Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
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This is the ROBERT TEMPLE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE. It contains descriptions and notes relating to almost 18,000 titles in the fields of British and American literature, being the bulk of the stock that has passed through our hands since 1984, with the addition of a few earlier items of especial interest. Books currently in stock are not included, and it is therefore necessary to supplement your search by looking at our Current Catalogues. For the most part full bibliographical descriptions are given, though for some earlier items, catalogued when computing space was more restricted the details given are quite brief. For an account of the conventions adopted, the abbreviations used, and reference sources consulted, please see our information pages.
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
DICKENS (Charles), COLLINS (Wilkie), and others. Christmas stories. The haunted house By Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, G.A. Sala, E.C. Gaskell, Hesba Stretton, And Adelaide Procter. A message from the sea By Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Charles Collins, H.F. Chorley, Holme Lee, And Amelia Edwards. Tom Tiddler's Ground By Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Charles Collins, John Harwood, and Amelia Edwards. Copyright edition. Leipzip: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1862. Roy.16mo in half sheets; half/series title lacking; contemporary half brown morocco, gilt and blind, marbled sides. Minor marking and dusting, but a nice copy.
First collected edition, and first appearance of these stories in book form, preceding the first English collected edition by nine years. An important collection in as much as the several contributors to these three stories are here for the first time identified.
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
DICKENS (Charles). Our mutual friend. With illustrations by Marcus Stone. In two volumes. Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly, 1865. 2 Vols., demy 8vo; bound up without the half-titles, the author's note slip, and the integral advertisement leaf at the end of volume two; frontispiece and nineteen plates in each volume; contemporary half green calf, red labels, marbled boards and edges, end-papers faced fawn. Calf worn; otherwise very nice.
Bound up from the parts. Sadleir, 697.
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
DICKENS (Charles). Our mutual friend. With illustrations by Marcus Stone. In two volumes. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly, 1865. (The right of Translation is reserved.) 2 Vols., demy 8vo, bound in one, as issued; wood-engraved title precedes letterpress title in volume one; half-title to volume two and slip explaining title not called for in this issue; integral advertisement leaf at end of volume two (verso blank); wood-engraved frontispiece with tissue guard, and nineteen plates, in each volume; pp.[xii]+320; [vi (paged [viii])]+309+[i (printer's imprint)]+[ii]; moss green fine diaper cloth ruled and blocked blind on sides and spine, lettered gilt on spine; t.e. uncut, fore-edges mainly trimmed; end-papers coated pale yellow. Very slight fading to cloth of spine and top fifth of front cover, and very slight rubbing to gilt of imprint; otherwise a fine copy. Scarce.
The book was issued originally in cloth as two separate volumes, volume one being issued whilst the parts to volume two were still in course of publication, the two volumes in one issue, as here, being issued much later uniform with the similar one volume editions of other of Dickens's works, a few sets of sheets having apparently been discovered unsold, this issue being provided with the additional engraved title recorded above on which the publisher's address is given as ‘Henrietta Street' - an address Chapman and Hall moved to in 1880 - rather than ‘193, Piccadilly' as on the letterpress title. Stab-holes in the present copy show the first volume to have been bound up from stripped parts. Sadleir, 697, and Wolff, 1809, both recording only the two volume in two issue in maroon cloth; Smith, ‘Charles Dickens in the Original Cloth', Part One, likewise does not record this one-volume cloth issue, which is evidently scarce in any condition. Sadleir comments generally of Dickens first editions: "It would I think surprise many experienced collectors to discover how extremely difficult it is to get these 8vo first editions in original cloth and really clean. The great majority of copies which survive are re-bound, and those which have retained their original clothing (most of the volumes being too heavy for their cases) are usually in poor condition."
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
DICKENS (Charles). Barnaby Rudge. A Tale of the Riots of "'Eighty." [And "Reprinted pieces."] With a frontispiece. In two volumes. Vol.I. [Vol.II.] Chapman and Hall, 193, Piccadilly, 1866. 2 Vols., printed in double column; engraved frontispiece in each volume; pale green boards, printed in black; top- and fore- edges uncut, lower-edges rough trimmed. An exceptionally nice set of a very fragile book.
These two volumes of ‘The People's Barnaby Rudge' were issued separately, on October and November 30th, 1866, respectively. As far as we have been able discover, the appearance of the ‘Reprinted Pieces' in volume two marks their first publication in book form in England.
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
DICKENS (Charles). The mystery Of Edwin Drood. With twelve illustrations by S.L. Fildes, And a portrait. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly, 1870. (The right of Translation is reserved.) Demy 8vo; half-title not called for; steel-engraved portrait frontispiece, from a photograph, and vignette title-page, precede letterpress title-page; twelve wood-engraved plates; pp.[viii]+190; modern full natural calf, spine ruled rather amateurishly in blind, and with heavily trimmed old label laid on; recent period-style marbled end-papers. Some very light foxing, and lacking the final leaf of integral advertisements, but a nice copy.
Sadleir, 694, recording a copy in cloth, bound from the parts; Wolff, 1805; Eckel, pp.96-98; . Stab-holes suggest that the present copy has been bound up from the parts. In this copy, the ‘8' of the page number of p.28 lacks most of the upper loop. In some copies it is perfect. The present copy of that part presumably exhibits a later state.
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
[DICKENS (Charles).]. The mystery Of Mr. E. Drood. An adaptation By Orpheus C. Kerr. John Camden Hotten, 74 & 75, Piccadilly, N.D. [1870]. F'cap 8vo; half-title not called for; wood-engraved frontispiece and vignette title-page on text-paper; pp.[5]-[218]; glazed yellow wrappers, cut flush, printed in black, the back wrapper bearing an advertisement for ‘Whelpton's Vegetable purifying pills'; pastedowns printed with publisher's advertisements in black. Re-bound in Edwardian half blue calf, matching blue and gilt marbled sides and end-papers, spine with five raised bands, tooled and lettered gilt; t.e.g.; original wrappers bound in at end. Wrappers a little marked and chipped; minute point of lower corners chipped from frontispiece and title leaves; binder's blanks foxed with slight offsetting, and slight foxing of three or four leaves; otherwise a very nice copy. Rare.
