Search Results: British Literature from B & B Rare Books, Ltd., ABAA

London: Fisher Unwin, 1895 First edition, first issue. Publisher's dark green cloth, spine lettered in gilt. A very good or better copy, spine lightly toned, upper spine worn with some fraying, bookplate of John C. Eckel to front pastedown. Overall, an attractive copy. Wise 1. Joseph Conrad's first novel Almayer's Folly, published in 1895, incorporated his experiences serving as a merchant marine for the French and British governments near the height of the British Empire. The book centers upon Kaspar Almayer, a poor Dutch businessman in Indonesia, his Malayan wife, and their daughter Nina. The story follows a series of Almayer's poor decisions that lead his wife to loath him, his daughter to abandon him, and to his eventual demise. Conrad's unconventional affinity for writing anti-heroes was influential to subsequent generations of authors and defined him as an early modernist. This copy of Almayer's Folly was owned by author John C. Eckel and bears his bookplate. Eckel,… Read More

Abbotsford, Melrose: 27 January 1831 Single cream leaf, written in black ink, with original red sealing wax present. Very good, with some offsetting from the sealing wax, small loss where the letter was opened, a few minor splits and light creasing to the folds. Beautifully framed and matted. Overall, a very pleasing letter, signed by Scott. Scott addressed this letter to James Nairne, Esq., a member of Scott’s Bannatyne Club, a Scottish literary printing society founded in Edinburgh in 1823. Specifically, Scott requests that Nairne proofread Scott’s work for the Ardwalls. He also references Auld Robin Gray, a Scots ballad written by Scottish poet Lady Anne Barnard (neé Lindsay) in 1772. The Bannatyne Club published an edition of Auld Robin Gray in 1825. In addition to Scott’s prose, this letter contains marginal notes by the recipient James Nairne, who forwarded the note to “The H’ble Mrs. Erskine.” He explains that Scott’s references to… Read More

London: Macmillan, 1960 First edition, first printing. Publisher's blue boards with titles in gilt to spine; dust jacket with front panel nightlife illustration by Victor Reinganum. Near fine copy with light toning to board edges and spine, a slight lean to spine, previous owner's signature on front free endpaper, and notes in pencil to rear free endpaper; very good unclipped dust jacket with light wear to extremities, light toning to spine, a few tiny closed tears to head of spine and rear inner flap, and small nicks to top corners of front and rear panels. Overall, an attractive copy. In The Ballad of Peckham Rye, Dougal Douglas, a Scottish migrant who may or may not be the devil himself, takes up residence in Peckham and is hired by a textile company to conduct "human research" into the lives of the area's citizens. His meddling into their affairs creates mayhem throughout the neighborhood, culminating in a groom saying "No" at the altar. The Ballad of Peckham Rye… Read More

Westminster: The Beaumont Press, 1919 Illustrated with hand colored woodcuts by Anne Estelle Rice. First edition, limited issue of 200 numbered copies, this being one of 50 copies printed on cartridge paper. Publisher's green cloth and yellow patterned boards, lettered in gilt. About fine, corners very lightly bumped, former owner's bookplate to the front pastedown, fresh interior. A beautiful copy. Roberts A12.b. An exceedingly rare publication, Bay was first published in several short print runs. This first edition is one of 200 copies, and only 50 copies, like this copy, are printed on cartridge paper with hand colored illustrations. According to the publisher, roughly 25 of the 50 cartridge paper copies were not sold due to an accident, lowering the total number of obtainable copies of Bay to 175 (63 of which are housed in institutional libraries' special collections) and making these copies the scarcest of the three variants. The remaining 150 copies are comprised of 120 copies… Read More

