Antiquarian and Collectors’ Books

TOLSTOY, Leo. What I Believe - translated from the Russian by Constance Popoff. London: Elliot Stock, 1885. First English edition, 8vo (191 x 120mm.) (Mild toning, upper joint weakening.) Original brown cloth, gilt lettering to spine (rubbing to spine and spine ends). Note: in this book Tolstoy outlined his Christian faith and his belief in non-resistance to evil. Provenance: W. Sowerby (bookplate to the front pastedown).

BIBLE, In English. The Holy Bible Containing the Old Testament and The New, Newly Translated out of the Original Tongues… London: printed by Charles Bill, and the Executrix of Thomas Newcomb, 1703. General title, additional engraved title dated 1704, with NT and Apocrypha, numerous woodcut initials. (Tear to G2 and Ooo2, small corner loss to Ii3, browning, spotting and some marginal damp-staining.) [Bound with:] A Brief Concordance or Table to the Bible of the Last Translation. London: R.Ware, 1732. 4to (261 x 182mm.) (Browning.) Contemporary panelled calf, five raised bands to spine, gilt title to the spine (front board detached, rubbing). Note: collates: A-A2, A-Z8, Aa-Zz8, Aaa-Zzz8, Aaaa-Kkkk6, a1-b8/A-J1. Provenance: William Blackstone (bookplate to the front pastedown and signature inscribed in ink to verso of the front-free endpaper). Blackstone was the author of the four volume 'Commentaries on the Laws of England', a text that was hugely influential in solidifying English law and turning it from a law based on actions to a substantive law and, as such, has been viewed as a core text of the Enlightenment. It's also known for its emphasis on the sovereignty of Parliament and still gets cited in Supreme court cases today.

DURRELL, Lawrence. [The Alexandria Quartet]. London: Faber and Faber, 1957-1960. 4 vols., first editions, first impressions, 8vo (199 x 126mm.) (Light spotting to preliminaries and fore-edges, faint dates stamped to front-free endpapers of 'Clea' and 'Balthazar', pencil erasure to front-free endpaper of 'Justine'.) Original cloth, gilt lettering to spines (bumped to spine ends), dust-jackets (chipping with loss to top of spine of 'Justine', small tears to top and spotting to rear panel of 'Balthazar'). Note: comprises 'Justine' (1957), 'Mountolive' (1958), 'Balthazar' (1958) and 'Clea' (1960) (4).

MEYERSTEIN, E.H.W. Séraphine. London: Richards, 1936. First edition, signed by the author, 8vo (189 x 119mm.) (Occasional spotting to preliminaries and fore-edge.) Original blue cloth (slight sunning to spine). - And two related volumes (including a signed copy of John Gawsworth's 'Poems 1930-1932', 1933, 8vo) (3).

LEWIS, Wyndham. The Childermass, section 1. London: Chatto and Windus, 1928. First edition, 8vo (207 x 129mm.) (Minor spotting to preliminaries, toning.) Original yellow and cloth with red serrated borders, red titling to spine (spine ends bumped), dust-jacket (tears to top of spine). Note: 2500 copies of the first edition were originally published, 1000 of them subsequently destroyed by the publisher. Lewis eventually published section 2 and 3 in the 1950's, calling the trilogy 'The Human Age'. - And a further seven literary volumes (including Julian Symons's 'Confusions About X', [n.d. but 1939], 8vo, which also contains 2 a.l.s.) (8).

SUPERNATURAL. - J.D. BERESFORD. Real People. London: W. Collins & Co. Ltd., 1929. First edition, 8vo (183 x 117mm.) (Mild toning.) Original red cloth, black lettering to spine (some fading to spine and margins), dust-jacket (slight chipping to spine ends). Note: scarce. - And two further first editions by J.D. Beresford (including 'All or Nothing', 1928, 8vo) (3).

SCIENCE-FICTION. - Robert A. HEINLEIN. Farmer in the Sky. London: Victor Gollancz, 1962. First UK edition, 8vo (196 x 124mm.) Illustrations by Clifford Geary. (Toning.) Original red cloth (bumped to spine ends), dust-jacket (chipping to spine ends, two small closed tears). Note: one of Heinlein's early juvenile novels and recipient of the Retro Hugo Award.

MISHIMA, Yukio. Sun and Steel, translated by John Bester. London: Secker and Warburg, 1971. First English edition, 8vo (197 x 122mm.) (Mild toning). Original black cloth (lightly bumped spine ends), dust-jacket (slight surface rubbing). Note: autobiographical essay by the Japanese author who was influenced by Western writing but who deplored its emphasis of the mind over the body.

