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Please note: Each of the following entries is preceded by a note of the catalogue in which it is to be included in our main database. They are not here arranged in any particular order. |
Twentieth Century Prose Literature.
ALLEN (Osric). Matter and the Nature of the Present: A Blueprint for Exploration. A Socratic Dialogue Adapted with Additions, and Notes From Chapters Thirty-five, Thirty-seven, Thirty-nine and forty-four [sic] of the Novel, ‘Pornogram' by Osric Allen. Published by Robert Temple, 65, Mildmay Road, London N1 4PU, April 2009. B5 format, 44pp. wire-stitched into plain white card wrappers, cut flush, yellow translucent paper self-wrapper printed on front and front flap in black. New copy.
GB £7.50
US $11.70
Quantum Mechanics and Relativity Theory both work, but they do not appear to coalesce within a single frame of reference. In 1924 Einstein and a group of colleagues meeting in Copenhagen proposed that they could be made to do so if the universe consisted of nothing but probability waves (potential matter) and a medium (the dimensions) within which these could exist; and that the particles of which matter is made up did not actually come into existence until a measurement were taken of their associated probability waves. As the author here points out, this is a version of Bishop Berkeley's 'proof' of the necessity of God, rather than a scientific or mathematically adequate statement since, though it might in theory hold good for any part universe, if applied to the universe as a whole there would apparently be nothing left to take the measurement. It is the author's contention that the problem lies with assumptions built into our thinking by the nature of our sensatory mechanisms, and that whilst these mechanisms are adequate to orient us within the four dimensional continuum of everyday experience, they are not adequate for the purposes of advanced scientific thought - and in particular that it is our misunderstanding of the nature of the dimensions that has led to much of the confusion in which physics to-day finds itself embroiled. From an analysis of what we can know about the dimensions of Space and Time apart from our perceptions of them, Allen concludes that in a universe that is neither static nor infinite, the dimensions must necessarily be limited in extent, and this limit correlate with what we call the 'present'. It is this present, he suggests, that functions to take Einstein's 'measurement'. This leads him to a consideration of the nature of mass and of gravity, and to predictions both that photons will eventually be found to have some mass, and that the Higgs boson will prove to be as much a chimæra as phlogiston. Finally, a simple explanation is offered of the 'spooky' properties of entangled particles, and a reason is suggested for the separation of the spheres of influence within which either Quantum Mechanics or Relativity Theory can hold good. The author believes his main thesis to be sound. The extensions of it require experimental support. They are here presented as a series more or less speculative ideas - 'a blueprint for exploration'. - adapted from the publisher's blurb. ISBN 0-9523093-8-6 ISBN 0-9523093-8-6
Ref: JRT818763
Twentieth Century Detective Fiction.
THORNDIKE (Russell). The Vandekkers. Thornton Butterworth Limited, 15 Bedford Street, London, W.C.2, 1929. Integral advertisement leaf at end, blank on verso; pp.318+[ii]; light scarlet vertical beaded-linen-grain cloth, ruled and blocked with publisher's device on sides, and lettered on front cover, blind, ruled blind, lettered black, on spine. Very light mottling of sides, otherwise a fine, crisp, copy. Scarce.
GB £55.00
US $85.80
The author's third novel, following ‘Dr. Syn' published in 1915, and ‘The Slype' in 1927. Hubin, p.403
Ref: KRT818760
Antiquarian General Literature.
BALZAC ([Jean-Louis Guez, Seigneur de]). The Prince. Written in French By Mounsier [sic] du Balzac. Now Translated into English. London, Printed for M. Meighen, and G. Bedell, and are to be sold at Their shop at the Middle-Temple Gate, 1648. F'cap.12mo (apparently so watermarked); half-title not called for; integral blank before title-page, blank at end probably not integral; thirty-six entry Errata with imprimatur dated Decemb.13.1647 on verso follows last page of text; pp.[82 (not paginated)]+159+163 - 326+[ii]; A - I, K - Q12, R11; ruled blind on sides and spine, gilt on spine, blocked and embossed blind on sides with baronial arms. Front end-papers amateurishly renewed with period paper, and back free end-paper lacking; bound up without gathering O (pp.235 - 258); blank lower fore-corner torn from leaf A6; short marginal tear to fore-edge of G4; small blank top forecorner chipped from L8 and L9; otherwise a very nice copy.
GB £140.00
US $218.40
Apart from the end-papers, very clean and fresh and in a sound original binding, it is evident that the missing gathering was never included in this set of sheets - which is something of a tragedy given that the book is apparently rare. Only the Oxford copy noted on COPAC. The collation here agrees with that, except that the Oxford copy does not have the initial blank. The French original was published in 1631. The translator's dedication (to ‘Colonell Gervas Holles') is signed H.G. Wing, B.615
Ref: ART818391
Antiquarian General Literature.
[BACON] (Francis, Lord Verulam). The Historie Of the Reigne of King Henry The Seventh. Written by the Right Hon: Francis Lo: Virulam, Viscount S. Alban. Whereunto is now added a very vsefull And necessary Table. London printed by I.H. and R.Y. and Are to be sold by Philemon Stephens And Christopher Meredith, At the Signe of the Golden Lyon in Pauls-Church- Yard, 1629. Demy 4to; half-title not called for; fine wood-engraved title-page (a cancel, pasted on a stub), head- and tail- pieces, and two large historiated initial letters; pp.[iv (unpaged)]+248+[x (unpaged)]; [A]3, B - I, K - T, V, X - Z, Aa - Ii4, Kk5; eighteenth century full watered calf, spine with six raised bands, tooled with Grecian urn ornament in compartments, lettering-piece; burnished edges; marbled end-papers, two binder's blanks at front and back. Calf somewhat chipped on sides and at extreme head and tail of spine, and with several scuffs; calf split over joints, and in need of rebacking; insignificant hole in title-page due to an original paper fault, another in Kk1; a few unobtrusive marginal notes etc., probably in the hand of T.D. Whitaker of St. John's College Cambridge whose 1776 signature appears on one of the front binder's blanks; in general internally very clean and fresh.
GB £1,300.00
US $2,028.00
Gibson, 118: a re-issue of the sheets of the second edition of 1628 (Gibson 117) with a cancel title-page. In this edition the ten page ‘Index Alphabeticall, directing to the most obserueable passages in the foregoing Historie' is first added. The book was originally published in 1622, that edition occurring in two states (Gibson 116 and 116b). Nothing is lacking from this copy, the 1628/9 edition having been issued without a frontispiece, whilst the single inset leaf Kk2 was printed as part of the preliminary gathering, completing that sheet. Page 208 is here misnumbered 218. "A valuable work, giving a clear and animated narrative of the reign, and characterising Henry with great skill. The style is in harmony with the matter - vigorous and flowing but naturally with less of the quaintness and richness suitable to more thoughtful and original writings." - Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edn.
Ref: ART800007
Twentieth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction.
MUNDY (Talbot [i.e., William Lancaster Gribbon]). King, Of the Khyber Rifles. By Talbot Mundy. Illustrations by J.C. Coll. London, Constable and Company Ltd., 1917. Frontispiece, and six double-spread illustrations on supercalendered paper tipped in; pp.[iv]+344; green fine rough-buckram, lettered with short rule on front cover, lettered with short rule and double-ruled box, and pictorially blocked, reddish brown on spine; t.e.light green. Light foxing to prelims., edges, and some margins; otherwise a very nice copy.
GB £55.00
US $85.80
The very scarce first English edition, published in July, 1917, the American edition having appeared in the previous year. An oriental romance set in India during World War I, Mundy's best-known adventure novel, and the first of his books to be published in England. "As a writer of adventure fiction set in exotic climes Mundy was one of the most skilled craftsmen of his day. Like Eric Ambler he had the ability to suggest locale and alien personality types by minimal hints and suggestions. He was also a good stylist and constructor of plots. If his characters separate themselves into goods, bads, and mahatmas, this was partly due to his market." - Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction, p.376. There is no list of illustrations, but they are tipped-in between pp.32-3, 56-7, 104-5, 152-3, 200-1, and 232-3. Bleiler (1948), p.206; Bleiler (1978), p.145; Reginald 10517; Donald M. Grant, ‘Talbot Mundy, Messenger of Destiny', p.194; Hubin, p.302.
Ref: MRT818759
Twentieth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction.
