Shop — page 2 of 47

Fine fourth impression of the Bloomsbury true first edition of the first Harry Potter novel. Number line: ‘10 9 8 7 6 5 4’; no gap between ‘Thomas Taylor1997’ as called for; young Dumbledore and priced at £10.99: fine in fine dustjacket. The book hasn’t been read; there are no marks of ownership or blemishes of any kind and no fading to the spine c… Read more…

A book presented to Ely Cathedral Library by Bishop Symon Patrick (1626-1707) during the 1690s as part of his drive to revive the Cathedral where he rebuilt the Bishop’s Palace and strengthened the holdings in the Cathedral library as well as supporting the Cambridge University Press and founding the S.P.C.K. On the last page of text Patrick has wr… Read more…

A remarkable multi-national vellum-bound autograph book and album that witnesses the moment when General Allenby captured Jerusalem in December 1917, ending 400 years of Ottoman rule and establishing British control over Palestine during World War I. Apparently compiled by a Jewish woman called Shulamith Shabtai whose name appears repeatedly as wel… Read more…

Elaborately inscribed by Frost to an ‘old old friend’ from his time in England with the Dymock Poets in rural Gloucestershire just before the First World War. Writing on the first flyleaf Frost has inscribed the book ‘For Robin Haines of Gloucester from his old old friend Robert Frost once of not far from Gloucester, Amherst Mass, November 27 1937’… Read more…

Gifted by one American serviceman to another, a collection of risque Belle Epoque French postcards with provenance linking the collection to US combatants in Europe during the First World War. Just off the boat from convoy ‘Henry Mercier U.S.S. Albany’ has recorded his ownership first, before giving it to a member of the Marine Corps: ‘to James J B… Read more…

An archive of affectionate, funny and deeply personal hand-written postcards and letters spanning the years 1972 - 1984, sent from American singer, dancer and actress Eartha Kitt to close friends Stewart and Peter Harries. The Harries brothers were part of Kitt's inner circle who often hosted her and collaborated professionally on various projects.… Read more…

Engineering map of the Buenos Aires district owned and inscribed by the Welsh railway engineer Arthur - Arturo - Coleman who moved to Argentina to become a central figure in the construction of Argentina’s Great Southern Railway or FC Sud in the 1890s. Coleman (1868-1952), who has inscribed the tail of the map, helped develop cities in the desert,… Read more…

Tenth edition of the foundational work of modern economics by Adam Smith, attractively bound in half black calf over marbled boards. A good looking set in a binding from a few decades after its publication. Octavo volumes (21x13cm) Vol III is the only one of the three with its spine label. Volumes I and III are bound without their half title; Vol I… Read more…

Artist Gordon King’s original artwork for this ‘colourful and stimulating introduction to Shakespeare’s England’ from the 1970s comprising 10 surprisingly powerful pieces in a mixture of watercolour, oil and acrylics which portray a performance at the Globe Theatre, figures from Elizabethan life and a large idealised depiction of a performance of A… Read more…

Diary of a young British officer with the China Squadron, based in Hong Kong and patrolling Chinese and Japanese waters between 1886-1889 to enforce the Pax Britannica. In the late 1880s the British navy’s China Squadron was the primary instrument of British imperial power in East Asia, protecting commercial interest and securing naval supremacy, e… Read more…

Autograph novel manuscript bound in two volumes by Neil Bell, AKA Stephen Southwold, together with the dedication copy of the printed work, inscribed on the dedication page with Bell’s nickname ‘Bunty’. Large quarto format in a custom binding with gilt labelling to the upper boards and spine. Bell has recorded the manuscript’s provenance on the 2nd… Read more…

A signed, framed Certificate presented in 2014 to the singer-songwriter Marianne Faithfull by the artist and musician Yoko Ono, recognising that ‘You have been put through the thorns of scorn and misunderstanding... Your work as a creator of music, actor and performer has shown like a beacon in the world...’ - sentiments that might apply as much to… Read more…

