Antiquarian and Collectors’ Books

THEROUX, Paul. Murder in Mount Holly. London: Alan Ross, 1969. First edition, 8vo (183 x 116mm.) (Mild toning, ex-library stamps verso title and front-free endpaper.) Original red cloth, dust-jacket (extremities rubbed). Note: Theroux wrote most of this novel during the state of emergency and curfew in Kampala in Uganda in 1966 when, for twelve days, people were not allowed out of their homes. – And a further twenty-nine volumes of fiction and travel-writing and memoir by Paul Theroux, all first editions, one signed (‘The Black House’, 1974, 8vo) (30).

BINDINGS. – Charles C.F. GREVILLE. The Greville Memoirs. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1874-1887. 8 vols., 8vo (207 x 129mm.) Half-titles. (Toning, occasional light spotting.) Near contemporary blue half morocco, red and tan morocco lettering pieces to the spines (lightly rubbed extremities). Note: comprises ‘A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William IV’ and ‘Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1852’ and ‘Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria, from 1852 to 1860’. – And a further twenty-four volumes (including ‘Chambers’ Miscellany of Instructive and Entertaining Tracts’, 12 vols. in 6, 1869-1870, 8vo) (32).

BINDINGS. – Walter SCOTT. The Poetical Works… Including Introduction and Notes. London: Frederick Warne and Co., 1894. ‘Albion Edition’, 8vo (184 x 122mm.) Half-title, ‘Appendix’, 2pp. publisher’s advertisements to rear. (Mild toning.) Near contemporary navy blue full morocco, fillet gilt to covers, red morocco lettering piece to spine, g.e. (lightly rubbed extremities). – And a further twenty-three volumes (including, bound by Ramage, ‘The Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson’, 1907, 8vo, and, bound by Zaehnsdorf ‘The Holy Bible, Illustrated’, [circa 1920], 8vo, and, bound by Asprey & Co., ‘The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations’, 1972, 8vo, and James Boswell’s ‘The Life of Samuel Johnson’, 10 vols., 1853, 8vo) (24).

MANTELL, Gideon. [The Fossils of the South Downs; or, Illustrations of the Geology of Sussex. London: Lupton Relfe, 1822.] Loose-leaf (267 x 367mm.) 36 aquatint plates [of 42] engraved by Mrs. Mantell, including 1 double-paged and 1 hand-coloured. (Browned, some chipping to margins.) Disbound. Note: includes a hand-written note from Arthur George Davis, palaeontologist, which reads: ‘These proof plates were once in Mantell’s possession. I have some with his alterations. I send you these as many are not represented in Dixon’s 2nd Ed. Further, as I have no use for them they are best returned to Sussex’. Provenance: Gideon Mantell, geologist; Arthur George Davis, palaeontologist (loosely inserted note).

DICKENS, Charles. Doctor Marigold… as Condensed by Himself, for His Readings. Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1877. 8vo (192 x 122mm.) Original wrappers with wood-engraved portrait (crease at top of spine). Note: scarce. – And a further twenty-two ‘Acting Editions’ related to the works of Charles Dickens (including ‘Hard Times: A Domestic Drama in Three Acts… by Fox Cooper’, 1854, 8vo, and ‘A Christmas Carol; or, the Miser’s Warning!’ by C.Z. Barnett, 1868, 8vo, and ‘The Tale of Two Cities’, adapted by Fox Cooper, [circa 1870], 8vo) (23).

DICKENS, Charles. A Christmas Carol; or, the Miser’s Warning… adapted from Charles Dickens’ Celebrated Work by C.Z. Barnett. London: John Dicks, [circa 1844.] 16mo (182 x 122mm.) Original sewn wrappers with wood-engraved illustration to upper cover, advertisements to lower (uncut leaves, stain to upper cover). – And a further thirty-one volumes related to Charles Dickens (including thirteen ‘Acting Editions’, numerous abridged editions, and Kate Field’s ‘Pen Photographs of Charles Dickens’ Readings, Taken From Life’, 1868, 8vo) (32).

BELLOC, Hilaire. Ladies and Gentlemen: For Adults Only and Mature at That. London: Duckworth, 1932. First edition, 4to (246 x 184mm.) Illustrations by Nicholas Bentley. (Toning, contemporary gift inscription on the front-free endpaper.) Original white cloth-backed pictorial boards, dust-jacket (toned, small repair to lower panel). – And a further seven illustrated volumes (including Eden Phillpotts’ ‘A Dish of Apples’, illustrated by Arthur Rackham, [1921], 4to, and J.M. Barries’ ‘Peter Pan in Kensington Garden’, illustrated by Arthur Rackham, [1909], 4to) (8).

POETRY. – Keith DOUGLAS. Alamein to Zem Zem. London: Editions Poetry, 1946. First edition, 8vo (224 x 168mm.) 3 colour plates, black and white drawings by the author in the text. (Browned.) Original red cloth-backed boards (staining to spine), dust-jacket (spotting, some losses to spine panel, browned). – And a further seven volumes related to poetry (including ‘An Anthology of ‘Nineties’ Verse’ edited by A.J.A. Symons, 1928, 8vo, and Edmund Blunden’s ‘Poems of Many Years’, 1957, 8vo) (8).

