Shop — page 1 of 53

Shakespeare’s Plays, gifted by the Canadian writer Robertson Davies to the daughter whom he named after Prospero’s daughter in The Tempest and affectionately inscribed: ‘For Miranda Davies with every good wish for her birthday December 24th 1954 - The Tempest Act III Sc. I. lines 38-40 from R.D.’ Davies’ reference is to Ferdinand’s encomium: ‘Admir… Read more…

Super Royal 8vo. Beautifully bound in soft brown calf, titled in gilt to spine with unusual, oversized yapp edges in very good condition. Striking red text block edges. Unmarked endpapers. Printed in Tamil. Text block clean and crisp throughout. Printed at the Diocesan Press Madras. Binders label to rear pastedown reads ‘Bound at The Methodist Publ… Read more…

An Edwardian era novelty thumb print and autograph book which spans 80 years of collecting from 1905 until 1985. ‘The Latest & Newest Form of Science and Amusement’. A gift inscription dated 2/9/05 to front free reads, ’Morley with love from Annie [Style]’. The first four entries next to vivid blue thumb prints read N. Style, Annie Style, Marion St… Read more…

A beautifully executed autograph and friendship album compiled by - or perhaps on behalf of the VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) Nurse Bielby who looked after wounded officers at Harewood House during 1918/1919. During these years at the end of the First World War, the stately home was loaned by Lord Harewood as a convalescent hospital for recovering… Read more…

Barnard Castle botany schoolbook from the year 1896 belonging to a pupil with the surname Robinson who attended the North Eastern County School now known as Barnard Castle School around 1896. (This pupil might be R Robinson whose name is recorded on the school’s South Africa 1899 - 1902 Roll of Honour.) Conscientiously illustrated and neatly writte… Read more…

Fiercely anti clerical typed manuscript which captures a society beginning to transition away from unquestioning religious observance. The author ‘J.H. Walters’, explicitly states their mission to expose ‘the grosser faults and fallacies of contemporary Christianity’, the ‘insincerity of its priesthood’ and the ‘baneful effects’ of religion on nati… Read more…

A fine, bright blue, soft backed catalogue which accompanied an exhibition of the works of William Tillyer at the Bernard Jacobson Gallery in London between 11th October and 30th November 2013. Accompanying the catalogue are six pristine colour plates presented within a matching blue sleeve which depict the cycle of six luminous landscape paintings… Read more…

Two First Editions in near fine condition. Achilles. First edition hardback in original jacket, inscribed by author. Jacket is fresh and unmarked with just a small nick to top edge of lower. Brown cloth boards and text block pristine. Inscribed in blue ink by the author to the title page, ‘with much love to Alistair & Jennifer / Liz / 1.iii.01’. Bo… Read more…

In very good condition. Four hand written manuscript letters dated 1982 and 1983, penned by English actor Julian Sands to Scottish writer and journalist Iain Finlayson. Written before his role as George Emerson in Merchant Ivory’s E M Forster adaptation, the letters range across family life, potential projects, collaborations, and work commitments.… Read more…

A pair of first editions in very good condition. Alamein to Zem Zem. Editions Poetry London: London, 1946. Strong card boards with orange cloth to spine. Small paper cutting of a review cellotaped to front pastedown; neat previous ownership inscription to front free; text block age toned as expected throughout; clean and unmarked. Alamein to Zem Ze… Read more…

First Edition in near fine condition and very good plus Uncorrected Proof Copy ‘Not For Sale’. Goodbye Mickey Mouse. Hutchinson: London, 1982. First Edition in original, very good dust wrapper. Red cloth boards lettered in silver to spine; unmarked, square and sound. Endpapers and text block crisp and unmarked. Original jacket very good. Goodbye Mi… Read more…

A very good, scarce first edition in original jacket. Blue publisher’s boards show very slight hints of shelf wear; square and sound. Clean and unmarked throughout text block. Frontispiece and 25 further illustrations very good; collated and complete. Original jacket very good, just a touch nicked to spine and tips of flaps. A lovely copy. Read more…

