RACKHAM, Arthur (illus.); DICKENS, Charles.
Signed limited edition, number 156 of 525 copies signed by the illustrator. James Hamilton notes that Heinemann commissioned the "obvious, popular and consumable story, A Christmas Carol, to be the Rackham book for Christmas 1915. This was the first Dickens story Rackham had attempted". Hamilton, Arthur Rackham, 1990, p. 108; Latimore & Haskell, pp. 44-5; Riall, pp. 124-5. Quarto. Original vellum, spine and front cover lettered and with designs in gilt, pictorial endpapers, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Colour frontispiece and 11 colour plates tipped-in on thick brown paper, with captioned tissue guards, black and white illustrations in the text, all by Rackham. Bookplate to front pastedown. Vellum slightly soiled and bowed, lacking silk ties, some foxing and browning, minor abrasion to p. 100, light dampstaining to front endpapers, short split to front hinge at foot, many gatherings unopened; a very good copy.
DOYLE, Arthur Conan.
First edition in book form, second issue. The idea for the work sprang from a meeting between Doyle, Wilde, and Joseph Marshall Stoddart, who was managing editor of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. Stoddart sought to commission a story from each writer to expand his paper's reach from America to Britain; Doyle contributed the present title, and Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray. The Sign of Four first appeared in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in February 1890. The book-form edition was first issued later in 1890; the following year, Griffith Farran & Co. purchased and reissued the original sheets in the same binding but with their imprint on the spine, as here. This copy has the points called for by Green & Gibson, with "w shed" for "wished" on p. 56, and "13" for "138" on the contents page. The second issue was bound with and without rear adverts, with no priority; they are not present in this copy. Green & Gibson A7a.i. Octavo. Original red cloth, spine and front cover lettered in gilt, black decorative border to extremities with floral cornerpiece at outer corners, dark brown-coated endpapers, edges untrimmed. Engraved frontispiece with tissue guard by Charles Kerr. Contemporary gift inscription on frontispiece recto. Spine cocked and darkened, short split to head, contents clean. A very good, unrestored copy.
LE GALLIENNE, Richard.
First edition, the dedication copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper to his friend and predecessor as book critic for The Star, Clement Shorter (1857-1926). In his inscription, Le Gallienne (1866-1947) refers Shorter to the printed dedication page, which reads "To Clement Shorter, with admiration of a courageous critical gift too rarely employed, and in friendship". The author's inscription reads "To Clement Shorter - (for remainder of inscription see Dedication) from his friend Richard Le Gallienne. Indianapolis - Christmas, 1900". Nine years prior, Shorter assisted Le Gallienne in securing his first job in journalism, "the writing of a 'Books and Bookmen' column for the famous radical paper, the Star, a column that up to that time had been written by Mr Clement Shorter" (Le Gallienne, The Romantic 90s, p. 9). News of Shorter's departure from The Star in 1891 reached Le Gallienne via his publisher John Lane and the two immediately began planning how Le Gallienne could fill the vacancy. Both Lane and Shorter wrote a letter of recommendation for Le Gallienne to the paper's editor, Ernest Parke, who "referred to a note he had received from Shorter as 'encouraging'" (Nelson, p. 28), helping Le Gallienne secure his friend's role in what was a closely contested hiring process. Le Gallienne thus embarked on his writing career and the happiest period of his life - "those many coloured energetic years" (cited in Cozens-Hardy, p. 124). He adopted the "Logroller" pseudonym at The Star to supreme effect and his column was largely responsible for the paper's reputation as "the acknowledged organ of the literary world of London" (ibid, p. 123). Published between 1888 and 1960, The Star's book column was a staple feature under the tenures of both Shorter and Le Gallienne and they helped to cement the journal's "unique position in the history of morning and evening newspapers" (Goodbody, p. 141) as a dominant daily paper that promoted radical socialism. The author's Prose Fancies series was printed in the Yellow Book journal and in various collections in book form. The titular essay of this edition is a meditation on art and aesthetic rather than a retelling of the fairy tale. The volume's 21 essays also include "So This is America!", "The Dethroning of Stevenson", and "A Propos the Browning Love-Letters". Colbeck, I, p. 483. Harry Theobald Cozens-Hardy, The Glorious Years, 1953; John Goodbody, "The Star: Its Role in the New Journalism", Victorian Periodicals Review, vol. 20, no. 4, Winter 1987, pp. 141-50; Richard Le Gallienne, The Romantic 90s, 1925; James Nelson, The Early Nineties: A View from the Bodley Head, 1971. Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt, edges untrimmed. Blue morocco bookplate of Francis Kettaneh (1897-1976), business executive and trustee of the Morgan Library, on blank half-title verso, browning facing title page. Spine sunned to green, else bright, short frays to spine ends, tiny bump to corners, cosmetic split to front inner hinge, spotting to endpapers, contents clean. A very good copy.
