Search Results: Authors starting with D from Fine Editions Ltd

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1938. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine-/Near Fine+. First Printing. Square demy 8vo (213 x 213mm): [78]pp, with numerous color and black-and-white full- and partial-page illustrations, including double-page world map. Publisher's illustrated paper-covered boards, tangerine end papers, illustrated title page; matching dust jacket priced $1.60. Tips barely worn, top edge dust-soiled, else a superb example, tightly bound and clean throughout, with the often-wanting jacket, fresh and bright baring trivial nicks to front panel and several archivally repaired closed tears. A brief history of the sea exploration important to the discovery of America and her first settlements. Dalgliesh was founding editor (in 1934) of Scribner's children's book division; three of her own books were runners-up for the Newbery Medal. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar… Read More

London: The Argonaut Press, 1933. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Printing of this consideration of Charles Dickens's first published work. Demy 8vo (214 x 136): x,145,[5]pp, with portrait frontispiece and four further plates on inserted leaves. Addendum slip tipped in preceding p. 143. Publisher's green cloth spine over mottled green paper-covered boards, paper title label printed in back to spine, green textured dust jacket printed in black and priced 7/6. Covers very lightly faded, but a superb, unread example, tightly bound, fresh and bright throughout. Dickens's first published work, "A Dinner at Poplar Walk" (parody of a party, with wealthy old bachelor forced to spend an evening with disagreeable relatives), first appeared in the December 1833 edition of The Monthly Magazine, or British Register of Politics, Literature, Art, Science, and the Belles Lettres, and then, greatly revised, in Sketches by Boz (Second Series, 1836), as "Mr. Minns and his Cousin." Darton also wrote, with… Read More

London: John Murray, 1880. Second Edition. Decorative Cloth. Fine. Second Edition of one of the scarcer Darwin titles, one of only 1,250 copies, with a new preface, in which Darwin states that "the text has been left as it originally appeared excepting that a few errors have been corrected." According to Freeman, "This is then the definitive text." 8vo: xvi,352,32(advertisements)pp, with 15 woodcuts in the text and 38 tables. Publisher's standard green pebbled cloth, covers paneled in blind, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, brown end papers. Inserted advertisements may be as late as January 1882, per Freeman. A Fine copy, completely unopened. Freeman 1280. Darwin recalled the writing of this title in his autobiography: "This book consists chiefly of the several papers on heterostyled flowers, originally published by the Linnean Society, corrected, with much new matter added, together with observations on some other cases in which the same plant bears two kinds of flowers. As before remarked, no… Read More

New York: D. Appleton, 1892. Early Reprint. Decorative Cloth. Fine. A virtually pristine example of one of Darwin's scarcer titles. 8vo: xvi,300,[8]pp, with 38 text woodcuts. Publisher's terra-cotta cloth, upper cover stamped in black and lower cover in blind with edge roll and trailing vine device, spine ruled and lettered in gilt, top edge gilt, cream colored end papers. Top edge dust-soiled, pages very lightly toned, but a spectacular, unread survival. Freeman 802. Second Edition, revised, from the stereotypes of the second London edition. (But effectively the first American edition, since no first edition was issued in the United States.) According to Asa Gray, the most important nineteen-century American botanist, "If the Orchid-book (with a few trifling omissions) had appeared before the 'Origin,' the author would have been canonised rather than anathematised by the natural theologians," and he notes that a review in the Literary Churchman found only one fault, "that Mr. Darwin's expression of… Read More

London: John Murray, 1882. Original Cloth. Fine. Second Edition (Revised), Fifth Thousand, two volumes complete in fine original bindings, featuring first occurrence of the phrase "survival of the fittest." Crown 8vo (188 x 118): xiv,473,[1]; x,495,[1]pp, with 43 woodcut illustrations. Publisher's green cloth, covers paneled in blind (arches style), spine stamped in gilt, chocolate coated end papers, top edge rough-trimmed. A superb set, with bright bindings, uncracked hinges, and virtually spotless pages. Very mild rubbing to corner tips, dusty top edges, else very fine. Freeman 883. Intended originally as the first two chapters of a monumental work that Darwin envisioned but never published on the origin of species (not the Origin of 1859, which Darwin viewed as only an abstract of a more substantial project). This second edition, substantially revised and enlarged from the first edition of 1868, is the final text, in which Darwin proposed the concept of pangenesis, his provisional hypothetical… Read More

