HIS LAST BOW. Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes
London: John Murray, 1917. 6 pp undated ads. Original rose cloth. First (English) Edition of the fourth collection of Sherlock Holmes adventures; it was published in the same month as the American edition, with precedence uncertain. The previous collections were THE ADVENTURES., THE MEMOIRS., and THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES; the present volume would not in fact be "his last bow," as it was followed in 1927 by the fifth and last, THE CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. In acknowledgement of the Great War then raging, in the title case Holmes comes out of semi-retirement as a wartime undercover agent and breaks up a German espionage ring. One of the other seven cases is "the Cardboard Box," with its novel beginning in which Holmes reads and breaks into Watson's thoughts; when this case was excluded from the English edition of THE MEMOIRS in 1894, that beginning was transferred to one of the other cases -- but here it is back where it belongs. The preface, by Dr. Watson, includes the error "agriculture" rather than "apiculture." This volume is in very good-plus condition, with scarcely any soil or wear (spine a little faded as usual with this rose cloth, occasional light foxing as usual with this cheap wove paper); as always the lettering is somewhat dull since, during the war, lettering in gilt was unavailable. Green & Gibson A40a.
More from Sumner & Stillman
DOCTOR GRIMSHAWE’S SECRET. A Romance
Edited, with Preface and Notes by Julian Hawthorne. Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1883. Original green cloth pictorially decorated in black. First American Edition (simultaneous with the English). Hawthorne worked on this in 1860-1861, but then put it down and never completed (or felt satisfied with) it; it is considered to be one of Hawthorne's most autobiographical tales, especially the central character himself, who like Hawthorne's childhood guardian is a spider-cultivating eccentric. This English-style "romance" certainly bears the distinction of having the most decorative binding of all of Hawthorne's books -- in fact it is the only decorative binding, featuring an eerie scene of children, books and spiders. After Hawthorne's death, this was the third and last of his unpublished manuscripts to be published by his heirs, following SEPTIMIUS FELTON (1872) and THE DOLLIVER ROMANCE (1876). This copy is in the green secondary binding (same lurid design but with "Houghton Mifflin & Co" at the foot of the spine), and is in fine, bright condition. Clark A31.1.a (binding note); Blanck 7642. THE MONSTER and Other Stories. Illustrated
New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1899. 2 pp undated ads. Original red-orange cloth decorated in black. First Edition. "The Monster" is a tense tale about a black man who, rescuing a white boy from a fire, in effect loses his face to the flames -- becoming a "monster" to the local white citizenry in spite of his heroic deed. (The frontispiece illustration shows a group of white boys daring each other to walk over and touch "the monster.") Though Crane wrote this as "an appeal for brotherhood between white and black" [Stallman], the story was largely condemned as too horrific for the reading public. The two "other stories" are "The Blue Hotel" and "His New Mittens." This is a nearly fine, attractive copy, with very little of the usual darkening of the spine; this has become a difficult title to find in much better condition. Williams & Starrett 23; Blanck 4085. THE SNOW-IMAGE: A Childish Miracle
With Illustrations by Marcus Waterman. New York: James G. Gregory, 1864. Original green cloth, beveled, stamped in gilt. First Separate Edition of the tale "The Snow-Image," and also the first illustrated edition. The story was first published in 1852, in THE SNOW-IMAGE AND OTHER TWICE-TOLD TALES. A sister and brother named Violet and Peony (yes, Peony) build a snow-girl who, after a kiss from said Peony, magically comes to life; however their unimaginative father insists that if she's real, she should be brought into the house -- with predictable results. This book is a handsome production, with illustrations printed in brown, blue and red. Though not noted in the Clark bibliography, this copy does not have the stereotyper's imprint on the title verso -- perhaps a later issue; two years later (1866), this was reissued both by Hurd & Houghton of New York and by Dutton of Boston. This copy is in green cloth, one of several used without priority. Condition is just about fine, with very slight wear at the spine ends and occasional light foxing within; there is a New Year's 1865 presentation inscription "for Mary". Clark A19.4. HIS LAST BOW. Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes
London: John Murray, 1917. 6 pp undated ads. Original rose cloth. First (English) Edition of the fourth collection of Sherlock Holmes adventures; it was published in the same month as the American edition, with precedence uncertain. The previous collections were THE ADVENTURES., THE MEMOIRS., and THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES; the present volume would not in fact be "his last bow," as it was followed in 1927 by the fifth and last, THE CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. In acknowledgement of the Great War then raging, in the title case Holmes comes out of semi-retirement as a wartime undercover agent and breaks up a German espionage ring. One of the other seven cases is "the Cardboard Box," with its novel beginning in which Holmes reads and breaks into Watson's thoughts; when this case was excluded from the English edition of THE MEMOIRS in 1894, that beginning was transferred to one of the other cases -- but here it is back where it belongs. The preface, by Dr. Watson, includes the error "agriculture" rather than "apiculture." This volume is in very good-plus condition, with scarcely any soil or wear (one bumped fore-corner); the spine is less faded than usual for this rose cloth, and atypically there is no foxing on this cheap wove paper; as always, the lettering is somewhat dull since, during the war, lettering in gilt was unavailable. Green & Gibson A40a. THE CLAVERINGS. Chapters I to XXVI
["not to be sold"] Presented to the Readers of The Galaxy, With No. 13, for November 1, 1866. New York: W.C. & F.P. Church, [Nov. 1866]. Original light brown printed wrappers. First appearance in book form, on either side of the Atlantic, of the first 26 chapters (about half) of this Trollope novel -- "not to be sold." A bit of background. THE CLAVERINGS was first published serially in England, in The Cornhill, in sixteen monthly instalments from February 1866 through May 1867. The two-volume English edition, by Smith Elder & Co., was published on 20 April 1867. As for publication in America, Sadleir notes that Harper's one-volume edition was dated 1866 and then goes to great lengths to prove that it was impossible for the book to have been published before 1867 (since he presumed Harper was pirating the novel from its serial appearance in The Cornhill). In his original Trollope bibliography, and especially in his argument regarding Harper's edition, Sadleir makes no mention of American serialization of THE CLAVERINGS, because he had never seen nor heard of its appearance in The Galaxy. Then in his "Addenda and Corrigenda," issued six years after his bibliography, Sadleir adds: To Mrs. Livingston of the Widener Library and to Mr. T. W. Schreiner of New York I owe the following information: THE CLAVERINGS was the first serial offered by The Galaxy: an illustrated Magazine of Entertaining Reading (published by W.C. & F.P. Church, New York). A section appeared fortnightly from May 1866 to March 1867. Chapters I-XXVI were off-printed separately and on Nov. 1, 1866, were given free to buyers of the paper. It seems much more likely that Harper's took their text from The Galaxy than from The Cornhill. Whether they did this by permission, or what arrangement (if any) The Galaxy had made with Smith Elder, there is no evidence to show. This then is the very scarce "off-print" referred to above, complete with many vignette illustrations. In November 1866 it was sent free to all subscribers of The Galaxy (-- accompanying issue No. 13 [not present], which also included Chapters XXVII and XXVIII), undoubtedly to help new subscribers catch up to the plot and thus spur sales of the upcoming issues. This is explained on the inside front cover of this piece -- specifying that it is "not to be sold." Since the English two-decker was not published until April 1867, and Harper's American edition could not possibly have been published until a month or two before that date, this November 1866 edition is without doubt the earliest appearance in book form of a substantial portion of the novel, on either side of the Atlantic. The fact that Trollope's bibliographer had never heard of it testifies to its scarcity. Condition is remarkably near-fine (a half-inch of spine wrapper chipped away at each end, wear at the lower fore-corner). Sadleir Addenda & Corrigenda pp 4-5 (also see pp 82-85 of the bibliography). Quite scarce. THE CAT AND THE MOON and Certain Poems [signed by Yeats]
