Literary criticism & biography
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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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GIBSON, Harvey Dow. An Autobiography.North Conway, New Hampshire : 1951
First and sole edition, first printing, presentation copy from Gibson's widow Helen Whitney Gibson to Kate Davison, inscribed and dated 2 June 1952. This is the privately printed autobiography of the American businessman, bank president, and Chairman of the American Red Cross during World Wars I and II. It was published by his widow Helen Whitney Gibson... Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 117964
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JONES, Kelvin I. The Sherlock Holmes Murder File.New York : 1985
First edition, first printing. This uncommon work details the deaths found in the Holmes canon in a "scholarly compendium". It is listed on OCLC in only seven institutions worldwide, all in the US. Learn More£50.00Stock Code: 117782
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KENNEDY, John F. Profiles in Courage.New York : 1956
First edition, first printing. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To Mr. and Mrs. John Knight - with the very highest regards - John Kennedy". John S. Knight (1894-1981), a pioneering journalist and close personal friend of the Kennedys, founded Knight Newspapers, which would later become Knight Ridder, which was... Learn More£17,500.00Stock Code: 117813
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AYER, A. J. Part of My Life.London : 1977
First edition, first impression, of Ayer's autobiography; presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To Caroline Anne Tuell, with my best wishes from Freddie Ayer. Bournemouth, October 13 1977". Anthony Smith's review for The Observer of A. J. Ayer: A Life in Philosophy by Ben Rogers is laid in to the front... Learn More£325.00Stock Code: 117409
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(ERASMUS, Desiderius.) KNIGHT, Samuel. The Life of Erasmus.Cambridge : 1726
First edition of Knight's biography of the Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus, who first visited England in 1498, later spending a number of years Cambridge. This copy with the frontispiece and plates listed in the list of cuts, with the additional plates as called for in Lowndes. Samuel Knight was an English clergyman and antiquary, he served as chaplain... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 117410
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![On Translating Homer, Three Lectures Given at Oxford; [together with:] On Translating Homer, Last Words, a Lecture Given at Oxford.](https://d3dzzbbvj9im7s.cloudfront.net/media/catalog/product/cache/ae0834d12b7cf129fc73bcc000ea526a/1/1/117142.jpg)
(HOMER.) ARNOLD, Matthew. On Translating Homer, Three Lectures Given at Oxford; [together with:] On Translating Homer, Last Words, a Lecture Given at Oxford.London : 1861 & 1862
First editions of the first published criticism by Matthew Arnold, who was primarily known for his poetry: "Here, taking the translation of the Iliad by F. W. Newman, brother of the theologian, as his main target, Arnold pilloried the tendency of learning to degenerate into antiquarianism and pedantry" (ODNB). From the library of English poet John Drinkwater,... Learn More£1,000.00Stock Code: 117142
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(STEVENSON, Robert Louis.) KELMAN, John. The Faith of Robert Louis Stevenson.Edinburgh : 1903
First edition in a fine binding by Zaehnsdorf. Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 116951
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(SHAKESPEARE, William.) SCHOENBAUM, S. A Documentary Life.New York : 1975
First edition, first impression. The known information about Shakespeare's life and the documents associated with it are the focus of this profusely illustrated book. Where possible, the facsimiles included are reproduced full size. Learn More£225.00Stock Code: 116641
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[YOUNG, Geoffrey Winthrop.] Wall and Roof Climbing.Eton College : 1905
First edition, first impression, very scarce presentation copy inscribed "'from the Culprit' 1906", of this notable satirical anthology of buildering lore through the ages by Geoffrey Winthrop Young (1876-1958), author of The Roof-Climber's Guide to Trinity (1899), this his second book, and an early title in the lineage of Cambridge-related roof-climbing... Learn More£975.00Stock Code: 115630
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ARNOLD, Matthew Essays in Criticism.London and Cambridge : 1865
First edition, first issue, presentation copy inscribed "From the Author" in the hand of the publisher on the half-title. This is the first of Arnold's two influential Essays in Criticism, published by Arnold as Oxford Professor of Poetry. The second was published in 1888. The subjects in this work include Heinrich Heine, Pagan and Mediaeval Religious... Learn More£425.00Stock Code: 115429
