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This scarce volume of confidential and outspoken letters includes many published for the first time allowing Charlotte Bronte to speak with her own voice in spite of her wishes that her correspondence to her friend Ellen Nussey should be burnt. `Men don't seem to understand making letters a vehicle of communication - they always seem to think us un… Read more…

Annotated Japanese-English dictionary from Hut 7 by a Bletchley Park code breaker - a colleague of Alan Turing’s - who used this book to assist him in working on intercepted Japanese naval ciphers. 5 inches thick across the spine, this brick of a dictionary takes us straight into the heart of Bletchley Park in the winter of 1944/5 where its owner H… Read more…

A remarkable copy of Mahler’s letters inscribed by his widow Alma Mahler to a close friend of the couple, the bass-baritone (under Gustav’s baton in Budapest in the 1880s) turned Viennese musicologist Ludwig Karpath who has gone on to annotate the book, drawing upon his personal knowledge of the composer. 17 of Gustav Mahler’s letters to Ludwig Kar… Read more…

‘Movies will make you famous; Television will make you rich; But theatre will make you good’ - a small archive of original run production scripts from some of Broadway’s most acclaimed productions. All six scripts come from the estate of Harold - Hal - Prince, who produced and or directed such landmark musicals as Fiddler On The Roof, Cabaret, West… Read more…

‘The Daredevil Aeronaut’, Vincent Lunardi’s account of his first balloon flights made in Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh in a collection of pamphlets which was owned by a leading Newcastle attorney and Clerk of the Peace, Thomas Davidson, who seems likely to have acquired this book in connection with Lunardi’s disastrous subsequent balloon ascent out… Read more…

British novelist Charles Kingsley’s annotated copy of Fisher’s essays about the political consequences for slavery of the admission to the Union of Kansas and Nebraska as potentially free - that is non-slaveholding - states. Broadly in favour of abolition but attached to the Southern cause by ties of family and birth - Kingsley’s grandparents were… Read more…

Two works devoted to women’s health by Nicolas Culpeper, both quite late though very uncommon editions which may have been issued together. The highlight of the volume is the elaborate woodcut delineating the differences between a foetus and a child together with a large woodcut depicting ‘The Form the Child lies in the womb’. Bound in contemporary… Read more…

A gift given in the midst of Bletchley Park’s war-winning code-breaking work to a young woman working on the site, inscribed anonymously ‘from all at Bletchley Feb. 1942’. Given the date of February 1942 this seems likely to be either a birthday present or, perhaps, taking into account the phrase ‘all at Bletchley’, possibly a leaving gift for some… Read more…

A scarce copy in good condition, 56 leaves of engravings, rebound in a later full calf. Boards lightly marked, 5 panel spine in good condition titled in gilt over red ground. Endpapers clean front and rear. Full page b/w engraved title page by Hukett in good condition. Contents include a list of subscribers’ names, characters and abbreviations made… Read more…

Scarce cheap edition of Rochester’s poems with 9 crudely executed plates. Bound in contemporary sheepskin with wear to the head and tail of the spine; two volumes in one; two frontispieces and 7 further plates. Bottom 4cm of the first title page replaced with an old paper graft, losing the imprint which fortunately survives on the second title page… Read more…

A ‘late’ Turing paper in which the scientist refines the conceptual framework around his ground-breaking and eponymous creation, the ‘Turing Machine’ It was in 1936 that Alan Turing famously proposed an imaginary device which would manipulate symbols on an infinite strip of tape. With the simple set of rules by which this device operated, Turing wa… Read more…

Inscribed first edition of Well’s first non-scientific book which relates twelve topical conversations with an imaginary uncle. The subjects covered by the authorial stand-in called George and his uncle include fashion, the resemblance of ideals to interior decoration, the art of being photographed, the agony of having to listen to a near neighbour… Read more…

