All Books

Praze [Prague]: Fr. Borový, 1923.First and only edition of the Czech translation of Einstein's Über die spezielle und die allgemeine Relativitätstheorie first published in German in 1916 with the English translation appearing in 1920. It was intended by Einstein as a brief, popular introduction to his theory of relativity. This Czech edition has a special preface by Einstein written for this translation. Einstein worked in Prague for seventeen months in 1911-12 and retained a fondness for the city. 8vo. 210x135mmpp. 103 [2,1bl]. Original Blue card wrappers with striking design.

London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd. 1928 & 1929.First editions. Two volumes published separately but sold together as usual. 8vo. 237x152mm. pp. xv [ibl], 356; xii, 330. Both with eight illustrations. Both bound in publisher's brick-red cloth, lettered in gilt to spine. Front pastedowns have book plates of D.A.King formerly ("Olim Civis") of the Colleges of St Salvator and St Leonard in St Andrews. Without the (scarce) dust-jackets. Fading to spines (more marked in the first volume) and bumping to head and foot of spines. Rubbing to extremities. Some marking to boards.

[London]: Printed for private circulation by Parkins & Son.. n.d. [c1909].Presentation copy. First edition. 214x136mm. pp. 53 [3]. Dark grey buckram, paper label to upper cover, lettered in dark blue. In a grey paper wrapper with an address label to "Gunner Stanley Collins" at an army address in France. On the front free endpaper is the inscription: "October 8th 1918. To Stanley Collins - A much greater Artist than I can ever hope to be, but who may, nevertheless like to read these Poems, sent by his old friend. The Author". Some foxing and hinges cracked but holding.

n.p. . n.d. [c1970].Two volumes. 254x202mm. pp. 7 [1bl], 42. 6 illustrations; 47 [1bl], 9 illustrations. Typed pages stapled at left edge with green card covers on the first volume and orange on the second. Some marks and toning on the covers and four of the leaves have been repaired with coloured tape at the edges. An utterly bizarre (and unrecorded) home-made production of which we have been unable to find another copy. At first sight, on encountering the photocopied illustrations, this would appear to be a fantasy work for rubber fetishists.

Rodez: n.p. 1943.First edition predating the trade edition by a year. 165x105mm. pp. 12. Typed and copied on a roneotype. Beige wrappers, stapled. Water-stained and some marking to the wrappers. This "hors commerce" edition was made privately by Artaud when he was a patient at the psychiatric hospital in Rodez, hence its home-made quality. It was followed in 1944 by a trade edition limited to fifty copies.

London: William Tweedie.. 1853.Bound with The Poetry of Childhood. London: William Tweedie. 1852. Presentation copy, inscribed "A.S. from GB. Orate pro pittore". First edition of both titles. Small 8vo. 150x100mm. pp. 52. Poetry of Childhood. Pp. 28. Bound in at the end are four pages of publisher's advertisements which were issued with The Poetry of Home. There are three charming pencil drawings pasted onto blank leaves bound in between the text and two further drawings on blank leaves and one on a text leaf. On a blank preliminary leaf, a photograph of Barmby has been pasted in.

n.p. . [1847].One of six manuscript copies transcribed by Charles Pollington. A presentation inscription on one of the preliminary leaves states: "This sixth Copy of Clare's Poems is presented to my dear Grand-daughter Margaret Pollington of London to perpetuate the remembrance of her Grandfather Charles Pollington. Boston. 1851." 185x112mm. Presentation inscription, frontispiece monochrome watercolour of Clare's Cottage, Helpstone, title page and 359pp. Pasted in on the presentation page are two news cuttings and loosely inserted at the back of the book are some newspaper and magazine cuttings relating to Clare.

Chicago: Novel Books, Inc. 1963.First edition thus. 178x108mm. pp. 160. Illustrated wrappers. Some rubbing and creasing to covers but overall in excellent condition. This little book tells the story of Carl Rollins Hammonds. Having grown small breasts as a teenager, Hammonds worked as "half-man/half-woman" as a carnival dancer under the name Hedy Jo Star. Estrogen began to change her appearance more radically and in 1955, "I changed my sex" first appeared. In 1962 she underwent full gender reassignment surgery and this paperback edition appeared the following year.

