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The earliest aeronautical writing to appear in print from either of the Wright brothers. Wilbur Wright’s ‘Angle of Incidence’ appeared in the London-based Aeronautical Journal, Volume V, in 1901 and deals with what is now called the ‘angle of attack’ - the angle at which an aeroplane meets the wind, an article which shows the young inventor challen… Read more…

Hans Holbein and Wenceslaus Hollar illustrated edition in near very good condition. Dark brown textured paper covered boards just a little bumped to corners and edges; slight nick to top edge; the outline of a water stain is evident to upper. Spine titled in gilt, cracking along joint with lower board. Endpapers and text block unmarked and very sou… Read more…

Crisp First Edition in original jacket in very good plus condition. Half blue over black cloth boards very good with a little shelf wear just evident to fore edges and a small stain to top edge of upper. Endpapers and text block clean, fresh and unmarked throughout; text block edges very lightly speckled. 558 pp. Original illustrated jacket very go… Read more…

A small quarto album illustrated with original photographs (including three by Frank Meadows Sutcliffe) and mounted watercolours that celebrate the compiler’s English travels. Uniformly laid out with a watercolour bouquet on the recto of each leaf opposite a mounted photograph backed by more greenery and flowers, the album begins in Ilkley, Yorkshi… Read more…

Affectionate and remarkably comprehensive, a friendship album compiled at ‘Yale College’ by Elizur T Washburn on what his friend A D Parker describes as ‘your hasty & unexpected departure from College’. Compiled in July 1826 Washburn persuaded 99 members of the 108 members of his graduating class to contribute to the book, and many have contributed… Read more…

First Editions in publisher’s bindings and scarce thus. Two volumes in good condition in quarter bindings of green cloth over paper covered pasteboards, titled in black on white spine labels. Both volumes housed within custom made light brown cloth covered drop back boxes in very good condition. Text blocks clean and unmarked. Endpapers reveal the… Read more…

First edition in good plus condition, in Carter's more elaborate binding ‘A’. Blackwood and Sons advertisements at the rear which only appear in some copies. Original orange cloth, embossed to upper and lower; titled and tooled in gilt to spine; a little bumped to corners; scuffed to spine top and tail; a little spine lean evident. Cracking over fr… Read more…

Second Edition complete with the desirable map of Oxford and plates. Contemporary half binding of brown calf over marbled boards in near good condition suffering loss to lower third of spine panel. Cracking over gutters; upper and lower boards very tender; otherwise a square and sound copy. Endpapers reveal an inscription dated 1850 which reads, ‘D… Read more…

First Edition in original dust wrapper with 16 full page and half page colour lithographs by John Craxton. Publisher’s pictorial cloth boards in very good, fresh, unmarked condition. A gift inscription to front free is dated Christmas 1945 and a small, neat ownership inscriotion sits to the top of the front pastedown. Text block clean and unmarked… Read more…

Alan Bennett’s distinctive signature on the title page sits alongside a whimsical self portrait of his face with round glasses and a small smile. The inscription above reads ‘to Alistair with best wishes from’. A soft cover first edition in good plus condition; upper wrapper and early leaves bumped to top right corner; sound and unmarked. 248 pp. A… Read more…

A new edition of 1985. Good, bound in tan cloth, binding loose, a well-read copy with numerous marks and underlining. Ownership inscriptions of Harold Wilson's mother 'Ethel Seddon, 34 City Road, Openshaw', and childish inscription of his son Robin Wilson. Laid in manuscript note in Harold Wilson's hand concerning Economic Theory. This book comes f… Read more…

Faber and Faber editions of Sylvia Plath’s major works including two first editions in near fine/very good condition: 1. Ariel : Faber and Faber: London,1965, fourth impression. Publisher’s orange cloth boards in near pristine condition. Clipped jacket very good with very light speckling to spine. Square, sound and unmarked copy. 86 pp. 2. The Colo… Read more…

Unrecorded example of the 1834 Shropshire Lent Assize calendar listing 23 court cases and sentences for crimes committed and tried before Sir James Allan Park Knight and Sir John Patteson Knight on March 18, 1834. Many named prisoners under sentences of transportation to Australia including Mary Onions aged 21 (she was transported to Tasmania on th… Read more…

