Search Results: Titles starting with W from Whitmore Rare Books

New York; Chicago: Macmillan; McClurg, 1916. First editions. Very Good + to NF. Both books in original publisher's cloth bindings with titles to spines and front boards. The former in VG+ condition with some sunning to spine and offsetting to rear board. The latter Near Fine, with the slightest bumping to extremities and early ownership inscription to front endpaper "C.W.B.M. [Christian Women's Board of Missions] Millersburg, Ohio Oct. 1918." Internally both copies clean, square, unmarked, and complete, with Wage-Earning Women retaining the two folding charts to the rear. A pair of important and ground-breaking studies on the conditions of working women in the United States and its national and international impacts. Annie M. MacLean was a cutting-edge sociologist whose work focused on the conditions of working women in the United States. Immersive in her work, she was a contributor to Jane Addams' Hull House and the settlement house movement as well as an investigative researcher who took on a… Read More

London: J. Evans, 1795. Early edition. One of several iterations printed in broadside format between 1750 and 1800. Measuring 380 x 240mm printed to recto only. Trivial wear to edges; long closed tear between columns three and four with no loss to text. A lovely example of this scarce broadside, depicting a young woman rejected by her father on account of her sex, and the life she builds for herself within the patriarchal marriage economy. ESTC reports copies of this impression at four libraries; no copy of any edition has appeared at auction, and the present is the only example in trade. On the surface, The Wandering Young Gentlewoman is a fairytale of meritocracy. The second daughter of a gentleman, the protagonist is roundly and fully rejected by her family: "In twelve months time this woman we hear, Had another daughter of beauty most clear. And when he knew it was a female, In bitter passion he presently fell." Railing at his wife, the squire demands that this second child be cast off into the… Read More

Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow Press, 1984. First edition. Fine/Very Good +. One of 500 trade edition copies, signed by Bukowski on the title page. Fine in Very Good + publisher's acetate jacket. Bound in light grey boards with gray fabric backstrip and maintaining paper title to spine. Insignificant discoloration to top of closed text block and minor smudge on top front board. Interior bight and clean, appearing virtually unread with orange end sheets. Acetate with expected scuffing and large scratch across back panel. An anthology of Bukowski's poetry from the first half of the 1980s, in which the author experiments with structure and length. Offering enthusiasts a familiar mix of the gritty with the quotidian. A great example of a Black Sparrow Press book—run by John Martin the avant-garde press was responsible for supporting and publishing Bukowski's work throughout his prolific career. Krumhansl 89. Fine in Very Good + dust jacket.

London: Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orme, 1808. First edition. Contemporary full calf with gilt and morocco to spine. All edges brightly gilt. Marbled endpapers. Some gentle rubbing and slight bowing to boards, but pleasing and tight overall. Bookplate of J. O. Edwards to front pastedown. Inoffensive foxing to preliminary and terminal leaves, with text block fresh and unmarked. Measuring 155 x 90mm and collating [6], 185, [1]: complete, including frontis. The first of two editions released in the same year, and preceding the American first edition, it is scarce institutionally and in trade. One of two copies currently on the market, OCLC reports only 5 institutional copies. The true first has not come to auction, with the three appearances in the modern auction record all being the U.S. printing. From the start of her literary career, Amelia Opie's work stood out for its fascination with philosophical gray areas. The blurring of gender, the pursuit of desire, and the experience of adventure earned her a… Read More

New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc, 1974. First American edition. Fine/Fine. A Fine copy of the book in like dust jacket. A stray mark in green pencil on the rear jacket panel, otherwise exceptionally bright and fresh. A fantastic debut novel by Adams, ostensibly a book for children, but with themes and layers of complexity best suited for an adult audience. A best-seller, Carnegie Medal winner, and inspiration for multiple film, tv, stage, and musical adaptations, Watership Down was inspired by tales the author told his two daughters. The book follows a group of rabbits as they flee their home after one of them experiences a terrifying vision of death and destruction. Led by the heroic rabbit, Hazel, the group endures adventure and hardship in their search for a new home. The story is an ode to England's rural landscape, an epic journey, and an incredible example of world-building reflective of our own. Fine in Fine dust jacket.

Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black, 1871. Centenary Edition. Twenty-five small octavo volumes (7 3/16 x 4 3/4 inches; 182 x 121 mm). Illustrated with twenty- five engraved frontispieces and vignette title-pages. Bound ca. 1871 in full contemporary tan calf, covers double-ruled in gilt. Spines with five raised bands, decoratively tooled in gilt in compartments, with red and green morocco gilt lettering labels, marbled endpapers, all edges marbled. Auction lot sticker on front board of Volume 7. Gilt on spines a little dull, still a VG+ set in a contemporary binding. "Scott's influence as a novelist was incalculable; he established the form of the historical novel, and, according to V.S. Pritchett, the form of the short story. He was avidly read and imitated throughout the 19th century, not only by historical novelists such as Ainsworth and Bulwer-Lytton, but also by writers like Mrs. Gaskell, G. Eliot, the Brontës, and many others, who treated rural themes, contemporary peasant life, regional speech,… Read More

New York: The Viking Press, 1947. First edition. Fine/about Fine. A Fine copy of the book in just about Fine dust jacket. The book with the correct green top-stain, copyright information and blindstamped bus on the front cover. This copy with a green silk ribbon bookmark (attached behind the text-block), which we haven't seen before. Dust jacket with the correct $2.75 price on the front flap in exceptional condition overall with just the slightest wear at the spine ends. An exceptionally preserved copy. Juan Chicoy's part-time service of operating a shuttle bus along the highway near his town brings together a wide array of characters who might not otherwise mingle: "a successful businessman, his prissy sexually frigid wife, their athletic university-student daughter, a traveling salesman, an arousing stripper masquerading as a dental nurse, a cranky rancher...each person in this random cast of players faces an inner crisis of sorts during their short journey, and the resulting interconnected… Read More

New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1927. First edition. Near Fine/Very Good +. Number 922 of a thousand copies signed by the author and publisher. A very nearly Fine copy of the book with some spotting to the lower board. In the publisher's original glassine with a few small chips and tears and also with some spotting to the lower panel. Lacking the publisher's box. Written with an eye for the mechanical aspects of his aviation journey, Charles Lindbergh records his pioneer solo flight across the Atlantic in We. Lindberg wrote this book only two months after completing his historic flight, which would inspire Amelia Earhart and countless other pilots to continue pushing the boundaries of modern aviation. Horace Green, in his 1927 review of We, applauds the meticulous attention to detail revealed in the pilot's narrative, noting that "the outstanding feature is the fact that Lindbergh's success was laid on careful foundations... his plans are exact, careful and weighed in the balance" (The New York… Read More

Boston: Benj. R. Tucker, 1886. First English language edition. Very Good +. A Very Good+ copy of this scarce first translation into English. Originally serialized in the journal Sovremennik between 1862 - 1863. Publisher's green cloth, stamped in brown on the front board. Some wear to the spine ends and corners, slight dampstain to the lower edge of the front board, brown stamping rubbed. Rear inner hinge just starting, but holding well. Complete and unrestored. With the penciled signature of Julian Hawthorne, Nathaniel Hawthorne's son, on the front free end paper. A few pencil annotations within the text and on the rear end paper, presumably also made by Julian Hawthorne. "[T]he first and most influential of a long succession of tendentious radical novels" in Russian literature (Mirsky p. 225). This first translation into English was undertaken and self-published by Benjamin R. Tucker, an outspoken American anarchist who defied the Boston police by selling banned literature, including Whitman's… Read More

New York: Fountain Press, 1930. First Thus. Near Fine/Near Fine. One of 842 copies by the Pynson Press, of which this is a Printer's Copy. This copy is NOT signed by the author on the limitation page. Publisher's pictorial cloth binding retaining delicate paper label to spine. A Near Fine copy in like slipcase, with a hint of sunning to spine and faint toning to pages. Slipcase with minimal shelfwear and some splitting along the lower edge. Milne's nostalgic poem about several young boys -- both good and troublemakers -- and their childhood adventures, from setting off small explosions to breaking pots of jam. A charming work by the same author and illustrator responsible for the beloved Winnie the Pooh books which have shaped multiple generations. Near Fine in Near Fine dust jacket.

