Poetry
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RILKE, Rainer Maria. Requiem and Other Poems.London : 1935
First edition thus, first impression, of Rilke's poems as translated by Leishman, and including "The Panther" and "Archaic Torso of Apollo". The second edition of this work was published, revised and enlarged, in 1949. One of 1,075 copies only, copies of this edition are scarce, and especially so in such good condition.
Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 145334
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BAUDELAIRE, Charles; DILLON, George & Edna St. Vincent Millay (trans.) Flowers of Evil.New York : 1936
First edition thus, printed "B-L" February 1936 on the copyright page. Baudelaire's Flowers of Evil was first published as Les Fleurs du mal in 1857. The work was condemned as obscene and banned by the Public Safety section of the Ministry of the Interior, leading to the prosecution of both Baudelaire and his publisher. The ban was not lifted in France... Learn More£50.00Stock Code: 145147
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HEANEY, Seamus (trans.) Beowulf.London : 1999
First edition, signed limited issue, number 93 of 325 copies signed by the author, of which 300 were for sale. Heaney's translation of the epic poem Beowulf won the 1999 Whitbread Book of the Year award. This limited edition contains a facsimile of the opening page of the only surviving manuscript of Beowulf, which is currently housed in the British... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 144895
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HERRICK, Robert. Poems Selected from the Hesperides.New York : 1903
First edition thus, one of 260 copies only, printed on Mayday 1903. This finely produced edition of Herrick's poems features striking woodcuts designed by the co-runner of the Elston Press Helen Marguerite O'Kane. Her designs "complement Hesperides beautifully and reflect the qualities of equanimity, sweetness, delicacy, and youthful idyllic enjoyment... Learn More£675.00Stock Code: 144713
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SPENSER, Edmund. Minor Poems.Chelsea : 1925
First Ashendene edition, one of 200 unnumbered copies printed on Batchelor handmade paper, the contents bright and fresh. A further 15 copies of this edition were printed on vellum. This was the last of the Ashendene folios to be printed in the distinctive Subiaco type. It was published as a companion to the Ashendene edition of Spenser's Faerie Queen... Learn More£2,750.00Stock Code: 142513
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BURNE-JONES, Edward (illus.); MacLAREN, Archibald. The Fairy Family.London : 1857
First edition, in an attractive custom binding in notably bright condition. This work features Edward Burne-Jones's first book illustrations, done while still at Oxford and published anonymously at his own request. This copy appears to have been bound for the liberal politician and medieval scholar Allan Heywood Bright (1862-1941) with his and his brother's... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 142951
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WILDE, Oscar. Newdigate Prize Poem. Ravenna.Oxford : 1878
First edition of Wilde's first independent publication. The inspiration for Wilde's prize-winning poem came on a "vacation ramble" to Italy in 1877 with the precentor and junior dean of Trinity College, Dublin, William Mahaffy. According to the review published the next day in The Oxford and Cambridge Undergraduate's Journal Wilde's recitation of it... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 144071
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GOLDSMITH, Oliver. The Beauties of English Poesy.London : 1767
First edition, complete with the half-titles and contents leaves in both volumes. This is a particularly nice copy, in a handsome unrestored contemporary binding, of this scarce anthology of English poetry selected by Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774), published the year after The Vicar of Wakefield.
The selection includes such near-contemporary... Learn More£1,375.00Stock Code: 143778
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HEANEY, Seamus. Field Work.London : 1979
First edition, first impression, presentation copy inscribed on the front free endpaper with a quote from the poem "The Guttural Muse" on p. 28, "Ian - with good wishes, Seamus in another pen who 'felt like some old pike all badges with sores / Wanting to swim in touch with soft-mouthed life' January 1983". Learn More£1,350.00Stock Code: 145386
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TENNYSON, Alfred Lord. Idylls of the King.London : 1904
A superbly bound copy of Tennyson's great Arthurian poetry cycle, first published between 1856 and 1885. Learn More£975.00Stock Code: 145378
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MILTON, John. The Poetical Works.London : 1854
A very handsomely bound copy of Milton's poetry, with elegant gauffred edges, in a Victorian illustrated edition. Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 145117
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QUILLER-COUCH, Arthur (ed.) The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900.Oxford : 1902
Early edition of Quiller-Couch's collection of English poetry, first published in 1900, in a handsome art nouveau-influenced style binding. "This volume soon became the standard anthology of English verse and sold nearly a million volume during Quiller-Couch's lifetime" (ODNB).