London: John Murray, 1900. Second Edition. Decorative Cloth. Fine. Second Edition, Fifth Impression, of Darwin's exhaustive study of the deleterious effects of inbreeding. 8vo: viii,487,[1]pp, with one diagram and 109 tables. Original publisher's standard green pebbled cloth, covers paneled in blind, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, black end papers, book plate on front paste-down. As with the first edition, the spine title spells "fertilisation" with a "z," while title page uses an "s." The text of this edition remains unaltered up to p. 370, where the addition of a large footnote necessitated resetting of the remaining pages. A truly superlative example, completely unopened and virtually pristine. Freeman 1260. First published in 1876, as a complement to Fertlisation of Orchids, but "too technical and too detailed to command a wide sale." (Freeman) N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar… Read More

London: John Lehmann [from 1951], 1952. First Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine+. Second Impression of this wildly influential guide to the preparation of the dishes of rural France. Crown 8vo (196 x 124mm): 247,[1]pp, with frontispiece, illustrated title page, and nine full page plates by John Minton. Publisher's coarsely woven oatmeal-colored cloth, spine lettered in gold within brown title block; wraparound illustrated dust jacket by Minton, correctly priced 12s/6d and stating "Second Impression." An excellent example of this key work, tightly bound and clean throughout (edges and occasionally pages spotted), with Minton's marvelous illustrations. First published the previous year. In 1946, David returned from her sojourn on the Continent to England, where food rationing imposed during the Second World War remained in force. Dismayed by the contrast between the bland food served in Britain and the simple, tasty cuisines to which she had become accustomed in France, Greece, and Egypt, she began… Read More

London: Holland Press, 1962. First Edition thus. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Deluxe reprints of this "bibliographical monument of lasting importance," complete in four volumes. (Ricci) Thick royal 8vo (277 x 207mm): [14],599,[4],601-1,096,lxix,[1]; [4],xviii,[4],462,[2],465-818,[1],lxiipp, lavishly illustrated with full-page plates and numerous text woodcuts. French Books: Publisher's green cloth-covered boards (first binding), spines stamped in gold; cream pictorial dust jackets (price-clipped) printed in black. Parts I and II continously paginated in two volumes. A superb set, virtually pristine (probably unread). German Books: Publisher's quarter white vegetable parchment over red cloth-covered boards, spines stamped in gold, top edges stained red; slate blue pictorial dust jackets printed in black and priced 48 gns. Volumes I and II continously paginated. From the private reference library of antiquarian bookseller Dorothy Sloan, with commemorative book plate loosely inserted. Board edges lightly… Read More

New York: Rinehart, 1952. First Printing. Hardcover. Fine/Fine-. First American Edition (preceding the English edition) of the author's first novel, the opening installment of the Salterton Trilogy (followed by Leaven of Malice and A Mixture of Frailtie). 8vo (135 x 207mm): [6],307,[1]pp. Publisher's green cloth-effect paper-covered boards, spine stamped in red and yellow, fore- and bottom edges rough-cut; pink and green dust jacket illustrated by Edwin Schmidt and printed in black. A tight, crisp, clean copy; about Fine dust jacket (very mild edge wear). First book of the Salterton Trilogy, "written while Davies was deeply immersed in his report on the lamentable status of Canadian theatre for the Massey- Lévesque Commission, and while he was writing his deeply satirical Marchbanks columns [in which Davies vented his frustrations about the puritanism of Canadians and Canadian culture]. Indeed, the novels that make up the Salterton Trilogy are markedly different from the rest of Davies's novels… Read More

Wheeling: H. Hoblitzell, 1851. Decorative Cloth. Fine. Superb First Edition, in publisher's binding, of this frontier classic. Demy 8vo (226 x 142mm): 416pp, with four plates on pale pink paper, one folding facsimile, and numerous woodcut text vignettes. Original brown blind-stamped cloth, front cover with striking gilt vignette of native hoisting the scalp of a settler, spine lettered in gilt, pale pink end papers. Early pencil inscription partially erased from front fly-leaf, pages (not plates) lightly foxed, but an excellent example, tightly bound and clean throughout with rich impressions of the plates. Field 415. Howes D-223 ("Valuable compilation based on reliable sources"). Sabin 19308. Streeter 1347 (the "prime source on the area"). Eberstadt 76. Thomson 318 (a "most valuable work . . . sold by subscription and is now scarce"). An important history of native resistance to the Euro-American occupation of the Ohio Valley, principally during the settlement period of West Virginia, from the… Read More

