ASH RARE BOOKS - FIRST EDITIONS AND FINE BINDINGS

First editions at Ash Rare Books

FIRST EDITIONS AND FINE BINDINGS AT
ASH RARE BOOKS
43 HURON ROAD
LONDON SW17 8RE
UNITED KINGDOM

Tel: (+44)-(0)20-8672-2263
e-mail: prints@ashrare.com


VISITORS BY APPOINTMENT ONLY

FIRST EDITIONS IN FINE BINDINGS

CLICK ON REFRESH/RELOAD TO ENSURE YOU HAVE THE UPDATED VERSION OF THIS PAGE

AUTO DA FÉ.

CANETTI, Elias, 1905-1994 : AUTO DA FÉ.

London : Jonathan Cape, (1946). First edition in English of the banned "Die Blendung" (1935), his first and only novel, translated from the German (under Canetti's personal supervision) by Dame Cicely Veronica Wedgwood (1910-1997). A Head without a World, Headless World and The World in the Head.
Post 8vo (198 x 133mm). 464pp. Bound in a smart recent half black morocco, banded and gilt; marbled sides; a few slight marks and faint creases, but a very good copy.

£250

To confirm availability and to purchase this print please note the stock number 30453 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

FAREWELL, MY LOVELY.

CHANDLER, Raymond (Raymond Thornton), 1888-1959 : FAREWELL, MY LOVELY.

New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1940. First edition. "It was a warm day, almost the end of March, and I stood outside the barber shop looking up at the jutting neon sign of a second floor dine and dice emporium ...". His second and most widely celebrated novel - a Haycraft-Queen cornerstone of the genre.
Crown 8vo (182 x 122cm). [viii],276,[iv]pp. Bound in an elegant recent half blue morocco, banded, and lettered in gilt; original cloth upper panel and backstrip preserved at rear; a handful of minor marks, but a very good and attractive copy. Bruccoli II-1a.

£750

To confirm availability and to purchase this print please note the stock number 26784 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.

DOYLE, A. Conan (Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan), 1859-1930 : THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.

New York : McClure, Phillips & Co., 1905. First edition : published in February 1905 and preceding the London edition, which was published in March of the same year. A collection of thirteen Holmes stories, with some striking illustrations by Charles Raymond MacAuley (1871-1934).
Crown 8vo. [viii],(382),[ii]pp. Frontispiece and twelve plates. Bound in an elegant recent half burgundy morocco; original cloth backstrip and the splendid pictorial upper cover preserved at rear; a few trifling marks, but an excellent copy. Green & Gibson A29.

£500

To confirm availability and to purchase this print please note the stock number 29431 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

DANIEL DERONDA.

"ELIOT, George" - [EVANS, Marian, 1819-1880] : DANIEL DERONDA.

Edinburgh & London : William Blackwood & Sons, 1876. First edition, bound from the original eight parts, and with the parts errata slip referring to the misquotation from Tennyson.
Four volumes. Crown 8vo (174 x 112mm). [ii],(368); [ii],364; [ii],(394); [ii],(368)pp. Bound, without half-titles and advertisement leaf, in a pleasant contemporary half green calf, banded and gilt, by MacLaren & MacNiven of Edinburgh; marbled edges and endpapers; a little minor rubbing and wear, but a clean and handsome set. With the ownership inscription of Charles Louis-Camille Sarolea (1870-1953), Professor of French at Edinburgh University, political writer, and a book-collector of such tenacity that he had to buy a second house in Royal Terrace to contain his library. Sadleir 813.

SOLD

To confirm availability and to purchase this print please note the stock number 36672 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

FLEMING, Ian (Ian Lancaster), 1908-1964 : FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE.

London : Jonathan Cape, (1957). First edition. "Will he take the lure - the beautiful lure called Tania, first proffered to Bond wearing nothing but a black velvet ribbon round her throat?"
Crown 8vo. (254),[ii]pp. Bound in a stylish recent black half morocco, banded and gilt; the backstrip and upper panel of the original boards, blocked and lettered in silver and metallic red, preserved at rear; a very good, clean and crisp copy.

