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First Edition of John Irving's Rare First Book Setting Free The Bears; Lengthily Inscribed by Him
IRVING, John.
Setting Free the Bears.
New York: Random House, 1968.
First edition of the author's first book. Octavo, original half cloth. Presentation copy, lengthily inscribed [5 line inscription] by John Irving on the half- title page. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Carl Weiss. Illustration by Robert Dale. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 1351
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“YOU DRAW CLOSER TO TRUTH BY SHUTTING YOURSELF OFF FROM MANKIND”: FIRST EDITION OF AUTO-DA-FE; SIGNED BY ELIAS CANETTI
CANETTI, Elias.
Auto-Da-Fe.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1946.
First edition in English of the Nobel Prize-winning author's most well-known work. Octavo, original black cloth. Signed by Elias Canetti on the front free endpaper. Fine in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket with light shelfwear. Translated by from the German by C. V. Wedgwood. Rare and desirable signed.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 48755
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First Edition of George S. Schuyler's Black No More; Signed by Him in the year of publication
SCHUYLER, George S.
Black No More: Being An Account Of The Strange And Wonderful Workings Of Science In The Land Of The Free, A.D. 1933-1940.
New York: The Macauley Company, 1931.
First edition of this classic Harlem Renaissance novel. Octavo, original cloth. Signed by the author opposite the half-title page in the year of publication, "George S. Schuyler October 18, 1931." From the library of William Steen, one of the original editors of the Ethiopian Herald. In very good condition. Signed first editions are scarce.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 124547
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Rare First Edition of the Autobiography of James L. Smith
SMITH, James L.
Autobiography of James L. Smith, Including, Also, Reminiscences of Slave Life, Recollections of the War, Education of Freedmen, Causes of the Exodus.
Norwich, CT: Press of the Bulletin Company, 1881.
Rare first edition of this autobiography describing Smith's life as a slave in Virginia, his escape north 1838, and life as a freeman. Octavo, original cloth. In near fine condition. Blockson 9202; HSP/LCP Afro-Americana Catalog 9524.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 130414
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“the feeling of being lost in time and geography with months and years hazily sparkling ahead in a prospect of inconjecturable magic": First Edition of Each Work in Patrick Leigh Fermor's Trilogy; Each Signed by Him
LEIGH FERMOR, Patrick.
A Time of Gifts; Between the Woods and the Water; The Broken Road.
London: John Murray, 1977-2013.
First editions of each volume in Leigh Fermor's trilogy. Octavo, original cloth. A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water are signed by Patrick Leigh Fermor on the title page. The Broken Road, which was published posthumously is signed by editors Colin Thubron and Artemis Cooper on the title page. Jacket artwork by John Craxton. Near fine in excellent dust jackets, name to the front free endpaper on the first volume. An exceptional set, uncommon signed.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 137399
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Signed Limited Edition of The Lanthorn Book; Signed by Stephen Crane
CRANE, Stephen. Irving Bacheller.
The Lanthorn Book: Being a Small Collection of Tales and Verses Read at The Sign o’ the Lanthorn.
New York: 126 William Street, 1898.
Signed limited edition, this is number 47. Quarter, original half cloth. Signed by Stephen Crane at the conclusion of his contribution, The Wise Men. Also signed by the other contributors. While it was the intention of the club to have each contributor sign his piece, Crane did not sign all 125 examples, as he died at age 28 in the year 1900. In near fine condition, rebacked, charming illustration to the front free endpaper. Rare and desirable.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 141808
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“Only the magic and the dream are true — all the rest's a lie": First Edition of Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea; Signed by Her
RHYS, Jean.
Wide Sargasso Sea.
London: Andre Deutsch , 1966.
First edition of this “tour de force” (New York Times Book Review). Octavo, original cloth. Signed by Jean Rhys. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket with a touch of shelfwear. Introduction by Francis Wyndham. Jacket design by Eric Thomas. Rare and desirable signed.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 45075
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Rare First Edition of Emily Dickinson's The Single Hound. Poems of a Lifetime
DICKINSON, Emily.
The Single Hound. Poems of a Lifetime.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1914.
First edition one of only 595 copies of Dickinson's fourth collection of poetry. Octavo, original cloth. The Thomas Bird Mosher copy with his bookplate. Mosher was a notable private press publisher out of Portland, Maine. In fine condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell and chemise case. An exceptional example with noted provenance.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 127543
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“If you want him to do it, you've got to change the picture of the world inside his head": First Edition of All the King's Men; Signed by Robert Penn Warren
WARREN, Robert Penn.
All The King’s Men.
New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1946.
First edition of the author's Pulitzer Prize-winning work. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by Robert Penn Warren on the front free endpaper. Near fine in the second state dust jacket which is in good condition with the $3.00 price present. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 143762
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"Poetry makes life what lights and music do the stage": FIRST EDITION in book form OF DICKENS’ The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club; finely bound
DICKENS, Charles.
The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.
London: Chapman and Hall, 1837.
First edition in book form of Dickens' first novel and one of his greatest works. Octavo, bound in three quarters morocco over marbled boards with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, marbled endpapers, with the first state Veller title page, with 43 engraved plates by Seymour and Browne and five Buss plates which Dickens requested to be removed in subsequent printings. In very good condition.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 99840
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First edition in English of Yukio Mishima's Five Modern No Plays; inscribed by him to Bella Spewack
MISHIMA, Yukio.
Five Modern Nō Plays.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1957.
