All Books

London: Richard Bentley. 1844.First edition. 8vo. 200x120mm. pp. [4], 330. Bound by Zaehnsdorf in red half morocco, marbled paper covered boards. Spine with five raised bands, compartments lavishly decorated in gilt, second compartment lettered in gilt. Top edge gilt. Marbled endpapers. Some rubbing and wear to edges and corners and scratches to the boards. Internally very good but with some foxing and toning. Frontispiece portrait of Munden has part of the margin missing but this does not affect the image.

London: Printed by W. and J. Stratford. 1790.First edition. 8vo. 200x130mm. pp. [4], 44. Plus three leaves of waxed blue card on which were mounted samples of tin foil from Banca (an island off Sumatra) and Cornwall. These samples have since oxidised to dust, leaving residues. Contemporary tree calf, rebacked to style, original metal clasps, marbled endpapers. Contemporary book label of George Croker Fox, a shipping agent and merchant from Falmouth whose father (of the same name) founded the family firm of G.C.Fox.

London: George Routledge and Sons. 1873.First edition. 8vo. 160x100mm. pp. [2 adverts], viii, 184, [2, adverts]. Pastedowns are publisher's adverts. Original illustrated paper covered board with an image of the Union Flag and the Stars and Stripes. Edges and corners worn, paper on spine is torn with loss. Hinges cracked but holding and would benefit from a little repair. Rare, JISC Library Hub locating four copies in UK institutions (BL, NLS, Oxford and Cambridge) with Worldcat adding two more (NYPL and Australian National University) and no copies in the auction records.

London: The Arts Theatre Club. 1960.188x125mm. pp. 8. Bound with one staple. In very good condition. An excellent copy of the rare programme for the first night production of The Caretaker on 27th April 1960. Starring Peter Woodthorpe, Alan Bates and Donald Pleasance, it was an immediate triumph in which, according to The Observer review of this first performance established "Mr. Pinter as a master of silence. There are repeated moments of the utmost eloquence in which nothing happened except that Alan Bates moves his pupils or a handbag is silently thrown from one hand to another.

London: Criterion Theatre. 1955183x127mm. pp.8. Illustrated front cover. Bound with two staples. In very good condition with the original price ticket (6d) at the fore-edge where it also acted as a seal guaranteeing that the programme had not been previously opened.Waiting for Godot received its first UK performance at the Arts Theatre in London on 3 August 1955. The director was Peter Hall and the production was a turning point in English experimental theatre. A success, the play then transferred to the Criterion Theatre.

A pencil drawing of a circus horse with a rider and the ringmaster standing next to it holding the rein. The drawing measures 275x192mm, mounted on white card and framed in black wood (406x327mm). One of two small spots of foxing but otherwise in immaculate condition. Laura Knight was fascinated by the circus and produced many drawings on the subject.

A pencil drawing of a circus ringmaster and a trapeze artist hanging upside down on her trapeze. The drawing measures 275x192mm, mounted on white card and framed in black wood (406x327mm). A few spots of foxing but otherwise in excellent condition. Laura Knight was fascinated by the circus and produced many drawings on the subject. This drawing was clearly important for her as she gave it a title and it was (in 1988, long after her death) the title given to a collection of her drawings at David Messum's Gallery.

London: Batsford. 1906.First edition. 4to. xii, 281pp, frontispiece and illustrations and plans throughout text with an old label to the front pastedown. Original red cloth with blind-stamped bands and gilt titles to upper board. gilt bands and titles to spine (An old water stain to the top of the upper board and some light shelfwear). Original dust-jacket (wear to edges with some small closed tears to bottom edge and a shallow missing section to the very top quarter-inch of the rear). In very good condition.

London: The Berlin Photographic Company. 1900.Limited edition, one of two hundred copies signed by Philip Burne-Jones. 667x500mm. Ninety one photogravure plates on china paper. Original blue morocco, gilt triple fillet to borders, lettered and decorated in gilt to upper cover. Rubbing to extremities and some scuffing to the boards and spine. Internally, there is some marginal foxing and spotting and staining to the top left of a number of the leaves. The front free endpaper and half title are creased but this is in excellent condition with the plates beautifully preserved.