£350

To confirm availability and to purchase this book please note the stock number 29430 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

THE ROMANCE OF KING ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE : ABRIDGED FROM MALORY'S MORTE D'ARTHUR BY ALFRED W. POLLARD.

MALORY, Sir Thomas, 1415?-1471 : THE ROMANCE OF KING ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE : ABRIDGED FROM MALORY'S MORTE D'ARTHUR BY ALFRED W. POLLARD.

London : Macmillan & Co., 1917. The first Arthur Rackham illustrated edition. A handsome production, with Malory's text edited, introduced, abridged and with a glossary by A. W. Pollard (1859-1944) - and illustrated with sixteen tissue-guarded colour plates and seventy black-and-white illustrations and decorations by Arthur Rackham.
Foolscap 4to (206 x 159mm). xxiv,(510)pp. Colour plates. Illustrations. Bound in an elegant recent full blue morocco, banded and gilt; top edge gilt; original decorative cloth spine and upper cover preserved at rear; occasional slight spotting, but a very good and handsome copy.

£500

To confirm availability and to purchase this print please note the stock number 37443 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

RING OF BRIGHT WATER.

MAXWELL, Gavin, 1914-1969 : RING OF BRIGHT WATER.

London : Longmans, Green & Co., (1960). First edition. "Nowhere in Scotland is more evocative of a specific book than Sandaig, near Glenelg, Inverness-shire, which Maxwell disguised as Camusfeàrna ..." (ODNB). Otters, nature and the basis of the 1968 film, with Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, etc.
Demy 8vo. x,(212)pp. Photographs by the author. Illustrations in text by Michael Ayrton, Peter Scott and others. Bound in a smart recent half blue morocco, banded and gilt; original linson backstrip preserved at rear; faint crease to one leaf, but otherwise a very good and clean copy. Neat contemporary ownership inscription of V. Leigh.

£250

To confirm availability and to purchase this print please note the stock number 34386 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR : A NOVEL.

"ORWELL, George" - [BLAIR, Eric Arthur, 1903-1950] : NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR : A NOVEL.

London : Secker & Warburg, 1949. First edition. One of the major works of the twentieth century - and a novel that is in many ways even more frightening now than it was when first published.
Crown 8vo (183 x 120mm). 312pp. Bound in a smart recent half green morocco, banded and gilt - with the original cloth spine and upper cover preserved at rear; a very good, clean and sound copy. Very faint contemporary ownership stamps of the artist Mary Krishna (1908-1968) partially removed from the title and half-title.

SOLD

To confirm availability and to purchase this print please note the stock number 36756 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

SMART, Elizabeth (Elizabeth Ann), 1913-1986 : BY GRAND CENTRAL STATION I SAT DOWN AND WEPT.

London : Editions Poetry London, (1945). First edition. Smart's celebrated fictional account of her love affair with George Barker.
Demy 8vo. 54,[ii]pp. Bound in an elegant recent half red morocco, lettered down spine in gilt; top edge gilt; a most attractive copy of the first edition of this scarce modern classic.

£250

To confirm availability and to purchase this book please note the stock number 26007 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

SMITH, Dodie (Dorothy Gladys), 1896-1990 : I CAPTURE THE CASTLE.

Boston : Little, Brown & Co., 1948. First edition : precedes the 1949 London edition published by Heinemann.
Post 8vo. [vi],(344),[ii]pp. Illustrations by Ruth Steed, based on sketches by the author. Bound in a smart recent half blue morocco, banded and gilt, preserving the original pictorial cloth cover and spine at rear; top edge blue; a few slight edge spots, but a very good and handsome copy.

£400

To confirm availability and to purchase this book please note the stock number 27005 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

STEVENSON, Robert Louis, 1850-1894 : UNDERWOODS.