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(WHITMAN, Walt.) BUCKE, Richard Maurice. Walt Whitman.Philadelphia : 1883
First edition, first printing, of this biography of Whitman by his devotee, physician Dr. Richard Bucke. "An unconventional book, as much anthology of documents about the poet as a biography. It was also a collaboration; Whitman advised throughout, revised Bucke's text, and wrote significant portions of the book himself" (LeMaster: Walt Whitman, An... Learn More£350.00Stock Code: 115095
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LEWIS, Wyndham. Time and Western Man.London : 1927
First edition, first impression, presentation copy, inscribed on the front free endpaper, "To H. E. Dounce, from Wyndham Lewis, October 1927". Harry Esty Dounce (1889-1947) was an American journalist and book reviewer. Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 115120
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(BLAKE, William.) KEYNES, Sir Geoffrey. Laocoon. A Last Testament.Clairvaux : 1976
First edition, number 11 of 380 copies thus, this copy inscribed on the limitation leaf by the publisher Arnold Fawcus, "For Raymond: Geoffrey's most recent and exciting contribution to Blake scholarship, warmest regards, Arnold", from a total edition of 438 copies. This Trianon production constitutes a finely illustrated disquisition by Keynes on Blake's... Learn More£875.00Stock Code: 115020
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BUSSY, Dorothy & Simon. A series of letters to art historian and biographer Auguste Bréal.Roquebrune, London, Nice, etc. : 1919-40
Dorothy Bussy (née Strachey) had translated Bréal's book on Velazquez back in 1905 and the present letters have an easy intimacy throughout. In the first she introduces J. M. Keynes "(pronounced Canes) He is something of a swell an intimate friend of my brother Lytton's, Duncan Grant's chief patron, the headquarters in fact of all the Bloomsbury... Learn More£5,000.00Stock Code: 114757
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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£300.00Stock Code: 114803
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SYMONDS, John Addington. Ben Jonson.London : 1888
Symonds's appreciation of the playwright Ben Jonson, an early edition handsomely bound by Zaehnsdorf with the original cloth preserved at the rear. Learn More£200.00Stock Code: 114531
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SYMONDS, John Addington. Sir Philip Sidney.London : 1886
First edition of Symonds' appreciation of Elizabethan poet and courtier Sir Philip Sidney, attractively bound by Zaehnsdorf with the original cloth bound in. From the English Men of Letters series, edited by John Morley. Learn More£225.00Stock Code: 114532
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YEATS, John Butler. Illustrated autograph letter signed to Gilbert Seldes.New York : 1921
In this illustrated letter written six weeks before his death, John Butler Yeats (1839-1922), father of the poet W. B. Yeats, writes to Dial editor Gilbert Seldes: " That hour glass is a great comfort to Father Time & to others. Art with representation, that is, without condition is the latest demands of austere critics. These people, & among them are... Learn More£4,500.00Stock Code: 114617
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POUND, Ezra. Gaudier-Brzeska.London : 1916
First edition, first impression, review copy sent by the publisher to art critic C. Lewis Hind, with his ownership inscription to the front free endpaper, "C. Lewis Hind, May 1916", and the blind stamp to title page, "Review Copy with John Lane's Compliments". Hind (1862-1927) was a British journalist and art historian, who edited several art magazines,... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 114437
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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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CLINTON, Bill. My Life.New York : 2004
First edition, first printing. Signed by Clinton on the title page. Learn More£500.00Stock Code: 114322
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CHURCHILL, Winston S. Thoughts and Adventures.London : 1932
First edition, first impression. This is the second volume of Churchill's autobiographical writings, covering his early political career, the battle of Sidney Street, a near silence on Gallipoli, service on the Western Front, the negotiation of the Irish settlement, thoughts on the "Mass effects of modern life" and life "Fifty years hence". Containing... Learn More£4,500.00Stock Code: 114371
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MOORE, Thomas. The Life of Lord Byron.London : 1844
