Literature
Rare and first edition literature from Peter Harrington. On our shelves you'll discover rare poetry, English, American & modern literature, pre-1900 rare books, plays, world literature and much more.
From the blog: Nightingales and Roses: The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Video: [PUTTENHAM, George.] The Arte of English Poesie. 1589.
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WOOLF, Virginia. Monday or Tuesday.Richmond : 1921
First edition, first impression, one of 1,000 copies of this collection of short stories, and an early Hogarth Press production. Leonard Woolf stated that the work "was printed by F. T. McDermott of the Prompt Press, Richmond, who used to give him advice on printing problems when he and Mrs. Woolf first started the Hogarth Press" (Kirkpatrick). Woolf... Learn More£2,500.00Stock Code: 137334
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SACKVILLE-WEST, Vita. Orchard and Vineyard.London : 1921
First edition, first impression, signed by the author on the front free endpaper. Orchard and Vineyard is Sackville-West's third book of poetry. Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 136487
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TOLSTOI, Alexei, & A. B. Goldenveizer. Talks with Tolstoi.Richmond : 1923
First edition in English, first impression, first published in 1922. A composer, Goldenveizer was a close friend of Tolstoy in his youth and transcribed many conversations that they had together, which are collected in this work. According to Woolmer an alternative binding of plain cloth was done for a minority of copies. Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 122499
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ISHERWOOD, Christopher. The Memorial.London : 1932
First edition, first impression, in the uncommon first state pink and white cloth binding. The first impression was printed in a run of 1,222 copies. "A remarkably acute and assured novel about the pre- and post-war generations" in the attractive jacket designed by John Banting (ODNB). Learn More£700.00Stock Code: 122075
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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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OMEGA PRESS. Original Woodcuts by Various Artists.London : 1918
First and only edition, number 52 of 75 copies. This important Omega Workshops production includes woodcuts by Roger Fry ("Still Life", "The Cup", "The Stocking", and "Harliquinade" after Mark Gertler), Vanessa Bell ("Nude"), Duncan Grant ("The Hat Shop", "The Tub"), Edward Wolfe ("Ballet", "Group"), Edward McKnight-Kauffer ("Study"), Simon Bussy ("Black... Learn More£8,750.00Stock Code: 98564
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WOOLF, Virginia. Jacob's Room.Richmond : 1922
First edition, first impression. One of probably 40 "A" subscribers' copies with the part-printed limitation label to the front free endpaper completed in ink by Virginia Woolf and signed by her. These copies were issued in advance of the trade publication and were not issued in dust jacket; they were given to the 40 active subscribers who had supported... Learn More£25,000.00Stock Code: 38018
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BLAKE, William. Songs of Innocence.Clairvaux : 1954
First edition thus, number 169 of 1,600 copies. Learn More£150.00Stock Code: 148210
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![[Complete set of the Sharpe novels:]](https://d3dzzbbvj9im7s.cloudfront.net/media/catalog/product/cache/ae0834d12b7cf129fc73bcc000ea526a/1/4/147992comp.jpg)
CORNWELL, Bernard. [Complete set of the Sharpe novels:]London : 1981-2006
First editions, first impressions, signed by the author on the title page in each volume, and with Sharpe's Eagle inscribed, "for Barry - welcome to Sharpe! Bernard Cornwell".
The complete series of Sharpe novels comprise 21 books featuring the eponymous soldier, Richard Sharpe, a rifleman in the Napoleanic Wars. The series was adapted into a... Learn More£5,750.00Stock Code: 147992
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COETZEE, J. M. Waiting for the Barbarians.London : 1980
First edition, first impression, signed by the author on the title page. The winner of both the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, Waiting for Barbarians is the third novel by J. M. Coetzee (b. 1940), who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003. Learn More£2,000.00Stock Code: 147955
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OMAR KHAYYÁM; FITZGERALD, Edward (trans.) RubáiyátCambridge, MA : 1909
Limited centennial edition, number 43 of 50 copies only, signed by the President, Treasurer, and Chairman of the Omar Khayyám Club of America. This is a faithful and scarce facsimile of the first edition of Fitzgerald's Rubáiyát, printed on Japanese vellum and published on 31 March 1909.
Fitzgerald's translation of the Rubáiyát, originally... Learn More£950.00Stock Code: 147877
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OMAR KHAYYÁM; POGÁNY, Willy (illus.) Rubáiyát.New York : [1930]
Signed limited edition, number 82 of 500 copies printed for the United States and signed by the artist, specially bound and with an original etching facing the title page, also signed by Pogány; there were also 750 copies printed for the UK and published by George G. Harrap & Co. Pogány's illustrated edition was first published in 1909.