Diary of a group of Manchester cotton magnates on a business trip to the United States, checking out the competition in Lowell, Massachusetts, and getting into a fist fight in New York City during a business dinner. This compelling diary charts a six week trip from Liverpool, England to Halifax, Nova Scotia, the group’s trip across cholera-ravaged… Read more…

Detailed atlas map in very good condition created by the British cartographer Herman Moll which depicts the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay and surrounding colonies of Virginia, Maryland, and parts of Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Plate mark measures 18.5 cm x 26.5 cm. Original b/w engraved map has been hand coloured. Neat tape repair to rear, all… Read more…

A - surely - unique miniature bas-relief bust of Jonathan Swift mounted permanently to a backing card. More usually an 18th century literary figure like Swift would be commemorated with the more traditional marble or bronze bust but this item does not appear to be mass manufactured and possibly an extremely characterful one off studio piece. PHYSIC… Read more…

A 474 page complete ‘Boys’ Own’ type adventure story begun by Miss Valence Carter of St Margaret’s, West Runton, Norfolk between April 8th 1923 and January 21st 1924. The entire story, titled ‘In Southern Seas’ is handwritten in a neat juvenile cursive, hand bound using black thread and has pasteboard covers and a tipped-in presentation note as a g… Read more…

An original engraved plate in very good condition produced c. mid 16th century, most probably in Antwerp by Philips or Johannes Galle. This print originates from the celebrated 104-print series titled ‘Venationes Ferarum, Avium, Piscium’ designed by Johannes Stradanus. Measures 20.7 cm x 28.4 cm. Pasted neatly onto a piece of cream card. Printed si… Read more…

The complete set of 5 novels in very good condition in the four volume Children of Violence sequence: Books I & II. MacGibbon and Kee: London, 1965. Martha Quest and A Proper Marriage: Red paper boards titled in gilt to spine in good condition with just a little spine lean. Text block clean and unmarked. Foyle’s Bookshop label to front pastedown. O… Read more…

Stylish first Edition in deep pink publisher’s cloth titled in gilt to spine in near fine condition; text block top edge a little specked otherwise crisp and clean throughout. Original unclipped jacket near very good, a little speckled to spine, lightly age toned to joints. A very sound and overall very good copy with just a touch of spine slant. 2… Read more…

Philip Larkin’s major works, the three later Faber editions all first editions in good to very good condition. The collection comprises: 1. The Less Deceived. The Marvell Press: London, 1962 reprint. 45 pp. In very good condition. Unmarked, square and sound copy. In original good plus unclipped dust jacket. 2. The Whitsun Weddings. Faber and Faber:… Read more…

A very uncommon, complete, unpunched example of this children’s miniature book in Father Tuck’s Panorama Series. Second Edition in near fine condition, printed in Bavaria. Oblong 12mo (12 cm tall; expands to 45 cm wide). Original embossed chromolithographed card wrappers. Inside front wrapper bears printed assembly instructions titled ‘How to Make… Read more…

The manuscript of a Christian Hebraist, a Wiltshire vicar in the last quarter of the 18th century, with a fascination for languages. Rev Edward Spencer has transcribed John Parkhurst’s Hebrew Grammar and followed it with an abbreviated version of Byrom’s Universal Shorthand, completing his study with several test transcriptions that he set himself:… Read more…

Two thank you gifts presented by the poet Geoffrey Hill, after a spell in hospital, to a close friend and colleague in the School of English at Leeds University. D S Savage’s The Personal Principle has a note laid in on Hill’s printed notecard thanking ‘Alastair and Jennifer’ for ‘your kindness during my time in hospital’ and offering to Jennifer ‘… Read more…

Pen and ink drawing by the Irish artist Hugh Thomson depicting a dramatic confrontation with the heroine Evelina, and used in the 1903 Macmillan illustrated edition of Fanny Burney’s 1778 epistolary novel. Executed on paper and backed onto card (22.5x30.5cm) the image is signed ‘H. Thomson 1903’ and depicts the hot-tempered grandmother Madame Duval… Read more…