London: Sherwood, Jones, & co, 1824. Quarter-Cloth. Near Fine+. First Edition of this cornerstone of any circus collection (Toole-Stott lists it among his hundred best circus books). Edited by R. Humphreys. Crown 8vo (187 x 107mm): [xx],279,[1]pp, with portrait frontispiece and two folding plates, including the certificate of birth, "often wanting." (Lowe). Publisher's original olive-green quarter cloth, printed paper title label, brown paper-covered boards. An excellent wide-margined example of this scarce title: binding secure, spine label rubbed (partly illegible), contents generally clean but with light scattered foxing, folding plates pristine. Toole-Stott 1234. Lowe, English Theatrical Literature, p. 83. Decastro, an English comedian, performed in the troupe of Philip Astley, father of modern circus. "Also an accompanying history of the Royal Circus, now the Surrey Theatre; and an historical sketch of Sadler's Wells. Likewise, scarce theatrical advertisements, from Garrick's first attempt in… Read More

London: printed at the Shakespeare Press, by W. Nicol, for John Major, Fleet Street, 1831. First Edition thus. Original Cloth. Fine. First Edition with Cruikshank's illustrations and introductory verses by Bernard Barton, complete in two volumes. 8vo (173 x 105mm): [8],xvi,434,[2]; [4],406,[2]pp, with engraved steel frontispiece depicting Friday kneeling to Crusoe in each volume and 38 woodcut vignettes throughout. Original green pebbled cloth, paper labels printed in black to spines. An excellent set of this scarce edition (one label with tiny abrasion affecting Major's name, small snag to cloth covering one board), tightly bound in contemporary cloth, fresh and bright (virtually pristine) with rich impressions of the plates. Cohn 229. Widener, p. 112. Lowndes II, 614. Jerrold, p. 131. Ullrich 51. Lovett 301. Patten I, pp. 335-36. Another edition of this classic from another publisher but using the same plates appeared in 1836. Cruikshank was a favorite of publishers of illustrated fiction, and… Read More

London: printed for A. Bettesworth, at the Red-Lyon, in Pater-Noster-Row ; and W. Mears, at the Lamb, without Temple-Bar, 1724. Full Calf. Fine. First Edition, in two parts, of "perhaps Defoe's best travel book," an imaginary voyage of circumnavigation, intending to discover uncharted lands in the South Pacific. (Earle) Crown 8vo (201 x 115mm): [2],208; 205,[1]pp, with frontispiece map of the globe by J. Clark and three full-page views of life ashore. Beautifully bound by Fitterer in full speckled calf to period style, spine in six compartments between gilt-ruled raised bands, covers paneled in gilt, red morocco lettering piece gilt, matching end papers renewed. Scarce in commerce. A superlative copy in a fine binding, clean throughout with good margins. Moore 469. Sabin 19291. Furbank and Owens, pp. xviii-xx. Lowndes II 620. Howgego D11. Gove, pp. 241-42. Hill 462. Goldsmiths', 6348. Landis V 724/49. Earle (The World of Defoe), pp. 54-57. Published anonymously six years after Robinson Crusoe (and… Read More

London: printed for E. Curll: and sold by W. Mears and T. Jauncy without Temple Bar, W. Meadows in Cornhill, A. Bettesworth in Pater-Noster-Row, W. Lewis in Covent Garden, and W. Graves in St. James's Street, 1720. Paneled Calf. Fine. First Edition of this purported autobiography of the notorous London fraud, a deaf and mute fortune teller, once thought to be by Defoe (Moore) but more often attributed to William Bond, a Grub Street writer. 8vo (191 x 116mm): xix,[5],320pp, with copper-engraved engraved frontispiece portrait (signed "Hill pinx. Price sculp') and three plates, including a sign language chart. Contemporary Cambridge-style paneled calf, book plate of Thomas Symonds of Pengethly, presumably Thomas Powell Symonds (1762-1819), member of Parliament, or a descendant. A superb survival, tightly bound and free of foxing, clean and bright throughout (quires O and P lightly toned), with rich impressions of the plates. Furbank & Owens 432. Moore 432. McBurney 111. Subsequent editions appeared… Read More

London: Hodder and Stoughton [through 1968], 1966. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine-. First Impressions of Delderfield's two-volume elegy for the traditional, pastoral society blown apart by the First World War. Thick 8vo: 1151; 475,[3]pp. Horseman: Publisher's forest green cloth, spine stamped in gold, map end papers; dust jacket with wraparound illustration by Brian Lubrani, priced 42s. Fine, tight and square; about Fine jacket (bottom front flap corner creased). Gauntlet: Publisher's scarlet cloth, spine lettered in gold within brown title block, genealogical end papers; dust jacket with wraparound illustration by Brian Sanders, priced 35s. Fine, tight and square; about Fine jacket (top front flap corner repaired, not affecting lettering). A superlative set. Delderfield wrote panoramic multigenerational family sagas that were perhaps more popular in America than in Britain. A Horseman Riding By, concerned with the fortunes of a Devon family, begins in 1902 at the tail end of the Boer War and… Read More