MASEFIELD, John.
Signed limited edition, number 429 of 530 copies, signed by the author, together with a couplet ("Yet, when the Trinity exults, oh, then, / What bliss to be, altho' despised of men.") on the limitation page. The collection includes "Sea-Fever" and "Cargoes", two poems which a subsequent Poet Laureate, John Betjeman, stated would be "remembered as long as the language lasts". Masefield was approached by his publishers about a single volume of collected poetry and, hesitant about killing sales of individual titles, he asked Thomas Hardy for advice. Hardy responded that "the more editions there are the better", and encouraged Masefield to trust his publishers (see Purdy & Millgate). The standard trade edition was a phenomenal success with the first impression of 10,000 copies selling out during the first week of publication. It has been stated that 100,000 copies sold in the first seven years of publication (Buchan). Each copy in the limited edition included one of eight couplets. Six of the couplets form a single poem, commencing "On these three things a poet must depend", and the present copy presents the final two lines of the poem. The complete poem exists in manuscript in the Masefield papers at the University of Texas, and was first published in Errington's bibliography of Masefield. Errington A71(bb); Purdy & Millgate, Collected Letters of Thomas Hardy, VI, 1987, p. 189; Buchan, ed., Letters to Reyna, 1983, p. 26. Octavo. Original tan cloth, spine lettered in gilt and to navy blue morocco label, top edge gilt. With dust jacket. Frontispiece photogravure portrait. Browning to endpapers; dust jacket toned with some minor loss to top edge: a fine copy in a very good jacket.
RACKHAM, Arthur (illus.); GRIMM, Brothers.
Signed limited edition, number 371 of 750 copies signed by the illustrator. This is a revised and enlarged edition of the work originally published in 1900 with some new illustrations, as well as others redrawn and coloured by Rackham. As noted by Rodney Engen, "Rackham greatly loved fairy tales and had collected his many favourites over the years. The Brothers Grimm held a special place in his collections since they represented his love of all things German and contained the elements of the grotesque which fascinated him throughout his career". Rodney Engen, Arthur Rackham, 2002. Quarto. Original vellum, spine and front cover lettered and with designs in gilt, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Colour frontispiece and 39 colour plates tipped-in, with captioned tissue guards, numerous black and white illustrations in text, all by Rackham. Bookplate to front pastedown. Vellum lightly soiled as usual, vellum lifting slightly from rear pastedown, lacking silk ties, some minor foxing and browning; a very good copy.
RACKHAM, Arthur (illus.); STEEL, Flora Annie.
Signed limited edition, number 366 of 500 copies numbered and signed by the artist. Reviewed in The Bookman in December 1918, this edition was hailed with the comment that "it would be difficult to find a more fascinating and artistically produced volume than the collection of English Fairy Tales retold by Mrs Flora Annie Steel. There are sixteen delightfully fanciful full-page illustrations in colour by Mr Arthur Rackham, and countless black-and-white drawings in the text. It is a sumptuous feast and a gift that will be prized by all art-loving and imaginative children". Latimore & Haskell p. 48; Riall p. 132. Quarto. Original vellum, spine and front cover lettered and with designs in gilt, pictorial endpapers, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Colour frontispiece and 15 colour plates mounted on heavy off-white paper, with captioned tissue guards, black and white illustrations in the text, all by Rackham. Some light soiling to binding, as usual, rear joint slightly splitting, light browning and creases to tissue guards: a very good copy.
RACKHAM, Arthur (illus.); MILTON, John.
Signed limited edition, number 320 of 550 copies signed by the illustrator. Latimore & Haskell pp. 54-55; Riall, p. 143. Quarto. Original vellum-backed boards, spine and front cover lettered and with designs in gilt, pictorial endpapers, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Colour frontispiece and 23 coloured plates tipped-in on heavy brown paper, with captioned tissue guards, black and white illustrations in the text, by Rackham. Bookplate to front free endpaper. Covers lightly toned, corners slightly worn, occasional browning, minor crease to plate 7, minor abrasions to plate 19; a very good copy.
KOEHN, Alfred.
