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  O'NEILL, Eugene | King, Alexander | Hairy Ape, The
ìPresentation Copyî of Eugene OíNeillís ìThe Hairy Ape,î with Illustrations by Alexander King OíNEILL, Eugene. The Hairy Ape. With Illustrations by Alexander King. New York: Horace Liveright, 1929. First edition thus. Limited to 775 numbered copies (of which 750 are for sale), signed by the author. This copy is unnumbered, inked ìPresentation Copy.î Quarto (10 x 7 1/2 inches; 253 x 190 mm.). 114, [1, colophon], [1, blank] pp. Nine full-page three-color illustrations. Original quarter black cloth over batik-patterned paper boards. Spine lettered in gilt. Top edge trimmed, others uncut. Bookplate. A tight, bright, fine copy. Atkinson A20-V-i.a. 1929 signed
Price: USD 600.00 other currencies   order no. 00155   details     inquire
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offered by: David Brass Rare Books, Inc.   (USA)
  SHAHN, Ben | Porter, Katherine Anne | Christmas Story, A
Katherine Ann Porterís ìChristmas Story,î with Illustrations by Ben Shahn [SHAHN, Ben, Illustrator]. PORTER, Katherine Anne. A Christmas Story. Drawings by Ben Shahn. A Seymour Lawrence Book. New York: Delacorte Press, [1967]. First edition. ìThis edition is limited to 500 [numbered] copies, and includes a special frontispiece drawing.î This copy is No. 320, signed by the author and the illustrator. Small square octavo (5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches; 138 x 138 mm.). [36] pp. Eight full-page black and white illustrations (including frontispiece), one additional black and white illustration, plus a photograph of Katherine Anne Porterís niece, Mary Alice. Original green cloth lettered in gilt on spine. Pictorial endpapers. A fine copy. Housed in the original matching green cloth slipcase decoratively stamped on front in gilt (the slipcase is in fine condition). ìThis is a not a fiction, but the true story of an episode in the short life of my niece, Mary Alice, a little girl who died nearly a half century ago, at the age five and one-half years. The stories are those I told her, and those we sang togetherî (ìNote to A Christmas Storyî at end). 1967 first edition signed
Price: USD 300.00 other currencies   order no. 00159   details     inquire
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offered by: David Brass Rare Books, Inc.   (USA)
  POTTER, Beatrix | Glass, Dudley | Songs of Peter Rabbit, The
ìThe Songs of Peter Rabbitî [POTTER, Beatrix]. GLASS, Dudley. The Songs of Peter Rabbit. Based on ìThe Tale of Peter Rabbitî by Beatrix Potter. Words and Music by Dudley Glass. London: Frederick Warne & Co., [1951]. First edition. Large quarto (11 15/16 x 9 9/16 inches ; 303 x 243 mm.). 31, [1] pp. With lithographed reproductions of thirty of the original illustrations printed in blue. Original color pictorial boards with pale green linen backstrip. A tiny bit of rubbing to the corners. Otherwise a near fine copy. Quinby, p. 116, C8. 1951 first edition
Price: USD 400.00 other currencies   order no. 00163   details     inquire
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offered by: David Brass Rare Books, Inc.   (USA)
  POTTER, Beatrix | Tailor of Gloucester, The
First Published Edition of ìThe Tailor of Gloucesterî POTTER, Beatrix. The Tailor of Gloucester. London: Frederick Warne and Co., 1903. First published edition, second printing (December 1903). Twelvemo (5 7/16 x 4 1/16 inches; 138 x 104 mm.). 85, [1, printerís imprint] pp. Color frontispiece and twenty-six color plates (included in pagination). Eleven of the illustrations are repeated from the December 1902 privately printed edition and seventeen are entirely new for this edition. Original maroon boards stamped in white on front cover and spine. Color pictorial label on front cover within a blind panel in the shape of a truncated pyramid outlined in blind. Color pictorial endpapers. Ink ownership inscription on half-title, dated ìChristmas 1904.î Spine a little faded. An excellent copy. The Tailor of Gloucester was first printed privately in December 1902, in an edition of 500 copies. The format was the same as that of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and the book was bound in pink paper boards. Linder, p. 423. Quinby 4. 1903 first edition
Price: USD 850.00 other currencies   order no. 00165   details     inquire
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offered by: David Brass Rare Books, Inc.   (USA)
  POTTER, Beatrix | Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding, The
First Edition in the Standard Format POTTER, Beatrix. The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-PolyPudding. London: Frederick Warne & Co., [n.d., 1926]. First edition in this format (originally published in 1908 in large format as The Roly-Poly Pudding). Twelvemo (5 1/2 x 4 1/8 inches; 140 x 106 mm.). 75, [1] pp. Eighteen full-page color illustrations (including frontispiece), thirty-five black and white illustrations and four black and white vignettes in the text. Original red boards lettered in white on front cover and spine. Color pictorial label on front cover within a circular blind panel outlined in blind. Color pictorial endpapers. Spine slightly faded, with minimal rubbing. Previous ownerís ink presentation inscription on front free endpaper: ìSheila/with love from/Daddy/Christmas 1926/[flourish].î An excellent copy of this very rare book. ìIn The Roly-Poly Pudding Beatrix Potter expresses her love of the quaint old farmhouse at Hill Top, Sawrey, which she has taken as the setting for the story. The plot is evidently inspired by the numerous rats which were over-running the house at that time, and although the book was not published until the autumn of 1908, the story was actually written in 1906ÖThe story of the Roly-Poly Pudding tells of the adventures of Tom Kitten and of Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna MariaÖAlthough written about the rats at Hill Top, The Roly-Poly Pudding was dedicated to Beatrix Potterís tame white rat ëSammyíÖIn 1926 to bring it into line with the other books in the series, it was printed in the ordinary small format, which pleased Beatrix Potter, and the title was changed to The Tale of Samuel Whiskersî (Linder, p. 191-194). Linder, p. 427. Quinby 15B (ìNot seenî). 1926 first edition
Price: USD 1,000.00 other currencies   order no. 00167   details     inquire
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offered by: David Brass Rare Books, Inc.   (USA)
  RACKHAM, Arthur | Arthur Rackham: A Bibliography
Inscribed by Grace Clark Haskell to Arthur Miller [RACKHAM, Arthur]. LATIMORE, Sarah Briggs, and Grace Clark Haskell. Arthur Rackham. A Bibliography. Los Angeles: Suttonhouse, 1936. First edition. Limited to 550 copies, of which 500 numbered copies are for sale (this copy being No. 165). Presentation copy, inscribed by Grace Clark Haskell on the limitation page: ìTo Arthur Miller/With every good wish./Grace Clark Haskell./July 16, 1938.î Octavo (9 1/4 x 6 1/4 inches; 235 x 155 mm.). [2], xii, [2], 111, [1, limitation page] pp. Color frontispiece from Imagina, black and white photographic portrait of Rackham, and eight black and white reproductions on four leaves. Printed by The Ward Ritchie Press. Original quarter pink silken cloth over pink boards decorated with black stars. Spine lettered in gilt. Top edge trimmed, others uncut. Spine slightly faded with extremities a little frayed. Bookplate of M.B. Goldstone on front pastedown and bookplate Eugene Grosman mounted on p. 99. Small booksellerís description of an additional Rackham item stapled to p. 98. Brief pencilled marginal notes throughout. A very good copy. Housed in the original matching pink slipcase printed in black (worn). 1936 first edition signed
Price: USD 300.00 other currencies   order no. 00168   details     inquire
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offered by: David Brass Rare Books, Inc.   (USA)
  RACKHAM, Bernard | Ancient Glass of Canterbury Cathedral, The
Bernard Rackhamís ìThe Ancient Glass of Canterbury Cathedralî RACKHAM, Bernard. The Ancient Glass of Canterbury Cathedral. With a Foreword by the Late Archbishop Lord Lang of Lambeth. London: Published for the Friends of Canterbury Cathedral by Lund Humphries and Company, 1949. First edition. Large quarto (12 5/8 x 9 1/4 inches; 330 x 238 mm.). xvi, 194 pp. Twenty-one color plates, including frontispiece, on heavy gray stock, each with a leaf of descriptive text, and an additional eighty monochrome plates throughout the text. Original blue buckram decoratively stamped in gilt on front cover and lettered in gilt on spine. Top edge gilt. Upper corners lightly bumped. Some cellotape residue on front free endpapers from where a jacket once was attached. Otherwise a very good copy. With sticker at foot of title-page: Boston Book and Art Shop Inc., Boston, Massachusetts. 1949 first edition
Price: USD 300.00 other currencies   order no. 00170   details     inquire
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offered by: David Brass Rare Books, Inc.   (USA)
  REYNOLDS, Frank | Dickens, Charles | Mr. Pickwick
