J O N K E R S R A R E B O O K S
P R E S E N T A T I O N C O P I E S & M A N U S C R I P T S
OSBORNE TO BETHEL SOLOMONS 52. OSBORNE, John LOOK BACK IN ANGER A Play in Three Acts Faber & Faber, 1957. First edition. Original brown cloth lettered in gilt in original dustwrapper, which repro- duces a Julia Hamilton photograph. Inscribed on the front endpaper “To Bethel Solo- mons, John Osborne”. A near fine copy in near fine dustwrapper, with a little rubbing at the spine ends. [36241] £1,850 The author’s first play and quintessential Angry Young Man work. Bethel Solomons (1885–1965) was a well known figure in Ireland. From a prominent Jewish family he played International Rugby for Ireland between 1908 and 1910, was a keen supporter of Irish independence and became an eminent obstetrician as well as a keen art and book collector. His father’s opticians is mentioned in James Joyce’s Ulysses, “Striding past Finn’s hotel Cashel Boyle O’Connor Fitzmaurice Tisdall Farrell stared through a fierce eyeglass across the carriages at the head of Mr M. E. Solomons in the window of the Austro-Hungarian viceconsulate”. PROVENANCE: From the library of Bethel Solomons, his bookplate to front pastedown. THE EARLIEST PUBLISHED ANTARCTIC POETRY 53. PALMER, J. C. THULIA A Tale Of The Antarctic Published by Samuel Colman, 1843. First edition. 8vo. Publisher’s navy blue cloth, with gilt stamped decoration and let- tering to the upper cover and spine, with further decoration and rules in blind. An author’s presentation copy, inscribed by Palmer “To Dr Wm. W. Baynes, Surgeon R.N., with the compliments of his friend J C Palmer. U.S. Ship St. Mary’s. December 18 1845.” Woodcut frontispiece, two full-page woodcuts and nine further woodcuts as head- and tailpieces and vignettes. A very good copy indeed, with a couple of small splashes to the boards but generally a very clean and bright example of an uncommon book. [39134] £2,750 A most uncommon account - in the form of two epic poems - of the United States Exploring Expe- dition of 1838-42. It is the only surviving account of the USS Flying Fish from the expedition, and also constitutes the earliest published Antarctic poetry. Palmer explains in his preface that “the following Poem is a true story of the incidents more mi- nutely detailed in the Appendix, to which the reader is referred for a narrative prepared from the journals of the ‘Flying-Fish’. It unfortunately happened that all these journals, which had been collected on board the U. S. Ship Peacock, were lost with that vessel, at the mouth of the Columbia; so that the account which I wrote only for the gratification of a few friends, has become the sole remaining history of a highly interesting adventure.” Inscribed copies are most uncommon in commerce. Rosove notes that “the bindings and paper have stood the test of time poorly,” though this copy is uncommonly well preserved.
ORWELL TO ANTHONY POWELL 51. ORWELL, George KEEP THE ASPIDISTRA FLYING Gollancz, 1936.
First edition. Publisher’s blue cloth with dark blue lettering. Signed by the author for fellow novelist Anthony Powell, “Geo. Orwell” on the front end paper, with Powell’s bookplate to the front pastedown. A very good copy, light soiling with a little wear to the spine ends and rear joint and the faint remains of a label to the front cover. [34096] £25,000 The book which “would eventually produce one of his [Orwell’s] most substantial adult friend- ships” (Taylor - Orwell The Life). Powell recalls buying this book and the friendship with Orwell which followed in the first volume of his autobiography, Infants of the Spring (1976). “When Down and Out in Paris and London appeared in 1933, someone recommended it... I read the book, and was impressed by its savagery and gloom. At the same time, I cannot claim to have immediately marked down Orwell as a writer of whom one would obviously hear more. However, a year or two later, when I saw a copy of Keep the Aspidistra Flying in a secondhand bookshop, I bought it. Again, I liked the novel for its violent feelings and presentation of a young man at the end of his tether, rather than for its form or style, which seemed strangely old fashioned in treatment... I spoke of the book dining with Cyril Connolly. Connolly then told me Orwell was one of his oldest friends... He urged me to write a fan letter. This I did, thereby making my first Orwell contact, in 1936” Powell included a copy of his recently self published Caledonia, and received a friendly, if hesi- tant, reply from Orwell. It was not until some five years later that they met in person, whereafter they would meet and correspond regularly for the remainder of Orwell’s life. An exceptional association copy. George Orwell presentation copies are uncommon, without com- pare amongst major twentieth century writers. PROVENANCE: From the library of Anthony Powell, bookplate on pastedown.
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