Books
Browse our collection of rare books, first editions, signed editions and valuable printed books, written by the world's greatest authors, in a wide range of subjects.
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MILL, James. Analysis of the Phenomena of the Human Mind.London : 1829
First edition of this "magnum opus in associationist psychology and philosophy of mind" (ODNB) by the father of John Stuart Mill; an attractively bound set.
In the Analysis, which Mill began work on in 1822, he "maintains that the human mind is a store of 'associations' of ideas derived from experience (for example, between 'burn' and 'fire').... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 107491
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TWAIN, Mark. The Writings.New York : 1922
The definitive edition, signed "S L Clemens / Mark Twain", limited to 1024 sets only of which this is 423. The publisher states that Twain intended a definitive collected edition and so put his autograph to 1024 single leaves in 1906. These were not recovered until long after his death, when the project could finally be completed. This set includes... Learn More£15,000.00Stock Code: 107494
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NAVARI, Leonora. Greece and The Levant. The Catalogue of The Henry Myron Blackmer Collection of Books.London : 1989
First edition, one of 300 copies of this important bibliographical reference detailing the Henry M. Blackmer Collection, the finest collection on Modern Greece and Levantine studies at the time of its sale in October 1989. Blackmer was an American banker who settled in Athens and formed this remarkable collection as a tribute to his adopted country,... Learn More£2,250.00Stock Code: 107507
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LAWRENCE, Henry Montgomery. Some Passages in the Life of an Adventurer in the Punjab.Delhi : 1842
First edition, extremely uncommon, just two copies - BL and Oxford - on Library Hub, WorldCat adds five more - NYPL, Yale, Harvard, universities of Minnesota and Missouri. One of the earliest commercial productions of this press, all Delhi imprints before 1850 are uncommon. Excellent copy of Lawrence's "fictionalised memoirs of Colonel Bellasis who... Learn More£3,500.00Stock Code: 107518
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HOBAN, Russell. The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz.London : 1973
First edition, first impression. Signed by the author on the title-page; the author's first novel. Learn More£225.00Stock Code: 107601
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McPHEE, John. The Pine Barrens.New York : 1968
First edition, first printing. Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 107635
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McPHEE, John. A Roomful of HovingsNew York : 1968
First edition, first printing. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author to "Bart, all the best - John" on the half-title verso, and signed "John McPhee" on the title-page; on the basis of other copies we have handled, the recipient was the author's friend Bart Britton. Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 107638
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CHATWIN, Bruce. The Viceroy of Ouidah.London : 1980
First edition, first impression. Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 107701
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MUCHA, Jiří. The Problems of Lieutenant Knap.London : 1945
First edition, first impression, preceding its publication in the original Czech (as Problémy nadporučíka Knapa) by a year. Ewald Osers was a noted translator of Czech, Slovak and German; of Jewish origin, he left his native Prague for England in 1938 and spent more than 40 years working for the BBC Monitoring Service. Learn More£150.00Stock Code: 107712
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GUNN, Victor. Death Comes Laughing.London : 1952
First edition, first impression. Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 107838
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KEATING, H. R. F. Murder Must Appetize.New York & London : 1981
Revised edition, number 218 of 280 copies signed and numbered by the author on the limitation page from a total edition of 3,250 copies. Keating's "connoisseurs' guide" to detective fiction was first published in 1975. Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 107871
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REIHELD, Polly. Winnie-the-Pooh poster.[Santa Cruz : 1984]
Broadside by Polly Reiheld, printed at the Cowell Press at the University of California. With pencilled note to verso: "Polly Reiheld, March 1984". Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 108117
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STARK, Freya. Seen in the Hadhramaut.London : 1938
First edition, first impression. Signed by the author on the half-title. Learn More£1,375.00Stock Code: 108169
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[HESSUS, Helius Eobanus.] De generibus ebriosorum, et ebrietate vitanda:[Frankfurt : 1557
The German humanist scholar Eobanus Koch (Coccius) (1488-1540) was considered the foremost Latin poet of his age. His prose work "On the species of drunkards" is a mock-quodlibetical speech that applies the scholastic method of argumentation, first printed anonymously in 1515. His first bestseller, the satire was reprinted in 1516 and 1550 and afterwards... Learn More£950.00Stock Code: 108213
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BRAZIL - CARLS, Francisco Henrique. Album de Pernambuco.Pernambuco : 1880
A wonderfully-preserved copy of this superb visual record of Brazil in the late 19th century. "The colourful and airy rendering contributes much to the appeal of this extensive series of images that forms one of the most comprehensive visual reports carried out on any Brazilian city in the period" (Correa do Lago).