Dublin: The Cuala Press, 1924. Original grey boards with beige cloth spine and printed spine label. First Edition, which consisted of 500 copies (on paper made in Ireland, published by Elizabeth Corbet Yeats at the Cuala Press) -- published the year after Yeats became the first Irish writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. In the title poem, Yeats sees the phases of the moon in the eyes of his friend Maude Gonne's black cat Minnaloushe -- as they change from crescent to round. Among the "certain poems" included in this volume is "Leda and the Swan"; none of the poems had previously appeared in book form. This copy is in very good-plus condition (minor discoloration and slight shelfwear); on the title page Yeats has drawn a line through "William Butler Yeats" and has signed it ("WB Yeats") instead. During 1922-1924, there was a total of 1500 limited/signed copies of three Yeats books -- THE TREMBLING OF THE VEIL, LATER POEMS, and PLAYS IN PROSE AND VERSE; however, individually-signed copies of other books, like the one here offered, are of course much scarcer and more valuable. Wade 145. [A Portfolio of] AUBREY BEARDSLEY’S ILLUSTRATIONS TO SALOMÉ [by Oscar Wilde]
Seventeen Beardsley illustrations (13-3/4" x 10-3/4") printed on Japan vellum, loose in a parchment-backed grey cloth portfolio. [London: John Lane, 1906.] These are the provocative illustrations that 21-year-old Aubrey Beardsley created for Oscar Wilde's equally-provocative take on the Biblical tale of Salomé, the Princess of Judæa -- who, as a reward for her dance of the seven veils, was told by her stepfather the King that he would give her anything she wanted: having been rebuffed in her attempt to seduce John the Baptist, Salomé demanded (and received) his head on a silver platter. Because Oscar Wilde's play depicted Biblical characters, he could not initially get it performed in Britain (starring Sarah Bernhardt, it was shut down by the Lord Chamberlain during June 1892 rehearsals) -- so he wrote it in French, such that the true first edition was published (in wrappers, unillustrated) in Paris, in 1893. The play was first produced onstage in Paris in 1896, but not in Britain until 1931. By 1894, Mathews & Lane were able to publish the first edition in English, with thirteen of these Beardsley illustrations. (Several of the illustrations include caricatures of Wilde himself.) A decade later, in 1904, an edition was published by "Melmoth & Co." -- actually a piracy by Leonard Smithers -- that included three additional Beardsley plates ("John and Salomé" and "The Toilette of Salomé" which had been deemed too outrageous for the 1894 edition, plus the original cover art); in 1906, John Lane issued an edition that included those as well. That same year (September?), John Lane issued this portfolio of seventeen Beardsley plates, adding "a hitherto unpublished additional drawing" [MSL], "Salomé on Settle." This is presumably the first issue, withOUT the list of plates that was added to the later copies sent out (we say "presumably" because of course, someone could have merely discarded that list to turn a second issue into a first). The seventeen plates are all in near-fine condition, the only drawback being some browning around their edges (not affecting the images). The parchment-backed portfolio is very good, with a bit of soil, darkening, and edge-wear (and some creases in the inner flaps); understandably, it lacks the two silk ribbons that would have originally tied across the fore-edge. A scarce item, seldom complete. Samuels Lasner 59E; Gallatin p. 48. CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS. A Story of the Grand Banks
With Illustrations by I.W. Taber. London: Macmillan and Co., 1897. 2 pp undated ads. Original blue cloth pictorially decorated in gilt, all page edges gilt. First English Edition, published about a month after the American. This is Kipling's great novel about the cod fishing fleet of Gloucester Massachusetts, written while the newlywed Kiplings lived in Vermont. Kipling freely acknowledged that the book owed much to Dr. James Conland of Brattleboro, who brought the Kiplings' elder daughter into the world -- for Conland had been a member of the Massachusetts fishing fleet, and it was he who took Kipling to explore the wharves and quays of Boston and Gloucester. (The American edition, in fact, is dedicated to Conland; this English edition bears no dedication.) This is the only book of Kipling's which is set entirely in America. All the characters are American. Not only that, but the heart of the book -- its moral in a single sentence -- is one of Kipling's main beliefs of this