Nineteenth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
IMPORTANT!
The simplest way to order from this catalogue is to click on the green button beneath the book of your choice. This will create an e-mail containing all the information we need to process your order EXCEPT that we need also to know the address for delivery. (The reason for asking that at this time is that we will send you an e-invoice for the item inclusive of postage calculated according to the country to which the parcel is to be sent.) Books will be billed at the cheapest postal rate available, unless you ask us to do something else. If delivery is to be outside Europe, and you do not want the book sent by surface mail, you should specify air-mail.
Please note: Our larger files are presented in sections for ease of downloading. At the end of each section you are invited to browse the next. |
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File E: Nineteenth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
MONRO (Rev. Edward, M.A.). Sacred Allegories. Second Series. The revellers. The midnight sea. The wanderer. The Journey Home. The dark mountains. By the late Rev. Edward Monro, M.A. London: Joseph Masters, 78, New Bond Street, 1874. F’cap 8vo; half-title not called for; title leaf tipped onto a stub [v. note]; pp.88+[ii]+96+[ii]+120; magenta sand-grain cloth, ruled and very elaboreately blocked blind on sides, blocked, lettered, and with short rule, gilt, on spine. Small, neat, restoration to cloth at head of spine, and cloth of spine a little faded; prize label (dated 1876) on front end-paper; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £25.00
US $41.00
Three linked works in one volume, originally issued separately, probably in wrappers, the second and third parts (‘The Journey Home’ and ‘The Dark Mountains’) each provided with a separate Contents leaf, that to the first part having probably been excised to provide the stub to which the title leaf is pasted. A sort of pre-cursor of Sword and Sorcery, but Christian in intent. Not in Locke’s ‘Spectra’.
Ref: ERT818687
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File E: Nineteenth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
NASH (Henry). Barerock Or The island of pearls. Illustrated by Lancelot Speed. London, Edward Arnold, 37 Bedford Street, Strand, W.C. All rights reserved, N.D. [1891]. Extra cr.8vo; half-title not called for; integral wood-engraved frontispiece with tissue guard, and sixteen illustrations in text, mostly full-page and unbacked; pp.[x (including frontispiece)]+411+[i (blank)]; dove grey buckram, pictorially blocked brown, grey-green, flesh-pink, and black, on front cover and spine, lettered black-shadowed gilt and gilt-beaded brown on front cover, lettered gilt, gilt-beaded brown, and black on spine; a.e.g.; end-papers printed with orange-branch design in pale grey-green. Publisher’s label on front cover and rubber-stamp on blank recto of frontispiece; offsetting affecting last two gatherings (v. note); otherwise a very nice copy.
GB £80.00
US $131.20
The Publisher’s File Copy, so designated by the rubber-stamp and label. A very early Arnold title, published before they had adopted a policy of plain cover designs, and unusual among Arnold firsts in not bearing a date. The correct first issue, the volume being re-issued in 1894 trimmed down to cr.8vo format. The offsetting from wet sheets affecting the last two gatherings in the present volume may suggest that it was in fact an advance copy or proof. An action-packed juvenile that is a kind of blending of ‘The Coral Island’ with some of Rider Haggard’s African romances, but without the factual consistency of setting that gives to them their verisimilitude: it is instead a show-case very often for the author’s ignorance — unnecessary improbabilities ranging from a sailor telling his fellow sailor at sea that it is ‘two o’clock’, to a boa contrictor (in Africa!) killing its prey with a bite! Includes some lost-race and fantasy elements, in particular an episode depending upon mesmerism, instructions being transmitted by thought processes alone.