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1955 First American edition, first printing. Publisher's blue paper-covered boards, lettered in gilt and brown; original orange wraparound pictorial dust jacket, lettered in black and white, designed by Dick Dodge. Near fine book, with light toning to head of spine and top edges of boards, light spotting to front endpapers, and small closed tear to fore edge of p. 55; very good unclipped dust jacket with light spotting to rear panel and front flap, a few light nicks and small closed tears to edges, pen squiggle to right margin of rear panel, and a tiny chip to foot of spine. Overall, an attractive copy. In Bertie Wooster Sees it Through, Bertie grows a mustache, and Florence Craye, a woman whom he was formerly engaged to, loves it. The two go to a nightclub together, and when her new fiancé, "Stilton" Cheesewright, finds out he becomes enraged and comes to Brinkley Court, home of Bertie's Aunt Dahlia, to have it out with Bertie. Meanwhile,… Read More

London: Chapman & Hall, 1932 First edition, first issue. Publisher's marble patterned red and black cloth, spine lettered in gilt; in the original cream dust jacket, lettered in black and red. Near fine, some light spotting to the page edges, else bright and clean; unclipped dust jacket, with some light toning to the spine, minor soiling to the otherwise clean wrappers, some light spotting to the flaps. Overall a, fresh and unsophisticated copy. Inspired by Waugh's own excursions to Ethiopia, Black Mischief is an imperialist satire set in Azania, a fictional island nation off of the southeastern coast of Africa. Specifically, it tells of a young emperor's attempt to modernize his home nation after returning from England where he attended Oxford. Not only do his modernization efforts not only fail utterly, however, but they also cause the nation to regress into cannibalism and ultimately become a protectorate of the United Nations. Notably, Black Mischief features Waugh's popular… Read More

London: The Alpine Club, no date [circa 1962] From the library of mountaineer George Lowe. Single white leaf, lettered in black. Fine, with only some faint creasing to the extremities, otherwise clean and completely unused. A fresh piece of Himalayan mountaineering ephemera. This piece of letterhead stationery is an example of the sheets used for the 1962 British-Soviet Pamirs Expedition, a collaborative effort sported by the Alpine Club, the Scottish Mountaineering Club, and the Mountaineering Federation of the U.S.S.R. After the successful 1953 British Mount Everest Expedition, George Lowe, along with his former climbing teammate Wilfrid Noyce, again followed expedition leader John Hunt into the Himalayas for this expedition. Unfortunately, the British-Soviet Pamirs Expedition was the final excursion for Noyce and fellow Ian Smith, who fell to their deaths while descending form the summit of Mt. Garmo.. Fine.

London: Macmillan & Co., 1897 Illustrated with a frontispiece and twenty-two black and white plates by Isaiah West Taber. First edition, first printing. Publisher's blue cloth stamped in gilt to front board and spine, all edges gilt, black coated endpapers; original off-white dust jacket with boating illustration to front panel, list of Kipling's works to rear panel, lettered in blue. Fine with a tiny bookseller's stamp to front pastedown, exceptionally bright gilt; very good unclipped dust jacket with a bit of thumbsoiling to front panel, some toning to spine, curved closed tear to upper portion of spine, minor chipping to spine ends, a few small closed tears to front and rear panels, and corners lightly chipped. Overall, a gorgeous copy, in its exceptionally scarce first issue jacket. Housed in a custom blue slipcase with folding chemise. Originally published serially in McClure's Magazine beginning in November 1896, Captains Courageous is a story about Harvey Cheyne, the… Read More

Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit, 1982 First edition, first printing. Presentation copy, signed and inscribed by Beckett to Mel Gussow on title page: "For Mel Gussow / With all good wishes / Sam Beckett / 24.6.83." Publisher's original white wrappers, front wrapper and spine lettered in blue and black. About fine, with just some light toning to spine and edges. Overall, an excellent association copy, from Mel Gussow's personal library. In Catastrophe, an imperious director and his assistant prepare a man, who stands on an 18" black block with his eyes looking down, for the last scene of a dramatic performance. After making dehumanizing adjustments to the man's appearance, like stripping him down to his pajamas, they do a run through of the scene, which ends with the director exclaiming "There's our catastrophe! In the bag." They do one more run through, but this time the man raises his eyes defiantly to the crowd. Catastrophe, often interpreted as a… Read More

