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First edition of Ambergris: A Selection From the Poems; inscribed by Aleister Crowley to English Zionist Sir Henry Ludwig Mond, 2nd Baron Melchett
CROWLEY, Aleister.
Ambergris: A Selection From the Poems.
London: Elkin Mathews, 1910.
First edition of this scarce collection of Crowley's poetry. Octavo, original publisher's boards lettered in gilt, rebacked, frontispiece portrait. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the rear free endpaper, "Henry Mond from Aleister Crowley." The recipient, Sir Henry Ludwig Mond, 2nd Baron Melchett was an English politician, industrialist and Zionist. He served as Member of Parliament for the Isle of Ely 1923-24 as a Liberal and deputy chairman of Imperial Chemical Industries from 1940 to 1947. Having been brought up in the Church of England, he reverted in the 1930s to his family's original Judaism and became a champion…
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 146395
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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 Levis 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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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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"So just remember that this is the first sign of trouble - if books are banned, that means that things are going wrong": First English uncensored edition of Babi Yar; inscribed by Anatoly Kuznetsov
KUZNETSOV, Anatoly. Translated by David Floyd .
Babi Yar: A Document in the Form of a Novel.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1970.
First English uncensored edition of soviet writer Anatoly Kuznetsov's most acclaimed work in its complete, unredacted form. Octavo, original cloth, cartographic endpapers. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page in the year of publication, "To Mr. M.G. Millard - with very best wishes, in appreciation for the invaluable help he has given me. A. Anatoli 14/XII/1970 London." Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Exceptionally rare with no other signed examples traced at auction.
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 143812
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"And people with obsessions, reflected Bond, were blind to danger": First edition of Ian Flemings Moonraker; Signed by Henry Blofeld
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. Signed by Henry Blofeld on front free endpaper. Blofeld is the son of Thomas Robert Calthorpe Blofeld (1903-1986) who attended Eton with Fleming and whose name is believed to be the inspiration for the supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Near fine in a very good price-clipped dust jacket with the spine panel bright and with light wear to the spine extremities. Jacket design by Kenneth Lewis. Housed in a custom…
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 107324
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“Tell me. Tell me with your eyes": First Edition of Exiles: A Play in Three Acts; Signed by James Joyce
JOYCE, James.
Exiles: A Play in Three Acts.
New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1918.
First American edition of the author's only play, published simultaneously with the British edition. Octavo, original half cloth. Signed by the author on the front free endpaper, "James Joyce 2 June 1923 Paris." In near fine condition. Rare and desirable signed.
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 144094
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"There is no story that is not true, [...] The world has no end, and what is good among one people is an abomination with others": Review Copy of the First Edition of Things Fall Apart; Signed by Chinua Achebe
ACHEBE, Chinua.
Things Fall Apart.
New York: Astor-Honor/ An Obolensky Book, 1959.
First edition of this "true classic of world literature . . . A masterpiece that has inspired generations of writers in Nigeria, across Africa, and around the world" (Barack Obama). Octavo, original boards. Boldly signed by Chinua Achebe on the title page. Review copy, with the slip laid in, fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Ronald Clyne. First editions are rare and desirable signed.
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 140969
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Rare 1925 Printing of the Piano solo and second piano score for Rhapsody in Blue; Inscribed by George Gershwin
GERSHWIN, George.
George Gershwin Signed Rhapsody in Blue Piano Score.
New York: Harms Incorporated, 1925.
Rare 1925 printing of the piano score for the orchestral composition that defined the jazz age, first published in 1924. Small folio, original illustrated wrappers, piano solo and second piano in score. Presentation copy, inscribed by George Gershwin on the title page, "For Mr. Fuerst - with all best wishes George Gershwin." The recipient, Eugene Fuerst, was conductor and director of the Portland Civic Opera Association and the Theater Arts Opera Association. In very good condition with some loss and creasing to the cover and slight toning to the title page. A beautiful signature from Gershwin.
