A selection of books, manuscripts and artwork we shall be exhibiting at the New York Antiquarian Bookfair, booth C27, Park Avenue Armory, 30 April - 3 May 2026.
NEW YORK ANTIQUARIAN BOOK FAIR 2026
New York Antiquarian Book Fair Park Avenue Armory April 30th - 3rd May B O O T H C 2 7
JONKERS RARE BOOKS
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1. [AUSTEN, Jane] SENSE AND SENSIBILITY A Novel Egerton, 1813 [46672] Second edition. Three vol- umes. 12mo. Original publisher’s paper-covered boards, uncut. With all half-titles, 4 pp. adverts at rear of vol.3. Boards light- ly worn, vol. I lacking spine label, small loss to spine ends, a couple of joints con- servatively repaired, sides rubbed, contents foxed, light stains in the gutters of half a dozen gatherings in vol. III. A very good copy. $35,000 Sense and Sensibility was first
III which clips a letter of text. Excepting these minor flaws, an generally well preserved copy in a handsome binding. $48,000 The author’s third novel, written between 1811 and 1813, which quickly found a publisher on the strength of her previous two novels. Despite Egerton’s confidence, he only published 1250 copies in the first edition in May 1814. These were sold out by November, and John Murray later “expressed astonishment that so small an edition of such a work should have been sent into the world.”
3. [AUSTEN, Jane] PRIDE AND PREJUDICE A Novel. In Two Volumes. By the Au- thor of “Sense and Sensibili- ty” Printed for T. Egerton, 1817 [46530] Third edition. 12mo. Two vol- umes, bound in nineteenth century full green morocco, by Francis Bedford, with raised bands to the spine, the com- partments richly tooled in gilt; triple ruled gilt borders to cov- ers with floriate devices to the corners and elaborately gilt tooled turn-ins. Marbled end- papers, all edges red and gilt. Half titles to both volumes. A near fine set, internally fresh and well margined with just occasional light scattered fox- ing. Light wear to the front joint of vol. I. An attractive, well preserved set. $27,000
published in late 1811, and the first edition was sold out by July 1813. This second edition, which saw significant revision of the text by Austen and the substitution of “By the author of Pride and Prejudice” for “By a Lady” on the title page, appeared in October 1813. Austen received her copy on November 6, and wrote to her sister Cassandra, “My 2nd Edit. has stared me in the face… I cannot help hoping that many will feel themselves obliged to buy it. I shall not mind imagining it a disagreeable duty to them, so as they do it” (Gilson, p. 16). Gilson A1 2. AUSTEN, Jane MANSFIELD PARK: A Novel. In Three Vol- umes. By the author of “Sense and Sensibility,” and “Pride and Prejudice.” Egerton, 1814 [45901] First edition. Three volumes, duodecimo (175 x 107 mm). Tan
full calf, neatly rebacked to style, raised bands and red morocco title labels lettered in gilt to second and fourth com- partments, fillet borders gilt to covers. Lacking half-titles. Gothic initials I.D.E.T in gilt to the upper covers. A handsome set, with only minor wear to extremities and a bump to the lower front corner of vol III. In- ternally clean with occasional foxing and finger marks, one or two larger stains in vol. 2. Short marginal closed tears to G4 and K6 in vol. I and E7 of vol. II and a chip to the corner of I2 in vol.
The author’s second and most famous novel, which has become one of the most prominent literary works to come from the nineteenth century. The first draft of the novel was written under the working title of ‘First Impressions’ in 1796. In 1797 Jane Austen’s father wrote to the publisher Cadell to ask if he would publish the novel. The offer was rejected by return of post. In 1800 The Minerva Press published a novel by Margaret Holford entitled First Impressions, which probably led to Austen chang- ing the title of the work. In the following years, Pride and Prejudice was heavily rewritten and the copyright eventually sold to Egerton in 1812. There is no record of the number of copies of the first edition, but Keynes suggests 1500 as the probable print run. The book sold briskly and was reprinted within the year and then again in 1817. These however, were the only three editions by Austen’s origi- nal publisher and the copyright was subsequently sold by Egerton’s ex- ecuters to Richard Bentley in 1832. Like all Regency editions of Austen’s work, copies retaining the half-titles are rare.
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5. [BRONTE, Charlotte] BELL, Currer SHIRLEY A Tale. Smith, Elder, 1849 [46412] First edition. Three volumes. Original publisher’s plum-brown, horizontally ribbed cloth with gilt titles to spine and decora- tive border stamped in blind to the covers. Page 304 in vol II is missnumbered 403, though to be an early state of the text. Three pages of adverts to the rear of vol III, sixteen page catalogue of adverts dated October 1849 at the end of vol I. A fine set, excep - tionally bright and crisp, with a touch of fading to the spine but much less so than usual and the covers still retaining much of the original puce hue. Internally very fresh, superficial splitting to the rear hinges of vol I and III and early ownership name to title pages. An exceptional set of a book seldom seen in unrepaired cloth. $35,000 Charlotte Bronte’s second novel. It is one of the foremost examples of the Victorian Social Novel, which uses fiction to highlight the impact of social issues, in this case industrialisation and the state of the country’s working class rural and urban poor. The novel is set in Yorkshire against the historical backdrop of the economic depression of the Napoleonic Wars and the Luddite Riots. The period in which Bronte wrote Shirley was a tragic one for her family, as it saw the deaths of her two literary sisters, Emily and Anne and her
brother Bramwell. She wrote to her publisher in August, “Whatever now becomes of the work, the occupation of writing it has been a boon to me. It took me out of a dark and desolate reality into an unreal but happier re- gion”. The two principal characters, Shirley Keeldar and Caroline Helstone are loosely based on a homage to Emily and Anne. Smith 5
4. BECKETT, Samuel EN ATTENDANT GODOT piece en deux actes Paris, Editions de Minuit, 1952 [46721] First edition. Original cream wrappers with blue and black titles to upper cover, spine and advertisement on back cover. Edges uncut. A fine copy, with just a couple of very faint marks around the head of the spine and a neat owner’s name and address stamp to front free end paper. An exceptionally clean crisp copy. $4,250 Beckett’s first published play that captured post-war ex - istential uncertainty, expressing a world where meaning and progress were no longer guaranteed. It revolutionised theatre by rejecting traditional plot and influenced modern drama and culture.
