The Manhattan Rare Book Company

1050 Second Ave, Gallery 50E
New York, NY 10022

tel: 212.326.8907  fax: 212.355.4403
   email: info@manhattanrarebooks.com

Science/Technology/Medicine

Literature/Modern Firsts

Americana/History/Travel

Art/Illustrated/Children's

home | new acquisitions | receive a catalog

Literature/Modern First Editions

Authors listed alphabetically:

 

"handbook of the environmental movement"

ABBEY, Edward. Desert Solitaire. A Season in the Wilderness. NY: McGraw-Hill, (1968). Octavo, original brown cloth, original dust jacket. First edition of Abbey's first work of nonfiction; a classic of the environmental movement.

$850
(details)

     
ABBEY, Edward. The Monkey Wrench Gang. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1975. Advance reading copy of the first edition of Edward Abbey's environmental classic. "Abbey's novel The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975) recounts the exploits of a band of guerrilla environmentalists; both it and Desert Solitaire became handbooks of the environmental movement" (Britannica).

$425
(details)

     

“certainly his best collection of poems”

AUDEN, W.H.  Another Time. Poems. New York: Random House, 1940. Octavo, original orange cloth, original dust jacket. FIRST EDITION, an exceptionally fine copy, of Auden’s most celebrated collection of poetry. Includes the Auden classics “Musée des Beaux Arts”, “In Memory of W.B. Yeats”, “September 1, 1939”, “Funeral Blues”, and many others.

$2800
(details)

     

BARTH, John.  The Sot-Weed Factor.  Garden City: Doubleday, 1960.  Octavo, original cloth, original dust-jacket. First edition of Barth's breakthrough novel, a masterpiece of early postmodernist fiction.  This copy is a publisher's complimentary copy with Doubleday bookplate on front pastedown. 

$600
(details)

     

Beckett's masterpiece

BECKETT, Samuel. En attendant Godot. Paris: Les Editions de Minuit, 1952. Octavo, original wrappers; glassine; custom cloth box. FIRST EDITION of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, one of the most influential works of modern drama.

$3400
(details)

     

""I'm afraid poor Casanova never did it except in missionary style..."

BELLOW, Saul. Typed Letter Signed.  One page, signed "Love, Saul". Circa 1965.  Addressed to Bellow's lawyer and close personal friend, Samuel Goldberg.  A lively and amusing letter; discusses the death of a mutual friend, a production of one of Bellow's plays and the calming effect Casanova's Memoirs have on Bellow's nerves.  

$1750
(details)

     

A Burgess 99 selection

BELLOW, Saul. The Victim. New York: Vanguard Press, 1947. First edition of Bellow' second novel, a Burgess 99 selection. An excellent copy.

$1900
(details)

     

The greatest biography ever written

BOSWELL, James. The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. London: Henry Baldwin for Charles Dilly, 1791. Folio, contemporary calf rebacked.  First edition, first state.

$8500
(details)

     

20th-century classic

BUCK, Pearl S. The Good Earth. FIRST EDITION of Pearl Buck's masterpiece, enormously influential in introducing to the Western world the harsh realities of peasant life in China. New York: The John Day Company, (1931). Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket.

$8000
(details)

     

 

(BURROUGHS, William).  LEE, William.  Junkie. New York: Ace, 1953.  First edition of Burroughs' first book, an underground sensation upon publication that eventually sold 113,000 copies.  A 50th anniversary edition was issued in 2003 by Penguin Books.  First editions are rare; this copy superbly preserved.

$1300
(details)

     

William Cullen Bryant's first book

BRYANT, William Cullen. Poems. Cambridge, MA: Hilliard and Metcalf, 1821. Octavo, original boards. First edition of Bryant's first collection of poems, including "Thanatopsis", the poem that made Bryant famous at the age of 17. 

$1500
(details)

     

CAPOTE, Truman. The Grass Harp. New York: Random House, 1951.  Octavo, original cloth, original dustjacket.  First edition, first printing of Capote's second novel.  A lovely, bright copy in an excellent dust jacket.

$450
(details)

     

Truman Capote's first novel

CAPOTE, Truman. Other Voices, Other Rooms. New York: Random House, 1948.  Octavo, original cloth, original dustjacket. First edition of Capote's first novel, published when the author was twenty-two. 