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 145285
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FIRST EDITION OF FAULKNERS MASTERPIECE AND ONE OF THE GREATEST NOVELS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY THE SOUND AND THE FURY: IN THE RARE FIRST ISSUE DUST JACKET
FAULKNER, William.
The Sound and the Fury.
New York: Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith, 1929.
First edition of Faulkner’s masterpiece. Octavo, original cloth, black and white patterned paper boards. Near fine in a very good unrestored first-issue dust jacket with the iconic design by Kathe Kollwitz on the front panel and a price of $3.00 for the book Humanity Uprooted on the rear panel, with a chip to the spine. Petersen A6.2a. Brucolli & Clark I:121. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery.
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 112328
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First Edition of The Mansion; Signed by William Faulkner
FAULKNER, William.
The Mansion.
New York: Random House, 1959.
First edition of the final novel in the Nobel Prize-winning author's classic The Snopes Trilogy. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed and dated by the author on the title page, "William Faulkner, Oxford Miss 22 Dec 1961." Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco and chemise box.
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 146144
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"People go off to marvel at the height of mountains and the great waves of the sea and the broad courses of rivers, and the flow of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars: but they neglect themselves": C.S. Lewis' copy of Sir Thomas Browne's highly influential 17th century Christian confessional Religio Medici; with Lewis' ownership signature and notes throughout
BROWNE, Thomas. [C.S. Lewis].
Religio Medici and Other Essays by Sir Thomas Browne.
London: Chapman & Hall, Ltd, [1911].
C.S. Lewis' copy of Browne's celebrated 17th century "confession of Christian faith qualified by an eclectic and generally skeptical attitude" (The Oxford Companion). Octavo, original boards, paper spine label, gilt vignette to the front panel, tissue-guarded engraved frontispiece portrait of Browne. British author and theologian C.S. Lewis' copy with his ownership signature to the front free endpaper, "C.S. Lewis April 1919", underlines, marks, and footnotes to several pages, most notably a lengthy quote from The Confessions of St. Augustine to page 29: "(1) Et eunt homines mirari alta montium et ingentes fluctus maris et latissimos lapsus fluminum et oceani ambitum…
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 122430
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"To my sweetheart, Sylvia": Sylvia Plath's childhood copy of A Little Maid in Vermont; inscribed to her by her mother
CURTIS, Alice Turner [Sylvia Plath].
A Little Maid of Vermont.
Philadelphia: The Penn Publishing Company, 1927.
First edition of the author's children's classic; from the library of Sylvia Plath. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated by Grace Norcross. Presentation copy, inscribed by Sylvia Plath's mother on the front free endpaper, "Feb. 10, 1941 To my sweetheart, Sylvia from Mommy" and with her father, Otto Plath's, embossed library stamp. Sylvia Plath was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Her mother, Aurelia Schober Plath, was a second-generation American of Austrian descent, and her father, Otto Plath (1885–1940), was from Grabow, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany and worked as a professor of biology at Boston University. Plath would have been 8 years old when her mother…
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 134822
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Scarce second edition of The First Spelling Primer; or an Easy Introduction to the Art of Reading Adorned with Emblematic Pictures
The First Spelling Primer; or an Easy Introduction to the Art of Reading Adorned with Emblematic Pictures.
London-Derry: Published by G. Douglas, 1795.
Second edition of this scarce 18th century spelling primer. 16mo, original limp paper boards, illustrated with twenty-six small text woodcuts illustrating the Prince's Alphabet, followed by an ABC poem, The Alphabet in Rhime, syllables of two and three letters, easy words, easy reading lessons, the Lord's Prayer, and a publisher's advertisement leaf aimed at children mentioning four other titles: The Ladder to Learning; Manson's Spelling Primer; Manson's Spelling Book; and The Universal Spelling Book. In good condition. Ownership name to the front panel. Housed in a custom folding case. Exceptionally rare with no other copies traced in auction records, nor…
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 135238
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“You cannot conceive, nor can I, of the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God": First Edition of Graham Greene's Brighton Rock; Inscribed by Him
GREENE, Graham.
Brighton Rock.
New York: The Viking Press, 1938.
