Antiquarian and Collectors’ Books

TODD, Barbara Euphan. Worzel Gummidge. London: Burns, Oates & Washbourne, 1936. First edition, 8vo (184 x 116mm.) Illustrations by Elizabeth Alldridge. (Toning, offsetting to pp.108-109, some spotting to preliminaries.) Original red cloth (spine ends faded), dust-jacket (areas of loss to upper and lower panels, sticker on inner flap). Note: scarce. Barbara Todd first developed the idea of a talking scarecrow for the B.B.C. in 1935 as a part of ‘Children’s Hour’. She published the book in 1936 but decades later a television series- scripted by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall- made the character known to a new generation in the early 1980’s. The undying scarecrow was reprised again by the B.B.C. in 2019.

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 the 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 acknowledgements, I am sincerely yours, Morgan Robertson’.

PYROTECHNICS. – Robert JONES. A New Treatise on Artificial Fireworks. London: for the Author, sold by J. Millan, 1765. First edition, 8vo (201 x 124mm.) Title, errata leaf, 5 folding engraved plates. (Browning throughout, occasional spotting, lacking blanks, one plate laid-down, staining to b4.) Contemporary calf (lacking lower cover, upper cover detached and with tape repair, rubbed). Note: scarce. [xxvi, [2], 255].

PYROTECHNICS. – W.H. BROWNE. Practical Firework-Making For Amateurs. London: ‘The Bazaar’, [1884.] First edition, 8vo (194 x 123mm.) Half-title, wood-engraved frontispiece and illustrations in the text, 32pp. publisher’s catalogue to rear. (Toning, lacking blanks?) Original maroon cloth, pictorial gilt to upper cover (rebacked with original spine laid-down, endpapers replaced, lightly rubbed extremities). Note: scarce. – And a further three volumes related to fireworks (including A. St. H. Brock’s ‘Pyrotechnics: the History and Art of Firework Making’, 1922, 8vo) (4).

ICE-SKATING. – George A. MEAGHER. Figure and Fancy Skating. London: Bliss, Sands, and Foster, 1895. First edition, 8vo (183 x 118mm.) Photographic frontispiece with tissue-guards, numerous illustrations, 16pp. publisher’s advertisements. (Toning.) Original green cloth, pictorial gilt to upper cover, g.e. (paper label to spine, lightly rubbed extremities). Note: scarce. Provenance: Royal Artillery Institution, Woolwich (bookplate to front pastedown). – And a further ten volumes related to ice-skating (including H.E. Vandervell and T. Maxwell Witham’s ‘A System of Figure-Skating’, 1869, 8vo, and Montagu and Stanley F. Monier-Williams’ ‘Combined Figure Skating’, 1883, 8vo, and Edgar Syer’s ‘Figure Skating’, [circa 1900], 8vo, and H.C. Lowther’s ‘Principle of Skating Turns’, 1900, 12mo, and ‘Combined Hand-in-Hand Figure Skating’, 1904, 8vo) (11).

GOLDEN COCKEREL PRESS. – A.C. SWINBURNE. Pasiphaë, a Poem. London: Golden Cockerel Press, 1950. Limited edition, this being number 222 of 500 copies, 8vo (225 x 139mm.) 4 copper-engraved plates, and 2 copper-engraved illustrations by John Buckland-Wright. (Mild toning.) Original yellow and blue buckram, glassine dust-jacket. – And a further six volumes published by the Golden Cockerel Press (including ‘Hero & Leander’, translated from the Greek of Musaeus by F.L. Lucas, illustrated by John Buckland-Wright, 1949, and ‘In Defence of Woman’ by William Cynwal, [1960], 8vo, and Patrick de Heriz’s ‘La Belle O’ Morphi’, [1947], 8vo, and Nicolas Chamfort’s ‘Maxims and Considerations’ translated by E. Powys Mathers, 2 vols., 1926, 8vo, and ‘Boccaccio’s Olympia, edited with an English Rendering by Israel Gollancz’, 1913, 4to) (7).

