![Chance : A Tale in Two Parts [Paul Lemperly's copy]. Joseph CONRAD](/pictures/thumb/BB2293.jpeg?v=1626124082)
London: Methuen, 1914. First Edition. Hardcover. First Impression of the novel that revived Conrad's career, outselling all his previous publications, in the first published state, with cancel title leaf (dated 1914 on verso), spine brass reading "METHVEN," closed quotes after "Narcissus" in the list of Conrad's works facing the title..... more
London: privately printed [by Strangeways, Printers], 1925. Limited Edition. Quarter-Cloth. With a preface by Jessie Conrad. One of only 100 copies signed by Curle, this copy being no. 37. Slim demy 8vo (241 x 237mm): [2],41,[3], with frontispiece facsimile Conrad letter inserted. Original taupe cloth over beige buckram, top edge..... more
New York: Appleton, 1896. First Edition. Decorative Cloth. First Printing of Conrad's second book, published as part of Appleton's "Town and Country Library Series," no. 198, with terminal advertisements. Foolscap 8vo (178 x 115mm): [6],335,[11]pp. Original lime-green pictorial cloth (also issued in wrappers), spine and upper cover stamped in black..... more
![The Secret Agent [First Issue]. Joseph CONRAD](/pictures/thumb/BB1765.jpg?v=1535668027)
London: Methuen, 1907. First Edition. Decorative Cloth. First Impression (one of only 2500 copies), First Issue ("be be" on final line of p. 117, six additional text error as noted by Smith, and publisher's catalogue dated September 1907), of the "earliest and best novel portraying the character and fate of..... more
Chicago: Forbes & Co., 1912. First Edition. Hardcover. First Printing of this charming paean to America's pastime, featuring 24 lighthearted and impertinent poems. Small, slim 8vo: 88pp, with baseball-themed spot illustrations from drawings in lower margin of each page. Publisher's pictorial paper-covered boards (showing two hands gripping a baseball bat)..... more
London: Henry Colburn and Co. Public Library, Conduit Street, Hanover Square, 1821. First Edition. Half-Calf. First Printing of the author's rare first novel (very rare, as here, in the British edition), complete in three volumes. 12mo: [2],307,[1]; [2],301,[1]; [2],315,[1]pp, vol. III, pp. 139 and 272 misnumbered 189 and 172). Contemporary..... more
New York: Horace Liveright, 1930. First Trade Edition. Hardcover. First Printing (second edition overall, following the Holland paper issue published in Paris) of this "landmark achievement in the genre of the modern long poem." (Literary Encyclopedia) Squarish demy 8vo (219 x 154mm): [2],82pp, with frontispiece photograph of Brooklyn Bridge by..... more
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1899. First Edition. Decorative Cloth. First Printing of Crane's neglected late novella. Crown 8vo (190 x 124mm): [6],189,[3]pp, with frontispiece and eleven full-page plates, with drawings in text. Publisher's scarlet V cloth, upper cover and spine lettered in gilt, three black medallions linked by chain..... more
New York: D. Appleton, 1897. First Edition. Decorative Cloth. First Printing of Crane's fourth book, widely dismissed on publication as a partly autobiographical potboiler but is now ranked among the author's unfairly forgotten works. Crown 8vo (183 x 118mm): [4],203,[1]pp. Publisher's tan buckram, spine and upper cover ornamented and lettered..... more
![Harlem Renaissance] Copper Sun; with decorations by Charles Cullen. Countée P. CULLEN](/pictures/thumb/BB1512.jpeg?v=1632691382)
New York: Harper & Brothers, Mcmxxvii [1927]. Two binding variants (one a later issue) of the poet's second collection. Crown 8vo (190 x 127mm): xi,[1],89,[1]pp, illustrated throughout. First Printing (with "first edition" and "G-B" on copyright page): Publisher's black cloth over brown and black marbled paper-covered boards, beige paper labels..... more
![Green Again [Inscribed]. Jack CURTIS, b. 1922](/pictures/thumb/BB2407.jpeg?v=1629639782)
Mexico City: n.p. [Joaquin Ausiro, printer], 1951. Limited Edition. Card Covers. Unnumbered review copy from an edition of 500 numbered copies. Foolscap 8vo (179 x 119mm): 196,[4]pp, with three hand-colored linoleum blocks (linocuts ) by Jose Paredes and Edward Owensby. Original illustrated stiff paper wrappers, fore-edge untrimmed (according to colophon..... more
![Children's/Juvenile] America Begins: The Story of the Finding of the New World. Alice DALGLIESH,...](/pictures/thumb/BB2378.jpeg?v=1600909040)
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1938. First Edition. Hardcover. First Printing. Square demy 8vo (213 x 213mm): [78]pp, with numerous color and black-and-white full- and partial-page illustrations, including double-page world map. Publisher's illustrated paper-covered boards, tangerine end papers, illustrated title page; matching dust jacket priced $1.60. Tips barely worn, top..... more
London: The Argonaut Press, 1933. First Edition. Hardcover. First Printing of this consideration of Charles Dickens's first published work. Demy 8vo (214 x 136): x,145,[5]pp, with portrait frontispiece and four further plates on inserted leaves. Addendum slip tipped in preceding p. 143. Publisher's green cloth spine over mottled green paper-covered..... more
