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“Danger, like a third man, was standing in the room": First edition of From Russia, With Love; inscribed by Ian Fleming
FLEMING, Ian.
From Russia, With Love.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1957.
First edition, first state of the fifth James Bond novel and what Fleming considered one of his best books and listed in Life magazine as one of US President John F. Kennedy's top ten favorite books. Octavo, original cloth with gilt titles to the spine, gilt rose and gun emblem to the front panel. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To Dan from Ian Fleming." Near fine in a near fine price-clipped first issue dust jacket. Jacket design by Richard Chopping. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Uncommon signed.
Price: $48,000.00 Item Number: 131400
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“When you get an idea into your head you find it in everything": Rare First Edition of Victor Hugo's Notre-Dame de Paris; One of only 1100 examples
HUGO, Victor.
Notre-Dame de Paris.
Paris: Charles Gosselin, 1831.
First edition, first printing of Hugo's masterpiece, one of only 1,100 examples. Octavo, 2 volumes, bound in half calf. The publisher Charles Gosselin published the novel on 16 March 1831 in an edition of 1,100 copies as was his usual practice. It was such a sensation that an additional three printings had to be published the same year. The first impression of 1100 copies was separated into four groups, each bearing a fictitious edition statement on the title-page, a scheme designed to make the public believe that the novel was selling rapidly. "This first edition is the rarest of all…
Price: $48,000.00 Item Number: 139559
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“It's the basic condition of life to be required to violate our own identity": First Edition of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?; Signed by Philip K. Dick
DICK, Philip K.
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?
New York: Doubleday and Company, 1968.
First edition of this cornerstone in science fiction. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by Philip K. Dick on the title page. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Harry Sehring. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Scarce in this condition and signed.
Price: $48,000.00 Item Number: 146811
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"History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge": THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY; each volume signed by J.R.R. Tolkien
TOLKIEN, J.R.R.
The Lord of The Rings Trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King.
London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1963.
Complete set of each title of the The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, each volume signed by J.R.R. Tolkien on the title page. Octavo, 3 volumes, original publisher's cloth, all edges gilt, ribbon bound in, folding map at rear of each volume. Each volume is signed by J.R.R. Tolkien on the title page. The Fellowship of the Ring is a thirteenth impression, very good in a very good tenth impression dust jacket; The Two Towers is a tenth impression, very good in a very good eighth impression dust jacket; The Return of the King is a tenth impression, very good…
Price: $48,000.00 Item Number: 147003
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"Whatever In Creation Exists Without My Knowledge Exists Without My Consent": First Edition Of Cormac McCarthy's Masterpiece Blood Meridian; Inscribed by the author to Close Friend John Sheddan in the Year of Publication
MCCARTHY, Cormac.
Blood Meridian, or The Evening Redness in the West.
New York: Random House, 1985.
First edition of the author's classic fifth novel. Octavo, original half cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author in the month of publication on the front free endpaper, "For John Sheddan At Saxon Oaks Manor In April of 1985 All the best, old friend Cormac." The recipient, John Sheddan was a close friend of McCarthy’s. “Some of McCarthy’s friends claim that the character Gene Harrogate (a character in McCarthy’s novel, Suttree), or at least his watermelon venture, was based in some way on John Sheddan, “scholar, schemer, hustler, melon paramour” (Gibson 23)….However in a letter of response to Gibson’s article,…
Price: $48,000.00 Item Number: 93522
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"I am enormously pressed for time this vacation, and I am ever afraid no such thing will have been done by me in time to be of use to you": Rare autograph letter signed by J.R.R. Tolkien with his list of Old English Literature Questions with annotations and corrections in his hand
TOLKIEN, J.R.R.
J.R.R. Tolkien Autograph Letter Signed and Annotated Old English Literature Questionnaire.
1920.
Rare autograph letter signed by the author of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien regarding a list of 50 questions he has composed examining Old English Literature. The one-page autograph letter signed by Tolkien reads in full, "1 Alfred Street St. Giles Oxford Mar: 17th 1920. Dear Miss Duncan, I enclose a 'mixed bag' of 50 questions on the OE period - some of them on 'Beowulf' (exclusive of special points of commentary), some more general. A few may be of use to you (many are culled from past papers etc.: those of last year are marked). They are…
Price: $48,000.00 Item Number: 121974
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First Edition of All Quiet On The Western Front; Inscribed by Erich Maria Remarque; In the Rare Original Tissue Wrapper
REMARQUE, Erich Maria.
All Quiet On The Western Front.
London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1929.
