WALCOTT, Derek.
Uncorrected proof copy, with a leaf of Poetry Book Society headed note paper loosely inserted on which Walcott's fellow poet Roy Fuller has written notes on the book at hand. Fuller was the Chairman of the Board for the Poetry Book Society and was likely sent this as ahead of his review which appeared in The London Magazine in November 1969. Fuller had encouraged Walcott's poetic career from its early stages, having praised his first book, 25 Poems, on the BBC's Caribbean Voices. Roy Fuller, "Review of The Gulf and Other Poems by Derek Walcott", The London Magazine, vol. 9, no. 8, Nov. 1969. Octavo. Yellow paper wrappers, black lettering to spine and cover, white publisher's device repeated on covers. Manuscript annotation ("Oct") on front cover. Spine and covers toned at edges, extremities rubbed, a very good copy.
MILNE, A. A.
First edition, first impression, of the third book to feature Winnie-the-Pooh. Following the success of When We Were Very Young, Milne began planning a second book of poetry for children. By the time that Winnie-the-Pooh was published in late 1926, half the poems for this third book were already complete. Published on 13 October 1927, Now We Are Six eclipsed the sales records of the previous two books in only two months. This collection is also notable for including many extraneous illustrations of Pooh and his friends, as the author promises in his introduction: "Pooh. thought it was a different book; he walked through it one day, looking for his friend Piglet, and sat down on some of the pages by mistake" (p. 8). John R. Payne, "Four Children's Books by A. A. Milne", Studies in Bibliography, vol. 23, 1970, item IIIA. Octavo. Original red cloth, lettering to spine in gilt, vignettes to boards in gilt, illustrated pink endpapers, top edge gilt. Illustrated throughout by E. H. Shepard. Slightly bumped spine and corners: a very good copy.
DICKENS, Charles.
First US edition, the earliest known copy in wrappers, from the collection of Dickens's bibliographer Walter Smith, described and photographed in pp. 358-361 of his bibliography. The novel was issued in various formats, the earliest being the issue in wrappers, first published on 29 November 1859. The edition was afterwards issued in various formats of cloth in December 1859, with inserted illustrations (the wrappers issue is unillustrated); subsequent editions in duodecimo and octavo followed with variant pagination and integral illustrations. The issue in wrappers was intended as a cheap format: "putting a cheap edition on sale a few days before copies in more substantial bindings with illustrations were available is in keeping with publishing practices by large firms of the period" (Smith, p. 357). This copy cannot be from the very earliest issue, as the rear wrapper advertises Great Expectations (1861) and an advertisement leaf cites Our Mutual Friend (1865). Contemporary advertisements for the earliest issue state 50 cents as the price, with the front wrapper here priced 75 cents. However, no other copy in wrappers which could be deemed earlier was ever found by Smith, nor do we know of another. The novel was first published in the UK in monthly parts from April to November 1859 and serialized in Dickens's weekly journal All the Year Round in the same period, before publication in book form in November that year. In the US, the novel was serialized in Harper's Weekly from May to December 1859. Harper's paid Dickens 5,000 dollars for the early proof sheets to beat competitors, and in May 1859 sold the rights to publish the novel in book form to Peterson. The sum paid is unknown, but Peterson later complained to Harper's that he never recouped his investment. Dickens's great historical romance, set during the French Revolution, remains one of his best known and most widely read works. "In its tightly organized and highly romantic melodrama and the near-absence of typical 'Dickensian' humour and humorous characters, A Tale of Two Cities certainly stands apart from all his other novels" (ODNB). Gimbel D25; Walter Smith, Charles Dickens: A Bibliography of His First American Editions, pp. 354-361. Octavo. Uncut in original wrappers printed in black. Housed in red quarter morocco box. Text printed in double columns; unillustrated as issued, though retaining a list of illustrations which featured in the subsequent cloth issue. Neat early pencilled ownership signature to title page; recent bookplate of collector Peter Russell mounted to inside cover of box. Very minor wear at extremities, nonetheless a very well-preserved copy of a fragile publication.
CAPOTE, Truman.
