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"THE KING OF PHILOSOPHERS": Exceptionally Rare First Edition of the First Complete English Translation of The Works of Plato
TAYLOR, Thomas. [Plato].
The Works of Plato, Viz. His Fifty-Five Dialogues, and Twelve Epistles, Translated From the Greek; Nine of the Dialogues by the Late Floyer Sydenham, and the Remainder by Thomas Taylor: With Occasional Annotations on the Nine Dialogues Translated by Sydenham, and Copious Notes, by the Latter Translator.
London: Printed for Thomas Taylor, By R. Wilks, Chancery-Lane, 1804.
First edition of the first complete English translation of the works of Plato. Quarto, five volumes bound in full pebbled cloth retaining contemporary black morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, half-titles, engraved frontispiece to volume I. In the words of the Prometheus Trust, "Taylor's Works of Plato, has two outstanding features which make it an essential component to the genuine philosophers library. Firstly, Taylor himself translates Plato's Dialogues from within the ancient Greek Tradition. No English translator, before or since, has been so completely at one with the Greek philosophical and religious world view: Taylor fulfills, to the highest degree,…
Price: $14,000.00 Item Number: 131256
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Rare George Orwell Autographed Letter Signed
ORWELL, George.
George Orwell Autographed Letter Signed.
June 1944.
Rare autographed letter signed by George Orwell signed to Amy Charlesworth Byrne detailing his usual weekly routines between his home and the offices of Tribune, in order to make lunch arrangements to meet her and her husband, also promising her a book ("...I'll try & find a copy of 'Burmese Days for you. These Penguins are sold out as soon as published nowadays, but I believe I have a few copies somewhere... signed E. Blair"), one page, 10a Mortimer Crescent, London NW6, 23 June 1944. Amy Charlesworth, with whom Orwell had corresponded in 1937, had now married her second husband…
Price: $14,000.00 Item Number: 142004
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“AMONG THE BEST EVER WRITTEN FOR CHILDREN”: First Editions, First States of A.A. MILNE’S FOUR POOH BOOKS, each volume in the rare ORIGINAL DUST JACKET
MILNE, A.A.; Illustrated by Ernest Shepard.
The Four Pooh Books: When We Were Very Young; Winnie-The-Pooh; Now We Are Six; The House At Pooh Corner.
London: Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1924-1928.
First editions, first issues of each work in Milne's wonderful Pooh quartet, with only When We Were Very Young being a first issue. Octavo, four volumes, original publisher's gilt-decorated pictorial cloth, top edge gilt, pictorial endpapers, illustrated with decorations by Ernest Shepard. When We Were Very Young is a first issue with page ix unnumbered, jacket with light toning to spine and a few losses to the extremities. Winnie-The-Pooh, cartographic endpapers, all edges gilt sunning to the spine, ownership ticket to the half-title page, jacket evenly toned with chipping to extremities with a closed tear to the rear hinge. Now…
Price: $14,000.00 Item Number: 146840
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Rare George Orwell Typed Letter Signed
ORWELL, George.
George Orwell Typed Letter Signed.
October 1944.
Rare typed letter signed by George Orwell signed to Amy Charlesworth Byrne Typed letter signed ("Geo. Orwell"), to Mrs Amy Byrne excusing his delayed reply ("...I have been away again, and also somewhat distraught with the move into here..."), writing with relief that he has brought his young son down from Newcastle ("..It is no joke travelling with a child now..."), with other personal news and hoping that they will be able to visit the Byrnes at their home in Liverpool, 1 page, 4to, 27b Canonbury Square, Islington, London, 23 October 1944. "...I'd like to show you the baby (his name…
Price: $14,000.00 Item Number: 142498
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“Better to stay alive, At least while there's a chance to get free": Rare first edition of Octavia Butler's Kindred; inscribed by her
BUTLER, Octavia E.
Kindred.
Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1979.
First edition of Butler's classic bestselling novel. Octavo, original half cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, "To Steve Best wishes Octavia E. Butler." Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket illustration by Larry Schwinger. Jacket typography by Elizabeth Levine. First editions of this classic Butler novel are scarce, signed examples exceedingly so.
Price: $14,000.00 Item Number: 142883
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"To the few who love me and whom I love – to those who seek rather than to those who think – to the dreamers and those who put faith in dreams as in the only realities – I offer this book of truths" : Rare first edition of Edgar Allan Poe's Magnum Opus, Eureka, One of only 500 copies
POE, Edgar Allan.
Eureka: A Prose Poem.