CROMIE (Robert). Kitty's Victoria Cross. By Robert Cromie, Author of "A Plunge into Space" "The Crack of Doom", "For England's Sake" etc. etc. London, Frederick Warne & Co., And New York, 1901. (All Rights Reserved). Integral advertisement leaf (carrying Press Opinions of ‘A Plunge into Space') precedes half-title; 12pp. integral advertisements at end; pp.[ii]+306+[xii]; faintly mottled light brown linen, blocked dark brown, green and gilt, lettered gilt, blocked with ghostly Victoria Cross and embossed with motto, blind, on front cover, blocked dark brown and green, lettered gilt, on spine. Light foxing of end-papers, initial advertisement leaf and half-title; early owner's name written on upper margin of half-title in ink; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £55.00
US $85.80
Scarce. Locke, ‘Spectrum', III, p.24, recording only the later (and undated) Colonial Edition in wrappers, which he mistakes for a variant of the first printing that he says he had never seen; this title not in Bleiler or Wolff.
Ref: MRT818761
Nineteenth Century Prose Literature.
TERRY (Charles). Scenes and thoughts In foreign lands. London, William Pickering, 1848. F'cap 8vo; half-title not called for; pp.xii+402; very dark brown fine-diaper cloth, paper spine label; top- and fore- edges uncut. Paper label slightly rubbed and lacking the front free end-paper; otherwise a virtually fine copy.
GB £45.00
US $70.20
Essentially diary entries of the author's travels: two trips occupying together some six years and taking in Gibraltar, Malta, Egypt, Aden, Ceylon, India, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Russia, Poland, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, etc., with comments on social, historical, geographical, and religious aspects of the lands and seas across which he passed. "Travellers would do well not to be too dainty when they visit warm latitudes, for it mars much enjoyment when they are so. Unquestionably there are some quarters in Genoa as filthy, in every sense of the word, as need be imagined; but delicate-nerved people are not compelled to visit them." p.146, with reference to Dickens' comments on Genoa in ‘Pictures from Italy'. The Genoese, apparently, were not amused by Dickens' book.
Ref: IRT818762
Nineteenth Century General Fiction.
LEVER (Charles). Our mess. Edited by Charles Lever. (Harry Lorrequer.) Vol.II. Tom Burke of "Ours," Volume first. With Numerous illustrations on steel, By Phiz. Dublin, William Curry, Jun. and Company. Wm S. Orr and Co. London. Fraser and Co. Edinburgh, 1844. TOGETHER WITH: Tom Burke Of "Ours." By Charles Lever. (Harry Lorrequer.) With numerous illustrations on steel, By H.K. Browne. In two volumes. Vol.II. Dublin, William Curry, Jun. and Company. Wm. S. Orr and Co. London. Fraser and Co. Edinburgh, 1844. 2 Vols., demy 8vo; half-title lacking in volume one, none called for in volume two; fly-title present before Prefatory Epistle in volume one; frontispiece and twenty-three plates in volume one, frontispiece and nineteen plates in volume two; pp.[iii] - xii+372; [viii]+294; contemporary green half-calf, marbled sides, tooled blind on sides, ruled, tooled, and lettered gilt on spine; edges burnished brown; end-papers faced light brown. Marbling of sides a little rubbed and dusty; leather peeling a little, and with somewhat crude repairs to head of spines; plates with marginal foxing, but otherwise a nice copy internally.
GB £45.00
US $70.20
Bound from the parts. An attempt, like that made by Dickens with ‘Master Humphrey's Clock', to link together a series of novels - the first, not here present, being ‘Jack Hinton, the Guardsman'. It seems to have been dropped after the issue of the parts, and volumes were made up with only the separate title-pages used for the second volume here. The rather clumsy system of double numbering in the general title-page of the first volume of the present copy may suggest some element of schizophrenia concerning it even from the start. Sadleir, 1415 and Wolff, 4098 and 4098a, all listing copies of the later issue in cloth. According to Sadleir, separate title leaves for all three volumes were issued at the end of volume three (i.e., ‘Tom Burke', Vol.II), and the title to volume one here present was presumably only issued with the parts.
Ref: CRT818746
Twentieth Century Prose Literature.
COOKE (P.J.). A handbook Of the Drama Its philosophy and teaching. By P.J. Cooke, Lecturer in Elocution and the Drama to the Battersea Polytechnic; the London College of Music, Science and Art; Highbury Institute, &c., &c. With a chapter On the Law of Copyright in its relation to Dramatic Works By Edmond Browne, Barrister-at-Law of the Middle Temple. The Roxburghe Press, 3, Victoria Street, Westminster, N.D. [1895]. Half-title not called for; photogravure portrait frontispiece on art paper, with tissue guard; title-page printed in green; pp.[viii]+160; publisher's 34pp. publisher's inserted catalogue at end, dated 1895; light red art buckram, lettered and pictorially blocked gilt on front cover, lettered gilt on spine; a.e. uncut; end-papers faced black. Slight marking to covers; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £20.00
US $31.20
Dedicated to Sir Henry Irving. An "endeavour to put forth certain facts which the author believes will be of advantage and utility to the embryo dramatic author, critic and playgoer" - author's Preface. The first issue, later copies being in green cloth and without the cover illustration: the later standard binding of the Roxburghe Press.
Ref: NRT818747
Nineteenth Century General Fiction.
[CUNNINGHAM (Sir Henry Stewart, K.C.I.E.).]. Chronicles of Dustypore: A tale of Modern Anglo-Indian Society By the author of ‘Wheat and Tares' ‘Late Laurels', Etc. In two volumes. London, Smith, Elder, & Co., 15 Waterloo Place, 1875. Blank before half-title in each volume; pp.[2]+vi+304; [2]+vi+292; diagonally fine ribbed bright green cloth, ruled blind on back cover, ruled, blocked, and lettered black on front cover, ruled, blocked, and lettered gilt, lettered bright green through gilt, on spine; bright green silk marker in each volume; top- and fore- edges uncut, lower-edges rough trimmed; end-papers coated cream. End-papers renewed at an early date with white paper; a little very light dusting passim; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £240.00
US $374.40
‘A panorama of Anglo-Indian life in the hill-stations, and one of the best novels of its kind in the period.' - John Sutherland. This title not in Sadleir; Wolff, 1684, recording only a rebound copy. Wolff collected Cunningham assiduously, describing him generally as "an entertaining novelist". This title he describes as "A classic of Anglo-Indian fiction."
Ref: CRT800959
Nineteenth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction.
GRIFFITH (George [i.e. G.C. Griffith-Jones]). The Virgin Of the Sun. A tale of the conquest Of Peru. By George Griffith, Author of The Angel of the Revolution," [sic] "Valdar the Oft-Born," "Men who have Made the Empire," &c., &c. London, C. Arthur Pearson Limited, Henrietta Street, W.C., 1898. Frontispiece by Stanley L. Wood; imprint leaf at end; pp.[xii]+306+[ii]; dark green buckram lettered tan, blocked tan and red on front cover, lettered and with short rule tan on spine. Slight wear to cloth at head and tail of spine; poor quality paper very slightly embrowned at margins; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £75.00
US $117.00
The second binding. Wolff, 2800, and Locke, ‘Spectrum', p.98, neither recording this issue, which is scarce. The inverted commas before ‘The Angel' appear to be lacking on all copies.
Ref: ERT803988
Nineteenth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction.
DRUERY (Chas. T., F.L.S.). The new Gulliver Or Travels in Athomia. Inspired by and Dedicated to Chronanthropos sophilio. The Roxburghe Press, Limited, Fifteen, Victoria Street, Westminster, N.D. [1897]. Frontispiece and fifteen plates by T.P. Collings after designs by the author; title-page printed in dark green; buff art linen, ruled black and red on sides and spine, blocked black, lettered red, red outlined black, and buff-hatched red, on front cover, blocked with publisher's device in red, lettered black, on spine; a.e. uncut; end-papers faced dark red-chocolate. Half-title lightly foxed, and a very little light foxing passim; otherwise a fine copy.
GB £55.00
US $85.80
The elaborate binding design on this copy is signed by Collings. Locke's ‘Spectrum', p.72 noting that the book is seen in a variety of bindings.
Ref: ERT803957
Nineteenth Century Prose Literature.
LE GALLIENNE (Richard). The book-bills Of Narcissus an Account rendered by Richard Le Gallienne. Published by Frank Murray Derby, Leicester and Nottingham and Sold by Simpkin Marshall Hamilton Kent & Co. Ltd. London, 1892. Cr.8vo; Imprint leaf at end, blank on verso; pp.[viii]+142+[ii]; bevelled maroon art-linen, lettered, with short rule, gilt, within gilt-ruled boxes, on spine; t.e.g., fore-edges uncut, lower-edges rough-trimmed. One lower-edge snagged with creasing to blank margin (an original trimming fault); otherwise a virtually fine copy of a handsome book.