$700
(details)

     

Beginning of environmentalist movement

CARSON, Rachel. Silent Spring. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1962. FIRST EDITION of Carson's enormously influential work, "credited with creating a worldwide awareness of the dangers of environmental pollution" (Britannica).

$750
(details)

     

Willa Cather's first book

CATHER, Willa. April Twilights. Boston: Richard G. Badger/ The Gorham Press, 1903. Octavo, original drab boards, paper label on cover and spine. First edition of Willa Cather's first book and her only collection of verse.

$2600
(details)

     

Magnificent Golden Cockerel Chaucer illustrated by Eric Gill

CHAUCER, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. London: Golden Cockerel Press, 1929-1931. Folio, original brown quarter morocco and patterned boards by Sangorski and Sutcliffe. Four volumes. ONE OF 485 COPIES (out of a total edition of 500) on hand-made paper of the magnificent Golden Cockerel edition of The Canterbury Tales, illustrated with wood engravings by Eric Gill;  one of the most beautiful books produced in the 20th century.

$9000
(details)

     

Illustrated by W. Russell Flint

CHAUCER, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. London: Phillip Lee Warner, 1913. Three quarto volumes bound in limp vellum. Limited edition (1/500 sets) of this beautiful edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, with colored plates by W. Russell Flint, one of the great book illustrators of the 20th century. 

$1600
(details)

     

The most modern (and neglected) of the great English Romantic poets

CLARE, John.  Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery. First edition (1820) of the first book of one of the greatest poets of the Romantic movement. A rare copy in original boards. 

$3500
(details)

     

Signed by Arthur C. Clarke

CLARKE, Arthur C. 2001: A Space Odyssey. New York: New American Library, 1968. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket. FIRST EDITION, SIGNED by Clarke on the title page.

$1800
(details)

     

An unusually clean copy

CONRAD, Joseph. Lord Jim, A Tale. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1900. Octavo, original green cloth. First edition of what is perhaps Conrad's finest novel. A clean, bright copy.

$5000
(details)

     

CONRAD, Joseph.  Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard. London and New York: Harper & Brothers, 1904. Octavo, original blue cloth.   First edition, first printing (with p.187 marked 871) of the novel Conrad considered “his most important work, the one ‘dearest to his heart’” (Najder). Cloth remarkably fresh with just the slightest rubbing, spine gilt unusually bright. A lovely copy.

$2200
(details)

     

Signed by Don DeLillo

DeLILLO, Don. Americana. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1971. Octavo, original half blue cloth over red boards, original dust jacket. First edition of DeLillo's celebrated first novel, signed on the title page by DeLillo.

$1200
(details)

     

Fine copy of The Christmas Carol

DICKENS, Charles. The Christmas Books: A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life, The Haunted Man. London: Chapman and Hall, 1843-1848. Octavo, original brown or red cloth. Five volumes. Housed in custom leather gilt box. The first edition, first state of The Christmas Carol.

$38,000
(details)

     

"his greatest work"

DICKENS, Charles. Bleak House. London: Bradbury & Evans, March 1852- October 1853. Twenty parts in nineteen. Octavo, original blue pictorial wrappers; custom box. First edition in original parts of what is generally regarded as Dickens’s masterpiece; illustrated with 40 plates by Hablot K. Browne (“Phiz”).

$4000
(details)

     

Editio princeps of Romanarum Historiarum

DIO CASSIUS. [Greek Title]. Romanarum Historiarum libri XXIII, a XXXVI ad LVIII usque. Paris: Robert Estienne, 1548. Folio, early calf boards, recently rebacked. First edition, the editio Princeps, of Dio Cassius's important Roman history. 

$4000
(details)

     

Ode to the bawdy life

DONLEAVY, J.P. The Ginger Man. Paris: The Olympia Press, [1955]. Octavo, original wrappers. FIRST EDITION of Donleavy's classic, one of the most celebrated novels of the 20th-century. A beautiful copy.

$1400
(details)

     

Holmes's most famous adventures

DOYLE, A. Conan. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. London: George Newnes, 1894 [1893]. Quarto, original pictorial cloth. FIRST EDITION of Doyle’s second, and arguably greatest, collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, with 90 illustrations by Sidney Paget. An exceptionally nice copy.