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6. CARROLL, Lewis (DODGSON, Charles Lutwidge) THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, And What Alice Found There Macmil- lan, 1877 [35715] Fortieth thousand, i.e. a later issue of the first edition as per Williams Madan Green 84. Publisher’s special deluxe binding of white textured paper covered boards to imitate vellum, with gilt lettering and vignettes, in the exceptionally rare unprinted original lilac dustwrapper. All edges gilt. Author’s presentation copy, inscribed on the half title, “May Forshall from the Author / Dec 3. 1877” Black and white illustrations throughout by John Tenniel. A fine copy with exceptionally clean white covers and bright gilt, just a couple of trivial marks to the edges. Internally fresh with tight hinges. Two pin holes to the front endpaper and a faint mark to the edge of the preliminary pages. Dustwrapper rather worn, with small chips to the spine ends and corners and a larger chip to the corner of the back panel. An exceptional copy. Included with this book is an original carte-de-visite mounted photograph of Mary Forshall taken by Carroll, numbered by him (2485) in violet ink on the reverse. $55,000 Mary Forshall (known as May) was the daughter of the Highgate physician Francis Hyde Forshall, an acquaintance of Charles Dodgson’s. Dodgson recalls his first meeting with May in a diary entry of 27 November 1877, “Dined with Sampson, to meet Dr. Forshall with his sister, etc., and May Forshall, a nice child of 10.” In the 1 December 1877 entry, Dodgson mentions May “came to be photographed” at 11am, an appointment which was repeated two days later, with the result that Carroll took, “5 negatives, of which 2 failed”. It was on the second meeting that Dodgson presented one of his newly received copies of Through the Looking Glass, in a specially commissioned presentation binding. Dodgson took an obsessive interest in the production of all his books and would habitually order small quantities to be bound up in a variety of non-standard styles and hues for his own use, wanting to have a ready supply of special bindings, which differed from the shop bought version, to be used as presentation gifts. Of these styles, the white binding seems to have been the one chosen by Dodgson for his most favoured presentations. It is also a style of binding which has fascinated latter day collectors. For the publication of The Hunting of The Snark , the year before this book, Dodgson had commissioned an array of coloured bindings including “20 bindings in white vellum and gold”. This was changed to parchment style paper or cloth and gold, on economic grounds. Dodgson appears to have placed a similar order for both Alice (then in its sixth edition) and Through the Looking Glass, which were delivered late in 1877. They are now of the utmost scarcity, seldom appearing in commerce. When they do, they are usually in a poor or repaired state, as the fragile white boards were partic- ularly prone to damage. In this case the presence of the original dustwrapper, itself probably a unique occurrence, has meant that the white binding has remained in exceptional condition. Williams, Madan, Green 84
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7. CHRISTIE, Agatha THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES Bodley Head, 1921 [46054] First edition. Original brown cloth with black titles and Art Deco design. Top edge stained blue. A fine copy with beauti - fully clean cloth and distinct lettering and design. There are a couple of small production blemishes to the rear cover and the slightest fraying to part of the rear joint, but beyond that looks barely handled. Internal- ly, notably fresh and clean and most unusually free from fox- ing. An exceptional copy. $35,000 The author’s first novel, which sees the first appearance of M. Hercule Poirot. Due to the wartime restric- 8. CHRISTIE, Agatha SAD CY- PRESS Collins Crime Club, 1940 [46737] First edition. Orange cloth let- tered in black in pictorial dust- wrapper. A fine copy, with slight offsetting from the jacket in a fine dustwrapper, which just shows trivial rubs to a cou- ple of corners but is exceptional- ly bright and crisp. $13,000 An Hercule Poirot novel.
INSCRIBED TO HER HUSBAND 9. CHRISTIE, Agatha FIVE LITTLE PIGS Collins Crime Club, 1942 [46741] First edition. Orange cloth lettered in black. Author’s presenta- tion copy, inscribed on publication, on the front endpaper to Christie’s husband, Max Mallowan, “Max from Agatha / Jan 1943” with a small later gift sticker, inscribed by Christie to her housekeeper, Phyllis Rice, “Mrs Rice [From] Agatha Mallowan” A very good copy, the spine a little faded and a patch of fading to the upper cover where Christie had stuck the gift label to Mrs Rice. $13,000 An exceptional association copy, inscribed by Christie to unquestionably the most important man in her life. Christie met Max Mallowan in 1929 through their mutual friends, Leonard and Katherine Woolley, at a dig in Ur. Following a whirlwind romance, and despite the difference in age (Christie was 40, Mallowan 26) they were married in 1930. Throughout the thirties, every autumn and spring Christie would accompany Mal- lowan to the middle east on archaeological expeditions. Christie served as the official photographer, developing prints herself in makeshift dark - rooms. She also discovered she had a gift for restoring pottery, piecing together fragments thousands of years old with infinite In between help - ing her husband she wrote some of her best known novels on these ex- peditions. During the War Mallowan worked with this friend Stephen Glanville (and dedicatee of Five Little Pigs) at the Air Ministry. After the War Mal- lowan remained in archaeology as an academic and he and Christie split their time between Greenway in Devon (purchased in 1938) and Winter- brook House (purchased in 1934) in Wallingford. In her autobiography, Christie described their marriage as “like parallel railway tracks—each needing the other near, never converging.”, whist Mallowan in his mem- oirs wrote, “Few men know what it is to live in harmony beside an imag- inative, creative mind which inspires life with zest.”
tions this book was made from poor quality stock which browns very easily. The boards are also very fragile with the majority of copies sur- viving only in a disbound or heavily repaired state. Copies as well pre- served as this one are very rarely encountered.
