Search Results: Authors starting with P from Fine Editions Ltd

Cambridge & London: Macmillan, 1861. First Edition. Original Cloth. Fine. Scarce First Impression of this spectacularly successful anthology, collecting the best-loved English poems from the sixteenth to the early nineteenth centuries (from Shakespeare to Shelley, with a heavy dose of the Romantics), establishing a canon of the "best" poems in English literature. Only 2,000 copies of the first impression were printed. Foolscap 8vo (158 x 102mm): [12],332pp, with tissue-guarded title-page vignette engraved by C. H. Jeens after the sculptor Thomas Woolner, who shared a house with Palgrave in the early 1860s (apparently a self-portrait of Woolner in the guise of Pan fluting beneath a sapling). Original green cloth, spine lettered in gilt, gilt seal within double-ruled gilt frame to front cover, rear cover framed in blind, coated chocolate-brown end papers, edges untrimmed. Contemporary binder's ticket to rear paste-down. Short tear neatly closed on p. 227, else a bright, fresh, fine copy, tightly bound… Read More

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001. Advance Reader's Copy. Fine. Advance Reader's Copy, boldly signed by the Nobel prize-winning author on the title page. Tall, thick 8vo: [8],421,[1]pp. Identified on front cover as "Advance Reader's Edition" and on back panel as "Uncorrected Proof." Notably, the cover art for this proof was changed for the dust jacket of the hardcover book, making the Advance Reader's Copy especially collectible. Fine and unread. ¶ First published in Turkey, in 1998, as Benim Adim Kirmizi. In sixteenth-century Istanbul, a Sultan commissions a great book and assembles a cadre of miniaturists to illuminate it. The novel interweaves a murder mystery, a love story, and a discourse on painting. Istanbul straddles Europe and Asia, and throughout Pamuk compares and contrasts Turkey with its western and eastern neighbors, staging a conflict between Western individualism and Eastern traditionalism. In presenting the Nobel prize to Pamuk, in 2006, the prize committee paid special attention to… Read More

London: Printed for R. Ackermann, 101, Strand, by J. Diggens, St. Ann's Lane, 1816. Half-Morocco. Fine. First Edition in book form of "one of the great books of London." (Franklin), collecting a series of architectural notes describing contemporary London for Ackermann's Repository, illustrated with colored aquatints and originally published in serial form between 1810-1815. This is the issue without Papworth's name on title page (no priority established). Imperial 8vo: [8],159,[1]pp, with 76 delicately hand-colored aquatints (five folding), by J. Hamble and Joseph Constantine Stadler after Papworth and Augustus Pugin, "of past London, with representations of City churches and other topographical features now no longer in existence" (Prideaux). Later green morocco over navy pebbled cloth, flat spine (sunned to brown) lavishly gilt, all edges marbled, marbled end papers. A fine Ackermann production in a tall, attractive copy, beautifully bound, occasional light offsetting and scattered foxing, plates… Read More

New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1931. First Edition thus. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Printing of this edition with numerous illustrations by James Daugherty of Parkman's classic account of a summer tour, in 1846, of Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, and Kansas, "with a view of studying the manners and character of Indians in their primitive state." . Introduction by Mark Van Doren, Tall, thick 8vo (212 x 141mm): xvii,[1],385,[1]pp. Publisher's finely woven butterscotch cloth, spine lettered in maroon, upper cover with maroon vignette of Sioux warrior and galloping mount, double-page pictorial title (in addition to letterpress title), fore-edge untrimmed; beautifully illustrated dust jacket priced $1.00. A superlative example, tightly bound and all but pristine. Grolier (American) 100, 58 ("one of the exuberant masterpieces of American literature" and the "classic account of the emigrant journey to the Rockies"). PMM 327. Field 1177 ("It is not too high praise of his work to say, that his pictures of savage… Read More

London: Hogarth Press, 1978. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Impression (no further printings noted) of this war diary, presenting an intimate portrait of life at Ham Spray House. Tall 8vo: 215,[9]pp, with eight pages of plates. Publisher's cinnamon cloth, spine lettered in gilt, wraparound dust jacket illustrated by Angelica Garnett (nèe Bell—Virginia Woolf's niece and Vanessa Bell's daughter) and priced £5.95. A very attractive copy, dust-spotted top edge, else Fine in Fine jacket. At the outset of the Second World War, Ralph and Frances Partridge were confirmed pacifists. These extracts from Frances's war diary present a vivid picture of their life in Wiltshire ("where life revolved around conversation, long walks, and complicated love affairs," according the ODNB), a refuge for friends (here depicted in some 20 photographs), including many of their fellow "Bloomsberries," as well as a stream of refugees and the dispossessed. Frances's accounts candidly portray their domestic… Read More