London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1854. First edition. Original yellow publisher's cloth binding stamped in gilt and blind. All edges gilt. Red endpapers. Gentle rubbing to extremities largely concentrated to spine ends; corners bumped. Offsetting to front board. Hinges starting but sound. Contemporary ownership inscription of "Georgiana Trench. Oct 22 1854" in ink with "Harriet Trench" beneath it in pencil to verso of front endpaper. Small bookplate of American collector Albert A. Howard ("AHA") and bookseller's ticket of Leighton & Son to rear pastedown. Some light scattered foxing to margins but else clean and unmarked. Collating [4], 100, [2]: complete, including both half title and engraved title pages. A book notable for its typography and decoration, it is the first known example of the Basle Roman typeface, this being cut by William Howard for the Chiswick Press; illustrations engraved by Mary Byfield. In all, a charming copy of this etiquette manual containing poems and prayers… Read More

New York: Random House, 1939. First Edition. About Fine. Octavo, with burgundy quarter cloth over wood-grain papered boards. Copy 148 of two hundred fifty copies, signed by Faulkner on the limitation page. Slightest bit of chipping to edges, otherwise Fine. A clean, square and bright copy of this literary classic. Consisting of two interwoven short stories with opposing perspectives on love, grief, and sacrifice, The Wild Palms is one of Faulkner's most experimental works. "When I reached the end of what is now the first section of The Wild Palms, I realized suddenly that something was missing, it needed emphasis, something to lift it like counterpoint in music. So I ...raised it to pitch again with another section of its antithesis, which is the story of a man who got his love and spent the rest of the book fleeing from it" (Faulkner). About Fine.

New York: The Bennett Libraries, Inc, 1928. One of 200 Large-Paper Copies printed on Holland Pannekoek Paper (out of a total edition of 1,000).Publishers (bound by Bennett, NY) full mottled calf, covers ruled in blind. Spine with five raised bands ruled in blind with two maroon morocco gilt lettered labels, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, others uncut. A Fine copy, many of the pages uncut. Royal octavo (9 3/8 x 6 1/2 inches; 239 x 165 mm.). Collating [ii, limitation], 303, [1, blank], with title page and half-titles printed in red and black. Engraved portrait frontispiece and four plates. Containing some of Shakespeare's most overtly violent, sexual, and passionate poetry -- and highlighting his engagement with classical writers such as Ovid and contemporaries such as Marlowe. Published 1592-1599, these represent some of Shakespeare's early, non-theatrical works; and they reveal his absolute mastery over the English language.

London: Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, 1809. First English language edition. Translated into English by William Hewetson. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards, rebacked to style. Marbled end papers and edges of text block. Previous owner's name on the verso of the front end paper, otherwise clean internally. Bound without the half-title, but retaining the frontis illustration and five pages of ads at the back. Collating: xxxvi, 115, [5, ads]. One of two variant imprints with no clear priority (the other in the same year from Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper), OCLC reports 4 institutional copies overall, only one of those matching our imprint. The first appearance in English of the story of the "Swiss legendary hero who symbolized the struggle for political and individual freedom...According to popular legend, William Tell was a peasant from Burglen who defied Austrian authority, was forced to shoot an apple from his son's head, was arrested for threatening the governor's life, saved that same… Read More

London: Methuen and Co, 1908. First edition. Near Fine. A Near Fine copy of the book in the publisher's original green cloth binding, stamped in gilt. Minor wear at the spine ends, short one inch split to rear inner hinge, faint ghost from removed article on front free end paper, but generally in excellent condition internally. Grahame's famed children's novel, featuring the beloved Mr. Toad, Rat, Badger, and Mole. Grahame began writing the book in 1908 - in his late 40s -- after leaving his position as Secretary of the Bank of England. Much of the plot of The Wind in the Willows had its origins both in the bedtime stories Grahame had invented to tell his own son, and in Grahame's childhood experiences in Berkshire county. The book might not have been published if not for the efforts of President Theodore Roosevelt, who lobbied Methuen to release it. While reviews were mixed, the book became a classic - and would be adapted into the well known play Toad of Toad Hall, by A.A. Milne, in 1929. "The… Read More

