Poetry
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SMITH, Patti. Devotions to Arthur Rimbaud.[New York : 1973]
First edition, number 88 of 200 copies numbered and signed by the author. A beautiful example of this early broadside by Smith, printing a valediction for Rimbaud in French above Smith's poem, which surrounds a large illustrated portrait of Rimbaud by Smith. An evocative broadside showcasing Smith's formative literary adoration for the iconic poète... Learn More£2,250.00Stock Code: 145130
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OLIVER, Mary. New and Selected Poems. Volume TwoBoston : 2005
First edition, signed limited issue, number 72 of 150 copies signed by the author and bound thus. Oliver won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984. The Harvard Review describing her as "a poet of wisdom and generosity whose vision allows us to look intimately at a world not of our making. The humbling effect of that perspective is her lasting gift to readers".
This... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 150723
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MCCLURE, Michael. Plane Pomes.New York : 1969
First edition, first printing, copy "B" of 26 lettered copies signed by the author on the limitation page and not for sale, a further 100 copies, numbered and signed, were also released. This is a remarkably well-preserved copy of a rare and fragile work by the Beat poet. Learn More£200.00Stock Code: 150752
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GINSBERG, Allen. Empty Mirror.New York : 1961
First edition, first printing, the author's circular signature within the cover illustration. Empty Mirror was printed in a run of 1,000 copies. Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 150763
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BRAUTIGAN, Richard. Autograph manuscript leaf.[c.1968]
An evocative rough draft of an autobiographical statement, written by the 33 year old Brautigan in the same year as the publication of Watermelon Sugar and Please Plant this Book. The draft ends thus: "I am thankful that I live in such an exciting time in man's history and look forward to all the things I will write in the future."
Potentially... Learn More£1,750.00Stock Code: 150166
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SAPPHO - WHARTON, Henry Thornton. Memoir, Text, Selected Renderings, and a Literal Translation.London : 1895
The first edition with a cover design by Aubrey Beardsley, the third Wharton edition overall, with an additional preface, and three illustrations, increased from two in the 1887 edition and one in that of 1885.
This highly influential and comprehensive translation of Sappho notably restored the feminine pronouns to her work, and includes "a compilation... Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 150506
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WILDE, Oscar. Poems.London : 1881
First edition, first issue, one of only 250 copies thus; in total 750 copies of this edition were printed in 1881. However, after the first 250 copies were issued, mock title pages were printed stating second and third editions, and the remaining 500 copies were equally split between them.
This is a particularly attractive copy, with the bookplate... Learn More£2,500.00Stock Code: 149905
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TENNYSON, Alfred Lord. Idylls of the King.London : 1911
An attractive copy of Tennyson's great Arthurian poetry cycle, first published between 1856 and 1885, here specially bound as a school prize binding, presented by the King's School for mathematics to a student in July 1912 (presentation bookplate to front pastedown). Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 150484
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BADMINTON LIBRARY. The Poetry of Sport.London : 1896
First edition, number 170 of 250 large paper copies. This is the largest of the three formats in which the Badminton Library was issued: large paper, deluxe, and standard trade edition. The Badminton Library - handsomely produced, profusely illustrated and employing the leading authorities of the day - was the preeminent series of sporting books of... Learn More£195.00Stock Code: 145911
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WHITMAN, Walt. Poems.London : 1868
First UK edition, first issue, of Whitman's "Leaves of Grass", here named Poems, which "gave Whitman his first British readership" (ODNB).
Whitman made several revisions to the poems for this edition, and unusually allowed his work to be edited. However, the editor William Michael Rossetti felt that much of Whitman's corpus was too radical for... Learn More£425.00Stock Code: 148081
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GINSBERG, Allen. Careless Love.Madison : 1978
First edition, first impression, this copy inscribed by Ginsberg "for Jonathan Williams who'll appreciate form + content of this present work April 16, 1978 Allen Ginsberg", one of 280 copies, of which 10 were patron copies, printed for the benefit of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Boulder (colophon).
Jonathan Williams was... Learn More£475.00Stock Code: 150373
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BUKOWSKI, Charles. Crucifix in a Deathhand,New York : 1965
First edition, signed limited issue, one of 3100, this copy signed by Bukowski in silver and dated 03/10/65. A "painstakingly pruned selection" (front flap), Crucifix in a Deathhand "was the biggest book of Bukowoski's career to date, and the Webbs did another beautiful design job. Printed in a large format, and illustrated with nightmarish etchings... Learn More£1,100.00Stock Code: 149816
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LAMANTIA, Philip; ARTAUD, Antoin. Narcotica.1959
First edition, first impression, of Lamantia's impassioned manifesto for the legalisation of drugs, with essays from Antoin Artaud, a poem by Giacomo Leopardi, and Berman's cover depicting Lamantia injecting himself with hypodermics.
