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151 SMITH, Dodie. I Capture the Castle. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1948 “driving, of course, because of the dogs” First edition, presentation copy of her debut, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “To Jon, with my love, Dodie. Doylestown, Pennsylvania, November 1948”, with an autograph note from Smith laid in, dated 26 March 1949. The recipient was Jon Wynne-Tyson (1824–2020), author, publisher, pacifist, and founder of the Centaur Press. His mother, the actress, writer, and philosopher Esmé Wynne-Tyson (1898–1972), was a close friend of Smith, and collaborated with their mutual friend Noel Coward on several plays. The note is written on the verso of a change- of-address card, marking Smith’s move from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, where this title was written, to 1006 Cove Way, Beverly Hills, California. She thanks Jon for his letter and for sending copies of Enquiry. She continues: “I’ve sent your mother all our reasons for returning to California – for the
First Rowfant edition, number 91 of 100, a handsomely bound edition of The Tempest . “I have brought together in this volume, besides the original text and the continuation thereof, the most pretentious of the adaptations, that of Dryden and D’Avenant . . . both of whom should have known better” (Willis Vickery, foreword). Octavo. Original crushed red morocco, spine lettered in gilt, gilt compartments and raised bands on spine, covers and turn-ins ruled in gilt, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Housed in publisher’s marbled slipcase. Portrait frontispiece, illustrated title page, 6 monochrome plates, 4 with tissue-guard, facsimile reproduction of Tempest title page. Spine a touch darkened, a few faint marks to front cover and spine else very bright, a little foxing to fore and lower edges, light offsetting to contents. A fine copy of a handsomely bound edition, clean and fresh, in rubbed but bright slipcase. £950 [155693] 150 SHANNON, Claude. The Portfolio Problem and How to Pay the Forecaster. 1956 information theory and the stock market The author’s file copy, one of two such examples from Shannon’s personal collection; an early surviving piece of work from his period of research into information theory as a tool in the stock market in the 1950s.
The statement beneath the title reads: “These notes, taken by W. W. Peterson, cover several lectures in the Seminar on Information Theory offered by C. E. Shannon at M.I.T., Spring Term, 1956.” The typescript is split into two parts. The first, titled “The Portfolio Problem” (ff. 1–6), applies information theory to gambling, and was “inspired by news reports of betting on whether or not the contestant on the TV program ‘$64,000 Question’ would win”. The second, titled “How to Pay the Forecaster” (ff. 7–8), applies information theory to sophisticated weather prediction systems. Quarto (280 × 214 mm), ff. [1], 8. Reproduced typescript, 9 leaves, stapled upper left, typewritten on rectos only. From the personal files of Claude Shannon, unmarked as such, accompanied by a typed letter signed from his literary executor regarding the provenance. Discreet repair to short tear resulting from staple, first leaf lightly spotted and browned at edges, minor edge wear and creasing, a few neat pencil corrections to text (including to ff. 1 and 3). In very good condition. ¶ Origins of Cyberspace 889 (provenance: Berkeley bioengineering professor Lawrence Stark); Sloane & Wyner, Claude Elwood Shannon: Collected Papers , no. 106. £6,250 [159678]
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summer”. She adds that she and her husband, Alec Beesley, intend to leave in April, “driving of course, because of the dogs”, the dogs being their cohort of Dalmatians, the inspiration for her other famous title, The One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1955). I Capture the Castle was published in the USA in October, preceding the UK edition by a year. Smith wrote the book after emigrating with her husband during the Second World War: both were conscientious objectors and moved from Britain to avoid legal difficulties. The novel was filmed in 2004, starring Romola Garai, Bill Nighy, Rose Byrne, and Tara Fitzgerald. Octavo. Original light blue cloth, spine lettered in blue, castle vignette on front cover in blue. With Samuel Bryant designed dust jacket. Change of address card loosely inserted (90 × 113 mm) written in autograph on verso by Smith. Fly-titles with vignette illustrations by Ruth Steed. With 5 associated newspaper clippings loosely inserted. Spine sunned, with damp stain at foot extending to covers, foxing along spine, extremities, and edges, extending slightly to pastedowns. A very good copy in like jacket, lightly soiled, spine panel browned with some continuation across rear panel, two tape repairs to same, edges a little nicked and rubbed, still a firm, square book in sharp jacket, not price-clipped. £5,000 [158269]
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“touched up” the text to make it more readable. Methuen published facsimiles of all four Folios in reverse order, beginning with the Fourth in 1904, the Third and Second in 1905, and keeping the best till last. Folio. Original linen-backed pale blue boards, paper spine label, edges untrimmed, spare label tipped in at rear. Occasional light wear to board edges, inner hinges superficially split, but firm, mild toning and a couple of marks to sides, faint offsetting to endpapers, contents generally bright and clean. A very good copy. ¶J. H. P. Pafford, “The Methuen facsimile, 1910, of the First Folio, 1623”, Notes and Queries 13/4, 1966, pp. 126–127. £1,250 [159913] 149 SHAKESPEARE, William. The Tempest. Together with the text revised and rewritten by John Dryden and William D’Avenant, to which is added Caliban . . . translated from the French of Ernest Renan by Eleanor Grant Vickery. Cleveland, Ohio: The Rowfant Club, 1911 we are such stuff as dreams are made on
William. Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. London: Methuen & Co., Ltd, 1910 first folio facsimile First edition of the Methuen facsimile of the First Folio, with pleasing provenance: Folger Shakespeare Library duplicate stamp to rear pastedown. A reliable full-size photo-zincographic replica, this an influential publication which contributed to making the First Folio available to a wider public of modern readers. John Henry Pyle Pafford (1900–1996), librarian of the University of London Library and accomplished editor of Shakespeare, demonstrated in 1966 that the original copy used by Methuen for this facsimile – of which the editor kept no record – was the one now preserved at the Guildhall Library of London (shelf number SAFE 4). Pafford also showed that this was a notably sophisticated reproduction: photographic plates were produced from the original disbound volume, and other copies of the First Folio were employed to supply the missing text in the Guildhall copy, and in numerous instances Methuen carefully
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All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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