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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MITFORD, Nancy (ed.) Noblesse Oblige.London : 1956
First edition, first impression. Learn More£75.00Stock Code: 140605
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WILSON, Colin. The Glass Cage.London : 1966
First edition, first impression, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper: "For Steve with affection Colin Jan 67". Learn More£60.00Stock Code: 140607
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PUDNEY, John. Beyond the Disregard.London : 1943
First edition, first impression, of the author's second collection of poetry. Learn More£40.00Stock Code: 140600
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ANDERSON, Poul, & Gordon Dickson. Earthman's Burden.New York : 1957
First edition, first printing. Learn More£50.00Stock Code: 140594
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BAILEY, Paul. An Immaculate Mistake.London : 1990
First edition, first impression, inscribed by the author on the title page: "for Bernice - permanent light of my life, erstwhile fire of my loins, with love, Paul". The recipient was the Booker Prize-winning novelist Bernice Rubens (1923-2004), who first met Bailey in Leicester whilst on a tour for the Arts Council. They maintained a close relationship... Learn More£50.00Stock Code: 140597
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WINTERSON, Jeanette. Gut Symmetries.London : 1997
First edition, first impression. Learn More£45.00Stock Code: 140598
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STEVENS, Wallace. Parts of a World.New York : 1942
First edition, first printing. Learn More£65.00Stock Code: 140586
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O'HARA, John. Pal Joey.London : 1952
First UK edition, first impression, of the author's fourth novel. It was first published in New York in 1940, which formed the basis of the 1940 Broadway musical comedy of the same name, with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart. It was subsequently made into a film in 1957 starring Rita Hayworth and Frank Sinatra. Learn More£50.00Stock Code: 140589
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(DOUGLAS, Lord Alfred.) STOPES, Marie Carmichael. Lord Alfred Douglas.London : 1949
First edition, first impression. Learn More£65.00Stock Code: 140590
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WYNDHAM-LEWIS, D. B. Ronsard.London : 1946
First UK edition, third impression, of the author's biography of the French Renaissance poet Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585). The first edition was published in the US and UK simultaneously, with the first impression appearing in 1944. Learn More£25.00Stock Code: 140591
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GRAVES, Robert. Steps.London : 1958
First edition, first impression of this collection of writings. Learn More£60.00Stock Code: 140494
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STERN, James. The Stories.New York : 1968
First US edition, first printing, inscribed on the half-title by the author "For Anthony & Tania II affectionately Jimmy Stern 13.iv.69", and signed by Stern on the title page. The recipient was Anthony Hobson (1921-2014), a scholar, esteemed bibliophile, and expert on Renaissance bindings, who was President of the Internationale de Bibliophilie between... Learn More£75.00Stock Code: 140496
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ST AUBIN DE TERAN, Lisa. Black Idol.London : 1987
First edition, first impression, of the author's fourth novel. Learn More£25.00Stock Code: 140472
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FIRBANK, Ronald. The New Rythum.London : 1962
First edition, first impression, of the author's posthumously-published unfinished novel. Learn More£65.00Stock Code: 140474
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MARGOLIN, Phillip. Gone, But Not Forgotten.New York : 1993
First edition, first printing. Learn More£50.00Stock Code: 140490
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BOYD, William. An Ice Cream War.London : 1982
First edition, first impression, of William Boyd's second novel. Learn More£65.00Stock Code: 140470
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GREENBERG, Martin (ed.) Travellers of Space.New York : 1951
First edition, first printing, of this anthology of science fiction. This is the second book in the Adventures in Science Fiction Series edited by Greenberg for the Gnome Press, and features short stories by Ray Bradbury, Christopher Youd, William Tenn, Frederic Brown, and H. B. Fyfe, amongst others. Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 140466