Described by André Breton, leader of the Surrealist movement, as "a voice that rises once in a hundred years"... Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 149777
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WHITMAN, Walt. Drum-Taps.Washington : 1865-66
First edition, second issue, the first edition sheets of Drum-Taps expanded with the Sequel, and bound and issued together.
Drum-Taps was Whitman's collection of poetry based on his experiences in the American Civil War, and marked a significant shift in his career. "Drum-Taps, of course, stands among the nation's finest poems" (ANB). Initially... Learn More£3,500.00Stock Code: 149452
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HARRIS, Kenneth; John Waller; Miles Vaughan Williams (eds.) Kingdom Come: The Magazine of War-time Oxford.Oxford : 1939-41
First editions, first impressions, of the first eight issues of Kingdom Come, in the larger format; a further four issues, not included here, were published in a smaller format. Publishing original poems, stories, and essays, the magazine ran from 1939 to 1943 with the purpose of keeping literature alive in Oxford during the Second World War.
Some... Learn More£650.00Stock Code: 146883
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WORDSWORTH, William; Thomas Hutchinson (ed.) The Poetical Works.London : 1908
A beautifully bound copy of the Oxford Edition of Wordsworth's poems with charming floral details. Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 145357
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ELIOT, T. S. The Waste Land.New York : 1922
First edition in book form, first printing, first issue with all the points, number 325 of 1,000 copies. The Waste Land - arguably the most significant poem of the 20th century - was first published in The Criterion magazine earlier that year; this marks its first separate publication.
With all of Gallup's three requisite points indicative of... Learn More£7,500.00Stock Code: 145211
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PLATH, Sylvia. The Colossus & Other Poems.New York : 1962
First US edition, first printing, in exceptionally nice condition, of Plath's first and only collection of poetry issued during her lifetime. It was first published in the UK in 1960. Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 144897
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THOMAS, Edward (as Edward Eastaway), Robert Frost, et al. An Annual of New Poetry: 1917.London : [1917]
First edition, first impression, a rarity with the dust jacket especially in this condition, of this important wartime poetry collection notably collecting some of the "Dymock" poets, including poems by Edward Thomas (with 18 poems under the pseudonym Edward Eastaway) who died that year at Arras. Also featured is Thomas's friend Robert Frost, and W.... Learn More£1,750.00Stock Code: 145524
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SITWELL, Sacheverell. The Hundred and One Harlequins.London : 1922
First edition, first impression, presentation copy, inscribed by the author to his publisher "To Grant Richards from Sacheverell Sitwell 14 July 1922. The most discerning of publishers in deep gratitude" with a later retraction on the front free endpaper, together with a letter of presentation by the author laid down to front pastedown.
Grant... Learn More£600.00Stock Code: 149000
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DULAC, Edmund (illus.); FITZGERALD, Edward. Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.London : [1909]
First Dulac trade edition, first impression, in an elegant Bayntun binding. Edmund Dulac's illustrations for the Rubáiyát helped to confirm his position as "a direct challenger in the illustrated gift book market to the work of Arthur Rackham" (ODNB). Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 148253
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FITZGERALD, Edward. Rubaiyát of Omar Khayyám.London : 1899
An attractive early edition of Fitzgerald's translation of the Rubáiyát, in an exquisite Zaehnsdorf exhibition binding (rather than necessitating it was actually exhibited, means that it was bound to "exhibition standard", that is, applying the highest quality standards in the choice of materials, and execution of the forwarding and finishing).
Fitzgerald's... Learn More£2,000.00Stock Code: 148266
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AUDEN, W. H. Epistle to a Godson and Other Poems.London : 1972
First edition, first impression, familiarly inscribed by the author using his first name reserved for friends on the title page: "To Bill Gray from Wystan", his printed name struck through. Auden dedicated the poem "The Aliens" to Gray in this volume (pp. 35-36); Auden has also corrected "United Nations Hymn" (p. 60).
This was the last collection... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 147414
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POUND, Ezra; ELIOT, T. S. (intro.) Selected Poems.London : 1928
First edition, signed limited issue, number 18 of 100 copies printed on handmade paper and signed by the author. This edition was published on 10 December 1928, following the trade issue of 1,000 copies, published on 23 November the same year.
