Search Results: Titles starting with P from B & B Rare Books, Ltd., ABAA

London: Printed by John Baskerville for J. and R. Tonson, 1758 Two volumes. First Baskerville edition. Bound in full brown calf with gilt borders with designs in four corners to boards, gilt designs to edges, spines with five raised bands and designs in gilt to each compartment, black labels with titles in gilt to spines, brown topstains and speckled edges, marbled endpapers, John Earl of Hyndford bookplates to front pastedowns. Very good set, spine ends and corners with some repair, outer hinges reinforced, with some wear to corners, some wear and thin cracks to spine hinges, a bit of rubbing to gilt on spines and edges. Overall, an excellent and well-preserved set. Paradise Lost includes a preface by the set's famed printer, John Baskerville, which gives insight into his approach to printing. Paradise Regain'd includes a biographical section titled "Life of Milton" and two additional works by Milton - "Samson Agonistes" and "Poems upon Several Occasions." Both… Read More

London: Printed by J. M. for John Starkey at the Mitre in Fleetstreet, near Temple-Bar, 1671 First edition, second issue, with "loah" corrected to "loth" on p. 67 of Paradise Regain'd; complete with licensing and errata leaves. Bound in contemporary brown calf, with five raised bands to spine, boards and spine ruled in blind. Very good, with some wear and light insect damage to boards, corners worn to boards, rebacked, contemporary ownership signatures to front free endpaper (recto and verso), occasional light spotting and soiling to pages, and errata errors hand-corrected on pages. Overall, a pleasing and sturdy example of Milton's classic follow-up to "Paradise Lost." "Paradise Regain'd" is Milton's sequel to his epic poem "Paradise Lost," the latter of which tells the Biblical tale of how Adam and Eve were forced out of the idyllic Garden of Eden. Indeed, the regaining of the lost paradise is a major theme in "Paradise… Read More

New York: The Viking Press, 1958 Illustrated with black and white photographs. First edition, first printing. Presentation copy, inscribed on front free endpaper from Oppenheimer to Dorothy Parker: "To Dorothy / With gratitude, love / and the hope that / she will like being / in here as much as / I like having her / in a book of mine. / Always, / George." Publisher's lavender boards, front board lettered and ruled in purple, spine with gilt lettering on purple label, and purple topstain; original pictorial dust jacket designed by Robert Hallock, lettered in white, blue, and pink. Very good with light toning to spine ends and board edges, light fraying to spine ends, and minor wear to lower corners; good unclipped dust jacket with chipping to spine ends, front flap detached (but present), chipping to rear panel corners and a chip to rear flap fore edge, light edgewear including a few small closed tears and a small chip to top of rear panel, and minor soiling to rear panel, unfaded panels… Read More

New York: Charles L. Webster & Company, 1888 Two volumes. Illustrated with numerous portrait plates (including frontispiece portraits at beginning of both volumes) and maps. First editions, first printings. Publisher's dark green cloth, with rider on horseback stamped in gilt to front boards, lettered in gilt, band of military stars in gilt to spines, and floral endpapers; near fine set, with light toning to spines, light rubbing to spine ends and corners, a hint of rubbing to boards, very bright gilt, previous owner's bookplates to front pastedowns, light offsetting to title pages from frontispiece portraits, and a small closed tear to fold-out map in Vol. 2 between pp. 26-27. Overall, a handsome and vibrant set, with clean pages. In Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, the famous Civil War general traces his fascinating life story. Sheridan is perhaps best remembered for "The Burning," a brutal campaign in which he and his troops decimated the Shenandoah Valley, which was… Read More

1972 Vernon "Lefty" Gomez (1908-1989) was born in Rodeo, California, the youngest of eight children, to Francisco and Rita Gomez. He began playing baseball on his hometown team at age thirteen, and by fourteen was pitching throughout central California. In 1928, when Gomez was 20 years old, he signed a contract to play for the San Francisco Seals, and two years later he joined the New York Yankees. Except for a single game in 1943 with the Washington Senators, Gomez spent his entire career with the Yankees (1930-1942). He was a key part of the team's dominant run in the 1930s, which saw them winning five World Series titles. In World Series games, Gomez was undefeated on the mound, boasting a 6-0 record, which still stands today as the longest undefeated winning streak for a pitcher in the World Series. In his relatively short but illustrious career, Gomez was selected for seven All-Star games and won the Triple Crown twice (1934 and 1937). He was the starting pitcher for the American… Read More