First English edition of a work published in America the same year under the title ‘The Cloven Foot: being an adaptation to American Scenes, Characters, Customs, and Nomenclature'. A burlesque based on Dickens's novel, and the earliest of all specimens of ‘Droodiana'. In the present copy both the pagination and the collation call for a further two leaves to be present before the frontispiece, whilst the collation indicates a leaf also to be lacking after the final leaf of text: the structure of Hotten's other productions in this format at about this date, would suggest that all three leaves should be publisher's advertisements, the outermost probably serving as free end-papers. CBEL, III, p.444, listing only the American edition; not in Wolff; Sadleir, 704, records Hotten's ‘Piccadilly Annual' of the same date, in which part of this work appeared, but does not record the complete work, as here. ‘Kerr', whose real name was Newell, was the third husband of Adah Isaacs Menken.
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
DICKENS (Charles). The Tuggs's at Ramsgate. By Charles Dickens. And Other stories by popular writers. New edition. Chapman and Hall, 193, Piccadilly, 1873. F'cap 8vo; half-title not called for; cancel title-page (on paper of a slightly different stock from that of the text); pp.[ii]+[374]; glazed yellow boards, printed in black, red, and green on front cover and spine, with series advertisements in black on back cover; end-papers printed with publisher's advertisements. A nice copy.
First edition, second issue, the book having evidently failed to sell upon its first publication in 1871. The covers bear the title as ‘The Tuggs' at Ramsgate By "Boz" And other sketches by popular authors.' Dickens's story was first published in ‘The Library of Fiction, or Family Story-Teller' in 1836, and later collected in the 1839 ‘complete' edition of ‘Sketches by Boz'. It here makes its first appearance as a title-story, Dickens's pseudonym and name appearing prominently on covers and title-page in an evident attempt to exploit the popular emotion evoked by his death in 1870. Other contributors include Charles Whitehead, the brothers Banim, Charles and James Ollier, etc., the pieces being mostly reprinted from magazines. Issued as a volume in Chapman & Hall's ‘Select Library of Fiction'. Not in Sadleir.
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
DICKENS (Charles [and others].). [Cover title:] From 1851 to 1854]. [Price one shilling. "Familiar in their mouths as Household Words". Household Words. Christmas Conducted by Charles Dickens Stories. [Double column:] Christmas 1851. What Christmas is As we grow older. - What Christmas is to a Bunch of People. An idyl For Christmas indoors. What Christmas is in Country Places. What Christmas is In the company of John Doe. The Orphan's Dream Of Christmas. What Christ-Mas is after a long Absence. What Christmas is if you out-Grow it. The Round Game of The Christmas Bowl. Christmas 1852. A round of stories By the Christmas Fire. - The Poor Relation's Story. The Child's Story. Somebody's Story. The Old Nurse's Story. Grandfather's Story. The Charwoman's Story. The Deaf Playmate's Story. The Guest's Story. The Guest's Story. The Mother's Story. / Christmas, 1853. Another round of Stories by the Christ-Mas fire. - The School-Boy's Story. The Old Lady's Story. Over-the-Way's Story. The Angel's Story. The Squire's Story. Uncle George's Story. The Colonel's Story. The Scholar's Story. Nobody's Story. Christmas 1851. The seven poor Travellers. Also ready, uniform with this Volume, Price one shilling. Household Words Christmas Stories, For 1855, 1856, 1857, 1858. The Holly Tree Inn. Wreck of the Golden Mary. The Perils of Certain English Prisoners. A House to Let. London: Ward, Lock & Tyler, Paternoster Row, E.C., N.D. [1868]. Very lge.12mo (demy 8vo in size), printed in double columns; half-title not called for; five leaves integral advertisements at end; B-F12, G11 (paginated pp.[1]-24; [1]-36; [1]-36; [1]-36 (the first leaf a single inset); [x, unpaged]); white thin card wrappers printed in black on inside wrappers with commercial advertisements, in yellow, red, black, and green on outside wrappers, the back wrapper bearing advertisements for Cadbury's Cocoa Essence and Cadbury's Mexican Chocolate; t.e. uncut; issued without end-papers. A later issue, the third leaf of the advertisements being for ‘Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1874.' BOUND WITH: DICKENS (Charles), HALLIDAY (Andrew), COLLINS (Charles), STRETTON (Hesba [i.e., Sarah Smith]), and EDWARDS (Amelia B.). Mugby junction. The extra Christmas number of All the Year Round....Christmas, 1866. Med 8vo format, 48pp., sewn as a single gathering, without the blue-green paper wrappers into linen-backed paper wrappers lettered on front wrapper by hand; a.e. uncut. BOUND WITH: DICKENS (Charles) and COLLINS (Wilkie). No thoroughfare. Being the extra Christmas number of All the Year Round....Christmas, 1867. Med 8vo format, 48pp., sewn as a single gathering, without the blue-green paper wrappers into linen-backed paper wrappers lettered on front wrapper by hand; a.e. uncut. Three volumes bound together in Victorian blue patterned sand-grain cloth, lettered on front cover gilt. In general nice.
The first volume is scarce in any issue, the first issue predating by some four years the earliest collected edition recorded by Richard Herne Shepherd in his bibliography, though it contains only half the stories which appeared in the cloth-bound re-issue of 1873. Printed from the original stereo plates, and keeping the pagination of the original numbers, but with new signatures, reflecting the continuous nature of the volume.