London: Methuen, 1926. First edition. Very Good +. Number 136 of 350 copies signed by A. A. Milne and the illustrator, E. H. Shepard, who helped bring Winnie the Pooh to Life. Original blue quarter cloth over blue boards with paper label to front. A Very Good+ to Near Fine copy with the spine lightly sunned and small bumps to corners and wear to the board edges. Previous owner's name on the front paste-down, otherwise an excellent copy internally. Retaining the large folding map to the rear. Housed in a handsome clamshell case. The first of A. A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh books, responsible for introducing children the world over to Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Owl, Rabbit, and Kanga and Roo. One of the most influential children's books in the world, it tells of the adventures of Christopher Robin, his bear Pooh, and their friends in the Hundred Acre Wood. Milne notably drew inspiration from the toys and playtime of his young son, who also appears as a regular character and the only human figure… Read More

Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co, 1911. First edition. Near Fine. Original publisher's cloth binding stamped in black to spine and front board. A just nearly Fine copy on account of some wear to the cloth near the foot of spine. Internally an exceptionally bright, fresh copy. Contemporary gift inscription to the front endpaper reads: "With love for Annie Blitz from Frances J. P. Xmas - 1911." A beautiful example and the only first edition on the market of this scarce history the women's movement, written by Ida B. Well's collaborator and fellow co-founder of the Alpha Suffrage Club. Two years after the publication of this book, Belle Squire would join forces with the legendary journalist and activist Ida B. Wells to found the Alpha Suffrage Club in response to the racism of majority-white national women's rights groups dominating the movement. Squire, herself a white woman, would throughout her career use her privilege to amplify the voices of Black activists; the two would, indeed, walk side-by-side in… Read More

London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1809. First edition. Contemporary half morocco over drab boards with gilt to spines. All edges marbled. Marbled endpapers. Corners of volume I bumped and gentle shelfwear to edges of rear board; else a pretty, square, and pleasing set. Armorial bookplate of John Warneford Armstrong (1770-1858), the known atheist and republican heir of landed peer Andrew George Armstrong, to front pastedown of volume III. Ink fingerprints to the margin of page xx of volume I and small closed tear to lower margin of pages 129-130 of volume III, neither affecting text. In all, internally fresh, unmarked and lovely, with pages measuring 170 x 110mm. Collating xxviii, 223, [1]; [4], 272; [4], 192; [4], 290, [2, notes]: bound without the terminal advertisements to volume IV but else complete including half and full titles to all volumes as issued. Intelligent and independent, Sydney Owenson supported herself as a governess turned novelist before her marriage to Sir Charles Morgan,… Read More

London & Edinburgh: T. C. & E. C. Jack, 1912. First edition. Fine. Small octavo (measures 165 x 107mm). Original green publisher's cloth binding with spine and front board lettered in black. A clean, square, tight copy. Offsetting to front and rear endpapers, else internally a surprisingly fresh, clean-margined copy. Well represented institutionally but uncommon in trade, this title rarely appears in such pleasing condition. "The torch which was lighted by Mary Wollstonecraft was never afterwards extinguished," Fawcett asserts at the beginning of her book, as she considers the early founders of the women's equality movement including Wollestoncraft and Mott. In the face of insult and ignorance, she explains, women have pushed forward to create a more just world through their writing (as in the case of Elizabeth Barrett Browning) or their activism (as in the case of Elizabeth Fry). But Fawcett is not only focused on the history of the movement -- though she does recount its high spots. She is even… Read More

New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc, 1989. Second printing. Near Fine/Near Fine. Extraordinary presentation copy signed and inscribed by the ex Doors manager and Jim Morrison confidant Danny Sugerman to film director Oliver Stone, who went on to make his own annotations and markings as preparation for his 1991 film The Doors. Original white publisher's binding with gilt to spine. Some minor soiling and toning to boards near spine. In the original bright yellow, pink, and orange dust jacket with only the most trivial wear to the crown of spine and corners, and some rubbing to the rear panel. In all, an exceptional association linking this copy both to the Doors and the director who immortalized their story on film. "Here, Sugerman reconstructs his glamorous and desperate life--shadowed, inspired, and nearly doomed by his friendship with rockstar Jim Morrison, leader of the Doors...Morrison was a magical mentor to Danny, a poet-philosopher in the dark lineage of Byron and Rimbaud. Morrison gave… Read More