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. Night and Day.London : 1919
First edition, first impression, one of just 2,000 copies printed, of Woolf's second novel. Learn More£1,400.00Stock Code: 41311
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THOMPSON, Joseph T. An English and Oordoo Dictionary, in Roman Characters.Calcutta : 1852
Uncommon, Library Hub has only four copies of this revised edition, WorldCat adds just four more. Learn More£175.00Stock Code: 41369
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ELIOT, T. S. "Goethe as the Sage"Hamburg : [1955]
First edition, first impression; 1200 copies printed. Presentation copy, inscribed on the top front cover "to Julie Malman with most cordial good wishes T. S. Eliot." Booklet issued on the presentation of the Hanseatic Goethe Prize awarded to Eliot. An important essay and rare in presentation state. Learn More£1,000.00Stock Code: 41409
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BARSTOW, Stan. Ask Me Tomorrow.1962
First Edition, First Impression. Learn More£40.00Stock Code: 41678
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KINSELLA, Thomas. Wormwood.Dublin : 1966
First edition, signed limited issue of 350 copies, signed by the author on the colophon. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title, "For Benjamin Boshes, with best wishes, Thomas Kinsella". The recipient was Doctor Benjamin Boshes, chairman emeritus of the neurology department at Northwestern University Medical School. During the... Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 42113
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TUOHY, Frank. The Animal Game.London : 1957
First edition, first impression. Learn More£60.00Stock Code: 42727
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WHITE, T. H. Gone To Ground.1935
First Edition, First Impression, First Issue binding in the brown cloth with the spine gilt and the jacket priced at 7/6. Not common in the first issue. Learn More£600.00Stock Code: 43655
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MACDONALD, George. Within and Without: a dramatic poem.London : 1855
First edition of the author's first book, presentation copy to Charles Kingsley, inscribed by MacDonald in ink at the head of the title: "The Reverend Charles Kingsley With much honour from George MacDonald." An excellent association copy, bringing together the only two significant writers of Christian fantasy in the Victorian period. Kingsley recognised... Learn More£6,500.00Stock Code: 43749
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DEIGHTON, Len. Only When I Larf.1967
First edition, first impression, limited to 150 copies only privately printed by the author to establish copyright while negotiating the motion picture deal with Paramount Pictures. The first trade edition was published a year later in 1968. Learn More£1,600.00Stock Code: 43932
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WILSON, Edmund. I thought of Daisy.London : [1952]
First UK edition. First published in the US in 1929. With the author's signed presentation inscription on the front free endpaper to author and music historian Sam Chotzinoff, dated 1952. Learn More£200.00Stock Code: 44265
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WESKER, Arnold. The Kitchen.London : 1961
First expanded edition. First published by Penguin in 1960. Learn More£50.00Stock Code: 44336
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COE, Charles Francis. Swag.New York : 1928
First edition. "This is a novel that is more than a novel. Romance is here; excitement, suspense, tensity!. But deeper than that are the amazing disclosures of criminal activities" (jacket blurb). Coe's previous works Me, Gangster and The River Pirate were both filmed by the Fox Film Corporation, the former with Carole Lombard "as Blonde Rosie (as Carole... Learn More£160.00Stock Code: 44709
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FORESTER, C. S. The Sky and the Forest.London : 1948
First edition, first impression. With the author's signed presentation inscription to the front free endpaper "Judith Nelson with best wishes from C. S. Forester." Learn More£780.00Stock Code: 44845
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EVANS, Edward Payson. Evolutional Ethics and Animal Psychology.London : 1898
First edition. Having graduated from the University of Michigan and studied for three years at Göttingen, Berlin and Munich, in 1862 Evans was appointed Professor of Modern Languages at his alma mater. He resigned in 1870 to become a private scholar and freelance journalist ; "and before long his high, broad forehead and flowing beard were a permanent... Learn More£150.00Stock Code: 44950