Moore's biography was first published in 1830 as Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, a title "distracting attention from the skill with which Moore constructed his portrait" (ODNB). "Byron had given his manuscript memoirs to Moore in the expectation that his friend might profit from them should he survive him. Moore later sold the manuscript to Murray... Learn More£225.00Stock Code: 113992
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(WILDE, Oscar.) RICKETTS, Charles, & Jean Paul Raymond. Oscar Wilde.London : 1932
First and limited edition, number 474 of 800 copies only, a superb copy in the jacket. A printed note informs the reader that "Charles Ricketts wrote and in 1929 privately issued 'Beyond the Threshold', which he pretended was but his translation from the original French of Jean Paul Raymond. He again introduces this imaginary author into his own recollections... Learn More£475.00Stock Code: 113812
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(GOLDING, William.) GEKOSKI, R. A., & P. A. Grogan. William Golding: A Bibliography, 1934-1993.London : 1994
First and limited edition. Number 54 of 900 copies which were supposed to have been numbered by Golding in Roman numerals, but instead were numbered in Arabic. There were also 1,000 copies bound in quarter leather, numbered in Arabic numerals and signed by Golding. This copy is unsigned and comes with an erratum slip tipped-in at the limitation page,... Learn More£225.00Stock Code: 112721
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STEIN, Gertrude. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas.New York : 1933
First edition, first printing, in the first issue binding. Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) and Alice Toklas (1877-1967) established Paris's most notable literary salon together at 27 rue de Fleurus, where notable American expatriates and artists would gather each Saturday evening. This work, written by Stein in Toklas's "wryly humorous voice" is Stein's... Learn More£675.00Stock Code: 112726
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YEATS, W. B. The Death of Synge, and other passages from an old diary.Dublin : 1928
First edition, first impression, one of 400 copies. The Cuala Press was one half of the Cuala Industries, a co-operative business run by Lily and Elizabeth Yeats. Cuala Industries was founded with the aim of reviving the craft of book printing in Ireland and "to give work to Irish girls" (McMurtrie, p. 472). The press's "clearly legible, slender volumes... Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 112249
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(PICASSO.) [HALÁSZ, Gyula.] BRASSAÏ. Un apres-midi avec Picasso 85 ans. (An Afternoon with Picasso at 85).[Cannes, : 1966]
A superb unpublished and heavily corrected manuscript in French, in which Brassai recounts his visit to Picasso, a long-standing friend, at his home near Cannes. Brassaï, who photographed much of Picasso's work in the 1940s, had published Conversations with Picasso in 1964, in which he created an intimate portrait of Picasso, covering their friendship... Learn More£7,500.00Stock Code: 112218
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THOMSON, H. Douglas. Masters of Mystery.London : 1931
First edition. "Despite the universal appeal of detective fiction, only recently has serious attention been paid to its technique. It is surely high time that criticism "placed" detective fiction and officially recognised the conscientious craftsmanship that beguiles our leisure hours" (Foreword). Study described by Ellery Queen as "the most ambitious... Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 111577
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(JOHNSON, Samuel.) [BIRRELL, Augustine.] Aphorisms on Authors and their Ways;[London] : 1917
First and only edition, 100 copies printed. Presentation copy from the author, inscribed on the initial blank, "To M.C, from AB, Christmas 1917" on the initial blank, and latterly in the collection of American-born Conservative politician and diarist Sir Henry "Chips" Channon (1897-1958), with his pencilled ownership inscription to the front free endpaper.... Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 111281
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DERRIDA, Jacques. The Work of Mourning.Chicago & London : 2001
First edition, first printing, presentation copy, inscribed by Derrida to the poet and photographer Ira Cohen on the title page, "Pour Ira, de tout coeur, J.D." The book is a collection of eulogies, essays and condolences on the deaths of 14 writers and thinkers who were Derrida's friends or colleagues: Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Louis Althusser,... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 111353
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CARTER, John, & Percy H. Muir (eds.) Printing and the Mind of Man.Munich : 1983