Fitzgerald's... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 147882
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MATISSE, Henri (illus.); JOYCE, James. Ulysses.New York : 1935
First illustrated edition, signed limited, number 478 of 1,500 copies signed by Matisse.
Within weeks of the lifting of the US ban on the book (6 December 1933), Limited Editions Club impresario George Macy approached Joyce about a special edition of Ulysses, and by February 1934 he was en route to Paris to speak to Matisse about illustration.... Learn More£5,500.00Stock Code: 147814
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WOOLF, Virginia. The Letters; The Diaries.London : 1975-84
First editions, first impressions, of the complete set of Woolf's collected letters and diaries.
The letters, edited by Nigel Nicolson, record in stunning detail the evolution of Woolf's unmistakable style and provide an impressively comprehensive gathering of her correspondence from childhood until her death in 1941. Woolf's diaries, which she... Learn More£950.00Stock Code: 147767
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![His Dark Materials: Northern Lights; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass; [together with] Lyra's Oxford; Once Upon a Time in the North; The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage; The Secret Commonwealth; [and] Serpentine.](https://d3dzzbbvj9im7s.cloudfront.net/media/catalog/product/cache/ae0834d12b7cf129fc73bcc000ea526a/1/4/147638comp.jpg)
PULLMAN, Philip. His Dark Materials: Northern Lights; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass; [together with] Lyra's Oxford; Once Upon a Time in the North; The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage; The Secret Commonwealth; [and] Serpentine.London : 1995-97-2000-03-08-17-19
First editions, first impressions, signed by the author on the title page of each volume, apart from Once Upon a Time in the North, which is a signed limited edition, number 740 of 1,500 copies.
The first volume, Northern Lights, was issued in small numbers and is far from common; it has the first issue points on the jacket: 12.99 price, "Point"... Learn More£5,000.00Stock Code: 147638
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BECKETT, Samuel. Endgame: A Play in One Act.New York : 1958
First edition in English, first impression, limited issue, number 45 of 100 copies specially bound in cloth. A comic experiment in an eschatology of lovelessness, Endgame was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London on 3 April 1957; it was originally published the same year, in French, as Fin de partie. Learn More£2,750.00Stock Code: 147742
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LE CARRÉ, John. The Le Carré Omnibus:London : 1964
First omnibus edition, first impression. This volume brings together the first two novels by John le Carré (1931-2020), both scarce in first editions. Gollancz published the omnibus to capitalise on the success of le Carré's third novel, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. Learn More£675.00Stock Code: 147535
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BECKETT, Samuel. En attendant Godot.Paris : 1952
First edition, trade issue, scarce review copy. It was preceded only by a tiny limited issue of 35 large paper copies issued earlier the same year.
Godot was written and published in French, and was first performed in full at the Théâtre de Babylone in Paris on 5 January 1953. Beckett's English translation of the play later premiered at the... Learn More£3,250.00Stock Code: 147545
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SACKVILLE-WEST, Vita. Signed photograph and typed letter signed.15 March 1945
A fine typed letter signed from Vita Sackville-West to a reader, Miss Richardson, thanking her for her "nice letter about my book on the Women's Land Army. It is very gratifying to know that you have read it more than once and I expect that you can now give your mother a great deal of information about the Land Army which perhaps she did not already... Learn More£2,500.00Stock Code: 147033
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WOOLF, Virginia. The Common Reader: First and Second Series.London : 1925 & 1932
First editions, first impressions, of two works that are tough to find in collectable condition, in particularly nice examples of the Vanessa Bell-designed dust jackets.
These two volumes, the "pillars of Virginia Woolf's essays" include critical essays, articles, and book reviews that had previously appeared publications such as Times Literary... Learn More£10,000.00Stock Code: 146747
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SACKVILLE-WEST, Vita. Sissinghurst.London : 1931
First and limited edition, number 457 of 500 copies hand-printed by the Woolfs and signed by the author. Learn More£950.00Stock Code: 145967
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GRISWOLD, Rufus Wilmot (ed.) The Cypress Wreath:Boston : 1844
First edition of this American consolation anthology. The editor Griswold (1815-1857) "produced a flood of gift books containing the sentimental poetry popular at the time", and was considered by his contemporaries "an expert on American poetry" (ANB). Learn More£150.00Stock Code: 146045
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IBSEN, Henrik. The Master Builder.London : 1893
First edition in English, originally published as Bygmester Solness in 1892. The translators and critics Gosse (1849-1928) and Archer (1856-1924) were among the first English writers to recognize Ibsen's talent. "Gosse became one of the most prolific and powerful writers of his time", while Archer's "pioneering advocacy of Ibsen in England cannot be... Learn More£75.00Stock Code: 146144
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GREENE, Graham. Our Man in Havana.London : 1958
First edition, first impression. Greene's thriller was adapted the year following publication into a film of the same name, directed by Carol Reed and starring Alec Guinness. Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 146526
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GOETHE, Johann Wolfgang von. Faust.Hammersmith : November 1906 & June 1910
First Doves Press editions, each volume one of 25 copies on vellum.