period expressed in terms essentially American, or perhaps more particularly New England. He put it later in verse: ".If you don't work you will die!" It is a saga of hard physical work in conflict with natural forces. It is a book which could hardly have been written by anyone who did not admire Huckleberry Finn; it is a book whose claim to survival rests mainly on detail, and it is all American detail [Mason]. CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS was the fourth and last volume to be bound in Macmillan's attractive gift binding style used for the JUNGLE BOOKs in 1894-1895 and for SOLDIER TALES in 1896. In 1937, forty years after publication, this tale was made into a film starring Freddie Bartholomew, Spencer Tracy (who won an Oscar), Lionel Barrymore and Mickey Rooney. This is an unusually bright copy, fine except for the slightest of rubbing at the spine tips and small bumps at the fore-tips. The original black-coated endpapers are not cracked. Richards A103; Stewart 163. PHINEAS REDUX
[in the two-in-one binding] With Twenty-Four Illustrations. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874. Original green cloth decorated in black and gilt (paginated for two separate volumes). First Edition of this novel that picks up where several previous ones left off. It is primarily a continuation of PHINEAS FINN, with Phineas returning to London after seven years of exile in Ireland and the death of his wife. But the Palliser family also figures in the plot, as it does in FRAMLEY PARSONAGE, DOCTOR THORNE and several other Trollope novels; Lizzie Eustace (with her new husband) also makes an appearance, fresh from her adventures in THE EUSTACE DIAMONDS. PHINEAS REDUX first appeared serially in The Graphic, 26 weekly instalments (July 1873 - January 1874), each with an illustration. The book edition, using 24 of the illustrations, was published in two blue-cloth volumes in December 1873 (though dated 1874). In 1874 the publisher Routledge took over publication of this book, and not only issued C&H's unsold copies and sheets, two-volumes-in-one with separate pagination, but also printed up some additional copies that have continuous pagination. This copy is bound up two-volumes-in-one (separately paginated), with one Chapman and Hall single-volume title page and in a Chapman and Hall binding; if this was issued by Routledge, there is nothing so identifying that. This was not a "remainder" binding (cheap, plain bindings in which publishers would sometimes put unsold sets of sheets); rather it was an alternative binding offered to the public, especially at railway stalls since one volume was more convenient for railway reading. This copy is externally bright and near-fine (a couple of small nicks in the foot of the spine); remarkably, there is only minor cracking of this hefty volume's original endpapers. March 18th 1891 signature on the half-title. This two-volumes-in-one C&H binding is quite uncommon. Sadleir 41 (plus Addenda). Housed in an open-back cloth case. THE WAY WE LIVE NOW
[in the two-in-one binding] With Forty Illustrations. In Two Volumes [in one]. London: Chapman and Hall, 1875. Original green cloth decorated in black and gilt. First Edition in book form, following publication in twenty monthly parts. Sadleir initially attributed the forty illustrations to Luke Fildes (as they are signed "LF"), but subsequently corrected it to Lionel Fawkes. This was one of Trollope's six "social satire" novels, the tale of the rise and fall of Augustus Melmotte's financial empire -- and its effect on his daughter's options for marriage. Though Walpole praised this book up and down ("one of the most remarkable of all English novels published between 1860 and 1890"), Trollope himself thought little of it: "The book has all the fault which is to be attributed to almost all satires. The accusations are exaggerated. The vices are coloured, so as to make effect rather than to represent truth." This copy is bound two-volumes-in-one (with the original two title pages), in bright green cloth decorated in black and gilt (as with the original two-volume binding). This was not a "remainder" binding (cheap, plain bindings in which publishers would sometimes put unsold sets of sheets); rather it was an alternative binding offered to the public, especially at railway stalls since one volume was more convenient for railway reading. Sadleir does not mention this binding -- though he does mention that eight months after publication the remaining sheets were bought out by Chatto & Windus and issued with a C&W title page and binding (-- which means that this Chapman & Hall two-in-one binding was indeed issued on or very shortly after the date of publication). This is a bright, very good-plus copy -- with a little wrinkling on the spine, a touch of wear along the rear fore-edge and tips, and cracked endpapers (typical for such a hefty volume). The plates are unusually clean and sharp. Sadleir (TROLLOPE) p. 147. THE EUSTACE DIAMONDS. In Three Volumes