One of 350 Copies Signed by Frank Reynolds [REYNOLDS, Frank, illustrator]. DICKENS, Charles. Mr. Pickwick. Illustrated in Colour by Frank Reynolds. London: Hodder & Stoughton, [n.d., 1910]. First edition thus. Limited to 350 numbered copies, signed by the artist. Large quarto (12 1/8 x 9 3/4 inc hes; 307 x 240 mm.). xv, [1, blank], 174, [1, printerís imprint], [1, blank] pp. Illustrated title-page. Twenty-five mounted color plates (including frontispiece), with descriptive tissue guards. Original full vellum over boards lettered in gilt on front cover and spine. Front cover with gilt and black vignette. Silk ties renewed. Top edge gilt, others uncut. Previous ownerís ink presentation inscription, dated ìChristmas 1910,î on recto of limitation leaf. Typical light soiling to vellum, mild soiling to endpapers, light blistering to pastedowns. Otherwise a tight, bright, fine copy. Gimbel B24. 1910 signed
Price: USD 550.00 other currencies   order no. 00171   details     inquire
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offered by: David Brass Rare Books, Inc.   (USA)
  ROBINSON, W. Heath | Shakespeare, William | Shakespeareís Comedy of Twelfth Night or What You Will
One of 350 Copies, Signed by W. Heath Robinson [ROBINSON, W. Heath, illustrator]. SHAKESPEARE, [William]. Shakespeareís Comedy of Twelfth Night or What You Will. Illustrations by W. Heath Robinson. London: Hodder & Stoughton, [n.d., 1908]. Edition de Luxe. Limited to 350 numbered copies (this copy being No. 44), signed by the artist. Large quarto (11 1/4 x 8 7/8 inches; 286 x 226 mm.). [2, limitation leaf], xxiv, 143, [1] pp. Forty color plates mounted on dark green heavy stock (including frontispiece). Descriptive tissue guards. Pictorial title, five vignette half-titles, and vignette tail-piece (in line). Original vellum over boards pictorially stamped and lettered in gilt on front cover and spine. Top edge gilt, others uncut. Dark green endpapers. Original yellow silk ties. Bookplate on front pastedown. A fine copy. ìBy the time he was illustrating an edition of Twelfth Night in 1908, [Heath Robinson] was using new techniques with the effects of light. ëHe was always experimenting and pushing the limits of the technology, not necessarily to shock the public but rather to achieve the effects he wanted to on the page. He was a very impressionistic rather than literal illustrator. You find in Twelfth Night that the parts of the text that he chooses to illustrate were primarily the songs. He felt that this would capture the mood of the play rather than having just a the literal interpretation of the actioníî (Geoffrey Beare, interviewed by Alex Capon, in Rare Book Review, at http://www.rarebookreview.com/index.php?nav=features&featureID=14). Beare 57b. Lewis, p. 215. 1908 signed
Price: USD 1,250.00 other currencies   order no. 00174   details     inquire
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offered by: David Brass Rare Books, Inc.   (USA)
  ROBINSON, W. Heath | Some ëFrightfulí War Pictures
Heath Robinson at War [ROBINSON, W. Heath, illustrator]. Some ëFrightfulí War Pictures. [London]: Duckworth & Co., [1915]. First edition (reprinted four times in 1916). Folio (14 1/2 x 9 3/4 inches; 368 x 249 mm.). [56] pp. With twenty-four numbered black and white (halftone) plates printed on coated stock, each preceded by a caption page (the verso of the previous plate) with a silhouette vignette. Title-page vignette and seven black and white silhouettes other than those on the plate captions. Original quarter brick red cloth over tan pictorial boards printed in black and red. Pictorial silhouette endpapers (ìLighting Backî on front endpapers and ìThe Free Lanceî on rear endpapers). Hinges just starting. Some light wear to spine extremities and to lower corners. Otherwise, a near fine copy, with the boards remarkably fresh and bright. In the original pictorial dust jacket (jacket a little dust soiled and chipped at extremities, with tape repairs to the edges on the verso). ìBefore the 1914-18 war ever began, Heath Robinson was showing, in a series of drawings entitled Am Tag, what might happen if the Germans invaded BritainÖWith the outbreak of war in 1914, Will Heath Robinson was probably better equipped to deal with the German War Machine than the British Army was. By the most economical means, he succeeded in reducing the enemy to a bunch of pompous poltroonsÖHis drawings were mainly for The Sketch and The Bystander. Their success was even greater with the British Expeditionary Force in the front line than it was with the people at home and soon he had a large and appreciative correspondence from members of all ranks in the Army, Navy and Flying Corps, who bombarded him with suggestions for his drawingsÖMany of these drawings appeared later in book form, in Some Frightful War Pictures, Hunlikely and The Saintly Hun, all published by Duckworthî (Lewis, pp. 184-186). ìIllustrated throughout with drawings that originally appeared in The Sketch and The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic NewsÖIssued both in paper covers and in quarter-bound paper-covered boards with cloth backs and silhouette designs on the endpapersî (Lewis, p. 216). Beare, p. 147, no. 1. Lewis, p. 216. 1915 first edition dust jacket
Price: USD 550.00 other currencies   order no. 00175   details     inquire
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offered by: David Brass Rare Books, Inc.   (USA)
  ROBINSON, W. Heath | Rabelais, François | Works of Mr. Francis Rabelais, The
W. Heath Robinsonís ìGargantua and Pantagruelî [ROBINSON, W. Heath, illustrator]. RABELAIS, François. The Works of Mr. Francis Rabelais Doctor in Physick Containing Five Books of the Lives, Heroick Deeds & Sayings of Gargantua and His Sonne PantagruelÖIllustrated by W. Heath Robinson. In Two Volumes. London: Grant Richards, 1904. First trade edition. Two quarto volumes (11 3/16 x 8 3/4 inches; 285 x 223 mm.). xlii, [1, blank], [1, illustration], 377, [1, blank]; xliv, 350, [2, blank] pp. Photogravure frontispiece in each volume, with tissue guard. Volume I with fifty-five full-page illustrations, fifty-nine grotesque heads, and twenty-six other small drawings or vignettes, all in line. Volume II with forty-three full-page illustrations, thirty-five grotesque heads, and thirty-four other small drawings or vignettes , all in line. Original white buckram pictorially stamped and lettered in gilt on front cover and spine. Top edge gilt, others uncut. Pictorial endpapers printed in brick red. Covers a little bit dust soiled, otherwise a near fine set. Beare 35A. Lewis, p. 215. 1904
Price: USD 850.00 other currencies   order no. 00177   details     inquire
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offered by: David Brass Rare Books, Inc.   (USA)
  COMBE, William | Williams, Charles | Zaehnsdorf | Doctor Syntax in Paris or A Tour in Search of the Grotesque
One of the Many ìSyntaxî Imitations [COMBE, William]. Doctor Syntax in Paris or A Tour in Search of the Grotesque. A Humorous & Satirical Poem. London: Printed for W. Wright, 1820. First edition. Octavo (9 3/16 x 5 3/4 inches; 234 x 146 mm.). [iii]-viii, 318 pp. Eighteen hand-colored aquatint plates (including frontispiece and vignette title) after Charles Williams. Plates watermarked 1819. Early twentieth-century three-quarter red morocco, ruled in gilt, over marbled boards by Zaehnsdorf (stamp-signed on the verso of the front free endpaper). Spine decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. An excellent copy. William Combe (1741ñ1823) ìpublished a number of metrical satires, including The Diaboliad (1776), directed against Lord Irnham; and many other works in prose and verse, including The Devil upon Two Sticks in England (1790) and The Microcosm of London (1808). He is particularly remembered for the verses that he wrote to accompany Rowlandson's coloured plates and drawings of the adventures of ëDr Syntaxí. The first of these works, The Tour of Dr Syntax in Search of the Picturesque, a parody of the popular books of picturesque travels of the day, and particularly of the works of Gilpin, appeared in Ackermann's Poetical Magazine in 1809, and in 1812 as a book which went into many editions. Dr Syntax is the grotesque figure of a clergyman and schoolmaster, who sets out during the holidays, on his old horse Grizzle, to ëmake a TOUR and WRITE ITí, and meets with a series of absurd misfortunes. This was followed in 1820 by The Second Tour of Dr Syntax in Search of Consolation (for the loss of his wife) and in 1821 by The Third Tour of Dr Syntax in Search of a Wife. The three Tours were collected in 1826. Combe also wrote the letterpress for Rowlandson's The English Dance of Death (1815ñ16), The Dance of Life (1816), and Johnny Quae Genus (1822), another Syntax storyî (The Oxford Companion to English Literature). ìThe good-natured moralising schoolmaster became a public character and a general favourite. Syntax was the popular title of the day, and shop windows displayed Syntax hats, Syntax wigs, and Syntax coatsÖIts success produced a host of parodies and spurious imitations. Among them the best perhaps is the Tour of Dr. Syntax through London, with twenty plates, published in 1820.ÖOther imitations were Syntax in Paris, which appeared in 1820, with seventeen plates; and the Tour of Dr. Prosody in Search of the Antique, etc., in 1821, with twenty plates by W. Readî (Martin Hardie, p. 168). ìThe author of the text [of Doctor Syntax in Paris] is unknown, but, although this is manifestly in plates and general style a Syntax imitation, the text might conceivably be genuinely by Combeî (Abbey, Travel). Charles Williams (fl. 1797-1830) ìwas the chief caricaturist for Fores, the printseller and was a follower and copyist of James Gillray. His early work is published under the name ëAnsellí but the later is usually anonymousî (Houfe, The Dictionary of 19th Century British Book Illustrators, p. 348). Abbey, Travel, 109. Martin Hardie, pp. 168 and 317. Tooley 432. 1820 first edition