$3000
(details)

     

Sherlock Holmes at his best

DOYLE, A. Conan. The Hound of the Baskervilles, Another Adventure of Sherlock Holmes. London: George Newnes, Limited, 1902. Octavo, original gilt-decorated cloth. First edition of the most celebrated of all the Sherlock Holmes adventures, the only full-length Sherlock Holmes novel.

$4000
(details)

     
ELLISON, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Random House, 1952. Octavo, original beige cloth, original dust jacket. First edition of Ellison's masterful first book, for which he would win the National Book Award. 

$4000
(details)

     

Everson's first book, signed twice

EVERSON, Bill (William). These Are The Ravens. San Leandro, CA: Greater West Publishing Co., 1935.  First edition, one of only 1000 copies printed, of William Everson's first book. Signed by Everson twice (once as "William Everson" and once as "Brother Antoninus") on front wrapper. A fine copy.

$1000
(details)

  

 

   

One of only 300 copies signed by Faulkner

FAULKNER, William. Absalom, Absalom! New York: Random House, 1936. Octavo, original half green cloth over patterned boards, top edge gilt.
Signed limited first edition, one of only 300 copies signed by Faulkner. Rare, particularly in such fine condition.

$8500
(details)

     

A fine copy

FAULKNER, William. Intruder in the Dust. New York: Random House, 1948. FIRST EDITION of Faulkner's powerful novel of Southern race relation. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket. A fine copy, rare in this condition.

$1600
(details)

     

First appearance of Tender is the Night

FITZGERALD, F. Scott.  Tender is the Night, in Scribner’s Magazine. New York: Scribner's, January-April, 1934. Quarto, original wrappers. Four issues.  First appearance of Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night, his last completed novel and the novel he considered his best. The first book edition appeared in April, 1934, after this appearance in Scribner’s Magazine.

$1100
(details)

     

First edition of The Great Gatsby

FITZGERALD, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1925. Octavo, original green cloth. First edition, first issue of what is generally considered the greatest and most famous of all American novels.

$3400
(details)

     

Casino Royale, inscribed by Fleming

FLEMING, Ian. Casino Royale. London: Jonathan Cape, 1953. Octavo, original black cloth, original dust jacket. FIRST EDITION of the first novel in the James Bond series. INSCRIBED by Fleming on the front free endpaper: “To Edwina who helped in the birth-pangs. From The Author.”  With noted provenance. An outstanding inscribed copy of the first and rarest Bond title.

$75,000
(details)

     

Selection of Ian Fleming first editions

FLEMING, Ian. FIRST EDITIONS of the James Bond Books, including Goldfinger, Dr. No, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, The Man with the Golden Gun, and The Spy Who Loved Me. In FINE condition.


(details)

     

Ford's first novel, signed first edition

FORD, Richard. A Piece of My Heart. New York: Harper & Row, (1976). Octavo, original half brown cloth, original dust jacket. First edition, signed by Richard Ford on the title page.  A fine copy.

$800
(details)

     

Cold Mountain, first edition, signed by Charles Frazier

FRAZIER, Charles. Cold Mountain.  First edition of Frazier's remarkable literary debut.  A fine copy, signed by Frazier on the title page in the year of publication.

$600
(details)

     

Signed by Robert Frost

FROST, Robert. The Complete Poems of Robert Frost. New York: Limited Editions Club, 1950. Limited edition, one of only 1500 copies, signed by Robert Frost, book designer Bruce Rogers, and illustrator Thomas Nason. An excellent copy, rare in this condition. 

$2700
(details)

     

FROST, Robert. In the Clearing.  New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1962. First edition. Octavo, original oatmeal cloth, original black slipcase.  The author's last collection of poems. Printed at the Spiral Press.  One of 1500 copies signed by the author, this being #475.  

$700
(details)

     

FROST, Robert. Masque of Mercy. New York, Henry Holt, 1947. First edition, limited to 750 numbered copies signed by the author. Bound in quarter blue cloth with tan paper covered boards, front cover and spine lettered in gilt.