New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1912 First American edition, first printing. Publisher's navy cloth, front board and spine stamped in gilt. Very good, with light toning to spine, mild dimming to spine gilt, boards slightly bowed, minor wear to spine ends and board corners, a touch of soiling to rear board, bookseller's book listing affixed to front pastedown, small pencil mark to p. 7, and text slightly damaged on pp. 52-53. Overall, a pleasing and tight copy. Housed in a brown cardboard shipping slipcase from Book-Of-The-Month Club. In this memoir, Conrad gives a stream of consciousness account of his Polish upbringing, life at sea, his entrance into the navy, and the writing of his first novel, Almayer's Folly (1895). The work first appeared in Ford Madox Ford's English Review in 1909 and was subsequently published in book form in 1912 as Some Reminiscences in the UK and A Personal Record in the US.. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good.

New York: Charles L. Webster and Company, 1885-1886 Two volumes. First edition, first printings. Publisher's dark green cloth, with Congressional Medallion of 1863 stamped in gilt to the front boards, medallion verso stamped in gilt to the rear boards, lettered in gilt, band of military stars in gilt to the spines, and floral endpapers. Very good set, with some scratching and soiling to cloth, lightly toned spines with light dimming to gilt, bright gilt on boards, mid-20th century inscriptions to front free endpapers, lightly bumped corners to Vol. 1, light toning to page edges, light thumbsoiling to a few pages in Vol. 1, fold-out facsimile document on p. 312 in Vol. 1 detached but present, some spotting to Vol. 2 frontispiece portrait, and a bit of separation to bottom of front hinge in Vol. 1. Overall, a sturdy and unrestored set. From B&B Desc: Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant is an autobiographical memoir by Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States, written during the last… Read More

New York & Cleveland: The World Publishing Compan, 1970 First edition. Signed and inscribed by Pete Rose to the front endpaper. Original publisher's red cloth-backed white boards; red and white dust jacket with photograph of Rose to the front panel, spine lettered in white, front panel in black. Near fine with some rubbing to the spine; unclipped dust jacket some wear to the spine ends, small adhesive stain to upper front panel, rubbing to the panels, else very good. In The Pete Rose Story, Rose gives an account of his life and career up until 1970, the year that the book was published. Rose is one of the all-time great MLB players, holding the record for hits (4,256) and winning three World Series. His most successful years were as a part of the Cincinnati Reds, which were nicknamed the "Big Red Machine" due to their dominance. . Signed. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Dust Jacket Included.

1980 Original 8” x 10” black and white photograph. Inscribed by Hubbell: “To my good friend / Lefty Gomez / my very best wishes / Carl Hubbell.” Photo of Hubbell on the mound, at the end of his follow-through. About fine, with just some light curling to photo. This photo comes from the personal collection of Lefty Gomez. Carl Hubbell is a Hall of Fame pitcher who spent his entire career with the Giants. He won National League MVP honors twice (1933, 1936) and was selected for nine All-Star games. His most memorable moment in the league came when he struck out five all-time great hitters in a row in the 1934 All-Star Game: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, and Joe Cronin. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1947. Lefty Gomez, ace pitcher for the New York Yankees, won five World Series titles with the team in the 1930s and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. Hubbell and Gomez’s playing careers overlapped significantly, with… Read More

1976 [undated, c. early 1970s]. Original 8" x 10" black and white photograph. Inscribed by Irvin: "To Lefty Gomez / Thanks for all the thrills / Monte Irvin / 1976." Portrait of Irvin dressed in a suit and tie, with a phone to his ear. Two tiny nicks to right edge of photo, else fine. Overall, a lovely example with a great association. This photo comes from the personal collection of Lefty Gomez. Monte Irvin played nine years in the Negro leagues with the Newark Eagles before getting the call up to the major leagues in 1949. He was one of the first African American players to break the MLB's color line (Jackie Robinson was the first, two years earlier, when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers). Irvin played seven seasons with the New York Giants, winning a title with the team in 1954 after sweeping the Cleveland Indians. Lefty Gomez won five World Series titles with the Yankees in the 1930s. Gomez was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972, and Irvin was inducted just one… Read More