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DILNOT, George. Fighting Fool.1939
First edition, first impression. Learn More£280.00Stock Code: 46210
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HENTY, G. A. Rujub, the Juggler.London : 1893
First edition of this novel, published in America under Henty's intended title, In the Days of the Mutiny, which Chatto & Windus rejected for fear it would lead it to be mistaken for one of Henty's children's books. This is one of only seven multi-volume titles by Henty. "In the 1890s, among the last three-deckers to appear in Britain, Chatto and Windus... Learn More£12,500.00Stock Code: 46919
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SHUTE, Nevil. Marazan.London : 1926
First edition, first impression of the author's first book. Learn More£600.00Stock Code: 47191
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KORG, Jacob. George Gissing: A Critical Biography.London : 1965
First UK edition. Initially published by the University of Washington Press two years previously. From the library of John Heygate, whose initials and the date "1965" are inscribed at head of the title page. Learn More£35.00Stock Code: 47655
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FIELD, Edward Salisbury. A Six-Cylinder Courtship.New York : 1907
First edition. Learn More£60.00Stock Code: 48089
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MacDONAGH, Donagh. Happy as Larry.Dublin; London : 1946
First edition. Inscriptions read: "Inscribed for Red and Louise/ Taylor. Donagh MacDonagh/ July 1946" "and with very much love/ from the publisher/ Maurice/ I. VII. 46" Learn More£100.00Stock Code: 48091
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GORDON, Roderick, & Brian Williams. The Highfield Mole. Book One The Circle in the Spiral.2005
First edition, first impression. One of only 500 copies printed. The first book in which has subsequently been retitled the Tunnels series. Signed by Gordon and Williams on the title page and with the added inscription "Schlaak! The pickaxe hit the wall of earth", dated 17th Mole 2005. Learn More£950.00Stock Code: 48372
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CONRAD, Joseph. Under Western Eyes.London : 1911
First edition, presentation copy with a fine literary association, inscribed to John Galsworthy and his wife, Ada, on the front free endpaper, "To Jack and Ada with love from J. C. 1911". Conrad first met Galsworthy in 1893 on the sailing-ship Torrens. Galsworthy, bound for Cape Town, boarded the ship at Adelaide and encountered its first mate, the... Learn More£17,500.00Stock Code: 48397
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HEMINGWAY, Ernest. In Our Time.New York : 1930
Second US edition (revised) of Hemingway's first collection of stories, originally published in Paris in 1924, substantially revised for the Boni & Liveright edition of 1925, and republished here with further revisions and new introductions by both Edmund Wilson and the author, the latter later included as a short story in The First 49 under the title... Learn More£3,250.00Stock Code: 48712
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GALSWORTHY, John. Saint's Progress.London : 1919
First edition, first impression. Scarce in dust jacket. Learn More£100.00Stock Code: 48922
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ONIONS, Oliver. Tales From the Far Riding.1902
First edition, first impression. Of the utmost scarcity in dust jacket. An early collection of stories by detective and mystery writer Oliver Onions. Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 49171
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MASON, Bobbie Ann. Feather Crowns.New York : 1993
First edition, first printing. Signed by the author on the title page. Learn More£50.00Stock Code: 50050
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MacLEISH, Archibald. Songs for Eve.Boston : 1954
First edition, first printing, signed limited issue, presentation copy, this copy unnumbered and specially bound and signed by the author on the half-title, and additionally inscribed on the title page "For Dos & Betty with love, Archie, December 1954". The recipients were the writer John Dos Passos, author of the U.S.A. Trilogy (1930-6), and Betty,... Learn More£640.00Stock Code: 50076
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EMIN, Tracey; Billy Childish; Bill Drummond; Beth Orton; Will Self; & others. 19 Raptures.2009