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
DICKENS (Charles [and others].). [Cover title:] Price one shilling. Household Words. The Christmas Stories. Conducted by Charles Dickens. Contents: The holly-tree inn. (1855.); The wreck of the Golden Mary. (1856.); The perils of certain English prisoners. (1857.); A house to let. (1858). Ward, Lock & Tyler, Paternoster Row, N.D. [1868]. Very lge.12mo (demy 8vo in size), printed in double columns; half-title not called for; B-G12 (paginated pp.[1]-36; [1]-36; [1]-36; [1]-36); inserted leaf of publisher's advertisements precedes first leaf of text; 4pp. publisher's inserted advertisements on thinner, slightly smaller, paper at end, undated, but advertising works published prior to November 1868 as ‘Ready', works scheduled monthly for ‘Nov. 1' onwards as ‘in Preparation', and therefore dating from October 1868; white wrappers, cut flush, printed with commercial advertisements in black on inside wrappers, in brownish purple on back wrapper, in red, green, brown, and brownish purple on front wrapper; issued without end-papers. Backstrip renewed at an early date with cloth; otherwise nice. Scarce.
A publisher's note at the foot of the last leaf of text, dated November 1868, together with the advertisements, marks this as the correct first issue. Predates by some four years the first collected edition recorded by Richard Herne Shepherd in his bibliography, though it contains only half the stories which appeared in the cloth-bound re-issue of 1873. Among the advertisements at the end is an advance announcement of the present volume which makes clear that these stories had not previously been collected. No mention is made of any companion volume, proposed or extant, containing the remainder of the stories, though one in fact existed. Printed from the original stereo plates, and keeping the pagination of the original numbers, but with new signatures, reflecting the continuous nature of the volume. One of Dickens's collaborators in these stories was Wilkie Collins.
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
DICKENS (Charles [and others]). The Christmas numbers Of All the year round, Conducted by Charles Dickens. London: 26, Wellington Street, Strand, W.C., And Messrs. Chapman & Hall, 193, Piccadilly, W., N.D. [1868]. Med.8vo format, gathered in sixes; half-title not called for; pp.[iv]+48+48+48+48+48+48+48+48+48; dark green patterned sand-grain cloth, ruled and blocked blind on sides, blocked and lettered gilt on front cover, ruled blind, lettered gilt, on spine; a.e.g.; end-papers coated pale yellow. Label on front end-paper, with associated slight paste staining; otherwise a nice copy.
The first collected edition, consisting of left-over copies of the original numbers for Christmas 1859, 1860, 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865, 1866, and 1867 bound up together with a general title leaf and index; and the first issue: in green patterned sand-grain cloth without gilt blocking on spine, with a.e.g., and with end-papers coated pale yellow. The dating of the present copy is confirmed by the hand-written book-label on the front end-paper, which bears the date ‘Christmas 1868'. Not in Eckel or Sadleir; Wolff, 1812b, listing a later issue, without gilt edges, and in dark green diagonal fine ribbed cloth, blocked and lettered gilt on spine, and with tan [?coated] end-papers.
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
DICKENS (Charles [and others]). The nine Christmas numbers Of All the year round, Conducted by Charles Dickens. London: 26, Wellington Street, Strand, W.C., And Messrs. Chapman & Hall, 193, Piccadilly, W., N.D. [1868]. Med.8vo format, gathered in sixes; half-title not called for; pp.[iv]+48+48+48+48+48+48+48+48+48; yellow-green fine morocco cloth, ruled and blocked blind on sides, blocked and lettered gilt on front cover, ruled blind, blocked and lettered gilt, on spine; a.e. scarlet; end-papers coated grey-brown. Cloth of sides lightly damp-mottled; armorial book-plate of Henry Stubbs on the front paste-down; otherwise a nice copy.
The first collected edition, consisting of left-over copies of the original numbers for Christmas 1859, 1860, 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865, 1866, and 1867 bound up together with a general title leaf and index; but a later variant. The first issue is in dark green patterned sand-grain cloth without gilt blocking on the spine, with a.e.g., and with end-papers coated pale yellow - a fact we state on the evidence of an inscription in a copy that once passed through our hands, which was dated ‘Christmas 1868'. The present copy differs from the first issue not only in the binding, but in respect of the title-page also, in as much as the latter does not include the word ‘nine' on the title-page. Not in Eckel or Sadleir; Wolff, 1812b, listing a copy identical to the present issue, except that the edges are (apparently) plain, and the cloth is dark green diagonal fine ribbed rather than fine morocco.
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
DICKENS (Charles [and others].). Household words Christmas stories 1851-1858. Conducted by Charles Dickens. Consisting of What Christmas Is As We Grow Older. A Round of Stories by The Christmas Fire. Another Round of Stories by The Christmas Fire. The Seven Poor Travellers. The Holly Tree Inn. The Wreck of "The Golden Mary." The Perils of Certain English Prisoners. A House to Let. Ward, Lock, and Tyler, Warwick House, Paternoster Row, N.D. [1870]. Very lge.12mo (demy 8vo in size), printed in double columns; half-title not called for; integral advertisement leaf precedes title-page; 8pp. publisher's, trade, and commercial inserted advertisements at end, undated, followed by 8pp. publisher's inserted advertisements on smaller paper, dated Christmas, 1870; bevelled blue patterned sand-grain cloth, ruled and blocked blind on back cover, ruled and blocked scarlet, black, and gilt, lettered gilt, scarlet, black, and blue-through-gilt, on front cover, ruled and blocked black and gilt, lettered gilt and blue through gilt, on spine; a.e. burnished scarlet; end-papers coated peach. Restorations to cloth at head and tail of spine; front end-papers cracked; otherwise a nice copy.
The second half of this volume was first issued in paper wrappers in 1868, but the volume as a whole forms, apparently, the first collected edition of these stories - albeit, as is evidenced by the date of the advertisements, a later issue. Dickens' collaborators included Wilkie Collins.