First edition in English of this landmark novel of the 20th century. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "Mr. E.O. Bird, With the Author's compliments and thanks Erich Maria Remarque 1.4.29." Fine in a fine dust jacket with the original publishers tissue wrap laid over the dust jacket, light toning to the endpapers. With the original publisher's list and catalogues card laid in. Translated by A.W. Wheen. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. Easily the nicest example extant.
Price: $45,000.00 Item Number: 146802
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Rare first edition, first impression of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations; bound in full royal blue crushed levant morocco by Bayntun Bindery
DICKENS, Charles.
Great Expectations.
London: Chapman and Hall, 1861.
First edition, first impression of Dickens' rarest novel. Octavo, three volumes bound in full royal blue crushed levant morocco by Bayntun Bindery with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt turn-ins and wide gilt inner dentelles stamp-signed by Bayntun, all edges gilt. The earliest impression of Dicken's rarest novel. This copy agrees in all points with Margaret Caldwell's extensive analysis of the differing impressions in the Clarendon edition of Great Expectations. As in the Lawrence Drizen copy sold in 2019 at Sotheby’s and in…
Price: $45,000.00 Item Number: 142357
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"In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer": First American Edition of Albert Camus’ Classic Novel The Stranger; Inscribed by Him to fellow novelist Vincent Sheean
CAMUS, Albert.
The Stranger.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1946.
First American edition of Camus' first novel and masterpiece. Octavo, original beige cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, "A Vincent Sheean pour le remercier de savoir si bien parler de Stendhal Sympathiquement Albert Camus." The recipient, Vincent Sheean was an American journalist and novelist. Sheean's most famous work was Personal History, which won one of the inaugural National Book Awards: the Most Distinguished Biography of 1935. Film producer Walter Wanger acquired the political memoir and made it the basis for his 1940 film production Foreign Correspondent, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Sheean wrote the narration for…
Price: $45,000.00 Item Number: 97850
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Leo Tolstoy's Childhood, Boyhood, Youth; Inscribed by Him to His Doctor
TOLSTOY, Leo.
Sochinenia Grafa L.N. Tolstogo [Childhood, Boyhood, Youth].
Moscow: Typ. I.N. Kushnerev i Ko, 1893.
Early Russian printing of Tolstoy’s trilogy Childhood, Boyhood, Youth. Quarto, original half leather. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the title page to his doctor, “To Dmitry Vasil’evich Nikitin. Leo Tolstoy. 28 March 1903.” With an original photograph of Tolstoy with Dmitry Nikitin opposite the title page. The recipient, Dmitry Nikitin was Tolstoy’s family doctor who described him as ‘‘a very attentive person [who] knows everything that medicine knows now.” The son of a priest from a small village, served as Tolstoy’s first family and later treated M. Gorky. Beginning in the 1850s, Tolstoy had to turn to doctors…
Price: $45,000.00 Item Number: 133583
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"FAST BY THE ORACLE OF GOD, I THENCE INVOKE THY AID TO MY ADVENTUROUS SONG": FIRST EDITION OF JOHN MILTON'S MASTERPIECE PARADISE LOST
MILTON, John.
Paradise Lost: A Poem in Ten Books.
London: Printed by S. Simmons, and are to be sold by T. Helder, at the Angel in Little Brittain, 1669.
First edition of Milton's masterpiece, "one of the greatest works of the human imagination" (DNB). Small octavo, bound in full contemporary sprinkled calf, smooth spine gilt, red morocco lettering-piece gilt. Title-page and text within ruled border; woodcut headpieces and initials opening each book. (Without blank A1 after cancel title, F3 with paper flaw affecting rule border and shoulder notes, tiny mostly marginal wormhole to a few leaves.) Provenance: Elizabeth Gordon (signature on title verso dated 1686); Robert Chilton Pearson (bookplate); Patrick & Julie Pearson (bookplate). With the cancel title-page corresponding to Amory’s fourth issue, title page with "Angel" in the…
Price: $45,000.00 Item Number: 119536
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Large Signed Portrait Photograph Signed by Charles Dickens
DICKENS, Charles.
Charles Dickens Signed Portrait Photograph.
1868.
Signed "Charles Dickens (with a large flourish) Washington, D.C. Seventh February 1868." Large oval portrait photograph measures 13 inches by 13 inches. Matted in a walnut frame which measures 24 inches by 27 inches. On his Washington tour Dickens met President Andrew Johnson and signed this photograph on the date of that meeting, February 7, which also happened to be Dickens' birthday. He discussed in a letter to his friend and agent John Foster regarding that day, "This scrambling scribblement is resumed this morning, because I have just seen the President: who had sent to me very courteously asking me to make…
Price: $42,000.00 Item Number: 5825
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Rare First Edition in Spanish of the Author’s Masterpiece Cien Anos de Soledad; Inscribed by Gabriel Garcia Marquez in the Year of Publication
GARCIA MARQUEZ, Gabriel.