First edition, first printing, of this private press guide to the complex beliefs enshrined in the traditional Chinese calendar, listing auspicious and inauspicious activities for each day of the year, as well as important weather forecasts. Also included is a catalogue of "commonly accepted superstitions": the twitching of the right eye in the late evening foreshadows a new business opportunity, while the chatter of a magpie in the early morning brings wealth, happiness, and plenty to eat and drink. Alfred Koehn was a German diplomat and botany enthusiast who worked in Japan and then in China. In Beijing, he established a residence and publishing house, "The Lotus Court", in a traditional Beijing hutong. He wrote and printed a number of books on the two countries, many of which are now seldom encountered. Octavo (250 x 171 mm). Original paper wrappers, blue thread xianzhuang stitching, spine ends capped with blue silk, front cover lettered in blue with red silhouette of a pig. Front cover with some indentations and light foxing, top edge toned, internally clean. A very good copy indeed.
PHILBY, Harry St John Bridger.
First edition, first impression. The Heart of Arabia is the substantial account of Philby's 1917 mission to Ibn Saud, ruler of the Nejd; uncommon in such collectible condition. Philby started in November 1917 in Al Uqayr, then travelled with a small party by camel, via Hufuf to Riyadh, to meet Ibn Saud. The British were keen to woo him into an attack on the Rashids of Ha'il, allies of the Turks. Philby spent ten days with the ruler "and was deeply impressed by the personality of Ibn Sa'ud. It was the start of an admiration that stayed with him for life. Persuading Ibn Sa'ud to provide an escort, he continued his journey, again by camel, to Jiddah on the Red Sea, characteristically without waiting for Baghdad's permission" (ODNB). The journey of almost 900 kilometres (560 miles) to Jeddah was not without its problems. Philby's escort resented having to guard him, "refusing to even eat with him, while villagers on the way were proved similarly unwelcoming. However Philby's crossing of the Arabian peninsula, only the third of the century, had now brought him firmly into the public eye" (Howgego). In Jeddah, he met Sharif Huasain, the Hashemite ruler of Hejaz, and leader of the Arab Revolt. He was the preferred choice as future Arab leader of both T.E. Lawrence and the British authorities. "Few would quarrel with the inscription on [Philby's] tombstone: 'Greatest of Arabian explorers'. And in the central judgements of his life - that Ibn Sa'ud was the man to back in Arabia and that the Arabs had to have their independence - he was right and almost everyone else was wrong" (ODNB). Howgego P31. 2 volumes, octavo. Original green cloth, spines lettered in gilt and with three-line gilt rules at head and tail extending across the covers in blind, fore and lower edges uncut. With 48 plates and a plan, 2 folding colour maps at end of vol. II (Southern Nejd and Central Arabia). Newspaper clipping mounted to front pastedown of vol. I, "The Daily Mail, Sept. 4, 1930" in pen at head. Spine ends and tips slightly rubbed, cloth bright, occasional foxing mostly to edges, starting at title page of vol. II, closed tears to map stubs: a very good copy.
GARDNER, J. Endicott.
First edition, first printing, of this guide published in a period of increasing commercial, educational, and cultural exchange between China and the US. The painstakingly compiled tables help merchants, students, and professionals convert between Western dates and the traditional Chinese sexagenary cycle, as well as locate years within particular imperial reigns. The author was a professor of Chinese language at the University of California and an immigration inspector in San Francisco. He first compiled 50- and 77-year guides for the use of the US immigration and diplomatic services, and the demand for these demonstrated the viability of a commercial publication. "The work now sent out from the press is a vast improvement upon its predecessors, especially in that it is printed in the two languages, distinguished by as many colours" (preface). Octavo. Original wire-stitched red card wrappers, red cloth backstrip, front cover lettered in brown. Tables throughout; text partly printed in red. Wrappers worn and faded, internally clean, small indentation on final few leaves not affecting text. A very good copy.
TYTLER, Patrick Fraser.