First edition, first impression. One of 10 copies housed in a slipcase and signed by all the contributing authors, from a total edition of 505 numbered copies. Other contributors include, Anonymous, Spilious Argyropolous, Sarah Jessica Brown, Charles Chesshire, John Crace, Francesca Dark, Richard English, Rebecca Fortey, Sebastian Horsley, David Jenkins,... Learn More£600.00Stock Code: 50348
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FOWLER, Gene. Trumpet in the Dust.New York : 1930
First edition, first printing, fine presentation from the author, inscribed on the front free endpaper, "For Ring Lardner what a sap I'd be to try to tell you what I think of you and your work - you know... Gene Fowler April 3, 1930". A major association. Fowler met Lardner when the two men joined Damon Runyon as writers on Hearst's paper The American.... Learn More£1,600.00Stock Code: 50429
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FENTON, James, & John Fuller. Partingtime Hall.London : 1987
First edition, first impression. With the publisher's promotional sheet laid in. Learn More£35.00Stock Code: 50464
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GALE, Norman Roland. Saga and Song: Being a Ballad Made of the "Regina Elizabeth"Rugby : 1895
First edition, first printing of the author's first book. Learn More£160.00Stock Code: 50626
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HUDSON, W. H. Letters to Edward Garnett.1925
First edition, first impression. Learn More£225.00Stock Code: 50675
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CHESTERTON, G. K. Greybeards at Play. Literature and Art for Old Gentlemen.1900
First edition, first impression, of the author's first book. Learn More£525.00Stock Code: 50828
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MACDONALD, Ross. The Far Side of the Dollar.New York : 1965
First edition, first printing. Inscribed by the author, using his real name Kenneth Millar, on the front free endpaper "Feb. 8, 1965 Santa Barbara. For Stretch, with affectionate good wishes". Stretch was a Santa Barbara neighbour. Learn More£1,200.00Stock Code: 50941
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MERRILL, James. Hoi chilies kai e meutera nuchta (The Thousand and Second Night and Other Poems).[Athens] : 1966
First edition thus, first impression. Inscribed by the author and the translator on the front free endpaper "To Allen Ansen and from his friend, veiled in a foreign tongue, Jimmy." Alan Ansen (1922-2006) was a central figure in the loose collection of writers known as the Beats. He was close friends with Burroughs, Ginsberg and Kerouac, and was the... Learn More£160.00Stock Code: 51354
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MERRILL, James. For James Merrill. A Birthday Tribute.1986
First edition, first printing. One of a limited edition of 90 copies. Learn More£160.00Stock Code: 51368
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WHITEHEAD, Peter. Wholly Communion the film.1966
Second edition. From the library of Alan Ansen. Learn More£65.00Stock Code: 51406
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GREENE, Graham. Rumour at Nightfall.London : 1931
First edition, first impression. Learn More£1,200.00Stock Code: 51819
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CAPEK, The Brothers. 'And so ad infinitum' (The Life of the Insects). An Entomological Review, in Three Acts a Prologue and an Epilogue.London : 1923
First English langauge edition, first impression of the satire in which insects stand for human personalities. Learn More£40.00Stock Code: 51886
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HUGHES, Ted. Roosting Hawk.[1959]
First separate edition, sole printing, being one of a small number of copies off-printed from the Grecourt Review for the use of the publisher and author. Sagar & Tabor write that "The Grecourt Review, like many other periodicals, provided contributors with offprints... They are identical with the magazine texts and of no bibliographical interest".... Learn More£450.00Stock Code: 51997
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HAYAKAWA, S. I. Language In Action.1939
An early typescript of a fundamental work on language. The author was inspired by the work of groundbreaking semanticist Alfred Korzybski, applying his theories to sociology and politics in reaction to the fascist use of language to oppress. Hayakawa was a lecturer at the Armour Institute of Technology in 1939 and this copy is likely from an edition... Learn More£2,000.00Stock Code: 52003
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KAUFMAN, George S., & Marc Connelly. Beggar on Horseback. A Play in Two Parts.New York : 1924
First edition, first printing, "a satire on business, written - uncharacteristically for Kaufman - in the Expressionistic style then fashionable" (American National Biography). Learn More£340.00Stock Code: 52018