The subject of Faust preoccupied Goethe for most of his life. He began a play on the theme as early as 1773, at first probably concentrated mainly on Faust's disgust with academic learning and on the shallowness of university life. He worked it up into the love tragedy (the so-called... Learn More£25,000.00Stock Code: 145189
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FRY, Roger. A Sampler of Castile.Richmond : 1923
First edition, first impression, presentation copy inscribed on the limitation page to the Swedish art historian and curator Sixten Strömbom (1888-1983) who established the Swedish Portrait Archive in 1915 of which he published a catalogue in 1935-42. This is number 50 of 550 copies only numbered and signed by Fry in pencil. A charming travelogue of... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 145258
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STRACHEY, Lytton. Eminent Victorians.New York : 1918
First US edition, first printing, presentation copy inscribed on the front free endpaper "David Garnett from Lytton Strachey", and with Garnett's armorial bookplate to the front pastedown. Copies in the jacket are rare, and in such excellent condition, rarer still. This is a stupendous Bloomsbury association copy.
Published simultaneously in... Learn More£7,500.00Stock Code: 145708
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GREENAWAY, Kate. Collection of works.1870-1930
A significant collection of the illustrated books of Kate Greenaway, gathered by a private collector over many years and an assemblage which in scope and quality would now be difficult to equal, covering the full breadth of her career, and richly illustrating the extent and variety of her work.
The collection comprises four presentation copies... Learn More£30,000.00Stock Code: 144492
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MURDOCH, Iris. The Sea, The Sea.London : 1978
First edition, first impression. The Sea, The Sea was the Booker Prize Winner for 1978. Learn More£200.00Stock Code: 148183
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VERRI, Alessandro. Le avventure di Saffo poetessa di Mitilene traduzione dal greco originale nuovamente scoperto.Padova : 1780
First edition of the foundational text in the contemporary novelistic reinterpretation of Sappho, in which Phaon, the mythical lover presented by Ovid as the poet's downfall, replaces her at the heroic centre of the Sapphic plot. Following Madame Dacier's lead, Verri ignored any mention of the poetess's homosexuality; he and his many successors and... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 146727
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JOYCE, James. Pomes Penyeach.Paris : 1927
First edition, first impression, of this collection of thirteen of Joyce's poems. Beneath each poem the place and year of composition are provided; they range from 1904 to 1924. The first poem, 'Tilly' is named after the Irish custom of providing customers a free extra serving; the book was sold at 12 shillings, so the thirteenth poem came "free".
This... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 148251
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DONNE, John. Paradoxes and Problems.Soho : 1923
First Nonesuch edition, one of 645 copies printed in the Fell types on handmade paper, this copy out of series and marked "Hilda's copy" in ink by the printer, Francis Meynell (1891-1975). Hilda Peppercorn (1886-1962), a concert pianist (performing as Hilda Saxe), was Meynell's first wife. Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 148122
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LE GUIN, Ursula K. Rocannon's World.New York : 1977
First hardback edition, first printing, inscribed on the title "For Tom, with love, from Ursula". The recipient is likely the American science fiction author and poet, Thomas M. Disch (1940-2008). This hardback edition is uncommonly found signed.
Le Guin and Disch were near contemporaries in the science fiction community and seem to have had... Learn More£450.00Stock Code: 148104
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STALLINGS, A. E. Archaic Smile.Evansville : 1999
First edition, first printing, presentation copy inscribed on the title "To Ginger, with gratitude for all your good work! Alicia. 24.i.01, Atlanta". This collection of poems, by the recipient of the 1999 Richard Wilbur Award, is uncommon in such fine condition and especially so inscribed. Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 148105
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FORSTER, E. M. - LUBBOCK, Percy. Roman Pictures.London : 1923
First edition, first impression, of this humorously fictionalised account of an Englishman's visit to Rome. This copy comes from the library of E. M. Forster, with his book label to the front pastedown, and the inscription "Hugh Brogan 20 November 71" on the front free endpaper. This is a great association copy.
