Search Results: Authors starting with W from Henry Sotheran Ltd.

1911. London; G.G. Harrap & Co. [1911]. 4to. Original grey pictorial cloth elaborately blocked in blue, taupe, black and gilt to upper cover, spine lavishly gilt, lower board with a neat pictorial roundel printed in black, coloured pictorial endpapers, in publisher's decorative card presentation box; pp. [222]; profusely illustrated and decorated on every page, with text in printed calligraphy throughout; illustrations printed in line and colours, with a small mounted coloured vignette to prelims and 16 mounted coloured plates; a fine copy in exceptional condition both internally and externally in a somewhat worn box. First edition illustrated by Pogany.

1895. Scarborough, The Angler Co. Ltd., 1895. Small 8vo. Original green cloth, gilt title; pp. xvi, 142; past ownership inscription to ffep, a very good copy. First Edition. A collection of advice and anecdotes concerning catching grayling (Thymallus thymallus), a freshwater fish in the Salmon family. Historically, grayling have been much maligned by anglers, who believed that the fish stopped trout colonizing the rivers they inhabited, but research by the Grayling Research Trust has since thrown this into doubt. This book is unusual for the time in its positive approach to the grayling as a sport - there is some implication in the text that many anglers perhaps found the grayling to be a fickle and hard to land target for their affections. The grayling is now a protected species under the Bern convention.

Washington D. C., Engraved and printed by the U.S. Geological Survey, 1896. Large folio (55.5 x 47 cm); original printed wrappers with cloth back-strip; pp. [6], explanatory text inside wrappers, 3 plates with photographic views of Yellowstone Park, 7 colour-printed maps (geological and topographic), a few text illustrations; wrappers a little spotted, internally very good; provenance: Royal Institution, stamp on front cover. This ambitious publication came out between 1894 and 1945 in 227 issues, called Folios. - We currently stock two more issues of this atlas, both related to prospecting for gold.

Washington D. C., Engraved and printed by the U.S. Geological Survey, 1894. Large folio (55.5 x 47 cm); original printed wrappers with cloth back-strip; pp. [6], explanatory text inside wrappers, 4 colour-printed maps (geological and topographic); wrappers a little spotted, internally very good; provenance: Royal Institution, stamp on front cover. This ambitious publication came out between 1894 and 1945 in 227 issues, called Folios. This issue is devoted to a small part of the Californian Gold Belt, which is the headline of the first portion of the text.

1878. Macmillan & Co. 1878. 8vo. Original green cloth, black stamped rules to sides, gilt lettering to spine; pp. xiii + [3] + 356 + [1, ads.], 1 chart, 1 figure in text; slight bumping to corners. small chip to edge of ffep, occasional light foxing, very good. Provenance: front pastedown with bookplate of Otto Orren Fisher (1881-1961), the important rare book and manuscript collector best known for his holdings of Shakespeare Folios which are now held at Miami University, his alma mater. On his death his library contained 80,000 volumes on numerous subjects and included the signatures of all the U.S. Presidents up until that time. First edition. This wide-ranging collection of pieces concentrates largely upon tropical environments, including thorough surveys of climate, flora and fauna and with a special chapter on hummingbirds. There are also important chapters on the antiquity of man and on Wallace's special interests in sexual selection, coloration and the distribution of animals, all of… Read More

1897. Macmillan & Co. 1897. 8vo. Publisher's green cloth, gilt rules and lettering to spine; pp. xvi + 494 + [2, ads], frontispiece portrait of author, 1 folding map, 37 black and white illustrations; a little light foxing to frontispiece, otherwise very bright and clean indeed. Reprint. Wallace advocates a 'pure Darwinism', using examples from the wild around the world to expand upon Darwin's dependence on evidence drawn from domesticated animals and plants. He tackles the arguments against evolution and considers in depth the concepts of natural selection and the "survival of the fittest". This work, based upon lectures given in the United States in 1885-7, proves that Wallace was not only a staunch ally of Darwin, but a heavyweight theorist in his own right.

1847. Manchester: James Cheetham. 1847. 8vo. Original blue cloth; pp. 108, engraved title page, 3 copper engraved plates (2 hand coloured), 2 loose flies at pp 28-29; previous owners' signatures to ffep, very good. First edition. Copies have emerged with a varying number of plates; however, all copies seem to have the two coloured plates.