Loosely inserted is a contemporary silk bookmark hand-decorated with... Learn More£650.00Stock Code: 145284
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GRAY, Thomas. Poems.[Eton] : 1894
First edition thus, presented to Edouardo Arcibaldo Douglas Collins as a retirement gift upon leaving Eton in 1897 by Edmond Warre, master, and later Head master and Provost of Eton; printed presentation label to first free binder's blank. A handsomely bound copy. Learn More£200.00Stock Code: 145207
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SHAKESPEARE, William. The Complete Works.London : 1913
A handsomely bound copy including his poems and sonnets. "After retiring from teaching, Craig devoted himself to reading, research, and publication in the area of Shakespeare studies In 1894, he edited the complete works of Shakespeare in one volume with a brief glossary and an appended 'Index of characters' as well as an 'Index of first lines of songs,... Learn More£150.00Stock Code: 145221
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SHENSTONE, William. The Poetical Works.Edinburgh : 1854
A handsomely bound copy of Shenstone's poetry. Learn More£75.00Stock Code: 145223
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KELMSCOTT PRESS: MORRIS, William. Poems by the Way.Hammersmith : 1891
First edition, a superb presentation copy to Georgiana Burne-Jones, inscribed by the author on the initial blank "to Georgie from WM Oct: 22nd 1891".
Georgiana Burne-Jones met Morris through her friendship with, and eventual engagement to, Edward Burne Jones. The pair spent summer holidays with William and Jane Morris at Red House, and worked... Learn More£6,750.00Stock Code: 145199
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VIRGIL; CATALLUS. The Bucolics; Odes to Lesbia and the Nuptial Song of Peleus and Thetis.Philadelphia : 1902
Limited edition, number 547 of 1,000 copies, all printed on japon, with the original Latin parallel with the English translations, within architectural borders; a very attractive book, handsomely bound and elegantly printed.
The volume was published as part of the series "Antique Gems from the Greek and Latin", covering many classical writers,... Learn More£400.00Stock Code: 145100
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PROPERTIUS. Elegies.Philadelphia : 1902
Limited edition, number 547 of 1,000 copies, all printed on japon, with the original Latin parallel with the English translation, within architectural borders; a very attractive book, handsomely bound and elegantly printed. The volume was published as part of the series "Antique Gems from the Greek and Latin", covering many classical writers. Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 145102
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AMIS, Kingsley. A Look Round the Estate:London : 1967
First edition, first impression, inscribed on the front free endpaper to fellow author and bibliophile "John Baxter, from Kingsley Amis, drinking at a quiet pace".
Baxter recounts the circumstances of his Amis collection being signed in his entertaining memoir A Pound of Paper (2002). Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 142957
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BAWDEN, Edward, illus.; M. G. Lloyd Thomas (ed.) Travellers' Verse.London : 1946
First edition, first impression, signed by Bawden on the top forecorner of the front free endpaper (suggestive, though not definitely so, of an ownership inscription). This anthology of travellers' verse from across the centuries, attractively illustrated with lithographs by Bawden, was part of the New Excursions Into English Poetry series (general... Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 143690
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HEANEY, Seamus. Death of a Naturalist.London : 1966
First edition, first impression, of Heaney's first major collection (including the first appearance of his great "Digging"), a superbly inscribed review copy sent to Heaney's friend J. Kenneth Jamison (1931-2016), in the year he became Director of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, a position he held until 1991. The title page bears Heaney's inscription,... Learn More£6,500.00Stock Code: 144943
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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. This copy has both flaps of the rare dust jacket preserved, loosely... Learn More£7,500.00Stock Code: 145211
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TENNYSON, Alfred, Lord. Maud,London : 1855
First edition of Tennyson's first published collection following his appointment as Poet Laureate in 1850. This volume is also notable as the first trade issue of The Charge of the Light Brigade, which had been printed privately as a separate issue poem in an edition of 1,000 earlier the same year for soldiers fighting in the Crimea. Learn More£450.00Stock Code: 145233
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YEATS, W. B. Broadsides.Dublin : 1935
First collected edition, signed by Yeats and by F. R. Higgens at the end of the introduction as issued. The twelve broadsides included in the volume were issued monthly during 1935, each printed in an edition of 300, with 100 remaining sets bound up and issued in this form in December 1935. Learn More£3,000.00Stock Code: 144463
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HADFIELD, John (ed.) Restoration Love Songs.Preston : 1950
First edition, first impression, number 248 of 660 copies only. This anthology of Restoration poetry was compiled by John Hadfield, the founder of the Cupid Press, and is the second instalment in his triptych, the other two being Georgian-, and Elizabethan Love Songs. Originally issued in marbled boards, this copy is in an elegant Sangorski & Sutcliffe... Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 144622
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KIPLING, Rudyard. A Diversity of Creatures.London : 1917
First edition, first impression, first issue, with the publisher's name to foot of spine measuring 28 mm in length (shorter on later issues), of this collection of 14 poems and 14 stories by Kipling, some of which had already been published in periodicals.