Price: USD 1,250.00 other currencies   order no. 00178   details     inquire
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offered by: David Brass Rare Books, Inc.   (USA)
  SHAKESPEARE HEAD PRESS | Brontë, Charlotte | Brontë, Emil... Shakespeare Head Brontë, The
The Shakespeare Head Brontë [SHAKESPEARE HEAD PRESS]. BRONTÀ, [Charlotte, Emily, and Anne]. The Shakespeare Head Brontë. Oxford: Newly Printed at the Shakespeare Head Press and Published for the Press by Basil Blackwell, 1931. Limited to 1,000 copies. Eleven large octavo volumes (containing the Novels). [Together with:] [SHAKESPEARE HEAD PRESS]. BRONTÀ, [Charlotte, Emily, and Anne.] The Brontës: Their Lives, Friendships and Correspondence. In Four Volumes. [Edited by Thomas James Wise and John Alexander Symington]. Oxford: Printed at the Shakespeare Head Press and Published for the Press by Basil Blackwell, 1932. Limited to 750 copies. Four large octavo volumes. [And:] [SHAKESPEARE HEAD PRESS]. BRONTÀ, Charlotte, and Patrick Branwell. The Poems of Charlotte Brontë & Patrick Branwell Brontë. [Edited by Thomas James Wise and John Alexander Symington]. Oxford: Printed at the Shakespeare Head Press and Published for the Press by Basil Blackwell, 1934. Limited to 500 copies. [And:] [SHAKESPEARE HEAD PRESS]. BRONTÀ, Emily Jane and Anne. The Poems of Emily Jane Brontë and Anne Brontë. [Edited by Thomas James Wise and John Alexander Symington]. Oxford: Printed at the Shakespeare Head Press and Published for the Press by Basil Blackwell, 1934. Limited to 500 copies. [And:] [SHAKESPEARE HEAD PRESS]. BRONTÀ, Charlotte, and Patrick Branwell. The Miscellaneous and Unpublished Writings of Charlotte and Patrick Branwell Brontë. In Two Volumes. [Edited by Thomas James Wise and John Alexander Symington]. Oxford: Printed at the Shakespeare Head Press and Published for the Press by Basil Blackwell, 1936-1938]. Limited to 1,000 copies. Two large octavo volumes. Together, nineteen large octavo volumes (9 1/8 x 6 7/8 inches; 231 x 156 mm.). Photogravure frontispieces and plates. Original orange buckram lettered in gilt on spines. Top edge gilt, others uncut (only on The Brontës: Their Lives, Friendships and Correspondence, The Poems of Charlotte Brontë & Patrick Branwell Brontë, and The Poems of Emily Jane Brontë and Anne Brontë). Volume I of The Miscellaneous and Unpublished Writings of Charlotte and Patrick Branwell Brontë has a previous ownerís ink signature, dated 1945, on the front free endpaper. A fine set. In the original cream-colored printed dust jackets (some very minor shelfwear to jackets). This is the finest edition of the collected works of Charlotte, Emily, Anne, and Branwell Brontë. Franklin, The Private Presses, p. 236. Ransom, Selective Check Lists, p. 18, no. 73. 1931
Price: USD 7,500.00 other currencies   order no. 00184   details     inquire
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offered by: David Brass Rare Books, Inc.   (USA)
  SHAW, Byam | Sidgwick, Frank | Ballads and Lyrics of Love
ìBallads and Lyrics of Love,î Illustrated by Byam Shaw [SHAW, Byam, illustrator]. [SIDGWICK, Frank, editor]. Ballads and Lyrics of Love. Edited with an Introduction by Frank Sidgwick. Illustrated after Byam Shaw. London: Chatto & Windus, 1908. Special Edition. Limited to 260 numbered copies (this copy being No. 18). Quarto (10 x 7 1/2 inches; 255 x 190 mm.). xvii, [1, blank], 178, [2] pp. Ten mounted color plates (including frontispiece), with descriptive tissue guards. Original vellum over boards pictorially stamped and lettered in gilt on front cover and spine. Top edge gilt, others uncut. Light green marbled endpapers. Minor rubbing to spine and to extremities. Bookplate on front pastedown. Otherwise a near fine copy. Selected from Thomas Percyís Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765). 1908
Price: USD 275.00 other currencies   order no. 00185   details     inquire
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offered by: David Brass Rare Books, Inc.   (USA)
  SHAW, George Bernard | Irrational Knot, The
First Edition of Shawís Second Novel, with an Autograph Note Signed by Shaw SHAW, [George] Bernard. The Irrational Knot. Being the Second Novel of His Nonage. London: Archibald Constable & Co., 1905. First edition in book form, English issue, consisting of imported sheets of the first American edition (New York: Brentanoís, 1905) with cancel title-leaf. Octavo (7 5/8 x 5 1/8 inches; 192 x 131 mm). xxvi, 422, [2, blank] pp. In the original American issue blue cloth binding with front cover lettered in gilt and stamped in gilt with a floral vignette within a single-rule border in blind and spine lettered in gilt (with ìBrentanoísî at foot of spine). Top edge trimmed, others uncut. Light wear to extremities, spine slightly cocked, rear hinge with short (1/2 inch) split. Mild dampstain to upper margin of first few leaves, closed tear to upper margin of pp. 393/394. A very good copy. The first edition, American issue (Laurence A68a), was published 4 October 1905. ì10,000 copies, including 3000 sheets for British issue. This was first book publication of a novel written in 1880. Text extensively revised (1892) on tearsheets of the serialization in Our Corner (April 1885-February 1887), now in the Walter Hampden-Edwin Booth Memorial Library, New Yorkî (Laurence). The first edition, English issue (Laurence A68b), was published 13 October 1905. According to Laurence, the contents of the first edition, English issue, are uniform with the American issue except for the deletion of the advertisement of works by Shaw on the verso of the half-title (p. [ii]), the substitution of the English publisherís imprint on the title-page (p. [iii]), the addition of the printerís imprint of Schlueter Printing Company, New York, on the verso of the title-page (p. [iv]), and the reduction of the caption on pp. [v] and vii from ìPreface to the American Edition of 1905î to the single word ìPreface.î The binding is green-blue or gray-blue cloth lettered in gilt within a double-circle in gilt on the front cover and lettered in gilt on spine. Laurence notes that a copy of the American edition with a cancel title-leaf lacking the publisherís imprint was deposited for copyright in the British Museum on 30 September 1905. The present copy appears to conform to the copy noted by Laurence and possibly precedes the first edition, English issue, as published. It has a cancel title-leaf with the English publisherís imprint on the recto (p. [iii]) and the copyright notice (ìCopyright, 1905/By G. Bernard Shaw/Entered at Stationersí Hall, London/Published September, 1905î) on the verso (p. [iv), but without the addition of the printerís imprint of Schlueter Printing Company, New York, on the verso. The advertisement of works by Shaw on p. [ii] and the caption ìPreface to the American Edition of 1905î on pp. [v] and vii are still present. In addition, it retains the American issue blue cloth binding with ìBrentanoísî stamped in gilt at the foot of the spine. [Together with:] An Autograph Note Signed by Shaw to Messrs. Stevens & Brown, dated 1st March 1904. One oblong twelvemo page (4 1/2 x 7 inches; 114 x 176 mm.) on Shawís notepaper headed ì10, Adelphi Terrace. W.C.î (his London home). In this note, Shaw briefly discusses The Irrational Knot, written eighteen months before its ultimate publication in book form. ìëThe Irremediable Knotí is of course a blunder for ëThe Irrational Knot,í youthful novel of mine [written in 1880, and about marriage], which was published as a serial in an extinct magazine called Our Corner [the socialist monthly issued by Annie Besant], and has never been reprinted, even in America. No doubt it will be, some day, as there is no American copyright in it.î Laurence A68b. 1905 first edition
Price: USD 950.00 other currencies   order no. 00186   details     inquire
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offered by: David Brass Rare Books, Inc.   (USA)
  SHAW, George Bernard | Ricketts, Charles | Saint Joan
