Search Results: Authors starting with R from Fine Editions Ltd

London: printed by J. Hughs, near Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, for J. Brindley, bookseller to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, at the King's-Arms in New-Bond-Street; and C. Corbett, at Addison's Head, against St. Dunstan's Church, Fleet-street, 1737. First Edition thus. Full Calf. Fine. A gorgeous set of the first complete, scholarly edition in English, with explanatory notes, in five volumes, of this burlesque romance. 12mo: iii-xxii,iii-viii,cxxxiv,135-384; iii-x,11-251,[1]; xx,367[2 misnumbered 22],[5]; iii-xc,281,[13, including two final advertisement leaves]; lxiv,267,[5]pp, with 15 copper-engraved plates (11 of which are folding, one of which is a map), most bearing the signatures of Henry Roberts and Nathaniel Parr; numerous head- and tail-pieces and a woodcut in the text. Beautifully bound by Fitterer in period-style butterscotch cat's-paw calf, spines in six compartments between raised bands ruled in gilt, red morocco lettering pieces gilt, all edges gilt, marbled end papers, title pages… Read More

Glasgow: printed by A. Foulis, and sold by D. Allan, Dickson's Closs, Edinburgh, also by J. Murray, No. 32. Fleet-Street, and C. Elliot, Strand, London, 1788. First Edition thus. First Illustrated Edition of this widely popular pastoral comedy in vernacular Scots, with glossary and evocative engravings by David Allan. Large 4to: [4,including half title],x,[2],111,[3],17(glossary),[1]pp, with portrait frontispiece, 12 numbered uncolored aquatints by David Allan, and 9 engraved leaves of music and words, numbered 1-18. Text based on quarto edition of 1728. Contemporary tree calf, neatly rebacked preserving original richly gilt flat spine and red morocco lettering piece gilt. An excellent very wide-margined in a well-preserved contemporary binding, plates in rich impressions, occasional spotting to text but generally clean and bright. Gaskell (Foulis) 688. Abbey (Life) 244. Rothschild 1732. Martin 216. The Foulis Press first published The Gentle Shepherd (which was originally published by, in 1725, in… Read More

London: Printed for Bernard Lintot, at the Cross-Keys between the Temple Gates, Fleetstreet, 1728. Three-Quarter Calf. Fine. Translated by James Gardiner. Crown 8vo (192 x 115mm): liii,[1],200,[10], with frontispiece portrait of Gardiner engraved by Vertue after a painting by Johann Verelst, folding copper-engraved parterre, and full-page engraved frontispiece, engraved by Elisha Kirkall, to each of the four books (Of Flowers, Of Trees, Of Water, The Orchard). Concluding with index and advertisement leaf. Rebound recently in three-quarter calf over marbled paper-covered boards, spine, in six compartments between raised bands, decorated in gilt, red leather lettering piece gilt, end papers renewed. An excellent example, tightly bound, fresh and bright throughout, with rich impressions of the plates. Foxon G14. Henrey II, p. 411, and III 1255. Hunt 414. Third Edition of the Gardiner translation (originally pubolished in 1706). First published by Rapin, in 1665, as Hortorum libri quattuor, in imitation… Read More

London: Anthony Blond, 1959. First Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine+/Fine-. First Impression of the author's second novel, about an assassin newly recruited by a clandestine organization bent on world domination. His first mission is to assassinate an American diplomat in Venice. Signed and dated directly to the title page, "Simon Raven / April, 1980." Small 8vo: [4],247,[1]pp. Publisher's cloth-effect paper-covered boards, spine stamped in gilt, pictorial dust jacket illustrated by Oliver Carson, priced 15s. Near Fine or better (dusty cop edge, slight crease to spine); about Fine jacket (brief edge-wear). Hubin IV 1250. According to The Guardian, Simon Raven's avowed passion, along with "alcohol, lechery and the turf", was cricket, and his 1981 memoir, Shadows On the Grass, was "the filthiest book on cricket ever written." Raven's death occasioned, in The Guardian, the most hilariously brilliant obituary any author could desire. Some excerpts: "The death of Simon Raven, at the age of 73, after… Read More