[a "Palliser" novel] London: Chapman and Hall, 1873. Original terra-cotta cloth stamped in black and gilt. First English Edition (Harper's one-volume edition was published in October 1872; this three-decker came out two months later, in December). This is Trollope's tale about the adventuress Lizzie Greystock -- "the very beautiful, superficially clever and completely selfish daughter of an admiral who was no credit whatever to the British Navy" [Gerould]. She trapped wealthy Sir Florian Eustace into marrying her just before he died, and so came into possession of a diamond necklace -- which she claimed he had given her but his relatives claimed as an heirloom. But then the necklace was stolen not once but twice, or was it actually? As a "Palliser" novel, it includes many of the same characters who had been in CAN YOU FORGIVE HER? and in PHINEAS FINN. Sadleir describes the primary binding as "salmon-brown sand-grained cloth," with the spine lettering in gilt and black, and with a black front cover border and a blind-stamped rear cover border; this cloth is terra-cotta rather than salmon, and has the single-line border in black on both the front and rear covers. The second and third volumes are just about FINE; the first is very good-plus (slight wear at the spine ends, minor bubbling of the front cover cloth, faint rear cover crease, publisher's spine imprint rubbed). For some reason we seldom see this title in original cloth: over our 45 years in business we been able to offer only four (one in the primary salmon cloth, two in this terra-cotta cloth with the same spine and front cover lettering, and one in the later green cloth with different lettering -- none on the front cover). Sadleir (TROLLOPE) 39. Provenance: small bookplates of "Henry G. Burke | Baltimore" (1902-1989), a founding member of the Jane Austen Society of North America; the Austen collection he and his wife Alberta formed is at her alma mater Goucher College. ("Mrs. Burke once caused a furor at a meeting of The Jane Austen Society in Chawton [UK]: complaints were being made that "some American" had bought at auction a lock of J.A.'s hair. Mrs. Burke promptly stood up, declared herself the American, and presented the Society with her purchase" [JASNA].). VERANILDA. A Romance
London: Archibald Constable and Company, 1904. 16 pp undated ads. Original deep red cloth. First Edition, which consisted of 3,000 copies. This was Gissing's incomplete historical novel, posthumously published. He still had five chapters to write when on 28 December 1903, wracked with double pneumonia, he died in the French Pyrenees. H.G. Wells, who had been summoned and had arrived on Christmas Day, was present at Gissing's death bed, and wrote the original preface for this work; however, the Gissing family objected to it so strongly that one by Frederic Harrison was substituted. (Wells published his in a periodical anyway). Constable made no objection to publishing the novel as it stood. [S&C]. VERANILDA takes place in Ancient Rome, continuing Gissing's fascination with that country (and that era); he spent four months in 1897-1898 preparing for this book. In late 1900 he wrote to his friend Eduard Bertz, "I really think I can make an interesting book. One thing is certain -- I know my period.". This is a very good-plus, perhaps near-fine copy with minor soil and rubbing. Coustillas A26.1a; Collie B1a; Spiers & Coustillas DD9. Provenance: this copy appropriately came to us from Italy, and bears the inscription "To Distinctissima, Signora, Contessa, Marianna Brenzoni, in remembrance of S.S. "Irma" July, 1909 -- from R.W.R."; loosely inserted is the calling card "Mr. R.W. Robins" with "with" and " ' compts." added. TALES OF SPACE AND TIME