London : Chatto & Windus, 1887. First edition. A celebrated collection of fifty-four poems, thirty-eight in English and the remainder in Scots - the latter including the first appearance in book form of both "A Lowden Sabbath Morn" and "The Scotsman's Return from Abroad".
Foolscap 8vo. [ii],(xvi),[2],(138),[ii]pp. Bound, with the initial blank but without the inserted advertisements, in a delightful near contemporary half tan morocco, banded and gilt in a floral design; top edge gilt; marbled sides and endpapers; mild spotting of binder's blanks and edges, but a very good copy indeed. With the pictorial 1895 bookplate of Albert Harrison.

£250

To confirm availability and to purchase this book please note the stock number 31931 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

STEVENSON, Robert Louis, 1850-1894 : THE BLACK ARROW : A TALE OF TWO ROSES.

London : Cassell & Co., 1888. First British edition. Stevenson with a fine tale of the Wars of the Roses.
Crown 8vo. viii,324,4 + [xvi]pp inserted advertisements dated July 1888. Bound in a smart late twentieth-century full red morocco, banded and gilt, by Bayntun-Riviere, preserving the original pictorial upper cover at rear; all edges gilt; marbled endpapers; two tiny scuffs, a sprinkling of faint spots, but an excellent copy. Prideaux 26.

£350

To confirm availability and to purchase this book please note the stock number 32774 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

HAWBUCK GRANGE; OR, THE SPORTING ADVENTURES OF THOMAS SCOTT, ESQ.

[SURTEES, Robert Smith, 1803-1864] : HAWBUCK GRANGE; OR, THE SPORTING ADVENTURES OF THOMAS SCOTT, ESQ.

London : Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1847. First edition. Originally published in substantially different form in "Bell's Life in London" as "Sporting Sketches", between October 1846 and June 1847.
Demy 8vo. [viii],(330),[ii]pp + 32pp advertisements dated October 1847. Eight etched plates by "Phiz" (Hablot Knight Browne, 1815-1882). Bound, complete with half-title, in a later (mid twentieth-century) full crimson polished calf, banded and gilt with sporting motifs, by Birdsall; contrasting green and tan labels; top edge gilt; inner gilt dentelles; upper and lower panel of the original decorative cloth bound in at rear; a touch sunned; a few minor marks, slight scuffs and small flaws, but overall a very good copy in a handsome binding by the celebrated Northampton bookbinding firm, founded in the eighteenth century and which continued trading until 1961.

£250

To confirm availability and to purchase this print please note the stock number 35125 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

POEMS, CHIEFLY LYRICAL.

TENNYSON, Alfred (Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron), 1809-1892 : POEMS, CHIEFLY LYRICAL.

London : Effingham Wilson, 1830. First edition : with p.91 mis-numbered 19, and with the reading "carcanet" on p.72. His first solo collection of poems, including "Mariana", "The Burial of Love", "The Kraken", etc. Tipped in is Tennyson's autograph signature, and loosely inserted are two further fragments of his Farringford notepaper, apparently from the same note as the signature, the first with the embossed address and an autograph message in his hand - "Dear Lady Charlotte, Voilà" - and the second with the autograph date "March 12th 1883". The addressee was presumably Lady Charlotte Schreiber (formerly Guest), whose "Mabinogion" inspired parts of his "Idylls of the King", and who was a friend of many years standing.
Post 12mo. [iv],154,2pp. Bound, with the errata and advertisement leaves, in a lavish late nineteenth century full crimson morocco by Alfred Matthews of New York, richly gilt in an arabesque design; inner gilt dentelles; top edge gilt; marbled endpapers; a most attractive copy in a superb binding, protected by a marbled slip-case - this last a little rubbed. With the 1894 pictorial book-label of Charles B. Foote, whose collection was dispersed at auction in New York in 1894-1895, and the later 1923 book-plate of Beatrice Borland.

£1,500

To confirm availability and to purchase this print please note the stock number 32781 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

UNDER MILK WOOD : A PLAY FOR VOICES.

THOMAS, Dylan (Dylan Marlais), 1914-1953 : UNDER MILK WOOD : A PLAY FOR VOICES.

