Rare books from Lucius Books

Later published by Jonathan Cape in London and Simon and Schuster in New York. 1964. Pen and ink, on paper. Measuring 25.2 x 20.3cm. Drawn by John Lennon to illustrate the chapter Sad Michael. The illustration of a British Policeman standing over the seated Sad Michael is reproduced from this drawing on page 34 of the first edition. In 1963, Tom Maschler, editorial director of John Cape, commissioned journalist Michael Braun to write a book on the contemporary British pop scene. Braun later returned to Maschler with a set of drawings and writings scribbled on the back of hotel notepaper. The author and illustrator was John Lennon. Maschler began to read, and laugh, the writing, he thought, was "extraordinarily witty". He immediately commissioned the "surprisingly willing" Beatle to write his first book. In His Own Write, a collection of nonsensical, often surreal short stories and line drawings was published in March 1964 to great critical and commercial success. It is also… Read More

London: Jonathan Cape. 1954. First edition, first printing, first state. First edition, first printing, first state. Original black cloth with bronze titles to the upper board and spine, in dustwrapper. A lovely near fine copy, the binding clean and square, the contents clean and without inscriptions or stamps. Complete with the near fine lightly rubbed first state dustwrapper which has thin strips of darkening to the flap edges and minor rubbing to the extremities. Not price-clipped (10s 6d net to both the front and rear flap). Housed in a custom made black morocco solander box with titles in gilt to the spine. A very attractive example. The second of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels. The first issue dustwrapper omits the credit to the dustwrapper artist Kenneth Lewis. This was noticed roughly two thirds of the way through the print-run and the artist credit overprinted onto the flap for the remainder of the first edition. As such there were no more than 5,300 copies of first issue printed.… Read More

London: Victor Gollancz. 1935. First UK edition, first printing. First UK edition, first printing. Original black cloth with green titles to the spine, in dustwrapper. A very good copy, the binding clean and square. The contents with a small ink name and date to the front free endpaper and some spotting to the text block edge. Complete with the rubbed and darkened dustwrapper which is a little nicked and chipped to the extremities resulting in small loss to the head of the spine. Correctly priced 7/6 net to the spine. Housed in a bespoke black quarter morocco solander case. Burmese Days is George Orwell's first novel, although his second to be published in the UK. The book was published in America by Harper and Brothers in October 1934 and not until June 1935, after numerous revisions to the "potentially libelous novel", did Victor Gollancz print 2500 copies of the UK first edition (several months after the publication of A Clergyman's Daughter). The Gollancz first printing is a… Read More

London: Chapman and Hall. September 1934. First edition, first printing. First edition, first printing. Publisher's original snake-skin effect cloth with titles in gilt to the spine, in dustwrapper and retaining the original wraparound band. A lovely near fine copy, the binding very bright and square with a bump to the fore-edge. The contents are very clean throughout and without previous owner's inscriptions or stamps. Complete with the excellent original dustwrapper which has a few tiny nicks at the extremities with some gentle toning of the spine. This copy retains the rare publisher's wraparound band which has a clean closed tear, with an old tape repair to the reverse and some creasing to the lightly faded spine. Housed in a bespoke quarter black morocco solander case. A scarce title in dustwrapper, exceptionally so in original condition. Further details and images for any of the items listed are available on request. Lucius Books welcomes direct contact with our customers.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1929. First edition in book form, first printing. First edition in book form, first printing. Publisher's original yellow cloth with titles, decoration and borders in red and brown to the upper board and spine, in the F. H. Horvath illustrated dustwrapper. Brown top-stain as issued. An excellent near fine copy, the binding firm, the contents with a single light finger mark to the front endpaper are otherwise clean throughout and without previous owner's inscriptions or stamps. Complete with the rubbed and nicked dustwrapper which has a few short closed tears and chips, most notably at the foot of the lightly faded spine affecting a couple of letters of the publisher's name. Housed in a bespoke cloth folding solander case by the Dragonfly Bindery. The author's second book and the final Continental Op novel. As with Red Harvest before it, The Dain Curse was originally serialised in Black Mask magazine (November 1928 to February 1929) and at the suggestion of… Read More