First Edition of Bernard Shawís ìSaint Joanî with Illustrations by Charles Ricketts SHAW, [George ]Bernard. Saint Joan. A Chronicle Play in Six Scenes and an Epilogue. By Bernard Shaw. With Sketches by C. Ricketts. London: Constable and Co., 1924. First illustrated edition (first published 25 June 1924 without illustrations). Limited to 750 copies on Batchelorís handmade paper. Large folio (15 9/16 x 11 1/16 inches; 395 x 281 mm.). [2], v, [1], 182, [1], [1, printerís imprint] pp. Sixteen mounted plates (twelve in color). Each plate with a caption page preceding it. The four black and white plates are of stage settings. Original quarter linen over white paper boards printed in blue with a repetitive design of arms. Paper label on front cover printed in gold, black, and dark blue. Paper spine label printed in gold. Top edge gilt, others uncut. A minimal amount of rubbing to the lower edge of the book. An exceptional copy. In the original dust jacket printed in blue with a design by Ricketts on the front panel (minimal chipping to top of jacket spine). ìAn Edition de Luxe, with sixteen designs in colour and monochrome by Charles Ricketts mounted on text leaves, was issued by Constable on 2 October 1924, limited to 750 copies. £5.5.0. This was the first illustrated edition of one of Shawís works; it failed to satisfy him. It was, he informed Archibald Henderson on 3 March 1946 in an inscription in a copy of the volume, ëa handsome object; but it is too big for a book: its size makes it unreadable. The pictures were designed as theatre costumes and not as book illustrations. A reduction in size would have spoilt themÖIt was impossible to reconcile the two incompatibles. The result was a monsteríî (Laurence). Capelleveen B38. Laurence A170c. 1924 first edition dust jacket
Price: USD 1,250.00 other currencies   order no. 00187   details     inquire
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  SHAW, George Bernard | Works of Bernard Shaw, The
The Best Edition of Shawís Works SHAW, [George] Bernard. The Works of Bernard Shaw. London: Constable & Co., [1930-1938]. First collected edition. One of 1,000 numbered copies (this copy being No. 501), out of a total edition of 1,025 copies. Thirty-three octavo volumes (9 1/8 x 6 inches; 232 x 153 mm.). Original jade green cloth lettered in gilt on spines. Top edge gilt. A fine set of the best edition of Shawís works. In the original gray dust jackets with spines printed in red. The ìCollected Editionî consisted of thirty volumes, published between 26 July 1930 and 24 February 1932. Three additional volumes were published, one on 7 June 1934 and two on 1 July 1938. Volume I is the first publication of Shawís first novel, Immaturity, written in 1879 (see Laurence). George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Irish dramatist, critic, and social reformer. ìPolitical and economic socialism, a new religion of creative evolution, antivivisection, vegetarianism, and spelling reform were a few of his causesÖ[Shaw] began to write for the stage in 1885. With most of his early plays either banned by the censor or refused production, Shaw sought a reading audience with his first published collection, Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant (1898)ÖShaw wrote his best plays prior to, during, and shortly after World War I. They include Man and Superman [1905], John Bullís Other Island (written [1904] at the request of William Butler Yeats for the Irish Literary Theatre), Major Barbara [1905], Fannyís First Play (1912), Androcles and the Lion (1912), Pygmalion [1913], Heartbreak House [written 1913, produced 1920], Back to Methuselah [1921], and Saint Joan [1923]. He received the Nobel Prize in literature in 1925ÖShaw wrote many essays on socialism, politics, and economics and one longer work, The Intelligent Womanís Guide to Socialism and Capitalism (1928)î (Benétís Readerís Encyclopedia). Laurence A198a. 1930 first edition dust jacket
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  SIMMONDS, W.G. | Shakespeare, William | Shakespeareís Tragedy of Hamlet
Shakespeareís ìHamletî Illustrated by W.G. Simmonds [SIMMONDS, W.G., illustrator]. SHAKESPEARE, [William]. Shakespeare's Tragedy of Hamlet. Illustrated by W.G. Simmonds. London: Hodder & Stoughton, [n.d., 1910]. Limited to 250 numbered copies (this copy being No. 5), signed by the artist. Quarto (11 x 8 3/4 inches; 280 x 222 mm.). xxvii, [1, blank], 164, [1, printerís device and imprint], [1, blank] pp. Thirty mounted color plates, with descriptive tissue guards. Title printed in red and black. Original vellum over boards pictorially stamped and lettered in gilt on front cover and spine. Top edge gilt, others uncut. Silk ties renewed. Boards a bit bowed, some typical light soiling to vellum. Otherwise a fine copy. ìThe Story of ëHamletíî by A. Quiller-Couch (pp. ix-xxvii). 1910 signed
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  STEINBECK, John | Nothing So Monstrous
First Separate Edition STEINBECK, John. Nothing So Monstrous. A StoryÖ[New York: Pynson Printers], 1936. First separate edition (originally published in 1932 in The Pastures of Heaven). Limited to 370 copies. Octavo (9 1/4 x 6 inches; 234 x 153 mm.). [4, blank], 30, [1], [1, colophon], [4, blank] pp. Illustrated title-page. Black and white text drawings by Donald McKay. Original quarter orange cloth over patterned boards. Spine lettered in black. A fine copy. Partially unopened. With remnants of the original glassine laid in. Originally appearing in Steinbeckís collection of linked short stories,The Pastures of Heaven (1932), Elmer Adler published this, the sixth story, under his Pynson Printers imprint for subscribers who would then fill in the colophon page with their names and that of the gift recipient (here blank). Steinbeck wrote an epilogue to the story not found in the earlier or subsequent printings of The Pastures of Heaven. This printing was limited to 370 copies simply because the paper supply allowed only that number. On January 24, 1954, Nothing So Monstrous was dramatized for the classic, Alistair Cooke-hosted, television anthology Omnibus, starring Lew Ayres and Lassie star, Tommy Rettig. Goldstone & Payne A2f. 1936 first edition
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  STEVENSON, Robert Louis | Osbourne, Lloyd | Stikeman & Co. | Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, The
The Best Edition of Stevensonís Works STEVENSON, Robert Louis. The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson. New York: Charles Scribnerís Sons, 1921-1923. Vailima Edition. One of 1,030 numbered sets for the United States (this set being No. 461), out of a total edition of 2,090 sets. Twenty-six octavo volumes (9 x 5 3/4 inches; 228 x 147 mm.). Photogravure frontispiece portraits. With an introduction by Lloyd Osbourne in Volume I. Publisherís deluxe binding by Stikeman & Co. for Charles Scribnerís Sons (stamp-signed on the verso of the front free endpaper) of contemporary three-quarter blue crushed levant morocco, ruled in gilt, over blue cloth boards. Spines in three compartments with two raised bands, lettered in gilt in the top compartment, ruled in gilt in the bottom compartment, and decoratively tooled in gilt in a floral and thistle design in the center compartment. Top edge gilt, others uncut. Marbled endpapers. A fine and attractive set of the best edition of Stevensonís works. Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), Scottish essayist, poet, and author of fiction and travel books, known especially for his novels of adventure. His major works include Treasure Island (1883), A Childís Garden of Verses (1885), Kidnapped (1886), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), The Black Arrow (1888), and The Master of Ballantrae (1889). ìThough his novels are perhaps less successfully accomplished than his briefer tales and stories, his work is marked by his power of invention, his command of horror and the supernatural, and the psychological depth which he was able to bring to romanceî (Benétís Readerís Encyclopedia). Beinecke 748. 1921
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  SULLIVAN, Edmund J. | Carlyle, Thomas | French Revolution, The
ìTeeming with Colourful Scenes of Dramatic Events and Imaginative Portraits of the Leading Revolutionariesî [SULLIVAN, Edmund J., illustrator]. CARLYLE, Thomas. The French Revolution. A History. With Illustrations by Edmund J. Sullivan, A.R.W.S. London: Chapman and Hall, 1910. One of 150 numbered copies, signed by the artist (this being copy No. 92). Two quarto volumes (11 x 7 1/2 inches; 280 mm.). xii, [2], 418; xi, [1, blank], [2], 484 pp. Thirty-three black and white plates and 124 text illustrations. Title-page printed red and black. Original quarter vellum over natural linen boards. Front cover and spine decoratively stamped and lettered in gilt. Top edge gilt, others uncut. Spines very slightly soiled, corners lightly bumped. Otherwise a near fine set. ìNot a work of scholarship but a prose epic, teeming with colourful scenes of dramatic events and imaginative portraits of the leading revolutionaries. The book at once captured the English-speaking world, and has, outside France, moulded popular conceptions of the French Revolution down to the present dayî (Printing and the Mind of Man 304, describing the 1837 first edition). Of Edmund J. Sullivan (1869-1933), Gordon N. Ray wrote ìSullivanís career as an illustrator was one of the most substantial and distinguished in the annals of English artî (Ray, The Illustrator and the Book in England, p. 187). 1910 signed
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  THACKERAY, William Makepeace | Works of William Makepeace Thackeray, The
