DUNN, Douglas
First edition, first printing. Signed by the author. Publisher's original green cloth lettered and ruled in gilt to the spine, in dustwrapper. A very near fine copy, the binding square and firm, the contents clean throughout. Faint spotting to the upper edge of the page block, with a handful of spots to the fore-edge. In the clean, bright dustwrapper, with a couple of very faint spots and the merest fading visible to the spine. Not price-clipped (£7.50 net to the front flap). An attractive copy. Signed by the author in black ink to the title page, "with best wishes / Douglas Dunn". 'Elegies', Dunn's sixth collection, was written after the death of the poet's wife Lesley in March 1981, aged 37 (Michael Longley later wrote that Dunn "was hurt into the sorrowful beauty of [the] Elegies"). The poems, which have frequently, and justly been compared to the extraordinary series of poems that Thomas Hardy wrote following the death of his first wife Emma, recount the period between diagnosis (of melanoma of the eye) and death, as well as earlier, happier, times. The collection was Whitbread Book of the Year in 1985. Further details and images for any of the items listed are available on request. Lucius Books welcomes direct contact with our customers.
GREELY, Adolphus W.
First edition, first printing. Two volumes. Publisher's original blue cloth with titles and illustration in red, silver and gilt to the upper boards and spine. Illustrated with a steel engraved frontispiece portrait in volume I, 42 full page plates (many from photographs), numerous illustrations and five maps in text from drawings, four further maps (two double page, two folding, including a large coloured map in a rear pocket of volume II, as issued). Grey coated endpapers. A very good set, the bindings square and firm with some bumping and small nicks to the spine tips. The cloth and gilt remains bright and fresh. The contents, with spotting to the prelims and occasionally to the margins are otherwise clean throughout and without inscriptions or stamps. The large folding map in the pocket at the rear of volume II, has a couple of short closed tears to the blank margin and is otherwise sound. An attractive example. "This United States expedition during the First International Polar Year, based at Fort Conger, Lady Franklin Bay on the east coast of Ellesmere Island, explored the north coast of Greenland from Cape Bryant to Cape Washington. As relief ships failed to reach them, members the party made a march out of the Hall Basin area, all but seven dying of starvation before rescue at Cape Sabine, Smith Sound" - Artic Bibliography. Further details and images for any of the items listed are available on request. Lucius Books welcomes direct contact with our customers.
First edition, first printing. Publisher's original purple cloth with gilt titles to the spine, in the MIBART illustrated dustwrapper. A very good copy, the binding square and firm, with bumping, rubbing and light fading to the cloth around the extremities. The contents, with toning to all edges of the text block, are otherwise clean throughout and free from inscriptions or stamps. Complete with the rubbed, creased and toned dustwrapper, that is lightly faded to the bottom of the spine and other wise free from loss or tears. Not price-clipped (£3.00 net to the front flap). From the library of the Edgar and CWA Diamond Dagger Award winning author Martin Edwards, with his penciled signature to the endpaper.Gladys Mitchell's 49th book featuring the psychiatrist and amateur detective Dame Beatrice Lestrange Bradley. Further details and images for any of the items listed are available on request. Lucius Books welcomes direct contact with our customers.
First collected edition. Four volumes. Contemporary full calf by Joseph Zaehnsdorf with five raised bands, gilt decorated compartments and gilt titles on morocco labels on the spines, double ruled gilt borders to the boards and gilt inner dentelles. Top edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. Engraved portrait frontispiece to volume one. A very good set, the bindings square and firm, the spines darkened resulting in dulling of the gilt, with some rubbing and flaking to the extremities. The upper corners of volumes I and IV a little worn. The contents, with toning to the text block edges are otherwise clean throughout and without previous owners' stamps or inscriptions. The first complete edition of Percy Shelley's poetical works, complied and edited by his wife Mary Shelley. Previously, Shelley's poetry had largely been brought before the public in a multiplicity of either private and small-run editions (many of which had become increasingly scarce) or pirated editions. Percy's father, Sir Timothy Shelley, feared that a new collected edition would be likely to draw fresh attention to the radical writings of his son. Recognising, however, that obscurity was unlikely in any case, he relented and dropped his objections to Mary producing an official edition. After having attempted to do so since her husband's death in 1822, Mary thus brought Percy's work into the mainstream. Her notes, which added significantly to the fuller comprehension of Percy's poetic writings, have since become inseparable from the texts themselves and her endeavours ultimately served to secure his position as one of the foremost poets of the English language. Further details and images for any of the items listed are available on request. Lucius Books welcomes direct contact with our customers.
First edition, first printing. Publisher's original blue and purple speckled cloth with gilt titles to the spine, in dustwrapper. Illustrated throughout with black and white photographs. An excellent near fine copy, the binding firm and square, with bumping and rubbing to the spine ends. The contents, with some light toning to all edges of the text block, are otherwise clean throughout and free from inscriptions or stamps. Complete with the rubbed and creased dustwrapper, that is lightly faded around the panel edges and has a few residue marks to the front panel, but is otherwise free from loss or tears. Not price-clipped (£2.50 net to the front flap). Uncommon From the library of the Edgar and CWA Diamond Dagger Award winning author Martin Edwards, with his penciled signature to the endpaper. A biography of Patrick Hamilton, written by his brother, who provides an intimate look on the life of the novelist and playwright. Further details and images for any of the items listed are available on request. Lucius Books welcomes direct contact with our customers.
First edition, first printing. Original blue cloth lettered in silver to the spine, in the M. E. Eldridge illustrated dustwrapper. A very near fine copy, the binding square and firm, the contents sharp and clean throughout. The lower spine tip is lightly bumped and rubbed, with a single tiny nick. In the dustwrapper, showing the merest shelf wear and a tiny area of loss (c. 4 x 2 mm) to the upper edge of the rear panel (disguised by the matching blue of cloth and panel). Not price-clipped (£25.00 net to the front flap). A nice copy. Published to mark the poet's eightieth birthday, this remains the standard collected R. S. Thomas, including the contents of individual volumes from 'The Stones of the Field' (1946) through to 'Experimenting with an Amen' (1986). "This is a book I've been waiting for. Lorca said: 'The poem that pierces the heart like a knife has yet to be written.' But has anybody come closer to it than R. S. Thomas? And not merely once, in his case, but again and again." (Ted Hughes, from the jacket). Further details and images for any of the items listed are available on request. Lucius Books welcomes direct contact with our customers.