Los Angeles: Feral House.. 1989.Inscribed "For Sherry, a potent witch in her own right! Rege Satanas! Anton Szandor La Vey". The "Y" at the end of Sherry and Vey have forked devil tails. 208x130mm. pp. [20], 274, [8]. Orange wrappers, some shelfwear and creasing to corners but overall a very good copy and internally excellent. Books signed by LaVey (and particularly with such fulsome inscriptions) are rare.The Satanic Witch is a provocative and influential work first published in 1971.

London: Macmillan & Co, Limited. 1911-13.Presentation copy to Edward Clodd. Third edition. Eleven volumes, without the Bibliography and General Index, but with a copy of volume III of the 1924 The Belief in Immortality with an ALS from Frazer to Edward Clodd. Original publisher's green cloth (although volumes 5-8 are in blue cloth). Upper cover is decorated with a mistletoe design in gilt. Spines lettered in gilt. Volume 3 (Taboo and the Perils of the Soul) has been repaired at the head of the spine (with a very slight loss of the gilt lettering).

A Journey Undertaken in an insane moment through Central Europe on foot. London: Richard Bentley and Son. 1891.Presentation copy. Psycho-geographyPresentation copy. First edition. 8vo. 202x135mm. pp. [viii], 388. Publisher's red cloth lettered in gilt and blind to upper cover and spine and with some decoration in blind. Rubbing to edges, corners bumped and worn. Bumping and some slight nicks and chips to head and foot of spine which is a little sunned. Slightly foxed and toned with some creasing to the foot of the last ten leaves. Overall a very good copy.

London: Henry Colburn.. 1827.Science fiction, feminism and reanimation. The first appearance of the Mummy. First edition. Three volumes. 12mo. (185x113mm). pp. viii, 300; [ii], 348; [ii], 303 [1, publisher's adverts]. Bound without half-titles in volumes II and III (volume I was issued without a half-title). Tan half calf, marbled paper covered boards. Spine with green morocco label, lettered in gilt. Some repairs and strengthening to joints, head and foot of spines and corners. Slight scuffing to spines and rubbing to boards.

London: Basic English Publishing. n.d..Second issue published by Basic English Publishing and with the original price of 2/6 overstamped with 3/6. Number 83 in the Psyche Miniatures General Series. 150x100mm. pp. 117, [2]. With the folding table of "Basic English" bound before the title page. Original red cloth backed boards. Printed paper label to spine. Slight scuffing to spine and some marking and soiling to covers. Browning to half title but otherwise in excellent condition throughout. A very good copy of the undated reissue published by C.K.Ogden's Basic English Publishing.

Aberdeen: J&J.P.Edmond & Spark. 1884.Limited edition. 44 of 101 copies. 4to. 185x140mm. pp. xvi, 18, [2]. Red quarter morocco, marbled paper covered boards. Rubbing and wear to the extremities and to spine. Internally near fine. Overall a very good copy. The preface offers a helpful history and explanation of this curious work. Printed by Wynkyn de Worde in the early part of Henry VIII's reign, it is a satirical poem of 1414 lines "in which various classes of society, chiefly of the lower order, are passed under review in rapid succession".

London: Printed for J. Murray. 1814.First edition. 8vo. 165x110mm. pp. [8], 128, [4pp, publisher's adverts]. Bound by G.H.May in tan half calf, marbled paper covered boards. Spine with five raised bands, second and fourth compartments lettered in gilt and the top compartment decorated in gilt with an extraordinary snake, skull and star design. Top edge gilt. Some light shelfwear but otherwise in very good condition throughout. Front pastedown has the bookplate of Gilbert Compton Elliot.