Ref: ERT804106
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File E: Nineteenth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
OSWALD (E.J.). The Dragon of the North: A tale of the Normans In Italy. By E.J. Oswald, Author of ‘By Fell and Fjord,’ ‘Scenes and Studies in Iceland,’ etc. London, Seeley & Co., 46, 47, & 48, Essex Street, Strand, (Late of 54, Fleet Street), 1888 [i.e. Winter 1887]. Extra cr.8vo; wood-engraved frontispiece and seven plates, all captioned in red; integral advertisement leaf followed by publisher’s inserted 16pp. catalogue at end, not dated but including an advertisement of ‘The Portfolio... Volume for 1887; pp.xii+350+[ii]; patterned-sand-grain yellow-ochre cloth, ruled brown, lettered gilt, pictorially blocked gilt and brown on front cover, ruled brown, lettered and pictorially blocked gilt, on spine; end-papers coated yellow. Covers a little dusty; ink numerals and small rubber-stamp of the Joint Fiction Reserve on front end-paper, but no other signs of library use; couple of blank corners creased; otherwise a nice copy. Scarce.
GB £60.00
US $98.40
A very early example of sword and sorcery, with a good historical background and a setting of eleventh century Italy. Not in Bleiler, Clute and Nicholls, or Locke’s ‘Spectra’; Nield, ‘Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales’, 1911 Supplement, p.262, recording it as a juvenile. There is no list of illustrations, but they are tipped in to face pp.32, 48, 166, 242, 272, 322, and 346.
Ref: ERT818670
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File E: Nineteenth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
RITCHIE (Leitch). The Romance of history. France. In three volumes. Edward Bull, Holles Street, 1831. 3 Vols., lge.12mo; half-titles lacking; fly-title to each story, included in the pagination; pp.[viii (paged as [iii]-[viii]+[ii])]+326; [iii]-[vi]+350; [iii]-[vi]+346; contemporary green fine diaper cloth ruled and lettered gilt on spine. Nice copy.
GB £180.00
US $295.20
Legendary historical tales, including a werewolf story and several other wierd fantasies. Not in Sadleir, or Wolff. The lattermost portion of the final volume and the final leaf of volume one (a single inset), are printed on a different paper stock, this being used also for the preliminary leaves to each volume, which must therefore have been printed last. The leaf following the title-page in each volume is signed ‘a3’, suggesting that half-titles are in fact called for. In volume one both the first leaf of the author’s Advertisement, which follows the title leaf, and the Contents leaf, which follows that, are signed ‘a3’, the Advertisement having apparently been included as an afterthought. This Advertisement is dated 11th December, 1830: it seems probable that the book was issued before Christmas in that year and dated ahead. One of three titles issued by Bull under the same general heading, the others being ‘England’ by Henry Neele, and ‘Italy’ by Charles Macfarlane. Other titles were issued opportunistically under the same heading by other publishers at about the same time.
Ref: ERT804144
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File E: Nineteenth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
The first scientific ‘disaster’ novel in English.
[SHELLEY (Mary Wollstonecraft).]. The last man. By The author of Frankenstein. In three volumes. London: Henry Colburn, New Burlington Street, 1826. 3 Vols., lge.12mo; half-titles not called for, but bound up without the integral advertisement leaf (v. note) at the end of volume one; advertisements for ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘Valperga’ on lower half of last page of text in volume three; pp.[xii]+358; [ii]+328; [ii]+352; contemporary half natural calf, ruled and elaborately tooled gilt on spine, ruled blind on sides, black lettering- and numbering- piece, matching marbled sides and end-papers; sprinkled edges. Some chipping to paper of sides; one numbering-piece supplied from another volume, and not uniform; two pin-head sized holes in blank fore-margin of L3 in volume one, similar hole in lower margin of F7 in volume three, both due to original paper flaws; minute chip from blank lower fore-corner of N3 in volume two; four or five leaves over all with slight, very light, spotting or small stains; a very nice copy, nonetheless, virtually fine internally.