In his introduction to this important edition of Pound's poetry, T. S. Eliot gives an extended commentary... Learn More£4,000.00Stock Code: 147191
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OLIVER, Mary. No Voyage and Other Poems.Boston : 1965
First US edition, first printing, signed by the author on the title page, of the scarce first book of poems by Mary Oliver (1935-2019). The US edition is expanded from the UK edition, published in 1963. It contains some of her first nature poems (on snow, trees, hawks, lakes, and the sea), which became her primary theme in later collections.
Reviewing... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 146939
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OVIDIUS NASO, Publius; HEINSIUS, Nicolaas (ed.) Operum.Amsterdam : 1658-61
Second Heinsius edition of Ovid's works, which was first published in 1652 and which constituted the basis for the 1713 edition by the Dutch classical scholar, Petrus Burman (1668-1741). This is an attractive set in contemporary binding and with an interesting provenance.
This copy is from the library of the Scottish slave-trader, merchant and... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 146736
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KIPLING, Rudyard. Rudyard Kipling's Verse.London : 1919
First UK edition, first impression, deluxe limited issue, number 3 of 100 sets numbered and signed by Kipling.
"This edition was brought together at the publisher, Frank N. Doubleday's suggestion after much talk. It was to be tried out in the USA and if successful republished in England... The idea of the book was born at Brown's Hotel in February... Learn More£2,500.00Stock Code: 146209
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COLERIDGE, Samuel Taylor. The Poetical Works.London : 1834
An attractive copy of Coleridge's poetry. Learn More£350.00Stock Code: 145442
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AUDEN, W. H. The Shield of Achilles.New York : 1955
First edition, first printing, familiarly inscribed by the author on the title page "For Bill Gray with best wishes W. H. Auden", his printed name struck through. Auden won the National Book Award in 1956 for this collection of poems.
The recipient Dr William ("Woods") Shelton Gray, Jr (1926-1993) fostered friendships with major literary figures... Learn More£600.00Stock Code: 147410
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AUDEN, W. H. Poems.London : 1930
First edition, first impression, in unusually unrestored condition and rare thus. Poems was printed in a run of 1,000 copies. In addition to poetry, this work contains the play "Paid on Both Sides: A Charade", which is dedicated to Cecil Day-Lewis and was written during Auden's stay in Berlin from 1928 to 1929. Learn More£875.00Stock Code: 147943
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OMAR KHAYYÁM; HALL, Isabel Hawxhurst (illus.) Rubáiyát.New York : 1911
First Hall edition of this beautifully illustrated Rubáiyát, with full page illustrations containing the verses and facing typographic text. This edition of the Rubáiyát is the only book illustrated by Hall (1887-1952), who later worked as a designer of stained glass windows, wallpaper, and textiles.
The text of this edition, Fitzgerald's... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 146198
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KELMSCOTT PRESS: MORRIS, William. The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems.Hammersmith : 1892
Limited edition, one of 300 copies on paper from a total edition of 312. The title on the spine was hand-lettered by F. S. Ellis's son Herbert. This is the only Kelmscott Press book to have a hand-lettered title, and the first to be bound in limp vellum. It is rarely seen in such fine condition.