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grey paper spine with title label to spine. Uncut and unpressed. 4pp of preliminary adverts, with half title, but wanting front blank as always, 10pp of terminal adverts on leaves L4-L8. A very good copy indeed with shallow chipping to the exposed part of the spine ends and joints starting, but sound. First gath- ering loosening but in tact. A very well preserved and entirely unsophisticated copy of Clare’s rare first book. $5,000 An exceptional copy of John Clare’s scarce first book, in original publish - er’s boards. Born in 1793, the son of humble and almost illiterate parents, Clare grew up in the Northamptonshire village of Helpston. His formal education, such as it was, ended when he was eleven years old, but Clare began writing poetry when he was thirteen and was astonishingly prolific. Like Robert Burns, with whom he has been compared, Clare was profoundly influenced by his surroundings, and his poetry is enriched by the use of his native Northamptonshire vernacular. Clare’s poery might never have remained in obscurity had not a lo-
cal second hand book- seller, Edward Drury, found one of his poems on a “half sheet of dirty foolscap paper on which was penned ‘The Setting Sun’”. Drury introduced Clare to his cousin, John Taylor, who published this volume in an edition of 1000 copies. It was an immediate success and was reprinted three times, selling 3500 cop- ies within a year, a most unusual occurrence for contemporary poetry. Despite this early suc- cess, Clare died in debt in a lunatic asylum in 1864. His legacy as poet of rural England has few rivals. Hayward 236, Tinker 636
10. CHURCHILL, Winston S. MY EARLY LIFE A Roving Commis- sion Thornton Butterworth, Ltd., 1934 [46500] First Keystone Library edition. Red
cloth, blind stamped rules and vignette to upper cover, gilt titles to upper cover and spine. Signed by the author to the front free endpaper “To Major Geoffrey Kitson from Winston S. Churchill. January 1937”. A very good copy indeed, faded to head of spine, light foxing to page edges and preliminaries. $6,000 Churchill’s account of his youthful years, education and military train- ing. Written in his 50s after the Great War, he reflects on the social struc - tures of his youth as those of a bygone era. UNCUT IN ORIGINAL BOARDS 11. CLARE, John POEMS DESCRIPTIVE OF RURAL LIFE AND SCENERY Taylor and Hessey, 1820 [46507] First edition. 12mo. Original publisher’s blue boards and with
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12.
CLARKE,
to the intellectual emotions of art lovers.” Contemporary reviews made comment on the influence of Beardsley upon Clarke’s illustration and it is true that the black and whites drawings are very reminiscent of the intricacy of Beardsley’s work. Clarke, however, has a very distinctive style of his own which is most marked in his colour illustrations, some of which have a delicate colour palette and a distinctly Art Nouveau feel, while others use the deep, bold colours seen in the artist’s stained glass designs. 13. COLLINS, Wilkie THE QUEEN OF HEARTS Hurst & Black- ett, 1859 [44164] First edition. Three volumes in publisher’s olive, wavy grained, cloth with gilt titles to the spine and decoration to covers stamped in blind. A fine copy with clean cloth and bright gilt. All hinges perfect and internally fresh. An exceptional copy. $35,000 A collection of ten connected stories, mainly of a supernatural nature, but including the celebrated early detective story, The Biter Bit, and in Anne Rodway, Collins creates possibly the first female detective in fiction. Exceptionally scarce in the original cloth, Michael Sadleir notes even in
Harry; AN- DERSEN, Hans Christian FAIRY TALES BY HANS CHRISTIAN AN- DERSEN London, Harrap, [1916] [46491] First edition. Large 4to. Num- ber 21 of 125 cop- ies, signed by the artist. Publisher’s white vellum with gilt letter- ing on the spine and upper cover. The upper cov- er has a Clarke design stamped in gilt. Top edge gilt and others untrimmed. Six- teen colour plates mounted onto Japanese vellum
1951, “that to- day copies are rarely seen”, and places it second in his list of com- parative scarci- ties. This certain- ly remains true today, but those copies that are seen are general- ly from circulat- ing libraries and are badly dam- aged or repaired. Copies in such fine condition are almost un- heard of. Sadleir 603; Queen’s Quo- rum 3.