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
DICKENS (Charles [and others].). Household words Christmas stories 1851-1858. Conducted by Charles Dickens. Consisting of What Christmas Is As We Grow Older. A Round of Stories by The Christmas Fire. Another Round of Stories by The Christmas Fire. The Seven Poor Travellers. The Holly Tree Inn. The Wreck of "The Golden Mary." The Perils of Certain English Prisoners. A House to Let. Ward, Lock, & Co., Warwick House, Dorset Buildings, Salisbury Square, E.C., N.D. [1873]. Very lge.12mo (demy 8vo in size), printed in double columns; half-title not present, and probably not called for; 10pp. publisher's inserted advertisements at end, undated, but advertising ‘Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1874' and therefore dating from the autumn of 1873; bevelled blue patterned sand-grain cloth, ruled and blocked blind on back cover, ruled and blocked scarlet, black, and gilt, lettered gilt, scarlet, black, and blue-through-gilt, on front cover, ruled and blocked black and gilt, lettered gilt and blue through gilt, on spine; a.e. burnished scarlet; red and yellow head and tail bands; end-papers coated yellow. Recased with new end-papers; covers somewhat used; otherwise a nice copy.
The head and tail bands have evidently been added by the binder in the course of recasing the volume; the scarlet burnishing of the edges is original; the new end-papers are presumably a deeper yellow copy of the originals. The second half of this volume was first issued in paper wrappers in 1868. A re-issue, with a slightly variant imprint and publisher's address of the 1870 volume which, as a whole, formed, apparently, the first collected edition of these stories, though the Christmas numbers from 1854-67 were collected in the ‘Charles Dickens' Edition in 1871. Dickens' collaborators included Wilkie Collins.
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
DICKENS (Charles) and COLLINS (Wilkie). The lazy tour Of two idle apprentices. No thoroughfare. The perils of certain English Prisoners. With illustrations. Chapman and Hall, Limited, 1890. Lge.post 8vo; frontispiece with tissue guard, and seven plates, by Arthur Layard; pp.[viii]+327+[i (blank)]; cerise fine diaper cloth, ruled blind on back cover, ruled black, blocked gilt, on front cover, ruled black, ruled and lettered gilt, on spine; a.e. uncut; end-papers coated sea-green. Very slight foxing of prelims. and white reverse of back end-paper; otherwise a very nice copy. Scarce.
Eckel, p.191, calling for green cloth. The present binding is entirely right for the date, and its elaboration has the air of being primary.
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
DICKENS (Charles). The Adventures Of Oliver Twist Or The parish boy's progress. By Charles Dickens. Illustrated With twenty-six water-colour drawings by George Cruikshank. London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1895. Lge.Imp.8vo; limitation on verso of half-title; multiple-vignette title-page in colours, with tissue guard, precedes letterpress title-page printed in black and red; twentyfive plates in colours, all with tissue guards; pp.[ii]+[xvii]+506; publisher's quarter sheep ruled and lettered gilt on spine, pale grey-green board sides, printed on front board with a wood-engraved reproduction of the vignette title-page in black; a.e. uncut; end-papers faced pale yellow. Corner chipped from leather at head of spine, and leather partly split over front joint; small chip to paper at lower edge of front board (not approaching the design), and edges of corners worn; end-papers cracked; last leaf of text a trifle foxed; otherwise a fine copy internally.
One of an edition limited to 500 copies. Printed on fine hand-made paper. The first publication of a suite of water-colour drawings that Cruikshank was commissioned by his friend, F.W. Cosens, to produce in 1866. The designs take as their basis the wood-engravings made for the first edition of the novel (including both the ‘fireside' plate and its substitute), to which is added the title-page including eleven vignettes (mis-described in the publisher's Preface as ‘thirteen') based on the front wrapper of the 1846 parts issue. The plates are reproduced by what the publishers refer to only as "a novel process" (but possibly three-, four-, and five- colour collotype), and are described by them as providing an "absolute facsimile of the original aquarelles." A second edition was printed in 1903, but did not include all the plates and used a cheaper method of reproduction. Loosely laid in to the present copy for comparison is a plate extracted from the original printing of the novel of 1838. CBEL, III, p.441
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[DICKENS (Charles).]. Sergeant Bell, And his Raree-show. Embellished with wood cuts, By Cruikshanks [sic], Thompson, Williams, Etc. Printed for Thomas Tegg, No.73, Cheapside, 1839. Sm.sq.8vo; frontispiece, vignette title-page, and numerous illustrations in the text; 1p. advertisements at end; pp.[448]; dark brown fine diaper cloth blocked blind on sides, pictorially blocked gilt on front cover, lettered gilt within gilt frame on spine; yellow coated end-papers. Nice copy.
Once attributed to Dickens, but now known to be by George Mogridge. Dickens in fact entered into an agreement with Tegg that he should write the book, but then withdrew. Eckel (1913), pp.236-7: "It is of great rarity at the present time."
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
DIGNAN (John). The slave captain; A legend of Liverpool. By John Dignan, Author of "A romance of Liverpool life." London: T.C. Newby, 72, Mortimer Street, Cavendish Square. Liverpool: John Dignan, at his Newspaper and advertising Office, South John-street, 1847. Lge.12mo, signed and gathered in half sheets; half-title not called for; tipped on engraved frontispiece, and one plate, both on plate paper; pp.[3]-288; horizontally fine ribbed teak brown cloth, elaborately blocked blind on sides and spine, lettered gilt on spine; top- and fore- edges uncut; lemon coated end-papers. Small fox-spotting of frontispiece; small red mark on back end-papers; otherwise a very nice, crisp copy.
Printed in Liverpool. The title-page is here a single inset, and the pagination allows for a half-title leaf or blank to precede it. The frontispiece, however, has been folded along one edge into the gutter and tipped tightly onto the title-page and front end-paper in such manner as to make quite clear that no preceding leaf could ever have been present in the book as it was issued. Block, p.60
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
DILLWYN (E.A.). The Rebecca rioter: A story of Killay life. In Two Volumes. Macmillan and Co., 1880. 2 Vols.; integral advertisement leaf at end of volume one; Editor's Epilogue leaf bearing printer's imprint on verso followed by integral advertisement leaf at end of volume two; light blue sand grain cloth ruled and blocked blind on back cover, black on front cover and spine, lettered and blocked with publisher's device gilt on spine; top- and fore- edges uncut, lower-edges rough trimmed; end-papers coated chocolate. Neat restorations to cloth of front joint in volume two; otherwise a very nice copy.