The album was first issued... Learn More£35,000.00Stock Code: 108232
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MELVILLE, Herman. Mardi: and a voyage thither.New York : 1849
First American edition of Melville's third book, his first major full-length fiction, an allegorical romance set in the South Seas based on his own experiences there. Mardi was originally published in London earlier the same year. A highly appealing example of the rare original cloth. Learn More£3,000.00Stock Code: 108265
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SIDGWICK, Henry. The Principles of Political Economy.London : 1883
First edition, along with The Elements of Politics (1891), one of two works representing "Sidgwick's attempt to bring professorial rigour and detachment to bear upon the major questions of policy and legislation. The Principles of Political Economy (1883) was an intellectually conservative work in two ways: first, its analytical or deductive method... Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 108268
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SWIFT, Jonathan. Selections from the Prose Writings.London : 1884
First edition thus. Learn More£100.00Stock Code: 108353
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RACKHAM, Arthur (illus.); [STOPES, Marie.] FAY, Erica. A Road to Fairyland.London : 1926
First edition, first impression. Signed by the author on the title page. Dr Marie Stopes (1880-1958), though best known today for her contributions to palaeontology, her pioneering work on birth control, and her manual Married Love, was also a prolific writer of novels, poems and fairy stories. Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 108358
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DECARAVA, Roy. The Sound I Saw.London : 2001
First edition, first impression. Inscribed by DeCarava to civil rights attorney Elizabeth Fink on the verso of the title page: "To Liz, Roy DeCarava". Presenting numerous photographs by DeCarava together with his own poetry, The Sound I Saw originated back in the 1960s when the photographer first designed, wrote, and hand-bound a mock-up of the book.... Learn More£675.00Stock Code: 108465
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McPHEE, John. Pieces of the Frame.New York : 1975
First edition, first printing. Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 108468
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CRAIG, A. R. When Adam Wept.London : 1933
First edition, first impression. Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 108514
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OWEN, John. The Shepard and the Child.London : 1929
First edition, first impression.
Provenance: from the publisher's archive of Victor Gollancz (1893-1967), one of the revolutionary figures of 20th-century publishing. Everything about Gollancz was distinctive, from his business practices - he flouted convention, backed newcomers extravagantly, and held unique sway over the Book Society choices... Learn More£25.00Stock Code: 108519
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ILES, Margaret. Elder Daughter.London : 1936
First edition, first impression. From the publisher's archive, with their ink stamp to front paste down, title page and front panel of the dust jacket. Learn More£85.00Stock Code: 108523
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MEADOWS, Catherine. Friday Market.London : 1938
First edition, first impression.
Provenance: from the publisher's archive of Victor Gollancz (1893-1967), one of the revolutionary figures of 20th-century publishing. Everything about Gollancz was distinctive, from his business practices - he flouted convention, backed newcomers extravagantly, and held unique sway over the Book Society choices... Learn More£150.00Stock Code: 108529
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SHAKESPEARE, William. Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. Published according to the true Original Copies. The third Impression.London : 1663)
Third folio edition of Shakespeare's plays, generally regarded as the rarest of the 17th-century folio editions. An unknown number of copies is thought to have been destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666. The third folio is a reprint of the second (1632), but the second issue adds seven plays to the corpus, although of these only Pericles is... Learn More£500,000.00Stock Code: 108578
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COLLINS, Norman. Trinity Town.London : 1936
First edition, first impression. From the publisher's archive, with their ink stamp to the title page and their pencil notation to the front panel of the dust jacket as well as an ink number to rear panel. Learn More£150.00Stock Code: 108612
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COLLINS, Norman. "I Shall Not Want."London : 1940
First edition, first impression. From the publisher's archive, with their ink stamp to the title page. Learn More£150.00Stock Code: 108614
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HAALKE, Magnhild. Alli's Son.London : 1937
First UK edition, first impression. Learn More£85.00Stock Code: 108620
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HOPKINS, Gerard. Something Attempted.London : 1929
First edition, first impression. From the publisher's archive, with their ink stamp to front paste down and front panel of the dust jacket. Learn More£50.00Stock Code: 108621
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NEWMAN, Bernard. Second Front-First Spy.London : 1944
First edition, first impression. Learn More£65.00Stock Code: 108639
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LOW, Jean Barclay. No Green Pastures.London : 1937
First edition, first impression. Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 108661