London: The Egoist Ltd. 1917. First edition of Eliot's monumentally influential first poetry collection. First edition of Eliot's monumentally influential first poetry collection. Publisher's original buff card covers printed in black. A superb fine copy, the binding square and tight with just the slightest of rubbing and toning at the extremities, the spine intact with light creasing. The contents are bright and fresh throughout and without previous owner's inscriptions or stamps. Housed in a bespoke cloth solander case, suede lined with recess and cloth chemise, to the inner cover of which has a tipped in card, signed by T. S. Eliot in blue ink. A stellar example of a notoriously fragile production, rare in fine original condition. The author's first book, collecting The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock; Portrait of a Lady; Preludes; Rhapsody on a Windy Night; Morning at the Window; The Boston Evening Transcript; Aunt Helen; Cousin Nancy; Mr. Apollinax; Hysteria; Conversation… Read More

London: David Nutt. 1888. First edition, first printing. First edition, first printing. Signed Limited Edition. Small 4to. Stunning contemporary orange morocco by Zaehnsdorf, titles and ivy leaf tooling in gilt to the spine, upper board with titles in gilt, upper and lower boards decorated with acorns and oak, ivy, sycamore and willow leaves in gilt. The inner dentelles are decorated with ivy leaves in gilt, the binder's name stamp in gilt at the front and exhibition stamp in gilt at the rear. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Retaining the original upper wrapper. Illustrated title page in red with black vignette, printed title page in red and black. Illustrated with a frontispiece and two further plates by Walter Crane, each in two states, and 12 head and tailpieces by Jacomb Hood. A beautiful, near fine copy. Imperceptible repair to the upper joint, minor toning to the leather. The contents with light offsetting to the endpapers and a faint mark to the margin of one page are otherwise clean and… Read More

New York: The Macmillan Company. 1954. First American edition, first impression. First American edition, first impression. Inscribed association copy. Publisher's original green cloth with red titles to the upper board and spine, in the Leo Manso designed dustwrapper. A very good or better copy, the binding square and the cloth fresh. Minor bumping to the spine tips and a small nick towards the base of the spine. The contents, with some foxing to the edge of the endpapers and closed text block edge are otherwise clean throughout. Complete with the lightly rubbed and nicked dustwrapper that has a couple of short closed tears but remains uncommonly bright and attractive. Housed in a bespoke, quarter black morocco solander case. Inscribed by Ian Fleming in blue ball point pen to the front endpaper "To Paul / who wrote the golden words / from / the author / 1954". A superlative association copy, inscribed by Fleming to his great friend and early James Bond champion, Paul Gallico. American… Read More

Cologne: Taschen. 2016. First edition. First edition. Elephant folio. Original illustrated boards, titles to front cover and spine in white, in the dust jacket. 498 pages, illustrated throughout, including 13 fold-outs plates. Together with the bookstand designed by Marc Newson. Issued with an 8–colour ink-jet drawing on cotton-fibre archival paper, measuring: 56 × 43.2 cm. In fine condition. All housed in the original packing box. Signed limited "Art" edition, "A" issue. This example number 177 of 250 copies signed by the artist and accompanied by Untitled 329, a print from David Hockney's 2010 iPad flower drawing series, signed and dated lower right, numbered lower left. (There were four "Art Editions", A (1-250), B (251-500), C (501-750) and D (751-1000), each of these limited to 250 copies and accompanied by one of a series of four prints on paper). Hockney takes stock of more than 60 years of work, from his teenage days at the Bradford School of… Read More

Milan: Rizzoli. 1967. First edition, first printing of the Salvador Dali illustrated Bible. First edition, first printing of the Salvador Dali illustrated Bible. Five volumes. Folio. Publisher's original full brown morocco, five raised bands, titles and decorated compartments in gilt to the spine. Top edges gilt, others untrimmed, cream silk endpapers, text printed on heavy laid paper with Dalí watermark. Housed in brown calf slipcases with cream silk sides and back. Illustrated with 105 lithographs in colour on heavy paper after the original guoache, watercolour, ink and pastel paintings, completed between 1963 and 1964 by Salvador Dali. The text pages with Dali signature watermark. An excellent set, the bindings square and firm with rubbing and scuffing to several of the raised bands. The contents are fine, clean and bright throughout. The slipcases, structurally sound with just a little marking. A magnificent production. Edition luxus, numbered 39 of 1499 copies (of a total edition of… Read More