and protected by printed tissue guards. Twenty four black and white plates printed on thick glossy paper, plus numerous vi- gnettes. A near fine copy, the vellum remains exceptionally clean
with just a tiny scratch to the upper cover, bright gilt and all plates perfect. Seemingly unread as some pages remain unopened. Spine is slightly uneven and as usual there is some light spotting throughout. Previous owner’s neat blind-stamp on the half title page. Rare, but especially so in such lovely condition. $10,000 Clarke’s first Gift Book and one of the rarest and most sought after books of this Golden Age period. “A new Irish artist” announced Harrap’s large advertisement in the 1919 Bookman, “whose work will certainly com- mand extreme admiration. Mr Clarke brings to Hans Andersen an entirely fresh interpretation and he appeals
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14. CORNFORD, Frances AN EXTENSIVE COLLECTION OF EARLY POETIC MANUSCRIPTS 1902-09 [45951] A collection of 74 manuscript poems on 77 sheets, which includes different versions of the same poems in several cases. They include 29 of the 31 poems in Cornford’s first collection, Poems (1910), many in multiple states of development, as well as 21 uncollected poems, all apparently unpublished except “The Dance of Death”, which appeared in Country Life. Written in pencil or ink, variously dated 1902-09 or undated and on various sheet sizes and paper stocks: mounted on stubs or in pairs onto larger sheets. The whole bound in brown buckram with a morocco title label by Maltby of Oxford and housed in a later quarter morocco clamshell box. With six autograph letters and three autograph cards from Cornford to Seigfried Sassoon. Generally in very good condition with two sheets with repaired tears. $50,000 An extraordinary, comprehensive collection of early manuscript poems charting Frances Cornford’s development as a poet towards the production of her first major collection, Poems (1910). The manuscripts divide themselves naturally into four sections. The first section comprises seventeen poems written on nineteen pages of octavo note paper, plus a single leaf with the presentation inscription “W.R. from FCD June 11th 1908”, mounted onto pages, two to a page. Many are written in pencil and appear mostly fair copies. The second section consists of fourteen poems on thirteen pages of varying sizes and paper stocks all mounted onto stubs for binding, written mostly in ink. Many of the pages show signs of folding and appear to be working drafts with several emendations. This section includes a transcription of Fredegond Shove’s poem, The New Ghost. The third section is much like the second but for being written on fourteen sheets of uniform quarto laid paper. It comprises of rewritten poems from the first section with a number of unpublished poems. The fourth section forms 28 poems on 29 quarto pages, written entirely in pen, but with pencil annotation for production. This section is essentially the production manuscript for the 1910 Poems. Fifteen poems are rewritten from versions in the earlier sections and the remainder are new. All but two of the poems in this section were published in Poems and each has the date of composition on it. Where poems appear several times there are usually textual differences between the versions. One of Cornford’s most celebrated poems, Youth,
written for Rupert Brooke, begins life with the title ‘On R.B.’ with the second line as, “Striding ahead to meet joint the strife”, in the revised version it is title ‘An Epigram’ and the second line reads, “Stands dreaming on the verge of Strife,”. Cornford’s other much anthologised poem, ‘To a Fat Lady Seen from a Train’, also appears twice with minor alterations. The influence of William Rothenstein on Cornford’s career as a poet cannot be overstated. He had painted the portrait of Cornford’s father Sir Francis Darwin in 1903 and had become a family friend. Rothernstein recalls his interaction with the young Frances in his autobiography, “Frances was a sort of pupil of mine... She both drew and wrote poems with a simple sincerity, and was wise beyond her years. So often I stayed with the Darwins I got to know Cambridge as well, almost as I already knew Oxford... Frances used to send me her poems, for which I cared deeply, and believing that others would care as much, I urged that they must at all cost be printed. ‘At all costs’ was not a for - midable phrase I assured Frank Darwin; there was a bookseller at Hampstead who was ready to print an edition for £30. So the poems duly appeared, to Darwin’s delight. The little book was to become a rarity, it contained more than one poem which later appeared in most of the anthologies, the best known among them being ‘Oh why do you walk through the fields in gloves?’” Rothenstein was not only Cornford’s earliest patron, but used his Hampstead literary connections to arrange the publishing of her first major collection of poetry in 1910. Cornford presented a copy to Rothenstein describing him as “the fairy godfather of the book”. Whilst Cornford sent her drafts and fair copies to Rothenstein, it becomes clear that she had no notion that he had kept and preserved them in this way. This becomes apparent to her through her correspondence with Siegfried Sassoon, who had acquired the collection following Rothenstein’s death in 1945. In a letter of 9 August 1954, she writes, “how touched + proud I am that you’ve acquired my bound MS - which of course I never knew existed - I am sure it contains lots of ghastly Edwardian youthfulness - which would make me blush painfully - So don’t bring it in October - But I’d like you to have it all, just as it is, and I think it is sweet of you to care to have it, + to tell me so.” The remaining correspondence with Sassoon includes one letter from 1931, but is concentrated around the period from 1954 to 1960, and shows an increasing warmth and lively discussion of current literary matters.
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hairline splits to the rear joint. The spine is a little cocked and there is a bookplate to the front pastedown and neat ownership initials to the front endpaper. Internally very fresh and hinges perfect. A very well preserved copy. $42,000 Dickens completed writing A Christmas Carol in November 1843 and was determined to produce it as a beautiful gift book. He stipulated that it should have a fancy binding, all edges gilt and four full page hand coloured etchings. He asked for the title page to be printed in red and green and to have matching hand coloured green endpapers. Once the first copies had been produced thus Dickens found, to his disappoint - ment, that the title page colours looked drab and the chalky endpapers smudged and colour dusted off. In response, the title page was now to be printed red and blue and use yellow coated endpapers, which did not need to be hand coloured and thus had more durability. Together with these changes was an amendment to the date on the title page from 1844 to 1843 as the book was to be published for Christmas of that year. So it was that copies with yellow endpapers and red and blue titles were the ones prepared for publication day. The order in which copies were bound up for sale is impossible to determine and is a matter for conjec- ture as all three main variants were available on publication day and the publishers would most likely have issued whatever was to hand. The book was an instant success, reportedly selling all 6000 copies of the first edition on the first day of publication, almost single-handedly spawning a new genre of “Christmas literature”. Buoyed by his success,
15. DAHL, Roald DANNY THE CHAMPION OF THE WORLD Jonathan Cape, 1975 [46588] First edition. 8vo. Brown boards lettered in gilt in the original pictorial dustwrap- per. Top edge orange. Inscribed “Love Roald Dahl” on the front endpaper by the author. Illustrated throughout in black and white by Jill Bennett. A near fine copy with a strip of fading to the upper board, in a very good dustwrapper indeed, a little faded to spine with some rubbing to extremities. $4,250
Dickens wrote a further four Christmas sto- ries each seeking to strike a blow for the poor, uneducated and repressed, but imbuing his message with characteristic humour and good cheer. All were well received and sold well, though it is A Christmas Carol which has best stood the test of time.
