Eclectic selection

London: Penguin Books.. 1972. "too didactic to be artistic" Presentation copy with illustration of a clockwork orange on title page. 180x112mm. pp. 143 [1]. This is a reprint from the same year as the first Penguin paperback edition of A Clockwork Orange. In the highly distinctive David Pelham designed wrappers. Some rubbing to wrappers and soiling and toning to edges. Hinges delicate and slightly creased. Inscription in blue ink reads "(the last chapter is missing) To Kristian with kindest regards Anthony Burgess London 8.2.90", with Burgess's line drawing of a clockwork orange. A unique copy of a controversial novel.

London: John Murray. 1935. First edition. Signed by Wren and with his bookplate. 8vo. 187x120mm. pp. 464, [4pp publisher's list]. Original red cloth lettered in gilt to upper cover and spine. Lacking the scarce dust jacket but the striking front cover of this has been pasted onto the front free endpaper. Fading and soiling to spine and some slight foxing but otherwise in excellent condition throughout. Front pastedown has the armorial bookplate of Wren which is signed by the author.

London: Michael Joseph. 1949. Fifth impression. Illustrated by Peter Scott. pp. 54, [2]. Handsomely bound by Bayntun and Riviere in red half morocco, marbled paper. A little scuffing to the paper but otherwise a very nice copy.

London: Williams and Norgate.. 1932. First edition. 8vo. 185x124mm. pp. 159 [1bl]. Publisher's cloth, lettered in gilt to the spine. Slight shelfwear and bumping to corners and head and foot of spine which is a little cocked. Otherwise in very good condition throughout. Grace Pailthorpe is probably best remembered as a surrealist painter but her day job was as a doctor and criminal psychologist working first at Birmingham prison then at Holloway Women's Prison.

Translated by Bernard Guilbert Guerney. Introduction and Bibliographical Note by Michael Glenny. London: Jonathan Cape. 1970. First UK edition. 8vo. 195x125mm. pp. 285 [1bl]. Publisher's grey cloth, spine lettered in gilt. Original illustrated dustjacket. Slight bumping to bottom corners of boards. Lower cover of dustjacket has a repaired tear to and some foxing to photograph of Zamyatin but overall a very good copy and internally excellent. One of the great dystopian novels. Banned in Russia, it was first published in New York in an English translation.

Sydney: Ure Smith. 1960. First Australian edition, the novel having been banned there for 28 years following its first publication in England in 1930. 8vo. 196x125mm. pp. 318. Red cloth, spine lettered in gilt. Original dustjacket. Slight creasing and chipping to edges of jacket and a mark to the foot of the spine but otherwise in excellent condition. Internally very good with a little toning to the edges. This novel of small town, backwoods life in the Australian state of Victoria set in the 1890s portrays a society constrained by snobbery and tightly controlled social norms.

London: Robert Jenkins. 1924. First edition. 185x120mm. pp. 192. Illustrated with amusing line drawings. Green cloth blocked in black to upper cover and spine. In the scarce original illustrated dustjacket. Some rubbing to head and foot of spine and fading to edges of upper cover. Dustjacket is chipped and a little torn in places along the top and bottom edge and upper cover has a price label reading "Offered at 1/-".

New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1991.  First U.S. edition. Signed by le Carré on title page. 240x165mm. pp.[8], 335 [3]. Publisher’s black cloth, gold lettering to spine and front cover. Original dust jacket. Light fading to head of boards, corners slightly bumped. Internally excellent, overall in very good condition. As intelligence agent Ned approaches retirement, he looks back over his career in the field. Ethical disquiet is increasingly at the forefront of his mind and mentor George Smiley can only offer uncomfortable truths.

New York: The Viking Press. 1965. First edition. 280x203mm. pp. 256. Publisher's original pale grey cloth, title stamped in gilt on spine and front board. Original photographic dust jacket has a 5mm chip and a closed tear at head of cover. Some chipping to head of spine. 35mm closed tear of back cover but overall in very good condition. Internally fine. This is an excellent copy of Peter Beard's first book which established him as a leading wildlife photographer and campaigner.

New York: Ben Abramson. 1946. An irregular quarterly of Sherlockiana 2 volumes, 4 issues in each. 230x150mm. pp. [vol. 1] 516. [vol. 2] 507 [1]. Vol. 1, No.1 has some blue staining on front of paper wrap and Vol. 1, No.4 has a slight dent to front of paper wrap but otherwise each individual issue is in excellent condition. Internally each issue is fine. A very nice, well looked-after set. The Baker Street Journal is the leading publication for essays and stories about Sherlock Holmes.

A TragicomedyNew York: Poseidon Press. 1990. Flexing tragicomedy muscle First edition. 220x145mm. pp. 240. Quarter bound in publisher's black cloth with cream boards front and back and cream lettering to spine. Original dust jacket. One bump to foot of dust jacket spine. Two creases to front flap. Internally excellent; overall in very good condition.  Set in the obsessive, extreme world of U.S. bodybuilding, Crew's characters play out the minor tragedies and dramas of everyday life in his characteristic Southern Gothic style.[ref.

London Methuen & Co. Ltd. 1930. Exceptionally bound edition of a scarce Norfolk guide Fourth edition, revised. 225x165mm. pp. [1bl] x, 408 [8bl]. 46 colour plates, 23 in monotone by SOUTHGATE, Frank, R.B.A. Calf leather intricately tooled in black, with gilt lettering to front cover and spine. Six compartments and five raised bands on spine. Title in second, author's name in third and illustrator's name in fifth compartments. Binding by Syd. A. Howe, Guildford. Marbled fixed and free front and back endpapers. Foxing to all edges and internally.  A beautiful, privately bound edition of a classic Norfolk text.