Recent Arrivals from Sumner & Stillman

1902. London: George Newnes, 1902. Original red cloth decorated in gilt and black. First Edition of Doyle's famous full-length Sherlock Holmes novel, with 15 full-page plates by Sidney Paget -- a tale Doyle himself termed "a real creeper." This was the first Sherlockian tale since Doyle had apparently killed Holmes off in "The Final Problem" of late 1893.… Read more about this item

1907. New York: The McClure Company, 1907. Original dark brown cloth pictorially decorated in light green, pale grey, and white. First Edition of this collection of nineteen tales sited in the American West, by this master of the short story -- known for often-dark humor and an ironic twist at the end. As the publisher McClure was wont… Read more about this item

1904. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1904. Original red cloth. First Edition of the author's third collection of short stories. The title story is quite appropriate more than a century later: an eminent scientist decides to have a bit of a joke on the general public by publishing a perfect parody of the kind of pseudo-scientific nonsense that...… Read more about this item

1913. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1913. Original red cloth. First Edition of Edith Wharton's ninth novel, about the rural Midwestern divorcée Undine Spragg first in New York City and then in Paris -- written just after the author had finalized her divorce and moved permanently to France. ...Still considered an indecent topic for literature at that time,… Read more about this item

1926. With an Introduction by Richard Curle. Garden City NY: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1926. Original dark blue cloth, with dust jacket. First American Edition of this posthumous collection of twenty essays, most of which had previously appeared in England in limited pamphlet form. In our experience the American edition of LAST ESSAYS is considerably scarcer than the… Read more about this item

1900. [her first novel] New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1900. 2 pp undated ads. Original dark grey-green paper-covered boards with spine decorated in gilt. First Edition of Edith Wharton's first novel (actually a novella). This was her fourth book overall, preceded by VERSES (1878), THE DECORATION OF HOUSES (1897) and THE GREATER INCLINATION (short stories - 1899); about… Read more about this item

1901. London: Macmillan and Co., 1901. 2 pp undated ads. Original red cloth with Ganesha device in gilt. First English Edition of the book that "is acknowledged as Kipling's masterpiece in fiction... The novel is the finest written about the India of the British Empire" [CGEL]. It follows the adventures of an orphan son of a British soldier… Read more about this item

1923. With Eight Pictures in Colour by Jan Juta. London: Martin Secker, (1923). Original brown cloth, with dust jacket. First English Edition, published two years after Thomas Seltzer's New York edition. "In her book LORENZO IN TAOS, Mabel Dodge Luhan says it was after reading SEA AND SARDINIA that she wrote Lawrence inviting him to come to New… Read more about this item

1907. Wenzell, A. B.. With Illustrations. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907. Original greyish-brown cloth decorated in gilt. First Edition of this novella, illustrated with two color plates by Alonzo Kimball. As Fanny Frisbie [the protagonist] in her New York days, she had been lively, dashing, and free-spirited. Now, married to a dissolute French nobleman and hemmed in… Read more about this item

1903. By Hermann Sudermann. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1903. Original dark grey-green paper-covered boards decorated in gilt. First (and only) Edition in English, first (American) issue but with title page dated 1903 rather than 1902. Wharton agreed to translate this play only reluctantly, perhaps drawn by a topic she would later express in her own novels: the… Read more about this item

1909. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1909. Original very dark grey-green ribbed cloth decorated in gilt. First and only Edition, first printing (the only other printing was 250 copies printed three months later for Macmillan's London edition). This was Edith Wharton's second volume of verse, preceded only by her rare first book, the anonymous 1878 volume VERSES (of… Read more about this item

1901. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1901. Original dark grey-green paper-covered boards decorated in gilt. First Edition of Edith Wharton's second collection of short stories; this volume includes seven, all appearing in book form for the first time. This was her third volume of fiction, following THE GREATER INCLINATION (1899, stories) and THE TOUCHSTONE (1900, a novella). The… Read more about this item

1910. With Illustrations by Frank Craig. London: Macmillan and Co., 1910. 6 pages of front-and-rear endpaper ads. Original blue-grey wrappers lettered in black. First Colonial Edition of this collection of tales and poems that form a continuation of the Puck stories begun in PUCK OF POOK'S HILL (1906) -- introduced by Robin Goodfellow and told to young Dan… Read more about this item

1874. With Numerous Illustrations. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, & Searle, 1874. Original deep red pebble-grain cloth pictorially decorated in black and gilt, board edges beveled, all page edges gilt. First English Edition (and first fully-illustrated edition in the English language) of these four tales, three of which are among Verne's earliest: "A Drama in the Air" (appeared… Read more about this item

1919. New York: George H. Doran Company, n.d.[1919]. Original grey-green cloth, with dust jacket. First American Edition of this sequel of sorts to THE NEW REVELATION, on the subject of spiritualism -- Doyle's new focal point after losing his son Kingsley in 1918 and his brother Innes earlier in 1919; "one sees more clearly and broadly what our… Read more about this item

1914. With Preface by the Right Hon. F.E. Smith, K.C., M.P. London: Hodder and Stoughton, n.d. [September 1914]. Original self-wrappered 32-page booklet. First Edition. "This article, stating the British case [just weeks after the outbreak of war], was issued as a recruiting pamphlet in Great Britain, but was used abroad as a simple explanation which would enable neutrals… Read more about this item

1902. London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1902. Original white wrappers. First Edition of Doyle's third piece of nonfiction, published two months before THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES. He wrote this piece, drawing considerably from his THE GREAT BOER WAR (of 1900), in an effort "to stem the extraordinary outbreak of defamation" against Britain; it was issued in substantial… Read more about this item

1907. [signed by Doyle] With Sixteen Illustrations. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1907. 6 pp undated ads. Original red cloth with cover vignette in gilt. First Edition of this group of literary essays, written as wanderings about the library in the Doyle home (which is shown in the frontispiece photograph). "Through the Magic Door" gives you glimpses of… Read more about this item

1889. [a fine, bright copy] As made to his Three Grandchildren Joseph, Gervas, & Reuben during the Hard Winter of 1734... London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1889. 2 pp undated ads + 16 pp ads dated January 1889. Original very dark blue cloth, beveled edges. First Edition, consisting of only 1000 copies. This historical novel was Doyle's third… Read more about this item

1892. New York: Cassell Publishing Company, [1892]. Original light grey cloth stamped in black, with a facsimile scrap of newspaper (touting this project) affixed to the front cover. First American Edition, published six months after the London edition, of this collaborative novel written by 24 noted authors of the day -- including (in addition to Doyle) Bram Stoker,… Read more about this item