London: printed for T. N. Longman, Pater-Noster-Row [from 1771], 1794. Early Reprint. Stiff Wraps. Fine. 8vo: xxxvi,380 numbered columns,381-394pp, with double-page copper-engraved map as frontispiece; [4],216pp. ESTC Citation No. T93564 and T93553. Finely bound to style by Fitterer in stiff beige wraps, printed paper spine label. Binding and text block clean, bright and unmarked save for offsetting from engraved map. A superlative copy. Fordham (Road-Books), pp. 27 and 29. Roscoe, (John Newbery) A399/6. Not in Hodson. The tenth edition: with the addition of near ninety pages, including considerable improvements in the direct roads, many new cross roads, and a great number of noblemen's and gentlemen's seats. Tenth Edition of the first work (1794; originally published 1771) "With the Addition of near Ninety Pages, including considerable Improvements in the direct Roads, many new Cross Roads, and a great Number of Noblemen's and Gentlemen's Seats"; Sixth Edition (1792), improved and corrected, of the… Read More

London: printed for T. N. Longman, Pater-Noster-Row, 1794. Early Reprint. Wraps. Very Good+. Small 8vo: xxxvi,380 numbered columns,381-394 [Index to the County Seats]pp, with folding copper-engraved map frontispiece. Recently bound to style by Fitterer in drab wraps, printed paper spine label, end papers renewed. A Very Good or better copy (map and title page lightly browned, browning and creases to some early page margins only), in a Fine binding. Lowndes 1798. Fordham (Road-Books), p. 27. Not in Hodson. Tenth edition (originally published 1771), with "addition of nearly ninety pages, including considerable improvements in the direct roads, many new cross roads, and a great number of noblemen's and gentlemen's seats." Although Paterson contributed no significant innovations to the compilation of road books, relying on the advances of Norden, Ogilby, and others, he "made improvements in style and presentation and added factual detail—so much so that his name was for many years an indicator of… Read More

London: Printed for T. Hookham, Jun. Old Bond-Street; and Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, Paternoster-Row, 1818. Half-Calf. Near Fine+. First Edition of "the most esteemed of Peacock's seven novels." (Kiernan) 12mo (165 x 95mm): [4],218pp. Contemporary butterscotch half-calf over marbled boards, flat spine in six compartments divided by gilt rules, title direct to second compartment, others with gilt pinwheel device; stenciled arms to front paste-down. Binding lightly rubbed, else a handsome copy, fresh, bright and virtually free of foxing. Sadleir 1957f. Kiernan (Frivolity Unbound), pp. 29-37. Butler (Peacock Displayed), pp 102-39. In Nightmare Abbey, Peacock pokes fun at the gloom and melancholy of the gothic genre and satirizes the Romantics, principally Byron, Coleridge, and Shelley. "Though it received little notice on its first appearance, Nightmare Abbey is now perhaps Peacock's Pride and Prejudice, his most generally liked and frequently read book." (Butler) Given the same year of publication and… Read More

London: Eyre & Spottiswoode [through 1959], 1946. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine-/Fine. A superb set of this fantasy series, rivaling in its compelling verbal creation of an imaginary world even Lord of the Rings. First Impressions in matching publisher's red cloth, spines stamped in gold, in the iconic dust jackets illustrated by Peake. Tall 8vo: 453; 454; 223,[1]pp, with title-page vignettes and head and tail pieces by the author. Titus Groan: edges and end papers lightly foxed, else Near Fine or better; Fine Second Impression jacket (as often), priced 15s. (Far too few jackets were printed for the first impression, so second-impression jackets, then in press, were also used.) Gormenghast: Virtually pristine (probably unread), small smudge to base of spine, Fine jacket, priced 18' with publisher's sticker. Titus Alone: Fine, in Fine jacket, priced 21s. In all, excellent examples. Cawthorn & Moorcock, p. 137. Currey, p. 400. Locke I, pp. 173-74. Gormenghast is a remote and reclusive earldom… Read More

London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1948. First Impression. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition (so stated on p. [2]) of this castaway narrative, written and Illustrated by Mervyn Peake. Slim foolscap 8vo (174 x 110mm): [132]pp. Publisher's pale yellow linen, upper cover stamped in scarlet with vignette of the Uncle, spine lettered in scarlet; dust jacket printed in black and scarlet, front panel with lion stamp on grey ground, back panel a facsimile of mailing envelope with scarelet trompe l'oeil wax seal. Fine, with just slight wear to head of jacket's spine panel. Berkeley & Winnington (PiP) A6a. Currey, p. 400. Told in a series of letters written to a nephew and posted from the Arctic by a shipwrecked explorer, whose "Friday" is a tortoise named Jackson. Text photographically reproduced (in fine-screen halftone) from typewritten originals, and thus the poor reproduction quality, which troubled Peake to the extent that the book was withdrawn from sale, then reissued at a reduced price (this copy's dust… Read More