First edition, one of only 25 copies, privately printed on commission by Queen Victoria to showcase the Darnley Jewel, which she purchased from the sale of Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill collection, and which remains one of the most important early jewels in the Royal Collection. The Darnley Jewel, a Scottish heart-shaped jewel richly decorated with emblems and inscriptions, is said to have been commissioned by Lady Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox (1515-1578) for her husband Matthew Stewart, Earl of Lennox and Regent of Scotland, who fell in battle in 1571. It is not known how it later ended up in Horace Walpole's collection. Queen Victoria purchased it in the sale in 1842 for £136.10s. The Scottish historian Tytler "had been commanded in the early part of the year (1843) to examine a singular relic in her Majesty's possession, known as 'the Darnley jewel', and to make a report upon it. His notes he transmitted in writing to the Palace, where they gave so much satisfaction that he received her Majesty's orders through his friend the Hon. C. A. Murray to cause a few copies to be printed for her Majesty's use; and by the end of April, twenty-five elegant little quarto volumes were the result" (Burgon, p. 325). The book gives a detailed account of the jewel, the symbolism of its emblems, and how far its history can be traced from documents at the time. Of the 25 copies printed, Library Hub locates only two in British institutions, in the National Library of Scotland and the Society of Antiquaries (the lack of copies in the British Library and Bodleian is confirmed by their online catalogues). WorldCat finds a few more on the continent; none are recorded at auction by Rare Book Hub. John William Burgon, A Memoir of Patrick Fraser Tytler, 1859. Small quarto. Original blue watered silk, gilt floral blocking to spine and covers within rules, gilt lettering to front cover, yellow endpapers, gilt edges. Housed in contemporary, possibly original red morocco box. Chromolithographic frontispiece by Henry Shaw. Victorian love card with handwritten "D + J" above cupid hearts mounted to front free endpaper. Minimal wear to corners, else in fine condition. Box lightly rubbed, else very well preserved.
HUYSMANS, Jorris Karl.
First edition in English, first printing. This is a remarkably smart copy, notably uncommon in such good condition and in the rare dust jacket. Against the Grain was originally published in French in 1884 under the title À Rebours. It became prominent in Britain after it was discovered that a passage in Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray, in which a licentious book has a powerful effect on the protagonist, referred to Huysmans's work - it is this very passage that is excerpted on the front panel of the dust jacket here. The original French edition, published in lurid yellow wrappers to warn of the salacious content, is believed to have been the source of the name of The Yellow Book (published from 1894 to 1897), the British literary journal associated with decadence and aestheticism. The plot of the novel follows a reclusive aesthete who seeks to abandon degenerate society and retreat into his own artistic world. This edition was somewhat abridged; the first full English translation was not published until 1926. Octavo. Original black cloth, spine and front cover lettered in gilt, publisher's device in blind to rear cover, top edge orange. With dust jacket, not price-clipped. Spine sunned, but an extremely sharp copy, square and sound; the jacket darkened to spine but otherwise effectively faultless: a near-fine copy in like jacket.
PHILBY, Harry St John Bridger.
First edition, first impression, of this record of the greatest of Philby's remarkable journeys - the crossing of the 'Empty Quarter' between Hufuf and As Sulayyil. This copy from the library of David Garnett, the editor of Selected Letters of T.E. Lawrence. In January 1932, Philby set out from Hufuf with a escort of 14 men "provided by Ibn Sa'ud, along with 32 camels and provisions for three months. Proceeding initially southeast to the southwest corner of the Qatar peninsula, the caravan then struck southwest across the Al Jafurah desert to the Jabrin (=Yabrin) oasis. About 150 kilometres from Shanna, and about the same distance from the next waterhole, even the camels began to suffer the effects of heat and exhaustion, forcing the party to turn back to the oasis of Naifa. The party successfully entered Sulayyil on 14.3.32 after travelling for 2700 kilometres in ninety days" (Howgego). Philby made the first east to west crossing of the area, and explored the Empty Quarter in great depth. Ronald Wingate considered that "it is mainly to him that the world owes its present knowledge of Central Arabia" and Philby's tombstone in Beirut describes him as the "greatest of Arabian Explorers" (ODNB). Provenance: ownership signature of David Garnett on front free endpaper. Garnett (1892-1981) was a writer and publisher, as well as a prominent member of the Bloomsbury Group. Interestingly, the Empty Quarter is discussed by Lawrence in 1929, in a letter to Air Marshal Sir Hugh Trenchard, in which he suggests that the area could be crossed by airship: "no European has ever crossed it, nor any Arab any of us has actually questioned. All the Geographers refer to is annually as the great unsolved question of Geography. Now, I want the trial trip of the airships to settle in the Ruba el Khali. It will finish our knowledge of the earth. Nothing but an airship can do it, and I want it to be one of ours which gets the plum" (Garnett, p. 663). Ghani 302; Howgego III, p. 31. David Garnett, The Selected Letters of T.E. Lawrence, 1938. Octavo. Original green cloth, spines lettered in gilt and with three-line gilt rules at head and tail extending across the covers in blind, top edge green. Frontispiece and 31 other plates, 2 coloured folding maps and a plan. With marginal pencillings on p. xxiii, not by Garnett. Slightly rubbed with minor fraying to head of spine, cloth bright, scattered foxing; a very good copy.