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WILLIAMSON, Jack. The Legion of Time.Reading, Pennsylvania : 1952
First edition, first printing. Learn More£65.00Stock Code: 140467
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(FLINT, W. Russell, illus.) ROENAU, Ernst. Idyllen des Klassischen Altertums.Vienna : 1921
First edition, first printing, number 833 of 1400 copies, of this finely illustrated German retelling of Greek myths. Learn More£150.00Stock Code: 141749
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HEMINGWAY, Ernest. The Fifth ColumnNew York : 1938
First edition, first printing, of this major summarizing collection, the only one for which Hemingway made a critical selection for publication from his vast opus of short fiction: includes "In Our Time", "Men Without Women" and "Winner Take Nothing" among others, and prints four previously uncollected stories including "The Short Happy Life of Francis... Learn More£3,000.00Stock Code: 81063
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FITZGERALD, F. Scott. The Bodley Head Scott Fitzgerald.London : 1958-63
First editions, first impressions, of the only collected edition of the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald ever printed. Learn More£600.00Stock Code: 134165
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FLEMING, Ian. Octopussy and The Living Daylights.London : 1966
First edition, first impression, fourth issue jacket, with the publisher's overprice sticker. This was the final James Bond book by Fleming, published two years after the author's death, and comprised two stories, the titles of which were used for two Bond movies: Octopussy in 1983, starring Roger Moore, and The Living Daylights in... Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 137474
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(GHOST STORIES.) STEAD, William Thomas (ed.) The Review of Reviews.London : [1889-96]
First editions of these Victorian ghost stories from the annual issue of the Review of Reviews, edited by the journalist and editor W. T. Stead (1849-1912), who developed a keen interest in spiritualism around 1890 and claimed he could communicate telepathically and practice automatic writing.
Stead was also the first editor to employ female... Learn More£950.00Stock Code: 136822
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(PENGUIN CLASSICS.) FITZGERALD, F. Scott. Tender is the Night.London : 2006
Limited edition, number 658 of 1,000 copies, the binding designed by filmmaker and photographer Sam Taylor-Wood. To celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the Penguin Classics the firm commissioned five prominent artists to design bindings for limited runs of influential books previously published in the series. Tender is the Night was first... Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 134833
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NERUDA, Pablo. The Heights of Macchu Picchu.London : 1966
First English-language edition of Neruda's masterpiece, the publisher's copy signed for him by the poet on the front free endpaper, "Pablo Neruda, 1970", with the bookplate of Tom Maschler to front pastedown. Maschler was the head of Jonathan Cape, and a hugely influential figure in 20th-century literature: he had a particular genius for bringing world-class... Learn More£2,750.00Stock Code: 132730
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FLEMING, Ian. On Her Majesty's Secret Service.London : 1963
First edition, first impression. This is the eleventh book in the James Bond series, featuring a reappearance of Blofeld and SPECTRE. It was adapted for film in 1969, featuring George Lazenby. Learn More£650.00Stock Code: 141808
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WAITE, Arthur Edward. Belle and the Dragon.London : 1894
First edition, in bright condition, of this uncommonly found allegorical children's fantasy.
The work, set in the mythic land of Ravendale, features lightly disguised versions of Waite and his cohort. In "all his work Waite presented himself as a non-denominational mystic" and he is present here as the character of "the Mystic", depicted at page... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 141596
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SHELLEY, Mary. Autograph letter signed to Harriet Boinville.[84 Park Street : March-May 1841?]