First edition, first printing, of Captote's seminal work, which he termed a "non-fiction novel". The novel won Capote the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best Fact Crime in 1966 and continues to be critically lauded. "Vivid, painstakingly constructed, simultaneously fevered and lingeringly sad. a transfixing read. In 1966, this was a new kind of journalism; now, Capote's revolutionary and compelling approach to narrative non-fiction has been much copied, but rarely bettered" (Colquhoun). Stanton, p. 6. Kate Colquhoun, "Book of a Lifetime: In Cold Blood", Independent, 13 May 2011. Octavo. Original red cloth, spine lettered in gilt with silver decorations, author's initials gilt-stamped on front cover, red endpapers, top edge dark blue. With dust jacket. Light foxing to edges and a couple of leaves, text otherwise fresh; jacket toned as usual, edges slightly rubbed with a couple of nicks, not price-clipped: a near-fine copy in very good jacket.
QUEEN - ROCK, Mick, Brian May & Mary Austin.
First edition, first impression, unnumbered review copy aside from the edition of 2,500, signed by Mick Rock, Roger Taylor and Brian May. Stamped on the limitation page "Review copy only, not for sale". The book contains out takes, test Polaroids, and other previously seen snapshots of Queen previously unreleased. Quarto. Original quarter Italian leather with black and white cloth boards, spine lettered in gilt, edges gilt, printed on 11 different papers. Housed in a cloth clamshell box with screenprinted image of queen to the lid and lettering in gilt. Photographs throughout by Mick Rock. Corner of lid split otherwise an excellent copy.
STEEN, David.
First edition, first impression. No. 144 of 350 deluxe copies signed by Steen and Roger Moore, with a photographic portrait of Rod Stewart signed by Steen, from a total edition of 1250. Over a period of 50 years David Steen photographed cultural icons from just about every walk of life - including musicians; The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Pete Townshend, Cliff Richard, Tom Jones, Rod Stewart, to other artists in all fields; Robert Redford, Stephen Spielberg, Somerset Maughan, Rudolf Nureyev, and politicians, sportsmen and entrepreneurs; Harold Macmillan, Graham Hill, Brian Epstein. Quarto. Original full silver leather boards, negative print inlaid to front cover, lettering to spine in yellow, all edges silver. Printed on 200 gsm white matt archival paper and bright yellow cartridge. With the printed acetate dust jacket. Housed in the publisher's acrylic box. All contained in the printed draw-string cloth bag. With 103 full page photographs. Small chip to the lid of the box otherwise in fine condition.
DICKENS, Charles.
First edition in book form, in the original primary cloth, of the novel which the author himself described as by "a hundred points immeasurably the best of my stories" (letter to John Forster, 2 November 1843). Dickens's biographer describes Martin Chuzzlewit as marking "a great change in Dickens's conception of moral characteristics. For the first time Dickens begins to explore the contradictions and difficulties of the contemporary human world; these are no longer figures defined by a single characteristic or animated by the wilful principle of a 'humour', but ones who are seen to change with the changing world, to live and grow" (Ackroyd, p. 392). The novel was first issued in monthly parts from January 1843 to July 1844 and published in book form on completion. Smith I.7. Peter Ackroyd, Dickens, 1990. For the primacy of diagonal rib-grain cloth over the variants of fine ribbed- and morocco-grain cloth, see p. 164 of Lars Kremers, A Comparative Bibliography of the Sheets and Publishers' Cloth Cases of the Demy Octavo Works of Charles Dickens, 2013. Octavo. Original blue diagonal rib-grain cloth, spine lettered in gilt, blind stamped decoration to covers, pale yellow endpapers. Housed in a brown full morocco solander box. Engraved frontispiece, vignette title page (£ sign not transposed, no priority of issue), 38 engraved plates by H. K. Browne. With 24 pp. publisher's catalogue, dated November 1844, at rear. Contemporary ownership signature of "Honble Mrs Milner" to front pastedown, above bookplate of American business executive Harvey C. Knowles (1891-1964), recent bookplate of collector Peter Russell mounted to inside cover of box. Inner and outer joints and extremities neatly restored, a little light soiling to cloth, contents with light browning to plates but cleaner than usual, frontispiece and first gathering neatly tipped in. A very good copy.