Not in Sadleir; Wolff, 1832: "Rebecca is a secret organisation of Welshmen who destroy turnpikes as a protest against taxes. Welsh nationalism and Welsh dialect are well rendered. . . . The author's first novel."
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
DISRAELI (The Right Honorable [sic] B.). Lothair. In three volumes. Longmans, Green, and Co., 1870. 3 Vols., post 8vo; blank before half-title in volume one; publisher's inserted 32pp. catalogue at end of volume one, dated January 1870; integral advertisement leaf at end of volumes two and three; pp.[viii]+328; [iv]+321+[i (printer's imprint)]+[ii]; [iv]+333+[i (blank)]+[ii]; green dot and line grain cloth, ruled and blocked blind on sides, ruled, blocked, and lettered gilt on spine; t.e. uncut, others rough-trimmed; end-papers coated chocolate. Neat restoration to cloth at extremities of spines; end-papers almost invisibly strengthened at gutters with matching paper; two or three leaves lightly foxed; but in general a nice copy, nonetheless.
Sadleir, 720 (first variant); Wolff, 1839, noting no variants.
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
DISRAELI (The Right Honorable [sic] B.). Lothair. In three volumes. Longmans, Green, and Co., 1870. 3 Vols., post 8vo; blank before half-title in volume one; publisher's inserted 32pp. catalogue at end of volume one, dated January 1870; final blank in volume two; blank followed by 4pp. integral advertisements (signed ‘Vol.III z') at end of volume three; pp.[viii]+328; [iv]+321+[iii]; [iv]+333+[iii]+[iv]; green dot and line grain cloth, ruled and blocked blind on sides, ruled, blocked, and lettered gilt on spine; t.e. uncut, others rough-trimmed; end-papers coated chocolate. Neat restoration to cloth at head of volume one; two end-papers almost invisibly strengthened at gutters with matching paper; two or three leaves lightly foxed; but in general a nice copy, nonetheless.
Sadleir, 720: volumes two and three exhibiting the variant state of text recorded in Sadleir's notes (a) and (b) (except that in the latter case the additional advertisement leaves are here signed ‘z'); Wolff, 1839, noting no variants.
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DISRAELI (Benjamin). Endymion. By the author of "Lothair". In three volumes. Longmans, Green, and Co., 1880. Final blank in volume two; integral advertisement leaf at end of volume three; pp.[iv]+331+[i (blank)]; [iv]+337+[iii]; [iv]+346+[ii]; diagonally fine ribbed scarlet cloth ruled blind on sides and spine, lettered silver on spine; t.e. uncut; end-papers printed with leaf and flower pattern in grey. Library label removed from each front cover; otherwise nice.
Sadleir 712; Wolff, 1836. As Wolff remarks, the author's name appears on the spines, as ‘The Earl of Beaconsfield'. The first issue, without the erratum on Z2 of volume two. Characters and scenes portrayed in the novel, under other names, are said to include Canning's House at Brompton; Napoleon III; Lady Caroline Lamb; Cardinal Manning; W.M. Thackeray; Charles Dickens; Mazzini; Lord Palmerston; Prince Metternich; The Athenaeum; Baron N. de Rothschild, and Disraeli himself.
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[DISRAELI (Benjamin,] Earl of Beaconsfield). Tales and Sketches By The Right Hon. Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, K.G. With a prefatory memoir By J. Logie Robertson, M.A. London: William Paterson & Co., 1891. Half/series title and engraved portrait frontispiece, etched by M. Ad. Lalauze, with tissue guard precede title page; integral advertisement leaf at end; pp.[xxiv]+389+[i (printer's imprint)]+[ii]; quarter horizontally fine ribbed leaf green cloth, elaborately ruled, blocked, and lettered gilt on spine, ruled gilt on sides, bright lime green diagonally very fine ribbed cloth sides; t.e.g., fore-edges uncut, lower-edges rough trimmed; end-papers coated bright lemon. Very slight marking of covers, and slight foxing of edges; otherwise a fine copy.
Issued as the fourth volume in the series ‘The Treasure House of Tales by Great Authors'. The ordinary issue, but an unusual variant binding, probably primary: volumes in this series usually being seen in blue buckram, gilt. Sadleir, 727, records the issue on hand-made paper limited to 55 numbered copies, with a similar, but differently coloured, binding; not in Wolff. Includes a number of pieces here first collected in book form.
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
DIXON (Ella Hepworth). The Story of A Modern Woman. William Heinemann, 1894. Pp.viii+271+[i (blank)]; publisher's inserted 20pp. catalogue at end, dated March 1894; pale green glazed linen blocked with publisher's monogram within ruled circle, blind, on back cover, blocked and lettered gilt on front cover, lettered gilt on spine; a.e. uncut. Very slight, light marking of covers; end-papers lightly foxed, with offsetting; otherwise a fine copy. Scarce.
Not in Sadleir or Wolff. John Sutherland in the ‘Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction' describes this work as "the greatest unread novel of female struggle in this century". According to the publisher's files, published December 17th, 1894. It was the author's only novel.
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
DORAN (Dr.). New pictures And Old panels. Richard Bentley, 1859. Engraved portrait frontispiece, after a photograph; diagonal ripple grain light salmon pink cloth ruled and blocked blind on sides and spine, blocked and lettered gilt on spine; t.e. uncut, lower-edges rough trimmed; pale lemon coated end-papers. Neat restoration to nick in cloth at headband; neat contemporary inscription on upper margin of title page; otherwise a fine copy. Scarce thus.
Not in Sadleir or Wolff.
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DORMER (Daniel). Entered at Stationers' Hall. Out of the mists. Bristol, J.W. Arrowsmith, 11 Quay Street; London, Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 4 Stationers' Hall Court, 1886. F'cap 8vo; inserted leaf of trade advertisements at end; diagonally fine ribbed brown cloth ruled blind on back cover, ruled and lettered black on front cover, ruled and lettered gilt on spine; end-papers faced brownish black. A fine crisp copy.