NONESUCH PRESS: HOMER.
First Nonesuch edition, number 1,165 of 1,450 copies only, here retaining the elusive publisher's inlaid slip "On First Looking into Pope's Homer" by Francis Maynell, in which he provides instruction on how to open the book so that the pages lie perfectly flat, and how to separate the uncut pages using a paper knife. The Nonesuch Homers were among the finest productions of the Press and remain a shining example of the marriage of fine printing and commercial viability. The designs "represented a collaboration that included some of the best book designers of this era: the Dutchman Jan van Krimpen, who created the open capitals at the head of each book and set the Greek type; Rudolf Koch, a German designer who engraved some of the ornaments; and Koch's assistant Berthold Wolpe, who drew the figure of the Greek warrior for the title pages" (Eskilon, p. 154). The edition prints the Greek text parallel to the English translation of Alexander Pope, originally published in six parts between 1715 and 1720. Dreyfus 72. Stephen J. Eskilon, Graphic Design: A New History, 2019. Tall octavo. Original orange niger, raised bands within blind rules, twin gilt fillet at head and foot of spine, second compartment lettered in gilt, double gilt frame on covers, turn-ins ruled in gilt, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, others uncut. Housed in the publisher's marbled slipcase. Title page and chapter headings printed in red and black with hoplite and classical vignettes. Spine lightly darkened, inner hinges strengthened with cloth, contents fresh. A very good copy in the slightly rubbed slipcase with occasional wear.
IONIDES, Helen Euphrosyne; Mildred Martineau; Agathoniki Sabina Craies.
An eminently quotable letterpress collection of transcribed letters home chronicling two grand tours of East Asia by three adventurous Edwardian women including Helen Euphrosyne "Lallie" Ionides (1871-1967), a scion of the culturally cosmopolitan Ionides dynasty. This expansive and frequently candid archive, supported with many photographs and sketches, offers a refreshing perspective on women's experiences of the golden age of travel. We have traced no other extant copies of this material. Helen Ionides (hereafter "HEI") was a highly educated upper class art lover and the daughter of the art collector Constantine Alexander Ionides (1833-1900). This collection is drawn from her personal papers, with several of the volumes variously signed by or inscribed to her. The first three volumes concern a trip undertaken in 1908 by HEI in the company of Mildred Martineau (1869-1958, hereafter "MM"), an active member of the NUWSS and a friend of HEI's sister Zoe. Two years later, HEI returns to East Asia with Agathoniki Sabina 'Sissie' Craies (1885-1947), the daughter of her sister Euterpe, and the remaining five volumes all relate to this adventure. On their travels, all three women wrote prolifically, and at some point they arranged for their letters, as well as some diary entries, to be transcribed and printed. The personal nature of much of the content points to a small circulation for close friends and family only. The present volumes were originally bound in different styles of roan or cloth, and we have had them rebound uniformly while maintaining their original composition. The eight volumes, amounting to some 1,700 pages of text, are broken down as follows: I: HEI's writings from the 1908 trip, dating from 25 January to 25 June. With her ownership signature on the final leaf. II: Duplicate of volume I, with slightly variant illustrations and additional annotations. III: MM's writings from the 1908 trip, dating from 24 January to 22 June. Signed by MM on the final page of text and inscribed on the final leaf, "To Lallie Ionides from M.M." IV: HEI's writings from the 1910 trip, dating from 28 February to 5 October. V-VIII: Sissie Craies's writings from the 1910 trip, dating from 28 February to 11 October. Inscribed on the final leaf of volume V, "To Auntie, a record of our golden time together, from her loving niece, Sissie". For the 1908 trip, HEI and MM depart England in late January in the company of Stephen Manuel, Zoe's husband. As MM records, "I left home for the Great Campaign January 23rd 1908. I shall never forget the shock when I received a letter from Lallie, just before Christmas. It had always been my dream to