A Diversity of Creatures "was scheduled for publication in October 1914, but this was put... Learn More£400.00Stock Code: 144624
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YEATS, W. B. Poems.London : 1904
Presentation copy to Julia Anderson (née Quinn), inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper "To my friend John Quinn's sister, November twelfth, 1904. W. B. Yeats".
John Quinn conveyed the book to his sister with a lengthy inscription beneath Yeats's on the front free endpaper - "To Julia: Yeats wrote in this book and gave it to me for... Learn More£5,000.00Stock Code: 144445
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HOUSMAN, Laurence (illus.); ROSSETTI, Christina. Goblin Market.London : 1893
First Housman-illustrated edition, trade issue. This fantastical narrative poem, which was first published in 1862 with illustrations by Christina's brother Dante Gabriel, has eluded classification, having been interpreted variously as a feminist tract, a capitalist critique, an allegory for drug addiction, and a children's story.
The illustrator... Learn More£575.00Stock Code: 144448
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POE, Edgar Allan. The Poetical Works.London : 1853
First UK collected edition, and the first separately-published collected edition of Poe's poetry (Poe's collected works of prose and poetry were published in three volumes in the US the same year). The volume includes an introductory essay and biography of Poe by James Hannay, who dedicated the edition to Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Learn More£1,000.00Stock Code: 144453
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BUKOWSKI, Charles. The Genius of the Crowd.Cleveland : 1966
First edition, one of 103 copies printed, and this a fine example, of this legendary Bukowski rarity and his first book publication. Printed by poets d.a. levy and Jim Lowell at the 7 Flowers Press in Cleveland, The Genius of the Crowd is one of the most valuable and sought after productions of the Cleveland Mimeograph Revolution, and a significant... Learn More£6,000.00Stock Code: 143743
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GUILD OF WOMEN BINDERS - DOBSON, Austin. Poems.London : 1895
Signed limited edition, number 77 of 200 copies printed on hand-made paper, with proof impressions of the etchings, and signed by Dobson in pencil on the portrait frontispiece. This copy is elegantly bound by the Guild of Women Binders, and belonged to the Marchioness of Crewe.
The Guild was established in 1898 by a bookseller, Frank Karslake,... Learn More£2,250.00Stock Code: 144802
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COHEN, Ira (ed.) Gnaoua.Tangier : 1964
First and only issue of this legendary literary magazine, and an exceptionally vivid copy.
Gnaoua was edited and published by the poet, photographer, and filmmaker Ira Cohen. Reflecting the expatriate Beat community in Tangier to which Cohen had moved three years prior, Gnaoua features contributions from William Burroughs, Ian Sommerville, Brion... Learn More£2,250.00Stock Code: 144603
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![[Collection of nine volumes of poetry:]](https://d3dzzbbvj9im7s.cloudfront.net/media/catalog/product/cache/ae0834d12b7cf129fc73bcc000ea526a/1/0/109052.jpg)
GRAVES, Robert. [Collection of nine volumes of poetry:]London : 1938-72
First editions, first impressions. An excellent collection of Graves's verse, spanning a period of several decades. Learn More£325.00Stock Code: 109052
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GURNEY, Ivor. Severn & Somme.London : 1917
First edition, first impression, of the author's first book, scarce in commerce. This copy with the pencil ownership inscription of fellow poet Charles Dalmon to the verso of the half-title and pencil marks to contents. Severn & Somme is one of only two works published in Gurney's lifetime, the second one being War's Embers (1919).
The present... Learn More£875.00Stock Code: 144916
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GURNEY, Ivor. War's Embers.London : 1919
First edition, first impression, inscribed by the dedicatee on the half-title "Muriel Osborn. From Marion Scott". This second and last volume to be published during Gurney's lifetime, after Severn and Somme (1917), is a wonderful association copy and an uncommon find.