London: printed for Thomas Evans in the Strand, 1779. First Edition thus. Paper-Covered Boards. Fine. Large Paper Copy ("A new Edition, greatly corrected, with some Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Mr. Peck") of this "curious collection of original papers, relating chiefly to English history." (Lowndes) Two volumes bound as one, each with separate title page but continuously paginated. 4to (307 x 235mm): xvii,[7],238,[10]; vi,[10],[239]-581,[9]pp, with engraved portrait frontispiece of the author and nine copper-engraved plates. Pages. 420 and 426 misnumbered 400 and 406, respectively. Recent period-style blue-grey paper-covered boards by Fitterer, beige paper spine with paper title label printed in black, end-papers renewed. Several leaves heavily dust-speckled, several others lightly so, else a finely bound wide-margined copy, fresh, bright, and clean throughout with tissue guards protecting all plates. Lowndes IV: 1812. Lewine, p. 406 ("of about the same value" as the first edition of… Read More

Warrington: Printed by W. Eyres, 1774. Early Printing. Full Calf. Near Fine+. First Quarto Edition (third overall, with considerable additions and corrections and a new appendix), extra-Illustrated, with engraved title page and 39 full-page copper plates (many folding), only 21 of which are enumerated in the list of plates. (According to Powell, "All the plates of the preceding editions were suppressed and a new set, twenty-one in number, substituted," drawn by Moses Griffith.) 4to (228 x 172mm): xiii, [1], 388, [2]pp; without final advertisement leaf for Benjamin White present in some copies. One of two quarto editions with slightly differing paginations published by Eyres in 1774. Period calf, skillfully rebacked, spine in six compartments between gilt-ruled raised bands, title gilt direct to second compartment. End papers renewed, offsetting from plates, the odd spot or grubby mark, else tightly bound and clean and bright throughout, an excellent wide-margined copy. ESTC Citation No. T113910. Cox… Read More

New York: Walker, 1968. First Printing. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition in English, describing the war between two gangs from rival villages, Longeverne and Velrans, in the countryside of Franche-Comté. Translated by Stanley and Eleanor Hochman. Review copy with publisher's slip laid in. 8vo (209 x 139mm): [12],273,[1]pp. Publisher's black coarsely woven quarter cloth over marbled sides, spine lettered in red, top edge stained red, double-page illustrated title page; illustrated dust jacket, priced $5.95. An excellent example (apparently unread), tightly bound (head of spine lightly rubbed) and clean throughout. First published in 1912, as La Guerre des boutons. Those who fall into enemy hands face the humiliation of being stripped naked, spanked, and having the buttons cut off from their shirts and pants. The War of the Buttons has been reprinted more than 30 times, and is included on the French high-school curriculum. It was filmed in 1936, 1962, and 1994. N. B. With few exceptions (always… Read More

London: printed for William Goldsmith, Number 24, Pater-Noster Row; and David Steel, Number 1, Union-Row, the Lower-End of the Minories, Little Tower-Hill, 1773. Second Edition. Full Calf. Fine. Second Edition in English of a primary source on the Falkland Islands. 4to: [4],xvii,[1],294pp, with 16 copper engraved charts (three folding), maps (one folding), and plates (three folding) of native inhabitants and fauna. Period-style speckled calf, spine in six compartments between raised bands ruled in gilt, red morocco lettering piece gilt. The Ingleton Copy (Geoffrey and Nan, with their book plate on front paste-down), formerly the property of Admiral Phillip P. King (with his initialed annotation on p. 273 and penciled marginalia in his hand, including a slip of notations on laid paper tipped in following p. 264. Geoffrey Ingleton was a bibliophile and amateur etcher, mainly of historical marine subjects. King, 1791-1856, was an early explorer of the Australian and Patagonian coasts.) An exemplary,… Read More

London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, within Grays-Inn Gate next Grays-Inn Lane, 1708. Half-Calf. Near Fine+. First Edition (ordinary issue) of this verse account of the culture of the apple tree and the manufacture of cider, with pp. 44 and 46 signed with asterisks, catchword "when" on p. 68, p. 74 correctly numbered, and final word "destitute" on line 12, p. 44. Williams argues that the large-paper copies "represent a later issue of the type" and constitute "a second issue of the poem." Slim foolscap 8vo (177 x 109mm): [4],89,[1]pp, with engraved frontispiece of orchard workers and woodcut head pieces and historiated initials. Later half brown calf, russet cloth sides, gilt title and date to spine direct, edges stained russet, end papers renewed. Old, very skillful repair to title page (not affecting lettering) where previous owner's name was excised, tight (but not thread) margins, still a collectible copy, tightly bound and generally clean throughout. Foxon P237. Rothschild 1534 and 1535. Hayward… Read More