Autograph letter signed to Harriet Boinville (attributed so by Bennett), sister-in-law to the radical vegan John Frank Newton. In 1813 Percy Shelley had been close friends with the Boinvilles when married to Harriet Westbrook, and he had also been in love with Harriet Boinville's daughter. Mary's letter to Boinville is full of interest, discussing the... Learn More£3,750.00Stock Code: 129798
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[SHELLEY, Mary & Percy Bysshe.] History of a Six Weeks' TourLondon : [November] 1817
First edition of Mary Shelley's first book, compiled at Marlowe, where she also finished Frankenstein, which was published on 1 January 1818. It comprises Mary's 81-page journal account of her travels through Europe after her elopement with Percy, accompanied by her stepsister Claire Clairmont, from July to September 1814. To this she added... Learn More£6,500.00Stock Code: 125127
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STEINBECK, John. The Grapes of Wrath.New York : 1939
First edition, first printing, of Steinbeck's masterpiece and one of the great American novels of the 20th century. The fine jacket design is by Elmer Hader, known primarily as a children's book illustrator (joint winner with his wife, Berta Hoerner Hader, of the Caldecott Medal in 1948 for The Big Snow): apparently Steinbeck was so taken with their... Learn More£3,750.00Stock Code: 121682
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WAUGH, Evelyn. Black Mischief.London : 1932
First edition, first impression, of Waugh's "satire on European notions of 'progress' imitated by an imaginary African nation" (ODNB). Learn More£185.00Stock Code: 119832
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STEINBECK, John. The Grapes of Wrath.New York : 1939
First edition, first printing, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, "Continuing the tradition. To John H. Lyon, go to hell! John Steinbeck". The recipient was Professor John Henry Hobart Lyon (1876-1961), an English professor at Columbia University. "Great names usually come in clusters, for one creative scholar attracts others... Learn More£9,750.00Stock Code: 98526
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[CLELAND, John.] Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure.London : 1781
Extremely rare early edition of Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, or Fanny Hill, "the first original English prose pornography, and the first to break away from the dialogue form into the style of the novel" (Foxon, Libertine Literature in England, 1660-1745).
First published under the same imprint in an edition dated 1749, the imprint... Learn More£22,500.00Stock Code: 86257
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WELLS, H. G. The War in the AirLondon : 1908
First edition, first impression. With Wells's fine contemporary presentation inscription to the half title page, "W. W. Jacobs from H. G. Wells". An excellent association: Jacobs was a close contemporary of Wells, the highest earning writer of his day, and a superb technician. Learn More£6,000.00Stock Code: 49561
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SHAKESPEARE, William. The Complete Works.London : 1903
A charming set of the Oxford Miniature Edition. Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 141139
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(BEARDSLEY, Aubrey.) RUDING, Walt. An Evil Motherhood.London : 1896
First edition, with the frontispiece designed by Aubrey Beardsley. Second issue as usual: there were a few copies sent for review with an 1895 title page and Beardsley's "Black Coffee" frontispiece, but following a complaint by the publisher John Lane about the use of this image, which had been prepared for the fifth volume of The Yellow Book, the review... Learn More£175.00Stock Code: 128525
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DOYLE, Arthur Conan. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.London : 1892
First edition, first issue, of the first collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, inscribed by the author on the title page: "Given by A. Conan Doyle March 16/15". Signed first editions are a great rarity in commerce, and are noticeably absent from most of the great collections of detective fiction and English literature.
