English Literature

FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket. A fine copy in a lightly soiled dustjacket.

FIRST COMBINED EDITION. "Its distinctive octosyllabic couplets and MOCK-HEROIC style gave rise to the term 'Hudibrastics'. It was immensely popular in its time for its satire (partly inspired by Cervantes and Rabelais) against Puratinism and the tyranny of the Commonwealth." – The Cambridge Guide to Literature in EnglishOctavo. Perfunctory calf binding, title remargined at inner hinge, cropped somewhat close at top of text block, scattered early and elegant marginal annotations in ink. A sound copy.

FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, number 19 of only 100 specially bound numbered copies. In 1942, "After spending several weeks on the run [from the Nazi's], [Beckett and his future wife Suzanne] lived out the rest of the war in the little village of Roussillon in the Vaucluse, where Beckett wrote his extraordinary novel Watt, partly as a stylistic exercise and partly in order to stay sane in a place where he was cut off from most intellectual pursuits. Written in English, it was a daring linguistic experiment and, because of its strange subject matter as well as its manner, was not published until 1953" (DNB).  Octavo, half-cloth over boards. Spine a bit faded (as usual).

FIRST EDITION. "Two years have gone by since I finished writing the long story of how I, Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus, the cripple, the stammerer, the fool of the family, whom none of his ambitious and bloody-minded relatives considered worth the trouble of executing, poisoning, forcing to suicide, banishing to a desert island or starving to death – which was how they one by one got rid of each other – how I survived them all, even my insane nephew Gaius Caligula, and was one day unexpectedly acclaimed Emporer by the corporals and sergeants of the Palace Guard." Octavo. Original cloth, original dust jacket.

FIRST EDITION of Graves' remarkable work of historical fiction. "In the present work, I swear by the Gods, I am my own mere secretary, and my own official annalist: I am writing with my own hand, and what favour can I hope to win from myself by flattery?" –I, ClaudiusOctavo, original cloth, original dust jacket.

"The Design which forms the Frontispiece to this book, and which is therefore presumed to be somewhat typical of the intention of Fable, represents Man tried at the Court of the Lion for the ill-treatment of a Horse. It will be seen that Man has the worst of it..." Quarto. Hand-colored wood-engraved frontispiece, title and 22 plates by Swain after Charles Bennett. Finely bound in near-contemporary maroon calf. Light wear to spine and extremities; internally clean and nearly fine. A handsome and very appealing copy.

First edition, first state with "T.E.L." at p. 495 and "Baltic" at p. 182.  With16 photographs and illustrations including 4 maps of which two are folding. Octavo. Original fawn polished buckram in publishers original dust jacket. A fine copy.

LIMITED EDITION, one of 750 copies. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Times; color: #424242; -webkit-text-stroke: #424242} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} All I can say is that most modern books weary me, but Burton never does...His writing is like talk, learned but earthy, and once he starts, he is hard to stop...That he was a humorist in our sense of the word we need no biographical facts to attest: The Anatomy of Melancholy is, by a magnificent and somehow very English irony, one of the great comic works of the world.— Anthony Burgess   Two volumes. Quarto. Original vellum-backed decorative
boards. Printed on Dutch paper. An excellent set, clean throughout. 

FIRST EDITION of Lodge's first novel. “it is a fine beginning, a serious book on serious themes, and impressive work for a writer who was only twenty-five when it was published and some years younger when he wrote it” (Merritt Moseley and Dale Salwak, David Lodge: How Far Can You Go?) Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket. Book fine, dust jacket with fading to spine and mild soiling to rear panel.

FIRST EDITION. "It is ... arguable that [The White Goddess] marked the end of Modernism as the dominant mode in British and Irish poetry. Those stirred by its enchantments, from Hughes and Heaney to Simon Armitage, as well as those who turned away in distaste (Philip Larkin among them), have learned from Modernism but have no longer cared for its formal and emotional stringencies... The White Goddess has remained in tune with the times, reprinted time after time and quietly gathering new readers and enthusiasts iwth every generation." –Ian Firla and Grevel Lindop, Graves and the Goddess: Essays on Robert Graves's The White GoddessOctavo. Original cloth, original dust jacket.

FIRST EDITION. Octavo, original red cloth, original dust jacket. Book fine, with light browning to pages (as usual), dust jacket with toning to spine, and rear panel with a little soiling an crease at top edge. A lovely copy.