17. DICKENS, Charles A TALE OF TWO CITIES Chapman & Hall, 1859 [46753]
First edition, first state of the text with page 213 mis-paginated. Full late nine- teenth century red morocco by Morrell, with gilt rules to covers, raised bands to spine, gilt titles and vignettes to spine compartments, gilt dentelles to turn ins and blue endpapers. Top edge gilt. Page marker ribbon loose to rear. Frontispiece and fourteen full page steel engravings with tissue guards, as well as a vignette title page by H.K.Browne. A very good copy indeed, some wear to joints. In- ternally, notably clean with just the oc- casional spot of foxing and three trivial marginal short closed tears. $6,500 Eckel, pp. 86-90; Gimbel A142; Sadleir 701; Hatton & Cleaver p. 331.
16. DICKENS, Charles A CHRIST- MAS CAROL Chapman & Hall, 1843 [45757] First edition, first issue with ‘STAVE I’ on page [1]. Original red-brown cloth with gilt vignettes on upper cover and spine, and blind stamped border (Todd’s first issue binding). Yellow coated endpapers and a blue and red title page dated 1843. All edges gilt. Four hand coloured plates by John Leech, with four woodcuts in the text. A very good copy indeed, with the cloth and gilt notably bright and en- tirely unrepaired, just a little wear to a couple of corners and a couple of tiny
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19. DULAC, Edmund “Whereupon she instantly desired her partner to lead her to the King and Queen” An Original Water- colour for Cinderella London, 1910 [45497] A large original ink and watercolour painting on artist’s board which illustrates the story of Cinderella, in Dulac’s 1910 gift book, The Sleeping Beauty and Other Fairy Tales . 317 x 259 mm. Signed and dated lower right (“Edmund Dulac 10”). In fine and unfaded condition. $82,500 An exceptional watercolour from what is generally regarded as Dulac’s finest work. “Mr Dulac’s illustrations are, of course, the reason for this beautiful book’s being. Mr Dulac, like Mr Rackham, has a genius for taking the classics of childhood and giving them a new interest for old readers. Children will probably object that he does not really illustrate the stories, but merely uses them as a sort of screen upon which to throw his magic arrangements of bright and moony colours” (The English Review). A review of the Leicester Galleries exhibition stated that “in... Dulac’s watercolour illustrations to fairy tales... there is the same feeling for har- monious colour and decorative composition which has always distin- guished his art” (The Academy). In his study of Dulac, Colin White specifically compared this illustra - tion with “two other watercolours of similar encounters between lovers, drawn in 1912 and 1913 respectively, by Hugh Thomson and Kay Niels- en”. Ultimately, White concluded that “each illustrator has an entirely dif - ferent approach; each in his own way succeeds admirably”, but in Dulac, “penwork is used mainly to define figures and objects, and it is the col -
18. DONALDSON, Julia; SCHEFFLER, Axel THE GRUF - FALO Macmillan, 1999 [46666] First edition. Original publish- er’s laminated pictorial paper covered boards decorated in a wraparound design by Axel Scheffler. Pictorial endpapers. Illustrated in colour throughout by Scheffler. A near fine copy, with a little wear to one corner and a few tiny indentations to the boards, but overall an crisp, bright copy. $17,500 The author’s most famous work, the first edition of which has become one of the rarest and most keenly sought of all modern children’s literature. The idea for the book was suggest- ed to Donaldson by her publisher in 1994. The year before Methuen had published A Squash and a Squeeze, based on a song written for BBC
Children’s Television and they now suggested something based on a folk story. Donaldson unearthed a Chinese fable about a girl who escapes being eaten by a tiger by claiming to be the fearsome Queen of the Jungle and inviting him to walk behind her. The tiger misinterprets the terror of the various animals they meet as being related to her rather than him, and flees. She painstakingly adapted the fable for a wood in the Eng - lish countryside, creating a fictitious monster, revising frequently until the final draft was sent to Reid Books, who had taken over Methuen’s Children’s Books. It supposedly sat on the desk of an editor for over a year, before Donaldson sent the manuscript to Axel Sheffler, who had illustrated her first book. He in turn showed it to Macmillan who agreed to publish it on the spot. Success wasn’t immediate, but sales were steady and grew persistently as the book developed first into a best seller and then a modern classic, selling over 13 million copies worldwide in over 100 languages. Why the first edition should be quite so scarce is hard to fathom. Mac- millan report an initial print of 2000 hardback copies published in 23 March 1999: a small number but not miniscule considering it appears in commerce meaningfully less frequently that the hardback issue of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which was issued in an edition of only 500 copies. It is likely that the a large proportion of the hardback issue would have been sold to school or public libraries to be read into oblivion, and that the remainder received scarcely less rough handling by the young audience at which it was aimed. Whatever the reasons, de- spite worldwide demand among collectors, first editions of The Gruffalo appear in commerce less frequently than any other modern collectable children’s book.
our that is an essential ele- ment in mod- elling and in atmospheric effect” (White, p. 47). L I T E R A - TURE: The S l e e p i n g Beauty and Other Fairy Tales Edit- ed by Arthur Quiller-Couch (1910), p. 64.