Cowbridge, Printed for the Author, by R. and D. Thomas, 1771. 8vo. Entirely uncut in late 19th-century blue half-morocco over marbled boards by Henry Blackwell, spine lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers; pp. 70; binding a little rubbed, title-page with missing portion of upper outer corner, p. 53 with small paper-flaw; otherwise a very attractive copy with the Welsh bookplate of Henry Blackwell inside front cover. First edition. Walters is the author of the magisterial and still relevant Dictionary of the Welsh Language (1770-1794). Walters needed a printer nearby and Rhys Thomas moved to Cowbridge to establish the first press in Glamorganshire, and this is its first product. Provenance: Henry Balckwell (1851-1928) left Britain for New York in 1877 and ran a large bindery. 'Blackwell played a prominent part in the Welsh-American life of his adopted country. He was a life-member of the S. Davids Society of the State of New York, a life-member of the Virginia Historical Society, one of the founders of… Read More

1904. London: Chiswick Press for George Bell and Sons, 1904. Folio, sometime bound in full red polished calf, spine panelled and lettered in gilt, boards with gilt roll border enclosing two gilt line panels, gilt corner pieces, watered silk doblures, marbled paper endpapers, illustrated with six portraits engraved and printed by Messrs Walker and Cockerell, title-page and initial letters designed by Mr D. Clayton Calthorp. Printed in red and black A little light offsetting from tissue guards to portraits, otherwise a near fine, largely unopened, copy in a handsome binding. Limited edition of 200 numbered copies choicely printed at the Chiswick Press. "Walton also made significant contributions to seventeenth-century life-writing throughout his career. His leisurely labours as a biographer seem to have grown out of his devotion to angling. It was probably as an angler that he made the acquaintance of Sir Henry Wotton, but it is clear that Walton had more than a love of fishing and a humorous… Read More

1945. [Britsh-occupied Berlin, summer 1945]. Original large colour-lithographic poster (c. 80 x 59 cm); damage to margins, tears, previously folded, in need of restoration. This is the second copy known to have survived. A poignant and beautifully designed and printed poster warning the British soldiers of the danger of Berlin's poisonous water in that hot summer of 1945. - The only other copy known is held by the Imperial War Museum, London (state of preservation not examined). It must have been quite a task to find a printer in the largely destroyed city, full of rotting bodies, who had managed to rescue ink, a large lithographic stone, paper and a functioning press. - An esimate by a paper restorer, in order to back it with one layer of Japan paper for transport can be provided.

1848. London, Henry Colburn, 1848. Two volumes, 8vo. Modern tan half-calf over marbled boards, spines with raised bands, ruled and lettered in gilt, red morocco lettering-pieces; pp. xi, 306, 24 (advertisements); vii, 352, 1 (advertiesements), two frontispieces in lithography, one lithographic map; light offsetting from frontispieces; otherwise only lightly and evenly toned; a very good set; provenance: stamp of the Sons of England Patriotic & Benevolent Society. Historical Research Committee in upper margin of p. iii in volume one. First edition of a rather uncommon title. 'An account of the War of the Axe written by the wife of an officer with the 91st Regiment' (Mendelssohn). The Wards, Harriet and John, travelled out on the Abercrombie Robinson, surviving her wreck in Algoa Bay. In his History of South Africa Since September 1795 Theal remarks of this book that 'The leading events of that war are faithfully described, and a correct view is given of the occurrences that led to it. Much… Read More

1920. London, Cassel and Company Ltd, 1920. 8vo. Original green cloth, with illustrated dust jacket; pp. xvi, 277, [1], illustrated with numerous plates after photographs; wrapper a little darkened and with a little chipping to edges and folds, with 4cm triangular loss at bottom of front panel of wrapper; a very good copy, with the scarce dust-wrappers (100 years old!) preserved. First edition of this important account of the Russian Civil War in the East, written by a Colonel of the 25th Middlesex Regiment, who landed in Vladivostok in 1918 from Shanghai and Hongkong, to join Czech and American forces. What follows is a blow-by-blow narrative of the Western anti-Bolshevik activities all over Siberia.