First American edition, preceding the British edition by one month of Greene's chilling expose of violence and gang warfare in the pre-war underworld is a classic of its kind. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "For Clive affectionately, Graham." The recipient Clive Francis is a British actor, known for his roles in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, Inspector Clouseau and The Crown and was a friend of Greene's. An excellent example in a very good dust jacket with rubbing and wear. Jacket design by George Salter. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box.…
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 106788
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“Let's go." "We can't." "Why not?" "We're waiting for Godot": First Edition of Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot; Inscribed by Him
BECKETT, Samuel.
Waiting For Godot: A Tragicomedy In Two Acts.
London: Faber and Faber, 1956.
First British edition of the author's masterpiece. Octavo, original black cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, "For Dr. Murray with all good wishes Samuel Beckett Paris July 1981." From the library of Irish book collector Dr. Philip Murray, author of The Adventures of a Book Collector. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket that shows some light rubbing to the spine. Translated by Beckett from the original French. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Rare and desirable signed and inscribed by Beckett.
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 21046
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"Most of our faculties lie dormant because they can rely upon Habit, which knows what there is to be done and has no need of their services": First Edition in English of Prousts Masterpiece Remembrance of Things Past
PROUST, Marcel [Translated by C. K. Scott Moncrieff].
Remembrance of Things Past [A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu, In Search of Lost Time]: Swann’s Way; Within a Budding Grove; The Guermantes Way; Cities of the Plain; The Captive; The Sweet Cheat Gone; Time Regained.
London: Chatto & Windus, Alfred A. Knopf, 1922.
Complete first edition set of Proust's most well-known work. Octavo, 11 volumes, original blue cloth with titles to the spine in in gilt. In near fine condition, with Time Regained in the rare dust jacket. Translated by C.K. Scott Moncrieff. An excellent set, rare in this condition.
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 121344
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Rare First Edition of Robert Frank's The Lines of My Hands; Inscribed by Him to Yuichi Hibi
ROBERT FRANK,.
Lines of My Hands.
Tokyo: Yugensha, 1972.
Limited first edition of Frank’s memorable autobiography in photographs, one of 500 copies. Folio, original black cloth, slipcase with mounted cover photograph. Association copy, inscribed by the photographer on the title page, "To Yuichi, getting ready to travel East. Good Luck. Robert. NYC Dec. 5, 1996" with a line drawing of a fish below a surface line. The recipient Yuichi Hibi is a well-known photographer who in 2005 issued a signed, limited edition of a work entitled A Weekend with Mr. Frank. Includes 30 pp. Japanese booklet cataloguing the 160 images which comprise the book. Fine in a fine slipcase. An exceptional…
Price: $12,000.00 Item Number: 121798
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"Things aren't different. Things are things": First Editions of each novel in the Sprawl Trilogy; Each Signed by William Gibson
GIBSON, William.
Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive.
London: Victor Gollancz, 1984-1988.
First British editions and true firsts of each of the novels that comprise Gibson's The Sprawl Trilogy. Octavo, three volumes. Each signed on the title page by William Gibson. Neuromancer is a review copy, with a slip laid into it. Each are fine in fine dust jackets. Rare and desirable signed and in this condition.
Price: $12,000.00 Item Number: 133729
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First editions of all three volumes of Ian Fleming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car; with Adventure Number One signed by Roald Dahl and Adventure Number Three from the collection of Harry Saltzman
FLEMING, Ian. [Roald Dahl].
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car.
1964-65: Jonathan Cape Ltd, London.
First editions of all three volumes of Fleming's rare children's novel. Octavo, three volumes, original pictorial boards, pictorial endpapers, illustrated by John Burningham. Adventure Number One is signed by Roald Dahl who co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film adaptation opposite the half-title page, very good in a very good price-clipped dust jacket. Adventure Number Two is very good in a very good in a very good price-clipped dust jacket. Adventure Number Three is from the collection of Harry Saltzman, who co-produced the first nine James Bond films with Albert R. Broccoli. Housed in a custom green cloth slipcase. Rare…
Price: $12,000.00 Item Number: 146992