The Chelsea Bindery

27 LOOS, Anita. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. New York: Boni & Liveright, 1925 one of the great comic novels of the early 20th century First edition, first printing with “Divine” for “Devine” on the contents page, inscribed by the author on the first blank, “To Keith Baker, it would be strange if I turn out to be an authoress. I mean, at my home near little Rock, Arkansas, my family all wanted me to do something about my music. With best wishes Anita Loos”. The author’s classic satire of the Jazz Age was an instant best- seller, and has serious Modernist credentials. It was hailed by Edith Wharton as “the great American Novel”, and was selected by James Joyce for his daily designated reading time when he was half-blind and working on the first draft of Finnegans Wake (see Graham). The novel was first adapted into a Broadway musical in 1949. It is the 1953 film adaptation, starring Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe, which is remembered as one of the greatest films of all time. Octavo. Finely bound in bright blue morocco, pale blue morocco spine label lettered in dark blue, pictorial illustration on front cover in black with Lorelei’s hair onlaid in yellow and her lips blocked in red, title block on front cover in silver, turn-ins ruled in gilt, floral patterned endpapers, gilt edges. Illustrated throughout by Ralph Barton. A fine copy. ¶ Elyse Graham, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”, The Modernism Lab , available online. £3,000 [154824] 28 LOWTHER, George. The Adventures of Superman. New York: Random House, 1942 first novelization of a comic book character First edition, first printing. This book is the first novelization of a comic book character, and the first Superman story credited to someone other than Jerry Siegel. It was Lowther who first provided many now-familiar details of Superman’s birth and early life.

Octavo. Finely bound in crimson morocco, spine lettered in gilt, pictorial onlay on front cover after original cover, turn-ins ruled in gilt, blue endpapers, gilt edges. Colour and black and white illustrations throughout by Joe Shuster. Couple of minor blemishes to prelims, an excellent copy in a fine binding. £2,750 [144740]

25 LEE, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1960 the pulitzer prize-winner First edition, first printing. To Kill a Mockingbird became an immediate bestseller and won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Jonathan Daniels remarks that this is “an authentic and nostalgic story which in rare fashion at once puts together the tenderness and the tragedy of the South. They are the inseparable ingredients of a region much reported but seldom so well understood” (dust jacket review). Octavo. Finely bound in dark brown morocco, pictorial onlay of a tree wrapped around covers, quote blocked in gilt on front cover, turn-ins ruled in gilt, dark green endpapers, gilt edges. Housed in a green cloth flat-back box by the Chelsea Bindery. A fine copy. £6,750 [151713] 26 LEWIS, C. S. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. First edition, first impression. “A whole generation has grown up of people who read the Narnia stories in childhood, and have passed on the secret to their own children in turn. Whatever Lewis’s future reputation as a theologian or literary critic, he is certain of a place among the classic authors of children’s books” (Wilson, p. 220). Octavo. Finely bound in green morocco, spine lettered and decorated in gilt with raised bands, covers ruled in gilt, pictorial onlay of Lucy and Mr Tumnus walking through the woods set within oval frame on front cover, onlay on rear cover of the children tumbling out of the wardrobe, turn-ins richly gilt, marbled endpapers, gilt edges. Colour-printed frontispiece and line drawings in the text by Pauline Baynes. A little spotting to prelims, London: Geoffrey Bles, 1950 the first narnia book

otherwise a fine copy. ¶ Grolier Children’s 100 , 90. Andrew Norman Wilson, C. S. Lewis: A Biography , 1990. £7,500

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All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk

THE CHELSEA BINDERY

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