Collins.2008. 8vo. Publisher's brown leather binding, with plain cream dustwrapper, in brown cloth slipcase, all edges gilt; signed by the authors; fine. No. 91 of limited leatherbound edition. New Naturalist 107.

1981. Dublin: The Glendale Press. 1981. 8vo. Original binding by J.F. Newman & Son in quarter brown calf, marbled boards, all egdes gilt; pp. xii + 293 + [23, ads], illustrated throughout; fine. No. 14 of 40 specially bound copies, inscribed by the publisher, author and the president and the secretray of the Federation of irsh Bee-Keeping Associations. Scarce.

[Saint Petersburg, Stasiulevich] for the Commissioners of the Geological Committee, 1903. Folio. Original printed wrappers; pp. [iv], 73, plan, large map with colour printing, illustrations (some after photographs) in the text; light wear to wrappers, otherwise fine. First edition, published as one issue of the Mémoirs du Comité Géologique. A serious seismological assessment and geological study of the tectonics of Shamakhi in Azerbaijan. The city is located on the border of three tectonic plates in the most seismic area of the Caucasus and was hit by powerful earthquakes in 1191 and 1859, which was so destructive that the capital of Shirvan was transferred to Baku twice. The last catastrophic earthquake was recorded in 1902, which destroyed the 10th-century Juma Mosque.

1956. W H Allen. 1956. 8vo., original cloth with dust wrapper. A little rubbing and creasing to head of spine of wrapper, a little spotting to prelims, otherwise a very good copy. First UK edition, inscribed by Welles "To Keith Burns best regards Orson Welles." Kevin Johnson, author of The Dark Page. Books that Inspired American Film Noir, notes that this is the only signed copy of this English edition that is thus far known. The basis of the 1955 film noir of the same name directed by and starring Welles as the title character. The film was released in England under the title "Confidential Report". "It is perhaps surprising that Orson Welles, so phenomenally active and versatile in the arts, has not written a novel before. Mr Arkadin finds Mr Welles in what may perhaps be described as his "Third Man" mood". Welles was unhappy with the film and indeed denied authorship of the novel, although it was confirmed as his work by many others. Collector… Read More

Durban, M. Wells, [c. 1905]. Small 8vo. Original red cloth, front board lettered and ornamented in gilt; unpaginated; twelve photogravure images on six leaves of plates, of pink-tinted card stock; with photographer's advertisements on final leaf; small marks to front board and some light rubbing to extremities; slight foxing to title-page and final leaf; a very good copy. A very rare book containing photographs of young African girls in traditional dress. According to photographer's advertisment, M. Wells was a 'Dealer in African Curios' in Durban, Natal. We were able to locate only two copies in institutions, held in KwaZulu-Natal Library and UC Davis Shields Library.

1912. Privately printed by the author, [1912]. 8vo. Original green cloth, title stamped in gilt to upper cover and spine; pp.144; a little exterior rubbing and light offsetting to endpapers, but nevertheless a very good copy, very bright and unfoxed internally. First Edition. Many of the flies seem very unconventional compared to those used by Halford and Skues, and include such unusual species as crane-flies and spiders.

London, W. H. Allen, 1960. 8vo. Original boards in the beautiful illustrated wrappers (not price-clipped); pp. 223, plates after photographs; near-fine. First edition of an uncommon title. 'This unusual war story deals with the life and adventures of a British seaman in Shanghai during the Japanese occupation. Jim Cuming, a Sheffield man, was ashore when the survivors of the river gunboat Peterel were taken prisoner, and he managed to escape detection for four years, during which time he fought a lonely battle against the enemy' (blurb inside front flap).

Paris, Giraud, 1854. Small 8vo. Contemporary green half morocco over pebble-grained cloth, spine with raised bands, ruled and lettered in gilt; pp. [iv], 320 (recte 318); light wear to extremities, internally a little brown-spotted in places only; 1920s Warsaw library stamp to verso of title, with release stamp. Very rare first edition of this combination of an analysis of the national character of the English with a travelogue full of detailed and sharp observations, written by a French novelist, art critic (the first to write about artistic photography), historian and essayist. Historians of French literature see in this book and details of one trip to England in 1859 as the inspiration for Jules Verne's description of life in London's clubland depicted in Around the World in Eighty Days. Not in COPAC.