Marion Margaret Scott (1877-1953) was a pioneering music critic, musicologist,... Learn More£950.00Stock Code: 144912
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PROUST, Marcel. Les plaisirs et les jours.Paris : 1896
First edition, first printing, of the first book published by Proust before his rise to stardom, in an attractive art déco binding by the French bookbinder Max Fonsèque (1891-1965), and superbly illustrated by the society-painter Madeleine Lemaire (1845-1928).
Some of the poems and short stories in this work had appeared in print from 1892... Learn More£2,500.00Stock Code: 144631
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YEATS, William Butler. Mosada.Dublin : 1886
First edition of Yeats's dramatic poem Mosada, printed in the Dublin University Review, preceding the separate edition published later that year (Yeats's first stand-alone publication, a great rarity). Learn More£6,500.00Stock Code: 144354
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THOMAS, Dylan. Twenty-Five Poems.London : 1936
First edition, first impression. One of 730 copies printed of Thomas's landmark collection, publishing the poems of "this young Welsh poet" who "has, during the last two years, attracted an unusual amount of attention with his Dionysiac verse" (jacket blurb). Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 144346
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GOETHE, Johann Wolfgang von. Faust.Paris : 1828
First edition of Gérard de Nerval's translation of Faust, subsequently used by Berlioz for his La Damnation de Faust. This is one of Nerval's earliest works, which he translated when still in his early twenties, and helped to establish his reputation. Learn More£2,000.00Stock Code: 144339
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CLARE, John. The Rural Muse.London : 1835
First edition, first impression, of Clare's final collection, which is rare in the original cloth. It includes some of Clare's best-known poems such as "The Skylark" and "The Yellowhammer's Nest". Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 144629
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GRAVES, Robert. Poems 1914-1927.London : 1927
First edition, signed limited issue. Number 3 of 115 copies signed by the author, of which 100 were for sale. Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 119554
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SASSOON, Siegfried. The Redeemer.Cambridge : May 1916
First separate edition of this early anti-war poem.
The first of the three very scarce Sassoon numbers in the seven Reprints from the Cambridge Magazine series, Keynes noted that these reprints were produced "mostly commemorating the sacrifice made by the young men killed in the First World War production was arranged by A. T. Bartholomew and... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 144730
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POE, Edgar Allan. The Raven and Other Poems.New York : 1845
First edition in book form of Poe's breakthrough poem, one of around 750 copies. The title poem was first printed in January of the same year in the American Review under the pseudonym "Quarles", and under Poe's own name in the New York Evening Mirror. The Raven "made Poe's name known both in America and England, and brought him an immortality that... Learn More£17,500.00Stock Code: 144874
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TENNYSON, Alfred Lord. In Memoriam.London : 1874
An attractive copy of Tennyson's work, first published in 1850.
Completed in 1849, In Memoriam is a requiem for the poet's beloved friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly, at the age of 22, of a cerebral haemorrhage in Vienna in 1833. "The friendship, deepening into love, of Hallam and Tennyson was to be one of the most important experiences... Learn More£200.00Stock Code: 144630
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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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KIPLING, Rudyard. Sea and Sussex.London : 1926
First edition, first impression, one of 500 large paper copies signed by Kipling on the limitation page. This superbly illustrated collection gathers poems from The Seven Seas (1896), The Five Nations (1903), Rewards and Fairies (1910), Sea Warfare (1916), and others. Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 144835
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ISHERWOOD, Christopher, & Swami Prabhavananda (trans.) Bhagavad-Gita.Hollywood : 1944
First edition, first printing, presentation copy inscribed on the front free endpaper "For Mary Herbold, with gratitude and good wishes, Christopher Isherwood", and signed within this also by his fellow translator the great guru Swami Prabhavananda. This is a superb association copy of this significant English translation of this major Vedic text.