The title was first published in 1858 and Morris... Learn More£4,000.00Stock Code: 149621
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SACKVILLE-WEST, Vita. The Garden.London : 1946
First edition, signed limited issue, number 551 of 750 copies, numbered and signed by the author, and beautifully produced on handmade paper. Learn More£600.00Stock Code: 145952
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SACKVILLE-WEST, Vita. Nursery Rhymes.Bayntun : 1947
First edition, limited issue, number 344 of 550 copies on handmade paper, presentation copy inscribed on the half-title "Inscribed for Lucienne Gow by V. Sackville-West". The recipient was the first chairman of the Tenterden Trust, in current Ashford Borough, near Sissinghurst. Only the first 25 copies were issued signed, inscribed copies are rather... Learn More£975.00Stock Code: 144628
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PREWETT, Frank. Poems.Richmond, London : [1921]
First edition, first impression, of this notably uncommon edition, handset by Virginia Woolf for the Hogarth Press. The Canadian poet Frank James Prewett (1893-1962) surfaced as a poet of the First World War, meeting Sassoon at Craiglockhart War Hospital. This is his first published collection of verse and "contains many of the poet's finest trench... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 139956
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GRAVES, Robert. Mock Beggar Hall.London : 1924
First edition, first impression. "The whole tone of the book is philosophical involving a series of meditations on relativity and time" (Patrick J. Quinn ed., New Perspectives on Robert Graves, 1999, p. 75). Nicholson's sinister cover design of a hanging bat is stunning. Learn More£475.00Stock Code: 110245
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LEWIS, Wyndham (ed.) Blast.London : 1914 & 1915
First editions, first impressions, all published of this groundbreaking modernist magazine, in a striking binding by the Chelsea Bindery replicating the bold typographical design of the first number front wrapper. Blast was the literary and artistic manifesto of Wyndham Lewis and Ezra Pound, and however short-lived it may have been, nothing afterwards... Learn More£3,500.00Stock Code: 132957
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![Esop's [sic] Fables.](https://d3dzzbbvj9im7s.cloudfront.net/media/catalog/product/cache/ae0834d12b7cf129fc73bcc000ea526a/1/4/149278.jpg)
AESOP; THOM, Robert (trans.) Esop's [sic] Fables.Canton : 1840 & 1829
First edition of the first full Chinese translation of Aesop's Fables, bound together with a first edition of a significant essay by the scholar who introduced Chinese poetry to English-speaking audiences, presented by the author to the Royal Society of Literature. Both works are genuinely rare in commerce.
This Chinese translation of Aesop's... Learn More£12,500.00Stock Code: 149278
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ELIOT, T. S. Poems 1909-1935.1925
First edition, first printing, of Eliot's early collection of poetry. The collection contains some of Eliot's most highly-regarded poetry, including such masterpieces as "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", "The Hollow Men", and "The Waste Land". Learn More£1,875.00Stock Code: 140203
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HEANEY, Seamus. Station Island.New York : 1985
First US edition, first printing, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "For Martha, Sláinte! Seamus Heaney, April 1985". The author's sixth book of poetry, Station Island was first published in the UK the preceding year. Learn More£450.00Stock Code: 126159
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MORRIS, William. The Defence of Guenevere and other poems.London : 1858
First edition of William Morris's first major published work, containing 30 poems, published when the author was 24 years old and dedicated to Rossetti.
Buxton Forman notes that Morris "had what I cannot doubt to have been a genuine misprision of this delightful little book" since he "refused to revise it." Apparently it was "with difficulty... Learn More£900.00Stock Code: 149610
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YEATS, W. B. Two Plays for Dancers.Churchtown, Dundrum : 1919
First edition, first impression, one of 400 copies, containing two of Yeats's lyrical verse plays: The Dreaming of the Bones and The Only Jealousy of Emer. The Dreaming of the Bones was first performed in 1931 at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. The Only Jealousy of Emer was first performed in Amsterdam in 1922.
Learn More£325.00Stock Code: 123531
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WHITMAN, Walt. After All, Not to Create Only.Boston : 1871
First published edition, a fresh copy, the gilt roundel particularly prone to rubbing and here almost unblemished.
A private printing of 12 pages, recorded by Whitman as printed in 16 copies, preceded this first edition. Various bindings colours are known, this copy in the remainder binding from after 1889 (firm rather than flexible boards, bevelled... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 149439
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FORSTER, E. M. - KIRSTEIN, Lincoln. Rhymes of a PFC.New York & Tokyo : 1964
First edition, first printing, E. M. Forster's presentation copy inscribed on the first blank "For Morgan from Loncoln, August: 1964", and with a typed letter signed from the founder and general director of New York City Ballet, Lincoln Kirstein. This is a great association copy with a lovely insight in the dynamic of the Greenwich Village friends'... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 149828
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AUDEN, W. H. The Ballad of Barnaby.New York : 1970
First edition in book form, first printing, signed by the author on the title page, his printed name struck through.
Charles Turner, a teacher at Wykeham Rise School in Washington, Connecticut, wrote to Auden requesting that he write something "based on the medieval legend of The Juggler of Notre Dame, for which music would be composed by my... Learn More£175.00Stock Code: 148192
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AUDEN, W. H. Some Poems.London : 1946
First edition of this selection, fifth impression, familiarly inscribed by the author using his first name reserved for friends on the title page: "To Bill from Wystan", his printed name struck through, and with the recipient's bookplate and ownership signature on the front endpaper.