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LOW, Jean Barclay. No Green Pastures.London : 1937
First edition, first impression. From the publisher's archive, with their ink stamp to the title page, front free endpaper and front panel of the dust jacket. Learn More£85.00Stock Code: 108662
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ASCH, Sholem. Salvation.London : 1934
First edition, first impression. From the publisher's archive, with their ink stamp to the front free endpaper and front panel of the dust jacket. Learn More£65.00Stock Code: 108665
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CHALIAPIN, Feodor. Man and Mask.London : 1932
First edition, first impression. From the publisher's archive, with their ink stamp to the half title. Learn More£45.00Stock Code: 108677
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STRIBLING, T. S. The Sound Wagon.London : 1936
First UK edition, first impression. From the publisher's archive, with their ink stamp to front paste down and front panel of the dust jacket. Learn More£175.00Stock Code: 108682
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CRAWSHAY-WILLIAMS, Eliot. Night in the Hotel.London : 1931
First edition, first impression. Learn More£175.00Stock Code: 108700
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DAVENPORT, Russell. The Abominable Branch.London : 1930
First edition, first impression. From the publisher's archive, with their ink stamp to the front paste down and front panel of the dust jacket. Learn More£100.00Stock Code: 108702
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FAHERTY, Robert. Better Than Dying.London : 1935
First edition, first impression. From the publisher's archive, with their ink stamp to the front paste down and front panel of the dust jacket. Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 108703
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PHILLIPS, Hubert. Charteris Royal.London : 1941
First UK edition, first impression. From the publisher's archive, with their ink stamp to the title page, front free endpaper and front panel of the dust jacket. Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 108730
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ASTON, G. G. Letters on Amphibious Wars.London : 1911
First edition, first impression. With a very appealing provenance: from the library of Admiral of the Fleet John Jellicoe, first Earl Jellicoe (1859-1935), the victor of Jutland, who "deserves his place alongside the heroes of another age" (ODNB), signed "Jh Jellicoe" on the front pastedown. Sir George Grey Aston (1861-1938) was a Royal Marines officer... Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 108834
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RHODE, John (ed.) Detection Medley.[London] : [1939]
First edition, first impression, second issue jacket. A collection of stories, essays and articles written by the members of the Detection Club, including Agatha Christie, G. K. Chesterton, and Dorothy L. Sayers. Learn More£525.00Stock Code: 108852
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![[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; Italian.] Le Avventure D'Alice nel Paese delle Meraviglie.](https://d3dzzbbvj9im7s.cloudfront.net/media/catalog/product/cache/ae0834d12b7cf129fc73bcc000ea526a/1/0/108928.jpg)
CARROLL, Lewis. [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; Italian.] Le Avventure D'Alice nel Paese delle Meraviglie.Torino : 1872
First Italian edition, second issue, with the Torino (Turin) imprint. Learn More£2,250.00Stock Code: 108928
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BERTHELOT, Claude-François. Le Mécanique appliquée aux arts, aux manufactures, à l'agriculture et à la guerre;Paris : 1782
First edition. Described on the title as "Ingénieur-Mécanicien du Roi", Berthelot (1718-1800) rose from humble origins to the professorship of mathematics in the Military School in Paris, where in 1763 he invented a famous gun carriage for use in coastal artillery, though the invention was generally credited to Gribeauval who was largely responsible... Learn More£2,250.00Stock Code: 108958
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FORTUNE PRESS: DURRELL, Lawrence; Ruthven Todd, Patrick Evans; Rayner Heppenstall; Edgar Foxall; Oswell Blakeston. Proems.London : 1938
First edition, first impression. The Fortune Press made most of its money through a steady output of pornography, and also provided its owner Reginald Caton with a convenient tax dodge for his activities as a slum landlord in Brighton. Caton would occasionally commission works of "proper literature" to provide his pornography list with a veneer of respectability... Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 109002
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[POTTER, Beatrix.] HEELIS, Beatrix. The Fairy Caravan.[Ambleside : 1929
First edition, UK issue, number 26 of 100 copies only. A touching presentation copy, inscribed by Potter on the front free endpaper, "To Mr & Mrs Wight of Graythwaite - in affectionate remembrance - from Beatrix Heelis. June. 10th 1930", together with an autograph letter from Potter to the Wights laid-in, consoling them on the loss of Mollie, their... Learn More£20,000.00Stock Code: 109175
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GALILEI, Vincenzo. Dialogo... della musica antica, et della moderna.Florence : 1581
First edition, first issue of Vincenzo Galilei's main work, very scarce on the market. Vincenzo Galilei, father of Galileo, made a series of experiments in the 1580s that subjected music to scientific analysis. Stillman Drake suggests that Vincenzo's experiments with sound "may have led to the origin of experimental physics", by inspiring his son to... Learn More£22,500.00Stock Code: 109228
