Search Results: Authors starting with L from Biblioctopus

London: Hogarth Press, 1959. First edition, the suppressed or withdrawn first issue which includes the account of the fire at the piano factory. Neat owner's name on the front fly, and some modest foxing else fine in fine dustwrapper. The first volume in the author's acclaimed novelistic autobiographical trilogy, this volume concentrating on sketches of the author's childhood in the Gloucestershire village of Slad. A lovely copy.

London: Kelmscott Press, 1939. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. 3 vols. in 2 (as issued). Limited edition, 1 of 300 on hand made paper. A fine press reprinting of William Caxton's 1st edition, printed by William Morris at his Kelmscott Press in red and black Troy type (Chaucer type was used for the table of contents and the glossary). Gorgeous decorative wood cut borders and initials throughout the text. Original full limp vellum, brown silk ties, a natural crease to the base of the spine on vol. II, and some spots of rubbing to the polish of the vellum, else near fine and mostly unread. Ex-W. and P. J. Kupfer (bookplates). Coll: xv, [1], 295, blank]. [297]-507, [3, blank]. [509]-718 [5 blanks]. Raoul Lefevre was chaplain to Philip III, Duke of Burgundy. William Caxton was the first Englishman who learned how to print from moveable type. He bought a press in Bruges and in 1474 he translated into English, and then printed, Lefevre's book (written in 1464). Later Caxton disassembled the press and… Read More

New York, 1926. proof. good. Long galley proofs of the 1st edition (6 1/2" X 24"), printed on thin proofing paper (rectos only) dated "Dec. 27" [1926]. The first setting in type (book was 1927) of an immortal scrap of Western literature, the transit stage linking manuscript to 1st edition. Manufactured in a handful of copies to correct misprints and mis-settings before page proofs. Split across leaves 1 (see photo) and 123 rejoined with tape, some edge tears taped, last 3 leaves missing, but the missing text is supplied with 1st edition pages, connected to vaguely correspond, else good condition. Spartan cloth case. Despite being worn and imperfect, it's such a rarity that there is some chance it will turn out to be the finest (only?) known set, and with more than 100,000 1st editions printed (20,000 in the 1st binding), it's the only form of Elmer Gantry that will ever be rare. Upon publication the book was greeted with outrage by the exposed peddlers of empty promises, who called Lewis, an… Read More

New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1929. First Edition. Wrappers. Very good. Raw proof of the 1st edition. Printed on proofing paper (7 7/8" X 6 1/2") on 1 side of the page (rectos) only, and hand bound by the publisher (HB) in brown paper wrappers tied with snips of shoelace (all original). Small control numbers "8476" neatly inked on spine and fly-title, else very good (unrepaired). Need we say primary? Need we say unique? Ok. Literally so for both. Cloth case. A one-off, preceding every other surviving setting in type, and a real movie book, produced with haste, in house, for Jesse Lasky (Famous Players) who was anxious to secure the film rights. On the eve of the depression, and past his prime, Lasky wavered, and then declined, keeping this copy as a souvenir of the opportunity. Dodsworth was ultimately purchased by Sam Goldwyn after he saw the 1934 play scripted by Sidney Howard with Howard's understated realism. M. G. M. prized it highly, so they gave it back to Howard for a screenplay, and the… Read More

Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1954. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/good. 1st edition in English. Original silk over boards, spine faded half a shade, else near fine, in a jacket with chips at the edges, and a short pen line to the front panel, else very good. I am no panegyrist of Ting Ling (1904?-1986), in fact I know nothing about her, beyond her oft-altered biography, but she was "the" Chinese feminist novelist, and the ultimate Asian uberfrau, bravery indeed in China under Mao. She was a prodigy at Shanghai and Peking Universities and at 28 was appointed editor of the official left wing writer's journal, but in 1933, her outspoken contempt for male chauvinism earned her 3 years in a Kuomintang prison. A book of stories (When I was in Sha Cuan, 1945) was greeted with the Chinese revolutionary equivalent of rock star popularity, followed by the expected Party discipline (status is measured by deference). Seeking a subject dear to the heart of the Party line, and harmonious with her own… Read More

London: Elsevier, 1867. First Edition. Hardcover. very good. 2 vols. 1st edition (the 1st appearances anywhere). Contemporary cloth, short splits at the base of the joints neatly closed, library blind stamps on the title pages, else very good. This is the whole of both books, and they are, obviously, much better than, and rarer than, and should not be compared to, torn out pages (extractions). [1] Vol. I has 4 of the 5 parts of Lister's On a New Method of Treating Compound Fractures..., pages 326-329, 357-359, 387-389, and 507-509. [2] Vol. II has the 5th part, pages 95-96. [3] Vol. II also has Lister's 2nd article, On the Antiseptic Principle in the Practice of Surgery, pages 353-356, and [4] his 3rd article, The Antiseptic System of Treatment..., pages 668-669, cumulatively changing surgery, the lives of those practicing it, and those undergoing it, to this day, and there is universal reverence for the magnitude of this medical divination. Rare. Refs: PMM, 316c (the 1st 5-part article). Grolier,… Read More

California: California State Lottery Commission, 1990. Fine. A complete and continuous, unbroken run from the first 5 years of the California lottery, a total of 40 tickets, games 1 to 40 (#26 is a proof). Each ticket is unscratched. Fine condition (as new), alluringly printed in glowing colors, the silver coatings are unblemished. Rare. Though individual, used (scratched) tickets are sometimes available, we ran advertisements widely ("WE WILL BUY"), and we got lots of responses, but we were never offered a single unused ticket from this vintage, at any price, let alone a complete set. Would be impressive framed. The lottery is adventure and romance finally reduced to their level of minimum effort and repute.

New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1932. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good/very good. 1st edition. Novelization of the 1933 RKO film (the first draft screenplay by Edgar Wallace). Original lime green cloth, some white spots, most prominent along the top edge of back cover (the spots an endemic hallmark of this book), else very good, in the original 1st printing dustjacket, identified by the redundant use of the word "by" ("conceived by/by Edgar Wallace"), small chips and tears at edges, a crease to upper back panel, but otherwise a very good copy, unusually bright (the spine faded on most survivors), superior for this title which is frequently sold in the 2nd printing jacket with the "by" error corrected. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II- 681. Barron (ed), Fantasy Literature 3-226. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 143. Bleiler (1978), p. 127. Reginald 09268.