The Kensington Edition of Thackerayís Works THACKERAY, William Makepeace. The Works of William Makepeace Thackeray. New York: Charles Scribnerís Sons, 1903-1904. Kensington Edition. Thirty-two octavo volumes (8 9/16 x 5 5/8 inches; 217 x 143 mm.). Frontispieces, plates, and text illustrations, after the originals. Bound in contemporary three-quarter red morocco, ruled in gilt, over pink mottled paper boards. Spines decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments. Top edge gilt, others uncut. A near fine set. ìIn beginning with the four great novels the edition follows the logical tradition of the first complete and revised edition published after Thackerayís death; an attempt at a strict chronological succession, which would give precedence to minor works, would confuse the reader and has only pedantic arguments in its favor. In general, the order followed is that of the edition referred to (that of 1869); but some slight variations have been made, sometimes for the sake of bringing closer together work of the same general kind, sometimesówhere no important associations were violatedófrankly in the interest of uniformity in the size of volumes. It is believed that the inclusion for the first time in this edition of the well-known Brookfield Letters will be especially welcome. The frontispiece to the initial volume is from the drawing by Samuel Laurence, perhaps the most satisfactory portrait of Thackeray in his prime; and in later volumes other portraits will be given, including several unfamiliar photographsî (ìNote to the Kensington Edition,î pp. vii-viii). 1903
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  VERLAINE, Paul | Kieffer, René | Poésies de Paul Verlaine
A Beautifully Bound Set of Paul Verlaineís Poetry VERLAINE, Paul. Poésies de Paul Verlaine. Paris:Librairie Albert Messein, 1914-1926. One of 500 copies on ìpapier Vélin à la forme,î out of a total edition of 550 numbered copies. Eighteen large octavo volumes (9 13/16 x 6 1/4 inches; 249 x 160 mm.). Comprising: Poèmes Saturniens. Illustrations de H. Bouché-Leclercq (1914); La Bonne chanson. Illustrations de Paul Guignebault (1914); Fêtes galantes. Croquis et vignettes de Robert Bonfils (1915); Romances sans paroles. Illustrations en couleurs de Ch. Picart le Doux (1920); Parallèlement. Illustrations de R. Drouart (1921); Jadis et naguère. Illustrations de Léon Voguet (1921); Amour. Illustrations de Th. Hummel (1922); Bonheur. Illustrations de Pierre Peltier (1923); Chansons pour elle. Illustrations de Quint (1923); Liturgies intimes. Illustrations de G. Assire (1923); Sagesse. Illustrations de Daniel Girard (1924); …légies. Illustrations de André Cahard (1924); Dans les limbes. Illustrations de Gaston Nick (1924); Odes en son honneur. Illustrations de Paul Baudier (1924); Chair. Illustrations de Maurice Guy-Loé (1925); Dédicaces. 220 Dessins díAlfred Le Petit (1925); …pigrammes. Dessins díAlexandre Barte (1926); and Invectives. Illustrations de Maurice Tellier (1926). All illustrations are in pochoir. Publisherís harlequin leather (calf and morocco) in brown, purple, tan, red, green, gray, orange, black, and maroon by René Kieffer (with his ticket on front free endpaper of most volumes). Covers decoratively stamped in blind, spines decoratively stamped in blind and lettered in gilt with three raised bands, top edge gilt, others uncut, decorative endpapers. Original wrappers bound in. A few spines slightly faded. Otherwise a very fine set. French lyric poet Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) was ìfirst associated with the Parnassians and later a leader of the Symbolists. With Stéphane Mallarmé and Charles Baudelaire he formed the so-called DecadentsÖ[In 1886] his first volume of poetry appeared. In addition to virtuoso imitations of Baudelaire and Charles Leconte de Lisle, Poèmes saturniens included several poignant expressions of love and melancholy. In 1870 Verlaine married Mathilde Mauté; in the delicious poems written during their engagement (La Bonne Chanson, 1870), he sees her as his long-hoped-for savior from his erring ways. Their marriage, however, was soon shattered by Verlaineís infatuation with the poet Arthur RimbaudÖVerlaine abandoned his wife and infant son in July 1872 to wander with Rimbaud and write ëimpressionistí sketches for his next collection, Romances sans paroles (1874; ëSongs Without Wordsí)ÖAt the time of publication the author was serving a two-year sentence at Mons for shooting Rimbaud during a quarrel in July 1873. Leaving prison in January 1875, Verlaine tried a Trappist retreat, then hurried to Stuttgart to meet Rimbaud, who apparently repulsed him with violence. He took refuge in England and taught for more than a year before returning to France. From this period (1873-78) date most of the poems in Sagesse (ëWisdomí), including outstanding poetical expressions of simple Roman Catholic faith as well as of his emotional odysseyÖThe death of his favorite pupil in 1883, as well as that of the poetís mother in 1886, and the failure of all attempts at reconciliation with his wife broke down whatever will to respectability remained, and he relapsed into drink and debauchery. Jadis et naguère (1884; ëYesteryear and Yesterdayí) consists mostly of pieces written years before but not fitting into previous carefully grouped collections. Similarly, Parallèlement (1889) comprises bohemian and erotic pieces often contemporary with, and technically equal to, his ërespectableí onesî (Merriam-Websterís Encyclopedia of Literature). 1914
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  VERVE | Verve Vol. IV, Nos 14 et 15.
Jean Bourdichonís Heures díAnne de Bretagne [BOURDICHON, Jean]. M¬LE, …mile. Jean Bourdichon. Les Heures díAnne de Bretagne. Bibliothèque Nationale (Manuscrit Latin 9474). Texte par …mile MâleÖLégendes par Edmund Pognon. [Verve Vol. IV, Nos 14 et 15]. [Paris: …ditions de la Revue Verve, 1946]. First edition. Folio (13 11/16 x 10 1/4; 348 x 262 mm.). 23, [1], [12] pp. Thirty-two mounted color plates (printed in gold and colors and bordered in gilt) of Queen Anne of Brittanyís Book of Hours. Twenty-eight black and white photographic reproductions of the original manuscript illuminations. Original cream paper boards. Covers decoratively stamped and lettered in gilt. Gilt, blue , and black decorative label on front cover. Spine very slightly darkened, slight abrasion to top of spine. Otherwise a fine copy. Verve was ìoriginally published periodically from 1937 until 1960, in twenty-six different issues. These often featured original printe by great French atists of the time, such as Matisse, Picasso, Braque, Chagall, and Bonnard. Verve is described as the ultimate review of art and literatureî (artloft.com). 1937
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  WELLS, H.G. | Outline of History, The
The Rare Original Serial in Twenty-Four Parts Bound in Color Illustrated Wrappers WELLS, H.G. The Outline of History. Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind. Written with the Advice and Editorial Help of Mr. Ernest Barker, Sir H. H. Johnston, Sir E. Ray Lankester, and Professor Gilbert Murray. London: George Newnes Limited, [1919-1920]. First edition. Twenty-four quarto parts (11x 8 1/4 inches; 277 x 209 mm.). 780 continuous pp. Original wrappers printed in full color. Forty-seven color and miscellaneous black & white illustrations throughout. Original pictorial publisher"s notice affixed to upper wrapper of volume 15 to announce a price increase for the subsequent issues. Approximately one third of the front wrapper of volume VI neatly excised, loss to upper corner of upper wrapper to volume XVII, pencil underlinings and marginal notes in some volumes. Nonetheless, a very good set in the scarce parts. Chemised in a full black morocco slipcase with gilt lettering and rules , with a bit of wear to edges. Published every two weeks from November 1919 - November1920, Wellsí intent was neatly summarized in his subtitle. He was not happy with the quality of history textbooks prior to his writing and strove to create an enduring text that would illustrate the progress of mankind and civilization as a Darwinian continuum. His theme was that education would be the salvation of mankind: ìHuman history becomes more and more a race between education and catastropheî he declared in the text, the catastrophe being another horrific conflict like the horrific World War which had ended a short time prior, and the recent Russian revoltion, which as a socialist he was sympathetic to but had become disillustioned with after visisting the Soviet Union. The serial was an immediate popular success, so much so that the publisher, using the sheets from parts I-XII, issued a hardcover edition in July of 1920 and a second volume, comprised of the sheets of parts XII-XXIV, in November of the same year. This two volume hardcover edition was a massive best seller, later revised, and often reprinted. In this, its fragile, original multi-part state with fine cover illustrations by various artists, it remains scarce. Hammond E18. Wells 70(n). 1919 first edition
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  BAUDELAIRE, Charles | Fleurs du mal, Les