James Bond drank down the rest of his beer and got slowly to his feet. He walked towards Scaramanga and was about to pass him when the man reached out a languid left arm and caught him at the biceps. He held the snout of his gun to his nose, sniffing delicately. The expression in the dead brown eyes was far-away. He said, 'Mister, there's something quite extra about the smell of death. Care to try it?' He held out the glittering gun as if he was offering James Bond a rose...FIRST EDITION, second state (as usual), without the rare gilt golden gun on the front board. Octavo, original black cloth, original dust jacket. A FINE COPY.

FIRST UK EDITION, translated from the French by Beckett.  “Voted the most significant English language play of the 20th century in a British Royal National Theatre poll of 800 playwrights, actors, directors and journalists… Beckett's naked play about two tramps waiting for Godot has tapped into our 20th-century public consciousness. It seems to express our deepest fears and our deepest knowledge of ourselves and our predicament” (Norman Berlin). “The first production of Beckett's own English translation, directed by Peter Hall, was staged at the Arts Theatre Club in London in August 1955. Kenneth Tynan's and Harold Hobson's reviews made it into an intellectual hit which has since been regarded as having transformed the British stage” (Dictionary of National Biography). Preceded by the first edition (1952, in French) and the first American edition (1954).Octavo, original mustard cloth, original dust jacket. Book near-fine with slight lean; dust jacket with light edgewear, toning to top of rear panel.

RACKHAM, ARTHUR; SWINBURNE, ALGERNON CHARLES.The Springtide of Life. Poems of Childhood by Algernon Charles Swinburne.SIGNED LIMITED FIRST EDITION, number 354 of only 765 copies signed by illustrator Arthur Rackham. Beautifully illustrated collection of Swinburne's children's poems, with nine mounted colored plates and 52 black and white drawings. One reason why Swinburne never brought out such a collection was his failure to find an artist who could interpret to his satisfaction the simplicity and freshness of his verses. We are fortunate in having secured, in Mr. Arthur Rackham, one whose delicate and romantic fancy is in sensitive harmony with Swinburne's, and who understands, no less than he did, ho 'Heaven lies about us in our infancy.'" –Edmund Gosse, Preface Quarto, original half vellum over parchment boards with gilt designs. Some soiling to endpapers, binding with only the slightest soiling; an exceptionally clean copy. 

First French edition, SIGNED BY BECKETT on title page; one of only 112 copies printed on "bouffant select marques" and reserved for the publishers. A collection of six short plays, translated from English by Beckett.  Octavo, original printed wrappers; glassine. Unopened. A FINE COPY.

SECOND EDITION.“On the death of Doctor Johnson, a number of people, ambitious of being distinguished from the mute part of their species, set about relating and printing Stories and Bons Mots of this celebrated moralist.  Amongst the most zealous, though not the most enlightened, appeared Mr. Boswell and Madame Piozzi, the Hero and Heroine of our Eclogues...” London: Printed for G. Kearsley, 1786. Oblong quarto. Etched frontispiece. Engraved portrait of Pindar affixed to verso of title. 19th-century quarter morocco, spine lettered in gilt. A clean, attractive copy.

FIRST EDITION of Ishiguro's highly acclaimed first novel. Winner of the 1982 Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize. LONDON: FABER & FABER, 1982. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket; custom half-morocco box. Book fine, a touch of fading to dust jacket spine, otherwise fine. A beautiful copy. 

SIGNED LIMITED FIRST EDITION of Yeats's autobiographical work; one of only 1000 copies signed by Yeats. "Looking back from 1922, [Yeats] titled his autobiographical account of the decade of the 1890s The Trembling of the Veil. He recalled that Mallarme has said that 'his epoch was troubled by the trembling of the veil of the Temple,' and that 'as those words were still true, during the years of my life described in this book,' he had named it accordingly" (The Cambridge Companion to W.B. Yeats).Octavo, original half parchment over light green boards; original dust jacket. Dust jacket spine with light wear at the spine (slightly affecting label) and minor toning. An excellent copy. 

“So I should wish these Pansies to be taken as thoughts rather than anything else; casual thoughts that are true while they are true and irrelevant when the mood and circumstances changes. I should like them to be as fleeting as pansies, which wilt so soon, and are fascinating with their varied faces, while they last. And flowers, to my thinking, are not merely pretty-pretty. They have in their fragrance an earthiness of the humus and corruptive earth from which they spring. And pansies, in their streaked faces, have a look of many things besides hearts-ease.” - D.H. Lawrence “Lawrence himself never took Pansies as seriously as his hostile critics, as his two introductions make clear: he called them ‘rag poems’” (Keith Sagar, The Art of D.H. Lawrence). Nevertheless, this unexpurgated edition, considered by Lawrence to be complete with the full introduction and fourteen additional poems, was published privately due to concerns about pornography.  The manuscript had recently been seized by the English police for suspicions of obscenity, which Lawrence took as an insult and perhaps prompted the publication of this and another edition of 500 copies.  PRIVATELY PRINTED FIRST EDITION, number 48 of only 50 copies SIGNED BY LAWRENCE. Octavo, with frontispiece portait of Lawerence printed in brown. Title designed by W.G. West, printed in brown and blue, on Japanese vellum. Original soft grey/blue leather decorated in blue and gold, top edges gilt, others uncut. Bookplate of John Kobler (biographer of Al Capone) on frton pastesown. Spine faded, a little soiling to boards; original slipcase with a little fading and wear at edges; custom half-morocco box with gilt decoration on front board. A very nice copy. RARE.