London: John Lehmann [from 1951], 1952. First Edition. Hardcover. Second Impression of this wildly influential guide to the preparation of the dishes of rural France. Crown 8vo (196 x 124mm): 247,[1]pp, with frontispiece, illustrated title page, and nine full page plates by John Minton. Publisher's coarsely woven oatmeal-colored cloth, spine..... more
![Tempest-Tost [Salterton Trilogy]. Robertson DAVIES](/pictures/thumb/BB2056.jpg?v=1565285593)
New York: Rinehart, [1952]. First Printing. Hardcover. First American Edition (preceding the English edition) of the author's first novel, the opening installment of the Salterton Trilogy (followed by Leaven of Malice and A Mixture of Frailtie). 8vo (135 x 207mm): [6],307,[1]pp. Publisher's green cloth-effect paper-covered boards, spine stamped in red..... more
![The Blue Lagoon [Michael Sadleir's copy]. Henry DE VERE STACPOOLE](/pictures/thumb/BB2182.jpg?v=1565288556)
London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1908. Hardcover. First Printing of the prolific Irish author's best known work, a romance novel filmed multiple times and the first installment of The Blue Lagoon Trilogy, with The Garden of God (1923) and The Gates of Morning (1925). Crown 8vo (184 x 118mm): [12],326;[12]pp. Publisher's..... more
![A Horseman Riding By; [with] The Green Gauntlet. R. F. DELDERFIELD](/pictures/thumb/BB1751.jpg?v=1513261877)
London: Hodder and Stoughton [through 1968], 1966. First Edition. Hardcover. First Impressions of Delderfield's two-volume elegy for the traditional, pastoral society blown apart by the First World War. Thick 8vo: 1151; 475,[3]pp. Horseman: Publisher's forest green cloth, spine stamped in gold, map end papers; dust jacket with wraparound illustration by..... more
![Photobook] The Word for Snow [Signed]. Don DELILLO, Richard Prince, b. 1936, Illustrates](/pictures/thumb/BB2347.jpeg?v=1627337315)
New York: Karma and Glenn Horowitz, Bookseller, 2014. Hardcover. Limited Edition of this previously unpublished one-act play inspired by global climate change, with seven full-page color plates from photographs by Richard Prince, from his "Upstate" series. One of only 125 copies bound in cloth from an edition of 1000 copies..... more
London: Andre Deutsch, 1956. First Edition. Hardcover. First Printing of this uncommon memoir of Eritrea, Somaliland, and the shores of Bab-El-Mandeb, admired by Isak Dinesen and Harold Nicholson and one of David Bowie's favorite books. Demy 8vo (209 x 134mm): 192pp, with eleven inserted leaves of plates after monochrome photographs..... more
London: John Macrone [from 1836], MDCCCXXXVII [1837]. First Edition. Decorative Cloth. "Second series" of this collection of short pieces of literary journalism that marked the launch of the young author’s meteoric career. Crown 8vo (194 x 120mm): [4],viii,377,[1],]pp, with 10 steel-engraved plates (including frontispiece and vignette title page dated 1836)..... more
New York: Random House, 1963. First Printing. Hardcover. First Printing, so stated. A Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket but for two flaws: previous owner's name in ink to the FFEP and two tears mended with archival tape to the front two blanks. Note: With few exceptions (always identified)..... more
![Big As Life [Signed]. DOCTOROW, dgar, awrence](/pictures/thumb/BB1583_01.jpeg?v=1629658072)
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1966. First Edition. Hardcover. First Printing of Doctorow's second novel and scarcest book, never reprinted and later orphaned by the author (his web site makes no mention of this title). 8vo: (6),218pp. Publisher's crimson cloth, spine stamped in gilt, top edge stained crimson, cream-colored typographic..... more
![Ragtime [Signed]. DOCTOROW, dgar, awrence](/pictures/thumb/BB1590.jpg?v=1504581229)
New York: Random House, 1975. Hardcover. First Printing of the author’s most famous work, extravagantly praised on publication, winner of the first National Book Critics Circle Award, one of the Modern Library 100 best novels, and the book that earned Doctorow election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters..... more
![Working-Class Fiction] The Good Lion. Len DOHERTY, 1930–1983](/pictures/thumb/BB2307.jpeg?v=1599696662)
London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1958. First Edition. Hardcover. First Printing of this unusually scarce working-class novel by one of the "most important practitioners of the socialist novel in Britain." (Bounds, Orwell and Marxism) Crown 8vo (195 x 127mm): 352pp. Publisher's lime-green cloth, spine lettered in black; evocative dust jacket design..... more
London: Neville Spearman, 1956. First Edition thus. Hardcover. First Impression of first British edition, introduced by Arland Ussher, of the author's debut novel, originally published in Paris and subsequently banned for obscenity in the United States and Ireland. Crown 8vo (183 x 116mm): xi,[1],292pp. Publisher's turquoise cloth-effect paper-covered boards, spine..... more