In 1915 Doyle embarked on... Learn More£85,000.00Stock Code: 137488
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GREENE, Graham. The Basement Room and other stories.London : 1935
First edition, first impression, a superb association: Greene's personal copy, with his ownership inscription and manuscript annotations towards his screenplay for The Fallen Idol (1948), the Carol Reed-directed adaptation of the lead story in this, Greene's first short story collection. Particularly significant here is his introduction of a device... Learn More£35,000.00Stock Code: 139241
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SHAKESPEARE, William. The Works.London, : 1908
The Larger Temple Shakespeare. Learn More£650.00Stock Code: 134262
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THACKERAY, William Makepeace. The Works.London : 1900
A handsomely bound set of Thackeray's works. Learn More£650.00Stock Code: 134290
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DICKENS, Charles. The Posthumous Papers of The Pickwick Club.London : 1837
First edition, bound from the original parts, in the rare primary publisher's trade binding of plum coloured full morocco. Upon completion of the publication in parts, Chapman and Hall issued The Pickwick Papers in book form in cloth for 21s., half-morocco for 24s. 6d., and the present full morocco with gilt edges for 26s. 6d. (Patton, p. 326). They... Learn More£4,000.00Stock Code: 138130
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FITZGERALD, F. Scott. Tender is the Night.New York : 1934
First edition, first printing, first issue dust jacket, signed by the author on the front free endpaper. This is a superb copy of Fitzgerald's magnificent yet maligned follow-up to The Great Gatsby. It is one of 19 copies specially signed by the author for the booksellers Hochschild, Kohn & Co. of Baltimore, with their ticket on the rear pastedown.... Learn More£30,000.00Stock Code: 136034
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(EVANS, Walker.) CRANE, Hart. The BridgeParis : 1930
First edition, first impression, number 89 of 200 copies on Holland Paper from a total limited edition of 284 copies. The Bridge was Crane's only attempt at a long poem, inspired by his view of the Brooklyn Bridge from his apartment in Columbia Heights, and includes three plates from photographs of the bridge by his friend Walker Evans. Harold Bloom... Learn More£2,250.00Stock Code: 135122
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JAMES, Montague Rhodes. A Warning to the Curious and other Ghost Stories.London : 1925
First edition, first impression, of James's fourth and final collection of "excellent" ghost stories (Bleiler). Montague Rhodes James (1862-1936) was a a noted scholar and the author of numerous ghost stories, which he began writing after entering Cambridge in 1882. James's readings at King's College were renowned in Cambridge, and he continued the... Learn More£875.00Stock Code: 133970
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FAULKNER, William. Light in August.New York : 1932
First edition, first printing, presentation copy, inscribed by the author to his close childhood friend on the front free endpaper, "For Myrtle Ramey, Oxford Miss 30 May 1934, William Faulkner". Myrtle Ramey and Faulkner met in third grade of Oxford Graded Public School. Faulkner skipped second grade at the age of eight and joined Ramey's class in September... Learn More£50,000.00Stock Code: 131629
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HEMINGWAY, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises.New York : 1926
First edition, first printing, the first issue with the misprints "stoppped" on p. 181, l. 26, "down-staris" on p. 169, line 34, and the third book being designated as "BOOK THREE" instead of "BOOK III" (p. 235), with the first issue dust jacket, incorrectly citing Hemingway's earlier title as In Our Times.
Hemingway's second novel is a roman à... Learn More£65,000.00Stock Code: 118495
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BEAUMONT, Francis, & John Fletcher. Comedies and Tragedies …London : 1647
First edition, modelled on the first two folio collections of Shakespeare's plays (1623 and 1632) and the first two folios of the works of Ben Jonson (1616 and 1640-1). These folios are often credited with establishing a recognisably modern concept of the individual author, though the Beaumont and Fletcher folio is more problematic in that regard. It... Learn More£27,500.00Stock Code: 108348
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FIELDING, Xan. The Stronghold.London : 1953
First edition, first impression. Fielding, who was based as an intelligence officer in Crete from January to August 1942 and from November 1942 to January 1944, "described the White Mountains in Crete with vivacity and skill" (ODNB). The photographs in this work were taken by the socialite and author Daphne Thynne, marchioness of Bath, whom Fielding... Learn More£450.00Stock Code: 141765
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GOREY, Edward. The Gashlycrumb Tinies.Rohnert, Ca : 1999
First edition, first printing, of this wall calendar for the year 2000, the year of Gorey's death, with his illustrations from The Gashlycrumb Tinies. Learn More£20.00Stock Code: 141496
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GOREY, Edward. The Deranged Cousins.Rohnert, Ca : 2002
First editions, first printing, of this calendar for the year 2003, with Gorey's illustrations from The Deranged Cousins. Learn More£20.00Stock Code: 141499
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GOREY, Edward. Gorey World.San Francisco : 1996
First edition, first printing, number 65 of 150 copies signed by Edward Gorey.