$600
(details)

     
FROST, Robert. Selected Poems. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1928. First edition, inscribed by Frost to Monroe Heath. Original gray boards backed in green cloth with gilt lettering, original dustjacket. An important early collection of this major poet's work.  The selections are from North of Boston, A Boy's Will and Mountain Interval. Book very good, dust jacket with edgewear; not flawless but quite presentable.  

$2000
(details)

     

FROST, Robert. West Running Brook.  New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1928. First edition. Octavo, green cloth over original decorative paper boards, original cloth slipcase.  One of 1000 copies signed by the author.  

$800
(details)

     

Extremely scarce

[GREENE, Graham; MATHEWS, Ronald]. COUSINS, Sheila. To Beg I am Ashamed. London: George Routledge & Sons Ltd., 1938. FIRST EDITION, in very rare dust jacket, of Graham Greene’s and Ronald Mathews’s collaboration on this alleged “Authentic Autobiography of a London Prostitute” (published under the pseudonym Sheila Cousins). Because it was recalled almost immediately after publication, the first edition of To Beg I am Ashamed is extremely scarce (particularly in dust jacket) .

$15,000
(details)

     

Graham Greene's first novel

GREENE, Graham. The Man Within. FIRST EDITION, published when Greene was only twenty-five. London: William Heinemann, 1929. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket.

$5300
(details)

     

Signed by Graham Greene

GREENE, Graham. The Bear Fell Free. London: Grayson & Grayson, 1935. Octavo, original brown cloth, original dust jacket. SIGNED LIMITED FIRST EDITION, one of only 285 copies signed by Greene. A very nice copy of a scarce and fragile book.

$2200
(details)

     

Hardy's masterpiece, in rare original cloth

HARDY, Thomas. Tess of the D'Urbervilles. London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., 1891. Octavo, original gilt-decorated tan cloth. First edition, first issue in scarce original cloth of Hardy’s masterpiece, one of only 1000 copies printed.

$14,000
(details)

     

Catch-22: first edition, with Heller signature

HELLER, Joseph.  Catch-22.  New York: Simon and Schuster, 1961.  Octavo, original blue cloth, original dust jacket. First edition of Heller's classic, one of the highspots of 20th-century American literature. With bound-in leaf signed by Heller. A handsome copy of a book that is notoriously difficult to find in fine condition.

$6500
(details)

     

A Farewell to Arms

HEMINGWAY, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1929. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket. First edition of arguably Hemingway's masterpiece; in first state dust jacket with "Barclay" on front flap. Rare in this condition.

$5500
(details)

     

A beautiful copy

HEMINGWAY, Ernest. To Have and Have Not. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1937. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket.  FIRST EDITION of Hemingway's classic novel of life in the 1930's Florida Keys. Book fine, dust jacket with a few small creases, otherwise fine.

$4000
(details)

     

Hemingway on Safari

HEMINGWAY, Ernest. Green Hills of Africa. New York: Scribner's, 1935. Octavo, original green cloth, original dust jacket. FIRST EDITION of Hemingway's classic account of his African safari adventures. An exceptionally nice copy of a difficult book to get in collectible condition.

$3800
(details)

     

"Time may show it to be the best single piece of any of us, I mean his and my contemporaries." - William Faulkner

HEMINGWAY, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1952. Octavo, original blue cloth, original dust jacket. First edition of Hemingway's most popular work. A beautiful copy. 

$2400
(details)

     

Rare pre-publication galley proofs of
The Old Man and the Sea

HEMINGWAY, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: 1952. Long tan sheets (9 x 33 inches). Custom blue cloth clamshell box. Advance galley proofs, preceding the first printing in Life Magazine, of one of Hemingway’s greatest works. Stamped “Advance Galley Proofs” on cover page and “Advance Galley Proofs For Your Personal Reading Only, LIFE Publication Date, Sept 1” above first page of text. A rare Hemingway survival.

$3300
(details)

     

Extremely scarce Hemingway proof copy

Hemingway, Ernest. Death in the Afternoon. New York & London: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1932. Advance proof copy, issued prior to the first edition. Frontispiece and numerous plates throughout. Original plain brown paper wraps, custom tan morocco backed fall-down-back box, spine with black gilt-lettered labels.