Lithographic railway map owned and annotated by the Welsh-Argentinean Railway Engineer Gustavus Wilmot Rufus (GWR!) Coleman, brother of the legendary railway builder in Argentina, Arthur Coleman. The Coleman brothers were central to the construction of Argentina’s Great Southern Railway or FC Sud in the 1890s, and Gustavus - or perhaps his brother… Read more…

Pete Seeger in environmental mode, writing to his friend and long term artistic collaborator the photographer Dan Budnik, who took the portrait of Seeger that appears on the lower panel of the book’s dustjacket. Four letters to Budnik from Pete Seeger are laid into the book, two concerning Seeger’s advocacy for ‘some crucial river scenes which may… Read more…

Early edition with beautifully executed and seemingly contemporary hand colouring to initial letters, printer’s ornaments and armorials. This volume is bound in a 19th century half parchment over marbled boards with the spine hand titled in black ink. Pleasingly firm and square, a little rubbed to corners and age toned to spine. Endpapers clean, ag… Read more…

Considered and reflective of a full artistic life, a potted manuscript autobiography, titled ‘Reflections’ written by the painter, engraver and printer Lucien Pissarro. Written across two sheets of paper, Pissarro praises his impressionist painter father as ‘a splendid teacher, never imposing his personality on his pupils’ who ‘made me work direct… Read more…

First edition of the 1954 security hearing held by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission that revoked the clearance of the ‘father of the atomic bomb’, Robert Oppenheimer. Over four weeks, it investigated his loyalty, past left-wing associations, and opposition to the hydrogen bomb, marking a peak of Cold War-era anti-communist McCarthyism. These proce… Read more…

Rare printed collection of heartfelt mid 19th century poetry written by an aristocratic woman and printed to a remarkably high standard by an otherwise almost unknown provincial press new Newcastle. DESCRIPTION: Large quarto format (22x28cm) bound in ribbed red cloth with gilt decoration; a few marks to boards but very good; all edges gilt. Vibrant… Read more…

Three works that form part of the outpouring of commentary and mourning that followed the execution of Charles I in January 1649. The most famous of these works, Eikon Basilike appears first but lacks its portrait. The third text in the work, the Apophthegms, may be the version that appeared alongside this edition of the Eikon. Between the two impr… Read more…

Two unrecorded anti-slavery pamphlets addressing the forced migration of labourers from the Polynesian islands and of so-called ‘coolie emigration’ from ‘French West Indian and South American possessions’ to British India. These otherwise unknown texts have been bound alongside two classic British pamphleteering texts attacking American slavery, du… Read more…

Richly provenanced Nelson family association copy presented by Horatio Nelson’s niece Charlotte Nelson to the future Admiral Richard Crozier. Two handsome small octavo volumes bound in straight grain red morocco with gilt decoration; all edges gilt; grey coated endpapers. Armorial bookplate of Richard Crozier to both front paste-downs. Charlotte Ho… Read more…

Three seemingly unrecorded New-Year’s messages written by John Ruskin and other grandees for students in Aberdeen. Dated respectively 1873, 1874 & 1878, within each issue Ruskin has offered his new year message in letter form. The volume is housed within a hinged clam shell box containing the bookplate of ‘JM’ - John Morgan of Rubislaw House, a mas… Read more…

Otherwise unknown London chapbook edition of this outrageous and transgressive eighteenth century novel. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Small format bound in blue stamped cloth over bevel-edged boards. Title in faded gilt to the upper cover and spine with the (surely very high?) price of 7s 6d. Edges of text block stained red. Paper lining to inner hinges;… Read more…

Four volume 18th century edition in attractive speckled calf whose first owner in the 1780s was Mary Tunstall, subsequently given to her cousin, Maria Salvin. Uniformly bound with gilt spine band and a red morocco spine label. A little tenderness to upper hinge of volume I but otherwise a very good set of bindings which are also very attractive. In… Read more…

First separate edition of Cicero's Verrine orations with Giunta’s preface addressed to Tommaso Pighinucci. A little sequence of early ownership signatures on the first flyleaf take us back to 17th century Venice, the earliest from 1621; then from the town of Gorizia: ‘Andreas de Thomasinis Goritia Dolce ingano d'amor cossanon voglie’ and a later in… Read more…