Literary criticism & biography
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BATES, H. E. Edward Garnett.1950
First edition, first impression. Learn More£75.00Stock Code: 62417
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RIVIÈRE, Jules. My Musical Life and Recollections.London : 1893
First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the verso of the title page, "Anno 1898-99, to Mrs. Baker with compliments and best wishes from the author Rivière. P. S. as a musical conductor I have been beating the time for the last fifty years, but alas! Now, in my 80th year time beats me unmercifully".
Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 63632
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BAIRNSFATHER, Bruce - HOLT, Tonie & Valmai. In Search of the Better 'Ole.1985
First edition, first impression. Learn More£45.00Stock Code: 69406
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STEIN, Gertrude. Everybody's Autobiography.London : [1937]
First UK edition, first impression. Learn More£475.00Stock Code: 96832
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BREYTENBACH, Breyten. End Papers.London : 1986
First edition in English, first impression. It was published later the same year in the US, in Germany as Schlussakte Südafrika, and in Amsterdam as De andere kant van de vrijheid. Learn More£45.00Stock Code: 99217
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ALDISS, Brian W. The Shape of Further Things: Speculations on Change.London : 1970
First edition, first impression of the author's autobiography. Learn More£50.00Stock Code: 102150
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O'CONNOR, Frank. The Big Fellow: A Life of Michael Collins.London : 1937
First edition, first impression of this biography of the Irish revolutionary leader. Learn More£350.00Stock Code: 103567
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MARBLE, Alice. The Road to Wimbledon.New York & London : 1946
First edition, first printing, signed by the author on the front free endpaper. Uncommon signed, this is the first memoir by Alice Marble (1913-1990), ranked World No. 1 from 1936 to 1940. She became Wimbledon champion in 1939, winning not only the women's singles, but also the doubles and mixed doubles titles. Billie Jean King recalled: "Alice Marble... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 134406
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WASHINGTON, George - MARSHALL, John. The Life of George Washington,London : 1804-7
First English and the best edition overall, in the preferred quarto format, originally published in Philadelphia in the same years (5 volumes, octavo). "Apart from freeing his slaves after Martha Washington's death, Washington's long and detailed will left his public and private papers to his favourite nephew, Associate Justice Bushrod Washington. Bushrod,... Learn More£7,250.00Stock Code: 122506
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HASTINGS, Elizabeth - BARNARD, Thomas. An Historical Character relating to The holy and exemplary Life of the Right Honourable the Lady Elisabeth Hastings:Leeds : 1742
First edition of the principal biography of the celebrated Lady Elizabeth Hastings, known as "Lady Betty" (1682-1739). Extremely well known in her lifetime, Hastings "became notable for her intelligence, her pious character, and her support of charitable causes. She was commemorated in no. 42 of The Tatler (16 July 1709) as 'Aspasia', a 'female philosopher',... Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 135086
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KEROUAC, Jack. Visions of Cody.New York : 1972 [1973]
First collected edition, first printing, of Kerouac's novel written between 1951 and 1952, and first published (albeit incompletely) in 1960 as Excerpts from Visions of Cody. This edition was issued on 8 JAnuray 1973, the first UK edition was published later the same year. Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 136577
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YEATS, W. B. The Death of Synge, and other passages from an old diary.Dublin : 1928
First edition, first impression; 400 copies printed. Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 84001
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LEWIS, Wyndham. Blasting and Bombarding.London : 1937
First edition, first impression, second issue in the slightly limp boards. The first of two mainly autobiographical works, followed by Rude Assignment (1950). Blasting and Bombarding covers the period from 1914 to 1926. Learn More£65.00Stock Code: 91698