New York: George P. Putnam, 1848.
First edition, first issue of Poe's classic work. Duodecimo, original publishers blind stamped black cloth with gilt lettering to the spine. First issue, without the review for Eureka on page 2 of the 16 page catalogue at the end of the book, but reads simply: “Poe. — Eureka, A Prose Poem: Or the Physical and Metaphysical Universe. By Edgar A. Poe, Esq.” In very good condition, with some light rubbing to the extremities, rebacked. Housed in a custom clamshell box. Rare.
Price: $14,000.00 Item Number: 140614
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“Do anything, but let it produce joy": RARE SECOND EDITION OF WALT WHITMAN’S LEAVES OF GRASS; ONE OF ONE THOUSAND COPIES
WHITMAN, Walt.
Leaves of Grass.
Brooklyn, New York: Fowler and Wells, 1856.
Rare second edition, one of a 1000 copies of the most important volume in American poetry, with an additional twenty poems not found in the first edition as well as a new section of correspondence and reviews entitled “Leaves-droppings” that begins with the famous letter from Emerson containing the salutation “I greet you at the beginning of a great career.” Small octavo, original green cloth. Engraved frontispiece portrait of Walt Whitman. Bookplate of Barrett Wendell to the inside panel. Barrett was an American academic and a trustee of the Boston Athenaeum, a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and a…
Price: $14,000.00 Item Number: 50052
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“There's no liquor in the land that can stop your brain from bleedin": First Edition of Bob Dylan's First Book Tarantula; Signed By Him
DYLAN, Bob.
Tarantula.
New York: MacMillan & Company, 1966.
First edition of Dylan's first book. Octavo, original cloth. Signed by Bob Dylan on the half-title page. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with some light wear to the extremities. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Rare and desirable signed by Dylan.
Price: $14,000.00 Item Number: 75081
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Rare First Edition of Leonard Cohen's First Book, One of 400 copies Let Us Compare Mythologies; Signed by Him in the year of publication
COHEN, Leonard.
Let Us Compare Mythologies.
Montreal: McGill Poetry Series by Contact Press, 1956.
First edition of Cohen's first book, which explores philosophy, sexuality, death, a world of violent contrasts that would define his future literary and musical careers. Octavo, original cloth. With five full-page line illustrations by Freda Guttman. Signed by the author in the month of publication on the front free endpaper, “Leonard Cohen May 1956.” Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Uncommon, as reportedly fewer than 400 copies of the first edition were printed (Nadel, 45).
Price: $13,500.00 Item Number: 140463
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First Edition of MacKay’s Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds; With an Autograph Letter Signed
MACKAY, Charles.
Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.
London: Richard Bentley, 1841.
First edition of this classic study of crowd psychology, a compilation of human folly throughout the ages. Octavo, three volumes, illustrated. Bound in three quarter calf over marbled boards, gilt titles to the spine, raised bands. With an autographed letter signed by Charles MacKay in 1867 laid in. In near fine condition with light rubbing to the extremities.
Price: $13,500.00 Item Number: 129387
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"I never really thought of myself as a freak, ya know...but I Love to Freak!": First Edition of Easy Rider; Signed by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson
FONDA, Peter.
Easy Rider.
New York: Signet, 1969.
First edition of the complete script, with a selection of black white and color stills, interviews and articles. Octavo, original wrappers as issued, illustrated. Boldly signed by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Jack Nicholson on the title page. Edited by Nancy Hardin and Marilyn Schlossberg. In very good condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Rare and desirable signed by the three stars of this iconic film.
Price: $12,800.00 Item Number: 147817
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First Editions of William Klein's New York, Rome, Moscow, Tokyo; Each signed by Him
KLEIN, William.
New York, Rome, Moscow, Tokyo.
Various Places: 1956-1964.
First editions of each of the photographers famed city books. Tall quarto, 4 volumes. Each are signed by William Klein, with the caption booklet of New York signed as well. Very good to near fine books in original dust jackets showing some light rubbing and wear. A very sharp set of these volumes.
Price: $12,800.00 Item Number: 115672
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“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past": First Edition of George Orwell's Classic Nineteen Eighty-Four
ORWELL, George.
Nineteen Eighty-Four.
London: Secker & Warburg, 1949.
First edition of Orwell's classic dystopian novel. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket with light rubbing and a small chip. Jacket design by Michael Kennard. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. A sharp example, uncommon in this condition.
Price: $12,800.00 Item Number: 147078
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"He touched her for the last time and then they turned away from each other and walked off into their different lives": First edition of Ian Fleming’s Moonraker
FLEMING, Ian.