$6500
(details)

     

Hemingway's High School Yearbook

[HEMINGWAY, Ernest]. Senior Tabula, 1916. Octavo, original wrappers. (Oak Park, IL: Oak Park H.S., 1916 ). WITH: Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, Vol. 21, No. 4. Chicago: January, 1923. Small octavo, original green wrappers. WITH: This Quarter, Vol 1, No. 1. (Paris, 1925). Octavo, original tan wrappers.

$2100
(details)

     

HUXLEY, ALDOUS.  Brave New World. London: Chatto & Windus, 1932. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket. FIRST EDITION, a beautiful copy in the original dust jacket, of Huxley's classic dystopian novel; one of the highspots of twentieth-century literature.

$8500
(details)

     

IRVING, John.  The World According to Garp. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1978. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket. FIRST EDITION of John Irving's best-selling fourth novel, the work that would establish his reputation.

$650
(details)

     

IRVING, John.  The Cider House Rules.  New York: William Morrow, 1985. Signed limited edition, 1/750 copies.  Large 8vo, original cream and green cloth in original publisher's slipcase.  A fine copy.

$600
(details)

     

First edition of Ulysses in rare unrestored original wrappers

JOYCE, James. Ulysses. Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1922. Quarto, original blue-green wrappers. Custom half-leather box. FIRST EDITION IN RARE ORIGINAL WRAPPERS of the most celebrated novel of the 20th-century. An exceptional, unrestored copy.

$70,000
(details)

     

First edition of Ulysses, with Joyce inscription

JOYCE, James. Ulysses. Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1922. First edition, number 611 of 750 copies on handmade paper, of the most celebrated novel of the 20th-century. Inscribed and signed by Joyce on supplied bound-in sheet: "To Percy Beaumont Wadsworth, James Joyce, Paris, 10 March 1924".

$27,000
(details)

     

One of only 500 copies

JOYCE, James. Haveth Childers Everywhere. Paris: The Fountain Press, 1930. Quarto, original paper wrappers printed in green and black; original glassine wrapper. FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING, #138 of 500 copies on handmade pure linen Vidalon Royal specially made for this edition.

$1200
(details)

     

One only 225 copies

[KELMSCOTT PRESS]. The Shepheardes Calender. Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1896. Small quarto. Original linen backed blue gray printed boards. BEAUTIFUL KELMSCOTT PRESS edition, one of only 225 copies on paper (out of a total edition of 231). Elegantly printed in Golden type in red and black and with twelve wood-engraved plates by Arthur J. Gaskin.

$6000
(details)

     

In beautiful rare dust jacket

LEWIS, C.S. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. A Story for Children. Illustrations by Pauline Baynes. London: Geoffrey Bles, (1950). Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket. First edition in original dust jacket of the first book of Lewis' celebrated Narnia Chronicles. An outstanding copy.

$17,500
(details)

     
LEWIS, C.S. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. A Story for Children. Illustrations by Pauline Baynes. London: Geoffrey Bles, (1950). Octavo, full modern red morocco. First edition of the first book of Lewis' celebrated Narnia Chronicles. Fine condition, handsomely bound. 

$3500
(details)

     

"The best novel about Americans at war"

MAILER, Norman. The Naked and the Dead. New York: Rinehart & Company, 1948. Octavo, original black cloth, original dust jacket. FIRST EDITION of Mailer's masterpiece.

$1700
(details)

     

Important contribution to the Harlem Renaissance

McKAY, Claude. Banjo. A Story without a Plot. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1929. Octavo, original half cloth over brightly-decorated boards, original dust jacket. First edition of Banjo, by Claude McKay, "the first and most militant voice of the Harlem Renaissance" (Britannica). A beautiful, fine copy.

$1100
(details)

     

The Last Picture Show

MCMURTRY, Larry. The Last Picture Show. New York: The Dial Press, 1966. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket. First edition of McMurtry's third novel, his classic coming-of-age story exploring the stifling isolation of growing up in a small Texas town. The basis for the award-winning 1971 film. A beautiful copy.

$1100
(details)

     
MELVILLE, Herman. Mardi: and a Voyage Hither. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1849. Octavo, original brown blind-stamped cloth. Two volumes. First American edition of Melville's third book. 