BEATLES - MARTIN, George.
First edition, first impression, no. 61 of 250 deluxe copies which includes a six-CD box set produced and signed by Martin, and two pieces of sheet music, The Spider's Dance and Waltz in C Minor, from a total of 2,000 copies signed by George Martin, the record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, audio engineer, and musician best known for his work with the Beatles. Quarto. Original full black leather, titles on chromium plate to front cover and in silver to spine, all edges silver, pictorial endpapers. Housed in a black cloth solander box with speaker illustration inlaid to the cover and titles to chromium plate, titles to spine in silver, the inside is fashioned to resemble part of a control desk and turntable. With the original packing box. With Playback CD and additional six-CD box set. All in fine condition.
WILDE, Oscar.
A characteristically nonchalant letter, signed by Wilde to his friend Alfred Milner (1854-1925), requesting a book to be sent for him to review. The full letter reads: "Dear Milner, I want 'Comyns Carr's' Essays on Art - Macmillan - to review: it and Melchin[?] should have a column between them. Essays on Art are naturally what I like to write about. Yours, Oscar Wilde". Wilde and Milner first met at Oxford in the 1870s, where both studied classics. At the time the present letter was sent, Milner was an deputy editor at the Pall Mall Gazette, to which Wilde contributed several essays from 1884 to 1890. Milner was one of a few friends whom Wilde invited to his wedding in 1884: "My dear Milner, I am going to be married tomorrow - quite privately - but would be so glad to see you at the church and afterwards at 100 Lancaster Gate" (Wilde, p. 227). Milner later gained distinction as an administrator in Egypt and the Southern African colonies; he was created 1st Viscount Milner in 1902 for his service in the Boer War, and during the First World War served as a member of Lloyd George's five-man War Cabinet. The book Wilde hoped to be sent was J. Comyns Carr's Papers on Art (1885). Joseph Comyns Carr (1849-1916) was a member of London's literary and artistic scene, and later an admirer of Wilde's dramatic works. He wrote in 1908 that Wilde "had a sense of the theatre, a genuine instinct for those moments in the conflict of character to which the proper resources of the theatre can grant both added force and added refinement". His wife, Alice, contributed an essay on fashion to The Woman's World magazine when Wilde was editor. It seems Wilde never did review Papers on Art; Milner instead sent him a book on cookery, Dinner and Dishes (1885), which Wilde took to with distinctive flair: "A man cannot live for three days without bread, but no man can live for one day without poetry, was an aphorism of Baudelaire's. Who indeed, in these degenerate days, would hesitate between an ode and an omlette, a sonnet and a salami?" This letter is mentioned in Thomas Sturgis's biography Oscar: A Life (2018), but its contents remain unpublished. Single bifolium (folded to 179 x 113 mm), handwritten in black ink across two pages, watermarked "Ye Antient Roman Writing Paper". Faintly creased from folding, slight toning to extremity of lower edge, excellent condition.
CONFUCIUS (attrib.), & Ezra Pound (trans.)
First edition, first English issue of Ezra Pound's translation of the Shi Jing - the oldest extant collection of Chinese poetry, once thought to have been composed by Confucius. The quality of Pound's 305 poems has been readily recognised: "His renderings are not scholarly translations. but are bravura recreations of the ancient Chinese poem" (Xie, p. 213). The Journal of Asian Studies reviewed it on release as "contain[ing] many beautiful poems, expressing genuine feelings in an artistic form" (p. 273). Pound's translation was first published on 10 September 1954 by Harvard University Press in the US; 785 sets of sheets from this printing were imported and bound with a cancel title leaf by Faber & Faber in the UK, and published there on 25 February 1955. This copy is identified as part of the first US printing (and thus, the first English issue) by the correctly-printed "airs of pei" on the running title of p. 19 (Gallup, pp. 90-92). Gallup A69B. Vincent Y. C. Shin, "Review", in Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 14, no. 2, 1955; Ming Xie, The Cambridge Companion to Ezra Pound, 1999. Octavo. Original blue cloth, lettered in gilt to spine. With dust jacket. With two sections of musical score in the text. With the owner's inscription on the front free endpaper of one Richard Stockow at Athens on the 12th of October, 1955. Spine ends slightly bumped, moderate wear to lower cover edges, toning to pages and endpapers; light toning to jacket spine, closed tear of c. 60 mm. to upper margin of front panel, text not affected, not price-clipped: a very good copy in like jacket.
