
MASTERPIECE 2020
This selection of fine items was conceived especially for Masterpiece 2020, initially for display within the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea and now here online. We hope you will enjoy browsing this selection as much as we have enjoyed curating it.
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BACON, Francis. [Novum Organum sive indicia vera de interpretatione naturae.] Instauratio Magna.
London : 1620
First edition of this "monumental work on the philosophy of science, on the systematic organization of knowledge, and on the inductive method" (Grolier/Horblit). Bacon's Novum Organum (a "new instrument" to replace the old Organon of Aristotle) had a revolutionary impact on early modern science by laying the foundation of the inductive method.
"Bacon's... Learn More£65,000.00Stock Code: 138351
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BUSCH, Wilhelm. Max und Moritz:
Munich : [1865]
Rare first edition, first impression, of the book widely regarded as the prototype of the children's comic. The first printing was 4,000 copies, but the nature of the book and the juvenile readership led to a very high attrition rate. This is a remarkably well-preserved copy.
After Struwwelpeter, Max und Moritz is the best known German children's... Learn More£45,000.00Stock Code: 138250
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CERVANTES SAAVEDRA, Miguel de. The History of Don-Quichote.
London : 1620
First complete edition in English of the hugely influential prose chivalric romance, which found its greatest popularity outside Spain in England: second edition of the first part, first edition of the second, translated by Dublin-born Thomas Shelton.
"The signs of haste in the translation, which took Shelton only forty days, do not hide his... Learn More£120,000.00Stock Code: 139220
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CHURCHILL, Winston S. [Complete collection of major works, all first editions:]
1898-1961
First British editions, first impressions, of all of Churchill's major works, in handsome matching bindings by Bayntun of Bath, altogether an imposing and comprehensive collection. Collections of Churchill's first editions in uniform bindings are scarce in commerce.
Churchill was a prolific writer in the fields of history, biography and politics,... Learn More£37,500.00Stock Code: 139079
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DARWIN, Charles. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection,
London : 1859
First edition of "the most influential scientific work of the 19th century" (Horblit) and "certainly the most important biological book ever written" (Freeman), in which Darwin explained his concept of evolutionary adaptation through natural selection, which would become the foundation of modern evolutionary theory; 1,250 copies were printed.
"The... Learn More£225,000.00Stock Code: 138146
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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: "Yours truly 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... Learn More£85,000.00Stock Code: 137488
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GALLEY, Edmund - WHITE, F. Faulkner (illuminator). The Galley Memento.
[Exeter : 1879]
Handsomely bound and illuminated presentation album, one of just two copies, presented to honour the work of solicitor and county clerk Ralph Sanders, one of two men instrumental in reversing the miscarriage of justice in the case of Edmund Galley, who became an international cause célèbre after being wrongfully convicted of murder and transported... Learn More£15,000.00Stock Code: 132619
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GILL, Eric. The Four Gospels of Lord Jesus Christ according to the Authorized Version of King James I.
Waltham St Lawrence : 1931
Limited edition, number 412 of 500 copies on paper (12 copies were also issued on vellum), of one of the great private press books of the century, and perhaps Gill's greatest achievement.
"Conceived in the fruitful mind of Robert Gibbings, this is the Golden Cockerel book usually compared with the Doves Bible and the Kelmscott Chaucer. A flower... Learn More£17,500.00Stock Code: 138545
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GILMAN, Charlotte Perkins. Herland.
New York : January - December 1915
First edition, the first appearance of Gilman's feminist utopian novel Herland, complete in 12 issues of Gilman's magazine The Forerunner; this copy warmly inscribed by the author to the American suffragist Alice Locke Park, "Charlotte Perkins Gilman with love and honor for her friend Alice Park", on the front free endpaper.
Park (1861-1961)... Learn More£15,000.00Stock Code: 130959
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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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HARDY, Thomas. Complete set of first editions of the novels and short story collections.
London : 1871-97
A complete set of first editions, finely bound, of Hardy's novels and short story collections.
The entire collection, with all half-titles and illustrations present as called for, comprises the following: Desperate Remedies, 1871; Under the Greenwood Tree, 1872; A Pair of Blue Eyes, 1873; Far From the Madding Crowd, 1874; The Hand of Ethelberta,... Learn More£37,500.00Stock Code: 126114
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HARRISON, John. The Principles of Mr. Harrison's Time-Keeper, with plates of the same.
London : 1767
First edition of the primary account of the invention of the marine chronometer, which revolutionized the science of navigation. "There was no comparable advance in navigational aids until the development of radar in the twentieth century" (Norman).
In 1714, the Board of Longitude offered a substantial reward of 20,000 to anyone who could find... Learn More£100,000.00Stock Code: 138402
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HOFFMANN, Heinrich. The English Struwwelpeter.
Leipzig : 1848
Scarce first edition in English of the children's picture book Der Struwwelpeter, among the rarest of all children's books due to the fragility of the publication.
A publishing phenomenon that is still in print today, The English Struwwelpeter first appeared as a German children's Christmas picture book, Dr Heinrich Hoffmann's Lustige Geschichten... Learn More£18,500.00Stock Code: 137787
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KLIMT, Gustav. Dernière gerbe.
Vienna : 1931
First edition, first printing, number V of 20 "cuir doré" deluxe copies. This spectacular portfolio preserves six of Klimt's paintings that were destroyed at the end of the Second World War.