Issued as Vol.IX of Arrowsmith's Bristol Library.
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DOSTOIEVSKY (Th.). Humilies et offenses. Traduit du Russe par Ed. Humbert. Paris, Librarie Plon, E. Plon, Nourrit et Cie, Imprimeurs-Editeurs, 1884. Half-title present; contemporary straight grain morocco cloth ruled and lettered gilt on spine. Near fine.
The first edition in French, preceding the first translation into English by two years. "The Insulted and Injured" was first published in instalments at St. Petersburg in the journal ‘Time' in 1861. The present strongly bound volume bears the unusual binder's ticket on the front pastedown of ‘The Govt. Press, Alahabad'.
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DOUDNEY (Sarah). A son of the morning. With a frontispiece by G.H. Edwards. Hodder and Stoughton, 27, Paternoster Row, 1887. Sm.cr.8vo; wood-engraved frontispiece (with key-plate) printed in shades of sepia, with tissue guard; 8pp. integral advertisements at end, continuing the signatures; pp.viii (including the inset frontispiece)+271+[i (blank)]+[8]; tan buckram, blocked with publisher's monogram within square triple-ruled border, black, on back cover, pictorially blocked chromatically black, blue-green, and green, lettered gilt, on front cover, blocked black, green, and gilt, lettered gilt, on spine; end-papers coated black. Nice copy.
Not in Sadleir; this title not in Wolff.
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DOUDNEY (Sarah). Through Pain To Peace. A novel. In Three Vols. Vol.I. [II; III] 1892, Hutchinson & Co., 25, Paternoster Square. Last leaf of volume one a single inset; pp.vi+289+[i (blank)]; vi+279+[i (blank)]; vi+267+[i (blank)]; broad frond patterned ribbon embossed grey cloth, ruled blind on sides, lettered gilt on spine; t.e. uncut, fore-edges rough trimmed; end-papers coated dark charcoal. Spines a little rubbed and dull; prelims. lacking in volume three; otherwise a nice copy.
Not in Sadleir; Wolff, 1869, recording the undated one volume edition of 1893 without either noticing that is in fact a reprint, or assigning it a date. Undated Hutchinson titles from the 1890s are pretty well always reprints.
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DOUDNEY (Sarah). A vanished hand. London, James Nisbet & Co., 21 Berners Street, 1896 [i.e., Winter 1895]. Globe 8vo; blank before half-title; frontispiece and two plates; 22pp. integral advertisements at end (paged 3-24), continuing the signatures; pp.[viii]+193+[i (blank)]+[22]; olive brown buckram, ruled black, blocked black and pink, on sides and spine, blocked with publisher's monogram black and pink within ruled circle on back cover, lettered black on front cover, blocked gilt, lettered olive brown through gilt, on spine; laid-paper end-papers. Covers a little dull and marked; poor quality end-papers embrowned; some foxing passim; a good copy.
Not in Sadleir; this title not in Wolff. The pagination of the advertisements is curious, but is correct as issued: they begin on the second leaf of a new gathering, the text having apparently over-run by some fourteen lines onto the first leaf, pp.1-2 of the advertisements being then dropped to accommodate it. There is no list of plates, but they are marked to face pp.9, and 129, and are here so tipped in.
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
DOUGALL (L[ily].). The Zeit-Geist. Hutchinson & Co., N.D. [May, 1895]. Narrow cr.8vo; epigraph/author's note leaf follows vignette half/series title with series advertisements on verso; half-tone frontispiece and conjugate illustrated title-page, signed ‘GHE', printed in red and black on plate paper, with tissue guard; pp.[iv]+[iv (frontispiece and title-page)]+[260]; mustard coarse rough buckram, blocked with publisher's monogram device dark brown on back cover, blocked dark brown and lettered mustard through dark brown in series style on front cover, lettered gilt on front cover and spine; a.e. uncut. Slight spine roll, and very slight cracking of end-papers; ownership inscription dated ‘June 28th 1896' on half-title; a nice copy, nonetheless.
Issued as the first volume of ‘The Zeit-Geist Library'. The 2s. cloth issue; also issued in paper wrappers at 1s. 6d. The present copy is of the ‘Fourth Edition', a fact apparent only from its listing on the advertisement leaf. Not in Sadleir, who does not record this series; Wolff, 1873, listing an apparently shorter copy of the first printing in paper wrappers, with the comment "This is the only volume I have yet seen of the Zeit-Geist Library". It is likewise the only volume we have seen. An evidently scarce series, even though three of the first four titles listed in our copy have reached at least their second edition. Wolff notes from the advertisement in his copy two other titles in the series; our copy adds: ‘A comedy in spasms' by the author of ‘A Yellow Aster' [Mrs. Caffyn]; and, as in the press, ‘A man and his womankind' by Nora Vynne; and ‘A little love affair' by Gyp.
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DOWSON (Ernest) and MOORE (Arthur). Adrian Rome. By Ernest Dowson and Arthur Moore, Authors of "A Comedy of Masks". Methuen & Co., 36 Essex Street, W.C., London, 1899. Publisher's inserted 40pp. Catalogue dated February 1899, at end; pp.[iv]+364; vertically fine ribbed deep turquoise cloth, blocked and lettered gilt on front cover, elaborately blocked, lettered, and with short rule, gilt, on spine; fore- and lower- edges rough trimmed. Slight wear to cloth at head of spine, cloth a little bubbled on sides, and very slightly marked at fore-edges; otherwise a nice copy. Scarce.
The first binding, copies being known also in a much plainer bubble-grain cloth of a pale green colour, and without the catalogue. Not in Sadleir; this title not in Wolff.