DAHL, Roald.
First edition, first printing, presentation copy, inscribed by the author "To all the children of Mary, with love Roald Dahl." The recipients were the children of Mary Berry, "an attractive lady" with whom he sometimes played poker in London (Sturrock, p. 450). The novel was first published in the US and appeared in the UK the following year. Mary Berry and Dahl first met in New York when Mary and her husband were on honeymoon in 1954. Mary's son, Edward Berry, subsequently became friends with Dahl's son, Theo. Mary was also the sister-in-law of Dahl's former lover, Pamela Berry, Marchioness of Huntly. Pamela Berry was also the daughter of the newspaper magnate Lord Kemsley, the employer of Ian Fleming. Donald Sturrock, Storyteller: The Life of Roald Dahl, 2010, p. 450. Octavo. Original blue cloth-backed grey boards, spine lettered in pink, front cover with illustration in blue, grey endpapers. With dust jacket. With illustrations by Joseph Schiendelman. Spine faded, foxing to covers, head and foot of spine a little bumped; spine of jacket faded, extremities a little worn with nicks to top of spine and closed tear, creases to rear flap, not price-clipped: a very good copy in a very good jacket.
LE GUIN, Ursula K.
First editions, limited issues, signed by the author and the illustrator, and respectively numbered 20 and 12 of 277 copies on Arches. Solomon Leviathan was printed in a Puffin Christmas anthology, the first Puffin's Pleasure, in 1976. This text represents Le Guin's definitive edition, with slight revisions to the text. Cogell A53. 2 volumes, octavo. Original orange Almoline cloth, titles and pictorial designs printed in brown to front boards labels, pictorial endpapers, spare title label loosely laid into first volume. With publisher's box. Printed in black and reddish-brown, 10 full-page illustrations (5 in each volume) by Alicia Austin. Fine copies.
RUSSELL, Bertrand (his copy) - STEVENSON, Robert Louis.
Bertrand Russell's copy, with his pictorial bookplate shared with his first wife, Alys Russell, on the front pastedown. Russell's own affinity with the Jekyll and Hyde dichotomy has been observed before, most notably by David J. Peterson, who remarked that "His unstable and repressed personality was constantly on the verge of erupting in a Jekyll and Hyde fashion" (p. 79). In his correspondence, Russell wrote that "there is a fierce hate in me, a hate that is also a well of life and energy - it would not really be good if I ceased to hate. I used to be afraid of myself and the dark side of my instinct [but] now I am not" (ibid., p. 80). This self-awareness might thus help to explain Russell's interest in this copy of Stevenson's classic of gothic horror. Though not marked as such, this copy then passed to Russell's niece-in-law Rachel 'Ray' Strachey (1887-1940), the prominent author and activist. Strachey was the daughter of Mary Pearsall Smith, an object of Russell's affections during the breakdown of his first marriage, which might explain how this copy came to be in her possession. As a suffragist, Strachey worked closely with Millicent Fawcett and later established several organisations to campaign for female admission to the professions. David J. Peterson, Revoking the Moral Order: The Ideology of Positivism and the Vienna Circle, 1999. Octavo. Original orange cloth, front cover lettered in black with publisher's device, black coated endpapers. Spine toned, ends and upper corners bumped, cloth slightly rubbed and soiled with faint pink mark on front cover, occasional internal foxing: a very good copy.
DICKENS, Charles.