The total edition comprised 500 numbered copies, issued in French, German, and English. Of these, 150 copies were printed in French, of which 20 copies... Learn More£35,000.00Stock Code: 140713
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LIVINGSTONE, David. A portion of the original manuscript of Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa,
London : 1857
A remarkable fragment, the only portion of the original manuscript of Missionary Travels known to remain in private hands. We understand that all other manuscript material is held in the John Murray Archive at the National Library of Scotland. Together with an autograph letter signed from Livingstone's sister, sending the manuscript fragment, and a... Learn More£65,000.00Stock Code: 139047
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MARTÍN DE CÓRDOBA, Fray. Jardín de las nobles donzellas.
Medina del Campo : 1542
Rare second edition, effectively the only obtainable printing, of this book of advice for Queen Isabel of Spain, a pro-feminist treatise in the "mirror for princes" tradition, which instructed and entertained "with references to the popular contemporary controversy of the battle between the sexes" (Goldberg, p. 126).
Fray Martín taught at the... Learn More£30,000.00Stock Code: 139886
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MATISSE, Henri. Six Signed Proofs of Original Etchings for Ulysses.
New York : 1935
Signed limited portfolio, number 61 of 150 sets of six plates, each of which are signed numbered and titled by Matisse, for the first illustrated edition. The plates comprise the artist's illustrations for the Limited Edition's Club edition of James Joyce's Ulysses, published that year.
"Homeric in mood and compositions, these etchings were made... Learn More£50,000.00Stock Code: 137308
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MEDINA, Pedro de. Regimiento de navegacion.
Seville : 1552
Very rare first edition of Medina's great navigational treatise, an appealing copy in contemporary vellum. Praised for its fine woodcuts, which are among the earliest to depict man's use of astrolabes, the Regimiento offers the essentials of seamanship in a practical format, and was intended for ship-born pilots; Francis Drake carried a copy during... Learn More£225,000.00Stock Code: 139149
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MELVILLE, Herman. White Jacket; or, the World in a Man-of-War.
London : 1850
First edition, first issue, of Melville's emblematic fifth novel, which did much to influence the congressional prohibition of naval flogging in September 1850. Copies of the first issue are notably rare in any state, and exceptionally so with the original cloth in such a fine state of preservation.
The British edition, preceding its American... Learn More£60,000.00Stock Code: 138349
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MILNE, A. A. - SHEPARD, Ernest H. (illus.) "So he sat down on the stone in the middle of the stream, and sang another verse of his song, while he wondered what to do".
[1927]
E. H. Shepard's original drawing for the first edition of The House at Pooh Corner, signed by him lower left and with his ownership inscription on the verso, "Ernest H. Shepard Shamley Green Guildford". The drawing was used in the opening scene of chapter 4 on p. 55 "in which it is shown that Tiggers don't climb trees", with Winnie-the-Pooh depicted... Learn More£125,000.00Stock Code: 140785
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NEWTON, Isaac. Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions, and Colours of Light.
London : 1704
First edition, first issue, without Newton's name on the title. Newton's Opticks expounds his corpuscular or emission theory of light, and first contains his important optical discoveries in collected form. It also prints two important mathematical treatises (omitted in later editions) describing his invention of the fluxional calculus, which are the... Learn More£85,000.00Stock Code: 137818
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PRIVATEERING; WEST INDIES. Collection of 35 documents relating to Captain John McIver and the privateer Swallow.
c. 1796-97
An outstanding and extraordinarily comprehensive tranche of documents, including impressive original Letters of Marque, relating to the British-built armed brig Swallow, a privateer out of Liverpool operating in the Caribbean under the experienced command of prize-master John McIver. The archive covers in remarkable breadth and detail the purchase,... Learn More£25,000.00Stock Code: 133528
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REPTON, Humphry. Sketches and Hints on Landscape Gardening.
London : [1795]
First edition of Repton's first book and the work in which he laid out "his claim to the position of a national authority" on landscape gardening (Rogger, p. 12). Handsomely printed by the finest London printer of the age, William Bulmer, the delightful aquatints employ clever overslips to show the transformation of the landscape under Repton's guiding... Learn More£19,500.00Stock Code: 138558
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ROBERTS, David. The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, & Nubia.
London : 1842-5
First edition, with the plates in the proof state, of "one of the most important and elaborate ventures of 19th-century publishing... the apotheosis of the tinted lithograph" (Abbey Travel); no publication before this astonishing work had presented so comprehensive a series of views of the monuments, landscape, and people of the region.
The... Learn More£57,500.00Stock Code: 132530
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SAINT-EXUPÉRY, Antoine de. Pilote de guerre.
New York : 1942
First edition, first printing, number 10 of 50 large-paper copies on papier Texte, presentation copy from the author to his closest American friend and partial inspiration for The Little Prince, inscribed warmly by the author on the half-title, "Pour Sylvia Hamilton, Avec la profonde et tendre amitié de son vieil ami, Antoine".
Silvia Hamilton... Learn More£35,000.00Stock Code: 139246
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STAUNTON, George. An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China...
London : 1798
Second, corrected edition of the official account of the first official British Embassy to China, headed by George, Earl Macartney; the first edition was published the previous year. The failed embassy marked a historic missed opportunity in the relationship between China and the Western powers.
Macartney was dispatched to Peking in 1792 by... Learn More£18,500.00Stock Code: 129560
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WITTGENSTEIN, Ludwig. Autograph letter signed, in English, to Alice Ambrose,
Trinity College, Cambridge, : 1936
An unpublished autograph letter by Ludwig Wittgenstein to his student Alice Ambrose, written after her return to America following completion of her second PhD at Cambridge, thanking her for a gift and attempting to offer an explanation in response to a letter of hers, in which he confesses to a lack of modesty.
An American philosophy student,... Learn More£17,500.00Stock Code: 132705