London: Herbert Jenkins, 1929. Limited Edition. Morocco. Fine. Deluxe Facsimile Edition, limited to 125 copies, of "the first treatise devoted solely to the subject of pheasant rearing, covert shooting, and the management of woodlands for the special purpose of preserving game." (from the preface) Publisher's green morocco with gilt borders; top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Royal 8vo (258 x 220mm): 256pp, with 15 color plates after J. T. Rawlins by A. W. Reeve and others. Frontispiece lightly spotted, but an excellent, wide-margined example, tightly bound and clean throughout. For first edition, see: Tooley 393. Abbey (Life) 392. Prideaux, p. 348. Schwerdt II, 127 ("an esteemed book . . . [with] unusually attractive" shooting scenes). Franklin, pp 44-45 ("very charming and excellent illustrations"). Originally published, in 1837, by the incomparable Rudolph Ackermann. This new edition reproduces the original text as well as the 15 color plates, and is introduced by Eric Parker, shooting editor of… Read More

London: For the Proprietor by Howlett and Brimmer, Frith Street, Soho, 1825. First Edition. Half-Leather. Near Fine+. Oblong 4to (195 x 263mm): [52]pp, with 24 hand-colored plates (23 aquatints and one engraving) and blank interleaves, each plate preceded by two-page letterpress description. Plate VIII, Sand Rock near Niton, often found plain (as in Abbey copy), here colored. Plates xxii and xxiii signed: C. Rosenberg sculpt. Contemporary half crimson straight-grained roan over drab paper-covered boards, red roan title label lettered and bordered in gilt to upper cover. A handsome copy (binding lightly rubbed, occasional offsetting and spotting), tightly bound and generally clean throughout with vividly colored plates. Abbey (Scenery) 349. Tooley 394. Prideaux, p. 349. Includes views of Carisbrooke Castle, the needles from Chale Bay, Black Gang Chine, St. Laurence's Church, Bonn Church, Ventnor Cove, Culver Cliffs, and Cowes Castle. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, writers and… Read More

[various places], [925]. Near Fine+. Travelogue in the form of subscription letters written by Elmer D. Raymond, founder and president of the Round-the-World Society. Demy 8vo (232 x 160mm): frontispiece of clipper ship from sketch by Raymond and title page in red and black, folding map of the world, two-page forward (printed rectos only), and 53 mimeographed stamped and postmarked letter sheets (each folded twice, creating an address panel and three stenciled pages), addressed to Mrs. David R Doru of Coopers Town, N.Y.; with sixteen black-and-white plates from photographs of various locations Raymond visited ("From the mighty metropolises of European civilization, from the squalid villages of African savagery, from the icy waters of the Arctic, from the barren sands of the deserts"), and an original radiogram announcing Raymond's approach to the North Pole. The first twenty-seven letters are unnumbered, followed by numbers XXVII [sic] through LII. Bound in pebbled black limp leatherette fastened… Read More

Philadelphia: Gebbie & Company [through 1884], 1883. First Edition. Decorative Cloth. Fine. Complete set, in five volumes, in exceptionally fine matching publisher's bindings. Royal 8vo (243 x 165mm): vi,[4],342; [8],342; [8],344; [8],344; [8],344pp, with 50 tissue-guarded steel-engraved plates and numerous woodcuts, "forming a full portrait gallery of the Roman emperors." Original royal blue fine woven cloth, spine and covers blocked in blind with floral friezes and rules, upper cover stamped in gilt with central laurel wreath enclosing gilt lettered title, spine lettered in gilt with fasces and laurel wreath; beveled edges; robin's egg blue end papers, all edges gilt. Virtually pristine (excepting nick to cloth on back board edge of v. II), down to gilt edges, which still sparkle. Gebbie and Co. was justly regarded for publishing handsome illustrated works, with fine bindings and high production values, and proof of that reputation is this set. From the Preface: "In comprehensiveness of scope the… Read More