Both the first and second US editions of Hard Times, the shortest, but also arguably the most political, of Dickens's novels, as well as being the only novel set entirely outside of London. The novel was first published in the UK in Household Words from April to August 1854, and in book form on 7 August 1854. The novel was first published in the US by T. L. McElrath, who paid $1,500 for the advance sheets of the final parts of the UK edition, on 8 August 1854. This copy is in Smith's binding variant B, with the front wrapper also naming the published Dewitt & Davenport. The second US edition was published by Harper & Brothers a single day later, on 9 August 1854. Harper was unwilling to pay for advance sheets, and so used the T. L. McElrath edition to quickly typeset their edition and publish it the following day. The Harper edition was published at half the price, and was designed to outcompete the former edition. Smith notes a contemporary newspaper reporting that this "entirely stopped the sale of McElrath's book, robbed him of the profits of his enterprise, and literally crushed the young rival out of existence" (cited in Smith, p. 328). Smith, American Editions, pp. 323-8. 2 copies, octavo. Original brown wrappers printed in black. Housed together in custom green quarter morocco box. Recent bookplate of collector Peter Russell mounted to inside cover of box. Wrappers a little worn, the first edition with some reinforcement at extremities, contents a little spotted, second edition with some peripheral staining and minor fire damage to bottom fore corner. Good copies.
DICKENS, Charles.
First US edition, very scarce, and especially so in the original wrappers - Smith notes that most of the copies he saw were rebound, while those still in wrappers, "most copies examined lacked the back cover", as here, presumably as issued. David Copperfield was first published in parts in London from May 1849 to November 1850. Dickens's works lacked copyright protection in the US, to his chagrin, and three American publishers raced to be the first to publish the complete novel. Burgess won, publishing this edition at 1 pm on 18 November 1850, just two days after the final part of the British publication arrived in New York. "Copperfield received considerable critical acclaim and before long was widely held to be his greatest work. Undoubtedly it became for very many readers, then as now, his best-loved novel, an opinion in which Dickens himself coincided, calling it in a preface to the book of 1867 his 'favourite child'" (ODNB). It has been adapted for film multiple times, including most recently in 2019. Walter Smith, Charles Dickens: A Bibliography of his First American Editions, 2012, pp. 83-7. Octavo. Original yellow wrappers printed in black. Housed in custom black quarter cloth box. With 8 woodcut illustrations engraved by J. W. Orr after the Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz) steel engravings from the UK edition; complete with terminal 16-page catalogue. Pencilled ownership signature to title page; recent bookplate of collector Peter Russell mounted to inside cover of box. Rear wrapper absent (see note), worn, contents browned as usual, pp. 49/50 with loss to fore edge with slight loss to text. A good copy.
BEATLES - PETO, Michael.
First edition, first impression, no 61 of 350 deluxe copies signed by Alan Langlands (Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dundee) and Richard Lester (director of Help and A Hard Days Night), with three additional photographic prints of John Lennon and Peter Cook presented in a red envelope, from a total edition of 2,500. When Peto died in 1970 he left the University of Dundee a collection of 130,000 prints and negatives including photos of the Beatles taken in 1965 while shooting their film Help. Quarto. Original full red leather, lettering to front cover in white and gilt, all edges gilt, printed on 200 gsm matt art paper. With the red leather tipped slipcase inset with four portraits of The Beatles. All housed in a printed draw-string cloth bag. Full page photographs by Peto throughout. All in fine condition.
HADFIELD, Alice Mary.
First edition, first impression, of Hadfield's adaptation, inscribed by the author on the half-title, "To Mary, with love from Alice M. Hadfield. 1954. May you find your own quest & in it your own achievement". This children's adaptation of the Arthurian cycle features attractive illustrations by Donald Seton Cammell, then a fashionable portrait painter and latterly a Hollywood director, most notable for his 1970 debut film Performance. The adaptation is principally based on the 1947 Clarendon Press edition of Malory's Morte D'Arthur, but also incorporates material from the Mabinogion and several Norman poets. It was written by Alice Mary Hadfield (1908-1989), formerly a co-ordinating editor of the first edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. Octavo. Original beige cloth illustrated in red with repeating knight-and-castle pattern, spine and front cover lettered in blue, endpapers printed in pink after cloth design, top edge red. With 8 colour plates and 14 full-page line drawings in the text, all by Donald Seton Cammel. Spine lightly toned, covers bright, minor spots of wear to spine ends, cosmetic splits to rear inner hinge, foxing to edges, faint soiling to final leaves: a very good copy.