RESERVED Seemingly unique surviving copy of this 1804 work intended to teach arithmetic to young women. The author William Butler was quite prolific but this 1804 imprint intended for ‘the use of his own Scholars’ does not appear to be held in any library; the 1809 edition is recorded but OCLC but records no library holdings. Presumably printed in… Read more…

‘This is a book warmly recommended to all who enjoy strong and lively writing with the warmth, colour, drama and humour of the South.’ C.V Wedgwood. 4th impression. Red cloth covered boards in excellent condition titled in gilt to spine. Spine ends a little shelf worn. Original dust jacket in good condition protected by non-adhesive clear plastic.… Read more…

Uncommon in original cloth binding, The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction was a weekly and later a monthly anthology-like publication featuring a variety of essays, articles, and illustrations. Originally published in the early 19th century, it reflected the interests and societal aspects of the time, particularly during the Victoria… Read more…

The last and in some ways most desirable volume of this edition by Edmond Malone and others containing Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Printed by John Exshaw, Grafton St Dublin with Irish provenance. Bound in contemporaneous full calf with gilt tooling and calf labels to spine over red and dark brown. Corners a little bumped, chip to spine bottom, age worn.… Read more…

A scarce copy of this 1845 edition of the Works of Edmund Spencer, the English poet best known for his epic poem The Faerie Queene which appears in this volume alongside a selection of notes from various commentators and a glossarial index with an account of the life of Spenser by the Rev. Henry John Todd. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION A robust volume in ve… Read more…

Volume 1 published in Dublin in 1795 with provenance to an Irish collection. Considered a landmark work in literary criticism, The Lives of the Poets offers valuable insights into the literary landscape of the time, with Johnson's distinctive style and critical perspective shaping the understanding of these poets. The book includes short biographie… Read more…

Laid into this First Edition is a typed and hand signed letter on House of Commons headed paper dated 26 th February 1960 from British soldier, lawyer and MP Airey Neave who during the Second World War was the first British prisoner of war to succeed in escaping from Colditz Castle, and who later worked for MI9. Ben Macintyre’s account tells the ta… Read more…

Volume 5 of a collection containing fictional letters claiming to have been written by an Ottoman spy named Mahmut in the French court of Louis XIV. In good condition. Panelled calf delicately blind ruled and embossed to front and rear. Corners bumped, a little chipped. Spine in 5 compartments, numbered 5 to top in worn gilt. Head and tail chipped,… Read more…

1754, Volume 2. The Works of Dr Jonathan Swift, Dean of St Patrick’s, Dublin. In good condition but sadly split completely and very cleanly into 2 parts down the very centre of the spine and held only by a single string binding to spine bottom. Calf boards embossed in gilt to edges, corners bumped, some abrasions. Spine panel in spite of damage sti… Read more…

In very good condition 1890s edition in publisher’s cloth featuring gilt lettering and scarce design to front and spine. Minor shelf wear to corners, edges and spine ends. A few slight spots to front and rear boards. End papers and flyleaves clean, a little age toned. A very sound copy. Over 100 charming illustrations throughout by Harrison Weir. 4… Read more…

Leeds born Marie Hartley was a graduate of Leeds College of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art. As an illustrative artist she travelled round the Yorkshire dales in the 1930s gathering information and talking to dales folk about their lives and traditions. Her contribution to an understanding of the Yorkshire region has been recognised by honorar… Read more…

4 volumes - 3, 4, 5 and 8 - presented to George Hamilton in 1750 on his successful matriculation in Law from Trinity College Dublin. George was an Irish politician, barrister and judge. He sat in the Irish House of Commons as MP for Belfast, and held office as Third Serjeant-at-law and later as a Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland). Today he… Read more…

A pioneering anthropologist and folklorist, Andrew Lang was the first to compile a serious, critical survey of ghost stories. This First Edition of his work presents scores of well-attested tales from civilisations around the world about visitations from spirits. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Hardcover in good condition throughout bound in blue cloth printe… Read more…