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AMIS, Kingsley. What Became of Jane Austen and Other Questions.London : 1970
First edition, first impression, of this collection of essays by Kingsley Amis including "literary criticism, of writers as diverse and Hans Christian Andersen and Dylan Thomas and novels from Sorrell and Son to Portnoy's Complaint; articles on such topics as horror films, the use of language, the National Eisteddfod of Wales and fictional detectives;... Learn More£100.00Stock Code: 85374
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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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ALLEN, Bernard M. The Rt. Hon. Sir Ernest Satow G.C.M.G. A Memoir.London : 1933
First edition, first impression, of this biography of eminent diplomat Ernest Satow (1843-1929). Satow was recruited by the Foreign Office straight out of university as a student interpreter in the British Japan Consular Service, at the age of 19. Satow had "an almost unprecedented proficiency" for Japanese amongst British diplomats, allowing him to... Learn More£150.00Stock Code: 129203
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BORGES, Jorge Luis. El "Martín Fierro"Buenos Aires : 1953
First edition, first printing, presentation copy inscribed by Borges and his co-author on the half-title, "Augosto 1953, A Gilda, profetizándole mucha felicidad, Jorge Luis Borges" and "A Gilda con carino autentico y eterno agradecimiento, Margot Guerrero." We have not been able to identify the recipient, but the double presentation and warm wording... Learn More£2,750.00Stock Code: 130217
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HUNTER, Sir William Wilson - SKRINE, Francis Henry. Life of Sir William Wilson Hunter.London : 1901
First edition, first impression. Inscribed by the author on the second free binder's blank, "Mrs. Patrick Caird, with the author's kind regards, 147 Victoria Street, S. W. Sep. 22nd 1904". The recipient was the wife of Patrick Caird of Caird & Company, a Scottish shipbuilding and engineering firm based near Glasgow. The Caird family was influential... Learn More£350.00Stock Code: 118105
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BOSWELL, James. The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.London : 1791 & 1793
First editions, presentation copies, both the Life of Johnson and Principal Corrections with individual autograph presentation inscriptions from the author to Andrew Lumisden (1720-1801), a friend of Boswell's who had assisted in preparing the Life by deciphering Johnson's manuscript notebook of his trip to France in October-November 1775.
This... Learn More£185,000.00Stock Code: 119415
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KEYNES, John Maynard - SKIDELSKY, R. John Maynard Keynes. Hopes Betrayed 1883-1920; The Economist as Saviour 1920-1937; Fighting for Britain 1937-1946.London : 1983-92-2000
First editions, first impressions, of Skidelsky's excellent three-volume biography. Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 121183
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PETRARCH - DOBSON, Susannah. The Life of Petrarch.London : 1775
First edition. "Susannah Dobson's first published work, in 1775, was an abridged translation in two volumes of Mémoires pour la vie de François Pétrarque, by Jacques François Paul Aldonce, abbé de Sade. According to Samuel Johnson, 'Mrs Dobson, the Directress of rational conversation, did not translate Petrarch; but epitomised a very bulky French... Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 124338
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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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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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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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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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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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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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NICOLSON, Harold. Paul Verlaine.London : [1921]
First edition, first impression, of the author's first book, an uncut copy with an exceptional example of the rare dust jacket. Nicolson's Verlaine is rare in the dust jacket - we have only seen one other, and can trace none at auction - this copy, almost untouched and unopened, is rarer still in such condition.