Oxford: Basil Blackwell. 1926.Third edition. 8vo. 217x175mm. pp.xvi, 102, [2bl]. Original wrappers, some slight wear to extremities but otherwise in very good condition throughout and internally excellent. Protected by a transparent plastic cover. The first two editions of Flatland appeared in quick succession in 1884 but the book then fell out of print. Blackwell issued this third edition forty two years later. Textually it is has a few revisions from the second edition but its appearance is almost exactly the same as the earlier ones.

n.p. . [1925].Typescript novel with extensive manuscript corrections and alterations. ff. [2], 117, [2], 118-276. Text on recto only, tied with string through two punched holes in the left margin and tied into a cover fashioned from heavy card apparently salvaged from packing material for a French retailer of sheet music and musical instruments. Housed in a custom made cloth wrapper and slipcase.

Buenos Aries: Editorial Atlantida. 1975.Silver gelatin photograph. 180x240mm. Taken using a fish-eye lens, it shows Borges and Sabato sitting together talking over a cup of coffee in a café. On the verso is the photographer's stamp from the magazine Editorial Atlantida. It has also been inscribed by Sabato "Para Juan contodo mui afecto. E. Sabato. 15 de Mayo de 1998". Protected by a transparent plastic envelope and housed in a heavy card folder covered with marbled paper.

Paris: Louis-Henry May. 1899.First trade edition. 8vo. 203x155mm. pp. [28], 78, [5, 1bl]. Cloth backed, paper-covered boards, lettered in gilt with a flower motif in gilt to upper cover and spine. Corners rubbed worn and frayed and some staining to the boards. Some foxing and browning but otherwise very good internally. This is Whistler's account of the legal dispute with Sir William Eden over his portrait of Lady Eden.

[London]: Secker and Warburg. 1929.Number 43 of 125 copies printed on vellum. 268x170mm. Unpaginated. Illustrated dustjacket with some damage and a tear (with loss) to the top edge of the front cover and about 40mm missing from the foot of the spine and 10mm from the top but it is rare to find this book with a pristine jacket.

London. 1866.A photograph album containing thirteen heavy card leaves into which are inserted (on each side of the leaf) four small 'carte de visite' photographs. There is a total of 104 photographs. Leaves measure 282x200mm and the photographs in their frames 84x50mm. On a blank preliminary is written in coloured ink with gold highlights: "Presented to Mr B.B.Toussaint by the Teachers & Friends of Holloway Ragged Schools with much esteem & regret at parting. Nov 1866". In a heavy green morocco binding decorated with relief patterns, with brass clasps. All edges gilt. Silk endpapers.

Cambridge: Printed for The Author, and sold there by Cornelius Crownfield. 1738.First edition. Two volumes. 252x194mm. pp. [6], vi, [8], 280; [2], 281-455, [1bl], 171, [13]. With the final errata, advertisement and instructions to the binder leaves and a total of 83 folding engraved plates. Contemporary calf, five raised bands, compartments lavishly decorated in gilt, morocco label lettered in gilt. Front pastedowns have the bookplates of Belton House and of The Right Hon John Lord Brownlowe whose seat Belton was. Rubbing and some wear to extremities, corners bumped. Head and foot of spines bumped and torn.

London: Printed by S.R., and are to be sold by Edward Gough. 1682.First edition. 8vo. 173x110mm. pp.[16], 78, [2]. With a separate title page for "A remembrance of the worthy show and shooting by he Duke of Shoreditch, and his associaties ... By W.M." (p. [33]-71). Contains the scarce Postscript which was missing from three of the six copies appearing in the auction records since 1975. Contemporary brick red morocco with double fillet border and gilt panel of double fillet and roll-tool decoration with inner and outer corner pieces to upper and lower covers.

London: Edm. Bollifant. 1598. First edition in English. 269x190mm. pp. [8], 496. Collates: a⁴A-2R⁶ 2S⁸. Full calf, double fillet borders to upper and lower covers. Spine with five raised bands, compartments decorated in blind and gilt and lettered in gilt. Tear to title page at gutter and there is some browning and foxing and two small holes in Cc6, Ee6, with loss of two letters in each case. But otherwise a very good copy of the first appearance in English of this influential work which combines the pastoral obsessions of the Renaissance with an early form of novelistic prose.