LEWIS, C.S. Broadcast Talks, Reprinted with some alterations from two series of Broadcast Talks… given in 1941 and 1942. London: Geoffrey Bles, July 1942. First edition, 8vo (180 x 120mm.) (Toning.) Original white cloth, lettered in red (extremities slightly dust-soiled), dust-jacket (minor loss and abrasions to spine panel, finger-marked and toned). – And a further six miscellaneous volumes (including Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass’, 1898, 8vo, and George Seaver’s ‘The Faith of Edward Wilson of the Antarctic’, 1948, 8vo) (7).

DAHL, Roald. James and the Giant Peach. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1967. First U.K. edition, 4to (239 x 161mm.) Illustrations by Michel Simeon. (Mild toning, faint crease to front-free endpaper and with ink number crossed out.) Original pictorial laminated boards (spine ends rubbed and bumped, laminate peeling). Provenance: James Phillips (ink name inscribed to front-free endpaper).

DAHL, Roald. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1967. First U.K. edition, 4to (238 x 163mm.) Illustrations by Faith Jacques. (Mild toning, minor later hand-colouring to one illustration.) Original pictorial laminated boards (wear and slight loss to spine ends, laminate loss at top of spine). Provenance: Gillian Phillips (ink name inscribed to front-free endpaper).

DAHL, Roald. Switch Bitch. London: Penguin Books, 1988. Reprint, signed by the author, 8vo (183 x 119mm.) (Toning, stain to p.123.) Original card covers. Note: signed and dated by Dahl in thick black marker pen ‘To Asil, love Roald Dahl, 12th Aug 1990’.

NESBIT, Edith. Wet Magic. London: T. Werner Laurie, Ltd., [1913.] First edition, 8vo (181 x 115mm.) Half-title, 14 plates, including 2 folding, 1p. publisher’s advertisement to rear. (1 plate detached, a tear to fold of one folding plate, crease to half-title, toning.) Original red pictorial cloth, t.e.g. (spine sunned, hinges weakened). – And a further nineteen volumes (including Edith Nesbit’s ‘The Magic City’, 1910, 8vo, and ‘The Wonderful Garden’, 1911, 8vo) (20).

WELLS, H.G. The Shape of Things to Come, the Ultimate Revolution. London: Hutchinson & Co. Ltd., 1933. First edition, 8vo (216 x 149mm.) 12pp. publisher’s catalogue to rear. (Mild toning.) Original blue cloth (light spotting to spine), dust-jacket (chipping and small tears to extremities). Note: Wells’ dystopian novel where several of his short-term predictions came true, including the destruction of cities by aerial bombing. The prophetic vein in Wells’ work influenced many writers in the growing genre of sci-fi writing in the 1940’s and 50’s. – And a further five volumes by H.G. Wells (including ‘The Bulpington of Blup’, [1932], 8vo, and ‘The Autocracy of Mr. Parham’, 1930, 8vo) (6).

WELLS, H.G. The Open Conspiracy, Blue Prints For a World Revolution. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1928. First edition, 8vo (182 x 120mm.) (Browning to endpapers.) Original black cloth, dust-jacket. – And a further eight volumes by H.G. Wells (including ‘Washington and the Hope of Peace’, [1922], 8vo, and ‘Brynhild’, 1937, 8vo, and ‘The Brothers’, 1938, 8vo, ‘The Croquet Players’, 1936, 8vo, and ‘Apropos of Dolores’, 1938, 8vo, and ‘The Open Conspiracy’, Revised Edition, 1930, 8vo, and ‘A Modern Utopia’, [circa 1910], 8vo) (9).