$3800
(details)

     

Signed by Arthur Miller

MILLER, Arthur. Printed quotation of the opening of Death of a Salesman. np,nd. One 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of paper. The opening lines of Arthur Miller's classic Death of a Salesman, signed in ink by Miller. Fine condition.

$450
(details)

 

 

   

Arthur Miller's masterpiece

MILLER, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York: The Viking Press, 1949. Octavo. Original orange cloth, original dust jacket. FIRST EDITION of Arthur Miller's Pulitzer-prize winning play; one of the classics of American theater.

$2000
(details)

 

 

   

A twentieth-century classic

MILLER, Henry. Tropic of Cancer. Paris: Obelisk Press, 1934. Octavo, original wrappers. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS, one of only 1000 copies printed, of Miller’s masterpiece. In exceptionally fine condition.

$26,000
(details)

 

 

   

A beautiful copy

MILLER, Henry. Tropic of Capricorn. Paris: Obelisk Press, 1939. Octavo, original wrappers. FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, one of only 1000 copies printed of Miller's autobiographical sequel to the Tropic of Cancer.

$3500
(details)

 

 

   

Typescript from Miller's Nexus

MILLER, Henry. Nexus. Typescript. 15-pages, quarto (8.5 x 11.5 inches), text on one side. 15-page carbon typescript from an early version of Miler's autobiographical novel, Nexus. Signed and titled by Miller through the carbon. With Miller's ink stamp, "Henry Miller / Big Sur, California" on first page. An important typescript from one of Miller's most celebrated works.

$2700
(details)

 

 

   

Extraordinary Henry Miller archive

MILLER, Henry. A remarkable collection of personal and intimate autograph letters written to noted publisher and founder of the Olympia Press, Maurice Girodias, discussing life, literature, ageing, and Miller’s campaign to win the Nobel Prize in literature.

$12,500
(details)

 

 

   

first edition of Winnie-the-Pooh

MILNE, A. A. Winnie-the-Pooh... with decorations by Ernest H. Shepard. London: Methuen & Co., Ltd., 1926. Octavo, recent full green morocco. First edition of Milne's classic Winnie-the-Pooh, finely bound in full morocco. Fine condition.

$2500
(details)

Tigger and Poohsticks

MILNE, A. A. The House at Pooh Corner. London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1928. Octavo, original cloth gilt, original dust jacket. FIRST EDITION of A.A. Milne's second collection of stories about Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends at Hundred Acre Wood. Delightfully illustrated throughout by Ernest Shepard.

$2200
(details)

superb John Milton collection in extraordinary binding

MILTON, John.  [Sammelband of Milton's Poetical Works.]  Comprising: PARADISE LOST.  A POEM IN TWELVE BOOKS.  The Sixth Edition.  London: 1695, for Jacob Tonson. et al... An extraordinary sammelband of Milton's collected poetical works in a superb contemporary Cambridge-style binding. With striking engraved plates.

$8200
(details)

     

"The greatest treasure-house of any language in the world" (PMM 371)

MURRAY, James, ed. A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles [The Oxford English Dictionary]. Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, 1884-1928. Large quarto, contemporary three-quarter brown morocco. 15 volumes in elegant Zaehnsdorf bindings.

$8500
(details)

     

modernist masterpeice

MUSIL, ROBERT. The Man Without Qualities. London: Martin Secker & Warburg, 1953-54-60.  Three volumes.  Octavo, original cloth, original dust jackets. FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH of Musil’s masterpiece, one of the great works of modernist literature.  Translated from the German By Eithne Wilkins & Ernst Kaiser. 

$1100
(details)

     

Nabokov's masterpeice

NABOKOV, Vladimir. Lolita. Paris: Olympia Press, (1955). Octavo, original green paper wrappers. Two volumes.  First edition of one of the most important novels of the twentieth-century. Lolita was rejected by American publishing houses until finally accepted by the avant-garde Olympia Press in Paris and published in a fragile two-volume format. A lovely copy.

$7600
(details)

     

Nabokov's first appearance in the U.S.

NABOKOV, Vladimir. Laughter in the Dark. FIRST U.S. EDITION, and the first book to be published by Nabokov in the United States. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, [1938]. Original green cloth, original dust jacket. Rare.