Lubbock was a Cambridge contemporary... Learn More£450.00Stock Code: 148116
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KING, Stephen. The Shining.Garden City, NY : 1977
First edition, first printing, of one of King's masterpieces, the basis for Stanley Kubrick's classic film. Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 148021
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BECKETT, Samuel. Play.London : 1964
First edition, first impression. Play premiered on 14 June 1963 at the Ulmer Theatre, Ul-Donau, and was performed in German. Learn More£150.00Stock Code: 148027
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GOUDGE, Elizabeth. Island Magic.New York : [1934]
First edition, first printing, of the author's first novel. Although undated, this edition was published in 1934 and preceded the UK edition released the same year. Learn More£675.00Stock Code: 148065
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LE GUIN, Ursula K. The Wind's Twelve Quarters.New York : 1975
First edition, first printing, presentation copy inscribed on the title "For Tom, famous or infamous. Love from Ursula. 20.8.96". The recipient is likely the American science fiction author and poet, Thomas M. Disch (1940-2008). This collection of short stories include selected parts of Left Hand of Darkness, Earthsea, Rocannon's World, and others.... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 148099
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SHAKESPEARE, William. The Poems and Sonnets.London : 1903
An attractively bound copy of this limited edition printed on handmade paper, number 23 of 400 copies.
In his introduction to the present volume, scholar and poet Edward Dowden (1843-1913), writes that, when we read Shakespeare's poetry, we learn that he "was capable of measureless personal devotion; that he was tenderly sensitive, sensitive... Learn More£875.00Stock Code: 147775
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ARABIAN NIGHTS - LANE, Edward William. The Thousand and One Nights,London : 1839-41
First edition of Lane's translation, in the scarce original cloth. Lane's edition, one of the earliest in English, "reigned as the leading English translation of the Nights for decades, and its copious notes are stimulating micro-essays of enduring value" (ODNB).
The illustrations, of which there are over 600, were provided by a team of engravers... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 147780
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GRAVES, Robert. Good-bye To All That.London : 1929
First edition, first impression, of the author's memoir of the First World War. This copy is from the second issue, with the infamous Sassoon poem excised and replaced with cancels and asterisks.
The story of the suppression of this issue is well recorded: the book had originally printed a poem Sassoon had written to Graves in letter form. Sassoon... Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 147507
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![[The James Bond novels.]](https://d3dzzbbvj9im7s.cloudfront.net/media/catalog/product/cache/ae0834d12b7cf129fc73bcc000ea526a/1/4/147620.jpg)
FLEMING, Ian. [The James Bond novels.]Shelton : 1981-93
First facsimile edition, reproducing the original designs and dust jacket artwork of all the James Bond first editions. Learn More£2,500.00Stock Code: 147620
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MURDOCH, Iris. Jackson's Dilemma.London : 1995
First edition, first impression, of the author's final novel. Learn More£45.00Stock Code: 146715
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ANGELOU, Maya. Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie.New York : 1971
First edition, first printing, of the author's first book of poetry, warmly inscribed on the front free endpaper: "For Richard Gildenmeister, Dick, Brother, you are a boon, a boon for me, for us, (for the species) Please write! and write on! Your sister (How-be-it-now) Maya". Richard Gildenmeister is a former bookseller based in Cleveland, Ohio, where... Learn More£575.00Stock Code: 147853
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DICKENS, Charles; Robert Browning; and others. Collection of autograph material, including 4 autograph letters signed by Charles Dickens, 4 by Robert Browning, and a quantity of other autograph material.Various places : 1860s-1910s
The Dickens and Browning letters are addressed to Emma Pender (18171891), second wife of Sir John Pender, Scottish textile merchant in Manchester, submarine communications cable pioneer, and politician.
The Dickens letters are:
a) with envelope, stamp clipped, to Mrs Pender, 9 Park St, Westminster, SW; 5 May 1863, declining an invitation... Learn More£7,000.00Stock Code: 137842
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RULFO, Juan El llano en llamas.Mexico : 1953
First edition, first printing, of Rulfo's first book. This collection of short stories precedes his modern masterpiece of Spanish American literature, Pedro Páramo (1955), and both established Rulfo's literary reputation. This edition is rarely found in such good condition and in the jacket.