[STACK, Mary Bagot.] – A.J. CRUIKSHANK and Prunella STACK. Movement is Life. London: G. Bell & Sons, Ltd., 1937. First edition, 8vo (186 x 117mm.) 8 photographic plates. (Spotting to preliminaries.) Original black cloth (lettering faded, spine ends bumped), dust-jacket (loss to extremities, old tape repairs). – And a further eleven volumes related to Mary Bagot and Prunella Stack and the ‘Women’s League of Health and Beauty’ (including Bagot Stack’s ‘Building the Body Beautiful’, first edition, 1931, 8vo, and two copies of Prunella Stack’s ‘The Way to Health and Beauty’, 1938, 4to) (12).

MOVABLE BOOK. – Clifton BINGHAM. Playtime Surprises for the Children. London: Ernest Nister, [circa 1899.] 4to (225 x 214mm.) 6 spherical chromolithographed movable (‘dissolving’) plates with ribbons, illustrations in the text. (Browning, slight chipping to leave edges.) Original cloth-backed paper-covered pictorial boards (extremities lightly rubbed). Note: rare. All parts in original working order. Provenance: ‘Bryan’ (ink name to front pastedown).

MOVABLE BOOK. – H.M. BURNSIDE. The Fairy Ring. London: Ernest Nister, [circa 1898.] 4to (223 x 218mm.) 6 spherical chromolithographed movable (‘dissolving’) plates with ribbons. (Browning, slight chipping to edges of two leaves, one ribbon replaced.) Original cloth-backed paper-covered pictorial boards (extremities lightly rubbed). Note: all parts in original working order.

VINE PRESS (publisher). – Victor NEUBURG. Songs of the Groves: Records of the Ancient World. Sussex, Steyning: Vine Press, 1921. Limited edition, this being number 6 of 40 De Luxe copies on hand-made paper from the edition of 590, signed and inscribed by Victor Neuburg for Dennis West, large 8vo (230 x 151mm.) Woodcut illustrations by Dennis West. (Toning, petal offsetting on pp.56-57, browning to front-free endpaper.) Original green cloth-backed pictorial paper-covered boards (minor staining to lower cover, extremities rubbed). Note: the inscription reads: ‘For Dennis West, the Artist, with the Author’s sincere thanks. Victor B. Neuburg, Steyning, Sussex, 13.8.21’.

VINE PRESS (publisher). – Victor NEUBURG. Swift Wings: Songs in Sussex. Steyning: The Vine Press, 1921. Limited edition, this being number 25 of the 40 De Luxe copies on hand-made paper from an edition of 590 copies, signed and inscribed by Victor Neuburg for Dennis West, large 8vo (229 x 151mm.) Hand-coloured woodcut illustration by Dennis West, woodcut initials, errata slip bound-in. (Some finger-marking to title, minor spotting to some margins.) Original brown cloth-backed pictorial paper-covered boards designed by Beatrice Linda Stanbrough (extremities bumped, browned to edges). Note: one of Neuburg’s flamboyant rhyming inscriptions, it reads: ‘To Dennis West/ Unquestionable best/ Compositions in Steyning/The colleague-penning/ of Victor B./Neuburg, the/Twenty-forth of December:/Remember!/Blow it:/ The poet/Nineteen-twenty-one/My song is done:/ Yes!-/ At the Vine Press’.

VINE PRESS (publisher). – Victor NEUBURG (editor). Larkspur: A Lyric Garland. Steyning: The Vine Press, 1922. Limited edition, this being number 7 of 40 De Luxe copies made from hand-made paper from an edition of 590, signed and inscribed by the author, 8vo (227 x 149mm.) Hand-coloured woodcut illustrations by Dennis West. (Mild toning.) Original red cloth-backed pictorial boards, gilt lettering to spine (fading to spine, damp-stain to lower cover, browned to edges). Note: the inscription reads: ‘The Artist: from the Editor, fraternally, May 19, 1923, Steyning, Sussex, Victor Neuburg’, also signed in ink under the portrait frontispiece. Provenance: Dennis West (ink inscription from Victor Neuburg on the front-free endpaper). – And a further volume published by the Vine Press (Rupert Croft-Cooke’s ‘Songs of a Sussex Tramp’, 1922, 8vo) (2).