HOGARTH, D.G.
London, Lawrence and Bullen, 1904. 8vo. Original green cloth gilt; pp. 359; numerous plates after maps, drawing and maps, two colour-printed maps on one lage folding sheet; one corner with a little bump, head of spine with a little wear, slight embrowning to endpapers, else a very attractive copy. First edition, very uncommon. An impressive overview of the subject, from Niebuhr to the 1890s by the archaeologist David George Hogarth who was from 1909 on keeper of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and president of the Royal Geographical Society. During the First World War he worked at the Arab Bureau in Cairo, launching the Arab Revolt. Provenance: Royal Institution blind-stamp to title-page, release stamp on lower fly-leaf. Accessioned on March, 31, 1904.
KINGSTON, W.H.G.
London, T. Nelson and Sons, 1873. 8vo. Original blue pictorial cloth, all edges gilt, patterened endpapers; pp. 512, frontispiece, full and half page wood-engraved illustrations (all paginated); cloth lightly rubbed; light browning to endpapers, ownership inscription to title-page. Early edition. Although a ripping yarn for boys, this book, first published in 1872, contains rather good natural history illustrations. The children's author William Henry Giles Kingston (1814â"1880), had travelled widely, which enabled him to merge first-hand experience of exotic places with adventure stories.
LOCH NESS MONSTER -
Circa 1955. Original artwork in watercolour and gouache on board in clear, bright, colours, image size 15.5 x 20cm, with hand-painted patterned border, featuring a caricature of the tartan-clad bagpipe-sounding Loch Ness Monster against a subdued mountainous backdrop, board with pin pricks to margins (far from image) and a little light dusting and very faint and inconsequential marking, unsigned; neatly inscribed to the reverse in ink, "The only authentic picture of the Loch Ness Monster Drawn on the spot at closing time last Saturday night, by our special artist Mr. MacBooze. An original design for the "Inter-Art" Comique Series", for which Donald McGill was a contributing artist. Sold with an example of the original printed postcard.
MALORY, Sir Thomas.
London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1900. 8vo., 2 vols; sometime rebound in half vellum over marbled boards; ruled in gilt with decorative floral art nouveau gilt to spine; to contrasting leather labels lettered and decorated to spine, including date to foot; upper edge gilt; with matching marbled endpapers; silk ribbon markers (slightly frayed); pp. [ix], vi-xxviii, [i], 2-439, [v]; [ix], vi-xix, [ii], 2-531, [v]; previous bookseller sticker to front paste-down of Vol. I; beautifully clean copies, with minor patches of rubbing to the rear boards; a near-fine set, otherwise. A charmingly-bound set, from the Library of English Classics. Originally spelled Le Morte Darthur from the Middle French for "The Death of Arthur", this, a 15th-century Middle English prose reworking by Sir Thomas Malory tells the tale about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table, along with their respective folklore. In order to tell a "complete" story of Arthur from his conception to his death, Malory compiled, rearranged, interpreted and modified material from various French and English sources. Today, it is one of the best-known works of Arthurian literature.
[SPENCER, Edmund].
London, Whittaker & Co., 1836. Two volumes. Contemporary Eton binding of red full morocco with raised bands, ornamented and lettered in gilt, inner dentelles gilt, all edges gilt; pp. vii, 365; [iii]-viii, 371; a few wood-engravings in the text; two Baxter print colour frontispieces, with the rarely present folding map with the author's route in red; light offsetting from endpapers, map a little browned; a very good copy with armorial bookplates of the House of White of Wallingwells inside front covers, presentation inscriptions to J. W. White, dated 1844 on initial blanks. Rare first edition, second printing. A delightful Central European journey descibed in an easy-going manner. The two Baxter-prints are early examples of the colour printing processes, patented the year before this set was published.
GREENE, Graham.
London: William Heinemann, 1955. 8vo., publisher's navy cloth, lettered in gilt to spine and front board, with decorative gilt border; publisher's device blindstamped to lower; in the unclipped dust jacket (7s 6d net), printed in yellow, blue and black; pp. [x], 3-140; boards slightly scuffed with some marginal sunning to extremities; a little dulled along the spine and with a light strip of sunning to the lower board; internally a lovely example, with some very faint spots to prelims; manuscript correction in later hand to p.81; the jacket vibrant and fresh, with only very slight shelfwear and some small nicks and closed tear; a very good to near-fine example. First edition, with a signed presentation inscription by Greene to Edward Sackville-West: "For Eddie - this complete abortion, but I'm so tired of Good + Evil. with love, Graham, Jan 30 1955" to the front free endpaper. The inscription refers to Greene's first published departure from his usual moralist themes to an experiment with comedy. Though Greene and Sackville-West missed each other at Oxford, their literary careers overlapped from the mid 1920s, and both converted to Catholicism. Sackville-West was one of very few whose literary opinion Greene respected. Loser Takes All is thus "an attempt to link comedy (especially satire, parody and burlesque) to the religious thriller" (Wobbe p.102.) In his dedication Greene said he had not written "this little story" to encourage "adultery, the use of pyjama tops, or registry office weddings. Nor is it meant to discourage gambling". A film based on the novella was made in 1956, starring Rossano Brazzi, Glynis Johns, and Hal Osmond.
GERMAN, R.L. [editor].
[London], Published by Authority and Compiled by R.L. German, Malayan Civil Service, [1937]. Square 8vo. Original cloth-backed printed boards; pp. [iv], 201; portrait of Sir Thomas Shenton Thomas, numerous illustrations from photographs, one sketch map, one folding geological map, one large folding map in pocket at rear; edges of boards a little worn, else a very good copy with contemporary engaved armorial bokplate and ownership inscrition on opposite fly-leaf. First edition. Includes sections on the history of the British in Malaya and on the big game to be had there, as well as dealing with all aspects of the country and the Straits Settlement. Provenance: Oval stamp Civil Affairs Services inside front cover, as well as a printed label A poisonous insecticidal solution has been used in binding this book.
London; Dent, Pennant Books. 1968. 8vo.; publisher's forest-green and acid-yellow cloth, in pictorial dustwrapper; pp. [viii], ix-[x] + 231 + [i]; with line illustrations throughout by Ruth Gervis; a near fine copy, both inside and out, with a tiny dint to bottom edge of upper cover, in a near fine, price-clipped dustwrapper retaining the original bookseller's price sticker to upper flap (£1.10) and with slight fading to spine. Vintage edition with the original illustrations by Gervis, inscribed in ink by Noel Streatfeild to front blank, "For Davida Hodson, Noel Streatfeild". Signed copies of this title are rare in commerce. This is the first such copy handled by us in over thirty-five years and the only signed copy of the title located on the commercial market at the time of cataloguing.