London: Methuen and Company Ltd. 1908. First edition, first printing. First edition, first printing. Original blue-green cloth with gilt illustration and title to the front and spine, in the supplied first printing dustwrapper. Top edge gilt. Black and white frontispiece by Graham Robertson, complete with tissue guard, as issued. A better than very good copy, the binding square and firm with a little rubbing at the extremities. The contents, with some spotting to the endpapers and deckled edge are otherwise clean througout and without inscriptions or stamps. Complete with the rare first printing dustwrapper that is chipped with a little loss to the spine ends and corners with thin archival tissue paper strengthening to the underside at the folds. Correctly priced 6/- to the upper panel (subsequent editions were published at 7/6). Housed in a bespoke quarter green morocco solander case. An excellent example of this classic of children's literature and a genuine rarity in the first printing… Read More

Later published in London by Jonathan Cape, Puffin Books and in America by Alfred A. Knopf. 1975. The Jill Bennett archive of illustrations for the first edition of Roald Dahl's Danny The Champion of The World. The Jill Bennett archive of illustrations for the first edition of Roald Dahl's Danny The Champion of The World. Including correspondence between the author, artist and the publishers Jonathan Cape, Alfred A. Knopf and Penguin (Puffin) Books. The illustrations begin with the three fine pencil character studies Jill Bennett sent to Dahl (who forwards them to his publisher) and includes the full colour dustjacket artwork and the 71 original pen and ink drawings (on 66 sheets) used to illustrate the story. Also present is the original photograph (believed to be Roald Dahl as a baby) used at the beginning of chapter one, and the "Sparky" lettering used at the conclusion of the final page. Correspondence includes two autograph letters from Roald Dahl to Jill Bennett, one… Read More

London: Jonathan Cape. 1982. First edition, first printing. First edition, first printing. Signed by Roald Dahl and also signed with a full page original drawing by Quentin Blake. Publisher's original grey cloth boards with gilt titles to the spine, in dustwrapper. An excellent near fine copy, the binding square and firm with a little bumping at the spine tips and corners, the cloth and gilt bright and fresh. The contents, with the unavoidable toning of the text block due to the quality of the paper, are otherwise clean throughout and without foxing or previous owner's marks. Complete with the very near fine lightly rubbed and creased dustwrapper which has a touch of fading to the spine. Not price-clipped (£6.50 net to the lower front flap). Housed in a bespoke quarter black morocco solander case with titles in gilt to the spine. Inscribed by the author in blue ink on the front endpaper "To William / with love / Roald Dahl", overleaf on the half title the illustrator has… Read More

London: John Murray. 1850. First edition, first printing. First edition, first printing. Oblong 8vo. Original black cloth with titles in gilt to the upper cover and anchor design in blind to the rear. A very good copy, the binding firm with a minor area of loss to the cloth to the upper cover near the spine and a little rubbing to the extremities. The contents, with a contemporary ownership inscription (ending "***** Island / Black Sea / Dec. 1856") partially erased to the front pastedown, the first free front endpaper excised, a few small pencil annotations to one text page at the rear and a little toning to page edges, are otherwise in good order and clean throughout. Housed in a bespoke quarter black morocco solander case. A rare field guide to the Eskimaux language designed for the use of Arctic explorers and published with the specific purpose of assisting those in search of John Franklin's famous, ill-fated last expedition which had disappeared five years before. As its author,… Read More

London: Jonathan Cape. 1953-1966. First editions of all fourteen James Bond books, each in their original [first state] dustwrapper, without repair or restoration. First editions of all fourteen James Bond books, each in their original [first state] dustwrapper, without repair or restoration. On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the limited edition, numbered and signed by Ian Fleming. The Man with the Golden Gun, is signed by and from the collection of the dustwrapper artist Richard Chopping. Together with six of the earliest continuation novels: Kingsley Amis' The James Bond Dossier and Colonel Sun (as Robert Markham); John Gardner's Licence Renewed; For Special Services (signed); Icebreaker (signed); Nobody Lives For Ever. A stunning set, a full catalogue description for each book is available on request. Further details and images for any of the items listed are available on request. Lucius Books welcomes direct contact with our customers.