go to Japan. my own people never got up to see me off" (III, p. i). It does not take long for HEI's letters to reveal this archive's trademark honesty: "there is one stupid arrangement here [onboard], you cannot have what you like for dinner and then leave, you have to wait around through each course until the dish you want is served round" (I, 25 January). Passing through the Suez canal, HEI derived much enjoyment out of teasing MM "unmercifully" (29 January) for her friendship with one Captain Tyrrell, and weathered the onset of an ocean storm with a hearty half a bottle of champagne. In early February, they say goodbye to Stephen at Aden, but not before he thoroughly ribs MM for her ardent support of the women's suffrage movement. That month, their tour begins in earnest as they dock in Ceylon. Given her high social status, both of HEI's trips include a regular diet of dinners and society events. Dinner with Brigadier General Lawrence, General Officer Commanding, Ceylon, proves perhaps more thrilling than an engagement with one Mrs Horsfall who is "just that type of faded old lady, I think she is a little scandalized that Milly and I are not travelling with a party!!" (I, 11 February). Colombo's shopping scene fails to impress HEI - "there is nothing to buy here that is worth having, it is mostly imported from Japan or Birmingham" (I, 20 February) - and about her fellow passengers to China she is equally icy: "there is a big colony of dull Americans on board, and I tell Mill I am sure one lot are Mormons, for there is one man and several females. But what stumps Mill is his choice, for one is more plain and uninteresting than the other!!" (I, 2 March). For her part, MM writes extensively on the many striking sights and sounds of places a world away from her hometown of Esher: "everything the eye rests on is bathed in the colour and light of the Orient, nothing is familiar save the scent of brine and the caw of the crows" (III, late February). In early March, the two women arrive in Hong Kong and revel in its beautiful scenery, MM paying particular attention to the flora. While there, besides taking tea with the grandson of Charles Dickens and dining at Government House with Governor Sir Frederick Lugard, they rendezvous for the first time with Charles, sixth Baron Ffrench (1868-1955), the China agent for several British railway contractors, as well as his wife Mary (d. 1944). The Ffrenchs are key players in the Asian adventures of HEI and her travelling partners, providing indispensable help as "fixers" and hosts in both 1908 and 1910. The consummate art connoisseur, HEI makes sure to take MM to see the famous Chater art collection, Sir Paul Chater himself acting as guide, although she thinks him perhaps insufficiently discerning "there is much in his collection that I should weed out" (I, 18 March). A pleasing feature of this entire collection is its attention to the lives, appearance, and mannerisms of the women and men they see on their travels. While in Hong Kong, HEI reports that "every woman I have seen up to date has worn black trousers and a short black coat, while I have seen men about in the most gorgeous brocades which I thoroughly envied" (I, 11 March). The next day, on a day trip to Macao (already a gambling mecca) the sight of women with bound feet makes
RACKHAM, Arthur (illus.); MOORE, Clement C.
First Rackham edition, limited issue, number 115 of 550 copies signed by the artist; this is one of 275 copies issued for the UK, with the rest for the US. This limited edition sold out on publication. Rackham later wrote to a correspondent that "there was quite a fight over it. America went very strong for it". Latimore & Haskell, p. 66; Riall, p. 174; Hamilton, Arthur Rackham: a life with illustration, 1990, p. 142. Octavo. Original limp vellum, front cover lettered in gilt, pictorial endpapers, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Original card slipcase, printed paper label to spine, with matching limitation number in manuscript by the publisher. Title page printed in red and black. Frontispiece and 3 colour plates, black and white illustrations in the text, all by Rackham. Bookplate to front pastedown. Light browning to endpapers, occasional foxing and browning, minor abrasion to fore-edge of front cover; slipcase a little worn and soiled: a near-fine copy in a very good slipcase.
RUTTER, Eldon.