GB £20.00
US $31.20
Second Edition, so denominated on the half-title, preceded by a limited edition, divided into several issues, consisting of about 385 copies in total. The present represents the ordinary issue of the first trade edition, and the first in cr.8vo. It is more often seen in an otherwise similar blue cloth, but there is no established precedence between the two. There was also a 4to issue on large paper limited to twenty-five copies. This second edition, with its 142pp. of text, may have been extended, since the original edition, in a smaller format (f'cap 8vo for the small-paper copies), contained only 86pp. of text (plus 12pp of prelims. as against the 8pp here).
Ref: IRT818739
Nineteenth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction.
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 $101.40
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
Twentieth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction.
CABELL (James Branch). Domnei: A comedy of woman-worship By James Branch Cabell With an introduction by Joseph Hergesheimer. John Lane The Bodley Head Limited, London, 1927. Wood-engraved frontispiece by Frank C. Pape; 4pp. integral advertisements at end; pp.[2]+viii+218+[iv]; bright deep sky-blue rough buckram blocked and lettered black on front cover and spine; t.e. yellow. Slight, barely noticeable, foxing to fore-edges; otherwise a brilliantly fine copy in a very slightly frayed dustwrapper, with an additional illustration by Pape, just a trifle darkened on the spine.
GB £72.00
US $112.32
The first English, and possibly first illustrated, edition of a book originally published in America in September, 1913 as ‘The Soul of Melicent', and republished there in 1920 in an extended form, including suppressed passages from the author's manuscript, and the addition of Hergesheimer's Preface: apparently to capitalise on the success of ‘Jurgen'. The early American editions were not illustrated. Includes a four-page Bibliography of Cabell's source material.
Ref: MRT818750
Twentieth Century Prose Literature.
KIPLING (Rudyard). A diversity Of creatures. Macmillan and Co., Limited, St. Martin's Street, London, 1917. Extra cr.8vo; title-page printed in scarlet and black; blank, followed by 4pp. integral advertisements at end; pp.viii+[442]+[ii]+4; dark red fine-linen-effect cloth, blocked and embossed with medallion gilt on front cover, lettered gilt on spine; t.e.g. Slight fraying to cloth at head of spine; otherwise a nice copy, fine internally.
GB £10.00
US $15.60
The first binding.
Ref: JRT818740
Nineteenth Century Detective Fiction.
STEVENSON (R.L.) and OSBOURNE (Lloyd). The Wrong box. By Robert Louis Stevenson Author of ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' etc. And Lloyd Osbourne. London, Longmans, Green, and Co., 1889. Half-title not called for; 16pp. publisher's catalogue at end dated January, 1889; scarlet smooth cloth, lettered black on front cover, gilt on spine; white end-papers printed with ship and swan design in light brown; lower-edges rough-trimmed, others uncut. Small bookplate on both paste-downs; some scattered barely visible foxing; otherwise a virtually fine, tight, copy. Scarce thus.
GB £65.00
US $101.40
McKay 498. The first printing, with the word Contents printed in large type above a decorative rule, and with the earliest date of the catalogue. Prideaux, I, 29; Beinecke, 501 (listing only a copy with the catalogue dated ‘8/89'); Princeton, 42, copy 1; Glover/Greene 422; Hubin, p.390.
Ref: DRT803817
Nineteenth Century Detective Fiction.
ALEMAN (Mateo). The Amusing Adventures Of Guzman of Alfaraque. A Spanish Novel By Mateo Aleman. Translated by Edward Lowdell. Illustrated with engravings on steel from designs by Staal. London: Vizetelly & Co., 42 Catherine Street, Strand, 1883. Extra cr.8vo; fine engraved frontispiece and two plates drawn and engraved by G. Staal, all with red captions and tissue guards and on thick paper; wood-engraved head- and tail- pieces and initial letters to the chapters throughout; integral advertisement leaf at end; pp.[2]+viii+478+[ii]; diagonally very-fine-ribbed brown cloth, ruled and blocked blind on sides and spine, pictorially blocked and lettered gilt on front cover, lettered gilt on spine; t.e. uncut, others mainly trimmed; end-papers faced greenish black. Insignificant wear to cloth at head of front joint; half-title and advertisement leaf foxed by contact with the end-papers; first tissue a little foxed; back end-paper cracked; otherwise a fine copy of a very handsome book.
GB £30.00
US $46.80
The first printing of this translation of a book originally published in Spanish between 1599 and 1602, and first translated into English by Thomas Mabbe in 1622 (as ‘The Rogue'). Several editions appeared thereafter including a one by Brady in 1821. The present translator "has sought to divest the work of the tedious and to modern notion misplaced disquisitions on morality and religion with which the author, in accordance with the spirit and custom of his time, has interlarded and overloaded his subject" - translator's Preface.
Ref: DRT818741
Twentieth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction.
HAGGARD (H. Rider). Wisdom's daughter: The life and love story of She-who-must-be-obeyed. London. Hutchinson & Co., Paternoster Row, N.D. [1923]. Sm.cr.8vo; publisher's inserted 40pp. catalogue dated Autumn, 1923, at end; pp.288; scarlet fine-linen-grain cloth, ruled blind, lettered black on front cover, ruled and lettered black on spine; lower-edges uncut. Cloth of spine very slightly darkened; one leaf with over-large folded lower fore-corner due to an original trimming fault; half-title and title very slightly foxed, and edges of first and last couple of gatherings almost imperceptibly so; nonetheless a crisp and virtually fine copy.
GB £85.00
US $132.60
The last of the four ‘She' books. Wolff, 2892; Scott, 78: 11,000 copies were printed. The volume is also known with a catalogue dated Spring 1923, and without a catalogue.
Ref: MRT818743
Twentieth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction.
WRIGHT (S. Fowler). The witchfinder. Books of Today Limited, 44 Great Russell Street, London, W.C.1, [on imprint leaf:] 1945. Sm.f'cap 16mo; blank befgore half-title; printer's imprint leaf at end, blank on verso; pp.218+[ii]; pinkish-red rough buckram, lettered with short rule black on spine. Fine copy in very slightly frayed dust-wrapper. A scarce title.
GB £40.00
US $62.40
Collects ten stories, most with crime and mystery themes, but several, including the title story, with fantastic content. "The Temperature of Gehenna Sue" and "Original Sin" were reprinted in THE THRONE OF SATURN (Arkham House, 1949). Bleiler, (1948), p.291; Bleiler, (1978), p.213; Currey, p.561; Locke, ‘Spectrum' III, p.87; Hubin (1994), p.881; .
Ref: MRT818744
Nineteenth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction.
HAGGARD (H. Rider) and LANG (Andrew). The world's desire. By H. Rider Haggard And Andrew Lang. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1890. (All rights reserved.) Leaf bearing Palinode, and imprint leaf, both blank on verso, followed by publisher's inserted 24pp. Catalogue, coded 10,000/10/90, at end; dark sage green bevelled smooth cloth, lettered gilt on front cover, lettered, and with short rule, gilt, on spine; t.e. uncut, others mainly trimmed; end-papers coated black. Barely perceptible fading to cloth of spine and adjacent edge of back cover; some light scattered foxing; otherwise a virtually fine copy.
GB £72.00
US $112.32
The earliest issue, copies also being known with advertisements dated 12/90, 2/92, and 10/92, and without a catalogue. Published 5 November 1890 in an edition of 10,000 copies. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction, 746; Schlobin, The Literature of Fantasy, 467; Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature V, pp.2176-79; Tymn (ed), Fantasy Literature, pp.93-4; Bleiler, (1948), p.138; Bleiler, (1978), p.90; Reginald 06582; Wolff, 2895; Whatmore, F13; Sadleir, 1095, listing a copy in navy blue cloth; Scott, 16, calling for green cloth.
Ref: ERT804000
Twentieth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction.
HAGGARD (H. Rider). Queen of the Dawn: A Love Tale of Old Egypt. London: Hutchinson & Co., Paternoster Row, N.D. [1925]. Sm.cr.8vo; blank before half-title; iron grey fine linen grain cloth, ruled blind, lettered, and ruled and blocked black, on blind pressed panels on front cover, ruled and lettered black on spine; lower-edges mainly trimmed. A bright, virtually fine, copy.
GB £55.00
US $85.80
Second issue, earlier copies having an inserted publisher's catalogue dated ‘Spring 1925', whilst later copies are without a catalogue. This title not in Sadleir; Wolff, 2878; Bleiler, (1948), p.137; Bleiler (1978), p.90; Reginald 06560; Whatmore, F54; Scott, 80: 10,000 copies printed. The first English edition, published 21 April 1925, nearly a month after the U.S. edition.
Ref: MRT816644
Twentieth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction.