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ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVE, File C: Nineteenth Century General Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
DOYLE (A. Conan). Copyright. Entered at Stationers' Hall. The great shadow. By A. Conan Doyle, Author of "The White Company", "Micah Clarke" "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes". Arrowsmith's Christmas Annual, 1892. Bristol, J.W. Arrowsmith, 11 Quay Street, London, Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent and Co. Limited. The Right of Translation is Reserved. N.D. [1892]. F'cap 8vo; two leaves commercial advertisements precede title leaf with commercial advertisements on verso; Contents leaf with commercial advertisements on lower half of recto and on verso; 3pp. integral commercial advertisements at end, the last bearing on verso a list of ‘Books by Dr. Conan Doyle', including eight titles; pp.[iv]+184+[iv]; diagonally fine ribbed brown cloth ruled blind on back cover, ruled and lettered black on front cover, ruled and lettered gilt on spine; end-papers coated dark chocolate. Small piece chipped from blank fore-margin of 1[8] (not approaching text); otherwise a nice copy.
The true first printing, bearing the words ‘Arrowsmith's Christmas Annual / 1892' on the title-page, and an early state: without the additional 16pp. commercial and publisher's advertisements at end added to all recorded copies of the issue in wrappers (which was increased to 24pp. in the later ‘Bristol Library' edition, advertisements having evidently been added as more were obtained). The copies in cloth will have had to have been the first ones printed in order for their binding up to have been completed by the time that the copies in wrappers were prepared (publication of the two being necessarily simultaneous), though later bound copies in cloth may conceivably have included more advertisements. Copies in cloth were presumably published at 1/6d. as against the 1/- for wrappered copies, and relatively few of them will have been produced. (Publisher's records for the similar two issues of Stevenson's ‘The Dynamiter' suggest a ratio of 16:1). Green & Gibson, A11a, unfortunately garble their entry on this volume, giving an incomplete and inadequate description of the cloth issue, and listing it under a heading which belongs in fact to the first entry on the following page. Locke, p.36; Sadleir 744, recording only a copy of the later ‘Bristol Library' printing; this title not in the extensive Wolff collection of Doyle's works. A difficult book to find now in any form, but distinctly scarce in this early cloth issue as an Annual.
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DOYLE (A. Conan). Copyright. Entered at Stationers' Hall. The great shadow. By A. Conan Doyle, Author of "The White Company", "Micah Clarke" "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes". Bristol, J.W. Arrowsmith, 11 Quay Street, London, Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent and Co. Limited. The Right of Translation is Reserved. N.D. [1892]. F'cap 8vo; imprint leaf with commercial advertisements on verso precedes half-title; list of ‘Books by Dr. Conan Doyle', including eight titles, on verso of half-title; commercial advertisement on lower half of Contents page, verso blank; text numbered pp.[5]-184; 28pp. integral commercial and publishers' advertisements at end, on p.4 of which is repeated the listing of ‘Books by Dr. Conan Doyle'; diagonally fine ribbed brown cloth ruled blind on back cover, ruled and lettered black on front cover, ruled and lettered gilt on spine; end-papers coated black. Nice copy.
A presentation copy from the author with his holograph inscription on the half-title page: "E.W. Hornung from A Conan Doyle Nov 4th/92". Hornung, the writer of the Raffles books, was destined to become Conan Doyle's brother-in-law, and in view of this provenance pencil scoring on several pages of the text against passages relating to the relationship between the narrator and his betrothed are not without some interest. Hornung married Constance Doyle in 1893. Issued as volume LII of Arrowsmith's Bristol Library. Locke, p.36 records that the book was issued as Arrowsmith's Christmas Annual for 1892, and only subsequently in the Bristol Library, but the date of the inscription in this copy necessarily calls his statement into question. A comparison of the present copy with a copy of the Annual reveals that the volume contains the same advertisements, including the leaf headed ‘Publications in the Press' on which "Life in Him Yet" by St. John Raikes is advertised for publication ‘In December', The advertisements are differently ordered, however, and three further pages have been added: one, carrying the second listing of ‘Books by Dr. Conan Doyle' is evidently included as a space filler, and a further half-page advertisement for Arrowsmith's printing might be regarded in a similar light; the remaining two, a full-page advertisement for the ‘Yost Typewriter Co., Ltd.', and a half-page advertisement for ‘The ‘Dernathistic' (Brown's Patent) Corset' are wholly new. This suggests that the volume was indeed printed later than the Annual, since it is unlikely that an advertiser would have opted deliberately to appear in only a portion of the run, missing the seasonal wide circulation of the Annual. Sadleir 744, moreover, records a copy of the book issue in cloth in which the leaf before the half-title apparently carries only advertisements. This may suggest a later printing still, and that advertising continued to be sought. Cloth copies of the book edition had evidently been bound up by the beginning of November, when Doyle presented the present copy to Hornung. It might, of course, have been an advance copy; but how early was the Christmas Annual published? Greene & Gibson say 31st October - but they also say the present volume was ‘printed during November', which is evidently wrong. The present copy is at any rate presumably of the very earliest issue not calling itself an ‘Annual'. A difficult book to find in its own right, and a superb association copy.
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DOYLE ( A. Conan). The Stark Munro letters: Being a series of sixteen letters written by J. Stark Munro, M.B., to his friend and former fellow-Student, Herbert Swanborough, of Lowell, Massachusetts, during the years 1881-1884 Edited and arranged by A. Conan Doyle. Longmans, Green, and Co., 1895. Frontispiece with tissue guard and title-page vignette, by Alice Barber Stephens; imprint leaf at end, followed by publisher's inserted 24pp. catalogue, dated July, 1895; bevelled very dark green smooth cloth, lettered gilt on front cover, lettered and with short rule gilt on spine; fore-edges mainly trimmed; end-papers faced black. Slight mottling of cloth, and two pin-holes in cloth over front joint; some foxing of prelims. and tissue, mostly very slight; otherwise a fine copy.