Dr William ("Woods") Shelton Gray, Jr (1926-1993) fostered... Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 147394
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FORSTER, E. M. - AULT, Norman (ed.) Seventeenth Century Lyrics.London : 1928
First edition, first impression. This was E. M. Forster's copy, with his book label to the front pastedown, and ownership to front free endpaper "E. M. Forster, from West Hackhurst," Abinger, where he lived from 1924 to 1946.
This copy was later gifted by Forster to his friend Eric Fletcher, who had met him when he was an undergraduate at King's... Learn More£475.00Stock Code: 149824
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LAWRENCE, D. H. Love Poems and Others.London : 1913
First edition, first impression, of Lawrence's first volume of verse,. "These are the poems of Lawrence's youth, the Nottingham and Croydon years, and in them one sees the women he knew before he went away with Frieda" (Roberts and Poplawski. Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 149736
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BROWNING, Robert. Pocket Volume of Selections from The Poetical Works.London : 1899
An attractive copy of Browning's verse, in a lovely Florentine binding gilt tooled in an unusual style. Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 149733
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COHEN, Leonard. Poems 1956-1968.London : 1969
First abridged edition, first impression, inscribed by the author to the publisher on the title page: "to Tom from Leonard London June 1970". Tom Maschler (1933-2020) joined Jonathan Cape as editorial director, aged 26, in 1960, and became managing director in 1966.
Maschler was a highly influential figure in 20th-century literature: he had a... Learn More£650.00Stock Code: 149664
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SEWARD, Anna. Monody on Major André.Lichfield : 1781
Second edition, signed by the author at the end of the poem (p. 28). Seward's stinging defence of the unfortunate Major John André "brought George Washington to defend himself against the charge of dishonouring a noble foe" (Backscheider, p. 8), sending a personal envoy to her with proof that his role in the affair was limited.
André was one... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 147522
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HUGHES, Ted. The Hawk in the Rain.London : 1957
First edition, first impression, of the author's first book. This copy comes from the library of the author V. S. Pritchett, with his signed book label to the front pastedown. This is a great association copy. Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 148197
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ALDINGTON, Richard. Life Quest.London : 1935
First edition, first impression. From the library of Australian painter Albert Tucker (1914-1999), with his signature, dated 1943, to the front free endpaper. Learn More£65.00Stock Code: 104459
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FORSTER, E. M. - MEREDITH, Hugh Owen. Week-Day Poems.London : 1911
First edition, first impression, E. M. Forster's copy, with his ink ownership inscription noting "K.C.C. 1958" to the front free endpaper. This is a great King's College Cambridge association copy.
Meredith (1878-1964) was a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge from 1905 to 1908, and subsequently the Professor of Economics at Queen's University,... Learn More£400.00Stock Code: 149794
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MACAULAY, Lord. Lays of Ancient Rome.London : 1867
A handsomely bound and attractively illustrated copy of Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome (first published in 1842), including the famous poem "Horatius". Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 149329
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BURNS, Robert. The Poetical Works.London : 1879
An exquisitely bound set of this attractive edition, edited by the Scottish essayist and poet of the Spasmodic school, Alexander Smith (1829-1867), and which was first published in 1865. Learn More£450.00Stock Code: 149641
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TENNYSON, Alfred, Lord. In Memoriam.London : 1850
First trade edition, preceded by the privately circulated edition published in the same year, in an exquisite Zaehnsdorf exhibition binding, which rather than necessitating it was actually exhibited, means that it was bound to "exhibition standard", that is, applying the highest quality standards in the choice of materials, and execution of the forwarding... Learn More£3,000.00Stock Code: 149269
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BYRON, George Gordon Noel, Lord. Poems.London : 1923
First Florence Press edition, in a skilful custom binding by the amateur bookbinder and bibliophile William Bernard Knobel (c.1875-1951). The work is signed by him in ink at the foot of the rear free endpaper recto, "Bound by W. B. Knobel"; it is also signed at the head of the first blank, "Knobel", and has his bookplate to the front pastedown.
Knobel... Learn More£800.00Stock Code: 149128
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GILLMAN, James. The Life of Samuel Taylor Coleridge.London : 1838
First edition of the first biography of Coleridge, by his friend James Gillman (1782-1839). Coleridge, at a low ebb financially, lived with Gillman from 1816 until the end of his life, taking residence in an upstairs room fitted out as a library. Coleridge's main aim in moving in with Gillman was to escape opium, placing himself under the constant supervision... Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 137288
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MILTON, John. The Poetical Works.London : 1835
First Turner edition. A handsomely bound copy of Milton's poetical works, including engravings after drawings by William Turner. Learn More£600.00Stock Code: 149638