LEE (Vernon [i.e., Violet Paget]). For Maurice Five Unlikely stories. John Lane: The Bodley Head Limited, London, Vigo Street, W.1., 1927. 4pp. integral advertisements at end; pp.li+[i (blank)]+223+[i (blank)]+4; vertically fine-ribbed bright green cloth, ruled blind, blocked gilt, on front cover, ruled and lettered gilt on spine; t.e. dull green, others uncut. Faint damp-spot on back cover; very slight string-marking to edges of covers; otherwise a very nice, bright copy.
GB £110.00
US $171.60
The author's third and last collection of weird fiction, this one dedicated to Maurice Baring. It includes five stories written between 1881 and 1913 and here first collected, ‘Tanhuser and the Gods', ‘Marsyas in Flanders', ‘The Virgin of the Seven Daggers',‘Winthrop's Adventure', and ‘The Doll', as well as a long, interesting introduction on the sources for the stories. Lee's weird fiction earned the praise of Montague Summers who equated her talent to that of M.R. James. "Lee's stories are really in a category by themselves. Intelligent, amusingly ironic, imaginative, original, they deserve more than the passing attention that they have attracted." - Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, pp.256-57. Ashley, Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction, p.114; Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction, 991; Wilson, Shadows in the Attic, p.326; Bleiler, (1948), p.177; Bleiler (1978), p.121; Reginald 08777; NCBEL: III, 1445.
Ref: MRT818745
Nineteenth Century Prose Literature.
TWAIN (Mark). The Innocents abroad, Or The new Pilgrims' Progress; Being some account of the steamship Quaker City's pleasure Excursion to Europe and the Holy Land; with Descriptions of countries, nations, Incidents and adventures, As they appeared To the Author. With two hundred and thirty-four illustrations. By Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens.) (Issued by subscription only, and not for sale in book-stores. Residents of any state desiring A copy should address the publishers, and an agent will call uponm them.) Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company. Bliss & Co., Newark, N.J.; R.W. Bliss & Co., Toledo, Ohio. F.G. Gilman & Co., Chicago, Ill.; Nettleton & Co., Cincinnati, Ohio. F.A. Hutchinson & Co., St. Louis, Mo. H.H. Bancroft and Company, San Francisco, Cal., 1869. Extra demy 8vo; half-title not called for; two wood-engraved frontispieces, with tissue guard, precede title-page; fourteen inserted wood-engraved plates; 5pp. integral publisher's advertisements at end; slightly bevelled brown sand-grain cloth, blocked blind on sides, the back cover embossed with publisher's monogram blind, the front cover blocked pictorially gilt, lettered gilt, gilt-shadowed gilt, and blind through gilt, the spine ruled, blocked, and lettered gilt, lettered blind-through gilt; t.e. brown, others sprinkled brown; end-papers faced brown; three binder's blanks at front, one at back. Some wear to cloth on edges of boards; gilt decoration at extreme head and tail of spine a trifle rubbed; small upper corner of front binder's blanks lightly creased; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £120.00
US $187.20
The third issue (of three): with the page references present in the table of Contents on pp.xvii and xviii (this leaf, however, apparently a cancel: a variant not noted by Blanck; it is slightly short and has a deckled lower-edge for which there is no match elsewhere in the gathering), whilst the last entry on p.xviii has the word ‘Conclusion'; p.129 has the portrait of Napoleon III, absent in the first issue; p.[643] has the correct chapter heading ‘LXI' instead of ‘XLI' as in the first issue; and the advertisement on p.[654] has the heading ‘Illustrated History...' instead of ‘Personal History...' as in the first two issues. Given the cancel, it seems possible that these are variant states rather than issues, and that corrections were made during the course of a single print run. A minor binding variant, Blank only describing copies in an otherwise similar black cloth, with the top-edges sprinkled brown instead of being stained brown as here, and with three binder's blanks at the back as well as at the front. Blanck, 3316
Ref: IRT818727
Twentieth Century Prose Literature.
DICKENS (Charles). Trial Of John Jasper For the Murder Of Edwin Drood In aid of Samaritan Children's Homeopathic, St. Agnes and Mt. Sinai Hospitals April 29, 1914. Academy of Music, Philadelphia, U.S.A. Published for the Philadelphia Branch Dickens Fellowship, John M. Patterson, President and Editor, N.D. [c.1916]. Med.8vo; blank and wood-engraved portrait frontispiece signed C O Facker, with tissue guard, precede half-title; limitation notice on verso of half-title, signed and numbered in red; fourteen half-tone plates with tissue guards, and three large folding half-tone plates; vignette tailpiece in line; pp.152; navy blue fine-bead-grain cloth, cream paper spine-label printed in red; t.e.g., others uncut; spare label loosely laid-in at end of text. An exceptionally fine copy in the original unprinted buff paper dust-wrapper, this somewhat dusty and insignificantly frayed at edges.
GB £55.00
US $85.80
One of a total edition limited to five hundred copies, numbered and signed by the Editor. Dated from the obituary list which follows the List of Illustrations, the latest entry of which is April 24th 1916. A sumptuously produced record of what seems to have been a very professionally produced piece of private theate performed in the splendid hall of the Philadelphia Academy of Music.
Ref: JRT818728
Nineteenth Century General Fiction.
[SMEDLEY (Frank E.).]. Frank Fairlegh; Or, Scenes from the Life Of A private pupil. With thirty illustrations on steel, By George Cruikshank. London: A. Hall, Virtue, & Co., 25 Paternoster Row, 1850. Demy 8vo; frontispiece, engraved and letterpress titles, and twenty-eight plates; half-title not called for; bound up without the integral advertisement leaf printed conjugate with the letterpress title-page as the last leaf of the prelims. in the parts issue; contemporary dark red half-sheep, ruled gilt on sides, spine with five raised bands lettered and elaborately tooled gilt in compartments, matching marbled sides, edges, and end-papers; black, white, and red head- and tail- bands. Marbling of boards a little faded; front end-paper scuffed at gutter by removal of tipped-on leaf; some plates slightly spotted, with offsetting onto facing leaf, and some with light marginal foxing; in general however a very nice copy.
GB £85.00
US $132.60
The correct first issue, dated "LONDON, Feb., 1850" at end of Preface. Smedley's first book. Printed in Glasgow. Cohn, 754; Wolff, 6403. Sadleir, 3094, recording a copy in the parts. The present copy, like his, has p.33 erroneously signed F rather than D. Originally published as a series of serials in ‘Sharpe's London Magazine', the first series, under the present title but containing only chapters I - XII of the book as here published appearing in 1846; the second, under the title ‘Frank Fairlegh; or, Old Companions in New Scenes' running from January to April, and then from June to October, 1847, (each with an address to the reader not subsequently re-printed) and taking the story up to chapter XLIII, with a promise of a further continuation... Sadleir's ‘Parts' issue appeared between January 1849 and March 1850, this issue in volume form possibly preceding the final Part.
Ref: CRT802890
Literary Periodicals.
LITERARY PERIODICAL. ONCE A WEEK: An Illustrated Miscellany Of Literature, Popular science, and Art. New series. Vol. IV. July - Dec., 1867. London: Bradbury, Evans, & Co., 1867. Double Roy.16mo; wood-engraved frontispiece, four plates, and numerous illustrations in the text (some full-page); illustrated title-page printed in grey and scarlet; pp.[vi+776; contemporary puce straight-morocco cloth, ruled, blocked, and lettered gilt on spine; a.e. marbled; end-papers faced light brown. Very sllight wear to cloth at edges of spine; otherwise a fine copy.
GB £35.00
US $54.60
Literary contributors include prose by [James Payn], ‘Carlyon's Year' (a complete novel: Wolff, 5437), I.D. Fenton, S. Baring Gould, Dutton Cook, John Timbs, etc.; poems by George Sheil, Alfred Norris, Julia Goddard, etc. The plates are by S.L. Fildes, C. Keene, H.S. Marks, W. Small, and E.M. Wimperis, and F.A. Fraser; the other illustrations by Georgina Bowers, B. Bradley, E.F. Brewtnall, F. Eltze, A.T. Elwes, S.L. Fildes, F.A. Fraser, T. Green, Edward Hughes, F.W. Lawson, J. Mahony, G.J. Pinwell, R.T. Pritchett, E. Sheil, L. Straszinski, T. Sulman, and H.R. Wadmore
Ref: FRT818732
Nineteenth Century Poetry & Drama.
BETHUNE (Geo. W.). Lays Of Love and faith. With Other fugitive poems. Philadelphia: Lindsay and Blakiston, N.D. [1847]. Demy 8vo format, signed and gathered in sixes; three binder's blanks at front and back; half-title not called for; 8pp. integral advertisements at end; bright green fine diaper cloth, elaborately pressed out with blind embossing, and blocked bright and matt gilt, on sides, lettered and elaborately blocked gilt on spine; a.e.g.; end-papers coated yellow. Pp.47/8 torn out; otherwise a virtually fine copy of a very striking book.