Chicago: Baseball Correspondence League of America, 1914 First edition, first printing. Publisher's pale red wrappers with pitcher photo to front wrapper, lettered in black. Very good, with some color fading and very light dampstaining to front wrapper, sticker residue to top of front wrapper, small closed tear to fore edge of front wrapper, and tiny crease to lower corner of rear wrapper. Overall, an excellent example. In this pamphlet, six legends of baseball - Christy Mathewson, Ed Walsh, Walter Johnson, "Nap" Rucker, Joe Wood, and "Doc" White - give in-depth pitching tips in six separate chapters. Each chapter includes photos of the pitchers, showing how they grip the ball and key stages of their pitching motion. Included at the beginning of each chapter is a brief biographical piece by the editor, Irwin H. Howe, who was the official statistician for the American League and a number of minor leagues.. First Edition. Original Wraps. Near Fine.

Boston: Press of Emery & Hughes, 1888 First edition, first printing of Kelly's baseball memoir. Rebound in black cloth with titles in gilt to spine, olive endpapers, publisher's front wrapper bound in, wrapper lettered and illustrated in burgundy, with an engraved portrait of the author. A good copy, lacking the rear wrapper, front wrapper enclosed in laminate with light chipping and a bit of creasing to corners and fore edge, minor reinforcement to lower edge and fore edge of title page, repair to lower corners of dedication page and first page of preface, with a previous owner's pencil signature below Kelly's printed signature to p. 86. Overall, a rare survivor and an exceptionally rare book. Noted as the first ever memoir of a baseball player, Play Ball is a series of anecdotes and memoirs by the Boston Beaneaters player Mike "King" Kelly. An early innovator of the game, Kelly developed and popularized techniques like the hook slide, hit and run, and the idea that… Read More

London: Hamish Hamilton, 1958 Uncorrected Proof copy. Publisher's light greenish yellow paper wrappers, with the publisher's printed brown label to the front wrapper, extending over spine onto rear board. About very good with significant foxing to wrappers, text block edges, and publisher's wraparound band, wear to spine ends with rear hinge slightly starting, interior very clean. Overall, a nice copy of this rare and fragile proof copy. Bruccoli A11.1.a Playback is the eighth and final complete detective novel in Chandler's series featuring his protagonist Detective Philip Marlowe, published in the year before the author's death. Unlike Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op and Sam Spade, who are widely considered the archetypal hard-boiled detective figures, Marlowe possesses a sensitivity underneath his tough exterior that distinguishes him from similar detective characters in the genre. Unlike many of his other novels, Playback is not set in Los Angeles, but rather in the… Read More

London: Macmillan & Co., 1953 First UK edition, first printing. With laid-in bookplate signed by Vonnegut. Publisher's red cloth, with light toning to spine ends, a few tiny bumps to edges of rear board, a hint of soiling to spine ends, bottoms of boards, and edges of endpapers, and light foxing to text block edges; about very good clipped dust jacket, with light fading to spine, light soiling to panels and spine, front flap stamped with "Macmillan's Overseas Library," light wear to edges and spine ends, light foxing to jacket verso, tape reinforcement along upper and lower margins of jacket verso, and some splitting to top portion of rear flap fold. Overall, a pleasing copy. Vonnegut's first book Player Piano is a dystopian novel set ten years after World War III, in the fictional town of Ilium, New York. In this town, society is largely run by self-automating machines, and the population is divided into managers and engineers on one side of the river, and the… Read More

New York: The Phoenix Bookshop, 1973 Limited first edition. One of 100 numbered copies signed by Bishop (an additional 26 copies lettered A-Z, not for sale, were printed), this being number 28. Original string-tied marbled wrappers, with white label to front wrapper, printed in black. Fine. Overall, a charming and scarce publication. Bishop's "Poem" was first published in the New Yorker in 1972 and later appeared in her acclaimed poetry collection, Geography III (1976). In the semi-autobiographical poem, the narrator finds an old painting of a Nova Scotian town that had "spent 70 years as a minor family relic handed along collaterally to owners who looked at it sometimes, or didn't bother to." The narrator recognizes the town from her youth and reflects on her connection with the painter. Regarded as one of the greatest American poets of the 20th century, Bishop won the 1956 Pulitzer Prize for her second volume of poetry, Poems: North & South/A Cold Spring (1955),… Read More