Harold Nicolson (1886-1968) was... Learn More£1,750.00Stock Code: 143337
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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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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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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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PINDAR, Paul. Remarkable Biography;London : 1821
First and only edition of this pseudonymously authored series of curious biographical sketches, including chapters on "Charles Mc. Ghie or Mackey", the Milanese Frances Scanagatti known as "the Female Soldier", and the freemason John Coustos. Though some catalogues have identified the author as the antiquary and numismatist John Yonge Akerman (1806-1873)... Learn More£575.00Stock Code: 133534
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![Focus One [together with] Focus Two.](https://d3dzzbbvj9im7s.cloudfront.net/media/catalog/product/cache/ae0834d12b7cf129fc73bcc000ea526a/1/4/140057.jpg)
PEARSE, Andrew, & Balachandra Rajan. Focus One [together with] Focus Two.London : 1945 & 1946
First editions, first impressions. Focus was a serial miscellany concerned with contemporary writing: Focus One presents a wide selection of poems and essays, while Focus Two is primarily concerned with the realist novel in the 1930s. Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 140057
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POUND, Ezra, & W. B. Yeats (eds.); FENOLLOSA, Ernest. Certain Noble Plays of Japan: From the Manuscripts of Ernest Fenollosa.Churchtown, Dundrum : 1916
First edition, first impression, number 277 of 350 copies printed by Elizabeth Yeats in September 1916. Fenollosa (1853-1908) was an American academic who became Curator of the Imperial Museum of Japan in 1888 and Curator of Oriental Art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1890. He was instrumental in promoting the study of Asian art in the west, and... Learn More£650.00Stock Code: 131792
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BECKETT, Samuel - HAYMAN, David. Tristan and Isolde in Finnegans Wake:[University Park, PA] : 1964
Offprint from the journal of Comparative Literature Studies. Inscribed by the author above the title, "For Sam Beckett with warm regards, David". Hayman is a literary critic and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who participated in the publication of Joyce's complete manuscripts, and has also written a number of essays on Beckett's works.... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 75881
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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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STRACHEY, Lytton. Eminent Victorians.London : 1918
First edition, first impression, of Strachey's most enduring work, in an attractive Bayntun Riviere binding. Eminent Victorians made Strachey's fame for its witty and irreverent treatment of its subjects, four heroes of the Victorian Age: Cardinal Manning, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Arnold, and General Gordon.
Strachey's friend Bertrand Russell... Learn More£650.00Stock Code: 144626
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BERG, Alban - ADORNO, Theodor W. Berg. Der Meister des Kleinsten Übergangs.Wien : 1968
First edition, first impression. Inscribed by the author on the title page to the poet Stephen Spender, "Für Stephen Spender, aller herz lichst von seinem Th. W. Adorno" and re-signed "Th. W. Adorno Frankfurt, 30. V. 69." Learn More£975.00Stock Code: 75441
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POUND, Ezra. The Cantos. Some Testimonies by Ernest Hemingway,New York : 1933
First edition, first impression. Learn More£600.00Stock Code: 78052
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(BURNEY, Fanny.) JOHNSON, R. Brimley. (Ed.) Fanny Burney and the Burneys.London : 1926
First edition, first impression. Additions to Madame d'Arblay's diary, letters by Susan Burney, a journal of the Worcestershire Burneys, and a selection of the works of Dr Burney, his children and grandchildren. Plates, the frontispiece being a photogravure reproduction of an allegorical sketch by Edward Burney. Ownership signature on front pastedown.140492... Learn More£85.00Stock Code: 81598
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WHITE, T. H. England Have My Bones.London : 1936
First edition, first impression. Scarce presentation copy inscribed by T. H. White on the title page, "N.H.H-B. / One book as a small token of gratitude for very many fried eggs. T.H.W." Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 83943
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SYNGE, John M. - MASEFIELD, John. John M. Synge: A Few Personal Recollections, With Biographical Notes.Churchtown, Dundrum : 1915
First edition, first impression, of Masefield's recollections of his friend J. M. Synge, who died in 1909; from a numbered limited edition of 350 copies. This copy is from the Garvan Collection on Ireland, with the bookplate and shelfmark annotation to title page verso in pencil. Learn More£225.00Stock Code: 83957
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YEATS, W. B. The Cutting of An Agate.London : 1919
First UK edition, first impression. The 1912 New York publication of this title had substantially different contents. An attractive copy and uncommon in the dust jacket. Learn More£875.00Stock Code: 84212
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DOUGLAS, Norman. Looking Back.London : 1933