GB £18.00
US $28.08
The second edition of 1848 was dated on the title-page, and in brown cloth. This undated edition is apparently the first.
Ref: HRT818734
Twentieth Century Prose Literature.
MASEFIELD (John). Jim Davis. By John Masefield, Author of "Captain Margaret," "Martin Hyde," etc., etc. London: Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., Ltd., 3 and 4, Paternoster Buildings, E.C., And 44, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W., 1911. Integral advertisement leaf at end; pp.[viii]+242+[ii]; light mid-green smooth cloth, ruled blind on sides and spine, blocked with publisher's monogram blind on back cover, lettered with short rule, gilt, on front cover, lettered gilt on spine; t.e.g. Some light foxing or staining to first few leaves; otherwise a nice copy. A difficult title in any condition.
GB £22.50
US $35.10
First issue, the top-edges gilt and the front cover lettering and rule in gilt rather than blind as in the second issue: Fabes, p.45. Handley-Taylor, p.31: published October 4th, 1911, the total printing comprising 2,000 copies.
Ref: JRT818729
Nineteenth Century Detective Fiction.
CLOUSTON (J. Storer). The Lunatic at Large. A Novel By J. Storer Clouston. William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London, 1899. All Rights reserved. Final page blank; pp.[iv]+319+[i]; publisher's 32pp. inserted Catalogue dated 3/99 at end, on text-paper; cream and pale brown faintly cross-streaked fine linen, pictorially blocked and lettered black on front cover, lettered black on spine; a.e. uncut. Neat restoration to cloth at head of spine, and very slight wear to tail; cloth a spine a trifle darkened; inscription removed from front end-paper, leaving the date 1899 and a small scuff; scattered foxing, occasionally quite heavy; otherwise, and in general effect, a nice copy, the front cover in particular very crisp and fresh.
GB £45.00
US $70.20
The author's first book, and a very amusing novel with slight detective and criminous elements in its structure, but not in essence a crime novel. Hubin, p.86
Ref: DRT818714
Nineteenth Century Prose Literature.
SYMONDS (John Addington). The memoirs of Count Carlo Gozzi Translated into English By John Addington Symonds. With Essays on Italian Impromptu Comedy, Gozzi's Life, The Dramatic Fables, and Pietro Longhi By the Translator. With portrait and six original etchings By Adolphe Lalauze. Also eleven subjects illustrating italian comedy by Maurice Sand Engraved on copper by A. Manceau, and coloured by hand. In two volumes. Volume the first [second]. London, John C. Nimmo, 14, King William Street, Strand, 1890. 2 Vols., Roy.8vo; etched frontispiece, one other etching, and seven copper-engravings in volume one, five etchings, and four copper-engravings in volume two, all with tissue or captioned thin-paper guards, the etchings present in two states (v. note), the copper-engravings all hand-coloured; quarter cerise smooth cloth, deep apple-green smooth cloth sides, blocked on front cover with the Gozzi arms in gold, silver, brown, and black, and embossed deep apple-green through gold; paper spine-label printed in red and black; a.e. uncut; end-papers and two binder's blanks at front and back sewn in; very slight wear to extremities of spines, labels a trifle dusty and insignificantly chipped at some edges just touching the ruled borders; otherwise a very nice copy.
GB £150.00
US $234.00
One of an edition limited to 210 copies printed on large and thick paper, with the etchings in two states, one a proof printed on India-paper and laid on, and with the copper-plates hand-coloured. The first appearance in English of memoirs published in Italian in Venice in 1797. Of interest both in respect of the history of Venice during the eighteenth century, and for students of the Commedia dell' Arte.
Ref: IRT818715
Nineteenth Century Detective Fiction.
CUSHING (Paul [i.e., Richard (or Roland) Alexander Wood-Seys]). The Great Chin episode. By Paul Cushing, Author of "A Woman with a Secret" "The Blacksmith of Voe", "Cut with his own Diamond", Etc. London, Adam and Charles Black, 1893. Integral advertisement leaf at end; pp.[vi]+256+[ii]; bright blue horizontal straight grain crushed morocco cloth, ruled black, lettered gilt, on front cover and spine; t.e. uncut. Slight dulling to cloth of spine; two or three leaves opened a trifle roughly, and a little scattered foxing, significant only on two gatherings; otherwise a very nice copy.
GB £75.00
US $117.00
A murder mystery set in an English market town. Not in Hubin or Sadleir; this title not in Wolff.
Ref: DRT818716
Nineteenth Century General Fiction.
[In Russian characters:] POTAPENKO (I[gnatii].N[ikolaevich].). [In English:] A Russian Priest. London, T. Fisher Unwin, Paternoster Square, 1891. Narrow f'cap 8vo; blank before half-title; leaf blank but for printer's imprint on recto at end; pp.261+[i (printer's imprint)]+[ix]+[i]; glazed natural fine linen, ruled black on sides and spine, blocked with publisher's monogram device black on back cover, lettered black on front cover and up spine; t.e.g., others uncut. Insignificant rub-hole in cloth of front joint; otherwise a virtually fine copy.
GB £65.00
US $101.40
Issued as volume 7 in ‘The Pseudonym Library' in cloth, as here, at 2/-, or in paper wrappers at 1/6. The advertisements on the verso of the half-title list the series to this volume. The translation is by W. Gaussen. The first edition in English.
Ref: CRT818718
Nineteenth Century General Fiction.
[In Russian characters:] POTAPENKO (I[gnatii].N[ikolaevich].). [In English:] The General's Daughter By the author of "A Russian Priest". London, T. Fisher Unwin, Paternoster Square, 1892. Narrow f'cap 8vo; 9pp. integral advertisements (final page blank) at end; pp.261+[i (printer's imprint)]+[ix]+[i]; yellow self-wrappers French folded over white paper sides, printed outside in black, the back wrapper bearing the publisher's device; a.e. uncut. Slight fading to paper of spine and wrappers just a trifle dusty; name of original owner neatly written in ink on upper margin of front wrapper; otherwise a virtually fine copy.
GB £75.00
US $117.00
Issued as volume 17 in ‘The Pseudonym Library' in cloth, at 2/-, or in paper wrappers, as here, at 1/6. The advertisements on the verso of the half-title list the series to this volume. The translation is by W. Gaussen, B.A. The first edition in English.
Ref: CRT818717
Nineteenth Century General Fiction.
FRAPAN (Ilse). Heavy Laden And Old-Fashioned Folk. Translated by Helen A. Macdonnell. London, T. Fisher Unwin, Paternoster Square, 1892. Narrow f'cap 8vo; 4pp. integral advertisements at end; pp.216+[iv]; yellow self-wrappers French folded over white paper sides, printed outside in black, the back wrapper bearing the publisher's device; a.e. uncut. Slight fading to paper of spine and wrappers just a trifle dusty; name of original owner neatly written in ink on upper margin of front wrapper; otherwise a fine copy.
GB £75.00
US $117.00
The probable first state of the wrappers in which the spine lettering has been set for a wider volume, so that it runs by up to three letters onto the back wrapper. Issued as volume 14 in ‘The Pseudonym Library' in cloth, at 2/-, or in paper wrappers, as here, at 1/6. The advertisements on the verso of the half-title list the series to this volume. Includes a Preface by the translator. The first edition in English.
Ref: CRT818719
Twentieth Century Prose Literature.
MORRIS (Clara). A silent singer. By Clara Morris, Author of "Life on the Stage" "A pasteboard Crown" etc. London, Isbister and Company, 15 & 16 Tavistock Street Covent Garden, 1904. Sm.cr.8vo; blank before half-title; pp.[xii]+308; lime green buckram blocked with an art nouveau design pale green, and lettered gilt, on front cover and spine. A very little scattered light foxing; otherwise a fine copy.
GB £12.00
US $18.72
Short Stories. First English edition of a title published in America in 1899.
Ref: JRT818678
Twentieth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction.
HARVEY (William Fryer). The beast With five fingers And other tales. 1928, London: J.M. Dent and Sons Ltd. New York :: E.P. Dutton & Co. Blank before half-title; imprint leaf at end, blank on verso; pp.[2]+[viii]+228+[ii]; bronze and green mottled fine-linen-textured rough cloth, ruled blind, blocked and lettered with publisher's thistle device, blind, on front cover, lettered and blocked gilt on spine; t.e. light brown sprinkled with dark green. Cloth of spine slightly dulled, and gilt very slightly oxydised; recto of front blank, and imprint leaf, lightly foxed; a little barely perceptible foxing to edges; otherwise a fine copy.