Very Rare First Issue of Baudelaireís ìFleurs du mal,î Containing the Six Suppressed Poems, in the Original Contemporary Cloth Binding BAUDELAIRE, Charles. Les Fleurs du mal. Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1857. First edition, first issue, containing the six ìnotoriousî poems for which Baudelaire was fined, and which were suppressed in the second issue, and with the following issue points: with ìFeursî in the headline on pp. 31 and 108; with p. 45 misnumbered 44, and with the last word of the first line on p. 201 ìcaptieuxî instead of ìcapiteux.î Twelvemo (7 1/4 x 4 3/4 inches; 185 x 121 mm.). [4], 248, [4, table of contents] pp. Title printed in red and black. In the original contemporary French binding of brown morocco-grain cloth over boards. Covers ruled in blind, smooth spine ruled in gilt and blind and lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers, edges sprinkled brown. The absolute minimum of rubbing to corners and spine extremities. Paper very slightly browned at the edges, as is to be expected. Occasional very minor soiling or faint staining (heaviest on pp. 52 and 53, 154 and 155, and 184 and 185). Contemporary pencil inscription of ìSancta Simplicitaî at head of half-title. This is a spectacular copy in what is without a doubt the original binding put on the book at the time of publication. Housed in a three quarter black morocco clamshell case. ìWhen Les Fleurs du mal was published in book form in late June 1857 its often scabrous and sacrilegious content immediately attracted the attention of the authorities, and on 20 August 1857 Baudelaire was fined 300 francs by the Sixième Chambre Correctionnelle for ëoutrage à la morale publiqueí; in addition, six poems in the collection were ordered to be suppressedÖBaudelaire was adamant that his ëlivre atroceí was not ëun pur albumí and that the individual poems yielded their full significance only when read within the ëcadre singulierí in which he had set them. Introduced by the celebrated dedicatory piece ëAu lecteurí, the 100 poems of the 1857 edition were divided into five sequences or ëchaptersí (ëSpleen et Idéalí, ëFleurs du malí, ëRévolteí, ëLe Viní, and ëLa Mortí)ÖLes Fleurs du mal records, in poetry in which lyricism and irony are fused, the quest of divided modern man for an ëidealíóvariously sought in art, eroticism, travel, drugs, and political, social, and metaphysical revoltóthat forever eludes him, plunging him back into the agony of isolation and despair that Baudelaire called ëspleení. Oscillating from one extreme to another, the quest is open-ended, ever to be renewed, and takes the seeker beyond the realms of life and death ëau fond de líInconnu pour trouver du nouveauí (ëLe Voyageí)î (The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French). The first edition of Les Fleurs du mal consisted of 1,300 copies, only 200 of which were seized and mutilated after the six ìnotoriousî poems were censored. The first issue contains the six poems: ìLes Bijouxî (pp. [52]-53), ìLe Léthéî (pp. [73]-74), ìA celle qui est trop gaieî (pp. [91]-93), ìLesbosî (pp. [187]-190), ìFemmes damnéesî (pp. [196]-197), and ìLes Métamorphoses du vampireî (pp. [206]-207). The French ban on these poems was not officially lifted until 1949, although they were commonly printed as an appendix in posthumous editions of Les Fleurs du mal. Carteret I, 118-123. Clouzot 43 (ìLa très grande majorité des exemplaires a été reliée convenablement, mais sans plus, à líépoqueî). Rahir, p. 310. Vicaire I, cols. 341-343. 1857 first edition
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  CRAIG, William Marshall | Phillips, Richard | Description of the Plates, Representing the Itinerant Traders of London in Their Ordinary Costume
ìLondon Criesî [CRAIG, William Marshall, illustrator]. Description of the Plates, Representing theItinerant Traders of London in Their Ordinary Costume; with Notices of the Remarkable Places Given in the Background. [London: PublishedÖby Richard Phillips, 1804]. First edition, first issue, with the plates having gray wash borders. Quarto (10 9/16 x 8 5/16 inches; 269 x 211 mm.). Thirty-one hand colored etched plates (dated April 25, 1804 and July 7, 1804) by Edwards and W.S. Newton after Craig and [31] leaves of descriptive text (including the title, which has text on the verso). Plates watermarked 1801 and 1804. Text watermarked 1803 and 1804. [Issued as part of:] PHILLIPS, [Sir] Richard. Modern London; Being the History and Present State of the British Metropolis. Illustrated with Numerous Copper Plates. London: Printed for Richard Phillips, by C. Mercier and Co., 1804. First edition. Quarto (10 9/16 x 8 5/16 inches; 269 x 211 mm.). viii, 501, [1, blank], [31] leaves of descriptive text interleaved with the plates described above, [1], 538-571, [2, list of plates], [3, publisherís advertisements] pp. Modern antique-style half mottled calf over marbled boards. Marbled edges. Folding map lacking two sections. Short tear to lower margin of DD1 (pp. 201/202, repaired tear to outer margin of 3O4 (pp. 471/472), short closed tear in the text on 4B3 (pp. 557/558), a few minor marginal tears or paper flaws. Paper slightly browned, some slight offsetting from the plates. Overall, an excellent copy. ìRichard Phillips, the radical bookseller, gaoled in 1793 for selling copies of Paineís Rights of Man, in 1797 set up in St Paulís Churchyard as a book and periodical publisher and in 1802 launched The Picture of London, a guidebook which he continued to issue annually until 1810ÖIn the 1802 edition Phillips, in addition to maps of central London and the environs, included four views. These were increased by four in 1803 but when he published the 1805 edition he had decided to hive off the pictorial element into a work of format more suitable to topographical plates, his Modern Londonî (Adams, London Illustrated, p. 189). ìModern London is an outsize guidebook combined with a sort of ëanatomyí of the contemporary town and descriptions of the individual topographical plates and of the ëLondon Criesí with their familiar street settingsÖAll but two of the topographical plates were drawn by Edward Pugh, a miniature painter, architectural draughtsman and aquatint engraver who exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1793 and died in 1813ÖThe engraving was entrusted to Rawle, one of the Cookes, John Pass, Thomas Reeve, Richard Rhodes, James Fittler, James Newton, J.P. Thompson, Isaac Taylor the pedagogue, J.G. Walter and Edward Edwardsócertainly more competent engravers than the anonymous hacks usually employed on guidebook illustration. The chief attraction of the book lies in the 31 Cries of London, each in an identified setting, and hand coloured. They were drawn by William Marshall Craig, a fashionable miniature painter who exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1788 to 1827 and was appointed painter in water-colours to Queen Charlotte. There is only one engraverís credit, that of Edward Edwards, but the uniformity of the etchings suggests that they were all by one handî (Adams, London Illustrated, p. 193). ìCraigís (c. 1765-c. 1818) Itinerant TradersÖtakes as its purpose the promotion of London as a city of beauty and order by reason of its monuments and noble buildings, which derive scale and human purpose from a brood of picturesque outcasts. It unites topography with portraiture in pointillist designs explicated by two essays per imageÖCraigís designs reverse the normal priority of foregrounds over backgrounds; its figures, posed and decorous, are pretexts for their settings; historic London buildings rendered in the factual manner of architectural draftingÖThe advantage setting enjoys over character is still clearer in the bookís commentaries, which, matching the two-fold division of Craigís images, address background and figures in two blocks of prose using two type fontsî (Sean Shesgreen, Images of the Outcast: The Urban Poor in the Cries of London, pp. 157-158). Abbey, Life, 271 (Itinerant Traders only). Adams, London Illustrated, 89. Hiler, p. 232. Tooley 370. Upcott II, pp. 646-647. 1804 first edition
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  LISTER, Thomas Henry | Granby
The Authorís First Book, Published Anonymouslyó An Important Entry into the School of "Fashionable"or "Silver-Fork" Novels [LISTER, Thomas Henry]. Granby. A Novel. In Three Volumes. London: Henry Colburn, 1826. First edition of the authorís first novel. Three twelvemo volumes (7 3/8 x 4 11/16 inches; 187 x 119 mm.). [4], 324; [2], 342; [4], 330 pp. Complete with half-titles in Volumes I and III (as called for), but without the advertisement leaf at the end of Volume III. Near contemporary half dark blue polished calf, decoratively tooled in blind, over marbled boards. Spines ruled in gilt and blind and decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt. Edges sprinkled red. Volume I with small piece of red wax on P6 verso (p. 324); Volume II with small portion of lower blank margin and corner of M2 (pp. 243/244) torn away; Volume III with short tear to outer blank margin of E4 and E5 (pp. 83-86). Armorial bookplate of Charles Wm. Orde, Nunnykirk, on front pastedown of each volume. A very good copy. Granby, ìwith its crisp Jane Austen flavour,î ìcontains all the essential facets that were to become endemic to the silver fork genre: there are some politics, some gambling scenes and a duel; there are dazzling balls in the London season, and country-house parties in the winter; the characters include a dandy, a toad-eater, a scheming high-society villain, a pair of lovers ill-starred until towards the end of the third volume. There are social climbers clambering towards Almackís, provincial belles at a race meeting ball in Doncaster Assembly Rooms; there is satire at the expense of the middle class and the rich roturiers. But above all, there are semi-flirtatious drawing-room conversations and dinner-table repartee. At these Lister excelled. In light, flippant exchanges, we get the atmosphere of the aristocracy, and the words and phrases which were currently in vogueî (Alison Adburgham, Silver Fork Society, pp. 92-93). ìLister was a rather ladylike novelist, which, perhaps, accounts for the erroneous attribution to him of Mrs. Cradockís novel, Hulse House. But there is good work in Granby, with its fine, manly hero and its baseborn, reckless, but not unattractive villain. Lister moves easily among titles of nobility, and, in the course of this story, presents us with an aristocratic coxcomb whom it is difficult not to regard as a perverted Darcy. Lister is clever at smart conversation, which seems to have been much valued in its own day, however tiresome it may appear now; and he succeeds in conveying an impression of a real world, inhabited by real people. He has his interest, therefore, for the student of external mannersî (The Cambridge History of English and American Literature at http://www.bartleby.com/222/1103.html). Lister ìis in the front rank of silver-fork novelists, and Granby is an essential document to the student of Lady Caroline LambÖand of personalities and manners of her timeî (Sadleir). Garside, Raven, and Schöwerling 1826:51. Sadleir 1443. Wolff 4157. 1826 first edition
