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"Man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world – and defines himself afterwards": First Edition of Existentialism and Humanism; Signed by Jean-Paul Sartre
SARTRE, Jean-Paul.
Existentialism and Humanism.
London: Methuen and Co, 1948.
First edition of Sartre's seminal work on existentialism. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by Jean-Paul Sartre on the front free endpaper. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Translation and introduction by Philip Mairet. Rare and desirable signed.
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 144017
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"Life is the flower for which love is the honey": The Cabinet Edition of The Works of Victor Hugo; one of only 1000 numbered copies finely Bound and elaborately illustrated
HUGO, Victor.
The Works of Victor Hugo: Including [Les Misérables, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, The Contemplations and The Legend of the Ages].
Boston: George H. Richmond & Co, 1892.
Finely bound complete set of the Cabinet edition of the Works of Victor Hugo, one of 1000 numbered sets produced. Octavo, 40 volumes bound in three quarters morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in three compartments within raised gilt bands, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt with others untrimmed, illustrated with tissue-guarded engravings including frontispieces to each volume. In near fine condition. From the library of A.J. Morgan with his bookplate. An exceptional set.
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 133601
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First Edition of Jack Kerouac's On The Road
KEROUAC, Jack.
On The Road.
New York: The Viking Press, 1957.
First edition of Kerouac's classic novel. Octavo, original black cloth. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket with light rubbing and wear. Jacket design by Bill English. A sharp example.
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 144208
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First Edition in English of Knut Hamsun's August; Inscribed by Him in the Year of Publication
HAMSUN, Knut.
August.
New York: Coward-McCann, 1931.
First American edition and first in English, preceding the British edition by one year of the Nobel Prize-winning author's classic work. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author in the year of publication on the front free endpaper, "B.A. Abel from yours respectfully Knut Hamsun 12/11.31." Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Translated from the Norwegian by Eugene Gay-Tifft. Books inscribed by Hamsun are rare.
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 122385
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First Edition of Felix Salten's Bambi's Children: The Story of a Forest Family; Inscribed by Him
SALTEN, Felix.
Bambi’s Children: The Story of a Forest Family.
Indianapolis : Bobbs-Merrill, 1939.
First edition of this classic work, the sequel to Bambi. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated by Erna Pinner. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To Charles Felix Salten." The recipient, Charles Austin Perry, was an Episcopal clergyman and longtime Provost of the Washington National Cathedral. Near fine in a very good price-clipped dust jacket, bookplate of the recipient. Translated by Barthold Fles. Edited by R. Sugden Tilley. Books signed by Salten are exceptionally rare.
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 131302
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First edition of D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover; one of 1000 copies privately printed and signed by D.H. Lawrence
LAWRENCE, D.H.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
Florence: Privately Printed [by the Tipografia Giuntina], 1928.
First edition and signed limited edition of D.H. Lawrence's most ambitious, significant, and explicit work on sex and romance. Octavo, original publisher's mulberry paper-covered boards with white paper spine label, central Phoenix motif to the front panel. One of one thousand copies signed by D.H. Lawrence on the limitation page. In very good condition, bookplate to the front pastedown.
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 139391
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"MY ALLY & FRIEND, WITH THE PRAYER THAT WE'LL KEEP ON FIGHTING. SOONER OR LATER, WE'LL WIN": First Edition of Nobody Knows My Name; Signed by James Baldwin
BALDWIN, James.
Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son.
New York : The Dial Press, 1961.
First edition of Baldwin’s second major book of essays, featuring his powerful analyses of the politics of race and his controversial three-part essay on Richard Wright. Octavo, original half cloth. Signed and dated by the author on the front free endpaper, "James Baldwin 9/15 - 74." Near fine in a good dust jacket with rubbing to the extremities. Jacket design by Robert Jonas. Jacket photograph by Roy Hyrkin. Rare and desirable signed.
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 145473
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The First Annotated Edition of Cervantes' Masterpiece El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha
CERVANTES, Miguel De.
El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha.
Madrid: Gabriel de Sancha, 1797-98.
First edition of the first annotated edition of Don Quixote. Octavo, five volumes, bound in contemporary tree calf, covers with a swashed diagonal cross, edged with a gilt roll, gilt bands and green lettering pieces, marbled endpapers, sprinkled edges. With 2 engraved portraits, 2 engraved headpieces, 3 folding maps, and 31 engraved plates executed by P. Duflos and Moreno Tejada after R. Ximeno, A. Navarro, Monnet and Camaron y Paret. In near fine condition. "This beautiful edition, which is printed on excellent paper, is of the highest importance for Pellicer's erudite notes and commentary, and for his painstaking corrections of…
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 62015
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The Sun-Dial edition of the works of Joseph Conrad; one of 735 numbered sets signed by Joseph Conrad in volume one
CONRAD, Joseph.
The Works of Joseph Conrad.
Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1920-1928.