Set in the harsh countryside of the Jalisco region... Learn More£2,000.00Stock Code: 148115
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SEUSS, Dr., & P. D. Eastman. The Cat In The Hat Beginner Book Dictionary.New York : 1964
First edition, first printing, with correct advertisements to jacket. Learn More£600.00Stock Code: 148174
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RIMBAUD, Arthur. A Season in Hell.London : [1932]
First edition in English, first impression, number 537 of 600 copies only. First published in 1873, this prose poem was finished in a frenzy after the break-up of Rimbaud's relationship with Verlaine who shot him with a revolver in the summer of that year. Copies in such good condition and in the jacket are rare. Learn More£350.00Stock Code: 148025
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BRAUTIGAN, Richard. Please Plant This Book.San Francisco / Santa Barbara : 1968
First edition, sole impression, a scarce complete set of these eight poems by Richard Brautigan printed on the back of coloured seed packets.
Copies were issued for free with the injunction that they be planted: "The time is right to mix sentences, sentences with dirt and the sun with punctuation and the rain with verbs, and for worms to pass... Learn More£1,100.00Stock Code: 148029
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ROSSETTI, Dante Gabriel. The Blessèd Damozel.Aiken : 1900
First edition thus, number 25 of 500 copies printed on Whatman paper, one of 100 only illuminated in water-colours. This copy has a lithographic illustration, after the author and printed on Japanese vellum, loosely inserted. A very attractive printing of Rossetti's Blessed Damozel, the most famous of his poems, first published in 1850. Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 148030
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BUKOWSKI, Charles. Shakespeare Never Did This.San Francisco : 1979
First edition, first impression, signed on the title page by Montfort and Bukowski. This is a fresh copy of "a wryly comic view of Europe as only Bukowski could see it and a moving journey back to his lost past and the small town of his birth (Andernach, Germany) via his triumphant tour as a literary celebrity" (front flap). Learn More£650.00Stock Code: 148045
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LAMPEDUSA, Giuseppe Tomasi di. Il Gattopardo.Milan : 1978
First edition thus, first printing, number 218 of 500 copies only, of Lampedusa's Leopard with the text from the original 1957 manuscript, with illustrations not included in the first edition, and specially bound.
Winner of the prestigious Strega Prize in 1959, Lampedusa's novel ranks as one of the finest of the 20th century. "It is a brilliant... Learn More£950.00Stock Code: 147951
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BAGNOLD, Enid. The Squire.London : 1938
First edition, first impression, presentation copy inscribed "For Irene from Enid, September 1938" on Bagnold's headed stationary, with her Rottingdean home address, pasted onto the front free endpaper.
The recipient was likely Irene Mayer Selznick, wife of David O. Selznick, an important influence on Bagnold, and who produced the world premiere... Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 147981
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DICKENS, Charles. The Mystery of Edwin Drood.London : 1870
First edition, bound from the original monthly parts as published between April and September 1870, with the stab-holes visible; handsomely bound. The author's final work, it remained unfinished at the time of his death, in June 1870, and has prompted much speculation as to the resolution of the mystery. Learn More£450.00Stock Code: 148073
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DICKENS, Charles. Little Dorrit.London : 1857
First edition, bound from the original monthly parts as issued from December 1855 to June 1857, with the stab-holes visible; handsomely bound.
Dickens's biographer declares the novel to be the author's "single most ferocious onslaught against England and English society; against its government, against its financiers, against its artists, and... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 148086
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DICKENS, Charles. The Posthumous Papers of The Pickwick Club.London : 1837
First edition, bound from the original monthly parts as published from March 1836 to November 1837, with the stab-holes visible; a handsome copy. Pickwick was Dickens's first great success, the novel that transformed him from an obscure journalist into England's most famous writer in a matter of months.
Bound into this copy is both the Buss plates,... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 148088
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GOREY, Edward. The World of Edward Gorey.New York : 1998
First editions, first printing. Learn More£20.00Stock Code: 147964
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GOREY, Edward. Phantasmagorey.[New Haven] : 1974
First and only edition, signed on the title page by Ross and Edward Gorey. Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 147962
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DICKENS, Charles. The Personal History of David Copperfield.London : 1849-50
First edition in the original monthly parts of Dickens's classic Bildungsroman, his most lightly disguised autobiographical fiction, his first first-person novel, and his own favourite among his novels. After The Pickwick Papers, this may be the most difficult of his novels to find in nice condition in parts.
This set has all the requisite first... Learn More£10,000.00Stock Code: 142570