First one-volume edition, first impression. Looking back was first published as a signed limited edition of two volumes in 1933. Learn More£175.00Stock Code: 88777
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DOUGLAS, Norman. Experiments.London : 1925
First trade edition, first impression. Collected essays, including the author's study of Charles Doughty's Arabia Deserta. Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 89330
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BLUNDEN, Edmund - THORPE, Michael. The Poetry of Edmund Blunden.[Wateringbury] : 1971
First edition, first impression, of the author's essay on Blunden's poetry, focusing on the "Joy" poems which are reproduced in the text. Learn More£65.00Stock Code: 89484
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DAVIES, Jonathan Ceredig. Life, Travels and Reminiscences of Jonathan Ceredig Davies.Llanddewi Brefi : 1927
One of 70 copies only printed by the author at his own printing-press for private circulation. This copy is inscribed "yours sincerely, J. Ceredig Davies" on the frontispiece, and was sent to Davies's cousin the Hon. Dan W. Williams, who is mentioned (though misnamed, as Williams comments in the margin) on page 5 as part of the global diaspora of Davies's... Learn More£2,250.00Stock Code: 93335
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KAHANE, Jack. Memoirs of a Booklegger.London : 1939
First edition, first impression of this memoir by the founder of the Obelisk Press. Scarce, due to most of the edition having been destroyed when a Nazi bomb hit the publisher's warehouse. Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 105121
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BURGESS, Anthony. Joysprick.London : 1973
First edition, first impression. Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 106702
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CUMBERLAND, Richard. The Observer: Being a Collection of Moral, Literary and Familiar Essays.London : 1786-1788
First edition of the first four volumes of Cumberland's Observer, comprising 125 essays. A fifth volume with a further 27 essays followed in 1790. "Although Cumberland will largely be remembered as a playwright, he was more than merely a man of letters. His novel Arundel (1789), written in epistolary form, begs comparison with Samuel Richardson's Sir... Learn More£325.00Stock Code: 106964
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FORSTER, E. M. Marianne Thornton 1797-1887.London : 1956
First edition, first impression, of Forster's biography of his paternal great-aunt. A lovely copy. Learn More£175.00Stock Code: 109653
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BURGESS, Anthony. Urgent Copy. Literary Studies.London : 1968
First edition, first impression. Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 109986
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AGATE, James. More First Nights.London : 1937
First edition, first impression of Agate's theatrical impressions. From the publisher's archive with their stamp to the half-title. Learn More£65.00Stock Code: 94973
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MOORE, George. Confessions of a Young Man.London : 1888
First edition in English. Originally published in French in 1886. A memoir written in the form of a novel about the author's bohemian life in Paris and London during the 1870s and 80s, and notable as one of the first English writings about the emerging French Impressionist art scene. With the advert for Parnell and His Island tipped-in to the front... Learn More£875.00Stock Code: 95927
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SMITH, Adam. Essays on Philosophical Subjects.Dublin : 1795
First Dublin edition, same year as the first London edition; Kress lists the Dublin printing first and calls the London "another issue" while Tribe calls the Dublin edition a piracy. The Essays were published five years after Smith's death and edited by the Scottish philosopher Dugald Stewart (1753-1828); his "Account of the Life and Writings of Adam... Learn More£2,250.00Stock Code: 97132
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HUXLEY, Elspeth. The Merry Hippo.London : 1963
First edition, first impression. Learn More£45.00Stock Code: 99495
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ROLFE, Frederick, Baron Corvo. Without Prejudice.[London] : 1963
First edition, limited issue, one of 600 copies. The first publication of this collection of letters from Rolfe to his publisher, John Lane, and which was published privately as a gift for friends and family by Allen Lane, John's nephew and the founder of Penguin Books. Learn More£75.00Stock Code: 102595
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SIMONDE DE SISMONDI, Jean Charles L. De la littérature du midi de l'Europe.Paris : 1813
First edition of Sismondi's survey of Italian, Provençal, Spanish, and Portuguese literature, which established him among the initiators of French Romanticism. Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 102671
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WOLFE, Humbert. Tennyson.London : 1930
First edition, first impression, number 3 in Faber's "The Poets on the Poets" series; a study of Tennyson's Maud. Learn More£75.00Stock Code: 103092
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CAMPBELL, Roy. Broken Record: Reminiscences.London : 1934
First edition, second issue, with pp. 105-8 removed and replaced with a cancel by the publisher, due to a libel case with Hugh MacDiarmid. Scarce in the jacket. Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 103284