Moonraker.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1955.
First edition, first issue with "shoo" for "shoot" on page 10 of the third novel in the James Bond series and what many critics to be his finest. Octavo, original black cloth. Fine in a fine dust jacket with the spine panel bright. Jacket design by Kenneth Lewis. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. An exceptional example, rare and desirable.
Price: $12,800.00 Item Number: 139218
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"Go the distance - in and out, and up and down": James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time; lengthily Signed by Him
BALDWIN, James.
The Fire Next Time.
New York: The Dial Press, 1963.
Early printing of one of the most influential works on race relations published in the twentieth century. Octavo, original cloth. Lengthily signed by the author on the dedication page, "Go the distance - in and out, and up and down. Jimmy Baldwin." Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Jacket design by Paul Bacon. Jacket photograph by Mottke Weissman. Rare and desirable. Signed copies of The Fire Next Time are uncommon; those with such a lengthy inscription exceedingly so.
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 145619
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Rare Complete first edition set of Sir Walter Scott's Waverly Novels
SCOTT, Sir Walter.
Scott’s Waverly Novels. [Waverley: or ‘Tis Sixty Years Since, Guy Mannering, The Antiquary, Rob Roy, Ivanhoe, Kenilworth, The Pirate, The Fortunes of Nigel, Peveril of the Peak, Quentin Durward, St. Ronan’s Well, Redgauntlet, The Betrothed, Talisman, Woodstock, or, the Cavalier, Chronicles of the Canongate, The Fair Maid Of Perth, Anne of Geierstein].
Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co.; and John Ballantyne; And Hurst, Robinson, and Co., London, 11816-1821.
Complete first edition set of Scott's Waverly Novels. Octavo, 74 volumes uniformly bound in full morocco by Morrell, gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling to the front and rear endpapers, all edges gilt. In fine condition. An exceptional set.
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 131201
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"Even in this place one can survive, and therefore one must want to survive, to tell the story, to bear witness; and that to survive we must force ourselves to save at least the skeleton, the scaffolding, the form of civilization": First Edition of Primo Levi’s If This Is A Man; Signed by Him
LEVI, Primo.
If This Is A Man.
New York: The Orion Press, 1959.
First edition of Levi’s masterpiece, which was later published as Survival In Auschwitz. Octavo, original blue cloth. Signed by Primo Levi on the title page. Fine in a very good dust jacket with a small chip to the rear panel. Jacket design by Wladislaw Finne. Translated by Stuart Woolf. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Extremely rare signed.
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 4541
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“I HOPE I WILL BE ABLE TO CONFIDE EVERYTHING TO YOU, AS I HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO CONFIDE IN ANYONE”: FIRST EDITION OF ANNE FRANK’S DIARY, HET ACHTERHUIS; In the exceptionally rare dust jacket
FRANK, Anne .
Het Achterhuis: Dagboakbrieven van 12 Jun 1942 – 1 Augustus 1944. Met een woord vooraf door Annie Romein-Verschoor. [The Diary of Anne Frank].
Amsterdam: Contact, 1947.
First edition of the diary of Anne Frank in the original Dutch. Small octavo, original publisher's white and red paper-covered boards, illustrated with 2 photographic reproductions of the interior of the house, 1 floor plan, and 2 facsimiles from the diary. Introduction by Annie Romein-Verschoor. Very good in the dust jacket which is in very good condition with some professional restoration and tape repairs to the verso, with the second issue in blue. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Exceedingly rare and desirable, especially in the original dust jacket.
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 96773
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“AMERICA’S SECOND DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE”: RARE "Suppressed Boston Edition" OF WALT WHITMAN’S LEAVES OF GRASS, THE MOST IMPORTANT AND INFLUENTIAL VOLUME OF AMERICAN POETRY
WHITMAN, Walt.
Leaves of Grass.
Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1881-82.
The "suppressed Boston edition" (seventh edition overall) of the most important volume in American poetry, one of 1,010 copies printed. Octavo, original publisher's mustard cloth with gilt titles and tooling to the spine and front panel, tissue-guarded engraved portrait of the author by Hollyer after the daguerreotype by Gabriel Harrison opposite page 29. BAL 21418. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "Dr. C H Shivers from the author." The recipient, Dr. C.H. Shivers was a Haddonfield, New Jersey-based physician, member of the New Jersey Medical Society for Camden County and friend and dinner companion of Whitman's (according to The…
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 139829