New York: Karma and Glenn Horowitz, Bookseller, 2014. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Limited Edition of this previously unpublished one-act play inspired by global climate change, with seven full-page color plates from photographs by Richard Prince, from his "Upstate" series. One of only 125 copies bound in cloth from an edition of 1000 copies. Royal 8vo (279 x 212mm): [6],26,[2]pp. Publisher's grey cloth boards, color image affixed to front cover, orange end papers, top edge stained orange, original unprinted acetate dust jacket. Signed by both Delillo and Prince on front free end paper. An excellent example, tightly bound and clean throughout, virtually pristine. This one-act was commissioned by the Chicago Humanities Festival and premiered on October 27, 2007, in a production by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Prince's photos chronicle a landscape of economic decline: aboveground swimming pools and abandoned-looking basketball hoops perched on the edges of overgrown fields. N. B. With few exceptions… Read More

London: John Murray, 1883. Early Reprint. Decorative Cloth. Fine-. Third Edition, complete in two volumes with all folding plans and maps, of this indispensable account of Etruscan civilisation and Tuscan landscapes, still considered an essential reference. Tall, thick 8vo's: cxxviii,501,[3]; xv,[1],579, with color frontispiece (in vol. 2), two folding maps, and numerous wood-engraved plates of antiquities and architectural remains and plans of the larger sites. Publisher's green cloth, covers paneled in blind and stamped with emblems, spines decorated and lettered in gilt, fore-edges untrimmed, chocolate-brown end papers, title pages in red and black. Provenance: small book trade labels (Flor & Findel, Florence) to front paste-downs, contemporary owner's elegant script ("Carol Gray / Firenze / Italia") to front fly leaves. An about Fine set, bindings square and tight with bright gilt; pages, maps, and illustrations clean, crisp and unmarked. Dennis was the first modern investigator of ancient… Read More

A La Haye [The Hague]: chés Jean Martin Husson, 1739. Early Reprint. Full Calf. Fine-. Third Edition of this important French treatise on garden design, "to this day the standard authority on the formal garden." (Henrey) 4to (257 x 193mm): [8],383 [13]pp, with 42 copper-engraved plates (some folding and double page), mostly of plans for parterres, mazes, trellises, cascades, fountains, labyrinths, and other garden structures and woodcut figures in the text; head and tail pieces and historiated initials. Contemporary speckled calf, spine richly gilt in six compartments divided by raised bands, red morocco lettering piece gilt, edges stained red, marbled end papers, title page in red and black. Spine relaid with some loss to gilt, contents sporadically embrowned, light foxing, in all a very handsome copy. Hunt 421. Lewine, p. 33. Cleveland 329. Henrey II: pp 491-493. Haller II, p. 94. First published anonymously, in Paris, in 1709, during the reign of Louis XIV and nine years after the death of the… Read More

New York: D. Appleton, 1868. First Edition thus. Pictorial Wrappers. Near Fine+. Scarce printing of "one of the most famous and important examples of travel-writing in the nineteenth century, documenting simultaneously a particular moment in the development of the United States and what was surely a major turning-point in Dickens's career." (Literary Encyclopedia) Crown 8vo (188 x 122mm): 104,[4]pp, text printed in double columns. Publisher's peach pictorial wrappers printed in brown, contemporary ownership signature to upper cover, publisher's advertisement for the works of Louisa Mühlbach printed on deep pink stock and tipped to title page. A tad worn and slightly soiled, occasional light creasing and foxing, but securely bound and generally clean throughout. A collectible copy of this fragile production. This edition not in Gimbel, Eckel, or Smith, but see Howes D-316, Sabin 19996, and Wilkins, pp. 22-24 for other American printings. Dickens sailed from Liverpool on January 3, 1842, and visited… Read More

London: Chapman & Hall, 193 Piccadilly, 1865. First Edition. Decorative Cloth. Near Fine+. First Issue (with all issue points per Smith, and November, not December, catalog at end of volume II). Demy 8vo (211 x 134mm): xii,320,3-36(first advertisement leaf not bound in); viii,312,4pp, with 20 full-page plates in each volume. Publisher's original dark purplish-brown sand-grain cloth, covers blocked in blind with decorative arch frame embellished with leaves and flowers; spines richly gilt with leaves, flowers, and flourishes and lettered in gilt; coated yellow end papers; fore-edge untrimmed. Contemporary ownership inscription of James Martin, Wainfleet, on fly-leaf and half-title, one dated [18]66. Original spines very skillfully laid down, paper hinges neatly reinforced, faint spotting and offsetting from plates, else an excellent set, tightly bound and clean throughout. Smith I, 15. Sadleir 697. Wolff II, 1809. Podeschi (Gimbel Collection) A. Grolier Dickens, pp. 154-56. Dickens's last completed… Read More