[a handsome copy] London and New York: Harper & Brothers, 1900. 2 pp undated ads. Original light brown cloth decorated in dark brown. First Edition of this collection of five fantastic tales: "The Crystal Egg," "The Star," "A Story of the Stone Age," "A Story of the Days to Come" and "The Man Who Could Work Miracles." The last story was the basis for the 1936 British film of the same title. This British edition, though dated 1900, was actually published in late 1899; although the American edition is dated 1899, it is considered to have been issued later than this one. "The Crystal Egg," for example, involves Martians -- like THE WAR OF THE WORLDS; an antiquarian shopkeeper discovers that by peering into a certain crystal egg at an angle of precisely 137 degrees, he can see, and ultimately communicate with, Martians who apparently sent the egg as a sort of Eye on Earth. Said communication ends when the shopkeeper is discovered dead in his shop, clutching the egg in his hand. This is a close-to-fine, attractive copy, with a partially-erased decorative ink-stamp on the half-title. There is remarkably little of the cover soil that usually afflicts this light-colored binding -- just a few faint speckles near the upper fore-corner of the front cover, and a minor blemish (due to the threads in the cloth) on the lower spine. Copies any better seldom turn up. Currey p. 524; Bleiler (Supernatural Fiction) 1678; Hammond C4; Wells Soc. 16. THE HOUSE OF COBWEBS and Other Stories
Gissing, George To which is prefixed The Work of George Gissing an introductory survey by Thomas Seccombe. London: Archibald Constable, 1906. 16 pp undated ads. Original dark blue cloth. First Edition of this posthumously-published collection of short stories. "Fifteen short stories, selected by Thomas Seccombe, who first urged Constable to publish THE RYECROFT PAPERS and here contributed a sympathetic introduction" [S&C]. Following Seccombe's 48-page Introduction is a one-page chronology of all of Gissing's books. This copy does have the ad catalogue; not all copies do. It is a bright, nearly fine copy (the slightest of rubbing at the tips, minor discoloration on the endpapers; atypically, there is no foxing). Coustillas A28.1a; Collie C1; Spiers & Coustillas EE1; Wolff 2547.- $200
- $200
ISLAND NIGHTS’ ENTERTAINMENTS. [inscribed by a dedicatee]
Stevenson, Robert Louis [inscribed by a dedicatee] Consisting of The Beach of Falesa / The Bottle Imp / The Isle of Voices. With Illustrations by Gordon Browne and W. Hatherell. London Paris & Melbourne: Cassell & Company, 1893. 16 pp ads dated September 1892 ("7G-9.92"). Original blue-grey cloth pictorially decorated in gilt. First English Edition, published five days after the American, of these three tales from the South Pacific islands. This copy has several idiosyncracies, all related to the fact that this was in effect a colonial copy, initially sent to Australia. (1) The front paste-down bears the small book-label of Dymock's Book Arcade at 428 George-st. in Sydney. (In 1879 William Dymock opened his bookstore on Market Street, and a few years later upsized to George Street; after his death the business passed to his sister Marjory Forsyth, and still is privately owned today with about fifty branches in Australia.) (2) In this copy the preliminary ad leaf (which lists seven RLS titles and their prices) is excised; this would have been done by the publisher (or possibly by Dymock) for copies being sent directly to a colony, since those prices would not apply. (3) The ad catalogue in this copy is dated September 1892, rather than the usual March 1893 (the book wasn't actually published domestically until April 1893); copies sent by sea to colonies were often among the earliest bound up, to offset the time spent at sea. And most importantly, (4) -- see this copy's Provenance, below. This is a very good-plus copy (volume a bit askew and endpapers cracking, both as usual; minor rubbing at the extremities). Beinecke 577; Princeton 53A [copy1]. Provenance: In addition to the Dymock booklabel, this copy bears (on the half-title) the inked inscription "To Capt. Davis | with Jack Buckland's | compliments." John Wilberforce "Tin Jack" Buckland (1864-1897) is named as one of the "Three Old Shipmates among the Islands" to whom this book is dedicated, on the leaf following the title page. Buckland was an island trader who would make some money sailing around the South Pacific, then go to Sydney and blow it all; his actual income was 700 a year from a trust fund established from the sale of the home of the elderly couple who had taken him in, after his own family returned to England without him when he was just nine. In April 1890 Buckland had met the Stevenson family when he and they were passengers on the trading steamer "Janet Nicoll" (Fanny wrote a published journal about this voyage). Buckland was acknowledged by RLS to have been the inspiration for the character "Tommy Haddon" in his 1892 book THE WRECKER; another character inspired by Buckland makes an appearance in this very book -- "young Buncombe" in the tale "The Beach at Falesa" (see pp 34ff). In early 1894, Buckland spent three weeks with the Stevenson family at Vailima on Samoa; RLS would die that December. "Tin Jack" took his own life in 1897, at age 32 or 33, when he learned that the trustee in charge of his money had defrauded the trust of all its funds. As for the "Capt. Davis" of Buckland's inscription, this was most likely Edward Henry Meggs Davis (1846-1929), who in 1887 was promoted to Captain and in 1891 was given command of the HMS Royalist. In 1891-1892, Davis and the HMS Royalist conducted a survey among the New Hebrides, New Caledonia, Territory of Papua, the Solomon Islands, the Gilbert Islands, the Marshall Islands and the Ellice Islands -- in short, many of the same places Jack Buckland was visiting, those same years.