The... Learn More£3,500.00Stock Code: 143597
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HEANEY, Seamus. Poems on the Underground.London : 2011
First edition, first printing, signed by Seamus Heaney on the front cover. Poems on the Underground is a scheme launched in 1986, showcasing a range of poetry on London Underground carriages, from classics to contemporary works. This leaflet was produced and distributed to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the scheme; Heaney's poem "Colmcille the Scribe"... Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 142600
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HEANEY, Seamus. Sweeney Praises the Trees.New York : 1981
First edition, number 41 of 110 copies only, additionally signed by the author on the title page; scarce, especially so signed and in such fine condition. Sweeney Praises the Trees is an early version of part of his modern English translation of the ancient Irish Buile Shuibhne, preceding his complete translation, published in 1983 as Sweeney Astray.... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 142601
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HEANEY, Seamus. An Open Letter.Derry : 1983
First edition, first impression, signed by the author on the title page. Heaney's poem was penned as an objection to his representation as a British poet in Andrew Motion and Blake Morrison's Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry (1982). Learn More£325.00Stock Code: 142604
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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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AI. Cruelty.Boston : 1973
First edition, first printing, of the author's first book, inscribed by Ai on the half-title "To Bill & Deborah, Love Ai (Florence)". This is a review copy with the publisher's review slip and the original photograph of the author, used on the jacket, loosely inserted.
"The poet Ai (1947-2010) was noted for her uncompromising poetic vision and... Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 144826
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HOUSMAN, A. E. A Shropshire Lad.London : 1914
First Riccardi Press edition, number 116 of 1,000 copies on handmade Riccardi Paper; a further 12 copies were printed on vellum. An attractive copy.
"Though not an instant success, the little volume gradually won a large audience through the universality of its dominant themes (nature, love, war, and death) and the directness of its language... Learn More£600.00Stock Code: 142418
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KEATS, John. The Eve of St. Agnes.London : 1900
First Essex House Press edition, number 105 of 125 copies only, each printed on vellum and hand-coloured.
The Essex House Press was founded by Charles Robert Ashbee and Laurence Hodson following the closure of William Morris's Kelmscott Press in 1897 and "came from the heart of the arts and crafts movement" (Franklin, p. 64). Ashbee bought the... Learn More£2,000.00Stock Code: 142535
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MOORE, Thomas. Odes Upon Cash, Corn, Catholics, and Other Matters.London : 1828
First edition of Moore's collection of satirical odes on political and economic matters, gathered from their original publication in the Times; from the collection of the distinguished book collector Eric Quayle, with his booklabel to front pastedown. Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 144921
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BAILLIE, Joanna. The Dramatic and Poetical Works.London : 1851
First edition of Baillie's collected works; a beautifully bound copy in contemporary morocco gilt with a fore edge painting. Published to her specifications shortly before her death on 23 February 1851, Baillie's "great monster book", as she affectionately called it, contains almost her entire oeuvre and runs to more than 800 pages.
"Few women... Learn More£975.00Stock Code: 141973
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PASTERNAK, Boris, (trans.); Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Faust.[Leningrad] : 1953
First edition of Pasternak's Russian translation of Goethe's masterpiece, presentation copy inscribed to a close friend and fellow poet, "to one of the most interesting people and the best poets of the present times, Simon Chikovani, with love and devotion, B. Pasternak, 9 February 1954", on the front free endpaper.
Chikovani (1902-1966) was... Learn More£9,750.00Stock Code: 132166
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YAZICIOGLU MEHMET. Kitab al-Muhammadiyah.Istanbul : 1880-1 CE
Uncommon Istanbul imprint of this popular Turkish translation of the Magharib al-Zaman (Sunsets of Time), a devotional work on the Prophet Muhammad, written in Arabic by the Ottoman Sufi poet Yazıcıoğlu Mehmet (d. 1491; his name means "son of the scribe") and translated into Ottoman Turkish by his younger brother Ahmed Bican. Mehmet, a native of... Learn More£3,500.00Stock Code: 122439
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GRAVES, Robert. Man Does, Woman Is.London : 1964
First edition, signed limited issue, number 95 of 175 signed and numbered by the author, this copy further inscribed by the author to noted Irish arts collector and patron Garech de Brún on the front free endpaper: "To Garech 1975 -Luggala- from Professor Robert Graves St John's Coll, Oxford" with de Brún's armorial bookplate to the front pastedown.... Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 142715
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VALE PRESS: TENNYSON, Alfred Lord. In Memoriam.London : 1900
First Vale Press edition, first impression, one of 320 copies on paper (with a further ten on vellum), and superbly decorated by Ricketts of the Vale Press.
Charles Ricketts (1866-1931), was an art nouveau designer who founded the Vale Press in 1894. Influenced by both the aesthetic movement and William Morris's designs, his Vale press books... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 144842