GB £420.00
US $655.20
Harvey's scarcest collection of wierd tales, preceded by ‘Midnight House' published some eighteen years earlier. Besides the celebrated title story, this collection includes ‘Six to Six-Thirty', ‘Blinds', ‘Miss Cornelius', ‘The Heart of the Fire', ‘Peter Levisham', ‘The Clock', ‘Ghosts and Jossers', ‘The Sleeping Major', ‘The Ankardyne Pew', ‘The Tool', ‘The Devil's Bridge', ‘Two and a Third', and ‘Miss Avenal'. "Good Stories" - Bleiler, ‘Guide to Supernatural Fiction', 767; Ashley, ‘Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction', pp.88-9; Sullivan [ed.], ‘The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural', pp.193-4; Bleiler [1948], p.143; Bleiler, [1978], p.95; Reginald, 06885; not in Locke's ‘Spectra'.
Ref: MRT818749
Antiquarian General Literature.
WALLER (Edmund). The Works Of Edmund Waller Esqr. In verse and prose Published by Mr. Fenton. London, Printed for I. Tonson in ye Strand, 1729. Roy.4to; portrait frontispiece after G. Kneller, engraved title-page, and portrait from a bust of the dedicatee, Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley, by M. Rysbrake, precede dedication, two other engraved plates, thirteen fine engraved head-pieces, tailpieces, and large historiated initial letters in the text, all, where signed, engraved by G. Vertue; pp.[xvi (not paginated, and excluding the engraved title-leaf)]+450+xci+[i (seven entry Errata)]; A, a, B - I, K - U, X - Z, Aa - Ii, Kk - Uu, Xx - Zz, Aaa - Lll4, [Mmm]1, Nnn - Uuu, Xxx - Zzz4, Aaaa2; contemporary full calf ruled gilt on sides, spine with five raised bands, elaborately tooled gilt in compartments, red lettering-piece; brown burnished edges. Front joint cracked, but holding on the cords, back board detached; eighteenth century ownership inscription on upper margin of dedication; a little very light dusting and spotting, more or less confined to Contents leaves; two (sometimes three) small single worm-holes running through blank inner margins of much of the volume, more evident on gatherings Cc - Gg where they coalesce with others into a single hole; generally, however, a very nice copy, though in need of re-jointing.
GB £85.00
US $132.60
First collective edition, including the terminal essay, ‘Observations on Some of Mr. Waller's Poems,' here first printed. WITHER TO PRIOR III, 941: "This edition, while it is the first edited, is also the most sumptuous ever published...Waller's letters are added for the first time, and the various prefaces to the earlier editions are reprinted. Finally, the information given in the notes is so full and accurate that little has been left to the research or correction of later editors".
Ref: ART818228
Twentieth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction.
DUNSANY (Lord). The Chronicles of Rodriguez. By Lord Dunsany. With a Frontispiece in Photogravure By S.H Sime. G.P. Putnam's Sons, London & New York, February 1922. Double cr.8vo; limitation leaf precedes half-title; fine photogravure frontispiece with tissue guard printed with caption in red; final blank; pp.[xii, not paginated]+[322]+[ii]; French jointed quarter vellum, ruled gilt on sides and spine, spine dated gilt, and with tan leather lettering-piece lettered and blocked within ruled box, gilt, diagonally fine-ribbed tan cloth sides; end-papers marbled pale brown; two binder's blanks at front and back; t.e.g., fore-edges rough-trimmed, lower-edges uncut. Two unobtrusive scratches to surface of front end-paper; light foxing to prelims. and a few other leaves passim; otherwise a fine copy in a dust-wrapper minutely frayed at extreme top-edges.
GB £450.00
US $702.00
Signed by S.H. Sime on the frontispiece, and by Dunsany at the end of the Preface. One of an edition limited to 500 numbered copies, printed on Abbey Mills Greenfield hand-made paper. A beautiful book. Currey, p.168, somewhat oddly describing the vellum as ‘paper vellum'. Were there remaindered copies thus? The present copy is in genuine vellum of a very high quality indeed.
Ref: MRT818751
Literary Periodicals.
LITERARY PERIODICAL. WORLD REVIEW. New Series 31, September 1951. Super roy.8vo; pp.[80]. Light stain to back cover, last three leaves, and fore-edges of two more, otherwise a nice copy.
GB £12.00
US $18.72
Includes ‘Britain and Europe' by Harold Macmillan, ‘The Tragedy of Leopold' by B.H. Liddell Hart, ‘Language of Symbols' by Herbert Read, stories by Alberto Moravia and G. Petroni, work by Derek Stanford, etc.
Ref: FRT818752
Literary Periodicals.
LITERARY PERIODICAL. WORLD REVIEW. New Series 17, July 1950. Super roy.8vo; pp.[76]. Nice copy.
GB £12.00
US $18.72
Includes ‘Love of Living' by Albert Camus, ‘Letters to Clifford Tolchard' by John Cowper Powys, ‘Images of Home' by Stephen Spender, ‘Resurrections' by André Matraux, ‘The Robot Picodiribibi' by Henry Miller, work by Herbert Read, P.L. Travers, etc.
Ref: FRT818753
Literary Periodicals.
LITERARY PERIODICAL. WORLD REVIEW. New Series 47, January 1953. Super roy.8vo; pp.[72]. Nice copy.
GB £12.00
US $18.72
Includes ‘Beside the point' by Rohan Butler, ‘Charles Rennie Mackintosh' by Toni del Renzio, ‘The Movement in Europe - Van de Velde, Horta, and Guimard' by Henry F. Lenning, a story by Noel Blakiston, work by Stevie Smith, Alan Brownjohn, Patrick Dickinson, etc.
Ref: FRT818755
Literary Periodicals.
LITERARY PERIODICAL. WORLD REVIEW. New Series 46, December 1952. Super roy.8vo; pp.[72]. Fine copy.
GB £12.00
US $18.72
Includes ‘Beside the point' by Rohan Butler, ‘Mr. Eisenhower' by Wesley Thurston, ‘Lamp-Posts' by Christopher Hollis, M.P., ‘American Poets since the War' by Donald Hall, work by Edmund Penning-Rowsell, C.H. Sisson, James Turner, Stevie Smith, James Kirkup, Philip Oakes, R.P. Lister, etc.
Ref: FRT818756
Literary Criticism, Academic Texts, etc.
WEDMORE (Frederick). Renunciations: A Chemist in the Suburbs - A Confidence at The Savile - The North Coast And Eleanor. London, Elkin Mathews, Vigo Street, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1895. Post 8vo; photogravure frontispiece after J.J. Shannon printed in sepia, with tissue guard; integral advertisement leaf, blank on verso, followed by publisher's inserted catalogue, 20pp., at end, dated 1895; pp.77+[i (blank)]; mottled light and dark pink glazed linen, lettered gilt on front cover and spine; a.e. uncut. Slight foxing to end-papers and barely visible damp-splash on front cover; slight fading to cloth of spine and top-edge of front cover; otherwise a very nice copy.
GB £12.00
US $18.72
Third edition, but the first with this imprint. The sixth book issued independently by Elkin Mathews after the split with John Lane. The Catalogue is the first he issued. Short stories.
Ref: NRT818757
Twentieth Century Fantasy & Science Fiction.
SWAIN (E[dmund].G[ill].). The Stoneground Ghost tales Compiled from the rocollections of The Reverend Roland Batchel, Vicar of the parish. By E.G. Swain. Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons Ltd., 1912. Pp.[viii (not paginated)]+187+[i (printer's imprint)]; bright light blue rough buckram, pictorially blocked black and grey, ruled and lettered black, on front cover, ruled and lettered black on spine. Light foxing to end-papers and edges; otherwise a fine, crisp, copy.
GB £480.00
US $748.80
A collection of nine ghost stories dedicated to Swain's friend M.R. James. "Swain's tales share many features with those of James, and draw on the friends' common interests and antiquarian studies. They are however rather milder in tone and regularly incorporate a playful hunour not often found in James' work. The tales relate the adventures of a fictionalised version of the author, Mr. Batchel... Although by today's standards, readers may find Swain's stories rather lacking in supernatural horrors, their subtle qualities become apparent on re-reading, and many find Mr. Batchel one of the most enduring creations of English ghost fiction." - Wilson, ‘Shadows in the Attic', p.468; Ashley, ‘Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction', p.170; Bleiler, ‘Guide to Supernatural Fiction, 1571; Locke, ‘Spectrum I', p.209; Sullivan (ed.), Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, p.419; Bleiler (1948), p.263; Bleiler (1978), p.190; Reginald, 13908.
Ref: MRT818758
Nineteenth Century General Fiction.