RACKHAM, Arthur (illustrator). - Charles SWINBURNE. The Springtide of Life, Poems of Childhood. London: William Heinemann, 1918. First edition, 4to (247 x 181mm.) 8 tipped-in colour plates and uncoloured illustrations by Rackham, captioned tissue-guards, preface by Edmund Gosse. (Mild toning, occasional spotting to free endpapers.) Original green cloth, pictorial gilt to upper cover, gilt lettering to spine (fading to spine gilt). Provenance: 'Mr Robins' (ink name gift inscribed on verso of the front-free endpaper).

GOLDEN COCKEREL PRESS. - Brothers GRIMM. Grimm's Other Tales, a New Selection by Wilhelm Hansen. London: Golden Cockerel Press, 1956. Limited edition, this being number 211 of 500 copies, 8vo (237 x 149mm.) 10 wood-engraved plates by Gwenda Morgan. (Mild toning.) Original purple cloth, pictorial silver gilt to covers (some sunning to spine). - And a further four illustrated volumes (including Laurence Whistler's 'Pictures on Glass', 1972, 4to) (5).

HUXLEY, Aldous. Proper Studies. London: Chatto & Windus, 1927. Limited edition, this being number 167 of 250 copies signed by the author, 8vo (212 x 137mm.) (Some spotting to endpapers, toning to margins.) Original red cloth-backed paper-covered boards (fading to margins, rubbed to extremities). Provenance: P.B.N. Tod (ink name to front-free endpaper).

FORESTER, C.S. A Ship of the Line. London: Michael Joseph, 1938. First edition, 8vo (184 x 117mm.) (Light spotting to preliminaries and to fore-edge.) Original blue cloth, silver gilt lettering to spine (discolouring to spine, sunning). Note: the second in the Hornblower series but scarce due to the publisher releasing another edition joining it with 'Flying Colours'. Also scarce in the first issue blue boards. - And a further volume by C.S. Forester ('Flying Colours', 1938, 8vo) (2).

FORESTER, C.S. Flying Colours, including A Ship of the Line. London: Michael Joseph Ltd., 1938. First edition, 8vo (184 x 118mm.) (Mild spotting to fore-edge.) Original green cloth, silver gilt lettering, dust-jacket (browning, a mark to spine panel).

FORESTER, C.S. The Happy Return. London: Michael Joseph, 1937. First edition, 8vo (186 x 119mm.) (Spotting to fore-edge and some margins.) Original green cloth, silver gilt lettering, dust-jacket illustrated by Rowland Hilder (minor soiling to rear panel).

FORESTER, C.S. Flying Colours. London: Michael Joseph, 1938. First edition, second impression, 8vo (186 x 114mm.) (Spotting to fore-edge.) Original orange cloth, black lettering to spine (bumped to spine ends), dust-jacket (price-clipped, creasing to upper panel). - And twenty-seven further volumes by or relating to C.S. Forester (including 'Ship of the Line', 1939, 8vo) (28).

KIPLING, Rudyard. The Jungle Book. London: Macmillan and Co., 1894. First edition, 8vo (188 x 118mm.) Numerous illustrations. (Lacking front and rear endpapers and rear blank, occasional spotting, minor soiling, two gatherings loosening.) Original blue cloth, pictorial gilt to upper cover and spine, g.e. (some loss to spine ends, fading to spine gilt, rubbed). - And a further volume by Kipling ('The Second Jungle Book', December 1895, 8vo) (2).

DICKENS, Charles. American Notes, for General Circulation. London: Chapman and Hall, 1842. 2 vols., first edition, first issue, 8vo (198 x 119mm.) Single advertisement leaf to front of volume 1, 6pp. publisher's advertisements to rear of volume 2. (Toning, dust soiling to front-free endpaper of volume 1.) Original cloth blind-tooled, gilt lettering to spines (slight sunning to spines, rubbing to spine ends). Note: the second contents page of volume 1 misnumbered 'xvi'.

PHOTOGRAPHY. - Henri CARTIER-BRESSON. China in Transition. London: Thames and Hudson, 1956. First edition, 4to (267 x 206mm.) Introduction and numerous photographic illustrations by Henri Cartier-Bresson. (Toning to margins.) Original yellow cloth (rubbing to extremities, minor soiling to covers).

CHINA. - Four Months of War, a Pen and Picture Record of the Hostilities Between Japan and China in and Around Shanghai from August 9th till December 20th, 1937. Shanghai: North China Daily News & Herald Limited, [n.d. but 1938.] Oblong 4to (221 x 281mm.) Numerous photographic illustrations and cartoons. (Binding cracked at 'Contents' page, toning.) Original cloth-backed pictorial boards (rubbing to extremities, some staining). - And a further volume related to China (Reginald F. Johnston's 'Twilight in the Forbidden City', 1934, 8vo) (2).