The related material includes:
1. The Fantod Pack (1995) publication flyer, with monochrome illustration on recto and publisher's information on verso.
2. American Book Collector, two issues (May/June and November/December 1985), both... Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 141503
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HERBERT OF CHERBURY, Edward, Lord. The Autobiography.London : 1886
First edition thus, one of 1, 000 copies extra illustrated with 50 plates (48 portraits, 2 views), largely dating to the first half of the 19th century, put out in 1891 with specially printed title pages, and presented here in a vintage choice half morocco by Zaehnsdorf, whose bindings were "highly esteemed for their artistic taste and for their craftsmanship"... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 141311
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BEERBOHM, Max. Autograph manuscript draft poem, "To W.S."June 1914
A choice Beerbohm manuscript, a deft sonnet in honour of the painter Walter Sickert (1860-1942), invoking Whistler and other figures of Max's youth, and the music halls "The Hoxton Palace of Varieties" and reflecting upon the passage of time and enduring presence of Sickert, who was in 1914 working in experimental modes as painter and essayist. Sickert... Learn More£3,750.00Stock Code: 135882
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SPENDER, Stephen. Ruins and Visions.London : 1942
First edition, first impression, presentation copy of a work rarely found inscribed, to his lifelong friend and fellow poet W. H. Auden on the half-title, "To Wystan, with love from Stephen. March 1942".
This is a key association, inscribed using Auden's first name, which was reserved for friends. Auden was a major influence on Spender: "A pontiff... Learn More£4,500.00Stock Code: 139371
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O'SHEA, Beth. A Long Way From Boston.New York : 1946
First edition, first printing, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "First off the press - For Julian Johnson - who was first to tell me I should write a book and, when it was started, told me how to slant it - Beth O'Shea". Preceding Kerouac's On The Road, this transcontinental road trip narrative unusually features... Learn More£500.00Stock Code: 139409
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WOOLF, Virginia. Orlando.New York : 1928
First edition, signed by the author in her customary purple ink on the verso of the half-title, this copy a publisher's presentation copy, out of series from the stated edition of 861 copies, inscribed on the colophon "for D., G., & J. Smith Feb. 28, 1930, from James W." by James R. Wells, who took over Gaige's publishing firm in January 1929.
This... Learn More£3,000.00Stock Code: 138492
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FLEMING, Ian. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The Magical Car.London : 1964-65
First editions, first impressions, of the complete set of Fleming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang stories. Learn More£1,750.00Stock Code: 141220
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[BRADLEY, Katharine, & Edith Cooper.] FIELD, Michael. Poems of Adoration.London & Edinburgh : [1912]
First edition of this collaboration by Edith Emma Cooper and her aunt and sometime lover Katharine Harris Bradley, pseudonymously-published as Michael Field. Their first publication as "Michael Field", Callirhoë (1884), was publicly well-received, with The Spectator greeting it "as a work of 'great promise', exhibiting 'the true poetic and... Learn More£500.00Stock Code: 134560
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MILTON, John. Areopagitica.New York : 1890
First Grolier edition, one of 325 copies published on Holland paper. The Areopagitica was Milton's response to the licensing order of June 1643, and has come "to be valued as the most eloquent defence in English of the right to publish without prior censorship. It has also been invoked as a defence of free speech, but in fact the limits of Miltonic... Learn More£800.00Stock Code: 122297
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STOKER, Bram. Dracula.New York : 1899
First U.S. edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper: "Lady Errington from Bram Stoker 31.05.08". Lady Frances Helena Errington (d. c.1935) was the wife of Sir George Errington (1839-1920), 1st baronet, Dublin-born MP for Longford (1874-1885), High Sheriff of Tipperary (1888) and Wexford (1901). Errington was a prominent... Learn More£25,000.00Stock Code: 121627
