Hudibras. The First and Second Parts

London: John Martyn and Henry Herringman, 1674

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 English

Octavo. 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.

$250

offered by

The Bluest Eye

FIRST EDITION, SIGNED AND INSCRIBED on front free endpaper: "To John / Love, gratitude - all of that. / Toni / 11.5.70". Inscribed to and from the library of John A. Williams, with his signed card laid-in. The recipient, John Alfred Williams, is a noted African-American writer and academic. Octavo, original half-cloth over boards, original dust jacket.; custom half-morocco box. Book fine, some toning to edges and spine of dust jacket. An outstanding inscribed association copy of the rare first edition.

$7,200

Blood for a Stranger

FIRST EDITION of Jarrell's first book, SIGNED and INSCRIBED BY JARRELL.Octavo. Original red cloth, original dust jacket. Cloth clean, dust jacket very good with minor wear at spine heel and slight toning at spine. Signed and inscribed by Jarrell on the front free endpaper. Custom cloth clamshell box.

$1,200

The Fifth Column and The First Forty-Nine Stories

FIRST EDITION of Hemingway's most comprehesive collection of short stories, published with The Fifth Column, Hemingway's only full-length play."Five years after publishing Winner Take Nothing (1933), he collected the three separate volumes of stories and added to them a handful of other pieces-- four stories written after 1933: "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" (1936), "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber (1936), "The Capital of the World" (1936), and "Old Man at the Bridge" (1937); one early story previously bypassed for commercial publication, "Up in Michigan" (1923, Three Stories and Ten Poems); and The Fifth Column, a play set in Civil-War Spain- to make up The Fifth Column and The First Forty-Nine Stories (1938), the only collective gathering of his stories to appear during his lifetime" (Bendixen, A Companion to the American Short Story).Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket; custom box. Book near fine, dust jacket bright and clean with only trivial wear. An excellent copy.

$4,600

The White Goddess

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.

$550

Love in the Time of Cholera

FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. Octavo. Original cloth, original dust jacket. An excellent copy.

$125

Death of a Salesman

FIRST EDITION of Arthur Miller's masterpiece. A very good copy in the original cloth and the original dust jacket. Jacket with light wear at spine, extremities. Overall a very attractive copy of this landmark work.

$1,450

The Twenty-Seventh City

FIRST EDITION, SIGNED BY FRANZEN on front free endpaper. Jonathan Franzen’s first novel has been compared to Richard Powers, David Foster Wallace, and Don DeLillo “for its labyrinthine plot, its manipulation of multiple viewpoints, and its use of systems theory” (ibid.). Octavo, original half-cloth over boards. original dust jacket. Book near-fine with slight lean, dust jacket fine.

$250

You Can't Win

“The tone of the ‘beat’ world, as Burroughs first perceived it, chimed with the world of Jack Black.” –James Campbell, This is the Beat GenerationFIRST EDITION of Black's influential autobiography; with the extremely rare original dust jacket. This book is often hailed as the first "Beat " book.The memoir of a notorious thief, vagabond, and ‘honorable’ outlaw, You Can’t Win was a bestseller upon its publication in 1926. It would become a favorite book of William S. Burroughs (whose "Junkie" is modeled after it) and with its depiction of a free, loose, nomadic lifestyle, become one of the most influential works for the Beat movement. Burroughs claimed that, in his representation of the dying days of the Wild West, Jack Black “has recorded a chapter of specifically American life that is now gone forever,” a way of life that Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and others would try to adapt and re-create for their own generation. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket; custom box. Early owner signature on front endpaper. Book fine, dust jacket shows wear at spine, with large chip at tail. Scarce in dust jacket.

$7,500

Wessex Tales

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.

$2,500

The Recognitions

FIRST EDITION, SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY GADDIS on front free endpaper: "Martin / Cove ab homine (ut?) / unius libri (The Recognitions) / (and with every best wish.) / (ergo / (I mean, a child among / you taking notes / W. Gaddis".“As the most important precursor of many postmodernist novels about travel or movement, The Recognitions signals a change in the function of travel in fiction that is echoed in later nonfiction about travel... Since its appearance in 1955, Gaddis’ first novel has been in and out of print, initially ignored or misunderstood but subsequently praised as a central work of contemporary American fiction" (Alison Russell, Crossing Boundaries: Postmodern Travel Literature).Original cloth, original dust jacket; custom half-morocco box. Book fine, dust jacket near-fine with very minor edgewear.

$2,500

Les Liaisons Dangereuses

LIMITED EDITION, 1/1000 COPIES. Folio. Two volumes. Original paper wrappers printed in red and black. Original glassine. Complete with 14 plates by Alastair. An outstanding set with light wear to glassine wrappers.

$400

Dr. Seuss's ABC

"Aunt Annie's alligator. . . . . . . A . . a . . A"FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. Near fine or better in an exceptionally bright, unclipped dust jacket. A superb copy.