GB £6,600.00
US $10,824.00
Less sought after than ‘Frankenstein’ because never filmed, but better written, scarcer, and just as important in the development of the genre. Locke, ‘Spectrum’, p.194: “Science fiction novel of the twenty-first century which culminates in the wiping out of mankind by a plague; an early and very important work in the history of the development of science fiction.... The book’s importance to the hard core of my 19th century collection of science fiction cannot be over-estimated.” Clute & Nicholls, 1993, p.1099: “The tale served as a model for much subsequent work using its basic idea of a world in which there can be a last, secular survivor.” Sir Edmund Gosse in ‘Silhouettes’ (1925) pp.231 — 8, after noting the rarity of the novel even at that time, speaks of its value outside the genre, as biography, the main characters being informed portraits of Byron (Lord Raymond), Shelley (Earl adrian), Claire Clairmont (Perdita), William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft (Earl Adrian’s parents), etc. “That Mrs. Shelley’s novel was anonymous, and its plot veiled by imaginary names and circumstances, has, I think, concealed the amount of biographical value which it contains. When she wrote it, the events of her husband’s life and of Byron’s were fresh in her memory, and she was incessantly occupied with them. In her solitary and melancholy condition, her thoughts were concentrated on what she had lived through in a few brilliant, feverish years, and her recollections were intense.” Not in Sadleir; Wise, Ashley Library, V, p.39 (the copy read by Gosse); Wolff, 6281; Bleiler, 1948, p.35; CBEL, III, p.416. It is by no means certain that the advertisement leaf recorded as lacking above is in fact called for in this copy. The Ashley Library and Wolff copies are both in the original boards, but collate differently, Wise having apparently assumed that a blank at the start of volumes two and three was in each case integral and conjugate with the title-leaf: but the collation over the three volumes works out to an exact number of whole sheets if the titles were single insets, as in the Wolff copy, and it seems probable that the blanks recorded by Wise were in fact binder’s blanks. This in turn casts into doubt his statement that Q12 in volume one, recorded by Wolff as an advertisement leaf, was also a blank. It seems more likely that this terminal blank in the Wise copy was also a binder’s blank, and, assuming that the Wise copy has suffered no loss, that copies were originally made up both with and without this leaf. As with the Wolff copy, p.327 in volume one is here misnumbered ‘227’.
Ref: ERT817869
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File E: Nineteenth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
STOCKTON (Frank R.). Stockton’s stories, Second series: The Christmas wreck And other stories. New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1886. Sm.cr.8vo; binder’s blank at front and back; advertisement leaf (blank on recto) precedes half-title; blank at end; pp.[2]+[iv]+242+[viii]+[2]; bright leaf green buckram, lettered gilt on front cover, lettered, blocked with two asterisks, and with short rule, gilt, on spine; t.e.g.; wove end-papers. Unobtrusive restoration to cloth at extreme head of spine; light foxing of end-papers; one or two small corners creased; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £80.00
US $131.20
The binder’s blanks each have a conjugate leaf pasted beneath the paste-down. Blanck, 18885: the first state of text, with ‘Stockton’s stories, Second series’ at head of title-page; and the first binding, with ‘Stockton’s stories / The Christmas wreck’ on the front cover and ‘Stockton’s Stories / **’ at head of spine, the words ‘The Christmas Wreck And other stories’ appearing at the mid-point. Later issues omit the words ‘Stockton’s Stories’ and the series indica from both the title-page and spine. The initial advertisement leaf in the present copy consists of an advert for ‘Stockton’s stories. First Series. ("The Lady or the Tiger", etc), which was also presumably later omitted. Copies are also known with laid-paper end-papers. In this copy the word ‘Hyke’ on the Contents leaf is followed erroneously by a comma: state or issue significance undetermined. Nine stories: The Christmas Wreck; A Story of Assisted Fate; An Unhistoric Page; A Tale of Negative Gravity; The Cloverfields Carriage; The remarkable Wreck of the “Thomas Hyke"; My Bull-Calf; The discourager of Hesitancy; A Borrowed Month. This title not in Locke’s ‘Spectrum’.
