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Rare and Antiquarian Books

Antique & Collectible Books

Biblio is proud to present our collection of rare, antique, and collectible books available for purchase from our fine and reputable booksellers. Some of the antique books showcased date back to the 15th Century, and others hold significant historical and religious value. Antique books require special care and maintenance to preserve their special characteristics, and many of them are quite delicate. Also featured are particularly special and hard to find collectible books. Though they may not be antique, first editions or first printing of popular books are often quite collectible and rise in value over time. It is important to preserve the quality of these books as well, but they are generally more resistant to damage than the much older antique books.

Results 1 - 15 of 6475
Works. The Woorkes of Geffrey Chaucer, Newly Printed, with Divers  Addicions, whiche were Never...
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Works. The Woorkes of Geffrey Chaucer, Newly Printed, with Divers Addicions, whiche were Never in Printe Before: With the siege and destruccion of the worthy citee of Thebes, compiled by Jhon Lidgate, Monke of Berie. As in the table more plainly dooeth appere. First issue of the Stowe Edition.

by Goeffrey Chaucer, edited and augmented by John Stowe

  • Used
  • very good
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Used - Very Good
Edition
Fifth edition.
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
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NZ$50,676.00
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Full calf. Probable first issue of the Stowe Edition with Chaucer's arms dated 1560 and before woodcut additions. Relative to the precedence of issues of the 1561 Stowe edition David R. Carlson ("The Woodcut Illustrations in Early Printed Editions of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales," in Chaucer Illustrated: Five Hundred Years of The Canterbury Tales in Pictures [British Library, 2003]) states "the most plausible explanation seems to be that the printer and publisher of the [Stowe] edition, came into possession of the woodcuts belatedly after most of the press work for the edition had been done. After obtaining the blocks, they ran up a new issue of the beginning of the book, incorporating a "General Prologue" illustrated with woodcut. In all documented cases, the unillustrated [i.e. first]"General Prologue" occurs with a title page showing the Chaucer arms, dated 1560 at the top of the shield. A different title-page, dated 1561, is found in copies incorporating the [woodcut] illustrated… Read More
Item Price
NZ$50,676.00
NZ$9.00 shipping to USA
Opere varie di Architettura, prospettiva, groteschi, Antichità
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Opere varie di Architettura, prospettiva, groteschi, Antichità

by PIRANESI, Giovanni Battista (1720-1778)

  • Used
Condition
Used - From the Collection of Arthur & Charlotte Vershbow
Seller
Ardsley, New York
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Item Price
NZ$152,028.00
NZ$5.00 shipping to USA

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Rome: Giovanni Bouchard, 1750. From the Collection of Arthur & Charlotte Vershbow. Broadsheets (537 x 370 mm). Letterpress title-page printed in red and black with the vignette by Louis-Joseph Le Lorrain, portrait of Piranesi by F. Polanzani, frontispiece (Robison 1) and 16 plates of the Prima Parte di Architetture, Second Edition, First Issue (R. 2, 3, 5, 15-18, 6-12 [all numbered], 20, 19 [not numbered]); frontispiece of Vedute di Roma (Hind 2, First State), two double-page plates printed in two separate halves on two sheets; Pianta di ampio magnifico Collegio (R. 25), state II as usual, double-page; the four double-page plates of the Groteschi (R. 23, 24, 22, 21), Second Edition, First Issue; Parte di ampio magnifico Porto (R. 26), state III, double-page. All very fine impressions, watermark Fleur-de-Lys in Single Circle (R. 4, dated early 1750s), Contemporary Italian vellum, gilt-lettered on spine, edges stained red. Spine partly split; some occasional minor spotting, generally in very good… Read More
Item Price
NZ$152,028.00
NZ$5.00 shipping to USA
Felix Frankfurter Reminisces (*Signed by Graham Greene* with a gift inscription to his former...

Felix Frankfurter Reminisces (*Signed by Graham Greene* with a gift inscription to his former dean and English constitutional law professor Sir David Keir): An Intimate Portrait as Recorded in Talks with Dr. Harlan B. Phillips

by Phillips, Dr. Harlan B.