London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1920 First edition, first printing of the author's first novel. Signed and inscribed by Hilton: "'a first of the first' / from / James Hilton / New Year 1935". Original publisher's cloth. A good copy with light wear, fading and a few small stains to the spine. A scarce title, and seldom found signed. James Hilton wrote and published Catherine Herself at the age of 20 while attending Christ's College in Cambridge as an undergraduate. The novel tells of a young female pianist and her teacher. As with many of his fictitious teachers, including the notable Mr. Chips, Hilton based the teacher character on his own father, who taught for many years. After producing a few successful novels, Hilton was invited to Hollywood to help write the screenplays for film adaptations of his works. He continued to write both screenplays and novels and won awards in both fields, including the Hawthornden Prize in 1934 for his novel Lost Horizon and an Oscar for his… Read More

London: Methuen & Co., Ltd., 1914 First edition, second issue, with the title page as a cancel leaf pasted upon the remaining hinge left by the removed first issue title page and with eight pages of publisher's advertisements dated August 1913 bound in at the end of the text. Earliest obtainable issue; "only some fifty copies of the first edition of Chance with the genuine first title-page were issued and... the cancelled titles were destroyed by the binders" (Wise, 22). A near fine copy with some wear to the spine ends, only a hint of dimming on the spine and gilt, fresh pages. A novel in two parts: Part 1: "The Damsel" and Part 2: "The Knight." Narrated by Conrad's familiar narrator Charles Marlow, Chance is somewhat different than Conrad's other works in its focus on a female main character and its discussion of feminism as a social issue.. 1st Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1964 Illustrated by Joseph Schindelman. First edition, second state, with five-line colophon. Publisher's red cloth, with the title in blind to the front board, spine lettered in gilt, black topstain; in the original first issue dust jacket designed by Schindelman, lacking the ISBN number to the rear panel, with illustration of a chocolate candy bar, Charlie, and Willy Wonka to the front panel, and illustration of Wonka dancing in front of billboards to the rear panel. Near fine, with mild dimming to gilt, some toning to foot of spine, a small nick to cloth at foot of spine, and a hint of soiling to front and rear free endpapers; good or better unclipped dust jacket, with light toning to spine and edges, 1 ½" loss to foot of spine ("Factory" missing), shallow chipping to head of spine, light soiling to front panel and front spine fold, a couple of creases to bottom of front panel, lightly nicked corners, and a few small chips to flap folds. Overall,… Read More

London: Faber and Faber, 1984 First edition thus. Presentation copy, inscribed by Beckett to Mel Gussow on title page: "For Mel / from his friend / Sam / Paris / July 1985." Publisher's original green, white, and gray patterned wrappers, with illustration of Beckett by Sue Linney to front wrapper, lettered in black and green. Near fine, with a few light marks and creases to edges of wrappers, very mild toning to spine, and edges of pages lightly toned. Overall, a lovely presentation copy. This copy comes from Mel Gussow's personal library. This volume contains twenty-nine of Beckett's shorter plays, including classics like All That Fall, Krapp's Last Tape, Embers, Acts Without Words, and Catastrophe. These shorter works are exemplary of Beckett's signature minimalism. According to Britannica, "Beckett's later works tended toward extreme concentration and brevity…. Such brevity is merely an expression of Beckett's determination to pare his writing to… Read More

Döberitz, Germany: 1915-1919 [WWI] Collection of Letters from POW British Navy Soldier to Welsh Nurse Döberitz, Germany: 1915-1919. 41 pieces of WWI correspondence: 25 hand-written postcards, 14 hand-written letters, 1 Easter card, 1 photographic postcard of soldier Roberts. All written from William F.J. Roberts, a member of the Royal Navy Division of the British Army, a prisoner of war in Germany, to Kathleen Touzel Wynne-Edwards, a nurse from North Wales, UK (with the exception of one letter, which was written to Kathleen from Roberts' father.) Most written on Kriegsgefangenensendung "prisoner of war mail" postcards or letterhead issued by Döberitz, a few on blank paper, mostly written in pencil with the others in ink. Generally very good, with some toning and soiling, a few with tears to edges. William F.J. Roberts was a member of the Royal Navy Division of the British Army during World War I. The group notably participated in battles at Antwerp in 1914 and Gallipoli… Read More