London : J. M. Dent & Sons, (1954). First edition. With the original preface and musical setting by Daniel Jones.
Crown 8vo. (x),(102)pp. Bound in a smart recent half black morocco, banded and gilt; top edge gilt; original cloth spine and upper cover preserved at rear; a few faint and minor internal marks, but an excellent copy. Rolph B21.

SOLD

To confirm availability and to purchase this print please note the stock number 28661 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

OTHER MEN'S FLOWERS : AN ANTHOLOGY OF POETRY COMPILED BY A. P. WAVELL (FIELD-MARSHAL VISCOUNT WAVELL G.C.B., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., C.M.G., M.C.)

WAVELL, A.P. (Archibald Percival, First Earl), 1883-1950 : OTHER MEN'S FLOWERS : AN ANTHOLOGY OF POETRY COMPILED BY A. P. WAVELL (FIELD-MARSHAL VISCOUNT WAVELL G.C.B., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., C.M.G., M.C.)

London : Jonathan Cape, (1944). The first edition of this enduringly popular anthology - the best of English poetry all of which, it is said, Wavell knew by heart.
Crown 8vo (187 x 120mm). 432pp. Bound in a smart recent half burgundy morocco, banded and gilt; top edge red; original cloth backstrip preserved at rear; some spotting, mainly of edges, but otherwise a very good copy.

SOLD

To confirm availability and to purchase this print please note the stock number 36595 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST : A TRIVIAL COMEDY FOR SERIOUS PEOPLE. BY THE AUTHOR OF LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN.

[WILDE, Oscar (Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills), 1854-1900] : THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST : A TRIVIAL COMEDY FOR SERIOUS PEOPLE. BY THE AUTHOR OF LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN.

London : Leonard Smithers & Co., 1899. First edition : limited to 1,000 copies - this copy not numbered and out of series. Wilde's most famous and most enduring play, published quasi-anonymously after his fall from grace, just eighteen months before he died.
Foolscap 4to. [xvi],(152)pp. Bound in a smart recent full green morocco, banded and gilt; a few minor marks, tiny spots and faint creases, but a very good copy, handsomely bound. Mason 381.

£2,000

To confirm availability and to purchase this print please note the stock number 35679 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

WILLIAMSON, Henry (Henry William), 1895-1977 : SALAR THE SALMON.

London : Faber & Faber, (1935). First edition.
Crown 8vo. (320)pp. Title-page and colophon decorations by C.F. Tunnicliffe. Bound in a very attractive later half russet morocco, banded and gilt with salmon, by Bayntun; top edge gilt; a few slight spots; very mild tanning of endpapers, but a very good copy.

£250

To confirm availability and to purchase this book please note the stock number 32090 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

VERY GOOD, JEEVES!

WODEHOUSE, P.G. (Sir Pelham Grenville), 1881-1975 : VERY GOOD, JEEVES!

London : Herbert Jenkins, 1930. First British edition : with the humourous preface not included in the American edition which appeared two weeks earlier. "Jeeves and the Impending Doom", "Jeeves and the Song of Songs" and nine further famous tales - the third Jeeves & Wooster short story collection.
Crown 8vo (178 x 119mm). 312,[viii]pp. Bound in a smart recent full red morocco, banded and gilt; top edge gilt; a few tiny edge-spots, but a very good copy. Faint blind-stamp of Claremont, Ramsey, Huntingdon at head of preface. Connolly 48.(i). Jasen 43a. McIlvaine A42b.

SOLD

To confirm availability and to purchase this print please note the stock number 35821 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

SEARCH FOR SIMILAR MATERIAL, CURRENCY CONVERSION AND
SECURE ORDERING AVAILABLE THROUGH THE
DATABASE

Credit Card Logos

Return to Ash Rare Books home page.
Return to First Editions index page.

POSTAGE, PACKING & INSURANCE EXTRA - - - MOST ITEMS DESPATCHED WITHIN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS

Designed and © 2010 Ash Rare Books
e-mail: books@ashrare.com