  • Used
  • near fine
  • Hardcover
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Used - Near Fine
Edition
First Edition
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Maysville, Georgia
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
NZ$50,676.00
NZ$3.00 shipping to USA

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Hardcover. Non-Fiction. Memoirs. 310 pp. Secker & Warburg, London (1960). First Edition. First Printing (FPu). Clean, tight copy with no bumped corners and no markings inside or out. Near Fine/ Near Fine. The unique feature of the book, however, is the gift inscription on the front pastedown, all but hidden by the DJ flap. The book's gift inscription is from Graham Greene to his former constitutional law professor (and later dean) Sir David Keir at his alma mater Balliol College, Oxford University. The unique feature of the inscription is that it is written and signed in the looping cursive script of Greene's natural handwriting and legal signature; versus the printed hybrid script and autograph that he had adopted for public consumption at his booksignings. (Greene's upper-case G' s in his public and semi-private booksignings and inscriptions had evolved to more closely resemble lightning bolts or radically elongated, linear letter S's.) In reality, author Graham Greene was a champion of literate… Read More
Item Price
NZ$50,676.00
NZ$3.00 shipping to USA
Le Premier Tome de lArchitecture.
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Le Premier Tome de lArchitecture.

by Philibert de L'Orme.

  • Used
  • Fine
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Used - Fine
Edition
First Edition. First Issue.
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Great Barrington, Massachusetts
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Item Price
NZ$42,230.00
NZ$20.00 shipping to USA

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THE GREATEST BOOK OF RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTUREIllustrated with 205 large woodcuts, including 74 full-page and 7 double-page blocks; magnificent allegorical woodcut title border; large woodcut head-pieces and large floriated and grotesque woodcut initials; leaf I4 slightly taller than the rest of the text block, to accommodate a tall column woodcut, with about 2 cm section at top folded in. Royal Folio. 19th-century ¼-vellum over marbled boards; spine decorated and lettered in gilt; edges gilt. Paris: Fédéric Morel, 1567. First Edition. First Issue. The most influential and most lavishly illustrated handbook of French Renaissance architecture. The first and only published volume. A second volume was planned by the author but never completed.Mortimer, Harvard College Library Cat.: French 16th-Century Books, no.355; Brunet, Supple. I, 888-9; Fowler Architect. coll. 99; Clouzot, Philibert de l'Orme, pp. 90-107; Berliner Ornamentstichkatalog 2362; Pettegree, French Vernacular Books 15434; cf. Adams L… Read More
Item Price
NZ$42,230.00
NZ$20.00 shipping to USA
Forty-six fine watercolours elegantly bound in a nineteenth-century album
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Forty-six fine watercolours elegantly bound in a nineteenth-century album

by NOVELLI, Francesco

  • Used
  • first
Condition
Used
Seller
Sydney, New South Wales
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Item Price
NZ$63,565.42
NZ$19.50 shipping to USA

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Probaly Venice, 1825. An exquisite suite of watercolours, including a beautiful series of scenes documenting a Venetian commedia dell'arte troupe, by the Italian artist Francesco Novelli. Francesco Novelli (1767-1836), one of the preeminent artists of his generation, lived in Venice where he was best known for his outstanding book illustration. He enjoyed a long and successful career that culminated in the landmark editions of Don Quixote (1819) and Gil Blas (1820). Novelli is also known for illustrating works such as the Fasti Veneziani (1794), hinting at his abiding interest in the theatre and the performing arts. In this unmatched collection of Novelli's watercolours, the greatest number are piquant images of a troupe of the commedia dell'arte, with especially fine depictions of Pierrot himself, as well as other key figures such as Columbine and Harlequin. There is a remarkable series of scenes from a play, as well as studies of individual performers, many so precisely rendered that it is almost… Read More
Item Price
NZ$63,565.42
NZ$19.50 shipping to USA
Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën, vervattende een naaukeurige en uitvoerige verhandelinge van Nederlands...