SIGNED LIMITED FIRST EDITION, one of 800 copies signed by Woolf.
“Virginia Woolf’s novel about Vita Sackville-West represented a turn from the kind of experimentation in life in which she could not wholly let herself go to the kind of venture in art where she could be wholeheartedly involved” (Ralph Freedman, Virginia Woolf: Revaluation and Continuity, A Collection of Essays). Orlando came as a great departure from Woolf’s other novels—less carefully written, and “in some ways foolish—a novelist’s holiday rather than a novel” (ibid.). It was, indeed, less of a novel, than “the longest and most charming love letter in literature” (Nigel Nicholson).
Precedes the first UK edition. Krikpatrick A11a. Signed on verso of half-title. Octavo, original elaborately gilt-decorated cloth; custom cloth box. Fading to cloth (about an inch in from the edges on the front board, less on rear) and fraying to edges. A very good copy.

The sixth edition and first (authorized) quarto edition. The text is based on Johnson's revised fourth edition of 1773. “The [1785] quarto is set in three columns, with rather heavy column rules. The original folio design is followed, except that all the illustrative quotations are set in small type, and the differentiation of verse from prose quotations by the use of a deeper indent is not observed... the 1785 design combines clarity with relative compactness.” –Paul Luna, Anniversary Essays on Johnson’s Dictionary Two volumes. Quarto, contemporary tree calf expertly rebacked preserving the original spine; spine elaborately gilt (in six compartments with red and black leather labels), marbled endpapers. Some foxing to portrait and title of volume I, some occasional spotting, generally clean.

FIRST EDITION, 1/634 COPIES, IN THE PUBLISHER'S CLOTH BINDING.Two volumes. Octavo, original green cloth with gilt spine titles. Edges uncut. Light wear to cloth at oints and extremities, corners slightly bumped, spine somewhat cocked. Elegant bookplate at front pastedowns. Cloth clean and bright, text clean. An excellent copy housed in custom slipcase and chemise.

FIRST EDITION, with the twelve-line errata and two cancels. In 1773 Johnson, then sixty-four, set off with Boswell, aged thirty-three to tour the Hebrides and visit Boswell's ancestral home."The publication of Johnson's Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775) marked an important moment in Scottish travel literature, despite the less than favourable impressions conveyed... Johnson declared that 'All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own, and if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it', but found Scotland to be much worse than expected. Nevertheless, he single-handedly enhanced Scottish tourism, securing the peripheral areas of Britain as eligible destinations for travellers."–The Cambridge Companion to Travel WritingOctavo. Contemporary full calf. Bookplate. Skillful repairs at spine ends, clean throughout. A lovely copy. From the library of distinguished Johnsonian and bibliographer William B. Todd.

FIRST EDITION. With 'Advertisement' after the title page. BOUND WITH: Davis, Henry Edwards.  A Reply to Mr. Gibbon's Vindication of Some Passages in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Chapters of "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." London: J.Dodsley, 1779. First edition. Octavo, bound in recent 3/4 calf over marbled boards preserving early spine. Internally clean and sound throughout; a very attractive volume of this rare edition. In 1778 three people, including Henry Edwards Davis, a tutor of Balliol College, Oxford, wrote treatises publicly attacking Gibbon in hysterical terms for the anti-Christian remarks in the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of his 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire', which contain remarks condemning the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire. The philosopher David Hume had warned Gibbon that this might happen. It gave Gibbon the opportunity to overmatch Davis with a public reply (here included) which was quite devastating in its superior learning, and its contrasting coolness. Gibbon had it printed in octavo so that it could not be bound with his (quarto) 'History'. Davis' further reply is also included here.