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An exceptional association copy, inscribed by Eliot to his long time publisher, colleague and friend Geoffrey Faber. Faber was the founding editor of Faber & Gwyer, which went on to become Faber & Faber, one of the great houses of British pub- lishing. He had admired Eliot’s early work, in particular The Waste Land and in early 1925 approached him to edit Faber’s Quarterly Review. On the strength of this, Eliot gave up his job at Lloyds and became a full time writer. Eliot was quickly elected to the board and as poetry editor was instrumental in establishing Faber as the most important poetry publisher of the twentieth century. Faber also published all of Eliot’s work in Britain from that point on. It was not only a business relationship that they shared but a profound friendship: Eliot went on holiday with the Fabers virtually every year between 1933 and 1957, and was godfather to their first son, Tom. Eliot would write whimsical letters to his young godson begin- ning with a humorous notice that “All Pollicle Dogs & Jellicle Cats to come to the birthday of Thomas Faber”, giving birth to series of anthropological verse sent to Tom for his amusement and comment, which was eventually collected into Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. First published without illustration (beyond Eliot’s own doodles to the jacket), this first illustrated edition was published a year after the first edition and Bentley’s illustrations are supposed to have inspired Andrew Lloyd Weber’s well-known musical and its various film adaptations. Gallup A34a
20. ELIOT, George MIDDLEMARCH A Study of Provincial Life Blackwood, 1871-2 [46335] First edition in book form. 8vo. Four volumes, handsomely bound in later half calf over marbled boards with blind tooling to calf edges. Lettered in gilt and decorated with gilt banding and tooling to the spine, raised bands creating six sections with two morocco title labels in green and red. All edges marbled. Marbled endpapers. A near fine set, with very occasional spots of internal foxing and the trimming of the title pages of vol I and IV clipping some of the “translation rights” text slightly. $6,300 Eliot’s greatest novel written at the height of her artistic maturity. V.S. Pritchett in his introduction to a later edition of the novel, opines, “No Victorian novel approaches Middlemarch in its width of reference, its intellectual power, or the imperturbable spaciousness of its narrative... No writer has ever represented the ambiguities of moral choice so fully.” INSCRIBED TO HIS PUBLISHER 21. ELIOT, T. S. OLD POSSUM’S BOOK OF PRACTICAL CATS Faber & Faber, 1940 [46607] First illustrated edition. Original cream cloth with coloured il- lustration of two dancing cats to the upper cover, red titles to spine, in dustwrapper recreating cover image with black and red titles. Author’s presentation copy, inscribed to his publisher and parents of the principle dedicatee on the front endpaper “For Geoffrey and Enid Faber these versified mewsings of Old Pos - sum. T.S.Eliot”. Illustrations by Nicolas Bentley. Fourteen full page colour illustrations as well as smaller black and white line drawings. A near fine copy with light foxing to the extremities, in a good only dustwrapper which is tanned to spine with chips to the spine ends a repaired tears. $20,000
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22. ELIOT, T.S. POEMS 1909-1925 Faber & Gwyer, 1925 [46743] First edition. Large paper issue, num- ber 37 of 85 copies, printed on hand- made paper and signed by the author. Original white buckram, lettered in gilt to the spine. A near fine copy, with a touch of tanning to spine and offsetting to the endpapers. Internally crisp, partially unopened. $20,000 The rare large paper issue of Eliot’s im-
portant early collection which marked the start of his associ- ation with Faber, and collects all the key early works includ- ing Prufrock, The Waste Land and The Hollow Men. It was the first of Eliot’s works to be
issued in a limited edition and, due to the light colouring of the buckram is now seldom encountered in presentable condi- tion. Gallup A8b
24. [ELIOT, T.S.]; FABER & FABER; FREEDMAN, Barnett; BAWDEN, Edward; ARDIZZONE, Edward FABER CHRIST- MAS CARDS Faber & Faber, 1945-1958 [46531] Ten official Faber Christmas cards, each signed by T.S.Eliot and given by him to his friends, Michael and Janet Richards. Each card designed and illustrated in lithograph by a Faber illustrator, including Barnett Freedman, Edward Bawden, Edward Ardiz- zone, Alan Howard, André François and Gerald Rose. Generally in very good condition indeed with occasional dustiness to the covers and odd marks. $11,500 An extensive collection of early Faber cards signed and given by T.S.El- iot. Faber began producing a consistent series of Christmas cards in 1945 to celebrate the end of the Second World War. The first five cards (1945+1950, no card issued in 1947) were all illustrated by Barnett Freed- man and finely printed on rag paper by the Curwen Press. The 1948 card designated them as, “for the directors and members of Messrs. Faber & Faber to send to their friends”.
INSCRIBED TO SPENDER 23. ELIOT, T.S. THE ELDER STATESMAN A Play Faber, 1959 [45952]
First edition. 8vo. Publisher’s red cloth, gilt titles to spine, in original dust jacket printed in red and black. Inscribed by Eliot to friend and fel- low-poet Stephen Spender on the front free endpaper: “For Stephen Spender / with the affection of / the author. / Tom.” A fine copy in a very good dustwrapper with a chip to the head of the spine not impeding the text, and one or two short closed tears to folds. Housed in green cloth folding case. $6,750 Stephen Spender (1909-1995) was a re-
nowned poet, critic, and good friend of T. S. Eliot. Eliot, who worked for the publishing house Faber & Faber for forty years, was responsible for publishing many important English poets, Spender among them.
All five of the inital Freedman cards are present in this collection as well as 1952 illustrated by Edward Bawden, 1953 by Edward Ardizzone, 1956 by Alan Howard, 1957 by André François and 1958 by Gerald Rose.