BECKETT, Samuel.
First collected edition, signed limited issue, number 53 of 100 copies signed by the author and lettered B. The signed copies were issued in advance of the trade copies. No's Knife is a collection of Beckett's miscellaneous shorter prose works, including "Enough" and "Ping", which appear here in English for the first time. The total signed issue comprised 200 numbered copies: per the limitation note, 100 lettered "A" were bound in quarter calf and buckram, and a further 100 lettered "B" were bound in full buckram. As with other copies which have appeared in commerce, this copy is part of the "B" sequence, but bound according to the "A" sequence. Octavo. Original cream quarter faux-calf, light green buckram sides, spine and front cover lettered in gilt, edges gilt. With original light green buckram slipcase. Light fading and faint soiling to covers; slipcase with heavy damp staining and fading to spine and peeling to outer covers: a near-fine copy in a good slipcase.
DICKENS, Charles.
First US edition, published a few hours earlier than a competitor edition - it was published the morning of 27 January 1845, the rival edition of Harper & Brothers was published later that day. E. Winchester soon published a superficially similar second edition, distinguished by the illustration on p. 32 comprising the whole page rather than below the text. The Chimes, the second of Dickens's Christmas books, was first published in London on 16 December 1844. Dickens's works did not have copyright protection in the US, hence the rush by publishers to bring out their editions first, as soon as the UK edition could arrive by steamship and be copied. Lea & Blanchard also published a relatively tardy edition on 30 January 1845. The work is more political than its genial predecessor, and attacks heartless magistrates and smug politicians. "It marks a decisive shift away from the spontaneous comedy of Dickens's early work and points to the careful planning and thematic seriousness of the work of his maturity" (Schlike, p. 98) Gimbel A89; Smith, Charles Dickens: A Bibliography of His First American Editions: The Christmas Books, pp. 49-50. Paul Schlicke, ed., The Oxford Companion to Charles Dickens, 2011. Octavo. Original tan wrappers printed in black. Housed in custom brown cloth chemise and slipcase. Recent bookplate of Peter Russell to inner chemise. Wrappers a little worn, wrappers and contents clean without spotting. A very good copy.
DICKENS, Charles.
First US edition, first impression, of the defining Christmas story, one of the most culturally influential works of English literature. Dickens's reputation in America was otherwise waning after his unpopular American Notes (1842), but this publication "was sensational, and restored Dickens's prominence" (Smith, p. xvi). A Christmas Carol was first published in the UK on 19 December 1843. This first US edition was published on 24 January 1844 by Harper & Brothers. An edition published by Carey & Hart followed in April. Prior to Smith's bibliographic research the Carey & Hart was often stated as the first US edition, and is occasionally still incorrectly listed as such. Of this true first edition, there were three subsequent impressions. The second and third impressions have varying advertisements in the letterpress, and the fourth impression is dated 1845 on the title page. The first impression is also found in tan wrappers, without priority, and there are likewise variations within the wrapper advertisements, here conforming to the standard advertisements given by Smith. Smith, Charles Dickens: A Bibliography of His First American Editions: The Christmas Books, pp. 28-32. Octavo. Original light green-blue wrappers printed in black. Housed in brown solander box. Recent bookplate of collector Peter Russell mounted to inside cover of box. Wrappers lightly chipped at extremities, short closed tear in inner margin throughout, contents a little toned. A very good, unrestored copy of this fragile publication.
DICKENS, Charles.
