A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland

London: W. Strahan; and T. Cadell, 1775

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 Writing

Octavo. 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.

$3,000

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Romanarum historiarum [Greek]

EDITIO PRINCEPS of Appian's histories of the various Roman wars from the earliest times to the campaigns of Trajan. Folio. 18th-century calf recently rebacked. Title leaf laid down and repaired; lower blank corners of last four leaves repaired (not affecting text). Greek type; Estienne's basilisk device as Royal Greek Printer on title; foliated and grotesque Greek initials with matching headpieces. An attractive copy.

$4,500

The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.

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.

$9,000

Bozzy and Piozzi, or, the British Biographers, a Town Eclogue

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.

$1,200

The Man With the Golden Gun

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.

$750

The Naked and the Dead

FIRST EDITION, MAILER'S OWN COPY. SIGNED AND INSCRIBED: "from my library / Norman Mailer" on half-title. With letter of provenance from Mailer's nephew Peter Alson.Written when Mailer was just twenty-five, The Naked and the Dead is one of the classic novels of World War II. Both a critical and commercial success (it remained at the top of The New York Times best-seller list for eleven weeks), it launched Mailer's career and remains one of the most influential American novels of the century. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket; custom half-morocco box. Book fine, dust jacket a little toned at flaps, some rubbing to extremities.

$14,000

The Hunger Games; Catching Fire; Mockingjay

FIRST EDITIONS of The Hunger Games Trilogy. A fine set in the original dust jackets.

$375

For Whom the Bell Tolls

First edition of Hemingway's finest novel. Original cloth, original dust jacket. An excellent copy.

$1,200

A General Dictionary Historical and Critical

"Bayle's Dictionary is a very useful work for those to consult who love the biographical part of literature, which is what I love most" – Samuel Johnson "He sets forth things with such an odious accuraqcy, and puts the arguments for both sides before us with such shocking impartiality and is so intolerably intelligible that he puts even thoise of the most meagre understanding in a position to judge and even to doubt what is told them." –Voltaire The second Edition. 10 volumes. Folio. Later 1/4 morocco over cloth. Bookplates. Library blind stamps to titles.

$1,500

The Waves

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.

$3,500

The Trembling of the Veil

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.

$1,500

Comédie et actes Divers

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.

$950

Rhetorica divina Guillermi Parisie[nsis]

THIRD EDITION of William of Auvergne's meditation on the subject of prayer. This work was first published in 1491 and again in 1492.Octavo. 152 printed leaves. Beautifully rebound in (early) printed leaf over boards with vellum manuscript leaves on paste-downs. Printers device on title and verso of final leaf; rubricated in red and blue. Small hole to margin of first few leaves; occasional light dampstaining to margins; a superb and quite desirable copy.

$3,750

[JOHNSON, SAMUEL]