- $1,350
- $1,350
NOW WE ARE SIX. [signed by the illustrator]
Milne, A.A. [signed by Ernest H. Shepard] With Decorations by Ernest H. Shepard. London: Methuen & Co., (1927). Original maroon cloth pictorially decorated in gilt. First Edition of the third of the four famous Milne/Shepard books, and the second to consist of verse. "We have been nearly three years writing this book. We began it when we were very young. and now we are six" [from the Introduction]. This is a fine, bright copy (one bump on the bottom edge of the front board), albeit without dust jacket. Signed on the title page by the illustrator Ernest H. Shepard. NCBEL IV 671.- $1,350
- $1,350
ROUGHING IT
Twain, Mark [in the publisher's leather binding] Fully Illustrated by Eminent Artists. (Issued by Subscription Only, and Not for Sale in Bookstores.) Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company [etc. -- but including New Orleans and excluding Boston], 1872. 1 page undated ads. Original three-quarter brown morocco with paneled spine, with brown cloth sides, and with marbled page edges and endpapers. First American Edition, usual mixed issue, of this very early Twain title -- his fourth major book. In July 1861, as the Civil War was getting underway, Twain headed out west as private secretary to his brother Orion, who had just been appointed Secretary of Nevada Territory; Twain's "account of the continental crossing with Orion is a full-throated celebration of a golden era, of travel, youth, adventure, and America's last frontier" [Kaplan]. According to Blanck, the first issue is identifiable by the proper presence of two words in lines 20-21 on p. 242 (here, as is often the case, one of the two words is lacking due to type slippage); this copy does have ads on p. [592] (no precedence certain). MacDonnell goes on to identify three other cases of type slippage (on pages xi, 19 and 123); here, only the third is unworn. More importantly, MacDonnell also identifies two cases of actual word substitution (on pages 156 and 330): in this copy, both have the earlier reading. The publisher's imprint of this copy is atypical (Blanck notes that there are variations): on the fifth line, in place of "George M. Smith & Co., Boston, Mass.", this copy reads J.W. Goodspeed, New Orleans, LA." It is bound in the publisher's three-quarter brown morocco -- one of four bindings offered (at various prices) to subscribers. The volume is tight and very good-plus (some rubbing at the extremities). MacDonnell pp 35-36; Blanck 3337; McBride p. 18. In our experience, it is quite difficult to find desirable copies of the first three of Twain's books that were issued in this hefty, oversized format (THE INNOCENTS ABROAD in 1869, this title in 1872, and THE GILDED AGE in 1873); it is not that hard to find the fourth and last (A TRAMP ABROAD in 1879). Provenance: the front pastedown bears the German-language bookplate of Gustav Siegle, and a front flyleaf bears his small inkstamp with "Stuttgart". Siegle (1840-1905) was a German chemist and entrepreneur who founded the paint factory G. Siegle & Co.; in 1873 he merged it into the company BASF (founded eight years earlier) -- which today is the largest (in sales) chemical company in the world. From 1887 to 1898, Siegle was elected to represent the Stuttgart area in the German Reichstag.- $1,450
- $1,450
UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE. A Rural Painting of the Dutch School
