Shop — page 4 of 48

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…

First edition, first impression in publisher’s black cloth effect paper covered boards, sharp corners, just a trace of spine lean. Spotting to text block edges; internally clean and unmarked. A near fine copy in a near fine jacket with a little fading to the red lettered spine and some browning to extremities. A lovely square copy of this remarkabl… Read more…

Fictionalised and satirical life of the supposedly chivalric highwayman Claude Du Vall who inspired a number of biographers and playwrights to add to his legend with claims of alchemy, gambling and much womanising. Duval (1643-1670) was born in France, worked for exiled Royalists before coming to England at the Restoration where he robbed stagecoac… Read more…

Manuscript leaf in the hand of the Romantic poet, friend of Wordsworth and Coleridge, Robert Southey who quotes from the fable written by the 17th century writer Thomas Fuller about ‘A Sagamore or petty king in Virginia, guessing the greatness of other kings by his own, sent a native hither, who understood English’. Southey continues with Fuller’s… Read more…

John Newton’s memoirs, fervently annotated by an early reader with lines from Psalm 139, ‘Whereas I was blind now I see’, the inspiration for Newton’s great anthem, Amazing Grace. The hymn was written in 1772 and published in 1779 by Newton, a slave trader turned abolitionist which has become perhaps the most sung and most recorded hymn in the worl… Read more…

Sara Delano Roosevelt’s copy of her son’s biography with her initials, “SDR”, in pencil to the front free end paper, from the collection of Frederick Baldwin Adams, a relative of FDR and his mother. Sara Delano Roosevelt clearly read the book with close interest, as indicated by the marginal pencil lines scattered throughout the text. As these anno… Read more…

Annotated Cambridge edition of Julius Caesar owned by the life long Shakespearian George ‘Dadie’ Rylands who began directing Shakespeare at school, oversaw professional recordings of the plays at Cambridge and schooled in Shakespeare some of the leading actors of the twentieth century. In association with the Marlowe Society and a group of professi… Read more…

Scarce pirated 1851 Routledge London edition of Hawthorne's classic novel. Half burgundy cloth over marbled boards (binder’s ticket of ‘G Parker Stationers Kirkdale, Ripon’ to lower pastedown). Spotting to preliminaries; early gift inscription to title page: ‘A Staples to S Hoy’. Old paper repair to verso of title page in gutter at tail of page. Co… Read more…

An excellent copy of this first edition rebound in a later pristine cloth, titled in gilt to spine. Beautifully clean and crisp throughout. 112 pp. collated and complete. Leaves 86 and 87 remain sealed together along a small section of fore edge noted on collation. The volume details reports from Parliament in April 1657 (during the Protectorate),… Read more…

Chronological tables with two highly interesting passages of annotation: across two of the blank pages is a manuscript ink copy letter in a contemporary hand, addressed “Most dread Sovereign” which relates to Henry Sacheverell’s submissions during his trial of 1709 following his Gundpowder Plot sermons: “Having lately incurred the displeasure of th… Read more…

Homemade doe-skin binding on this chapbook publication by the English printer and bookseller variously known as Nathaniel Crouch, Robert or Richad Burton. The doe-skin binding which seems likely to be contemporary with the book has been wrapped tightly around the boards and sewn down the spine with the result that that the book opens comfortably to… Read more…

A much gifted book, presented in the first instance by its editor George ‘Dadie’ Rylands to the preeminent Shakespearean actor Ralph Richardson whose bookplate appears on the front pastedown and who has annotated chunks of the text and the endpapers, apparently for performance at an event celebrating Shakespeare’s 375th birthday. (In 1939 Richardso… Read more…

Sir Albert Charles Seward’s copy, with his printed bookplate to the front pastedown and scattered pencil annotations in his hand throughout. These largely compose marginal lines, although there are also ten pages with verbal annotations (“the gloom”, Seward notes besides a passage on Malthus’s population principle; elsewhere he perceives “the eleme… Read more…