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  SMOLLETT, Tobias | Rivière & Son | Collection of First Editions of Smollettís Works
A Fine Collection of First Editions of Smollettís Works [SMOLLETT, Tobias]. The Adventures of Roderick Random. In Two Volumes. London: Printed for J. Osborn, 1748. [Together with:] The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane. A New Translation, by the Author of Roderick Random. Adorned with Thirty-Three Cuts, Neatly Engraved. In Four Volumes. London: Printed for J. Osborn, 1750. [And:] The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle. In which are included, Memoirs of a Lady of Quality. In Four Volumes. London: Printed for the Author: And Sold by D. Wilson, 1751. [And:] The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom. By the Author of Roderick Random. In Two Volumes. London: Printed for W. Johnston, 1753. [And:] The Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves. By the Author of Roderick Random. In Two Volumes. London: Printed for J. Coote, 1762. [And:] The History and Adventures of an Atom. In Two Volumes. London: Printed for J. Almon, 1769. [And:] The Expedition of Humphry Clinker. By the Author of Roderick Random. In Three Volumes. London: Printed for W. Johnston, and B. Collins, 1671 [i.e., 1771]. [And:] The Adventures of Telemachus, the Son of Ulysses. Translated from the French of Messire François Salignac de la Mothe-Fenelon, Archbishop of Cambray. By T. Smollet, M.D. London: Printed for S. Crowder, T. Longman, G. Robinson, R. Baldwin, and E. Johnston, 1776. [And:] Plays and Poems Written by T. Smollet, M.D. With Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Author. London: Printed for T. Evans and R. Baldwin, 1777. All first editions (first edition in book form of The Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves). Together nine works in twenty-two twelvemo volumes. Uniformly bound in early twentieth-century polished calf by Rivière & Son (stamp-signed on the verso of the front free endpaper). Covers ruled in blind, spines ruled in blind with five raised bands and two olive green morocco gilt lettering labels, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers. Date in gilt at foot of spine. A fine set. Tobias Smollett (1721-1771), ìEnglish satirical novelist, best known for his picaresque novels. Smollett apprenticed as a surgeon, and throughout his life he combined the roles of medical man and writerÖIn 1748 Smollett published his novel Roderick Random, a graphic account of British naval life at the time, and he also translated from the French the great picaresque romance Gil Blas. Peregrine Pickle was published in 1751, and The Adventures of Ferdinand, Count FathomÖappeared in 1753ÖHe translated Don Quixote from the Spanish (1755), and in 1756 he became editor of The Critical Review, a Tory and church paper, at the same time writing his four-volume Complete History of England (1757-58ÖIn 1759 he was convicted for libel on Admiral Sir Charles Knowles in The Critical Review, fined, and sentenced to three monthsí imprisonment in the Kingís Bench Prison. He drew on his experiences there for his two-volume novel The Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves (1762)ÖHis finest work, Humphry Clinker (1771), recounts the adventures of a family traveling through Britainî (Merriam-Websterís Encyclopedia of Literature). Rothschild 1905, 1910, 1912, 1919 note, 1923, and 1925. Tinker 1924, 1927, 1932, and 1933. 1748 first edition
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offered by: David Brass Rare Books, Inc.   (USA)
  SHELLEY, Mary Wollstonecraft | Schiller, Friedrich von | ... Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus
The First Illustrated Edition of ìFrankensteinî SHELLEY, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus. Revised, Corrected, and Illustrated with a New Introduction, by the Author. London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1831. [Together with:] SCHILLER, [Friedrich von]. The Ghost-Seer! From the German of Schiller. London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1831. [And:] BROWN, Charles Brockden. Edgar Huntly; or, The Sleep Walker. London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1831. Third (first illustrated) edition. Three works in two small octavo volumes. Nos. IX and X in BentleyísStandard Novels Series. [2], 163, [1, printerís imprint], [4, ads]; [4], 176; xvi, 258, [2, blank] pp. xii, 202 pp. plus 4 pp. advertisements inserted between front endpapers. Added engraved vignette titles and engraved frontispieces. Original glazed plum linen (Sadleirís Binding A) with two black paper gilt lettering labels on spine. Spines faded, as usual. Labels a little chipped. Lower joint of Frankenstein a little cracked, but sound. Minimal marginal soiling. Early signature on front free endpaper of each volume. Overall, a remarkably fine copy. Housed together in a quarter morocco clamshell case. Mary Shelley ìrevised [and] correctedî the text for publication by Bentley, and, at the request of the publishers, she wrote an Introduction, dated October 15, 1831, specifically for it, which is the first appearance in print of the now famous story of the genesis of Frankenstein in Switzerland in the summer of 1816. ìI will add but one word as to the alterations I have made. They are principally those of style. I have changed no portion of the story, nor introduced any new ideas or circumstances. I have mended the language where it was so bald as to interfere with the interest of the narrative; and these changes occur almost exclusively in the beginning of the first volume [the 1818 first edition was issued in three volumes]. Throughout they are entirely confined to such parts as are mere adjuncts to the story, leaving the core and substance of it untouchedî (Introduction, p. xii). Lyles B4a. Sadleir 3734a. Wolff 6280a. 1831 first edition
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  ACKERMANN, Rudolph | COMBE, William | PUGIN, Augustus | R... Microcosm of London; or, London in Miniature, The
Early Issue ìMicrocosmî in a Contemporary Binding ACKERMANN, R[udolph]. [The Microcosm of London; or, London in Miniature]. London: R. Ackermannís Repository of Arts, [1808-1810]. First edition, early issue, with text watermarked 1806-1807 and plates watermarked 1805-1808, and with the errata uncorrected, except for that reading ìcoustomî for ìcustomî on p. 218 of Volume I (see Abbey, Scenery, p. 138). Three large quarto volumes (12 7/8 x 10 11/16 inches; 327 x 271 mm.). iv, 1, contents], [1, blank], [3]-231, [1, blank]; [iii]-vi, [1, contents], [1, blank], 239, [1, blank]; [iii]-iv, [1, contents], [1, publisherís note], 280, [6, index and errata] pp. Bound without the half-titles. Woodcut title and engraved dedication leaf in each volume. With 104 hand-colored aquatint plates, including fifty-four by J. Bluck, twenty-nine by J.C. Stadler, ten by T. Sutherland, ten by J. Hill, and one by Harraden, after Rowlandson and Pugin. Seven of the twelve ìkey platesî are in the first state (Plates 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 Early nineteenth-century half dark green hard-grain morocco over marbled boards. Spines ruled in black and decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments. Marbled edges and endpapers. Some occasional foxing and browning, slight offsetting from the plates, a few occasional stains. Small ticket on front pastedown of Volume I: Imported by Estes & Lauriat, 143 Washington St., Boston (removed from Volume II). An excellent copy. ìThe ëMicrocosm of Londoní is one of the great colour-plate books, and a carefully selected copy should form the corner stone of any collection of books on this subject. The plates by Rowlandson and Pugin present an unrivalled picture of London in early 19th century, of historic value, as many of the buildings no longer existî (Tooley). Early impressions are particularly prized: ìoriginal impressions of these splendid plates have a luminous quality entirely absent from later printingsî (Abbey). Abbey, Scenery, 212. Adams, London Illustrated, 99. Martin Hardie, pp. 100-103. Prideaux, pp. 121-124 and 348. Tooley 7. 1808 first edition