Edinburgh: Canongate Publishing. 1985.SIGNED LIMITED "DEFINITIVE" EDITIONLimited edition, signed by Alasdair Gray and numbered 603/1000. 233x155mm. pp. [6], 560, [2]. Original black cloth lettered in gilt "Endure You are not alone" on the boards and with the title, author and imprint on the spine. Original illustrated dust jacket. Slight fading to jacket but otherwise in immaculate condition throughout.

Lausanne & Geneva Marci-Michaelis Bousquet. 1742.Two volumes. First edition. 8vo. 167x100mm. pp. xxx, 466; [2], 1-432, 443-499, [2, 1bl]. Title page of volume one printed in black and red. Collates complete despite the pagination. 44 folding plates with an extensive array of diagrams. Eighteenth century calf with double fillet borders to the covers. Spine with five raised bands, compartments lavishly decorated in gilt, morocco labels lettered in gilt. All edges red. Some slight rubbing and fading to spines.

Coloniæ Agrippinæ [Cologne] Apud Ioducum Kalcovium [Jost Kalkhoven]. 1645.First edition. 8vo. 188x122mm. pp. [8], 239 [1bl]. Attractively bound in eighteenth century mottled calf, spine with five raised bands, compartments decorated with a floral motif, second compartment with red morocco label lettered in gilt. Edges of boards, tooled in gilt, all edges red. Internally there is some browning and foxing but otherwise in excellent condition throughout. Front pastedown has the bookplate of the Macclesfield Library. Allatius (1586-1669) was a Greek scientist, theologian and keeper of the Vatican Library.

Bombay: Published for the Church Missionary Society. Printed at the American Mission Press. 1835.First edition. 8vo in 4s. 213x130mm. pp 711 [1bl]. Text in Mara'thi'. Contemporary purple full calf, spine decorated in gilt and blind. Maroon morocco label to spine, lettered in gilt. Some rubbing and scuffing and corners bumped and worn. Internally very good. Front pastedown has the bookplate of the SPCK. A nice copy of a rare book, Worldcat locating only two copies (BL and Yale).Mara'thi' is an Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in India and is the official language of the state of Maharashtra.

London: William Byrne. 1789.Folio. 415x555mm. Twenty engraved plates with twenty leaves of accompanying text in English and French. Tissue guards on the plates. Half calf, marbled paper covered boards. Black morocco label to spine lettered in gilt. Rubbing to corners and edges. Some foxing affecting mainly the margins but also one or two of the plates but otherwise internally very good. Farington trained with the great landscape painter Richard Wilson and, like his mentor, Farington imbues his work with depth and detail, capturing the character of a landscape.

London: Chapman and Hall. 1897.Thirty six volumes. The Gadshill Edition, "printed from the Edition that was carefully corrected by the Author in 1867 and 1868". 8vo. 195x138mm. This set contains the thirty four volumes plus two additional volumes of "Miscellaneous papers". Bound by Bayntun in navy blue half morocco, marbled paper covered boards, marbled endpapers. Some slight rubbing to extremities and scuffing to boards on four volumes but otherwise in beautiful condition. Internally excellent.

n.p. [Germany] . 1840s.A pretty and touching little friendship box (87x140x18mm) containing fifteen cards, leaves of papers and embroidered silk stuck to card. They are all from different people and contain a mixture of poems, drawings, paintings, or just the initials of the giver. The theme is "friendship" and the first and the last leaves contain the word "Amitié". The box is made from card, covered with pale green vellum. Top is decorated with a rococo gilt frame and the word "Souvenir" stamped in gilt. Gilded metal clasp. Housed in a green card slipcase.