Hardy, Thomas New York: Holt & Williams, 1873. Endpaper ads dated May 10, 1873. Original cream cloth decorated in black. First American Edition, first issue, of Thomas Hardy's first book appearance in North America. This was his second novel, initially published in two volumes in London in June 1872; however, Hardy's first novel, DESPERATE REMEDIES, was not published in America until 1874. The first issue, as here, has both the title page and binding listing the publisher as Holt & Williams, and has endpaper ads dated in 1873; by the following year, the publisher's name was Henry Holt & Co. This is a good-plus copy, with a darkened spine, moderate cover soil, and wear at the spine ends. The initial owner, of Washington PA, put his signature and the date "6-21-73" not only on the front flyleaf but also on the front cover; while this writing on the front cover would be regarded by most as a flaw, such pride of ownership of a first published book, just six weeks after publication, would be regarded as a plus by some. Not a great-looking copy, but the initial Holt & Williams edition of this book is scarce. See Purdy p. 8.- $375
- $375
THE TRUMPET-MAJOR. A Novel
Hardy, Thomas New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1880. Undated endpaper ads. Original mustard yellow cloth decorated in black. First American Edition (it is uncertain whether this or Munro's "Seaside Library" edition preceded; Holt's was, however, the authorized one, and also it was listed in Publishers' Weekly a week earlier). This was issued as No. 118 in Holt's "Leisure Hour Series," the series in which most of Hardy's early novels first appeared in America. By 1880, the books in this series were being issued with numbers, with undated endpaper ads, and in mustard yellow cloth; in the 1870s the volumes had been issued un-numbered, with dated endpaper ads, and in cream cloth. In this copy the endpaper ads, though undated, are the primary ones (on the inside front cover listing no Hardy volumes issued after this one, and withOUT this title on the front free endpaper). This is a very good copy (minor wear at the spine ends, a bit of faint soil). See Purdy p. 35.- $325
- $325
ROADS OF DESTINY
Henry, O. [pseudonym of William Sydney Porter] New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1909. Original red cloth. First Edition of this gathering of 22 short stories, all delving into the question of fate vs free will -- how chance encounters and offhanded decisions shape the course of one's life, for better or for worse. As with all copies, there is a missing "h" at page 9 line 6. This is a fine copy (short tear in the edge of the pp 257-258 leaf). Blanck 16277.- $195
- $195
POSTSCRIPTS
Henry, O. [pseudonym of William Sydney Porter] With an Introduction by Florence Stratton. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1923. Original red cloth lettered in gold, with dust jacket. First Edition, first binding state, of this "treasure find of hundreds of short stories, burlesques, poems and whimsies, hitherto unpublished in book form" [per the jacket]. Most of these are among Porter's earliest writings, from his time employed by the Houston Post (1895-1896); it was not until he was in prison due to embezzlement that he adopted his pen-name -- after which his books began appearing in 1904-1910 (the year of his death). This copy, in the primary red cloth binding (later copies were in orange cloth lettered in black), is in fine condition; the uncommon jacket is near-fine, with quite minor wear at the bottom edge. Blanck 16304.- $350
- $350
WHIRLIGIGS
Henry, O. [pseudonym of William Sydney Porter] New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1910. Original red cloth. First Edition of this collection of 24 short stories, many of them ending with classic "I did not see that coming" twists. Included is one of his best-known, "The Ransom of Red Chief." WHIRLIGIGS was published in September 1910, three months after the author's death (at age 47) -- due to two years of increasingly bad health brought on by diabetes, cirrhosis of the liver, and heart disease. This is a fine copy (just a touch of rubbing at some tips). Blanck 16295.- $225
- $225
THE VOICE OF THE CITY. Further Stories of the Four Million
Henry, O. [pseudonym of William Sydney Porter] New York: The McClure Company, 1908. 1 page undated ads. Original red cloth. First Edition, first printing (with only the endpaper following the ad leaf), first binding (with "McClure" rather than "Doubleday, Page & Co." at the foot of the spine). This was O. Henry's third volume of 25 very short stories about the people of New York City -- following THE FOUR MILLION (1906) and THE TRIMMED LAMP (1907). He had settled there among the four million residents in 1902, after his three-year imprisonment in Texas for bank embezzlement. This is a close-to-fine copy (no wear, and only a little of the unavoidable spine-fading) -- and is uncommon in this condition. Blanck 16275. Provenance: endpaper signature of Nelson Dwight Phelps, dated in Oakland in July 1908, and (appropriately) bearing the bookseller's label of Paul Elder & Company of San Francisco.- $250
- $250
