1956-1961 [together with] At Ease: Stories I Tell My Friends.](https://d3dzzbbvj9im7s.cloudfront.net/media/catalog/product/cache/ae0834d12b7cf129fc73bcc000ea526a/1/1/116984.jpg)
EISENHOWER, Dwight D. The White House Years: Mandate for Change 1953-1956 [and] Waging Peace 1956-1961 [together with] At Ease: Stories I Tell My Friends.New York : 1963, 1965, 1967
First editions of Eisenhower's two volumes of presidential autobiography and his later volume of discursive memoirs. Nelson Doubleday Jr. (1933-2015) was the last president of Doubleday and Company (1978-86) before its sale to Bertelsmann AG in 1986; he was grandson of the founder, Frank Nelson Doubleday ("Effendi"). Doubleday were Eisenhower's publishers... Learn More£3,000.00Stock Code: 116984
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LOKER, Chris One Hundred Books Famous in Children's Literature.New York : 2014
First edition, first printing. Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 136359
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REMINGTON, Frederic. Frederic Remington.Cody, Wy : 1996
First edition, first printing, deluxe issue, number 246 of 250 copies signed by both editors on the title page of the first volume. Frederic Sackrider Remington (1861-1909) was an American artist and writer who specialized in depictions of the Old American West. Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 141811
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GRAVES, Robert. Lars Porsena.London : [1927]
First edition, first impression of this satirical treatise on the decline of swearing in the English language, including a defence of James Joyce's Ulysses from the charge of obscenity. Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 140732
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WYNDHAM-LEWIS, D. B. Ronsard.London : 1946
First UK edition, third impression, of the author's biography of the French Renaissance poet Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585). The first edition was published in the US and UK simultaneously, with the first impression appearing in 1944. Learn More£25.00Stock Code: 140591
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JOHNSON, Samuel. An Account of the Life of Mr Richard Savage, Son of the Earl Rivers.London : 1744
First edition of Johnson's celebrated biography of his friend Richard Savage, the flamboyant poet, playwright, and blackmailer, here bound with the first edition of Oliver Goldsmith's life of Beau Nash, another of the most celebrated biographies of the 18th century.
Johnson's Life of Savage has the last page in the state with a single-line erratum.... Learn More£2,500.00Stock Code: 141773
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OWEN, Robert. The Life of Robert Owen: Written by Himself,London : 1857-8
First edition of the autobiography of Robert Owen (1771-1858), one of the most influential thinkers and social reformers of his time, "published in his eighty-seventh year, but probably written much earlier, perhaps when he was planning the writing of his memoirs in 1835. The first volume takes the story of his life to the early 1820s" (Goldsmiths'... Learn More£2,750.00Stock Code: 87786
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JOYCE, James - PRESCOTT, Joseph. James Joyce: A Study in Words.New York : March 1939
The truly rare original offprint, with only two copies listed by WorldCat worldwide (Harvard and National Library of Israel), of this groundbreaking early article on James Joyce, published two months before the final release of Finnegans Wake. Joseph Prescott would go on to become a major voice in Joycean studies, in particular through his book Exploring... Learn More£650.00Stock Code: 140930
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MARCEAU, Marcel. Ronald A. Wilford Presents Marcel Marceau and His Partner Pierre Verry.New York : 1973
First edition thus, first printing, inscribed by Marceau on title page verso "In dear memory of Bip flower doodle Marcel Marceau, 1973"; together with a programme signed "Bip flower doodle Marcel Marceau, 1973" for one of Marceau's show in Denver, in March 1973. Dunetz published similar performance souvenir programmes from the late 1960s to 1976. Wilford... Learn More£225.00Stock Code: 140997
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GAUDIER-BRZESKA, Henri - EDE, H. S. A Life of Gaudier-Brzeska.London : 1930
First edition, first impression, number 147 of 350 copies, of this illustrated biography of Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, "designed to be a worthy memorial of his work", as pointed out in the loosely inserted publisher's promotional leaflet. Of the edition of 350 copies, ten were issued signed and bound in leather. The regular issue is uncommon in the dust... Learn More£850.00Stock Code: 140770
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WOLLSTONECRAFT, Mary - HAYS, Mary, and others. The Annual Necrology for 1797-8.London : 1800
First edition, and sole volume, of this ambitious project to record obituaries of notable persons on an annual basis. The most significant memoir recorded here is the 49 page obituary of Mary Wollstonecraft by the feminist biographer Mary Hays (1759-1843). Hays received a copy of Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman upon its publication... Learn More£2,500.00Stock Code: 123651
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WAUGH, Evelyn. Edmund Campion.London : 1935
First edition, signed limited issue, number 45 of 50 copies signed by Waugh "for private distribution". Learn More£4,000.00Stock Code: 112493
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WILDER, Thornton Niven. The Memorial Service.Battell Chapel : 1976
First edition, sole impression, inscribed by Wilder's sister Isabel on the front panel "For Peter & Kenneth, remembering Thornton's affection & admiration for Bart & the many memories we share with affection Isabel Feb - 24, 1977", and with a manuscript note also from Isabel laid-in loose "and ALWAYS greetings & affection to Jan from Isabel Wilder".... Learn More£175.00Stock Code: 140296
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CHEKHOV, Anton - SMITH, Virginia Llewellyn. Anton Chekhov and the Lady with the Dog.London : 1973
First edition, first impression of this study of "Chekhov's relationships with women and the portrayal of them in his work" (p.xv). In a fine full morocco binding by Sangorski & Sutcliffe.
Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 140506
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HEANEY, Seamus, and others. A Tribute to Kevin Sullivan.New York : 1991
First edition, number 3 of 25 copies signed to the title page by all five contributors (Seamus Heaney, Thomas Flanagan, Benedict Kiely, Sean White, and June K. Davison). An unsigned issue was also released in an unrecorded run. The tribute reproduces the speeches given at the memorial reading for Sullivan at Queen's College, New York, on 2 May 1988.... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 140158
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DAHL, Roald. Going Solo.London : 1986
First edition, first impression. Inscribed by the author on the half-title, "To Jenny with love, Roald Dahl, 1988". Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 112116
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RENAN, Ernest. Poetry of the Celtic Races, and Other Essays.London : [1897]
First edition in English, this book was first published in France in 1854 as "La poésie des races celtiques". Ernest Renan (1823-1892) is best known for his 1863 Vie de Jésus, which was an immediate success, but " it is Renan's approach to the subject and his beautiful prose that gave it lasting eminence" (PMM 352).
This copy belonged to the... Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 139627
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RUNCIMAN, Steven. Medieval History and the Romantic Imagination.Oxford : [1963]
Scarce original offprint inscribed by the author "with best wishes SR" to the front free endpaper. This copy is from the library of John Julius Cooper, 2nd viscount Norwich (1929-2018) a hugely prolific popular historian and television presenter. Runciman and Norwich led very similar careers: both educated at Eton, both dabbling in the Foreign Service,... Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 139947