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25. FLEMING, Ian CASINO ROYALE Cape, 1953 [46766] First edition. Original black cloth with red heart vignette on up- per cover and titles on the spine, in gun metal grey dustwrapper designed by the author. A fine copy in a fine dustwrapper, which just shows the most trivial wear to the head of the spine and one corners, but has a freshness and consistency of colour which is now seldom found in this title. $85,000 The author’s first book and the first appearance of James Bond, who has probably had a greater impact on popular culture than any other ficti - tious character since Sherlock Holmes. 4,728 copies of the first impres - sion were printed, although no more than 3,000 were issued in the first state dustwrapper, the remainder having a favourable Sunday Times review overprinted on the front flap. A significant proportion of the first printing would have been sold to libraries and the remainder were well read, meaning that only a very small number of copies will remain in such fine condition as this one. “Ian Fleming has discovered the secret of narrative art... the reader has to go on reading” - John Betjeman (review in The Daily Telegraph). Gilbert A1a(1.1) 26. FLEMING, Ian LIVE AND LET DIE Cape, 1954 [46765] First edition, first state. Original black cloth with gilt titles and vignette, in printed dustwrapper. A fine copy in a fine dustwrap - per. Exceptionally crisp and bright, virtually flawless. $42,000
The second James Bond novel. The first state of the dustwrapper is iden - tifiable by the lack of the two line credit on the front flap “Jacket devised by the author and executed by Kenneth Lewis”. This was changed dur- ing the print run. Liberated by the encouraging response to his first novel, Fleming adopt - ed a more adventurous style in this novel and in doing so developed his own “informative journalistic” form of fiction which was to become char - acteristic of all the James Bond novels to follow. Certainly mentor and fellow writer William Plomer approved of the book, “If I’m any judge, this is just the stuff - sexy, violent, ingenious and full of well-collected detail of all kinds.” 27. FLEMING, Ian MOONRAKER Cape, 1955 [42886] First edition. Original black cloth with silver embossed titles, in striking ‘flames’ dustwrapper. A fine copy in a fine dustwrapper which is bright and crisp and, exceptionally, shows no meaning- ful fading to the spine. The front panel shows a couple of small, barely visible superficial stains, but withal an exceptionally well preserved copy. Housed in a clamshell case. $35,000 The third James Bond book, in which Fleming’s well established nar - rative style grows in confidence, displaying his own brand of polished suspense. Cape’s confidence in Fleming is evident as well, as 10,500 cop - ies of the first edition were published, and the book is not intrinsically scarce. The materials used for the dustwrapper however (cheap, soft pa- per printed in orange and yellow, which fades, on a white background, which browns) means that to find it in fine condition is notably rare.
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Both were part of the expatriate community on the island in the mid-20th century and shared connections through the creative and social circles of that era.
While there isn’t much documenta- tion of their interactions, it is likely they were well acquainted given the small, tight-knit nature of the liter- ary and expatriate community in Jamaica during that period. Fleming presentations with literary associations, particularly those con- nected to his second home of Jamai - ca are rare. 29. FLEMING, Ian FROM RUS - SIA, WITH LOVE Cape, 1957 [46767] First edition. Original black cloth with rose and gun vignette on upper cover in Chopping dust- wrapper. A fine copy in a fine, price clipped, dustwrapper, which is exceptionally bright and crisp with no mentionable wear and just a hint of tanning to the spine and couple of very short closed tears. $12,000
INSCRIBED TO FELLOW JAMAICAN EXPAT 28. FLEMING, Ian LIVE AND LET DIE Cape, 1954 [46129] First edition, first state. Original black boards with gilt titles and vignette, in printed dustwrap- per. Author’s presentation copy, inscribed on the front endpaper to author and fellow Jamaican resident, Esther Chapman, “To Esther As grist for her ball point. from Ian. p.s. with love” A near fine copy with a little foxing to the prelim - inary pages in a very good dustwrapper indeed which shows a little wear to the spine ends and is a touch dusty to the rear panel. $75,000 A fine association copy of the the second James Bond novel. Esther Chapman was an expatriate author and journalist living in Jamaica. She wrote a couple of nov - els set on the island as well as the highly regarded Pleasure Island, a guide book to Jamaica published in 1951, which Fleming reviewed for the Sunday Times as, “[written] with intelligence and common sense... Esther Chapman has done a great service to the Jamai - ca.”
Due to its colouring and paper stock, fine copies of this dustwrapper are uncommon.
30. FLEMING, Ian DR. NO Cape, 1958 [45839] First edition. Original black cloth with silhouette of dancer on the upper board mirroring the pictorial Marriott de- signed dustwrapper. A near fine copy in a near fine dustwrapper, with the slightest wear to the spine ends and a faint stain to the rear panel. $2,800
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31. FLEMING, Ian GOLDFINGER Cape, 1959 [46429] First edition. 8vo. Original black boards with blind-stamped skull and gilt coins to the upper cover, in pictorial dustwrapper by Richard Chopping. A near fine book in a very good dustwrap - per, with some browning to the spine and edges. $2,200 SIGNED LIMITED EDITION 32. FLEMING, Ian ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE Cape, 1963 [40159] First edition, deluxe issue, number 128 of 250 copies, signed by the author. Original quarter vellum over black boards in pub- lisher’s original clear glassine dustwrapper. Top edge gilt. Fron- tispiece illustration of Fleming by Amhurst Villiers not included in the trade edition. A fine copy with an unusually clean vellum spine. Page edges slightly tanned with a small mark to the fore edge. The glassine shows a couple of tears, but is mainly com- plete. $20,000 On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is the only Bond novel to be issued in this deluxe format and is uncommon by dint of its limitation. Over time, the vellum has shown a tendency to yellow, and copies in such nice con- dition, with the original glassine, are scarce.
WITH THE GOLDEN GUN ON THE BOARDS 33. FLEMING, Ian THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN Cape, 1965 [46764] First edition, first state binding with the publisher’s golden gun embossed on the front panel, in pictorial dustwrapper designed by Chopping. A fine copy, bright and crisp with no tarnishing to the gilt, in a fine (price clipped) dustwrapper. Uncommon in such crisp condition. $15,000 All Fleming’s previous novels have a decorated front board, and it was the publisher’s intention to do the same with this book. A decision was made, very early in the process, that to block the whole print run with such a large expanse of foil, would be financially prohibitive. “According to the publisher’s book production files... the original esti - mate allowed for just four and a half square inches of foil-stamping [the executed design measured nearly nineteen square inches]... The decision to cease stamping a golden gun was purely economical...” - Gilbert (Ian Fleming Bibliography). According to publisher’s records, 940 copies were thus blocked, a larger number than had previously been thought (though still a tiny proportion of the 82,000 copies of the first edition printed). The reason for its appar - ent extreme scarcity was that being the earliest copies, they were all sent to the colonies, principally Australia and South Africa. Nevertheless it remains by far the scarcest recognised discreet state of any James Bond book.