First US edition in book form, in the original quarter cloth binding, and scarce thus. The novel was first serialized in the US in parts from May 1838 to November 1839. On 15 November 1839 it was published in book form in two simultaneous formats: in full cloth (with 39 plates), and as a cheaper option the present quarter cloth (with two plates). To his irritation, Dickens received no payment for the publication, which was not subject to any copyright protection in the US. Gimbel A43; Smith, First American Editions, pp. 121-3 Octavo. Original blue quarter cloth (other variants in grey or brown cloth, no priority), neatly rebacked with the original spine laid down, drab boards. Housed in blue quarter cloth box. With 2 engraved plates by Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz), re-engraved by Joseph Yeager. At rear is 2 pp. advertisement "Lea and Blanchard. Have Just Published a Poetical Annual For 1840", variant to the 12 pp. catalogue Smith calls for. Recent bookplate of collector Peter Russell mounted to inside cover of box. Sides a little rubbed, inner hinges neatly reinforced, contents clean. A very good copy.
PRESLEY, Elvis - ALLEN, Lew.
First edition, first printing, number 61 of 350 deluxe copies, from a total edition of 1,750 signed by Lew Allen and editor Mike McCartney. Deluxe copies were bound in blue suede with three additional photographic prints - of Elvis Presley, The Everley Brothers, and Bobby Darin - each signed by Allen. Quarto. Original full blue suede leather, spine and front cover lettered in silver, all edges silver. Housed in a custom box with lettering and portrait to lid screenprinted in blue and white. All housed in a printed cloth draw-string bag. Photographs by Lew Allen. All in fine condition.
BLYTON, Enid.
First edition, first impression, of this "delightful book of verse for children all about the everyday things that make up the life of a child - pleasantly homely or quaintly fanciful" (The Bookman, p. 135), as well as an early work from the prolific author who later became famous for her classic adventure novels. This copy features the original illustrations by Lewis Baumer, including the dust jacket illustration and a colour frontispiece. The Bookman, vol. 69, 1926. Small octavo. Original pink cloth, lettering and vignette to front board in black. With dust jacket. Colour frontispiece and black and white illustrations to text by Lewis Baumer. Bookplate of one Peter A. Greensides to front pastedown and gift inscription dated 1928 to front free endpaper. Top edge foxed, outer leaves lightly browned; couple of short closed tears to jacket, slightly soiled but still bright, not price-clipped: a very good copy in like jacket.
DICKENS, Charles.
Both the first and second US editions, the former achieving this status by beating the latter's publication time by two hours. Both copies are from the collection of Dickens's bibliographer Walter Smith, and are photographed in his bibliography (pp. 12 & 16). The work was first published in the UK on 19 October 1842. Both of these editions call themselves the "First American Edition". The J. Winchester edition was confirmed as the true first in 1975 in an article by Peter Bracher (Bibliographical Society of America, vol. 69, pp. 365-376) and this was re-affirmed by Walter Smith. The J. Winchester edition was published at 2 PM on 7 November 1842, the "Brother Jonathan Edition" of Wilson & Company was published at 4 PM. The next day, Harper published another edition, and the day following that, Lea & Blanchard published an edition. All four publishers raced to press with the arrival of the first copies of the UK edition by boat. J. Winchester published a second impression soon after - the first impression as here has "number 32,23" printed incorrectly in the heading. Wilson & Company also printed a second impression, most readily distinguished by the rear wrapper illustration "Riots in Ireland" - this is an example of the second impression. American Notes detailed Dickens's thoughts on America following his 1842 visit, and proved his most controversial book. Although complimentary of the United States in many ways, Dickens antagonized much of his American readership by his criticisms of the penal system and the entire system of slavery. However, perhaps his most strident attack targets the lack of copyright and subsequent pirating of English works. The fact that four publishers produced four piracies of the work in three days aptly proved his point. Smith, Charles Dickens: A Bibliography of His First American Editions: The Christmas Books and Secondary Works, pp. 11-17. 2 copies, folio. Original wrappers. Housed together in custom blue quarter morocco box. Recent bookplate of collector Peter Russell mounted to inside cover of box, first edition with contemporary ownership signature at head, second edition with contemporary bookseller's stamp to front wrapper. Wrappers worn, a little soiled, still very good copies of these fragile publications.
![Adventures in Kroy. [comprising:] The Adventure of Cobbler's Rune; Solomon Leviathan's Nine-Hundred and Thirty-First Trip Around the World.](https://rarebookinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/31647858452.jpg)