‘Gaucho’ binding bound in cow or buffalo skin with a burnt or branded design to the front cover and toggles to close. A near fine binding, inscribed at length to a ‘Mr Grenville Greenall’ in May 1948 as a ‘souvenir of your visit to my country Argentina “Faust” jocular work representing the simple gaucho spirit’. Bookshops label of Mitchell’s Book S… Read more…

Stanislaus Joyce's copy, inscribed by him presumably in Triests where he shared lodgings with his brother James Joyce. Black textured cloth binding, presumed to be a mid twentieth century rebind, gilt spine lettering; original pastedowns laid down at either end of the small format Tauchnitz imprint - 15x11cm. Browning to paper stock which has becom… Read more…

Pictou-imprint map of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island from the estate of the British Commander in Halifax, Nova Scotia in the late 1850s, General Sir Charles Trollope. A map produced by James Dawson as the third edition in 1854 and lithographed in Edinburgh. Cloth-backed coloured map, dated 1854 (73x56cm) folded to 14x18cm; a little spotting.… Read more…

Gill's exquisitely-produced and illustrated essay on the two things that make him both famous and unforgivably notorious: art and love. One of a signed limited edition of 260 copies of which this is hand numbered 164. Bound in black buckram, lettered in gilt to the spine. A very good copy showing a couple of small scuffs to the external boards and… Read more…

The author’s own copy, with his verbal annotations in ink and pencil to the many the text pages, as well as his manuscript notes to the endpapers. These largely consist of corrections and several additions to the printed text, providing further information regarding the access and use of the records discussed, for example, “The British Directory fo… Read more…

Very uncommon in trade, the 1635 edition of this work on Athenian politics with the ownership signature of a member of the Order of the Golden Dawn. Contemporary vellum with yapp edges and external bands along the hinges of the book. Ownership signature on the first flyleaf of ‘Wm Alex. Aytoun 1872’. On the verso of the title page an earlier owners… Read more…

Inscribed to a fellow Yorkshireman, with ephemera from Geoffrey Platts who sought out the freedom of a simpler life and in the spirit of Henry David Thoreau began to live by himself in a secluded one room cabin in central Arizona from the early 1980s. An outspoken advocate for the environment, a public speaker and ‘desert laureate’, he consecrated… Read more…

(11x15cm) Promotional publication for recording a baby's early months, pre-illustrated with tipped-in photographs, each with an advertising slogan printed below for 'Steedman's Soothing Powders'. Small oblong format tied through 3 holes in the fold with red silk cord. The first leaf records that the book was 'Printed in Bavaria' for Raphael Tuck an… Read more…

Uncommon 3 volume 1812 edition which has been beautifully extra illustrated throughout, blending the descriptive text of the early 19th century topographical survey with a much broader, customised collection of visual imagery. The numerous additions totalling c.200 engravings throughout the three volumes, probably reflect the personal tastes and ef… Read more…

Unpublished authorial typescript - containing an original letter from Frieda Lawrence - about Johnston’s bibliographical pursuit of a disguised edition of Lady Chatterley’s Lover which had been designed to evade US customs after the book was banned. We can find no record of this essay ever being published. In the essay Johnston, a distinguished Ame… Read more…

A handwritten letter dated 1979 signed by David Attenborough is laid into this 1979 hardback edition of his foundational book on natural history which changed the way people viewed and interacted with the natural world. He thanks the letter’s author for going to the trouble of writing to him to express her pleasure in the accompanying landmark TV s… Read more…

Illustrated manuscript booklet with original photographs of the modernist sculptures shown at the pioneering outdoor sculpture park assembled by Sir William ‘Tony’ Keswick. Begun in the 1950s, Henry Moore directly credited the park for informing his own lifelong preference for placing his works in the natural outdoor environment. ‘A F Gray’ has ass… Read more…