Second edition, revised and enlarged, of this major reference work for book collectors, which was originally published in 1967. With a new bibliography and introduction by Percy H. Muir. PMM, as it is usually abbreviated, is regarded as a standard bibliographical reference, and offers a survey of the impact of printed books on the development of western... Learn More£75.00Stock Code: 111397
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SYMONS, A. J. A. The Quest for Corvo. An Experiment in Biography.London : 1934
First edition, first impression, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "For Vincent, a tribute to a long a noble friendship, with the sincere and cordial salutations of his colleague in letters and admirer in life. A.J. Feb 3rd, 1934". The recipient, identified by a pencilled note, was Harold Vincent Marrot (1898-1954),... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 109896
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MAUGHAM, W. Somerset. Strictly Personal.London : 1942
First UK edition, first impression. It was first published in the US the preceding year. Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 109930
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BARTHELME, Donald. Here in the Village.Northridge : 1978
First edition, signed limited issue, accompanied by the author's extensively hand-corrected galley proofs for the preface and the first essay in the book. This is number 7 of 275 copies signed by the author (a further 50 signed copies were also issued, with a collage by the author as a frontispiece). Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 109942
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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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MAILER, Norman. Gargoyle, Guignol, False Closet.Dublin : 1964
First separate edition, one of 100 copies. Presentation copy, inscribed by Mailer on the front cover to Herb Yellin (1935-2014) the American book collector and founder of the Lord John Press in 1976 to publish signed limited editions of significant American authors: "For Herb Yellin, cheers, cheers. Norman Mailer, March 1992." Yellin published two of... Learn More£1,750.00Stock Code: 109702
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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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BEERBOHM, Max. A Survey.London : 1921
First edition, trade issue of Beerbohm's caricatures of public figures ranging from Joseph Conrad to David Lloyd George. There was also a deluxe limited edition of 275 numbered copies signed by the author. Learn More£175.00Stock Code: 109359
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WHITE, T. H. The Godstone and the Blackymor.London : 1959
First edition, first impression, inscribed by the illustrator, "Signed for Bridget by Edward Ardizzone, Feb 1968", on the front free endpaper, with a typed letter from the Book Trade Group referring to Ardizzone's visit to Melbourne, a related newspaper clipping and a prospectus from Jonathan Cape for their journal Now and Then, all laid in. A lovely... Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 108471
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MUCHA, Jiří. The Problems of Lieutenant Knap.London : 1945
First edition, first impression, preceding its publication in the original Czech (as Problémy nadporučíka Knapa) by a year. Ewald Osers was a noted translator of Czech, Slovak and German; of Jewish origin, he left his native Prague for England in 1938 and spent more than 40 years working for the BBC Monitoring Service. Learn More£150.00Stock Code: 107712
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NAVARI, Leonora. Greece and The Levant. The Catalogue of The Henry Myron Blackmer Collection of Books.London : 1989
First edition, one of 300 copies of this important bibliographical reference detailing the Henry M. Blackmer Collection, the finest collection on Modern Greece and Levantine studies at the time of its sale in October 1989. Blackmer was an American banker who settled in Athens and formed this remarkable collection as a tribute to his adopted country,... Learn More£2,250.00Stock Code: 107507
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CARTLAND, Barbara. I Search for Rainbows.London : 1967
First edition, first impression of Cartland's autobiography. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author "To darling Denise - the most glamorous writer in the world - with love from her ever admiring Barbara, 1967" on the front free endpaper. The recipient was Cartland's friend and rival romantic novelist Denise Robins. Cartland was the dedicatee of... Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 106956
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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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GRAVES, Robert. The English Ballad.London : 1927
First edition, first impression. Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 106674
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BURGESS, Anthony. Joysprick.London : 1973