McCARTHY (Justin Huntly). The Thousand and One Days. Persian tales Edited by Justin Huntly McCarthy. In two volumes. With a frontispiece by Stanley L. Wood. London, Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly, 1892. 2 Vols.; heliogravure frontispiece from a pen and wash drawing, with tissue guard, in each volume; leaf bearing publisher's woodcut device on recto, blank on verso, at end of volume one; blank before half-title in volume two; pp.[xii]+281+[i (blank)]+[ii]; [viii]+288; publisher's half parchment, lettered and with ruled box, dark red, on spine, drab board sides; t.e. uncut, others mainly trimmed. Spines and edges of covers a little foxed and darkened; damp stain to blank top margin of one plate; small circular label on front cover of volume two bearing what may be either a shelf-mark of an old auctioneer's ticet; otherwise a very nice copy.
GB £90.00
US $140.40
Presentation copy with the author's signed holograph presentation inscription to poet and essayist Austin Dobson on the half-title of volume one. Dobson, as was often his habit, has pasted three slips from contemporary booksellers catalogues to the front pastedown in volume one, with pen annotations of date and origin. It appears from this that the book was published at 12s., but new copies were available in 1895 and 1896 at half-price or slightly less. The excellently reproduced frontispieces were printed in Paris by Lemercier. Not is Sadleir; this title not in Wolff.
Ref: CRT818735
Twentieth Century Prose Literature.
BENNETT (Arnold). The regent: A five towns story of Adventure in London. Methuen & Co. Ltd., 36 Essex Street W.C., London, 1913. Leaf blank but for signature mark ‘a' precedes half-title; publisher's inserted 8pp. list dated Spring 1913, followed by publisher's inserted 32pp. catalogue dated May 1913 bound in at end; dark green beaded linen grain cloth lettered gilt within gilt circular ornamental frame of leaves on front cover, blocked with pattern of leaves gilt, and lettered gilt within gilt ruled boxes, on spine, the lower box, containing the imprint, having small inward pointing excressences on the rules; fore-edges rough trimmed, lower-edges uncut. Prelims., edges, and final leaf of catalogue foxed; otherwise a very nice, bright, copy.
GB £25.00
US $39.00
Ref: JRT808253
Nineteenth Century Poetry & Drama.
[BYRON (George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord).]. English bards, And Scotch Reviewers. A satire. London: Printed for James Cawthorn, British Library, No.24, Cockspur Street, N.D. [1809 but see note]. Lge.12mo, printed in half-sheets; half-title, title, and Preface leaf, together one half gathering, precede start of text (the final gathering, F, being also of three leaves, and possibly printed conjugate); pp.vi+54; recent quarter brown cloth ruled and up-lettered gilt on spine, marbled sides. Signature ofearly owner on upper margin of title-page; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £55.00
US $85.80
A complete copy with the Preface leaf present, with the misprint ‘crouds' for ‘crowds' at line 159, the word ‘Author' correctly spelled on p.[v], and the ‘correct' mis-spelling ‘wizzard's' in line 47, and with 696 lines of text, all as in Randolph's first state of the first printing, but with the reading ‘Dispatch' at l.47 instead of ‘Despatch', and printed on paper watermarked ‘S & G Wise 1812': hence spurious. In this copy D2 is mis-signed C3. Randolph, p.14, superseding Wise.
Ref: HRT818736
Nineteenth Century General Fiction.
HARDY (Thomas). Jude The obscure. With an etching by H. Macbeth-Raeburn And a map of Wessex. All rights Reserved. [On verso:] James R. Osgood McIlvaine & Co., 45, Albemarle Street, London, 1896. Half/series title precedes frontispiece with tissue guard; leaf bearing caption faces frontispiece; map at end followed by blank; pp.[ii]+[2]+[iii]-[viii]+516+[ii]; vertically fine ribbed dark green cloth blocked and lettered gilt on spine, blocked and with monogram, gilt, on front cover; t.e.g., fore- and lower- edges uncut. Owner's name on front end-paper; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £85.00
US $132.60
The first state of text throughout, and the first issue binding: signatures A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H in this copy (all called for) being in Purdy's first state, with page numbers on the partially blank leaves; and in the first issue binding, with the Osgood, McIlvaine imprint at the foot of the spine instead of the Harper imprint present on later copies. (Harper & Brothers took over Osgood, McIlvaine in 1897). Issued upon first publication as Volume VIII of The Wessex Novels. Sadleir 1108, the variant described by him, but not included in his collection, with the final gathering consisting of four leaves; Wolff, 2979; Purdy, pp.86-91.
Ref: CRT801480
Nineteenth Century Poetry & Drama.
MORRIS (William). The Odyssey of Homer Done into English verse By William Morris Author of The Earthly Paradise. In two volumes. London: Reeves & Turner, 196 Strand, 1887. 2 Vols., lge.f'cap 4to; pp.[viii]+230+[ii (blank)]; [viii]+[231] - 450; quarter white paper in imitation of parchment, grey-blue paper sides, spine label printed in black; a.e. uncut; two binder's blanks at front and back, the outer pasted down beneath the end-papers; cream cartridge paper end-papers. Paper of spine chipped slightly at head and tail in volume one, cracked over joints, and paper covering of lower corners rather worn; label to volume two lacking, and paper of spine snagged a little where it ought to be and neatly relaid; corners sllightly worn; insignificant crease to one end-paper and one binder's blank; otherwise a nice copy, fine internally, and unopened almost throughout. Intended for rebinding by the purchaser, copies are scarce to-day in their original dress, particularly in anything approaching acceptable condition, as here.
GB £220.00
US $343.20
The ‘ordinary' hand-made paper edition, printed on paper watermarked SPALDING, and bearing on the spine label the price ‘12s', this being the price per volume. There was also an edition on large hand-made paper limited to fifty copies and issued in quarter vellum. In this copy p.336 is misnumbered 556, probably as always. Forman, 45; Ashley, III, pp.172-3, describing the similar fifty copy issue.
Ref: HRT818737
Nineteenth Century General Fiction.
HULLAH (Mary E.). Philippa. By Mary E. Hullah, Author of ‘The Lion Battalion,' etc. With a frontispiece by Gordon Browne. London: Hatchards, Piccadilly, N.D. [1886]. Wood-engraved frontispiece with tissue guard; leaf blank on recto, bearing publisher's advertisement on verso faces start of text; 4pp. integral advertisements at end; pp.[viii]+307+[i (blank)]+[4]; dark red smooth cloth, ruled gilt on spine, blocked gilt on front cover and spine; t.e. uncut; end-papers faced chocolate. Nice copy.
GB £30.00
US $46.80
Not in Sadleir; this title not in Wolff.
Ref: CRT818738
Nineteenth Century General Fiction.
KIPLING (Rudyard). ‘Captains Courageous': A story of the grand banks. With illustrations by I.W. Taber. London, Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1897 [i.e., Winter 1896]. All rights reserved. Frontispiece with tissue guard and numerous unbacked illustrations on text paper, all included in the pagination; final leaf integral advertisements; pp.viii (including frontispiece)+245+[i (blank)]+[ii]; royal blue buckram blocked and lettered gilt on front cover and spine; a.e.g.; end-papers faced black. Spine a trifle darkened; ownership signature dated ‘Nov. 1896' on half-title; scattered light foxing; otherwise a nice copy.
GB £20.00
US $31.20
Presumably one of the earliest copies sold. Livingston 137.
Ref: CRT801912
Nineteenth Century General Fiction.
DICKENS (Charles). The Life and adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby. By Charles Dickens. With illustrations by Phiz. London: Chapman and Hall, 186, Strand, 1839. Portrait frontispiece engraved by Finden after Maclise, and thirty nine etched plates by Phiz; pp.[iii]-xvi+624; contemporary half natural calf, puce bubble-grain cloth sides, spine with five raised bands, tooled gilt, dark brown label, sprinkled edges, end-papers faced green. Slight rubbing and peeling to calf; a couple of plates slightly chipped at margins, and most plates with some foxing and marginal embrowning; a few fore-margins very slightly frayed; otherwise, and in general, a nice copy.
GB £55.00
US $85.80
Bound up from the parts. Text with correct reading, ‘sister' at line 17 on p.123 (second state), but with the first state reading ‘latter' instead of ‘letter' at l.43 on p.160; first four plates in the earlier state, with publisher's imprint at foot; the plate to p.457 also in the earlier state, with the extended caption. Bound up without the half-title. Eckel, pp.64-6.
Ref: CRT801017
Twentieth Century Detective Fiction.
MARTINDALE (L.). Library edition. The Family Story-teller. The Down Park Mystery. By the Author of "A Miser's Heiress," "My Lady Kate," &c. London, William Stevens, Limited, 23 & 24, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, W.C., N.D. [September, 1908]. Demy 8vo; pp.[iv]+152; diagonally fine-ribbed dark green cloth, ruled and blocked black, blocked gilt, lettered black, gilt, and embossed dark green-through-black on front cover, uplettered gilt on spine (title only); text-paper end-papers. Virtually fine copy. Very scarce.