FIRST KELMSCOTT PRESS EDITION, ONE OF ONLY 250 COPIES ON PAPER (from an edition of 258). The Kelmscott Press "was far and away the most splendid of all private presses... quite without a peer." -Colin Franklin, The Private Presses Beautifully printed in red and black in Golden type. Exquisitely illustrated by William Morris with woodcut title page, first page (borders), and decorated initials throughout. Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1895 [issued 1896]. Small quarto, original limp vellum, yapp edges, gilt spine title, green silk ties; uncut. One tie loose, else fine.

FIRST EDITION of Woolf's most experimental novel. With original dust jacket designed by Vanessa Bell.  p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Times; color: #424242; -webkit-text-stroke: #424242} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} “Part of Virginia Woolf's greatness lay in her continuation of Henry James's aim to define the novel as a form of art. She fulfills its inherent flexibility when she blends the novel with other genres to create new forms...  Her most formally inventive fiction, The Waves appears to owe its inspiration more to poetry and drama than the novel… Woolf freely manipulated conventional elements of fiction… in a concerted attempt to take the novel beyond its customary compass” (Dictionary of National Biography; Eric Warner, Virginia Woolf, The Waves). Octavo, original purple cloth, original dust jacket. Book fine, dust jacket with a hint of toning to spine and a slight bit of edgewear. A beautiful copy, rare in such fine condition. 

FIRST EDITION of Beckett’s masterpiece, one of the most influential works of modern drama. WITH: a small photograph of Beckett signed and inscribed by Beckett laid in. “Voted the most significant English language play of the 20th century in a British Royal National Theatre poll of 800 playwrights, actors, directors and journalists… Beckett's naked play about two tramps waiting for Godot has tapped into our 20th-century public consciousness. It seems to express our deepest fears and our deepest knowledge of ourselves and our predicament” (Norman Berlin).Notably, the first edition of the text provided the public with their first experience of the complete play—Les Editions de Minuit published it three months before the play’s debut (in French) in January 1953. Octavo, original wrappers; custom half-morocco box. A little toning to spine. A superb copy.

First authorized American edition, INSCRIBED BY ILLUSTRATOR ERNST REICHL IN THE YEAR OF PUBLICATION. "Not only designed, but signed, for a good old friend. Ernst Reichl / 1.23.34" Octavo, original oatmeal cloth, presumed first issue dust jacket (with 'Reichl' on lower front wrapper). Book near fine with few marks on covers, dust jacket very good with tape reinforcement at spine head verso, crease and small chips to jacket spine. 

FIRST EDITION, FIRST STATE of the most famous and most beloved biography in the English language. One of only 1750 copies of the first edition printed (both first and second states combined). p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Times; color: #424242; -webkit-text-stroke: #424242} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} "Anyone interested in biography soon becomes interested in Boswell's Life of Johnson. It stands next to other biographies as Shakespeare stands beside other playwrights: towering above them all. For more than two centuries it has been continually in print, and in that time it has won innumerable admirers. No other biography has given so much pleasure; no other biographer has created such a vivid central character. It has become a truism that, as a result of Boswell's extraordinary book, Samuel Johnson is better known to us than any other man in history" (Sisman, Boswell's Presumptuous Task, xv). First state with "gve" on page 135 of vol. I. Quarto. Two volumes. Contemporary calf, skillfully rebacked. Gilt compartments, double-labels. A wide margined copy in a handsome binding. With frontispiece (after Sir Joshua Reynolds) and the two engraved plates in vol. II. Courtney & Smith, pp. 172-73. Pottle 79. Grolier English Hundred 65. Rothschild 463.

First edition SIGNED BY SAMUEL BECKETT. Octavo, original wrappers; custom half-leather box. Text in French. Some browning and rubbing to spine. 

FIRST EDITIONS. "To this task Gibbon brought a width of vision and a critical mastery of the available sources which have not been equalled to this day; and the result was clothed in an inimitable prose" (PMM, 222). Six volumes. Quarto. Contemporary tan calf rebacked with old red and green lettering-pieces laid down, gilt in compartments. Engraved portrait frontispiece in Vol. I, 2 folding maps in Vol. II, 1 folding map in Vol. III, without half-titles in Vols. II and III, others present. Frontispiece slightly foxed as usual, some offsetting, a few gatherings slightly foxed, a very good set. With portrait frontispiece of Gibbon (in vol. I), 1 folding map of Europe adjacent to Constantinople (in vol. II) 1 folding map of the Eastern Roman Empire and 1 folding map of the Western Roman Empire (in vol. III). The portrait of Gibbon "engraved by Joseph Hall from an original picture painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds" published by Strahan and Cadell in 1780 and issued with the second volume, has been moved by the binder to the appropriate place, at the beginning of vol. I. That volume is in the second of two variant states, without the cancels X4 and a4.