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ONE OF SIX CONTEMPORARY PRESENTATION COPIES 34. GRAHAME, Kenneth THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS Methuen, 1908 [38987] First edition. 8vo. Original blue-green cloth with gilt vignettes and titles to the spine and upper cover. Top edge gilt. Author’s presentation copy, inscribed by Grahame on the half title, “To Ruth Ward, from her friend Kenneth Grahame / Oct. 1908” Woodcut frontispiece by Graham Robertson. A little wear to the spine ends and corners, but generally bright and clean and nota- bly fresh internally. $100,000 A rare presentation copy of one of the classics of children’s literature. Ruth Ward was the daughter of family friends of the Grahames, Sidney and Katherine Ward. Sidney Ward was a colleague of Grahame’s at the Bank of England who became a close friend and “companions for hearty country weekends”. (ODNB) Ruth was the same age as Grahame’s son, Alastair, (known to his parents as Mouse) and became a close childhood friend. Wind in the Willows had its genesis in a series of impromptu bedtime stories which Grahame told Alastair. Katherine Ward was one of the first to hear about these stories, as Grahame refers to them in a letter to her of May 1904, “[Mouse] had a bad crying fit on the night of his birthday, and I had to tell him stories about moles, giraffes & water-rats (he selected these subjects) till after 12.” This copy was sent by Grahame to Ward as a birthday present. In a letter to her, Grahame’s wife Elspeth writes, “I thought you might like per- haps better than anything else a new book that Mouse’s Daddy has just written, so I asked him for one for your birthday present. I want to know how you like it.”
The two families remained in contact throughout Gra- hame’s life, Elspeth writing to Ruth Ward on Grahame’s death in 1932 to tell him that he had been buried next to Mouse (who had committed suicide in 1920), “Kenneth so loved the Boy & so loved Oxford itself that we are glad to think he rests there. I felt you knew Mouse so well & Kenneth also that I would like you to know they were together...” Presentation copies of the first edition of Wind in the Wil- lows are of the utmost rarity in commerce. We know of but six copies, 1. Inscribed to Helen Grahame (Oct. 1908). Private Amer- ican Collection. 2. Inscribed to Ruth Ward (Oct. 1908). Present copy. 3. Inscribed to Foy Quiller-Couch (Oct. 1908). Private American Collection. 4. Inscribed to Thomas Anstey Guthrie (“F. Anstey”) (Oct. 1908). Private British collection. 5. Inscribed to Constance Smedley (Oct. 1908). Sold So- theby Oct. 1981. 6. Inscribed to Mary E. Richardson. Sold Sotheby July 1965.
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wrapper lettered in white, complete with original wraparound band. A fine copy in a fine dustwrapper, which is crisp and bright with just trivi- al wear to the corners and base of the spine but exceptionally has an unfaded spine. A superb copy. $2,250 One of the harder of Greene’s novels to find in fine condition due to its fragile post war paper stock and fugitive red colouring.
35. GRAVES, Robert THE TREASURE BOX Privately Printed at the Chiswick Press, [1919] [46555] First edition. Original blue hand-sewn paper wrappers. Author’s presentation copy, inscribed to fellow poet, “Ivor Gurney from Robert Graves”. Title page design and one other line drawing by Nancy Nicholson. Spine worn and neatly repaired, corners worn and lightly frayed, a very good copy. $5,300 An excellent association copy of Graves’ first collection of poetry to be published after demobilisation, inscribed to fellow war poet Ivor Gurney who would also set several of Graves’ poems from The Treasure Box to music. Gurney was an English poet and composer from Gloucester who’s stud- ies at the Royal College of Music were cut short by the outbreak of war. During the war he was twice wounded in action, secondly with gas that led to the worsening of his manic depression, for which he was institu- tionalised in 1922. Graves met Gurney in the Gloucestershire regiment, and they fought alongside each other in the trenches during battles in- cluding the Somme. In civilian life, they mixed in the same literary circles and exchanged a sporadic correspondence, until Gurney’s death from tuberculoses in 1937. These letters included discussions of their personal struggles adjusting to life after the war and the development and publi- cation of their creative endeavours. ‘Sorry that the reviewers think Graves cannot write; for he is a poet and I am not.’ 23 May 1918, Gurney, Collected Letters, p. 428. The Treasure Box is Graves’ third work, privately printed in an edition of 200 copies, none of which were for sale. 36. GREENE, Graham THE HEART OF THE MATTER Heine- mann, 1948 [46485] First edition. Original blue cloth with silver titles, in red dust-
37. HAMMETT, Dashiell RED HARVEST New York: Knopf, 1929 [41791] First edition. Original red cloth decorated in yellow and black in rare first issue pictorial dustwrapper, with the plot summary to the rear panel. A fine copy in a fine dustwrapper, which is crisp and vibrant with just the most trivial wear to the head of the spine and a couple of short closed tears. An exceptional copy. $135,000 The author’s landmark first book, with the earliest issue of the dust jacket with the plot summary on the rear panel. The earliest issue is so rare that
Richard Layman describes only a later issue with reviews from The Bookman, The Outlook, and The Chicago Post. Red Harvest, originally published in Black Mask from November 1927 to February 1928, is acclaimed as the foundational text in the hardboiled detective genre, giving a darker cynical twist to the clas- sic great detective figure exempli - fied by Sherlock Holmes. Drawing from his personal experiences as an operative with the Pinkerton De- tective Agency, Hammett portrays a seedy, violent milieu inhabited by gangsters, corrupt cops, and flawed detectives. André Gide called Red Harvest “a remarka- ble achievement, the last word in atrocity, cynicism, and horror.”
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