London: Edward Moxon, 1844 First edition, mixed issue as usual. First impression of Volume I, with "let the flood / of your salt scorn" to page 141. Second impression of Volume II, with the page numbers battered on pages 161 and 163, and with "the end'' to page 175. Publisher's green cloth, spines lettered in gilt and ruled in blind, boards decorated with embossed vine borders. Near fine, with some toning to the spines, a few tiny closed tears to the spine ends, spine head of Volume II rubbed and worn, clean bindings, former owner's bookplates to the front pastedowns, spines very lightly cracked inside the rear covers, otherwise sturdy spines and secure bindings, otherwise bright and fresh pages. A clean and pleasing set, free of any repairs or restoration. Housed in a custom light brown slipcase with dark brown morocco spine, with matching chemises. Published under her maiden name Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, Poems is a two-volume collection of Browning's poetry that… Read More

New York and Boston: C. T. Brainard Publishing Co., 1900 Two volumes. Deluxe edition, limited issue of 1,000 copies printed for subscribers, this set being out of series and unnumbered. Finely bound by Brentano's in three-quarter contemporary-style dark blue morocco ruled in gilt and light blue cloth, five raised bands to spine, stamped in gilt to spine, pale gray endpapers, top edges gilt. A near fine set with spines faded to brown and some light wear to hinges, light rubbing to extremities in volume II, else very bright and clean. Though best known for his Essays of Elia and Tales from Shakespeare, Charles Lamb also published several shorter works, including poems, plays, and essays. These range in topic from scholarly pieces on Shakespeare and his contemporaries to his famously sentimental poems like "The Old Familiar Faces," which touches on the death of Lamb's mother. Lamb's writing was among the most celebrated of its time.. Hard Cover. Near Fine.

London: George G. Harrap & Co., Ltd., 1935. , 1935 Illustrated by Arthur Rackham, with twelve color plates, 17 plates in black and white, and illustrations throughout the text. Limited first edition. One of 460 numbered copies signed by Rackham, this being number 113. Large quarto. Original publisher's full vellum, decorated and lettered in gilt, top edge gilt, and pictorial endpapers by Rackham; in its original publisher's red cloth slipcase. Some light spotting to text block edges, else fine book; about fine slipcase, with light rubbing to corners. Overall, an exceptional copy, with bright and pristine illustrations. Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) was a prolific British artist and illustrator, best known for his deluxe editions of popular children's books. Artistically inclined since childhood, Rackham started out illustrating for newspapers, but it was not until he began drawing for children's literature that he received critical acclaim. In response to his burgeoning fame,… Read More

London: Chapman & Hall, 1837 Illustrated by R. Seymour and Hablot K. Browne (“Phiz”). First edition, first printing with “hodling” for “holding” on pg. 260 line 29, “S. Veller” uncorrected on pg. 342 line 5, and “F” in OF” imperfect on the headline of 432. Contemporary three-quarter brown calf with marbled boards, five raised bands to spine, titles and decorations in gilt to spine, green and red leather labels, all edges marbled, marbled endpapers. Very good with light edgewear, mild rubbing to boards, edges and spine lightly faded, tiny bump to fore edge of rear board, bit of fading to marbled edges, some spotting to pages, previous owner’s bookplate and tiny bookseller’s stamp to front pastedown. Overall, a pleasing copy. Smith 1, 3. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club was originally published serially in twenty numbers, bound in nineteen monthly installments from April 1836 - November 1837. This first edition was… Read More

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1934 First edition, first printing. Original publisher's orange cloth, titles and decorations printed in blue to front board and spine, blue top stain; original black, red and white dust jacket with wavy design. Near fine book with a touch of soiling to top edge of text block, light wear to bottom edges of boards, and previous owner’s bookplate to front pastedown; very good unclipped dust jacket with a bit of wear to jacket flap hinges and spine ends, closed tear to bottom two inches of spine, small closed tear to bottom of rear panel, a bit of soiling and smudging to rear panel, and minor toning to spine. Overall, a sturdy copy in a bright example of its iconic dust jacket. In The Postman Always Rings Twice, a drifter named Frank Chambers takes a job at a rural diner, and he and the owner’s wife, Cora, quickly begin a passionate affair. Longing to be free from Cora’s husband, the two brutally murder him, but their bond begins to fray when they enter… Read More