Cien Anos de Soledad [One Hundred Years of Solitude].
Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana, 1967.
First edition of the author's masterpiece which is recognized as one of the most significant works in the Spanish literary canon. Octavo, original illustrated wrappers. Presentation copy, inscribed and dated in the year of publication on the front free endpaper, "Para Susi, con la amistad de Gabo 1967." In near fine condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. Rare and desirable in this condition and signed in the year of publication.
Price: $42,000.00 Item Number: 137469
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“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about answers”: First Edition of Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow; Inscribed by Him
PYNCHON, Thomas.
Gravity’s Rainbow.
New York : The Viking Press, 1973.
First edition of Pynchon's National Book Award-winning novel. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To Herb Yellin- Regards, Thomas Pynchon." The recipient Herb Yellin, was the publisher and founder of Lord John Press, considered by many to be one of the most important small presses of the 20th century. He formed a friendship with the author, Thomas Pynchon. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with some light wear to the extremities and a closed tear to the rear panel. Jacket design by Marc Getter. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box.…
Price: $42,000.00 Item Number: 7202
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“I'm yours for ever--for ever and ever": First Edition of Henry James' The Portrait of a Lady; One of only 750 Copies
JAMES, Henry.
The Portrait of a Lady.
London: Macmillan and Co, 1881.
First edition, first issue, one of only 750 copies of the last and most accomplished work of fiction during James’ apprentice years. Octavo, three volumes, original cloth. In near fine condition with volume one rebacked with original spine laid down. Housed in a custom half clamshell and chemises box. Rare and desirable, especially in this condition.
Price: $40,000.00 Item Number: 128496
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“He dont have to move very far to go nuts in the first place and so he dont have so far to come back": Rare original carbon typescrip of Faulkner's Pylon
FAULKNER, William.
Pylon.
Oxford, Mississippi: N/P, c. 1934.
Rare original carbon typescript of the novel Pylon, with title in ink in the author's hand on the first page, a few leaves repaginated in the author's hand, 344 pages, each of the six chapters held together with a paper clip, [Oxford, Mississippi, ca. December 1934]. Newly discovered by the family and one of only two known typescripts of Pylon, it is the only one left entirely as Faulkner wrote it and is the only one in private hands. William Faulkner's retained unedited carbon typescript of his 1935 aviation novel, Pylon. This copy corresponds to the typescript setting copy in the…
Price: $40,000.00 Item Number: 140100
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“Because races condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth”: Rare First Edition in Spanish of the Author’s Masterpiece Cien Anos de Soledad; Inscribed by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
GARCIA MARQUEZ, Gabriel.
Cien Anos de Soledad [One Hundred Years of Solitude].
Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana, 1967.
First edition of the author's masterpiece which is recognized as one of the most significant works in the Spanish literary canon. Octavo, original illustrated wrappers. Presentation copy, inscribed and dated by the author on the dedication page, "Para Pablo, conversando en el parque Gabriel Garcia Marquez '95." In near fine condition with a touch of rubbing small name on the front free endpaper. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box mimicking the front panel of the book. An exceptional example.
Price: $40,000.00 Item Number: 115638
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"Once there was a little tree ... and she loved a little boy": First Edition of The Giving Tree; Signed by Shel Silverstein with a Large Drawing of the Giving Tree
SILVERSTEIN, Shel.
The Giving Tree.
New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1964.
First edition with all the first issue points to both the book and dust jacket. Octavo, original illustrated boards, illustrated. Boldly signed by Shel Silverstein, who has drawn a large picture of The Giving Tree on the half-title page. Near fine in a very good first-issue price-clipped dust jacket with the full torso picture of Shel Silverstein, with hair, covering top left half of back of the dust jacket, three reviews of Lafcadio, by Kirkus. The New York Times and Publisher’s Weekly. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. Exceptionally rare and desirable with…
Price: $40,000.00 Item Number: 147001
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First edition of the Ian Fleming’s first book Casino Royale which introduced the world to 007; In Exceptional Condition
FLEMING, Ian.
Casino Royale.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1953.
First edition of the first novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series. Octavo, original black cloth. Near fine in a near fine first issue dust jacket without the Sunday Times review printed on the front flap, priced at “10s. 6d with light rubbing. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. An exceptional example.