London: printed for C. Dilly, in the Poultry, 1797. Early Reprint. Full Calf. Fine. Sixth Edition of Reeve's best-known work, a major influence on the development of Gothic fiction. 8vo: xi,[1],264pp, with 8 full-page copper-engraved plates (including frontispiece). English mottled calf, flat spine in six compartments, gilt sunburst medallion in each, separated by gilt-ruled bands, black leather lettering piece gilt, board edges decorated with gilt roll. Early, neat manuscript ex libris to front fly-leaf. An excellent, wide-margined example in a handsome contemporary binding, spotting on plates restricted to margins, pages virtually pristine. Summers, p. 449. Lowndes, IV, 2065 ("A romance of considerable repute, frequently reprinted."). First published anonymously at Colchester, in 1777, as The champion of virtue, then republished a year later with Reeve's name on the title page, as The Old English Baron: a Gothic Story. An ambitious reworking of Horace Walpole's Castle of Otranto (or, as Reeve… Read More

Berlin: Verlag Hermann Reckendorf G. m. b. H., 1931. Second Edition. Quarter-Cloth. Fine. Virtually pristine example of this cornerstone of "Neue Sachlichkeit" ("New Objectivity") photography, by one of its leading practitioners. Foreword by Albert Vögler. Slim royal 8vo (300 x 210mm): [14]pp, with 97 numbered and captioned photographs. Publisher's royal blue cloth spine over yellow patterned paper-covered boards printed in black (far less common—and more handsome—than the silver metallic binding of the first edition); without the rare dust jacket. Fine copy, tightly bound and clean throughout. Parr & Badger I, p. 125. Roth (Open Book), pp. 102-103. Roth (101 Books), p. 50. Auer, p. 134. Fotographia Publica, p. 203. One of the most important of the two dozen or so photobooks by Albert Renger-Patzsch ("a master of the dynamic close-up"), best-known for Welt ist schön and founder of the Neue Sachlichkeit movement, which brought a sharply focused, documentary quality to photography. His ambition… Read More

Paris: La Belle Édition, 71, Rue des Saints-Pères, 1918. Limited Edition. Wrappers. First Edition, No. 221 of 300 copies on verge d'Arches, of Matisse's first illustrated book. Square royal 8vo (247 x 224mm): [50]pp, with five plates (one double-page) from early drawings by the French Fauve illustrating three poems by Reverdy. Original wrappers printed in blue and black, untrimmed. Wanting the unprinted glassine dust jacket. An excellent example of this rare survival (many copies were destroyed at the author's request), expertly respined to style, several leaves with archival repairs to margins only, lower right corner of front wrapper renewed, but bright and fresh, tightly bound and clean throughout. The Artist and the Book 195 ("notable for its imaginative use of color in typography [but see below] and for the only appearance of Matisse's early drawing style as book illustration.") Barr, Matisse, pp. 196, 560 ("sometimes considered Matisse's first illustrated book"). Editions Albert Skira,… Read More

London: James Reynolds & Sons, 174 Strand, 1885. Decorative Cloth. Fine. A beautifully preserved later issue of this multi-folding strip map, showing settlements along the river, from above Cricklade down to London Bridge, with locks, bridges, and rail lines, and including details of toll charges, angling laws, weirs, bathing spots, towpaths, ferries, water mills, and species of fish to be caught. Foolscap 8vo (160 x 100mm): [4]pp of rules and bye-laws, with superbly hand-colored lithographed folding map (160mm x 2600mm) in 26 sections mounted on linen. Publisher's blind-stamped brown cloth, upper cover lettered in gilt. Virtually pristine. Westwood & Satchell, p. 174 (noting editions of 1861 and 1876). New Edition of the map first produced in 1861 for James Reynolds by Ernest George Ravenstein (1834-1913), a German-born geographer and cartographer, who, in 1872, declined the position of chief cartographer at the Royal Geographical Society because he was refused permission to smoke on the premises.… Read More