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Description:
Dordrecht, Amsterdam, Joannes van Braam, Gerard onder de Linden, 1724-1726.5 parts in 8 volumes. Folio. Contemporary half calf, spines gilt and with black title-labels (later boards). With engraved allegorical frontispiece, printed title-page in red and black, folding portrait of Valentijn, 19 portraits of the Governors-General, and 326 illustrations, maps, plans, bird's-eye views and plates (most of them double-page or folding; including fragments of Javanese manuscripts).First edition. -The most important early work documenting the history of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in the East Indies and the Far East, which never can be superseded as many of the documents of which the author made use, do not longer exist. François Valentijn (1666-1727) was a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church who lived for many years on Amboyna and Java. During this period he collected an enormous mass of information, especially in the fields of history, geography and ethnology, concerning all parts of the world… Read More
Item Price
NZ$79,383.15
NZ$33.75 shipping to USA
An American Dictionary of the English Language
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An American Dictionary of the English Language

by Webster, Noah

  • Used
  • very good
  • first
Condition
Used - Very Good
Edition
First Edition
Seller
Portland, Oregon
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Item Price
NZ$37,162.40
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Description:
New York: S. Converse, Printed by Hezekiah Howe, New Haven, 1828. First Edition. Very Good. First edition, first printing. Complete in two volumes. Contemporary mottled calf with black morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, with the "Additions and Corrections" leaf bound at the end of Volume II; November 28 Advertisement absent, as is nearly always the case. Engraved frontis provided in sympathetic facsimile, lacking tissue guard. Internally Very Good with offsetting and several instances of penciled marginalia. Previous owner name in light pencil on title page. One of only 2,500 copies. An extremely important early declaration of American cultural identity, which heralded the nation's linguistic independence from Britain, inspiring the many dictionaries that to this day carry Webster's name.
Item Price
NZ$37,162.40
FREE shipping to USA
Descriptive Book of Thieves
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Descriptive Book of Thieves

by City of Cleveland Police Department

  • Used
  • very good
  • Hardcover
Condition
Used - Very Good
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
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Item Price
NZ$55,743.60
NZ$9.00 shipping to USA

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Approximately 3200 booking records (approximately 20 of which have been contemporaneously blotted-out) numbered 37888 to 41109 accompanied by individual 2 x 3 inches photographs and description of the person and their alleged crime. Full brown cloth. Front board separated at hinge (see image). Marbled endpapers. Index of names in alphabetical order. Lacking page 289/290. Heavy shelf wear given the size, weight and regular usage; moisture mark to lower edge. [52], 358 pp. 16.5 x 19.65 in.; 24 pounds (10.8 Kilo)
Item Price
NZ$55,743.60
NZ$9.00 shipping to USA
A concordance, that is to saie, a worke wherein by the ordre of the letters of the A.B.C. ye maie...
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A concordance, that is to saie, a worke wherein by the ordre of the letters of the A.B.C. ye maie redely finde any words conteigned in the whole Bible, so often as it is there expressed or mencioned.: First Bible Concordance In English

by John Merbek [Merbecke] [Marbeck]

  • Used
  • very good
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Used - Very Good
Edition
First Edition
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Sequim, Washington
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Item Price
NZ$33,784.00
NZ$3.99 shipping to USA

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Description:
SUMMARY
London: Richard Grafton, 1550. Folio (11 x 7.5 in). The first edition of the first complete Bible concordance in English. Woodcut title page, initials, and printer's devices. Full page woodcut of Henry VIII on final leaf by Holbein (frequently lacking).
DESCRIPTION
Text in three column black letter font. Woodcut title page with portrait of King Henry VIII above title and printer s device below. Dedication to King Edward (3 pp.) with engraved woodcut initial. Introduction to the Reader (2 pp.) with engraved woodcut initial. A Table Expressing By Plaine Letters (1 pp.) and a full page woodcut of the printer s device (1 pp.). A blank leaf (A6). Text ends on colophon. A full page woodcut portrait of Henry VIII by his favorite artist Hans Holbein the younger, first published in 1548.
COLLATION
A^6, A-Z^6, Aa-Zz^6, Aaa-Vvv^6, Xxx^1. Lacks Bb4.
PROVENANCE
The signature of William Kythe appears on the final leaf. This is very likely William Kethe a Marian exile, scholar who translated the Geneva… Read More
Item Price
NZ$33,784.00
NZ$3.99 shipping to USA
Annuaire de la République Française, calculé pour le méridien du Kaire, l'an VIII de l'ere...
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Annuaire de la République Française, calculé pour le méridien du Kaire, l'an VIII de l'ere Française.