Five first editions from the complex early publication of Ezra Pound’s Cantos by Faber and Faber. 1 A Draft of XXX Cantos. Faber and Faber: London, 1933. 8vo. First UK Edition. In very good plus condition. Black cloth boards notably fresh, titled in gilt to spine; corners sharp. Text block edges rough trimmed. Clean, crisp and unmarked throughout.… Read more…

A unique photograph album containing 19 original mounted photographs above typed descriptions of the Royal Yacht Britannia’s arrival in Fort William (at dusk on August 17th 1958) and visit ashore the next day by the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and their children. Beautifully composed, square in format with slim white borders, the photographs inclu… Read more…

Owned by the London painter turned interior decorator and cabinet maker, George Morant a revised 1805 edition of this work by Irish clergyman, Matthew Pilkington, first published in London in 1770. Pilkington’s text revised and enlarged by Swiss painter Henry Fuseli. 19th century quarter red roan over green cloth very good, titled and dated in gilt… Read more…

Hand-drawn solar 80 page observation log documenting sunspot activity and astronomical data several times per week between June 1971 and July 1973 during the declining phase of Solar Cycle 20. Solar disc drawings to top of each leaf above recorded Universal Times, dates and telescope magnifications. Below are magnified, detailed drawings of specifi… Read more…

Early 20th century watercolour pocket sketchbook which offers a visual record of time spent in the late Ottoman Empire and of British pastoral and still life scenes. The first small watercolour to the front pastedown depicts a character in national Turkish costume in a street scene and is followed by 11 more full page scenes depicting the Topanch M… Read more…

A colour by numbers image of the conquest of Everest in 1953, presented by a young Everest collector to Tenzing Norgay in Leeds on June 1st 1977 and signed for him by the great mountaineer. Accompanying this image is a reproduction of a local newspaper clipping showing Bareham meeting his hero at Austicks bookshop in Leeds where Norgay was signing… Read more…

Lytton Strachey’s copy, formerly the Britwell Court copy, owned by Samuel Christy Miller. Large octavo bound in contemporary speckled calf with a gilt double fillet and shell motifs to the corners of the boards in gilt; remnants of a spine label; red speckled edges to the text block. Some cracking to the leather over the outer hinges. Dora Carringt… Read more…

Catalogue for a 1980 Arts Council of Great Britain retrospective show of the work of Victor Pasmore. Preface by Joanna Drew. Introduction by Alastair Grieve. 34 full page illustrations in colour and b/w. Catalogue Listings. Select Bibliography. Very good soft cover boards, illustrated to upper with ‘No 49 Volcano 1977’. A little foxing to text bloc… Read more…

Ambrose Heal’s personal copy of a scarce original sales catalogue of manuscripts issued by George Sherwood of 210 The Strand, London. The catalogue contains much which would have been of interest to Heal who researched, collected and published several volumes on the activities of London tradesmen from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Annota… Read more…

Uncommon First edition in good plus condition. Green cloth boards blind tooled; titled over white panel to upper; corners a little bumped; age toned. Yellow endpapers clean and unmarked. 4pp advertisements for Mr Weale’s New Series. Title page protected by original tissue guard. Coloured illustrations. viii, 167pp, index. Text block clean and unmar… Read more…

Scarce First Edition in good plus condition. Card wrappers age toned, suffering loss to spine panel which reveals binding beneath; text block shaken to earlier leaves but otherwise binding remains sound; clean and unmarked. Errata notice tipped in to p1. 60pp plus 24 pp illustrated list of colours and materials sold by Winsor & Newton; final few le… Read more…

Youthful scholar J. Harrison’s manuscript of advanced arithmetic and scientific exercises from Mr. Gibson’s Whitby School. There is no record of Mr Gibson’s school but it is likely to have been a private academy tailoring its curriculum to practical skills in a booming maritime and industrial region. Hand drawn, decorative title page inscribed ‘Ari… Read more…

Single volume acquired by the young Madeleine L’Engle in her late teens and bearing her thoughtful reflections on Shakespeare’s art. The first scene has a long passage in L’Engle’s hand on Shakespeare’s use of end-stopped lines and the influence of Christopher Marlowe, written at a level suggesting she probably made use of this text while at Smith… Read more…