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POTTER, Beatrix. The Tailor of Gloucester.London : 1903
First edition, first impression, deluxe issue, in an unrecorded morocco binding, apparently a publisher's binding, although not lettered as such. Bound in before the frontispiece is the extra illustration intended for the front cover label of regular copies. With the first impression points: the single endpaper occurring four times and the title page... Learn More£9,500.00Stock Code: 109235
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POTTER, Beatrix. The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse.London : 1918
First edition, first impression, with the dropped "N" from London on the imprint. With the exceptionally scarce promotional wraparound band. Learn More£5,000.00Stock Code: 109276
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![[The complete Hornblower:]](https://d3dzzbbvj9im7s.cloudfront.net/media/catalog/product/cache/ae0834d12b7cf129fc73bcc000ea526a/1/0/109292.jpg)
FORESTER, C. S. [The complete Hornblower:]London : 1937-62
First editions, first impressions. Forester (real name Cecil Smith) was called to Hollywood to write a pirate film, working under Arthur Hornblower. However, before they had finished the script, another studio released Captain Blood, starring Errol Flynn, and using the same historical incidents that they had counted on. Rather than seeking another position,... Learn More£12,500.00Stock Code: 109292
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POTTER, Beatrix. The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes.London : 1911
First edition, rare with the glassine jacket. Intended to please her American readers, the main animal characters in the book are indigenous to North America: grey squirrels, chipmunks, and a "large bear". The inclusion of yellowhammers (Emberiza citrinella, the birds which sing "Little bita bread and-nocheese!") was a mistake, as their range includes... Learn More£2,500.00Stock Code: 109478
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POTTER, Beatrix. Wag-by-Wall.Boston : 1944
First edition in book form, first printing. A limited edition of 100 copies was published in the UK, likely simultaneously, though the exact date is unknown. Potter originally conceived the story "as a pendant to The Tailor of Gloucester - the lonely old man and the lonely old woman, but I could never finish it." It was first written in 1909 under the... Learn More£500.00Stock Code: 109501
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POTTER, Beatrix. Plays based on the published stories.London : 1930-62
A group of six theatrical versions of Beatrix Potter stories, three titles with one or two variant issues. The Tailor and Gloucester and Ginger and Pickles were dramatized by Potter in collaboration with the character actor and director Ernest George Harcourt Williams; the others were adapted from her books without her direct involvement.
(i,... Learn More£1,000.00Stock Code: 109504
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ROTH, Henry. Call It Sleep.New York : 1965
Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title, "To Kenton Morse, ''Tis here! 'Tis here! 'Tis Gone!' Affectionately, Henry Roth." It is accompanied by a typed and signed postcard from Roth to Kenton Morse, in which he writes that has "discouraged at first about dramatic 'form', but easier now though not voluble enough." The book was originally... Learn More£975.00Stock Code: 109776
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WARREN, Robert Penn. Who Speaks for the Negro?New York : 1965
First edition, first printing. This copy from the library of the American civil rights activist and anthropologist Carroll G. Barber, with his ownership inscription to front pastedown. Loosely inserted is a short typewritten letter signed by Warren and addressed to Barber, in which Warren hopes that Barber may find the present book useful. In February... Learn More£475.00Stock Code: 109820
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O'CONNOR, Flannery. Wise Blood.New York : 1952
First edition, first printing. Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 109887
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SYMONS, A. J. A. The Quest for Corvo. An Experiment in Biography.London : 1934
First edition, first impression, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "For Vincent, a tribute to a long a noble friendship, with the sincere and cordial salutations of his colleague in letters and admirer in life. A.J. Feb 3rd, 1934". The recipient, identified by a pencilled note, was Harold Vincent Marrot (1898-1954),... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 109896
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MILNE, A. A. - SHEPARD, E. H. (illus.) "Tiggers don't like honey."1961
Signed and dated in ink lower right by Shepherd, 1961 and inscribed by Shepard lower middle "Tiggers don't like honey". This image was first used for The House at Pooh Corner, first published in 1928, page 23. "Tigger took a large mouthful of honey... and he looked up at the ceiling with his head on one side, and made exploring noises, and what-have-we-got-here... Learn More£47,500.00Stock Code: 109941
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PRICE, Anthony. Here Be Monsters.New York : 1985
Signed limited edition. Number 125 of 250 copies signed by the author. Here Be Monsters was first published in the UK in the same year. Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 109985
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DEUTSCH, Helen, & Stella Hanau. The Provincetown.New York : 1931
First edition, first printing, of this history of the avant-garde theatre company, from its inception in 1915 to its close in 1929. Learn More£325.00Stock Code: 109987