$5600
(details)

     

"Seriously, I don't think there'll be a war right away..."

O'HARA, John.  Typed letter signed, two pages, to Leonard Lyons.  Dated May 31, 1938.  Discusses O'Hara's fondness for London, plans for Leonard and Sylvia Lyons to visit and the merits of English cars, Opels and Chevrolets.  Folded, with staple marks at upper left.  Nicely preserved.  $950. 

$950
(details)

     

"I admit I had to naturalize Garbo and Toscanini."

O'HARA, John.  Typed letter signed, to his close friend, Leonard Lyons. Circa 1940.  Recounts the fascinating tale of O'Hara's attempt to have his cigarette case signed by F.D.R.  The plot thickened considerably when President Roosevelt refused to sign the case because O'Hara had himself already signed it (apparently a breach of protocol), though it seems that Roosevelt magnanimously broke State Department protocol and signed the case anyway. 

$550
(details)

     

"the greatest satire in the English language since Swift's Gulliver's Travels"

ORWELL, George.  Animal Farm. London, Secker & Warburg, 1945. Octavo, original green cloth, original dust jacket. FIRST EDITION of Orwell's classic, one of the most celebrated satires in the English language. An exceptionally nice copy of a notoriously difficult book to find in good condition.

$7500
(details)

     

A clean, bright copy

(PARRISH, Maxfield, illust.); Saunders, Louise. Knave of Hearts. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925. An excellent copy of the first edition of this lovely collaboration by Parrish and Saunders. 

$4000
(details)

 

 

 

First printing of "The Raven"

(POE, Edgar Allan). Quarles. The Raven, in The American Review: A Whig Journal of Politics, Literature, Art and Science. Vol 1, pp. 143-45. New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1845. First edition, first printing, of one of the most celebrated poems in American literature. A handsome copy in a contemporary binding.

$3800
(details)

 

 

 

"A thousand years may elapse before there shall appear another man with a power of versification equal to that of Pope." —Samuel Johnson

POPE, Alexander. Essay on Man. London, 1733-34. Parts I-IV, bound in one volume. Tall folio, nineteenth-century three-quarter green morocco, marbled boards and endpapers. First edition of all four parts of Pope’s great metaphysical treatise in verse, with the rare "To the Reader" leaf.

$7000
(details)

     

POPE (Alexander). and others. Miscellaneous Poems and Translations.  London: Printed for Bernard Lintott, 1712. First edition, containing the first appearance of Pope's The Rape of the Lock.    A lovely copy of Pope's delightful send-up of the vain and frivolous.  

$4300
(details)

     

A modern classic

PYNCHON, Thomas. Gravity's Rainbow. New York: Viking Press, (1973). Octavo, original orange cloth, original dust jacket. First edition of Pynchon's masterpiece. 

$2500
(details)

     
PYNCHON, Thomas. V. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, (1963). Advance proof copy.  Octavo, original wrappers. First printing of Pynchon's extraordinary first novel. 

$1400
(details)

     

Signed by Arthur Rackham

[RACKHAM, Arthur]. POE, Edgar Allan. Tales of Mystery and Imagination. By Edgar Allan Poe. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. London: George G. Harrap & Co., Ltd., 1935. Quarto, original full vellum gilt. Signed limited first edition, number 322 of 460 copies signed by illustrator Arthur Rackham. A fine copy.

$3400
(details)

     

 

Isaac Newton's Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel,
first edition.  $3200.  [details]
Swinton's Distant Electric Vision, first edition in wrappers.  The earliest description of television, in original wrappers. $4800. [details] First edition of Hardee's Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics, the most widely used infantry manual of the Civil War. $3500.  [details] First edition of Santorini's great anatomical work, "Observationes Anatomicae".  $6800.  [details] A pivotal moment in the prelude to American Independence:
The American Prohibitory Act of 1776.  $12,500.[details]
         
     
[RACKHAM, Arthur]. Swinburne, Algernon Charles. The Springtide of Life. Poems of Childhood by Algernon Charles Swinburne. London: William Heinemann, 1918. Quarto, original half vellum over parchment boards with gilt designs. Signed limited first edition, number 354 of only 765 copies signed by illustrator Arthur Rackham; an exceptionally clean copy.