SIGNED BOOKS. – Nevil SHUTE. Beyond the Black Stump. London: William Heinemann Ltd. and the Book Society, 1956. Signed by Nevil Shute, 8vo (183 x 121mm.) (Mild toning.) Original red cloth, dust-jacket (chipping to extremities). Note: signed ‘Nevile Shute Norway’ in the distinctive blue ink. – And a further twenty-seven volumes by or about Nevile Shute, including a further 12 novels signed by Nevil Shute (‘No Highway’, 1948, ‘Most Secret’, 1947, ‘Marazan’, 1951, ‘A Town Like Alice’, 1950, ‘The Far Country’, 1952, ‘Pied Piper’, 1949, ‘The Chequer Board’, 1947, ‘Pastoral’, 1944, ‘So Disdained’, 1952, ‘In the Wet’, 1953, ‘Ruined City’, 1952, ‘Requiem for a Wren’, 1955). Provenance: from the descendants of the estate of Alec Menhinick and his wife Dorothy Elspeth Jackson. Alec and Dorothy (known as ‘Spiffy’), met each other in 1944 when Alec was working under Shute at the DMWD [Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development]. The couple became long term friends when Shute – known as ‘Uncle Nevil’ - sponsored the family in their emigration to Australia. When in Australia, Alec was known to race Shute’s Jaguar XK140. When it came to filming the racing scenes of ‘On the Beach’, Alec was the driver, standing in for the Fred Astair character. It is thought that Shute used Dorothy and Alec as the inspiration for the characters of Jean Porter and Donald Wolfe in ‘The Seafarers’. Three of these novels are directly inscribed to the couple: ‘No Highway’, ‘Pastoral’, and ‘In the Wet’ (28).

[BARNES, Julian.] ‘Dan Kavanagh’. Duffy. London: Jonathan Cape, 1980. First edition, 8vo (196 x 122mm.) (Mild toning.) Original black cloth, dust-jacket. – And a further sixteen volumes by Julian Barnes, all first editions (including ‘Before She Met Me’, 1982, and ‘History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters’, signed by the author, 1989, and ‘The Porcupine’, signed by the author, 1992, and ‘England, England’, signed by the author, 1998, 8vo, and ‘Pulse’, signed by the author’, 2011) (17).

TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1984. Deluxe ‘India Paper’ edition, 9th impression, 8vo (222 x 137mm.) (Faint crease to first leaves.) Original black cloth, gilt design by Tolkien to upper cover, original box with mounted paper label (slight rub).

DAHL, Roald. The BFG. London: Jonathan Cape, 1982. First edition, first impression, 8vo (232 x 149mm.) Illustrations by Quentin Blake. (Spotting to first and last leaves, toning.) Original grey cloth, dust-jacket (small tear and creasing to spine ends). – And a further seven volumes by Roald Dahl, all first editions (including ‘The Twits’, 1980, 8vo, and ‘My Uncle Oswald’, 1979, 8vo, and ‘Switch Bitch’, 1974, 8vo) (8).

WINGFIELD, R.D. A Touch of Frost. London: Constable, 1990. First edition, 8vo (215 x 129mm.) (Toning.) Original black cloth (small marks to lower cover), dust-jacket (spine ends bumped, small tear at top of spine). Note: the second book in the ‘Jack Frost’ series and certainly the most scarce with a print run of only 500-600 copies.

BRATBY, John. Breakdown. London: Hutchinson, 1960. First edition, 8vo (212 x 132mm.) Illustrations by the author. (Toning.) Original black and grey cloth, dust-jacket designed by John Bratby (slight chipping to spine ends).

SWIFT, Graham. Shuttlecock. London: Allen Lane, 1981. First edition, 8vo (213 x 129mm.) (Mild toning.) Original green cloth, dust-jacket. – And a further seven works of fiction by Graham Swift, all first editions (including ‘Learning to Swim’, 1982, ‘Waterland’, 1983, and ‘Out of This World’, 1988, and ‘Ever After’, 1992, and ‘Last Orders’, 1996, and ‘The Light of Day’, 2003, and ‘Tomorrow’, signed by Graham Swift, 2007) (8).

DURRELL, Lawrence. Justine. London: Faber and Faber, 1957. First edition, first impression, 8vo (203 x 126mm.) (Mild toning.) Original red cloth, dust-jacket (price-clipped, browned to spine, slight chipping at top of spine). – And a further twelve volumes by Lawrence Durrell, first editions (including ‘Reflections on a Marine Venus’, 1953, and ‘Clea’, 1960, and ‘Bitter Lemons’, 1957, and a reprint of ‘The Black Book’, signed by the author, 1973, and a reprint of ‘The Dark Labyrinth’, 1961) (13).

CHRISTIE, Agatha. Murder Is Easy. London: The Crime Club, 1939. First edition, 8vo (174 x 114mm.) (Toning, occasional scattered spotting, lacking 2pp. advertisements.) Variant brown cloth, black lettering to spine (some fading and spotting to spine). Provenance: Audrey Hobby (ink name inscribed to front pastedown). – And a further first edition in a variant binding (Daphne du Maurier’s ‘Jamaica Inn’, 1936, 8vo) (2).

DUMAS, Alexander. Les Trois Mousquetaires. Paris: M.M. J. -B. Fellens et L.- P. Dufour, 1846. First illustrated edition, 8vo (237 x 151mm.) Half-title, wood-engraved portrait frontispiece, 32 wood-engraved plates by A. Gusman, G. Lecestre and others after Beauce and others, tissue-guards, illustrated initials and tail-pieces. (Spotting to preliminaries, light to moderate spotting throughout including marginal damp-staining.) Contemporary black morocco, gilt lettering to spine (rebacked, lightly rubbed extremities). – And a further illustrated volume by Dumas (‘Vingt ans Après’, 1846, 8vo) (2).

SPENSER, Edmund. Faerie Queene… with a Glossary, and Notes explanatory and critical by John Upton. London: for J. and R. Tonson, 1758. 2 vols., new edition, 4to (252 x 197mm.) (Toning, occasional light spotting.) Near contemporary half calf over marbled paper-covered boards (joints splitting, extremities heavily rubbed with some loss). Note: the first annotated edition. Provenance: Marcus Somerville (bookplates to front pastedowns) (2).