Ref: ERT804162
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File E: Nineteenth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
STOCKTON (Frank R.). The Great Show In Kobol-Land. By Frank R. Stockton. Illustrated. London, James R. Osgood, McIlvaine & Co., 45 Albemarle Street, W., 1891. (All rights reserved). Extra imp.8vo in half sheets; integral half-tone frontispiece; numerous line-engraved illustrations in text by Dan Beard; final blank; pp.[viii (including frontispiece)]+90+[ii]; quarter light brown buckram, blocked and lettered red, bronze coloured boards, the front board printed with illustration, design, and lettering, in gilt. Spine a little dusty and spotted and with slight wear at extreme head and tail; red blocking and lettering faded almost to invisibility; light ring-mark on back cover; paper covering of front board a trifle chipped at lower margin; half-title and verso of final blank embrowned; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £65.00
US $106.60
Not in Blanck. Blanck, 18903, lists a 24pp. pamphlet, ‘The Cosmic Bean; or, the Great Show in Kobol-Land. London, Black and White Publishing Company, Limited, 1891’, but not this volume which contains: ‘The Two Thrones of Tanobar’; ‘The Opening of the Great Show’; ‘Race Day in Kobol-Land’; ‘Prince Atto and the Sirens’; and ‘The Barebacked Griffin and the Spelling Bee’. Almost certainly the pamphlet recorded by Blanck was a copyright printing, the British Library copy being the only example traced. Clute & Nichols, ‘Encyclopedia of Science Fiction’, p.1169; this title not in Locke’s ‘Spectra’.
Ref: ERT817807
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File E: Nineteenth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
STOCKTON (Frank R.). The Rudder Graingers Abroad And other stories. Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Limited, St Dunstan’s House, Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.C., 1892. Blank before half-title; pp.[viii]+195+[i (blank)]; olive green buckram blocked with publisher’s monogram in blind on back cover, blocked pictorially marina blue, pale green, orange, and black, lettered gilt, black, and black-shadowed gilt on front cover, blocked pictorially black, pale green, and marina blue, lettered gilt, on spine; t.e. uncut, others mainly trimmed; end-papers coated cream. Nice copy. Scarce.
GB £40.00
US $65.60
First English edition of a book published in America in 1891 (Wright, III, 5250). Blanck, 18904 refers. Printed in England, possibly from the American plates. Short stories, including at least one science fiction (involving the transportation of electrical batteries at sea in an iron hulled ship, and a broken underwater telegraphic cable). This title not in Locke’s ‘Spectrum’.
Ref: ERT804163
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File E: Nineteenth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
STOCKTON (Frank R.). The great stone Of Sardis. A novel By Frank R. Stockton. Illustrated by Peter Newell. London and New York, Harper Brothers, 45 Albemarle Street, W., 1898. Blank before half-title; half-tone frontispiece with tissue guard, and fifty-one illustrations, all on art paper; pp.[xii]+341+[i (blank)]; vertically fine-ribbed brown cloth, blocked silver and black, lettered silver-outlined-gilt, and gilt, on front cover and spine; fore-edges uncut, lower-edges rough-trimmed. Fine copy (but v.note).
GB £110.00
US $180.40
The silver and black blocking on the spine is virtually amorphous and of somewhat vague import. (It looks like smoke leaking from the lettering of the title.) It is possibly an unintentional impression from the foils used for the front cover. Locke, ‘Spectrum’, p.206, not noticing the spine blocking; Blanck, 18929 refers, but does not describe the binding of the English edition. On the evidence of advertisements, the English edition would appear to have been published two weeks after the American edition.
Ref: ERT817760
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage
ROBERT TEMPLE BOOKSELLERS CATALOGUE, File E: Nineteenth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction. All books first editions and first printings, except as stated.
[WILLIS (N.P.).]. Inklings of adventure By the Author of “Pencillings by the Way.” In three volumes. Saunders and Otley, 1836. 3 Vols., lge.12mo; half-titles not called for; fly-title precedes each story and first page of text in each volume; Contents leaf follows Introductory Chapter in volume one, title-leaf in volumes two and three; pp.[xii]+302; [iv]+[312]; [iv]+320; contemporary black half roan, marbled boards. Spine torn in volume one; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £160.00
US $262.40
Blanck, 22743: precedes the American edition by about fourteen weeks. Block, p.118, not identifying the author, and listing the collection only from two bookseller’s entries. The English edition appears to be scarcer by far than the American one, which was several times reprinted (v. Wright, 2736, et seq.). Short stories and sketches, including some with supernatural content. Not in Locke.
Ref: ERT804213
Click here for list of references, abbreviations, and conventions used
Click here to return to "Rare Books" Homepage |