  • Used
Condition
Used
Edition
FIRST EDITION
Seller
The Hague, Netherlands
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Item Price
NZ$35,626.50
NZ$75.00 shipping to USA

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The rarest book from the first printing press in the Arab World
Annuaire de la République Française, calculé pour le méridien du Kaire, l'an VIII de l'ere Française.
Cairo, de l'Imprimerie Nationale, an VIII [1799/1800].
4⁰. 119 pp. With a woodcut printer's device on title. Contemporary red painted paper wrappers.
One of the first books from the first printing press in the Arab World. The first issues from the Imprimerie Nationale are true incunabula of Arab printing and all are very rare. Most elusive amongst these is the present first almanac. We traced no copies in Arab or American libraries. The press lasted only until 1801.
The Imprimerie Nationale was set up when Napoleon traveled to Egypt in 1798: "an extraordinarily important turning point" (Glass & Roper). The French Republic aimed to bring progress wherever they arrived. In the case of Egypt this permanently changed the Arab World. Progress was predominantly expressed in administrative reform, of which the present almanac is typical… Read More
Item Price
NZ$35,626.50
NZ$75.00 shipping to USA
Catalogue of the Morgan Collection of Chinese Porcelains
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Catalogue of the Morgan Collection of Chinese Porcelains

by Bushell, Dr. Stephen W. and William M. Laffan

  • Used
  • near fine
  • first
Condition
Used - Near fine
Edition
First, Limited Edition
Seller
Middletown, New York
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Item Price
NZ$33,784.00
NZ$8.00 shipping to USA

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Description:
New York: Privately Printed by Order of Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan (DeVinne Press &, 1911. First, Limited Edition. Near fine. 2 volumes; Royal 8vo; 9 1/2 x 6 1/2 in. (240 x 160 mm); Vol. 1: pp. xvii + 196; Vol. 2: lxxiii + 145; + 158 chromolithographs with rice paper guards inscribed with legend, many double-tissued. In vol. 2 plate no. 147 is used as a frontispiece. Each volume includes an index of cases with schematic drawings and key numbers, as well as Chinese characters and diagrams of maker marks. Top edges gilt, rest uncut; Brown pebbled morocco, with gold fillets on boards, five raised spines, gilt titling and decorations in compartments. Fillets on wide turn-ins, moiré silk and morocco doublures, spine sunned and some very light shelfwear to volume 1. Volume 2 bound in slightly darker morocco, with similar detailing and moiré-silk doublures, front cover re-attached by the Baytun-Riviere bindery. Volume two bears the pictorial bookplate of Earl Gifford Talbott. LIMITED EDITION of 250 copies… Read More
Item Price
NZ$33,784.00
NZ$8.00 shipping to USA
THE WORKS OF MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR IN SIX VOLUMES: ADORN'D WITH CUTS
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THE WORKS OF MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR IN SIX VOLUMES: ADORN'D WITH CUTS

by Shakespeare, William

  • Used
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Used - Very Good+
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
UPLAND, California
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Item Price
NZ$67,568.00
NZ$4.45 shipping to USA

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Description:
London: Jacob Tonson & Edmund Curl, 1709. Hardcover. Very Good+/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. THE WORKS OF MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR IN SIX VOLUMES: ADORN'D WITH CUTS was published in 1709 by Jacob Tonson & edited by Nicholas Rowe. They are the 1st edition of Shakespeare's plays published after the four folios. These are the first illustrated edition of Shakespeare's plays, 1st edition to indicate acts, scenes & dramatis personae, 1st to provide stage directions, 1st to include a formal biography of Shakespeare. Also includes THE WORKS OF MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR. VOLUME THE SEVENTH. CONTAINING VENUS & ADONIS, TARQUIN & LUCRECE AND HIS MISCELLANY POEMS published in 1710 by Edmund Curll. "The significance of the 'volume the seventh' as has been generally understood, is in the fact that the book was intended as a supplementary volume to be sold to purchasers of the set of Rowe's Works of Shakespeare" (Alden, 1916). This octavo… Read More
Item Price
NZ$67,568.00
NZ$4.45 shipping to USA
International Congress of Americanists
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International Congress of Americanists