The Sun-Dial edition of the works of Joseph Conrad. Octavo, 24 volumes bound in three quarters morocco by Frost & Co., with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers, frontispiece portrait of Conrad to vol. I. One of seven hundred and thirty-five numbered copies with the first volume signed by the author, this is number 478. In very good condition.
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 144388
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"There is no body cavity that cannot be reached with a number fourteen needle and a good strong arm.' (Law VI)": First Edition of The House of God; Lengthily Signed by Samuel Shem
SHEM, Samuel.
The House of God.
New York: Richard Marek Publishers, 1978.
First edition of one of the most important medical novels ever written. Octavo, original half cloth. Lengthily signed by the author on title page, "To my dear reader of this rare 1st edition at age 40 this year. 'There is no body cavity that cannot be reached with a number fourteen needle and a good strong arm.' (Law VI) Shem 8/28/18." Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Jacket design by Larry Noble. First editions are rare, especially signed with such a lengthy inscription.
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 145884
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“Experience teaches us in a millennium what passion teaches us in an hour": Rare First Edition of Olive Schreiner's The Story of an African Farm; From the library of Sir Lionel Phillips
SCHREINER, Olive [as Ralph Iron].
The Story of an African Farm: A Novel.
London: Chapman and Hall, 1883.
First edition of this highspot of African literature. Octavo, 2 volumes bound in three quarters contemporary morocco over marbled boards with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers. Published under the pseudonym 'Ralph Iron', the entire printing of this first edition has been estimated to be about 300 copies and most were destined to libraries. From the library of British-born South African financier, mining magnate and politician Sir Lionel Phillips with his bookplates to the pastedowns. Lionel and Florence Phillips left South Africa a major legacy through their art collections.…
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 118143
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"WE WENT SLIPPING SILENTLY ALONG, BETWEEN THE GREEN AND FRAGRANT BANKS, WITH A SENSE OF PLEASURE AND CONTENTMENT THAT GREW AND GREW": FIRST EDITION OF MARK TWAIN'S A TRAMP ABROAD
TWAIN, Mark. [Samuel L. Clemens].
A Tramp Abroad.
Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company, 1880.
First edition, first state of Twain's classic fictionalized account of his walking tour of central and southern Europe. Octavo, original publisher's pictorial gilt-stamped brown cloth, with 328 illustrations by Walter Francis Brown, True Williams, W.W. Denslow, and with four 'pictures made by the author of this book, without outside help' with the first state frontispiece captioned “Moses” and state A of the text-block. BAL 3386. In fine condition. Small bookplate and ownership name. Housed in a custom slipcase. An exceptional example of this American classic, easily the nicest we have seen.
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 136080
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"Thank God for books and music and things I can think about" First edition of the Daniel Keyes Classic Work; Warmly Inscribed by Him
KEYES, Daniel.
Flowers for Algernon.
New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc, 1966.
First edition of the author's Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novel, basis for the Oscar award-winning movie adaptation Charly. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, "To Linnea Loge a fine writing student, for whom it is a pleasure to inscribe this- Best Wishes Daniel Keyes Athens Ohio, February 3, 1967." Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Carl Smith. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box.
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 703
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"Belongs on the shelf with Ibsen and Hauptmann": First American edition of James Joyce's Exiles: A Play in Three Acts
JOYCE, James.
Exiles. A Play in Three Acts.
New York: B. W. Heubsch, 1918.
First American edition, first printing of Joyce's beguiling piece of drama, staged in English only once in Joyce's lifetime and rarely revived. Octavo, original half cloth over grey boards, title stamped in blind to upper board, lettered in gilt to spine. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. A very nice copy of this scarce work in the original jacket.
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 144590
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A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, now entitled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night... [with] Supplemental Nights
BURTON, Richard F.
A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now entitled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night… [with] Supplemental Nights.
Benares: Printed by the Kamashastra Society for Private Subscribers only, .
First Burton edition of The Arabian Nights. Octavo, 16 volumes, bound in three quarter red crushed morocco, gilt titles and tooling to the spin, raised bands, top edge gilt, illustrated. In near fine condition.
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 119367
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First Edition of Aldous Huxley's The Art of Seeing; Inscribed by Him in the year of publication
HUXLEY, Aldous.
The Art of Seeing.
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1942.
First edition of this classic work which details Huxley's experience with and views on the controversial Bates method, which according to him improved his eyesight. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author in the year of publication on the front free endpaper, "For Gordon Ross, Sincerely, Aldous Huxley 1942." Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Rare and desirable signed and inscribed.
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 139207
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"Arguably the central text of the Harlem Renaissance... hailed as an important revision of the slave narrative and a forerunner of black protest fiction": First edition of James Weldon Johnson's An Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
JOHNSON, James Weldon.
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.
Boston: Sherman, French & Company, 1912.
First edition of the work the central text of the Harlem Renaissance, hailed as the link between 19th and 20th African American narratives. Octavo, original cloth stamped in gilt. In very good condition. Rare.