Price: USD 15,000.00 other currencies   order no. 00245   details     inquire
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offered by: David Brass Rare Books, Inc.   (USA)
  STEVENSON, Robert Louis | Childís Garden of Verses, A
First Edition of ìA Childís Garden of Versesî STEVENSON, Robert Louis. A Childís Garden of Verses.London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1885. First edition, first printing (which consisted of 1,000 copies). Small octavo (6 5/16 x 4 1/4 inches; 161 x 108 mm.). [2], x, 101, [3, blank] pp. Original blue cloth over bevelled boards with publisherís device stamped in gilt on front cover and with spine ruled and lettered in gilt. Top edge gilt, others uncut. Minimal rubbing to corners and spine extremities, spine very slightly darkened, front hinge just starting. Otherwise a fine copy. Bookplate of Johannis Lovett and pencil signature of M.S. Slocum of Pasadena on front pastedown and bookplate of Edwin B. Holden, dated 1894, on front free endpaper. Chemised in a quarter blue morocco slipcase by James MacDonald Co., New York City (stamp-signed on chemise). First state of binding with a curved apostrophe in the word ìChildísî and with the word ìofî in small type in the spine lettering (other copies have an apostrophe shaped like the digit ì7î and the word ìofî only slightly smaller). ìThe verses are both a description of childhood as seen by an adult, from the outside, and an attempt by Stevenson to re-create the sensations of his own childhood as he had felt them. The book is dedicated to Alison Cunningham, his nurse from his earliest days at his Edinburgh home. Many of the poems were written while he was ill in bed with suspected tuberculosis, and perhaps because of this they often look back to his frequent illnesses in childhoodÖthe book is the most notable collection of serious poems to be written for children since Original Poems for Infant Minds (1804-5) by Ann and Jane Taylor. Steven began to write childrenís verses while at Braemar in Scotland during the summer of 1881, at the same period as he was working on Treasure Island. He was inspired by Kate Greenawayís Birthday Book for Children (1880), whose verses (by Mrs Sale Barker) he thought he could equal. He wrote about 14 poems at this time; by March 1883 he told his friend W.E. Henley (the original of Long John Silver) that there were about 48, which he proposed to publish in a small illustrated book, perhaps to be called Nursery Verses. He later chose the title Penny Whistles and, under this name, a collection of the poems was set up in type and proofs were printed in the autumn of 1883. Only two copies survive. Of these 48 poems, nine were not reprinted in A Childís Garden of Verses when it was eventually published in March 1885, now containing 64 poems. The first edition was printed on high-quality paper but had no illustrations. In this form it was re-issued in July 1885 and again in 1888. In 1896, two years after Stevensonís death, an edition appeared with illustrations by Charles Robinsonî (The Oxford Companion to Childrenís Literature). Beinecke 192-194 (binding as in copy one, with a curved apostrophe used in the word ìChildísî and the word ìofî in small type in the spine lettering). Prideaux 14. 1885 first edition
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  RACKHAM, Arthur | Poe, Edgar Allan | Sangorski & Sutcliffe | Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe
One of Ten Special Copies with an Original Watercolor Drawing [RACKHAM, Arthur, illustrator]. POE,Edgar Allan. Tales of Mystery & Imagination. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. London: George G. Harrap & Co., [1935]. Limited to 460 numbered copies (of which 450 are for sale), signed by the artist. One of ten special copies (this copy being No. 5) containing an original watercolor drawing (on an inserted leaf between the half-title and the frontispiece), signed and dated at lower right: ìArthur Rackham/1935.î The drawing depicts a man in his pajamas, with his red slippers on, and a ghost-like skeleton coming up beside him giving him a fright, causing his hair to stand on end and causing him to drop his copy of Poeís Tales. The image itself measures just over 7 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches. Large quarto (10 5/16 x 6 3/4 inches; 262 x 195 mm.). [2, blank], 317, [1], [2, blank] pp. Twelve mounted color plates, with descriptive tissue guards, seventeen black and white plates, and eleven small black and white drawings in the text. Housed in a quarter morocco clamshell box. Specially bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe (stamp-signed in gilt on the front turn-in) in full green morocco. Covers stamped in gilt with a diamond-shaped gilt rule and four cornerpieces after designs by Rackham, spine panelled and lettered in gilt in compartments, board edges and turn-ins ruled in gilt, top edge gilt, others uncut. ìCockerellî marbled endpapers. Original black and white pictorial endpapers bound in at front and back. Spine slightly faded, otherwise a fine copy. In the original cardboard slipcase with printed spine label with matching limitation number (lower edge of slipcase expertly and almost invisibly replaced). Latimore and Haskell, pp. 72-73. Riall, p. 189. 1935 signed
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  RACKHAM, Arthur | Ibsen, Henrik | Sangorski & Sutcliffe | Peer Gynt
One of Eleven Special Copies with an Original Watercolor Drawing by Arthur Rackham [RACKHAM, Arthur, illustrator]. IBSEN, Henrik. Peer Gynt. A Dramatic Poem by Henrik Ibsen. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. London: George G. Harrap & Co., [1936]. Limited to 460 numbered copies (of which 450 are for sale), signed by the artist. One of eleven special copies (this copy being No. 11) containing an original watercolor drawing (on an inserted leaf between the half-title and the frontispiece) signed and dated at lower left: ìArthur Rackham/1936.î The drawing depicts a young Peer Gynt being attacked by a group of troll imps and running for his life through a forest of anthropomorphic trees. The image itself measures approximately 6 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches. Large quarto (10 7/16 x 6 3/4 inches; 265 x 196 mm.). [2, blank], 255, [1], [1, blank], [1, printerís imprint] pp. Twelve mounted color plates, with descriptive tissue guards, and numerous black and white illustrations in the text. Specially bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe (stamp-signed in gilt on the front turn-in) in full green morocco. Covers stamped in gilt with a diamond-shaped gilt rule and four cornerpieces after designs by Rackham, spine panelled and lettered in gilt in compartments, board edges and turn-ins ruled in gilt, top edge gilt, others uncut. ìCockerellî marbled endpapers. Original brown and white pictorial endpapers bound in at front and back. Bookplate of Cyril Sturla on front pastedown. Spine slightly faded, otherwise a very fine copy. Housed in a quarter morocco clamshell box. Latimore and Haskell, p. 74. Riall, p. 192. 1936 signed
Price: USD 35,000.00 other currencies   order no. 00268   details     inquire
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  WAIN, Louis | ìPuss in Sweetsî
Original Louis Wain Watercolor Drawing WAIN, Louis. ìPuss in Sweets.î [N.p.: n.d., ca. 1890s]. Original watercolor drawing of a kitten sitting in a bag of sweets. Signed at lower left. Image size: 9 7/8 x 7 inches; 250 x 178 mm. Matted, framed, and glazed. Framed size: 22 1/2 x 18 1/2 inches; 570 x 470 mm. A wonderful early example of a Louis Wain original watercolor drawing. At the end of the last century, Louis Wain (1860-1939), the Edwardian cat artist who went mad, became a household name as an illustrator of cats, whom he depicted in all sorts of activities, from skating and playing cricket to driving motor cars, attending dances, and playing musical instruments. ìHe invented a cat style, a cat society, a whole cat world. English cats that do not look like Louis Wain cats are ashamed of themselvesî (H.G. Wells). ìFrom 1883, Wain began to draw cats as they had never been drawn before, cats in humorous guises, in human situations, but always beautifully handledÖ[a]lthough he was sometimes forced to draw dogs before he became well-known!î (Houfe, The Dictionary of British Book Illustrators and Caricaturists 1800-1914). 1890
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  WOODROFFE, Patrick | Three original watercolor drawings for illustrations in the book The Adventures of Tinker the Hole-Eating Duck
Three Original Watercolor Drawings by Patrick Woodroffe for ìThe Adventures of Tinker the Hole-Eating Duckî WOODROFFE, Patrick. Three original watercolor drawings for illustrations in the book The Adventures of Tinker the Hole-Eating Duck (Limpsfield, Surrey: 1979). Three watercolor drawings, two in color and one black and white. Matted and framed together. Framed size: 7 11/16 x 22 1/2 inches; 450 x 571 mm. The drawing at left is for the color illustration on p. 36. It is captioned in ink below the image, at left, with double underlining: ìë