Written by Doyle. A novel in epistolary form. This copy has the reading ‘incisions' for ‘excisions' at line eight of ‘Swanborough's' preface, probably as always. Printed in Aberdeen. Green & Gibson, A18a
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DOYLE (A. Conan). The exploits Of Brigadier Gerard. With twenty-four illustrations, By W.B. Wollen, R.I. George Newnes, Ltd, 1896. Wood-engraved frontispiece with tissue guard, and twenty-three plates; blank, followed by publisher's inserted 8pp. catalogue at end, dated ‘10.2.96'; pp.[viii]+334+[ii]; vertically fine ribbed scarlet cloth, blocked and lettered with publisher's name device black on back cover, blocked black, lettered gilt on front cover, lettered gilt on spine; a.e. uncut. Slight motling of covers, and gilt a little dull; neat, almost invisible, restoration to cloth at extreme tailband; two small worm-holes through back cover and last few leaves of text; a little light scattered foxing, chiefly affecting plates; a very good, and generally crisp copy, nonetheless. In our experience one of the harder Doyle titles to find, particularly in acceptable condition.
The first issue. Sadleir, 742, listing a copy with the same catalogue as this, but failing to notice the date: the "incidental date ‘March 2, 1896'" he mentions being an advance announcement in the first advertisement. Not in Wolff. Green & Gibson, A19a, noting copies with catalogues dated either ‘30.11.95' or ‘10.2.86', as here, as constituting the first issue, the book having been published on 15th February 1896. Copies are also known with an undated catalogue attributable to 1897, or a catalogue dated ‘4/98'. 7,500 copies were printed.
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DOYLE (A. Conan). Rodney Stone. With illustrations [by S.D. Paget]. London, Smith, Elder & Co., 15, Waterloo Place, 1896. Frontispiece and seven plates; 10pp. integral advertisements at end; dark purple fine-diaper cloth, lettered and blocked gilt on spine and front cover; a.e. uncut; dark chocolate coated end-papers. Inscription on front end-paper [v. note], and very slight marking of cloth; otherwise virtually a fine copy.
Sadleir 749. In the opinion of Doyle (and ourselves) the author's best novel. A difficult title to find in acceptable condition. Green & Gibson, A20a, recording both cloth and end-papers as black. In this copy the colour of the cloth is definitely dark purple, as in every copy we have seen, and that of the end-papers dark chocolate. The front paste-down bears an ownership inscription in black ink dated ‘Nov. 1896': the month of publication.
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DOYLE (A. Conan). Uncle Bernac: A memory of the empire. Smith, Elder, & Co., 15 Waterloo Place, 1897. Blank before half-title; frontispiece with tissue guard, and eleven half-tone plates, by Robert Sauber; headpiece to first chapter; 8pp. publisher's advertisements on text-paper, at end, signed ‘X', and hence presumably integral, though the last text gathering is signed ‘U'; scarlet buckram, blocked, lettered, and with ruled box, gilt on front cover, blocked and lettered gilt on spine; top- and fore- edges uncut, lower-edges rough trimmed; end-papers coated dark chocolate. Slight bubbling of cloth; otherwise a brilliantly fine copy. Scrce thus.
Green & Gibson, A21, but a minor binding variant, unrecorded by them, with the end-papers coated dark chocolate instead of black. Sadleir, 751; Wolff, 1921, both recording copies with black end-papers. We have ourselves never seen another copy with brown end-papers, and wonder whether this might not perhaps have been an advance copy.
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DOYLE (A. Conan). A duet With an occasional chorus. Grant Richards, 9 Henrietta Street, 1899. 2pp. integral advertisements at end followed by 12pp. publisher's catalogue dated 1899 in which the present work is advertised as ‘In Preparation'; sage green buckram lettered gilt on flat spine and front cover; fore-edges rough trimmed, lower-edges uncut. Neat restorations to cloth over joints; otherwise a nice copy.
The flat spine of this book is backed with such a thick board, and the cloth covering it is so delicate, that the hinges almost always split to some extent. Green & Gibson, A24a: the first issue.
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DOYLE (C.W.). The taming of The jungle. Westminster: Archibald Constable & Co, 2 Whitehall Gardens, 1899. Roy.16mo, gathered in half-sheets; final blank; glazed white boards illustrated in full colour over sides and spine, and bearing the title and author's name on a vertical panel at each fore-margin. Paper covering of spine very slightly chipped; otherwise a fine copy.
Stories set in the jungle of the Terai - "the great tract of jungle that skirts the foothills of the Himalayas, in the province of Kumaon." The very unusual cover design is by J.T. Nettleship.
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[DRACHMANN (Holger).]. Danish stories: The cruise Of The "Wild Duck" And Other tales. T. Fisher Unwin, 1893. Sm.narrow 8vo; pp.208; tipped in leaf of pale sage green paper at end advertising ‘Unwin's Novel Series'; glazed unbleached linen, ruled on sides and spine, blocked with publisher's monogram on back cover, lettered on front cover and up spine, all dark blue; t.e.g., others rough trimmed. Light damp-staining of spine; very slight, light, foxing of end-papers and some prelims.; otherwise a fine copy.
Issued as Volume 24 of the Pseudonym Library, and published simultaneously in cloth, as here, at 2/- and in wrappers at 1/6d. The Preface is signed H.C.M.
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DRAKE (Nathan). Noontide leisure; Or, Sketches in summer, Outlines from nature and imagination, And including A Tale of the Days of Shakespeare. In two volumes. London: Printed for T. Cadell, in The Strand: And W. Blackwood, Edinburgh, 1824. Tall f'cap 8vo; two volumes bound in one; half-title in each volume; integral advertisement leaf at end of volume one; early Victorian quarter green embossed cloth, leather label, marbled sides, sprinkled edges. Early signature on half-title in each volume, and on verso of title-page in volume one; corners of boards slightly worn, and sides very slightly rubbed; otherwise a virtually fine copy.
A curiously arranged publication, the novel, "Montchensey, a Tale of the Days of Shakespeare", occupying 354 of the 629 pages of the text, but split into sections interspersed with essays. A very pleasant period use of cloth. Not in Sadleir.
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