First edition, first impression, of Rutter's eloquent account of performing Hajj in the guise of a Syrian pilgrim. The author's only book is of "striking literary quality [and] enhanced by his remarkable talent for conveying a vivid and sympathetic insider's view of Islam's holy cities" (Facey, p. 1). The narraative is handsomely illustrated with images of the Kaaba in Mecca and the Green Dome in Medina. Rutter was a young Englishman who was inspired by the exploits of Burckhardt and Burton to attempt the Hajj. Following service during the First World War, he took employment in the Malay States in order to learn Arabic and continued his studies in Egypt "where he lived as a native until he felt so thoroughly at home in the language and well versed in the rites and traditions of Islam as to be confident of his ability to carry through the pilgrimage as a fully fledged Muhammadan" (Cox). Despite the death of his intended travelling companion and the outbreak of hostilities in the Hejaz, "nothing daunted" Rutter "determined to adhere to his long-cherished plans," and set out from Suez for Massawa, wisely avoiding the usual route via Jeddah. A little over a year later he was back in Egypt. In Cox's words: "Thus ended a great enterprise, carried through with consummate pluck and fixity of purpose, and now given to his countrymen in two absorbing volumes which leave nothing to be desired either in literary style or human interest". In his memoir Genius of Friendship: T.E. Lawrence, Williamson notes Lawrence's opinion of these handsomely produced volumes: "they are most modestly good: very human, and fair, and fresh. The entire absence of great-mindedness is very charming". Provenance: ink stamp on the front pastedown of one Dr. Blair, additionally with shelf marks beneath his name. This is likely Douglas Panton Blair (1883-1968), a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps who served as a specialist in tropical diseases in Persia and Mesopotamia. "Later he was sent to Egypt and Palestine, where he saw much active service, entering Jerusalem a day before Allenby" (obituary). Blair was also a member of the Conchological Society and contributed two articles to the Palestine Exploration Quarterly, the journal of the Palestine Exploration Fund. Ghani, p. 586. "Obituary Notices", British Medical Journal, 27 January 1968; Percy Cox, "An Englishman in Mecca", The Geographical Journal, vol. 73, no. 5, May 1929; William Facey & Sharon Sharpe, "Who was Eldon Rutter?", Journal of Arabian Studies, 6:2, 2016. 2 volumes, octavo. Original dark green buckram over bevelled boards, spines lettered in gilt, Arabic script on front covers (Mecca on vol. I, Medina on vol. II), top edges gilt, others uncut. Photogravure frontispiece in each volume with captioned tissue guard, 8 maps (2 double- and 6 full-page) Slightly rubbed, a few marks to front cover of vol. II, scattered foxing, plates bright. A very good set.
WILDE, Oscar.
First edition, retaining the understandably rare thin plain jacket. We can trace only three copies complete with their dust jackets in auction records: at Parke-Bernet in 1941, and at Sotheby's in 1975 and 2004. This is one of 800 copies printed on handmade paper; an additional 30 copies were printed on japon. Wilde published this work under the pseudonym "C.3.3." after his cell in Reading Gaol, the third cell on the third landing of Gallery C. The first edition sold out rapidly, and a second edition was printed within weeks. Mason 371. Octavo. Original white quarter cloth, spine lettered in gilt, yellow cloth sides, top edge cut, others uncut. With original unprinted dust jacket. Housed in a custom brown quarter morocco chemise with paper-covered sides and interior patterned in orange and green. Text printed on rectos only. Binding and contents fresh; fragile jacket with chips to spine and fold ends, large section of foot neatly repaired without loss, couple of short closed tears and marks: a fine copy in the very well-preserved jacket.
JAPANESE AVIATION.
An intriguing and lively piece of Second World War domestic propaganda sponsored by the Tokyo Takarazuka Theatre, an all-female dance company founded in 1934. The rear cover and inside wrappers advertise a November 1940 production on pilots and aeroplanes which was staged to celebrate the 2,600th anniversary of the accession of the first emperor. This booklet was issued to introduce audiences to Japan's airforce. It also seemingly served as a promotional "taster" for the magazine Aviation Asahi. The magazine was launched in late 1940 to promote interest in aviation among boys; here, the front cover is identical to that of Aviation Asahi's debut issue, and the periodical's publisher is listed on the imprint page. Small duodecimo (88 x 64 mm), ff. 12. Original illustrated wrappers, wire-stitched as issued, front cover lettered in blue and red. Map of East Asian air routes (hand coloured, perhaps as issued) across centrefold, illustrations throughout text. Lower corner of front wrapper creased, a fine copy.
LIN, Yutang.
First edition thus, first printing, rare, of this long essay first published as an additional chapter in the 1939 revised edition of Lin's My Country and My People. With the Japanese invasion having severed many supply lines from the West, the present little-known standalone printing offered Chinese residents valuable access to the author's patriotic prose. Like his intimates Lu Xun and Hu Shi, Lin Yutang (1895-1976) ranks as one of China's most influential 20th-century intellectuals, leaving "a huge body of works that cut across many disciplines of the humanities" (Li, p. 400). The essay reflects the author's impressive way with words: "In such a war of prolonged resistance, I can foresee what will happen. Japan is like a new motor car with a splendid engine, trying to cross the Gobi, and the contest is one between the engine and the sand. The likelihood - to me, the certainty - is that the Japanese machine will continue to labor along, and make headway so long as it labors along, but eventually it will be stalled for sheer lack of fuel, and American and British trucks will be called to pull it back to the point where it began its foolhardy journey, a sorry affair with smeared mudguards and a broken shaft and an engine without grease" (p. 13). Each section of the essay is followed by a Chinese-English vocabulary guide "to help those young Chinese who are anxious to read what has been written by the famous author" (introduction). We have traced eight institutional copies, including seven in the United States (Harvard, Columbia, University of Wisconsin Madison, Claremont, Purdue, Berea, and Pittsburgh), and one at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Dian Li, "Lin Yutang", in Antonio S. Cua, ed., Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy, 2013, pp. 400-2. Small octavo. Original stiff card wrappers, front cover lettered in red in English and Chinese within red frame. Contents printed in blue. Faint recent pencil annotations on front cover. Wrappers creased from handling, old stains, contents clean, light toning, final 2 leaves a little loose at head but still sturdy. A well-preserved copy of this fragile publication.