Price: $40,000.00 Item Number: 146230
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First edition of Crockett Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon; inscribed by Johnson to close friend and fellow Children's Book author and illustrator Maurice Sendak
JOHNSON, Crockett. [Maurice Sendak].
Harold and the Purple Crayon.
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1955.
First edition, first issue of the first book in Crockett Johnson’s charming Harold series, first issue with "30-60" and "No. 5671A" to the front flap of the dust jacket. 12 mo, original cloth, illustrated. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper to fellow children's book author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, "To Maury, with fond regards, Crockett Johnson." The recipient, Maurice Sendak, is best known for his immensely popular illustrated children's book, Where the Wild Things Are, which was awarded the Caldecott Medal in 1964 and gained him international fame. Sendak, Johnson, and Johnson's wife Ruth Krauss…
Price: $40,000.00 Item Number: 135433
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Rare 16th century printings of John Wolfe's Fictitious Italian editions of Machiavelli's Discourses and The Prince; finely bound together in full morocco
MACHIAVELLI, Niccolò.
Discorsi Di Nicolo Machiavelli Pra La Prima Deca Di Tito Livio [bound with] Il Prencipe di Nicolo Machiavelli. [Machiavelli’s Discourses bound with The Prince].
Palermo: Apresso gli heredi d'Antoniello degli Antonielli , 1584 [London: John Wolfe].
Rare 16th century printing of John Wolfe's famed fictitious Italian editions of Machiavelli's fundamental works of political history and philosophy. Octavo, elaborately bound in full crushed morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, double gilt ruling and central motifs to the front and rear panels, gilt turn-ins. In near fine condition with occasional contemporary marginal notes. Rare.
Price: $40,000.00 Item Number: 129484
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“The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between”: Rare First Editions of the Full Orchestral Scores of the Symphonies of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven; Including the first appearance of of the full scores of Mozart's Overture to the Marriage of Figaro and Symphony no. 40
BEETHOVEN, Ludwig van; Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart .
A Compleat Collection of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven’s Symphonies, in Score, Most Respectfully Dedicated, by Permission, to H.R.H The Prince of Wales.
London: Lavenu, Cianchettini & Sperati, 1808-1810.
First editions of the first printings of the full orchestral scores of the complete symphonies of Beethoven, Mozart, and Hadyn. Quarto, two volumes bound in three quarters morocco over marbled boards wit gilt titles and tooling to the spine, including A Complete Collection of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven's Symphonies (Cianchettini and Sperati) and A Complete Collection of Mozart and Beethoven's Symphonies. A Compleat Collection of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven's Symphonies contains the first appearance of the full scores of Mozart's Overture to the Marriage of Figaro, Mozart's Symphony no. 40, and no. 41. (Fuld, The Book of World-Famous Music, 564-567). A Complete Collection…
Price: $40,000.00 Item Number: 95829
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“The rebirth of the soul is perpetual; only rebirth every hour could stay the hand of Satan": First Edition of Go Tell It On the Mountain; inscribed by James Baldwin to his mother
BALDWIN, James.
Go Tell It On The Mountain.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1953.
First edition of Baldwin's first book. Octavo, original cloth. Association copy, inscribed by James Baldwin on the front free endpaper to his mother, "Mama from Rizzy from Jimmy - August 21st!" The recipient, Baldwin's mother Emma Berdis Jones, left Baldwin's biological father before moving to Harlem where Baldwin was born on August 2, 1924. When James was 3 years old, his mother married a Baptist preacher David Baldwin with whom she had eight children between 1927 and 1943. The family was poor, and Baldwin's stepfather, to whom he referred in essays as his father, treated him more harshly than his…
Price: $40,000.00 Item Number: 125755
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“But, first, remember, remember, remember the signs. Say them to yourself when you wake in the morning and when you lie down at night, and when you wake in the middle of the night": Exceptionally rare complete first edition set of C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia
LEWIS, C.S. Illustrations by Pauline Baynes.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician’s Nephew, The Last Battle.
London: Geoffrey Bles/The Bodley Head, 1950-1956.
Complete first edition set of C.S. Lewis's best-selling work, one of the best-selling series of all time which has sold 120 million copies in 47 languages. “Adored by children and academics alike, these books are extremely collectable, sought-after, and scarce” (Connolly, 186). Octavo, seven volumes, original publisher's cloth, each volume illustrated with plates, in-text illustrations, and maps by Pauline Baynes, including colour where called for. Comprising first editions of: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, covers with light toning to the extremities, dust jacket with some restoration and repairs, 1950; Prince Caspian, price-clipped dust jacket with repairs and restoration,…
Price: $40,000.00 Item Number: 147528