GB £55.00
US $85.80
Issued as No.207 of ‘The Family Story-Teller' series, in cloth as here, or in wrappers, sewed, at 6d. The front cover is lettered with the title, the series name, and the words "A New Novel". The name of the author does not appear either on the covers or the title-page, but is printed at the end of the text. We have never previously come across a Library issue of the Family Story-Teller, and certainly no example of the series in such large format. This is, however, a very late example, and it seems probable that the format may have changed. Earlier titles in the series were published likewise both in wrappers and in cloth, but without the designation ‘Library Edition' on the cloth issue, in a small cr.8vo format, and priced at 1s. and 1s. 6d. respectively. Not in Hubin, Wolff, or Sadleir.
Ref: KRT818721
Nineteenth Century General Fiction.
[SURTEES (R.S.).]. Handley Cross; Or, Mr. Jorrocks's hunt. By The author of "Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour," "Jorrocks's Jaunts," etc. etc. With illustrations by John Leech. London: Bradbury and Evans, 11, Bouverie Street, 1854. Demy 8vo; half-title not called for; wood-cut vignette on title; frontispiece and sixteen steel-engraved plates, all finely hand-coloured; eighty-four wood-engravings in text; contemporary half natural calf, marbled sides, the spine ruled blind but not lettered. Neat repair to calf at head of spine, boards darkened, library label cleanly removed from front cover leaving a lighter patch; scattered dusting and light fingering, more or less confined to fore-margins, and one or two spots or small stains; an excellent reading or working copy.
GB £25.00
US $39.00
Stab-holes show this copy to have been bound up from the parts. The best, and first illustrated, edition, of a book originally published in three volumes in 1843. Sadleir, 3162a, listing a copy in cloth. As in the Sadleir copy the plate listed to face p.1 has been utilised as frontispiece. Woolf, 6633a, records a copy, also in cloth, in which this plate was bound in to face p.1, the plate utilised as frontispiece being that listed to face p.532.
Ref: CRT818722
Nineteenth Century Poetry & Drama.
ANTHOLOGY. Minstrelsy Of the Scottish border: Consisting of Historical and romantic ballads, Collected In the southern counties of Scotland; with a few Of modern date, founded upon Local tradition. In two [two; three] volumes. Kelso: Printed by James Ballantyne, For T. Cadell jun. and W. Davies, Strand, London; And sold by Manners and Miller, and A. Constable, Edinburgh, 1802. [so volumes one and two; volume three reads:] Second edition. [but v. note] Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne, For Longman and Rees, Pater-noster-row, London; And sold by Manners and Miller, and A. Constable, Edinburgh, 1803. 3 Vols., uniform, demy 8vo; half-title present in each volume; engraved frontispiece by Walker after Williams in volume one; single inset Errata leaf (nine and five entries, respectively) at end of volumes one and two; integral five entry Errata leaf follows fly-title in volume three; pp.[8]+cxxxviii+[ii]+258+[ii]; [viii]+392+[ii]; [xii (including Errata leaf)]+420; early half natural calf, matching marbled sides and end-papers, calf tooled gilt on sides, tooled and lettered gilt on spine; a.e. uncut; green silk marker. Slight rodent nibble to leather (only) at tail of one spine, and a couple of minute worm-holes in leather (only) of headbands; silverfish damage to leather of one front cover, removing a portion of the glaze; light damp-staining to fore-margins in volume three; otherwise an excellent and, despite the slight damage to the bindings, a sound and pretty set.
GB £2,200.00
US $3,432.00
Edited, with a lengthy Introduction, Appendices, and Notes by Sir Walter Scott, who also contributed several of the modern ballads - others being by M.G. Lewis, Anna Seward, J. Leyden, Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, Dr. Jamieson, and Colin Mackenzie. Scott had been collecting the traditional ballads in annual trips to the borders since 1792, and their appearance here marks his true literary debut: his first major work. Taken from oral tradition, many of the ballads are here first printed. According to Lockhart, ‘Memoires of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart.' (Edinburgh, 1837-8, Vol.I, pp.343 and 378), only 800 copies of this first edition of volumes one and two were printed, whilst of the first printing of volume three - designated Second Edition on the title-page for the sake of uniformity since it was printed to accompany the 1803 reprint of the first two volumes - 1,500 copies were printed. Complete sets such as the present one, in nice uncut condition, are nowadays scarce. In the present copy, leaf P4 in volume three is in the first state, with the reading ‘Part III' instead of ‘Part Third'; B3 and B8, however, are cancels as almost always. The frontispiece here present in volume one, though relevant, is not called for, and has been added from some other source. NCBEL, 3: 678.
Ref: HRT818723
Literary Periodicals.
LITERARY PERIODICAL. THE STRAND MAGAZINE: An Illustrated Monthly Edited by Geo. Newnes. Vol.IV. July to December. George Newnes, Ltd., 8, 9, 10, & 11, Southampton Street, And Exeter Street, Strand, 1892. Roy.8vo; frontispiece and numerous illustrations; bevelled turquoise buckram, ruled, blocked, and lettered black and shadowed black, on front cover, blocked, ruled, and lettered, black and gilt on spine; a.e.g.; end-papers printed with a pattern of daisies in pale grey. Three holes in front end-paper where laid-on letter has been removed; otherwise a very nice copy.
GB £45.00
US $70.20
The issue with ‘Edited by Geo: Newnes' on spine - in this case with a.e.g. Contributors include A. Conan Doyle (‘Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' XIII.), Grant Allen (‘The Great Ruby Robbery'), Dumas, W. Clark Russell, ‘Dick Donovan' (‘Romances from a Detective's Case-book'), Verne, Richard Marsh, Arthur Morrison, etc., interviews with Sala, Sir Frederick Leighton, Irving, Ellen Terry, etc. Illustrations include several pages of vignettes by Max Beerbohm (variously described as H.M. Beerbohm or H. Maxwell Beerbohm), and there are splendid illustrated articles on the ‘Evolution of the [bi]Cycle', ‘Queen Victoria's Dolls', ‘A Day with Dr. Conan Doyle', etc. Possibly a publisher's copy and once Graingerised by the insertion of seven relevant letters, including one from Harry Furniss to George Newnes, all alas no longer present, but their insertion indexed in pencil on the back of the front end-paper. The holes in the end-paper result from the removal of the letter from Harry Furniss; removal of the rest has left no damage, and they were possibly all only loosely laid in.
Ref: FRT804555
Literary Periodicals.
LITERARY PERIODICAL. THE STRAND MAGAZINE: An Illustrated Monthly Edited by George Newnes. Vol.VI. July to December. London: George Newnes, Ltd., 8, 9, 10, & 11, Southampton Street, And Exeter Street, Strand, 1893. Roy.8vo; numerous integral illustrations; bevelled pale turquoise buckram, ruled, blocked, and lettered black and shadowed black, on front cover, blocked, ruled, and lettered, black and gilt on spine; a.e.g.; end-papers printed with a rose and trefoil pattern in pale grey. A couple of leaves a trifle proud due to an original binding fault; otherwise fine.
GB £200.00
US $312.00
The issue with ‘Edited by Geo: Newnes' on spine - and in this case with a.e.g. also. Contributors include Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (five episodes of ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'), Charles J. Mansford, E.W. Hornung, Richard Marsh (‘Capturing a Convict'), Sarah Bernhardt (‘A Christmas Story'), M.P. Shiel (‘Garry Harkaway's Substitute'), W.L. Alden (six chapters of ‘Among the Freaks'), C.J. Cutcliffe Hyne (‘Spiking the Guns'), an unpublished letter of Charles Kean, ‘Illustrated Interviews' with Edmund Yates, Luke Fildes, etc., an illustrated article ‘Towards the North Pole' by Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, [L.T. Meade and Clifford Halifax] (‘Stories from the Diary of a Doctor'), A.G. Morrison (‘Zig-zags at the Zoo', XIII. - XVIII.), etc. Possibly a publisher's copy and once Graingerised by the insertion of half-a-dozen relevant letters, all but one, alas, no longer present, but their insertion indexed in pencil on the back of the front end-paper. The one that remains, however, tipped onto the front end-paper, is the important one: an a.l.s. dated from 7 Medina Mansions, Gt. Titchfield St. W., and dated 1st Oct. 1903, about 120 words, to a Mr. Keary (identified as ‘P.K.' on the index), who appears to have been an editor, apologising for having failed to send "the 20,000 words of the story of which we spoke before your trip to Ireland, but . . . I got a definite order for something which I could not afford to let slip . . . ". Removal of the rest of the inserts has left no damage, and they were possibly all only loosely laid in.
Ref: FRT804556
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