MAUGHAM, W. Somerset.
First edition, first impression, of this early novel generally acknowledged to be Maugham's scarcest. The Hero is the first of Maugham's books to have on its covers the characteristic Moorish symbol protecting against the evil eye. Some copies (first state) had the front cover with the symbol printed upside down, while others, such as the present copy, had it correctly oriented (second state). Loren & Frances Rothschild Collection V, 20; Stott A4a. Octavo. Original red cloth, titles to spine and upper board gilt. Spine darkened, otherwise a very sharp copy, a little light spotting to edges and endpapers; very good indeed.
TOY, Barbara.
First edition, first impression. In this fascinating narrative, Toy outlines her journey tracing the incense route from Bir Ali to Damascus. She made the trip in her trusted Land Rover Pollyanna and by joining a pilgrimage caravan. Copies are uncommon in the dust jacket. Barbara Alex Toy (1908-2001) was an Australian-British travel writer and playwright famed for her dramatization of Agatha Christie's The Murder at the Vicarage - the first Miss Marple stage play. In 1950, she made a bet in London which launched an extensive travel career: "Miss Toy bought Pollyanna second-hand in London immediately after some friends had bet her she couldn't go to Baghdad, as she intended, because of thigh travel and currency restrictions. She accepted and won the bet by driving to Baghdad" (Australian Women's Weekly, p. 29). In The Highway of the three Kings, she travels from Aden through Yemen and Saudi Arabia, a particularly dangerous feat in view of the emergency in Aden and the Yemeni War. After a string of car troubles, she joins a lorry of pilgrims bound for Mecca. The lorry is held up by the desert sands and strays through a minefield, fortunately without calamity. Getting her Land Rover back, she then confronts the prohibition of woman drivers in Saudi Arabia, deciding to bypass Mecca and following the Hijaz Railway. She notes that the railway "has been out of commission since it was wrecked by Lawrence and the Arabs during the First World War. There is a strange mystique about railways and the various schemes put forth for their construction across the most remote and unlikely regions of the earth" (p. 134). Toy also travelled extensively in Libya, Kuwait, Sudan, and Algeria. She became one of the first women to explore Saudi Arabia in 1953, and in 1990, at the age of 81, Toy set off on her second world tour. She successfully completed a circumnavigation, and later made a trip across the Alps, retracing the steps of the journey made by Hannibal and his elephants. "A 'toy' on wheels", Australian Women's Weekly, 15 May 1957. Octavo. Original light blue buckram, spine lettered in white. With pictorial dust jacket. With 8 plates, and double-page map of Arabia. A few light marks to cloth; price-clipped jacket, bubbling of the laminate, edges rubbed: a near-fine copy in very good jacket.
LOWELL, Robert.
First edition, first printing, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "For Susan and Jack, with love from Cal, Robert Lowell". "Cal" was a nickname of Lowell's from his days at St Mark's, an Episcopalian prep school in Boston, where "his antisocial behavior earned him the sobriquet of 'Cal', short for both Caligula, the Roman tyrant, and Caliban, the beast-man of Shakespeare's Tempest" (ANB). The titular poem in this collection is "one of Lowell's most justly celebrated. Employing an astonishing array of echoing images and words, this poem moves effortlessly between personal-seeming memory and cultural critique. It juxtaposes a heroic black Union army regiment with the integration battles of African Americans in the 1950s, and it counterpoises Hiroshima with parking structures, advertising, TV news, and societal amnesia" (ANB). Octavo. Original green cloth, spine lettered in gilt, tan endpapers, top edge green. With dust jacket. Title page vignette by Francis Parker. Spine slightly bumped and faded; jacket slightly short as issued, a little soiled, creased at extremities, not price-clipped: a near-fine copy in very good dust jacket.
![Against the Grain. [A Rebours.] From the French by John Howard. Introduction by Havelock Ellis.](https://rarebookinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/31464485779.jpg)