Paris, 1916. [Original Manuscript]. Card Covers. Fine. Beautifully executed sketchbook, in pencil, pen-and-ink, and watercolor, by a student at the prestigious École de Boulle in Paris. Demy 8vo (217 x 165mm): 27 leaves of graph paper with lesson notes (emphasizing architecture) in an elegant script on verso and drawings (mostly in color and many on thick paper pasted down) on recto, followed by 26 blank leaves. Black quarter cloth over mottled green card covers, speckled end papers. A superb survival, skillfully drawn and richly colored, tightly bound and clean throughout. Original manuscript containing the notes for art history classes given in 1915-1916 at the École de Boulle in Paris, a sequence of 25 lessons, excepting the fourteenth (which the author perhaps missed) taken by a second-year student whose surname, which appears on front cover, title page, and following leaves, was Reynoud (one Marcel Reynoud was enrolled at the École as a first-year student in 1914). The École de Boulle, a… Read More

London: Faber and Faber, 1936. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine-/Fine-. First Impression of the author's first book. Small 8vo: 292pp. Original lime-green cloth, spine lettered in red and gold, publisher's reply card laid in; illustrated dust jacked, priced 7s / 6d. About Fine, square, and tight (very slight soiling to board edges), apparently unread; about Fine jacket (spine panel slightly toned with minor creases to crown and slightly dust-soiled rear panel), but an exceptionally striking example of a scarce title. Early fictional account of life in a flying school between the wars. Rhys died young, on 5 August 1940, while serving as a bomber pilot in the Royal Air Force. His three books all reflect a passion for flying, the relationship between pilot and machine, and the human relationships that spring from this shared passion. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable polypropylene… Read More

London: André Deutsch, 1959. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine-/Near Fine+. First Impression (no later printings noted) of the author's breakthrough novel, chronicling Jewish life in the 1930s and '40s in the Montreal neighborhood east of Mount Royal Park; filmed in 1974 with Richard Dreyfuss in the title role. Thick crown 8vo (192 x 125mm): 319,[1]pp. Publisher's scarlet cloth, spine stamped in gold; price-clipped dust jacket illustrated by Bernard Blatch. An excellent example, tightly bound (apparently unread) and clean throughout (slightly dusty top-edge); Near Fine or better jacket (crown of spine panel lightly rubbed). Richler's fourth novel, "regarded by critics as technically superior to his earlier novels because of the cinematic rendering of some incidents (indicating the influence of Richler's screenwriting) and the maturation of narrative voice." (Literary Encyclopedia) Following publication of Duddy Kravitz, according to The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature, Richler became "one of… Read More

London: Andre Deutsch, 1954. First UK Edition. Hardcover. Fine-/Near Fine+. First Impression of the Canadian author's first book. 8vo; 204pp. Publisher's green cloth, the spine stamped gilt; in a pictorial dust jacket priced 10s/6d. Just about Fine, square, tight and, bright, the top edge dust-speckled, the end papers with offsetting from the jacket flaps; Near Fine or better jacket, bright and unfaded, very lightly rubbed to spine panel ends, front and back panels lightly dust-soiled with two short closed tears to front and light pink streak to back. Overall, a sharp copy of an elusive title (only 2000 copies were printed). "I am looking," [Richler] declared in one interview, "for the values with which in this time a man can live with honour." The Acrobats, which was [first] published in England, conveys such ideals: the protagonist, André Bennett, is a young Canadian painter who visits Spain in search of values by which he can live. The novel explores moral disillusionment, personal… Read More