London: Jonathan Cape, 1963 First edition, first printing of the author's first book. Presentation copy, signed and inscribed by Fowles to the front endpaper: "To Margaret Davies/ with the author's regards/ John Fowles/ [crossed out number] October 1st, 1963/ Cheltenham." Original publisher's orange cloth, spine lettered in gilt; original first issue dust jacket, designed by Tom Adams. About fine with a slight lean to spine; in an unclipped dust jacket with a very slight touch of toning the upper spine ends and some mild toning to rear panel, and two tiny abrasion at front panel and spine, else fine. A beautiful inscribed copy of the author's scarce first book. The Collector is a chilling psychological thriller that puts the reader into the mind of both abductor and captive. The story follows the abduction of Miranda Gray, a middle-class art student, by Frederick Clegg, a lonely and psychotic young clerk. Believing Miranda will fall in love with him in time, he keeps her… Read More

Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit, 1980 Translated from the original English by the author. First French trade edition, first printing. Presentation copy, signed and inscribed by Beckett to Mel Gussow on title page: "For Mel Gussow / With all good wishes / Sam Beckett / Paris / July 1982." Publisher's original white wrappers, front wrapper and spine lettered in blue and black. Near fine, with light toning to spine and edges, and a small patch of light surface damage to rear wrapper. Overall, a fresh and clean copy. This copy comes from Mel Gussow's personal library. Compagnie (Company) is a semi-autobiographical prose piece that tells the story of an older man lying on his back in the dark as an ethereal, unidentified voice narrates an extended third person monologue. As with many of the author's prose and dramatic works, Compagnie is lauded for its deconstructive form. Beckett, an Irish author and native English speaker, moved to France and subsequently transitioned from… Read More

New York: Royal Composing Room, 1985 Designed by Martin Solomon. Illustrated by Isadore Seltzer. Special edition. Publisher's black cloth, stamped to front board in gilt with the author's facsimile signature, lettered in silver to spine, dark gray endpapers; in the original matching black cloth slipcase. A fine copy. This special edition of Coriolanus is the nineteenth in a series of annual Shakespearian keepsakes prepared for the friends of the publishers. One of Shakespeare's last tragedies, this play is based on the life of the Roman general Caius Marcius Coriolanus, whose military successes ultimately lead to his political downfall.. Hard Cover. Fine. Illus. by Seltzer, Isadore.

London: James Bohn, 1846 First edition, first printing. A very good copy in the publisher's original olive green paper cloths, with small tears along the edges, chipping to the spine, slight loss to the spine head and tail and the panel corners, slight offsetting around the edges of each page, one uncut page, otherwise clean. A nineteenth century pamphlet containing a series of essays containing literary criticism relating to Shakespeare, authored by Charles Badham, the son of the doctor who discovered bronchitis and a university professor in Australia.. 1st Edition. Soft Cover. Very Good.

London: W. Thacker & Co., 1897 Ninth edition, limited to 150 copies. Original cloth, pages uncut. Near fine with light dust soiling and two small water stains to the front board. Overall a very attractive copy.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine.

London: Corvinus Press, 1937 First edition, limited issue of 203 copies of which only 150 were for sale. This copy is number 35, marking it one of 40 printed on handmade Medway paper and bound in vellum. Illustrated with reproductions of photographs by T. E. Lawrence. Publisher's full vellum, lettered in gilt to front board and spine, stamped in gilt with publisher's device to rear board, two white silk ties, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed; housed in the original white protective slipcase. About fine with just a few scuffs to the spine and foxing to tissue guards, silk ties with a few loose threads; slipcase significantly worn and split to top edge. Overall, an exquisite copy of this rare, beautifully produced book. While on a short break from an archaeological dig in Syria, Lawrence embarked upon a lone walking tour of the area. This limited edition publication takes its text directly his travel diary. Lawrence was an archaeologist, diplomat, army officer, and writer, and earned… Read More