Norwich: Printed and sold by Stevenson, Matchett and Stevenson. 1808.First edition. 8vo. 222x140mm. pp. [12], 117, [1bl], [7, 1bl], 4pp advertisements of books on farming tipped in. Original blue-grey boards, backed with white paper, original orange label to spine. Spine cracked and worn with loss of c45mm to lower part of spine and loss to label. Corners bumped and some soiling to the boards. Internally very good but with some foxing. Overall an excellent uncut copy in the original boards. A rare book, Worldcat locates eight copies worldwide and only one appears in the auction records.

London: Martin Secker. 1923.First UK edition. 8vo, 220x140mm. pp. 207 [1bl]. Quarter black buckram with yellow paper covered boards with title label to spine. Original pistachio-green dust jacket lettered in black. Some slight soiling to the jacket and fading to spine and light chipping to head and foot of spine but overall very good. Internally, there is some foxing but otherwise a nice copy of the first UK edition of this popular collection of poems.

London: Harrison & Co.. [1786].First edition. 205x260mm. One hundred engravings of country houses in England and Wales with, on the opposite page a brief description of the house. Bleinheim Palace gets four engravings and four pages of description. Tissue guards. Copper engravings by Birrell, Walker, Ellis, Fittler and others after Burney, Courbould, Dayes, Robert Nixon, Malton and others. Handsomely bound in red morocco. Upper and lower covers with a green morocco border on which is tooled, in gilt, a greek key design. Inside this is a further border of acanthus leaves.

London: Chappell & Co.. n.d. [1929].Signed by Coward and bound for his lover and manager John Wilson. First edition of the complete vocal score. Quarto. 275x210. pp. [4], 163, [1 advert]. Bound by Bumpus in red morocco with double fillet border in gilt to upper and lower cover, lettered in gilt to upper cover and spine. Some rubbing and wear to the corners. Original wrappers bound in. The front pastedown has the bookplate of Herbert Schimmel who put together the greatest collection of books and material related to Noel Coward and Ivor Novello.

Bourg: P-F. Bottier, Imprimeur du Roi. n.d. [1819].First and only edition. 8vo. 202x130mm. pp. [ii], 69, [1bl]. Errata pasted to blank verso of title page. Some light foxing. Remains of the original blue paper wrappers now perished. Rare, Worldcat locating three copies (BNF, Lyon and Berlin). An account of a carved medieval elephant, in the sense of "a horn or trumpet of ivory", discovered by villagers in Ain (in the Rhône-Alpes between Lyons and Geneva) in about 1400.

Oxford: H.Hall. 1655.First edition. Small quarto. 180x138mm. pp. [24], 288, 281-288, 281-296, 313-355, [5], 104, 109-436, [28]. Despite the erratic pagination, it collates complete. Title page of appendix dated 1654. Contemporary reverse calf with dog-tooth and dotted line border to both covers. Spine with four raised bands. Boards and spine heavily worn and spine has loss to first compartment and to head and foot. Cracking to joints. Internally very good. A nice copy of Pococke's important collection of extracts from Maimonides's Arabic commentary on the Mishnah.

London and Cambridge Richard Harraden. 1798-1800.First edition. 277x385mm. Frontispiece and eighteen engravings showing scenes of Cambridge Colleges. Platemarks measure approximately 170x250mm. The Small Views are bound with the frontispiece to "Views of Cambridge Drawn by Rd. Harraden" which has been trimmed resulting in the loss of the first three words. Also bound in are six engravings of country house views by William Poole, published by R&J Snare, Reading in 1798. The leaf following each country house view is a handsome descriptive letterpress with a brief history of the house.

[London] n.p.. 1957 and 1954-56.Black and white bromide print (212x163mm), mounted on cream card (296x210mm). Signed in pencil by Angus McBean and inscribed by Eliot "for Charles Reilly with affection from Tom and Valerie". Valerie has signed in her hand. A small mark to the lower right corner of the mount and a crease to the top right corner but otherwise in very good condition. On the verso is McBean's copyright stamp. Tom and Valerie are gazing at each other with complete affection.