Antiquarian and Collectors’ Books

CAMUS, Albert. The Outsider… translated from the French by Stuart Gilbert. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1946. First English edition, 8vo (184 x 115mm.) Introduction by Cyril Connolly. (Mild toning.) Original grey cloth (slightly bumped extremities), dust-jacket designed by Edward Bawden (minor loss to top of spine panel and upper edge of lower panel, slight nick to upper panel).

ARDIZZONE, Edward (illustrator). – Sheridan LE FANU. In A Glass Darkly. London: Peter Davies, 1929. 8vo (204 x 126mm.) Numerous illustrations by Edward Ardizzone. (Browning to endpapers and one plate, toning.) Original dark pink cloth (slight spine lean, extremities darkened), dust-jacket (small tape repairs verso, closed tears to spine ends, lightly chipped extremities). Note: scarce in the dust-jacket. A collection of five stories that were first published in 1872, a year before Le Fanu’s death.

LE FANU, Joseph Sheridan. The Rose and the Key. London: Downey & Co., [1895.] First one-volume edition, 8vo (189 x 122mm.) Half-title, illustrated title. (Mild toning, light spotting to pastedowns.) Original green cloth, decorative gilt to upper cover (lightly rubbed extremities). Provenance: Amy Debore (pencil name inscribed to title-page).

LE FANU, Jospeh Sheridan. Checkmate. London: Downey & Co., [1898.] 8vo (191 x 123mm.) Half-title, illustrated title. (Mild toning.) Original green cloth, decorative gilt to upper cover (hinges slightly weakened, some fading to top edge of upper cover, extremities bumped). Note: the first work of detective fiction to use dental records in criminal identification. Provenance: Henry Worrall (ink name to half-title).

LE FANU, Joseph Sheridan. The Poems of… Edited by Alfred Perceval Graves. London: Downey & Co. Limited, 1896. First edition, 8vo (171 x 107mm.) Half-title, portrait frontispiece with tissue-guard. (Spotting to pastedowns, toning, newspaper cutting mounted to front-free endpaper.) Original green cloth, decorative gilt to upper cover (fading to spine gilt).

LE FANU, Joseph Sheridan. Willing To Die. London: Downey & Co., [1895.] 8vo (189 x 122mm.) Half-title, illustrated title. (Spotting to pastedowns and front-free endpaper, toning.) Original green cloth, decorative red to upper cover (hinges cracked, rubbing to all extremities, fading, minor stains). Provenance: ‘Little Mary’ (gift inscribed to from her brother in ink on the front pastedown); H.L. Ballard (gift inscribed by on front pastedown); W.H. Smith Library (embossed stamp to front-free endpaper).

CHINA. – Harold Ivan HARDING. Diary of a Journey From Srinagar to Kashgar Via Gilgit. Kashgar: Swedish Mission Press, 1922. Limited edition, signed by the author, this being number 28 of an unspecified limitation, 8vo (204 x 139mm.) Folding coloured map to rear. (Mild toning.) Original multi-coloured Ikat cloth (some wear to spine, rubbing to extremities). Note: rare. On a printed leaf preceding the title the author writes ‘I send you a copy of the Diary of my journey from Srinagar to this place. It is bound in a stuff of which clothes are made in Central Asia and it is the first book, if I may be forgiven for calling it a book, to be published in this part of the world in any European language’. Provenance: ‘Fitzmaurice’ (gift inscribed to by the author on leaf preceding the title).

TITANIC. – Morgan ROBERTSON. Futility. New York: M.F. Mansfield, 1898. First edition, signed and inscribed by Morgan Robertson on a loosely-inserted leaf, 8vo (168 x 96mm.) Half-title. (Toning, marginal damp-stain to text-block.) Original grey pictorial cloth in red, black and silver (fading to spine, minor finger-marking). Note: rare. Morgan Robertson never claimed to have written a prophetic novel, but the similarities between his fictional ship, the S.S. Titan and the real life R.M.S. Titanic, are extraordinary. Written in 1898, Robertson described a huge British-built unsinkable luxury liner that sets sail in the month of April for the North Atlantic where it hits an iceberg, drowning most of the people on board. And, as happened fourteen years later, most of the passengers die because of a lack of lifeboats. After the real Titanic sunk on 15th April 1912, Robertson’s novel was re-issued as ‘Futility: The Wreck of the Titan’. The number of uncanny similarities continues to fascinate. Robertson has inscribed the inserted leaf: ‘With thanks and acknowledgments, I am sincerely yours, Morgan Robertson’.

ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. London: Bloomsbury, 1999. First edition, first impression, 8vo (193 x 125mm.) (Toning.) Original pictorial boards (slight spine lean), dust-jacket. Note: this is the second state of the first impression, with ‘J.K. Rowling’ on the imprint leaf and no advertisements to the rear.

ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. London: Bloomsbury, 1999. First edition, first impression, 8vo (194 x 126mm.) (Toning.) Original pictorial boards, dust-jacket (faint bump to top of spine panel). Note: this is the second state of the first impression, with ‘J.K. Rowling’ on the imprint leaf and no advertisements to the rear.

FLEMING, Ian. Thunderball. London: Jonathan Cape, 1961. First edition, first impression, 8vo (187 x 120mm.) (Mild toning.) Original black cloth with skeletal hand blind-stamped to upper cover, gilt lettering to spine, dust-jacket.

FLEMING, Ian. Goldfinger. London: Jonathan Cape, 1959. First edition, 8vo (188 x 123mm.) (Mild toning.) Original black cloth with blind-stamped skull and gilt coins for eyes (lightly bumped), dust-jacket designed by Richard Chopping (price-clipped, slight chipping to top of spine panel, creasing to top of upper panel).

FLEMING, Ian. Dr. No. London: Jonathan Cape, May 1958. First edition, second impression, 8vo (188 x 120mm.) (Mild toning.) Original black cloth with the ‘Honeychile’ silhouette to upper cover, dust-jacket (lightly rubbed).

TRANSGENDER. – Michael DILLON. Poems of Truth. London: Linden Press, 1957. First edition, 8vo (186 x 123mm.) (Mild toning.) Original blue cloth, gilt lettering to upper cover and spine (lightly bumped spine ends), dust-jacket (some spotting to panels). Note: scarce. A significant figure in transgender history, Michael Dillon- a minor Irish aristocrat- was the first person to undergo Female-To-Male- surgery in 1946, followed by phalloplasty. Dillon had published a pioneering work ‘Self: a Study in Ethics and Endocrinology’ which was decades ahead of its time in understanding the ethical issues of transgender medical care. He was also a trained surgeon who had performed the first Male to Female reassignment surgery on Roberta Cowell. Dillon’s poems reflect his spiritual questioning. He went on to write four books on Buddhism, dying in India aged 47. Provenance: Margaret Jones (ink name to front pastedown).

TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Hobbit. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1966. Sixteenth impression, 8vo (183 x 124mm.) 4 colour plates, black and white illustrations. (Light toning.) Original green pictorial cloth, dust-jacket (lightly rubbed extremities, spotting to upper panel).

MCCARTHY, Cormac. Blood Meridian, or The Evening Redness in the West. London: Picador, 1989. First U.K. edition, 8vo (213 x 131mm.) (Toning.) Original red cloth, dust-jacket (mild crease to upper panel). Note: widely considered to be McCarthy’s masterpiece.

HEANEY, Seamus. Door into the Dark. London: Faber and Faber, 1969. First edition, first impression, 8vo (216 x 134mm.) (Mild toning.) Original black cloth, dust-jacket (toned to lower panel). Note: Heaney’s second major collection. This copy was gift from the poet James Fenton to author Justin Wintle. The two met at Magdalen college, Oxford. They have both written extensively about Eastern cultures and have a friendship that remains to this day. Provenance: James Fenton, poet (gift inscribed from in ink on the front-free endpaper); Justin Wintle (gift inscribed to on the front-free endpaper).

SIGNED BOOK. – Douglas ADAMS. The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1981. 17th impression, signed and inscribed by Douglas Adams to the title-page, 8vo (178 x 108mm.) (Toned.) Original card covers. Note: signed ‘To Dave, Best Wishes, Douglas Adams’. Dave Baldock worked at the Forbidden Planet bookshop in London. He was on friendly terms with the horror and science-fiction writers who visited the store and launched their books there throughout the 1970’s to the 1990’s. Provenance: Dave Baldock (inscribed to from the author on the title-page).

SIGNED BOOKS. – Clive BARKER. Books of Blood. London: Sphere Books Limited, 1984-1985. 6 vols., all signed and inscribed by the author with 3 original ink illustrations, 8vo (178 x 108mm.) (Toning.) Original card covers. Note: signed ‘To Dave, love and best wishes, Clive Barker’, and dated, and in volume V ‘To Dave, the worst is yet to come, Clive’, and three of the books have an ink illustration by the author. Volume VI is a detailed and explicit male nude, volume IV has a dog with a phallus nose, while volume V is more decorative. Provenance: Dave Baldock (inscribed to from the author on the title-pages) (6).