First edition, first impression. Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 106702
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CONNOLLY, Cyril. Enemies of Promise.London : 1938
First edition, first impression, uncommon in the dust jacket. "Connolly made a surer reputation than with his debut novel The Rock Pool (1936) with Enemies of Promise (1938). This work is part literary criticism, part general observations on the life of the writer, part childhood autobiography, part astute assessment of the precocity forced on English... Learn More£500.00Stock Code: 106756
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LEWIS, Wyndham. The Caliph's Design.London : 1919
First edition, first impression, 1,000 copies were printed. With the rare publisher's flyer for Lewis's debut novel Tarr, "some were laid into copies of The Caliph's Design" (Morrow & Lafourcade). "In The Caliph's Design: Architects! Where is Your Vortex?, Lewis offers the most sustained and considered of his early critiques of the art scene of the... Learn More£425.00Stock Code: 106471
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ETCHISON, Dennis (ed.) Lord John Ten: A Celebration.Northridge, California : 1988
First edition, signed limited edition, deluxe issue. Number 3 of 75 specially bound copies, signed by the contributors: Robert Bloch, Dennis Etchison, James Purdy, Patrick W. Magee, Robert B. Parker, Bruce Francis, James Crumley, Whitley Strieber, Robert Lannes, Joyce Carol Oates, John Updike, William F. Nolan, Lorri Ziegler, Barry N. Malzberg, Jack... Learn More£475.00Stock Code: 105651
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SITWELL, Osbert. Left Hand, Right Hand! An Autobiography.London : 1945-48-49-50
First UK editions, first impressions of Volumes I-IV (first published in the US in 1944, 1946, 1947, and 1948 respectively), and the first edition, first impression, of Volume V, which precedes the US edition by three days. The famous dust jackets were designed by Henry Cowdell, Art Director at Macmillan.
"On the death of his father in 1943,... Learn More£325.00Stock Code: 105764
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(BROCK, H. M.) JERROLD, Douglas. The Essays.London : 1903
First edition of this collection of essays edited by Jerrold's grandson, featuring Brock's delicate illustrations. The brothers C. E. and H. M. Brock collaborated closely with the publisher for J. M. Dent, perhaps most notably illustrating the novels of Jane Austen. They "worked closely together in the same studio and gained stimulation from each other... Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 105771
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ROLFE, Frederick, Baron Corvo. Letters to Harry Bainbridge.London : 1976
First edition, first impression. Learn More£70.00Stock Code: 105623
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DOUGLAS, Norman. Looking Back.London : 1933
First and limited edition, first impression, number 36 of 535 numbered copies signed by the author. "Douglas published Looking Back in 1933, a discursive, leisurely autobiography drawing upon material accumulated over several decades, and brought out as a two-volume limited edition of 535 copies under the guidance of Charles Prentice, his friend and... Learn More£225.00Stock Code: 105292
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(ANGRY PENGUINS.) HARRIS, Max. Angry Penguins Broadsheet.Melbourne : 1946
A complete set of ten issues. The Angry Penguins Broadsheet was an offshoot of Angry Penguins, Australia's leading modernist literary magazine. The title came from Harris's poem, Mithridatum of Despair: "We know no mithridatum of despair/as drunks, the angry penguins of the night/straddling the cobbles of the square/tying a shoelace by fogged lamplight".... Learn More£2,500.00Stock Code: 105022
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FOWLER, Gene. Schnozzola: The Story of Jimmy Durante.New York : 1951
First edition, first printing. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To Mumsie, with love, Gene." Learn More£325.00Stock Code: 105033
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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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BLUNDEN, Edmund. Thomas Hardy.London : 1941
First edition, first impression. Learn More£150.00Stock Code: 104948
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BEERBOHM, Max. A Survey.London : 1921
First edition, trade issue of Beerbohm's caricatures of public figures ranging from Joseph Conrad to David Lloyd George, scarce in this condition. There was also a deluxe limited edition of 275 numbered copies signed by the author. Learn More£425.00Stock Code: 104692
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FORSTER, E. M. Marianne Thornton 1797-1887. A Domestic Biography.London : 1956
First edition, first impression. Learn More£85.00Stock Code: 104287