First edition in English of the author's collection of five Nō plays. Octavo, original half cloth, illustrated wit ten photographs in half tone. Translated, with am introduction by Donald Keene. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To Belle Spewack with the author's best wishes Yukio Mishima Feb. 1966 Tokyo." The recipient, Bella and her husband Samuel Spewack co-authored several of the most memorable works of musical theatre history including Kiss Me, Kate. Very good in a very good dust jacket. Jacket design by Philip Grushkin.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 138221
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“If I were fire, I would burn; if I were a woodcutter, I would strike. But I am a heart, and I love": Rare First Greek Edition of The Last Temptation of Christ; Lengthily Signed by Translator Peter Bien
KAZANTZAKIS, Nikos.
The Last Temptation of Christ [First Edition in Greek].
Athena: Thiphros, 1955.
First edition in Greek, preceding the English translation of this historical novel, basis for the 1988 Academy Award nominated film. Octavo, original wrappers. Lengthily signed by the translator Peter Bien on the half-title page with the famous quote from the novel, "If I were fire, I would burn; if I were a woodcutter, I would strike. But I am a heart, and I love." Peter Bien." In near fine condition. Rare and desirable.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 138555
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Finely Bound Set of Plato's Dialogues
PLATO,.
Plato’s Dialogues.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1892.
Finely bound set contains Plato's Dialogues. Octavo, five volumes, bound in full morocco, gilt titles to the spine, raised bands, gilt portrait to the front and rear panels of each volume, all edges gilt, inner dentelles. Translated by Benjamin Jowett. In fine condition. An exceptional set.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 140887
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“YOU TOOK THE BEST, SO WHY NOT TAKE THE REST?”: FIRST EDITION OF ANOTHER COUNTRY; inscribed by James Baldwin
BALDWIN, James.
Another Country.
London: Michael Joseph, 1963.
First edition of Baldwin's classic work, nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read. Octavo, bound in full morocco by the Harcourt Bindery with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling to the front and rear panel, gilt inner dentelles stamp-signed by the Harcourt Bindery, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Inscribed by the author on the dedication page, "For Betty: Peace. James Baldwin." In fine condition.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 144034
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“HE HAD GLIMPSES OF THE DEAD, CALMLY EXPECTANT EMPTINESS OF HIS SURROUNDINGS WITH WHICH THE EMPTINESS OF HIS SOUL SEEMED DETERMINED TO BLEND”: FIRST EDITION OF MAXIM GORKY'S THE SPY: THE STORY OF A SUPERFLUOUS MAN; INSCRIBED BY HIM
GORKY, Maxim.
The Spy: The Story of a Superfluous Man.
New York: B. W. Huebsch, 1918.
First American edition. Octavo, original cloth. Inscribed by Maxim Gorky on the front free endpaper in both English and Cyrillic. Translated from the Russian by Thomas Seltzer. Books signed and inscribed by Gorky are uncommon.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 51082
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Exceedingly rare first edition of Rudyard Kipling's A Call to the Nation
KIPLING, Rudyard.
A Call to the Nation.
London: The Daily Express, 1908.
First edition of Kipling's speech delivered at Lord Derby's Recruiting Campaign for the West Lancashire Territorial Battalions. Quarto, original wrappers. Housed in a custom half morocco and chemise case. Exceedingly rare. From the library of Raymond J. Schweizer with his bookplate to the pastedown. Rare with no recorded examples at auction in the last 60 years.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 121049
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First Edition of Stephen Sondheim's Collected Lyrics: Look I Made A hat; Inscribed by Him to Fellow Writer Annie Dillard
SONDHEIM, Stephen [Annie Dillard].
The Collected Lyrics of Stephen Sondheim. Look, I Made a Hat.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010.
First editions of the collected lyrics of Stephen Sondheim. Quarto, original boards, illustrated throughout. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author opposite the title page to fellow writer Annie Dillard, "For Annie Best Wishes from Stephen Sondheim." Fine in a fine dust jacket. From the library of Annie Dillard.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 133175
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Rare Limited Signed Edition of You Do Not Have To Love Me; Signed by Leonard Cohen and an original painting by Soheyl Dahi
COHEN, Leonard; Painting by Soheyl Dahi.
You Do Not Have To Love Me.
San Francisco: Sore Dove Press, 2008.
Signed limited issue, "Publisher's copy no. 3", from 26 copies signed by Cohen with an original painting by Soheyl Dahi, Cohen's close friend and the founder of the Sore Dove Press. The object of the poem was the singer-songwriter Nico, who was "idealized by Cohen and made a subject of his worship" (Mesac, p. 91). You Do Not Have To Love Me first appeared in Selected Poems 1956-1968 (1968), alongside a number of other poems that reference Nico. To Cohen, who was still early in his music career, "Nico represented all the women he had ever wanted and the more…
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 147664
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"Reality is one of the possibilities I cannot afford to ignore": First Edition of Beautiful Losers; Warmly Inscribed by Leonard Cohen
COHEN, Leonard.
Beautiful Losers.
New York: The Viking Press, 1966.
First edition of Cohen's second and final novel. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, lengthily inscribed by the author on the title page, "To William on his 60th Birthday warm regards Leonard Cohen Montreal 2008." Fine in a near fine dust jacket with only the lightest of wear. Jacket design by Gilda Kuhlman.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 99786
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First Edition of Last Tales; Signed by Isak Dinesen
DINESEN, Isak [Karen Blixen].
Last Tales.
New York: Random House, 1957.
First edition of this classic collection of short stories. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by the author on the half-title page, "Isak Dinesen Je Responderai." While in Africa, Blixen took as her motto “Je Responderai,” “I will answer,” from the family crest of her lover, Denys Finch-Hatton. She explained: “I liked this old motto so much that I asked Denys, an earlier pioneer in African than myself – although all we settlers who had come out before the war looked upon ourselves as one family, a kind of Mayflower people – if I might have it for my own. He…
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 145946