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 124993
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“There is no better antidote against entertaining too high an opinion of others than having an excellent one of ourselves at the very same time": Rare first edition collection of Sil Walter Scott's Waverly Novels
SCOTT, Sir Walter.
The Waverly Novels First Edition Collection.
Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co.; and John Ballantyne; And Hurst, Robinson, and Co., London, 1816-1821.
First edition collection of Scott's Waverly Novels. Octavo, bound in full contemporary cloth with morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, the set includes first editions of The Antiquary (1816, 3 volumes, half-titles present); Guy Mannering (1817); Rob Roy (1818, 3 volumes, half-titles); and The Abbot (1820, 3 volumes); Tales of My Landlord (second series: 1818, 4 volumes; third series: 1819, 4 volumes; fourth series: 1832, vol. 1-3); Ivanhoe (1820, 3 volumes); The Monastery (1820, 3 volumes); Kenilworth (1821, 3 volumes, half-titles); Peveril of the Peak (1822, 4 volumes); The Pirate (1822, 3 volumes); Fortunes of Nigel (1822, 3 volumes); Quentin Durward…
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 124020
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First Edition of E.M. Forster's Howard's End
FORSTER, E.M.
Howard’s End.
London: Edward Arnold, 1910.
first edition of this classic novel. Octavo, original cloth. Edith Nesbit's copy with her ink ownership inscription on the front free endppaer, "E. Nesbit Bland, November 1 1910". Presentation copy with ink stamp to the title page. E.M. Forster first met Nesbit at her house in 1909. Nesbit had contacted the author after reading and admiring A Room with a View and wrote to invite him for lunch and to discuss his work. The two authors became friends and Forster would make regular appearances at Nesbit's gatherings of writers, artists and intellectuals. It seems likely that this copy was sent…
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 130838
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"The ability to think for one's self depends upon one's mastery of the language": First Edition of Slouching Towards Bethlehem; Signed by Joan Didion
DIDION, Joan.
Slouching Towards Bethlehem.
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1968.
First edition of what many consider her magnum opus. Octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed by Joan Didion on the second half-title page. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Lawrence Ratzkin. An exceptional example, rare and desirable signed.
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 147965
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"If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more": THE WORKS OF JANE AUSTEN; Finely Bound
AUSTEN, Jane.
The Works of Jane Austen [Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, and Emma].
Edinburgh: John Grant, 1911-12.
The Winchester edition of the works of Jane Austen containing each of her major novels. Octavo, 12 volumes, bound in three quarters calf, gilt titles and tooling to the spine, gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, top edge gilt. Contains Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion, Lady Susan, and The Watstons. In fine condition. An exceptional set.
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 142080
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"A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses a moment of experience from which to look ahead": First Edition of Graham Greene's Classic Work; The End of the Affair; Inscribed by Him
GREENE, Graham.
The End of the Affair.
London: William Heinemann, 1951.
First edition of the Graham Greene novel William Faulkner called, "one of the best, most true and moving novels of my time, in anybody's language." Octavo, original cloth. Inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "For Jerry Shestack from Graham Greene." The recipient Jerry Shestack was a distinguished American Jurist, President of the American Bar Association and United States ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Civil Rights. Light shelfwear, near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery.
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 23054
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Rare complete first edition, presentation copy set of The Bounty Trilogy; each volume inscribed by James Norman Hall to fellow authors Charles R. and Theodora Larocque Codman
NORDHOFF, Charles and James Norman Hall.
The Bounty Trilogy: Mutiny on the Bounty, Men Against the Sea, Pitcairn’s Island.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1932-34.
First editions of all three volumes of The Bounty Trilogy, based on the historical event of 1789 and adapted into the award-winning 1962 film starring Marlon Brando. Octavo, original publisher's cloth, cartographic endpapers. Presentation copies, each volume inscribed by James Norman Hall. Mutiny on the Bounty is inscribed by James Norman Hall on the half-title page, "For Charley + Theodora with warm regards James H. Hall." Men Against the Sea is inscribed on the second half-title page, "For Charley Codman from his friend James N. Hall. Pitcairn's Island is inscribed on the half-title page, "For Theodora Codman with warm regards…
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 145233
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“It is a great misfortune to be alone, my friends; and it must be believed that solitude can quickly destroy reason": Rare First Editions of Each volume in Jules Verne's Mysterious Island Trilogy
VERNE, Jules.
The Mysterious Island Trilogy: Dropped From the Clouds, Abandoned, and The Secret of the Island.
New York: Scribner, Armstrong, & Co, 1875.
First editions in English of each volume in Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island trilogy. Octavo, three volumes in the original publisher's pictorial cloth, all edges gilt, illustrated with engravings including tissue-guarded frontispieces. Translated from the French by W.H.G. Kingston. Each volume is in very good condition.
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 146148