  • Used
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Used - Very Good +
Edition
First
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Santa Fe, New Mexico
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This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
NZ$33,868.46
NZ$3.00 shipping to USA

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Description:
A full run of the ICA from 1875 through 2012 lacking only one volume, XIV 1908 from the Vienna conclave. One hundred volume titles in all. The set has been collected over the course of 30 years. There are no facsimiles. As you see from the images, the condition of the volumes varies, but all content is present and clear. Thousands of papers on archeology, ethnology, anthropology, sociology etc. all pertaining to the indigenous tribes and colonial peoples of the Americas from distant pre-history to the present. Thousands of maps drawings and photographs. The Congress was begun in 1875 in Nancy, France and alternated every three years between a site in the Americas and Europe. Serious enquiries only, please. I will be happy to forward the full list in Excel and to discuss condition of individual volumes. There will be a shipping and handling charge based on buyer's location and preference of carrier. I strongly recommend that potential buyers visit to inspect in person. The collection is in Santa Fe, NM.
Item Price
NZ$33,868.46
NZ$3.00 shipping to USA
The Naturalist's Miscellany:
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The Naturalist's Miscellany: or, coloured figures of natural objects; drawn and described immediately from nature

by George Shaw, Frederick Nodder, Richard Nodder

  • Used
  • very good
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Used - Very Good
Edition
1st
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Tokyo, Tokyo
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Item Price
NZ$59,122.00
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Description:
Rare complete set of 26 volumes of this zoological masterpiece
24 volumes bound in 12 of the Naturalist's Miscellany and 2 volumes bound in 1 of The Zoological Miscellany by William Elford Leach (the continuation published after George Shaw's death with illustrations by Richard Nodder)
With all 1,185 engraved plates in superb hand-colour
Engraved dedication leaf to Queen Charlotte, 1,065 hand-coloured engraved plates in the Naturalist's Miscellany, and 120 hand-coloured engraved plates in The Zoological MiscellanyA very good copy of this "remarkable serial" (Wood), a monumental work on natural history. Devoted to zoological subjects, and including a high proportion of birds, but also mammals, marine creatures, amphibia, reptiles, shells and insects; each subject is described in both Latin and English, and illustrated by a plate, the majority by George Shaw, Frederick Polydore Nodder and his son Richard Nodder.
Complete sets are very rare, since the work was published in 287 monthly parts over some 24… Read More
Item Price
NZ$59,122.00
FREE shipping to USA
Robinson Crusoe. Volumes I. & II.
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Robinson Crusoe. Volumes I. & II.

by Daniel Defoe

  • Used
  • Fine
  • Hardcover
Condition
Used - Fine
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Scarborough , North Yorkshire
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Item Price
NZ$37,278.50
NZ$8.95 shipping to USA

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THIS BOOK IS UNIQUE. Hidden scene on the fore page edges (under the gilding) on both volumes.
Tan calf bindings. Gilt embossed edges and centre panel on all sides. Black title plates and gilt banding and titles on the spine. Gilt on all page edges. Dimensions are for one volume. Supplied in a newly made protective box.
Magnificent Fore Edge Edition
Fore-edge painting: With a double concealed fore-edge painting revealing two scenes. In very good condition. The first known example of a disappearing fore-edge painting (where the painting is not visible when the book is closed) datesto 1649. Around 1750, the subject matter of fore-edge paintings changed from simply decorative or heraldic designs to landscapes, portraits and religious scenes, usually painted in full colour. The technique was popularised in the 18th century by John Brindley (1732-1756), publisher and bookbinder to the Prince of Wales and Edwards of Halifax, a distinguished family of bookbinders and booksellers. The majority of extant… Read More
Item Price
NZ$37,278.50
NZ$8.95 shipping to USA