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ORCZY, Baroness. The Uncrowned King.London : 1935
First edition, first impression. Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 52028
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KEMBLE, Fanny - LONGFELLOW, Henry Wadsworth. Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie.1848
Sixth edition, one year after the first. This copy inscribed on the front free endpaper, "Sarah Butler from her friend, Fanny Kemble, December 25th/'45," and with the Butler Place bookplate to the front pastedown. Sarah was Fanny Kemble's elder daughter, named for her aunt, the great tragedienne Sarah Siddons. When Kemble's abolitionism forced her separation... Learn More£950.00Stock Code: 52316
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LOWELL, Robert. The Old Glory.New York : 1965
First edition, first impression. Presentation copy to the film director and screenwriter Elia Kazan, inscribed by the author on the title page "For Elia with affection & admiration from Cal". Cal was Lowell's nickname. The Old Glory is a play consisting of three pieces to be performed together as a trilogy, two being stage adaptations of short stories... Learn More£700.00Stock Code: 59235
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PRICE, Reynolds. The Forseeable Future.New York : 1991
First edition, first printing. Learn More£25.00Stock Code: 59418
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TAYLOR, Peter. Presences. Seven Dramatic Pieces.Boston : 1973
First edition, first impression. Learn More£200.00Stock Code: 59426
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WILLIAMSON, Henry. The Gale of the World.London : 1969
First edition, first impression. Learn More£100.00Stock Code: 59431
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CALDWELL, Erskine, & Jack Kirkland. Tobacco Road.1937
First UK edition, first impression. Originally published in the US in 1934. Learn More£50.00Stock Code: 59434
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ISHERWOOD, Christopher. All The Conspirators.London : 1928
First edition, first impression. Learn More£1,375.00Stock Code: 59529
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HARRIS, Frank. Undream'd of Shores.1924
First edition, first impression. Learn More£75.00Stock Code: 59557
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PRIESTLEY, J. B. Papers From Lilliput.Cambridge : 1922
First edition, first impression. Learn More£150.00Stock Code: 59618
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OSBORNE, John. Plays For England.London : 1963
First edition, first impression. Learn More£35.00Stock Code: 59703
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[BLIXEN, Karen; as] ANDRÉZEL, Pierre. The Angelic Avengers.New York : 1947
First edition, first printing. Review copy with the publisher's notices laid in. Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 61652
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LATIMER, Jonathan. Sinners and Shrouds. An Inner Sanctum Mystery.New York : 1955
First edition, first printing. Inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper "To Mat and Margaret - from your star boarder of many years standing - Jack Latimer". Learn More£240.00Stock Code: 61824
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PASCAL, Ernest. Ragtime.1924
First edition, published the following year in the US under the title The Virgin Flame. "Loyal, sensitive young musician" Michael Cardovan struggles to wrest the soul of America from the toils of Jazz. Plot includes a dramatic trial with a jury of "twelve ragtime men and true." On the jacket, in silhouette, a flapper persuades her young man to turn... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 62069
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BATES, H. E. The Modern Short Story. A Critical Survey.1941
First edition, first impression. Learn More£120.00Stock Code: 62382
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BATES, H. E. The Golden Oriole. Five Novellas.1962
First edition, first impression. Learn More£75.00Stock Code: 62409
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CRESWICK, Paul. The Turning Wheel.London : 1928
First edition, first impression. With the author's signed presentation inscription to the front free endpaper, "With all sincere regards to my Cincinnati friends - Mr & Mrs Robert H Smith. July 22 1929 Paul Creswick". A rare fantasy about an antediluvian paradise arising from the subsiding ocean and proving eventually to be Atlantis. The jacket art... Learn More£1,400.00Stock Code: 62565