Berlin: Im Deutschen Verlag, 1937. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Near Fine+. First Printing of Riefenstahl's "lavish," controversial photobook, a "masterpiece of the propagandist's art." (Parr & Badger) Royal 8vo (309 x 234mm): 282,[2]pp, complete with 273 full-page gravure plates captioned in German, French, English, Spanish, and Italian. Publisher's burnt orange coarsely woven cloth, spine and upper cover stamped in gold, photographically illustrated white dust jacket printed in black and orange and unpriced (as issued). About Fine (bruise to upper right corner with resultant creases to tips of page corners, trivial flaking to spine gold); very minor professional restoration to jacket edge wear and gentle soiling to back panel. An excellent example, tightly bound and clean throughout with bright renditions of the plates. Without the extremely rare original glassine (almost always wanting). Auer, p. 255. Parr & Badger I, p.151. Roth (101 Books), p. 96-97. Most of the images are stills taken during… Read More

In Venetia [Venice]: Appresso Nicolò Pezzana, 1669. Early Printing. Quarter-Vellum. Fine. An early edition of the most famous catalog of emblems and symbols collected from antique literature and translated into pictorial terms for the use of visual artists, influencing, among others, Vermeer. 4to (210 x 148mm): [58],686pp (numerous page-numbering errors), with title-page vignette and 354 quarter-page woodcut illustrations in the text. Modern quarter vellum over paste-paper boards to style by Fitterer (a truly stunning binding), all edges stained red. Praz, p. 472-73. Landwehr (FISP) 630. Graesse VI, 129 (for the monumental, five-volume Perugia edition of 1764-67). The first edition of his Iconologia was published, without illustrations, in 1593, then a second edition with 151 woodcuts, in Rome, in 1603, Following were numerous editions and translations, with a rich array of illustrations that widely influenced the visual arts during the the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. (Ours is a reissue… Read More

London: The Society for Improving the Condition of the laboring Classes, at No. 21, Exeter Hall, Strand, 1850. Half-Calf. Fine. First Edition of Roberts's "most important" publication, advocating philanthropic housing for the working classes. (ODNB) Royal 8vo (257 x 167mm): [8],34pp,35-47,[2]ff,2pp, with 12 unnumbered lithographic plates printed on one side only and illustrations in the text depicting floor plans, architectural plans, and elevations of actual and proposed buildings, principally dwellings, including workers' cottages and lodgings for unmarried labourers. Handsome recent half-leather and beige cloth, spine gilt, end papers renewed. Pages gently and evenly toned, else pristine in beautiful bespoke binding. Goldsmiths' 37127. Not in Archer. Subsequent editions appeared, including that of 1867, and were translated into French. Among the scaled floor plans and handsome engraved elevations are those for the block of self-contained flats in Streatham Street, Bloomsbury, Roberts's most… Read More

In Venezia [Venice]: Nella stamperia Gatti a spese di Leonardo e Giammaria Fratelli Bassaglia, 1783. Original Wraps. Fine. Second Venice Edition of Antonio Pillori's translation of Robertson's standard work, on the discovery of America and the conquest of Mexico and Peru. Demy 8vo (202 x 136mm): xxiv,240pp, with frontispiece portrait of Columbus and large folding map of Gulf of Mexico showing Florida, Cuba, Jamaica, and farther Caribbean islands; [2],5-328pp, with frontispiece portrait of Bartolomé de las Casas and folding map of South America; [2],3-359 [p. 181 misnumbered "281"; p. 304, "204"],[1]pp, with frontispiece portrait of Cortés and folding map of Mexico; [4],295,[1]pp, with frontispiece portrait of Pizarro and large folding map of Middle America. Original paper-case bindings with yapped edges, manuscript titles and volume numbers to spines, text block sewn on tawed tongs (vol. iv with modern replacements). Worming to upper cover, portrait, title page, and map margins of vol. iv now… Read More