London: printed for E. Curll, in Covent-Garden, 1744. Full Calf. Fine. 12mo: xxx,42;72pp, with frontispiece portrait of the poet, frontispiece to the separately paginated Cyder, woodcut head- and tailpieces. Contemporary speckled calf, covers framed with double fillets in gilt, spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt, recent red morocco lettering piece gilt, edges speckled red. A Fine—indeed exceptional—copy. Foxon, p. 570. Tenth Edition (but first under this title), collecting The Splendid Shilling; Blenheim, An Ode (in Latin and English), and, most importantly, Cyder—A Poem in Two Books (Fourth Edition, printed for J. and R. Tonson, and S. Draper, 1744). Many of Philips's poems, including his first, the Splendid Shilling (which The Tatler commended as "the finest Burlesque Poem in the British Language"), were composed in Miltonic blank verse. "Philips's greatest poem, the two-book georgic Cyder (1708), begun at Oxford, celebrates his native land (and in particular Herefordshire) with a… Read More

London: William Darton & Son, Holborn Hill, 1830. Quarter Sheep. Near Fine+. Scarce early edition of this beautifully illustrated children's book. 12mo (144 x 89 mm): iv,5-156pp, with folding engraved frontispiece of the solar system and 13 further plates, most folding and all but two dated 1823. Of special note is the plate of Herschel's 40-foot telescope, constructed between 1785 and 1789 and shortly to be dismantled, in 1839. Original red quarter skiver, spine lettered longitudinally in gilt, marbled paper-covered boards. Neat gift inscription (dated 1898) to front fly leaf; recent book label of Stanley Scott, Chard, Somerset, to rear paste-down. Professionally refurbished and now presenting attractively: two closed tears to frontispiece skillfully mended with Japanese tissue, else tightly bound, with pages and plates remarkably fresh and bright. Darton H1605(2). Paul, Children's Book Business: Lessons from the Long Eighteenth Century. Osborne, p. 216 (for first edition). First published in 1805… Read More

London: B. B. King, Monument Yard, near London Bridge, 1840. Full Calf. Fine. Preferred Edition, revised and "considerably enlarged, with descriptions of the tints made use of in each subject," of this important manual on the use of colour in landscape painting. Royal 8vo (291 x 222mm): 12pp, with hand-colored vignette title page ("Stormy Weather at Sea"), seven full-page aquatints (five of which hand-colored), and hand-colored chromatic wheel and scale. Contemporary gilt-tooled green calf, red morocco lettering-piece gilt, upper cover framed in gilt and blind with gilt vignette of Cheltenham College, marbled end papers and edges. Manuscript prize inscription of Cheltenham College to front fly-leaf. Damp stain to top third of back board, but an excellent copy, tightly bound and clean throughout, with lovely hand-coloring. Abbey (Life) 167. Martin-Hardie, p. 124. Prideaux, p.206 ("highly attractive"). Birren Collection 521. Third Edition (originally published in 1833), with added vignette title page… Read More

London: Faber and Faber, 1990. Stiff Wrappers. Fine/Fine. A pristine uncorrected reading proof of the Nobel Prize-winner's first and only novel, written in the early 1950's, before he turned to theater, but only published in 1990. The novel, says Michael Billington, Pinter's biographer, holds the key to all of Pinter's later plays. Demy 8vo (215 x 137mm): [4],3-183,[1]pp. Stiff patterned blue wrappers. Square, tight, clean, fresh, and bright. As new. Pinter's virtually unknown novel, set in postwar Britain, is about the dark rivalry between an office worker named Pete and a young actor called Mark, who sleeps with Pete's girlfriend, Virginia. In 1960, Pinter adapted The Dwarfs as a radio play. Then in 1996, Kerry Lee Crabbe turned the published novel into a film script that never found a buyer. In 2002, Christopher Morahan staged a revised version of Crabbe's script at the National Theatre Studio, which was filmed and shown on BBC4's Pinterfest. Finally, in 2003, that staged version, with minor… Read More

Edinburgh and London: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co. and Cadell and Davies, 1815. Wrappers. Fine. Original article disbound from Volume VII of Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh (not a reprint, facsimile reproduction, or photocopy). Roman numerals preceding title refer to order of sequence as published in the Transactions. Demy 4to (273 x 210mm): 269-278pp, complete with three full-page plates. Recently bound by Fitterer in stiff marbled wrappers. An excellent wide-margined example, tightly bound and clean throughout. Playfair's paper is drawn from a series of letters written by Captain Basil Hall, a British naval officer and the second son of geologist James Hall, after a visit to the Cape of Good Hope and an excursion to Table Mountain in July, 1814. The letters describe the granitic intrusions within the sedimentary sandstone structures that Hall saw in the Platteklip Gorge near Table Mountain. Playfair provides a general description of Table Mountain, which (is now known)… Read More